The Slytherin Prince

⁴⁰| The Day of The Wizengamot {Part 2}

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The Slytherin Prince

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"Thoughts"

Letter

"~Parseltongue~"

":Deathtongue:"

~~~ August 29, 1990, 0700 hrs ~~~

~~~ Albus' POV ~~~

I sighed contented as I walked the halls of my castle looking at all the House Elves doing the routine clean up before the students arrived in three days. It would be an uncommon sight, for anyone other than the staff that lived in the castle year-round, to see House Elves out and about in cleaning in broad daylight.

It was common knowledge that the sign of a good House Elf is that it is neither seen nor heard, but those rules went out the Astronomy tower window when it came to the last week of August when they were anxiously cleaning the castle top to bottom, awaiting the students' arrival.

As I entered the Great Hall, a small smile appeared on his face due to the familiar sight. Severus was fighting to keep a sneer off his face when he looked at Sybill, who kept predicting horrible things will happen to everyone who could hear her. Pomona and Filus were, as usual, chatting away on something or the other. Septima, Aurora, Wilhelmina were having what seemed to be an interesting conversation. Quirinus seemed to be afraid of his potatoes, not an odd occurrence since he returned from his trip to Albania.

Rubeus and Silvanus were chatting away about some creature or another. Poppy, Rolanda and Irma seemed to be talking about an interesting medical development. As my arrival was noticed, a chorus of "Good Morning, Albus" and "How are you, Albus?" were thrown his way from the ladies. A nod from Filius and Severus was followed by Quirinus' squeaked greetings.

"Honestly, why did I even think of having that stuttering fool as a Defense Against the Dark Arts professor would be a good idea. That idiot seemed afraid of everything including his shadow'". I returned their greetings without giving away my thoughts or letting them show on my face.

But what immediately jumped out to me was that Minerva was nowhere to be seen, once again. She had stopped appearing for breakfast for around a month now and refused to tell me what she had been doing. She just informed me that she had her personal Elf bring her breakfast to her chambers. I tried to think what she might be up to and why she was suddenly being so secretive but just sighed as I pushed those thoughts away to peruse them later.

A small smirk appeared on my face as I thought about young Harry Potter who would be arriving at his halls just next academic year. He couldn't wait to bring the child under his influence and use him to destroy Tom, then take the boy's wealth for himself once he dies at Tom's hands.

He simply couldn't wait!

~~~ August 29, 1990, 0700 hrs ~~~

~~~ Hadrian's POV ~~~

"The Council chamber won't know what hit it!".

Nana Walburga just smiled and said, "They definitely will not, Hadrian dear". I just smiled back at her and addressed everyone, "All of you look stunning! Who's idea was this?".

"Surprisingly, it was Susan's. She took one look at the clothes we were supposed to wear and called for a family meeting, well other than you, of course, she wanted it to be a surprise" answered Aunt Amelia. I smiled at Susan, "Brilliant work, Susan. Why did you not inform me though?", I mock pouted. "All of us could have matched together", I said, as I wiped imaginary tears away.

She just smirked. "Oh, that's exactly why I didn't want to let you in on the secret. I don't want you to match with us, I wanted you to stand out and show yourself off in all your glory" she said cheekily. Then, she added, "It's true Hadrian, I wanted to rub into Dumbles' crooked nose that you have become the very thing he hoped to prevent from happening by bribing your Uncle. I want him to know that his plan backfired spectacular and blew up in his overly long bearded face" she ranted her heart out.

I chuckled at her little speech but was truly touched that they had prepared this little surprise for me and had put so much thought into it.

"Thank you so much, Susan, for considering all the factors, and thank you, everyone, for coordinating as a family even though there is some bad blood between some of you in the past I hope with time all of you can explain your side of the situation to each other and forgive each other," I said smiling softly as I sat down at the head or the table.

At this Uncle Lucius snapped for an Elf to fill all the goblets with champagne, "To that, I think we can make an exception to drink in the morning" said as he raised his Goblet and drank deeply. The other followed suit and followed. The children and I gagged slightly at the weird taste as it was our first time as the adults and Dora laughed at our expressions.

I just stuck my tongue out at them and pouted, which just made them chuckle louder.

I just rolled my eyes and started eating my eggs and sausages. Today was going to be a toting day, so I ate my fill and then some to ensure I am at my strongest when entering the meeting and make sure I can get out with my life.

The normal chatter picked up as Nana Walburga, Nana Augusta and Aunt Minerva started discussing the politics within their social circles. Uncle Lucius, Moony and Uncle Ted started chatting about some law or other that they hope they could modify or abolish. Aunt Andromeda, Aunt Narcissa and Aunt Amelia started talking about happenings at the Ministry and the new cases that Tonks & Tonks law firm had acquired.

The Heirs around the table chatted amongst themselves about a range of things. Dora and Susan were chatting about the different Houses in Hogwarts, their dynamics on how they're run and the advantages and disadvantages of being put in different Houses. Draco and Neville were chatting animatedly about different Quidditch positions, once again, for the trillionth time.

I sat there as I listened to them, smiling fondly.

Finally, it was almost time for the Meeting to start. as we had already planned this, no one was freaking out that we would be late to the Council chamber. This had been a tricky part as it was an obvious power play to make the others wait for our arrival, but, the difficulty lied in getting the correct balance between making the Wizengamot wait and being disrespectfully late. Being disrespectfully late could mean risking the ire of the people he needed to convince to his side, which would be foolish.

But being on time would also have some consequences as everyone had to be there and witness for themselves the power I held and the influence I already have. Thus after thorough consideration and advice from the adults experienced in playing in the political game, it was decided that we would be late by exactly three minutes.

It might not seem like much but usually, all the members would be in the council chamber as early as an hour before the meeting commences - to socialise or scheme, depending on who we are talking about.

As everyone finished their morning meal, all of us moved to the Floo room attached to the Entrance Hall to Floo over to the Ministry. Unlike last time, there were too many people to travel in one go so we had to Floo over to the Atrium in groups. The order in which we will Floo was already decided according to Family rank. This was also not hard to decide as it was Wizarding etiquette. Whenever entering the lowest ranking family will enter first followed by the more powerful families, however, while travelling in a group the most powerful family will lead and the rest will fall in rank behind them accordingly. Though everyone gathered here was already part of the higher echelons of the British Magical society, there were still class divides amongst us and ranks and masks to be followed and worn in public.

A/N - Here y'all are! Another part to this story that all of you are supporting so much! I still can't believe that my story, my imagination and ideas have received such a welcome and appreciation. I'm still in denial that my story has over 160,000 reads. I'm simply ecstatic. I can't thank you all enough :) Hope you enjoyed this part and hope you enjoy future ones too, and as always please let me know on any mistakes, critiques and opinions!