A Looming Crisis

"Amelia I like you as a friend and even minister but please don't ask me to support something that actively encourages bigotry, every student at the Institute pays the same fees and every single item in the building was purchased locally with the same price being charged for everyone."

A bemused Tonks had no idea what Harry was alluding to and asked him to explain, when he did it made her blood boil.

"At our best guess the Grangers were being charged twelve times the fees of someone like Malfoy, they were also being charged extra for every item they bought in the alley as the pureblood families all get discounts. We are currently withholding printing this news as our priority has always been to take down Voldemort and we don't need this distracting us from that goal."

Amelia had become aware of this since becoming minister and Susan attending the Institute but the other three were furious.

"Does that mean my father would have been overcharged for me attending Hogwarts?" Tonks asked.

It was Hermione who answered, "As he is a muggle born the answer would almost certainly be yes but that's not even the worst of it, the curriculum at Hogwarts has been 'dumbed down' because the purebloods were struggling with the harder aspects and being continually out performed by people beneath their station. The OWL's and NEWT's sat here will be the more difficult European version."

This was news to Amelia who could only shake her head at the disaster waiting to happen she'd inherited from Fudge.

Harry summed their problem up nicely, "to get the best teachers and facilities costs a fair bit of gold, the purebloods wont pay the price as their children usually just trade on the family name for positions or to set up a suitable marriage. Without the rest of us in Britain to subsidise their lifestyle I don't see how it can continue, it won't happen overnight but if businesses continue to offer subsidies without the other customers there to offset losses then they won't be in business for long. We suspect Hogwarts may be amongst the first casualties and take no pleasure from that fact, the Institute is bursting at the seams and our only required entry qualification is that they don't support bigotry."

The four people who left the Institute to return to the British ministry all had a lot on their minds, none of them could fault the Potters for what they were doing. The purebloods had looked after their own interests for centuries so how could they complain when someone started taking care of the rest of the wizarding world? Each of them was also certain that there would be uproar when they found out what was happening, fair play was a fine ideal as long as you were the one that was winning and the purebloods wouldn't take this lying down.

...

Cho Chang was sitting in the Ravenclaw common room writing a letter to Cedric, the headmaster seemed to be trying to cheer them up by announcing a visit to Hogsmead on Halloween. The other schools would be arriving in two days and a feast was planned for that night, now the following day had a trip to Hogsmead and their traditional Halloween feast would be the precursor for choosing the champions. Cho couldn't care less; it was the thought of seeing Cedric in three days that had her smiling. All she could hope for was that Harry would allow him to come; spending Halloween in Hogsmead with Cedric would be so romantic.

...

Wormtail was for once a happy rat, as he made his way across the grounds heading for the forest to apparate back with the good news. The old fool had played right into their hands, it would be a much easier task to take the Weasley boy from Hogsmead than trying to spirit him out the castle. He was also happy that Granger's ugly Kneazle was no longer about, that beast nearly had him on more than one occasion. His master would have his new body on Halloween and Peter would love to see someone ask the Dark Lord to raise his sleeve, now that would be something worth watching and a change from him being on the receiving end of his masters wand.

....

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