Tracey whistled, looking at the conjured Blackboard. "That's… well it really puts it in perspective, doesn't it?"

Daphne nodded, feeling a little gobsmacked herself. It was one thing to know in a sort of abstract sense just how Harry's empire was growing over time, but to see it all written down like this – she felt like whistling herself.

Hermione was still scribbling away. "I think that's everyone. She bit down on her lip, looking over the board one last time, a piece of chalk held loosely in her fingers. "Unless of course, there are spies or other agents that we don't know about, or that one of us does know about but it's supposed to talk about, or that we all know but are pretending we don't, or –"

"Hermione," Daphne interrupted, an undertone of bemusement undercutting her sharp tone as the muggleborn fell silent and a tint of rose rising up her cheeks. "I think this sums it up nicely."

Sum it up nicely it did, written across the board that clearly had some sort of expansion charms built in because no way that much writing should naturally fit across it, was laid out the entirety of the situation of Magical Fortress Hogwarts.

Daphne's lips curled up into a smirk at that. And it was Magical Fortress Hogwarts, even if ninety-nine percent of the wizarding world had no idea. Headmaster Lockhart – completely tied to the Gray after all the charms and oaths he was under, not to mention his handing over the wards to Harry at the end of last term. The Ghosts Council – allied to Harry in all but contract; and with the rituals Luna and Alexandra were poring over in their spare time, even that might change. The elves of course were Harry's from day one at least in part, but with the handing over of the selfsame wards were now indisputably his to command.

That left the teachers and the students, all listed in Hermione's neat, precise handwriting, in colour-coded chalk.

"Gryffindor could be better," Ginny said with a frown. "Course… I suppose it doesn't help that our Lord brain-drained the best of that House into Slytherin," she said with a slight preen in her voice. Daphne refrained from rolling her eyes; Alexandra did not.

"Yes well… quite," Hermione added, looking equally parts pleased and sheepish. "But we're not doing badly." And indeed they weren't. In addition to Fred and George Weasley, the names Katie Bell, Dean Thomas, Colin Creevy, and Cormac McLaggen rounded off the names written in red.

"Harry says the twins are working on bringing Lee Jordon to our side, but they're going to keep the details vague for now. More of a junior business associate than a full partner. And Katie's now completely on our side, what with…" Ginny trailed off, not mention her brother and that.

Daphne nodded, picking up where Ginny had gone silent. "McLaggen is a boon – his family are one of the most influential non-noble families in Britain, and I know Harry has been making subtle overtures towards his father and uncle. But having their son firmly on our side opens up a number of other Gryffindors in that social circle that may be ripe for the plucking. Frederick the Great would be proud of us."

With a nod from the other girls – with various amounts of understandings ranging from slightly to none-at-all, six sets of eyes drifted as one to the next column of names, in Light Blue. Here, the list was, well…

Ginny snickered, "We might as well call Ravenclaw, Slytherin Junior. How did our Lord manage that?"

Daphne made as if to speak, but Hermione beat her to it. "More than any other house, Ravenclaw was the least anchored to any political faction. The house has the most balanced population among the three groups, and lack any sort of natural foci the way our house has Our Lord… or prior to his overt control, the dark had Heirs Malfoy, Nott, and Parkinson –"

"And me," Alexandra butted in.

"And you." Hermione finished off, "Although you are not the dark-"

"I know that but they thought I was, so-"

"Ladies." Daphne cut in once more, her voice lacking its previous humor. They both fell silent.

"If you are quite finished," she gave both girls a look, trying her best to capture the new ice queen persona of regal coolness that she was working on. "As Hermione was saying, the Ravenclaw House did not benefit from the sudden influx of noble heirs, the way Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, and of course Slytherin did, two years ago. As such, they were a wild card," Daphne's cool demeanor fell apart as open glee came through, her lip curling up in smug victory.

"But it also meant that when a clear option presented itself, the house fell. Between the dark elements in that house falling behind Malfoy and then Alexandra," she nodded at the smaller girl, "and the Gray's and Muggleborns already in our camp, suffice it to say that our Lord's activities over the past two years, both as Harry and Lord Slytherin, led to a mass stampede into our camp following the events of the dueling tournament."

Daphne took a deep breath as the other girls' eyes went wide. "It is perhaps safe to assume that Ravenclaw is more firmly under Harry's control than even Slytherin; in our house, at least a third of our classmates still dream of a resurgent Dark taking back control of the house. The Ravenclaws have no such compulsions."

Silence. "Wow," Tracey finally whispered. Nobody laughed at the lack of elegance of the response.

"Yes, I really must send Virgo Malfoy a thank-you card," Daphne added, doing her best do sound airy, as if Virgo had simply sent her a nice birthday present. "For all the trouble she caused, offering our Lord the chance to take down a Basilisk in full view of the wizarding world did wonders for his image, and just before his book-release at that… even if that was not our intention," she added with a slight grimace at how their carefully orchestrated attempt at a 'secret' battle had not quite gone as planned.

Nobody had anything to say to that.

"Right so um, yes. So Hufflepuff," Hermione picked up into the stunned silence after another minute. "A mixed bag. Between Susan and Hannah, even with Zacharias as a counterweight – the house is still fairly pro- John Potter, at least enough that they aren't all clamoring to join our Lord," Hermione finished with a huff, insulted at the very idea. Ginny giggled.

"However, there are a lot of muggleborns in Hufflepuff, especially in the last two years, so that has given us an advantage in that house." Hermione's chest puffed out ever-so-slightly. "And the Light has been screaming for years now that the Abbott's are in danger of jumping ship."

All eyes turned to Daphne to confirm or deny, she was unquestionably the most well-versed of Harry's political activities in the wider world, something Alexandra had been all but begging her Lord to help rectify, but for the most part had just resulted in remedial lessons catching up on all the things she should have already known.

Daphne nodded slightly. "Perhaps screaming is a bit strong. Certainly, the Abbotts were a part of my father's faction prior to the formation of the Gray, and annoyingly left in favor of Potter mere months before our Lord arrived on the scene. If he had been just a little earlier…" she paused, shaking her head.

"But yes, Lord Abbott was not historically keen on the more radical Light ideas, and even after Smith joined us he has kept his close partnership with that family. Harry believes the Abbots will come to the Gray within the next year and has been pushing a number of favorable business contracts in their direction to ensure it."

"It would be nice if Zacharias was the leader of Hufflepuff," Alexandra added, just a sliver of insinuation in her tone that they ought to perhaps make it so.

Tracey shrugged. "Hufflepuff doesn't work like Slytherin, Alex," she replied, not unkindly. "They're a lot more touchy-feely everyone gets a say, I don't think they'd take well to any sort of named leader, forced or otherwise." She paused, her face scrunching adorably as she did so. "And anyway, Susan and Zach may be the highest ranking Hufflepuffs in the wider world, but I think Cedric Diggory is the closest thing the Puffs have to a leader, and he's done an admirable job of befriending everyone, for all appearances showing no interest in political factions, even if I don't believe that for a second!"

Ginny smirked, "still sore about how our Lord pulled that trick over you for an entire year?"

Tracey hmphed.

"And finally, Slytherin," Hermione continued yet again. Here, she simply looked at the board. "I think we all know that in Slytherin, our Lord's word is law. None would dare oppose him."

"A third of the house wants to," Alexandra cut in, sounding as if she thought said third had the mental wits of a particularly addled Kneazle.

"But yes, a third of the house wants to," Hermione acknowledged petulantly, before adding. "For now." Those last two words held all sorts of promises, not all of them particularly pleasant.

"Now, that just leaves the faculty, and I'm pleased to say our Lord –"

Whatever Lord Slytherin may or may not have done with regards to the faculty went unsaid for the time being, as said Lord appeared in a whoosh of green flame into the luxuriously decorated sitting room on the third floor of Slytherin Hall, a large black tome securely in his hands.

"Good afternoon, girls," Harry replied after he had quaffed down his de-aging potion and polyjuice antidote, falling back into his plush armchair (not conjured this time) and a glass of orange juice poured itself and floated into his hand. His eyes scanned the board. "I see you've been busy." He grinned, then turned to Hermione, "you can officially add Hobby Harper and Alicia Spinnet.I'd put a galleon on Cho Chang as well, but best not to get cocky for now."

"Only a galleon, my Lord? You must be losing your touch." Luna perked in for the first time. "Have you considered offering her a place in your inner pants-"

"Yes, thank you, Luna," Harry interrupted, setting the girl off into a flurry of giggles. "Right well um, anyway I have the book, here's who will be joining us at Hogwarts next year." With that, Harry opened the Book of Names, the girls getting up and moving around to read over Harry's shoulder or back, or in one dirty-blonde witch's case attempting to sit directly in his lap, letting out an "oh, pooh!" when she tumbled to the floor and the squeezed up next to Ginny.

Daphne read over the names with pursed lips. After her own year and even last year, she had come to think of large lists of powerful families as normal. This next year… wasn't. Which of course it wasn't; most years were lucky to get a single heir. Mostly just the sort of non-noble, non-ancient purebloods that made up about a third of magical Britain, with the odd half-blood whose house was enjoying the sort of ephemeral ascendancy that saw the odd ancestor every few generations make the cut to the most illustrious alma mater in the wizarding world.

"Tiberius Farthing," Tracey said, pointing at a name about one-third of the way down the list. That's um, the minister's nephew. Could be useful."

Harry nodded. "Any particular thoughts about him?"

Tracey shrugged. "Mum met him once, she was on a committee once with the minister's wife, but she didn't say anything, just that she met him. I'm sure he's attended various parties but nothing comes to mind." She looked apologetic.

Harry shrugged. "About what I'd expect – let's be honest most adults don't go around remembering their acquaintances children in any great detail. Especially if they're average: which by definition, most people are."

"So there's nobody here to recruit," Daphne asked, sounding disappointed. Well… Astoria was on the list too, but it wasn't as if they had to recruit Harry's most noisy (and nosy) supporter!

Harry shook his head. "There's nobody to recruit today. These children are eleven; odds are a few of them will well be worth investing in, but it's not great surprise that we don't immediately see a second Merlin among them at age eleven. Most people aren't that extraordinary. He paused, then turned away from the book and looking behind him, scanning the girls. He flashed them a warm smile – present company very very much excluded of course."

Blushing cheeks, mumbled thanks, bashful eyes. Even Tracey looked away. Why oh why did Lord… did Potter have to go around saying things like that! Wasn't he supposed to be above that sort of thing, Merlin!

"But as it is, no, there is one name on this list that is interesting, even if not in a way that makes me want to recruit her into our inner circle… or even outer one, particularly. He pointed to the second-to-last name on the list.

Daphne frowned. Romilda Vane. She knew the name, even if she had no idea who the girl was. There was a Vane who was an associate of her father, a rather well-to-do man in his mid-forties or fifties who had come by the manor at least twice and who she had been introduced to a time or two at various fetes. She racked her brain.

"A pureblood family that deals in potions," she said slowly, her occlumency in full force as she scanned her brain for the correct memories. "Augustus Vane – he sells potions ingredients to apothecaries all over Europe; he buys a not insignificant number of his plants from my father." A light clicked. "This is his daughter?"

"Well done, Daph," Harry shot her a beaming smile. "But no, his niece. Augustus had two sons, one who graduated from Hogwarts four years ago, and a much younger son who unfortunately is exactly our age, and our year at Hogwarts pushed quite a number of children who might otherwise have been at Hogwarts to one of the other schools – in his case, the Windmill.

"That's unfortunate," Luna added.

"Yes," Harry replied, deadpan. "Alas, with ten heirs and well… me, that took just over a quarter of our year's Hogwarts slots up before even 'regular' pure-bloods got a look. Add the other noble-but-not-heir purebloods like Sally, and the muggleborn quota and…" Harry grimaced, "suffice it to say there were a lot of ruffled feathers when the Hogwarts letters went out in the summer of '91."

"What does any of this have to do with uhhh… Romilda Vane?"

Harry smirked. "Vane is rather on the nose as far as familial names go. A very socially conscious family, shall we say for sake of politeness. The niece though, Romilda, in the original timeline was a little… obsessed with my brother. She got a little crazy." Harry shuddered.

Daphne gasped. "She didn't try to love potion him or anything? I mean I know that wouldn't work because of his house ring but –"

"No, nothing like that." Daphne relaxed. "At the beginning of second year, she pledged herself to him."

Daphne didn't react, That didn't sound so ridiculous… even if it was to John Potter, of all people.

"Without even seeking his approval, acceptance, or even acknowledgement,"

Every pair of eyes bulged in incredulity at that. Harry hadn't stopped talking.

"And not just for the duration of Hogwarts, but for eternity."

Absolute silence, such that a pin dropping would have sounded as loudly as a rampaging Hippogriff under a Sonorous charm.

"Fuck."

"Yes, it caused quite a stir," Harry finished with an acknowledging nod to Luna.

"So," Harry finished, closing the Book of Names with a snap and clapping his legs as he made to get up. "Daphne, you and I are having dinner with Augustus and his family tomorrow evening. No doubt you'll have plenty of time to meet the headstrong niece and answer any questions about Harry and John Potter while Lord Slytherin goes off to discuss things in the wizard-only playroom," he added with a smirk in his voice.

"Oh, this is just ridiculous!" Tracey blurted out as two-and-two clicked. "Some jumped up apothecary merchant's tart of a niece gets to pledge herself to you forever and I'm not even allowed to marry you," Tracey fumed, gearing up for a really good and self-righteous rant. "Where exactly does pledged concubine fall into your 'boundaries of social respectability', Potter!"

Tracey cut herself off with an audible gulp, as if she suddenly remembered who exactly Potter was.

Harry's eyes were gleaming with mirth. "Welcome back, Tracey. I can't tell you how good it is to see you back to your snarky self." Behind her, Ginny snickered.

"As for your points. One; the girl is eleven; it's a bit unfair to call her a tart, and I certainly won't be using her as a concubine for the immediate or even foreseeable future. Two; we will in no way, shape, or form so much as suggest oaths of any sort – the first goal is to give her an alternative… well, I suppose crush is the word, so as to give her significant doubts to making such an outrageous oath to my brother. The second goal is to potentially plant a spy in Gryffindor, even if an obsessive one, the third is to make a genuinely beneficial contract between House Slytherin and House Vane, the fourth is to smooth over relations with a number of families that had their pride and prospects damaged by the nature of our year, none of whom in their own are particularly powerful – hence their displacement – but as a group could be quite a hindrance of a bloc if not somewhat pacified." Centering their ill will onto the Light and Dark only benefits us.

"And fifth, if the girl one day maybe in the not so distant future decides on her own will to take an oath without my involvement and I happen to be the subject of that oath and therefore find myself with a well connected witch who will one day grow up to be quite attractive, bound to me for eternity on her own compulsion… well these are the sort of things that happen and we must make allowances for and work with them, must we not?"

Tracey scoffed. Luna said, "yippee!" Daphne, Hermione, Alexandra, and Ginny all turned various degrees of pink.