Path to Leadership

Kathleen sputtered and Cecelia just chuckled at her. When Reginald gave her an inquisitive look, Luna said "Aunt Kathleen tried to convince my cousin that the Potter bond wasn't real but yet we have Megan here who has never acted as a girl in her whole life now being all girly and prettying herself up."

Harry emphatically said "I thought she was beautiful before she did all this."

Megan kissed him once more and said "Thank you Harry."

He pulled her close and said "You said we had some things to discuss."

Jonathan Greengrass said "I'm impressed daughter. You three have done a remarkable job."

Daphne nodded at the compliment and replied "We were fortunate to have good stock to work with."

Reginald said "Well, now that I've got my voice back, I think we will leave that discussion for later. That is my daughter you are talking about and she is only fifteen. I think that is far to early to be considering that, bond or no bond."

Harry smiled and said "Yes Sir. I completely understand as I'm sure Megan will be giving me the same look Kathleen is giving you now when I react to some young man nosing around our fifteen year old daughter."

Kathleen stopped her glare at Reginald and looked at Harry with a smile that went all the way up to her eyes. "Oh well done Harry!"

Harry flashed her a grin before Reginald cleared his throat. "Yes well getting down to business, we have been approached by several families due to our association with you. Augusta Longbottom and Amelia Bones came to me in the hope that we could repair the damage that has been done. They made it very clear that they are not happy with the actions of the heir and heiress of their houses and seek your forgiveness. They are willing to offer considerable concessions to avoid the termination of their alliances with House Potter. In short, they will amend their wills and grant you stewardship of both houses until an acceptable heir comes forward if their own heirs do not repair the rift between your houses."

Harry looked to Megan with raised eyebrows. She said "Merlin Daddy, Harry may have done well but you have to remember all this is maybe two months old to him. My Harry is no Crabbe or Goyle but you need to speak a little plainer for now. What he said baby was that Amelia and Augusta said that if Neville and Susan don't get their head out of their arse and fix things between you that they will assign a kind of guardianship of their houses to you when they die and it will be up to you to name the Lord or Lady of the house from Neville's and Susan's children."

Harry asked "Isn't that a little harsh just for pissing me off?"

Amos said "Not in their eyes Harry. The loss of the alliances would be a very bad thing. They would lose respect and become outcasts with no one willing to take a chance at trusting them. I doubt they would ever recover from it. A good example of this is the Weasley family. They violated an alliance several centuries ago and the family still has not recovered. Arthur is a good man but the stigma will forever be attached to the name. Their association with Dumbledore was helping to repair their image but the actions of the younger Weasleys have just reminded everyone of their previous betrayal. I find it amusing that the Weasley who caused their family's downfall in the first place was named Billius."

Harry looked into Megan's eyes and asked "What kind of a man would I be if I caused the same thing to happen to them as what happened to me this year?"

Kathleen said "A human one."

Harry asked "What do you think love?"

"That's an answer I can't give you but I will support you in whatever you decide."

Harry closed his eyes for a second and when he opened them, the parents could start to see the strong young man their children had said was inside of him beginning to emerge. "You said you wanted me to help you make our world a better place. I don't see how destroying two powerful political allies would make a good example of House Potter even though they may deserve it."

He smirked "In Daphne's world domination plan, she said the more people we could get to think like us; the easier it will be to effect those changes… Tell them that if they were to support the decisions of House Potter in the future, I will leave the alliances intact until we have time to discuss the matter further. Susan and Neville can't take their titles for two more years and that should give us more than enough time to come to some sort of agreement."

Lord Moon said "But neither can you Harry."

Harry's answer was just to smirk at him.

Lord Davis asked "Does this mean you are going to shift House Potter to the neutral camp?"

Harry said "Lord Davis, I'm not so naïve to believe that your help does not come with a cost. (Harry held up his hand to stop the protests.) I meant no offense by that and I know your intentions are noble. I really do appreciate all you have done and will do in my behalf but the fact remains that all of you want me in the neutral camp and that would be part of the cost of your continued support. I get that you need my house to further your plans and I'm alright with that. In fact, from everything I've learned of your views, I would support you anyway."

"It helps that your heirs have been upfront about it but they also made it clear that their help was not conditional on my choices. (He looked at Megan.) Well one may be. The ability to choose how I live my life was something that has always been denied to me. I'm probably not being very clear so it all boils down to this one thought. The Light and Dark houses are responsible for taking my choices away so allying with either of them is unacceptable to me. That leaves joining the neutrals or standing alone. I've been alone long enough and it's not a place I choose to be anymore."

Reginald said "So you intend to force the alliances to follow you into the neutral camp?"

"Absolutely. I think it's only fair that if they want to stay in my good graces that they accept my point of view. I just have one question. Other than the whole sharing your view on things, what do your houses want from House Potter? What kind of debts or oaths are you trying to get out of by helping me?"

Lord Greengrass stood and applauded. "Bravo Harry. I'm not trying to embarrass you but that was very well thought out and spoken and at the same time, tactful but yet blunt at the same time. At that moment, I saw a lot of Charlus in you."

....

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