herumtreiber

Title: The Privy Councilors 1/33
Chapter: one
Author:herumtreiber
Genre: AU to HBP, romance, adventure
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or related characters. Nor do I make any money from the writing of these stories.
Rating: R
Warnings: Sexual content
Epilogue compliant? No way!
Chapter length: 3384 words
Beta: None.
Summary: Draco/Harry, Luna/Neville, Ron/Hermione, Narcissa/??? Harry is about to be sent to Azkaban. The story explores Wizengamot politics and the fight against evil Dumbledore - where he gets vanquished early and does not prattle on and on - but is he gone? Plus de-aging. Someone returns whose name begins with a S. (And my revenge on characters whose accents are hard to read – like Hagrid and Fleur ;-)

Table of contents

AN: This is AU to HBP. It begins after the end of OOTP. Some concepts of the last two books may appear. It will not be Dumbledore-friendly.

Harry's world had come down in flames. After having to deal with the death of his godfather, and the crushing weight of the prophecy disclosed so nonchalantly by the Headmaster, he was whisked off to Privet Drive, and his friends didn't write to him at all.

The clumsy Order's attempt at intimidating the enraged erumpent known as Vernon did more to make the situation worse. The walrus took every opportunity to whack Harry around. Seeing that the Order did not care and did not arrive to rescue Harry, his uncle grew more vicious and daring.

Eventually, what had to happen occurred. Harry could recall only parts of it. He remembered his uncle and cousin beating him nearly senseless, then a magnificent show of white light. He carefully stood up and could see his faux-family lying on the ground, dead. Immediately he heard the sound of apparition and saw Dumbledore with assorted members of the Order and the ministry. They took the scene of devastation with nary a sound or facial expression. They took their wands and performed several spells, seemingly akin to a forensic investigation in the Muggle world. The lead Auror, Shacklebolt, approached Dumbledore and conferred with him. Presently he stood in front of Harry and said, "Harry Potter, by the authority vested in me by the Wizengamot, I charge you with the murder of your uncle, aunt and cousin. You will be taken to a holding cell in the ministry for your trial. If found guilty, you will be sent to Azkaban for life!"

Sitting in that holding cell, he endured the worst moments of his life. They hadn't even given him a medical check-up, saying that it wasn't needed for a murderer. It was only Harry's innate magic that allowed him to survive as it healed him from the numerous lesions left behind by his dreadful relatives.

The visits were the worst. The Weasleys and Hermione came to visit him, or rather sneer and smirk at him. They all said hurtful things, especially Ron, who shouted "I wish I had known what I was getting into when I decided to be your friend!"

Hermione added, "Honestly, Harry, that's what you get when you break the rules. They are there for a reason, after all."

With a sinking feeling in his stomach, he realized that his friends thought he was a cold-blooded murderer. If they were of that opinion, the rest of the Wizarding World would follow suit, notwithstanding the fact they had been wrong about Harry before, in all the lurid articles of Skeeter and the rumors surrounding his ability as parseltongue. He was lost and it was only his stubbornness to accept his fate which kept him sane for what was to follow.

Ron stayed for a moment after the others left, and smirking at Harry, thrust a paper and bade Harry sign it and add a drop of his blood. Harry was exhausted, tired of it all, he didn't care that he may have given Ron a key to sink him further. According to him, there was no deepest pit imaginable than what he was living. He complied wordlessly. Ron took the piece of paper and signed it himself, adding a drop of his blood. Then he went out.

HRHRHRHRHRHRHRHRHRHRHRHRHRH

After "visiting" with Harry, Ron and Hermione were on their way to meet with Percy. Ron was ranting about the perils Harry's friendship had subjected him to. Hermione also thought that some time alone might do well for Harry and curb his anti-authority streak for a while. Hermione grabbed Ron's neck and kissed him aggressively to shut him up.

Someone clapped and wolf-whistled. A figure appeared before them, and a voice drawled mockingly, "Is this what you are reduced to, Weasel? To kiss a mudblood?"

Ron took out his wand and prepared to throw a hex when his blue eyes, which had been quiescent up to now, twinkled strangely. He arrested the motion and turned to his girlfriend. He said, "Mione, you come up with the weirdest ideas, I must say."

The figure let its cowl down and was revealed as Draco Malfoy. Draco asked imperiously, "Do you have anything important to report?"

Ron answered nonchalantly, "I tested the doors of the trial chamber. There are loyalty spells, notice-me-not charms and some kind of Legilimency. You might also be interested to note that there will be medit-sieves in Grimmauld Place and the Burrow. The Headmaster kindly informed us that these sieves would record our daydreams and would instantly erase that recording if there was nothing plotted against the Order. Hermione and I are of the opinion that Dumbledore will use the medit-sieves to select his true adherents. The sieves will be put into place immediately after Harry's trial. I urge you to see to Hermione's safety if the worst comes to pass."

Ron took out a piece of parchment. "Here's the document you wanted to have, Harry and I signed it, authenticating it with our blood. Pity that the bureaucratic procedure to make it valid lasts seven days and the trial is tomorrow!"

Draco seemingly pouted and said, "O ye weasels of little faith! If you must know, Ron, I have an unlicensed time-turner belonging to the Malfoy family." Draco took out a chain that was wound around his neck and said, "This is it. Now that I have Potter's parchment I will just push it with the rest of ours and go back in time to the place in the Ministry where documents are sorted and sent flying to their destination. I guess these are the perks of being the brat of a Ministry worker, like you, Ron!"

Draco continued, "Whatever happens, you cannot return to your houses after tomorrow night. You would be brainwashed or killed in an attempt to lure Potter. I offer you a place for however long you want it in the Malfoy Manor. You would have a safe haven, a base of operations, no matter what happens in the Wizarding World. I warn you, though, that you will deal with Narcissa." Draco visibly shuddered, "She'll be ok as long as there is no shopping spree. If there is one, then everyone must fend for themselves."

Draco took out a ceremonial dagger. "This is a portkey. It will take you to the parlor of the Manor. I've already keyed you so the wards will admit you. To activate the portkey say Matthäus." Draco offered the dagger to Hermione, and she put it securely away in her pocket.

Then Draco took out his wand and gave it to Ron, saying, "Tomorrow they will certainly not let me enter the chamber with my wand. We will need to create a diversion so you can slip it to me and I can give Potter his own wand, covered with demiguise hair."

Hermione hugged Draco. At first Draco had been a little weary of the emotional content of the hugs and the fact that Hermione was a Muggleborn, but he soon realized that she was an incredibly talented witch, and sharing a hug with her was something he needed, perhaps more desperately than he chose to acknowledge.

Bowing theatrically, Draco said, "Until we meet again, red-head and lady!" Then Draco intoned loudly "Mudblood!"

Ron's blue eyes lost the twinkle and seemed to significantly diminish in brightness as he took out his wand, ready to hex Malfoy. Meanwhile Draco had made good his escape. He knew very well the Ministry, from countless trips he'd taken to see his father. He knew the way to the Office of Distribution of Documents. He used his time-turner and got back seven days. There was time enough to drop the documents with a recommendation that they be voted en bloc with Wizengamot Law 4UR-GOAT, a favorite project of the Headmaster, which ensured that the measures contained therein would be law as soon as Albus's pet project was approved.

HRHRHRHRHRHRHRHRHRHRHRHRHRH

That night also took place the reading of Sirius' Will. The Headmaster had seen his opportunity of assuming control of the Black assets, seeing as how the main heir was awaiting his trial for multiple murders. Presumably he would be unable to command the enormous assets of the Blacks, but luckily for them all, his Magical Guardian, Dumbledore, would take care to distribute everything where it would do the most good – for him.

With only some hours to get ready, the other interested parties congregated at Gringott's. They were led to a conference room by a goblin called Ashbolt. They sat around a large, circular table. Remus Lupin was there, as was Dumbledore and the Auror Kingsley Shacklebolt, Narcissa Malfoy, Andromeda and Nymphadora Tonks.

Ashbolt started, "We will hear the last will and testament of Sirius Black, Lord Black:"

"Hello all, if I'm dead then I have no doubt who killed me, and it wasn't a Death Eater, it was a Life Eater masquerading as the Lord of Light. Here is my last will:

To Remus I give 5,000 Galleons and the order to let the wolf out and follow its advice.

To Andromeda and Nymphadora Tonks I leave 5,000 Galleons each.

To Harry Potter I leave 1,000 Galleons.

The rest of the Black holdings, investments, real estate, and the title of Lady Black I leave to Narcissa Black Malfoy, my cousin and favorite relative.

Narcissa, there is no doubt in my mind that you will do what needs to be done, no matter how disagreeable, no matter how difficult. You will make a great Lady Black.

Toujours pur

Sirius Black

Lord Black"

Everyone was astonished. They had all expected that Sirius would favor his godson Harry and leave him everything. Of course, with Dumbledore manipulating every action of the boy that would be the same as leaving everything to Albus, which Sirius was loath to do. So Sirius devised a way to circumvent Dumbledore. The wily and manipulative headmaster would not have a seemingly frail Narcissa under his thumb. Instead Cissa would give as good as she got.

Dumbledore was so angry that he took out the Elder wand and prepared to hex Narcissa out of creation. Unbeknownst to him, Narcissa had the protection of a wily and crazy elf, called Kreacher. From the protection of the shadows, Kreacher observed all the uppity wizards and was saved from boredom by the fact that Mistress now was really Mistress Black. He noticed the shaggy wizard as he took out the wand, his elf magic allowed him to read the very malign intentions of the spell, and he acted. He joggled the disreputable wizard's elbow and as a result the hex passed by Narcissa and gouged a part of the wall. Narcissa shouted fast, "Expelliarmus!" followed by "Accio Dumbledork's wands." Two wands flew to her. Narcissa felt that one of them was the Elder wand, the wand out of legend, and kept it for herself, the other was Albus's family wand and she proceeded to break it in three pieces.

Narcissa said, "I believe that Nymphadora and Kingsley Amis are Aurors, are they not?" Andromeda replied, "Yes, they are, but it's Kingsley Shacklebolt."

Narcissa answered, "Whatever. I demand that Dumbledore be arrested for attempted murder!"

Shacklebolt and Tonks refused to obey her, though. It seemed they were Dumbledore's men – or puppets.

Narcissa then turned to Kreacher, "It behooves me to see how 12 Grimmauld Place is used. Sirius suffered a lot in that place; I want to completely raze it. It's nothing but a nest of Dark animals, from Boggarts to doxies, it's no place to take impressionable young men to, don't you agree, Dumbles? Oh, I forgot, since it is not a goat, you don't care at all. Kreacher, you will go and deliver an ultimatum to the members of the Fried Flamingos that are there. If they don't leave they will be destroyed. When half an hour has passed, destroy that abode completely."

Dumbledore started to shout angrily, until Narcissa put him under a Silencio spell cast by the Elder wand. Though the aged wizard was reputed to possess an incredible amount of magic, the Elder wand prevailed.

Narcissa proceeded to saunter up to Nymphadora and slapped her forcefully, muttering "Traitor!"

Narcissa left to sign some papers and call some people on the Floo. Even though she spoke with Minister Fudge and Amelia Bones, they informed her that they were powerless to charge Dumbledore with any wrongdoings, as they could not find independent witnesses who could verify her assertions.

Two hours later, a tired Narcissa met an exhausted-looking Kreacher who delivered his report. Briefly put, 12 Grimmauld Place was destroyed. There were interesting things in some of the rooms which were impounded and were now under study in other Black abodes.

Strangely intriguing was a device functioning like a pensieve that would store imagery, daydreams and reveries to be studied later. What was interesting was that this device was apparently attuned to find the true loyalties of people, whether to Harry Potter or to Dumbledore. In case the results were worrisome to Albus, the device rang an alarm.

HRHRHRHRHRHRHRHRHRHRH

The next day seemingly lasted forever, in Harry's opinion. The morning was cheerless when imprisoned on that cell, and around 11 AM, Harry felt smothered by negative energy, sad memories of his parents dying. It was cold and foreboding, the feeling enveloping him, and he supposed someone had brought Dementors to play with him.

However, the negative sensations disappeared soon, and Harry heard the thud of meat falling against meat. He heard a voice drawl menacingly, "How dare you! How dare you bring a Dementor here when it is not allowed? Kingsley, I will have you in Azkaban for this. Your vaunted Dumbles won't save you, as it won't save you from this: Crucio!"

Harry supposed he should be angry on behalf of Shacklebolt's suffering Crucio under Malfoy, but he wasn't. The damned wizard had brought a Dementor just to see Harry cower because of it. He'd always been standoffish with him, and he took Dumbledore's side. Kingsley didn't even raise an eyebrow at his sudden fall from grace. He just wished he could see good ole Shacklebolt writhing under the curse.

Strangely enough, that incident, which was supposed to sink him into despair, served to make him more self-aware. Perhaps there was more to Malfoy than what he had always believed. He realized that ever since he had appeared in the Wizarding World he had always looked at things through the Dumbledore perspective, from Hagrid's comment that all dark wizards came from Slytherin, which turned out to be laughably false, to his sudden friendship with Ron, and his anti-Slytherin bias which was undertaken by Harry.

If Harry had had more gumption and street smarts, he would have realized that he was in an excellent position to be a bridge between the houses. No one would dare dispute his role, being the Boy who lived. Instead he let the headmaster take every important decision in his life, and speedily did his bidding, no questions asked.

Eventually, after some thin gruel, Harry was taken to the trial chamber. He entered to find a plenary session of the Wizengamot. He had to sit in the Chair of the Accused, and a cumbersome chain was put around his legs. Two long tables were filled with faux-friends, including Ron and Hermione, Harry was chagrined to note.

Dumbledore started the proceedings as head of the Wizengamot, just when the damnable cheater was getting to the interesting parts, he was interrupted by a loud cough coming from Draco Malfoy. The blonde looked insultingly at Ron and Hermione and said, "Weasel and Mudblood, how romantic!"

Harry was watching Ron when this happened and he noticed how his eyes twinkled and shined more, he surreptitiously looked at Harry and Hermione and took out his wand, advancing menacingly on Malfoy. Only Harry knew intimately Ron's and Malfoy's wands and this one was Malfoy's, he would bet good money on it. Also there was a scripted quality to their insults, as if they were playing to an audience.

Ron jostled and pushed Draco so that he fell to the floor in front of Harry. Harry was speechless when he felt in his hand a wand, a furry wand which he sensed it was his own. Malfoy muttered, "Take care, it's invisible now."

Harry briefly considered the idea he was suffering under hallucinations due to the Dementor's presence, but then he continued to caress his new wand, so different from the smooth polish it used to have. Whatever happened, he was in a better position armed with it.

Malfoy stood up and walked away, the Ron-Draco confrontation had been so brilliantly played that no one noticed that Draco now had a wand. They all had been carried away by the intensity of the words, the abruptness of the tone and the rude behavior of the boys which agreed completely with their mental images of the duo.

Draco directed himself to Dumbledore, "If it pleases the Wizengamot, we the Privy Councilors demand to be recognized."

Dumbledore thundered, "The Wizengamot will never recognize you as such, young Malfoy. I don't know what tale you are selling, but we are not buying."

Draco took out an official-looking newspaper from his pocket, he said, "I have here today's edition of the Ministry News. It's the official paper of the government and everything printed on it is approved and becomes law by the mere fact that it appears there. This issue has the appointment of the following individuals to the Wizengamot as Privy Councilors:

Draco Malfoy, Lord Malfoy

Blaise Zabini, Lord Zabini

Pansy Parkinson, Lady Parkinson

Neville Longbottom, Lord Longbottom

Luna Lovegood, Lady Ravenclaw

Harry Potter, Lord Potter

"The paper also publishes the results of a vote taken to recognize us, we won by 345 votes, which coincidentally, is the same number of votes with which you've won your Goat-lover's bill. Congratulation on a good deed to ruminants everywhere, Goatmaster!"

"One little detail, we have inherited our positions in the Wizengamot, so we do not need petitessen like votes to confirm what is ours. We will decide the fate of one of our own!"

"Now please remove the chains from Lord Potter and allow him to sit with us."

Dumbledore replied, "No, I can't allow this!"

Draco replied, "If you don't, I will invoke Lex majoris, which will make piecemeal of whatever defenses you think you have. You cannot treat a Privy councilor like you have treated Lord Potter!"

Dumbledore visibly reined in his temper. He knew that spell; it would turn the tables and treat the rest of the Wizengamot as they were treating Harry. Better to roll with it for now and watch like a hawk Harry's trial. After all, he was guilty, and it would inevitably come out so in the Veritaserum session.

Dumbledore frowned and directed that Harry's chains be removed. Thereupon, flanked by Luna and Neville, he made his way to a regal table conjured by Draco near the left edge of the Wizengamot. The Privy Councilors sat down and prepared to treat business.

Draco took out his wand and swished it and flicked it with verve. Presently a silver bubble surrounded them, they could still see the outlines of the people outside, but neither their voices nor anything else intruded in their calm atmosphere.

Draco explained, "I have cast a spell and used the Malfoy time-turner to keep us nearly suspended in time. For us an hour will pass, while to the people outside it will seem like half a minute. We can speak freely because we can see the main enemies, and they were completely surprised by developments. At any rate, I urge you to cast wards to ensure the sanctity of our communications to your own content."

Harry took out his invisible wand and flicked and swished it energetically with great panache which was diminished a little by the fact that the wand was invisible. He cast strong privacy wards taught to him by Sirius.

Spills and planning - part 1