"You could have immediately called for succour from the other Houses of the alliance," Frank pressed. "Greengrass, Davis, Bones, MacMillan, Abbott, Marchbanks... the list is extensive. And yet, you did not do that! Why not?"
"The alliance had slipped my mind, at the time," she tried. "I didn't know if any of them could be trusted."
"That's what it's bloody there for!" he roared. "For just that sort of situation!"
As Frank had to again rein his temper in, Alice said, "Next. We'll jump forward until July 1991. Explain to us why it is you did not take Neville to Ollivander's and get him his own wand. Why it is you stupidly... irresponsibly... decided on your own, as if you had suddenly developed into wizarding Britain's leading expert on wand-lore, that Neville would use Frank's wand when he attended Hogwarts?"
"To honour you, Frank," she tried.
"Again with the hippogriff crap!" snapped Frank. "I don't know if you're deliberately lying to cover your own arse; or, if you truly are that stupid or senile!
"How you could possibly think him using my wand would honour me, is so outrageously daft it beggars belief!"
Alice, added, "Everyone who owns a wand, including you, knows that Ollivander claims it is the wand that chooses the witch or wizard; not the other way around. You would have been given that same spiel. According to Ollivander, he has used it for the near one hundred years he's been selling wands.
"As such, you know it was wrong to force Neville to use Frank's wand. To us, it appears you were deliberately trying to smother his use of cast magic. And, we'll get to why we believe that, later.
"Next..."
Slowly, Frank and Alice worked together to drag the initial information out of Augusta they wanted. It took time, but they got there.
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
"So," said Wendell, "You won the case for Sirius. However, it wasn't because your godfather had not done anything legally suspect, but because you pointed out what would happen if you presented your evidence. And they had to scrap the entire law from their books because..."
"... It was proven to be completely unworkable and unenforceable in its current state," said Harry. "Yes. I knew that... on the merits... Sirius should be fined for what he did. However, if they were going to go after Sirius for his legally purchased motorcycle he then enchanted, then I was going to force the situation where they had to go after those involved in the enchantment of some pretty important icons in wizarding Britain, many of which were stolen."
"You didn't like the legal battlefield, so you changed it," said Wendell. "Clever."
"They were being so outrageously hypocritical it beggared belief," he nodded. "I just made them completely aware of it and what would happen next if they decided to find Sirius guilty.
"That's why Ted and I were very happy that Madam Bones was pushing and doing as well as she did in her role as prosecutor. By 'winning' her prosecution of Sirius, she was actually strengthening our real case."
"And Lord and Lady Longbottom?" asked Monica.
"Were magnificent!" he grinned. "As expected, they're both now as fit as they can be. Actually, they're even fitter than I kind of expected them to be, considering their treatment over the past thirteen years. Then, when the Rosier-bi... errr... woman stood and tried to declare blood-feud on me? Wow, did he go spare!"
"So," said Monica. "The whole reason you couldn't tell anyone you'd taken the Longbottoms and put them into that time dilation chamber with healers and all is because the goblins made you promise not to tell anyone... that is, any other witch or wizard... except a select few until after they came out."
"Well, that and I didn't want Augusta Longbottom to find out where they were until after they came out. If she'd found out, she'd have charged in there and tried to get them out. If she'd done that she'd have caused anything from the next goblin war to a cascade failure of the magics involved, which would have caused a significant part of the land around to... blow up.
"That last one, I suspect, is the real reason the goblins don't want anyone knowing when they're using their time dilation chamber. They don't want some idiot deliberately causing the cascade failure in the hope it's a big enough explosion it'll kill them - the goblins, that is."
"But, you told us," she said. "How'd you get away with that?"
"Something to do with the magics involved, I guess," he shrugged. "The information wasn't under something like a Fidelius charm, which would have worked against me telling you. I think it has something to do with, as you surmised, you being muggles.
"As for Hermione, once she became the Lady Presumptive of the House of Potter, she became for the intent of this an actual Potter. When I asked the goblins for the use of the chamber, I did so as an owed boon to the House of Potter; a boon owed just as much to her as my betrothed as to me. She just couldn't claim it."
"So, what's going to happen to this woman?" she asked.
"None of our business now, I'm afraid," he said. "With the rightful Lord of Longbottom back at the helm it's now his problem to deal with. Even as a partner House in the alliance, I can no longer interfere.
"Whatever he decides, though... once he makes that decision... because it has so much to do with me, I'm expecting he'll let me know before it becomes public," he replied. "But, it's entirely up to him to decide whether he's going to do that or not."
Though he'd been quite mentally exhausted from the day at the Wizengamot, Harry still tried to go into the kitchen to help with dinner. However, this time, Dobby was having none of it and 'ordered' him out. That night wasn't a 'Harry' dinner.
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
In the Unspeakables 'Spectral Threat' team, they had been paying close attention through the 'Knight's Shadow' team to what had been happening with the young Knight and his 'support group' all day.
By the end of it, they were in somewhat awe of the young man. Under the noses of his auror and even Unspeakable watchers, he had engineered two brilliant political moves. He had a Statute that was at the heart of wizarding British society for over two centuries stripped from the books simply by showing how unworkable it was. Then had his second play ready on the sidelines at the same time.
One member of their team mused, "I wonder what he's going to do next. And I don't know whether I should be excited with anticipation while waiting for it to happen, or fearful it will."
That summed up their general thoughts, completely.
"He had the dog's case won before he even stepped into the chamber," said one. "He even deliberately stepped out of Monocle's way to let her go for it."
"He knew her arguments and questioning didn't matter," sighed another. "She became pretty much a non-entity as soon as the CA told her she could begin her case. All she was doing was delaying the inevitable."
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
Ted hadn't held back for the actual Wizengamot session. His reasoning for not waiting back and for the fireworks to occur in the General Meeting was for two reasons. His first was so he'd not be considered having been involved in any of it. And his second was because he had far too much work yet to do for the Houses of Potter and Black. His professional ethics would not allow him the indulgence.
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