Ch 40 A Tense ICWW
"How was your weekend?" Ginny asked Scorpius and Cleo as they came through the Floo at twelve Grimmauld Place Tuesday, June twenty-one, twenty-twenty-two. Of course,Albus and Rose were there to greet them.
"Long," Scorpius complained. "Great-grandmother Black is trying to be nicer, but great-grandmother Malfoy and my father are even more, not mean, upset? Worried and very unhappy that Cleo and I are not boyfriend and girlfriend? Grandmother is frustrated and upset with them, and the house is tense."
"They yell at me when I play the pipe organ," Cleo complained. "I have to practice with my portable with the headphones on so they cannot hear the music. NOISE! They call it noise. They tell me to walk up and downstairs."
Scorpius laughed. "Telling Cleo to slow down is like trying to stop the wind."
"Proper lady-like steps, Sloooow and careful," Cleo remarked as she wrinkled her nose in disgust. "Well," she sighed, "I did accidently bump into great-grandmother Malfoy once. She was rather upset."
"If I acted like she did I would have been accused of throwing a temper tantrum," Scorpius frowned, although the frown quickly turned into a laugh. "Remember the scene in your Sound of Music movie, where the nuns wonder what to do with a problem like Maria?"
"Maria in the movie wasn't the problem!" Cleo insisted. "She just needed a family. Speaking of family, has Victoire had her baby yet?"
"No, but she is more than ready to have it," Ginny responded. "She has a month before her due date, and there is no indication that she will have the baby early.
"The other children are at the New Burrow, and I was going to take you over there. Put your luggage away and meet here and we will go there."
Cleo and Scorpius put away their luggage in the bedrooms they usually shared, with Cleo Closeting to the Potter home a few moments fifteen minutes they were in the kitchen of the Potter home, ready to take the magical Closet to the New Burrow.
Molly greeted Scorpius and Cleo with her usual hugs, and then told Scorpius, "James has been waiting for you."
Molly casually conjured her Patronus, saying, "James Potter, Scorpius is here."
A short time later James came running into the kitchen, holding his broom. "You brought your broom, didn't you?" he asked Scorpius. "We have been waiting for you."
Scorpius reached into his pocket and brought out his broom and expanded it to its full size. While he was doing this, several more people came into the kitchen.
James continued, "I'm having a hard time finding people to fly with. All the students who have graduated are working or doing something else. You know Patsy Hepplewhite, the Slytherin beater. He is not sure if he wants to turn pro after this year, but he is marginally good enough. He is hoping that by practicing with me this summer he can get good enough, or at least figure out if he really wants to try and turn pro.
"Olivia Wood is one of our Gryffindor chasers. Her father is a professional player.
"You know the Lionhearts', Erica and Bill, and of course Lily. I have not been able to get any of the younger players over yet, so we are seriously short of players even for drills. Even with Albus and Lily we are short of players."
Scorpius joined the small crowd that left the kitchen of the New Burrow to fly.
"Do you mind if I use the living room to practice?" Cleo asked as she pointed out the portable organ that she has shrunk and brought with her."
"No one else is using it, dear," Molly replied.
"How were your O.W.L.'s, dear," Molly asked her granddaughter, looking at Rose.
"Scorpius and I received all Outstanding's," Rose shared. "I think Albus did as well. I know Cleo received all passing marks, but I know some of the examiners didn't know quite what to make of her. She really doesn't care about marks, though. Thank you for asking."
"That is wonderful news, Rose," Molly beamed.
"Everyone expects me to get top marks," Rose observed. "It is rather hard living up to everyone's expectations.
Rose looked at the other people in the kitchen, a little unsure what to do next.
"Grandmother is teaching me some of her cooking secrets, Rose," Victoire told her cousin. "Would you like to join us?"
Having nothing else to do, Rose spent most of the day with Molly and Victoire.
Rose usually enjoyed spending time on something other than studies. Listening to the two of them work with the Elves, plan meals, and discuss what other members of the family were doing felt natural and comfortable.
Victoire appreciated all the help she could get. She was busy getting ready for the new baby, and was at that stage in her pregnancy when she was quite awkward and uncomfortable. Maria was an easy child, but she still could use watching when she was awake, and Molly worked with Rose to show her how to tend a toddler, to let her fall and fail, but not to get seriously hurt, to let her explore but within limits.
"Did my mother like playing with babies?" Rose asked her grandmother.
"She doesn't have the patience you have," Molly told her granddaughter. "Some of taking care of a toddler is just watching them and letting them learn at their own pace."
"I don't want to work as hard as my mother," Rose told Molly. "I don't feel bad just sitting and watching."
"It is nice sharing with another adult, instead of just being with children all day," Molly told Rose. "Victoire is not really interested in moving out of the New Burrow, and I would be content to let them stay here. I know many women do not want to share their home, but I love being around family."
"I can see my father playing with my children more than my mother," Rose confessed. "I really love her, but she's not the most natural mother."
"She is a very good person," Molly let her granddaughter know. "Just maybe not as natural a mother as some."
Harry had been in Switzerland getting ready for the ICWW all day Monday and Tuesday morning.
Tuesday afternoon Harry was called into a meeting at the International Aurors Association, located next to the Swiss Aurors offices. Despite the longtime head of the International Aurors being an American, the International Aurors Association had its headquarters in Switzerland. It had not always been headed by an American, and they were several non-Americans that were the candidates for the next head.
A glum Harry Potter sat in a well shielded conference room listened to Raphael Vaud, the head of the Swiss Aurors, and Al VanLente, the head of the International Aurors, explain how they intended to keep everyone, but especially Albus and Cleopatra, safe during the International Conference of Witches and Wizards. All the changes in the relationships of the Magi and the Elves, all the beings that were now considered Elves, was adding another group of unhappy people to the ones already threatening Albus, Cleo, and others.
In the meeting, but not saying much, was Nausicaa Scherica, the most respected of the Swiss prophets.
Eventually Harry turned to Nausicaa and tried to confirm, "You are sure that everything is going to come to a head this year?"
"Harry," she replied. "If I was sure I would be a fortune teller, not a prophet. The signs do say this is going to be a very critical year for Albus, Cleo, and many others. I cannot give you dates and how."
"All the intelligence we have been able to analyze about Jezebel, and about The Lord of the Dementors, indicates increasing desperation," Al reconfirmed. "We just don't have any idea what is going to happen. I'm not even sure Jezebel and The Lord of the Dementors are on the same side. She may want to capture Cleo. I think he just wants everybody dead.
"Jezebel doesn't care about the Elves, Galadriel and Thorin, or any of the politics of the wider world. She just needs an heir, or her magic will decrease. She is already having some problems from what we can gather. Cleo's mother is a good person, fully committed to not following in the evil ways of that island. Cleo's sister is not strong magically. Jezebel has been so terrified of having a descendant kill her that she has eliminated way too many of them, and now she has a real problem."
"Do you know why Jezebel is frantic to have Cleo pregnant before she becomes an adult at seventeen?" Harry wondered.
"I think her power will be diminished if her heir becomes an adult first, and Jezebel has no other potential heir except for Cleopatra," Al suggested. "That doesn't explain the pregnancy, though. Too much about what we are hearing and seeing doesn't make much sense."
"Prophecy is never precise enough to give you dates and specifics, but it makes sense that they have to meet," Nausicaa agreed. "I think they have to meet again before Cleo turns seventeen."
"She turns seventeen Christmas day," Harry reminded the group. "What happens if she turns seventeen and they have not met?"
"I'm worried about a full-frontal attack, that will cost many lives, and be hard or impossible to hide from Muggles," Al responded.
"And Albus and Cleo have to defeat her, fight her person to person?" Harry pushed.
"I've studies three thousand years of history," Nausicaa told Harry. "When the prophesied person or people do not meet, especially when one person or group avoids the prophesied confrontation, it never goes well for the people trying to avoid the fight, or for the magical community. That is why Dumbledore thought you had to face Tom Riddle."
"So how do we arrange such a confrontation and give Albus and Cleopatra the best possible chance to survive?" Harry wondered.
"I cannot figure out any way," Al VanLente replied, his head in his hands. "I'm totally over my head with this one."
"I think the chance will come," Nausicaa foretold. "I just have no idea how or when, although all the signs point to soon."
"So, we wait," Harry unhappily concluded. Everyone agreed.
Raphael pointed out, "Harry, we have you and Ginny in the Regent's quarters, and have Albus and Scorpius in one of the bedrooms in the same quarters, and Cleo and Rose in another bedroom. That way you are close together, and we have less area to guard. We are going to take you to and from the meetings by secure passageways. You are going to be in in areas shielded by transparent barriers. We think we can keep you safe for all the meetings."
"That is going to make it more difficult for Albus and Cleo to meet with the Magic and Elf Language Learners," Harry observed.
"We don't have any problem with the Magi that they are meeting with," Al Van Lente confirmed. "The Elves and Goblins assure us that they are handling security for themselves, and no one who might be a problem is going to be in any meeting with the MELL students. There are a fair number of problem Goblins, and even a few problem Elves, but that is one problem we are not going to have to worry about."
"How are you going to keep us safe during the opening and closing balls?" Harry wondered.
"That's more of a problem," Raphael agreed. "You can only attend the balls if you have an invitation, and we think that solves most of the problem. There are always a few people that we have to invite, because of their position in various governments, but that we are not totally comfortable with. We are just going to watch them and do our best to keep them away from Albus and Cleo."
Wednesday morning Harry walked from the Regent's quarters to the large auditorium where the International Conference of Witches and Wizards met. The room had been expanded, the floor the same size as before but sizable galleries around the outside. There was a new transparent barrier between the galleries and the main floor of the auditorium, and several sections were further protected by additional barriers. Harry knew that the barriers were another product of Angelina's Angel Armor, some triple layer of glass and two different types of plastic, with spells on each of the layers. He also knew that Albus and Cleo had spent a couple of weekends with the technicians at Angelina's Angel Armor perfecting the spells.
Elrond Lothlorien was standing near the entrance when Harry walked into the auditorium. He turned and greeted Harry. ""Good morning, Harry.
"I'm here with Gimli. He and our daughter Luthien are betrothed. We want to make sure this auditorium is as secure as you do."
"Do you anticipate any problems when the MELL students meet with the Elves and Goblins?" Harry wondered.
"There are several contingent of Goblin Elves that have realized how much their world, our world, is changing," Gimli told Harry. "They are unhappy in a way only Goblins can be unhappy, and that makes them dangerous. They are going to be confined to a couple of the secure galleriesand escorted to and from Goblin quarters in the Gringotts complex."
"I've learned that Goblins do not mind living underground, as long as the quarters are elegant," Harry noted. "I am guessing that the quarters for your important but unhappy Goblins are both elegant and secure."
"Albus and his friends are going to be here tomorrow to map the living quarters, and show us how to confine people using spells," Gimli told Harry.
"Using non-existent Goblin wands," Harry smirked.
"We are Elves now," Gimli grinned. "Just Elves with Goblin jobs."
The other beings pointedly said nothing.
Harry took Albus, Rose, Scorpius and Cleo over to Switzerland Thursday. They spent the day with the Elves and Goblin Elves, meeting only after dinner.
"How was your day," Harry asked the quartet.
"Productive," Albus replied.
"Do you want to share what you did?" Harry wondered.
"No," Albus responded. "Maybe it is better if you do not know. Gimli told us you are a good guesser."
"I understand that there are going to be meetings with and between Elves, Goblins, and some of the MELL students, starting tomorrow, and extending through all next week," Harry told the students.
"More documents have been found and translated from the areas we entered last summer," Albus told his father. "They give us much more of the early history, or possible histories, of the early days of the Elves on earth, and more on how Magi were created. It is very clear that the hierarchy is first the High Elf Princess, then her consort, then the first witch, and then her consort or husband.
"We would call the head couple the king and queen, but that is to read into the description of who this couple is and how they should rule way too much. It might be better to call them the first witch and first wizard, with them as equals. Equals at least, with the witch the first magical human created, and in some ways the most powerful."
"Like Cleo," Rose volunteered. "Her magic is more powerful than any of our magic."
"It is also clear, or at least we think it is clear, that the chief witch and wizard do not have to be married," Albus added. "It looks like that came later, when instead of a witch and wizard you had a king and his, his, queen. There seems to be a strong, and not always good, need in the male to dominate.
"I have asked many people if Cleo and I would have to rule as king and queen, and the answer I get is messy. It is like we have to become king and queen, and usher in many changes, in order to give up being king and queen."
Harry and the students spent another good hour talking about the proposed changes.
Harry looked at the ballroom. It looked very similar to how it had always looked, except at all the balconies looking down on the main floor there were high magical transparent panels. A modest but significant number of beings, Magi, Goblin, (Harry was going to have to get used to calling them Goblin Elves, he guessed) and even a few Elveswere not going to be permitted anywhere except in specific areas of the balconies. There were anti-Apparition spells over the whole ballroom.
Everything started out calmly, until everyone was seated, and they started serving the opening banquet. Suddenly the main doors to the palace were opened and twelve beings flew into the ballroom. Four Aurors flew to intercept them.
Albus noticed the commotion and told Cleo, "Levitate, HARD."
Cleo levitated the sixteen beings up to the ceiling of the ballroom, thirty feet into the air. Albus summoned fourteen wands.
Cleo told Albus, "Two of them, I think Goblins or Dwarves, have war axes instead of wands."
Al asked, "Can you shake them until they let go of the war hammers."
Cleo shook first one, then the other, bumping them up against the ceiling, until they dropped the war hammers. An Auror who was standing guard used a spell to catch the heavy and dangerous objects as they fell.
Harry took out a map he had made of the ballroom. He summoned Raphael Vaud, the head Auror of Switzerland, and pointed at one being on his map. "That is Guts the Goblin," Harry informed Raphael. "He has been a wanted being for over a century. Take extra care to keep him from escaping."
"He is one of the key allies of the King of the Dementors," Raphael noted. "Many Ministries of Magic want to get ahold of him."
Raphael turned to Cleo. "You have four of our Aurors stuck up on the ceiling. Can you let just them down?"
Harry brought out his map, and Raphael pointed out which four beings were his Aurors. Cleo was standing, still pointing her wand at the beings on the ceiling. It was obviously not easy to let just the four Aurors down, but she released them one by one. Three of them were still on their brooms, and when released flew down. The last one fell but was caught by a spell wielded by another Auror and was whisked away to be treated for a mild concussion.
Cleo lowered the rest of the beings, one by one, and they were each detained and led away.
Thorin Oakenwand, who was sitting nearby, told the Harry and Raphael, "Goblin Elves will help you guard Guts. He is wanted by our law enforcement as well."
"Who opened those doors?" Harry asked Raphael.
"I don't know, but we obviously have a problem," Raphael replied. "I have a few trusted Aurors who are at the doors, and there will be a full inquiry into this failure."
Fifteen minutes after the invasion had started everything was back to normal, well as normal as it could be with everybody talking about the invasion, and with a more visible presence of Magical Law Enforcement.
"We have voted, and come to a consensus," Galadriel told the opening session of the International Conference of Witches and Wizards. "The vast majority of the descendants of the original High Elves have agreed to be Elves, not Goblins, not house elves, not Dwarves, but Elves. That means that none of the treaties between Goblins and Magi are still in force."
There was a tremendous uproar, and it took time to quiet the assembly.
"You have no idea how drastic the change has been for the Goblins," Zefenslot, the head Goblin Elf, told the assembly. "In becoming an Elf, I have granted my wife Mutnesut equal status in our household, and a prominent position in Gringotts. Always before only male Goblins ruled, and our mates were worse off than house elves.
"My status is now of Head Elf of Gringotts, but I have had to acknowledge that I am subordinate to the Elves council. Always before the head Goblin was like a dictator or king, but he is not such an absolute ruler now. Employees of Gringotts are still Goblins, but they are Goblin Elves, just like some of the descendants of the Elves who work with metal and things want to be Dwarves, but now we are officially calling them Dwarf Elves. An Elf is what we are, and Goblin or Dwarf or several other names are just types of Elves or Elves with special jobs.
"So Magi can no longer make or enforce treaties with Goblins, at least the vast majority of Goblins, because we have acknowledged that we are no longer, really have never been, a separate race of beings. We have acknowledged that we are just one branch of the Elf, or High Elf, family, and not even such a unique branch. DNA has proven that Dwarves, Goblins, Elves, and other like beings are about as distinctive as the different races of humans, which is far more alike than we are different."
"As the High Elf of the Regent I have a hereditary position of honor among the Elves," John Rivendell told the assembly. "I have been delegated the duties of presenting some documents of understanding between the Elves and the Magi. I do not want to call them treaties. The majority, the vast majority, of the descendants of the High Elves have agreed to abide by these rules or standards.
"We understand that Magi may want to make these agreements formalized. We also understand that a significant minority do not even want to acknowledge our history or our right to make these changes, and other Magi want to wait for a new king or ruler to confirm the changes. We do not think that fighting a war over this makes any sense. For most of you, day to day changes will be minor. Banking will stay the same, except that you may deal with a female instead of a male from time to time. Elves will still work for you. Already in most countries there are rules in place to prevent the worse abuses of house elves. Most Elves will just not put up with abuse, but if you lose house elves because you mistreat them, because you do not let them become Elves, it is your own fault.
"We want to change slowly to the benefit of all of us."
Documents were presented and fought over. Magi talked to their Elves, and at times to the Elf Goblin who was their banker. The whole week was taken up with the major changes in the relationship between the two races, Magi and High Elf.
A small but sizable group of Magi approached Albus. Their spokesman told him, "You have the Elder Wand. When are you going to become king?"
Albus replied, "From what I understand, before the next ruler can be proclaimed, he and his spouse need both of the first two wands, not just my wand. We need The Resurrection Stone, which my father possessed at one time, and which is available if needed. At least two of the first three Crystal Balls need to be in the possession and control of the next rulers. One is here in Switzerland, but the other two are not.
"I do not want to be king, or a hereditary ruler. If Cleo and I do come into the possession of the first two wands of the Magi, we will do our best to serve the Magi, but we are not ready to now."
"You do not want to rule?" another of the group asked.
"I do not want to be a dictator," Albus clarified. "The MELL students have been very involved in translating documents from the earliest days of Magi and High Elf. A male king ruling over subjects seems to be a human invention, and not a good one. If I need to be, there will be no question who is in charge, but the last thing I want to be is a dictator, or king with a subordinate queen."
The closing banquet and ball concluded without incident. The next morning Harry, Ginny and the students left for Grimmauld Place. The youngsters disappeared, but Harry, Ginny, Hermione and Ron sat in the kitchen of twelve Grimmauld Place to talk.
"Are you happy with the changing status of the Elves?" Harry asked.
"In general, yes," Hermione responded. "It is way more complicated than I thought it would be when I was at Hogwarts."
"Everything is more complicated than we thought," Harry agreed.
"It sounds like things are going to be coming to a head for Albus and Cleopatra this next year," Hermione further reflected. "Is there any way we can keep Rose and Scorpius safe?"
"I think, from all the prophesies and other information I have, Hermione," Harry replied, "that keeping them safe and separate from what is going to be happening to Albus and Cleo would be as easy as keeping you and Ron from helping me. For good or for whatever, everything I see indicated that they are and will be deeply involved in what will happen over the next year."
"That worries me, Harry," Hermione sighed.
"It should," Harry conformed.
2021