Chapter 16: The Disillusionment
Back at the Ministry of Magic, it was only thanks to the sheer luck and the late hour, that the empty space that was Harry Potter made it to the Marriage Initiative Commission offices without crushing into anyone or creating some other incident.
Harry's thoughts kept going back to Ron's decision, and to Bulstrode, and to her letter now back in Ron's inner pocket. Some topics never even occurred to Harry or, it seems, to Ginny. They were in love. Who discusses social obligations, or living standards, or shoe height, or squib babies when they are in love?
But now he wondered about all that and more...
Harry didn't even notice how he reached the Commission offices. He waited near the entrances until a family of three opened the doors to exit, and he slipped in before the door closed. He slowly moved near the tall potted plant and waited. The last clerk quickly collected his things and rushed out the doors all the while grumbling about the unfairness of being assigned to the second shift indefinitely.
The doors clicked locked after him.
Harry was alone.
He cast a Homenum Revelio just to make sure. The spell showed no one in the vicinity. He quickly walked to another potted plant, near the door to the Commissioner's office. The ear was inside the divider wall between the cubicle space and the office.
He tapped his wand, touched the wall, and a circular piece came off of it. A split end of the two directional Ear appeared. He carefully wiggled the end glued to the thinned divider into the Commissioner's office. They kept the office wall side intact in order to reduce the risk of detection, correctly assuming that the Commissioner's office was checked more often and more thoroughly. The ear was still able to pick all but the whispered conversations from the office anyway.
Harry pulled on the ear carefully and placed the split ends into the charmed container. The inside of the container started to slowly spin and pull the length on the thin long tool into itself. There was nothing much to do but wait.
Harry walked around looking over parchments left unrolled on the desks. Nothing of interest caught his attention.
By now Ron must have realized that Harry was successful in accessing the first ear. Fixing the hole should take three to five minutes at most. They prepared two bags of the construction goo ahead of time. So it was just a matter of adding it to the hole and applying the charm. Then, the surface brick needed to be glued back on top with a permanent sticking charm and that was it.
The ear-holding container was almost full, the tail end was close. Harry pulled out a bag of construction goo to complete the sealing process on his end.
He almost dropped the bag when the doors shook at the attempt to open.
'Blimey!'
The ear was out, but there was no time to finish up properly. He slapped the wall piece back on. He plopped the flower pot against it to prevent the piece from falling out, and quickly moved farther from the office doors and from the plant to avoid accidentally moving leaves or branches.
'Mr. Cobb must have already left, I swear Kingsley I have not met a lazier wizard!'
'Isn't it a bit late for anyone to be here?'
Kingsley Shacklebolt, the Minister for Magic, and Millicent Bagnold, the Marriage Initiative Commissioner, walked in, still in the official Wizengamot attire, and headed straight to the office. They looked like they just left The High Court proceedings.
Harry squinted at them wondering what or who was the subject of the court hearing. He wasn't aware of any recent trials.
The Commissioner waved her wand in a complicated series of patterns before casting the final unlocking charm on her office door.
'Mr. Cobb was late to the office too many times, and I wanted to accommodate requests for the late appointments, so he now has the unique flexibility to come to the office between 9:30am to 11:30am, depending on the time of his latest appointment.'
'Harsh.' Kingsley chuckled. 'Perhaps I should implement a similar policy… then again my office stays open and fully staffed till late more often than not.'
The pair went into the office leaving the door open.
Harry listened in, feeling moderately uncomfortable. He couldn't believe that of all the evenings the two decided to have a night cup in the Commissioner's Office, they picked the evening when Harry was sneaking around. His luck, no doubt.
'...by August 3rd we'd know how many witches and wizards will be participating in the second round,' the slightly raspy voice held a hint of irritation. 'Of course I should have had the preliminary estimate by now…'
Clearly someone didn't do their job. Harry wondered if it was the above mentioned Mr. Cobb's fault.
'I'm sure you have an estimate anyway,' Kingsley's drawl had a note of amused affection.
The witch said something too soft to hear before her voice rose once more to a normal cadence.
'...roughly every 14th match ended in refusals, so we'll need at most 5-7 days to wrap up for this year… so… by mid-August you can announce the success of the first step of the Initiative.'
Kingsley cleared his throat, loudly.
'I wanted to bring something up, Millicent. Would you consider transferring to The Restitution Fund after this step wraps up?'
Harry's ears strained. This was new. Just the other week, he and Ginny donated to the Hogwarts potions fund, to purchase plants and raw ingredients used in potion classes. He was not resentful, but he was aware that the Ministry was sitting on the urgently needed funds.
'Before all the processes for the Marriage Law are set fully? To do what, exactly? I am not a finance person, Kingsley, you know that.'
'I don't need a financier, I need someone thorough I can trust. My office will be taking over the distribution of funds for reconstruction. Normally, as you know, the aurors and lower courts assign confiscated funds. This is only different because of the size of the seized estates. The Wizengamot bill'd have made the decisions more defensible, but it is not happening any time soon it appears! I'll leave a sixth of the fund for the restitution, for the Wizengamot to bicker over.' Kingsley paused, and Harry heard some movements, before the Minister started talking again. 'McGonagall was here in person again yesterday, presented in front of the Wizengamot. Did it move anything? No! I've already consulted with solicitors and with the goblins.'
'I don't know… We've agreed to just a year out of retirement to help get this unusual initiative off the ground. Whiskey?'
'Yes, please.'
Harry eyed the unsealed spot on the wall, not daring to move, at least not while the office door was open. Ron must now be at the other location, and begin to realize that some stuff didn't go as planned. With the office door open, the second ear should give him good enough audio to understand what happened. Hopefully he'd have common sense to leave.
'So… the Weasley match…' The Minister's voice returned to his even drawl after the frustrated ranting.
'After Granger's debacle, I am relieved. She is still alive isn't she?'
'That is not funny, Millicent!'
'Am I laughing, Kingsley? I warned you that making the spell conditional was a mistake, we should have trusted the magic.'
Harry stopped breathing. What did that mean exactly? Was Ron listening or did he leave already?..
'Do you suspect both are setups?'
'They both were!' Raspy voice snapped half-heartedly. 'Twice! Or you forgot?'
'You know what I meant. Look, it was a good plan, would have promoted the message of cooperation and-'
'Oh no not again with the cooperation and peace! Matching Granger with Malfoy heir and Weasley with Parkinson's heir was straining the magic as it was! I'm actually happy young Malfoy inadvertently stopped those unions. I showed you the arithmancy projections! But nooo-'
Harry's fists clenched. He now hoped Ron was not listening, because if he did… the redhead was bound to appear and do something very rash!
'Yes yes, but the second time they were supposed to match each other… How did that go wrong?!'
'The magic around their signatures was already compromised… I told you and your misguided secret council! Two tries at most! Or signatures needed recasting and reintroduction to the spell web! Which means a second try is much riskier, and magic might just do what it pleases anyway. The magic might have just picked the pairings at random at that point!'
'Might? It might have picked Bellatrix Lestrange for the girl she tortured?!'
'You know very well that the spell looks at the magical compatibility first, at base personalities second, and finally at war affiliations. Personal animosities or familial histories are not part of the spell.'
'So was there or wasn't there additional interference?'
'It is impossible to tell… But there are two logical theories.'
'Of course, there are.'
Kingsley's sarcasm was not appreciated and there was a very long pause before the witch spoke again.
'One, after young Malfoy effectively canceled first instructions, our second interference broke the ties around them and magic chose at random. Or, someone else inserted a new set of instructions, which either still broke the ties and the magic still chosen at random, or they didn't break anything, and we see the result of those instructions for both or either one of them.'
The clinking of glass hinted at the pouring of another set of drinks. Harry desperately wanted a fire whiskey too, properly outraged at what he was hearing and nervous about Ron's potential appearance at any moment.
'I insist the spell be reworked,' the Commissioner continued, 'and the manual arrangement option be removed for next year's matchings.'
The Minister sighed.
'Did your investigation find nothing?'
'Not yet. I've conducted the veritaserum interviews with about a quarter of my people already, nothing relevant… some information may have contributed to Mr. Cobb's punishment...'
'Who else is aware of the true reason for the investigation?'
'No one, obviously. The matter is too sensitive.'
'I want you to stop, Millicent.'
'Do you, now?'
'Nothing good will come out of the knowledge. By the time you may find something, spouses may already be awaiting a child, and most others would be committed to their circumstances. Even just a rumor of the investigation would have damaging consequences. No one would believe that only those two were interfered with. This will cause a lot of anguish and resentment and truly suitable couples might separate.'
'I want the spell fixed, Kingsley.' The raspy voice was stern.
'That's your condition?'
There was no sound from the witch but it was clear Kingsley got his answer.
'Very well. But the investigation stops.'
'Fine.'
Harry remained quiet and motionless, stewing in his extreme disappointment and disillusionment with powers-that-be, biding his time to be able to leave unnoticed.
End of Chapter 16
