Akira's true parentage (Rewrite)

Great Britain, January 1st, 2002

The new year started and there were many people, who are waking up from the New Year celebrations. Lucius and Narcissa woke up at nearly noon and were eating their lunch already since they slept in. Cygnus came in yawning with their son, Draco, who fell asleep before the clock stroke midnight. It was one hell of a party and everyone flooed back home at 4 am in the morning. Both couple didn’t want to think anything about politics since they wouldn’t be able to focus. So, they relaxed. They would plan the next Wizengamot meeting on January 7th, 2002 tomorrow.

Albus was sitting behind his desk and was making a list of what he was going to do during this year. He wanted to make a bucket list, so that he could fix their world and lead them to the light. Albus was writing everything in an orderly fashion from January to December. Whereas he is writing and plotting, Phineas was watching the list carefully and even though he was a portrait, the former headmaster managed to memorise the list from top to bottom. When Albus was finished, he left the list on his desk and went to eat lunch not bothering to hide the sheet of parchment thinking that the portraits of the former headmaster/mistresses wouldn’t tell anyone about the list since in his mind, he believed that as long as he is in control of Hogwarts, he also controls the portraits. So, Albus believes that with his control over the school, he is also making sure to stop the portraits from talking to others about his plots and schemes. Phineas rolled his eyes since he knew, what Dumbledore was believing. He may be in control over the wards and has the authority of the school, but he can only control them partially. If Phineas leaves his portrait to visit his other portrait in Black Manor or the one in Malfoy Manor, then, the Hogwarts wards cannot affect him since the magic of the wards cannot reach him. So, he is able to tell his family everything, what Dumbledore was planning. The old fool was really foolish leaving the list like this. He went to Malfoy Manor, in order to tell Narcissa about the contents of the list. It would be useful and they wouldn’t risk Arthur in the order.

Narcissa and Lucius groaned like they are in actual pain, when Phineas called for their attention and informed them about Dumbledore’s bucket list. They prepared a pen and a sheet of paper to write down, what Dumbledore was planning for this year. They wanted to curse Phineas for not telling them that Dumbledore creates a bucket list on every New Years Day. He informed them that the man does this every year, where he is making a list about his plans for the Wizengamot and school board meetings.

Narcissa had many plans now and thankfully, they wouldn’t endanger Arthur’s position as a spy in the order.

With the list, they had all kinds of information on Dumbledore and his plans. Altogether, they would be able to combat Dumbledore and his followers in the Wizengamot and the school board easier. This was good. They would also inform Arthur that he didn’t have to risk himself since they had the list. It would help them.

They will focus on the list tomorrow. Now, they want to relax.

Hogwarts, January 2nd, 2002

Severus was making his way to Hogwarts. He had been at Hogsmeade eating his lunch and now he is making his way to the school. Severus was expected to be at the school at noon. Today, he had to prepare his quarters and his office that would be in the dungeons. Furthermore, he had to prepare the potion classrooms, labs and his schedule for this term. He can only groan slightly since there would be a lot of work since the students had to learn from the ICW curriculum that they had missed. The gate was opened by Hagrid, who was waiting for him. “Ah, Severus, wha’ are ya doin’ here?”” Severus gave the half-giant a hard look and said: “Hello Hagrid. I have come to prepare my quarters, my office, the potion classrooms, the labs and to take a look at the Slytherin common room. There would be a lot of work. So, I will be busy.” Hagrid nodded happily and led him to the school. In front of the school entrance, Aurora Sinistra was waiting for him. Aurora turned to Hagrid. “Hagrid, I will take over from here and lead Severus through the school and to the dungeons, where the potion labs and classrooms are. Thank you.” Hagrid answered: “Ya’re welcom’!” With that Hagrid left and went back to his hut. Aurora watched Hagrid’s retreating figure to his hut and turned her attention to Severus: “Well, welcome back, Severus”, Aurora said in a clearly fake cheery tone.

Severus sighed. “I never thought that I would return back here, but since potion masters are lacking and are difficult to find, I would have been flooded by job offers. Apart from that, it couldn’t be that bad to teach a class.” Aurora just raised her eyebrow and was ready to contradict him, but she stopped herself knowing that he would regret his words later, when school starts again. He would be shown during his first class, how difficult it could be to teach a class. Aurora led him through the school to the dungeons, where the potion classrooms and labs are. Severus made a note to make some changes in the class and the labs. He heard that there are enchanted desks that were created in MACUSA, in order to stop students from sabotaging their other classmates’ potions and cheating in his class. It would stop those dunderheads, who think that his class is a fun class, where they would throw things in each other’s cauldrons like it was done in Horace’s time as a teacher. But for that, he needed permission from the board. So, Severus had another plan. When he started his third year, Severus had put a ward around his workplace in the potion classroom and the lab that would protect his potion from being tampered and sabotaged mostly by the Marauders. It was funny, how every time, they were trying to prank him during class, had failed and made them furious. Severus couldn’t believe, how stupid Potter, Black, Lupin and Pettigrew could be that they didn’t notice the ward around his workplace. At least, Lupin should have noticed the ward, but the smart idiot didn’t notice it much to his surprise. The best thing was that the ward would not affect the potency of the potions since the goal of the ward is to block any foreign magics and anything else in the potion. The ward is even blocking itself from influencing the potion. It was an easy ward that a third year would be able to cast and it was also quite effective since the spell would ensure that there was no foul play and he could add an alarming spell and a tracking charm on the ward that would immediately tell him, who the culprit is. Severus can only imagine, how the students are going to react to that, if they were caught.

The next place were his quarters and his office that are connected. Severus will change his new office and quarters a little bit. The chairs looked ready to break, if someone heavy like Petunia’s husband would have sat down, the chair wouldn’t be able to hold him. The couch in the quarters looked like the moths had a wonderful feast and the bed needed new sheets and a mattress since the mattress looked yellow like someone had peed on it and the sheet were ratty, but still in good quality. Maybe he should request the house elves to burn the sheets and get new ones from Prince Manor. It isn’t forbidden to get your own stuff. He told Aurora: “Aurora, I am going to buy new sheets and a new bed. I am also going to order a new couch since this one looks like the moths had a party on it.” Auroa snorted. She had to agree with Severus on this one. Aurora sneered at the couch that looked torn and worn.

He went to open the cupboard and managed to rip the cupboard door from its frame. He added sourly: “And I am going to buy a new cupboard. This thing must have been here, when the founders were alive.” Aurora chuckled and agreed. Severus sat down on a chair that was in front of a table and sighed. There would be a lot of work to be done and he was ready to return back to Prince Manor. Suddenly, he had an idea and smirked. “Aurora, I need new furniture for my office and my quarters. So, I will order them and-.” Severus didn’t even manage to finish his sentence, when he felt a dust of wind hitting his face. Turning around, he noticed his new quarters have gotten new furniture that looked new and in a good quality. He quickly checked everything up and saw that everything is new even the sheets and the mattress.

Going into his new office, he also noticed that it had a new desk and chair and the chair looked more comfortable than the previous one. He would have hated the idea of sitting on a hard wooden chair.

Severus was momentarily stunned and Aurora smirked. The man asked the Astronomy teacher: “What do you know, what I don’t?” Aurora answered in a sweet voice: “That was Hogwarts fulfilling your wish to change your office and your quarters.” Severus stared at her like she had two heads. Aurora chuckled and answered: “Severus, Hogwarts is a sentimental being. The castle is alive and anyone making a wish, which she approves, will get fulfilled.” Severus let out a groan. He completely forgot that Hogwarts is a living being and not some simple castle.

Severus stood up and said: “Let’s go to the potion classrooms and the labs. There are some things that I would like to cast.” Aurora nodded and had an idea, what Severus was planning to do.

When they entered the classroom, Severus had already explained, what he was going to do. He started to cast the wards around the classroom and did the same with the other potion classrooms. He also went to do the same thing to the labs. With that finished, Severus went to his new office and took out the papers for the ICW standards out of his bag that he left in his office, when he went to eat his lunch in Hogsmeade. Going over the curriculum, the man calculated that the students from first to fourth year would be required to attend a two-hour long mandatory tutoring session on Saturday after lunch, in order to relearn everything, what they had missed. Whereas the fifth, sixth and seventh years would be required to visit those tutoring sessions on Saturday morning from 8 am to 12 pm. There was no way out since the students needed to be up to par with the rest of the world. He would make an announcement during the returning feast about the changes and would explain everything in detail.

Albus was sitting behind his desk reading Severus’ contract. Normally, he would have read the contract after the board meeting in December, but some things had stopped him. He was annoyed that the contract gave Severus too much freedom and that every potion Severus creates had to be recompensated. It was angering him that Severus had to be paid for every simple thing. He threw the contract on the desk and went to the window to watch the Black Lake until he heard a knock.

“Enter”, Albus said.

Minerva entered the office. Albus wanted to speak with her about Severus. “Albus, you wanted to speak with me.”

Albus sighed and said with a nod: “Yes, Minerva. There are some things that we need to discuss. Take a seat.” Albus and Minerva sat down and Minerva asked: “Have you read Severus’ contract from the school board?”

Albus nodded and said: “Yes, I have and things are going to be hard from here. Severus’ contract entails that he had to be recompensated for every little thing he does for us. All the potions, he brews for the hospital wing and for us had to be paid. If he brews them for the hospital wing, then, the school board would be recompensating and if he brews for us privately, then, we have to pay for his potions from our own pockets. Furthermore, he will only do rounds twice a month due to his workload as potion master and during the holidays, he is allowed to leave school grounds however he wants, but is required to return a few days earlier, in order to prepare his schedule, the potion classrooms and labs here.”

Minerva was shocked. “But it would give him too much freedom, Albus. We must find a way to restrict it.”

Albus shook his head and answered: “With what Minerva? Severus knew his rights and had read his contract. We can’t do anything against him without Severus complaining to the board, which would make things harder for us since the majority would side with Severus. Furthermore, I can’t use the excuse of OWLs and NEWTs since he would demand to be paid for that too and money is tight due to the audit on the Hogwarts Vaults.” Albus was furious that his access to the Hogwarts Vaults was minimised.

Minerva asked incredulously: “Audit? Albus, what audit?”

Albus cursed himself. He forgot to tell Minerva about the audit that Pandora was demanding. “Minerva, I forgot to mention that currently the Hogwarts Vaults are audited under Pandora’s order. I tried everything, but Pandora is supporting the primary school and wanted an audit of the vaults to see if there was enough money for the primary school.” Minerva was stunned. This was not good. How did all this happen in two months? She was there, when Albus informed her that Pandora Lovegood was Lady Ravenclaw and had the power over the Hogwarts Vaults, but she never thought that Pandora would demand an audit. This was bad, very bad. If the goblins found out, what Albus and she had done and allowed with the vaults to happen, then, many light families would lose a lot of money.

Albus and Minerva were discussing, what to do, but nothing came out since things looked really bad for them. Albus was determined to cut the potion curriculum during the board meetings from January to June and then, he will focus on removing some books from the library at the other half of the year.

Malfoy Manor, January 3rd, 2002

Narcissa was looking through Dumbledore’s bucket list and shook her head at the man’s foolishness. She can tell that the first half of the Wizengamot meetings was determined to restrict dark magic, whereas the second half was about the creatures in their world. At the school board meetings, one half of the meetings would be spent about the restriction of the potion curriculum, and at the other half, Albus was focused on removing some books. At the January meeting, the man was planning to ban blood magic including the blood wards and the potions. Narcissa knew that if this law passed, then, any blood magic would be made illegal at the beginning of February this year. It is too bad that Akira didn’t remain with the Dursleys since it would be funny to see the Potters charged by using blood wards on their eldest and spending some time in Azkaban, but it doesn’t matter since there were still charges of child abandonment, child abuse and child endangerment. Narcissa as Akira’s magical guardian would be able to have access to Petunia’s and Vernon’s registration forms of being magic-hating muggles. Any muggle or squib relative that is aware of the magical world and hates magic like Petunia or Vernon are registered in the ministry and are monitored, so that they do not reveal the wizarding world to the general public in the muggle world and do not get custody of any magical children. This would be their downfall since James and Lily registered the Dursleys as magic hating muggles and they didn’t retract the registration forms. This would be their downfall.

Narcissa wrote a notification to Lucius’ contact in the registry department that she needed a copy of the registry forms of Petunia and Vernon Dursley as magic-hating muggles before Dumbledore or the Potters notice it and destroy it. Lucius explained to her that with the copy, they would be able to have proof and Narcissa would be able to have a say, if the registry forms should be destroyed since she is the magical guardian of Akira. If Narcissa said no, then, Akira’s registry forms would remain, but John’s would be destroyed since the Potters would try to wipe out all traces about the Dursleys in the magical world.

In case the Potters and Lupin are charged and found guilty, then, they would be stripped off their custody of John and the boy would be sent to live with the Dursleys since his godmothers were dead. It would teach the Potters and Lupin a lesson, how their stupidity had endangered their youngest son. Narcissa wrote also a letter to their contact that in case the Potters appear in the registry department, in order to annul both registry forms from Akira and John, then, he would only destroy John’s registration forms since she would not allow Akira’s to be annulled due to her position as Akira’s magical guardian.

With that, everything was covered and the Potters would be walking in a trap.

Registry Department

Like it was predicted, Albus, James, Lily, Sirius and Remus were making their way to the registry department, in order to annul Petunia’s and Vernon’s registration forms as magic hating muggles. Albus approached Lucius’ and Narcissa’s contact and said with a twinkle in his eyes. “Ah, hello, my boy. We are here for the registration forms of Petunia and Vernon Dursley.” The man nodded and asked the Potters: “And what do you want to do with them, Lord and Lady Potter?” Lily was the one, who answered: “We want to annul Petunia’s and Vernon’s registration forms of being magic hating muggles from both of our children since we judged them too fast.” The man wanted to snort. When the couple came here for the first time around, they wanted the registration forms immediately like a dragon was chasing them. Now, they want to annul them.

The man wanted to hide a smirk since they would only annul John’s registration forms and not Akira’s. After Akira’s adoption and Narcissa’s secret announcement of being the boy’s magical guardian, the Dursleys’ registration forms regarding Hadrian Potter-Black changed to Akira Kurusu and the responsible magical guardian had the power to annul the registration forms. Since James and Lily are not Akira’s magical guardians anymore, he would only dissolve the registration forms regarding John Potter. Matthew had pity with John, because in case his parents and his godfathers lose custody, he would be sent to live with the Dursleys and he was sure that the boy would suffer hell.

Matthew answered in a bored voice: “It would be done. In twenty-four hours, the registration forms would be annulled.” It wasn’t a lie. The registration forms regarding Akira would remain, but the ones regarding John would be annulled since a Hadrian Potter-Black doesn’t exist.

Albus smiled and everyone apart from Sirius left the ministry without a care in the world. Sirius was worried. What if the registration forms regarding Harry are going to remain and only John’s would be annulled? He knew that Narcissa wouldn’t allow Harry’s forms to be annulled and she wouldn’t have a problem of leaving John in an abusive home. Then, it would be terrible since the forms can be used against them and there would be charges of child endangerment against them. To make matters worse, Sirius was sure that in case they would be found guilty, then, they would be stripped of John’s and Harry’s custody and his pup would be forced to live with those muggles since he wouldn’t have any magical relative left since his godmothers were dead. Sirius was terrified of this, but he can’t tell anything to James and Lily due to the seal of silence from his evil family. Why did they want him to make him suffer like this? He was sure that they were doing the right thing.

Hogwarts, January 6th, 2002

Another order meeting was taking place regarding Dumbledore’s allies in the Wizengamot. Since the bucket list has been found, Arthur remained at home in Weasley Manor and didn’t bother to attend the meeting in Hogwarts. Lucius and Narcissa would receive the confirmation from Phineas and both would receive some details. Today, they were discussing to put more restrictions regarding the ban of blood magic especially the blood wards and the healing potions that are made by blood. James was unsure about the new restrictions regarding the ban since they used blood wards on Harry and the Dursleys, but Dumbledore assured him that if someone found out, which is doubtful, then, they would excuse the use with the fact that the wards were erected before the ban, which would make the blood wards legal since the new restrictions on the ban would not be active retroactively. Too bad, Dumbledore wouldn’t realise that Akira isn’t with the Dursleys until it was too late.

Albus reiterated his statement: “Blood magic is dangerous to be used since blood can be used to control an individual and could be easily used for line thefts.” Albus wasn’t incorrect. For example, blood bonds are very dangerous since they could be used to control a person and blood can be used in illegal marriage contracts. What Albus does know, is the fact that Lady Magic can counter everything, but Albus tries to suppress any mentions of her by making all these bans. Sadly, this would never work.

Albus made sure to impress in his followers that they can’t afford any failures, and to stop the practice of dark magic in their society. He also secretly wanted to stop the honouring of Lady Magic and also the old traditions.

Phineas was happy that the bucket list was true since with that, his descendant would have a clear advantage against the old fool and his sheep. He had no respect for the twinkly-eyed bastard and what he had done to Hogwarts. Phineas didn’t have a high opinion about muggles, but their inventions are something that could be useful for the magical world and the education of Hogwarts. The man is a magic killer and he needed to be stopped.

Malfoy Manor

After Phineas had explained, what Dumbledore and his followers were planning, Narcissa and Lucius were prepared for their own pre-meeting. They needed to stop Dumbledore’s ban on blood magic even though the ban would have been useful against James and Lily. But regardless, it doesn’t matter, many people’s lives would be at risk, because of those restrictions.

When the others arrived, everyone sat down for a cup of tea and some biscuits. After everyone was there, Narcissa started: “Thank you for coming. Today, we need to discuss, how to stop Dumbledore’s motion and further restrictions regarding the ban on blood magic. But before we start on that, there are some good news. On every New Years Day, Dumbledore is writing a bucket list of what laws and nominations, he wants to pass. My ancestor and former headmaster, Phineas Nigellus Black, memorised the list and came here on the New Years Day to inform me and Lucius about the bucket list. Phineas confirmed the contents of the list about today’s order meeting in Hogwarts.”

Augustinus snorted: “What a fool. Writing a bucket list and leaving it open on his desk, where everyone can read it. This will give us a tactical advantage.”

Many snickered at Dumbledore’s stupidity. Muriel huffed: “Like in school, the man remained a fool.” Muriel shook her head and grinned at her rhyme.

Adrianna had a wide grin. “Nice rhyme, Dame Prewett.” The older woman just gave the Italian woman a wicked smile.

Narcissa recovered from her silent fit of laughter. “Okay, let’s move on before we become all laughing messes.” Everyone agreed. Narcissa explained the plans for January. “Albus is planning on this Wizengamot meeting to ban blood magic completely. This means anything associated with blood magic is banned in this world like blood wards and all the healing potions that require a few drops of blood. I don’t need to tell you that this would set our world in the stone ages and what consequences are going to happen, if those potions are going to be banned.” Everyone nodded in agreement even those from the light fraction knew that banning these potions would lead to many problems in their society and more people are going to die to simple illnesses.

Narcissa continued: “For that reason, I have a list of all the healing potions that require one ounce of blood and I can confirm that nearly every potion is a healing potion. The few that are not healing potions are potions that are used for tracking rituals. Then, we have the blood wards. The blood wards are very powerful since they are able to block anyone, who is not blood related, and not even Voldemort nor Dumbledore would be able to bring them down. I believe that is the reason why, Albus wants them banned.” Everyone nodded in agreement and were discussing, how to combat the nomination, but for that they needed a distraction.

Narcissa was thinking hard, what they would be able to use against Dumbledore and she had an idea. “I have an idea, what we could do. We all know about the state of Diagon Alley and how the alley has been slowly withering away.” Everyone nodded at that and they had an idea, where Narcissa was going. “I want to make a major change in the wizarding world that the ministry has to renovate Diagon Alley to its former glory and make it more welcoming to newcomers. Furthermore, the alley should be kept clean since it is going to look like Knockturn in a few decades, if the alley remains like this.” Everyone was shocked at that. Renovating Diagon Alley was always a sore point in the ministry since none of the ministers bothered to fix the alley up in the past. But they were sure that if the Wizengamot is forcing those changes, then, those gremlins, who are owning the cleaning company wouldn’t have a choice, then to do, what they were told to do since they could lose their positions of power in the ministry. The company responsible for the renovations and keeping the alley clean belonged to some high-ranking members of the ministry, who are connected to Dumbledore. They have been doing nothing to fix the alley and have been still embezzling hundreds of thousands of Galleons. Narcissa will not allow this to continue and if some people had to suffer, then, so be it.

Lucius could only imagine, how this was going to end. Some of Dumbledore’s people are going to be forced to do, what they were tasked to do. Many were agreeing to that. It was about time that the alley is improved and renovated. Some, who have underage children, wanted to make sure that their children have a good impression about Diagon Alley and the current state is a disaster.

They agreed on the distraction and started to get information, how to counter Dumbledore’s nomination. Narcissa had been researching the affected potions and the blood wards and came to the result that they are necessary for the protection and health of their nation. She had all the arguments to convince the Wizengamot to stop Dumbledore’s nomination and Narcissa was sure that she will get support from Voldemort’s followers and some of the more neutral aligned lords and ladies. Tomorrow, the law regarding blood magic would be called into question.

With that, the meeting ended.

Hogwarts

The winter holidays came to an end and it was time for the students to return back to school. Bill entered the great hall with some warnings from his father and went to the Gryffindor table with his other house mates and waited for the feast to begin. Albus and the other staff members entered the great hall through the staff entrance and many students noticed the absence of Horace Slughorn. There were whispers that Slughorn had retired and had been replaced by a new potion master. When the staff took their seats, many noticed a new face at the head table. He had pale skin with a hooked nose, black, greasy hair and onyx eyes. He was wearing everything black. A majority of them was already intimidated by his presence. Some were afraid and some expressed their dislike towards the man, making rumours that he must be a death eater. Bill noticed the man too and he found him intimidating.

When every student had taken a seat on their respective tables, Albus rose from his throne-like chair. “Welcome back, my dear students to a new term. There are some announcements to make before the feast could begin.” Many students were curious about the announcements. Albus continued in a happy tone even though he was not happy with the arrangements: “My first announcement is that Horace Slughorn has retired as Head of Slytherin House and Potion Maser after his long services in Hogwarts. Furthermore, I am introducing you to your new potion master. He is one of the youngest potion masters in history and received his mastery in less than two years. He also was a former student here in Hogwarts and was a one of the top students in this school. His name is Severus Snape.” Severus rose from his seat and gave a slight bow, but he remained standing. There were polite claps. Many had a feeling that the man was going to bring changes in the potion class that could be beneficial, but it could also lead to some problems. A minority gave the man a hostile look since he was bad news in their eyes. After the hall quieted down, Albus continued with the next arrangements: “And the last thing before the feast can begin, I am announcing to the Slytherins that Professor Snape and your Astronomy Professor, Aurora Sinistra, are from this day on co-heads of Slytherin House.” Aurora rose from her seat, whereas Severus remained standing. Many students were shocked. Co-heads? Since when can two teachers become head of house? It was always one staff member, who was a former member of that house and had experience with teaching.

The two sat down and Albus finished: “Now that we have put this behind let the feast begin.” With that last sentence, the feast began and the food started to appear in front of everyone. The students and staff members dug in. Bill was talking with his friends during the feast and were discussing the new professor. It was unheard of that a house receives two heads of house. “Is it even possible for two staff members to become head of a Hogwarts house and why do those slimy snakes get this privilege?”

Bill didn’t like this house mate, but he had to deal with the more prejudiced lions in his house. Another started: “Maybe it is possible, but it was never used. I mean Snape is the new replacement of Professor Slughorn and doesn’t have any experience as a teacher. Maybe this rule is now used to train Snape to become head of house. I have heard that Professor Sinistra was offered the position of head of house at the beginning of this school year as she was a former member of Slytherin House, but she refused.” Everyone was momentarily stunned. One of the Gryffindor girls squeaked. “Professor Sinistra was a Slytherin, but how? She is always so kind, how can she be a snake, and is she a muggleborn or a halfblood?” Bill remembered that Professor Sinistra and his father went to school together. When he told his father about the Astronomy Professor, his dad told him that Aurora was a squibborn and had a hard time to adjust in Slytherin House since many Slytherins were prejudiced against anyone, who had impure blood.

Bill answered: “From what my dad had told me, Professor Sinistra was a small minority of muggleborns, who were sorted in Slytherin.” Everyone stared. The same girl squeaked again: “But how? The Slytherins would never accept a muggleborn. How could the hat sort her in that house knowing that only purebloods and some halfbloods are accepted.” Bill really questioned her intelligence. The Slytherin House is not about blood purity, but about cunningness, resourcefulness and ambition. He answered: “You do realise that the traits of Slytherin House are cunningness, ambition and resourcefulness. Maybe Professor Sinistra had the traits and that was the reason why she was sorted in Slytherin.” Many in Gryffindor agreed with him and Bill smiled and asked the girl: “How did you come to that conclusion?”

The girl blushed a little and answered: “One of the snakes told me about that, when I started here.” Bill shook his head since he knew that it was a lie. He answered: “Well, that snake was lying and is an idiot. It’s similar to what had been claimed about Gryffindor House of having only light and good witches and wizards, which is also false since I have heard that Pettigrew may have been a Gryffindor, but he was a death eater and a dark wizard.” A majority agreed with him and those, who followed the headmaster blindly, growled in rage that the man tainted the house with his actions. One of Dumbledore’s pawns said furiously: “He was not a true Gryffindor. He was a snake in disguise. No true Gryffindor would join You-Know-Who.” Sadly, not many were so sure about that. Pettigrew wasn’t the only Gryffindor, who joined You-Know-Who. There was a small minority that joined Voldemort. The reasons are unknown, but Bill had the suspicion that it could be, because of Dumbledore’s views regarding child abuse.

The feast continued on until everyone was full, and the food disappeared from the table. Before they were released, they were informed to remain in the Great Hall since there was another announcement. When all their attention was on their headmaster, the man turned his attention to their new potion master, who rose from his seat. Many were surprised that the new teacher was the one, who would make the announcements after the feast. Severus made sure that the hall was quiet and started with his own announcements. “Before you are released to go to your dorms, there are some things that needs to be announced. First things first, there is a new curriculum and there are new standards from the ICW for the potion class. That also includes a marking scheme.” The students were surprised by this. Albus and the other staff members were shocked about the marking scheme. They never thought that the standards would also change the way Severus was going to mark the students. For Albus, this was bad. This marking scheme would cause problems for his pawns in school. Severus continued regardless. “Furthermore, there would be mandatory tutoring sessions this term from Monday to Saturday to bring you all up to par with the ICW curriculum. Tomorrow, you will get your schedules and you have to attend every single session or you would be barred from taking the end of year exams, OWLs or NEWTs, which would mean that you would be required to attend summer school and I believe, no one wants that. Exceptions are made, if you are sick and are not able to attend the tutoring sessions, then, I will postpone it until you are better, understood?” Everyone nodded terrified and they knew that the new potion master was not joking about this. Severus looked at everyone sternly and made sure that he is serious about that. When he had seen that there were not protests, Severus knew that the next announcement would make many students angry especially, Dumbledore’s pawns. Severus took a deep breath and prepared himself for a fight since some students are not going to like it. “Finally, there is also a major change in my expectations. All students, who received an EE in the potion OWLs, are not welcome in my class anymore since the expectations have been increased to an O.” Many NEWT students, who had an O in potion, were happy that they are able to continue in the class, but some, who had an EE, either cried since their dream jobs to become healers and aurors, were destroyed or were absolutely furious and were openly protesting this change. The protests died down, when the headmaster let out a firecracker to make sure that the great hall was silent, but many were still fuming over the changes. Severus understood their anger, but it had to be done. He explained: “I know that some of you are angry about those changes, but it is for the best since potion is an exceptionally dangerous class and I am warning all the NEWT students here that any mistake you make from now on could be lethal and may cost you a limb or your life, because we are going to work with more volatile ingredients. I am not doing this to be mean to you or that I am here to ruin your career chances. I am only doing this to protect you from harm and that is the reason why, the NEWT class are demanding an O.” With that, Severus sat down and looked at the reaction of the students. Many, who were angry before, had been forced to understand that it is for their own protection, but there were those, who followed the headmaster blindly and don’t want to accept this lying down. They were going to speak to the headmaster to fix this.

Albus had seen those looks and was groaning inwardly. He really didn’t want to deal with them right now. Thank Merlin that tomorrow is a Wizengamot meeting. So, Minerva would be in charge temporarily. Albus will try to limit the damage that Severus had done during the next board meeting.

When the students were released and returned to their dormitories, there were some vocal protests from those, who were still angry about the fact that they were not able to continue in Snape’s class due to the changes. Thankfully, Promona, Filius and Minerva calmed them down and sent them to bed, but one thing was sure, the students are going to write letters home. Some were not going to allow this.

Wizengamot, January 7th, 2002

Narcissa was prepared for the Wizengamot session. She knew that today Lord Greengrass was going to call the ban regarding blood magic into question and Lord Davis would be the one to put the distraction. Narcissa knew that Amelia should not do these nominations alone since Dumbledore would be setting his sights on the woman. It was time to change the nominee of their nominations. When the Wizengamot started a few minutes late, because of Dumbledore, the first thing, they went through were the new introductions, but there were not any.

The first order of business was the summary of the last Wizengamot meeting in December. Many supported the idea of putting the anti-creature law regarding centaurs into question, which annoyed Dumbledore, his followers, Voldemort’s followers and Doloris Umbridge, who was sitting proxy since Fudge wanted her to represent him at the Wizengamot.

Albus looked at his followers and they were prepared. When it was time for new nominations, Albus was the one, who wanted to make the nomination regarding the ban of blood magic. It’s time to ban that magic in their world and make sure that the dark is restricted even more. He put his most grandfatherly face and started: “My dear members of the Wizengamot, today, I am going to warn you about another bad branch of magic. It is blood magic. Blood magic is also dark magic and can be used for many illegal things like illegal marriage contracts and blood bonds that would be able to control an individual against their wills like it would be done with the imperio. We need to stop this continuing corruption of our society. For that reason, I am nominating the complete ban of blood magic, which would include the blood wards and all the dangerous potions that require an ounce of blood.” Albus was droning on about the dangers of blood magic and its danger to everyone.

Narcissa really questioned the man’s intelligence. Doesn’t he realise that what he is talking about is complete hogwash? Blood magic has its bad and good aspects. Of course, the bad aspects are illegal marriage contracts, but not all marriage contracts are bound by blood or illegal. Only absolute contracts are blood-bound and thus require a few drops of blood. Other marriage contracts have no such things. Blood bonds may be able to control other individuals, but it isn’t dark magic, but black magic. The difference between dark and black magic is that dark magic doesn’t have any effect on the soul, whereas black magic is able to corrupt the soul and the person would become evil like it had happened with Voldemort. She knew exactly, how to counter these arguments.

After Dumbledore was finished with his nomination, Narcissa looked at Lord Davis. The man gave her a nod and waited until Dumbledore announced, if there were any other nominations.

Michael Davis rose his wand to the air. Albus was a little confused. He hoped that this nomination wouldn’t be too difficult. Everyone set their eyes on Lord Davis. The said man started. “Lords, Ladies, there is a matter that caused me great distress and it had to be addressed now.”

Albus asked suspiciously knowing, how difficult the neutral section could be: “And what seems to be a problem, Lord Davis?”

Michael got him in a trap. This was good. “It’s about Diagon Alley or better to say the state of the alley.” Before Michael could continue, he was interrupted by one of the ministry officials, who was owning the company that is responsible for the cleaning and renovating of the alley. “And what seems to be wrong with the state of Diagon Alley, Lord Davis? I have been walking around the alley for years and I didn’t see that there was anything wrong there.” Everyone looked at the man neutral, but inside many were disgusted that the idiot didn’t notice that the alley is losing its shine and is turning more and more into another version of Knockturn Alley.

Michael withheld a growl and continued regardless in a calm voice. “Well, if you had been walking around the alley for years, then maybe you have noticed the state of the alley. I have here some pictures that I would like to project for this meeting.” Lord Davis took out the dias he had made and put it at the projector that was summoned for the meeting.

Michael started to show the other members of the Wizengamot the state of Diagon Alley. He explained: “If you look at the state of the alley, then, you would notice, how the alley is slowly turning into another version of Knockturn Alley. The cobblestones have not been cleaned and renovated for years. Does any of you here remember, when was the alley renovated the last time?” Many shook their heads. Even those from Dumbledore’s generation knew that the alley wasn’t renovated and updated for centuries. “Furthermore, the weather of England and the resulting erosion is ruining the image of the alley further and further, because the cobblestones are slowly wearing out and for that reason, they need to be replaced. I mean, we have magic and unlike in the muggle world, we would have it easier to renovate the alley in a matter of days instead of months or years like the muggles are doing without magic. If it remains like this, then, the street on Diagon Alley would be cracked and warped like this.” He showed them a picture, how the alley would look like in the future. Many were horrified by that scenario.

The next picture was showed about how dirty the alley was. One of the owners of the company protested in desperation since they would be made responsible for the mess in the alley: “Lord Davis, this picture must be fraudulent and was made in Knockturn Alley. I will sue you, if you are falsifying evidence, in order to get your way here.”

Michael looked unbothered by the threat and turned his attention to Amelia, who knew that she has to step in. “Mr. Fenwick, I have checked Lord Davis’s pictures for validity and they were taken in Diagon Alley not in Knockturn Alley.” The man was flustered and was sweating hard. This was bad. This was beyond bad. If the other members of the Wizengamot saw that the cleaning company that was given to him by Headmaster Dumbledore did nothing since the company’s foundation, then, things would look really bad for him and his friends. He never thought that someone would raise this issue here in front of the Wizengamot.

Narcissa had noticed the panicked look on Fenwick’s and his friends’ faces and she knew that those idiots were getting more and more desperate. Looking around, she saw many horrified and angry looks from the other Wizengamot members. She turned her attention to Dumbledore, who looked like he swallowed a lemon. She smirked. The man didn’t expect that someone would raise the issue.

Michael continued with his dias about Diagon Alley and the members were getting angrier about the state.

When the diashow was finished, Lord Davis retook his seat and said: “For that reason, I am nominating that Diagon Alley should be renovated and cleaned to its former glory. I want that my children are walking down the alley with a good impression.”

Albus had noticed many conflicts with his followers and requested a privacy ward to discuss Lord Davis’ nomination.

Narcissa smirked, when Lady Acton took over as Chief Witch until Dumbledore retook his seat. Aurelia asked: “Are there any other nominations?” This time, it was Cyrus Greengrass that was the one, who rose his wand and was chosen by the Chief Witch. Cyrus rose from his seat. “Lord Greengrass?” Narcissa is hiding her smile behind her occlumency mask and couldn’t wait for Lord Greengrass’ nomination.

Cyrus took a deep breath and started: “Lords, Ladies, I have my doubts regarding Lord Dumbledore’s nomination to ban blood magic completely. The problem that I am seeing in this motion is that he is also banning blood wards and a great number of healing potions in our country, if we allow this law to happen. The blood wards are the strongest protection wards in the magical world since they are able to exclude anyone, who is not blood related. Furthermore, the potions are very strong healing potions and we would risk our world with this ban.” Cyrus handed the members of the Wizengamot apart from Dumbledore and his sheep the files about the potions and the blood wards. “I know that many of you are wary regarding blood magic, because of Lord Dumbledore’s concerns regarding absolute contracts that require a few drops of blood and blood bonds, but there are solutions for those two. Absolute contracts that are illegal could be dissolved with Lady Magic’s judgement.” Everyone apart from Dumbledore and his sheep, who were still discussing, agreed on that. Cyrus continued: “Furthermore, blood bonds can be negated with the goblins’ help since they can create golems and the blood bond can be transferred to the golem since they are carrying partially our blood. If the golem is later dissolved, then, the blood bond is also gone and you are safe from the one, who had been controlling you.” Many didn’t know this, but they were happy that there was a solution to the blood bond.

Many members of the Wizengamot were shocked to see that they nearly risked their country with this ban. Most potions were healing potions and some were used for tracking rituals, which would also be beneficial, if someone missing needed to be tracked down by the aurors for example. When the members were finished with reading the files. There were many supportive faces regarding Lord Greengrass’ doubts and there is also the distrust that was sown into Dumbledore’s nomination. Cyrus returned the attention to himself. “For that reason, I nominate to call the current ban regarding blood magic into question and we need to research more about this topic.” Everyone agreed.

Whereas Cyrus was doing his nomination, Albus and his followers were in a heated argument regarding Davis’s nomination. Adam Fenwick nearly screamed in rage: “Headmaster, we need to stop this motion somehow. We would lose a lot of money, because of this nomination.” Albus sighed. He had always used Adam’s position, in order to have funds for the order since the cleaning company is also a part of the ministry, but it doesn’t have a staff that is responsible for the cleaning and renovating of the alley since the money was used for his side projects and the war. But now things are not looking good. The Wizengamot can force the company to clean and renovate the alley and Albus wouldn’t be able to do a single thing to stop it. He had hoped that any mention of this problem would have been ignored by the other members of the Wizengamot, but apparently it wasn’t the case.

“I understand, Adam, my boy, but sadly, there is nothing that I can do since it has been brought to the Wizengamot’s attention and I have a feeling that no one would vote for our motion.” Adam and his friends looked unhappily and one of them snapped: “Well, in that case, Headmaster, we will not be able to give you and the order a single knut from our company since we have to hire a staff of cleaners and renovators. Additionally, we need to buy the needed materials.”

James and the others just glared at them, but they couldn’t blame them for this since Davis was the one, who caused this mess, and with that another financial resource for the order would be drained. Why is this happening now? Albus wanted to groan and he couldn’t argue it since the ministry would keep an eye on the company now and there was nothing that can be done. This was bad.

For the next half an hour, they argued, how to fix this issue, but Dedalus had an idea. “Albus, we could hire the minimal number of staff for the company and pay the necessary supplies for the cleaning and the renovations. The leftovers could be given to the Bird Fund as a donation. It would be a small amount of money, but this is better than to get nothing.” Albus had to admit that the idea from Dedalus sounded good. He would get less for the order, but at least, it would be something. Albus couldn’t believe that the neutral section was the one, who was throwing rocks in his way. He had expected it from the dark section, but not from the neutrals, where he doesn’t have any influence.

Some were against Dedalus’ idea, but they were interrupted, when Albus came back from his thoughts. “This is a good idea, Dedalus. It would still leave us with some money for the Bird Fund rather than to get nothing. We will have to agree on this, but on a later date, we would be able to overturn it.”

When Albus and his followers were finished, Albus returned back at the podium of being Chief Warlock. He asked: “Were there any new nominations, Aurelia?”

Aurelia withheld a huff and answered neutrally: “Lord Greengrass made the nomination to call upon the current ban regarding blood magic into question, because of some revelations.” The files had been given to Dumbledore and his sheep. “It seems like Chief Warlock, you neglected to mention the benefits of blood magic since according to this file, the blood wards are one of the most powerful protection wards in the magical world and have been used commonly to protect family members in the past. Furthermore, you forgot to mention that many potions are created by using human blood, which is also considered blood magic, and most of them are used for healing or in some cases for tracking rituals, which would be beneficial for our aurors to track down criminals.”

Albus swallowed hard knowing that he had kept this part of information from his nomination since he had known that his nomination would be dismissed, if he had mentioned the blood wards and the potions, but he never thought that someone would reveal this information. He cursed Greengrass to hell for revealing this. What was he going to do now? Maybe he should continue to the votes, but would his nomination pass. Of course, it would. The Greengrass family is a dark family, who had been voting neutral. He was sure that no one would believe the man due to Rufus’ incident with the family. Apart from that, his followers are going to vote for his nomination. They would manage a majority.

Albus continued with the voting and started on his nomination. When the vote came, only his followers and those he could trust voted for his nomination. The majority of the Wizengamot voted against his motion. Albus was shocked. How dare they? He will find another way to push the ban against blood magic. But now it was a setback. Albus moved to the next vote regarding Diagon Alley and this time it was unanimous. The third nomination of Cyrus Greengrass received the majority of the Wizengamot much to Albus’ fury. This was bad. This was beyond bad. Why did they vote for Greengrass’ motion? Didn’t they understand that their world is now in danger. Glancing at his followers, he could see the fury in their eyes that his nomination has failed and that many disregarded his words like this. With the last vote, the session was officially closed and Albus called his followers to his office to discuss this setback.

Severus Snape’s office

Severus had his office hours with Aurora. As co-heads, they were sharing their office for the time being. They were discussing his new positions until they heard a pounding on the office door. When they said a Come-In, a group of students from Gryffindor, Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff entered their office. Their faces spelled trouble and both teachers dreaded this meeting. Severus was the first to start with a stern voice: “What can I do for you?” The group turned to Elanor Doge, who was their speaker. “Professor Snape, we are here to request that we should be allowed to continue our NEWT class in potions regardless of our grade.”

“No”, Severus said automatically.

Elanor was angered at being told no. “What! What do you mean with no?”

Severus answered with a raised eyebrow: “Mr. Doge, the expectations of the NEWT class in potions are clear. You have to have an outstanding in your OWLs, in order to continue in my class now and I will not change this parameter since the board had agreed on this. I would be fired, if I was going to make any exceptions. Furthermore, the class will be even more difficult and dangerous since the students are going to be working with more volatile ingredients and any mistake would cause a loss of limb or life. So, the answer is no.”

Elanor was furious and nearly snapped: “But you have to make an exception, professor.”

Severus wanted to roll his eyes since the fool in front of him is stubborn. “Mr. Doge, I told you already, I am not going to make any exceptions and I am not going to favour you and your friends here. I am not going to show anyone favouritism here in this school. Not even to my snakes.” This was the boiling point. Elanor and the others were protesting and whining about the unfairness. Aurora and Severus looked at each other and thought that this was going to be annoying.

Both heads of house had enough after a while. Aurora immediately exclaimed in an authoritative tone: “ENOUGH!” When everyone was silent, the group of students looked at Professor Sinistra with hope in their eyes that she would be able to convince their new potion master to change his mind. The woman knew, what they were hoping for, but she wasn’t going to help them since she was supporting Severus with his changes. “Mr. Doge, you and your friends have to accept these changes. And for this gross conduct of behaviour, you all are going to spend with Professor Snape tomorrow in detention. You all also lost ten points from your respectable houses.” The group glared at the two professors and were ready to protest, but Snape interrupted them before they could utter a tone: “If you utter another tone here, then, you will lose another ten points and will spend another day in detention with Professor Sinistra.” Aurora gave Severus a death glare and turned her glare at the group that quickly paled and ran off. They were going to complain to Professor McGonagall since she is in charge of the school and maybe she would be able to do something about this.

When they left, Aurora gave Severus a hard look. “Severus Snape, how dare you. I am not going to deal with those troublemakers for one hour.” Severus huffed: “Funny coming from you, when you assigned point loss and detention that they had to serve with me. Do you think, I like to spend one hour with those dunderheads willingly?” Aurora just smirked and answered: “Well, welcome to the responsibility of being a teacher and maybe you need someone, who could clean those dirty cauldrons.” Severus just huffed. He made a mental note not to forget a calming draught and a headache cure for the detention tomorrow, but he also had seen the advantages of this since he had some helpers for dirty cauldrons.

Minerva McGonagall’s office

Minerva was doing some of her own paperwork as deputy-headmistress. She was finished with the headmaster’s paperwork since it had precedence. Normally, Albus was responsible for that, but today was another Wizengamot meeting and for today, she was in charge of the school. Yesterday, some of her lions were furious about Severus’ changes. She had known that Snape was going to be trouble, but the man destroyed many students’ dreams with those dratted changes. She couldn’t believe that Albus allowed Snape to get away with this, but Albus warned her that the board voted for the ICW standards and curriculum and he wasn’t able to stop it. Thankfully, Albus was going to work on stopping Snape from ruining this generation. He promised her.

Suddenly, there was a knock or better to say a repetitive pounding on her office door. She quickly said a Come-in and inside came the students, who were still angry about Snape’s changes in the class. When the office door was closed and Minerva summoned enough seats, the deputy-headmistress turned her attention to the angry students. “What can I do for you?”

The students whispered with each other until they decided that Elanor Doge was the one, who spoke. “Professor McGonagall, you need to do something about Snape’s changes in the potion class. This can’t be happening that many of us are going to be denied the education that we need to achieve our dream jobs and careers.” Many bobbled their heads in agreement.

Minerva sighed deeply. Severus was indeed trouble. “First, it is Professor Snape. He is now a staff member. Secondly, there is nothing I can do. The potion class is out of my domain and the board of governors is responsible for the curriculum and the standards. The headmaster and I will only be responsible that the contents of the curriculum are taught to you, but we can’t actively change the curriculum since we need the board’s approval. I am sorry, my dears, but in this case my hands are tied. Apart from that, Professor Snape presented his curriculum and the ICW standards in front of the board and they voted for his motion to implement those rules.” The students were furious. Why couldn’t Headmaster Dumbledore or Professor McGonagall do something against Snape? Why did the board agree on this? Didn’t they understand that they destroyed their lives and dreams with what they had done. Elanor will write to his great-great uncle Elphias and request him to do something against those changes.

Elanor threatened: “If you and the headmaster can’t do anything, then, I will write to my great-great uncle, Elphias, so that he can use his influence in the board to fix this. I am not going to let a teacher ruin my chances of becoming an auror.” Many nodded in agreement since they wanted to become aurors or healers and they are not going to allow Snape to ruin their chances.

The students left the office in a snit. Minerva let out a breath and was on her way to Severus’ office. She needed to fix this.

Severus Snape’s office

Severus was finished with the first tutoring session with the first and second years and his class with the seventh years for this day and he was exhausted since he had to grade the potions that the first, second and seventh years had brewed during the class and tutoring session and he had to deal with Doge and his little band of fools, who demanded from him to change the expectations that have been set by him and the board. There was a lot of work and he had to prepare himself for the students’ assignments. He was ready to have a calm evening after he was finished brewing. Severus had also many things to do. First, he wants to make health scans with his snakes to see, if one of them is in an abusive home. Then, he will inform Filius and Promona that if they suspect a student to be abused, they should come to him and he will make a health scan and will make sure to remove the children from their homes until the summer holidays. He will also talk with the head boy, who is also a Gryffindor, if in the lions’ den, there are also students, who are abused. He will not discriminate the houses since no child deserved to remain in an abusive home.

Another thing, he was going to do, is making sure to control Poppy. The woman is overbearing and controlling like Albus and Minerva and he was done with the woman doing nothing to help the students, who were living in abusive homes. He was going to make sure that Poppy is rendered powerless and it would be satisfying to watch the woman trying to get out.

Another thing that he had to deal with is the horcrux that is in the castle, but he had to wait for some time since he had been warned that one of Dumbledore’s elves was guarding the horcrux. Furthermore, there was McGonagall, who was keeping an eye on him. It would take him longer to get the horcrux.

Severus was interrupted in his thoughts by a knock on his office door and before he could say a Come-in, Minerva entered his office in a huff. “Severus, I need to speak with you.” Severus wanted to groan, but remained silent and summoned a seat for Minerva and sat down behind his desk. He asked the elderly woman: “What can I do for you, Minerva?”

Minerva was already annoyed and answered: “It is about the ICW standards and the curriculum that you have forced to pass through the board. Many students came to my office complaining about these changes since they were not able to continue the class.”

Severus knew that she was exaggerating and told her so: “Minerva, you are exaggerating. Mr. Doge and the others are just dramatic. From the NEWT class, I know that a small minority, who had achieved an EE in their OWLs during Horace’s time as potion master, was angry about the expectations that I have pushed through. During Aurora’s and my office hours, the little group that had complained to you came to my office demanding to lower the expectations, so that they can continue to attend their NEWT classes. Of course, I have refused and told them that the decision was made by the board. I should have advised them that if they want to continue in potions, then, they have to attend a certified summer course and redo their OWLs during the summer holidays. And if by some miracle they achieve an O in the OWLs at the ministry, then, they would be able to continue their NEWTs.” It always annoyed Severus that Horace’s class was used to get a NEWT in potion the easy way. The ministry had stricter rules since they were using the curriculum and the standards from the ICW and were not allowing anyone lower than an O to get a NEWT in potions. Now, it is balanced out and there was no easy way out since the potion curriculum and standards are used internationally. Severus will not mention that the group threw temper tantrums that even toddlers would be jealous about. Aurora and he assigned them point loss and detention for their rude behaviour.

Minerva rubbed her eyes. She didn’t know that Elanor was already here, but it doesn’t matter now. She needed to make sure that the rest of her lions are able to attend the NEWT class in potion and continued to argue: “Come on, Severus. They are still children, who have dreams. Dreams that you are willing to destroy, if you continue like this.” Severus raised his eyebrow at the woman and countered: “Minerva, I said no. The safety of the students is my top priority here and anyone that has a lower grade than an outstanding in their potion OWL is not welcome in my class and could be a danger in my classroom. This conversation is over, because I have some work to do. Surely, you have some work to do too.” With that, Severus turned his attention to the newly brewed potions for the hospital wing and was looking at his notes for his DADA mastery.

Minerva huffed and left the office. She wanted to argue further, but Severus would have ignored her and would have just downplayed everything, what she had said. Maybe Albus would be able to help her. Her students deserved to follow their dreams, but Severus was destroying their road.

Headmaster’s office

Phineas was trying everything in his power not to burst out laughing. That old fool didn’t realise that things are not going his way anymore. The day, he abandoned the current Black heir, is the day, where things would go wrong for the current headmaster. He watched the old fool’s pensive look like the man had been slapped. The Wizengamot meeting didn’t go the way, how it was supposed to go.

Albus was silently fuming. The meeting didn’t go as it was supposed to go. He was going over the files that Greengrass had given them and he was getting angrier and angrier, when he noticed that he showed the Wizengamot, how to invalidate illegal, absolute contracts and how to dissolve blood bonds. This wasn’t supposed to get out and the meeting didn’t go his way due to the distraction that was thrown in front of him. Looking at his followers, who were scattered in his office, Albus sighed. He needed to discuss this with his followers about this setback.

James was the one, who started the conversation. “Albus, what are we going to do? How dare those fools vote against your nomination? You are trying to stop the darkness and corruption in our world, and they are allowing it.” James couldn’t believe that the other members of the Wizengamot would go against Albus’ nomination. He had expected that the darker families would go against the headmaster, but he never expected that even those from light families would vote against Albus’ nomination. Why did this happen? What did those dark wizards and witches do to these families that they were turning away from the headmaster? Are they blackmailing or threatening them? Or are they under the imperio? James didn’t know, but he was going to find out, what they had done to these light families and bring them to justice. For now, he had no proof and he had to let it go.

Albus answered: “I know, James, but the nomination already passed and Cyrus managed to get the majority of the Wizengamot to pass his nomination.” Albus was vexed. He didn’t understand, how his plans were not working.

Many were unhappy especially Adam Fenwick and his friends, who now had to waste a lot of money for the cleaning and the renovating of Diagon Alley, and this time, they would be watched by the Wizengamot. The young man was still cursing Davis for bringing this in front of the Wizengamot and forcing the issue through. Adam knew that if he did nothing, then, it would be brought back again in front of the Wizengamot and the next time, he would lose the company and there things would get worse since he wouldn’t be able to give the headmaster any funds for the order.

Albus had also another issue with Adam’s company. The man had opened the company promising the ministry that it would be responsible for cleaning and renovating Diagon Alley. The ministry of course made a budget that consisted of hundreds of thousands of Galleons that was invaluable for the order. Now, these funds would be cut to less than a quarter, which was bad, because he needed that money for his side projects.

Albus turned his attention to the Fenwick heir. “Adam, my boy, you know, what you have to do.” The man nodded and Albus continued: “You need to hire a good staff and make sure that you have the necessary supplies for the company. We can’t risk the Wizengamot shutting down your company and opening a new one that we wouldn’t be able to control.” Adam nodded and said: “Yes, headmaster.”

With that the meeting ended and Albus was left in his office to think. Since Halloween things were not going his way. Something is going on, but he doesn’t know what. This was his third Wizengamot meeting that was a failure. He needed to make another approach, but he would remain on his bucket list.

Hogwarts, January 9th, 2002

Promona and Filius were curious, when Severus wanted to speak with them. He had said that it was urgent. Both heads of house came to his office and took their seats. Both looked at the new potion master. Filius was the one, who started the conversation. “Severus, what did you need to speak with us about?” Severus looked at the two heads sternly and answered: “I have requested your presence here regarding the students, who are living in abusive homes. I have found a way around Poppy, Albus, Minerva and the child services here under the guidance of Maria Podmore.” Both raised an eyebrow and asked: “You did?” Severus nodded and he explained the issue: “Promona, Filius, the problem that we are facing is that Albus and Minerva are downplaying the abuse of our students outrageously and are sending them back to their abusers. This is unacceptable. Then, there is Poppy. As the healer of Hogwarts, she should have done a medical history scan, but she didn’t and this is a violation of the Hogwarts charter that could lead to her dismissal from the staff. Furthermore, Maria Podmore, the head of child services, and her staff are actively ignoring child abuse cases and are doing nothing since she is following Dumbledore and his agenda blindly. For that reason, I am going to hand over the medical history scans to Amelia, where she and her team of aurors could deal with their abusers. Additionally, Amelia would collect more evidence against Maria and her staff of fools and at the end, she will bring them to justice.”

Both were happy with Severus’ plan and furious about those, who were calling themselves light and good. Promona and Filius had always been neutral and wanted to help those students, but they were stonewalled for years. Both heads lost all respect for Minerva and Albus since they were practically encouraging the abuse of children. They are thankful that Severus has found a way around them, but there was a problem and Promona asked: “This is a great idea, Severus, but how are we going to deal with the muggleborns and muggle-raised that are abused. Albus and Maria Podmore are going to notice it and will try everything to stop it.” Severus knew that this would be a problem, but he had a solution to that. “Promona, the child service workers in the muggle world are going to help us. There are many squibs in this department that are aware of our world and know about Dumbledore’s views regarding child abuse. Furthermore, there are some muggleborn und muggle-raised witches and wizards, who couldn’t get a job here, and wizarding-raised witches and wizards, who were sick of Maria’s neglect and dereliction of duty.” Filius and Promona smiled happily. This is good. “I could send them the medical history scan and they will deal with this appropriately.” Both liked the idea.

Filius had another concern. “But how are we going to do that? I mean, we do not know the exact number of students, who are abused and it would be too noticeable, if you do the medical health scan on them, when Albus and Minerva are around.” Severus sighed. Filius had a point. And there comes the question, how to do the health scans without alerting the headmaster and Minerva. Promona had an idea. “Filius, Severus, I have an idea, how we can make the health scans without alerting them.” Severus and Filius turned their attention to Promona and waited for answers. Promona explained: “Filius, you know that Albus isn’t here due to monthly meetings with the ICW as the representative and Supreme Mugwump and he wouldn’t be here until Monday morning.” Filius facepalmed. He forgot that Albus is currently not here due to his position in the ICW. “And Minerva would put me in charge of the school during the weekend since she was going to visit her relatives. She will return with Albus and they are going to do this every school year in January.” Severus and Filius were happy. These are good news. Promona could arrange some healers from St. Mungos and the students would get the health scans that they needed before those two arrived back.

Filius had another concern. “What about Poppy? She would report us to Albus and we would have a problem since Minerva and Albus were not going to allow this next year.” Severus grinned and answered: “Leave Poppy to me. She is going to regret ignoring the Hogwarts charter and her responsibilities.”

Promona and Filius had vicious smiles. It is about time someone is going to do something against Albus’ and Minerva’s policy regarding child abuse. They were sick and tired of allowing their students to be abused by their so-called guardians.

Hospital Wing, January 11th, 2002

Severus entered the hospital wing and saw Poppy fussing around a student. He was going to make sure that the woman is rendered powerless and he had the run of the hospital wing. Severus hated Poppy since she was following the old fool blindly and didn’t do anything to help the children, who were in abusive homes.

“Poppy. I need to speak with you privately in your office.” He had seen the student and he can tell that the boy should have been released by now, but since he was a Gryffindor, Severus knew that he would remain here longer due to Poppy’s bias towards the lion house.

Poppy answered in a huff: “Wait Severus until I am finished with Mr. Samson, then, we can talk in my office.” Severus went to Poppy’s office and put up secrecy and privacy wards and additionally, he added a cloaking spell on his wards, so that Poppy would not notice the wards until it was too late. The man returned back to the wing and went to the student that Poppy was fussing around and checked up his injury. Seeing that the boy had only a minor injury that was fixed quickly, he said: “Mr. Samson, you are released. Now get back to your classes.” The boy quickly hurried away, when he had seen Severus’ strict expression.

Poppy snapped at the potion master angrily: “Severus Snape, what is the meaning of this. The boy is required to remain here for the night, so that he can rest. You are not a licensed medi-wizard.” Severus glared at the woman down and answered coldly: “Poppy, I am a potion master and like you, I have to have a medi-wizard license. I have checked the boy myself and there was no need to coddle the boy like this. The injury was minor and you have fixed it in seconds. He isn’t required to remain here for the night.” Poppy was angered by this, but she couldn’t argue against Severus since she knew that potion masters are required to have medi-wizard licenses. “I need to speak with you and it is urgent.” Poppy huffed, but didn’t respond. She made her way to her office and Severus followed her. The potion master hid a smirk, when Poppy entered her office and didn’t notice the secrecy and privacy wards. Now, she is in his trap and she wouldn’t be able to expose him since he was going to make sure that she is fired and discredited.

Sitting down behind her desk, Poppy asked in an imperious voice: “What do you want, Severus? You know that I have work to do.” Severus withheld a growl, but remained calm. He answered her with a question: “Poppy, do you know this?” Severus pushed a booklet that had a big “H” on the front and was decorated with the colours of the houses. In the middle stood the title “The Hogwarts Charter”. Poppy took a deep breath and nodded. Severus continued to ask: “And Poppy, do you know, what the charter states about the responsibilities of the healers of Hogwarts.” Poppy swallows hard. She remained quiet and Severus regarded her with disdain. He nearly snapped at the woman: “The charter states that the matron of Hogwarts is responsible for the health of the charges in this institution and is also required to do a medical history scan on the students here in this school. Furthermore, you are responsible for all the reports on child abuse to the ministry. Poppy, when was the last time, you have sent a report of abuse to the ministry?” Poppy swallowed hard and answered in a near stuttering voice: “I-I-I didn’t need to do the scans since Albus told me that the children are exaggerating and are making it up. He also explained that it was tough love nothing harmful.” Severus growled in rage: “Poppy, you do realise that this neglect and dereliction of duty can lead to your dismissal from the staff. Apart from that, since when are broken bones, rape, being crucified, starved and emotional abuse tough love. You should be ashamed of yourself by stating this.” Severus took a deep breath. “During the weekends, Promona would arrange that some healers and mind healers are going to come here to conduct the health scans. All the students would be required to come to the hospital wing to be examined.”

Poppy flared her nostrils and growled: “I will not allow this, Severus. I will report it to Albus and Minerva. And-“ Severus cut her off and threatened her: “You can try to do this, but sadly, you wouldn’t be able to utter even a word in front of the headmaster and Minerva since I put here some secrecy and privacy wards.” The matron paled. What? What did he do to her office? Severus towered over the woman and said with a vicious glare. “And if you try to stop us, then, I will report your failures to the board and have you fired. Maybe, the board would hire someone, who is more competent than you and takes their responsibilities seriously. I would watch your steps, Poppy. One toe out of line and you are gone.” Poppy was trembling in fear. This couldn’t be happening. What was she supposed to do now? She can’t tell Albus and Minerva anything since Severus put her under a secrecy ward and she can’t warn Albus and Minerva. She was going to watch everything in powerless fury.

Like with Sirius, Poppy couldn’t do anything and is rendered useless. She couldn’t believe, what Severus had done to her, but she didn’t have any power and since the board had voted against Albus, the last two meetings, she couldn’t risk this going to the board. For the best, she had to keep quiet even though she didn’t like it.

Severus was happy. Tomorrow, the healers are going to come and at lunch, Minerva announced that she would be gone for the weekend, in order to visit her family. She was going after dinner and Promona had the run of the school this weekend. This was going to be perfect planning.

Hogwarts, January 13th, 2002

Severus, Promona and Filius were absolutely furious, when the healers finished their scans. All three wanted to curse Poppy to the next millennium and back. 84 students were physically and/or emotionally abused. They really failed an entire generation. Promona had made sure that they sent one copy to the child services in the ministry, whereas the other copy is sent to the child services in the muggle world, so that the muggleborn and muggle-raised can be saved, and Amelia, so that she is able to deal with the wizarding raised. There will be a lot of work to be done. Severus wanted to kill Poppy for allowing this mess.

They made their way to the hospital wing to confront Poppy. There is hell to pay.

Poppy was fuming in her office. She couldn’t believe, what Promona had done, but there was nothing that can be done against Severus since it would risk her dismissal and medi-wizard license. Poppy had to remain quiet and received many sneers from the healers and glares from the other staff members. She managed to make herself the pariah of the staff. But this wasn’t the end, when Severus, Filius and Promona entered her office in a fury. This meeting was not going to be a good meeting and she knew it.

All three were standing and staring down at her like she was a bug. Promona started: “Poppy, I cannot believe, what you have done or better to say, what you have not done.” Poppy bit her lip, she knew that she could be fired and lose her license as a medi-witch. Promona continued: “I have looked through the charter and I found a way, how to make sure that we are not repeating this mess again without dragging the board into this. In case, the matron of Hogwarts is not fulfilling her or his duties, then, there is an automatic clause that would activate. For now, Severus and I are going to have the run of the hospital wing since we clearly can’t trust you.” Severus looked at Promona confused and realised that also Herbology Masters are required to have a NEWT in healing. Beside him, Promona is also a medi-witch due to her field of study of dangerous plants. The potion master was also glad that the wards had remained the same and Poppy didn’t find them. This was good since the woman wouldn’t be able to tell Albus and Minerva anything.

Poppy fumed, but sadly, she didn’t have any power to stop Severus’ and Promona’s control over her domain. The headmaster and Minerva wouldn’t be able to protect her, if they ever found out about this conspiracy since she was going to be exposed, if they tried. This was a nightmare.

With that, all three left Poppy’s office and Severus removed the wards. Poppy was still sitting behind her desk in outrage. Everything is in hell.

Gringotts, January 14th, 2002

Albus arrived at Gringotts with dread settling in his stomach. He knew that this meeting was going to be bad as he had imagined. Pandora and Ragnock were waiting for Albus to arrive. The man wasn’t late, but they had a pre-meeting and Pandora had been less than pleased with the money transfers. Many of Dumbledore’s followers received money from Albus as ‘restitution money’, which is illegal since this had nothing to do with school business. That money was supposed to be used for the education of the next generation. Pandora demanded the money back and some families will receive a nasty surprise.

Albus entered Ragnock’s office and saw Pandora and Ragnock waiting for him. Pandora greeted him in a fake, cheery tone: “Ah, headmaster, you finally arrived. Take a seat. We have some business to discuss.” Albus had seen the large stack of parchment in front of him and it seems like that this meeting was going to be long.

Taking a seat, Albus was hopeful that this meeting was going to be short. Ragnock started: “Lord Dumbledore, the audit of the Hogwarts Vaults is finished and there were many discrepancies with the vaults. A majority of the money went to the family vaults of the Fenwick, Vance, McDonald, Jones, Podmore, Marchbanks, Diggle, Doge and Dearborn families. Furthermore, the money also went to a vault that is called the Bird Fund. Can you give us a legal reason, why that money was transferred there and not to the education of the next generation?” Pandora was outraged. All this money went to Albus’ supporters and his order. She was going to make sure that the money would be returned to the Hogwarts Vaults. Albus was trying to remain calm and answered: “The money was necessary for the war against Voldemort and his followers. I knew that the money was supposed to be used for the school, but the war had its precedence.”

Pandora closed her eyes and inwardly, she counted to ten, in order to calm herself down from cursing the old fool. After she was calm, Pandora said: “Albus, the money in the Hogwarts Vaults should only be used for school matters, but instead of, you have violated many of these rules and regulations regarding the use of the money. The precedence of the money in the Hogwarts Vaults is in the education of the next generation. A war has nothing to do with that.” She had seen that Albus was ready to counter her with his ‘Greater Good’-nonsense and she swiftly added: “Apart from that, if you needed money for the war, then, why didn’t you make a charity and used those donations for the war.” Pandora knew the man was lying that he needed funds for the war, but in reality, Albus had a lot of funds for the conflict against Voldemort and he didn’t want to use those funds since the man was greedy and didn’t want to dip his hands in his own accounts.

Albus was stuck. He can’t really argue against this since the woman was right. Before he could come up with an argument, Pandora requested: “Chief Ragock, I demand the return of the money that was used for non-educational reasons.” Ragnock nodded and started to work. Albus on the other hand was panicking. His followers were not going to like this. A lot of money would be taken away from his side and some are going to be poor since they made many investments and became wealthy with the help of the money. Now, his side is going to lose a lot of money. He knew that the Vance, Fenwick, Marchbank, Diggle and Doge families could become broke through this since they were going to lose hundreds of thousands of Galleons and the McDonald, Jones and Podmore would become poor since they would lose millions, but they wouldn’t be affected that much. The Dearborn family was going to be the only light family that is not going to be affected by the loss of money, but the loss would be noticeable. Then, there were James, Lily, Sirius, Remus and his other individual followers, who he helped financially through the Bird Fund. Even that money would be gone since the majority of the money was going to be taken back.

Albus tried: “Come on, my girl, this is a slight misunderstanding. Surely, there is another way to solve this problem.” Pandora answered: “Well, there is another way to solve this problem.” Albus smiled, but the smile dropped, when Pandora said: “You are going to pay their debts since it was you, who made those transfers.” Pandora saw the stunned expression on Albus and smirked: “I mean, if you don’t want them to pay their debts, then, I am leaving the debts to you, Albus, since you were the perpetrator of this.”

Ragnock added: “It could be arranged. I mean, Lord Dumbledore has many vaults from his family including the Bird Fund and those vaults would be enough to pay all the illegal transfers back. What do you think Lord Dumbledore? Either you alone are going to pay the money back or those, who received the money would be the ones to pay back the debts. Your choice.”

Albus was trying to remain calm. This couldn’t be happening. Either he had to pay back for the transfers or his followers. The worst thing is now that the goblins would take away his entire fortune for this. No, Albus can’t risk this and for that he chooses the second option. Ragnock had known that the man would choose the second option since the man wasn’t foolish enough to risk his own fortune.

Albus sighed deeply. He already is imagining the fits his followers were going to throw, when they receive a nice bill from Gringotts and that the majority of their fortune is confiscated, because of the transfers. He already is dreading the order meeting today since Gringotts is going to send the notices first and then, the money would be transferred to the Hogwarts Vaults automatically. Albus asked: “Is that everything?” Pandora answered: “Yes, Headmaster, and next time, if there is another war against another dark lord, then, I strongly advise to not use school funds for this.”

Albus was a little bit relieved that the meeting wasn’t long, but it still was bad. His followers were not going let it go.

Great Britain

Like Albus had predicted, many of his followers were furious that all of the money from the school’s vaults were reclaimed back by Pandora. The Fenwicks, Vances, Marchbanks, Diggles and Doges were terrified and furious. Terrified since they were nearly broke and furious that all the money was going to be returned. The Podmores, Jones’ and McDonalds are enraged since they had lost millions of Galleons, which caused the families to become poor and the Dearborns were angry, but thankfully, they didn’t lose a lot of money, but it was still an annoyance.

James, Lily, Remus and the other individual followers were absolutely furious. Their personal vaults were nearly emptied. Instead of the hundreds of thousands of Galleons, they had in their vaults, they now have only more than ten thousand Galleons. The only exception, who didn’t lose any money since it was taken away by the Black family and the school’s money was returned to the Hogwarts Vaults by a furious Arcturus Black, was Sirius since he was disowned and the money that he had as Sirius Black was taken away by his former family.

Albus was also furious that the Bird Fund was closed down since the entire money in the vault belonged to the school. So, the goblins shut it down and the money was returned back to the Hogwarts Vaults. This was a nightmare.

And when things couldn’t get any worse, his floo flared multiple times and his followers came through to his office screaming and whining that their vaults were shut down or they have lost thousands to millions of Galleons. Albus was doing everything to calm them down. He understood their fury.

When he had managed to calm them down, Albus said: “I understand your anger, my dears, but there is nothing that can be done. Pandora wants the money back for the primary school and she is set in her goals.” Many grumbled. They wished that they could change Pandora’s mind, but the woman is supporting the primary school. “For now, we have to gather the money in another scale and try to invest the remaining money we have in good businesses.” Everyone sighed unhappily and started to make plans to look up for businesses that would make sure to fill their vaults again.

Albus sighed in relief, when his followers left his office. He needed a new approach, how to get the money back.

Malfoy Manor, January 20th, 2002

Narcissa was sitting and enjoying a cup of tea with some biscuits, when one of the house elves popped in the living room to inform her that Lady Burke is here. Her son is with the Greengrasses on a playdate and her husband had a business meeting. She knew Oreana Burke since she was a child and the woman never supported Voldemort since she didn’t agree with him and his beliefs about squibborns and halfbloods. Surprisingly, the woman had known about the origin of the muggleborns before the war and wanted to bring it up to the Wizengamot, in order to bring ruin to Voldemort and his followers, but she was stonewalled by Dumbledore and his followers and that is also the reason why, she didn’t like Dumbledore either. Narcissa stood up and greeted the woman politely: “Lady Burke, welcome to Malfoy Manor. I am surprised by your visit.”

Oreana twitched her lips and answered: “Lady Malfoy, I am apologising for my sudden visit, but this is an important matter. I wanted to go to Lord Crouch, but I am not sure, if it is the right time since he is still working on his divorce.” Narcissa knew that something must have happened. She answered: “Take a seat, Lady Burke.” Oreana took a seat and another cup of tea was ordered for the visitor. Narcissa knew that Oreana likes jasmine tea and chocolate biscuits. She always paid attention, what the lords and ladies liked and made sure to serve them, in order to make a good image.

After the Burke lady was settled, she continued. “Lady Malfoy, I am here, because I have heard unsettling news regarding the current Yaxley heir, Aurelius Yaxley.” Narcissa was now paying close attention. Corban’s younger brother was furious, when Corban married Clara and had children with her. She often heard, how Aurelius had complained regarding his brother’s disgraceful behaviour by marrying a mudblood whore and gold-digger and about their bastards since the man was never going to acknowledge that these children are legitimate Yaxleys. The resentment turned into hatred, when the former Lady Yaxley died. The woman had been furious about the marriage and demanded from her son to annul the marriage with Clara since the soul bond was faked in her opinion. Unfortunately for the Yaxleys, this was done in Gringotts and her sentiments insulted the goblins, who had proved that Clara and Corban are soulmates through an inheritance test. The goblins started an audit on their vaults and it had been annoying to the Yaxleys to have minimal access to their fortune. Corban refused and Octavia Yaxley had been whining and complaining that her eldest had betrayed her and had broken her heart. The split in the family caused many problems in the dark fraction and the animosity between Corban and the rest of his family grew, when Octavia died a bitter woman. Things got worse, when Corban made a speech during the funeral about his mother and declared her a blood traitor by going against Lady Magic’s decision by trying to break the soulbond between him and Clara. Narcissa knew that the woman tried everything to break the soulbond. Octavia tried to use marriage contracts against Corban, but they didn’t work since Corban always called Lady Magic to judge the contracts and all of them were invalidated much to the woman’s fury that even Lady Magic turned against her. She tried rituals to transfer the soulbond to Isabella Jugson, Corban’s former fiancé, but Corban stopped her by sabotaging her rituals and humiliating her in front of the public since monthly, there was always a damaging article against Octavia and her attempts. The woman’s reputation in the pureblood circles was tarnished and she was treated like a pariah. A majority of the pureblood families agreed with him and declared Octavia a blood traitor due to her attempts of breaking a sacred soulbond. Narcissa had seen the reactions of Lord Yaxley and his current heir. Lord Yaxley nearly suffered a heart attack and Aurelius had to be restrained by his friends in the death eater circle since the man wanted to make his brother suffer for his cruelty towards their mother. Seraphina Yaxley was also angered and hated her older brother for his speech during the funeral. It was also why the old Lord Yaxley disinherited Corban from the Yaxley heirship, but that was barely accepted by the family magics and with the skin of his teeth Aurelius became Heir Yaxley. The Family Magics were not happy and it made its displeasure known to the family, which annoyed the Yaxleys even more.

Narcissa returned back to the present and asked: “What unsettling news?”

Oreana answered: “I have overheard a conversation during my visit in Yaxley Manor that Aurelius Yaxley is planning to kidnap Clara and break the soulbond by killing her through an ancient ritual. He also plans to kill off Corban’s children since they have impure blood through their ‘mudblood’ mother and needed to die since they were polluting the pureblooded line of the Yaxleys. I don’t know with whom Aurelius had spoken to, but I am sure that there is another person involved in this. This needs to be stopped.” Oreana knew that some members of her family are blood purists, but thankfully, it is only a minority and they are rotting away in the goblin mines. She didn’t disown them due to the family charter, but she allowed the money to be confiscated since she felt a little bit guilty that she didn’t stop their actions. It’s now time to rectify things.

Narcissa knew that these are bad news and she knew that she had to stop Aurelius from doing this. If they manage to convict the man, then, Corban would become automatically Heir Yaxley again since the Yaxley family is patriarchal. She knew that Seraphina would be a problem, but she doesn’t have any inheritance rights, which would annoy the young woman to no end. This could work.

Narcissa answered: “I will bring it up to Amelia and she will forward the information to Lord Crouch. Aurelius will not get away with this.” Oreana sighed in relief and relaxed knowing that Aurelius will be stopped. The rest of the afternoon was spent talking about nothing until Lucius returned.

Lucius was surprised by Lady Burke’s visit and after the woman was gone, Narcissa explained the situation. Lucius had a thoughtful look on his face and said: “We need to be carefully, Cissy. Aurelius and his father have a lot of connections in the ministry. We need to have solid evidence, in order to convict him.” Narcissa added: “And if our plan is successful, then, the blood purists are going to lose the Yaxley seat. You know as I do, Lucius, that in case of a conviction, Aurelius would lose any rights to inherit any titles, which would make Corban Heir again and after his father’s death, he would become Lord Yaxley.” Lucius nodded slowly in understanding, but argued: “What about Seraphina, Narcissa?” Narcissa huffed and answered: “Lucius, the Yaxley family is like the Black family a patriarchy. Only a male can inherit the family’s title.” Lucius thinned his lips and answered: “Ah, okay. Now, I understand, how. But we need to make sure that we are successful.” Narcissa nodded in agreement and made plans, how to remove the Yaxleys from Voldemort’s circle. It would annoy the death eaters to no end.

Jones Estate, January 26th, 2002

Albus and his followers were sitting in a formal meeting room in Lord Jones’ estate. Arthur had attended this meeting, in order to get some details, what they were going to plan. The order was discussing the potion class. They needed to restrict that class and stop Snape from ruining the students. Elphias received an alerting letter from his great-great nephew, where the boy complained about the fact that he wasn’t able to attend the class since he didn’t pass the new expectations. Elphias knew that Elanor dreamed of becoming an auror and now that dream is destroyed, because of one Severus Snape. He promised his great-great nephew that he was going to do everything in his power to restrict the potion curriculum and make sure that he can attend the class, in order to become an auror. Albus explained: “We need to remove some potions from the curriculum first and then, we can lower the expectations. I believe that until August we would be able to lower Severus’ standards.” Everyone nodded in agreement. James just grumbled, how Snivellus was ruining lives and was making everyone miserable by these changes, but soon they will change it.

Arthur had nearly rolled his eyes. He knew that the newly dubbed Grey Alliance was going to stop this. Dumbledore continued: “We will focus now on the potion class since Severus made changes that had to be stopped. We don’t want the future generation to be discouraged from learning potions.” Albus twinkled and James knew that he had to do something against Snivellus’ changes. His sons will not be able to pass the class, if those expectations remained. Many were in the same opinion like James and they already have plans, how to make sure that the potion class is easier and to make sure that their children could get their dream jobs as healers and aurors.

Arthur wanted to shake his head. They just want to dumb down an entire generation with their nominations, but he was sure that most of the members of the board are going to stop Dumbledore and his followers. He made sure that Bill is paying close attention in the potion class since he warned him that the class is going to be harder than before.

Bones Manor, January 27th, 2002

The meeting of the Grey Alliance is taking place this time in Bones Manor and Arthur informed them about Dumbledore’s plans during the school board meeting. Narcissa was pleased that Dumbledore’s main focus would be the potion class, but they were going to throw some rocks on his way, in order to make sure that his nominations regarding the potion class will fail. She also has an idea, what could distract the old fool. The school should have new furniture. New desks, chairs, beds, tables etc. should be bought. Narcissa was sure that the current furniture wasn’t changed for nearly more than hundreds of years, when her ancestor was headmaster. It would distract Albus and his followers.

Narcissa laid out a plan, when no one had an idea, how to distract the old man: “I have an idea, what we should use, in order to distract Albus and his sheep.” Everyone turned to Narcissa. It was admiring that the woman had the best ideas, how to make sure that Dumbledore is distracted for the time being. Narcissa continued with a question to the others: “When was the last time that the furniture of the school had been updated?” That was one question that barely anyone could answer. Augustinus answered: “The last time, the school’s furniture was updated was in my sixth year. Former Headmaster Black had seen the deteriorating state of the furniture and had ordered everything to be replaced for the school. From what, I have seen, it seems like that neither Dippet nor Dumbledore haven’t updated the furniture. Both could have done something, but they did nothing.” Everyone looked unhappy about these revelations and Narcissa answered: “But now it is time that the board is stepping in and is making this important change. Dumbledore wants the status quo, but he wouldn’t be able to argue that the school needs new furniture since the current furniture is starting to deteriorate.” Everyone nodded in agreement.

After that was discussed, many turned to the next agenda and it was about the different designs of the primary school building. Many thought that the school should look like another version of Hogwarts, but Narcissa wanted the school to be more welcoming to children. Looking through the designs, she liked the designs especially from Emily Poole. The woman is an architect and had opened her own building firm here in the UK, but the difference between her building company and the other companies in the UK, she had hired different magical creatures like werewolves, vampires, undines, nymphs, veelas etc. Narcissa didn’t see any problems with that since there would be many benefits. Outside, the building looked like a wider version of Hogwarts since according to the woman, there should only be three floors in the school, in order to not exhaust the students with the stairs like in Hogwarts. Furthermore, the decorations outside would be done by nymphs and undines and the inside would be decorated by veelas. Another aspect is the inhuman strength of werewolves and the vampires, which is beneficial since the school would be finished in less than five years. The company may not be successful here in the UK due to the bigotry, but in the other parts of the world, the firm is successful and Narcissa also heard many praises since they are fast and had a good quality.

Narcissa said: “I like the designs from Emily Poole.” Many had seen the beautiful design from the woman and liked it. Adrianna admonished: “Oh, I like her designs, Cissy, and it is also good quality. I would really recommend her. My family hired her in Italy to renovate Zabini Manor in Rome and it was mind-blowing, how beautiful our manor was decorated from the inside and the outside.” The Italian woman showed everyone pictures of the newly renovated Zabini Manor and many were envious about the design of the manor. They will maybe hire that woman to renovate their manors and estates. It would make the manors and estates more welcoming.

With that, they decided that they would vote on Emily Poole’s designs. It would anger some darker purebloods and Dumbledore’s followers and to make them boil, they would hire the woman to renovate their ancestral homes. It is time for some changes.

After some time, Narcissa turned to the concerning conversation with Lady Burke. She turned to Amelia and said: “Amelia, I have some concerning news regarding Heir Aurelius Yaxley.” Amelia became slightly worried. She had the suspicion that it had something to do with Corban, Clara and their children. Narcissa continued, when everyone became slightly concerned about this information. “Lady Burke made a surprise visit last week and informed me about a worrying conversation between Aurelius Yaxley and an unknown person. The contents are really concerning, because according to Lady Burke, Aurelius was talking about using an ancient ritual to break the soulbond between Clara and Corban and kill her and her children.” Everyone was silent and horrified about this information. Amelia sighed and answered: “Don’t panic anyone. I will inform Corban and his wife about this and Corban and I will keep an eye on Aurelius and what he is going to do. I can’t open a file yet since we have only a claim from Lady Burke and we can’t risk her since Aurelius would know that Oreana had talked to you and he does know about your allegiances, but if we have circumstantial evidence against Aurelius, then, I can open a file against him without him knowing anything.” Narcissa understood the problem and hoped that they would be able to convict Aurelius before he could do something. She was also curious, who the other person could be. Narcissa had a suspicion that it could be Isabella Jugson, but she didn’t have any proof on that. Maybe it would be revealed later.

The meeting ended after everyone was finished with their tea and returned back home.

School board, January 28th, 2002

Narcissa was prepared for some more changes in the school. Their alliance is going to allow Dumbledore and his chicken with their nomination, then, they would put their distraction, which would cause some ruffled feathers with Dumbledore and his followers. When Albus finally arrived a few minutes late, the session started.

The first thing, they did, was to summarise the last school board meeting. Albus had a pensive face since the man is still miffed that the last meeting was a failure and Narcissa couldn’t wait to make Dumbledore’s life more and more difficult.

When it was time for the nominations, Elphias Doge was the first to be chosen to make a nomination. He started to drone on about the danger of some potions and how the ICW curriculum in potions had to be restricted because of these potions. Severus told them that there were some accidents in his class, when the class was brewing a simple truth serum, but he had managed to stop them and made sure that the students were safe. Sadly, Doge was taking everything out of context, when he said that during the potion class six students were injured and one was so gravely injured that he was being treated in St. Mungos. Narcissa made sure that the report about the accident would be presented in front of the board since the man was clearly lying.

When Doge was finished, many were distrustful about this, but they moved to the next nomination. It was Lord Davis that was making the nomination. “Lords, Ladies, there is something that we are overlooking and it is about the furniture in Hogwarts. I have an important question to Headmaster Dumbledore.” Albus’ jaw tightened. This will not go well. He answered in a grandfatherly voice: “Yes, my boy, what is your question?” Michael ignored Dumbledore’s disrespect and asked: “When was the last time the furniture of Hogwarts had been updated?” Albus swallowed hard. This question was unexpected and he knew that lying would lead him to nowhere since Augustinus Lestrange was going to counter him. Albus answered: “The last time, the furniture was updated was during Phineas’ time as headmaster.”

“WHAT?!” Many apart from Albus and the Grey Alliance were shocked and furious that the furniture was more than one century old. Chattering started that something must be done about this. Albus had a hard time since his followers were conflicted about these revelations. When everything was calm, Michael moved to his nomination. “For that reason, I am nominating that the school needs new furniture and an update. It shouldn’t a problem with the Hogwarts Vaults, Lady Ravenclaw.” Pandora nodded. She knew that there was enough money now to buy new furniture for the school. Albus knew that there was no way out. He needed to speak with his followers first before he can make a decision about this. He never expected that someone would bring this up in front of the board.

Narcissa liked it that Dumbledore and his fools were distracted and Aurelia took over. Aurelia asked: “Are there any other nominations?” Narcissa glanced at Pandora and the woman rose her wand. Aurelia turned her attention to the Ravenclaw heir. “Lady Lovegood-Ravenclaw?” Pandora calmed herself down and started: “There is something wrong about Lord Doge’s nomination regarding the accident in the potion class. As the Ravenclaw heir, I am able to get access to the archives of Hogwarts that had been made by the school since the building is a sentimental being. Every accident or incident in the school is automatically recorded and I managed to have the report regarding the potion accident that Lord Doge had mentioned.” Everyone gave her the go-ahead. Pandora continued a little bit more confident. “According to the report, the five students that Lord Doge mentioned had minor injuries were sent to the hospital wing, where they were treated in no time and were released the same day apart from one, who had more injuries than the other five and had to spend the entire day in the hospital wing, but he never was admitted to St. Mungos. Everything what Lord Doge had said is taken out of context and is made up.” This left many with a sour taste and Lady Meadow was the next, who rose her wand. Many turned their attention to the woman. “I am in agreement with Lady Lovegood-Ravenclaw. In St. Mungos, we would have received a report of a student being admitted in the hospital, but we received nothing. Furthermore, I have heard during a luncheon with Heir Consort Doge that Lord Doge’s great-great nephew had been loudly complaining about the changes in the potion class since he isn’t able to attend the class, because he has an EE in his potion OWL. I believe that Lord Doge’s motion is just the result of an uncouth fit of a Hogwarts student that isn’t able to attend the NEWT potion class and is unable to follow his dream of becoming an auror.” Many didn’t know that, but knowing this caused many to turn away from Doge’s nomination. Narcissa was surprised by this, but this was good. And it also causes that Dumbledore’s followers are looked as petty.

With that out of the way, Pandora continued with her nomination about the design of the primary school and she announced that she liked Emily Poole’s design of the primary school. Many darker purbloods didn’t like Emily Poole since she hired worthless creatures that have no use in their community, but the majority of the school board liked her design. Narcissa also showed everyone the newly renovated Zabini Manor and nearly everyone was envious about the outlook of the manor in the inside and the outside. Many were secretly planning to hire the women to renovate their ancestral homes. The darker purebloods were even more furious since Zabini Manor looked absolutely perfect and there was nothing that can be said about the quality since no one could compete with that. Many knew that they were going to vote for Emily Poole since that woman had an impressive design and it would take less than five years to finish the primary school. Furthermore, the quality is promising since Emily Poole’s company has high praises internationally.

They waited until Dumbledore and his followers were finished with their long-winded discussion about Lord Davis’s nomination. Aurelia said, when the privacy ward was dispelled: “Headmaster Dumbledore, we have another nomination. It has been nominated that Emily Poole’s building company should be hired for the building of the primary school.” Albus stared at the woman. There was no way, he was going to allow dark creatures to build the school, but looking at the designs of the woman, he had to admit that it looks stunning. Looking at Zabini Manor, Albus asked: “And what is this picture?” Narcissa rose her wand and when Dumbledore’s attention was on her, she answered: “This is Zabini Manor. Count Zabini hired Emily Poole to renovate Zabini Manor and I have to admit that even I am envious of how beautifully the veelas, undines and nympth had decorated the outside and the inside of the manor.” Furthermore, the woman is internationally well-known and is famous for her projects, which annoys Albus to no end. Looking at the faces of the majority of the school board, Albus can read that many were going to support the woman.

Albus and his followers tried to discredit the woman, but sadly, her reputation is strong and can’t be easily tarnished. Many knew that this was just an attempt to stop the woman from building the primary school and were disgusted, how the light and good witches and wizards were acting like spoilt brats that were told no and were throwing fits.

When it was time to vote, the vote regarding the potion class failed. Elphias seethed silently. Albus looked like he swallowed more than one lemon and the others were angry that their nomination failed. The second nomination was unanimous and the last had a landslide vote and had passed, which angered Dumbledore, his followers and the darker purebloods.

After the votes, the school board meeting came to an end and everyone went home.

Headmaster’s office

Albus arrived back at his office in a foul mood. This meeting didn’t go, how it was supposed to go. Where did they go wrong? He had believed that they would manage to lower the standards of the potion class and delay the building of the primary school. Both plans failed and now the school would be built by Emily Poole, a creature-loving bitch, much to his disgust. He was growing to hate those distractions since they were throwing his plans into disarray, but they are nominated unexpectantly and he and his followers are unprepared, how to deal with them since they are inconvenient.

Looking at his followers, many saw that the headmaster was unhappy and they were frustrated by the school board that nothing is going their way. It is annoying. How are they supposed to make the wizarding world a better place with all these problems.

Many were complaining that dark creatures are going to build the primary school and they were furious about the failed nomination from their side. They needed to work hard, in order to fix these problems. Elphias huffed: “Albus, what are we going to do now? I can’t believe that things are going in the opposite direction.”

Albus sighed. Elphias was right. Things were going in the wrong direction. He was supposed to be in control of the school board and the Wizengamot, but somehow, he had lost control over both, and he is now dealing with the consequences of this loss. But regardless, he will not give up and he was going to make sure to dumb down the potion class. “I know, Elphias, but we have to accept this setback, but next time, we would make sure that things are going in our favour. We need to prepare ourselves better for the next Wizengamot and school board meeting. We can’t allow any setbacks.” Elphias and his friends in the Wizengamot nodded in agreement. They need to be more organised and prepared. With that goal, everyone left the headmaster in his own thoughts.

After everyone left, Albus was thinking. Things were not going his way and he had a suspicion that someone is behind all these failures, but he can’t point his fingers to who since Voldemort was gone. But he also knew that Voldemort would have hated these changes too and he knew that he couldn’t be behind this. All the nominations were done by the neutral section and they don’t have a clear leader since the leader is changing every five years. For now, the leader of the neutral section is Cyrus Greengrass, but in 2005, the neutrals would have a new leader. The dark fraction is now led by Lucius Malfoy, but he was sure that soon, the man was not going to continue to be the leader of the dark fraction since the man is distrustful towards the other dark fraction members. That was also the reason why, many families that are still loyal to Tom are trying to bring them back to their way of thinking.

Albus had to watch, what is going to happen. He can feel it in his bones that things are going to change and he needed to be prepared to counter or try to minimise these changes. Their world’s future is depending on him.