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"Hey Neville, is everything okay? Are Hannah and the children alright?" Hadrian asked concerned, as his friend portkeyed in early in the morning a couple of days later, having called and asked permission then hung up without explaining why as soon as Hadrian had agreed.
"Hannah and the children are fine and safe. I'm sorry I worried you, it isn't a crises, just something on the Wizengamot agenda which might prove problematic that I needed to discuss in person as soon as possible, not over the phone or international floo," Neville reassured his friend.
"Come inside and have a cuppa then and we can talk," Hadrian said smiling. "It's good to see you, you're looking well."
"So, are you but you look about to pop, are you sure you've got your dates right?" Neville replied.
"We're fine, and the healers assure me that while I could go any time now without complications, I should have at least another three weeks before the birth, though twins are often early," Hadrian replied calmly.
He took a seat and put his feet up with a small sigh of relief, "The elves will bring me ginger tea so what blend would you like to have?" Hadrian asked.
"You're still feeling nauseas?" Neville asked dismayed.
"Not too bad most of the time but the ginger tea and ginger biscuits helped enormously, and if Tollie feels I still need it as a preventative they're probably right. I've learned not to ignore what the elves think I need," Hadrian admitted. "So, tell me what's brought you all this way to talk to me in person instead of sending me a letter? Unless you're just looking for a way to get away from Hannah or some arse at the ministry for a couple of hours?"
"I wish that was all it was! Wizarding Child Protective Services have put forth a new bill to have all children tested for magic at birth and squib children automatically removed from their families, it will be voted on in a special meeting of the Wizengamot, the day after tomorrow," Neville said bluntly.
"What's the hurry that it couldn't wait for next month's meeting? You should propose a counter law that forces WCPS to take an oath to do their bloody jobs properly without bias towards or against any blood status of the parents or the children, so there's no need for asinine laws like this one. It isn't like it's only squib children that are abused in wizarding homes," Hadrian growled. Intellectually he knew that it was not their fault they'd been unable to check on him as a child and provide the child protection he had needed. Dumbledore's wards had prevented them from being able to find him at the Dursleys just as effectively as it had hidden him from the Death Eaters and his parents' friends.
"Yes forcing their workers to take an oath to investigate every allegation of mistreatment and to always act in the child's best interests would go a long way," agreed Neville who was also uncomfortably aware that WCPS should have intervened in his own childhood to protect him from his Uncle Algie from abusing him in the name of encouraging him to perform accidental magic, the new law probably wouldn't have made a difference in his case, his uncle was an arsehole who would have wanted to strengthen his magic by forcing it out at a younger age.
"Also, to thoroughly investigate the reasons behind any muggleborn child preforming accidental magic that could be interpreted as healing or potentially self protective in nature, as is done here and most other countries," Hadrian said.
"Hermione is worried that allowing this to go through and squibs to be removed from magical parents will pave the way for muggleborns to be removed from their parents and placed in magical homes or orphanages," Neville said.
Hadrian thought about it for a moment. "She isn't wrong, there are people who would push for that, it would remove the problem of muggleborns bringing muggle ideas and influences into wizarding culture and prevent most of them from leaving the magical world after graduation, building up our population. The problem is that very few witches and wizards could be trusted to adopt a muggleborn and treat them like a real part of the family instead of a second class citizen. You'd just be changing the group of children likely to be mistreated."
"They wouldn't likely be murdered though at least," Neville said.
"No but they'd grow up in orphanages because of their birth status, like Tom Riddle. Does magical Britain really need to be reminded what a terrible idea that is?" Hadrian retorted.
Neville shuddered, "No I think that they could be convinced of that, of course there's a danger that they'd blame the fact that it was a MUGGLE orphanage and use it as an argument for removing children from the nonmagical world because it couldn't have happened in a wizarding orphanage."
"I think it would be a bigger risk in a magical orphanage, at least in a muggle orphanage most of the kids know that they are there because they don't have any living family able to take care of them. The muggleborns would soon realise that the wizarding world had removed them from their homes and that they hadn't been adopted because of the prejudice against them because their parents didn't have magic. It would foster an awful lot of resentment towards the wizarding world and if one of them did decide to become a dark lord they'd have a ready made group of angry followers," Hadrian suggested. "Not to mention the outcry of having so many children disappear, muggleborn children often run in families. This could expose the magical world to muggles."
"You're right about the potential future problems if this law passes but we have time to fight those changes later. The immediate problem is that I'm worried that registering all births and testing children for magic won't solve anything. If these parents are prepared to kill their children to hide that they're producing squibs then mandatory registration of children isn't going to save them it will only put at risk those children who are slow to show signs of active magic so the deaths aren't occurring at eleven when it would be suspicious," Neville said.
"Do they even have a reliable and legal way to test for magic? I know the rest of the world has invented spells that do it but it is a crime to cast a spell like that on any child in front of a British adult, let alone to teach a British adult how to cast the spell, because of their reputation for killing squib children," Hadrian said. "Even tabling a bill like this shows that there is such a spell available which could lead to a lot of infants being killed or abandoned. If the WCPS know this spell it's going to spark an international investigation whether they've been taught it or whether they managed to develop it on their own. And if they have developed it on their own what does it feel like? Can it test for magic without harming a wizard or a squib? I'm not going to allow anyone the legal means to torture a baby."
"I never even thought to ask, I don't think that anyone has," Neville said horrified.
"It will almost be better if it does hurt the children, or at least if the test has the ability to hurt a witch or wizard or their magic. Such a spell could be easily argued against. There isn't a parent or grandparent in the Wizengamot that would be prepared to let WCPS torture their family members," Hadrian said pragmatically.
"You can't be serious!" Neville exclaimed.
"I'm not proposing allowing a spell be cast that hurts children or that it would be more okay to harm a squib than a magical child, I'm saying that it would be much easier to have the proposal dismissed if the spell has any potential to harm a child with magic. Even if it doesn't hurt I think we should demand the spell inventor be brought forward to guarantee there is no chance of the spell straining or weakening a child's magic. I doubt that the creator would be willing to swear it on their magic and we could use that," Hadrian explained.
"It's times like this that I believe you're truly the heir of Slytherin," Neville replied. "But what if they have gotten the spell from an international healer and it is the spell your healer uses? I know you wouldn't have allowed it to be cast unless it was perfectly safe."
"Then we need to find out who gave them the spell and the permission to use it," Hadrian stated.
"Determining the origin of the spell would be up to the international community, I doubt it would affect the voting unless you could prove the spell was invented by a muggleborn," Neville said uninterested.
"I'll alert Clancy and Sir Geoffrey about the possibility and get them to start the investigation. It's better I stay right out of that side of the issue," Hadrian said.
"Is being able to test children for magic such a terrible thing? It would stop parents putting their child at risk trying to force an episode of accidental magic out of them," Neville asked.
"I'd agree to testing, if it resulted in providing parents of a nonmagical child information about the nonmagical world and its education system and using an overhauled wizarding child protection service to monitor the situation with the family of squib children in theory, but taking children from their parents like that without definite proof of intent to harm the child is a terrible idea and a breach of not just wizarding rights but also basic human rights in violation of nonmagical law in every civilised country in the world. There would be lots of parents more than capable of loving and bringing up a nonmagical child, especially if there was some help for purebloods in navigating the muggle education system so they could send the child to school, and if the government know about the children they couldn't be murdered to keep them secret," Hadrian exclaimed.
"I'm also worried that mandatory public testing and registration of the results will lead to a lot of purebloods trying to have children in secret without the assistance of a trained healer or midwife to keep the pregnancy and birth hidden until the child is proven to have magic," Neville said.
"That could seriously harm a lot of witches and lead to lower survival rates of the infants, we need to stop that from happening," Hadrian said shocked.
"I know," Neville said worriedly.
"What would you do? What can we do to prevent that?" Hadrian asked. "We can't demand that every pureblood wife or wife of a pureblood turn up to an examination every six months to check if they're pregnant. Nor can we exclude children not born with the attendance of a reputable healer or midwife from attending Hogwarts in case there are circumstances where timing or other circumstances genuinely prevents the healer or midwife from arriving in time, which was my other initial thought, or parents could simply claim that the child was born overseas."
"I'm sure that there'd be a tame healer willing to register births of children after they show signs of magic or have been tested outside Britain and proved to have magic. No, I don't know what the solution is yet, we have a little time to think about it," Neville replied. "But all of that isn't the only reason I came to discuss the bill in person. The real issue for you is that the bill itself is causing a whole host of other problems. There've been riots in Diagon Alley protesting both for and against it and because of all the outcry they've declared a special meeting of the Wizengamot to vote in the issue. They've invoked the original protocols which means no proxy votes will be accepted," Neville said worriedly.
"And you need me there to get it to go our way?" Hadrian asked resignedly.
"Yeah, Harry I don't want to ask it of you while you're pregnant but I'm afraid we do. It's going to be close and you're opinion in person will sway a lot of people's votes, but the problems might be worse than losing this one vote, Kinsley and I are concerned that if you don't turn up someone could claim that you are not doing your duty to Britain as the head of the family and apply to have your titles passed on to your heirs if they are of age," Neville replied.
"That's not a problem for the Potter, Peverell, Gryffindor, Evander or Black seats all of them have recognised either Teddy, Rosie or Daisy as the heir, but …" Hadrian said.
"Exactly! The Slytherin seat holds a lot of political power, even if there's not much actual money to inherit. Having it fall into the wrong hands could swing a lot of votes and upset the balance of power in the Wizengamot for decades. Are you well enough to travel?" Neville asked worriedly.
"Not by international portkey. And they don't let women fly in muggle aeroplanes this close to being due to deliver so I wouldn't want to risk doing that either. I'll ask the elves if they can bring me, if I use the train to get to the closest land point to England then several of them should be able to hop me there in stages, and I know they won't agree to do it if it could harm the babies," Hadrian said.
"Do you think the timing is suspicious?" Tim asked.
"Very few pureblood families would subject themselves to being transported by their elves, or have enough elves to transport someone as magical as you are from one continent to another, so if that is the only way you could safely get there it could be. But who in Britain would know you're expecting a baby let alone twins and carrying them yourself and unable to travel any other way?" Neville replied thoughtfully.
"You, Hannah, Hermione and Ron, Kingsley, Robbards and Sir Geoffrey, and whoever they might have told, and potentially anyone who's been in contact with the American Auror Academy or the DC Auror office over the last eight months who might have heard about it from general gossip since that's the reason I'm on restricted duties," Hadrian said bluntly. "Was Malfoy or one of his toadies behind the type or timing of the vote? He's the next in line for the Earl of Slytherin, for another month or so. My being unable to attend this vote benefits him more than anyone else."
"Unless the whole thing is to have you attend and expose that you're pregnant and therefore your children's mother not their father and claim that your paternal line will be extinct with your death," Neville said worriedly.
"The only people who'd benefit from that other than Malfoy is you and your sons, in fact since Teddy is the Black heir you and your heirs are the only ones who would benefit more from me showing up to the Wizengamot vote and being exposed as a bearer rather than refusing to attend," Hadrian replied.
Neville paled. He reached for his wand and very slowly drew it out being careful not to point it anywhere near Hadrian or Tim. "I Neville Franklin Longbottom, Baron Longbottom swear on my magic that I mean no harm to Hadrian James Potter-Black- Evander-Peverell-Gryffindor-Slytherin and do not covert his money, his titles or his seats or votes in the Wizengamot, and that my encouraging Hadrian James Potter-Black- Evander-Peverell-Gryffindor-Slytherin to attend the special meeting of the Wizengamot is not part of a plot against him known to me," He stowed away his wand. "I don't believe Hannah could have planned this," he said.
"Thanks Neville but I never believed for a moment that it was you. I know Hannah or Hermione wouldn't have done it maliciously either and I hope Ron wouldn't, but one of them could have said something to the wrong person or even just mentioned it somewhere the wrong person overheard," Hadrian said quietly.
"I will attempt to get to the bottom of this," Neville said. "I hate to say it but maybe you are better off staying away and forfeiting the position of Earl of Slytherin."
"Except for the fact that Draco Malfoy is the next in line, and there are powers in our government that will take steps to ensure he does not make that claim," Hadrian said. "Besides, Gringotts have already confirmed that Rosie and Daisy are legitimate heirs for all my houses except Slytherin which won't accept a female heir. That had nothing to do with their method of conception, and the Goblin treaties clearly state that their decision is final so exposing that I'm carrying my own children isn't going to affect succession. The only way to stop one of these babies from becoming the next Earl of Slytherin is for them both to either be female or not to survive."
"You're talking ministry sponsored assassination?" Neville asked shocked.
"Not the ministry, Sir Geoffrey and MI7, and I'm concerned if they have to get involved they won't just kill Draco and Narcissa, they will end the Malfoy family completely."
"His wife and son," Neville said sombrely. "I can see why you would want to avoid that."
"And probably any distant cousin he may have that's close enough to inherit the Black or Malfoy titles and their families as well in case that puts them close enough to contest the position of head of house Slytherin as well or to use the death of the previous head to rally the purebloods again," Hadrian said pulling a face. Sir Geoffrey believes that if the Malfoy family holds the Earldom, then they would have the power to rally the purebloods into following him and we would potentially have another Dark Lord and be again on the brink of war and while Draco seems to have been on his best behaviour lately he proved himself to be a pureblood supremacist in school, even if he claims that it was only to keep his father from disinheriting him and taking his anger at Draco's rebellion out on his mother."
"One family to save hundreds," Neville murmured. "Much as it abhors me to admit it, I can't say he's wrong, if we knew it would prevent another war."
"No. I have to admit that if I could go back to third year and prevent my 13 year old self from stopping Remus and Sirius killing Peter Pettigrew, I would in a heartbeat, I wouldn't hesitate to kill him myself for even the chance that it would prevent Riddle from rising again, or even delaying his rise until I was better prepared to fight him," Hadrian agreed.
"But you couldn't know that at the time, there was no way of knowing that he would escape or what he would go on to do," Tim said worried about Hadrian feeling responsible for the war that followed his decision to try to arrest his father's friend to have the proof to get his godfather's name cleared.
"And I still don't know if killing him then would have permanently prevented Voldemort's resurrection or if he would've found another way back, but if I could go back and change things I would kill him while I had the chance, even a couple of years delay on Voldemort returning might have saved hundreds of lives," Hadrian agreed tiredly. "If it was just Lucius, Narcissa and Draco I wouldn't have too many issues with it, they've made their bed, they weren't innocent no matter what their motivations were, but I don't know how many relatives Sir Geoffrey might consider to be a risk. Even if there aren't any others, Scorpius Malfoy is innocent of all this, the child doesn't deserve to be killed or orphaned and I just can't let Sir Geoffrey kill a child, when I can prevent it, and even with all he did as a teenager, Draco Malfoy hasn't done anything since the end of the war to attempt to build up a following or restart the dark pureblood agenda that we know of. I'm not sure what the best course of action is though, if I do turn up for the vote and the real motive is to expose my pregnancy causing the Wizengamot try to disinherit my children because I'm their bearer instead of their sire they risk inciting a goblin rebellion."
"Merlin what a mess, should I warn Robbards what we fear?" Neville asked.
"Yes, I'll contact Kingsley and Sir Geoffrey as well," Hadrian said. "Maybe one of them should have a few quiet words with Malfoy, find out if he is involved and what he knows."
"Maybe you need to officialise your relationship with the Goblin Hoard publicly so everyone knows what their risking if they do attack you," Neville retorted.
"I'll talk to Ragnok, see what his conditions would be to name me an official goblin friend and if he's willing to make a public announcement in Britain," Hadrian agreed.
"I hope we can sort this out," Neville said. "I have absolutely no desire for Franklin to be named the heir of Gryffindor, particularly before he graduates Hogwarts. It's too much pressure on a child."
"You could always send him to Salem where it won't matter," Hadrian suggested.
"Hannah and the families wouldn't let me," Neville said shuddering at the thought of the rows it would cause.
"Could that be a motive? Could someone want to make sure the next heir of Gryffindor and Slytherin goes to Hogwarts where they will be influenced by a British education and British traditions and prejudices and they know we don't live in Britain. You've told several people that you won't send the children back there for schooling? It has to be a kick in the teeth that you don't consider Hogwarts to be good enough for two of the founder's heirs," Tim asked.
"I hate to say it but it could be, a lot of people will be very upset when the heir of Gryffindor doesn't attend Hogwarts and they could worry about the future of the school since you're pretty much assumed to own it if you don't think it's good enough for your children," Neville agreed. "Not to mention that children brought up in other parts of the world aren't going to support the pureblood' agenda and old families monopoly on the ministry."
"But that would mean this could be an assassination plot. People would assume that if I died the children would be sent to live with their godfather and most people would assume that was either Neville, Ron or Kingsley, who would send them to Hogwarts. That means you're in grave danger too," Hadrian said turning to Tim.
"Not if they believe you'd have to forfeit your seats rather than come to the next Wizengamot meeting. Or that I wouldn't be able to get word to you about it in time," Neville said.
"That eliminates anyone who knows we use elves to visit and communicate, or that I live in the muggle world and carry a cell phone for immediate communication," Hadrian said.
Neville smiled slightly, that at least eliminated Hannah, Ron and Hermione from direct involvement. "I could look for anyone attempting to block incoming international portkeys," he said.
"Sir Geoffrey would raze Hogwarts to the ground over the summer before he'd let it be run by the Malfoys, or any of Voldemort's former supporters," Hadrian said sombrely.
"Let's hope it doesn't come to that," Neville prayed.
"But if you do have controlling interest in the school why haven't you made the changes to the curriculum to bring Hogwarts in line with Salem and the other American schools?" Tim asked.
"According to the Hogwarts Charter, I don't have controlling interest in the school unless I'm prepared to live in Hogwarts Castle and devote myself to running the school. I do have an hereditary seat on the board of governors, Neville sits on it for me at the moment and we have been trying to drag the school into this century academically at least, but the changes we want haven't been accepted. There isn't time to teach all the muggle subjects as well as magic in seven years and nobody wants to have to send eight year olds to boarding school or have students attend until they're twenty-one, so until Hogwarts can be converted to a day school Salem's curriculum can't practically be instituted, I have started to encourage the headmistress to make some changes and Neville's made proposals to the school board, but without me there to sack the school board and take over the running of the school there isn't much I can do," Hadrian replied. "If I had returned to Britain I might have tried to do something, but as much as I would like to see the changes occur for the good of all British magical children, it isn't worth the risk to Tim's and our children's safety, and it would be very difficult for Tim to live in a place where all the heating lighting and plumbing is purely magical. "
"The British Wizarding world is very tied to the tradition of sending their children away to Hogwarts at eleven," Neville said. "I don't think you could change that."
"No probably not," Hadrian agreed, and if I had stayed and married Ginny, she and the Weasleys would probably have tried to stop me from even attempting to change things. After all Dumbledore was headmaster for decades and the way he did things had to be the right way because the great man could do no wrong in their eyes. Not to mention I probably wouldn't have visited Salem and spent enough time in America and other countries to learn that their system could be better than Britain's."
"You might have more success trying to start a magical primary school system to teach some non wand subjects along with magical theory and stuff that's normally taught at Hogwarts so there'd be time to add ethics and other subjects," Tim suggested.
"Yes but that would only work if all magical children attended, unless you got them all you would just increase the divide between those that knew about magic before getting their letter when they turned eleven and those that didn't," Hadrian said.
"If you could get the majority of the muggleborns to attend, you'd be closing that divide, and the purebloods would start either sending their children or improving the quality of tutoring in reading and language skills they provide them so their children weren't behind the muggleborns when they started Hogwarts," Neville said.
"Yes, perhaps, but without changing the law to allow muggleborns and their families to be told about magic before they get their Hogwarts letters we wouldn't be able to even ask them to attend," Hadrian said.
"Then let's change the law," Neville said grinning. "If you have to be at the meeting of the Wizengamot, then we may as well make the most of it."
A/N: Thank you to all those who reviewed followed or favourited this story for your support.
I wish everyone the best in this time. Please stay safe and keep your distance, stay at home if you can and keep in contact with family and friends on line and seek help if you need it.
