Granger House - July 3, 2005
Sunday after church the Grangers all gathered at their dining room table. Hermione was confused about what her parents wanted to talk about, but she had seen this as an opportunity to get her parents acting properly. She was still furious about them allowing her to be punished during the school year.
The mind healer appointments hadn't been too bad, it had just given her a chance to explain what everyone was doing wrong, but she still thought they were foolish. She could have used that time for research or working on the laws she was making.
Her parents apparently needed to be reminded that as her parents they were supposed to be on her side. Not only because they were her parents, but also because she was right. How dare her parents let her be punished for something that wasn't her fault?
Sitting down Hermione pulled out her notebook that she had been using to keep track of all of the problems she was having with her parents actions as well as her arguments. She had no intention of letting her parents think for even a second that she wasn't going to hold them accountable for their actions. They had always told her that if someone is bad then they deserved to be punished, it was Gods law.
"Mother, Father, I think there are many things we need to discuss." Hermione said in a solemn tone, trying to stare down her parents.
"I really must agree." Howard said. He was frustrated to see Hermione not showing any respect towards them, she was acting like she was the parent and not them. How had they let things get so out of control?
"Why don't you start." Jean said, wanting to give Hermione a chance to prove that she was growing up.
Hermione flipped to the right page in her journal. "Well, to start off there was how you aloud Professor Black to punish me when I had done nothing wrong. When I told you what had happened you assured me that you would deal with it, but you didn't. You lied to me. You said that you would deal with it and instead did nothing.
No, you did worse than do nothing. You allowed me to suffer. I was restricted from accessing the library whenever I wanted, I wasn't aloud to go to Hogsmeade, I wasn't aloud to attend the last triwizard event, and I was forced to stay in my common room and dorm during my free time.
How could you allow that to happen to your only child? You met with Professor Black and just allowed him to walk all over you. As my parents it is your job to protect me. You abandoned me when I needed you.
Then there is the mind healer appointment. There was and is no need for it. I'm not the one with the problem. While it wasn't too bad, it was still highly inconvenient and you bare the responsibility for that.
But, the most important issue that I feel we need to address is your complete lack of respect for me. I am your daughter, you should always be on my side. I have done nothing wrong, yet I am continuously being punished and now even my own parents are turning against me."
Howard and Jean just stared at their daughter for a moment. They really had made mistakes.
"Well… What do you have to say for your selves?" Hermione huffed.
"I think we are both a little shocked by this." Jean said softly, still surprised.
Howard sat up straight and got ready to remind his daughter of the way the world worked. "Like you, your mother and I have worked up a list of things that we felt we needed to address with you. I think it would be best if we went through each thing one at a time and we can have discussions in between. You will not speak until we finish, we listened to you, now you have to listen to us."
They waited until Hermione agreed to allow them to speak without interrupting before Howard continued.
"I think the first thing we need to make crystal clear is our positions in this family. You, Hermione Jean Granger, are not in charge. Your mother and I are the adults, you are the child. We have always allowed you a rather large amount of leeway, mainly due to our own misconception of your maturity level, but you are not the boss, never have been, never will be."
Hermione was furious. "How dare you speak to me like that? Mum, tell him. He has no right to be so rude to me."
Jean was a little shocked at how Hermione thought she was in the right. "Hermione, I am in complete agreement with your father. You are not in charge. Like he said, we let you get away with as much as we did because we honestly trusted you to be mature enough to handle the responsibilities we gave you.
We have learned our mistake now, so you can expect things to change. You have proven that you are not the mature well mannered daughter we had thought we were raising, and are instead a spoiled little girl. That stops now."
"I am mature." Hermione screamed at her parents, going red in the face.
"If you were mature you wouldn't be throwing a fit that a toddler would be jealous of. If you want to be treated like a grown up, then you have to act like one." Howard snapped at his daughter.
"One of the biggest things we will no longer tolerate is your lying…" Jean started.
"I don't lie." Hermione growled, intentionally not screaming. She didn't want to give her parents a reason to say she was immature.
"Yes, you do apparently. Over the last four years your father and I have heard all about the unfair treatment you have been suffering, only to learn that it hasn't occurred."
"Yes it has." Hermione whined as she forced herself to tear up. "I'm bullied and picked on because I'm not a pure blood. The teachers mark me down and don't treat me fairly."
"Hermione that is enough." Jean said in a cold voice. It was hard, as a mother she wanted to stop her daughters tears, but she knew that this was just dramatics designed to get her sympathy. "Professor Black showed us what has been going on for the past four years. Can you imagine just how surprised and ashamed we were when we saw what you had been doing.
Your father and I were ready to press charges for discrimination based on what you had told us. Only to learn you had been lying. Stealing a book from someone and then using it to hit them because you want it has nothing to do with your blood status. Shoving students into walls because they have different opinions than you has nothing to do with your blood status. And, shoving a girl down a flight of stairs that hadn't said a word and was trying to walk away most certainly has nothing to do with your blood status.
You, Hermione Jean Granger, are a bully. And you spent years lying to us and saying you were the victim. When you attack anyone, whether it be with your words or you body, it is wrong and you deserve to be punished.
We are done with your lies. We will be double checking any punishments and their causes with your teachers from now on since we clearly can't trust what you say. It is an unfortunate thing, but you have lost our trust, and it is going to take you a long time to earn it back."
"And that leads us to another issue. Your bullying." Howard carried on before Hermione could react. He knew that they only had so much time before it was too much for the girl and she threw a complete fit. "We watched memory after memory of what you have done, and do you know what we noticed… You started it.
You have always told us that you only responded to people that were already bullying you, but now I am questioning if that was ever the truth. Watching those memories and comparing them to what you had told us the only conclusion one could draw was that you thought another person simply breathing while being anywhere near you was an excuse for you to attack."
"It wasn't like that." Hermione whined. This wasn't good. Why had Professor Black showed them memories, now she was going to have to work around the clearly biased views they had been shown.
"And that's just it Hermione. It is. We saw the memories. But, even more, based on all the times we now know you have lied to us, we don't trust you." Jean shook her head sadly.
"But you have to believe me." Hermione demanded. "I'm your daughter. You have to be on my side."
"No." Howard said. "We are your parents. It is our job to teach you how to be a functioning member of society. You do understand that you could have killed that girl when you pushed her down the stairs. Whether you meant it or not, you could have gone to prison, and you would have deserved it. We will not let you carry on the way you have been. From this point on, you are going to learn how to behave properly."
"I am done listening to this." Hermione screamed at her parents. "It was an accident, that was it. Maybe if she wasn't such a freak it wouldn't have happened."
"She did nothing wrong." Jean said in shock. "We saw what happened, she never even said a word to you or the other girl with you. You attacked an innocent girl. You were in the wrong. And don't you take that tone with your father or I young lady. Honour thy father and thy mother."
"Shut up." Hermione screamed. "I am going to go to my room until dinner. You had better think about how you are treating me. Maybe you will stop being so stupid by then. Call me when dinner is ready."
Both Howard and Jean stared as their daughter stormed up to her room.
"Just let her calm down." Jean held her husband back when he went to follow their daughter when they heard the door slam.
"She can't get away with that. It sends the wrong message."
"She won't. But right now she is just too angry to listen. We will finish this talk during dinner."
Hermione spent the next few hours doing nothing and everything. She was just so angry that she couldn't focus. First she had started trying to do her summer assignments, but had been so angry her hand had shaken so much she couldn't write properly. Sometimes she regretted that she still refused to use pens and instead insisted on using quills and an open pot of ink.
Then she had tried reading, that hadn't gone any better. She had almost ripped the pages as she flipped through in anger. Then she had tried writing to Ron and Ginny, but had stopped when she remembered the quill issue that had stopped her homework effort.
The only thing she managed to do consistently was imagine all the different ways her parents would apologize to her for their foolishness. They would have to beg for her forgiveness, but Hermione knew what they could give her to make up for it. She had a catalog of new books coming out over the summer and she had already gone through and had over three dozen books that she wanted that she was going to make her parents get her.
When she heard her mum call her down for dinner, she stopped to look in the mirror. It wouldn't do to look too smug, so she schooled her expression into one of calm disinterest.
They all ate their dinner in near complete silence. Everyone seemed to think food was important enough to hold to a temporary truce until after.
Once dinner was done and the table had been cleared Jean pulled out the different paperwork that she and Howard had spent the last few months preparing.
"Now, Hermione, I do hope you have calmed down enough to carry on with more dignity." Howard said.
Jean huffed slightly as she gave her husband a look, passive aggressiveness would do them no good. "Hermione, one thing your father and I wished to speak with you about was your grades."
Hermione saw as her mother laid out her most recent report card. "What is there to speak about? Mostly A's. You've never had a problem with that before."
Jean just looked at her daughters too sweet smile. "I think we all know we would have had a problem if we had gotten the entire thing."
Hermione froze as her mum laid out the coversheet with the grading breakdown next to the report. She had used magic to unseal the envelope and gotten rid of that sheet before resealing it.
"We had your head of house, Professor Black, enchant this sheet so that if it was removed from your report card and thrown away it would appear on the counter. Not that throwing it away would have helped you since we had a full explanation about the marking scheme Hogwarts uses from the school board members that came to see us." Jean just stared her daughter down.
Hermione couldn't help but fidget. Sure, technically she had been lying to her parents about the grading scheme, but it wasn't her fault. The teachers just weren't fair. And she was going to make sure her parents knew it.
"The teachers aren't fair. They always mark me down for some stupid reason or another. They won't listen to me. And whenever I answer their questions I get in trouble. It isn't my fault."
"Hermione, do you remember our earlier discussion about lying?" Howard questioned. "Your mother and I have been getting weekly updates on your class work and assignments. According to Professor Black you finished the year ranked 4th in your house, and 37th over all. I am actually surprised you managed to do as well as you did."
"Hermione, when a teacher gives you an assignment, you need to do that assignment, not one that you make up. You can't expect to get grades for work that you didn't do." Jean tried to explain. "As your father and I are in charge here, your teachers are in charge at the school. What they say goes."
"But they give us stupid assignments." Hermione muttered.
"It doesn't matter if you like what you are assigned or not, you have to do it anyway. That is how you get grades in school, by doing school work." Howard sighed. "Then there is your practicals. Hermione, practice is important. They aren't telling you to practice for their own good, but yours.
Do you remember when you were first learning how to write and you had a book that we made you write your letters in over and over until you got them right? Do you remember how much you hated it and told us it was a waste of your time? But we made you do it, and in the end you learned how to write properly every time.
That is what your teachers are doing. They are trying to help you learn to do the spells right every time, not just occasionally."
"I got the spells." Hermione crossed her arms.
"After a few tries you managed it once, but that isn't enough. We were told that you need to get it right on the first casting to get full marks during your exams. That is one thing that is dragging down your grades. Because you don't practice it takes you a few tries to get the spell right and each attempt costs you more points." Jean told her, seeing the slight shock in her eyes. It seemed Hermione hadn't even bothered to look at the grading outlines if she had missed that, it was clearly outlined in how their tests were marked.
"And about your getting in trouble for answering questions in class, you need to raise your hand and wait to be called on." Howard told her.
"But I'm the only one that knows the answers." Hermione was getting annoyed again.
"Obviously not given your ranking. Other students clearly know the answers too." Howard told her. "You are not the only student that has the right to answer questions. Everyone deserves a chance. Shouting out over everyone doesn't make you look smart, it makes you look ignorant."
"Hermione, we want what is best for you, and because of that things are going to be changing around here." Jean warned her daughter.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Hermione was worried now. This wasn't going how she had planned. She didn't want things to change.
"Your mother and I have had many long discussions about how we were going to correct our mistakes with you. The first thing we have decided is a combination punishment and learning experience.
As a result of your lying and bullying we don't feel we can trust you home alone often, so you will be coming with us to the office Monday to Wednesday. You will be working with our secretary. It will teach you about the responsibilities of a job.
The good thing for you is that we have decided you will be paid for your work. This is to teach you the value of money. Over the years we have always bought you whatever you wanted, that is ending. We will pay for your schooling and school supplies, but you will have to pay for any extras."
Jean saw the horrified look on her daughters face but decided to continue to get it all over with. "To teach you a little humility and compassion for others you will be spending Thursday volunteering at the homeless shelter that the church funds."
"I don't want to work with them, They're all gross and weird." Hermione had a disgusted look on her face. "It isn't my fault they have nothing. They can only blame themselves. Maybe if they quit drinking they wouldn't be homeless. I can't believe that you think I will work with people like that."
"That is enough young lady." Jean gave her daughter a hard look. "This isn't up for debate. You will be doing it.
You do not know why they are homeless, and it is unfair to judge them without even knowing them. Many homeless people are veterans or the mentally ill. It isn't their fault our system of government has failed them. You have never worked a day in your life, so don't pretend that you are better than them. The only difference is that your father and I have worked long and hard to ensure you had everything you wanted. Not everyone is as lucky as you.
Now… You will have Fridays and the rest of the weekends off."
"Is that everything you think you will be doing?" Hermione asked in a challenging voice.
"Not quite." Howard continued. "You are going to be required to earn extra privileges like going to Diagon Alley or to your friends. To earn those privileges you are going to have to do assignments your mum and I have created."
Howard pushed forward a stack of paper that he and Jean had used to write up different assignments. They had made sure that their expectations were very specific and had used similar layouts to the assignments Hermione had been struggling with at school.
"Each of these are based on the books you have in your room. Our expectations are clearly shown. If you want to earn the privilege you want, then you will have to do these assignments as they are written, not how ever you want. If you do not follow the instructions we have given then you will not be able to do what it is that you want until after you do it correctly. Of course you will also have to work around your mind healer appointments, which will be every Friday afternoon. Either your father or I will be taking the afternoons off to make sure you get there." Jean told Hermione as Hermione flipped through the pages of assignments.
"No." Hermione said as she looked up from the pages to glare at her parents.
"Either you can follow our rules, or things will get a lot tougher for you young lady. Your free ride is over." Howard said as he handed Hermione a glossy brochure. "This is your other option. Boot camp.
To give you a little more information, if you take the boot camp option you will need to be packed and ready to go Tuesday morning. You will be staying at the camp until a week and a half before school starts which will give you enough time to do your summer assignments. Now, if you go there you will not have to do your mind healer appointments because they have a set schedule."
"To give the basics of what each of your days would be like, since we want you to make an informed decision, I will tell you what their schedule is." Jean told her as she looked down at the information she had gotten from the head of the boot camp. "Wake up call is 6am everyday. I should mention that they don't count weekends, they believe that keeping to a schedule is more important than time off. After you meet at the flag poll for roll call there is a 3km run before going to get breakfast.
After that there will be a combination of physical exercise and class work that they will assign until lunch. After lunch will be volunteer work. This summer they have three different projects they will be working on. One is cutting and clearing walking paths through a wooded area. Next is helping to build houses for low income families. And the third thing is working at a farm helping to plant and maintain crops as well as clean up after and care for the animals.
Dinner is served at 6pm. After dinner is quiet time where you can read or work on different work they will provide like math or science assignments. Lights out is 8pm sharp. They want to ensure that you get a good nights sleep."
"You can't do that." Hermione said in shock.
"Yes, we can. Those are your options Hermione, there is no other way out of this for you. You have no one but yourself to blame for this. Lying and bullying is not acceptable and it is time you learned that.
We will give you the evening to think through your options and make your choice. If you decide to stay with us this summer you will need to be up at 7:30 so that we can all eat breakfast before we head into the office to get you setup. If you are not up we will take that as your decision to go to boot camp and we will make the arrangements to drop you off Tuesday morning." Jean told her daughter as she gathered up everything off the table.
"And don't think you can work your way around this by coming with us for a week and then changing your mind. The boot camp accepts new campers every week, so you can start at any point during the summer should you change your mind." Howard said. He had seen the glimmer in his daughters eyes and knew she was going to try and find a way around her punishment.
Hermione shoved away from the table and stormed up to her room, slamming her door as hard as she could once again.
None of this was fair. Her parents were supposed to be grovelling for her forgiveness, not punishing her for no good reason. She was in the right and she knew it.
Now what was she supposed to do. She really didn't want to have to work over the summer, but that boot camp sounded even worse. She hated exercise so doing hours of it every day just sounded like the worst thing possible.
Then there were those stupid assignments that her parents planned on giving her. It was just ridiculous. The problem with her grades was because of the teachers, not her. It wasn't like it would be too hard, she had seen the list of books that they wanted her to write reports on and she had read all of them multiple times over the years, but it was just annoying.
Sitting down at her desk Hermione wrote out a pros and cons list for each of the two choices her parents had given her. In the end she saw she really didn't have a choice if she wanted an even half way decent summer.
Going to bed, Hermione set her alarm for 7.
The Burrow - July 4, 2005
Ron and Ginny slowly made their way down to breakfast. They had gone to visit their mum over the weekend, but she had been so busy with the restaurant she hadn't even taken them to get anything. Now they were back with their dad and slightly worried about how this summer was going to go.
Arriving in the kitchen they flopped down in their spots. Fabian and Gideon were across from them working on feeding the twins. It looked like more food was ending up on them or the floor than in the babies mouths.
"Ah good." Arthur grinned at the two of them. "I was hoping to speak to you both."
Ginny just sighed.
"Oh don't worry, it's not too bad." Arthur laughed, he knew how frustrated the two were getting, but this summer was actually going to be better for them. "I have good news, I spoke with Sirius, you both passed all your classes with high enough grades that you won't need to do summer school."
Both cheered.
"You are still going to have to go over Percys' notes for your up coming years, but it won't be the constant need for studying. Ron, I spoke with Professor Fabbri, the spell crafting professor, she said that your grades are high enough, but your ancient rune mark is borderline. The good news for you is that you will be able to take the class, but she wants you to do a work book over the summer just to make sure you are ready.
Both Fabian and Gideon actually have masteries in ancient runes so you are in luck since you won't have to do a course. Professor Fabbri agreed to allow them to administer the work and mark it. I've spoken with them and they figure that you can easily finish the work book within the month even if you only do an hour or two a day, not including weekends. If you really work at it you could have it done by the end of the week." Arthur pushed forward the thin booklet, it was only about 30 pages.
"If you are struggling with anything just let one of us know and we can walk you through it." Fabian smiled at the boy.
Ron sighed as he picked up the book and flipped through. He relaxed when he saw that it wasn't reports or anything that he needed to do, it was just a few questions and drawings of runes he needed to do per page. He had honestly expected a lot worse. It wasn't what he wanted, but it seemed easy enough, it could be worse. But if it got him into spell crafting it would be worth it. That class sounded like fun.
"You will still have to keep to your schedules, but it will be more relaxed this year. You can sleep in until 10 on weekdays and 11 on weekends. You still have your mind healer appointments, but this summer they will be Wednesday and Friday afternoons.
But, on to the good stuff." Arthur was so happy with what the twins had told him. "Fred and George mentioned to me that you both were becoming interested in learning the family magic."
"Yeah, it just sounded kind of interesting." Ginny smiled. She wanted to learn all about the secrets her family had.
Ginny had actually looked up just how much that Switch guy had gotten when he sold the animagi spell. He had gotten thousands of galleons and Ginny wanted that. She knew her brothers had said there were protections for their family magic to ensure it wasn't made public, but she was sure she could find a way around it.
"I will start teaching you about the Weasley family magic and get you both keyed into the Weasley Grimoire, and Fabian and Gideon can do the same for the Prewett magics." Arthur was pleased. He had been hoping to find a way for him, along with Fabian and Gideon, to connect with the kids and this was the perfect chance.
"We can start whenever you're ready." Gideon said as he wiped some of the eggs Leo had tossed back at him off his face.
"Can't mum teach us the Prewett magic?" Ron questioned. He really would prefer to learn it from his mum, she would make things easier for him he was sure.
"Your mum never bothered to learn the family magic. Our parents offered to teach her, but she just said that she was going to be a Lady and it wouldn't be useful for her." Fabian told the kids.
"Fine." Both Ron and Ginny said as they went back to their breakfast.
Headmaster's Office - July 6, 2005
Albus was absolutely furious. He had thought he had put that stupid tournament behind him, but apparently not. Pacing his office, Albus tried to think about what he was going to do.
When he had sat down to what he had hoped to be a peaceful breakfast before he left for the Wizengamot he had been in such a good mood. That was until the paper was delivered. Albus only got a copy of the Lovegood's stupid Seer because he wanted to know what madness they were saying, he preferred the prophet more usually because of the control he had over what they printed. Then he had looked at both papers and almost spit out his pumpkin juice.
The main article on the front page of The Prophet was about how he was losing his grip on reality. They were saying he was going senile and were using his announcement of Voldemort returning as evidence. They said he had dark lords on the brain. There were multiple quotes from Cornelius about how he thought Albus might no longer be up to the task of being headmaster.
Then there was The Seer. That was even worse. 'The Misspelling That Could Have Destroyed Lives' was printed in large letters across the front. The article announced that the reason the four champions had ended up working together through the tournament was because if any hadn't made it they would have lost their magic.
The author went into detail about how the champions had discovered about what was in the ICW law and had chosen to stand by each other rather than compete. It gave credit to the four for the loyalty they had shown one another and the complete trust that must have formed between them.
That brat, Potter, and the Diggory boy had even been quoted. They spoke about how they had decided not to let everyone know at the time because they had just wanted to focus on surviving the tournament and not have to deal with the added pressure from the public knowing about what could happen.
The worst part, for Albus anyway, was that they also mentioned that they had all agreed to do interviews only after the school term had ended and the four of them were able to settle in at home. That meant that the news was going to be in the international papers too.
Just as he was finishing reading the mail started to arrive. Albus looked to the window and could see what looked like a dark cloud headed towards his window. But it wasn't a cloud, it was hundreds of owls. Many carrying the dreaded red envelopes that signified a howler.
Albus spent the next half hour putting out fires all over his office as the letters burst into flames as the sender finished screaming at him. He was supposed to be getting ready to head to the ministry, but there were still more letters arriving. He couldn't risk having letters like these finding him at the ministry.
Then things went from bad to worse. He was floo called by the ICW. They were demanding he attend an emergency meeting that Bulgaria and France had called. They wanted him to explain his actions that had risked the magic of their citizens.
This just wasn't going to be a good day.
Peverell Manor
Hadrian grinned as his dad all but skipped out of the floo.
"I'm going to assume you had a good day dad?"
"The best." James had a huge smile on his face as he picked Kali up and spun her around before releasing the giggling girl.
"Well…" Severus encouraged. He wanted to know how everything went.
"Hadrian was right. Releasing the information today managed to keep Dumbledore from attending. From what I heard he was actually called to the ICW to explain his actions to them." James laughed slightly. "Without Dumbledore the light side was completely disorganized. I never realized just how much they relied on him. It took them over an hour just to figure out who would lead their faction.
I might admit that the rest of us just carried on while they worked it out behind a privacy ward so they might not have followed everything. By the time they finally got organized I was already finished presenting our bill and a vote was being called. They were so startled some even voted for it giving us an easy majority even with many in the dark voting against."
The new bill that James had worked out with the others was a creatures rights bill. It created protections for any magical being that was deemed to have the intelligence to maintain their own habitat. That covered a great deal of the magical creatures in their world. Since nests were considered to be a part of a habitat even creating their own nest was enough for a creature to be protected.
The ministry still had many unfair creature laws so this one bill would over ride them. It made it illegal to intentionally harm them or destroy their habitats. In recent years, as towns like Hogsmeade were expanding many had taken to simply destroying the homes of many magical creatures. This had caused a great many issues with the centaurs as people had started cutting down trees to make more room even though it was centaur land. Delores Umbridge had been working on getting a law passed that would make it legal to kill any creature that got in the way of expansions. She had wanted to allow for people to hunt those like centaurs to get rid of them, stating that the witches and wizards deserved the land more.
Now with James law in place that wasn't going to happen. While it was understandable to expand as their population grew, it was only common sense to do it in a way that didn't harm their fellow magical beings.
While on the surface the bill had seemed rather simple and innocuous, it had long reaching consequences.
It also didn't hurt to see the pure rage on Umbridge's face when his bill had passed. While most hadn't seen what the bill was really doing, the woman had such an extreme hatred of creatures that as soon as she heard protection and creatures in the same bill she had wanted it destroyed.
The bill also brought in further protection for magical beings that were used in service. It made it illegal to harm or kill a house elf and even set up a way for abused elves to report their abuse. It was specifically written in magic so that a master could not order an elf not to report them.
Much of the magical world relied on services that were provided by magical creatures and now those creatures were protected.
Even the goblins benefited from the law as it kept the ministry from interfering in the bank. Dumbledore and the light had recently started to propose bills that would limit the abilities of the goblins, and James was expecting both the light and the dark to react negatively to the recent trial. While none of the bills managed to pass, it still greatly unsettled the goblins. James had spoken with Ragnock and he had taken the bill to the goblin king. The King wrote out how the goblins were to be treated to ensure that the wording was correct. James hadn't wanted to seem like he was just another wizard telling the goblin nation what they needed.
Everyone was happy to hear that their plans had worked. Hadrian in particular was glad. It thrilled him more than he could say that the centaurs were being protected. That would drive Umbridge crazy and he knew it.
Then James told them the even better news. Without Dumbledore being there he was able to bring up the lack of trial for Lily. Many in the Wizengamot were a little startled to know that a woman had been in the ministries custody for months without being tried because someone, although everyone suspected Dumbledore, was delaying and removing the trial from the docket.
Because of that they had made arrangements to ensure that her trial would be set for when they met for trials at the end of the month. Since he had done it publicly there was no way Dumbledore could stop it now. The woman was finally going to pay.
Wizengamot Meeting Room - July 20, 2005
Albus sighed as he made his way into the Wizengamot's court room. It had been a rough two weeks. Even today he still received a few letters from people that were angry with him.
Then he had gone to the ICW he had been forced to sit through almost 7 hours of being berated. Then, things got even worse. While he had been removed as head months ago, they hadn't immediately scheduled a vote for a new supreme mugwamp, Albus had been planning to stand for reelection to the position once the vote was called, it wasn't like anyone would be stupid enough to stand against the great Albus Dumbledore. But, in what he considered to be a protest vote, Marius Delacour was voted in as the new Supreme Mugwump. Albus had been ready to kill when that happened. That man was going to destroy all the work Albus had done over the past decades.
Albus sighed.
He had thought the tournament was going to be great. He thought it would bring great fame and prestige to both him and his school. There was also the side benefit of testing Harry.
But it had failed. The entire year had been horrible. From the day Harry's name had been drawn nothing had gone his way. Albus had been dealing with a near constant assault from all sides. It was like the little fools of this world had forgotten who he was.
They owed him their loyalty, not the other way around.
Then there was the bill that Sebastian had presented and had passed during the meeting he had been forced to miss. When he had been told about it his people had down played it, apparently not even realizing just what it was.
When Albus read the bill he had been stunned. What seemed like a simple bill was going to completely change their world. He had spent years slowly layering more and more restrictions on magical creatures. This bill wiped away all that work. Not a single creature control he had put in place was active anymore.
Plus, the entire sub section that granted more freedoms to those filthy goblins. He had been working on adding more restrictions on them, he wanted them to pay for the loss of the Potter assets and how they had tricked him into wasting his own fortune.
This new law would stop him from making the goblins pay. That above all infuriated Albus. He wanted those creatures to suffer, now instead they were being given more power.
Albus just couldn't believe how useless his people had proven to be. Not only had they allowed that bill to pass, with some of the useless idiots even voting for it, they were allowing Lily to be tried.
After the mess with Sirius the ministry had brought in new rules. No one could be sent to Azkaban without a trial, they were to be held in the ministry cells. They could only be held for a maximum of 6 months. After those 6 months the person would be released and the ministry would be barred from ever trying them for the crime they had been arrested for.
That had been the only plan he had been able to think of. Sense she had been caught in the act it was their only chance.
But now that chance was gone. He was going to have to figure out some new way to at least keep her from mentioning him.
Maybe a vow, but that wouldn't work. If a vow was detected the Unspeakables would be called in. They might be able to strip it away and then things would just get even worse for him.
He just needed to think.
Albus forced everything out of his mind as he walked into the chamber. This meeting was to deal with a few basic things in regards to the DCW. Because the department was deemed as being so important they had yearly meetings with the heads of the department.
While most departments just submitted paperwork for things like rule changes and requests for their budgets the DCW was deemed important enough to have an entire meeting dedicated just to making sure they had whatever they wanted. Albus didn't really see the point since in all these years not a single request had been denied. He honestly believed that they could request a pet dragon for each member of the department and the fools would approve it just because they didn't want to look like they weren't doing what the kids wanted.
At least this would help him. But Albus was still planning to be cautious, he didn't want to risk another plan backfiring on him. To that end he had arranged for Lady Griselda Marchbanks to be the one to bring the issue up.
Griselda was another problem. She had been one of his allies that had been feeding off the magic of the prisoners and she was fading. The last time Albus had seen her she had been pale, sweaty, and shaking just from the exertion of standing up. She really was only managing to carry on by shear stubbornness. Albus didn't think she would make it to the end of the summer.
Luckily for Albus he had even more control over her daughter who would inherit the title. The only real problem for Albus was that without Griselda he would lose control over the OWL and NEWT testers, and that just wasn't good. Especially since 2 of his pawns were supposed to be taking those tests and Albus had his doubts that they would be able to do well if they were held to the proper standard.
Over the years Albus had used Griselda to stack the testers with his people. He gave them a list of his favoured and they would ensure that they got the grades they needed to get the positions he wanted. He had even got them to downgrade certain Slytherins that he felt were reaching above where he wanted them. It had allowed him to keep control of who got the best jobs.
But, if she died, that was another area he would lose control of unless he could get another one of his people to head the testers.
Albus watched as the meeting was called to order, he still hated seeing Gerald Greengrass in his rightful position. That was where he should be, not sitting, with only limited power, as the leader of the light faction, which was the smallest of the three.
The meeting progressed like it usually did. There were a few requests for changes in the budget and an expansion in their staffing numbers, all of which were approved. Then it was time for the members of the Wizengamot to ask any questions or clarifications that they wanted.
Albus looked to Griselda when the floor was opened.
"There is an issue that has caused me great distress that I feel we must discuss." Griselda said in a quavering voice.
"And what might that be Lady Marchbanks?" Cecilia Perra questioned respectfully.
"I have been informed that you aren't properly handling allegations of abuse." Many people in the chamber started to mutter. "I have received letters from a few different people that have all reported abuse cases to you and nothing was done, instead you left the children in their abusive situation.
Those I have spoken with all said they reported the abuse anonymously because they feared retaliation. If even adults fear these people, how could you allow children to remain there?"
Albus sat up a little taller as he saw people starting to become angry. This might just work. Looking over he saw the viewing gallery, filled with regular citizens and reporters that were interested in this meeting, Albus saw them shifting and muttering. The reporters were scribbling away.
"While I'm sure you are more than sincere with your concerns Lady Marchbanks, I think someone, or multiple someone's, is attempting to use you for their own gain." Cecilia said softly. "We investigate whenever we are given new accusations of abuse.
It is true that we have had some issues with anonymous letters alleging abuse, but the issue isn't that they aren't being followed up on, it's that many have ultimately proven to be false, and those are the ones that we have gotten multiple times. If we have already investigated the claim of abuse and found none we will not reinvestigate for 6 months. We have one particularly determined individual that has been sending abuse allegations almost every single day for 2 years. Even when the child is away at school and not living at home there are new allegations of abuse."
"Why would anyone file false allegations of abuse?" One of the neutral Lady's questioned in a shocked voice.
Edward and Cecilia looked at each other thoughtfully before Edward stepped forward.
"As we have already covered, the reports were made anonymously so we can't get them to give any answers, but we do have our suspicions. We have found a few of those that have had reports made about them had come out the victors in custody battles within the previous year, usually as a result of a messy breakup or divorce. We believe that in those cases the one filing the report is the parent who didn't get custody.
But, more often than not the subject of the reports are orphans. As we all know there were a rather large number of children orphaned during the last war. A startling number of these children inherited their families title, fortune, or both. Many of you know this as you sit here today as proxy for the underage Lord or Lady of whom you have custody.
These are the children we receive reports on most. A few of you are well aware of this as you have ended up having meetings with us or members of our department for that very reason. We investigate as a precaution, but if there is no evidence of abuse then we move on.
The part of the entire situation that we actually think is the most concerning is that the reports are only ever about the heirs. In many cases there are other children in the house, whether it be cousins or in some cases younger siblings. But the reports almost never even mention them. The only child who's custody they wish to change is the ones with the money or the title.
It is honestly extremely insulting, not only to those that work in our department as it wastes valuable time, but also to true victims of abuse. Knowing that there are people willing to lie about abuse in the hopes of possibly gaining control of a wealthy or titled child under false pretences."
"Although we do encourage reporting of suspected abuse, whether it be anonymously or not, this false reporting is getting out of hand. We were actually considering whether or not we should hand over the false reports to the DMLE as what they are doing could be considered harassment not only of the guardians, but of the children themselves." Cecilia added.
"I will request a partial seal of silence." Lord Ogden said.
The motion was quickly approved. This seal would block anyone from giving names outside of these meeting chambers, but they could still speak openly during this meeting. The reporters would still be able to describe what had happened, just without names.
Once the seal was in place Lord Ogden called the attention back to himself. "Can I assume this is why my wife and I have had members of your department coming to do wellness checks on my grand daughter twice over the past year?"
"Yes Lord Ogden. Your grand daughter is one of those children that we have received multiple reports about. You will probably be receiving another visit in a few months as I know for a fact we have already received another dozen or so reports since the last meeting. Even though she was away at school for four of the last five months.
I can assure all of you here that there has been absolutely no evidence of any form of abuse, either physical or mental." Cecilia told both Lord Ogden, and everyone else.
Lord Ogden leaned back in his seat thoughtfully. He was sure he knew who it was that had reported him. After his daughter and her husband were killed near the end of the last war he and his wife gained custody of his 2 year old grand daughter, Abbigail. While Abbi wasn't in line for a title since his son was the heir, she was in line for a large amount of money.
His daughter and her husband had gone into business designing beauty products and had been extremely successful. They had left Abbi millions.
But, Abbi's aunt and uncle on her fathers side had wanted custody of her. They had been left tens of thousands of galleons, but they had burned through it with extravagant purchases within the first year. After that they had started trying to gain custody of Abbi. If they had Abbi they could use it to gain access to her money.
Lord Ogden figured they had been the ones filing the abuse reports in attempt to get Abbi. He was just happy that Abbi would be coming of age in December and then she would be free of having to deal with them trying to get control over her.
"Are you trying to say that this is a good home life for an innocent child?" Griselda Marchbanks demanded as she waved her wand and had a healers report appear in front of all the members and the two heads of department.
James was furious as he saw 'Potter-Black, Hadrian' written across the top. He saw the seal that the healers at Hogwarts used. There was no way that either of the healers at the school would willingly allow the release, to do so would violate their oaths and they would be stripped of their healers license and be forbidden to ever work in any field that required any form of privacy. The only positives he could see right now was that no one in the viewing area received a copy and there was already a partial seal of silence on the room so there was no risk this was going to get out.
"Madame Bones I am making a formal request for you to investigate how Lady Marchbanks was able to acquire private medical documents without permission. Lord Greengrass I petition for Lady Marchbanks to face censure for the violation of the privacy of both a Lord and Heir." James said as he stood.
"It will be investigated." Amelia assured. Although she was surprised to see the medical records she wasn't surprised by what was in it since she had seen it all those years ago.
"I demand Potter's guardians be arrested." A voice called out from the light section. Many others voiced their agreement.
James felt many glares aimed his way from all three sections, but he didn't let it bother him. He was going to have to do something to ensure that Dumbledore was the one who looked bad. He knew that this medical record had to have been revealed on his order.
Edgar looked to his sister in confusion. Amelia had very strong beliefs about abuse yet she seemed perfectly calm about this. Then Amelia looked at him and cocked her head to the side with a very familiar look in her eyes. Edgar recognized it as her wanting him to question her about it.
Amelia had often used that look when she wanted to brag about something but hadn't wanted to seem like she was bragging. They had both used a series of different looks to secretly communicate. It came in handy when they needed to downplay anything.
Edgar amplified his voice. "Madame Bones, we are all well aware of your stance on child abuse, yet you seem calm and unaffected by what we have all just learned. I would like to know why you haven't ordered the arrest of the young Lords guardians?"
Amelia withheld a smile. "You are correct Lord Bones, I do have very strong feelings in regards to abuse, but I have had much more time to deal with this report. If you look you will see that these are not full sized pages, the column that would have listed the dates these injuries occurred has been removed, hopefully that is just an oversight and not an attempt to provide false information that could result in false arrests.
I have a copy of a similar report, except it was done by the Gringotts healers. I was presented with the report almost a decade ago."
"A decade?" "What is this about?" "Why weren't we made aware of this?" Was shouted by many members of the Wizengamot.
"It is not my place to answer those questions." Amelia said as she stared down the angry members demanding answers. "Since this is in regards to a minor only one of his guardians can answer those questions."
James thought about what he should do. Hadrian had known that one day his abuse would most likely be made public, and had given him permission to speak about it when that day came, but at the same time he wanted to protect his son. After a few moments of thought, James made his decision.
"I do understand the desire to know what is going on, but for that to happen I would request that the partial seal of silence be upgraded to a complete seal for this information. This is already a highly unethical situation involving stolen medical records of an underage child. I will not have anything from this situation made public."
Frank seconded his motion and it passed quickly, only a few in the light who blindly followed Dumbledore voted against it. The stronger seal was tied into Hadrians name so no one would be able to mention anything that involved him an any way, whether it be his name or even any reference of the medical record. It would allow those there to talk about the decisions that were made, but stop them from mentioning Hadrians abuse in any way shape or form.
"I guess I should start from the beginning. As we all know after the attack on Godric's Hollow Hadrian was removed from our world." James sent a vicious look to Dumbledore who had been trying to interrupt him. "He was placed with Lily Evans's muggle sister and her husband.
Shortly before his sixth birthday he had had enough of the abuse and ran away. Thankfully he was discovered by a good samaritan only a little while later who wished to remain anonymous who recognized him. Seeing the condition Hadrian was in he took him to Gringotts to be healed. As his closest living relative the Goblins arranged for my retrieval. After that I got in contact first with Madame Bones, and then with Mr. Brown, and Mrs. Perra.
My husband and I, along with Hadrians godfather and his husband were granted custody by all three."
"And we can confirm this." Edward Brown said. "Young Hadrian was actually the first case our department handled after it was created. Ever since we placed Hadrian with Lord Peverell and his family we have monitored them. Arranging semi annual home visits, along with health scans and mind healer visits. In all these years there hasn't been a single issue.
Given the seal and that we have already covered this, Hadrian is one of those children that we have received reports about. He actually holds the record for number of abuse reports. None of these reports have ever been substantiated in any way and this was actually the case that led us to believe that there were certain people that were attempting to use our department to gain control over children they had no legal right to."
"And you did not think to inform anyone?" Lady Marchbanks demanded. She knew this wasn't going the way Albus wanted, but she didn't want to let her old friend down.
"There was no legal reason to inform anyone else." Amelia said. "Despite how many in this world act, they do not own Hadrian Potter-Black and have no legal rights to dictate his life. Everyone that needed to be informed was.
I had expected that it would have been made public once Lord Dumbledore checked on him. After all, it was Lord Dumbledore that placed him with those… people, and assured us all that the boy was safe and loved. But given the record of abuse either no one was checking on the boy or they are criminally negligent."
The only evidence of James's joy at what Amelia had just said was the slight widening of his eyes. This was perfect. Sure, none of this information could leave the room, but it would make more people start to look at Dumbledore with distrust.
The meeting ended fairly quickly after that as people started demanding answers from Dumbledore. Answers that he was unwilling to provide. Instead he just kept going back to his greater good line. As if that was supposed to be an excuse for allowing a child to be abused.
Thankfully, a vast majority of the Lords and Ladies disagreed. Only a few of the more blindly loyal light followers tried to excuse the mans actions.
Cemetery - July 24, 2005
It was a rainy day as the friends of Dedalus Diggle gathered around the Diggle family crypt. The day earlier he had passed peacefully in his sleep.
For the most part those that were there were old friends of Dedalus. Many had either gone to school with him, worked with him at the ministry, or been regulars at his pub. There were of course a few that came along out of respect but hadn't been overly close to him. Most notable was the absence of the mans wife. Over the months Dedalus was in the hospital he had often been visited by his friends, all who noticed that his wife was never there. Whenever they questioned Dedalus about it, he would just say that they didn't have a good relationship and he hadn't seen her since before he had gone to the hospital. It just made the poor reputation the woman had even worse.
Many had already had misgivings when it had come out that Arthur had kicked her out after she had threatened one of his boys, and this just made them think even worse things about her. Many started to think that despite all the claims she and Headmaster Dumbledore made about her being a good light witch she was actually evil. Even if you weren't fond of someone, when they were dying you were supposed to at least show compassion. Only a truly horrible person was unkind to a dying man.
Another notable absence was Albus Dumbledore. Many had muttered about that. Dumbledore had always made a big deal about being there for his, so called, friends. To those who knew and cared about Dedalus, this seemed like an insult to their deceased friend.
Dumbledore had been making a big deal about the death of Griselda Marchbanks, who had died only a day before Dedalus, but he hadn't even mentioned Dedalus. It was like Dumbledore thought the Lady was more worth mentioning than a bartender. Dumbledore had always tried to act like he didn't care about a persons position in society, but now he was seeming more like just another elitist.
As the funeral drew to an end more than a few of those who had attended left a shot by their friends final resting place.
Gringotts - July 25, 2005
Albus was more than a little confused as he was lead into a meeting room with Molly. He had received a message saying that he was expected at a meeting today. He really didn't know what it was these creatures wanted, but he was going to make them pay for their arrogance in demanding his time. But only after he knew what this was about.
"Molly my dear, do you know what this is about?"
"I have no idea Albus. Don't you lot know that I have a business to run?" Molly grumbled as she stared at the goblin sitting at the desk in front of them.
Goblin Manager Sharpstaff didn't even bother to react to the disrespect. Every goblin there worth their weapon knew about how Dumbledore and his sycophants behaved. At least he was going to get to anger them with what he was going to do next.
"You are here to hear the last will and testament of Dedalus Diggle." Sharpstaff growled.
"What?" Molly was shocked.
"Dedalus died." Albus was just as shocked. He had known that Dedalus had been in the hospital, but he hadn't realized he had died.
Albus smiled slightly. This was a good thing for him. When he had first heard that Dedalus was in the hospital he had encouraged him to make up his will. He had even sent one of Ted's colleagues, since wills weren't his area of expertise. The man had come back saying that everything was set. Albus was sure that Dedalus would leave him everything, it wasn't like he had anyone else. The only confusing thing was why Molly was here, why would Dedalus leave her anything.
"Yes, Mr. Diggle passed a few days ago. His funeral was yesterday." Sharpstaff gave them a clearly disgusted look, they hadn't even realized the man had died.
"So what do we get?" Molly's greed was shining in her eyes.
"Shall I just go over the bequests specific to you?"
"Yes." Both Molly and Albus said immediately.
"For Lord Dumbledore I have this." Sharpstaff handed over a letter. "And for you Mrs. Diggle you receive this." He pushed forward a single knut.
"What is this supposed to be." Molly shrieked as she picked up the knut and shook it at the goblin. "I was his wife. I deserve more than a knut."
"According to the will you were his wife in name only." Sharpstaff pulled out the will and looked over the part written about the woman. "He seems to feel that he was more than generous for leaving you anything. Harpy, banshee, and dementor are amongst the nicer ways he described you."
"What is the meaning of this!" Albus thundered as he finished reading the first page of the letter.
The letter was five sheets of parchment allowing Dedalus to explain just what he thought of Albus. Because of the vow he could not speak against him, but he could use this letter to tell Albus exactly what he thought of him. It was the rudest, most insulting thing that Albus had ever endured, and he had argued with people trying to murder him. "It is the letter that Mr. Diggle left for you. I am not aware of the contents but if you would like me to read it and explain it to you I would be happy too." Sharpstaff sneered.
Albus quickly shoved the letter in his pocket, he couldn't let anyone know what had been written. There was no doubt in his mind that that disgusting creature would make the letters contents public if he could.
"Now, on to the next issue. Mrs. Diggle, you have 1 week to be completely moved out of Diggle Manor. Anything left in the manor will be forfeit." Sharpstaff said blandly.
"What!" Molly shrieked.
"I don't know any other way I could word that." Sharpstaff grinned. "You must be completely out of the house. Anything you leave behind will be seized."
"But the house now belongs to Molly." Albus tried to twinkle but failed in his shock.
"No, it doesn't. The manor, and all other assets were left in trust for his heirs. One week from today the manor and all vault will be sealed shut until his eldest heir comes of age." Sharpstaff smirked. He had been given permission to taunt these two as much as he wanted by Mr. Diggle so long as he didn't name the heirs.
"But he doesn't have any other family." Albus said.
"That is where you are incorrect. Maybe he just didn't feel you needed to know. Or, maybe he didn't trust you as much as you thought."
"What does all this mean." Molly demanded in confusion.
"Exactly what I said." Sharpstaff said, his voice showing just how stupid he thought this woman was. "You get a knut. That's it, that's all. You need to find another place to live and get your stuff out of Mr. Diggle's home.
You should be aware that you will only be aloud to remove your possessions. Mr. Diggle left a detailed inventory of everything of value he owned. Anything found to be missing will be charged to you. If it is a family heirloom then our warriors will retrieve it from you personally."
"But I'm his wife" She repeated dumbly. "I'm supposed to get everything."
"No, you don't." Sharpstaff said like he was trying to explain something to an extremely dumb toddler. "Arrangements were made by Mr. Diggle. And we shall carry out his wishes, to the letter."
"You said until the heirs come of age, that means they're children. We shall just arrange taking their custody. We will manage everything for them until their old enough to do it themselves." Albus smiled.
"No." Sharpstaff said again. "You are not the heirs guardian, and you never will be. You were both strictly forbidden from gaining their custody in the will. They currently reside with Mr. Diggle's chosen guardian."
"But…" Molly started.
"But nothing. You will never gain control over those children." Sharpstaff snapped. "Now, I think it is time for you to be on your way. You will probably be needing to start your packing and house hunting."
Molly glared at the amused goblin but Albus lead her to the floo.
Headmasters Office
"What am I going to do now Albus?" Molly whined once they were safely away from the bank.
"I honestly don't know Molly. This summer is turning into a complete disaster." Albus sighed.
"I should have inherited everything. I was his wife after all." Molly grumbled.
Albus actually wanted to roll his eyes. Those two had been married in name only and pretty much everyone knew it. Molly spent most of her time complaining about him. It was too late to play the dutiful wife.
"And then theres my home." Molly continued her rant. "How dare those… those… things, kick me out of my home. They are stealing the roof from over my babies heads.
And to go so far as to call me a thief. Like theres anything in that place that I would take. It is a disaster zone.
Where can I go now Albus?"
Albus sighed. "We are going to need to think of something else. There's nothing I can do about it now. I could have sealed the will if I had still been Chief Warlock, but since I'm not, and the will has already been read I can't stop it."
"I can't go back to the cottage in Godric's Hollow." Molly said. "There isn't enough room for my babies and there is no way I'm giving up the little bit of time I have with them."
There was no way Albus was going to send her back to the cottage. If he couldn't avoid the rewarding, though he was currently working on plans too, then he was going to need to stay there for a week. And there was absolutely no way he was going to live with Molly for a week.
"I think it might be easiest to use the Lion's Den right now. A basic flat can be added above the restaurant in only a matter of days. Then, once you have found a better home we will be able to rent out the flat for a little extra money." Albus said thoughtfully.
"Do you think it can be done?" Molly really didn't want to live above the restaurant, but she just didn't have the money right now to purchase a home with room for both her and the children. Under normal circumstances she wouldn't even entertain the idea, but she needed a home… Plus Albus would be paying for it.
"The basic three bedroom flat could be fully up within two days if I encouraged the builders. You will just need to spend those days packing up the manor and start moving in after that. Once you're in you can go about setting things up. Right now the main focus is keeping you away from the goblins.
I will start making the arrangements this afternoon. But Molly, this can't be like it was when the restaurant was being built. There will be no changes, no alterations, and no interference. I wish that we had time to do this differently but we just don't have control over the goblins at the moment to stop them from stealing your stuff after the week is up."
"But Albus…" Molly whined.
"Enough Molly." Albus snapped. "You don't have a choice. I will make the arrangements and you will start packing. I will remind you that anything of yours you leave behind will be lost, and anything that isn't yours that you take will be recorded and you will have to pay for it. With your own money."
Albus quickly ushered the annoying woman out of his office.