Beta: Cloudy

(≖‿‿≖)ノ⌒●~*

The Ministry of Magic used the Wizengamot to manage laws. They created, debated, and either refuted or passed the laws used in British Wizarding society. There were fifty members of the Wizengamot. Of those fifty members a little under half held the titles of Lord or Lady. Titles such as these were either passed down by the family, or earned through significant achievement.

For example, Dumbledore was given the offer to become a Lord after he vanquished the previous Dark Lord.

He declined, choosing a mediator position instead.

The noble family went as followed:

1. Lord Abbot (Light)

2. Lord Buldor (Dark)

3. Lord Black (Light)

4. Lord Greengrass (Neutral)

5. Lord Lestrange (Dark) - His position was vacant due to all members being in Azkaban, and the vote fell with Lord Malfoy.

6. Lady Longbottom (Light)

7. Lord Malfoy (Dark)

8. Lord Nott (Dark)

9. Lord Potter (Light) - Position was vacant due to heirs being underage and vote fell with Lord Black (who I learned did attend meetings while Harry and I were at school and in summer all votes fell with Shackelbolt).

10. Lady Prewet (Neutral)

11. Lady Rosier (Dark)

12. Lady Shafiq (Neutral)

13. Lord Thompson (Neutral)

Of those thirteen noble families on the Wizengamot, only four were Light. Five were Dark, with the rest being neutral. The neutral parties tended to vote closer to the Dark, as the Dark were typically better at bribery than the Light.

There were a couple of families I immediately had to cross off my list of targets—namely Lord Nott and Lord Malfoy as I was working personally with their heirs. I felt confident over time I could persuade Draco and Theodore to the side closer to me.

Aside from those thirteen nobles, there were thirty-seven more seats on the Wizengamot that I needed to deal with. They went as so:

1. Avery (Dark)

2. Austins (Dark)

3. Bulstrode (Dark)

4. Bitterscitch (Neutral)

5. Belvor (Light)

6. Bones (Light)

7. Chang (Neutral)

8. Carrow (Dark)

9. Crouch (Neutral)

10. Dravor (Neutral)

12. Dustins (Neutral)

13. Eithermore (Light)

14. Fawley (Dark)

15. Flint (Dark)

16. Fudge (Neutral)

17. Greatherfall (Neutral)

18. Harper (Dark)

19. Heather (Neutral)

20. Imore (Neutral)

21. Jacobs (Dark)

22. Macmillan (Neutral)

23. Mathews (Neutral)

24. Natters (Dark)

25. Parkinson (Dark)

26. Porter (Neutral)

27. Quincel (Neutral)

28. Rowle (Dark)

29. Reffehuge (Neutral)

30. Selwyn (Neutral)

31. Shacklebot (Light)

32. Travers (Dark)

33. Trickles (Dark)

34. Umbridge (Dark) * Was run out of Britain for a few years, returned that year.

35. Weathersall (Neutral)

36. Yaxley (Dark)

37. Yowl (Neutral)

38. Zefferman (Neutral)

From that list there were fifteen Dark families, a staggering four Light families, and eighteen neutral.

In total: Twenty two neutral families, eight Light, and twenty Dark.

From those Dark families, eighteen would be on my list. And as for the neutrals? While they were officially listed as neutral, a fair few of them tended to swing closer to laws that benefited pure-bloods or were prejudicial against other races. Any family that voted on the Dark side more than once and did not have an heir at Hogwarts for me to groom would face my ire.

First up:

Avery.

I'd hit the noble families later when I had more experience breaking into magical homes. The Avery family was middle-class and small. Their leader was Severus Snape's age—in fact, I believed he went to school when Snape. Arvin Avery was a thin, reedy man with copper hair. He had no partner, nor children. There were rumors he had an illegitimate heir, but nothing concrete.

He had a home in Hertfordshire on the outskirts of London. Fenrir was kind enough to give me the address. Fenrir made sure he had the address of every Wizard who voted against werewolf rights.

I feigned a tummy ache after dinner so I could leave early. It would be a solid hour and half flight out, after all. I had no floo connections near that area and Kreacher had to remain at home to "tend" to me so Sirius wouldn't check up on me.

One of the benefits of being a magic sensor was that it was pretty easy to pick out a magical townhouse squashed between two Muggle ones.

His home reminded me a bit of Grimmauld's. Sirius and Remus had spent a lot of weekends trying to get rid of all the dark magic in that home. It had been a project ongoing five plus years and they still weren't done. Harry and I had only been allowed to visit it twice—once to connect us to the wards, and the second time to make sure Sirius had restored our connection to the wards after he experimented on them.

Wonder what little threats will be in store here?

I landed at the front door.

"Ready to see me slip past some wards and steal the wealth from my enemies to ultimately make them powerless to stop me later?"

"Ready to watch you try," Tom teased me.

"I'd love to watch you try," I purred. "You'd make it look effortless."

"Yes."

I giggled quietly to myself, a silly smile on my face as I felt Tom's magic flutter in such a way I knew he was amused too.

Wards were a bit like umbrellas. From the roof down it projected protection. It was a seamless barrier of magic on all sides... except at the bottom where it connected to the runes that powered it. Runes were typically buried in the ground, but for townhouses like Grimmauld's—or Avery's—that was impractical.

It was more secure to be buried—strength in the ground and whatnot—but more expensive and difficult to do. Nearly impossible if the land surrounding it wasn't owned by the family either. Home wards only worked with what it recognized as the home. If a rune stone was buried in a neighbor's yard it would lose all power. Town homes made it straight up impossible.

Instead, what most townhomes ended up doing was placing the runes directly inside the home; at a sacrifice of power, the runes could be embedded into the walls.

I can feel it.

The raw magic was like a rain curtain. Reaching out a hand I could feel it against my skin. As soon as I touched it, I could feel its intentions. The ward was meant to alert Avery and aurors if someone destroyed the ward or damaged it. It was also meant to alert Avery if another witch or wizard not keyed into the ward cast a spell on, or inside it.

No defense against Muggles, I mused.

"Rosie?" came the alarmed yet intrigued voice of Tom. "Are you... feeling for the ward?"

"Ah... yes?"

"Can you feel magic?"

"Y-Yes?"

Oh shit.

To my elated surprise, Tom's magic jumped in what I could only describe as childish interest. "Really? What's it like? I've read several books on magical sensors but everyone senses it differently. A man kept describing magic as a type of smell he would touch, and another would claim it was like drinking wine."

"Holy smokes, really? That's so interesting. To be honest I hadn't found much of anything on magic sensors."

"If not born one, it requires using what is considered a Dark ritual," he explained. "I could never find much about the ritual, but there are some things about those who performed it."

That... wow, that was really interesting. First of all, how was it considered a Dark ritual? I had done some (extremely rudimentary) studies into ritual magic and I had a feeling that if given enough time I could probably scrape together some type of crude ritual to turn someone into a sensor. It would require messing with their nervous system, but I didn't see how that would automatically make it Dark. Would it?

Intrigued, I asked Tom, "What's the difference between a normal ritual and something Dark?"

"The ingredients used. Anything involving parts of what is considered a sentient creature would be illegal. Even if it only requires a drop of blood."

"Only ingredients determine what's a Dark ritual, not intent?"

"Well... there's a bit more to it. What is used in the ritual—what must be sacrificed—is usually the determining factor. Ingredients imply intent," he responded. "Or so the law claims."

"How inanely short-sighted."

"Yes... What does magic feel like to you?" he asked, his tone a touch eager as if he found a new toy. I couldn't help but inwardly smile at hearing and feeling his enthusiasm. Tom certainly loved magic, there was no denying his plain affection and admiration for it. Dark, Light, Neutral, none of those stances mattered in his eyes. Magic was magic, and it was something to be adored.

I could relate.

"Tangible. It's a sensation of touch for me. For example, you are a winter night."

Tom's magic quivered in surprise. "Me?"

"Yes," I answered, pulling up a vivid memory to share with him.

In the forest outside Lunar's Garden the December snow had blanketed everything. It was fresh, untouched, and pristine as tiny little freckles of white sprinkled from above. The night sky was partly cloudy, but enough of the clouds had broken away to reveal a marvelous twinkling sky and a shining half moon.

It was cold, terribly so, but the scene was so breath-takingly beautiful it was worth it. I wished I could have transposed the memory onto a picture, it was so lovely.

"Cold," he repeated, but he did not seem to take it as any kind of insult. He viewed the memory with me, catching echoes of my admiration for the scene. "I see."

"As much as I would love to spend my night talking to you about it, I should get back to what I'm doing." I paused as an idea on how to beak in occurred to me. "Actually, you know, Tom, sometimes pure-bloods can be so incredibly stupid."

"How so?"

"It never occurs to them... that a Muggle could break into their homes. Watch."

I kneeled at the front door, pulled out a simple lock pick, and jimmied his front door open within a minute. He had no alarm system, and as no magic was used his wards didn't trigger.

"Oh."

"Quite so."

With light steps, I made my way through the home until I found a sleeping Avery. I hit him over the head with his own frying pan to keep him out, then I tied him up as any Muggle thief would. For good measure, I got a few drops of sleeping potion in his mouth. No, I was not concerned about the dangers of forcing a concussed man to take sleeping potions.

"That should definitely keep him out."

And with great ease, I robbed the first off my list. I took one of his Gringotts keys and then off I went.

See, the great thing about goblins was that they didn't give a shit who opened which vault. If you have the key, you get in. They weren't going to ask who you are because they genuinely did not care. It was the wizard's job to keep track of their key, not the goblins.

Well. Unless it was a noble vault, in which case most of those vaults required a blood donation. I knew Bella's didn't at least, since only a key was needed to open her vault canonically. The Black vault required a key tied to the Lord—so only someone with Black blood or recognized as the Black Lord could use the key. I figured Malfoy's would be the same.

Once I had enough keys I'd visit their vaults and load up. I planned to have at least ten prior to school starting. If I used the keys right away they'd be tipped off. For as long as possible I'd rather he think a Muggle robbed him. He wouldn't dare report to his fellow racists how he got tricked by a Muggle, and thus his key would go unreported as missing.

One by one they'd each lose a key... and none would warn the other. How could they ever admit to their fellow racists that they got outwitted by someone they despised?

"Easier than taking candy from a baby."

"How humiliating for them."

"Oh, just wait until I get to the rest of the Death Eaters—Lord Voldemort's followers—'cause most of them are dumber than bricks. Although, you did already see me rob one."

"Joy," Tom muttered bitterly.

(≖‿‿≖)ノ⌒●~*

In Lunar's Orchard I sat outside my garden with Fenrir. Iris played with the butterflies in the garden while Fenrir and I caught up on the things that I couldn't put down in a letter.

"Ta-da!" I declared as I proudly held up five stolen Gringott vault keys to Fenrir. The werewolf gave me a roguish grin.

"'Ell done, Rosie," Fenrir praised me.

"Does this mean I get a hug?" I beamed, hopping up and down in my seat

Fenrir laughed as he lifted me up his arms and I jumped into them. He was big, and warm. Felt like I was being engulfed by a teddy bear. A teddy bear who murdered people. And mauled children.

...

Big teddy tear.

He patted the top of my head and I stepped back with a big smile. "Thanks, Fenrir. You give the best hugs my friend."

That made him bark out a laugh as he scratched the back of his head. "Ah, well, than' yeh lassy. Been given 'em out a lo' recently."

"Oh?"

"The pack. E'rr'yone been in a real good mood. No more pain. We never thawt tah see the day."

"I'm glad," I said. "You all have been through so much. You deserve a proper home and to be well cared for."

"And I know yeh'll take bes' care o' us, Rosie. Yeh'll a'ways have me if yeh nee' me."

"Thank you, friend."

Fenrir's smile was big, warm, sweet, and hopeful as he said, "At's wha' friends do, yeah?"

"Yes, dear. That's what friends do."

(≖‿‿≖)ノ⌒●~*

My summer was going great. More than great, actually. Not only did I have fantastic success with stealing from Dark families as Muggle would, but Lucius Malfoy was kind enough to give us Dobby. Or, well, Narcissa dropped by for tea and talked about it with Sirius, and Harry mentioned that he did rather like Dobby. Presto: Dobby was attached to Harry.

On a particularly lovely summer day, Harry and I finished our homework and met Sirius in the living room at his request.

Sirius was clearing his throat an awful lot, a clearly discomforted expression on his face. He shifted his weight on the couch and clutched a book. I could only barely make out a little bit of the title as he moved it around until—

I gasped. "You're—you're going to give us The Talk?"

"I'm temporarily disconnecting from your hearing."

"Take me with you."

Harry let out a scandalized gasp, his eyes bulging as he quickly looked to the nearest exit—the front door.

"Now, don't you even think about it," Sirius sternly said just as Harry bolted up from his seat. Harry scrambled to make his escape but Sirius just whipped out his wand and locked his legs together. Harry plummeted to the floor in a heap.

Harry whimpered, "Please, no."

"I don't like this any more than you two," our godfather stammered, clearing his throat more. "But we're going to get through this and never bring it up again."

Harry continued to whine as Sirius forcibly dragged him back over to the couch.

"First up: what is sex and how to stay safe with the contraceptive charm—"

Harry started to weep.

(≖‿‿≖)ノ⌒●~*

"I have maybe good news," Remus told us at breakfast on a rainy Sunday. "Professor Dumbledore invited me to teach Defense Against the Dark Arts."

"Don't drown," Harry blurted out.

"He won't drown," I assured my twin. "Remus will be smart and only accept a year-long contract so that way the curse won't bother him."

"Correct... why would I drown?" Remus raised an eyebrow.

"No reason," we said.

"This is a perfect excuse to finally get you new clothes," said a happy Sirius.

"Padfoot—"

"Nope. No buts."

"Sirius."

"Seriously determined," Sirius quipped, a glint in his eyes.

"Yeesh. I recognize that gaze. Better submit now or he'll literally set your wardrobe on fire by the end of the day," I muttered.

"She's not wrong." Sirius smiled and patted me atop the head.

Remus sighed. "Fine. I'll let you handle the shopping while I tutor the twins."

Ah yes. The lovely tutoring.

Specifically in math. Remus had home-schooled us up to Hogwarts. He stopped tutoring us over the summer in all other subjects except math and occasionally potions. The math was to prepare us for Professor Dumbledore's Alchemy class. Harry and I both expressed a keen interest in attending it, but it was an unspoken rule to know some advanced math prior to attending. Or at least more advanced than what was taught at Hogwarts for a while—Remus always hated the fact that math wasn't available as a subject to take until third year.

I couldn't blame him. Even if it had no practical use in the average witch or wizard's life, it taught a different way to view things. Namely logically.

Wizards could do with a bit more logic.

(≖‿‿≖)ノ⌒●~*

Near the end of August, right on time, we got our Hogwarts letters. Only that time, because Harry and I were taking different classes, we finally got separate Hogwarts letters! What a glorious day. One for the records. I would never forget it when I got to open my very own Hogwarts letter and had it say only my name across it.

I even let out an emotional sniffle.

My supply list went as so:

The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 3 by Miranda Goshawk

Intermediate Transfiguration by Emeric Switch

The Monster Book of Monsters by Edwardus Lima

Spellman's Syllabary by Jigger Spellman (for Ancient Runes which was necessary to master before going into Alchemy or ritual-crafting)

The Essential Defense Against the Dark Arts by Arsenius Jigger

Literacy Lasts a Lifetime by Sophia Howl

There was another letter attached:

Dear Miss Potter,

Please note that the new school year will begin on September the first. The Hogwarts Express will leave from King's Cross station, platform nine and three-quarters, at eleven o'clock.

Third years are permitted to visit the village of Hogsmeade on certain weekends. Please give the enclosed permission form to your parent or guardian to sign. A list of books for next year is enclosed.

Yours sincerely,

Professor M. McGonagall

Deputy Headmistress

"Woo-hoo! Hogsmeade time," I cheered as I handed my note over to Sirius to sign.

"Keep in mind what I talked to you two about," Sirius said as he signed my note then Harry's. We both cringed in remembrance of that conversation.

Harry peeked over at my classes with a furrowed brow. "Didn't you say you were going to take the O.W.L.s for arithmancy and Muggle studies?"

"You don't need to take the class to take the exam. I'm plenty confident in my knowledge on those two subjects to pass without issue," I dismissed. "So when are we going to Diagon Alley to get our books?"

"The Weasleys are currently in Egypt. Thought we'd go again with them this year when they got back," Sirius explained. "It's come to my attention that a fair few of my other godchildren are using hand-me-down wands. That needs to be remedied."

"Does Molly know about your plan?" Remus warily asked.

"Why do you think I kept bringing over cookies to her home last year? It took me all year to wear her down."

Remus sighed just as Hedwig came in with the Daily Prophet. On the front page I saw—

"Are you kidding me?" I whispered to myself because in big black bold letters I saw:

ROOKWOOD ESCAPES AZKABAN

Power of fucking Plot swoops in, I thought, stunned.

Remus sucked in a sharp intake of air when he read the headlines, drawing attention from both Sirius and Harry. Sirius frowned. The animagus got up and peered over Remus's shoulder to read. Not wanting to be left out, Harry and I did the same.

For the first time in recorded history, a criminal has escaped Azkaban. Augustus Rookwood, an infamous Death Eater who betrayed the Ministry by working as a spy in the Unspeakables department.

"We are doing all we can to recapture Rookwood," said the Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge, this morning, "and we beg the magical community to remain calm."

The rest of the article went on to detail Rookwood's description, history, known alias, and so on.

Guess I'll get to meet a dementor this year. Cool.

"Rather impressive to escape Azkaban," Tom commented, his magic smug despite his apathetic tone.

"Maybe. He's supposed to be an Unspeakable so hopefully he won't be a complete idiot and try to kill me and Harry. If he's smart, he'd focus on rebuilding his strength then go resurrect his master."

Tom's magic coiled in thought. His opinion on Death Eaters had taken a significant nose dive after he watched me effortlessly steal from them all summer. "I suppose we'll find out."

"Yep."

Sirius clicked his tongue as he finished reading the article. "Welp, you two are grounded for the summer. No going anywhere without Remus and me accompanying you."

"Fine," we groaned.

I would still sneak out to steal stuff, obviously, but it made Sirius happy that we both agreed to stay inside.

(≖‿‿≖)ノ⌒●~*

It was time to visit Diagon Alley again, such a lovely place to spend our pocket money. Ron and Harry were quite happy to shop with each other, and Sirius was excited to get the Weasley children wands. Even Percy was all smiles as Sirius escorted them to Ollivander's.

I, however, asked if I could shop with my Housemates who coincidentally were shopping on the same day as us. Sirius didn't like it—his face said it all—but there was little he could do when Remus stepped on his foot, glared at him, and said, "Let her be with her friends, Sirius."

Remus got a big hug from me for that, and I headed off. I actually had no one to meet. I just wanted to shop on my own without being bothered. I needed more expandable bags for my heists.

I grabbed those first, along with some new school robes since the boobs were becoming a thing. I also asked Madam Malkin to prepare more sports clothes for me since I needed to wear something more supportive that year if I wanted to play tennis with Madam Willow again.

"And, uh, any chance those clothes can be enchanted for durability?" I casually asked.

"What kind of durability?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.

"So... you know the Whomping Willow at Hogwarts—"

"No."

"But—"

"No."

"But—"

"No."

After that I stocked up on supplies at the Apothecary then went over to the bookstore for my school books.

I'm excited for fluffy book. Fluffers. Fluffy fluffy.

Instead of the usual gold-embossed spellbooks in the window of the store there was a large iron cage behind the glass that held about a hundred copies of The Monster Book of Monsters. Torn pages were flying everywhere as the books grappled with each other, locked together in furious wrestling matches and snapping aggressively.

As I entered Flourish and Blotts, the manager hurried toward me.

"Hogwarts?" he said abruptly. "Come to get your new books?"

"Yes."

"Get out of the way," said the manager impatiently, brushing me aside. He drew on a pair of very thick gloves, picked up a large, knobbly walking stick, and proceeded toward the door of the Monster Books' cage.

"Oh, no. Please let me. I know how to handle them," I quickly said.

The manager whirled around me, eyes wide. "You do?!"

"Yes. If you would please?"

"By all means!"

I eagerly rushed to the cage. In cooing voice, I said, "Who needs a tickle-wickle?"

"What?"

The books started to growl at me. I ignored their grumbles and reached in, grabbed one, and immediately started to stroke its spine. It shuddered then let out a happy moan, like a dog whose itch was finally getting scratched.

"That's a good book," I cooed, kissing the cover and nuzzling its soft furry fluffy-ness. "What a good book. Oh, I love you already."

I clutched at the purring book, beginning to swaddle it like a baby.

"Treat them like a baby," I told the manager. "To relax them, stroke their spines."

"You have no idea how helpful that is," the manager sighed happily as he grabbed a book out and stroked the spine. It relaxed in his hands immediately and the poor manager looked like he was in near tears of relief. "I was going insane stocking these books."

"The author did not tell you how to tend to them?"

"No! Can you imagine that?"

"How terribly rude of him. The smell of lavender will also soothe them if you would like to burn some incense near their cage."

The manager grinned. "Thanks, miss. Tell you what, your school books are free of charge."

"Thank you!"

(≖‿‿≖)ノ⌒●~*

There was only one more thing to do before I started my third year at Hogwarts: use the keys to clean out the vaults.

With ease, I feigned lady cramps and Sirius and Remus immediately ushered me to my room, promised not to bother me at all unless asked, and then I asked Kreacher to apparate me to Gringotts.

The goblin that I met snarled at me as he asked for the keys.

I placed fifteen of them in front of him with a big smile on my face.

"These aren't yours," the goblin observed and a big, nasty, wicked smile stretched over his face.

"Nope," I answered. "Do you care?"

"It is the wizard's responsibility to care for their key."

"And how much to make you care enough to forget my face?"

The goblin laughed and a deal was struck.

(≖‿‿≖)ノ⌒●~*

Bucket List Completed:

35. Learn warding

36. Learn how to destroy wards

37. Learn how to get past wards.

39. Spend summer stealing from Death Eater families.

ƪ(˘⌣˘)ʃ

Young!Tom is a fanboy for magic and you will never convince me otherwise.

Answer: Rosie Riddlesticks. I like the alliteration and Fiddlesticks is adorable.

Question: What magical creature would you wanna be cuddle buddies with?

Reviews are love!