Disclaimer:

I do not own the characters of Harry Potter, these belong to that wonderful author JK Rowling and the various publishing companies used to publish her works. I am however borrowing them, no not to make money but for fun and fun only.

Summary:

I am taking this over from dunuelos, through a series of interactions: Ron Weasley is tasked by Arthur Weasley to have Harry Potter accept house Weasley as retainers to save Ginny from the evil plot by her aunt Muriel to seduce him and steal his wealth for herself.

There will be no Weasley bashing, not even of Molly or Ginny. It will be more of a rescue fic if anything. Harry will not get with Ginny but will not get with Hermione either; he will still be Gryffindor and will have allies. Dumbledore will be neutral in all of this as he will not care about house politics and he, like everyone else believes that Harry fulfilled the prophecy. Though we shall see that is not the case at all.

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Chapter One: On The Train

As the two boys ate the haul that Harry had bought from the trolley, Ron Weasley nervously looked at the boy he shared cabin with on the Hogwarts Express.

His father had taken him aside the day before and asked him to perform a function that he, Ron, would be in a unique position to perform. He remembered the conversation quite clearly.

…"Why can't Mum know?" Ron asked.

Arthur sighed. "Aunt Muriel. That's why, son."

Ron was confused. "What does Aunt Muriel have to do with it?"

Arthur took on a grim look.

"Muriel Prewitt is the Regent for House Prewitt. Your Mum and I, we married for love. Her dad was happy to allow it, even though House Weasley hasn't been in the best position since your Grandda' and Grams got married. The Blacks weren't happy. So they took back Mum's dowry. When I married your Mum, she brought a decent dowry with her, and we were happy."

He smiled in reminiscence. "Your Mum loved me and her dad was only concerned with her happiness. Me too." Arthur grinned. "Your mum even used a mild love potion on me to increase my attention toward her. Didn't work, 'cause I already loved her more than the potion would cause."

Arthur's smile became sad. "When they died, though, Muriel became head of the family and she never liked me. She can't break our marriage, but if she finds cause – she'll disown your mum and take back the dowry. And because the dowry was all we had when we married, taking it back would mean we'd lose everything." Arthur became grim. "Muriel is using her authority to force your mum to train Ginny to seduce Harry Potter. And I can't stop it because it would ruin us. So, the only choice we have is to do as I asked you to do."

He looked squarely at Ron and said, "So, Ronald Bilius Weasley, will you do as your Father has asked as regards Heir Potter?"

Ron, knowing how important it was, nodded. "I'll become his friend and start teaching him about our world. If I can, I will ask him to take House Weasley as retainers to help him take his place in society."

Arthur looked at his son proudly. "Tomorrow you ride the Hogwarts Express and our future rides with you. You give me great hope, son."

Ron knew he had to do this right, Harry would need him and he was going to be the best friend he could be, and servant when it came down to it. He had nothing but his own power and limited talents but he would use them as best he could. He looked up as the door to the compartment opened and heir Draco Malfoy and his two sidekicks appeared. He was like most extremely rich kids, well dressed with his white blond hair perfectly done, clad in the best that money could buy. He looked over the compartment coolly, his eyes falling on Harry.

"They're saying all down the train that Harry Potter's in this compartment. So it's you, is it?"

"Yes," said Harry. He was looking at the other boys. Both of them were thickset and looked extremely mean. Standing on either side of the pale boy, they looked like bodyguards.

"Oh, this is Crabbe and this is Goyle," said the pale boy carelessly, noticing where Harry was looking. "And my name's Malfoy, Draco Malfoy."

Ron gave a slight cough, which might have been hiding a snigger. Draco Malfoy looked at him. "Think my name's funny, do you? No need to ask who you are. My father told me all the Weasleys have red hair, freckles, and more children than they can afford." He turned back to Harry. "You'll soon find out some Wizarding families are much better than others, Potter. You don't want to go making friends with the wrong sort. I can help you there."

He held out his hand to shake Harry's, but Harry didn't take it. "I think I can tell who the wrong sort are for myself, thanks," he said coolly.

Before Draco could respond, Ron coughed. All four boys looked at him. Ron stood up. "Excuse me, Malfoy. Before you say anything, I need to speak to Harry for a moment. Please wait in the passageway."

With a sneer, Draco led his bodyguards out. Ron looked at Harry and said, "Even if he's a prat, it's better if you shake his hand. My family and his haven't gotten along for a very long time but his father does have a lot of influence. Refusing to shake the hand of a pureblood heir is an insult in magical society. You don't have to agree with him or even like him, but you shouldn't just reject him outright – isn't polite."

Harry looked annoyed. "But he insulted your family."

"Yeah – and I laughed at his name. Like I said – Weasleys and Malfoys never get along." Ron smiled. "I need to learn to ignore him. I'll probably run off the mouth without thinking and probably need help from you to shut up. But don't let our feud give your problems later on."

Harry sighed. "Okay." He nodded as Ron opened the door.

Before Harry could say anything, Ron said, "Okay, Malfoy. I shouldn't have laughed at your name. I'm a Weasley and you're a Malfoy and we'll never get along. But I don't have to be insulting."

Harry, who had stood as well, put out his hand. "Heir Malfoy thanks for the offer and I'll think about it." Malfoy shook Harry's hand – it was quite weak in Harry's opinion. "I will say this: Casually insulting my friends will make me less likely to listen to you. You might not like him – but I do. So remember that, please. I'm sure it we'll be talking about it again sometime." It took all of Harry's patience to be polite but he did it for Ron's sake.

The blond boy, hmmphed and led his minions back out of the compartment.

Harry sat down and sighed, he felt like he had a target on his back already. Who were the Malfoys and how much trouble could they give him?

"Okay. Tell me about the Malfoys." Harry asked.

"Well, his family has been Dark for ages. Slytherins the lot of them. First to come back to the 'Light side' when you-know-who disappeared." Ron paused and then said, "Well, my family hasn't liked Slytherins for a while because my grandma got disowned by her family for marrying my grandfather. They disowned her because the Weasleys aren't considered top level. Your father's, father's mother is from the same family and wasn't disowned – your family is a bit higher up than ours. So even if the family is kind of dark, her marrying into a light family with power didn't get her disowned."

"What's that all about? And you're saying our Grandmothers were both Slytherins?" Harry was confused; this magical world was so hard to understand!

"Yeah. Come to think of it, that's true. I guess we both have a little Slytherin in us. Anyway, some families are really old. Both of ours are in that list. But the Weasleys don't like playing nice with Dark wizards and tend to ignore pureblood rules. We also tend to like muggles. So we get called blood traitors. The Potters are just as light but usually have seats in the Ministry – a bit more noble than my family. So they've always been more acceptable because they had political power. And nothing is more important to a Slytherin than power. It's just that you-know-who got most of the richer Slytherin families to follow him – so we don't like them. Especially since my mother's brothers died during the fighting."

"Sorry for your family." He thought about what Ron said when something clicked. "Wait – you said our Grandmothers both come from the same family. That means we're related!"

"Yeah. Most purebloods are related in one way or another. I think we're … third cousins? You and Malfoy are actually … let me think … second cousins, once removed – you're more closely related to Malfoy than me if that stuff is important to you. His grandfather and your father were actually first cousins – apparently your grandparents had him really late in life. And your grandmother was fifteen or twenty years younger than his great-grandfather."

Harry said, "This is so confusing!"

Ron laughed again. "Yeah – one reason we just don't care about it in our family."

Harry got nervous. "So I could be a Slytherin?"

Ron thought about it. "I suppose – but it's not likely. Many of the current people in Slytherin were related to followers of you-know-who and the guy who runs Slytherin really didn't get along with your da' when they went to school. He has a nasty reputation. Probably best to avoid it. Your parents were both Gryffindor – so it's a good chance you'll go there."

"All Gryffindor – at least those born Weasleys anyway. As I said, Grandma was a Slytherin but a good one. Mum's family is a mix. The Weasleys have been Gryffindor as long as I know – and that's at least a hundred years."

Ron would have gone on but the door opened again and heir Neville Longbottom stood there with a girl with bushy brown hair, large front teeth and a very bossy attitude. In another lifetime Ron would be rude, but he wanted to show Harry he deserved to be his friend and retainer and he had to be nice to this muggleborn girl. He let her wind down and then all but ordered her to take a seat.

"I am sure that Longbottom's toad will be fine, but you have a lot to learn, like Harry here." Ron said, "you were not raised in the magical world, and I can help you there."

"Why would I want your help?" Hermione asked.

"Well because you are new and I was raised in this world, Harry too was muggle raised, I can help both of you, so can Longbottom, right?" Ron asked the pudgy nervous boy.

"Y-yes, I-I can help." Neville replied.

Ron did not much like the bossy girl, she tried to reference back to the books she had but finally gave it up and sat and listened. This was as much for Harry as here, and both learned how to act in Hogwarts itself. How to wait for a teacher to call on them and not raise their hand to answer, and if you did know the answer to never talk back. It was an insult of the highest order, depending on the bloods status and talent of the professor.

"So if a professor is unfair I have to take it?" Harry said, "that does not sound right."

"It is if you don't want to end up causing a feud." Neville said, "my grand said that your dad and the potions master did not get along in school, it would be best if you keep your head down in his class."

"Any other professors my parents did not get along with?" Harry asked.

"Not off the top of my head, you will need to read the introduction to all your text books." Ron said, "not just the first chapters, so much is expected of you."

"But I am just Harry! I bet I did not even survive the killing curse and my mum killed the dark dork and my scar is from something else!" Harry protested.

"Well then just Harry, I am Ron, and I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship, what do you say?"

"I like that." Harry said.

They shook hands and Ron was pleased, so far things were going well. He liked Harry, he was not anything like the books said and he was glad for it. Hopefully he could end up at the very least as retainer for house Potter even if his whole family could not.

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So that is part dunuelos original work with a lot of filler from me. The next chapter is all me as dunuelos has kindly let me take over this story.

Do review and let me know what you think!