There's been a couple of amendments to the last chapter to correct something I forgot previously, sorry, this being that Harry' nursery wasn't blown apart when Voldemort attacked him, that was merely an embellishment of Dumbledore's to add to the legend. That never made sense to me, because how would a toddler come out of an explosion that blew out the walls and ceiling relatively unharmed, seems like a plot hole to me.
Okay, there's going to be a departure from my usual playlist in this story, in that Molly is the only Weasley who is fed to the dragons. But she isn't really a Weasley, she's a Prewett, the apple of Aunt Muriel's eye who didn't fall far from the tree. When I stopped to think about it, I realised that the Harlot of Hogwarts has lost nine and a half years of the time she used to poison the minds of her children in stories set in the original timeframe, so even Ronald the walking stomach should still be redeemable at this point if she's out of the picture.
I couldn't resist a Jan and Dean (60's American music) pun for the Grangers, so sue me. ;^)
Usual disclaimers, no rights to anything from JKR's stories.
It was after 6:00 PM when Jean Granger called to ask if she and her husband could come down to pick up Hermione and meet everyone, so Tuney invited them to dinner, shooting down their protests about imposing as she said that they always made more than they thought they'd need because they never knew how many people would be there around dinner time.
They were watching the mirrors linked to the monitoring runes when the Grangers arrived because it would be interesting to see how much magic they had. The notice-me-not and muggle aversion charms around the gates weren't as strong as the ones masking the Leaky Cauldron, but if they were true muggles they'd have trouble seeing or coming up to the gates. When Ted brought Jean and the Constable down earlier they'd both been carrying his business cards, which were charmed to negate the effects of the gates' aversions. The Constable had mentioned something about the place having a creepy old castle feel about it so he was obviously a 'proper' Muggle, but Jean hadn't been displaying any reaction like that, so it would be interesting to see what happened this time.
Neither Dan or Jean seemed to have any trouble coming up to the gates, and the discussion they were having about hoping that this worked out for Hermione so she could have some friends bode well for them. Tuney and Arabella went out to let them in, taking Hermione with them, and Dan and Jean were happy to see their little girl looking happier than she'd been in quite a while, other than when she was having a nap with Harry perhaps. Tuney handed Hermione over to Jean before leading them back to the lodge and Dan was avidly taking in the Sixteenth Century architecture of the building. The carriage house doors were open so the family's strange car collection was on display (a 1965 Lincoln Continental Executive Limousine, 1974 XJ Series II, 1972 Aston Martin DBS V8 and a 1976 Mini Clubman Estate), and Tuney laughed at Dan's reaction to the cars.
"The Lincoln, Jag and Aston Martin were Harry's father's cars and the Mini is Aunt Bella's. As you can see, Aunt Bella and I didn't exactly travel in the same circles as Harry's family, even though my ex husband liked to put on airs far more than they did. He would have been horrified about the idea of having a pile of kids in his car but they wouldn't have turned a hair at the way we use the Lincoln if we want to take the kids somewhere as a group. While Harry's father loved to take the DBS he was given as a graduation present out for a spin, the Lincoln was mainly there for the expected trappings of their station so it usually only came out when they were required to really put on a show for big events as they used the Jag whenever they could get away with it for those things. They generally drove Lily's Cavalier, and they were in that when they got cleaned up by that drunk driver… Harry was the only one who survived, possibly because he was in the back seat… Anyway, we're pretty much the same, because Aunt Bella's Mini gets more use than anything else."
They closed up the carriage house and headed inside.
Dinner was a fun affair, with the Grangers, Tuney, Arabella, Harry, Danny, Susan, Dora, Luna and her parents, Neville and his Grandmother and Blaise and his mother. Dan was feeling more than a little outnumbered but Xeno was taking it in his stride so he just went with the flow.
Arabella gave him and Xeno a tour of the Lodge after dinner while Jean stayed to chat with the other mothers. Dan thought that there were quite a lot of areas of the building that were closed off, but her explanation that they'd only gotten a few key areas renovated enough to move into so far and it was going to take them ages to finish rebuilding and renovating a building this size that dated back to the Sixteenth Century made sense.
By the time the Grangers left to go home, they'd all agreed that it would be wonderful to have Hermione there with the other kids instead of in some day care centre where she might get bullied again, so either Jean or Dan would bring her down in the mornings, come and get her for lunch if they could manage it and pick her up as soon as they finished work.
All in all, they were quite happy with that solution, though Dan and Jean probably would have been concerned if they heard the discussion about them after they left.
Xeno started it off. "They're both high level Squibs, not witch or wizard level but pretty close to it and Jean obviously has elf blood in her. What did Hermione's inheritance test determine about the families they're from?"
Pandora looked at the parchment in her hand. "Well Dan is from the dormant senior line of the Dagworth Granger family but Jean is more interesting, because she's actually from the senior line of the Hufflepuff family that has been thought to be extinct for at least four or five hundred years. So Hermione will be in line to claim Head of House for both the Senior Noble and Most Ancient Druid House of Hufflepuff and the Junior Noble and Ancient Wizard House of Dagworth Granger unless someone else comes in with a strong enough claim to have the family magic accept them before she's old enough to be accepted. But more to the point, there aren't any close links between her bloodlines and Harry's so we don't need to separate them before they can become a couple and start a family."
Tuney laughed at that, until she realised that she was serious. "You don't really believe that we need to be making decisions about whether or not it's safe for them to have kids when they're twenty two and thirty one months old, do you?"
"Actually yes, I do Tuney. You don't know enough about magic to understand how magical bonds work yet. You see Hermione's magic drew her to Harry before she'd ever met him and Harry's magic responded to her and makes him want to protect her whenever she's upset. Gringott, Xeno and I can see magical links and theirs is already stronger than many married couples', so at this rate I wouldn't be at all surprised if we reached the point where it's impossible to separate them without doing both of them harm within a year or two….."
She looked to make sure that Dora was out of earshot. "In the powerful old families, excessive inbreeding tends to result in insanity, the Blacks are the best known examples of that in Britain, Dora's Aunt Bellatrix and Great Aunt Walburga are both utterly insane and powerful witches. Harry's Grandmother is also a Black so if Hermione came from a Black bloodline too the probability of their children being both crazy and insanely powerful would far too much to risk. Once they become a couple, their magic will ensure that they have children when they reach maturity to propagate their line. That is why we needed confirmation of Hermione's bloodlines because if they were too closely related we would have had to get Harry away from her before it's too late to separate them. I do want them to be happy and can see that that's most likely to happen if they're together, but the price is too high if that means destroying our world."
Tuney looked at the others, trying to work out whether this was a joke, but they were all deadly serious and agreeing with Pandora… She was beginning to wonder whether she'd ever understand the magical world.
Amelia looked at Arthur Weasley, trying to see to the boy who ended up breaking her heart in their final year at Hogwarts, but she just couldn't see that Arthur in the man sitting in front of her. That made her think about all the bindings, compulsions and other manipulations that so many of their group had discovered that they'd been subjected to by Albus Dumbledore and she wondered whether Arthur was another one of Dumbledore's victims…. it was the only thing that made sense really….
"Arthur..."
"Yes Director Bones?"
"No, this is more of an Amelia discussion Arthur. I'm not talking to you as the Director of the DMLE, I'm talking as someone who once cared a great deal for you…."
The confusion on his face convinced her that she was right, and the growl coming from Moody behind her said that he was thinking the same thing, so she forged on.
"Arthur, I would like your permission to have our healer check you for compulsions and potions, because quite frankly I don't think that you're really in control of yourself. I suspect that it was very difficult for you to come forward with this news today, and it felt like something was holding you back…."
He just nodded, wondering how she knew that.
"So, do I have your permission to have our healer examine you? Please Arthur, I really do believe that this is in your best interest."
He could see that she was telling the truth, and that she was actually worried about him. He didn't understand that but he had a feeling deep inside that she was right, it would be in his best interest to go along with this, so he nodded.
"If you feel that this is necessary Direct… Amelia, then yes, I will see the Department's healer."
An hour later the normally placid, ineffectual Arthur Weasley was furious. He had a headache that the potions couldn't fix from having so many bindings, compulsions and memory manipulations removed and he felt sick from the flushing potions he'd taken, knowing that over half of the potions' effects were so deeply ingrained that it would be months before he was close to being free of them and he had a driving need to throttle the life out of Mary Margaret Weasley and Albus Dumbledore.
He realised that they couldn't afford any more delays because something about Sirius Black's trial was bound to be reported on the Wizarding Wireless today and if they were right about who Percy's rat really was, he'd do a runner as soon as he heard. That was why the only thing he said to Amelia about what happened at Hogwarts was that the last thing he really remembered about them was that Uncle Arthur, as Head of the Noble and Ancient House of Weasley had told him that he had to break up with her because it would cause a scandal if the Heir to the Noble and Ancient House of Weasley was caught carrying on with the Bones girl when he'd been betrothed to Mary Margaret Prewett since his Second Year at Hogwarts, but other memories that were released showed that he'd been obliviated and fed potions numerous times since then to stop him arcing up when he found out that Molly was still living up to her nickname from Hogwarts.
Amelia growled at that, but gave him a quick hug and told him they would sort this out after the caught the rat and brought the Harlot of Hogwarts in for questioning. Arthur started to agree then stopped. "Wait! Can we get confirmation of my children's true names and status? And find out who's currently controlling the House of Prewett?"
"Yes, but why?"
"One of the things that came back to me is that Charlie, the twins and Ginny are officially Prewetts, rather than Weasleys, and I believe that Charlie inherited the titles of the Head of the House of Prewett when Molly's brother Gideon was killed…"
"And?"
"As was brought up in Sirius Black's trial, Pure Bloods can't be forced to testify under Veritaserum, but if they're cast out of every Pure Blood family they're part of, they're no longer accepted as being Pure Bloods… So if I'm right about Charlie and he claims his titles as Head of the House of Prewett as I did the House of Weasley and we cast her out of the Houses of Prewett and Weasley, there's no legal way of stopping you questioning her under Veritaserum. And if I'm right about who's making the decisions for the House of Prewett, that will show Charlie his mother's true colours."
Amelia grinned, this was her Arthur! She looked around and then pulled him into her office and cast privacy wards before pulling out her communications mirror and calling Gringott. Ten minutes later they left her office with smiles on their faces and a scroll that confirmed that nine year old Charlus Prewett-Weasley would become Baron Prewett, Head of the Junior Noble and Ancient Wizard House of Prewett if the Prewett Family Magic accepted him, along with others that said that Arthur had been accepted as Baron Arthurus Septimus Weasley, Head of the Junior Noble and Ancient Wizard House of Weasley and that Mary Margaret Weasley was currently Regent for the the Junior Noble and Ancient Wizard House of Prewett.
They checked again to confirm that there had been no reports on the Wizarding Wireless about Sirius's trial before Arthur stepped through the floo to his house with Amelia, apologising for forgetting to bring the parchments for the case tried this morning to the office, and Amelia came back with "As long as I get them into the file before anyone goes looking for them we should be fine Arthur, so could you just go get them please?" then stayed chatting with Molly while Arthur raced out to his shed (Alastor Moody was already on-site and had mirror called Amelia to say that the son with the rat was outside with the other kids).
Molly was obviously nervous and jumped when they heard a "Stupefy!" from outside, but she turned around to angrily demand to know what was going on to see Amelia's wand pointed at her and hear a second. "Stupefy!..." She heard the "Bitch!" that went with it as she lost consciousness.
Arthur came back in with the rat in a cage and the kids, nodding to Amelia to say that the detection spell had confirmed that the rat was indeed an animagus. When the kids were settled around the table with some juice. Amelia nodded to Charlie and Arthur nodded, calling him over.
"Charlie, I've discovered some very upsetting things this morning, things that your mother was part of and kept from me. Unfortunately the Death Eaters that killed your Uncle Gideon and Fabian and others like them made it illegal for Pure Bloods like them to be made to answer questions that they can be punished for. For the good of the family, I believe that your mother needs to be made to answer the questions we ask her and be punished for what she's done, but I need your help for that…." He Charlie him the scrolls they got from Gringott.
Charlie was confused. "What is this Dad? My name is Charles Gideon Weasley, not Charlus Prewett Weasley."
"Do you know what the Obliviate spell does?"
Charlie nodded. "This is part of what your mother's done Charlie, she's lied to all of us about the true state of our family and obliviated me of your true names. The reason your true name is Charlus Prewett Weasley is that the betrothal contracts Uncle Arthur signed with the Prewett family when we were in our Second Year at Hogwarts were apparently set up to continue both family lines, so as far as inheritance goes Bill, Percy and Ron are Weasleys and you, the twins and Ginny are Prewetts, all of you who are of the Prewett line have Prewett Weasley as your surname but no middle name, …." He smiled at his other sons. "Bill, Fred and George didn't escape this either, Bill's real name is actually Bilius Arthurus Weasley, Fred's Fredericus Prewett Weasley, George is Georgius Prewett Weasley and Ginny is Ginevra Prewett Weasley so Percy and Ron are the only ones who are known by their true names."
"Anyway, the reason I'm bringing this up is that, under the old laws, you can claim your titles now and be able to make decisions as the Head of the House of Prewett…. Decisions your mother is currently making without your knowledge as Regent for the House of Prewett. Going by what we know about what your mother has done, I have to ask you to do that if you feel you can handle it, because the only way to make sure that she's punished for what she's done to us is to cast her out of both the Prewett and Weasley families so that she is no longer accepted as a Pure Blood and they can force her to tell the truth about what she's done. Is that something you can do Charlie?"
Charlie looked in his father's eyes and saw a fire that he couldn't remember seeing before, and sensed that he was seeing his real father for the first time. He looked over at where his mother was laying unconscious and bound on the floor and remembered that his father had looked more satisfied than worried when he saw her like that as they came into the house, which wasn't like the dormouse he'd known as his father up until now. That brought back what his father had said about his mother lying to them and doing things to them and looked at Bill. He'd obviously been taking in the same things and gave him a nod of encouragement, so he made a decision and nodded as well.
"Yes, I can do that Dad."
Arthur hugged him. "I'm proud of you son. Now all you need to do is hold up your hand and say 'I, Charlus Prewett Weasley, hereby claim my titles and rights as Head of the Noble and Ancient Wizard House of Prewett', and if the Prewett Family Magic accepts you you'll feel it and the Prewett Ring will appear on your finger."
"What if it doesn't accept me?"
"If it doesn't you'll just hear that you're not ready yet."
Charlie nodded and threw his shoulders back. Raising his hand he said. "I, Charlus Prewett Weasley, hereby claim my titles and rights as Head of the Noble and Ancient Wizard House of Prewett!"
There was a slight pause and then a flash and the four Prewetts especially felt the family magic reacting as the Prewett House ring appeared on Charlie's finger.
Arthur bowed to Charlie. "May I be the first to congratulate you on your acceptance as the Head of the House of Prewett, Baron Prewett?"
Charlie returned the bow. "Thank you Baron Weasley."
Arthur frowned as he tried to remember what they needed to do. "Oh yes! You won't be able to disown your mother if she's still Regent for the House of Prewett… Do you trust me to do the right thing by your house Charlie?"
Charlie nodded. "Yes Dad."
"Thank you Son, what you need to do now is cancel all offices currently held in the House of Prewett and appoint me as Regent for the House of Prewett, if you're sure that's what you want to do?"
Charlie nodded seriously. "Yes!"
"Okay, you need to hold your House Ring up again and say 'I, Baron Charlus Prewett Weasley, Head of the Junior Noble and Ancient Wizard House of Prewett, hereby cancel all offices currently held in the House of Prewett and appoint my father, Baron Arthurus Septimus Weasley, Head of the Junior Noble and Ancient Wizard House of Weasley to act as Regent for the Junior Noble and Ancient Wizard House or Prewett, with all rights and authorities associated with the position of Regent for the House of Prewett."
Charlie ran through that a couple of times until he was sure he had it right then raised his hand with the house ring and pronounced. "I, Baron Charlus Prewett Weasley, Head of the Junior Noble and Ancient Wizard House of Prewett, hereby cancel all offices currently held in the House of Prewett and appoint my father, Baron Arthurus Septimus Weasley, Head of the Junior Noble and Ancient Wizard House of Weasley to act as Regent for the Junior Noble and Ancient Wizard House of Prewett, with all rights and authorities associated with the position of Regent for the House of Prewett."
Charlie's house ring flashed again and the Prewett Regent's ring appeared on Arthur's finger.
Charlie looked at his father. "What do we do now Dad? Are we casting Mum out of the families now or are we doing it later?"
Arthur looked at Amelia. "Director Bones? How do you advise we handle this?"
She didn't correct his form of address, because he was right, this was a Director Bones matter.
"I had thought to wait and see if she was going to force us to do this, but looking at it from your family's perspective it would actually be less traumatic and public if it was done here…. That would also help prevent any record of Mary Margaret Weasley being arrested appearing in the system, which in turn would probably help us keep ahead of anyone trying to stop us charging her."
Arthur nodded. "What order should this be done in?"
Amelia thought about that for a moment. "The House of Prewett first, then Weasley. If you cast her out of the Weasley family first, there's a faint possibility that the Prewett Family Magic might allow her to revert to her mother's maiden name once she's cast out of the Prewett family, but if she's already been cast out of the Prewett family that can't happen."
Arthur nodded again and looked at Charlie, who just asked. "What do I need to say Dad?"
"Hold up your Head of House ring and say 'I, Baron Charlus Prewett Weasley, Head of the Junior Noble and Ancient Wizard House of Prewett, hereby cast Mary Margaret Weasley, daughter of the House of Prewett, out of the Noble and Ancient Wizard House of Prewett for bringing shame on the Noble and Ancient House of Prewett though her actions."
Charlie nodded and stood tall, raising his hand as he recited what his father had told him. There was a flash from the ring and they all felt the family magic reacting to the decree.
Arthur squeezed Charlie's shoulder then stood tall and held up his Head of House ring as he proclaimed. "I, Baron Arthurus Septimus Weasley, Head of the Junior Noble and Ancient Wizard House of Weasley, hereby order the disillusionment of the marriage between Baron Arthurus Septimus Weasley and Mary Margaret Weasley, recalling the bride price paid by the House of Weasley, and cast Mary Margaret Weasley out of the Noble and Ancient Wizard House of Weasley for bringing shame on the Noble and Ancient House of Weasley though her actions."
His ring flashed as well and they felt the magic washing over them as Arthur's decrees were accepted. While still unconscious, Molly No-Name was moving uncomfortably as her body was reacting to losing the family magic of the Houses of both Prewett and Weasley.
Now that the family business was done, Amelia called Moody and his squad in. After they'd revived Molly and the rat and forced Pettigrew back into his human form (as it was more painful that way), they put magic suppressing shackles on both of them and pulled the house apart looking for evidence on Molly and Pettigrew's activities.
It took a while for the fact that she was being referred to as Molly No-Name to register with the ex-Mrs Weasley (if must have killed her to have to pass up being addressed as Baroness Weasley just so Arthur was kept in the dark about his title), but they had to silence her when it did because that type of language certainly wasn't suitable for children's ears. It didn't take Arthur long to agree that the children shouldn't be exposed to this and that he trusted Amelia to send them somewhere safe. Pandora came over with Sally, the Potter elf that Efa loaned to them for Luna, and packed enough clothes to tide them over for a while before popping them off to the Lodge.
The twins, Ron and Ginny settled in with the other little kids straight away but Bill, Charlie and Percy were at loose ends until Tuney got them talking about the home schooling they'd been getting. That let her set them up with reading material to tide them over until she could get formal home schooling material which would give them an official education record in the normal world.
They quickly came to the conclusion when they were questioning Mary Margaret No-Name that while Albus Dumbledore was nowhere near as brilliant as he considered himself to be, he did have a genius for covering his arse, because while they were getting enough incriminating evidence on Molly to bury her in Azkaban for decades, they weren't getting enough hard evidence on anything to get a conviction on Dumbledore, even Arthur's memories didn't give them anything concrete to charge him with, the man was Teflon, they just couldn't get anything to stick on him.
While Mary Margaret hadn't been tried yet, Arthur had ordered the disillusionment of their marriage and recalled the bride price that the House of Prewett demanded of the previous head of the House of Weasley, his namesake Uncle Arthurus (his father must have been currying favour with the next Head of the House of Weasley when he named his firstborn).
The fortune of the Weasley family had been gambled away by Arthur's Grandfather, who had then engineered a marriage between his youngest son Septimus and Cedrella Black, a daughter of the House of Black, in hope of getting access to some of the Black fortune through his new daughter-in-law. He had underestimated the pride and stubbornness of the then Head of the House of Black, Sirius the Second, though, because his reaction to the marriage had been to cast Cedrella out of the House of Black without a Knut to her name.
The Heads of the House of Weasley didn't seem to be able to learn from experience though (or perhaps he thought he was being clever), because Arthur's Uncle had entered him into a betrothal contract with Mary Margaret (Molly) Prewett when they were in their Second Year at Hogwarts, and had signed over Weasley Manor to the Prewett family as the bride price for Molly. Arthur had never had the opportunity to talk to his uncle and find out his reasoning for this, he presumed that his uncle's plan had been for them to inherit the Prewett money and recover Weasley Manor when Molly's Aunt Muriel died, thereby restoring the fortunes of the House of Weasley, but Aunt Muriel was too mean to die so the House of Weasley was still broke and Muriel Prewett still had Weasley Manor (the Prewetts were a fairly new Noble House, so while they had money, they weren't old and established enough to have one of the old Manor Houses and Muriel had coveted that symbol of an established house, the last two Heads of the House of Weasley had done their best to cover up the dire financial straits their House was in, so perhaps she'd been under the impression that the House of Weasley still had money).
However Arthur had followed the required formula to reclaim the bride price from the House of Prewett and Amelia had gotten him access to Gringotts to lock down the Prewett Vaults while they were closed. As the magically accepted Regent for the House of Prewett, Gringotts was prepared to share the information that Muriel Prewett had sufficient funds in her personal vault to live comfortable for a fair while if she wasn't too extravagant, though she would doubtless demand funds to purchase herself a new home for herself. Arthur didn't like the idea of the Prewett fortune being spent to buy that old battleaxe a new home, but he suddenly smiled.
"Can it be arranged so that when we retake possession of Weasley Manor, Madam Prewett and those items belonging to her are transferred to the current Weasley residence near Ottery Saint Catchpole, known as the Burrow? The Burrow is to remain as the property of the House of Weasley, but Madam Prewett may have possession of it for as long as she lives."
Dragonclaw (he had the Weasley, Prewett and Lovegood Accounts among the lesser accounts that he controlled) gave him a delighted grin at that, because he'd had to deal with Muriel Prewett all too often when she was Lady Prewett, and he loathed the harridan, so the prospect of being able to tell her that she was being moved into what she'd so loudly and often decried as 'That hovel my niece and her children are forced to live in.' by the new Lord Prewett was something he was most definitely looking forward to, but it needed something more in his opinion.
"Baron Weasley, if I may ask, is the new Baron Prewett, your son, taking appropriate measures to secure the Prewett heirlooms?"
Arthur could see that the Account Manager was trying to tell him something. "Which heirlooms are you referring to Account Manager Dragonclaw?"
"For a House that has existed for such a short period, the House of Prewett has acquired and identified a wealth of heirlooms, including numerous goblin artefacts such as the goblin silver tiara that the current Lady Prewett traditionally wears at significant events. I have noted that many of these heirlooms are not in the Prewett vault where they can be properly protected. I was hoping that the new Head of the House of Prewett would be taking measures to address this, but I have not seen evidence of this happening as yet."
'Hmm, this was a game that should be fun to play.'
"That is a worry Account Manager Dragonclaw. I believe a large part of the problem is the fact that the new Baron Prewett is neither aware of what the Prewett heirlooms are, or where they may be located. I am aware that it is possible for the Head of the House to call Heirlooms of their House to them, but they would then have to be moved to the Prewett vault, and I believe that the heirlooms must be individually identified as they are called."
Dragonclaw had a glint in his eye now, because the human was heading in the right direction. "While that is indeed the most commonly used method to recall family heirlooms Baron Weasley, there is another method that was created to secure the family heirlooms in an emergency. So long as they are not hidden by strong wards, this will recall all the family heirlooms to the family vault."
Arthur had a smile that would have done a goblin proud on his face now. "That sounds like just the thing to secure the House of Prewett's treasures Account Manager Dragonclaw. Can you tell me how to invoke this, so that I can pass it on to Baron Prewett?"
"It is quite simple Baron Weasley, you merely hold up your House ring and say I… state the full title of the Head of House… hereby recall all heirlooms of the House of … your House… to the… family name... family vault!… As I said, it was created as an emergency measure so it was designed to be done quickly."
Arthur nodded appreciatively. "Very impressive Account Manager Dragonclaw! I better try this myself before I tell Charlie, I mean Baron Prewett, to do it though, to make sure that I've got it right."
He raised his hand with the Weasley ring and stated in a clear voice. "I, Baron Arthurus Septimus Weasley, Head of the Junior Noble and Ancient Wizard House of Weasley, hereby recall all heirlooms of the Noble and Ancient Wizard House of Weasley to the Weasley Family vault!"
The head of house ring flashed and they felt the Weasley Family Magic acting on the decree. Arthus smiled at the goblin. "I must admit to being anxious to see whether it worked Account Manager Dragonclaw, so if we are done here, would you excuse me so that I can go and see what is in our family vault?"
"I must admit to being curious myself Baron Weasley. Would you allow me to accompany you?"
Arthur bowed to him, "Most assuredly Account Manager Dragonclaw." and with that, they headed for the carts that would take them down to the vaults. When the vault door opened, Arthur was astounded, because there was far more in there than he'd ever seen, a lot of it things that he'd either never seen before or had been made to forget about permanently.
Dragonclaw had been managing the Weasley account for over a century, so he recognised far more than Arthur did and was amused to see many things that had been used to settle Arthur's grandfather's debts when he bankrupted the house. Obviously many of the family heirlooms hadn't been legitimately transferred in the shady deals used to pay off the old Baron Weasley's debts. There would doubtless be many people angry to find that their ill gotten gains had disappeared, and more than a few others who had bought some of these items off of them, but none of those deals were legitimate, otherwise the items would not have been returned to the Weasley vault. He turned to Arthur.
"It appears that the recall of the Weasley heirlooms was successful Baron Weasley."
Arthur was still looking at the contents of the vault in amazement as he said. "It does indeed!"
He shook himself as he realised that he wasn't acting appropriately for a Lord of a Noble and Ancient House and turned to bow to Dragonclaw. "The Houses of Weasley and Prewett thank you for bringing this means to secure their family heirlooms to our attention Account Manager Dragonclaw."
Dragonclaw returned the bow. "It is the duty of Gringotts to serve its clients to the best of our ability Baron Weasley, so while appreciated, your thanks are not necessary."
Arthur looked at the contents of the vault again and gave an evil smile. "It we are done here, I am anxious to advise Baron Prewett to do the same."
Dragonclaw gave a sharp toothed goblin smile that didn't bode well for someone. "Indeed Baron Weasley, that would best be done as soon as possible..." He hesitated, because he really wanted to stick it to Muriel Prewett, and her niece too, and the Weasleys had just become part of a very important group. "While it is not my place to interfere Baron Weasley, I am aware that Over Chieftain Gringott has a means to get Baron Prewett here directly, others of The People do so as well but only Over Chieftain Gringott can authorise anyone else to use this. As your family has very recently come to be included in a group who are important to The People, I am anxious to do what I can to support you, so may I suggest that we approach Over Chieftain Gringott to ask whether the young Lord Prewett can be brought here to do this?"
Quite frankly, the idea of approaching the Leader of the Goblin Nations terrified Arthur, but Dragonclaw wouldn't have suggested it unless he was confident that the request would be well received, so he nodded. "If you think that's a good idea Dragonclaw, yes."
Gringott wasn't too impressed with being interrupted by a junior account manager, but when he heard what they wanted to do he laughed. Like most goblins, he didn't like to pass up the chance to stick it to the arrogant Pure-Bloods and while she was ineffectual, Muriel Prewett nee Crouch was insistent enough to make a nuisance of herself, so he took Arthur Weasley to the Lodge to collect his son, the Lord Prewett.
At the Lodge, Arthur heard one of the little girls asking why he was wearing a dress and realised that she must be Muggle-Born, but Gringott hustled him into the other room where Bill, Charlie and Percy were doing lessons before he could say anything to her. He and Charlie were hustled out and back to Gringotts just as quickly.
They went down to the Prewett vault to see what was currently in there, and it was a bit of a shock to see just how much gold there was in there, but they were there to do something and Arthur coached Charlie though recalling all the Prewett heirlooms to the vault. As Dragonclaw had said, there were a lot of heirlooms, and they could have sworn they heard Aunt Muriel screaming from there, though that may have been their imaginations. With that done, Gringott had Charlie returned to the Lodge and Arthur went back to the Ministry.
An hour later, Arthur was summoned to Barty Crouch's office. He sent a note to Amelia advising her of the summons, explaining that it was probably relating to the fact that both Molly and 'Aunt Muriel's belongings had disappeared, and Amelia decided to accompany him.
When they walked into Crouch's office he barked. "What are you doing here Bones?"
Amelia smiled to herself, as she'd been wanting to put this disgrace to the DMLE in his place for a long time. "That's Director Bones to you Crouch! As you were so fond of reminding everyone in your day, the DMLE is the most important department in the Ministry and its director deserves respect, especially from the head of a lesser department!" Crouch was obviously about to explode at that but she cut him off. "But as to the reason I am here, one of my minor department heads advised me that he had been summoned to your office, so I've come to remind you of the missive I sent around the Ministry after that trouble with Gringotts some idiots caused by going around DMLE procedures, the one that said that every request for DMLE assistance must come through me!"
Crouch gritted his teeth. "This is not a request for DMLE assistance at this point Director Bones, it is a family matter! My aunt contacted me with concerns that she cannot get in touch with…. my cousin… who is married to Weasley here so I told her that I would find out what happened to cousin Molly." He grimaced at having to refer to Molly Weasley as his cousin, but Amelia was delighted, this just got better and better.
"So you decided to summon one of my department heads to your office on a personal matter without any explanation? What makes you think you have the right to take my department heads away from their work without my approval? Especially when a simple note to Mister Weasley asking why his…. wife…. cannot be contacted would have been sufficient? Rest assured that a formal complaint will be made to the Minister for your frivolous interference in my department's operations Crouch!"
Crouch started to arc up again but it was Arthur who cut him off this time. "If you'd simply sent me a note as Director Bones suggested Mister Crouch, I would have advised you that I have no idea where my ex wife is. I ordered the disillusionment of our marriage and cast her out of the Weasley family for bringing shame on the family, because I was presented with irrefutable evidence that she has continued to behave like the Harlot of Hogwarts all through our marriage. She left after that and I neither know nor care where she went. Therefore there is no longer any family business between us and I would thank you not to contact me on anything other than official Ministry business. Good day!"
With that he turned and walked out the door without another word while Crouch sat there, staring at him with his mouth open. Amelia struggled to keep a straight face as she nodded to Crouch, barking "Crouch!" dismissively at him and turning to follow Arthur.
She grabbed his elbow when she caught up with him and whispered for him to come to her office, Once they were inside she quickly threw up privacy wards and they burst out laughing. "Thank you Arthur, I've been waiting for a chance to put that supercilious bastard in his place for years, but the look on his face when you told him that you called for the disillusion of your marriage to his cousin and cast her out because she'd continued to behave like the Harlot of Hogwarts all through your marriage was priceless!"
Arthur smiled. "I must admit that it was rather cathartic to be able to throw that in his face after all the comments I had to put up with from him when he was the Director of the DMLE, but I better get back to the office because Perkins doesn't do much if I'm not there. Thank you for your help... Amelia."
Amelia gave him a hug. "It was my pleasure Arthur, after all these years we still make a good team."
That got another smile from him. "That we do Amelia." And with that he left.
Minister Bagnold actually helped them with another problem they had, because she called an Emergency Wizengamot Session for the day after the Gringotts closure finished to try and overturn what had been decided in the scheduled Wizengamot session, and more importantly, have those arrests at Azkaban wiped out. Their problem was getting Molly No-Name and Peter Pettigrew to trial before someone found a way to block them, as they couldn't afford to take the risk of calling attention to their trials by calling an Emergency Wizengamot Session, but now the Minister had done it for them.
It was amusing to see the Wizengamot benches packed in the emergency session, Bagnold, Dumbledore and Malfoy must have called up everyone in their factions and ordered everyone to attend, never mind that a third of them could no longer cast votes in the Wizengamot, and more than a few others were going to lose their votes by the time they got into the scheduled items. They had been doing a considerable amount of research over the last few days, and had uncovered centuries old vassal agreements that had never been revoked, agreements that applied not only to houses who were part of the Druid Faction, but the Progressive Factions as well, and they had quietly advised those houses of what they'd discovered.
When the Clerk of the Court called for matters of import to be addressed before they proceeded with the scheduled items, Arthur was the first to step forward, cancelling any and all voting proxies that applied to the Houses of Weasley and Prewett and claiming sole authority to cast votes for his houses and their vassals, but he was only the first of a long line of Heads of House and Regents who did this. Bagnold and Dumbledore were horrified as they saw their factions losing more and more votes the longer this went on, but when they tried to stop it they were slapped down by the Presiding Panel. Of even more concern to Dumbledore was the defections from his Faction to the Progressive Factions, as some houses who accepted the truth of what had been revealed in Harry Potter's memory refused to be associated with him. By the end of it, the Druid and Progressive Factions appeared to control at least half of the votes in the Wizengamot, but Bagnold couldn't let this stand so she charged forward, hoping to win some back before everything settled.
She didn't have much luck, on overturning Dumbledore's dismissal and replacing him with a panel of three, both had been voted in with a bigger majority than when Dumbledore was voted in and the margin for the confirmation vote was even more.
On overturning the sealing of the Potter wills and appointment of Dumbledore as Harry's Magical Guardian (there was no such thing as a Magical Guardian, as noted in the submission by Rhys, Fawley, Fleamont and Tonks, the true role was Legal Guardian in Magical Britain), they were just thrown out, as they had been proven to be illegal actions based on fraud on the part of Albus Dumbledore.
When they tried to wipe out the arrests of the Warden and other staff at Azkaban, they lost due to the irrefutable evidence that they had wilfully gone against the direct orders of the Director of the DMLE that were issued and acknowledged just the day before, so the stated punishments were applied.
It was their attempt to overturn Sirius Black's trial where things got really interesting, because they called the Unspeakable Augustus Rookwood to refute the fraudulent authentication of the memories of the infant Harry Potter and Death Eater Sirius Black. Amelia had a field day.
"So you are accusing the Director of the Department of Mysteries, also known as the Head Unspeakable, Baron Croaker, of fraudulently attesting to the qualifications of the Unspeakables who authenticated the memories that were submitted to evidence in Lord Sirius Black's trial, is that correct Mister Rookwood?"
He started to waver but a threatening gesture from Bagnold made him nod. "Yes. I do not know how the Death Eaters forced Baron Croaker to go along with them, but they did."
"I see, could you roll up your sleeves for me please Mister Rookwood?"
There was a storm of protest and when it was finally silenced Amelia explained. "I find it interesting that Mister Rookwood is accusing Baron Croaker of working for the Death Eaters when both the Department of Mysteries' wards and an independent witness have identified him as being a marked Death Eater. I realise that a number of marked Death Eaters were released after the war on the basis of their statements that they were held under the Imperius curse for however many years they were Death Eaters, but Mister Rookwood was never tried and found to be innocent of being a willing follower of Lord Voldemort, so I must presume that he was, in fact, a willing follower."
She smiled to herself as she heard a few names being tossed about as they speculated about who this witness was, making note to send Aurors after the ones named. After letting that go on for a while she motioned to the DMLE Patrol officers to bring Pettigrew in, and like with Sirius, it took nearly half an hour to silence the chamber.
Some idiot shouting that they couldn't prosecute him because he had been awarded an Order of Merlin, First Class made Amelia smile again, because they made it so easy.
"Yes, he was awarded an Order of Merlin…. Posthumously! In case you don't know the word, posthumous means after death! The fact that he is sitting here alive means that he did not do what he was awarded the Order of Merlin for!…. Refresh my memory Professor Dumbledore, you cast the fidelius on the Potters' cottage in Godric's Hollow, did you not?"
Dumbledore could see where this was going but couldn't refuse to answer. "Yes."
"So you knew that the Secret Keeper was not Sirius Black as you said, but in fact it was Peter Pettigrew, did you not?"
He tried to lie his way out of it. "I was certain that Sirius Black was the Secret Keeper, if it was in fact Peter Pettigrew, the Potters must have cast another fidelius charm with him as the Secret Keeper."
"I'm not sure that you are being totally honest with us Professor Dumbledore, but just for the sake of argument, what happens to the Fidelius charm if either the caster or the Secret Keeper dies?"
He sighed, because she obviously had the facts for this. "If the caster dies, the fidelius collapses, if the Secret Keeper dies, everyone who has the secret becomes a Secret Keeper."
"So if the Potters did in fact cast another fidelius with Pettigrew as the Secret Keeper, the fidelius would have collapsed, which we know hasn't happened…. but if Pettigrew had been killed by Sirius Black as was claimed, then everyone who had the secret would have known because they would now be Secret Keepers…. Given that Peter Pettigrew has confirmed Sirius Black's testimony that he was the secret keeper, and that you cast the fidelius, it is quite apparent that you are lying Professor Dumbledore!"
"Someone must have changed my memories of the event!"
"I find that rather doubtful Professor Dumbledore, but we'll get back to that later. The immediate reason for Mister Pettigrew being here is this, please repeat the names of the known Death Eaters you reported to the DMLE in your questioning Mister Pettigrew, starting with those presently here in the chamber."
"I… I don't remember..."
"You're lying Mister Pettigrew, never mind, if you won't tell us voluntarily, you will do so under the influence of Veritaserum. Officer, bring me a vial of Veritaserum."
The chamber erupted with shouts that she couldn't do that until she silenced them with a "QUIET!" that left everyone's ears ringing.
Amelia turned to the Presiding Panel's bench and bowed respectfully. "My Lady Chief Witch, My Lords Chief Warlock, the Pure Blood defence against forcing Mister Pettigrew to testify under Veritaserum does not apply here because Pettigrew is, in fact, a Half Blood, but this furore highlights a serious problem we have in bringing criminals to justice. The contention that forcing Pure Bloods to testify under Veritaserum is an affront to the honour to their houses and families is ludicrous. The fact is that only guilty parties argue against testifying under Veritaserum because they have something to hide, in fact we had the same people trying to stop Lord Sirius Black testifying under Veritaserum because they knew that it would prove his innocence. Ever since Veritaserum was created, strict guidelines have been in place to prevent the parties being questioned being asked about matters unrelated to the issue at hand, so the DMLE cannot ask them anything willy nilly. I must question why my predecessor as the Director of the DMLE did not raise this when this discriminatory law which only protects the interests of those of a particular blood status who are afraid of being made to tell the truth of their guilt or innocence was passed…. Though I note that he is of that blood status so perhaps he has guilty secrets he is trying to keep hidden."
She looked up at Crouch, who had murder in his eye. "For this reason, My Lady Chief Witch and My Lords Chief Warlock, I hereby move that the law exempting those of Pure Blood status from being made to testify under Veritaserum if they refuse to do so voluntarily be repealed!"
Arcturus Black stood and shouted out "Seconded!", making his stance on the matter clear.
Griselda Marchbanks gave him a subtle nod and addressed the Clerk of the Court. "Mister Fawley, the matter has been moved and seconded, I see no reason to allow the session to be bogged down with old debates on the matter, so please put it to a vote."
The Clerk of the Court nodded with a wry smile. "The proposal to repeal the law exempting those of Pure Blood status from being made to testify under Veritaserum if they refuse to do so voluntarily has been moved and seconded. Please vote now if you support this proposal…." After the first vote he asked "Please vote now if you oppose this proposal…"
They were pleasantly surprised by how big a margin the proposal was passed by, obviously a lot of people were sick of seeing ones they knew to be guilty getting off because they couldn't be forced to admit their guilt.
Pettigrew's testimony added another nail to Dumbledore's coffin, because he confirmed that Dumbledore had indeed cast the fidelius with him as the secret keeper, and also that Dumbledore had warned him that Black was after him, so he had time to set a trap for Black. After all the other disgusting acts that he testified doing, it was mainly the Death Eaters and staunch Dumbledore supporters on the Wizengamot who voted against him being sent through the veil of Death, after his Order of Merlin was stripped from him. The Death Eaters didn't want a precedence to be set in case they were put on trial again, and the Dumbledore believers were still swallowing his shite that no-one should be killed (unless it was him sacrificing them to his 'Greater Good').
After Pettigrew, Rookwood and a few other Death Eaters who didn't have enough gold to get Ministerial protection were processed, Molly No-Name was brought in.
Crouch and Dumbledore were livid when they realised that she'd been in the DMLE cells the whole time and there was nothing they could do to stop her being sentenced to twenty years in Azkaban. It had only been fifteen years until Pandora Lovegood pointed out that it would be unfair to the children she bore to allow her to be released around the time they were finishing at Hogwarts as she might interfere with them trying to get a start in their adult lives. When Pandora suggested that adding another five years to her sentence would allow them to get themselves established so she would have less opportunity to ruin their chances of success, the majority of the Wizengamot agreed with her.
Pandora and Amelia cornered Dumbledore before he could get away and demanded to know where Harry was. He gave up on the argument that it wasn't safe to disclose Harry's location when Amelia threatened to arrest him and had to admit that he didn't know where Harry was, because the wards he'd put up to protect his location had dropped a couple of days ago and he couldn't find any sign of him now. Pandora and Amelia tore strips off of him for kidnapping, hiding and then losing Harry and promised bloody retribution if anything happened to him. Of course they had been shouting at the top of their lungs, so the headlines tomorrow were going to be something along the lines of Dumbledore stealing and then losing the Boy-Who-Lived, which was what they wanted from that little scene.
All in all, it was a very good day for Amelia and their side, but a very bad day for Dumbledore, Bagnold and the Death Eaters.
Bagnold was starting to have second thoughts about aligning herself to Dumbledore and the Death Eaters for their gold and power, because they'd already lost much of their power and the writing was on the wall that their gold would be next. She had to admit a certain grudging respect for how well Bones had played this, because the one she'd thought of as a Hufflepuff Duffer had managed to outsmart her, the Ravenclaw…. Dumbledore too, but she knew that he was nowhere near as brilliant as most of the Sheep of Magical Britain thought he was…
