Windbound 7/??

[herumtreiber]

Title: Windbound 7/??
Chapter: seven
Author:herumtreiber 
Genre: post DH, slash, romance, adventure
Disclaimer: The world and characters of Harry Potter belong to JK Rowling. Nor do I make any money from the writing of these stories.
Rating: R
Warnings: Sexual content
Epilogue compliant? Epilogue complaisant
Chapter length: 1756 words
Beta: None.
Summary: Draco/Harry, Ron/Hermione, Hannah/Dean, Justin/Daphne, Ginny/??? My take on the Marriage Law. Should they obey the government’s edict or fight it the Muggle way? This leads to marriage equality. Plus there’s a twist exploring how a Horcrux operates. Good!Lucius, finally:) Hufflepuff house is amply represented here.

Table of contents


Chapter six

Arriving at Hogwarts, Draco mentioned that he had to visit Justin. A disgruntled Harry scowled at him until Draco mentioned that it was school business and Susan Bones, the Head Girl, would also be there.

Draco encountered Hermione and Ginny when he was on his way to the Hufflepuff common room. He motioned for the pair to accompany him, and the three arrived at the Head’s room.

Justin was writing on a parchment, sitting behind his oak desk. “Hi!” said the curly-haired Hufflepuff, motioning to the chairs and signing the parchment with a flourish. “

Justin put the parchment aside and looked up, frowning. "Dad tells me the vote’s going to be close, much closer than we expected. The Commons are baffled” – Justin scowled fiercely – “about this bill that supposedly deals with pureblood horses. They don’t understand why Parliament has to deal with animal breeding.

Draco picked up the parchment and studied it while Justin glared at him. At that moment the door opened and Susan Bones walked in. “Sorry I’m late” – said Susan whilst she seated herself on the desk, ignoring Justin’s scowl – “had to deal with a pair of Gryffindor first years pranking their Slytherin counterparts.”

Justin replied absently, “Some things never change.”

Ginny elbowed Hermione. “You can say that again!”

Justin continued, “I was talking about the Law, Suze. The vote will be close. But this may work in our favour – also, the Queen's Bench have been apprised of the loathsome behaviour extended towards Her subjects.”

Noticing Hermione’s baffled look, Justin hastened to explain, “It’s like a district attorney, the prosecutors of the Crown.”

Hermione huffed. “I’m well aware of that, Justin! I watch the TV shows, you know!”

The Hufflepuff shrugged. “Anyway, the Bench will start researching and calling witnesses on Monday."

"Time’s against us, though” said Susan whilst she toyed with her plaited hair. “Soon we’ll have to get married or lose our magic. I wish there was something I could do."

Right then a metaphorical light bulb went on in Hermione's head. "Wait, I have the perfect solution to foil their plans!"

Turning to the Slytherin, she looked at him enquiringly. "First I need to know this, Draco, can you access Snape's potions room?"

The blond shrugged, he was curious about Hermione’s plan. The witch had a keen mind, as he’d found to his chagrin many times. "Yes, I can. What does that have to do with anything?"

Hermione smirked like a hunting lioness."What we will do is simply grab or brew a batch of Polyjuice Potion.”

Ginny lifted an eyebrow and looked at Susan. She’d heard of the time they entered the Slytherin common room disguised as Crabbe and Goyle. Perhaps Hermione was right and that would work?

 “We’ll use it to disguise ourselves in our marriage ceremony,” continued the bushy-haired witch. “So Draco could be wed to Pansy, let’s say. I would marry Harry.”

Susan shook her head, she still didn’t understand Hermione’s plan. The Gryffindor girl went on, “This would defeat the purpose of the stupid Law. Faced with the ruins of their plans, the government will let us marry whom we choose!”  

Draco fought to keep a serious face, answering politely. "You don’t understand the seriousness of the magical government, Hermione.”

He sat up in his chair and leaned towards the brunette. "To start with, we’ll not deceive them by changing our appearance. We’d have to deceive the Marriage Vows.”

Ginny interrupted Draco, “This has happened in the past, Mione. The authorities tightened the vows so that the magical signatures must be the right ones, and that can’t be faked!”  

Draco stood up and walked around the luxurious room, stopping to caress the ornate Ming vase, one of the antiques from the Finch-Fletchley state. "For the marriage to be sanctioned I would have to be wed to Lavender Brown - my magical signature would have to agree with my name. If it were someone under Polyjuice, they would know, because the vows would not act."

Draco paced around the room. "Tell me, Hermione, have you wondered why Severus needed to learn magical distillation in order to finish the Serpent's Map?"

Hermione shook her head, this was a point that had been bothering her.

"As you know, distillation is the physical process in which two or more liquids are separated according to their different boiling points. You heat them until one evaporates and is condensed elsewhere. You have managed something quite hard: separating the liquids without touching them directly,” said Draco whilst Hermione scowled.

Of course I know all that, I learned it when you were a child, hiding from hippogriffs or whatever, thought Hermione.

"Distillation is useful in potions, too. Except when the liquids are so fragile that any heat directly applied would cause their magical essence to fail” – Draco’s face lit up, talking about a subject he was keenly interested on – “like unicorn tears, dragon's blood, or basilisk's blood."

“Will you get to the point, Draco?” muttered Ginny.

The Slytherin continued with a scowl. "This hampered potion-making for several hundred years, until the enterprising Imperial alchemists around Flamel thought about magical distillation. This is simply the separation of liquids based on their magical properties. When Severus read about this, he had a conceptual breakthrough.”

Draco stopped for a moment to collect his thoughts. “If magical distillation worked with liquids, could it work with magical symbols?”

Seeing the puzzled faces of his classmates, Draco tried to find the words to make them understand. “What I mean is - could Severus distil the magic received by certain objects?”

Hermione brushed aside a lock of her hair, looking at the parchment on the desk, imagining it was the Serpent’s Map. “So Snape created a potion that could distil the magic in the parchment?”

"Something like that,” answered Draco. “His potion, when applied to the Map, simplified the magical gradient of the area displayed. So instead of dealing with ambient magic, the map shows only certain features. It indicates the blood status, for instance, and the position of the person – this can be controlled magically by a wizard.”

Realising the import of the Slytherin’s words, Hermione sighed dejectedly. "So the Map displays the magical signature and cannot be fooled. The Ministry must have something like that."

"They have something more terrifying,” said Draco with a shudder. “Father’s told me about it.”  His voice acquired a tinge of despair when he remembered his grandfather’s will. Only lawfully wedded Malfoys could inherit.

"Deep inside the Department of Mysteries there is a room,” said Draco as he toyed with Justin’s quill. “It’s well protected and only selected people approved by the current Minister of Magic can enter. It holds a giant map of Britain."

Ginny said, “Percy mentioned something about it, before he remembered he was working for the almighty Fudge and shut up.”

"They say that knowledge is power,” continued Draco, putting the quill upon the parchment. “Ancient cultures held that to divulge their name needlessly was a foolish thing to do."

Draco gazed at the shiny surface of the Ming vase, weighing his words. "After a magical baby has been named, a dot representing that person appears in the Situation Map in the hidden room."

Draco looked at Hermione searchingly, lifting an eyebrow. She noticed how weary the Slytherin seemed, how bereft his expression was.

"Have you ever wondered why Tom Marvolo Riddle changed his name?” asked Draco. “Why did he change it to 'I am Lord Voldemort' which exactly the same letters?"

Draco picked up Justin’s quill again and pointed at Hermione. "You know that the arithmantic value of a name is of the utmost importance magically” Hermione nodded, suddenly chilled by the turn the conversation had taken.

“By changing his name and yet retaining its arithmantic value” – continued the Slytherin –“Voldemort could not be located in the Situation Map. Yet his magic still interacted with it. He was able to use the Map’s magical properties to pinpoint the location of the people that uttered his name.”

Hermione shuddered, recalling the time the Snatchers caught them after Harry spoke Voldemort’s name, and the harrowing time she spent in the Malfoy Manor.

"Our magical signature is represented in the Situation Map in that nameless room,” said Draco with a defeated sigh. “We cannot change it - unless we changed our names and convinced people to call us by our new ones."

Draco slouched in his chair and looked at the stone wall with a weary look. "That’s why we cannot escape our fate with magic. The person that designed this plan is brilliant. We must get help from the muggles."

HDHDHDHDHDHDHDHDHDH

In Malfoy Manor, Lucius was dining with his wife. Narcissa had a wistful expression and a faraway look in her eyes, because of Andromeda’s continued resistance to permit any contact between the estranged sisters.

When Narcissa informed him she'd gone on a shopping spree to London, Lucius didn’t blame her.

Lucius grabbed the cane on the chair next to his, the one that had his new wand inside. He used it to conjure a pot of tea. Whilst he was pouring Narcissa a cup, he asked her softly where she’d been.

 "I was helping to get a magical child to the orphanage, Lucius!” Narcissa nodded her thanks and sipped her tea delicately. “These persons – a man and a woman - were treating the poor girl very harshly, just because she 'made things happen.'”

Lucius nodded whilst he took a bite from the flambeau cake.

“I arranged for Miriam - the little angel - to go to St. Odile's Orphanage. I will visit her frequently. I hope she’ll find a good family,” said Narcissa. After her family’s ordeal at the hands of Voldemort, Narcissa often tried to help those she saw suffering.  

Lucius wondered how to raise the next topic, knowing his wife’s temper. He said cautiously, "Do you mind if we have two guests for dinner tomorrow?"

Narcissa lifted an eyebrow, meditating her answer. Hopefully they weren’t Lucius' former associates?

Observing his wife’s worried face, Lucius cringed inside - realising that Narcissa was deeply worried about these visitors. Namely, whether they would be former Death Eaters or not.

Lucius knew that his wife had all the right in the world to feel anxious, given what she and Draco endured in the past because of his unbridled ambition. He’d made a vow to himself to try to do the best for his family, and stay away from troublemakers.

"They are the Finch-Fletchleys,” replied Lucius. “They’re the parents of the Head Boy, Justin – that friend of Draco’s.” Lucius muttered the last words, “They’re also muggles.”

Narcissa gasped when she heard that Lucius wanted to invite Muggles to the Manor. This seemed a bit strange. But the more she thought about it, the more she understood it. Lucius had been following Abraxas’ insistent methods to attain power. Then he fell under the relentless drive to get more power, even if he had to bow to Voldemort.

After the ordeal with the Death Eaters and the Final Battle; with Voldemort finally gone, Lucius was free - perhaps for the first time in decades - to do what he wanted. Narcissa recalled Draco's letters; Justin had two Muggle parents. Apparently his father served the muggle government in some capacity. Hopefully Lucius would meet someone that was as interested in politics as he was, and maybe, just maybe, he would learn that there are good muggles.

Narcissa smiled tenderly, sipping her tea. "I'd be happy to help, Lucius. What do you want to serve them? You'll have to modify the wards around the Manor so they can admit muggles here."

Narcissa started formulating her plans for the soiree. "I think we'll use the oval parlour. I wish we could use eleccity so we could watch those things they call soaps."

HDHDHDHDHDHDHDHDHDHD

Susan Bones and Hannah Abbot were hurrying to lunch. They'd slept late on Sunday, and therefore missed Justin and Draco's early departure for Hogsmeade.

Terry sat next to Susan at the Hufflepuff table, which had become something like a neutral place in the Great Hall. Zacharias tried to grab a seat next to them, but a stern glare from the usually reserved Hannah sent him packing to the other end of the table.

Meanwhile, Hermione and Ginny sat at the Gryffindor table, flanked by Harry and Ron.

The owls with the Sunday edition of the Daily Prophet burst through the windows of the Great Hall and descended upon the students.

Susan paid for her paper, scowling at the unruly barn owl which insisted on pecking her ham. She looked fleetingly at the first page when she found a small, tantalizing notice. She opened the paper to page A3 and read:

It has come to the attention of the Minister of Magic that unauthorised meddling is poisoning Wizarding-Muggle relations. An important Bill for the future of our world is up for discussion in the Muggle House of Commons - and it appears to be losing support fast.

Who would dare go against our society’s welfare? Who would rebel against the magnanimous Marriage Law? Can it be a remnant of the former Death Eaters or something else entirely?

Reporter
Rita Skeeter

Susan angrily pushed aside her Shepherd’s pie. Who’s that Skeeter woman to write such trash?

Susan stood up and rushed out of the Great Hall, followed some seconds later by Hannah. The brunette Hufflepuff raced to keep up with the strides of the taller blonde.

Susan sighed when she remembered Amelia; her aunt often looked haggard after bruising political battles in which nothing substantive was gained, just to keep pretences. Though Amelia found her government experience still rewarding and persevered in her endeavours.

Hannah put her hand on Susan’s shoulders. “Everything will turn up right. Just have a little faith!”

Susan shook her hand angrily. “Wish I could believe that, sometimes...”

They heard footsteps behind them, and Hannah took out her wand, just in case it was that smarmy bloke Zacharias.

A girl’s voice called, “Are you all right? You seemed a bit angry."

Hannah recognised Hermione’s voice and turned. Ginny and Hermione strolled towards the Hufflepuff girls.

Susan started bemoaning how unfair the Marriage Law was that forced her to marry a bloke she didn’t care for.

"The problem is not what the paper prints,” said Hermione succinctly. “It’s that they know about our plan to oppose the Marriage Law in the House of Commons. I wonder if Skeeter’s been sneaking into Hogwarts. Notice any beetle nosing around here?”  

What was Hermione thinking about? Hannah thought, shrugging - frankly she didn’t care about insects. She ventured a guess. "They might've heard it through a Member of Parliament?”

“Justin said that the Ministry does not pay attention to Muggle politics at all!” said Ginny indignantly. Obviously the Head Boy was wrong.

The redhead recalled Arthur mentioning the modus operandi of the Ministry. “The muggle minister? They reach him through a portrait. They couldn’t just learn about how we want to oppose the Law through a portrait! There’s something wrong here!”

Chapter eight

Comments

[lijahlover.livejournal.com]

I just adore this story such intertaining and engrossing chapters!

[herumtreiber.livejournal.com]

Thank you! <3

Things will get more interesting as they fight the Marriage Law.