Chapter 139: Mercenary

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2 July 1993, Ministry of Magic, London

The rest of the hearing was pretty standard all things considered. Dumbledore lost any attempt at moral superiority with his stunt and Arcturus was most likely going to be declared a fit guardian. The judges had reconvened, but it was obvious what they were going to decide. In a way Dumbledore's gambit had worked against him; if the judges had voted in his favour after publicly attacking a minor, in a guardianship hearing of all places, then the press would have a field day. There were just too many witnesses because Dumbledore wanted to use them to pressure the judges to vote in his favour by presenting Harry as some kind of Dark Lord in the making.

The entire hearing was obviously a mockery of the justice system the moment Dumbledore started talking. 

Harry had returned the favour, of course, but he shouldn't have had to resort to something like that. Transforming a simple guardianship hearing into a court of public opinion shouldn't have even been an option.

Finally, the toad woman slammed her gavel. The judges must have come to a decision, "Hem. Hem. Before we announce our verdict, there is something that I want to say. This was supposed to be a guardianship hearing, deciding whether or not Arcturus Black was an appropriate guardian for the last scion of an old family. You were all supposed to present facts and evidence to sway our vote, but neither the accuser nor the defendant saw the need for any of this. The accuser made vague accusations about the minor in question and that he was dangerous, and the defender decided to let a minor speak in his stead, whom the accuser attacked. And while I could see a minor without any kind of political education disregarding a few rules due to ignorance, I cannot see a reason why the Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot disregarded the rules of conduct so egregiously. And so, we have decided to fine Albus Dumbledore a sum of ten thousand Galleons, half of which will be sent to Mr. Potter's trust vault. An investigation will occur, headed by Head Auror Rufus Scrimgeour, into his actions as Chief Warlock, to see if there was any precedent to this type of behaviour."

Dumbledore looked like he wanted to say something but stopped himself. The toad woman continued, "Now, in the case of the guardianship of Harry Potter, the accuser did not present any evidence of mistreatment, or past actions of abuse, and so, we see no point in having a change in guardianship. The audience is adjourned."

She struck her gavel one last time, and the audience started to murmur and leave. She didn't look happy with the judgement, but she had no other choice. Anything else could ruin her career and her credibility. Scrimgeour looked somewhat impassive but satisfied, but Selene Avery had a wide smile on her face.

Yeah, Harry was able to play the two of them masterfully in his little speech. At the end of each sentence, he looked at the small reactions and noted the changes in their song, just to see how much his words were affecting them. He had gotten Scrimgeour on his side when he stated that Dumbledore was wasting everyone's time in this hearing instead of doing anything about the Azkaban crisis. He had gotten Selene Avery on his side when he spoke about how unhappy he was in the muggle world.

However, Umbridge was a problem. The more he gained support, the more unhappy and wild her magic became. She was getting frustrated, and it was likely that she wanted to rule in Dumbledore's favour because of some kind of deal the headmaster had made under the table with the minister. She was connected enough to force Avery, maybe even Scrimgeour to vote the way she wanted to. So, Harry made it so that voting for Dumbledore would be a career-ending decision. He provoked the headmaster and tied her hands.

It was not the reveal of Dumbledore's involvement in his sister's death wasn't that sealed the deal, it was the man's actions afterwards. He could have used his relationship with Grindelwald, he could have spoken about countless dirty deeds, but Arianna was his pressure point, it would make him tick.

And it worked flawlessly. Sure, the man was probably exhausted, but beating an exhausted Dumbledore was still a notable achievement.

Harry suppressed a grin and walked out of the room. He was quickly met with Arcturus who looked down at him with an impressed look on his face, "You did good. I thought I'd have to intervene once or twice."

 Harry gave him a curious look, "Then why did you make me talk in the first place."

The man snorted, "For Avery, of course. I already knew who your judges were going to be. Trust me, the chances of us losing, even with Dumbledore are very slim. My sister, Cassiopeia, likes to store any information or dirty secrets of anyone she meets. She's somewhere in Europe, I think, I'm not sure. I hadn't seen her for a few years, but she liked to disappear every once in a while, without leaving a way to contact her. Trust me, I had enough dirt on the judges that they would have to rule in my favour. All I had to do was ask for a recess and have a conversation with them."

Harry looked at him flabbergasted, and the Black Patriarch let out an amused chuckle, "Come on, you didn't think that I had a plan? I already knew that Fudge wanted you back in ministry custody, while Dumbledore probably wanted you to be adopted into a family that's loyal to him. Unfortunately, I didn't have anything on Selene Avery. She's your standard widow who likes to help children. She would always take my words with a grain of salt, but she would have respected yours. The moment you said that you wanted to stay with me, she would have been on our side immediately. But it needed to be genuine, not rehearsed, so I didn't tell you about it. I was going to finish up after your speech and maybe have to pressure Scrimgeour and Umbridge, but you stole the show by provoking Dumbledore. By the way, do you have a death wish or something?"

"I do not!" The last Potter responded with an indignant tone, "You know what he was doing. He was in the wrong, but people were still going to side with him, and keep an eye on me."

"They're still going to keep an eye on you. And don't pretend that you just didn't want to get back at him. He painted you as a possible Dark Lord, so you painted him as a kin slayer. I'm not saying that what you did was wrong, only that it isn't a good idea to make an enemy of the most powerful wizard in Europe, maybe even the world."

"That course of action is one that I recommend, my boy," a voice spoke up behind them. Harry stiffened when he realized that it was Dumbledore.

"I could hardly be blamed for my measures when all you did was slander me to the public," Harry responded.

"Well, I do admit to being impulsive in the matter. But you had no right to reveal something as private as Ariana's Death."

Harry shrugged, "Maybe it wasn't. But you also had no right slandering me. People are never going to be the same. They're always going to think that I have an ulterior motive for every single action I make. They'll never going to trust me. It's only right that you suffer the same consequences that your actions will cause me. Everyone in magical Britain will know you as a kin slayer. They will look at you and see what other secrets you might have. You should be grateful, after all, I didn't reveal anything about who Bathilda's nephew really was. I have to say, I'm surprised that you even protested my guardianship. I thought we had an understanding since the Chamber of Secrets."

"We had no understanding. We agreed to a series of events, which benefitted you as much as it did me. I made no further promises."

"Sure, but considering how competent I was during this negotiation, you must have known that if you went after me, I would return the favour."

"How did you know about my sister," the man suddenly asked.

"I told you, my mother…"

"Did not have a journal. James liked to brag about his wife to everyone. He would have let it slip if he saw her write every day in a journal."

Harry smiled, "I guess it might not have been her journal. But it doesn't matter where I got my information, it's out now. How does it feel for the world to know your deepest shame? It must be cathartic, in a way, to not keep all this emotion bottled up. They often say that confessing is very good for the soul, what would you say about that, Headmaster?"

"How did you know about my sister? Was it Aberforth?" he insisted.

"No, your brother wouldn't want to make a spectacle of his sister's death. He feels guilty, you know, that he might have been the one casting the curse, even if he's the unlikely culprit out of the three of you."

Dumbledore froze for a second and Harry continued, "You see, whatever happened was chaotic, and as you know, when it comes to unstable magic, the intent of the castor is often the deciding factor. Aberforth loved his sister more than anything. He didn't like that you weren't doing your job taking care of her, but you… You were resentful of her, keeping you trapped in this small village instead of exploring the world like you wanted. And your friend, he hated her for chaining you to this place. Whose intent do you think won the encounter and subconsciously hurt your sister while you were all unharmed?"

"You had no right," the defeater of Grindelwald protested loudly.

"I had every right. You're the one who came after me. You're the one who thinks he's entitled to control me, that the rules don't apply to him just because he's powerful. You gave me no choice. You removed any chance of me winning, so my only idea was to make you lose more than me. It's a bit of a mercenary mindset, but it's mine, nonetheless."

The headmaster answered while gritting his teeth, "I'll take that into consideration next time."

"What makes you think that there would be a next time."

"Call it a hunch. Goodbye, Mr. Potter. I will see you at the start of the school year, I suppose."

The headmaster turned and left. The moment he went away, Harry took a deep breath and shuddered slightly. Arcturus gave him an amusing look, "The sad thing is, that if I wasn't there, it would have been the right decision. But you didn't trust me enough, and you made an enemy you can't handle. Dumbledore can be very petty sometimes, and you're staying in his school for most of the year."

Harry sighed, "I know that this wasn't the smart thing to do. I was just so angry…"

"Of course, it wasn't a smart thing. You remind me a bit of your grandfather with that temper of yours. He had one too. It was this cold rage that made him so rational, yet irrational at the same time. I remember the day my sister was attacked in the back by a bunch of Gryffindors. Charlus was already sweet on her, back then. He beat them to a pulp and made them beg my sister for forgiveness. He didn't yell once; he even didn't do anything out of the ordinary. He just walked there drew his wand with a passive expression on his face, and no one tried to touch him and my sister since. The Potters lost a lot of support in the Wizengamot because of this stunt. In private, years later, he told me that he regretted going so far. Like it or not, revealing Dumbledore's family affairs was a step too far. Many will see it as a child grasping at straws, but your headmaster will not. He will get you back at this, and you'll need to be ready for that."

With a comforting smile, he grabbed Harry's shoulder, "But we can do that later. Now, I think you need some rest. Let's go home."

Home. Yes, this was the first time that the Black Manor really felt like home.

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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.