They Call This Winning?
By Abraxisdragon
Beta: Tar Irene
Chapter 4 – Dancing with the Devil
(Evening – May 10, l998)
Even though his good mood remained, Harry was a nervous wreck the rest of the day and it was only 10pm when he had Kreacher transport him into the Shrieking Shack. Since Kreacher refused to leave him alone there - "Until Master can apparate without bring the Ministry down upon his head, Kreacher will remain with him." - they both settled under his invisibility cloak and prepared for a long wait. After several minutes of listening to the elf grumble under his breath, Harry made a strong mental note to make sure that his new identity had whatever documentation was necessary to make it possible for him to apparate without attracting official attention anywhere in the world.
Thankfully, for Harry's sanity, it turned out not to be all that long a wait after all. Shortly before 11pm, the shack was scanned by a variety of detection spells, none of which were effective against Harry's cloak, and then Lucius apparated into the room. After transfiguring a piece of broken wreckage into a comfortable, if extremely ostentatious, chair and moving it to the furthest corner from the door, he settled into it and disillusioned both the chair and himself.
Harry had the answer for that. Slipping the tips of both his wands out under the edge of his cloak and aiming them where he knew Lucius to be, he used the holly wand to wordlessly cancel Lucius' disillusion and followed that a millisecond later with an equally wordless Petrificus Totalus from the elder. He didn't know how he could do that any more than when he had used both wands to petrify such a large group when he confronted the fake Aurors or used the elder wand to repair the holly wand, a type of repair which he had been told was impossible to perform when Ron's wand was broken in Second Year. He just knew that he could and was certain it was because of the elder wand, not any sudden vast improvement in his own talent. The wand seemed to really like him. Or rather, the elder wand wanted him to like it; perhaps too much. Oddly enough, he also knew with deep certainty that he had nothing to fear from this as long as, and only so long as, he had the holly wand in his right hand to balance the elder in his left.
Lucius had had no time to react at all. He was still staring at and had his wand pointed at the door. Harry summoned Lucius' wand before removing his cloak, standing up and walking over to stand in front of the man.
"It's not a trap. I've decided that I want to start a new life where no one will know anything about me except what I tell them. I'd also like a little bit of world travel before settling down. But I don't know how to do that; get a new identity and history, get out of Britain without getting caught and into some other country legally. That's the help I want from you in return for keeping Draco from burning to death in the Room of Requirement. You took care of Snape's burial for saving him so help me bury Harry Potter and start over for doing the same thing." Harry conjured chains to secure Lucius to the chair with his arms and legs still totally immobile and then cancelled the petrification spell. "Yes or no?"
Lucius' eyes scanned Harry from head to toe and back again then focused on him eye to eye as his lips curled into an amused smirk.
"My, my, Potter. You do clean up well. And The-Chosen-One deciding to take a runner like we common criminals?"
Sheesh, didn't the man have any common sense? Harry wasn't in the mood to take his attitude.
"Or I could leave you just as you are and have Kreacher deliver you straight to Shacklebolt's office with my compliments. That would keep the Ministry off of my back long enough to find someone else to help me. Hasn't enough happened to teach you that starting a war with me isn't very smart?"
If anything, Lucius' twisted smile grew wider. But Harry didn't think that he was imagining that there was something definitely forced about it. There was no chance that imagination had anything to do with the fact that Lucius' reply absolutely dripped with conciliation. It wasn't close to the way Harry had seen the man grovel before Voldemort, but it wasn't the depreciating tone Lucius had always used with those he considered beneath him or so far ensnared in his web of bribery and blackmail that he no longer needed to take pains with them.
"Now don't be petulant. My first statement was a compliment. Might I also add, I doubt anyone not of your intimate acquaintance would recognize you. The second statement is a truthful expression of shock and incredulity. How can I be expected to believe that you are willingly abandoning what you have fought so hard and suffered so much to win?"
Harry would have loved to sneer right back at the man but didn't think he could do it convincingly.
"I'm not. I've got what I wanted to win; what I had to win because of a stupid prophecy - a world, both muggle and wizarding, free from Voldemort's reign of terror, torture and murder. Now, I want my freedom, too. I want to be able to live my life the way I want without everyone watching everything I do and thinking they have the right to tell me what I should and shouldn't do every minute of it; praising me for something one day and condemning me for the same bloody thing the next. Yeah, I'm taking a runner … from the fame and celebrity that I never wanted; that I think is a total pain in the arse; that for me is a worse prison than anything made from stone and iron. Maybe you can't understand that and that's okay, you don't have to. But, if you ever call me any of their stupid capitalized or hyphenated shite again, I'll do my damnedest to make you sorry for it. Now, are you going to help me, yes or no?"
Lucius' expression had turned thoughtful.
"You are correct. I do not understand it. However, now, I do understand that you are totally serious about the scenario that you alluded to in your missive. Therefore, yes, I will aid you in it in repayment for your rescue of Draco from the Crabbe sprog's stupidity. Actually, it is rather a sweet bit of revenge; stealing their … … " Lucius halted at Harry's darkening expression then continued with a change of topic. "Well, yes, it really won't be that difficult. I have already accomplished similar plans for my family and myself. However, our financial situation had already been well ordered for such a possibility. To involve the goblins to salvage as much as possible of yours might be a great deal more expensive. Not to pry, but how well settled did your parents leave you?"
Harry wasn't about to let Lucius in on the secret of the cobra chest.
"I haven't a clue. But I will need whatever they left me and what Sirius did, as well, to settle me wherever I end up. And I definitely want all the personal items they left me. I expected Draco to be worth the expense of my rebirth to you. And, I won't mention saving Draco again, and you as well, when I saved Narcissa from those fake Aurors since she did say 'help us' not 'help me'. Even though you did say that technically I wasn't required to be so thorough about it, I really think it was the right thing to do because I don't think that Narcissa would have been very 'helped' if she was left without anyone she loved or alone with Draco and without you to take care of them."
Lucius looked a bit disgruntled at this turn of events, which pleased Harry no end. For Harry, this wasn't about the money. It was about Lucius completely ignoring the fact that he owed Harry for his own escape from either a life sentence in Azkaban or being kissed. Harry also wanted payback for Lucius' backstabbing him with a Fidelius charm, probably as soon as Lucius had returned to his manor from the Shrieking Shack. Harry really hoped that this got very expensive for the prick.
When it became obvious that Harry didn't have anything else to say, Lucius grudgingly agreed.
"I am indebted to you for my son's life. I must satisfy whatever repayment you ask. In reality you could have used saving him to cancel your debt to Narcissa. However, since you honored her request for repayment and, as you have just reminded me, did so very thoroughly, I have no choice but to honor yours just as thoroughly if I do not want a life-debt to you hanging over Draco's head. Which I certainly do not! Now, release me. I would prefer to continue this in the comfort of Malfoy manor."
Harry trusted Lucius to a certain extent but not that far.
"No. I'm comfortable where I am."
Lucius clenched his teeth for several long seconds before he could calm down enough to speak.
"Don't be impossible! Just the initial preparation of a believable history that you will not compromise the first time you open your mouth will take hours. Then, you will needs be available for correspondence with the agent for such things for at least several days to approve of or make adjustments to his work until it is in satisfactory condition to be made a legal reality. You must also, preferably in my company, deal personally with the goblins concerning your financial situation."
His last 'personal' dealing with the goblins flashed to the forefront of Harry's mind.
"That's a 'no' to the goblins. They aren't very happy with me. Ron and I had to break into Bellatrix's vault to get something we needed to help me kill Voldemort and we escaped using one of their dragons, who also escaped and made a big hole doing it. Then there's Gryffindor's sword. I used it to pay the goblin who helped us with the break-in, though he thought of it as returning something that belonged to the goblins anyway. Since the Sorting Hat had gotten it back somehow to give to Neville for the final battle, they may want payment for that, too. They may have already taken every knut I had. They also probably want my head on a pike. You'll need to deal with them and … " here Harry added to Lucius' punishment just a bit, "… and make up the difference for anything that you can't talk them unto returning to me."
Damn! Apoplexy looked even worse with Lucius' pale complexion than it did on Uncle Vernon. It was also a look that he had never seen on the oh-so-in-control aristocrat. Suddenly the cracks in the man's façade were extremely apparent to Harry. The massive damage that a year in Azkaban and another under Voldemort's constant malevolence had wreaked on Lucius' mind, body and spirit were unhealed ulcers behind the fragile plaster.
Okay, Harry didn't want to be a complete wanker. Who knew how much of the Malfoy fortune Lucius had left for his, Narcissa's and Draco's resettlement after Voldemort had gotten through with him.
"But, if you end up covering it, I don't need it all at once, you know. Uncle Vernon earned about £50,000 a year; about 10,000 galleons, right. I'll settle for that and half again; G15,000 to start and G15,000 a year until I have it all. Agreed?"
Lucius' coloring was quickly returning to normal.
"Those are very modest terms. Are you certain it will be sufficient?"
"Very. I intend to live cheap and stash most of it for when I finally settle down, anyway. I can figure out how to earn more along the way if I need it."
Lucius' relief and the fact that it was so easily read was almost painful to Harry. Well, damn! He was supposed to be enjoying some revenge; not feeling sorry for the bloody bastard! But Lucius' mask, smarmy condescension and all, was firmly back in place as he continued and Harry's attack of sympathy was short lived.
"Then, I agree to those terms. You know, I had heard the rumors about some sort of incident at Gringotts, something that exceedingly angered the Dar… … Him … but the truth of it seems even more unbelievable than the most over blown of those rumors. Oh, not that I doubt you. I'm just adding it to the list of such surprising things that I am discovering about you. But, back to business. You will need to give me written permission to access your account information and act as your financial agent."
Harry had Kreacher fetch quill, ink and parchment but did not write what Lucius had suggested. Life debt or not, he wasn't about to give Lucius complete control of whatever the goblins would let go of.
Lucius Malfoy has my permission to access all my financial information to forward it to me. He has my permission to make arrangements for moving all of it out of Britain but only after I have signed the final agreements.
After that has been done, he should be given no further access to my financial affairs.
Harry James Potter
Then, at Lucius' instruction, he used a spell to prick his finger and smeared a small drop of blood underneath his signature to authenticate it and held it out for Lucius to read. The man didn't argue about the restrictions.
"If the goblins view the situation as you have described it, I doubt they will part with any money until they have made every attempt possible to get a judgment for damages from the Wizengamot, which could take decades if the members don't decide to use that to punish you by turning you into a pauper immediately, rather than simply making your life miserable until they lose interest. I would wager on the later; the former being a precedent they will not care to set for their own sakes.
"However, I should be able to get an accounting of the funds they are confiscating, to finalize my debt to you, and to convince them to release any heirlooms, personal property and land holdings since the laws will not allow them to make any use whatsoever of those. I will arrange for transport and storage outside of Britain for all that, including the property deeds, until such time as you settle permanently and then a final transport when you do; at my expense, of course. I will also continue to monitor the status of the confiscated funds to mitigate my debt to you if/when there is a Wizengamot decision on the matter or the goblins finally give it up as a lost cause. After all, the rates of interest they must pay and the fees they can charge are set by law and with the accounts basically dormant their profit will be very low. That does for the money so what are your thoughts on an identity?"
Harry's instincts told him that Lucius would continue to cooperate so he had Kreacher bring them tea with all the trimmings and a comfortable chair for himself and released Lucius from the chains to the extent necessary for him to drink and eat. However, Harry very obviously handed Lucius' wand to Kreacher with instructions not to let him have it until Harry told the elf that their business was completed.
"I thought I should keep it as close to the truth as possible: an orphan; raised by an uncaring relative who didn't approve of my parents' marriage; raised basically in isolation from the wizarding world; home schooled through the O.W.L.s, my actual scores should be used; handy in the muggle world because the relative didn't think they were worth hiding me from; recently freed and made homeless, but with a small income, by the death of that relative. Oh, licensed for apparation, too. That one is important. I'll also need whatever papers they'll want to get into some school to finish studying for my N.E.W.T.s.
"I've been reading some travel guides; a little out of date but just a few years before I was born so probably better than anything more recent for this. They mentioned several muggle British expatriate settlements around the world where British wizards sometimes settle, too; own stuff like stock farms, plantations and hostels for travelers. I thought one of those might be a good place where an unwanted relative could be hidden out. Well, not a hostel but a plantation or farm. The books said that most of those are pretty isolated. The guides also said that such settlements keep things as much like Britain as possible, speak only English and such.** That would explain me not knowing a native language. The agent could choose a country with a Ministry of Magic that it will be easy to plant the documents in and I could study up on the area; maybe begin my travels there to finish up with that and keep my travel papers real from the beginning; well, that beginning, anyway.
"Oh, yeah. I've chosen the name and birth date I want and that might be hard to match to real people. So maybe the birth records should look a bit wonky, like they had been messed with to hide my real identity. So maybe I wasn't an orphan but a bastard? Or a half-blood whose wizarding parent was disowned? If you go by the Black family tapestry, a lot of that happens. How does that sound? And I'll need something, spell or potion, that will keep anyone from doing anything magical to find out who I really am unless I want to prove it myself."
Lucius reached for another scone as he smirked approvingly at Harry.
"Very inventive. Not extremely expensive to purchase. Very hard to compromise. My compliments. You are being much more realistic than most people. They tend to attempt to improve themselves, usually too far beyond their true station to be able to carry off the deception. As for protecting your true heritage, there is a spell with counter spell for that. The original spell is undetectable and the counter spell only works if cast by the same person who cast the original. It is not dark but definitely illegal and worth a stay in Azkaban if it can be proven that you have knowledge of it. Ministries do frown on such evasions. I will see that you have a copy of them and will instruct you personally in their casting, if you feel that is necessary.
"A few additions to your plans, however. First, there are spells to learn a language. Not just translation spells but actual learning spells. The reason they are not often used is that they require a time immersed in the language to be permanent. Not practical for many and quite useless for any dead language; the exception being Latin, if one can stomach an extended visit to certain muggle religious institutions."
Lucius shuddered slightly at this thought as he continued.
"Since you are planning to begin your travels in the country of choice the spell should work perfectly for you. Secondly, I suggest that you plan to use that time to also finish your studies and acquire your N.E.W.T.s there; authentic documentation to validate the forged. This also applies to an apparation license. It is simpler to take the test than to acquire a forged document. In the backwaters, your sudden appearance requesting such testing as apparation and N.E.W.T.s shouldn't cause much attention. It would not be unexpected for someone kept separated from the wizarding world to choose to approach it almost immediately after becoming free to do so and it would solidify your history beyond question as long as a total recluse is chosen for your 'relative' and you approach a wizarding enclave at some distance from the location of his/her property. Hummm, it might be best to choose a muggle or a squib, if there were a recently deceased one that fit the recluse scenario. That would suggest no documented tie to your origins at all, simply a hireling, and totally muddy any inquiry attempts."
"How would I explain my magical tutoring?"
"As provided by whomever placed you there; of whom, of course, you have absolutely no knowledge. Un mur en pierre, a stone wall; end of inquiry."
"What about the tutor's identity?"
"The tutor's identity isn't required to sit for O.W.L.s in most lesser countries. Home schooling is more the norm in such a place. If necessary, you may explain him as someone you knew only as 'Professor' who came only twice a week and discussed nothing with you other than your lessons. Just remember, while you will fare better answering any official questioners or potential employers to their satisfaction, for any others you are quite within your rights to tell them they are being obnoxiously curious and to ignore their questions.
"That brings us to your continued education for the N.E.W.T.s. A school full of curious students is the last place you would wish to be with such a cloudy heritage. I will recommend that the agent secure a personal tutor. Those whose salary depends on their discretion are much less curious."
"Before we decide on that, will I be able to afford a personal tutor's salary and living expenses on top of it on G15,000 a year? A school would give me both for the tuition."
Lucius grimaced.
"I will stand good for the cost of the tutor. It is worth the extra expense to me to be assured that you do not compromise yourself, and quite possibly the agent and therefore me as well, living with a herd of gossiping children before you have the time to become adept at your new identity. But it grows late so enough of this for now.
"By our progress so far, you have demonstrated both your recognition of the importance of developing your history as fully as possible for yourself so as to be able to deal with such questioning and the ability to do so. Now we must set the matter in motion. If you still prefer not to accompany me to the manor, we will need to decide on a method of communication and you will need to supply me with the name and birth date you have chosen so that I may pass that information on to the agent with a report of the scenario we have developed."
Harry thought this over for a moment.
"If you take my owl to the manor, can you change the wards and Fidelius so that it can enter it after that?"
"I can spell it to be allowed to find the manor right here."
Harry asked Kreacher to fetch the owl and then continued.
"First, I want to think about all this a little more and then I'll write up the scenario. Second, once you've arranged his services, I want to know the agent's name and to send the information to him and receive his answers myself. I don't want even you to know anything about my new identity." Actually Harry especially didn't want Lucius knowing anything about it.
This didn't seem to surprise or disturb Lucius in any way.
"I understand that. I would prefer you not knowing mine either. However, how then am I to deliver your money to you each year? Also, since we are using the same agent, we should have some way to warn each other should either of us experience something that might suggest that his clients might be compromised. The agent does take an unbreakable vow of secrecy but nothing is totally foolproof."
Harry thought about that for a while then instead of answering the pending question asked one of his own.
"If the agent takes a vow, do the goblins take one, too? Could someone trace where I've gone because of the shipment of the personal stuff?"
Lucius grimaced at Harry's lack of knowledge. "A vow of secrecy is included in all goblin banking contracts. All they will be able to divulge is that those vaults have been emptied and are available for new owners. They can say nothing about nature of the contents or their disbursement; neither to whom the contents were given nor to where they were shipped. Now, have you thought of a method of communication?"
"Yes. How about a pair of communicating hand mirrors? They would be the fastest way to send any warning. Then for the money, each year we can agree on somewhere for my house-elf to meet your house-elf and neither of us would need to know anything about the other's identity."
Now it was Lucius' turn to be thoughtful and, since Kreacher had returned, he spelled Harry's owl to be able to enter the manor while he was thinking.
"Yes, that would be a very suitable solution both for the future and at present, and I believe I know where such a set can be had quickly for a reasonable price. But now, even though I have found this conversation much more interesting than I had expected it to be, I wish to retire. Send the owl to me tomorrow evening and I should have arranged things so that I can send you both the agent's name and your half of the mirror set. That will free your owl for your communications with the agent unless something occurs that requires more than verbal communication between us. Now, will you please release me and return my wand?"
Harry released Lucius and was turning to Kreacher to okay the return of his wand when Lucius reached for the note to the goblins. Suddenly, Harry didn't want Lucius having access to that sample of his blood. Snatching the note from under Lucius' fingers, he folded it and reached for the ink and quill.
"I'll just send this to the goblins myself. Is there a certain one that you want it to go to?"
Lucius pinched the bridge of his nose but answered calmly.
"Senior Accounts Manager Nashtooth."
After watching Harry address the outside of the note, attach it to his owl's leg and free the owl into the night sky, Lucius stood, "May I now have my wand returned?". Then, as Kreacher handed it to him, he spoke rather more sharply, "Good evening, Potter.", and was gone.
'Well,' Harry thought, 'not a blossoming friendship but certainly a workable association. But shouldn't it bother me that just about the most pleasant conversation I've had in a long time has been with someone like him? … … Nah. It's just the proof of the pudding about all this that I've really enjoyed dealing with someone that I don't give shite about what they think about me or what I'm doing; someone that I wouldn't mind giving a right good bashing if he got shirty. It makes everything so much simpler.'
Harry had Kreacher return them to the trunk-house where he enjoyed a peaceful night's sleep, completely undisturbed by any recriminatory dreams. On the contrary, both his id and superego seemed in complete agreement about the new direction he had chosen and also in their intent to convince his conscious mind of the correctness of it with lingering memories of nocturnal fantasies of the pleasures of a life of complete anonymity.
OOOOOOOOOO
Lucius Malfoy did not have such a pleasant night. He spent the rest of it negotiation through his personal account goblin, Nashtooth, for the accounting of, release of, and transfer of all of Potter's inheritances. The only reason that he was able to do this was that the goblins had no proof that would be accepted by a wizarding court of Potter's crimes against them, as only goblins had witnessed them, and therefore couldn't legally confiscate his money; hold on to it, yes, but not do anything with it other than pay substantial interest on it and collect minimal fees negotiated long ago by the Potter patriarch of the time, until such time as the Wizengamot might consider to hear such an 'unfounded' claim. It soon became apparent that they very badly wanted acceptable proof. They wanted that proof, not to go after Potter's money, but to add to the list of Voldemort's crimes against them, properly witnessed by wizards, in order to force the Ministry of Magic, in lieu of monetary reparations, to remove or modify many of the repressive regulations they had been forced to agree to at the end of the last goblin rebellion, such as their current non-entity status with wizarding courts and more favorable banking regulations. Since the only proof unquestionably acceptable to the Wizengamot would be a wizard's testimony, they wanted Potter's confession; authenticated by his blood signature. They were willing to be very 'friendly' concerning his finances to get it.
This did not keep them from attempting to use every loophole in the current regulations to extort exorbitant fees for the accounting and transfers, especially the physical relocation of the personal property. Goblins really got their jollies from 'feeing' unwary clients into poverty as quickly as possible. Most of Lucius' time was spent in mitigating this damage to his own fortune and it ended in the goblins demanding agreements from both himself and Potter to continue doing business through the goblin banking system rather than muggle institutions in return for reasonable fees.
Then came the negotiations to (1) limit these agreements to the life spans of himself and Potter rather than encumbering their inheritors unless said inheritors chose to continue the agreements, cancellation by the goblins not an option should that be the case, (2) secure the goblins' agreement to a fixed fee schedule for all services and an interest rate to fluctuate in direct proportion to that charged on goblin loans for each fiscal quarter for the duration of the agreements, (3) negotiate the amounts of each of those fees down and the direct proportion of interest up to reasonable levels (4) contractually close all the aforementioned loopholes and, as a last thought considering the goblins intentions for renegotiation of current regulations, (5) the goblins' agreement that this contract would be binding over and above any such regulations.
It was well into the day when the owl he had sent finally returned with both business agreements, the accounting of Potter's assets and the 'confession' of Potter's crimes that was the linchpin of it all. Rather than giving Lucius some modicum of relief, the last two documents increased his already raging headache.
First, the confession required Potter to claim that, as The Chosen One, he considered himself an official representative of the Wizarding World as a whole and had committed his crimes against the Goblin Nation as a necessary requirement of his official duty to vanquish the Dark Lord Voldemort, aka Tom Riddle, Jr. Now, while the second part was accurate by the boy's own description of the event, Lucius was far from confident that he could get Potter to agree to the first. However, if he didn't and he had to stand good for the loss of the boy's inheritance, according to the accounting of it, at the reasonable rate Potter had quoted the Malfoys would be paying off the Potters for the next millennium and a half!
Oh, the Potter inheritances were only moderately generous, G750,000 in total and three pieces of property, and Black had left the boy little more than a pittance, G50,000 and two properties. However, there were thousands of bequests, from small to extremely large, recently transferred to Potter that had not named him directly but rather were directed to be paid to the one who finally destroyed the returned He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, You-Know-Who and, from a few brave ones, Voldemort. These bounties on the Dark Lord's head, most of which had surely been generated by the estates of those murdered during his rampages in both his first and second incarnations, had raised Potter's fortune by a little more than G15,000,000 in cash and investments, another G5,000,000 in real estate and an estimated G1,000,000 in personal property such as furnishings, books, jewelry, etc.; all of which were catalogued in detail. The accounting was a bloody tome that had required a feather-light spell to enable his owl to carry it!
Merlin! No wonder the goblins and given up so easily on the transfer fees and future transaction fees and interest rates to get his agreement to keep doing business with them! Their requiring the same from Lucius was probably meant as an insulting after thought. Also, there was absolutely no reason for Potter to become a fugitive. As impoverished as the war had left most of the British wizarding world, with the income he would receive from all of that the boy could buy the Ministry five times over for the rest of his life and never touch his capital! Add this level of wealth to his renown for killing the Dark Lord and the fact that, as both Lord Potter and Lord Black, he would have two voting seats on the hereditary side of the Wizengamot, he could basically own the British wizarding world.
Lucius really wasn't looking forward to attempting to explain all of this to a boy who hated his fame and thought G15,000 per year was an adequate income. As humiliating as the first had been, that it would definitely require another face-to-face was just another nail in Lucius' already throbbing temple. Having absolutely no idea in what direction this new information would make the boy jump, he spent the rest of the morning satisfying his current agreement with Potter by arranging for the "travel" agent to be awaiting contact from Potter and securing the paired communicating mirrors. It was only then that he allowed himself to seek his bed after leaving instructions that he should be awakened immediately when Potter's owl arrived.
His last thought before dropping into an exhausted sleep was to question how an orphan raised in muggle ignorance could have grown into the daemon spawn that plagued him now.
** That such expatriate settlements would exist as late as 1998 is not a very great stretch. In the muggle world, while the USA broke completely from Britain in 1776, it wasn't until the 1931 Statute of Westminister that the parliaments of Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the Union of South Africa, the Irish Free State and Newfoundland were declared legally independent of British legislative control, could nullify British laws and Britain could no longer pass laws for them without their consent. India was not legally independentent until 1947 and many of the rest of the British colonies did not become independent until the 1950s and 1960s and even later. Also, many of the previous colonies remained part of the British Commonwealth, recognizing Queen Elizabeth II as the leader of the Commonwealth and the Queen of their country. This includes Canada, Austraila and India to mention a few. For a full list .org/wiki/List_of_members_of_the_Commonwealth_of_Nations . All of these ex-colonies also have governments patterned off of the British Prime Minister/Parliament system.
Since the British wizarding world is much a copy of the British muggle world of an earilier era, one can assume that British wizarding colonies would parallel British muggle colonies of earlier eras in much the same pattern.