Chapter Two: A Problem, A History, and An Idea
By unspoken agreement, the team ended up crashing at either the Wordsworths or the Lanes after they got back from England. Sam was still suffering the aftermath of the Old Religion spell that had locked him into a world that never existed while Spike dealt with the oh-so-fun – not – effects of the Cruciatus. The pair, along with a certain set of teenagers, ended up staying with Wordy while Ed found spots for Jules, Lou, and Sarge at his place…and updated Sophie on the latest set of misadventures.
Sam and Spike got the guestroom, Sam getting the bed and Spike the air mattress Shelley dug out of hiding. She'd bought it a day or so after Wordy's own brush with the torture spell, determined that if it happened again, Wordy wouldn't aggravate the issue by sleeping on the floor. The teens would bunk in the living room, but neither looked unhappy with the arrangement. Actually, they both had gleams in their eyes that gave Wordy a shiver of nervous anticipation for what they could be up to this time.
Once both former captives had been tucked in bed, along with the three little girls, Wordy came out to the living room and dispensed with the song and dance with one raised and rather pointed eyebrow. Lance cocked his head a moment, then pushed himself up and arrowed to his backpack, pulling a notebook out. " 'Lanna told me," he announced, "About everything." The teen gave Wordy an apologetic look, but had the sense not to verbally apologize. "And, um, I know you got a bunch of stuff set up, but there's one, really big thing that got overlooked."
"And it has to be dealt with now?" Wordy queried a bit testily.
"Well…" Lance fidgeted, playing with the notebook. "Ordinarily, I'd say 'no, we can put this off', but Harry mentioned something to me before we came back. The next Wizengamot meeting is in a week and a half and there's some new legislation the 'Dark' contingent is trying to push through. It's more…economic…then some of the things they pushed between the First and Second Wars, but the legislation is targeting any companies that want to try what we're doing."
Wordy sighed, shifting to lean against the wall as he concluded, "They're targeting companies that want to mix magic and technology." At the twin nods, he asked, "And I have a say in this why?"
Lance bit his lip, then just blurted it out, "Your family has a seat on the Wizengamot…an Azkaban sentence doesn't negate that seat, only line extinction does. You are the family Head, but since you're a Squib, you can't take the seat yourself." The boy grimaced, but Wordy just waved him on. "So right now, the seat is still being proxied by the Head of House Malfoy, Lucius Malfoy…ex-Death Eater."
Wordy's eyes widened at that, but he was also puzzled. "An ex-Death Eater can still be on the Wizengamot?"
Solemn nods. "He defected," Lance said quietly, "Turned on Voldemort to protect his family, but that doesn't mean he changed his mind about the pureblood agenda. He still believes that purebloods are better than anyone else and as long as he holds the proxy, he has two votes he can use to push his agenda."
A thoughtful frown. "Why wasn't that withdrawn when I took over?"
The two siblings exchanged startled looks, then Lance shrugged. "Maybe because it was so unusual, maybe you have to change proxies formally either way; I honestly don't know."
Fair enough. "So," Wordy mused, summing things up, "My family seat needs a proxy, I can't take the seat myself, and we need to pick one fast 'cause of the legislation coming up."
"Pretty much," Lance agreed.
"Pretty much," Alanna echoed.
"Okay," Wordy decided, pushing himself upright again, "I suppose you two already have an idea or two? By the way, who's your family proxy?"
Alanna answered the second question. "Lord Potter; that's who our Dad designated as proxy in his will. Even after he lost the whole guardianship mess, Uncle Greg decided to let him keep the proxy 'cause that's how Dad wanted it."
Wordy grimaced, not particularly wanting the rather high-handed Auror as his family's representative. The kids read his look, but waited for him to speak. "All right…any other options?"
The two teenagers gave their adopted uncle a look of sheer mischief. Lance tilted his head towards his sister, letting her take the lead. "Yes, but, well, it might take some explaining first."
Taking the hint, Wordy dropped down on the couch, making himself comfortable. Shelley, who'd been listening from behind her husband, slipped in and settled herself next to him. Once both adults were settled, Alanna took center stage, the look in her eyes both mischievous and sad. "You already know about the First Wizarding War," she began, "and how it ended on Halloween of 1981…"
"Why Halloween?" Shelley asked.
Her husband answered for the kids, "From what Madame Locksley told us, that was the night the bad guys' leader, Voldemort, attacked the Potters and ended up half-dead for the next decade or so." He didn't elaborate and the two teens acknowledged the silent warning in his eyes.
When Shelley nodded understanding, Alanna continued, "After the Potters died and Voldemort was defeated, the entire Wizarding World celebrated…for days on end. That's how bad the war had gotten by that point.
"But some of Voldemort's followers were determined to find out what had happened to their master. The three Lestranges and Barty Crouch Jr. decided that the Longbottoms would be their best chance to get information. At the time, the Longbottoms were prominent Aurors and closely linked to a group called the Order of the Phoenix. The Order was basically a vigilante group formed to fight against the Death Eaters."
Alanna grimaced, but relayed the next part as faithfully as she could. "A few days after Halloween, the Longbottoms were attacked in their home by the four Death Eaters. Their son, Neville, wasn't touched, but they were tortured into insanity; that's what the Lestranges and Crouch Jr. were sentenced to Azkaban for." Shelley and Wordy paled, but Alanna wasn't done. "To this day, the Longbottoms are still in St. Mungo's Hospital…they've never recovered."
Wordy had gone as pale as a ghost, horrified by what his half-brothers and half-sister-in-law had done; Shelley wrapped herself around her trembling husband. "And how does all of that relate to now?" Wordy got out through stiff lips.
Alanna's smile was wide and rather vicious. "Well, I think – and Lance agrees – the best way to show the Wizengamot that you're nothing like them is to choose Neville Longbottom, Head of the Ancient and Noble House of Longbottom, as the proxy for the House of Wordsworth, formerly the House of Lestrange."
If Wordy's answering grin was just as vicious, well…the idea did appeal to the prankster in him. And he figured it was about time a few wizards in Britain got knocked off their high horses. This might even be fun.
Author's note: I'm borrowing quite a bit from Sherza and I hope, if he ever reads my stories, that he doesn't mind. To a great extent, the canon books are the foundation of the Harry Potter side of the Magical Flashpoint 'verse.
That said, I'm a very longtime fandom reader of Harry Potter fanfics of all shapes and sizes; I tend to add fandom stuff without even thinking about it at this point. House Longbottom's status as Ancient and Noble comes from Sherza's "Families and Familiars". The former House of Lestrange's status is, by and large, limited to their Wizengamot seat. No family magic or anything like that. Part of that is the books (the Lestranges are one of the 'Sacred Twenty-Eight' pureblood families) and the other part is from a Harry Potter story called "A Marauder's Plan" by CatsAreCool here on this site. Specifically, at one point, Lucius Malfoy refers to the Lestrange seat returning to the floor because of 'line extinction'.
