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Chapter Text

Harry decided long before the final task of the tournament that he wanted to leave. Hogwarts wasn’t worth the yearly adventures, and wizarding Britain was a festering country. From what happened to Sirius, it was clear the government was corrupt. It didn’t matter if you ‘knew’ someone was guilty, everyone should get a trial. That was non negotiable. Next there was the clear corruption that the Death Eaters proved when some of them bought their way out of a real trial. While the media had always been a problem, the way the news today was making snide comments about him spoke of Fudge. He should have expected it after Fudge buried his head in the sand when confronted with the truth. Clearly the media wasn’t fully separate from the government. Fudge shouldn’t have that power.

Fortunately for him, he had made arrangements with Gringotts in his last hogsmeade weekend. Sirius was all too happy to bring him the portkey he had arranged with Gringotts. Dumbledore had shown him that he wasn’t truly trustworthy before, so Sirius made a full vow not to give him any information Harry didn’t actively give him permission to tell him. Sirius had been reasonably happy to make that vow too. He knew Dumbledore could have got him a trial, and after some of the suspicious things Harry had seen from him, Sirius had no trust in Dumbledore anymore.

Their sneaky visit to Gringotts had gone very well for both of them. Harry had learned a lot. Because of the laws passed for the tournament, Harry was now considered emancipated, and Dumbledore was supposed to have told him before the first task. After a full inheritance test, he was found was now the head of the Potter, Peverell, and Gryfindor families. Granted there was only one member of each, himself. He was also Heir Black, by lieu of his grandmother Dorea Potter nee Black, and being Sirius’s adopted godson. Sirius was still Lord Black, granted he couldn’t act on it much, as he was a criminal. Gringotts knew about his lack of trial, so he could do some things, but nothing that needed to go through the government. It turned out that obtaining the sword of Gryffindor and using it to do something noble, self sacrificing, and near suicidal meant he had claimed the heirship, and then the Lordship. Combined with the Potter and Peverell Lordships, he was now ridiculously wealthy.

Gringotts had also proven themselves to Harry by not only detecting the horcrux in his scar, but removing it for him. That had been a painful process that had lasted hours. Long enough Sirius had to take polyjuice and go around Hogsmeade pretending to be Harry to buy time. They’d ended up storing it inside a quartz crystal for now. It turned out having one horcrux could be valuable, as it could sense others.That would come in handy in the future.

Harry had arranged for several purchases to be made through Gringotts including a wizards tent, a trunk that held a full sized house inside, and more. He had planned to leave the country. He’d also returned several goblin made artifacts to the goblins. It turned out Godric had made a full contract and had fully bought ownership of his sword from them. So the sword wasn’t ‘stolen’ as some goblins might think. Though that fact wasn’t widely known. This combined with the Gryffindor family's friendship with the goblins had earned him a good deal of trust and friendship with Gringotts.

Harry was currently weighing his options as the Hogwarts Express was making its way toward London. He hadn’t entrusted either of his best friends with his plan. Ron probably no longer deserved to be called that. Looking back, it was a bit suspicious how he met Ron. Molly and Arthur Weasely had taken kids to Hogwarts for all of Bill, Charley, Percy, and the twins' schooling. Assuming at least one kid came home for either Christmas or Easter, that’s 4 trips a year, for 7 years before Ron’s first year. That meant they must have been to platform 9¾ at least twice a year, probably 4 times a year. There and back again to drop off and pick up the kids for going and coming, and most years probably again for holidays. It was just not feasible for Molly to have forgotten where the platform was. Especially as she had gone to Hogwarts as well.

So as his meeting with Ron was sketchy, and Hermione was too trusting of authority, he couldn’t trust either of them. Harry had never forgiven Ron after he betrayed him during the tournament anyway. As the train pulled in, Harry initiated his escape plan. He’d paid for decoys disguised as him to go to the Dursleys for at least a week. As he was now effectively an adult, he was allowed to go free in their eyes, and as it wasn’t illegal, Gringotts had been willing to arrange for this, for a price. Harry swapped places with his double in the chaos of the station. The double took off Harry’s cloak and threw it over Harry. Just like that, Harry was free to go directly to Gringotts. Harry was led to the meeting room by an assistant, and told to wait for the others. Sirius arrives there next, and practically as soon as Harry's stomach growls, an elf appears with sandwiches and a kettle of tea.

“Things are all set on my end. I’ve left the aurors a lovely trail that should lead them all over Asia. That should send them off in the wrong direction. I managed to meet up with Amelia Bones and take veritaserum. I’ve got a transcript and a memory from her perspective. She says she can’t get me a trial. Fudge is being a colossal idiot, and even proposing a full trial would be in vain. Together with your memories, I’ve got an amazingly solid case for my freedom, not that it will matter. I suppose having all it will help just in case. After I convinced her, it was lovely to see her again.”

Harry nods, and drinks some tea while thinking. It would be useful in the very unlikely case that Fudge suddenly grows 2 brain cells to rub together. Harry was about to respond when a group of goblins entered the meeting room. He had been expecting just a few. The managers for his and Sirius’s vaults and finances. Instead 8 goblins entered the room. Their account managers were there, but so was a trio of guards and another well dressed goblin. He sat down at the table, but none of his guards did. “Something has come up that may be beneficial to all of us. But before we discuss such things, I have questions. First, why did you return so many goblin made items to us?”

“I know the culture difference means we have different definitions of ownership. Though I don’t always agree, I feel that should be honored. When things are bought from goblins, it seems to me there should be some sort of contract that lays out definitions. The fact that almost none of my ancestors did this, whether well or ill meaning, or even not considering it at all doesn’t feel important. I had the power to return them, so I did. It’s just common courtesy for the most part.” Harry says while shrugging.

“How do you feel about the restrictions on goblins and other species.”

“Well, I don’t get why there should be much in the way of restrictions. Why shouldn’t elves or goblins be able to use wands? Such knowledge should be shared where reasonable. Just because you have your own magic doesn’t mean you should not have access to wands. Though I suppose to many it comes off as one sided, as wizards get nothing from that. That said, I don’t feel that makes full sense. Again, knowledge should be shared where reasonable and possible. That includes wand lore, and the use thereof. We are hardly encouraging goblins when we are unwilling to share ourselves.”

Sirius looks a bit unconvinced about Harry’s thinking, but says nothing about it. It is a bit more complicated than that, but Harry is only 14, and has known about the wizarding world for only 4 years. That said, he clearly wasn’t against the idea.

“How about the restrictions on magical species. Hogsmeade encroaching upon centaur land. Goblins not being allowed to live above ground, and so forth.” The unnamed goblin asked next, growing more curious.

“I kinda get why you can’t live above ground in many areas. With the secrecy of our kind, if muggles saw a goblin it could cause problems. But you should be able to live freely in wizard only spaces. I have never seen a goblin in Diagon Alley or any other place except the guards outside Gringotts. It’s kinda disturbing now that I think about it. So is the slavery of house elves, though there is nothing I can do about it. As for centaurs, I know hogsmeade is expanding and needs wood, but that could be gathered from other forests. Like so much of wizarding Britain, all the conflict seems ridiculous.

That said, I suppose that makes sense. Maybe the average wizard has some common sense, but as a group they lack any common sense. Why antagonize the people who run your entire economy. You could have collapsed the entire country by now if you wanted to just by closing your doors.” Harry said in responce. “Honestly, I wish there was someplace that muggles couldn’t go, or didn’t know existed. It would be so much easier if no one needed to hide. Granted with my luck, even if I found such a place, it would be run by another Fudge.” Harry said, muttering to himself. Anyone who heard could tell by tone alone that he was just done with Britain, or at least the magical side of it.

The well dressed goblin smiled as he heard that. It was the sort of smile that one might wear while either killing someone they loathed, or politically crippling an enemy. As it turned out, it was the latter. “I suppose It’s time to introduce myself. I am Ragnuk the 5th, named for my ancestor, Ragnuk the 1st, who ruled the goblins 1,000 years ago. And I have both news and a proposal.”

Both Harry and Sirius jumped up and bowed low, having been caught totally surprised by this. They knew he must have been someone important, but had never expected this. Their attempt at formality seemed to greatly amuse Ragnuk, who just waved them back to their chairs.

“I don’t like coming to Britain, but when the regional director of Gringotts approached me with your plans and resources, as well as your actions towards us, I decided I would make a proposal. But first, let's deal with the information. Fudge has decided that as you are a criminal, and there are no other eligible Blacks to take up the lordship, the Black fortune is up for grabs. He’s insisting we turn over the contents of the Black vaults. This is illegal of course. We can’t turn over your vaults even if we wanted to. You never got a trial, and even if you were guilty, Both Harry and potentially Draco could inherit the Black fortune.

He thinks you are likely to kick Draco from the Black family as the Malfoys are Death Eaters in your will, as you are unable to at the moment. If he can get the vaults confiscated before you die however, any will you have won’t matter. In his and the ministry’s eyes at least. To make this happen, Lucius has decided to grease the wheel by donating 25% of it to the ministry if Fudge helps him win the fortune for Draco. Granted much of that is likely to go directly into Fudge’s pockets. Draco is going to make an attempt to take control of the Lordship as head of family when he turns 17. We both know that won’t work.”

Sirius muttered a curse under his breath. Ragnuk however just nodded and continued speaking. “25% of the Black fortune would do wonders for the ministry. Fudge is all too happy to force this through. Given you were imprisoned without a trial, we both know law matters little to them. Dumbledore knows of this, but hasn’t said anything of course. Legally, there is nothing they can do. Most purebloods are a bit too cautious that this could set a precedent to be used against them later if they ‘allow’ it. The bill will most likely fail. But that doesn’t mean Fudge can’t cause us lots of problems. What would be most beneficial now, would be a place to set up a true central branch of Gringotts, as we really have no headquarters, Rome’s branch comes the closest I suppose, as it’s the oldest. Having a headquarters where the laws were more open to goblins would be a massive boon.”

Harry nodded. “Seems like a good idea, but where could that be done? In the modern world, digging the tunnels, vaults, and more would be nearly impossible in a major city without causing problems. I don’t know of anywhere you wouldn’t have to deal with the restrictions. The ICW does most of that right? Most nations not in the ICW aren’t any more friendly to goblins to my knowledge. From what admittedly little I know, most are dictatorial in nature right?” Harry asked, looking at Sirius and Ragnuk.

“For the most part, yes. But what if it wasn’t a nation that is pre-existing, or has problems with needing to ensure secrecy. In such a place we could build to our hearts desire. Looking over both your and our assets, I believe we can make this happen. The Peverells and Gryffindors own many private islands. It was a fad for the very wealthy to explore the world back in the 1500s. If we were to trade some of our islands, we would easily have enough land in a central area to form a small nation. About the size of Ireland.”

“But how? Surely muggles would discover a landmass of that size by now!” Harry replies, astonished. He had never seen such a thing on any globe.

“Muggle repelling wards do wonders. The Black family has many small private islands that are invisible to muggles. Ragnuk is right. It was a big fad centuries ago to claim new land for your family, even if it wasn’t particularly feasible to do anything with it. Bragging about your discovered and claimed land was a common thing back then for those who were rich enough.”

“Then why haven’t you used that land?” Harry asked Ragnuk.

“We have built some miles and underground infrastructure. But it isn’t very profitable yet. To truly take advantage of it, we need people. The ICW will never accept a goblin run nation. Witches and Wizards wouldn’t go there. But…” Ragnuk said, pausing for effect as what he was getting at was finally understood by Harry.

“There are very few wizards who have all the prerequisites we need. They need to be trustworthy and friendly to our cause. Someone who has proven themselves to us. Someone with enough wealth to even afford this attempt. That’s merely scratching the surface of what it requires. But with you, this could work.”

“Where would you get the people? A nation is nothing without citizens.” Harry asked, seeing a problem with this idea.

“Harry, this might be news to you, but that part wouldn’t be as hard as you imagine. Muggleborns and half bloods, no matter how well educated and qualified, struggle to find great jobs here. If you aren’t from a pureblood family, or wealthy, getting a job in the ministry beyond the lower levels. Sure there are shop keepers, owners, etc. But Britain just doesn’t have much in the way of job opportunities in places of real importance. A nation that accepted them would attract them like moths to a flame once word got out. If you took reasonable precautions, but made life better for people like werewolves or even vampires, they would flock to you for a chance at a better life. People suffering from such curses live quiet lives of desperation, as they can’t get jobs here. Most of Europe is better for sure, but even then there is a strong stigma that works against them.” Sirius said, imagining how much better Remus’s life would be in such a place.

“But… I haven’t even graduated from Hogwarts. I’d need to learn so much. It would take 3 years at minimum just to finish my education. Then to run a country I would need even more education.” Harry said, feeling unsure about this whole idea.

“We can help with that. Like the ministry has their time turners, we have a way for you to learn fast. That said, before I can say more, I need a vow from both of you.”

Both Harry and Sirius had been willing to give a vow not to reveal what Ragnuk would say next. It was a quick affair, and soon they had gotten back to their ddiscussion.

“Deep under the Gringotts of Rome, there lies a chamber that can manipulate time. It’s been there for centuries, but rarely does it see any use. We can stretch time to around a decade a month there. But there is a caveat. It works by effectively creating a pocket dimension. Once the doors lock for the set time, there is no leaving. Everything needed is brought in, and everything is taken out after it’s done. No messages or people can get in or out until the time set is done. Assuming you agree to do this, after the signing and organizing of this, you can go in there to learn. 5 years of education in 2 weeks would greatly aid you along. Potentially 10 years in a month. That's enough to instantly be able to take your newts when you get out, and much more. Given 5 years of focused learning, with little to no distractions, you’ll be surprised how much you can learn.”

Harry and Sirius were offered a place to sleep for the night, and both discussed this for long hours. Here was a chance not only to make a home for himself, but to make a home for others. Looking at Hermione and what limited options she would have, and more importantly at what a home could do for Remus, Harry agreed. Harry agreed the next day once they met up with Ragnuk again. There was the signing of many documents. What Gringotts and the goblin people would do to help build this nation, the rights goblins would get, and more.

Eventually it came to the point that they needed a name. Harry wanted something personal. Sirius said the Blacks named things after stars. Technically Harry was a Black, so he considered it. Sirius asked what he wanted the nation to be. Harry said he wanted it to be a nation of fairness, to show that things could be done better. Sirius said if they wanted it to show the world a better way, Harry should name it Polaris. After all, people had been navigating using the north star for centuries.

Chapter Text

“So what will happen to me if I use the chamber? I didn’t notice Hermione aging, but I presume she was only using it for about 3 hours a day… at most 6 to help with homework. Across 10 months that's only about 30 days. If I go there for 5 years… surely I’ll age 5 years. If I emerge looking 20, won’t that alert everyone that something happened?”

“Even if you didn’t age, it was going to be somewhat obvious anyway. When you emerge and go take your owls and newts 1 and 3 years early… Everyone will know something is up. With voldemort already out there, you can’t really afford to let yourself learn at a normal pace. Sure he’s being quiet now, but that's because Fudge is turning a blind eye. Wizarding Britain will no doubt fall within 5 years, and already he is making ready to get more allies. Our information says Hagrid is heading to the giants. Voldemort no doubt has his own people doing the same.

Let’s say he takes a year to regroup and gather his allies while the minister is ducking his head in the sand. He’ll probably break his death eaters out of Azkaban sometime this year if not next. We can guess Fudge will blame Sirius for that. He’s the obvious pick if Fudge is dead set ignoring any clues to Voldemort's rebirth. Already Lucious and other death eaters are Fudge’s main support.” Ragnuk said, clearly not exactly liking this.

“Dumbledore won’t like this at all. But I suppose he would be too set on giving me a childhood. I don’t think that would help. Dumbledore seems to be both an idealist and a realist that’s all too willing to sacrifice me at the same time. It’s paradoxical. Why give me a childhood already ruined by abuse, and still think sacrificing me would be acceptable. I take it Dumbledore still hasn’t so much as looked up ways to remove a horcrux?” Harry asked, sighing.

“He hasn’t, to our knowledge at least. If he so much as asked us if it was possible we’d freely give that knowledge, though not the method to do it. That said, during the 5 years you will be receiving treatment. No doubt you will grow a bit, but you may never be quite as tall as you would be. Whether it’s good aging genes or something else, most wouldn’t take you for almost 15 anyway. It’s likely you will look a bit younger than 20 will you emerge. Wizarding lifespans being longer than humans does help. We’ll put you under a glamour, and slowly adjust it over time to help you look like you are aging more naturally. It may not fully cover it up, but it’ll help.” Ragnuk said. Harry nodded, clearly resolved.

It took a full week to prepare for their coming 5 years of education. The room needed to have all the food/water/books/etc for all and people who would use the chamber. In the end, it was decided that there would be 6 people to go in. Harry, Sirius, a goblin by the name of Lodlang, an elf by the name of Foxy, Bill Weasley, and a female goblin name Gorsha, who would be their doctor and mind healer. Lodlang was a goblin trained in many things Harry would need to learn. He would be teaching Law, Economics, Politics, and some basic goblin combat. Foxy would be teaching him a number of things such as Manners, Etiquette, a few languages commonly used in the world, and the basics in a wide variety of subjects. Finally Sirius would be teaching him Occlumency, government structures from around the world, and other assorted things. Bill would teach him Ancient Runes, Arithmancy, some basic wards, and a small scattering of other things. Harry was most excited to learn a few basics of curse breaking.

The first subject they had him focus on was Occlumency. According to his tutors, mastering your mind allowed you to train your way up to effectively a perfect memory, which would drastically improve his learning speed. His starting schedule had him waking up at 7 AM, having a shower and then breakfast, followed by 2 hours of occlumency until around 10 AM. Then he had 2 hours of Ancient Runes, then lunch, before 2 more hours of Etiquette and languages, then 2 hours of Transfiguration followed by 2 more of potions. Dinner was at 6, then he would have 3 hours of free time, followed by an hour of occlumency before bed. Foxy would enforce strict manners at all meals. He had 3 hours of exercise every week to help develop his body, and the schedule alternated daily so no one subject got too exhausting. On weekends, he was given much more free time. He was still expected to spend at least 4 hours a day on weekends, but he chose what subjects he wanted to study each day on the weekend. Often this was occlumency, as after all the studying, he found he often needed time to decompress, and once he learned to clear his mind and meditate, it became a calm, peaceful time.

After 2 months, Sirius and Gorsha had confronted Harry about his effort. He wasn’t trying as hard as he should. After looking through Harry’s mind, they managed to uncover why. He was conditioned to never try too hard. To never score too highly. He had always beened verbally abused if he did too much better than dudley. Dudley tended to score in the D’s to mid C’s at most. When he got to hogwarts, Ron had never wanted to study. To ensure Ron’s friendship, Harry had not tried too hard. He was also somewhat self conscious about Hermione being competitive about grades. It had simply been easier to keep his grade somewhere between them, except in DADA, where he knew he was able to really try without anything thinking it was odd.

It had taken a while to help him recover from that bad habit. Sirius was thriving, feeling like here was a chance to guide and help Harry. Sirius felt both wanted and needed, and as he helped Harry get over his trauma, he slowly started getting over his own. They helped each other grow, adn Gorsha was working with both to encourage this.

After a year of study, Harry was already mid-way through 6th year in his studies, in terms of hogwarts education. Bill had brought some OWL practice materials, and Harry had aced those. Bill was greatly pleased with his progress, especially as he was being taught to international standards. Apparently Wizarding Britain’s OWL and NEWTs were easier than the international versions. Sirius had focused Harry’s occlumency mostly on information retention and building his mindscape. The group had decided that as there were no threats here, it was best to leave more advanced mental defenses for later.

Harry had largely gotten used to things by now. He’d be somewhat overwhelmed by loneliness at first, given he couldn’t contact the outside world. While it might only be a few months before Hermione would expect to see him, for him it would be over 5 years. Getting over that had been immensely hard for him. All of them were suffering to some degree. Lodlang would not see his wife for 5 years, and Harry knew that had to hit hard. Bill would no doubt be missing his family.

By the end of his second year, Harry had moved past all his Hogwarts subjects. His NEWT practice tests were aced. It was amazing what having no distractions and actually trying to learn had done for him. Now that the basics he was supposed to know as an adult were covered, their focus shifted to Law, Government structures, Politics, and more advanced economics. They had told him that even with 3 years of learning these, even with Occlumency, he wouldn’t have the time to really master these subjects. The point was to give him a salad base of information, hopefully like an associates degree level knowledge, more if possible. Enough that he could manage.

“I understand why gold and silver are used for galleons and Sickles. I assume Knuts can’t be made except by gringots? There must be some way counterfeit knuts are avoided, as Bronze can be conjured. I also assume there is a way to stop people from converting pounds into galleons, then melting galleons into gold, then selling that. But I don’t think I want my country's coinage to be so… nonsensical. Something using the base 10 system? Is that doable?”

“Given gold and silver prices fluctuate, it is likely not feasible. But we could work with a system much easier to learn and work with. I believe gold is currently $2,700 per troy ounce, Silver is about 30, meaning if we use troy ounces, it’s 90 silver to a gold. A single gold coin worth that much isn’t too feasible for common use. Perhaps make a smaller gold coin. Say, a third of a troy ounce. That way, it’s 30 silver to a smaller gold.” Lodlang said, thinking it over.

“So we have a large gold coin that weighs a troy ounce that's worth $2,700. A smaller gold coin that weighs .33% of a troy ounce and is worth $900. And a silver coin that weighs a troy ounce and is worth $30. We need some smaller options. We could mimic the smaller gold coin to have a smaller silver coin that's worth $10. We still need an even smaller denomination. Bronze is only worth… what… $0.15 per troy ounce? Thats not much…”

“It’s also not really a nice round number. 66ish bronze to a small silver. You seem to prefer to keep things divisible. Copper is too valuable. Nickel is worth about $0.5 per troy ounce. So we can have a nickel coin and a half and quarter nickel coin worth $0.5, $0.25 and $0.125 We could double the troy ounce to get a coin worth about $1.” Langlock said, responding to Harry.

“So that gives us coins worth: $2,700, $900, $30, $10, $1, $0.5, $0.25, and $0.125. While the last coin isn’t truly a nice round number, it’s acceptable. That should give us a good spread. Coins usable anywhere across a pretty solid spectrum.” Harry responded, memorizing them as he said them.

“We’ll need names for the coins. Gringotts should be able to get these going fairly soon. Maybe 2 months after we get out. It could take longer though.”

“Names are hard. I suppose we have time to come up with some names for the coins later though.” Harry said, speaking mostly to himself.

“You’ll have to get better at naming things eventually. Then again, I suppose you can foist some of that off on your advisors.”

Harry was now a few months into his 3rd year inside the chamber. The primary subjects of his study for the last year had been primarily the basics of Law, Government structures, economy, and even some basic first aid. Gorsha was all too happy to teach him some of the basics. His life had always been complicated, and ruling a nation would just make it more so. Everyone agreed it would just be better for him to know some basic healing medicine. Foxy was currently in the process of teaching him French. After French, he said he would be learning German. A lot of the world spoke Spanish, so he would be learning that too. It was hard though. He could learn and remember words and grammar, but pronunciation was the hardest part for him. Knowing how something was supposed to sound didn’t make getting the muscle memory for the word down. Harry was now only allowed to speak French at meals, and for an hour after dinner Foxy would work on words he pronounced wrong, grammar errors, and so forth.

His birthday had been quite pleasant. Apparently they’d brought things into the chamber specifically to celebrate birthdays. Harry apologized every time he didn’t have a birthday. They all just laughed and told him his mind had been rightly focused on other far more important things. Lodlang had given Harry a really lovely watch. Apparently getting a watch on your 17th birthday, and a goblin being the one to uphold a wizarding custom seemed to be the height of hilarity. Harry didn’t quite understand goblin humor, that much was clear. Sirius had also given Harry a watch, but a pocket watch this time. Apparently he had been given permission to get it from the Potter vaults, as it was an heirloom. Harry could believe it based on how valuable it clearly was. It was silver, with various gemstones inside. It looked like it would cost potentially over £10,000.

During his 4th year of education, Harry could now roughly speak German, and a bit of Spanish. Foxy was now teaching him some of the cultural details he would need to know about various nations. It was a complicated mess. Harry had been putting more time into occlumency still. Now that the essential parts for information retention were done to Sirius’s satisfaction, they focused on defensive occlumency. A ruler couldn’t accept anyone being able to take peeks into their mind. His training in basic medicine had gone pretty well. He was also now catching up on his muggle education. While none of his teachers excelled in it, they had brought with them many books and supplies for that. He was now beyond highschool level in the basic muggle sciences.

Harry had chosen to study more in Ancient runes, and after Bill had told him that Parseltongue could be useful, he started learning to use magic in parseltongue as well. Bill had told him that Pareselmouths can use certain types of magics others couldn’t. According to him it was renowned for its ability to heal. According to Bill that was the reason the caduceus had snakes on it. Supposedly it was also good with runes and warding. Lodlang told him to their knowledge, Voldemort used little parsel magic, simp[ly because he wasn’t interested in healing and protection. Apparently it was only looked down on in europe. In asia, people who could speak it were looked up to for those very reasons.

His studies are not just wizarding Britain's governmental system, but many other nations. Harry was going to need to choose a government type. Even if he was to be a king, there was surprisingly many types of monarchies. He needed to know how governments across the world worked. It was during one of these lessons Sirius and Lodlang brought up a new concept to him. Keys to power. After explaining the concept to him, they decided to use an example.

“Let’s take Wizarding Britain as an example. You have learned the general functions and rules of the wizengamot and the ministry. What keys to power does Fudge possess?” Sirius asks.

“The support of Lucius Malfoy and his ilk. Their money contributes to his campaign budgets, and their approval helps him survive failures or difficult times.” Harry responded.

“Yes, Malfoy and some of his ilk are some of Fudge’s keys to power. But they wouldn’t just support him for nothing. What does he do to keep their favor?” Lodlang asked.

“Well, as it’s a ‘democracy’ Fudge can’t just pay them from the budget. But he can help pass laws they want, and ensure their businesses get favorable contracts.” Harry responded after a moment of thinking it over.

Both Sirius and Lodlang nod. “So then, what other keys to power keep Fudge in power?” Sirius asked.

“Dumbledore. While Fudge may be distancing himself now, I hear he was constantly pestering him for advice for most of his career. Dumbledore is both the Chief of the wizengamot, and the supreme Mugwump of the ICW. I imagine it would be difficult to get elected if he was truly dead set against fudge.”

“You are not wrong, and that is something to consider, but bypassing Dumbledore for now, continue.” Lodland said.

“While not a key to gain power, Fudge’s control over the ministry is a key to keeping power. He can reduce the budgets of departments whose heads displease him. Ministers almost always work in the ministry before their election. By being in charge, he can prune any growing threats while help others. In this way, he way, he is a key to power himself.”

“Correct.” Sirius said, nodding. “If you want to gain power, Fudge’s help can be almost a requirement to get in a high level position in the ministry. Part of why he keeps the DMLE budget so low is because he views Amelia as a threat. She is well liked, seemingly incorruptible, and fair. By keeping the budget of her department lower than it should be, not only does he earn Lucius’s favor, he also weakens what he views as competition. Amelia doesn’t want the job, but he doesn’t believe her.” Sirius said.

“I suppose he clearly has some control over the media. For some reason, the Daily Prophet is the only paper taken seriously, and he has some leeway over it. That’s a pretty bad system thinking about it. But that might be why he has some control over it. Perhaps he doesn’t allow other papers to get the permits and such they need to operate? The only other paper is not taken seriously, and is thus not a threat.” Harry said, and from the nods he got, he seemed to be right.

“If we are going to build a new nation, with you as a leader, you must have your own keys to power. What are they?” Lodland asked.

“I suppose I have a couple… My relationship with the goblins is one. Without Ragnuk, this wouldn’t be possible. That key is maintained in multiple ways. Aside from doing my best to always be polite, helpful, adn caring, my returning of tens of thousands of galleons of Goblin made treasure to the goblins could be viewed as paying you for your services. Granted I don’t view it that way. It was just the right thing to do.”

“And your morality is yet another way you maintain that key to power. You are more than happy to give us rights we should always have had in your nation to be. In this way, you give us someone no one else has been able or willing to give. You maintain our relationship as long as you do this. But what other keys do you have, if any?” Lodlang asked.

“My fame? It’s not really a true key, but it will help with this greatly. It’s maintained by avoiding scandals and such. Granted it’s been unfairly tarnished.” Harry said.

“Oh that’s being addressed. The goblins have more than a couple lawyers on their asses. It won’t totally undo the damage, but it will help. They will take some hefty fines for libel, and that will go mostly to your vaults. It’s likely they’ll be forced to print a retraction soon. Given fudge wants your name disparaged, it’l likely be a passive aggressive retraction, but still.” Lodlang said, with one of those toothy smiles the goblins favor. He didn’t want to even imagine the legal battles bound to unfold. Sirius however was laughing his ass off.

Harry's last year consisted similary to the 4th. With Ragnuk's permission, Harry was allowed to learn the goblin tongue, granted he was forced to sign a blood contract never to teach it to anyone. That wasn't his right after all. They also branched out a bit into some basic architectural knowledge. Harry chose to focus a good deal on warding and healing during this year. He also learned much more combat magic, and Lodlang and Gorsha even taught him some wandless magic, including a bit of magical knowledge from the goblins. Again, he signed a contract in his own blood never to teach anyone else.

Chapter Text

As Harry got ready to leave the chamber, he found himself wondering how he would handle this. He was now 19, almost 20 years old. He looks around 18 now. They’d been right, he did look a bit younger than he was. With 5 years of growth and exercise, Harry had grown some muscles. He wasn’t bulky, but was clearly fit. He didn’t know how he would handle all the people. It’d just been him and 5 other people for the last 5 years. To his friends, what would have been a mere 2 weeks of not seeing him, it was 5 years for him. There was a gap now, that only he would understand. How did you get together with a friend you haven't seen for 5 years? It was not going to be easy. Hopefully he had letters piled up to respond to.

When the doors finally opened, Harry left slowly. This palace had been his life for 5 entire years. There had been magical windows in the chamber, but he hadn’t seen sunlight for literal years. Sadly it would be a while before he would see the sun. He couldn’t just emerge into Diagon alley as he was. Bill was eager to see his family. Well Harry supposed everyone was.

Fortunately the goblins were willing to supply some glamorous to disguise him and Sirius, for a price. Both of them greatly enjoyed going out into the alleys and doing some shopping in the sun. They started with some ice cream. He had a trunk designed to have an expanded space to function as a house. Ragnuk had told him it wouldn’t be enough. He’d ordered one made while they were in the chamber. It wasn’t a gift, and the cost was drawn directly from one of his vaults. That was not a thing they would normally be allowed to do, but Harry had granted permission for anything Ragnuk and his advisors thought necessary. Trust needed to be built after all, so trusting them with his money was a good step. In the meantime, Harry and Sirius were picking up a few wizard’s tents to help house builders and such while work was being done. Each was fairly large, functioning more as a dormitory than a normal living space.

After that, Harry headed to get supplies he hadn’t gotten before. Tons of potions ingredients, rune carving tools, and other standard supplies he might need. It turns out without Snape breathing down his neck, Harry really liked potions. He considered getting a secondary wand in Knockturn alley, but decided though Goblins weren’t allowed wands, he’d ask if they knew wand lore. Getting a wand made by goblins would be pretty symbolic of their relationship after all. If it became known that Harry Potter used a goblin made wand… Well that could be helpful to the goblins.

Harry made his way back to Gringotts, and was taken to a large meeting room. A large round table was situated with a large amount of chairs around it. At one end stood a well carved semi-formal throne, at the opposite end stood a really lovely chair. Harry of course, being both humble and not wanting to cause disrespect, moved to sit in one of the many chairs, before being ushered to the bigger chair opposite Ragnuk. The table itself was very interesting. While its outer parts were made of wood, it seemed to be enchanted to show the geography of Polaris, with its large central islands, and a chain of smaller islands in the middle.Once everyone filed into the large room, the talking started.

“A huge amount of supplies have already been moved to Polaris. The construction team is ready to begin building once they get instructions beyond amassing materials and such. Any plans?” Asked one goblin.

“That’s what we are here for. Harry won’t be coming to Polarus until he’s ready. That should be sometime between 2-3 weeks. He’ll be taking his OWLS for the next week, starting tomorrow. He’ll have a few days' break before taking his NEWTS.” Ragnuk responded.

“I’m guessing I’ll be taking these outside Britain, given we don’t want to alert Dumbledore?” Harry asked.

“Yes, you’ll take them in France. You’ll be taking the international version of course. England and France don’t get along very well, and the testers there aren’t in Dumbledore’s pocket. As you’ll be taking the tests via ICW testers, he will eventually find out. But it should take a few weeks for the paperwork to work its way into Britain, and potentially longer before anyone pays attention to education records from another country. It’l reasonably likely they’ll just assume someone is considering immigrating to Britain, and unless they specifically look at the names, it’s likely little attention is drawn to them for a time.” Sirius replies, looking toward Harry.

“So city plans.” Someone said, wanting to get to business.

“Well I don’t have a name for it. I’ll name it when I get there. From my arithmancy classes I have learned that 3 and 7 are magical numbers. Perhaps the basis of the design is 9 rings, or 3 sets of 3. Given the name Polaris is based in astronomy, perhaps we name each ring for a planet?” Harry suggested, thinking about it.

“The main island is a little bit smaller than Tasmania, together with the small island chain, it's about the size of Cuba. The small barrier islands create a good harbor location. That’s probably the best place to build the capitol. Perhaps put the harbor on the 9th ring?” Ragnuk asked, looking at Harry, whose decision it was.

“Seems good to me. We’ll need government buildings, so let’s reserve the central ring for that sort of thing. The ministry, Gringotts, potential embassies, etc. If that sounds good? Of course there will need to be businesses and such. People need places to get meals, relax, and so forth.” Harry said, half asking.

“Seems good, but why Gringotts?” Asked Sirius.

“Well, It seems like I mostly find goblins there. But thinking about it, it shouldn’t be that way, and is mostly the norm due to racism. Gringotts should probably still be in a central location, but would the goblins prefer a separate embassy? That might give the feelings that Goblins are considered to be separate from just the bank, and have representation as a people. Of course, I was told that embassies and the grounds around them are generally considered to be under the laws of the nation they represent, mostly at least. So the embassy and the grounds next to it would be considered under King Ragnuk’s rule.” Harry was clearly trying to do the best he could for the goblins, but even with his training in their customs, wasn’t entirely sure what they would prefer.

“An embassy would be lovely. Perhaps to make the point clearer to visitors, have Gringotts and the embassy on opposite sides of the central ring? Help illustrate that while Gringotts is a part of our culture and domain, it isn't entirely of it. We are more than bankers.” Ragnuk said, after a few seconds of thinking.

“I know you will need plenty of underground room. Perhaps we should limit the depth buildings can go? Perhaps maybe 3 stories underground for a maximum of 36 feet? I know a stroy isn’t 12 feet, but it would give a little wiggle room. Given we will need a proper government building, perhaps that's excluded from that rule? Science We are using magical numbers, maybe that's 3 stories above ground including the ground floor, and 7 under? 10 floors should give us plenty of room for departments and such.” Harry said, thinking.

The goblins seemed to converse for a moment in their own language. Harry didn’t interject at all, respecting their privacy as much as he could. Eventually Ragnuk nodded to them before speaking. “That should be fine, with a possible exception for your palace.”

Harry immediately blushed at that idea. “Uhhh, sure. Let’s put that idea on hiatus. Any place isn’t a priority. I will have a home via tents or trunks. Any palace should be the final thing built. Everyone else will need a home long before that. Businesses will need to be up before that, etc.” Harry said, clearly a little flustered.

“Harry, to some degree it is important. A place for you to live functions as a symbol. It can’t be put off forever.” Sirius said. He understood Harry, but it would have to be done sometime.

“He’s right Harry. I know you are a modest person. To respect your wishes however, we’ll start on that after everyone else has a home, and Gringotts, the embassy, and the ministry are built. Anything else in the central ring?”

“Maybe a park? It can be small, but there should be some places to rest, say during lunch breaks, or before or after work. Maybe we can make a fountain? We could use runes to keep it ever full, cold, and fresh. It would be a good place to get something to drink if we kept cups around it that were charmed clean? I’ve heard of the ministry’s fountain of magical brethren, and how it seems as racist as it could be. Perhaps we could make something similar, but try to do it right? As we get new groups, perhaps they have a representative added? Like Ragnuk could determine what the Goblin representative would be doing? For example, as Goblins are legendary at crafting things, they could be doing that? That’s up to your kind to decide. The bulk of the fountain could be built before putting statues or such inside.”

“What about the other rings? If the first ring is for government buildings, their support, and other such buildings. What will the other rings be used for?” Sirius asked.

“Well, I was thinking Rings 2, 3, and 4 will primarily be for businesses. There will of course be some bleeding through. There will be some businesses to cater to the first ring, and other rings. And if needed the second ring may have some government buildings as needed.I was thinking that Rings 5, 6, & 7 could be residential. Rings 8 & 9 would be primarily agriculture, the harbor, and so forth. Going with our 3x3 theme, perhaps there are 9 spokes leading from the center of the city to the final ring? There may be more roads between them, but those would be the biggest roads. If that seems reasonable.”

After a discussion between all the parties, they agreed that was a good rough idea. It may change slightly if something needs to shift a little. A good skeleton for the city.

“Perhaps we should put a hospital on the first or second ring? There could be smaller clinics in different rings for minor things, but we’d want the big hospital in a reasonably central location.” Gorsha says.

“So what kinds of departments are you thinking about? The current plans are for 10 floors.” Ragnuk asked.

“Well… Some of it will be the standard. The Department of Magical Law Enforcement, Control and Regulation of Magical Creatures, Inter-Species Cooperation, International Cooperation, Magical Games & Sports, Research and Development, Department of Justice, and maybe we need space for the legislative body. I am thinking of others.”

“Why are the DMLE and DoJ separate? Or I guess, what is the DoJ?” Sirius asked.

“Well, I learned from Britain’s example that having the legislative body act as judges is not acceptable. People who enforce justice also shouldn’t be the same people who judge them. So I plan to make a separate department that will run the court system. Including a Supreme Court. I plan to enforce mandatory enforcement of a strict vow system that removes them from any political party or group, etc. This should help prevent atrocities like people not getting a fair trial. With a Supreme Court, they can help be the judges for crimes committed by politicians and so forth. They’ll be under the most strict vows. I suppose aside from me, they’ll be the highest authority on judicial matters.” Harry said, thinking over how he wanted the government to function.

“Seems to be a reasonable common sense precaution. But what do you mean about a legislative body?” Asked Sirius.

“You don’t intend to be an absolute ruler?” Ragnuk asked, amused.

“Well, I don’t want to risk being corrupt. And even if I am somehow incorruptible, my descendants may not be. I would like to have some kind of trial to take the crown in a vault if possible. That’s not to say I won’t have a ton of authority to override things, but if I was above the law, I would be worried. Even a ruler should be held to some laws. I don’t know what kind of legislative body we may end up with yet. Or exactly how each department will work.

I do have some ideas for Research & Development. I’ve had an idea or 2 for things I’d like to make. I’ve come to really love runes and warding. I have an idea for a runic translator. I was thinking if I could ever have time to finish it, getting a patent and publishing it would be fun. So I was thinking we could have a part of the Department of Research and Development that works with people who are looking to invent things. We could give research grants in exchange for a portion of any invention’s profits going to the government. Not only might this encourage new technology and magic, but it could help fund the government.”

“Do you have any current thoughts on a possible legislative body?” Ragnuk asked.

“Well…. One of the big problems with Britain is that Muggleborn and half bloods don’t really feel like they have a place in the government. I think at least half the slots in any kind of congress should be voted in, via a pure populus vote. Perhaps using a system like Single Alternative Vote. I am also considering whether there should be proportions based on the population. Like at least 2 seats would need to be held by werewolves, maybe 2 for vampires, maybe 2 for goblins, etc. I have no real concept of the numbers yet.”

“You’d let goblins have a say in your government?” Ragnuk asked, suddenly serious.

“I’m not trying to say I’d have any control over your nation. But any goblin that decides to live in my nation should have a say right? I don't mean to imply I have any control over your people.” Harry said, trying to make it clear that he wasn’t trying to control Ragnuk’s government.

Ragnuk laughed. "Don't worry. I'm not the King of all goblins everywhere. Some may become citizens of your nation. I'm glad you'd allow any of them a say. I am happy you are content to give my people a say."

Chapter Text

Taking the international OWLS was a pain in the ass. He was mostly fluent in French now, but lacking in experience talking to more than a few other people in it. It took a total of 8 days to take the tests. The OWLs were condensed into a single exhausting week. Given they don’t need to share space or time or people taking NEWT tests, it was faster. Given he was taking these in the summer, it would only take a few days to get the results back. In the end, He got an O in: Ancient Runes, Arithmancy, Astronomy, Defense, Charms, Transfiguration, Potions, Herbology, and care. He managed an EE on History. He didn’t even take an OWL for Divination. Overall he came out with 10 OWLs.

After a 5 day break, he was already starting his NEWTs, which would likewise be a bit condensed. It took 12 days in total to take his NEWTs, and 5 more days to recover from the rapid fire testing and constant magic usage. Harry’s NEWT scores matched his OWL scores, much to his relief. Then again he supposed he’d had an entire 2 extra years to study. It was hardly fair, but with Tom out there, he would take any advantage he could get.

After 8 days for his OWLs, 5 days to recover, then 12 for his NEWTs and 5 to rest. It ended up being 1 day short of 3 weeks of testing. His examiners were very impressed, but Harry pleaded with them to keep it quiet, and that he had enough to deal with on the public front. They promised they wouldn’t tell anyone, but warned him that these records would get back to Britain soon, and eventually people would learn.

Harry arrived back at Gringotts 3 weeks after leaving for France. He took a portkey directly from the Paris branch to the London branch. It turned out that not only was that a time saver, it was far more critical than Harry knew. He was forced deeper into the bank by the guards. It was only once he met up with Sirius, Lodlang, and Ragnuk that he learned what the emergency was. “

“Sirius tackled Harry with a huge hug. He’d apparently been very worried. “Harry, now that you are here, we need to leave soon. The goblin’s will have an emergency portkey to take us to Polaris in 15 minutes.”

“Why? What’s happened? Everything seemed in order before I left for France.” Harry asked, confused.

“I know you weren’t close, but yesterday evening, a pair of dementors attacked Little Whinging. It seems they were after you. They encountered your cousin, Dudley I think? They gave him the kiss trying to lure you out. That’s our guest at least. His parents heard his crying and ran to help him. They both got the kiss. The elf the goblins had impersonating you had to flee, as not long after that people from the Order of the Phoenix showed up to take you. Dumbleedore and the others know you are missing now. The Order thinks you were kidnapped. They are looking for you.” Sirius said in a rush.

Lodlang put a hand on Sirius before speaking to Harry himself. “It’s good you were not home. If you had been and had been forced to defend yourself, Fudge may have attempted to expel you for underage magic and using magic in a muggle area. They’ll no doubt be coming to Gringotts soon. As they know you are missing, they may be hoping you’ll come to get money. Our wards should stop any method of tracking, and you didn’t have any tracking charms on you before. But we’d best check. Gorsha willl check you over for any such spells, and then we leave for Polaris.”

After a quick check for tracking charms, they were rushed into the portkey room. It seemed that they had enchanted a huge metal plate to be the portkey. As they entered, there were already over 70 people standing on it, getting ready. After a hurried check on his belongings, Harry was ready. Not a minute later, what must have been the worst portkey Harry had ever taken activated. The sounds of all the other people feeling the same hook into the navel was disconcerting alone, but bumping too and fro into other people during the trip was annoying. They’d all been far enough away that none of them emerged with more than minor bruises, but still. Harry never wanted to take a singular massive portkey again.

What Harry saw when he landed amazed him. In truth, they couldn’t have been working on this for more than 5 weeks, and the city plans itself no more than 3. Yet so much work was done. Before Harry could even start to contemplate the progress on show, he was tackled by an excited Dobby.

“Great Master King Harry sir is here! The goblins said you would be here! They is saying they is be needing elves to help out with planting and building and things. When theys be asking for elves to help Master Harry, Dobby bes going around to find all the elves needing work. And now you are here! Is Dobby being doing a good job?”

“Yes, yes. Though please just Harry… Master Harry if you must but..” Harry said, a bit flustered. He loved Dobby. He’d saved Harry’s life from Lucius before. But Dobby was excitable, especially where Harry was concerned. After a short hug, Harry pulled away slightly. “How many elves did you bring Dobby?” Harry asked.

“Dobby is bringing over 60 elves here a month ago. The Goblin’s has brought 25 more a week before we arrived. So theres being 85 elves here, excluding Dobby. Now that Harry is being here, can Dobby being in charge of caring for you Great King Master Harry Potter sir?”

Harry scratches the back of his head, a bit awkward and surprised, before agreeing. Dobby has earned that. Dobby jumps up and down as Harry nods to him. “Dobby is being setting up youse trunk house then. Harry should be seeings all the things that is being done!” Dobby says, before snapping his fingers to levitate Harry’s things, and going away to set things up for him. Harry was happy to know now that It wasn’t a lack of intelligence or anything. Apparently elf magics translated their own language for them, but the grammar didn’t cross over correctly.

To be fair, it was quite a sight to see. The central ring’s fountain was already complete. It had 2 statues in it already. They were a pair of goblins, a female working a forge, and an armored male goblin carrying a sword standing next to the female. There was plenty of space left for many more statues in the large fountain. As a way to calm himself, Harry grabbed a cup and scooped out some water to drink. The fountain had been done well. It was just the right temperature. Cool, but not so cold you’d risk hypothermia if you fell in. It tasted delicious. Or as much as water could taste delicious.

The roads of the first ring were already completed, as were the spokes, and most of the second ring. Many buildings were already under construction. It seemed Gringotts was largely complete, at least the above ground structures. It would probably be gussied up a bit soon, but it was functional. Lodlang told him it already had a lot of tunnels from an old mining system here. Apparently there were already Vaults for the royal treasury, the crown vault, the government treasury, and so forth. “How is the currency going?”

“Well enough, though it’s already being named without you. Given your astronomy theme, people have taken to calling the large gold coin a ‘Sol’ and the large silver coin a ‘Lune’, and the smaller variants are just referred to as either ‘lesser’ or ‘little’. No one has found any good names for the nickel coins. Some are considering. Granted you can change these, it’s just what the people working on the equipment to make them are calling them.”

“Sol and Lune are good enough for me. Perhaps the big nickel coin is an ‘Aster’, and that becomes a ‘half’, ‘quarter’, and ‘eighth’ aster? It still fits the astronomy and star theme. Deriving ‘aster’ from ‘asteroid’.” Harry says, thinking it over. The ‘eighth’ aster was a bit meh, but it was the best he could think of. “I am sure people will find a better way to use the lowest denomination of aster.”

Harry headed off along the first/mercury ring, looking at buildings going up. Ragnuk’s embassy was doing reasonably well. The ministry building was going up already, even if it was only the skeleton of the building. Aside from the fountain and small park, Harry noticed the inside of the first ring was very empty. Of course there were buildings coming up that were on the inside of the ring, but that didn’t really prevent all the empty space.

Sirius approached, looking it over and then at Harry’s face. “They are leaving that spot open as a place to put your palace eventually. Given the first ring is the mercury ring, they were thinking a central palace would work as the sun. It's not decided yet though. For now they are leaving all the space open so they have it as an option. Having a home right next to all the government buildings and embassies has a lot of merit. If you look over there.” Sirius said, pointing towards a large circular building going up near one of the big road ‘spokes’.” They are building a plaza there to help manage incoming apparitions. If your palace goes here while it won’t have huge grounds, it would contain the public fountain. Ragnuk and I both agree you’d want people to feel welcome.”

“Perhaps for now we should move all the tents and trunk homes to the center, for ease of use? After all, we seem to be building the center out for now. Though I imagine we’ll skip to the first residential ring after all the government buildings are done.” Harry said, thinking.

“Dobby, could you set out the dormitory tents I bought to help give people more space in the center here? Perhaps my house trunk as well?” Harry said. Dobby nodded happily, his ears flopping around in excitement as always.

“We should probably have a system for ruling the area. I can’t be awake constantly. They've not barraged me with questions, tasks, and so forth yet, but they are likely to need guidance soon. Perhaps we should involve Lodlang as a goblin representative, and take 3 8 hour shifts helping as needed? Of course if anything needs me, I can be woken up, or else put aside anything unimportant. But this would ensure someone of authority would be available at all times, while ensuring everyone has some time to rest or do other things. You’re my godfather, so I trust you.”

After getting that set up between the 3 of them, Harry retreated to his new trunk, wanting to explore. After all, the goblins had bought it for him (even if they used his money), so he had yet to see it. It turned out that you needed to simply expand the trunk and stand it upright. After opening it after this, a door showed. Harry opened it, curious, only to find it opened into what appeared to be a ‘smal’l manor house. It had plenty of rooms, even a big formal meeting room and an office for him and a couple others. It would do till he had a permanent home. Harry had hardly explored a bit before a group of goblins entered and took up posts. A pair of goblins watched the entrance, another patrolled the ‘small’ manor house, and another stationed himself outside Harry’s office.

It seemed that the moment he got himself comfortable at a desk, it was decided he was ready to get to work. Immediately a group of elves popped in. They were requesting that he set up leadership between them. Dobby didn’t care about being in charge, and simply wanted to be his person butler of sorts. Foxy became the head of all the royal elves. An elf named ‘Pops’ was declared the head of the construction elves. An elf named Kosa became the head of the herbology elves. Ringy became the head of the support elves, those who generally helped with food, cleaning, and so forth.

It wasn’t long after the elves left that it seemed to become known that this was Harry’s temporary office. People came in for a variety of reasons. Some wanted to know where Harry wanted their shelters. Some wanted to know which buildings to prioritize, After 5 hours, which seemed to be when people decided Harry should take a break, Harry decided he would need a secretary to help keep him organized. He would ask about finding someone for that purpose soon. For now, he put Sirius in the office to his right, and Lodlang in the office to his left.

Chapter Text

Harry sighed. It had been 2 weeks since he came here. Harry had ended up naming the city Merak. Merak was a part of Ursa Minor, and was one of the 2 pointer stars towards Polaris, the North star. Dubhe wasn’t a great name, so Merak it was. He considered Aquila at one point, thinking about the eagles who often flew over.

He had received several letters over his 2 weeks here. One of course was from Dumbledore, which mostly just demanded to know where he was. It was layered in his usual ‘I’m just concerned for your safety and childhood’ type spiel. Ron had been convinced to send him a letter as well. Neither Ron nor Hermione had been willing to share any real information over the last 7 weeks. It was all ‘Dumbledore thinks it’s best not to tell you much.’ His relationship with Ron had never fully recovered after his betrayal after the Goblet of Fire debacle. He had expected Hermione to do something.

Harry had received these letters last Sunday. Heir island was too far from land for owls to reliably make the journey, and even if they could, the wards repelled owls. Owls seemed to instinctively know their packages and letters needed to be stropped off at a Gringotts to get here. Gringotts then had someone transport everything to Merak once a week. Sunday was the day deemed mail day. Harry found it ironic, and he was pretty sure they had picked that day on purpose.

After consulting his advisors, Harry sent back a letter to Hermione telling her that he was safe, but likewise couldn’t really tell her much for security’s sake he couldn’t tell her anything either. He filled the long letter with random inane things of how things were going for him. How he was dealing with what happened to the Dursleys. He had hated them, yes, but would never have wanted them to be kissed. Nothing that gave any information. He made sure to tell her he missed her. He apologized for the lack of information, but said that like Dumbledore had said, it was risky to send information via owls. He imagined when Dumbledore learned that was his logic, he might bust a vein. Dumbledore no doubt would hate to have his own justifications used against him. He added a few smaller letters to Dumbledore, Mr Weasley, and Ron. All mostly to ensure he was safe. They’d go out tomorrow.

Magic sped up construction beyond what Harry had suspected. The ministry building was now mostly done, at least from a structural viewpoint. The 2 floors above the ground floor were still largely skeletal. They’d focused their efforts on the below ground parts of the building. Ragnuk’s embassy was done, if unfurnished for now. The apparition point on the mercury ring was done, granted the wards still didn’t allow apparating yet. The only way in or out was via specific portkeys that were now tied to Harry himself. This meant Harry had to make every portkey. Once the nation was a bit more established, Harry would no doubt hand that responsibility to a group. For now few people came and went, and even then mostly to get supplies to bring back to Polaris.

Harry was currently looking over a new residential building. It had 4 stories, 3 of which were on ground level and above. They’d manage to utilize space enhancement runes to turn it into an entire apartment complex. There were 20 apartments on each floor. The ground floor apartments had 3 bedrooms, the second floor had 2 bedrooms each, and all 20 third floor apartments were single bedroom apartments. The basement had various utilities and such.

It would serve as their main residence building for now, but later on it would become a low-income apartment complex. It was amazing what space expansion charms and runes could do. They could live much denser, as everyone could have a full sized house and still only take up a single room’s space at most. Of course a lot of people would prefer homes without having to use that technology. But it would work well to house those who had lower incomes.

It was a good thing too, as they had already had new people join. There were a ton of jobs needing doing, and Gringotts had subtly been putting out feelers for those who needed jobs. Now that they had room for some incoming people, Harry had decided to focus on the hospital. It wasn’t fully done yet, but already they had rooms up in the hospital’s basement for werewolves to shelter during the full moon. Those had been the highest priority inside the hospital itself, as they already had werewolves, and it was only a week and a half before the full moon.

3rd September, 1995

Harry was sitting in his meeting room. He wore a full black suit. It was the most formal thing he had, and wearing robes as a formality was still odd for him. Ragnuk had been right that this trunk home would be useful. Lodlang and Gorsha were seated near him. A number of wizards were here as well. Bill Weasley had been hired to help with the warding. With him came Jasper Dinn and Olivier Briggs. Both were at this meeting as well. Ivy was an intimidating woman. She was tall and muscular, with long blond hair. She was cold and calculated, and sometimes kind, in her own way. Jasper was a thin, average sized man with raven black hair tied in a braided ponytail. He was an eccentric, somewhat feminine man. Both were muggleborn that Gringotts had reached out to. Jasper was a werewolf who at 35 years old, had a mastery in Potions and Ancient Runes. Apparently he wanted to work as an unspeakable, but was unhireable by British standards. Harry had been willing to make him their head of the R&D Department for now. Olivier had worked as an auror for the British ministry for 10 years, and would be 30 next month. Despite her sterling record and wonderful performance, she had never been promoted due to being a ‘mudblood’. She would be his Head of the DMLE. Both had given great interviews, and Harry decided to hire them as the lead of their department on a probationary basis.

Ragnuk himself had arrived. This would be his second time in Merak. He had visited once a few days after Harry arrived. He took a spot opposite Harry. Foxy, Pops, Kosa, & Ringy were all seated in specially made chairs at the table so they could participate. Sirius sat at Harry’s right, and Grimhook, a new addition, sat at Harry’s left. Ragnuk had introduced him as a well trained warrior that he recommended to be Harry’s head of security. Grimhook, who was apparently Griphook’s uncle, took that job seriously. He hardly left Harry alone at all. Alongside the head of construction, there was another new face. Farah Rosier. She was part of the sacred 28, and one of a darker family. She had been discovered to be sterile, and so was largely ignored. The goblins said this made her perfect to keep an eye on pureblood society. No one suspected her to be a spy. Granted she wasn’t a Death Eater, so she couldn’t give them too much information about Tom’s activities. According to her it was amazing how easy it could be to get valuable information about them though when you were both a pureblood and overlooked.

Once everyone was settled, and some elves delivered a few pots of tea and finger food, they were ready to start. Harry and Ragnuk shared a glance, before Harry opened this up. “Your report first, if you wouldn’t mind Farah.”

“When you didn’t show up at Hogwarts yesterday, Dumbledore could no longer hide that you were missing. Voldemort has some of his people out searching for you. Apparently he has some spies in Hogwarts, because he’s been looking since 1pm yesterday. He must have had students looking for you around the train. Dumbledore’s had 3 weeks to look for you and hasn’t found you either, that much Voldemort knows. Ifhe had found you, you would be at Hogwarts after all.” Fara said.

Harry nodded as some of the others considered this news. After about 30 seconds, he waved for Farah to continue.

“Well the British ministry leaks information like a cracked dam leaks water. Amelia is doing her best, but even she can’t fully stop the information leaking from the DMLE. She can just contain the specific information that leaks to some degree. The other departments don’t even seem to be aware there are cracks in the dam. Fudge’s refusal that Voldemort is back has done nothing but create even more cracks. I’ll give the ministry 2 years before Voldemort either takes over or destroys it outright. They had just hoped that Fudge gets removed or killed before the cracks get too bad. I suspect Amelia will be fired or killed within 3 years, assuming the ministry makes it that long.

Fortunately the Death Eaters have their own leaks. It didn’t take much to gather that VOldemort is after some sort of Prophecy. Supposedly it’s in the DoM. Dumbledore’s been having people keep watch outside the DoM, but I am not sure he has told them what’s really there. I managed to get the beginning of the prophecy.

“The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches... Born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies...”

I gather there is more, but Voldemort or his forces don’t seem to know the rest. I gathered that Snape brought him that bit. Apparently he didn’t get to hear the whole thing.”

Harry sighs. Here was the answer for why Voldemort went after him as a baby, and keeps going after him still. “I knew he was insane, but even if you believe that sort of stuff, to go after someone without the entire thing seems suicidally stupid. I wonder how one man can be Insane, Smart, and Stupid all at once.”

Harry let the conversation carry for a bit. People wondering about how's and why’s and such. After a few minutes, Harry spoke again.

“To the world I am 15. I say let them handle Voldemort. I don’t believe in prophecies. From what it says it doesn’t even define what calendar system to use, etc. I say let them deal with Voldemort. This is Dumbledore and the adult’s duty, not mine. If they had done their job and killed all the proven death eaters, or at least imprisoned them in an actually safe prison, all this would not have happened. Dumbledore should have been doing something since the end of my first year, when he learned for a fact that Tom isn’t dead.

I understand that they believe in it. I understand Voldemort will likely not stop until one of us dies. But a prophecy that’s only power lies in self fulfillment isn’t worth putting stock in. I’m not saying I am unwilling to help in any way. But I currently can’t help even if I wanted to.” Harry said, a bit annoyed with the mess.

“You don’t intend to do anything about Voldemort? I do agree though that you are right. This shouldn’t be your fight. ”

“Sirius, what would I even do? I now have a responsibility to a growing nation. I can't martyr myself for a different country. That’s the responsibility I have taken on. I need to help this nation grow, and eventually have children. Besides, we now have the Horcrux that was taken out of me to help find the others. Any news on that?”

One of the goblins whose name Harry didn’t know stood up next to Ragnuk. “On that front we have made progress. The rituals we have used on the horcrux have given us evidence that there are 7 out there. 1 seems to have already been destroyed. Seems likely the diary you destroyed who was controlling the basilisk in Hogwarts was a horcrux. We know one part of his soul is in his new body. Our tracker shows another is always with him. It always shows them as being in the same direction. Another is in Hogwarts itself. One was in Gringotts itself, but we need help to get it. It’s in Bellatrix Lestrange’s vault. We can’t just break in and steal it though. Fortunately as Sirius is head of house Black, he could annul their marriage and reclaim her dowry vault. With his permission we could then seize it. It would need to be done all at once though. The moment she gets the alert, she will attempt to get it out of the vault. Actually, you can help us with 2. A second horcrux is currently in one of your properties. I don’t know where exactly, as it seems it’s under fidelius. It’s in London, we know that much. And one of your properties.”

“I can do that for you. I’ll have Kreacher bring me any such thing and authorize the vault transfer once this meeting is over.” Sirius agreed. He was perfectly happy to be a thorn in Voldemort's side, even if he wouldn’t know about it until his demise.

“I have a little more news your grace.” Farah said, standing up again. She had a smile on her face that was clearly a result of Harry’s blush. He was not used to such forms of address yet. Most humored him in not being so formal. Some just liked to tease him though.

“Fudge appointed his under secretary as the defense teacher for Hogwarts. Her name is Dolores Umbridge. When you didn’t know up at the opening feast,s he had your education records pulled. Neither her, Fudge, nor Dumbledore were happy to discover that you had already taken your OWLs and NEWTs. It’ll no doubt be on the front page in tomorrow’s Prophet. If it isn’t it’ll be out within a week. Fudge may delay it as he doesn’t want to give you any positive publicity.”

Harry nodded. “We knew it’d get out. Still, it managed to stay secret for 3 weeks. That’s enough I suppose. Thanks for the Head’s up. I’ll check the Daily Prophet’s out on Sunday. Anything else?”

“Given the slow trickle of people coming to Polaris, there are rumors going around that something is happening. We may only have a few months before information gets out that we exist. We could delay it longer by stopping the trickle of immigrants, but that would do more harm than good I think.” Sirius said.

Harry was surprised about this. He hadn’t expected Sirius to have such information. Sirius looked around, before speaking again. “What? I have some friends. Remus has been watching various werewolf packs to try and stop them from joining Tom. He’s noticed a very slow trickle of werewolves disappearing and leaving no trail.” Sirius said, surprised a bit by everyone looking at him.

“That’s acceptable. We can’t really stop the trickle. We need people. We have far too many jobs and far too few people to do them. So far the influx has been carefully monitored both on our end and at Gringotts. Great job everyone. We’ll have another meeting soon. Lets be sure not only to thank all of you, but the construction team's efforts. We are speeding along faster than I had hoped. We’ll have another meeting in 2 weeks unless something happens sooner that calls for one.”

Chapter Text

4th October 1995

Voldemort was not having a good time. It had been a month since Harry’s disappearance became publicly known. He had sent his servants out, and so far he had not been found. He had expected solid information by now at a minimum. His displeasure was made abundantly clear to his followers. “Report Nott.”

“I’ve confirmed Harry took his tests in France at an ICW facility. He must have gone to Gringotts to get money to get to france. The goblins refuse to tell us anything about him or when and where he has been. They say we have used their discretion many times before, and should know better than to bother asking. I tried to force the issue, but they laughed in my face.

I have used contacts in the ministry. They have no record of him taking a portkey of any kind, especially an international portkey. The last portkey it shows him taking was back from the world cup last year. It’s become clear that he’s muggle-raised. If he found a way to bypass the trace, it might have been possible to either confund a muggle to get a passport? None of us have any real connection to muggle Britain. It seems most likely that he took a muggle ‘air-pain' to Paris, whatever that is.

I managed to learn that he went to the Paris Gringotts branch to get some money. He left Gringotts and was never seen again. Assuming he still has the Trace, he is likely either outside Britain, where it won’t function, or living in a warded area where it doesn’t register to the ministry.”

Voldemort was not happy about that. He had deduced much of that himself. All it gave him was confirmation that Harry had been to Paris, likely via muggle methods. He was almost impressed. Clearly the boy was smarter than he had appeared to be, do take his NEWTs 3 years early. Whether Harry was camping in a wizard tent, or simply integrated himself into the muggles, he knew not. Despite the hate and wrath, he was beginning to have the nearest hint of respect. It took talent to vanish so totally. As for Gringotts, there was nothing to be done. Making an enemy of the goblins was far too high a price to pay even if it would help them find the Potter brat. Notts botching of the word ‘airplane’ reminded him about just how stupid some purebloods could be.

“For now, we give up until there is some new clue. Send in Avery, I want his report on the werewolf disappearances.” For his sake, Voldemort hoped he had information to give him. He was also curious about the mudbloods who were seemingly leaving Britain, but they weren’t really wanted in their society anyway. Werewolves were useful at least.

8th October 1995

Farah had just given him her newest report. Apparently Tom had given up searching for him. While part of Harry was surprised, with nearly no evidence of where he could be, it made sense. Right now Tom needed to build up his forces. Wasting resources on a wild goose hunt wasn’t worth it. No doubt he would resume the hunt once he was in a better position.

Merak was making substantial progress. The hospital was now done, as was the ministry. Granted that was mostly the building itself. While it was furnished too, they lacked the people to get things truly up and running. Harry had an area in the ministry building just for himself. It even had secret passages to get in and out. Grimhook had insisted on it having multiple entrances and exits. Being cornered and killed in your office would be a valid concern otherwise. Even still, Grimhook always remained close.

When Harry wasn’t spending his time running Polaris, he spent a good amount of his free time in the R&D department working on his invention. Just 2 weeks ago he completed it. A runic enchanted necklace necklace that, when worn, allows you to understand one of: English, French, German or Spanish. Unfortunately other than Latin those were his only languages. He hadn’t gotten permission to make one for the goblin tongue. He’d arranged how the profits would be divided. The Royal Vault would gain 45% of the royalties from the translator. The Ministry would gain another 40% of the profit. Finally, Gringotts would get 15% of the profits.

The last of them was a gift. Ragnuk, Gringotts, and the goblin people had been his friend, and he wanted to show them that he appreciated them. 40% going to the ministry itself would help fund the government. Yes the royal vault would make up a portion of the government's income. He was setting it up so that a portion of that vault’s profits went to the ministry, along with some of the vault's contents when they needed extra income as determined by Harry. But he wanted to give them a separate income. He also hoped to set up a tradition of inventors who were helped by the government giving it a part of the profits.

Harry had a building erected on the Earth ring to make them. He’d hired 3 immigrants to make the translators for him. They had been hesitant to sign a blood contract to never reveal any part of the process of making them to anyone. Eventually it would get out, but the longer he held a monopoly, the more money he would make in the short term. Once the government was fully up and running without his constant directing of things, he’d allow that information to get out.

Harry had set this all up under the pseudonym ‘Altair’, after the brightest star in the Aquila constellation. Anyone who looked too far into it, to the point of checking the patent itself would learn it was under Harry Potter however. For the vast majority of people, it would simply be known to be a new magical technology invented and produced by ‘Altair’, which was also the name of the company he had created to produce and sell them. Just for funsies and to mess with Tom, he had patented his invention through France. Hopefully they would think he was still there.

In other news, just 5 days ago, Polaris had their first crime. A death eater sympathizer who was supposedly working for Fenrir Greyback had managed to get in. Though he didn’t manage to get anything out before he was caught with sensitive information. Briggs had him in a special cell meant to house werewolves. Had he had more time to gather information, and somehow got back to Britain, Tom may have learned where Harry was. Brigg’s fast action had protected him. He was considering how to reward her. The culprit would stay there until one of the courtrooms was fully furnished and ready. That should be done by this time next week.

Bill was doing wonders helping set up their wards. While the nation wide wards were up from the start, he was working on wards in the ministry buildings. Most importantly in the courtrooms and the council chambers. Jasper Dinn was also helping. Harry had asked him to research possible wards to stop the ocean level from rising around them if global warming started getting bad. Harry occasionally spent time trying to look things up to help. So far there were no ideas. Still, Harry wanted Polaris to last, and as an island nation that meant stopping themselves from sinking beneath the waves. It must be possible. Dinn had some vague ideas, but no doubt it would take years to invent such a ward.

Another business was starting up that would be immensely helpful in the long run. Apparently they were trying to get a shipping business set up to bring some muggle goods and supplies to their islands. It would take a while to do however. Just buying a proper cargo ship would be expensive. Harry was working out a deal for them in which he would invest in them in exchange for a small percentage of the profits going to the government. It wouldn’t be much percentage wise, but income was still income.

Soon after Harry took a seat in his office, the mail got delivered. Harry looked through his small stack with mild annoyance. Dumbledore’s letter had a note attached to it from the goblins that worked the mail service via Gringotts. Dumbledore had attached tracking charms to the letter and owl, no doubt in an attempt to find him. This wasn’t the first time Dumbledore had tried magical trickery. The goblins were getting annoyed with him. It turned out it was yet another letter urging him to come home, and begging for information. It was full of demands that were disguised as his concern for his health and such.

To Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore:

This is not my war to fight. Had you and your ministry done your jobs, this wouldn’t even be as big of a problem. Had there been no death eaters free to assist him, you would be in a much better situation. Regardless, asking a 15 year old to fight Tom is effectively asking me to commit suicide. It is both immoral and irrational. I am sure my friends are concerned for me, and I understand that. But if they really care, they’ll want me to stay safe, and not emerge and risk myself just so they feel better. I hope you understand, but I will not ask permission to keep myself safe. Should I be in a better position to help in the future, I will do what I can. Please stop pestering me to give you information about where I am, or demanding I come ‘home’. As for how I have completed my NEWTs early, I would hope you have already figured it out.

- Harry James Potter.

It was simple, curt, and to the point. That said, it was also ruthless and left no room or excuse for Dumbledore's actions. He had laid it out as clearly as he could. He didn’t give an answer about his NEWT scores. Surely Dumbledore had figured out that he must have learned Occlumency. Really, what other option was there when it came to learning things fast. There were no time turners missing to Harry’s knowledge. Harry would never admit he had used a method to manipulate time. Or at least, not for a long while.

To Hermione Jean Granger:

How are you doing? I know it’s been months since we have met. I miss you too. I wish I could come talk to you, but I can’t risk exposing myself right now. Should D umbledore and the adults actually defeat Tom, I’ll come visit. To be honset, I like where I am. It’s becoming the best home I have ever had. It’s not always easy, and problems occur. But that’s how life is. I’ve sent a present for you. It’s the book on Occlumency I bought before my third year. It’s how I studied so hard to take my tests. Though I am ashamed to admit that I have been hiding something.

In my childhood I was always punished if I got Dudley. I was supposed to be a stupid freak apparently. I am sure you’ve pierced together what my home life was like before this, so it shouldn’t be a surprise. When I got to Hogwarts, I continued the hbetter grades thanabit. Ron never wanted to study, and with how smart you can be, I worried you would stop liking me if I risked getting grades close to yours. I know now how ridiculous that is. You wouldn’t have abandoned me if I got some grades higher than you on occasion. But I was also worried Ron would. After Ron abandoned me last year, I felt he had proved I was right there. But that meant I needed you more than ever. I was too scared to try too hard. Of course being ‘Harry Potter’ no one would find it odd if I scored high in DADA.

After Tom/Voldemort attacked in both my first and second years, I paid extra for this book. I felt Hogwarts wasn’t safe. The yearly adventures had nearly gotten me killed before. I’ve been learning and memorizing all my books ever since. I bought all the higher level books to read too before third year. I’m sorry I doubted you. I hope you can forgive me for not doing too well on my homework.

- Harry James Potter.

Chapter Text

10th October 1995

Harry Potter was thinking about a lot of things. As a formal meeting was about to unfold, Harry was getting ready. He wasn’t really into stuffy robes, so Harry was electing to wear his best formal suit. It was black with dark amethyst jewel tone accents. Harry wasn’t a flamboyant person, so while he wore purple, the stereotypical color of royalty, he did his best to be classy about it. On his hands he wore 4 rings, the rings for the Potter, Peverell, and Gryffindor family, along with a ring signifying that Sirius had made him his heir.

Harry’s hair had grown out in the 5 years he had been in the chamber. It was always messy when short, but became at least slightly manageable with some length. As a result, he’d kept the length mostly as it was when he had it cut. Half of it was now in a ponytail, and the rest laid around his shoulders. It was never going to be straight given the Potter men always had messy hair. Potter had also shaved just this mording, meaning he was clean shaven. Together this his extra years of growth getting him to a fit 5'8. He would after all, be a bit shorther than the average. Still, the growth suited him.

Harry entered the formal conference room near his office. After giving smiles and a gesture of hello to those already there, he took his seat at the middle of one side of the table. Harry sat himself at his fancy chair, spinning it a bit. Others noted that when thinking he sometimes unconsciously played with his chair. Harry pulled out some notes on a clipboard, a fountain pen, and other supplies. As he waited for the others he got to reading up on some of his thoughts he had noted down prior to this meeting, trying to remember some of his thoughts and ideas.

“Let’s get started.” Harry said once the last person entered and took their seat. “Before we can give our criminal a proper trial, we really need to define what rights everyone has. I know he’ve gone over a lot of it, but we need to formalize it. We also need a constitution. I don’t want unchecked power. Even if I could be fully trusted with absolute power, my descendants can’t.

So let’s get the basics out of the way first:

The Right to Life: I feel this is obvious, but one of a major jobs of our DMLE is investigating crimes. I don’t think this is something we want fully trained aurors doing at all times. Perhaps we should form a police force to deal with more mundane crimes.

Right to a fair trial: There should be no exceptions. Even the most notorious killer should get a trial. They also have the right to request access to things like a pensieve or veritaserum. This doesn’t mean we should assume all things said using them are fact. But had Sirius been given that right, he would have been freed instantly.

Right to an Attorney: Everyone who is going to a trial should have the right to ask for legal aid. It’s unfair to have a trial for someone who doesn’t know all the rights and such they have, and doesn’t have legal knowledge. We can’t magically give everyone who is to be tried a law degree. That means they get fair council. This also means telling them their rights when they are arrested.

Freedom from unwarranted searches and seizures: Police or aurors should not just be able to show up and search a person or property. They’ll need permission, usually from a judge.

Right to Liberty: People can’t be arrested without a warrant. There needs to be a valid reason to arrest someone.

Free Speech: People should be free to say what they will about other people and the government. Unless they are making a threat and such.

Freedom of the Press: The press should not be able to be controlled. While yes there needs to be laws to hold them to telling the truth, the government should not control them. I think we might need a system to help show people which are more trusted. But the government shouldn’t have any direct hand in any such idea. This of course doesn’t make them free to commit things like slander and libel.

Right to Liberty: I understand some house elves are used to enslavement. I don’t like it, but that should be their choice. In such a case, paperwork will need to be filed out every, say, 3 years to continue that relationship. Such things need to involve testing for potions, abuse, and so forth to prevent a forced signing. I dislike it, but Elves also have a right to liberty, and that liberty means getting to choose. That said, we should have a branch of our Department of Inter-Species cooperation that helps monitor such situations to ensure no elf who chooses that is abused. Perhaps involving randomly timed bi-annual checkups. Perhaps they should also be bound under a blood contract never to give someone a heads up to those dates, or any kind of tips?

Right to Peaceful Protest: People should be able to gather peacefully in protest. Seems pretty simple and basic to me.

Right to be Free from Discrimination: Neither the government, nor employers should be allowed to discriminate against anyone or any group. It shouldn’t matter if you are an elf, werewolf, wizard, squib, or anything else. Nor should skin color, sexuality, gender identity, blood purity, or anything else impede your ability to get a job. That means if we have a house elf who wants to become a department head, they should be able to do so as long as they meet the qualifications and so forth to do so.

Right to Vote: Everyone should have the right to vote, regardless of species, race, sexuality, gender identity, skin color, blood purty, and so forth. If we end up having anyone in the position. I intend to have a council formed, and at least half those slots should be for people who are elected by the general population.

Right to to be free from Torture: This means when we build our prison, we won’t be using dementors. It also means no brutality or torture when arresting someone, and so forth.

Any thoughts?”

“Why have any form of council or congress? I understand you want to split power to some degree.” Lodlang asked.

“I will likely be too busy to work on every bit of legislation. That won’t be the only thing they do. To some degree, they will function as formal advisors. I’m still fleshing things out.”

“If this does happen, if half the council are to be elected, what about the other half?” Sirius asked, curious.

“Right. That. Well…” Harry said, looking at Ragnuk.. He really wasn’t trying to cause offense or do anything

“I want to try adn balance tradition and modernization. Even in europe, there is still nobility. Removing it entirely wouldn’t be helpful. I also want to help a balance of power between people who have been here for years, and newcomers. So I was considering offering something. This isn’t a demand. In it comes an offer of citizenship. I am happy to offer dual-citizenship if Ragnuk will accept such a thing. Granted I think we all agree holding political power in 2 separate nations is unacceptable…

I would like to offer the following people status as a noble of Polaris. Sirius, Bill, Olivier, Dinn, Lodlang, Gorsha, Grimhook, Foxy, Pops, and Kosa. I recognize there is only 1 werewolf I listed. I plan to offer 2 others such status as well, once we have candidates who have earned it. That will put us with 3 human families, 3 werewolf families, 3 elf families, and 3 goblin families. Then we will have 3 more of each that will be for those who are elected. I will need to tweak this, so that some department heads are added. In such a case, no one will get a second vote due to being a founding house and a ministry head. I plan to keep the numbers always even. That’s part of the power I reserve for myself. I will have a vote, and being the one to make it an odd number, I will break ties.

I am trying to honor your services, but this is also up to Ragnuk, as the current goblin king. While I have studied parts of goblin culture, I do not intend to offer insults. I promised to offer goblin kind a say in Polaris. This is how I plan to do it. By giving the goblins 3 noble families/clans/etc, and the right to work in the ministry and such as every other citizen, goblin or not, should be able to if they fit. Should anyone refuse, either to take up this offer, or to be a citizen, I will hold those seats until I find someone else who deserves such a seat.”

“What about people like me? I have a family back home. Typically in such an arrangement I would be my fathers heir.” Bill asked.

“I am making this offer to you, not Arthur. So assuming you accept and become a citizen, you become the head of the ‘Noble and Founding house of Weasley’. We may adjust titles later. Perhaps ‘Founding’ should be enough?” Harry said, before petering off into thinking out loud at the end.

“So what happens if we refuse, or someone gains noble status later ino Polaris’s growth?” Grimhook asks.

“I’ll think of other titles. Founding will just be the highest prefix for now. Perhaps if there is an empty seat due to declinding, something like a family’s head committing treason, or something else, more prefixes will show up. Perhaps if someone performs a big enough service to the nation, ‘Heroic’ might be a prefix used? Actually, since all these families will be noble, let's remove that totally. Whether we keep it only to one prefix or if more than 1 can be applied will be determined later.”

Gorsha, Grimhook, and Lodlang all looked to Ragnuk. They were citizens of his kingdom after all. They were helping with this project, but didn't know to expect an offer like this. Would taking it be betraying their homeland? To some degree it depended on Ragnuk. Ragnuk however ignored them, and seemed to be thinking. He was balancing the potential loss of these 3, with the potential gain for all goblins. Having a nation offering them not only freedoms few others have ever even considered offering, but actual seats in that nation's governing body. “What would be the rules for dual citizenship?” Ragnuk asked. They could haggle about this, but first he wanted Harry’s thoughts.

“Well… I think they would follow the laws that are most relevant. So while outside the embassy and Gringotts tunnels, they would follow Polaris law, and would be tried here. If they broke your laws while in your domain, they would be tried there. If they were to accept this, they would have to live primarily in Polaris. That means they’d be subjected to our laws, endless they go to your lands to commit said crimes. As they would have political power here, Polaris might be considered their ‘primary’ citizenship for certain things. Like taxation and so forth. Granted this is flexible as they may have certain properties and such in your nation. I would think they would have full citizenship in both our lands. I would assume the same would be the case for any children they should have, unless they take up primary residence in your lands. Their right to liberty ensures that would be their choice, at least where my nation is concerned.” Harry said, thinking it over.

“That’s mostly acceptable. We’ll get together later to fully flesh this out, sign treaties, and so forth. Pending the signing of these new treaties, they are free to accept if they choose to.”

Harry nodded. “Feel free to think it over. You need not respond today, or even this week. Take, say, a month, to decide between yourselves if you will accept it.” Harry said. He wanted to give them time.

“What about me? Technically I should have some political power in Britain. I appreciate what you are offering, but how would that work?” Sirius asked.

“Well… I think that's up to you. You can’t have a position of power in both. Whether or not Britain would allow it, I won’t. You could move the Black family here officially, though I imagine that may not be viable. You could refuse the vote. In which case I would honor the status offer, but here house Black would have no seat on the council, or vote. It would be tricky. But with the right contracts, family magic, and such. You could attempt to split the family in 2. Both would have political power in each separate country. But, blood contracts/vows would need to be continually applied to enforce neither ever has control or say of the other.

This isn’t really an option without Draco Malfoy and his children taking the British seat. I suppose you could reinstate Andromeda and by extension Tonks and go through them for a British branch. Splitting seems a bit complicated however. Due to the complex situation, you are free to take as long as you need to decide what to do.”

Harry could see the conflicted look in Sirius’s eyes. He may hate his family, but a lineage that old was something to be careful about. Even he didn’t want to just abandon his lineage.

After over 10 minutes of idle conversation after this, Harry spoke up to move on thi “Before I let everyone out to do what they will. I want to observe people to find more worthy candidates. I can’t do that well if people are actively trying to be rewarded. That means all matters dealing with the creation of a ‘founding’ noble class are now under a seal of silence.” Harry said, pulling out the contract to be signed. “I want a full vow or blood contract signature that none of that will be spoken of to anyone, except your direct families, and even then only those who have also signed the blood contract or made a full magical vow. I won’t restrict you from talking to spouses and family. But I can’t risk your families leaking this information. I am sorry for the inconvenience. You need not worry, I will give extra copies of a contract you can have your relatives sign that won’t give away the information before it’s signed. This will all be made public soon, but for now, I want to keep it quiet.”

After everyone had signed the silence contract, the meeting let out. Many people were not going to like this, especially foreigners. Offering 3 house elves noble status would be insane to some. Harry however had wanted to found this nation of fairness and equality.

Chapter Text

12th October 1995

It was 1 in the afternoon, when Lodlang and Sirius brought someone Harry had never seen into his office. It was a slightly tall woman with honey brown hair and dark brown eyes. She was wearing worn but tough hiking clothes, and her face seemed prematurely lined. At first he thought she must be nearly 40, but then, when he looked past the lines, she must be at most 30.

“My name is Blair Graham. I’ve been in Greyback's pack for the last 2 years. I’ve done what I could to not hurt anyone. But that hasn’t always been possible. Many of us don’t want to be there. I am making an offer. You offer protection to those of Greyback’s pack that can get out. Mostly children and teenagers he’s turned. You also give us all fair trials. In exchange, I’ll be your spy inside his pack. With Voldemort back, you are going to need eyes. I have accepted that I may be too far gone.”

“I’m willing to do all that for free. That’s just basic human rights. I appreciate the offer, but you don’t need to spy for me if you don’t want to.” Harry said, making it as clear as he could how he felt. He could absolutely use a spy in the pack, but it was important to make it clear that she need not make such an offer. If she was to spy, she wanted it done willingly, not as a part of a forced bargain. “Fair trials, including a right to request veritaserum and a pensieve is a right all people have here. If you have some way to get them to a Gringotts branch, anyone who is willing to make the proper vows or sign the proper contracts is welcome here. We have plenty of werewolves living here as is. Once the schools are ready, they’ll be welcomed there too. Providing they don’t mind a trip to the hospital every full moon. I can’t exactly turn down an offer to have eyes on Greyback. That said, you don’t have to sacrifice your health and safety just to get basic rights and fair treatment.”

Blair collapsed in her chair. One of the elves brought in refreshments and some food. Blair dug in quickly, giving Harry the feeling that Fenrir’s insistence on living away from humans meant they rarely got much in the way of good food. He’d have to have Gorsha, their lead medic, on standby with some of her apprentice healers for when they arranged the rescue of the kids and teenagers from Fenrir’s pack. They might be dealing with some malnutrition.

“I can arrange to send you back with some food if that’s a concern. We could have a tailor add a hidden pocket and expand that. It would give you a way of sneaking food into camp. As to spying, how about you make your choice on whether you want to do that once the kids are rescued. No doubt you will have to go back to help them escape. Any information you send back before that would help. And when the kids are safe, you can make your permanent choice about spying. If you prefer not to, you can simply stay with the kids. If you need proof about the trials, we are holding one tomorrow for another of Greyback’s pack that managed to get in. They got caught before they could get any sensitive information out.”

“I can do that. I'll help where I can and keep you informed. I can’t regularly disappear to report though. So you’ll get reports at whatever time I can manage without arousing any suspicion. I’ll accept the hidden pocket. Can you provide any concealable sheathes?” Blair asked.

“Absolutely. We’ll do the best to keep you safe. We can have some dragon hide hidden in some of your clothing too. It should offer some solid protection. That said, don’t get yourself killed.” Harry said, concern clear in his voice.

13th October 1995

The trial had been an ordeal. At first he had been cooperating a bit, but once he realized he’d be taking veritaserum, he gave up all pretense. We went on about what he’d done. The rant was concerning enough, but the things he confessed while under veritaserum were worse. They didn’t have formal judges yet, so Harry was presiding. It was deemed too unsafe to let him go, and they didn’t yet have a finished prison. In the end he had sentenced him to death.

Harry was really not happy about it, but held himself together until the end. Still, this was the first time he had intentionally killed someone in a situation that wasn’t life or death. He didn’t administer the verdict, but it had been him or gave it. At least it was a bit easier. The things he had confessed were beyond horrifying. Still, he’d be speaking about this with his therapist for a while.

18th October 1995

Surprisingly, Blair had already come by some valuable information and had a chance to report it. He hadn’t expected she’d get the chance yet. Unfortunately, it was a doozy. Fenrir and Tom suspected Remus and Dumbledore might be behind the vanishing werewolves. Tom had ordered the death of Remus Lupin. Remus hadn’t been a threat before, or in the last war. Few werewolves wanted to risk Tom or Fenrir’s anger by siding against them. Most kept their neutrality at least partially out of fear of retaliation. Now that werewolves were starting to disappear, Remus might be a threat related to that. Neither could risk werewolves going to Dumbledore.

Unfortunately that wasn’t it. Arthur’s involvement hadn’t exactly been fully a secret, or it was just expected that he would help Dumbledore. To ‘discourage’ the Weasleys from getting involved or stopping their involvement, Fenrir was ordered to turn Ginny if possible. Unfortunately, the full moon was to happen during one of the hogsmeade weekends. It often didn’t occur to people, but the moon often showed up during the day. Fenrir was considering an attack on hogsmeade.

Farah’s reports said Tom was still building up his forces in secret, but had decided that Fenrir’s actions weren’t automatically linked to him. He was known to act out occasionally during the 14 years before his rebirth. She had told him to watch out for Greyback, as he may attack soon. Apparently he had his eye on someone associated with him. She also reported that Voldemort had swayed some giants.

It was these reports that had had him writing some letters to warn people. Gringotts could ensure his mail got through without being intercepted. Well, truth be told, he had someone else writing them for him as he spoke. He didn’t want his hand writing all over this.

Arthur Weasley

Voldemort is on the move, and as you have been associated with Dumbledore for years, your family is in danger. Fenrir has gotten orders to bite your daughter if possible. If you were not aware, the full moon will be visible during the day on the upcoming hogsmeade weekend on Saturday the 21st. Fenrir is planning to take advantage of this if possible. I will send her a letter as well. I know you may not like that, and my apologies. But in my experience, kids follow rules and restrictions better if they know why. My apologies for interfering in your family.

-Someone who cares.

Harry would also send letters to Hermione, Ron, Ginny, Fred, & George. They’d help spread the warning if it was needed. They’d each get their own letter. He considered sending one to Luna, but he wasn;t sure how she would respond. He’d leave that up to Ginny.

Hermione/Ron/Fred/George

Voldemort has ordered Fenrir Greyback to bite Ginny/you if he gets a chance. The Weasley family has supported Dumbledore publicly enough that it is assumed they are helping him. They are intending to turn Ginny/you to both punish this, and ‘encourage’ him to stop. On October 21st, the full moon will be out during the day. That’s also on your hogsmeade weekend. Be careful. I won’t tell you what to do, but it may be wise to stay at Hogwarts on that day. If not, take precautions.

-Someone who cares.

That should ensure they are properly warned in time. He’d send these out as emergency mail. They should get it hopefully at least a day before Saturday, at worst, the morning of, before they leave for hogsmeade. He considered sending Arthurs first, but couldn’t risk him or Dumbledore stopping the warnings from getting to Ginny. He had considered not sending one to Hermione and Ron but both were known to be his friends. This theoretical informant would easily be able to learn that.

Remus Lupin

Voldemort has ordered Fenrir to kill you if he gets a chance. Keep an eye out for him. I guess given the trickle of werewolves vanishing, he’s determined you are worth taking out. I am sure your spy would have told you if they are aware, but no one spy can be aware of every move. Voldemort doesn’t trust anyone enough to know everything, and this isn’t relevant to your spy’s specialty. Keep safe. Also, if you haven’t heard from Hagrid yet, some giants were swayed to Voldemorts side.

-Someone who cares.

20th October 1995

The Order of the Phoenix was getting together for a meeting. They’d gotten word from Arthur and Remus that they both had something to discuss. There was also news from Severus. Sirius was letting them use Grimmauld Place as a headquarters. He had opened it up to them a week into september. Dumbledore had originally wanted it earlier than that, but Sirius said he needed to do some basic work on it first. They arrived to find it surprisingly clean.

Apparently Sirius had had cleaned it among other things. He’d also moved the bulk of the Black library and all the dark objects out. Including the horcrux, not that Dumbledore knew that it even existed. Kreacher was still living there, under very tight orders. It seemed Sirius had also gotten a second elf to help manage the place who was under matching orders. Once everyone had arrived, and dinner was done, the meeting started.

“Severus, we’ll start with you. Given your report.”

“MacNair and his group have swayed a group of giants to his side. It’ll take a while for them to arrive. They searched for Hagrid, but fortunately they didn’t find him or Olympe. Voldemort has been meeting Fenrir Greyback more recently. Sadly he doesn’t seem to see a need to have a potion master on hand for the meetings.

In regards to Harry Potter, none of the death eaters have seen or heard about Harry. He’s long given up searching for him, and just told them to keep an eye out. He is looking into the missing werewolves, but so far he has no leads. Over 60 werewolves have left Britain. Surprisingly, vampires have started disappearing too. Again, all we know is that they are leaving britain. No one has any leads about where they are going or why, just like the werewolves.” Severus sat back down after giving his reports.

“That’s alarming. All that’s on top of many muggleborns leaving and either going abroad or just living mostly in the muggle world. It’s somewhat typical for muggleborns to leave in small numbers, but it’s getting much faster recently. I’d say it’s ramped up steadily in the last 2-3 months.” Molly said, concerned.

“Remus, I believe you had news to deliver?” Dumbledore said, standing up after a couple minutes of discussion.

“Yes. Just this morning I got a letter. I don’t recognize the handwriting. It was a warning that Voldemort has asked Fenrir to kill me if he gets a chance. Perhaps with all the werewolves going missing, he’s thinking I may be involved? But that’s not all. The letter also drops some hints that they are aware of Hagrid’s mission and the results. They are also aware of Voldemorts actions. Not only are they aware of Voldemorts actions, but they implied they know who our spy is. I’ve made some copies.” Remus said, handing out copies of the warning letter to all the people in the meeting. “Does anyone know this handwriting?”

After everyone read the letter, Remus only got confirmations that no one recognized the handwriting.

“This is alarming. Setting aside the implication that they know about Severus for now, they clearly have a spy of their own, probably 2.” Moody said, looking over the letter with their magical eye. “There appear to be no charms on the paper.” Said moody, who had the original. “I’d have suspected tracking charms, but it doesn’t appear any such magic was used.” Mood said, passing it to Albus, who got the same results.

“I got a letter this morning as well, seemingly from the same source. It looks like the same handwriting. It warned me that Fenrir’s got his sights set on infecting Ginny if he gets a chance. He’s apparently considering attacking Hogsmeade tomorrow, during the full moon. It seems unlikely he’d do a full attack though. But he could always lurk around and infect people when he gets a chance. It’s further proof this person has a spy, if not 2. Apparently they sent a matching letter to Ginny to warn her. They even went so far as to apologize for interfering with my family like that.” Arthur said.

After that, the topic of conversation was largely trying to figure out who this person is. They considered Harry for a moment, but ruled that out pretty fast. He could have figured our Severus was their spy easily enough, but he couldn’t have his own spies. Besides, while none of Harry’s letters gave any real indication of where he was, they doubted he was in Britain.

“Remus, any clue where the werewolves and vampires are headed?” Tonks asked.

“Sadly no. People have offered to tell me, but to do so I would need to sign contracts or make a proper vow not to tell anyone without permission. Who the permission would be from is a mystery, as apparently that’s related to the contract. I can’t learn any more without losing my ability to inform the Order. Wherever they are going, all I know is it’s seemingly safe enough for werewolves and possibly vampires now.” Remus said with a sigh. “They rarely seem to come back to Britain, except to take other people with them when they travel back. It seems most of them like it there, otherwise they would leave. Sadly they refuse to tell me anything that’s not vague and unhelpful.”

Dumbledore nodded with a sigh. He couldn’t risk losing information from Remus just to get eyes in their location. Eyes that wouldn’t be too helpful to him anyway if he then couldn’t tell him about it. At least this new person was helping them, for now at least.

Chapter Text

20th October 1995

Harry had just finished taking his shower after some afternoon training with Grimhook. He had a few free hours, and had decided to spend them with Jasper in the Department of Research of Development. They had worked on many things together over the last week. Jasper was effectively the head of DR&D and effectively their version of unspeakables. It was werewolves they were discussing at this moment, given the expected attack tomorrow.

“What I don’t understand is the behavior and appearance. They should at least look like wolves. But more importantly, wolf’s don’t act like that. They aren’t monsters who attack people at random. If anything, shouldn’t werewolves display some fear of people when transformed?” Jasper said, looking towards Harry and his assistants.

“And why would they not kill most of their human victims?” One of his assistants asked.

Harry shrugged in response. “Maybe they have rabies? It would certainly account for some of the behavior, and it could account for their frequent habit of leaving their victims alive. Viruses and such want to spread, same as bacteria. It’s not uncommon for such viruses to have effects on their host's behavior. Only humans can carry the curse right? It could explain why they kill prey, but usually leave their human victims alive.” Harry said. He hadn’t really planned this argument out. It was one of those errant ideas that just randomly hit him, something he would forget or dismiss later.

Everyone in the room looked at Harry in surprise before it seemed to hit them all at once. Was that it? Had Harry hit upon the cause accidentally? It could certainly be possible. Were there any known cases of werewolves not infected in an aggressive attack? Not that they knew of. “Surely not… It can’t be something that simple.” Harry said, just loud enough to be heard.

21st October 1995

In the end, the hogsmeade weekend had not been stopped. With the ministry and the general public not aware of Tom’s return, the school governors had overturned any attempt to stop the school from letting the older students into hogsmeade that day. Any great explanation of why would give away that Dumbledore had spies who would know of any plan going on. Dumbledore did at least warn the students to be careful.

Fenrir Greyback's assault comes a bit after 1pm, when the highest number of students are out of Hogwarts and into hogsmeade. Vague warnings to be careful did little good to the students. Students were running and screaming as werewolves, aurors, and professors ran about, trying to divert the werewolves or get students to safety. Fred had George meanwhile had known to expect this, and were prepared. They were helping to save the younger students. Ginny had not left Hogwarts fortunately, though Ron had come to help out, despite their brothers urging him not to.

Fenrir was in his element. He wasn’t even fighting for control of the beast. He was running around. He’d already killed someone, and infected another. He loved infecting children, and even in his crazed state he often somehow held back from killing the kids. Turn them young was his motto, and a dead kid didn’t turn. Some little part of his mind might be looking for the redhead, but he wasn’t truly in any control beyond the desire to spread the curse. While he never found Ginny, he did find a pair of redheads.

One of the werewolves lunged to bite one of the first years, and Fred interposed himself. Pain was all he could feel for a second. He’d gotten in front of the kid. The werewolf had pounced, and bit him just as he saved the kid. On some level Fred could feel the weight of the beast on him, and the blood flowing from his left shoulder.

George watched helplessly as his brother was pounced on by one of the largest of the beast. He knew what this meant. There was no cure. Fred would become a werewolf. Fred had saved a child from that, at the cost of infecting himself. Fred was his brother, but he was more than that. They were more than just identical twins. He knew what he would do. He wouldn’t leave Fred to suffer. Wouldn’t let some curse differentiate them, drive a wedge between them.

Fenrir released the bleeding body of Fred, blood dripping from his muzzle, his instinct to infect instead of kill allowing him to pull back. Perhaps some hint of his mind in the back somewhere was puzzled at the sight in front of him, as he stalled slightly. There was a matching redhead, who looked at his brother, and extended his arm toward Greyback. Greyback never refused a chance to infect someone, and here was a target that seemed either stupid or willing. His bestial mind neither cared nor thought twice about pouncing upon the other redhead.

22nd October 1995

Fred and George were escorted to the R&D department of Polaris. Jasper had put out a request to reach out to any werewolf victims who were freshly bitten by Gringotts. Gringotts were all too happy to make it known there was an experimental treatment needing freshly infected test subjects. George and Fred had come not even knowing that much. They had come to take some funds out of their vault. While the family had Accepted what happened to Fred, their mom just couldn’t accept George being infected.

They had never really understood the twins much anyway. But allowing yourself to be infected just to be there for your brother and twin was something Molly just couldn’t accept or understand. She would not support Georges ‘lifestyle choice’. He’d been kicked from their house after leaving the hospital. Arthur had tried to calm Molly and get her to understand, but this combined with her dislike of the twins compared to her other kids had compounded. Fred had taken George to the bank to get funds and discuss options. If George wasn’t welcome home, neither was Fred in his own eyes.

His brother was a hero not just for standing by him, but also saving other students. To him, it didn’t matter if that hadn’t been what got George infected. Gringotts had provided them not only help, but a place to retreat both from Britain and their own hurtful family. Both had been happy to meet Harry. Becoming the king of his own nation was in their eyes, an amazing prank on the whole world.

Once they got to the DR&D lab, many discoveries had happened. Having a pair of people who had been so recently turned offered them a rare glimpse into the curse even as it was starting to take hold. It also confirmed their suspicions. Their scanning magic showed positive for rabies. While there was no spell to cure rabies, it turned out there was a muggle vaccine. The hope was, if they gave it to both Fred and George fast enough, it would stop the infection before it could set in.

“Now, you’ll be taking more shots over time most likely. It’s only thanks to Harry here that we even thought to check for rabies. We can’t confirm if the vaccine worked for at least a week. You got the vaccine before even half a day after the bite, so it should hopefully work, unless the curse has affected it somehow. We can’t be sure for a while though.

“What will happen if it does prevent rabies?” George asked, concerned more for Fred than himself. George had willingly become infected, but Fred hadn’t.

“We can’t fully know, but we can make some guesses. Assuming the vaccine boosts your antibodies fast enough to resist the infection, you’re monthly transformation may just act like a normal wolf. That said, we can’t be sure. When viruses and curses mix together, it can be unpredictable. How the curse adapts without the virus present isn’t something we can be sure of.” Gorsha said. She had been working non stop after Harry’s accidental revelation to get these tests started as soon as they had volunteers.

“I wonder what would happen if you infected someone with the curse without rabies.” Harry said with a yawn. He too had been awake since last afternoon. Combining work, the workout and training, and then an all-nighter of research and prep, he was spent.

Jasper clapped Harry on the back. "Sorry for working you so hard Harry, but the price for competence is responsibility.”

Fred wrapped an arm around one of Harry’s shoulders. “Yeah Harry, you should know better than to have an epiphany.” He said, laughing.

“Honestly Harry” George said, shaking his head at Harry. “What were you thinking, having a good idea like that?” George tutted at him, as if he was a young child. “We’ll get his highness to bed.” He said, after Harry yawned instead of responding.

Harry looked at them indignantly, but was too tired to say anything. He was also too tired to bother stopping them from half carrying him off to bed like a toddler who had fallen asleep on the couch. He’d prank them later when he wasn’t dead tired for the way they were dragging him off.

Chapter Text

29th October 1995

Harry sighed as he rested his head sideways on his arms, like an elementary school student told it was ‘quiet time’. It has been a busy week. All the normal stuff that required his attention happened as usual, then the drama from Fenrir’s attack was added on. After that, a ton of new children and teenage werewolves had arrived. Apparently when Fenrir was planning and executing his attack, the children and teenagers had taken their moment to escape. They had arrived at Polaris just before the full moon. Harry had been busy with the research team at the time, but he had been dealing with the results for the last week.

The construction team had finished the prison just 5 days ago. With an anticipation that some of those who got here might be guilty, Harry had to rush preparing the prison for use just in case. And that meant staffing. He needed a warden, cooks, janitors, guards, and so much more to staff it. While more of the government was up and functioning than ever, he was still working hard to ensure everything got done.

The trials would take place shortly, but they all had to be recorded for international viewers should it come to that. That took a while to orchestrate, especially with over a dozen teenagers to be tried, excluding a couple adults.

If that weren’t enough, a few of the pack hardliners had caught them fleeing. A 17 year old by the name of Cameron Baird had protected them by using himself as a distraction. He had taken a major beating and was nearly killed. Blair managed to covertly rescue him. Gorsha and the healers were trying to make sure he made it out alive. He was stable at the moment, but would need surgery and would likely not be out of the hospital for a while.

That wasn’t all of it however. While Remus had been able to attend Hogwarts, that was because no one had known he was a werewolf. Fenrir’s attack was as publicized as it could be. All his victims and everyone that had been bitten was documented. That meant none of them could go to Hogwarts lest the racist parents throw a hissy fit.

Fortunately their efforts with Gringotts had resulted in most of them coming in to see if something could be done. 65% of them had been given rabies vaccinations within a day of the bite. Some however weren’t. Many parents were not willing to risk some ‘barbaric muggle medical treatment’ on their children. Jasper and the others were working hard to find a treatment for those who had contracted rabies in their werewolf form. There were some positive signs that it was at least possible. Fred and George had been confirmed as rabies free.

Harry finally got up and left his office for a time. He needed to think, and getting some fresh air would do him some good. Sirius came with him, and together they took a walk around the mercury ring. Eventually Harry decided to leave Merak. Together they apparated towards the school grounds.

Harry looked around at the buildings and grounds. The construction team had done wonders. In the north center there was a lovely castle, though not as big as Hogwarts. The castle was nestled into the hills near the mountain. There was a small lake to the east, a standard quidditch pitch sat to the southwest, where it was flatter. There was a smaller building near the quidditch pitch. There was also an isolated tower on the hill nearest the castle and lake. The hills nearby were covered in forest, and a series of buildings could be seen in the forest. Stone paths curved their way around the grounds connecting all the areas and buildings. Near the lake there were also a good number of greenhouses, and other buildings dotted the area.

“So why did you name the school Voyager? It’s a good name, and it certainly represents the idea of an educational journey. That said, I don’t get how it relates to space.” Sirius said, curious. Being raised in the wizarding world, he didn’t know all that much about modern muggles.

“Voyager 1 is a probe muggles sent out to space in 1977 That’s about 8 years after they landed on the moon. It's the farthest object humanity has ever sent out to space. I figured the furthest device ever put into space by man was a good name for a school. I also think it’s a good message for relations between wizards and muggles. Wizards still haven’t even gotten to the moon, and muggles have left all of the solar system except for the oort cloud.”

Sirius looked amazed. Clearly this was information he didn’t know. “How don’t wizards know about that?” He asked.

“Many do, but Hogwarts muggle studies class is decades behind. It’s no wonder last year almost no wizards were properly dressed in muggle clothes. Even Arthur dressed like a man in his 60’s out golfing. As the school buildings are done and they are getting in equipment and such now, we should really discuss what we want to do with the classes soon.

“What are all those buildings for?” Sirius asked, looking towards the buildings near the quidditch pitch, the lone tower, the ones in the forest, and so forth.

“Well, the one near the pitch is a gymnasium. It has places for many sports to be played. It also has a swimming pool. One of the many things I dislike about Hogwarts looking back is the lack of things to do. They didn’t have any non quidditch sports. There was chess, and a few other basic games, sure, but not much. There was also really nothing to help keep us healthy. Quidditch helps some, but unless you are a beater, you don’t get too much of a workout. Each house only has one team, and that means only 28 of the students even got that exercise reliably.”

“I know Amelia complains about that sometimes. Students who want to be aurors often are totally out of shape, and exhaust fast. That’s ignoring the problem of finding those who have their potion newt.”

Harry nods. Working out in the time chamber had been a wake up call on its own. He was okay in terms of core strength and arm strength, but aside from walking, his legs had never been worked much.

“Some of the buildings are for classes that do best outside. Classes like CoMC need pens, stables, and so forth. Voyager also needs to cater to multiple species. If any elves, goblins, werewolves, and so forth choose to attend, they may need facilities. So there is a safe space to transform for the werewolves. We have living spaces for elves. In Polaris, we have 3 noble Founding families that are elves. So they will need an education, that means living spaces sized for elves. Some buildings are empty just so we have some room to grow.”

Sirius nodded, and they walked along the paths and explored the grounds. At one point it started raining. Fortunately the paths were water repelling. It was amusing watching the rain hit the ‘ceiling’ of the water repelling charms, and flow down off the paths. After about an hour of just exploring and walking around, they apparate away at the apparition point. It was the only place on the school grounds that allowed apparition.

3rd November 1995

Harry conjured a nice chair for himself as he arrived at the meeting. Instead of the council chambers or his meeting room, this one was taking place in Voyager. Almost everyone had arrived so far. As Harry made some small talk one of the elves arrived to serve refreshments and food. This meeting was to discuss the appointing and hiring of staff, school rules, and other things relevant to the school that needed to be discussed. They’d be having these meetings once every week to 2 for a while. Their hope was to get the school up and running for the 1996-1997 school year. What would have been his 6th year had he not spent 5 years in a time chamber.

Harry looked surprised as Filius Flitwick entered the room. He had not been in charge of arranging the meeting, and had not expected him to be here. The fact that he was here alone meant many things. Until Polaris went public, just to get here you had to sign secrecy contracts. It was certainly an obstacle for many. That said, they now had 1.2k citizens. That puts them at about a fifth of the population of Britain. Granted, Britain had taken heavy casualties in 2 wars in the last 60 years. Still, for their growth mostly through word of mouth and very careful advertisement only in certain circles, that was pretty solid.

“Filius, lovely to see you. Granted I would have thought you would be planning to stay with Hogwarts? Why would you want to work at Voyager?” Harry asked as the meeting started.

“Dumbledore has been making more and more decisions I haven’t agreed with over the years. His taking on positions in both a national government and the ICW has meant he has mostly abandoned Hogwarts in terms of work he is actually doing. Besides, potentially running a school is the next most logical advancement in my career. I don’t understand how McGonagall gets through so much paperwork in addition to her classes. Let alone how she functions as a head of house.”

Harry nodded. Really, it made sense. “She doesn’t. She rarely if ever shows up in the common room. I can count on one hand how many times she has shown up in our common room. Even then it’s usually just to shut us up, or that time Sirius attacked Peter in our dorm.”

Filius looked aghast. “Really? Does she even have meetings with each student each year? Have each student take a physical each year? Meetings to discuss events? The electives? Even Severus does that much.”

“I didn’t even know those things happened in the other houses. We never had any physicals done. I don’t think we ever had a house meeting for any reason. I certainly wished someone had explained the electives to us. If I had understood how useful runes and arithmancy were, I’d have taken them. The short summary we got basically just described them as a magical language and wizarding math. By calling runes ‘ancient’, it was heavily implied that it just taught a dead, useless language. It put me at a significant disadvantage trying to learn those subjects almost entirely on my own. Meanwhile CoMC sounded really useful and fun. After all, from a muggle raised perspective, knowing how to deal with dragons and other creatures sounded useful for surviving. In the end, it turned out only to be useful if you went into a career focused on those. If we had a private meeting where careers and electives were fully discussed before third year, I think a lot of us would have chosen differently.”

“Really?” Sirius asked, confused. “We got all of those meetings. Granted nothing else. We didn’t have mandatory study groups and such like other houses had for those having trouble. But we got those bare minimums.”

“That was a thing?” Harry asked. He’d never heard of any house having mandatory study groups other than Ravenclaw.

Filius sighed. “McGonagall became deputy headmistress in 1979. That’s after you left school. I suspect she was already helping out before then, but that’s probably when she became too overworked to do anything for her house. I suppose we may as well start with if or how any house system will work.”

“First, I may be the King of Polaris, but I am no education expert. So don’t take my word as law, or worry about offending me here. As to houses, from what I have seen, that’s not really a thing for most of the world? Or at least they don’t work in the same way. We had several dorms made, houses are an option, but I think they should not work like Hogwarts does.”

“Why should they be different, and in what ways?” Sirius asked.

“Well first, I think any sports need to be separate from house points if we have those at all. Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws often complain about quidditch artificially boosting Slytherin and Gryffindor house points. Looking back, I agree. By having a sports game suddenly add 150+ points to your house total really invalidates academic achievements. So if we have house points at all, sports should not be added to them. There should be separate awards for sports.” Harry said.

“House points perhaps cause more problems than they solve anyway. After all, it punishes a group for the behavior of a few. That’s just going to breed resentment, and create mischief and bad behavior.” Kosa said.

“It also fosters rivalries. The Gryffindor Slytherin rivalry has done enough damage. It’s part of why Voldemort’s wars have happened. Gryffindors are typically modern people who prefer to go against traditions, which directly puts them in opposition from Slytherins before they even start classes. The house's emphasis on bravery encourages recklessness. It has also led to them having the most bullies. Yes, this isn’t the case as much now. What with Death Eaters often forcing or pressuring their kids to act out on blood purity. Many are forced to at least act like they agree with it. Either to avoid punishment from relatives, or to avoid exclusion. Before Death Eaters and Voldemort, Gryffindors had the most bullies. It has also led to them prioritizing sports over academics.” Bill said, nodding at Kosa.

“The whole idea of basing houses on personality traits is harmful.” Gorsha said. “People are not really themselves yet at the age of 11. Slytherin’s traits are worded in ways that have negative connotations, which doesn’t help at all. Putting kids with only people who share their beliefs at such a young age helps solidify their beliefs by surrounding them with peer pressure. That probably also added to the war. Voldemort might have been the spark, but the houses, how they work, and their rivalries were always going to cause tension.”

After a few minutes of discussion, the group generally came to the conclusion they didn’t want anything to do with houses or dorms using personality traits.

“It seems we have reached an agreement. We won’t use a house system, or at least not in such a way. The dorms Voyager has are: The lone tower on the lake, the castle dungeons, the castle’s southwestern tower, the garden dorms, and the forest dorms. Granted the last of those I am unsure how it will be used. The forest doesn’t have a single large dorm, but has a ton of small houses. I was thinking we could use this small village as both staff housing, and housing for older students. So instead of always sharing rooms and spaces with many people, students in their last years could apply to live in a first cabin with a few room-mates. It would help teach responsibility and caring for a home. It would give more private spaces than just a single room, and help ease teenagers into adulthood. It would also give teachers and staff places to live that are not in the castle itself. If you have kids you don’t want to be in the castle, you could have a small cabin.”

“I like that idea.” Filius said.

“It would certainly help make becoming an adult easier if you had a few years to ease into it. You said ‘apply’, so how would that work?” Gorsha asked.

“Well, I liked the house points from Hogwarts, but we have already discussed that it has problems. I figured a compromise would be each student having their own points that they can spend or lose. We could have a school store, for treats, supplies, luxuries, and so forth that you could buy with points. So if you and some friends did well in the midterms, you could spend some points on some extra treats like butterbeer and such and have a small party. You could earn points by both doing well academically, but also by doing things to help the school. For example, with the school's Potion’s Masters approval and supervision, you could brew some basic potions the school needs, and get points in return.”

Bill nodded. “Like with the dormitories for older students, you could get a small job to prepare for adulthood. I used to tutor students in subjects I was really good in, especially runes. If I could have gotten something from that, I would have been even more happy to do it.”

“What if you could exchange points for less solid things? Perhaps you could spend points to upgrade your room? Spend say 100 points and a staff member will expand your room a bit, or you could get better furniture. Maybe you could add an extra window.” Sirius said, imagining the kind of things he would have loved if that system had existed when he was in school.

Filius nodded to himself, thinking. “It would also serve as a better punishment. Losing house points in Hogwarts is meaningless. While quidditch gives house points, house points don’t get deducted from the quidditch points tournament wise. It’s very uneven. The most it does is put pressure on other students to make you stop acting out. Students shouldn’t be pressured to discipline each other. Even then, house points only determine a ‘winner’ for which house won the most points at the end of the year. This doesn’t do anything. The winning house doesn’t get anything out of it anyway. A meaningless trophy just moves from one head of the house's room to a different one. But if you could spend your points, losing them would actively be a penalty, and only you would suffer from it.”

“Perhaps there could be penalties for having points in the negative? You could start losing privileges? Perhaps you can’t be on a dorm’s sports team with 0 or less points?” Harry added. “If there was no penalty, losing points when you had 0 would be meaningless.”

After a few more minutes of talk, Filius spoke up again. “I think we should end this for now. We’ll meet back up in a week or 2. We need time to think, and rushing it won’t help.”

Chapter Text

14th November 1995

The council chambers let out after a meeting that had lasted over 4 hours. Harry and a smaller group left for Harry's temporary home to discuss things. The last week and a half had been monstrous. There had been council meetings nearly every day to ensure their constitution was fully laid out and formalized. They’d done the bulk of the hashing out the constitution over a month ago, but they had been too busy to ever formalize it. With that came fully formalizing and fleshing out the entire legal system, punishments, procedures, and more.

That was just scraping the surface as well. And all of it because the time was coming for Polaris to step out into the public. The French were sending a delegation in just 8 days. They would just be the first delegation from another nation. Polaris couldn’t stay in the shadows forever, nor would they want to. International recognition was an important part of being a nation. While they didn’t need international acceptance to function on the most basic levels, not having it would give them many problems.

France was the first nation they had made aware of Polaris. There had been many contracts and so forth detailing a number of things. One of those things was that the French government wouldn’t announce or acknowledge their existence to the public for a time. After the France delegation the German, Spanish, USA, Canadian, and others would send delegations. Swaying a critical mass of people to acknowledge them on an international stage was critical to international relationships. Some nations were likely to never accept or acknowledge Polaris.

Their stance on goblins, elves, veela, vampires, werewolves, and more were just beyond accepting to many. There was no point in any attempts beyond the basics to sway the Russians, for example. Fudge would be dead set against Polaris. Tom, if he took over, would be worse still. Fudge would no doubt be angry. Fudge would likely be simultaneously angry that Polaris was ‘poaching their citizens’, and paradoxically saying they had lost nothing valuable to Polaris. That was Harry’s expectation anyway. He couldn’t admit that werewolves and ‘mudbloods’ leaving Britain was a loss, but regardless, it was a loss.

An economy needed ‘low level workers, manual labor, and so forth’, and that was what muggleborns were to Britain from a political and governmental viewpoint. They were unwilling to accept any of them into higher level ministry positions, and they had little political power. It was no wonder, really, that the muggleborns were not happy with wizarding britain.

Polaris in turn was more than willing to offer political power. They held their council elections just 9 days ago. About 65% of all those elected into the council seats were muggleborn. If you focused on high level government positions, muggleborns were over represented. That would likely change a bit over time, once they went public. The many businesses that were starting up was also starting to make many of them wealthy as well. Fred and George were talking of starting their own business here, and Harry was excited about that.

14th November 1995 (Britain)

The Order of the Phoenix was having yet another meeting. The weasleys were sitting near one another, with a notable exception of Arthur and Molly, who were isolated from their adult children. Dumbledore only arrived at 10 past 9pm. Bill was starting to think he just liked making a small power play by arriving just late enough to be noticed and mildly annoying.

“Why the division?” He asked, taking a seat at the head of the table. He looked between the 2 groups of weasleys.

It was Bill that spoke up. “It’s just a statement that Mom’s bigotry isn’t acceptable.” Bill had argued with his parents a good 45 minutes before the meeting about his mom’s reaction to Fred and more importantly George. “Any division in the family will only last so long as she continues to instigate it.”

After a minute of awkward glances and silence, Tonks was the first to speak up. “So… Any news about Voldemort?”

“He’s still focusing on gathering his alleys, and getting ready to break into Azkaban. He won’t attach a solid date to it. He wasn’t pleased that Fenrir didn’t do as much damage as was hoped, or with his Failure to find Remus thus far.” Severus said. With a pointed look to Remus, he continued. “You may want to stop trying to convince the werewolves. Fenrir has been too busy with the attack, and some kind of issue with his ‘pack’. He’s likely to actively go after you very soon. Anger seems to be the order of the day for Voldemort though. He still doesn’t know where the werewolves and vampires are going. The scout he had Fenrir send to infiltrate it never came back. He’s also angry that Harry still has yet to be spotted. Though he is amused with your desperate attempts to find him. At this point he considers Potter irrelevant for the time. A nuisance to deal with at a later date. He has however put together that a link likely exists between him and the Potter brat. He’s been testing it, but has gotten nor results so far. He may be trying to tempt Potter to go to the DoM for him.”

Dumbledore looked very concerned at that news, but given Harry had hidden himself so thoroughly, he doubted Harry would fall for that at some point. None of his tracking magic on owls, letters, and so forth had come up with anything. Harry always seemed to detect these, and seemed to be deeming him a ‘minor annoyance’ for the time. Dumbledore was also not happy with that attitude.

“Any news on where said werewolves and such are going?” Dumbledore asked.

“We know, but obviously can’t tell you.” Fred said, deriving amusement from knowing things Dumbledore didn’t and so clearly wanted the answers to.

Arthur immediately turned to look at the twins. George shrugged at him, as if to say ‘where did you think we have been?’ “Anything you can tell us about the contracts?”

“Nothing. We can tell you that the answer will become clear soon though. I’d guess… Maybe in a month? Perhaps 2?” Fred said. “We can’t tell you anything you couldn’t have already deduced about the contracts. And no, we can’t just assume you know something and thus tell you.” George finished.

“Are you safe?” Arthur asked.

“Safer than I have felt in ages.” George replied. “Certainly safer than at Hogwarts with the toad.” Fred finished. “After all, not even Voldemort.” “Seems to be able to find us there.”

Dumbledore seemed to take some offense to that, but didn’t say anything. “Any news about Harry?”

“No. Fudge has some aurors looking for him. They haven’t so much as found a blade of bent grass related to him, let alone anything resembling a clue or trail to where he is or has been.” Mood said. “I have to give it to him though, the boy knows how to vanish. If he’s ever found, he should be giving aurors lessons. His letters don’t leave so much as the tiniest of hints as to his location or activities. I don’t know if he’s been trained, or if it’s just talent when it comes to these things.”

“I suppose that goes without saying though.” Charlie says. “At this point he is leading Dumbledore, the Order, the Death Eaters, Voldemort, and the entire ministry around in a wild goose chase. That no one has so much as the slightest clue as to where he is, is a hell of an achievement.”

“When Harry wants to disappear, boy does he know how.” George said. “Honestly, at this point I am wondering if the marauders have a secret world map he’s somehow got access to.” Fred said in response. Both of them looked at Remus, who shook his head.

“Can you at least tell us what the werewolves' stance is?” Dumbledore asked, growing somewhat annoyed with the twins.

“Neutrality.” Both twins said at once. “So long as their new home is left alone, they have no intention of becoming involved. Neither side is willing to give them basic human rights here. Most are happy to let us rot. That may change though if the ministry and our side all sign legally binding magical contracts to give them all the rights of a normal citizen, and very soon. Neither side will accept that however. ” They were allowed to say that much.

There was of course no agreement they would side against Voldemort even if such a miracle did happen. George just wanted to make it obvious on a fundamental level why they were neutral.

The meeting halted for a few minutes at that. It was as obvious as could be no one at the meeting would even consider that deal if it were real beyond Bill, Charlie, and the twins.

“Any news about Sirius” Remus asked.

“None.” Moody replied. “He’s using the same playbook as Harry. Whether they are together or not is unknown. I think it’s likely however. That said, not even Sirius was this good at hiding before. They could just be apparating across europe and camping who knows where before moving on. It’s what I’d do. Hell, what I probably WILL do if Voldemort wins and I am still somehow alive. What’s really pissing the ministry off is that none of the magic sensors have picked up anything from Harry. He’s still 15 after all. Unless they’ve just vanished totally into the muggle world, Harry should have used some magic by now.”

“That’s plausible actually. While Many wouldn’t think Sirius could do that, being pure blood, he was big into muggle fashion. It helped him with that ‘playboy’ look he was so known for. Harry was raised in the muggle world. It would probably have been reasonably easy for him to just go fully muggle. Given all of Harry’s activity has come from France, they could just be living in some countryside town.” Remus said with a sigh.

“While the trace only vanishes once a witch or wizard becomes 17, France is under no obligation to report him to us or our ministry. It would violate treaties if the British ministry could sense magic inside France. Technically both also have their newts, which means they are both considered fully qualified to use magic in France.” Tonks said, adding to Remus’s thoughts.

Chapter Text

15th November 1995

Harry took a seat, one of the last few to arrive in the meeting. Just as the final person entered the room, a group of 4 house elves set out refreshments and food. As the meeting was taking place shortly after noon, it had been decided that they would have snacks available. Once everyone had their own drinks, and a plate of finger food, the meeting began.

“I suppose we should start with our potential headmaster. Any thoughts so far?” Harry asked.

“I am strongly considering it. I am concerned about the safety of my Ravenclaws without me. I don’t know who could replace me at Hogwarts. I am sure they will find a new charms professor, but I am somewhat concerned about a head of house replacement.”

“Perhaps you could arrange someone to be your assistant? Given you are primarily a teacher, it would perhaps be understandable if you needed a little help? It would give you most of a year to train your replacement.” Alain Laurent suggested. Alain was a new person to Polaris. He had applied to be their new Herbology professor, when they’d put out feelers that a new magical school would be opening.

Filius nodded, considering the idea. Who could he teach to replace him? Who would have some time to learn to be a proper head of house? He supposed he had more than half a year to consider it. After all, his Hogwarts contract would only end a few days after the end of the school year. His notice would merely give Dumbledore more time to find his replacement. It seemed rude to just drop that on Dumbledore/McGonagall at the end. He’d inform them of his resignation soon.

“So we have discussed that Voyager will have more dorms than houses. We’ll still need someone to take care of them. Someone to help manage them.” Filius said, bringing the focus back to the school.

“We also need councilors. The only medical staff at Hogwarts is Poppy Pomfrey. She might be able to tend to most injuries, but she is not trained in mental health at all, at least beyond the bare minimums. Students seem mostly to have no one to turn to in that regard. It’s possible that it is considered the Head of House’s job, but if so, McGonagall never came close to helping in that area.” Harry said, somewhat annoyed.

“It is.” Filius said. “How they expect us to do that while also teaching, grading things, patrolling the school, and so forth is beyond me.

“So effectively the HoHs are being forced into 3 jobs. Teaching, Councillor, and managing a student dorm. I can only imagine they are only being paid for 1 of those jobs. That’s excluding the occasional patrols.” Sirius said. The more they discussed education, the more he came to resent his old school. He hadn’t known it was that bad. His feelings on this were clear to hear in the tone of his voice.

“I think it’s clear that teachers should not be running a dorm. Perhaps we hire 4 councillors, who will serve 3 critical roles. With training in mental health, they would be in a better position to help a large group of students. So each will serve both to manage a dorm, and with the majority of their time, help students deal with mental health issues, bullying, and so forth.” Gorsha suggested. As their lead doctor and foremost expert on health related concerns, she played a vital part in these meetings.

“What about the 5th dorm, granted the forest dorm will mostly be for the oldest students and staff who want cabins instead of a suite in the castle.” Harry asked.

“I suppose as that’ll be the smallest dorm by far, they will be free to go to any of the councillors for help.” Sirius said.

After everyone seemed to agree that was reasonable, Sirius spoke up again. “Can we do anything about years 5-7? Those years are immensely stressful. Breakdowns are common, and students tend to panic. While we will have councilors, which is an improvement over ‘just give them a calming potion’, something needs to be done. Spending 5 years to learn the basics every adult is expected to know and then compressing all the advanced knowledge into 2 years is ridiculous.”

“Agreed” Filius said. “Not only do Hogwarts NEWTS no longer match the international standard, compressing all that information into 2 years make it some of the hardest years of peoples young lives.”

“Why do they even only get 2 years anyway? Why do students go to school at 11 there? Surely they could go a bit sooner?”

It was Gorsha who answered. “In the Hogwarts founders time, Back then it was thought that learning magic any younger than that would damage the child’s magic. They were considered too magically immature to learn magic any sooner. It also had to do with the age of adulthood back then. Girls were generally considered an adult around 12 or 13, and it was generally 14 for boys. Kids around 11 were considered ‘adult enough to begin proper education. Of course by around the 1600s there was a more accurate view of magical growth and the age of adulthood became 17. But…”

Kosa took over from there. “By then Hogwarts had become enshrined in tradition and prestige as the only school in Great Britain and Ireland. It’s founders had had such a huge impact on British wizardry that any attempt to change things was met with huge resistance. Effectively Hogwarts and education in Great Britain had calcified into the shape the founders had made it.

It didn’t matter if greater advances in magic and technology had vastly increased things like childhood mortality. It didn’t matter if Hogwarts had far more students. Hogwarts was built to hold far more students than existed back then. The founders clearly planned for future expansion after their lifespans. However, because Hogwarts had calcified due to tradition and prestige, nothing was done to fix things.”

Harry listened all all this, nodding. This made a lot of sense. “In other words, it didn’t matter if each teacher was now teaching far too many for 1 teacher to be sustainable. It had always been that way, and change wasn’t acceptable.”

“It didn’t matter if someone was both running a house and teaching, and patrolling was no longer feasible. It had always been that way. That’s how many of the pure bloods feel. Once something becomes traditional, they often refuse to change it. To change Hogwarts threatened to change their own family, Power, and Prestige. The only times any extra staff was permitted to be hired was when there were so many students that it wasn’t physically plausible to teach them without help.” Sirius said. That was how many pure blood families worked. It was how house Black worked.

While everyone was busy discussing that, Harry was thinking. The number of students hadn’t seemed too high to manage when he was there. It took a while for the answer to hit him. “Why…? Ahh… The wars.” Harry said, speaking to himself, not expecting to be heard.

“Yep Prongslet. Death Eaters and their supporters often ignore it, but Voldemort's wars destroyed a lot of wizarding houses. While voldemort doesn’t like to destroy wizarding families, he is all too willing to do so, or order it done if they pose a threat or fight against him. Combine him with Grindelwald, who was a more international threat, and wizarding Britain has suffered 3 wars in 60 years. Both wars had huge casualties.”

It was surprisingly Winky who proceeded from there. “Yes, Your year and the yesr after you were the largest at Hogwarts for a good while. The years before yours had fewer students for a reason. The few years after yours are larger because of the baby boom. But even then, so many families had been wiped out in the last 60 years that even with the baby boom, the student count is far lower than those in the 1940s and earlier. Back then the teachers could hardly manage the sheer number of students. It’s only the wars that allowed your version of Hogwarts to function as well as it was.”

After several minutes of discussion, Harry spoke again. “I propose we start their schooling at 10 then. We can keep the first 5 years for OWLs if needed, but the last 3 should be for NEWT studies. An entire extra year should help take the edge off. That said, I wonder if we could trim the OWL years down to 4. A bit part of why that takes so long seems to be that the students enter with very little knowledge.”

“Perhaps we will start a preschool.” Filius added. “Just something for kids between, say, 6 and 10 to get some basic knowledge. While pure bloods and half bloods often learn the basics, they generally start behind in terms of education. It’s why Arithmancy is one of the hardest NEWT subjects. Almost the entire first and second year of that class has to be spent teaching students math that the muggle raised students come in knowing. Sure wizarding families teach their kids the basics, but with many of them having both parents working to some degree, they can’t really teach them everything they need. Even then, parents aren’t really qualified to be teachers.”

Alain nodded. “We could even teach them some of the basics of magic. Hogwarts no longer has a magic theory class, as each subject is expected to also teach all relevant theory. But if students came into Voyagers with a basic foundation, it would allow us to cut the OWL years down to 4. Most of the first year of Hogwarts is spent teaching things so basic they could easily be learned at 9. Sure maybe not the spells, but some of the most basic theories. Even if we still have 5 of the 8 years for OWLs, if the students came in with a baseline of magical theory, it would speed things up.”

“In addition to other basics like math, they could also learn how to write with a quill or fountain pen. I know I was just expecting to know that going into Hogwarts. There was no education or accommodation for students who had never written with a quill.” Harry added.

“Also, we need to ensure some basics of wandless magic is learned at Voyager Academy. Learning even what I know now from Lodlang, Gorsha, and the others was very hard. My 7 years at Hogwarts had ingrained in me that Wands were needed so hard that trusting my magic to do anything without it was hard. Even though he still had 4 years of learning only wand magic, Harry still learned it easier than I did. There should be an elective class teaching wandless magic. Every class should at least teach a little at the start. If only to show the kids it was possible before they got it in their heads that they NEEDED a wand.”

Harry was better than Sirius. Sure, Harry was a magical powerhouse, but a lot of that was because he wasn’t dealing with nearly as much learned helplessness regarding magic. If kids just learned, say, a Lumos without magic earlier on, convincing themselves that they could do it would be much easier when they were ready to do magic without a wand. Because of the way magic was thought of in Europe, but especially in Britain, many adults considered the ability to do magic without a wand as something you ‘grew out of’. The connotations early wandless magic had as ‘accidental’ implied it could not be controlled at all. Once you learned control, you only learned it with a wand. Wandless magic as an adult was considered something so advanced that only people like Dumbledore or Voldemort had a chance of learning.

It had taken Gorsha and Lodland forcing Harry to recognize that if he apparated on top of a school, grew his hair back, and other such things as a kid, he must had the ability to do magic back then. Once Harry had broken through the learned helplessness, he learned much faster than Sirius. Sirius’s extra years of learned helplessness had made it much harder for him to break through that mental barrier than it had been for Harry.

Chapter Text

17th November 1995

Remus was reading the latest letter from Harry, and it was a doozy. He finally learned why Harry hadn’t offered to have Remus visit. Harry didn’t trust him, not really. He trusted Remus to protect him,but not much more than that. Harry had laid it all out bluntly and honestly. He wasn’t happy that Remus had just shown up in his life in his 3rd year at Hogwarts. Remus hadn’t mentioned anything while teaching him until Sirius’s innocence was discovered. He wasn’t happy that Remus had abandoned him to 10 long years of abuse.

He understood that as a werewolf, Harry couldn’t keep him. But that's no excuse for abandoning him. He should have at least visited him. In his eyes Dumbledore's orders should not have superseded his friendship with his friends. He shouldn’t have written off Sirius. He should have known better than to say that Sirius would kill his friends. He should have at least waited until he got a fair trial to abandon Sirius.

Then, after finally starting some form of bond, Remus had just left after 1 year. He barely sent any letters. Yet again he’d abandoned Harry for the most part. He hadn’t stayed with Sirius either. He’d just retreated away until Voldemort came back. He understood that Remus didn’t want to live off anyone else. But he said Sirius had money that could have sustained them both for years without putting a dent in it. Harry said that Remus’s mix of pride and lack of confidence meant he couldn’t trust him. He was easy to manipulate, according to Harry.

However, the letter said that Harry knew trust had to be built up. Thus, in an effort to build some trust, he was willing and really wanted to see him. But, because of the lack of trust, he needed Remus to sign the proper contracts. Harry didn’t trust his judgement. He said his loyalty and nigh hero worship of Dumbledore made him unable to trust him. That Dumbledore was human too. That he made mistakes. Dumbledore was the fault for many of Harry’s woes.

It gave Remus many things to think about. A big part of him wanted to run to Dumbledore, and show him the letter. But… Harry had a point. It pained him, but he had abandoned Harry. After convincing himself that a werewolf couldn’t help him, that Dumbledore had been right, he’d never tried to visit Harry anymore. He gave up after trying just enough to feel he was a good person. After letting himself become convinced there was nothing he could do. He’d just given up even trying, and spent the next years in a mix of self pity and feeling he was doing the right thing.

He’d seen Harry when he just got back to Hogwarts. He could see the way Harry wasn’t as he should be. He could see that he was a bit short, and a bit too thin. He’d been easily swayed that it was fine. That though Harry’s family wasn’t as attentive as they should be, that he was loved. Perhaps that was unfair to Dumbledore. It was his own fault really. He needed a day or 2 to think.

Meanwhile, Harry was getting prepared for the French delegation that would arrive on the 22nd. That was only 5 days from now. Ragnuk and a delegation from the goblins had surprised him with news, a pair of gifts, and more. The gifts had been a pair of 2 crowns, both of which Harry was awkward about. The one he was currently wearing was the informal crown.

Thankfully, it was more of a circlet than what many imagined a crown to be. The informal crown held 3 large gems. A bright yellow diamond flanked by 2 dark blue diamonds. The circlet itself was made of goblin silver, and it weaved amongst the diamonds, both the 3 large and the smaller clusters. It looked beautiful, but when he occasionally took it off to examine it, he got the feeling the gems were not the most valuable part of the circlet/smaller crown. The goblin silver was more valuable than the large gems, he was sure. Apparently it was laced with protective magic.

The “Formal” crown was much larger. It had 9 small ‘points’, the largest of them had a massive yellow diamond in the center, to represent Polaris. The crown was covered with northern constellations, with gems matching the colors of the stars in place of stars. Below the points, starting from the front where Polaris was centered on the forehead, was a circular constellation, if a little altered to fit a real crown better. It was this constellation that gave the crown its name: Corona Borealis. No doubt it held al the same protective magic if not more.

While it was larger than the informal crown, it was fortunately tasteful. He really didn’t want to wear some huge gem covered monstrosity. Harry really didn’t understand how some monarchs of the past and present were taken seriously when they wore such things. Harry wasn’t sure if King Ragnuk and his craftsman just had good taste, or if they knew his tastes well. He figured it was probably both.

19th November 1995

Remus had eventually decided that visiting Harry was more important than him not being able to tell anyone about where he was or what he was doing. He followed the instructions in Harry’s letter, only to be taken by surprise by the goblins. Apparently Harry wanted to avoid people knowing he was close to them for now. He’d signed all the contracts with some reluctance. Magically enforceable secrecy was not something to be taken lightly. Especially when said contracts were signed in his own blood, with a small sample of his own magic.

He was taken via a portkey to somewhere he didn’t recognize. Once he came to, he found himself in a lovely suite. As he regained consciousness, he could smell things. He suspected he was in or near a hospital. He could also smell someone sitting near him. It took him a while to place it. Before he could, Sirius entered the room.

“It’s nice to see you, Moony. We were worried you would either decide not to come, or would inform Dumbledore about the letter. According to our information, you didn’t. That’s a good sign.” While there was clear relief in Padfoot’s voice, there was also tension.

“Where is Harry?” Remus asked.

“He is busy. He has a lot of responsibilities. Far too much for someone his age. And yet, he is doing well.” Sirius replied.

“Where am I?” Remus asked.

“You are in a hospital” Sirius said, before with a wave of his hand, he summoned a chair. It was a simple wooden thing. He still hadn’t gotten the hang of that. Harry could summon the most amazing chairs. Then again, transfiguration was the hardest type of magic to do without a wand, and Harry had a head start when it came to wandless magic. Sirius pulled out his wand and vanished the wooden chair, before summoning a more comfortable one.

Remus did a double take, before staring at Sirius. Since when was Sirius powerful enough to do something like that? “That’s new… Why am I in a hospital?”

“To recover from the full moon. Fortunately for you, Fred & Georges first transformation showed the vaccination worked. Hopefully within a year they will have a way to cure yours.”

“Vaccination? What vaccination? Cure my what?” Remus asked. He didn’t like how… clipped and impersonal Sirius was being. It made it clear that though Sirius cared for him, and loved him as a friend,h e was not happy. He was waiting for something, but Remus wasn’t sure what just yet.

“I suppose you wouldn’t know. They discovered the reason werewolves go mad during the full moon was due to Rabies. Fred & George got vmaccinated. They are now confirmed as rabies free. Watching them run around and pounce on each other as wolves as quite something. Not once were they aggressive, beyond a few small growls when I entered their room. In the end, they even let me pet them. They acted like you would expect from wolves. Though clearly some of their personality translated, as they pounced on me and assaulted me with licks.”

There was even more to it. They both seemed to remember some of it. They described their memories as hazy, but they remembered some things. They remembered Sirius had played with them, but not particularly anything in particular. Though they said they both had a smug sense of self satisfaction. Neither could identify the source until they were told about how they messed with Sirius.

“That was so stupid and dangerous. How could you risk your health like that?” Remus said, before he seemed to process the rest of what Sirius had said. There was a way to calm the wolf without the potion? “There is a cure?” Remus said, bolting from a siting position to his feat.

“The vaccination only works if taken within the first day, 2 at most, after infection. There is a cure for rabies in the works, as I said, but it will need time. As to me risking myself… Do you really think I am stupid enough to do that without taking precautions?” Sirius said with clear anger.

Remus recoiled slightly. He was messing things up a lot lately, or so it seemed. Remus lightly fell back onto the bed. “I… I’m sorry.” Remus said, feeling the weight of al his decisions since James’s death.

Sirius sighed. “If you really meant that, you’ll accept the offer of therapy and see a mind healer. This is not the Remus I knew. Moony would never have abandoned Harry. Moony never would have just accepted my guilt without confirming it. You were the best of us. Me and Prongs were too full of ourselves back then. We got better, especially after Hogwarts. You were always the nicest of us when we were teens. To see you like this hurts. I can’t and won’t force you to accept help. Even I found help. Surely if Padfoot can get better, so can Moony. Prongslet needs us.” Sirius said, sadness clear in his voice.

Chapter Text

22nd November 1995

Harry and his entourage stood at the ready in the travel center, on the southern part of the Mercury ring. As he was going to be taking the french delegation on a tour, and have a meeting afterwards, Harry was dressed formally. He was wearing his favorite black and amethyst suit. He wore his informal crown on his brow. His long dark brown hair was in a half up ponytail with some small decorative braids. Harry wanted to look masculine, and stand out slightly. Granted the informal crown would do that on its own.

It took only a minute or two for the France delegation toa drive via portkey. As harry watched, what appeared to be a large ring appeared, with several people holding onto it. Harry stepped forward, followed closely by his guards.

“I know international portkeys can be a pain. We have a room prepared nearby should you wish to recover. As you no doubt know, I am Harry Potter, Polaris’s monarch, and Head of the royal and ancient house of Potter.”

It only took half a minute for the French delegation to come to an agreement that refreshment and a short sit down would be welcome. Harry understood. Portkeys could be annoying, but international porkeys were a pain. Traveling from one country to another often left one dizzy and slightly nauseous. Harry was happy to discover that one of the ambassadors from France was Fluer Delacour’s father. After about 10 minutes, their guests seemed to be up to walking.

Harry and his entourage walked them through the center or Mercury ring, answering questions and so forth. One of the first things that caught some of the French delegation by surprise was the blatant use of Wands by both elves and goblins. After one of the delegation seemed concerned about this.

“The Polaris constitution allows the use of a wand to any magical being deemed to have human level intelligence who has the capability of using magic as witches and wizards do. While we understand that this is illegal across most of the world, Polaris did not exist at the time of this becoming the case. We thus had no part in any such law being passed. While we respect the history, governance, and sovereignty of other nations, we too are a sovereign nation with our own laws.” Harry said, using the royal we, much though he found it awkward. He was speaking from the point of view of his country, not just himself though.

“Should France open up a forma relationship with Polaris, would you like a French embassy to be constructed?” Harry asked, trying to defuse the mild tension. They were just passing by the goblin embassy.

“Embassy?” asked one of the delegates, who no doubt had little experience with muggle governments.

It was Monsieur Delacour who answered. Harry was astonished that it wasn't common knowledge. He didn’t understand why they weren’t typically used in the magical world. They were so useful to have.

Harry nodded politely. “I offered the goblin nation an embassy and they accepted. In return, we have an embassy on their land. This is Ragnuk the 5th’s embassy.” Harry said, gesturing to the building. It was several stories tall, with pillars and columns that gave a classical, but nice look. It looked as welcoming as any goblin building could hope to look. It was surrounded by a reasonably tall stone fence, with a gate that led to the entrance.

“All inside that fence, both the small plot of land and the building are considered to be owned by his nation.” Harry said, before they started to walk past.

“What is the population of Polaris?” The french ministry asked.

“About 1.15-1.2 thousand people.” Harry responded.

“Have you taken a census yet? How many are werewolves?” Someone else asked, curious.

“Well I’d say… 35% or so are werewolves. Roughly 5% are vampires. 35% are muggleborn, and the remaining 25% are halfblood or pureblood. Those numbers are a bit vague, as we haven’t had a census yet. Thus we only have our immigration data to go by.”

“Aren’t the werewolves a concern?” The french minister asked.

“Sure, but ensuring they have a safe place to transform once a month is relatively easy. We have rooms in the hospital for that, and most werewolves here have a room in their home designed especially for that purpose. Any who don’t take precautions and prove themselves a danger will have problem with our legal system.” Lodlang said, allowing Harry to focus on other things as they neared the ministry building.

The fountain was coming along very well. The 2 goblins were still there, but now there was a large resting wolf statue. Though Harry didn’t like it, the Wizards were represented with a large statue of him. Given how many people had come here to escape persecution, it was said the people liked the statue. As a result, he didn’t complain. Harry stopped for a moment to get a drink of water from the fountain. The metal cups were charmed to always be clean, so he didn’t worry about it.

“Where do you live?” The head of the French ‘bureau des aurors’ asked. It was a good question.

“I have a trunk that’s been enlarged to hold a small manor in it. It’s currently in my office. I live there for now. Because I have it, I've deemed building a home for me to be a low priority. Our growth has been fairly rapid, so the construction team has been focusing on building homes, apartment complexes, and so forth. Fortunately, the construction team has been getting bigger due to the influx. I think they are scheduled to start building my home on November 28th.” Harry said after a moment's thought. Harry had planned on starting that later, but the members of his council vetoed that idea and said he needed a place to live before them, as they were living in an apartment. At this point he was the only one without a physical home, not just a trunk.

“While I understand your desire to see people have places to live first, some would take your wanting what is best for your people as a weakness. It also doesn’t look good when the ruler has no real home. No matter how nice your trunk might be, at beast it’s on the level of a good wizarding tent. A King can’t live like a poor person and be taken seriously. Especially someone who is wearing something worth more than my entire family’s vault, doubled.

Harry nodded. “You are right. This is something the council has been making clear to me. I’ll have the construction team switch it from a side project to the main priority. Their current project should be done in a few days. It was time to stop being stubborn. If his wanting to prioritize other things could cause problems for Polaris, it wasn’t worth it.

From there they headed to the main government building to discuss things. The topics ranged from what the two nations wanted from each other, fleshing out their agreements, and just so much more. By the end of the meeting, Harry was exhausted, and his social battery had hit the negative numbers.

18th December 1995

The last almost 4 weeks had been busy as all hell. First it was effectively 2 days of meetings and so forth for the magical government of France. Even after these meetings, all the word wasn’t done. There were still other discussions to have, but the bulk of the basics were done. Then he’d also had meetings with Germany, the US, Sweden, Spain, and Poland.

While that meant his month had been very busy, it also meant that progress on international acceptance was being made. He’d also happily taken every question about Sirius, and used them all to show the various representatives his pensieve memories of Peter Petegrew and Fudge’s refusal to call a trial after this new evidence was discovered. He’d also happily provided a copy of those memories to them as well.

These seeds had borne fruit, and now the ICW had been pressured from multiple different countries to have an international trial for Sirius Black. Fudge fought hard against it. Eventually they stopped playing nice, and released the memory of Fudge’s illegal withholding of a trial. He’d claimed all the memories had been tampered with, but that argument fell through when they had been validated.

Another memory the heads of other countries had asked for, was Voldemort’s return. With Fudge and the ministry stirring up the media about how Harry was a liar and delusional (Before the lawyers got them to mostly stop), they had wanted his perspective. They couldn't really do anything though. Voldemort was a threat to Great Britain, but unlike Grindelwald, he wasn’t an international threat. Voldemort probably hadn’t crossed that line on purpose. So while they would keep an eye on the situation, they couldn’t do much. Even if they offered to help, the British government would have to discuss it.

Everyone knew that was out of the question. Even if Fudge was replaced, the ministry would have to swallow their pride. To accept international help would be admitting defeat. Everyone knew if they ever got to that point, it would be too late to do anything. What it did allow them to do is start making subtle preparations incase voldemort ever decided to go international. With Harry’s proof that he was alive, many said they would soon start ramping up their law enforcement, just in case.

Moony was yet another issue. Harry would visit him occasionally.

The therapy and mind healer appointments seemed to be doing some work, but Remus was fighting on some things. He seemed to recognize that he needed help, but at the same time, he refused to see any flaws in Dumbledore. In the end, they’d temporarily decided to avoid that topic. He seemed to know that his younger self would reject the older Remus, who abandoned the family that had been some of the only ones to show him love. There were times when he realized that Harry’s childhood was abusive and wrong, and times when he rejected the idea. If Dumbledore had put Harry there, it must have been fine. It was as if he was split. He could recognize things he had done and allowed were wrong, but if at any point Dumbledore's name was involved, he assured himself it was fine.

Harry and Sirius were concerned about potions or any other mind altering magic, only for the healer to ensure them that this was basic hero worship. Dumbledore had done so much for Remus’s childhood, combined with his reputation for being a beacon of light and goodness, and no doubt some manipulation had done this. Remus had been so insecure in himself, he’d been an easy target. Harry didn’t think Dumbledore had done this on purpose. He trusted Dumbledore to have good intentions.

Harry and Sirius supposed that Dumbledores ‘the greater good’ mindset combined with him perhaps starting to believe he was as great as some people claimed might have done this. If Dumbledore was content to raise Harry to be killed because of the Horcrux, what else was he willing to do? Had he leaned on Remus too much? Remus was able to simultaneously recognize that Harry was abused, and that Dumbledore had put him there, but the minute those two facts collided, he shut down.

Chapter Text

19th December 1995

The order was meeting again. Dumbledore had information that he needed to share, but he wasn’t alone. Arthur Weasley had some as well. Tonks and Moody had come forth with new information as well. Severus learned something important just yesterday. Instead of having meetings with people separately, it was just better to have a proper Order meeting to discuss all this.

Dumbledore, as usual, arrived a couple minutes late apologizing, and saying he’d been busy. Fred & George snorted at that. Busy with what? He wasn’t Chief Warlock or Supreme Mugwump of the ICW anymore, and everyone who thought about it knew he didn’t do nearly as much work as headmaster as he should.

“Before we get properly started, I have news. The ICW plans to hold an international criminal trial for Sirius Black on January 7th.He’s already agreed to the use of Veritaserum, and has submitted various memories for testing.”

There were a few cries of joy, for those who knew and liked Sirius. Molly was hesitant about it. Sirius was not a good person, or a responsible adult. If he got free, he’d take control of Harry. Dumbledore was thinking along the same lines. If Sirius got custody of Harry, he’d never set foot back on Private drive. He knew the family was abusive, but what was one person's life and happiness if the sacrifice would potentially kill Voldemort? As much as he may not like deep down, Harry was a sacrifice that needed to be made. He needed Harry back in his realm of control. Hopefully if it came to it, Harry would come out of hiding after Sirius got control.

“Fudge has yet again proved himself a fool. He refused to turn over Sirius’s wand to the ICW. Of course that didn’t go well. If they refuse to turn it over, any evidence on the wand will be ignored. He’s no doubt had Priori Incantatem on it, and already knows it has nothing useful against Sirius on it. He would turn it over if it could prove him guilty.” Moody said, as Tonks nodded her head next to him.

“In response, France, Germany, and the US have turned over a validated memory showing that Fudge refused to give Sirius a trial regardless of any new evidence. I just so happened to see a certain beetle in Umbridge's hair when she was going to a meeting with him. It’s likely that in a few days, if not tomorrow, an article will be printed about Fudge’s idiocy.” Tonks added after Moody finished.

“Then Harry must have moved again. I didn’t expect it so soon.” Arthur said.

“What do you mean?” Dumbledore asked urgently. The last they had heard about Harry was months ago.

“New research has been submitted regarding werewolves.” Arthur said. He was interrupted slightly by Fred & George.

“You mean the Rabies… vaccine tests?” George said and Fred Finished.

“How did you know about them?” Both Arthur and Severus asked.

“We were the first to be given the vaccine. We took it about a day after we were infected. We’re rabies free. We’ve had 2 full moons so far. Both have been pretty chill. When we change, we don’t really attack anyone. We seem to just act like like wolves. Sirius was the first to test if we were safe, but when he entered in human form, we just ‘licked him half to death’.” Fred & George said, laughing a bit.

“What do you mean about Harry acting so soon?” Dumbledore interjected, not seeing what Harry had to do with this.

“As the werewolf research used muggle medicine, Fudge tossed the folder to me to figure out. The research project lists the researchers as “Lead Researcher: Dinn. Lead Healer: Flintfang, Gorsha. Research Assistants: Alcaraz Emilia, Graham, Hamilton, & Potter, Harry. Inspiration: Potter, Harry.”

“Can you confirm this Severus?” Dumbledore asked, wanting to be sure.

“Yes. It’s been all over the papers on the continent. Voldemort got news of it just 2 days ago. Yesterday, Lucious Malfoy managed to get a copy of the research paperwork for him. Given Harry’s name is listed as an assistant, and the inspiration, Voldemort now assumes Harry has something to do with the werewolf disappearances. Fudge has been keeping this out of the papers, but with proof of Fudge’s corruption, the Prophet will no doubt put a stop to that. We also got more international news. Harry Potter took tests and got a mediwizards liscence. It was in France yet again.”

“Wait, Why didn’t you tell us about Harry doing being involved with the werewolves?” Dumbledore asked, though it was clear it was a demand. The mediwizard liscense was interesting, but far less important. If Harry was taking part inf Vaccine tests with werewolves, he had to have some training in healing.

“Albus.” Fred said. “You know how blood contracts work. We can’t tell anyone anything until it becomes publicly known.” George finished. “And we aren’t willing to pay the price for violating it.” Fred added. “If we even could.” George said.

Dumbledore was currently dealing with a headache. So much was happening, but at least they were getting some new information. And then that was that application for a new nation to join the ICW, and that would be happening reasonably soon. While he may no longer be the Supreme Mugwump, he still had some friends there.

20th December 1995

Harry was the first to arrive for the school board meeting. He took out the floor plan that had been devised for his home. Honestly, he wasn’t sure all this was truly needed. His master bedroom was going to be huge, but it was the sheer amount of rooms that floored him. He understood a monarch's residence was supposed to be huge, but looking at the blueprints, he was going to have a ridiculous amount of rooms. Over the last month, they’d completed the underground sections, and were now working on the first floor.

After the rest of the people arrived, the meeting started. The main topic of discussion today was rules and classes. Harry figured he’d start things off. “I think we should have mandatory Wizard Studies and Muggle Studies courses. Muggle studies for those raised by wizards, and Wizard studies for those who are muggle raised.”

“Agreed” Alain said. “The showing at the World Cup proves the average non muggleborn wizard doesn’t have a clue how to dress. Some from the ministry did dress like muggles, but that wasn’t the average.”

Harry Nodded. “I agree. He’s a lovely person, and one of the best dressed there, but even Arthur Weasley dressed like a 50-60 year old out golfing. Bart Crouch sr dressed in a full suite. That naturally drew attention to him. I can still remember that old man who wore a nightgown, talking loudly about liking a breeze around his privates. I think his name was Artie?”

Sirius spit out his tea. “What?”

Harry nodded, before asking Dobby to bring his pensieve. As he waited, he extracted his memory of arriving to the cup, and waking to their tent. He also included the memory of the old man, any anything else that showed just how stupid wizards could be. They took a short break to examine Harry’s memories.

“So I think if we are admitting 10 year olds, there should be a course that’s mandatory for those who are wizard-raised. Maybe after a year they can choose to drop it. It should mostly cover the basics, such as how to dress like a muggle for various ages and events. Again, see Mr Crouch. A suit is nice, but it doesn’t belong on a campground. No one sensible wears something like that when out in nature. Yes he probably had it charmed not to get dirty, but that would also draw some attention. It should also cover the basics of muggle technology. Another memory you saw was a brit talking to one of the muggles about microwaves and how major advancements like that would do wonders. It seems that because Hogwarts doesn’t have any teaching for muggle interaction at all, and their curriculum is decades out of date, that Brits are destined to fail there.”

“It should be easy to get a variety of muggle clothing in childrens sizes, so they can learn how to dress like a muggle.” Sirius said.

“What’s more funny is that in Muggle writing, video games, and more, that robes are only worn by wizards and such. So by wearing them, we actively bring attention to ourselves.” Harry said.

“We should consider having dances. Based on what I have heard from Harry and others, Hogwarts offered few social opportunities beyond day to day. Even holidays are just days with a feast where you have to sit with your house. Nothing is ever really celebrated besides christmas. It would be good to help kids learn to socialize by giving them some chances to do so.”

“That’s a good idea. How about we hold, say, 3 dances a year? Maybe Samhain, Yule, and Ostara?” Sirius suggested.

Before he spent 5 years in a time chamber, he would not have even known what those were. Being muggle raised, was never taught about them. And Hogwarts never mentioned them either. Apparently that was one of those ‘old traditions’ that many pureblood families were angry had been sidelined. They’d even held a samhain festival in Polaris. It was a lot of fun. It had been interesting to learn they were still celebrated in many parts of continental europe.

After some general agreement to the idea of holding 3 social events a year. Those who preferred christmas generally accepted the idea when told they were fine with a Christmas celebration happening too. But Christmas really wasn’t a day when people would want to have to be out dancing.

“Going back to the main topic for today, I know Harry wanted wandless classes. When are those to happen?” Alain asked.

“Perhaps starting in 3rd year? By that time the child’s magical capability should be stable enough to learn better. Learning wandless magic can be tiring, and doing it any earlier we potentially risk exhausting kids.” Lodland said.

“Sounds good to me. It’s long enough to give the kids a chance to grow a bit more, but not so long that the learned helplessness has set in, especially if we have small demonstrations so the kids don’t get it into their heads that a wand is needed.” Alain added.

“That said, teaching people wandless magic will make things more difficult for the aurors. There is a reason many governments don’t bother.” Lodlang said.

“We have goblin citizens who will be doing it. Not to mention I do it frequently. It’s not practical or right to say “some of you can, but the rest can’t even learn. It should also result in more aurors who are proficient in it.” Harry said. From the look Lodlang and Gorsha gave him, they were hoping for that answer.

“I was also wondering if we could add a basic class on warding later on. Perhaps starting in 5th or 6th year?” Lodlang asked.

“I don’t see why we couldn’t. It would have prerequisites though. They’d have to have been taking Arithmancy and Runes. Perhaps starting Runes in the planned preschool would be an option? Those 2 classes should be learned first. As Runes is already a pretty advanced thing to learn, perhaps we start that in 6th year, so they aren’t busy learning an entire new subject before NEWTS. Given we’ve given them 3 years for NEWTs, adding new classes there should be fine.” Fillius said.

“Could our defense class just be called Defense? Defense against the dark arts is a bit too long as is, and that’s not the only thing they will need to protect themselves or others from.” Filius asked.

“It also seems unnecessarily stigmatizing? A lot of what I thought was dark, isn’t remotely dark in many places of the world. Britain classifies anything using blood as dark and thus illegal, but apparently a lot of healing potions use some of the patients blood. Apparently the outlawing of these has caused some problems. Perhaps we should have an esoteric magic class starting in 6th year. We need a class to teach some of those skills. I don’t think ‘Dark Magic’ should be a class. But I could see adding together a group of more specialized but useful magic and having a class focused on those things could help. I also agree. Perhaps we just name that class ‘Defensive Magic’.” Sirius added.

“I suggest we add PE. It’s proven that physical exercise helps not only make you more healthy, but helps you grow stronger magically as well. I’m not saying it needs to take a lot of time, but at least an hour a week of physical activity would help.”

“Perhaps we could compromise there. Anyone who doesn’t participate in a physical sport, such as muggle sports, dueling, and so forth, they need to take at least an hour of PE a week. I don’t think it should be a designated class though. Perhaps we have a teacher look over the gymnasium and check off people who have exercised?” Filius suggested.

“It wouldn’t need to be just doing normal exercises. As long as they are documented playing a physical game like dodgeball, that works out the whole body, that should be fine. Granted we should have weight lifting equipment available.” Gorsha said.

“We seem fairly set there. I think we need to consider a way of advancing in classes faster. Some students just excel in a class, or take time to study it more. I know I have ravenclaws that would love a way to skip a year in certain subjects.” Filius said.

“Perhaps when the students arrive, we give them say, 3-5 days to both explore and learn the buildings, but also take tests? Maybe a person can opt to take a modified final exam to prove they already know what the classes teach?” Alain suggested.

The group seemed to think that idea through for a few minutes. That would be difficult, but also worthwhile. Hogwarts and other schools without a way to advance beyond the yearly rate often forced students to relearn things they already know.

“I think that’s worth doing, despite it potentially being a pain to do. We don’t want students spending some of their classes learning something they already know, and doing nothing productive. I know students who have spent classes learning things they already know, and not even being allowed to open a book not used in the class.”

Chapter Text

25th December 1995

Shopping for his friends, associates, and more had been a pain. Hermione was fairly easy. He’d gotten her a brand new trunk with 5 compartments, 4 of which were expanded. One of them was a huge library compartment that kept all books indexed and sorted with a command to search and call each book. Another was a small living space, with stairs down and a small cabin with 2 reasonably small bedrooms, a bathroom, a kitchen, and a living room. The key feature was a library room that tapped into the library compartment to make finding books easier. The trunk itself had cost about 10 Lunes. (or $300) It was an expensive gift, at this point he was a literal king, and his vaults were making good progress on refilling from the huge it took to make Polaris happen.

Ron had been tricky. Ron was a friend, but he would never again be Harry’s ‘best’ friend. He couldn’t fully forgive him for abandoning him after the goblet of fire debacle. Harry sent him tickets to 3 Chudley Cannons games that would take place over the summer. One of them was even a VIP ticket to meet the players. Ron would love that. He also bought him a book on beginner occlumency, not that he expected Ron to read it. He should still at least try.

For the rest of the Weasley family he bought a bigger combined gift and smaller gifts. For the family he bought tickets to the next World Cup. For Arthur, he bought free first class tickets for an airplane to take them there and back. Arthur would love to fly in a plane. He also bought all the transportation they would need. For Ginny he had bought a nimbus 2,000 to remind her that even if some of her brothers didn’t think she could do well, that Harry thought she had potential. For Percy, who was not at all pleased with, he bought a series of books, some of which were expensive. A first edition history of the British Ministry of Magic written by a famous international historian. It contained with it the unedited history of the ministry. He sent a series of books on which Percy had liked, and an introduction to occlumency book.

Charlies present was a small book Harry himself made, discussing the basics of parseltongue, and how to write a few basic phrases that would potentially make handling dragons easier. For Bill Harry had bought books on the various pyramids, tombs, barrows, and so forth of North, central, and South America.

For Fred & George, he bought tickets for a series of classes on wandless magics, as well as a book of pranks he had come up with when bored during his years in the time chamber. It also came with all the recipes, spells, and so forth needed to pull them off.

Sirius got a voucher for Fred & Georges newly opened shop, so he could get pranking supplies. Both had been excited at the idea that they could make money by selling those. It was also worth about 10 Lunes. For Gorsha he got many books on muggle medicine, as well as medicine from many different parts of the world. For Lodlang, who was a collector, he had a new collectors coin minted. In the end only of these coins, made from goblin silver, had been made. One of them went to Lodlang, one went to the Royal Vault, and one was currently in a separate vault. He wasn’t sure when or if he would ever give the last one out.

He also sent some gifts to other people he disliked. Severus got some very rare potions ingredients, including a part of one of the smallest of the basilisk fangs, after ensuring there was no venom left. He also sent a box filled with many memories of his home life. His letter said to open it only if he was willing to challenge his idea of Harry’s upbringing. In other words, if he was too cowardly to open it, he would get just the fang portion. If he wasn’t, he’d also potentially get a crisis of guilt for Christmas. Molly got a series of books about child psychology and home making.

Finally Dumbledore got a picture for Christmas. One where Harry stood smiling at him and waving, with his scar healed down to a thick white line, not the angry red it was before he had the horcrux removed. The picture had been careful crafted to give away no details except what Harry wanted to give away. No defining landmarks, no buildings in the background, etc. He’d also gotten special permission to send him a memory of him learning not only what it was, but that it could be removed, and that it wasn’t too hard to do. A goblin with a smile full of teeth went out of his way to say that they’d have told Dumbledore they could remove horcruxes if he had just asked. Harry also included a memory of himself. Harry had sat himself in an empty room, and discussed to thin air just how downright evil Dumbledore could be. Sending Harry to live his childhood abused as evil, no matter how ‘good’ his intentions. Hopefully Dumbledore would also be getting a crisis of guilt for Christmas.

He’d gotten a variety of gifts from his friends in return. Hermione had unsurprisingly gotten him books. Ron had gotten him a big box of candies. Harry wasn’t enthused with those gifts. They’d both just gotten him what they’d want. Hermione had never been good at giving gifts, but Ron was worse. At the same time, this was something he’d accepted, and he used to be bad too. They were also 5 years younger than him now, and that only brought up complex emotions. Neville gave him cuttings of a variety of plants. This one Harry actually enjoyed. This home was going to have a conservatory, and these cuttings would help make it wonderful. Molly sent him some sweets and a sweater along with a letter asking him to come home.

Fred & George had sent him a ton of ‘supplies’ for both pranking and tactical situations. They’d made it abundantly clear they considered him a business partner, and he wasn’t allowed to pay for things there. That had taken time to adjust to. Charlie had sent him a lovely perfectly fitting pair of dragon hide boots, and a pair of matching fang earrings. Harry appreciated those. He didn’t have pierced ears, but he’d consider it. Bill had sent him some parceltongue books he'd collected when he was still in Egypt. The goblins had given him a lovely ring with a strange black stone. They said they’d found it in Little Haggleton. It’d apparently been a horcrux. They’d cleansed it and investigated. It belonged to the Preverell family, of which he was descended. He made sure never to wear it anywhere pictures may be taken, or else where Voldemort might learn of it. They also sent him a heads up that they could only detect 2 remaining horcruxes, aside from the one they’d taken from Harry and had used to make a way to track them(Even if not precisely). One was with Voldemort, and one was in Hogwarts. Hogwarts was so big though, that they had yet to find it.

He loved many of them, but with Sirius’s trial looming over the horizon, they were not as important as he would have considered them in years prior. Christmas morning had been lovely, but then he’d needed to get ready for a Christmas gala in France, on top of the Yule party he’d been to just days ago in North America. Soon he’d be going to a New Year's gathering in Bulgaria, where he’d be meeting Victor again. Once Polaris was more internationally settled, he wouldn’t need to go to such lengths to secure their international acceptance.

Chapter Text

6th January 1996

The last couple weeks had been exhausting, even past Christmas shopping. There had been a couple more meetings, this time with Bulgaria and India. Harry hadn’t had meetings with Russia or China yet. Bot.h were run by dictators even in the magical world, and he had little desire to make himself known to them. They’d find out about tomorrow or in the next few days, as would Voldemort and Dumbledore. As Sirius had political asylum from Britain in Polaris, Harry would be attending the trial not just as Harry Potter, but as his majesty the King Harry James Potter. While he had attended parties before, this would effectively be his first foray into public international politics. His prior parties, meetings, and so forth hadn’t made international news.

He was also worried about Sirius, who he hadn’t seen in 6 days. Sirius had presented himself to the ICW for a week-long stay in their cells before his trial. He wanted there to be no doubts. He’d been scanned and searched in every way he could be, some of which were thoroughly embarrassing or uncomfortable. The week-long stay was to ensure he had no potions in his system at all, in addition to documenting everything needed. He submitted memories which needed to be tested for falsification. His animagus form was going to be fully documented as well.

Harry wouldn’t get to see Sirius until he was taken to the trial, and even then, no one was allowed contact with him except for very select members of the ICW criminal system. Any interaction, including all the searches, and any time he was outside his cell he was watched over by 6 observers. Even when in his cell, he was carefully watched at all hours of the day.

While all this was happening, the ICW’s international trial court was finalizing all their preparation. Evidence was being authenticated, a jury was being assembled, and so much more. Normally the jury would be largely British, but as the British Ministry of Magic had not only failed to give him a trial, but poisoned the minds of their citizens with false news articles, it had been decided that no one in Britain could be considered unbiased. Harry was thrilled that politicians were not allowed to be judges or jury, much like Polaris. While Britain may have it’s nonsensical court, it seemed here they had at least some good sense.

7th January 1996

Harry was making himself ready with the help of a pair of house elves. He wore a new suit. It was primarily black with citrine yellow accents to match the color of the North star. He wore comfortable formal shoes. As a precaution, he wore two dragonhide summon-resistant wand holsters. His holly wand was in its holster on his right arm, and he wore a second wand holster attached to his thigh. The second wand worked reasonably well, but it wasn’t as good a match as his holly wand. He’d found it in the Potter vaults. He didn’t expect a fight, and knew he’d be disarmed when he entered the court, but Grimhook insisted that he should take precautions. While he could use wandless magic very well now, he preferred to avoid doing so in a public setting where Tom might learn about it. Over his suit, he put on his best formal robes. Harry was grateful that cooling charms would stop him from overheating. A suite and robe, let alone when both had some protective dragon hide sewn into them, would be very hot. This would also be the first time he would be meeting the ICW, even if it wasn’t the upcoming proposal to become a member. As a result, he wore his formal crown. It still felt awkward, but he suppressed the feeling.

It had been decided that 6 members of the royal guard would come with him. Grimhook would as usual be the leader. They were getting ready in a nearby room. They were getting ready. Unlike Harry, as bodyguards they were expected to wear more protection. While they weren’t wearing outright armor, they needn’t look as sleek and formal as Harry, granted they still needed to look suitably formal. They all wore wands as well, despite 3 of them being goblins. The other 3 consisted of a werewolf, a half blood wizard, and an elf. It had been decided than the ability to just ‘pop’ harry to safety was vital to his protection, so elves were well received in the royal guard. It was amazing just how few people took elves into account.

Harry set down as he finished getting himself ready. The elves both got to work. One of them was ensuring Harry’s hair was ready. They had seemingly decided his half-up ponytail with braids along the side was today’s look. It was Harry’s favorite. The other gave him a shave, dried him off, and got to some basic makeup. Harry hadn’t been happy with the idea in the past, but Kosa had been right. Just a subtle touch up could really help.

ICW Headquarters

It had taken them an hour to get to the headquarters. Or really, much less, but recovering from the long distance international portkey took much of that time. Long distance trips always made people feel ill. Once both he and the royal guard felt fully ready, they got moving to the courtroom where Sirius would be tried. It didn’t take more than a minute before he was approached by Dumbledore himself. Harry had expected him to be here. While he was no longer the Supreme Mugwump, he was still a respected member of the ICW and British government. That meant he was allowed here.

“Harry, how are you-” Dumbledore said, pausing midway as he took in Harry’s appearance. He couldn’t help but notice Harry looked at least a year older than he should. There were some details that he couldn’t get a good sense of in a picture. What’s more, Harry’s formal crown quickly drew eyes. Harry had specifically not worn it in the picture he’d sent Dumbledore for Christmas.

“Harry, how is everything going in Polaris?” Monsieur Delacour, France’s ambassador to the ICW asked, approaching the pair.

“It’s doing well. We’re growing steadily. A pair of our citizens entertained everyone on new years with fireworks. I swear, it was the best show I’ve seen, even if it was a bit chaotic. How is your family? I hope Fluer and Gabrielle are doing well, along with your wife. Thanks again for inviting me to your Christmas gala.”

“You needn’t be so formal with me Harry. My family is doing very well. Gobrielle is hoping to see you again, you know.” He replied.

Harry gave him a smile, before turning his head back to Dumbledore. “My apologies Albus, you were about to ask something?” Harry said.

Dumbledore observed the two as they spoke like close friends. Apparently Harry had attended a Gala hosted in France. These two should not know each other so well.

“Yes, how are you Harry? What’s Polaris?” Dumbledore said.

“Oh I’m lovely. I’m so grateful the ICW have been kind enough to hold an international trial for Sirius. It’s nice seeing you again as well.” Harry said.

Monsieur Delacour spoke before Harry could explain Polaris though. “Polaris is a new nation. Harry here is the King.” He said, wearing a very slight smirk. He clearly relished being more in the know than Dumbledore. Given Dumbledore facilitated the kidnapping of Gabrielle to be held as a hostage for the Tri-Wizard tournament, Harry couldn’t blame him. Harry never understood how the ministry was allowed to get away with that. Apparently they’d never gotten permission from the hostage's parents.

Dumbledore seemed to step back, and his eyes again looked to the crown on his head. “How did that happen?” He asked, trying to sound less confused than he was, as if it was an idle curiosity.

“I can’t really explain it by myself. But we’ve been doing well. We’ve hosted meetings with France, Germany, the US, Sweden, Spain, Poland, and Bulgaria. Soon there will be a meeting of the ICW council to decide whether we will be accepted into the ICW, and if so to what degree.”

“Surely you don’t think you can run a nation properly? You are only 15.” Normally Dumbledore wouldn’t risk implying incompetence when talking about a nation's ruler. But Polaris was clearly new. At most, it was no older than the day Harry got home from Hogwarts.

Harry gave him a smile he’d learned from the goblins. Just enough teeth to make it clear he understood the implications and wasn’t amused, but not enough to be a threat. It would be a friendly smile if not for a slightly concerning undertone.

It was Monsieur Delacour who answered. “Obviously not, given he’s formed a constitutional monarchy. Polaris has a full congress and ministry. That’s hardly an action of someone who thought they were always right.” He smiled at Harry as he said it. It was clear France approved of that attitude.

“Power corrupts, and I have taken many steps to ensure no one gets too much power, even me. It’s clear that’s not a concern some have.” Harry said, leaving the thought open ended. Harry’s smile made it clear he thought Dumbledores magical, political, and so forth had corrupted him long ago. He adjusted his hair lightly, drawing attention to his famous scar. What was once a permanent angry red was now just a thick silvery-white line in the shape of a lightning bolt. It had healed a good deal.

Monsieur Delacour took advantage of this. “I’ve been meaning to ask, what happened to your famous scar? People have said it’s supposed to be red.”

Harry gave a more genuine smile. “I had help getting the dark magic out of it. It was a painful process, but it turns out the goblins had a way to do it without hurting me. It’s amazing how people underestimate their abilities.” Harry said.

Dumbledore's face shifted as he was forcibly reminded that he’d been all too willing to sacrifice Harry. Sacrifice a child’s life and happiness for the good of the country. Something he’d been clearly all too eager to do, given he hadn’t done much if any research on if there was even a way to remove it without killing the boy.

Dumbledore seemed to age 20 years over a few seconds. He hadn’t meant to do this. It was yet more proof that he didn’t deserve power. And yet, he’d accrued it in spite of that belief. He’d gained immense political power. He’d started to believe what people thought of him. How did it come to this? When did he fall so deep into the greater good motto he’d given Grindelwald. When had he started to value his own opinions and thoughts over everyone else's. If he’d told others, they might have prevented this from happening. He’d thought himself so knowledgeable and wise that he hadn’t even considered others could know. He hadn’t even been aware of the slow shift in his world view.

Dumbledore slowly seemed to come back to himself, but it was clear he’d been shaken. He seemed to be on political autopilot. After a short while, Harry went on his way to talk to others before the trial started and they were all called to get to their seats.

Chapter Text

7th January 1996 ICW Headquarters

Fudge was not at all pleased to discover Harry Potter was here. He’d expected his presence, but not the addition of a group of 6 bodyguards, or rather 5 and a servant. It was improper to call an elf a bodyguard. The brat was probably just bringing it as an excuse to have a servant. That fake crown was gaudy as all hell as well. He was clearly desperate for attention. He was a mosquito that he wanted to swat, moving around and talking to people, even about politics before the trial. He never approached Fudge, but he tipped his head slightly at him once. Not even a real bow, or handshake. As if the stupid attention seeking brat could ever stand of equal rank with him, let alone higher.

That was until, when insulting the Potter brat, and disparaging him to the Bulgarian minister, he was informed Potter was now a ‘legitimate’ king. Supposedly ruling over some nation called “Polaris”. That was the country that was possibly going to be joining the ICW in the coming months. The Bulgarian minister was as stuck up as he could be, making his displeasure known. Clearly a nutter who would pretend not to speak english all day just to make others uncomfortable was not suitable to be running a country. Suddenly it made sense why Bulgaria seemed to have good relations with the Potter brat. You’d have to be crazy to agree with another nutter like Potter.

Oh how he wished those Dementors had kissed the brat. He’d be so excited when Potter hadn’t shown up at Hogwarts. He thought he’d had the boy by the short & curlies. When he learned Potter had taken his NEWTs early, and that he couldn’t give him a trial for abandoning his schooling for a school he’d effectively already graduated, he’d been pissed. All those plans down the drain. When France, the US, and Germany released the memories of him refusing to give Sirius a trial after new evidence, he’d been frothing mad. Unfortunately, he couldn’t convict someone of a crime who wasn’t even in the country. He’d been so eager to create a sham trial convicting the brat of falsifying evidence, only to have it come out that the memories had been checked for that, and come out clean.

Cornelius Fudge was now frothing mad, and thus was prepared to do everything he could to get Sirius convicted, just to hurt the brat. Unfortunately, he didn’t have much ammunition to use for this goal, but by now he was so furious he was prepared to kick up as much of a fuss as possible.

Lucius Malfoy had come with Fudge. Fudge was so tied to his gold and political support, that when he’d had to choose someone to come with him, there had been no other choice. Fudge was steadily losing it, not that this was a bad thing. Any problems for Potter were nice. But if he went too far, it could become a problem for the Dark Lord. His Lord wanted Fudge in place, but if he messed up enough to get himself replaced, they mind end up with someone observant enough to notice things. Fudge was competent only when it came to getting support. He was neither observant, nor hard to manipulate. They had plans to replace him, but not yet. They’d do that when he’d fully served his purpose.

For now though, he could imagine the reaction the Dark Lord would have to this. It did solve where Potter had hidden though. Apparently he’d either formed, or been crowned a figurehead king. It explained the cadre of people who seemed to stay near him, watching everyone else. Voldemort would be pleased with the information. It seemed he’d decided that dealing with Potter was not of great importance for now. Would that change now that he knew what Potter was doing?

However, Harry Potter leaving the country certainly sent the message that he wasn’t keen on fighting if possible. Granted from what they knew of the Prophecy, that wasn’t possible long term. That said, it seemed unlikely that Potter would run if he knew of it. This meant it was likely Dumbledore had never explained it. It also meant that even if he did so now, Potter already had responsibilities that would keep him distracted.

Unfortunately this short term gain came with long term problems. When Voldemort did turn his attention back to Potter, he’d be far better defended, and in a different country. Given it seemed Polaris had growing international support, that likely meant a war. There was little to do about it for now. He’d just have to see how the Dark Lord took this news.

That said, something else was happening. Lucius seemed to be getting the cold shoulder by several different countries. They treated him with the bare minimum of respect required of a representative of another nation. They seemed to be very cautious of him. It took him a while to figure it out. When they came to Voldemort just after his revival, he’d unmasked them and said their names. With the news about Harry claiming the Dark Lord was back, they must have asked for proof. Harry must have shown some countries his memories. The Dark Lord would not like this. That explained it though. It was his lords…. No… his Lord didn’t make mistakes, to even consider it without his acceptance was traitorous, and bound to get him punished.

Before he could do anything with this discovery however, the announcement was made that the trial was about to start, and everyone was told to get to their seats. It was only a few minutes later when people called to rise for the judge. How anyone could stand rising for some muggleborn was a wonder to both him and Cornelius, but decorum forced their hands, lest Britain’s diplomats for this event look bad.

The British Ministry of Magic vs Sirius Black 3

After the case was announced and called to order, things got started. The prosecutors were called to make their opening statement. Overall, it was exactly what they had been expecting. All the great hits were there, accusations of murder, betrayal, and terrorism, layered with emotional language to impress just how this traitor and murderer had scarred an entire generation. Cornelius Fudge had hired the best lawyer he could find to take the case, granted several had refused, once they learned he had never gotten a trial in the first place.

Sirius’s lawyer meanwhile relied mostly on solid facts. He made a case of corruption, prejudice, & lack of evidence. It was an impassioned speech about the duties of a nation to uphold the rights of their citizens. The right to a fair trial, while defined differently, was a universal right.

Both opening statements lasted for a while, though at the end, it seemed that sympathy was on Sirius’s side so far. Given the opposition's government used politicians as judges, had not even given him a trial, and promises the ministry had made that Sirius had been found guilty, Sirius’s lawyer had started with abundant ammunition.

The prosecution started early. They called several aurors as witnesses who responded to the outbursts, they discussed things they had seen, what the muggles had said before they’d been obliviated, and so forth. Some of it was dismissed as hearsay however. Reports of what the muggles said without memories submitted soon after the event couldn’t be considered as evidence. Britain didn’t have a system for collecting that kind of thing. Polaris did, but only because they got the idea from other countries that already had such a system. Pensieves were expensive however, so it was understandable. Cornelius forced the lawyer to try to admit memories as evidence, but as some of them hadn’t been checked for tampering earlier, only about half of them had been allowed as evidence. This got them a warning from the judge that they couldn’t just present evidence mid trial. The discovery clause meant that it had to be presented over a week in advance so the defense could be prepared for it, and it could be tested.

They next presented Sirius’s wand for examination. This turned out to be a bad idea, as someone had tampered with it by using it for a ‘dark’ spell that was illegal. Fortunately the UN used a version of the prior incantato spell that showed the times and dates of spells used. The most recent spells had been cast after Sirius’s wand had been confiscated. While they couldn’t prove who had tampered with evidence, the judge recommended an international investigation of their justice system after this. The judge didn’t have the power to order such a thing, but that didn’t stop them from suggesting it. What he did have the power to do, levy a massive fine to the British government for tampering with evidence contempt of court.

Harry suspected Umbridge had tampered with the wand, or ordered someone else to. As a result of tampering, ‘evidence’ being thrown out as hearsay, and at best circumstantial evidence, the case against Sirius was weak thus far. Given Sirius was innocent, this had been expected. Harry gave a confused smile to Fudge and Malfoy that showed too many teeth, a habit he’d obtained from his goblin friend. They clearly took that to mean he was questioning their intelligence. That conclusion wasn’t wrong, but he’d never say such a thing to them, especially not here in public.

The defense led with Sirius taking the initiative to give testimony himself. This was often a risky thing to do, but Sirius wanted to leave no doubt. He’d even volunteered to take veritaserum. While that wasn’t accepted as proof, as there were ways to subvert it, it functioned as evidence if done properly. As Sirius had been quarantined for a week, had his system flushed, and all the other precautions, it was considered evidence. While occlumency could be used to help avoid some of the mind fog, even that wouldn’t allow the taker to lie, it could allow them to keep their wits about them to at least some degree. Harry noticed the bailiff subtly cast a silencing charm around Sirius. Given everyone heard Sirius’s testimony, Harry assumed it must have been a one way silencing charm.

The questions had all been listed off before the trial had begun. Given the taker couldn’t just refuse to answer a question, all questions had to be vetted a week or more before the trial, to ensure they were phrased just right, and couldn’t be easily misconstrued. Sirius answered them in the certain but absent minded way typical of someone under a powerful truth potion.

The prosecutor's questions were proving far less fruitful than they’d hoped. Despite the questions, Sirius had reasonable answers for everything. Even when asked why he’d laughed when Peter got away, the answers were reasonable and didn’t help the prosecution. They’d taken a break from the truth potion to allow Sirius to recover. Meanwhile expert witnesses were presented and questioned about how losing loved ones and being betrayed by a close friend could affect one's mental state. In the end, most people in the courtroom seemed to agree that he couldn’t have been expected to be in a fully logical state of mind after Peter framed him. Especially when the questioning about the events showed Peter had hit Sirius with a cheering charm.

It had been shown that that combined with him genuinely believing that if he had accepted being the secret keeper, his friends would have lived, survivors guilt was a major factor. Fudge was growing more and more angry and desperate. If Sirius was proven innocent here, the Prophet would run with it. It would do severe damage to his credibility given how he’d argued Sirius was definitely guilty.

Next up on the docket, it was Harry’s turn to be questioned. In support of Sirius, he’d agreed to it. He’d also accepted the truth potion. The questioning went as they had hoped, and his submitted and verified memories related to the case. When asked why he had been so willing to believe Sirius, Harry was all too happy to respond, even if he didn't really have a choice. “I’d overheard teachers talking about it. It seemed like the only sure evidence was Peter’s finger. But if he’d been blown up by Sirius, there wouldn’t be a single cleanly severed finger remaining. There’d have been bits of him everywhere.”

Harry’s occlumency training allowed him just enough control to have a very slight amused tone. It was just barely there through the drugged stupor, but it was clear that if Harry wasn’t drugged, he’d no doubt be questioning why anyone with 2 brain cells to rub together hadn’t already thought about that.

This tiny hint of a ‘how could anyone have been stupid enough to not see how suspicious that was’ tone to his voice was enough to set Fudge off. He couldn’t take the slight chuckling that elicited, and his anger got the better of him. “Did you know where Sirius was hiding when on the run and not report it?” He thundered, trying to force Harry to confess to a crime while he couldn’t outright lie.

Harry was far too drugged to take a mental note that he’d been right. He heard nothing except what the lawyers were asking since the start of the questioning. His prior guess had been right. While others could clearly hear what he said, he could only hear things said by the lawyers inside the silenced zone. Thus while he could see Fudge’s angry outburst, and see his mouth move, he could not hear the question, and thus didn’t answer.

The bailiff cast a silencing charm, and the judge banged his gavel. “Asking questions not on the approved list is not allowed. Given it’s now clear you lack the ability to behave, you will be escorted out of the courtroom.” Yet another large fine was added, though this one would be from Fudge’s vaults instead of Britains.

Fudge was marched out of the courtroom, and though he was clearly not happy, no one heard what he was saying. Sirius and his Lawyer smiled at each other. “Idiot.” Sirius muttered to himself. His lawyer nodded. Honestly, Fudge should have known better. Meanwhile the prosecuting lawyer was pissed. Fudge had just damaged their own case. Even if Potter had known and not reported it, it wouldn’t have amounted to anything. Not only was it clear by now that Sirius wasn’t guilty, but the fruit of the poisonous tree laws would have made any illegally gained evidence not usable. At worst the prophet would have made a big fuss, then the British ministry would have been fined or worse. If the British ministry was stupid enough to try to hold a trial for another nations ruler using illegal evidence, it would have been even worse for them.

The trial continued for another few hours, but effectively it was over. Fudge’s outburst had destroyed the prosecutors credibility. The Jury and Judge were all too happy to declare Sirius innocent. The rest of the trial seemed largely to be a formality. It was clear that if the Brits had given him a fair trial, or a trial at all, he’d never have been sent to azkaban.

Harry gave Sirius a big hug after the trial. Steadily people left the courtroom, and after discussions and meetings, Harry, Sirius, and his royal guards collected their wands. Lucius noticed that the goblins also collected wands, and seemed to have an aneurism watching it. No doubt he’d have a tirade about that when he got home. A meeting was scheduled to discuss the ramifications of the trial the next day, but as Polaris wasn’t yet a member of the ICW, Harry wouldn’t be there for that.

Chapter Text

9th January 1996 ICW Headquarters

While Harry hadn’t expected it, he’d been invited to partIicipate in the discussions over the next 2 days. He had no real vote though, and only spoke a few times. But as Polaris might join the ICW at some point, it made sense to participate in what ways he could. Despite that, given he wasn’t participating much as Polaris wasn’t yet in the ICW, it was a fairly boring affair.

In the end, Britain had been sanctioned in addition to the fines levied against Fudge personally. They weren’t particularly harsh sanctions, but would no doubt be a thorn in their side until they made improvements. Most modern nations looked down on using dementors, as they were considered cruel and unusual punishment and torture. Since Sirius was now confirmed as innocent, the government had effectively tortured him for 11 years without fair trial.

If he’d been in a reasonable prison, that would have been bad enough, but Azkaban had a bad international reputation. Harry voiced his approval for that sentiment. Polaris’s prison, granted it only had a few people in it, did not use dementors. They used complex wards and cuffs to suppress the magic of the prisoners. It wasn’t permanent though. That had been one of the harder parts of designing it. Fully suppressing someone's magic wasn’t healthy. Finding a way to suppress them enough to make them temporarily on the level of a squib had been hard.

Harry snapped out of his thoughts quickly though as the meeting started to draw to a close. Before he, Sirius, and the others headed home, there was a ton of socializing to do. As a result, by the time Harry got home from the 3 day long outing for Sirius’s trial and the 2 days of talks, he and everyone else was exhausted. It was nearly 7 pm. Harry took a potion to ease the jetlag a little, and immediately went to bed after greeting some people.

9th January 1996 - Malfoy Manor

Unfortunately Lucius would not have that option. He barely had 5 minutes before the Dark Lord summoned him. At least the international portkey wasn’t so hard on him, as the ICW Headquarters was in europe. He headed to the dining hall to find a full meeting forming. It seemed his Lord had called on everyone to meet practically as soon as Lucius got home, and he’d only been allowed enough time to put things up and have a single glass of wine before he’d been called personally.

After everyone hurried to their seats after showing the proper amount of respect, the Dark Lord was quick to call things to order.

“Lucius, You’ve been away for 3 days for Sirius’s trial, and the discussions. I expect you must have important news…” Voldemort said softly, though the threat was there as always, just begging someone to disappoint him so he could punish them.

Lucius nodded, grabbing his wife’s hand under the table for a second. “Yes my Lord. I have news, and I have learned where Potter has been as well. As you suspected might happen, he was there for the trial.”

Voldemort’s eyes shifted slightly. “The brat is but an annoyance at the moment, for now, I want news of the meetings.”

“Yes my Lord. Sirius was tried and found innocent as we suspected. Unfortunately, that fool, Fudge, fucked up. He’s been fined, and as the news gets out, he’s likely to be criticized. He had someone tamper with Sirius’s wand, or someone did it on his behalf without him asking. He attempted to force through a question while the Potter brat was under veritaserum as well.

Britain is to be sanctioned. When Sirius was found innocent, and given he never had a prior trial, his 11 year imprisonment in Azkaban was considered torture. Britain is facing human rights violations. It won’t be too harsh, but will no doubt be a thorn in the ministries side.

But there is more. I noticed that the dignitaries of multiple european countries were careful around me. I was treated with the bare minimum of respect, but otherwise coldly. This wasn’t a factor until now. It seems Potter has shown other governments his memories from the graveyard.”

It was then that Lucius felt it. He was good at occlumency, but it had never been his specialty. He could defend his mind well, but he was nowhere near as subtle as Severus, not that he truly knew Severus’s skills. Voldemort caught his eyes, and immediately Lucius could feel the probe enter his mind. It broke through his defenses harshly once Voldemort realized they were there.

Lucius recoiled visibly, getting an immediate and severe migraine from the mental backlash. “Lucius. Do not question me. You come dangerously close to traitorous thoughts.” He said, wearing a dangerous smile. Lucius didn’t respond for a second. His mental defenses broke through, and his calm, centered mindset ripped away from him. Everything seemed so much sharper. The lights brighter, the sounds louder.

“S…Sorry my Lord. I didn’t… Sorry.” Lucius said, lacking his usual grace and poise as he desperately tried to pull his mind back together and into some semblance of calm. “I was just…”

Voldemort gave a high pitched chuckle. “Lucius you have forgotten yourself it seems. I understand that in my absence, the lessons you’ve learned may have gone rusty over time. Allow me to remind you.”

In a single smooth motion, Voldemort’s wand flowed forward into a jab, and the notorious blood red spell hit Lucius before he could even hope to react. A thousand thousand degree knives seemed to instantly peirce into Lucius, or least that’s what it felt like to him. He convulsed and seized, his muscles being overcome with the pain. All his muscles seemed to alternate between relaxing and tensing at great speed without any of his control, and the unpleasant smell of ammonia greeting the noses of those nearby. This wasn’t even the effect of the curse itself, but his own body trying to stop the pain, and not knowing how to react. It was like his entire body was trying to yank itself away from the hot stove he’d just touched, but couldn’t.

Voldemort gave another high laugh, and the others joined in, though only for fear of not being amused by their lords ‘joke’. To cast an unforgivable perfectly silently was another reminder of just who they served. Even Beletrix had to at least whisper them, even if she preferred to say them out loud.

The Dark Lord held the curse for 15 seconds, before he dropped it. Lucius stopped seizing and after a short time, began to get up. His body felt like he’d been on an extreme workout, like he’d pulled all his muscles. He knew he’d recover though. The curse didn’t injure a person more than that unless held on them for too long. He’d need a pain potion after the meeting though.

Severus watched Lucius with pity. While he knew how to show false memories as if he wasn’t protecting his mind at all, it seemed Lucius either didn’t have that knowledge, or lacked the talent to use that knowledge. Unfortunately there was little he could do for him.

“I am a gracious Lord, so I’ll leave the rebuke there,” Voldemort said, amused. “Continue.”

Lucius plopped himself back in his seat, exhausted. “Yes… Thank you my Lord. Finally… Potter seems to have not only been in another country, but to have formed his own. It seems he’s been crowned King of a new nation called ‘Polaris’. They’ve been having talks with France, the US, Germany, Bulgaria, and more. They’ve been sponsored to potentially join the ICW in the future. From what i was able to learn, they have around 1,300 citizens, many of whom are werewolves. They also seem to have goblin citizens. Those beasts seem to even have wand rights there. I’ll put feelers out and focus on learning more if you wish my Lord.”

“You have 2 weeks to gather information and report everything you can learn. You had best hope you can bring me enough information.” Voldemort said. “Now, for your report Severus. What is the order up to?”

Chapter Text

10th January 1996

Throughout wizarding Britain, the Daily Prophet was soon to arrive. Sitting at the breakfast table, Hermione, Ron, & Luna sat at the table rereading the letters they’d been sent last evening. It had been amazing, and yet so hard to believe. Harry had become the king of a new wizarding nation called Polaris? They had concerns Harry might have been suffering from some sort of mental breakdown at first. Then they got the letters from Fred & George just 10 minutes ago, backing up Harry’s confession. Harry had said he would have told them before, but without proof to show them, he doubted they would believe him. Apparently this would be in the news any day now. There had been a small press conference at the ICW, and this had come up. He’d announced a proper press conference on January 15th.

As the owls soared through the great hall, dropping off mail, along with the Daily Prophet. The bold headlines displayed the results of Sirius’s ICW sanctioned trial. Sirius had been proven innocent. It went into all the issues in the case as well. “Britain’s being sanctioned for human rights violations?” Hermione said loudly, having the fastest reading speed at their table.

Surprisingly it was Neville who responded. “Yeah, that’s not surprising looking at this. Now that Sirius Black is known as innocent. No matter how much Fudge might want to stop the Prophet from printing it, it’d be suspicious if it wasn’t printed here. Putting someone into Azkaban is bad enough, but without a trial is absolutely a violation.”

“Wh’d ya meyn? Ron asked, speaking with his mouth full.

Neville shivered. It really grossed him out when Ron did that. “The ICW has always considered the use of dementors in prison as a form of torture. Now that it’s known Sirius is innocent, the government tortured an innocent man for 12 years. Even if they didn’t want to take a stand now, they have to or they’d make it seem like that was acceptable to them. When evidence was tampered with, it took it even further. It forced their hand.”

“What are sanctions?” Asked Ginny, confused.

“And why do you know all this?” Seamus asked.

“I’ll have a seat on the Wizengamot when I turn 17, so my grandma teaches me this stuff. Anyway, It means they’ll make restrictions on the government. It could be a big fine, or rules they’ll be forced to follow.”

“But the ICW can’t do that.” Hermione said, confused.

“While they are not a single nation, they are like the wizarding version of the UN. If the government refuses to abide by them, the governments who supported the sanctions can cause problems. Say we refuse. Now France and the other nations that agree with the sanctions can set up, say, tariffs, or stop trade with us. That was just a very extreme example, but they can cause a lot of problems for us.” Neville said before going back to eating for a moment.

After finishing his bite, he resumed. “They’ll probably also have to pay Sirius a ton of money in compensation. Likewise if they don’t, other countries could make trouble.”

“How do you just automatically get a seat in the government.” Hermione asked, confused. Now that she considered it, that made no sense.

“Many old magical families have a seat on the Wizengamot. Neville’s grandma’s only really on the Wizengamot because Neville’s too young. So she’s effectively the Longbottom regent.” Ron said, after finishing his pumpkin juice with a sigh. “The Weasleys used to have one, untill a bit over 100 years ago.”

“Why’d you loose your families seat?” Seamus asked, interested.

“It’s… not a topic we like to discuss. Let’s just say it has something to do with the Malfoy-Weasley fued and leave it at that. They live up to their last name.”

“What do you mean?” Lavender Brown asked, paying attention now. She fluttered her eyelashes at Ron, who didn’t seem to notice, or understand what that meant.

“Are you okay? Did you get a hair in your eye?” Ron asked, confused. “Right. Well… Mal in French means Bad or Evil, and Foy means Faith or Trust. Well it’s a bit more complex than that, but I don’t speak french. So Given Draco’s name effectively translates to ‘bad faith dragon’.”

“How do you know that if you don’t speak french?” Seamus asked.

“Dad told us. He’s pretty rusty at french mind you, but let’s just say they’ve earned the name ‘bad faith’ and leave it at that.” Ginny said.

Conversation died down for a while as people went back to the paper. After reading through the rest of the article on the trial and sanctions to come, Hermione turned the page to find that the next article was bigger. Harry was standing next to France’s minister and a somewhat portly man the paper said was France’s representative to the ICW. Given the name, Hermione figured he might be Fluer’s father. On it was the bold title announcing that a new nation might be joining the ICW soon. It announced King Harry Potter of Polaris.

Neville spit out his drink, and began coughing loudly trying to clear his airway. “Merlin’s shorts, Harry wasn’t joking!” He said, coughing some more.

Ginny took his paper as he cleaned himself up with his wand and finished clearing his airway. After taking a moment to look, she turned the prophet around, showing everyone the picture. The Harry Potter in the picture smiled and waved to his friends while they processed.

“That’s Fluer’s dad. I recognize him from his visit on the final task.” Hermione said.

Neville nodded after reading the list of people in the picture. “Seems he’s the French representative to the ICW.” Neville said. “Given how friendly they seem to be with him, Polaris and France have had many meetings before the trial. That means Harry’s Kingdom likely has support from at least France, if not more. That’s a major first step.”

“It also explains at least in part why Harry has little interest in fighting Voldemort while our own nation refuses to recognize the threat. He’s got his own nation to take care of. Harry’s placed heavy burdens on his shoulders again.” Hermione said in little more than a whisper.

I wonder if that’s where all the werewolves have been going?” Asks Ginny.

“Probably” Neville said. “If Polaris is friendly to them, and they don’t speak another language, Polaris or the MUSA are the only options.” Neville said.

“It’s not just that, the prophet claims Harry’s royal guard not only included goblins, but a werewolf, a muggleborn, and an elf. They were seen collecting their wands after Sirius’s trial.”

Neville skipped ahead somewhat to what was being pointed out. “He’s given goblins and elves wand rights?” Neville said, startled.

Hermione looked startled. For all that she’d hoped to do, Harry had blown her efforts for house elves out of the water. For a moment she felt left behind, before she snapped back to herself and smiled. She was proud of him.

“Heavy indeed” Neville said in a whisper. No doubt Harry had just made enemies. Russia would effectively brand him a lunatic. Their allies would think likewise. China would probably think along the same lines. He looked up towards the slytherin tables. Many seemed up at arms about that. Draco was ranting loudly about how stupid someone would have to be to allow an elf to hold, let alone use a wand. As he turned back to the group, Hermione met his eyes, but no one else seemed to have heard him.

In an attempt to cut off a possible house elf rant, and bring the topic to something nicer, Seamus spoke up. “I guess that explains his extravagant gifts.”

“What do you mean?” Hermione and Ginny asked almost at once.

“You showed me the trunk he bought you. Just the trunk with no books or furniture probably cost almost 300 pounds. That’s not even considering any books, extra security features, furniture, extra enchantments, and so forth. In total all that probably added at least another 600 pounds or so to the cost, if not more. That’s the bare minimum I can think of, and I’m sure there’s probably more to it.”

Weasley seemed to be getting a bit jealous so Neville decided to head that off. “The gifts to the Weasley family are worth more still. Tickets to the chudley cannons games aren’t that bad, but a VIP ticket to meet the players for a while, is no doubt expensive. That’s just Ron’s gift too. Tickets to the next quidditch world cup with good seats are even more expensive. Ron told me he even got the whole family first class tickets to fly there on a plane, along with a place to stay, and all transportation paid. Add that to Ginny’s new broom, and other gifts, and he no doubt paid thousands of galleons to the Weasley family as a whole.”

While most knew that the Cannons, not being a well performing team, was probably much cheaper to meet than some other teams, no one mentioned that Ron’s specific gift was still less valuable than Hermione’s.

“And that’s ignoring what he got the rest of us, which, while far less valuable, was still a good bit. The book on occlumency I’m not sure on, as I know nothing of book values, but we all got nice gifts as well. We each got treats along with a personal gift. Dean & I will be watching football games together so he can show me what the game is like. Harry paid for tickets for both our families to go to a couple games.”

“That he got all of us those books too is a notable thing. Occlumency is frowned on by the ministry. So unless he got the books internationally, they were probably not nearly as cheap as they would be in places like France.”

That had Hermione confused. “Why would the ministry not like occlumency, it’s nothing but mental defense?”

Neville nodded as he responded. “While that’s true, it’s a gateway into legilimency, which is illegal. They can’t risk making it illegal to defend yourself from it though, as that would give an insane advantage to those who know legilimency. If no one can protect themselves against it, no one will probably even know when that law is being broken. Sadly, this is also an instance in which our government is corrupt. Not outlawing it allows the purebloods to teach it to their children, while many muggleborns and half bloods don’t even know it exists. By disliking occlumency, the ministry makes it harder for those people to learn it, as the books are often not easy to find in bookstores. You need to specifically ask sometimes.” Neville said with a long sigh. He didn’t like the way things were, but he was an honest person, and would be honest now. Better make this clear now.

“It makes us helpless too, at least in part. If we don’t know about occlumency, we can’t be sure when someone is using Legilimency against us.” Hermione said, seemingly having an epiphany.

“Not just that.” Neville said. “Occlumency isn’t just mental defenses. It allows you to learn your way into having an almost perfect memory. This helps greatly with studying. Which is what allowed Harry to get his OWLs and NEWTS, no doubt. Granted even with more advanced occlumency, Harry should have still needed a year or two to learn it all. Doing it as he did takes dedication and smarts.

“I didn’t know that.” Hermione said, indignant that a study aid had been denied her.

“As I said, that’s a somewhat more advanced thing. No book on beginner occlumency would give much information. It’s considered far more important to detect and hopefully protect your mind than it is for increasing memory.”

Hermione opened her mouth, before she saw the time. “Dang, it’s almost time for Transfiiguration. Still, I expect you to at least tell me how one goes about learning it. Surely you must have some idea where to find such books, or a tutor.”

Neville nodded before stuffing a book back in his bag and heading to class.

Chapter Text

12th January 1996

Things had been progressing well for Voyager academy. Filius had found time to hire teachers for the coming school year. With his HoH duties shared with an assistant, it seemed he had more time. Harry had received a letter just this morning from Hermione. It seemed Filius had announced his leaving the school to the students just a couple days ago. Harry had considered telling her that he’d moved to Polaris, but that wasn’t his thing to tell anyone. He hadn’t specified what he was doing or where he was going, so Harry wouldn’t either.

Harry spent a few minutes meeting the teachers, before he met what seemed to be the most interesting of the teachers. Harry gave a standard introduction as he looked the teacher over.

“I am Dani Caballero. It is a great pleasure to meet you.” He said, giving Harry a deep bow. The man was tall, about 6 feet 5 inches (167cm) tall, and slightly slim, but not gaunt or skinny. He was dressed impeccably, as if he was attending a royal gala. A black suit with vibrant green trim. Most notably after that though was that he was a vampire. The pallor and fangs visible when he spoke confirmed it. That was fine, so long as he followed the rules. He looked to be about 19-22 years old, but Harry got the impression he was older by far than that. He spoke in a mix of Spanish and Romanian accents

“It’s lovely to meet you. What are you going to be teaching here?” Harry asked, curious.

“I will be teaching beginner and intermediate potions, and advanced charms.” He said, giving Harry a smile.

“That’s an interesting combination. So you are going to be a full time teacher. May I ask where you are from, and why that combination?” Harry asked, interested.

“I am Spanish, as no doubt my surname made clear. I attended Beauxbatons, but not long after graduating, I was made into a vampire. I had intended to get a mastery in Charms at the time, but I could find no one to teach me who wasn’t already too busy to do so. I found my way to Scholomance, and obtained my masteries there. Scholomance is much more tolerating of vampires, werewolves, and so forth. I taught there for the lt’s 53 years, but decided to leave to make way for a new teacher. I have a mastery in both Charms and Potions.”

“That’s very impressive. More than half of adult wizards never attempt a single mastery, let alone attempt 2.” Harry said, smiling. That was a feat. Even a single mastery required at least 5 years of study. Severus Snape had gotten the record for fastest mastery, but Harry knew that must have been a brutal time, likely causing a ton of health problems. “Why advanced Charms?”

“I love potions, but charms are my greatest passion. My favorites are weather control charms. They are an esoteric bit of magic, and require a lot of power to get good reach, but are fun. I used to be in charge of the weather in Scholomance.”

“I’ve heard about some of those spells, I’ve never attempted them though. I didn’t want to risk messing with the climate.” Harry said.

The discussions and meet & greet petered out as time came to actually start the meeting. Harry took a seat and got ready for the meeting. An elf came into the room, bringing snacks and drinks for everyone. These meetings could sometimes take a while, and Harry always found it worked well if everyone had a chance to eat and drink here, so if they had other things to do afterward, they weren’t hungry or thirsty.

Filius Flitwick brought the meeting to order after taking a sip from his goblet of tea. “Let’s get started. First, has the construction finished on the forest dorm expansion?”

“Yes. We built them before we had a good idea of what they would be used for, after staff housing. Now that we know students in year 6+ may apply for them, we figured it would be best to expand them just to be sure we had plenty of room.” Pops said.

Filius nodded. “Now that we have all the staff hired, We can get to work on fleshing things out. His Highness has given us a bigger budget than normal to help get us started. We’ve got until late august to get ready for the first year at Voyager Academy. That means having your classrooms prepared, and a full syllabus, with homework, tests, and all the standards. Perhaps now would be a good time to discuss policy.”

Harry nodded. “As a lot of this has been discussed beforehand, I’ll give you a summary.

As a few of you are either from Hogwarts, or have attended Hogwarts, we’ll start with houses and points. We’ve ditched the idea of houses as a concept. We have 5 dorms, but you need not be sorted based on personality traits. Each person will choose their dorms. The available Dorms are: Lake Tower, Dungeons. Castle Tower, Garden dorms, and the Forest Cabins. The last of which consists of cabins for student and staff use. 3-4 students can get together and, if they are all at least 15 and have a good record, request a forest cabin together. It’s still a dorm though, and so teachers and councillors can enter them to check on the students. The idea being to help ease them into adulthood by allowing them more privacy, and with it, responsibility.”

“Why would anyone want to sleep in dungeons?” One of the teachers asked.

“Well, while vampires are not hurt by light, I’m told it can be an annoyance for them. It’s also I think our most interesting dorm. It’s connected to the castle in multiple places, and most interesting, a good deal of it is below the lake. We’ve taken advantage of this by using magic, glass, and more. Allowing people in the dungeon dorms to get a view into the lake, seeing the fish and all the other wildlife from their dorm. Perhaps it should just be referred to as the “Lake dorm”. For those who are claustrophobic, I could see them not wanting to risk it. But it’s got as good a view as the towers, in its own way.

Anyway, back to the topic at hand. Each student will get their own small room. It’ll come with a bed, a desk & chair, a wardrobe, and a few shelves. While we have dorms, we avoided houses, and that means no house points system. We found it did little to motivate students, and mostly served to get students angry at those who lost too many points. Not to mention the winners don’t get anything. The only thing they do is decide which head of house’s office gets a trophy for the next year. Once students realized that, points stop becoming a deterrent. Also, because sports, quidditch only really, added to the points, it invalidated academic achievement.

But, we liked the idea of using Points to reward students, and punish them by taking them away. Each student will have their own points. These can be spent at the school’s own shop. This can allow for poorer students who don’t have any spending money to buy things, be they ink pots, quills, snacks, drinks, and so forth. They also allow them to get furniture for their rooms for points. To avoid bias based on money, all additions or expansions of rooms will be points based. With enough points, not only can students buy extra furniture, but they can have teachers do things like add windows, expand the room, or maybe even add a small bathroom. Because these points are personal, they are not lost over the summer. So you can save up for multiple years if you want.

Feel free to give and take points as needed. We’ll have a Voyager Academy handbook out soon. One of my problems with Hogwarts is that we have no real clue what the rules are. Not to mention the teachers were really chaotic in how they gave and took points. With a handbook, the students will know the rules, and the punishments to a reasonable extent. There will be flexibility to give or take more based on the situation.

Councillors, you will serve multiple purposes. Your first duty is to be a help to the students mental health. Your second duty will be to run one of the dorms. Your third duty is to be an advocate for the students of your dorm. You will have an office in the dorm to help you run it. There will be files on all students in your dorms, a copy of which will be in the Headmaster’s office. It will list all points given and taken, as well as all detentions given. It will also record the reason for each. This will help you monitor the students behavior, and give you an indication of any problems they are having. It will also help prevent bias, as if you find any punishments seem to be biased, you will have records to go to the headmaster with. I expect all of you to act in an unbiased manner, but given my time at Hogwarts, I felt we needed some way of verifying it. Any punishments or rewards will be listed there as they happen.

Their file will also contain all their grades in all classes. Like with the punishments or rewards, these files are synced with the files each teacher will have, ensuring accurate grades. This will help you keep up with your students' grades, so that you can take any actions, be it assigning them a study group, help them get a tutor, or any other reasonable steps. This should help you manage and look over all the students in your dorms. I know a lot of Gryfindors in Hogwarts wished they had someone to help them with their mental health. All we got was ‘go get a calming draught from Poppy.’ I’m sure you are all aware that relying on a potion to deal with your stress and emotions is not healthy. That's why I only use them in emergencies.”

“That’s very disturbing. Kids and teenagers are prone to all sorts of issues. Hogwarts has no one there to help with those?” One of the councillors asked.

“Nope.” Sirius added, popping the p. “It’s just Poppy, and she’s a mediwitch, and not trained in mental health. She’s great if you need a curse undone, or break a bone, but otherwise she’s a bit lost. And because the House heads are also full time teachers for all 7 years, they have very little time to help. Especially the Gryffindor HoH, who has no time at all apparently. If you were dealing with mental health issues that weren’t a breakdown of sorts, you got no help at all. And if it was a breakdown, you got a calming draught, and were sent back.”

“That’s worse than I had imagined. Suddenly it makes even more sense why you are hiring a councillor to run every dorm.” Dani commented in his Spanish/Romanian accent.

“Sokka” Harry stated. An elf appeared next to him. “Let me introduce you to the head of the Voyager elves. They’ll be cooking, and most of the cleaning. You are free to call on them.

I also have one more notification before we get further into the meeting. Voyager Academy is funded from the Royal vault, and as a result, is tied to the Potter family. While the Department of Education will have some input, it is not a ministry funded or run school. I doubt it will be a problem, but do remember that the DoE is to monitor the education of the citizens, but that does not give them the authority to run this school. Given how the British Ministry is messing with Hogwarts, I wanted to make that clear. Rest assured that point has also been made elsewhere. There is a trade off though. It also means that rather than the DoE running things, it’s the royal family. I have taken measures to safeguard this against corruption however.”

Chapter Text

15th January 1996

Harry was finishing up getting ready. He wore his favorite black and amethyst suit, and was wearing the informal crown. His hair was in the braided half-up ponytail he favored. His hair was just more manageable if it was longer, and though he wouldn’t say so out loud, he thought that style made him look masculine. He’d considered growing out a mustache or a beard, but wasn’t able to do so yet. Sirius said maybe in another few years, granted that was after he finished laughing.

In just a few minutes the international press conference would start. Press from many countries would be here to ask questions. Polaris’s own first news agency would be here. It was fittingly named ‘The North Star’. People sure did seem to like the naming convention. The news service had officially started a month ago, though it had taken weeks to get it ready.

Harry wanted to avoid the government leaning on the media, but he also wanted to avoid Skeeter-esque lies and corruption in the paper itself. To avoid that they’d had to draft many laws on how to deal with the media. This had been a part of the pre-France meeting rush of laws. They’d even added a second tier of media licensing that required reporters, editors, and so forth to take oaths to do their best to research things, and not report false information knowingly. It was a work in progress. While that might be somewhat restrictive, not all media had to comply. It was a voluntary thing. Those who employed only those who’d taken that oath were more trusted. That said, it was inevitable that false information would get printed. They’d needed established rules on that. Such as how to deal with those situations.

That said Harry was an advocate for Freedom of the Press. They were allowed to print what they would, so long as they did their best to get accurate information first. If that meant Harry fucked up, he’d get called on it. That’s how things should be in his mind. He’d already had a couple minor issues. Fortunately they’d mostly been taken as honest mistakes and growing pains of a young nation. Still, Harry now knew truly why Fudge seemed so anxious about the media.

Harry stepped out onto the dias and in front of the podium after being called for. Harry had mostly gotten over seeing reporters, and stage fright, but that small sea of reporters and flashing cameras was still not easy. Harry searched the group, and smiled a bit wider once his eyes met Xeno Lovegoods. He was fond of Luna and her dad’s paper, and had happily extended them an invitation. “It’s lovely to meet you all here today. While I am sure many would make a speech, this is more about answering your questions than my posturing.” Harry said with a small chuckle. God Fudge’s speeches could be frustrating when reading the Prophet back in Britain. He’d always just skimmed through the pompous bits when reading. “So why don’t we just start with the questions.” Harry had help keeping order, and with that help, he’d start picking a journalist to ask their question.

“When was Polaris founded?”

“That depends. The construction work really started in early august, but this was planned for a couple weeks before that. In truth I’d say the seeds were planted in the weeks after I got out of Hogwarts.”

The next reporter seemed to be a bit annoyed at the “easy question” based on what he was muttering. As it was, Harry didn’t hear this, but could tell he was annoyed. Harry picked them next.

“Why have you allowed Goblins and Elves wand rights? The Wand Ban explicitly outlaws allowing them wands. Why have you violated the law?” Another reporter asked.

Harry smiled, though it wasn’t as toothy as he would have preferred. He didn’t want to intimidate people though, as much as part of him was tempted. Still, he’d wanted this question asked. The ICW would be bringing up this issue soon, and if Harry’s response to it was out in the world now, people would have a while to think on it.

“I assume you are talking about the 1663 wizard council’s wand ban?” Harry asked. Once he got confirmation, he continued. “The answer is reasonably simple. The first and most important reason is because I want Polaris to be a bastion of kindness, understanding, and fairness. While many put stock in a council that’s meeting over 330 years ago, I don’t. The council was entirely made up of wizards from Britain. It wasn’t exactly a fair council either. Neither the goblins, elves, or anyone sympathetic to them was allowed to vote in the council. Nor was the council representative of europe as a whole. Historically, the council was the governing body of Britain before the Ministry.

While I can accept, however much I may disagree with the result, that your wizards rule your country. That’s how it should be after all. But a centuries-old council from another country has no sway over other countries. The fact that many countries in Europe accepted the decision has no bearing on us.

This council also made this ruling decades before the ICW came to be. In this way the decision of that council has no bearing on the ICW unless they so choose to accept it. But even then, the ICW does not set the policies of other countries and how they deal with magical species.

Goblins, elves, centaurs, and so forth are all intelligent species. While they may not be human, they think, feel, hurt, and love in much the same way as we do. They are people. They have a right to be respected as such. We will always have our differences, yes, but they are still people in their own way. If I have a right to use a tool, and the only reason they don’t is because of law, then I need to question if that law is valid.”

“But they have their own magic. If they can have their own things, surely we can too.” The reporter responded.

“And as we have shared our knowledge, so have they. Many of us have been allowed to learn the goblin tongue. Some of us have been allowed to start learning goblin runes, and other things as well. Divided, we are all limiting our potential, divided we are weaker. Together we can make ourselves not only stronger, but better. I believe in weakening those barriers, until we are all equal, and are all stronger than we were apart.”

“What does Polaris need the most?” Another reporter asked, almost shouting over the reactions to Harry’s response.

“While it may seem odd, what we need most is citizens. We have a population of about 1,300. While that’s a big number, it’s very small as nations go. Most of those people have little to no training in professions we need. We can provide some training, but that takes time. We need lawyers, judges, diplomats, and a hundred other things. We’ve got a lot of jobs to fill, and too few people to fill them. But, that’s part of why we have grown as fast as we have. People like werewolves and those born to mundane people can’t get good jobs elsewhere, but here they can get the type of jobs they have trained for.”

“Do you still claim that Voldemort is back?” One of the reporters asked. Given they didn’t hesitate to say the name, Harry figured they probably weren’t british.

“Yes. I’ve sent my memories to many governments, and even the ICW. They’ve been tested many times, and confirmed as not being tampered with. Along with those memories, Voldemort listed multiple names of his death eaters, but nothing has been done so far.”

“But you stopped You-Know-Who last time. This is your duty.” Another reporter loudly claimed.

“I did not stop Voldemort as a baby. From what I remember, only remembered through dementors, is that He killed my mother after asking him multiple times to kill her instead. He turned his wand to me, and there was a flash of green light. I was incapable of doing anything to protect myself. Even Voldemort stated what my parents used was ‘ancient magic’ and that he ‘should have anticipated it.’ The duty of stopping Voldemort does not lie on me, but on Dumbledore and the Ministry. Foisting off all your expectations onto a teenager is not acceptable. Besides, I have responsibilities now. My duties are to Polaris, not a foreign nation.”

That got a reaction from the British reporter, well, aside from Xeno, who was nodding as if that was common sense. Largely because it was.

“Why did you get a mediwizard license?” One of the reporters asked.

“A Monarch should know the basics of healing in case they get injured without healers nearby. Not to mention I doubt Voldemort will be content to just leave me be forever, so knowing the basics is a reasonable precaution.”

“How did you get your OWLs and NEWTs early?” The reporter asked.

“I have been learning occlumency for a while now. Once you get far enough, you can learn your way to a nearly perfect memory. Once I got there, memorizing all the books became easy, and all I needed was practice. Once that Tri-Wizard Tournament debacle happened, I had all the motivation and justification in the world to practice.

That said, I want to call out just how bad that fiasco was. Imagine if someone had submitted Fudge’s name into the tournament? I doubt he would have been able to do it. It was effectively an assassination attempt, but no one really considered that. I should also mention that when Ron, Hermione, Gabriele, and Cho were put in the lake, neither the school nor the ministry asked them nor their parents for permission first. It was effectively kidnapping. I can confirm Neither Ron nor Hermione’s parents were asked, and Monsieur Delacour was quite furious about it, so we can also confirm Gabrielle was taken without permission. The only person yet to be confirmed is Cho. Still, that's 3 confirmed kidnappings that have yet to be addressed.”

The press conference lasted a while longer. By the end Harry was exhausted, and south to take a short nap to recover. Dealing with so many reporters was tiring.

Chapter Text

20th January 1996

The Order of the Phoenix was gathered around the dining room table in Grimmauld Place. Dumbledore was not happy at all. He was seated at one end of the table. He’d normally be seated at the head of the table, but as Sirius was here, and this was his house, he was. He’d chosen the chair Dumbledore usually sat in on purpose of course. He had the best view of everyone at the table. Though it was annoying, that was by far the least concern Dumbledore had.

“What are we going to do to get Harry back? He needs to defeat Voldemort. The prophecy makes that clear.” Molly said, frustrated that Harry would abandon them.

“Molly.” Bill said, still not happy about her actions not only with Fred and George, but Harry as well. “The prophecy is self fulfilling at best. The only thing we can be sure that applies to Harry is the ‘marked him as his equal’ bit. Even that’s a bit dubious. The prophecy doesn’t state what calendar is being used, so “the 7th month’ might not even be July that it’s referencing. Not to mention how many Prophecies don’t come true.”

“Bill… Please.” Arthur said.

“It’s still his duty to fight.” Molly said.

“The idea that you think a teenager has a duty to fight is ridiculous. Especially since you wouldn’t even consider letting them into the order earlier. Which is it? Is he a child too young to fight, or a duty bound warrior? He can’t be both!” Bill said.

“If he was a warrior, we’d have been training him before now. The fact is, a teenager has no place on a battlefield.” Moody added in his usual gruff voice.

Dumbledore seemed taken aback. Moody had always been his friend. Why was he going against him now?

“Honestly, what is this group even for? We’re doing little but keep track of him. I get he’s hiding for now, but surely we could be doing a bit more? Like looking for his insurance policies? Sure we can’t fight yet, but we can try and track down those so that once the fighting starts, he’s killable.” Sirius said, smiling.

“What are you talking about mutt? Like you could help anyway.”

Dumbledore looked alarmed. “Now isn’t the time to discuss things like this. There is little you could do about that anyway. It isn’t relevant to this meet-”. Dumbledore said, concerned.

Sirius answered, but didn’t respond to the barb. “Dumbledore’s been hiding things from us again. And this is exactly the time. We can hardly do much else, protecting the prophecy is about all we are doing anyway. Surely Tom’s learned by now he would have to come get it himself.”

“Or lure Harry to it?” Dumbledore added, again trying to silence Sirius with a look.

“How? The connection between Harry and Tom’s was cut months ago. It’s gone, and his connection with it. Not to mention why would Harry check out a prophecy he already knows and isn’t remotely interested in?”

“How does he know?” Dumbledore asked urgently, confused. How could Harry possibly know the prophecy exists, let alone what it said? He hadn’t been to the Ministry to see it. That would have been recorded in the records, not to mention people would have taked if he showed up at the DoM.

“If the Department of Mysteries can magically record prophecies without being there, surely it’s not surprising they are not alone in that. It just stands to reason it might be possible for others to do the same. Harry went to one of those alternate sources. Do you want me to recite the entire thing to prove it?”

“That’s not necessary.” Dumbledore said urgently. There were other sources? Sirius wasn’t wrong, but he’d never even considered it. That caused many problems. Voldemort could go to one of these other sources. “Where did he find it?”

Sirius gave a large smile. “I can’t say, contracts, oaths, and all. More importantly, when are we going to start looking for the horcruxes? Surely we can’t just let Tom’s split off soul pieces keep laying about, stopping us from permanently killing him?” Sirius said, smiling as he talked over Dumbledore’s attempt to stop him.

“Horcruxes?” Tonks asked, concerned. She’d heard that word before in the Black Library, but didn’t know what it meant.

“Little bits of Tom Marvolo Riddle, AKA Voldemort’s soul that he's cut off and hidden in things. But you needn’t worry about them too much. Me and some others have hunted all but 1 of them down, at Harry's request and as his hand.” Sirius said, using a very specific wording. Sirius smiled as Dumbledore suddenly understood.

“Why? HOW?” Dumbledore asked, concerned and confused. They’d not come to him with concerns, they had not shared their knowledge, and not sought him out for help or guidance.

“The why is easy. This group is supposed to be about stopping him, and part of that is making him killable. It wasn’t that hard. Once we learned his real name is Tom Marvolo Riddle, we backtracked locations. Eventually we figured he must have gotten parseltongue somewhere, and checked the Gaunts, and from there found his parents. From there we tracked old records for the name Tom Marvolo Riddle. Muggle technology is really a wonder. After a good amount of work we found that he lived in Wools Orphanage. While Harry and us have been busy with Polaris, we’ve been active, granted Harry himself was mostly helping in less direct ways. Not to mention, we removed and destroyed that one.” Sirius said, adding a small emphasis to ensure Dumbledore got the message if he hadn’t accepted yet that Harry’s was gone.

Sirius was smug that they’d gotten them all, except 1, before Dumbledore found a single one. Filius Flitwick had even found Ravenclaw’s Diadem just 2 days ago. The elves suggested he look in the room of hidden things, a part of the ‘come and go’ room. It had taken a few weeks to find it there. Filius had brought it to Harry and then Gringotts to have the horcrux removed and destroyed.

None of that had involved tracking Tom’s history down, but it was a plausible lie. Few people should know that name, that Sirius did made the story more plausible. Not to mention Harry’s horcrux wasn’t destroyed yet. They were using it to track the one he kept with him. It gave them a good idea of his movements. It was too valuable to destroy until they killed what they now suspected was the snake.

4th February 1996

The last few weeks had been stressful, but good for Polaris. With the news out there in multiple countries, Polaris had grown from 1.3k to 1.45k. A total of 152 people had immigrated to Polaris. 27 of the immigrants had come from Asia, and the runic translation necklace was proving to be a valuable resource. It allowed immigrants to understand and learn English, which was the primary language of Polaris. While that was the primary language, one of the results of being a nation made of immigrants was that their whole nation certainly made their culture interesting. A good portion followed the old celtic holidays, but because of the huge mundane-born population, they also had somewhat christian celebrations. Few of them were christian, but some of the holidays were popular, like christmas. One of the muggleborns had created a christian church, but it wasn’t doing very well. Given how magic-averse the religion was, no one was surprised. Still, Harry had codified religious freedom into the law, with some minor restrictions.

Harry’s palace was doing nicely, though part of Harry still didn’t like the idea. He was a pretty humble person. Still, the shell of it was now done. The structure stood tall, and loomed in the background when nearby. Harry had taken a couple walk throughs, and without any furniture, decorations, and so forth, it felt almost creepy. Now that the structure was finished, they’d moved on to getting it liveable. Part of Harry’s visits were to help with the warding.

Ragnuk the 5th had some of the goblin’s best warders doing a lot of it. The ward room had been the first room to get totally finished. While the main ward room was the heart of the palace, there were a number of smaller ward rooms that served many purposes, from augmenting and strengthening the wards, to helping cover a larger area, and more.

The builders had volunteered to have their memories of the rooms and their location erased. Harry hadn’t wanted to, but they pointed out they couldn’t risk such a security breach with Voldemort on the loose. Harry knew they were right, so after the room and its way in were totally finished, he did as they asked. Combining obliviate with legilimency was a powerful combo, especially when the people invited him into their minds, with no defenses. It allowed pinpoint accuracy when removing memories.

A lot of Harry’s free time had been eaten by the wards. He was strengthening them with parseltongue based wards and defenses. Harry was grateful he’d learned a lot of that in the 5 years he spent in the time chamber. He got that Voldemort had little to no interest in a type of magic that was almost entirely defense and healing based, but still, it seemed odd to Harry that he didn’t use it much if at all. It was part of his heritage, wasn’t it? Harry was so glad it turned out the Horcrux wasn’t why he could speak it, though he still didn’t know how. But the Horcrux in his scar was long gone, and Harry still used the language often.

Harry was currently exhausted though. Part of tying the wards to him and his line was establishing blood wards, and that required a good deal of his own blood. Healing it was easy enough, but he was on blood replenishing potions, and was told he wasn’t allowed to work for a few days. As it was, Harry was mostly observing the warding process and giving input, while sitting. Gorsha was in the room, ensuring he didn’t get up. He was only allowed to sit or lay down for the next couple hours.

That said, it was fascinating to watch. They were now incorporating the Basilisk Harry had slain into the wards. It was one of the things Harry had been grateful for. At least his younger self wasn’t so stupid to not think of how much something like that would be worth. Given at the time all he knew he had was a trust vault, and nothing else. He’d been raised dirt poor despite the Dursley’s having money. He’d managed to contact Gringotts and sneak into the chamber with a few goblins to help break it down. It turns out the anti-apparition wards didn’t cover the chamber far below ground. Once they were there, they’d been able to come back later as needed. He was sure Dumbledore would not be happy about that.

It had been an ordeal too. They had to sneak past all the pictures, ghosts, students, and staff. If a single picture had seen the goblins, things could have gone badly. He hadn’t planned to do it at first. But then it occurred to him that if Dumbledore had to search for the troll, Hogwarts clearly had no wards that tracked everything in the castle. Otherwise he and the teachers would have gone directly to it. Also they would have known where Sirius was every time he was in the school.

Harry had to admit though that incorporating basilisk hide, bones, and fangs into the wards seemed to drastically bolster their defensive capabilities. They were almost finished too. The basilisk incorporation was the last step. Apparently if anyone who wasn’t him or a rightful descendant who had taken the crown vault’s tests touched the key wardstone, or any of the smaller wardstones hidden around the palace, they’d be injected with basilisk venom. The wardstones were made from goblin silver after all, and they took in all properties that would aid them, but nothing else.

It was clearly delicate work, none of the goblins seemed to dare touch the stones with even a gloved hand. The blood wards and protections had to be established first so Harry wouldn’t kill himself by touching the wardstones. Harry had asked why they were referred to as ‘stones’ when they were made of goblin silver. He was told that in the past they were made from gemstones that conducted magic well. That goblin silver was so expensive, especially to non-goblins, that using them for a ward was too expensive to even consider. Which was a shame, as it seemed to conduct magic better than all but the most expensive stones, some of which were part of Harry’s wardstones also. Harry was very sure he wouldn’t come close to being able to afford all this, were it not for the royal vault growing a good deal because his invention had hit the international market weeks ago. That’s not to mention his friendship with their king, which Harry was sure was the biggest factor.

It seemed multiple people were trying to replicate the translators, but as they were only being produced in Polaris, they had yet to get even a small success. Even if they did, Harry had patented the translators months ago. Sirius had been very proud of him when they hit the international market. Apparently Harry’s ancestors had gained a lot of money for the family with inventions, including skele-gro and sleekeazy's hair potion. Sirius said that it had been an attempt to tame the potter hair. Sirius told him that James would be proud that he'd followed the potter tradition of inventing things.

After a few hours, they were done building up the ward system, though most of the wards wouldn't be activated until the palace was complete. They couldn’t very well turn them all up, and risk the wards hurting the construction workers. Adding every construction worker, human, goblin, or elf, to the ward list would be a tedious task, not to mention construction of the building could be interpreted badly by the wards if not done right. Best just bring the wards up after it is finished.

Chapter Text

28th February 1996

Harry was sitting in his office in the central government building. He rested his head on the back of his chair. The Mexican ambassador had just left to head home. He’d been having meetings with Mexica to discuss relations. Fortunately this ambassador spoke Spanish, as Harry was not yet fluent in Nahautl. He was learning as best he could though.

Harry imagines how he would have reacted to all this as a child. While non magical people only saw the ‘Aztec Empire’ as a historical thing, in the magical world they were still around. The Spanish conquistadors were almost entirely made up of muggles. While they had dealt a great blow to the mexica people, the magical members of that society were mostly alive. They used magic to hide the population.

Hence the split. For non magicals there was only Mexico, but in the magical world, Mexica was still alive. And the borders differed drastically between Mexica and Mexico. While Mexico lost a lot of land to the USA, those wars had not happened in the magical world. While true there were fights, Mexica had won. That meant in the magical world, Mexica had all of California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, and almost all of Texas.

Harry was thankful for the primer he had been given. He had had no idea that the ‘Aztec’ people had always referred to themselves as Mexica. Aztec was a label applied by non magical people historically. This information had stopped him from accidentally calling them the wrong thing, which would have been embarrassing.

Harry imagined it must be hard for muggleborns when they joined the magical world. Frequently they were proud Americans who suddenly discovered that in the magical world, they were part of Mexica. Apparently there was a tiny rebellion of magicals who had been born to non magicals who wanted those areas to belong to the MUSA. It never went anywhere though. The group was considered mostly a joke.

Part of having learned a good number of languages already was that Nahautl was going along at a solid pace. He’d learned all the important basics. Proper introductions, important sentences, ext. That said, he was told he spoke in a perhaps overly formal way. Granted as a king, and focusing on learning formal language first for the ambassadors, that was a given.

Their historical religion had changed over the centuries, and was now much more mild. Apparently it was popular among some groups to request to have their dead bodies sacrificed in the old ceremonial ways. But living sacrifices had long since been deemed immoral. You had to ask for your body to be ‘sacrificed’ before death. Just as the celtic rituals were still popular in the magical community today, to some extent, the old religious rituals there were still popular. But now they sacrificed a portion of their magic instead. That said, blood was still important in the religion, and it was common to bleed a little on certain holidays. A mostly harmless holdover from the much more violent historical sacrifices. It was fascinating how the religion had evolved over time.

10th March 1996

Harry had been invited to Mexica to celebrate the Xipe Totec festival. It would last 20 days, not that Harry would be here for all of them. The midpoint would be the spring equinox, on the 20th. It seemed that a lot of people weren’t particularly religious. For now it was a fairly standard festival. There were food stands everywhere, along with stands selling other things. One of the stands near him was selling beautiful blood red cloaks. Harry needn’t be told what those represent.

Wearing the flayed skin of an enemy warrior until it rotted off was not something any modern people were remotely interested in. To keep the significance of the old religion, but to function as modern people, people wore blood-red cloaks instead. Harry was all too happy to use a cloak. He’d not intended to don anything ceremonial. He was not at all from this region, and didn’t want to appropriate or show disrespect, but his guide had done his best to disavow him of the notion that enjoying himself would be disrespectful. If their nations were to be friends, they should feel welcome to enjoy each other’s festivities.

A large cleared arena showed a pair of people fighting each other using macuahuitl that his guide told him had been magically dulled, and shields. They wouldn’t have more than little cuts and bruises. Eventually, after being jokingly prodded to by the ambassador who was his guide, and some of his entourage, Harry gave in and made an attempt.

He’d learned some goblin combat. He was good with a sword, daggers, axes, and hammers, granted he wasn’t amazing. Just “acceptable" by goblin customs. Which he was told was impressive ‘for a human’. As Harry had never fought with a macuahuitl, which was a wooden flat club embedded with obsidian blades, he lost.

Harry emerged covered in small cuts and bruises, with small streams of blood from the blunted obsidian. He was then led to a ceremonial bathing area. It was customary to bath before healing. The water fed into a stream that led to the wizarding city’s temple nearby. It was customary to bleed into the bathing water to clean himself. Doing otherwise would take away the sacrifice. From his somewhat public bath, Harry could see Lodlang and Grimhook buying some Macuahuitl. From Grimhook’s look, Harry knew he’d be learning to fight with one. Grimhook was of the opinion that if he ever participated in this again, he must do well. Harry knew there would be bloody practice sessions in his future as soon as he saw the two of them.

Harry would be concerned about his blood being taken, but there were other participants in the bath as well. Separating the small amount of blood from all the other blood from the others would be effectively impossible. Harry enjoyed the bath for a short while, before he got out. Only then was he allowed to heal himself. Unfortunately, or fortunately, he wasn’t sure which, but he had used parseltongue spells to heal himself, and those around him after asking permission.

Given the public nature of the setting, he immediately cringed a bit as soon as he realized his mistake. For a moment he’d expected the insults he’d have gotten in Britain. There was a momentary silence before people whispered and then smiled. One of them was surprised that Harry could use ‘the language of Quetzalcoatl’.

“You didn’t tell me you could speak the serpent tongue.” His guide and an ambassador from Mexica said, surprised.

“My apologies, I thought it was well known. In Britain there was a very bad reaction. I suppose I thought that it was well known.”

The ambassador sighed for a moment. “That's understandable. But we need to discuss this in private.” He said, leading Harry and his entourage towards a government building. He was ushered into a meeting with several Mexica officials, including their leader.

“Britain and to a lesser degree, Europe have had to deal with evil people speaking it. But, a lot of the world sees the language as holy. In Asia it’s known as the Dragon Tongue, and it’s looked favorably upon in india, china, japan, and others. There, dragons are looked upon as divine beings. Here, with Quetzalcoatl as an ancestral deity, it’s also looked upon by many as being a somewhat divine language. This is especially true to those who are religious.” The ambassador said, continuing their conversation now that they were in a more private area.

“That you not only have this ability, but used it to heal, and heal others along with yourself, has even more significance in our culture. Before we discuss this, we need to know. How do you have this ability?”

After a few seconds, Harry responded. “I don’t know.” Harry sighed. “I used to think it was due to having Tom's horcrux attached to me. But the goblins made it very clear that if that was the cause, I would have lost the ability to speak the language when they removed the horcrux. They’ve tried tracing back my mom’s lineage, but so far have found nothing.”

“That also has cultural significance to us. Thanks to our ancestors hiding the surviving parts of the Mexica people, the ancient culture survived here. Yes it has changed significantly over the centuries, but those aspects that are harmless have changed less. Quetzalcoatl is as ubiquitous here as Hermies/Mercury are in the muggle world. There are businesses with references to the deity, and more still. By showing that you have the language, and used it to heal, it has changed things here.”

“How so.” Harry asked, growing concerned.

“Harry, Quetzalcoatl was a deity of many things, among them being merchants, arts, crafts, knowledge, learning, and the priesthood. That last bit is the more immediately important part. By not only speaking it, but doing so to heal yourself and others, the more religious members of society will consider you an honorary priest. They kow you know little of the religion. The vast majority will understand that you are no priest. But you’ll be treated in part as one. Even the Emperor is careful to speak it. Princes/princesses who speak it are much more likely to become the monarch of sorts. While yes the emperor doesn’t control peoples everyday lives, he has vast cultural importance.

If you look at how you have been a ruler, you are somewhat alike. You don’t have absolute control either. The more religious people here will effectively think you have demonstrated the ‘divine right to rule’ as it would be called in europe. They will learn you are a king of your people and think “It makes sense that they would choose someone who has the blessing of Quetzalcoatl.’”

Harry looked somewhat overwhelmed. He took a moment to take some slow breathes and calm himself somewhat. “What does this mean for the relationship of our nations?”

What was clearly the emperor, a man wearing ceremonial clothing with friendly eyes spoke next. “After our ambassadors first met with you 2 months ago, there has been growing friendship. I had hoped to meet you later and not after something that has startled you. Overall, I think it was a foregone conclusion that unless there was a major problem, there would be friendship between our nations. This has merely cemented that. You should learn more about the religion so you don’t accidently do something that would make you look bad. I’m sure you already were thinking along those lines anyway. That says, are people will likely expect and hope for your participation in our festivals, when possible. You are the ruler of another land. It also means I can offer to allow you to learn some of our ancestral magic. I would never allow that to someone else. That said, I would appreciate it if we could share some knowledge there. I am sure europe has types of magic we don’t."

From there, the conversation started to smooth, and negotiations began. Harry was all too happy to share magical knowledge. After all, the same had happened between Polaris and the goblin nation. After that, with both Harry and their emporer at the same meeting, things steadily moved onto discussions about their nations, negotiations, and so forth. Harry would arrive at his temporary home exhausted from hours of talk and negotiations.

Chapter Text

11th March 1996

Harry and Sirius had been invited to have ‘tea’ with the Emperor, or at least that’s what it would be called in England. Grimhook and Dobby had come along as Harry’s bodyguard. After Harry and Sirius entered the room, Griphook looked over the room, before backing out. Dobby meanwhile took a seat in a small sitting room with a good view of Harry. Dobby had originally been Harry’s personal servant, but when the Royal Guard fully formed, and he learned elves were welcome, he decided he liked protecting Harry more.

The emperor called a servant, who brought in some sandwiches, some other simple finger foods, and a big pitcher of something Harry's didn't recognize. It smelled lovely though.

“This is a modern take on a centuries old drink favored by the Mexica and mayan people. Xocolotl. I’ve had my servants get in touch with yours, and they say you don’t tend to enjoy overly sweet things. They said you were fond of somewhat sour desserts though. So I’ve had my cooks good up a treat you might like.” He said, gesturing Harry towards the drink his servant had just sat out for him, leaving the rest of the xocolotl on a heating pad.

Harry took a sip, and found he liked it. It was like a dark hot chocolate. Mildly sweet, but spicey. A little bitter as well from the dark chocolate. Harry found he liked it. It filled him up with warmth, and he knew he’d love it especially in winter. That said, it was just toeing the line of being a bit too hot. That seemed intentional though. With the milk it wasn’t too hot, but there was a very pleasant level of heat.

From there, conversation flowed on Harry asked for the recipe, a servant came by to deliver it. They talked about their lives, their families, hobbies and passions. It turned out the Emperor was very into potions, and was trying to learn some basic healing, just so he could have some emergency awareness. Harry taught him some of the parseltongue healing spells he knew. After a while of that, he asked Harry if he had any desires magic wise. Harry expressed he wished to learn to become an animagus.

Harry had to explain the details of that. He’d explained the details of how it worked. But said as a king, he needed to talk a good deal. He wasn’t sure how well he could keep a mandrake leaf in his mouth for an entire month. Let alone that Death’s Head Hawk Moths were not native to Polaris. It would take a while to get a caterpillar for them all the way to Polaris, not to mention the mandrake bit.

“Given you’ve shared a good bit of magical knowledge with us already, I’m especially thankful for some of the serpent tongue spells from Egypt you’ve supplied, I will share something magical with you. Have you ever heard of a nagual?” The emperor asked.

“No, I haven’t. What is it?” Harry asked.

“A Nagual is a person that can link their everyday self to their deeper, more limitless self. The concept of tonal in our mythology suggests that everyone is bound to a type of animal at birth. So nagualism is the connection between a person, their animal, and therein their deeper self. Mythology also talks of it giving great insight into the unseen forces of the world. Nagualism was said to help channel that energy. Of course as Wizards, we are aware that this energy is magic.

From the sounds of it, the Animagus ritual is like a lesser version. Death’s Head Moths clearly represent Death. Mandrakes are restorative, but also a connection to nature. Dew from a plant never stepped on by humans likely represents wilderness. Making an educated guess, the ritual is fairly simple. You keep the mandrake leaf in your mouth and say the words to help build a bridge to the wilderness. So after you have built a bridge to the wilderness, you imbibe the potion and ‘die’, before being ‘reborn’ with a much stronger connection to the wilderness, and your tonal. In this way, it’s like a baby version of the Nagual ritual.

The bridge between the animal and the human keep them distinctly separate. In so doing, while you allow a connection between the wilderness and the human, you allow no crossover. The nagual ritual builds no bridge. It acknowledges that the animal and the human are effectively one and the same.”

What does that mean for the person who has become a nagual?” Sirius asked, curious.

“Well, instead of 2 forms, human and animal that are divided, the Nagual has 3. Human, Animal, and hybrid. The nagual also maintains some aspects of the animal even in their human form. For example, some degree of enhanced senses. My ritualist, who advises me on these matters, has a very strong sense of smell even in human form, and has better hearing than normal. It’s not as strong as in his wolf-like form, but still very useful.”

“What would happen if the person was a werewolf?” Sirius asked, thinking of Remus.

“Well, being so tied to wolves is bound to give them a mostly canine form. The curse carries with it a strong wolf aspect.”

“Aspect?” Harry asked, interested.

“While the historical belief was that people were born with an association with a type of animal, research has shown that while this is true to some degree, people can be connected to multiple aspects. My ritualist is a werewolf, but he also speaks the serpent tongue. That ability ties him to serpents. So in his animal form, parts of his body have scales. He has snake-like fangs as well, that fold back in his mouth. He even has venom.”

“How does that work, animagi can only become non magical animals.” SIrius asked.

“The Nagual ritual is tied to magic. In a way it uses magic to bring your animal self and human self together. It’s a magic focused ritual. While to my knowledge it’ll never turn you into a magical animal, it’s possible to come out with some magical properties. Mostly people only have 1 aspect strong enough to affect their transformation though. So expect a fairly normal form.

“How does it interact with lycanthropy during the full moon?” Harry asked, curious.

“Have you ever seen a werewolf during the full moon look at you with murder in its eyes? If so, imagine if it had scales, snake fangs with venom, and then hisses at you. It’s terrifying. That’s not to mention the guy’s serpent aspect included a rattlesnake tail. So I would not recommend any werewolves become Nagual if you don’t trust them to be locked up. Or if they’re rabies free.”

“How common is having more than a single animal be included?” Harry asked.

“Maybe 25% of the time?” He said, thinking it over. “Each person could probably make an educated guess.”

Oh? Can you give us an example?” Sirius asked.

“Well, let’s take Harry as an example. He’s able to speak the serpent tongue. So that shows he has some serpent aspect. He encountered, killed, and was bitten by a basilisk. each of those things has had an effect on him mentally, as well as left marks on him in a magical sense. It’s likely that will have strengthened the serpent aspect. From discussing his hobbies and past, we also know he is a natural in the air, taking little to no time to learn broom flying. That implies an avian aspect. His life was saved from the basilisk venom by a phoenix. That strengthens the avian aspect.

As a result, we can make an educated guess that his animal form will be serpentine at the least. Adding in his avian aspect, and it’s possible he will have feathers. Basilisks have powerful neurotoxic venom, so it’s likely that Harry’s serpent and hybrid forms will have neurotoxic venom. We can exclude the very idea he’ll have basilisk venom, or their deadly stare. He’ll likely be a mamba, cobra, or something else with similar venom. That said, it could be any type of snake, as we are not dealing with normal species and typical logic, but magic. If the avian aspect is strong enough, he might have wings.”

“How likely is that? It seems a bit… much.” Harry said.

“I have no idea. I’ve just made some educated guesses. I don’t know your mind, or who you are deep down as a person. There are a hundred small things that could change it that I have no way of even guessing at. Not to mention that the basilisk may not have affected you as much as my guess.” The emperor said.

“What do you need to do to perform this ritual?” Harry asked, interested. Worst case, it could give him an advantage against Tom.

“You need a few things. First: You need advanced occlumency skills. During the ritual, you need to mentally open yourself up to the wilderness. You need to suppress complex thoughts until the ritual is over. You don’t have to not think at all, but keep them simple thoughts. The ritual is done deep in the wilderness, so ideally you keep your thoughts and mind on the wilderness itself.

Second: You need good pain tolerance. The first transformation hurts a lot, but is fast. But if you can’t bear it and fall unconscious, your animal self might panic. While you will still be able to think mostly as a human in animal and hybrid form, if you are unconscious for a long while due to pain, when the animal mind merges with you, it may panic and think it’s in danger. In the past, ritualists guiding those becoming naguals have been killed by a panicking beast thinking it needs to defend itself. This isn’t a great concern. There will be guards able to stun those undergoing the ritual, should it get to that point.

Third: You need a cool head. The merging can be overwhelming, especially mentally. If you panic, things can get chaotic. You’ll be stuck in animal form for about an hour, and you don’t want to be running lost in the deep wilderness with no focus, no idea where you are, and no clue how to change back. That’s not mentioning what I said before, about the chance you could attack someone in your panic. We suggest bringing an animal you are fond of. If you were to become a nagual, I would suggest having Sirius there. Sirius is your godfather, and you are obviously close. Perhaps he should be nearby, so that you have someone close by that you recognize. We find having someone you care about helps keep you calm. You’ll need to ride out the first hour, preferably in a reasonably calm manner. If you go play with a pet or friend, it’ll help keep you grounded.”

“How does changing forms work?” Harry asked, considering this.

“That’s fairly easy. You just need to know that there is a time for one, over the others, to shift. You are still you after all.”

“Can an animagus do the ritual?” Sirius asked.

“I don’t know. You’ll need to talk to my ritualist about it. But if I had to make a guess… Probably not. You’ve already connected your human and animal selves, but created a division in doing so. You’ll probably need a modified version to help remove that division, and finish what the european ritual started.”

“How do you know if you have the pain tolerance?” Harry asked.

“Well, traditionally you wear the bullet ant glove for 10 minutes, and if you don’t get very lightheaded, and pass out, you should be fine. We can use magic to heal it afterwards. Assuming you are willing to submit memories of your encounter with the basilisk bite, we can verify it, and that should show you have the pain tolerance needed.” The Emperor said.

“The ant glove?” Sirius asked.

“It’s a classive central and south american tradition in some native tribes. The weave bullet ants into woven gloves, stingers facing in. When you put them over your hands, the ants sting. Bullet ant stings are currently the most painful animal sting.” He said. Sirius gulped in response.

From there, the conversation flowed to other things, but Harry had decided to give it a go. It was easy for him to choose. Come the spring equinox, on the 20th, he’d make an attempt as well. This could be a great asset. At the very least, the option to have venom to use in a fight would be something that could save his life.

Chapter Text

13th March 1996

Harry had decided to go through with the bullet ant glove. He wanted to be doubly sure nothing went wrong, and that meant taking precautions. While he’d been under cruciatus before, that didn’t count as that spell kept you conscious. Grimhook seemed oddly accepting of this, before Harry remembered that proving yourself was a big cultural element for goblins. Many young goblins tested their abilities. He probably saw this as something similar. Not to mention if he couldn’t take pain in a non combat situation, surely he couldn’t in a combat situation.

The ant glove was something else. They’d fed hundreds of bullet ants a sedative, and then made woven dried fiber gloves, weaving the KO’d ants into the gloves stinger facing in. In the end, they created a pair of ‘gloves’, which in Harry’s mind didn’t count as gloves unless you defined a glove as something that ‘covered the hands’ but without protecting them, warming them, or anything else.

In the end, they were more like decorative woven grass/fiber paddles with bullet ants woven in facing stinger inwards, in which you could stick your hands into the middle ‘pouch’ of them. There was a line of people to be tested. It seemed to be a badge of honor to do it. Granted there were 5 times more people watching than taking. The line of those taking it had 35 people, including 5 goblins. There seemed to be at least a couple hundred people watching.

Harry was 5th in line, and the people ahead of him only made his anxiety worse. They screamed, they shouted, and worse. By the time it was Harry’s turn, he was imagining the worst. Then, as images of Tom crucio-ing him and his memories of the dragon ramped up, it calmed. He could do this. He took 5 deep, calm breaths, as they got ready for him. Apparently in some amazon rainforest tribes, you needed to not cry out to be counted as a man. Harry would go for that. Perhaps he could use this experience to help in the future.

He inserted his hands into the ‘gloves’, and instantly he was stung many times. Instantly it was if he had plunged his hand into a bed of coals, and shaken them deeper into the flaming coals. The fire his hands seemed to be now grew and shrunk, throbbing steadily, growing steadily worse, and worse. He flinched, but neither spoke nor screamed. He was sure he would be having a much harder time without occlumency, granted even with it, part of him wanted to scream out. It was hard even with occlumency. He was putting the urge to scream away in a box, and putting that box away. Compartmentalizing was the word. He’d open the ‘scream box’, as he’d labeled it, later when he was alone. It didn’t stop the pain, just the desire to cry out.

After 10 minutes of quiet agony, they are removed, and Harry was still in agony. It seemed it was time for jokes, as a tall intimidating looking south american man declared he was now a man. Harry gave a small series of painful giggles. Still, he needed to vent, and fast. He flinched with every movement of his arms as he leaves as fast as his greater desire to be polite allows. Once back at his trunk-contained small manor, he performs a silencing spell, and opens the box, releasing all the noise he kept himself from making earlier. Best not to just leave emotions stuck in limbo. He knew that was one of the dangers of Occlumency. You needed to confront them, not let them fester.

Gorsha, who had been watching over Harry during the challenge, and Grimhook, who was keeping watch over him, had followed him home. And they both seemed very amused about the silent tirade of yelling and cursing Harry was going on. After a few minutes of letting Harry vent his repressed desire to be loud, they interrupted him. “If you want to continue yelling, go ahead, but we felt perhaps you might want your hands healed?”

20th March 1996

Harry had gotten back to Mexica just the day before, after checking in at home. He spent a day at home, helping to soothe things over given he had been absent for 7 days before that. And he’d likely be gone for several more days, if not a week. Harry was currently getting ready for his day, at 5 in the morning. The sunrise would be at 6:40, so he had until 6:20 to shower, change clothes, eat, and get to the ritual site.. The start of the nagual ritual would start at sunrise on the spring equinox, and today that was at 6:40 in the morning.

As Harry arrived 25 minutes early, he observed the waxing crescent moon.The emperor was watching over the ritual location, and his ritualist was getting everything ready. Sirius was also here, standing a careful distance away from Harry. Harry watched as more people started to arrive. It looked like a total of 12 people were attempting the ritual. At 10 minutes till sunrise, things got properly started. The ritualist had several apprentices helping him. Each person was drained of a small amount of blood, and then had their own blood painted onto them.

The ritualist himself was tending to Harry. His eyes seemed a bit dull, as he painted Harry in his own blood. Harry knew to expect this though. Each apprentice and the master ritualist had taken a certain potion. Supposedly they were seeing deep into the person they were working on. Harry certainly felt like he was being X-Rayed. He wondered if this was adjacent to legilimency in some way.

Harry moved as directed once the ritualist gave him a nod. He took a seat at one of the many decorative tiles in this clearing in the rainforest. He began grappling with his thoughts. Thoughts ran through his head, about how this was ridiculous, how he was practically naked, and on and on. Steadily, Harry grappled with his thoughts. Part of him didn’t like being nearly naked in all these people around him. Parts of him doubted it. Some felt ridiculous, sitting here painted in his own blood. Steadily, he dismissed them. He opened his eyes, and simply observed.

He could hear the creek about 15 feet to his right. He could hear the animals of the rainforest. He could see the tree branches sway in the light wind. He knew, academically, that he was in the Darién Gap, one of the most wild places on the earth. There was a reason no roads crossed from north to south america. He dismissed the thought. The sun was about to rise, as evidenced by the growing light. He steadily sank into himself. He felt nothing really. Just observing the wilderness around him. No complex thoughts beyond basic observations of his surroundings, and their beauty.

He felt it as the sun crested the horizon, the moment he saw the sun itself. At first, he thought someone had hit him with a cruciatus curse. But the pain was different. It wasn’t the sharp stabbing pain, like a thousand red hot needles. It was throbbing. Like someone had taken the last few minutes of the bullet ant glove, where the venom had built up the most, and the pain was the worst, and condensed it into 10 seconds. As the pain reached its greatest, everything went dark.

At first he felt worried he’d passed out and was just waking… but no. He was pretty sure he was awake? It didn’t feel like time had passed. Granted, he wouldn’t have if he’d fainted right? He heard nothing, saw nothing, smelled nothing, and so forth. None of his senses were working, not even his sense of balance. He wasn’t sure if he was sitting, laying, or standing. He felt no sensations. Was he floating mid air? No. He felt no breeze. He remembered there being a pleasant breeze. Slowly, his senses seemed to return. He felt a bit stiff. He was definitely on a solid surface. He smelled something… He didn’t recognize it. His vision slowly started fading in, and it was a bit odd. Eventually as his senses cleared, he recognized the sight and smell as a dog. A really big black dog.

The dog was a friend, he was sure. He’d played with it many times. What was he here for? Connecting with his human? No. He was his human… he was his animal… It was confusing being 2 things at once. Not 2 separate things though, despite being 2 originally. None of this made any sense. His head was foggy. He shook his head wildly for a moment, trying to clear it. And steadily, he became himself again, over a few minutes.

Harry stretched himself out. God he was stiff, and that first big stretch was amazing. After relaxing back, he looked towards the concerned looking dog, and pounced. He wound himself against the big black dog. He remembered the dog pouncing on him many times, often licking him for his own amusement. Turnabout was fair play. He gave the now pinned and frightened Sirius a singular lick on the nose. The dog was Sirius right? That was his name right? It was taking a while for his mind to clear from the fog.

It was then that he got a good look at himself. He was a very large serpent… mostly. His scales were a mat charcoal black. He seemed to have the colors of an emerald tree boa, along with the charcoal black main color, and the pattern that was vaguely akin to a copperhead? The middle of the patterns were the deepest green, and they had a slight bluish tent towards the edges against the black. He imagined he’d be able to camouflage very well in shadows near green plants. Like in a tree, or on the ground near plants. Then there was the wings. Unfortunately he couldn’t get a good look at himself.

Curious, Harry left behind Sirius, now distracted by his curiosity. Though Sirius seemed very amused that Harry seemed to have finally noticed himself. While Sirius laughed, Harry was climbing a small tree with some branches over the creek. Harry could finally get a good look at himself. His eyes had changed color just a little. He felt they held a slightly blue hue now. It wasn’t very much, but he could see it. Now that he could see his own reflection though, he could get a better look at his head and wings. Again they were largely black, with vibrant greens and bluish green patterns in the wings. The feathers seemed to form eye spots on the front and back?

His body thickened a bit near him, and his belly near the wings changed a bit. Did he have a kind of keel? For attaching wing muscles? His body was definitely thicker there, and there was a clear difference in shape. His wings seemed to have small claws. He supposed that made sense. Wings evolved from dinosaur arms right? Weren't there birds with small barbs or wing claws?

Harry opened his mouth. He had the 2 big folding fangs. And other teeth. Kinda like the basilisk’s teeth, but smaller. Not nearly as big as his fangs. Was he venomous? He closed his mouth to check his head shape. It certainly looked like he had venom glands. His head had that type of shape. Also… There were feathers at the back-top of his head. Black and vibrant green. A crest? It moved upward, revealing the hidden brighter colors. It was fairly small. He opened his mouth again, god he could open it wide. Harry was in 2 minds about this. His more animalistic mind was of the opinion that all this was obvious. The more academic side of him was enjoying exploring his body. He could hear Sirius laughing near him, watching Harry make faces at the water and look at himself.

Done exploring his head, he pulled his tail close to the water to observe. It ended in feathers. With a twitch they seemed to fold outwards to reveal a fan of sorts. Kind of like some birds tails. He waved them back and forth. They seemed to move the air a good bit. Was this something to help him control himself in the air? Harry wasn’t sure. It occurred to him that he should try to gauge his size. He was big, at least in comparison to Sirius. He was much, much longer than he was tall. He was very long, and a bit thick, but not like an anaconda. Proportional for such a big snake, he was sure about that. He couldn’t gauge the length though, given the brain fog.

Harry built himself up, and ‘jumped’ from the branch, and found himself suddenly flying. He clearly knew how to do this instinctually, even if he didn’t fully understand how. Oddly enough, the rest of his body wasn’t just hanging from the wing location, like he had feared. It seems his ribs did something. Did he have adaptations like a gliding snake to help with flight? That seemed very likely. His wings allowed him to soar high. Harry wondered if he was flying a bit too easily. His head was clearing up some, but still too foggy to bother with the academics and measurements. That was later-Harry’s problem. Now was the time for exploration and play. And that started with randomly swooping down on Sirius from nowhere.

Chapter Text

20th March 1996

After a time examining his own body, and playing, his brain fog slowly faded. Along with increasing mental clarity. As he became used to his own new body, something new started to overtake him. Colors suddenly started to leech into his vision. Some things grew more and more red, orange or yellow. Some grew darker and darker, becoming blues and purples. Harry retreated to the ground, moving his wings to cover his face, doing little good.

He heard someone approaching, but was far too focused on the shift. “I’m guessing your new form has pit glands? In order to avoid panicking new naguals, senses that are new to you tend to emerge over time. I imagine sensing everyone and everything's heat must be scary at first. But that’s all it is. Your brain was already wired for all your other senses, so you adjusted quickly. But sensing thermal energy is new to you, so I suppose your brain rewiring itself a bit to make those new connections for it is scary. You’ll be okay.

Be on the lookout though. Your sense of smell will likely steadily get stronger too. Snakes are known for their powerful sense of smell. It’s likely been growing steadily, so if that becomes an annoyance, it’ll be okay. It takes time to learn control of the enhanced senses. That’s part of why you’ll be spending the next several days, at least, learning control.” The ritualist said.

“Out of curiosity, what does that feel like?” Sirius asked.

“A migraine. New nerve growth is painful. He’s going to be very sensitive to light, sound, heat, & smells. It’ll go away over time. Expect him to be miserable. This is yet another reason participants need good pain tolerance. If their new form gets new senses, it can be very annoying to deal with. Over the next 3-7 days though, he’ll have to learn how to use these new senses, and dull them as needed. He’s also lost any and all sensory ‘blindness’ if he’s adjusted to any scents for example, he’ll need to re-adjust to them. He’s effectively lost all ‘nose blindness’, except with every sense.”

“Whats the best way to deal with this?” Sirius asked.

“There are 2 ways. The long way that leaves you unproductive for days, or the short but painful method. The first has you spending days in a quiet, dark room trying to avoid the pain. This means you get nothing done as you adjust more slowly. The other method is not hiding. Exploring your senses, even though it hurts. You adjust much faster. So a longer period of lesser pain, or a much shorter period of searing pain.”

“Isn’t that a bit mean?” Sirius asked, looking a bit annoyed.

“Saying something isn’t productive isn’t mean. People are allowed to just be, and not need to be doing anything barring the essentials. I took that option myself.” The ritualist replied.

“What about potions? Can you get him a headache potion or something to lighten the sensory load?” Sirius asked.

“New nerves are sensitive. To expose them to potions before they are fully formed would be risky. If we give anything for the pain, we risk dulling the nerves as they form. That’s a recipe for stunted growth.” He replied.

And after that, Harry committed to spending the next while exploring his senses. He had good pain tolerance. He would rather be in severe pain for a while, than not get anything done for days. Granted it might be healthier to take that option. Still Harry always had a preference for the fast solution, as long as it wasn’t too unhealthy. Still, he knew Gorsha, the lead healer of Polaris and his personal healer would not be happy that he’d taken the rush option. Harry would rather take the scolding and greater pain than be out of commission for a few days though. By the end of the day he collapsed into bed, and was instantly out like a light.

21st March 1996

After he woke up from the previous busy day that was as much painful as it was exciting and fun in equal measures. After a hot bath to relax and a good breakfast. At least his headache had dulled overnight. Now it was just a dull ache in the back of his head, and his senses seemed to have stabilized.

Yesterday he’d undergone the ritual, and later learned to take his human form again. Today, he’d be learning to blend the two forms together. Harry was very excited to learn that. Being a flying snake was amazing, but not practical at all times. A hybrid form would give them many of the benefits of serpents while still having many of the advantages of his human form.

Even in his human form, some of his winged serpent senses were there. His heat sensing abilities were there, if heavily muted. The sense now only reached about 20 feet from him, and even then it was blurry. It alerted him only to vague shapes of heat, and a background noise of room temperature currently. Still, it was useful. It gave him an indication that there was a source of heat in an area, and at least an indication of size and shape.

This exchange worked both ways. Research told him snakes generally had dichromatic vision, seeing 2 colors and their mixtures. But even in his winged serpent form he had his full color vision for the most part. It was a little less functional than in his human form. If 2 similar colors were too close together, they blurred a bit, making finding the separation hard. Still, it was a lot better than a normal serpent should have. He also confirmed that what he’d seen as a serpent was correct. There was a bit more blue in the green of his eyes. It wasn’t noticeable though unless he was paying attention.

After everyone was ready, the group who had undergone the ritual was gathered and taken back to the same place they had been yesterday. The ritualist spoke to them before they made any further exploration of their abilities.

“Many people find that switching between the two extremes is much easier than merging the two forms. The human brain tends to place things in boxes, and the hybrid form tends to defy such categorization. Changing between the forms is pretty simple, as you’ve learned. You simply need to know that there is a time for one, over the other. This is more challenging in the hybrid form, but the basics of that is the same. You need to simply convince yourself that now is the time for both. That’s the standard way of thinking at least.

A key part of the ritual to become a nagual is binding the animal and human self, and acknowledging them as not 2 separate things, but one whole thing. In the early days, people did not know a hybrid form was possible. It took years for someone to discover that if the animal and human were truly one, surely there should be a merged state. They then after much exploration, they managed to confirm this as truth, and take that merged form.

That said, each person finds this balance on their own. A hybrid form can be a perfect balance of both, or else, it can lean to one side. Sometimes this has to do with your form. For example, I have had people assume aquatic forms that were impractical on land. A key part of the hybrid form is function. Someone who can become a shark, will likely find a hybrid form that leans more human than shark, simply by the necessities. A shark can’t walk on land, they can’t breathe air. As such, they might need to focus on a predominantly humanoid body to function well on land, and the shark parts mostly settle around things that function reasonably well on land. Such as scales to provide better defense, teeth to amplify the ability to bite, and so forth.”

And with that, they got to practicing. Harry found this part somewhat difficult, certainly harder than assuming his serpent form, which he practised some as well. Harry was the 4th out of all the participants to find his hybrid form. It had taken him an hour to shift to the hybrid form. He’d spent the hour shifting back and forth, trying to get a feel for it. Eventually, he managed to find the proper balance.

The result was a form he quite liked. A long 35ft tail supported his upper body. While he had no legs, he had arms. His entire body was covered in charcoal black scales and the same vibrant green and bluish-green pattern that vaguely resembles a copperhead. While this form had no wings, it still had patches of feathers. The fan of feathers at the end of the tail was still there. His head still had a crest of black, green, and bluish-green.

His heat sense was just as strong as his serpent form. Looking in a mirror, he saw this form had loreal pits as well, on either side of his nose. After running around he found that this form was around as fast as he was with legs. Granted he was more muscular in this form. He found with some practice, and use of his arms, he could climb very fast. His long muscular tail seemed to have a lot of crushing power. He found he could easily wrap around a reasonable sized tree branch, and squeeze for minutes without tiring. The ritualist said that had something to do with serpents muscular anatomy.

Harry enjoyed playing around with his forms, and practicing movement. He even had a duel with Sirius in his hybrid form. Sirius had fun exploiting Harry’s long tail, hitting it with stinging jinxes constantly. Still, over time, he learned to control where his significantly larger body was. Sirius got in less easy shots over the 3 duels they had had. Once Harry learned to keep his body coiled under him, he learned just how useful this form could be. The pouncing speed of a serpent allowed him to dodge very well. Sirius said seeing Harry coil up and 'jump' forward several meters near instantly while using combat spells was downright terrifying.

Chapter Text

8th April 1996

Harry had been back in Polaris since the 27th of March. He had to admit that it felt good to be back. The palace had been finished while he was gone, and he’d activated the rest of the wards the day after he got back. He still felt the palace was far too grand for him. Sure he was a monarch, but he wasn’t used to such things. It was one thing to dress for his position, but the palace was overwhelming.

The palace seemed to be made of largely white marble, though Harry knew there were reinforcements throughout it. Each stone or slab had runes to increase durability in different ways. The palace halls were predominantly white with some black and plenty of golden yellows and jewel tones for accents. Harry was sure he would never have been able to buy such a palace with his own money, including the royal vault. Not that he would have wanted it.

Harry had voiced concerns that it was a bit much, only to be told it was on par with palaces like Windsor Castle, the Royal Palace of Madrid, Louvre Palace, and more. They also told Harry that they knew his tastes, and so it had been designed to be more classical and modern, and by ‘some’ definitions, minimalist. Harry really appreciated that. There was a pair of large great halls for events, and a very impressive state room that contained his new formal throne. There was also an office for Harry, and some others. All that was connected by a lovely entrance hall, a pair of lobbies, and all the other essentials.

Also on the first floor were the largest kitchens, meant to output a ton of food to feed many people at formal events. Near the big kitchen were all the typical storage rooms. With that came a pair of large dining rooms, each capable of seating a great number of people. Then there were the bathrooms and so forth. The bulk of the servants quarters were on the first floor as well. Rooms were 2 for each elf, though some had their own room, including Foxy, who was the head elf. She was effectively a steward. She had a suite on the 3rd floor, along with a few assistants.

Harry had insisted upon all the elves having good and reasonable accommodations. While some still were considered slaves, he wanted them treated well. Harry really hated it, but it had been ingrained in elf society for so long many rejected pay. There was a department to monitor such things to ensure good treatment.

The biggest room on the second floor was the Royal Library, which was notably bigger than Hogwarts. There were many private areas and small rooms for reading, meetings, and so forth. There was a large gallery room that was mostly empty at this point, given the nation wasn’t even a year old. That said, there were still some displays. The signed document establishing how their government worked. Copies of the patent for Harry’s inventions. For now it was only the translation necklaces, but Harry had a few other side projects he worked on as he felt like it, and had time.

The second floor also held a number of quality of life rooms. Game rooms, a gym, and all the typical needs for entertainment that weren’t outside. The music room was also on this floor, and it had more instruments than Harry had known to exist. There was even a medical ward on this floor, with a doctor and mediwizard to help treat people. The doctor sometimes taught Harry lessons on healing here.

On the third floor there were rooms for visiting dignitaries, nobles, friends, and so forth. There were offices, parlors, drawing rooms, and more. It also had a lovely large dining room, smaller than the ones on the first floor, but bigger than the 4th floor dining rooms.

The fourth floor was for Family. It contained the Monarch suite, the Heir suite, and over a dozen other suites for family and close friends. It also contained its own kitchen, which was only small in comparison to the main kitchen. It had a large, but lovely dining room that was more intimate than the first floor or 3rd floor dining rooms. It had a big common room for friends, and a separate one for family. There was everything one could need for a family. It was currently his second favorite floor, and once he had kids, it would be his first favorite.

His favorite floor was the basement. Down here there was room for all the things that needed some privacy that didn’t involve bedrooms, suites, etc. One of his favorites was the massive training hall. Sometimes Harry dueled down here, sometimes he liked to watch the royal guard train. There were simulations for tons of different terrains as well.

Then there was the potions room. It was down here for privacy. If it had been on the other floors, there was a risk of someone disturbing you during brewing, and that could be dangerous. It had ventilation as well to deal with potion fumes. (Harry was very surprised when he found out this was common. Why did Hogwarts have no such precautions? He knew some NEWT level potions produced dangerous fumes.) Not only were there fume hoods, but safety showers, fire extinguishers, fire blankets, and so forth. There was a big cabinet that held all the safety equipment, such as goggles, lab coats, and other such things. The floor of the room had very gentle slopes, so if there was a potion spill, it would naturally flow down to the drains. It was even enough to feel mostly normal to stand on, but just sloped enough for liquids to flow towards the drains. There was room for many people to make potions as needed.

The armory was down here as well, near enough to the training room for ease of access. Along with the armory there was good accommodations for royal guard and soldiers down here, in case the extra security was needed. l Harry’s favorite was the workshops. Harry had his own personal workshop. He loved to come down here and experiment. He was rarely in this room alone though. He had a tutor to help teach him more advanced runes, and even basic alchemy. (Though that was usually done in the potions workshop.)

The construction and design teams had also been sure to do something Harry had wanted very bad. There were hidden rooms and passages on every floor. Fun shortcuts not on any map, but something you had to find on your own. Few people found these shortcuts though, as the stairs and magical lifts were far easier to use. The wards even stopped people from telling anyone about the shortcuts and hidden passages and rooms. That was part of the fun, finding them yourself. Grimhook was also happy about that, as it meant the great majority of them were only known by Harry and the royal guard, who were an exemption.

All that aside, was the grounds. The greenhouses and gardens that helped supply the potion ingredients were lovely, but they were not as beautiful as the grounds in front and besides the palace. There was a lovely pool house with pools, hot tubs, and even some water slides. There was a child-friendly playground, and a magnificent fountain that resembled the one in the center of Merak. Just like it, the ever filling water was always clean, cool, and there were cups for people to get some water as needed. The carefully managed gardens, hedges, and small groomed forest were fun to explore.

Just yesterday they had an easter celebration. While Harry didn’t really worship the christian god, the high proportion of muggle borns in the nations talked about easter, and hunting eggs as children. Harry had liked the idea, and so the kitchens had created a ton of small treats, and put them in small colorful containers. Harry wasn’t much for the idea of hunting, but Harry could be seen amongst the elves hiding the treats. Harry, Sirius, and surprisingly even Grimhook had taken great joy in hiding treats in some devilishly hard to find spots. They were there mostly to entertain the adults and teenagers while the smaller kids and pre-teens hunted for less hidden treats.

Chapter Text

8th April 1996

Harry was currently sitting in a nice chair waiting for his friends to arrive. He’d sent An invitation for them to spend the second week of Easter break with him. Hermione went home for the first week, and she along with most of the Weasleys and Neville would be taking an international portkey to Polaris. Harry was sitting in a resting room for use by those who needed to sit or rest after an international portkey. After about 10 minutes, Hermione, Neville, Ron, Ginny, Charlie, and Mr & Mrs Weasley came into the room, most of them looking ill, especially Hermione & Neville.

After getting up, and giving some of them hugs, he directed them to the seats. “Feel free to rest for a while. International portkeys can be sickening, especially the first time.”

“What is this place?” Ron asked.

“It’s the main travel center. The wards around Polaris stop anyone from apparating in or out. But we need ways to travel fast. So there are many apparition points that allow you to apparate around as needed. It’s also where international portkeys take people. Hence the rest rooms, and all the maps and such.”

“You can’t apparate anywhere? Arthur said, surprised.

“Except in these apparition points, yes.” Harry replied, smiling. “That’s why there are many of them around the city. Each ring has at least 8 apparition points.” Harry said.

Hermione looked confused for a moment, before asking. “What do you mean by ring?”

“Well, Polaris’s naming scheme was astronomy based, and idea I got from Sirius. So Merak, the name of the capital, is composed of 9 rings. The Mercury ring holds most of the government buildings, as well as embassies and so forth. The Venus, Earth, and Mars ring are all business focused. The Jupiter, Saturn, & Uranus rings are primarily residential, and the Neptune & Pluto rings are primarily agricultural. Things like fishing, farming, ec. Our harbor is on the Pluto ring. But that’s just the simple explanation. There are many businesses in the central ring to cater to it, as well as shops, grocery stores, and so forth to cater to the residential rings. As to the apparition points, they are scattered out like a compass.”

“That seems a bit too mechanical… No real feeling to it.” Mrs Weasley said.

“Well in part that's on purpose. It was a planned city that we designed to be as efficient as possible. Of course there are many connecting roads, and each ring is pretty wide, with many curving roads in the area of those rings. Again, the rings are just marked areas, not roads themselves, although there are major roads that mark out the centers of each ring. It took a lot of effort to figure out a decent layout and ways to move around it. Anyway, let’s not spend a bunch of time discussing the layout of a city you haven’t seen. Once you are all ready, We can move on.”

“Your letter said you have room in your home for us to stay this week. Where is that?”

Bill snorted as he entered, flanked on either side by Fred & George. “‘Home’ huh? You sure do like underselling things. You know people are already calling it the ‘château du soleil’ right? Home implies they are staying in a nice house.”

Harry flushed in response, not bothering to suppress it. He still felt far too modest to live in a castle, let alone a proper palace. He was adjusting to it though, over time. “I… Well… Where else would they stay? Your house isn’t ready yet.” Harry said in reply, not meeting Bill’s eyes.

Bill snorted again, but didn’t say anything. Now wasn’t the time to tell his family that “Weasley Manor” was going to be a thing in a couple months. That was a discussion for privacy.

“It would already be ready if you hadn’t hesitated so long.” Bill said.

“What does that mean?” Arthur asked.

“Harry here feels far too modest, and kept delaying when the construction team would start work on his ‘home’ so some of us forced his hand by saying they wouldn’t allow work to begin on our homes till his was finished.”

“That does sound like Harry.” Hermione agreed. ”He killed a 1,000 year old basilisk when he was 12 to save me and Ginny, and treated it like it’s ‘no big deal’ and just something ‘anyone would have done’. And yes, those are direct quotes, in case you were curious.”

Harry, wanting to end this topic of discussion, changed the topic. “So where do you want to go first? Do you want to go explore? Or is it best to get your luggage to your rooms first?”

“It sounds best to drop off everything where we will be staying first.” Arthur said.

“Sounds like a plan. I’ll take Charlie and Ginny. Fred, can you get mom? George, you can take dad. Harry you’ll apparate Hermione & Neville.” Bill siad.

After that was agreed on, they apparated to the palace. Once they left the apparition point, many jaws fell.

“That’s no château, thats a damned palace.” Ginny said.

“It’s a joke. Most people know how modest Harry can be. Calling it a ‘château’ is just some friendly teasing. There is a reason Harry wasn’t allowed to be part of the design team, aside from certain things. If he got to pick the size, it would just be a big house.” Bill said.

“Hey, I’ve learned to hold that instinct back.” Harry commented with mock embarrassment.

“I’m sure that was a herculean effort.” Fred said, causing George to laugh.

Harry had long since been trained to suppress his emotions and reactions. But the Weasleys were almost family. So he allowed himself to show some embarrassment that he wouldn’t even hint at in a formal setting or with people he didn’t know so well.

Harry led them through the palace, towards a nearby lift, and onto the 4th floor. Along the way, Hermione got a glimpse of the Library, and Harry had to grab her hand and pull her along. “Library later.” He said. Once they were on the 4th floor, he led them to their suites.

Harry took each of them to their rooms. “So the 4th floor is for family and close friends. Other than guards and some elves, you shouldn’t see anyone here.” Harry said, handing Hermione the bag he was carrying for her. “Take a while to enjoy your rooms. I know you might want a shower or bath. I sometimes want one after a bad international portkey.”

After everyone was in their rooms, and getting settled down, Harry went to his office to get started on some paperwork. That was one of the banes of being a monarch. Still, he could deal with it. About 30 minutes later, Everyone had gotten settled and done whatever they cared to with their suites. Harry went out to see his friends when noise seemed to increase as people left their rooms. As Harry entered the common room for close friends suites, he saw almost everyone was there.

“Harry, it wasn’t necessary to have us stay in suites. Surely just a bedroom would do. We didn’t need things like walk in closets and private bathrooms.” Mrs Weasley said.

“This is the floor of the palace built for family and close friends. Of course you would have those things.” Harry said, a bit confused.

Bill entered the common room last, looking serious and a bit solemn. “Before everyone goes to explore Polaris, we need to talk.”

Harry, suspecting what he wanted to discuss, felt perhaps he should leave the Weasleys to it. “Do you want me to go take Neville and Hermione to explore a bit?” He asked, wanting to know if Bill wanted to keep this to the family.

Bill looked to his parents for a moment, both of which were a bit confused, before looking at Harry. “I’m not sure. We will need to talk to you as a family later anyway… But perhaps it would be good to do that after they have had time to think about things. So… Yes, go show Hermione the Royal Library, and Neville will like the Conservatory greenhouse. I know you had planned to show them those anyway.”

Harry nodded. “Thanks for spoiling the surprise.” He said, showing mock irritation. Hermione had glimpsed the library earlier anyway. He led them away towards the second floor library.

Bill sat down in a large comfortable chair and with a wave of his wand, the seats moved to a vaguely circular position so he could see and be seen by everyone. “Everyone take a seat.”

Arthur couldn’t help but notice that Bill had effectively put himself in a position of head of the house. That should be Arthurs seat. But he’d always been a bit too meek to want the position. So he supposed as his eldest child, that was Bill's right. He wouldn’t say anything. That said, he did make sure Bill knew he was aware of it.

Once everyone had taken a seat, with his dad on one side and Charlie on the other, he began. “I’ve been working for Polaris since it was founded. Several months ago, during the creation of the council/congress, I was offered a position. I decided to accept. This position has drastic implications for the Weasley family.”

“Bill, what do you mean? What are you trying to say.” Arthur asked, while Molly seemed concerned, and potentially angry.

BIll took a short time to breathe, and get what needed to be said out. While many would consider it good news, he didn’t know how his family would take all of this. “The position I accepted was one on the council, Polaris’s congress. In doing so, things changed for us. In Polaris the Weasley house is addressed as ‘The Noble and Founding house of Weasley.’ Harry offered this to us, and 2 other wizarding families. Then 3 goblins were elevated into nobility, then 3 elves, and then 3 werewolves.”

“But the Weasleys haven’t been nobility for well over 100 years.” Charlie said, surprised.

“While that is lovely, and I am happy to know he cares for us so, why didn’t he approach Arthur, as the head of the family?” Molly said, slightly disapproving. She very much didn’t care for all the formality. But still, even she knew that could be construed as a misstep. It was rude at the very least.

Bill sighed. He had hoped in vain this wouldn’t be something that was asked. “You and dad have always been very close to Dumbledore. Dumbledore has mistreated Harry greatly. Dumbledore sent him to live in an abusive house for all of his childhood, has planned Harry’s death, and worse still. One example is the yearly tests. For example, The protections on the Philosopher's stone in first year, something Harry was encouraged to look into, was a room with brooms and flying keys, a devil's snare, a cerberus whose only major weakness is something Hagrid couldn’t keep secret if he tried, a chess game, a logic puzzle, a troll, and a mirror.

All of these were fairly easy to get through for 3 first years. Not to mention the mirror was something Dumbledore personally encouraged Harry to find and learn about, and directly taught him how it worked. If he really wanted kids to not find it, he would have put actual protections around it. Even if he didn’t want to use wards, there are tons of options that would not be solvable for kids. That’s not to mention the door to all this wasn’t even protected from alohomora, an early second year spell.” Bill sighed. He didn’t want to offend his parents, but this was important.

“Harry could not risk Dumbledore’s interference through either of you. Not to mention that as I helped build the country, he felt I deserved it.” Bill added softly after a moment. His family took a minute to observe this, and Arthur looked pale and hurt. He loved his family. Seeing his dad look hurt was painful for him.

After a minute, Arthur responded. “I suppose…this is my fault.”

“No, it’s not.” Molly said, trying to make him feel better.

“Don’t mom, dad is wrestling with himself and his own emotions. I know you want to make the hurt stop, but let him feel and speak.” Charlie said.

Arthur took his glasses off and rubbed the corner of his eyes. “I refused to stand up and control the family. I’ve always been meek, and always preferred to follow than to lead. It was just easier for me to surrender that control than to take it. Given Dumbledors fame, and his history of fighting for good, he seemed the best leader I could choose.” He spoke slowly, as if finally addressing a burden he had long worn.

“But Dumbledore wouldn’t-” Molly said, before being interrupted by Arthur. That was something that almost never happened. Arthur usually preferred to sit things out and let Molly take control.

“You yourself always comment on how skinny Harry is when he comes to stay with us. Let’s stop pretending not to see what we don’t want to see. Fred & George even told us he had bars on his windows, and we ignored it. We didn’t want to see abuse, because we knew who put him there. It was easier to just assume Harry wasn’t as loved as his cousin, but still cared for, still loved if a little less. We… I… was too easily convinced it was a misunderstanding.” Arthur said, breathing long and slow to calm himself.

“Thats not fair…” Molly said.

“Yes, it is. And it’s not only that. I failed to defend my children as I should have. I hope that has not resulted in any of you feeling as if you were not loved.” Arthur said. “I wish Percy were here.” He whispered to himself, though everyone had heard. Percy had distanced himself from the family over the year. He’d sided with Fudge and his ilk, and after a fight, he had left. He didn’t answer any of their letters. After the first few he sent a single letter back saying he wasn’t reading any of them, and wouldn’t read them in the future. They still sent him letters though. “Perhaps if I had taken the lead, he would still be here.” He whispered. He was quiet, but as no one else was speaking, they all heard it. After a while he looked up, and everyone seemed to be silently crying too.

Arthur rallied himself, and spoke. “As head of the Weasley family, I acknowledge my failure to lead my house well, and relinquish the headship of house Weasley to my firstborn child and heir. May Bill Weasley be a better head than I.” Arthur said, using as much of the old formal words as he knew.

“I’m sorry, but after my grandfather lost the family our wizengamot seat when he betrayed an alliance with the Malfoire, he and his son disavowed all the formality. I wasn’t taught any of it. I learned what little I knew when I was a teenager, and got curious.” Arthur said.

“You didn’t need to do that dad.” Bill said, with Charlie nodding.

“None of us were trying to make you feel bad, or that you were not enough. We love you.” Charlie said.

“I wanted to tell you, but didn’t want to hurt your feelings that Harry didn’t offer it to you.” Bill said, now knowing how to feel about his dads actions besides sadness.

“Yes… I did.” Arthur said. He knew it down to his core that he had done the right thing.

Ron however, was confused. “Malfoire? What's that? I have never heard of that name.

“It’s the old name of the Malfoy family.” Arthur said. “I was curious about the rivalry as a teenager. I don’t know all of it, but I can tell you what I do know. In 1871, 125 years ago, there was a political upheaval, and a takeover of the government in france. It didn’t last more than a couple months. But in the wizarding world it was bigger. It was a big division between the wealthy pureblood families and the far less politicaly powerful groups and families. There was a lot of discrimination back then, same as there currently is in Brittain. After one of the big French families was exterminated, a few others ran. A major portion of the Malfoire family fled to Britain.

Back then the Weasley family was reasonably wealthy, if on the lower end of the spectrum. They were still one of the lesser powers. My Great Grandfather saw allying with the incoming Malfoires to be a good way of growing our wealth and power. After a couple years of this alliance, my grandfather and Septimus Malfoire’s son, as teenagers, got into a heated argument. My grandfather tried hard to persuade his dad to back out of the deal, but he refused. When my great grandfather fell ill, his son took the chance and usurped control of the family, and betrayed them.

I don’t know the specifics though But the Malfoires went public, and a trial was held in the wizengamot. It was decided that as the Weasleys had violated a formal agreement of alliance and in so doing, greatly hurt the Malfoire family. To balance this, the Weasley family seat and title and the greater part of our wealth were given to them. With a new seat of political power in Britain, they changed their name slightly to fit in better. Granted, the old Malfoire family still exists, and technically they hold some power over the Malfoy family. Granted it’s never been used.

My grandfather squandered what remained of the family fortune, and refused to acknowledge his betrayal and mistake. As a result, he only taught his children that he was in the right. I tell you this to answer more than just the question. If the Weasley family are nobility again, we cannot repeat the past. I expect you all to be polite, granted I realise you were never taught formal manners, beyond Bill and Charlie. A childish rivalry is not an acceptable reason to be rude. I've just told you how things like that taken too far can be a disaster.”

"That said. I meant what I said. I should have always spoke up more. Fred... George. I know your mother always wanted you to go into the ministry, but I hope you know we are so proud of you."

Chapter Text

8th April 1996

While the Weasleys had their family meeting Harry, Neville, and Hermione were headed to the Library. They weren’t going to stay for long though. Maybe an hour. Hermione was practically skipping as they headed there. Upon arriving. She sprinted into the Library immediately. Before anyone could even try to stop her, she was examining the library's map. Before they could get to her, she was running deep into the library.

“Joss” Harry stated, sighing despite the clear fondness.

“What can Joss be doing for Master Harry?” The small elf asked. She was almost there with the grammar now, which made Harry happy. The elves that worked in the palace and for the head of the Royal Elves were all learning proper English.

Harry smiled at the elf. “Hermione is like to get lost in the library. Can you rescue her from the library in 3 hours? I wouldn’t want her to miss out on lunch.”

“Joss can be doing that.” She said with a smile before popping back to whatever she was doing. Harry suspected she was working or if she wasn’t probably playing a card game. Many of the elves loved playing things like poker or hearts. Some played friendly games without money, some gambled a bit, some gambled not with money but with work. Many of those who held the mindset of loving work would bid in increments of work, and the winner would win work. From what he was told, if you bid all your day's work and lost you were ‘doomed to a lazy day’ which was apparently a bad thing to some elves. Harry didn’t know how he felt about that, but didn’t want to try and change who they were. Especially when they were now allowed to generally live their lives. It seemed many of them had a fascinating culture. Joss was now wearing several strings of beads in her hair, which she had told him meant she was engaged. Harry was looking forward to learning what an elf wedding looked like, if there was such a ceremony.

With that done, Harry and Neville proceeded down to the conservatory and the rest of the greenhouses. Granted the conservatory wasn’t wholly a greenhouse. It was attached to the palace’s ground floor, though it was mostly covered in reinforced glass. After the duo walked through the entrance, they came into a very large contained greenhouse.

“Thanks again for the suggestions and plants. A lot of the plants you sent me for Christmas are here. Sorry for not telling you what they were for though.”

“It’s fine. I get it, though learning why you didn’t tell me was somewhat disturbing.” Neville said, speaking very lightly as the duo walked. Every now and again Harry would point out some of the Rare plants that were here, and especially those that had a small plague that in addition to the information about them, listed Neville as a contributor.

Neville brighted again quickly though, and soon he was discussing all the plants he really liked, and all about them, their uses, and so forth. Some of it flew over Harry’s head. He had an 0 in his herbology NEWT, and still Neville outclassed him in herbology knowledge and skill. After a while of talking and walking, Harry’s feet started to hurt a bit, so with a wave of his hand he summoned a pair of lovely plush chairs. He hadn’t exactly planned to show Neville this though. At home in Polaris he was now used to just doing that sort of thing. He’d have to work on restraining that sort of thing though. He didn’t want such a skill revealed in front of someone like Dumbledore.

Neville did a double take. “What? How? Harry…”

Harry sighs. “It’s fine. It’s no big deal. I learned a few things. Turns out wandless magic is a lot easier than people think… and harder, but still. It’s okay.” Harry told him, wanting to avoid any fuss.

“But that's… How? I know Dumbledore can do a bit, but how can you do it.” He asked, growing confused and curious.

“I'll explain the basics if you want once everyone is together. Though I ask you not to mention such things to other people. It’s an important ace in the whole should Voldemort ever come after me. If people like Dumbledore, his followers, or Tom and his knew it would negate some of its use.”

“As long as you explain it later. I wish I could do something like that.” Neville said, moping a bit.

Harry sighed. “You could learn. It would be hard though. It’s not that you lack power or capability, but that you put yourself down. You don’t acknowledge or accept how strong you could be, because you lack confidence. I suggest you get therapy. I meet with my therapist every 2 weeks. I know it can be stigmatized, but I think you could benefit as much as I am. It’s really been helping me recover from some of the problems that came from being raised by my abusive relatives.”

Harry let the subject drop after that though, it let Neville think. For the next little while they sat in silence examining the plants, and eventually got back up to continue their walk. Harry was careful to keep the subjects light and pleasant to give Neville time to consider things. After a while they went back to the 4th floor to get lunch. They arrived later than everyone else as they had been exploring the greenhouses and the grounds.

The weasleys were in the process of sitting down, and Hermione was shooting dirty looks at Harry. “Sorry Hermione. There is tons to explore, and spending the whole week in the library would result in you missing out on a lot.” He said, chuckling a bit. That seemed to mollify her mostly.

“Yeah, you wouldn’t want to miss out on visiting the school would you? Or Weasley Manor, granted that's under construction.” Fred said.

“The school?” Hermione asked instantly.

“Of course. Polaris needed a good magical school. Flitwick moved over here. He’s going to be the headmaster once Hogwarts lets out.” George added.

“The whole castle, the dorms, and the grounds. That’s not including the library. I was sure you’d want to take a peek.” Fred said.

That had Hermione distracted enough that it was only by mid lunch that she remembered the mentioning of a future Weasley Manor. Many found the double take over 10 minutes later hilarious. Harry explained everything after he was barraged with questions and thanks by the Weasleys. Though Arthur and Molly decided not to leave Britain. The Burrow was their home after all.

Remus was the last to arrive and Harry gave him a big hug. He’d been progressing a lot lately. He’d been getting therapy himself, though it had taken Harry admitting he went to get him to accept it.

Eventually Sirius dropped another bomb on the group by calling Harry “Coils”. A Nickname Harry didn’t particularly like. Sirius had said all the Marauder nicknames were on the nose. When Harry asked why he didn’t get to pick his own name, he was told it was traditional. Remus had named Peter, James had named Sirius, Sirius had named Remus, and Peter had named James. You didn’t get to pick your own nickname. Remus and Sirius got to do that. Harry was clad Remus had talked Sirius out of “Fangs”. Apparently Emerald had been in contention for a while, but Sirius had said Harry was known for his eyes, so people would make that connection. But no one would expect “The Boy who Lived” to be a snake, so the name could be used without giving away who it was.

Of course that lead Fred and George off on a tangent asking Sirius and Moony all about the marauders, which lead into a discussion of the map. Sirius said while he appreciated the new generation of tricksters, they couldn’t join the Marauders until they had an animal form. It was tradition now apparently. Tradition that started as soon as Harry had done it, as that was the second generation doing the same as the first. That’s what Sirius said at least.

It all came to a head when Hermione spoke up. “Does that mean you are an animagus now Harry?”

“No. I went to Mexica for the Xipe Totec celebrations. I assume you put that together from the souvenirs I sent you, Ron, Luna, and Neville. I figured the nice blood red cloaks, not to mention the other things would clue you in to that. Granted I suppose I did send them to you in April. I didn’t want anyone to deduce where I was while I was there. Anyway while I was there things happened as they do around me, and I participated in an ancient Mexican ritual.”

“I assume you meant Mexico?” She asked, both confused and thinking Harry was pronouncing it wrong.

“No. I guess you wouldn’t know. The Mexica people survived the spanish conquistadors and retreated to magically protected spaces. So in the wizarding world what muggle historians call Aztecs still live. Perhaps I’ll send you a globe. Hogwarts sadly doesn’t teach world geography at all.”

“But the Aztecs sacrifice people!” She replied.

“That was centuries ago. The religion has evolved over time. Blood is still an important part, but certainly no sacrificing of people anymore, and almost never animals. That stuff fell out over the centuries.”

“But blood magic is immoral and Illegal!” She said, almost yelling.

“God damn it. Dumbledore and Hogwarts really butchered this subject. I challenge you to define what Dark and Light even mean. For example there are many healing potions that are illegal in Britain because they use a few drops of a patient's blood to attune the potion to them. Now is not the time for this though. Look. I know you intend to spend a lot of time at the library. I challenge you to look up books on this issue. You have ready books that describe all such types of magic as evil incarnate. Try genuinely reading books from other perspectives. The ones that are neutral, the ones that express its uses for good, and even those that are bad. To learn something you should always research things from multiple points of view to give you a grounded understanding of a topic. It also helps prevent learning things from a biased point of view.

Besides the only blood I gave was blood that washed away in a bathhouse after I tried a ceremonial fight. Nothing anyone could use against me without somehow distilling it from thousands of gallons of water, not to mention the blood being mixed with the blood of many others.

And the ritual I used to gain an animal form was certainly no blood ritual. Sirius can attest to that, as he was there.”

Things got quiet for a minute as people took time to think.

“I am not trying to insult anyone. But as a King I must take a more worldly view of things. I must learn the cultures and languages of many different countries. I need to become as wise as I can if I am to be a good ruler. That means seeing things from multiple perspectives so I can see rule well. I understand that this goes against what many think.” Harry said with a long sigh.

“But Harry…” Hermione said

Harry seemed to change. Suddenly the joy and fun of seeing friends and those he cared for seemed to leave him. He seemed a bit more distant. Suddenly he seemed tired. A man who had laid a heavy burden on their own shoulders, because he felt it was the right thing to do. It had always been. It had been right to try and stop Voldemort from getting the stone. It had been right to save Ginny. It had been right to save Sirius. For those who didn’t know about his real age, he was a 15 year old boy who had always had to bear the burden. Always had to be the hero.

The room seemed to fill with pressure. Like the air itself was solidifying and pressing down on them. It felt like some divine being had descended and was judging them for their actions. The pressure continued to grow steadily. Ron and his parents felt like small children who’d just endangered someones lives with their actions.

He looked directly at Hermione, as if preparing himself. Suddenly it was clear what he was preparing himself for. Hermione had always cared for rules and authority figures in her life too much. Always believed them. If the fact that Harry was willing to look beyond that stereotype that all that was Dark was Evil, and Hermione wasn’t, it was clear what he would do. If she betrayed him and went to Dumbledore for example with fears he was becoming “Dark and evil”, he’d cut her off. He’d do what he must, even if he hated it. That was the burden he carried.

After a few seconds, George grabbed Harry from behind. “Hey, it’ll be fine. We’ve all had to learn some uncomfortable truths, but we’re still here with you.”

Harry seemed to come back to himself then, the tense atmosphere instantly seemed to dissipate back to the friendly one from before, though some faces still showed that he was still dwelling on that moment. Some seemed to be stunned by the sudden change as the pressure had gone all at once.

“I’ll look into it, Harry. I know you aren’t a bad person. You’re my first friend, and my best. Nothings going to get between us.” Hermione said.

Ron was quiet though. Suddenly he seemed to truly understand just what Abandoning Harry the previous year had done to him. He’d never really understood it before. Harry had accepted him back so fast, he had thought everything was okay. Clearly Harry was still hurt.

Neville could now see Harry was going to therapy for much more than he’d said. If Harry could muster the will to go, he could go too. He could get better too. Nevilles resolve hardened. He would improve himself. It would be a long hard road, but he was sure he would come out the other end.

Though only 1 person knew it, several people had acquired a new greatest fear. Sirius didn’t even want to imagine Harry looking at him with those eyes, and calling him out for prioritizing catching Peter over caring for him. Hermione had gotten the biggest dose though, as he had been looking directly at her. She felt ridiculous suddenly, for even considering that Harry could be dark god forbid evil. Wasn’t that such a ridiculous idea?

“So Harry, come on! They want to see it. What was it like?” Fred said, trying to help divert everything to a much friendlier direction.

“It was pretty painful at times. Someone had them save the bullet ant gloves for me after they freed the ants. It should be in the gallery by now.”

“What are Bullet Ants? They sound horrifying.” Ginny asked.

So Harry explained the basics of the ritual, and the bullet ant glove they used to test if someone could bear the pain of the ritual. “I hadn’t know the ritual even existed at first, but when I used a parseltongue healing spell on myself and some others people reacted. It seems the Mexicans respect the language as much as the Brits fear it. They say the gift is given by Quetzelcoatl, and speakers often become priests. Quetzelcoatl is a deity of wind and rain, creation, learning and science, the arts, and finally agriculture. So when I came out I could speak with snakes, Their Emperor wanted to speak with me. The emperor discussed the ritual with me and invited me to make an attempt.”

And with that, Harry immediately shifted his animal form. Before their eyes Harry vanished and was quickly replaced with a large serpent. Harry’s mat charcoal black base color with emerald and blue-green colored copperhead-ish pattern was as it was before. His head still had the crest in matching colors. Harry stretched his long body, opening his wings, which had an eyespot in the same blue-green bordered with black on each primary flight feather.

“But I thought he wouldn’t have a magical form?” Hermione asked, confused.

“He doesn’t technically. His form has no special magical power. It’s just a combination of bird and snake. Any magic he does us is just him using magic as normal.” Sirius said.

Harry’s tail swished in the direction of a cup, and his feathered fan at the end of the tail opened up mid swish. The cup levitated into the air for several seconds before returning to the table.

“I guess Harry felt like demonstrating.” Remus laughed.

“You should just be glad this room is a bit too small to bother flying around in. The first thing he did to me after discovering he could actually fly was diving onto me from above.” Sirius said.

“If you were there, why didn’t you do it?” George asked.

“I’m already an animagus. The ritual needs adjustment for someone who already has an animal form.” He responded.

“But if you are already an animagus, why would you bother?” Ron asked.

“Because an animagus can’t do this:” Sirius responded, gesturing at Harry, who shifted from his serpent form to his in-between state. He was certainly bigger in his state. He still had the same colors and pattern in this state, though sadly he had no wings. That made sense though. He didn’t think they would work very well with the hybrid form's size.

“That’s terrifying.” Hermione said in little more than a whisper.

“You haven’t seen anything terrifying yet. Once you duel him in this form, maybe then you can truly comprehend what a wizard with access to a serpent's sheer strength and speed can do.” Sirius said. “Once he got some training in him, he became horrifying to duel.”

No one seemed to believe him though. Sirius was all too happy to let them underestimate Harry. They’d have a practice duel soon, and then they would see. Seeing Harry’s 10.6 meter long body coil up and then later suddenly ‘jump’ forth several meters all at once was scary alone. Add in a wand and a sword, and it was so much worse. Sirius had underestimated Harry’s attack range multiple times. Especially when they just fought using blunted weapons. When you are used to and trained to fight at an appropriate range for a human, you don’t consider the sheer distance a snake could pounce proportionately to its size. For a human you merely needed to stay out of their arms reach plus their weapon… mostly. Some thrusts could go further, but that was not how it worked when fighting a serpent with arms. Terrifying was a vast understatement.

Chapter Text

8th April 1996

Once Lunch was over, Harry excluded himself somewhat saying he needed to get some work done. Harry told the group they were free to ask an elf to take them anywhere if they needed, or just to show them around. He had a private office where he could look over things, but wanted to make himself available for a few hours to anyone who needed to talk to him. So he went and sat on his throne and summoned his desk directly there.

It was a system Lodlang had proposed when Harry expressed a dislike for just sitting there doing nothing. A throne felt excessive if you just used it as a chair. So they made a desk that fit it. And now when Harry sat on it working he had a proper desk. It also served as a way to show that he was available should anyone need anything. It became known that if he was sitting on the throne he was open and available if any issue needed solving, etc. Granted as the King he was always on call. But if someone was concerned that they would be interrupting him, they would know they weren’t if he was sitting on the throne.

Blair Graham dropped by for about 30 minutes to talk to him. She’d lost her position as a spy. Fenrir had decided to bring the adults he trusted most before Voldemort. Blair unfortunately had no occlumency training. She’d decided that either way her spying days were over, so she may as well live. She’d been back for a week now. Harry had offered the last remaining noble title to either her or Cameron Baird.

Blair had dropped by to tell him they had found a compromise. Cameron's parents wanted nothing to do with him now, so Blair had adopted him. A Magical adoption effectively made him her kid, even if he was an adult. Thus they’d decided that Blair would take the title, and Cameron would be considered her ‘firstborn’ where noble titles were concerned.

After she left Arthur and Molly Weasley approached him. He’d noticed them waiting but hadn’t acknowledged them yet. After all he had been talking to Blair, or rather, Lady Graham now.

“Harry… We wanted to apologize. You deserved better than to have us ignore your situation.” Molly said.

“Yes. Every child deserves better.” Harry said, but gestured for them to continue.

“Right. Dumbledore had told us it was just a misunderstanding. We knew who put you there, and never thought he would allow child abuse.” She continued.

“We didn’t want to see it, and when we did, we were in denial. We didn’t do enough.” Arthur continued when Molly stopped.

“If it makes you feel better, I had long since given up hope that anyone would help.” Harry said, knowing it wouldn’t help. It might even make them feel worse. But he wasn’t here to coddle the people that helped enable his abuse.

“No… No, that doesn’t help.” Molly said.

Harry nodded. “I don’t say this because I want to hurt you . Nor do I say this because I don’t care for you. I do care. But being a Monarch has taught me that hard things sometimes need to be said. This rift will never mend if it isn’t said. And I assume thats why you are apologizing.

I had given up any hope before my Hogwarts letters arose. When Hagrid arrived, he didn’t seem to care. The Dursleys couldn’t have made it more obvious that they neither loved me nor cared for me. He only got upset when they insulted Dumbledore. Didn’t seem to be concerned about me at all. Or rather his concern for me was so minor that it didn’t extend beyond giving me some food and a cake. It was then that I knew I would get no help from Magic either. I don’t think Hagrid is cruel, but it’s clear he either is somehow incapable of noticing the abuse, was too far into Dumbledore hero worship, just couldn’t fathom that children were capable of being abused, or didn’t care.

When Dumbledore himself took no heed of the abuse, and essentially called me a liar when I begged not to go home, I knew for sure no one would care. Or at least that even if they did, they wouldn’t go against Dumbledore to do it. When I spent time at your home, I knew it was just a temporary reprieve. I knew, at least in my heart, that you wouldn’t stop it. But time with your family showed me I at least mattered to someone. For that, your family will always be loved.”

“We do care, we just weren’t ready to accept the truth.” Arthur Weasley stated.

“I know, and I forgave you years ago. But now that you recognize it, there is no excuse. Keep your eyes open. If you ignore abuse again now that you’ve accepted it for what it was, I’ll know you never really cared, regardless of what you say.” Harry said.

Perhaps it was a bit harsh. But he couldn’t risk something like that happening again. If they saw abuse in, for example, one of their kids friends, they had no excuse now. Them closing their eyes because of Dumbledore had been wrong, but understandable. But now that they’d confronted it, there was no reason to excuse it if it happened again. “I hope you understand.”

“Yes.” Molly said, sad this had ever been allowed to happen at all. And sad Harry felt the need to say such things. But, she supposed, she would if she was in his position.

In an attempt to clear the air, Harry changed the subject. “In an hour I’ll be done working here for now. If you are interested, I’d love to show you and your family the school that’s going to start next year. Filius is leaving Hogwarts when this school year ends to be our headmaster. I am looking forward to school starting.”

“That sounds lovely. We’ll tell the kids to be ready in an hour.” Arthur said.

As the Weasley parents left, Harry turned his mind to Tom. His spy, Farah Rosier had not mentioned Voldemort acting in a way that would tell Harry that he knew his Horcruxes were being hunted. Either he hadn’t even considered the possibility that they could be gone, or he had checked and fallen for the replicas. In their effort to get rid of Tom’s phylacteries, they had been careful to place replicas with matching curses and protections back. There were some cases however that the replicas couldn’t be perfectly matched. Harry doubted they would survive close inspection. But if Tom just visited to check they were there and didn’t examine the horcruxes in detail, it would help him feel secure. They didn’t want him becoming more unstable and erratic. If he learned that most of his horcruxes were destroyed, they didn’t know what he would do.

As he was, Tom was somewhat predictable. He scheduled major attacks around Samhain and near the end of the school year. He also sometimes did things a bit before Hogwarts started, like when he broke into Gringotts. Yet another example was his azkaban breakout that had also been around samhain. It was best if Tom stayed to his predictable timings.

Then there was Umbridge. Harry had gotten many letters from friends about her. Some of which were currently visiting. He was having them use elves to deliver vials of memories of her abuses. These were being validated and tested before being sent to the ICW investigation that had started up. It was all Harry could that could directly stop her and Fudge. He was considering having reporters view these memories, in an attempt to shame her internationally. But if it got out before the ICW case was ready that this was in the works, Umbridge could go to ground. Worse yet, Fudge could try to manipulate the Wizengamot into legalizing the torture. If that didn’t work, he could cause more problems. It would be likely that the investigation would come to a trial in a couple weeks. He hoped the kids could last that long. In the meantime he was trying to help by sending healing potions and anti-scar creams to the school via the elves. At least the Hogwarts elves were willing to work with him to help the kids.

An hour of talking to people, thinking about plans for Tom, and doing paperwork, Harry decided to take a break to go visit Voyager’s Royal Academy with his guests. Harry waved his hand over himself to clean his clothes. Not that they were dirty, but he couldn’t afford to look bad, so it became a habit. After all, the simple cleaning charm was so easy to use that it wasn’t even a little tiring to do it several times a day.

Chapter Text

8th April 1996

Harry, the Weasleys, Neville, and Hermione apparated to the Voyager Academy apparition point. It had started to drizzle, but fortunately all the paths repelled water, so you could walk on them and not get wet. Though it did look odd to look up and see water sliding off nothing. It was likely to end soon though he thought. The clouds didn’t look dark enough to turn into truly persistent rain.

Harry gestured for the others to come out of the apparition point building. “The paths repel water so students and staff can go about. Even should the water level rise above the paths, you won’t get wet.”

“Does it rain a lot here?” Hermione asked.

“A good deal. Polaris, despite the name, is fairly subtropical. We don’t really have monsoons fortunately. That’s why I suggested you all come prepared for reasonably hot and wet weather.”

“That makes sense then. Though the heat was the only concern. We get plenty of rain back home after all. How cold was the winter?” Hermione asked, curious.

“Mild” Fred answered. “We didn’t get any snow at all, and I don’t think it reached freezing at all, let alone below it.”

“Where are we on the global map then?” Hermione asked.

Harry smirked. Hermione was always someone you could count on the ask a lot of questions, granted less so regarding authority figures. “I’ll leave that for you to figure out. But as a hint, given the name it should be obvious, but we can see the north star year round.”

“But you could just tell me.” She stated, annoyed that information was being withheld.

“Yes, but I won’t. As much as you like researching homework, I figure this will be a fun project. Anyway, this is a tour of Voyager Academy, not a lesson in Polaris’s geography.”

“Speaking of that, so what are all the buildings? I expected it would just have one, like Hogwarts.” Ginny asked.

“Well the Castle is the main building. Most of the classes are held there. The castle also has 2 of the dorms. Then there is the Gymnasium. It has all the standard things you would expect. Places for sports, running, and so forth. It also has a swimming pool kept at a good temperature for swimming year round. Then we have the greenhouses for herbology, the stables and pens are needed for CoMC classes. The stadium is fitted for quidditch, but also works for other sports. Other buildings are dorms, and a couple are currently empty to make room for future expansion.”

“What is a gymnasium?” Arthur asked, as it was certainly something Hogwarts didn’t have.

“It’s an indoor sports area. It gives people more options for sports, and PE class will be there.” Bill responded.

“PE?”

“Physical Education/Exercise. Hogwarts has no such thing, and as a result most people are out of shape. It also gives an indoor space for kids and teenagers to play games. Any student who doesn’t participate in at least an hour of physical exercise a week, be it a sport or anything else, must take a class to help keep them healthy.”

Harry nodded to Bill. “It’s also bigger on the inside, so it also has an indoor quidditch stadium.” Harry added.

“Why would you need that?” Ron asked.

“Voyager will have 2 quidditch leagues. A junior and senior league. So kids 13 and below have their own league, and then the teenagers 14+ have one as well. That way we don’t have unbalanced teams where kids are playing against much bigger, stronger opponents. It prevents things like the Slytherin team consisting of almost all 16+ year old teenagers being able to physically outmatch the teams that had younger players. While it’s one thing for older teenagers to play in bad weather, it’s a recipe for kids getting hurt. So if the weather is bad, quidditch can be played inside.”

Harry said as they walked past the gym and towards the castle.

“You mentioned dorms. Where are they? You said only 2 were in the castle?” Molly asked.

“Yes. 3 of them are outside the castle. The garden dorm is attached to the largest greenhouse. It’s mostly underground. We wanted to give it a friendly nature kind of vibe. Full of plants and nature, with windows showing all the plants in the greenhouse. I am sure you will love it, Neville.” Harry said. "Then there is the lake tower. It has some amazing views of the lake and mountains.

“My favorite is the forest dorm. Well it’s less of a singular dorm and more a lot of cabins.” Bill said. “Last I recall it was decided that students who are in their 6th, 7th, and 8th years can request a cabin with a few friends or room-mates.”

“Isn’t that a bit much?” Molly asked. “Letting them live on their own?”

“We liked the idea of giving them a chance to start easing into adulthood. So instead of being in a big dorm, they could get a small cabin with some friends. They can start learning to care for a home, as they will need to keep it clean, as well as caring for the cabin. There are wards to stop them from bringing in dangerous things of course, and many more protections.

“I think it’s a great idea.” Arthur said.

But Hermione seemed to be observing Harry.

“You talk as if you aren’t 15. Not to mention you look a bit older than that.” She observed, clearly suspicious.

Harry sighed before speaking. “As to my appearance, I have been seeing a healer since I left hogwarts. I’ve been on nutrient potions and growth potions to help me recover from malnutrition and abuse. Gorsha says she suspects the sudden improvement in my health and growth combined with my body finally having all the nutrients it’s needed triggered an accelerated puberty.” This wasn’t technically a lie. His treatment had accelerated it a bit.

“But you shouldn’t have been malnourished. You had food at hogwarts for 4 years.” She said in response.

“That doesn’t make up for 10 years of malnutrition, let alone the malnutrition coming back every summer.” Harry said, growing a bit annoyed. “Nor does it make up for the damage done during my childhood. As I am talking as if I am older, as it should be obvious, I never really had a childhood. From an early age I needed to learn to ration food, how to escape physical abuse from my cousin, and how to best avoid triggering their rage. Then I get to Hogwarts, and every year I need to deal with more adult situations. Tom and Quirrell, Tom possessing Ginny and a basilisk petrifying students, a year full of dementors, the triwizard tournament and a year of anxiety waiting for someone to try to kill me.”

Molly, Arthur, and Sirius all flinch at that. “It’s not your fault Sirius, you never should have been in prison to begin with. Fudges actions are Hardly your own.” Harry said, worried he’d hurt Sirius.

“I should have prioritized you over Peter.” He said, shrinking into himself a bit as his mind filled with how much better Harry’s childhood would have been with some love.

“I don’t know if you are at fault there. You absolutely should have, I agree. But… given how hard Dumbledore has worked to fuck up my life, for all I know you were hit with a confundus or something. I doubt he would have let me live with you anyway. And knowing that, I can’t hold you accountable.”

Sirius didn’t seem to feel any better. Of course he didn’t though. Harry wouldn’t. Harry reached over and gave Sirius a big hug, hoping to cheer him up. And given how rarely it was for him to show physical affection for people, he hoped that helped.

Hermione seemed to have evaluated continuing that conversation, and in an attempt to change the topic, asked about something else. “Why do you want Polaris to have a school though? You could always send your kids to Hogwarts.”

“Given Hogwarts is about to lose its ICW accreditation, that’s not an option.”

“Wait, WHAT? Arthur asked, stunned.

“Hogwarts has had a bad reputation internationally for a few decades now. Hogwarts graduates who left Britain found out that those who have NEWTs that should qualify them for jobs are struggling, and that's bad enough. Hogwarts hasn’t let an ICW inspector in the school in over 10 years. Because of the influx of muggle born Britst leaving the country, they’ve discovered some alarming things. Things I didn’t know should ever have been there. No magical theory classes, instead you only get what each class demands. The muggle studies class is decades out of date, the history class is taught by a ghost who still uses books and lesson plans that are over a century out of date. There hasn’t been a goblin rebellion in well over a century, and he doesn’t teach anything that is more recent than around 1890. They dropped the Alchemy class a few years after Dumbledore became headmaster, which is really ironic given one of his biggest claims to fame is alchemy related. And these are just examples. There is so much more. That’s ignoring things like potions safety being nonexistent.

I am not saying I hate Hogwarts. It was my home for 4 years. But looking back and now that I am working with education experts to start a school in Polaris, I can see clearly now how much Hogwarts fell behind.

Anyway, 2 weeks ago the ICW announced it was finished with an investigation of Hogwarts. It came up for review, and was decided it should lose its accreditation. In 3 days the Ministry and Dumbledore will have an appeal. I put only 1% odds that they stop it. Dumbledore has never been as famous or loved internationally as he was in Britain, and now that all the news about him is coming out, he’s not well loved internationally anymore. Once it came out that as Chief Warlock Dumbledore could have given Sirius a trial, and there are multiple documents proving he chose not to, he lost what little good will he had left internationally.

No one will support someone who will arrest you with no proof and not give you a trial. Fudge could have saved himself if he had handled it right, but he didn’t. So now the British government has an even worse reputation internationally. It’s very likely that come Wednesday morning, anyone with an OWL or NEWT coming from Hogwarts in the last 30 years will find them useless in any nation aside from Britain.” Harry said, finishing with a sigh.

“You mean the OWLs we will take soon will mean nothing?” Hermione asked, outraged.

“They will only count in Britain, yes. Anywhere else and they will ignore them.” Bill said.

“If you are confident in your knowledge, I’d recommend going to France during the summer and taking the international tests. I know you and your family vacation there a lot, and you speak French if I recall.” Harry suggested.

Hermione was not the only one outraged at this news. Fred and George were at least preparing to retake their OWLs and NEWTs soon. Ron was not happy, but for different reasons. He just hated tests, and knowing he would have to take a bunch of hard meaningless tests pissed him off. Neville seemed the most calm about it, but Harry could tell he hated it too. Molly seemed floored that Hogwarts had fallen so far.

“But why wasn’t this in the news?” Arthur asks.

“The ministry chose this year to interfere with Hogwarts. If news comes out that the same year the ministry did this, the school loses its accreditation, the ministry will be inundated with howlers, bad press, and more. That’s not to mention becoming the laughingstock of the international community. Given Fudge is known for somehow controlling the Daily Prophet, of course he didn't want this to come out. He can’t stop the articles forever though. He’s spending as much influence as he can delaying the article until he can appeal it and prevent it from going through. Those higher up at the Prophet are betting the appeal won’t work. They are allowing him to delay them to 1: Earn favors from him in the future, and 2: They know if they delay it and it still fails, they will get even more excuses to print bad things about the ministry. It looks horrible for the ministry as it is, but when the people learned how much he tried to force them to not print the news, it’ll be worse. They make more money by delaying it and then printing about the injustices." Sirius said.

Chapter Text

8th April 1996

“What do we do about this?” Hermione asked, enraged that her future tests would be meaningless outside the game.

“Nothing really.” Arthur said with a long sigh. “There is nothing you can really do. As was suggested, study a bit and take the international version in the summer. Though that might be tough as their standards are higher, and they will test on things Hogwarts doesn’t even teach. I’ll drop by the DoE when we get home and get a brochure on the ICW OWL standards. It’s part of their duties to make sure the teachers and education are up to scratch, and it seems they haven’t been doing their job properly.”

“Or someone is forcing them not to do their job properly. More than one person has a motive to try and control what people learn.” Sirius said.

Arthur gave a tired nod. “Still they are obligated to provide information on the international standards if asked.”

“So there is nothing we can do.” Ron said. He hated tests, and if there was one thing worse than tests it was meaningless tests. Well that was aside from Slytherins. Harry suspected a big part of that though was that it gave Ron someone to argue with.

Seeking to change the topic away from something none of them liked, but could do nothing about, Molly spoke up. “When you were talking about problems with Hogwarts you mentioned no potions safety? What do you mean? I know there are accidents, but I am not sure what you mean.” Molly asked. She had taken potions up to her NEWTs when in Hogwarts, and it didn’t seem to be a big concern then.

“I absolutely get it. It wasn’t until I explored the Palaces potions lab that I truly understood the lack of safety the potions class was. Once someone walked me through it all, it really sunk in just how sloppy the Hogwarts potions lab is.”

“Sloppy? Surely that’s an exaggeration” Bill said.

“I can show you to the Potions lab back home after this, but it kitted out. Hogwarts doesn’t even have the basics. There are no goggles to offer eye protection, no lab coats to avoid spills covering your skin, no gloves, and those are just the basics. I know some NEWT and even some OWL potions have dangerous fumes, but the dungeon lab has no air circulation. They have no system to vent dangerous fumes.”

“But that's just for dangerous potions.” Arthur said, by then the students should be experienced enough to deal with that. Though he was clearly concerned that now that he thought of it, there had never been any safety. He had been taught without it and it was only now that he considered how concerning that was.

“Potions that are done wrong can become dangerous even if the original potion recipe wasn’t. How many cauldrons have students melted in since we started?” Harry asked Hermione, who was more likely to know.

“At least a couple dozen I think.” Hermione said after a few seconds.

“We are very lucky then. If a potion can melt through metal, we are lucky no one has lost a foot. Sure a healer could regrow that, but that would be a long agonizing process. Just regrowing the bones in my arm was painful enough. With no fume hoods of any kind, we are lucky no one has collapsed from badly brewed potion fumes, as Hogwarts provides no masks either. I’m willing to bet Severus Snape will have Potion Master’s Lung within a decade given all the fumes from a class full of potion students.”

“I don’t know why I never thought about that before. Muggle chemistry classes have those things.” Hermione said, surprised that she had never noticed the lack of safety. Perhaps it was because everything else was so different. Looking back over the conversation though something else occurred to her.

“You said dorms, but you never said houses.” Hermione noticed.

“Yep. There are no houses. We felt that the house points system didn’t really work. Points students get from academics are combined with quidditch points, meaning those who play it earn many more points, so it’s unbalanced. And all the house cup does is determine which head of the house's office the cup. Once students realize this, they stop caring about points totally.” Sirius said.

“How do you know that?” Ginny asked.

“I sit on the council that runs the school. We’ve had many meetings, so I know how the school is run.” Sirius said with a shrug.

“Does that mean there are no points?” Arthur asked.

“No. Each student has their own. In Voyager you can spend points on things. Such as the school store, or do have certain services done. For example: if you want your room expanded, add a window, etc. That way losing points actually does something, but it only hurts the one person. We are considering having students get points for every O they score on end of term tests.” Sirius explained.

“What if your ministry tries to take over the school? Ginny asked. She’d been in more than 1 detention with Umbridge this year.

“Most of the funding comes from a subsection of the royal vault. I learned what not to allow by watching Fudge and Umbridge.” Harry added. “There are protections set in place to stop that from happening. Though nothing is perfect.”

The group took some time discussing the points, what things could they be used for, and so forth as they toured the greenhouses and the garden dorm, before heading towards the lake tower. Harry pointed out the school’s shop as they walked by. Sirius pointed out the forest. In doing so he reminded Ron of something.

“Didn’t you talk about people in their 8th year? I could swear you said something about the years in which people could apply for a cabin.”

It was Bill that responded. “It was decided that students will start Voyager at 10 years old.”

“Surely that’s too young.” Molly said, not liking the idea of kids leaving home even younger.

“While Voyager is outfitted as a boarding school, the school day ends at 4pm in our time zone. So anyone who wants to can pick their kids up for the day, as long as they are back by 7:30am the next day so they have time to eat something if needed and get to class at 8am. So parents can just bring their kids home as needed. Or if parents prefer it to getting their kids daily, they can get them on Friday afternoon and drop them off on Monday morning. Given the dorms though, the students will have a place to sleep either way.” Harry said.

“I imagine a lot of parents will be happy with that. Even just the option to have their kids home for the weekend would be lovely. Once Ginny started Hogwarts, there was no one but us home. It was nice for a while, but we missed you. Here, the parents can have their kids stay the weekend.” Arthur said. It had been hardest after Ginny went, because then there was no one. With her brothers, they at least still had a kid around.

“Why doesn’t Hogwarts do that? I would love to come home on the weekends.” Ron said.

“Voyager uses a mix of apparition and portkeys to get students to and from the school. Hogwarts only uses the train. Sending a train to and from Kings Cross every weekend would be a huge waste.” Hermione said, like it was obvious. Granted, she wasn’t wrong.

Harry had been a little surprised, but given how they used portkeys to get here, and Harry had mentioned the many travel points for apparition and portkeys, he supposed it was fairly obvious. The school apparition point had been setup to ease portkey travel. Hermione had no doubt picked up on that.

The conversation drifted off as the group explored the Lake Tower, as well as the Castle Tower dorms, before it picked up again when Harry showed them the view from the Castle Dungeon dorm. Specifically he took them to the big common room window into the lake. For a few minutes they just watched the fish and plants.

“Does school start on September 1st like Hogwarts?” Molly asked.

“Yes. Well that's when students arrive. They don’t start classes for at least 2 days, perhaps a little more depending on when the weekend falls.”

“Why?” Hermione asked.

“A couple of reasons. The first is so that new and old students have time to explore a bit, and learn their way around the school as well as socialize with others before classes. The second is for testing.” Harry replied.

“Tests before the classes start? That’s mad!” Ron stated, thinking Harry was crazy.

“They are voluntary tests, not mandatory.” Sirius replied. “Students who want to can take a large test that covers the class's full material, and if they pass, can skip the class. It’s heavily moderated, and the score you get on the test is the grade you get on the class if you score high enough. This way wizard raised students can skip the wizard culture/studies class if they wish, same for muggle raised. As well as certain other classes. For example if you have a potions teacher or master in the family and you were taught the basics, you could attempt to ‘test out of’ the first level/year of Potions, starting the second level/year immediately. This means you can skip a level/year in certain classes you are already knowledgeable in.”

Harry noticed the gleam in Hermione’s eyes. Already she wanted that opportunity.

“Didn’t you promise to explain something to me?” Neville said. He was vague enough that if he wasn’t comfortable enough to do it now he could avoid it, but it was a reminder.

“Right.” Harry said. With a sweeping gesture he summoned chairs for everyone. Reasonably nice comfortable ones too.

“You're still better than me. Most of the chairs I summon tend to be uncomfortable. At least I’ve got wandlessly summoning cushions down now, finally.” Sirius said, remembering the uncomfortable wooden chair he’d summoned when he was meeting Remus after he got here.

“But… Wha… HOW?” Hermione finally settled on asking, or rather, yelling.

“It’s not nearly as hard as most make out.” Bill responded. He’d learned a bit in Egypt, but he’d never put much time into learning it. He learned the things that he needed or that were useful, they mostly stopped.

“If you all have a seat, I’ll explain a bit. But Bill isn’t wrong, though learning it is still hard.” Harry said, wincing a bit at Hermione's sudden yell.

“But only people like Dumbledore and Voldemort can do that.” Hermione insisted.

“Then what is accidental magic?” Harry asked, attempting to stun her into thinking about this logically. “Kids summon toys, books, cookies, and so forth to them all the time. Hell, I turned one of my teachers' hair blue when she was being an asshat. To my knowledge don’t all young witches or wizards do magic without wands?” Harry asked.

“But those are accidents, no one means to do those things.”

“Don’t they?” Bill asked, cocking one eyebrow. “I remember summoning the toy kids broom when I was 5, and I definitely wanted to play with it.” Bill added.

“We don’t have a kids broom, nor did we ever. Ron stated.

“It broke when Percy was 4. By then they didn’t have the money to replace it. Anyway, that’s not the point. If kids didn’t do it on purpose, then why do they only do magic they like or are amused by? Not once have I ever heard of a kid doing something with magic it didn’t want on some level.”

“Hell I apparated when I was a kid.” Harry added.

“How? Kids shouldn’t be able to do that.” Sirius asked.

“Let’s just say it’s really easy to focus on your Destination, Determination or whatever else they say when your physically abusive cousin and his gang are ‘Harry Hunting’ and you know you’ll get beaten up if you get caught. If you are in danger and desperately want to be anywhere else, it’s doable. I ended up on the school roof.”

Sirirus’s eyes darkened for a moment, before he just nodded. He was not happy with the Dursleys, but they were all in a coma in a muggle hospital in a permanently vegetative state. Or at least that's what the doctors were saying. Sirius wasn’t sure if they had deserved the kiss or not. When Harry was in France testing, the ministry had sent dementors, and without him to save them, the dementors had won.

“Back to wandless magic. How do you do it?” Hermione demanded.

“Well Wands and words are just crutches to some extent. The wand focuses your magic, and the wand motion and words are just to make your brain focus on the desired outcome.” Harry said.

“But what about the story Flitwick told us?” Ginny asked.

“Well if you don’t have a strong enough intent, or your mind wanders, saying the words wrong can cause a wrong effect.” Bill replied.

“But in the end, the wand motion and words are just to help your brain focus on the desired outcome. It’s easier, especially for kids, to learn X wand movement + Y words mean Z magical effect. It takes the need for focusing on your intent out of the equation and turns it into basic math anyone can do.” Harry said. “Which is good because kids are often terrible at focusing.”

“It’s also why a major part of Auror training is learning to discard words and wand motions. Once you discard the math and gain the ability to just focus on the intended magical effect, you can just point cast. No need to swing the wand around for the majority of spells. Wandless magic is just the next step. Doing it without a focus. But because it requires practice and time that most just don’t have the desire to do, those rare few aurors who do learn wandless magic only know how to do 1 or 2 things with it. Those being: how to summon your wand back to your hand, and how to disarm people without your wand.”

Harry demonstrated Sirius’s point by pointing at a wall and sending a disarming hex at the wall. As the wall had no weapons to disarm, it fizzled out when it hit. Then, just for fun, Harry focused his intent on making the spell not fizzle out but bounce if it hit something without a thing to disarm. He then threw it at the wall, it bounced to the floor, then back for Harry to catch.

“You’ve progressed that far?” Bill asked. “I’m learning that as well. Modifying the properties of a spell is tough.”

“Yeah, but all I did was make the disarm spell bounce off anything that couldn’t be disarmed. And even then it takes some effort to maintain the spell that’s not normally meant to keep going, granted not much.” Harry said, throwing the spell, now with his arm as if it was a ball, back at the wall, before catching the rebound again.

“Why bother?” Ron asked.

“Because I wanted to practice while talking. Given how busy I am, I try to sneak practice in when I can.” Harry replied.

“Back to wandless magic. You’ve explained the basic idea. How do you learn to do it?” Hermione asked. While the discussion was interesting, she was more curious about casting without a wand.

“Practice mostly. But the hardest part is getting over the idea that you need a wand. You need to convince yourself that you are capable of it. Which will either be easier than normal or harder than normal for you.” Harry said.

“Why?” Hermione asked.:

“You have a very logical, ridgid mind. Which I think will do 1 of 2 things. Either 1: Because you did magic without a wand in the past, you have an easier problem discarding all the time spent learning how much you need a wand. Or 2: The books and teachers teaching how it’s needed have cemented it in your mind, and it is going to be harder for you to unlearn that. I had a comparatively easy time and for me it was still difficult.

Arthur meanwhile seemed to be focusing on Harry. People hadn’t been wrong. He didn’t act or speak like a teenager. Sure being a King had no doubt forced him to mature, but not this much. Harry noticed the look but said nothing yet. He’d pull Arthur into a separate conversation later.

Chapter Text

8th April 1996

Harry ended the disarming spell and started up a light spell, changing it’s color every few seconds, and continuing to throw it around before catching it.

“How are you doing that?” Ginny asked.

“The next step after point casting or wandless magic, not that the latter is needed for it, is changing the nature of spells. The first and easiest spell type to alter are basic light spells. Changing the color of the light emitted is the first thing you learn. By doing that while making it bouncy too forces me to focus on the 2 properties at once. By then bouncing and catching it, I get practice with changing spells while distracted. I’m forming the equivalent of mental muscle memory. Granted this is pretty easy.. Well easy comparatively.”

“Easy.” Bill said with a snort.

“Easy compared to the rest of his subject.”

Why aren’t we learning this?” Hermione asked, angry that her teachers had never mentioned such things.

“Because this is beyond NEWT level. While this isn’t some secret forbidden knowledge, it’s not commonly known. Only the very few who are interested in spell crafting, or are learning advanced magic theory bother with it. Combine that with the prerequisite of knowing arithmancy, which eliminates a lot of people by itself. Tampering with your spells can be dangerous and very few care to bother with it. It’s a lot of practice for some neat parlor tricks. Or at least that’s the public perception.” Bill explained.

Hermione again seemed to look at Harry. How was he doing this? He was younger than her, if not by too much. He shouldn’t be capable of learning these things. She was suspicious, but not quite sure what she thought he had done. It’s not like he could have aged himself into maturity. There was a chance he was using a time turner. But her use hadn’t aged her much if at all. Assuming it did, he’d had to have been using one daily for years. She could safely discard that idea. He’d never shown any of the signs of time turner use. No showing up at odd times that made no sense. No conflicting schedule issues like she had had. Not to mention if he’d been using one for years, and it caused aging from the extra time, she would have noticed the accelerated aging before now. At least last year.

While Hermione was observing him, Harry was observing her. She was putting the pieces together, but the puzzle she wanted to solve had too many pieces missing to solve it. He’d have a talk with her later as well. If Hermione wanted to know, she and Arthur would need to sign some contracts.

Harry got the tour going again, making a point to take them to the potion labs so they could see what he meant before. After exploring the castle, some of the classrooms, and taking a look at the dorms and various other buildings, they headed out back to the palace.

Harry took Bill, Arthur, and Hermione aside to his office. He took a seat in his comfortable chair, and after a moment to relax, he began things by pulling out 2 contracts. “You both are observant, and no doubt want answers. I can’t answer some questions without precautions though.” Harry said, placing a small stack of parchment in front of both Hermione and Arthur.

“What kind of contract?” Arthur asked, cautious. Messing with contracts was always dangerous.

“These are not too dissimilar to Unbreakable Vows in contract form. Unlike the vow however, we have no interest in killing you if you break it. The contract just makes it very hard to break. Should the worst come to it, should someone try to use truth potions, powerful legilimency, and so forth, the knowledge it protects and any memories that contain that information will simply disappear from your mind.” Bill explained.

“So we wouldn’t remember anything?” Hermione asked.

“You would know 3 things. Firstly, that you had knowledge and it is now gone. Secondly what circumstances caused the information to vanish and who caused that circumstance (If you would normally know). Thirdly, that you voluntarily accepted this.” Harry said.

“Surely this is dangerous. Removing memories from the mind can’t be so clean. What if other memories are forgotten.” Hermione said, worried.

“We are dealing with magic. And you need not worry about entire memories vanishing. It’s just that any memory that directly involves the information, memories of the contract and its terms, any time you talked about it, will be removed from the rest of the memory. Anyone trying to examine your mind will just find sudden bouts of white space that begins where any such information had to be removed, and ends when anything removed was no longer relevant. Should you or anyone else, try to remove or copy a memory from your head, such as for using a pensieve, it’ll simply be nothing but white space. Should someone attempt to torture the information out of you, the moment you would give in, the information vanishes, as another example. Though we doubt such a thing would happen.” Bill added, clarifying how the contract worked. “It will also give you a prompt reminder should you ever try to discuss it verbally, record the information, or in any other way communicate it.” Bill said, wincing slightly as he remembered the sudden searing headache the moment he had accidentally been about to violate one of these contracts.

“Bill would know, these types of contracts are standard for Gringotts employees whose profession needs secrecy. Such as curse breakers. If competition learned where they are working or what on, problems could arise. I’ve signed one of these myself.” Harry stated.

“About what?” Hermione tried.

Harry just smiled at her, but said nothing.

“For future reference, asking that kind of question is rude.” Arthur said. Arthur looked to Harry, who didn’t seem perturbed. “It’s fine for now, but once someone refuses to answer, asking again gets increasingly rude and impolite. Everyone has secrets afterall, even if for most they are fairly basic.”

Harry nodded. “Besides, as was just explained, I won’t explain anything until you have signed a secrecy contract.” Harry said, then turned to the door for a moment. Ginny was trying to listen in. The wards around the office meant no sounds came out if he didn’t want them to. She was only 14, so he would let it go. But he set the words to give her a shock. At first a static shock, then ramping it up for every few seconds she kept trying. Nothing damaging, just something to dissuade. Harry smirked slightly when about 15 minutes later a loud yelp came from the other side of the door, and Ginny left.

Hermione and Arthur took a whole 45 minutes to read through the contract in exhausting detail, something Harry approved of. He’d done the same, and always would now. Magical contracts were no joke. It took another 20 minutes for Harry and a goblin he called in who helped him with such things to make sure everything was valid, the contract hadn’t been tampered with, and everything was in order.

It was only then that Harry told Hermione and Arthur about some of his time in the time chamber. He explained nothing about where it was, who owned it, and never mentioned the chamber specifically. He spoke in only vague terms of his 5 years spent somewhere while the rest of the world experienced only 2 weeks. He was now exactly 5 years older than the rest of the world knew. He explained some of the training he had undergone, but left some of it vague to ensure he avoided getting a warning headache. Goblins were not keen on wizards learning their techniques, and in the rare circumstances wizards were allowed to be trained in them, contracts were involved.

“Harry… How could you leave us behind like that?” Hermione asked.

Harry sighed. He’d expected that response. She was 16, and no doubt that abandonment heart. “We both know Dumbledore wanted me to be the one to kill Tom. He had decades of experience more than me. Not to mention it isn’t a teenagers job to fight dark lords. We all know that without the Priori Incantatem effect from our sibling wands, I would have died at 14. Dumbledore let that happen. There is no way he could have failed to notice the fraud. No one can perfectly act like someone else. Not to mention Moody and Albus have known each other for well over a decade. Given how (justifiably) paranoid Moody is they would have had a system. When you add on the other suspicious situations. For example Dumbledore thought Chess, A logic puzzle that gave you the answer if you thought it out, a flying key, and a troll could stop Tom? That makes no sense. We cleared them all easily enough. Not to mention Dumbledore leaving me with a certain something he should have had healed or removed when I was a baby.” Harry said, looking at Arthur.

“I could not rely on Dumbledore, and I stood no chance against Tom. What I needed was time to train and learn. That’s not even to mention my duty to my country that required a better education than Hogwarts could hope to offer. I am sorry that I left you behind for 5 years. I won’t claim I had no choice, merely that all other choices were terrible, and would likely have gotten me killed.”

Hermione deflated. “I… I’m sorry. It just hurts to know that you chose to leave us, even if we didn’t experience it.”

“For what it matters, it was a hard, lonely 5 years, and I missed you.” Harry added.

“That does present problems.” Arthur said.

Harry just nodded. “Eventually much of this information will be released to the public. But not for years now. Tom needs to be defeated before that, and Polaris needs at least a few years under its belt to fully settle in first. It also makes it hard to find a spouse. If I go for someone my own age, people may think they are a cradle robber. If I go for someone the public things is my age, I would feel like one. Which leaves people between 17-18. Young enough that my dating them wouldn’t seem odd, but old enough they’d be adults, and I wouldn’t feel like a creep. Fortunately as most of the council are aware of my situation, I am not being pushed to settle down yet. It helps that there are protocols should I die though those are a national secret for now.”

“I hadn’t thought of that yet.” Arthur said. “That does complicate your situation in more ways than I had imagined.

Hermione however took some time to be annoyed and frustrated. “Everything is going so badly now. Only now do we learn how bad Hogwarts is on an international standard. No one told us this before. And now I learn my best friend is now 4 years older than me.” She said, clearly speaking to herself.

“Well it’s up to you and your parents, but you can switch school. You speak French, so Beaubatons is an option.”

“You aren’t going to recommend Voyager?” Hermione said, raising an eyebrow.

“I would be biased if I suggested it.” Harry said, shrugging. “Either way, if you spend some time studying this summer, you can make up a good deal of the things you weren’t taught. That should allow you to take the international OWLs if you so wish. But it’s only important if you want the option of working internationally. Hogwarts OWLs & NEWTs are still accepted in Britain. As for me… I can’t say much. Your feelings are valid, if that’s a concern you are having. I would feel the same at least for a while. But I am not in that situation.”

Chapter Text

9th April 1996

Harry awoke the next day and after a few big stretches got to work. First was a shower. Fortunately magic made drying your hair a non issue. After that he got dressed up in some of his best clothing. Today he wore a full suite. On some less formal days, like yesterday, he would wear a bit less. But he was always careful to look as nice as he could given what was acceptable. Today however he had to dress to muggle black or white tie standards. Male fashion was so boring in muggle high society. Harry needed to show respect for the dress code, but couldn’t be boring either. He had a meeting with the Queen of England today though. Given how she seemed to match Dumbledore for color though, if not comparable in terms of style and preference, Harry figured he could get away with a dark sapphire blue. It was dark enough and close enough to midnight blue as to be acceptable, but pushed the boundary just a bit.

Joss helped him get ready. He could do it all of course, but there were extra stages for Harry. There were some basic protections in his clothing. One of his pockets had a very small pouch sewn into it that contained a tiny invisible decoy detonator, one of Fred & Georges inventions. His shoes had a tiny but magically expanded space in the heels that held Peruvian instant darkness powder. Harry could stomp in such a way as to release a cloud of darkness for a quick escape if needed. His suit jacket had a hidden magically expanded pocket with a dagger inside it for his ease of use along with a hand of glory for his use with the instant darkness powder. Harry had also taken the liberty to have a second hidden expanded pocket that he had various prank items hidden in that had surprising applications for combat or stealth. He had some Skiving Snackbox items in there, should he need an excuse to leave.

Should he get word that he needed to leave, he could covertly give himself a nosebleed or fever and use it to ‘go get that checked or dealt with.’ It was a ready made excuse for him to leave a location should it become needed. The key feature being that the items were stored in the enlarged space, so a pat down wouldn’t detect them. The pocket also had a false button so people wouldn’t find his items. His suit jacket was also lined with dragonhide on the inside so he could take a beating to the stomach or chest without getting too hurt. A standard knife would just cut open the jacket’s exterior cloth, revealing the dragonhide sewn inside.

He had 2 wands on him, his phoenix and rowan wand as well as a new wand, pear and horned serpent horn. He loved his phoenix wand, but with the horcrux extracted it didn’t quite work as well as it used to. It still worked well for him, around 90% of how it had before, but no longer perfectly. Harry wasn’t sure if it was that he had the horcrux removed, or if his maturing had caused it. The wandmaker he had talked to said occasionally people grew out of their first wands. Kids got their wands at 11, and after maturing the change in their personality occasionally weakened the bond with their first wand. Harry had returned the old secondary wand to the vault now that he had 2 wands that worked for him better.

Harry went to breakfast once he was ready. Hermione, Neville, and most of the Weasleys were there. Ron was sleeping in, but given this was a vacation for them, that was fine. Hermione, curious as ever, was peppering Harry with questions as he ate.

“What’s the current population?” she asked.

“1,764, adding together the last census, intake information, and child births since the census.” Harry replied between bites of his breakfast.

“What's the percentage by type of people who live here?”

“About 27% Werewolves, 14% Vampires, 5% Veela, 11% Goblins and 43% are just normal people.” Harry said, keeping it to whole numbers for ease. If she wanted more accurate information she could get that later.

“How large is Polaris?

“A little smaller than Cuba by land, as I already gave you the population.”

“How big is the central island, the one we are on?”

“Somewhere between 2/3rds and 3/4ths the size of Tasmania.”

“Are there any other towns that have been built?”

Yes, one on an island not too far away.”

“What’s its name?”

“Regulus.” This time Sirius answered. Harry had offered the choice of name to him, and he named it for his brother. Sirius felt guilty for leaving Regulus when he ran away. When he had learned about Regulus trying to destroy one of Voldemort's horcruxes, and learned his brother had redeemed himself, Sirius had been wrought with guilt.

Sirius being the one to answer seemed to have knocked Hermione out of her stride. She was about to ask something, but the look on Sirius’s face made it clear he didn’t want to discuss Regulus right now. Harry took advantage of the cease fire to start eating beyond taking small bites between questions.

Harry managed to almost finish eating his hashbrowns before Molly said something she’d clearly been thinking about for a while.

“Isn’t that unsafe? What with all the werewolves, vampires, and goblins?”

Harry let out a long sigh and looked at his plate, then Arthur Weasley. He just wanted to eat his breakfast. Hermione, he understood. This was a whole new, fascinating place for her that she needed to research and learn about. He appreciated the enthusiasm, if wished she would ask him less at meals.

Molly Weasley was another matter though. Her racism and bigotry were a problem. She didn’t seem to even understand just how racist that sounded. Harry supposed it made some sense. She was a prewett, a pureblood of a noble house, even if she mostly rejected that. Perhaps she was just raised with these ideas, and never questioned them.

“With all these werewolves, there have only been 3 attacks, and only 1 of them resulted in the spreading of the curse. The victim immediately got the rabies vaccine, and has lived a totally normal life aside from turning into a wolf once a month. I am told their kids love the full moon, and he gives them rides when he is a wolf. Of those attacks, 2 of the attackers are currently in prison. The 4th was turned during the Hogsmeade attack. He’d received a small cut during the panic, and hadn’t known it was a werewolf who hit him. He wasn’t punished because he testified under veritaserum and evidence pointed to him not knowing he’d been cursed.

I would think he would have been checked, but given the panic and with 11 deaths and 18 confirmed people cursed, and the 53 people wounded, I can see why Mungos would have been overwhelmed. I could also see why they wouldn’t check someone who came away with a fairly minor injury who didn’t know a werewolf had gotten them. It’s likely they healed it and moved on. Although that does raise the question of why Wizarding Britain thinks only having 1 hospital is a good idea.”

“He shouldn’t be allowed to have kids. He could hurt them-” Molly said, outraged that the man was allowed to keep his children.

“How was only 1 of them turned?” Arthur asked, curing though Molly’s rant.

“There is an increase in police presence on the full moon for just such a situation. Combined with very few people staying out during the full moon. As to them losing their kids… You are aware that wolves generally don’t attack their family right? While old dis-proven research came up with the idea of alphas and betas, modern research shows that's only a thing in zoos where wolves are thrust into the same exhibit without being related. Wild wolf packs are family based. Parents, grandparents, kids, etc. As a result, without the rabies virus, werewolves almost never attack unless provoked. And we have never had a case of an attack on their own family.

Fortunately there is a cure being produced here. It’s just been authorized to start human testing in Polaris with volunteers. It’ll need to undergo multiple rounds and testing to normal scientific rigor before being proven though.” Harry said.

Harry took a few seconds to finish his breakfast before getting up. “Anyway, I need to leave. I have a meeting to attend in Britain.” Harry said, getting up. “I’ll be back later tonight. Feel free to explore the city or the palace. If any of you get lost, feel free to call on Joss to help you get around. Do be aware, the palace is filled with secrets. I specifically had them build plenty of secrets. I won’t tell anyone anything about them though. That’s the fun of it. If you need a way to entertain yourself, let me tell you that hide and seek can be amazing here. Feel free to turn all the lights off on the top floor if you want privacy.” Harry said, wearing a grin. After that, Harry headed out to meet up with the Royal guard.

Three of whom would be escorting him. Grimhook now ran the royal guard, but insisted on coming along sometimes to stop him from getting rusty. Today it would be someone else though. Flintfang was the newest of the goblin members of the Royal Guard. He would be one of the 3 royal guards escorting Harry personally. Dobby would be going along, to utilize his elven abilities and stealth skills.

Finally, Alexandre Blanc, or as he told people, just Al or Alex. He was a werewolf from France who had joined Polaris 3 months ago. While he wasn’t as strong on offense, but he made up for that with great skill when it came to shields and defensive magic. His somewhat enhanced senses also made him an asset for things like detecting poisons or spotting ambushes. Flintfang balanced out Alexandre by being much stronger in offense than he was in defense.

Olivier Briggs arrived just a few minutes before they were to depart. Harry had suggested that she might be able to explain things to the Queen and Prime Minister of England that he might miss, given her law enforcement career and background. Where Harry pushed the muggle black tie standards a little, Olivier bucked them entirely. She arrived in full military regalia. She’d served in England's military before becoming an auror, hoping that the military background would give her auror career a push. It hadn't, sadly, given her blood status. Olivier was a hard woman, strict and intimidating, but with a hidden kindness that inspired loyalty. She tended to wear a Polaris military regalia at all times, even taking time away from work to put herself through boot camp, and graduated at the top of the ‘class’. Granted Polaris currently only had 63 soldiers (About 3.57% of the population) who had graduated from their boot camp.

Harry had been slightly reluctant to start a military program, but with Tom out there, he felt he would be stupid not to. Olivier was considering going to the military as opposed to running the DMLE, but she was still the best candidate to run the DMLE. She was waiting for a replacement that matched her high standards. She said she had been pleasantly surprised by the bootcamp. She had half expected they wouldn’t be teaching muggle military tech. Hary voiced that only someone ignorant of what muggle militaries could do, or highly arrogant would ignore it. As magic only interfered with tech that heavily relied on electricity, they were more than able to use firearms, and the council had agreed that with dark lords about, they needed every advantage. Polaris was likely to set up other things like sniper programs in the future.

It was only 45 minutes Later when Harry arrived at the meeting place. While he had been expecting just the Queen and Prime Minister of England, he was surprised to see a third person. Amelia Bones had been invited by the Prime Minister. Harry wasn’t sure if he was surprised or not when the Prime Minister said he’d invited her. Apparently the update hadn’t gotten to them because of the international portkey timing.

Harry and Olivier took a seat after making a show of handing their wands to one of the Royal Guard. Dobby, who was currently invisible, held Harry’s spare wand and his favorite sword in a magically expanded pocket. Handing over the other wand on him was just for show.

After introductions, the discussion began. The Queen of England started things off, not that Harry minded. She had been the one to initiate this meeting. “My advisors into Britain’s wizarding world have been keeping me informed, but even they don’t seem to have much information. Two of them are of the opinion that nothing is amiss other than You and Dumbledore creating chaos for a power grab. I have another who says they are unsure. A third says you have submitted evidence to the ICW proving your claims. Given most wizarding countries have no interest in ‘muggle’ UK, let alone England. None of this evidence has been provided for me, let alone the Prime Minister.”

Harry nodded. “If you can provide a Pensieve, I can provide my memories of all related events.” Harry said. “As you said though, I can imagine some made the mistake of not considering Tom’s impact in the non magical world. Tom’s been pretty lackadaisical about the statute. I’m all for you both being aware of things. Given how fast non magical people are progressing in Science and Technology, I don’t think the statute will last with people like Tom active.”

“From context I gather you are talking about Voldemort., But why are you calling him Tom?” Amelia asked.

“That’s his name.” Harry said. “Tom Marvolo Riddle. He was born to Merope Gaunt and Tom Riddle Sr. I’ve managed to track him back to attending Wool's Orphanage until he graduated Hogwarts. Tom Marvolo Riddle is an anagram of ‘I am Lord Voldemort’. I refer to him as Tom because he is certainly no Lord and Tom is better than calling him ‘flight from death’.”

“Why are you so concerned about the statute?” Amelia asked, confused. “I suppose he’s known for his evil deeds towards muggles and muggleborns, so I see the risk. But you make it sound like there is more I am not aware of.”

“Cameras.” The prime minister stated. “It will only be so long before his attacks on normal people get caught on camera.

“What are cameras?” Amelia asked, confused.

“Imagine if you could make a small pensieve, and everything the bowl “saw” was recorded. So if you placed it such that the interior of the bowl was facing a door, you’d have a recording of everyone coming and going through the door, or around the side of the door it faced. This is a common everyday thing for non magical people. Tom is being sneaky because Fudge is buying him time to gather his forces. Once he is forced out in the open, or feels he is ready, he will go public. When he does that, he will likely occasionally raid nonmagical people. How long before he or his forces perform magic in front of a camera?”

“While some might think any such recordings are fake, there are ways of detecting faked footage. It will eventually get attention, especially if it keeps happening.” The Queen added, enjoying how uninformed Amelia was, though she hid it.

Once the pensieve arrived, Harry produced a ready made copy of the verified memory from a vial he carried in a pocket. After that, Harry sat back and waited for the 3 of them to emerge. Once they emerged, Harry endured a deluge of questions. They asked about everything from the leadup to the task, to how the portkey got there, to the location of the graveyard, how the ritual worked, why he looked like that, how Harry resisted the Imperious curse, all the way to the names of every death eater Harry knew and much more.

The meeting ran on for several hours. The Queen was adjusting her purse, and Harry knew that was a sign she was done. It was only after Harry was readying to leave that something occurred to him. After he and Amelia left, he took a moment to give Amelia some advice before they separated.

“You may want to talk to someone at Gringotts about devising a contract for your aurors. With certain wordings or types of contract you may be able to use them to expunge any death eaters from your aurors, or at the very least stop them from spreading information you want kept quiet. Unlike unbreakable vows, contracts can have a greater variety of wordings, and the price can be altered, if you don’t want people dead.”

Amelia thought for a moment, before she seemed to have a realization. “That’s why no one could determine where the werewolves and muggleborns were leaving. You had them contractually bound to not tell anyone anything. The contracts only became null and void when Polaris went public.”

Harry gave her a grin, before separating and heading back to France. Apparently people there were concerned about the possibility of Voldemort taking his reign further should Britain fall.

Chapter Text

13th April 1996

The last 3 days had been great. They’d been hiking (Harry had provided a wizards tent so they could camp overnight), visited the nature preserve, and spent a day at one of the beaches. It was the last of these Harry was currently thinking about. Ron had approached him alone. The conversation had Harry somewhat distracted even now. Some needed conversations were just hard, and that had certainly been hard.

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Harry had been sitting in a nice folding chair watching the others play around, cook, etc. Ron approached him tentatively, as if concerned that speaking too soon would bring some doom upon him. He took a minute just to find start speaking.

“Things are different between us…” Ron had said, as if observing something for the first time, though his tone made it clear it was something he had been dreading.

“We aren’t as close anymore.”

“No… we aren’t.” Harry said, trying to be gentle but keep things factual.

“I am not sure why… I’ve not been a bad friend have I?”

Harry gave a very soft sigh. “You have been at times. Like abandoning me during the triwizard tournament.”

“But after we made up we seemed as close as ever.” Ron said, confused.

“I was desperate, Ron. When I was forced into the tournament and ridiculed for ‘cheating’ to get in, I knew that 2 people would have my back. I knew even if the rest of the school turned on me, I would have you and Hermione. When you refused to believe I was innocent, and neither wanted the tournament position nor entered willingly, it hurt Ron. Bad. For a month I was lost, abandoned by my first ever friend. It was a desperate scary time in my life, and you weren’t there. Worse, you made a point of hurting me often. I understood the reason. I get it. But that severely damaged our friendship long term.

When we got back together I was desperate for friendship, and anyone to be supporting me. Once the tournament was over and I was no longer desperate and anxious, I started to really understand what happened. During the tournament I was effectively in shock, in so much need of a friend I was unable to really process things. When I could, I realized how utterly hurt I was when you abandoned me. I forgave you long ago Ron, but I can’t forget. For a month you destroyed almost all the trust I had put in you. I still care for you. You are still my good friend. But I can no longer say you are one of my best friends. Those wounds need time to fully heal. They are getting there though. The thing we need most now is trust. Trust once destroyed takes time to rebuild. Where before I trusted you so fast now it takes longer because those wounds get in the way.”

“I… I’m so sorry.” Ron said.

For the first time Harry felt Ron truly understood the damage done. Though Ron had started to cry, Harry said nothing about it. Ron wasn’t a touchy feely type of person, and would just be embarrassed if he did comment on it. Now was not the time for friendly jabs afterall.

“I know. And I am sorry too. But that trust is growing back. It will just take time. But you being here, it helps.” Harry said gently. Ron didn’t react, though Harry was sure he had heard him. Harry decided to say nothing more. He wouldn’t leave though. No one should be alone during emotional pain unless by their own desire. No one should face that sort of thing alone. So Harry got up and gave Ron a pat on the back. He’d be there, even if Ron hadn’t been there for him. Harry had had 5 years to heal afterall. Thinking on it, Harry wasn’t sure he could have articulated that very well if not for the distance and growth he had gained in the time chamber.

Ron had eventually composed himself and gone to do other things. Things had been different since then. It felt like the elephant in the room had been properly addressed. It felt like their friendship had been aired out properly. What had come after was tentative, Ron trying his best to be Harry's friend, but scared he might make it worse. Harry did his best to reassure Ron. Everyone needed reassurance every now and again after all. Especially after something like that.

—------------------------------------------

Harry was currently showing his friends around some of the unrestricted parts of the DR&D (Department of Research & Development). Some of them, Ginny and Ron, weren't too interested, but Hermione and the adults were more interested. Harry had shown them first to one of their unrestricted research rooms. They had gotten a sneak peak at some research projects. Harry just so happened to include a showing and basic explanation of how vaccines worked, and they met some people working on the Rabies cure. Some good progress had been made, but it would take months just for their first human trial.

They were currently in one of the most open and available parts of the department. This is the least restricted part of the DR&D. This is the open workshop. Our Jr and Senior Inventor grant receivers work here as needed.” The tour guide said, smiling as always. He’d been flustered a bit when he saw Harry on the tour at first, and confused as Harry was down here often. Harry had just thought it amusing to go on the tour with his friends.

Hermione, as always, was the first to ask questions. “The Jr and Senior inventors program?”

“The DR&D has a program that provides information, grants, and more to those who are looking to advance in their fields. The Jr Inventor program is to provide information, funding, and spaces for students and those 17 and under who wish to create new things or advance in a chosen field. We have classes in a variety of topics during the summer, and some over the other breaks as well. We currently have a small number of students here who are in this program. So far 5 new spells have been invented by them, as well as 2 potions and a few runic devices.”

“How is this program funded?” Arthur asked, curious.

“The Royal Vault funds the DR&D. As a result it is technically not under the authority of the ministry or council. His highness King Harry believes that “ Knowledge and Invention should not be the playthings of politicians.” That said, those in Sr. Inventors Program who need money for their research, or access to hard to find knowledge, sacrifice a small percentage of the profits of their inventions, and this goes to fund the government. The percentage depends upon the funding needed. It’s also considered a tradition by wealthy inventors. This was established when King Harry sacrificed 40% of the profits of his newly invented translation devices to fund the government. Some inventors have offered a greater share of the profits than was asked of them in return for funding.”

“Where did the rest go?” Hermione asked.

“It’s rude to ask about someone's finances generaly.” The tour guide said, slightly offended she would ask the King such a question publicly.

“It’s fine I suppose. 45% went to the royal vault. 15% of the profits went to Gringotts as a token of friendship. I tell you this mostly because it’s something you could find reasonably easily with some research.”

“And it was that that started the tradition of inventors who got help from the government donating a larger than asked for percentage of the profits. Sometimes people who got no help from us even do so.” The guide said with a smile, attempting to move things along.

The tour continued for a while, before they headed towards another of the rooms. “This is one of our chemical laboratories. It’s here that those researchers whose passion involves potions, chemistry, and alchemy. This is just one of the labs. One of these is being used by the group researching a cure for rabies.” The tour guide let them wander about the lab for a few minutes. There were spells to stop them from taking things or touching dangerous things.

The tour ended about 15 minutes afterward, ending with a display of a variety of inventions that had been created. All in all, Harry felt the tour had been good. It showed off the things that the public was okay to see, but left the vast majority of it unrevealed. The DR&D’s separate building was much bigger than was publicly available. It was the lower floors that held the secrets. Some things were just secret because it was advantageous for them to be kept in the dark until the projects were finished, and some could be dangerous.

Among the first category were some of the wards Harry had groups trying to create. Wards that would block the rising sea level from overtaking the country. Those were now working, but not yet near ready for deployment. Currently they have some problems. While they didn’t let in water, fish sometimes swam right through them, not to mention other ocean debris. That was something they were aiming to fix.

The second, and perhaps more important, were the anti radiation wards. Given all the world’s tensions, and the nuclear bombs many countries held, Harry had prioritized studying magical ways to repel radiation and radioactive materials. The researchers currently estimated it would take a decade of study if not more. There were small steps in the right direction though. Currently the test wards repelled small cobalt 60 samples, but no other radioactive materials. They also only stopped the materials, and let in the radiation. That wasn’t too much use, but it was a step in the right direction. Currently they are experimenting with radiation in relation to magic. They were riding on the coat-tails of nonmagical scientific knowledge, but that was fine. Fortunately they had most of the nonmagical safety gear used in radiation testing by them.

One thing that they had made great strides on though was researched into why magic and high tech electrical gadgets didn’t work together. What they had found so far was already impressive. Magic didn’t affect most tech except things like computers and things running on more modern microchips and such. It seemed the device had to be sufficiently complex before magic interfered.

Hermione had been wrong in saying that they just didn’t work however. It was more like the high presence of magic seemed to interfere with them. They were testing computers currently, and found that magic seemed to cause erratic errors in complex microchips, switching things on and off randomly, changing inputs, and such. This inevitably glitched out the electronics, and with a high enough amount of magic in the area, fried the complex circuits. The current hypothesis was that if they could create a way to direct magic around such technology instead of allowing magic to get inside or through the technology that this might greatly reduce or stop such interference. Early tests on this hypothesis were encouraging.

This was in the deeper levels of the building not because it was outright dangerous, but because the wizarding world wasn’t ready for it. Polaris was already incorporating simple nonmagical tech, and steadily advancing in their modern technology use. Granted there was only so far they could catch up without this research being finished. Still, Harry was laying the groundwork and getting ready for that breakthrough. Modern electronics could become a devastating force. Beyond the cultural change such devises would cause, and the rebellion in response, modern electronics would destroys many businesses. It would be a repeat of how cars had destroyed all the businesses revolving around horses, carriages, and so forth, but on an increased scale. How would the Wizard Wireless compete with TV or video games? Granted radios people could use on the go would be a boon to them. Newspapers would take a massive hit too. Nowadays few nonmagical people read them, when they could get the news on the television. Owl deliveries would take a huge hit when people could just call each other from large distances. What was the point of sending a letter if you could just call someone? That would relegate them to mostly packages.

But he could only imagine the backlash if computers became functional in a magical area. If Television became functional, if phones became functional… it would rock the magical world. The mirrors he and Sirius had would already revolutionize the magical world if they were more commonplace. Imagine aurors being able to call in support with such ease. If Voldemort got his hands on working cellphones… Well that wasn’t likely to happen even if they got the tech working.

“Harry, are you okay?” Arthur asked, breaking Harry from his riverie.

“Yes, just thinking. How about a less formal tour of the council chambers? Given Bill works there, that seems fitting.”

Chapter Text

15th April 1996

The Weasleys as well as Neville and Hermione were soon to head back to Britain. They would only be here for a few more hours before their international portkey would take them back. Harry had just asked one of the elves to tell Hermione that he needed to talk with her. Harry was currently in his private office finishing a number of reports when she entered. Hermione seemed hesitant. That wasn’t surprising though, this was going to be a difficult discussion.

“Hermione, there is something we need to talk about.”

“What is it Harry?” Hermione asked.

“I’ve been getting some complaints about you. I understand your curiosity is just enthusiasm and a desire to learn things. That’s great, and I get it. But I have gotten multiple complaints about you. One of them I got was from the DR&D tour the day before yesterday. The guide and a couple others in the room felt it was immensely rude to ask someone about their finances. Especially to ask me about them. I answered because I knew you meant no harm. But still, several people were insulted. It’s very rude to ask someone about their house's finances. It implies either that you think I am incapable of managing my finances, or that you think it’s your business. What you did was effectively the same as asking Arthur Weasley not just how much money he makes, but how he spends it. Now because that knowledge is something anyone could look up, it wasn’t quite as bad as that, but it was close.” Harry did his best to speak in a calm way, to ensure she knew he wasn’t hurt.

It didn’t work though. “I didn’t mean to imply any of that! I didn’t… I’m sorry.”

Harry moved over to comfort her a little as she vented. “I know you didn’t. But that’s the way people will take that sort of thing.” Harry said, doing his best to comfort his best friend. Harry just stayed there for a minute, and once she seemed more collected he took a seat again.

“I know you learn best by reading, just as I do by doing, so I have bought these for you.” Harry said, taking several books from one of his desk drawers. “I have books discussing the etiquette of wizarding Brittain, another on several European countries, another on several American countries such as the wizarding US and Mexica, and one that goes into detail on the government and makeup of Brittain’s Ministry and Wizengamot. I felt manners and Etiquette alone is boring, but a more worldly knowledge base might make it more fun. It should also give you a good degree of cultural knowledge, especially as it relates to etiquette.”

Hermione held the books on her lap. “It’s that bad?” She said, seeming somewhat downtrodden.

“Somewhat, yes. But you are not all to blame there. It took those years of studying in the time chamber for me to learn better. It was one of the first major things I started learning, other than occlumency. Hogwarts does not have a class that teaches wizarding culture, nor do they even have an introductory few lessons to teach the bare essentials. There is so much that neither of us has been taught. Many view it as the job of those who come into wizarding Britain to learn it themselves. After all, it’s effectively a different country. That’s somewhat fair I suppose, but at the same time, new people need to learn that there is a significant difference to prompt them to learn.

Part of that is the divide of the nonmagical and magical causing problems. The nonmagical world is becoming less and less formal over time, at least in the western hemisphere. That change hasn’t occurred in the magical nations, or at least far less so. This is even more true in Brittain, where the only position in the government that is election based is the Minister position. It’s still far from approaching democratic in general. Hell the politicians sit as judges. That alone shows how backwards it is.”

“So this isn’t my fault.”

“Partially. We still should have considered there was a difference. But expecting 11 year olds to notice that and to learn etiquette is ridiculous. I’d argue it’s only 10% our fault. Children shouldn’t be expected to take that kind of initiative, especially about such a boring subject. But by now, we really should have wondered why most people were distant and somewhat disliked us. Sirius was the one to explain it all to me, and it hurt to learn one of the reasons people so easily turned against me was because I had been disrespecting the etiquette and culture, and that had fostered some resentment.” Harry said, remembering how frustrating that had been to learn. He’d been feeling the same things he suspected Hermione was at the time. Why had no one told him? Why was there no class about that?

“One of the first things I learned was that the whole rivalry with Draco was over me accidentally snubbing him. By refusing to at least shake his hand, I insulted him. I had no way of knowing that of course. He had also been about as rude as he could be in his introduction though, so that’s not entirely my fault. Really, Draco should have been in Gryffindor. I suspect the Hat placed him in Slytherin because it knew that if it put him elsewhere his father would have been pissed. While I don’t think Lucious is abusive, he probably would have taken Draco being where he should have been placed very badly. That’s not to mention that it allows you some choice, and Draco was conditioned to want to go to Slytherin.”

“So that’s why I was so disliked.” Hermione said. Her frustration was clearly building now.

“Mostly. That said, you hadn’t mellowed out yet back then, and were still very bossy. I say this not to hurt you, but to explain. You’ve made a good effort to lower that trait, as well as your too trusting nature regarding authority. In Britain some already looked down on you for being ‘muggleborn’, and when you showed no manners, at least their versions, it made them dislike you. Again, that’s hardly fair, but it probably contributed a good deal.” Harry said, sighing.

“That said, we could both use some good news, and I have the pleasure of delivering some. The DR&D head, Jasper Dinn, was watching the tour. He said he loved your thirst for knowledge. He asked me to tell you that if you could work on your etiquette and calm down a bit, he would love to have you in the DR&D. He even said if you insisted on staying in Brittain, he could put in a good word for you with the Department of Mysteries. If you had any goals of rising through the ministry, working as an unspeakable for a while could give you a strong baseline for raising through the ministry later. That said, he’d rather you work for him.”

That made Hermione blush a little.

“Did he really?” She asked.

“He did. But whatever job you go into, I am sure you can do well. He did hope you considered though. He said there were some things the DR&D were working on that could use someone like you.”

“Oh?” Hermione asked, raising an eyebrow.

“I can’t tell you.” Harry said, teasing her a little. “As you should expect, a lot of the research conducted there is only available to those working in the department, and me of course.” Harry knew this would rile up her curiosity a little, but he would say nothing more.

That seemed to have got her thinking about other things, and after a mix of friendly discussions and Harry teasing her a little about all the things he can’t tell her about, Hermione insisted she leave so she could get reading those books.

Next was a meeting with Arthur Weasley. While his experiments with cars and such had earned him some scorn in Britain, especially from the purebloods, that was no issue here. Jasper had asked him to talk to Arthur about possibly being hired in Polaris, as either a researcher in the DR&D, or to run a small department that would handle technology in Polaris. At the very least he could get a fairly significant pay raise. Arthur had lost any hope of a pay raise when He and Ron had taken the car and been spotted.

After that, he had to read a report from Farah Rosier. That would be his last major task. And it was most certainly a major report. It gave some details about the recent actions of the death eaters. They were scouting out the DoM. That was expected. Tom would want to know the prophecy after having been harmed by the lack of information multiple times by now. Tom seemed to have given up trying to get Harry to go in and get it. With their connection severed before Tom had even learned about it, and with Harry in another country, he had no choice but to get it himself. The Order of the Phoenix were still defending it, though Harry didn’t know why. All it said is that one of them must kill the other. Technically they must die by the other hand. Tom was already going to go after Harry the moment he could, he merely had other priorities for now. Because Tom was going to come after Harry anyway, the prophecy wouldn’t tell Tom anything of importance.

Tom still hadn’t decided on a date yet, but based on the reports from Farah, it was likely to be sometime during OWL testing, or just after. As Tom always seemed to favor big moves on Halloween and the end of the year, that was normal. Harry had tipped off the head of the DOM a couple weeks ago, as well as telling him about Rookwood’s status as Tom’s spy in the DoM. All he had gotten in response was a confirmation that they had received it, with the proper seals, and a note that they had already known about Rookwood.

The next biggest move he seemed to be planning on was the assassination of Amelia Bones. It seemed he had plans on Yaxley, who worked in the DMLE, luring Amelia to a location where Tom himself planned on killing her. That couldn’t be allowed. Amelia was good at her job, and Brittain was going to need her there for as long as possible. At some point though she might need to flee to safety. After all, if she and Susan were killed, that would end the Bones family.

“Chara.” Harry called. Chara was the royal messenger, and carried most messages. Once he arrived, Harry stamped a seal in special ink on the top of the letter. He added a small symbol above the first I in the letter as a symbol. Supposedly this was a system she had used with a few select friends, including James and Sirius, as well as her brother during the first war. Sirius had taught it to him. After that, he put the letter in an envelope and sealed it. “Take this to Amelia Bones directly. Take your time, I know that’s a long trip. This falls under the most strict levels of your contract. I know you can do it.” Harry said, handing the letter to the elf. “If you need to rest after getting back or between trips, feel free. Thank you for your help.”

Finally, all that was left was to see Neville, Hermione, and most of the Weasleys off back to Britain.

Chapter Text

9th May 1996

It had almost been a month since Neville, Hermione, and most of the Weasley family had visited during the easter break. Since then things had been mostly holding steady. There was a slow trickle of new citizens, a bit of international drama that didn’t amount to anything of note. France was pulling Britain over the coals. While Harry’s memories, even tested for tampering, didn’t prove Voldemort’s return, Fudge’s bull-headed refusal despite the Azkaban breakout was earning Britain a bad reputation.

As a part of it the Malfoire family, the main branch of Britain’s Malfoy family, had decided it was time to intervene. They had decided that they could not allow the Britain branch of the family to besmirch their name any more. As the French Malfoire family held primacy and held the head of the family, and technically, the clan. One family couldn’t hold positions of power in 2 separate countries after all. When the Weasley’s lost their Wizengamot seat to the Malfoys, they became mostly independent. As a result the Malfoire couldn’t outright make demands of Lucius.

That did not leave them without any recourse however. The main branch controlled the family's main vaults. The Malfoy, as a branch family, got a stipend each month that went into the Malfoy vaults, as well as the occasional donation. The head of the Malfoire clan, using primacy and control of the main vaults, had issued an ultimatum. Either Lucius and his heir, Draco, formally swore a vow to never bow to Tom, and if they were already, as they well knew, permanently removed themselves from his service, or they would lose all support from the main family. Including financial support. Lucius, having no choice in the matter, refused.

The head of the Malfoire family thus not only stopped all stipends, donations, and support, but had a full accounting of the whole family's vaults done. After all, while the Malfoire had little control of the Malfoy family politically, that did not mean they were financially powerless. It was soon discovered that a good deal of the stipend and donations to the Malfoy family went to furthering Voldemort’s agenda. Other portions were used for bribery and political donations. There were contracts in place stating that the stipends were for the family, not politics and donations to others. Using this, they had filed a formal international lawsuit with the ICW’s civil courts for breach of contract.

Depending on how the case went, Lucius stood to lose a great deal. If it went especially badly, he could be politically neutered. After all, he would need to pay back all monies and properties that were used outside the contract back to the main branch of the family. While the Malfoys had tons of private investments and their own separate fortune, they could be forced to spend a lot of that to pay back the Malfoire family. If Lucius lost a significant amount, he would be hesitant to donate money, fund Fudge’s campaign, and more. While the next proper election wasn’t until 1998, Fudge was facing opposition, and a motion to force him to retire was steadily gaining traction in the wizengamot.

But the head of the Malfoire family had done more still. He’d declared the Malfoy branch family illegitimate to ever inherit the headship of the Malfoire family, or their title until such a time as they proved themselves. That had never been a big possibility anyway, but with Tom active and a possible looming international war, they had decided to take the precaution.

Harry, greatly amused, had sent the head of the family a set of beautiful fountain pens. Each had a cartridge charmed to hold a year's supply of ink, with 6 additional refills provided with the set. The set of 3 had cost him significantly over a thousand pounds. He’d send the gift anonymously, as he didn’t want to be connected to the family affairs. However it seemed the Malfoire head was shrewd, as Harry received a thank you letter just yesterday, though it didn’t list him by name.

Currently Harry was sitting on his throne with his desk in front of him. His financial accounts and details on the desk. Fortunately the desk was charmed to obscure any and all writing and prevented people from just removing documents from the desk without his explicit permission, granted he could turn off those charms. The writing obscuring one was especially difficult, and involved a bit of his blood to key it to him.

The Potter family main vault, kept separate from the Royal Treasury vault, was doing very well. It had returned back to normal, and had recently received a bit of a boost. Its balance in monies now was around £4.97m, but most of the true value was held in other forms. About £12.23m in stocks. A bit over £6m was held just in microsoft stocks. His financial advisor and manager from Gringotts told him that would be a very sound investment. It was only about 0.1%, but still. Supposedly the share prices were likely to go much further. There were estimates that within a decade he should triple the value of the shares. Harry suspected it might be more given how computers seem to be a household thing now. That said, Harry knew he had very little knowledge of these things.

He also owned 20% of Weasley’s Wizarding Wheezes. That had been a little surprising. Fred and George had wanted to return his investment. Harry meanwhile spent most of his income from that investing back into the business. He only kept about 25% of the profits he got from it. Meanwhile Fred & George pretended not to know Harry was doing that. After all, who makes investments anonymously, for no profit? Still, it made them happy to know Harry genuinely wanted them to succeed and was happy for them.

Harry also owned 35% of Ursa Shipping Co. He’d invested heavily in the shipping business one of his civilians had proposed. While it was true the small (from a shipping sense) freighter couldn’t enter the Polaris wards because doing so would cause electrical problems, they had found a way to avoid docking on the islands, and delivered the cargo via smaller non computer based ships that delivered to and from the main ship.

Normally that would not be profitable, but the freighter held many magically enhanced cargo containers that were bigger on the inside. Some even had food preservation charms and temperature controls. As long as they were stored far enough from the complex electronics it wasn’t a problem.

Exotic and luxury goods that Polaris couldn’t make or easily obtain from other magical nations were now flooding into Polaris. Fruits, vegetables, meats, spices, herbs, and more from across the world were making their way into the country. Many were finding themselves fond of the other products. Things like wines and liqueurs, clothing, new materials only found or made in other countries, and much, much more were becoming available. The company was thinking of buying a second small freighter. The business was also contributing by providing lucrative jobs for a variety of people.

Beyond that there were a number of other smaller investments. One of the big ones was real estate. The potters owned 4 properties they had previously used for family members, before they shrunk down to just a single small family. There was also a good deal of real estate that was rented out. Then there was the potion of the translation devices that went to the Potter vault.

Harry moved on to the status of the royal vault. The current value in pounds was £136.32m. That was significantly more than the potter vault, but as it had been kicked started with funds from the potter vault, that was to be expected. For that reason, the royal vault was paying a monthly stipend of 0.25% of its value to the Potter vault until the startup fund was paid back. Of course there were set limits to keep that from becoming a problem.

The Royal vault also held a number of investments, most of those within Polaris itself. Harry had decided that to encourage businesses, he should work to invest in businesses here that seemed like they would work. A good deal of these weren’t paying off currently, but things took time. That said, Harry was always cautious about investing. Especially if anyone wanted to use his name. That was not something he offered lightly. His reputation needed to be strong.

Harry had decided to keep the vaults separate as a form of future proving. If the Potter family grew significantly, having the royal vault fund the family could be a concern. It was best to keep the Monarch's funds separate from the rest of the families. He was already receiving an absurd number of marriage proposals. Daphne Greengrass’s father had already tried to make inroads towards that exact objective. Harry couldn’t blame him though. With Tom rising, and the Greengrasses staying neutral, he understood the desire to have a powerful figure protecting his daughter. Though he was sure there was more to it than just that.

Aside from the controlling nature of trying to sell off your children for social status and tie your family to royalty, which was horrifying enough, most of the offers were for people who were between 13 and 16. As an adult, Harry would feel gross if anyone he dated wasn’t at least 17. He refused to date someone 4 or 5 years younger than him. But they also needed to be socially acceptable, so no one his true age or older. So practically all the marriage offers were unacceptable. Sirius had warned him this would happen, and Harry had intellectually understood it, but he hadn’t understood it all until the proposals had started. It also felt fairly restricting. He knew few women in the 17-18 range that was socially acceptable for his unique situation, let alone that he could tolerate living with on a permanent basis.

Harry was distracted by his thoughts when Olivier Briggs entered the room with an auror and a pair of soldiers. She stepped forward and snapped a salute before reporting. “Walden Macnair has been captured upon entering Polaris. According to him, Minister Fudge sent him to deliver a message, and make demands. We captured him upon arrival.”

Harry nodded. All known Death Eaters were on a watch list. Anyone confirmed to have a Dark Mark, and anyone Voldemort had mentioned in the graveyard. The soldiers were here because Polaris considered itself in a war with Tom. Tom had tried to kill Harry many times, and was dedicated to doing it, so the council and Harry were in agreement. Any attempt on his life, especially from an international war criminal and terrorist, was effectively a declaration of war. It was however a soft war. They were not at war with Britain. As the British Ministry considered Tom dead, they effectively ignored this status.

“Thank you. I’ll get in contact with the ICW to send some people to witness and help manage the interrogation. We need to have all our ducks in a row so that we can’t be accused of anything unlawful.” Harry said with a sigh. Still, this would, if it went well, provide more evidence. While his memories didn’t count as solid proof of Tom’s return, combined with witnessed testimony from a death eater that he was back would effectively silence most people who had doubts. Harry pulled and readied his paperwork. “Joss.” He said, waiting for the elf. “Take these back to the secure document safe. It seems I’m going to be busy for a while. Thank you.” He said once Joss appeared.

"I honestly don't understand why Fudge thought sending a terrorist we are at war with to be a messenger would be a good idea." Olivier said, sighing.

"He probably figured he could insult us and we wouldn't start an international incident so he could get away with it. Or he didn't even consider Macnair's status as a death eater, given how he refuses to believe Tom is back. Either way, here there are no laws forbidding the use of Veritaserum." Harry said with a predatory smile that looked so much like a goblins. It was Lodlang who taught him these things after all.

Chapter Text

17th May 1996

Harry was currently sitting at a desk in an amphitheater style room. Below him towards the end of the room all the desks were facing were a number of people. The currently most important of which were: Fudge, the Supreme Mugwump (Fortunately not Dumbledore), and a committee to mediate the conflict between Polaris and wizarding Britain. Britain, being a full member of the ICW, was given the right to speak first. Harry couldn't help but think about the overblown media attention. The Daily Prophet, being Fudge's personal media playground, had been printing all kinds of nonsense. The international scene was better at least, as it wasn't so blatantly biased and untrue. Fudge was after all kinds of punitive damages for his capture of Macnair. Harry turned his attention back to Fudge as he began to speak.

Cornelius Fudge had been talking for a while already. He was giving an overly flowery speech that had Lucius Malfoy written all over it. Fudge was no great orator, but Lucius was good. He was bringing up a number of things, but most promising was the damage Harry was doing. How he’d illegally detained not only a pureblood who was a valued employee and critical to one of their departments. It covered the damages this did to the Ministry. The worst part was that it was dripping with condescending phrases. It was layered in wording about how despite the damage and insult, it was understandable that such a young, inexperienced, and foolish kid would make such a big mistake. Despite that it asked for the maximum penalty, saying that it would make it a ‘teachable moment’ for the young and naive Monarch. Fudge and Lucius were verbally patting his head and telling him they’d have to take his allowance for the rest of his year, speaking to him as if he was only 6 years old.

Harry was rightly pissed. He was currently working to keep his face mostly blank aside from a slightly amused expression. He wasn’t going to allow his enemies to get gratification from him. He would deal with the emotions he was repressing later, when there were no eyes watching him, or at least more friendly eyes. Harry was tempted to layer his response in language eliciting an elderly old man with dementia who couldn’t be held accountable for forgetting how things worked. As much as that would be satisfying however, that would turn this into a squabbling match that mostly traded insults. Harry wanted this issue to be taken seriously, so he would speak without falling to that level. He really did want to though. Being seen as immature on the international stage however would be damaging. It wasn’t worth it for temporary satisfaction.

Finally, it was Harry’s turn to speak. After the minute of prep and as Fudge went to his desk, Harry began.

“To be generous, let us first assume that Minister Fudge is correct. That I have been confundused or obliviated. That my memories, despite being tested for tampering, are invalid. Let us assume the same of everyone else who has evidence of Tom Marvolo Riddle’s return. Minister Fudge thus is correct. Regardless of this, he knows for a fact that I truly believe Tom Riddle is back. He is aware that Polaris is alert and watchful because I genuinely believe Tom is going to attempt to kill me. Even in this best possible situation for Minister Fudge, his actions in sending someone with a dark mark, who never properly got a trial, who were never interrogated using something like veritaserum were beyond rude and insulting. He may as well have sent a messenger who was a known supporter of Grindelwald, and who was branded as such, to any european country.”

Many people reacted with a start at that. The war Grindelwald raged across europe had left scars across most european countries. Populations were still recovering in europe. The lost generations caused by that war and all who died plagued many countries.

“Now lets return to reality. There is now plenty of evidence of Tom Riddle’s return. This alone makes it so much worse. Let’s now imagine, if you will, that there was evidence that Grindelwald and some of his strongest supporters had broken free. Let us imagine the evidence that Grindelwald had escaped, and broken out many of his supporters equals the evidence matching Tom Riddles. Imagine the pain and insult it would be now to send a known Grindelwald supporter as a messenger to any of the european countries.”

Again, several people seemed alarmed by that idea.

“That is quite literally what Minister Fudge has done though. He has sent a known Death Eater, one who my validated and tested memories confirm was called out specifically by Tom Riddle in the graveyard. He said, and I quote: ‘Macnair… Destroying dangerous beasts for the Ministry of Magic now, Wormtail tells me? You shall have better victims than that soon Macnair. Lord Voldemort will provide…’”

Harry paused for a moment there, to allow everyone to recall the memory of the graveyard he had provided. Once it seemed most people had remembered this, Harry resumed.

“Given it’s well known that Minister Fudge has multiple supporters among those branded with the Dark Mark who never were tried, or properly interrogated, it is possible that Fudge has been imperioused. That was a concern of many in Polaris. If so, for all we knew Macnair was sent to gather information or assassinate government figures. It’s clear Tom Riddle had such uses planned based on what he told Macnair in the graveyard. While I personally don’t think Minister Fudge has been put under such a spell, and merely think he wanted to insult Polaris and its allies. After all, Polaris is a well known ally of one of the strongest goblin nations. Macnair has publicly made many racist statements about wishing he was allowed to kill goblins. Surely it’s then a reasonable concern that Macnair might have been sent as an attack on Polaris.

Surely then our simple action of capturing him and having him sent to an ICW facility is only reasonable? We did nothing more. We didn’t harm him, and the only other action we took was to search and disarm him. All his effects, including his wand, were turned over when the ICW took him into their custody.

If the committee accepts our explanation as reasonable, Polaris doesn’t ask for any financial sanctions, not that such a decision would be ours to make. We believe wizarding Britain is likely to enter a state of warfare soon, and would not wish to impede their efforts of defense. Instead we simply ask that the ICW take measures to test the British Ministry of Magic for the unforgivables. We would also ask that any who weren’t given a full trial and interrogated properly after Tom Riddle fell be properly tested, interrogated, and given a proper trail now. However, as the Ministry of Magic seems incapable of performing that function, given proof from the Sirius Black incident, among others, we think the ICW should handle it themselves should such a decision be made. Obviously should Minister Fudge be found to not have been subject to the imperious curse, we ask that he be investigated."

With that, Harry stepped down and went to take his place back at his appointed desk. It was now in the hands of the ICW committee. All he could hope for was that his explanation was concise and reasonable. Hopefully they agreed with his point of view, but he didn't hold out much hope they would take his recommendations into account. At least his were far more reasonable than Fudges. Honestly, they wanted massive fines, public international apologies, ICW sanctions on the Polaris economy, and more. For now though, all Harry could do was wait for the verdict. And then there was the interrogation of Macnair tomorrow, assuming the committee agreed it was needed. That's a big part of why this meeting had taken a week. He needed to be uarentined and flushed of any potions and such before the possible interrogation and trial.

Chapter Text

19th May 1996

Harry was currently sitting down in a large ICW courtroom. The interrogation and possible trial of Macnair was about 30 minutes. Harry was reading the relevant documents, including the questions that were to be asked. It was this last part that explained the irritated expression Harry was wearing. Fudge of course had fought hard against many of the questions. At one point, it had been on the docket to ask if a person could take the Dark Mark unwillingly, or under the Imperious curse.. That, naturally, would have incriminated everyone who had a dark mark who had gotten off on claims of the Imperious curse. Fudge had fought that question very hard. In truth though, it was Dumbledore that had gotten that question, and others like it removed.

While Dumbledore might not be Supreme Mugwump anymore, he still held a good deal of influence. Dumbledore was always hesitant to kill. Neither Dumbledore nor the Order had ever been killed unless they were physically forced to do so. They fought to disable or capture at almost all costs. Harry suspected Dumbledore knew what would happen if the ICW got those kinds of questions answered. They’d try to force a trial, and as most, if not nearly all Death Eaters had comited murder, torture, multiple unforgiveable curses, and more, they’d most likely be executed. This was doubly so as Azkaban was seen as a revolving door where Death Eaters were concerned. Given the Order of the Phoenix and the Ministry only ever turned captured Death Eaters over to Azkaban, and not a more secure prison, it was almost a sure thing that Tom would break them out again. Dumbledore was against the death sentence, no matter what crimes were committed. This was ironic given he was willing to sentence Harry to death.

Harry sighed. Hopefully the questioning would result in enough evidence that they would investigate further. There was no reason to suspect that Macnair wouldn’t be a fountain of information. Harry’s thoughts were interrupted though when Dobby silently popped under his desk and handed him a note after poking him in the leg to get his attention. Harry pretended to take the note out of a briefcase to cover Dobby’s appearance. While house elves were allowed to do such things, he didn’t know if the note would be something to keep secret.

It turned out it was that and more. Farah Rosier had managed to discover from overhearing a supposedly secure conversation between Death Eaters. Tom had decided that since Fudge, some of his secretaries, a couple DMLE officers, and most importantly, Dumbledore, were going to be here for at least several hours, now was the perfect time to raid the DoM. This was bad. While Harry didn’t really care about the Prophecy, after all, even if he got it the only difference would be that he might be more cautious about Harry. Granted that would be problematic, and it was worth avoiding if possible. That said, given Harry was now a King, he would be more cautious anyway. Dumbledore and the Order at the very least wanted him to be publicly revealed if he tried to raid the DoM.

Regardless of Harry’s thoughts about Dumbledore, he and the order needed to know about this. Harry decided the best course of action would be to write a letter to pass off the information.

Dumbledore,

I’ve gotten word that Voldemort plans to go after the prophecy while you and other Ministry officials are busy here. If you want to keep defending it, I recommend doing something. Hopefully this reaches you in time.

- Someone who cares.

Harry had taken precautions to write with a quill that distorted his handwriting randomly. It wasn’t subtle, and no doubt Dumbledore would know the type of quill he used, but at least it stopped him from being tied to it. After finishing, Harry had Dobby fold the letter into a paper airplane before making it invisible. He made it circle the room a few times before landing in Dumbledore’s lap. Invisible or not, Dumbledore should still feel it. He could counter the invisibility. After writing another to be delivered to the head unspeakable of the DoM, Harry lapsed back into thought.

While Harry couldn’t watch Dumbledore's reaction lest Dumbledore notice him looking, Dobby told him he looked very startled and had left to find a private floo. If only he had gotten the alert sooner. Apparently Tom had avoided telling people until this morning. It had taken hours for Farah to get a message to Polaris, after all if she left right after hearing about it, it risked their cover. Then getting it all the way from Polaris to here had taken a while.

It was only 10 minutes later that things started, and Harry took his seat after stretching his legs. Things started out fairly calm. There was an announcement that the questioning was about to begin. A call for everyone to get to their seats. Then the judge entered. While this wasn’t a trail, a warden was required to even question someone under a truth potion. That meant a judge needed to oversee the process, in addition to a pair of lawyers. After all, Macnair was entitled to an advisor. The other lawyer's presence was more complex. While they weren’t technically a prosecutor, it was their job to formally represent the committee that had called for this questioning. Effectively he had to balance ensuring all the questions were asked, while maintaining neutrality. His job was to get answers, not accuse, and that could be a fine line. This was especially true should Macnair confess to things like murder and torture.

After all, confessions under veritaserum were not proof. Someone could genuinely believe they committed a crime, but not have, as an example. Then there were things like survivor’s guilt. Sirius had said multiple times that it was his fault James and Lilly died. If Sirius had been given Veritaserum and asked back then if he killed them, he would likely have said yes. That’s also a big reason questions had to be carefully considered. If they convicted him then and never asked further, they wouldn’t learn that he didn’t actually kill them, that instead he considered it his fault because he trusted Peter.

That was one of the reasons Fudge and (mostly) Dumbledore had been able to get questions about if the dark mark could be taken or given while the receiver was not in control of themselves. They argued it muddied the already complex questioning, and the answer to the question might cause any number of problems for the rest of the questioning. That at least Harry understood. Harry might be a little sad that such questions weren’t going to be answered, but it was far more important to ask Macnair if Tom was back.

The questions started fairly innocuously. Many questions to make sure the potion was working properly. The questions all had their answers known. Date of birth, full legal name, his parents names, and so forth. Having confirmed that he was fully under the effects of Veritaserum, and after being evaluated by a potions master, the real questions started. Veritaserum only lasted so long after all, so they needed to ask the big questions first, before it could be argued the serum had been wearing off.

“Did you arrive at the graveyard on June 24th, 1995 to find Tom Marvolo Riddle, also known as: “Voldemort”, "He who shall not be named”, and “The Dark Lord” had come back?”

“Yes.”

That one word caused quite a stir. Fortunately the one way silencing wards meant Macnair heard none of the commotion.

“Why did you apparate to the graveyard?”

“My mark burned hot, and I knew I’d be killed if I didn’t come.”

“Were you expecting to be called soon?”

“Yes. My dark mark had been becoming clearer, more like it was before he died.”

Harry sighed softly. That was the most important series of questions. Now would come the questions designed to ensure those answers were solid and couldn’t be dismissed as something else. Depending on what happened here, all that had been established could be dismantled. Harry highly doubted that would happen here though.

“Have you ever been subject to the Imperious curse?”

“Yes.” Macnair said.

At that, Fudge looked downright victorious. Clearly he had been banking on this. If Macnair was under the imperious curse when he committed any crimes, it validated everyone else making that defense. While he cared little for Macnair, some of his supporters fell into those upstanding citizens that were sadly forced to do terrible things. The next question destroyed that hope.

“Were you under the imperious curse when you took the dark mark?”

“No.”

“Were you under the imperious curse when you went out on raids?”

“No.”

“When were you under the imperious curse then?”

“The Dark Lord uses it occasionally when bored. I had failed my assignment, and my lord felt that more than pain was warranted, so after the cruciatus curse, he used it to force me to perform various embarrassing acts as further punishment and entertainment in front of the other Death Eaters.”

This time it was Harry’s turn to smile, though he restrained himself mostly. Seeing Fudge’s crestfallen appearance as his hopes died was satisfying. Harry could remember Tom doing the same thing to him. Back in the graveyard Tom had tried to use the Imperious curse to force him to bow before their ‘duel’. Granted even after he resisted, Tom had used another spell to force the bow anyway. Public humiliation could be a powerful force, so Harry wasn’t surprised that Tom might use it when it pleased him.

“Were you planning to commit any crimes while in Polaris?”

“Yes.”

“What were those crimes?”

“I was hoping to play with one of the goblins if I got the opportunity. I’ve always said we should be allowed to kill them just like any other beast.”

It was then that the lawyer who had been performing the questioning silenced Macnair, and left the one way silencing charm. “Your honor, I believe we should end the questioning here.”

“Agreed. From here I believe we should move on to an actual trial, though that will have to be set for another day. To avoid this getting out until a decision is made, no one is to leave before the emergency session is finished. It will likely take at least an hour for most people to get here, if not more.” The judge declared.

Harry gathered his guard and decided to go to the cafeteria to get a small snack, then head to the library to wait things out. Overall, it had taken a bit over an hour and a half. Harry didn’t end up doing any reading though, as many people had come to meet him or discuss things. Some of these were friendly, but a Chinese ambassador approached him as well. Overall it was more pleasant than he had expected. Given China was currently ruled by a king who many considered to be just a hereditary dictator. Supposedly they got their ‘divine right to rule’ by being descended from a Chinese royal family a few hundred years ago. That said, that was dubious, as there was no proof of this. The Chinese ‘Emperor’ did his best to quash rumors about their less than royal lineage while trying to appear as if such rumors were irrelevant. There were rumors that Xi Jinping was a squib distantly related to the ‘emperor’ and had used that to help him gain power in the mundane world.

The ambassador had been surprisingly friendly overall. Given how nonmagical China’s ambassadors acted, paired with a bad reputation, Harry had expected it to be annoying and insulting. They had been fairly pleasant, and even suggested that Harry should visit China sometime. Harry wondered if the ‘Emperor’ was trying to clean up the bad image his grandfather had created when he’d taken over magical China. It could explain wanting to create friendly ties to ‘The Boy Who Lived. Harry had politely declined, saying he shouldn’t make long visits to nations just yet with Tom Riddle out there, but that he would consider it once things had stabilized more in Polaris. He did say he might be willing to visit for a few days relatively soon though. He wanted to be polite about the refusal though. When he had visited Mexica, Tom had been in hiding, and he was likely to be outed soon.

As Harry thought things though, he inevitably came to a frustration of his. The big reason Polaris hadn’t joined the ICW was that it required all nations to follow a number of rules. Some of these rules were causing problems. The biggest of these rules was that member nations needed to work to prevent ordinary people in their nation from learning about magic and spreading that knowledge. For most nations that meant departments that worked to erase memories of magic happening from the minds of ordinary people. A way to handle witches & wizards being born to ordinary people was also a requirement, and a problem for most nations.

The big problem was that Polaris had no non magical people, let alone non magical people who didn’t know about magic. As a result they didn’t have a need for such departments. The closest thing they had for that mostly handled any ships and such that got close enough to see anything. And given where they were, and the wards, that was only a minor problem. As a result, their lack of infrastructure and government programs to deal with ordinary people was conflicting with the ICW charter.

It seemed at first thought that Polaris should just ignore those sections, but that brought up international problems. If they started letting pieces of the charter go ignored, other nations might try to push things too. Sadly stupid and bullheaded people tended to take every chance they could get what they wanted. They couldn’t just ask Polaris to field an entire major department that would just sit around not doing their jobs because there was no work to do. That would be a significant and pointless cost to the government.

There was a proposal to make Polaris a quasi-member that partially participated with the ICW but didn’t get a vote, but got various other benefits. Harry and some others shut that down saying it was hardly fair to have Polaris pay dues to the ICW and be forced to meet all the other requirements only to take their vote because of this. The nations that did this usually did it because in exchange they benefited from the ICW while not having to meet some requirements or restrictions. Those groups were an endless well of asterisks. The only solution then was to add an addendum to the ICW charter that changed those restrictions in nations where they were irrelevant. That however required a vote that had to get 3/4ths approval. As a result Polaris was stuck in the phase of Recognized as a nation with their own sovereignty that was tied to the ICW but not strictly a member.

Wizarding Britain was also causing problems. They absolutely refused to acknowledge Polaris as a nation. They refused any and all diplomacy. They wouldn’t send or accept an ambassador, and the offer of an embassy got laughed at. Supposedly Fudge had considered claiming all of Polaris as British land and under British rule as the islands were previously owned in large part by house Black. Of course he had been quickly shown the errors of that idea when the head of houses Greengrass, Fawley, and Abbot had told him that if he tried to take over land owned by such families, he’d be summarily dismissed, and the wizenmagot, largely controlled by pureblood houses, would call for his immediate retirement.

Harry’s thoughts were interrupted when he was called to the ICW meeting. The next few hours were largely boring unfortunately. Oh there was tension, possible penalties for wizarding Britain, but listing to a counsel of others make choices that effected your nation while you can’t vote and get no say other than a small speech about how this affected Polaris and what results he hoped for was a frustrating experience that felt like it was unnecessarily dragged out for hours. Multiply that by the tension of knowing while this very meeting was no doubt happening, Tom had probably started his mission into the DoM, and maybe already finished, as he had no clue how the DoM was protected or if his warnings had been taken seriously.

In the end though not much came of it all. The ministry itself was mostly given a slap on the wrist. Harry hadn’t really wanted them to take large penalties, they would need to be fit to fight Tom after all. Fudge and his secretaries and entourage were rebuked heavily though. The current Supreme Mugwump had told them, as if speaking to a 5 year old that it didn’t matter if he believed Tom was back or not. He knew Harry Potter believed it. And thus he knew sending someone with the Dark Mark would be taken very badly. He was called out for many of his bad decisions, and more. In the end it was like watching a cat amusing itself by shredding a paper bag. Then, about 20 minutes before the meeting was scheduled to end, news hit Tom had been spotted in the Ministry’s Atrium as Auror reinforcements came to aid the DoM. Tom had gotten himself seen by no less than 19 aurors, and the cat was out of the bag. He was seen carrying out a sphere of some kind too, and apparently, in his victory, either didn’t care about the loss of his stealth, or when he lost it he considered it was a minor loss compared to a major win. Either way compared with the now international news that Tom was confirmed to be alive and active again, and the near sadistic shredding of what remained of Fudge’s reputation, everyone knew he’d be fired within 2 weeks, likely less as people panicked. The side effect was that the 2-3 hour intended meeting became a 5-6 hour meeting as the ICW decided they needed to discuss what they wanted to do about Tom’s now confirmed revival. Harry felt this was reasonable and understandable, but by the end of it both he and his retinue were immensely hungry.