The year ended innocuously. Gryffindor won the quidditch cup and Slytherin won the house cup again, much to McGonagall's anger. Daphne and Aurelia along with the Gryffindor's had met with Dumbledore after their escape from the corridor and once Daphne and Aurelia had refused house points for their actions, they did not want anyone to know what happened, the Gryffindors out of some nobility had refused as well, as if they did anything. Hermione was wondering when Dumbledore was going to call her to meet with him.
There were also dozens of theories circulating about why Hermione had been in the hospital wing, ranging from she was ambushed by Gryffindor seventh years to she fell down the stairs at night. Hermione was subtly encouraging the ones that she found cool.
The summons came in the form of a note handed to her by Snape at breakfast.
Please meet me in my office once you finish your breakfast.
-Dumbledore
Hermione checked the clock she had an hour until the train left, good thing she packed her trunk last night this might be cutting it close. She finished eating her breakfast and set off to the headmaster's office.
The gargoyle jumped out of the way at the password, it had been gummy worms for the last two months, and Hermione ascended to the office. When she entered Dumbledore was already seated behind his desk.
"Hermione, good to see you up and about. Please take a seat. Would you like a cup of tea?"
Hermione waved off the tea "Sorry professor, I need to catch the train soon, don't have the time."
Dumbledore peered over his spectacles at her, "That is what I wanted to talk to you about. You see you are an individual of abundant talent; I believe you should come with me, and we can spend this summer continuing your lessons."
There was no way Hermione was going to give up her summer. She had a map to follow and a lot of stuff to figure out. She however did still want special lessons from Dumbledore so she would have to treat the situation delicately. "I'm sorry professor, but I already have a variety of commitments over the summer."
Dumbledore kept looking at her, "I'm sure they would understand your need to cancel, your education should of course be your priority."
Okay, this was going to be harder to extract herself from. Then she felt her mind shift, sliding back to her memories of that night in the corridor. It was subtle, but Hermione had had her mind invaded twice in the past week and had gained from that a very good feel for how her brain worked. He's trying to read my mind! How long has he been doing this for? Hermione abandoned diplomacy, standing up and breaking eye contact.
"I'm sorry professor but unfortunately this is non-negotiable." And she exited quickly out the door. She didn't care how good of a wizard he was, there was no way she was going to take any more lessons from him now that she knew he could not be trusted to respect her mind.
Hermione and Aurelia sat in the main study in Burke manor. They had spent the last two days contemplating how to get back at Dumbledore for the breach of privacy and his attempt to take Hermione for the summer and had finally settled on an eye for an eye sort of approach.
To begin with, they would be breaching his privacy. She read over the letter one last time,
To Ms. Skeeter
It has come to my attention that this year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Albus Dumbledore allowed the school to house an XXXX rated beast within the castle in a barely protected corridor which he additionally advertised to students at the start of year feast. I abhor the idea that such a thing could be allowed in the place that houses the boy who lived. How can we allow such a thing to endanger the youths of our country.
From, A concerned reader.
She looked at Aurelia, "And you are sure she will write about this."
Aurelia rolled her eyes, "The woman is a gossip columnist, she will publish on anything, even if it's unverified. Besides, it's this letter you should be worried about. This one can be easily traced to you."
Hermione looked over the second letter with far more trepidation, their friend stealing attempt.
To Mr. Flamel
This year I attended Hogwarts and saw some disturbing things. The defenses that Dumbledore set up around your stone we as first years were able to progress through easily. He also announced the location of it to the entire school and the obstacles seemed to be specifically designed to grant easy passage to a certain group of students. Without our intervention a shade of the Dark Lord would likely have stolen it. I am unsure of how much of this you were aware of, but as a person involved, I believe that you deserve to know.
From, Hermione Granger.
It was definitely a risk, but after all they had seen from Dumbledore, they highly doubted he had told Flamel everything. After a quick trip to the owlery, the owls were sent, they would have to wait to see the results.
The train cruised along the track smoothly. Hermione hadn't wanted to bring anyone else with them, so they were stuck taking the muggle transportation to the place marked on the map. After comparing the map to maps the of the coast in the Burke Library, they had found a match. It was a lot further north of them, near the muggle town of Middlesbrough.
They had escaped the manor, taking the Floo to the wizarding enclave in York and then exited into the muggle world and got train tickets to their destination. Getting off the train Hermione flagged a cab and the two of them took the last leg of their trip about ten miles north. The cabby seemed a bit confused about why the girls would want to be let out at a random spot along the coastal road, but he raised no objections.
It took them roughly an hour to find the area marked on the map, walking up the beaches and through the grasslands bordering them, matching the crags along the shore to the lines on the map until they found themselves atop a roughly fifteen-foot-high cliff.
At first glance, there appeared to be nothing there, there was nothing above the windswept grass, but almost buried in the grass, they found a simple flat stone with a rune carved into it.
Hermione had never seen one before, but she knew exactly what it was. It was something that had been in every book on wards she had ever read, a ward key stone. It had nothing to do with the runestones that powered the ward, instead it was like a keyhole, allowing someone to authenticate themselves to wards.
With growing excitement, Hermione cut her hand using the small knife she had brought in case of something like this and placed her hand on the stone. The space in front of her bent and shimmered, expanding before her eyes as the small cliff they were standing on the edge of pulled away from them.
When the world settled, they were no longer at the edge, in front of them was a small peninsula sticking out into the ocean. The land sloped upwards along the point, resulting in the far end being probably twenty feet higher than their current position.
Sat atop that point sat a hall, it looked a lot like Viking longhouse, it was made of wood and had a large, long main section, but it also had two small one story wings attached on the sides. Hermione took a step forward and felt a wave of magic as she passed through some clearly very powerful wards. Hermione found that she could feel and understand the wards, confirming their theory, she had been adopted into the Asulf clan. There were three different general protection wards and then anti-apparition and anti-portkey wards. Hermione pulled on that mental connection, wishing for Aurelia to be able to pass through and felt them shift.
Hermione gave Aurelia a nod and she passed through the wards, giving a small gasp when she came into view of the hall. The two girls walked up the hill. It was not large, but it rose enough above the relatively flat coastal land that they could see for miles, Hermione assumed that was why the spot had been originally chosen.
It took both of them to push open one of the massive, intricately carved doors of the hall, pushing a track through the thick layer of dust on the floor. The main hall was a long rectangular room. Two long tables ran along the length of it and there were three doors embedded on the sides of the room. At the far end, there was a large fireplace and a small wooden staircase that led up to a loft like area. The entire hall was covered in a thick layer of dust showing its abandonment.
Hermione and Aurelia first investigated the rooms built off the hall. They started going up the left, the first room seemed to be a kitchen, although it looked to be about 200 years old and had none of the trappings of a modern kitchen. A trapdoor in the floor led down into a root cellar that seemed to hold things in stasis as there was still a large number of vegetables, looking no worse for wear.
The next room down was a large bunk room, large enough to sleep twenty, it had a large heavy curtain that could be drawn down the middle. They quickly moved on. The final room was not a room, but instead a magically expanded corridor, lined with small personal rooms, Aurelia surmised that they were likely for married couples and elderly.
With the left side done, Hermione and Aurelia walked over the tables to the other side of the hall, leaving tracks in the dust as they went. Hermione opened the first door on the right and immediately fell in love. It was a small library, it was tiny when compared to the Hogwarts or Burke library, but there were no small books, each shelf was laden with thick ancient looking tomes, Hermione saw spines labeled with Norse runes and others in old English as well as other languages she did not recognize. On the far side of the room, there was a small table with two chairs pulled up to it and something that looked like a large magnifying glass placed upon it.
Hermione picked up the glass and looking through it realized that it was not a magnifying glass, in fact it seemed to be just a normal clear piece of glass. She looked around the room through it and watched as the bookshelves, previously labeled with Norse runes, shifted, and translated into English. She still hoped they learned Norse runes this year in her ancient runes elective, but this was extremely useful. Placing it carefully back on the table they moved on to the next room.
The next room was full of money. Piles of Galleons, sickles, and knuts. Even after being devalued due to inflation, it was still a large fortune. Hermione turned to Aurelia.
"I want to pay you back for housing me."
Aurelia just laughed, "You realize my family had been war profiteering for the last five hounded years and our money has been managed a lot better than sitting in a room. I have more money than I can ever use."
The last room was the most interesting. It contained piles of armor and weapons, as well as a few more books and notebooks. Along one wall was what seemed to be a trophy case, with wands in it, labeled with their owners and dates. Hermione spotted at least six wands labeled as belonging to dark lords and finally there was a large pile of parchments. Hermione leafed through the sheets, property deeds, it appeared she now owned some of the eastern coast of England and some of Scotland as well as many islands, including Azkaban, that opened up some possibilities.
Hermione and Aurelia then ascended to the loft. The loft was sparsely decorated, it had no walls other than the exterior ones it backed onto, allowing them to look out across the main hall. On one side of there was a table with a map spread out across it with all strategic magical locations marked. And on the other there was a large desk with a sword leaning against it and what had to be one of the largest books Hermione had ever seen upon it.
Hermione looked at the cover of the book, it had no title, just a row of runes along the top of the cover and another along the bottom. Hermione opened the volume to the first page and watched as runes she couldn't even recognize as Norse shifted and changed to English as they had when she looked through the glass these did it without any aid.
Aurelia shook her head, "I can't see anything on the page."
Hermione looked down, in front of her the book clearly said 'Asulf clan'. She looked at Aurelia confused and Aurelia seeing her look started towards the stairs. "It's probably only readable by certain people, if you need me, I'll be in the room with all of the weapons."
Hermione turned the page,
578 BC
Erik Asulf
I, Erik Asulf, being the cast out second son of Gorm Nilsen of the Trygg clan do found the Asulf clan, may it find much glory.
Although the book was long, it was fast to get through, each page was a year, so the majority of pages usually just contained a birth or marriage notice. She started speeding through the book. Although it was interesting reading about conflicts between people who had been dead for 2500 years, nothing really interesting happened until Hermione reached the 700s when she started recognizing names.
716
Tyr Alfson
In order to repel the incursion of the giants, us of the northern clans have been forced to work with those of the south. Odin, Frigg, Thor, Loki, Balder, Hod, Heimdall, and myself of the north worked with Njord, Freyr, and Freyja of the south led the troops. We were victorious in battle.
First off was Jesus a wizard? And also, she was part of a family literally descended from gods.
720
Tyr Alfson
After spending more gold and blood than I thought possible, I have finally managed to get the dwarves to forge a set of blades for me. I have named the sword Tyrfingr.
Hermione looked at the sword leaning against the desk, it was placed there almost carelessly, as if it was just being set down for a second, waiting for someone to pick it up. The sheath was made of dragon hide, with the scales still attached, with smaller scales at the bottom growing larger near to the top, with the top edge being ringed with a dark grey metal. The guard was made of the same metal and swept slightly upward. The hilt was wrapped in leather and the pommel was a simple knob of that dark metal. Attached to the sword belt was a dagger roughly the length of her forearm, made in the same style with an identical but smaller sheath. Hermione had a hard time reconciling the dwarves that made such a masterpiece with the small alcoholics she had seen at the Leaky Cauldron. Hermione however had studied her Norse myths when she found out about the family and there was no way she was going to open a blade cursed to kill a man whenever unsheathed.
813
Halfdan Landvik
The muggles have formed a religion worshiping the generals from the giant wars. They also believe Tyrfingr to be cursed as my thankfully late father used it in so many muggle raids.
Hermione was relieved that she did not in fact now own a cursed sword, and honestly every family has a couple genocidal maniacs, she turned back a few pages, Björn Tyrsen was not that much an exception, it was a long time ago.
866
Harald Vilulf
We have conquered York, throwing out the British wizards. I have been selected by the six clans to become the first king of Danelaw.
870
Harald Vilulf
I have built my new hall; it sits at the place we landed for our invasion. This hall will never fall. Its wards are powered by twelve runestones of dragon bone and a snake speaker convinced a horned serpent to give itself. They will never fall.
The next 200 years were just wars between the wizarding kings of England and the Viking kings until the British discovered apparition and quickly outmaneuvered the Vikings. Forcing them to swear not to overthrow the monarchy, an oath that Hermione noted was very much null now that there was no longer a wizarding monarchy.
After that it was back to the generic killing dark wizards, expanding their territory legally. Hermione finally reached the final entry.
1753
Sten Haugen
In my battle with the dark wizard Varnus I was hit by a curse of the darkest magic. It has been slowly draining my magic and healers say that at the current rate I only have five months left before I am but a Squib, and only a few months more before death. Being the last of the Asulf Clan I have created a test to find someone worthy of taking up the line. If you can read this, you have been blood adopted into the clan. Whomever you are, represent us with strength and honor.
Hermione turned through almost a hundred fifty pages with nothing more than the date in the top left-hand corner. Until she reached the last page in the book. This one also had a name.
1992
Hermione Granger
Searching through the drawers in the desk, Hermione found a quill and ink.
I have inherited the legacy of the Asulf Clan. I also helped drive off a dark wizard known as Voldemort.
She would add more as the year went along.
Looking out the window, Hermione saw how late it had gotten, it was nearly dark. She headed down to find Aurelia who was still in the weapons room. Aurelia looked like she was going to explode when she saw Hermione.
"Do you know how many awesome things you have here. You have the notebooks of Merwyn the Malicious, you know the one who created the entrail expelling and bone breaking curses and the axe that Egbert the egregious used to behead people."
Hermione loved Aurelia's enthusiasm, but she could only take it for about ten minutes before she had to escape, she never liked history that much.
"Aurelia lets go."
Aurelia looked a bit hurt at being cut off but followed her. Going to the fireplace, Hermione made a fire the muggle way using the wood stacked next to it and then utilizing the convenient pot of Floo powder, the two girls returned to Burke Manor. Hermione would have to get someone to clear Asulf Hall and redo the kitchen before she would consider moving in.
They arrived back to find Aurelia's governess freaking out that they were missing, thankfully she had not called the aurors yet. After being briefly yelled at and a quick dinner, the two girls walked upstairs and went to sleep, it had been a long day.
Hermione and Aurelia were sitting at the table in the kitchen, eating breakfast when the Sunday paper came in. Panpey put it down on the table than apparated off.
Hermione and Aurelia looked at the paper and then started laughing. Splayed across the front in the largest possible font, "ALBUS DUMBLEDORE ENDANGERS BOY WHO LIVED" Along with a picture of Molly Weasley, surrounded by her family, hugging Harry, looking tearful. Hermione knew that they were tears of happiness and she was just picking them up at Platform 9 3/4, but it was masterfully used.
Far away, Albus Dumbledore read the article and had to eat another lemon drop to help soothe the anger he was feeling. He had no doubt who was at fault for this. They had too much potential to be allowed to waste their lives in Slytherin, he had to gain some control. He pulled out some parchment and his ink and started writing a long series of letters.
Four hours later, Aurelia and Hermione were relaxing and reading in the library when a man strode in who Hermione did not recognize. He was tall with hair that had just started to go grey, and he appeared surprisingly fit for a man who looked to be in his late 50s, although Hermione was terrible at judging wizard's age. He was carrying a black briefcase. He sat down at their table.
"You must be Hermione."
Hermione was suspicious, but Aurelia nodded yes.
"Hermione, this is Mr. George Hawking, my solicitor" He shook her hand and then with the air of a man who had a thousand things to do started speaking.
"You two have a problem. Albus Dumbledore is attempting to gain custody of both of you."
Hermione closed her book. "He is trying to do what?" Aurelia almost squawked.
"Gain custody of both of you, become your guardian."
Hermione forgot about the legal consequences for a second.
"Are you my solicitor?" She was confused as to how he even knew this was happening.
"You have no registered magical guardian, so as you are a tenant in Burke Manor, a property managed by my firm we are the closest thing to a caregiver you have so we received the message from the ministry for you."
Hermione turned to Aurelia, "I'm listed as a tenant?"
Aurelia shrugged, "It gets me a tax write off."
"Back on subject" Mr. Hawking said. He pulled a folder out of his briefcase, "Sign all these documents and I will become your solicitor. That is if you want to fight this."
Hermione was not sure she had ever signed something faster in her life.
"Now that lack of a magical is very worrying, because in the eyes of the Wizengamot, Dumbledore is a model citizen and wizard, going to be very hard to fight him. The same goes for you Aurelia as you are legally a ward of my firm until you turn 17. He looked at Hermione, is there a reason you don't have a magical guardian?"
Hermione's didn't answer, her mind was scrambling trying to find any way to escape this, not only was she going to be stuck in Dumbledore's care and her lack of a magical guardian would expose her as muggle born. Then she found it.
"I'm the head of a family." She blurted out. He looked at her quizzically. She took a second to compose herself then more calmly explained. "I'm the head of the Asulf clan, doesn't that protect me from this."
Hawking was composed, but he his eyes lit up like he had just won the lottery. Reaching into his briefcase again, he pulled out another folder. He gave the folder to Hermione, "Sign these so I can protect your estate." Once she had done that he stood up, "Using this I think I can likely get you both off, but I will need permission to negotiate for you." Hermione nodded, anything to get off. He nodded back, "Aurelia as you are an heir to an Ancient and Noble house it will happen it will happen at the Wizengamot session in three days, Hermione yours is being grouped in with it so it will happen at the same time. I will keep you both updated before."
Fudge POV
Cornelius Fudge loved being Minister of Magic, it was all he had ever wanted. But there were somethings about the job that were just terrible. For example, the yearly inspection of Azkaban he had done that day. Walking among all those death eaters, that was the place for a politician like him.
He poured himself some fire whiskey from the bar in his office. And that Sirius Black, the man was the craziest of you-know-who's followers when he was sent there, how was he so sane now? The man had even asked for his copy of the Daily prophet that he had been carrying with him. Same insane stuff from that Skeeter woman. As much as he hated Dumbledore for trying to steal his position, he had no doubt that the entire article was fabricated.
Speaking of Dumbledore however, Cornelius frowned at the letters on his desk, Dumbledore had filled for custody of two Slytherin girls, what was he playing at now.
His thoughts were interrupted by a knock on his door than his assistant, he couldn't remember her name, she was new, stuck her head in.
"Sir, George Hawking his here to see you."
"Let him wait ten minutes then show him in." The girl nodded and then scurried off.
He remembered that Hawking was the solicitor for the Burke family as well as many of the other pure bloods and was probably here to talk to him about the custody hearing at the wizengamot in a couple of days. Despite how much he disliked Dumbledore and how much money Malfoy gave him, he always enjoyed it when the pure bloods didn't get there way.
Ten minutes later, he thought her name was Christine, showed in Hawking. Fudge did not get up, if anything he leaned further back in his chair.
"Please Hawking let's make this quick, I just got back from Azkaban, and I have to prepare for the Wizengamot on Wednesday."
"That's actually what I came to talk about." Hawking said. Cornelius resisted the urge to say something, of course he came to talk about the Wizengamot, that was all he ever talked about.
"The wizengamot, ah yes the custody hearing for your ward, I assure you I can't-"
"No, Azkaban." Cornelius froze, what was this?
"You see I represent the head of the Asulf clan who as you likely know owns Azkaban and just got back to England." Cornelius felt dread rising in him, there was no way this was going to be good.
"Yes, and the contract for the ministry to use the island must be renewed every hundred years and was not in 1800 or 1900. My client is fully willing to kick the ministry off Azkaban and let out all the criminals inside due to the Ministry's for its 192 years of trespassing."
Cornelius knew that would mean the end of any re-election plans. "I'm sure we can come to a less drastic agreement."
"That's why I'm here, my client will refrain from suing you for now if certain demands are met. To start off with at the Wizengamot session this week you will sign a new agreement where you will resume paying for use of Azkaban at the price of the original deal, adjusted for inflation of course."
"And how much would that be?"
"Five million galleons for use until the year 2100." That was a lot of money, but it could be worse.
"What else?"
"You will recognize the clan's rights as a noble foreign family as they have always been." He nodded again, that was relatively tame.
"For the trial of any crime where the sentence would result in more than five years in Azkaban Asulf clan will be guaranteed one of the seven seats on the jury." Merlin that was going to be hard to pull off, it was better than all of the criminals being turned onto the street, however.
"And finally, you will speak against Dumbledore at the custody hearing for Aurelia Burke."
Cornelius felt angry, the solicitor was using his position to benefit another client. Normally he just sat quietly in the Wizengamot as to not draw the ire of Dumbledore's followers or the darker houses. If he went against Dumbledore, half of the Wizengamot would eat him alive, "Now see here-"
Hawking cut him off, "I don't care what you do with the Granger girl, serve her up on a platter if you want. But I did a lot of work talking down my client, so I expect you to do this." The man then stood up and walked out.
Cornelius fumed for a moment before going back to his fire whiskey, the nerve of some people.
Hermione POV
Hermione and Aurelia were standing next to the Floo, waiting for Hawking to come escort them to the ministry for the Wizengamot. The last few days had been a lot less eventful than they had expected. George assured them he had everything in hand, so all they had to do was wait. For Hermione, he had also sent out people to assess the large list of properties she now owned, to see what was happening with them. Hermione had been amused to learn that she owned no fewer than three fortresses, won by conquest against dark wizards. The only shame was that they were completely useless, all being half destroyed from battles and neglect and no one would ever want to live where a man with a name like Tiberius the traitor had lived.
Hawking escorted them to the main desk where their wands were checked and then they were admitted into the ministry. They went straight to the lift which they and a large group of people took down into the basement, to the Wizengamot chamber. They filled into the second tier of seats, for family, personal guests, or people on the docket and watched as the chamber filled. Hermione was happy to hear the murmurs wondering why there was an Azkaban treaty on the docket. Hermione didn't like that she had to reveal her new status this soon, but it couldn't be helped.
At 10:00 Dumbledore entered and descended to the floor, smiling at Hermione and Aurelia as he did. Hermione suppressed a shudder. Making it to the floor, he clapped once and called out "seal the doors" as he took the seat of the chief warlock.
The session progressed slowly, members debating the merits of a new act on the control of magical creatures which when it was eventually voted on failed to make a majority. Well, that was a waste of time. It did however bring them to the relevant issue. Hermine, Aurelia, and Mr. Hawking walked to the floor and took their seats in the center of the room. Hermione hated the attention but there was nothing she could do about it.
Dumbledore called out from his seat, "We are now called to order for the Custody trial for Ms. Aurelia Burke, as this matter involves me, I will be stepping down as Chief Warlock, to be replaced with Madam Bones."
He left his chair and moved to one facing Hermione and Aurelia. His place was taken by a square jawed woman with a monocle.
"Let us hear opening statements from counselors." Madam Bones barked out.
Mr. Hawking went first. "Lords and Ladies, Aurelia Burke has been in the custody of my firm for twelve years now and we have been nothing but exemplary in our standards. Ms. Burke is in the top ten in her year at Hogwarts and has never been given anything less than the best. Why change her situation now when she is thriving as she is. Thank you." He sat down.
Dumbledore then stood up. "As the headmaster of Hogwarts, I have the ability to shape the future of our youth. But without children of my own, I never have the opportunity to really nurture and help specific children grow. I want to be able to help these two exceedingly bright girls reach their full potential as great witches. Thank you."
Madam Bones than called for if any in attendance had anything to add before the vote. Hermione saw Lucius Malfoy start to stand up, but Fudge beat him to it. If the man was forced to speak, he was going to make a point.
"I for one am against this, Ms. Burke is the heiress to an Ancient and Noble house, and I will not stand for what appears to be an attempt to influence her. He can have Ms. Granger, why does he need two new wards." With that he sat down, gazing over at Lucius Malfoy and the group surrounding him as if seeking approval.
The vote took place soon afterwards, with Aurelia escaping Dumbledore's clutches by just a few votes. The old man looked displeased, but he was clearly still confident in winning the next one, Cornelius's philosophy of let him have the other one, as much as it hurt Hermione to be treated like an item, seemed to have swayed a lot of the more moderate votes.
Madam Bones spoke again, "Now we have the custody trial for Ms. Hermione Granger."
Mr. Hawking stood, "I am afraid this trial must be called off." There was a ripple of murmurs around the room. "Ms. Granger being the head of the Asulf clan, which Minister Fudge assured me is classified as a foreign noble family is emancipated and this attempt is also in violation of the Ambassador act of 1819."
Hermione looked around the room, Fudge looked shocked, clearly realizing he had been played, Dumbledore looked like someone had shot his puppy, Lucius Malfoy looked gleeful that Dumbledore wasn't getting what he wanted, and a man sitting two seats down from Malfoy looked completely shocked.
Madam Bones spoke up, "And would you be willing to take a blood test to verify that?"
Hermione steeled herself. According to Hawkins if she had been blood adopted it would appear on a blood test, but it was still nerve wracking. "Yes."
Five minutes later, a ministry lackey appeared with a piece of parchment. Pricking her finger and imprinting it onto the slip of parchment, she watched with bated breath as words slowly appeared.
Hermione Jean Granger
Head of Asulf Clan
She let out the breath.
"I hereby adjourn this trial due to its lack of legal basis and retire from the seat of chief warlock." With that she stepped down and Dumbledore retook his seat, trying his best not to look annoyed and failing.
"The final matter at hand is that of Azkaban." Dumbledore stated as Fudge made his way to the floor.
Fudge had clearly recovered from his shock and now just looked very angry. "The Asulf Clan, the owners of Azkaban," there was another ripple of conversation, clearly this was not common knowledge, "have agreed to forgive our illegal use of the island without their consent and allow the continued stay of our prisoners as long as we immediately resign the deal that was in effect before, adjusted for inflation with an extra clause." Fudge hesitated for a second and then quickly said it, as if he thought if he said it fast enough, no one would understand. "They will automatically gain one of the seven seats on a trial that could result in more than five years in Azkaban."
The chamber exploded. People yelling out, asking how much money? Protesting handing out such judicial power to a twelve-year-old. Dumbledore yelled for order. Hermione sat there calmly, when she sensed that it was starting to die down, she stood up and walked to the center of the floor. Dumbledore had finally had enough and let out a noise like a cannon blast from the end of his wand. The room died down.
Hermione started talking, "How would you feel when you learned that your family's property had been illegally used for 190 years to house criminals." She began, appealing to the pureblood's intense protectiveness of their assets. "I could kick the ministry off my property in retaliation of this but instead I am being reasonable. I don't think any of you want those people back on the streets." Hermione returned to her seat.
Fudge fielded questions for the next ten minutes. Most of the judicial integrity questions had been shut up when Fudge had pointed out that the Asulf clan had killed more dark lords than the entirety of the noble families combined. There had been some minor outbursts at the five million galleons, but quickly the discussion had died down and the Wizengamot voted in favor of the treaty, intimidated into it by Hermione's threat and soon the treaty was signed.
Lucius Malfoy watched as the Granger girl strode out of the chamber. He had heard about her from Draco, a year ahead at Hogwarts and a spectacular duelist. Now even if she hadn't had money before, the Ministry had just paid her more money than the house of Malfoy made in three years, and she had just become the most powerful person in the judiciary system. It would be benificial to build a relationship between the house of Malfoy and Hermione Granger.
