That evening at dinner, Harry received a note to go to Dumbledore’s office after his meal. He gave the headmaster a discrete nod before tucking the note away. His meal had been tampered with again, but he couldn’t cast to see if it was being served to everyone or just him. Neville and Hermione seemed to be eating normally, not avoiding the dishes that set his bracelet burning.
He murmured to Hermione where he was headed and ducked out of dinner a few minutes after the Headmaster disappeared out a side door behind the head table. He took his time making his way to the office, double-checking his Occlumency shields and stealing himself for the coming conversation. The statue let him in without a password, the stairs circling slowly as if they knew he was dreading the meeting.
“Harry, thank you for coming,” Dumbledore said with a smile, gesturing to Harry to one of the chairs before his desk. “There are a few things we need to discuss.”
“Anything wrong, are the Weasleys alright?” Harry asked, letting his tension show as he took a seat.
“No, nothing like that, the Weasleys are fine, my boy," he said with a comforting smile, “I asked you here to share some information about Voldemort and his early years.”
“Does it have to do with the prophesy?”
“Yes," he said gravely, “I must ask, have you informed any of your friends of the contents of the prophesy?”
“No, I wasn’t sure that someone couldn’t use Legilimency on them,” Harry said, hardening his shields at the slight probe that brushed across them.
“A sound strategy, I would have to advise you not to speak of it outside of my office for now. Have you been practicing your Occlumency?”
“Yes, every night,” Harry said with a tired smile that didn’t reach his eyes.
“Very good, keep up the practice, it can only help.” The headmaster said with a frown, getting up and bringing a pensive from the cabinet next to his desk. “I would like to share some memories with you from the original war with Voldemort. There are several tasks I will need your assistance with this year, and you need the background to help.”
“Alright,” Harry said with a determined nod, reaching for the swirling memories yet waiting for Dumbledore to enter first.
He watched the memories unfold before him with a sense of disgust. Dumbledore was hunting the Horcruxes and thought there were only six. He expected him to find out the exact number Voldemort intended from Slughorn when even he hadn’t been able to pry the information out of the crafty Slytherin. Harry was bursting with questions but forced himself to only ask the naive ones he would have done before the potions and spells were removed from his body and core.
They would meet on the weekends once or twice a month while Dumbledore shared more memories and tried to hunt down the Horcruxes. Harry had no intention of letting Dumbledore have access to any more of the dark things, considering how badly he’d hurt his hand retrieving the ring. He needed a quick way to get someone to his location or to send out a note in a very short period. He’d never used his Patronus that way, but it seemed to work well enough for the Headmaster. He’d write up the information he’d discovered from the memories and send it to the goblins; maybe they could search ahead of Dumbledore since they had more resources, or maybe the elves could look, it would take some discussion.
It seemed everyone around him had worked or helped either Dumbledore or Voldemort at some point. He absently wondered if he should offer Slughorn protection but doubted the pompous man would take it since it would mean owing someone else. Invitations to the Slug Club had already gone out, and several older Gryffindors spoke about how the man was known to collect favors and debts from his students.
Harry, Neville, and Hermione had already made plans to attend together. Thankfully, it was the weekend that Ron and Ginny were going to be at home, so they couldn’t complain about not being invited. He arranged for a small gift to arrive at Hermione’s room the night before; she needed to show off her association with his House if they were going to a politician’s party.
He trudged his way back to his rooms that night, mind working over the information he’d been given. There were too many ways things could go. Slytherin’s locket, Hufflepuff’s Cup, Tom Riddle’s Diary, and the ring Dumbledore discovered. If the goblins were right and he was trying to make seven Horcruxes the night he attacked Harry and his parents, then they had two more objects to find if Voldemort hadn’t started replacing the lost objects.
****
“Thanks for coming, everyone,” Harry said with a grin as the last of the former DA club gathered in the old charms classroom. “There are going to be some changes to the club this year, and I want the older members to hear about it first.”
“What’s going on? Are we going to be doing harder spells?” Ron asked as he edged closer to the front of the room, having been almost the last to enter.
“This year, the Defense Association is going to be a true club, open to all houses and years. We will be meeting once a week and on Saturdays. If you can’t keep up with the scheduled meetings, don’t bother to keep attending; only those who attend both sessions will be allowed to continue in the club.”
“What if our schedules won’t allow it? Some of us are in other clubs.” Someone asked from the back of the room.
“The Saturday sessions are mandatory. You can skip the one during the week if you have to, but if you miss more than four in a row, you’ll be bumped to a younger year’s session until you can prove you’ve made up the lessons.” The grumbling went loud, and Harry let it continue for several long moments. “A new contract has been drawn up, and Hermione will be releasing each member from the old one before they sign up for the new club. If you aren’t willing to put in the effort, then I’m not going to waste my time teaching you. I’m sorry, but I started this club to make sure that the students can defend themselves, if you can’t take it seriously in this time of war, then you have no place in these lessons.”
Hermione came forward with the old contract, and it went up in flames a moment later. The new contract was set to one side on a table for those who wanted to stay.
“What’s the penalty if we leave the club?” Someone asked, fiddling with the book they were holding.
“Currently, nothing; once we see how many are going to adjust to the new schedule, a new clause will be added to the contract stating that they won’t be able to talk about what happens in the club with non-members if they make the contract will highlight the name in red and they’ll be barred entrance at the next meeting.”
“So, no hexes or curses?” Dean asked, glancing at the Hufflepuffs that stood to one side.
“No, but your coin will no longer work, and we’ll be changing the design of the coins to look less like a galleon,” Harry said with a grin, “Apparently, it’s illegal to copy wizarding money or to create fake currency so, please leave your galleon on the table before you leave, we’ll give out the new ones at the next meeting.”
“When will we be meeting next?”
“The first, second, and third years will meet on Monday afternoons; fourth and fifth years will meet on Tuesday afternoons, and sixth and seventh will meet up on Thursdays. Fourth-year students and up will be expected to attend Saturday sessions.”
The muttering continued, but no one stepped up to sign, Harry heaved a sigh and made his way to the table, signing with a flourish. “Nothing else is going to be discussed until everyone in the room signs. The next meeting is this Saturday.”
“Why aren’t we using the room we used last year?”
“I couldn’t get the door open this year; it looks like the staff finally sealed it against students.”
Slowly, the members came forward one by one and started to sign. A few checked dates with him before leaving or confirmed that they would have to talk with their other clubs to make sure they could come on Thursdays before signing. Only a few walked out without signing at all, though Harry mentally added the names to a growing list of people to be watched.
“No one asked about the Slytherins attending.” Hermione pointed out once the last group left, leaving her and Harry to clean up.
“How’s your extra studying going?” he asked as they finished un-charming the room, only the final wards waiting to be taken down as they left.
“Pretty good, I think. It’s certainly calming once you get past all the bad memories," she said, grimacing.
“Good, keep it up. I’m going to search this weekend for somewhere to meet up to practice with the others.”
“We’re going to need an excuse for Ron and Ginny when we start disappearing in the afternoons." she pointed out with a sigh.
“We might get a few days’ reprieve from their spying; I can’t say much more until we can test your shields.”
“I hate this. I know Ron went out twice this week.”
“I know, I caught him on the map going to Dumbledore’s office. He tested my shields in the meeting I got called to. He’s probably trying to find out how I learned, considering I didn’t have anyone teaching me correctly.” Harry said with a snort, “Be extra careful.”
“I will." she said with a sigh, “I’ve started up study sessions with Neville and Luna in the library. We can use that time for some work, at least.”
“Good, we need to get the posters up for the Niffler Club as well and figure out some general questions to get things rolling.”
“When will that be meeting?”
“It won’t; we’ll be doing everything by a drop box to keep things anonymous. Members will be given an automatically updating book of the offered questions and their payouts. Questions to be added will be sent in on a pre-made form included in the book.”
“Where do the payouts come from?”
“If you want a question answered, you have to pay the offered fee into the pool first.”
“And if no one answers it?”
“Then it stays on the list. I did add a short list of rules so that we won’t have people spying on each other or trying to find out personal information.” Harry said with a grin, handing her the small book.
“This is brilliant; we could keep this going even outside of Hogwarts.”
“Once we graduate, I might. We could put ads in the Ivory Quill and have a small donation to pay for the books as part of joining.”
“You might want to do that this year if we get a lot of people wanting to join." she pointed out with a grin.
“This year, the books are free; next year, I might charge, but to get started, I want as many people as possible to at least consider it.”
“Where are they mailing their questions to exactly? Are we going to be inundated with owls at breakfast?”
“No, it goes to a mailbox in Hogsmeade, and a house elf collects the mail, sorting it before bringing it to us to update the books once a week.”
“That’s brilliant.”
“It’s still taking too many hours in the day no matter what we do, but I think we need it,” Harry said with a sigh.
“We’ll figure out a way to manage,” Hermione said as they dropped the final wards and started back to the common room. “You do have the rest of us to help as well, Harry. You don’t have to do everything alone.”
“I know, thanks," he said, giving her a tired smile.
****
Fred and George hurried down the long hallway from the portkey room to Gold Kris’ office in silence. They had finally gotten Bill, Charlie, and their father to the bank, now they just had to get them all scanned without anyone having to take over the Head of House position. They both gave each other a dour look as the mental link shared their anxiety; this had the potential to break their House and its members.
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“Thank you for arriving so promptly.” Gold Kris said, gesturing them into the office, “We are ready to begin if you are prepared.”
“Excuse me for the interruption, sir,” Bill said, glancing at the twins with a concerned look, “Can one of you explain exactly why we needed to meet at the bank instead of at home?”
“Because it’s a very sensitive subject,” Fred said, glancing at his brother as he pulled out their test results. “We realized that we were being potion-ed against our will and had the goblin healers test us. They did a full investigation and healing to remove all foreign magic from our cores after our results came in.”
“You want us to be tested as well?” Bill asked, handing over the paperwork to Charlie while Arthur looked on with a glazed expression.
“Surely that’s not needed, boys. We should be discussing this with Dumbledore; if you’ve been spelled, then he can remove it.” Arthur said, not seeing the pitying looks that the twins gave him.
“Even if it was done at home?” Fred asked.
“At home? Who would potion and spell you at home? That’s ridiculous, boys. If this is a prank, I am very disappointed in you two.”
“That’s the question, Father.” George said discretely, pulling his wand when he noted Bill doing the same, “We want everyone in House Weasley tested. The goblins have been testing students from Hogwarts and even found items in the vaults that were enchanted to change the user’s personalities, dark spells that have been outlawed for years used on student’s school books or supplies.”
“None of my children have been tampered with!” Author snapped, standing as his face turned red.
“Then let us prove it.” Fred snapped, turning away from the man he’d followed blindly after for most of his childhood, “Bill, you’re the Heir. It’s your decision if you want to force the issue.”
“Father, I think we need to be tested,” Bill said firmly, Charlie agreeing softly behind him. “The scans are clear that several of the potions were administered while the twins were home.”
“I will not allow it!”
“Then I declare you incompetent as Head of House. I hereby claim full command of House Weasley as its Head of House.” Bill intoned, forcing his father into the chair behind him and spelling him to stay there.
“Witnessed,” Charlie said, grabbing Arthur’s wand when he went to draw it.
“Witnessed.” Fred and George echoed with a sigh. “We have a lot to tell you, but it has to wait until you’re scanned and purged.”
“It kept this long; a few more days won’t matter,” Charlie said, pocketing Arthur’s wand and taking a ready stance in case his Father got violent.
“Son, you can’t do this!” Arthur blustered.
“You’ve made your opinion clear, Father.” Bill said with a sigh, “You are to submit to the scans and any directions the healers give you, I command it as Head of House Weasley.”
“You can’t use the House magic against a member; no Weasley has done so in centuries!”
“Do not make me spell you silent as well.” Bill snapped before turning to face Gold Kris, “Apologies for the delay, Account Manager Gold Kris. We are ready to be scanned and treated as needed.”
“We will need to check your other siblings as well.” Gold Kris said, sending out the message to get one of the younger goblins to come escort them.
“I’ll arrange for them to come home this weekend.” Bill said with a sigh, turning back to the twins, “We’ll need a way to get Mom here as well.”
“Could we send her a note from the bank saying her account issues have been resolved, and we need her to sign something?” George asked, glancing at Gold Kris.
“I’ll see it sent out at once. Mister Prewitts, you are welcome to stay in my office until her arrival. The healing chambers have been prepped for the rest of your family.”
“Thank you, Gold Kris.” Fred said, glancing at Bill, “Go get scanned and purged, we’ll take care of Mom and bring her down to be scanned.”
Two hours later, Mrs. Weasley rushed into the bank and demanded to see Account Manager Gold Kris. She was shown to his office and handed over to the goblin with a shared expression of disgust. No goblin would ever harm a child; their birth rate was low, and every child was treasured, this woman was the worst of criminals in their eyes if it was proven she’d harmed her own intentionally.
“Thank you for coming, Mrs. Weasley. Please have a seat.” Gold Kris said, gesturing the woman to the chair before his desk, he would get it replaced after this meeting.
“I was told the issues with our accounts had been corrected?" she asked, dropping into the seat and digging in her bag for the letter she’d received, handing it over after several long minutes of searching.
“That is correct however, there is a separate issue I would like to discuss with you. In searching your vaults as part of a bank-wide cleansing, we discovered several items which were spelled with the intent to harm the user.”
“Items? We don’t keep anything but money in our vault," she said, blinking at the trunk he gestured to; the actual items had been provided by the twins when they scanned their possessions.
“We are offering to remove the spells from the discovered items and scan the vault owners for any ill effects for a small fee," he said, handing over a list of the items to the confused woman.
“That won’t be necessary. I’ll see to the spell removal myself," she said with an angry look as she scanned down the list of items.
“Are you mad at being found out, Mother, or is it the fact that you’re going to need more potions to re-dose everyone?” Fred asked, canceling the spells and warding them into one corner of the room.
“Fred, George, what are you doing here? Is this another prank of yours?” she snapped, her face alternating between red and pale as she went from fear to anger and back.
“No, Mother. We were shocked to discover that someone in our House had been giving everyone potions for years. We contacted Bill and Charlie to make sure they were aware they’re being treated as we speak.” Fred said.
“Surely you can’t suspect me?" she asked, blinking up at them with a calculating look, “Your father is the one with access to darker magics with his job, has he been contacted yet?”
“Yes, we’ve already spoken to Arthur,” George said.
“He’s your father! Don’t call him by his first name?”
“Considering he’s being treated for love spells and potions that have lasted over thirty years right now, I don’t think he’s going to object too much,” Fred said.
“He would have never agreed to be scanned!”
“He didn’t. Bill removed him as Head of the House. William Weasley is the current head of House Weasley, and he desires that every member be scanned and treated.” George said.
“Bill? He couldn’t have, I…”
“You’re going to be scanned, and if you come up empty, you will face House justice,” Fred said.
“That’s illegal! House punishments haven’t been used in centuries; Bill would never use the House magic that way!”
“He’s already agreed when he saw the full list of potions administered to him, Charlie, and Arthur,” George said.
“Stop calling him that!" she screeched.
“Why? We don’t belong to your House anymore. Why would we call him Father when we aren’t even Weasleys?” Fred asked, watching the woman who he’d loved and cared for his entire life slowly be stripped of her composure, exposing the true person beneath.
“Not Weasleys? That’s impossible," she said with a snort.
“As soon as Bill has completed his purge, we’re leaving House Weasley and taking our place as the Heads of House Prewitt. If Bill decides to banish you from House Weasley, we will have no problem using the House magics to force you into what we deem is proper behavior.” George said, watching the woman before him with pity, she didn’t even seem to realize what she’d done was wrong.
“You can’t, I won’t let you!” she screamed, casting about the room wildly as if searching for help.
George stunned her as she fought to get her wand out of her purse. They shared a moment of comfort across their bond before Fred levitated their former mother to the goblin healer’s halls. They both knew what they would find; she was guilty and had been twisting them to fit her idea of what a good child was since they were infants.
****
Three days later, on Saturday, they sat waiting for Ron and Ginny to arrive for their scans, they were being escorted by Bill straight to the healing halls for their scans. He had no intention of allowing word to get back to Dumbledore before House Weasley had been thoroughly cleansed. Right now, a team of curse breakers was rewarding the properties and scanning their possessions for tempering. So far, they’d found three stashes of illegal potions and the ingredients to brew most of them.
“How could she do it?” Charlie asked for the tenth time, pushing his plate away.
“She wanted good children; she just wasn’t willing to let nature take its course.” Fred said with a snort, “Bill forced her to speak only the truth, but he can’t make her answer. We still don’t know if Dumbledore made her do it or not, and she’s not been spelled beyond a few loyalty enchantments.”
“Bill’s hemmed her in with House magic. She’s not allowed to contact anyone in any way without his specific approval for each attempt, she’s not allowed to cook for anyone or supply them with food or drink without his express order, and she’s been bound to silence about our change of House and change of Head, and is ordered to speak only the truth. If she goes against any of his wishes, the House magic attacks her. She’s been in a fetal position in the healing halls for three days now; the magic won’t let her even think about hurting someone in the family.” George said with a sigh, sipping at his mug of butter beer.
“What are we going to tell everyone?” Charlie asked, fingers crumbling a roll.
“That she’s sick and confined to bed. The healers don’t advise visitors right now. It’s also why we called Ginny and Ron home. It gives us an excuse to keep them home for a few weeks as well.” Fred said.
“Harry’s offering one of his warded homes for everyone to stay at until we get a lid on how deep the betrayals go.” Bill said, coming back in, “Gold Kris just passed on a letter.”
“How are they?” Charlie asked, pulling out a chair for the eldest brother.
“The healers knocked them both out. It looks like they’ve been heavily potion-ed and spelled for the last six years, starting when they each started Hogwarts. It’s going to take some time with a mind healer for Ginny as well, do you know why she wasn’t ever treated after the attack in her first year?" he said, pausing to squeeze Fred and George’s shoulders as he passed.
“You mean the Chamber and the Basilisk? Dad swore she was seeing someone; she had horrible nightmares after it, but they did go away after a few weeks. I offered to owl a friend of mine who was studying as a mind healer, and he refused.” Charlie said, twisting one of his bracelets around his wrist in mindless agitation.
“The healers think she might have been Obliviated,” Bill said, dropping into the chair with a groan.
“Merlin, what else can go wrong,” George said, glancing at his twin.
“Ron also wasn’t treated for what the brains did. They think that’s where his erratic behavior lately came from,” Bill added.
“We need to get someone in the Aurors in on this soon,” Charlie said, looking at the others.
“Who can we tell that won’t be completely in Dumbledore’s pocket? The ones I know personally are all in the order.” Bill said.
“Tonks is spying on the order. She was heavily spelled with blocks and loyalty spells as well.” Fred said, “What about Madame Bones, her niece is probably spelled as well, if we can prove it, she’d fall on our side by default.”
“Maybe Tonks can arrange a meeting here at the bank, which would lessen the chance of word getting out. Plus, we need a way to get Harry out of the castle for a few hours so we can hash details out. Some things just can’t be done by letter.” George reminded his brother, glancing at the others in the room.
“If we can’t figure out something sooner, we can always have them visit for Christmas. It means spending it at the Burrow in case anyone visited, but we’d have some privacy to get things out in the air.” Bills said, picking up a piece of cheese only to abandon it on his plate, his appetite was gone.
“Did we ever figure out how Mum paid for this year’s supplies for Ron and Ginny after Harry cut her off?” Fred asked, trying to change the subject even if it wasn’t that much better a topic.
“Dumbledore gave her fifty galleons out of his accounts. The Dumbledores went broke during the war with Grindelwald, so it’s probably still Harry’s money.” Bill said, pouring himself a glass of the hard cider, “The goblins told him the Potter vaults were closed and being inventoried with all keys withdrawn. Someone snuck a line on the last bill that went through the Wizengamot, and all orphans of the war that have finances in Gringotts or their other branches are being inventoried.”
“Have they found anything else?” Charlie asked.
“A few were sent to muggle relatives and didn’t even know they had accounts, but so far, none were abused or robbed like Harry,” Bill said.
“Of course not, he’s the Boy Who Lived, why would anyone ever suspect him of having a bad childhood? He’s the darling of the wizarding world.” Fred said with a sarcastic snort.
“A world who have failed him so miserably they don’t deserve his help. Let them save themselves.” George added, his tone matching his brother’s.
“Hey, no getting mopey, we have too much to do,” Bill said, his voice going hard.
“Yeah, two megalomaniac wizards with too much power and no sense trying to control a society of sheep that have been taught to be utterly loyal to one and to live in complete fear of the other yet won’t raise a finger to help the fight against either since they’re too isolated in their little day to day worlds,” Fred said with a sigh.
“The Ivory Quill is helping a little, I heard people talking about the articles when I came in through the alley,” Charlie said, trying to lighten the mood.
“The Prophet’s been running a smear campaign against the paper, but Harry’s lawyers keep forcing them to print retractions so anyone who’s reading the entire paper at least is getting some of the picture no matter how hard they try to hide it,” George said.
“What else can we do to help?” Charlie asked, leaning forward and propping his head on one fist, abandoning his plate.
“Campaign for Houses to ally themselves with House Potter, Black, or Thorburn. Work to get people thinking for themselves, submit spells or articles to the paper, if you can think of obscure traditions and old rituals, we can research or potions recipes to send to Snape. Harry wants us to work on ways to protect the population with our products.”
“So anyway, we can throw support his way discretely.” Charlie said with a sigh, “The only thing I can think of for me is maybe getting some parts of the next dragon to be harvested sent his way. Ask if he needs dragon hide in the next letter.”
“Ask around the preserve for obscure spells. The Ivory Quill is going to be offering money in a contest in the next few weeks for the most obscure spell that could be useful to know. You could always offer to split the winnings.”
“I can do the same around Gringotts,” Bill said with a nod, “I have a few books I can send his way as well. Does he need help training with curses or anything?”
“He might take you up on the offer next summer, but I think he’s got the basics covered right now. He apprenticed to two dueling masters over the summer.” Fred said.
“I take it he wasn’t ever at the Dursley’s house this year?”
“Barely spent a week there, we think,” Fred said with a shrug.
“Good, that place is downright toxic. I can’t believe he’s stayed with them that long.”
“How could he leave when Dumbledore keeps sending him back?” Fred said with a snort, “He wants Harry isolated, angry, and uninformed. Even if we had taken him in like Mum was ranting that one time, he would just have been potioned into complying.”
“Well, he’s out now. The main thing we all need to do is brush up on our Occlumency for when Dumbledore starts sniffing around. You know he’s going to offer to ‘help’ at some point if we’re saying Mum’s sick.” George pointed out with a frown.
“Yeah, that’s why I want us all in Harry’s house tonight. Write letters or do what you have to get time off from work, Charlie, but we need you here for a few weeks. The same with you two.” Bill said, glancing around the table at his brothers.
“We’ve already closed up the shop. We’re only taking owl orders at this point, but the catalogs have been expanded, and Harry gave us a small house with a massive research and potions brewing area to work in.” Fred said, glancing at the door as Gold Kris came in.
“There are bank matters to discuss, Lord Weasley.” Gold Kris said, glancing at the barely touched food with a frown.
“Of course, do you mind if my siblings sit in? I think we’ve all had enough secrets for a lifetime.” Bill said, glancing over the worn looks everyone was wearing.
“I do not mind. Please join me in my office when you are ready.” Gold Kris said, giving the room a nod.
“We can go there now,” Charlie said, gathering up his bag, “We need to get things straightened out before Ron and Ginny are ready to go.”
“Your brother should be able to go home in the morning however, your sister will need several days of care, according to the last report.” Gold Kris said once they were all standing.
“I can stay in the staff quarters here tonight in case they need me.” Bill said, gesturing for the others to follow as he led the way behind Gold Kris, “Once we finish with the House decisions, everyone else can take the portkey.”