章 136: Chapter 136: Earshot
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I would like to thank my beta, Akisu, for his help in this chapter.
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2 July 1993, Ministry of Magic, London
Arcturus' words were supposed to be comforting. They were supposed to be relaxing. And honestly, even if the ministry decided to send him back to the Dursleys, Harry would have been able to handle it. It was hard to force two unwilling participants into doing something.
The entire thing was spearheaded by Dumbledore, who abused one of his powers as headmaster to essentially send a complaint to the Department of Magical Law Enforcement and Department of Magical Children's Welfare, that Harry had an abusive home life. He then abused his position as the chief Warlock to approve the protest and set up a hearing to remove Arcturus' guardianship over him.
It looked like a desperate move from the headmaster's side, in an attempt to gain control over Harry. As a backup as a Child of the Prophecy, he was still valuable, and his talent in the magical arts made him one to watch. Dumbledore wasn't one to let go of potential pawns so easily.
Harry only needed to get Dumbledore on the back foot. It wasn't easy, but the last Potter had studied the man extensively and knew how to make him tick.
But Umbridge's presence changed things, and he didn't know if it was for the better or not. If Dumbledore made a deal with Fudge, she could be helping him. If they didn't, then Umbridge would probably be on Harry's side, for the most part. Her dislike of Dumbledore is pretty well known, after all.
The Black Patriarch and his wards walked through the atrium, near the frankly distasteful golden fountain, where a Centaur, a Goblin and a House Elf were looking up adoringly at a wizard and a witch. No wonder the Goblins hated dealing with wizards if that's what they thought of their race.
They descended to the second floor, where the Department of Magical Law Enforcement was located. Harry gave his guardian a questioning look, to which he answered, "They need a courtroom for the hearing, and this is the only floor that has them, at least if you're not being convicted with a potential Azkaban sentence, that is. Those rooms are designed for violent criminals in mind, not some guardianship hearing."
Harry nodded even if he didn't understand why they needed a courtroom for a guardianship hearing of all things. Still, he wasn't really familiar with the bureaucracies of the Ministry of Magic.
They walked in a wide corridor. If he had to describe it, it would be weird. Even to his Arcane Hearing, it was mostly just gibberish of hundreds of melodies. Doors appeared out of nowhere for people to enter and leave, which added their own melody the moment they were opened. It was some kind of intent memory enchantment that worked on employees only.
Any intruder would be lost easily, and enter random rooms with the correct access, which was why visitors needed to be escorted.
By the end of the corridor, the entire place stabilized, at least magically. It seemed like it was forced this way since this was a public hearing and anyone could theoretically watch it. At the end was a single door, which had a large golden plaque, carved into it was the name 'Courtroom Three, Attendant's Entrance'.
The Black Patriarch gave him a small smile, "This is it. Wait here for a couple of minutes before you go in. We're already early so that gives them a good impression of your character and maturity. Remember, the more mature you act, the more your opinions will be taken seriously. We'll be going through different entrances. Just take a deep breath and relax. Everything is going to be fine."
He then disappeared in some door that came out of nowhere. Seriously, Harry had to have a look at the enchantments. Did it decide somehow on the purpose of every visitor and act accordingly? Did everyone see the corridor differently, because Harry didn't even know there was another door?
After a few minutes, Harry opened the door and entered the courtroom. He was surprised by the turn-up. He expected a maximum of ten people, he was met with almost four times that amount. He recognized multiple department heads, including Barty Crouch, Arthur Weasley, and a few members of the Wizengamot, specifically Augusta Longbottom, Tiberius McLaggen, the Nott Patriarch whose first name he didn't really remember, and a person that was probably the Shafiq Patriarch.
Perhaps people were really curious about Arcturus Black's first return to the political scene and wanted to see what it was about. The fact that he was going against Dumbledore of all people spiced things up.
Or maybe they just wanted to see the guardianship of the last member of an old family like the Potters.
In the middle of the courtroom, three long chairs and desks were occupied by the probably three judges. The only man was sitting at the desk on Harry's right. It was probably Rufus Scrimgeour, who was busy writing on a piece of parchment. On the left was a blonde woman who was smiling warmly at Harry. She seemed nice. He presumed that this was Selene Avery.
However, the moment Harry saw the woman sitting in the middle, he didn't care about the fact that the desk was pink for some reason, or that this was a hearing in the middle of the Wizengamot. No, the first thought he had was 'She really does look like a toad!'
Her squat, round face seemed to blend seamlessly with her prim, pink attire, and a gaudy, bow-shaped brooch adorned her high-collared blouse. Her small, beady eyes darted around the courtroom, and her tight, disapproving smile made her resemblance to a toad even more uncanny. Harry couldn't help but wonder how anyone could ever take her seriously enough for her to rise to a position of authority within the Ministry of Magic.
Still, all of this stayed firmly in Harry's head. It wasn't smart to antagonize one of the judges in the hearing. When the woman's eyes found Harry, he suppressed the urge to shudder at her fake sweet smile, "Hem Hem. Harry Potter, of the Potter family, Welcome to the ministry. Take a seat in front of us and we'll start your guardianship hearing shortly."
By all that is holy, even her voice grated his nerves. He stifled the urge to grimace and nodded at her, "Thank you, Madam Umbridge."
Harry turned and saw Arcturus on his right, in a separate partition altogether. He didn't really smile but gave his ward an approving nod. The Last Potter shrugged and decided to observe the judges. After all, everyone had pressure points and buttons to press to get a certain reaction. Finding out those belonging to the people who might affect his future was generally a good idea.
He started with Rufus Scrimgeour. The man didn't bother acknowledging Harry's existence. He was the Head of the Auror Office and was probably a bit overqualified for something like this hearing. With the presence of a serial killer and the destruction of Azkaban, he was probably better off doing something more productive with his time, something that he obviously didn't mind sharing with his attitude.
As smart as Harry was, he was also cheating slightly. His Arcane Hearing could give him impressions of people's personalities. Everyone's magic had a song, which is often very indicative of their nature. Rufus Scrimgeour was strong magically, but his song radiated frustration and ambition. It was rigorous but with an undertone of a restrained storm, like a crescendo, ready to erupt.
Harry knew that the man wasn't a Dumbledore supporter, but he was still pretty zealous and by the rules when it came to legal matters. He was probably an easy vote in Harry's favour if he turned things on Dumbledore. His pressure points were very easy to see. He might be a competent Auror, but he didn't have the patience of a politician, which was probably why he wasn't going to be promoted to the head of the DMLE anytime soon.
He was also a smoker, from the small burn marks on his robes, probably to deal with the stress of his position. He was easy to anger, considering his gritted teeth at Umbridge's voice. He definitely didn't like her, but he knew that Fudge would support her over him every single time, so he held his tongue. His pressure point is very easy to push, just remind him that his hands are tied by politics, and he would probably lose control of his simmering rage.
Curious, very curious indeed.
The woman on the right was Selene Avery. She was a widow. It was evident from the necklace she was wearing, which had a wedding ring on it. So, dead husband. No, it was more than that. She gave Arcturus an envious look every once in a while, and her eyes always looked pained whenever she looked at Harry. So, not just a dead husband, but a dead child. Taking her age into consideration, they probably died during the last war, but that was a stretch.
Her song supported this theory, a mixture of grief, envy and anger. But this was overwhelmed by the sheer sadness that always seemed in the background, no matter what she thought.
So, she had no children of her own, and as a grieving mechanism, she dedicated herself to protecting the ones that she could. Not a bad woman, all things considered, but that was just a preliminary analysis of her character. But she was still the head of a department in the ministry, and that meant that she either used her family's political power to help her, or she just fought her way up. It was probably a mix of the two since being the head of a department meant that she had to deal with the ministry politics on a daily basis.
Her pressure points are evident. A child being hurt, and families being broken, which Harry could press on them by stating that he was basically abandoned when he was left in the hands of the Dursleys.
Now, onto the last one, and the most problematic one. Dolores Umbridge. She was the Undersecretary to the minister, and that gave her every bit of the power she craved. Her looks and attire are meant to be satiric, but they also point to unresolved issues from when she was a child. She was probably mocked because of her appearance, and so, she decided to be powerful enough that no one would dare mock her. She doesn't have any taste, but she also doesn't have a single hair out of place. Her desk was too immaculate, and she looked at the large clock in front of her every twenty seconds which suggests an obsession with order and that she wouldn't start the hearing before it was the exact time.
She was very collected, but Harry knew otherwise. Her song was happy. She relished the power she had over Harry's future. In fact, she is so inwardly proud of herself for being in a position to settle a grudge between the Black Patriarch and Albus Dumbledore, as well as decide the fate of a scion of an old family.
She might outwardly look somewhat harmless, but that was just a persona. Dolores Umbridge was manipulative, and smarter than she portrayed herself as, but she was on the lower side when it came to raw magical power and magical knowledge. She liked having people underestimate her, and then progressively start to fear her. She blackmailed most of her competition when it came to promotions and wasn't above doing anything to gain more power. She wasn't pretty enough to sleep her way to the top, nor did she have a powerful family to rely on. This meant that she fought tooth and nail, and used every dirty trick she could use, to climb her way to the top.
Her vendetta against werewolves meant that she was probably attacked by one or lost someone to a werewolf attack. It was too much hatred for something as mundane as casual racism. She probably waited for years to pass that bill and that meant that she was vindictive and very patient.
Her triggers are complicated. Her obvious intolerance to disobeying the rules of the ministry could be pressed, but it would be a bad idea in the long run to piss her off. She was definitely one to hold a grudge.
Harry stiffened when he heard a bell ring. He thought it might be some kind of spell, but it turned out to be just an enchantment on Umbridge's clock. He looked around and noticed that Dumbledore had taken a seat on the opposite side of Arcturus. He was obviously glaring at Harry's guardian.
The toad woman hit the wood before her with the traditional judge's gavel, "Hem hem. Nine o'clock, the audience for the guardianship of Harry Potter is now in session."
Well, might as well get this over with. He could only hope that the odds would be in his favour.
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I tend to upload drafts of early chapters on there to get people's opinions of them so you can read up to 20 chapters ahead as a bonus.
Thank you guys for your support in these hard times.
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