"I think it might be a good idea to bring Charlie in on this. He was telling me that that Welsh Dragon Reserve was going downhill, fast. That Scamander thinks the Ministry are going to sell it. It might be a good buy for our Houses, particularly once Charlie's finished his apprenticeship, set him up there and he'll keep it going. We all know Charlie loves his dragons, imagine what he'd be like if he had a share in it?" Percy answered.

"Ooh…" Ron whistled. "Yeah, that'd work."

"See, Percy, that's why we want you to work with us." Bill patted the latest addition to the Raiders, on the shoulder.

The Express was due to leave London for Scotland the next day, but at eleven o'clock, at night, on the 29th of April, no one in the Lupin/Potter/Black/Prewett cottage was asleep, they were planning a raid and a pair of deaths. What the Carrows had done, had earnt them a one-way trip from their nice damp Azkaban cell, right into the arms of an ICW-supplied Master Auror. Master Aurors being the only beings authorised by Lady Magic to empty someone's magical core and stopper the channels that allowed it to refill.

And wouldn't you know it, right now the Raiders had two Master Aurors. Moody and Harry.

But that wasn't what they planned, the Carrows would die, the time travellers wouldn't take the chance that the Death-Eater siblings might tell one of their… associates… about whatever curse or hex they'd used in the future-that-was-longer-their-future.

Moody had spent a full five hours testing the group, first individually and then as a team. To say that he was surprised was an understatement.

"Better than I've seen, anywhere in the world, Minerva." He told McGonagall and Snape, neither of who had joined Lupin and the Malfoy, Granger and Tonks families to watch the afore said testing. "Right now? If they wanted to take over the world, there's no one good enough to stop them."

"Then we should all be thankful that Dumbledore' no longer an issue." Remus sighed. "Lily would do it just to spite him and Harry is more her child than he is James."

"True." Snape nodded. "And she'd make it look like the whole thing was Dumbledore's idea, too, and have him blamed for it."

"Exactly. So, let's be glad, the Meddler is out of the way." Remus agreed.

At ten passed one in the morning, the Raiders were assembled and ready to wage war.

"What's the order, boss?" George asked Harry, settling himself down between Bill and Percy.

"Five teams, observation, wards, distraction, action, and backup. Observation is Hermione, Luna and Percy. Distraction is George, Fred, Seamus and Dean. Wards are Bill, Cedric and Neville. Action is Ron, Archer and I. Backup is, of course our Master healer, Draco, with Remus and Tonks. Moody, Lucius, Narcissa? I want you three kept completely out of sight, just in case something goes pear-shaped, I won't take the chance of one of Voldy's crew catching sight of any of you working with us. Not yet."

"Fair enough." Lucius nodded. "I had a feeling that was going to be the case."

"I'm assuming that's why you asked Severus and Minerva to meet with the ICW people in Prague, yesterday, with their portkey no due back until midmorning?" Narcissa asked.

"Correct." Harry nodded. "They're both officially… and visibly… not in the country." Harry answered.

"Plausible deniability." Oberon added.

"Exactly." Moody grunted, but it was clear that he wasn't happy about being left behind.

"And us?" Juliet asked, waving her thumb between herself, her husband and the senior Tonks'.

"Communications." Harry grinned. "Thanks to Remus and the Marauders and their map giving Hermione and Luna a base, the girls and George managed to create a of set reusable, resettable ward/rune stones that basically can turn any space into an equivalent of the map. A number of ward-type stones, engraved with runes, laid out around an area and activated, gives us the Raiders' Footprint. It works the same as the map and is tied to a large hide. We used dragonhide, simply for the size, thanks for that Bill, your Curse-Breaking contacts came in quite handy, there." He pointed to a series of large pieces of what looked to be regular parchment, but were in fact, pieces of dragon hide split into thin layers. "And thanks to Dean for getting us some military grade com-sets, even if I don't want to know how he got them." He squinted at Dean, but he still dropped a handful of small plastic bags on the table. "So, if Oberon and Juliet can log a transcript of our coms, that would be helpful for the debrief."

The two dentists nodded and pull a pair of bags over and opened them, revealing an earpiece with two fine bars.

"It's not actually military, Harry, just based on it. I pensieved the schematics for the Raiders' last updates and went shopping for the nearest facsimile, then I simply transfigured them to what I wanted." Dean corrected.

"You know something, Dean? I don't care. As long as they work, I just don't care." Harry shook his head with a smile.

"Okay." Dean shrugged.

"So, Obs will be in place, at least half an hour before Bill and his team start on the wards. Distraction will hit at the same time as Bill plans to drop the only visible ward, from the opposite side of the house. Action will be placed ready to go on Bill's call. Backup will be with Obs, ready to go. Obs and Backup will be here, Backup on the ground and Obs in the air." He pointed with his wand and a tiny blue dot appeared on the map. "Wards are here." Another point and a blurry green line appeared, encircling the entire complex of buildings. "Bill and his team will work from here, the weakest point in the ward-structure, according to Moody and Bill's analysis. Cedric, Neville? Your primary job is to protect Bill if something goes pear-shaped." A second blue dot appeared. "Distraction will be here, the least accessible point from the house, make them work, guys, but try not to leave traces of your magical signatures behind. Nev, you know how to remove them, if need be." A third blue dot appeared. "Action will enter from here." This time the dot was green. "This gives us the clearest access to the area that Distraction will be using, but also the clearest access to the house and these outbuildings." Harry pointed to each building that showed human occupants. "We'll take the house and put the Carrows down first, then any other DE's, before looking to victims. Once the opposition are down, depending on the number of victims, Backup may be called in to help."

"No, once you're sure the Carrows and any DE's are down, get out and I'll call in a tipoff." Moody objected. "Unless a victim is likely to die in the next few minutes, leave them for the Aurors to deal with."

Harry blinked and huffed. "Oh… Yeah…" He sighed. "Forgot I'm not leading the Auror corps." His pout earned chuckles from the other 'travellers'. "Alright, alright, I get it." He straightened his shoulders. "Let's get this done, the Express leaves at eleven."

"Yes, sir." Came from almost every mouth.

"Anything to report?" Harry asked, as he crouched between Archer and Ron.

A slightly crackled voice sounded in his ear. "Nope. Nothing's changed in the last twenty minutes." Hermione answered.

"Nor here." Luna added.

"Or here either, Hellion." Percy had taken to the Raiders like a starved man to food.

"Thanks, girls… ta Perce." Harry said quietly, but the three knew that their actions were well appreciated. "Bill? Now you've seen the wards, firsthand, how long will it take you to bring them down?"

"About two more minutes, Hellion. I've already disabled the notification sequence, the portkey and apparition wards and the Animagus alerts. And I threw up the Raiders' standards." Bill answered.

"Standards?" Percy asked, not sure if it was alright for him to ask now, or if he should wait until later.

"Portkey and apparition wards, tied to us. Animagus, tied to ours. Communications blocks, tied to us. Anti-owl, anti-patronus and anti-floo, again tied to us." Harry answered.

"And tied to us, means that only items tied to us, or bearing our magical signature have access." Hermione added.

"Ah, thank you."

"Ready for the last ward. That's brooms, so it's gonna be visible. Hermione, Luna, Percy are you outside the wards? It will disable all brooms within the wards for at least ten seconds, that's plenty long enough for you to hit the ground from a hundred feet up." Bill warned.

"We're clear." Luna replied, being the closest to the target house.

"Good. Distraction? Hit it in ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one, GO!" Bill counted down the seconds to the breaking of the last ward.

On his signal, Seamus, Dean, Fred and George let loose their Ground Pounders or GP's as the Raiders called them, carefully created glass balls of an exploding potion with a delayed bombarda charm added to the glass in the conjuring. Pulse magic into the ball and count to five, then boom!

On Bill's count of five, the twins, Seamus and Dean began their attack and the first GP was thrown, as Bill reached 'GO' a low rumble that shook the ground and filled the air with the feel of tightly controlled magic. Every five seconds after that, another GP went off, the four members of the Distraction team had spread out slightly, allowing them to cover more ground but still be in an easily defendable position.

"Wards, done." Bill grunted. Breaking through the wards but leaving the muggle-based notice-me-nots alone, had been quite hard and now the curse-breaker was exhausted, but his night wasn't over just yet.

"Well done, Bill. Cedric, Neville? Keep him safe, please. We need to have those wards back up before we leave." Harry directed.

"You got it." Neville answered, handing Bill a phial of Pepper-Up potion.

"Action, in motion." Harry said for the benefit of all those listening.

"That was gross, Harry." Ron whined, wrinkling his nose at the bits of Alecto Carrow that decorated the dining room walls.

"Not my fault the bitch had been taking core-augmentation potions. At least after she exploded, I held off on him." He pointed at Amycus Carrow, or rather at his body. "Who would have thought we'd get both of them as well as Rookwood, Yaxley, Jugson and McNair?"

"Good haul, eh?" Archer grinned.

"Don't forget the potioned wine." Draco's voice crackled in Harry's earpiece. "I worked too long and hard on it, for it to not be used, Hellion."

"Half a sec." Harry levitated both of the bottles of wine from the dining table, to float in front of him and poured a phial of dark blue liquid into one bottle and topped it up from the second, a gentle swirl saw the liquid blend into the pale golden wine. Then a wave of his wand banished a small amount of the doctored wine into each stomach and a tiny amount scattered with the gory remains of Alecto Carrow. The bottle was then let fall from the table to the floor to lay beside the cooling body of the Ministry's Executioner. "Done. Time for us to leave, everyone back to their starting point and brooms out. Meet up at the rendezvous point in five minutes."

Harry nodded to Ron and Archer and the two boys exited the dining room, leaving Harry to cast whatever magical-signature-removal charms that he felt necessary. Seconds later, Harry caught up with them as they emerged from the front door. He cast another round of removal charms and the trio were out in the night air. Down the path and through a gate, the three boys ran, pulling shrunken brooms from various pockets, depending on the person. The moment the brooms reached full size, they mounted and were airborne, going almost vertical until they were outside Bill's wards.

"Clear!" Harry called and levelled off, before heading in a northerly direction. Two minutes flying and he saw the other Raiders, some on their brooms and some on foot, coming from slightly different directions to converge on a single copse of trees.

Time to meet with his family and head home, the DMLE could handle the clean-up.

The compartment on the train was crowded, but the Raiders ignored the cramped conditions, they had more important things to think about.

Luna sat, perched on Ron's lap as he sat on a stack of trunks, under the window, to her left sat George, a familiar journal and travelling writing desk, balanced precariously on his lap.

"Hmm…" Hummed a sleepy Luna. "Where are we? In all?" She asked George.

"Pettigrew is done. Sirius is dead. Davis is copied. Archer is with us. Remus is Harry's guardian. Bill is Archer's guardian. Seneschal's are chosen. Quirrellmort is done. Horcruxes are done. Voldy is done. The Lestranges are done. Dumbledore's done. Harry and Fred are under contract. Fred, me, Percy, Bill and Charlie are released from House Weasley. Adoptions are approved for Ron, Percy and Charlie. Pending for Luna. The Carrows are done. Rookwood, Yaxley, Jugson and MacNair are bonuses and done. And…" The redhead studied the list before nodding. "Yep, that's all the ticked off items."

"And the to-do list?" Luna asked.

"Hmm…" George hummed as he flicked a few pages and made a couple of notes. "Right..." He took a deep breath. "We still have the adoptions to complete, but other than Luna's we already have WFS approval and Luna's has only been reverted to pending due to the WFS investigation of her father's condition. Bill and Fleur's contract is due to be signed, later this week and Fleur will join the Malfoy household at the end of this school year. Other than that…? Just Neville's parents. Bill's in charge of that, he's got an appointment with the healers and Lady Augusta to discuss the next step."

"Nothing else?" Luna's brows rose.

"Not while we're at school, no. Pretty hard to take over the Wizengamot while we're still at Hogwarts." George answered.

"Considering that we can't claim our seats until we're twenty-five, it's a moot point." Draco cut in.

"Hm. Hadn't remembered about that." Harry sulked.

"So… what do we do until then?" Hermione asked.

"I think we should worry about our Families and getting through school." Neville suggested.

"And resurrecting our Houses." Percy added.

"And we'll need to keep a weather eye on the Ministry and the remaining Death-Eaters. If anyone looks like getting out of hand, we can always step in." Ron put in.

"So, a rough idea of order?" George asked.

"Neville's parents, that's ongoing." Luna ticked off on her fingers. "The adoptions and sorting them out, that could take anything up to another year, or even more, in the muggle system. Get Percy through his OWLs. Remus and Tonks' wedding. The twins claim the Prewett Heir titles and name Percy as Seneschal. Get Fred, George and Cedric through their OWLs. Percy through his NEWTs. Bill and Fleur's wedding. The twins claim the Prewett lordship. Harry and Archer claim their Heir titles. Us through our OWLs. Fred, George and Cedric's NEWTs. Harry and Archer claim their lordship titles. Us through our NEWTs. Fed and Harry's wedding."

"Um…?" Draco raised a hand. "I have something I'd like to be considered."

"Go ahead." Luna focused on the other blonde.

"I'd like Hermione to be considered for Sponsoring." He held up a hand, when people started to object. "Hear me out. Please?" When Luna nodded, he continued. "Hermione's a muggleborn, nothing can change that, but… a Sponsored muggleborn has a much higher status than an unsponsored muggleborn. I mentioned it to father, but he said if I wanted to offer her a contract, then House Malfoy aren't able to Sponsor her, breech of trust and all that. With McGonagall as her guardian, it's probably better if she were to suggest it, publicly, or at least officially. But can we at least think about it?"

"I'll raise the subject, but it's likely to be touchy." Luna warned.

"I know, I know, but if Mione wants going to go into the Ministry as anything other than a secretary, it needs to happen." Draco argued. "Yes, I know she was Minister last time, but she scraped in by two votes. Two votes. The muggleborns might have voted for her, the muggle-raised half-bloods might have, too. But the purebloods didn't, or at least… very few of them did. Being Sponsored, the old pureblood Families will see that she's trying to adapt to their culture and the half-bloods and muggleborns will still see her as one of their own. It gives her a much stronger foundation, no matter what she decides to do."

Luna blinked and hummed. "Yes. Yes, that's true. Alright, I'll speak to Professor McGonagall and Hermione, once we're settled back into classes. Give me a week, we'll work something out."

May and June were spent studying, that's all they did. Oh, yes, they still did pranks, just not to the same degree, Dumbledore had been their primary target. Or at least, he had been until he left the school, now he wasn't much more than a consideration. More of a, 'No, we're not going to destroy the prophecy in the DoM, that might alert Dumbledore and his loyal followers,' type of consideration. McGonagall kept them up to date on the old Meddler's condition and location and, as yet, he was not-so-comfortably ensconced in his parents' old house just outside Godric's Hollow, doing some much needed repairs and meeting with Bathilda Bagshot.

Getting Percy through his OWLs was interesting. Each of the Raiders tutored the, now-older, boy in their preferred subject and some of those subjects came as a little bit of a surprise. Yes, Draco was their best at potions, and Hermione at History of Magic, but Seamus was his Transfiguration tutor. While in Charms, Ron was their best and Dean had that position in Ancient Runes. Arithmancy was George's forte, which made Percy raise his eyebrows a little, until George explained that getting the arithmancy right meant less need for dangerous experimentation. It surprised no one that Luna was their CoMC specialist, but it took Percy, Snape and Moody by surprise to find that Neville was the DADA expert, they had both expected Harry to be in that position.

Oh, that's not to say that Harry wasn't brilliant at DADA. After the Battle of Hogwarts, both men had entered the Auror corps, but upon graduating, Harry had formed the TRTs and that meant that he had less time to work on the practical side of things. He recruited the best that he could, making sure that they were the people that he could trust. And while he had studied under most of them and did have Masteries in Charms, DADA and Transfig., he had nowhere near the time to devote to those, as his team members did.

Dumbing their essays and tests down to the level of a firstie, had been perhaps the single hardest thing they'd yet had to face. They weren't children and if you knew what to look for, all the signs were there. Thank Merlin and Morgana, that most wizards can't see what's right under their noses.

Over May and June, the Raiders used the time turners sparingly, on the weekends mostly, just to give themselves time away from the other students, but they had promised McGonagall that they wouldn't use the turners during the exam weeks, expect in a true emergency.

During this time, the adults connected to the Raiders had been busy, too. Antonon Dolohov, Thorfinn Rowle, Borden Travers, Milton Pyrites and Crawford Selwyn were found dead, a phial of memories stuck to their foreheads and their left arms fully exposed. Moody reported that he DMLE were at first frantic and scathing of someone targeting fine upstanding people… until they watched the memories. Each person had been interrogated under veritaserum and questioned closely. Some of the first questions were, 'did you take the DarkMark willingly?' and 'what did you do to gain the mark?'. In addition to this, a number of people were found bound in muggle restraints, that few Auror knew how to remove. They, too, had their arms exposed.

Unsurprisingly, most confessed their crimes and were sentenced to Azkaban and some even, executed. But some were found to be genuinely under the influence of the imperius curse. Those treated by the curse-breakers included Mafalda Hopkirk, Albert Runcorn, Sarah Warrington, Jordan Flint, Matilda Parkinson, Stephen Bulstrode and Thomas Nott.

Speculation rose that some of these may have been chosen for their children, who would be in the same year as Harry, while the rest were in influential, but unremarkable, positions within the Ministry. Further speculation suggested that the Dark chose them to create a support-base for a takeover of the Ministry.

But nothing was known for certain.

The Express reached London with no issues and disgorged it's cargo of students, filling platform 9¾ with the loud chatter of excited families. And the Lupin-Potter-Black-Malfoy-Granger grouping were no different… for a change.

They hung back and let most of the other families leave via the floo, talking amiably with whoever approached them. Many students had joined a Raiders-run study group and now each of them, and their families, thanked the Raiders for their help. Parents greeted Remus and Narcissa, their faces familiar from their own school years. A few Heads of house approached and requested permission to contact the Seneschals of Houses Potter and Black, which was granted, but a suggestion was made to give each family a week of holidays before allowing business to creep in.

The first of the Raiders to leave was Neville, his grandmother bustling onto the platform, just as the departures trickled off. The old woman's face was pinched and tight, clearly expressing her displeasure with the world around her. She exchanged the barest of courtesies with the adults surrounding her grandson's friends, before practically dragging the lad from the station.

Harry frowned in thought. "Are we going to have to deal with her?" He asked. "I don't like the way she's treating Nev."

"Already dealt with." Remus smirked.

"What?"

"How?" Draco and Archer asked at the same time.

"Lady Augusta is no longer Neville's guardian. His parents have reclaimed that right and Frank is in the process of reclaiming his title as Lord Longbottom." Remus replied nonchalantly.

As one, the Raiders spun to look at Remus.

"They're back?" Asked Harry.

"Bill did it?" Asked Hermione.

"They're okay?" Ron demanded.

"Yep, they're fine. Not anywhere near being up to duelling fitness, that will take a few more months yet, but they both have full control of their mental faculties… much to Augusta's dismay." Andi gave a vicious little grin.

"What happened?" Archer asked.

"Augusta got a first-hand glimpse at why Frank and Alice survived the Marauders' time at Hogwarts, relatively unscathed and un-pranked." Remus beamed.

"It was very… loud…" Tonks winced.

"And the things Frank threatened to do were…" Bill tilted his head. "I'm not sure they were physically possible."

"I get the feeling that Frank would have made them possible." Tonks laughed.

"Regardless…" Remus' smirk grew. "Augusta is no longer an issue for Neville. Frank and Alice have been released from St. Mungo's and, much to Augusta's disgust, have purchased the cottage on the other side of the lane from ours. They've already moved in, but will be meeting Neville at St. Mungo's, they've had their final treatment today and from now on will be under Narcissa' care."

"Something else Augusta disapproves of." Bill added.

"True. After their treatment, they'll be taking a portkey to their cottage…" Remus hummed. "I'm not sure if they're cleared for apparition, or not. I'll ask, later. They'll probably be over for supper. Frank's house-elf, Mikki, has been recalled from wherever Augusta sent her and she's taken over the cottage's care, while most of their meals are coming from our kitchen. Mikki's not the best cook, according to Frank and Alice isn't confident enough, yet, to take it on. She's still too wobbly on her feet, to do that."

"The plan is for Augusta to take Neville to St. Mungo's, to meet up with his parents, then a portkey to their cottage. Jelli will take over dinner for them about five-ish and about seven-ish, they'll come over for supper." Tonks went on.

"We brought them into the loop, their first night in the cottage." Remus added. "We felt that they needed to know what was going on, Narcissa thought that it might advance their recovery."

"And it did." Tonks nodded, with a beaming smile.

"Indeed, it did." Remus pulled an old leather belt from his pocket and held it up by the buckle. "Grab hold and we'll go." It took a few moments for everyone to crowd around and take a hold of the belt. With Remus at one end, the adults to his left, the children to his right and Harry at the far end, the belt was held at waist height. Remus tapped it with his wand and said the activation phrase. "Chaos Cottage Courtyard."

Those holding the belt took a deep breath as he spoke and held it, while the portkey's magic pulled them away from the platform. The spinning pull lasted only a few seconds, after all they had to travel less than fifty miles. When the lightning and thunderclouds fell away, each of the children let their fingers slip from the belt and began running, leaving the adults to be more sedate about their arrival. As they reached the ground, the children rolled and tumbled, only Percy and Fred struggled to retain their balance completely, but training with the Raiders meant that at least they didn't end up on the ground in a heap.

"Home, sweet home." Remus said as he and Tonks touched down.

"Finally." Bill added.

"Bill!" A scream alerted them to the fact that Fleur had arrived.

"Fleur!" Bill spun and sprinted in the direction her voice had come from. Meeting her a dozen yards from the fence, the pair met in a tangle of arms and legs and went down in a passionate embrace, completely ignoring whoever may have been watching.

"Well, that's the last we'll see of them for a while." George shrugged.

"We can only hope." Ron added.

"Um… yeah…" Harry grimaced.

"We don't need to watch 'em." George nodded. He climbed to his feet and made a beeline for the cottage. "Last one in, has to call them for dinner." He yelled over his shoulder.

"Oh, hell no." Harry was up and sprinting before anyone else was even on their feet.

A mad scramble and a bit of push-and-shove at the conservatory's door and a very sulky Hermione sat pouting, beside Draco.

"Why is it always me?" She whined.

"Cheer up, Mione. The cottage has two stories, you can always hit them with an aguamenti from an upstairs window." Draco offered and a thoughtful expression settled on Hermione's face.

"Oh, dad?" Harry called across the room to Remus.

"Yeah?" It gave Remus a buzz of joy each time Harry said it.

"Seamus and Dean?" Harry wriggled his shoulders to get them under Fred's arm. "Dean's stepdad has been transferred to New Zealand, he's to manage the military personnel that guard the… Hermione? What did Dean call it?"

"The British High Commission, Harry. It's in wellington." Hermione answered.

"High Commission, yeah, that was it. Anyway, they fly out on the 25th and his mum wants Dean to go with them, but they're hoping that you, or Bill, would consider being his Crisis Guardian and let him stay with us for part of the summer?"

"They haven't considered transferring him, have they?" Remus sat forward. "That could be…"

"Nope. According to our Ministry, neither New Zealand or Australia have an ICW approved school and the that means the nearest are Castelobruxo in Brazil, Uagadou in Uganda or Mahoutokoro in Japan." Harry answered.

"But because his stepdad is military and attached to the High Commission, the MoMNZ are prepared to give him a multi-use portkey. It's up to him where it sends him, here or to one of the other schools and he chose here." Hermione went on.

"That will mean that someone from there will come here and place a link-stone." Tonks commented.

"A link-stone?" Draco asked.

"A link-stone is a stone etched with runic writing that is linked to a specific portkey." Hermione answered in a lecture-like tone. "It can be placed just about anywhere, but once placed, moving it requires a runes master and the linked portkey. It allows long distance portkeying to be precise and discreet. Usually they are placed in doorways or in camera black spots. And they are only used for multiple use portkeys, both domestic and international. St. Mungo's staff use them for emergencies and the ICW has one for each country that holds a council seat."

"So, the fact that MoMNZ are offering one to Dean, is because of his stepfather's position?" Remus asked.

"Probably, but likely also because of your Houses." Lucius explained. "Dean's father would have had to notify both our Ministry and the MoMNZ of his transfer there and they would likely have suggested nominating a Crisis Guardian, someone connected, either with the school directly or the parent of one of his dorm-mates, which is the way they've gone. And, of course, when they said who his dorm-mates are…? The formal request from Dean's parents, asking that Bill or Remus become Dean's Crisis Guardian has to be handled via the Ministry, because they're not asked Bill or Remus as Bill Black or Remus Lupin, but as the Seneschals of Houses Black and Potter."

"Ah…" Harry grimaced, but it was clear that he didn't understand.

"This gives a more… official basis and is somewhat similar to Sponsoring, but as Dean is a half-blood not a muggleborn, Sponsoring doesn't apply. Having a Lord or a Seneschal of an Ancient and Noble House as a Crisis Guardian for a half-blood is considered to tantamount to accepting him into your House. It means that he would be considered a lesser member of the House and can introduce himself as 'Dean Thomas of House Black.' Or Potter, whichever the case may be." Lucius gestured first to Bill and then to Remus, as he said the House names.

Harry and Archer looked at each other and had a very obvious, but silent conversation. Finally, Archer shrugged and sat back.

"House Potter. Archer's already taken in four ex-Weasley's. While I have yet to do more than apply to adopt Luna." Harry answered.

"Certainly." Lucius nodded.

"Nothing's arrived, yet." Remus huffed. "But I'll see to it, when it does."

"Thanks, dad." Harry grinned.

"We have court hearings in relation to the two muggle adoptions, they're scheduled to be on Monday for Archer and on Thursday for Harry." Remus went on. "In Harry's case it's pretty much a foregone conclusion, his only blood relation has left the country, but has written a letter requesting the adoption be granted." He paused while Harry leapt up and gave him a hug. "Thanks, pup. Now Archer's is a little more complex. Bill is documented as Archer's mother's cousin's son." He laughed at the rolling of eyes and shaking of heads. "Like I said, more complex. Documents show a blood connection, but Bill is young, just twenty-one. The fact that he's employed in the financial sector is good, as is the knowledge that Bill also attended the same school Archer does and was Head Boy. Letters of commendation from his Professors, helps. Remind him to thank Minerva and Severus for those."

"Will do." Fred grinned.

"There's also a letter from Archer, to take, too." Hermione offered. "We got together and worked out what it should say."

"And one from me, for mine." Harry added.

"Great." Remus pointed in the direction of the office. "Add it to their files. That will bring it to… Hmm… Harry has letters from himself, Petunia, Minerva, Moody, Severus and Andi. Archer has them from Minerva, Severus, Cassiopeia, Narcissa, Poppy and the one you lot wrote. That's more than enough… Surely."

"Fingers crossed." Archer sighed.

A pop and platters began to appear on the conservatory's table. Sandwiches, tiny pasties and pies, pieces of chicken, sausages wrapped in bacon and many other tasty nibbles.

"That's dinner then." George gave Hermione a sideways look and raised an eyebrow.

"Ugh…" The girl whined.

"Try Draco's idea." Ron suggested.

Hermione frowned in consideration before nodding sharply. She stood and headed for the stairs. Less than a minute later there was a squeal and a yell from outside and Hermione appeared at the same time as Bill and Fleur ran in.

"Oo did that?" Fleur's accent was back to her heavy French one, again.

Everyone in the room turned to look at Hermione.

"Time for dinner, Fleur, Bill. Best dry yourselves off before you sit down." Was all she said.

"Grr…" Fleur's growl was playful and pretty, but everyone present knew that she was just as dangerous as the rest of them, probably more so, if you took her veela blood into consideration. But for now, she was happy and a happy Fleur was not a dangerous Fleur, even if her attitude was an infectious one.

The court room was bland and a little cold, but that didn't stop Harry from being clammy with nerves. He'd spoken, one-on-one with the judge and the man was now reading through each of the letters, that Harry and Remus had provided. One by one, they were read and laid aside, before the judge steepled his fingers and looked up.

"This is quite an unusual case." He began. "We have a number of different parties. On one side, we have the child, Harry Potter. On a second side we have the applicant, Mr Remus Lupin. And the third side are Child Protection Services, Family Welfare and Department for Education. Under normal circumstances, young Harry would be placed with his nearest blood kin, but… after talking to him, I'm inclined to be glad they've left the country and left him behind. I've half a mind to forward charges to America and their child welfare departments. But… Harry doesn't want that. We've agreed, that if they return before Harry turns eighteen, they will be charged with neglect and endangerment. If, however, they don't… Harry has requested that no charges be laid. In his words… He would like to never see his Aunt and Uncle ever again." The judge sighed. "Not my choice, but Harry is old enough to understand, so I have taken his request into account. In addition, Petunia Dursley, his Aunt via his mother, has written a letter stating her wish to have Harry removed from their care, permanently. Other letters from his school Professors and his father's police academy mentor, present a close relationship between Mr Lupin and James Potter, with Mr Lupin being privately fostered by the Potters for a number of years. Interestingly, they fostered a second boy, a Mr Sirius Black, who was believed to be involved in the deaths of Harry's parents… until Mr Lupin was granted guardianship of Harry and demanded his parents' Will be read. It has yet to determined why those Wills were not read upon their deaths. Regardless, in both Wills new information has lead to Mr Black being posthumously absolved of their murders. This does not bring the Potters back, however." He sighed. "Mr Lupin obviously cares greatly for Harry and that is clearly reciprocated. Mr Lupin has never applied for, nor received a government allowance, his employment history is varied, but consistent and his previous employers all speak highly of him. However, Mr Lupin has stated that since the deaths of James and Lily Potter, their estate has been left dormant. Upon being granted guardianship of Harry, Mr Lupin has worked tirelessly to restore the losses the estate has suffered. To his credit, he has allocated himself an allowance, one that I believe needs to be adjusted… upwards… £225 is considerably below the average weekly wage and you now have a son to support. The latest government surveys stipulate that the average income for a male of your age, employed fulltime in non-manual labour, is fractionally less than £395, however… the Potters were listed as having a significantly above average asset base. So much so, that if you were to raise Harry in a manner equal to that of his parents, your allowance needs to increase to nearly double the current."

The judge paused when Ted Tonks raised a hand.

"Yes, Counsellor?" The judge asked.

"The allowance that I believe you are speaking of, your honour, is what Mr Lupin was advised to allocate for his work on the estate, it is not the allowance for Harry's care. That is a separate account and is not in Mr Lupin's name, but in Harry's. Mr Lupin has authority to pay invoiced bills from the account and to use a debit card for Harry's purchases, but he unless Harry is physically with him, he is unable to withdraw cash." Ted replied.

The judge shuffled his papers and withdrew a single sheet.

"Ah… I am corrected, Counsellor. I still believe that Mr Lupin's allowance needs to increase, at least to equal that of the national average. Please see that it happens. Overall… I am pleased. This case may be complex, but Harry's view is simple, he wants to stay Mr Lupin and would very much like to call him dad. I find in favour of Remus Lupin. Adoption approved. I have included approval for a change of name should Harry wish to take Mr Lupin's name or add it to his own."

Harry raised a hand.

"Yes, Harry?"

"I have a dreadfully complicated name, but it's what my parents chose to call me. I don't want to lose that, but I do want to add to it." Harry was the picture of an earnest young boy.

"What would you like you name to be?" The judge titled his head a little, he'd read Harry's full name and was quite dumbfounded that any parent would saddle their son with such a name.

"I want to add Lupin to it, please. I want to be a Potter-Lupin." Came the answer.

The day of Harry's birthday dawned, bright a sunny, the sun shining in through his bedroom window, barely filtered by the leaves of the oak that shaded part of the house. The body jumping up and down on his bed didn't help, either.

"Ugh…" He groaned, pulling his pillow around his head and attempting to ignore his bouncer.

"Up, up, up." Archer said one word on each bounce.

"Nooo… Don't want to…" Harry groaned.

"Fred's here." Archer tempted him with.

"I'm up." Harry sat up quickly. He and Fred had got much closer over the past few weeks, they were very aware of their bodies ages and made no attempt to take their affections further than was age-appropriate, but they could generally be found together. Whether in physical contact or just nearby, the two were taking advantage of every minute available to them, revelling in the knowledge that if one held out a hand, the other could simply reach out and take it.

Harry climbed from his nice warm bed and after a short trip to the bathroom to wash and dress, he headed downstairs to join his family. Sitting around the big table in the shaded conservatory were his Raiders. To one side of the huge table were Tonks, Moody, McGonagall, Snape, the Malfoys, Hermione and her parents, Archer and at the foot of the table, sat Bill. The other side had Remus at the head, space for Harry, then the twins and their brothers, Luna, Seamus, Dean, Cedric and Fleur. While off to one side, at a smaller table with individual chairs, instead of the long benches, sat the Longbottoms.

"Good morning, everyone." Harry chirped as he bounced across the tiles.

"Happy birthday, Harry."

"Good morning, pup."

"Morning, sleepyhead."

"Morning."

Different greetings came from different people, all at pretty much the same time.

"Dad?" Harry asked, looking at Luna as he bounced passed.

"Yes, pup?" He had a fair idea what Harry was going to ask.

"Why is Luna wearing a ribbon bow around her neck?" Harry hugged Remus before flopping down into his seat between Remus and Fred. Still looking at his father, he leant back, knowing that Fred would be there to support him, he tossed a quick grin at his betrothed and refocused on his smirking parent.

"Luna? Well…" Remus leant back in his own seat and hummed.

"Dad…" Harry warned, his eyes narrowing.

"Oh, come on, Remus." Tonks huffed. "It's his birthday. Don't make him kill you on his birthday."

"Spoilsport." Remus pouted. "Alright. Harry? Luna's your birthday present."

"Excuse me?" Ron blustered. "She's my girlfriend, how the heck, do you figure she's his birthday present?"

Remus pulled a phial of pale pink liquid on the table in front of Harry.

"Luna's adoption is approved. Signed sealed and just waiting on your blood, for her to drink the potion and then you'll have a sister." Remus beamed.

Harry grabbed the phial and pulled the stopper away, before reaching for his wand.

"How many drops?" He asked.

"You have three options. One. Three drops of your blood in the phial in your hand, makes her Luna Lovegood of House Black. Two. Seven drops of your blood in the phial in your hand, makes her Luna Lovegood-Potter. Three. Seven drops of my blood in this phial, for you to drink, makes me your blood adopted father. Just like Sirius was." Remus placed another phial on the table.

Harry's eyes focused on the new phial. "How will that affect Luna?"

"Bloody wolf." Snape huffed. "He's not being accurate, Potter. This phial?" Snape pointed at the phial in front of Remus. "This phial requires blood from both Lupin and Mrs Lupin. As does the second phial, that the bloody wolf hasn't pulled out, yet."

Remus looked at Snape. "Way to spoil my fun, Severus. Thanks very much."

"You're quite welcome." Snape sneered back.

Harry looked from them to Tonks. "Tonksy? How about you answer my question."

"You can use the phial in front of you, to adopt Luna, either as a daughter of your House or as a blood sister. Or… Remus and I can adopt you both. With our wedding tomorrow and already having approval for Remus to adopt you and for you to adopt Luna, WFS approved the pair of us to adopt you both." The pink haired woman answered.

"Daddy is getting worse, faster than before." Luna said. "Healer Lucknow says, it's only a matter of time before he's bedridden." She sighed. "I know that I knew it was coming… but still…" Ron slung his arm around her shoulder and let her lean against him. "It still hurts to see. St. Mungo's don't want me coming to see him often, it upsets him and makes him uncooperative. They're the ones who recommended WFS to approve Remus and Tonks adopting me. They think that's more likely to stabilise my core, by introducing a Light-based Family Magic. The specialists think it will override the imbalance caused by mummy's Darker magics, especially considering that she was disowned and wasn't able to pass Family Magic along to me."

"Pardon?" Draco raised a hand. "That's only going to be partially successful. Andi was a Black before she married. If that's what you hope to get from this, in addition to a family, I'd suggest that Tonks, Remus and Harry all adopt you. Tonks and Remus first, then Harry as a sibling. That way the combined Family Magics of the Lupins, the Potters, the Evans' and the Tonks' should boost the Lovegood Magics enough to override what you get from the Malfoys and the Blacks."

"So… we adopt both Luna and Harry, then give Harry's core enough time to process the adoption and then he adopts Luna?" Tonks asked. "Is that the order you think it should go in?"

"Not quite. Adopt Harry and give him time to process it. Then all three of you, all adopt Luna at the same time. We're trying to override her Malfoy blood, not give it a boost from the Blacks." Draco answered.

"And how long do you figure it will take Harry to process?" Remus asked.

"Well, we've access to time turners, so…? Only a few minutes from Luna's perspective, but it will take Harry twelve hours." Draco warned. "If he uses a trunk, we just stay out of trunk until times up. But Harry hasn't used his school trunk since the end of term, so there's not likely to be any cross over."

"But how will he…?" Tonks trailed off.

"I go into the trunk, the main body of the trunk. I wait until someone comes through from the conference room, then I turn back twelve or thirteen hours… probably best to do thirteen, give me time to have a shower and get cleaned up, adjust clothes if I need to. I turn back, take the potion, let my core process it, shower, clean up, etc. and send someone to tell the 'unturned' me that I can enter the wizard-space part of the trunk." Harry answered.

Tonks blinked. "Will that work?" She asked, confused.

"It would." Hermione answered.

"Okay."

"Shall we?" Remus held his wand over his hand.

Harry, Luna and Tonks all nodded.

"Lets." The three all answered.

By midday, it was all over. Harry had gained quite a lot of height from Remus, for which he was extremely grateful, after all Fred was going to end up well over six foot and Harry had topped out at five-five last time. Not the most pleasant combination, height-wise. Draco had assessed him and after consulting with Hermione had declared that Harry should mature to be somewhere between five-eight and five-ten. Respectable enough.

Luna, too, had gained height from both Tonks and Remus. Draco and Hermione estimated that she'd be roughly five-five to five-eight.

Other than that, there was little difference for either child. Hair and eyes stayed the same, their builds at this age were no different. Perhaps, that might change as they got older, but not yet.

After a lunch of sandwiches and fruit, they gathered around the huge circular table in the main conference room, the only person missing was Neville who'd taken his parents home and was planning to return later that evening.

"So…?" Harry whispered, his throat still aching from the screaming he'd done during the time his core had taken to process the adoption potion. "Who's chair?"

"It's supposed to be you, Harry." Hermione said. "But you sound dreadful, do you want me to?"

"Please." Harry rasped and picked up his drink to take a sip.

"Of course, you know I will." Hermione patted Harry on the hand and slid the sheet of parchment across the table to rest in front of her. "Fred? Are you right to take notes?"

"Yep." Fred held up a quill and then tapped it against a bottle of ink. "Ready and able."

Dean? Will you keep Neville up to date?" Hermione turned to the chocolate skinned boy.

"Will do." He answered.

"Good. Read back the latest 'to-do' list, please, Fred."

"Sure thing, boss-lady. Last 'to-do' list was done at Easter, so be aware, a number of things can be crossed off." He waited for an answering nod. "Neville's parents, their rehab is ongoing. The adoptions, Harry, Archer and Luna. Percy's OWLs. Remus and Tonks and their wedding. George and I claiming our Heir titles. Naming Percy as seneschal. Cedric, George and my OWLs. Percy's NEWTs. Bill and Fleur's wedding. Prewett titles. Harry and Archer's Heir titles. The Raiders and their OWLs. Ced, George and my NEWTs. Potter and Black titles. Raiders' NEWTs. Harry and my wedding. Hermione's Sponsorship." Fred obediently recited. "But, like I said, some are already crossed off."

"And which are they?" Hermione raised an eyebrow. "Refresh our memory, for those that aren't here all the time."

"You got it. The adoptions are done. All of them. Percy's OWLs are done, he got twelve OWLs, eleven O's and one EE. Beat Bill who got two EE's. Hermione's Sponsorship is complete, the Longbottoms have stepped up, there. Everything else still stands. Nothing new has been raised." Fred replied. "Long term goals are on hold. Everything else we have planned relies on us having seat on the Wizengamot and that can't happen before we're twenty-five. That's ten-plus years."

"Ten-plus years, that we will need to repair the damage to our Houses and get ourselves set up." Archer sighed.

"Agreed." Bill nodded. "And I've had an update from Aunt Muriel. Ginny's been responding well and Aunt Muriel wants to give her a chance at Hogwarts, this coming school year, so she'll be starting in September. Uncle Gareth and Muriel have met with St. Mungo's and St. Mungo's have suggested that she might respond well to knowing her future is secure with a betrothal contract. There's only two contenders at this point, Ernest MacMillan and Michael Corner. Macmillan is a pureblood, but their financial situation is almost as bad as hers. Corner is a half-blood, but reasonably wealthy in the wizarding world, his mother was a muggleborn and his father is a pureblood. It's not likely to be formalised until she's had a chance at Hogwarts, if she fails, no contract for her, ever. If she pulls through…? It kind of depends on how she does."

"Both are good men, Bill. But Michael is a better bet, they were happily married for the last ten years, remember?" Ron said. "Once she got passed the fan-girl stage, she was an asset to the TRT's."

"I'll talk to Uncle Gareth and push him in Corner's direction." Bill assured his brother.

Ron nodded to Bill and went on. "All-in-all, we're exactly where we need to be. Any alterations we make from here on out, are bonuses. Even if we do nothing else, but restore our Houses, the wizarding world will be better off, just because of who's not in it, to drag it down."

"That's very true. Just living your lives, will change the future for those still to come. The future of the wizarding world is going to change, simply because there is a future, now." Lucius agreed. "Take the next ten years and watch. Muriel, Andi, Remus and I have seats or are using yours, by proxy. Give us the chance to see what we can set up, you may not need to go that way."

"Agreed." Hermione nodded. "At the very least, you'll be able to lay a foundation for us. Personally, I'd prefer us to stay out of the Wizengamot, we can be more effective elsewhere."

"Change the children, change the future." Cedric told them. "If we… or those on the Wizengamot, can get pre-Hogwarts schooling approved, muggleborns will fit in so much easier."

"And hopefully, they won't be cast adrift on graduating." Hermione grimaced.

"That's a long-term project, not something we can change in one year." Lucius warned.

"We won't be able to do anything about it until we claim our seats and like Fred said… that's ten-plus years away." Ron shrugged. "Have at it, do what you can. If we need to, we'll finish up. If we don't need to, you and whoever else, get the credit for it."

"Win-win." George added, waggling his eyebrows.

"Alright. To recap. There's nothing on our 'to-do' list that we can do in the immediate future, the next is George and I claiming our Heir titles when we turn fifteen. I understand that the adults may have some DE targets still to deal with, but those of us at Hogwarts are in a holding pattern, we're going nowhere until we leave school." Fred ignored George's actions.

"Correct." Lucius said.

"In that case…" Harry's voice was a lot clearer now. "Let's just enjoy having a future and families. Archer and I never really had them before."

"And the pranks, cousin, don't forget the pranks." Archer reminded them all. "We're Marauders and Marauders prank people."

"That they do, Archer, that they do." Remus laughed.

"All agreed? We live our lives and monitor the way the Wizengamot progresses. If we don't need to step in, we won't." Hermione stated. "All in favour?"

"Neville says 'yes, please', Hermione." Dean said as he raised his own hand to vote in favour.

"Ayes have it. I suggest we have a yearly meeting to discuss the Wizengamot's actions. Any objections?"

No one raised a hand.

"Thank you. Raiders meetings are adjourned until July 1993." Hermione slapped her hand down on the table. "Congratulations. We did it. The wizarding world has a future because of us. We've earned the right to live the way we want."

She was answered only by smiles.