At this point, coming to breakfast to find the Great Hall abuzz with whispers, students huddled in clumps around newspapers, was hardly unusual. With political consequences from the Chamber of Secrets fiasco still unfolding, and then Sirius escaping, and then Liz's custody stuff coming out, there'd been more interesting things in the news to begin with. And now they were in the middle of another scandal sparked by Peter being found (and Liz simultaneously being revealed as a mind mage), developments coming so quickly the Prophet had had a special evening edition every day for nearly a week now, enough legitimate news going on without needing to get into the gossip and speculation the Prophet far too often resorted to to fill pages.
And on top of that, the hearings over Liz's custody had started just yesterday, a full transcript of the day's Wizengamot meeting (which also included stuff to do with Sirius and Peter) included in the evening edition. There hadn't been much in there, establishing facts of how Dumbledore had ended up trustee for the Potters in the first place, and how the decision of her placement had been made.
Of course, there was enough controversy in there to be getting on with. The Wizengamot had took a good deal of time establishing the timeline. The Potters had been murdered late on the 31st of October; Liz had arrived at Hogwarts early in the morning of 1st November, where she'd gotten a medical check-up from Katherine Turner (the school healer before Pomfrey); Liz was placed with maternal relatives (muggles, as people insisted on stressing) early in the morning of 2nd November; WAS moved for House Potter to be entrusted to a guarantor, as Liz obviously couldn't manage her affairs on her own...on 4th November; on 5th November, Sirius was arrested; on 7th November, the Longbottoms were attacked; the Wizengamot decided that, with her godparents unavailable and the courts backed up, Dumbledore would be made trustee in the interim...on 12th November. Meaning Dumbledore had placed Liz with the Dursleys eleven days before he'd had the legal right to do so.
There was an interesting detail there: in the interim — Dumbledore's custody of Liz was originally meant to be temporary. The thought was that, with things at the Ministry being such a mess at the time, they simply hadn't had the capacity to properly process the Potter estate, so Dumbledore would look after her as a stop-gap measure until they got around to it. Like so many other things, enforcing James and Lily's last wishes had slipped through the cracks. Apparently anticipating something improper had been done, Lady Monroe had ordered for the Potters' will and all relevant documentation to be released to the Wizengamot in anticipation of the hearing, and had (dramatically) interrupted Dumbledore's questioning to read them into the record — the Potters had had a list of people Liz was to go to, as had been common at the time, and Sirius had remembered correctly that first after her godparents had been Andi, and then a McKinnon, and then a Fawley, and then Lady Slughorn of all people, and finally Cassie Lovegood. Neither Dumbledore nor Lily's sister were anywhere on the list.
In fact, Lily's sister wasn't mentioned anywhere in any of the relevant documentation, not even once. An earlier version had included her parents, certain of her personal effects to be returned to them, which had been amended upon their deaths about a year before Lily's — they'd meant to be bequeathed to friends instead, Gringotts had finally been asked to get that done, over a decade after the fact — but her sister didn't appear at all. Which made Dumbledore's decision to put Liz with her seem even stranger in retrospect. He justified himself with claims of concern for her safety, that he thought she'd be safer anonymously secreted away into the muggle world...but given what many mages thought of muggles in general and the fact that Liz was the last remaining member of a seven-century-old Noble House, so really would have benefitted in the long term from a proper magical upbringing, yeah, that wasn't going over well.
So, in short, the decision to put Liz with her maternal relatives seemingly came out of nowhere and had no reasonable justification, and Dumbledore hadn't even had the legal authority to put her there at the time in the first place. Needless to say, the first day of hearings had not gone well for the Chief Warlock.
And it wasn't close to over yet. According to a schedule reprinted in the Prophet, there were more hearings today, witnesses including Pomfrey and a couple Ministry officials; Snape was being called in tomorrow; and the last session was the day after, when Snape and Liz would both be questioned, and a decision finally made after another hour of debate. Dorea had the feeling those hearings weren't going to be any kinder to Dumbledore.
But whatever was in the Prophet this morning people were pouring over couldn't have anything to do with that. Dorea didn't doubt various Lords and Ladies would be publishing vicious tirades or thin excuses (depending on their loyalties) in the editorials when the time came, but there'd only been a single day of hearings so far — unless someone rushed through one that first evening, there wouldn't have been time for any of those to be sent into the Prophet yet. There'd certainly be another evening edition today, and there would be a transcript of Wizengamot proceedings again, but obviously they wouldn't be getting that until, well, the evening. It must be something to do with Sirius and Peter and the massive fall-out from that, there was still a lot going on there. Ooh, maybe Fudge had been kicked out of office, that had to be coming up before too long...
They were only a few metres into the hall when Liz froze — and it wasn't until she did that Dorea noticed the occasional glances sent their way were actually pointed at Liz, not herself. Which meant whatever people were gossipping over must be about Liz, but there shouldn't be anything new this morning, what was...
Her shoulders squaring and her head dipping a little, Liz started off again, steps stiff and rushed. She was moving fast enough Dorea had to skip a little to catch up. Eyes followed them as they went, the room filled with a constant hissing of whispers, Liz only growing more and more tense by the second. Before long Liz was coming up behind Daphne, lurched to a stop. "Show me."
Turned to look over her shoulder, a reluctant grimace on her face — more of an expression than Daphne would normally show in public, must be bad news — she started to say, "Liz, maybe you—"
"Show me." A tingle of magic on the air around her, Dorea took an unconscious step back, her breath catching in her throat as she abruptly went all tense. And she wasn't the only one, more glances going Liz's way, the people in earshot dropping silent and stiffening in their seats. It didn't look like Liz was actually doing anything, though, or at least Dorea didn't think so, her control just slipping for a second.
With a little sigh, Daphne turned around to retrieve the right part of the paper, and held it out to Liz, who snatched it up, turned it around the right way. Standing next to her, Dorea immediately recognised the editorial section, near the top of the page a little inset of a familiar grinning portrait — oh no, not Rita Skeeter's column, this couldn't possibly be good.
Skeeter's was actually the smallest of the photos on the page. One was imbedded between the columns of text, Liz in Diagon Alley wearing a plain muggle-style dress (slightly ill-fitting, tight around the middle, old), fiddling idly with one of the ends of her scarf as she walked along, figures toward the edges Dorea recognised as Susan and Tracey, Hermione visible out of focus in the background. That must have been taken when they were in Charing for Liz's birthday, secretly, Dorea hadn't noticed anything like that at the time...though she guessed she wasn't really surprised that people might be sneaking pictures of Liz when she was in public. Framed by the text and the title — Ellie Potter's Secret Tragedy — was a larger picture, of...a house? A rather nice if perfectly ordinary suburban house, one of the plain blocky ones that'd been mass-produced after the War, the garden walled off from the neighbours and a shiny new (or at least well-cared-for) car sitting on the drive. It seemed a strangely mundane image to be in a magical newspaper, Dorea leaned closer, trying to see what—
And then she jumped back again when, with a harsh crackle of magic, the paper erupted into black flames. Hissing and snapping, dark magic thick around her, crawling across her skin frigid and slimy and nauseating, it only took a breath or two for the paper to be completely incinerated — Liz left standing rigid and silent, her now empty fingers visibly shaking.
Practically the whole Great Hall had abruptly gone silent, most everyone turning to stare in their direction. It wasn't every day that someone destroyed a newspaper in an outburst of (stiflingly dark) accidental magic. The eerie quiet hung for a moment, the room seeming to collectively hold their breath, waiting for what would happen next.
Liz turned and walked off without a word, the air seeming to warm a degree with every step she took away from Dorea. (Shite, was Liz already getting powerful enough she could make it cold just by being angry?) Conversation didn't start picking up again until Liz had vanished through the doors — tentatively at first, uncomfortable whispers passed between neighbours, before gradually building up to the ordinary chaos and noise of breakfast at Hogwarts, the moment passed.
Dorea sighed. "Does anyone have a copy I can borrow? Liz should probably know what's in it, at least."
The Monroe sisters handed over their copy of the editorial section, and Dorea started off — they had Potions this morning, she assumed she would find Liz in the same room she had last time something like this had happened. She was unsurprised when Daphne and Tracey followed her, or when they were met in the Entrance Hall by Hermione. After a short talk, Daphne and Tracey decided to detour to the kitchens to pick up breakfast for them — and also Liz's nutrient potion, Dorea wouldn't have thought of that — so Dorea and Hermione continued on into the dungeons, Dorea skimming over the article as she went.
Oh no, Skeeter had interviewed Liz's relatives — how the hell had she even found them? That's what the picture was, the house Liz had grown up in, no wonder she'd snapped for a second there. Stuff about how Liz had come to them in the first place, blah blah — the Dursleys claimed they'd found her in a basket on their front step, what?! — getting into the Dursleys keeping her in a cupboard — which Dorea had known about already, of course, but it was still a terrible thought — breaking every now and then to insert her own commentary, and...
...Huh. Dorea was just skimming, but it looked like the tone of the thing was very sympathetic, actually. Scanning over the actual abuse part, Skeeter even speculated that Liz's recently-revealed mind magic must have activated early to give her the means to defend herself (which was accurate), and of course Liz came off all strange and cold and apathetic, she wasn't some unnatural, evil dark witch or whatever, she was an abused child (which was also accurate), the people of magical Britain really only had themselves to blame that she'd turned out like this, she needed understanding and help not... That was odd, Dorea didn't know how to feel about Skeeter's sudden turn.
Because she had written articles about Liz before, and far less favourable ones. But, well, it wasn't like Skeeter was an ideological actor — she went where the scandal was. If she was taking Liz's side now, it was only because she thought it made the better story. And it did, when Dorea thought about it, leveraging Liz's abuse and her fame as the Girl Who Lived to fling mud at everyone responsible for it, decrying them for their incompetence and their hypocrisy...and "everyone responsible" happened to include Dumbledore, literally the single most politically powerful individual in the entire country. Dorea suspected the muggleborn muckraker was beside herself with glee at the opportunity to take the movers and shakers of magical society down a few pegs.
Not that Dorea really thought Liz would care that Skeeter was seemingly taking her side this once — this wasn't the sort of thing she would want publicised regardless. But she guessed it could be worse, at least.
The instant Dorea opened the door to the same empty potions lab she'd found Liz in last time, a flood of magic poured out, cold and stinging at her, like opening the door outside to let in a harsh winter wind. Grimacing a little — she wasn't especially sensitive to dark magic, not like Lily was (presumably a side-effect of her mother being tortured while pregnant with her), but it was still unpleasant — she stepped through into the room, her skin crawling. Liz was sitting on one of the tables, her bag abandoned on the floor nearby, legs folded in front of her, her breathing slow and harsh (Dorea could hear it from here), consciously controlled, and she...
...wandlessly cast a light charm? A ball of orange light blossomed from her fingertips, detaching after a second to float off, gently wafting in the air to join the others — and there were others, at least a dozen of the things, drifting and bobbing back and forth, red and green and yellow and violet, one a silver that even had a bit of a metallic shimmer to it. Dorea knew Liz was practising wandless magic, but she only very rarely did anything with it. There was that one dispel in the duelling tournament back in December, and she'd sometimes levitate a book closer to herself rather than just ask someone to pass it to her (which was very silly). She'd even been caught doing this same thing, with the floating coloured lights, way back in September, but...
Well, they were kind of pretty, honestly. It seemed like a very frivolous thing for Liz to be doing, being so very...Liz. They were the source of the dark magic filling the room — Dorea edged away from one when it bobbed too close to her on her way toward Liz, trying not to shiver — but still, very pretty.
Stopping a couple steps away from Liz's table, Dorea hesitated for a second, not really sure how to start off. But Hermione just hopped right up onto the table next to Liz, asked in a forced casual tone, "How are you doing that? The lights, I mean. I don't think I've ever seen a spell like that before." Well, at least once she would have— Oh no, that had been during a Defence class, and they had Defence with the Ravenclaws this year, never mind.
Liz didn't respond for a moment. Her head was dipped forward a little bit, her hair hiding most of her face, but by what Dorea could see there wasn't much of an expression there anyway, just, distant and tense. "Basic light charm." Her hand came up again, Gryffindor red light gathering into a little ball, a flick of her fingers and it floated off. "Casting it is easy. Pushing it away was the hard part." Getting it to separate from her hand, Dorea thought she meant.
...Did that mean all the floating lights weren't autonomous, that Liz was still actively powering them? It wouldn't take much power, if they were just from the basic wand-light charm. The hard part would be the visualisation...which also might not be a problem once they were pushed away, Dorea didn't know, she wasn't a wandless magic expert. But, that would explain why it was so thick with dark magic in here, if Liz was constantly channelling power out at them.
"Ah, that makes sense. I've been trying to figure out wandless magic a little in my spare time, ever since I saw you do that dispel in the tournament, but I haven't really been getting anywhere. It's hard for me to get the spell-form to hold without a wand, it just keeps falling apart on me."
"Don't replicate the charm. Just picture what you want to happen, and push power at it. Start with levitating a quill, that's what I did."
"So, sit around trying to move things with my mind for a couple minutes every day? I guess I can do that." Hermione leaned forward a little, trying to get a look at Liz's face around her hair. "How are you doing in there?"
"I haven't taken my potion yet. The magic helps." She cast another light, this one a sort of saturated greyish blue, like the sky veiled with a thin layer of high clouds.
Dorea startled a little — that was very similar to her own eye colour. It didn't seem like Liz was actually looking at her, but. "Um. Do you want to talk about it?" Her guess would be—
"No." Yep, there it was. "I should know what's in it, though, so I know what... So I know how much people know. I meant to read it, but..."
"That's your relatives' house in the photo, isn't it?" Hermione asked.
Liz nodded. "I didn't think I'd ever see that place again, and..." Her hair shifted in a little wave as she shrugged — it was hard to tell, with her hair hiding half of her face, but Dorea thought she was a little embarrassed. "Someone talked to them."
Grimacing a little, Dorea said, "Yes. It was Skeeter, tracked them down somehow." Liz reacted to the name, her shoulders tensing and her head dipping a little further. "Oh no, it's not like the other— This article is kind of... I haven't read the whole thing, but it looks pretty sympathetic, actually. I mean, I know you didn't want these things to get out there, but Skeeter is...being sensitive about it, at least."
There was a waver in the magic on the air, some of the lights floating around winking brighter and dimmer before stabilising again, something tingling along Dorea's scalp and the back of her neck. Probably Liz's magic reacting to her feelings (magic did tend to do that), but whatever it was didn't show on her face at all. "I knew it might get out, eventually. Severus warned me this might happen. Because, with the hearing and everything, and Dumbledore, people would look into it. It was always possible they might find something." She took in a long, slow breath, let it out in a sigh. "I guess I should be pleased Skeeter isn't dragging me."
"No," Hermione drawled, sounding reluctantly amused, "instead she's dragging Dumbledore. And half the bloody country, really."
"Oh. Good. What does it say?"
And so Dorea read through the article properly, summarising it for Liz as she went. Skeeter started off with things that everybody knew, setting the scene, as it were — a brief recap of the state of Britain toward the end of the war, leading directly into the events of that Hallowe'en. She played up the Girl Who Lived thing a little bit, that all the people of Britain owed Liz their lives, blah blah, basic shite. Clearly setting up for a kick in the gut. Skeeter even made an aside to some people speculating Voldemort's fall to be the work of divine intervention, Liz — or her mother, depending on interpretation — given legitimate religious significance, but Dorea tactfully didn't mention that. (She had no idea whether Liz had heard of that yet, and she was probably happier not knowing.) Dumbledore had been entrusted with her care, which obviously nobody doubted that he would do right by her, and Liz then wasn't seen or heard from for a decade...save for the occasional assurance from Dumbledore in response to questions about her that she was safe and well, wherever she was.
There was a crackle of dark magic at that detail, the lights in the air flickering again. Apparently Liz hadn't heard that little tidbit before.
Around then the door clicked open again, Daphne and Tracey walking in, a wicker basket hung from Daphne's arm, Tracey carrying a ceramic jug and a tray with cups balanced on it — coffee, Dorea was guessing. The basket carried savoury pies with a variety of fillings — probably all edible for Liz, but Daphne immediately handed her one she knew was bacon, egg, and cheese, just in case — they broke for a few minutes to pick out pies and fix their coffee. Tracey brought plenty of cream, thankfully, Dorea really would have preferred tea...
Eventually, Dorea got back to it. Skeeter skipped over how she found out about the Dursleys in the first place, just making a vague reference to her 'investigation'. (Adjustment would have the address in their records, must be a leaker.) She didn't approach immediately, observing them and the neighbourhood they lived in, surreptitiously questioning neighbours, to plan her strategy when the time came. When she did approach them, she implied (without outright stating) that she was with the DLE, doing background in advance of Liz being charged for serious crimes — the Dursleys, it seemed, had been almost pathetically eager to help pile on in hope of getting Liz locked away as long as possible. Unsurprisingly, Skeeter said the Dursleys had told her all sorts of stories of Liz using her mind magic to mess with them, but they were so over the top and the Dursleys so obviously hated her that she couldn't take any of them at face value. (Which was surprisingly cautious for Skeeter, she didn't even print any of their accusations.) She even suggested that, given what the Dursleys admitted to later on in the interview — after she'd commiserated with them for a while about how scary and evil Liz was, convincing them she was on their side — it was very likely that anything Liz did actually do to them could be justified as self-defence (written in a very ominous tone).
Skeeter came off a bit smugly self-congratulatory about her tricking the Dursleys into telling her everything — the dramatic, conversational tone she always wrote her column in didn't help (she was very popular, but Dorea found her style grating) — but Dorea guessed she did have some right to brag, because apparently it'd worked. They'd told her about that damn cupboard — Skeeter went into some detail describing it, in fact, apparently there were still pastel marks from Liz drawing on papers pressed against the walls (because she hadn't a desk or anything), a dresser still in its spot to one side of the 'room' — all but openly bragged about saddling her with so many chores she hadn't any free time to 'make trouble', denying her meals on the regular. Skeeter pointed out that the cupboard was quite near the kitchen, so when she was locked in there — because there was a lock on the outside of the door, apparently, Jesus... — for hours or sometimes even days at a time (Jesus...), she should easily be able to smell the food she wasn't allowed to have. That was Skeeter's eye for salacious detail for you, there.
Dorea needed a break at that point, focused on her breakfast for a minute or two — if she didn't take a moment to try to calm down, she'd probably start crying or something at this rate. And she wasn't the only one, either, taking a glance at the other girl's faces. Liz still looked mostly expressionless, though she had gone all tense again, her breath deep and harsh, deliberate. Also, Hermione was holding one of her hands, which, odd — Liz didn't often tolerate being touched, especially when she was already upset. Dorea asked if Liz wanted to stop here, but she said to keep going, so, all right...
Somewhat to Dorea's surprise, Skeeter didn't actually come out and say what those scars on Liz's back were from. (She still didn't know herself, thought she could guess, but she also didn't need to know, would never ask.) Skeeter did say that Liz had scars from something Vernon had done — the existence of them had been mentioned in the medical report submitted to the Wizengamot by the Office of Child Welfare (which was also supposed to be sealed, apparently they had a second leaker), and Vernon actually came out and admitted to it, the bastard. But it seemed Skeeter had consciously decided to withhold those details, going on (a bit melodramatic) about how unsettling it was to listen to the overweight muggle baldly admit to it, almost boastful, how she couldn't bring herself to repeated it, gentle readers, what this man had done to, in his own words, put the girl in her place.
If anything, Liz seemed to relax a little — probably relieved Skeeter hadn't gone so far as to explicitly spell out whatever it was. (That definitely seemed like the sort of thing she didn't want bandied about in public.) Dorea, though, was... It was just a vague feeling, and, she didn't know, she never...
This Vernon, he... Liz hadn't been sexually abused, had she? Dorea had known about the scars already, yes, but... She didn't know. It wasn't that Skeeter had implied as much, it just– it was the...general vibe, she guessed. Dorea kept going back to the bit about Vernon saying he put the girl in her place, there was just something not-so-subtly unnerving about that. It was possible she was jumping at shadows, but— She, just, did not like it, that was all.
But that definitely wasn't something she was going to out and ask Liz about, especially in front of the other girls, so she moved on.
Talking about Liz's mind magic triggering, with a brief aside including a statement from an expert about how that could happen sometimes, when the child needed it to defend themselves. For the last year and change she was there, Liz had stayed in the spare bedroom she'd compelled Vernon to let her have — because there'd been a spare bedroom, while they'd kept Liz in a cupboard, because of course. Dorea was temporarily distracted when Tracey bit out a curse, and apparently she'd reached her limit, started pacing along the back of the table, her breath coming in hisses, struggling to stop herself from...well, something, at least — Dorea wasn't certain whether she was closer to breaking something or crying. She had no idea why that was the line for Tracey, but okay. Anyway, eventually her Hogwarts letter came, Liz had to mind magic an explanation for what the hell that was about from Petunia — because, despite being in the know due to having a muggleborn sister, Petunia hadn't told her anything about the magical world — and then Liz had stayed in a hotel in Charing for the rest of summer, and the next summer she'd gone home with Professor Snape. And that was it, end of story.
Except, it wasn't the end of the story — Skeeter changed tack slightly from that point, beginning to zero in on the true target of the article. At first she pointed out how strange it was that Snape had just taken on looking after Liz on his own, without making any formal appeal to the authorities. That he seemingly didn't even mention what he might have discovered with Liz's guarantor, despite Dumbledore being right there at the school with him. There were a few rhetorical questions about it maybe being some scheme on the part of a former Death Eater — Liz tensed a little, the dark magic on the air growing sharper, perhaps worried Skeeter was taking aim at Snape — but no (gentle readers), Snape had a very good reason for not going to Dumbledore.
Because Liz hadn't stayed in Charing up until it was time to leave to Hogwarts: she was found there by Dumbledore, whereupon he brought her back to Privet Drive. Complete with assurances that he'd talked to Liz and she would behave herself with them from now on, which Skeeter of course painted in the worst possible light, falling just short of suggesting Dumbledore had endorsed her abuse at their hands. The Dursleys said Liz had left again the instant Dumbledore was gone — Skeeter suggested (correctly, Dorea thought) that Liz had spent the rest of the summer in muggle hotels, where she was less likely to be discovered. If Snape truly had discovered the truth of what was happening, he'd likely feared that bringing his concerns to Dumbledore would only result in him tracking down Liz wherever she was hiding and drag her back to her abusers. And you know what they say, if you want something done right...
This last section of the article was where Skeeter really laid into the message she was aiming for. There was a bit directed at the country in general, that we, dear readers, had all failed where Liz was concerned — what a reward for saving all their lives! Some of that, yes, but it was obvious her prime target was Dumbledore. He was, after all, the one immediately responsible, the one who'd been entrusted with Liz's care and so comprehensively failed.
And it was settling into her resolve on that point that she brought up one, last, damning detail: Dumbledore had not discussed Liz's placement with the Dursleys. In fact, Vernon and Petunia claimed that neither of them had ever met the man, not once — they'd tried to send him letters a few times, at the beginning, but he'd never answered. They never consented to taking Liz. Early one morning, Petunia had found Liz sleeping in a wicker bassinet on the front step, with only a brief letter as explanation. And that was it.
"What?!" Hermione snapped, voice loud and sudden enough Dorea jumped a little. "He just— He just left her there?!" Apparently Hermione hadn't had time to get through the whole article on her own before Liz and Dorea had gotten to breakfast.
"Well, that's what Skeeter says the Dursleys said — it's pretty obvious they're not happy with Dumbledore either, so..."
"I'd buy it," Tracey all but growled, her voice low and thick. "Bet you ten galleons Skeeter slipped them a potion, or used a few subtle charms or something. People don't just admit shite like that, no matter how fucked up they are."
That...was a good point. Yeah, no bet.
"I didn't..." Liz looked a bit off, though Dorea couldn't really say what expression that was — it was definitely an expression, eyes narrowed, her nose pinched just slightly, but too vague for Dorea to guess. "I thought they made that up."
"They told you that?"
"Yeah, it was part of..." She trailed off, a flicker crossing her face, some of the lights still floating around blinking for a second. "They used to say a lot of things, it doesn't matter. But, in retrospect, they were lying about a lot of it. I just...assumed that one was a lie too. Who– Who does something like that?" There was a little bit of a wiggle on Liz's voice, she shook her head a little and glared down at the floor, taking another long slow breath.
Reacting to that subtle sign of distress, or maybe just because she felt like it, Hermione swapped the hand she was still holding from one to the other, shuffled a little closer and pulled Liz into a sort of sideways hug, arm wrapped firmly around her. Dorea would have expected Liz to resist that (especially since she was already upset), and she did tense up at first, but then she let out a shaky sigh, turning to rest her head against Hermione's chest (because she was so short). It looked like Liz was getting more comfortable with hugs and the like, which was progress, at least — which was good, because after learning something like that, Dorea guessed she could really use one.
"Criminals, that's who," Hermione said. "That's child abandonment, it's illegal — or, it is in the U.K., I suppose I don't know about magical Britain. But the Dursleys are in the U.K., so..."
So Dumbledore had theoretically broken the law in the UK — which, coming to think of it, child abandonment being a crime was probably the only reason the Dursleys hadn't simply dropped Liz off somewhere and washed their hands of her — but Dumbledore was technically a foreign citizen, which made the question of jurisdiction extremely complicated. Dorea was pretty sure he would need to be extradited before he could be tried, which the Wizengamot was unlikely to do at all, and especially for such a (relatively) minor crime. Though, arguably, abandoning a child so as to make a muggle family responsible for them without their consent or even knowledge could be considered muggle-baiting...
With a reluctant, thoughtful sort of expression, probably thinking through the same jurisdiction problem as Dorea had, Daphne said, "It can be. There are circumstances under which a family can abandon an infant they haven't the means to care for, at clinics or orphanages, or certain religious institutions. What was done to Liz wouldn't be covered under this sanctuary law, of course. But I'm not certain Dumbledore could even be charged with this particular crime, since he technically hadn't even custody of Liz at the time — one can't improperly relinquish responsibilities one doesn't hold in the first place. He could be charged with kidnapping, I suppose..."
Theoretically, yes, but not under the current circumstances — under magical law, Liz's rightful guardian would need to make a claim to return her, which the Ministry would then mediate, and since Dumbledore was her rightful guardian that was obviously impossible. (Magical law could be tedious like that sometimes.) Perhaps the Tonkses could have done something about it at the time, if they'd been informed of what was going on, but it was too late now.
"It doesn't matter," Tracey said, "you can still sue him."
Liz blinked, turned to look in Tracey's direction...though Hermione's shoulder was in the way, so she couldn't actually see her, just reflexive. "What?"
"Doesn't matter if he's not criminally liable, with everything that— You can't get him sent to Azkaban, probably, but you can take his gold. Lots of it."
"...Oh." Liz blinked a few more times, looking slightly dazed, before settling back against Hermione with another sigh. "I've already got more gold than I know what to do with. I don't know, I'll think about it."
Hesitantly, Dorea pointed out, "You'd have to present damages for them to rule on. So, you'd have to talk about it. In public. And be questioned on it." Also, Dumbledore didn't have a lot of money to begin with — some, certainly, but...which meant almost any judgement, especially considering Liz was the Lady of a Noble House, would almost certainly beggar him...
Liz grimaced. "Like I said, I'll think about it."
"You can get the Dursleys sent to prison for child abuse, though," Hermione said.
Dorea doubted that. "Is there any documentation to prove that the Dursleys were actually legally responsible for her? I mean, they could definitely be charged with something, I'm just not certain what it would be..."
"Regardless of whether their custody of her was official or not, I'm certain there's precedent for—"
Hermione was probably going to make a point about common law or whatever, but Tracey interjected with, "I wouldn't worry about the Dursleys getting theirs, if I were you." There was silence for a couple seconds, everyone turning to stare at Tracey, she rolled her eyes. "Oh, come on. Skeeter named them, in the Prophet. She printed their address. You know how some people can be about the Girl Who Lived — they'll certainly be harassed, and I'd be shocked if nobody gets it into their head to murder them."
Oh, um, Dorea hadn't thought of that. By the blank, blinking look on Liz's face, she hadn't either — but, after a second, she gave a little shrug and relaxed back into Hermione, so apparently she didn't give a damn. Okay, then, could hardly blame her, Dorea guessed...
Anyway, that was about all there was for Skeeter's article. At the end, she teased that this was actually the first of a series of articles on the subject, that she had a few already planned and would be coming out with more as the hearings progressed. Her next one would include the full text of the letter Dumbledore had left with Liz — apparently the Dursleys had handed it over, because it turned out Skeeter could be very convincing — with more commentary about how that came to be, and other things to do with Dumbledore's history to do with children and his own family, and...
Yeah, it was bloody obvious Skeeter was taking the opportunity of the recent revelations concerning Liz and Sirius and who knew what else she'd end up tying into it to deal Dumbledore the killing blow. The narrative she was going for landed best by treating Liz sympathetically, so, could be worse.
In fact, if Liz played her cards right, she could probably avoid ever having Skeeter write another negative article about her — after all, Liz could well be more valuable to Skeeter as a source than as a target. But that would almost certainly require giving Skeeter an interview or two in the near future, which Liz was not prepared for at the moment, so Dorea kept that thought to herself. She'd bring it up later, once things had settled down a little. In the aftermath of her custody hearing and Sirius's trial would probably be best, maybe early in the summer...
Daphne changed the subject to something to do with the ongoing political developments at the Ministry, apparently having decided they'd talked about this for long enough. Which was fair, that was probably more than enough for Liz for one day. There were only a few minutes before they had to leave for Potions class anyway.
They ended up being slightly late, the hallway already empty of students — though apparently Snape had anticipated their arrival, because the door was still hanging open. By how everyone else was still settling into their seats, they couldn't be that late, and he didn't comment on them slipping in behind everyone else, so. It was another brewing day, and the potions they were working on had been growing gradually more complex, requiring more of their active attention, Dorea didn't really have room to spare to think about anything else. This potion didn't take the whole double period, and this time Snape didn't let each of them go once they finished it, instead discussing the common mistakes some of them had made, using flawed end results as examples — which was slightly embarrassing for the people who'd brewed them, too bad for them.
(Not that Dorea's was exactly perfect either, but Snape had just swept on without comment after a brief check, so she guessed it wasn't bad enough to bother pointing out to the class. Liz's was used as an example of a perfect job, naturally, being a Seer was cheating.)
To nobody's surprise, when he finally did dismiss them, he asked Liz to stay behind for a minute — he probably meant to make sure she was doing all right, with the article and all. There were a few glances and whispers, as there often were these days when anything to do with Liz and Snape came up, but nobody wanted to snoop badly enough to irritate Snape (or Liz, for that matter), so everyone packed up and filed out the same as always. She also wasn't surprised when Hermione, Daphne, and Tracey waited outside of the door with her.
She was a little surprised to find Millie standing with them, and even Draco was lingering for a moment, Pansy and the boys a few steps ahead, looking back curious at the delay. He seemed a bit self-conscious, shifting in place, glancing back and forth between their group and Pansy's. After a moment of waffling, he managed to ask, "How is she?"
Dorea didn't see how that was entirely Draco's business, and really wasn't sure how much they should be telling him — Liz and Draco weren't exactly close. But while she hesitated, Daphne answered pretty much right away. "Well enough. She's not happy about it, of course, but I suspect Skeeter's tactfulness in withholding certain details and her decision to target Dumbledore are making it easier. She certainly doesn't wish to talk about it, though."
"Right, that makes sense," Draco said, nodding. "I'll go tell everyone that. Not to ask her about it, I mean, of course — who knows if anyone will listen to me, but I can pass it along, at least." Dorea felt her eyebrows stretch up her forehead. Apparently Draco had developed a minimum of tact between now and when he'd blurted out a question about her relatives beating her, openly at the breakfast table only a couple months ago. And he'd always been a thoughtless little shite, she was honestly almost impressed.
"I'm sure she would appreciate that, Draco, thank you."
"Right." He hesitated for a second, glancing at the closed door into the classroom. And then he turned and walked off, disappearing around the corner lowly chattering with his friends.
Hmm. That was weird.
Draco and company had only been gone for maybe a minute when the door clicked open again — if Liz was surprised to find them waiting for her, she didn't show it, started toward the Great Hall and lunch without a word. (Somehow Dorea doubted Liz would actually be eating anything.) Skipping up alongside her, Hermione asked, "Everything all right?"
"Yeah." Liz silently walked for a few steps, before adding, "Severus thinks I should use this to get Skeeter on my side, more long term. A better person to have as an ally than an enemy, you know."
"I was thinking the same thing," Dorea said. "You'll probably have to give her an interview, though — you know, give her something to make it worth her while."
"Severus said the same thing. He suggested we do one with the both of us, maybe a week or so after the hearings are over, to wait for things to settle down a little, and then another one with just me right after my first event with the duelling team this summer, to give her something else to ask about." Liz glanced back over her shoulder as she stepped onto the stairs. "What do you think? Good idea?"
Oh, well, that was a great idea, actually — doing the first one with Snape, she meant, Dorea hadn't thought of that. There were a few mutterings of agreement, and Daphne said, "I can ask my mother to write you with advice, if you like. She's been interviewed for things a few times now."
"That'll help, I have no bloody clue what I'm doing..."
The conversation quickly went on a bit of a tangent, discussing what they'd want to talk about in the interview, and then the potential benefits of being on Rita Skeeter's good side, and then just Skeeter in general — she'd had a rather colourful career so far, to put it mildly. Liz dropped out of the conversation once it wasn't directly about herself anymore, as she tended to do, ended up falling toward the back of the group as they went around a corner. She was still listening, Dorea could tell — Liz didn't pay much attention to the papers, and Skeeter had been writing for far longer than Liz had known about the magical world, it wasn't likely she knew much about her — she just didn't have anything to say anymore.
The archway out into the Entrance hall glowing gold ahead, Dorea snatched Liz's hand and tugged her to a stop. "Hold on for a second."
"What's the—" Liz let out a little huff as Dorea sidled closer and pulled her into a hug, maybe a little exasperated, but she didn't try to stop her. In fact, after a second of hesitation, Liz's arms tentatively wound around Dorea, some of the tension she'd noticed at first melting out of her. "Everyone's trying to hug me today..."
Just Hermione was hardly everyone, but it seemed like Liz was tolerating hugs now, so Dorea could hardly be left out. (The only time someone else could have hugged her and Dorea not know about it was when she'd been alone in the Potions classroom with Snape, but she doubted it — Snape didn't seem the hugging type.) "Don't sound so surprised, we like you is all." Oh, Liz's bloody impossible hair, some of it got in her mouth, ech...
Dorea had leaned away a little bit — just automatically, because she got hair in her mouth — Liz apparently taking that as a sign the hug was ending, worming away. But she didn't start walking immediately, giving Dorea a crooked, fake-looking smile. "You're scared of me."
She flinched at the accusation because, well, she was, a little bit. Liz was significantly more powerful than her, and a mind mage, and she could be kind of odd and unpredictable at times, she couldn't help it. She knew Liz wouldn't actually hurt her, but feelings were irrational sometimes. "I'm trying not to be. I don't mean anything by it, but... Well, sometimes you are scary."
The fake smile flickered. "Yeah, they thought so too." They...? Before Dorea could ask, Liz walked away, something about her gait stiff and uncomfortable, Dorea too confused to follow her right away. Did she mean the people being silly about her being a dark witch or whatever, that wouldn't be—
The Dursleys.
That's who Liz meant by "they", her relatives.
Her throat burning, Dorea watched Liz walk away, stunned. She had absolutely no idea how Dorea was supposed to take that.
Even after jerking back into motion, after standing there staring speechlessly at Liz's retreating back for at least five seconds, Dorea still couldn't figure out what Liz had meant by that. (And she had to have meant something by it, Liz generally didn't just say things for no reason.) But even as confused as she was, and even a little hurt — Liz had just compared Dorea to her abusers, she didn't know how she was meant to feel about that, but she didn't like it — she was dogged by a vague, creeping feeling of dread. One that followed her all the way through lunch, the Hufflepuffs they sat with filling the air with inane chatter as an intentional distraction from the news of the day, and then into Defence, Dorea's fingers idly tapping at her desk as Remus lectured, hardly hearing a word.
She couldn't shake the feeling that something was terribly wrong, and she had no idea what it was.
[She had no idea why that was the line for Tracey] — Tracey put together that Liz's chores would have included cleaning the spare bedroom she wasn't allowed to have, and didn't take that thought well (to put it mildly), but that didn't quite click for Dorea.
Right, so, that's a thing that happened. Good news? bad news? Fuck knows.
Anyway, this was originally supposed to be the first scene of a two scene chapter, but I'm splitting it — the second part is a Wizengamot scene, and in planning it slipped my mind that it's the first Wizengamot scene in this fic, so there are things I need to establish, it went longer than anticipated. It's almost done, though, should only be one more writing day (or two if I have a slow day), so you won't have to wait a whole week for it.
After that, unless something goes stupid long again there should only be three chapters left in third year: the first features more puberty stuff and Liz doing something medically inadvisable; the second involves Sirius's trial and his first meeting with Liz (which goes about as well as you'd expect); the third will include leaving Hogwarts, which I might end up labelling as the first fourth year chapter, depending on how it feels. So, wow, almost there! See, told you third year would be seriously fucking long...
What, this scene has an ominous ending? What are you talking about? I'm sure it's nothing... Hey, what's that behind you?!
*flees*