Discaimer: See previous posts. Original characters are mine unless otherwise stated.

Chapter 2

Prongslet,

I read your recent letter quite a few times to make sure that I wasn't half drunk like the last time I received a note from you. I had to, to make sure I was reading things correctly.`

You mean to tell me that the Dagworth-Granger witch pulled a wand on you and basically used magic to summon the cloak? She knew about it? How is that possible?

Now, before you go completely batshite, I have to tell you that I've had a totem charm placed on you since you stepped into Hogwarts years ago that alerted me whenever magic was used on you. It told me whenever Madam Pomfrey or anyone else performed magic on you. This is my right as the Regent of the House of Potter and as Lord Black, to protect my heir and the estate that is my regency.

Before we go accusing witches of pointing their wands in the direction of a Peer of the Realm, let's try to gather more evidence, right? I'm completely on board with some pranking to force the chit to tell us what her deal with you is, but be careful. This requires some planning and pranking in a controlled environment.

She's still a witch, after all.

Keep me updated, pup, and I'll give Remus all your love. When he isn't howling at the moon next week.

Happy Marauding,

Padfoot

Harry couldn't help the small smile on his face after he read his dad's letter, then threw it into the fire. With the Quidditch tryouts over, he forced his thoughts to steer towards the upcoming Hogsmeade weekend. Only a few weeks into the school year and he was already chafing at being cooped up in the castle. He recognized this feeling as the familiar homesickness that came with every start of year, so he looked around the common room to find Ginevra Weasley's eyes on him, which she lowered once they had met.

Perfect.

All the Gryffindors stopped what they were doing, and a hush fell over the common room. Harry made his way over to the redhead, wincing slightly as another migraine started to form, but he was used to it.

"Ms. Weasley, it would be a great pleasure to accompany you into Hogsmeade this coming weekend. Please allow me to escort you." he said, bowing slightly at the seated girl.

When Ginny involuntarily looked at his scar (he realized that it really was a reflex where most people were concerned), he felt it sting. Maybe a haircut was in order.

And just like every year before this one, the rest of the Gryffindor males took their cue from Lord Potter, and started to ask girls to the upcoming Hogsmeade weekend.

"Luna, why won't it come out? It's supposed to be right there. I know what I need to get but it won't come to me!"

The Head Boy heard the harsh whisper as he moved stealthily towards the end of the seventh floor corridor. It was too dark to see anyone at this point, but he knew they would never see him.

"Maybe we should try again tomorrow, Hermione. You're too tired. You were chasing The Grey Lady all day today, and you didn't show up for dinner. You know you have to be clear with what you need. I think you've got too many nargles and wrackspurts, so the Room can't hear you." the gentle, chiding voice of Luna Lovegood was recognizable anywhere.

Granger was chasing the Ravenclaw ghost?

"But I have to find it. I have to. So I can go home, so I can get back to-who's there?!"

Shite.

Harry stayed completely still. He could make them out from beneath the cloak, Luna wearing her school robes over her pyjamas while Granger seemed to not have changed into anything for sleeping at all. Her wand was out again.

"Come on, Hermione. We can try again tomorrow. No one will be in the castle. It's a Hogsmeade weekend, remember? I'll go with you again."

Granger looked at her friend, then almost preternaturally knew where he was, looking directly at him as if she saw him clearly. The two girls hurried down the corridor and he gave way for them.

Everyone knew there wasn't anything in this part of the castle except for a dead end. There wasn't even a broom closet. What was she doing here?

Ginny Weasleys' hand was tucked in his elbow as they made their way into Madam Puddifoot's, and Harry was trying his best to ignore the migraine that wouldn't seem to go away today.

They ended up at a table next to the Ravenclaw and Gryffindor prefects, who seemed to be taking a break from watching the other students in Hogsmeade. Padma and Parvati Patil were clearly waiting for two other people at their table, but were already deep in a conversation that Harry couldn't help but pick up. The tea shop was packed, and while there was a din, he could hear the twins talking behind them.

"She did it again in Divination. Fainted dead away. She's as bad as Trelawney used to be."

One of the girls had a sharp intake of breath.

"You mean just like before Trelawney saw a mind healer and was taking her potions? That's bad."

"You're telling me. She was staring so hard into her crystal ball, then she screamed, and swooned! Whatever happened to her over the summer was bad."

"Oh but she looks so healthy now!"

"Sure, she looks healthy, but I don't think the treatment reached her brain if you know what I mean."

"Harry?" Ginny smiled up at him, and he had to shake himself loose from the eavesdropping he was doing. "What would you like?"

For some reason, as he looked at the youngest Weasley girl, something in his chest couldn't stand being in Hogsmeade, and he needed to go back to the castle. He needed to check on something himself.

He was saved from having to leave Ginny alone or taking her back with him when Neville and his betrothed, Susan, arrived. Harry stood abruptly, and took an awkward swallow.

"I apologize, Ginny. I remembered I had left some of my Head duties unfinished back in the castle. Neville, if you'd escort Ginny along with Susan on the way back, please?" He nodded at his godbrother, and could read the unasked question on the other boy's face.

"Are you all right, Harry?" Susan asked, but she was casting alarmed looks at Ginny.

"Yes, I'm quite fine. The Headmistress was just expecting some things done before I went to Hogsmeade. I apologize, Miss Weasley." he could not meet Ginny's eyes when he bowed to her and strode out of the tea shop, remembering not to run back to the castle until he left Hogsmeade.

Harry burst into The Great Hall, but only the lower years were present, and the tables were sparsely populated. Everyone turned to look as the Head Boy started sprinting up the stairs to the seventh floor corridor. He reached the end, but there was no Granger, no Luna.

But even he could recognize the spell blast marks on the wall and the residue of violent jinxes and hexes in the air.

Once he realized that a duel may have been fought in this exact space, he decided that he needed to tell the Headmistress about Granger and her fixation with this part of the castle.

He went straight to the gargoyle, which turned of its own volition. Headmistress McGonagall was at her desk, scrutinizing a large book that he had never seen before in the office.

"Lord Potter. I trust all is well or else you should have contacted me in the way we agreed if something were to happen in Hogsmeade." she said without looking up at him.

"Professor, I need to tell you something about a student."

The elderly, handsome witch looked up from the book and lowered her half-moon glasses, a frown on her face.

"And which student might this be, Lord Potter?"

"Hermione Dagworth-Granger. She has been up to something on the seventh floor corridor. I've caught her there a couple of times after curfew. She seems to be in distress all the time. Professor."

Harry sometimes suspected that the only reason he never withered under the intensely scrutinizing stare Minerva McGonagall gave her students all these years was because his family magic was propping him up by the armpits, and he felt quite close to calling on his ancestral powers at that moment to protect him. The elderly witch always looked like she could wring a litany of all the school violations he ever did with just a look and a purse of her lips.

"Come with me."

Harry followed Headmistress McGonagall out of her office, and he was just about to ask where they were headed when he realized that they went in a door he didn't realize was there before. And that door led to the Hospital Wing.

"How is she, Poppy?" the headmistress asked in a low voice. Harry waited behind her.

"No change, but Miss Lovegood has a bump on her head from being thrown into the wall. I'm still unable to interact with Miss Granger's magic, and she hasn't woken up. She doesn't seem to be in any pain, but I can't say anything definitively until we get that enchantment lifted."

"Enchantment? What's going on, Professor?" Harry asked out loud, finally, and tried to peer over her shoulder.

McGonagall turned to him and let out a huff. "You are not to speak of this to fellow students, Lord Potter." She continued when he nodded.

"Miss Granger and Miss Lovegood were injured in a large magical explosion on the seventh floor corridor. Miss Granger seems to be enveloped in an enchantment that may have saved her from injury but prevents us from reviving or treating her. We are waiting on St. Mungo's for more Healers as we are also afraid to move her."

Harry's eyes almost bugged out of his head. When he wanted to check on the GRanger girl, he never realized it would be this bad. What if he hadn't run back to the castle?

"Now, you are going to tell me what you know about Miss Granger and what she was doing in that corridor."

Harry swallowed, and started to speak.

For some reason, Harry found himself waiting outside the Infirmary. It was a novel experience, as he had never had reason to (or even a friend) who got into so much trouble or who was injured so much for an overnight stay here.

But after he told McGonagall about the two times he caught Granger in the seventh floor corridor, he felt that he should worry about her welfare. And besides, he really didn't want to answer any questions from the group returning from Hogsmeade for the meantime.

Harry stood and shed his robes, draping them over a waiting bench and adjusted his jacket and jeans, just as a group of unfamiliar wizards dressed in St. Mungo robes hurried into the Infirmary. He was about to go in with them, but the door had closed on his face.

Luna Lovegood was then summarily ejected from the room, and she gave him a small, tired smile, and sat down on the same bench.

"Have you ever had a friend you didn't know how to help, Lord Potter?" she asked him, after a beat of silence, as if she was asking him what his favorite color was.

He sat down, balanced his elbows on his knees, and clasped his fingers. Considering her question, he was glad he didn't have a migraine at the moment. "I've never been able to not help anyone. I always make sure I do my duty to everyone who needs my help. So no, Miss Lovegood, I haven't."

"Were these people your friends?" she asked in the same sing-song voice. Harry tried to answer the question right away, but found that it was a bit difficult.

"Yes, of course." He was the most eligible bachelor in Witch Weekly. Of course the people around him were his friends. Weren't they? Neville surely was. He grew up with them.

"I don't know how to help Hermione. I hope someone else can help her. She's the only friend I have." she said quietly, and it was the first time Harry heard that much seriousness in the blond girl's voice.

Healers in lime green robes passed through the Infirmary door for an hour or so while Harry and Luna waited, but Professor McGonagall did not emerge, and neither did Madam Pomfrey. As Harry was just about to leave, even if it somehow pained him, since he felt utterly useless in the corridor.

Suddenly, a tall, blond, handsome French woman with hair cropped even closer to her head than Hermione's poked her head out of the door just as a group of adult witches and wizards approached.

Harry peered through his glasses and spied a small, Japanese girl dressed in white approaching them, along with Amelia Bones, the head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement and his dad!

"Pa-Dad!" Harry stood up, and rushed over. His father gave him a pointed look, though, which stopped him, and he just remembered to bow for the ladies the latter was with.

"Madam Bones." he said, bowing. The director of the DMLE nodded to him and proceeded into the room. The gorgeous Japanese woman with them was dressed in a set of robes he supposed was traditional to their culture, but looked decidedly fancy especially with a fur stole around her shoulders and the charms bobbing on her waist. Her long, black hair was straight and tied into a high ponytail at the top of her head. Her face looked like she was as young as Luna, but he knew Asian witches tended to look like that well into adulthood. She smiled at him briefly then turned to the blonde Healer, and the two swept into the room.

"What are you doing here, Dad?" he asked, already feeling more relaxed since that meant something was going to happen soon with Hermione. He gestured to the girl behind him and stepped to the side. "This is Miss Luna Lovegood. She's friends with Miss Granger."

Lord Sirius Black's hand moved to button his coat beneath the stylish black wizarding robes and bowed slightly to the girl, who did not seem flustered at meeting one of the most powerful lords in the Wizengamot.

"Lord Black, Miss Lovegood. Terribly dreadful meeting one of my Harry's friends like this, but I'm glad we still did." he pulled a wink in his son's direction.

"Oh no, Dad, Luna and I-" the surprisingly prescient Luna (for the moment) cut him off.

"I'm very happy to be considered Lord Potter's friend, Lord Black. Are you here for Hermione?"

Sirius straightened and shook his head. "They are. I just happened to be around and pretty enough to escort Madam Bones and Lady Jingu here."

"She's the Japanese witch?" Harry asked, curious about why a foreigner would be called into a medical case.

"Yes, and apparently, Healer Durant asked for her since she would be an expert on what's happening to your friend in there."

"So what is happening to Hermione?" Luna stepped forward as she asked.

The answer had the two teens' eyes widening in surprise.

"Apparently, she's just manifested some family magic."

Just as the two teens began to recover, however, Headmistress McGonagall's head was the one that poked out of the Infirmary. "Oh good, you're still here. Lord Potter, Lord Black, Miss Lovegood, please come in. We may be able to break Miss Granger's enchantment."

Inside, Harry, Luna, and Sirius were lead into the ward, where the former saw the Granger girl unconscious on a bed, surrounded by what Muggles would call a "force field." The shield was blinking in and out of existence, and changed colors each time.

"Please explain to Lord Potter and Lord Black what must be done." the Headmistress said, and Harry suspected Sirius felt the same way as he did when the older witch leveled her stare at them. Perhaps Sirius felt worse, since his record at Hogwarts had more trouble written in it than his own.

"Lord Black, please introduce me to your son." the slight, incredibly beautiful Japanese witch said sweetly, in slightly-accented English.

"Right, manners. Sorry, Min." Sirius winced and looked away sheepishly from McGonagall whose nostrils had flared and lips had pursed. "May I introduce my son, Hadrien James Potter, Heir to the Ancient and sometimes-Noble house of Black, and the less Ancient but significantly-more-noble House of Potter. Harry, meet Lady Jingu of the House of Amaterasu."

Harry stopped, knowing that being a member of the House of Amaterasu meant she was practically Japanese Wizarding royalty. And when he took a second look at her, she did seem to be glowing, especially when she smiled. It was difficult to look at her and tear his gaze away. Instead of magic enhancing her beauty, she seemed to make magic by simply possessing that sweet, elfin face.

She was shorter than him, even with her high wooden slippers, which made her a petite and delicate woman, but Harry bowed and and she extended her hand. He kissed the air above it then turned to introduce Luna. "Miss Luna Lovegood, my...friend."

Luna curtsied and the Japanese witch looked delighted. The tall, French Healer behind Lady Jingu made an impatient noise. "Get on with it, Jingu. I've patients to get back to. Unless you'd all like to be made patients with a well-placed land shark. I'm not above creating injuries for me to fix."

Harry blinked.

"Forgive Anna-kun, we have been friends for too long and she knows I adore meeting new people." she gestured for Sirius and Harry to move near Hermione's bed. The unconscious girl was still clutching her wand tightly and her face was in pain, and it looked as if tears were streaming down her face.

"As the days go by, I find myself finding purpose in my little vacation here in Wizarding Britain. Didn't I tell you it would be fun to visit you this year, Anna-kun?"

"Feh, the chit was simply lucky you've gone abroad for your husband-hunting. Their spell ward and intensive care unit are still like the training clinic compared to what I expected, but at least it's a new location." the French Healer blew her bangs out of her face and seemed to be the only one unfazed by whatever glamour Lady Jingu had cast on the room.

"Oh Anna, any hospital without someone eternally on fire is boring to you. But Hermione-san is lucky, as Anna-kun said," She had turned to the rest of the people in the room. "I am somewhat of an expert on what you would call family magic in your culture. I have seen this sort of condition before, many years ago.

"While Hermione-san-who I suspect would have to change her surname and title once this is over, seems in distress, the enchantment surrounding her is not harmful. In fact, it's what saved her and Luna-chan here from serious injury. She is being protected by family magic, but magic that has not manifested until now. I believe the English term is progenitor? In my culture, we call them the Ur-kami.

"Since Hermione-san does not know about such, she cannot dispel it or control it, so I think that similar magic may help the power manifesting to calm down and recognize that the threat is over. While opposite magics may cancel each other, such as a curse and countercurse, when it comes to family magic, harmony and peace is the desired goal.

"I tried to placate the magic myself a moment ago, and the violent consequences have been dispelled. Unfortunately, the Ryuuzaki family is too far removed from this land to take away the shield. What's more, my magic is completely foreign, as is the language and manner in which I cast it. I could force it, but I do not know if it will hurt her and we are unaware of her actual injuries.

"The magic knows she is no longer in physical danger, but will still not let anyone near unless they are an ally or a family member. Minerva-san mentioned that she was an orphan, so we cannot take that route. We need someone closer to home than me to acknowledge her and her powers so Healer Durant can get through."

"What do we need to do?" Sirius asked, holding on to Harry's shoulders.

"Depending on how powerful your family magics are, you need to acknowledge her family and her as a Peer. A manifestation of your kami-or I think the name is eidolon here, an introduction, and a recognition would be an appropriate enough show, I suppose. Since Sirius-sama here is the Head of one Great House and looks like he can give even Anna-kun a run for her coin as you say it; and Hadrien-kun is a sole surviving member and Heir, it might do the nick. If we can find one more allied Lord or Heir to you with moderate magical power, it may be more than enough. But I am of the understanding you are the only one of such sort in the castle at this moment?"

"The other Heirs are most probably in Hogsmeade. We can fetch them if it's necessary. I am also the sole Heir to the House of Grantham, but we are not a Noble House. Will that help, Lady Jingu?" the Headmistress asked and moved closer.

"If you are the sole surviving member, it may be quite enough, even if you're not from a Noble House. Your age, magical power, experience, stewardship of Hogwarts and the land it sits on will contribute.

"Sou ka...We can do this in order of relational proximity and power. Sirius-sama first, I believe, since he has not interacted with Hermione-san at all, then Minerva-san next as her teacher, then finally Hadrien-kun as her friend and schoolmate."

"But I'm not-" Harry started to protest, and Sirius had opened his mouth as well, but Luna stopped them

"Don't worry, Lord Potter, you should go last. Trust me." the blond Ravenclaw smiled encouragingly.

Harry was doubtful, but nodded. Sirius took up a position at the foot of the bed, where he tried to touch the shield around the sleeping witch. His hand simply stopped at the barrier. "Yes, I think I've seen this before."

The Headmistress stood at Hermione's left side, and Harry, her right. Jingu asked them to begin.

Sirius closed his eyes and took a bow. "The Ancient and Most Noble House of Black recognizes Hermione Dagworth-Granger and her House, and wish her success and happiness in life."

Harry was used to seeing the Basilisk eidolon of Black House, which seemed to fill up a fourth of the room with its massive bulk-but was simply a family symbol. It bowed as well. The power was made up of lines of magic, like a drawing imposed on top of their reality.

The shield shimmered, and it fell away, but instead of winking out, an eidolon's form began to rise from the hospital bed, the magical lines of the form denoting a mane, like a lion. Lady Jingu nodded for Mineva to continue.

"The Ancient House of Grantham extends its hand in alliance to The House of Dagworth-Granger, or whatever name Magic chooses for you and yours, Hermione." Lady Jingu's eyebrows rose at this more powerful statement of welcome, and Harry knew that that was more than mere recognition.

The eidolon continued to rise, but this time, there was a tail manifesting-which looked like it was a carapace with a stinger at the end, and it was pointed at his dad, who was still bowing. The Basilisk, however, seemed unfazed.

Lady Jingu nodded at him, and he bowed like Sirius. "The Ancient and Most Noble House of Potter acknowledges the House of Dagworth-Granger and its Heir, and wishes for peace and friendship for years to come."

Just as the Potter eidolon shimmered into view, the griffin bowing elegantly before the sleeping girl, the animal form manifesting on Hermione's skin leapt up, and he could hear the shocked exclamations from the people in the room.

The Dagworth-Granger eidolon was a Chimera.

Just as the eidolons roared, the sound more a ringing of raw magic around them than actual animal sounds, Healer Durant sent a spell at Hermione since the shield and magical recognition were done.

Granger opened her eyes and sat up immediately, her wand already raised as if to fight off an attacker. Her eyes took in the whole scene, then landed on Harry on her right, and he was about to give some space to the Healers to work on her when she scrambled up from the bed, her wand forgotten as it clattered to the ground.

"Harry James Potter! I'm so glad you're alright! Where's Ron? How did we get away? Oh, Harry, I thought we were going to die!"

Harry was frozen in place, his arms rigid in her hold, clutching him close then running her hands over his hair, his face, shamelessly rubbing his scar with her thumb. She had the most desperate, heartbreaking smile on her face, and he couldn't find it in himself to tell her that he had no idea what she was talking about.