Chapter 50:

Protecting Students

Harry slept horribly that night. He dreamt of an infinite nothingness, of mirrors within mirrors, or timeless eternity twisted into a prison. He was there, the older him, as was Voldemort, and both were suffering.

He reached out to both of them, intent and grasping them by the arms and pulling them to safety, but he was woken up by a bony finger to his shoulder.

"Wha?" he said dumbly as his eyes adjusted to the darkness.

"Tofty is instructed to bring Professor Morrigan sir to an emergency faculty and board meeting." The little house elf said.

It took him a few more moments of waking up for her words to register.

"Right. Right, I'll get right over there... also, you should probably change your name." He said as he rolled out of bed and searched for a pair of pants.

The elf tilted her head in curiosity at his words.

"What is wrong with Tofty's name?" She asked.

"You share it with a mass murdering terrorist." Harry told her. "I'm just saying, it might be a good idea to change it. It's up to you. Gotta go!"

With that done he ran to the floo and threw a handful of powder in before hollering "Faculty meeting room."

He arrived a split second later to find it already filled with old people and coworkers.

He spotted Lucius, Mrs Sabini, old lady Longbottom and all the other members of the board of governors crowding around a thoroughly exhausted Dumbledore. The faculty members, for their part, sat quietly in their seat.

"Where's the fire?" Harry asked stupidly.

All conversation ceased as every eye turned on him. Had he said that aloud?

"Thank god you're here." Lucius said.

Harry was immediately pounced upon by Mr Malfoy and Mr Tonks who dragged him into his own seat.

Harry glanced at Remus and his mom for help, but they both shrugged.

"Okay. Short version." Said Mr Tonks, who for the life of him Harry could not recall ever sharing two words with. "Muggle UK is demanding the Muggleborns back. Accusing us of kidnapping their children and trafficking slash kidnapping them."

Holy shit, that was heavier than Harry was expecting.

"We are trying to pacify these accusations." Said Lucius. "But even by our laws Muggleborns are not citizens of a magical nation until they complete their education and make the choice to emigrate. Unfortunately according to muggle law, we did transport them across borders without any proper documentation, passports or visas so their accusations of kidnapping does hold water legally."

Harry rubbed his eyes, still groggy.

"Don't the parents of all Muggleborns have to sign consent forms for their children to attend?" Harry asked rhetorically. "And don't laws strictly require us to introduce all of them to our world?"

"Yes, but that's not the issue." Said Grandpa Goyle. "The problem is, twice or more per year, we transport children of a foreign nation in secret to ours. Hundreds of them."

Oh. That did look bad.

"Muggle news muckraking?" Harry asked.

"We would show you the video save we are at Hogwarts." said Mrs Longbottom. "Word has also gotten out about obliviation, which obliviators or now working full time to reverse."

Harry supposed that made sense. With the statue gone, and wizards trying to make peace with Muggles, a good first step is undoing all of the memory charms cast for the sole purpose of protecting the statute of secrecy. He imagined the very first person having heir memories repaired would run straight to the media.

Obliviation was widely considered the closest thing to an unforgiveable that was still legal. And it was only legal because of the statute. Odds were the spell would be turned into the fourth unforgiveable by the end of the year.

Delicate situation, indeed.

"Are they demanding we return all Muggleborn students back to their country of origin?" Harry asked.

"And to prosecute the "kidnappers", namely, all of us." Said Minerva.

"It doesn't help that many on our side are all for it." Said Lucius. "At least the deportation part. After all, we only invited Muggleborns into our society because of the statute of secrecy. To properly train them to control magic and go undetected in Muggle society, should they choose to remain in it after graduating."

Harry gave Lucius an accusatory glare.

"Hey! I'm on the 'let them finish the school year' aisle of that debate." Lucius defended.

Oh, so the purebloods were already banding together to kick all Muggleborns out of wizarding Britain but Lucius was on the 'moderate' end of things by saying to wait a year.

"It's always been important that those of Muggle birth who wish to integrate into our society be given all of the tools necessary to do so." Said Old man Goyle. "New blood is important to us, Mister Morrigan. When you get your memories back you will recall such. But Hogwarts is the only home many Muggleborns have ever had. Most all of us would prefer all Muggleborns attend Hogwarts for the allotted seven years. It is the best our culture has to offer, and we like to put our best foot forward for potential countrymen."

Oh, Harry could see that. Hogwarts really was the shining jewel of their culture. Every pureblood wanted to show it off, and it worked as an introduction to the best their world had to offer. The best way to recruit new citizens to making the decision to emigrate.

"Well the answer is obviously no." Harry said. "The problem is coming up with a way to say it without bullets flying."

"Our thoughts exactly." Said Albus. "Prior to your accident, you always had interesting solutions to difficult problems. I think I speak for all of us when I say we would like your outside of the box thinking now."

Tha sounded like a challenge he was not up to. Older him had over a decade of experience, and knowledge of the future to work off of. But he had left things in his hands, so he must have been meant to be able to handle all of this.

With this thought in mind, he thought on the issue. The only solution he could come up with was dead stupid, but definitely outside of the box.

"Student Visas." He said simply.

"Student visas?" Half of the table echoed.

"That's right. Many Muggle nations have different types of visas and passports. Some for workers, some for college student. We should issue new visas for all students in our nations." Harry told them.

There was grumbling between the faculty.

"That could take weeks, or months." Said professor Sinestra. "Longer, if the speed of bureaucracy can be counted on."

Harry shook his head.

"You aren't hearing me. I'm not saying we create a new government department, hiring people on board, have them perform a metric ton of paperwork and issue visas. I am saying WE, here, create visas for students. Backdate them to whenever the student started with a seven year expiration." Harry explained. "Hogwarts is technically independent of the Ministry of Magic. Entry and exit into its territory is solely in the authority of the Headmaster."

Dumbledore removed his half-moon spectacles and rubbed his eyes before putting them back on. He then looked squarely at Harry.

"Forgive me, but it sounds like you are suggesting we deceive these critics." His boss challenged.

"Oh no." Said Harry. "I'm suggesting we outright lie."

The reason this chapter is so short is because I lost some of the previous two chapters and combined them. Long story. But it ends with "And I forgot to press save".