26 Chapter 26 - Revealing the darkest of secrets

Having once more ended the cacophony of voices, Dumbledore urged Ash to explain, despite his own suspicions on the matter.

"Lord Starkey, please explain your reasoning. This is quite the serious allegation," Dumbledore ordered with proper decorum as he cast a wary glance at the sallow-skinned wizard behind Fudge, Broderick Bode.

The hierarchy of the Unspeakables was a highly guarded secret of the Ministry, even to Dumbledore. But he was quite sure that the old Unspeakable who had attended Hogwarts as his junior was quite high in this unknown ranking. Unspeakable Bode also looked to have the ear of the minister or vice versa. And, the man was currently staring daggers at Ash for his audicity.

"Sure, I doubt despite my vow many would believe me, so let's get to it," Ash jovially offered. He was excited to rip this veneer of 'proper politics' from this stagnant country. "As many of you know, my house's family magic grants keen insight into diagnostics. Frankly, it is what makes us such outstanding scholars."

Many of the darker families scoffed disdainfully at that. What good is being a scholar without political power? Well, they were about to find out.

"Now, during one of the many attacks of recent... 'alleged', 'former', and 'reformed' Death Eaters, an arm with a dark mark had mysteriously found its way into my possession. There were so many attackers, please believe me when I say I didn't know whose arm it was so I couldn't give it back," Ash began to explain, happy to actually be unsure whose arm it was so he wasn't caught in a lie and lose his magic.

"With the earlier mentioned family magic and access to two of the biggest libraries of Magical Britain, thanks to Lord Black and Hogwarts, we - meaning Lord Black, Lady Lovegood, and I - were able to find out what the dark mark really is. A slaver's mark. A very advanced slaver's mark with many different functions, though those functions don't take away from its essence."

Many of the darker families clenched their jaws or shot murderous glares at Ash, but he simply shrugged that off and continued. Some tried talking over him, but the magic of the hall stopped their voices from interrupting him too badly. Ash simply talked over them.

"As such, it grants the master branding his slaves the ability to locate them even behind privacy wards, to torture his marked from afar, to rip memories from their minds, and to a certain extent it allows for constantly instilling loyalty into marked indivuals - even the unwilling. Unless of course you have tremendous achievements in Occlumency. That means the lords Malfoy, Crabbe, Goyle, Selwyn, Macnair,... I won't bore you with the rest," Ash waved off with a grin after purposefully dragging their names through the mud. "All these esteemed lords have been left 'suffering' being branded as slaves by the ministry! We all know that these esteemed lords have rather poor aptitude for the mind arts since they were under the Imperius Curse for an entire war without being able to fight back. Such travesty!"

Many of the lords and ladies from the light faction furrowed their brows at the implications of what they just heard. His earlier claim that the Unspeakables had a traitor or were ordered by Death Eaters was already confirmed to be the truth in their minds.

How else could the ministry allow such a thing to still be branded on 'innocent individuals'? Trying to explain it by saying the Unspeakables never looked into the mark or, worse yet, found less than a teen fresh out of Hogwarts was even more ludicrous.

The lords who got off by pleading the infamous 'Imperius Defense' were boiling with rage, but they thought it wise to not say anything lest they prove some kind of point Ash was trying to make by bringing their allegiance into question.

"We'll skip over the part where the mark of a slaver would usually disappear upon the death of the master, meaning that Voldemort might still be alive in one form or another, and let's get to the meat of it. How come the Unspeakables wouldn't free almost a quarter of this esteemed body of the government from being slaves as its number one priority? They should have found ways to undo this mark a month after the supposed death of this dark lord! Instead, over a decade later, all these poor lords and ladies are still slaves that could be commanded and taken advantage of at the whims of even the most feeble specter of their former master!"

Many people were clamoring in the Wizengamot, and the Unspeakable Bode stopped glaring at Ash and instead looked with narrowed eyes towards Fudge, Crouch Senior, and Umbridge.

The expressions of the heads of dark families of known 'exonerated' Death Eaters that were 'under the Imperius' had especially ugly expressions on their faces. No matter how much they believed in their cause, being called a slave by a brat and having him prove it in such a grand hearing was unbearable. Now they wished they had spoken up earlier.

"Now now, you may address this issue at a later time, I will only be here for this single session, so I must make the most of it!"

The magicals stopped their wild discussions and looked towards Ash. Many had half a mind to curse him off the proverbial stage he was on, but the magic of the Wizengamot room wouldn't allow a magical confrontation with a session called. These halls were enchanted by Merlin himself for the Wizarding Council, the Wizengamot's predecessor, after all.

"Onto my next point, I accuse all eleven governors of the Hogwarts' Board of Governors of purposefully sabotaging the education of magicals on the British Isles! My first point as evidence of this fact is that I know that they have received at minimum eleven student petitions to remove Professor Cuthbert Binns from his position as teacher for the history course that they all but blocked and ignored in the name of... well, frankly, they didn't give us a reason. I should know, I spearheaded six of those petitions during my time as a student," Ash explained. "I know of no student, past and present, that enjoys his classes. I respect Professor Binns for his academic accomplishments and dedication, but he should be given a rest after dying over a century ago."

A brief pause ensued where the lords and ladies of all factions looked to one another in wondernment. Sirius and Ash started with such grand accusations, and then he switched over to bemoaning the fate of a boring class?

"You may argue the governors had great reasons, like saving money or some such drivel, but make no mistake that even a NEWTs grading of Outstanding gained in History from Hogwarts will make you a laughing stock in the rest of the magical world. I should know, I actually travel outside these borders and received such a grade," Ash offered as explanation while shooting glares at the six governors that were present - even Augusta Longbottom, who had the decency to look annoyed and a little miffed.

In everything else, Ash had a rather positive relationship with the matron of House Longbottom as she and her family had a hand in the market for magical creature parts for potions and other needs. Their relationship might strain or break after this hearing, but education was his sore spot, and he won't back down now that he was given this platform.

"This is just one point in their disfavor, so let's continue. The governors have ignored at the very least fourty seven petitions to replace the current brooms available at Madam Hooch's course of Broom Flying lessons. Fourty-seven! Madam Hooch showed me every single application! Anyone who graduated after the 1960s should know that these brooms are a major health hazard to our children, yet the governors deflect this issue - even after one of their grandchildren almost died in his first lesson."

Now, Madame Longbottom finally looked actually guilty. She had tried to reason with the other governors that year but finally gave up since her Neville would no longer have to fly on those brooms after the first year.

"For number three on my list of accusations, we have six refusals to rename the course of Defense Against the Dark Arts to something else. Again, no reason was given, I should know because I raised this particular concern," Ash continued, now openly glaring at Dumbledore, who lifted an eyebrow.

"For reasons unknown to me, the British Wizarding society simply accepts the fact that for over three decades, the position of DADA professor is seemingly cursed at their premiere magical school where they send their heirs. A course to teach students to fight curses is cursed! How you all simply take this humiliation while pretending to be proud of your noble heritage... I'd curse you all, but I don't want to accidentally maim any of you with mere words due to your poor education in DADA," Ash quipped with gritted teeth.

"To my knowledge, no curse breakers from Gringotts or other institutions have ever been called to investigate, and no other action to alleviate this issue had been taken," Ash openly mocked while realisation started to dawn on many faces. "The fact that not a single of those DADA professors managed to clear away the curse on their position is what vexes me the most in all honesty. I had high hopes that Professor Lupin could do it, and he might have - but in his defense, he had to actively fight dementors while trying to exonerate his wrongfully accused best friend."

Sirius grinned when he heard the last part. He, too, was sure that Remus 'Moony' Lupin would have tackled that issue if he hadn't escaped Azkaban and caused Moony and Harry such problems that school year. As students, the marauders had more than once boasted that they would become the DADA professors later on in life and clear the curse.

"I assumed it was another money issue, so I raised a petition to simply rename the course to something else. Like Magical Self Defense or Protections and Precautions against Dangerous Magics. But no, the governors saw fit to take no action whatsoever upon reading my petition. They would rather let the students suffer a game of chance on whether the professor turns out to be a grifter, a delusional hack, a dark wizard hoping to gain followers, a man possessed by a 'ghost', or maybe someone who actually understands the matter he wishes to teach, but gets tossed to the curb because this esteemed body deems him unfit to work for an affliction he has had under control ever since he was turned against his will."

Many lords and ladies with children and grandchildren currently attending Hogwarts or soon-to-be attending the school started looking dissatisfied. Why were they okay with things staying like this? The younger ones, too, had suffered at the hands of the abysmal roster of DADA professors and the sleeping draught disguised as a history class.

"Well, you might think with righteous indignation that we cannot disregard traditions to simply rename such a storied course! And I'd only want to spit in your face even more," a few lords that were firmly on his side for this argument started to smirk but swiftly hid it. The others were furrowing their brows at the crass words of the young man currently addressing them.

"You hypocritical morons were apparently taught by Binns and never bothered to read up past your OWLs in history, because the course 'Defense Against the Dark Arts' was first introduced in 1746 by Headmistress Dilys Derwent to increase the competency of healers and have a reasonable excuse to remove Dark Arts from the curriculum, which means the course is even less old than the Statute of Secrecy. Truly a time-honored tradition that we cannot live without," Ash explained, now openly mocking the governors and those who tried to interrupt him in the governors' defense.

While some people still tried to talk over him, Ash simply continued his just defamation of the governors. Because he truly wanted them gone for what they stood for.

"Now, since we established that the governors are beacons of stagnation for this society and are doing everything in their power to ignore the betterment of Hogwarts' education, let's talk about why Lord Malfoy especially should be removed from his position. We will simply ignore that he spearheaded the approval of sending Dementors to Hogwarts in the hundreds to find one man, almost costing the life of eleven students in thirteen separate incidents. We will ignore it because we would have to implicate our esteemed Minister of Magic and eventually discuss what a... demented order that was," Ash eluded with his perpetually mocking grin and called out loudly, "Dobby!"

A strangely dressed house elf covered in hats and scarves popped on the podium in front of Ash and wanted to greet him jovially but then only gave off an 'Eek!' and swiftly disappeared from the mundane senses of the wizards and witches present.

"No need to be shy, Dobby. You look quite dashing in your new attire," Ash gently coaxed. "I don't need much from you, Dobby, just the item and a confirmation on what we discussed yesterday."

Dobby reappeared but pointed both of his long index fingers to the other while looking at the ground with a shy expression.

"Master Ash be wanting the book, right?"

"Yes, Dobby," Ash affirmed with a nod and addressed the room once more. "Please remember that my vow is still very much active, and even if you want to dismiss the words of a 'mere servant', I will corroborate everything he has to say."

Dumbledore looked pained. He knew what was about to happen, and he very much wanted to stop it for he had guarded this secret for decades, thinking it the best course of action.

But Ash, even as misguided as Dumbledore originally thought him to be, firmly fought for a better future for the young students at his school. Of that much, the headmaster was sure by now. The accursed diary wasn't under any strong protection in his office either. A simple unwarded drawer - because his office was the actual vault in the first place.

Dobby, as a house elf of Hogwarts, had certain rights, though, and could simply take it. And sitting where he was, Dumbledore could not stop it from happening without causing a ruckus. Hence, the aged headmaster simply let it happen while hiding this troubled thoughts.

Years of plotting and seeing things getting worse before they had a chance to get better robbed Albus of his drive to argue with the course of events. Maybe young Ashbert was right to address all of this so openly. His way clearly wasn't helping as much as he had hoped.

Seeing a furious Ash in his sixth year dragging Harry to the infirmary wing on the day of his sorting despite the boy being in a different house still brought tears to Albus' eyes years later.

Ash had met Hagrid and Harry when the two were buying Harry's supplies for the first year. The young potion's prodigy was helping out at a Hag-run store in Diagon Alley Ash had helped open for his master where Hagrid and the green-eyed boy-who-lived bought Harry's potion supplies.

Seeing how small he was in his oversized clothes, Ash had brewed Harry nourishing potions while giving him his first lesson in potions at the back of the store and kept that up until the first semester was over.

Dragging him to the matron at Hogwarts was just to make sure there wasn't anything else wrong with Harry. Hagrid had ignored Ash's urging to take Harry to St Mungo's that day... and boy did they find out the horrors Harry had lived through as a result of the aging professor's orders.

And despite all the guilt he felt for those particular mistakes, Albus had to admit to himself; seeing Lucius Malfoy get put in his place after endangering his cute little students felt great. For the greater good, Dumbledore had refrained from openly working against the blonde leader and exposing the dark lord's identity. All the old professor did was secretly sanction the influential lord by interrupting business deals through favors costing him thousands upon thousands of galleons.

"Now, Dobby, as a former house elf sworn to House Malfoy, you intimately know that this dark artifact was in your former masters possession for years until he dropped it into the cauldron of one Ginerva Weasley during Lord Malfoy's confrontation with Lord Weasley at Flourish and Blotts in August 1992," Ash described after a black diary with a hole in it appeared floating in front of him.

But before Dobby could explain further, Lord Malfoy stood up with a furious expression and tried to silence the house elf and Ash by casting a Sonorus charm on himself.

"Preposterous! I will not sit here and endure hearing any more of this nonsense! Wild accusations and hearsay - that's all we're hearing thus far! I move to end this farce of a Wizengamot session and urge the esteemed Lords and Ladies of Wizengamot to dismiss this verbal outburst of dragon dung we have heard this past hour!"

"Huh, Lord Malfoy doesn't appear to know how vows work," Ash mocked before anyone could interject more.

"Mind your words, boy! You're nothing but an insolent brat with too much imagination! I will have your-"

"Esteemed Lord Malfoy. How about you swear on your magic that you did not willingly give a dark artifact given to you by Voldemort to an 11 year old first year student as payback for the perceived slight done to you by her father, ultimately leading to the opening of the chamber of secrets and endangering the lives of every single student and staff member present at the school?" Victoria Starkey innocently asked with a warm smile toward the blustering man.

Sitting in her seat behind Lady Greengrass, she was enjoying the show thus far. But her pride demanded she would defend her grandson this once.

The question silenced Malfoy instantly, and Ash's great-grandmother continued with a deepening smile that turned creepier and creepier.

"Such a very specific vow, there would be no harm, right? You would have to have willingly endangered not only a little girl but even disregarded the safety of your own son. There is no way you would do that. Especially since you would even have to have been a trusted member of Voldemort's inner circle to receive this specific dark artifact, no? No worries, if you frame your vow by limiting it to willing actions, you don't have to fear repercussions from Lady Magic due to being under the influence of the Imperius Curse."

To Fudge's horror, the Unspeakable Bode behind him spoke next with furrowed brows.

"What makes this artifact special?"

"Ah, I was getting to that, Mr Unspeakable!" Ash interrupted before anyone else could talk, winking at his great-grandmother and turning to Dobby. "Have you heard a lie from either me or Lady Starkey?"

"No sir, everything is true!"

A few gasps rang through the room, and just for added effect, Ash cast another wandless Lumos. The present lords and ladies remembered his vow and gained solemn expressions all around while watching his index finger light up.

"Wow, turns out, Lord Malfoy is one wicked dark wizard. Uh, alleged dark wizard. He allegedly conspired to kill innocent students at Hogwarts. I doubt he'll go to Azkaban for this with the state of this ministry, but I still hope he would forever be banned from Hogwarts' Board of Governors for this. A wizard can dream."

Many of those with children and grandchildren in Hogwarts shot seething glares at Malfoy, but Ash was long from finished. And he had to be quick about his next reveal, lest Malfoy or one of his cronies has this hearing interrupted due to a technicality he forgot to prepare for.

"I wanted to talk about the nature of that artifact, correct? Well, let's talk about it and my earlier claim that Voldemort might be alive in one wretched form or another," Ash continued and the members of the Wizengamot who thought they were out of gasps for the day still gasped once more.

"The item in question was a diary, but not any old diary. No, it belonged to Tom Marvolo Riddle," Ash started, and Malfoy's eyes widened. He remembered the name from when Sirius accused him of line theft earlier.

"In his fifth year at Hogwarts, this Mr Riddle killed Myrtle Warren by opening the chamber of secrets when the basilisk was present in the pipe leading to the chamber - many of you probably remember since this incident was in the Daily Prophet just a little over a year ago. Some of you will probably remember that the poor gamekeeper of Hogwarts Rubeus Hagrid had been sent to Azkaban twice for a crime he didn't commit. How any idiot would think Myrtle Warren's death or the petrifications from two school years ago were the works of an Acrumantula - going as far as patting themselves on the back for a job well done after the arrest - is beyond me anyway..."

Fudge shifted uncomfortably in his chair. Using swear words and cursing people in such a context should have been something that took away from the speaker's charisma and trustworthiness, but Ash still somehow commanded the room. He called some of those present 'hypocritical morons' earlier, and nobody even stood up to defend themselves. Well, nobody insisted on defending themselves.

If some older lords and ladies didn't wrinkle their noses, you would think he did nothing wrong to begin with.

"In any case, having killed young Myrtle, who now resides in a girl's bathroom at Hogwarts as a ghost called Moaning Myrtle, Tom thought himself clever and ripped apart his soul for the first time to make the item he prized the most into a vessel of his desecrated soul," some more gasps rang in the room. "Some of you are apparently quite learned in black magics. And they are correct, the protagonist of the story created a Horcrux. A deranged man's solution to gaining immortality by stripping himself of his humanity."

Ash looked at Malfoy and gave him a wide grin.

"That's right, Lord Malfoy. You arranged for a part of your esteemed Lord's soul to be destroyed. He will surely thank you immensely if and when he manages to resurface," Ash explained with a goading grin. "Maybe you can get out of all of this by making that an achievement worthy of an Order of Merlin commendation."

"How sure are you that this Tom Riddle made a horcrux?"

Everybody in the room looked at the solemn expression of Unspeakable Bode, but Ash simply shrugged.

"During my final year as a student at Hogwarts, I accompanied one Ronald Bilius Weasly and one Harry James Potter into the chamber of secrets to rescue a young student who had been under the thrall of the Horcrux. It was leeching its host's magic and life force to form a soul body. During the confrontation, the soul fragment in the diary admitted as much to the two boys and I, and the headmaster himself later confirmed the story," Ash explained as he took out his wand to do the same fiery letter display the diary created.

He refrained, however, from reporting the fact that Harry and Ron did all the work down in the chamber. Harry and Ron were hidden under Potter's invisibility cloak, and Ash himself was petrified right before Harry stabbed the basilisk to death with Gryffindor's sword and Ron used a basilisk fang to destroy the Horcrux. All Ash did was duel with and stall the soul body while the boys rescued Ginny.

"It would be too much of a coincidence if this dark artifact invented such a convenient anagram," the young potions prodigy solemnly concluded as the words finished rearranging. "But you could, of course, always deny the truth that is so clearly slapping you in the face."

The wizards and witches present were immediately and furiously thinking of whether or not they knew someone by that name or whether or not they heard of that family name before - but unless you were a Slytherin attending Hogwarts with him, the chances were slim.

"No need to think," Ash interrupted the discussions in the hall once more and the letters rearranged themselves to say 'I am Lord Voldemort'. "You won't find such a family name in your memories. Lord Voldemort is and always has been a half-blood. Not that I personally find that to be a bad thing, mind you. However, I think that gives the article published by my aunt Pandora in the Quibbler this morning quite the boost of plausibility..."

"The deranged half-blood with a patchwork abomination for a soul steering Magical Britain into Civil War, looting, pillaging, killing one pureblood family at a time. And these same purebloods, proud of their noble lineage, cheer for him. Pledge themselves to his cause," Ash narrated with grand gestures. "How poetic."