Chapter Fifty-Two – Montaigne Defrocked

The next morning we all set off for Harry's office to get our credentials for admittance to the courtroom. Percy gave us passes, but told us that this time we were definitely among the potential witnesses, so each of us, except Bill the auror, would have to remain in Harry's office until either we gave our testimony or the lawyers decided that we would not be called as witnesses. Bill was to be the first witness, leaving Barb to guard us. Percy warned Harry that the court would likely save him and Cissy for last, since their testimony would relate to both Lord Montaigne's actions and his decision to make them trainee Keepers. They also likely would be judged on their fitness to replace Lord Montaigne as Keeper. Percy didn't think the court would get to them until late afternoon.

As we had time to wait, Harry asked Percy, "By the way Percy, have you made any progress on my question of how we should go about trying to destroy a fledgling ghost?"

"Sorry, Sir, with the press of other business, I've done nothing on that matter. It really is outside my area of expertise. The person you should be talking to is Director Shacklebolt. I'll check and see if he's available to talk to you today."

Percy returned fairly quickly with Shacklebolt, but George was called away to testify before he got back. "The Voldemort ghost is a loose end that has been bothering me as well," Shacklebolt said to explain his quick arrival. "I'd like a chance to get to the bottom of that and kill the thing.

"I'm also unexpectedly free this morning, since the Minister is presiding over the Wizengamot. I can't promise you a sure-fire way to quickly dispatch a ghost. I can tell you that they require a source of energy to sustain themselves. That's why Hogwarts has so many very active ghosts. The Hogwarts ghosts harvest the magical energy concentrated there as well as the mental energy of the students. A ghost can also stabilize itself by anchoring its remaining portion of soul and some of what energy it has in something physical, either an object or a living thing. It's the same principle as the Voldemort horcruxes. In the case of the Voldemort ghost, the object may even be a horcrux which we haven't discovered. Your reports of the ghost show it waxing and waning in strength. That tells me both that it isn't yet strong enough to be a fully-fledged ghost, nor is it as durable as one. It should therefore be easier to destroy. The change may have to do with the presence of Wizards in its immediate proximity, which I assume is still Slytherin."

"Yes," Harry replied. "There were reports of it being in the pipes, but that wasn't proven. It has not been observed outside of Slytherin. The waxing and waning was noted while just Draco and Pansy were staying in Slytherin, although it did consistently strengthen when other protectors slept in Slytherin. It was at its worst the night all of us slept there to help."

"So you might still have a small piece of Voldemort in your head, Harry, that's a possibility we can't discount, since the ghost gets stronger when you're present."

"But I was only there that one time and the ghost strengthened other times when Professor McGonagall sent others to guard the Slytherins. It may just strengthen when it has more minds to feed off."

"Maybe. Who were the other protectors who were present?"

"Initially I think it was Professor Slughorn and Hagrid, but then Professor Slughorn left the school."

"So I think you need to consider that Hagrid somehow is a source of strength to the ghost, either because the ghost is more successful in feeding off of a half-giant, or because Hagrid is at least a partial horcrux.

"The first thing that I recommend is that you keep Hagrid away from Slytherin and the ghost. The second is that all of you, plus Draco and Pansy, use what you remember about when the ghost strengthened and when it weakened to test my theory about Hagrid. Let me know what you decide.

"In the meantime, I think you are doing the correct thing in removing Draco and Pansy from Slytherin. That gives the ghost two fewer sources of energy. I think one thing that would kill it for sure is if we could capture it and isolate it away from the Hogwarts concentrated magical force lines and from any sentient beings, especially any magical beings. I haven't come up with a plan for capturing and transporting the ghost at present, but I'll keep working on it and you can do your own research.

"Given what you say, I'm surprised the ghost hasn't left Slythern. Did you seal the pipes? It's possible that the level of background magical energy is so high at Hogwarts that the ghost can survive in some sort of hibernation, without magical beings in close proximity. If not, it will have to leave Slytherin when it needs to feed. That may take some time. All of Hogwarts ghosts survive the summer, with all of the students away from school."

"I can certainly take on that research," Hermione volunteered. "I've finished my research on the original Gryffindor and Peverell Houses of Hogwarts and have also finished my draft of the Elven Rights bill. I had hoped to review it with the Minister, today, but I think he'll be tied up all day." Bill returned and told Barb that she was next to testify.

"I'd be happy to take a look at your draft and make suggestions," Shacklebolt suggested. "I do have some experience from my time as Minister in presenting things to the Wizengamot in a way that they are most likely to accept them."

"Thank you, I'd appreciate that," Hermione replied, handing her papers to Kingsley.

"By the way, Harry," Director Shacklebolt asked, "how are you getting along with Bill and Barb? Are they treating you well, keeping your confidences, doing what is necessary to keep you safe, and not being overly intrusive?"

"Yes, they've been great, really helpful and no bother at all," Harry replied. It was a true statement, but Harry could hardly say otherwise with Bill and Barb standing right there.

"That's wonderful," Shacklebolt replied. "Then stop trying to duck them, it's their job to always be with you. They need you to tell them in advance where you're going, what dangers you might face, and the purpose for going - at least the general purpose. That is, they need to know when you're going adventuring or ducking off to see dangerous people like Lord Montaigne or the Goblin King. Yes, the King is dangerous, and, no, Montaigne can't just order you to leave Bill behind. The Minister wants a heads-up on your plans to avoid embarrassment and to be able to help you avoid doing something stupid. Bill, Barb, and I need a heads-up to keep you alive. We'll get along well if you try harder to follow the rules. I got one black mark for almost getting myself killed, I don't want another for getting you or the Minister's children killed. If all of you don't play a little nicer, I'll have to assign more aurors to protect you. You won't like that and I have better things for them to do."

"I'm sorry," Harry replied. "I guess I'm still in the old habits of acting alone. We'll do better.

"Fine, enough said. I'll keep working on your ghost.

"Oh, by the way, I think you are right to be more concerned with the mystery of my second favorite restaurant than Arthur is. I know he shut you down when you first raised the issue. Have you tried to talk to him about it since then. It's fine that you and I are involved, but I think that mystery relates to the Minister's seal and we really do need to find that thing."

"Why is it so important, I asked. You and Thicknesse got along fine without it."

"Not so fine, which is partly why I hid out on my Muggle friend's estate as much as I did. Believe me, it was not just my appreciation for his sherry and fresh vegetables, which sent me there. The Ministry Building magical defenses cannot be updated in a substantial way without the seal. Thicknesse made tweaks and Arthur and I made tweaks, but that is a slow process without the seal. The core of the defenses are as Scrimgouer left them. That means that Thicknesse understands them far better than is good for our safety. Normally, each new minister makes major changes as protection against the prior incumbent and his friends. We've changed some alarm spells and layered on some additional ones, but we're not nearly as safe as I'd like to be."

"I didn't realize that this was nearly that serious a matter," Harry admitted. "I have made an effort to raise the issue with the Minister, but he brushed me off. I think it reminds him too much of Ginny and me at 10101."

"Try harder! Arthur needs to face this. Fudge has spent time in Edinburgh and so did Thicknesse. I'm not saying either of them owned a townhouse in that crescent, but I haven't been any more successful in identifying all the owners than you have. I'm thinking that Arthur should approve a group of us spending a weekend at 10101 and getting in a full ration of snooping. There's no need for Ginny to come along, so Arthur shouldn't be too upset."

"I can room with Hermione," I declared, "although I think Dad is being very silly about the whole thing. Hermione and I have done a lot of research and can be a lot of help to the rest of you. We've identified places to examine."

"Fine, but I'm not the one who objected to you and Harry at 10101. Your mother needs to talk to Arthur again. I really do need to be gone."

Harry and Kingsley appeared to still be on friendly terms as Shacklebolt excused himself and left the office. Bill was giving Harry an 'I didn't rat you out, but I do have to report my activities to my boss' look and shoulder shrug. Harry returned a 'not your fault' look.

As we continued to wait, Harry and Percy began an extensive paragraph-by-paragraph review and discussion of the Minister's current draft version of the bill to renew the Gringotts' charter. "This is perhaps the key paragraph," Percy explained. "Dad is insisting that the bank's charter only be renewed for twenty years and that it be reviewed each September, in light of the bank meeting or not meeting established goals for lending to Wizards, and deriving income from services provided to Goblins and other magical creatures other than Wizards. The whole next page establishes those minimum standards for the next twenty years, but this paragraph says that if the bank fails to meet these standards in any year, it will be on probation the next year. If it doesn't meet its standards in each of the two years after that, it will lose its privilege of exclusivity, and the Ministry will charter and fund a competing bank. If the bank does not meet the minimum standards in either of the two years following that, then its charter is cancelled."

"I understand that", Harry replied. "The standards seem to be set quite low for the first two years. Has the bank made any loans yet?"

"No, they haven't. The excuse is that they are still developing procedures and will accept applications soon. They have hired two young Wizards to work in the section of the bank that will deal with the loans. They promise to hire a third Wizard before the September meeting."

"Has this draft language been discussed with the bank?"

"There was a meeting between the Minister, Wood, the Goblin King, his aide, and Lord Montaigne. Lord Montaigne said the proposed conditions were too stringent and would destroy the bank. He complained that the bank couldn't operate with the threat of penalties hanging over it. The Goblin King said that the plan could work with 'some changes that I'll propose', but Montaigne cut him off, saying the Ministry's proposals were 'totally unacceptable and a betrayal of the spirit of cooperation between the bank and the Ministry'. Dad said he was unimpressed by the bank's pace on implementing changes and was unwilling to proceed on trust or to surrender all leverage over the bank by granting a long-term unconditional extension of the charter."

"I suspect things will go much easier if the legal actions shove Lord Montaigne out of the way. I think King Goblanze realizes that change is inevitable and will still leave him and the bank in a strong position."

"Remember, today's Wizengamot action focuses only upon Montaigne's fitness to be Keeper. The resolution of his criminal charges could take quite a while longer. This could keep him in charge of the crucial third vote on the bank's Board past the September meeting."

"I don't think that matters. Now that he can no longer blackmail the King and the King is angry at him, I think Lord Montaigne loses September's vote 4 – 1, unless he has some other threat …"

At that moment, I was called away to testify before the Wizengamot. I went down the elevator to the basement and walked to the entrance of the courtroom, where I was met by a court auror.

"They're not quite ready for you, so you can sit with me on this outside bench and I'll explain the procedure to you. The first thing that I should tell you is that the court will use truth detectors, so you will be in serious trouble if you try to give false testimony."

"I didn't realize that the Wizengamot has truth detector devices."

"It doesn't. It employs two witches who are adept at detecting liars. If they both declare that you have lied, you may be charged with giving false testimony.

"The lawyers are not permitted to abuse a witness. If you believe that a lawyer is personally attacking you, or asking questions that invade your privacy and are not germane to the case before the court, then you may request the Wizengamot's permission not to answer. Further, you have the right to give a full and complete answer and none of the lawyers are permitted to interrupt your answer, as long as what you are saying is germane and permissible testimony.

"Permissible testimony is only things you know to be true, based upon what you have seen or heard yourself. You cannot draw conclusions or testify based on what you think might be true or on what somebody else told you is true. There is an exception on interpretation for witnesses who are asked to testify as experts, but I doubt you qualify as expert at anything. Not being rude, that is simply fact. You may be asked to relay what someone told you. As the girlfriend of the Deputy Minister and daughter of the Minister, you may refuse to answer some questions if you believe that the answer would reveal a state secret or reveal something the Minister or Deputy Minister learned in the course of their duties which would be harmful to the Wizarding community if revealed. The Wizengamot has the final say as to whether or not you must answer any particular question, but you needn't be shy about objecting to a question.

"You are allowed to ask for water or a short break to satisfy a personal need. I think that covers everything. Do you understand what I've told you?"

I said I did and we settled back to wait for me to be allowed into the courtroom. It was about a five minute wait and then I was brought in to testify. As a witness, I was required to stand before the Wizengamot. I was asked if the ground rules had been explained to me and if I understood them and if I promised to be truthful. That out of the way, I was asked about our discovery of the bomb. I told of Lord Montaigne telling us about the role of the Keeper and the Keeper's assistants, and about him pointing out the tunnel from the Reception Hall that he said went all the way to the castle. I told of exploring that tunnel the night before the conclusion of Bruce's trial and finding the rail cart with what Hermione said was a bomb. I described what the apparatus looked like and how we had replaced, what the lawyers said I could only refer to as 'clayey bricks' with modeling clay.

When asked why we decided to explore the tunnel, I said we, or at least I, was concerned by comments that Lord Montaigne had made about actions that he might take if Bruce's trial didn't go well. I said the other part of the reason for concern might be in the state secret area. I was called into a small meeting with Dad, the Goblin King, Madam Bones, and Lord Montaigne's lawyer. When I told them that I had knowledge from viewing memories left by Dumbledore, they all said that was inadmissible testimony, in any case, since Dumbledore could not be questioned regarding the provenance of those memories. It was left that I should merely state that we all had personal suspicions that were not based upon valid evidence. I told of seeing Lord Montaigne pushing the button and pushing the button and asking "why won't this thing explode?" and then saying that he acted because the Wizengamot had imposed a horribly cruel sentence upon his son. All of these questions had come from Madam Bones.

The Goblin King asked "I'm trying to understand your motivation for making the dangerous trip through the tunnel. Were you afraid that Lord Montaigne planned to destroy the source of magic?" That question was not allowed. Lord Montaigne's lawyer and Dad agreed that my answer could only be a theory and that my reason for entering the tunnel was largely irrelevant. The King only asked whether Lord Montaigne had told me that the source of magic lay adjacent to the Reception Hall, and I replied that he had. He asked if the bomb would have destroyed the source of magic, and I had to respond that I knew almost nothing about bombs and couldn't possibly answer that.

Lord Montaigne's lawyer asked me to give a detailed account of the training that Lord Montaigne had provided to me as an assistant Keeper. I did that. He then asked, "Did it strike you that he took his job as Keeper seriously and that he was meticulous in instructing you on your duties and impressing the importance of those duties upon you." I answered "yes," before Madam Bones objected. He asked me "Do you, in fact, take your assistant duties seriously and would you diligently protect the source of the magic?"

I answered "yes."

He then grilled me extensively on how Cissy and Harry accepted their duties, looking at Madam Bones as he stressed, "Based upon what Cissy and Harry have said in your presence, how you have observed them to act, including whether they kept close attention to Lord Montaigne's instruction."

I explained that I thought they were both trying to do a good job, that they approached the instruction seriously and answered Lord Montaigne's questions largely correctly, that neither was at all humorous with respect to these duties."

"From your observations of Cissy, would you describe her as a serious, intelligent, mature girl?"

"She seems to be very mature for a second year. She also seems to be very intelligent. She was not at all well versed in magical skills when we first met her. Harry, Hermione, and I have been teaching her this past month and she seems to learn quickly. She is very well versed in her father's business affairs and in the use of Muggle office machines."

"Would you feel comfortable that the Keeper duties were being performed diligently and well if Cissy were the Keeper? I'm talking a few years in the future, not necessarily right now, assuming the Goblin King continued to instruct Cissy and Harry."

"Yes, I would."

"Do you think Cissy could learn to do a better job as Keeper than Harry could?"

"No."

"Is it very important for the Keeper to be able to control the Hogwarts land, including the forest sanctuary, and keep Muggles from entering it? Is that a primary duty of the Keeper?"

"Yes."

"Would Harry be able to do that?"

"Yes, the restitution agreement provides for Harry to buy that portion of the Montaigne estate if he becomes the Keeper. He has the money in the bank to do that."

"Would it be easier to safeguard that land if the Keeper owned the entire Montaigne estate, including most of Hogsmeade?"

"In one sense yes, because a larger surrounding area could be kept free of Muggles, but in another way no, because the death taxes would be larger."

"Did Harry ever tell you his views on the possibility of claiming his Montaigne heritage as the next Lord Montaigne?"

"Yes, he did. He didn't think the Muggles or the Muggle government could accept that, because of his background in the Muggle world as the poor relation of his aunt and uncle." With that, I was excused.

The rest of the testimony was interesting. Hermione was questioned extensively about her knowledge of Muggle bombs and exactly what she did to disarm Lord Montaigne's bomb. She was also asked to describe how she identified the bombs at the Ministry and whether she had 'an especial love of explosions'. She indignantly shouted "No!", only to have Lord Montaigne's lawyer apologize, but suggest "you seem to be quite the most expert Witch on Muggle bombs. Are you sure that you didn't create the very bomb which you discovered that night?"

"Again, no!" Hermione replied. "I'm not in the habit of building bombs for hire, and it wasn't I who was caught delivering or trying to explode the bomb. It wasn't I whose son testified that his father kept Muggle explosives."

Harry was questioned extensively about the deficiencies in his background arising from not growing up in a Wizarding home, about his thoughts on Cissy's abilities, about whether he thought Lord Montaigne cared about the Wizarding community, and about his thoughts on Lord Montaigne's state of mind the last several days.

The last two questions caused a lot of stirring among the lawyers, but Harry was eventually told to proceed carefully and indicate what observations caused him to form the impression he was voicing. Harry said he felt Lord Montaigne cared far more for his own family and a nostalgic view of a past 'traditional Wizard lifestyle', than he did for the fortunes of the general Wizard community. This testimony was parsed with objections from the various lawyers, amidst Harry's examples dealing with Lord Montaigne's comments about Bruce, some of what Cissy had told us, Lord Montaigne's actions on the Gringotts board, and Lord Montaigne's separation from Wizard life. The whole Wizengamot spent a half hour debating this ruling and decided that testimony on what happened at the bank would have to come from Dad and the Goblin King, despite their role in the hearing.

The Wizard King gave lengthy testimony, and Dad less so, as they described Lord Montaigne's actions on the Gringotts' Board and his attitude toward Wizard progress. The Wizengamot had a half hour debate on 'progress' in the midst of deciding whether or not to credit this testimony, and then we took a break for food. Harry, Hermione, George, and I had to eat separate from the others, who had yet to testify. We didn't have more than a half hour to eat, but shared our impression that the whole testimony thing had been a little surreal, and that Lord Montaigne's lawyer seemed more intent on protecting Cissy's future role as Keeper than in protecting Lord Montaigne's present hold on that role.

When we returned to the courtroom, Cissy gave extensive testimony, both on a few things that her father had said to her, but more extensively on her background, training, and suitability as a future Keeper. There was a half hour break as the lawyers and then the whole Wizengamot debated the appropriateness of questions relating to Cissy's and her brother's mental stability and the suitability of a Witch to hold the Montaigne and Keeper titles. This latter was viewed out of order and the former was required to be addressed gingerly, until Madam Bones finally had the court rule in her favor that the only issue before the Wizengamot was Lord Montaigne's suitability to remain as Keeper, not which Montaigne or even if any Montaigne would be the next Keeper. That ended Cissy's testimony and quickly dispensed with the possibility of Dr. Sprout or Dr. White as witnesses.

The final witness was Lord Montaigne. He claimed "a brief mental derangement associated with the stress over my worries about my son's fate." When reminded that he had the bomb materials in his possession for some time, he replied "I've been stressed over Bruce's actions and fate for some time, and I only had the bomb materials for a short portion of that time."

Madam Bones did not appear inclined to press for a definition of 'a short time'. Lord Montaigne recounted at great length his duties as Keeper, the seriousness with which he approached this 'burden', and his repeated attempts to convince Bruce to "pick up this familial responsibility to his fellow magical creatures." He was questioned about disparaging statements he had made about other 'lesser' magical creatures, his arms-length relationship with Wizard traditions, and his gripes about the unfairness of the burden of being Keeper.

He replied that he felt "an awesome, yet I knew vitally important, responsibility that I was uniquely equipped to bear. Yes, as a young Wizard I rebelled against the constraints imposed by this responsibility, but I grew into it with age. My major fault is allowing my disappointment in and concern for Bruce to transform into bitterness against the Wizengamot, for simply exercising its own awesome responsibility. For this, I humbly apologize."

As Dad remarked that it was nearly time for another food break, Lord Montaigne's lawyer asked if the Wizengamot could take"an early and extended break to permit negotiation of a resolution of this painful situation?" Dad agreed, so we went off to lunch again. This time Cissy joined us. The courtroom had been tense enough that I wasn't able to face anything heavier than a vegetable omelet. I was nearly finished eating this, and Cissy and Harry were halfway through a full dinner, when a court auror appeared at our table and informed us that Cissy and Harry were required in Dad's office. Bill went with them, but motioned for Barb to remain with us.

I spent the wait chatting with Barb, George, and Hermione. The discussion turned to the nature of an auror's work and what additional training was required to get hired into that spot. I was very interested in what Barb might have to say, not because I had any burning desire to be an auror, but rather because that had always been a goal of Harry's.

"It is not as interesting a job as it appears from the outside," Barb explained. "A lot of it is the rather boring business of guarding prisoners, sitting on guard duty or walking rounds at the Ministry, investigating rather insignificant thefts and criminal mischief, standing as a guard in a courtroom, and protecting people like yourself. Following Harry and the rest of you has been more interesting than anything else I've done since I became an apprentice auror five and a half years ago. I've spent half my auror career in training classes, and will continue to be trained for the next couple years. To be an auror, you need to have very good test scores at Hogwarts, recommendations from your headmaster or professors, athleticism, and a high tolerance for boredom. I can't seriously imagine Harry wanting to trade what he does for what I do.

"This is fairly interesting work, all in all, and I have a strong sense of serving the Wizard community. It really is probably the best possible job for me, especially since Witches are still discriminated against in a lot of job opportunities. Since I've been an auror, I've worked with your Dad on investigating offenses like exploding Muggle toilets and other bewitched Muggle gear. This recently got me involved in the sweeping of the Ministry for Muggle bombs and spying devices. Minister Shacklebolt thought I was better versed in Muggle technology than the older aurors. It helped that I'm Muggle-born and always had computers and cell phones available when I was home from Hogwarts. Most aurors have little understanding of such things, since there aren't many Muggle-born, or even all that many young, aurors. Most of my time as an auror was spent either on night guard duty at the Ministry or daytime anti-theft patrol in Diagon Alley. It is all important work, but not exactly on a par with hunting down Voldemort or solving the mysteries of what lies beneath Hogwarts. Playing a role in foiling the bombing of the Reception Hall and testifying in court are the highlights of my career, thus far."

I found the conversation relaxing enough that I fetched and ate a large salad and also an ice cream sundae for dessert. When I returned with my salad, George and Barb were discussing the nature of life as an inventor and purveyor of novelties to children. Both Hermione and Barb were effusively complimenting George on his initiative and risk-taking, and marveling at the degree of self-sufficiency that he had achieved. George gave most of the credit for the creativity to Lee and said that without Harry's financial help, he could not possibly be living this dream.

"That is why I am so determined that we all keep pushing until Gringotts starts making loans so that young Wizards can start their own businesses. I'm still going to push Harry and Dad to set up an alternative organization to focus just on the need to make loans to young Wizards wanting to strike out on their own. I'm sure Harry would be willing to put up some money to start the process and the Ministry should, also. It will take Gringotts all of my lifetime to feel confident enough to loan any amount of money to Wizards who are just recently out of Hogwarts. Lots of guys like Lee, Fred, and I had the ideas and the ambition, but without the money, it's just back to working with Dad on the farm or some really minor, nearly meaningless job at the Ministry.

"There aren't even enough of those to go around. Remember when McGonagall said that the Voldemort war would create a lot of opportunity in the short term. That has certainly been true, but you shouldn't confuse yourself thinking the opportunities that Cho, Ernie, Wood, and Seamus had were at all what was typical for Hogwarts grads two years ago, or what will be typical two years from now. A lot of jobs went vacant when Wizards died or were thrown in jail. The need to rebuild created some other jobs, and you've pushed Gringotts to create a handful of jobs that they normally would not have had. It's all well and good that Charlie has gotten a chance to play with his dragons - he wrote that he's bringing a nice one back for Gringotts by the way - but Charlie didn't have a whole lot of other career choices, and the dragon work only gives him enough galleons to live on, because he's happy living alone and camping in the wild. You realize that he doesn't even have a house or apartment, not even a place that he shares with buddies. In fact …"

Bill returned and said we were all wanted, all except George that is, in Dad's office.

When we entered the Minister's conference room Dad declared "we have a potential negotiated solution to both the Keeper situation and the criminal charges against Lord Montaigne." As we took our seats, I noted that Dad, Madam Bones, the Goblin King, Director Shacklebolt, Lord Montaigne, and Montaigne's lawyer were already present.

"Here's the tentative deal," Dad began. "Lord Montaigne will immediately resign as Keeper and as a Director of Gringotts. He will not be imprisoned, but will agree to bans on leaving Britain or coming in contact with Muggles, to whom he will be reported to have died in a sailing accident. He will participate in a well-observed departure from Glasgow, and then will go missing. He will pay a fine of 10,000 gold galleons.

"Cissy will assume the title of Lady Montaigne and the Montaigne seat of the Gringotts board. Harry will take over as interim Keeper, with a decision to be made between Harry and Cissy when Cissy completes her senior year at Hogwarts, under the same arrangements as originally negotiated. Harry will purchase the southern third of the Montaigne estate under the pre-agreed terms, subject to the condition that Cissy can buy back that land for an additional 15% if she becomes Keeper.

"The Goblin King will continue to train Harry and Cissy as Keepers. Until she graduates from Hogwarts, Cissy will have the status of a Keeper assistant and trainee Keeper. Lord Montaigne will surrender his wand and be banned for life from carrying a wand. He will not leave the Montaigne estate for the next twenty years. He and Bruce will be guarded at the castle by aurors, who will enforce all of the above restrictions. You all must agree to the negotiated settlement and it must be ratified by the Wizengamot."

"I think we should meet to discuss this without the Montaignes and their lawyer," Harry suggested.

"The proposed settlement will be withdrawn by the other side if we don't approve it and agree to endorse it at this meeting, with Lord Montaigne and his lawyer present," Dad clarified.

"Then I don't approve it," Harry responded. "I won't oppose it publicly. The decision belongs to you and Madam Bones and the Wizengamot. It doesn't require my support. My view is you're giving away a lot for nothing in return, and will cause an irreparable breach with the French and German Wizards. Do you approve this, King Goblanze?"

"With extreme reluctance."

"I don't see how our opinion matters," Hermione said, "but I agree with Harry. That was a very large bomb. It could have destroyed Hogwarts and killed us all."

"Can you talk sense to them, Kingsley?" Dad beseeched.

"I'm sorry, Arthur. It's just not a good deal. I think this administration has gone completely soft. I'll resign before publicly endorsing that agreement."

Dad was about to speak, but Madam Bones quickly cut in "there are things you don't understand, which make this deal necessary."

"Then explain them to us," Harry replied.

"I'm not at liberty to do that."

We all sat in silence, until Dad finally concluded, "It seems like we don't have a deal under the terms you propose. Madam Bones and I are still willing to present the deal to the Wizengamot, without the support of the others."

"I really don't think that's possible," Lord Montaigne replied.

"Then we don't have a deal and the hearing will resume tomorrow," Dad told Lord Montaigne.

"If I could have a word with my client," Lord Montaigne's lawyer suggested, drawing Montaigne off to a vacant corner of the room. We observed hushed, but agitated discussion. The lawyer returned to the table and announced "in the interest of resolving this matter, we permit a thirty minute discussion among the original participants, less us, and Deputy Minister Potter. Perhaps if you can convince the Deputy Minister to accept the deal, the others will also go along."

"I'm willing to try that," Dad responded. I and most of the others, including the aurors, left the conference room, leaving only Harry, Dad, Madame Bones, and Shacklebolt.

We waited outside the office for an hour, with Lord Montaigne becoming visibly stressed as the time passed well beyond the allotted half hour. He finally asked if Prudence could check on the state of negotiations. Prudence knocked three times, then very loudly three more times, before sticking her head into the conference room. She came back to report "you'll have to wait a while longer. The Minister is not ready to speak to you, yet." Fifteen minutes later, Dad stuck his head out the door and asked Lord Montaigne and his lawyer to re-enter the room. Fifteen minutes later they emerged, but nothing was said beyond the lawyer's comment "you're going to have to wait just a little longer. They have more to discuss."

Ten minutes later, the lawyer and Lord Montaigne were once again summoned to the conference room. Ten minutes later we were all asked to rejoin the meeting.

"The deal is the same as before, except for several minor changes," Dad began. "Lord Montaigne and Bruce are to be confined in a house in Godric's Hollow, instead of at the castle. Cissy is allowed to visit her family for six hours at Christmas and at the end of the school year, but the visits will be supervised by Harry, Ginny, and Harry's aurors to guarantee that no instructions are passed to Cissy as to how she should conduct her duties as assistant and trainee Keeper, as a Director of Gringotts' Bank, or as Lady Montaigne. Discussion during the visits is to be limited to family reminiscences, how her family has passed its time, and Cissy's education. If Harry reports that the boundaries have been crossed, future visits will be canceled. Cissy will be allowed to visit her family without supervision after she turns eighteen and graduates from Hogwarts.

"Lord Montaigne's confinement will be twenty six years. The Ministry will provide a house Elf at the house in Godric's Hollow. The Elf as well as the auror guards will report on the Montaignes' behavior to Kingsley, Madam Bones, Harry, and me. Lord Montaigne has promised, and will make an unbreakable vow, not to attempt to escape and not to reveal any information to anyone concerning this deal, anything he knows about the Goblins, the Keeper, the business of the Ministry, and any of us; nor will he pass any information harmful to the Ministry, King Goblanze, the British Muggle government, or any of us for a period of thirty years. He will also vow that for the rest of his life, he will take no action to finance, encourage, or support the overthrow of the Goblin government or any of the elected Wizard governments, and that he will provide assistance to the Keeper or the Minister whenever called upon.

"Bruce will take the same unbreakable vow. Lord Montaigne will be allowed one day trip per year to hunt deer or small game in a secluded portion of the estate, during which time he will remain invisible to Muggles and make no attempt to communicate with anyone, including Cissy or her estate staff.

"Lord Montaigne will ask his two key supporters in the Wizengamot to support the Elven Rights bill. He will communicate nothing else to them.

"Are all of you willing to support this agreement?"

Harry said, "Given the circumstances, I'll support the deal."

Kingsley said, "I agree to do likewise."

The rest of us nodded our heads yes. That finished the negotiations. Dad said the deal would be presented to the Wizengamot in the morning. He also said, "please don't badger Harry, he is not allowed to reveal anything more about the deal, the necessity for it, or the back and forth discussions leading up to it than what you already know. This is for your benefit as well as the benefit of the Wizarding community, myself, and the Montaignes. This is one of those less than totally savory things that a government is sometimes required to involve itself in."

After arriving back at Hogwarts, we paid a quick courtesy stop at Professor McGonagall's office in order to relay the sanitized version of our day's events. I gave the update to the Professor and when she asked Harry if there was anything more he would like to add, he replied, "yes, but I'm not permitted to add anything."

We headed back to Gryffindor, where we repeated this performance. The circle took this relatively well, but Mom was a bit indignant, especially when she said she would just ask Dad, directly, and Harry replied, "He won't tell you anything more than Ginny just told you." Mom just shook her head and muttered "this is certainly going to play well in the press. I can't begin to think what Arthur or I can say to the Delacours."

"Now that the Montaignes are getting off, what I would certainly consider, lightly," Draco commented "what's going to happen to my Dad?"

"He will be asked to plead guilty, make an unbreakable vow as the Montaignes will do, and be released on time served and promise of good behavior," Harry replied.

"That must have been quite some meeting," Draco responded. "I'm guessing you're responsible for the quick resolution of my Dad's case."

"I pushed it, but it was the Minister's decision. The Wizengamot will have to bless the deal."

"I can tell this Montaigne deal really hurts you."

"I knew there would be days like this when I agreed to be Deputy Minister. I support the deal as the best available choice for the magical world. I can say nothing more than that."

Later when I had Harry alone, I made the mistake of jokingly telling Harry "surely you can tell me what really happened. You know that I can keep a secret."

Harry gave me a worried look as he replied "No, I really can't and I thought you understood that. It really was true when I told your mother that Arthur won't tell her anything. It would violate his duties as Minister to say anything. It's the same for me."

Later, I sensed a reluctance to even touch hands, let alone snog. I really regretted my earlier remark. How could I fix this? I told Harry, "I expect that your thoughts won't be on politics while we're snogging and if anything ever leaks out, I would die rather than tell a soul. You realize that I can't read your mind, other than what you are actively trying to communicate, although if you're thinking something really hard, sometimes I do pick up a little."

"I think I knew that," Harry replied.

"I wasn't asking for any content, but I'm not stupid. It was clear to me that when Prudence checked on your meeting, after you'd been at it for an hour, that none of you were still in the conference room. I'm certain that Lord Montaigne realized the same thing, although Prudence did a really good job of pretending you were all still in the room."

"I can't comment upon that either. Your intelligence is one of the things I love about you."

"What bothers me is that I have this gut feel that part of what you can't tell me relates to my future and the prophecies involving us and our children. It just seems unfair not to know. I want to be able to do what's necessary to protect myself and our children."

"I understand that you're upset. Arthur fully understands how upset Molly is going to be. This is one of the burdens that we each assumed when we ran for our offices. You and Molly took on a burden as well, when you encouraged us to run. We can't ethically share everything with you. I can honestly say that sharing likely makes things worse. If the secrecy gets to be too much of a problem between us, I'm willing to resign. For now, let me just say I know nothing that will prevent you and our children from fulfilling your destinies. The secret deal may even make that more likely. Although I can't even give you a hint on the secrets, please believe that it is better that one of the five of us knows the truth, than that all of us are in the dark. Your dad and I really made the best decision that we could, and we considered everyone's interests very carefully."

"I understand that Harry, and I don't want you to quit. I'm just very curious, by nature, especially regarding anything that involves me."

"I know, I'm the same way. Now, I'm going to take a few minutes to remove political issues from my mind, before I get any closer to you."