"They were very interesting," Charlie replied after a moment. "Anyway, I heard Ron's taken an interest in Quidditch," he said cheerily, changing the subject. "Thinking of going out for the team?"
"That'd be brilliant," Ron answered as they fixed their plates before turning somber. "But Wood's got years left as Keeper," he finished with a shrug.
"We'll be trying to get him to form a reserve team this year," George said as he began to eat.
"We nearly had the Cup last year," Fred explained. "We had it wrapped up until Harry got injured and we didn't have anyone to play Seeker for our last match."
Harry flattened his hair down nervously.
"It's not your fault, Harry," Bill said, eyeing their mother as she cut up Dobby's food for him into little pieces. "Accidents happen to everyone. The captain should have had a few people tipped for replacements anyway."
"Since you can get more use out of it than me, Ron, I suppose I can give you this," Charlie said taking out a small bag and tossing it to him.
"What am I supposed to do with this?" he asked, holding up the tiny thing.
"Why don't you stop being a dumbass and find out," Charlie said, rolling his eyes.
"Charlie," their mother chided.
"Well, what else do you do with a bag but look inside?"
"It's still no reason to call your brother that," she said, looking over at him crossly.
"Yeah," George strangely agreed.
"Mo-Ron would do fine," Fred added.
With a grin, Ginny looked over to see how her youngest older brother would respond only to find Harry staring at him in shock as half of Ron's arm disappeared into Charlie's small bag and it was still going.
"Whoa!" Ron said finally, his eyes bulging. "It can't be."
Pulling his arm out, he produced a small knob. The knob became a smooth wooden rod and that rod sprouted to become long enough fit curtains to. Suddenly she knew what it was.
'It's a broomstick!' Ginny realized as the first twigs of its tail made their way out of the bag.
"No way," Ron breathed. "This is your Air Wave Gold," he said to Charlie. "England gave you this."
Her mother looked stunned.
"And I'm giving it to you," Charlie said with a wave. "It's not like I get any use out of it. Besides, a decent Keeper needs a decent broom, and Harry says you're becoming more than decent."
'He got me into Hogwarts, got Luna back as my friend, got Charlie to visit from Romania, got Bill to move back to the Burrow, and he's even getting Ron onto the Quidditch team. Is there anything he can't do?' she wondered. And then it hit her: she's next in line for Ron's hand-me-down broom! 'This is the best day ever!'
Once again the floo flared and for one mad moment she thought it'd be Luna's mum to say everything there was just a misunderstanding - or worse, it'd be that girl showing up to ruin everything. It was somewhat of a relief it was only the tree stump looking litigator she saw before. It really wasn't nice of him to let her think all that last time and she wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of falling for it again… Not unless Harry said it anyway.
The old man didn't have anything to say to her though; he simply looked at Harry and said, "We have to talk."
...
"So Dumbledore really is my guardian?" he asked shocked as he sat down on his bed.
"No, what the memory showed was a quid pro quo," Lichfield said, pacing back and forth.
"A what?" Harry asked.
"A political trade of something for something else," the bailiff replied. "It's blatantly illegal, the whole thing was blatantly illegal, but that didn't stop them from doing it. Minister Bagnold - the former Minister - bought his silence by giving him you."
"So if they made him my guardian, how is he not my guardian?" he asked, desperately trying not to get lost with the legal stuff this time.
'Where's Hermione when I need her?' he thought, and then thought better of it. The two of them being in his bedroom would give the guys enough ammunition for jokes until the end of time.
"First, because the way he became your guardian was illegal," Lichfield said, turning towards him and holding up a finger before adding another. "Second, because he still immediately abandoned you by placing you with those muggles. And thirdly," he recited, adding his thumb as if to make the point somehow before the others. "Because the way they disqualified the man who should've been your guardian was also illegal. He should've had first claim on you."
"Then who should've been my guardian?" Harry asked. "And why am I just hearing about this now?"
"Because of who the man is," Lichfield said evasively. "Your parents left your guardianship to the one person they trusted most, the man they made your godfather - Sirius Black."
Harry didn't know what to say to that, and it was made worse by Lichfield looking at him as if expecting an explosion.
"I have a godfather?" he asked, wondering why nobody had ever mentioned it to him before.
"The name Sirius Black doesn't mean anything to you?" the old bailiff asked with a look.
"No, should it?" he asked at a loss. "Hang on," Harry said, suddenly remembering something. "Is he related to Phineas Black, the Hogwarts Headmaster?"
"He's a common ancestor," Lichfield answered. "So you've really-"
"So we're related?" he asked, cutting in.
"You and he would be second cousins, not that it means anything really," his litigator replied. "Your grandmother was a Black and there are very few pureblood families they're not related to: Flint, Bulstrode, Crabbe, Crouch - you name it."
"The Malfoys?" Harry asked.
"You'd have to ask me that," Lichfield groaned, closing his eyes with a hand to his head like it hurt to think. "You'd be the second cousin, once removed, to the current Malfoy heir," he said slowly. "I think; it's been years since I had to think about any of this."
A stone formed in the pit of his stomach.
'I'm related to Draco Malfoy?' Harry thought. Then again, if his grandmother was related to a bunch of goblin-hating bigots he didn't see how being even a little bit related to Malfoy should be a surprise. Something struck him as odd though.
"So I could have gone to the Malfoys to raise?" he asked horrified. If they'd done such a bad job with Draco, Harry didn't want to think what they would've made out of him.
"They may be the closest ones; I'd have to look it up," Lichfield said with a wave. "I think there may be a sister I'm forgetting though."
"Why couldn't I have been related to the Weasleys?" Harry asked, thinking of the happy family at the dinner table below them. "At least they're nice."
.....
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