AN: Yo my people! Sorry about how short this chapter is but it's a transition chapter, I'm hoping to have things start picking up in the next chapter or two as we really get into the story and the whole mystery of the stone since, you know, Harry didn't wander and find Fluffy…VIVA LA LEGION!

Harry Potter and the Heart of Power

Chapter 20

-Natalie-

Tucking a lock of hair behind her ear she walked down the hall towards Anastasia's office, wanting the beautiful woman's opinion on how to handle a new issue. She had found a misplaced letter for Harry from someone named Remus Lupin and wanted to get their resident attorney to decide the best course of action. She was almost to the door when she heard the sound of glass shattering and a loud yell of "Morgana Fucking Damn it!" Dropping her papers, she ran to the door and yanked it open as she looked inside to see a heavily breathing Anastasia as well as a panicked looking Amelia who was biting her thumb nervously.

"What happened?" she asked wide-eyed, not used to hearing that sort of curse from Anastasia so she knew that things would have to be bad.

"Lucius and Fudge are making their play and, unfortunately for us, it's actually a good one this time." Amelia said with a scowl as she tossed a one page issue of the Daily Prophet onto the desk "This was released today. Lucius bought the entirety of the Prophet and is turning it into a new newspaper called 'Merlin's Message Board'."

"And he's going to use that to try and destroy our image." She said with a scowl before frowning as a thought hit her, "But that shouldn't have been enough to get Ana to curse like that."

"That wasn't all." Anastasia said, tossing a letter onto the desk between them "Lucius pulled out the book of Malfoy family laws. He's trying to find a way to disown me to discredit me and, by extension, Lightning Strike Enterprises. Luckily the family laws state that if the current Lord has no of age children then he can't disown anyone until his heir becomes seventeen, a safety precaution should the heir die before they turn of age. The only exception is if the individual in question does something that severely breaks a Malfoy family law. He's trying to get a 'family hearing' due to me working here and not for his new newspaper as 'going against the family'."

"Shit." She muttered under her breath as she snatched up the letter, her eyes shooting through the words.

"Oh, it gets better." Amelia said, bringing out a crystal decanter of Whiskey and pouring them each a drink.

"Merlin Damn it." She groaned as she took the tumbler and threw back the drink, needing the burn of the alcohol right about now, "Proceed."

"Harry and Susan are being summoned to face the Wizenagamot." Amelia said furiously, "Fudge and Lucius claim that the light show that went off when they kissed was a Soul Bond and that by refusing to accept Soul Bonded status and are only acting like a couple then they're breaking out 'sacred traditions'. We know that they can't legally punish us by doing this but they could very well ruin our public image if we don't handle this situation properly."

"Then we'd better get started." She said seriously, slamming her glass down onto the desk as she turned to her friends "Harry and Susan need us right now and I have no intention to let them down." Slowly Amelia and Anastasia's scowls turned into vicious smirks.

"Let's show my brother what a bad idea it was to mess with us." Anastasia said as they dove into their work. The paper work she dropped, and the letter within it, going forgotten.

-Harry-

"Alright," Cedric said as the checked over the ropes on the harness he was being hooked up to "we'll lower you down when you're ready."

Nodding he lowered himself over the cliff edge, "Alright, send me down." He said as Cedric, Susan, and a few other Hufflepuffs were helping him retrieve his sword from the cliff wall.

"Can someone tell me," one of the Hufflepuff quiditch team beaters grunted from the top of the cliff "why don't we just summon the damned thing!"

"What's the point of a sword if your opponent can just summon it out of your hand?" he called back "It's enchanted to be immune to the summoning charm." All he got in way of response was a grunt as they continued to ease him down on a system of ropes and pulleys. "Hold up!" he called when he came level with his weapon "I found it! Send the second rope!"

"Rope coming down!" Susan called out as a second rope with a small noose was lowered as he synched it around the hilt. The sword was imbedded deeply into the rock so he'd have to blast the stone away, the rope was so he wouldn't have to go diving for the damned thing.

-Susan-

"So Su," Cedric asked her as they held tight onto the rope tied to Harry, having just lowered down the second rope "what was that letter you and Harry sent off this morning? And didn't he get one as well?"

Before she could answer a voice called out "What is going on here?!" as she turned to see Professor McGonagall striding over. The woman hadn't been as abrupt with Harry since the Shinigami incident but he was still by no means her favorite student.

Before she could even try to think of a response her boyfriend shouted "FIRE IN THE HOLE!" as a large blast was heard, followed shortly by "Ow…not my best plan."

"Alright people," she sighed in exasperation "pull the idiot up."

"I heard that!" came the offended cry.

"You were meant to." She responded cheerfully as they hauled up her man child boyfriend and his weapon.

"Once again," an irritated McGonagall demanded "what is going on here?"

"I wanted my sword back." Harry called up as they slowly pulled him up "Um…could you please hurry…this harness is giving me a wedgie."

"I don't know." She said playfully "I might just leave you down there for a while."

"Oh come on!" Harry cried out "Pull me up…please…"

"Oh just pull the boy up." McGonagall said exasperated but she could see a faint glimmer of amusement in the woman's eye.

"Fine, fine." She grumbled playfully as they continued to pull her boyfriend up "Party pooper."

"Now young man," McGonagall said once Harry was pulled back over the ledge "what caused you to think causing an explosion and what did you do to hurt yourself?"

"Um…I didn't know a rock gouging charm and didn't have a pick." He said sheepishly "So I used a weak blasting charm to break the rock apart and a few rocks hit me in the stomach…should probably get those bruises looked at."

"Do so and please don't blow anything up again." McGonagall asked before turning to walk off.

Once the Deputy Headmistress was gone she turned back to Cedric, "So what was it you were asking? You were wondering about the letters from this morning?"

"Yeah. You guys seemed really focused when you read them." Cedric said as the group started taking down the pulleys and untying Harry's rope harness.

"Well the one I sent was to the Board of Governors to lodge a formal complaint about Snape," Harry spoke up "hopefully it'll get the bastard sacked. As for the one we received," here Harry started scowling, an expression mirrored on her own face "Fudge and Lucius Malfoy are both making a play to ruin my businesses and, by extension, me. Malfoy is revamping the Prophet under a new name to fight fire with fire in the court of public opinion and Susan and I are both being taken to court for not marrying due to the light show from our first kiss."

"Oh bloody Hell." Cedric cursed, "I really wish that people weren't dumb enough to buy that imperius bull shit Malfoy started after the last war."

"So do I my friend." Her boyfriend replied, "So do I." He would have said more but they heard panting and looked up to see a wide eyed Neville Longbottom running over to them, his Gryffindor friend's cloak ripped at the bottom like something had bitten it and then the cloak was pulled away. Lilith Moon was running a few paces behind Neville, looking just as terrified.

"Neville, Lilith, what's wrong?" Harry asked when they reached him, his fellow Hufflepuffs looking concerned for the two first years as well.

Doubled over Neville gasped out "Weasley...locked us…in the forbidden corridor."

"But what happened to your cloak?" Susan asked with a shudder "It looked like something tried to take a bite out of you."

"Something did." A less winded but still shaken up Lilith responded, "The third floor…it's housing a Cerberus."