Akira's true parentage (Rewrite)

Potter Manor, May 2nd, 2002

Dorea and Charlus were bored, when they have to listen to another order meeting in Potter Manor and they were listening to Dumbledore and his nonsense about dark magic. Charlus was not happy that his son believes in that gospel, but there was nothing to be done and here he is listening to the doddering old fool talking about how dark and evil Elemental Magic is even though this branch of magic cannot be really categorised as dark, light or grey magic since this kind of magic involves the four elements that are more likely neutral magic. He wished that he had listened to Dorea, when she told him that it would be for the best for James to be tutored in what Hogwarts was lacking, but he had been stubborn and now, here is the result. The only saving grace is that his grandson is safe and out of their control. Those two don’t deserve to be parents at all. If he had been alive, he would have disowned James and Lily and kicked them out. Charlus would have raised both of his grandsons and he would have made sure that both would have been co-lords of the House Potter since magical twins are sharing the title unlike identical twins. The twin bond is still there, but he is sure that it would be dissolved since both boys would be raised completely differently and would have different views and the bond would have become a leech since John was magically weaker and would have taken his twin’s magic for granted, in order to be more powerful. Thankfully, the leech would be gone, when both boys become six. Charlus didn’t need to be a seer that John would be raised to be a light fool like his parents and would believe in Dumbledore’s gospel, whereas Hadrian or Akira would learn to be morally grey or neutral and would question Dumbledore, which would anger the old fool.

When Albus was finished with his plans regarding the Wizengamot meeting in May 6th, he turned his attention to the problem he has with the Yaxleys. First, Albus wanted some updates regarding Aurelius Yaxley. He was glad that Hestia was the one, who would report about Aurelius’ activities. “Well, Yaxley is still in the ministry holding cells and is daily visited by his lawyer, who is trying to get him out, but failing miserably. Amelia is busy with the case and it is confidential since a minor is involved. No one apart from Amelia and Crouch have access to Aurelius’ case file. So, I wasn’t successful in getting a look at the evidence, Albus.”

Albus sighed. If the case file is confidential to one of the head aurors, then, there was nothing that can be done. Only the head of the DMLE can override a head auror. That was the reason why, he wanted Rufus to become head of the DMLE, so that he can get access to some confidential case files that the head aurors were working on, but that would be difficult. Albus reassured the woman: “It is alright, my dear. You have tried your best, but we need to be prepared. Gerald Yaxley is getting more and more desperate, if you had overheard the scene after the last board meeting.” Some nodded since they have heard the argument between Corban and his father. They still were miffed that their plan to sway Corban to their side had failed.

Dedalus said: “It would be impossible to convince Yaxley to side with us since his wife doesn’t trust us and especially, she hates certain individuals that had arrested Corban without proof back then. Should I remind you, Albus, that my son was nearly fired, because those two idiots thought that it was funny to mislead the head aurors and claim that Yaxley was a death eater after he became head auror.” The man looked at James and Sirius with disdain. Albus wanted to groan. He forgot that when James and Sirius became junior aurors, they spread the rumour that Corban was a death eater. One of the former head aurors, Albert Diggle, had opened a file against Corban for conspiracy, treason, rape and spousal abuse and through an illegal arrest warrant, Corban was arrested. Clara had been less than pleased and ruined Albert Diggle publicly and financially. The woman squeezed out two million Galleons from Dedalus, freed her husband and had managed to push through a demotion of Albert Diggle. Albus had to intervene there, in order to stop the complete dismissal of Albert from the auror department, but the demotion couldn’t be stopped. Albert had been ready to beat the hell out of James and Sirius for ruining his career, but he stopped it since he would make the situation worse.

Neither James nor Sirius liked to be reminded of that, what had happened. They just wanted to remove a dark wizard from the auror department and save the ministry from the death eaters’ influence. Sadly, they did more damage than good, which angered them.

Albus answered: “I know, Dedalus, but we must work with the circumstances we have and not the once, we wish.” Albus didn’t understand, why Voldemort didn’t kill James and Lily. Those two have been a nuisance since they have joined the order and wanted to assist him against the dark. There were many incidents, where James, Sirius and Lily did more damage to his side than to the dark with their stupidity. Thank Merlin, they were fixable, but those incidents were annoying since they could have been avoided. The one example is the werewolf incident during James’, Lily’s, Sirius’ and Remus’ fifth year, where poor Remus had nearly died, because of Sirius’ stupidity and because Lily didn’t tell any of them that Severus and she were no longer friends and that she lost her base of friends that she had managed to make during her first four years in Hogwarts due to Severus revealing her true nature. Then, there was Rufus’ scandal with the Greengrass family and Albert’s demotion, which nearly costed both men their jobs. It had caused that his side had received some weird looks regarding those incidents, but thankfully, they had been covered through the fame of the Potter boy. The fame had helped to fix all the mistakes in one row and repaired the light’s image.

Albus regained his focus and told his followers to keep their eyes on certain things and to be prepared for the Wizengamot meeting.

Prewett Estate, May 4th, 2002

“Is that man serious?”, Augustus Rookwood asked Arthur incredulously, when the red-head was finished with his story about the order meeting in Potter Manor. When Narcissa invited him and Thorfinn, they were glad that there were people, who are opposing Dumbledore and Voldemort. But hearing, what Dumbledore was planning is just outrageous since the man is banning magic that had the potential to help their world to advance. Thank Merlin, there are people from the dark and light fractions, who are not supporters of either Voldemort or Dumbledore.

Arthur just grimaced. “I wish, I was joking, but this is, what Dumbledore is planning.” Augustus muttered, how Dumbledore needs to have his mental health checked. Narcissa really couldn’t disagree with that sentiment, but for that they needed to have a good reason to have the headmaster checked, if the old fool is mentally fit to continue his job as headmaster.

Lucius suggested: “We need something that could distract him, but what?”

Adriana answered: “Maybe you should advance your world with some inventions from the muggle world. It would put Dumbledore in a bind since the man is championing the rights of muggleborns and muggle-raised and many muggle-raised will support it.”

Amelia answered: “This doesn’t sound to be a bad idea since I am sure that the man will not want to lose his support base.”

Arthur suggested: “Maybe we should introduce the Wizengamot to the typewriting machine. It would make things easier for those that are on desk duty and have to write reports for their bosses and for the department heads, it would be easier to read their employees’ reports without having to decipher everyone’s handwriting. We also could enchant the paper that any mistakes could be removed magically unlike, how the muggles are doing it.” Many, who are working in the ministry, really liked the idea since it would make their lives easier. Jeremy Clearwater asked: “Why don’t you introduce the magical world to the computers?” Many were confused and Jeremy explained, what a computer is. Furthermore, he had a book, how a computer does work and how it is used. Many thought that the computers sounded better, but Arthur explained: “It is a decent idea, but we need electricity wards, so that the computers could work and the ministry doesn’t have that since we are stuck in the Victorian era.” Jeremy nodded in understanding and agreed with the idea.

The other participants were discussing Arthur’s motion and liked the idea. At the end, they agreed on Arthur’s nomination and suggested that he as the department head of Misuse of Muggle Artefacts would do the nomination.

But now, they had to convince the rest of the Wizengamot, why the current ban regarding elemental magic should be put up in question. Adrianna explained: “Guys, elemental magic is a rare type of neutral magic. It is neither dark nor light nor grey since the four main elements fire, water, earth and air are affected by this branch of magic and the elements are neutral based. If Albus manages to ban this branch of magic, then, you can suit yourself that Great Britain could become a wasteland with no life. Elemental Magic helped our world to become liveable and without it, we would end up like Mars or even worse like Venus, the twin sister of earth.”

Cyrus questioned horrified: “You want to tell me that without elemental magic Great Britain would become lifeless.” Adrianna nodded seriously. Everyone was terrified of that aspect. This was the last thing that should happen to their world.

Everyone agreed on that argument. No one wanted to endanger the UK to become lifeless.

Wizengamot, May 6th, 2002

James was bored during the Wizengamot meeting, but he was listening to Albus regardless since the man wants to ban Elemental Magic. Looking around, he noticed that the Malfoys were chattering and were basically not listening to Albus. He was not happy, how they were disrespecting the headmaster like that and talking through the speech. Furthermore, the silencing wards are also active, which made sure that Wizengamot members can talk without disrupting the nominee. James was not happy and pointing it out to the other Wizengamot members will also not work since both would make the excuse that they were discussing Albus’ nomination quietly and everyone would just shrug it off.

James had a suspicion that Narcissa Malfoy had a hand in Sirius’ disownment, but he is lacking the proof. Even though Sirius is magically adopted in the Potter Family, the stigma of the disownment has remained, because many people are still whispering about Sirius. He really hated it that the stigma had remained, but James hoped that after this year, the whisperings and rumours would end.

When Albus was finally finished, many were still chattering about the nomination and moved to the next potential nomination.

When Arthur stood up, James let out a sigh of relief since it would be about muggles. He hoped that it wouldn’t be a hard nomination like in February, but James doubted it.

Arthur had a humble smile, which was a perfect mask in his opinion since he was known as a humble man. He knew that many would expect an easy nomination, but it would be one that would make Dumbledore hesitate. Arthur had reflected on Dumbledore and his talks about the muggles. The old fool may sound pro-muggle, but during his speeches, the man always talks about, how they needed to guide the muggles for their own good and wanted to portray the muggles as simple beings that needed to be guided. Arthur thought that this was foolish since muggles are independent and intelligent like witches and wizards and they could be also dangerous due to their beliefs regarding magic and their fear about the uncontrollable and the unknown.

But their inventions are quite useful and the wizarding world could profit from them. “Lords, Ladies, I am nominating to use another useful invention from the muggle world.” The darker purebloods were ready to shoot down the idea and Albus was getting worried, but he hoped that he can find a way to shoot the idea down without looking like a dark blood purist who hates muggles. Arthur continued knowing that some are ready to contest his nomination: “I am nominating that many bureaucratic occupations inside and outside the ministry should use the typewriting machine.” He summoned his invention that he had worked for weeks on and had finalised it. Many department heads that were muggle and wizarding raised, knew, what the machine was and they were happy that someone was nominating this idea. The blood purists know that this muggle trash can be useful and they couldn’t find a reason to shoot the nomination down. Albus was stuck. He knew that this invention would make the life of the ministry workers a lot easier. Even his life would be easier with that device. The department heads that are following him blindly are supportive of this, but his followers are not and there is a rift again that he needed to close.

When the privacy bubble was put around, the other members of the Wizengamot continued with the nominations or better to say to counter Dumbledore’s nomination and the current ban on Elemental Magic will be countered and put in question. This time, Cyrus Greengrass made the protest. “Lords, Ladies, Lord Dumbledore’s nomination doesn’t make any sense since it is well known that Elemental Magic is neutral. It means that it can’t be used for neither good nor evil since we are dealing with the natural elements that we can control and create through Elemental Magic. But without this magic, natural magic cannot be regulated and the consequences would be dire for both the magical and the muggle world. If you allow this ban, then, there are going to be uncontrollable disasters that could turn the UK into an unliveable wasteland at the end. One instance, where Elemental Magic was banned, was in Russia during the rule of Tsar Nicholas II., because Rasputin, who was a known wizard with his own agenda, believed that Elemental Magic was making his son, Alexei, sick and he should ban it. The Tsar did it as he was told since he had had a very tight control over the Russian Ministry of Magic back then due to his absolute rule over his subjects. Many Russian wizards and witches were furious, but had to accept the ban, and this led to Russia’s declining nature and fertility on the soil. And without a good soil, many muggles and wixens suffered hunger and death due to the lack of food. And I don’t need to remind you all, what had happened to the Tsar and his family later on.” Many, who didn’t know about the infamous Tsar, were horrified, what they had learned and what they had nearly risked to do to the muggle and magical world. The nomination alone is too risky.

Cyrus gave everyone an article written by a Russian wizard about Russia’s decline in nature and soil during the 1900s and World War I. Cyrus made sure to mark the more important passages and it showed everyone that since the ban of Elemental Magic, natural magic started to decline. There was even a chart that showed that Elemental Magic is needed, so that nature can thrive and the soil remains fertile.

Everyone apart from Dumbledore and his followers are not going to support Dumbledore’s nomination after these revelations.

When Albus and his followers were finished discussing Arthur’s nomination, they agreed to vote for the nomination. After he retook his seat, Aurelia informed him that there is a counter-nomination to his nomination from Lord Greengrass and a nomination to put the current ban into question. Albus was startled, but he believed that his speech would have been enough to get a majority. Apart from that, Greengrass is dark. So, he didn’t say anything and moved to the voting believing he would win this time since he is right. He didn’t even read the article that was given to him and his followers, when they were finished. The Grey Alliance was astounded, how stupid Dumbledore was, but it was useful. The man is full of himself and believes that everyone would agree with him.

The first nomination regarding the ban of Elemental Magic failed. Albus was shocked. How did this happen? Thankfully, he moved on to the next nomination, when he had recovered from his lost vote. The next nomination had nearly every vote apart from the blood purists. The last nomination had nearly every vote apart from Albus and his followers.

Albus’ eye twitched. This couldn’t be happening. He had worked so hard to ban Elemental Magic and now, it was all for nothing.

When the meeting officially came to an end, Albus left the ministry with his followers. Narcissa swore that she had seen storm clouds over the man’s head.

Hogwarts

Albus was sitting behind his desk trying to restrain his fury. The meeting ended badly and he didn’t understand, why nearly everyone apart from him and his followers voted against his nomination and why did this majority vote for Greengrass’ motion. He had presented, why Elemental Magic is dark and dangerous, but Arthur came with his motion and he was distracted for the time being. Albus didn’t realise that during the time, he had been discussing with his followers about Arthur’s nomination, Greengrass made a protest regarding the ban and made a counter-nomination to put the current ban into question. Now, the ban is put under question and would be reviewed for five years. This wasn’t supposed to happen. Six laws are now frozen, because of certain individuals. He needed some dirt against the members of the neutral fraction, but what can he use.

Albus’ followers were miffed and they were unhappy that the law didn’t pass. Minerva was also attending the meeting and had a sour look on her face.

Albus needed to change the topic since he can’t dwell on the lost vote. He needed to think alone, what he is going to do at the next Wizengamot meeting.

Looking at Minerva, Albus asked: “Minerva, I wished, I had asked you earlier, but I am asking you now. How are the students doing in potions. Are there any complaints?”

Minerva huffed: “There are still some complaints from Elanor and his close friends regarding the potion class, but the others lost hope and accepted it. Albus, you need to fix this. My lions are still believing in you to lower the standards of the potion class, but each month that is passing, the children are losing more and more hope that someone would fix this injustice. You need to act fast or my lions’ dreams of becoming healers and aurors are going to be destroyed.”

Albus was not happy that most of his pawns in Hogwarts have lost hope in him, but it was hard to lower the potion class since somehow the other members of the board are countering his and his followers’ motions to ban certain potions and the term project. He needed to find a way to lower the potion class. He had until July. Maybe he needed to have a word with Severus, but the man is difficult and is questioning him on every aspect, which is annoying. In July, he is going to plan to ban certain books from the library and in June, he will try to get Andromeda hired. His biggest problem is the board since the members had to approve Andromeda and her curriculum. Andromeda is still working on the curriculum and she promised him that she would be finished with it until June. The students had to self-study for their history exams and the free slot is used for that. The seventh years are of course helping the younger years with their studying and are also benefitting from tutoring the younger years since they are revising everything for their NEWTs.

Albus needed Andromeda, so that she can make sure that the students are learning the right lessons and not become corrupted. Sadly, for him, that would not happen since the Grey Alliance would not allow this to happen.

When the meeting ended, Phineas left his portrait and went to his portrait in Malfoy Manor. There are some things that he needed to spill to his descendant.

St. Mungos, May 8th, 2002

In the maternity ward, Danielle let out screams of fury and pain, when she was giving birth to their youngest daughter. There were many threats to Cyrus’ manhood and the woman let out something fierce. The healers and midwives were trying their best to calm the woman in labour down.

After ten hours of labour, a baby’s scream could be heard, which calmed both Greengrasses down. Finally, their baby girl was born. The healers examined the baby and were horrified at the results, but they gave the baby to Lady Greengrass regardless, who took the girl in her arms and was coddling her, in order to calm the crying child down, which worked. The head healer requested: “Lord Greengrass, can I have a word with you in my office?” Cyrus turned his attention to the healer and nodded. Cyrus promised his wife that he would be back and the woman nodded since she heard the request from the healer. She hoped that her baby girl is alright.

Cyrus followed the healer to his office and both took their seat. He asked the head healer: “Paul, is something wrong with Astoria?” They already decided to name their little girl, Astoria.

The healer nodded and answered: “Yes, during our examination, we found out that the curse of the blood maledictus in Astoria is really strong.”

“No, not our baby.” Cyrus couldn’t believe it. That curse had been plaguing the female members of the family for generations. It is still not curable, but with the help of some darker healing potions, the worst symptoms could be treated. That was the reason why he is the strongest advocate against Dumbledore’s ban regarding blood magic since that kind of magic had helped Daphne against her blood maledictus. In Daphne’s case, the curse was weak and easily to be treated with the right potions. But the potions were made through blood magic and without these potions, his eldest’s blood maledictus would have worsened over the years. But in Astoria’s case, only the symptoms could be treated and her life span is cut short. She will not survive her fortieth birthday regardless of the potions, she would receive.

The healer nodded sadly. He wished, he could help the girl, but sadly, there was nothing to be done. Cyrus prayed that there would be a cure for his sweet daughter. Lady Magic was saddened about the younger Greengrass girl’s condition and there was nothing, she could do to help them, but she was sure that Severus Snape-Prince will develop the cure, but for that the man needs help from a certain curse breaker in Japan.

When both returned back and Astoria was laid down on the crip beside Danielle’s bed, Cyrus confessed to his wife about their youngest’s condition since Danielle demanded to know, what had been discussed in the office. Even though, the woman was finished with her labour, Danielle was not someone, who wanted to be left in the dark. The wail could be heard through the entire hospital. Danielle was hugging her husband and had a strong grip on his robes. The man was doing everything to comfort his wife telling her that they would be doing their best for their daughter. After some time, Danielle calmed and fell asleep due to the exhaustion.

Jaques and Anton, who had signed himself from school for this evening, entered the room carefully. They were worried, what had happened that his aunt was crying. The head healer explained Jaques about his cousin’s condition. Jaques had a strong grip on Anton’s robes and was crying. This couldn’t be happening. Anton was trying to calm his betrothed down, who was caressing his cousin’s cheek and was sobbing hard. The Heir of the House Abbott was saddened that this tragedy had befallen House Greengrass and hoped that someone would find out a cure for his future cousin-in-law.

It was a sad day for House Greengrass.

Daily Prophet, May 9th, 2002

Rita was busy writing her article about Aurelius’ schemes in the black-market. It was a really good story that would be another nail in Yaxley’s coffin. The blond woman couldn’t wait to publish the article about Jaques and his role in all that. The last article about his arrest and his actions caused an outcry in the public since everyone knew that breaking a soul bond is a no-go, but Rita also knew that she had to remain within the facts since many believed that she is a gossip journalist and not a serious reporter, which is an insult to her profession. She only writes some juicy gossips that are true in Witch Weekly and her superior knew that and had nothing against it. Rita never liked Barnabas Cuffe since the man is an ally to Dumbledore and is following the man blindly, but she had to get around him, which is easy since the man is easily to manipulate. Rita knew that Dumbledore doesn’t have her under his radar yet, but she was sure that the man is planning to discredit her since he is aware that she was friends with Narcissa and Adriana during her time in school. Narcissa warned her to be factual with her articles in the Daily Prophet since the man would have discredited her that she is exaggerating and is a gossip journalist due to her side job in Witch Weekly.

The current article would ruffle some feathers within the aurors, but there wouldn’t be a big outcry unlike with her last article. Amelia told her that she is allowed to write about Aurelius’ schemes in the black market and that the article about Jaques should wait. Rita wanted to publish the article about Jaques right away, but she was told that the Greengrasses are planning to publish Jaques’ story three days before the Wizengamot trials, in order to put more pressure on the House Yaxley and to put the final nail in Aurelius’ coffin, which she understood. If she published Jaques’ story now, then, it would cause a pandemonium that would last for six months since a minor is involved, but the strongest pandemonium would be the week of the Wizengamot trial. It would paint a really bad image to the Yaxley Family apart from Corban.

For now, she can’t publish it without the approval of Jaques’ guardians since she would be in a lot of trouble and would face a probation maximum, if she did it. But the black-market story would be enough.

After Rita was finished with her article, she looked at the title and smirked. “HEIR YAXLEY INVOLVED IN BLACK MARKET BUSINESS! HOW AN ILLEGAL BUSINESS STARTED AND HAD CONTINUED TO BREED!” This would be funny.

Great Britain, May 10th, 2002

When the article was published, it had caused many mixed reactions from the dark, light and neutral fractions. There wasn’t an outcry unlike with the first article, but many were not surprised since the ritual materials for breaking a soul bond are illegal and could only be bought in the black markets. But it really did a lot of damage to the already poor reputation of the House Yaxley.

Gerald Yaxley was apoplectic, when he read the article. This nightmare was getting worse and worse. He tried to talk to his eldest, but Corban refused and told him that Aurelius made his nest and now he had to live in it. Furthermore, he warned his father that he will not risk his job for Aurelius and that his brother should discuss a plea deal, in order to reduce his sentence since a confession would mitigate his punishment. Gerald left his eldest with a growl. After the unsuccessful meeting, the family lawyer was under a lot of scrutiny, because Gerald demanded from him to work really hard to clean his son’s name. Unfortunately for both men, this wouldn’t be possible since Rita included the bank statements in her article and also had gotten a statement from Gringotts, which made things harder since the goblins would declare war, if they were accused of lying. The evidence is damning and Charles was working hard to get his client released, but it is barely possible. He will not give up.

The dark fraction members or better to say the blood purists were trying their best to hide their panic. If they lose Aurelius, then, they will also lose the Yaxley seats after Gerald’s death due to his disgraceful son. They will try their best to get Aurelius out and make Corban pay for his betrayal. The other members were not surprised about Aurelius’ black-market business since they had a suspicion that the man had been running a shady business in the dark. They were outraged, what he tried to do to Corban and Clara. A soul bond is sacred and a gift from Lady Magic even if their other half is a muggle.

The light and neutral fractions were happy about another criminal being taken down and the neutrals and some from the light, who were not following Dumbledore blindly, hoped that Corban, after the death of his father, would lead the House Yaxley to a new path. The sheep was celebrating the arrest of Aurelius Yaxley, but one person in the light was nervous. It was the leader of the light fraction and Chief Warlock, Albus Dumbledore. Albus was a bit nervous that Aurelius’ black-market business would also reveal his and Dung’s schemes in the black-markets. He knew that if it is found out that he is involved in a black-market business, then, his reputation would be destroyed beyond repair. Albus can’t afford that. So, he ordered Dung to keep his head down, in order to avoid any revelations from his side. He hoped that after Yaxley’s trial, everything would return to normalcy and he would be able to continue with his business in the black markets.

Daily Prophet, May 12th, 2002

After Jaques was finished with his shift in St. Mungos and his mind healer session, his uncle told him that they are going to the Daily Prophet today, so that he can reveal himself that he is alive and well and to pressure the House Yaxley with Aurelius’ actions against him. Cyrus didn’t declare a feud with the House Yaxley since Corban and Clara are very close friends with the Greengrass couple. This friendship is stopping the feud, but there is an animosity with the current Lord Yaxley. The news regarding his newly born cousin and her condition was terrifying. He at first blamed himself, but his aunt and uncle reassured him that it isn’t his fault that Astoria had the worst case of the blood maledictus since no one would have expected that. He remembered that curse very well since he as a male bearer had suffered the weaker symptoms of the curse. The potion regime, he received was not pleasant, but he had to take the potions, in order to be rid of the curse, but Astoria has a stronger case of the blood maledictus and even with the potion regime his cousin will not survive her fortieth birthday. His uncle will ask Lord Prince to try to find the cure, if it is possible, but for now, they don’t want to reveal Astoria’s condition to the public since it would be too overwhelming. Jaques returned back from his thoughts and prepared himself for the interview.

When they arrived, Rita was prepared for everything since she knew that this interview with Jaques would take a toll on her. Cyrus and Jaques entered Rita’s office and closed the door. Rita ensured that there are privacy and silencing wards around her office, so that her co-workers do not eavesdrop on the interview and write the article. Rita took out some parchment and her dicta-quill that is recording everything, what is said. The quill had a spell that is tied to her intentions, so that she can exclude everything that she and the interviewer do not want to include in the interview, and she made sure that the quill is tested, so that she isn’t accused of libel and slander.

Rita greeted them: “Good afternoon, Lord Greengrass, Mr. Greengrass. You have made an appointment with me to write about your ‘miracolous return’, Jaques.” Jaques and Cyrus wanted to roll their eyes. Rita just grinned and offered them to take a seat. The dicta-quill started to write exactly, what Rita had said.

After everyone was comfortable, Rita started: “Well, let’s get to business.” This was not written since Rita didn’t want it mentioned in the interview. Jaques took a deep breath. He was a little bit nervous since he is talking about his time, when Aurelius forced him to be his personal black-market dealer and toy.

Rita started with her first question: “Mr. Greengrass, we will begin, how everything had started. At the end of your OWL year, you have run away from home and were never seen again. You were declared missing by your aunt and uncle. Can you tell us, why you have run away?”

Jaques took a deep breath. It was painful, when he remembered his ex-father’s smiling face and his declaration that his future is set with Atticus Mulciber. It felt like his world had fallen apart. “Well, Ms. Skeeter, when I returned home from school for the summer holidays after my fifth year, my former father, Alfred NoName formally Greengrass, has declared that he had filed a betrothal contract in Gringotts and that I will be doing my duty by marrying Heir Atticus Mulciber. At that time, I hadn’t been aware that the betrothal contract was illegal and that my aunt and uncle as their roles as Lord and Lady Greengrass were not involved in this. I panicked and during the night, I packed some of my things and fled, in order to escape an unwanted betrothal. I didn’t know, where I should go, but I ended up in Knockturn Alley, where I got my looks reapplied by a witch, who helped me, so that no one would be able to recognise me. I also changed my name to Jack McLean thinking that I was safe.”

Rita asked: “But that was not the case since you were involved with Aurelius Yaxley’s black-market business. How did this happen? Can you elaborate, how you got caught in this?”

Jaques swallows hard and answered, when his uncle put a comforting hand on his shoulder: “When I thought that I was safe, I was a little bit reckless and got caught by Aurelius Yaxley. Somehow, he found out about my real identity and blackmailed me that if I didn’t help him with his black-market deals, then, he would hand me over to Mulciber, so that I can become his ‘dutiful wife’. He also revealed to me that his last black-market dealer suffered a fatal accident and there I feared for my life, because I was suspicious that this was no accident.”

Rita suspected the same. Alan Cane’s death was ruled as a murder after the case was re-examined and his body was exhumed. Through Severus Snape-Prince, it was revealed that the man was given a very fast-acting poison that can’t be revealed through an autopsy scan since it dissolves itself very fast. Unfortunately, the poison is commonly used in greenhouses since it is used to keep pests away from plants. Thankfully, Snape was able to extract the poison and found out that it bore the magical signature of a potion master in France. The man was interrogated and they found out that Aurelius Yaxley has ordered the poison even though the Yaxleys don’t have a greenhouse at their manor added. The potion master will not be charged since the poison is commonly used in Herbology, but they will keep an eye on him for the time being. She asked further: “And you became a black-market dealer, because of that reason and were one until you were arrested by Head Auror Bones and Auror Shacklebolt?”

Jaques answered: “Yes. At first, I tried to hide the fact that I am underage and I was ready to spend some time in Azkaban, because I was afraid, what will happen to me, but after Lady Bones requested a goblin for an identity test since she believed that I am involved in a missing case, I started to panic since I would be revealed and it could get back to Heir Yaxley or Heir Mulciber. After the revelations of my identity, I found out that the betrothal contract was illegal and that it was cancelled by my uncle. Furthermore, my uncle explained to me that my father was disowned from the Greengrass Family due to his betrayal he had committed against the family. I was glad about that and I was released to go home since I am a minor.”

Rita nodded knowing the laws regarding minors and continued to question the boy about his time with Yaxley. The woman was ready to skin Aurelius Yaxley alive, when the boy described, how the man had forced the boy to undress until he was completely naked and had sexually assaulted and abused him. Rita was glad that the man didn’t rape the boy or she would have made a small visit in the man’s cells.

With that out of the way, Rita finished: “Thank you, Mr. Greengrass, for this interview and I hope, what had happened to you would be a small smudge in your past.”

Jaques answered politely: “The pleasure is mine and I am thanking you for your time, Ms. Skeeter.”

Rita asked Cyrus: “Are there any last words from you, Lord Greengrass?”

Cyrus answered: “I would like to give a warning to the other heads of house to make regular check-ups with your account managers in Gringotts, if there are any surprising and illegal betrothal or marriage contracts registered. It is important to make these check-ups since I do not wish that the other Lords or Ladies are committing the same mistakes like me. Furthermore, I hope that Heir Aurelius Yaxley will be punished appropriately for his actions against my nephew, Corban and Clara Yaxley and Alan Cane and make sure that his shady business is no more.”

With that final statement, the interview came to an end and Rita was prepared for an outcry, when she publishes her story. Her grin was long gone, when Jaques revealed to her, what the man had done to the boy, and felt only rage and sadness, what had befallen to the young lad in front of her. But her grin returned quickly, when she thought about the next story that she will write about Jaques and Anton. Rita asked: “When are you going to announce your betrothal to Anton Abbott, Mr. Greengrass?” Jaques blushed slightly, which made Rita’s grin wider. Cyrus just grinned and answered: “After the trial, the betrothal would be revealed. I hope, I don’t become a great-uncle too soon. I am too young for this, but looking at the development of my nephew’s relationship with his betrothed, I am not so sure.” Jaques didn’t bother to stop himself from rolling his eyes regarding this statement. He and Anton had started to take their relationship further and they had their first time during a Friday night. He had panicked, when his uncle asked him, if he and Anton used protection. He breathed a sigh of relief, when his uncle told him that he had put contraception wards on his room. The last thing, he wanted, was a teen pregnancy.

Rita spent a lot of time on the article. She made sure to include also the murder of Alan Cane and Jaques’ involvement in the black-market business, but she made sure that he was seen as a victim and not a perpetrator and also his sentence. This was going to cause an outcry.

After she was finished, Rita went to eat a late dinner. Tomorrow is going to be a great day.

May 13th, 2002

When the Daily Prophet was delivered, there was an outcry in the wizarding world, where the head of Aurelius Yaxley was demanded. The public was enraged, what the Yaxley heir had done, but many were assured by Lord Greengrass that the Wizengamot is going to appropriately punish Aurelius Yaxley, in order to avoid any lynching. The blood purists were having a hard time to defend Aurelius Yaxley since this was damning. Atticus Mulciber was furious that Aurelius didn’t tell him that he found the Greengrass boy and that he hadn’t bothered to inform him about the brat. He would have taught the brat a lesson about trying to break a betrothal and would have impregnated him, in order to extend the Mulciber line. The Greengrass Family would have been forced to marry their nephew to him, in order to save Jaques’ and their reputations from disgrace. It would have also ended the ridiculous feud with the Greengrasses that has been going on since Alfred was disowned and the betrothal was dissolved. Now, the boy is back with Lord and Lady Greengrass and both would never agree on the betrothal. He wished his lord would have targeted that family, but he wasn’t willing to do that since the Greengrasses would have brought ruin to their cause. Things are going to be difficult.

Albus was startled about the return of the Greengrass boy. He remembered that the former brother of Cyrus Greengrass planned to marry his son off to Atticus Mulciber. Back then, he didn’t care since it would have benefitted him to prove that the Greengrasses are connected with the death eaters. It would have discredited Lord Cyrus Greengrass about his standpoint against the death eaters, but things went wrong, when the boy ran away. At first, he didn’t care since he believed that he would be found, but after the scandal, all his plans for the Greengrass Family were destroyed. This was a setback. The disownment was another failure since it destroyed the death eater connection within the Greengrass Family. He had to see, what would happen.

Gerald Yaxley was suffocating in his anger until he felt pain in his left side of his body. The man is suffering a heart attack. He yelled out for help and his daughter quickly came into his home office and floo-called the healers from St. Mungos. The man was quickly admitted and Seraphina was praying for the survival of her father since he is the last hope for House Yaxley. She doesn’t want her disgrace of a brother to take over as Lord Yaxley, but she wouldn’t be able to stop it. To make matters worse Corban’s dirty half-blooded firstborn son would be the next Heir Yaxley and that couldn’t be allowed, but she was powerless since her family is patriarchal. Seraphina was praying that Aurelius would get out and her father would recover from this heart attack. If she loses both of them, then, she will be under the control of her elder brother and she is shivering in fear, what Corban was going to do to her. Seraphina had started to cry. This couldn’t be happening. Her family cannot fall apart like this. There must be a way to fix this.

James was happy and angry about this article. At one point it is damaging the Yaxleys apart from his superior, Corban, but at the other point, it is angering him that the Greengrasses are getting positive press and that the younger Greengrass received such a light sentence and sympathy. He should be in prison like his father. James went to Amelia and requested to reopen the Greengrass case. He also practically demanded an arrest warrant against Jaques Greengrass, but Amelia told him in a sever tone that the case is closed and furthermore, she kicked him out of her office. But the Regent of the House Potter didn’t accept this and went to Crouch, but the man dismissed him immediately and told him that the case is closed and he will not reopen it. James was furious and went back to work. He hated his superiors, but soon enough, he will work his way up and show those fools, what the right thing is.

The Greengrasses received a lot of letters of sympathy. Especially, Jaques, who had been bombarded with these kinds of letters. He hoped that with this the man will suffer.

Evandrus Manor, May 14th, 2002

Corban, Clara and their children were eating their lunch, when one of the Evandrus house elves appeared in front of them announcing that an official looking letter from St. Mungos had come for Corban. The man wasn’t sure, what was going on, but he would finish his lunch first and then, read the letter.

After lunch, Corban opened the letter and there he was informed that his father had suffered a heart attack and is in St. Mungos. Corban knew that yesterday’s edition of the Daily Prophet had caused an outcry for his brother’s head and he was sure that his father would receive another shock that would really rattle him further. That he got a heart attack wasn’t surprising since Corban knew that his father has a weak heart, but what had saddened him slightly was the fact that the healers didn’t have a good prognosis that he would survive another heart attack.

Clara saw her husband’s pensive look. She asked: “Corban, is everything alright?”

Corban turned to his wife and gave her a sad smile. “My father suffered a heart attack. I believe that yesterday’s article was too much for him. He is currently in St. Mungos and it doesn’t look good.” Clara nodded in understanding. She knew that her husband and her father-in-law had a rocky relationship after their marriage. Even though, she didn’t like her in-laws since they hated her blood status, she would never wish them any harm. She hoped that things do not turn from bad to worse.

Wizengamot, May 16th, 2002

Today was the trial of Aurelius Yaxley. Many spectators had come to watch the trial and there were many witnesses that included Jaques Greengrass, his clients, who were sentenced the day before, and the remaining Yaxleys that included Clara, Corban and Seraphina. Corban was waiting in the antechamber of the Wizengamot waiting to be called as witness. It was quiet for the time being apart from Jaques and Clara, who were talking about the trial.

Seraphina entered the antechamber and when she had seen her brother, she stormed to Corban hissing at him furiously: “You bastard! You disgrace! If you hadn’t married that filthy mudblood, nothing like this would have happened.”

Corban let out a low growl and answered: “She is my soulmate, Seraphina, my other half and my wife. I would have married her regardless. How dare you call her that!”

Seraphina huffed: “She is not your soulmate. That bitch must have faked the soul bond, so that she can get her hands on the Yaxley fortune.”

Corban was getting tired of this argument. “Seraphina, you can’t fake a soul bond. If you want to declare it fake, do it in front of the goblins, not in front of me. Apart from that, my wife is the Lady of the Ancient and Noble House of Evandrus since she is a squibborn and she has her own fortune. You should not forget that squibs unlike muggles do have magical blood in their veins. And in case, two squib lines cross, then, there is a 50/50 chance that a magical child can be born from that union.”

Seraphina flinched at the idea. She doesn’t want to be the cause of a Goblin Rebellion, if she declares the soul bond between her eldest brother and that woman fake, because the consequences are dire. Then, there is the fact that the woman committed line theft. Why didn’t the goblins stop her from claiming a pureblood title? She didn’t deserve it, but no one does anything. Didn’t they understand how foolish it was to allow the bitch to become a Lady of an Ancient and Noble House. Sadly, it did fall on deaf ears and no one would do anything. Seraphina gave up with the arguments and sat down far away from Clara and Corban glaring at them.

Aurelius Yaxley was forced out of his cells. The aurors informed him that today is his trial. The man was furious, how things went wrong. First, his father suffered a heart attack and the healers are not sure, if he is going to survive another. Secondly, his sister is all alone and her fate depends on his father’s survival. If his father dies and he is convicted, then, Corban will become Lord Yaxley and his sister would be under his vicinity. This can’t be allowed. He will fight tooth and nail to get out of these charges. And finally, Greengrass has been found and he is testifying against him.

Aurelius was lost in his thoughts until he was in the Wizengamot courtroom and the man was forced down on the accused’s chair, where the chains wrapped around him and kept him restrained. The Wizengamot courtroom was filled with many spectators and the members of the Wizengamot have taken their seats. In the middle, the head of the DMLE was sitting, who will be the prosecutor in his case and beside Aurelius, his lawyer was standing and had his own seat on the left side. On the right side, Amelia Bones was sitting with the evidence.

After Dumbledore opened the second day of the Wizengamot trials, Bartemius started: “Today is the trial of Heir Aurelius Yaxley for running an illegal black-market business, being in possession of illegal goods, tax evasion, sexual abuse, sexual harassment, sexual assault on a minor, the exploitation of a minor, kidnapping, the attempt for breaking a soul bond and the attempted murders on Clara and Corban Yaxley as well as for the succeeded murder of Alan Cane. How do you plead, Heir Yaxley?”

Aurelius slightly paled, when his last black-market dealer was mentioned and asked himself, how they had found out that Alan’s death was not an accident. He quickly collected himself and said: “Not guilty. This is a conspiracy against me set-up by my brother.”

Bartemius and Amelia knew that he would answer like that. It’s time for the evidence to be shown and with that they would have no problems of using veritesarem on Aurelius. The difference between Yaxley’s and Pettigrew’s trial is that in Peter’s case, Pettigrew was already found guilty and they only used veritesarem, in order to see, why he joined the death eaters and if there were any information, he could give them regarding the death eaters. The death eater trials were back then short and since they were wearing the evidence on their forearms, they didn’t need to go through the other evidence and they were immediately questioned under the veritesarem.

Amelia asked formally: “Heir Yaxley, can you tell us your side of the story or do you want to remain silent?”

Aurelius answered: “I am going to remain silent.”

Amelia said in a slight dissatisfied tone: “Very well, then, we will continue with the evidence.” Amelia showed him the confiscated goods and the letters from Jaques’ former residence and the memories of the clients and Jaques himself. “Heir Yaxley, we found these goods in Jaques Greengrass’ former residence, where you kept the boy against his will and forced him to work as a black-market dealer. I have also the memories of the clients and Jaques himself. Let’s begin with the viewing of the memories.”

The pensive was activated and the members watched the memories. It has taken an entire hour to get through the evidence. Amelia and the other members of the Wizengamot turned their attention to Aurelius Yaxley, who was furious. Amelia asked: “What do you have to say to this?” Aurelius remained silent.

Amelia accepted his silence as his response and laid out the evidence to the charges from the Greengrass family. There would be a testimony from Jaques later, but Amelia could hear the outrage from the other members of the Wizengamot, how badly a minor had been treated by this man. The worst were the memories, where things became a little bit graphic and had to be censored. In these scenes, the members watched a nude Jaques Greengrass being touched by Aurelius Yaxley. Everyone could clearly see that the boy didn’t like it. It was sickening to watch the scenes. Thankfully, the man didn’t rape Jaques and Amelia assured that it didn’t go any further, which relieved many members of the Wizengamot, but the fury was still there and obvious. Aurelius was ready to kill. It is getting worse and worse from his perspective and his allies are looking unsure, if they could defend him. He should have given the boy to Atticus and looked for another man, who would help him with his business, but no, he had thought that the Greengrass brat was the way to go and that the boy would be able to run a successful black-market business since he looked younger and more appealing than his last black-market dealer. Now look, where it had led him too.

When Amelia turned her attention and asked the same question, the man remained silent. She turned her attention to the evidence with the ritual and his attempt to kill Clara and the breaking of a soul bond. On this issue, pandemonium broke out in the Wizengamot and many demanded that Aurelius is a danger and he should be kissed immediately. Aurelius was for the first time scared and the man realised that his chances to get free were getting slimer and slimer. Even there, he remained silent.

After the evidence has been viewed, Aurelius was freed from the chains temporarily and the aurors moved him to sit down on the defendant desk on the left side. Beside him his lawyer took his seat, where the chains were wrapped around his body again restraining him on the chair.

Bartemius called the first witness. “Bring in Jaques Greengrass.”

After some seconds, Jaques entered the courtroom and many members were pitying the boy, what he had gone through, but thankfully, he was found and is now living with his aunt and uncle. Bartemius looked at the boy with a slight smile and the boy sat on the witness chair that replaced the accused’s chair. Jaques is their key witness in Aurelius’ conviction. Bartemius noticed that the boy was also well protected by his aunt and uncle. Aurelius glared at the brat. Because of him, he is in this mess.

When Jaques was questioned about Aurelius’ dealings, the boy had no problem telling them, what Aurelius had been up to. The boy even told them about Yaxley’s plans against his brother and his sister-in-law. Jaques explained them that Aurelius had come to him with his plan of breaking the soul bond at the end of February. At first, he was hesitant, but Aurelius managed to get his way by threatening him that he would hand him over to Atticus Mulciber, who the boy had been illegally betrothed to by his father. But when it came up to the discussion about the sexual abuse, sexual assault and sexual harassment, Jaques had been very hesitant and it did take some encouragement from Amelia to get the boy speaking about it. There were some questions regarding those charges, but no one wanted to pressure the boy with more information. Bartemius was pleased and finished with Jaques.

Bartemius announced: “The next witness is Clara Yaxley.” Clara entered the room with self-confidence. James didn’t understand why a beautiful woman like Clara would marry a suspected death eater and filthy dark wizard. There were many light and good wizards she had the chance to marry, but she chose Corban Yaxley. He didn’t understand it. Of course, many reasoned that it is due to the soul bond she shared with Yaxley, but Clara should have broken it and chosen someone from the light, where she would have been really happy. In his mind, Clara is just pretending to be happy and is hiding her real feelings towards Yaxley.

Clara sat down and noticed those looks from Dumbledore’s ilk that hadn’t grown up. She knew, what they were thinking. Those fools think that she is miserable in her marriage. Well, it is time to burst this bubble. Clara knew that Stuart Fenwick was spreading the rumour that Corban was an abusive husband and father and that she and her children needed to be saved since he had a crush on her. She knew that many were ignoring the rumours since they were soulmates and both are meant to be. She and Corban rarely argued and mostly, they have managed to solve the issues they had.

Bartemius asked her: “Lady Evandrus.” Many blood purists had furious glares including Aurelius that were pointed towards Clara. “On April 26th, 2002, you were kidnapped by Aurelius Yaxley and on the next day, April 27th, 2002, he tried to use an illegal ritual to break the soul bond with your husband, but it failed. How?” Bartemius knew, what had transpired, but he wanted the rest of the Wizengamot to know, how the ritual failed. Clara smiled and answered: “Well, I have already known, what my brother-in-law was planning to do to me and my husband since February.” Aurelius was mad. How did she find out?

Albus was confused. How did she know, what Yaxley was planning. There must have been a loose end that Aurelius didn’t get rid of. There were many questions, how she had known about Aurelius’ plans for months. Clara answered: “One of the undercover aurors found out about Aurelius’ plans and informed Head Auror Bones. And from there, Corban and I were informed about Aurelius’ plan and we made our own plans to counter them.” Aurelius was furious. There was an auror watching him.

Albus was trying to hide his panic, if Amelia had an undercover auror stationed in Knockturn Alley, it would risk his and Dung’s work in the black markets. He really hoped that the auror didn’t get anything damaging against him and Dung. It would destroy his reputation. Albus needed to find a way to get rid of the undercover auror, but he needs to find out, who the auror is. Unfortunately for Albus, the auror found out about their dealings and had been keeping track on them too. Christina O’Neill had found a lot of dirt against Dumbledore and his sycophant Mundungus Fletcher and she was sending the information to Amelia, who is collecting it as evidence against Dumbledore and Fletcher. Amelia originally wanted to charge both fools for their involvement in the black markets, but Narcissa convinced her to wait until they have managed to destroy his power base, so that he cannot weasel his way out of the charges. The head auror accepted it hesitantly knowing that Albus will manage to weasel his way out by using his Greater Good nonsense and she can’t afford it. So, she will wait patiently with the charges since first, they needed to chip off on his power base and then, they will strike against the old fool.

Bartemius continued knowing about Auror O’Neill. “Can you elaborate?”

Clara answered: “Yes. After Jaques Greengrass was arrested and had provided us with more evidence against Aurelius, my husband, Head Auror Bones, Aurors Shacklebolt and Proudfoot and I were planning, how to catch Aurelius in the act, but we didn’t know, how without breaking the soul bond. So, I thought that we should consult the Unspeakables, how to counter the ritual and they had the idea of using a ritual of protection. With that, the ritual failed and Aurelius was incapacitated. Furthermore, there was also a recording charm on me that had recorded everything, what Aurelius had said.” Bartemius nodded in understanding and asked, if there were any questions for Clara.

Aurelius’ lawyer questioned: “Lady Evandrus, there are some rumours that your marriage with Corban Yaxley is not going well. There were even some accusations regarding spousal abuse and child abuse against your husband. What do you have to say to this?”

Clara smiled and took a deep breath before she answered the man’s question. “Wherever you have got this information from, Attorney Pucey, I can tell you that these accusations against my husband are wrong. Rumours are just rumours. Without proof, they are baseless and as a lawyer, you should be following cold-hard facts and not some fanciful rumours from school.” Charles thinned his lips in annoyance knowing that the woman is right. She continued: “There is a certain individual, who had a crush on me during my time in school, and this person couldn’t accept that I chose my soulmate due to his beliefs about how evil dark wizards are. And that is how, these fanciful rumours were created.” Many members glanced at the light fraction and returned back their attention to Clara.

Albus withheld a sigh knowing that Stuart is behind this. The man had been in love with Clara since his fourth year and Albus encouraged the relationship like he had done it with James and Lily, but this time, it didn’t work. Clara had rejected him multiple times and told him that she was not interested in him. When Stuart and later Clara had graduated, the man went to him to make a marriage contract between him and Clara since Clara was still underage and he was her magical guardian. When the contract was filed, he thought things between his pawn and Clara would work out, but later, they were demanded back at the bank. There they were shown that the marriage contract was blackened and destroyed since the girl had a soulmate and was soul-bounded with the said person. Stuart had thrown a fit and wanted to create a new marriage contract to force the girl to break the soul bond, but the goblins warned him that the magic of marriage contracts are basically powerless against soul bonds since the soul magic is stronger than an absolute contract. When Stuart found out that Clara was married to Corban Yaxley, he tried everything to break the couple up. The man even spread rumours that Corban is abusing Clara and the children, but sadly, it hasn’t been working.

Bartemius hid a grimace and said: “Very well. Let’s move on.” The head of the DMLE continued with the questioning of Clara and it was not looking good for Aurelius.

The next witness was Corban, whose questioning was nearly the same like his wife, but was shorter, and the man incriminated his brother even further. Bartemius wanted to know the background and asked: “How did this animosity start, Head Auror Yaxley?”

Corban sighed deeply and answered: “It all started during the Yule break in my fifth year in Hogwarts. I went to Gringotts and wanted to make an in-depth inheritance test, where I found out that I have a soulmate in the form of Clara Anderson. From there on, I knew that my path has changed and that I can avoid joining Voldemort. Originally, there was a betrothal contract between me and Isabella Jugson, but I used Lady Magic’s judgement to annul the betrothal, which has worked. And from there on I started to drift away from the path my parents had set-up for me. After graduation, I started my training as an auror for two years and became junior auror. I used that, in order to avoid the dark mark. When I became an auror and was able to provide more than for myself, I moved away from my parents and married Clara, which angered my family to no end. First, we lived in a cottage that I have bought with the money I earned, but later on, we moved in in Evandrus Manor, when we found out that muggleborns are actually squibborns, it was revealed that my wife was descending from the Evandrus line. The rest is known through the scandals that my mother had caused, when she tried to break my soul bond with Clara, and also about my disinheritance.” Bartemius nodded. The last aspects are well-known, so he didn’t bother to ask about the details.

Aurelius and Isabella were furious. That couldn’t be. How dare Lady Magic dissolve the betrothal contract that Isabella had with Corban. Lord Jugson was enraged. Another slight on his family and to make matters worse, this slight came from Lady Magic too. Why did the deity choose the mudblood over his own daughter, who is a pureblood from a well-respected family?

After the questioning of Corban was finished, Bartemius announced Seraphina Yaxley as witness. The questioning of the woman was short, where she was proclaiming the innocence of her brother even though the evidence clearly spoke against the man. The next were the clients, who have immediately identified that they got the illegal goods from him and Jaques Greengrass, who was known as Jack McLean back then.

When the clients were finished, Bartemius turned his attention to Aurelius. “Heir Yaxley, how do you plead now?” The man was fuming and answered: “I still plead innocent and that this is a set-up.” Bartemius acknowledged his words and moved to his nomination of using veritesarem on the man, so that Yaxley can prove his innocence or he will prove his guilt.

When it was nominated to use veritesarem on Yaxley, there were some objections from the darker purebloods, but there weren’t enough people to stop the vote and at the end, it was put to the vote and a majority agreed on using veritesarem.

Aurelius was temporarily free, before he was forced down on the accused’s chair in the middle and the chains wrapped around him again. One of the aurors administered him the truth potion and the man was in a trance-like state.

Bartemius started with the test questions. “What is your full name?”

Aurelius answered: “Aurelius Maximus Yaxley.”

“What is your date of birth?”

“June 28th, 1975.”

Bartemius nodded and checked up Aurelius’ records confirming to the Wizengamot members that the potion does work and continued with his questioning. “Do you own an illegal business, where you are selling and buying illegal ritual materials and if yes, then please elaborate, how everything started?”

Aurelius answered in a trance: “It all started, when the dark lord wanted to build up a network in the black markets, so that the lord himself can have access to the resources that are restricted here in Great Britain. I gladly helped him and his followers by building up my network in Knockturn Alley, in order to join his ranks, but because of his defeat, I never managed to get the dark mark.” There was chaos in the Wizengamot. Bartemius was hiding a grin. Jackpot. A sympathiser or better to say a death eater is going down since the man actively helped You-Know-Who during the war. Bartemius was hitting with his gavel on the table and yelled out to the startled crowd: “Order! Order in this court!” Everyone quickly quieted down due to Crouch’s booming voice and turned their attention to Bartemius. “Let us proceed. I don’t want to sit here until midnight.” Many members nodded in agreement not wanting the same and Bartemius demanded: “Heir Yaxley, continue.”

Aurelius of course continued to sing like a canary even though his inside voice was screaming to shut up. “I continued with the black-market business and waited for the return of the dark lord since I know that he isn’t truly gone. But Alan started to demand more and threatened to sell me out in the ministry. So, I decided that he needed to go and with the help of a poison, the man suffered an accident.”

Bartemius interrupted before Aurelius could continue: “So, you are confirming that you killed Alan Cane, because he wanted more money from the deals and when you refused, he threatened you.”

“Yes”, Aurelius grumbled.

“Then, how did you manage to replace Alan with Jaques Greengrass?”

Aurelius said: “That was easy. I have heard that there was a new resident in Knockturn Alley and I privately investigated him. The boy nearly fooled me, but he made one mistake and it was that Jaques grew too complacent that no one would recognise him. At first, I wanted to dismiss him until I noticed that he was wearing glamours that would make him look older and hide his family’s features. With the help of the revelio glasses from China, I was able to see through the glamours and from there on I had a plan for the man or better to say for the boy. He would be my black-market dealer and a better replacement than Cane.” Cyrus was ready to spit fire on the man, but thankfully, Michael was holding him back. Aurelius continued in a monotone voice: “Furthermore, I had the perfect threat that would have made sure that Jaques is going to fall in line and it was Atticus. Like I have predicted, at the next day, I confronted McLean that I know about his secret identity and blackmailed him to help me with my business in Knockturn or I will hand him over to Atticus, so that he can fulfil his betrothal and not escape it like my brother. Greengrass was too afraid and did as he was told. It was good to have complete control over the brat for the time being, but he wouldn’t have remained very long as my black-market dealer since I had plans to replace him with another man when he became 17 and I would have handed him over to Atticus, so that he can become his consort like Alfred had wanted to. There was also the fact that he was perfect and appealing for my clients and the business was booming. Sometimes, I couldn’t resist to order him to get naked, so that I can have some fun by making him cum or to finger him. Out of respect to my friend, I didn’t fuck him since I wanted to save his purity for Atticus even though it sounded appealing.” Many people in the courtroom were disgusted by his actions against Jaques. Even those, who were wearing a perfect mask, didn’t bother to hide their disgust and disdain towards the Yaxley heir. Cyrus was ready to throw a killing curse at Aurelius, but restrained himself. The man will suffer greatly in Azkaban.

Bartemius couldn’t believe, how the man could be so callous and evil. How Corban is related to this bastard is beyond him? But this also confirmed the charges from the Greengrass family. He quickly changed the topic and went to the attempted murder charges. At this point, Aurelius became furious and growled: “I wanted the mudblood bitch gone, in order to save the family’s honour. I ordered Greengrass to get me the ritual materials for breaking a soul bond. At first, the boy hesitated and wanted to refuse, but with the threat of Atticus, I managed to get him going. But due to the bad relations between Magical Russia and Britain, it had taken me a month, in order to get the needed materials. Everything was ready, when Greengrass told me that the ritual materials have arrived and from there on, I thought that soon enough everything would be fixed. But I never thought that an undercover auror would be my downfall.”

Bartemius knew that this was his last question and ordered the antidote to be given. He nominated: “I am also amending the charges of aiding and abetting a terrorist organisation, blackmailing, child abuse, conspiracy and treason.”

On each charge, there was a discussion and a vote, where all the members voted for the extending of the charges.

Bartemius erected privacy and silencing wards, in order to discuss Aurelius’ sentence.

During the discussion, Jaques was trying everything to withhold his tears, but it was difficult. Clara, who was sitting next to Jaques, was trying to comfort him by rubbing his back, but it was difficult due to Jaques’ fragile nature as a male bearer and requested from the aurors to get out for a while since Jaques was feeling unwell. The aurors were sympathetic and allowed them to get out of the courtroom for the time being, but they would be called back for the sentencing.

Getting out of the courtroom, Jaques let it out and was sobbing on Clara’s shoulder, whereas the woman was telling him in a comforting voice: “Let it out, Jaques, just let it out. Soon, this will be all over and Aurelius will pay for everything, what he had done to us.” She knew that male bearers are very fragile and are easily distressed, when they were in a situation like this. So, Clara let Jaques cry on her shoulder until he had calmed down enough. After some time, Jaques had stopped crying and he and Clara were called back by the aurors to return in the courtroom.

Going in, both sat down on the witnesses’ seats and waited for the sentencing. Bartemius saw that Clara and Jaques had arrived back and the man felt bad, what the boy had gone through. Maybe he should push a rule change in the courts that minors should be interrogated separately from the adults like in the muggle world, where children and youths were questioned under the supervision of a mind healer and an educator. It would be less pressuring and things would go easier.

After the chattering had died down and Bartemius got the attention from the attendees of the trial, the man announced: “Heir Aurelius Yaxley, you have been found guilty by this court. For the murder of Alan Cane, the attempted murders of Clara and Corban Yaxley, for the attempt of breaking a soul bond, for exploiting, sexual abusing, sexual harassing and sexual assaulting Jaques Greengrass as well as for running an illegal business in Knockturn Alley, for being in possession of illegal goods, for child abuse, for blackmail, for conspiracy, for treason and for aiding and abetting a terrorist organisation, this court sentences you to two life-time sentences in a high security cell in Azkaban with round the clock presence of dementors. You will serve the first twenty-five years before it is brought back in front of the Wizengamot and there the governing body will decide, if you should spend another twenty-five years in Azkaban or in case, if you have shown true remorse for your actions and we acknowledge that you have adequately paid for your crimes, you would be given a swift execution by the kiss. If this is not the case, then, you will spend another twenty-five years in the high security cell before you will be executed. Furthermore, your personal vaults would be seized to pay back the victims of your plot and the rest of the money would be used to pay the war damages.” Everyone paled at the sentence. Death would be preferable than being exposed to dementors for so long. Aurelius was terrified. This cannot be happening, but things got even worse for him. “Furthermore, you are stripped from your heirship and you are banned from ever claiming any noble titles.” Crouch hit with his gavel on the resonating body finalising the trial and making the sentence binding until there is an appeal. Aurelius screamed in pain, when the heirship ring melted on his ring finger removing itself due to the chamber’s magic founding him guilty and the family magics’ act of removing Aurelius as heir and future lord from the line of succession. All the Yaxleys felt the shift in the Family Magics and the ring appeared on Corban’s ring finger, which confirmed that he is the only acceptable, male heir to the Yaxley family. It also annulled the disinheritance from his father. Seraphina was ready to scream. This was a nightmare. Corban is the family’s heir again and he is the future lord of the noble house of Yaxley. The woman can only pray that her father would recover from this heart attack, but it doesn’t seem to look good for her.

Aurelius couldn’t believe it that he had lost everything even his heirship and his chance of succession. He had seen the desperate look on his sister’s face and Aurelius knew that if his father doesn’t survive this heart attack, she would be under his traitorous brother’s control and that can’t be allowed. But what can he do? He had been convicted, stripped from his birth right and he will spend in prison until he is executed or he dies due to the dementors’ exposure. Aurelius needed a plan to get out, but how? The only way is to wait, when the dark lord returns, then, he can take his revenge against his brother, the mudblood whore and their bastards. He isn’t going to allow the Yaxley line to be under control of dirty half-bloods and blood-traitors, but for now, he had to let it go.

The chains from the accused’s chair unwrapped themselves from Aurelius’ body, but the aurors quickly handcuffed him and escorted him to the aurors, who would escort him to Azkaban. His sentence will start today.

The Wizengamot trials came to an end after Yaxley was led out of the courtroom, everyone started to return home since his trial was the last in the docket.

The remaining Yaxleys left the courtroom. Seraphina went home numb with shock and Corban and Clara quickly hurried, in order to get to the kids since a nanny elf was looking after them.

Jaques and his uncle left the Wizengamot courtroom and made their way home. It was exhausting to testify against Aurelius and he was glad that everything turned out fine. Thankfully, he was finished with the community service and now, he had only to prepare himself for his NEWTs. His uncle told him that he had to do the exams for his NEWT classes during the summer, he wanted to take, in order to be qualified for his seventh year. For the weekend, Jaques also had a date with Anton and he is ready for some fun.

May 17th, 2002

Aurelius’ conviction caused many mixed reactions in Britain. The light and the Grey Alliance celebrated like it was Christmas. Additionally, the Grey Alliance celebrated Corban’s return as Heir Yaxley. A majority was glad that Aurelius was brought to justice and would serve a long prison sentence before he is executed. The only ones, who were furious, were Voldemort’s followers since they lost the Yaxley heir and they would also lose the Yaxley seat, if Gerald dies. They despised Corban and called him a blood traitor, because he married a mudblood and has been associating himself with filthy half-bloods, blood traitors and mudbloods. And now, the man was going to be in charge of the House Yaxley and his filthy halfblood of a son is going to be Corban’s heir. This is unacceptable, but they can’t interfere in family matters of another house since the penalty of doing so is death.

Seraphina locked herself up in her rooms and cried. This was an utter nightmare. Aurelius is gone and he will never return. What is she going to do? Telling her father would be the final blow to his already poor health. She hoped that no one will tell her father about Aurelius’ conviction until he is better.

Unfortunately for Seraphina, Gerald had found out about his youngest son’s conviction through the Daily Prophet during his recovery. The man took only a glance at the headline of the newspapers and the man suffered another heart attack, when he had read the headlines. “AURELIUS YAXLEY! A PEDOPHILE, A MURDERER AND AN EXPLOITER!” by Rita Skeeter. Gerald didn’t survive this heart attack. The healers tried everything, but this final blow killed the man. The only thing, the healers did, was writing down his death certificate and to inform the family. The head healer made her way to her office, in order to write letters to Corban and his wife and Seraphina Yaxley, in order to inform them about Lord Yaxley’s death. The letters were quickly sent and the head healer waited for the time being.

Seraphina received the letter from St. Mungos. Her presence was demanded since there were grievous news regarding her father’s health. The same letter was sent to Corban and his wife. Both left their children under the care of the Grey Alliance members, in order to see, what was going on with his father.

Arriving at the hospital, they met Seraphina, who threw them an icy glare. She despised them for the suffering, they had caused her, her mother, Aurelius and her father. Before anyone could say or do something, the head healer came out of her office and told them to come in. The woman’s voice was sorrowful.

Entering the office, she summoned three seats, where the three remaining Yaxleys sat down and the head healer returned back to her seat behind her desk. The woman started: “Ms. Yaxley, Heir Yaxley, Heir Consort Yaxley, I have very bad news regarding your father and in your case, Heir Consort Yaxley, your father-in-law. During his recovery, Lord Yaxley suffered another heart attack. It seems like that the news regarding his youngest son caused a lot of stress in your father that had led to another heart attack that he didn’t survive.” Seraphina froze in shock. Tears started to stream down and the young woman started to sob hard. This couldn’t be. Her father can’t be dead. Corban let out a sad sigh. He wished, his relations with his father were better, but he chose the wrong path with the other blood purists and ignored the truth due to his bigoted views. Now, he had to arrange a funeral for his father. Clara had her hand on his shoulder. She was saddened that Gerald had died even though the man was against her.

Corban received a fierce slap. He was lost in thoughts and didn’t notice the in-coming hand from his sister. Now, he is paying attention and rubbing his cheek. Clara was quickly on her husband’s side to defend her husband from her sister-in-law. The woman screamed at him in fury: “You fucking bastard. You killed our father.” Seraphina was irrational.

The head healer sighed knowing about the issues in the Yaxley family. “Ms. Yaxley, no one is to blame for your father’s death. His health was very poor and he wouldn’t have lived through this decade with how fast his health was deteriorating.” The woman grounded her teeth and gritted out: “But he could have lived a little bit longer and he wouldn’t have died so early.” The head healer just shook her head knowing that Gerald wouldn’t have lived longer than a decade.

Corban said: “Can we see him? I need to arrange the funeral.” The head healer nodded and led them to Gerald Yaxley’s death bed. Seraphina was sobbing, whereas Corban and Clara watched the corpse in sadness. Clara asked: “What about Aurelius?” The head healer answered: “We will write to the warden of Azkaban, so that the former Heir Yaxley can be informed about his father’s death.”

Corban nodded and said: “I will also make arrangements with Amelia to allow my brother to attend the funeral of our father for the time being, so that he can say goodbye.” Clara nodded.

Both returned back to Malfoy Manor, where their kids were, leaving Seraphina alone, who wanted to mourn her father a bit longer.

It was quiet for some time, when they returned back. Narcissa asked: “What has happened that you had to go to the hospital? Has something happened to Lord Yaxley?”

Corban and Clara looked at each other and Corban asked the adults in the room: “Can you usher the children to the playroom? There are really bad news and I don’t want them to be here to hear it.” Everyone nodded in understanding knowing that something terrible had happened and ushered the kids to the playroom. Corban turned his attention to the other attendees, who had managed to usher the children into the playroom and returned back in the formal meeting room. Corban started: “I have very sad news. My father has died today. It seems like that the news regarding my brother’s conviction gave him the final blow since he suffered another heart attack.” Many were shocked and a quiet chattering started.

Clara continued for her husband: “For the next few days, we are going to arrange the funeral and you are all invited to come.” Many nodded in understanding. Corban turned his attention to his colleague: “Amelia, I need to speak with Lord Crouch tomorrow about the arrangements for my brother. I want him to attend the funeral. Even though, he is the worst scum on earth and isn’t deserving this privilege, I don’t want to be seen as a heartless, cold and cruel man, but I want to show him, what he is lacking. Mercy.” Amelia nodded in understanding and will inform Bartemius about the arrangements tomorrow.

The celebration continued, but there was a somber atmosphere.

Gringotts, May 18th, 2002

Corban, his wife and their children were making their way to the bank, so that he can claim the Yaxley Lordship. He received a letter from Gringotts, where he was informed that he is able to claim the lordship and take over the seat and the estate of the House Yaxley. Reaching one of the tellers, the elder Yaxleys greeted the teller politely since they knew that insulting those, who are handling the money, is a bad idea. The goblin teller was ready to help them to the best of his ability, when the greetings were done, but there wasn’t much to do, then, to escort the family to Yaxley account manager. “What can the bank do for you on this day, Heir Yaxley?”

Corban took out the letter from the Yaxley account manager out of his pocket and handed it over to the teller. He answered: “I have a meeting with Stonehard, the Yaxley account manager.”

The teller skimmed the letter and nodded understanding the gist of the letter. The goblin stood up from his stool and said: “Please follow me, Heir Yaxley.”

The Yaxleys were following the goblin to the account manager office, where they were expected by the Yaxley account manager. “Ah, Teller Hilfax, thank you, for bringing Heir Yaxley, his consort and his children here, I will take over from here. You can return back to work.” The teller nodded and left.

The account manager led the Yaxleys inside his office and summoned some seats, so that Corban, Clara and their eldest son can sit down. The other two children were sitting on their parents’ lap. Stonehard took his seat behind the desk and began to take out the paperwork regarding the Yaxley Vaults. He also took out the Lordship ring and laid it down on his desk. “Heir Yaxley, since your father had died and there are no other available Yaxleys that can claim the title as Lord Yaxley due to your brother’s imprisonment, your disinheritance had been annulled and you are able to claim the title.” Corban nodded in understanding and the goblin proceeded with Corban’s claim.

Corban let the lordship ring slide down his ring finger and allowed the Family Magics to test him. After a while, the Family Magics tested Corban until the ring resized itself perfectly on his ring finger. Corban is now the new Lord Yaxley.

Stonehard was pleased and started with the paperwork of the Yaxley estate, where Corban had to sign some papers regarding the business of the Yaxley estate and had to renew his contract with the account manager, so that Stonehard could continue with the managing of the Yaxley Vaults. The only time, an account manager is switched, is in case the goblin has been proven to be untrustworthy or there is a conflict between the client and the account manager. In other cases, the account manager is switched, if the goblin is getting too old and it is time for retirement or the account manager isn’t able to care for the account due to a long-term illness. Corban looked at the renewal and had the plan that his account manager should take in an apprentice, so that in case Stonehard goes into retirement, there is a trustworthy replacement. Normally, only a handful of wizards or witches would sign this part of the contract, if the account manager is allowed to take in an apprentice, but Corban wanted to have a trustworthy replacement in case Stonehard isn’t able to take care of the accounts.

Stonehard looked at the filled paperwork of the business and was pleased. When he took a look at the renewal contract, the account manager was shocked that Corban Yaxley is allowing him to take in an apprentice. This was good since in 15 years, he would have gone into retirement and a new, inexperienced goblin would have taken over. Corban smirked at the shocked expression of his account manager. The goblin turned his attention to the new Lord Yaxley. “Lord Yaxley, I am surprised that you are allowing me to have an apprentice.”

Corban answered: “Well, I signed this part, because I wanted to make sure that in case, you are going to retirement or you are permanently unable to take care of the accounts that there would be a trustworthy replacement, who knows, what to do.” Stonehard nodded and was pleased with Corban Yaxley. The man is thinking forward.

After everything is checked, Stonehard questioned: “Do you want to make it public that you are the new Lord Yaxley?”

Corban answered: “Yes and there would be some changes coming.” The goblin nodded and he had a feeling that this young man in front of him is going bring a new wind in the noble House of Yaxley.

Corban told Rita to write about the death of his father after he had claimed the Yaxley Lordship ring. In the afternoon, the funeral will take place since the Greengrasses wanted to announce the betrothal between Jaques and Heir Anton Abbott.

Witch Weekly

Jaques was going with Anton to Witch Weekly, in order to announce their betrothal. Rita informed them that during the morning, she had a lot of work to do since she had to write an article about Gerald Yaxley’s death and Corban’s new status as Lord Yaxley. They managed to schedule the meeting in the late noon. Both teenagers were making their way to Rita’s office in Witch Weekly. Some reporters like Rita Skeeter are also working for Witch Weekly, but this is only for the weekend and it is only for volunteers.

Rita was going over the article she wrote for the Daily Prophet about Gerald Yaxley’s death and Corban’s coronation as the new Lord Yaxley. There are going to be many changes within the Yaxley family. She was so focused on the article until she heard a knock on her office door. Rita laid the article aside and said: “Yes.” One of her co-workers opened the door and said: “Rita, Jaques Greengrass and Heir Anton Abbott are her.” Rita’s eyes light up and said: “Let them in.”

Both blondes entered her office and Rita closed the door with a wave of her wand. She put a locking charm on the outside, so that no one would be able to open the door from the outside, but Rita, Jaques and Anton would be able to open the door from the inside. Rita took out her dicta-quill and parchment. Thank Merlin, that it would be her last month to use quill and parchment since Arthur had introduced the wizarding world to the typewriting machine. She hoped that one day, she would be able to write her articles on a computer, which would make her life a lot easier. Rita said: “Well, dearies, let’s talk about your betrothal and how your relationship had started. It is about time to write something romantic.” Both rolled their eyes at her dramatics.

After Rita was finished with her introduction part of the interview, the woman asked her first question: “When did you two have feelings for each other?”

Jaques turned to Anton and the older of the two started: “It all started at the end of my fourth year, when I realised that I liked boys and not girls. My parents were supportive of my sexual orientation, when I confessed them that I was gay. During my fifth year, I felt attracted to Jaques Greengrass, who was in his fourth year, but I admit that I was dragging my feet to ask him out.” Rita turned her attention to Jaques, who blushed a little and admitted: “For me, it was the same. I was in love with him during my fourth year, but I was terrified that he was biased against my house since I was a Slytherin and he was a Hufflepuff. There is also Sarah Fenwick.”

Rita looked quizzical and asked: “Who is Sarah Fenwick?” She knew that the Fenwicks are Dumbledore’s sheep, but she doesn’t know the entire family.

Anton huffed: “Sarah Fenwick is a year mate of mine, who had been stalking me since I started and had been spreading the rumour that we were meant to be and that we are going to be betrothed even though half of Hogwarts knew that I was gay.”

Rita pursed her lips. Well, the reaction of her article would be explosive. She asked: “How would this Sarah Fenwick react to your relationship?”

Jaques and Anton grimaced. They knew that the girl would combust in fury, if she finds out that Anton was going to marry Jaques and that he is gay. Anton answered: “Ms. Skeeter, you can imagine, how someone, who is obsessed, is going to react to this.”

Rita didn’t need to be a seer that the girl was going to throw the biggest fit in the world. She already can imagine the scream of fury and denial. And as an insult to injury, Anton is dating a Slytherin. She asked: “And from your side, Mr. Greengrass. Are there certain individuals, who would react negatively to your future nuptials?”

Jaques sighed and answered: “Well, in my case, there is Atticus Mulciber. The man is going to be furious that I am sullying myself with a ‘halfblood’ in his words and that the Greengrasses are in his views blood traitors for allowing this relationship.” Rita knew that this relationship is going to be viewed negatively by the blood purists too. “And your ex-father, Mr. Greengrass?” Jaques took a deep breath and answered: “I don’t care about Alfred’s opinion since that, excuse me for my language, bastard nearly ruined my life. The only person beside my aunt, uncle and my cousins that I really want to be there for my wedding is my mother, but she is dead.” Rita knew that she had to change the topic or there were going to be some tears.

Rita asked further changing the topic, so that their focus is not on the annoyances and the missed ones in this relationship. “After many challenges you two had in the past, when do you two plan to marry? We are just going to skip them since they are tragic and infuriating to hear.” Both boys were surprised by Rita’s sever tone. They never thought that someone, who is known for pulling puns and being so optimistic, could be so serious. But they returned back their focus to her question.

Both boys were discussing quietly and Anton announced: “We are going to marry after Jaques’ graduation next year since we have an entire year for the organisation of the wedding.”

Rita grinned expectantly. Both sighed and assured her: “And you are invited, Ms. Skeeter, but please leave this information out from your article since I am sure that you are going to write about the wedding.” The woman nodded and the quill didn’t write this.

Rita knew that the allotted time is coming to an end and asked: “Are there any last words, you want to add?”

Anton and Jaques discussed for the time being until Jaques was the one, who is going to finish: “I hope that no one would have such a rocky way to start a relationship.” Rita just chuckled and Anton just grinned. Jaques rolled his eyes. No one should start a relationship in such a way.

DMLE

Whereas Anton and Jaques were doing their interview, Corban was sitting with Bartemius Crouch Sr. discussing the arrangements regarding Aurelius’ short time release for the funeral. Bartemius never thought that this conviction would have killed a man. He agreed on the arrangements and wrote a letter to the warden of Azkaban that Aurelius Yaxley is allowed a temporal release for the funeral.

Corban changed the topic, when he noticed that Bartemius had a pensive look on his face. “Lord Crouch, is something wrong?”

Bartemius knew that Corban is very perceptive and said: “Yes, there are two things that are bothering me.”

Corban questioned: “And what are those two things?”

Bartemius sighed, but he answered regardless: “The first thing is that I would like to make a rule change during the Wizengamot trials. I noticed that during the trial of Aurelius Yaxley the Greengrass lad was uncomfortable and I thought that during the Wizengamot trials and the trials against adults, the minors should be questioned separately, in order to lessen the stress on the children and the youths.” Corban found the idea good. Maybe it should be their next nomination, which would distract Dumbledore and his followers. “Then, nominate it at the next Wizengamot meeting. I can tell you that you would find a lot of support now from the other Wizengamot members due to my brother’s trial.” Bartemius found the idea good and will nominate it.

Corban asked: “And what is the second problem that you have Lord Crouch?”

Bartemius hated to admit it, but he needed to let it out. “My second problem is my wife. I am planning to divorce her in December, but this would be a rocky way.”

Corban understood the issue. “Then, I would suggest to make it quick since you both don’t have underage children. Furthermore, Wilma has her own dowery from her family and it is separated from the Crouch estate. Finally, Lord Crouch, you have the good cards against your wife since she would not be able to take a part from your estate as recompense since she is to blame that your ex-son became a death eater. Every divorce judge would side with you on this matter.” Bartemius agreed. Barty’s mind healer reports alone would make the divorce clear. He had to prepare all the evidence against his wife since he knew that the woman was going to put up a fight.

Azkaban

Aurelius Yaxley is suffering pure hell. He was already two days here and it seems like that he will not get out of here. Aurelius knew that he will die, but he had to stay resistant against the dementors’ effects. The dark lord needs him. He heard the boots from the guards here in Azkaban. Two auror guards stopped in front of his cell and opened the cell door. One of the aurors ordered in a harsh voice and were forcing him to stand up: “Stand up, you piece of trash. Your older brother made arrangements for a short time release.” Aurelius sighed in relief, but why did that bastard arrange that.

The other auror guard just answered: “Your father, Gerald Yaxley, had died two days ago. It seems like that he wasn’t able to handle your conviction very well and suffered a second heart attack. Corban, the new Lord Yaxley, is arranging the funeral and wanted you released temporarily, so that you can attend your father’s funeral and can say your last goodbyes before you are brought back here.” Aurelius was furious. This must be a nightmare. His father is dead and Corban is now the new Lord Yaxley. His family is doomed, but sadly, he wouldn’t be able to do anything.

The guards put magic-repressing cuffs and led the man out of his cells. There was a funeral to attend.

Yaxley Family Crypt/Yaxley Manor

The funeral of Gerald Yaxley was going smoothly in Corban’s opinion. His speech was good, but he also made sure to point out that Gerald made a lot of mistakes during his time as Lord Yaxley like not accepting a soulmate couple, which angered the blood purists especially the Jugsons. There was also the speech from Clara Yaxley, which also annoyed Voldemort’s followers, Aurelius and Seraphina.

Unfortunately for Corban and Clara, Albus Dumbledore and his followers were attending the funeral. The older followers had neutral expressions, whereas the younger ones like James, Sirius, Lily and Remus were unhappy to be in another funeral of a dark wizard. Albus had wanted to attend the funeral, in order to find a way to sway the Yaxleys to his side, but since Clara is still alive, it would be a lot harder. He noticed that there were many members from the dark, neutral and light section. Albus could guess that the attendees alone are making it clear that Corban Yaxley is changing the path of House Yaxley. He didn’t like it that another dark, well-known house is going neutral, but he can’t interfere in these matters since there would be consequences. Looking around, he saw Aurelius Yaxley. The man’s hands were bound by magic-restraining cuffs and four auror guards are keeping an eye on the man. The man looked defeated. Beside the group, there was Seraphina Yaxley, who looked miserable. Tom’s followers looked angry especially Lord Henry Jugson, his heir and his two daughters. They were practically glaring at Corban, his wife and their children. Well, this is a clear statement that Yaxley would not support the death eaters, but the support towards the dark would remain.

After the speeches and when everyone said their goodbyes to Gerald Yaxley, Aurelius was taken back to Azkaban and Seraphina and the other blood purists took their seat on the right side of the room for the funeral feast. Albus and his followers did the same on the left side and the Grey Alliance took their own seats in the middle.

During the feast, Corban was keeping an eye on the blood purists and Dumbledore and his followers. He had to be careful since these fools are dangerous, if they were sitting in the same room, but thankfully, it was quiet since many were more focused on the food than the surroundings.

Corban wouldn’t have invited Dumbledore, but his wife thought that with the invitation, they would give the old fool a false sense of security like the Malfoys. Corban liked the idea to keep his enemies closer than his friends.

When the feast was finished, Voldemort’s followers excused themselves for leaving the funeral earlier than expected. In reality, none of them wanted to spend any time here with that blood traitor. They had pity with Seraphina Yaxley, who had to remain with that disgrace. The woman in question went to her room, in order to rest since she was exhausted. With the blood purists gone, only the Grey Alliance and the light fools remained.

Albus was ready to kill. James and Sirius were whining his ears off that Corban Yaxley was up to no good. Those two behaved like children and Lily and Remus were not any better since they were questioning him that the man and his children are a danger especially to John. Albus and his older followers were ready to put a silencing ward around the younger generation, who were throwing silent fits that Yaxley is a death eater.

Corban and Clara noticed that Dumbledore looked ready to murder James, Sirius and the younger generation of light fools. It was entertaining to watch the scene.

After the feast, Albus left the manor again offering his condolences about the loss and marched out of the manor with false confidence. The feast was nearly a disaster. Albus will have some choice words for his followers. Some hours later, Corban, Clara and their children were left alone, when the final guest left their house. It was hilarious, but also worrisome since they noticed the pensive looks from the Greengrasses and the Abbotts like something terrible had happened in their family. Whatever it is, they would find it out.

May 20th, 2002

The article about Gerald Yaxley’s death and Corban’s announcement of being the new Lord Yaxley repaired the image of the House Yaxley tremendously. Basically, everyone believed that Corban would be a better head than his father and his ancestors. Albus and his oldest and most loyal followers were somehow pleased that another dark house is turning away from Voldemort, but Albus’ younger followers were distrustful and didn’t like Corban since he is a dark wizard in their view. The blood purists were not happy, but they had to swallow the bitter pill.

Unfortunately, things went from bad to worse, because Corban wrote letters to the known blood purists like Parkinson, Bulstrode, Crabbe, Goyle, Jugson, Selwyn, Avery, Mulciber and McNair that he is freezing the alliance with them. There was blind fury, when the Lords received the letters. They were going to make Corban regret ever thinking he could do this and get away with it, but they can’t act against Corban due to his alliance with House Malfoy and the blood purists are not insane enough to go against the Malfoy and Black Families. They had to accept it, but they swore to make the man pay in case the dark lord returns.

The betrothal of Jaques and Anton had made many women squeal in the pureblood circle apart from the ladies coming from the darker houses. Especially, Lady Mulciber was angry that the brat was choosing a filthy half-blood in favour of her perfect, pure-blooded son. Atticus was furious, when he was finished reading the article his mother showed him. He wanted to kill Anton Abbott for touching his betrothed, but restrained himself. He was going to make Abbott and Jaques pay for this. The ladies from Dumbledore’s camp were not happy with the betrothal. Especially, Lady Fenwick was enraged that Anton chose a death eater spawn over her precious girl. The woman prayed that her daughter doesn’t read today’s Witch Weekly since she knew that her poor girl’s heart would break at reading this, but the woman will send the Abbotts a howler for betrothing their son to a death eater spawn. They will not get away with this.

Unfortunately for Lady Fenwick, Sarah will find out and there was going to be hell to pay. Bill Weasley was reading the Daily Prophet about the Yaxleys, when he heard a squeal from some Hufflepuff girls, who were reading this week’s edition of Witch Weekly. At first, Bill wanted to ignore them until he had managed to take a glance at the headline. Bill had heard about Heir Anton Abbott, because one of his housemates, Sarah Fenwick, was obsessed with the boy and was a clear stalker since the girl was following him everywhere like a lost puppy and was spreading the rumour that they were going to be betrothed and would get married one day. Bill also heard that she would be the next Lady Abbott. Well, this dream was going to be destroyed. His father also told him about Jaques and Anton and how much those two are loving each other.

Bill approached the girls and asked: “Hey, can I see the article that you are reading about Anton Abbott and Jaques Greengrass?” Both girls just glanced at each other and nodded. Both had a wide grin. They gave him the magazine. Bill quickly skimmed the article and he had to admit that those two could be a good couple. One of the girls started: “Finally did those two manage to get together! Merlin, those two pansies were frustrating to watch dragging their feet.”

The other girl agreed. “You are right. If I had my way, I would have locked them up in a broom closet and I would have only let them out, if they had confessed to each other.”

Bill grimaced at the idea, but he would have done the same with those two. “Fenwick is not going to like this.”

Both girls turned their attention to Bill and the black-haired girl said: “Well, then, she needs to find someone else, because Anton is already taken.”

Bill answered: “That would be impossible since Fenwick is practically obsessed with Abbott.”

Both girls had to acknowledge that he was right on this matter. The girl would be furious, if she finds out about Anton’s betrothal with Jaques. Bill asked: “Can I borrow the magazine? I will bring it back tomorrow at breakfast.”

The girls discussed it and nodded. The redhead asked: “You want to show it to Fenwick?”

Bill nodded. “I want to see her reaction.”

The black-haired girl said: “Well, it’s about time to burst that bubble that she would become the next Lady Abbott, but be carefully Weasley. I don’t want to visit your funeral, if she blows up and kills you.” Both girls laughed at that. Bill just rolled his eyes. That will not happen. He hopes.

Hogwarts

After dinner, Bill entered the common room with the Witch Weekly magazine and was looking for Sarah Fenwick. He already told his closest friends about the article and many were dreading the reaction of Fenwick. Bill took a deep breath and collected his courage, in order to tell Fenwick about Anton’s relationship status. The girl was talking with her friends. He managed to overhear the conversation. “Girls, I don’t know, what is going on with Anton. This is another weekend, where he signed himself away from school. He is hiding something. Maybe I should check-up.”

One of her friends said: “Maybe you should. He could be cheating on you.”

Sarah just brushed her off. “Please, Anna, Anton is not going to do that to me. He will be mine and I hope that the Abbotts would agree on our betrothal soon. I hate this waiting. My parents are still waiting on their response.” Bill could tell that Fenwick is delusional. The Abbotts had already agreed on Anton’s and Jaques’ betrothal.

The other girl beside Anna noticed Bill and asked: “Weasley, what do you want? Haven’t you been taught not to eavesdrop?” The other girls turned around and scowled at Bill, but the redhead smiled and said: “Well, I was interested in your conversation about Abbott.”

Sarah just huffed: “And? Everyone knows that we belong together.”

Bill had a thoughtful look and asked: “Are you sure?”

Sarah was annoyed. “Yes, we are. My parents are going to arrange a betrothal between Anton and me.”

Bill grimaced. It’s time to drop the bomb. “Well, Fenwick, have you read today’s Witch Weekly?”

The girl shook her head and narrowed her eyes. Bill grinned and handed her over the article. “Your so-called betrothed is already engaged and look, who it is.”

Sarah took the article and read it. The girl let out a scream of fury that could be heard through the entire common room. “NO!” Bill quickly took the article and left the girl. Sarah was screaming in denial that Anton wouldn’t do that to her. Her two friends tried to calm her down, but the girl was irrational. Both were furious, what Anton had done to Sarah.

Minerva was startled by the scream and quickly left her office to see, what is wrong with her cubs. “What is going on here?” Everyone turned their attention to Sarah Fenwick as response. The girl was sobbing hard. Minerva quickly went to her distressed cub. What has happened that she is reacting like this? The transfiguration teacher was trying everything to calm the girl down, but it didn’t work.

Sarah stormed out of the common room and was on her way to find Anton. That bastard will pay for breaking her heart and she will make Greengrass suffer for taking her future husband away.

Minerva was confused, what was going on until she noticed that everyone looked at Bill Weasley. “Mr. Weasley, can you tell me, what has happened?”

Bill answered: “I believe that this article will answer your question, Professor McGonagall.”

Minerva took the magazine and started to read the article about Anton’s and Jaques’ betrothal. The woman was enraged that Anton chose a Slytherin over one of her lions. And to make matters worse, both boys announced that the betrothal was approved by their families. It was also explained that Anton had planned to court Greengrass after his OWL year, but it didn’t work since the boy ran away. She wished that Greengrass was never found. It would have saved her this trouble. She also needed to talk to Albus. “Mr. Weasley, can I borrow the article?”

Bill answered: “Well, yes, but the magazine is not mine. I have borrowed it from two Hufflepuff girls and I have promised them that I will return it back. How about you make a copy of that article, so that I can keep my promise.”

Minerva sighed, but she quickly copied the article and gave it back to her cub. She quickly made her way out of the common room, in order to stop her lion from doing something irrational.

Anton was talking with his friends about Jaques. He had still a few hours left before it is time for curfew. “Hello, my dearies. I will remind you all that you have only two hours before it is curfew.” Jaques and his friends turned to their head of house and Herbology professor. “Yes, Professor Sprout.”

Pomona was happy that Anton was practically glowing. The boy found the love of his life after all these months of his disappearance, but the happiness was only short-lived, when they heard a scream of fury. “CONFRINGO!” Pomona quickly took out her wand and casted a strong shield charm, which stopped the explosion charm from harming the other students. Then, she noticed that Severus threw a stunner on the irate girl before she could throw another spell. Pomona quickly took care of her badgers and sent them back to the common room. Severus quickly spelled a calming draught into the girl’s stomach and treated her injuries before he rennervated her.

Severus demanded in his sever, teaching voice, when the girl had stood up: “Ms. Fenwick, what is the meaning of this?”

Sarah was terrified and furious. Out of all teachers, it must be Snape that had caught her. The girl noticed Professor Sprout, who looked angry. “Well, Ms. Fenwick, can you please explain me, why you tried to attack one of my badgers?”

Sarah became furious and ranted: “Because Anton broke our betrothal. He had cheated on me and for that, he needed to pay.”

Both teachers looked confused at each other. The girl was delusional. Pomona said slowly: “Ms. Fenwick, Mr. Abbott doesn’t have a betrothal with you. You and your friends were the only ones, who were spreading the rumour that you and Mr. Abbott were going to be betrothed. Unfortunately for you, Mr. Abbott is homosexual, which means that he doesn’t like girls, but boys. The article in Witch Weekly made a pretty, bold statement.”

Severus sighed. Love could be dangerous. “Ms. Fenwick, 100 points from Gryffindor. We are going to the headmaster’s office, in order to decide about your punishment.”

Before they could lead the student to the headmaster’s office, Minerva came. “Ms. Fenwick, Severus, Pomona, what has happened?”

Severus gave the woman a cold and calculating look. “Ms. Fenwick had attacked Mr. Abbott and his friends with the explosive charm. Thankfully, Pomona stepped in and casted a strong shield charm. She has lost 100 points and we are now on our way to the headmaster’s office.” Minerva was stuck. She can’t excuse that since it had happened in front of two staff members. Minerva hoped that Albus knows a way around this.

Albus was having a calm evening until he heard arguing. He sighed deeply. This was not going to be pretty and it wasn’t, when Pomona, Severus, Minerva and Sarah Fenwick entered his office. When the office door was closed, Albus asked: “What is going on, my dears?”

Severus was the one to answer: “Well, headmaster, Ms. Fenwick had attacked Mr. Abbott, his friends and Pomona with an explosive charm. For that reason, we came here to demand a suspension of two weeks. There is no excuse for, what she had done. Apart from that, we need to talk with her guardians.”

Albus wanted to groan. It is impossible to cover this up since one of his staff members was involved in this. Minerva said: “I will contact her parents.” The other two staff members gave her a nod and Minerva went to the floo. Albus tried: “Come on, Severus, there is no need to be cruel. Maybe detention for the rest of the year would make her realise her mistake.”

But much to Albus’ annoyance, Pomona butted in: “No, Albus, either you give her the suspension or I am going to file a grievance to the board, which would even risk an expulsion.”

Albus grounded his teeth. That was the last thing, he wanted. Sarah paled at the idea. She can’t be expelled. If that happens, then, she is ruined. Albus knew that currently his control over the board is slipping and Sarah’s attack has come in an inopportune time. He sighed deeply.

But things went from bad to worse, when Benjy and his wife came following Minerva. Both were demanding answers, why their daughter was here. Severus and Pomona explained the situation and both staff members told the couple that they were here to discuss her punishment, which consists of a two-week suspension. Benjy and his wife started to protest the punishment and demanded from the headmaster to fix this, but both Pomona and Severus were insistent on the suspension or the board would decide her punishment, which could consist of being expelled. Benjy paled at the idea with the board. His daughter could be expelled. The argument took an hour until Albus was forced to suspend the girl for two weeks, but she will receive her homework even though she is only revising for her NEWTs. Furthermore, there was going to be a permanent mark in her record, which angered the Fenwicks even further.

When everything was arranged, Albus was left in his office alone with Minerva. He needed to know, what had caused this attack. He was exhausted and furious. This was another instance, where he wasn’t able to help one of his pawns due to his staff. The girl was stupid enough to attack the Abbott boy in front of two staff members. Albus knew that this case was impossible to win.

Returning back from his thoughts, Albus said in an old voice: “Minerva, please take a seat, I need to speak with you.” The woman nodded and took her seat. Albus was rubbing his eyes and asked: “Can you tell me why Sarah attacked Anton? I thought, she loves him and they are going to marry.” Albus had allowed the rumours to spread through Hogwarts, but somehow only his pawns believed in them. He is encouraging the relationship and he is planning to use some compulsions on Zachary and Amelié Abbott to betroth their son to Sarah since it would allow him to sway the Abbott Family to his side.

Minerva took a deep breath trying to restrain a growl. “Well, it seems like that all of our plans regarding this relationship are flushed down the toilette, because of this.” Minerva gave Albus the copied article from Witch Weekly.

Albus was reading the copy and his fury rose. That couldn’t be. Anton was supposed to marry Sarah, but no, the boy is in love with the Greengrass boy and he is planning to marry him. To make matters worse, Anton revealed that he was the first to fall in love since he wanted to court Jaques Greengrass after his fifth year and that half of Hogwarts knew that he was gay. Another aspect is that the article damages the reputations of Sarah and Atticus Mulciber slightly due to Sarah’s stalker tendencies and in Mulciber’s case, the scandal in the Greengrass Family, where the Mulcibers were also involved, was putting Atticus Mulciber in a bad light. There was nothing that could fix this since additionally, both families are supporting the match. Not even love potions would help him in this endeavour since now the entire population of Hogwarts knew that Anton is gay and loves Jaques Greengrass.

Minerva hissed: “Albus, fix this. We need to get them together. I will not accept this insult lying down.”

Albus questioned: “And what are you proposing Minerva? We can’t force the separation since both families approve the betrothal.”

Minerva answered: “Then, we will use potions. We had decent responses to them in the past.”

Albus countered: “Minerva, the boy is wearing his heirship ring. He is well-protected and would be warned about any potions in his food and drink. Compulsion and love spells would also never work due to the magic in the heirship ring. Furthermore, Greengrass is going to give his nephew some protections against the same.”

Minerva gritted her teeth. There must be something. Her cub deserves better than this rejection. Albus held up his hand before Minerva could continue. “Enough, Minerva. There is nothing that we can do against Anton and Jaques. You need to leave them be since the article made things harder for us. We have to accept this setback and find a better match for Sarah.”

“But Albus-“

“No, Minerva, we are stuck, if we try anything against either Anton or Jaques, then, everyone would know that there was foul play. And either Sarah or Atticus are going to be blamed.” Minerva admitted defeat. Albus was right. If they try to use spells and/or potions, then, everyone would know. Why did this have to happen now?

Albus hoped that the Fenwicks were not going to do something stupid. The last thing, he needed, is a lost alliance.

Fenwick Estate

Sarah and her parents arrived home. The girl was still furious about Anton’s betrayal. Benjy and his wife Tamara sat down on the couch. Both enraged about Anton’s decision of marrying a death eater spawn. Tamara sent a howler telling the Abbotts, how disgraceful they were and that they should stop consorting with dark wizards. She also explained her husband that the Abbotts have betrothed their firstborn to Jaques Greengrass, which infuriated Benjy to no end since he despised the dark families like James and Sirius.

But this made things worse since the Abbotts were furious at this insult and the members of the House Abbott had agreed to end the alliance with the House Fenwick. The alliance was rocky since the Fenwicks were trying to dictate the Abbotts with whom they should ally and with whom they should feud. Lord Zachary Abbott wrote a letter that House Abbott is ending the alliance with House Fenwick due to this insult against them. They had reached their final point with the Fenwicks.

Benjy was pacing in the living room and said: “I can’t believe that the Abbotts would do this to us. It is insulting that Anton chose that death eater spawn over our precious daughter, who is a light witch from a good family.” Tamara nodded in agreement. “I want them to pay for their insult against our daughter.” Benjy nodded in agreement. Maybe, the Abbotts need a good public trashing. A good sob story, how Anton made empty promises to their daughter and how he had betrayed her would be the perfect story. They were interrupted with their thoughts, when an owl flew in with a letter on its talon. Benjy took the letter, whereas Sarah and Tamara were fuming in rage until they heard a thunder of rage. “HOW DARE THEY! HOW DARE THEY DO THIS TO US?!”

Tamara asked: “What is it, sweetheart?”

Benjy ranted: “THOSE BASTARDS HAVE ENDED THE ALLIANCE WITH OUR HOUSE!”

“WHAT!?”, both females screamed as one.

Benjy was furious. This couldn’t be. This alliance had helped his family in the past, when their financial situation was dire. It is now gone and they are blaming his wife for pulling the trigger. His wife did the right thing to remind them that consorting with dark wizards is dangerous and instead of being understanding, they are severing all ties with his house.

But there was another problem. How is he going to raise his fortune without that alliance and how is he going to support his family with the current state of their vaults, which are depleted? His other friends and allies including his family has lost the majority of their fortune to the audit of the Hogwarts Vaults. Benjy had managed to make good investments, but these are not enough to raise his fortune back to the original numbers before the audit. What was he supposed to do?

Tamara screamed: “HOW DARE THEY! I AM TRYING TO WARN THEM AND THIS IS THE THANKS!”

Benjy quickly calmed his wife and daughter down. “I know, sweetheart, but sadly, there is nothing to be done. I will discuss this with Albus and the order. The Abbotts will not get away with this.” Unfortunately for him, the Abbotts are preparing to announce the end of the alliance with House Fenwick due to Tamara Fenwick’s howler and Sarah’s attack on Anton and his friends. Alone the content of the howler would damage the reputation of House Fenwick.

May 22nd, 2002

Albus was doing some of his paperwork as headmaster. Normally, Minerva would be doing the paperwork, but since his control over the board is slipping, he can’t risk the board finding out that he mostly passes the work to Minerva since they would believe that he is lazy. So, he had to do his share. It was peaceful until the owl delivered him the newspaper. Normally, he wouldn’t read the newspaper now, but he can take a break for the time being to see what the prophet was reporting. Albus popped one of his lemon drops in his mouth and opened the newspaper after he had paid the owl. He nearly choked on the sweet, when he read the headline “HOUSE ABBOTT ENDS ALLIANCE WITH HOUSE FENWICK! WHAT DID THE FENWICKS DO THIS TIME THAT HOUSE ABBOTT HAD ENOUGH!”.

Albus was reading the article and was ready to slam his head on the desk. Tamara and Sarah Fenwick destroyed the alliance by insulting the Abbotts through a howler for their decision to marry their son off to Jaques Greengrass and for Sarah’s attack on Anton. The content of Tamara’s howler alone was damaging the reputation of the House Fenwick. Albus sighed. He had scheduled an order meeting on Thursday, so that he can discuss with his followers about the school board meeting on the last Monday of the month. He can already feel the headache coming since Albus dreaded the meeting already.

Albus sighed deeply, why is everything so hard.

The Fenwicks let out roars of rage, when they read the article, why Zachary Abbott ended the alliance. The man also made sure to point out many instances, where the alliance had flaws and was not working well. The other order members were furious, what the Abbotts had done. James tried to convince Amelia that Jaques Greengrass was using love potions and spells on Heir Anton Abbott, but Amelia just shot the idea down since the boy was wearing his heirship rings. The man argued that maybe a darker potion or spell was used that cannot be detected, but Amelia had enough and told him that he doesn’t have any evidence that is supporting his claim. Furthermore, she showed him the evidence to the contrary, which annoyed James to no end. The article in Witch Weekly is negating his claims. James returned back to his workplace in fury. Why doesn’t anyone believe him? Greengrass must be using a potion or spell or he is using the imperio on Anton Abbott. There was no way a light wizard would be a faggot and would be in love with a filthy snake. Unfortunately, he is wrong and he will realise it too late.

Anton was happy about the end of the alliance, but he was annoyed with Dumbledore’s pawns in Hogwarts. Fenwick’s friends came to him and practically demanded from him to be checked since in their opinion, he must be under a potion or spell, but he refused since his parents agreed on the betrothal, which angered Sarah’s friends even further. They started to insult him that he is making a big mistake and that he will regret ever breaking Sarah’s heart like this, but his friends defended him telling the girls off that half of Hogwarts had known that Anton was gay and that Sarah had an unhealthy obsession towards Anton due to her delusions. Some even said that she needed a mind healer. This really angered Dumbledore’s pawns greatly. Bill was able to determine, who he could trust from his circle of friends and who is a Dumbledore fanatic.

All in all, for Dumbledore and his followers, this move from the Abbotts was a great setback.

Hogwarts, May 24th, 2002

Albus was pacing his office. He knew that this meeting is going to be explosive since the news on Tuesday were damaging the Fenwicks slightly. Why did Tamara have to send that blasted howler to the Abbotts and why did Sarah had to attack Anton like this? It could have been avoided and he would have been able to smooth things over with the Abbotts. Maybe he would have been able to place some compulsions and love spells to break the ridiculous betrothal and make sure that Anton married Sarah Fenwick, but everything was destroyed because of Tamara and their daughter. He needed to speak with the boy alone in his office and he scheduled the meeting for tomorrow.

His thoughts were interrupted, when he heard the floo flare and his followers stepped through in his office. Benjy was the first to arrive. “Albus! I need your help.” There he goes.

“Benjy, my boy, what seems to be the problem.” Albus already knew, what had happened, but he needed to learn this information from the view of his followers.

Benjy was flustered and started to rant: “Albus, the alliance between my family and the Abbotts is over. I don’t understand why. Tamara tried to warn them off to betroth their son to that death eater spawn, but they didn’t listen and to make matters worse, they ended the alliance since they had seen the warning as an insult. And the attack… was only a misunderstanding between school children.”

Albus wanted to groan. He had read the content of the howler and knew that Benjy was not that truthful with his endeavour and the attack was witnessed by two staff members. Even he cannot claim that it was a slight misunderstanding. Albus said: “Benjy, my boy, I have read the content of the howler. You know that the howler was insulting to the Abbotts and that you and Tamara should have come to me after the attack, so that I could have dealt with the issue on my own. Maybe I could have convinced the Abbotts to cancel the betrothal with the Greengrasses and with a little bit of encouragement, I would have arranged for your daughter to be the next Lady Abbott. Furthermore, the attack was witnessed by two staff members and I cannot dismiss this as a misunderstanding. I wished your daughter had apologised for the attack and Tamara hadn’t sent the howler, in order to fix things with the Abbotts, but right now, there is barely anything that I can do for you.” Benjy sighed sadly. He wished that Tamara and he had gone to Albus after the attack to fix this issue, but both thought that they would be able to fix this problem on their own.

Benjy sat down at one of the summoned seats in the headmaster’s office. Phineas rolled his eyes at the man-child. Anton Abbott had always loved Jaques Greengrass no matter what. Sarah Fenwick is a spoilt brat that never learnt the word no. It’s about time that the girl was taught, what it means to be denied something.

When the others started to arrive, more seats were summoned and the office expanded.

Edward saw Benjy and he asked his old friend: “Benjy, how are you doing? How is Sarah? How is Tamara?”

Benjy answered: “Not really good. With the end of the Abbott-Fenwick alliance, I needed to restrict the vaults and I have to find a new alliance, in order to make the ends. We are now struggling. Sarah is still furious that Anton is betrothed to Greengrass and Tamara is trying to find alliances that could help us.” Edward nodded. The man was furious that Anton Abbott would choose a death eater spawn over a good and light witch. Unfortunately, there was nothing to be done.

James exclaimed: “Benjy, maybe I could arrange to arrest Greengrass for the use of love potions on Abbott. There must be something wrong with him that he is choosing a death eater over your own daughter.”

Alastor quickly bursts the bubble. “Forget it laddie. For the use of love potions, you need concrete evidence. Apart from that, the heirship ring on Abbott’s finger would warn him of such potions.”

James countered: “Maybe Greengrass used darker potions that are undetectable.”

Alastor shook his head. “Impossible. The goblins are immediately informed, if a new potion is created. They recall the rings back for the time being and update the protections. Furthermore, the rings have multiple, ancient spells woven that protects the wearer from the older potions and spells.” That information was new and James grounded his teeth. There must be something that he can do, in order to help the Fenwicks. The Abbotts can’t treat them like that and get away with it.

Albus quickly stopped James. “James, my boy, there is nothing that can be done. I will talk with Anton tomorrow, in order to see, if he is under a potion or spell, but I doubt it. From what I managed to learn from the Hogwarts rumour mill, half of the school knew that Anton was gay and that he was in love with Jaques Greengrass. The article in Witch Weekly also shows that both boys were dragging their feet, in order to get together, which would also negate any claims of love potions being used.” James huffed. There must be something that can be used against Greengrass. He will not allow that a light witch is insulted like this.

Albus sighed deeply. He knew that James plans something and that needs to be stopped before it backfires on them and James gets fired. If that man loses his job, James will never let it go and he would have to deal with a headache.

Thankfully, Albus was able to change the topic and draw his followers’ attention to the upcoming school board meeting on Monday. This time, they need to be successful. Albus planned to remove the marking scheme from the ICW standards and curriculum since his pawns grew dissatisfied with their grades in potion. He tried to speak with Severus, but the man just told him that he is following the marking scheme and that the issues with his pawns’ grades lies within his pawns and not his marking scheme or him. Albus was not happy, but he couldn’t argue against the man.

Many agreed that the marking scheme needed to go since the students are not getting the grades they deserved. Especially James, who was practically ranting that Snivellus loves to make the students’ lives difficult and that he is expecting too much from the students. Some like Podmore and Jones agreed since they despised Snape for what he had done to Julius and Hestia.

It was decided to abolish the marking scheme in the potion class.

Phineas would have had a vein popped, if he wasn’t a portrait. Those fools are past delusional and idiots. The marking scheme from the ICW is fair and he wished something like this had existed during his time as headmaster, but unfortunately, there was no ICW in his tenure since that organisation was founded after Grindelwald was defeated. It would have made his job easier. But now, he had to warn the others from Dumbledore’s plan of action.

Bones Manor, May 25th, 2002

There was a pre-meeting of the Grey Alliance and Narcissa explained them, what Phineas had reported to her about Dumbledore’s next plan and many were frustrated especially Severus, who was muttering: “Why? Why me? Why my class?”

Everyone chuckled at Severus’ complaint. Augustus answered: “Sev, your class became a target the day, you managed to have the ICW curriculum and standards passed in the December meeting. You should have known the risks.” Severus just pouted at his friend. “I really wish, the old fool would accept defeat, but he keeps going.” Many wished that Dumbledore should focus on something else.

Adrianna asked Narcissa changing the topic: “When is Dumbledore going to hire your former sister, Andromeda, Cissy?” Narcissa sighed. She had been surprised, when Phineas informed her at the end of April that Andy was going to be the new history professor. Andy does have a mastery in history, but Narcissa knows that her sister despises anyone dark, which would make things a lot harder for the students, who are coming from dark families. Especially, the death eater children are going to suffer under Andromeda’s prejudice. She answered after she returned back from her thoughts: “She will be hired at June. I can already tell that at the June meeting, there are going to be at least two nominations from Dumbledore. One is for hiring Andy as the new history professor and the other to lower the standards in the potion class.” Severus groaned: “This man is persistent.” Adrianna just laughed. She is so glad that she doesn’t have to attend the Wizengamot meeting here. She would have cursed Dumbledore and his annoyances.

Danielle had a thoughtful look and said: “Maybe we should force Andromeda to use the ICW curriculum and standards for the history class. With that, we would have two classes that are going to hinder Dumbledore from further trying to lower the class material and removing books from the library. We also would have it easy with the other classes in the primary school.”

Many nodded in agreement. It would put Dumbledore in a bind and they would be able to stop his plans regarding the library.

The next thing was to put up a distraction and there Narcissa had a very good idea. “We should change the school supply list and make it mandatory that from the next school year, students are required to buy pen and paper. Both are easier to handle than quill and parchment and I have also heard that the business is booming.” Since they introduced pen and paper at the Wizengamot and allowed it to be sold in the magical world, it was a great success and there were large imports from the muggle world. A great majority of ministry officials had liked the change and most departments used pen and paper now. It is time to make the change in Hogwarts too since the pens could be charmed like the quills.

Many liked the idea. Especially, Severus, since he thought that things would be easier with pen and paper than with quill and parchment and it is about time to modernise the school.

When the meeting was supposed to come to an end, Narcissa announced: “At this meeting, we are going to introduce the ICW primary school curriculum of Herbology.” Many nodded in agreement, but before the meeting could be finished, Amelia wanted to talk with the other members of the alliance about the Abbotts. “I think it is time that we should add the Abbotts to our alliance since they broke the alliance with the Fenwicks.”

Cyrus answered: “I agree, Zachary and Amélie should be warned about Dumbledore and his followers and what they are capable of. We still have the copy of Akira’s inheritance test. It would be enough to remove them from Dumbledore’s chessboard.”

Narcissa didn’t need to think twice since she knew that the Abbotts are like the Bones Family light-leaning neutral. Dumbledore would lose another light family and this is good for their books. She said: “Then, show them the inheritance test, but that should be done under secrecy, silencing and privacy wards, in order to ensure Akira’s safety.” Many didn’t like the idea. Especially Amelia since the woman knew the Abbotts very well and she knew that the couple would be impatient with the Potters’ and Lupin’s punishment.

Arthur had an idea, how to sway the Abbotts without endangering the Potter heir and his new parents. “Narcissa, how about, if I show the Abbotts my and my sons’ inheritance tests? I will explain them that Molly is already punished and that I am working with you all here to bring Dumbledore and his followers down. I know that they would be angry about Molly’s, Dumbledore’s and McGonagall’s actions against me and my sons, but they would trust me that I would be able to handle it appropriately.” Many liked the idea and agreed with Arthur that he should be the one to sway the Abbotts to the Grey Alliance. It would help them tremendously.

Headmaster’s office

Anton somehow knew that he would be called to the headmaster’s office. His parents warned him that somehow the headmaster got involved since they broke off the alliance with the Fenwicks. For that reason, he was accompanied by Professor Sprout. Anton didn’t trust the headmaster since the man was biased and favoured the Gryffindors more than the other houses. He knew that many people are going to perceive his betrothal negative and he should have known that the Fenwicks are Dumbledore’s followers. This meeting was not going to be funny.

Entering the office and closing the office door, Anton and Pomona sat down on the two seats in front of the headmaster’s desk. Albus turned his attention to Anton and Pomona and frowned. This meeting shouldn’t be too difficult to convince the boy to change his mind. “Ah, Anton, my boy, Pomona, my dear, lemon drops?” Both declined the sweets and Pomona asked: “What can we do for you, Albus?” Pomona didn’t trust the headmaster due to the child abuse cases and she knew that Albus wants something from Anton. Maybe he wants from her badger to cancel the betrothal with Jaques, because Pomona knew that the Fenwicks were closely aligned with Albus and that the man was willing to help them to betroth their daughter with Anton.

Albus answered with a twinkle: “I want to speak with Anton about his sudden betrothal. I am a little concerned that he is betrothed to someone unknown and with a dubious past.”

Anton immediately knew, what the headmaster meant with that. Dumbledore is referring to Jaques’ criminal record and past actions. He also could interpret that the headmaster wants to hint him to Alfred’s allegations with the death eaters and he also could refer to the scandal a year ago in the Greengrass Family. It’s time to prove this old man wrong about Jaques. Anton brushed it off: “Headmaster, there is no need to concern yourself on my love life. My parents and Lord and Lady Greengrass have agreed on the betrothal and are supporting our relationship. Surely, you have read the article in Witch Weekly. Furthermore, I am aware of Jaques’ record and past and I blame his father and Aurelius Yaxley for all this mess.” Anton was still angry, what had been done to Jaques, but much to his satisfaction, Yaxley and Alfred NoName are paying for their crimes and he hopes that he and Jaques would never see those scumbags ever.

Albus had a brittle smile. This was not, what he wanted to hear. Anton continued: “Apart from that, headmaster, haven’t you read the articles in the Daily Prophet at the end of April and during the first two weeks in May about Aurelius Yaxley? I mean even someone, who is blind, would see that Jaques hadn’t done these actions on his own volition. Furthermore, you were there for the trial against Yaxley, Headmaster.” Albus’ twinkle in his eyes was missing. The man realised that he is stuck. He had read the articles and he was there during the trial. So, he can’t claim ignorance.

Albus regained his focus and said: “I am just concerned, my boy, but it seems like that I exaggerated with my concerns. You can return back to your classes.”

Anton nodded and left the office with Pomona.

Albus sighed deeply. The meeting didn’t go the way, he wanted it to go. He couldn’t use anything against the Greengrass boy due to the Daily Prophet and Witch Weekly. If he had known beforehand that Jaques Greengrass had been found, he would have made sure to discredit the Greengrasses for their criminal nephew. Unfortunately for him, the boy was kept hidden by Cyrus and Danielle Greengrass and when his return was made public, it was already too late to do anything. At first, Albus had ignored the boy thinking that the boy wouldn’t have any impact to his plans, but now that brat destroyed his plans regarding the Abbott Family. He never thought that the Abbott Heir was gay and was in love with Greengrass.

Albus was also angry about his followers’ stupidity. Tamara Fenwick acted too irrational and look, what had happened. The Abbott-Fenwick alliance was gone through one insult amongst many other instances, where Benjy and his wife tried to dictate Zachary and Amélie Abbott with whom they should ally and with whom they should feud, which was annoying to the Abbotts since they had some alliances with some dark-leaning neutral families like the Greengrasses that the Fenwicks disapproved and ranted about, when Zachary refused to end the Abbott-Greengrass alliance. Albus knew that to the Abbotts, the alliance with the Fenwicks was more of an annoyance than a blessing due to his followers’ biases against the dark. He never thought that this would bite him hard in the back.

He needed to think of how to help his friends without causing the Abbotts to leave the light section forever.

School board, May 27th, 2002

When the meeting had started, Albus opened the session and allowed one of his followers to make the nomination to abolish the marking scheme in the potion class. This time, Cormac Dearborn was the one to make the nomination and the man was complaining that the students are facing discrimination and are unfairly marked by Snape. The man was also showing the other members a pile of complaints from the students about how unfair the potion class had become and that Severus was showing favouritism towards his snakes. Narcissa flared her nostril since she had to repress herself from insulting the idiot. Pandora had a thin line on her lips. The woman was going to be the one to make the protest. Seriously, this was getting ridiculous. Is Dumbledore so desperate to dumb down an entire generation? Well, it seems like that this is the case.

Narcissa let out a sigh of relief, when the fool stopped whining like a child about the bad and hard potion class. It’s time to make their own nomination and Dumbledore can prepare himself for a great argument.

Pandora was the next, who rose her wand. Albus choose her hoping that she would not make it hard for his followers. When the attention was on the founder’s heir, Pandora started: “Lords, Ladies, I am nominating a change in the supply list. I request from this board that from the next school year, the students of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry should buy pens and papers instead of quill and parchment. It seems like that both materials became really popular in the wizarding world and I think that the students would benefit from them too.” Many, who worked in the ministry, nodded in agreement. Albus’ followers were already arguing amongst each other. The younger generation of Dumbledore’s fools are for the nomination, whereas the older generation is against Pandora’s motion. Albus wanted to slam his head, when his followers started to argue with each other. One Wizengamot meeting of peace and quiet was difficult to get in these past months. He quickly put up some privacy wards, in order to discuss Pandora’s nomination with his followers. It seems like that things are getting bad.

After Albus stepped back and allowed Aurelia to continue with the nominations, Narcissa and the other Grey Alliance members were ready. It’s time to continue to construct the curriculum. Muriel was the one to nominate their motion. “Lords, Ladies, I am nominating that we continue with the primary school curriculum and I am putting forward the motion to introduce the ICW primary school curriculum for Herbology. It is important that we continue to construct the core classes in the primary school.” Many agreed on that matter and they discussed it a bit, what the curriculum entails. The students are learning the theory part of Herbology for the first five years in Hogwarts before they would work on the practical portion in Hogwarts.

Aurelia asked, if there was another nomination and there was one from Pandora. “Lady Lovegood-Ravenclaw?”

Pandora started. “This is not a nomination, Chief Witch, but more of a protest regarding Lord Dearborn’s nomination about removing the marking scheme in the potion class. I am against the idea since the marking scheme seems to be good since the students would be marked fairly and I have to disagree with Lord Dearborn that a majority of the students are struggling with the marking scheme. I have looked in the archives and managed to conclude that only a minority of the students are struggling with the marking scheme and are not getting the grades, they want. But I can tell you all that Master Snape is following the marking scheme jealously and didn’t show any favouritism towards his snakes. And this minority were the ones, who have written the most complaints to us. Please take a look at the handwriting and the signature of the complaints and you would notice, if you do a comparison that the great number of complaints was actually written by only twelve students.” Pandora questioned herself, how Dearborn thought to convince the school board with these complaints. She had admitted that the pile was big, but if you take a closer look at the handwriting and at the signature, it is noticeable that the complaints were coming from only a small number of individuals in the school and through the records from the school, the complaints were written by only twelve students. Many understood the message that this was just another attempt to dumb down the potion class and everyone was going to vote against this nomination since they managed to conclude that only twelve students were complaining about the marking scheme.

Another discussion broke out about Andromeda, who had applied to teach History of Magic. It was Narcissa, who announced to the rest of the board that her former older sister, Andromeda, has applied to the headmaster to be the new history teacher. Aurelia nominated that Andromeda Tonks should present herself here in front of the board, in order to see, if she is qualified to teach and what kind of curriculum is she going to use since they are not going to permit her to use Binns’ ‘curriculum’. Many agreed on her nomination since they wanted to make sure that the students are getting a very good education. With that out of the way, the rest of the board waited patiently for Dumbledore.

After Dumbledore and his followers were finished, the old fool retook his seat as Head Governor. “Aurelia, my dear, were there any other nominations?”

Aurelia answered neutrally: “Yes, Dame Prewett nominated the ICW primary school curriculum for Herbology, so that we can further structure the curriculum for the primary school.” After Aurelia retook her sit as vice, she continued. ”Furthermore, I am also nominating that Master Andromeda Tonks present herself here in front of the next board meeting since we have got information that you are planning to hire her to replace Professor Binns as history professor. The board would be interested to know about her qualification and her mastery and we want from her to present her curriculum here that she is going to use, so that we are aware of what she is going to teach to the students.”

Albus wanted to sigh. This was not good. How did the board find out about Andromeda? Glancing at the dark fraction, where Narcissa Malfoy was sitting, Albus could only suspect that that information came from Malfoy. There is nothing to be done since the board is aware of his plans of hiring Andromeda to be the new history professor. He will just move onto the voting since he can’t find any argument against the ICW primary school curriculum and Andromeda’s presence here in front of the board next month since in case, Andromeda doesn’t present herself here in front of the board, then, the application could get rejected and Andromeda would not be able to apply for the position again for the next six month. This was a big setback. The first nomination from Cormac failed. The man was ready for a rant, but Albus managed to stop the man. Cormac like Alastor loved to rant about death eaters and dark wizards and witches, if something was not going his way. Albus was furious that the vote failed. His plans to dumb down the potion class has not been going well since this was his fifth nomination regarding the potion class that had failed. The second nomination had a clear majority, which was an annoyance since it distracted him and his followers greatly. The third nomination regarding the ICW primary school curriculum had a land-slide vote, which was another setback to his agenda against the primary school. And the final nomination from Aurelia had also a majority, which was not what he wanted, but he wasn’t able to stop. Albus needed to think, what to do. Four classes have already been introduced and had passed during the board meetings. There must be something that he can use against the ICW primary school curriculum, but what? The curriculum has been used internationally for nearly fifty years and has proven to be a success. He needs to find something damaging against the curriculum.

When the school board meeting came to an end, everyone returned back home. Albus sent his followers home since he wanted to be alone, in order to think about the setbacks.

Headmaster’s office

Albus was pacing his office. He didn’t understand, why his nominations were failing. Since November nothing had been going his way. He doesn’t manage to get a majority. Albus knew that the primary school is rather popular in the wizarding world and he can’t dismiss the school as dangerous since it was introduced by Narcissa Malfoy of all people. Lucius Malfoy would have been easily brushed off as a supporter of Tom even though he didn’t join him willingly, but Narcissa Malfoy was another story since the woman never joined him and she despised Tom due to his actions against her husband. This is, where things are difficult.

Another issue, he is facing, is the potion class. He had worked very hard with his followers to dumb down the class, but nothing worked. Every nomination failed and the potion class remained like this. Maybe he should lower the expectations. An O in the potion OWL is impossible to get for his pawns, so that they can continue the class.

There are also the changes in his school and the wizarding world. They are maybe small and are not disrupting his plans, but they are inconveniences in some cases.

This month was altogether bad since the Fenwicks have lost an alliance with the Abbotts and with this, the Abbotts have distanced themselves from him and his followers. The loss of this alliance is a setback since the Abbotts are light-leaning neutral like the Bones Family. He had wanted Zachary Abbott to remain in the light section, in order to have more votes in his fraction, but through the attack on Anton and the howler, things went the wrong way and now the Abbotts could reassign their seats to the neutral fraction, which would be a setback. This wasn’t supposed to happen.

Maybe at June, he could get some support with hiring Andromeda as the new history professor. Albus wanted to hire her without the board’s meddling since he is headmaster, but somehow the board found out about Andromeda and now they have demanded her presence at the school board, so that the governors can approve of her curriculum. He already sent her a message that she had to work hard on her curriculum since her presence was demanded in front of the board. The woman had responded that she will try her best with the curriculum and that she will prepare all her documents that she needs to convince the board to hire her.

Albus sighed in relief. He can trust Andromeda to do her job since she at least behaves like an adult unlike some of his younger followers. Thankfully, the next Wizengamot meeting is on June 20th, one day before the summer solstice, which gives him enough time to plan his next move.

Inaba, May 30th, 2002

Akira was walking beside his mother, who was pushing the stroller in case he grew tired of walking. They were making their way to the park, so that Akira can play, but it had to be in a time period, where there was barely anyone since Aika didn’t want anyone to find out about Akira’s magic and abilities. They bought everything, what a toddler needs, but thankfully, Akira is not a demanding child unlike some toddlers, they had met. Akira sat on one of the bigger, netted swings, where his mother had been pushing him. The boy was giggling.

“Aika!”

Turning around, she saw her neighbour approaching her. “Tanaka-kun, what a surprise? You are jogging again. I thought after your claim that you are too old for sports, you have stopped.”

The man huffed: “Aika-san, I only said that during the winters I am too old to go jogging, because who in their right mind wants to jog on an icy-cold winter day.” Both adults just laughed and Aika countered: “Hijiro, you know that there are many people, who are jogging through the year, and it is good for the immune system to jog during the winters.” The man huffed again and changed the subject. “How is our little man doing there?”

Aika just smiled. “He has his fun.”

Both were in a deep conversation not realising that they were watched by a member of the Japanese Wizengamot. The wizard didn’t pay any attention to the few muggles around him, but noticed that in the park, there was a magical child that was on a swing, which was pushed by a young woman, who was talking with another man. He had noticed that the boy was doing some accidental magic and he quickly measured the boy’s power. The wizard was stunned of how powerful the toddler was and there, he had developed many plans.

The man grinned in malice and said: “Well, brat, one day, you will become a powerful wizard, but let’s see, if you are useful to our cause for the greater future here in Japan.” The wizard quickly left, in order to call a meeting, so that he can speak with his allies about his findings. The boy seems to be familiar, especially his messy, raven-black hair is somehow familiar, but he had to investigate that first before he can make a decision about the brat. But at least, he was able to find another pawn for his plans.