C9 Harry's Bright Idea

# # #

In the lounge of the Granger family home, Dan decided he needed to talk to Harry about matters important to his role in protecting his daughter, the Countess Ravenclaw. But he didn't know how to broach the subject.

"So," he began. "Do... you... watch football?"

Harry looked back for moment, then snorted and started to chuckle.

Abashed by Harry's reaction, Dan said, "That... was a silly question, wasn't it?"

Still chuckling a little Harry just nodded and said, "What do you need, Sir?"

Thinking carefully, Dan asked, "Would those cubes work on anyone else? I mean, I know the ones you've got for Hermione and the others are geared for them. It's just..."

"...You want to know if they can be made for others, and whether they'll only work on wizards and witches," Harry finished.

"Yeah," replied Dan.

Harry grinned and said, "Already anticipated, Sir." He reached into his ever-present satchel and drew forth another of the cubes. This one with an inscribed letter 'D' upon it.

Holding it forth and offering it to Dan, he said, "This one's for you."

Sitting back, he said, "I didn't expect you to be asking about it just yet though. Myrddin and I figured you wouldn't be asking for about another four days. Which is yet another example of 'the knowing of something changes it' principle."

Looking over the innocuous cube of crystal Dan asked, "What's on it?"

"It has a general overview of the structure of the wizarding world, both political and social, and the players involved including photo-images of them. It specifically identifies the known Death Eaters, others known to side with Riddle, and those who we consider on our side, or can be convinced to be on our side. It also has images and information on known Aurors, who may be called upon by Madam Bones to protect you and yours. And it has the same sort of information on the teaching staff at Hogwarts.

"It has an overview of what sort of spells there are, what probable killing curses can be thrown your way by Riddle's supporters, what their tactics are likely to be from previous examples and what you can do to block them or counteract them. It'll also give you some idea of how they may be able to block your bullets being shot their way and what to do in those situations.

"It will also provide you information on magical forms of travel, especially emergency portkeys, which I'm going to prepare for the three of you. This will all be placed into your subconscious and will be readily accessible when you need it.

"And, though it's on the cube, I'm also going to reiterate this point," said Harry, leaning forward. "If you can separate a wizard from their wand, you've effectively rendered them unable to fight. They have no other skills bar wand magics. If you can get their wand in your hands, and they're an unfriendly, snap the damned thing. Now, if I'd said that last bit to a wizard or witch, they'd be absolutely horrified. But, damn it, this is war; screw their sensibilities. Besides, snapping their wand means they'll be unable to come back at you and yours until they find a way to replace it."

Dan looked back with quite the curious expression. "That... was exactly the information I was going to ask for."

Harry smiled and said, "Being able to look through time has its advantages, Sir. But, as I said earlier, I didn't expect you to be asking for that information for another four days."

"Huh!" humped Dan in response.

"You'll need Emma to activate it for you, though. They're specially made so the person using it cannot do it for themselves. That's just an added security feature.

"When you're ready to receive the information, do as I do for Hermione last night. Lay down, have Emma put it on your forehead with the letter 'D' pointing up. When you're ready, all she needs to do is tap the top of the cube and say, 'Goodnight'. You'll fall asleep straight away. The knowledge will be there in the morning simply by thinking about it. Now, you won't have the perfect recollection the others and I have, but it's not a lot you need to store, either" explained Harry.

As an afterthought, Harry said, "Later, you might want to consider Emma having the same information. You just do the same for her. But I suggest you review what will be supplied to you, and then you and her can make that decision together."

Dan nodded just as Emma came in through the front door.

"Hi, honey," she said seeing Dan. But, on seeing Harry, she said, "Oh! I'm sorry. I didn't see you there... My... lad."

"That's okay, Ma'am," replied Harry. "I just dropped by, as promised, to make sure Hermione was okay."

When he saw the woman looking a little worried, he said, "There's no problems, I assure you."

"Well, that's good," said Emma nodding firmly. "I was a bit worried when I saw her this morning sitting on her bed in her pajamas just staring at the wall. I had a devil of a time getting her to take a shower and get dressed."

"She may be like that for at least tomorrow, too, Ma'am," said Harry. "It'll just be a bit more difficult to get her attention than usual. It'll stop by Monday, if not before."

"Good. I'm worried she won't take care of herself if there's no one here to watch her," said Emma.

Looking at Dan, she said, "And I've already put the word out to find someone to fill in for you for the next few months. Her Majesty was quite explicit about the role you play."

Dan looked a bit abashed and said, "Yeah, probably a good idea. If I'm to guard Countess Ravenclaw... and I still haven't gotten my head around that yet... then I'll need to either be here or close by. At least until the 1st of September, at any rate."

"It's Hermione, Sir," said Harry. "She's still your... 'Pumpkin'. I very much doubt that'll ever change. And she'll need you to stay her Dad to help keep her grounded."

Dan nodded with his head bent, while Emma smiled and headed for the kitchen.

"I can tell you this, irrespective of the timeline, you're her Dad, always. And she is a much-loved friend and companion of mine," said Harry firmly.

Before Dan could respond Hermione walked in with a small plate of sandwiches and plonked herself on the couch.

Harry looked over and said with a voice of mock hurt, "Where's mine?"

Hermione just looked back and said, "Well, you didn't share yours at the palace; so..." and stuck one in her mouth.

"Hermione!" said her Dad, a little shocked.

"Oh, touché, mademoiselle; touché!" replied Harry, laughing.

Swallowing what she had in her mouth, Hermione said, "Mum's making some for everyone."

Looking back at Harry she said, waggling a finger at him, "And don't think I didn't figure out why you did that at the palace, either."

"Did what?" asked Harry, acting innocent but knowing she knew.

"When you arrived while we were there," replied Hermione. "You behaved like a beast to shock my Mum and Dad."

"And why would I do such a thing? If it was true, of course," asked Harry.

"Because you saw how nervous they were... we all were... and you wanted to do something that made them forget how nervous they were; take their minds off it," replied Hermione with the somewhat smug air of someone who'd figured something out.

Emma came back in carrying a large server with a plate of sandwiches on it and the tea service. "Take who's mind off what?" she asked.

Ignoring the question Harry just grinned at Hermione before turning to the Grangers and saying, "I told you she was the smartest witch I know."

Emma was frowning trying to work out what was going on, while Dan just looked between his daughter and Harry. He started to chuckle, before it evolved into full-on laughter.

"Daniel!" said Emma, scolding her husband. "What's so funny?"

"We've been conned, Em!" he chortled. "Remember yesterday afternoon when we first met the lad, here?" gesturing to Harry.

"Yes, of course," she said, still wondering what was going on.

"His behavior with the sandwiches?" Dan asked wiping tears from his eyes. "He did it deliberately. So, we'd be horrified."

"Close," said Harry. "I did it, so your 'guardian of children' senses kicked in. I bet on both of you being worried I might get in trouble, so you were thinking, as parents, of ways to save me from myself."

"My word!" said Emma, with wonder. "Here we thought we'd have to help you. And all the time you were helping us."

"All part of the services provided by the House of Slytherin. We hope you enjoyed the experience and will join us again soon," said Harry with an airily voice and wave of his hand.

"Besides," he went on to say, "As a Slytherin it's a trait of my house to use cunning and guile." He leaned forward and began to make himself a cup of tea.

"Trait?" asked Emma, already sitting back from making her own.

Nodding, Harry replied, "Yes. Students at Hogwarts are supposed to be sorted in to the four Houses based on their own dominant traits. However, the sorting hat tends to sort them into a House the student wants to go in, if the student wants it bad enough.

"In the original timeline Hermione went in to Ravenclaw. In Dumbles's mangled timeline she went into Gryffindor, as did I. But I was supposed to go into Hufflepuff."

"What are the traits?" asked Emma again, clearly curious.

It was Hermione who answered. "Let's see," she said. "Supposedly Gryffindor stood for bravery and against discrimination. Ravenclaw stood for intelligence and wit. Hufflepuff stood for loyalty and against cruelty of the lesser races. And Slytherin stood for cunning and a certain disregard for the rules.

"What it now looks like is; Gryffindor stands for bravery and helping your friends. Ravenclaw still has the intelligence. Hufflepuff is wrongly seen as duffers and friends, and they just want everyone to get along. And Slytherin is about power and blood purity."

"And that's one of the things we're going to fix," added Harry. "Getting the houses back on track but with improvements. Getting them back to the way they were will only lead to the original infighting that forced Salazar Slytherin to flee."

Everyone thought about that while they enjoyed their tea and sandwiches.

Remembering something, Harry spoke up. "Oh, and Hermione. The next time you go to Diagon Alley be sure to visit Gringotts. Do it quietly and flash your House ring to the first teller you come to otherwise keep it hidden at all other times, lest you let the cat out of the bag early. Ask the teller to let you speak to the Account Manager for House Ravenclaw.

"When you speak with him, you'll find you have an account with about nine and a half million galleons in it," said Harry. "That translates into mundane money somewhere between forty-five and fifty million pounds..."

Dan, who'd been taking a sip of his tea at the time, suddenly coughed a spray of tea over himself.

"Forty-five to fifty million pounds?!" he blurted in shock. "British pounds?"

"Uh-hmm!" nodded Harry. "You didn't think she'd pick up an Earldom and a pretty ring with no money to show for it, did you?

"The goblins transfer one eighth of one percent per galleon paid in student fees into the account of each of the four Houses. It used to be higher but, over the years, the amount transferring across has been whittled down. I know it doesn't sound like much, but we're talking almost a thousand years of money going in, and earning interest, with none going out. On top of that is the money coming in from one quarter of the net rent on the properties of Hogsmeade. It's built up."

"Our daughter's a multi-millionaire?" asked Emma.

"As Head of the Most Noble and Most Ancient House of Ravenclaw; yes," replied Harry.

"You said not to show the ring when I'm in Diagon Alley, Harry. But I can't take it off," said Hermione.

"Oh, of course," replied Harry. "You just 'will' it not to show, and it won't. Sorry, I should have mentioned it to you."

Hermione looked down at her ring, frowned a moment, and it disappeared. A few seconds later it reappeared.

"Huh," she said in surprise. "I was wondering how I was going to take it off."

"You can't," said Harry. "It's part of you now. Willing it away will mean you can still wash where the ring is without it getting in your way."

"So, don't show it in the Alley, but just show it to the goblin teller?" she asked.

"Yep," said Harry. "People interested in status know to look for the ring. And showing it may draw the eyes of someone we don't want to know just yet you're a Head of House.

"The goblins are very discreet about this sort of thing. So, they won't say a word about it. They'll just take you into one of their private interview rooms to discuss the accounts with you.

"When you do, ask about what you need to do to create the Magical House of Granger. And also think about setting up a House vault. If you want extra to do that, ask me. I'll transfer across some galleons from my Head of House Potter vaults."

"Nine and half million galleons and you're asking if she'd need any from you to transfer across?" asked Dan. "Just how rich are you?"

"Well, excluding the Potter Manor, and a number of priceless artworks and jewelry; and excluding the Slytherin account equal to the Ravenclaw one; about forty million galleons or two hundred million pounds," Harry shrugged.

"Combined, that's over a quarter of a billion pounds!" gasped Emma.

Shrugging again, Harry said, "Yeah."

"How can you be so blasé, about it?" she asked.

"The money will make life easier once we get everything else out of the way. But it's not going to do me any good if I'm... if we're... dead," said Harry. "However, if I can make use of it in what we need to accomplish well before then, then I'm going to use it."

After chatting for a little while longer Harry took his leave. He might not have much to do until Sirius could be sprung from Azkaban, but he could collect at least one, if not two of the horcruxes.

# # #

Apparating at the old Gaunt Shack in the woods just outside of Little Hangleton, Harry made his way to the shack. Outside, he summoned the ring belonging to Marvolo Gaunt, Tom's maternal grandfather, to his hand. Quickly, he bound it with spells to suppress the effects of the horcrux and dropped it into his pocket. He didn't want Dumbledore finding it.

Once done he moved to the graveyard where Riddle's father, Thomas Riddle, was buried. He removed the bones from the grave and moved them to sit atop a gravesite on the other side of the graveyard. Then he ground the bones into dust by causing the molecules within them to release their grip upon one another.

Looking around, Harry could see his work there was done. He flamed away, back to the palace. Once back, he placed the ring in a special compartment within his trunk hidden from those without magic. Once inside, the ring was sealed off from anyone finding it. Harry planned on taking it to the goblins later to remove and destroy the piece of soul within it.

# # #

Waking early again the next morning and enjoying another excellent English breakfast, Harry thought he'd visit Hogsmeade and get a feel for the wards around Hogwarts. He wanted to learn what he could of them, without Dumbledore being any the wiser.

For that he needed to be alert and pay careful attention to what he was doing. Dumbledore might discover someone was testing the wards but, if Harry was careful, the manipulating old fool would not know who it was.

For this trip, Harry left his satchel behind in his suite within the palace.

He phoenix-flashed out of the palace and reappeared in the skies above the Hogsmeade train station and quickly sought a thermal. A thermal was one of those spiraling columns of warm air flowing upwards from the ground below.

Once he'd played in his form for a while just spiraling upwards, he allowed himself to float gently towards the borders of Hogwarts' wards.

Glancing off just the very outer edge he could sense what was there. Harry found magics laid upon old magics laid upon very old magics. But a lot of the wards were inactive. And there were wards that really shouldn't have been there. One, however, answered a question Harry and Myrddin were puzzled about; why the wizarding world believed magic and technology could not exist side by side.

What Harry found was a magic 'field' that caused anything powered by electricity to eventually fail, and the more electronic - the more sensitive the device - the quicker it failed. Someone almost a century ago, had created as part of the wards the field that caused the problem. Someone believed magical folk should not interact with electricity and took steps to ensure they didn't.

So, that answered the question of why magical folk won't at least come into the twentieth century. Remove that and the castle could be modified. That would then allow teaching aids such as projectors, computers, printing equipment... hell, just adding electric lights will be a boon.

After a leisurely but full circuit of the wards Harry had an idea of what needed to be done, security-wise, in getting the wards rebuilt. Some, he knew, he'd be better off stripping them out completely and replacing them. And there were others he could add that weren't that difficult.

However, what bothered him the most was the almost living presence he felt from the school. The eagerness he felt from the presence that felt like it was telling him he should stop mucking about and just go straight to the castle. He didn't realize that such a collection in one place of magical folk over a millennium could generate that. But, if it was the presence of that many magicals together, then he should have felt the same thing when he went to Diagon Alley. However, within Diagon Alley, he felt nothing.

'The only thing it can be,' he thought, 'was that it has something to do with my Animagus form. Maybe that was why phoenixes were so rare as familiars.'

Giving a phoenix-like shrug, Harry headed away from the wards and gently flew over Hogsmeade proper. Once well past the little village he flamed away.

The rest of the day he spent wandering the streets of London enjoying the sights, before returning to the palace.

# # #

Monday morning and Harry headed out to London and bought himself a small cassette tape Walkman and a cheap audio tape of some American group called Kiss. Adding a packet of batteries Harry took his purchases in amongst the trees in a quiet area of St James Park.

In the park he followed the instructions and loaded the batteries, as directed. Then he put the cassette in to the little tray and, still following the instructions, pushed the play button until it clicked down.

Looking in through the little window on top he could see the two little cogs of the cassette slowly turning. He held one of the ear buds up to his ear and he could hear the god-awful sound of whatever music the Kiss band played. He wasn't surprised the little cassette in its plastic box was one of the cheaper ones.

Now that he'd confirmed it worked, he started casting charms on it. And after about ten minutes the little wheels were still turning. Checking the sound from it he could still hear the thumping and tinny sound of electric guitars and drums.

More casting and he finally figured out one area where magic did affect it. The device did not like being transfigured into something and back again. However, once he replaced the batteries it worked again. So, the device was fine; it was the batteries that were the problem. And batteries were where the device stored its electricity.

He then tried just transforming a bit of wood into a battery and trying that. But the battery was dead. And he tried transforming an existing battery while it was not in use to a block of wood and back again. But it, too, turned up dead.

Experimenting done, Harry now had a much clearer idea about the interaction of magic and electricity. The devices were fine. However, if they had a battery within them, the battery could not handle certain aspects of magic. Especially those related to transfiguration.

He began to wonder if he could create an electrical device but bring the batteries with him. There was no reason why it wouldn't work.

He suddenly realized the answer was a lot simpler than that. Generators!

Generators didn't store electricity. Instead, they converted liquid fossil fuel into electricity to be used immediately. And the bigger the generator, the more power it could provide. That meant he could use equipment that ran on 250v, normal household power. As for the noise of the generator, a simple silencing charm would fix that.

His problem then became fuel. He had to figure a way to get fuel to the generator. That bore more thought.

# # #

That evening Harry met with the Queen for dinner. Michel had approached him soon after he'd returned from his experimenting to inform him the Queen invited him. When asked, he was informed the dress for the evening was semi-formal.

"I don't think I own anything semi-formal," he said to Michael. "Do you have anything where I can see what it looks like?"

Michael went out for a short while before returning with a photo album. Flicking through it he showed Harry a few where a man was dressed in how Harry was expected to look.

Harry, now with an idea as to the standard of dress, grabbed some clothes that looked similar and transfigured them to match.

"How's that?" he asked Michael.

"That's... it, My Lord," replied Michael. "But if I may make a few suggestions?"

Harry, with Michael's help, set about improving on Harry's original design into something with which Michael was satisfied.

"I think that will be perfect, My Lord," said Michael, walking around the outfit as it hung on... nothing.

"You'll need to change soon, too," said Michael. "A page will attend soon to take you to Her Majesty's private dining room."

After changing, Harry did not have long to wait before one of the Queen's pages collected him and led him down to Her Majesty's private apartments. Inside he immediately saw a large table covered in a snowy white tablecloth covered in glittering silverware and crystal glasses.

Around the room were some of the Queen's personal household attendants standing at attention against the walls. Just taking a seat where two gentlemen Harry had not yet met. About the same age as the 'Royal Summoner'. Both wore similar outfits to Harry's with one wearing a set of service ribbons above his right breast.

Just after Harry walked in one of the attendants stepped forward to a chair opposite the two gentlemen and pulled it out. Clearly, he was expected to sit there.

After he was seated another attendant offered a decanter of orange juice. Harry nodded and the juice was poured into a glass tumbler before his right hand.

Harry hadn't even had a chance to say hello to the two gentlemen opposite him when the Queen entered the room. Both men immediately stood with Harry half a beat behind them.

The Queen sat and said, "Please, sit."

And they were all seated.

"Before we begin," the Queen said and turned to acknowledge Harry, "This, gentlemen, is Lord Harry James Potter, Earl of Slytherin, Head of the House of Potter, Heir to the House of Black."

Then turning to acknowledge the other two, the Queen said, "And this, My Lord, is Sir David Smythe-Umpton of MI5, and Sir Anthony Barringer of New Scotland Yard."

Harry smiled and nodded at the two men seated opposite while both looked back with undisguised looks of curiosity.

"So," began Sir David, "you're the young man who dropped such a bombshell on my offices on Friday afternoon. And, again, later that evening."

"And the young man who had four of my constables scratching their heads in confusion trying to find manor houses that didn't exist," said Sir Anthony. "But we now know actually do exist, but we just can't see them."

"Yes," replied Harry. "I'm sorry about that. And about what's to come for both your people. Hopefully, it won't be as bad as feared but best to be prepared in case it does."

"Before you gentlemen start talking shop," said Her Majesty. "Perhaps, we shall have the first course."

Immediately, the first course of a light but very tasty vegetable soup was brought forth. Harry found it very nice and wished for more. However, he had no idea how many courses there'd be and knew he needed to leave room for it.

He'd barely finished his bowl before it was whisked away and a plate of veal with a red wine jus and steamed vegetables on the side was placed before him. Some of the vegetables were not ones of which he was fond, but he actually found them to be deliciously prepared and did not want to offend by leaving anything behind.

After his plate was whisked away there clearly followed a break; as Sir David said to him, "Her Majesty has informed us we need to search for folks who disappeared as children who were eleven years old as of the 1st of September on that date or a little earlier, but return some six years later, or a little later."

"That is correct, Sir," replied Harry. "You will also expect them to be exceedingly secretive of where they've been, lacking in a normal education and seeking a new education, and or seeking employment within the police service or the military forces. Some may have sought adult apprenticeships or just taken menial jobs where a lack of education does not matter."

"And you suspect these people to have been students at your wizard school?" asked Sir Anthony.

"Some of them, yes; the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry up near the west coast of Scotland," answered Harry. "And something else has just occurred to me and I kick myself for not thinking of it earlier."

"Oh?" asked Sir David.

"Yes," replied Harry. "I've been thinking big picture these past few days and haven't thought of the little details. But I'm pretty sure the Ministry of Magic... sorry, the Ministry for Magic... will have a record of the students who have attended for at least the last century. They would have to, as they need to consult their files when checking for children who use underage magic.

"I'm sure I can ask Madam Bones, the lady who heads the police force for magical Britain, the Department of Magical Law Enforcement - DMLE - to give you a copy of that. You know, as cooperation between law enforcement agencies. And, once you're able to track down some of the folks, they should be able to point you towards others."

"That would make life a lot easier, yes," said Sir David.

"I'll need to visit her later this evening," said Harry, taking a sip of his juice. "I'll ask her then."

"Another of those cubes of yours, My Lord Potter?" asked the Queen.

"Yes, Your Majesty," Harry confirmed. "This will be the second one and the first of the ones that just hold information."

"And what information are you providing them, tonight?" She asked.

"This is the complete works of mundane law for the United Kingdom," replied Harry. "By tomorrow morning, as can I, the three other Heirs would be able to sit for the bar for the United Kingdom justice system and pass it with a one hundred percent score."

"That's... that's... astonishing!" spluttered Sir Anthony.

Harry just shrugged and said, "That's magic, Sir Anthony."

The third course was delivered. A lovely crème caramel with a scorched sugar coating. Once he'd tasted it, Harry decided it was one of his favorite dishes.

Once he'd finished Harry said, "Let me ask you both. Are either of you aware of magicals within your own organizations?"

Sir Anthony looked back with a slightly puzzled expression and replied, "No, My Lord. Not that I'm aware of."

But Sir David looked uncomfortable and hesitated for a while before he said, "We have two that I know of. But I won't get into details of what they do for us."

"That's okay, Sir," replied Harry. "I don't need to know. But have you considered asking them for the names of others they know?"

"Errr...," hemmed Sir David.

Harry held up his hand and said, "Again, I don't need to know. It was more in the form of a suggestion than a question."

Seeing the man who was obviously his friend being a bit uncomfortable, Sir Anthony asked, "Would you mind showing me a bit of real magic? I'm just curious to see what it actually looks like."

Harry grinned back and answered, "Of course."

Holding out his hand Harry levitated the carafe of orange juice that was sitting on a sideboard across to himself and refilled his glass. Then he levitated it back. Next, he transfigured Sir Anthony's dessert bowl into a little white kitten, which 'Meowed at him before Harry changed it back. And finally, he created a glowing ball of blue, white light about six inches in diameter and had it hover about three feet above the table, leaving it there.

"That, of course, is only a very tiny bit of what magic can do and on a small scale," said Harry. "It can also be used to heal and to harm, do things on a grand scale or small, be used to relocate yourself or something else from one location to another across the globe in mere moments, just about anything, really."

"Sir David," asked Harry, turning to the other man. "Have you sent your people to the Granger residence yet?"

"Not yet My Lord. That's due within the next couple of days," he replied.

"Good," Harry nodded. "When they do visit, I suggest they use the word 'astonishing' in a sentence when greeting the Major at the door. He knows that to be a code word that tells him the person saying it is in the know."

Sir David twitched an eyebrow and said, "That's very clever, My Lord. It's a rare enough word in the English language that it's rarely used in normal speech, but still easy enough to use in a normal sentence."

"Thank you, I thought so too," grinned Harry.

After a little more chatting Harry reminded the Queen, he had to visit the other three Heirs. He knew it was a breach of proprietary to leave before Her Majesty, but She also understood he needed to go.

Before leaving both Sir, David and Sir Anthony asked him to stop by MI5 and Scotland Yard respectively soon, as they both wanted further information. Harry promised to do both and said he'd use the word 'astonishing' with the receptionist to let them know he was there.

As a last demonstration of his magic to them both, Harry stepped a little away from the table, said goodnight, and phoenix-flashed back to his room.

'Let them think on that,' he thought.

# # #

After stopping only long enough to get changed and collect his satchel Harry donned his glamour and phoenix-flashed and apparated to the Longbottom Manor.

Greeting Augusta, he asked, "How's Neville?"

"He's fine, thank you," she said. "He stopped staring at the walls about lunch time."

"Good," said Harry nodding. "He must be done with both the sorting and his shields, then."

Augusta nodded. "I take it that means he's now protected against Legilimency?"

"Yes, Ma'am," replied Harry.

"Then it's on to the next cube tonight, as planned?" she asked.

"Definitely," replied Harry. "I take it he's in his room. Ready for bed?"

Augusta nodded and said, "Yes, My Lord. He's ready."

Leading the way again, Augusta headed upstairs with Harry behind.

Entering the room Harry saw Neville sitting and thinking.

"Hiya, Nev," he said.

"Hi, Harry," replied Neville. "That's a very cool thing you did for me with that cube."

"Glad it helped, mate," said Harry. "What form did you give your visual representation of your mind?"

"A castle," the lad replied grinning. "I've got rooms set up for the information and, just as Merlin said, I've got a nice little trap room for anyone who tries to use Legilimency on me."

"Mine's a small mundane town," said Harry. "It has a fountain, and everything."

"Nice," said Neville nodding. "So, I'm ready for the next one, then?"

"Did Merlin say you were ready?" Harry asked back instead.

"Yeah, he did," replied Neville. "He danced a funny little dance when we reached that part."

"A jig, I know," said Harry grinning. "Then you're ready for the next one. But you're going to have to lie down like last time."

Neville quickly lay down and smiled with excitement, and Augusta came forward and kissed him goodnight.

Having already removed it from its case, Harry placed the second cube on Neville's forehead and said, "Don't forget to let your shields down to let the information in. This one's on mundane law."

Neville simply nodded, and Harry tapped the cube and said, "Goodnight!" and Neville was asleep.

Rising, Harry said to Augusta, "This one won't be anything like the first. There'll be no staring at walls, or anything like that. It is simply information on mundane law that he'll be able to retrieve as needed.

Then he headed for the Bones Manor through the floo.

# # #

Amelia also told Harry that Susan had stopped staring at the walls all the time just before lunch and had told her that Merlin had said she was ready.

After going to Susan's bedroom to ensure she was ready for bed, Amelia came back out and called Harry to follow her.

Entering Susan's room, Harry could see the young girl was lying in bed with the blankets pulled up to her chin, waiting.

As he sat upon the edge of the girl's bed, Harry said, "Hi, Susan." And brought forth Susan's second cube showing it to her.

"What form did you decide for your mind palace?" asked Harry.

"Ummm... It's like Diagon Alley but bigger," she replied. "I hope that's okay."

"Of course, it is," replied Harry gently. "Mine is somewhat similar. I have a mundane village."

"And since you're ready for the next cube, the question is, do you want it?" he went on to say.

"Yes. Definitely," she replied.

"Madam Bones?" Harry asked Amelia.

She nodded, stepped forward and kissed her young niece goodnight.

Harry placed the cube on the Susan's forehead as he did with the first and, tapping it, said, "Goodnight!"

Rising from the bed he said to Amelia, "This one is mundane law of the United Kingdom. She won't be meditating for this one when she awakens. But she might spend a bit of time reviewing what's available to her. However, I doubt she'll find it all that interesting to spend long periods of time on it."

Amelia led Harry back down to the parlor and asked, "How many more are there after this one, again?"

"Twelve," replied Harry. "There'll be one per night from now until completion."

"Oh," said Harry, remembering. "The Heads of MI5 and Scotland Yard would like to know if you can provide them with a list of mundane born or raised wizards and witches. They're looking for those who attended Hogwarts and returned to the mundane world. It would aid them greatly if they had names they could then investigate. I think they're also looking to see if the names may provide them with an answer to disappearances they may have on their books.

"The names will not be made public as this is a security of the realm matter. The whole business, you can expect, is locked behind some pretty high security safeguards."

Amelia thought about it for a while and said, "I'll see what I can do. But my main focus will be first freeing your godfather from Azkaban. I know a Royal Command when I hear it."

"I couldn't ask for more, thank you," replied Harry. "Now, I need to head for the Grangers."

Saying good night to Amelia he once more donned his glamour and phoenix-flashed to a secluded spot just around the corner from the Grangers.

# # #

Knocking on the door he gave the password and walked in, once Dan had backed away and gestured for him to enter.

"How's Hermione doing?" Harry asked.

"She stopped doing that staring at the walls thing early this morning," replied Dan. "Since then, she's been bouncing off the walls waiting for you to come by with the next cube."

Harry grinned and said, "I figured as much. That girl is just an information sponge."

Dan just smiled in response.

"Well," he said. "She already in bed and waiting. I guess we should head up."

Harry nodded and followed Dan up the stairs to Hermione's room. The door was already open, so they went right in.

Harry sat on the edge of the bed and drew out the second cube for Hermione before turning to her and saying, "This one's mundane law. Tomorrow morning you will have the complete works of mundane law at your disposal. Don't forget you need to keep your shields open for you to be able to absorb the information."

"Yeah, Merlin told me that," she replied.

"And what form did you choose for your mind palace?" asked Harry.

"It's a big library broken into separate rooms," she replied enthusiastically.

"I guess I shouldn't be surprised," Harry said. "As long as it works for you, that's fine."

Turning to Dan he asked, "Have you said your good nights?"

Dan nodded.

"In that case..." Harry said, leaning forward and placing the cube on Hermione's forehead. He then tapped the cube and said, "Goodnight!"

Dan said, "So, no staring off into space with this one?"

"No, Sir," replied Harry, rising from the edge of the bed. "This is just information. However, she may spend periods reviewing what's there. Just remind her it's not going to go away, and it'll always be available to recall at will. She doesn't need to attempt to read every volume."

Dan nodded and led the way back downstairs to the lounge.

"I take it we're now going to see you every night, now," he said.

"For tonight and the next twelve nights, yes," replied Harry. "After that, we'll see. I've still a lot of other tasks I need to complete before the 1st of September, so I need time to do those."

Dan nodded and said, then I guess I'll see you tomorrow night about... the same time?"

"Yes, Sir," replied Harry. "Goodnight."

And flashed back to his room in the palace.

# # #

Harry wished that technology had caught up to what he saw in the time viewer and things had progressed another couple of years. A mobile phone would make an excellent tool he could carry, he hoped, for the others to be able to contact him, especially the Grangers. However, mobile phone technology was still a couple of years of being worthwhile.

He also still hadn't solved the issue with batteries yet, so mobile phones would still prove to be a problem until he could test the theory that just apparating or floo travel wouldn't kill them.

Still with nothing much to do he decided to spend his morning wandering through Diagon Alley under his glamour. He was just enjoying spending the morning around other magicals.

After a bit to eat for lunch he decided to head over to the MI5 building. He apparated to St Johns Gardens about two blocks north of the building on Millbank and walked the rest of the way. Just before he arrived, he dropped his glamour.

Once inside he found his way to the MI5 offices and approached the receptionist.

"Could you inform Sir David that the astonishing young man he had dinner with last night was here to see him?" he asked the lady.

"Is he expecting you?" she asked.

"I believe so, yes," replied Harry.

"One moment," she said before making the call via her headset.

A few moments later the receptionist looked up at Harry and said, "Someone will be down to collect you shortly. You may take a seat if you like."

Harry just smiled and said, "Thank you, Ma'am," but remained standing. He knew he wasn't going to be waiting long.

A few minutes later a young man came down, approached Harry and asked, "My Lord?"

Harry smiled and said, "Yes."

"This way, please, My Lord," the man said and led Harry to a bank of elevators behind the security screening area.

Exiting a couple of floors later, the man had not said anything further to Harry. He just led him through a set of office cubicles and into an office.

Inside, Harry found Sir David sitting behind a desk. As soon as Sir David saw him, he smiled and said to Harry's escort, "Thank you, Thomas. Please shut the door behind you."

Sir David said, "Please, My Lord, take a seat," as the young man, Thomas, closed the door on his way out of the office.

"Thank you," said Harry taking the offered chair. "I'm sorry I didn't call first, but... well... I don't have a phone as yet."

"Think nothing of it, My Lord," said Sir David, waving a hand dismissively. "I'm glad you came."

"I spoke to Madam Bones, last night," said Harry. "And she's going to see what she can do to get you a copy of that list of past Hogwarts students. However, she's focused, at the moment, on getting my godfather out of the wizard world's prison he was dumped in without a trial. She recognizes she's under direct orders from Her Majesty to... expedite matters relating to that.

"That's also my focus. But I believe she will make the effort to collect the list soon. Her problem will be in getting the list together without raising suspicions within the Ministry as to why she wants it."

"That is excellent news, My Lord," beamed Sir David. "And, yes, I do understand the need for discretion."

"Now, I also believe you wanted to talk to me about other matters," prompted Harry.

"Yes," replied Sir David. "I wanted to hear more about this terrorist that was running around in the late 70s. What can you tell me about him?"

Harry nodded and said, "His name was... is... Tom Marvolo Riddle, but he went by the name of Lord Voldemort."

And Harry went on to describe Riddle's history and his time rampaging across Britain with his Death Eaters and other followers. He described the killing curses and how they didn't leave a mark on their victims. And that the deaths were usually across family groups, or clusters. As he talked Sir David took notes.

When he was finished Sir, David looked up at him and asked, "How do we apprehend such people?"

Harry sighed and said, "Without magical support, you can't. You can kill them, or even knock them out cold. But as soon as they revive, they'll be gone."

"So, I need to have people with magic ability in each of the teams I send against these people who call themselves Death Eaters?" asked Sir David.

"Yep; but not just magicals. They need to be trained in fighting such an adversary," replied Harry. "And that requires people trained to be Aurors. Else, any magical sent into battle will simply be targeted first, once the bad guys learn magicals are involved on your side.

"It's this reason, above all else, that drives me to deal with the problem from within the magical world. After that, I can in my position as Earl of Slytherin, together with the other three Earldoms, force the Wizengamot, the ruling body of the magical world in Britain, to toe the bloody line.

"Once we have control of the Wizengamot we can force the changes from within. And that'll allow us to have trained Aurors working side by side with their mundane counterparts, MI5 and Scotland Yard.

"But we have time. Our own research and studies have discovered Riddle won't be resurrected until around May of 1994. By then we'll have regained control of the Wizengamot and the Ministry."

"Resurrected, My Lord?" asked Sir David with some surprise.

"Yep. Resurrected," replied Harry. "At least, that's the closest term to what he's up to."

"What Riddle has done," he continued, "is managed to use a magical way of locking pieces of his soul to the mortal plane. Until his soul is freed from those locks there is at least one ritual I'm aware of, that'll allow him to return in physical form. Besides freeing my godfather from prison for a crime he didn't commit, I'm focused on hunting those anchors, those locks, down and having them destroyed.

"And, by then, I'll be in a position to be able to get the Ministry for Magic back working with the rest of the government as they should be. And that means the Department of Magical Law Enforcement will be working with MI5 and Scotland Yard as equals, working together for the betterment of all the United Kingdom."

"A lofty goal, My Lord," said Sir David.

"Perhaps," sighed Harry. "But I know I'm going to have to bang quite a number of pretty thick skulls together to accomplish anywhere near such lofty heights."

"No matter how lofty the height," said the head of MI5, "One step at a time will get you closer to the peak."

Harry snorted and said, "That, and some Chinese biscuit dough, will make you a fortune cookie."

Sir David laughed and said, "Clever."

"Anyway, Sir David," Harry said rising to his feet. "I must be off. Places to be, worlds to save, you know how it is."

Sir David grinned, offered his hand and said, "Pay my respects to Sir Anthony when next you see him."

Shaking his hand, Harry replied, "Of course, Sir."

"Now, if you'll excuse me, I intend to skip the whole travel down to the ground floor and exit that way, thing," said Harry. "Time for you to see something else magic is capable of, apparating."

Before Sir David could even ask what, he meant, Harry popped away.

# # #

Wondering how things were going with his three charges, Harry decided to pay an early visit to the Grangers.

Having redonned his glamour, he arrived outside the Granger home to see an electrician's van outside.

He walked up to the front door and knocked. 'Hmm, a suitable sentence to use,' he thought.

Dan opened the door and Harry began to say, "A particularly astonish...Okk!" as Dan grabbed him by a fistful of his shirt and dragged him inside.

Pinning him up against the wall in the entry hall a rather frazzled looking Dan snarled, "You've got to make her stop!"

"Errr..." said Harry. "A... female electrician... giving you a hard time?"

"No, you idiot!" snarled Dan, "Hermione!"

Dan, still holding on to a fistful of Harry's shirt, pulled him off the wall and shoved him into the lounge room. "You did it; you fix it!" he half barked.

Harry, wondering what the hell was going on, soon figured it out.

Harry found Hermione in the kitchen scolding the, clearly MI5, electronic surveillance systems installers on subjects ranging from building code violations to flat out criminal trespass laws regarding surveillance, to laws regarding the safe installation of cabling.

The two electronic security experts were taking turns saying, "We're just following orders, My Lady," "It's for your protection, My Lady" and similar empty responses.

To which she blustered, "That excuse didn't work at Nuremburg, and it isn't going to work here!"

"Hermione!" Harry called to her.

Getting no response, he tried again. "Hermione!"

Finally recognizing someone was trying to get her attention, Hermione turned and said, "What?"

Harry dropped his glamour and said, "Come into the lounge room for a minute."

"But, Harry," she said exasperatedly. "Do you know how may laws they're breaking?"

"Of course, you do," she said, answering her own question. "They're your lessons!"

Harry again said, "Come into the lounge room for a minute."

Hermione huffed and followed Harry into the lounge.

"Now, if you promise to let the security teams do the work that they..." he began.

"But Harry..." she interrupted.

"Ah!" exclaimed Harry. holding up a finger. "If you promise to let the security teams do the work, they need to do... to help keep you and your parents alive... I'm going to show you something else exciting to learn."

That grabbed Hermione's attention, just as Harry knew it would.

"What?" Hermione eagerly asked.

"First, though," said Harry calmly. "They're operating under instructions passed down to them from the Crown. And it's being done without the proper paperwork because..."

"Oh," said Hermione suddenly understanding. "The Crown has the right to take such actions as necessary to protect Her peerage and does not require the normal requirements of much of the law to carry out such protective action."

"Correct!" replied Harry. "So, that means these people..."

"Aren't doing anything wrong under the law," huffed Hermione.

"That's right," said Harry. "So, stop picking on them!"

"Okay, okay," sighed Hermione just a little sulkily. "But just because it's not unlawful does not mean they can violate the codes. That's a safety..."

"Ah!" exclaimed Harry, again holding up a finger. "I told you, if you promise to let the security teams do the work they need to do, I'm going to show you something else exciting to learn."

"Okay, I'll leave them alone and not point out the glaringly egregious..." she said before Harry interrupted her again with his finger in the air.

"You will leave them, and any other people tasked with protecting you and your family, alone," commanded Harry. "They have a job to do and they're going to be allowed to do it! Understand?"

"Yes, Harry," she said in a bit of a huff.

Harry waited to make sure she didn't launch, once more, into a rant.

When he saw she was calmer, he said, "Now for the lesson... Do you remember how I said any wand waver can transform into an Animagus form?"

"Yes?" she asked, quite interested.

"Well, you currently have the skill to discover what your form is going to take," said Harry.

"I do?" she asked.

"You do," he said. "All it takes is meditation. The same sort of meditation you used to develop your eidetic memory and Occlumency shields. The difference is, you want to meditate and let your mind float free. Let it come to you."

"But," she said, "how can you focus through meditation, but not focus to let the Animagus form develop?"

"Meditate and ask Merlin," replied Harry. "He can help guide you."

"Okay, thanks Harry," Hermione rapidly said. And, before Harry could even say she was welcome, she'd already dashed for the stairs, heading to her bedroom.

Watching Hermione's feet as they disappeared at the top of the stairs, he sighed.

He was broken out of his musings when he heard from the kitchen, "Thank God!"

Dan, who had come up behind him, tapped him on the elbow and offered him a tumbler with about a half inch of an amber liquid and ice blocks.

"What's this?" asked Harry.

"Scotch"

"Sir, I'm only eleven."

"Bullsh... puckey!" stated Dan. "You may look it, lad; but you sure as hell aren't."

"Major?" they both turned to the door in the kitchen, where one of the electronics boffins had poked his head through the door.

"Sir," the tech said plaintively. "Has she gone? Please, say she's gone."

"She's up in her room, meditating," said Dan. "She should be busy for hours."

"Thank you, Sir!" the tech said. "And, if I may ask, do you have the young Sir's number on speed dial?"

Harry just snorted in amusement.

"Oh, Gods, man!" said Dan back. "She's an eleven-year-old girl. What's wrong with you?"

"Sir, they taught us how to deal with all sorts of hazards in all sorts of risky situations. But they never gave us a class on how to deal with eleven-year-old girls on a rampage."

Dan just grinned, looked at Harry and said, "He's got a point, you know. How do we contact you if we need you?"

"I've been thinking on that, Sir," said Harry. "And I think I may have an answer. I'll just have to figure out how to make it work, first."

"Please, do," replied Dan, taking a sip of his scotch. "And how long, really, is this latest thing going to take her?"

Thinking deeply Harry replied, "It depends on the person. If she can get past the not focusing while focusing thing it can happen in a matter of days. However, Hermione's going to try and push it. That means she's going to take longer. I'm really hoping she still won't manage it by the 1st of September, but I doubt that very much.

"However, if she does, she'll only be able to discover her Animagus form, not necessarily change into it.

"And, if she gets past that hurdle, I'm sure I'll think of something else for her to do that'll challenge her and keep her busy."

"I hope so, lad," the older man said. "I hope so."

Taking his leave, Harry changed back into his glamour and left on foot. He decided to walk down to the local shops to see if he could make a purchase there. A dozen or so little foldaway mirrors, a permanent marker, a three-foot length of five-millimeter-thick dowel, a roll of thin cord and some paper and pens.

With his purchases in hand, Harry walked into a laneway and phoenix-flashed back to the palace. What he wanted to do would take some study.

# # #

Back in his suite, Harry unpacked all his purchases on the coffee table in his little lounge room. And laid them all out to ensure he had everything.

Then, using pen and paper, he set about designing the runes he would need to make the law of contagion work with quantum entanglement, the protean charm and the magic of the mirrors.

He knew he would need one each for himself and the three other heirs. He would also need one each for Amelia, Augusta and the elder Grangers. He then thought he could provide one for Sir Anthony, Sir David and the Queen. That made ten. He could then make the others as spares, doing the setup work but not configuring, what he called, the dialing runes.

Next, he removed the mirrors from their little flip open hinged metallic cases. On the back of each he laid a near identical rune with the permanent market. He called this the user's rune. Unhappy with the image provided by each mirror - it made the person looking into it too closely - he slightly convened each; so, when holding the mirror up in front of you at about eighteen inches, it showed his whole head and a little of his shoulders. Then did the same with each of the others.

Then, he placed each mirror back into its case and caused the original glue that was holding them in to rebound the mirror into the back of the lid of the case.

Next on his list was to use the permanent marker to lay down twelve runes in a four-line three row tic-tac-toe arrangement on the flat surface within the case opposite the mirror. Each of the first ten runes was linked to a different mirror using, for the most part, a permanent protean charm. He even included the rune for the mirror in which the rune was put. He thought of this as the off button, meaning the mirror was only linking to itself.

He then added two tiny runes, one to the bottom half along the edge that touched the top half, and one to the top half so it would touch the one on the bottom half. To these he made it so the device would vibrate and hum if a connection came in. But would stop as soon as the two runes were drawn apart, as in, the mirror was opened.

His original problem with the idea of runes was that it needed someone with a magical core to activate one. But his fiddling with batteries earlier reminded him that wands could store magical energy, like a magical battery. So, he would make tiny wands that could store enough magical energy so a mundane could use the device.

He picked up the cord and cut off five pieces of about twelve inches in length and set them aside.

He picked up his length of thin dowel and caused five pieces to shear off at four-inch, ten centimeters, lengths. He then pulled five individual reasonably long hairs from his own head. Laying a piece of dowel and a single strand of hair side-by side he caused the two to merge, with the single strand of hair running down the center core of the wood.

He then reshaped the wood into an imitation wand in the same manner as bonsai pruners or those who carve, he simply shaved off what he didn't want until the shape he wanted appeared. Next, he caused a small hole to appear almost through to the core into the end where the handle would be and poked one end of one of the cut lengths of cord into the hole. Holding it in place he willed the hole to close, sealing the cord and mini wand together.

He repeated the process on the other four 'mini' wands. A simple spell and he caused the wood of all five to harden. Then he tied the other end of each of the cords of the mini wands to the hinge of each of five of the mirror cases.

Thinking a bit, he then etched a tiny rune into the tip of each of his mini wands that allowed the wand to store magical energy and to only release a tiny pulse each time the tip was pressed to any of the runes. This would activate the rune causing the protean charm to link the mirror to its counterpart runed mirror.

Finally, he used his own magic to charge each of the five wands.

Knowing he was running out of time before he had to go visit the three other heirs, he hurried to test them. Using the ones without wands he tested each to ensure they linked to the other nine. Then, suppressing his magical core, he tested each of the five using the wands to activate them to connect to each of the other nine.

It was a bit time consuming, but he was done. He now had his own magical radio network with an individual 'channel' for each person in possession of one of the mirrors. And it would work through his change to Animagus form and back without ending up with flat batteries as he suspected would happen if he was carrying batteries at the time.

After he was finished, he realized he could have also set up groups where a mirror could connect to a group of other mirrors. He mentally head-smacked himself for not thinking of it before he started and put the thought of doing that aside for another day.

But now he had to head back to the three heirs with the next cube for each.

# # #