OUR LORD PRESIDENT
Albert was running late to the Triumvirate meeting.
Apparently, he had inspired some rather dedicated fifth years (Diana most of all) with his O.W.L. grades. That also meant that there were more cases of the Ravenclaw breakdown to deal with and that responsibility unfortunately fell to Albert.
Being elected as the “Lord President of Ravenclaw” wasn’t something that Albert had planned. In fact, he had wanted to avoid the situation entirely.
He already had enough to deal with as a member of the Triumvirate.
So, it had been a surprise when in his sixth year his name was submitted for the election. He had just finished a hectic fifth year that involved his O.W.L.s and dealing with whatever plot that Corvus and Fiona thought of.
His sixth year was supposed to be the relative calm before the storm that was seventh year N.E.W.T.s and taking on the responsibility of all the Ravens wasn’t part of the relative calm.
Albert had tried to convince others to run the election. There were fifteen others in his year and one of them had to also want the position. Right?
Wrong.
The election was a farce. In fact, calling it an election would be offensive to elections. It was in fact a grassroots effort to get Albert to take the position. Apparently, the entirety of Ravenclaw House was unified in its opinion that Albert should take the position.
Even the current Lord President was in agreement!
Albert tried to challenge the results of the clearly rigged “election”.
He was the only candidate on the ballot! Surely a house that would produce the future Lords, Lawyers, and Ministry workers of Magical Britain would see that this “election” was fraudulent to the core. Right?
Wrong.
Apparently, the democratic process didn’t mean shit in the face of overwhelming approval. It also didn’t help when the members of government also ignored the rules and sided with the mob.
Albert tried to get Professor Flitwick to intervene, but the man just looked on with a grin and offered Albert sage advice.
“It is impossible to defeat an insurgency.”
Albert didn’t know if he wanted to laugh or cry at those words.
But he should have listened to them.
Originally, Albert had declared that he would not accept the position as Lord President.
Lord President Li was technically still in office until he graduated, and he still had nearly a full year to go. That meant that Albert didn’t have to assume the position until his seventh year. Problem solved.
Albert had made the mistake of declaring this fact after the results of the “election” were announced. It was received as expected.
The common room, which was normally very calm and collected, descended into chaos. People were screaming and shouting about the “election” and what it would mean for the future of Ravenclaw House. Albert definitely saw Diana in the crowd yelling about a “Constitutional Crisis” and waving her arms around like she was at a quidditch match, the little brat.
It was as if everyone in Ravenclaw had collectively lost their minds.
The next day wasn’t any better.
Lord President Li announced a special election would be held. Albert was relieved to find out that he was no longer the only candidate. He could get everyone to vote for his opponent and be done with this mess. Then he learned who the other candidate actually was.
Xenophilius Lovegood was to be his opponent.
The results of that election were as expected.
Albert had won with the vast majority. In fact, the majority seemed to include everyone in Ravenclaw excluding two people.
Albert Churchill and Pandora Somerset.
Apparently even his opponent voted for him, and Albert was one of two people to vote for Lovegood. Granted the other was the man’s betrothed but come on. The election was clearly rigged.
Albert stated as such while also making sure to not offend Lovegood. The man didn’t seem at all hurt by losing the election and had just patted Albert on the shoulder before going to sit with Somerset.
The rest of Ravenclaw however was not amused with Albert’s dismissal of the “fraudulent free” election.
It was pointed out that there were two candidates and that all votes were counted towards their respective candidate. If everyone happened to vote for Albert, then so be it. The people have spoken and Professor Flitwick, the traitor, verified the results as legal.
Albert again refused to acknowledge the results of the election and announced so to the entirety of Ravenclaw. All he wanted was a normal year!
Unlike the last time he did so, the Ravenclaw common room became eerily quiet. Instead of screaming and shouting, he was met with mutterings and whisperings.
Lord President Li had come up to him and all but begged Albert to just take up the position.
He refused.
Albert didn’t realize the blunder he had made until the next day.
The Ravenclaw common room was filled with banners and posters all with Albert’s face on it and the message “OUR LORD PRESIDENT” in big bold letters all over it.
The Ravenclaw crest was inverted and put on flags that now hung all around the room. This new inverted crest was worn on the robes of every supporter of Albert’s claim to the presidency. Apparently, that encompassed everyone in Ravenclaw.
He also saw several Hufflepuffs wearing the Inverted Crest (and wasn’t that a unique name for it) in the hallways. Albert was almost positive that Fiona had started to hand them out to the Hufflepuff girls and of course they would all start wearing them.
The phrase “OUR LORD PRESIDENT” started to catch on with the student population of Hogwarts and resulted it being shouted out in the hallways whether or not Albert was present. The damn phrase was plastered on the notice board in the Great Hall.
Through it all, Albert refused to yield.
He would not be Lord President!
He was determined to get out of this predicament and turned to a method that was tried and tested (it worked on Corvus and his plots).
He would study his way out of it.
Any Ravenclaw student could call for an election, and if the motion was seconded, it had to proceed. A redo could also be called for if there was sufficient evidence of corruption or fraud. Albert tried this and convinced (strong armed) Diana into seconding his motion.
A third election was called and now Tonks was to be his opponent.
It ended as expected.
A third victory for Albert and a third refusal to acknowledge the results on the grounds of fraud.
Ravenclaw descended into more screaming and shouting.
The third week of this deadlock turned out to be a tipping point. They had held six different elections at this point and all six were landslide victories for Albert. He refused to acknowledge all six victories and demanded for a redo.
At this point Fiona had gotten all of Hufflepuff to wear the Inverted Crest. Corvus, the bastard, had found the entire situation hilarious and proudly wore his own Inverted Crest. He had even gotten some Slytherins to also wear one. Though Corvus would deny the accusations, Albert knew he was passing them around.
Even if Corvus was doing it through Narcissa (who was also wearing one).
After Albert refused for the sixth time, Lord President Li declared a constitutional crisis. Every single other sixth year Ravenclaw had refused to run in a seventh election and with Albert refusing to accept the position there was no alternative route. Only sixth year students were eligible to run for office and all of them had refused the position.
The seventh years convened for one night and came up with the idea of using “Executive Power” to force Albert to become the next Lord President.
It was probably a mistake to do this confrontation in the middle of the common room.
Albert had refused to acknowledge their authority and for ten seconds silence reigned.
It was broken by Pandora Somerset of all people.
“VIVE LA RÉVOLUTION!”
That was all that Ravenclaw needed to descend into madness. More flags of the Inverted Crest appeared, and berets were now being donned. The crowd that had formed around Albert and Li, surged towards Albert, and raised him into the air.
Struggling was futile as the entirety of the quidditch team was also involved in hoisting him in the air and taking him out of the common room.
They paraded down the halls of Hogwarts carrying Albert around and shouting “OUR LORD PRESIDENT”, “VIVE LA RÉVOLUTION!”, and “REVOLUTION OF OUR TIME”. Albert resigned himself to being used a as symbol and just enjoyed the ride as they made their way around Hogwarts.
Of course, they decided to do this on a Wednesday during classes as well. Every professor they encountered couldn’t be heard over the shouts of the entirety of Ravenclaw. Albert was sure that they lost hundreds of points that day.
Although, there were no detentions given for that parade. Headmaster Dumbledore had deemed it all just some harmless fun. Albert had never wanted to strangle the man more than in that moment.
From that point on Albert was referred to Lord President by all of Ravenclaw, regardless of his acknowledgement. He of course continued to ignore them.
It all broke down during lunch halfway through the tenth week. Lord President Li resigned his position and declared Albert as Lord President Churchill. When Albert refused, Li did something that Albert didn’t even know he could do.
He declared the Ravenclaw Republic, dead.
Many didn’t know what to do about that. Ravenclaw was a republic? You could just declare a republic as dead?
Surprisingly it was Jonathan Wood of Gryffindor who had the answer.
“The conditions for a Meeting of the Four Houses have been met. We convene immediately!”
Apparently, that meant something and that this was also approved by the professors. (Professor Flitwick would later tell Albert that he himself was Lord President during his time at Ravenclaw and that he had never seen the situation devolve like this).
This was big news for Hogwarts. A Meeting of the Four Houses hadn’t happened in almost two hundred years. Albert didn’t even know it existed until it was called for. He wasn’t the only one who was confused by this.
Even Headmaster Dumbledore was confused.
His fellow Triumvirs were not, however.
Corvus and Fiona (Albert suspected this was all an elaborate plot by them) immediately jumped into action and started to move the long tables to either side of the Great Hall. Seeing someone take command of the situation, all the other students followed along and soon Albert found himself in the middle of the Great Hall with a couple other students and the professors.
As Albert looked around the circle and he saw an alarming number of Inverted Crests. Albert had protested even being part of this meeting, and it wasn’t even a meeting if the entire school was in attendance, but was dragged along by Li.
It turned out that all four of the Hogwarts houses had their own “governments”. Albert refused to acknowledge them as such because they held no authority outside of the school grounds, but apparently everyone else thought they were important.
Slytherin was apparently a constitutional monarchy, with “King Corvus Black” as its head. Albert had thought the whole “King Slytherin” thing was a joke but apparently not.
Hufflepuff was a member of the Commonwealth and thus a parliamentary democracy, with Fiona as Prime Minister and Queen Elizabeth II as their head of state.
After the knowing smile that Fiona had sent his way Albert was positive that this was a plot against him.
Ravenclaw was in actuality the Third Ravenclaw Republic. They currently had no head of state, nor did they have a government after Li had declared the republic dead. (Albert privately wondered what happened to the previous two republics and also belatedly realized that he was the cause for the Fourth Ravenclaw Republic to be formed, if it did form).
Gryffindor was a… well nobody actually knew what Gryffindor was. Unlike the normal titles of the other houses, Gryffindor was led by the “Supreme Grand High Wizard” and only those who “bore the sword” could lead.
Jonathan Wood was apparently that man and stated that he didn’t know what “bore the sword” even meant.
“Right, with everyone present we can begin.” Wood took the role as leader of this meeting and was the only one standing in their circle of chairs.
Albert looked around at the audience they had and became slightly nervous. Had they brought bleachers in?
“The conditions for calling a Meeting of the Four Houses were met when Lord President Li declared a constitutional crisis and then the Third Ravenclaw Republic dead. Let the record state that Ravenclaw currently has no Lord President, and that Professor Flitwick will act as Interim Lord President.”
Wood and Professor Flitwick both nodded to each other.
“The government of one of the four Hogwarts houses has ceased and thus we have been called to reestablish order in Ravenclaw.”
“I would like it stated in the record that this is the third time that Ravenclaw has had a constitutional crisis and collapsed.” Corvus interjected.
Apparently, Madam Pince was the minute taker and she stuck Corvus with a glare before writing his comment down.
“Maybe they should join the Commonwealth? Hufflepuff hasn’t ever had any trouble.” Fiona asked and several other Hufflepuffs voiced their agreements.
“They would still have to elect a Prime Minister, and elections aren’t working for them.”
“Agreed, joining the Commonwealth would do nothing but putting on a different name for the same problem. So, we have to find a solution.” Wood said.
Most of the Great Hall nodded in agreement.
“I propose reestablishing the monarchy in Ravenclaw.”
Corvus’ comment was met to verbal affirmatives from the Slytherins.
The Ravenclaws however did not agree with him and verbally voiced that.
Albert quickly realized how chaotic this was going to turn into.
“We must first try to find a solution to the current system before we change it completely.” Wood nearly shouted over the Slytherins and Ravenclaws.
“I second that motion.” Professor Flitwick said and everybody quieted down.
“Good. Now we all have probably heard about the problems that have been going on in Ravenclaw. I’m pretty sure the Ravenclaw hourglass is still in the negative… yes, it is. Merlin, negative three hundred and eight four. Hope that parade was worth it guys. Anyway, it appears that everyone in Ravenclaw wants Churchill to be the next Lord President. But the man doesn’t want the position. Opinions everyone?”
Wood’s statement was met with a flurry of talk from everyone at the same time and no one could understand anything. Albert was pretty sure “OUR LORD PRESIDENT” was mentioned more than once.
There were flags being waved and Albert saw his face on several posters. Merlin, it was like they thought this was a quidditch game.
“OKAY! We all have opinions but everyone yelling them out together is not working. One at a time people.”
Wood’s voice was already starting to become hoarse.
“Churchill’s our Lord President or we riot.”
“Cissy, that’s a little too early for that.” Albert noticed that Corvus was failing at smothering his grin as he talked.
“But you sai-”
“I know but not right now.”
“Fifteen points from Slytherin for threat of violence.” Professor McGonagall said and that was met by cries of shock and outrage from the Slytherins.
“We’re getting off topic people! Let’s keep the threats of violence to a minimum!” One of the Gryffindors handed Wood a cup of water after he said that.
“I move to call for a special election to take place!” Fiona shouted.
“I second that!” Someone shouted from the crowd.
“But we’ve already established that the elections don’t work.” Another person in the crowd yelled back.
“VIVE LA RÉVOLUTION!”
It then devolved from there and almost no progress was made. Albert didn’t even get to voice his opinion as everyone just continued to argue. Even the professors were getting in on the action.
Albert didn’t know who started it but soon everyone had their wands drawn and started throwing spells at each other and whatever this was turned into a free for all.
Wood was saying something but couldn’t be heard over the sounds of students yelling and spells flying.
Why wasn’t Dumbledore doing anything to stop this?
“This is why I don’t want the position!” Albert had to scream to be heard.
“If you had just accepted it then none of this would have happened!” Li could barely be heard.
“I don’t even know why everyone wants me in the position?!” Albert had to dodge a stream of water from someone’s wand.
“Black said it was for politics!”
“Which Black?!”
Li grabbed Albert and pulled him to the side as an incarcerous spell flew through the spot he was just standing in.
“Corvus Black! He also said that it was for the timeline and that you would know what that meant!”
Albert looked through the crowd of brawling students to try and find the bastard.
Fiona had rallied the Hufflepuffs around her and together were in the process of fortifying their section of the bleachers. Was that Professor Sprout with her?!
The Gryffindors were in disarray as Wood had been knocked unconscious by something. Though the Gryffindor quidditch team was sticking together, everyone else had been left to fend for themselves. Professor McGonagall was trying and failing to gather the younger lions, all of whom were having too much fun reveling in the chaos that was the meeting.
Diana, who Albert was now positive was also in on the plot, was leading the Ravenclaw fourth years in what looked like a flanking maneuver against the Slytherin left. That was of course the flank that Andromeda was tasked with defending, and she wasn’t doing a great job of that. Albert also noted that it might have to do with Ted Tonks leading the charge with Diana.
Where the hell was Corvus?!
Albert ducked his head just in time as a member of the Ravenclaw quidditch team zoomed passed on her broom. Where had the brooms come from?
“SLYTHERINS TO ME!”
Albert swung to look towards the voice and came upon the sight of Corvus Black in green and silver robes. Was that dragonhide armor?
“I AM KING OF THESE SEVEN KINGDOMS! TODAY IS THE DAY WE RECLAIM THE IRON THRONE!”
Albert didn’t even know what Corvus was yelling about, but apparently the Slytherins did. He distinctly saw Narcissa raise a flag with the Slytherin crest on it and rallied more Slytherins. Both Blacks had crazed smiles on their faces and Albert had never feared the Black Madness more than in that moment.
“BADGERS WE MUST DEFEND THE KINGDOMS!”
Of course, Fiona would have to say something in response to Corvus. And to drag all the Hufflepuffs with her? Albert thought that was the end of it, but that train of thought was interrupted by Professor Flitwick.
The man had rallied the dueling club and jumped into the now three-way battle. The professor, despite his small stature, was handily defeating all who came his way.
Albert spotted Headmaster Dumbledore in the crowd and made a towards the man.
“Professor! You have to stop this!”
“I’m sorry my boy but there’s nothing I can do.”
“Albus! You can’t be serious” Professor McGonagall said, or that’s what Albert thought she said. Her accent had become rather thick in the excitement.
“If only we had a Lord President to lead Ravenclaw to victory.”
The man’s eyes were sparkling in that annoying way. Damn him.
“I will have my revenge sir.”
“I don’t doubt it Mr. Churchill.”
Albert left before Dumbledore could say anything else and headed back to the Ravens.
Most of them, excluding the dueling club and the Diana’s fourth years, were huddled together in a corner of the Great Hall with shields raised. Albert definitely saw several of them taking notes. Merlin, they were predictable sometimes.
“Ravens! We must restore order to these hallowed halls. Follow me! Your Lord President and we shall mark this day in the history books as the day that Ravenclaw reigned supreme!”
Albert couldn’t make out what they shouted but it was most certainly in agreement with him, and Albert had the perfect plan of attack.
Both Slytherin and Hufflepuff were engaged in a large-scale battle with Professor Flitwick’s dueling club being the wild card.
Gryffindor was still leaderless as Wood was unconscious, though someone had dragged his body to a corner where Madam Pomfrey had set up a triage center.
Albert needed to get everyone’s attention he didn’t exactly know how to do that.
“Lord President your broom!”
Apparently, that was the solution and in moments he was in the air. The height advantage did give some unique views of the organized chaos. Albert looked towards the ceiling and noticed that the usual thousands of candles had been replaced by storm clouds, though there were still some candles intermixed.
He needed to get everyone’s attention and what better way then to get everyone soaking wet.
“BOMBARDA MAXIMA!”
Albert should have probably been on the ground when he fired off the spell and not right under the storm clouds. The loud explosion and rapid change in temperature caused rain to start falling heavily. It also caused lightning to go off, Albert wasn’t aware that was even possible, and that truly got everyone’s attention.
The three-way battle and whatever Diana’s flanking maneuver had turned into had halted and everyone looked towards Albert.
“People! I have heard your pleas. It’s clear that without the steady leadership of Ravenclaw there can be no order in Hogwarts!”
“That’s complete bul-”
“So! It is with great humility that I accept the position as Lord President of Ravenclaw! Less the powers that be see our great school crumble from within!”
“But what abo-”
“Silence! I have spoken! Order has been restored!”
And so it was that during one ordinary lunch time turned Meeting of the Four Houses turned brawl that order was restored to Hogwarts.
Lord President Churchill of the Fourth Ravenclaw Republic was victorious that day and brought order to Hogwarts in the face of the anarchy.
So it was that the plot to get Albert to join the club of governments led him to be late for this specific Triumvirate meeting in his seventh year.
By Merlin was he running late.