Title: Steps on a broken path
Author: Knife Hand
Feedback: Constructive feedback appreciated, flames unappreciated
Spoilers: Up to Halloween in Goblet of Fire.
Rating: R
Disclaimer: I do not own Hermione, or Luna, or Ginny, or Cho, or... I would buy them all but I am broke.
Summary: Harry's life is broken, and he know it. So does Hermione. They both expected Harry's name to come out of the Goblet of Fire and were prepared for it. What follows after, not so much. AU divergence from Halloween in Goblet of Fire.
A/N: Because someone asked, no, Hermione does not have external physical cat-like features, just a few personality traits. More notes of the Noble Hierarchy of this story at the end of the chapter.
Harry woke in the small London apartment the morning after his first Wizengamont meeting and stretched. The meeting had gone late into the afternoon the previous day as, after the first few times Harry had pointed out logical flaws or asked for the relevance of the draft bills that had been brought before Chamber, the Member who proposed or were speaking for the bill would go in depth about the logic and relevance of the bill, including what traditions it was based on, while the Members speaking against would point out the logical flaws and lack of relevance or mention other traditions that the draft bill would violate or impinge upon. In one insistence, when called up to address his own draft bill, a Member withdrew their bill for 're-evaluation and refinement'.
After the Wizengamont session, Harry had been considering returning to Hogwarts when Amelia Bones had invited him to an early dinner in the Ministry Cafeteria to discuss his impressions of the Wizengamont session before she had to get back to her real job as Director of the DMLE. They had chatted for almost two hours, with all of the Ministry employees in the Cafeteria giving them privacy, though Harry could see respect in the eyes of the DMLE employees and mixed respect and fear in the expressions of the other Ministry employees. Amelia had given Harry many pointers on how to deal with the Wizengamont Members and had praised him for getting them to actually think about the draft bills that they proposed. Afterwards Harry had not felt like returning to Hogwarts, so had had gone to a small one bedroom Potter Apartment not far from the Ministry that had been used by centuries of Potter Lords after Wizengamont Sessions or when they had other business in London. The apartment had been periodically refurbished over the centuries, the last one being in the late nineteen-seventies, so it was a bit outdated in its furniture and fittings, but it was in a convenient location.
After a shower, Harry went to the fireplace, a gas fireplace that was set to shut down automatically after two minutes, and threw a handful of floo powder into the flames.
"Champions United." He clearly enunciated, and then stepped into the flames.
He only stumbled slightly as he stepped out of the floo, remembering Madam Bones' advice, emerging into the small anti-chamber near the Grand Staircase at Hogwarts. The Hogwarts Professors had not been the only ones to hear him quoting the Tournament rules to Snape after his first meeting with Ted Tonks. Fleur had overhead as well and, after obtaining her own copy of the Tournament Rules, had demanded a special international equipped Floo point be set up for the Champions to use as they saw fit, according to the rules. Victor and Cedric had been all for the idea and the three other Champions had all used the Floo at least once in the intervening weeks. Flur had used it every weekend, claiming with a straight face that regular hugs from her little sister Gabrielle were extremely vital to her mental health.
Harry walked into the Great Hall, even though it was a little early for most people to be having breakfast, and saw Hermione already sat down at the Gryffindor table. Hermione had always been an early riser but with her ability to Power Nap, she was almost up before she went to bed now. As he slowly approached her, he could see her suppressing the urge to gulp down the small cup of cream she had in front of her, and the entire cream pitcher as well, instead reaching for a glass of juice as she ate.
"Good morning, Hermione." Harry said when he was still a few feet from her.
He instinctively braced as Hermione spun in her seat, stood and practically launched herself at him in a flying hug, all in a single smooth motion. Harry briefly stroked Hermione's hair as she hugged him, before they returned to the table, with Harry selecting his breakfast from the table as Hermione resumed eating her own and asking questions about the Wizengamont meeting.
"Fudge, you are a fucking idiot." Amelia declared as she stormed into the Minister's office.
"You are talking to the Minis…." Senior Undersecretary Deloris Umbridge began before stopping under Amelia's death glare.
"Amelia, I have no ide…." Fudge began before the glare turned on him.
"When you fuck up this badly, you can address me as Duchess Bones." Amelia growled, as she was rarely one to pull out her Noble Title. "Or She-Who-Will-Destroy-You-Utterly-Unless-You-Do-Exaclty-As-I-Say."
Both Cornelius and Deloris gulped at this declaration. Bones was never one to mess with, given her skill with a Wand and her job as Director of the DMLE, but this version of Bones was terrifying.
"What the hell possessed you to issue a highly illegal 'Kiss on Sight' order on a member of the Peerage, despite the protests of the Scion of a Noble House, on the word of a man known to hold a grudge against the Lord in question?" Amelia asked.
Fudge looked confused for a moment before he realised who she meant.
"You mean Black?" Fudge said. "He's an escaped convict who must be recaptured at all costs."
"I have spoken to several Wizengamont Members who were active at the time, and they have no recollection of any trial for Black." Amelia replied.
While her own parents, and her brother, had been killed by the time Black was supposed to have had a trial, it was her Uncle, her father's older brother, who had been Duke Bones back then, with the title passing to Amelia seven years ago upon her Uncle's death.
"He was tried under a special tribunal." Umbridge said. "Like many were back then."
A special tribunal simply meant the Ministry would get bribes from those who could afford it and throw everyone else brought before them, including any the tribunal members did not like regardless of bribes, into prison so that the Ministry could be 'seen to be doing something'.
"As a member of a noble house, even just a Scion and not a Lord as he was back then, Black had the right to a Wizengamont Trial. A special tribunal can not legally convict a noble." Amelia replied. "Have the 'Kiss on Sight' rescinded, send the Dementor back to Azkaban where they belong and publicly announce there was an issue with Black's original conviction and a new Wizengamont Trial will commence once he is located, or turns himself in."
"That will make the Ministry look weak." Deloris protested, wiping sweat from her forehead.
"Do it, or I will have you both arrested and tried for High Treason." Amelia said, her voice cold. "I can swing enough votes easily to have you convicted and executed. Snap to it. I will be watching"
With that, Amelia swept out of the room, that now smelt of fear, urine and faeces from the Minister and his Senior Undersecretary.
TBC….
A/N: There will not be the common HP Fanfic levels Nobility such as 'Ancient and Noble' Houses and the like in this fic. Like in the regular British Peerage, there are different levels to the Magical Peerage but they are historically based.
Knights are non-hereditary Nobles (their children don't inherit Noble status), such as Dumbledore who earned his Knighthood for defeating Grindelwald. Order of Melin Second and First Class will come with a Knighthood in this fic, but not Third Class, so no Knighthood for Wormtail.
Then there are the Hereditary Nobles. Baron, Viscount, Earl, Marquess and Duke, in ascending order. In the Wizangamont, all members are all called Lord or Lady regardless of actual rank and only get to cast one vote. Many of the nobles also just use Lord or Lady when rank is required in their everyday life rather than Baron or Earl or whatever. Though in some formal settings the proper Title is used.
The advantage of the higher levels of Nobility are twofold. One is higher ranked nobles generally have more land and incomes that come from that land, but this is not always the case as some lower noble house, or even non-noble landowning Gentry Houses (like the Malfoys) have managed their estates and investments well and some higher ranked noble Houses have managed theirs poorly. The other is that higher ranked nobles generally have more lower ranked nobles sworn to their 'service', which currently means that the higher ranked noble can call on the lower ranked nobles support in very specific votes within the Wizengamont, though for most votes the lower ranked nobles are free to vote as they wish.