Disclaimer –The world of Harry Potter is owned by J.K. Rowling and various publishing houses. The films are owned by Warner Brother's Studios. I do not in writing this claim ownership over any properties associated with the works of J.K. Rowling. I am merely playing in her backyard while I get these ideas out of my head.

xXx Story xXx

Without the immediate threat of Professor Quirrell and Voldemort in the castle Harry and Hermione were able to actually sit back and enjoy the remainder of the fall term. Potions was still a bit of a burden, but ever since Harry had asked Snape to do the rendering down of the Basilisk, the greasy bat of a man had been a lot less threatening towards Harry and Hermione.

Despite everything however, it turns out that Professor Dumbledore is a remarkably gifted teacher. His first series of lessons in the Defense against the Dark Arts class featured primarily on the theory behind why Defense is necessary, as well as discussing what exactly the dark arts are while also going into remarkable depth regarding the history of the Dark Arts.

He also made especially certain to discuss the legal ramifications involved in the casting of certain dark spells, and why one should be very careful when performing the rituals often associated with the Dark Arts. He described what some of these rituals are, from Sanguimancy, and Necromancy, to Daemonomancy. Harry paid especially close attention to the descriptions used when Dumbledore explained Sanguimancy, or Blood Magic as it would be known in English.

Once he had finished describing the theory, history and methodology of both the Dark Arts and Defense against the Dark Arts, while not going into depth about any actual technical usage or spells of the Dark Arts, he proceeded to teach the class some basic defensive spells. He started everyone off on the most important and basic Defensive Spell that they could learn, the Disarming Jinx.

As the fall term drew to a close Hermione and Harry were quite satisfied that the most immediate of their threats had been dealt with. As such they both went to Professor Flitwick and registered for the trip back to London for the holidays.

Predictably it wasn't even two days later that Harry received a note asking him to come up to the Headmaster's office.

xXxXxXx

"Enter Harry," Albus said when Harry knocked on the Headmasters office door shortly after lunch.

Harry walked into the Headmaster's office and took the seat that was set up for him, "What can I do for you Headmaster?"

"I just wanted to confer with you about your holiday plans. It has come to my attention that you have put your name down as going home for the Holidays. Is it true that you will be spending time with your relatives?" the Headmaster asked.

"Well, actually Headmaster, the Grangers have invited me to spend the holidays with them this year." Harry said with a bit of a casual shrug.

"Then I can at least be assured of your safety during the holidays, as it seemed that Miss Granger's house had some of the best wards I had ever seen. How is it that a Muggle-Born was able to obtain wards of such a high standard?" Dumbledore asked.

"As you are no doubt aware Headmaster, Hermione is the Heiress of Rowena Ravenclaw. As such she is entitled to the some pretty massive wards on her primary place of residence. If that is all Sir, may I go?" Harry said by way of explanation.

"Yes, yes of course Harry, thank you for your time, and please extend my courtesies to Miss Granger when you see her." The Headmaster said in a manner of dismissal.

"Of course Headmaster," Harry said, as he stood up and retreated from the room.

xXxXxXx

Finally the day of the departure from Hogwarts was at hand. Harry and Hermione had packed the night before, so they were easily able to get their stuff down to the train with little difficulty. Quickly making their way to the Marauder Compartment, Harry let Hermione in. Once they were settled, Harry ducked out of the compartment and began searching through the train for the individual he was looking for. It took him nearly the entire length of the train to find him, but find him he did.

"Hey, Neville, would you mind coming with me? I would like you to sit with me and my friend." Harry asked when he found Neville Longbottom.

"Er, Um… o-okay Harry." Neville said with a tad bit of trepidation as he stood up and followed Harry back to the Marauders Compartment.

Once they arrived Harry indicated the compartment for Neville and directed him inside so that he could pass through the wards.

"Oh, hello Hermione," Neville said upon entering the compartment.

"Hi Neville, please have a seat." Hermione said over the top of the book she was reading 'Advanced Arithmantic Principles and Their Applications to Basic Thaumaturgy.'

Once Neville was seated Harry took a seat next to Hermione and proceeded to look Neville over curiously, "So Neville, I was wondering, were you aware that my mother was your Godmother?"

"Er… no Harry, no one ever informed me of that fact."

"I see, and then were you also unaware that your own mother was my Godmother?" Harry asked in a concerned tone of voice.

Neville shook his head indicating that he was unaware of that fact as well.

"Well then, I think it is important to inform you that you and I are essentially God-Brothers. As such I was wondering if you would do me the great honor of being my friend." Harry asked.

"Of course Harry, I would be honored to be your friend." Neville responded.

Hermione smiled and said "That goes for me too Nev."

"N-Nev?" Neville asked.

"It's a reasonable diminutive for your name." Hermione offered.

Harry laughed and said "She means it is a reasonable nickname. Hermione you need to stop sounding like a textbook all the time. No one uses words like 'diminutive' in casual conversation."

Hermione harrumphed and went back to reading her book.

"So Nev, how's life been treating you?" Harry asked.

"I can't really complain overly much, though Professor Snape is rather awful to me. He has been letting up on me ever since just before Halloween though." Neville explained.

"Yeah, I expect that is because he had a rather unexpected influx of a rather exotic and rare potions ingredient that may have just brightened his mood considerably given how difficult it is to get this particular ingredient." Harry explained.

"What ingredient did he get?" Neville asked

"The carcass of a rather rare serpent"

"Oh, so an Ashwinder or something" Neville asked

"Or something," was all that Harry was prepared to commit on.

xXxXxXx

Some-time later the train had arrived back in King's Cross Station in London. Harry and Hermione said their goodbyes to Neville, and then made their way out of Platform Nine and Three Quarters via the Muggle Entrance.

"Hermione! Harry! So good to see you two again." Emma said as she came up and gave them both a crushing hug. "Tell me, how was the fall term?"

"Quite good Mrs. Granger, we successfully managed to stall Tom Riddle's immediate plans for making a return. We also managed to secure the ingredients necessary to destroy the items allowing Tom Riddle's continued existence. So we should be able to see to that issue relatively soon. The only real problem we encountered was the obnoxious meddling of a senile old goat." Harry said by way of explanation.

"Harry's right, we have been able to reasonably confirm that Headmaster Dumbledore is actively working towards some sort of agenda. Between his effort to house that bloody red rock in an area easily accessible by the students, and his effort to censure my attempt to get Harry's godfather a trial, it is obvious he is playing some sort of game. Just what that game happens to be, I don't know yet." Hermione said.

"I think it has something to do with that damned orb in the DoM." Harry said as Mrs. Granger guided the kids to the train that would take them back to Crawley.

"What orb is that?" Emma asked.

"Oh, there is a prophecy orb in the Department of Mysteries. I have heard the prophecy, the problem however is that what was said is all manner of vague, and could mean just about anything depending on who was listening to it. Clearly Dumbledore has one interpretation of the prophecy stuck in his head and is actively working towards making that interpretation the correct one, kind of self-defeating if you ask me. You can't force a prophecy to follow your own interpretation of what it is meant to say. That is like all those whackos out there trying to fit Nastradamus' Quatrains to events happening in the here and now." Harry explained.

"Clearly that's not how you think it works?" Emma asked.

"No, prophecy is vague at best, frustratingly obtuse at worse. There is a very good reason that it is something which is studied by the Unspeakables in the Department of Mysteries. That reason being because no one really understands how it actually works. At best we have a bunch of vague guesses, no actual solid proof that this is why prophet A said something about subject B in relation to topic C."

"Okay, so what was the actual prophecy that this Dumb old man is trying to force his own interpretation on." Emma asked.

Harry sighed and affected a put upon expression as he said "The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches… Born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies… and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not… and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives… the one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies…"

He then continued saying, "Okay here are the problems. Even if we disregard the Muggle world entirely it is entirely impossible that only two Wizards were born in the last week of July. For reference there was at least one other Wizard born that week, Neville Longbottom, who is ironically my God-Brother due to his mother being my Godmother, and my mother being his Godmother.

"Anyways the second problem is the only qualifier on the birth is that the parents had to of defied the Dark Lord three times. There was a bloody war going on, surely loads of people defied Tom three times and managed to live to talk about it?

"Third problem, the prophecy says that the Dark Lord has to mark his nemesis as his equal. If it meant this shoddy little scar up top my head, then that is a pitiful way to mark someone as their equal, don't you think? No, marking me as his equal would be based on acknowledging I am of equal status to him on either a social, intellectual, or magical level.

"Fourth problem, the prophecy doesn't specify which Dark Lord it is referencing here. There are currently two men in existence right now who openly acknowledge that they hold or previously held the title of Dark Lord, Gellert Grindelwald, whom you would more readily recognize under the name of Heinrich Himmler, and Tom Marvolo Riddle, more commonly known as Lord Voldemort. However, there is a possible third contender for the title of Dark Lord, if our suspicions about the man prove to be accurate.

"Albus Dumbledore in his youth was great friends with Gellert Grindelwald, even going so far as to supply the man with much of his working ideology. If even just a small amount of that original idealism remains within Dumbledore, then he could easily qualify as a Dark Lord all on his own."

Emma hummed in thought for a few seconds and said "Do you really think that your Headmaster could be a Dark Lord? I mean based on what you have described to me, a Dark Lord in the magical world is similar to someone like Sauron, Jadis, and the Emperor from Star Wars."

Harry nodded in agreement, "Those are all very good examples of the Dark Lord prototype from Literature or film. However Dumbledore would be an example of a Dark Lord more akin to Shaddam IV from the Dune Series. Voldemort would be akin to Paul Atreides. Hermione would be similar to Ghanima Atreides, while I would be akin to Leto Atreides II. It really is a scary thought considering the Dune Chronicles is just absolutely rife with potential Dark Lords each vying to take the others out.

"I likened Voldemort to Paul Atreides and myself to Paul's son because in reality without Voldemort I really wouldn't be who I am today."

Hermione had to hedge in at this point, "Didn't Ghanima marry her brother, Leto II?"

"Erk…" was all that Harry could manage saying as he blushed a deep shade of scarlet.

xXxXxXx

The next day, Thursday the 19th of December 1991, the Grangers plus Harry all piled into the Grangers Sedan and made the nearly three-hour drive to the outskirts of Cardiff, Wales.

Once they had arrived at their destination the group got out of the car to stretch their legs.

"So is this the place? Doesn't look all that impressive to me," Dan said as he looked around the barren field that they had just arrived at.

"Trust me; you will be more impressed in a few minutes, Dan. I just need to adjust the wards of the property so that you are allowed access. I will be right back." Harry said as he walked off towards the middle of the field, and promptly vanished from the Grangers sight.

xXxXxXx

Harry approached the property and was once again impressed by the sheer opulence of his family's ancestral property. The house was a four story mansion quite dissimilar from Malfoy Manor. Where Malfoy Manor was designed to evoke a feeling of dark elegance, the Potter Mansion was designed to flaunt the majesty of a family largely devoted to the cause of the Light.

While the Potters have in the past had a handful of Dark Witches or Wizards come from the family, the vast majority, and almost every Lord or Lady Potter, has been at the very least neutral in their dealings with the Wizarding World. The family has a longstanding tradition of being devoted to the cause of what is just and right. They were also one of the original eleven Old Brythonic pureblood families, right alongside of the Blacks, Longbottoms, and Bones. Granted none of those families were known by their current names back in the times before the Roman Invasion of Britain. Those names were given to these families by their Roman contemporaries for their various magical or mundane practices.

Of course a family having existed continuously for nearly 2000 years would tend to make that family rather affluent, so it is of little wonder that the Potter Ancestral Mansion was significantly more impressive than Malfoy Manor.

Harry walked over to a fortified structure that served the same basic function for the Mansion as a Defensive Tower in a Curtain Wall serves on the more commonly seen Castles. Upon entering the structure he found exactly what he was looking for. This structure housed the central ward stone, as well as the master ward book. If anyone who did not have a Potter Magical Signature entered this building, the central ward stone would fill the entire chamber with Fiendfyre. The only things inside the building that would survive the onslaught would be the master ward book which was housed inside of a safe that was protected by extensive Anti-Fiendfyre Runes, and the central ward stone itself given that it was the stone that conjured the fire. The building itself would be fine due to the external wards protecting it from the cursed fire.

Harry walked over to the safe, and pressed his palm against the access panel. Feeling the panel glow warm for a few moments, he remembered that this was yet another of the security features of the room. If anyone but the true heir of the Potter Lordship had tried to access this safe, they would have had their hand burned off by that panel. Once the warm glow faded, the door on the safe clicked open.

Harry let the door open and then pulled out the ward book, and the blood quill housed within the safe. Despite how much Harry despised these quills, the blood quill was the only way to magically bond the entries he made in the ward book to the wards themselves, so it couldn't really be helped.

Going over the names in the ward book, Harry immediately removed the names of everyone who was in the original Order of the Phoenix with the exceptions of Minerva McGonagall, Remus Lupin, Sirius Black, and Severus Snape. That last name actually caught Harry off guard. It took him a few moments of browsing the book to realize that the book automatically removes the deceased from it, which was why he never had to remove the names of Severus Snape, Peter Pettigrew, or Albus Dumbledore the first time he came to this house, it was because they were dead when he had discovered the location of the house.

Once he had removed the Order members from the list he discovered he had another issue to address. There were a couple of other people with access to the house that he didn't want having access to the house. He had to remove Molly Weasley nee Prewett (the book must auto-update due to marriages as well), Cornelius Fudge, Narcissa Malfoy nee Black, Arcturus Black O.M. (First Class), Millicent Bagnold, Bartemius Crouch Sr, Rita Skeeter, Horace Slughorn, and oh god, even Bartemius Crouch Jr…

"Oh God, Mum and Dad, what were you guys thinking?" Harry moaned out loud. Interestingly right next to Narcissa Malfoy's name was Andromeda Tonks nee Black, Ted Tonks, and Nymphadora Tonks. Harry decided to leave all three of those names intact.

After he had removed all the undesirables from the list he set about adding some new names to the list: Dan Granger, Emma Granger, Hermione Granger, Neville Longbottom, Fleur Delacour, Gabrielle Delacour, Apolline Delacour, Jaques Delacour, Evangeline Beauchene (Fleur's maternal grandmother), Arthur Weasley, Bill Weasley, Charlie Weasley, Fred Weasley, George Weasley, and Luna Lovegood were all added to the list.

Once that was done, he placed the book and quill back inside of the safe, locked it up, and went back out to meet the Grangers.

xXxXxXx

"Wowee; that is one fancy house," Dan said in response to now actually being able to see the mansion. And boy was he right.

Potter Mansion was a four story example of exquisite gothic architecture, similar in external layout to St. Barbara Church in the town of Kutna Hora, Bohemia, which is part of Czechoslovakia at the current time, though how long that would last is anyone's guess.

"Glad you like it Dan." Harry said, having just returned from the Ward Chamber, as Harry had dubbed it. "You are welcome anywhere on the premises except for that fortified building just over there. Don't take this the wrong way, but if you were to enter it without having Potter genetics, you would die almost instantly. I don't want that to happen, so thought I would warn you ahead of time instead."

"Yeah… thanks for the warning." Dan said. And with that the group made their way into the house.

As soon as they entered the house they heard two rather loud pops and two rather bedraggled looking House Elves came out carrying rather ominous looking cooking implements.

"Whose be in our house?" said the one dressed in a grungy looking tea cozy.

While the other one wearing a pillowcase like-toga said "You's not being welcome here…"

Harry stepped forward and said "Does that include me?"

The two elves looked at him for a moment confused and then after a few seconds looks of pure joy erupted upon their faces as they abandoned their cooking implements and ran up to Harry and threw their arms around his legs.

The elf who in all likelihood was a male shouted "MASTER HARRY IS BEING HOME!"

Meanwhile the probably female elf said "We was being wondering who was being using Master Jamies compartment."

"Yeah, that was me and Hermione over here. Now why don't you two introduce yourselves to our guests, and then you can show them around the Mansion. Meanwhile I have some business to attend to in the Office of the Head of House."

The male elf bowed deeply and said "I is Khemli."

The female elf dipped into a curtsy saying "I is Valerie."

Hermione stepped forward and said "It is a pleasure to make your acquaintances Khemli, and Valerie. I am Hermione Granger-Ravenclaw, this is my mother Emma Granger, and my father Dan Granger. We would be delighted if you would give us a tour of the house."

The elves bobbed their heads, though Valerie turned to look at Harry and asked "Master, can yous be finding the office on yous own?"

"I am sure I can manage it Valerie." Harry said with a smile, and walked off leaving the Grangers in the care of the two elves.

Valerie turned to the Grangers and said "If yous be following us?" and she was off.

xXxXxXx

Meanwhile in the Masters Suite, Harry enters the Head of House Office. Once inside he walks up to the Potter family coat of arms. Pricking his finger on the tip of the sword that lay crosswise on the shield, he watched as the blood from his finger is absorbed into the blade. Once it had absorbed he chanted "bonheddig o waed, nobl geni" as soon as the last word was stated the shield folded in on itself and revealed a cavity in the wall. Inside Harry found exactly what he was looking for.

The document held inside the safe was revealed to be a magically binding copy of the official Potter Family Will. The document was absolutely massive as it dealt with the entire Potter Estate, not just the estate of James and Lily Potter. This estate included within it the remains of the estate of Ignotus Peverell, as well as the remains of the estate of the Gryffindor line passed down through Godric's daughter, though apparently the vast majority of the Gryffindor estate had been passed through another family via Godric's heir and son. Interestingly a magical addendum to the will was added on October 31st, 1981, this addendum states that due to Right of Conquest, the House of Potter is now the Heir Presumptive of the House of Gaunt which has in its line the remains of the House of Cadmus Peverell, as well as the remains of the House of Salazar Slytherin.

All of this means that Harry is Heir Apparent to the Potter and Peverell families, as well as the Heir Presumptive to the Gryffindor, Slytherin, and Gaunt families, assuming he were to magically enact the will.

Harry brought the will over to the desk in the office, pulled out both an ordinary quill, and a blood quill from inside the desk, and set to work signing all the relevant locations that he was required to sign in order to enact the will. Once he had signed the necessary locations, he picked up the Blood Quill, and signed his name in the spot designated for the primary beneficiary of the current will. As soon as he had done that there was a bright flash of light indicating that the Will had magically duplicated itself sending a copy to the people designated as Witnesses, the Ministry of Magic's records department, Gringotts Bank's British Branch, as well as the British Branch of the International Confederation of Wizards.

Harry quickly glanced at the Witnesses section, and sighed in defeat, Albus Dumbledore's name was indeed listed as one of the witnesses, so it stood to reason that the old goat now knew that the Potter Will had been enacted. That would cause problems on his return to Hogwarts. Fortunately there was nothing Dumbledore could do now that the Will had been enacted, as the will of a Noble and Most Ancient Family is a form of Magically Binding Contract whose magic is on the same level as the Goblet of Fire. The only reason it didn't get enacted before now was because Dumbledore, the sole remaining witness didn't bother to see to its execution.

In short order a second flash of light appeared on the desk. Harry glanced at it and smiled. The Potter Head of House Ring… "Oh, what is this?" Harry asked, opening the second ring box that had appeared, as soon as he did, his face drained of all color. "How… on… earth… KHEMLI!"

*POP* "Master calls for Khemli?"

"Please have Hermione meet me in this office. Also, if you would, transport her school trunk into this office as well. It would also be helpful if you would raise the Anti-Trace wards as well." Harry said as swiftly as he could, while immediately backing away from the ring box that still held his attention, while simultaneously bringing his Occlumancy shields up to full power, "Oh and warn her to have her Occlumancy shields at her maximum power if you would."

"As Master wishes," Khemli bowed and disappeared again.

In short order there was another loud pop as a trunk appeared in the room. A few minutes later Hermione appeared in the room, "Harry what is… oh dear, is that what I think it is?"

"If you think it's the bloody resurrection stone, then yeah, it is!" Harry said in a snide manner, the stress getting to him. "Do you have the Basilisk Venom with you?"

"Never leave home without it!" Hermione said in a mocking tone as she went over to the trunk, opened it, and pulled out the diamond flask contained within.

A Pop was heard as Khemli returned and said "Master, the wards you requested are now in place."

"Excellent," Harry said, "Hermione, it's showtime!"

Hermione nodded, drawing her wand and conjuring a diamond eyedropper. She quickly extracted a small amount of the venom from the flask, and went over to the ring; she then dropped the venom onto it.

As expected the ring issued forth a horrendous scream of agony. "Well, I guess that verifies that this ring was in fact the genuine article, doesn't it? That means we only need to get the Diary, Locket, Goblet, Snake, and figure out a way to deal with my scar without me needing to intercept that damned green curse!" Harry said.

"Yes, it is a relief that we have gotten two of them this easily, isn't it?" Hermione said.

"Yes, how about we go join yur parents for dinner?" Harry said. Hermione smiled and nodded her head and the two of them were off.

xXxXxXx

Authors Note: Okay, sorry folks for taking so long in posting this update. Things really got away from me. I unfortunately don't really have anything further than this chapter planned out for this story, so it may be a while yet before I post another update.

That said, I am really in need of getting a Beta Reader for my stories. If anyone is willing to offer their services for this purpose, please let me know. The stories I am wanting to write the most currently are Fianna de Si, Land of Youth, Wizarding War, and Phantom Menace. So it would really help if anyone signing on for beta reading had at least a basic understanding of Celtic Mythology (Fianna de Si & Land of Youth), as well as a reasonable understanding of Star Wars (Wizarding War & Phantom Menace), not to mention an in-depth understanding of Harry Potter (all stories). I also need someone who can help with spelling and grammar. Thanks in advance.

Also, anyone who can guess the inspiration for Harry's Elves' names gets a cookie!