Chapter 20
"MUM!" Ron cried at seeing his mother at one of the tables at the Leaky. She was alone for once and looked exhausted. She also showed no sign of sunburn he was glad to see. The Prophet had run several news papers with different articles on Lady Magic's punishments and warnings over the last day. Ron ran over to his mother and clenched her tight. He'd missed her greatly this summer. "What are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be in Egypt with everyone else?" Ron asked as they both sat back down.
Molly took another slug of her firewhisky, breathed out the flames, (which startled Ron immensely as his mother rarely drank), and took a deep breath. "I'm here because I had to make a trip to the ministry, Ron, and I need to talk to you about it. There was an incident in Egypt with Scabbers." She then proceeded to tell her youngest son about his once pet rat. When he started to shake a bit in shock, she urged him to drink the tea she had doctored with a calming potion waiting for him.
Ron took the tea and slugged it back. "He slept in my bed," he muttered.
"Yes, but you told me that you and Hermione both had through exams at St Mungos. Those would have shown if Pettigrew had done anything to you," Molly tried to soothe her youngest son.
"What about Percy?!?" Ron yelped, the potion that he knew was in the tea, (his mum always put the calming potions in tea because she thought it helped with the taste - which it did not for the record but Ron didn't mind, at least she tried), not helping a bit. Or he was much more upset than he thought he was, which - well he'd had a full grown man in his bed! He should be upset! And a Deathmuncher at that!
"We've had him checked out by the healers down in Cairo," Molly explained. "And Ginny's been checked out too, just in case." She shuddered at the thought of one of - that - sort getting near her children. If she'd had any inkling, well, it wasn't well known now but she'd been one hell of a duelist in her day, and she'd kept up with the practice whenever she'd had a bit of free time. She probably got more practice in than many Aurors to tell the truth.
"She's ok?" Ron demanded to know.
"They've not been - interfered with - although everyone is very upset," Molly said circumspectly. The Leaky was a public pub and one did not mention such things in polite company, but she did want to reassure Ron. "However, with everything that's happened we're cutting our trip short. There's to be an emergency meeting of the Wizengamot tomorrow and we're all going to need to be there. Now, I need to ask as you're going to have to go up and announce your proxy, who do you want it to be. It'll only be until you're fifteen, and then you can take the seat yourself, but you'll need a proxy until then. Your sister has already asked me to be hers."
Ron had actually been thinking about it and he and Hermione had discussed the issue with her parents. With Hermione being the new head of a once thought to be extinct family line, she had to show up at the next meeting to bring her seat back from the dead, so she had to appoint a proxy just like he would have to. "I knew that I'd have to have a proxy, so I asked Professor Flitwick," he confessed to her. "Harry's been talking about how the wizarding world should be more accepting of people who aren't wix. He's got some good points, and honestly, I really think that Professor Flitwick and Hagrid are pretty cool people. It's not fair that people look down on them because they're half something else. They deserve to be treated like everyone else."
Molly beamed at her son with pride. "I'm so proud of you! You are absolutely right. Did he say yes?"
Ron nodded with a grin. "Just until I turn fifteen as it's only two years away. He says that it'll be my responsibility after that and that I'll need to be very hands on over the next two years because he's really busy with everything going on at Hogwarts."
"I'm not surprised, even being just a professor at Hogwarts is a big responsibility and with the new changes the heirs are implementing it's bound to be a madhouse right now," Molly said.
Ron nodded, pulled up his leather bag onto the table and pulled out his new wand. It was time to really cheer his mum up, and this was the best way to do it. He'd bought his wand entirely with his own money, from his winning the chess tournament, even though House Travers had an heir vault that he had access to. He just hadn't bothered with any of his new house yet. It was just the thing to get her mind off of Pettigrew. "I went to Olivander's and got a new wand," he said, showing it off to her.
"And just where did you get the money?" Molly asked with a frown. "You know that we have money now for such things and your father and I were going to buy you a new wand as soon as we came back from Egypt."
Ron grinned - and pulled out his trophy. "I won the first tournament that I competed in," he said proudly. "I got this trophy and a hundred pounds in muggle money. That's twenty galleons once I exchanged it at Gringotts, so I went and got me a new wand with the galleons." He's full to bursting as he sees his mum's jaw literally drop.
"Ron? You won this?" Molly asked, reverently taking the trophy from her son.
"Yep!" Ron said. "Hermione and Harry think that I'll get more, but only the top three of any tournament gets a trophy and how much the prize money for winning the tournament is depends on tournament, but it's usually pretty good."
Molly took her time examining the trophy, going over every inch. Finally she looked up at Ron. "This needs displaying," she said firmly. "Come on, I know just the place where we can get a proper display case." They both stood up and, (after moving their chairs back in to the table because Molly did not raise her children to be rude to hard working wix), left for Diagon Ally.
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The Wizengamot was not in it's usual state this morning. In fact, only the twelve seats traditionally given to ministry workers had someone in the seats. The ten seats on the bottom bench were filled with those like Healer Brown, who was the most senior healer at St. Mungos now that Burke was dead and Head Auror Shacklebolt. All of the ministry of magic's main departments were represented this morning, and the two seats on either side of the Chief Warlock's seat were filled by Minister Fudge and Amelia Bones, head of the DMLE. Everyone else in the room was kept in the visitor's section or the section for the press.
Minister Fudge stood up and stepped in front of the Chief Warlock's seat. The reporter's gallery was packed. Even the Wizarding Wireless had multiple reporters in the gallery. "I, Minister of Magic Cornelius Fudge, do hereby open this emergency meeting of the Wizengamot on the tenth of July, 1993. As you all know, these past few days have seen many people touched by Lady Magic. Many died, many were warned, and many were declared innocent of any wrong doing in her eyes. For this reason we have kept to the tradition of the Wizengamot that when many of our number have died suddenly, we will call all of the Lords and Ladies of their Houses to their seats one by one. This is to see who is still alive and which Houses will need proxies as their current Lord or Lady is under the age of 15. The Lords and Ladies will be brought to their seats by the Wizengamot House Elves as is their duty during such emergency meetings."
Fudge took a deep breath and unrolled the parchment handed to him by Amelia Bones. "We begin with the territory of England. Abbot."
A loud pop sounded through the chamber and a House Elf wearing a plum colored toga made from some sort of heavy sheet with the badge of the Wizengamot appeared holding the hand of a witch in her forties. "I, Sandra Abott, do take the House of Abott's seat," she said, and moved to the seat that lit up.
"Avery."
This time the elf popped in holding a three month old baby. "Is Lady Esmeralda Avery, Minister Sir! Old Lord Avery and heir burned up! Lady needs guardian!" the elf said.
Fudge sighed, "Then take the Lady Avery to Madam Davies." He gestured to an older witch standing off to one side of the chamber, surrounded by house elves. "I'm afraid that she will be far from the only child who needs to be turned over to Wizarding Child Services today. As is standard when this occurs, the head of the Wizarding Child Services will choose a proxy for the child, after questioning to see if the child has a magical guardian or not. When there is not, the child will be taken to the department for a fostering assignment." He turned once more to his parchment. "Bagman." A very elderly wizard was brought in and ascended to his family's seat.
"Beery." This time there was a moment of silence and then the elf popped in shaking his head sadly. This was one of the families lost in the war.
"Belby." A middle aged wizard was brought in and ascended to his seat.
"Black." The pop of elf apparition sounded and suddenly Sirius Black stood in front of the chamber.
"I, Sirius Orion Black, Lord of the Black Family, here by name Solicitor Theodore Tonks as my proxy as my case is one of the first ones on the docket today," Sirius said, with a bow of his head to Fudge.
Ted Tonks came down from the visitor's gallery and moved to stand next to Sirius. "I do accept this proxy for the time being." Fudge nodded at the two men and Ted went to sit in the Black seat while Sirius moved off to the side, out of the way and next to one of the Auror guards.
"Bletchley." Another middle aged wizard popped in and took his seat.
"Blishwick." This time an older witch popped in. She too, took her seat.
"Bones." Susan Bones was transported to the chamber. "I, Susan Rose Bones, Heir to the House of Bones, do name the Bones family Steward Christopher Montague as my proxy for the House of Bones as my regent is otherwise occupied as the head of the DMLE," she said with a smile. This was expected as Montague had been the proxy for years now. She went to sit next to her proxy in the heir's seat.
"Bulstrode." The elf came in and shook his head. "Burke." The elf popped in with a two year old boy, showed him to Fudge and carried him to Madam Davies. "Capaldi." This time the elf returned with an older child whom he also took to Madam Davies.
"Carrow." A shake of the head. "Crouch."
This time Harry was brought in. "As heir of House Crouch, I, Harry James Potter, name Solicitor John Shacklebolt as my proxy to House Crouch." A murmur ran around the visitor gallery as no one could figure out just why Harry Potter of all people was now heir to House Crouch. "I name Remus Lupin as proxy for the House of Gryffindor. I name Solicitor Henry O'Neill as the proxy for the House of Peverell. I name Andromeda Tonks as the proxy for the House of Potter." The group took their seats, with Harry going to sit next to Lupin in the heir seat that appeared next to the Griffindor seat. The crowd erupted into whispers, everyone trying to understand just how Harry Potter, Boy-Who-lived had come to be the heir to so many seats and the fact that the Founder's seats were once more active, even though the fact that the Founder's Heirs had taken over Hogwarts had been in all of the papers for weeks.
However, there was to be another surprise coming. "Dagworth-Granger." Everyone expected the elf to come in and shake his head as this House was one that was known to be extinct. Instead, he arrived with a thirteen year old girl that few of the public had ever seen before.
"I, Lady Hermione Jean Granger of the House of Dagworth-Granger, name Solicitor James Shacklebolt as my proxy for the House of Dagworth-Granger." The brother of Auror Shacklebolt, another tall black man, although he kept his hair shorn close to his head rather than shave it like his brother, came down from the visitor's gallery and accepted the position of proxy. He and Hermione went to their seats. Fudge shot a confused look at the house elf, who nodded vigorously and with enthusiasm.
"Uhem, well, ah," Fudge spluttered for a moment before finding his place on his parchment. "Fawley." Another aged lord came and took his place. "Fronsac." This was met with another shake of the head, this time over a family that had been lost to Voldemort. "Greengrass." Daphne's father appeared and took his seat.
"LaFay."
Again, instead of the head shake of an extinct family, a witch appeared, or rather two witches. "I, Lady Petunia Evens, head of House LaFey and House Ravenclaw, do name Healer Rose Weaver as my proxy to House LaFey and do take the seat of House Ravenclaw." The two took their seats. This certainly was shaking up the Wizengamot with all of the old seats being revived.
"Lestrange."
This time four people popped in. "I, Neville Francis Longbottom, Heir to the Lordships of the Houses of Longbottom, Lestrange and Hufflepuff name Solicitor James Cooper as my proxy for the House of Lestrange. I also do confirm my Regent, Lady Augusta Longbottom, as my proxy to the Wizengamot for the House of Longbottom."
The tall man with grey hair and grave dignity moved over to the Lestrange seat and sat down. The entire crowd murmured as the seat showed no sign of rejecting the proxy. Augusta marched over to the Longbottom seat and sat down. "Lastly, I name Professor Pomona Sprout as my proxy for the House of Hufflepuff." Professor Sprout moved to the Badger's Seat. Neville moved to sit beside her as an heir seat sprang up.
"Malfoy." Draco and his mother popped in. "I, Draco Marcus Malfoy, do name my mother, Narcissa Malfoy nee Black, as my regent and proxy for the House of Malfoy." Then the two ascended to their seats.
"Mulciber."
This time the elf brought in Molly and Ginny Weasley. "I am Lady Ginnerva Molly Weasley, heir to the house of Mulciber, and I name my mother, Molly Weasley as my proxy." The two witches went to their seats.
"Nott."
Theodore Nott was brought in with a blond witch in severe blue robes. "I, Theodore Nott, heir to the House of Nott, do name Solicitor Gwendolyn Briar as my proxy." The two of the went to their seats.
"Ogden." A younger wizard took the seat. "Olivander." The famous wandmaker took his spot. "Parkinson." Pansy appeared and named her family steward as her proxy.
"Prewett." Fred and George stepped forward and claimed their seats, as the Prewett family's Lordship/Ladyship always went to the oldest set of twins in the line of succession. For once both twins were completely serious with dark looks on their faces, something that had those who knew them shivering.
"Prince."
Severus Snape appeared. "I, Severus Snape, Lord of House Prince name Solicitor Evelyn Carter as the proxy for House Prince as I have been selected as proxy for House Slytherin." He stepped up to where Fudge was standing as his proxy went to the Prince seat and handed him a parchment. When Fudge nodded, everyone held their breath as Snape took the seat next to Harry. Then they let out their breath as the seat did not reject him. The proxy was accepted.
"Roosier." The elf shook his head. "Rookwood."
This time Percy Weasley entered the chamber. "I, Percy Weasley, Lord of the House of Rookwood, do take up the seat of House Rookwood." He then went and sat down.
"Rowle." Another shake of the elf's head." "Scamander." This time an elderly wizard took up the seat, although it was noted by the crowds that this was not the famous Newt Scamander, but his older brother.
"Selwyn." Another small child joined the dishearteningly small group of children with Madam Davies.
"Shafiq." A wizard took the seat.
"Travers." This time Ron appeared with Professor Flitwick. "I, Ronald Bilius Weasley, heir to the House of Travers, do name Professor Filius Flitwick, Charms Master and Master Dualist, and Deputy Headmaster of Hogwarts as my proxy to the house of Travers." This time the crowd went nuts, but the law was clear. Ron had every right to name anyone he wished to be his proxy. Both were grinning as they took their seats.
The listing continued with far, far too many families having either no one to take the seat or having only small children to do so. Many of the families that had been attacked by the Death Eaters during the last war had gone to collateral lines, some even to muggle-borns like Hermione, having come from squib lines that had been turned out into the muggle world.
"Our first order of business," Fudge said, once all of the lists for the various territories covered by the Wizengamot had been gone through, "is to chose a new Chief Warlock." This procedure took more than it should have, mostly because those who would have normally been nominated were either dead or now had other obligations, such as suddenly being promoted to the head of their families. Finally a wizard named Jamie McGonagall, (Minerva's older brother), was officially promoted to the office.
"Chief Warlock, I now turn this session over to you," Fudge said, and returned to his seat.
"On to our next order of business," McGonagall said, consulting the parchment in front of him. "That would be the case of Lord Black."
Sirius moved over to the accused chair as it appeared, a stone monstrosity that had a set of magical chains attached to it. Those chains confined him to the chair once he'd sat down. Amelia Bones stood up and moved in front of him. "Lord Black, you were sent to Azkaban for the crimes of betraying Lord, Lady and Heir Potter which led to their deaths and the orphaning of Heir Potter, killing Peter Pettigrew and 13 muggles on a public street, and breaking the Statute of Secrecy in the process.
"You were never questioned, nor were you given a trial. No evidence was collected and the muggles who witnessed the incident resulting in the deaths of their fellows were obliviated. In short sir, you were sent to the worst prison, in the worst ward on the say so of a few officials who are now all dead or in the case of Dumbledore, incarcerated themselves. As you are most obviously alive and the records show that you are the oath-sworn god father and blood adoptive father of Harry Potter, you can not possibly have betrayed them to Voldemort."
Those who were in the crowd gave a collective gasp of shock, while the court began passing angry looks to one another. This was a peer of the realm, and he'd been shucked off into prison on the whim of a few commoners? For Bagbold, the minister at the time and Dumbledore were not of the peerage. This was not acceptable at all.
Amelia adjusted her robes. "For the record, the body of Peter Pettigrew was delivered to the DMLE by Molly Weasley after Lady Magic had delivered her sentence on him. He had been hiding as two of her sons' pet rat and she was suitably furious to find out that the rat was an illegal animagus. Lady Magic left enough of his body to identify as well as an intact right arm, which bore the Dark Mark. There is no doubt that he was a Death Eater. Please tell the court what you know about what happened when the Potters died."
Sirius took a breath and pushed down the part of him that wanted to growl and howl that the rat had escaped him and Remus. "Dumbledore told the Longbottoms and the Potters to go into hiding as Voldemort was after their boys. Both families were hidden under fidelius charms. While I was to be the decoy for the secret keeper for the Potters, and as I'd been attacked several times I believed the ruse to be working, Peter was the actual secret keeper. I learned of the attack when I suddenly realized I knew where the Potters were living. I raced there, but was too late. I found James on the living room floor, in front of the stairs. I ran up the stairs and found Lily lying in front of Harry's crib and Hagrid standing there holding baby Harry.
"Hagrid insisted that Dumbledore ordered him to take Harry to Madam Pomfrey, the Hogwart's Medi-witch. I agreed, because Harry's head was all bloody and I could feel the dark magic in the room. Hogwarts was the safest place for Harry to get medical care because the chances that there were Death Eaters at St Mungos was too great. I told Hagrid that I would be up at Hogwarts in the next few days because I knew that Harry would have to be kept in the hospital wing for at least that long and I was one of the only people that knew Peter was an animagus. If I didn't track him down and arrest him, he would escape and then he'd be free to lead the Death Eaters to Harry. I knew that he could get into Hogwarts, you see. We had found several secret passages as lads and we knew that the wards didn't prevent animagi from entering the castle.
"I tracked Peter for the next 36 hours. By the time I cornered him, I was exhausted but my fury had kept me going. The next thing I knew, he was shouting that I'd betrayed the Potters. He threw a bombarda at the street, hitting the gas main. It exploded, and I caught a glancing blow to my head from the debris. Then I saw him cut his own finger off before changing into his rat form and running down a storm drain. I just, lost it at that point. There was no way I could go after him, not even in my own animagus form and I just broke down. The next thing I knew I was in Azkaban, several weeks later."
"What is your form?" Amelia asked.
"I'm a large Irish wolfhound. I've been mistaken for a Grimm several times, but that's usually when people can't see me clearly," Sirius admitted. "James Potter was a deer, one of the largest I'd ever seen." He laughed, choking on it. "Funniest thing I'd ever seen when he had a nightmare in our sixth year and got his antlers caught on the bed curtains. He wound up tangled and upside down, hanging just above the floor. We never told anyone because of the war. I've already paid the fine for that as there's no point in keeping it secret now."
There was no questioning that Sirius was innocent after that, and the formalities - compensation, Sirius getting the Black family seat, etc moved quickly. From there the Wizengamot moved on to things like filling now vacant positions on committees and going over the status of those who either were in the ministry holding cells or who had been executed by Lady Magic while in custody. It was long and boring, but it was necessary to get the government working again.