There's been a minor change in that the Witches Coven now goes back over two thousand years, as I'm expanding how it fits into their culture.
Usual disclaimer, no rights to anything from JKR's stories.
Dumbledore couldn't believe it! First Lily Potter managed to return from the dead and take her son away from the Dursleys, who he'd spent quite a lot of time and energy ensuring would break or kill the little bastard. Then she'd managed to convince the press, and therefore the idiots who made up Magical Britain, that as the ritual that sent her away seven years ago and the one that returned her were both acts of loving sacrifice using nurturing magical energy, they were obviously Light magic, before he had a chance to do anything to refute it! The status and reputation of the prominent and respected witches and Nobles telling the story had sold everyone on the idea that their making willing sacrifices of themselves to save someone was a truly noble thing to do and any attempt he'd made to convince people otherwise had come back on him, especially after she and Black convinced everyone that his actions in regard to all this proved that he was the one who had gone Dark. Even trying to use the fact that she'd killed Vernon Dursley and his sister had been turned back on him, because everyone said that they would have killed those monsters if they'd ever done a fraction of what they did to Harry Potter to their children, but she hadn't touched either of them, it was their own fear of reprisals for what they'd done that had killed them.
Lily wasn't about to admit that it was actually the illusion of a ruddy great King Cobra that she'd conjured right in front of the fat cow in bed which had triggered the massive heart attack that had killed Marge Dursley, but she was adamant with those who did know about what happened that she hadn't expected the bitch's Bulldog to be feeding on her for a week before they found her body. She didn't feel any guilt at all about the bitch dying, not after the way she'd tormented Harry and sicked that bloody dog on him for the Dursleys' amusement, but she had to admit that the idea of being eaten by your own dog was more than a little disturbing.
She also had no qualms about foreclosing on 4 Privet Drive when she found out they hadn't paid a brass razoo off what she'd loaned them to buy the house since they heard that she and James had supposedly been killed, obviously believing that as it was a private loan made inside the family, no-one would ever find out that they weren't making repayments (they'd obviously forgotten that they'd signed magical contracts binding them to the terms of the loan, which would have come out seven years ago if her and James' wills hadn't been sealed). After seeing the evidence of what they'd done to Harry and hearing that he'd grown up being told that James was a drunk and probable drug pusher who'd killed the two of them by driving under the influence and she was a cheap whore, she told Gringotts to give Petunia one month to repay everything, including all the back interest at the highest rates they could use and any and all penalty clauses they'd included in the contract, then foreclose on the mortgage.
When Petunia heard how much she'd have to repay she wailed that she could never pay that much, so they just foreclosed then and there. In the end, between what they got for selling the house, Marge's cottage, Vernon's luxury sedan and any other expensive items the Dursleys had and cleaning out all the money they had tucked away including Vernon's pension fund (no-one could sniff out where money is hidden as well as the goblins), she actually came out quite a bit ahead of what she would have gotten if Petunia and her husband had honoured their deal, even after she had Gringotts buy a dodgy ex-council flat for Petunia and Dudley to live in and Gringotts took their cut. Petunia hadn't seemed to find it amusing when she asked what she was going to to do with several thousand pounds worth of obese men's suits though. The fact that Vernon's 1980 Daimler Double-Six Vanden Plas had been sold off rather cheaply to one Henry James Peverell was buried in the paperwork, but Petunia wouldn't have recognised it anyway after it was changed to black with tinted windows and completely refurbished as an enchanted car with many of the Knight Bus' enhancements.
It wasn't the money, they made more than what she took from the Dursleys in a month from some of the lesser Potter investments, it was the principle of the thing. Those loan repayments were supposed to have been creating a safety net for Harry in case anything happened to her and James and someone managed to seize their holdings in the wizarding world. (She didn't know at the time that one of the Potters' non-magical investments was a controlling interest in Barclays Bank, which Gringotts had started for dealings with and investments in the non-magical world, she just thought they had all their non-magical accounts at Barclays because they were reliable, well established and had representation all over the world.) There should have been enough money coming from the Dursleys to easily cover Harry's living costs until he was old enough to look after himself, but on top of working him harder and abusing him worse than the lowliest house elf, they hadn't repaid anything in seven years! Having a couple of seers in the family was handy though, as Xeno and Luna had given her a few suggestions on things that they'd seen would be big in a few years and she'd invested the money she got into them.
They wouldn't have had to borrow anywhere near as much as they did if Vernon hadn't blown most of what Petunia got from their parents' estate on creating the image of a rich and successful business executive for himself (he'd apparently read somewhere that as long as people believe you're successful you will be), but in the end Lily had loaned them most of the money she got from the estate to buy their house. With James' family being one of the richest in the Wizarding world the money was nothing more than a drop in the bucket on that side of the divide, so she'd set up the loan to help her sister out and give Harry something to fall back on if anything happened to them in the Wizarding world.
She had to admit that it had been a good idea to let Xeno print more of the full story about what had happened in Eighty One and this Samhain too, because they had some of the most respected witches in Magical Britain in their coven, not to mention some the most powerful and respected political figures in their extended family so people listened to them. While Sirius may still be much the same man child he was before he was sent to Azkaban, she'd somehow forgotten about how intelligent he was and how ruthless and effective the political training he'd received from his family up until he left home at sixteen had been. His move of refusing to say who'd betrayed them all and telling the press to look at the evidence themselves because it was all there was brilliant, and it worked even better because Dumbledore and Crouch were stupid enough to try get the Wizengamot to seal the file which included the order they'd signed to dump him in Azkaban without a trial (like Dumbledore had sealed her and James' wills), after the press had been told that they were likely to do that, so everything in it ended up being displayed to everyone in the Wizengamot chamber!
They were also having a great time leading Dumbledore on a wild goose chase all over Britain, leaving red herrings all over the place. He had the Weasleys, Diggorys and others watching the Rookery where the Lovegoods supposedly lived because Pandora Lovegood was Lily's closest friend, but they actually lived in one of the flats above the Magical Trunks and Tents shop next to Gringotts most of the time, because the printing presses and offices for the Quibbler and Pandora's workrooms were hidden away in the back of the building, which had direct access into Gringotts through a secret room downstairs. They produced some of the best magical trunks and tents there but a mild notice-me-not ward kept the walk in business down, as they got quite enough work from the Druid Houses and Families and Gringotts to keep them busy.
There was similar building with the same access into Gringotts tucked into the other side of Gringotts which held the Rhys, Fawcett, Fleamont and Tonks Solicitors offices, once again they had a mild notice-me-not ward to keep walk-in business to a minimum because they had more than enough work supporting the Druid Houses and Families. The Tonks usually stayed in one of the flats upstairs there. So did the Grangers because Jane's primary occupation was doing research for the Solicitors, though she also tutored Hermione and Luna, who were registered as being home schooled, in non-magical subjects, and they were getting things set up for Harry to join them now. It was looking as though Neville Longbottom and Susan Bones, Amelia Bones' niece and ward, might be joining them as well because Frank, Alice and Amelia had been sold on the idea that the kids should be educated in both worlds. Roger Granger also did research for the solicitors and helped out with the tutoring when he wasn't helping build trunks in the trunk shop, but he loved working with his hands so he spent as much time as he could in his 'hobby' job.
Roger and Jane had taken a leaf out of Ted and Andie Tonks books in Seventy Nine when Jane was pregnant with Hermione and with the goblins' help made sure that they remained identified as a couple of well to do dentists in both worlds. They sold their house and used the money to buy the building in one of the better parts of London that their dental practice was in. The building included a residence upstairs so they had this registered as their home address in both the Magical and Non-Magical worlds. Renting out the dental practice easily covered the ongoing costs so the building gave them a permanent address to use.
Ted and Andie had done this when they got married in the early Seventies. Arcturus had quietly helped set up Phineas and Marius (Harry's great uncle) Black as Rhys and Fleamont Solicitors in the non-magical world after the war with Grindelwald finished (Phineas adopted the name of Phineas Rhys and with the last Fleamont's permission Marius became Marius Fleamont) Phineas had been hounded out of Magical Britain by their family for being a Muggle lover at the start of the Twentieth century and Marius was cast out for being a Squib in the late Twenties. Over the next twenty five years or so they built the firm up into a respected family business of solicitors as their children joined them. When her parents tried to have Andromeda cast out of the family for refusing to accept the marriage they had arranged for her with Rodolphus Lestrange and running off to marry the Muggle-Born Edward Tonks, Phineas and Marius' families took them in and the goblins helped them create non-magical identities with all the requisite education credentials they needed to join what was then Rhys and Fleamont as solicitors in the Non-Magical world and Rhys, Fawcett and Fleamont in the Magical world. Ted remained as a solicitor but Andie's presence and successes in court led to her becoming a barrister and serving that function for the firm. Like the Grangers, their official address in both worlds was the residence above their law offices in non-magical London and Dora had also been officially home-schooled for her non-magical eduction, she had almost finished her A-Levels and would be starting a university degree by distance learning when she did.
There were several comfortable flats in each of the two buildings flanking Gringotts, so Patricia Rakepick, Griselda Marchbanks and Emmeline Vance were usually living there too. They had been using Potter House, a traditional noble's townhouse that the Potter family maintained under a Fildelius charm near the Ministry of Magic building, and other Potter properties like Potter Manor up in the North Country up until Samhain in Eighty One because they were better protected behind the old wards, but without an accepted Potter the wards had been locked down by the family magic. Now that they had The Potter back though, the Potter estates could be opened up again. Arcturus would have made Black House, the Black townhouse in London, available to them but his daughter-in-law Walburga had still been living there up until late Eighty Five and he hadn't wanted to show his hand by throwing her out. On top of that, the house had been filled with dark objects for so long that it was unfit to be lived in until after it had been emptied, gutted and thoroughly cleansed. The fact that he was going through all of the dark objects personally to determine their purpose and value and he didn't want most of the Black family finding out what he was doing meant that the process took rather longer than it would have otherwise.
As far as most people in Magical Britain knew, Lily and Harry had disappeared after the Wizengamot session where Sirius was freed. The general consensus was they had retreated behind the impervious wards of one of the old Potter properties… they knew that someone was voting the Potter and Peverell proxies because the way the votes were going meant that their votes had to be being cast, but no-one knew who it was other than that it would be someone from one of the old Druid Houses. Many people had their money on it being the Dowager Longbottom as she attended every Wizengamot session to represent the House of Longbottom, and it was believed other Druid Houses. Mind you, Countess Andromeda Tonks was at every session as well to represent the Houses of Black and Glynn… the scuttlebutt was that she had been given her own father's title by the new Duke Black after Arcturus stripped the Black titles from anyone who had served Tom Riddle….. It certainly made a statement when the personal title of the Steward of the House of Black was senior to that of the Heads of most other Houses, which was probably a large part of why Sirius had done it. His parents and most of the rest of the Black family may have labelled him a disgrace but the new Head of the House of Black was making it clear that he was a consummate master of the game of Noble House politics…. And most of those who had stated those opinions had been cast out of the family.
In fact Harry, Hermione, Luna, Neville and Susan and a number of other children of the Druid Houses and Families were spending most of their time at Potter Manor, learning about wizard, goblin, dwarf and elf magic among others and magical creatures and plants, getting through their non-magical education and learning about wizard, goblin and non-magical cultures. They were busy but Harry wasn't the only one who was having the time of his life.
The healers at Gringotts hadn't been too far from the mark about Harry's power and abilities though, because without having his magic so tightly bound that he should have had less than your average Muggle and having the soul anchor and blood wards constantly leaching it away, Harry made most who were recognised as powerful witches and wizards look like ineffectual infants. As those who understood magic knew, exercising your magic makes it stronger and his had been fighting against its bindings since he was two or three months old as his parents had to bind it to limit the damage his accidental magic was doing to the nursery. Dumbledore had tried to bind his magic so tight that he was no more than a muggle when he dumped him with the Dursleys so that he couldn't protect himself and he'd had to come back to bind it tighter at least once or twice a year when it started to break through the bindings, because it had been constantly fighting against them. With the bindings and leaches in place he had been powerful, now he was way beyond that.
This meant that Harry could accomplish far more with the metamophmagus talent he shared with Dora than she could and quickly outstripped Luna and her father's ability to make animagus transformations into different magical and non-magical creatures. He discovered that this was where Xeno and Luna's ability to understand most magical creatures came from, as if they attempted to get an understanding of the creature to make the transformation into that form they could at least get the gist of what they were communicating. In this too he went past their abilities though, because he could also speak to most magical beings and creatures, Xeno's bloodline had a lot of high elves in it, but Harry's went back to the Tuath Dé and the Fomoiri (which was why his ancestors Myrddin Emrys and Morgana Le Fey had been so powerful), so he had a lot more affinity with other magical beings and creatures. This was how he'd been able to talk to the snake he'd accidentally released at the zoo the one time the Dursleys had been forced to take him along on one of Dudley's birthday outings, the beating he got from Vernon when they got home for Dudley ending up locked in the snake's habitat while it slithered off had almost killed him.
The only abilities that he couldn't match were the Veela abilities of Pandora and Luna, and the Earth Mother ability that Hermione had. Like the metamorphmagus ability, these were abilities that you had to be born with and those were ones that only witches could get fully.
It was hardly surprising that the children of members of the Witches' Coven were powerful and talented though, because only the most brilliant, talented, powerful and honourable witches of their generations were invited to join, and it had skipped more than a few generations over the two thousand odd years it had existed when none had been found worthy. This also showed how exceptional Harry's bloodline was, because many of his female ancestors had belonged to the coven, from his mother and paternal grandmother back to Morgana Le Fey and beyond. Luna and Hermione also had several ancestors in the coven before their mothers, including Rowena Ravenclaw for Luna and Helga Hufflepuff for Hermione.
The Druidesses Coven of Britain (which changed to the Witches Coven at the beginning of the Eleventh Century when the Druids Council became the Wizards Council) had been originally started when Romans came to Britain because their influence began to separate men and women more. This created a need for a group to address matters that the increasingly male Druids' Council could not, because they were matters of women's magic that men could not be involved in. Coven members who had done studies of this had seen something similar in the Australian Aboriginal culture, where there were separate groups addressing secret men's business and secret women's business.
Over a month after Lily reappeared, Dumbledore was still trying in vain to get the rulings they'd had made reversed, because Lily Potter returning and rescuing her son had left his world in ruins. For a start, he called an emergency Wizengamot session to try and get it passed that Harry Potter couldn't claim his titles or assign a Regent atthe age of eight because he was too young to make those decisions, claiming that if the woman purporting to be Lily Potter was in fact his mother, she must have used illegal necromancy rituals to return from the dead so he, as Harry Potter's assigned Magical Guardian, insisted that all those changes be reversed and the woman tried for engaging in necromancy.
That was enough to make all the representatives of Druid Houses and Families who had been using notice-me-not charms to prevent him recognising them to drop the charms and respond, citing chapter and verse of the Druid Laws which had primacy over Wizengamot Law and specified Duke Potter Peverell's right to claim his titles and assign his Regent. They also pointed out that Family Magic had accepted him to all his titles and and the Magic of the Wizengamot had also accepted his right to hold them.
Then they pointed out that the rituals that Duchess Potter had used to willingly sacrifice herself to save her son and her coven had used to return her to her body were not necromancy, they were rare but proven light rituals of women's magic which required that the participants to willingly make sacrifices of themselves to save a loved one. When he tried to reject that explanation on the basis that all rituals of that nature were Dark and illegal they had every woman except Delores Umbridge, and a good percentage of the men in the chamber on their feet shouting at him that the nature of the covens' magic had been accepted across the Magical World as light magic for thousands of years and no man could make any rulings about it because they could not practice it and therefore could not know what it involved. In the end Dumbledore dropped the matter because there were quite a few formidable witches in the chamber who had their wands with them and most of them looked as though they wanted to hex him into the next century for trying to cast aspersions on the nature of the covens' magic.
It was trying to play the 'Magical Guardian' card that was his undoing though, because that led straight into the matter of him knowingly and wilfully lying to the Wizengamot in order to trick them into illegally sealing the Potters' wills and assigning him as Harry's Magical Guardian in direct contravention of the wills that he himself had witnessed. All it took was the wills to be sighted by designated Wizengamot members to prove this, and it also confirm that he had knowingly lied to the Wizengamot and DMLE about then Lord Sirius Black being the one who betrayed the Potters because he was their secret keeper, because it was recorded in both wills and witnessed by him that Peter Pettigrew was the secret keeper and Albus Dumbledore had cast the Fidelius charm. Griselda displaced him at that point and took over as Chief Witch, getting a penalty of Half a Million Galleons each for Harry and Sirius levied against Dumbledore for his illegal actions against them immediately following Halloween Nineteen Eighty One. Then Lily presented evidence from Gringotts that Dumbledore had used his illegal Guardian status to steal from the Houses of Potter and Peverell and their Associated Houses' vaults.
Dumbledore and most of the Wizengamot members didn't notice the specific wording of what Griselda called for a vote on, but it was worded as. "The immediate return of everything taken without proper authorisation from the Most Noble and Most Ancient Druid Houses of Potter and Peverell and all Associated Houses and any and all monies accruing from anything taken without proper authorisation from the Most Noble and Most Ancient Druid Houses of Potter and Peverell and all Associated Houses!" The vote to support this ruling was almost unanimous, so it passed, but the key points they'd missed were that while Lily had been arguing about what Dumbledore had stolen from Harry since he illegally had himself made Harry's Magical Guardian there was no limitation on the period it applied to specified in what Griselda called for a vote on, and by specifying all Associated Houses, it applied to any House Harry's Houses were affiliated with so every single item and knut that Dumbledore had stolen or conned out of Harry's Houses and those affiliated with them since the day he was born and every knut earned from whatever was taken was included in the ruling. It didn't actually make him a pauper because he'd been stealing from thousands of people over the last century or so, but if he had any significant amounts to pay he would have had trouble scraping up the gold. The goblins transferred all monies and properties that came under the ruling back to Harry (along with the Million Galleons for the penalties to Harry and Sirius) and they and the elves went through his and his supporters and associates' properties and chambers as soon as the ruling was voted in and reclaimed everything rightfully belonging to Harry's Houses, along with all the Houses of their extended family.
As soon as the ruling was voted in, Augusta stood and called for a vote of no confidence to remove Dumbledore from the position of Chief Warlock, because he had been proven to have no integrity or honour and therefore couldn't be trusted to direct the proceedings of the Wizengamot. Fudge and Dumbledore's supporters tried to block it but it was passed by a clear majority. Earl Tiberius Ogden stood then and nominated Griselda as Chief Witch to replace Dumbledore but she objected.
"No! Dumbledore has proven that there is too much power associated with this position to leave it in the hands of one person, and those of us who were part of the Wizengamot before he took the position fifty odd years ago know that he hasn't been the only one to abuse that power. I propose that the position of Chief Warlock or Chief Witch be replaced by a panel of three Chief Warlocks or Chief Witches, with any major issue having to be decided by the majority vote of the three of them. Minor issues may be determined by a solitary Chief Warlock or Chief Witch, but any matter which is escalated will require the other two to be called in to determine it as a panel. I call for a vote on this proposal and if it passes I will accept Lord Ogden's nomination, providing he accepts my counter nomination of him for one of the other positions."
Tiberius agreed to her nomination condition and the proposal was put to a vote, being passed almost unanimously because no-one could argue with Griselda's logic. A few of the other senior Wizengamot members were nominated and in the end Griselda, Tiberius and Baron Elphias Doge (who'd always been a staunch Dumbledore supporter but was a competent Solicitor with a century's experience in the Wizengamot who was respected for his honesty and Integrity) were elected to serve as the Chief Witch/Chief Warlock panel.
After the Chief Witch/Chief Warlock panel was voted in, they dealt with the scheduled items on the agenda. Dumbledore's demand that they put aside the trial for Sirius Black because it was illegal and invalid was put to a vote and rejected almost unanimously. Then they made a point of displaying the contents of Sirius' arrest file which Dumbledore and Barty Crouch Senior were trying to have sealed, making sure that the press had an opportunity to get images of the signed order to send him straight to Azkaban without a trial to go with their stories before they rejected the proposal. This led straight into the debate about suitable compensation for Sirius' illegal incarceration, taking into account both his salary projections as an up and coming Auror and expected earnings as he assumed more of his duties in preparation for taking over as the Duke Black-Glynn. This ended with agreement for the payment of a Hundred and Fifty Thousand Galleons per year, or One Million and Fifty Galleons in total, to him being passed. Fudge whined that his administration wasn't responsible for what had been done to Lord Black and shouldn't have to pay him compensation.
Griselda almost corrected him on Sirius' title, but let it go because it was correct for when he had been sent to Azkaban. Those who knew her waited with bated breath for her response because the evil smile that flashed across her face after she whispered with Tiberius and Elphias for a while spelled trouble for someone. "While it was the Ministry who were ultimately responsible for Duke Black Glynn's illegal incarceration, I will concede your point that the current administration was not the one who ordered it Minister, though I must point out that the documents we just viewed showed that you were personally involved in some of the irregularities of the arrest that led to him being sent to Azkaban without a trial. However, given the fact that the illegal order which sent Duke Black Glynn to Azkaban without a trial was signed by three senior government officials who were knowingly abusing their authority when they did so, I call for a vote on the proposal that ex Minister Millicent Bagnold, ex Chief Warlock Albus Dumbledore and ex Director of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement Bartemius Crouch Senior each pay one third of the compensation payment of One Million and Fifty Galleons due to Duke Black Glynn, that is to say they each pay Three Hundred and Fifty Thousand Galleons. If any of these parties are unable to pay their share of the compensation payment in full, the Ministry must cover any and all shortfalls in their place. Please vote Yes if you agree with this proposal or No if you do not."
When the Clerk of the Court advised her that the Yes vote was seventy two percent she said. "Thank you Mister Fawcett. Minister Fudge, if any of these parties are unable to cover their share of the approved compensation payment to Duke Black Gynn, it will be the Ministry's responsibility to cover any and all shortfalls in the payments."
Fudge and his Undertoad were still whining, even though they'd been effectively been let off paying most if not all of the compensation payment, and as that was the last scheduled item, Tiberius announced the session closed.
Dumbledore rushed out, desperate to hide his ill gotten gains before they were reclaimed, but when he stepped out of the floo in his office he stopped, stunned, because just about all of his treasures were gone! The most ornate things left in the office were the frames of the previous headmasters and headmistresses' portraits, and most of them were laughing at him! He demanded that they tell him who had stolen his personal belongings but he was reminded that some of them could still be quite imposing as portraits when Phineas Black's portrait put him in his place.
"Watch your tone boy! Nobody stole anything, the goblins who came to collect the items they were ordered to reclaim by their rightful owners were remarkably professional and respectful for creatures. They verified that all the items they reclaimed were the ones they'd been sent to recover and the only other items they took were the belongings of the House of Black which were supposed to have been returned to our vaults after I died but you and Dippet have refused to release no matter how many times I told you to. The lists of what was reclaimed and estimates of what you will be charged for repairing the items which have been damaged while they were in your care are on your desk."
This last was said in a rather smug tone and Dumbledore could see why, because there was a rather plain and ordinary desk sitting in place of the magnificent rococo piece that had graced the master's study in Black Manor for well over a century until Phineas took the position of Hogwarts' Headmaster and moved it into the Headmaster's office. The pile of parchment on the desk was just as disheartening, because it was at least seven or eight inches high.
He gave in and headed over to desk to look at the parchment, hoping that the pile was that big because the pages were filled with detailed descriptions of the items taken, but they were simple (if long) lists of items taken and estimated charges for repairs. There were also several pages listing missing items and the charges that would be levied for these items, it didn't take more than a cursory glance to see that the amount s listed for these were all at the top end for items of their type, so the repairs and paying to replace them would cost him a fortune…. That reminded him of something else and he raced for the floo again, if they'd cleaned out all of the heirlooms he'd been collecting, what had those damned goblins done to his vaults?
Half an hour later, he was wishing he hadn't asked that question, because he realised that for the first time in over a century, he was actually poor! Even before he took up with Gellert, Albus had been quite accomplished at inducing others to give him their gold, so he had accumulated quite a bit of it before he'd left Hogwarts and it had only increased from that point. Now though, that damned goblin he talked to had actually had the gall to laugh at him as it explained in simple words how Gringotts had interpreted the specific wording of the ruling that had been voted in by the Wizengamot, and made sure that he understood that anything and everything he had ever taken from any of the Potters' Houses or those affiliated with them was being reclaimed. If they truly knew about everything, by the time they finished he'd be lucky if he had a knut left to his name.
What was even more chilling was the goblin's response when he demanded to talk to one of the Account Managers he usually dealt with, because while generally rude and abrupt, he'd never known a goblin performing an official function to be vulgar before but even though from his clothes he held a senior position at Gringotts, this one had just given an ugly laugh and said. "They aren't available because they're all in the shit."
It hadn't clicked at the time, but given the fact that they'd known what heirlooms and gold he'd taken from the various houses, they must have caught the account managers he'd managed to turn and made them talk and if that was the case 'In the shit' was most probably quite literal because the goblins liked to feed convicted criminals to their dragons. Which led to the question of how long would it be until they came for him?….. Probably not too long after they started demanding payment of those repair and replacement charges. He knew where quite a few of the missing items were though so if he got them back from the ones he'd given them to and passed them on to the goblins, with any luck that might buy him enough time to scrape up enough gold to do a runner, with that happy thought he grabbed the bowl of floor powder and got on his knees in front of the fireplace.
Dumbledore didn't attend the next scheduled monthly Wizengamot session, because it would be too upsetting to watch others sitting in the position that he'd spent so much money and effort taking and holding and he didn't want to have to listen to himself being ridiculed any more. Fudge and his Undertoad were there though, trying to assert the authority they believed they had, which was handy because they were the targets in that session. The Clerk of the Court called for matters of import and Sirius stood and waited to be recognised. When he was recognised he went to town.
"Thank you Sir. My grandfather, the previous Duke Black Glynn, has had me catching up on what has happened in our world while I was illegally incarcerated and I must say that I was shocked by what I found. While I accept that the majority of what concerns me will take some time to address, some of these must be addressed as a matter or urgency if our world is to be saved, so I felt compelled to raise these immediately. Firstly, Minister Fudge, please explain why the funding for the Department of Magical Law Enforcement has been reduced to scarcely half of what it was before what was called the Blood War began in Nineteen Seventy? That level of funding is insufficient to provide the protection that they are charged with giving the people of Magical Britain, especially when there are so many Death Eaters walking around, free as a bird."
Fudge's Undertoad stood up and spat out. "The Minister does not have to explain himself to you Black, and the upstanding citizens you are slandering by calling them Death Eaters were proven to be innocent because they were under the Imperious curse when they were forced to take their marks!"
Sirius ignored her as he turned to the Clerk of the Court. "Mister Fawcett, as the Wizengamot's Clerk of the Court, can you explain to me why this creature has been given leave to speak in front of the Wizengamot when she has no right to do so?"
Umbridge started spluttering but she was silenced and placed in a body bind as Eugene answered Sirius, trying to cover up his smile. "You are correct in that the Wizengamot rules state that as a Ministry of Magic employee who does not hold a position that grants her a seat and therefore a voice in the Wizengamot and who has not qualified for a seat in the Wizengamot outside of her Ministry position, Miss Umbridge has no right to speak in front of the Wizengamot other than when required to answer questions Duke Black Glynn. However the Wizengamot under ex Chief Warlock Dumbledore made a dispensation to Minister Fudge to allow Miss Umbridge to speak on his behalf."
Sirius frowned. "Well we've seen the quality of decisions made with Dumbledore's support and I for one am not prepared to listen to uninformed bile from a ministry flunky who doesn't know her place…. By the way Miss Umbridge, I demand satisfaction or compensation of my choice for the insult of addressing me as your inferior when only Duke Potter Peverell has the right to even address me as my peer… But as I was saying, I am not prepared to be forced to listen to this creature so I call for the dispensation allowing it to speak before the Wizengamot to be revoked, and furthermore that the Minister be reminded that the Wizengamot seats provided for himself and key department heads are a courtesy from the Wizengamot and as such, they can be revoked as well….."
He turned to the Chief Witch/Chief Warlock bench, where all three were sitting as they'd decided to handle all sessions as a panel until the Wizengamot had settled down enough to accept the changes. "My Lady Chief Witch, My Lords Chief Warlock, I apologise for usurping your authority and raising this point as a new member of the Wizengamot, but I am reminded of the old adage about how to cook a frog…." He paused and glanced at Umbridge. "Or perhaps toad may be more apropos to use here…. in that you put it into cold water and then raise the heat so slowly that it does not notice what is happening until it is too late. Yourselves and other honoured members of the Wizengamot have been forced to sit here and accept inappropriate behaviour in the Wizengamot while ex Chief Warlock Dumbledore allowed the Ministry representatives and others to ignore the Wizengamot's rules of etiquette. For example…."
He turned to face the Wizengamot benches. "Mister Malfoy! Why are you sitting in the Noble House Benches? The House of Malfoy is no longer Noble, so unless you are sitting as proxy for a Noble House you have no right to be there. Are you sitting as proxy for a Noble House?"
Lucius Malfoy's control of his ego and temper was as pitiful as Umbridge's so he leapt to his feet. "How dare you Black? The Noble House of Malfoy has held its seat on the Wizengamot for over a century!"
"Yes, the House of Malfoy has held a seat for the last century, but not as a Noble House, in fact it was Noble for less than ten years between the time my cousin brought a title to your house with her dowry and when grandfather reclaimed that title from her and cast her out of the family for bringing shame on the House of Black by marrying you, the marked slave of the common Muggle Born bastard Tom Riddle... And it appears that my dance card is filling up because you have joined Minister Fudge's creature in insulting me by addressing me as your inferior, so you are offered the same options, satisfaction in an honour duel or compensation of my choice…. But as you refuse to answer my question, Mister Fawcett, is Mister Malfoy representing a Noble House here in the Wizengamot today?"
Eugene used the devices on his desk to check and shook his head. "No Duke Black Glynn, Mister Malfoy is representing only his own Junior Minor House, so you are correct. Mister Malfoy, please vacate the Noble House benches and move to the Minor House benches where you belong."
Sirius had to quell the grin that started when Eugene caught his eye as he was turning back to the Chief Witch/Chief Warlock bench. "I apologise My Lady, My Lords, but this is my point, the rules of etiquette of the Wizengamot were allowed to be trampled into the dirt under the Chief Warlock who proceeded you, and with all due respect, I believe that those of you who were forced to endure that for so long have become so inured to it that it is only new members of the Wizengamot like myself who can see it. This is why I respectfully request that you put the matter to a vote that the dispensation that ex Chief Warlock Dumbledore allowed for Minister Fudge to have his Undersecretary speak on his behalf be revoked. The reason the Minister for Magic and key Department Heads of the Ministry were granted seats on the Wizengamot was to give them the authority to represent the Wizengamot to the people of Magical Britain, this is not something to be delegated to a junior employee because the Minister cannot be bothered honouring his requirements."
Fudge jumped up and tried to shout at that, but a signal from Tiberius had one of the Officers of the Court silence him and put him in a body bind. Griselda, Tiberius and Elphias conferred for a few minutes and Tiberius nodded, turning to look at Sirius. "Your points have been well made Duke Black Glynn, we have indeed allowed ourselves to become inured to the unacceptable behaviour of the Ministry representatives and other members of the Wizengamot…. Mister Malfoy! You were formally instructed by the Clerk of the Court to vacate the Noble House benches and move to your proper place! Please do so immediately or we will be forced to invoke a disciplinary action to strip the House of Malfoy's Wizengamot seat from it!"
He shook his head as he continued. "Yes, we have allowed ourselves to become inured to quite a bit of unacceptable behaviour in the Wizengamot and you are correct, the time to begin addressing this is now. I hereby call for a vote on the proposal to revoke the dispensation granted by ex Chief Warlock Dumbledore to allow Undersecretary to the Minister Delores Umbridge to act on Minister Fudge's behalf in the Wizengamot."
Eugene advised that eighty three percent of the Wizengamot had voted yes, so the dispensation had been revoked. Tiberius looked at Fudge. "It is your responsibility to ensure that your assistant understands and accepts this ruling Minister Fudge, and as Duke Black Glynn has reminded us, you have also been failing to honour your own responsibilities to the Wizengamot and Magical Britain so I strongly recommend that you make the time to ensure that you read and understand what is required of you. To paraphrase a popular Muggle saying Minister, the Wizengamot giveth and the Wizengamot taketh away, if you don't honour your responsibilities you will be replaced with someone who will!"
As soon as she was released from her body bind, Umbridge went to storm out of the Wizengamot, but was stopped by Sirius calling out. "You must provide me with an answer before you will be allowed to leave the Wizengamot chamber Miss Umbridge, do you choose a duel to satisfy my honour or will you pay compensation of my choice?"
She tried to leave without answering but the magic of the chamber wouldn't let her and was forcing her to speak. She knew that she'd almost certainly be wiped out by the compensation payment but was realistic enough to accept in her own head at least that she'd probably die if she chose to duel Black so she spat out "Compensation!", then ran out of the chamber as soon as she was released.
Sirius turned to where Malfoy was now sitting in the Minor House benches. "The same question applies to you Mister Malfoy, duel or compensation of my choice?" Everyone could see Malfoy's rage as he was forced to make the same choice as Umbridge, for the same reason. "Compensation!"
Sirius nodded easily and turned back to the Chief Witch/Chief Warlocks' bench. "I must apologise again My Lady, My Lords, I will do my best not to allow myself to be side tracked any further… Where was I? Oh yes, Minister Fudge, please explain why the Department of Magical Law Enforcement's funding has been reduced to the point where they are no longer able to provide the protection to the people of Magical Britain that they are charged with."
The silencing on Fudge was released so that he could answer. He was fidgeting as he tried to think of a way out of answering this but he couldn't, so he tried to get around it by saying. "Available funding in the Ministry has been seriously reduced since the war so we've been forced to cut all budgets Duke Black."
Sirius was having fun now. "Oh dear, it appears that your people have been lying to you Minister Fudge, perhaps the Wizengamot needs to order an audit of all Ministry related budgets and accounts, after all, it reflects badly on the Wizengamot if its administrative body is as rife with corruption as it appears to be, because I'm seeing significant budget increases for minor departments and offices of no importance that have occurred over the last seven years while critical departments such as the Department of Magical Law Enforcement has had its budget cut to a small fraction of the previous figure… Oh my, this can't be right! Minister Fudge, do you manage your own personal vaults?"
"Of course I do! What's that got to do with what you're talking about?"
"Well I'm seeing evidence of significant transfers of funds from Ministry vaults to your personal vaults since your sudden rise to the position of Minister for Magic, if you manage your own vaults as you have say you should have seen this and reported it so that these transfers could be reversed..."
He looked up at the Chief Witch/Chief Warlock bench. "I move that an immediate audit of Ministry funds and budgets be ordered and that any transfers from Ministry vaults to the vaults of employees of the Ministry which do not directly relate to their authorised payments from the Ministry be reversed, effective immediately!"
Frank Longbottom shot to his feet. "Seconded!"
Tiberius didn't even try to cover up his grim smile as he said. "The motion to order and immediate Audit of all Ministry funds and budgets and the reversal of any transfers of funds from Ministry vaults to Ministry employees' vaults that do not directly relate to authorised payments from the Ministry has been moved and seconded. We will split this into its two parts. Please vote for the proposal to order an immediate audit of Ministry Funds and Budgets…."
The order for the Audit passed with seventy three percent of the votes. The reversal of transfers from the Ministry only passed by fifty eight percent, as Wizengamot members were wondering whether it would effect their families, but it still passed. Fudge would have fallen over if he wasn't still being held in a body bind.
Sirius stopped to think about whether he should let it go at that, but shook his head, this was the best time to strike, while they were all off balance, so he held his hand up and the Clerk of the Court recognised him.
"I have not gotten to the other matter that I wanted to raise today yet, but I was reminded of something even more important by Miss Umbridge, so I want to ensure that that is addressed…. This is the claim of Death Eaters being innocent because they were under the imperious curse. The number of children of the House of Black and their spouses who lost their titles and holdings when their magic found them guilty of being willing servants of Tom Marvolo Riddle made a lie of the contention that most of them had been forced to take his mark, therefore I move that everyone who was acquitted on the basis of their claim of being under the imperious curse be required to prove their innocence by testifying under Veritaserum. If they were in fact under the imperious curse their innocence will be proven, if not they should be properly tried for their crimes and punished accordingly. I must admit that this is a bit of a personal issue for me after I spent seven years in Azkaban for something I didn't do, only to see plenty who I know for a fact were active Death Eaters because I fought them in the war walking around free when I was finally released. Therefore I hereby move that testimony under Veritaserum be required for everyone who was acquitted on the basis of being under the imperious curse!"
It was looking like a family affair today because Augusta Longbottom shot to her feet and cried out "Seconded!" before anyone else could move.
As the Dark Houses had lost a lot of their titles and votes to the House of Black, the motion was passed by seventy four percent and anyone effected by it was made unable to vote until they had been cleared, so they couldn't vote on the last item Sirius raised.
"The other item I originally wanted to raise today is the number of excessively discriminatory and biased laws that have been passed in recent decades in regard to what some bigoted Ministry flunkies refer to as 'creatures'. The first group of these laws relate to Werewolves. Nearly every werewolf in existence today was born as human as you and me, and the vast majority were through no fault of their own turned into werewolves by being attacked and bitten. In fact the majority of werewolves in Magical Britain were deliberately bitten as children with the express intention of turning them by Fenir Greyback and some of his more rabid pack members. Most werewolves have no wish to harm anyone else, and they make a determined effort to lock themselves away on the full moon so that they can't harm anyone else. There is a potion called Wolfsbane that was discovered about ten years ago which helps these responsible werewolves keep control of themselves when they transform on the full moon, it is expensive but the benefits of it make it something that we as a society should be helping make available to those who are trying to prevent their afflictions harming others..."
"My point is that there are only a very small number of werewolves who are actually threatening our society, Fenir Greyback and his ilk who delight in attacking and turning others, but are we making any effort to remove the threat of them and help the others become productive members of our society? No! Magical Britain has allowed rabid fanatics like Voldemort's Death Eaters to convince it to treat all werewolves as vicious creatures to be driven off and executed so that the only ones they have to turn to are Voldemort and his Death Eaters. Yes, that's right, this was Voldemort's plan, and you fell for it! When responsible werewolves are attacked and driven out by the people they grew up with they are forced to turn to the packs, which are invariably controlled by rabid animals like Greyback who eagerly agree to side with Voldemort and his followers because it gives them more opportunities to attack innocents. If ordinary werewolves are not attacked without reason, they are normal people like you and me for all but a day or two a month and they willingly lock themselves away when they're dangerous to others. For the most part you wouldn't know about their affliction unless they told you, because it doesn't effect who they are most of the time…."
He looked around and saw more than a few Wizengamot members who he'd gone to Hogwarts with, he waved in their direction, naming a few. "I dare say you remember what the Marauders got up to at Hogwarts?" Most of them laughed and Sirius went on. "Who would you say were the worst of the Marauders?" The majority (including Lily) said him or James, though some said Peter because he was creepy, Sirius went on. "Yes, we should have picked up that there was something wrong with Peter, maybe if we had what happened seven years ago could have been avoided… But none of you had any issues with Remus? I know he did a good job of hiding his Marauder nature with being a prefect and studying, but surely some of you thought he was worse than me?" There was more laughter, but people were quite adamant that Remus was the only good Marauder, and Sirius smiled.
"That's the point I'm trying to make here, because Laird Remus John Lupin is a werewolf, he was bitten and turned by Fenir Greyback when he was six years old because his father had made some statement that Greyback didn't like, so Remus was a werewolf the entire time he was at Hogwarts but your memories from the one to seven years you were at Hogwarts with him are of what a good person he was, how studious he was, what a conscientious and helpful prefect he was… you didn't see a werewolf, you saw the good man he was and is, and Remus assures me that that vast majority of werewolves in Britain are just like him. The only time Remus was ever a threat to anyone else at Hogwarts wasn't his fault, it was mine! In a fit of childish spite I allowed a vile creature who was trying to expose Remus to irritate me enough to tell him how to get into where Remus locked himself away at the full moon to protect everyone else. I don't know what I was thinking, I didn't really intend for that bastard to die, I was expecting him to shit himself and run away as soon as he saw Remus but fact remains that he could have died down there and if he did it would have been my fault, not Remus'. Luckily James found out what I'd done and got him out of there before that happened and James and Remus quite rightly didn't talk to me for months, but my point is that Remus wasn't a danger to anyone unless some other idiot sabotaged what he was doing to protect everyone. Even then, if Wolfsbane had been available back then he would have been able to control himself so that bastard wouldn't have been in any real danger..."
He stopped and looked around, heartened by the fact that more people were looking thoughtful than dismissive. "So what I'm proposing here is to have a Wizengamot committee review all the laws relating to werewolves, with a view to repealing the bigoted idiotic shite that is currently in place and replacing it with something that gives those werewolves who are trying to be good members of our society the support and respect that they deserve, ensures job conditions for them so that they can safely lock themselves away on the full moon and have time to recover afterwards, and assists them in getting the Wolfsbane they need to control themselves under the full moon..."
His expression hardened "And instead of murdering innocent children who have this affliction through no fault of their own, track down and eradicate those animals like Fenir Greyback who attack and turn innocents for the pleasure of it! I've looked at the statistics of werewolves executed by the Department of Magical Law Enforcement and the Werewolf Capture Unit and do you know what I found? All the ones executed were children or innocent witches and wizards who weren't really harming anyone, not once did they go after animals like Greyback and his ilk because they're too dangerous! After all, why risk going after a dangerous animal when you can have a bit of sport legally killing someone who isn't likely to hurt you? The only way to protect Magical Britain from werewolves is to track down and eliminate the rare few like Greyback who willingly attack others! Once you get rid of them, just about all of whom are known by name because everyone knows what they're like, it will be a rare occurrence for anyone else to be turned which will make it far easier to help the ones responsible get themselves under control if it was accidental or deal with them if it was deliberate. The sanctioned murder of witches, wizards and other people for sport because they happen to have the affliction of Lycanthropy must stop! Execute the guilty but protect the innocent!..."
He could see some sticking to their position so he shouted. "Lord Rosier! If Fenir Greyback comes to your home on the next full moon and attacks and turns your whole family into werewolves, will you accept that it's good and proper for the Department of Magical Law Enforcement to come and slaughter every member of the House of Rosier like dogs because they are now werewolves?"
Rosier was on his feet in a flash, obviously wishing he had a wand. "I should call blood feud on the House of Black for that threat! I would do so if you weren't so much bigger than us!"
"But I'm just advocating what the current laws that you are indicating you support require Lord Rosier. Why is your family any different from anyone else who has been turned against their will, does what they can to prevent putting anyone else at risk and just wants to be left alone to live their lives in peace?"
"You are talking about eradicating a Noble House!"
"You aren't listening Lord Rosier. I'm advocating reviewing and changing the current unjust laws to prevent that happening to your family and others if they are attacked and turned against their will by something like Greyback, which is why I cannot understand why you are opposing me on this."
He gave a quiet sigh of relief then, because he could see that Rosier was actually considering the point now that he'd been slapped in the face with that possibility. If he could make a rabid hardliner like Rosier start thinking about how the current laws could effect him, there may be hope that the rest of the Wizengamot might do so as well.
With what he thought was the hardest fight out of the way, Sirius added that he thought that the laws relating to other magical people like Goblins, Dwarves, Elves, Centaurs etc and Muggles should also be reviewed and revised to allow them to promote better relations and prevent conflicts.
Griselda gave him an approving nod as she asked for volunteers to work on the reviews that Duke Black proposed. It was no surprise that most of the names were from the Druid and Progressive factions, but some of the ones from the Traditional Pure-Blood factions seemed to be prepared to actually consider the issue rather than just hold up the process.
After Elphias closed the session, he, Griselda and Tiberius sat talking quietly as most of the Wizengamot members packed up and left the chamber. They were all having trouble getting their heads around the changes of the last two months, even Griselda who'd been involved in the event that kicked everything off. Since Lily Potter was returned from what everyone thought was the dead, Sirius Black, who most of Magical Britain had been sure was Voldemort's right hand man who betrayed the Potters to their deaths, was cleared, released from Azkaban and became Duke Black-Glynn. Peter Pettigrew, who'd been mourned as a dead hero and awarded the Order of Merlin posthumously for his bravery, was revealed to be the live Death Eater who was guilty of everything Sirius Black was accused of, tried and put through the Veil of Death. Harry Potter, who they'd been assured was happy and safe with his Muggle relatives, was revealed to have been worked and abused like a house elf and almost killed by them, but he had recovered and assumed his role as Duke Potter-Peverell, with his mother as his Regent. Frank and Alice Longbottom were freed from being trapped inside their heads for seven years, recovered and re-took their places in society. Albus Dumbledore, their revered leader, was revealed as being a liar and manipulator who was responsible for most of what had happening in '81 and most of what had been done to the others since… Elphias was troubled the most by this as he and Albus had been close friends for over a century, but his attempts to coerce Elphias into pushing the agendas that he no longer had access to confirmed the truth about what he'd heard of Albus' actions.
Then they had Arcturus Black telling everyone the truth about Lord Voldemort and using the judgement of magic to reclaim the titles, votes and gold of most of his family and those who they were married to because they'd gone against the Black creed by bowing to a common Muggle-Born bastard. And Sirius, who they'd only known as a prankster, turning into a true Duke Black, putting the Ministry and the Death Eaters in their place and convincing the Wizengamot to review all the werewolf, creature and Muggle laws…. Elphias wasn't entirely joking when he said he didn't know whether his heart could take much more of this.
A/N: Oops, I didn't do too good a job of backing off the pace in this chapter, did I? Sorry. ;^)
I promise that the next chapter will be less hectic. It'll have to be, otherwise the story will be done in a few chapters. OK, it's only been about two months to this point, Dumbledore is pretty much broke at this point and was fired as Chief Warlock but he's still Headmaster and Supreme Mugwump and is scheming to get everything back when he isn't thinking of running away from the Goblins... being idiots Magical Britain will probably be swallowing whatever he tells them again in a week or two. Between Arcturus and Sirius the Death Eaters and Fudge have had their teeth pulled and Harry is having a good time in his new life.