The Dissonance and The Plots

I thank all you favouriteers, followers and readers. This story has crossed 60000 readers, surpassing Prophetic Intervention, after the previous chapter, at the time of writing. And thank you to the reviewers as usual: alix33, Grime'SS, mwinter1, frankieu, I Am a Lousy Writer, Guest, RRW, Navn Ukjent, mooneysfate, Penny is wise, josht1987, Ruth Hammond, and Darksnider05.

Also, why is Dumbledore actually being proactive? His profession and his secondary career as one of the Most Powerful people in England clashed, initially, before Harry's activities brought him out of his slumber. This Dumbledore is modelled half on canon and half on Harmonious' fabled guide during his time as an engineering student, a woman who apparently walked two steps for every one that her students did.

There will be disagreements and each of the people having their own plans.

This is a bridge to the major confrontation that shall now brew.

Just because he wanted the decision to be made for him did not mean that Cornelius Fudge would not accept being lorded over and choose to play a waiting game. He, being in power, did understand some of the intricacies. Then again as the son of a pureblood family, he did know well enough that while making deals, places were of great importance. Every dog was the king of its own territory. And somehow, the Ministry was turning into Cornelius' territory, in spite of the fact that in a way it should have always been.

So, when Lucius Malfoy asked for an audience, Cornelius very cordially invited him for tea in his office, instead of accepting the invitation to visit him at the Golden Prey, one of magical Britain's premier restaurants, of which Lucius was a regular patron and in which he was probably also a stakeholder.

This was essentially an initial overture towards eventually choosing a side, and both men knew that, and Cornelius was nothing if not determined for the choice to be on his terms, no matter which side he chose. The courtesy extended was essentially because of their previous good relations, which were nominally still preserved. A lot would hinge on the coming meeting. For the first time in years, Cornelius would be facing his benefactor on an equal footing.

"Good evening, Cornelius," Lucius silkily intoned as he strode into the room in an uncharacteristically, and remarkably, less aristocratic manner than he usually employed, before removing his gloves and offering his hand to shake. He stood rigidly a foot from the nearest chair.

"Lucius," Cornelius replied with a spirited attempt at a pleasant smile which did not come off as a simpering one only because of the stark facial dissimilarity between the man and his former Undersecretary. "Please, please do have a seat. You have never stood to such formality before."

And indeed the statement with ambiguous intent was nevertheless factually true. Lucius was not sure whether Cornelius had aimed it as a barb to subtly remind the man of the fact that his previous act of disrespect wasn't forgotten and a ledger of previous such incidents was always being updated in Cornelius' mind, or as just a friendly overture, given that the Minister was prone to thinking of Lucius as a friend. He chose to only nod stiffly and without comment before taking the seat. If Cornelius had a ledger, then so did Lucius. And this ignominy of having to eat humble pie and apologise to his puppet was burnt into it with fiery letters. It would cost Fudge eventually, and Lucius would ensure that. Among his many flaws that Lucius considered to be assets, pride was among the top five at the very least.

"What can I do for you today, Lucius?"

"I beg merely for your audience today, Cornelius, nothing more, nothing less."

Cornelius simply nodded with a small smile that seemed pleasant but in truth was anything but playing on his face. He was actually trying to not sigh internally. Another new restrictive plan against muggleborns, he thought, wondering whether the idea was a pastime of his benefactor's when he wasn't plotting to employ all available means to prove his superiority. It wasn't that he didn't agree, but there were times when having caviar for every day of one's life was utterly boring and the crunch of fish and chips would become a welcome change.

"Cornelius, you have known me for quite some time. As with my father you know that I detest failure in every way it is possible to detest it."

"Indeed. Many have commented upon the similarity, just as many have commented upon your father being a sore loser. It was one of his many traits that made him as successful as he was, and therefore certainly not a negative one."

"That he was. However, and here, even if you don't agree, I must say that this trait which enabled him for success did make him prone to venting upon those close to him in friendship or alliance. It is unfortunately another trait that I seem to have inherited.

"I have been reflecting upon my actions and my harsh behaviour and words during our last meeting. It was, in the most honest, and believe me, apologetic terms that I can muster, stupid. I should have realised that we had been outplayed, and taken it into stride instead of holding you solely responsible. I was, simply put, wrong. Please accept my apologies."

In other words, Lucius did hold Cornelius responsible. The collective ownership of the failure as spelled out by the pronouns was also not missed. That said though, the apology was welcome and it brought Cornelius' guard slightly down for but a moment before an uncomfortable thought arrested the pleased expression on his face. It was only for a split instant, but it showed on the Minister's face, telling his visitor that Malfoy once more had the Minister in the bag.

It was however, still a bit uncomfortable for Cornelius. Obviously, since it came so close on the heels of Harry's apology, he knew there were other people close to Lucius in his office. It was uncomfortable to note that he had people around him planted by someone he considered a friend; people who could topple him if the friend had enough of their friendship.

It was however, not opportune enough for Lucius to unveil and, as usual, force his newest plan down Cornelius, in the hope that his generous donations would ensure Ministerial Policy Support and ease it down the Minister's throat.

But he would get there. And, he would get there within the week. He was Lucius Malfoy, after all. He was the one man in magical Britain who had his finger on its pulse. Or one of two, he thought as doubt crept into his mind, a doubt which he did not allow to adorn his face.

And it was the reason why he needed things done within an accelerated time frame. He had others to visit that day, others with whom he would lay the groundwork for his plans. And by Salazar would he do it. He had tasted defeat once, but Lucius excelled in making others lick their own wounds. They had drawn first blood. He would slaughter these unknown 'them'.

After all there was only power.

Sirius had never thought that collecting and compiling information was such serious work. There were so many things to be vigilant about. There were so many hoops one had to jump through. There were so many questions one had to ask. And that was without mentioning the fact about the many boxes of vagueness and connecting the abstract that had to be connected. And if that wasn't enough, the information had to be properly structured to ensure that it could be easily referenced as and when required.

Thankfully, for making this kind of a dossier, for want of a better term, they now had a basic template. Harry's initial attempts were amateurishly laudable, but the need for better organisation was glaringly obvious. It was another thing that Dumbledore had pointed out. So, for the first time, the Headmaster had set his young pupil an unofficial task.

Harry would randomly be struck by a few bolts of inspiration in the form of questions which he would try to get the answers to. He was required to write them all down, check for redundancies, and prepare a questionnaire that would cater to at least seventy five percent of all required information, directly. The rest he had to ask enough to get just enough information to be able to weed out what was necessary. And he had a question limit of eighteen questions which was two less than the Wizengamot Public Office's limit of twenty and seven less than the limit available to members (with practically no information restriction officially), twenty five.

Then Dumbledore, Sirius and Remus sat together and helped the boy refine the questions, after they were approved by the Headmaster as being sufficiently exhaustive. The teacher-taskmaster in Dumbledore was spurred back to activity by the active interest of his student. And unknown to the other three, what Harry was doing was – if he was successful – incredibly important for when Voldemort would return that it eased some of the man's worries. Harry had started on the path, and now it was up to him to be the guide.

It was two weeks after that first Saturday of February as they hurtled towards spring that Sirius came through with the answers to the questions. Dumbledore had sanctioned the replies in record time and could have given directly through his powers of office as the Chief Warlock. But it wouldn't help Harry learn nor would it have familiarised Sirius with what he was supposed to do as the Head of Black in the Wizengamot. There really wasn't enough time to hold their hand and teach them to walk. They had to be thrown into the deep end of the pool.

"This is very interesting," commented Remus as he read through the dossier. They were all written on paper and the pages were spirally-bound into colour-coded booklets. "It is very interesting to see the dynamics of that alliance. These are the people who have had a hand in each of the major legislations that have been passed since 1981."

And indeed they were.

The group consisting of Demetrius Nott, Grant Gibbon, Gareth Selwyn, Sol Jugson, Lucius Malfoy, Marian Mulciber, Corban Yaxley and Hugo Parkinson were considered the leaders of the pureblood extremist faction which at the time ruled magical Britain through the shadows and under the white garb of lawmaking. Of these eight, a veritable Injustice League of its own, Lucius Malfoy, Hugo Parkinson and Corban Yaxley had no place in the august body that was the Wizengamot. However, each had something that they brought to the table, in terms of contacts, money, ruthlessness, utter cleverness, academia, blackmail material, knowledge of the dark arts, even cruelty and such, making the group nigh on unbeatable.

It made them practically symbiotically dependent on each other in their quest to protect their way of life.

And then there was the fact that they were so defiantly unified in their approach to the Wizengamot, that it was impossible to find any chink in their armour.

"What is causing you to smile?" Sirius asked suspiciously. He couldn't for the life of him understand what there was to smile about in this frustrating document that he had ended up compiling that told them that the group was seemingly insurmountably strong.

"I wondered, actually," Harry said after shaking his head at the book. "I did think that getting Umbridge was too easy and then so was your freedom. Crouch was nailed by his own deeds. I kept thinking that the luck which led to me finding what I did find till now had to run out eventually."

"That smile was more than that," Sirius accused.

"I don't understand what you are saying."

Sirius looked torn for a moment between wanting to demand an answer, and obeying Dumbledore's immediate headshake, as well as the obvious inference from his godson's tone that suggested that there was nothing he tried would yield an answer as Harry himself wasn't sure about it at the moment. So he finally settled for, "Just promise me that you will not do anything rash and keep me in the bloody loop when you are sure."

"I promise, Sirius. If there is any light to be seen in this deep mine, I obviously will tell you. Who else would I tell first?"

Both missed Remus and Dumbledore smiling, pleased, at that pronouncement.

"Coming back to the dossier, Harry, what did you read into it?"

"I didn't read anything important. We know that they work together and that, curiously, even with the alliance strictures, there has never, ever been a single dissent against the majority vote by any of the five Wizengamot or abstention like the time Malfoy had to do with the Black vote at Sirius' trial."

"And what about the legislations themselves?" asked Dumbledore.

"I don't know enough," Harry freely admitted. "Assuming the best, all of the legislations emanate from a bigoted mindset or selfish reasons, each will have clauses upon clauses and I am not deluded enough to think that it would be easy, if at all to find a way around them."

"No, I don't think you would," agreed Remus. "We would have had words if you'd thought of that. I doubt either James or Lily would want you to throw away what seems to be your newfound inspiration towards better academic performance. I would have also thought you were being stupid and talking of things you couldn't follow up on."

Harry tried not to feel mulish about that.

"So what do you think can be done?" Sirius asked, doggedly pursuing his self-assigned task of drawing out the answers.

"We have to find more information about them," Harry replied evasively.

"How and what can we ask now? Dumbledore agreed that these were the most exhaustive questions that would address all matters."

"Sirius, I am just a teenager. Just because I was lucky enough to find some discrepancies before, doesn't mean that I can actually do such things regularly on demand," Harry chid with a touch of condescension. Then he added, "Moreover, we haven't seen anything now. I am sure something may now be found now that you are free and therefore have ample time. It was only fortuitous that we had a start. Don't you perhaps think that maybe what happened was just a flash in the pan and expecting too much from me?"

None of the others could exactly say much. Harry was distancing himself visibly from the whole matter for some reason. This could mean two things. He was having cold feet. Or, he had some sort of a plan cooking in his head which he wanted to protect from external interference, including them. Either way, there would be no coercing him to reveal it.

"I am actually pleased that you have decided to step back for a bit," Dumbledore finally said in faint agreement. "Forgive me for this, but I wanted you to learn the fact that sometimes visibly doing everything is not the right thing to do. I may have set you up for failure here."

"What do you mean?" demanded Remus slightly harshly.

"What I mean to say is that at the moment, there are no matters of life and death as there were with Sirius' freedom. I intended for Harry to experience losses in controlled conditions. Better he learn how and what leads to losses than having to lose when actually facing the Wizengamot, even if through Sirius. After all, somehow, we have found ourselves in a situation where we are imparting experience to him. Positive experiences can teach only so much."

"But you set him up..."

"...to fail. Yes I did. Would you rather prefer that Sirius is trounced by them when eventually Harry does – and I do believe he will quite contrary to his fears of the time till now being down to plain luck and circumstances – bring something important up? Better that he keep losing now to me, under controlled situations, learning how he can be deceived, how he can be caught out, than to them. They shall not teach him. I intend to. This is just the start."

"Oh."

"There is something else, actually," Harry softly added. He really wasn't prepared to see his three adult role models having a go at each other. "Doing anything now is dangerous."

"What do you mean?"

"If we ever did get enough to bring them down in some way, and used the information now, we would risk pushing them into a corner. And let's face it. We have learnt that they are like the Hydra. If we bring one down, they will retaliate, and if Voldemort returns yet, it will make the person leading the retaliatory efforts further in his favour, giving each of them enough impetus to strike. And at the moment, the Minister is still very malleable."

"Yes. This is a good summation of another thing that I wanted you to understand. This is like chess Sirius. You have to let them play their moves. There is never a truly one-sided game."

Sirius nodded unhappily. He just wanted to be shot of Malfoy and he was looking at this as something that would just happen and he would just be the face but not be anything more than that. He was not yet at the stage where he was willing to deal with anything more than whatever he was directed to deal with and playing a waiting game was sure to drive him out of his mind.

It was a session of discord in most manners as it was obvious that neither Sirius nor Remus was especially happy with the Headmaster, and Harry seemed apathetic and uninterested, leading Dumbledore to cut it short. Sometimes, things just didn't come off right, in spite of starting off well.

"Harry, you said you needed something else. Please tell me. I will find and get it for you. Just tell me okay!" Sirius beseeched. "Let me tell you why. I want Malfoy out of the way. And I have, since your birth, and since being named your godfather, thought of you like a son, if it means anything to you, including naming you as my heir. But I would bet my life on him doing something untoward, ranging from bringing up legislations to shackle me to outright killing either of us, and I really don't want that. And I still can't do this by myself because, let's face it, I detest thinking this way and I ran away from it. And all this isn't easy for me to suddenly be able to do."

Harry was, of course, touched that Sirius had named him his heir, but that was a very flimsy materialistic motivation. More important was the fact that Sirius thought of him as his son. His motivation to bring down Malfoy was far more personal – he had taken the fall for Malfoy's murderous ways. He wouldn't let that rest before Malfoy was lower than dirt in the eyes of both his supporters and his enemies. Then again, Malfoy had wielded the Black votes in a way that made the task of giving the House a new face and underlining its true Head's views an uphill task. For both of them, he was willing to make life hell for Malfoy, all the while being willing to be seen shaking his hand.

And yet, he couldn't reveal much to either of his two surviving 'uncles'. He still didn't know how much he could trust these two with where the Headmaster was concerned, though, and he knew that the old man would never go for this way. Indeed, it was his first intended deviation from Dumbledore's passive methods. Yet, he had to take a chance, someday.

"Sirius, I am very touched that you think of me as a son..."

"Of course I do!"

"So, if I asked you, would you keep some things from Dumbledore? Would either of you do that?"

Sirius considered it for a moment. "I cannot do that without good reason," he honestly answered. "Dumbledore is the person on whom most of the responsibilities lie, and I believe that to protect you as I must, I will have to at least keep him in the loop. I do not believe myself strong enough or capable enough at the moment, and I would rather have Dumbledore as a crutch than not be cautious enough."

"Even if it leads to him obstructing us?" asked Harry.

"Yes."

Sirius, Harry decided was being as honest as he could possibly be. That was something to appreciate. So he proposed a compromise. "Can you keep things a secret from him until there is a fully fleshed-out solution?"

"That...yes," Sirius grudgingly conceded after a moment. "Look Harry, maybe a year or two down the road, I will probably have enough of my brains straight to think straight and judge the merits of what you want to say or do. At the moment, I am outsourcing my thinking."

"Alright, that's alright. I understand."

"So, do you have something that isn't fleshed out at the moment?"

"I do, actually," Harry admitted after surveying Sirius closely. He brought out his tied parchment pieces. "This information, when taken in conjunction with the answers to the questions I asked the Wizengamot, makes more sense. These are the criminal procedure records of all trials of Death Eaters, as well as family trees of each of the Death Eaters."

"Why would you want to find out how they got off the hook?"

"Why not?" countered Harry. "You saw who the inner circle comprises of. What I asked for told me who the platoons of the inner circle comprise of. And it gave me a place to start."

"But those questions weren't part of..."

"Obviously not," Harry replied. "I couldn't see how understanding their politics would help in bringing them down. I don't want them beaten like Dumbledore does, I want them destroyed. They were accomplices of the man who murdered my parents!"

Sirius looked at him wide-eyed. "Really?" He had not accounted for revenge being a minor but not infinitesimally minute consideration.

"Obviously yes! So look at it that way. All passed judgements are put into the public domain after five years for public access, which is the time period for the four successive appeals allowed, each with a period of at least six months between the last judgement and the next appeal. The last judgement was passed in 1987. Now we know who voted and in what way, who saved whom, who sacrificed whom, and who was saved later by the appellate process."

"Let me see what you've got," Sirius conceded as he sat beside Harry on a bench in the courtyard.

Having learnt from Dumbledore's verbal lesson, he had separated his new findings from the other things he had jotted down. Sirius was invested in Dumbledore's policies. Harry didn't care about politics as much as ensuring that the eight, undoubtedly criminals, were brought down, or at least completely neutralised. It was why it was important to find the lines which would be the beginnings of fissures between them.

For that, while knowing about what they were trying to do to benefit their businesses was important, it was even more important to decipher their organisational structure. Those free were their foot soldiers in their more shady deals and also their henchmen. Crucially, knowing as they did that the Dark Lord would not be gone for long, they were also involved in a fierce competition to prove their worth as being better than all the others. After all, the bounty for the winner was a place by the Dark Lord's side, albeit lower, obviously, and more importantly, protection for their House from the Dark Lord's wrath. It was likely to be competition among the eight to find who came out with his family and underlings intact.

The public release gave a list, as Harry had said. It also told of possible alliances. Goyle and Crabbe were both the sons-in-law of Gibbon. They were released when Malfoy testified that they were at marked at the same meeting where he had been, also held under the Imperius, just moments before he himself was. Three months later, Malfoy had taken up the position of Regent of the House of Black, and the two hulks were his henchmen. Essentially there had been a trade of sorts.

In this position, it was not inconceivable to think that there might be an attempt to eliminate opposition. And they really had not discriminated by age or by blood while killing, had the Death Eaters.

Of the eight, five had children in Hogwarts. Sol Jugson's daughter was to attempt her OWLs later that year. Gibbon's grandson Victor Gibbon was in the fourth year as were two more of his grandsons the younger Crabbe and Goyle, who along with Nott's and Malfoy's son and Parkinson's daughter were all in the same year as Harry. Chrysanthemum Rosier, Jugson's niece, was now in the second year, and a firstie the year before.

"Are you trying to suggest...?"

"I am suggesting nothing," Harry replied with a tone of finality. "This is what I have found. I haven't thought of what I want to do with this, I don't know what to do with this. All I know is that this is important, just like the facts that there was nothing about how you pled in court or that Crouch Jr. died suspiciously fast in Azkaban were. It is a hunch, nothing more. What the supposed failure has told me is that their side is very strongly unified – suspiciously so, almost as if they are one entity. Who knows how many cracks they have papered over?"

Sirius just accepted it. He made his own decision as he took his leave. Harry needed his support, and for that, he had to step up his game faster than he could on his own. He had failed his godson before. He wouldn't again, now.

As it was, like all politicians around the world playing the game, and detested by those who always started with better intentions – people who were more often than not quickly lost to the inherent murkiness themselves – Malfoy was working along similar lines to prove Sirius' fears right.

"Are you going to build it up to it, though?" Gibbon asked.

"Oh, I promise you I am. I have got a reporter at the Prophet on my payroll. A little excessive respect for Black, and her words twisting just enough to ensure that he starts fitting the bill in the minds of everyone around him, but not enough to make a fool of all those who voted for his freedom, and we will be able to successfully keep Potter and Black from being associated legally or publically. It will be down to a matter of chance, but Black is unlikely to catch the matters in time."

"And if whoever is helping him does catch up on it?"

"Then we shall know, shan't we? I think it might be Longbottom. There was a trade there, Gibbon – Black's freedom for the Lestranges and Crouch. And since they went for the overkill, they managed to bring in those that wanted a measure of revenge against Dolohov and Rookwood."

"What do you hope to achieve?"

"At the very least, it should force Black to back off from Lestranges' vault. At the very best, the Ministry will be forced to avoid giving Black the custody of Potter and keeping them apart legally. You know as well as I, that as Potter's closest living magical relative, the Ministry will be obligated to hand over the custody of Potter to Black, should he request it."

"On a false premise?" asked Nott sceptically.

"It is all about perception and how fast Black moves against the perception, my friends. He won't pay attention to the papers if we blindside him with the legislation. Even if the legislation fails, then Black still will have dedicated more time towards putting it down, instead of correcting the Prophet, thereby making the Ministry seem foolish about releasing a murderer as he will become in the eyes of the people again, curbing Cornelius' newfound independent streak. It will be necessary to keep up an offensive onslaught of the articles. With that, if Black still takes over the Lestrange vaults, it will be a massive publicity faux pas for him."

"Essentially, you intend to give him too many fires to douse and make him prioritise, and in whichever way possible, marginalise him from the scene for the time being, delaying him from actually taking control of things."

"Yes."

"I would suggest that the reasons be very vague and broad. The more restrictive the nature of the clauses in this legislation, the wider is the path to circumvent the clauses," reasoned Selwyn. "It should be a failsafe. Should there be an attempt to circumvent this legislation – assuming we manage to get it to pass to start with – they should tread upon their own feet while doing so. And it could further be worded to ensure that it needn't necessarily be a false premise."

"And how would you word it then?"

"That shall depend on the remuneration for my services, would it not, Malfoy?"

There was a long silence, before Jugson said, "I propose an eight-way share of the Lestranges' vault if we succeed in keeping Black's paws of the Lestrange wealth. And we get to choose what we keep. Incrementally, if the legislation is passed, then Selwyn gets two and a half percent from each of us, and as Malfoy stands to gain the most, he pays twice of that."

"Agreed," Lucius responded. He would just rescue the Dark Lord's gift before the others could be invited. After the debacle with the diary, it was the most important thing he wanted to rescue from the Lestrange vaults. It was his insurance policy, and while he had lost his most important offerings to the Dark Lord, as the Lestranges had been initiated by his father, assuming the guardianship of the Dark Lord's gift fearing that Black would get to the vault would go a long way towards keeping the Dark Lord's ire to a minimum. The best thing was that the others wouldn't know. It was, after all, technically not the Lestranges' possession.

He really liked it when things moved according to his plans.