Wizarding Savior?
Chapter 7
Daryn stuck out his hand to Harry, "It has been a pleasure teaching you, Harry."
Harry grinned as he shook his hand, "I can never thank you enough for this."
"Yes, you can. Take that pompous prick down within your own country, so he will stop giving us headaches on the international front, and I will consider that thanks enough."
"I will do my best, and with a little luck we might even get him out of Hogwarts."
The girls all gave Daryn a hug, while Rupert shook his hand and then the five returning to Britain grabbed the Portkey, and they went spinning across the ocean. Upon arriving in Britain, Eleanor took Astoria with her to go back to the house, since it had been unoccupied for two weeks, while Rupert, Daphne, and Harry headed for Diagon Alley. Harry kept his hood up so no one would recognize him, and to hopefully avoid a confrontation with Dumbledore until the Wizengamot session.
The three of them arrived at Gringotts without incident, and asked the first available teller if Runetooth had time to meet with them. After a few moments of activity behind the counter, they were ushered to Runetooth's office, where they were greeted and asked to sit down. "What can Gringotts do for you, Lord Potter?"
Harry replied, "We would like to complete our discussion concerning my finances that was cut short, and also to inquire about how difficult it would be for Gringotts to break the block that Dumbledore placed on my magic."
Runetooth nodded, "The block will have to be removed by ritual. If you would like, we could have the ritual prepared for tomorrow."
Harry nodded, "That would be acceptable. We have a meeting with Amelia Bones at the Ministry later today, but tomorrow is free other than strategy planning for the Wizengamot session on the 15th."
Runetooth inquired, "Is it your intent to claim your votes from Dumbledore?" "It is."
"Then, you will need an official Writ of Emancipation with both the Ministry and Gringotts seals. I will have that prepared for you to pick up after your ritual tomorrow."
Rupert asked, "As to the funds that were removed from Harry's vaults without permission, what avenues to re-obtaining the funds does Gringotts have?"
Runetooth answered, "If the person removing the funds has an account with Gringotts that has the funds available, we can merely retrieve the money, and inform them after the fact. If they do not, Gringotts can bar them from doing any business with the bank until the funds are returned. Otherwise, it would be necessary to go through Ministry channels and pursue it as a trial matter before the Wizengamot."
Daphne asked, "Does Dumbledore have the funds available to retrieve?"
Runetooth consulted something on his desk and shook his head, "Dumbledore has two accounts open at Gringotts, his personal one, and another that can be accessed by a list of people that all belong to the Order. The two accounts combined have only slightly better than half of the amount owed."
Harry instructed, "Put in an order to have the funds confiscated day after tomorrow. We'll discuss the remaining amount with Amelia this afternoon."
Daphne asked, "What about the Weasleys?"
Harry shook his head, "I'm going to take that up with Arthur as a matter between two Heads of House. I have no doubt once he has been made aware of the situation that his personal honor will require him to do everything in his power to correct it."
Rupert nodded, "That would fit with my impression of Arthur. He's a fine man, he simply lets Molly get away with too much."
Harry turned back to Runetooth, "Speaking of the Weasleys, does Gringotts have a copy of the betrothal contract that Dumbledore attempted to put in place between Ginny and I?"
Runetooth nodded, "Yes, we have a copy of the document. I will have one for you tomorrow, as well."
Daphne interjected, "Well then, I guess the only thing remaining with our business here is to get our contract from the vault."
Harry sighed, "Yes, its high time you saw the contract." He turned to Runetooth again, "Could you have someone escort us to the Potter Heirloom Vault?"
Runetooth nodded and pressed a rune on his desk and another goblin came into the room, and escorted them to the track and down to the vault. Once there, the three of them fanned out and looked for the contract. Rupert found it in short order, but could not remove it, since he was not a Potter. Harry also found a pile of enchanted daggers, and strapped one to his waist to have a backup. Daphne admired the dagger, and Harry said, "Pick one for yourself, as well. There's no telling what kind of mess you'll be mixed up in at Hogwarts as my betrothed."
Daphne nodded and picked out her own dagger, and then the three of them rode back to the lobby and made for the Leaky Cauldron to Floo back to the Greengrasses. Once there, they sat down and enjoyed lunch, before Rupert and Eleanor flooed to the Ministry with Harry under his Invisibility Cloak. They had made the appointment with Amelia under the auspices of talking about the election for Minister and having Rupert's coalition vote for her. They didn't make mention of Harry or any other business, so as not to tip off Dumbledore to Harry's whereabouts.
Rupert and Eleanor were admitted to Amelia'a office, while making sure to hold the door open long enough for Harry to slip in. Once they were seated, Amelia began, "Lord Greengrass, I was pleased when you contacted me to offer your support for my bid for Minister. However, I am somewhat confused as to why, since the vote of No Confidence failed, and with Dumbledore supporting Cornelius, it seems likely to fail at the next session as well."
Rupert smiled, "That would be because you aren't aware of certain events that will curtail Dumbledore's influence. I apologize for deceiving you about the reason for our meeting, but I had to make sure that Dumbledore would not look to closely into our comings and goings."
"Why is that?"
"That will be revealed shortly, but I must ask you to contain yourself, because the three of us are not alone, and we don't need anyone else to know about our guest," answered Rupert.
Amelia had her wand drawn and pointed at Rupert in the blink of an eye. He raised his hands, "I know it is unorthodox to sneak someone into a meeting, but this was necessary, as you will see when their identity is revealed. Harry, if you will."
Harry pulled the invisibility cloak off of himself, and took one of the other chairs in the room, "Madam Bones, I ask your forgiveness for startling you, but I needed to stay below Dumbledore's radar."
Amelia relaxed, although she kept her wand in her hand, "Why is that, Mr. Potter? I have always been under the impression that you were a Dumbledore supporter."
Harry nodded, "I was until he got my godfather killed with his stupidity, and then I discovered that he had Obliviated certain knowledge from me."
"What knowledge was that?"
Eleanor answered her, "Harry had the knowledge that he was a lord removed from his mind, so that he wouldn't interfere with Dumbledore controlling his votes. Also, there is an old betrothal contract between House Greengrass and House Potter that has never been executed. The goblins made Harry aware of it, and Dumbledore also obliviated that knowledge from him."
Amelia sat back, "Such accusations would undoubtedly do damage to Dumbledore's reputation, but I don't think they would change anything in the Wizengamot, since Memory Charms are almost impossible detect after a couple of days. Thus, making it impossible to prove such an accusation."
Harry chuckled, "While that is true, it is simply what set the stage for our current maneuvering. The fact that I was emancipated by my guardian and it has been recognized by the Ministry allows me to claim all three of Dumbledore's votes. According to what Rupert told me of the last vote of No Confidence, that should be enough to tip the scales."
Amelia looked shocked, "What guardian, and what do you mean that the Ministry recognized it?"
"Sirius Black was my magical guardian, not Dumbledore as he claimed to be. Sirius' will emancipated me."
Amelia interrupted, "That could be problematic, then. Since Sirius was a convicted criminal, the Ministry won't recognize his will or the emancipation."
Rupert coughed, "Amelia, I realize you weren't a member of the Wizengamot at the time, so you may be unaware, but Sirius Black was never given a trial, thus they have no basis to ignore his will. Not to mention, the Ministry has already recognized Harry as an adult, since he was given a trial before a full tribunal of the Wizengamot. Also, he was forced to participate in the Tri-Wizard tournament, which I have since researched and before implementing the tournament, the Ministry did change the underlying contract to state that adulthood was a condition of participation. So, that makes twice that the Ministry has recognized Harry as an adult. The goblins have already filed the emancipation quietly, and the records department didn't make a fuss, which means the magic of the documents was binding."
Amelia smiled, "As long as Harry shows up with a Writ of Emancipation to the Wizengamot meeting, no one will be able to stop him from taking his seats."
Harry nodded, "That is one of the things we wanted to talk to you about. We think that it will carry more weight for you to introduce me at the session than Rupert, since it will quickly become known that I am betrothed to his daughter Daphne."
"I would be happy too. However, even taking those three votes from Dumbledore may not be enough to get me elected Minister. Rufus has a strong following as the son of Lord Scrimgeor, and Diggory will have a lot of popular support."
Eleanor grinned, "That is why we want you to allow Harry to be your designated speaker prior to the election. The Boy-Who-Lived publicly decrying Dumbledore combined with him offering support to you will sway a large number of the undecided neutrals to your camp. Rupert's block will support you, and we can hopefully pull a few of Dumbledore's supporters into the middle. Worst case scenario would see Rufus into the top spot, but we think that you should be able to pull off the votes."
Amelia sighed, "I can't say I like it, but it seems our best shot. I wish we had something more to push favor into my column, but we work with what we have." Harry laughed delightedly, "I'm assuming that putting one of Dumbledore's teachers and trusted confidant's on trial prior to calling for a vote of No Confidence would put a damper on him."
"Who, and for what?"
"Snape. Mind rape of the Boy-Who-Lived."
Amelia's eyes darkened, "When did he do this?"
"For several months after the Christmas holidays last term. He was supposed to be giving me Occlumency lessons, but used them as an excuse to abuse me. I figure bringing him up on those charges should be enough to have him actually tried for his Death Eater activities rather than having it swept under a rug, because Dumbledore said he was a spy."
Amelia nodded, "That would severely damage Dumbledore. It might just be enough to make a push at having him removed as Chief Warlock."
Rupert shook his head, "We need to wait until the August session to try that. If we try to go too far too fast, we will make a very loud thud when we fall. We're planning on contacting Madame Longbottom, to bring up conduct issues for Snape at the next Board of Governors meeting. We're hoping that giving Dumbledore a month to prove all the accusations against him correct as he attempts to regain control of Harry, and Hogwart's dirty laundry being aired will be enough of a stain on his reputation to have him removed by then."
Harry continued, "Also, we intend to serve him with a Writ of Recovery tomorrow, as he had money removed from the Potter vaults that he wasn't authorized to remove."
Amelia shook her head, "That won't work. The Ministry had him named your magical guardian. He would have been allowed to get small amounts of money for your upkeep."
"He took a million galleons as one shot, and put it into an account to run the Order of the Phoenix. That hardly qualifies as my upkeep. In addition, he used his position as Chief Warlock to have my parents' will sealed, which would have precluded the Ministry's ability to have him declared my guardian in the first place."
Amelia nodded, "Well, the Wizengamot session is day after tomorrow, what do you have planned in the meantime?"
Harry responded, "I have to go to Gringott's in the morning to have the block that Dumbledore placed on my core removed, while Rupert is going to spend the morning softening up some other votes."
Amelia sucked in a breath at Harry's mention of a blocked core, "Have Gringotts swear out paperwork with their seal on it about removing the block. That will be a serious blow to Dumbldore."
Rupert looked quizzical, "I'm confused as to how that could present a problem for him. Blocking someone's magic when they are young is permissible."
Amelia shook her head, "I know, but that is only under certain circumstances. The first being parental permission, which he did not have, the second being that it is registered with the Ministry, which it is not, and the third being that the block is removed upon the recipients 11th birthday in order to record an accurate HMI, which it was obviously not."
Harry nodded, "Cool, just one more nail in the old man's coffin. I'm certainly going to enjoy seeing the look on his face when he realizes I'm taking some of his power away."
After that the meeting broke up, and the Greengrasses headed home, where Harry flooed Neville and set up the meeting with his grandmother the next afternoon, warning him to be quiet about the fact that Harry had been in contact with him.
