In the end, Rosier was sentenced to seven years minimum security incarceration in Azkaban. When the sentence was 'read' it was obvious he expected such. He just nodded and waited to be taken away.
Because the case did not take long, Augusta Longbottom was brought in almost as soon as Rosier was led out.
As soon as Harry saw her, he was pissed. The bitch was not just wearing expensive and well-tailored witches' robes, she had the audacity to wear robes that reflected she was the Regent of Longbottom. A position for which she knew she'd been stripped.
Ogden saw it and snarled. Quite a few others were unhappy seeing it, too.
As soon as she was sat in the defendant's chair and the chains bound her, he said, "Aurors. Missus Longbottom wears the crest of Longbottom, signifying her being the Regent of Longbottom. We all know it not to be true. Remove it, at once!"
When 'Rosier' - Harry still refused to acknowledge her by her married name - tried to protest, the auror ignored her and tried to vanish it. When it couldn't be vanished, he cut it out. It left a large hole in the breast of her outer robes, but no one cared.
Once it was gone, the auror stepped away again, but only as far as two paces behind her and with his wand drawn.
When the charges were read, Harry thought she might have already 'gauged' the members' reactions and decided to plead guilty. However, she stuck to her wand and, in an arrogant manner, pleaded not guilty. Harry was both pleased she didn't - as it meant the punishment would be harsher - and annoyed she still didn't acknowledge she'd done something wrong.
The case proceeded apace and, finally, they were done.
Again, up went the privacy ward. There were quite a few Lords and Ladies, the dark families, who wanted to toss her into Azkaban and throw away the key. However, there was a significantly large block who believed she could not be held accountable for the actions of her brother.
The final result was six months - three for each count - in Azkaban minimum security for failing to alert the DMLE to the deliberate endangerment of the Heir Apparent of a Noble and Most Ancient House by her brother, two counts.
She was firmly told it was not her decision to make or take. And that, just because she was regent of the House at the time, was irrelevant.
She was led out stunned silent in shock, clearly in disbelief they'd actually imprison her for it.
As soon as she was gone from the chamber, Ogden called for a thirty minute recess and reminded everyone they'd be electing a new Minister as the first order of business once they met in general session.
Harry immediately scarpered towards the visitors' gallery in order not to be waylaid by those who 'wanted to know his views on certain matters' or wanted to 'congratulate him for his rhetoric in the first case'; he never spoke one way or the other for the second.
Sirius followed him over, after blocking those who immediately tried to chase after him.
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
Up in the gallery, Harry plonked himself down on the seat next to Wendell and said, "Phew! I'm glad that's over."
He thought he might have seen Frank there, but he'd obviously chosen to go directly into the antechamber to speak with members. Harry also should have gone to the antechamber, but chose to spend a bit of time with Wendell.
With the election of the new Minister coming up as the first order of business, Harry didn't want anyone trying to either plead for his vote or get a sense of which way he would vote. Plus, he'd rather use the time to speak with one of the two men who had become his 'father figures'; and the other had chosen to sit on his other side, anyway. Sirius had also decided not to get involved in the last-minute vote pleading.
"That was... interesting," said Wendell. "Thank you for recommending I come and watch it."
Harry nodded and said, "If it wasn't because of the major divide between light and dark Houses, I'd call it too many chefs in the kitchen. However, it surprisingly works.
"Besides, the cases, while relating to the same matter, also dealt with matters pertaining to a Noble and Most Ancient House. No one was going to be missing that. Especially, when the second case was relating to a woman who was once Lady of the House and, lately, the Regent. She also held the post of Chief Adjudicator right up until the last session, right before Christmas; and was slated to become either the Next Chief Witch or Minister.
"There are many who take great delight in cutting down one of the 'tall poppies'; and Augusta Longbottom was one of the tallest. A real political powerhouse."
Wendell nodded and said, "What's next?"
"The boring part," sighed Harry. "First up, we're all called back to sit in general legislative session. The first order of business is the election of the new Minister. After that, we'll see."
"Any ideas on who that might be?" he asked.
"My money's on either our man, Tyler Stebbins, or Lord Gabriel Brunt," replied Harry. "At first we were going to support Lady Jacinta Cauldwell, but we changed our mind at the last minute when we realised she'd not get the votes. Brunt's a Neutral and doesn't belong to any alliance. All the formal Alliances, including ours, have courted him; but he's refused every one. He has a lot of respect among the members, just for that."
Sirius said, "My money's on Brunt, too. I don't think Stebbins has a chance, because many see him as a Ministry flunky and in your and Frank's pocket, Harry."
Harry gave a grunt of annoyed amusement. "He is and he isn't. Yes, he's a member of the Alliance, but he's always been true in putting his responsibilities above the Alliance, every time. And, neither Frank nor I can be annoyed at him about that, as we both know we'd be the same."
When the members were again called to session, both Harry and Sirius quickly excused themselves and returned to the tiers and their seats.
As soon as the session was called to order, Ogden banged his gavel to start and, as promised, called for the vote of Minister. None were allowed to speak as the time for that was past. If there was no clear winner, only then would they be allowed to speak.
However, it was not required. Lord Gabriel Brunt of the Noble and Elder House of Brunt won on the first round. The Elder House of Brunt was one of those who's nobility came from the muggle world when a son of a Marquessate turned out to be a wizard. It was the same path Harry was investigating to see if Finch-Fletchley could become a new Noble House.
Amelia immediately swore him in and Ogden asked him to take his seat in the Minister's chair. As he approached it, the members all stood and applauded him in congratulations.
As soon as he sat, the members followed suit. Then Ogden, as per tradition, asked him to give a few remarks.
Of course, Brunt stood and did just that, after withdrawing a small set of slips of parchment from an inner robe pocket.
'He was prepared for this,' thought Harry, as soon as he saw the man pull out the slips. 'Good. We might not have elected another daft moron, after all.'
Then followed about two hours of matters so riveting in Harry's interest he could have found more pleasure in watching grass grow or paint dry.
As soon as the 'normal' work of the Wizengamot commenced, Sirius pulled a book out of a pocket, sat back and began to read it.
The mongrel, in Harry's opinion, just smirked at Harry on and off for the next ten minutes before he pulled a second book out of the same pocket and handed it to his godson.
The look on Harry's face made Sirius have to smother a chuckle.
When Harry looked over to a reseated Frank Longbottom, he could see the man had a copy of the Daily Prophet out and folded so it was easier to handle while he was reading articles.
Harry sat back and started to read the book. However, as soon as he opened it and began to read, he realised it was a book titled, 'How to Woo your Witch (In Ten Easy Steps)'.
When he, shocked, turned to look at his godfather, he realised the man had up a localised silencing bubble and was laughing at him.
'Laugh it up, chuckles,' he venomously thought. 'Payback is a female boarhound'.
Then, as he had nothing else to do bar read the book Sirius had given him, began to plot his revenge while pretending to read and pay attention to some idiot prattle on about ensuring quality in potion ingredients.
'Really,' he mentally scoffed. 'There's been a decent set of laws in place about that for more than three hundred years, dutifully updated when and where necessary. Why, the hell, did this idiot want to revisit it?'
After a further ten minutes of the man's waffle he realised why. He sold commercial quantity potions ingredients and had quite a few shipments determined to be of too low a grade to be allowed to sell. Now he wanted the law changed to put the onus on the Apothecary to make that determination, rather than the Ministry's inspectors; and was claiming it would be an excellent way to save money.
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