Heritage of the North: The Power of Ice and Betrayal

After what could probably be described as the best night of Harry's life, he was woken up with the sunrise by a piece of folded up parchment being dropped on his face. He opened his eyes and saw that it was a letter. Sighing quietly, he unwrapped his arms from around his sleeping wife and took it up.

He didn't look at it as soon as he saw who had delivered it. Hedwig was sitting on the foot of the gigantic sleigh-bed the couple had found the night before in the master-suite. Harry grinned broadly as she quietly hooted and looked at the sleeping form of Bellatrix. "She's my wife." whispered Harry happily.

Hedwig studied Bellatrix fiercely before hooting her approval. Harry climbed out of bed, carefully so as not to awake the other occupant, and hastily slipped into some clothes found in one of the massive walk in closets the room contained.

Not recognizing the handwriting on the envelope which was addressed to 'Harry Potter,' Harry took great care in opening it. It would not do to be booby trapped. He glanced down toward the end and found the signatures of Professor Lupin, Moody, Tonks, and surprisingly, Snape. A further look at the letter revealed that they had each taken turns writing.

Dear Potter:

(Snape) The Order is aware of your escape from Azkaban, but no one knows where you are. Before you do anything, you should know that Granger and Weasley have betrayed you. They secretly joined the Order during the summer. Instead of searching, the Ministry and Order plan to wait for you to try and contact your friends for help. DO NOT CONTACT THEM!

(Lupin) Harry, I just want you to know I did not know anything about the past events until Dumbledore told us you had been arrested. We, even Snape, are on your side. So at least give us a chance before taking revenge on everyone.

(Tonks) Wotcher Harry! I hope that the Dementors didn't get you too far down. If you need help, you can contact one of us and we'll try to think something up. Until then, avoid Diagon Alley, Hogsmeade, and Hogwarts.

(Moody) CONSTANT VIGILANCE! Wherever you are, practice whatever Defense you can! Snape has gotten young Longbottom to organize a 'new' defense group and I'm scheduled to help teach it. As of yesterday, anyone who claims to be a member of DA IS NOT your friend. If you contact us, use code words. You can be

(Snape) Star. Your codename will be 'star.' If you don't understand, then talk to us about it.

(Lupin) I think that's about all for now. Try to keep in contact, Harry. We do really want to help.

(Tonks) Hey, do you know anything about Bellatrix Black, because she escaped the same night you did and I thought her name was Lestrange.

Best wishes-

Remus, Snape, Moody, Tonks

Harry grinned as he read the letter. It was comforting to know that he still had friends. His Legillimency was advanced enough that he could detect an aura of truthfulness radiating from the letter, so he didn't bother to Scry on the writers.

Remembering Hedwig, he turned back to her. "There's some sort of owl loft in one of the towers" The ring communicated to Harry in its own little way that this was indeed true and that there was plenty of treats for her too. "You can go there if you want." Hedwig hooted happily and flew out of the room to find it.

The ring then informed Harry that his private study was through one of the doors that led into the room and down a short hall. Harry followed the directions and found himself in a rather large room with an ornate desk in the center. The walls were lined with built-in bookshelves groaning from the weight of many tomes.

Harry found the necessary writing supplies on and in the desk and drafted a response to the letter. He wrote it rather obliquely in case it got intercepted. It wouldn't do to have his supporters jailed for aiding him.

Dear Severus, and friends: (Now no one would even consider that Harry had written the letter)

After a rather hectic night, I found lodging that will be more than adequate for quite a while. Perhaps we can have a home-warming party at some point.

While otherwise occupied these last few weeks, I did in fact become aware that I did not have quite as many friends as I hoped, but am overjoyed to hear from all of you. I was not aware that they had been allowed to join the club though. That rather ticks me off to be honest.

I harbor no ill feelings for you and your friends, though others would be advised to stay away from me. Especially while I'm trying out new spells.

Yes, I know all about that particular woman. She happens to be my wife.

Cheers!

'Star'

Harry folded the parchment up, addressed it to 'Severus Snape' and found a bit of sealing wax to put on it. Then on impulse, he impressed his ring into the drying wax. It left a perfect imprint of the star of Polairix. He held it up and was trying to figure out where to put it until Hedwig could deliver it when a wooden box labeled "Letters to be Posted" appeared in front of him. He shrugged and dropped the letter in. The parchment disappeared with a flash of white light and the box soon followed.

When he looked up, he was surprised to find a ghost hovering in front of his desk. "Who are you?" Harry asked, the look on his face expressing his shock.

The ghostly man bowed deeply. "Until you find a suitable replacement, I will be serving as your personal secretary. Call me Reggins." He then gestured towards a spot on Harry's desk where a stack of official looking parchments appeared. "I have taken the liberty to draw up some important documents that you need to sign in order to bring the House of Polairix and the North back to its fully independent and functioning status."

"Okay then." Harry took the first parchment off the top of the stack and examined it. "What's this?"

"That is an order that expels the British Ministry of Magic from the island of Azkaban which is within your dominion. It will invalidate any authority they have and will give you control of the Dementors and prisoners currently held there. The Ministry may wish to negotiate a treaty with you which will allow them to continue sending their prisoners there." the ghost explained in a monotone.

Harry looked at the parchment carefully before coming to a decision. "Do I have the resources to adequately control the island, prisoners, and Dementors?"

"You will when you finish signing everything." the ghost explained patiently.

"What if I don't want them to know my name right now?" Harry asked worriedly.

The ghost shrugged. "'Lord Polairix' will do. You could sign the parchment 'Billy Bob' and it would still be valid if you wanted it to be. The document will automatically have your magically binding seal attached to it."

Harry grinned evilly and scrawled 'Lord Polairix' on the line below all the writing. He then placed the signed parchment in a new pile and took the next one. "And this one?"

"Official instructions directed to Gringotts ordering them to make your vaults available to you which include your trust vault, the Potter vaults, Potter investments, Potter properties and the massive vaults belonging to the House of Polairix. Since you are not under the authority of British law, they will not be able to inform the Ministry of any activity."

It was promptly signed. "And this?"

"Declaration commanding all Dementors to return to Azkaban. You'll also need to press your hand to the signature once it dries. Dementors are magical creatures with no formal government. Pressing your hand will make a special magical command so that the wishes in the document are carried out."

Harry followed the instructions precisely. "Next?"

"That is a proclamation to all persons and creatures that reside in your dominion notifying them that you're now actively presiding over them. Copies will be sent to them all instructing them to contact you as soon as possible."

After that, the stack was mostly full of documents that ordered various tedious things to be carried out. Stuff like declaring the island of such and such to be his, money transfers, and other similar tasks. The ghost seemed convinced that they were all deadly important, so Harry signed them all. The last parchment was rather interesting though. "This?"

"Notification to the Hogwarts Board of Governors that they are hereby disbanded. Ravenclaw, the last of the Founders, turned Hogwarts over to the House of Polairix for safekeeping. Apparently your ancestor was the only wizard alive that she really trusted."

This was slightly confusing. "If I own it, why is there a Board of Governors?"

"The grandson of the Polairix who acquired Hogwarts instituted the Board to keep things simple. However, there were certain conditions which had to be met by the Board. One of those conditions was that they had to keep the Ministry of Magic out of Hogwarts. They failed last year and complete control reverts to you." The ghost explained.

"Also, it was required that only the most upstanding people were to be on the Board. Lucius Malfoy and some of his friends don't quite meet that criteria. On a side-note, you'll be in charge, but you aren't allowed to make drastic changes until the current term is over."

Harry signed that one with satisfaction. Reggins smiled, which Harry had deduced was a rare occurrence, and then floated off with all of the signed parchment following him. Harry was smiling absently as he thought about the surprise a few people would be getting as soon as the ghostly secretary sent those out.

It was then that Harry got a surprise of his own. Bellatrix strolled into the study wearing absolutely nothing. "Where did you go?"

"Just carrying out some business and writing a letter." Harry answered vaguely as he tried to not stare at her so obviously. She seemed to bask in his gaze though. "How about having breakfast now?"

She shook her head. "Maybe later. I had some other ideas about what we could do." she said in a rather suggestive voice. Harry didn't need any more convincing.

"The Dark Lord still shows no intention of stepping up hostilities for the time being." Snape reported to Dumbledore dutifully. "As for your questions about Bellatrix Black… apparently she did something rather displeasing. Rudolphus divorced her, the Dark Lord and then a few other high ranking Death Eaters tortured her for a while before discreetly turning her over to the Ministry."

Snape finished this all off with a sigh and then helped himself to one of the old man's proffered Lemon Drops. He sat down in a chair off to the side as Dumbledore sat and pondered the newest results.

"Bellatrix is no longer a Death Eater then." Dumbledore muttered to himself as he thought about the simultaneous escape of Harry and Bellatrix. "Do we have a new Dark Lord in the making? Are they even alive?"

The latter question was also on Snape's mind. Potter still had not answered his letter. He certainly hoped that the boy was alive. His musings were interrupted when the door to Dumbledore's office flew open and the Minister of Magic huffed in, followed by his aide, 'Weatherby.'

"Dumbledore! What do you know about the Lord of Polairix?" Fudge was breathing heavily and looked panicked, angry, and confused all at the same time.

Both Snape and Dumbledore were shocked. What had brought the subject to Fudge that the Order had been so careful to keep secret? Dumbledore remained surprised, Snape grinned evilly as he realized what this must mean.

"What do you mean, Cornelius?" Dumbledore asked cautiously.

"These things!" the Minster replied, waving several documents around. "These were all on my desk when I arrived at my office this morning. They're all orders, declarations, and notifications from the Lord of Polairix!"

Dumbledore was shocked. He had just spent a great deal of time trying to track down the Heir of Polairix and all this time he had been biding his time wherever he lived. He prayed that the Lord of Polairix wasn't indisposed against him or the Ministry. He then promptly explained to Fudge everything he knew about Polairix, which wasn't much.

Fudge's face paled when Dumbledore finished explaining. "Do you mean to say that all this garbage is valid?" Snape noted that young Percy was horrified as well.

"If the seal of Polairix is on the document, then it is valid." Dumbledore responded.

A few obscenities flew forth from Fudge's mouth until he managed to get control of himself. Snape watched the show with great amusement. "Perhaps you should explain to us what those parchments mean, Minister." Dumbledore nodded in agreement.

This seemed to make Fudge angry again and Snape spotted a bit of foam coming from the man's mouth. He just waved the papers around and made some sort of squawking noise. Finally, Percy just took the papers and started with the first one.

"The British Ministry of Magic is hereby expelled from the Island of Azkaban… all Aurors are to be removed… prisoners and Dementors will remain… necessary force will be used to see that this is carried out… the British Ministry of Magic will pay the House of Polairix the sum of ten million Galleons for the use of the Island of Azkaban and the use of the Fortress of Azkaban. If the Ministry refuses to pay said sum, they will be charged with trespassing. For the sum of an additional fifteen million Galleons, the House of Polairix will gladly administer Azkaban Prison and any prisoners Britain may wish to imprison there for the next one hundred and fifty years."

Signed- Lord Polairix

"He can't just do that!" Fudge said weakly, once Percy had finished summarizing the document.

"I think he just did." Snape said snidely. Potter certainly deserved a round of applause for this.

"It's highway robbery!" Fudge screamed. "We could administer Azkaban for the next five hundred years with fifteen million Galleons! I'm inclined to find another prison and transfer the Dementors and prisoners there."

"You can't do that." Dumbledore sighed. He was deeply shocked as well. "Anything that is on the island at this point in time is the property of Lord Polairix. Prisoners and Dementors included."

"We can just tell the Dementors to come away."

"I'd like to see you try." Snape said, barely hiding his amusement. "The Dementors are magically bound to obey Lord Polairix. Even if they were inclined to be loyal to you, Polairix has a certain amount of power over them. Might I suggest that you accept the offer? If only for the fact that the Dementors will be forced to return and stay on Azkaban."

Dumbledore nodded and made his own suggestion. "Yes, you might as well pay up. You could always try to meet with him and negotiate a better price. I could help in the negotiations if you wish."

Fudge was on the verge of a nervous breakdown, but he could still see through Dumbledore's tactic. "You just want an excuse to meet with him, don't you? Well, you don't need one. Weatherby, read the last document in the pile."

"The Board of Governors for Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry is hereby disbanded on grounds of violation of their functioning regulations. The House of Polairix, which outrightly owns the school, castle, grounds, and Forbidden Forest, will take direct control over the school and reserves the right to make any changes necessary as soon as the current term ends… etc.

Signed- Lord Polairix."

For the first time that Snape could remember, Dumbledore was utterly shocked. His blue eyes widened and then he became pale. "Eh… can he do that?"

"Yes, he can!" Fudge yelled. "He just did, as a matter-of-fact. I looked it up in the records. Rowena Ravenclaw turned Hogwarts over to the House of Polairix shortly before her death."

"I certainly hope that Lord Polairix is amiable to you two." Snape said. He stood up. "If you'll both excuse me."

As soon as he got out in the hall he began to laugh hysterically. He quickly stifled it however, it would be embarrassing if a student spotted him. He then made his way down to his office where he found a letter on his desk. It was from Potter.

He quickly read it and smiled. Potter wasn't angry at him at least. Not only that, he had hinted that he might get an invitation to come over to wherever they were. He set it aside and began to draft out some lesson plans. I wonder what Lupin will think when he finds out that there is now a Mrs. Potter, he thought.