Hand That Binds

8

"Mr. Jones, this meeting is not open to comment, so please refrain from speaking," Doge wheezed from the high seat in the Wizengamot committee room. "Now, following the rules of order, any other outbursts or comments will result in you being escorted out by Auror Potter."

Lucius sighed. It had been the third such outburst from the gathered audience in the large circular room. Two other men who Lucius did not know had tried to protest by shouting over the witnesses sitting before the bench. It was clear by the number of bodies in the room, their meeting had been much talked about in the week leading up to it. He sat to the left of Elphias Doge who had taken on the head of the Committee for Investigation into Civil Rights Violations. Longbottom sat on the other side, and next to him was Dean Thomas, then Terry Boot, and it went down, including several Commons members. To Lucius' right was Howard Nebbins, then Theo Nott, Finch-Fletchley, and three more Commons members. It was a fairly balanced committee, Lucius thought.

"Mrs. C, if you would please continue to answer?"

The witnesses were protected, their identities obscured with a simple Charm, their voices muddled. The woman's name was confidential to only the Chief Warlock and Doge. The last thing the Committee wanted was any sort of reprisal against the witnesses, no matter who they were.

"Yes, Lord Doge," the woman said, her voice still very feminine with the altering Charm. She sat with three other witnesses, Mrs. A, B, and D. They were the first of twenty women who had consented to give testimony to the Committee. Mrs. C wore a pale blue dress suit, and from what Lucius could tell was no older than Granger. For all he knew, it was Granger, but pale blue was certainly not his wife's color. The Charm that obscured her face was like a mask of faceted crystal that even obscured the character of her hair.

"When I was first made aware that I was added to a list of names of women of half-blood or Muggleborn status, I was aghast. I had been with my partner for over ten years, we have property in our name, and we were in the process of adopting a child from Syria, a Magical child who had lost their entire family with the recent unrest there. We had...everything in order, and we were going to travel to Damascus this past summer to retrieve Masara...her name is Masara..." the woman trailed, and she let her shoulders drop.

Lucius pressed his lips. The first two women had talked about their lives before, the plans interrupted, the wishes to work overseas, the engagements broken. The question had been posed by Nebbins, and it was to him that many of the women looked to. Nebbins was attentive, nodded often.

"My partner is a woman, Mr. Nebbins, and Muggleborn. I am half-blood, and none of that ever mattered to us, ever. We knew that after the War children were not being born, so we had always thought about adopting. What did it matter if the child was born elsewhere? There are so many Magical children living as orphans. I...I read that V-Voldemort was an orphan...and..."

Potter had been an orphan, Severus... Lucius could think of so many others. After Grindelwald there had been even more. His own mother had been made an orphan, the only Goldstein that had outlived Grindelwald had been his American cousin who had married Newt Scamander. There were other Goldsteins, of course, he recalled Draco had gone to school with one, but the relation was very distant. His mother's parents were...a mystery, which always bothered him. He knew that his maternal grandfather had come from America, his grandmother possibly Britain, that they were Jewish, but were not devout. He knew they had died before 1945, and his mother was young and had been cared for by Porpentina Goldstein-Scamander for a time, but that was all he knew.

"Thank you, Mrs. C...Mrs. D?"

The testimony went on, until it was time for Lucius to ask his question. Doge had only reviewed their questions cursorily, but all of them built a rather damning indictment for the dismantling of the Law.