Hands shot up one after another, and the secretary who sat in the bottom circle began to make marks on parchment to tally them, but it was obvious which way the majority had gone.
And Harry screamed inside his mind, a frantic call for help to any part of himself that would offer a way out, a strategy, an idea. But there was nothing, there was nothing, he'd played his last cards and lost. And then with a last convulsive desperation Harry plunged himself into his dark side, pushed himself into his dark side, seizing at its deadly clarity, offering his dark side anything if it would only solve this problem for him; and at last the lethal calm came over him, the true ice finally answering his call. Beyond all panic and despair his mind began to search through every fact in its possession, recall everything it knew about Lucius Malfoy, about the Wizengamot, about the laws of magical Britain; his eyes looked at the rows of chairs, at every person and every thing within range of his vision, searching for any opportunity it could grasp -
Chapter 81: Taboo Tradeoffs, Pt 3
In rising half-circles of dark stone, a great sea of upraised hands.
The Lords and Ladies of the Wizengamot, in plum-colored robes marked with a silver 'W', stared down in stern rebuke at a young girl trembling in chains. If they had, in any particular ethical system, damned themselves, they clearly thought quite highly of themselves for having done so.
Harry's breath was trembling in his chest. His dark side had come up with a plan - and then rotated itself back out again because speaking too icily would not be to Hermione's advantage; a fact which the only-half-cold Harry had somehow not realized...
'The vote carries, in favor,' intoned the secretary, when all the tallying was done, and the upraised hands fell back down. 'The Wizengamot recognizes the blood debt owed by Hermione Granger to House Malfoy for the attempted murder of its scion and ending of its line.'
Lucius Malfoy was smiling in grim satisfaction. 'And now,' said the white-maned wizard, 'I say that her debt shall be paid -'
Harry clenched his fists beneath the bench and shouted, 'By the debt owed from House Malfoy to House Potter!'
'Silence!' snapped the woman in too much pink makeup sitting next to Minister Fudge. 'You've disrupted these proceedings quite enough already! Aurors, escort him out!'
'Wait,' said Augusta Longbottom from the top tier of seats. 'What debt is this?'
Lucius's hands whitened on his cane. 'House Malfoy owes no debt to you!'
It wasn't the world's most solid hope, it was based on one newspaper article from a woman who'd been False-Memory-Charmed, but Rita Skeeter had seemed to find it plausible, that Mr. Weasley had allegedly owed James Potter a debt because...
'I'm surprised you've forgotten,' Harry said evenly. 'Surely it was a cruel and painful period of your life, laboring under the Imperius curse of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, until you were freed of it by the efforts of House Potter. By my mother, Lily Potter, who died for it, and by my father, James Potter, who died for it, and by me, of course.'
There was a brief silence within the Most Ancient Hall.
'Why, what an excellent point, Mr. Potter,' said the old witch who'd been identified as Madam Bones. 'I, too, am quite surprised that Lord Malfoy would forget such a significant event. It must have been such a happy day for him.'
'Yes,' said Augusta Longbottom. 'He must have been so grateful.'
Madam Bones nodded. 'House Malfoy could not possibly deny that debt - unless, perhaps, Lord Malfoy is to tell us that he has misremembered something? I should take quite a professional interest in that. We are always trying to improve our picture of those dark days.'
Lucius Malfoy's hands gripped the silver snake-handle of his cane like he was about to strike with it, unleash whatever power it kept -
Then the Lord Malfoy seemed to relax, and a chill smile came over his face. 'Of course,' he said easily. 'I do confess I had not understood, but the child is quite correct. But I do not quite think the two debts cancel - House Potter was only trying to save itself, after all -'
'Not so,' Dumbledore said from above.
'- and therefore,' intoned Lucius Malfoy, 'I demand monetary compensation as well, for the redemption of the blood debt owed my son. That, too, is the law.'
Harry felt a strange inward flinch. That had also been in the newspaper article, Mr. Weasley had demanded an additional ten thousand Galleons -
'How much?' said the Boy-Who-Lived.
Lucius was still wearing the cold smile. 'One hundred thousand Galleons. If you have not that much in your vault, I suppose I must accept a promissory note for the remainder.'
A roar of protest went up from Dumbledore's side of the room, even some of the plum-colored robes in the middle looked shocked.
'Shall we put it to vote of the Wizengamot?' said Lucius Malfoy. 'I think few of us would like to see the little murderess go free. By a show of hands, that additional compensation of one hundred thousand Galleons would be required to cancel the debt!'
The clerk began tallying, but that vote was also clear.
Harry stood there, breathing deeply.
