Ron Messes Up
Returning to classes was strange for Jazzy and Hermione. They were of course asked hundreds of questions about their babies and how and why they had hidden that they were pregnant last school year. They answered those questions they wanted, but when it got too much, Professor McGonagall reminded the other students during dinner that the rule about obscenely bothering the two couples was still valid, and that they were to behave like proper ladies and gentlemen. That curbed especially the gossip queens like Lavender and Parvati. Even if Jazzy and Hermione agreed to show their sons to their Gryffindor classmates, but with their head of house present in the common room.
They chose an afternoon after classes. That was normally a time when the two boys were awake and they curiously looked at the ones standing around them. Thanks to the strict Gryffindor head of house being present, nobody misbehaved. Instead, the ones that were honestly happy for them congratulated them to having such cute baby boys.
It got so far that Professor McGonagall reminded everybody that while yes, the babies were cute, they also were a lot of work and the only reason why the special arrangements for the Crouchs and Lestranges had been made was because they weren't at fault for the events that led to the boys being conceived. Otherwise, Hermione and Jazzy would have needed to find alternate means to continue their education than at Hogwarts. It calmed several girls down and decide to postpone wanting a child until they were done with their education. Much easier for them, as Jazzy and Hermione also told them how little free time they had with having to study for OWLs and caring for a baby.
Ron Weasley sat in a corner when his former friends visited the common room. He considered both traitors and thus not friends anymore. After all, they had left him behind when they got married, wanting to spend all their time catching up on the stuff taught when they were held captive and spending all evenings with their husbands. He also still loathed Bartholomew Crouch for getting Jazzy. His mother had told him that yes, it was not what she had wanted, but they also couldn't accuse any of the victims of that ritual that Pettigrew had performed of behaving improperly.
It would only make them seem as aggressors against victims of one of the unforgivable curses. Ron faintly remembered how Moody had taught about them last year, even if he didn't know all the details. Imperius victims couldn't control their actions under the curse. It was despicable to use that curse to force the four teenagers to perform a sacrificial ritual by use of it, but despite that curse being forbidden to be used on humans, it didn't invalidate the ritual, at least that was what his parents had told him during the summer break.
He had asked his mum if there was a way to still get Jazzy, but she had denied it. Once a couple was married in a magical ceremony, they would stay married for the rest of their lives. Divorce didn't exist for magically bonded couples. Only muggle ceremonies could be divorced if the spouses didn't get along anymore. The only way to end a marriage was if one partner died. Then the widow or widower was free to marry again after a period of grieving. And while Ron hated Bartholomew Crouch, he wouldn't go as far as killing him. He knew that he would end up at Azkaban then, and that place was too horrible to ever even consider doing anything to be sent there.
Thus, he could only glare at the two young mothers and their babies. His great plans to gain the Potter fortune by marrying Jazzy were crushed. Even if her husband should die in some accident, the baby would then be the new heir. There wouldn't be as much money for him as he wanted and honestly, he certainly didn't want to be bothered raising some other guy's brat. He would have to find another way to get rich to not have to work hard for his living.
He was also annoyed by the amount of homework that the teachers gave them in each class. Honestly, the exams were in May, far enough away. It really was stupid to force them into doing that much work. He didn't have enough time to play chess and read his Quidditch magazines. He also still felt treated unfairly for not getting the spot as keeper for Gryffindor. Instead, a first year of all people was chosen. Just because it was Oliver Wood's younger cousin, that wasn't reason enough to ignore the broom rule. Ron ignored that Andrew Wood had performed spectacularly during the trials and had often played with Oliver, who had taught him some tricks of the position. Ron meanwhile hadn't done as well, thus Andrew won the position fairly. And by getting special permission from their head of house, with Angelina, the captain, arguing that they had got this permission as well back when Jazzy was made seeker, it was a done deal.
The seeker was a third year called Stefanie Lynch, the daughter of the Irish national team's seeker Aidan Lynch. She wasn't as good as Jazzy but had great talent and was an excellent flyer. With training, Angelina was sure she could replace Jazzy, who understandably couldn't manage to fit Quidditch into her already full schedule. Not with a baby and OWL studies to deal with at the same time. Ron honestly didn't know why she would drop Quidditch. If he had the option to play for the team, he would push everything else back.
He also completely ignored the comments written under his homework essays to work harder on his studies, as otherwise he wouldn't manage to pass his OWLs. It certainly continued the trend that had begun last year when the two girls vanished and then didn't spend too much time in the common room and when they did, they didn't do homework, as they were already done with it and instead used the time to have fun with other friends inside the house. Thus, he didn't have the greatly needed nagging to do his work that had been there thanks to Hermione not being able to be silent about the issue during the first three years he had been at Hogwarts.
Lucius Malfoy sat at the meeting table, showing dark bags under his eyes. The other people in the room looked at him worried.
"Lucius, is everything alright?" asked Alecto Carrow, discreetly casting diagnostic spells on her friend.
"I am paying for a monumental mistake that I made in 1993," answered Lucius tiredly, "I would never have thought I would say it, but I miss Dobby."
"Dobby?" asked Amycus surprised, "Your rebellious house elf that you complained about often?"
"I never appreciated how much Dobby did to help me when Narcissa was pregnant with Draco," admitted Lucius, "Now, without him reading her moods to perfection and soothing her temper with his culinary creations and thus sating the strangest type of food cravings, Narcissa has turned into a monster and I can't get a night of uninterrupted sleep."
"It can't be that bad," stated Corban disbelievingly.
"You have no idea," moaned Lucius, "She demands the most ridiculous things in the middle of the night, last night it was current loaf with herring salad, but it had to be the red variant, which she normally hates, with cherry tea and whipped cream."
The other Death Eaters looked at him incredulously.
"She honestly wanted to eat anything with herring?" asked Alecto, who knew that Narcissa hated that type of fish normally.
"Yes, of course we didn't have any herring in the house, as the new kitchen house elf didn't expect this. But as Narcissa insisted and got curse happy when I tried to get her to consider eating something else, the only option was getting some herring. But it took two hours until the salad was done. And I know that Tiffy cheated on the colour, as the normal way with letting the beetroot do it over night wouldn't be fast enough. And of course, this morning, Narcissa didn't want to even see the herring anymore and to not waste the salad, as Narcissa would have hexed me, if I had eaten it, as she normally can't even stand the smell, I had to let Tiffy and the other house elves have it," explained Lucius.
"When did you get to sleep?" asked Peter.
"Half past four perhaps?" answered Lucius questioning the answer himself.
"Ouch. And that happens often?" asked Corban sympathetically.
Lucius nodded miserably. He was incredibly happy that so far the pregnancy went perfectly, but the side effects cost him a lot.
"And Dobby managed to deal with that?" asked Amycus.
"Yes, I don't know how, but he did."
Unknown to each member of the group, they vowed to have a closer look into what their own house elves did at their estates and decided to not simply dismiss them. Because the subtle services provided by them might be worth more than they believed. Lucius' situation showed it.
Then the door to the room opened and Voldemort entered.
"Good morning, my friends," he greeted them with a smile on his face.
"Good morning, my lord," they answered.
Voldemort looked at Lucius worried and accepted the slight shake of the man's head as it being nothing too problematic.
"Let's start with the meeting, we have a few things to discuss."
The others nodded. Voldemort took out a piece of parchment from his pocket and took a quill from an ink well that was positioned on each spot of the table, to allow each participant to note important things.
"Thaddeus, what is the current status of the potion pills?" asked Voldemort, reading off a list on his parchment.
"Going according to plan. We are up to ninety-five percent successfully brewed potions now and the stocks have reached seventy percent of the needed total amount," answered Thaddeus.
"Great. Corban, the assessment of the Ministry employees?" continued Voldemort.
"All readings are collected, all results are put together in files for each person, the only thing left to do on this project is setting up an easily understandable summary of the results to be used in the plan to discredit Dumbledore," answered Corban.
"Perfect. I want the summary and the individual reports about five representative holders of higher positions ready by next week. I would like to go over them and perhaps adjust the style of the report a bit. This needs to be done in a way that even the biggest Dumbledore advocates can't deny the validity of the report. And if we can prove that people like Amelia Bones for example show a great discrepancy between their magical potential and the realised one, it would go a long way in getting the old man out of Hogwarts. Not to mention make people open to realising significant changes at the school once we are ready to move," said Voldemort.
"I will have it done by then, my Lord," promised Corban.
"Good. Walden, what is the state of your project?" asked Voldemort.
"I have managed to acquire three quarters of the properties on the island you chose to give to the werewolves, my Lord," answered Walden, "Additionally, I have managed to get the tentative agreement of four packs to move there once the settlements have been set up and they prove to be what we promise. The one pack that gives me trouble is that of Greyback. They are too vicious and like the thrill of the hunt on humans during the full moon, no doubt influenced by Greyback."
"That doesn't surprise me. I will have to take care of the problem with Greyback myself it seems. But we can't afford that the idiots turn the population against werewolves in general. While during my period of insanity I considered it acceptable to use the terror they sowed for my plans, right now that sickens me. I believe that once we have relocated the wolves to that large island where they can live their lives in peace and away from non werewolves, the problem will solve itself over time.
"When there aren't anymore attacks from werewolves, the Ministry won't be able to keep demanding oppressive laws against them. And on top of that, if a law doesn't even concern people, they will question why it exists. As long as the land we give the werewolves is fertile and they can do what they want and have a chance to be treated normally, I am sure that they wouldn't want to return to places where they are scorned. It will solve two problems at once," commented Voldemort.
Unsaid was that it would free finances that were currently directed into departments that dealt with werewolves. Mostly it were idiotic bureaucrats that thought themselves more important than they were that worked there. Even when he was still a student, Voldemort had thought the Ministry's approach to the werewolf problem ridiculous. It was a simple matter to deal with the condition. It only acted out during the full moon after all, once a month. If all werewolves were then kept away from healthy people, they wouldn't infect anybody. The rest of the time they could live normal lives.
As prejudices ran too deep for normal people to live side-by-side with the werewolves, the best solution was letting them have an island as their own country while taking out the violent ones that wanted to spread their illness. It would be accepted, as long as the island was a nice place to live for the werewolves. It was simple psychology. If a person wasn't treated well in a place and had a better option, that person would move to a place where he or she could live a normal life among others that understood the person. And from a financial point of view it also made sense. It cost a lot less to buy a large and nice island for them, especially while setting up trade with the ones living on the island to pay off the price in form of a long-term loan, than having to pay a dozen or so employees that are meant to keep werewolves in check for decades. Not to mention the property damage and healer costs caused due to attacks.
The purchase of an island of the size he had chosen would be around three million muggle pounds. Simply because the larger properties were owned by muggles. But thanks to the goblins having too much stock of muggle money that they couldn't get exchanged into gold or jewels with muggle banks, the exchange course was in their favour. Voldemort knew that a fair course would be around fifty pounds to the galleon. The last time he had exchanged gold into pounds he had got three times that, as the goblins saw a chance to get rid of for them worthless paper. Oh, the goblins knew that if they had a way to use the money in the muggle world, they would avoid losses, but they didn't know enough about the muggle market to act beneficially.
They hated losing more than they already did when they exchanged the money the muggleborns brought with them, thus the pounds were stored in a large vault and given out whenever somebody needed muggle money. Mostly it concerned Ministry workers that needed to do some things in the muggle world. Well, their group could use that fact to get the land of the island cheaper than expected. And Voldemort knew enough about the muggle world to manage setting up an account where he could deposit the money until it was needed. He claimed it was money from his shop that he couldn't put into his safe at the premises. He even had set up a dummy business to hide his tracks. Muggles were looking into things like where money came from to prevent that money from criminal businesses was brought into their normal money market.
They called it money laundering. Well, he had grown up in the muggle world and hadn't totally shunned it when he started the Reform Party. He knew that being aware what muggles could do was important for the Wizarding World to stay hidden after all. Thus, in the end he would manage to buy the island, if he could continue exchanging at one hundred and fifty pounds to the galleon, for twenty thousand galleons instead of the normal sixty thousand. Certainly a worthy endeavour. Especially as he planned to sell the properties to slightly reduced prices to the werewolves. Like if normally somebody would have to pay three thousand galleons for a nice house with some grounds for a garden, he would have it cost two thousand eight hundred. Considering that he had nice ideas to build the houses cheaply, it was still profitable for him. Considering the currency exchange profit, it was even a good deal for him.
Compared to that, had the Ministry simply gone that way, each of the bureaucrats in that department earned two hundred galleons per month as soon as they had reached position of senior employee. Which normally happened after five to ten years for purebloods from families that were regarded well in their world. If he calculated that the werewolf regulation office had fifteen employees currently, with a total cost of two thousand six hundred galleons per month, meaning alone the purchase costs for the land would be gained within one or two years, depending on the exchange rate of the money.
But it still needed time until the whole island was bought.
"Good work so far, Walden," complimented Voldemort, "I can also report that I managed to purchase the land where I want to set up the new magical settlement with the economy oriented towards families. It was easier than I thought, as the muggle that owned the largest part of the land that I had chosen as perfectly suited for our needs, as it was far away from the closest muggle settlements, fell into debt and in exchange for paying off his debt, he let me have the whole property for an additional amount of fifty thousand pounds, meaning I got the land for three hundred and thirty four galleons plus taking over the loan at the bank. As that costs five hundred pounds per month until I can pay the whole amount off, well, it was a bargain."
"Especially as you plan to trick the muggles into thinking that the debt was paid off in one large amount after a few instalments, correct, my lord?" asked Thaddeus.
"Of course," nodded Voldemort, "The muggles use alternate means of payment. They have what they call bank drafts, which have a certain amount credited to them. I only need to set up a second account at a bank, hand in such a bank draft that is of course perfectly created with magic to stand up to all of their security checks. The muggles will note in their books that the money for the value was received by the bank that handed it out, which of course doesn't exist, but a simple compulsion charm will do the job, and then I can transfer the money to the account of the loan. The loan is paid off in one swoop and all I really invested were at most three hundred and fifty galleons."
Voldemort looked really satisfied with revealing the plan. It was a lucky coincidence that the muggle owner of the land was in debt with his bank, thus he could broker this deal. The purchase of the island was a bit more difficult, as he didn't want to leave tracks of who bought the land. The island was to vanish from the face of earth for the muggles, thus it was better to pay the owners in cash. The purchase contracts would be charmed to trigger obliviation spells that let the muggles forget they ever owned that land, but to hand over the ownership certificates, which was necessary to let magic give then the chance to set up powerful wards, the money had to switch hands. But here it was also easily possible to cheat to get the money. He had investigated the way muggle casinos worked. And manipulating certain games of chance for a big win was laughably easy. This way, he could multiply the exchanged money from the goblins and make a good deal.
It was for some reason impossible to hide landed property from its rightful owner with magic permanently. It was one thing to trick the owner into accepting a low price but stealing the land wouldn't make the thief the owner in the eyes of magic. And the werewolves needed powerful wards around the island to not only stay there, but to also be safe from attacks.
"Now, the next project, Lucius, how far are you with the educational reform proposal?" asked Voldemort.
"Fudge is on board to get changes started, as the performance of Hogwarts' champion during the tournament, especially compared to Delacour who won the competition, was deplorable. It doesn't help that the girl is a quarter Veela. You know how many idiots see those with creature heritage. It is ridiculously simple to manipulate Fudge into following my suggestions when Umbridge wants to put the 'halfbreeds' into their place," answered Lucius.
"Good, it will serve to distract and annoy Dumbledore for a while," nodded Voldemort.
"Do you already have candidates to take over teaching once we have taken over?" asked Thaddeus, "Because the quality of the teachers will be essential for the success of that project, as soon as Dumbledore's myth was disbanded."
"Some but not all. As you know, Barty is studying under Flitwick and Severus for his masteries for the next few years. He will take over Defence once he officially has his mastery. Flitwick is highly capable and it would be a shame to lose him at Hogwarts. He isn't one of Dumbledore's followers but a neutral party as well. He might respect the old man but he wouldn't mind good changes that improve the school. McGonagall will have to be seen, but probably she will need to be replaced, even if she is a competent teacher.
"I am looking for somebody with a mastery in History of Magic, as thanks to Binns there aren't any that I readily know about here in Great Britain. The teachers for Astronomy, Ancient Runes and Arithmancy can stay, as they are neutrals and good teachers as far as I was informed by Barty. Sprout can stay until she retires, again, a neutral party. I will probably suggest that she takes on an apprentice of her own once she finds a suitable candidate. Filch will be fired, same for Pince. They are unsuited to work at a school. Divination will be abolished as a class. Those with the gift can arrange for tutor lessons either during the summer break or the weekends. It's far too rare anyway to have seers among the students to pay a teacher for the subject.
"Hagrid will be replaced, as he is too deep in Dumbledore's camp. Additionally, he doesn't understand the difference between his own abilities and durability and that of normal humans. As it would be difficult to find another place for him to live, he can be made assistant of the proper Care of Magical Creatures teacher next to being gamekeeper. And he's popular with the students, thus we would only harm our plans by firing him. In the long run, he doesn't matter anyway," explained Voldemort.
The others nodded, knowing that Hagrid mainly had a PR effect but didn't have impressive abilities.
"I believe that once we have taken over, the best idea would be to send Madam Maleficent Burke to the school to teach Wizarding Customs. She is neutrally aligned and wouldn't spook the parents of the children once she started teaching that class. She is known to be strict and the leading expert for our customs and is often contacted by families when they need to get their heirs up to scratch for their social debut," stated Voldemort, "Another point I will establish is a proper physical education program for the school. I am thinking about hiring Quentin Chesterluck and his team to oversee that. They have good reviews from their customers and I know that many Quidditch teams work with them to set up the training programs for them."
"That sounds like good choices," commented Corban nodding along, "I remember too well how Madam Burke taught me before I was allowed to attend important social functions with my family. If she would do the same for the children at Hogwarts, many families could concentrate on other aspects when the children are at home. There simply isn't enough time during the school breaks to do the topic justice."
"Exactly, Corban. And who better to design the course at a level that will be needed today than her?" replied Voldemort.
"Will we manage to equip the school with more teachers and replace old and outdated equipment?" asked Lucius, knowing how much gold was needed to keep Hogwarts running because he had been on the Board of Governors.
"Over time we will," confirmed Voldemort, "I have a list of priorities and over the period of five years, everything will be done."
"How fast do you believe we can take out Dumbledore?" asked Alecto, "Because we all know he will pose the biggest roadblock."
"I believe that after the next year, Dumbledore will have lost enough of his myth that people will be open to dismiss his teachings once he is dead," answered Voldemort, "all needs to happen at the right time."
The group nodded and then continued their discussion and reports.
Draco Malfoy had to control himself, otherwise he would break down laughing and not be able to stop for a long time. The reason why? Weasley showed once more what a moron he was. And this time he had really lost his mind. Honestly, anybody with some sense understood that new mothers would be overprotective over their children. And last year Crouch had already proven that she was talented, if one wanted to use such a weak term, with explosive spells. Everybody at school had heard how she killed a blast-ended skrewt with an explosive stunning spell. Why the hell Weasley thought he could insult her husband and her son without consequences, and hint at not caring if something happened to either of them, well, it wasn't comprehensible.
To Weasley's bad luck, Jasmine Crouch had been close to his position when Weasley complained about his former two best friends abandoning him for their now husbands and babies. Especially Crouch. He ranted how she betrayed Gryffindor by quitting the Quidditch team, how she didn't help him get onto the team and some other things. Well, the reaction was explosive.
Crouch had lit into Weasley, aired all of his unpleasant traits, his faults, his inability to actually do his schoolwork without having somebody that nagged him to do what was normal for all students to know as they were at a school to learn magic, and how, even if she hadn't been married to Barty Crouch through the ritual, she would never have considered him for a possible husband, as he was just tolerable as a normal friend. Of course, Weasley couldn't keep his mouth shut and insulted Crouch by calling her a whore and her son a bastard that should be drowned like a dog. That led to Crouch exploding and casting a stinging hex between his legs.
It should be mentioned that if Crouch was properly pissed off, her spells were always explosive. And Weasley had just turned her into a volcano waiting to erupt. The stinging hex basically turned into something akin to an explosive castration hex. Weasley screamed in pain and went down to the floor, holding his injured balls.
Draco, hating the redhead, really had to control himself, something others didn't manage as well as he did, as they were laughing about the misfortune of Weasley while also wincing about the mere idea of being hit there by even the normal stinging hex. Honestly, no witch would tolerate that kind of insult to her family and Crouch was a powerful witch. Crouch held her head high after telling Weasley that whatever kind of friendship they might have once had was over, done for, and would never return. He was to keep away from her family before she considered taking more drastic measures than simply disciplining him, something that his mother had clearly failed to do, as otherwise he would know how to be polite and respectful to witches.
It was made even funnier, as his older brothers Fred and George came across Crouch and she told them to take their moron of a brother to Madam Pomfrey, as she might be able to salvage his ability to someday have children if he got to her in time, even if she was somewhat convinced that if the good medi witch failed, it wasn't a great loss for the witches of the world, in fact the wizarding world itself. She even went so far to call it natural selection of taking undesirable genes out of the pool before they could be spread and cause more trouble. That stung. Draco couldn't have thought up more cutting and fitting insults if he had tried to do so. And every witch at Hogwarts would refuse to have anything to do with Ron Weasley in the future. It was glorious. He would have to get the memory of the incident recorded and sent to his father to have a good laugh about it again and again. Draco certainly would once he was in a place where he wouldn't be seen. It wasn't becoming for a pureblood heir to let himself go that way in public. Even if it was highly tempting.
Dumbledore listened to the report of Poppy Pomfrey about the injury of Ron Weasley. The worst part was, he couldn't even punish Jasmine. She had held back when dishing out some well-deserved retribution for the comments the idiotic boy had made about her family. Things like that could have led to demands of reparation by the family of the offender. Had done so many times in the past in fact.
"So, the boy will have a minimal chance to have children, but it would need a witch with one hundred percent compatibility with his magic that wasn't related to him in any way to work, Poppy?" clarified Dumbledore.
"Yes, headmaster. The test I ran after he was brought to me by his brothers also revealed that he had very bad luck in the combination of family traits that he got. While his older brothers got most of their magical traits from their father, he got the majority from his mother. And we both know that Molly Weasley already was a piece of work when she was still a Prewett. She is mentally instable and can be triggered at any kind of perceived slight against her idea of how things should be. One reason why Arthur doesn't let her take on a job, even if that would help the family finances and she has more than enough time now that all of her children are at Hogwarts or already have jobs of their own. I suspect that she filled the head of her youngest son, the one closest in age to Jasmine Potter, her perfect target to get rich easily, with nonsense. And she would probably have brewed love potions again to reach her goals," stated Pomfrey.
Dumbledore wanted to disagree, but he knew she was right. Molly was mentally instable, the one reason why he kept in contact with her was that she supported him and his goals and browbeat others to do the same. But he also had noticed that all of her older sons had left home as soon as they could to get away from her coddling and oppressive behaviour. He had tried to help the Weasleys get out of the reputation their family had for their ancestors' deeds, as the Weasleys were good supporters and thanks to their numbers, he had many able minions to help with his plans. But Ronald was a moron and had just about ruined any plans that he had initiated when Jasmine Potter came to Hogwarts.
This would cut off any kind of influence Molly and Arthur might have had on the girl. After he found out about the wedding with Barty's grandson, he had hoped, as there were no other family members around that she could turn to concerning raising children, the initiated friendship with the Weasleys might lead to Molly and Arthur growing into the position of grandparents for little Alexander, but that was now ruined. The girl would refuse to have anything to do with the family outside of perhaps the twins and then only when they were at school or in public. There wouldn't be a close connection, which might have been salvageable until today's incident. It also proved once more that the girl needed to be controlled, but he didn't have an idea how to achieve that part yet.
Then Pomfrey continued.
"It is clear to me that the Prewett family wasn't too smart in choosing their spouses in the past. I have noticed that those that marry too close to their own lines have weaker or mentally instable offspring. Arthur might be distantly enough in his relation with the Prewetts, but he is of Black descent, same for Molly. Ronald, thanks to getting more of the Prewett traits and some of the Black ones, already had a low chance to even find a compatible witch. Now, with the damage done that I could only partially heal, combined with all witches at Hogwarts having discarded him as ever possibly being a candidate for dating, not that many would have ever done so due to his eating habits, well, it's unlikely he will ever have children," summed Pomfrey the report up.
Dumbledore acknowledged the report and Pomfrey left his office. He would have to prepare for one of Molly Weasley's horrible howlers for the damage done to her youngest son. Even if nothing else would come out of it. If he had enough of a read on Bartholomew Crouch, he wouldn't let that insult to his wife and son stand if anybody pressed the issue. And nobody would act against Jasmine if even a little bit of information of what the stupid boy had said to her got out. And he couldn't afford to give the Weasleys any support in this matter, not that he wanted to, even if they were his most steadfast allies, because nobody would consider the punishment unjust. It was bad luck on the boy's side, combined with stupidity that led to the injury. Because honestly, the girl hadn't been allowed in certain classes last year because she made things explode when she cast magic. Nobody should be idiotic enough to forget that part.
Arthur Weasley read the letter he had received at his office at the Ministry with dismay. They had made it clear to Ron that he was to not say anything against the pregnancies and marriages of his now definitely former best friends Jasmine and Hermione. The one that had written the letter hadn't been Jasmine, no, much worse, it was Bartholomew Crouch, her husband, who was the head of the House of Crouch and several other ones as well. He made it utterly clear that he wouldn't dismiss the insults that Ron had used against Jasmine and little Alexander for being the words of a stupid, jealous boy. Ron, being fifteen years old, should be considered old and mature enough to not cause feuds between his family and others, especially old and influential ones like the ones he had insulted in the worst way possible.
Honestly, what had Ron been thinking, probably nothing and he had let his temper rule him, again, like many times in the past, but it had never been as dangerous to the whole family as this time, when he insulted Jasmine. To call her a whore and say her son should have been killed like a dog when he had been born. Arthur had to be thankful that Bartholomew wasn't calling a blood feud over this insult.
Ron knew that Jasmine and Hermione didn't have any choice in participating in that horrible ritual. He knew that they hadn't volunteered to be used that way and end up married. But the boy had inherited many of his mother's worst traits and listened to too many stupid ideas that Molly had planted into his head, chief of them that he would marry Jasmine when they were grown up and then be Lord Potter, rich and would have a wonderful life. At least Molly knew better than to vent her anger about the situation, the ruination of her dreams and ambitions, oh yes, he knew about them, against innocent victims. She had ranted at home about the situation, but she hadn't acted against Jasmine and Hermione, even if she certainly didn't approve of them being married when they weren't of age yet.
But now, neither girl would want to have anything to do with the Weasley family. Understandably. They would probably be cordial with Fred, George and Ginny, perhaps the older boys as well if they met them somewhere. But there wouldn't be any close friendship that could have been salvaged if not for Ron ruining everything.
Arthur knew why his family was called blood traitors. He didn't think it fair that they were still punished for the inexcusable actions of their ancestors, but he had arranged himself with facts. If they had kept a low profile, things would have gone fairly well until the time was up and they lost that horrible mark on their reputation. He didn't protest his low position at the Ministry, as he knew nobody would give him a better opportunity, especially as he didn't like the way certain families lorded their wealth and status over others. And he didn't need any kind of luxury. He hadn't grown up with it, and he was already proud that he managed to earn enough to bring up seven children. That wasn't easy at all. It cost him some pride in letting others badmouth him and his interest in muggles and their inventions. But he kept his position and got a few minor promotions over time, which nobody prevented as nobody wanted to work in the position of head of the Misuse of Muggle Artefacts office. He had known that when he started at the Ministry. It was what he had counted on to rise to at least a comfortable position for his family.
One way to have things go their way would have been kept even with the development of Jasmine being ritually married to Bartholomew Crouch, one that he had made sure to explain to Molly in detail. Sure, her marrying Ron would have been the ultimate way to bind her to the family, but they had already been on good terms with the girl with her just being friends with Ron. But Ron's stupidity could cost them all. Had Jasmine considered him and Molly as a favourite aunt and uncle, this would already have influenced many of the good people in their country, to ignore the blood traitor stigma. After all, the heroine that defeated You-Know-Who as a baby considering them her honorary family would have been considered more important than a centuries old crime of their ancestors.
He needed to act before Ron caused more trouble. And he had to confiscate any howler paper inside the house. If Molly sent a howler to Jasmine over injuring Ron, without thinking that he had deserved that punishment, the explosive part was an accident according to Madam Pomfrey after all, they might lose more than they could afford.
The letter he had received set a clear ultimatum. He controlled Ron and prevented that his son approached Jasmine ever again outside of inevitable times like classes until they came of age, or Crouch would take action, which would not be limited to a magical restraining order against Ron towards Jasmine and Alexander.
He decided that it was time to go to Hogwarts in person and find out all the details of the situation surrounding Ron. He wouldn't let his son ruin their whole family.
Minerva McGonagall listened to Arthur Weasley and his worries about Ronald's behaviour. She decided to use the opportunity of speaking with the man without his wife being around to shout everybody giving truths she didn't want to hear into submission.
"The situation is worse than I believe you realise, Arthur," she started, "Accio Ronald Weasley's student file."
The file floated over to her from the filing cabinet that stood against the back wall of her office. She opened it and pushed it over to the man.
"I have noticed that Ronald doesn't like studying since his first year here at Hogwarts, but as his homework was still done and he passed his tests decently, I didn't mention it. Many children dislike having to use their free time to do homework after all. It's normal with teenagers. But ever since October of last year, when Hermione and Jasmine were kidnapped, his grades slipped drastically. He would only do his homework sloppily, I suspect he does it at the last possible moment, preferring to play chess or talk about Quidditch any other time. The timing makes it clear why he didn't have these problems that caused a fall in his grades in all classes before.
"He was forced into studying and doing his homework by the girls, most probably Hermione. She insists on doing homework on time and properly. With no choice, Ronald would invest some more time to do it, which would result in him retaining some information from the material. Any homework handed in while the girls were gone was clearly drastically worse in quality and quantity than before that point in time. The trend continued after the four teenagers escaped from captivity after the ritual. I assume it was because the girls stayed in their suites with their husbands most of the time and only went to the Gryffindor common room to meet with their friends and have some fun. They would do their homework in their suites as far as I know."
She pointed at the development of Ron's grades, which fell continually from October 1994 to the present.
"If this continues, Ronald will fail most if not all of his OWL exams at the end of the year. I have written several comments underneath his homework, but it doesn't do any good. The boy is as stubborn as Molly if he thinks he is in the right. By now, I think the only reason why he did better before was that Hermione was even more stubborn than him. But Hermione and Jasmine have ended any former friendship with him and want nothing to do with him anymore. Due to the time restrictions of having to prepare for their OWLs and raise their sons, they rarely visit the Gryffindor common room. When they do, I am present, as we want to avoid that the other curious Gryffindors overwhelm the babies. Thus, any kind of situation there was avoided, as even Ronald isn't stupid enough to try anything with a teacher around to directly stop him," explained McGonagall.
"That is worse than I thought, Minerva. What can I do to turn this development around? If Ron fails all his OWLs, he will only have one further attempt to pass them before he loses his rights to carry a wand permanently," asked Arthur.
"I suggest you sit down with him and make it clear what will happen. You must make him see what he is risking with his behaviour. And as you know, this is only the part that concerns his schooling. At Hogwarts we demand at least an E grade in the OWL exams to allow a student into the NEWT level classes. To keep his wand rights, Ronald needs three OWLs with a grade of A. But if that is all he manages to do, he won't be allowed to continue at NEWT level and has to leave Hogwarts. To be a NEWT student, it requires to take three classes minimum.
"Additionally, if he continues antagonising and insulting important families, they might take harsher actions. The things he said about Jasmine and Alexander Crouch are unforgivable. I personally took fifty points from him for that and had him do detention for three weeks. It takes a gravely disturbed mind to wish a baby to die. Bartholomew would be within his rights to demand an honour duel if he acts out again. And normally, he is a really nice young man, but he will become the worst enemy you can imagine if anybody threatens his family. Even if I fear more what Jasmine would do if somebody took things too far.
"Jasmine, which I recently confirmed, has more traits of Lily than James. James could explode and cause pranking terror for a week on end, but then he would be done. Lily could hold a grudge for ages and if the culprit didn't do anything major to make up for things, if they could be made up that is, she would get retribution repeatedly. She would arrange circumstances to embarrass the one she was punishing badly and repeatedly. Always giving them a look that made it clear that they brought it onto themselves. Without any teacher ever being able to prove her involvement," warned McGonagall.
Arthur nodded. He hadn't got to know Lily Potter when she was still alive. But he knew Jasmine a little and she would not take the kind of insults Ron had used lying down. The threat of Ron losing his wand rights, which would lead to the Ministry binding his magic and changing his status to squib was also severe. He would have to also make his wife see the danger to Ron and stop her from feeding his mind with nonsense. If it wasn't already too late for that.
And if Ron was classed as a squib for not making the cut of three As in his OWLs, which was actually very easy if one just did the work in classes and revised the material taught over the years, it would be a permanent black mark on the whole family. Even the most stupid students could be pulled through if they tried their best. The requirements were intentionally kept low, as he knew from his work at the Ministry. He had heard that many families lost magical power with each generation. His family didn't suffer from that so far, but to not shame countless families for having children that couldn't even pass enough OWLs, the Ministry set the bar to keep wand rights very low. An A only required fifty percent correct answers or performed spells. More than manageable with a little bit of effort.
Especially as the OWL exams entailed several spells from first to third year curriculum as well, which were the ones requiring the least amount of magic to work. He knew that the examiners regularly put spells like the levitation charm onto the list of spells to be tested for. The higher grades were determined by the spells taught in fourth and fifth year, but even weak children could perform the spells that were needed to get an A in the practical part of the test. All to spare important pureblood families the shame of their children, while not born as squibs, not being allowed to keep their wand rights.
He had also suspected for a while that Astronomy was a mandatory course for one reason only: To give an easy OWL exam to those with little magic. Astronomy was just memorising stars and their traits. Manageable with some work. The class itself didn't have many uses in magic, as its main need was in rituals, which were banned by the Ministry more than two centuries ago. Before that the class had been important to be good at. Next to that, those with little magic were urged by their families to take easy classes for electives, to have a higher chance to pass OWLs, mainly Muggle Studies, Care of Magical Creatures and Divination. Herbology was another subject where an A could be obtained easily.
Hogwarts had all ways set up to let children make that minimal grade to keep their wand rights. History would help too, if not for Binns and him sending whole classes to sleep, which caused horrible grades in the exams regularly. Ron meanwhile didn't suffer from a lack of magical power, he suffered from laziness. And that needed to change fast before it was too late.
"I will talk to Ron and make it clear what he stands to lose if he continues his behaviour. I wish Percy was still at Hogwarts, I could have tasked him to force Ron to study for the OWLs properly. I will talk to Fred and George to keep an eye on Ron to not antagonise Jasmine and Hermione again. I fear what Endymion Lestrange would do if Ron insulted his family," shuddered Arthur.
"You better do. Honestly, the twins, as unlikely as it may be, behave a lot better than Ronald. I also don't have complaints about Ginevra. Right now, it is still early enough in the year to counter the developments. But Ronald needs to immediately cease his childish behaviour before we can't protect him anymore. If he doesn't change, it might even be safer for him to not return after Christmas and take his OWLs at the Ministry, Arthur," warned McGonagall.
Arthur nodded, not liking the development at all. But honestly, it would be a lesser shame to have Ron taught by Molly at home to be ready for his exams and at the same time prevent that he angered the two powerful young lords too much by not controlling his mouth.