34Exodus
Just a little something to prove that I am still writing and that The Great Manipulator will resume in November – The-Kop-Who-Scoused.
27th August 1998
"...and so, in light of the facts that Narcissa Malfoy and Draco Malfoy did not actively participate in crimes against humanity, but were coerced by the Dark Lord Voldemort into providing aid. As each of the defendants have the Dark Mark, it stands to reason that they were Death Eaters. This court finds them guilty of aiding and abetting the Dark Lord. However, in light of only circumstantial evidence, this court finds them not guilty of murder and the other charges. Draco Malfoy is also found to be guilty of the conspiracy to murder Albus Dumbledore.
"Furthermore, the punishment for bearing the mark is six months imprisonment in the highest security cells. However, considering the mitigating circumstances, including Mrs. Malfoy's betrayal of Voldemort, this court is of the belief that her sentence should be mitigated to a fine of one million galleons. Also, as Draco Malfoy was a juvenile at the time of Albus Dumbledore's murder, he is to be remanded to one month's judicial custody and a one million galleon fine.
"Lucius Malfoy, having been previously remanded to and having escaped from Azkaban, having pled guilty to the charges of murder, and active participation in the Dark Lord's reign of terror, is hereby sentenced to execution by passage through the Veil of Death. May God have mercy on his soul," completed the new Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot, Artorius Pockspot. He was one of those people who had conveniently fled the country during the war under the garb of business ventures, and was considered a fair and neutral party.
It took both Ron and Hermione to hold Harry down as he growled angrily. He wanted to do nothing but murder each of these soulless, amoral, corrupt bigots that littered the room.
"You can't," Hermione whispered sorrowfully. "He is actually going by the book."
"To hell with the book," Harry softly snarled. "A terrorist is a terrorist, no matter what age or one stinking self-serving action."
"These are the rules, Harry. This is what this society is. As much as it irritates me to agree with her," Ron added with a scowl, "she is right. You cannot ask for the rule of law and then be angry because it does seem to favour the Death Eaters."
He and Hermione then proceeded to exchange a glare that could have burned the other if it could. Their ill-fated attempt at dating had ended with Molly Weasley hexing them both and ordering them to "shut up and break up"; such was the ferocity of their fights. To the world though, they were still the two-thirds of the 'Golden Trio'.
"Well, they will lose what's left of this great, big, stinking turd they call the world," Harry declared lowly.
"What are you going to do?" Hermione asked fearfully. The Harry that had emerged after his temporary death was not the forgiving, good-natured, slightly stupid (compared to her), brooding, brave and noble teen she had grown up with. What had emerged was a conniving, unforgiving, paranoid, distrusting man, who had plans and plans within plans nested ad infinitum.
He smiled tightly as he answered, "Something..." he paused dramatically, "and nothing."
Neither of the other two could get any more explanation from him.
This was just the latest among the incidents that they were being exposed to. The aforementioned distrust and disgust that Harry felt and saw about magic almost as if he were sick of it, made people wonder about their newly re-minted saviour. It had almost alienated everyone, including Ginny (before she could even suggest getting back together), Luna and Neville. All three of them were only tentatively friendly with him anymore. He didn't seem to care.
Molly and Arthur were the only ones who seemed to take it into stride. From the point of view of the maternal lady, the boy who was as good as her seventh son was long overdue a violent outburst at the world around him. She like the others had seen the dead body of the boy being carried by Hagrid and it had poured hot, boiling acid on the weeping wound that was Fred.
And all this worried Hermione a lot, particularly when she heard him calling the Death Eaters freaks and caught him muttering once that the "big, fat oaf was right about the bloody freaks after all."
"You are not thinking of taking over, are you?" she asked him at last.
"Oh please!" he protested, his tone suggesting that even the idea was preposterous and offending. "Don't be obvious. It would be ever so mundane to do that."
"I would worry less if you would oblige me by explaining," she tartly snapped.
"You have lost the wonder about magic, haven't you?" he retorted with a non-sequitur. "What's the most interesting part of any magic trick? The sleight of hand and the actions that are obscured, aren't they? You don't really expect me to explain?"
"Give us a clue, Harry, at least," begged Ron. "We would need to prepare."
"Your father would be very happy, Ron. As would your parents, Hermione. I would like to believe so."
"That muddies the matter further."
"Well, I won't hand you another container, alum, Potassium Permanganate or filters."
The glare was replaced by a worried, weary and wary look which Ron and Hermione exchanged. This cagy Harry was particularly vexing for them.
"But as you did say, Ron, you'd need to prepare. So let me tell you what to do. Put the Burrow and any other Weasley dwelling under the Fidelius. Don't tell me yet, unless you mean to invite me, something which you shouldn't do yet. And be ready to escape with any Portkey that I provide, with my passwords, at a moment's notice –assuming you agree to let me help you. You, Hermione, on the other hand, would be better served by not having the choice at all, so everything the same applies to you. Be ready."
He simply stood and left, leaving confusion and worry in his wake.
"I don't think I am going to like this," Ron commented.
"I thought it would take me forever to agree with you upon anything," Hermione replied. "But I do, right now."
"So," Ron slightly fearfully prompted at this admission, after a few moments' silence, "Friends?"
"Yes. We shall remain friends."
"But we shall only remain friends," he added a quick rider.
"Another thing I happen to agree with," she replied, shaking his hand.
For the whole of the next week, Harry was nowhere to be seen. That worried his friends a lot. Patronus messages and owls remained unanswered. There was neither hide nor hair of him, and in the end, it had worried the Weasley parents enough to make them actively think of registering a missing person complaint.
Fortunately, an Owl landed just after such a discussion, at a quarter to three in the afternoon. It was from him. It only became legible after the password for the map, then Voldemort's real name and then answers to security questions for the opener (after voice identification) were spoken in order.
"Is it me, or has Harry gone around the bend like Mad-Eye?" George asked at last.
"No. He has gone Mad-Eye," answered Neville. Since Molly had asked his friends for help searching him, Neville was found at the Burrow at all sorts of odd times.
"Read the letter will you?" Molly requested her daughter.
Weasleys, (and Hermione, Neville and Luna, if you are there),
I am sure you must be irritated by my sudden absence and resulting discourtesy. However, if Ron and Hermione remember, I did tell them to be prepared.
I am no longer sure about any of your safety in the magical world at the moment. With that in mind, I have been going around setting up things. Do not ask in a letter. Do not reply. At three o'clock, Andromeda and Teddy will come over to the Burrow (sorry for my presumption, Mrs. Weasley, Mr. Weasley, but he is my godson. I intend to keep all parts of my family safe). She will give each of you an item. Wear it all the time. They are remotely triggered portkeys. Move all immediately required, very valuable things to #12. I will tell you more on Sunday. Someone cast undetectable expansion charms please, if there isn't enough room. You still might have to share. Sorry for being a bad host.
Take care and...
Here, before Ginny could even open her mouth for the next words, the letter flew out of her hands, transformed itself into a howler and barked, "CONSTANT VIGILANCE!" She was still silent for a minute as everyone started at the yell. Then she read the next part.
Sorry, I thought to honour Mad-Eye. I could imagine him sending such a howler like Mrs. Weasley used to do. By the way, Bill, don't go to Gringotts for a few days. I have arranged for this letter to reach you when I get into the bank, by the way. If Luna is there, please tell her that I would like to borrow Fudge's techniques for Goblin Pies. If she isn't, well, I am sure I'll tell her when I meet you all anyway. Ron, Hermione and everyone else – do not, under any circumstances, try to stand by me if you even hear the rumour about me visiting Gringotts. It will mean that they will have managed to kill me. If that happens, then, "Fly, you fools!" I have made the arrangements for that.
Toodles!
Love,
Harry.
"He has gone mad!" chanted Hermione on loop. "He is going into Gringotts alone!" she shrieked.
"He is in Gringotts right now, actually," Bill muttered faintly as he turned a little green at the prospect of Harry going up against his employers.
"Why did he call us fools and ask us to fly?" asked Ron, a tad grumpily.
"That means he wants us to run because he will have incited the Goblin Horde into a rebellion, you idiot!" snapped his older brother.
"That might be true as well," replied a very shocked Hermione. "Or it might just be a literary reference."
"Can we just agree that the foolish boy has walked to face death again?" Arthur spoke in a shaky voice.
It was at that point that Andromeda and Teddy arrived. The pale, shaken faces of her hosts told her that something was amiss.
"What happened?"
Wearing a hooded cloak, Harry walked into the bank and slammed his key onto the nearest teller's desk. The bank was practically deserted. The teller recognised the customer and snarled and leapt up to attack him as the customer thoroughly expected and as the little beast was expected to do by his superiors.
A flash of silver, and then another, and two goblins were dead on the floor within seconds. One did not have to be highly skilful to defeat a goblin if one possessed a vial of the most potent poison in the world and a goblin knife and speed to kill. Moments later, the two dead bodies were revolving around Harry at a high speed as he moved about killing any goblin that dared come close enough to attack him, adding them to the grisly satellites. Said satellites were being riddled by arrows. When Harry had seven satellites, he decided he had enough.
"I knew you stupid little beasts were foolish. I didn't know you were so stupid as to incur my wrath, knowing what I am to the humans, and what I can be," he sneered at them.
"You deserve death thief!" spat a senior goblin.
"Wonderful! If at all it is Griphook the oath-breaker who deserves death. He made a deal with me to help me destroy an object in the Lestrange Vault. That was my sole objective. He betrayed me. And you want to be treated as equals when you deceive at the first instant." He spat at the goblin's feet.
"We did what was best for this institution," thundered the Goblin. From Harry's limited vision, this one was different since he was older, a darker green, and dressed in a very different way. It might have been their highest-ranking head-beast. He didn't care. A peripheral thought that he shared his newfound hatred of Goblins with Umbridge and that it her own hatred was not unfounded made him grimace. While the human-goblin conflict had racial antecedents, six of them had, so far as they knew, been started by the goblins as a political war to cover their swindling of people by using impure gold or leprechaun gold.
"No. Doing what I order you to do will be what will be best for this bank."
"You dare?" the beast hissed.
"I do."
"I will have you cut down by my best who will sacrifice themselves to destroy you. You may kill a few, but we will get you, you walking roast!"
"That is very funny," acknowledged Harry offhandedly.
"What?"
"I see that you stupid ears are only for show and that you can't hear all that well. I said that it is very funny that you should threaten me and call me a walking roast."
"And why is that?"
"Should you hurt me, several howlers to the Ministry, several howlers addressed, "To whomsoever is present in the Diagon Alley," and many allied houses have all been posted, and they will open instantly. They will declare to the world how Gringotts' betrayed its customers by helping Bellatrix Lestrange hide a necromantic object that helped Voldemort survive. Then it will go on to tell how Gringotts' has been broken into twice, and how I, Harry Potter," here he paused to kill another foolish goblin that had tried to cross him, and cast a transparency charm on the goblin bodies revolving around his head, "stole the artefact and helped destroy it. Then they will be told how you had known all along that the Ministry was a corrupt cesspit, and how, since it filled your coffers, you actively helped hide the evidence, and also that Griphook the goblin, went back on its word," (he made sure to use the neuter gender pronoun, eliciting a snarl), "its given word, and betrayed us while we fought to save the world. It will prove your so-called tenets of honesty, honour and safety as the lies they are. I wonder how much time it will take for people to withdraw all their money."
The chief goblin's face grew a very pale green.
"You wouldn't!"
"I already have, you idiot."
"I will destroy you and your vaults and destroy anyone who comes to withdraw their money!"
"What's to stop me from gutting your bank with Fiendfyre? You will burn just like everything else. I can control it well enough to save myself. And since a thousand of your little herd are here, you are easy pickings. Even your dragons will die. Since the fire does nothing to stones, and since all you beasts will be dead, it will leave me with all the gold."
That was a threat against which the Goblins had no answer.
"What do you want?"
Harry smiled and withdrew a contract. Then he cast the charm to count the number of intelligent souls in the building. "You will sign this, on behalf of all the twenty-three thousand four hundred and seventeen goblins and humans in this building. You have shunted out all the customers anyway to deal with me."
The contract was ironbound.
· The goblins would forsake any claim on wand usage.
· They would forsake any claim on Goblin-made artefacts still in the hands of humans from the families of...it was a fairly long list with a rider regarding the addition of further names.
· They would allow people to withdraw at any moment that they wished to, including account closure. They were allowed to limit these allowances to ten closures and ten direct transactions per day.
· They would by no means attempt to cause harm in any manner, directly or indirectly or through suggestions or manipulations, to Harry or ...another long list succeeded that also included the rider about name-addition.
· There would be no Goblin propaganda. They would serve as bankers as was their mandate without causing monetary distress and inflation, or withhold any type of supply directly or indirectly. They would also not delve into the non-magical currency beyond the exchange limits stipulated by the Exchequer.
And the next one was most curious.
· They would send every proof regarding corruption in the Ministry to Harry Potter. If they ever rose in revolt, they were never to hurt Hogwarts, St. Mungo's and institutions where children were. If they felt the need to take up arms, they would send a delegation to discuss with Harry Potter and only after the deliberations and discussions failed, would they actually go to war.
· All these conditions were to be met in perpetuity, regardless of the leadership within Gringotts' and the Goblin Clans.
· Secrecy regarding this contract was to be upheld.
"This will destroy us."
"Well, I know for a fact that Bill Weasley was tasked with requesting someone called Ragnok to help the magical humans against Voldemort. You chose to support the wrong side. Your vaunted neutrality would have killed us all. You chose to support the wrong side. This is the victors' demand, beast. Pay it and be done. The contract will count the number of signatories, beast. Hurry up. I haven't got all day."
The Goblin reached for his sword when the word, "Ignis..." reached his ears. It was not a bluff then. So he brought out a little knife, slashed a finger and jabbed at the contract.
Three hours later, Harry Potter had officially defeated the goblins.
"And if I hear of you harassing ordinary day-to-day magicals, I will make good on my threat. You have just bought my patience. It is temporary. You may hold the bulk of the magical money, but it is time you realise that we, the customers, are the Kings. Welcome to true capitalism."
6th September, 1998
It was at four in the morning when Harry finally returned to his people. Since there had been no rumours of Harry ever visiting Gringotts (the Goblins obviously wanted to hide their shame), and since they had received a letter and two Patronus messages, the rest of the 'family' as they were all collectively referred to, settled into an uneasy peace. As such, nobody was awake, bar Kreacher.
"Master has returned."
"I have Kreacher. How go things?"
"The mudbloods and blood traitors are back in the house," the gnarled old elf replied, largely without rancour.
"I don't remember not ordering you to never use those words. Well, anyway; do not use blood-bigotry-based invectives and abuses ever again. You are not allowed to be a bigot. Take good care of yourself Kreacher. You are still a valued member of the House of Black. I wish you to be healthy and happy, stately and graceful, as the house-elf of a house of our stature should be."
Kreacher glared at him hatefully for a moment. Then his elfish magic changed him to correspond to his master's wishes.
"Yes Master. I thank you."
"You may go to sleep. I see that you are still recovering and tired. I will wake you by noon."
Kreacher gave Harry a look of complete bewilderment, and then popped off to his little den.
Harry settled down onto the new Chesterfield Sofa that had been ordered, with the payment being made from the set-aside fund that had greeted the inhabitants when they came to #12 Grimmauld Place. They had an additional guest in Augusta Longbottom. Xenophilius Lovegood had been killed in the blast at the Rookery, so Luna was a permanent fixture as well.
It was seven thirty when a cry of "Harry!" by a torpedoing Hermione, and more importantly a mass of bushy hair strangling him woke Harry. He had not been properly awake for a few seconds following the startling return to wakefulness when he had questions fired at him by all and sundry.
"What the bloody hell were you thinking?" scolded Bill.
"Do you have a death wish, young man?" asked Augusta with a whack to the knee with her knobbly stick.
"Though I don't imagine that the pies would be tasty, did you have fun cooking them?" asked Luna, asking the most important question.
"Did you intend to pull a Sirius and leave Teddy without his godfather too?" spat Andromeda.
"What did you do?" demanded Hermione.
Harry leaned away from them all. "Perhaps I should brush first? I feel as if my mouth has grown hair inwards."
He received several disgusted looks as he was allowed to edge away. It wasn't his fault, damn it! They didn't let him even wake up properly before hauling him up to face the firing squad.
A few minutes later, he was savouring tea, while he asked them to sit down.
"To start with, Bill, Fleur, I am sorry, but I might have lost you your jobs with Gringotts'."
"I expected that since the dragon," Bill replied with a shrug. There were more important things to think of really.
"And I might have defeated the goblin nation."
"You –what?"
"Well, I remember Dumbledore telling you to try and talk with some Ragnok goblin. They still chose to help that lot. And they knew every aspect of the Ministry's corruption and stayed quiet because it filled their vaults. So I might have gone a bit "Allied Powers against Germany and Turkey after World War One" on them."
Everybody was dumbstruck still. They had not realised this. And they weren't sure how to react to the idea of sanctions on the goblin nation.
Finally, in a very spirited attempt at being calm after seeing Harry pull of something of a prank, Molly asked, "Harry, what did you do?"
Grinning, Harry handed over the contract to Hermione who was sitting closest to him. She read it and her eyes bugged out. "This...this... this is..."
"What is it?"
Hermione grappled with several responses, before settling on, "Harry defeated the goblin nation." She read the contract out, and showed them the blood signatories.
"Just how did you manage it?" asked Ron.
"They were springing up to attack me as soon as I went in. All swords drawn and arrows and stuff," he narrated. "I had gone prepared though, because well, CONSTANT VIGILANCE!" he shouted, causing people to flinch and startle. "So as I was saying they attacked me, and I had a goblin dagger coated with some special snake venom that we recently used, and I might have defended myself and used the dead bodies as shields. So yes, Luna, I had fun."
"That's all that matters," she approved.
"You went inside Gringotts', drew weapons..." started Ginny.
"They only don't allow wizards to use wands. Other weapons are fair game."
"It will be wise," Neville finally suggested shakily, "to register this as a legal treaty between the Goblin Nation and the House of Potter."
"Done that already," answered Harry, happily tossing some tea into his cup again.
"Wait," interrupted George with a shrewd look. "If this contract has a secrecy clause, how do you intend to keep it secret after the registration?"
"That's because I filed the contract under a special dispensation by Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth the Second. I am after all, her loyal subject."
"Stop muddying things up even more now!" ordered Hermione.
"Yes, I am going non-linearly, am I not? Well, let me tell you all that I have been up to since the 27th."
By the time he was done fixing them all a nice breakfast, and telling the story as well, the world had turned upside down and inside out for the remaining magicals.
"So now, I have created a situation where each of you has a choice. The choice is to remain in this dying world of faux beliefs and murderous idiots in charge, or, well, you know the other choice."
"I think I would be comfortable somewhere they won't discriminate against Teddy. I would choose your option," Andromeda, the first to be convinced, replied after about ten minutes.
"I was hoping you would choose that. I want my godson and my last living relative to live with me."
He looked at the others.
"I am afraid, Harry," Hermione admitted softly. "My parents, and that world..."
"It's a pity you think that way. Do not buy into this propaganda. Face it. The non-magicals outnumber us by several orders of magnitude. The world is one we share with them. Our job is to bring down the walls, brick by brick. Mine is. You know I am right. You know we have no chance unless we become part of a society like the Australians and most of the former Prussian countries now have." He saw the troubled looks on their faces. "I have charted my course. You have got six months to decide. Muggleborn and half-bloods have always fled from this country's magical society."
"But this is our home," protested Percy, finally.
"Home is where the people we care for live, Percy. Four walls and tradition don't make a home. This magical world cannot be my home. We have no safety, no security. The rules are manipulated to suit the makers. If I manage to not end up dead in a ditch somewhere, and have a family one day, I wouldn't expose my children to this disgusting world."
"That is fatalistic," said Ginny neutrally.
"Tell that to the goblins whom I killed and used as shields within the bank, and the seventeen Death Eaters who lost their limbs and heads and various other assorted body parts over the past ten days," he replied with a shrug. "They are still out there. The way I see it, Voldemort's death has only ended one chapter of the war."
"So what are you going to do?" asked Neville.
"Well, you are not the only ones that I have given this option to. I managed to ferret out the list of all living muggleborns and half-bloods still living in England. They have received the same option and salient points and descriptions regarding this, along with the facts regarding the trials. If even eighty percent, which is a pessimistic estimate, take the option, and since we constitute, even now, seventy percent of the population, that's more than half of this society that will be leaving with me. I know I can't save everyone. By the same token, I know that not all pure-bloods should be left to rot. People like you all; you should not bear the brunt of the actions of others. Assuming any others out there wish to leave, I will help, under the same conditions that I am.
"I have been promised help and training for integration with the muggle world by the people I went to, when I put forth the condition that we wanted to hide in plain side and be contributing members of both societies, something which I cannot do here. So Bill can be attached with Archaeologists, and he will essentially be doing the same job. So too is the case with Fleur. Of course, since you will have more access to magical things, will see past muggle-repellent wards, and will find things others won't, he will be sought after, better paid, and apart from non-magical mercenaries, will be safer than before. And that problem can be obviated in ways that you know best since you will expect it."
"If you intended to convince me, it is working," Bill commented.
"BILL!" scolded Molly, scandalised, though her demeanour had softened at the idea of less danger.
"No mum. It is an enticing prospect. As Harry said, eventually, when I think of starting a family, I want my kids to have the most exposure and security and a chance to grow, and his option does it. I don't say I have chosen it. But I will actively consider it."
"As I said, you have six months. If you wish to do it, I would appreciate your help reaching out to pure-bloods. I do not have the contacts. Just remember this though. It will mean leaving behind the titles and the old hierarchies. There no longer exists any Ancient and Noble House of Potter or Black. The option has given me what I wanted – I am, without any trappings of the past, just Harry Potter, loyal to the only power I shall choose to recognise. I want a future. So, while I shall preserve my legacy in values, I have let go of most of the past. Not that I ever knew it, to begin with."
"Harry," tried Molly, "Dumbledore wouldn't have wanted you to..."
"What Dumbledore wanted got me a Killing Curse to the chest with many people I cared about dead." Everyone flinched at the reminder. "I lay half of our sorrows at the feet of that old bastard, and don't tell me to think of these things otherwise. As I said, I have let go of the past. Dumbledore is a relic of the past that I refuse to associate with anymore. My children, if I have a family, will never know of Hogwarts, and old meddlesome arseholes named Dumbledore. They will not know of my life in full. To them, I only want to be their father. And I want them to not have to live up to something I did, which, realistically, is what will happen here."
His defiant and confident declaration told the rest that there was no changing his mind. The British magical world had thoroughly disillusioned their saviour and he was going to abandon them. Or rather, he wanted them to abandon their home as it was by his definition. And the truth was that as much as they wanted to straight out refuse, the idea was tempting.
"By the way, Hermione, your parents will be back the day after tomorrow. The Australian Embassy helped a lot."
He was almost strangled in a hug.
Over the next six months, the population of magical Britain reduced speedily. Families disappeared, lock, stock and barrel, and Gringotts' accounts. Hogwarts Letters sent to muggleborn students returned with politely worded refusals. Muggleborn employees, such as they were, resigned and left. The Houses of Bones, Longbottom, Brown, Weasley and Prewett and quite a few others renounced magical Britain, though privately. The population reduced to less than forty percent.
Hermione Granger, the famous muggleborn symbol, refused to return to Hogwarts, or work for either the Ministry or Gringotts' citing her need to reassess her priorities and to recover and make further plans.
Kingsley knew and was unable to do a thing. He had been trapped into a vow to that effect. It didn't help that not only was he feeling sympathetic, but he wished to join up with those leaving. He was in a thoroughly unenviable position.
He was being pressured by the Wizengamot to bring in a law that went as close to being a Marriage Law to preserve bloodlines, as it was legally and morally possible to have. It would have shackled those of partial non-magical descent to Houses like the Notts. He had let that slip to the public of course, through a hired public relations officer who ensured that the Ministry felt no backlash. This resulted in a further steep decline including Hermione publicly disavowing, which led to increased pressure, to which he capitulated. And then he resigned. He was welcomed with open arms, as were his wife and daughter, who had escaped to the continent in 1996.
21st March, 1999
"Dear listeners, today we have with us a most esteemed guest who has kept a vow of silence for the past ten months. This guest needs no introduction, and as such, despite his contribution to the war, he has never spoken to anyone thereafter and all attempts towards the same have been soundly rebuffed. He fought the final battle and personally duelled against the most feared Dark Lord of recent times. I, Quirunus Thimble, welcome none other than Harry Potter to this studio."
Across Magical Britain, and everywhere else, whoever possessed the radios made there could tune into the WWN. This was interesting. Harry Potter had always been notoriously silent. He had never spoken a word to any form of the press, even since his defeat of Voldemort.
"Mr. Potter, welcome. I will readily admit that you requested to be heard by everyone and so approached the WWN yourself, including being interviewed by me without us having to have the questions forwarded to you for approval. I will ask you. Would you like to have the interview or the announcement first? I assure you that the interview is less than ten questions long."
"It is your studio, and therefore I believe I am at your mercy, Mr. Thimble. If the choice does mean anything at all, though, I would prefer the interview first. I do reserve my right to not answer. If I cannot due to the various secrecy oaths and vows I am under, or if I am unable to answer it for another reason. I promise to clearly state the reason, however."
"That is a fair condition. Mr. Potter, you have always shied away from speaking to the populace. What caused the change of heart?"
"It was a matter of opportunity, and of the time and situation being correct," replied Harry circumspectly. "I believe that the two are now in confluence, and I may speak unfettered."
"Mr. Potter, there have been rumours that you have lost control of your magic, and that you had been struck with a killing curse during the final battle and also that you are suffering from a terminal disease. Would you please provide further information on these matters?"
"Rumours are called rumours and not facts for a reason, Mr. Thimble."
"Don't rumours and legends have basis in facts?"
In response, Harry summoned the Patronus. It was now a thestral. "You are right about the genesis of rumours, but the fact is that only my Patronus has changed. The new form may have given rise to the other rumours. I wouldn't know."
It was a classic misdirection. Harry just smiled. Let them take that for what they would care to take it as.
"Where have you been?"
"In Remus Lupin and Nymphadora Tonks, I lost the last two members of my family. I have been, like everyone else, grieving. There were also certain matters pertaining to my Houses, since I have inherited the House of Black from my godfather Sirius. There was also the matter of getting him exonerated, even if posthumously. I had allowed for the magical world to take priority. Then it was time for me and mine."
"On that note, the WWN apologises to you and Mr. Black for besmirching his reputation based on false facts."
"Thank you." They wouldn't be forgiven, ever.
"Regarding the House of Black, news has reached that Draco Malfoy will be challenging your headship of the House of Black."
"He has no grounds, considering that Sirius had asked me to cast out any that bore Voldemort's mark. I was only too happy to comply. Draco Malfoy may try to fleece the world by claiming the relation. As things stand, it is one of the reasons why he has no chance. The others will be made clear in my announcement."
"Mr. Potter, would you tell us why He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named was able to live beyond that Halloween night in 1981?"
"Mr. Thimble, even if I could answer that question, I wouldn't. As it is, the knowledge has been obliterated from any living soul bar me, and I am bound to never reveal it. Again, there is an announcement to regarding that in store today, from me."
"Moving to lighter matters, is there any lucky lady who has stolen the heart of the most eligible bachelor in Magical Britain?"
"Anyone that I loved was cruelly taken away by pureblood bigots. I do not feel safe until that problem has been solved."
"Has it not?"
"It is not for me to judge that in public. I am not part of the judicial process beyond being a witness."
"Will you be returning to Hogwarts?"
"No."
"What are your future plans?"
"Once again, I will refer you to my announcement."
"Thank you for your candour and your time for this exclusive interview, Mr. Potter. If I may say so, Ministers and seasoned politicians have spoken more of substance than you have at eighteen."
Harry laughed in a rehearsed manner. "I will assume that that was a compliment, Mr. Thimble."
The host laughed as well, though he didn't comment either way. "We will return shortly after this commercial break before we find out what Mr. Potter has in store for us. Perhaps, if one were to guess, after Kingsley Shacklebolt's recent step down, he might be running for the post?"
He received confirmations by communication charms from all five of his closest friends, as well as George who was in Weasleys' Wizarding Wheezees where he was working on moderation and stock clearance before the shop was shifted to the Brave New World, and Bill who was in Flourish and Blotts'. There was no suspicious movement. The announcement would have made people jittery and there was a probability of an attack. As much as he hated to put his friends in the line of fire, he was overruled and sent on his way under guard.
Flashback:
"You lot just take care. Do not engage unnecessarily." He had practically pled that he be left to do it on his own. Short of calling the old DA, this was the compromise that both sides had reached.
"I still think that telling any of them anything is unnecessary," grumbled Ron. To be fair, he had a point.
"Yes. But we are doing what we have been asked to do. Give them a chance. There will always be another Sirius Black. Even in a world of Death Eaters, however much they try to crush them, there will be more Sirius Blacks. I believe that, and if they decide to choose our way, they must know that they can ask for help and get it. We will never withhold help. But we will never compromise on security."
End Flashback
"We are back, Ladies and Gentlemen, for our first talk with Harry Potter," announced Quirunus Thimble. "For months now, we have looked for signs that Harry Potter will, as we hope he will, fill the empty space left by Albus Dumbledore. We can only hope that any announcement he makes today is Mr. Potter's first of many. Over to you, Mr. Potter," he spoke, in a brilliant impersonation of Ludo Bagman.
"Thank you, Mr. Thimble.
"Wizards and Witches of what you call the magical world, I announce herewith a change in the state of the House of Potter with respect to the Wizarding World as you now know it. I announce herewith my loyalties as they always were, and as residents of the United Kingdom, they should have been first and foremost for all. And I announce to you the truth as I see it, as I have verified it to be, and as will now be from the perspective of me and several others that you no longer see.
"Allow me to share, ladies and gentlemen, that I have learnt from the many deaths that I have seen, from the war I have fought, and from all that I, an eighteen-year-old, have been through. From my parents' death and from Sirius Black's incarceration, I have learnt that one must never forgive a traitor. A traitor, with every breath he takes, kills just as many people.
"From the death of Cedric Diggory, I have learnt that threats come in any form and at any time, and innocents are slaughtered by being unprepared.
"From the death of Sirius Black, I have learnt that no matter how much you may be in control of a situation, it only takes one lucky shot for a person to lose everything.
"From the death of Albus Dumbledore, I have learnt that while terror may have a colour, it may have a front, it has no age. Draco Malfoy may not have been an adult. But he was willing to kill. He had killed to be able to take the mark. And yet the terrorist was let go.
"I fought for the whole of the last two years. But these truths have made me put my own life into perspective. It is for this reason, that I declare that the erstwhile Ancient and Noble Houses of Potter and Black renounce any relation with you and your kind. It is for this reason, I renounce not magic, nor the magical world, but your little pocket of the world that you cling to, murder for, get murdered for and then betray over and over again."
He ignored Thimble's shocked, "Mr. Potter!" and the gasps around the studio as he surged on.
"You will want to know the reasons, and as it happens, I am very eager to provide them.
"To start with, you betrayed your country. Every one of you has betrayed your country. When you sat back and allowed the goons of the Dark pissant to kill a muggle, when you sat protected while the world burned, you betrayed your country. You forgot that your loyalty was to the Crown above all, for the Crown, in return for the secrecy that we needed then, asked that Wizards and Witches help and defend this great country in the time of need. You sat back and did nothing.
"If that was not enough, you betrayed magic. You actively practised bigotry, killing your fellow magicals on the basis of blood, when you should have assimilated them as gifts from Magic herself. For it was through them that our powers were to spread. For Magic always intended to propagate herself, and you bound her. For all humans were to one day be magical, and wise, and as the muggles are, technologically advanced. For the boundaries that constrain us to this planet were to be pushed to frontiers anew. For instead of treating those of non-magical descent as our bridge back to the real world, you made our world smaller, till none of us can coexist.
"And I leave you because you have betrayed me. When I warned that Voldemort was back, you were the ones to dismiss me. You were the ones to fall in with the then Ministry line of declaring me insane, or sane and worse. You allowed people like Cornelius Fudge to remain in power. You allowed the likes of Lucius Malfoy go unchallenged. You allowed people like Dolores Umbridge to run concentration camps, where muggleborns were summarily executed.
"Had you heeded my warning, Voldemort would not have had the foothold he gained in that year of calm. As you now know, it was the calm before the storm. Those deaths are on you. Those deaths are on people like Artorius Pockspot, who fled and now have come to seize power, for the sake of power. There will be those amongst you who will deny having ever helped Voldemort. You stood by and let it happen, making you complicit.
"So now, I have chosen to give my loyalty to the only true power that I recognise, Elizabeth II, by the Grace of God, of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and of her other realms and territories Queen, Head of the Commonwealth. It is in her name that we are protected. It is in her name that my wand will be raised henceforth to protect, to save and to vanquish my country's enemies when the need arises.
Flashback:
Harry's arrival through Kingsley's office at #10, Downing Street, was greeted with shock. The previous Voldemort-serving magical government had made Harry a most wanted criminal in the eyes of the muggles also.
So Harry had been forced to his knees by the security, as was Kingsley.
"Why is this criminal coming to me from the office of the man claiming to be the Minister?" demanded Blair.
Harry had not exactly been prepared, but he still silently commended the Prime Minister for the Vigilance. "You are operating under false facts, Mr. Prime Minister. My name is Harry Potter. I do not know whether you were informed of this, but Voldemort, a magical threat to Her Majesty's Realm, was eliminated for once and for all. I believe I was accused of conspiracy or the actual murder of one Albus Dumbledore and other crimes by Mr. Shacklebolt's predecessor, one Pius Thicknesse. He has been arrested for murder and for helping run Nazi-style concentration camps."
"I was told. But your name was not cleared."
"That would be my fault, Mr. Prime Minister. Several of the small fish escaped the net then, and our priority, since Mr. Potter here was helping us, was to arrest them. We were instrumental in stopping an attack on the Port of Liverpool, Mr. Prime Minister. I am willing to swear before any of Her Majesty's Courts that Mr. Potter is not only innocent, but that he personally ended Voldemort, allowing peace within the magical part of Her Majesty's Realm."
This calmed the Prime Minister enough to allow diplomacy to be used. They were invoking the correct honorific, unlike all the past visitors who referred to her as "Your Muggle Queen".
"I apologise for the treatment, Mr. Potter, however, I find myself reluctant to clear your name without conclusive proof. I find my trust in magicals running low."
"I anticipated as much, Mr. Prime Minister. I believe, if Mr. Shacklebolt here is allowed to call upon a trusted member of his office. We would need a witness. A particular kind of Vow exists within the purview of magic which would kill me, should I make a promise and break it, or, if suitably and easily modified, I lie about my actions."
One of the security guards put his weapon down and interrupted, "Permission to speak, sir."
"Yes Captain Booth?"
"He speaks of the Unbreakable Vow, sir. The offer alone is enough to convince me, provisionally of his truthfulness."
"I see."
"If I may ask, Captain Booth, are you muggleborn or a squib? If you are the former, I would be willing to have you as the Witness, since you can be one, magically, if you are willing."
"I would be happy to. And I am a blood-traitor, by the way."
"I find myself appreciating your presence already," Harry remarked with a grin.
What followed was Harry's Vow as a loyal subject of the Crown, with his rights to magical secrets and privacy, as well as a verification of his innocence and his 'exploits' as the Prime Minister called it.
"Mr. Potter, I extend my gratitude to you on behalf of the people of the United Kingdom for your efforts."
"As you know very well, Mr. Blair, the name known is but a figurehead. I accept them, if only to honour my fellows and those who laid down their lives to stop that fiend."
The Prime Minister then sent the message on to Her Majesty. And it was a priority message, which meant that two hours later Harry was fidgeting in the three-piece suit with the silk lemon green tie.
It does not take much imagination to realise that the Queen was not pleased with all that had happened, and even more displeased that the responsibility had fallen on the shoulders of teenagers at all. Still, she knew that commendations were due. Out of curiosity, she asked Harry what he wanted.
"I thank you for your grace, Your Majesty. If I may openly speak, I wish for nothing much for myself but to make a name based upon my abilities and not whom I killed. But what I truly wish for is to rehabilitate the magical world, and as it is now, it has no hope, not as it exists. If instead, we were given help to bring us into the mainstream, Your Majesty, in terms of education to help us come to the same level as our non-magical peers, and help us become employable across the board, it would be a great help. We need to remain a secret, because unlike us, and like most of our erstwhile peers, most magicals intend to remain a secret. As much as we would like to prevent it, there are means to infiltrate countries magically, which I fear they may do in retaliation. We need protection like all others."
In the end, the diverse magical group was converted into one constituency, and was allotted two elected members. One would, under the recommendation of the Office of the Prime Minister and the Queen's Parliamentary Advisors, maintain a seat on the House of Commons. The other would be the Minister for Magic, who would report to the Prime Minister and consequently Her Majesty only. The new group was given an official Royal recognition as a group of magic-users independent from the Old World Magicals. Its registration and an ICW emergency action had ended up with this new group also being listed as the representatives of Magical Britain. This meant that a senior statesman was required to fill this role. It fell temporarily to Thaddeus Doge, Elphias Doge's younger brother. The Department of Education was then briefed on the situation on an entirely need-to-know basis, and plans went further that way.
Harry Potter had succeeded in, in principle and on paper, setting up the integration of magical society into the muggle world. Obviously some laws and rules and the justice systems would have to be slightly modified or extended as the case would be. But never again would the process of law fall outside the purview of Her Majesty's Courts. It would remain, for the better part of the next decade, a work in progress, but there would be proper results.
The New Magical Society was tasked with internal and international magical security, something with which they happily would have complied.
Flashback Ends
"And I am not alone. The magicals that you now miss, leading to your falling businesses now live with me. We will take care of our own. . That was what you wanted, after all. That is what you shall get. For long have those of non-magical descent fled in fear or in disgust at their prospects. No more. This country is ours and we shall live and protect it, and our freedom and our rights. We shall not run. No longer will a muggleborn learn in the halls of Hogwarts, work in the Ministry as you know it, or be abused by you
"We have, by Royal Decree, the mandate of protecting the muggles from you. We will do that. We shall use force against anyone who works against the lands of this country.
"At the same time, we are willing to extend our help to anyone who wishes to join us, and they just have to write to me, and of course, it will go through security checks. Subject to the same Vow we took, you will be inducted and set on the path to peace and progress.
"Unless you do anything adverse, this is the last time you hear me or hear of me. Your world will be devoid of new blood. You will be perfect purebloods. We shall have our schools, which shall protect the true spirit of Hogwarts. You have got your wish."
"Long live the Queen!"
The End...?