Chapter 13: How Do Wizards Dial 999?
In the fifteen minutes it took for Aunt Amy to bring a team of three investigating detective Aurors with her to Hogwarts, Harry and Neville had begun extensive damage control. Loathe as he was to use his personal tragedies, the situation gave sparsely any other option that worked just as well to explain why the trio had skipped the mandatory dinner festivities in the great hall. Neville laid all blame at Weasley and Granger's feet reminding the teachers that those two more than all other students combined had been relentless in their pursuit of Harry.
Usually, Harry tolerated the frankly ridiculous obsession of everyone but today was one day he just couldn't pretend to be normal. Harry just couldn't find any grace to spare on the anniversary of the day he lost the last family he would ever have. Neville explained that Harry had been rather sad for a few days now and had told him why this morning. But all day Weasley and Granger had been everything just short of harassing poor Harry in and out of classes until he just needed to get away and grieve in peace.
Harry stood to the side, hands fisted rigidly, as he stoically ignored the speculative looks and examined the troll. He grabbed the first little bit of silence and asked loudly how this creature had managed to enter the school premises. Or was this a normal Halloween special? Sidestepping his questions altogether, McGonagall and Snape wanted to know how three first years managed to overcome such a difficult beast. Neither of the three could adequately explain.
Flitwick asked to see their wands, and the three offered wands which did not register anything more complicated than the levitation spell and a cleaning spell in Neville's as well as a pointer spell in Susan's. Neville admitted that they did not really think of using a wand, nor did they think of any spell as such. Flitwick then concluded that it must have been accidental magic, released under duress from the three underage magicals. It had been known to happen among children under emotional and physical duress, McGonagall concurred.
The Granger girl had begun to tremble violently and was still under shock. Susan gently detached her hands from the girl's desperate clutching and suggested that perhaps she could benefit from Madam Pomphrey's attentions. They reached the stair landing when Susan's aunt and the Aurors came up, with Professor Dumbledore arguing hotly at their heels. Harry noticed Quirrel sneakily dropping behind. Susan rushed to Aunt Amy and the two boys tagged along, dragged in when she had not released their hands when she rushed forward.
In a babble, they began to explain about the troll and the girl and how they did an epic bout of accidental magic. Aunt Amy hushed them and asked Susan to do the honours and introduce her companions; blushing heavily, Susan introduced her friends and Professors Quirrel and Snape, aware that Aunt Amy already knew the others. Aunt Amy then suggested that Professor McGonagall lead the kids away to the Infirmary while the DMLE conduct an investigation; she would stop by to question the children afterwards.
Neither Dumbledore nor Snape or Quirrel seemed to find the idea of returning to the wreckage very appealing. Only Snape could escape. Quirrel was asked to stay and explain how he knew there was a troll in the premises and why as the headmaster, Dumbledore remained unaware.
The kids followed McGonagall into the Infirmary and explained the shocked and bruised condition of their classmate to an angry and disapproving Matron. Thrice more Neville and Harry tried to raise the issue of what exactly a troll was doing on campus, and McGonagall continued to ignore them. Once Granger was settled in and sedated, McGonagall escorted the trio to Professor Sprout and asked them to explain the situation to her and then left, warning them to wait for the Aurors and not discuss and gossip with their dorm-mates before that.
As they moved towards the dorms, Susan explained, with Harry and Neville chipping in with details. Professor Sprout apologised to Harry for not having noticed his distress or helped earlier. She would talk to the house about this and ensure that every badger be aware and help out whenever Harry felt overwhelmed, especially on days like this. She excused them and informed them they could rest up until the Aurors came for them.
Harry and Neville quickly rushed off to their room. Susan found Sally Anne huddled in their room, looking very upset. The poor girl wasn't prepared for the magical dangers and staying this far out of reach from her parents wasn't very helpful for her. Susan attempted to soothe and distract her by telling of her adventure with the troll but it only distressed the girl further.
Meanwhile, Aunt Amy arrived with Sr Auror Samantha Inkwell and was alarmed to see two girls even more agitated than when she left Susan thirty minutes ago. Sally Anne burst into tears and begged to be taken home. She didn't want to be magical or stay here any more. Amy asked Auror Inkwell to wait outside the room for a bit.
She then recommended to Sally Anne that she would gladly take the kid home but she needed to be sure that this was what Sally Anne wanted. Sally Anne nodded so vehemently that Susan privately feared that the girl's head would simply roll off any minute. Susan then remembered about the inheritance tests she had in her trunk. She took one test parchment out and gave it to her Aunt.
Amelia then explained what it was to Sally Anne and promised her that she only need to take the test, see what family lines she would be connected to, lock the respective vaults with her claims for her future generations before she reached home. This way, Amelia could legally bind Sally Anne's magical core but not take away her memories.
When muggle-born children rejected magical education in preference of the muggle world, their cores were bound and their memories of even accidental magics, wiped, whether they wished to forget or not. Having traceable claims to family vaults would protect her memories and prevent persecution from the likes of Malfoy until Sally Anne or her progeny felt ready. This would be a simple matter of precaution.
A prickle on the thumb revealed that Sally Anne had ties to two minor but sufficiently wealthy houses who were just four years away from being absorbed into the ministry. Amy and Susan explained what could be done next to claim the names but remain hidden from the notice of the Wizarding world. Amy then handed her over to Auror Inkwell, and asked that Sprout be informed about this turn of events; she would personally escort the child home.
When Inkwell and Sally Anne went in search of Professor Sprout, Aunt Amy then turned to Susan for explanations. Susan wanted the boys in when the whole event could be narrated properly. Instead, she extracted a copy of her memory, bottled it into a conjured vial and passed it to her Aunt. They had a fairly chuffy Pensieve in the Potter Trunk where everyone could view it, but later.
Although the DMLE investigations had not really yielded any worthy results, it had helped the Grey alliance publicly raise some pertinent questions and light a legitimate fire under Dumbledore's far too many seats. Four days into the investigation, Amelia and Gran had managed to raise a stink as parents and guardians from their voting seats at the Wizengamot as well as in the Hogwarts Governors' Board.
A new board was elected with parents from current students, teaching staff as well as hereditary seats like Bones, Blacks, Potters, Selwyns, Lovegoods, Longbottoms and more among others. Gran had raised a big ruckus over the state of wards, claiming that Dumbledore adorning too many hats had caused magic to not entirely recognize him in the Headmaster's role.
She informed the new board tartly that her frank conversations with her grandson, her grand-godson, Harry Potter and Amelia's discussions with Susan had revealed a biased, substandard education. History of Magic and Muggle Studies were woefully out of date; important subjects like wizarding culture and estate management and magical politics and economy had been entirely left out, and vital core subject that was Potions was an abysmal failure - there were a single-digit number of students qualifying for either Auror or Healer training, that could be laid at the door of less than satisfactory Potions study practices.
Wards, safety and security of their children, and the unchecked instances of unpunished bullying showed that Dumbledore was, to quote Harry Potter, dropping the far too many balls he juggled, far too often for it to be acceptable. So either he could step down as headmaster and focus on politics or remain headmaster and focus on the students to the exception of all else.
Open acknowledgement that thus far muggle raised saviour of their world was finding inadequacies in their education system was finding all the elders in the board thinking uncomfortably that a child was beginning to see their world clearer than they themselves.
At the end of a heated, debate filled 13-hour long session of the newly elected Hogwarts board, it was decided that Hogwarts needed an upgrade. But Gran warned them not to leap ahead without due planning. So the members decided to present a report before the Wizengamot regarding the matter. Augusta Longbottom was unanimously elected the Head of the new Board and the Hogwarts Reprisal Committee.
It was one more reason in a long list of reasons for Dumbledore to add Harry Potter to his mental kill list. At this rate, he mused that he would be ready to challenge Voldemort for the right to kill that little bugger. He headed out to the ministry, hoping against all common sense that he could somehow prevent the leakage of this latest disaster. The existence of the newly minted Hogwarts Express News completely slipped his mind as he vanished in a swirl of green flames in the grate.
By the time the Reprisal Committee presented its findings in the 'Gamot, another explosive edition of the HEN had been out and about for a week, long enough for its contents to leak and spill over to the Daily Prophet with a few exciting embellishments.
Harry's frank discussion about what he had coined the juggling act of more roles by fewer leaders, his assessment of the security of students at school, the lessons and their relevance and effectiveness, his ideas to help ease the burdens of teachers; each article had become a cannon blast in the card-house of obfuscations of Dumbledore. Concerned parents had temporarily forgotten their political affiliations and united in their combined wish for the betterment of facilities for the sake of their kids.
Skeeter and crew, as well as many others representing minor and major media houses in England as well as other places, watched avidly as the 'Gamot became a hothouse. After another seven hours of frustrating discussions that led nowhere, shouting matches that nearly threatened to end in duels right there in the middle of the 'Gamot floor, thinly veiled threats and accusations, and a lot of mayhem, Dumbledore was exhausted and anxious enough to return to the school and be done with this for the day.
He ended up resigning his positions in the ICW and the Wizengamot and giving an unanticipated and unplanned quote to the media that he was tired of splitting all his time and energies multiple ways.
The dramatic stalking out of the chambers after proclaiming his decision to regroup hadn't been the best idea either; he had been mobbed by the media, Skeeter leading the charge. Amelia had come to his rescue and recalled to the reporters that Dumbledore has, was and will continue to be the brilliant teacher and mentor that she herself remembered from her time at Hogwarts and that the Wizarding Public of English Provinces should learn to spread a little wider so as not to burden our heroes like Dumbledore and Harry Potter so much that they would break; no one, she reminded them sternly, should forget that even heroes are human.
Dumbledore gritted his teeth and silently glowered as he pushed past the gathering mob and stalked off towards the grates of the Ministry Floo services, eager to be gone. This wasn't his day. This wasn't his week. In fact, it hadn't been his month for more than two months now.
The next fortnightly edition of the Hogwarts Student paper now lovingly dubbed HEN had done extensive coverage of the 'Gamot discussion on Education Laws and the role of prominent 'Gamot members in shaping the magical community. The political and socio-economic awareness was at an all-time high.
Where once the lunch table discussions centred around relationship gossip, quidditch matches, squabbles, hook-ups and breakups, now laws, rules, needs, clubs, facilities and rights began to take over. The stage had been set; with the right kind of promoting and pushing, the muggle-born students had talked about having student parliaments and parties and elections rather than arbitrary authority promoted prefects. Breaking the House stereotypes, the students were re-forming groups across Houses based on their personal interests.
Without coming out and putting into so many words, Harry and his group had been encouraging his social circle to organize elections based on class and subject enthusiasts, academic year, sorted house affiliations, sports teams, hobbies and interests, bloodline classifications, political affiliations, and even gender.
The next edition of HEN had been held back a week to announce the results of the planned elections for the weekend and Professors Flitwick, Burbage, Babbling and Sprout had been willing volunteers to help the students organize the event. Professor Flitwick had even altered an accounting charm to count votes and imitate the results in the 'Gamot style! Despite Harry's best efforts, Harry got elected to represent the first years winning against Zacharias Smith and Hermione Granger, who also lost to Dean Thomas in representing First Year Muggleborn's Group.
Neville was elected to represent the 'Puffs of their year and Susan won the chair for Firstie Ladies for Liberty, and Daphne represented the Young Entrepreneurs Association of Hogwarts. The next edition of the HEN and the day after that, even the Prophet had a dedicated section to discuss the election, a short note on the elected representatives and the significance of having a students' parliament that somewhat mimicked the functioning style of the Wizengamot.
The two yesteryear leader/dictators in disguise sat at the head table, one fuming at the dizzying speed at which life was changing and the other nostalgically recalling how he had begun his own crusade in a similar vein, although at a much smaller scale.
He had to wonder if the little celebrity realized what he was doing or actively tried to court the public; most times the child seemed mild, shy and far too gentle to be any real trouble. Voldemort wondered idly which one of the three had been the one to cast the charms to and the transfigurations to trap the troll in a cage. The Potter boy didn't seem the type; he was the quintessential Hufflepuff, with a hive mind. And the other prophesied boy was lacking any kind of imagination.
Maybe he had targeted the wrong child? Maybe it was that Bones chit the whole time? So what if her birth date had been all wrong? Even in classes, she was a fiery little thing. Her Aunt certainly had been a real challenge back in the day. Much more than the Elder Potter, although Lily Potter was probably the one to land the killing blow on his body.
Maybe it was their being witches that was a real danger. Just trying to grasp the mechanics of a female mind was a dangerous hobby. Did he make a mistake assuming that danger would come from a male child? What did happen that night? His memories from that time were incredibly fuzzy and riddled in pain. It had taken years to stabilize himself long enough to see past his pain and eke out a plan of any sort.
He watched from behind his clever mask and remained silent and unwilling to risk wrong moves for now. He had months altogether to make and change and finely etch out plans. Plenty of time to sort things through. For now, it was immensely gratifying to see the old man squirm.
The world around him was changing rapidly. No amount of taunting remarks made offhand in the staff meetings or at the head table now provoked his spy. The dour-faced man had grown more withdrawn and contemplative. A thinking minion was a useless minion in his opinion. They almost never got the vast scope of his visions and plans.
Explaining or seeking approval was a pointless exercise in futility, which was just as well. And these new-fangled notions of electing their leaders, and so frequently! It was courting insanity, it was. All his efforts to put a stopper to the nonsense was shot down most mercilessly. He had sacrificed his ambitions, gave up on the coveted roles of power in the 'Gamot and the ICW that he had so carefully cultivated for years.
All he was now was Headmaster Dumbledore and now they dangled the only position he had actively retained, as a tenuous bait. Meanwhile, they were coolly ignoring all his ever-increasing ire and protests he had been actively raising since the dratted night he signed most of his other powerful titles away.
For the first time in a very long, long time, Dumbledore couldn't see the end game of who he deemed his opposition. This helpless, powerless fury was a new experience. And it wasn't to be born!
An offhand comment about muggle superiority from the condescending Granger before she had been attacked by the troll had been plaguing Harry's mind. He discussed it with Susan, Daphne, Neville, Astoria and Luna; yet none of them had ever heard of even such a remote possibility. So they decided that the trio would take it to Professor Flitwick and see what the resident Charms genius would make of Harry's request. That's how the four found themselves pouring over the primary logs with Madam Pince in the Library.
Muggle London was the first community in the world in modern history to have a centralized emergency contact number, 999 for the public. But nearly thirty years later, the wizards still had no one single emergency assistance call system at all; especially in the light of the reality of two dark lords who had near completely decimated their numbers in guerrilla tactics of swift attack, annihilation and swifter retreat.
More deaths and damage could be attributed to a lack of timely assistance. Harry, Neville, Susan and Daphne would have had their full set of parents if they had the means to call emergency protection and assistance if they had a similar system in place.
The kids knew that they themselves had survived more on luck than any reliable plans. And even if no one else considered the possibility, the Greys were well aware that the Blood War wasn't really over. The need was still there and prevalent as ever for an Emergency Rescue and Assistance system. They were on a hunt for a charm that even a child could call forth, to contact help for an emergency.
The closest they had come to were Patronus charms, emergency portkeys, and floos. Even if they did not advertise it, the Greys knew that even their mirrors weren't a foolproof solution. A disarmed or trapped or injured individual would find none of this helpful in a pinch.
Harry and Daphne were in heaven because they had found an exciting new project once again. Luna also shared their excitement, while the other three looked on in fond exasperation. Whatever form the final result of the project, they had even designed a grand name for it - ERAS: Emergency Rescue and Assistance System.
Even the name sounded exciting to the kids and the Elders of the Greys agreed. Amelia more than anyone else appreciated the initiative and decided to take it up as a challenge to get the DoM to be the first to develop a solution, competing directly with the kids. Lord Black was amused enough to let his House account sponsor a prize to fund the setting up of the initiative after it was successfully designed.
Thanks to Granger they now had a place to begin exploring for ideas. And Harry found the possibilities of a centrally linked network of communication lines a fantastic new source for new jobs, boost in the economy, a secure way to ensure quick rescues and emergency services. But organizing it would be a nightmare. None of them wanted to provide a means for access to vulnerability to a government they themselves didn't trust entirely.
So what they needed was a private and secure enterprise entity that the entire British wizarding community would trust and willingly try. And it had to have some level of sentience so it could assess and interpret requirements and situations more or less accurately. This would be a long term project, and the young Greys were well aware that once they could accomplish this challenge, it would be a fundamental and radical shift in their community structure itself.
They, in the meantime, continued to host study groups, engage in social events and made miniature parties and fetes out of the gatherings of the student representatives. Every alternate weekend, the entire student population continued to gather in the great hall on weekends to discuss various issues, means to improve student lives and enrich their resources within the campus.
Two such parliamentary sessions later, students had arbitrarily solved the issues of having fewer reference textbooks and Raven habit of hoarding them all rather amicably; they had also decided on more than one quidditch team segregated strictly by House, and open to all years. And the student leaders had decided to appeal to parents to contribute more copies of reference texts to the school library.
One group had teamed up under the guidance of Professor Sprout and Hagrid and had begun canvassing for a student-run self-sustaining farm to fulfil at least part of the school requirements. Another team, inspired by the first had joined up with Professor McGonagall had decided to organize fairs and exhibitions to raise funds to improve the much-needed facilities.
The two teams had been meeting in Professor McGonagall's office almost nearly every day, brainstorming for ideas to help their school teach them better. Everyone was thrilled with the progress made by children; nearly everyone.
Dumbledore sat in his office, reading the Governor Board's report and their instructions for him. In all his fifty years as the headmaster here, this was his very first experience of other people constantly telling him how to do his job. Hidden in all the legalese was a warning that was loud and clear; tackle the school issues or be replaced with someone who would.
He wondered if instead of chasing after the Sorcerer's Stone directly, if this was Voldemort pulling strings from behind hidden smokescreens, planning to oust him and then take over. He dare not think that Augusta Longbottom was going dark. They were as light as light could be, even if they did not really get along all that much. But she currently presided over the Governor's Board of the school as well as getting appointed as the Acting Chief Warlock for the next seven months.
Randomly out of nowhere a horrifying thought occurred to him; he wondered if Malfoy Sr was merely throwing more smokescreens while he geared up to take over from Fudge while Dumbledore was being rendered fang-less and claw-less. If that was where things were heading, then it was best to anticipate a siege in Hogwarts in a few years when Voldemort finally decided to move into the open.
Why was Snape not saying anything if this was brewing behind cauldrons? Had Snape jumped ship like Pettigrew? Was the dour potions master simply waiting for an appropriate moment to attack before making his way out? The more Dumbledore thought about the situation, the more alarmed he grew. He completely ignored the gasps of outrage, horror and fear in the agitated portraits hanging around his walls, or the squeak of disapproval emanating from Fawkes as he continued to mutter and exclaim over the problem and his version of solutions.
Hogwarts sensed the unease and began to make plans of her own. An In-House ERAS wouldn't be amiss.