Daphne's Gift

The last week of school passed in a blur for Harry. Exams were finished, so there wasn't much left to do beyond sitting in the Hospital Wing with Hermione for the last few days. At least until Poppy kicked him out so Hermione could rest, but Poppy was at least certain that Hermione would be fully recovered in time for the Leaving Feast. Sirius stayed in the castle for a few days, at least until it became common knowledge that he was an innocent man. The pardon, while technically not required since he was never convicted, at least gave him something to wave in people's faces as the truth of Pettigrew was disseminated to the wider magical community.

The most notable conversation Harry had with Sirius, beyond their plans once Sirius had his affairs in order, was the question of his house elf, Kreacher. According to Sirius, Kreacher was an ancient elf even when he was growing up, and the two of them... did not get along. Kreacher hated Sirius for rejecting the pureblood mania of his parents, and Sirius hated Kreacher for all the times he tormented him as a child. Granted, said torment was likely under his mother's orders, but Sirius had no doubts in his mind the little monster enjoyed what he did.

More to the point, the state of Grimmauld Place, and his apparent absence from the house, either meant Kreacher had (finally) kicked the bucket, or he'd been attending to Narcissa Malfoy. Assuming Sirius was indeed Lord Black, and the latter was the case, his first act, after naming Harry as his Heir, would be to disown her and keep her from summoning Kreacher in the future.

This and more was why, on a whim, Harry summoned Dobby during one of his talks with Sirius, inquiring into the state of Winky, Crouch's former house elf. Upon hearing of her state, it was a simple matter to convince Sirius to visit the kitchens at some point and see if Winky would bond with him. She hadn't formed a proper bond with Hogwarts yet, and even worse, had begun drinking butterbeer, something very bad for elves. With luck, Winky would be bonded with Sirius, and not only recover but help him get his house in order.

When the Leaving Feast came around, the day before they went back to London on the Express, Harry was presented with his winnings from the Tournament, 1000 Galleons, by Andromeda Tonks. Minister Fudge was supposed to present it to him, but the coward had returned to the Ministry. Summer plans were discussed among the students, but there remained an undercurrent of fear and apprehension. Most of the school had heard Harry's words upon his return. They heard him claim that the Dark Lord was somehow back. It was enough to warrant a warning of 'dark times ahead' from Dumbledore, though how many took the words to heart was up for debate.

Beyond that, and the presence of the other schools, it was hardly any different than a normal Leaving Feast.

The following day, Hogwarts students said goodbye to the students of Beauxbatons as they boarded their carriage, and to Durmstrang as they set sail. Some of the students were worried about Durmstrang, as Igor Karkaroff had disappeared after the Third Task, though according to the students, Igor spent most of the voyage to Hogwarts in his private quarters, leaving the job of steering the ship to the students.

From what Harry overheard, none of them were going to miss him.

Before long, Harry was seated in a train compartment with Hermione cuddled up to him, and Ron reading a Quidditch magazine. For the last twenty minutes, Hermione had been staring at her book, but it was obvious she wasn't reading any of it. Finally, she gathered the courage to set aside her book and turn to her boyfriend.

"Harry?"

"Yes, Hermione?"

"Can I... ask you something important?"

"Of course, Hermione. What is it?"

Taking a deep breath, Hermione looked up at Harry. "Where did that armour come from?"

Harry paused, knowing this question was coming, just not when. Hermione took that as an excuse to continue. "Poppy and the other staff were talking about it when they brought you to the Hospital Wing. It wasn't Transfigured from your robes, and it disappeared soon after Hagrid brought you in. It remained on you after you fell unconscious, and it resisted Poppy's attempts to get it off you."

Harry looked back into Hermione's eyes and sighed. It was then, he decided, he'd tell her about Daphne's gift.

"It's a very old suit of armour, used by my ancestors." Harry rose from his seat, retrieving his luggage to withdraw a single book. Sitting back down, he noted the curiosity on Hermione's face.

"At the start of the school year, Daphne and Tracey visited me on the Quidditch pitch. After I surprised her by not kissing her hand in greeting, she gave me this book. A book entirely about my family, all the way back to my earliest recorded ancestor..."

"What is it, Scrimgeour?"

Amelia sat at her desk, going over the latest paperwork required in the aftermath of two prisoners being Kissed. She doubted Fudge fully understood the bureaucratic nonsense required by his actions and the sheer number of forms she was required to review to ensure everything was completed in its proper manner. Which made it all the more infuriating that the forms she reviewed were absolute garbage. 'Invoking Ministerial authority.' What the bloody hell did that even mean? Even for the Minister, getting two Dementors away from Azkaban on 'official' business isn't an easy matter, all the more so when they end up Kissing people in a high-risk location like Hogwarts, doubly so with all the International students and spectators.

It also didn't help that Fudge was breathing down the necks of her and Aurors. Ever since Harry returned with Pettigrew in tow, claiming Voldemort had returned, the man had become unhinged, convinced Dumbledore was trying to usurp his position. It seemed Amelia's work had the unintended consequence of inflaming his paranoia. No doubt Malfoy was encouraging this, securing influence and control over Fudge at a discount, the knut-pinching bastard.

The one upside to this entire situation was she had Yaxley, a traitor from her own ranks, in custody. And unless she was mistaken, Scrimgeour was about to make her a very angry, and very driven, woman.

"Yaxley's dead. Succumbed to his injuries."

"Hmph. The official report?"

"The healer reports he died due to extensive damage caused to his lungs and heart from an as-yet unidentified lightning-based spell. Very tragic."

"Good. With Fudge acting the way he is, I'd rather not have a young witch get arrested for defending herself. Given she's a muggleborn, I can only imagine what Malfoy will be calling for."

"Would they go that far, ma'am?"

"You didn't see Fudge when I demanded a proper trial for Sirius Black in the aftermath of Peter's capture. If I didn't know he was an absolute coward, I'd assume he was acting under orders from the Dark Lord. As it is, I'll have to settle for assuming that greasy snake is trying to worm his way into more galleons to fund his 'gifts' for the Minister."

"Is that why you're keeping this under wraps?"

"Right, as usual, Rufus. I don't know who is trustworthy in the Ministry anymore, and if the Dark Lord has indeed returned, I can't afford any slip-ups going forward. The DMLE must remain absolutely united going forward, or we'll crumble in the coming battles."

"Well, Yaxley did give us plenty of information that'll help with that, as well as confirming Riddle's return." Scrimgeour produced a scroll and placed it on Amelia's desk before continuing. "There's a list of every Death Eater he knows is working within the Ministry. Part of his efforts to regain his master's favour upon his return was to also provide a list of viable candidates for Death Eater recruitment. Their names are also listed, along with a great deal of information concerning weaknesses in the Ministry Riddle could exploit should he decide to launch a direct assault."

"Merlin's bloody ballsack..." Amelia breathed in disbelief as she reviewed the document. The list of names, both current and potential Death Eaters, was staggering and solidified in Amelia's mind the necessity for this kind of secrecy.

"Yeah. He was definitely a busy little bugger."

"If there's one upside in all this, there's a relatively low number of names from the Aurors. We'll need to remove them as a threat immediately. We can't let them regroup with Riddle and endanger any more magicals."

"Agreed. I've already considered that problem, and I thought you'd like to hear it before going forward. There's also one other problem we need to consider."

"How the bloody hell did Riddle survive that night, and return a decade later."

"Yaxley wasn't sure of how he survived years ago, but he did know how Riddle was planning his... resurrection, I suppose."

"Get the Unspeakables on it. Tell Croaker he needs to head this project himself, under the strictest protocols. This needs to be kept out of Fudge's ear. otherwise, Malfoy will have his buddies after us and our families."

"Ma'am, I apologize if the answer is obvious, but are you certain we can't use this to go after Malfoy directly?"

"Much as I wish we could, we can't. Officially, this intel doesn't exist, and Yaxley's detainment never happened. He died of an accident as far as the record is concerned. The use of Veritaserum was legally dubious at best and could go either way, especially given how we've kept this quiet so far. Right now, Malfoy has just enough of a power base, especially with Riddle's return, to make our lives very difficult in the name of Fudge's delusions of peace. We need to cripple this power base before going for the kill. So to speak."

"Understood, ma'am. And, what about Yaxley's wife?"

"Leave her to me."

"And that's all there is to it."

Harry leaned back, having finished his recounting to Ron and Hermione about making contact with Gnarl and all his assistance in preparing for the Tournament. Ron leaned back in surprise after hearing all of this, while Hermione was flipping through the book as Harry completed his story. For a few moments, silence dominated the train car, with nobody certain what to say next. Finally, after collecting her thoughts, Hermione spoke up.

"And you learned all of this just this year?"

"Yeah, this was definitely a busy year."

Hermione hummed in response, before turning to Ron. "Did you know any of this? About the Lordship?"

Ron shrugged his shoulders. "Not really. I'm the sixth son, so there wasn't much of a reason for me to know all this stuff. Bill would definitely know since he's technically my Dad's Heir, and maybe Charlie. Probably Percy too, since he's working in the Ministry."

"But you knew Harry was the Heir to a Noble House?"

"I figured he was like Neville, doesn't like talking about it because of what happened to his family."

Hermione blinked in surprise, before nodding her head, realizing that wasn't an unfair assessment. She then turned to Harry. "Can I borrow this?"

Harry chuckled. "Sure. I've read most of it, and the rest was told to me by Gnarl. Speaking of him..."

Harry's words were interrupted by the door to the train car opening, revealing Malfoy and his goons, Crabbe and Goyle, behind him, his typical haughty sneer plastered on his face. Right now, after having faced Voldemort and come out on top, he looked pathetic to Harry.

"Potter. I warned you about picking the wrong side back in first year, didn't I? Now that the Dark Lord's back, your days are numbered."

Malfoy was no doubt expecting many things from Harry, perhaps a biting comment, or some otherwise sad attempt at rebuttal. What he didn't expect was for Hermione to snicker in response to his words.

"Really, Malfoy? Threats? Harry kicked Mouldyshorts arse and came back without a scratch on him after running a death trap of a maze. If anyone's days are numbered, it's the Death Eaters, including your arrogant father."

Malfoy's face twisted with rage as he grabbed his wand.

"Watch your mouth mud-"

That was as far as he got before Harry had stunned him, surprising Crabbe and Goyle. Before they could grab their wands or try to physically intimidate Harry, they too then collapsed from a stunning spell, but this time, it came from behind. As Goyle hit the floor, Harry was surprised to see the hunched figure of his Chief House Elf.

"Gnarl?"

"Forgive me, Sire. When I realized you were about to summon me, I thought this might be a good way to introduce myself."

Hermione and Ron looked at him in total shock, both from never having expected a house elf to stun two students without even the slightest of efforts, but his appearance and mannerisms. After meeting Dobby, Ron and Hermione had developed an idea of what to expect from house elves based on him. Even meeting the Kitchen elves of Hogwarts did little to dissuade that idea. To see a house elf wearing clothes, of all things, along with speaking so clearly and cleanly, was not something they ever expected.

"Well, excellent work, Gnarl. I suppose this is as good a time as any to handle introductions. Ron, Hermione, this is Gnarl, Chief House Elf for the Ancient and Most Noble House of Potter for... how long did you say again?"

"600 years, Sire. I served in various other capacities for about 200 years before being appointed to this position."

Harry nodded at Gnarl's answers before looking at Hermione and Ron. Neither of them seemed certain of what to do or to say in this matter. That was when he realized there was still the matter of the three stunned students to deal with. Just as Harry was about to ask Gnarl to return them to their compartment, he got an idea. An idea worthy of the Marauders.

Fred and George were searching for their two favourite Lions along with their brother. They wanted to check in with them and make sure nobody in Slytherin got any funny ideas. If they were lucky, they might be able to catch Malfoy and his goons in the act, the perfect chance for them to test out some spells, or maybe trick them into trying out one of their treats. The Ton-Tongue Toffee had most of its kinks worked out. Would be good fun to see how one of those pillocks handles it.

Nothing could have surprised them more than finding them in their compartment, laughing their arses off. Ron was clutching his gut in laughter, while Hermione was clinging to Harry as she shook with laughter, and he propped himself against the wall of the compartment to remain upright.

"Well now, what's this I wonder?" Fred spoke, or maybe it was George.

"Seems someone got here before us."

"Got to work spreading good fun and cheer before we could."

"We seem to be losing our touch, my thick-headed twin."

"Perhaps we are, my less handsome twin."

"Oh knock it off you two." Hermione recovered first, wiping tears out of her eyes. "Harry just made a rather shameful discovery."

"It seems house elves love helping with pranks. Especially with gits like Malfoy." Harry grinned as he spoke, a mischievous glint in his eyes that the twins recognized in each other.

"Well, don't keep us in suspense."

"What did you do?"

"How did you do it?"

"Think you could help us with it?"

Harry shook his head as the twins did their twinspeak. "Sorry guys, this is something best discovered on your own. But trust me, we'll be hearing about this when we board the train in September."

The twins were disappointed but intrigued. Now they wanted badly to know, but their minds raced with ideas of what Harrikins and company could achieve.

"In any event," Harry drew their attention away from the prank, "How are you two doing? I imagine your betting pool left you with a tidy profit."

"We did indeed win big from the bets-"

"But our own didn't pan out so much."

"Bagman used leprechaun gold to pay us back after the World Cup."

"He refused to pay us our winnings or even the money we bet."

"Turns out, he was deeply in debt with the goblins."

"So he decided to bet what little he had left on you to win."

"But when it came out that fake Moody was helping you,"

"The goblins declared the bet void, and the blighter took off."

By the end of their speech, the twins were gloomy, a stark contrast to their usually cheerful selves. Harry knew the twins had their heart set on a joke shop after graduating, and they'd been saving every knut they earned. For Bagman to play dirty with them no doubt was a dent in their finances. But then, as quick as a flash of lightning, the answer came to him. Rising from his seat, he rooted around in his trunk for the money he'd been given at the Leaving Feast.

Pulling the sack of galleons from his trunk, he tossed it at them before sitting down. "That should more than makeup for your loss, I think."

Fred and George were speechless, staring at the sack, at Harry, and each other, in no particular order. Finally, one of them found his voice. "Harry... this is...."

"We can't...."

"We shouldn't..."

"You can and you will." Harry's tone was firm, booking no argument from them. "I got plenty of galleons thanks to the Basilisk hide, so I'm not worried about finances. And I know how important your joke shop idea is. The least I can do is offer some help."

The twins briefly looked at each other, before shaking hands with Harry, thanking him profusely for this. When they left, Hermione curled up next to Harry, a silly smile on her face.

"That was a very kind thing you did, Harry. Hopefully, they put it to good use."

"One thing's for certain. Whether they put it towards their joke shop, or towards new pranking products, it'll be money well spent."

Ron snorted as he knew better than either of them just how much trouble the twins could get up to with that kind of money. Especially when they put it towards pranking.

Before long, the Hogwarts Express arrived back at Kings Cross Station. Disembarking, Harry and Hermione said their goodbyes to Ron as they returned to the non-magical side of London. There he saw Dan and Emma Granger, both of whom greeted him warmly, reminding him he was welcome to visit their home anytime he wanted. Slipping Hermione his address, now that she had a reason to visit, the pair hugged before Harry made his way to his whale of an uncle. As the fat bastard was about to speak, Harry cut him off.

"Vernon, when we get back to the house, I need to talk with you and Petunia. I have.... a deal, I think you'd be interested in."

Vernon paused, regarding Harry with suspicious eyes, before ultimately getting into the car without raising a fuss about 'freaks.' A small win, but he'd take what he could get.

Cho Chang wasn't sure whether to consider herself lucky or unlucky at the moment. While she was flattered Flitwick had seen fit to promote her to Prefect after the sheer amount of bullying in Ravenclaw was revealed, and she was one of the few who didn't partake in it, it was also the reason for her current situation. Right now, she was checking the train cars to make sure nobody had been left behind, and so far so good. Soon she'd be finished, and she'd be free to enjoy her summer-

"...me..."

'What was that?' Cho thought to herself. Looking around, she noticed the restroom at the end of the car. She groaned in annoyance, wondering if someone had been left behind thanks to one of the twins pranking snacks. As she got closer, she could hear multiple voices.

"It's not...."

"... don't give a..."

"Stop moving..."

Listening closely, she realized it was a trio of boys' voices, and as she tried to recall who they were, she opened the bathroom door, revealing the bathroom stall and sink, while amplifying the voices.

"Stop grabbing me! That isn't my wand!"

Raising an eyebrow, she strode towards the stall and pulled it open, uncertain of what to expect, but knowing she should put a stop to it. What greeted her was the sight of Draco Malfoy, Vincent Crabbe, and Gregory Goyle. All three had been stripped down to their underwear, and crammed into a small stall, with little to no room to move. Enclosed in such a tight space, Cho noticed with a blush that hands were going places they shouldn't be to everyone's frustration and anger.

Turning his head, Draco noticed Cho watching them and angrily shouted at her, "What are you waiting for!? Do something!"

And Cho did do something. She slowly closed the stall door, ignoring the screams of the boys. She then turned around and marched right out of the train car.

'The Head Boy can deal with this. I'm starting my vacation now!'