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Three heads were buried behind stacks of law books on separate tables in the Malfoy family library. Harry and Neville each brought over a truck of books they thought would be useful for their search from the Black, Potter, and Longbottom libraries. Every now and then they were read aloud some obscure law that was on the books that were either horrifying or down right hilarious. Each had to wonder what type of potions their ancestors were on when they voted and passed these laws.
Their search started out as a way to invalidate the marriage laws that Percy Weasley pushed through. However, as the days went by it quickly grew to revenge as Harry and Draco were bombarded with marriage proposals from the families of eligible young men and women in Britain, France, Spain, Italy, Australia, United States, and other European countries. Enterprising people tried to break into their homes, owl mailed port keys, and there were even a few kidnapping attempts in the streets. In broad daylight!
What made it worse were the efforts of Pansy Parkinson and Ginny Weasley on Draco Malfoy and Harry Potter respectively. They never heard the end of it from those screeching voices. Not to mention young “ladies” mothers. Word on the street was that they already had accepted delivery of their wedding gowns. Harry had added pressure from the great and mighty Albus Dumbledore to marry Ginny. Neville was along for the ride since it was only a matter of time before someone tried to get their claws into him. His grandmother had just started making hints about future spouses just the other morning.
Neville sat staring at the open page of the book in front of him for several minutes. He read and re-read the passage he found several times trying to make sure that it said what he thought it said. He finally took the book over to where Harry and Draco sat huddled over another book sharing snarky comments back and forth. He thought he heard something about armadillos and shoe strings but that couldn’t be right. There weren’t any armadillos in England. “Hey guys. Does this say what I think it says?” He handed them the open book.
Both men read the passage, shared looks, and re-read it again just to make sure.
“What?” Draco exclaimed with an expression of horror on his face. “What is this? Where did you find it?”
Neville opened his mouth to say it was from Black library but Draco interrupted him, “No, I don’t want to know. Who would come up with something so…horrifying? Really, stop. I don’t want to know!”
Harry carefully continued to read the next couple of pages that explained the law, requirements, and stipulations. He sat and thought, returned to the text and thought some more. After several minutes of silence he said, “I’m hungry. Who’s ready for lunch?” At that, he got up and walked out of the library to the small dining room near the library which the house elves had prepared for meals.
Draco and Neville stared after him as Draco said, “He’s cracked.”
They continued to share looks of concern with each other as Harry just sat and ate in silence.
“Umm, Harry?” Neville finally found the courage to ask him if he was alright. He didn’t think the law would cause a mental breakdown in one of his best friends.
Harry finally broke his silence by asking, “Who do we know that would be impacted by that law?”
Draco thought for a few seconds and could only come up with one family. He said, “The Weasleys; specifically Percy and Ronald Weasley.”
“I love Arthur. I really do. But his spunk was definitely defective after the twins were born. It explains so much about Ron. All the good bits went to the others and he got the junk pieces left behind. We cannot let the defective, leftover bits of DNA he passed on to Ron continue in the gene pool. We owe it to the future. What if one of our kids or grandkids decided to get with one of Ron’s progeny? They’d be introducing that genetic nightmare mess into our bloodlines.” By then, Harry was up and pacing the room.
He continued his rant, “Furthermore, you’ve seen what he’s done to Hermione. She hasn’t been the same person since they got married. I love the girl like my own sister if I had one but she’s not the same. He and Molly have just about killed that passion for learning. The marriage contract they coerced her to sign should be a crime against magic. It’s got to be done before he gets her pregnant or she’ll be magically compelled to stay with him for life. The twins and I can only slip her so many contraceptive potions before we get caught.”
Neville agreed about Ron but, “And Percy Weasley? Could we really do that to him?” he grimaced at the thought. What they found was extreme and every man’s worst nightmare but to actually consider it gave him the willies.
“After what he’s done? It’s nothing more than he deserves. It’s not just us impacted by the marriage law he dug up from somewhere and it’s not like he’s impacted by it. Remember, the law says that all first and second born children must be married by 20 or the married family member next in line would inherit the family trust. I for one do not what the Potter and Black family fortunes going to some Dumbledore arse kissing sycophants. You know as well as I do what kind of damage he can do with that kind of money.” Harry finished his rant and slumped back into his seat.
All three men were silent. Draco asked them both, “So we’re agreed then? We’ll bring it up at the next session.”
“No. Not the next one. It will give them time to come up with a way to counteract the law. It will have to be the June 20th session. The instructions for the ritual say that it must be started at sunrise on the solstice and the next one is June 21st.” Harry said.
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June 20th dawned bright as the three young men gathered in the halls of the ministry building before that day’s session began.
“Do you know what you’re going to say? I wish you had let me write your speech.” Draco was worried. Harry hadn’t shared what he was going to say with him or Neville.
They had elected Harry as speaker since not many would, or could, ignore the words of the Boy-Who-Lived. The words of a death eater’s son wouldn’t have much impact to the other members on such an important matter. While Neville wasn’t a death eater’s son, Augusta Longbottom’s reign as regent to the Longbottom lordship still carried a lot of weight and many of the older members sought out her advice on matter’s that Neville brought forth for consideration.
“Don’t worry. I know what to say to get Dumbledore on our side. After all, remember what he has always told us?” Harry gave them a wicked grin.
It was nearing the end of the day’s session when Dumbledore finally asked if anyone had any new legislation for consideration.
Harry raised his wand for permission to address the assembly and Dumbledore gave him the floor. He approached the speaker’s podium and looked out over the assembled members of the Wizengamot. He braced himself upon the podium like a great weight was on his shoulders and looked at each member before speaking.
“I come before you today greatly concerned about the safety of the future; a future that draws closer every day when my peers and I wake up. The future I speak of is my, excuse me, I should say our, spouses and children.
We grew up in a world of war and death. We saw many of our family and friends die at the hands of Voldemort and his army. This went on for 2, 3, even 4, generations before it was finally stopped by yours truly.” Harry internally grimaced at this as he hated to bring attention to his war efforts since it only encouraged the mass adoration. However, he wanted to ensure that they were paying attention.
He glanced over at Draco as continued on with his speech, “There are many young wizards and witches who will never have the chance to marry nor have children. Not to mention the young children who died in the war. They will never see Hogwarts or grow up to have families of their own. When I think of these empty seats at Hogwarts, I think of my own future children and what I would give to see them safely play in their nursery or on the quidditch pitch, send them off on the Hogwarts Express every September 1st, graduate, get married, the birth of my grandchildren. It’s daunting. This future I see before me. And it makes me afraid.”
The members of the Wizengamot started talking amongst themselves at these words. He paused to take a sip of water and to allow them to settle down. “Being who I am, I cannot guarantee that they will always be safe. There will always be someone out there who is a threat to those that I love. So I ask myself, ‘What would I do to ensure that the future I want is safe and secure? What would I be willing to sacrifice if someone promised me a world with peace and prosperity for a hundred years, or even a thousand? What would I sacrifice for the greater good?’ I hear those thoughts and finally, I understand. I understand the actions of Headmaster Dumbledore. I understand why he placed me with a family that didn’t care if I lived or died. I understand why he continued to test me by letting death eaters and Voldemort’s supporters have continued access Hogwarts. I understand these actions because I have to consider what I would do to protect the future of my and your families. So now I ask you. I ask you the esteemed members of this body, what would you sacrifice for the greater good of all?”
At this, Harry saw Dumbledore and his cronies smile at each other. He decided it was time to wrap it up as he could only stomach so much. “As such, I would like to propose the introduction…” he stopped here. “Or I should say reintroduction, of an old law I found while I was browsing through a few dusty tomes in the Potter library. This law was introduced in 1697 by Alistair Weasley and ratified into law in 1698. Headmaster, if I may?” Harry held up the old law book for permission and glanced over at Draco. He saw Draco start and frown at the name. He continued to deny that he didn’t want to know who came up with the sick law they found but needs must. He also wanted to emphasize that it was a well-known light sided family that drafted this law for anyone trying to declare it dark magic. They didn’t need to know that Alistair Weasley had been born a Black and married into the Weasley family. He doubted anyone remembered him since he was killed shortly after performing the ritual in question.
“On this 15th day of June, in the year 1698, we the Wizengamot vote and ratify into law the use of the Ritus Pro Prosperitas, a ritual sacrifice in for the betterment of magical Briton. Such ritual would grant peace and prosperity to all magical beings in the land for one hundred years. ” Harry paused here and let the Wizengamot consider what type of sacrifice would be needed.
“As they are unique to magic and the practice of magic, any and every 3rd born son must sacrifice their future and their future progeny for the greater good in the ritual sacrifice of castration. This son shall have no issue nor claim to any issue henceforth sacrificing the future of his blood and line.” He stopped here as the yelling began.
Dumbledore raised his wand to silence the room. “Harry. Excuse me, Lord Potter. Don’t you think this is a bit drastic?” He presented a disappointed frown at his former student.
“Yes, it is drastic. But, sir, you taught me, you taught all of us, that the needs of the one must be sacrificed for the many. Is there not a greater need than now? We’ve all seen so much death and destruction at the hands of the dark. This law promises of a bright future for our children. If you think back to our magical history you recall what during the late 1600s. There were countless dark wizards and goblin wars. Hundreds of witches and wizards were killed. I am tired. No. We are all tired from the war. We need a chance to rebuild our society, a chance to shape the kind of future we want for our children.”
Dumbledore considered the savior of the magical world and nodded his head in agreement since he couldn’t really decline the proposal. It was the law and he always preached for betterment of the greater good. He would appear to be a hypocrite if he didn’t agree for that alone. “Well, then since it is for greater good. We will review the proposal and ritual during one of next week’s meeting.” It would give him time to conduct his own research in the ritual to see how he could benefit from it.
“I’m sorry sir.” Harry sounded desolate and almost in tears. “We don’t have time to wait for next week. The ritual has to be performed on the next solstice before sunrise during the phase of the new moon. Also, certain stars and planets have to be in the right alignment in order for it to work. Oh, and the meteor shower. That has to happen also.” He appeared to hesitate on his next words, “Which is tomorrow. We have to perform it tomorrow or wait another 100 years.” Of course everything he said was total bull shit but no one but Draco and Neville knew that.
“Of course, of course. But where would we find the candidates we need to perform the ritual? We don’t have much time to find anyone suitable.” Dumbledore quickly went through a mental list of the darker families who had more than 2 sons. They were very few, almost non-existent in fact. Then he came up with one family that had more than enough sons. While, they were a light-sided family, the needs of the greater good deemed it a worthy sacrifice. The loss of ability to have children from the two young men would not impact the family much. There were many others that could take the burden on for the family. He could get Molly to agree with it. After all, she worshipped the ground he walked on. Arthur on the other hand was a different problem. One he would like Molly handle with her usual aplomb.
Meanwhile, in the undersecretary’s seat where he’d been quietly taking meeting minutes, Percy Weasley stared at everyone discussing the ritual around him in horror. He knew, he just knew, what was going to happen next. After all, what other family had 2 sons that fit the requirements for the ritual. He tried to inconspicuously leave his seat to quickly exit the building but somehow found himself spelled to his seat. Finite incantatem wouldn’t release him, his seat was spelled to the floor he couldn’t move it, he even tried yelling but no one appeared to hear him. He was trapped; trapped while everyone discussed the most suitable candidate for the ritual castration. He wanted to cry. He wanted his mummy.
Needless to say, he didn’t see the spell that knocked him out nor did he see the Aurors who carried him to the ministry cells for the night.
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Matters moved quickly after Dumbledore made up his mind to perform the ritual. He had Ronald Weasley detained on drunk and disorderly charges in ministry holding cell. As Percy was already in a holding cell, both Weasley boys would be available for the ritual. A few of his followers asked him about the ritual but he was able to persuade them that everything would be alright and to think about the wonderful life their grandchildren and great-grandchildren would have due to the ritual. It wasn’t like they were going to sacrifice Ron and Percy’s life.
Dumbledore managed to obtain a copy of the spell from Harry a few hours earlier. He would have like to examine the book in more detail but trying to catch the boy was rather difficult at times. Everything seemed simple enough, a sacrifice, a few well words here and there and viola, as promised, a hundred years of peace and prosperity. The spell was in a form of archaic Latin that hadn’t been in use for centuries. He thought he recognized a few words like “voco” and “everto” but discounted them as they didn’t make sense for the type of ritual they were performing. They also couldn’t just vanish the testicles as they were an essential component for use later during the ritual.
It was the early morning on June 21st before anyone knew it. Dumbledore and his select crew arrived early at the Ministry to prepare the ritual chambers. Then he had the Auror’s bring in the supplicants from the holding cell. He decided to call them supplicants instead of sacrifices. It gave the appearance that they agreed with the ritual. He would have cast a few compulsion spells on the boys but the ritual was specific in that it didn’t allow to the subjects to be given any potions or for spells to be placed upon them before the ritual. They had to be clean of foreign magic. It only took a few words by Molly Weasley to calm the boys down and for the guards to bring them unrestrained to the chambers.
As the sun rose in the east, they started chanting the words of the ritual. The ritual appeared to proceed rather quickly after it was set in motion. They performed the ritual sacrifice on Percy Weasley first as he was the oldest of the 2 chosen ones. The poor boy passed out from shock and pain as the ritual knife sliced through the tender flesh of the scrotum. Dumbledore placed the pieces of flesh into a ritual bowl at his side for later use.
He heard a commotion in the outer rooms of the ritual chamber as he moved to Ronald. He had just withdrawn the bloody knife from Ronald when the ritual doors burst open.
“STOP!!! Stop the ritual!!” yelled Anthony Goldstein.
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Anthony didn’t want to believe what his father told him after returning home from the ministry. It had to be wrong. He never heard of a ritual like that which required the sacrifice of a man’s testicles. Albus Dumbledore would never allow such a ritual to take place. Then he heard his father say that two of the Weasley boys would be sacrificed the next day.
Anthony was the third born son in the Goldstein family. He had to find out all he could about the ritual before they needed another sacrifice. Well, he wasn’t a Ravenclaw and born from a Ravenclaw family for nothing. A few quick floo calls and the Goldstein library was soon hopping as a dozen class mates were scouring the stacks for books on ritual magic. It was just before sunrise when they found the ritual and read a little more of its history in 1698. After a quick spell to stop a panic attack, he was running to the floo room and flooing to the Ministry of Magic.
Auror guards tried to stop him as he ran for the ritual chambers but he hadn’t joined the DA for kicks. War was serious business and he fought at the Battle of Hogwarts.
He arrived at the chamber waiting room and found Harry Potter, Draco Malfoy, and Neville Longbottom waiting outside the closed doors.
“You have to stop them!! The ritual, it’s not what you think.” Anthony panted as he ran up to Potter. He really should work on his cardio more. A healthy body meant a healthy mind.
“What do you mean?” Harry looked from Goldstein to Draco and Neville. Could Anthony have figured out their plan?
“De…de….demons.” Goldstein stammered.
Harry thought for a moment. “Damn. I was so sure it would work.”
“What? You know, never mind. Just open the damn doors.” Goldstein said through clenched teeth as he grimaced from the pain in his side.
“Okay, okay. Draco, Neville… On the count of three, blast it open. One. Two. Three.” All three men shouted “CONFRINGO” at the ritual chamber doors.
Anthony shoved them aside and stumbled into the room yelling, “STOP!!! Stop the ritual!!”
Albus Dumbledore stared at him as he held the bloody knife in one hand and something small and round in the other.
“The ritual, you have to stop it. It’s not a ritual for peace and prosperity.” He tried to explain it through shortened breaths caused by his mad run and the late hours. “When Alistair Weasley performed the ritual in 1689, it summoned a demon. The ritual summoned a demon who then proceeded to wipe out all gingers from England. They managed to stop it before it reached Scotland and Ireland. Something about their hair reminded it of the hell fires it came from.”
Everyone stopped what they were doing and looked at the young man. They just stood there and stared. Then they turned as one to look at the body of Percy Weasley who had passed out on one of the ritual alters. Next, they turned to stare at Ronald Weasley as he lay on the other alter with tears running down his face and blood flowing from between his legs.
A voice could be heard from the door, “So if we finish the ritual could we call it a win-win?”