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Hogwarts
–Albus Dumbledore–
"Ancient Relic? What?!" He peered down at William's confused and concerned visage when he had cornered the up and rising Auror after his meeting with the Department Heads, more specifically, with the Unspeakables, as they explained the nature of the Troll conjuration to the Department Heads, just in case they encountered something like that out in the wild.
William's confusion seemed genuine, which either meant William had become an exceptionally skilled actor or it was not William but someone else from the Hawhtorne family who saw it fit to provide a very dangerous weapon to a student, knowing full well that such artifacts are strictly forbidden on the Castle Grounds.
"I suggest you contact your brother post haste. I imagine he has something very interesting to tell you. Until then, keep up the good work, Auror Hawthorne." Saying his piece, he left William be before Amelia descended on him for bothering one of her star rookies. Heading to the Ministry Atrium that had been arranged for the Press conference, he nodded at the gathered figures who, while not holding official positions, were nonetheless figures of power who could decide the direction of the Ministry.
One of them being the person who had stood up from his seat and was standing in his path.
"Mr.Malfoy," He greeted the man, stopping a polite distance away from the wizard who was, unfortunately, once upon a time, the prime sponsor for Tom's activities. While the money had largely stopped flowing in that direction, Lucios' thinking had remained the same, only suppressed for now due to the smart man recognising the flow of the wind.
Come tomorrow, if the winds changed flow, he will return to his ways, and that was most unfortunate.
"It's Lord Malfoy, Headmaster, but I suppose it could be forgiven, given your advanced age."
Ah. The old age play. Truly, something he had never heard before.
The deadpan on his face conveyed the feeling quite well, he supposed as Lucios' facial expression soured before he opened his mouth to continue this charade, one that he had no interest in continuing, not now when the public had to be assured about Hogwarts' and more importantly, the students' safety.
"I must apologize, Mr.Malfoy, but I have a press meeting to attend, and that cannot wait. I will happily oblige for a meeting, at your convenience. Until then, I have truly important stuff to do." Saying that, he patted Lucios on the shoulder, patronisingly, before moving to the Atrium, ready to face the barbed tongues of the Press.
___xx__
–Damian–
"Students! Classes will resume from tomorrow. Regular dinner schedules and protocols are back in place. Please refrain from rushing or crowding. I repeat! Classes wil…."
The same has been repeated in every single dorm in the Castle, as more and more details of the Troll incident began coming to light. The faculty member who died, although he was not really a part of the teaching team, was Filch. It was a surprise to him, but in hindsight, it made sense.
Filch was the only one who made rounds after curfew every day, all by himself. There was a curfew that day, and Filch must have taken his job of patrolling seriously, hence him roaming around in a castle that had a loose, dangerous magical creature. Something that was deadly even to wizards and his squib ass was moving around the castle as if the troll was something he could give detention to or deduct points from.
He sighed, settling down in his bed, the announcement echoing faintly from the common room, as he tried not to think of the surge of relief he felt when he was told the identity of the sole casualty of the troll incident. He felt anger, sure, but the intensity was far lower than what he felt when even the thought of one of the teachers dying had surged through his mind.
Intellectually, he knew that Filch was part of the Hogwarts staff and every life was precious, but somehow, he felt that the death of one of the teachers would have felt far more devastating than the death of Filch.
A sentiment that he was sure will be mirrored by most of the wizarding world. The death of a squib. Not something that will worry them all too much. He internally recoiled slightly in disgust when he realised his own thought process was far too similar to the rest of the wizarding population.
A thought that thoroughly disgusted him. He had seen what the average wizard thought of, and while it was benign in their opinion, their casual Subhumanization of the squibs, muggles, vampires, goblins, and werewolves had always disgusted him. To think that he could think the same simply because Filch was not really that important to the timeline? When even a butterfly's wing flapping interval was important to the future?
Sighing, he sat upright, ready to go down to the common room for dinner, vowing to make sure Voldemort was reminded of every single worthless person he had killed or died because of him.
Resisting the urge to track down Quirell since he did not know what had happened to the man and prematurely acting could alert Dumbledore about any interested third parties, he went down to the Great Hall for dinner.
Plus, he wouldn't put it past Dumbledore to set a trap with Quirell's death, to catch any interested parties. His last impression on Dumbledore had been a positive one, at least he hoped so. Saving fifty innocent thralls should have left a positive impression, right?
Well, there was also the matter of him destroying Azkaban and a couple of other known black markets in a single night, but he wouldn't hold that against him, right?
___xx__
After dinner, they were back in the dorm, but before going to bed, they were given one last announcement. Filch's funeral was going to be held in a couple of days, and the two Slytherin prefects were in stable condition, ready to go back to their duties in a week's time, courtesy of magical healing.
He was sure that the nobility was up in arms regarding the injured students being who they were, but since they were alive and out of harm, there wasn't a platform that the purebloods could gather to pressure Dumbledore. The best they could do was take their kids out of Hogwarts, but that could be construed as them taking a step back and that was not feasible to their large egos.
Hence, business as usual was probably coming back to Hogwarts.
The only reason for that was that Dumbledore had suppressed all the news regarding the special nature of the troll. His role, Harry's role, nothing was mentioned, which was nice. He did not need additional attention, on top of the one he was going to get from Dumbledore and the staff from here on out.
It helped that no wizard died from the troll attack because then the public would have raised a few questions, namely how the strong wizards that were teachers here could not handle a single troll? After all, it was common knowledge that every single faculty member active right now had been working with Dumbledore in the war against Tommy boy and had probably all seen active combat.
Their loss to a regular troll would have raised some questions. Since it was a squib who died, the world moved on without a question. When in reality, it must have taken multiple teachers' efforts to take down the thing, and even then, he was not sure they had something in their arsenal that could take down the troll quickly, not unless someone had the full power of the Hogwaters' wards behind them.
Changing positions in his bed, he thought of Sirius and how he must have gone mad, well more than he already was, in search of a way out. After all, Harry was his sole reason for survival, something he hoped to change soon enough.
Hopefully, tomorrow's newspaper came with the clarification about who died and who the injured students were, and how they were fine now. He expected that to come not on the first page, since that was not the kind of news that could create controversy.
Man, how f*cked would the wizarding world be if or when the power of the internet became available to the masses?
Rita Skeeter independent Journalist Blog? Investigative journalism YouTube channel?
Just thinking of it made him snort at the ridiculousness of it. It would surely end in disaster, but the benefit of the wizarding world being so isolated would allow the people in power to enact and then enforce their laws much more easily.
If normal internet or fibre did not work in magical areas and required special modifications, then he could totally foresee the ICW itself requiring any blogs or YouTube channels to obtain the same license that the newspapers had and go through the same bureaucratic hell that would discourage anyone halfway through.
The process itself is the punishment.
With that random thought going through his mind, he went to sleep. After all, he still had to wait for a few days to let things settle down before he could go and talk to Sirirus.
It was good that he had preparations for stuff like this, so even if he did not return, Sirius will be fine for years to come. Physically, anyway, mentally? That was not something he liked to think of.
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