the marriage stone (Discontinued)

Chapter 66 - Synesthesia

"He can't," Draco replied. "There must be at least twelve members of the Wizengamot in session at any given time for it to be legal. It used to be made up of twelve inner council member, lead by the thirteenth member called the Chief Warlock - all spots earned by Right of Magic. The outer council was made up of twenty to a hundred lesser members which were either elected or appointed."

"Twelve inner circle members and a Chief Warlock?" Hermione frowned. "That sounds like the same structure as Voldemort's Inner Circle."

Harry noticed passively that everyone in the room cringed at Hermione's words, and it took him a moment to realize they were reacting to the name Voldemort. He had the sudden urge to start giggling, and barely managed to suppress the impulse. The fog in his head thickened.

"There was a time when that was the message You Know Who stood for," Draco began, only to be stopped when a dozen mistrustful glares were turned toward him. He glared back at all of them just as fiercely. "Don't look at me like that!" he protested. "It's in the history books! I think we can all agree that he's a bloody mad man now, but there was a time when all he did was preach a political message about a return to the old ways. People all over the world were upset about the constant encroachment of Muggle society into ours. That's why people were so willing to join him."

"People like your Aunt Bellatrix?" Neville asked angrily, showing some of his Gryffindor backbone for the first time in a long while. A number of Gryffindors in the room began grumbling in agreement - several seventh year students had moved closer to the group and were eying Draco mistrustfully now.

Draco's blue eyes hardened to stormy gray. "I'm not responsible for my Aunt's behavior."

Neville set his jaw stubbornly. "Sounds to me like you're happy about this return to the old ways."

"Back off!" Ron suddenly growled, and Harry saw Draco flinch at the sound. But one look at Ron showed that he was glaring at Neville, directing his words toward the Gryffindors. The look of surprise on Draco's face was almost enough to make Harry start giggling again. "He's one of us, remember?" Ron informed Neville and the others. "He stood beside us and defended Harry."

Ron's words seemed to strike home, for the glares vanished, and Harry found himself blinking in surprise. That's right, he told himself, Draco had been there yesterday, hadn't he? He couldn't help but think he ought to say something himself, but Ron appeared to have things well in hand - even the seventh years backed down at his words. Harry smiled faintly - he was too tired to think clearly anyway.

Hermione however huffed in exasperation. "Can we get back to the conversation at hand and leave the testosterone in the Quidditch locker room?" she demanded.

"Oye!" Katie Bell called out from where she was sitting with some of the other seventh year girls. "There are girls on the Quidditch team too!" Her comment prompted a lot of good natured teasing from the other students.

Hermione rolled her eyes in annoyance. "I just want to know what happens if Lucius Malfoy tries to take all the seats on the Wizengamot?"

"He's not likely to be able to take all the seats," Harry told her, remembering something else Dumbledore had told him. "There's a Vampire Lord who's already taken one of the seats and I doubt Malfoy will want to duel against him. Also another werewolf has claimed a seat in Remus' name. And my sister-in-law, Diana, claimed a seat as well. If Malfoy challenged her, he'd have an army of Vikings hunting his blood." Actually, now that he thought about it, that might be rather entertaining to watch.

"Remus?" Hermione's eyes widened at the thought. "He holds a seat?"

"Wasn't his idea," Harry admitted. "But apparently that's legal as well."