Author's notes- I want to point out two things before you guys read this chapter. One, this Harry will not be a prankster. He may get bored sometimes, but he entertains himself in harmless ways, not with cruel tricks designed to humiliate people. Two, although I pull a "Harry inherits an awesome title" in this chapter, it is not the answer to all of life's problems like I've seen in some fics. There will be no super secret family magics, no stupidly powerful artifacts in vaults, no overflowing coffers of gold that can buy out the Malfoys. It's just a useful title that will come up sometimes because it's important to the story.

-o-0-o-

Harry's first class turned out to be Defense Against the Dark Arts with the toad-woman, Professor Umbridge. Harry, with Nephele's help, managed to get there a few minutes early so he could scope out the classroom and try to get a feel for the place. Knowing your battleground was half the fight, as his old tutor used to say.

The Professor was seated at her desk, organizing some parchment, while the students were packing away their wands and bringing out their textbook with some scrap paper to take notes with. It looked like a lecture day, then. Maybe they would be learning some advanced defensive charm or something, because it was always helpful to get the theory behind those before attempting to actually cast them.

Harry noticed that there were quite a few interesting students in the class. There was a merfolk... boy? Girl? Some sort of merfolk anyway, Harry had no idea how to identify its gender, with a pitcher of water that it would occasionally douse itself with. The water never seemed to run out and any mess that hit the floor was instantly cleaned up, so either the kid had a house-elf on call or the pitcher itself was enchanted. It was slightly distracting in any case, but none of the other students seemed to mind.

A few of the students were from the shorter races, with goblins and dwarves and even a leprechaun represented. In contrast to them one of the guys looked like he was a half-giant, since normal teenagers usually don't grow to be over eight feet tall. He was pretty ripped as well. Harry made a mental note to try and get a friendly duel from the guy, since that would almost undoubtedly be a good learning experience.

A few seconds before class started the last girl walked- er, slithered into the room. Out of all the nonhumans Harry had encountered so far at the school, she was by far the strangest. With four arms and the tail of a gigantic snake instead of legs, she would have looked completely monstrous... except that her torso and face appeared completely human. With black hair that seemed to shimmer with a green tint and green eyes, her human parts matched up with the black-green scales on her lower body in a strangely attractive way. Harry idly wondered if her species even existed back in his home dimension, since he'd certainly never heard of her kind before.

"Alright class, it's time to begin. Mr. Black, do you have a textbook?" Umbridge was smiling at him, though the sight was more disturbing than reassuring.

"No, Professor. Should I share with one of the other students today?"

She paused for a second. "Yes, I suppose I'll let you off with a warning this time. But bring your textbook to the next class or you'll start getting detentions."

Harry nodded, making a mental note to ask Dumbledore for the required texts for his classes. He hoped he wouldn't have to buy them himself, since he only had twenty galleons to his name in this world. The boy to his right helpfully slid his book over a bit, allowing Harry to read along. The title on the page was Chapter Five: Shield Charms and their Appropriate Usage.

"Now, before we begin, I must reiterate due to circumstances: He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named is not back. He is dead and gone forever," Umbridge said. She glared at Harry, as if daring him to say something. After several long seconds where Harry just kept quiet, she had an almost disappointed look on her face.

"Right then. Let's start the lesson. Read all of chapter five, and we will have a small discussion of the content when everyone is done."

Harry, along with the rest of the class, dutifully began reading the assigned material. He quickly found that all of the information was worthless, but he kept reading anyway in case the teacher called on him. Maybe he could drop this class and pick up something more useful later, but for now he'd just put up with the boredom.

….or not. Two hours is a long time to be stuck reading something completely pointless. Harry was used to one-on-one training from tutors anyway, so quietly reading in the corner would have been boring in any case, but the material being flat out wrong in addition to being stupid was simply too much.

So, with nothing better to do, Harry looked around the room for ways to amuse himself. Almost instantly a plan formed in his mind.

"Professor, may I be excused to use the loo?"

Umbridge looked up at the unexpected noise during the silent class. "Mr. Black, class time is important."

He somehow managed to not roll his eyes. "Sorry Professor, I was in the hospital wing last night and had to find my way to class this morning, so I didn't have an opportunity today. I'll do my best from now on, though."

She frowned at him, but probably couldn't find a real reason to prohibit him from going, so she relented.

Harry got up and left class, but just wandered a bit down the hallway instead of going to relieve himself. After casting a few privacy charms to make sure no one caught him, he started his plan.

"Serpensortia."

A little garden snake popped out of his wand and looked up at him expectantly.

"A question, my scaled friend. Do you know of a being that has the torso of a human but the tail of a snake?"

"Maybe," the snake said. "It could be a drakaina, if any still live."

"Do they speak Parseltongue?"

The garden snake looked at Harry like he was an idiot, which made him feel rather silly.

"Right, silly question, all serpents are Parselmouths by definition. So here's what I want you to do..."

Harry told his new snake buddy the plan. When that was settled, Harry placed a strong Notice-Me-Not charm on it and went back to his classroom.

Harry nodded to the Professor when he got back and dropped into his seat, though the kid whose book he was sharing had continued reading while Harry was away, causing him to miss several pages of material. Nobody cared in the slightest.

Five minutes later a small snake slithered under the door to the classroom and made its way to the drakaina's desk, climbing right on top of her book while she was reading it. She blinked in surprise as the little guy reared up and began.

"Singing telegram for you, Miss," it hissed to her. The snake then proceeded to belt out a rather fetching rendition of a popular Weird Sisters love song, displaying a surprisingly strong tenor and good rhythm for such a young snake.

Now it must be noted that Parseltongue is a strange language. A Parselmouth can hear a speaker quite clearly through a thick pane of glass or even past solid stone walls, even though the snake itself is producing a hiss that would be barely audible if you held your ear to its face. So while Harry and the drakaina were both listening to a song that was drowning out all the rest of the noise in the room, all the other students heard a very faint hiss at the edge of their hearing. The Notice-Me-Not charm kept them from paying any attention to it.

Harry was expecting some sort of reaction from the drakaina, something to liven up the boring class, but she seemed content to just listen to the snake singing to her. Oh well. At least now he had some nice music to listen to while he pretended to continue reading the useless textbook. He'd be prepared with some better entertainment for his next Defense class, that was for sure.

"End of telegram, Miss. Have a nice day," the little snake hissed a few minutes later, and slithered back out of the classroom before disappearing in a puff of smoke out in the hallway.

Harry looked at the clock and sighed; his little diversion had only taken up about ten minutes total, so he still had almost an hour left before class ended. He glanced back towards the drakaina and saw she was once again reading her textbook, though at least she was smiling now. Harry looked around the classroom again, trying to find something else to occupy his attention with...

-o-0-o-

After an eventful Defense class that ended with a small fire, Harry left his classmates to go wander around the castle and familiarize himself with its layout. He didn't have any other classes today, due to his extremely light schedule, so he spent a few productive hours finding out where things were. He found his way to the kitchens pretty easily because of the number of old stories Sirius used to tell about his Hogwarts days, as well as a few other rooms that the Marauders used to favor.

After a stop in the great hall for lunch, where Harry once again sat with his new centaur friend Nephele, he continued wandering around the old castle. Whenever something annoying happened, like staircases moving or doors refusing to open, he just used magic to solve the problem. He didn't know what kind of idiot would take the warning to "not use magic in the corridors" seriously, so exploring the castle didn't take very long at all even with its chaotic nature. Harry made a mental note to bug his dimensional sister/self for the Marauder's Map at some point so he could find all the hidden passages and such.

By the time dinner rolled around Harry considered himself capable of getting anywhere he needed to in the castle, so he wrapped up his exploration for the foreseeable future. It was getting pretty boring anyway.

He meandered back into the great hall for dinner, plopping down into his usual seat across from Nephele.

She looked up from her food to give him a nod, acknowledging his presence, then went back to eating. The girl could seriously concentrate on her food, though that wasn't surprising given that she weighed several times what Harry did. Not that he would ever be stupid enough to say something like that out loud. Instead he asked about something that had been bugging him.

"Hey Nephele, what does Umbridge actually teach? I mean, the textbook she uses is rubbish. Have you learned anything useful?"

She looked up from her meal. "Huh. You're smarter than I thought you were, if you figured that out your first day," she said. "Nobody's learned anything in any of her classes. You'd be better off getting some real books and doing self-study during your free time."

Harry had suspected as much. "Want to study together? I'm a bit above my grade when it comes to practical Defense," he said. He didn't say 'I'm naturally talented and have studied under some of the best tutors in the world, so I can take on any of Voldemort's strongest Death Eaters one-on-one' because that would be considered a bit crass.

Nephele gave him a flat look, which he was becoming increasingly familiar with. "Are you trying to get me alone in a classroom with you, Black?"

Harry paused and mentally reviewed Sirius' list for what he should say. Well, rule number five- 'If you're not a git then the truth is your friend'- had rarely steered him wrong, so he went with that one. "I wouldn't be adverse to the idea, but I really am talking about studying," he said.

Nephele blinked. "You wouldn't be adverse to the idea of hexing me... but you want to study? I have no idea what you're on about," she said.

Harry blinked right back at her. "I assumed we were talking about snogging. What's this hexing business?" he asked.

The two stared at each other for a moment, neither one comprehending what the other was talking about.

"Okay, pretend that I'm a stupid male and have no idea what you're talking about," said Harry. "What are you trying to convey to me?"

Nephele rallied herself quickly. "I assumed that, as a human, you were trying to set me up for some 'creature-baiting' by luring me into an unused classroom and hexing me under the pretext of practicing Defense," she said, and glared at Harry like she had caught him doing something bad.

"Oh...kay, let's start with explaining what 'creature-baiting' is," he said.

"You don't... have you been living under a rock your whole life or something?"

"I was home schooled," Harry said, with a slightly defiant tone, "and this is my first time really being out on my own."

She sighed, though her expression was much more cheerful than before. "That explains why you're not a pureblood fanatic, I guess. Listen up because I'm only going to explain this once. There are a lot of human wizards and witches out there who believe that wanded magic should be solely the domain of humans, and that the rest of the magical species should be stripped of their privileges and treated as second-class citizens. Those people like to show how much they hate nonhumans by participating in 'creature-baiting,' which is basically just ganging up on a nonhuman sentient being and torturing them for a while."

Harry made a face. "That's awful. My Uncle Moony is a werewolf and I'd kill anyone who did that to him," he said.

Harry failed to notice a certain black-haired girl bolt upright at hearing those words a few seats down the Griffyndor table, and continued to fail to notice that she started eavesdropping on his conversation.

"Your uncle's a werewolf? Which pack does he run with?" asked Nephele.

"Hm... you know, I never actually asked. He spends most of his time being my tutor though, so he might not be in one," he said.

She considered that for a moment. "Alright, I'm going to trust you. You're either telling the truth or you're a terrific actor, and you've been staring at my knockers way too much to be acting," she said.

Harry snapped his gaze back up to her face. "Er. Right. Sorry. So, about that studying thing?"

"I suppose I wouldn't mind the company. It would be helpful to have a target to help me practice spells too," she said.

He grinned. "If you think you can hit me, you're welcome to try."

A female voice spoke up from behind Harry. "Er- Harry Black, right? Can I talk to you for a bit?"

He turned to find Harriet Potter and her bushy-haired friend standing behind him, and noticed immediately that both of them were holding their wands loosely by their side. Were they expecting a fight for some reason?

"Sure, Harriet and friend. What's on your mind?"

"Could we... speak to you privately?" Harriet asked.

Harry shrugged and turned back to Nephele. "Sorry, it looks like these two young ladies will be spiriting me away. We'll finalize our plans at breakfast?"

She nodded and turned back to her food without saying anything, though Harry caught the barest hint of a frown on her face when he got up to leave.

"Where are we going, ladies?" he asked.

"There's a small room by the library we can use," the friend said.

Harry smiled in amusement as Harriet dropped in step behind him, sandwiching him between the bushy-haired girl leading them and her in the back. They certainly weren't taking any chances, though what brought on their behavior was still a mystery to him. Still, he didn't think his twin/female self would really do anything to hurt him.

After the three of them reached the classroom, the still nameless girl shut the door and put up some privacy charms while Harriet kept her eye on him. When she was done the girl turned to him as well, wand still held at her side.

"So who are you, really?" she asked.

"Didn't Dumbledore tell you?"

The girls shared a look. "No," Harriet said, "He hasn't said anything. Who are you?"

Harry paused, since he didn't really know much about his own situation. What was he, in relation to the girl in front of him? How did crossing dimensions interact with the fact that they... sorta... had the same parents? In the end, he just went with the simple answer.

"I'm your older brother, Harry James Potter. Nice to meet you."

Harriet sucked in a breath, staring at him intently. They really did look almost exactly alike, with the same striking green eyes and unruly black hair, though his features were obviously more masculine than hers. Still, anyone looking at them would immediately see them as siblings.

Harriet turned to her friend. "Hermione..."

Hermione shook her head. "I've never heard of another Potter before, but..." she bit her lip.

"I'm really me. I can take an oath if you want," he said. Normally magical oaths were a serious thing, but confirming your own identity was a pretty risk-free venture.

Harriet looked back to him. "Please do," she said.

Harry lifted his wand over his heart, and intoned, "I swear on my magic that I am Harry James Potter, firstborn son of James and Lily Potter."

Sure enough, the swirl of oath magic traveled through his wand and dispersed into the air, letting everyone in the room know he was telling the truth.

"What the bloody hell... nobody told me I had a brother!"

"To be fair, you didn't have one until yesterday. I have no idea why Dumbledore didn't tell you though, it's not like I know what's going on well enough to explain it to you," Harry said.

Both girls looked confused, so Harry sighed and gave an abridged version of his impromptu world-hopping adventure.

"...and Dumbledore told me to keep it a secret because apparently people freak out about dimensional travel. That's about it," he finished.

Harriet's eyes were wide, while Hermione was frowning, moving her lips slightly as she seemed to be working something out.

"Why didn't the Trace pick up your magic when you were fighting Death Eaters? And why didn't you apparate out as soon as you saw them?" she asked.

Harry grinned at her. "Sirius had my Trace taken off me for security reasons, and apparating is really difficult in my chainmail. It takes a second of concentration that would probably have been fatal."

"And you really... Dumbledore really says you came from another world?"

"Yeah. You can ask him yourself," Harry answered.

Harriet finally spoke up. "What was that part about you having a bit of Voldemort's soul in you?"

"Oh yeah," Harry said, and canceled the glamour over his scar. "You didn't find out about that yet? Your scar's a horcrux. I can teach you soul magics to box that little bugger up, but nobody's found a way to kill it yet. Well, not a safe way. You could fire a killing curse at your scar, and it would probably kill the soul in the horcrux instead of you, but that's obviously never been tested."

Harriet pointed at his scar. "Wait, what? Why do you have that scar? And what do you mean, my scar is a horcrux?"

"Er... you're sort of the me of this world," Harry began, "So unless I'm totally off base Voldemort showed up to kill you as an infant, right?" After Harriet nodded, he resumed. "So that means the same thing happened to you. He tried to use your death to make another horcrux- a talisman of immortality- but ended up putting a chunk of his soul into you when he botched the killing curse that bounced off your forehead." He shrugged and reapplied the glamour on himself. "Uncle Moony's working on the problem, and hopefully he'll come up with a way to get rid of it soon."

Harriet sat down shakily, rubbing her scar with her left hand while her right was clenched around her wand. "What... what the hell... you're saying I have a bit of Voldemort in me?" she asked.

"It's not that bad, really," he said. "You can box it up pretty easily, and you don't even need to worry about destroying it until you get all the other ones anyway."

Despite Harry's reassurance, she didn't look very convinced. Hermione sat down next to her, gently taking the girl's hand and rubbing her back in gentle circles.

"Who else knows about this?" she asked.

"Dumbledore, of course, and anyone else he told, so probably no one. If you don't know then Sirius and Remus definitely don't, because they would have told you. I'm pretty sure Voldemort doesn't know either because he just found out in my world, and I think I'm a year ahead of you for some reason. So probably just us and Dumbledore," Harry said.

Hermione paused, looking up at Harry. "You keep mentioning Sirius Black and Remus Lupin specifically. Why is that?"

"Er, because they're Harriet's guardians?"

The girl in question shook her head. "Sirius is on the run, and Professor Lupin is... not here. I'm staying with the Dursleys."

"On the run? From who, Voldemort?"

"No, from the Ministry. He was framed for murder and only escaped Azkaban a couple years ago. He's-"

"WHAT? What the hell, Sirius went to Azkaban?" Harry reflexively put his hand on the hilt of his sword, causing the two girls in the room to stiffen. "That fucker. It was Wormtail, wasn't it? He tried that shit in my world too, but he got away with it here, didn't he?"

Harriet nodded, not taking her eyes off him. "He framed Sirius, then pretended to be Ron Weasley's rat for twelve years. He... he's the one who killed Cedric and helped Voldemort come back."

Harry's face twisted into a scowl. "Bad enough he killed my parents, but he got your Sirius too? I think we need to have a strategy meeting," he said.

"Strategy meeting?"

"Yeah. Call the Timberland Knights together, explain to them who I am, and then get everyone working on our new battle plan. I may only be here for a few months but Voldemort doesn't know about me, so we've got a good chance to hit him hard. Especially since I know more about him than you guys seem to," Harry said, and flashed the two girls a grin.

"I've never heard of the Timberland Knights," Hermione said.

Harry waved his hand. "Whatever you call the group that's dedicated to fighting Voldemort and protecting Harriet."

"Er... the Order of the Phoenix?" Harriet ventured.

"Nah, not Dumbledore's group, the one Sirius and Remus... oh. Right. I guess they wouldn't have formed the Knights because they never discovered the horcrux in your scar." Harry frowned, and tried to form a mental picture of the situation in his new world. "So that's why people keep saying Voldemort's dead. Nobody ever discovered that he made horcruxes so everyone thinks he died for good the first time."

Hermione nodded, pointedly ignoring the scowl on Harriet's face. "No one wants You-Know-Who to be back, especially the Minister of Magic, so they're all ignoring the evidence and claiming that he's not back."

"So, to sum everything up," Harry said, and started ticking points off on his fingers, "Sirius went to prison so he couldn't be your guardian. Without him constantly fussing over your health no one ever discovered the truth of your scar. Without people realizing that Voldemort made horcruxes, nobody prepared for his return, and nobody believes that he's back now. The Ministry has taken the stance that Voldemort died for good so they're not doing anything. But he is back, and most likely gathering his army again, preparing to kick everyone's collective arses." He looked up at the two girls. "Does that about sum up the situation?"

"Pretty much," Harriet answered.

"We are so boned."

"It's not that bad," Hermione said. "Dumbledore and the Order are ready to oppose You-Know-Who, and even if the nonhuman magical races don't believe Harry now they'll certainly be on our side once the fighting actually starts. You-Know-Who is the leader of the 'pureblood' movement, after all. He has more enemies than just the Ministry."

That sparked an idea in Harry's mind, one which would have made Sirius proud. "More enemies... say, Harriet, Sirius made you his Goddaughter, didn't he?"

"Er, yeah?"

"Good. You're the Head of House Black then?"

Harriet looked at him like he was crazy, but Hermione jumped up and waved her arms around. "Oh! Oh, I get it!" she exclaimed.

Harriet shot her an irritated look, but the girl was already starting to lecture her less informed friend. "Don't you think it's strange that an atheistic society like the Wizarding world adopted a purely Christian term like 'Godfather'? I looked it up, but I didn't worry about it at the time because we had so many other things going on, but it's really important! You see, wizards are always concerned about their heirs because they have such a long life expectancy but so few children compared to muggles. So each child represents a huge commitment on their part, to make sure the next generation is at least slightly larger than the one before it," she said, speaking in an excitedly fast pace that even Harry was having trouble keeping up with.

"But sometimes an old family just couldn't produce an heir, or all the heirs died, which caused one of the relatively few lines of wizards to completely die out. That used to be a huge problem among wizarding families, the fear that their name and legacy would permanently end because one person died at a bad time, so they took an idea the muggles had and changed it to suit their own needs. Namely, the idea of Godparents. Only instead of having the Godparents be in charge of baptisms and making sure the child stayed with the ideals of Christianity, they designated the Godparents to raise and educate the child to continue their line. In essence, their family continued in spirit even if the direct line of blood died out," she finished, breathless.

"What your friend so eloquently pointed out is that you were officially adopted into the Black family, and because Sirius has no heirs you are legally the heir of House Black. The only living members of that House are you and Sirius, and Sirius is currently a wanted criminal, so legally you are the only acting member of the House of Black. Which makes you the Head," Harry amended.

"Okay, not that I get it, but I'm the Head or whatever. Why bring that up now?" Harriet asked.

"Because, as the Head of a noble family, you have the ability to knight people and form a confraternal order to aid you. Sirius was the leader of the Order of the Timberland in my world, and you can do the same thing here. We have a real way to start fighting against Voldemort," Harry said.

Harriet looked completely lost. "We could already fight against Voldemort. Why do I have to knight people in a conflagrated order?"

"Because otherwise fighting would be illegal? You can't just go around assaulting people, even if they are criminals. If you found Bellatrix LeStrange casting the Cruciatus curse on a child, you would go to Azkaban if you killed the bitch. That's kind of the point of having a government and a police force- not letting people go around killing each other."

Hermione nodded eagerly. "That's why Dumbledore started the Order of the Phoenix, you know. That one's actually a monarchial order, technically headed by the Queen herself, but Dumbledore's in charge of running it. The reason why they can attack Death Eaters with impunity is because they have a royal writ allowing them to do so." She frowned, and turned back to Harry. "But how are we supposed to fight? Just being in a confraternal order won't let us get around assault laws."

Harry smiled at her question. "You forget, dear Hermione, that Voldemort personally tried to kill our little Harriet with help from at least one Death Eater. Voldemort's name is listed specifically in the Department of Law Enforcement's records as having attacked Harriet with the intent to commit homicide- I know, I've seen the report in my world, which should be the same here- which gives her the right, as a noble, to seek his death or capture as a representative of the ruling body," he said. He gave the confused Harriet a wide smile, continuing his explanation.

"In other words, as long as the Ministry acknowledges that Voldemort is a criminal and Harriet is a victim of his, all her knights get to play policeman and bring him to justice. As long as we are only attacking Voldemort and anyone who is defending him, like, say, all of his followers, we would essentially be acting as Aurors," Harry said.

Harriet just shrugged. "Whatever you say. If forming this order makes it so that we won't get in trouble I don't see any reason not to do it. What's all required for this?"

"Technically, you're doing all of this under your own authority. Realistically, you'll have to send a declaration to the Ministry detailing what you're doing or they'll arrest us," Harry said.

She immediately looked toward Hermione, who sighed in resignation. "I'll write it, just sign it at the bottom," she said.

"That just leaves the actual knighting ceremony," Harry said, and unsheathed his sword. "Just bop me on the head once and say 'do you swear to serve the House of Black,' and when I say yes, respond with 'then arise Sir Harry.' You can get fancier than that, but that's the basics," he said, and handed her the sword.

Harriet took the sword, turning her attention to it as Harry knelt in front of her. He watched as she almost immediately noticed the beautiful carvings on it and ran her delicate fingers across the engraved metal and leather. On the pommel of the sword a large dog growled menacingly at her, moving ever so slightly. On the crossguards of the sword were a stag on one side and a doe on the other, moving with a sure-footedness that would leave dancers envious. Engraved on the base of the blade itself was a wolf with intelligent eyes, keeping watch as she handled the sword.

"Anytime you're ready," Harry said.

"Er, right. Do you swear to serve the House of Black?"

"Yes," Harry said in an even voice. It probably helped that he had done this before, and for the same order to boot.

Harriet tapped him on the head with the flat of his sword, and said, "Then arise Sir Harry."

He did so, and favored his younger counterpart with a warm smile. "Now you just have to knight Hermione here and anyone else you trust to fight Voldemort and Death Eaters to the death without piling more legal trouble onto your lap," he said.

Harriet immediately frowned. "You two are it. Well, maybe Dobby too-"

"Great Miss Harry Potter ma'am calls for Dobby?"

It was a good thing Harriet was still holding onto his sword or there would be two halves of a house elf on the floor right then. Harry calmed his flight-or-fight reflex down after a second, though the sudden appearance of a person in front of him screamed at his hard earned fighting instincts. The little elf appeared to be peaceful, so Harry took a few steady breaths and refocused on the conversation.

"Yeah, um... Dobby, how would you like to be one of my knights?"

The little elf looked like Chirstmas had come early. "Oh yes, Dobby is being happy to be Miss Harry Potter ma'am knight! Is great honor!"

She sighed, but dutifully performed the ceremony again, bringing the total number of her personal army up to two people. Hermione then took her turn, and the Order of the Timberland once again stood ready to battle the forces of the Dark Lord Voldemort. One skilled magic swordsman, one skilled witch, one brilliant witch, and one crazy elf. Against an army of darkness.

"Right," Harry said. "You guys work on gathering members. I'll secure our base of operations and perform reconnaissance."

"Wait!" Harriet called. "You still have to teach me about the horcrux."

"Oh yeah. I've only got one class tomorrow, so we can meet up whenever you're ready and I can teach you everything," he said, and pulled a knut from his pocket. After casting a simple charm on it, he handed it over to Harriet. "Just concentrate real hard on my sexy face while holding that knut and I'll come find you."

She made quite the funny face as she gingerly slipped the enchanted coin into her pocket. "Thanks? I guess I'll see you tomorrow," she said.

"I would never refuse a summons from Your Grace," he said in his best serious voice. "It would be a stain on my honor as your knight. If you would excuse me, Your Ladyship, I must attend to personal matters."

He almost managed to leave the room before he started laughing. This world promised to be even more entertaining than he had thought!

-o-0-o-

Author's notes- The godfather thing is purely made up by me, of course, but I thought it was fitting. After all, the term 'godfather' was just a term meaning the person who stood in for the parents at a baby's baptism. Why would that term ever reach the wizard population, who presumably didn't baptize children? This is my take on why.

Also, dictionary time- a 'confraternal order' is a group of knights who serve under a noble. Back in the day a knight himself was a low nobleman, and sometimes regular people could be elevated to knighthood by grants of land or gifts of peerage for service. Since the House of Black is listed as one of the oldest wizarding families in Britain I figured they counted as the equivalent of Dukes and could grant knighthood to people. Dumbledore gets to have an order because he's Supreme Commander of the Queen's Magical Forces or some such codswallop (essentially I figured he had a title somewhere that gave him the ability).

As for why the knightly order was necessary- I like knights. I've always liked the "sword" part of "sword and sorcery," if you couldn't tell by my other stories, so I invented a political reason why it was necessary. And, in case anyone is both well-versed in the topic and wondering, Harry purposefully gets forms of address and especially courtly etiquette wrong to annoy people.