When Sirius had approached her about the wand…Augusta had blushed in shame. How could she have forgotten that a wand chose the wizard? Neville's improvement came in leaps and bounds. He arrived back from his lessons with Harry full of tales of his accomplishments. He was gaining confidence every day and she was so proud of him.
There was a way to go, of course. She had seen how Neville had used Harry as a way of diverting attention from himself at his birthday (although she had been very happy to see how Harry who hated his fame had sacrificed himself so Neville could enjoy his birthday – it spoke well of the young Lord Potter). But overall she was thrilled with the strong minded and quietly observant young wizard that was emerging from the cowed child she had raised.
She knew she had Sirius and Remus, his steward, to thank for a lot of it too. Remus had quietly advised her to change her Financial Manager after she had let him look at the books to choose a suitable learning example for Neville's estate management lesson. Since then Remus had taken to dropping by weekly to discuss Neville's progress and talk over the business opportunities between the House of Potter and the House of Longbottom. Between his advice, their discussions and the restitution Sirius had given her, Augusta was beginning to see a change in their fortunes. She quietly acknowledged to herself that she had let things slip in her grief but it was no excuse.
It had all led Augusta into fervently working hard on Sirius's and Harry's behalf to rebuild the old alliance – and to wonder why she hadn't done so before. The other families had expressed similar rueful comments; why had they needed the return of the House of Potter to have re-established their old ties?
Sirius himself was a boon. As much as he might not have wanted to acknowledge it, he had all of his grandfather's political finesse and ruthlessness. He knew just what carrot and what stick to use. And he was teaching Harry; she could see how Harry was changing under Sirius's tutelage in his dealings with other Houses. He would never have Sirius's deft touch – he was too impatient and blunt in his own manner for that – but Harry would make a formidable Lord Potter in time.
If he lived long enough to fully take on the mantle.
Voldemort's imminent return was the other driving force behind Augusta's revival. She would be damned if she let the bastard destroy her family again. She had all but lost Frank and Alice; she would not lose Neville.
Or Harry. The news of the death threat on his birthday had made her blood boil.
She directed Neville to the seat next to Remus on the family tier of the Wizengamot, pleased to see that many of the other Heirs in the Potter alliance were already seated. The Heirs would take part in the pledge the Houses were undertaking with each other. The afternoon tea Augusta had hosted the day before had begun the process of the Heirs getting to know each other, the adults leaving them alone to become better acquainted with Harry as they would be supporting each other for a long time. She had been pleasantly surprised that all the Heirs had stayed behind to socialise when Harry himself had departed with Sirius.
She hid her smile as she took her seat.
The session time was almost upon them when Sirius walked in with Harry, properly dressed in formal robes with the crests of Potter and Black on his breast. Harry's hair had been tamed as much as possible; Andromeda's training told in his carriage and his bearing although Augusta could see he was pale and a bit nervous. And Sirius stood beside him, a hand on his shoulder, looking more dangerous than ever in his black duelling robes (though they were embossed with the House crests) and leather trousers. He'd dressed not for the Wizengamot but for guard duty and it told in every graceful movement he made.
Augusta was pleased as she took in everybody else's reaction, the Wizengamot falling silent.
Dumbledore hurried forward and Augusta settled herself to get a better view. This was going to be amusing, she thought delighted.
"Sirius!" Dumbledore's eyes darted to Harry and back. "Do you think it wise after recent events for Harry to attend?"
"Thank you for your concern, Chief Warlock, but this is an important day for the House of Potter and we won't be scared away by a cowardly note from someone hiding behind a house elf." Sirius said loudly. "If you'll excuse us."
She smiled at the manner in which Sirius dismissed Dumbledore's concerns and Dumbledore so completely while also slyly insulting the sender of the note. Her eyes caught on Lady Cavendish fanning herself and Augusta rolled her eyes. Sirius was a handsome devil and his devotion to Harry seemed to have increased his sex appeal among the witches of their society. She wondered how he and Harry were going to respond to the matchmaking that was bound to happen.
Sirius walked Harry up the stairs and directed him towards the Potter seat.
"Sirius…" Dumbledore called. "I'm afraid Harry can't sit there yet."
"Actually, he can, Chief Warlock." Tiberius Ogden said before Augusta could leap to her feet. "Article 15 of the Inheritance Law passed in 1754 allows that any Lord not of age can sit in on the Wizengamot in his seat with the permission of his Regent."
"He's right, Chief Warlock." Dullard agreed.
"Very well." Dumbledore conceded with a fleeting look around the watching Wizengamot.
Harry sat down in the Potter seat with an expression of awed solemnity.
Sirius smiled at him warmly. "Comfy?"
Harry grinned back at him, relaxing somewhat with Sirius's irreverence.
Sirius straightened, his wand in his hand before anyone could blink and he tapped his Lordship ring. "Familius magicus." Gold and silver family magic swirled into being either side of Harry and there was a murmur that swept the chamber.
Most people in the public gallery and in half of the Wizengamot houses had probably never seen family magic at work, Augusta thought amused; that Sirius had called two family magics simultaneously had shocked even those who had.
Sirius waited until the gold griffin and the silver snake formed and stood as sentries either side of the Potter seat. He raised his voice. "Guard. Kill anyone who attacks him."
The totems looked suitably menacing.
The snake turned and hissed at Harry who hissed back and a shiver ran down Augusta's back. Merlin, she would never get used to that.
"What did he say this time?" asked Sirius, ignoring someone's shriek at the sight of the Boy Who Lived speaking parseltongue.
"He was checking whether you just meant physical attacks." Harry replied.
There was an innocent expression on Harry's face but Augusta coughed to hide her laugh as she realised immediately it was a set up to point out to the entire Wizengamot that Sirius hadn't limited the order.
Sirius smiled but he didn't correct the order and Augusta realised that they'd just put everyone on notice – the death threat hadn't been a physical attack. Clearly any attack against Harry wouldn't be tolerated.
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