"Yeah, well; if I don't get any entertainment soon I'm going to start pranking the entire body," he grumped. "If they're not going to provide me with entertainment, I'm going to provide it to them."
"Harry!" exclaimed Hermione, obviously scandalised. "You can't just go pranking the Wizengamot!" "Why ever not?" he asked. "They're now my peers; and old Fudgy-boy forced me to sit with them. They're fair game now."
"Harry," interrupted Daphne. "It's you who originally led the idea that you should receive an Order of Merlin. It's you who made public your battle with the basilisk in the Chamber of Secrets. As such, it's you who set in motion the events that led to you earning a seat on the Wizengamot.
"If you didn't want the seat we didn't have to push Madam Longbottom to get you your Order of Merlin. That means, you are now a member of the Wizengamot because it's something you wanted."
Harry looked back at his pureblood wife with a look of incredulity and sulkiness. "The Wizengamot didn't have to make the Order of Merlin an automatic seat within their own body."
"Now you're clutching at straws," she calmly replied. "The rule that holders of the Order of Merlin be seated upon the Wizengamot comes from centuries ago. It's not something new they introduced just to annoy you."
"Damn it," he grumbled, knowing he'd well and truly lost this one. With a sigh he said, "I can't hand it back now, can I."
"Nope," she replied with a light smile. "Nor can they strip it from you without very, very good reasons. One of which must include that the reason is because the events that took place for which you earned it were falsely reported. And, we know that's not the case."
"Alright," he sighed. "When can I appoint a proxy?" "After the first year," she replied. "And then, only for the Wizengamot meetings. If you're selected for any of the panels, depending for what the panel is selected, you'll need to appoint proxies for each from the membership of said panel."
"No easy way out, then," he sighed.
"Deliberately so," she replied. "They want their members to actually carry out their roles, and not proxy them off to others."
"Well, something to worry about next year," he said. Changing the subject, he asked, "What's up now? No, no - don't tell me homework, right?"
Both wives just smiled back.
During the time, both wives kept an eye on the stewing lacewing flies for the Polyjuice Potion. And, once the required twenty-one days had passed, they set to work on the rest of the Potion. The riskiest part was needing to sneak out of the castle to pick the fluxweed out in the Forbidden Forest on the night of the full moon.
"Just as in second year, we'll have enough for four doses," said Hermione, almost absentmindedly. "It'll be a good idea to keep the extra doses under a stasis charm. You never know when we might need them."
"Do we know how much makes a dose and how much Crouch keeps in that flask of his?" asked Harry.
"Good point," said Daphne. "I recommend just switching out one dose, though. With the amount he's been downing on a regular occurrence I doubt he'll realise he has a different amount between before and after we switch them out."
"Fair call," said Harry. "Besides, the weight of the flask itself should throw off any chance he has to doubt how much he had."
Harry then left his two wives to finish brewing the potion, and returned to the living room to further study and try to memorise strings of ancient runes and their
The following month's Wizengamot meeting saw Dolores Umbridge, once again, attempt to introduce a 'dark creatures' law. This one would require all 'creatures' to be registered with the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures or face heavy fines, if not a stay in Azkaban.
And, for the first time, Harry spoke among his new peers. He spoke against. During the week leading up to the sitting, Harry sat with his wives and they went through the points Harry would cover. They included: Where would the money come from to pay for it? If there is any leeway in the budget to pay for it, why hasn't that money already been assigned to boost their Auror forces, who have been hit the most due to budget cuts over the past decade? As it isn't covered in the literature sent to members for debate, what defines a 'creature'? Do 'half-breeds' count as creatures? What defines a 'half-breed'; half, quarter, one-eighth, one-sixteenth? Then hit back that the matter has not been properly thought through and requires a great deal more effort on the part of the mover before they submit such ill-thought 'concepts' to the Wizengamot for their perusal.
In other words, slap the horrid woman down where it hurt her; by showing her up to be pretty much incompetent and ill-prepared in her job. While, simultaneously, showing Harry to being both a voice of reason and considered thought.
On the day and when he rose to speak, Harry was also mindful of not losing his temper, and keeping his voice both measured and displaying concern and disappointment. He'd learned those from carefully analysing Dumbledore's manner of verbal communication.
In summation, he said, "Therefore, Chief Warlock, it is my much considered view the Bill requires significantly more work before this august body should be forced to consider it in detail. I believe this body's time would be better spent on properly prepared submissions rather than just a document that appears to be no more than just an over-reaching concept outline that gives naught than just the appearance of a legislative work. We debate law, here; not ideas."
In the end, the motion went from a slight advantage to supporting the motion to a near landslide against. The feelings of the Wizengamot were clearly so against the motion by the time Harry finished speaking, that the Pink Toad was forced to withdraw the motion completely to 'give greater thought to Mister Potter's concerns before resubmitting it for a second time'.
As the session broke, Harry found himself near-swamped by other members who approached to congratulate him for his concise and well-reasoned arguments. And to 'wonder' at his views on other issues. Of course, in among them were also remarks such as they found themselves surprised that such a young man could speak so well on such a topic. A backhanded complement if there ever was one.
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