Chapter 5: The Meeting

Somewhere else in the world, a man cast a silencing charm around his heavily warded study room. Certain all the protections were in place, he gently touched the mirror in front of him. Recognising his touch, the mirror broke into many neat sections, with different faces appearing on each shard.

"I am sure some of you has heard this. It appears that Riddle has fallen."

A mixture of surprise, shock and relief appeared on the faces of the many witches and wizards in this group meeting, even though none of their true features was shown on this mirror.

"Yes, we know, our dear Father. That is why this meeting was called!" a witch with a thick Spanish accent replied.

"I know! And we expected him to last longer, given his magical talent and the dark magic rituals – whatever they are – that we know he has conducted."

"Indeed," a wizard with a hint of a Japanese accent noted, "We thought he would at least last long enough to make Dumbledore look weak. That was the reason we had refrained from intervening earlier on."

"And now Riddle is bested by a mere babe or whatever wards his family had placed upon him," another witch spoke up, "So how should we proceed now?"

Murmurs spread throughout the shards of the mirror as the various witches and wizards tried to raise their views

Suddenly, a man's voice pierced through the noise.

"I have a trusted source. Who had shared that Dumbledore has decided to place the baby in the care of muggle relatives that do not look fondly on magic."

"That is CHILD ABUSE!" a voice cried and some nodded in assent.

"And why do you think Albus Dumbledore, the so-called Leader of the Light, would do such a thing?"

The wizard smirked at the silence his question was met with, before giving the Japanese wizard a knowing look to proceed.

"Dumbledore was once a defeater of a dark lord but he is old. He would need to have the favour of the future generation if he wants to maintain his power and status," the Japanese wizard began, earning the attention of everyone else in the room.

"The boy is now seen as the saviour of wizardkind, at least in Britain, and would gain fame and idolism to some extent in the rest of Europe. If Dumbledore can manipulate this Harry Potter boy, he would retain his positions for a generation to come. And what better way than to make the boy grow up unaware of the magical world and shunned for his gift, making him yearn for love and acceptance from the magical world once he enters it? And this emotionally vulnerable boy would be entering Dumbledore's school of all places!"

More whispers could be heard bouncing between the shards of the mirror with the presentation of this theory.

The wizard referred to as the Father coughed loudly, gaining everyone's attention before he spoke. "If that is the case, I think there are three ways we may proceed."

The Father paused as he felt the gaze of all the members of the council bore holes into his body.

"We either expose Dumbledore once some of the abuse has occurred, so that we have evidence against him or we allow Dumbledore's plan to set its course and intervene at a later time. We can intercept Dumbledore by offering Harry Potter a chance to go to other schools, which may be hard if his parents never wrote such an option in their will, as the Potters most directly related to Harry did not attend other wizarding schools. Or we can intercept at an even later time, when Dumbledore's manipulation of Harry goes south in some way. Or, we do absolutely nothing at all."

"I vote we wait and intervene later," the wizard who shared the information about Harry Potter's living conditions said, "Currently Dumbledore has too much control of the British Ministry. His popularity would likely only grow with the recent events, due to his close relationship with the late Potter couple who bore this young "saviour". It would be hard for us to prove the abuse as we work in the shadows."

"Agreed," the Japanese wizard continued, "But when exactly we should intervene later, I am currently unsure."

"And for those unsure about how to vote on this matter, especially given its involvement of a young child," the wizard commented before the rest of the council could even react to his last suggestion, "I would like to remind you all the purpose of this council. We were founded because of the International Statute of Secrecy. Because we do not trust that the Ministries have the best interests of the wiccan population at heart."

"We were formed to ensure the wizarding and muggle world continue to coexist without the loss of wiccan privileges, and also to ensure no wizarding leader becomes too strong. There may be a king in a country, but not a king for the whole world."

Once again, murmurs erupted through the meeting room.

After what felt like forever, votes were cast. Once a decision was made, each face disappeared from the mirror. With another touch by the mirror's owner, the shards melded together and made the mirror whole again. It was as if this meeting had never occurred.