Chapter 10 Bring to Order
-oOoOo-
The announcement of Voldemorts' defeat/removal was announced as just another newsbit on the M-network. as was the practice amongst the magical world, people went crazy again, doing all kinds of things that could expose the magical world to the mundane.. the Ministry-in Transition assigned a great number of workers to capture and incarcerate the offenders, and only in the most severe cases go and obliviate the mundane witnesses.. in less than a day there were well over a thousand people in holding cells, moping and commiserating on their lot in life.
The judicial panel was working at a prodigious rate, working through their cases, and sentencing.. most were sentenced to a year without magic, every single one was collared with magic suppressing collars and bracelets.. and then released to fend for themselves on an island colony.
The new residents of this Island of no magic were shocked to find that they could not cook, dress themselves, work, travel or anything without their magic.. they were also quite disturbed that it seemed as if the sun never moved in the sky. The sun, did, indeed move in the sky, albeit slowly.. it took almost a month for the passage of a single day, and it took most of that month for the residents to finally realize they didn't have any choice in the matter whether they cooperated or not. The basic rule of thumb, was , if you didn't work, you didn't eat. The basic needs were met, a slab for sleeping, in a ward with your peers, and gruel to eat, nothing more. Those who applied themselves, got nicer accommodations, depending on attitude and how they applied themselves. There were M-network screens in every room, none of which could be changed or turned off. The constant message being broadcast was
"You aren't as special as you think you are"
"Have some care for others, be they mundane or magical, human or not"
"Do something for society, and not just your own self gratification"
"grow the hell up"
The farther up the ladder of achievers, the messages were more encouraging and enlightening, offering more opportunities for self-improvement.
Classes were required for all residents, starting with basic training in the rules of the Island.
Do your assigned work. Be at the dorm meeting point when your shift ends. Don't abuse the other inmates. If you want better food or accomodations, you had to work for it. Every inmate must attend the required classes everyday.
The closed society was forced to be self sustaining, Making their own food, cleaning up after themselves, building better accomodations for more prisoners. Anyone found to be abusing their fellow prisoners were taken to the town square and whipped, then left in stocks for a day's time.. that is 24 hours.
Few were repeat customers.
No one was allowed a name. Every prisoner had a number, and had to speak that number to receive food, shelter, work. anything. There were house elves, the kind that most recognised. Some tried to order the house elves to serve them, they were shocked when fully grown elves like Dobby and Winky came and disabused them of the idea that they could make demands.
Again, it was soon a rare thing to see anyone talk to an elf, much less demand anything.
The work crews gave the prisoners opportunity to advance themselves, for the more work and cooperation, the better accommodations and food. There were those who cheerfully lined up to get work, who were actually excited to do something, be sociable, be creative. There were different areas to line up for work. The dregs were in grey, drab and utilitarian dormitories, where prisoners were housed twenty to a room. Each day at shift change, three times a day, lines formed at checkpoints, and you had to step up and give your number. if it was the end of your shift, you were directed to an eating room where some kind of food was, at the bottom it was gruel, nutritious, bland, boring. after one hour, the doors closed to the eating area, and the dormitories opened. Each prisoner was allowed on shower a day for five minutes. At that point, the prisoner was expected to be in a fixed area, his own assigned dorm. The screens played all day, inspirational and morally uplifting messages, again depending on your status, tailored to the prisoner..
If you wanted to get out of the bottom rank dorms, and get better food, and something like entertainment, there were the classrooms, where there were big screens and benches.
no one was permitted to sleep or slack off. If they did, they were expelled for 24 hours. Another way to rise up was to work two shifts, and build up some credits, where the prisoner worked their way up to a private cubicle with a better bed, it's own screen, and a shared shower. This ranking also included real food, with some meat and veg.. but only water to drink.
Each rank, the prisoner rose through included a certain number of hours of classes in history, philosophy, civics, teaching responsibility and moral philosophy. It became an achievement to rise up through the levels, to private rooms with good food and actual drink.. juice, milk, coffee, tea.
Everyone worked, everyone. there was no abuse of others allowed without forfeit of rank.
no one was immune to the whip and the stocks.
The jobs included :
cleaning every square inch of the town
laundry, every person was issued 2 color coded work robes to be turned in every other day for cleaning,
growing and harvesting potions ingredients
growing and harvesting food
preparing food for all levels of prisoner.. the gruel cooked all day every day in a big vat, and was piped out to the various dorms.
potions preparation and brewing,
building magical artifacts, such as trunks and furniture.
any and every job that is necessary to keep a town or society alive.
The farther up the ranks that a prisoner was, the more entertainment and pleasant things.. the top ranks had music broadcasts that they could choose. They could turn down the sound at sleeptime , but they could never turn the screens off, and the retraining went on, all day, every day.
There were those who would rant and scream, "I am not a number, I am a free man", but those were taken away and convinced of their wrongness. Some were obliviated and given new personalities, for those who were too mentally damaged. There were those, who were given the option to take positions of power. For the most part, the situation was explained to them, and most usually went back to serving their time without further comment.
A classroom, lower rank prisoners.
the screen is talking..
"Under the new law, apparition will only be allowed in designated areas, where the incoming or outgoing traveler will not be seen, the reason for this law is that in the UK today there are more CCTV cameras per capita than anywhere else in the world."
The screen showed CCTV video of people apparating into and out of public places and the task the obliviators and mundane police had to go through to cover it up. The prisoners watched and some snickered when they recognized some of the people on the screen.
"The New Transitional Government has set up designated apparition points at numerous locations around the country, so there is now no excuse for a witch or wizard to apparate or portkey into a public place. Remember this, Any magical person who breaks this law will be subject to one year term here at The Island, and all the rules you are now enjoying."
there was grumbling amongst the watchers, but nothing too loud.
"Among the designated apparition points you will find, Every Starbucks coffee shop has a pair of restroom doors, between the doors, the mundanes will see this logo. That logo is the entrance to the apparition point. Every location has a number prominently displayed on the wall, where an attendant will be working. If you apparate into a designated point and you are not dressed appropriately for the area, you will be barred from exiting the apparition point"
The screen showed magicals in some of their more gaudy and inappropriate forms of dress with a split screen, showing the mundanes outside.
" Look at the differences in clothes and manner, on the left you see our people. This form of dress may be acceptable in entirely closed magical communities, but outside, in the mundane world, it will attract too much unwanted attention."
"In the mundane world there is a class system of sorts, where what a person does, is what they wear.." the screen showed businessmen and bankers in Saville Row suits. "Here we see, the economic elite, the business managers and owners, the politicians and diplomats." The pictures changed. More men and women in business suits, overcoats, bustling about their business, talking and working, eating and drinking.. life as usual. As the voiceover spoke, several were highlighted. "This man is a police detective, similar to a higher ranked Investigative Auror..He is asking questions of these businessmen about an incident earlier in the day.. The woman with him is also a police detective. Their attire is conservative, fairly anonymous and practical." " Warning, never try to pass yourself off as a police detective or Government official of any sort, you will be found out and arrested. The penalties for this crime are severe"
"These men and women are mid-level business managers, anonymous, you can see them anywhere without noticing them. This is winter clothing, in spring and summer their clothing would be lighter and fairly bland."
The pictures changed." Blue collar working people, These are the people who keep the economy working, here are examples of working class people. You would not usually see these people in upper crust establishments, but here you can see they are an anonymous mass, in the shops, in the pubs, in the workplaces, in the schools. "
The video feed showed men with trousers and sweaters, women with pastel dresses or outfits.
"There are a few who can get away with bright colors and attention getting clothes, most of those are the youth and young pretty women.. if you are of this type of person, be aware of your responsibilities as a witch or wizard, you will be treated as an adult when it comes to penalties."
The pictures showed modern youth, girls in clubs, boys hanging out.
"Here we see different ethnic groups, and cultures.. if you attempt to blend in with these groups, you must be aware of the culture, and your responsibilities to your magical heritage."
The vid ended.
The class instructor, a young woman stepped to the head of the classroom
"So, today's lesson, in review:"
"apparition to only designated sites":
"The vid showed a list of places, Starbucks, assorted fast food places, Tesco stores, ASDA markets, along with the proper logos to focus on and a list of the more popular locations. She touched the clicker and scrolled through the logos and places
"Appropriate clothes for the area you are going to, age and style appropriate clothes, gender appropriate clothes, and in no circumstances are you to do anything to draw attention to our society" the pictures scrolled with a split screen with one side marked with a big NO, and the other YES
"And you must remember the penalties for breaking the secrecy act, you will be our guest for one year for each occurrence, does everyone understand this?" Nodding from all.
The sitting class had watched the video and studied the clothes and attitudes of the mundanes shown.
The instructor for this session stood at the front of the class, dressed in a conservative outfit, a pale print blouse, with a blue sweater over, and a dark skirt, nylon stockings and low heeled shoes. on the desk she had an appropriate women's bag, and a briefcase, she looked like a third form teacher in a mundane school.
"Now, we are going to try on various clothes and see if we have learned anything. Each of you will try on an outfit, and then explain what type of persona you are wearing, and any other specifics that you can remember that go with that outfit."
On the clothes rack in the corner of the room was a variety of clothes, complete outfits for various positions in public, men, women, youth, children. There were suits of various styles and colors, women's clothes and dresses, formal, casual, playwear, clubwear. Sports clothes, rugby shirts for various teams. This room setup and classes was actually the prototype for the new 'Muggle Studies' course being taught at Hogwarts.
The class gathered around the clothes rack, picking out different clothes and then trying them on, and gathering the appropriate accessories to go with each. The instructor had to stop several of the men from taking the women's bags, explaining the gender specific parts of the dress code.
Another asked. "What about the sports shirts, the football clubs and such?" "Well, if you wear one of the football jerseys, you are likely to be involved in a conversation about the merits of that team.. some football fans are violent about their favorites and so you might find yourself in a position of having to defend yourself, probably not a good place to be." If you want to know more about the different football clubs, you should sign up for the Sports Basics class to begin with and then go from there, as it is a prerequisite"
"Professor?'
the instructor acknowledged the young woman speaking.
"do we have to buy these clothes before we can go into the mugg-er mundane world, and will we have to buy different outfits?' she was halfway between worried and excited.. the idea of clothes shopping, but not not wanting to spend too much on the wrong things..
"no, there is no requirement to purchase anything, but before you enter the mundane world, you will be required to pass inspection, this means no moving pictures on your garments, no excessive colors or attention getting devices without a good reason which must be signed off by the New DMLE."
"Professor, I mean no disrespect, I meant to ask, is there a guide to the types of clothes and outfits that can be purchased?' the prisoner was gaining some confidence in her question, not wanting to earn demerit points.
"You may want to visit one of the shops of Anton of Basel, he has created lines of mundane appropriate clothing, for example, today I am wearing the "Professional Woman's Selection".. she showed the silver bracelet and went through the various outfits, various styles and colors, daywear and evening wear, and even elegant silk pyjamas for entertaining.
The class was awestruck, since their incarceration they had not seen any live magic at all.
"how much did that cost?" "how many outfits are there?" "is that all in one bracelet?" "are there any other lines of clothes?"
The instructor decided to take pity on the inmates.
"this bracelet cost me 100 galleons, and I can mix and match all the outfit items into quite a variety of combinations,
I know people who have ten of these bracelets for different situations,, and sometimes wear more than one at a time.. she grinned, I know one person who wears five of these on each arm..she never has to worry about wearing the same thing as any other witch, ever, because all of the outfits she has were designed for her specifically."
"Who would need that many outfits, and why?"
"It's public knowledge, so I will tell you.. The Lady Black. She travels the world with Lord Potter-Black, Lady Potter and Lady Granger.. "
The inmates variously growled, or cheered, depending on their perception of the names. The instructor took note of who cheered and who grumbled, who seemed ok with the revelation and who did not. At the end of the shift, the inmates reported to their assigned locations, some were surprised when they either advanced in ranking or in a few cases moved back to lower ranks, so they had to work their way back up, again.
Ted Nott had fallen back to the bottom rank again. He cursed the fact that he could not use his name, that his name meant nothing at all, anymore. He cursed the permanent impotence curse that had been put upon him, just because he was convicted of using the rape room back at school, he cursed the fact that he would never have children to continue the Nott line.. since he was the last and only child of his parents, The last Nott who remembered his own name.. His father had been a Death eater and had his magic taken away and his mind obliviated completely, permanently and taken away. Transportation, they called it. His father was now somewhere in the world, probably working as a dustman or something.. He pondered getting back at Potter somehow for this, if he could, kill the mudblood or something.. Draco had gone missing almost a year before and one by one, sometimes several in one night, the inner circle of the Dark Lord vanished, not to be seen again.. the only mention of their whereabouts came from the M-Network news.. every day there was a list of captured and convicted Death Eaters.. His thought were interrupted.. every screen in the entire town gave out a loud tone, indicating an emergency or important announcement.
"This is the M-Network Newsroom with a special announcement."
The newsreader had a big smile on his face, Nott vaguely recognised him as the Gryff sports announcer, Jordan something...
"Today at 1300 hrs, Albus Dumbledore died of natural causes due to advanced age. Albus Dumbledore has held a number of positions in our society, Headmaster of Hogwarts, Supreme Mugwump, the Wizengamot, Head of the ICW, Defeater of Grindewold in 1945."
"Since the defeat of Tom Riddle, aka Lord Voldemort last month, there has been a stream of information coming out about the relationship between Dumbledore, Riddle and Lord Potter, much of which will not be favorable in the history books for the future." "The assorted decisions made by Dumbledore over the decades have had considerable impact on our society, on every level."
cut to vid: Amelia Bones DMLE m-net: "Madam Bones, what can you release to the public about Dumbledore's influence?"
Bones: "Albus Dumbledore has manipulated our society so deeply on so many levels, it may take decades to undo the damage."
m-net:Did Dumbledore have anything to do with the defeat of Voldemort?" Bones: only peripherally, Voldemort was sharing a room with Dumbledore"
m-net: "What?!" Bones: "Dumbledore didn't know it, by then his mind had degenerated to the point he didn't know anything or anybody.. Apparently Riddle/Voldemort walked right in and sat down, and had a conversation."
m-net: :"What about the Death Eaters, his henchmen?" Bones: The Potter-Black consortium have been working continuously for months since last summer, shortly after the loss of Sirius Black, capturing and interrogating Death Eaters and fellow travelers, finding the truth of the matter, and are now are carrying out the sentences passed by a Judicial panel formed by order of HRH Queen Elizabeth"
m-net: "What will happen to Dumbledore now?" Bones: "He will be honored for the good he did in his life.. in actuality, all his manipulation and arranging, he meant well, but apparently he forgot about the rights of those he was manipulating."
m-net: "and those he manipulated?" Bones: "the worst of those would be Lord Potter-Black, and that is up to him to decide"
Lee Jordan: And that is the announcement for today, Albus Dumbledore, dead at the age of 154, this is Lee Jordan, Goodnight"
The screen snapped off and returned to the daily Island programming.
Nott shuffled back to his assignment, pulling clean clothes out of a dryer and hanging them on hangers, where they would be taken away to their assigned locations..
"hmmm.. I wonder.. they say the Dark Lord was destroyed last month.. from my viewpoint that was 8 months ago.. that means we are under some kind of.. time spell...who could figure that out?...the mudblood maybe, she may be one of them, but she is smart..whatever.. so if I have been here 8 months and out there is only 6 days.. that means I will be out of here after a year, or about ten days total.. maybe there was a chance I could get to Gringotts before the deadline to claim my families inheritance and name.. I need to find out the day my father was convicted..it should be still available after one year,.. when I get my money back I will hire an assassin and have Potter and his mudblood bitch killed"
his thoughts were focused on the time differences, he wasn't paying any attention to the job. What Nott had not realized was that he was under continuous surveillance, and he had a tendency to subvocalize his thoughts..and the Lycan prison guards had excellent hearing...another notation was made on his record, another set of conclusions tallied and a decision made.
He finished his assignment for the day and headed back to his assigned eating area and dormitory. He had worked a sufficient number of hours and enough shifts and classes to move up in the ranks again. He was looking forward to the hot shower that lasted more than five minutes in the third rank dorms.. the food was slightly better there, the beds a bit softer, but the showers were what got his attention. The end of work shift was the time when rank changes were made, every fifth day, and this was the appointed day.
The pod he was currently assigned to went through the motions, the daily helping of gruel, move to the dorm and command to line up. Sometimes your name was called, sometimes not. Nott stood at attention in a line with 19 other inmates, numbers were called
"Prisoner 1654" "Here" "Report to Dorm 15" 1654 cheered and left the queue.
"Prisoner 1655" "Here"
"Prisoner 1656" Nott answered. "Here" "Report to monitor"
Nott grinned, he was headed for a shower.. he went to the end of the room and put out his left arm, as was procedure. The prisoner transfer clamp was put in place and he was led off towards the exit. Instead of turning left at the end of the hall, the direction toward the next rank dorms, he was led right, toward the processing room. He had been there once, a year before, when he was brought in. as a prisoner in the first place
"Hey, what;s going on, am I being released?" he let a little hope perk up, he was thinking that he may have lost track of the time he had served, maybe he would be let out.. The blank faced escort led him to a blank white room.
The guard led Nott through a door into a white room. He could not move, as he had been immobilized. His body did not respond and he was laid on a worktable. Three technicians milled about doing their various jobs. On the wall was a chart of runes ans list of combinations, hung in a corner was a full human skleeton, and on each bone was seen a series of runes.
The technicians ignored another official who entered, because this was a procedure that they had done many times, and with familiarity, came indifference.
The official read from a script, filling in the name where needed.
"By order of HRH Elizabeth, and the New Transitional Government of Magic, Theodore Jeffery Nott, has been found guilty of multiple counts of crimes against non magical peoples and has been judged to be unrepentant in his attitude and action. The judgment has been set against him as such: Theodore Jeffery Nott has been stripped of all monies, properties and titles, his standing in the magical world has also been rescinded. All magic will be permanently suppressed, and all memory of the magical world will be removed. The prisoner will be then transported and put into a position in that receiving country, where he will be monitored for the rest of his natural life. If there are any magical offspring, those children will also be monitored for their protection."
"You may proceed"
These last words were spoken to the waiting technicians, who nodded and went about their work, speaking amongst themselves. Nott was frozen in place, unable to move, unable to interact other than to listen. The government official left the area, leaving the staff to do their business.
"So how was the date with Anna last night, she open to your offer?"
"she seemed to be, with the new Uni open and the freedom to get her mastery without the interference from the inbreds, she feels that she can stay in the country now, instead of emigrating.. I think she'll accept my proposal."
"That's great, you two will make a great couple, I know she wants kids, are you two excited..?
"Merlin yes!.. its my whole dream, to have a family and be able to keep them safe from the inbreds and the useless Ministry, I hear that the entire curriculum at Hogwarts is being reworked and there are primary schools being set up so kids can learn from age 5." "I heard that too, my sister has been hired to work in a daycare facility, helping mundanes who have children who are magical, The Potter Clans are being absolutely mental about not letting a magical child fall victim to the inbreds and the Ministry." "What do you mean?"
The tech mumbled something that Nott couldn't hear, and he felt the pain as there was a burning on the bones in his legs.
""The inbreds and Death Eaters are responsible for the deaths of thousands of innocent kids, magical children, who had the audacity to be born of a mundane family, there should be on average three times as many mundane children at Hogwarts any given year...except, magical children born in the mundane world suffer a higher accident rate, and die in unusual and strange circumstances.. Someone in the Ministry was giving information to people from the Registry of magical births, and people like Lucius Malfoy would make a game of it, torturing and killing innocent children for kicks, while the Ministry provided obliviation services where needed, and then did nothing to prosecute the murderers."
Nott felt a sharp pain all the way up his spine as the Tech rammed home the spell engraving the magic suppression runes on his bone structure.
"I didn't know that." the techs were somber. "Just about every mundane born I know has a relative, a brother, a parent, someone who has died a mysterious death.. I wouldn't be a bit surprised if they.. we.. all rose up and slaughtered the inbreds to the last. but the New Transitional Government won't allow it, they say it's a waste of resources, and they have a plan.. Oi! Percy!, Can you come here a minute?"
The redheaded Governmental official came out of his office with a questioning look on his face. He leaned forward with a blank look intoned "Yooou Rang?" The head tech snorted at the ludicrousness of the statement. Getting laid more often had an astonishing effect on Percy.
"Um, yeah.. I was just telling Stevie here about the whole 'accidental deaths' thing that the Ministry and Inbreds have been creating, and wondered what the TransGov had in mind for these prisoners"
Percy went into Government Official Mode. "The judgement of the New Transitional Government is that no resource shall be wasted, and if a prisoner can be rehabilitated, then that shall be the case." he paused. The NTG has determined that the actions of the terrorist organization known as the Death Eaters has caused a deficit in our population, between the terrorist actions, the ongoing genocidal tendancies, and the high potential for squibs in the bloodlines.. that the genetic pool should be broadened."
The techs looked at Percy curiously "What does that mean?" Percy grinned. "That this particular prisoner will be mindwiped and sent to another country and bred with a female prisoner there, and their progeny will be taken, and raised as proper magical children." "Will he be able to provide healthy children, or ..?" Percy accioed his files. "According to the charts, his family has had 4 generations without too close a relationship, so once he's out of the UK gene pool, he should be allright. depends on the witch involved...oh ho.. that's interesting..." He was reading the files. "According to the judgment, this prisoner will be going to South Africa, and will work as a cage cleaner at a dragon preserve, and he will be matched with a Zulu woman who was convicted for multiple poisonings... Hmm.. My brother Charles will be the director of the preserve, and will also be overseeing the sentence." The head tech brightened. "Charlie?, How is he, I haven't seen him since,.. almost 4 years, I think.." Percy tidied up the file and sent it back to the office.
"Charles has been seeing an Auror a few years younger than himself, and they will probably get married sometime soon, I do know he is excited about gaining the directorship of the Dragon Preserve.."
Nott cringed as the techs worked over each set of bones, and the pain which came from the runes being etched into each and every bone. He could feel the magic draining out of him. He had never been an exceptionally powerful wizard, slightly above average for an inbred, almost up to the level of an average Mundane born..
A Gym/Dojo in central London:
Vernon followed the CEO and CFO of Grunnings into the large room, through a security checkpoint manned by scarily competent looking warriors armed with automatic weapons and some had short swords. The weapons were almost an afterthought, because even despite size, any one of them looked as if they could tear you a new asshole without even trying.
They went thought the security checkpoint and a modern glass and chrome and stone lobby where a beautiful woman watched over a set of screens monitoring various scenes. She had a electronic device inserted in her ear, and Vernon had a flash of memory .. the colored chicky on that Star Drek show.. The woman laid an eye on the three men and pointed through a door. "They are waiting on you, gentlemen." Vernon didn't notice the twitch her eye made as she looked at him, he just followed his superiors.
The great room was populated with troops much like the ones guarding the checkpoint, running, sparring, exercising, full contact martial arts, you could hear the grunt and thud of bodies hitting bodies, feet and fists on flesh. The smell in the air, of sweat and pherenomes made the lessers respect the alphas, and there were none more alpha than the pair on the central mat. Around the edge of the mat stood several people, some in uniform, some wearing business suits and some wearing traditional Gi and martial arts uniforms, depending on their training level.
"Welcome Mr Dunham, Mr Grega, Mr Dursley, if you will step over here we can get started." The men from Grunnings sat at a table provided, pulling out their briefs and placing them on the table, reports at the ready. The rest of the table was surrounded by executives from various companies and corporations who all answered to the overall consortium which owned them all, lock stock and barrel. There were nearly 50 busnessmen and women there, all dressed in the MBA uniform of power suit and tie, notepads and data entry devices at the ready, a group all at the ready to defend their actions and decisions.
A middle aged man stepped up tot he main podium, and spoke to the waiting executives. "Good morning, I'm Jeff Granger and I am the managing director of the Potter-Black Consortium, and I will be the one you will all be answering to for the next couple years, I hope we all can have a profitable and productive relationship." "Our overall owner and patron is ...currently occupied with Sensei Ping, and will be with us shortly." He glanced over at the mat defining the sparring area, as did almost all the executives. Horror was dawning in Vernon's mind, and his blood pressure was rising. He felt a calm power invade his mind.
"Drink the liquid in the glass in front of you"
he looked at the glass, and drained it in one gulp, as it seemed like the most perfectly reasonable thing to do. He felt the liquid flow through his veins, and a calm lay over his body. The blood pressure went down to reasonable levels, his angry face smoothed out, he felt mellow..at least his body did.. In his mind the inner Vernon was screaming for release. "NO NO NO , YOU FREAKS , NO, YOU CAN"T DO THIS TO ME"
The pair sparring on the central mat were circling, looking for an opening, feinting, working the odds to see if there was a way to gain advantage.. when it became obvious that there was no opening from the oriental man, the dark haired man let himself be hit in order to gain an opening.. The Oriental man thrust a fist into the dark haired mans ribs with intent to break a rib or otherwise disable his opponent. Contact was made and the dark haired man accepted the impact and pain, but was able to get a grasp on his attacker, who while extremely talented, in fact was the Sensei, he overextended and was pulled off balance and was suddenly face down on the mat with his shoulder out of joint and arm twisted behind him. He slapped the mat in submission, and was immediately freed and helped up by the dark haired man, and helped over to the waiting medical team who was on duty for the day.
A tall, sandy haired man threw a towel to the dark haired man, who thanked him and wiped down his face and neck. Tossing aside the towel and waving a hand over himself, he vanished any sweat and stink as the medtech did something on his left ribcage. Three beautiful women gathered around him and each kissed him, one after another, and lined up by his side.
Vernon watched all this activity, agape, not even noticing the warriors on the far side of the gym performing prodigious leaps of twenty feet or more, or the fact that magic was being used openly. The dark haired man rose from the cot and thanked the medtech, he then bowed formally to the Sensei who was being attended to and then walked arm in arm with the three women to the table where all the executive types sat. He sat the three women to his right, and sat at the head of the table. At his left was a middle aged man in an Armani suit, a scarily professional woman and man next over.
"Good afternoon everyone, we have some matters of business to take care of today, for those of you who don't know everyone, I am Lord Harry Potter-Black, and you all work for me." Vernon had just verified his realization of who the dark haired man was, except he didn't look anything like he had the last time he saw him..He wanted to rise up and tear into the boy, but found he couldn't move, couldn't speak, couldn't even get riled up.
"On my right, the most important people in my life, The Lady Hermione Potter, next is The Lady Daphne Black, and last, but not least, Mistress Pansy Granger." the ladies all smiled and nodded to the gathered. "On my left we have Dr Jeff Granger, who has accepted the job as Director of all business for the Potter-Black Consortium. He will be taking care of managing all the various companies that we operate, and seeing to their efficient, ethical and most importantly, Profitable operation. He is also father of The Lady Potter, and my Father-in-law." " Next over is Andromeda and Ted Tonks, who oversee the legal representation for all our corporate and personal activities, They also make up two fifths of the Magical Judicial Committee"
Next here is Clan Lord Philip Greengrass, who will oversee all corporate activities in the magical side of things, he is The Lady Black's father, and my Father-inlaw also"
"Over here, next to My Ladies" (you can hear the capital letters) "Is Captain Remus Lupin and his assistant, Warrant Officer Elana James, They run the mercenary forces, maintain security and are the primary managers of The Island." "If you will notice their people who are working out over there, you will see that they and their people are unusual. Some would say, Inhumanly fast, strong and dangerous, metahuman, if you will. They are Lycans, or in the common vernacular, Werewolves."
Some of the gathered executives looked scared, some were excited, some were just awestruck. Faces and attitudes were noted and marked down for later discussion.
"Last, but not least, my most loyal and faithful people, Dobby Potter and Winky Black, who work in various positions for me." He looked around at the gathered business people. "If either of them pops up in your office with a message or an order, it is to be dealt with immediately, for they are carrying my words directly. They speak for me." The more literate and intellectually curious among the watchers thought that these last two looked rather like Tolkeinesque elves.
"Now to business. You all work for me, as I said earlier, many of you are thinking that I look too young to be running a 20 billion quid a year business, and you'd be right. I inherited several business in the last year, from two different sources, and that was the basis of this conglomerate. When we started, we had assets of around 280 million pounds, several failing companies, due to greed, theft and mismanagement. Many of you have felt the sharp sword of decision between the bad and good, many people you know have been let go, put into other jobs, some fired outright, some have been incarcerated for fraud and theft." Since I have taken over, we have increased our projections on the existing companies to 368 million"
He looked about. noting that the faces were intent. "Look at the screens in front of you." "These screens are a outgrowth of a product we created 8 months ago, The M-phone." "At present of the magical population in The Uk, Scotland, Ireland and Wales, 90 percent have and use the M-phone on a daily basis. This makes us the primary form of communication and news for the entire population. I hope to put out a variant of this M-Phone in the hands of every mundane person in the UK within two years, along with the advertising content and profit from that source." He looked around at the attentive executives.
"The projected population for the UK is 65 Million people by 2011, and I want one of our phones in at minimum 75 percent of those hands." I want our source to be THE source for news and information in the UK." "I want OUR products to be the products the consumers buy, from the stores WE run and the homes they live in, the vehicles they drive, the schools they go to, the hospitals, the funeral parlors."
They all stared silently, waiting on the next words.
"And I want to do it Ethically, Honestly, and as soon as possible."
"We as a corporation will recognize the value of people, the value of personal inventiveness and ambition, but we shall not allow anyone to make their way in the world at the expense of another." His eyes met those of many, and of those many, some were enthralled, some were afraid, and one was absolutely terrified.
"First a bit of old business. Vernon, come here"
The voice had command, Vernon could not do anything but obey. Behind Harry was a large M-Screen, and on the tables in front of each and every executive was a smaller version. The screen showed a view of England from space, the entire island nation could be seen. The view zoomed closer and closer until it veered toward Surrey, West of London, out about twenty miles into the smaller towns and districts. Little Whinging, and finally 4 Privit Drive.
"Vernon, what is about to happen, you brought on yourself"
"November 2, 1981, I was dumped on the doorstep of this house by a man who though he knew best, no, better than best. The doorstep was that of my maternal aunt, my mother's sister, Vernon's wife, Petunia. The screen showed a horse faced woman, with a sneer on her face. "The next five years I was made to do whatever chores I was able too do, beaten when I failed, starved and thrown in a cupboard when I wasn't working." "The clothes I was given were rags, things that should have been thrown in the trash. I was told my parents were drunken whores and layabouts, I didn't know my given name until I was in school." The screen showed the cupboard, a five year old boy attempting to cook, and being hit with a frying pan for his efforts. "My arm was broken by their son, who hit me with a fireplace poker, and instead of medical care, I was thrown in the cupboard and ignored for four days, hoping I would die, I assume."
He looked at the shocked and horrified crowd. "All the time this was happening, The Dursley family was being paid 2500 Pounds a month for my care and feeding." Shock rippled through the watchers, and anger showed on many faces. "When school started, I was not permitted to outshine their pig of a son in grades or achievement, or I was beaten and starved some more." When I was 11 years old, I was given an opportunity to escape, to go to my parent's school, and potentially have a 'normal life' he finger quoted those words.
"Suffice it to say, the parenting and social skills of Vernon and Petunia Dursley leave much to be desired.. Their son is a thug who beats up children, steals and vandalizes, uses drugs, drinking and smoking and any other vice he can get into, all the while, parents are oblivious to the criminal under their own roof, the criminal they created. So, everyone, lets see how this story plays out.. watch your screens all."
Vernon stood there in the center of the meeting, frozen in place, his eyes riveted to the screen as he saw a variety of Police and government cars descend on 4 Privit Drive. The neighbors were out in force, gossiping and watching. The police came to the front door first and politely knocked. Petunia opened the door and her face went blank.
"What's this about?" she snapped. The Police inspector handed her papers. "This is a warrant to search this property for evidence of several crimes, please step aside. " She tried to push the door shut, but the larger Policeman opened the door in spite of her efforts. They entered, followed by two officers handling dogs, large German shepherds who sniffed and sniffed and poked in every corner. Petunia kept up a commentary, along the lines of "I have rights, you can't do this, when Vernon gets home.." That got the Inspector's attention. "Where is Vernon Dursley and when do you expect him home?" The woman finally spoke after a hard stare from the inspector. "
"He's in London for an important meeting with the Corporate Heads.." The inspector made notes. "We have a warrant for his arrest, but due to jurisdictional matters we are second in line, after the Inland Revenue Office, there seems to be the matter of 750,000 quid unreported on taxes.." Three business suited Governmental types came into the room, carrying briefs and lying them on the table.
Policemen were searching every corner, nook and cranny, Upstairs, downstairs, the basement, the garage, the garden shed. The sniffing dogs found something upstairs, and several officers were rooting through Dudley's room, and soon came out with evidence bags containing about 5 kilo of weed, pills, cocaine and some unidentified powder. The police checked with the inspector and handed over receipts with descriptions and evidence tags, and left. The next officers coming down were carrying Dudley's computer, and on the evidence tags a series of listings of some fairly nasty porn, but of more interest, credit card hacking tools and lists of numbers.
The guest room door was locked and Marge had barricaded herself inside, shouting vile language at the officers and threatening to shoot anyone who tried to come in the door. For now, the Police worked the other rooms. One of the Police dogs sniffed the cupboard under the stairs and the handler asked for a CSI team to check it out. Crawling in on their knees, they examined and tested and found bloodstains.. many layers of bloodstains , and evidence of someone held prisoner there. More notes and reports. The Police had snuck up and entered the guest room from the outside window, and tasered the fat woman, and they were able to extract her from the room. After the medtech did a once-over, she was placed on the couch next to Petunia and told to Sit, Stay.
Finally the Police searching died down. The inspector asked. "Where is Dudley Dursley?" Petunia shook her head no, refused to answer. Another man whispered to the Inspector. He called a pair of officers and directed them to Peirs Polkis' house where Dudley was found, passed out and hung over from weed and whiskey. He was brought to the Dursley home and placed on the couch also.
"The charges are as follows."
"Abuse and neglect of a minor" "Assault with intent to cause harm" "Theft by fraud, to wit, using money intended for the care of your nephew for your own purposes." " Allowing use and distribution of narcotics on the premises" "Non-payment of lawfully owed taxes"
" Because of the charges filed against Vernon and Petunia Dursley, the bank which holds the mortgage on this property has called that mortgage due, immediately. That bank has also frozen all accounts, checking, credit and savings accounts pending trial. Properties held shall be seized as collateral for the amount not to exceed 2,750,000 Pounds, and damages have not yet been ascertained."
"Marjorie Dursley. You have been charged with assault on a Police officer, and failure to control your dog." "Furthermore, the information we have just received points to your breeding, selling and trafficking in dogs for fighting. Your property has been under surveillance for over two years and we have video of dogfights held on your grounds. The RSPCA has quite an interest in your activities." He glared at her "And I hope you have had your shots, I will be very unhappy if my officer gets sick from your bite."
"Dudley Dursley, You are charged with multiple counts of assault on minors, breaking and entering, theft, trafficking in illegal drugs, to wit, Marijuana, Cocaine, various narcotics and prescription medications. You are also charged with having criminal tools and software on your computer, stolen credit card numbers and identification numbers. You are further charged with having and selling stolen property online via Ebay." "My specialist also tell me that you have stolen warez, that is to say pirated software on your computer, and that each instance of a stolen program can cost you a fine of up to 100,000 quid each..we'll get back to you on that subject.. The one I find most disturbing, Mr Dursley, is the child pornography you have... do you or have you ever touched a child in that manner.?" Dudley took after his father and turned purple and looked as if he was about to explode, or die in the process.
Back at the gym Vernon was locked in place, sweating in spite of the calming charms upon him. Harry stepped down from the podium and faced Vernon from a couple feet away.
"Don't think that if you have a heart attack and die, you can get away with your crimes, Vernon.. Death will not release you." He turned away as that statement sunk into Vernon's mind and heart.. Somehow, he knew that if he managed to die, he would be brought back to serve out his entire punisment, whatever that was.
Harry returned to the podium and got their attention.
"Now then.. for Vernon Dursley, we have:
Fraud, Conspiracy to commit fraud Theft of monies intended for another's care, Abuse, Neglect, Assault...Yes, Vernon, slapping around your nephew is indeed assault... Possession of your employer's goods, without authority, to wit, you have been manipulating your expense reports, and that's a no-no, Vernon. Allowing drug use in your home, allowing criminal behavior in your son, Encouraging criminal behavior in your son, to wit: giving advice on how better to beat on me.. "
"Petunia is charged with Abuse, Neglect, assault, Theft, as an accomplice, allowing criminal behavior in her son, allowing drug use and possession in your household, allowing possession of stolen goods in your household, ordering theft by commission, telling Dudley to 'keep an eye out for' certain goods...
Dudley is charged with: multiple accounts of assault, both on myself and multiple children from around the estate and also at Smeltings school..Drug use, Underage drinking, Distribution of drugs, posession of over 2 kilo of a controlled substance, designation him as a Dealer, and thus harsher penalties...lets see, where was I..oh yes.. Breaking and entering, theft, robbery, Assault in commission of a robbery, Stauatory rape, ..need I go on?..
"The Mortgage on your 'home' has been called in for immediate payment. Your credit cards are all frozen, and called for immediate payment, your savings, checking and any other accounts have been frozen, including your 'secret account' containing the deposits for my care and upbringing.. in short, the only money you have left right now is...lets see.." Harry gestured and Vernon's wallet flew out of his pocket and into his hand. "Ok, 147 pounds, a coupon for an all you can eat buffet in Wickersham, an oho, what's this?..." he pulled out a business card.."A card for Le Cygne, a world famous magical Brothel..I thought you hated Magic, Vernon.. unnaturalness, you called it.. Let me see what your kink is.." He pulled out his M-phone and dialed a number.. "Hello?, Penelope, how are you darlin?'.. good, good.. I'm calling in a criminal investigation.. I'd like your input on a customer.. Cardholder 1346679 used the name Vernon Corley..yes..yes.. " he frowned and gave Vernon a dark look."Thank You Penny, I appreciate it.. Come over to the house some time, The Ladies will enjoy your company, as will I" He smiled at his women who looked excited at the prospect. "Well, Vernon, Your alter, Vernon Corly is now Persona non Grata at Le Cygne due to your assault and injuries inflicted on one of their employees.."
He threw the wallet to the floor in front of Dursley. The screen behind him was silent, but you could see Police moving around, Petunia, Dudley and Marge cuffed and sitting on the couch.
"Lets just end this, shall we?.. Vernon, you could have had it all.. You could have been my closest advisor, you could have had Jeff Granger's job, you know that?.. Mr Granger will probably earn half a billion pounds this year, and that could have been you, but you just had to be a prick, a hateful bigoted prick. You have sown the wind, Vernon, now reap the whirlwind." He picked up the wallet and it glowed blue for a second. "One way portkey" . he stuck it in Vernon's mouth, silencing him physically as well as magically
"Goodbye Vernon"
The fat man whirled away and was seen falling to the floor in front of the couch on the screen. He was instantly arrested and cuffed. The Inland revenue agents placed a stack of papers in front of him, followed by police detectives with more papers, followed by more local police..
"Well, that bit of unpleasantness done, on to more interesting and profitable exercises.. We have a new invention that we are releasing to the magical world for now, The prototype was used here in this vid, when we EVACed a victim.." The video showed the medtechs removing Dumbledore from the wreckage of the Hogshead Tavern.. "The gurney you see here was devised and created by Doctor Tom Baker as an emergency medical support , based on the Military medevac services...
-===(0|0)===-
Minerva was weary , arranging for new professors for almost every task, There was hope that the curse on the DADA job was broken.. Harry had Bill Weasley and his team come in and investigate the offices and assorted other things throughout the school, They had found a linkage from the DADA office to a point in the Chamber of Secrets and another link to Tom riddle's award for services to the school.. Once Bill broke the linkage, the curse should be gone.. she certainly hoped so.. A potions master from California had applied, and was coming for an interview later today, along with a friend of hers who was an apprentice potions master.. they offered a tag team approach, where they both taught together, the apprentice giving the basics, reaction tables, processing procedures, safety instruction, while the Potions Master oversaw and taught the older, more proficient students..
Minerva found,, that with the Pureblood conspiracy broken, and practically extinct, there was a flood of mugg-mundanes coming back to the UK.. the brain drain that had been happening for the previous sixty years.. many wanted to teach, and had credentials from various places overseas, Europe, The Americas, both North and South.. more classes were going to be available now, things that had not been taught in years.. Binns had been banished to the afterlife and was to be replaced with a Col. Dubois who literally wrote the the book History and Moral Philosophy Col Dubois had made contact with the historians of the UK and they worked up a new method of teaching, and were presently gathering the information needed.. They were going to use a huge pensieve to teach History, where the students actually watched the memories of history being made, The Unspeakables had a huge store of memories saved from centuries of gathering.. the first formal acquisition of memories started in around 1300 with the Potter clans gathering them in earnest.
Since 1300 The Potter run Department of Mysteries had been gathering in earnest, and had first hand accounts of every historical event, from as many views as possible. How they gathered them was left a mystery, but in truth, whenever someone came to the Ministry, they were subject to scanning.. when they entered the floo in the atrium, whenever they used the magic phone booth from the outside world..
A team of histoorians was working on what they called "A true history of the past 800 years" There was so much to go through.. there were so many recordings just made in the Ministry alone, with the 'spy windows' that were set up in various places.. so much to be filtered out and just plain junk recordings.. During Harry and Hermione's first summer here they had learned so much about people they really didn't want to know.. personal habits, quirks..perversions..it became easier in some cases to just quickly scan over the recordings, watching for patterns, high points The historians would have decafdes of work building a timeline.. just to track the major events of the rise of Voldemort as a dark lord.. Col Dubois had his work cut out for him, not only writing and teaching the History of the magical world, but making it something that would impact the lives and attitudes of the people..
Minerva sighed.. The world had changed drastically in a few days, and now she was in charge of educating, no re-educating the people of their world. Luckily she had the resources and backing of two of the most powerful and ethical people the magical world had seen in too many decades, if not centuries. They were far beyond needing to take their seventh year, in fact they had masteries in 4 subjects between them, and were qualified to teach those subjects.. but they had asked to be treated as 'normal students' for their last year at school.. they were far far from normal, and the closest they could be was as Head Boy and Girl.. it had been their destiny all along, and since they were legally married, it was approporiate, but what to do with The LAdy Black.. Minerva just sighed and had the elves arrange for three rooms to be put together, and let Hary and his women sort it out themselves.. They couldn't use Potter Tower this year, apparently excessive use of Time compression charms and runes attracted an infestation..
Nargles.
Thousands and thousands of Nargles.. Luna had made mention of something like that when she had taken a room with the Potter clans.. most people ignored and some laughed.. Harry did not, as he had read the information left for him by his ancestors at the Department of Mysteries, in his private office.. Of course they called them something else and there was two ways of cleaning up the infestation.. in the DoM they opened a door into another reality and made an attraction rune at the entry, The Veil was usually moving because there was a constant stream of invisible creatures going by into that other reality.. where Sirius was.
The second, and theoretically easier method of removing a Nargle infestation involved a furry little creature with a odd looking horn, which feasted on the other critters.. Before they imported a flock of Snorkacks, Hermione insisted on an environmental assessment, what would happen if the snorkacks got loose in the magical environment of Hogwarts.. she had read recently about the whole rabbits in Oz and Armadillos an the US situation.. Xeno Lovegood was willing to admit th knowing where to find the Snorkacks, and arrangements were made.
Three breeding pairs were brought in and nested in Potter Tower, with adequate water supplies and the like, and the tower was sealed.. That year students would report hearing odd noises and crunching sounds, That year, also the Potter-black consortium was able to acquire enough of the magical fur to weave several more invisibility cloaks. The herd that had come to inhabit Potter Tower was removed after their work was done and resettled in the ancestral pastures and homes and when they were full up, the rest were taken to Gruinard Island to live. Eventually the herds stabilized and another almost extinct creature was brought back from the brink. Gruinard Island was finally put under a permanent speedtime charm and was the home base for all the Lycan race, between the Speedtime charm and the correct potions regimen the curse of lycanthropy was ended.. to the point that there were those who were asking to be turned. Supernaturally fast healing, strength, endurance, it all added up to a dream for many people..
Harry and Hermione met with Goyle's clients sometime in July.
"We know the story you told of wanting to get away from your families are false.. there's something else, isn't there..?" The woman sighed "How?" "I have been given authority in one of my other projects to do it in HRH name, and I have been briefed on.. assorted happenings.. the woman sighed again and looked to her companion. he spoke. "I my families culture there are those who have an ...attitude.. not all of them , mind, you, but a few.. every culture has them, you understand.. bigots, so-called revolutionaries, jihadists.. Most people just want to live their lives and be left alone, we do, you do.. but a few of the more radical types.. have tried on several occasions to kill us, because we are prominent, and some say symbolic in our respective worlds.. We believe that our driver is being controlled and will be taking us to our deaths, if not tomorrow, then soon, very soon." he held her hand. Her sons are very important, and we want to protect them..and get away ourselves.. can you do that?"
Harry looked to his women. A silent conversation followed.
He turned to the clients. "I just so happen to have an excess of ...bodies available.. these people are convicted criminals, people who have murdered for fun, so don't worry about that end of it.. We will give those bodies polyjuice potion and send them to yourdeaths, let them take the brunt of the situation.. and then we will give you two a make-over and let you get on with your lives, will that be acceptable?" The clients looked to each other and back, nodding. "Good, lets get this done as soon as possible.. first, your schedule, and we need to interview your driver.. see if he's innocent or not." They captured the driver and with veritaserum and obliviation, was let loose to go about his business. Two days later, the couple came out of a hotel and got into a black Mercedes and was chased by Papparazi, ending in a high speed crash in which both parties were killed. The clients sat in awe in a secured penthouse suite, watching the media go wild, the epic funerals and outpouring of grief. They had contacted her sons before and let them know that whatever they saw was not real, and they loved them, and in some future time would contact them.. It was the event of the century.. Some days later, some permanent transfiguration and makeover, two professional looking people slipped back into society and the world, and took up positions.. She worked as an international coordinator for OXFAM, and he oversaw Rebuilding and Water projects in his ancestral lands. They eventually had two children, a son and a daughter and lived happily ever after, Her first two sons were told of their new identities at their own coming of age. The meeting was good.