With a Little Help From My Friends
Chapter 6
By Kinsfire
The Raid on the Wizengamot, as Harry took to calling it, went off without a single hitch. (Percival Weasley was apparently Dumbledore’s man — it was he who young Weasley came to.) A total of twenty Wizengamot officials were arrested, along with Cornelius. This led to an interesting turn of affairs - it left a large number of seats to be filled. After the Daily Prophet's Ministry shills were fired or arrested, the list of seats needing to be filled was released to the public.
"I can't believe this!" Hermione was saying at the Gryffindor table. "Each of the Founders had a seat, the Potters, the Blacks, the … Harry, why are you grinning?"
"I'll explain tonight, and I think that you'll enjoy it quite a bit." I saw him look at her chest and laugh. "Well, we can do that too, but I was referring to what I need to tell you."
—-
We had a Potions class that day, and it would be the first that Draco would be in. Through a medical miracle, they had managed to salvage part of a testicle, so the Malfoy line was not yet ended, although his chances were now severely diminished.
I truly attempted fairness with him in the classroom, but by the end of the class he had lost the House fifty points and had earned a detention with me, at which time I finally discovered why he seemed so disliked.
"I was humiliated, Mother!" he whined. "I'm your son, and -"
"-and I am now a professor at this school, attempting to not resemble the last Head of Slytherin House, who is currently sitting in Azkaban. He showed blatant favouritism to Slytherin, to the point that people automatically assume that we are evil because we were placed in that House. We are all seen as followers of that silly half-blood who was Head Boy here in the forties."
He started at the comment. "What do you mean ‘silly half blood’? Our lord is pure-blood!"
"He is your lord, and your choice is to follow him, and your lord is Tom Marvolo Riddle, Hogwarts Head Boy, 1944 to 1945 school year." I did that absolutely wonderful illusion that Harry did (which he admitted that he learned from the young Riddle), and my son’s skin went even whiter than its usual shade. He was actually so white that his hair was now noticeably yellow in comparison. "Check carefully, Draco. Do your research. Do you wish to follow someone who hates everything that you believe you stand for?"
I sighed. "You are my son, and I do love you. But I have found in the one you consider your nemesis something that your father could never give me. Love. You are the one bright spot in my life these past seventeen years that I was with your father. But I can not save you if you choose to serve Voldemort. And I will not give up a man who loves me as deeply as Harry does."
Draco started. "You call the Dark Lord's name?"
"It is a made up title, son. You saw that." After a slight pause I said, "Despite his usual oddities, the Headmaster occasionally has wise things to say. One of them is ‘Fear of the name increases the fear of the thing itself.’ If you are too afraid to speak even his chosen name - Voledmort - then how can you hope to serve him properly?"
I smiled at him. "I am a Black before all else, Draco. The Black motto is 'Toujours Pur'. They meant primarily blood, but it also means clarity of purpose and a refusal to bow." I stopped for a moment and snorted softly. "Almost Gryffindor of us," I laughed before looking at him again. "Your father always remarked that a Malfoy answers to no one, yet he bows and scrapes to that half-blooded monstrosity that can no longer even be called human."
I looked him in the eyes. "There will come a time when you must make a choice, Draco. I do not ask you to become friends with my betrothed. I do not think that possible. But I ask you to think if bowing and kneeling to a thing that is no longer even human is properly living up to both the Black and Malfoy names."
For the first time in some time, I saw a thoughtful look on my son’s face. "Go back to your dormitory. Speak to whomever you trust, if such exists in Slytherin, and act as you need to in front of the others, such as she who chases brick walls."
He echoed my snort of laughter before looking almost hopeful. "If Father is a criminal now, and the entire Malfoy fortune belongs to you, what does that do to the marriage contract between the Malfoys and the Parkinsons?"
"I suppose that I should find out, shouldn't I?" I asked him with a small smile. "Go now, and think about what I've said." He left the laboratory and I headed through the other door, into the suite we three share.
"That may well be one of the most productive detentions he has ever experienced," I said, shrugging off my robes and reaching for my silk dressing gown. I was mildly surprised to find Hermione already holding it for me, and I relaxed into her embrace, since she didn't seem inclined to release me as she stood behind me. I can't say that I was all that ready to be released, either.
"What happened?" she asked softly as she nuzzled my hair.
"I made him think, I believe. I told him of Riddle and Voldemort and some truths about the man. He is hopefully deciding whether or not he wishes to follow a hypocrite."
"Well, we can but hope," she said, her hands sliding under the bottom of my short robe and coming to rest just below my navel. She inhaled deeply, and it sounded as if she were close to tears.
"What's wrong?" I asked, somewhat alarmed.
"I can't believe how much I have fallen in love with you," she breathed into my hair. "At first it was just lust at a really beautiful and sexy woman, but now … now I don't think I could live if either of you left me." She shuddered slightly.
I turned in her grasp and pulled her close, quite aware that my robe was open completely now. "Then I guess that Harry and I will simply have to promise to spend the rest of our lives with you, won't we?" I placed a finger under her chin and lifted her face to me, then kissed her softly on the lips.
When Harry finally entered the suite we were still kissing, but our clothing seemed to have pooled at our feet. The kisses were still very sweet and romantic, I will say. "Don't let me interrupt you," he said with a smile.
Hermione disengaged from me, much to my dismay, but kissed my nose. "Later. Harry promised to tell me something later, and it's later. We're even alone."
"And delightfully nude," he said with a smile. "Doesn't exactly put me in a mood to talk, you know."
She knelt and picked up our robes, holding mine open for me again. "You think that improves my ability to think?" he asked with a smile. She crossed her arms under her breasts (a very nice sight, I will say), and he laughed. "Okay, the reason I was grinning this morning was realising the statement I could make. I was thinking about the Wizengamot seats, and I thing I can make a few statements with them."
"Them?" I asked.
"Well, I happen to be related to Godric Gryffindor - he's my multiple great grandfather. It turns out that my mother was not completely Muggle, but her family line had been Squibs for something like five generations. She was related to Helga Hufflepuff. Through the Blacks I have the Ravenclaw vote, although Narcissa or Andromeda could likely claim that one just as easily."
"No, it would be you. They prefer males in the role. It would be yours. And since your grandmother was Dorea Black, who was my great-aunt, it is more direct to you. I know that my grandmother was also related, but as I say, the male aspect comes in. It would be yours."
"But the nice thing is, I can choose proxies, can't I?" I nodded to him, and suddenly saw where he might be going with this and smiled. "You see my thought process. Especially since I have a wonderful surprise for the Wizengamot when next they meet."
He proceeded to explain to me what he was thinking, and our laughter was heard in the hallways.
—-
Harry had talked to the Headmaster about his plans, not sharing his surprise, but making it clear that everyone who qualified for the Wizengamot should be there for the October meeting. This led to an interesting array of people leaving the school early one morning in the middle of October. The Headmaster, Minerva McGonagall, Harry, Hermione, myself, and a very small number of seventh year students, all whose parents were familiar to me as associates of my ex-husband.
To make Harry's plans unassailable, Albus had performed a small but legally binding ceremony in his office, with Minerva and Filius as witnesses. Both Hermione and I could now legally use the name Potter to sign important documents. He, of course, swore that we would have the wedding that we deserved as soon as possible.
We arrived in the Wizengamot chambers with time to spare, and Harry joined several people in the spectators' seats. "Harry!" Arthur Weasley exclaimed. "Miss Black," he added with less enthusiasm. I couldn't exactly blame the man.
"Mrs Potter if you please," Harry said softly. "She is now Narcissa Black Potter, and Hermione is Hermione Jane Granger Potter. It was done quietly this morning for the same reason that I asked you to be here." He turned to my sister. "Mrs Tonks. I'm pleased to meet you finally, and can see where your daughter gets her beauty from."
"Charmer," she replied with a laugh. "Are you pulling a rather Slytherin move today?"
"More than anyone could ever suspect," he replied. "All of it legal, too."
"I look forward to seeing it. Is that why you asked me to be here to watch?"
"You'll see. I doubt you'll have too big a problem with it. If you do, you'll only have the problem for about eight months."
"Enough, I'll learn what you're doing in a short while," she laughed once more. We then met and hugged as we once had, and sat to talk for a time, until the Wizengamot was called to order by Dumbledore.
The meeting had the usual boring information that is of value only to the self-important governing body itself (usually), and then Dumbledore opened the floor to the crowd, in the usual manner. "Are there any petitions from the public that need to be dealt with?"
I stood. "Yes, if it please the Wizengamot."
"Step forward and explain," he said, fulfilling the formula as protocol demanded.
"While I am no longer married to Lucius Malfoy, I still bore him a son. Since Lucius has lost his seat by conviction as a Death Eater and my son is not yet of age to claim his seat amongst this august body, I petition to be granted regent status and therefore his Malfoy vote until such time as he reaches adulthood and can claim the seat for himself."
I could see several of the dark-aligned families rearing back in shock. Angelique Parkinson simply smiled at me widely, giving me a subtle thumbs-up gesture.
There was much talk amongst the members, but none rose to speak against my petition. "Are there any legal challenges to the petition?" Albus asked. After a moment of silence, he nodded and said, "The petition is granted. If you choose to take the seat now, you may." I nodded and climbed into the voting area.
"Are there any further petitions from the public?" he asked once I was seated. My husband stood. (Husband. My heart filled with the thought that he was now mine, and I smiled.)
"If it please this body," Harry said, "I wish to claim my seats on the Wizengamot. I have a legal right to the seats for the Houses Black, Potter, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff and Gryffindor." He walked to the podium where Dumbledore stood and handed a stack of parchment. "Those are my proofs of claim for those Houses." The paperwork was examined and Dumbledore looked up.
"All seems in order. Do you wish to claim those seats now?"
"Yes. I also wish to claim one final seat by right of conquest," he said, and I was unable to help myself. Merlin save me - I giggled. "By right of conquest, I claim the seat of House Slytherin."
The Wizengamot exploded. Angelique's husband shot to his feet. "How dare you!" he bellowed.
"How dare I?" Harry asked quietly in response. "I dare because it is the truth. Tom Marvolo Riddle was the last heir to Salazar Slytherin, through his mother, Merope Gaunt. The Gaunt family is completely gone now. I have defeated Riddle in combat. By rights, that allows me to claim his hereditary seat."
"Just who is this Riddle?" Parkinson sneered at Harry.
Harry pulled his wand and drew that wonderful illusion in the air. When he was finished rearranging the letters, the chamber was deathly quiet. "Yes. Tom Marvolo Riddle, the last heir of Salazar Slytherin, Head Boy at Hogwarts, child of a Muggle father and pureblood mother, is Lord Voldemort. We all know what happened to him when I was fifteen months old. That counts as the first time that I have defeated him. The second time was when he rode Quirrinius Quirrell during my first year, when he was chased away yet again because he could not bear my touch. The third was when I faced his sixteen year old shade and a basilisk, both of which I killed. In fourth year I faced him again and survived and the same in my fifth year, just five months ago, in fact." He smiled. "In fact, the time I faced him in fourth year gives further proof that he no longer deserves the Slytherin seat. He no longer has Slytherin blood in his veins."
The shock at this caused a very loud murmuring that quickly died to uncomfortable silence. Harry continued. "The ritual that returned him to a body involved the bone of his Muggle father unknowingly taken; the flesh of his servant willingly given - that was Peter Pettigrew, by the way - a Gryffindor; and my blood, forcefully taken. Nowhere in my past do I have Slytherin blood, nor does Pettigrew, to my knowledge. The body that the so-called 'Lord Voldemort' uses has no connection to his prior claim on the seat." He smiled smugly. "So, either I am legally permitted to take the seat by right of successful conquest, having defeated him three times and walked away alive two more times, or the seat itself should be abolished, because the family is now extinct."
There was heated debate throughout the chambers, but the final decision came down simply to the fact that no one was willing to abolish the Wizengamot seat of one of the Founders of Hogwarts. Harry was granted the seat, though much grumbling could be heard from other parties.
"I thank the Wizengamot for their consideration," he said. "May it please the Wizengamot, I will now place my proxies in these seats. For the House of Black, I ask Andromeda Black Tonks to take that seat." Andy grinned at him and climbed into the voting area. "For the House of Hufflepuff, I ask Molly Weasley." The woman's eyes widened, but she accepted the job. "For Gryffindor, I ask Arthur Weasley to vote my proxy. Before I forget, I am stating that I will vote the Potter vote." He grinned that delightful disarming grin of his. "For the House of Ravenclaw, I ask that Percy Weasley be given my proxy vote." The vibrant-haired young man walked to Harry and questioned him with his eyes, and Harry simply nodded with a smile. Young Mr Weasley stood straighter than he had moments before and took a seat in the voting arena. "Finally for the House of Slytherin, I ask my wife Hermione Jane Granger Potter to sit proxy for me."
...and isn't THAT a fun little bombshell to end this short chapter on!