Dodging Prison and Stealing Witches

Chapter 46: Hermione's Quest - Part Three

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

The dining room of Malfoy Manor was alive with the buzz of conversation and the soft clinking of glasses and cutlery. Every seat of the long hardwood table was filled, and every plate was almost clean. Every so often, a house elf wearing a clean pillowcase would pop in, gather up the finished dinner and pop back out.

Lord Malfoy sat at the head of the table, in the seat in which he had once sat, and surveyed the lords of the Dark. There were around twenty of them — not all thirty-eight the Dark could call on in the Wizengamot, but plenty for their purposes here tonight. Nott and Parkinson were on his right, and Yaxley and Burke on his left. Further down, Wiggs and Travers were talking animatedly with Charmer and Ballyrun. Lord Genesis—a rather on-the-nose name for Magical Britain's only Vampire Lord—drank from his glass of pure red liquid, whilst listening politely to Lord Zazo, whose family had been cursed several centuries back to always speak with a lisp.

Then there were Lords Flagley and Selwyn who both lived in Upper Flagley and were as inseparable as brothers. Upper Flagley wasn't a large wizarding community, at only just over one hundred wands, but it did produce the indisputably best wizarding cheese in the whole country.

And on the other side of the table sat Lord Struttsworth and Lord Knock — the first owning several brothels around the country, including the one in Knockturn Alley, and the latter owning and running the auction house, among various other enterprises.

Lords Womp and Vablatsky were a herbologist and a seer, respectively.

The Noble House of Threesickle traditionally always married Selkies from a colony off the coast of Holyhead and had a slight blue tint to their skin — even Lord Threesickle himself, who also wore a long cloak of seal fur, and everyone knew whose fur it was.

Finally, there were Lords Puddlemere and Rosier. Lord Puddlemere owned quite a few of the commercial and residential buildings in the Puddlemere enclave, while Lord Rosier... At that moment, Malfoy caught Rosier's faintly glowing yellow eyes and had to suppress a shudder, instead turning it quickly into a nod.

Rosier seemed to take that as an indication that business was about to start, because he broke off his discussion with Puddlemere and turned to watch him. One by one, the other lords of the Dark also fell into silence and turned towards him, each face looking expectant — convenient, since he did, in-fact, want to get things underway.

Lucius let the silence drag on for a moment before he began. "As you know, I have called us all here tonight because of the Muggle Protection Act."

"Outrageous, it is!" Selwyn burst out.

"Yes, Selwyn, thank you — if I could be allowed to get through this without interruption? Now as I was saying, the Muggle Protection Act was due to be voted on last week. You may have noticed this didn't happen. That is because I met with Lord Slytherin and persuaded him that we—that is to say, the Dark—might be able to add something of value to the proceedings."

This caused surprised mutterings down the table.

"You met Slytherin?" Vablatsky asked. "What's he like?"

"You mean, you don't know?" Puddlemere said, incredulous.

"My sight cannot see him."

"Gentlemen." Lucius put his hands up. "Focus, please. Yes, I met him. It was not easy setting up a private meeting, but I succeeded. We talked and we acknowledged that there were many points that the Gray and the Dark could agree on, and that if we came up with an alternative Muggle Protection Act that they might well support it instead of the Light's version."