Chapter 34: Board Meeting - part 2

Hogwarts Castle, Somewhere in the Scottish Highlands

November 23rd, 1992, 7:50 PM

It was ten minutes to the assigned time when the first invited participants arrived. Erik had already served some tea for him, Selena and Leona, and was now calmly sipping it. He didn't give any importance to the new arrival. The group that entered the room was composed of three men, one of them aparanted to have physically around fifty years, while the other two looked to be around their thirties. The three men looked at them and took their seats. Soon a second group arrived. Then the third. And when the fourth group entered the meeting room, it was time to start the meeting.

Erik stood up and looked around the room. His sudden movement attracted the attention of the other participants of the meeting that were having rushed talks between them.

"Ten out of twelve. Not bad for an urgent summons."

Erik says, getting the total attention of the other participants now.

"Good Evening, ladies and gentleman, and welcome to Hogwarts. Let's start this meeting, shall we?"

Erik spoke. One of the members of the Board, a very old looking man, chose that moment to talk.

"And who are you, who wants to start this Board of Governors meeting?"

The man spoke, full of himself. At that moment, they heard the sound of metal hitting stone, footsteps to be more precise, and turned to look at the door. They all saw Joan entering the meeting room, in her full armored glory, with sword in hands. She positioned herself by the doors' side and sheathed her sword, resting one hand over its pommel. As she assumed the position, the door of the meeting room moved alone, closing with a resounding bang.

*BANG*

"My name is Erik Ravenclaw, and I am Lord of Ravenclaw and of Hogwarts' castle. This seated lady by my side is my wife, Selena Ravenclaw, Lady of Ravenclaw and of Hogwarts' castle. Meaning, we are this school's owner. Does this answer your question of 'who am I'?"

Erik spoke using a silk-smooth tone that was not low or loud, but reached the ears of every member of the Board of Governors. The old wizard who had made the question was in silence after the answer, looking at Erik and Selena with wide eyes.

"Impossible, Hogwarts has no owner."

Said another member of the Board of Governors, a blonde man that looked to be in his thirties.

"Magic disagrees with you. The castle disagrees with you. The records of your Ministry disagrees with you. But if you are so certain of your claim, take your wand and try to use it against me."

Erik answered the blond man, again using his silk-smooth tone.

"But let me warn you, different from two days ago, the castle's wards were restored to their past glory and are working at full power."

Erim complimented, like he was daring the man to try anything. The blond man stood in his place and said nothing more. Erik took that as a signal that he was not going to do anything, and started to talk.

"Let's start with the reason that…"

"Wait, you can't start the meeting, Headmaster Dumbledore is not present."

Spoke an old looking woman, interrupting Erik mid sentence. Erik gave the woman a glare and flexed a little of his magic power, centring it around the members of the Board of Governors.

"Albus Dumbledore, since yesternight, is not the Headmaster of Hogwarts anymore. He got suspended by several breaches in the school's charter."

Erik spoke while glaring to the woman. The old lady was showing an ugly face. Erik couldn't say for sure if it was because of the pressure he was putting on them, or was because of his answer. But he noted that one of the members of the Board, the blond man from before, gave a half smirk after the news of Dumbledore's suspension. He then restarted what he was talking about before the interruption, taking back his magic power.

"Continuing what I was saying before being rudely interrupted, let's start with the reason that this meeting was called for: an audition of the school's accounts."

Erik made a small pause to observe the shift on the faces of the participants of the meeting.

"This morning, after solving the main problem of why I was summoned to the castle, I took some time to look in the school's accounting book. You can't believe how much I was surprised when I noticed that the school was functioning basically almost in the red every year for the last a hundred and fifty years. So I dug into the motive behind it. And what I found was an enormous expense that should not exist. Twelve monthly payments where each one amounts to the triple that a Professor with Mastery should receive were being made. What really got into my gears was who were the ones receiving them: the members of the schools Board of Governors."

Erik made a small pause and looked at the face of every member of said Board. They were showing shifty behaviours, and Erik released his magic power again, centering it on them.

"Now, would you like to answer me why, in the bloody hell, are you, effers, robbing the school's funds when by the school's charters, when you all accepted this position you agreed that it was a volunteer job?"

Erik spoke, and amped up the weight of his magic power. The members of the Board of Governors were all cold sweating and looking at Erik with faces full of fear. The pressure around them was enormous and they could see the waves of magic power emanating from Erik. After a minute with nobody trying to say anything, Erik reigned back his magic power, releasing the pressure over the members of the Board of Governors. All of them took in deep gulps of fresh air after the pressure was gone. Erik continued talking.

"That's what I imagined. You effers have no excuses. Just a bunch of greedy bastards."

Erik spoke, changing his tone to one of extreme disgust.

"Let's finish this. I, Lord Erik Ravenclaw, in accordance with the Hogwarts Charts, kick out all members of the Board of Governors from your positions as members of the Board of Governors of the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and together with it all the privileges that come, for breach of the chart. So I say, so mote it be."

Erik spoke, changing his tone to an authoritative one. The people in the room, with the exception of Erik's wives, were looking at him in horror. They didn't know what had changed, but they felt something changing inside them as Erik announced their eviction from the Board of Governors.

"Also, by the same powers granted by me, I, Lord Erik Ravenclaw, hereby disband the body known as the Board of Governors of the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, So I say, so mote it be."

Erik spoke again, hereby disbanding the Board of Governors. He let out a sigh and said.

*sigh*

"The values that you received while being a member of the Board will be all calculated and corrected by the goblins and the amount will be returned back to the school. This meeting is finished. You have exactly ten minutes to remove yourselves from the school's grounds before the wards stop recognizing you all as guests."

Erik said and turned to Selena.

"Anything more that you want to add, my Lady?"

Selena shook her head and said.

"No, my Lord, I think that you already drove the message of how disgusting their actions are. Robbing the funds and harming the education of the entirety of the British Isles for more than a century…"

Selena made a pause and stood from her seat. She had spoken with a disgusted weight in her voice, but changed it to a mischievous tone for her next phrase.

"... I can just imagine the reaction of the people when they got the knowledge that the body responsible for overseeing the school was robbing it blind of its funds and effing with their childrens' education."

Selena spoke and walked slowly to the doors of the meeting room, which opened on itself for her passage. Leona soon followed Selena, and she looked like she was holding herself from laughing. Erik followed after his two wives and exited the meeting room. Joan stood in her place for a moment more, caressing the pommel of her sheathed sword and with a face that the people still inside the room could swear that said 'come on, draw your wands, I want to use my sword'. When they did nothing beyond stupidly looking at her and the door, trying to process what had just happened, Joan made a sound by clicking her tongue, and walked out of the meeting room, but letting a piece of word for them.

*tsk*

"Nine minutes~"

Erik waited for Joan to reach them in the corridor, and as she did, the group heard someone cursing loudly, followed by a crack and bang sounds.

*crack-bang*

Joan turned back to look at the door of the meeting room and raised an eyebrow at the sound. Leona and Selena giggled at that and Erik let out a chuckle.

"It seems that someone couldn't hold back and try to curse another."

Erik looked at his wrist watch and added.

"Twenty minutes of meeting. That must have broken some record."

He spoke, and started to walk again, accompanied by his wives.

"I think I will visit Azazel to take care of our problem with the diadem. Selena, would you please prepare a press release in the name of the school?"

Erik spoke while they walked and stopped when they arrived in the Great Staircase.

"Sure, Erik. I will write one before helping in the library. What kind of information do you want me to release?"

"Enough information to rally the readers to our side and to dig a deep grave to those that targeted the school. You know the drill."

Selena asked and Erik replied. He then gave a quick kiss to each of his wives and walked to the Great Hall. The girls then walked in the direction of the library.

As Erik passed by the Great Hall and exited it by the main entrance that led to the outside of the castle, he met with Hagrid, who was waiting by the big double doors.

"Hey Hagrid, what are you still doing here?"

Erik asked, not really in any reproving tone, and more in a curious one. Hagrid, who was looking in the direction of the ground's gates, turned back and answered after seeing that it was Erik who had asked.

"Good evening, Lord Ravenclaw. I was waiting to see if we had any more visitors, but I have just witnessed the most amazing vision that I could have ever had. I saw Lucius Malfoy being bounced by the school's wards and being dropped on his behind in front of the ground's gates."

Hagrid explained, not managing to hide a smile behind his thick beard.

"I imagine that should have been an amazing vision indeed."

Erik spoke, chuckling a little.

"The meeting is over, Hagrid, the Board of Governors was disbanded. The ex-members of it have less than eight minutes to leave the grounds of the castle. Mr. Malfoy must have been the one that we heard after we had exited the meeting room. He must have tried to cast some curse and the castle's wards didn't see that with good 'eyes' and forcefully removed him from the castle's premises."

Erik explained. Hagrid gave a smile at hearing the news that the Board of Governors was disbanded. Erik walked a little distance from where Hagrid was standing and stopped. He then turned to Hagrid as a blue magic circle with a raven in its center appeared under him.

"I have to visit a friend now, Hagrid. Have a good night."

Erik spoke to Hagrid, who looked at the circle with immense curiosity.

"Have a good night, Lord Ravenclaw."

Hagrid replied and Erik disappeared in a flash of light together with the magic circle.

Grigori Headquarters, Somewhere in the Underworld

November 23rd, 1992, 8:25 PM - British Time

In the front of an enormous building surrounded by desolated lands with very sparse trees and covered by a purple sky, a blue magic circle with a raven in its center appeared brightening the night. The magic circle shined for a few seconds before a man materialized in its center, making it start to fade out. Erik took a deep breath and looked at the building gates that had a big plaque that read 'GRIGORI'.

"Yep… The underworld still smells bad."

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