With Good Intentions

“Thank you! Thank you! Are George and Bill here? Join me on the podium! That’s - that’s okay; bring your families; we have room.”

Lady Granger-Malfoy grinned in sheer delight at the approaching group of gingers and blondes.

“I’d like to announce,” she began as they tumbled onto the stage, “actually, I’d like to make several announcements. First, four centers specializing in the treatment of all forms of lycanthropy will open in the Restoration, Tranquility, Temperance and Amity village clinics. Bill Weasley will take the position of Operations and Finance Executive. We’re also pleased to announce that the clinics will have access to the newest treatment potions and spells developed by George Weasley. Please give them both a huge round of applause!”

Inside the press conference, Hermione bent to lift one of the youngest war victims — a now almost-seven year-old turned in his cot by Fenrir Greyback as the boy cried for his dead parents. The child’s fresh-scrubbed face sat atop a neck seeping from a cursed, infected bite and claw marks despite the years since the attack.

Outside this latest press conference, placards demanding the involuntary deportation of all lycanthropy sufferers shot up.

The Prophet and most major news publications covered the press conference and not the protest.

________________________

Due to an unexpected scheduling snafu at the Ministry, Lucius Malfoy’s trial got postponed.

Hortense Sitzburger resigned in protest, her scathing letter to the Prophet accusing Lord Malfoy and Minister Shacklebolt of manipulating the court.

Head Wizard Galen Gallentine immediately dispatched his clerk to oversee two tasks: the oft delayed solicitor licensing exams suddenly got scheduled and the expensive Amontillado kept in Gallentine’s private home cellar got dispensed (at a private office gathering) to a few close colleagues glad to be free of Molly Weasley’s crusading extremist legal puppet — former Honored Judge (and Chief Bitch) Hortense Sitzburger.

Lady Granger-Malfoy sat her exams at the earliest date. On the day her results arrived, she’d celebrated with her co-conspirators, downed the last of the second series of potions awaiting her in their bathroom and ended her day with a celebratory session of seduction from the head of the “Save Lucius’ Pasty White Arse” revolutionary committee.

The (deceased) Lady Malfoy’s tutorial on wizarding law and privilege perfectly predicted the results of this latest skirmish. As she’d instructed her protégé, cataclysms came and went but the world changed only a little for those with resources and a firm understanding of history.