HPWW561-570
Chapter 561
For Thursday night he was in bed by 9.00pm and asleep
by 10.30pm, though. The delay wasn't because he was
restless, but because Fleur joined him within ten minutes
of him going to bed. He tried to make sure she was
content to drift off to sleep before doing so, himself; and,
he thought, failed.
The next morning, Friday morning, he apologised to her
for going to sleep so fast. She laughed and said she'd
expected it. Then demanded he immediately make up for
it with morning sex. A 'penance' he was happy to
accomplish.
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
After the final class on Friday afternoon, a single of
Transfiguration with the 'Claws, Harry, Hermione and
Neville made their way to DADA, where the other girls and
Justin were just coming out. Theirs was a combined
Hufflepuff and Slytherin class.
They also knew that CeeCee had finished her last class
for the day, Arithmancy, an hour earlier and that she'd
already be up in the Lords' Quarters. For the whole week
Fleur was disillusioning herself and waiting outside
whatever classroom CeeCee was in for the sixth period
and tailing the girl back to the Quarters.
She was also happy to tell Harry and Justin that, as well
as Natalie, CeeCee was making further friends in the third
year Gryffindor girls' cohort. They were Lucy Hurst, Anna
Mirfield and Kate Olney. However, that last one was not as
close as the first two and definitely not as close as Natalie.
Further, a boy named Michael Karume was often with
them. He was, as Fleur put it, 'sniffing' after Hurst.
It seems the other girls were all afraid of Vane and Holmes
destroying their reputations with vicious rumours. Now that
CeeCee had publicly put both girls in their place, CeeCee
was now considered somewhat of a hero among the rest.
This was all good news for the Heirs. It meant, within her
House and year cohort at least, they did not consider her
a 'dark' witch. It also helped that CeeCee was also a very
likeable young lady.
Personally, she'd only already made two enemies, Vane
and Holmes, but both were far too afraid of what Harry or
Justin, let alone Sirius, would do to them if they tried
anything. Harry was happy with that. He didn't mind others
being afraid of him and what he could do to them if it kept
his friends and bonded safe.
Until then he was completely unaware, however, that Fleur
had been up to the third year girls' dorm in the Gryffindor
tower and set a number of rune warded protections about
CeeCee's bed and trunk. His other two bonded did, but all
three decided it was something Harry need not know.
In that, Fleur had been clever. She'd taken a leaf out of
Harry's 'play-book' and only warded CeeCee's bed and
effects with wards triggered by ill-intent. She did tell Harry
she put up a 'notification' ward, but it was linked directly to
her.
When Harry was about to say something, she smiled back
and said, "I know what you are thinking, 'Arry. But, think
about it. It's in the girls' dorms."
"Ah!" he said, understanding.
If the alert ward was set to him, he'd not be able to get up
to CeeCee's dorm room, anyway. He wasn't female.
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
That morning, Harry rose as early as usual and joined
everyone for breakfast.
After breakfast finished he was then all set to escort his
ladies to their first class when Daphne poked a finger into
his chest and said, "Sit!"
When it looked like he was going to speak out in denial,
she cut him off and said, "Look at how many of us there
are now, Harry. There are no classes, now, where we'll be
unaccompanied at all times. We do not need you to watch
over us every waking moment."
Frowning, he eventually gave a nod as Daphne pulled her
finger away. "Then, what do you think I should do?" he
asked.
She immediately replied, "Make Friday mornings the time
you work on House of Potter business and catch up on
what you miss at the monthly Wizengamot meetings. You
spent practically all of last Friday morning going over the
Potter Gringotts accounts, yes?"
It was the Friday after the first Monday of the month, so
Harry had received the documents on the Monday, but
didn't have time to deal with them until the Friday morning
while 'his' ladies were in classes. Even Fleur was out and
about in the school - he suspected her of tailing CeeCee.
Hermione, waiting, said, "That's a good idea, actually."
Looking more direct at Harry, she said, "The reason you
chose to pull out of Muggle Studies was so you had the
time to work on House of Potter matters, right? When
better when you should have been in Muggle Studies at
that time."
With a sigh, he nodded and said, "You're right. It's a
perfect time to work on that."
So, that morning it was exactly what he did less the
working on missed classes due to Wizengamot meetings
or the like. He hadn't missed any yet. But would on the
coming Tuesday due to the trials.
After having worked on the finances of the House the
previous Monday, this day he was working on improving
his share and property portfolios.
Property-wise he had Pottermore, Potter Cottage in
Godric's Hollow and Lily's Retreat in Cokeworth, plus the
few rental properties, but wanted to also acquire a couple
more nice places for when his children came of age; or
even something nice for Daphne for if and when she
wanted to move out after she bore the Greengrass heirs
and decided to part ways with him. It would be a nice
'going away' gift.
Thinking further on it he wanted to see if the goblins of
Gringotts could organise an international property
consultant for him. He was thinking about purchasing a
'holiday' property near Delacour Manoir in France, another
near CeeCee's folks in Western Australia that could
double as an emergency retreat for them and something
in MaCUSA within New York and near what he knew of the
'garment' district there. He'd heard there was good
shopping to be had there and thought his ladies might
appreciate it. That one might need to be a penthouse,
though, if he wanted it in New York City. Then again, he'd
heard nice things about a place called 'The Hamptons',
which were not that far away on that Long Island of theirs.
That could also be 'do-able'.
Shares-wise he couldn't see any changes he'd like to
make. Everything was doing fine. So, contrary to his
'itching' desire to make improvements, he knew any
changes he made would unlikely be such. With a sigh he
left it alone.
With his instructions to Ted Tonks, rather than Gringotts, to
look for an real estate consultant for him sent off using
Hedwig, Harry made his way out of the office to go over
his assignments for the week to remind himself what was
done and what was still left to do.
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Chapter 562
As usual, it would be a morning session for court. Bones
had decided not to hold off the trials until the next week,
the normal sitting of the Wizengamot, for whatever reason
of which Harry was unaware. He suspected it was
because she wanted to get it out of the way before
Yaxley's supporters could gather him even more support.
She claimed she didn't think it would make any difference,
seeing as he eventually 'coughed' to the crime. However,
she was also not willing to take any chances.
Though Harry thought Justin might have been denied
attendance, Lady Marchbanks had put her foot down
against dissenters and stated he'd be attending.
So Harry, Justin, CeeCee and Natalie - all accompanied
by Lady Marchbanks - headed for the Wizengamot
chambers at about 9.30am on the Tuesday for the trial.
As soon as they stepped out of the floo they were met by
Sirius and Narcissa. And the now seven, with Lady
Marchbanks again on Harry's arm, headed up to the
DMLE offices. Again, a small posse of aurors surrounded
them as they stepped out of the floo.
Then, as soon as they arrived and it was assured the
others were all with Bones, Harry and Marchbanks left and
headed down to the chambers. Harry was eager to get a
feel for the mood of the other Members as they arrived. He
also wanted a word with the other Alliance members.
Sirius, though he had a Seat, had already and rightfully
recused himself, so would 'escort' CeeCee and Natalie as
co-magical guardian.
As soon as Harry and Marchbanks were gone, Bones
looked to who remained in the office with her and said,
"Alright. This is how trials in wizarding Britain work and
how this one will go down..."
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
After accomplishing what he wanted to do well within the
remaining time, when the Members were called to enter
Harry had to duck back out onto the main floor. He was a
witness and, therefore, had to give testimony. As he'd
temporarily given his proxy to Frank Longbottom, he only
needed to make sure the documentation for that was in
the hands of the Court Scribe before he could head for the
visitors' gallery and meet back up with Narcissa.
The first trial was the recovered Adrien Pucey. Clearly
'broken' he'd pleaded Guilty, right from the start. Then he
went into what happened, when and why. He offered no
excuses other than his father was being blackmailed by
Corban Yaxley into forcing him, Adrien, to attempt to kill
CeeCee; or, as he put it, 'the muggleborn bitch who stole
the Malfoy fortune'.
Both CeeCee and Natalie were called up first to give
testimony of what they were doing leading up to the
attack. Then Natalie spoke of what happened immediately
afterwards.
"You saw who cast the charm?" pressed Bones.
"Yes," said a confident Natalie. She then pointed a finger
at Pucey and said, "He did."
Medi-wizard Robinson gave testimony that the 'charm'
used by Pucey, if it wasn't for a house elf popping her
directly into his presence together with his quickly
determining what curse she'd been hit with, would have
killed her.
"So," said Bones, handling the questioning, "The
hardening charm, Duro, would have been fatal if not for
both the little elf and your ability to quickly determine what
had happened?"
"Yes," he replied. "Even then, it was a close thing.
Seconds later and I doubt I'd have been able to save her."
Harry was then called and gave his account of what had
happened from his own point of view. He even spoke of
how Pucey first tried to make it seem as if it was he who
was attacked, rather than being the attacker, until Harry
confronted him in the presence of the two professors.
However, Harry was not required to speak about what had
happened a short while later in Marchbanks's office. The
defence law-wizard tried to argue that Harry had
misheard, or might have been lying. However, as soon as
Harry said, "If you doubt my word or recollection I'm more
than willing to submit a memory for the pensieve."
That had the law-wizard immediately back-pedal and claim
it wasn't necessary.
Harry then said, "So, you accept my recollection is
accurate after all, do you?"
He didn't answer. Instead, he turned to the Chief
Adjudicator and firmly said, "I have no further questions for
this witness."
Pucey the younger was sentenced to ten years in
Azkaban medium security. However, he was held back to
provide evidence in the cases against both his father and
Yaxley.
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
Harry thought they'd trial Pucey senior next. However,
they brought in Yaxley first.
'Ah!' he thought. 'This way, they can use the evidence
already accepted in both Pucey junior and Yaxley's cases
to try Pucey senior. Clever.'
Yaxley was found guilty of blackmail, accessory before the
fact and conspiracy to commit murder. He was sentenced
to fifteen years medium security for the conspiracy to
murder charge. However, he received an added five years
for the attempted blackmail; the second sentence to be
served consecutively to the first. That meant he wouldn't
be out for twenty years. They returned a verdict of 'no
finding' for the accessory before the fact charge as the
conspiracy charge made it moot.
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Chapter 563
Harry thought it was irrelevant as he did not believe the
older man would survive anywhere near half that long.
Very few did; Sirius not withstanding.
When Ambrose Pucey was brought in and pleaded 'Not
guilty', Bones immediately hit him with the evidence
already submitted and accepted from the first two trials
and said, "Perhaps you would like to change your plea? It
will not be held against you if you do so now. However, if
you do not accept this offer, then it will be held against you
when you will be found guilty of your crimes."
Knowing he was definitely sunk, Pucey changed his plea.
It was also laid out Yaxley was blackmailing him for being
involved, back when Riddle was running around, with
kidnapping and shipping young muggleborns off overseas
in a slave market. The gold raised went to Riddle's war
effort.
He was sentenced to Azkaban for life in the maximum
security section. If he gave up, under Veritaserum, all he
knew of the details surrounding the young muggleborn
girls and what happened to them, he'd be serving it in the
medium security section. He took the offer.
Unknown to Harry, that information was collected, collated
and the details sent to the ICW's International auror and
hit wizard force. Over thirty wizards, especially in the
middle east and far east, were captured in raids over the
next six months. Out of the fifty-plus girls that were taken,
less than a handful were found still alive. All the wizards
involved, less Pucey, were tried at the ICW. However,
Pucey was a major witness in their trials. All of them were
quietly executed. The remaining muggleborns were in no
physical or mental fit state to return to their original lives -
for all of them, their families had been killed when they
were taken - and assistance was given to them to try and
build new lives away from magical Britain and the
countries to which they'd been 'sold'.
Though Ambrose Pucey was sent to the medium security
wing of Azkaban, he still died five years later a very much
broken man. His death was considered suspicious, but no
evidence was found of foul play or who could have done it.
That evening of the trial, Harry sent Dobby to Diagon Alley
to purchase a large and a medium tub of strawberry
flavoured ice-cream. Then had the elf deliver the first to
Natalie in her dorm, together with a half dozen spoons, for
her and her dorm mates; and had the second delivered to
CeeCee in the Finch-Fletchley apartment. He also
included notes for both Natalie and CeeCee informing
them they'd done real good that day in court.
The next morning he received big hugs from both girls.
And Tracey added her own a little later. She'd 'shared'
CeeCee's tub at the younger girl's invitation. A little later
he'd found out Natalie had, as he suspected she would,
shared hers with the other girls in the Third Year Gryffindor
girls' dorm; and they sat around it in their pyjamas
polishing it off and chatting.
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
Over the next couple of days, as they'd been for the past
couple of weeks, notes were flying back and forth between
the leading and involved members of the Alliance, plus
two, plus Ted Tonks and the Longbottom Law-wizard of
Record who was responsible for drafting the new Alliance
documents. A new Charter needed to written and agreed
upon.
All that work culminated in the meeting on the next
Saturday of the Alliance. As 'special guests', also included
were Sirius Black, Narcissa Malfoy and CeeCee. To make
it so no one would speak against attendance of any of the
three if the meeting was to be held at their residence,
Harry had earlier offered Pottermore as the meeting place.
Frank was grateful, but had also been prepared to offer
Longbottom Hall if needed.
The meeting was scheduled for an hour after the lunch
period at Hogwarts.
However, Harry and his three flooed to Pottermore directly
from the end of lunch. They had work to do to get
Pottermore ready for the meeting.
One of the things he needed to do was stretch out the
formal dining table a little. As well as the twenty, until then,
Houses in the Alliance, there would also be attending the
Houses of Black and Malfoy, Law-wizards of Record Ted
Tonks for Potter and Black and Thaddeus Wynch of
Wynch and Associates for Longbottom. They would all
have a seat at the table. Heir Primaries, of course, would
be seated behind; as well as an associate of each of the
law-wizards, who were there for record-keeping purposes.
That brought the number up to twenty-four who would be
sitting at the table. The Pottermore formal dining table was
standard configured to sit eighteen, so it was no
inconvenience to slot an extra in at both of the sides to sit
the twenty. However, twenty-four was too many to
accommodate without adjusting the table to allow them all
to comfortably sit. Fleur handled that.
Harry was surprised to figure out he was actually nervous;
or, at least, more nervous than for something like speaking
before the 'Mot.
As members began to arrive, Harry's three ladies did the
escorting to the right areas; even though there was no one
who would be attending, other than Wynch and his
associate, who had not already been there before.
Last to arrive, as planned, were Sirius and Narcissa.
CeeCee had arrived with Justin as one of the first 'families'
of the noble Houses, as was proper. But, she begged to
hang back to wait for 'Mum Narcissa' and Harry had no
problem with it.
He only said, "Just stay back out of the receiving line,
keep quiet and try to pretend to be a piece of furniture for
the moment. You're a guest here and take no part in the
receiving line."
She blushed, thanked him and moved to stand off to the
side near the doors leading to the formal dining room.
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Chapter 564
As soon as Narcissa... Dowager Malfoy... stepped out of
the floo, CeeCee gave a soft squeal and dashed forward
to give the woman a hug before she was more than two
steps out of the floo. After Narcissa 'walked the receiving
line' she turned to CeeCee and softly admonished her for
acting without proper decorum.
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
Once all the relevant witches and wizards were in their
seats, Harry opened the meeting by standing and stating,
"Thank you, all, for attending what I would have to say is
the second most auspicious meeting of our Alliance. I
would say, without evidence supporting it, the first meeting
of the Alliance would have been the most auspicious.
"Today marks the day when our alliance sheds the
moniker 'The Potter-Longbottom Alliance' and takes as its
standard 'The Grand Alliance'."
Harry was surprised when there was a short, but heartfelt,
sudden round of applause.
"Thank you," he said. "While I might have been the one
who first openly tabled the concept, I am aware this has
also been a dream of House Longbottom since the early
days of the Alliance. Plus, as I have been far too busy
dealing with being a student at Hogwarts in their OWL
year, the development of the new Charter has been
championed by Lord Longbottom of House Longbottom.
"With your indulgence, I now hand the Chair of the
meeting to he." And followed that up by sliding the gavel
across to Frank, who accepted it with a smile.
It also generated another soft round of applause as Harry
walked to sit at the other end of the table, where Frank
should have sat.
With the gavel in his hand and beginning to twirl it through
his fingers, a sign Harry already knew signalled he was
nervous, Frank outlaid what had been done and then
called on Mister Wynch to give the legal arguments for
what needed to happen.
Less than an hour later, the Potter-Longbottom Alliance
was no more and the Grand Alliance had been formed. As
it was the commencement of a new Alliance, there was no
need to 'invite' the Houses of Black or Malfoy to join. They
became founding members of the new Alliance, along with
the 'pre-existing' membership of the old Potter-Longbottom
Alliance.
Their Alliance now had twenty-two member Houses, of
which nine held seats on the Wizengamot in their own
right. That was a significant number of votes that could not
be scoffed at. That three of those members were of the
Seven would also allow the Alliance to carry a fair bit more
political weight than they had as the Potter-Longbottom
Alliance.
It was also hoped it would bring in even further members,
who would see the size of the voting bloc and want to
become part of it. It was a good start.
The only ones grumbling about it were, again, old
MacMillan plus, surprisingly, a couple of the Elder Houses.
While Sirius had been proven to be a wizard of the light,
they had too many years of thinking him to be 'the right
hand man' of Voldemort and a member of one of the
darkest Houses of wizarding Britain to just let go of their
prejudices so quickly or easily.
Harry was hopeful that Sirius's fun-living and pleasant
side, once he allowed the second more freedom, would
aid in that.
There was also now far more welcoming of CeeCee
occurring, since she was clearly the companion of a
phoenix. Narcissa, however, was still looked upon with
wariness. It wasn't just that she was the Dowager Malfoy,
either; but that she, too, was a member of the House of
Black.
Narcissa sat at the table with Sirius, acting as Regent for
House Malfoy, with CeeCee sitting behind her. And Andi,
as Heiress Primary, sat behind Sirius and alongside
CeeCee.
What Harry did not know, though, was that a lot of the
wives of members no longer saw Narcissa in that light. He
didn't notice until they were all leaving that many of the
wives now also wore the little metal lapel badge that
showed them to be members of the Tapestry Circle.
The men folk were not yet aware, but the wives and other
dowagers would ensure Narcissa was given a 'fair shake'
by the rest of the Alliance, whether the menfolk liked it or
not.
Harry thought, 'Just how bloody large has this club of
theirs gotten, anyway?'
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
After the meeting Frank, Alice, Neville and his, plus Justin
and his, all hung back with Harry and his to discuss more
informally their views of the meeting.
"It went even better than I thought," said Frank, smiling.
He turned to Alice and asked, "How did things go in your
meeting?"
"You'd be surprised," smiled Alice. "There was no rancour
to Narcissa being present at all. Many of us know her
quite well and do not doubt her allegiance and intent."
That surprised Harry, just as it seemed to do for Frank,
Neville and Justin, but it was also obvious none of the girls
were surprised. Harry thought it was because they'd spent
time with her recently. He was still unaware of the true
reason for the Tapestry Circle and the womenfolk were
keeping it that way. Law-wizard Dewey was still the only
male aware of its true purpose.
"I fear we're going to lose MacMillan, after all," scowled
Harry. "I think his son is going to force it. Old Augustus
knows he doesn't have long before he's going to have to
hand off the Lordship of his House to his Heir Primary.
Once he does, Cyril will be waiting for the excuse to
withdraw his House."
"My thoughts, too," said Frank. "I also think that's why
Augustus is both being so obstructionist about these
changes and not having already handed the Headship
over."
"And we're not helping by bringing in even more changes,"
sighed Harry.
"No," replied Frank. "However, I will not be party to the halt
of bringing in these changes just to keep the support of
only one House. The Alliance is bigger than that. It needs
to be."
Harry nodded and quietly, but vehemently, said, "And I
agree."
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
On return to the school, Harry corralled Neville and Justin
into a 'blokes' talk' session in his office with the door
closed. The idea of it amused the girls.
With butterbeers shared between them, Harry asked, "The
girls seem to be up to something regarding this Tapestry
Circle of theirs. Any ideas?"
"None," scowled Neville, folding his arms and almost
seeming to pout. "I was hoping you would. You seem to be
pretty good at sussing out what's really going on at times."
"Nope," he replied before turning to Justin. "Any ideas?"
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Chapter 565
Justin gave a sigh and ran the fingers of his wand hand
through his hair. "I hadn't even noticed anything until
today. It's like... they've all got this big secret and they're
not willing to share it with us mere males.
"Did you notice it seems to also include pretty much all the
wives? Hell, even old Molly Fanwater seems to be
involved and she was in the meeting with us all afternoon."
Harry said, "I also noticed Lady Marchbanks seems to
know what's going on. But she, just as obviously, won't
share."
"Dad knows something's going on," said Neville. "But he's
more amused by it than anything else."
"Well," said Harry, "Unless it proves harmful for our
Houses or the Alliance, I suggest we don't push them too
hard over it.
"I fear they might just tell us and we'll learn it's something
we really didn't want to know about."
Both other boys winced with Justin adding, "I hear ya."
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
At the Wizengamot meeting on the following Tuesday,
when the first call for 'New Business' was made, Frank
confidently stood.
"The Chair recognises the House of Longbottom," said
Ogden. "Lord Longbottom?"
"Thank you, Chief Warlock Ogden," said Frank. "I stand to
make an announcement of great import. Together with the
House of Potter I formally announce that the PotterLongbottom Alliance is no more."
When there arose loud but short exclamations of shock.
Frank held up his hand in both a stop and shushing
motion.
Then, as the sounds of shock quickly faded away, he said,
"In its place I happily announce the formation of a new,
wider, alliance. I announce the formation of what is called
the Grand Alliance.
"As well as continuing to claim the entire membership of
the then existing Potter-Longbottom Alliance, the Grand
Alliance also includes in its membership the Noble and
Most Ancient House of Black and the Magical House of
Malfoy. In total, the current membership of the Grand
Alliance sits at twenty Houses; of which nine are voting
members of the Wizengamot and sit amongst you, three of
which are of the Seven.
"Wizengamot member Houses are: Longbottom, Potter,
Black, Bones, Marchbanks, Ogden, Greengrass,
MacMillan and Finch-Fletchley. Another Noble House, The
Venerable House of Delacour, is a voting member of the
French version of our illustrious body.
"Secondly, I announce the Grand Alliance has not and will
not, at this time, close its rolls to further membership
applications. Please approach one of our aforementioned
member Houses for further information, if joining us
interests you.
"Chief Warlock, I have no further business at this time and
thank you for the opportunity to present this auspicious
news." And sat down again.
Harry was surprised there wasn't a bigger ruckus about
the announcement. When he sat forward in his seat and
looked about, he could see that many of those outside of
the Alliance were clearly either in shock or were already
deep in thought of what it would mean for them or how
they could benefit from or lose to it. Obviously, the
members of the 'Mot were capable of rational thought,
after all. He was interested in seeing how this played out
outside of the Alliance.
"Thank you, Lord Longbottom," said Ogden. "Next?"
That was it for the 'big' notices; or, so Harry thought.
Parkinson then tried yet another play upon CeeCee.
On being recognised by Ogden he stood and said, "The
House of Parkinson is concerned that the supposed Heir
of the House of Malfoy is being unduly―"
"Objection!" cried Sirius, with Lady Marchbanks and
Bones both voicing their own points of order almost
simultaneously and before Sirius was able to complete the
three syllables.
"Lord Black voices an objection, a point of order," Ogden
near-snarled. "However, I believe I already know what it
will be. Lord Black."
Sirius, already on his feet, firmly said, "Chief Warlock
Ogden; it appears, yet again, that Lord Parkinson is
attempting to interfere in the practices of another House.
This time he casts aspersions upon the Heir Apparent of
the Magical House of Malfoy, Miss Charlotte Wilkins... as
he knew and she is proven to be by the inheritance rites of
the Goblin Nation. As Miss Wilkins's joint magical
guardian, I take great offence at his remarks and demand
he retract them immediately.
"More and more it is becoming clear Lord Parkinson seeks
to annoy me to the point where I must take... other...
action against he and his House. Lord Parkinson will
cease these clear hostilities against the House of Malfoy
and my magical ward or find himself... dealt with."
Even before Ogden could turn his attention from Sirius
back to Parkinson, Parkson snapped back, "I retract. You
cannot protect her forever, Black."
"I don't need to, Parkinson," Sirisu snapped back. "Only
until you and your cohorts are dealt with."
"GENT-LE-MEN!" roared Ogden. "Enough!"
When both men shut up, he firmly said, "Lord Parkinson,
this is the third time you have made attempts to use this
body to discover, or otherwise interfere with, the practices
of the House of Malfoy. It will also be the last time.
"Should you attempt such in the future, I will call for the
immediate vote the House of Parkinson be evicted from
this body until such time your Heir stands to take the Seat.
Have I made myself clear?"
"You dare?" roared Parkinson, surging back to his feet.
"I don't dare, Lord Parkinson," said Ogden. "It is the law. It
has been the law for centuries. I would be a poor Chief
Warlock if I did not adhere to those laws today.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------------
Chapter 566
"The House of Parkinson has been formally warned, Lord
Parkinson. Don't test my mettle."
While Parkinson continued to stand there, almost
quivering in rage, Ogden continued, "I also put that same
warning to every other Member. If you attempt to use this
body to unwantedly, by the Houses concerned, interfere in
the lawful practices of other Houses, you will receive the
same treatment.
"This will be the last of it. I will have no more without
immediately issuing my aforementioned sanctions."
After giving that a long few moments to settle in the minds
of all, he said, "Now; next item of new business, please."
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
For the past few weeks, life back at Hogwarts had settled
down. Harry, Daphne and Hermione became used to the
new workload for their OWL year; as, apparently, did the
other Heirs. CeeCee was happy and was spending more
time with new friends doing her own study for third year.
She also had friends occasionally visit her in the Finch-
Fletchley apartment, but spent more time in the library and
the Gryffindor tower with them than in the apartment at
those times.
None of the others had a problem with that. However,
besides Raggy and Dobby following those who walked
alone, at times, when Harry mentioned the problem to
Sirius, Narcissa immediately dispatched a female house
elf named Tizzy to 'bolster' the elves in keeping an eye on
things. Tizzy would be entirely responsible for keeping an
eye on CeeCee at all times while she was out of the
apartment; and would also act as 'Ladies' Elf' to both
CeeCee and Tracey while in the apartment. The elf had no
other work to do once Narcissa had put Malfoy Manor into
stasis.
Tizzy was Narcissa's 'other' Ladies' Elf. She had two. The
first, she had with her at the Black Townhouse. Two other
elves were left at Malfoy Manor to keep things neat and
tidy; one for inside and one for the grounds.
Now that Fleur had started her new job at Gringotts - she
had to go in for the one day of work on the Friday, the day
before, as that was the 'first day of October' as stated by
the contract - she would not be able to tail CeeCee about
the school. Hence why the increase of their elf
'surveillance' at the school. She was even in on this day,
the Saturday, as she claimed she wanted to get a better
wandgrip on how to get about inside that area of Gringotts
that was 'Gringotts personnel only' before she returned on
the Monday morning.
"It is my responsibility not to get lost, mon cher," she'd
said. "But I will be back in plenty of time for one of your
dinners, yes?"
"You can do as you need or desire, Love," said Harry. "You
know that."
She'd returned as Harry was making a start on dinner for
that night.
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
In the afternoon, Harry was happily working in the kitchen
of the Potter Apartment while the girls were sitting at the
dining table and watching him through the doorway
between the two rooms. Today, he had Giggles in with him
as he showed her some of his cooking 'secrets'.
The girls had recently taken to doing assignments and
chatting at the dining table on Saturdays while Harry
worked. And were also often joined with one or more of
the girls from one of the other apartments; more often than
not 'plural', rather than 'single'.
What Harry was completely unaware of, this day, was that
they were quietly talking about matters that had nothing to
do with their school work. They were talking about matters
relating to the Tapestry Circle.
Occasionally, one of the girls would come in and watch for
a short time. But that was to assure themselves that Harry
wasn't paying any attention to what they were talking
about, more than watching him work.
Daphne quietly said, "The Aldermaston matriarch has put
her foot down with her son, Lord Aldermaston, and firmly
told him he's to find a way to terminate the current
betrothal agreement with House Monkleigh. Both are
pureblood houses from a long line of purebloods."
Susan, one of those present, winced and said, "I bet that
went down well."
"Unknown," said Daphne. "But, I doubt very much Lord
Aldermaston was happy."
"So, it's begun," said Hermione. "I'm surprised it was a
Grey family that started it, though."
Susan said, "I'm not surprised. The Aldermaston matriarch
is well known for being a real battle-axe. Plus, Lord
Aldermaston is a... as you would say... a bit of a 'woss'?"
"Wuss, yes," nodded Hermione. "I take it he fears her."
Daphne gave a slight snort and wryly said, "It is well
known in 'polite circles' Lord Aldermaston wouldn't go to
the toilet if his mother told him he wasn't allowed to."
"Any others?" asked Hermione.
Daphne nodded and replied, "Pressure is now starting to
be brought to bear right across the Houses of the Circle of
those who have children under relationship agreements
that have not yet been activated. Many are waiting to see
if Dowager Aldermaston is successful before they more
overtly act."
Hannah, also there, said, "Then it won't be too long before
the real reason for the Tapestry Circle becomes known
outside the Circle."
Hermione, thinking, quietly said, "With Dowager
Aldermaston making the first overt move we need to tell
Cissy it's time we start secretly informing some of our boys
the real reason for the Circle."
"Already?" asked Susan.
"Best we tell them in our own way," said Daphne, "Than
them find out from some Lord who used family magics to
force one of our members into releasing the information."
"How quickly will we need to move?" asked Hermione.
Daphne shrugged and replied, "Personally, I'd have rather
waited until Yule, at least. However, with Dowager
Aldermaston acting as quickly as she has, I don't think we
have the time. I don't think the Circle has the time."
Hannah said, "Something must have happened between
Houses Aldermaston and Monkleigh for her to jump the
duelling flag like this."
Daphne nodded and said, "Agnes Monkleigh started third
year in Slytherin this year. Something must have
happened there for her to jump."
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------------
Chapter 567
Hermione suddenly asked, "On an aside, do we have any
idea who Miss Monkleigh is betrothed to?"
"It'll be Dennis Aldermaston in sixth year," said Tracey.
"He's in Ravenclaw and Heir Secondary, I think, of the
House. His older brother Samuel, who graduated two
years ago, is Heir Primary."
"Let's write to Cissy and ask her what she thinks we
should do," said Hermione.
Fleur chose that moment to walk in from the kitchen. "'Arry
is doing something with pork skin I 'ave no idea why."
"What is he doing?" asked Hermione.
"'E's stripped it of fat, dried it, salted it and is layering it on
a rack in a baking tray to go into the oven."
Hermione thought about it and slowly grinned. "He's
making pork crackle. It sounds like we're having roast pork
for dinner."
"Yes," said Fleur. "He told me that is what we're having.
Plus, 'e's making a 'erb-infused tomato soup for starters
and a custard infused cake for afters."
Susan groaned a little and moaned, "There goes my
waistline again."
Hannah said, "You'll burn it off tomorrow in the Room of
Requirement."
The Heirs, on returning to the castle at the beginning of
the school year, also returned to training. They liked how it
made them fitter and more toned. And wanted to recover
what they'd lost while they were on break. Now they were
joined by CeeCee, who also preferred to stay fit. And she
now brought Natalie with her.
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
As the Heirs sat around the dining table that evening
enjoying Harry's delicious Pork dinner, Fleur was telling
them all about what it appeared it was going to be like
learning to be a cursebreaker under Gringotts' employ.
She'd covered most of what she was talking about on the
Friday night with the rest of the Potter 'apartmenthold'.
However, she'd learned even more about it while she was
at Gringotts that morning and early afternoon.
"There is a young man there," she said. "He has been
there for more than five years and is now considered one
of Gringotts rising stars in the field of cursebreaking. He
will be my main trainer.
"His name is Bill Weasley and he is the oldest boy of the
Weasley family you seem to know so well."
As Harry cocked an eyebrow in surprise, Hermione said, "I
thought he was supposed to be in Egypt."
Fleur snickered and said, "'E is often in Egypt, yes.
'Owever, most of the time 'e is 'ere in Britain. 'E begged
me to ask you not to tell his mother, or any other member
of his family really, that 'e does not spend most of his time
overseas."
"Why?" asked Daphne.
Before Fleur could answer, Harry did. "Because, if his
mother learned he was in wizarding Britain, she would
demand he live at The Burrow instead of... wherever he
does."
"Just so," said Fleur. "'E loves his mother but, according to
'im, she is a very difficult woman to live with."
"Molly Weasley wants and tries to believe that all her
'babies' are still small children," explained Harry. "That Bill,
for instance, is now well into his twenties is irrelevant to
her. He is still one of her babies and she's damned well
going to treat him as one."
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
After 'Confidential Tapestry Circle Correspondence'
between the female Heirs, Narcissa and Dorothy over the
next school fortnight, the females of the Heirs group were
finally 'permitted' to tell 'their boys' just what was the true
purpose of the Circle.
Narcissa believed it was only a matter of days before the
secret broke. Her law-wizard had already prepared press
statements that would go out as soon as he knew the
Daily Prophet had the story. No one, but he and his
informant though, knew he had an informant within the
type-set section of the Daily Prophet, who would
immediately let him know when 'anything of interest' was
about to be printed in the paper. He might only have about
twelve hours notice of the story breaking, but it was better
than none at all.
The girls then called the meeting of the Heirs for a
meeting in the Potter Apartment, as it was the largest of
the three. They also made sure that Ernie was invited; and
the boy was quick to accept and attend.
The meeting was held on the Friday evening, after dinner,
the day before the October meeting of the Grand Alliance.
Ernie was the last to arrive.
As he walked in, Harry said, "Excellent. We're all here."
Closing the door, he turned back to 'his' girls and asked
Hermione. "Alright, Hermione. You've got us all here. Now,
what's this about?"
Hermione gave a nod back, seemed to mentally fortify
herself and looked in general to the other Heirs. "Us ladies
have been given permission to tell you boys what the true
purpose of the Tapestry Circle is. That's because Narcissa
and a few others believe the story will break within the
next couple of days."
Frowning in annoyed confusion, Harry looked to the others
and noticed it was only himself, Neville, Justin and Ernie
who didn't seem to understand what was going on.
He said, "I've already figured out, I think, it has something
to do with the bloodlines. Am I right?"
When the other girls all looked back at him with surprised
shock, it was Daphne who recovered first and replied,
"That is correct. And, we should not be surprised you
figured at least that much out."
"Really?" asked Neville.
"Truly," replied Daphne.
Hermione sighed and said, "I guess us ladies should not
be surprised you figured that much out, Harry. Not
considering how much you've shown us all your powers of
deductive reasoning in the past."
Harry just lightly smirked.
She continued, "And that brings us to telling you boys
what the Tapestry Circle has been up to for these past few
months."
That led to the girls informing the boys what they knew
already and what was being done about it.
"So, what led you to telling us about this, now?" asked
Justin.
"Because certain members have started to overtly act in
stopping purebloods marrying purebloods," replied
Daphne. "That is, stopping purebloods being forced to
marry purebloods whose bloodlines are too closely linked
to their own."
"They do that?" asked Justin. "No wonder they're giving
birth to children with birth defects."
"And yet another example of a muggle-raised displaying
ready knowledge of the problem where a magical-raised
hasn't seen it," sighed Daphne.
--------------------------------------------
Chapter 568
"Yes," nodded Hermione, almost as if she was feeling yet
again vindicated.
She then went on to state how certain of the Dowagers and
younger mothers were no longer prepared to wait until they
were assured they'd not get obstruction to rectifying the
situation.
"They'd never get it," said Harry. "Even one hundred years
from now, there'll still be those who'll state the ladies of the
Tapestry Circle were stomping all over traditions."
"That was Mildred's... Dowager Aldermaston's... argument,"
said Susan. "And she was not prepared to let her grandson
marry a pureblood less than the now recommended minimal
five steps removed, which would mean the risk of birth
defects within any children they have being far too high."
Harry gave a snort of amusement and shook his head. "Five
steps still might not be enough. "
"It's the largest separation we could all agree on," said
Hermione. "Dorothy, Sarah and a few others said it might not
be enough, but too many members weren't prepared to go
any further. They believe there is no way for their children to
marry any further apart than that without marrying a
muggleborn or only a few available half-bloods."
"They could always choose spouses from overseas," he
shrugged.
"Even then, there's still the problem," she returned. "Many
headed overseas during Riddle's pogrom and Grindelwald the
time before him. So, there is still a significant number
overseas who do not meet the 'five removed' requirement."
He could see that in his mind and nodded. "Indeed," he
quietly said, still thinking.
When it appeared there was a gap in the conversation, Neville
asked, "Why did this start? What triggered it?"
"CeeCee being born with defects and then that talk..." that's
when Hermione, who was answering, realised Neville and a
couple others weren't at the discussion or hadn't necessarily
been told about it that started this. "Sorry; it was a discussion
at Black Townhouse between the Wilkinses, Narcissa Malfoy
and a few others.
"Dorothy used to be a pædiatric nurse... a medi-witch with a
focus on children's health. And Sarah is currently studying
Nursing at University with a view to also become a nurse like
her mother used to be.
"Part of the studies in medicine... muggle healing... deals with
what is known as genetics. That is, the traits that are in your
very cells that are passed down from fathers and mothers to
their children, then their children onto their children's
children and so on. It's why, for instance, Harry has his
mother's eyes and the Potter's unruly messy black hair.
"The problem is, new blood needs to constantly be introduced
to the bloodlines from bloodlines that haven't... or, in this
case, at least haven't for a while... been in the bloodline. It's
when that doesn't happen, you get birth defects; including
squibbing."
Harry piped up and said, "That's why Dumbledore, Riddle and,
to some extent, me have all been quite powerful. All three of
us are half-bloods who were born of a long bloodline of what
were, until then, purebloods and a muggleborn; or, in Riddle's
case, a muggle.
"The introduction of new blood, completely untainted with
genetic markers of the other bloodlines that had already been
blended into the pureblood bloodline at some point, went a
great deal into explaining why the three of us have all had
quite so much power. And, yes, Neville; that includes you
somewhat, too."
"My grandmother on my mother's side," sighed Neville. "And
that's why Mum was... is... quite powerful."
"Yep," said Harry. "And it blended over to you."
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
The meeting of the Alliance the next day had quite a few
unhappy males and somewhat smug witches.
The whole thing just amused Harry.
"Can you believe this?" Phineas Puvingson asked Frederick
(not Fred) Bardhall. Clearly, the man was not a little disgusted.
They'd been talking about the 'bombshell' dropped on them
by their spouses and, in Bardhall's case, his adult daughter.
Harry just listened in, amused.
When Bardhall didn't seem to be all that bothered about it,
Puvingson turned his attention on Harry. "What about you,
Harrison? You head a noble House. Doesn't this bother you?"
"The only thing that bothers me, Phineas, is that wizarding
Britain, since they're so high and mighty about the bloodlines,
didn't know this centuries ago," he replied. "Merlin; ask any
farmer who raises creatures, especially mammals, and they
would tell you that failing to introduce new blood by way of
sourcing studs for your flocks or herds from far away is a
recipe for disaster."
Looking the other man more fully in the eye he asked,
"Haven't you ever wondered why the number of squibs and
stillbirths born to purebloods have been steadily rising for so
long?"
Puvingson just threw his hand in the air and said, "Bah! You're
one of them! Why fix what ain't broke?"
"Because it is broke," Harry immediately shot back. "That's
why it's so urgent to fix!"
During the meeting, Narcissa laid out the parchmentwork she
had collected that proved the danger of having sons and
daughters of long-time established British pureblood Houses
marry the daughters and sons of other long-time established
British pureblood Houses. Many of the Heads were
immediately somewhat up in arms about their 'rights' as
Heads of Houses being taken from them, until she was at least
halfway through her presentation.
By the end of it, though, almost all of them were horrified.
Puvingson ended up being the only holdout until the other
wives - he was a widower - rounded on him and practically
accused him of being a 'baby-killer'. He pulled his head back in
pretty quickly after that.
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
Of course, the shocks, outrage and denials that came from the
members of the Alliance were nothing compared to the
response of the Members of the Wizengamot.
The story broke in the Weekend Daily Prophet on the Sunday.
And Harry was one who believed it had to be someone in the
Alliance who leaked it; maybe Puvingson, but he doubted it -
too obvious.
He'd contacted Frank almost immediately after reading the
article, only to find that Frank had the same belief and was
already trying to ferret out the 'squealer', as he put it.
"It had to be Phineas Puvingson," he declared. "He was the
only one who voiced his disagreement by the end of the
session."
"Maybe," said Harry. "However, my money's on Cyril
MacMillan. Puvingson is the too obvious culprit. Besides, he's
loyal to the Alliance; whereas Cyril MacMillan... not so much."
Frank gave a grunt of annoyance and said, "Yeah. I can see
that."
Then he sighed and said, "I'll put it to the next meeting of the
Alliance and see if someone will own up to it."
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------------
Chapter 569
Harry shrugged and said, "And if someone does? It's
pointless asking for the culprit to out themselves if
you aren't willing to issue sanctions against them."
Frank thought about it for a few moments before he
grumbled, "Damn it. You're right."
"Say that you believe it was a member House of the
Alliance that leaked it, whether directly or indirectly, to
the Daily Prophet and you're not happy about it."
"Yeah," said Frank. "Then tell them all you and I feel
it's a betrayal of the secrecy of the Alliance to have
released the information."
"And Sirius," added Harry. "Hell, talk to the other
senior Houses and see if they agree."
Frank nodded and said, "I can do that. Good idea."
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
However, the Wizengamot were all still up in their
wands about the information brought to light by
Dowager Malfoy and 'her' Tapestry Circle. Some even
wanted the information placed under a High Secret
embargo. Of course, almost all of them were of dark
families.
The Wizengamot session had the second largest
number of non-Members attend the session as
visitors in the visitors' gallery Harry had seen since
Dumbledore's trial. And almost all of them were
witches.
Finally, Harry rose, got the call and said, "Thank you,
Chief Warlock, for allowing the House of Potter to air
their views on this matter."
Looking about, he firmly said, "You cannot put the
boggart back in the cupboard. The information is now
out and widely disseminated. It was in the Daily
Prophet, for Merlin's sake!
"Personally, I have no problem with those of you
willing to go against your ladies and maintain your
current practices. However, I'm informing you now, do
not attempt to approach the House of Potter for a
Betrothal or Concubine Bond agreement in the future.
You will be automatically turned away.
"I will not willingly place at risk my children,
grandchildren and further to the emotional and
psychological pain that comes from losing a child or
children to the horrors of birth defects or stillbirths,
when it is so easy for me to greatly reduce that
chance. The evidence presented by Dowager Malfoy
cannot be logically refuted.
"For those of you who will illogically stick to your
broken wands, I will simply sit back and watch as your
Houses die out, then join others in picking the
carcasses of your Houses clean of all assets. For
dying out due to excessive inbreeding will clearly be
the fate of them.
"Anyone remember the House of Gaunt? What about
Peverell? Those two are only two of many who bred
themselves into extinction. Many other Houses
represented here today are already teetering on the
edge. All I and others have to do is sit back and watch
you kill your own Houses off.
"You sit there and make claims of 'It's tradition!' and
'It's our right!' and I can only agree with you. However,
the House of Potter will not join you in your attempts
to commit mass multi-generational suicide.
"I can see no laws will yet be passed as a result of
this, though I firmly believe they should be. Far too
many of you remain too ignorant and stupid to make it
come to pass. In my opinion no one, but a complete
daft moron, could do other than recognise the great
risk they take by bonding their long-time British
pureblood children with the long-time British
pureblood children of other Houses and immediately
engage in moves to ensure it does not happen to
theirs.
"The Tapestry Circle has done one thing that no one
has been able to do for a great many centuries. It has
the almost unanimous support of members from right
across the Dark and Light, Traditional and Non,
Pureblood and Muggleborn, Noble and Not and
generational unmarked lines. Your mothers,
grandmothers, aunts, sisters, wives, daughters and
granddaughters are united in this!
"Look around you! Even here in the Wizengamot I
cannot see one witch who is against this. Look around
you! Even now, many of them wear the 'TC' lapel pin
that shows they are active members of the Tapestry
Circle. They would not be members of the Circle if
they did not agree that this is a long-term disaster
made clear. Look around you! And see the hate of
mothers who have birthed children with birth defects,
squibs and stillborns directed at you for your contrary
stance. Look opposite into the visitors' gallery! And
see the sheer number of witches who have come to
see if the Wizengamot is willing to act as it should.
"It was made clear to me by a close friend that, while I
rule the House, it is my ladies who rule the home. I am
not a daft moron. I have no idea whether or not the
couch in my home office is comfortable or not to
sleep upon. I have no intention of finding out by being
forced to sleep upon it by a spouse or bonded who is
upset with me. I also know that if my wife deems I am
to sleep on the couch, my concubine bonded will not
welcome me into their beds either.
"I already know to never get between a mother and
her eggs, her cubs, her kittens, her offspring. The
same applies to their health. There is a reason they
chose nesting mother dragons for the First Task of the
Tri-wizard Tournament. Getting between a mother and
her children would have to rank right up there with
being the most dangerous place in existence!
"If you choose to go against taking steps to reduce
the number of children lost to magical Britain through
excessive inbreeding, I will not stop you. I'll be much
too busy laughing at your very-soon-to-be misfortune
when the ladies of your House get you in private,
before I begin making plans what I intend to do with
the remains of your House.
"There's an old muggle saying: 'You made your beds,
now you have to sleep on them.' Or, in this case, not
sleep in them.
"Chief Warlock Ogden, the House of Potter thanks you
for the opportunity to present its views on this
matter."
He sat down and was shocked by what happened
next.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------------
Chapter 570
About three seconds after Harry sat down from his
impassioned 'speech', before Ogden even had a
chance to bang his gavel to call on the next speaker,
almost every witch in the visitors' gallery, together
with many in the tiers of the Members, surged to their
feet in loud and raucous applause and cheering
approbation. It was not too much longer before many
of the menfolk in the tiers also rose in applause,
though some were obviously reluctant to do so.
With Harry shocked in surprise Ogden let it go on for
almost a full minute before he began to bang his gavel
to recover control. It took another two minutes before
he got it. Even the witches on the 'Mot took at least a
further minute before they sat.
Once he had relative silence again, he gave his throat
a little clear and said, "Yes... well... Any further
speakers?"
Harry could see there were quite a few unhappy
members of the Dark... all male... who really wanted to
speak in support of the emergency resolution.
However, there were none who were both Dark and
stupid enough to stand to speak 'for'.
"In that case," said Ogden. "With no further speakers
for, we'll move to the vote.
"All those in support of the emergency resolution to
have the information pertaining to the rise of birth
defects and similar in pureblood infants suppressed,
vote now."
Only five wands were raised. And one of those
immediately withdrew when he heard a snarl come
from one of the witches nearby.
"All those against, vote now."
Almost every other wand rose.
That led to cheering coming from the visitors' gallery.
It took another two minutes of trying to get control of
the meeting again before Ogden was able to call, "The
emergency resolution has lost by more than a three
quarter majority."
More cheering, but it didn't last as long.
Finally, Ogden was able to sigh and say, "Next item of
business, please."
As someone rose to speak on the issue of being
slandered in the Daily Prophet, Sirius leaned over to
Harry and quietly said, "You do realise, do you not,
that you've now given someone the opportunity to
actually draft legislation to make it illegal to marry or
concubine someone who has up to and including the
same 'three times' great grandparent, don't you?"
"Yes," Harry just as quietly replied with a smirk.
"However, it cannot be me. I just spoke about how
House Potter is quite prepared to sit back and watch
those against the idea drive themselves to extinction."
Sirius grinned and said, "No. I believe the House of
Black will be putting forth its first piece of legislation
in over a decade and a half. After your speech, I think
it's an easy pass."
Harry just nodded back. "And that way you show the
Alliance you're definitely of the Light."
Sirius looked a little surprised before he smirked
back. "I hadn't thought of that, but you're right."
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
When Harry flooed back to school halfway through the
double of Transfiguration, he just quietly returned to
the Potter apartment, changed and made his way to
his class. Professor Biffingwater knew and
understood that on the third Tuesday of the month,
Harry had to attend 'parliament' and would attend
when he could.
It wasn't until lunch when a completely impatient
Hermione, almost bouncing in her seat on the bench
at the Gryffindor table, glared at him with gritted teeth
and quietly demanded, "Tell me."
Harry sighed, gave her a disappointed look and said,
"There's not much to tell. Mulciber tried to pass an
emergency resolution to have the information listed
as a High Secret and illegal to speak about. It lost.
"As for what else happened and why, that can wait
until after classes."
Hermione sat back in clear relief and nodded. "Thank
you."
Daphne quietly asked, "By how much?"
He grinned and replied, "By more than three
quarters."
She grinned in happiness and said, "With that big a
margin, the matter cannot be raised again for more
than a year."
Harry smirked back and nodded.
The 'Dark' had really screwed up bringing the matter
to the Wizengamot as an emergency resolution. That it
had lost by such a wide margin meant that they
couldn't even raise it again, even as a Bill, for twelve
months. However, a Bill in the opposite direction
could be raised as soon as the next session in four
weeks, on the sixteenth of November. It could then
become a Statute at the December session, five weeks
later, and a few days before Christmas.
"Now, wouldn't that be a nice Christmas present to the
witches of magical Britain from the House of Black,"
he softly murmured.
"Pardon?" asked Hermione.
Harry hadn't even realised that he said out loud what
he'd been thinking.
"Sorry," he replied. "Just voicing my thoughts out
loud. I'll explain more, once we're back in the
apartment."
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
Ron Weasley had been working hard on getting better
and better at the charms and curses in his small
collection of Dark Arts books 'gifted' him by
Caracticus Nott. However, his plan to deal with Potter
just after the completion of the first month had to be
quickly tossed out the window. He hadn't taken into
consideration the sheer amount of assignments, or
the extra class period each day, when he arrived back
at Hogwarts.
Now he was looking to take his nemesis out around
Hallowe'en. That's when he smiled and thought, 'Why
not Hallowe'en itself? Potter was always getting into
trouble on that day, often dragging others into danger.
Besides, that day was a Sunday, this year. A day when
people weren't concentrating as much, were more
relaxed.'
"Now that he believes all his enemies have been
defeated," he muttered. "He won't be expecting an
attack."
Decision reached and with a smile on his face,
Weasley set to with increasing both his speed of
casting and being as silent as possible. Of course,
he'd also have a disillusionment charm on himself at
the time. Now he just had to find the place where he'd
have both the greatest chance of taking Potter out and
best chance of escaping capture and punishment for
his actions from the idiots who didn't realise, or
wouldn't accept, that he was in the right.
He knew just who to set up to take the fall, too - either
the Malfoy or Greengrass bitches. The Davis bitch
wouldn't be a bad choice, either. She was, after all, yet
another slimy snake Slytherin.