Chapitre 32: A childhood aquaintance
As both of the parties and all of the jury presented, the old man, presumably Neal's maternal grandfather, Oakley Avery started his argument while Dumbledore who was representing Neal, as he was still an underage wizard countering while the Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge stood as the head Judge.
Although Dumbledore should be the one to sit in the head judge seat as he is the current Chief Warlock, since he's now representing a party, Cornelius has no choice but to be his replacement.
"No matter the reason, the boy should be handed over to our family according to the legal documents". Dumbledore replied, "but still since his mother has already been disowned by your family, he's no longer your grandson.
But yes, Leon Avery is still the guardian of the boy". Then the old man said, "He is the only left from the House of Slytherin. The House of Gaunt which was the other branch of Slytherin family inherited all their properties after they became extinct and squandered their wealth and now dead with nothing worth left.
Meanwhile, the wealth accumulated by Salazar Slytherin and his descendants were seized by Ministry after the Gaunts inherited their properties and no one knows what of their wealth had become even now.
Cornelius frowned, "get to the point, Mr. Avery. We don't have time to listen to stories and history". Oakley continued, "fine, I'll come directly to the point". He turned his head towards Neal and said, "we're the last blood relative he has in this world. Since my son was sentenced to life imprisonment, along with my brothers and their families, everything we owned can be inherited by him legally once you become an Adult.
I don't want my family's wealth to be seized by the Ministry and other related families after my death just like how it happened with the House of Slytherin and end up like the House of Gaunt who lived in a shack. Don't you all think he deserves to be inherit his rightful inheritance for his future? It's true that I have lost right as his grandfather. That's why if I don't take his custody, he can't receive the inheritance".
As the jury began to discuss with each other, Dumbledore said, "his parents saved for him enough amount of money to live happily until he dies. Not to mention, the survived House of Slytherin worked hard from scratch in America and they too have a few properties that Neal would inherit eventually when he becomes an adult.
So, I don't think wealth is the problem here". When the members in the jury were murmuring between themselves, Cornelius then said, "we've heard both of their arguments. Now let's hear Mr. Slytherin's view about it".
Neal stood up and replied, "I want to talk with Leon Avery, the murderer of my parents. Only after getting my answer from him, I can say my opinion". Cornelius replied, "only high ranked Ministry officials have the right to enter and visit prisoners in Azkaban".
Neal then said, "okay. I understand. Then I ask Mr. Oakley Avery that if he, really wants me to inherit his wealth, then why hadn't he claimed me all these years?
I heard that the Avery family denied the custody and there is no relationship between me and them when my parents died and I was left in an Orphanage. Is it because I was confirmed to be the heir to the Salazar Slytherin?".
The old man bitterly smiled and replied, "The ones who declined it in place of me were the ones who are serving in prison right now. The information about your mother having a son was kept away from me.
I only knew about your existence last year. Even to date I deeply regret the fact that I disowned your mother mistakenly believing she was a squib".
Neal replied while looking at Cornelius, "I will accept whatever the court will decide for me". Cornelius then spoke, "raise your hands if you think Mr. Slytherin should stay with the House of Avery". As the members raised their hands, Cornelius counted and frowned as the number reached 25.
Then Cornelius spoke, "raise your hands if you think Mr. Slytherin should not be in Avery family's custody". As this number reached 25 too, Cornelius started to feel a headache. Then he said, "Albus Dumbledore, Oakley Avery,
Please come to a compromise between yourselves or else I will pass the judgment that Mr. Slytherin will be under the custody of Ministry. Anyone agree with it, please raise your hands". As soon as he said that, 36 people raised their hands with amusement on their faces.
Dumbledore then said, "I will compromise and give you half of his custody until his 17th birthday. Until 14th birthday, he will be in his guardian's care which I appointed. The other three years will be under your family's custody".
After thinking for a while, Oakley accepted it and Cornelius passed the judgment.
The whole Britain wizarding world started to talk about it as the matter was published in the Daily Prophet.
Edward frowned when seeing the news, "Dumbledore is genius. Instead of just hiding him, he made Neal's heritage be known and brought Avery Family as a shield to protect him from Ilvermorny and possible unknown threats.
Everything else will depend on Neal's will power". Afterward, everything else went on just like before. Except for the letters from his friends who asked him about the issue, there isn't much that happened in his daily life.
Soon the summer vacation came to an end. Neal packed his luggage and went to the King's Cross station. He sat inside the train and after putting his luggage in a compartment, he went on and checked all the compartments to see whether Malfoy and the rest arrived or not.
Upon finding they didn't board yet, he returned to his compartment and continued to read "Bestiarium Magicum", a book from the medieval times on magical beasts which he got from the suitcase along with Notes.
Then suddenly, the door opened and a girl and a boy entered his view, "excuse me? Can we sit here? Everywhere else is full". Neal nodded, "sure". As both of them sat down after putting their luggage away.
The boy introduced himself with a bit of haughtiness, "hello, I'm Mervin Nott, pureblood of the sacred 28" and the girl introduced herself politely, "I'm Eve Hornette". Neal smiled at the pair, "Neal, a 2nd-year Slytherin student".
Upon hearing that he is a second-year Slytherin, Mervin reduced his haughtiness and added with a bit of respect while speaking. Neal then asked, "Mervin, how are you and Theodore related? Just from the same family or..."
He replied, "cousins. His dad and my father are brothers but we grew up together though. I guess you must know him. He was even ranked top 10 in academics". Neal thought, "well I only know his name though".
While the train is moving, Neal and Mervin were having a conversation, Eve, on the other hand, keep staring at him and contemplating something. After a while, Neal continued to read his book while Mervin went off to search for Theodore.
Then, Eve asked, "um, excuse me. You seem very familiar. Have we met before?". Neal stopped reading the book and looked at her, "I don't think I've ever seen you". Eve said, "ah! Really? But it's strange". As she kept mumbling and thinking about it, Neal ignored her and once again began to pay attention to his book.
But in the next second, he suddenly turned towards her in a surprise when she said, "are you from Galway?" He asked her in a surprise, "how did you know?".
Eve then replied, "yes, I knew it. Angels Orphanage, right? From the moment I saw you, I keep on thinking where I have seen you before. Now I remembered it. It's a great coincidence to meet you here".
Neal once again asked, "how do you know about me?". She then replied, "Didn't you remember me? It's Eve. You protected me a lot of times from a boy named Peter who used to bully me when I was 5 or 6.
We also played together a few times. I also grew up in the same Orphanage until I was 7 years old. My relatives found me and took me away four years ago. You even told me that you were happy for me that I still have family left".
Neal replied, "well, it's been a long time. So, I probably forgot about it". Eve then said, "by the way, earlier in the summer, I went to the orphanage to see Ms. Anne. But the people around said the orphanage is no longer there".
Neal then looked outside from the window and fell silent. Eve too didn't continue as she felt he doesn't want to talk about it. A while later, Mervin returned with Theodore who's nervous while looking at Neal.
Theodore spoke, "I hope he is not inconveniencing you". Neal replied, "No, he isn't. By the way, have you seen Draco, Daphne or Tracey?". Nott replied, "Not sure about the other two but I saw Draco with Crabbe and Goyle in one of the cabins in the fifth compartment".
As Neal nodded and went out of the cabin to see him, Theodore sighed in relief. Mervin who saw his behavior asked, "Theo, you are behaving strangely after hearing his name". Theodore replied, "you know nothing about him.
Only someone who saw the Dueling event will know who he, really is".
État de l’alimentation hebdomadaire
-- Classement
Power Stone 
-- Power
stone