Here's the newest chapter for the "Harry Potter: the Serpent Lord", enjoy!

* Review response:
Kine X, fragglemaster, Awsomeness7, Still Not Dead Yet, god of all, twilightnemo, Penny is wise, , JPElles, Emeraldfireblade, Orchamus, thank you for your reviews, folks!
Armacryss, yes, you will.
loginanout, I've replied you via pm.
ElementalMaster16, look this spell up on . Or just re-read the end of the seventh book (room of requirement/hidden things part).
Goldrune09, hehehe.
Hadrian 23rd Earl of Richmond, Potters are just a Noble house (they are pretty old house, but they were 'promoted' into the lordship rather recently). house Slytherin, on the other hand, is an Ancient and Noble house. Blacks are another Ancient and Noble house, as is house Longbottom. Bones would be a most Noble house (somewhere between those two levels).
biggie1447, they are studying together for more than a year, and last year they solved the secret of the Chamber together. is that not enough? but the next year they will interact much more.

AN: I'm really sorry for the delay with the update, but I had no internet yesterday. Also, this chapter is a fillerish one.

* Disclaimer: I DO NOT own "Harry Potter" and its characters in any shape or form.

"human speech"
"wraith speech"
'human thoughts'
"spells / parseltongue"

This chapter is not beta-read yet.

chapter 30: The world of politics

Lord Malfoy took another seep of tea from his cup. Across the table from him, the host of this little meeting, the minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge, sent a piece of a cake into his mouth... This was one of many friendly meeting the two had, and like always, they were having some small talk up until now... But that was going to change.

"And another thing, minister." The blond wizard said. "I'm afraid that we had allowed Dumbledore too much freedom in ruling Hogwarts... I'm concerned about the level of the education my children are receiving here." Cornelius, softened up by the afternoon tea and some galleons that were slipped into his pockets at beginning of the meeting, nodded, allowing his 'friend' to continue. "While most of the subjects are still as good as they were in the past, I don't think that constantly changing the DADA professors is doing anything good for the children... And let's not forget about the professors themselves: Dumbledore isn't hiring the best ones, I'm afraid."

"Yes, Lucius." Cornelius replied with a nod. "I've heard that the last one was completely incompetent and didn't teach anything at all." The lord of the Noble house Malfoy nodded.

"Indeed. This last school year the children, the future of our world, had to learn the DADA on their own." Of course, that was bad only for the pure-blood children: who needed that riffraff knowing anything? The mudbloods shouldn't even be taught how to use the noble gift of Magic they have 'stolen' from its rightful owners! "I think, it's about time the Ministry sends someone competent to teach our children what they should know about the defense."

"I will see what I can do about it." Fudge said. "But I'm afraid the Auror corps. don't have men to spare in our troubled times." Lucius nodded, accepting this.

"Of course, you show let our brave aurors do their job of protecting citizens of magical Britain from the evils lurking around." He said. "But I'm sure, the ministry can spare someone from the more bureaucratic position for that..." The blond man made a pause, before giving the final reason for Cornelius to do that. "And I've heard that young Potter is not on the best terms with Dumbledore and should the ministry provide him with something the old man can't – good education – I'm sure he will support you over the headmaster." Now Lucius could clearly see the dreams of political power he would gain with Potter's support in minister's eyes.

"Yes, of course, Lucius." Fudge replied. "I'm sure that there is someone eager to help the new generation among my subordinates... Now that I think about it, my undersecretary was very good at defense during her Hogwarts years." Another lie. "I'll ask, if she's willing to take the position of the DADA professor."

"Of course, minister, that's all I can ask for." Lord Malfoy said. "Now, what do you think about Tornado's last game? I personally think that..." The blond man switched back to the small talk, 'preparing' the minister for another suggestion, this time for the new Werewolf bill...

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Harry once again cursed the one who had invented that particular magic boosting potion he used during the destruction of the ring horcrux. Sure, it was easy and fast to brew, but its taste was vile, and the aftereffects were horrible... Especially since he had to take four doses in order to make the ritual work... It was two days since he had raided the Gaunt shack for the ring and destroyed the abomination within it, and he was still in a world of pain and barely able to move on his own, with his magic almost nonexistent at the moment. Hopefully, he will get better during the next week, or he'll have to change his plans for appearing in front of the Wizengamot: it would not do if he, not even thirteen yet, appeared there while his power was barely above that of a squib...

Anyway, with the ring horcrux successfully destroyed, Voldemort was down to four at the moment, and before the Halloween he'll have only two left... Still too many to make the dark lord completely mortal again, but with his snake god knows where and the Hufflepuff's cup inaccessible in Gringotts, that was the most Harry could do.

Not being able to do much other than thinking as he was suffering from the aftereffects of the potions, the green-eyed wizard started planning his actions for when Tom would return – having the dark lord's memories, the young double lord knew that sooner or later Voldemort will get himself a new body... Since killing him without all of the horcruxes being destroyed was pretty useless, Harry decided that needed an alternative way of dealing with the dark lord: something that would take care of that monster with or without his soul anchors... But what could that be?

~/ *** \~

Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore read the application papers in front of him. And then he read them again, and even for the third time. To make sure that they weren't a hallucination. After all, it was years since someone willingly came forward and applied to the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor's position here at Hogwarts. That 'curse' on the position made sure of that. Yet, there, in front of him, was one such application. And it was submitted by the senior undersecretary of the Minister for Magic himself.

Sure, the ancient headmaster planned on asking another person to take the DADA professor's position, but for some reason owls had troubles finding Remus Lupin, and there was just a week before the deadline – by the end of the professors' meeting on the eighteenth June the lists of the book the students would need in upcoming school year were to be approved...

Dumbledore re-read the application once more and sighed. With young Remus incommunicado, he had to have someone else take the position. So it looked like he'll really have to hire madam Umbridge for the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor's position... And even though the events of the previous school year – namely Gilderoy Lockhart – showed him that believing everything without a background check could lead to some very bad results, Dumbledore was sure that the senior undersecretary of the Minister for Magic couldn't be anything but good at DADA.

Sighing once again – he really wanted Remus to teach Defense this year as Harry (things appeared that he and not Mr. Longbottom was the chosen one) needed to make some more connections with his family – the ancient headmaster started writing his response to Dolores' application, stating that she was to be there during the professors' meeting on the eighteenth June, so that the books that the students would need for her course would be approved along with all others.

Once he finished his missive, Albus Dumbledore summoned one of the Hogwarts owls to his tower and attached the letter to its leg. The owl hooted and took off and disappeared in the darkness of the night, as it was on its way to deliver the message to one Dolores Umbridge...

~/ *** \~

While the senior undersecretary, madam Umbridge was not someone who liked dealing with children, especially those that were not of a pureblood families, she was still happy that her application for the DADA professor's position was accepted. Why? It was simple – with her being the professor at Hogwarts, she will be in position to influence that half-blood Potter boy to make him the icon of the Ministry, and, thus, ensure that she and Cornelius will be the ones in power for a long time... And should the brat refuse cooperating – she would make sure that he will never get a decent job in Magical Britain.

Another reason, why she had agreed with Cornelius' plan to have her teaching at Hogwarts, was the fact this would allow her to at least somewhat limit and control what those unworthy of magic – namely everyone who wasn't a British pureblood – were taught. She will show those bastards that purebloods were the elite of the magical world and the rest were nothing more than a dirt under their feet!

But with Dumbledore and his cronies everywhere at Hogwarts, she wouldn't be able to run her discriminating company in the open. And to run it from the shadows, she'd need to be seen in a good light by her (future) colleagues. So, dumping all of her current tasks on her substitute, she began preparing her speeches for the upcoming professors' meeting...

~/ *** \~

Tiberius Ogden, the honorary member of Wizengamot and the inventor of the most popular recipe of the fire whiskey, walked onto the stage in the center of the chamber – on the days like today, when Dumbledore was absent, he was acting as the chief warlock.

"Good day, lords and ladies of Wizengamot. Welcome to the second summer session of the year 1993. Before we begin with the today's agenda, I'd like to welcome Lord Potter to this august body." Those thirty wizards and witches that were in the chamber looked at Harry, who stood up from his seat – it was customary for the new members of Wizengamot to give a speech.

"I thank you, master Ogden." The green-eyed youth said with a slight bow – he wasn't used to the robes that the members of Wizengamot were obliged to wear during the sessions, so he tried to do as little movements as possible. "Lords and Ladies, I thank you for accepting me as one of your equals..." Harry ignored huffs that came from the couple of representatives of the darker families. "...And I promise to uphold the traditions and follow the codes of conduct of this august body to the best of my ability." He made a small pause. "I know that I'm here several years earlier than either you, or I myself had expected, but the Potter ring decided that now I was worthy of it, and so I do try my best to fulfill my duties of the head of the Noble house Potter." Now, this might have earned him an approval from those members of Wizengamot that were Hufflepuff at Hogwarts: he was making an impression of a hard worker, trying to fill the shoes that were now too big for him – after all he was a lord before he was even thirteen... He was about to say something more, but Tiberius raised his hand, signaling that it was enough.

"Thank you, Lord Potter." The fire whiskey inventor said. "Now that you are recognized as the member of this august body, let us begin the session." Once everyone settled down, the acting chief warlock continued. "First on today's agenda is the project of the new werewolf bill, proposed by our Minister for Magic." And from here Tiberius proceeded to read the contents of the document in question, which took almost half an hour. After that the discussions began.

The darker families were agreeing with the bill in that those cursed by lycantrophy should be forbidden from taking the jobs in the magical world and should monitored closely by the 'minders'. The lighter lords and ladies was arguing that werewolves were just as human (albeit, with some problems one night a month) as the rest of the magicals, so this bill was discriminating and would have a negative influence on the ministry.

Having read a couple of psychology books, Harry was sure that since werewolves were actually cursed humans, placing such barbaric restrictions on them would only make them cause more troubles, which was not a good thing... So he was agreeing with those that thought that this bill needed to be vetoed.

Finally it was time for the voting on the bill. As he was the acting chief warlock, Tiberius Ogden was the one to conduct it.

"All in favor of the werewolf bill #93-121." Tiberius announced. Immediately, nine wands were up, all of those belonging to the members of the darker houses. Once the acting chief warlock had them counted, the wands were lowered. "All against the werewolf bill #93-121." This time about a dozen and a half wands, including Harry's, were raised. Mr. Ogden counted them all, before announcing the final result: "Eighteen against nine, the werewolf bill #93-121 is rebuffed." There were some murmurs of disagreement with this coming from – unsurprisingly – from the darker houses, but they could do nothing about the decision. "Now, onto the next business on today's agenda: decree #93-317 about the new set of taxes on class C potion sales..." The contents of the decree in question were read and then the discussions began...

It was so boring that Harry was starting to have the second thoughts about his initial decision of sitting through the entire session – he was going to die from boredom... But he couldn't leave during the hour long brake that would be in the middle of the session, not today, as he needed to make a good impression on his fellow lords and ladies, and running away would only do him a disservice... At least, he could have his proxy deal with this. Once he got himself one: those two wizards that Violet had found so far weren't what Harry wanted his proxy to be.

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The next morning Dumbledore was down in the great hall for some breakfast, while thinking about the professors' meeting yesterday. Madam Umbridge, despite her somewhat haughty attitude and horrible fashion sense, managed to make a good impression on her now colleagues. But the ancient headmaster was not as out of touch with the reality as some thought, so he could see that the senior undersecretary was taking the DADA professor's position not out of a desire to help students get a proper education: she had some other agenda there. Too bad he couldn't know what it was, not yet. So it was impossible for him to undertake the countermeasures – he needed all of the power he had right now for the Greater Good.

An owl carrying the today's edition of the Daily Prophet flew into the Great hall and landed in front of the headmaster, presenting the newspaper to him. Paying the owl five knuts for her work, Albus Dumbledore opened the newspaper and started reading it, while drinking some tea... The werewolf bill was vetoed – good. The decree about taxes on potion sales sent back for the review – not so good as should it be passed, it would make Severus even less pleasant to deal with... The other two bills were so useless, that the ancient wizard didn't care much about Wizengamot's decision regarding them.

Suddenly his eyes caught a familiar name in the mass of text. Rereading the article, Dumbledore saw that, indeed, Harry Potter was mentioned there as the new lord Potter. This was not good, not good at all, as Harry's ascend into the legal adulthood would make it extremely hard for him (Dumbledore) to guide the boy along the way to the Greater Good of the magical world...

Of course, not everything was lost and he still could manipulate the things according to his plan to bring the Greater Good to the magical Britain, but Harry's new status would force him to be extremely careful – more so than he normally was – to ensure that the light side was the one ruling. With the young Potter, the chosen one (at this moment Dumbledore was still thinking that Harry was more suited for this role than Neville), as their icon... Shaking his head, the elderly headmaster put the newspaper aside and started making new plans to bring the Greater Good to life.

~/ *** \~

Completely unaware of the old meddling man's planning, Harry walked out of the Gringotts bank. There were two reasons as to why he had visited the goblin bank today. First of all, the goblin craftsmen had requested him to come to verify something about the sabers they were making – and Harry was quite pleased to know that the swords were almost complete by now. And the second reason for him to visit the bask was to pay the last of the money he owed for his Potter properties being cleaned and fixed and re-warded. Surprisingly enough, it didn't cost him as much as he though it would, but who was he to complain about that?

Speaking of his properties, while the penthouse in London was nice, the Birling gap summer house was a place he fell in love with. The house was not very big, smaller than Salazar's cottage actually, as it had only two bedrooms (one master bedroom and one smaller, for a guest or a child), but it was very tastefully decorated and, of course, it was located in a very picturesque place, just next to the Seven sister cretaceous cliffs. There also was a small private sandy beach next to the house, and a pier big enough for a couple of yachts...

Unfortunately, though, Harry thought, this summer was too busy for him to just relax, no matter how much he wished he could – he still needed to add anti-portkey wards to the Chamber of Secrets, and there was another Voldemort's horcrux. He also needed to prepare something to ease the destruction of the diadem horcrux at Hogwarts – he couldn't spend several days in the hospital with his magic drained without raising some questions he didn't want to answer... Finally, he still needed to find himself a proxy for his Wizengamot vote. Hopefully, Violet will be able to find someone to be his proxy soon enough, though he wasn't relying just on her and was looking out for such a wizard or a witch himself as well...

That's all, folks!
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