Coming Clean, Politically

Even though Harry increased his 'phoenix time' to include Friday, giving him a ten day week, time still seemed to fly by. After much debate, they decided to spin the compulsion issue as accumulated magical garbage. While most families had methods for dealing with the buildup of magical residue as part of a coming of age celebration, it wasn't something that muggleborns were likely to do. The Golden Trio would have been exposed to more dangerous magic due to their misadventures, but everyone at Hogwarts is exposed to intense or failed spells every day. Alarmingly the Weasley's did not have any such tradition. Ginny sent a letter to Bill about it. The curse breaker confirmed that he regularly scrubbed himself in case some of the curses he worked with left something dangerous behind, but stressed that he only cleaned off surface magic.

Some families, including theirs, believed that the magical residue children built up around themselves was a kind of 'living magic' and scrubbing it all off had risks. This magic was part of a person, some of it cast on themselves during early childhood and sustained subconsciously, and stripping it off could affect their personality or physical appearance. He included a set of mild clearing charms that he recommended Harry or Hermione use after serious thought and with great care, but stressed that it would be against their family tradition if Ginny used them. It was an interesting viewpoint, and George remembered their Mother saying something about it when they were very small, but it didn't change anyone's mind about going through with the ritual cleanse.

Given the reaction Harry had to the potions, he was cautious about casting the charms immediately as Fred wanted. They performed the mild charms that Saturday afternoon, since none of them had anything planned for Sunday morning. They all slept like rocks afterward, indicating both that the charms worked properly and that they had a significant amount of magical garbage to remove.

The goblins sent over Harry's latest statements along with a few books Harry requested from his vault. A very large scroll listed all the services that Gringotts provided, from marriage contracts to money transfers, and the associated fees. Imagining goblin child care services made Harry a little ill. The books he requested were referenced in his Potter Book and primarily concerned the 'best practices' and fiscal theory the Potters had based their fortune on in recent centuries. There were hints about interracial trade and it made Harry wonder if some of the magical races would have a vested financial interest in following him instead of Voldemort. The goblins seemed to have made their allegiance clear: whoever was more profitable. He would simply have to be more profitable. He also got two books on etiquette and tradition. His Potter book only held traditions specific to his family and listed ones that they had intentionally shunned for various reasons (they were a light family, most obviously, and intentionally ignored some of the darker traditions surrounding death and loss.) He had truly made an ass of himself without knowing it at the Yule Ball and did not intend to repeat the performance.

Thinking of the ball, he had managed to get Miss Dewgall alone to explain to her that he wasn't interested in dating anyone despite going to the ball with her. They would go together and have a good time. She understood, and made a sarcastic crack about the most incompetent Slytherin grasping the idea of a mutually beneficial arrangement better than he ever could. The sarcasm didn't cover her disappointment or the clear implication that she intended to change his mind, but Harry considered his duty as a gentleman done. She came to D.A. meetings as promised and promptly displayed a complete inability to aim. Potions may run in the family, but the dueling platform was to her what dry land was to a fish. Harry immediately dropped her down to N.O.D. level until she stopped endangering the room whenever she pulled out a wand. It was embarrassing to her, but Harry couldn't leave her in R.E.D. without gross favoritism. Malfoy and company were not happy at the implied insult, but at least they were still coming. Parkinson made a rather lewd comment about Olivia being kept out of the higher levels.

"If you believe in her ability that much, then I suggest you work with her. If she can hit a stationary target nine times out of ten, I'll promote her to R.E.D," Harry responded. At the next N.O.D. meeting Olivia confirmed that she couldn't hit the broad side of a barn. She also told Harry Parkinson hadn't said a word to her all year. He left that meeting with the odd feeling that she expected to become his girlfriend if she could get into A.I.D. before the dance. Well, that was about as likely as Professor McGonnagal asking him out, so he should be safe.

The Memorandum was a dangerous and insidious piece of literature, according to an angry letter from Remus Lupin. It was grossly out of character for the usually logical man to go off on a tirade, so Harry's next letter to the grieving wolf, sent that same day, was a trial run of the spin Harry was going to put on the cleansing ritual. Hermione helped him write it, ensuring he hit all the important points much the way she went over a homework assignment.

Dear Moony,

I've gotten a lot off concern about my health lately, mental and physical. Hermione found something about cleansing and clearing rituals in the library. I brought a book with me from the house about wizard traditions. (I know what my parents and Sirius thought about pureblood stuff, but I was curious. No one ever bothered to tell me stuff like the meaning behind sending a girl certain flowers or how to address the head of a household. Not that I have anyone in mind or anything, but eventually I'll need to know about courting and stuff.) The book mentioned something about a coming of age clearing ritual. It didn't have the incantation, just a description of why it is important.

According to our research, I might be magically contaminated. Everyone gets exposed to stuff in class, but we've been through more than the average students. All the failed spells in the D.A. meetings last year, all the dark magic I have been exposed to, and all the random crap that has happened to me since my parents died could have built up around me like poison slime. Ginny wrote to Bill about it, and he warned about scrubbing too hard. He sent over the clearing charms he uses for work; they are very mild. They will only clear away residue, not intentional magic, so I don't have to worry about messing with anything vital.

Hermione thinks it is more important in dark families because they are exposed to more dangerous magic, and that's why light families might lean more to the 'living magic' argument. Light magic residue isn't as likely to do harmful things. I'm going to tell the D.A. about it too. Maybe after the clearing charms I'll feel more like myself. I'm including the instructions for you. I would feel better if you used them. They are supposed to help with emotional things, and I read about traditions in some families where these kind of mild charms are used a few months after a death in the family. The Marauders are a family of sorts, after all, even if there are only two of us left.

Yours,

Harry

As December raced past them, a tear-stained reply promising that Remus planned to use the clearing charms immediately upon sending the owl arrived. Harry provided the clearing charms to every level of the D.A. with instructions to the lower years to give the scrolls to their parents over the holiday. In R.E.D. he stressed that due to the nature of their club and the sheer volume of magic they were exposed to within it, they should use some form of clearing charm over holiday with their parents or, for muggleborn students, before they left. In A.I.D. he laid down a harder truth.

"Voldemort started a war before we were born. We have been involved in that war, one way or another, since our births. Our parents were all affected. I am not saying you have to do this, but I am strongly suggesting you use them and pass them on to your families." Harry started.

"The clearing charms we passed out in the general meeting are very, very mild," Ginny picked up. "They are some of the weakest clearing charms out there. Your own families may have their own traditions, with stronger charms or rituals. Some families have strong opinions about living magic and we do not mean to offend, but the fact remains that both our generation and the generation before us are at greater risk of magical contamination because of the war. It can affect your physical appearance, personality, likes and dislikes, and even your weaknesses. There could be something blocking a bit of your magic, or a strong self-cast spell you no longer need splitting your magical power without you knowing. My family believes strongly in living magic, but that does not stop us from using these mild spells to clear away unimportant garbage."

"I think of it as pruning a plant to give it more room to grow healthy," Neville added. "Mild clearing spells like these are in line with my family's traditions. It leaves behind intentional, active, and conscious magic, so if you have corrected your own eyesight or something similar that won't be stripped away."

"That is a lot of justification," Malfoy drawled. "Feeling guilty about acting like a pureblood for once?"

"Muggleborns like myself need to be educated about these spells." Hemione jumped in before anyone else could respond. "This may be old news to you, but it is vital information not taught at Hogwarts. Pureblood society assumes that everyone already knows about these spells and why they are important."

"It isn't just about that," Harry cut off Hermione's preaching tone. "We are providing you with an argument. You already agree with us, great, but there are those who do not think it is important, forgot about it, never heard of it, or put it off. We aren't just asking you to use these spells yourself, we are asking you to spread them. They are falling out of use and that isn't just anti-pureblood politics, it's dangerous! Failed spells can lead to all kinds of damage, some of it too subtle to send someone to the hospital wing. The arguments about living magic are also important as most light families believe strongly in its benefits."

"You want me to teach mudbloods and blood traitors to perform old wizarding traditions?" Malfoy asked, his entire body radiating disbelief. "You want…"

"I want you to show muggleborns and half-bloods that some old traditions are important; not because you or anyone else demands that they are, but because their life will be easier and better for following them." Harry explained, and it felt like victory.

Snape continued to provide Harry with potions, and extended the courtesy to the other Gryffindors as well. Their meetings focused on dueling through the end of term, as that was a safe topic. Between the potion side effects and the bruises he got dueling, Harry was looking a little worn around the edges. Rumors about his sudden love of cleansing magic were connected to his worn appearance and the idea that the latter caused the former was the popular wisdom. By the end of term any first year could tell you that the buildup of magical residue could cause health problems and removing it could have side effects depending on how much you 'unloaded.' It was far better, the gossips would tell you with passionate certainty, not to let it build up so much in the first place by performing regular cleansing.

Some upper year students in Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff were given permission from their families to teach their own more powerful cleansing spells for anyone who wanted them. Several students missed morning classes after ignoring the warning written in bright red ink on the instructions about not using clearing charms on a school night. The Quibbler dedicated an entire issue to magical residue. Mr. Lovegood published a copy of the scroll Harry gave out championing the virtues of getting clean along with an article by Mr. Lovegood about living magic. The Lovegood family had always believed living magic to be sacred and preserving it was in keeping with the old religion; however, he also presented the argument Neville had come up with about pruning away the clutter. He even published a short interview Luna had done about the Longbottom family's view of living magic to show the moderate stance. The end result was a clear picture of all three points of view: strip it all off and stand apart from the magic you control, prune off the old and weak magic to nurture the bits that are more attached, or let your aura grow and absorb all the magic you come in contact with to become one with the flow of nature.

Harry felt sorry for Mr. Lovegood, as the reputation of his family as 'loony' made his passionate support for the spirituality of living magic into a good reason to pick either of the other viewpoints. The gossip mill had finally discovered what was 'wrong' with Luna Lovegood, declaring her an object lesson about what happens after generations of magical buildup. Her repeated declarations that she would not now nor would ever in the future 'rip off such an important part of my magic' probably convinced more people to use the charms than not. Harry wondered if that was intentional, but Luna didn't seem that devious.

The Headmaster was not happy, being noticeably less jovial at meals, but didn't do anything much that Harry was aware of to stop the wave of fanatic cleanliness. Harry overheard a muggleborn second year in N.O.D. say that they had asked the Headmaster and been told that using that kind of magic was dangerous to very young wizards and that they should wait until they were of age unless their parents said otherwise. That piece of wisdom was taken as gospel truth by first and second years, but most everyone above third year did not consider themselves 'very young' and a few even dared to point out that the Headmaster was as loony as the Lovegoods.

Harry almost didn't remember his exams and hoped he did well on them as he prepared for the ritual. One component was a potion that had to be brewed by the person using it, a common enough component in such spells that Professor Snape set up private brewing areas for any and all students who needed them. Harry got a strong impression from both Professor Snape and McGonagall that the surly man had fought tooth and nail to get that done against the Headmaster's wishes.

It was a quiet thing, but Harry slowly realized that this was one of the political issues in the conflict between the Light lead by Dumbldore and the Dark lead by Voldemort. Malfoy's shock at hearing Harry promoting a nearly dark pureblood tradition was suddenly cast in another light, as was the Quibbler's insistence in pointing out that Harry Potter was the source of the scrolls about clearing charms. He had managed to offend both of the polarized sides, open up a middle ground, and get nearly everyone he knew to agree to stand on that middle ground without so much as a thought to the political side of things. It wasn't until Samuel sent Harry a letter asking how that bit of brilliant political maneuvering would help the war effort that the reality of what he'd done hit home. There was no larger political scheme, he had simply been doing what was right, but when he told that to Samuel he received a hurt reply about not being trusted with the truth.

After all, Harry had changed the mind of old Mr. Peters, and that wasn't something easily done. Samuel had apparently received a letter from his grandfather asking after his health, the first such letter since he'd come out of the closet, and suggesting that their family tradition of mild clearing at age seventeen and prior to marriage was insufficient. Apparently, yearly mild clearing was the new way to live, and those in certain professions were expected to take greater precautions as needed. Mr. Peters was quite interested in how much residue the spells Samuel worked with left behind, and had even asked about a good time to visit his estranged grandson. Aside from the insinuation that Samuel's homosexuality could be cured by a strong enough clearing or cleansing charm, it was a startling confirmation that Harry's campaign had reached beyond Hogwarts's walls.

Suddenly the term was over. Nearly every student over third year cast their clearing charms after dinner on the last day of exams, giving them two days recovery time before the Hogwarts express arrived. The Solstace was four days away, and Harry's group would be staying at Hogwarts to perform the spells without breaking underage sorcery laws. A Hufflepuff Fourth year Harry had never met was brought to lunch the next day in tears having discovered that she did not have her mother's natural blond curls, her hair now a wavy brown. Some quick deductions revealed that she had used a spell Malfoy had taught her that was very powerful.

"What are you so upset about anyway?" Malfoy huffed when accusations started flying. "It worked perfectly, and now you know who you really are."

"But, my hair…" she wailed, leaning over the green tablecloth as she sat across from him.

"Don't come crying to me about blond hair! Everyone knows my mother was born a Black and what color do you imagine her hair is naturally? Of course I was lucky to inherit my father's looks properly. Have your mother take you to a salon and your hair will be right back the way it was." Harry couldn't help himself, and laughed at the indignant blonde's discomfort at having a hoard of Hufflepuff girls showing house unity by sitting around him at the Slytherin table and bursting into sympathetic tears.

"Feeling a little defensive about something, Malfoy?" Harry asked when he got his breath back. He brushed his hair out of his eyes. He'd had to do that a lot lately.

"You know Mindy, you aren't the only one whose hair changed," Ginny said, sliding up through a gap in the crowd and beside Malfoy so that the Hufflepuff could see her. "Harry hasn't had to cut his hair since he was seven or something like that, and now look at him. It's an even bigger mess now!"

"That's impossible." Harry stopped to think a moment. He remembered telling the Mrs. Weasley about his last haircut from Aunt Petunia and it's miraculous regrowth more than once when she threatened to 'fix it' with a few quick snips. The now-brunette girl looked up at Harry. "My hair never grows…" Harry pulled at his bangs, realizing he could nearly touch his chin with them. "…or it never did, except to go back the way it was the next day whenever it was cut. I guess I've just lost my protection from your Mum's scissors, Ginny. Good thing I'm staying at Hogwarts this Christmas!"

"If you try to grow it out long she'll stick you to a chair and shave it off the second you come in the door, mate," Ron laughed. "She can't do it to Bill since he moved out, but she'll have you bald in thirty seconds flat!"

"I need a plan… Hey, Fred! George! I need your professional opinion on something!" Harry called across the hall, walking away from a much happier Hufflepuff. Forget the ritual, he had bigger problems to prepare for.

.o00o.

A/N: Much longer update this time, and some real movement in the plot. I wanted to include the actual ritual in this, but I have some twelve hour shifts coming up and I wouldn't be able to work on it again until the end of next week. So I ended it on a joke rather than a cliffhanger. All thanks can be submitted in the form of caffeinated tea and nutritional meal shakes. Yay liquid diet?