The chaos stilled before his eyes as the Aurors suppressed scuffle among the French students.

"They have restored order as I hoped," he said, mostly to himself as he moved a lock of his sandy hair out of his eyes.

"Are the muggleborns okay?" Leanne asked.

"I don't know. The Slytherins and our guests from Durmstrang would have been targeting them, but whether they were hit or not remains to be seen." Electrum had little doubt that the blood purists were training, but he had misgivings that their regimens were half so disciplined. We know from the spies that they think we do nothing other than conduct witch trials. They are unlikely to suspect that training younger students to fight is our first priority. A third-year witch had taken it upon herself to learn a basic form of Legilimency, which they hoped would glean more information out of Longbottom. He can't be as forgetful as he claims, even if he believes it. He had not been a valuable spy, or even a willing spy, but a contingent of the Slytherins trusted him and he left an easy enough trail to follow. Ultimately, he was too valuable to be suitably punished for his disloyalty, and he stood to become all the more valuable.

All of that may change, however. We have forced the fence-sitters within our House to make a decision. By rising with us to oppose the aggressors, the dark French, they chose to side with us, and the blood purists will not forget their decision.

"How many remained seated when we rose?" he asked Leanne. In the distance the Aurors were talking with Crouch in the box for the heads of schools. His eyes narrowed on the sight.

"Only a few, but we can't blindly trust everyone who went with us," she responded. "Most Hufflepuffs have already sworn up and down that they're loyal only to the House."

He let the point stand. I can't tell what they're saying over there. One of our French friends might get it out of Madame Maxime.

"The plan to get someone onto the defense team did not work," he said, changing the subject. "They never invited the French student, Capet, and Finch-Fletchey had the same amount of luck." Capet had not been on their side, but he was well connected and known for being bad at keeping secrets, well, speaking his mind. He had asked some sympathizers from Beauxbatons if they knew anyone he could direct at a mysterious group, and he was the first they mentioned. A seventh-year Hufflepuff witch talked to him under the pretense of practicing her langue de Molière, as she put it, and told him about a few interesting characters, like the students who supposedly encountered a werewolf that killed the Supreme Undersecretary and acting Headmistress mere moments later, though not in terms so incriminating.

He sighed, only partially taking in the conversation going on around him. He had not expected to be staring at Aurors on broomsticks, wondering if they would have to be taken down as well, with the possibility existing that they were blood purists who intercepted Crouch's request for their appearance. He had not expected to read in the paper one day that Zacharias Smith, injured, had been portkeyed to Saint Mungo's by a handful of wizards who discovered him in west Africa, of all places. There would be no sympathy for deserters, but it was possible he would have information.

More than anything, however, he had not expected to use a code name so long it would essentially become his actual name.

'Electrum' had been Ebony's idea, though she never said where she came up with either her name or the one she gave him. For his first and second year he shadowed her, gaining enough approval that she started telling him how everything really worked. She told him her true name was Enid Bagnold, daughter of a former Minister, dissatisfied with the way the war ended, the way her own mother handled it, and what she made of the House she had called home for seven years. When Voldemort appeared to have died, the old witch did not track down every last sympathizer for interrogations, she 'asserted the inalienable right to party', defending the festivities that mostly constituted Secrecy violations, and allowed former Death Eaters to blend in, hosting galas and soirees and whatever else at their stately manors. What should have been a chance to pounce on the blood purists turned into a bacchanalian, and as a consequence Enid finally understood why she did not follow her mother into Ravenclaw.

"My mother was a lazy intellectual," she had told him. "She didn't want to fight, not for want of willingness to take reasonable risks, but for the work of fighting, the killing and the deaths. I asked, and she told me that the more resources the Ministry spent, the more Death Eaters they would find, but they would be finding progressively fewer and the cost would be progressively higher. At some point I decided that was unacceptable."

It had been a process gaining her trust, or something approaching it, as she herself said that she trusted no one at all, but he managed it well enough. He had some idea he had not betrayed her trust, as she would have written to tell him he was doing something wrong. Leanne, who used the name 'Electrum', even when they were alone together, had asked how the two of them met. He could not identify the look in her eyes at the time.

"Electrum-" someone started, rousing him from his memories. I have to stop being contemplative. At a turning point, I suppose I would have an inclination to go over how I reached it, but turning points are where I need to think clearly most of all.

"Yes?"

"Macmillan has heard that Crouch has received the Minister's letter of resignation," Boris said. "I must return." He left, shuffling his feet quickly as always. Electrum had heard something about his having a physical handicap, but it almost looked like he simply did not realize how large he was. Boris was over six feet and at least eighteen stone, somewhat larger than he, but the causal observer would never guess from the difference in their mannerisms.

"Does this mean that Crouch is Minister?" a younger student asked him.

"I don't know. It seems likely. He made some offhand comment about Umbridge succeeding him, so he might have wanted someone from the faction, but we can't expect him to stand by it." Even if he possessed any strength of character, he made a specific statement about the Supreme Undersecretary, who lies dead.

Ebony had possessed some hope that Fudge would be better than her mother, but her hopes were dashed. After Hogwarts she worked in the Improper Use of Magic Office under Umbridge, where she realized the real decision makers worked in the Department of Mysteries. Transferring there, she learned about the true purposes of the Inspections of Hogwarts from the head, Ether. He decided to make her an Inspector because she had saved a whole head of hair from when she was younger, enabling her to seamlessly hide among the students, even outside of the permitted Inspection years. Not attending classes to keep the teachers from paying attention to her, she had more than enough time on her hands for study, as well as recruitment. That had been a difficult process in itself, having to regain the ability to relate with students, then learn how to get them on her side in a meaningful way. It was easy enough to hate Death Eaters, but many seemed to think the current system was sufficient for dealing with them. At some point she decided to give up on convincing them honestly, at least for the time being, at least until she had a following, and she started throwing 'and sympathizers' in every time she so much as mentioned Death Eaters and dark wizards. Convincing a few witches in the dormitory that they were the same was easy enough, the somewhat harder step was to convince people the sympathizers were the same as those staying out of it.

Eventually, when she had something of a following, the seventh-years leaving Hogwarts went on to seek out positions in the Ministry, comprising a small part of the faction. That was also when she decided she was never going to use a completely honest policy in recruitment.

All around them, there was a fluttering of owls.

Some of the younger students rose to see if any were headed for them, but he would not waste the energy. The birds generally knew where they were going- what was concerning was the quantity. He could not be remotely sure how many there were, since they were still moving, but it was more than he had ever seen in one place before. The teachers were making amplified announcements about this, as they had also been trying to quell the fighting before the Aurors arrived, but it seemed the students were not all inclined to heed their cautions. The owls that did not succeed in tossing their packages and letters to their intended recipients were stunned, petrified, or scared off by some more dangerous spellfire their animal minds could not identify. Some sentimental part of him hoped the stunned owls were being knocked out of the sky before they could be killed by someone else, by their actual owners ideally, but it seemed more likely that however many were getting to their targets, more were being intercepted.

He doubted he was witnessing any acts of cruelty, expect the cruelty of indifference, but rather desperation.

The changing of a Minister was an everyday occurrence for those who had lived long enough for two or three to pass by, but these were children and they were watching something much closer to a coup. The reason Crouch has not been seen outside of events he is required to attend is because he has been putting constant pressure on the Minister. When the Death Eaters escaped to foreign shores, it was a disaster for the Foreign Relations office, and an opportunity for its head. He could have made some effort to distance himself from his son, though the Fudge family might have had some sympathy, having come under mostly groundless suspicion after the incident with the self-appointed Burmese diplomats.

What was even more profoundly terrifying the students in the other boxes than the sudden nature of Crouch's takeover was the inevitability with which it would crush the invalid way their society functioned. For the Slytherins, it meant the proximate deaths of their parents, in many cases, and for the rest it meant an absence of the network of connections they used to hoist themselves into positions they did not deserve. It meant a new system, where children with nonmagical parents would be treated the same as the rest, if not better, to compensate for their past experience. Once a week Hufflepuff House held a discussion about abuses they had suffered either as a result of blood purism or dark magic, and each muggle-born was required to submit a detailed report in advance of his or her presentation. It was likely painful to write, but it hedged out the possibility that a student would get up to speak, then not remember key bits of information, which happened a few times the previous year. Leanne usually read through the reports, and she found that a common thread was that blood purists seemed to enjoy using memory charms on their victims.

He found the Hufflepuff seating area sufficiently lacking in chaos, though he had to tell a first-year not to cast a light charm. It was getting dark, and light would make it easier for them to see each other, but they would be totally blind to anything else. It was better to wait for everyone else to cast theirs.

"We need to watch carefully. Our House is built on decisive action, but we know only that we have a friend in Crouch. The Aurors might be blood purists," he whispered to an older witch. He omitted that, given the choice, some of the Hogwarts staff and some of the Durmstrang staff, including both Headmasters, would likely side with Death Eaters if they revealed themselves, which would cause more than enough of the students to side with them, as familiar authority figures. Since the death of Albus Dumbledore, ineffective and naive though he was, the students have lent the staff here even less respect, much of it deserved, since they recognized a former Death Eater as his replacement. The majority of the student body is at least nominally against dark wizards, but in their fear they refuse to fight. Their enemies are few, but powerful, and it is easy enough for them to let someone else to the job.

"Electrum-" Boris started. "The defense was there in the box-" He was nearly doubled over, a hand on a knee, his feet on different steps.

"Slow down," he responded. He's probably referring to the defense team that represented Flora Carrow. The attack on her had not been planned, and it had been intended as a show of force to a virulent blood purist, but its failure had provided an opportunity to put her in prison, or at least the Chamber of Secrets, with the other prisoners. Ideally, she would be dead within minutes, unless she found friends there, which would be contrary to what the Department of Magical Law Enforcement stated in the agreement, that the prisoners would be criminals not in any way associated with Voldemort. It would not be a legal punishment, but the law knows nothing of justice.

"The defense team, you know them-" He nodded. "They were in the officials' box. They might still be there, I don't know. One of them was insisting that Snape examine his memories to prove that Crouch is trying to put dementors inside the school."

A younger witch, who had not seemed to have been listening, whipped around.

"Well, if he's so confident that he would allow Snape to look in-"

"There's a good reason for that," Leanne interrupted. "Out of some dangerous naivety or a more concerning alliance, he trusts the former Death Eater. It's impossible in the first place that Crouch would be putting dementors in the school; he's been here the whole time." She huffed. "Really, this all seems terribly convenient. There was a way for any result of the Tournament to turn into an international incident- so someone who didn't know Crouch would have been here the whole time came up with a plan to discredit him, and when the Minister resigned, someone else would be selected as his replacement."

"Additionally, Crouch does not have dementors under his command," Electrum added. "It's not really his office in the first place, and any method to transport them and direct them would have to involve some kind of dark magic no one understands. There was even an article about the Department of Mysteries and their failure to securely keep dementors in their own basement. Really, he had his appointment in line until this accusation came up, so there would have been no reason to violate the agreement he had with the school."

"Well, those are all good arguments, but if they want to present evidence-" the younger witch started again.

"It's not evidence," an sixth-year wizard spat from behind. I recognize his voice. I think his name is Lawson. "We don't use it in court or investigations because it's easy to fake. Crouch was pushing for its use decades ago, but only on people he already knew were guilty, or if they couldn't have conceivably faked their own memories between their arrests and trials. Parkinson convinced Minister Bagnold that the Hit Wizards would use false memory charms on suspects to get what they wanted out of them, and she made Veritaserum and Legilimency inadmissible."

"I wish I could have been there," Leanne said facetiously. "He was supposed to be famous for his ability to talk his way through the process of letting Death Eaters off."

"The decision let the Death Eaters off, but we really have no need for courts, so it's a moot point. With the kill on sight decision formally instated, the Wizengamot will have little to do but pass the laws we give them."

Electrum began to tune out the conversation again, watching carefully what was developing in each box. The Hufflepuffs were in a good position as it was; there was no need to ruin it by forcing an all-out battle. It would also be better to stop one rather than allow it to start.

The Ravenclaws seemed to be sorting themselves out, their conversation loud, but more or less orderly. Gryffindors seemed to be looking for a fight, but he was doing much the same thing. The ones looking to start a fight will be the dark lions. They're the ones who have everything to lose here. It was already more or less agreed that it had been the dark wizards among the French who started the scuffle in their stands. He was proud to say that he had the Hufflepuffs assembled in mere moments after the first spell was cast, but it made him feel oddly disappointed that both sides just went back to sitting quietly in the stands as soon as the adults arrived, though he reminded himself it was conditioned in for most children, and he was barely more than a child himself, even in his own eyes. Given a lifetime, he might catch up to Ebony.

Across the way, the discussion in the officials' box seemed to be coming to a conclusion.

"It's official," Boris explained, returning. "Crouch is Minister. Fudge only just got done with his speech in London." He would make a speech just to drag it out and act like he's only passing the torch. "Don't know why he bothered to say Voldemort's back, unless he meant to say Crouch's the only man who can fight 'im." It's as good of an excuse as any. If Crouch says he warned Fudge not to hold the Triwizard Tournament in Britain, he probably won't even bother to deny it.

The hour was too early for rejoicing; there were too many enemies with too much to lose. His eyes went quickly between the Slytherins and the Durmstrang students, looking for any sign of movement. It would be easy to respond if one of them declared a counterattack, but few of them were that stupid. They were blind with prejudice, to be sure, but they were a crafty sort and more likely to find some way of turning the situation around, the way Lucius Malfoy used the war, even as he was defeated, to advance his own position. Think- there must be something they have in mind- There was no conceivable way Death Eaters would have roles in the Ministry; Crouch would be mad not to eliminate anyone with even a tenuous connection to blood purism. A violent demonstration now would be wasted while they were horribly outnumbered, and it would put all of their parents in an international incident. What could it be?

His mind turned to those who defended Flora Carrow- I never would have suspected it. They were dangerous fence-sitters, to be sure, raisers of unhelpful questions, perhaps, but Death Eater allies? His confused, uncertain expression vanished. Voldemort formulated many plans, and this one was the deepest. He drew students close to him during his short time as a teacher. He made sure to select a few from outside his House, he convinced them to make safe arguments; to avoid blood purism or advocacy of dark magic. They played their parts perfectly, even now they only resort to a patently false accusation as a last resort- or as a cover.

"Boris. We need to restrain them."

"I beg your-"

"We can't afford to let them do whatever they're trying to do. They'll fight, and if you see anything that even resembles lethality, kill them."

"The school-" Boris objected as they rose. A few friends were coming with them.

"The school is powerless; it will soon be undone. Hogwarts has managed to avoid fault in student deaths since Myrtle Warren, and this will inform the world that the school and its leadership are relics of the past. We should not be keeping the memories or the virtues of the Founders alive in modernity, we should be fighting blood purism at all costs."

A few friends had risen when he gave an order, but it seemed the whole House would come with him now.