Chapter 30: Wizengamot, Muggles and Exams

Damocles shrieked with excitement. Petunia looked up from her maths sheet. There, in a cauldron was the thick sludge that could only be Wolfsbane. She promptly forgot about the maths sheet for her exam the next day.

"You're kidding, there was a Rune in the wrong place all this time?"

Petunia stuck a finger in the cauldron.

"It tastes, reacts and smells like Wolfsbane." Her eyes widened with surprise. She frantically looked at the piece of parchment next to the cauldron. Where had they been going wrong?

Damocles looked so proud of himself. This potion had been something he had been working on for years, since before he left Hogwarts. In potion circles, especially wizarding ones, there was a clear distinction between who should benefit from the title of Apprenticeship. The non-magical, like Petunia, could only go as far as working under someone. This potion, however, would seal Damocles as one of the greatest potion-minds of their generation.

"If these repeats, we apply to start Summer Trials and then publish." It was the plan of action, that they had wanted for a while now.

"About that, have you given any idea about how you're going to vote at Wizengamot?" Petunia asked. They usually tried not to bring politics into the potion dungeon. Neither of them could handle the others bigotry and both wanted to at least not have potion-making devolve into something dangerous. Tough conversations were best kept outside the spaces they worked in.

"I don't really know. It's useful to have non-magical folk working in areas like at the hospital, but what is to be said if we don't vote against the renewal of licenses. More magical people who don't have the ability to even make their own potions?"

That should have answered her question and she probably needed to do more maths, but this was enough of a victory to leave the maths behind for a while.

Petunia agreed to some level with that though. She had been to Knockturn Alley enough times to know how employment worked. While the community was tiny, many found jobs more easily overseas and away from Britain. She knew how she would feel if she lost her job at the factory. The thought wasn't a comforting one but it forced her to think about what, hopefully, Wizengamot was trying to do.

"How do people decide to go into potions though? Slughorn doesn't seem like he wants to be doing anything more than collecting people." Petunia said. No one really liked Slughorn, but he was useful to have around and he was wicked smart.

Damocles paused for a minute. There was a slight bit of conflict in his eyes before he sighed and sat on a stool. Maybe Petunia shouldn't have asked. This conversation may be heading into places that she didn't want it to go.

"He won't love you as much if you said it to his face," he said. Damocles watched Petunia as she looked surprised and then tried to cover it up.

Slughorn loved the useful and everyone knew that Petunia was useful.

"You make him crystalized pineapple from scratch. He's a sucker for that."

"He's also an exceptionally talented potioneer." Petunia tried to defend. "And you needed him on your side."

There was their reminder. A pesky one, to remind Damocles that most actions he wanted to shame her for were ones she usually did for him. Sometimes the comments got a bit much. A poke too much here and there. Still, her last exam symbolized some kind of an ending to all of this. She looked forward to it, to spend the summer at the Belby Cottage finishing the last potion she would probably help with the creation of it.

Petunia had promised herself she would leave, no matter how much every fibre in her being was screaming at her to stay. There was the obvious, that Petunia didn't feel like she was much without her ability to make potions. They would know tomorrow after her exam Wizengamot would take the vote about non-magical practitioners and their licenses. A lot of the people she had worked with had stated they were in the same boat as her. Many of them had already tried to seek alternative employment already. Almost as if it had been set in stone that it was time to move on.

So much had happened during the last school year and Petunia should have been happy to leave it all behind. There was a wedding in the summer, Lily would be home and she would have finished trials on Wolfsbane. It was more than enough. Somehow it had to be.

Petunia woke up at the crack of dawn and tried to not feel nervous. The sun had not come up and the lights in the house were dimmed. Her stomach seemed to be filled with butterflies and Damocles was the one who forced a cup of tea and toast in her hands for breakfast.

Petunia felt like she was ready to puke. Last exams where never something that she enjoyed being a part of. This was especially bitter-sweet. She had grown so much since she had entered the school and a part of her wasn't ready to write the exams. She thought she had done well so far, not as good as when she was a full-time student, but good enough.

Petunia did her hair in the kitchen and put on her school blazer. She looked like everyone else in her school. A somewhat presentable version of what a woman should look like to society and that used to bother her. Not anymore, not when she could do nothing to stop it.

Before she grabbed her helmet, Damocles wished her luck and it was far more than the exam.

Jean was a picture of calm and waiting at the gates of the school as Petunia parked her bike. Jean had recently gotten her hair done and it looked good as if she was going into war. Her place at dentistry school depended on it and she was poised to win. Sometimes Petunia wanted to stop writing in the middle of the exam just to watch Jean tackle a paper. There was a sense of ruthless precision that Petunia rarely saw Jean execute elsewhere.

They walked to the exam hall together and Petunia sent a quick prayer to the sky for whoever would take it. Not that it mattered, as she flipped the page over, she smiled. The exam would be a good one. She finished early and slipped out.

There would be time for her to say her goodbye's later. The most important Wizengamot session in her life was about to begin and she wanted to be there for every second of it.

Petunia joined the mass of clear Squibs and other non-magical individuals who were flooding the Wizengamot chambers. She was pumped full of test adrenaline and she stood on the banks, giving up her seat to someone who looked older than her grandparents would've. Petunia had her license on her and she knew she wasn't the only one. Her co-workers from St Mungo's, the ones who had the morning off, were talking quietly to themselves after Petunia had greeted them.

There was actually talking and Petunia found herself wishing that the talking would end. She knew how Wizengamot did, they all did. A council made up of elected individuals and people who gained a seat through being part of the Sacred 28. The robes of people walked in and in the middle of it, all was Albus Dumbledore.

She tried to find faces she recognized. Lord Prince, looked just like his sister did, Damocles, for once, looked professional and there in the middle of the arch sat Lord Gaunt. Crests embroidered in the finest gold and polished wood. Dementors who gently glided into the chambers and filled Petunia with the icy fear only they could bring.

They were not criminals. Not in the way the Dark painted them out to be. The anti-muggle sentiment had grown to new heights over the last few months. A few Patronus' glittered the room and a gavel hammered down. The session had begun.

Petunia could probably recall very little of it and when asked about the events even minutes later she would not be able to state what was said. The motion had passed exactly the way Damocles had stated it would. She would no longer have the option of renewing her license after it had expired effective immediately.

Petunia took a step back and a pair of hands caught her before she fell. There it was again, those overwhelming feelings that didn't want to let go of her. The Dementors slowly crawled towards her and Petunia had to bite the inside of her cheeks to not scream. She knew where she would feel like she was in if she screamed. Back at the hospital with Eileen, watching potion, spell and rune uselessly attempt its magic on Eileen only to leave her worse than before.

The hands dragged her to the pub, the one where she spent most of her time off from St Mungos with her co-workers. A muggle one that didn't question how its patrons were slightly eccentric and wore robes that reached the ground. Someone had put a glass of chocolate liquor in front of her and immediately warmed up.

Shell-shocked and angry, were the only descriptions around the room. Petunia had known why they had brought the Dementors in and it made her angrier to think that wizards had that much power over everything. They would no longer be protected by Magic, and that was a big deal. Petunia wasn't ignorant, someone in the muggle government must have pushed it on them.

Still, Petunia had reached a point where she didn't know who she was without potions. Losing her license meant that she wasn't legally allowed to brew potions in any capacity, not even to protect those she cared about and that was a strike against her.

The pub grew rowdier and the St Mungo's crew had already left for the evening while those on morning shifts had come in, the person who had pulled Petunia out of the Ministry had not left Petunia. Instead, he was sketching the entire scene. The man was around her father's age and had a lot of the same energy Tobias exuded. The air of a man who was sure of his place. Steady.

"That's really good," Petunia said. She didn't know what else to say.

The man scoffed, "A masters in fine art restoration from Cambridge and all you get is a 'really good'. The name's Argus Filch, I work at Hogwarts mostly in potions, and you are?"

"Petunia Evans, potions, currently apprenticing under Damocles Belby." Petunia said sticking her hand out.

"I had a feeling; a lot of good potion brewers are going to be losing their jobs soon. As for me, Dumbledore's got enough sense to keep me around."

If this was anyone else, Petunia would say that he was just boasting. But as much as Dumbledore was controversial, his stance on muggles seemed to never change. Always supportive enough to play nice with them.

A/N: Thank you all for 10K reads, it might not be a lot so some people, but that's a lot of reads to me. 3