Akira's true parentage (Rewrite)

Ministry, Registry Department, March 3rd, 2003

Patrick was making his way to his workplace, in order to prepare himself for work. When he entered the department, Patrick saw Gerald Carrow. He withheld a growl. Great. What does he want now from me? Gerald had a slight smile on his face and was ready to drop a bomb. “Mr. Selwyn, I need a word with you immediately.”

“Lord Carrow, you need to arrange an appointment with my secretary before you can talk with me. I have a busy schedule today”, Patrick said formally.

“Mr. Selwyn, you don’t seem to grasp the gravity of your and this department’s situation. I am not here for a small talk. I am here, because this department is under investigation of the Office of Ministerial Regulation. I am here to talk with you, so that you can make your statement about the complaints against you.” Lord Carrow gave the man a sever look.

Patrick was ready to kill. “Fine, the sooner, we are done with that, the sooner, I can return back to work. Let’s go to my office.”

Gerald followed Patrick to his office and there both sat down. The Carrow lord started his questioning. He was already finished with the employees and he had promised them that Mr. Selwyn would never find out about their statements since it is now an official investigation and Selwyn would be suspended, if he tried something underhanded against his employees. “Mr. Selwyn, currently, there are many complaints against you and your guidance of this department. It had come to my attention that you made unjustified cuts to your employees’ wages. When I was informed of this mess by a concerned individual, who had filed an accurate complaint to me, I found the other complaints that one of my former employees had dismissed without doing an investigation. Thankfully, this employee was dealt with and was fired from his position. Now, I have taken over this case since I can’t trust the other employees with this task. What is your standpoint regarding the complaints?”

Patrick took a deep breath and was ready to defend himself. “These complaints are ridiculous. Maybe this former employee of yours was right and there were no concerns regarding my department. Do you know that this is ruining my reputation?”

“Mr. Selwyn, I am just asking a question. So, you are telling me that these complaints are unreasonable.” Selwyn nodded in confirmation. “Well, then, how do you explain that the paychecks from the employees are showing a lesser wage than what was written in the accountability reports?”, Gerald questioned.

Patrick was rubbing his eyes. He should have known that this question was going to come, but he answered: “I don’t really know, but I am not solely responsible for making the paychecks.” Gerald nodded and wrote it down.

“Very well, Mr. Selwyn. Can you hand me over the records of these past few months please and your tax declarations? I also need to check up the account ledgers and any bank statements from Gringotts.” Gerald said. He handed over a list of things that he needed.

Patrick grumbled, but he started to collect everything, what documents Carrow was needing. The man was terrified, when Carrow demanded to see the account ledgers and the bank statements. He hoped that the man wouldn’t find out about the money trail.

When he was finished and had put everything on his desk, Gerald took out his wand and shrank everything, so that he could put the files into his suitcase. “Thank you, Mr. Selwyn. You are going to be informed about the result of this investigation soon.” With that, Carrow left the office.

Patrick rubbed his eyes. He hoped that Carrow wouldn’t find anything incriminating. The last thing, he needed was the DMLE snooping in his department, but he is sure that the money trail would remain invisible.

Carrow Manor, March 5th, 2003

Gerald Carrow was frustrated, when he looked through the account ledgers and the bank statements. He had looked through the documents that were on the list and everything was alright apart from the account ledgers and the bank statements. Gerald had tried to trace the money back, but he was unsuccessful and he wasn’t able to find out, where the money has gone to. He was so busy with his work that he had forgotten that it was dinner time. His wife, Antonia Carrow, made her way to the lord’s study and entered her husband’s home office concerned for her husband since he was missing dinner. “Gerald, dearie, it is time for dinner.”

Gerald was perked up at the voice of his wife. “Antonia, sorry, sweetie. I didn’t realise that it was time for dinner. I am still busy trying to locate the money trail, but it is difficult. Somehow, Selwyn has managed to clean up all traces.” Gerald put the papers down on his desk and stood up. “Let’s go. I am starving.”

“You would have starved to death, Gerald, if you had remained here ostracised by your work. I would have met a skeleton instead of my husband”, Antonia joked. Gerald chuckled. His wife does have some odd puns. “I know, but I am still trying to find the money trial.”

“I understand, Gerald, but I have good news. Andreas is here. He had signed himself out of school, in order to meet us and his newly born twin siblings.” Antonia was gleeful that her son is coming home. He had grown up to be a fine young man and soon, he would start working. She still remembered, when he was a little boy and taking his first steps and now, he is finishing with Hogwarts. Andreas was their pride and joy and he was the first Carrow to be sorted anywhere than Slytherin. But not everyone was happy. Her in-laws were not happy about Andreas’ sorting and were furious that he was a raven, but her husband and she completely ignored them and severed all ties with them, which made them even angrier.

Both went down to the informal dining room, where Andreas was sitting and waiting for his parents. The twins were having their nap since they had been fed before. Both parents sat down and greeted their eldest.

“Mom, dad. Is everything alright?”, Andreas questioned concerned.

Antonia smiled at her son and answered: “Everything is alright. Your dad is overworking himself, because he is trying to find the money trail of the Registry Department.” Antonia looked at her husband for confirmation, which he confirmed with a nod. “It seems to be a challenge.”

Andreas nodded and all three began to eat their dinner. Andreas asked: “Dad, why aren’t you asking the goblins to do this? I mean, they would be able to find out, where the money did go, if you have the bank statements with you and explain your suspicion. Furthermore, you would have a good reason to involve them.”

Gerald was thoughtful of his son’s word. Maybe his son is right. The goblins are masters in banking. They would be able to track the money down better than him. “A wonderful idea, Andreas. After dinner, I will write a letter to my account manager that I need an appointment in the bank.” Antonia grinned. Her husband isn’t going to work himself to death trying to trace the money back. Andreas gave his father a smile. Why didn’t he come up with the idea before?

All three continued to eat their dinner talking about different topics like school, work and much to the males’ horror gossip. Andreas and Gerald were questioning themselves, where Antonia is fishing this gossip from, but none of them wanted to know that.

After dinner, Andreas spent some time with his parents before he had to go back to school. Gerald quickly wrote a letter to his account manager for an appointment. He also included that it was an emergency.

After the letter was sent, the man prepared himself for bed. Tomorrow was going to be a long day full of work.

Gringotts, March 7th, 2003

Gerald Carrow was making his way to the bank with a suitcase. He was glad that his own son suggested a way, how to trace the money back without going insane. He had received a message yesterday that his account manager can meet him tomorrow after work, in order to discuss his letter. Entering the bank, he quickly got in line, in order to speak with one of the tellers. When it was his turn, he greeted the goblin politely and quickly handed over the message from his account manager. The goblin verified the letter and confirmed that the message came from the Carrow account manager and requested from him to follow him to his account manager’s office.

Reaching the office, the goblin knocked on the office door. When both heard a come-in from the office, the teller opened the door. He announced Gerald’s arrival.

Gerald greeted his account manager appropriately and he was led into the office, where a seat was summoned for him. The teller then left the office and closed the door since he wasn’t needed.

“Lord Carrow, what can Gringotts do for you? You have written a letter to me that there is an emergency.” The Carrow account manager had a serious expression.

Gerald wanted to put the suitcase on his lap, but the goblin enlarged his desk, so that there was enough space for the suitcase. So, he moved the suitcase over to the table and opened it. He explained: “I will start from the beginning. In January, I had a meeting with Lord Greengrass and he had explained to me that there were some irregularities in the Registry Department that he had found. Later, he filed a complaint with the evidence of his claim. Furthermore, he warned me that there was an untrustworthy employee in the Office of Ministerial Regulation, who is dismissing complaints without doing a proper investigation. I, of course, have dealt with that and fired the responsible employee. Now, I am investigating the Registry Department and found out that the head of the department had been doing cuts on his employees’ paychecks that were not mentioned in the accountability reports and were deemed unjustified. Now, I am trying to trace the cuts back, but I am unsuccessful and for that reason, I need the banks’ help for that matter.”

The goblin nodded in understanding and knew that Gringotts would need to investigate that since the money was taken unjustifiably from the ministry and the bank could be accused of accessory, if the money was stored here in Gringotts and was even used or investated. He will have to inform the director of the bank, but first, he needed the name of the department head of the Registry Department. “Lord Carrow, who is the head of the Registry Department?”

“Patrick Selwyn”, Gerald answered in a clipped tone.

The goblin wrote down the name. He is sure that there was going to be an audit of the Selwyn accounts, in order to see, if the entire family was involved in this mess. He will have to send a report and a request to the director of the bank, in order to get the approval of the audit.

The account manager turned his attention to Gerald: “Lord Carrow, I will file a report and a request to the director of Gringotts. The chieftain would be informed of this matter, but other than that, there is nothing much I can do for you. But I am sure that there would be an audit with the evidence that you have presented in front of me.” Gerald nodded and sighed in relief. The goblin asked: “Can I copy the evidence for the director?”

“There is no need for that. These papers are the copies of the evidence. You can have them. There is also a certification mark on each of these copies that they weren’t altered”, Gerald said.

The goblin nodded and was glad that he didn’t need to copy the evidence. The papers could be useful. Additionally, the certification mark is also proving to him that the papers weren’t altered, because a magical certification examines official papers, if they were faked or altered. So, the papers could be used as evidence for the request and the report. “Good. Thank you, Lord Carrow. Gringotts will investigate that matter.”

Gerald bowed in gratitude and said goodbye. He left the office and made his way out. For now, he had to wait for the results from the bank.

The Carrow account manager was finished writing the report and the request. He knew that there was something fishy going on about the case and he is sure that one of the goblins has become a traitor. At first, the Selwyn account manager would be the obvious suspect, but the goblins are more objective, when they were interrogating. Apart from that, his colleague doesn’t like the family and he is sure that he would have no problems of selling them out. It must be another goblin, who is responsible for this mess.

The account manager stood up and took his report, his request formular and the evidence with him to the director’s office.

After he knocked on the office door and was let in, the Carrow account manager entered the office. The director looked up and said: “Account Manager Fanglock, please take a seat. What can I do for you?”

“Director Steelfang, my client has come to me with some concerning news and evidence that could damage us financially”, Fanglock explained. The director was paying close attention. The account manager took a deep breath and explained the situation in the ministry with the Registry Department and its head. He also added the issue that Lord Carrow had a problem with one of his employees that had worked with the head of the Registry Department and that he had fired. At the end, he reasoned that Lord Carrow wasn’t able to trace the money back that had been cut away by Patrick Selwyn and for that reason, he requested their help in that matter. Furthermore, Fanglock came to the conclusion that only a goblin would be able to make sure that the money couldn’t be traced back by a wixen. The director came to the same conclusion and he is sure that there was a traitor amongst the account managers.

When Fanglock was finished, Steelfang was looking through the evidence, the formulars and the report from the Carrow account manager and he had to admit that it was time for another audit. But first, he had to summon the Selwyn account manager, so that he can give his approval of having the Selwyn accounts audited. He pushed a button that would inform the Selwyn account manager that he is demanded in his office.

“Well, Account Manager Fanglock, thank you for presenting this to me. I will have a word with the Selwyn account manager, in order to get his approval of doing an audit on the Selwyn vaults”, the director explained.

Fanglock left the office, but at the same time, the Selwyn account manager was entering the director’s office. “Director, you have summoned me.”

“Yes, take a seat. Fanglock, please close the door.” Both goblins nodded and did what they were told.

After the Selwyn account manager sat down, the director explained the situation to him in the ministry of magic and had showed him the bank-related evidence that Gerald had collected from the Registry Department. Karkstone was cursing in gobbledegook, when he looked through the files. The director asked: “Did you know about this?”

“No, Director Steelfang. I wasn’t aware of any this and if I had known, I would have informed you about Patrick Selwyn’s activities”, Karkstone answered truthfully.

“I see, but there must be an account manager, who is helping Patrick Selwyn. This goblin is an accessory to theft and you know the punishment for helping thieves”, the director answered in a hard tone.

Karkstone shivered in fear. He knew what happens to those, who are helping thieves. They are immediately executed. The goblin said: “Maybe an audit could help us in this matter. If you have a request to audit all the vaults under the name of Selwyn, I will not stand in the way.” Karkstone bowed exposing his neck. The director knew that the Selwyn account manager has nothing to do with the theft, but he is curious, who could be responsible for this.

“A good idea. I originally called you here, because I wanted to have your approval for an audit of the Selwyn vaults, in order to see, where the money has gone to”, the director answered with a slight smile. He is one step ahead of finding out the thief in Gringotts. Karkstone nodded in understanding.

With that, the meeting was quickly concluded and Karkstone left the director’s office. He made his way back to his office and sat down thinking. Who could be the accessory to Patrick Selwyn? He knew that only a goblin was capable of making sure that the money trail was untraceable. But surely, the audit would give them some answers, who the accessory is.

Selwyn Manor, March 9th, 2003

Lord Quintus Selwyn was doing some Wizengamot paperwork until he was interrupted by an owl, who had flown in through an open window. He sighed, when he had seen that the owl was from Gringotts since the letter had the wax seal on the envelope. He quickly broke the seal and opened the envelope.

Quintus started to read the content of the letter.

Lord Selwyn,

We are informing you that due to an investigation in the ministry and a request from the Office of Ministerial Regulation, all the vaults that are under your family name are going to be audited.

We from Gringotts are reasoning the audit with the fact that your ministry can accuse us of accessory to theft and misuse of ministry funds and the Goblin Nation would not stand for this accusation. So, an audit was needed. Furthermore, we were informed from the Office of Ministerial Regulation that your brother, Patrick Selwyn, is involved in these schemes. For that reason, the Selwyn vaults are going to be under an audit and that can take some time. You are allowed to take some money for necessities like food, clothes and beverages, but for other things, you need to wait until the audit is finished.

The audit will take a week and we already got the approval of your account manager to do the audit.

With regards,

Director Steelfang

Quintus was furious, when he finished reading the letter and stormed out of his office.

“PATRICK!”, the man thundered in rage, when he had found his brother in the informal dining room eating his lunch.

Patrick was so startled by his brother’s furious voice that he had dropped his fork on the plate. He withheld a growl. What does Quintus want now? “What? For Merlin’s sake, Quintus, my heart nearly stopped.”

“Your heart nearly stopped. I am suffering a heart attack now, you fool. I got a letter from Gringotts. Our vaults are under an audit thanks to you”, Quintius raged and thrusted the letter in front of Patrick’s face.

Patrick took the letter and read it. He was stunned that all of their vaults were now under an audit. This was bad. This was beyond bad. What was he supposed to do now? He knew that Gerald Carrow is the cause of the audit since he is sure that the man went to the bank, in order to find a solution for the money trail. Goblins are good at finding money and tracking the money trails. He is terrified that his secret vaults for the brothels would be found. He had worked hard, in order to make these brothels work. He had been now running in some financial issues at the end of the war and that was the reason why he needed the money from the Registry Department, so that he can fix up the problems with the brothels. It would have taken only three months and he would have made sure to give those ungrateful shits that he had to call employees their full wages even though they didn’t deserve the money for their lack of work ethic.

Now, things looked worse and worse for him. The brothels would suffer more financial issues.

Before he could think of an answer, Quintus interrupted his thoughts. “I am going to arrange a meeting with our account manager, in order to see, if there is a way to fix this. You will be there with me.”

Quintus left Patrick to his own thoughts and went back to his home office, where he was pacing. He needed to find a way to fix this mess before things escalated. He is still furious that his brother had caused this mess and Quintus needed to find a way to fix this, but the question was how? How is he going to stop this? The goblins could kill him, if he tries to interfere in their bank business. Quintus quickly wrote a letter to his account manager, in order to arrange a meeting with him.

Gringotts, March 11th, 2003

Karkstone was less than pleased, when Quintus and Patrick Selwyn arrived at his office complaining about the audit. When he had received the message on Friday, Karkstone wanted to arrange the meeting after the audit was done, but he changed his mind and had agreed on the meeting before the audit was finished. He needed to explain to these fools in front of him, why the audit has been approved by him and why Gringotts justified the audit on the Selwyn vaults.

“Lord Selwyn, Mr. Selwyn, please take a seat and try to remain calm.” Karkstone gave both men a severe look.

Patrick and Quintus remained quiet, but they were still glaring at the goblin in front of them. Karkstone sighed. “You both have received a letter on Friday about the audit on your vaults. The reason why is that our director had received some startling information from the Office of Ministerial Regulation that involves you, Mr. Selwyn. It is about the investigation on the Registry Department and that there were some irregularities with the budget. Now, Gringotts had gotten involved since the Office of Ministerial Regulation isn’t able to trace the money back and we have the suspicion that one of our own is responsible for this. I can tell you that this goblin would face charges of theft and accessory to theft. And the punishment for that is death. Any idea, where the money went to?”

Quintus and Patrick grounded their teeth. This couldn’t get any worse. Quintus turned to glare at his brother, whereas Patrick was worried that his goblin contact was going to be found out and executed. How could things go so downhill? What was the cause of this? Looking back, he realised that since Matthew Pike had quit to work for his department, things were going in the wrong direction. Did he talk to Brandon Davis about the pay in the Registry Department and if yes, is he the reason why everything is going to hell? Patrick wished, he had some control over his former employee. At one point, he would have had a lot of fun with Pike due to his role as a switcher and at the same time, he would have been a perfect ‘employee’ for his brothels since Patrick is sure that the man with his looks alone would have made a lot of money, but Matthew Pike escaped his clutches. Patrick also heard that Pike was pregnant and is a little annoyed about this fact since this could ruin Pike’s figure and furthermore, he should have been carrying his kids, but he doesn’t have a say in this since he is married to the Pike twins.

Maybe he should get some answers from Pike with some less legal methods.

The goblin noticed the expression on Patrick’s face and had a bad feeling about this, but he had managed to maintain a neutral expression and waited for an answer. Quintus answered: “I don’t know, Account Manager Karkstone. I understand that the Office of Ministerial Regulation is trying to trace back the ministry funds for the Registry Department and that my brother is deeply involved in this mess, but why is it necessary that the audit is involving the entire family? Wouldn’t it be enough that only Patrick’s vaults are audited.”

Karkstone shook his head. “No, Lord Selwyn. Your brother is involved in this mess, Gringotts is required to audit all the vaults that are under the name Selwyn, so that we can be assured that your family has nothing to do with this issue. I understand your displeasure, but it is protocol that we audit all the vaults, in order to be sure that you are not involved in this mess.”

Quintus sighed deeply. If he tries to argue any further, then, he will look suspicious in front of his account manager and that would be the last thing, he needed. For the time being, he had to accept the audit, in order to make sure that his involvement doesn’t get out. “Alright. So, we have to wait until the audit is over.”

Karkstone nodded. Patrick was stunned and furious that his brother is giving up so easily. “Quintus!”

“No, Patrick. Let’s go home.” Quintus stood up and Patrick followed him out of the office. Before Patrick could start to argue, Quintus quickly silenced him by raising his hand. “Patrick, there is nothing that can be done. If we try to protest against the audit, it would look suspicious and the last thing, I need is an extension of this audit.”

Patrick was seething in rage, but he couldn’t argue since the goblins could become suspicious. He prayed to Merlin that the goblins do not find the hidden vaults for the brothels. Thank Merlin, he had put them under a pseudonym that he had been using, in order to make sure that certain things remained hidden and his goblin contact made sure that the vaults were sealed away and were invisible to Gringotts.

Gringotts, March 12th, 2003

Director Steelfang was furious, when he found out that Account Manager Halrick had been taking stolen money from the ministry. During the audit, Steelfang found three vaults that were opened through made-up names, which was illegal since in the founding charter of Gringotts, it was always demanded that either the birth name or a magically accepted legal name was used, when a new vault was opened. Furthermore, there was also the blood seal on the three vaults and all three had Patrick Selwyn’s blood. Unfortunately, they can’t charge Patrick for theft since the money came from the ministry. That meant that the ministry is responsible for Selwyn. The only thing, Gringotts can do is to arrest and sentence Patrick Selwyn’s accomplice here in Gringotts and confiscate the money in the three vaults, but they could send a report to the ministry about the theft and it can be used as evidence. They also would have to return the stolen money back to the ministry vaults.

Steelfang called the guards. Two goblin guards were in front of him. “Guards, arrest Account Manager Halrick for accessory of financing three illegal businesses, opening three illegal accounts, corruption, theft and accessory of theft. The king will deliver justice.” The guards nodded and made their way to Halrick.

Halrick was unaware of the on-goings in the bank and made his way back to his office, when he was stopped by two guards. “Guards, what can I do for you?”

“Account Manager Halrick, you are under arrest for accessory of financing three illegal businesses, opening three illegal vaults, corruption, theft and accessory to theft. You are coming with us to the chieftain, who will deliver justice.” The guards quickly handcuffed and dragged their prisoner to the chieftain’s office. The account manager tried to protest, but he was silenced, when the guards informed him that they had evidence against him from the account manager of the Selwyn vaults. It got worse, when it was explained that Karkstone allowed the audit to happen.

When they arrived in front of the office of the king, both guards knocked on the door and when they were allowed entrance, they dragged their prisoner inside. Entering the grand office of the chieftain, they made sure to restrain Halrick. In the office, the chieftain, who was talking with Karkstone, the Selwyn Account Manager, and the Director of Gringotts, Steelfang, waited for him. Both were talking about the sentencing of Halrick for his crimes. The evidence spoke for itself.

Their attention was quickly drawn to the prisoner and all three remained quiet. Karkstone and Steelfang quietly made their way to their seats outside the circle of the amphitheater-like room. Ragnock made his desk disappear and summoned a scaffold, where Halrick was going to be sentenced to death.

Ragnock began: “Account Manager Halrick, you have been found guilty of theft, opening three illegal vaults, corruption, accessory to theft and financing three illegal businesses. Before you are executed, you would be questioned regarding your actions against Gringotts and the Ministry of Magic.”

Both guards forced down the account manager on the accused chairs, where he was chained. Some goblin truth serum was administered and the questioning began. The first thing, they went over, were the test questions, if the serum does work.

Then, the questioning continued on to his actions. “Why did you open up three vaults under the wrong name, Account Manager Halrick?”

“It was for the brothels that Patrick Selwyn wanted to finance. He didn’t want to drag his family into his schemes. So, he wanted three vaults opened. At first, I denied him, when he suggested to open the vaults under a pseudonym, but then, he gave me some money to fasten the deal and there I made an exception.” Halrick was furious that he was caught.

Ragnock was satisfied with the answer since it answers him more questions. He continued: “Did you know, where the money came from?”

“Yes”, Halrick answered.

“Then, why did you help him with the theft?”, Ragnock questioned.

Halrick tried to stop himself from revealing this piece of information. “Because I had seen that the businesses were doing good and didn’t care, where the gold came from.” Then, Halrick explained his activities in the brothels, where he admitted that he had sexually assaulted and played with multiple young wixen and wizarding younglings. Everyone present apart from the accused was sickened about Halrick’s actions and Ragnock was ready to storm the brothels to kill all those that were involved, but he couldn’t since he needed to have the approval of the ministry. Thank Merlin that everything would be recorded. Ragnock will send this information to the Office of Ministerial Regulation.

Halrick also admitted that he had tortured some of the young wixen and younglings loving to hear their screams. Ragnock had to restrain himself from taking out his sword and cutting the bastard’s head off. Younglings not matter what race they are should be protected at all cost.

Ragnock questioned Halrick for an hour and had enough information. He waved his hand and the scaffold disappeared since he had a better punishment for that traitor. The desk appeared back in his office, where Ragnock sat down and returned his attention to Halrick. He wore a disgusted expression on his face. “Account Manager Halrick, you have been already found guilty of the crimes listed against you and you are also guilty of the additionaly crimes that you have admitted under truth serum. You will be castrated, your magic would be bound and you would be chained. You are sentenced for the next 50 years in the goblin mines, where you would do hard labour. You also will feel the pain of your victims fifty-fold and you will be locked up in one of the maximum-security cells. Your money would be seized and given to the victims of your cruelty. This also includes the money from the three vaults. After you are finished with your sentence, you will be executed.”

Many attendees in the trial swallowed hard. This punishment is worse than being executed since an execution is swift and less painful than this sentence. Halrick was terrified. He would not survive this sentence, but he had no chance to speak and he was dragged down to the mines, where the guards would castrate him, bind his magic and chain him.

After the traitor was dragged down to the goblin mines, Ragnock turned his attention back to the director. “Director Steelfang, send the records and the evidence that Account Manager Karkstone had collected to Lord Carrow since he was the one, who had started this business.”

“It will be done, Chieftain Ragnock.” Steelfang bowed and left the office. Karkstone remained.

“Account Manager Karkstone, you can return back to your work. The audit on the Selwyn vaults would be finished on Thursday”, Ragnock said in a neutral expression.

“Thank you, your grace.” Karkstone left returning back to his office.

Ragnock returned back to his desk and started to do a lot of paperwork regarding the trial.

When Steelfang returned back to his office, he collected all the evidence and the records and packed them up in a suitcase that would be sent to the Office of Ministerial Regulation through the Goblin Liaison Office in the ministry. He quickly floo-called Dirk Cresswell and gave him the suitcase with a red parchment glued on the front of the suitacse that had the word “Urgent” written. He explained the wizard that the suitcase is for the head of the Office of Ministerial Regulation, Lord Gerald Carrow, and that this is an urgent situation. Dirk nodded and took the suitcase. He made his way to the floo and flooed back to his office, where he went off to the Office of Ministerial Regulation since urgent situations were more important than anything else and he is required to do his tasks in these situations in less than 24 hours.

Ministry, Office of Ministerial Regulation

Gerald Carrow sighed deeply, when Dirk Cresswell arrived at his office and had handed him a suitcase that had a red parchment glued on the top, which said that it was urgent. He opened the suitcase and took out a giant file of paper and parchment. Gerald knew that he would spend the day to go over the paperwork and had to go over the findings of the goblins.

He looked up at Cresswell defeated. “Seriously. Why so much? One fact is clear, goblins can also kill people with paperwork.”

Dirk just chuckled. “Well, what did you think. That you would get only an overview? Good luck with that. The goblins are going into detail, when they were doing an audit or an investigation. I have heard that Lady Lovegood-Ravenclaw had it harder, when the Hogwarts Vaults were audited.”

“I can imagine, a mountain full of papers, how the school was financed.” Gerald was sure that Pandora Lovegood had a lot of fun going over the paperwork from the goblins.

Both had a small talk before Dirk had to return back to the Goblin Liaison Office for work and Gerald was focusing himself, what the goblins had found out.

Ministry, March 13th, 2003

Gerald made his way to the DMLE with the suitcase that he had received yesterday. The man was shocked and furious, when he was finished going over the paperwork. He wanted to go to Patrick Selwyn and murder the bastard. Going over the papers, he had found out that Patrick had been using the cuts, in order to finance some illegal businesses. According to the files, the money went to three dubious brothels and he is sure that they were not legal since the file included the confession of Account Manager Halrick, which was sickening to read. He needs to file the report to Lord Crouch since this was out of his hands.

When Gerald stood in front of Crouch’s office door, he knocked and after he heard a come-in, Gerald went in. Bartemius Crouch was doing some paperwork, but he turned his attention to Gerald Carrow. “Lord Carrow, what can I do for you?”

“I have a case for you that is out of my hand. Patrick Selwyn is illegally financing three brothels here in Britain through the cuts that he had made in the Registry Department. There is also a confession from his goblin contact that in those brothels, minors are employed, which entails sexual abuse and rape of minors”, Gerald said in a serious voice.

Bartemius was sitting tensely on his seat. This is big. This is really big and it could cause a scandal in the ministry that the government would have a hard time to fix. It also could damage the reputation of the ministry.

Gerald handed the suitcase over and opened it showing him the content. Bartemius started to take files after files, which made him sigh. This was going to be a lot of work and he knew it. Gerald quickly intervened: “These files are criminally relevant.” Gerald showed Bartemius the red files that the Carrow lord had marked as urgent. Bartemius took the files and went through them.

When he was finished, Bartemius had many thoughts. Patrick Selwyn could be charged with exploitation, sexual abuse, abuse and rape of minors, owning and financing illegal businesses, theft, corruption and many more. He will have to assign Amelia and Corban for this high-ranked case.

But first. “Lord Carrow, I will assign two head aurors on this case. This will be investigated.” Gerald nodded in understanding knowing that he was done with his job, but there were going to be some repercussions for Patrick Selwyn. He explained: “Lord Crouch, I will suspend Patrick Selwyn from his position for the time being until the DMLE’s investigation is closed.”

Bartemius nodded in approval, but hedged: “You need to keep quiet about our investigation, but you can suspend him for his actions. How long is the maximal suspension period?”

“One month, but it can be extended to two. This is the maximum I can do as head of the Office of Ministerial Regulation, but you need to be finished with the investigation first before the suspension ends”, Gerald answered.

Bartemius had a slight smile on his face trying to restrain a grin. He had a plan how he was going to proceed in this case.

Gerald knew that face and he knew that Selwyn would be finished. The Carrow lord stood up and left the DMLE’s office leaving Crouch to his thoughts.

Gerald arrived back at his office and wrote an order of suspension to Patrick Selwyn, where the man was going to be informed that he was going to be suspended for the next month. After he was finished, he made his way to the Registry Department.

Arriving there, he passed the workers by and went straight to Selwyn’s office. The secretary had tried to stop him from entering the office, but he had showed her the badge and warned her that any interference had a penalty, the woman returned back to her workplace knowing that there was nothing that she can do.

Gerald entered the office without a knock. There were two occupants in Patrick’s office, who were startled. He was surprised that Lord Quintus Selwyn was also here. “Mr. Selwyn, I am here in my official role as head of the Office of Ministerial Regulation.”

Patrick withheld a growl. The ministry workers and the head of the Office of Ministerial Regulation were able to enter the department’s office without invitation. The department head gritted out: “What can I do for you now, Lord Carrow?”

“I am giving you this.” Gerald handed the written order to Patrick Selwyn. “This is an official order from the Office of Ministerial Regulation. Mr. Selwyn, you are suspended for the next month since my investigation and the complaints against the Registry Department had proven to have grounds, when I have checked up the paychecks of your employees and compared them to the accountability reports. We will see, if you will remain head of the Registry Department, when we are finished with our investigation.”

Patrick was enraged. That couldn’t be happening. “I will not tolerate this. You will hear from my lawyer.”

“Good luck with that, Mr. Selwyn, but your suspension will not change since your punishment would last for a month. Maybe two, if our investigation takes longer. Have a nice day. Your deputy will take over for now.” With that said and done, Gerald went out.

Patrick glared at the closing door and turned his attention back to the order. Reading through it, his fury rose. This couldn’t be happening. Not now. He needed that money from the Registry Department, but for now, he had no access to the budget due to the suspension. His deputy is under control and Patrick knew that his deputy never liked him and would lead the department normally. Without the money, the brothels are going to suffer financially.

“I warned you, Patrick. I warned you that your schemes were too risky. Now, you are suspended”, Quintus hissed in rage.

“I know. We need to discuss this with our lawyer”, Patrick said in a furious tone.

Quintus argued: “You can forget it. Suspensions are not like resignations, where you can take it in front of the court. You still have a job, but you can’t do your job actively for the time being until the suspension is over. You can protest against the suspension, but if Gerald does have evidence, I am not sure, if the protest is going to be effective.”

Patrick grounded his teeth. He took out pen and paper and wrote a protest against the suspension and quickly sent it off to the Office of Ministerial Regulation. There must be a way to fix this.

Gerald smirked, when he had received the protest. The processing period could take two weeks maximal. He will send him the reply after the Wizengamot meeting next week.

Hogwarts, March 15th, 2003

Another order meeting was taking place in Hogwarts in regards to the Ostara meeting on Thursday. Albus had many plans for this meeting, but his main focus would remain on banning all dark potions and ingredients in their world. He was discussing with his followers about the Wizengamot meeting. Minerva was also attending this meeting with a severe face and a disappointing frown about the lost vote during the school board meeting, in order to make sure that the others should not disappoint the light side again.

Minerva had a private conversation, when the others were chattering about the meeting. “I hope that this time, you are successful, Albus. We cannot afford any setbacks.”

“I know, Minerva, and I hope that this time, we have some success.” Albus really hoped that he and his followers were going to make a step forward and not backward. It is frustrating that the last Wizengamot meetings were failures.

Albus turned his attention away from the Wizengamot meeting and had his focus on the Registry Department and the Office of Ministerial Regulation. There was something going on. His pawns from the Registry Department had informed him that Patrick Selwyn was suspended through Gerald Carrow and he wouldn’t be able to do his job for a month. His followers in the Office of Ministerial Regulation weren’t able to tell him anything since Carrow had kept everything quiet and secret, which is concerning.

Albus managed to get the attention back from his supporters. The office was silent. “There is something else, my dears. From what I have gathered from my contacts in the Registry Department and the Office of Ministerial Regulation, Patrick Selwyn was suspended for a month due to the cuts that he had done to the paychecks of his employees. But I am sure that there must be more to this.”

“I agree with you, Albus, but Gerald Carrow is keeping many things a secret. My great-niece told me that the man had put many classified information in a ministry vault that he had blood sealed”, Elphias answered.

“WHAT?! Why didn’t she report this to the DMLE? Blood magic is illegal and Carrow committed a crime by using that kind of magic.” James fumed. He was also hopeful that a death eater was going to be removed from a position of power that he didn’t deserve and that he was going to be brought to justice.

Alastor sighed at his former trainee auror’s childish rant. “Laddie, don’t you remember that last year, the current ban against blood magic was put under question and that the use of blood magic is regulated through the ICW laws.”

James was ready to scream. He completely forgot that the law regarding blood magic was put under question due to the dark fraction and the dark wizards and witches in the neutral fraction. This was unfair. The man broke the law and needed to be punished for his actions, but it seems like that he was going to get away with his actions since the law was inactive. Why is everything going the wrong way?

Albus sighed. That was also the reason why he wanted to ban blood magic from their world, in order to make sure that no one is able to use the blood seals to lock away classified information from the public. Now, he is stuck.

Whereas Albus was thinking, an argument broke out in his office. Many knew that Gerald Carrow wasn’t a death eater sympathiser due to his upbringing and his grandfather, who had fought against Grindelwald. But a loud and at the same time minor group led by James were arguing that it must be a ruse to trick them into believing that he isn’t a death eater.

Albus managed to keep them quiet and ordered them to pay close attention to Gerald Carrow and where he was going.

Before the meeting could come to an end, Hestia added: “Albus, there is something else that I need to tell you about Gerald Carrow.”

“Yes, my girl, what is it?”, Albus asked.

Hestia fidgeted slightly, but answered regardless: “I have seen Carrow in Crouch’s office. He went in with a suitcase, but I don’t know the contents since the office door was closed. But I have the suspicion that it must be about the Registry Department and Patrick Selwyn’s suspension.”

Albus was thoughtful, but he was sure that Hestia was right. The meeting between Bartemius and Gerald Carrow must be about the Registry Department and Selwyn and he is sure that Selwyn was going to be permanently removed from the ministry. But the question, where the money did go, is still lingering in his head. He is still not sure, what is happening to the money, but he is sure that he will get answers later on.

Albus dismissed his followers and had a quiet evening.

Bones Manor, March 18th, 2003

Amelia had a pre-meeting with Bartemius Crouch before she was going to meet up with the Grey Alliance. The man had informed her that he wanted to discuss some matters with her before she could meet up with the others.

When Bartemius entered the sunroom and had taken a seat at the other side of the table, Bartemius started the conversation. “Amelia, I wanted to speak with you before you are going to visit the Abbotts with little Susan.” There was silence for a time being before Bartemius continued: “I am planning to nominate that all classified information had to be stored in ministry vaults that had a blood seal, in order to minimise any leaks from the ministry departments. The Jugson case had bothered many ministry workers and there were many requests from the other departments to raise security for classified information.”

Bartemius was also going to assign Amelia to investigate Patrick Selwyn and his illegal dealings. The paperwork that Gerald Carrow had given to him was proving to be damning against Selwyn, because it showed that the cuts that Selwyn had done to the Registry Department were used to finance three illegal brothels, where even minors were involved. He was disgusted, when he read the confession of the account manager and what he had done to the minors and the youths that were working for the brothels. He was glad that the goblins had dealt with that monster. He will assign this case after the Wizengamot meeting, when he is finished going through the paperwork.

Amelia leaned back on her seat and thought things through. This nomination could be a great distraction and it could cause a great argument among Dumbledore’s followers, who hate anything dark. But she and the others needed to make sure that the nomination does pass.

“The idea doesn’t sound to be bad. I am also using the blood seal now on my cabinet, in order to store any classified information that I have. This also includes my new undercover auror team. It would help the departments to store classified information safely”, Amelia said with a smile. “But there is still the problem of Headmaster Dumbledore and his followers, who are staunch opponents of anything dark in our world.”

Bartemius had to agree with Amelia. Albus and his goons are going to be problematic regarding his nomination, but he is optimistic that his proposal would pass. “Thank you, Amelia, and I will keep your warning at the back of my mind. I will not hold you any longer with your visit. I will go now home and prepare myself.” Amelia nodded at him in gratitude.

After Bartemius left, Amelia prepared herself for the meeting in Abbott Manor.

Abbot Manor

Amelia arrived at Abbott Manor with her niece in tow and both females went to the formal meeting room, where she saw the other members of the Grey Alliance. She quickly left Susan with the other children in the play room. Amelia chuckled at the name that they had given to their new alliance. Narcissa came up with the name since they were a mix of light and dark witches and wizards that are working together to better the world, helping the current Grey Lord to stop the imbalance in their society and are making an united front against Voldemort and Dumbledore. Amelia was glad that she wasn’t alone in her endeavour.

“Amelia, finally, you arrived. We were worried that someone has been stopping you”, Zachary said in a light tone.

Amelia just smiled and answered: “Well, Bartemius wanted to speak with me regarding a proposal that he is planning to make at the Ostara meeting and I think that we have a good distraction against Dumbledore and his sheep.”

“Really?” Narcissa was surprised by this. She was out of plans for this Wizengamot meeting and had wanted to use this pre-meeting of finding a distraction.

Amelia nodded. Narcissa smiled. “Then, we don’t need a distraction for this meeting. Bartemius would do this.”

Everyone was glad that Barty was going to distract Dumbledore and his followers. The only thing left was Dumbledore’s proposal to ban all dark potions and any dark potion ingredients. Severus is frustrated by this nomination. “This man wants to kill our society with this ban. Doesn’t he know that the top healing potions are dark and by banning these potions many witches and wizards could die due to simple illnesses and diseases.”

Many nodded in understanding and were frustrated by Dumbledore’s views. Narcissa said: “We will make a protest against that motion and explain the importance of the potions and the ingredients to our society and why banning those potions and ingredients is dangerous. It would open many eyes, how much damage Dumbledore is doing to our society with his nominations.”

“I agree with you, the well-being of our society is very important. I wish, we could lift all these ridiculous laws, restrictions and bans immediately, but we need to play the long game. It is also fun that Dumbledore’s motions were not passing and the man is getting furious at every failure. We will nominate to put the current restrictions under question and make another law useless”, Lucius explained.

“Now, let’s move on to a different topic. I have heard that Patrick Selwyn had been suspended from his position as head of the Registry Department”, Narcissa said. She noticed the smile on Cyrus’ face telling her that he had something to do with that.

Cyrus explained: “It seems like that Gerald Carrow managed to get enough evidence to suspend Selwyn from his current position as department head. A blood supremacist less in the Wizengamot as department head is better in the long run.”

Narcissa hid a grin. Voldemort’s followers are also a headache, but currently, they had to keep their heads down and keep their views away from the public, in order to avoid a backlash. She also knew that removing them from their current positions of power would help them in the long run to go against Dumbledore and his fools.

This was the last thing that was discussed during the meeting. Many were nervous regarding the Wizengamot meeting, but they were confident.

Wizengamot, March 20th, 2003

The Wizengamot meeting didn’t even start appropriately and Dumbledore made his nomination first to ban dark potions and all dark potion ingredients from their world after he was finished with asking the Wizengamot, if there were any assignments or reassignments. The old fool reasoned the ban with his idea of saving the society from the corruptive darkness and warned the members that the potions and the ingredients did nothing then harm their world. His followers were just bobbling their heads in agreement. Narcissa and the other members of the Grey Alliance were stunned, how childish and bratish Dumbledore had behaved. Seriously, a Hogwarts students would have made a better argument than the old fool. How could everyone here believe this foolery? She just shook her head and continued to listen to the old man and his insanity.

When Dumbledore was finished with his motion, Bartemius rose his wand, in order to make his nomination. Dumbledore was surprised about Bartemius, but he had chosen him regardless. “Lord Crouch?”

Bartemius rose from his seat and announced: “Esteemed members of the Wizengamot, I am nominating that from now on, all classified information are required to be stored in a ministry vault with a blood seal. If you all remember the trial of Isabella and Eric Jugson, you all should know, how important and how dangerous classified information could be. I, as the head of the DMLE, do not want to repeat this mistake again and I am also sure that the other department heads do not want to have the same issue like I had last year. I request from the Wizengamot an increase of security for classified information and this should also apply to all departments not only the DMLE.”

Crouch sat down and there was silence for a second before an argument erupted in the light section. Dumbledore’s followers were ranting and raving at the nomination and the entire light fraction was in chaos. Albus was ready to throw a killing curse at Bartemius. This nomination is hard to fight due to Isabella and Eric Jugson and things didn’t look good, how his followers were behaving. For the time being, Albus was distracted, in order to put off the fires in his section.

After Dumbledore was busy with his followers, Narcissa had a smile on her face and gave her great aunt the look that it was time to liven things up here. Aurelia took over for the time being and noticed that Callidora Longbottom had her wand risen in the air. “Lady Longbottom?”

The woman stood up and started: “Chief Witch Acton, I have a protest to make against Lord Dumbledore’s nomination regarding the potions and potion ingredients that the Chief Warlock wants banned.” Everyone listened carefully at what the Longbottom matriarch is saying. “Lord Dumbledore’s proposal is dangerous, because we would also be banning the top ten healing potions in our world and most ingredients that our Chief Warlock wants banned are mostly used for healing and in some cases, they are used for tracking rituals, for beauty products etc. If we ban those ingredients and potions, then, we are putting many people at risk. Do you want this?” Many shook their heads and after Callidora was finished with her little speech, she waved her wand and summoned the paperwork, in order to prove her protest. Everyone stared at the paperwork that Lady Longbottom had collected on all the potions and the ingredients that the headmaster wants banned. They really endangered their world again, if they had voted for Dumbledore’s motion.

Before anyone could react, a wand was raised in the neutral fraction. It was Clara Yaxley. Aurelia had her attention on Clara. “Lady Yaxley?”

The said woman rose from her seat and announced: “With all this information, I am proposing to put the current restrictions against these potions and potion ingredients under question. I mean, we are also practically restricting the top ten healing potions from our world and when these are needed, the healers need to break the law, in order to brew them. This is not right to harm our society like this.”

Nearly everyone agreed with her even the blood supremacists. The Wizengamot cannot risk the magical society like this and many were furious at Dumbledore for endangering their society again.

When Dumbledore was finished, the man was exhausted and angry. Narcissa whispered to her husband: “Well, his followers had tired him out.”

“Not only that, they also angered him. It doesn’t look good for his nomination”, Lucius whispered back.

Both chuckled at that. Lucius and Narcissa couldn’t confront the old fool directly, but they can work in the shadows and bring him down. It is better that the man remains clueless, why his motions are failing and that there is an alliance against him and Voldemort. The worst thing that could happen is if Dumbledore finds out that a Grey Lord was sent to restore the balance and that Akira is the Grey Lord. Dumbledore would try everything to gain control over the poor boy and force him to be light-leaning and make him follow his agenda. Furthermore, if they were revealed, Dumbledore would focus on them and try to bring them down no matter what and his followers would target them. No. It is better, if they remain in the shadows and chip away on his power base.

Albus retook his seat and asked Aurelia, if there were any other nominations. Aurelia answered: “There is a nomination from Lady Yaxley, who wants to put the current restrictions against the potions and potion ingredients that you want banned, under question, Chief Warlock.”

Albus was stunned, but he was confident that the motion will fail. No one would side with a dark muggleborn witch like Clara Yaxley, but he temporarily forgot that Stuart Fenwick is attending the Wizengamot due to his position in the ministry and he had snapped. The said man stood up and thundered in rage accusing Yaxley of corrupting Clara and coercing her to make this nomination. Unfortunately for Albus, his followers agreed and demanded Yaxley’s arrest, but none of the aurors moved since they respected Yaxley and knew about the marriage between him and Clara. It is an insult that they were attacking one of their colleague and a soulmate couple. It had taken nearly half an hour to calm his followers down again.

Narcissa turned to her husband and commented: “What a turn of event. When are we going to vote?”

Lucius answered: “Don’t ask, Narcissa. We have to suffer the stupidity of Dumbledore’s fools.”

“Great. Thank Merlin, no one is attacking my marriage.” Narcissa chuckled. Lucius just rolled his eyes, but he grinned.

“You would have gone over corpses, if someone dared to attack your marriage”, Lucius commented. Narcissa gave him an innocent look, but Lucius knew that look. She is a dangerous wolf in sheep’s clothing.

Both remained silent, when an annoyed Dumbledore moved over to the vote. His followers were calm again, but there were still tensions in the Wizengamot chamber. The first nomination failed epically, which infuriated Dumbledore and his followers. The next proposal from Crouch passed with a landslide vote, which made Dumbledore’s followers combust in fury. It had taken another 45 minutes to calm Dumbledore’s sheep.

Narcissa was ready to cry. “I want to go home. Why do they have to argue against a passed nomination for more than half an hour? They should just accept it and move on.”

Lucius was irriated by Dumbledore’s idiots. Seriously, there should be an IQ test before someone could enter the Wizengamot. “I know, Narcissa, but we have to listen to their rants and ravings until they are dealt with.”

Narcissa just grumbled, when she leaned back on her seat. She was going to lose her patience, if she had to listen to these fools.

Albus was furious. Things were not going his way and he was ready to kill his followers. Those fools are causing him so many problems with their rants. Why did they have to lose their temper every time, when someone is nominating something dubious? He wished his followers were more cool-headed. Thank Merlin, he had managed to calm them down and was able to move on to the last nomination. He really had to pray to Merlin that Lady Yaxley’s proposal will fail.

This nomination passed with a majority. Albus was completely furious. This was another area that he was losing control over.

The Wizengamot meeting came to an end after the last nomination. Albus left the Wizengamot courtroom with his followers in tow. They were absolutely furious about the outcome of the Wizengamot meeting.

Hogwarts

Phineas Black and the other former headmasters and headmistresses were entertaining themselves by watching a circus in the headmaster’s office. It was funny to watch how James and the younger followers were practically frothing in their mouths and how the older followers were droning on about the failed votes, after Dumbledore and his followers arrived back from the Wizengamot meeting.

“SILENCE!”, Minerva ordered in a strict voice. Everyone was silent and turned their attention to Minerva apart from Albus, who was lost in his thoughts about the lost vote and the damage that had been done by Clara Yaxley’s and Bartemius Crouch’s nominations. The younger generation was terrified since the transfiguration professor had a displeased look on her face. Minerva continued: “I can’t believe that you think, it is alright to behave like children in the Wizengamot courtroom. The students here are more mature than you all.“

Minerva quickly collected herself before she could scold them even more and turned her attention to Albus, who had been thinking. “Albus.” The man was startled from his thoughts and had his attention returned to Minerva. “Yes, Minerva.”

“This can’t go on, Albus. We are suffering setbacks after setbacks. What will happen next? Are they going to freeze the restrictions against the elixirs or the wards or on spell crafting and spell weaving. We need to find out, what is the cause that many members of the Wizengamot are so contrary to our cause now and solve this problem”, Minerva explained.

“I know, Minerva, but I am clueless. At the beginning of the session, I have believed that our nomination would pass with a clear majority, but something had happened that I didn’t even manage to get a majority and to make matters worse, the majority voted for Clara’s nomination.” Albus didn’t understand, what was going on. He had the suspicion that there is a certain someone that is hindering him, but who? The nominations that are making these setbacks were coming from the members of the neutral fraction and they are not to be messed with since they had no affiliation with the order or the death eaters. He is still trying to understand, why nothing works, but he had to move on. There is still the school board meeting on March 31st.

He quickly dismissed his followers and informed them that the next order meeting was going to be on Wednesday. With that, the other order members left the office and went home.

Albus and Minerva were the only ones left, who remained in the office and both discussed the lost vote in detail. Minerva said: “Albus, this can’t go on like this. It would make dark magic legal again and this can’t be allowed.”

“I know, Minerva, but as long as the other members of the Wizengamot are voting against me and are voting for the counter-nominations, there is nothing I can do.” Albus sighed. He is getting tired of all this mess. He needed to find a way to regain control over the Wizengamot, but currently, he is unsuccessful. Why is everything failing?

Minerva and Albus continued with their discussions, but they couldn’t come to a solution, how to sway the Wizengamot.

Albus was left alone in his office with his thoughts after Minerva left and returned back to her office, in order to make sure that her lions are alright. She hoped that Albus knew a way, how to fix things.

DMLE, March 22nd, 2003

Amelia and Corban were curious, when Bartemius had called them to his office. There were some important matters that needed to be discussed. They weren’t sure what was going on, but Bartemius wouldn’t waste their time with frivolous things.

Arriving in front of Bartemius’ office, the door was open and Bartemius waved to them to come inside, which they did. “Please close the door.” When Corban closed the door, they felt the wards go up. Amelia and Corban knew, what wards were activated. Silencing, privacy and secrecy wards. These three wards can be combined with each other without harming someone. This matter must be important, if the secrecy wards are used. Normally, secrecy wards are not used, if there is a case from Bartemius, but a high-ranked case had always a secrecy ward, in order to make sure that the case is not endangered.

Bartemius was prepared, what he wants to say. “Amelia, Corban, I have a new case for you two. It comes from the Office of Ministerial Regulation and it is about Patrick Selwyn, the head of the Registry Department. There had been an investigation against him for making unjustified cuts to the wages of his employees, which had been proven to be true, and Gerald Carrow had suspended him for a month. But the big question was, where did the cuts go?” There was silence for the time being. Amelia and Corban gave him confused looks. Bartemius smiled. “Lord Carrow had tried to investigate, where the money did go and wasn’t able to trace the money back, but he didn’t give up and made a request to the goblins to help him, where the money did go. The goblins investigated the matter and found out that one of their account manager was untrustworthy and committed many crimes in the goblin nation and in our world. He was quickly dealt with and sentenced to the goblin mines. But he had given up a lot of information, which was disturbing. To spare you the details, the money was used to finance three illegal brothels that had underage children and youths as employees.” Amelia and Corban were furious. Both were ready to go and find those brothels, in order to dissolve them.

Bartemius saw the fury in his employees’ eyes and he knew that they would be hell-bent in finding those brothels. “I want you two to go over the paperwork that I got from Lord Carrow for the next two days, in order to be up to date with the case and find some clues about the three brothels.” Amelia and Corban nodded. Both sighed, when they had seen, how much paperwork they had to go through. This really would take them two days, but there are going to be many charges against Patrick Selwyn.

Bartemius hid a grin knowing that his best aurors in the office are going to be stuck with a lot of paperwork, but it would be worth it.

Amelia suggested: “Maybe, I should arrange an appointment with Chieftain Ragnock through my account manager. I mean, he has trialed Account Manager Halrick for his actions and sentenced him to the goblin mines. Maybe there is more to this.” Bartemius nodded in agreement. The goblins could provide them more information about this case.

After the meeting, both aurors took the paperwork and went to Amelia’s office, in order to look through the evidence that was provided by Gringotts and the Office of Ministerial Regulation. Amelia also wrote a letter to her account manager requesting an appointment with Chief Ragnock due to the investigation against Patrick Selwyn.

Later before Amelia’s and Corban’s shifts came to an end, she received a response from her account manager that he had arranged a meeting for her on Monday afternoon at 4 pm since it was deemed to be an important matter. That was good for her since she has a morning shift that would end at 3 pm. She informed Corban about the appointment and the male head auror told her that he would accompany her since they had the same schedule next week.

There was going to be a lot of work.

Gringotts, March 24th, 2003

Amelia and Corban made their way to the bank and went to the first open teller. Amelia greeted the goblin and showed the teller the letter from her account manager. The goblin looked through the parchment and told them to follow him.

After some time, they arrived at the office of the chieftain and were let in, when the teller informed Ragnock that Amelia and Corban were here. Ragnock had expected those two since it must have ended up in the DMLE. So, he was prepared for the meeting. “Lady Bones, Lord Yaxley, you have requested this meeting due to a criminal investigation. I know the gist of your investigation since we had dealt with that traitor, Halrick, for once and all, so, you don’t need to explain to me everything about Patrick Selwyn.”

Both nodded and were relieved that for the first time, they don’t have to explain the situation. Amelia began, when Ragnock gave them the go-ahead. “There were some unopen questions that we want to know about the three brothels.” Ragnock nodded and ordered the guards in gobbledegook to bring Halrick here. He also demanded to bring a truth chair, so that Halrick tells them everything truthfully. Truth chairs were used for further investigations after the cases were closed. Truth serums are used during the trials.

When everything was arranged, Halrick was forced to sit down on the truth chair. Ragnock had his attention to the aurors in his office. “You can ask your questions, Lady Bones, Lord Yaxley.”

Amelia asked the question that was burning on her mind. “Halrick, I want to know the addresses of the brothels. Where are the brothels?”

Ragnock cursed slightly. He had forgotten to ask the addresses of the brothels. A mistake that could have led to many problems. Thankfully, he didn’t execute the traitor, because the secret would have never been uncovered, if he was dead. The goblin in question answered the question and both aurors made notes of the addresses.

Amelia and Corban questioned the vile goblin for more information that hadn’t been asked by the chieftain and managed to get a decent amount of information. Halrick was brought back to the goblin mines after the questioning. Amelia was the first to speak after the interrogation. “Well, we have everything, what we needed. We need to make a request to Bartemius to get search warrants for the brothels. The more evidence, we have, the stronger our case would be.” Corban nodded in agreement.

Ragnock questioned: “Do you need something else before you go?”

“For now, we have everything, but we need Halrick alive for the Wizengamot trials, so that he can testify against Patrick Selwyn. Currently, he is our key witness”, Corban explained. Ragnock nodded in understanding. He will make sure that the traitor would be ready in case there was going to be a trial against Patrick Selwyn. He was glad that he didn’t execute the traitor on sight for his actions.

When Amelia and Corban had left the bank, they returned back at the ministry and went directly to Crouch. There, they requested a search warrant against the three brothels. They informed the Crouch lord that the goblin under the influence of the truth chair gave up the locations of the etablissments and they needed the search warrants, in order to get more evidence against Selwyn.

Bartemius quickly got to work. He filled out the three search warrants and sent them to the minister, in order to get the approval for the three warrants.

Potter Manor, March 26th, 2003

Charlus and Dorea were again listening to another order meeting. It was getting dull, but both were not happy. When Charlus had gone to the family library, he noticed that some books were missing and he came to the conclusion that his foolish son had given the old fool access to books from their private collection. Charlus had been ready to jump out of the portrait and strangle his son lifeless for his idiocy, when he found out about this. Dorea had been furious, when Charlus told her about the missing books. Both were putting their hopes up that their eldest grandson would fix things and get everything under control, but they had to wait for a few years until he is old enough to claim the heirship and recall everything back, what the old fool had taken.

Albus was discussing with his followers about the Trias spells. He wants to restrict them and with that restriction, they would be able to ban the Maxima spells at the next meeting. Albus needed to make some headways in the school board and can’t allow any setbacks.

After he was finished with his plans for the school board, he asked if there were any news in the ministry. He was annoyed that many of his followers shook their heads, but the more perceptive were nodding since they noticed some things amiss. Albus knew that there was something going in the ministry. He can feel it in his bones. Hestia was the first to speak: “I have noticed that Amelia and Yaxley were called in Crouch’s office, but I am not sure why since the silencing and privacy wards were activated and I wasn’t able to eavesdrop on the meeting, but when Amelia and Yaxley had left the office, Yaxley was carrying a suitcase, but I don’t know the contents of it since the suitcase was closed.”

Albus was listening to his pawn intensly, but he was annoyed that he didn’t know, what was going on in the ministry. He needed to find a way to put his followers in high positions of power in the ministry. Most of his pawns were working in mid or mid-high positions of authorities and some like the Marchbanks were high-ranking members of the ministry. He knew that Griselda is the head of the DOE and her daughter, Harriet, is working in the sub-department for OWLs and NEWTs. The DOE is tightly under his control, but the other departments like the DMLE are not under his thumb, which is annoying.

“Well done, my dear, but it would be better that everyone pays close attention to what is going on within the DMLE”, Albus said. Everyone nodded dutifully.

Charlus and Dorea were rolling their eyes at what the old fool had wanted from his followers. Dumbledore would not get any information from Amelia Bones and Corban Yaxley. They are sure of that.

Prewett Estate, March 29th, 2003

The Grey Alliance had their meeting at the Prewett Estate this time. When the meeting began, Arthur Weasley explained everyone, what Dumbledore was planning. Nearly everyone groaned at Dumbledore’s plan. Seriously, that man doesn’t give up, but they also will not give up to fight back against Dumbledore’s backwards views. Pandora sighed. “Any ideas how to stop this?”

Narcissa wasn’t sure, what more changes could be done that are innocuous enough to not rise any suspicions. Her thoughts then drifted to the muggle world and their schooling system and from there, she had a plan. Narcissa was grinning like a cat that got the cream. This nomination would be a good distraction. “I have an idea.” Everyone turned their attention to Narcissa. “We could nominate for the school to introduce the parental consultation.”

“What is that exactly?”, Augustus asked. This was new for him and all those that were wizard-raised were confused about this, but those, who were also muggle-raised knew exactly, what Narcissa was planning and liked the idea.

Jeremy Clearwater drew the attention to himself, when he started to explain: “Parental consultations are meetings between teachers and parents, where the child’s progress and grades are discussed. It would allow the parents to know the strengths and weaknesses of their children and how they were doing in school.”

“That sounds nice. It would also allow the parents to know, how the children are behaving in school and it would also allow the parents to know their children’s current standing with their grades”, Corban said. Jeremy nodded in agreement.

Narcissa could tell that Hogwarts is undergoing some slight changes that could be beneficial for later.

For the primary school, they were planning to nominate the ICW primary school curriculum for Care of Magical Creatures.

Before the meeting could come to an end, the topic was changed to the Registry Department and the Office of Ministerial Regulation. Cyrus announced: “I have good news regarding Patrick Selwyn. I am sure that everyone is aware that Gerald had managed to suspend Selwyn from his position as department head in the ministry and it doesn’t look good for him since I am sure that the man is going to be fired from his position at the end of the next month due to his actions against the employees of the Registry Department.”

Everyone was satisfied that another Voldemort follower is going down. Especially Amelia and Corban, because both were leading an investigation against Selwyn for corruption, bribery, owning and financing illegal brothels, chid abuse, sexual abuse of minors, exploitation of minors and many more charges are coming against that man.

The case had been classified. So, they can’t even tell anyone that there is a criminal investigation against Selwyn.

Narcissa had noticed Amelia’s and Corban’s faces and asked: “Amelia, Corban, are you alright? You seem to be distracted by something.”

Corban grumbled. Narcissa is as perspective as Voldemort, but what can you say about someone, who has been raised in the Black Family. Amelia cursed Narcissa’s perception. Sometimes, it was a blessing, but it was also a curse. She answered: “Yes, everything is fine.”

“Okay. If there are problems, then, we can help you”, Narcissa said in a concerned voice. Something was going on, but she didn’t know, what? Her gut feeling is telling her that everything is going to be alright, but she is not really sure. The others felt that there is something in the air, but they are not sure what.

School board, March 31st, 2003

Another school board meeting was taking place in the Wizengamot chambers. Narcissa was prepared to counter Dumbledore’s motion and make some headway for the school and primary school. After the formalities were done, Albus moved over to the nominations. The first nomination came from a Dumbledore fool, who proposed to restrict some of the trias spells that were dangerous and could harm people. Narcissa and the other members of the Grey Alliance were ready to roll their eyes.

Albus hoped that this time, he was successful. He can’t allow any failures now. For this meeting, Lady Martha McDonald made the motion. She was one of his younger followers and he hoped that he was going to be successful. Furthermore, Martha didn’t cause many problems during the last meetings unlike his other followers even though, she was against the changes that were done for his school. He is sure that this time, he was going to be successful.

After Martha McDonald was finished with her nomination, Dumbledore questioned, if there were any other nominations.

Narcissa was the one, who rose her wand, in order to make the next proposal. Dumbledore was aggravated that Narcissa Malfoy was the one, who had risen her wand. He was not looking forward to this, but he hoped that the woman’s nomination doesn’t cause any problems for him. “Lady Malfoy?”

Narcissa rose from her seat and began: “Esteemed members of this board, I am proposing that during the next school year, there should be a parental consultation day in Hogwarts, so that the parents knew of their children’s grades and their in-class behaviour. It would also involve the parents more to be active in their children’s education.”

Many liked the idea, but an argument broke out in the light section. Dumbledore was stuck between supporting or opposing the nomination, because at one point, it could help him to show that the Slytherins were bad and were problem students, but at the other point, it would also show his pawns in a bad light, which would do him no good. What was he supposed to do? The first thing, he had to do was to calm his followers down. They were already causing a scene that doesn’t look good in front of the other members of the school board.

“The old fool is distracted”, Lucius whispered to his wife. Narcissa just chuckled. “I know, Lucius. Let’s have some fun.” Lucius was hiding a smile and Narcissa gave Danielle the look that it was time to strike. For this meeting, Danielle was attending the school board meeting instead of her husband since she was able to sit on the Greengrass seat due to her bonding to her husband and she is better equipped for the board meetings due to her position as head of the Summer Study Department.

When Aurelia took over and continued the session, Danielle rose her wand, in order to make sure that Dumbledore’s motion doesn’t pass. “Lady Greengrass?” Aurelia turned the attention to the Greengrass matriarch.

The said woman rose from her seat and began. “Lords, Ladies, I have my doubts about Lady McDonald’s nomination regarding the Trias spells in the charms class. We all should remember that we should not hinder the education of the next generation and make sure that the students are learning, what they need. We can’t limit the students’ education, because of our views. Education is very important for our society and we would face stagnation, if the next generation has a lacking education. Furthermore, Headmaster Dumbledore had approved of the curriculum and this curriculum is used internationally.”

Narcissa hid a grin. This was a good manipulation tactic. It would make sure that Dumbledore couldn’t talk his way out without answering some uncomfortable questions. Many in the school board were convinced that restricting the curriculum was a bad idea.

After Danielle retook her seat, Callidora Longbottom rose her wand. “Lady Longbottom?”, Aurelia announced.

The old woman rose from her seat and proposed: “Lady Acton, I am nominating the ICW primary school curriculum for Care of Magical Creatures. The students should learn the theory part of this class.” Aurelia nodded and added the motion to the docket.

After Dumbledore was finished and had retaken his podium, Aurelia explained Callidora’s proposal, which made the old man frown, but the man continued to the voting.

The first nomination failed epically, which infuriated Albus and Martha McDonald. The second nomination had a great majority, which annoyed some of those, who voted against the proposal. The last nomination had a majority, which angered Dumbledore and his followers. With that, the meeting came to an end and everyone returned home.

Hogwarts, Great Hall

Albus was sitting at the staff table watching the chattering students with a frown on his face. The food in front of him was ignored since the man was lost in thoughts. Why does nothing work? He had worked hard on the nomination with Martha and it didn’t pass, no matter what he tried to do. Maybe he should discuss with his followers about the inconvenient nominations first that were made by the dark and the neutrals before an argument could break out in his fraction. That would also stop the bad image that his followers were creating. That could help him.

“Albus.” Albus was startled, when Minerva had called out his name.

“Yes, Minerva, my dear, what can I do for you?”, Albus asked in a kind voice.

“Is everything alright? You seem to be lost in thought”, Minerva asked.

Albus sighed. “I am just thinking about the lost vote during the school board meeting. I don’t understand, Minerva, why is nothing working?”

Minerva looked down on her food and tried to find an answer for the headmaster, but she had gotten nothing. “I don’t know, Albus. I wished, I could help you, but you know that I am not that politically involved unlike you.”

Albus nodded in acknowledgement knowing that Minerva was telling the truth. He continued to think, whereas he was finishing his meal.

Severus overheard the conversation and had an evil smirk on his face that he had managed to hide. ‘Albus, Albus, Albus, this is just the beginning of your end.’ The potion master continued to eat and thought about the potion that he is working on, in order to stop the inflammation caused by the Cruciatius Curse. Severus was sure that the potion would be finished at the end of May. With that potion, he would be able to help Frank and Alice Longbottom and Christina O’Neill. Especially Christina O’Neill would be able to return back to work as an auror since she is restricted within her arms. Frank’s and Alice’s problems were more sever since the damaged nerves need to be regenerated, so that they can return back to normal life. Severus will not fail since he is close.