Still here, been reading some fun old stories and catching up on shows and movies that are coming out. The words are only coming to me 1.5 – 2 K at a time just now, not like I usually sit down and lay down a chapter in one go.

OK, quick score card update. Fleur has had her babies, twin Veela girls. With a little help from Bagnold, Fudge got his Pureblood school started and all of the traditional Pureblood students at Hogwarts transferred to it, only to find that they couldn't get back into Hogwarts when they found out how bad it was. Fudge Senior did something stupid enough to be sent through the Veil of Death and his widow kicked Ronald out, so he's with his great aunt Muriel now. (They deserve each other ;^)

Arthur is now Minister for Magic and Bill and Dora got married, using the excuse that it was so Bill's new mother-in-law could take over the Weasley and Prewett voting proxies. Harry found a cure for Lycanthropy in Salazar's notes and it worked, so Remus and Narcissa are married too, and Draco supported his mother at their wedding. They discovered what made Ginny the way she was and the mind healers helped her with that, so she's back as Ginny Prewett and being supported by the family, while Molly is being punished for it, but not as much as she should be. Oh, and Harry, Hermione, Fleur, Penny and Hagrid have finished doing their NEWTs, so they're just working on their masteries now.

Usual disclaimers, no rights to any characters portrayed and this is neither the real world nor a Disney Princess tale.

While Molly and Ronald No-Name would not accept that they had ever done anything wrong, and probably never would, seeing his mother in Azkaban, Arthur Weasley's well deserved rise to Minister, his own birth father in Azkaban for life and the other two men that she had cuckolded Arthur with and had children to while she was married to him sent through the Veil of Death for their crimes made Percy Crouch open his eyes and see his family for what it was. Percy had suffered the guardianship of his great aunt Muriel (the only one left on his mother's side of the family who would have anything to do with him after his mother shamed the family that way) up until he reached his majority and quickly came to realise that he didn't agree with the views that she and his mother held. When he reflected on that, Percy swallowed his pride and wrote a sincere apology to the man who had been the only real father he had ever known.

Percy didn't ask for anything but understanding for what he had done to his family with the way he had acted, as a child, at his mother's trial and after that. He congratulated Arthur on getting the position that he so rightfully deserved and thanked him for being a good father to him as he was growing up, in spite of his mother's best efforts. Even though his mother had tried to mould him in her own image, Percy had picked up some of the values of Arthur Weasley along the way and discovered that he could tell right from wrong when given enough of a push.

Arthur shared the letter with Amelia, Bill, Charlie and the twins and they all agreed with him that Percy seemed to have become a decent man in spite of his mother, so they reached out to him in reconciliation. Percy may never be in the family again, but they were prepared to accept and support him. He had already started as a junior at the Ministry (getting in on his own merits, as he had had no-one to sponsor him), and Arthur made a recommendation to get him transferred into the Department of Magical Co-operation, as it was agreed that he could do well there.

The real proof that Percy had changed was in how he reacted to the twins' sudden change of station soon after that. With Fudge and most of their big challenges out of the way, Minerva, Griselda, Augusta and Alastor had spent some time discussing the matter of carrying on the lines of their houses. Neville was the Heir to the House of Longbottom, and Alastor had made Hermione Heiress to the House of Moody, but as they'd both lost their partners and children in the wizarding wars of the twentieth Century, Minerva and Griselda had no-one to carry on their Houses.

They wanted to support the continuing fight against the dark but to do that, they had to decide who would best carry on the traditions of their houses. In the end, they made their decisions and, to the surprise of nearly everyone, Minerva went though the formal godmother ritual with Fred Weasley to make him heir to the Noble and Ancient House of McGonagall. Griselda did the same with George, to make him heir to the Noble and Ancient House of Marchbanks.

The Percy that they grew up with would have been enraged that his two younger (half) brothers had become the heirs to two such rich and powerful Noble and Ancient Houses that were part of the most powerful alliance that had existed for centuries in Magical Britain when he had only inherited an almost broke Minor House with a very tarnished reputation, so they told him once the arrangements had been made to see how he'd react. Arthur and the twins hadn't wanted to test Percy like this, but they reluctantly agreed that this would tell them whether he'd really changed when Griselda, Amelia, Andi and Narcissa proposed it, and Percy passed the test with flying colours.

He was shocked, to say the least, when he was told that his little brothers had become the heirs to houses like McGonagall and Marchbanks, but once he got over that shock and past the obvious questions about how this had happened, he was happy for them and complimented Minerva and Griselda on choosing such capable heirs. They had felt bad about probing his mind through this but they agreed that they had to be sure. What they saw in his head though was that he was genuinely glad for his brothers, and for Minerva and Griselda having protected their houses from ending with them.

As soon as he had his feet under him in the Minister's role, Arthur started cleaning house in the Ministry. First to go on the chopping block was the Department of Magical Education, the Head and most of the department (including Mafalda Hopkirk) were dismissed and banned from the Ministry for ignoring their responsibilities to the Ministry and Magical Britain by not doing any useful work and allowing Fudge to use the department as nothing more than a tool to attack Lord Potter and Lady Granger. Griselda had the department added to her portfolio and hired new staff who would focus on the advancement of education in Magical Britain. They also kept a close eye on the Pure Magic Academy, assisting the Wizarding Examination Authority by overseeing all exams and reporting the results to Griselda.

A number of other departments which had been inadequately run by Fudge's cronies were also cleaned out, one in particular was the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. Most of the long term ones in this department had only been interested in having a free hand to torment and kill magical creatures for their own enjoyment, and that had been largely directed at the other magical races who had previously come under its control.

They were replaced by a team of actual experts in Care of Magical Creatures, and Harry visited the known British dragon sites with them to explain to the dragons that if they kept to their valleys they would be left alone, if not they would have trouble with the humans. Of course, some of the dragons took this as a challenge, but word quickly spread through the dragons about what happened when they attacked this new speaker, and how incredibly powerful he was (they didn't know that this was Harry, Hermione and Fleur together). Dragons were rational beings for the most part, and most of them agreed to stay in their valleys when faced with the options.

The ones who Fudge had previously refused Arthur and Amelia permission to fire when they came under their control because they wouldn't work were reviewed, dismissed and banned from the Ministry in Arthur's first week in the job.

Another program that they had been running quietly and the family had been funding was putting the registered werewolves through Slytherin's process to cure their Lycanthropy. One of the first things Arthur did after he became the Minister for Magic was to make this a mandatory Ministry funded requirement for known werewolves.

As expected, there was a lot of argument in the Wizengamot against this proposal, but they presented over fifty cases where St Mungo's had certified them to be completely cured of their Lycanthropy. This, when combined with the figures presented to show cost of maintaining the Werewolf registration process and the benefits of turning them into productive members of society, was enough to trample over the objections and the motion was passed.

The fact that it was only under Arthur that the dangerous rogue werewolves like Fenrir Greyback had been tracked down and eliminated helped drive home the fact that the new Minister had been instrumental in actually stamping out the werewolf problem that the Ministry had always talked so much about but had never done anything to address. The rogue werewolves who were a danger to Magical Britain had been left alone because they were too dangerous to take on, but the innocents who had been turned by them (many of them children) had been hounded by the Ministry and many of them had been killed at the Ministry's instigation.

The biggest job on the agenda though was Azkaban, or more specifically the Dementors at Azkaban. Harry and Fleur were the only ones who were known to be able to destroy Dementors, so they were at the core of the strategy to wipe them out. Hermione joined Harry and Fleur so that they could use the multiplier effect that they had together. While they were hoping that they could catch the Dementors together and wipe them out in one go, they weren't going to rely on that. Anne, Apolline and a few dozen of the most powerful Veela were the secondary force, and they would also have squads of Aurors who were capable of casting a strong patronus on hand to herd the Dementors back into the kill zone. They had every intention of wiping out the threat of the Dementors in one fell swoop.

When they had everything organised and ready to go, Amelia called for a closed emergency session of the Wizengamot and they sprung the vote to wipe out the Dementors on the Wizengamot. They used the proven fact that nefarious elements of the Ministry had inserted the Dementors into the third task of the Triwizard Tournament to try and assassinate a key figure of the aristocracy of Magical Britain, and the daughter and heir of the Deputy Minister of Magic for France, and evidence of how the Dementors had joined Voldemort in the first Wizarding war against the Ministry and people of Magical Britain to show that they were in fact primarily a threat to Magical Britain. Then they presented the evidence that they now had a proven way to destroy the Dementors, something that had been believed to be impossible before Lord Potter proved otherwise.

Amelia trotted out the evidence of how effective the Red Letter Marks were at tracking, monitoring and controlling prisoners and other questionable characters and proposed that they affix the Mark to all prisoners, pointing out that this way, they could be tracked and monitored when they were outside of prison as well as inside. Some of the old school traditionalists tried to argue against getting rid of the Dementors, using the tired old lines that the Dementors were loyal to the Ministry and were the only proven deterrent. When others reminded them that it had been proven that the Dementors weren't loyal to the Ministry, they tried to use Amelia's statement to insist that Harry could deal with them if they got out of hand again, so there was no reason to get rid of them. Amelia cut that argument off and turned to address Harry, up in the Noble and Most Ancient boxes.

"Lord Potter, may I ask something of you please?"

Harry nodded. "You may Director Bones."

"If the Dementors were to break out of Azkaban or change sides to support an enemy of Magical Britain again, will you stop them again?"

"I can neither promise nor commit to something like that Madam Bones…." He went on before the expected outrage broke out in the chamber. "My associates and I have agreed to support the proposal that you and Minister Weasley have brought to us, because it appears quite workable, corner the Dementors en-mass inside a location that we can control, such as at Azkaban, and then wipe them out with one concerted effort….. This is something that we can and do support as we can see how it could succeed without undue hardship or risk to those involved. Attempting to hunt down and destroy the dementors once they have left Azkaban and are rampaging across the land, or even abroad, however….. That is an endeavour that could only bring hardship and danger to those involved and everyone else, so I am unwilling to commit myself and my associates to such an endeavour!"

The ones who had been arguing that he could stop the Dementors if they broke out started shouting that he was a coward for refusing to help stop them, but he drowned them out.

"Me! A coward? My associates and I have agreed to do our best to eliminate the threat of the Dementors in the controlled conditions that Madam Bones and Minister Weasley have proposed, but because I have refused to commit to our attempting to do so in the unknown and more dangerous conditions that would exist once they broke out of Azkaban due to YOUR refusal to agree to this attempt for a controlled removal of the threat, you dare call ME a coward? If YOUR stupidity prevails, YOU can eliminate the threat of the Dementors yourself, I will not put everything that I hold dear at risk on the whim of pathetic cowards such as YOU!"

He turned back to face Amelia and continued at a much more moderate tone and volume. "To be clear Madam Bones, our agreement to assist applies only to the controlled exercise that we have discussed. If these fools prevail, we will be forced to marshal our forces to protect ourselves and so Magical Britain and other countries will have to fend for themselves!"

Amelia bowed to him. "I quite understand Lord Potter, and I do apologise for my part in forcing you to endure these baseless accusations from those who lack the courage to address this threat themselves."

Arthur stood and bowed to him as well. "I, too, apologise for my part in this Lord Potter. I am ashamed to have to represent the likes of such as these, who would falsely accuse you so."

Harry waved this away. "Please do not apologise for things that you are blameless in Madam Bones, Minister. The fault and shame in this is not your's, it is their's!" He finished his statement by stabbing his finger at the traditionalists who were arguing against them.

Griselda cut in at that point. "I applaud the nobility you display here Lord Potter, but I too am ashamed by the behaviour of members of the Wizengamot today!"

She looked around the chamber in disgust.

"Very well, as all the relevant information has now been presented by Madam Bones and Lord Potter, I hereby call for the vote on Madam Bones' proposal, noting that if this proposal is not passed, then the danger presented by the Dementors will need to be addressed by anyone who finds themselves subsequently facing them!"

Presented so bluntly with the alternative to voting for Amelia's proposal, the vast majority of the Wizengamot voted for the elimination to be carried out in Azkaban as proposed. Only the most stubborn of the die hard traditionalists voted against the proposal.

As soon as it was passed, Alastor immediately moved that the session be concluded and Augusta jumped up to second it. Griselda pronounced the session finished and they all stood and walked out without a word as they had everything ready to go. They did not want to take the risk that Bagnold (as the previous Minister) or her people might have some way of communicating with the Dementors to warn them of what was planned, so the force that they had assembled for the job port keyed straight to Azkaban from the Ministry and the other sites where they were waiting.

The warden and picked guards were waiting for them at Azkaban, so Harry, Hermione and Fleur went straight into the prison, heading for the chambers below where the Dementors normally accumulated. Anne, Apolline and other Veela went in on their heels, to deal with the Dementors that were prowling about the prison.

The rest of the immediate family and their familiars waited outside the prison with the other Veela and family members with strong patroni, while the island was ringed by Aurors on brooms, ready to drive the Dementors back to the prison if they tried to escape, and some some transformed Veela as well.

The actual elimination was anti-climactic, as the vast majority of the Dementors were incinerated quickly by the massive blast of Fiendfyre that Harry, Hermione and Fleur combined to cast into the chambers underneath the prison, and they couldn't get past the trio to escape the prison. Some of the Dementors who were roaming the prison evaded the Veela fireballs sent their way and got out of the prison, but they were driven back by the Aurors' patroni and fell to either the fireballs, or Harry and the girls as they popped around the prison to assist in the clean up operation. It was all over in less than half an hour.

Harry, the family, the Veela and most of the Aurors left as soon as they were confident that they had eliminated all of the Dementors, but Amelia and Kingsley remained behind to supervise the placing of the Red Letter Mark on those prisoners who weren't currently marked.

The session had been closed and the members of the Wizengamot had been admonished to keep what was discussed a secret, but none of them were surprised to hear that a rather twisted version of the details was already being bandied about far and wide by the time they returned from Azkaban less than an hour after the session was closed. Arthur and Amelia officially gave Xeno all the details to write an accurate article on the matter, with Amelia filling in the final details when she and Kingsley returned from the island. Xeno put it out as a special edition as soon as Amelia confirmed the final details to refute the wild stories that Bagnold's people were trying to spread.

Reading the cold, hard facts about the Dementors and what they had done since they were discovered in Azkaban hundreds of years before did much to dispel the outrage and fear that Bagnold's people were trying to stir up, and the majority of Magical Britain came to applaud it as a wondrous thing that had been done and give thanks to those who had done it.

With the biggest dangers to Magical (and Muggle) Britain now addressed, Arthur formally introduced himself to the British Prime Minister as the new Minister for Magic (he had liaised with the Prime Minister before on matters that had spilled over into the Non-magical world. This was supposed to have been the Minister for Magic's responsibility but he'd fobbed it off onto Arthur as soon as he took charge of the Department of Foreign Affairs).

As the consummate politician, the Prime Minister sensed that there was something that Arthur was not telling him behind the wondrous news that the majority of the magical causes for mayhem spilling over into the non-magical world had now been eliminated. He was furious that Fudge, who had already been the Minister for Magic when he was elected to be the Prime Minister, had kept so much from him or outright lied about that had been happening and why, but he was also suspicious about how all of these horrors had been eliminated.

After Arthur let it slip that Harry and Hermione had told them how to deal with the problems and in many instances had dealt with them themselves, he had to admit that they had come back to their younger bodies after they died in the future. This of course required proof to convince the Prime Minister that they had come back, so Hermione reported on a number of events that were due to happen, just before they happened.

The timing was an attempt to prevent triggering too many changes in the future, Hermione especially was quite aware of the theories about how going back in time and changing the events that were supposed to happen could have significant effects on the future. She also knew that they had probably already initiated changes by stopping Voldemort and the other horrors that they had, but they were hoping that the majority of those future changes would be restricted to Magical Britain, with minimal overspill into the non-magical world. This was why she was careful to keep what she reported to events which hopefully had more local impact and only released these reports just before they happened. A letter explaining this was included with the first report that she gave the Prime Minister.

What they couldn't have foreseen was the fact that, once the Prime Minister was convinced that they had returned from the future, he took the story of these extraordinary teenagers who had come back in time to right wrongs straight to the Queen. When she heard that, the Queen immediately wanted to talk to these young people, and the rest of the family. She was interested enough to offer to come to Balmoral Castle for the meeting so as to make it more private. As the oldest Noble Houses of Magical Britain (probably all of Britain), the family respected the monarchy, and they were not about to refuse the request of their Queen.

They arrived at Balmoral Castle in a cavalcade of classic limousines, Mercedes 600 Pullmans, Lincoln Continental Executive Limousines from 1963 to 1969 and Rolls Royce Long Wheelbase Phantom I & IIs, plus Phantom III, IV, V & VIs and Silver Spur Extended Touring Limousines. These had all come from the 'garage' at Potter Manor. This garage held hundreds of rare and classic performance and luxury cars and motorbikes from all over the world, more than a few of which were magically created duplicates of one off cars like the Lister Maserati, the Shelby Daytona and quite a few concept cars, so most of these were exact copies of cars and bikes that no longer existed otherwise. The garage magically expanded to accommodate the ever growing collection that went back to before the start of the twentieth century without any breaks, and kept them in stasis, so they were all as new, or very close to it.

This cavalcade raised quite a few eyebrows when it arrived at Balmoral, but each car stopped at the main entrance just long enough for its passengers to disembark and then headed off to join the growing line of limousines parked off to the side. The soldiers guarding the estate had no idea that the limo drivers were all Elves or Goblins under glamours. They left their wands and the like in the cars to avoid possible tension or issues with the guards (at Arthur's suggestion, nearly a quarter of the Queen's guard were now Muggleborn witches and wizards who'd gone back to the non-magical world, and that ratio would increase as more were trained to the required standards), most of them were quite capable without their wands, but this wasn't shared with the guards.

Even though they had researched the group that was coming, the Queen and most of those present still got a shock when a number of the family members were introduced. They were expecting to hear of the three Earl's and four Baron's titles attached to the House of Potter for Harry, but not the other two Earl's and three Baron's titles for that house. Or the two Earl's and three Baron's titles for the House of Peverell, Earl and two Barons each for the Houses of Gryffindor and Slytherin and four Baron's titles for the British House of Flamel, or the fact that he was Heir to the titles and holdings of the mighty House of Black and the ancient and powerful Noble House of Flamel in France, and Lord to Hermione and Millie's Houses as well.

When Sirius was announced, he also had twice the two Earl's and three Baron's titles that were expected. Hermione had the expected Baroness Granger title, but she had another two Countess and four Baroness titles from the Houses of Ravenclaw and Slytherin, and was Heiress to another three Baroness titles through the House of Moody. On top of that, she was Countess to the Houses of Potter, Peverell, Gryffindor and Slytherin.

As the House names and titles were announced for each of them, the Queen's assistants were madly scribbling down everything that was said. It wasn't missed that the tall, slender, elegant young Lord Potter, who hardly looked sixteen if that, had at least three wives, and three other girls who were obviously linked to him, and he already had two children as well. Some of the other men in the group obviously had two partners as well.

When the entire party had been presented to Her Majesty the Queen, she looked pointedly at the family groups and said. "We feel that an explanation is required here. Is it not known that bigamy is illegal in Britain?"

They all looked at Ted, as their legal expert, and he stepped forward, bowing to the Queen. When he was recognised, he asked leave to have the relevant legal documents brought to them so that he may explain. The Queen nodded, but gasped a moment later when the Tonks' house elf popped in, heard what Ted wanted and popped out again. She was disturbed enough by the sight to blurt out. "What was that Lord Tonks?"

Ted realised that the sight of Polly had shocked, and possibly frightened, the Queen and he hastened to apologise. "I am so sorry Your Majesty! The elves are so common for us that I forgot that they must be a bizarre sight for others! That was the house elf bonded to our family Ma'am, Polly. Polly is more of a member of the family than a servant to us, but I must admit that many elves are still treated like slaves and are severely mistreated by the families that they are bonded to. The elves who are personally bonded to Lord and Lady Potter were terribly treated before they were freed from their previous families…." He paused and glanced at Narcissa. "Not that all members of their previous families mistreated them! Lord Potter's elf Dobby was previously with Lady Lupin's ex-husband's family, which she had been forced to marry into as a teenager, but he will attest to the fact that that mistreatment never came from her!"

The Queen looked at the regal lady who had just been referred to and quirked a smile at the polite defiance in the gaze she returned. His last comment brought her back to the matter at hand though. "We are certain that Lady Lupin would be a fair handed mistress, however, you have brought us to the issue that we wish explained. Why have these young ladies and gentlemen been forced to marry and start families at such a young age?"

Daphne stepped forward at that and curtsied to the Queen, waiting to be recognised. When the Queen did so, she spoke up. "With all due respect Your Majesty, none of us have been forced to marry. Most of us chose to go into betrothal contracts with each other to protect ourselves from being forced into unions against our wills by the previous Minister for Magic."

The Queen looked at Ted for an explanation of that, but Andi stepped forward and curtsied. Sensing that the explanation was about to go in a different direction, the Queen indicated for her to speak.

"Thank you your Majesty. The information that Polly will be bringing back for my husband soon will help explain Miss Greengrass's statement, but I feel that before we get to that, we need to explain the society of Magical Britain. You see Ma'am, the traditional magical Noble Houses who have ruled Magical Britain to date still hold to the laws and rules that existed five hundred years ago, in fact some of these rules actually date back a thousand years. Under these Noble House rules, each house is expected to, and can be required to, produce an heir for the head or heir to the house. When a Lord, or more rarely, a Lady, is the head or heir to more than one house, they are expected to produce an heir for each house, so polygamy is actually mandated for them…."

She glanced at Harry. "Lord Potter's immediate family is the most extreme case of this that has been seen in the recorded history of Magical Britain, because with the two French Houses, it includes fourteen houses. He himself is head or heir to seven houses, one of them French. The reason that there are only six brides or brides-to-be however is that Lady Granger is the head of three houses and heiress to another. Lady Bustrode is head of her house and the elder Greengrass and Delacour sisters are also the heiresses to their houses. The younger Greengrass and Delacour sisters are the only ones who do not themselves have to maintain the lines for their houses."

The Queen was looking astounded by this stage, but she was cut off as she asked "And the children?…." by the return of Polly. This time, Ted introduced Polly to the Queen, and Polly was pleased as punch to have met the Master and Mistress's Queen when she popped out again after a short but pleasant conversation with her.

Once Polly left, Ted went on. "With your permission Ma'am, I think it would be easier to explain the children after we have properly explained what we have done to address the issues that came out of those rules that my wife advised you of?" The Queen nodded regally. "Thank you Ma'am."

Ted handed a copy of the Heritage Protection Act to one of the Queen's personal assistants to present to her as he continued. "This Act, Ma'am, is what Miss Greengrass was referring to about being forced into unions by the previous Minister for Magic. It has since been abolished because it was misused by the Ministry the two times it has been enacted since it was brought in in the Goblin Rebellions two hundred years ago. They tried to use it to force all of our people who they could claim to fit the requirements of the Act into unions with families who were in the pocket of the Minister, to gain control of their power and fortunes..."

He glanced at Harry. "Lord Potter had serious trouble with the Minister and others trying to control him in the life he returned from, and was concerned that the Minister would come after us with something terrible…. I realise that this may sound paranoid Ma'am, but as the old saying goes, you aren't paranoid if they really are out to get you, and Harry has never been wrong when he was worried about things coming at us, so we started looking at what they might use to come at us….."

"Our Greengrass ladies' father, Max, is a quite astute and clever member of our Wizengamot and as a concerned father he made himself aware of what laws existed that may effect his daughters. Max brought up the Heritage Protection Act and when we discussed it we agreed that it was just the type of thing that the Minister would try to use against us. I will leave you to peruse it at your leisure Ma'am, but in essence it stated that in times of war, and if the continuation of Noble Houses was threatened, the Ministry had the power to force unattached heads or heirs of Noble Houses who do not have heirs into unions to continue their lines. The Ministry could also force unattached witches of childbearing age into unions to carry this out. Once it was agreed that it was likely that the Ministry would try to force this onto our children, we sat down to try and come up with a way to protect them."

"Lady Granger is quite brilliant Ma'am, and she quickly determined that to protect all of our people who came under the terms of the Act, and a couple of others who are associated with us, such as Miss Patil's twin sister, we would have to arrange over thirty unions. This of course seemed quite impossible until I remembered another law that was passed back in the days of the Goblin Rebellions. This law was passed to permit couples who both had houses to continue to enter into both male and female line continuation betrothal contracts and marriages. Under the terms of this law, their progeny would alternate between the houses, the eldest would be the heir to the male line, the next to the female line and so forth."

"With all of the parents and children's agreement, we entered everyone likely to be effected by the Heritage Protection Act into legal betrothal contracts, with clauses to say that marriage and the consummation of the marriage wasn't to be considered until both parties had reached the age of majority. The reason for doing this, Ma'am, was that the last time it was enacted, children were being forced to marry older wizards, and witches as well, and because of that they were forced, as children, to have sex with these disgusting people. We did not want any of our family to have to endure this, so we took every measure we could to prevent it."

He handed a bundle of parchments to the Queen's assistant to take to her. "These are the betrothal contracts we set in place at that time, plus the other two that came later, Ma'am. We lodged the main group of contracts in November nineteen ninety one, and in January nineteen ninety two, we saw the proof that we weren't just being paranoid…."

He saw Harry go to say something. "No Harry, we, you voiced your concerns first but as soon as you did so the rest of us saw that they were quite possible and likely, that's why we pulled out all stops to do something about it."

"Anyway Ma'am, we got our proof when Harry, Hermione and most the others we were expecting to be targeted received notices from the Ministry that they were being entered into betrothal contracts by the Ministry under the Heritage Protection Act. A number of other families who had opposed the Ministry had been targeted with this as well. We took them to court and had the Ministry contracts dismissed for our people and everyone else who had listened to our warnings and entered into legal betrothal contracts. The Chief Witch (Countess Marchbanks), who presides over the Wizengamot, used the proof that we had supplied that the Ministry had ignored the strict conditions imposed on the Heritage Protection Act to use it to try to destroy its enemies both times it had been enacted to have the Act abolished, and she also had another law that the previous Minister and Chief Wizard had pushed through earlier that year to allow them to overrule any legal wills and seize everything belonging to a house if the last member of the house died before they reached their majority abolished. That one had been specifically passed to seize Harry's fortune Ma'am."

"As for the last two betrothals Ma'am, we had confirmation that events of the last cycle were repeating themselves when the Ministry of Magic brought the Quidditch World Cup Match to Britain. Harry and Hermione warned us what was likely to happen at the World Cup and Amelia, Madam Bones, as the Director of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement had made arrangements to have appropriate forces available to come in the moment the so-called Death Eaters arrived. We took them down and captured most of them, but the one who was behind them had made anyone who knew anything take oaths of secrecy that killed them if they tried to talk. Luckily we caught onto what was happening soon enough to prevent killing the one who knew the most, and found another way to get what he knew out of his head without triggering the secrecy oath."

"What was perhaps more important to the family though was that most of us attended the World Cup and we met Fleur and Gabrielle's family there, as their father is the Deputy Minister for Magic for France and he was here as part of the planning for another event. This was something else Harry and Hermione were expecting to be repeated, especially as Fleur had been part of it last time, as had the young seeker for the Bulgarian National Quidditch team. Sure enough, in the next school year, the Ministry of Magic forced the return of a wizards' tournament that had been banned two hundred years before because the death and mayhem in it was simply too much to bear. Harry had been forced to participate in this against his will the last time around, so we fully expected him to be made to participate again, he was, and the vindictive bas…. I'm so sorry Ma'am, I forgot myself for a moment, it won't happen again. The British Ministry official made the repercussions far more strict than they'd been before. This time anyone who was selected to participate but didn't not only lost their magic, they died!"

"I'm getting ahead of myself though Ma'am, when Minerva, that's Countess McGonagall, the Headmistress at Hogwarts, was forced to allow the tournament to be held at Hogwarts, we went to France to warn the Delacours about what happened last time, because both of their daughters had almost died in it then. Unfortunately, the French Minister for Magic had already threatened to hound the entire family out of France if they tried to keep Fleur out of the tournament, so she was being forced to come back to Britain. The main problem was that…." He stopped and looked at Fleur, who nodded, saying. "Oui Oncle Ted, tell Her Majesty." He nodded gratefully and turned back to the Queen.

"The main problem is that Fleur and Gabrielle aren't exactly human Ma'am, they are Veela." He held up a hand to forestall the obvious question. "Veela are half-human Ma'am, born of the union of a Veela and a human wizard. Veela are all beautiful women and have quite a few powers that witches and wizards do not. Among them is the Veela allure, the ability to drive men, and many women, mad with desire. As a result of this, Veela have the undeserved reputation of being very sexual beings who are capable of fulfilling a man's every desire. The Veela abandoned Britain two centuries ago to escape the British wizards trying to bind them to them so that they could live out their fantasies. The British Wizards hadn't forgotten them though and when the Bulgarian National team brought Veela mascots to the World Cup, their tents were raided during the so-called Death Eater attack in an attempt to abduct them and make them into sex slaves. Luckily, the Veela mascots had come to our tents where they could be protected, so they were saved from the planned abductions."

"Arthur told the Delacours about this, and asked if there was anyone who they trusted that Fleur could be betrothed to, in hope that that would give her a degree of protection, because it would be presumed that they had had sex and it was known that Veela would bond to the first man they have sex with and then reject every other man quite violently. Unfortunately the Delacours had no-one who they could trust to do this for them, so Harry proposed that she be betrothed to him as the Heir to the main French branch of the House of Flamel. After we explained how we'd done this for the rest of them, Louis, Comte Delacour, requested that Harry enter into separate male and female line betrothal contracts to protect both of his daughters, and Harry agreed."

He saw the Queen looking at Harry with a bemused expression and snorted. "Yes, Your Majesty, Harry has a habit of doing this sort of thing to protect the people he cares about, and those he feels deserve protection as well, like those Veela mascots at the World Cup."

"Anyway, the only change to the ones participating in the Triwizard Tournament this time was the Hogwarts Champion, last time it had been young Cedric here, but the organisers had been forced to officially restrict it to those who had reached their majority again, and Cedric was only fifteen. One of the Pureblood bullies at Hogwarts, Marcus Flint, became the the Hogwarts Champion, and Harry later worked out that all four Champions' entries had been rigged. The British and French Ministries were trying to get Harry and Fleur killed in the Tournament, the Bulgarian Ministry was trying to use the sixteen year old Viktor Krum, the youngest member of a National Quidditch team in centuries, to drum up more publicity for Bulgaria and the British Ministry tried to set up so that Flint would win so that they'd look good."

"The Tournament was panning out just the same way it had the first time Harry participated, in the first task they had to face dragons..."

Ted was cut off by the Queen. "Excuse me Lord Tonks, did you say dragons?"

"Yes Ma'am."

"Just how large were these dragons?"

"I'm afraid I don't know Ma'am, I wasn't there, but I believe that they were quite large."

Harry spoke up then. "Excuse me Your Majesty, but would you like to see them?"

"Indeed we would Lord Potter, but that cannot be possible, can it?"

"Actually, it is Ma'am, if you wish it."

"Well in that case Lord Potter, yes please, we would be most appreciative of that."

Harry bowed to her and called for Dobby, getting him to bring his pensieve to them. They spent the next several hours showing his and Hermione's of the current and previous cycles, and others' memories of this cycle as well, explaining what was going on as they went. All of them learned quite a bit as they went through everyone's memories, as Harry and Hermione showed what had happened in the last cycle, while the older ones in the family showed what had happened in the First Wizarding War.

Most of them almost fainted when they saw Harry taking on the dragon in the first task, the basilisk, the Acromantulas, the inferi and Voldemort in the previous cycle, not to mention Harry and Hermione's escape from the Gringotts vaults on the dragon that the goblins had had guarding the vaults. Even Harry got a new perspective on the battle in the Chamber of Secrets, because Fawkes had supplied her memory of the battle, and seeing his tiny form standing in front of the basilisk with a sword in his hand made him wonder how he'd survived, let alone defeated that monster. The memories of the Dementors had magicals and non-magicals alike shrieking, and the awe with which the magicals present stared at Harry after they watched him drive off a hundred of the foul beasts without help told the others what a feat this had been.

Harry and Hermione showed the memory of their deaths when the Prime Minister wanted to see proof of what had happened. There wasn't a dry eye in the room after they watched that, even he was in tears as he apologised for putting them through that again. Sirius asked to see his own death, and afterwards admitted ruefully that it had been his own fault, because he hadn't been taking his crazy cousin seriously enough. Andi and Cissi felt ill as they watched what their sister had become. Cedric watched his own death as well, though he said that the bored order of "Kill the spare!" upset him more than being killed did.

They were all a little shell shocked after watching those memories, but the Queen showed that she was sharper than most thought her (and made of far sterner stuff too, as she had watched all that was shown without showing much fear) when she reminded them that they had still not explained how Harry had come to be already married to three of his wives and have two children at his age (the bombshell of just how old Harry was had not been dropped yet). Ted took up the story again, as he had been telling much of it so far.

"We have to go back a bit to explain that Ma'am. You've seen how Harry took the risk out of the first task by convincing the nesting mother dragons being brought in that they and their eggs would be safest if they threw the false eggs out of the nests and waited to be taken back to where they were being kept. We had confirmation on the night that the participants were selected that the three tasks were still the same as the last time Harry participated, so we knew that the second task was underwater, at the bottom of the lake beside Hogwarts. This was a problem for Fleur as being underwater separates Veela from the elements that give them strength, and we had already seen from Harry's memories that Fleur had failed this task last time, when she was two years older and had had more time to develop her magic."

"The Delacours called to ask Harry and the ones who were bonded to him to their chateau with their parents or guardians, because they wanted to ask something of us. You see Ma'am, Anne, Fleur and Gabrielle's grandmother, is quite a rarity in the Veela world, there had only been four like her in Veela history. In the magical world, when someone is accepted as the head of an old and powerful house like Harry's, the family magic comes into them and makes them stronger, with that comes the family knowledge, the family secrets, and what Anne experienced when she had her bonding with her mate was the equivalent of that for the entire Veela race, so she became a very powerful font of Veela knowledge."

Ted glanced at Fleur and she nodded, telling him to continue. "It was Anne who wanted to talk to us, because she was hoping to convince Harry to go through the formal bonding ritual with Fleur so that she could gain the power she needed to survive the second task of the Tournament. The thing though was that Anne could see the links between everyone in Harry's immediate family, and especially the strength of the link between him and his primary partner Hermione, so once they had agreed to the bonding to make Fleur safer, Anne insisted that Harry and Hermione needed to have their bonding ritual first, to seal their bond and Hermione's place as the primary mate of the family. While the rest of us could not see the link between Harry and Hermione the way Anne and to a lesser degree other Veela could, it was obvious to us that they were soul mates, so this made sense to us. You must understand Ma'am that, while Harry was twelve and Hermione was thirteen on the outside, on the inside they were eighteen and nineteen and both of them had had intimate relations and children before they were sent back, so the intercourse needed to seal the bond wasn't too much of an issue for them."

"The others in their immediate family felt Harry and Hermione's bonding ritual through the links they had to them, but everyone in the chateau felt the bonding between Harry and Fleur, because there was a massive surge of magical energy that went through the chateau and all of the other girls in the bond and their familiars were knocked out by it. When the girls came to and felt Harry rousing, they ran out to get to him. They all came back a little later with Anne and she explained what had happened, that the bonding that she had been only the fourth in Veela history to have, and which supposedly had only happened every two to three hundred years at most, had happened again with her granddaughter, less than forty years after her own."

"But this wasn't the most astounding thing about Fleur's bonding though, that was the fact that Harry had survived it, as he was the first mate to survive this bonding in recorded history. Every other mate had been burnt out by the massive surge of magical energy as she transformed into the essential Veela. As she was examining everyone, Anne noted significant increases in magical power and changes to everyone in the bond, their familiars as well as the girls. It was when she found traces of Veela magic in all of the girls and Harry, that she realised what had happened, and how he had survived. The reason that Harry hadn't been burnt out by the energy surge was because it had been shared with all of the girls and their familiars."

"I'm sorry if this appears to be avoiding your question Your Majesty, but Fleur's bonding with Harry was in fact the key to why Harry is already married to Hermione, Fleur and Millicent. You see Anne had explained to us before Harry bonded with Hermione and Fleur why it was that she was so much more powerful than other Veela. She expanded on what she told us later, but basically, for this specific bonding to occur, certain conditions had to be met. Included among these were that the Veela's mate had to be an extraordinary and powerful wizard, they had to have a true bond before the bonding ritual was done, and the Veela had to become pregnant as she lost her virginity in the bonding ritual. These conditions were met in Harry and Fleur's bonding, and that was why she also became what the Veela refer to as an Elder Veela."

"If they act quickly enough Ma'am, Veela have the ability to place their pregnancy in stasis until they are ready to allow it to proceed, and that was what Anne coached Fleur through doing, because she had to finish this damn…. Sorry Ma'am. She had to finish this Tournament to survive, and she wouldn't have survived that if she were pregnant. The boost to her magic from becoming an Elder Veela gave her what she needed to participate in the underwater task, but it was still extremely dangerous for all of them."

"We thought that we had adequately protected Hermione and Gabrielle from being taken to be used as the hostages in this task, but someone had been bright enough to come up with a way to get around our protections, using house elves. Hermione was grabbed at breakfast in the Great Hall at Hogwarts and Gabrielle was grabbed at the same time at Chateau Delacour and they were both spirited away before any of us could do anything. Harry worked out what had happened and forced them to start the task immediately, which saved Hermione and Gabrielle, because they had been set up to die on the bottom of the lake, and Harry and Fleur when they came to save them as well. It would be easier to show you what happened down there than try to tell you Ma'am."

When the Queen agreed to this, they went back into the pensieve. This was the first time most of the others had seen what happened in the Merpeople's village, the girls had looked into Harry's memories while he was unconscious, but they hadn't seen it like this either. Most of them were staring in awe and horror at what he found and what he had had to do down there to get the four girls out of there. They also saw what it had looked like from Fleur's perspective as Harry zoomed up from the depths, hanging onto the four girls he'd rescued. Harry, Hermione, Fleur and Gabrielle also got to see what the rest of them had seen, the huge waves crossing the lake from the massive amounts of water that he had been pushing about when he was clearing the Merpeople away from the girls and them flying up out of the water to land on the deck.

There were heated shouts about what should have been done to those monsters who set the four of them, and the other two girls, up to die at the bottom of the lake. They went on to show the third task and the trials of those who had been involved in planning their deaths. The Queen showed her mettle again in the grim satisfaction she had at the fate of those involved. This brought Ted back to the point that the Queen had been asking about.

"It was only after the Tournament was finished that Fleur was safe to allow her pregnancy to proceed Ma'am, and with the pregnancy proceeding, she and Harry had to marry to make their child legitimate. It was my wife Andromeda, as Harry's guardian, who pointed out that the Noble House rules stated that Hermione must marry Harry first, as the Head Wife of the family…."

He hesitated and looked at Millie as he said. "There was another as well…." Millie nodded for him to continue and he flashed her a grateful smile before he did so.

"Millicent had been sharing their bed with Harry and Hermione due to the nightmares she had nearly every night if she tried to sleep alone. Millicent had been forced to endure terrible things before she came into the family and these came back to haunt her at night, except when she was with Harry and Hermione..."

Millie could see the question on the Queen and the others lips so she spoke up at that point. "My father took great pleasure in telling me the gory details of what the men he was planning on selling me off to were going to do to me once I was married from when I was old enough to understand what he was saying Your Majesty, and just after I turned twelve, I was grabbed and raped by a group of students at Hogwarts. Harry and the others rescued me from being raped and most of the rapists and my father are in Azkaban for the rest of their lives."

Harry pulled her into his arms to comfort her while the Queen and the others tried to compose themselves after hearing that. When they'd all settled down enough Ted continued.

"Anne had suggested that Millicent performing the bonding ritual with Harry might help her manage her demons, as she'd have the closer bond to Harry, Hermione and Fleur and wouldn't be alone. While she was only thirteen, Millicent agreed as she had already had her virginity taken from her, and she felt safer with Harry and the immediate family than anywhere else. While the bonding ritual did make her link to Harry and the girls much stronger, she still had to be physically with Harry and Hermione to keep the nightmares away, so when Andromeda pointed out that Hermione needed to be married first as the Head Wife, Hermione asked Millicent if she wanted to have her marriages to Harry as well….."

He hesitated. "I should point out something here Your Majesty, under the old laws of Magical Britain, the Bride and Groom must consummate their marriage on their wedding day for it to be accepted as binding, this was why it was only appropriate for Hermione, Fleur and Millicent to get married, as they were the only ones of Harry's betrothed who had experienced that…."

The Queen cut him off at that point. "We distinctly remember you saying that the betrothal contracts created for these children stated that marriage and consummation could not be considered until both parties had reached their majority Lord Tonks. While is is possible that Madame Delacour may have reached that age, we rather doubt that Lord Potter, Lady Granger and Lady Bulstrode have. Explain this please!"

"Yes Ma'am. Well for a start, the Triwizard Tournament had been formally restricted to those who had reached their majority, so when Harry was forced to participate, he was legally deemed to have reached his majority, the same ruling applied to Fleur actually. As for Hermione and Millicent, there was another law passed back in the days of the Goblin Rebellions that stated that if they willingly agreed to be married, the Head of a Noble House was deemed to have reached their majority on their wedding day. Therefore, as heads of Noble and Ancient and above houses, both Hermione and Millicent satisfied that condition by choosing to be married to Harry. So that was the reason that they were all married just after Harry's thirteenth birthday. Hermione and Millicent were also thirteen at the time, and Fleur was sixteen."

That made the Queen look at Harry and the girls, and especially the twins, in confusion. "How is this so? You stated that Madame Delacour allowed her pregnancy to proceed before they were married, but her babies certainly seem rather less than a year old….. You have said that as Veela, Madame Delacour and Mademoiselle Delacour are only half human, is this why the babies took so long to be born?"

"No, Your Majesty, their babies are not quite four months old Ma'am. Harry and his wives have yet to reach the first anniversary of their weddings, so at this point, Harry is still thirteen, Hermione and Millicent are fourteen and Fleur is seventeen."

The Queen stared at Harry in disbelief. This young man seemed to be at least six feet tall and while quite slender, he had the physical maturity and presence of someone fully grown, he couldn't be thirteen! Not even being nearly fourteen could explain this maturity!

She didn't need to say what she was thinking, the shock had brought her public face down and it was plain to see, so Ted answered the question. "It's the magic Ma'am, specifically the family magics that accepted him when he was accepted as the head and heir of all his houses and spouse for his wives' houses, and the Veela magic that came into him in the bonding ritual with Fleur. It has pushed his physical development to the allowable limits, much the same has happened to the Hermione, Fleur and Millicent. The other girls have been similarly effected, but to a lesser degree, by the Veela magic from Fleur's bonding. Being linked in Fleur's bonding triggered the Veela change in Gabrielle when she was ten, that is why she is now more mature than the other girls at twelve..."

The Queen cut him off again. "This young lady is only twelve? That is simply not possible!"

Harry spoke up then. "Actually, in the Magical World it is Your Majesty, because magic transcends the laws of science. Hermione and I should not have been able to be thrown back into our eleven year old selves when we were killed, but we were. Claiming the titles that we knew that we were entitled to from our memories of our previous lives should not have physically conjured our house rings on our fingers, cleansed us of anything holding us back and made us physically grow and mature, but it did. We should not have instantaneously gained the family knowledge that made it possible to overcome the obstacles that were in front of us, but we did. And Gabrielle should not have been suddenly made a woman at ten, but she was."

"Magic will not be constrained by the rules of the normal world Your Majesty, I can assure you that I was born in the last minutes of the thirty first of July in nineteen eighty, and until the moment I claimed my titles I actually looked years younger than my actual age because I was stunted from the malnutrition and abuse that I suffered at the hands of the relatives that I had been left with against my parents' wishes. I cannot explain how this came about Ma'am, but in a way it is like religion, it must be accepted on the basis of faith because we cannot prove what we know to be true…."

He trailed off, hoping that she could accept what he said. Eventually she nodded. "You are truly an extraordinary young man Lord Potter, wise beyond your years, well beyond your actual years for that matter. Indeed, as you say we must accept some things on the basis of faith, and you have certainly shown us enough here to believe in your magic. You have given us all quite a lot to think about here today. Might we request that you leave us to discuss this and return when we have had the opportunity to ponder what your party has shown us, so that we may address other matters that may arise from our considerations?"

Harry glanced at Arthur and Amelia, who nodded frantically. "Indeed Your Majesty, we shall await your pleasure." With that he bowed and the group was escorted out.

Every non-magical person who had been present that day had been officially cleared in terms of the International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy, because it was only the Queen, her personal assistants, and the current and previous Prime Ministers.

Mrs Thatcher had been brought in to fill in the current Prime Minister and the Queen on what the previous Minister for Magic had told her about the events that spilled over into the Muggle world during the First Wizarding War, and she was furious when she learned how much Bagnold had lied to her and manipulated her for her own ends. Her replacement may not have been happy that she was involved in these critical discussions with the Queen on what was to be done about the revelations that had come from these representatives of Magical Britain, but he had to accept that she had more experience than him with the Magical World and her input was invaluable.