Chapter 4: Politics

He hadn't yet told anyone about his conversation with Voldemort, but had pretty much decided what he was going to do. In fact when he got back to his room that evening he wrote a letter to Voldemort.

Tom,

I have been thinking about what you have said. I still don't know much about the dark arts issue, but I agree with you on everything else and as such will be doing what I can to pass the necessary laws. You probably aren't aware of this, but I have a lot of political pull at this point as the soon to be Head of the Wizengamot and Heir of two of the founder's seats on the Hogwarts board with my cousin as the other two. I have also taken down Albus Dumbledore for crimes against myself and my cousin. Since I have so much political power here is what I want. You are to dispose of your fanatical death eaters that cannot be controlled and stop all attacks. All known death eaters will go into hiding so that there will be no need to fight in self defense. Once the laws have passed you will continue with your plan to unmark everyone and change your identity and the identity of anyone else you need to. As of right now there will be a ceasefire, and I will get back to you on the dark arts issue. I have access to many homes with large libraries and as such have access to enough information to make a decision there. If this is acceptable get back to me or with a counter-offer. Also I think if we are going to work together you should tell Lucius Malfoy since he is on the Board of Governor's and I really don't need him working against me or trying to kidnap me for you or anything.

Lord Harry James Potter-Black-Craven-Dervous-Wade-Horlen

Heir of Gryffindor and Slytherin

PS. I know you were claiming to be the heir of Slytherin but that was before I came along. I checked out the family tree in the Slytherin vault and you are descended from an illegitimate line while I am descended from a legitimate line making me the rightful heir. No hard feelings I hope?

He sent it off with one of the owls in the owlery since Hedwig is too distinctive. A few hours later he received a reply.

Potter,

I am so not writing all of those names but you made your point. I agree to most of your terms. I will dispose of my fanatical death eaters and ease up on attacks. However, until the law is passed concerning muggles I will continue to dispose of them as need be, but they will have quick painless deaths. No more torture. Also I will step in if any magical creature is in mortal danger, but unless they are in danger of death I will merely provide medical assistance and sanctuary in the meantime. I also expect to see some progress happening or the deal is off. I don't expect you to change things overnight though so don't worry. You'll have time. As long as I have something to tell the people looking for change. I will also stay away from anyone you are friends with and that includes the Order of the Phoenix, though if they do manage to track me down, I may have to defend myself, but will attempt to do so without taking lives. That is my counteroffer and only offer.

On another note I would like to congratulate you on your disposal of the manipulative old fool and your inheritance. I am bitter about losing my title as Heir of Slytherin, but unfortunately there is nothing I can do about it. I would like to request that after all this is over you invite me to join the House of Dervous since it is Slytherin's direct line, but I don't expect you will do that until you are assured of the fact that I am commited to peace.

Tom

Harry read the reply and sighed. It was better than nothing and apparently the best he was going to get. The scary thing was that he understood every place where Voldemort refused to concede. He wasn't sure what to think of that. He did know one thing though. His first priority was going to be to get the law against muggles knowing anything about wizards passed. At least that way fewer people would have to die.

He then went to his aunt and uncles house. He found Petunia and Vernon in the living room. If he was going to try to pass the law then it was only fair that he uphold it himself. In the interest of keeping the peace he discussed it with his family. "Uncle Vernon, Aunt Petunia, I am working in politics now and one of the main things that I need to do with my office is to no longer allow muggles such as yourselves such freedom with the information of the wizarding world. What I would like to do won't hurt you at all. It will just prevent you from telling anyone about it."

"Why can't people know?" Petunia asked.

"While it's true that there are probably a large number of people that could be trusted, at least at first, there would be a domino effect. If the wizarding world became common knowledge, some would be okay with it, but some would want to cause trouble. And every time that there is a questionable murder, or an explosion, or a disappearance, or anything else fishy happening those people causing trouble will convince more and more people that wizards are behind it and things will deteriorate fast. It will turn into hysteria and as much magic as we can do, we aren't immune to guns, explosions, or god forbid nuclear weapons. We have to make sure that the information doesn't get out to anyone but immediate family of wizards."

"Well I know we wouldn't tell anyone, but you're right. If you are creating the law you have to uphold it. It is the honorable thing to do. Go ahead and do what you need to do." Vernon replied looking both proud and nervous at the same time.

Harry cast the spell and then told them. "In the interest of the honorable thing to do...I'm not sure if you know this or not but the Potter family owns your house and Grunnings." Petunia and Vernon looked shocked and almost afraid of why their nephew was telling them this. He said he forgave them, but maybe he was still going to try and take revenge in some way. Harry could see all these thoughts and hurried to dispel them. "I'm telling you this because I'm signing the house over to you Aunt Petunia and Grunnings over to you Uncle Vernon. Now you can be your own boss and a homeowner. In fact, I have gone through my accounts and figured up how much of the Potter fortune came from Grunnings and will have it transferred into your muggle bank account soon as I get the paperwork taken care of in the next few days."

The older couple was speachless, but then Vernon found his voice. "If you want to give us the house and the company that's fine. We don't deserve it really after the way we treated you, but it's your choice. I can't let you give us all the money from Grunnings though. Not only do we not deserve it we haven't earned it. That company belonged to you when it made that money."

"I believe my parents bought the company and the house as a gift to the two of you, but they died before they could take care of it. Therefore everything rightfully belongs to you." They nodded solemnly, but would only agree to take half of the Grunning's earnings no matter how much Harry argued with them.

After dinner and some more conversation amongst themselves, the boys went back to the manor. Tomorrow was the wizengamot meeting where Harry would accept his seats and head of the body.

It took Harry hours of nervousness and changing his robes a hundred times, but finally he was ready for the Wizengamot meeting. He and Dudley called the Knight Bus since they couldn't apparate yet and wouldn't get a special portkey until they were inducted. They arrived with only ten minutes to spare thanks to Ernie Prang's driving. First on the agenda were the trials so Harry and Dudley had to sit with the witnesses. They noticed most of the staff of Hogwarts and the Order of the Phoenix sitting in the witness box as well. None of them would be called probably since Harry knew that they were going to push for veritaserum and indeed the solicitor for the prosecution insisted on Veritaserum for Dumbledore. After the standard test questions during which Harry got the answer to a question that he had always wondered about...Dumbledore was 162 years old...they began with the difficult questions.

Did you disregard the will of James and Lily Potter by placing their son Harry James Potter with his maternal aunt?

"Yes"

Why?

Because they were muggles so would never have found the charms I placed on the boy.

What charms did you place on him at that time?

Hatred charms towards his aunt and uncle, and charms supressing his magic

Why?

So that he would grow up abused and be easier to manipulate later.

Did you add any other charms later?

Yes

Which ones?

A hatred charm for Professor Snape, A loyalty charm for myself, Ronald Weasley, and Ginevra Weasley. I also added memory charms through the years whenever anyone tried to rescue him from the home.

Whom all did you place the memory charms on?

Harry Potter, Remus Lupin, Minerva McGonagal, and Arabella Figg

Did you place any other illegal charms on anyone?

Dumbledore began to rattle off a very long list including the charm to bind Dudley's magic and all of the charms to suppress Harry's. There were a total of more than 150 people that Dumbledore had placed illegal charms on including loyalty charms for all of Hogwarts staff and the Order of the Phoenix. By this point the crowd was in an uproar. After order was restored the questioning continued. When it came out all of the crimes Dumbledore was guilty of the Wizengamot was quick to pass their sentence.

"Albus Dumbledore. You will lose your Wizengamot privileges, your status as Headmaster of Hogwarts, and your Order of Merlin. You are also sentenced to 340 years in Azkaban. One year for each illegal charm on an adult, two years for each on a minor, ten years for each instance of withholding information regarding the heritage of a minor, ten years for disregarding of a will, twenty years for theft from the Potter vault."

Dumbledore was led from the room and it was the Weasley's turn. Their trial went much the same way their questioning did and all of the Weasleys were in the room, mostly just to see for themselves that all of the accusations were true. Molly Weasley was sentenced to twenty years for the theft, and both younger Weasleys being underage, were expelled from Hogwarts and had their wands snapped, but they didn't have to go to prison. Once the sentences were laid down, Arthur Weasley stood up to make a statement. "As Head of the House of Weasley, I hereby disown Molly, Ronald and Ginevra Weasley. They are no longer Weasleys by name, title, or heritage. So mote it be." A wisp came from his wand surrounded the former Weasleys and then disappeared. Harry was shocked. He expected them to be disowned and have their names and titles taken away, but taking away the heritage was the lowest insult that could be given to a witch or wizard. That gave Harry an idea.

As he was mulling it over, The acting Head of the Wizengamot stood. "Is Harry James Potter present?"

Harry stood. "I am."

"As an emancipated minor you are eligible to accept the positions of your houses on this body. Are you prepared to accept?"

"I am"

"State your houses for the record."

"Potter, Black, Dervous, Horlen, Wade, and Craven."

"Harry James Potter, Lord Potter-Black-Dervous-Horlen-Wade-Craven you are hereby a member of this body and as holder of six seats it's head." The acting head stepped aside and Harry took the place at head of the table. Harry had studied the book and now knew how to end a meeting and schedule another, and did so, but instead of making the next meeting two weeks away as is customary, he set it for one week away stating that with the change in power there would be many details to work out and giving everyone time to adjust to the changes.

Harry was walking out of the courtroom when he ran into Professors Snape and McGonagal as well as Mad-Eye Moody. "Mr. Potter I assure you that none of us knew what Professor Dumbledore was doing with you or with anyone else. All of us who were present apparently broke our loyalty charms when the information came out and I was chosen to offer our condolences for Hogwarts and Mr. Moody for the order." Minerva began.

"That's right Potter. If I had known what that...that...criminal was doing I would have had him locked up long before now. I don't condone the breaking of any law, not even for a hero." That could just as easily have been a warning to Harry as it was a renunciation of Dumbledore and Harry took it as such. "Thank you Mr. Moody, Professor McGonagal. I accept your apology and appreciate your candor." He knew since Snape wasn't confirmed by the others as being there for a reason and he had been very silent, that he wanted to speak with him alone and Harry had a good idea what it was about. "If you'll excuse me, Professor Snape may I have a word?"

Snape followed Harry to his new office of the Head of the Wizengamot that he had moved into earlier that day. As Snape opened his mouth to speak Harry held up a hand and stopped him. "Before you say anything professor, I don't blame you for anything that has happened between us. We were both being used by Professor Dumbledore and you weren't at fault. I admit that I reacted badly and I would like to explain if you'll allow me?" Snape nodded and Harry continued. "You heard what Dumbledore said about my home life. It was horrible. When I found out about Hogwarts I was so excited because for once I would have a chance to be treated like a person. You didn't treat me like a person and I couldn't understand what I had done to make you hate me. We were both wizards and I was quiet and studious and in awe of everything. I was so looking forward to potions because I thought that I would be good at it because I really enjoyed cooking. Then when you came down on me in that first class I was crushed. When I didn't have my books read over the summer or homework done it was because anything that could identify me as a wizard was locked away all summer including books and parchment. I never meant any disrespect to you and even when you were mean to me, I tried to be respectful of you, at least to your face, but I did lose my temper fairly often and I'm sorry for that."

When Snape realized that Harry was finished he began to speak. "I accept your apology and I thank you for understanding that I didn't do any of that on purpose. I hope next year at school will go easier for both of us. I also want you to know that you are very good at potions. The admittedly few times that I left you alone during class and allowed you to brew your potions came up perfect and even when I didn't leave you alone they were acceptable. You have a weakness in theory though and that is partly the fault of your muggle upbringing and Dumbledore's not giving you the starter literature for muggle-borns. This is a list I jotted down of books to read to learn the basic potions theory that you should have learned in the starter packet and will likely solve your theory problems. Mostly I just wanted to apologize to you for treating you the way I did, and the other students as well. When I realized that there were hatred charms on my for every student except Slytherin house a lot of things made more sense. I will leave you now. I'm sure you're very busy with all of your new duties, but if you ever need any help feel free to ask. I really have very little to do over the summer."

Harry realized that was supposed to be a subtle way to say that he was alone and bored so he made a spur of the moment decision. "Professor. My cousin is taking lessons this summer and if you could tutor him in basic potions and be available if I have questions about the theory or even to help me restock the manor's potion supplies that would be greatly appreciated. I pay very well also if that is a consideration and the pay includes room and board."

Snape appeared to think for a moment. "Hmm. Me at Potter Manor. I'm sure your father would be rolling in his grave. I accept." He said with a half-evil smirk. "I'm glad we could clear the air Potter." He said as he walked away. Harry leaned against his new desk with a smile. Yes things were definitely looking up, but now it was getting late and time to find Dudley and head back to the manor. They both had reading to do before their early morning meeting with the governors.

When they got home Harry told Remus and Tonks all about the trial and about his conversations afterward and informed them that Snape was moving in the next day to take over teaching potions and since Tonks had a full time job at the ministry she would just be focusing on the metamorphmagus skills, which both boys were already getting very good at. That wasn't surprising since Tonks herself had it mastered at five years old. After dinner both boys retired to their rooms to do some more reading. The politics books had first priority since they needed to master those as soon as possible. The rest could wait.

The boys had to be up early the next morning for the board of governors meeting. Harry knew this wasn't going to go well. You can't just walk into a room full of politicians and make them obsolete and expect them to like you for it. This was going to be his first major test. If he could smooth the ruffled feathers he and Dudley were going to cause by their very presence he would be a true politician. For once he was actually glad that Fudge had managed to get Lucius Malfoy off after the Department of Mysteries fiasco. He seemed like a reasonable politician for the most part and at least Voldemort would know that Harry was keeping up his end of the bargain with regard to Hogwarts. He had heard from Tom that Lucius wasn't one of his fanatics and was really only active in the political side of his organization. The only reason he was at the ministry that night was because he knew his way around. He was little more than the guide and even Harry had to admit that he did his best to not let anyone get hurt. He was still slightly bitter about it though after all the trouble it took to capture him. He took a deep breathe and motioned Dudley to follow him into the meeting room.

It looked as though people were just beginning to arrive Lucius Malfoy noticed them first. As someone close to Voldemort he knew what these two teenagers were doing here and he didn't like it a bit, but there was nothing he could do about it. He was a good enough politician though to know that he couldn't do anything about it except try to get onto their good side so that they would take his advice. That might be easier said than done with Potter after the incident at the ministry last month, but since he apparently had the same goals as himself and Voldemort if he could be believed, it may not be too difficult. He must know that so would look to Lucius the most.

As the last person trickled into the room right on time, Harry stood up. "Can I get your attention please." There were a few snickers from those who didn't know why this kid was addressing them but a look from Lucius shut them up. Lucius then looked at Harry and nodded for him to continue. Harry nodded back thinking maybe this wasn't going to be as hard as he thought. "I am Harry Potter and I am here as the heir of Gryffindor and Slytherin to claim the founder's seats on the board. This is Dudley Dursley here as the heir of Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw to claim his founder's seats." The boys had agreed to let Harry do the majority of the talking since Dudley was still getting his feet wet. "I understand that our presence takes away your power, but I assure you that is not our intention. You are all experienced. You know what you are doing. We don't. We will need your help and your advice in order to remake Hogwarts into the distinguished institution it once was. Does anyone have any questions before we start the meeting?"

There were of course a few calls to prove their heritage and a few people who scoffed at the idea of children making the final decisions, but most of the board were politicians. They knew not to get on the bad side of these very powerful teenagers so they kept their mouths shut. "Alright then the first order of business should be to decide on a new Headmaster. I was considering Filius Flitwick for the position. Does anyone have any other ideas?"

"Why him?" Lucius asked. He would have assumed the boy would pick McGonagal.

"First of all he is a head of house and thus has administrative experience in the school already. Now I know Minerva McGonagal is deputy headmistress and wouldn't object to her keeping that title, but she is biased against Slytherins which is something I would like to see stamped out of the school. On the other hand Professor Snape is biased against anyone but Slytherins. At least he has been in the past. Now that he is free of his charms that may change, but until it is proven otherwise I don't think that he would be a good choice. Pomona Sprout while a good head of house doesn't strike me as the best person for this position. Flitwick is not biased against anyone and is also half goblin so he would bring a unique perspective to the position." In other words get everyone primed to accept non-humans in society by putting a half-human in charge of their children and helping to get rid of the slytherin bias at the same time. Lucius had to hand it to the kid he was good. Whether he agree with Voldemort's politics or not he was sure making a good show of it.

"I agree Mr. Potter. Proffesor Flitwick would be a good choice. If you'd like I will send the standard offer letter to him by owl as soon as this meeting is over." Lucius offered.

"I would appreciate that Mr. Malfoy. If you could add an addendum to the letter explaining my reasons on the subject that would be even better. I'm sure he would accept immediately if it were explained to him all the ways he could help to fix the problems in the school." Harry paused for any more discussion on the topic. "Alright next order of business is finding a new head for ravenclaw house and a new teacher for charms. I don't have very many suggestions here so this discussion is wide open."

Lucius couldn't help but smirk. This was his chance to see just how committed Potter was to this alliance he formed with his master. "I have a suggestion for charms professor. A friend of mine would likely be interested in the job. He has a charms mastery and helps to tutor my son and some friends in charms over the summer." When he said friend he tapped his left forearm so Harry would know what type of friend he was talking about. Harry tensed at that but kept his composure. He did ask to speak with Lucius is private though. Not the best idea in a room full of politicians, but they all knew not to mess with the Malfoy patriarch.

Harry and Lucius went to the side and Lucius erected a privacy charm. Harry spoke first. "I'm not saying no right out because I do know that our mutual friend employs nothing but the best, but I want your magical oath that this is not a plot to harm any person inside the castle, discriminate against anyone for blood status or house, recruit for any organization and do whatever is possible to protect all students and teachers from harm and I will expect an oath from him or her to the same effect."

"I must say Potter I am surprised that you are even considering this."

"So am I, but I am commited to improving the education at Hogwarts by any means necessary, and as long as the students are safe in every way I will accept it. I must tell you though that as long as we are at war none of these friends will ever hold a head of house or headmaster position."

"Agreed." Lucius said and then swore the asked for oath. They returned to the group. And after a bit more discussion Johann Avery was decided on as the new charms professor. The head of Ravenclaw house was offered to Professor Vector, the arithmancy teacher.

The next subject was difficult for Harry, but he had to choose between his friendship and his duty to the school. "Now to the subject of care of magical creatures. Professor Hagrid is a close friend of mine, and I admire his work with the creatures and animals on the grounds, but he is no teacher. I suggest that we give him back his old job as groundskeeper and add a new job for him as caretaker, in which he will be responsible for the health and happiness of any animal on the grounds including the pets and familiars of the students." There was actually a cheer at that. Everyone was aware of Hagrid's dangerous and unorthodox teaching style. "I suggest Charles Weasley be offered the position of his replacement." There was a bit of discussion on this matter, but in the end it was decided that Charlie would be offered the job, though many thought he would turn it down. Harry decided to send that offer letter personally.

"Moving on from staff appointments there are a few other matters I would like to discuss. The first of which is the sorting. Since Headmaster Dumbledore admitted to tampering with the sorting hat at his trial I think that all current students should be resorted at this years sorting feast."

"For what purpose?" A man towards the back asked.

"First of all to get each student in their proper house. It will also promote interhouse unity since current student now have friends in their house and if they are moved will probably keep their friends and allow more intermingling of the houses. It may also help with the prejudice against Slytherin house since that is where I was supposed to go had the hat not been tampered with." This caused a major buzz in the room. When someone asked how he knew he explained, "At my sorting the hat told me that I would fit into any of the houses but that I would do best in Slytherin. Dumbledore had poisoned me against Slytherin house however, so I convinced it to put my in Gryffindor instead. So are there any objections to the resorting?" There were a few, mainly time constraints, which were solved by changing to schedule of the Hogwarts Express so that it was two hours early.

Once that was settled Harry moved on. "The last thing I want to discuss is ideas to bring the houses closer together." There was a lot of discussion on this subject, and many ideas were discarded, the ones accepted were to get rid of the mealtime house tables except for the welcoming feast and the leaving feast. Other than those times the great hall would be divided into smaller round tables where anyone could sit no matter their house. Another that was accepted was to have an all Hogwarts quiddich team that included at least one player from each house to play in the annual Hogsmeade/Diagon quiddich tournament between the teams of various businesses in those towns. "Well I suppose that's enough for now. Once school gets going for a while we can reevaluate the issue and make changes or additions to these plans. The last thing I want to discuss is a new program that I hope to start by the next school year incorporating some new class selections into the sixth and seventh year course syllabus such as ancient magic, spell crafting, and elemental magics for those with talents in those subjects. Since it has been so long since these subjects are offered and they can only be used by those with inborn talents I expect it will take time to find instructors. In the mean time if you know anyone with these talents ask them to begin independent study so that we can have these subjects up and running as soon as possible."

"Why do you want these subjects taught?" Lucius asked.

"First of all, I have talent in all of these subjects and would like to learn them, and I'm sure there are other students who are in the same position. I plan to study independently myself until the subjects are available, but not everyone has access to the resources that I do."

Lucius was fighting with himself. Making things easier for Harry Potter was not in his nature but in this case he was fighting for the same goals as his master so he felt obligated to offer a temporary solution. "If I may suggest. We can see about setting up an independent study class on the student schedules and give them access to the resources to study these things. We will need to find out what each student's talents are however. May I suggest hiring an extra nurse in the infirmary for the first few days of school to test each student's talents?"

"That could work, but someone must oversee the independent study otherwise students would just use the time as another free period. If no one knows the material, then no one can check it to be sure it is being done."

"I'm sure it wouldn't be too difficult to at least familiarize the Heads of House with the basics of the subject. Enough to know if the student is putting work into it. We would also need to create NEWT tests for those subjects as well so we would need people who are intimately familiar with the subject even if they are unable to do it themselves."

"This is going to be a lot to work on. We can get the heads of house working on familiarizing themselves with the subjects between now and the start of the next school year and begin next year with either classes or independent study if there are still no professors available for the subjects. That's all I wanted to discuss. Does anyone else have anything to bring up?" No one spoke so Harry ended the meeting and set the next one for a week later to see if any of their job offers were declined and to make final arrangements for the start of the next school year. He did ask to see Lucius before he left.

Once they were in a secure location Harry turned to Lucius. "I would like you to ask our mutual friend to unmark Avery and Snape. If anyone sees the mark and learns that I employed a Death Eater at Hogwarts as well as got resorted into Slytherin there will be suspicions on me that I don't want and it would ruin my credibility and our friend's plans."

"I will relay the message, but I can't make any promises."

"That's all I ask. They will still be free to attend peaceful gatherings outside of the school of course and I can communicate through them or your son if I need to speak with him about something." Lucius nodded, bowed, and left to get to work on the offer letters and Harry returned to his Wizengamot office in order to draft the offer to Charlie Weasley.

When Harry got to his office he found Dudley waiting for him. "Why exactly do I need to be at these things? I don't even know enough to contribute anything."

"You need to get your feet wet in the position. You need to let the other people see you and get used to you. Don't worry, once you actually get to Hogwarts, see how things are run, work with the teachers, and all that you'll be able to contribute more. In the meantime, I can't do much with only two seats. I need you to back me with the other two for now."

"What if I don't agree with you?"

"You are always free to disagree with me Dud. I'm your guide in this world not your boss. I would suggest that you run things past another wizard to begin with just to make sure it's a valid subject and to get help with the magical vocabulary involved, but otherwise you have your opinions and you can always express them. I never meant for you to get the impression otherwise."

"Okay. I was just worried that you were letting all the power go to your head and taking advantage of my lack of knowledge."

"Not at all. In fact, if that ever does happen I'm counting on you to call me on it. Don't let me get away with it. Get help from other people who have seen it if you need to, but we need to check each other on this. I don't want either of us to get carried away with this stuff." Dudley nodded in agreement. "Now while I'm writing this letter do you want to head to the transportation office and inquire about getting a portkey for your parents, hooking them up to the floo, and who can teach us apparition?"

"Sure thing. Remus was teaching me about magical transportation yesterday so this is something I know how to talk about." Dudley chuckled.