Chapter 3
“Things are looking up already for our young one,” the collective, as the group of gods was called, said quietly. “Have we found the traitor in our midst?”
“We have,” Destiny reported softly. She bowed her head, mourning for the fate of the one who was Harry Potter in both worlds. “It was the deceitful goddess Apate who swapped Hawthorne for the deceased babe known as Harry Potter. She was quite jealous of the attention he was receiving from us.”
“How did Harry Potter die in the previous timeline?” Time asked curiously. “He was Fate’s responsibility.”
“Unfortunately,” the collective replied sadly, “there are some things that even Fate cannot see. The child succumbed to a weakness that sometimes strikes infants in the first few weeks after birth called Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. For some reason, the babe just stops breathing, unknown to the parents, and suffocates in its cot. Human medical science has not advanced enough to be able to test for the potential markers that would show if a child has this weakness. It was completely unexpected, and Fate was blindsided by the weakness.”
"How did Apate swap out the Potters' dead infant for Riddle's living one?" Destiny queried, frowning. "I would think that the Potters would know that he wasn't their child."
"She was able to sneak in while the parents of the dead child were heavily sedated,"the collective replied sadly. "They were grieving very deeply and required rest. When she placed the Riddle heir in the crib, she doctored the Potter parents' memories so that they would believe the child was theirs. She'd also doctored Tom and Severus' memories, which caused the Dark Lord to lose his tenuous grip on sanity. It was Severus' unrequited sorrow at the loss of his child that caused him to turn bitter and angry toward all children."
“So Hawthorne and his real parents had to pay for the loss of the Potter heir?” Ambrogio barked incredulously. “That fucked up goddess felt that she had the Magick-given right to steal someone else’s child to fulfill that sham of a prophecy? What was in it for her, anyway? Albus too many names Dumbledore would have benefited from the trickery more than she.”
“Indeed, vampire god,” the collective answered with a growl. “She was intent on giving Dumbledore a savior to groom and use for his own gain, and she figured that the child of the very human he wanted to crush underneath his feet would be the perfect sacrificial lamb on the altar of ‘the Greater Good’. Unfortunately, that poor child paid with his life in this timeline as well. Perhaps he wasn’t meant to survive without his parents. Only Fate would know the answer, and she’s not talking right now.”
“My sister is very heartbroken over her failure to keep the chosen one alive in either world,” Destiny remarked sadly, “but with Hawthorne returned to his parents, perhaps there will be no need for a savior this time around.”
“What are we going to do with Apate?” Time wanted to know, hoping that she might be able to help with the punishment.
“I will be taking care of the goddess,” Lady Magic said as she faded into view in the conference room. All present bowed and murmured their thanks to the mistress of the supernatural. “I intend to do to her what I do to all of my disobedient children. I will strip her of her magic and drop her in the middle of a muggle city, where she can sink or swim on her own.”
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“We’re here to see Ragnarok Verdensmorder, please,” Tom said as he leaned close to the goblin teller. Severus had Hawthorne held close to his chest, hoping that the pressure of the surrounding magic wouldn’t upset his son too terribly. Griphook Dragonbane, who was observing the transactions for any behavioral problems or discrepancies, heard the request and immediately approached the pair.
“Lord Riddle?” he queried quietly.
“Yes,” Tom replied with a nod and a small smile.
“This way, if you please,” the goblin said with a gesture of his hand. The humans followed Dragonbane through the labyrinthine hallways until they reached the branch manager’s office. With a few mumbled words in gobbledygook, the wizards were granted entrance and they stood in front of the director’s desk, waiting for permission to sit.
“Please have a seat,” Verdensmorder said, eyebrows rising slightly in surprise at the respect shown him. The men seated themselves, Severus transferring Hawthorne to Tom to keep the other man from losing his patience; a ploy that worked remarkably well as a besotted look overtook the Dark Lord’s face at the sight of his son. Smiling slightly, the goblin continued. “As you know, all of the Potter assets and holdings were reabsorbed into the Peverell vaults through the family charter, which states that any holdings of descendant lines of the Peverells would be returned to the parent Peverell vaults, should there be no more heirs to the branch lines. Harry Potter was the last of the Potter line, and with his death, all of the Potter vaults, properties and heirlooms have been returned to the main family vaults.”
“I understand, since you included that information on the missive I received,” Tom told Ragnarok softly, eyes never leaving his son’s. “What else could you have to tell us that we don’t already know?”
“Albus Dumbledore has been in those vaults,” Griphook told the Riddles flatly. “Up until the announcement of the death of Harry Potter, and our receipt of both the autopsy report and death certificate, he was able to gain access to the deceased child’s monies as his alleged magical guardian. After they went on lockdown at the verification of the child’s demise, we went in there to audit the contents. The Potter and Peverell family grimoires are missing, along with a great many journals and rare tomes. Some of the Potter and Peverell heirlooms are also gone, and there seems to be about three hundred thousand galleons missing from the audits.
“Additionally, he’d set up automatic deposits into a variety of accounts, withdrawn from the main Potter vault, that will need your signature and a drop of blood to cease. Those accounts are for something called the Order of the Phoenix and several individuals; namely Remus Lupin, Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Weasley, Mr. and Mrs. Vernon Dursley, and himself. All I need is a signature on this cancellation form, stating that you, as sole owner and holder of all Potter and Peverell accounts, rescind permission for these deposits to take place. We can also issue a recall of all the books and heirlooms that were taken from the vaults, and return them to their rightful owner.”
“Darling,” Severus murmured as he watched the goblin closely, “perhaps we should allow the theft of funds to continue. After all, if we take the money away, he’ll be alerted that there’s someone else that has control over everything and will find a way to demand that the culprit identify himself or herself, or face legal charges for larceny and fraud. Besides, it’ll add up, with everything else we can find, to additional criminal charges against him down the road. We could have the smallest Potter vault be available for the withdrawals and leave the bulk of the inheritance intact. Of course we should demand the return of the books and heirlooms; after all, he has absolutely no right to our son’s heritage.”
“There is the matter of the Wizengamot seats,” Ragnarok reminded them softly, smirking maliciously at the cunning way that the two men were going to end Dumbledore’s stranglehold over the British wizarding world. “So that you’re not outed too soon, we could always assign a proxy for those positions in order to keep them out of the headmaster’s greedy hands. When the wills were invalidated, I took the liberty of reading over them, and James Potter didn’t want to give the old man control over his vaults or votes. He’d left clear instructions that, should the unthinkable happen, those ballots were to be held for his son, and that Regulus Black be chosen as the proxy until their child was old enough to take the seats himself. Those votes were absorbed into the Peverell group, which gives you a total of eight ballots; six from the Peverell and Gaunt families and two from the Prince line.
“With the change of many of your associates’ assignments from neutral to Tory, you would have a grand total of forty of the fifty available Wizengamot slots. Allow Black to act as proxy for your block of votes, and assign them to the Tories, thereby taking all of the power away from Dumbledore by moving Regulus into the position of Chief Warlock. The old man will be so discombobulated and worried about chasing down the mysterious assignee that he’ll neglect the school, thereby allowing Lucius Malfoy to do his thing and get all of those classes returned. Once that happens, then it’s just a matter of time before creatures and mixed blood magicals are permitted to attend, along with those neglected children in areas like Knockturn Alley.”
“We could use this to get some of those child protective acts passed,” Tom whispered, memories of his and his husband's brutal upbringings still cavorting through his mind. “I don’t understand why Dumbledore doesn’t want to protect the children under his watchful eye. Sending abused children back to their abusers is going to backfire on him one day, and I hope I’m there when it happens.”
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“This special session of the Wizengamot will now come to order,” Dumbledore said as he tapped the gavel. “Any old business?”
“Some seats have been retaken, and we need to get a count of the assignments,” Lucius Malfoy intoned as he stood. “As everyone can see,” he gestured to the board, where the lights for the Black, Peverell, Prince, Potter and Gaunt seats were lit, “we have some members wishing to take their places in this august body. Regulus Black has stepped up to take his Black seats, and Lord Peverell has assigned Lord Black to act as proxy for his Peverell, Potter and Gaunt seats, and Lord Prince has assigned Black proxy for the Prince seats.”
“Lord Black, would you please stand and state the assignment of your seats,” the Chief Warlock nearly growled in anger. He had maintained control of those votes since the defeat of Voldemort by Harry Potter. As the boy’s magical guardian, the responsibility for voting those blocks had fallen to him. Now there was an unknown wizard throwing all of his plans into chaos.
“The Black seats are assigned Tory,” Reggie intoned solemnly, grey eyes lighting up with humor as the magic changed their designation from white to red. “The Peverell seats are assigned Tory,” two more lights turned maroon, “the Prince seats are assigned Tory,” two additional lights turned rose, "the Potter seats are assigned Tory," another two white lights turned scarlet, “and the Gaunt seats are assigned Tory.” The last two bulbs became crimson as Lord Black sat back down, smirking slightly as he waited for the axe to fall.
“Any more old business?” the old man asked, hoping to Merlin that those seat designations would be the only changes. Fate, being a vicious bitch and hating Dumbledore with a vengeance, smote that wishful thinking as every Lord from the neutral faction stood and changed their designations to Tory. All in all, Dumbledore’s Whigs lost forty seats that day, leaving only sixteen blue lights on the board, as he watched the majority and his position of Chief Warlock slip through his fingers. The only two neutral designations left were the Bones block and the Longbottom block, who only voted a certain way when they had a moral certitude. Regulus stood and smirked as Albus gritted out through clenched teeth, “The Whigs cede the floor to the new Chief Warlock of the Tory party.”
“The first order of new business I’d like to discuss is funding for a new department in the Ministry,” Reggie said as soon as he took his place. “As is evidenced by the death of Harry Potter, our magical children are not safe in the muggle world. I have records from Hogwarts that cover the past several decades, and they are filled with reports to the headmaster, from the mediwitch and the children themselves, of child abuse. Students from all houses have come to headmaster Dumbledore, afraid for their safety and begging for sanctuary. By law, he is required to report the complaints to the DMLE for further investigation, yet I could not find one single filing, nor did I find any follow ups to any complaints that had made it past the old man.
“This just will not do,” he continued vehemently. “We cannot permit a single man to act as the ultimate authority when it comes to magical children’s safety; especially those who come to us from the muggle world. That is why I wish to allocate funding to set up a Wizarding Child Welfare Office, within the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, so that our kids have someone to whom they can turn when their lives are in danger. It should have at least two directors; one for the daylight hours, and one to oversee the night, with monitoring charms placed on magical children in the muggle world so that we can keep an eye on their well-being.
“At the minimum there should be twenty social workers at the ready to go out into the muggle world and investigate any complaints or monitoring alerts. They should be made up of muggleborns who have already received their certification in social work in the muggle world, and who are willing to put their own safety on the line if it means rescuing even one muggleborn or halfblood from imminent peril. There should also be a social worker on staff at Hogwarts to whom the children can go to file their complaints, ensuring that their concerns are taken seriously. He or she should have some abuse training, to assess the students and verify their concerns. He or she is to work hand in hand with mediwitch Poppy Pomfrey to treat the complainant and gather whatever evidence necessary to facilitate further actions.”
“I cannot have the Ministry interfering with the running of Hogwarts,” Dumbledore said with a condescending smile as he stood. “I don’t think it wise to put someone in the infirmary that would only get in madam Pomfrey’s way as she tends to her duties to her charges. Besides, I believe the children are exaggerating their treatment. Their parents love them, and it would be unconscionably cruel to snatch the kids away from them in such a horrible fashion.”
“It is not interfering,” dowager Longbottom barked as she stood. “It’s a way to ensure that all the children are safe and healthy, and to rescue those who need our intervention. If that program was in place for the Potter child, he would be alive today.”