Changing Everything

Shock Through The Wizengamot

10 February, 2006.

Level 2, Ministry of Magic, Ministry of Magic, Whitewall, London, England, Great Britain.

The Wizangamot, the council of Britain's richest and most powerful witches and wizards that has been gathering since the times of Merlin the Great, where it was the knights of the round table that came together, was gathering in the meeting room at the Ministry of Magic, as they did every month.

Lady Carina Black made her way through the assembly hall to her assigned seat at one of the highest points in the room, where descendants of Camelot sat, in a table resembling that of the knights they were descendant from. They sat in the same order that their ancestors sat in, and Carina, as the House of Black descended from Sir Lancelot du Lac, King Arthur's most trusted knight, sat to the left of the head seat, which was empty as the Head of the House of Potter, the descendants of King Arthur Pendragon, was absent from the meeting. Alice Longbottom, who was descendant from Sir Lionel through the House of Hufflepuff, sat on another seat. What was a surprise to everyone, especially Albus Dumbledore was the entrance of Severus Prince-Snape, who sat at the table as well, as the House of Prince were descendants of Sir Gawain. And last to enter was a man dressed in robes of a deep green with the Slytherin Family crest shining proudly on his chest. Everyone, except a few who already knew who it was, were shocked to see it. Thomas was lucky enough that his crazy self hadn't publicized the fact that he was the heir of the House of Slytherin, so he was able to claim the title of head and join the Wizengamot without any suspicions of his...previous activities, except from Dumbledore, but the man would be dumb if he told everyone he was the dark lord, as no one ever really knew his actual name, so there would be no evidence to back his claim. He walked gracefully through the room and came to sit next to Carina, as the House of Slytherin descended from Sir Percival. No one, or more specifically Dumbles, could claim they weren't supposed to be there, though, as the seats would have ejected anyone who wasn't worthy or wasn't meant to sit at the ancient round table.

Everyone took their seats and the meeting began with the usual introductions by Fudge and Dumbledore, as the Minister of Magic and chief warlock of the Wizengamot respectively. After that, Dumbledore introduced the new additions to the Wizengamot, whether they were heads of newly discovered houses or the next in line for recognized houses, which was a more common occurance as people rarely took inheritance tests anymore, and then he had to do what he was dreading, introduce those that were siting in the Wizengamot's version of the round table.

"Also, as you all might have noticed, some seats in The Round Table that have been empty for more than a decade are now being occupied. Please welcome back Lady Carina Black, Head of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black, who has taken up her seat after almost two decades of being unable to attend. Please give a warm welcome to Lady Alice Fawley-Longbottom, Head of the Most Noble and Most Ancient House of Hufflepuff, and Lord Severus Prince-Snape, Head of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Prince. Umm..." At the next name on his list, Dumbledore paused, before he continued nervously "Let us also welcome The Head of The Most Noble and Most Ancient House of Slytherin, Lord Thomas Riddle-Slytherin."

The dark sect all erupted in elegant cheers at that, the grey sect joining in with polite applause, while the light sect were looking at the man, that looked like a king sitting on his throne more than anything, with shock. The House of Slytherin was back, and they didn't know how that will play out. Dumbledore was fuming on the inside, he couldn't publicly accuse Tom of being the Dark Lord, or else people will call him mad, more than they already did, but he wasn't privy to that bit.

Carina stood and said "On behalf of the members of The Round Table, I'd like to thank you all for welcoming us back into the Wizingamot, while some of our colleagues are not able to be here, including the head of our table, Lord Potter, we will do our best to do what is best until the table is complete. There a few things that we have noticed have changed in the time we have not been able to be here and were...otherwise preoccupied. First and foremost, is Hogwarts and the education of the younger generation. Through my work as DADA teacher for the past week, I have noticed that the students are not being taught the necessary things for them to be able to survive the world outside the castle's walls. They don't know basic charms, all they learn in history of magic is about Goblin rebellions, which will make the goblins hate us if they ever find out or if students interact with them, they don't have any of the electives that were available when I was in school like Spell Crafting, Ghoul Studies, Magical Theory and the multitude of languages that were once taught in Hogwarts' walls, and Muggle Studies hasn't been updated in three decades, so its no use to the students in the outside world. How are they expected to survive, if they aren't learning the basics of our world, especially those of them that don't have magical parents? They don't even know wizarding history, and those of them that are heirs to ancient houses don't know anything about how they should act.