Chapter 365: Wizengamot Shock
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The link is also in the synopsis.
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Like many magical household buildings owned by old pureblood families, the Crouch House was situated in the countryside, away from the nearest non-magical villages: built on privately owned vast lands by those families, keeping them away from what they deemed unwanted.
Voldemort stared outside at the property's front yard from one of the windows, which had twin gardens on the sides of a paved footpath that stretched from the manor's doors and the estate's gate. When he had arrived at the estate, the gardens were lush with vibrant flowers and rich grass spread, well-maintained thanks to the house-elf whose name he couldn't bother to ask, but now, the same garden had wilted away after the caretaker's death.
The door behind him creaked open, but he didn't look away from the window. "Is everything ready, Augustus?" he asked.
"Yes, My Lord," said Augustus Rockwood. "The preparations are done; the teams are ready to move at your order."
Voldemort hummed. "Have you prepared well for today, Rockwood? Your role is going to be very important today. You might end up meeting old friends."
"Please be assured. My old friends won't be creating a problem today. Most of them don't know how to wield a wand in a duel. The ones who do know, I'm ready to handle them."
Unspeakables in the Department of Mysteries, to be put crudely, were researchers who spent most of their time in labs, hunched over their research. While the Unspeakables were making substantial discoveries in magic, many of them weren't proficient in dueling. However, there was a section of Unspeakables that researched dueling arts, and those Unspeakables were one of the real dangers inside the Ministry. After all, Augustus Rockwood was one of the Unspeakables who studied the dueling domain focused on weaponizing magic.
"Did you know I was asked to join the Department of Mysteries when I was young?" said Voldemort. Rockwood wasn't surprised, given he knew how Unspeakables recruited, but he was highly intrigued by the image of the Dark Lord being asked to join the Unspeakables or even possibly working in the gallows of the Department of Mysteries. Voldemort continued, "I refused them that day. I wanted to travel and learn magic instead of being stuck in a cubicle doing mundane tasks so that my supposed superiors could focus on their research, or worse, waste their and, especially my time, doing nothing."
Rookwood knew what Voldemort was talking about. He had done his share of grunt work before being able to focus on his choice of research. And he couldn't even imagine Voldemort doing the same grunt work.
"When does the Wizengamot session start?" asked Voldemort.
"In about an hour, My Lord," replied Rockwood.
"The bill for the usage of lethal action against my Death Eaters," said Voldemort, quoting the topic of the Wizengamot discussion. "I still remember you telling how many problems it had caused our tropes the last time around. I should've killed Bartemius Senior before he caused those pesky problems. I made the mistake of not doing so last time. But this time. . . this time let us make them aware of what they are about to face."
"If I may speak something, My Lord."
Voldemort hummed, which Rockwood took as a signal to continue.
"If we proceed with this, then wouldn't that sway the vote in favor of the implementation of lethal action. . . that would create problems, especially with Robards and Scrimgeour leading the current DMLE. Even Bones has her origin in the DMLE; she would be more perceptible to suggestions against us."
"How do you think the vote would go if we don't proceed today?" asked Voldemort.
"According to what Rivers have gathered, the bill is going to pass today," Rockwood said. Rivers Lock, the resident Spymaster, had felt around the Ministry using his network of Novellus Accionites and had concluded that today was going to be passed. ". . . He also said there are rumors of George West endorsing the bill."
"Then you should realize that whatever we do today isn't going to make a difference. And if there isn't going to be any difference, why not make the best out of the situation," Voldemort turned to Rockwood and continued, "Gather everyone; I'll address them before we leave. If everyone else wants war, let us give them one."
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"If everyone could take their seats, we can get started with this meeting," said Dumbledore, the Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot.
He roamed his eye over the circular room, looking at those who had inherited their family seats, those who had been elected, and those who had received them as part of their Ministerial designations. He looked at those people divided into the three major factions— Dark, Light, and Grey— and one minor faction of the Minister's circle.
Dumbledore's eyes stayed with the Minister's circle. It wasn't common in the Wizengamot and the British Isles political scene that the Ministers had their own faction. Almost every time, the Minister was backed by one or two major factions, representing part of the nation's populace. The last Minister, Cornelius Fudge, was first supported by the Light faction in his first term and the Dark Faction in his second. But Amelia Bones was an outlier in the way that she didn't belong to any of the factions— she had support from parts of both Light and Grey factions but didn't exclusively support either. Her true influence came from her work and tenure in the DMLE. She had been so competent and done such good work during a period when DMLE was having trouble finding applicants who passed the Auror and Hit Wizard standards, keeping the reputations of her department so clean and successful that her approval ratings had been off the roof with the populace even without the explicit support of any political factions.
"Ahem," Dumbledore cleared her throat, "members of Wizengamot, today we have gathered here to discuss a bill proposed by Minister Bones in conjunction with the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. I'm sure all the concerned individuals already have a copy of the draft and have had the time to go through them to gain an understanding of what it entails. Now, I would give the floor to Head of DMLE Rufus Scrimgeour to place the bill in front of the Wizengamot."
Amidst the buzzing chatter, footsteps echoed as Scrimgeour walked to the room's well. All eyes followed the man who looked poised; one look at the man, one could tell that this was what an Auror was supposed to be. Scrimgeour walked to the table in the center and placed some documents in the middle, and the man took his time to set up as if the other didn't exist.
"Members of Wizengamot," he started, "today we have gathered here to discuss a solution to the problem that ails our country and every person that lives within it," he turned to the Dark faction as he said the last part. "It's not a secret that the Dark Lord," he said, and the people straightened up, "and his Death Eaters have risen again. They have gotten back to their terrorizing ways of the war days. In the past few months, DMLE has apprehended many Death Eaters, who have been sentenced to Azkaban, but not a single time have the Death Eaters not tried to rescue their compatriots— going as far as to attack Auror guards escorting the prisoners. There have been many more incidents in which the DMLE suspects were caused by the Death Eaters. And, just recently, the Death Eaters directly attacked the Ministry itself by sending an explosive to the Ministry that everyone knows caused much damage. In that one incident, they not only threatened everyone's lives in the headquarters and so many important documents but also risked breaking the International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy, which would've not only endangered the lives of wizardkind in our country but worldwide."
When the population of one country found out about the magical population, then it was just a matter of time before the other countries would find out about it. It would spread like a pandemic, and the lives of so many people would be risked without them anything. It would bring judgment upon the magicals of the British Isles, and in those times of turmoil, no one would be willing to help them.
"So, on behalf of the Minister's Office and the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, I propose that lethal action be allowed against the Death Eaters. Like the last war, I propose that the Unforgiveables be allowed to be used against the Death Eaters, and if in a situation of concern, Aurors and Hit Wizards be allowed to execute the Death Eaters."
There was a heaviness in the air. A lot of chatter rose up within the room, making people.
Dumbledore raised his wand to the air and shot harmless explosions, making people quiet up. "If anyone wants to question Department Head Scrimgeour, please raise your hand," he said.
It seemed that a lot of people had questions as hands were raised from all the questions.
There was a reason why Dumbledore had stuck to the Chief Warlock position for such a long time without letting anyone have the chance to replace him. Chief Warlock was responsible for facilitating any discussion that happened in Wizengamot, and it was completely up to Dumbledore who he chose to give a chance to speak and in what order. For a big part, he got to decide how the discussion could go.
Right now, if he allowed someone from the Dark Faction first, the tone of the conversation would turn to one of an offensive questioning, trying to undermine the bill with the aim of scrapping the entire thing. But at the same time, if he handed it to the Grey Faction, Dumbledore was sure they would engage in a conversation supporting the bill, as discord at this scale was terrible for business.
And if he was to give a chance to the Light Faction. . . . Dumbledore glanced towards where the Light Faction sat with complicated looks in his eyes. Ever since he had revealed the truth about Harry's situation, he had lost the trust of some influential members of the faction, and with it, a lot of people who didn't know the truth but were followers of said influential people. He wasn't sure what would happen if he gave a chance by the Light Faction.
As he contemplated who to give a chance, a sudden tremor went through the room. It was so violent that many people shifted off their seats, and entire rows of chairs moved by several inches. Even Dumbledore had to grab onto his chair to not fall off because of the violent shaking.
Dumbledore even heard someone, presumably, an Auror, shout, "Again?!"
Dumbledore's eyes went straight to the Dark Faction members, and he started to scour the people looking for people who were acting strange. He noticed people who were acting strangely calm in this current situation, especially when there had been a similar incident very recently.
He clutched his wand and let the magic flow as the Legilimency mind magic shot through like an arrow from a taut bow, piercing through the embarrassingly weak defense of the people who acted strangely. Dumbledore started to rife through their memories, and that's when he found the reason behind the sudden shock.
He immediately stood up in shock and at once rushed towards the door out of the Wizengamot room. Before he exited, he spoke in a commanding voice,
"With me."
And even those who were at odds with Dumbledore knew he was serious and not to doubt his orders.
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Quinn West - MC - Me not here. It's been happening a lot.
Albus Dumbledore - Chief Warlock - Likes to be in influential positions.
FictionOnlyReader - Author - We are starting soon.
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Chapter 366: The Advent of War
If you want to read ahead, you can check out my Patreón @
[ https://www.patreón.com/fictiononlyreader ]
The link is also in the synopsis.
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Dumbledore rushed out of Wizengamot amidst people calling for him— some angry, others concerned, but he ignored those voices and hurried towards where he could hear explosions and shouting.
What he had seen inside the minds was mere a glimpse. Just a little conversation between people talking about the gossip they had heard from their peers in the Death Eater circle, But it was enough to send alarms blaring in his mind, and as the explosions got louder, the heavy feeling in the bottom of his heart started to become heavier by the second.
He could hear the footsteps of multiple people behind him. Among those, James Potter rushed to his side. "Dumbledore! What is happening?!" said the man he had been having a difficult time with.
"Death Eaters are attacking the ministry," said Dumbledore somberly.
"They're doing what?!" came another voice that Dumbledore identified as Sirius Black. "Why would they do that?!"
"Isn't it obvious," James scoffed. "Because of today's bill."
Dumbledore turned to glance back for a moment to glance at the number of people who had followed him out of Wizengamot. Many from the Light Faction, most of them from the Order of Phoenix, had followed him. And hearing the short exchange between them made his thoughts turn momentarily complicated. A substantial part of the Light Faction supported today's bill and wanted lethal action against the Death Eater. He himself didn't oppose such actions knowing it was the necessity of the war, but he also knew that many were awaiting these sanctions with zealous eyes. That worried him. He could foresee a near future where Aurors and Hit Wizard would actively start searching for encounters with Death Eaters to 'put them down,' and it was inevitable that some people would get injured and, worse, lose their lives in such pursuits. He was hesitant to let the bill pass in its current stage, which lacked some crucial, much-needed restrictions.
He could see the Robards and Scrimgeour tagging along at the back with an ensemble of Aurors following them. That itself worried him. If before, he could influence some restrictions, after this, there would be no chance he could make any suggestions that would protect unnecessary blood from being spilled. Good blood from being spilled.
"Dumbledore." He turned back and saw Scrimgeour had made his way to the front. "If you would be so kind as to share something with this lowly Head of DMLE, I would be eternally grateful to your greater personage."
"There's no need to be like that, Scrimgeour," said Dumbledore. "As you might've already expected, Death Eaters have attacked the Ministry."
"Like before?"
Dumbledore shook his head. "No, not like before. They have come in person this time." While he couldn't see it, Dumbledore knew that Scrimgeour was glaring daggers at him— he wasn't supposed to know anything about the Death Eater bomb incident.
"I hope you've already alerted all the Aurors and the Hit Wizards."
"I have called for backup," said Scrimgeour, but Dumbledore heard Scrimgeour speak something to an Auror beside him, who moved away from the group, ". . . is the situation really that severe?" finished Scrimgeour.
"It is. They're in the main atrium with innocent people in danger. They might. . . definitely must have taken hostages, so it is imperative that we proceed with caution."
"We will. I'll have a team of Aurors trained in hostage situations ready to be deployed. They'll ensure that the hostages make it out safe without giving the Death Eaters a chance to move a finger—"
"No, I'll handle it. Your people can come in after me."
Scrimgeour's eyes turned cold. "Dumbledore, don't overstep your bounds—"
"If it was any other situation, I would've not suggested something like this, but this is the best course of action in this situation."
"And why is that?"
"Because Voldemort himself out there."
Everyone who was following Dumbledore froze up as if every single one of them had been hit with a Body Bind Spell. All faltered to a pause and fell multiple steps behind Dumbledore, who didn't give them a look back.
"Some of you were there during the last war and know the danger of such situations where life and death are separated by a very fine line— a single mistake and everything could come to an end— but let me warn you. . . Voldemort had never shown his true powers in the last war, so whatever imaginations you have in your mind about his power, throw them out. . . and be ready for anything you think is possible with magic and then go beyond that."
He didn't want to place a fear inside their hearts, but it was necessary they knew what they were going against. It was better if they were cautious(even cowardly) than reckless.
"Let me handle Voldemort, but keep an eye open for stray attacks," warned Dumbledore as they reached the atrium. "Now, ladies and gentlemen, arm for your wands and prepare your magic. It's time to show that justice always prevails."
Dumbledore stepped into the atrium with the Elder Wand laying comfortably in his hand as if he was a part of his arm. He sucked in a short breath and felt thick foreign magic wash over him as if he had been dunked into a deep pool with viscous water. Dumbledore knew what exactly it was. He had been feeling it over ever since he had come into throwing distance of the source.
He looked towards the said source and found the familiar figure standing in black flowing robes. The pale skin, serpentine features, and red eyes were just like the last time he had seen them in the very atrium they stood.
Their eyes met, and two waves of magic erupted, one from each, and crashed into each other, sending tingles down the people's spines as their bodies sensed the dense presence of magic.
Dumbledore wasted no time and scoured the Ministry atrium. As he had expected, there were plenty of hostages within the Death Eater's grasp. Dumbledore, however, was expecting and had thus prepared. A large group of people were on the ground, huddled in groups with terror in their eyes. They had Death Eaters standing around with wands pointed over their heads. He could see men, women, children, and even the elderly in the crowd of frightened people.
Dumbledore raised his wand like an orchestra conductor and released a wide wave of magic that reached every single corner of the atrium. The magic spread fast and affected tens of Death Eaters, making them feel a shiver immediately followed by an intense heat that tortured every cell of their bodies.
"Now!" Dumbledore shouted an order to the people behind him, who had also seemingly frozen-stunned for a second by the showcase of power from Dumbledore. The Aurors and Order of Phoenix members moved under Dumbledore's command and launched an attack on the lagging Death Eaters.
"Play nice, Dumbledore." The inherently cold voice echoed in the atrium. "Why would you ignore me to play with others when I'm here?" Voldemort waved his wand, and the Death Eaters felt the harsh magic drain from their bodies. With nothing holding them back, they started their counter-attack on the Aurors they outnumbered.
Dumbledore didn't speak to Voldemort and again weaved magic. The Elder wand's tip glowed golden as multiple threads of magic flew out towards the groups of people and poured over protective domes to shield them away from becoming a victim of crossfire between the Death Eaters and the Aurors.
Protecting more than a hundred people on his own quickly and effectively was only achievable by another person than Dumbledore, and that person was present in the room and didn't have a single intention to ever raise his wand for the cause of good help.
Voldemort raised his wand towards the hostages nearest to him and shot a charged dark spell towards them with no mercy and did it without a hint of emotion on his face as if this was a norm in life: without a single shred of remorse on his face.
Dumbledore made his move and pumped a burst of magic into the dome that Voldemort targeted.
"Fool," Voldemort scoffed as he suddenly raised his wand towards Dumbledore and chanted: "Avada Kedavra!" The eerie green zap bolted toward Dumbledore with the only intention of taking away a life.
Dumbledore immediately dropped the other magic; instead, he raised a block of marble from the floor and protected himself against the sure-kill Killing curs.
Voldemort didn't seem bothered as he lowered his wand and again pointed it at another group of people. Dumbledore again charged the protective dome, and again Voldemort shot a spell when he saw that, and this time, Dumbledore was only able to react at the last second.
"These people here are your weakness, Dumbledore," Voldemort laughed. "And because they're your weakness, they're my strength."
"Don't be so overconfident, Tom," Dumbledore bit back. "Because from the last time we met, you were forced to leave in a not soon good condition. So be rest assured, it won't be changing from the last time."
Voldemort laughed coldly, and his voice reached everywhere, even above the loud exchange of spells. "Is that so. . . then let's test if that's true."
A dozen muddy dark spheres manifested over in the air, all strategically placed above the hostage groups.
Dumbledore's eyes shrunk when he felt the power behind Voldemort's magic. That was enough to pierce his shield and kill everyone in the vicinity, including Voldemort's own Death Eaters. Dumbledore immediately poured his magic into the protective domes as Voldemort dropped the spheres with a cruel smile on his face.
Dumbledore's entire focus shifted to protection. He could still survive this, but it was clear that if he didn't protect the hostage, there would be no blood spillage as everything would've vaporized.
*Boom!*
There was a loud explosion.
Everyone stopped and turned as the spheres vanished into nothingness. Their eyes were staring at Voldemort, who had his head bowed. The spheres didn't cause the explosion, but whatever did cause it had left behind a trail of smoke from Voldemort's defense.
Voldemort slowly turned his head towards his assailant and saw a familiar figure standing in total black from head to toe and had two threatening spells hovering in his eyes.
The Invisible Vigilante had arrived at the scene.
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FictionOnlyReader - Author - Sorry for the shorter chapter, but this was what I could think of for today. I left office at 10:30 PM today, so am really tired and now going to go nighty-night.
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If you have any ideas regarding the magic you want to see in this fiction or want to offer some ideas regarding the progression. Move onto the DISCORD Server and blast those ideas.
The link is in the synopsis!
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