Time at Hogwarts passed quickly, it had already reached December and Christmas was just two weeks away, the gang, in that time, due to their reputation of being the best, received their very own moniker. With each, having their own, seemingly infamous title and group name.
Harry, Hermione, Gerrod were called the Triumvirate as they were considered the leaders of the group. Every student knew not to mess with them, though they were only First years, they were the alphas, the top dogs, the ones above all in the school. What they said, went, what they wanted, they got, it was not a matter of asking for them, rather taking.
Harry, being the Savior and most well-behaved of the bunch was called the Golden Boy.
Hermione proved herself to the entire school that she was intellectually superior to everyone, save for one, received the title Brightest Witch of Her Age as well as Princess of Gryffindor and Lady of Slytherin.
Gerrod was known, like Draco, as a discreet troublemaker. Dubbed the Dark Prince of Slytherin, he took the meaning of fear to a whole other level.
Draco, Historia, and Gerrod were also named the Silver Trio due to their Slytherin affiliation. Draco, like Gerrod, was given the title of Prince of Slytherin, this was due to the fact that House Malfoy was a frequent contributor of House Slytherin. They frequently upgraded the Slytherin's living quarters every couple of years as well as sponsor some of the less wealthy children who are Sorted into the House, acts like these made House Malfoy like royalty to the Slytherin students.
Nermaius, Daphne, and Pansy were called the Winged Snakes, sly and quiet, they discreetly roamed the halls for gossip and other such information. They were the spymasters of Hogwarts. Telling the others of what they learned, usually of who's bullying someone or illegally smuggling contraband without the Triumvirate's permission. Daphne also got the title Slytherin's Ice Queen for being such a straightforward, brutally honest, and sometimes straight up mean person. While Nermaius was known as the Quiet Crow, this was due to the fact he frequently seen interacting with a murder of crows near the Black Lake. Pansy, whenever she was given a title , always had it stopped immediately, mainly because she was annoyed with them.
Theo and Blaise had also been seen mingling with the group, most of the time it was them spending their money to... ensure complicity from other students. They were referred to as the Collector and Distributer respectively, and were both the Treasurers of the group.
Even Neville received a title too, once when he slowly began to help the Triumvirate, usually using his knowledge of plants to treat students who were in, not so known about fights. The fights were usually about one student's honor being insulted upon, after the whole Mudblood fiasco the Professors made it so honor related fights must happen privately and those hurt my treat themselves. That was where Neville came in, having a near garden in his own room, due to the frequency of the fights he was given his own room to cultivate plants that'd work just as well or even better than Healing Magic. He was respected and was now more commonly known as Doc, which began to help build his confidence in himself, granted he still had a way to go.
To make things even more interesting, and have fair representation, they had Cedric Diggory and Susan Bones represent Hufflepuff. Both due to their morals and good-natured hearts, were named Honor and Integrity, respectively. Though Gerrod was a little pissy with Cedric joining, the feelings between the two were mutual.
Their simple little group of misfits, that is those with a given title and role, were called the Court of Hogwarts. Hermione, never one to do things in halves, even went as far as to create a system where the Court will continue long after they, the Founders are dead and gone.
Currently the Court of Hogwarts were meeting in their newly made office which was kindly created due to the generous fundings of House Malfoy. The Court had gone to the Headmaster, lying to him to ask for permission on creating a secret room for those who wanted to relax, telling him it'd be a secret little surprise to the future students. Of course, the subject of money was brought up and the Malfoy children had said that their family was going to pay for it if it was allowed by the Headmaster. After much bargaining, mainly Harry convincing Dumbledore that it'll increase House intermingling, the secret room was built.
The room's location was kept a secret, even from Dumbledore, the Court telling him it was a hideout only for students. Like Wizarding World, the students were going to be held at a Statute of Secrecy, which Dumbledore joyously praised them of their integration of their Wizarding roots.
The Courtroom as it was called, was built quickly and discreetly by Malfoy gold under the foundations of Hogwarts by the Goblins no less. They, for a 'small' fee agreed to take a Potion of Forgetfulness, a memory wiping Potion, after the construction was done, with the exception of the Director Ragnok who would make an Unbreakable Vow to take the secret of the transaction to his grave.
The Courtroom was spacious, nearly half a mile, with a round table made of white marble with deep veins of blue, was placed in the very middle to symbolize equality. It also had sofas, rugs, running water and a House Elf that was bound to stay at Hogwarts and serve those of the Court. The table was currently just fifteen feet wide, able to hole every member current in the Court of Hogwarts. The table itself was Magically Enchanted to expand an enormous one hundred feet. The chairs around it looked like medieval style thrones, it did not symbolize equality, rather the rank of the member, courtesy of Hermione's system she drew up. It went from the highest rank being Founder, the First Twelve with their position of responsibility, which would be passed onto the next of kin if, and should any have children in the future.
It would go to what Hermione called the Inner Circle, those who the Court would and could trust with their deepest and darkest secret of their, secret society. Then Senior Members, who were in the Court for more than five years, then the Outer Circle, those who've been members for more than two years, then Initiates, fully voted in members, with Potentials next, and then Guest. There were a total of a hundred chairs for the table, twelve for the Founders, twelve for the Inner Circle, twenty-five for Senior Members, thirty-five for the Outer Circle, eleven for Potentials, and five for Guests.
"Let's get the first ever official meeting of the Court of Hogwarts," the Court considered all their meetings before the creation of Courtroom to be unofficial, "begin." Gerrod hammered the gavel onto hitting block. The seating arrangement began with gerrod at the figurative head, with Harry to his right, Hermione to his left. From Harry it went to Draco then Nermaius, Daphne then Blaise and Theo, Cedric and Susan, ending with Pansy who sat across from Daphne, ending it with Historia right next to Hermione.
Hermione spoke first. "Our first order of business, surprisingly, isn't Scion Weasley." Gerrod made a face. "Shocking, I know. You're so use to listening to us complain about him for most of the meeting." Hermione drawled just like her Godfather. Eleven years of age and already she has the sarcasm of a grown adult. "We actually need to discuss the sponsoring of the next First Years."
"Yes, I heard that there'll be a great influx from my what my Aunt says," Susan spoke in a formal sounding voice. "House Malfoy usually sponsors one to three students a year, don't they?"
"We do," Draco replied. "Though I don't think we did this year, Father was quite busy from what my Mother told me, something about a business investment." Susan shrugged and looked to the others.
"House Grindelwald doesn't, though it is currently being run by me, doesn't do any sponsoring." Gerrod informed. "Not for the lack of trying mind you, I reached out to several minor Houses before I started Hogwarts, all either declined or were able to pay, though I suspect just barely." Historia eyed her Brother with interest, Nermaius, and surprisingly, Harry, who wasn't good at reading emotions, realized that she did not know about Gerrod's attempts to sponsor another Noble House.
"Would Harry be able to sponsor someone?" Historia asked, looking to the boy as she said so.
"No," Theo answered, "while many would consider it an honor, Harry hasn't been made Lord of House Potter yet, so therefore he can't make any decision that serious. As Lord Heir though, you can request a meeting with the Wizengamot to be emancipated and made a legal adult, which would in turn automatically make you Lord of House Potter since there are no living relatives you know of or that the Wizarding World knows of, or is able to find for that matter, that has any viable claim to your birthright."
"I overhear Ron say that his Sister is coming next year." Neville informed the Court. The Court all looked at him with intense interest. "Apparently, she's the youngest of the seven of them. Ron was complaining about her, though half of the things he said probably were to get sympathy."
"As in?" Gerrod waved his hand to indicate more information.
"You don't want to know." Neville said red faced as he remembered the things being said. "They weren't the nicest things."
"Seven's a lucky number isn't?" Harry asked quizzically, switching the subject entirely and with easy as well while he leaned on the table. He pushed his glasses up his nose.
"Not really, it's more Lady Magic is the luck than the number, most of the times she ignores the seven superstition but every once in a while, she'll bless it randomly for the fun of it, at least that's what my Father told me." Cedric informatively answered, receiving a nod of understanding from Harry.
"I know what isn't lucky," Draco sneered to himself, "being born as the youngest of seven in a family that spends more frequently than the amount of gold they currently have in their vaults."
Suspicious looks were given and raised at Draco. "How do you know that?" Hermione asked.
"My bad," Theo raised his hand, shamelessly admitting that he was the source of Draco's information. "Draco has me send a copy of the Vault Reports of the Sacred Twenty-Eight to him every year. And let me tell you, their spending is atrocious. Even if my Father and Blaise's Mother, who honestly is the shrewdest woman I've ever met, no offence Blaise, were to personally do their financing, they'd still be as poor as a minor Noble House. My Father works alongside the Goblins you see, he also invests in many businesses around the world. And he does the finance summarization of all the Sacred Twenty-Eight for the Goblins as. Cause, well, they're too lazy to do that, it's practically free money." Goblins had Vault Reports done to see which Noble and Most Ancient House they could make profit from and which they couldn't, they also used it to keep track of who would be a better customer.
"And that's really saying something," Blaise added, considering he and Theo were the most business oriented of them all, both of them saying, and agreeing that the Weasleys would still be as poor as a minor Noble House was truly painting a picture. "I honestly feel bad for the girl when she comes to Hogwarts."
"Well, what will we be doing then? Shall we send a spy or some sort to check it out?" Daphne finally spoke. Her arms were crossed, she was content patiently listening to the news.
"Don't you think that's a little overboard?" Pansy voiced her objection to the idea, she was sitting right next to the Ice Queen, receiving the frontal assault of a nasty cold look. "Hey, I'm just saying Daph, why doesn't Harry like, I don't know, house with the Weasleys and report to us during his time there? Rumor has it, though it's not really a rumor, that Dumbledore is trying to make sure Harry its corrupted by the 'Dark Side.'" Pansy made air quotes when she said Dark Side.
"Well Harry?" Gerrod looked to the Boy-Who-Lived. "It's your choice. You could always go house with the Malfoy's or us, though you'll be leaving a poor innocent girl to the horrors of her Brother at home, I wouldn't blame you. Eating the highest quality of food and going to private beach houses and such, seems too good to pass." Gerrod leaned further back into his chair, the others started to smile at Harry's awful predicament. "It's alright, choose the Malfoy's, no one would blame you. Or judge you for that matter. Hell, I don't even think they know of what Dumbledore's planning to do."
"I hate you all, you know that, right?" Harry sighed in defeat. messaging his temples with both of his hands in regret of his decision. Goodbye beaches and wonderful relaxing time with the gang.
"Even me?" Historia feigned hurt.
"N-no not-not you," Harry stuttered out bashfully. Gerrod snickered at the scene, Nermaius did as well. Pansy frown a little while Hermione pitied Harry and Daphne, well she was indifferent.
"So, I take that as a yes?" Gerrod smiled, Harry tnodded with an unpleasant look. "Great, we'll try to visit once in a while, invite you and the other Weasleys to join us, though I doubt they'd say yes. When Dumbledore asks you to house with the Weasleys, accept. Also send us a letter only once a week. If its super important and cannot wait, send it before your weekly report, make sure to magically seal it just to be safe, just like how Mione taught you." Harry nodded in agreement.
"What's the girl's name anyways?" Hermione asked aloud to no one particular.
"Ginevra, I think it was, though I believe she's called Ginny." Neville answered. "Why, are you interested in sponsoring her?"
"Maybe," Hermione answer with a frown of thought, she shrugged her shoulders also. "I'd have to get an impression on her before I decide."
"Don't you mean, your Father decides?" Pansy asks to which Daphne chuckled, then laughed. A scary sight really.
"Oh Pansy, you really don't understand how House Malfoy works. Literally, if Hermione wants something, she'll get it, believe me." Daphne said with a conviction. "I was shopping with her one time with her Father and the girl at the counter was being rude to her, next thing I knew, Uncle Lucius bought the store as a gift for Hermione and then she fired the girl right then and there." Daphne called Lucius, Uncle, due to her childhood friendship with Hermione and House Greengrass' family like relationship with House Malfoy.
Hermione laughed, giggled really, into her hand. "The look on her face was quite priceless." She told the Court.
"Remind me not to get on her bad side." Pansy muttered to Daphne who nodded. "But seriously Hermione, are you seriously planning on sponsoring a Weasley?" She asked the brown-haired girl.
"You shouldn't throw out the dozen just because of one bad egg." Cedric remarked to the girl.
"Yes, but one bad egg is all you need to throw out a dozen, who's to say the rest aren't spoiled and rotten, or are beginning to rot?" Pansy reiterated back, darkly. Cedric narrowed his eyes at her.
"Let's not start a bickering contest, people, we're civilized, I hope. Most of us at least." Gerrod intervened, he muttered the last bit, trying to save the discussion from becoming a full-blown argument. "Now that the subject of sponsoring the next First Years out of the way, mostly, we need to get onto the next subject of debate. It has been brought to my attention that the Quidditch Brooms are nearly unusable, why the Headmaster insists on keeping them and not replacing them is a mystery. Hogwarts certainly has the budget; I should know because I asked Draco to message his Father to confirm. It seems that Dumbledore has decided to let the gold go to waste instead of using it to actually do good things with it, though I have some ideas of what he's planning to do with it."
"Care to share?" Blaise asked.
"No." Gerrod curtly said. "I don't know what he's doing, I have an idea, yes, but the best guess is that its probably something that has to do with himself. Anyways. Are we able to purchase Broom for the Hogwarts' Quidditch teams?"
"We have some money, not like we spent it too often," Theo answered. "The occasional party here and there, payment for services of the older students and such. But not enough to fund the entirety of Hogwarts. Why we never did this in the first place is what I'm actually wondering. Why wasn't this brought up at the start when the Court was forming?"
"Never got around to it, that, and we didn't have that kind of a objective in mind." Gerrod said truthfully, though his tone was harsh and level. "We formed the Court of Hogwarts to better the students and to stop the corruption of prejudice politics from creating House rivalries as well as to put a stop to the unpleasant things which happen at Hogwarts. Quidditch funding was the least of our concerns."
"That and before we showed up, not many were willing to donate so much money to pay for the new Brooms." Neville added. "How much does will it cost to replace them all?"
"An average Quidditch team has a total of twenty-one players, give or take. The main team and two backups for each position." Gerrod spoke, calculating the math in his head. "If we were to buy the latest Broom, model, the Nimbus 2000 or the 2001 coming next year, which is around seven thousand Galleons apiece, excluding the gear... It'll cost roughly six hundred thousand... Galleons."
Cedric whistled at the price, Harry, the Malfoys, Susan, and Neville were shocked, their mouths hanging open, the others ranged from a surprised face to wide eyes. "You've got to be kidding me." Pansy said at last. "Our parents and Household are stupid rich, but even they wouldn't be that stupid to throw that much money around. You might be able to get away with buying new Brooms for Slytherin, but not the others."
"Can't believe I'm saying this but, Pansy is right." Susan Bones spoke up, the others looked at her. "Plus, I don't think the other Houses would appreciate it, even if it's a gift. And hasn't House Malfoy contributed enough to the Hogwarts?" Draco nodded and spoke.
"What of House Potter?" He asked, specifically to Cedric. "Cedric, your Father's a high ranking official in the Ministry, if he could emancipate Harry, will he be able to purchase Brooms for Hogwarts?"
"Why me?" Harry dumbly asked.
"Because House Potter, believe it or not, even though it isn't part of the Sacred Twenty-Eight, is one of the wealthiest Houses out there in all of Britain." Historia says while looking Harry in the eye. "Susan, are there any laws preventing Harry from requesting emancipation?"
"Not really," Susan said, unsure, "I believe if Harry has a guardian then he wouldn't be allowed to, in some circumstances he could, but it's unlikely to happen. That is for his request to be denied."
"So essentially you're saying that I could be emancipated since I live alone with no actual legal guardian?" Nermaius' voice resonated quietly. The other's looked at him quizzically. "I'm just saying, as the Lord Heir of the main branch of House Lovegood, I should emancipate myself."
"That'll also mean you'll be taking you seats in the Wizengamot." Gerrod said, "As well as the responsibilities of attending the Board of Governors as well as those seats which House Lovegood has been given as well. That's a monthly and bi-weekly occurrence."
"I know." Nermaius said curtly. "It's just an option, I could pay for the Brooms just as House Potter or House Malfoy could, hell House Grindelwald could as well." Houses Diggory and Bones while, respected Houses in the Sacred Twenty-Eight, were not as stupidly wealthy as the other Houses, they were wealthy, but not to the point where they could carelessly throw money around.
"I can't believe we have nine more years of this." Hogwarts had a total attendance of ten years, the first seven would be spent at Hogwarts, the last three would be abroad any one of the Magical Schools around the world.
"Oh, quit complaining Draco, it's not like it's the end of the world." Hermione scolded her Brother.
"You do realize most of us will become of age during the start of Fourth Year right?" Draco asked his Sister, wondering if she knew what that meant.
"Course I know, Draco," Hermione scoffed at the question.
"Then you also must know that once we reach of age, Mother and Father expect us to marry." Draco smugly said with a smile. The needle had been dropped.
"What!" Hermione screamed.
"You didn't know that?" Pansy asked.
"How could you not know that? Even I knew that, and I'm oblivious to most things." Daphne commented. It was a lie, she only pretended to be oblivious.
"Father did like to shelter her." Draco smiled to them in amusement. "So how are you feeling about school now, Sister?"
"I hate it." Hermione agonized over the fact that she'll be married most likely a month from when she turns of age. That is sixteen.
"Hey, don't worry about it, with Father doing the picking he'll make sure to put your interests first." Draco consoled.
"Lucky you," Daphne commented. The others watched the interaction between the Malfoys, Greengrass, and Parkinson with interest. "At least you Father will let you choose your husband. My Father won't be allowing me to have any say over the matter, but he says he'll make sure they're around my age. Unless I find someone."
"Hah," Pansy briskly laughed, "you think that's bad, my Father's probably going to sell me to some old man. Imagine being married to someone probably three times your age." A lot of the Court shuddered.
Their banter and talk had gone one for another hour or so, when they finished, they all walked respectively walked to their side of the four walls, each with the sigil of the House on it. Touching it, they made sure their Magically bonded Court Ring touched the sigil, Apparating them to their Common Rooms. The sigils were manually activated Portkeys, and their Court Rings were the activators. The reason why they were Apperated back to the Common Rooms was that it was the safest and most secure part of the castle.
Meetings were called by Gerrod, who by a burst of his Magic, activated his Court Ring which caused the other Court Rings of the other members to vibrate, signaling to them that they were going to be Apparated to the Courtroom very soon. Though they made a rule that any of the Twelve could only do that in emergencies or when an emergency meeting had to be called.
"What are you guys planning to do now that we're done with today's problems?" Draco asked his fellow Slytherins.
"Library, to research Spells," Gerrod told them.
"I'll come with you." Historia said.
"You guys are always doing that." Pansy scoffed, "Ever heard of relaxing?" Gerrod and Historia looked at her with feigned ignorance, acting appalled by the idea.
"Well, I don't know about you, but I'm going to get some sleep." Daphne told the group, heading to her room, flinging the door closed, it bounced back indicating that it had not latched to the lock and was now halfway open like before. Gerrod and Historia had taken their leave.
"I really don't have anything in mind, you guys want to play some Exploding Snap?" Draco asked those who stayed. Pansy answered yes.
"Sure." Theo answered, Blaise shrugged in compliance. The group consisting of Draco, Theo, Blaise, and Pansy all sat down in a corner to play the very painful game of Exploding Snap.
In the library were Gerrod and Historia reading books on the subject of Dark Arts, particularly, they were reading of the works of Gellert Grindelwald, their infamous Grandfather, his achievements, advancements in Magic, war crimes, and his life and legacy. The two were contemplating learning one of their Grandfather's signature Spells he was known for, the Ring of Allegiance.
Protego Diabolica.
To be continued...
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[Edited 05/23/2021]