Dumbledore wasn't sure what to think about the Potters. His initial fear about swift changes was proven untrue. Except for the zero tolerance for bullying, they made no change in school policies for more than a month. There was that sorry incident about the Lovegood girl, but it was all solved without needing any interference. Well, not quite. Some of the old pureblood families protested about limiting their children from "acting according to their position". The headmaster felt quite smug to tell them that bullying was not right, no matter what one's position was. Besides, that policy was set by the owners, so he could do nothing.
One family, in particular, felt very strongly about it. The Edgecombe matriarch insisted on meeting the owners and expressing her protest. Dumbledore thought it could be interesting, no matter how it turned out.
When Harry was presented with the request he looked at Hermione. A short silent consultation later, he smiled mischievously. "We'll accept her in the Great Hall during Dinner, two days from now."
Dumbledore wondered what that smile meant. Having already seen such a smile on the face of James Potter, when the Marauders had played their pranks, he felt quite sure that Mrs. Edgecombe would regret ever raising the subject. He would make sure not to miss that meeting.
Indeed, Mrs. Edgecombe arrived just on time, a few minutes after everybody was getting busy with their meal. She scanned the Great Hall, as if looking for Lord Hogwarts, and then turned to the staff table, dismissing the additional table where she could only see a few children. "I'm here to meet Lord Hogwarts," she said, turning to the headmaster.
Dumbledore hid a smile and waved at the owner's table, as if that was self-evident.
The woman stiffened, looking more tense than before. "Lord Hogwarts?" she asked, not quite as confident as before, scanning the children as if trying to see who was the most impressive one. Harry felt sure she would be surprised, once she found out.
He let her scan the table twice before he stood up. Although he had a good idea who this woman might be, if only due to her daughter looking a lot like her, he feigned ignorance. "I'm Lord Hogwarts. Who are you?"
"I'm Lady Edgecombe, of course," she said pompously.
"And you came here to…?" he prompted her.
"I want to protest your rule for bullying. Some families should be above such rules."
Harry tried to look pensive. "Let me see if I understand you correctly. You want your daughter to not be subjected to this rule?"
She smiled triumphantly. "Of course! In her position, she should be allowed to act as she likes."
Harry looked at Hermione and they both smiled. "Alright. Let me announce this to the whole school." He pointed his wand at himself and said "Sonorus" although his voice carried nicely even before. "Let it be known that Marietta Edgecombe is exempt from the bullying rule. She may bully whoever she wants and everybody else may bully her as well."
He cast "Finite" at himself and turned to the woman. "Isn't that what you wanted?"
She looked furious. "You actually made her a target! That's not what I was asking for!"
He shrugged benignly. "Rules should apply to all. If I take her out of this rule, it should apply in both directions, don't you agree?"
She almost sputtered. "Why should anybody be allowed to bully my daughter?"
He shrugged. "Why should she be allowed to bully anybody? I think that the higher one's position is, the better one should behave, setting an example for those of lower position. Anything else would be counter-productive in the long run."
"How will she show her higher position then?" The woman looked really confused.
"By acting nicely to everybody, by helping whoever needs help and by apologizing in case she harmed somebody, even if inadvertently."
The woman felt indignant. Didn't the prat understand who she was? "We, Edgecombe, never apologize!" she spatted.
Harry looked contemptuously at her. "Well, that explains your plummeting status. You see, everybody makes mistakes, occasionally. Smart people apologize for their mistakes and learn to do better. Ones… not as smart, keep believing they're always right, and never learn, eventually losing status, positions, and money. Are you sure that none of your family has ever made a mistake worthy of apology?"
Mrs. Edgecombe was no longer sure how to act. Her position seemed to have no effect. Well, it wasn't really significant, to be honest. Her declaration of never apologizing seemed to have turned against her. Yet this so-called-Lord was only a child, not even as old as her daughter. Still, there was only one answer she could give, although it wasn't what she would have liked. "No, I can't be sure of that."
"And you claim to never apologize?! Well, I pity you and your family. If you don't change your attitude, I doubt this name would carry any weight in another generation. I suggest you learn empathy, thinking before acting and taking responsibility for your deeds, unless you want your family to become insignificant very soon."
Mrs. Edgecombe felt frustrated. This was not what she had intended to happen. The boy should have crumbled under her will, not the other way round. And yet she could find no fault in his logic. Her family had very few friends, and even they were not quite close. She had no friends at work, neither had her husband. Could that be due to their attitude? Well, she could think of that later. At the moment, she had to save what little honor she still had. "You gave me a lot to think of, Milord," she said. "I now believe you should leave the anti-bullying rule as it was before I came here."
Harry smiled. He raised his voice to be heard and declared, "The rules against bullying are reverted to the way they were before the meal, meaning that nobody is allowed to bully anybody."
He turned back to Mrs. Edgecombe. "Is that satisfactory?"
She nodded, not quite sure how this whole event turned so humiliating. "I hope I didn't disturb your meal too much."
Harry smiled and waved his hand dismissively. "I'm glad to help. Good evening."
On her way out, the woman passed near the Ravenclaw table and said something to her daughter, who didn't seem happy at all.
Later that evening, they visited Sirius.
"You've done well. A prank worthy of the Marauders!" Sirius congratulated them.
Harry felt a bit proud of himself. "She needed to understand that one's actions have consequences. Besides, some humility wouldn't hurt her. Thinking that being of high status allows bullying! Such nonsense!"
"Unfortunately, too many agree with her. Many of the old families feel like they should be above the laws; that the laws are only for the common folk," Sirius explained.
"Well, they're due for a painful awakening. This attitude is what helps Dark Lords rise. I won't tolerate it at school, and once we get our Wizengamot seats, I won't tolerate it there either."
Sirius lifted his hand to stop Harry from going into a tirade. "Don't try to chew more than you can swallow. Such changes take time and should better be handled carefully, or they may provoke a backlash, making things worse. You know I'll help you, but please refrain from rushing in. That may not help you reach your goal earlier."
Harry sighed. "I know you're right, but it's so difficult to be patient with this type of problem. Had people done what's right, these problems should have never existed!"
Sirius smiled humorlessly. "Welcome to the real world! Still, I think you've achieved a very significant change at school in a very short time, and you even handled the protest very nicely. Now, don't you have some homework to finish?"
It was Hermione who responded to this. "Do we know her?"
Sirius started changing colors. "What do you mean?"
Hermione smiled. "You usually like us to stay here even way after curfew. The only reason you may have to rush us out is that you expect a visitor soon. Do we know her?"
Sirius tried to regain control of his face color. "You're sometimes too smart for your own good. And no, I don't think you know her. She went to Auror training along with me, but chose to become a healer instead."
"Are you still 'just playing the field' or do you have other intentions?" she insisted.
Sirius changed colors again. "I'm not sure. I didn't think it would turn more than a few meetings, but we've been dating for two months already and I don't feel like I want that to stop. I miss her as soon as we part, but I'm not sure how she feels."
"Why don't you ask her? She certainly likes you, at least, or she wouldn't bother to keep meeting you," Hermione advised.
Sirius became impatient. "Alright, alright! Now go! I need to get ready. Good night!"
Both Potters left his apartment giggling widely.
\/\/\/
With his group of friends including members of all four houses, Harry started thinking of how he could help others gain friends from different houses. There were several obstacles to such an idea. First – the point system. It went by houses, practically forcing competition in a way that opposed friendship. The Quidditch games were even a fiercer competition, but each team only played three games, so it wasn't too bad. And then there were the long tables in the Great Hall, keeping students with their own houses, although there was no rule disallowing them to sit at other tables.
Harry didn't feel that changing the point system could be done without much more consideration, backed up by some research. He wouldn't dare cancel the Quidditch games, although some change there might also be beneficial. He needed to think some more of that. As for the seating… There was really no need to keep the house tables, except for the welcome feast and the goodbye one. Maybe once or twice more each year. Otherwise, why not let people mingle? That would mean removing the house tables, that practically dictated separation, and replacing them with much smaller tables to seat mixed groups. Yes, that seemed just right!
Although he felt sure that Hermione was aware of his thoughts, he discussed his idea with her. "I thought that replacing the long house-tables with much smaller tables for most of the meals would help inter-house relationships. What do you say?"
Hermione didn't need any time to consider his idea. "It should work, I believe. We can set round tables with chairs, that are much more comfortable than the long benches, and let each table seat six to twelve people. We should use several sizes, to accommodate smaller or larger groups without leaving too many unused seats." She then smiled. "People may still sit in house groups, but not for long. If we make sure to not have many more available seats than we have students, they will be forced to share."
"Shall we announce the change at dinner?" he asked.
Hermione gave it some consideration. "I think we should let the headmaster do it. We may even be able to make him come with the idea, if we play it right. He'll feel better about it and we'll still get what we want."
Harry was surprised by her cunning. "You should have been a Slytherin, so it seems."
She shrugged. "The hat considered it, but knowing who else was there, it didn't seem the best possibility. It also considered Ravenclaw, but my courage and my impulsiveness didn't make it a good fit."
He smiled. "Well, I'm glad you were sorted to Gryffindor. How else could we become so close?"
She patted his hand. "We were very close even before the sorting. Don't you remember the hat referring to us as mates? Besides, we could join each other in bed even if in different houses. Still, it's better that we stayed together this way."
Harry smiled, feeling his love surge. "I really love you, you know?"
Hermione smiled mischievously. "Why don't we go to bed and show each other how deep our love is?"
Harry didn't think he had a reason to object.
\/\/\/
They talked to Dumbledore later. Hermione was able to raise some questions in a way that directed the old man to their ideas, making him feel like it was his own insight. They then refined the idea, just the way they had discussed it in their apartment. All three were sure this change would bring better relations between the houses and a more relaxed atmosphere at school.