IT FELT SURREAL, AS EVERYTHING FELL INTO PLACE. Since waking up in St Mungo's, Charlus knew he had a battle set out in front of him. Never in his youth, did he think his opponent would Dumbledore or the Ministry of Magic, however, he had been determined from the start to right every single wrong. There had been some minor setbacks, of course, and Charlus knew that winning a battle did not mean winning the war. However, his efforts had paid off, and they were so close to the finish line.

With Dumbledore facing Wizengamot, questioning his intentions over Harry's well-being among the Dursleys, Charlus was signing papers alongside Petunia Dursley. Lawyers were present in the room, while Harry waited anxiously with Sirius, Remus, Maeve, and Lyall in his company. Charlus had reassured him over and over that he had nothing to be afraid of. No matter what happened, he wouldn't allow Harry to go back to the Dursleys, and he made that promise clear.

So much time had been lost as he laid in St Mungo's that he didn't want to lose another second with the ones he cared about. Voldemort, Death Eaters, not even Dumbledore could stop him. But no matter how much determination he carried and no matter how willing he was to sacrifice so much, Charlus was nervous too.

Until it was finally announced it was over.

After a judge approved the transferring of guardianship, the lawyers returned along with the sign language interpreter who announced that Charlus Potter was appointed full custody over Harry James Potter.

The amount of relief that washed over Charlus brought him to sit down for a moment after he shook hands with both lawyers, thanking them for their work. He signed his thanks to the interpreter as well, before covering his face with his own hands, taking it all in.

While he had always calculated most of his plans correctly, there was always the possibility of failure, something he often feared. And yet, it had all worked out in the end, and he couldn't believe it. A million times over, he thanked Walburga in his head, knowing that she had sacrificed her final moments, allowing them to get the justice she deserved. Maybe she hadn't done it for Charlus or Harry, but for her son, and Charlus was fine with that because Sirius deserved his happiness too.

When he finally looked up, he could see that he and Petunia were the only two remaining in the room, the lawyers standing outside talking amongst themselves. She looked fearful as if Charlus would pull his wand on her right then and there and kill her. He had no such plans as he pushed himself up, wiping away several stray tears before approaching her.

"Regardless of what and who he is, you were wrong to treat Harry the way you did," Charlus told her, " he might be a wizard, he might be the son of two people who you left off with on bad terms, but he is your nephew as he is mine. He is a little boy, his parents murdered, you know all these things. You should have treated him better."

Petunia didn't say anything, not even bothering to try and defend herself. She merely swallowed and looked away from Charlus.

As for Charlus, he had nothing else to say to her. All business between them was over and after what Petunia had done and allowed, he hoped to never see her again. He looked at her once more before leaving the room and making his way to the small playroom they had for the children and family members that waited.

When he walked in, Harry immediately looked up from the toys that he had been playing with, and all the other adults stood up too. They looked absolutely terrified when it came to the results, even though they knew the chances of things going well in muggle court were high. It was more of the fact, believing that Dumbledore would somehow interfere in a last-ditch effort to stop them.

However, even if he tried, he didn't succeed.

Charlus said nothing, only nodding his head before Harry jumped up and ran over into his arms. He knocked his uncle off balance and the two of them fell back, but it didn't matter at the time. No one bothered to help them up either as Sirius lowered himself to the floor and joined in on the hug as well.

Finally, after the three were back on their feet, Remus, Lyall, and Maeve hugged all of them in a congratulatory manner.

"You pulled it off, Charlus," Remus said, looking all too pleased, " I know I doubted you at some points, but you did it. So I guess the only question I have is, what's next?"

"We get the hell out of here," Charlus chuckled, " and start on that happily ever after for all of us. I think we can all agree on that. Go settle somewhere and then maybe go on a long holiday."

Maeve suddenly clapped her hands together, excitement radiating off of her. "Does that mean we're leaving now? Fantastic! I can't wait for all of you to meet my family, they're going to love all of you!"

"Well, we better get going then," Sirius interjected, " it's quite a trip to France."

Maeve had not been joking when she claimed that her family was heavily anticipating their arrival. They had even been generous enough to arrange a portkey to ensure the safety of their travels while Harry was with them. Only Maeve knew the location in order to keep the information from getting into the wrong hands, leading them to the edge of a cliff in the middle of nowhere.

Harry was confused about the appearance of a rusty old can, especially as he was instructed to gather around it along with the adults. Charlus took a firm hold of his hand, bringing him close and before Harry could even question what was going on, he could only find himself screaming. The pulling sensation of being sucked into a vortex and being spun around was not an easy thing to get used to, especially when it only lasted a short period of time.

Rather than falling, Charlus kept his hold, keeping Harry on his feet. Instantly, Harry gripped his uncle's robe, unsure if he should anticipate another round of aggressive spinning. But it seemed they were going nowhere as they arrived in what appeared to be the middle of someone's sitting room.

"Uncle Charlus," Harry whispered, " where are we?"

Charlus wasn't able to really give Harry an answer because even he wasn't sure entirely himself. Maeve had only said that they would be arriving at her parents' house, but he didn't know what to expect when they got there. But the sound of their arrival seemed to alert all those in the household as they could hear people coming down the steps behind them.

Charlus followed everyone's actions as they all turned around to see two people, much older than themselves entered the room, looking quite surprised but happy to see them.

"Maeve! You made it!" the man greeted. The relationship between the two was obvious as Maeve resembled him from the same darker skin tone to the similarities in their facial features.

"Everyone, this is my father, Louis Elpis," Maeve quickly introduced him, " Father, this is...well...everyone I told you about. This is Charlus, Harry, Remus, Sirius, and Lyall."

The introductions didn't stop there either as the woman that had accompanied Louis down the stairs made her way to the centre of the room as well. She was absolutely beautiful, with what resembled blonde, almost silver hair that was wrapped up tightly to expose her rather sharp cheekbones. She smiled warmly at them, the creases in the corner of her eyes almost sparkling with the blue of her eye colour.

"Charlus Potter," she greeted him with a kiss to the side of his face, " it is an honour to meet you. To meet all of you, I have heard so much about this group, I don't even know where to begin. I guess I should start off by introducing myself. My name is Odette Perenelle Elpis. Welcome to Paris, we're so glad to have you here. Thank you for giving my daughter a reason to come home, we've missed her."

While meeting Maeve's parents was wonderful, Charlus felt like he was missing something as he glanced around the room. Already he was trying to figure out Maeve's family connection, especially after they learned about Odette's family wealth.

"Everything went well then at court?" Louis asked. "No troubles?"

Maeve shook her head. "It went perfectly. Charlus had everything covered. It's been amazing to watch and be part of all of it. Is Papy here by any chance? I think he was most excited about meeting Charlus and Harry."

"I'm here," a voice rang out, " just takes these joints a lot longer to go down these stairs sometimes. Couldn't find my wand upstairs either."

Charlus didn't notice the other person in the room, focused on how hard Harry was squeezing his hand in the presence of the new faces around them. However, Maeve approached him with a bright smile.

"Charlus, there's someone really important I want you to meet. I think you'll find that he's going to make life a lot easier for you...and everyone...if you all choose to stay."

She gently turned him around and Charlus couldn't help but gasp in the presence of Maeve's grandfather because it turned out to be one of Charlus' idols growing up.

It was none other than Nicolas Flamel.