Chapter 16: A higher responsibility

For disclaimer and author notes please see chapter 1.

1986-03-11 08:00 UTC, Ministry of Magic, Minister's office

"Ah, Cornelius, good morning! And how are you today?"

Dumbledore's false cheer grated on even the politician (quite unaware that he had the same effect on others, and far more often!)

"Good morning Albus, what brings you to my office?"

Dumbledore settled himself down, conjured some tea for himself and his host, seeing that his host was either ignoring the niceties or was too distracted to care, then started.

"Well, Cornelius, it appears that Harry Potter has been kidnapped from his muggle aunt's house".

A bigger bombshell could not have burst on Fudge! It had been less than a week since Malfoy's "accident" in his office, and, apart from that highly disrespectful letter by the so-called 'Phantom', there had only been a few minor crises - a shortage of tea bags in the DMLE's pantry area, a water leak in one of the bathrooms on the second floor - and he had been proud to have handled them without calling on his old friend Lucius.

In time, he hoped he would be able to handle bigger issues, maybe even take some decisions himself.

But this was too much. Way too much to be dropped in his lap. Why did the fates hate him so? He was sure Bones would have handled this with aplomb, which again reminded him of that blasted letter last week. That was not a good place to go, for the sake of his ulcers; he had to regain control.

Or at least get help.

So he did the only thing he knew. He floo-called Malfoy.

Malfoy was a sight. His wand hand was cut off at the wrist, neatly and cleanly, and cauterised so it could not be repaired magically. He was considering a prosthetic, but there weren't any that also looked good, for some reason (I may end up looking like Moody, he shuddered).

Anyway, he was clearly not in the best of moods - some people can feel a bad day looming, or even a bad month or year; Malfoy could see a bad life ahead. At least, until he could retrain himself to use his left hand.

Meanwhile, he attempted to plaster at least a neutral expression on his face when he floo-ed in. To his credit, only when you looked closely could you see he was not in good shape.

"What can I do for you Cornelius?"

"Well, Lucius, Albus thinks the boy-who-lived has been kidnapped. Clearly it is Black who must have done this, so we must convene a Wizengamot meeting immediately and force him to give the boy back."

Lucius wondered why Fudge cared. What was it to him anyway? How did it benefit him to help Dumbledore? The only point of reference was Black - they all hated him, and he hated all of them. The enemy of my enemy, and all that..., he mused.

"Well, we should do that. Why don't you call for a meeting at 4pm today, but send out the notice only at 3pm. Meanwhile, we will each contact those members whom we are sure of, and inform them in advance."

Dumbledore had the grace to feel a wee bit unclean on hearing this - after all, many Wizengamot proposals had been unfairly passed into law by tactics similar to this, and he had railed against the practice many a time. But needs must when the devil drives, as the saying goes. I just hope I am not being driven to the devil, he said to himself.

"Oh, and send the notice to Black only at 3:45", said Lucius before he went back home to make a few calls.

1986-03-11 16:00 UTC, Ministry of Magic, Wizengamot meeting room

Sirius Black walked in to the meeting room at 3:55pm, barely ten minutes after he had received the meeting notice. Of course he had known about the meeting already; Nick had sent word well before lunch that Dumbledore was planning something to get Harry back. How Nick had found out, Sirius never knew, but he had also found out that - shockingly - Dumbledore and Malfoy were seeing eye to eye on something. Like Lucius wondering about Fudge, he quickly realised that the common enemy was he himself, and that if he lost any of these battles, it would immediately affect Harry.

He had therefore contacted Madam Longbottom, Amelia, and then anyone else whom he felt both Lucius and Dumbledore would not warn in advance, telling them about the underhanded trick to prevent them from coming. Most were convinced and prepared for the session, some refused to believe that Lucius and Dumbledore were together on anything. Oh well, that's life.

Meanwhile, Dumbledore, Malfoy, and Fudge were aghast at seeing Sirius. Fudge did not even have the presence of mind to mask his emotions, and nearly asked Sirius how he knew about the meeting, but was stopped in time by Malfoy.

Worse, their plan to have Dumbledore preside were blown to dust when Madam Longbottom walked in. Dumbledore was already sitting in the seat allocated to the head of the Wizengamot - she glared at him and told him to get off, or she would call for a Serious Protocol Breach action against him.

Dumbledore got off in a hurry, cursing his luck.

(Hobby, again watching invisibly, wondered what a "Serious Protocol Breach action" was. He could almost hear the capital letters in Madam Longbottom's voice when she mentioned it, and it seemed to spook Dumbledore quite a bit. He'd have to read up on Wizengamot protocols later. Or just ask Penny, I guess, he smiled to himself!)

Pretty soon after, people settled down, and the proceedings started.

"Quiet down everyone. We will start now. This hearing has been improperly called, without sufficient notice to all members, by Dumbledore and Fudge."

Shit, this is not going well, thought Dumbledore. But it was going to get worse.

"The issue at hand is that Dumbledore alleges Lord Black to have kidnapped Harry Potter from his muggle aunt's residence where Dumbledore has placed him, and he wishes to wrest control of the boy-who-lived back from Lord Black. As always, we shall hear from the two parties, then vote."

Reiter stood up. "I object, Madam Chief Witch. My client and I contend that this body - the Wizengamot - has lost, if not outright abrogated, its authority. This body no longer has the right to order a cup of tea, much less order my client to do something."

This was pure gold for the reporters; "order a cup of tea" indeed - Reiter certainly had a way with words!

"The hearing on the 27th of February ended on what can only be termed an utterly shameful note for governance and the rule of law in general, and for the Wizengamot in particular.

A sitting Chief Warlock decided to unilaterally take action that no one else thought he had a right to, without giving us any reason at all. The clear and unambiguous message was that 'might is right', and that the opinion of this body does not count."

He paused and took a breath.

"The dictionary defines 'sedition' at least partly as 'an illegal action inciting resistance to lawful authority'. One could make the argument that Dumbledore merely resisted lawful authority, and did not, in fact, incite anyone to. But because he is the sitting Chief Warlock, his actions are deemed to be exemplary, and therefore this action is sedition.

If this body is to get back its legitimacy, it must first try Dumbledore for sedition. Until then, it has no right to impose its will on any of its citizens."

The hall was in an uproar by now, so he had to raise his voice.

"There are, in this hall right now, three observers from the ICW. They have been provided pensieve memories, certified untampered and complete by wizarding oath, of the hearing of February 27th. They will now hear the rest of this hearing, and will go back to submit a report, both to their own governments and to the ICW.

Dumbledore spoke of a higher responsibility in his self-aggrandising speech that day. Well, he is not the only one with higher responsibilities. The ICW has its own. And, dear members of the Wizengamot, so do you all. If you do not at least try him for sedition, you have not lived up to yours."

With that, Reiter sat down.

Once the chaos had subsided, after several bangs of the Chief Witch's gavel, Madam Longbottom stood to speak.

"A charge of sedition is a very serious one. It requires a preliminary vote on whether there is enough prima facie evidence to even start the proceedings. It is important enough that it will not be a secret vote; everyone - the public in the galleries, the press, and their readers - both here and abroad - have a right to know what each of you thinks about a sitting Chief Warlock deciding to thumb his nose at us."

Well, when you put it like that..., thought Hobby. Anyway, it seemed like every single person had his hand up.

"Thank you. All hands down please. Now, just to be sure, anyone who does not believe trying Dumbledore for sedition is required..."

Not a single hand was raised. Not even one.

"This court is adjourned. Madam Bones, please have your aurors put magic suppressing manacles on Dumbledore and lead him to a holding cell till tomorrow."

Then she dropped a really big bombshell. A really, really, big one, which Hobby had not even remotely anticipated.

"May I remind you that a charge of sedition automatically carries with it the immediate removal or dismissal from any job paid for by the government. This removal is temporary for ordinary government officials, but for anyone at or above the rank of department head, that is, all department heads, the minister, and the chief wizard or witch, this removal is permanent, regardless of the outcome of the sedition charge."

Mass pandemonium broke out. Dumbledore had shot himself royally in the foot with his dictatorial attitude at the previous hearing. Then, to continue the metaphor, he had picked up the gun again and shot himself in the balls!

One of Dumbledore's loyalists, who had at least abstained from the vote (it is hard to count abstained votes in a show of hands vote), stood. Madam Longbottom said "Mr Diggle, you have something to say?"

"Madam Chief Witch, this is unprecedented! Unheard of! What if he turns out to be innocent?"

"It is precisely because this happens so rarely that the laws are so clearly written, Mr Diggle. If you are not familiar with the law, please spend some time familiarising yourself with it. I did not dream these rules up you know; they're all in the books".

"Madam, are you saying that anyone could arbitrarily be charged with sedition and lose their jobs?"

"Arbitrarily? Certainly not, Mr Diggle! Did you forget we took a vote just now?"

1986-03-12 08:00 UTC, Ministry of Magic, Minister's office

It was clear, of course, that Dumbledore had been played masterfully. Hogwarts was not quite a government job; it was partly funded by the government but not enough for the axe to fall on his role as headmaster. He had, however, permanently lost his Wizengamot membership, as well as, of course, his ICW position. Even if he managed to evade the charge of sedition, which was not at all certain right now. And if he was found guilty of that... he shuddered!

Years later, Dumbledore would rue this single episode as the biggest mistake he had ever made. If he were really honest, he was making tactical moves, while Black was making strategic moves.

Now it seemed he would have to pull one of his trump cards out, but which one... the prophecy? No; that could end up implicating Severus. The poor boy had had enough pain already.

The scar that was certainly more than a scar? No - that would backfire again, they would ask why he had not had it checked at St. Mungo's or elsewhere.

Anyway, it was time to 'face the band', as the muggles say.

"Settle down, everyone", said Madam Longbottom. The bulk of the excitement over Dumbledore losing two of his three positions was over; now it only needed to be seen if he was for the gallows (figuratively) or would be allowed to slink back to Hogwarts.

"This hearing is to decide if the charge of sedition, laid on Albus Dumbledore for his actions in this very room on February 27th, should be upheld or thrown out. Please note that, with even just the charge, Dumbledore has lost the privilege of working for the government in any capacity. As such, he is no longer the Chief Warlock, nor is he the Supreme Mugwump or even a representative of the British magical government at the ICW. However, if he is found guilty of the sedition charge, he will face more than just losing a couple of positions.

The defendant will speak first. Questions may be put to him to clarify any point that we deem to require clarification."

Everyone was quiet. Knowing this old man had already been punished quite a bit did not sit right with some of them, others were in a "wait and see" mode, but Hobby was ecstatic. A lot of the issues that Harry had - in fact, nearly all of them, other than his parents' death, he supposed - could be laid at this bastard's feet. Whether as headmaster, Chief Warlock, or Harry's claimed magical guardian, there were a number of things he could have done which he completely and utterly failed to do. And it wasn't even clear - having heard of his threats to Sirius to send him back to Azkaban - that it was mere failure; there was a pretty good chance at least some of them were intentional.

Dumbledore stood up slowly, drawing out the action for maximum effect. This too was somewhat polarising - many in the audience felt awed or whatever, others could not care. And Hobby snorted, "drama queen", to himself.

Dumbledore started his speech. "I have been given a time limit of five minutes to explain why I went to such lengths to keep Harry Potter with his muggle aunt. I can explain it in five words: he needs the blood protection.

The background consists of two facts. One - he survived the killing curse due to his mother invoking ancient magic. Two - the magic was based on her blood bond with her baby, which means it can continue to protect him if he stays with someone who shares her blood."

He paused a second or two, then said, "Well, three facts, actually. The third fact is that Voldemort is not completely dead".

Hobby could almost see the smirk inside his mind, and that he was keeping himself from showing it on his face.

When the hubbub and the witless screaming had died down, he continued. "His body was never found. That and a couple of other indications are what tell me this is true".

"What other indications?", asked Madam Longbottom.

Dumbledore looked uncomfortable. He clearly did not want to draw attention to Snape's dark mark. However, Snape was not in the audience, and there were several other death-eaters there.

"Take a look at the left arms of Mr Malfoy, Mr Dolohov, Mr Nott, among others. The dark mark on their arms is a charm that is linked to his very soul, and it has not faded."

"How do you know it is linked to his soul?"

"I would be willing to share the details with any one unspeakable of your choice, subject to certain oaths I will require from him, and he can confirm what I have said. More than that I will not say, even if you threaten me with three lifetimes in Azkaban", said Dumbledore, with an expression that seemed to say "and you should thank me for it".

Croaker stood up, walked to Malfoy, grabbed his left hand and poked his wand at the dark mark.

Normally, that kind of action, even from someone as powerful and important as the head of the unspeakables, would have caused Malfoy to literally strike out, probably very violently. Sadly, Malfoy's stock, in magical circles, was very low right now, because he had lost his wand hand, and he was still training himself to use his left hand, which was taking time.

(As bad as that was, it was made worse when word of Amelia's pub shout made the rounds. When combined with the fact that the person who had hit him - Robards - had not had even a preliminary inquiry initiated against his actions, and that not even Minister Fudge had attempted to do so (on the very reasonable grounds that drawing a wand on the head of the DMLE in the Minister's office was what started it all), Malfoy's reputation essentially was in tatters. He had his wealth still, but that was it, really.)

Croaker spent a few minutes poking and prodding, then he turned to Madam Longbottom. "I will not subject myself or my team to any oaths that Dumbledore comes up with. Luckily, that will not be necessary. I can confirm what he says right now from my examination."

Dumbledore looked shocked. It had taken him months of research to conclude this. Did Croaker really understand all that, or was he bluffing?

Croaker could see that same doubt in Dumbledore's and possibly others', minds. He decided to lay them to rest.

"What Dumbledore did not tell you, is that the link goes both ways. If you round up every single person who has the mark, and throw them through the veil or otherwise kill them, Voldemort will die as soon as the last one is gone."

This time the pandemonium was completely out of control. Madam Longbottom called a 30 minute recess simply because it was unlikely to settle down soon, but it was doubtful if anyone heard her.

When they reconvened, she banged her gavel once or twice, but people had mostly settled down, the shock having dissipated. Malfoy and his cronies were still looking at Croaker like they could murder him right now, but looks were cheap, and Croaker, while not more powerful than Dumbledore in raw power, was certainly a lot more knowledgeable, as evidenced by how quickly he confirmed Dumbledore's statements just before the recess.

Madam Longbottom decided to stir the pot a little more. It seemed the tide was turning against the death-eaters in various ways, big and small. She, like many others, had been against Fudge's release of all those bastards anyway, and Malfoy was - in her mind - enemy number 1 now that the three Lestranges and Crouch, who had tortured her son and daughter-in-law into insanity, were dead. (And that reminds me, I need to figure out how to contact this Phantom and thank him properly; the Longbottoms owe him, she thought.)

"Mr Croaker, would that not be unjust to those who were really forced to take the mark under imperius."

"No. Because this mark cannot be taken under the imperius. Malfoy lied his way out of this and Bagnold bought it. Or rather, was bought, if you get my meaning. Our remarkable friend the 'Phantom' keeps reminding us of this aspect of Fudge, but Bagnold was no better", he said. He knew he could not be hauled up for his remarks. After all, if they were so innocent, why did they do all this without consulting with his department on the claims?

Hobby was shocked. He knew many people were thinking this, but to have someone say it out loud, and that too in a bland, matter-of-fact manner by someone of the stature of Croaker, was an eye-opener to most of them. Where the hell were these people in my past life? Madam Longbottom, Madam Bones, and now Croaker - spirited people who kept their own counsel and spoke their mind? How had they been silenced so effectively? Of course, the fact that - among the light side - the only powerful person he had known was Dumbledore, made it quite clear who, if not how.

Meanwhile, Malfoy - for the umpteenth time - cursed himself and his stupidity at having risen to Amelia's bait. He stood, got a nod from Madam Longbottom, and said, "Normally, I would have challenged you to a duel for that, but I am currently incapacitated. I assure you I did not take this mark willingly."

"Challenge me to a duel? I would have thought you'd draw your wand and fire without warning, but I suppose you've learnt your lesson from the last time you tried that. Why don't you ask one of your friends - I see several giving you looks of support here - to challenge me?"

Instantly, all these friends looked away - at the ceiling, at the floor, at their wrist-watches, whatever.

Croaker snorted. "Hmm no I guess I was mistaken. You don't seem to have any friends here", he laughed. Then he became serious. "Malfoy, make no mistake about it. I echo what the Phantom said. One step out of line and we will find a way to have all of you bastards here with so much veritaserum pumped into you it will be leaking from your a-".

"Mr Croaker, there is no call for that kind of language here", shouted Madam Longbottom. "Mr Malfoy, that last comment will be erased from the record".

Malfoy looked at her with a tinge of gratefulness. Madam Longbottom smiled benignly at him and continued. "What Mr Croaker meant was: one step out of line and we will find a way to have all of you fine gentlemen here, dosed to the medically permissible limit with veritaserum."

By now the discussion had been derailed quite a bit. Dumbledore was still in the dock, and needed to be dealt with. For his part, he appeared to be watching calmly and quietly, which was somewhat unusual for the old meddler.

She turned to him. "Now that that is settled, do you have anything to add?"

"No Madam Longbottom".

"There is no other factor - remember you are under oath - that affects Harry Potter in any way, which caused you to act as you did on February 27th?"

Dumbledore thought for a bit. This was a "court oath", not a "magical oath", and so would not truly harm him if he lied. Anyway, if he took the line that Harry's living arrangements were what he sought to control by his unilateral decision that day, this would be the only reason.

"None, Madam Longbottom".

"Alright. Before we vote, I have one last question for you. You must have already known what Mr Croaker just revealed - that the mark must be taken willingly, and that eliminating everyone with the mark would get rid of Voldemort. Why, then, did you not advocate this? With your position in government, you could have easily made this happen in the immediate aftermath of Halloween 1981, couldn't you?"

Before Dumbledore had a chance to respond, Sirius spoke up. "Oh no, that would mean his pet death-eater Snape would also have to be killed."

Hmm, Mrs Tonks looks very interested in hearing that, thought Hobby. Of course, Tonks - the daughter - must be in her second year now, and may have complained about Snape. Maybe I can use this..., he mused.

Sirius was still speaking. "We can't have that - much better to subject a child to abuse from his magic-hating relatives, deny him his rights, seal his parents' wills, and leave his godfather in prison. You should know that Harry's godmother was Alice Longbottom - I am now wishing the Phantom had not killed those four; I would have loved to ask what role, if any, did Dumbledore play in denying my godson the care of his godmother."

Hobby was not sure if Sirius meant this seriously or was just stirring the pot, but Madam Longbottom's face was showing all the signs of an impending explosion.

Clearly Dumbledore had seen it too, and - without waiting for anyone to ask any more questions - held his wand up and solemnly intoned, "I swear on my life, my soul, and my magic that I had nothing to do with that and no knowledge or even hint of it before it happened, nor did I know more than anyone else who heard about it by word of mouth or the newspapers afterward".

Oh well, it was too much to hope we could pin that on you too, you old goat-fucker, thought Hobby.

Madam Longbottom was mollified by the quickly offered, unambiguous, oath. She calmed herself to a mild glare, and said, "We will now vote on whether Dumbledore is to be convicted of having acted in a seditionary manner, or should we consider his evidence as sufficient mitigation."

When the votes - again by show of hands - were tallied, Dumbledore heaved a visible sigh of relief. Even to someone of his power, being found guilty of this would have been a huge setback.

Hobby, watching all this invisibly as usual, was thinking about the near unanimity of the vote, considering all that was revealed today. But in truth, Dumbledore had not suffered much today: he had given a plausible reason for wanting Harry with the Dursleys, and that last oath had also played a part. And at the end of the day, Voldemort was not truly dead, so throwing away the one wizard he was said to be afraid of was a bad idea. Well, I can live with that. For now!

Madam Longbottom closed the meeting, saying, "Dumbledore is acquitted of the charge of sedition. As to his reasons for wanting Harry Potter with his muggle aunt, the correct thing to have done would have been to give him to his godfather, and help his godfather protect him. Regardless of what we may feel is good for society, there can be no excuse for denying a child the benefit of the love and care his parents had planned for him, in the event of their deaths. His parents have already sacrificed themselves for us, and we have no right to ask the son also to do so. As such, I am ordering the unsealing of their wills. Lord Black, at your convenience, you shall go to Gringotts with your godson to have the will read".