( Monday )
Chewing on his bacon as he read the Monday morning paper, he thought the Prophet articles this morning to be rather dull and boring, before he felt a light weight sit down next to him on the wooden bench. "Good morning, cuz," Tonks greeted as she helped herself to the food on his plate with a spare fork.
"Good morning," he responded, refusing to show any irritation at having his breakfast shamelessly stolen, before drinking from his glass of pure orange juice.
"Have you heard?" Tonks asked as she next pinched a sausage off his plate, before biting into it.
He valiantly resisted the urge to make a sex joke about sausages and Tonks' fondness for them. "Heard what? You'll have to be a bit more specific, my dear," he expressed, before folding the paper and putting it away in his backpack, to later read in History of Magic.
"Ginny Weasley went home sick; turns out that she contracted a rare case of the blue pox on Sunday and had to be quarantined immediately until she was declared non-contagious," Tonks offered, before taking a second bite.
"No, I hadn't heard," he offered back, slipping deep into thought at the news and the removal of one of his prime suspects for the heiress of Slytherin. "Convenient timing, given the chat I just had with the Headmaster after Saturday's Quidditch match."
She gave him a knowing smile at his remark. "I thought the same," Tonks voiced in agreement as she stole a piece of buttered toast off his plate, slowly getting on his nerves as more of his carefully chosen breakfast was stolen. "Cover story?" she asked quietly.
"More than likely. The Weasleys are close supporters of Dumbledore and friends with Longbottom. It would look bad on both of them, and indirectly all of the 'light' political faction in the Wizengamot, if news got out of her involvement," he agreed, returning to his meal.
Over the next quarter of an hour, more students filed into the Great Hall for their morning breakfast; most were busy discussing the weekend Quidditch results, both the school's and national, such as Hufflepuff beating Gryffindor. Others were talking about letters from home; others were just plain gossiping.
"Attention, your attention please," the deputy Headmistress called out to the Great Hall, grabbing everyone's attention. "It's time for morning announcements. First, as some of you may already know, Ginny Weasley came down with a case of blue pox on Sunday.
Due to the serious nature of her condition, she has been removed from the school for the rest of the term; she should be back after Easter," he sent a meaningful look at his cousin, who nodded back.
"Given the nature of this illness, Madam Pomfrey has asked me to hand out medical leaflets so that you are aware of the warning signs," the deputy headmistress stressed, her eyes scanning the Great Hall.
"However, given your youthful penchant to ignore such educational leaflets, the warning signs are tiredness, despite having proper sleep, high temperature, a cold, and your magic being more difficult to control.
I know some of you will use this as an excuse to skip lessons, but this is a serious condition, which can cost you both your life and magic if left untreated. So, please, take this seriously. If you have any doubts, please go to the school nurse for an examination," she finished with that, before waving her wand, and a leaflet appeared in front of each of them.
He noticed the feline grin on the headmistress' face. "Of course, with the temptation to avoid lessons and hard work, you will need a medical note to miss any classes. If you do not have an official note, then I and the other teachers must assume that you are skipping and we will assign you 3 hours of detentions, with an additional hour each time after.
Professor Snape has already agreed to oversee these detentions," before sending a pointed look at her own table. "Naturally, if you want to wish Miss Weasley a quick recovery, please ask her brothers for their home address. That is all."
Turning back to his breakfast, Tonks spoke up again. "Do you know what's up with Penny yet?" looking up the table towards the older girl who again had chosen not to sit near Harry.
He sighed, before looking up the table to his errant friend. "Nope, you?" he admitted.
"You should just say sorry," Tonks expressed with a shrug. "Take it from a girl; it only gets worse the longer you wait."
"I don't know what I'm meant to be sorry for!" he countered with annoyance. He would be willing to apologize if he knew exactly what he had done; he would even lie and say that he was sorry, but he didn't know what he had supposedly done. Even a fake apology without that rather crucial information seemed destined for failure.
He also made a mental note to talk to Rita to begin an investigation into Ginny Weasley, to find out whether she was the one responsible for opening the Chamber of Secrets.
Truthfully, it was his Ravenclaw nature coming through, the desire to know everything. 'I still need to work on deploying those mirrors,' he admitted, knowing he had been distracted from implementing that plan. Even if the information potential was unlikely to be much, he would learn a great deal in the implementation alone.
...
( Ministry of Magic – Wizengamot Chamber )
Damn, he hated this part of his freedom, the need to play the part of an almighty Lord of a Most Ancient and Noble house and listen to pompous speeches from opposing factions who couldn't agree that water was wet without intense debate. The current topic was debated backwards and forwards and across and diagonally on the Wizengamot floor.
This was magical politics at its worst; it wasn't arguing the point, or constructing the most effective argument on policy with hard facts, it was effectively grownups bitching, moaning, and exchanging petty insults, some subtle and some not. "Bored, Lord Black?" Lord Greengrass enquired quietly, leaning in so that they weren't overheard by the other Lords around them.
"Indeed, I feel like I'm in detention actually, being punished for my latest prank," Sirius expressed with a tired sigh, sensing Nicholas' grin through his closed eyes.
"I wouldn't know anything about detentions. I never allowed myself to get caught," Nicholas offered with a smirk, as the two parties on the floor in front of them continued to argue over the proposal.
"Of course you wouldn't," he snarked back with a mischievous smile as the arguing in front of them got even more intense.
A loud boom sounded through the room as a sound like a cannon echoed through the courtroom, silencing the two debaters and the loudly bickering parties in the tiered seats as the Chief Warlock stood up in his high box. "That is the end of the time allotted for debate on this topic. Since there was no agreement, the vote will be postponed," the headmaster of Hogwarts said with some amusement as none too quiet groans echoed throughout the legislative chamber. "The debate will be continued in two weeks time, on Friday afternoon," the elderly wizard concluded.
"I'll be sick that day," Sirius muttered under his breath, knowing that he wasn't alone with that plan after listening to such tedious debate for the last three hours.
"I wouldn't if I were you," Nicholas offered sagely. "The Chief Warlock generally uses such unimportant seeming debates as distractions, to discourage people from attending that particular assembly, whilst his own people turn up in force and a more important topic is brought to the floor and fast tracked. With all his people in attendance, a quorum will be had and Dumbledore will then call for a vote. His people will force the vote to happen immediately, whilst opposition numbers are low."
"That's really sneaky," Sirius offered, trying to wrap his mind around the tactic. "Any idea what the matter is?" he asked the far more experienced political operator.
"No, it might not even be his own piece of legislation, but another faction's that he wishes to undermine, without appearing to," Nicholas offered, running a hand through his blonde hair, pushing it away from his face. "By the way, Cynthia was wondering if you were available to come around for dinner this Sunday evening."
He considered the offer for a couple of seconds before deciding to accept. "Sure," he voiced with an easy smile. He was no fool; he knew that Nicholas was using him to increase his own faction's standing, but it was a fair exchange as it offered Sirius the same in return, as well as a chance to learn the ins and outs of current Wizengamot politics, like who was in whose pocket, etc. Plus, Nicolas' food and wine was always good.
...
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