Chapter Eighty Four - Goodbye Draco

Disclaimer: The Harry Potter universe belongs to JK Rowling, Scholastic, Bloomsbury, Warner Bros and some other high falutin' companies. Me, I'm just a PR professional. I don't profess to own - and would never dream of making any money off - JKR's wonderful world. However, its her sandbox and she's left the gate unlatched so we can go in and play a bit. Which, I've done.

Chapter Eighty Four - Goodbye Draco

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-==(oIo)==-

\""/

The first time Harry addressed a DADA class, it was for the new First Years in Gryffindor and Ravenclaw. Professor Duncan gave him free reign as to what he taught them. And he took the instruction to heart.

"Body - mind - spirit - magic. Four aspects of each of you that make the whole - you," he said. "For you to reach your peak in any of those areas, you need to reach your peak in all those areas. They are inherently and integrally linked. If you are weak in one, you will be weak in others. And, it's not evenly spaced.

"The body is the physical you. Arms - legs - torso - head. For you to reach your peak in this area you need to physically exercise. You need to exert yourself and build yourself up. The physically fitter you are, the longer you can cast. The physically fitter you are, the longer you can remain on your feet in battle.

"The mind is your thought processes; and your memories. Studying is the way of exercising the mind. Not surprisingly, the more you study, the more easily the information you study comes to your mind. The more easily you will be able to recall the information from your memories. This helps you to be able to recall wand movement, incantation, the feel of your magic flowing in a specific way, and be able to plan what you're going to do and when in advance.

"The spirit is the inner you. It drives emotion. It defines your personality. This, too, can be exercised. One method is meditation. Another, for those who believe in a higher power, is prayer. This is also your determination to win, your determination to push through pain, your desire to win.

"Finally - magic. One of your text books is 'Magical Theory' by Adalbert Waffling. In there, Mister Waffling tells us 'magic is like a muscle, it needs exercising'. Practicing spell work provides that exercise. It builds magical stamina, control, and power.

"Many who enjoy physical exercise speak of how, when they're cooling off from that exercise, find they have great clarity of thought. The act of physical exercise can assist them in clearing their minds, to allow their thought processes to solve problems more easily than they could before exercising. Hold that thought.

"Exercising the spirit also does that. That is because, in exercising the spirit, you remove from your mind that which hinders thought. Mediation is the act of allowing yourself to release emotion. In a true mediative state, there is no emotion. When you set the emotion aside, your mind is freer to absorb and process information. And, it aids in memory retention.

"However, the second side of spirit is the emotion. The way you behave. It is what gives you your character. So, we never set aside the emotion, permanently. We do, however, when we need to. Such as when we're in a battle for our very lives.

"If you are healthy in body, mind and spirit - and if you have exercised your magic - you will be the best you can be at that time. You will be a force to be reckoned with.

"Now, the most powerful tool at your disposal in defending yourself against the dark arts isn't your spell repertoire, it isn't your drive and determination, it isn't your physical fitness. It's your brain and how you use it."

"In this class, much of what you need to learn, is based on how you think. What is the best response when someone casts a spell at you? It depends on what was cast at you. When you see someone casting at you, you have mere moments to think of what you have to do to not be hit by the cast. The quicker you can think, the longer you live.

"For example; you are faced by a dark wizard who stands twenty feet from you. He casts a purple spell at you. What do you do? Anyone?" he asked the whole class.

A Gryffindor raised his hand.

"Yes?" asked Harry.

"You put up a shield?" the young boy asked.

"Do you know how to cast a shield?" asked Harry.

"Well, no," answered the boy.

"Then you are dead," said Harry. "Next?"

A Ravenclaw, this time, said, "You dive out of the way."

With a nod, Harry said, "You've dived out of the way and avoid the spell. You live a little longer. Now you're lying on the ground. He casts another spell at you. This one is orange. What do you do?"

"Errr, I dive out of the way of that one, too," he said, a little too confidently.

"How?" asked Harry. "You're lying on the ground. How do you then dive out of the way? Nope. You're dead, too; though, you did live about three seconds longer than our brave Gryffindor over here."

"Keep trying," said Harry. "Next?"

Another Ravenclaw - a girl, this time, "If he's twenty feet away, you should just be able to step to the side."

Harry smiled, and said, "You simply step aside. It uses nowhere near the physical energy to do, it leaves you able to cast back - even as you're stepping aside, and it leaves you the ability to dodge his next curse. Five points to Ravenclaw. However, he's just going to keep casting until he finally tags you and kills you. How do you live through it?"

"You run away," said a Gryffindor.

Harry smiled again and said, "Yes. Five points to Gryffindor. But, if you just run away, our dastardly dark wizard is just going to shoot you in the back. Dark wizards don't play fair.

"Think, people," he said. "Use what's around you, use the terrain, dodge - even when running away. If you're fit, you should be able to dodge and jump from point to point while constantly heading in a direction away from the threat. You can also use big enough objects as physical shields, such as trees, buildings, et cetera.

"When you do that - when your moves appear erratic - his chances of hitting you with a cast are greatly diminished.

"When facing a dark wizard - unless you are an auror, a hit wizard or a specialist Unspeakable - your goal is not to defeat the threat, it's to live through it. Quite often, that means running away. For that, you need to be physically fit, and still retain the wits to do it safely and not stupidly.

"Any questions?" he asked by way of wrapping up.

"But, isn't that the cowards way out?" asked a Gryffindor.

"No, it's not," replied Harry. "You understood you were in a situation you knew you couldn't win. Or, your chances of winning were very slim. So, you retired from the battle. That allows you opportunity to train for the next battle. If you're dead; that's it. He wins; you lose.

"If you run away and live, you give yourself the opportunity to defeat him, next time - or, the time after that - or, even the time after that. Sometimes, the bravest thing to do is run away. History is littered with the corpses of idiots who were too afraid to run when they should have. Understand?"

"But what about when you faced Riddle? You didn't run away then. And he had all those death eaters with him," said one of the Gryffindors.

Harry smiled and said, "Believe me. If I could have run away; I would have. I'd have been out of there like a bunny rabbit with it's little white tail afire!"

That earned him a few chuckles as people visualised it.

"But, I couldn't run. Riddle hit me with the Cruciatus Curse while I was still tied to his father's headstone. The effect left after that curse is removed leaves all your muscles twitching and feeling as if they're on fire. So, I'd been robbed of much of my physical strength.

"However, I still would have run, if given the opportunity. I was then released of my bindings and immediately looked for a way to run away. However, the death eaters had closed ranks around us.

"Then, I was hit with the Cruciatus Curse for the second time. By the time it was released I could barely stand. And that's when both mind and spirit come into play.

"I was still looking for a way to escape - to run away - but I was also aware, by that time, my rescuers had arrived and were waiting for the opportunity to help me. I then knew my best option to get out of the situation I was in alive - not win - was to given them the chance to rescue me.

"To do that, I needed to distract Riddle and his masked morons from what was going on around them outside of their circle. In other words, I needed them to focus on me; I was thinking it through. My physical aspect had been harmed; but, not my mind, spirit or magical aspects. I thought about what I needed to do, my mind and spirit helped with that. And then I unleashed with my magic.

"What happened after that, I'm not permitted to tell you. Sorry."

At the end of the class, Harry asked Duncan, "What did you think?"

The man snorted and replied, "The lesson it is sometimes braver to run, than stay, needs to be taught at the Academy. I dare say it would save many lives."

Harry nodded.

_‗_

-==(oIo)==-

\""/

At the October general Wizengamot session, after many hours of parchmentwork and negotiations, the Ancient House of Gaunt was finally accorded Noble status; and lifted it to become the Noble and Ancient House of Gaunt. This gave Harry his forth seat in his own right. Both Gryffindor and Slytherin were reactivated while he was away on his honeymoon, and he was accepted into those seats in the September general session.

As he'd discussed with them earlier about Heir Presumptives, he appointed Amelia as proxy for Gaunt, Sirius as proxy for Slytherin - much to his godfather's displeasure, and added the Gryffindor proxy to the proxy for Potter he gave Gran. Cygnus was sitting as proxy for Dagworth-Granger for Hermione. Spreading them out that way, when he did want to sit a session, he would sit Potter and have the others evenly spread between Amelia, Sirius and Gran. This, at least, saved much of the grumblings coming from the other members.

When he received his quarterly (extended) account statements from Gringotts, he was shocked to see that Bloodfang had worked what Harry considered miracles. The wily old goblin had taken Harry's instruction for the Gaunt, Slytherin and Gryffindor accounts of 'go make me money, just don't get me involved in illegal stuff' to heart.

As the goblin knew in advance of the ultimate defeat of Riddle, he speculated out the whazoo in the Galleon. Then, when the news broke, the value against the other world's currencies climbed significantly for the Galleon. He made a market killing. Since then, he'd invested heavily in the worldwide muggle markets. Theses were broken across low, medium and high risk investments; with fifty percent, thirty five percent and fifteen percent, respectively. Across the various portfolios, Harry now owned shares in oil, technology, mining and weapons companies among others.

'Who, or what, the bloody hell is Stark Industries?' he thought, going through the papers. 'Hmm, medium risk. Guess I'll keep it, for now.'

'Okay,' he thought, getting to the progress reports for the debts being called in. 'Hmm. Avery is now probably bankrupt. I wonder why he hasn't announced that, yet. Bagman; definitely bankrupt - and wanted by the goblins for unpaid gambling debts. Dead man, walking! Carrow; probably bankrupted. Crabbe; paid off with loss of assets. Crouch; paid off with loss of assets. Dolohov; bankrupted. Gibbon; paid off. Goyle; paid off. Jugson; paid off with loss of assets. Lestrange; paid off. MacNair; bankrupted. Malfoy; paid off. Mulciber; probably bankrupted. Nott; bankrupted - no wonder the little shit tried to AK me. Ogden; paid off. Parkinson; paid off with loss of assets. Prince; paid off with loss of assets. Rosier; bankrupted. Selwynn; paid off with loss of assets. Snape; paid off with loss of assets. Travers; probably bankrupted. Umbridge; bankrupted. Wilkes; paid off. Yaxley; probably bankrupted.

"Woah!" he muttered, before he thought, 'Look at all that gold that came flooding in!'

Thinking about it further, he thought, 'Hmm. A list of what happened to each of those Houses to Uncle Algie, methinks. That should make his day.'

Sitting back and giving it more thought, he finally pulled a blank sheet of parchment forth, pulled out his latest fountain pen, and wrote a note to send back to Bloodfang with new instructions.

In a nutshell, his instructions were to buy off the bankrupted estates what he could of property. He also gave the instruction to offer 'Delayed Sales'. That is, buy their personal homes, but allow the current residents to remain within them until they left the property or died. The property could not be left for another in their estate; however, it could be purchased back, if the House of Potter was willing to sell it, at 'market rates'.

He also instructed the goblin to 'hide' within the sale contract a clause that said; if the resident became a guest of Azkaban for any length of time, it would be considered a change of residence and that they had left the home. At that time, he would take possession of it, or them; including the contents that existed within the property at that time.

He knew the goblin would get a kick out of that.

Two days later, Harry received a response from Bloodfang where the goblin named him a honourary goblin for his 'sheer devious business acumen'.

Thinking about it further, he also sent a list of those families who were bankrupted, possibly bankrupted, or near it; to Cygnus, Sirius, Aunt Amelia and Gran. He wanted them aware of the change of fortunes of that many families as it would soon have major repercussions on the Wizengamot.

While a Noble House could not lose it's Noble status - and, therefore, it's seat on the Wizengamot - those Houses that held a seat, but were not Noble, would be losing those seats if found to be bankrupt. Also, though a Noble House could not lose it's seat, that seat would be suspended until such time as the bankruptcy was cleared.

Further, though three House seats of Noble status had recently been reactivated - Dagworth-Granger, Gryffindor and Slytherin - plus a new one created - Gaunt - if as many seats would be lost as Harry anticipated, it left vacancies for others to be created to fill the gaps. Harry wanted 'in' on deciding which lucky Houses would be given the opportunity.

Too many 'dark' Houses were given the opportunity after the previous war. And members of those Houses were more than likely to have been part of the cause of those vacancies existing in the first place; as they were of Death Eaters who wiped out the original families.

Two such 'lost' Houses were McKinnon and Prewett. McKinnon was wiped out unless Isabel and Monica could find a witch or wizard recently born of a squib of the line. As for the Prewetts, which they knew of, there was Molly Weasley nee Prewett; and Mafalda Prewett. Mafalda had recently been sorted into Slytherin, much to the Weasleys' collective dismay - so they'd ignored her. She was the daughter of a Prewett squib, an accountant. However, if Mafalda ends up not marrying with a betrothal contract with a Line Continuation clause in it, the Prewett name would be considered 'dead'. This was another family Isabel and Monica were tracing and were considering talking to the girl's father to take her in for the primogenitor test with the goblins; even if it would really annoy the current Weasley family 'screaming banshee' matriarch. If necessary, Harry would play hardball with her and remind her of the time Ginny's life was saved.

Finding out Hermione was the rightful Heir of Dagworth-Granger was a fluke. They knew that now. While Monica's computer had as much information within it's databases as they could pour into it, they had not yet found any further rightful Heirs for Noble Houses. But, they had not given up hope.

Instead, they were also looking for information from the wizarding communities of magical America and magical Australiana - combined Australia and New Zealand. But had, so far, met headaches in trying to get their recent census results. Those two nations were the top two for émigrés from magical Britain.

In a meeting in the Longbottom office, preceding the October Wizengamot session, Gran and Aunt Amelia raised why the work of Isabel and Monica were so important to them. There was a legal loophole in the rules regarding the formation of that august body that allowed the Minister to put toadies in as heads of departments. As each department head, plus the senior undersecretary, also had a position on the Wizengamot due to their position, it allowed the current minister to slowly, but surely, create for him or herself a significant voting bloc of eight members who owed their positions, and seats, to him or her.

Gran, with Aunt Amelia's support, had been trying to strip away the voting rights of those department heads, yet allow them to remain on the Wizengamot as advisors, only. However, they had not a chance of having the votes to bring that to a successful conclusion.

Now, though, they were finally getting there. When Harry pulled the proxies away from Dumbledore supporters, he pulled them away from those who would have voted against the motion, and gave them to people who would. That was a change of four votes - two lost from the votes, against; and two added to the votes, for. Next, the activation of the seat for Dagworth-Granger gave them another, the activation of Gryffindor and Slytherin gave them another two, and the activation of Gaunt would give them yet another. A total change of eight votes.

Minister Dirk Creswell had turned out to be a decent man. He wasn't one to bluster or dither, and he didn't seem to be one to accept bribes. Harry was quite happy to reactively support the man. However, he wasn't going to use his fame to proactively support him - unless, he ended up in a race for the position against someone Harry despised when the next elections approached.

With the Minister's support, that would possibly cause a voting fracture within the heads of department to possibly swing one or two across from the 'Nays' to the 'Yays'.

'Merlin! I hate politics,' he thought. It was why he was so eager to hand off the proxies.

_‗_

-==(oIo)==-

\""/

As they headed towards Christmas, Harry and Daphne became more 'in tune' with Harry's new responsibilities, and their status as a married couple.

The group had moved their study area from the Come and Go Room to the study area Harry had created within the suites. As a Professor, Harry was also able to write 'after curfew' hall passes for those sessions that didn't end until after curfew, so their friends were able to head back to their common rooms without facing point losses or detentions.

However, shortly after the group had broken up for the night, one night, and he and Daphne were about to ready themselves for bed, he received a warning from the castle's portraits that Luna had been attacked not far from the Ravenclaw tower.

Barefoot, he raced out of their bedroom, grabbed his Firebolt, and took off out the gryffin portrait, mounting his broom as he went.

He entered the grand staircase and shot up the void, dodging an already moving flight as he went. He hit the sixth floor and shot along the corridor. In the corridor immediately before the one he was told Luna was in, he brought the broom to an almost rump-sliding halt, hopped off and popped his wand into his hand.

He calmly walked around the corner leaving his broom hovering next to the wall before the corner.

He saw Draco Malfoy, Pansy Parkinson and the bookends as they dragged a kicking Luna into one of the vacant classrooms on that floor. They didn't see him as they entered, pulling the door shut behind them.

With his magic swirling, he stormed up the corridor. Once at the door he tried to open it and found it locked and warded.

Backing up, he cast an overpowered Reductor Curse at the door, reducing it to sawdust; and immediately stormed in. The two bookends were holding an arm each of Luna and had her pulled over onto her back on a desk. Malfoy was standing between her legs undoing his belt. The only immediate threat was Parkinson.

He cast a Full Body Bind Curse at her, causing her to go stiff as a board and topple over with a look of surprise on her face.

He started with a Summoning Charm on Malfoy as he reached for his wand and his pants fell down around his ankles, followed by a Banishing Charm to slam him into the opposite wall.

The two bookends were hit with Stunners. Turning back to Malfoy he levitated the boy off the floor from where he was panicking and trying to scramble to his feet, before Banishing him back at the wall and sticking him there with a full body Sticking Charm.

Crying her heart out, Luna was struggling up off the table. He immediately moved to her and wrapped her in his arms.

"Easy, dear Luna," he spoke to her in soothing tones. "I'm here. I promised I would protect you, and here I am."

She sobbed her heart out and shivered as the adrenalin within her system started to burn off. While she cried, Harry started to think of how we was going to handle this whole mess.

Once it appeared she was almost calmed, he gently picked her up in bridal carry and carried her from the room. At the doorway, he cast a Wide Area Stasis Charm on the room, and a Wizard Notice-Me-Not Charm on the doorway, so passing students or staff would not find it.

Returning to his broom, he mounted it and had Luna ride behind him as he gently rode the broom back down to the owners' suites. He even rode the broom through the opened portrait hole and up into their study area. There, they were met with both Daphne and Tracey. Both were worried but relieved to see him and Luna enter, even if it was while riding a broom.

Asking the girl to hop off, she was immediately wrapped in the arms of both Daphne and Tracey, eliciting yet further sobs from their younger Ravenclaw friend.

"She's staying here tonight," said Harry. "For, at least, tonight."

"What happened?" asked Tracey.

"Malfoy - with the help of Crabbe, Goyle and Parkinson - tried to... he was about to..." he tried but stuttered.

"He was about to rape me," sobbed Luna.

Daphne and Tracey both hissed in shock.

"She's staying with me for tonight," said Tracey. She turned to Luna and asked, "Do you want to sleep with me?"

Luna hesitated for a moment before she carefully nodded her head.

"Then, it's decided," said Tracey with an air of finality.

"Maisey," called Daphne.

With a slight pop the little elf appeared, "Yes, Mistress?"

Looking back, Daphne said, "Maisey. I need you to go to the Ravenclaw Fourth Year girls' dorm, pack Miss Lovegood's property for her, and put it in Miss Tracey's room. Can you do that for me?"

"Yes, Mistress," curtseyed the elf before it popped away.

"Settled and done," said Daphne.

"Come," said Tracey to Luna. "We'll cuddle and talk." She led the still upset girl by the hand down through the interconnecting passage as Daphne turned to Harry.

"Alright. What have you done with Malfoy and his - cohorts?" she asked in an ominous voice.

"They're still in the room in which they tried to - hurt Luna. They're under a wide area Stasis Charm and the door is hidden," he sighed. "I know what I want to do to them. But, what do I actually do?"

She sighed. "Let's think this through."

_‗_

-==(oIo)==-

\""/

The next morning, the student population was required to be in the Great Hall at 8.30am for a special announcement. No one who knew why was talking; and those who didn't, were just curious.

At 8.30am, Harry stood to make his announcement. This was something he'd already worked out with both Headmaster Flitwick and Deputy Headmistress McGonagall.

Standing before them all he soon had silence. "Last night, one of our own was attacked within our home; Hogwarts. The attack was carried out by another four of our own. Their attack was planned in advance. Their attack was meant to be one of gang-rape."

That shocked them. Harry allowed them to talk among themselves for a few moments before he continued, "However - what they failed to consider - is that this castle is mine. As I've informed you all before, I am Lord of the Manor. The castle ultimately answers to me. It was designed, from the ground up, to protect you. It was built at a time when the founders were concerned for the safety of their students. So, certain magics were imbued into the very walls. There is a reason Hogwarts is considered the safest place in magical Britain; and it's not just it's wards.

"Last night - shortly after curfew - I was alerted by Hogwarts of an attack taking place on the sixth floor near the Ravenclaw tower entrance. The four culprits lay in wait for a fifth - a young female Ravenclaw student. Their plan was to ambush her, drag her into a nearby unused classroom - and rape her.

"The four laying in ambush are - were - Slytherin students. They had no other reason to be where they were. In other words, this was clearly a pre-meditated attack.

"When I arrived on the scene of the second part of the crime - after the initial attack and in the unused classroom - they had the young female Ravenclaw student bent backwards over a desk. Two of them held her arms out and down, effectively pinning her to the desk while she struggled mightily and under effects of a Silencing Charm. A third - a female, believe it or not - was maliciously whispering in the young Ravenclaw's ear an in-depth description of just what they were planning to do to her. The fourth was between our victim's legs and was dropping his trousers ready to carry out this heinous deed; his penis, erect."

He could see the effect his words were having on the students. Many were clearly angry. Some were visibly upset. Some just sat in stunned shock. A few looked positively murderous.

"Here are the perpetrators," he said, before turning to the wall behind the Slytherin table, between the top end of that and the head table, and cancelling the Invisibility Charm he'd cast on the wall much earlier that morning. Cancelling the charm showed all four pinned spread-eagle to the wall with their feet at least three feet off the floor.

He then revived them but left them silenced by a Tongue Locking Charm. They could hear, and they could make a little noise, but they could not speak.

"My initial reaction was simply to - execute - them. And, to do it publicly," he flatly said. "The law is on my side in this. As both Lord Slytherin and Lord Gryffindor it is my right to do so when such heinous crimes are committed within these walls against our students."

Looking at them he could see they'd clearly heard him. Malfoy was looking murderous. Crabbe and Goyle were looking confused. But Parkinson understood just how much trouble she was in and had wet herself. Harry banished the puddle that formed on the floor below her.

"However, my lovely wife fears what effect this would have on me, as a person," he said, turning back to the students. "Through her wise counsel I have decided not to carry out the deed, myself. I shall hand them to the DMLE, where I will demand their immediate incarceration until their trials.

"I will also consider sitting on the trial panel. And, when they are found guilty of their crimes - I have no doubt of that - I will be asking for their executions, as per the law for crimes of this nature."

That was the cue for Madam Bones and six aurors - four men and two women - to enter through the double doors.

"Ah!" he said, noticing them. "Madam Bones! Good to see you. Your perpetrators are hanging about..." he gestured to the four, "... just over there for you."

It was only because he had gotten to know her so well that Harry noticed the little twitch of her cheek that showed she was struggling not to smile back. "Would you mind letting them down so my aurors can cuff them and take them away?" she wryly asked.

"Certainly!" he replied. "But, first..."

He walked over to stand about six feet short of them; and looked up at the four. "For crimes against the Noble and Ancient House of Slytherin, you are hereby banished from the House." A quick wave of his wand and all Slytherin paraphernalia affixed to their robes and under clothing was stripped away, leaving them in plain Hogwarts robes.

"For crimes against Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, you are hereby expelled from the school and grounds," he continued; and all crests on their ties disappeared, leaving them in plain robes. "As you are now currently unschooled - and, as you have not yet passed even one OWL each - as per the law, you are hereby banned from using any magic, whatsoever, until such time as you again enter formal education. Though I very much doubt that is ever likely to occur.

"For crimes against other students, crime so foul as to warrant your execution, you are hereby remanded into the custody of the DMLE. There, you shall abide, until such time as the conclusion of your trials."

He then waved his wand releasing all charms placed upon them. All four dropped to the ground.

The three boys remained on their feet. However, Miss Parkinson dropped to her knees and bum, sobbing her eyes out. The six aurors stepped forward and quickly affixed anti-magic cuffs to the four of them.

Harry looked at Aunt Amelia and drew four wands from his pocket. "Their wands, Madam," he said. When she accepted them and, as she was dropping all four into an evidence bag, he reached in and withdrew two small phials; offering them to her. "And, these are the memories of the young witch victim and myself of the events."

Again, with the twitch, Aunt Amelia accepted the two phials and dropped them into a pocket of her own robes.

Turning to her aurors, she said, "Take them back to the DMLE and dump them in four individual holding cells."

The six headed out with their prisoners.

Turning back to Harry, she gave a small bow and said, "Lord Potter-Gaunt-Slytherin-Gryffindor. Good morning." Before she turned to Headmaster Flitwick, who had a grim expression on his face. "Headmaster," she said with the same bow.

Then, she turned about and stalked out after her aurors.

After she'd left, Harry said to the students, "Unlike Professor Dumbledore, Headmaster Flitwick and I recognise a crime for what it is - a crime - and not children just 'acting out'. If you commit a crime within these grounds, you will be held accountable for them."

Harry held their collective gazes for a moment more before turning to the Headmaster. "Headmaster, they're yours." and he walked over off to the side.

Professor Flitwick stood in place on his seat and looked out across the students. "As you have witnessed, the days of you only receiving a point loss and detentions for crimes committed, are well and truly over. Remember that.

"Classes resume at 9.00am - in a little over ten minutes from now. Don't be late." And he sat down again.

Many students used that opportunity to rise and head to class. Others remained a little longer to chat among themselves.

_‗_

-==(oIo)==-

\""/

Back in their suite, Harry drew Daphne into a hug. "I may not have liked the little shit - or his friends - but that still didn't mean I wanted him dead," he said.

"No," she replied. "But he has well and truly 'earned' his execution. He, especially, has been heading that way since I've known him."

"Yes, but the others..." he sighed. "The two bookends are too stupid to know any better. And, I think Parkinson only behaved the way she did due to the betrothal contract between her and the Amazing Bouncing Ferret."

"And, if that is the case, it should all come out in trials," she argued back. "Come," she said, stepping away from him and taking him by the hand. "Tracey and Luna are in the kitchen, sitting around the dining table."

And led him into the other room.

When they walked in, Tracey asked, "Well?"

"The four of them were led away in cuffs, a short while ago," he said. "But, before they were led away, I kicked them out of Slytherin; and then kicked them out of the school. They will never return. I'll make sure of that."

"Good," Tracey firmly said. "And, good riddance."

Two days later, Harry attended the trial. Again, as it pertained to one event, all four were tried together. Malfoy was sent through the veil - physically tossed through, really; kicking and screaming. His sentence was on his own words. "The blood traitor should have welcomed my attention! A good fucking is all she's good for!"

Sirius immediately claimed the estates of the House of Malfoy and ended the line. He welcomed Narcissa back into the Black family as Narcissa Black, on probation.

Malfoy Manor, originally Black Manor until it became part of the dowry of Narcissa to House Malfoy, was returned to it's name of Black Manor. Sirius went through it with a fine tooth comb; and found a hidden section below the basement.

He never told Harry what he found, down there. He'd just say it both horrified and sickened him and leave it at that. All dark arts stuff he found, he destroyed. Of the personal property of both recent male Malfoys, he allowed Narcissa to take what mementos she wanted. She only took a little stuffed animal toy and a baby blanket that was Draco's when he was an infant. Everything else was burned on the same fire Sirius used to destroy much of what he'd found below the manor. And Malfoy family portraits. He claimed back the Black family portraits.

For their own roles, the other three were sent to minimum security - dementor free - in Azkaban for five years, each. Pansy hung herself a month later using her prisoner's robes and the bars on her cell. It was Christmas Day. Harry blocked any mention of it from the Daily Prophet's publications. And, Luna had no interest in publishing it, either.

Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle were released at the conclusion of their sentences. Their mothers, who had already left magical Britain by then, immediately took them to live abroad. They were not heard from again.

_‗_

-==(oIo)==-

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