:)Ch62

There was no rush for chairs as men and women leisurely took a place at the table and settled themselves down in comfort before giving their full attention to their Chief Warlock.

"Chief Warlock, might I bring something to your attention before we proceed?" A woman asked primly.

"It is unusual, but I shall let your interruption stand, Madam Wilkes."

"I just wanted to draw attention to the fact that it is ten o'clock at night and there is a sixteen-year-old in our midst on a school night." Harry looked at the frizzy-haired witch, the same utter bitch who had voted against him when he'd been illegally given a full trial for a mere case of underaged magic, all thanks to Fudge. He really hated this woman.

"Pardon me?" Harry said in the stunned silence that followed. "I am a member of this Wizengamot. I hold two seats and regardless of what time it is, or on what night, I am required to be here despite my age. I would wholeheartedly suggest, Madam Wilkes, that you leave my business to me. I do not appreciate the input, least of all from the likes of you."

The witch was blushing to the roots of her very frizzy hair and Harry felt more than he saw Lucius and Xerxes' smirks. He got the feeling that they were both very happy with him and with how he'd conducted himself, as well as what he'd just said. "You may be able to talk the talk, Madam Wilkes, but you cannot walk the walk." Albert Runcorn said spitefully. "Please refrain from making such ridiculous observations in this room. If you do not like the way that this Ministry is run, then kindly leave it. Perhaps then we might get down to why we have actually been called here."

Harry had to hide his smile, especially when all he wanted to do was laugh. Some of the other members sniggered, but none of them laughed and neither Lucius nor Xerxes laughed or smiled, so Harry emulated them both and he kept himself composed and still. He promised himself that he would laugh about this later, once he was in private.

"Now, this emergency meeting has been called because a wizard in Kent has decided to go on a drunken traipse through a muggle city, firing off his wand and his mouth." Runcorn sighed. "The Obliviators have already been called in, but there is no telling how many people overheard him or who they told in turn, but the Obliviators have done their jobs as best as they can and the wizard in question is in custody."

"This is completely unacceptable!" One of the lords burst out, his face already reddening. "These were no secret affairs or bastard children that he was spilling, none of the information was personal to himself. These secrets affect us all, could endanger us all!"

"The man was drunk…"

"It shouldn't matter if he was drunk or not!" Another lord burst out, a vein throbbing in his neck. "This is a serious breach of the Statute of Secrecy! This imbecile should be held fully accountable for his actions!"

"I fully agree! Alcohol abuse should not rule him out of answerability of this heinous crime!"

Harry sat and he listened intently. This debate could go one of two ways and it was all down to the Wizengamot and which way they voted that would determine the future of the wizard in question.

It took hours upon hours of back and forth debating, some insisting that as alcohol lowered inhibitions that the man couldn't be held accountable for his actions, but others were adamant that despite how intoxicated the man was that he should still be held responsible for his actions and for the danger that he had put the entire wizarding world in. Harry was getting incredibly tired and slightly irritable as the same arguments were repeated over and over, being slightly reworded each time, yet no one was giving a definitive opinion or solution to the problem.

"Does anyone else have an opinion that they would like to share?" Runcorn asked, wide awake and still alert and sat stiff-backed in his chair, despite how long this meeting had already taken. "He had drunk two full bottles of vintage Firewhiskey, he could barely walk in a straight line. The muggles have been Obliviated, I say that we let Mister Jute sober up, pay a fine and then we let this matter go."

"I disagree, Lord Edgecombe." Harry said softly, he was very tired and he couldn't help feeling nervous as everyone in the room turned to stare at him. This was the first time that he was expressing an opinion on this matter, a matter that was very much in the grey area of the law and neither Lucius nor Xerxes had said anything in this meeting yet either. "This is a very serious breach of the Statute of Secrecy and it cannot be brushed off with a mere fine and a slap on the wrist. Perhaps if he hadn't been firing off spells as well as shouting the odds about the wizarding world. The latter could be explained away as his alcoholism, or even mental health issues, the former cannot be ignored nor rationalised as the ramblings of a drunken fool. He damaged six cars and several buildings and injured two people. The DMLE had to wipe out footage from over a hundred surveillance cameras and they had to fix so much damage before any more muggles saw them and had to be Obliviated on top of the thirty-nine muggles who had already been Obliviated because of this matter. The two people who were hit with his spells are still in Saint Mungo's and they're not only being treated magically, but they are scared and have no clue what is going on, which could possibly cause deep psychological trauma that could reoccur given the right trigger. This cannot be brushed under the carpet and vintage Firewhiskey or not, this man had the responsibility of protecting the Statute of Secrecy. The same responsibility that each and every single one of us have to our world. This is our secret to keep and Mister Jute should have known better than to go drinking Firewhiskey in a muggle city. He should not be excused from his serious lack of judgement. My vote is for this matter to be put to the Minister and to trial. My vote is for an Azkaban sentence."

"You cannot be serious!" One wizard exploded.

"I knew you were just a child!" Another shouted out. "A mere child playing at being a man. You shouldn't be here and you shouldn't be allowed two votes in such serious, adult matters!"

Harry held himself still and stoic, he forced himself not to react, but inside he was a quivering wreck at being confronted in such a way. Having his opinion ripped to pieces and scrutinised and then ultimately being told that he was wrong, that his thoughts and opinions were wrong and didn't matter because of his age knocked all of his confidence. It had him running through everything that he had heard tonight and everything that he had said, questioning everything, thinking back to all of the books that he'd read, all of the things that Lucius, and even Xerxes, had taught him and he pulled into himself as he realised that perhaps he hadn't been ready to voice his opinion on grey areas as much as he'd thought he was.

"Are you going to sink so low as to pull Lord Potter-Black's age into this matter once more just to try and gain precedence for your own opinion?"

Harry looked to Lord Dawson Shacklebolt, and seriously hadn't that been a massive surprise, and he took a calming breath as the man's words sunk in and he realised what was actually going on. This was all politics. He hadn't done or said anything wrong at all, those bastards had just been trying to make him, and everyone else, think that he'd said something wrong in order to push their own points of view across to the Wizengamot. The fucking underhanded bastards.

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