A/N: Ugh guys! You have no IDEA how much this chapter did not want to come together. I've had about 5k of this written for MONTHS but the second half wouldn't work how I wanted it! Even now, with this being complete and a solid 9.5k of words, its still not exactly what I wanted. But, I have a chapter and you guys deserve an update so here we are!

So, the big meeting is finally here and it turned out to be a LOT bigger than I anticipated so I've ended up splitting it in two (hence, this is not how I planned this to be). Hopefully, the second part doesn't give me as much hell, but I'm not counting on my brain to be helpful

Thank you to everyone who reads/follows/favs/comments on this fic! You give me motivation to power through even when this fic makes me want to throw things 3

On with the story!

Disclaimer: Not J.K but this plot is mine

Warning: possible language, mentions of slash

#Parseltongue#

Chapter 58:

"Let's get the Order and Dumbledore out of the way so we can start to plan around them if necessary." Harry decided, "a lot of things we're going to be planning are going to have to work around him and them until we can make them disappear."

"Roll on those days," Hermione murmured and Harry nodded.

"Twins?"

"Dumbledore and the Order have had quite the reaction." They chimed with wide smiles that were only slightly unsettling. They pulled out the monitoring parchments attached to the Burrow and Grimmauld Place and laid them out.

"Overall there is a distinct separation of those who are fully within Dumbledore's circle and those in the basic level of Order." Fred told them, "those people were flapping about like a Mer out of water."

"Kinda sad really how they didn't know what to do until old Dumbles arrived." George added, "those more in Dumbledore's immediate circle were distressed as they seemed to have not only a greater understanding of what the WR means but had greater control."

"WR?" Dolohov asked and the twins blinked.

"Wizengamot reveal."

There was a pause and a collective roll of their eyes from most of the Death Eaters and Harry had to mask his snort; they'd get used to twins sooner or later.

"What is the general response so far?" Ron redirected and Fred scoffed.

"What do you think? Shock and betrayals of course."

"Oh, of course, we were the ones that betrayed them," Hermione confirmed sardonically.

"Most definitely, Paws." Harry nodded, "don't you know, we were supposed to comply with all of Dumbledore's wishes without question."

"He's definitely trained enough people to do exactly that," Ron grumbled with a shake of his head. "I assume things calmed down once the old man got there?"

"Yes and no," George said with a sardonic twist to his lips. "You've gone down a dark path since you got a taste of power, you see."

"That's what he's going with?" Blaise said incredulously and the twins nodded.

"How could he possibly twist that to make it sound logical even to his most loyal?" Rabastan wondered and the twins gave him a look of disappointment.

"The exposure to the House of Black."

There was another beat of utter silence before many people burst out in disbelief.

"Oh, you have to be kidding me!"

"Are you serious?"

"You must be exaggerating!"

"He didn't think that would actually work?"

"Please tell me that didn't actually work?"

"Unfortunately, yes, that did indeed work." The twins confirmed dryly.

"Apparently, despite Molly's best efforts, they were exposed to too much dark magic both in the House, with Sirius and Remus, and of course the books available from the library that the three of them must have been hiding."

"Wow, that is really scraping the barrel for excuses." Remus huffed shaking his head. "What about Neville?"

"Clearly the exposure of Dark Magic, while he was a baby, affected him more than anyone realised and both he and Harry were already corrupted beyond measure and had just been hiding it."

"… wow."

"You think that's bad? We've condensed it as we didn't think any of you deserved to lose brain cells listening to the whole conversation." The twins stated and Harry bit back a wince.

"That bad?"

"Worse, but it's a sacrifice we're willing to commit to."

"There anything of any substance from their reactions?"

"Honestly no, nothing that we couldn't predict anyway."

"Well with Molly's howler I think we have the gist," Ron said and those at Hogwarts scoffed.

"That woman has a set of lungs on her," Tom said with distaste. "I'd almost be embarrassed for her actions if it hadn't played so spectacularly into your hands today."

"She sent a howler?" Lucius confirmed and the teens nodded.

"We weren't surprised even if we forgot to expect it," Neville said with a grimace.

"She was so happy to bring up my betrayal, of the family and Dumbledore, and publicly disowned me as her son." Ron informed them all, "it was actually way less than I was expecting come to think of it."

"Congrats baby bro!"

"You made her so angry she didn't have words!"

"Bravo, bravo!"

"Thank you, thank you!" Ron mock bowed making them laugh.

"How did you turn that in your favour?" Theodore wondered and the teens shared smirks.

"Let 'slip' that it's hard to be sad about her words after the compulsions and obliviates."

"Ah,"

"With everything else circling it'll only add to the rumour mill."

"Which, given Hogwarts' ability to spin anything, can only be a bonus."

"So what are his current plans involving us?" Hermione asked and the twins shared a look.

"The three of you, especially, need to be steered 'back to the light'. Dumbledore's insistence that Harry is the only one that can defeat His Darkness has trapped him in a corner so he's got to put a lot of focus on getting Harry back."

"Ha, serves him right the manipulative fuck." Harry crowed much to the amusement of the group. "What have they suggested so far?"

"Nothing concrete so we're going to have to keep an eye out." Fred told them, "Dumbledore being out of the castle has hindered them more than they realised."

"However, Dumbledore is sure he still has people inside the castle, other than Ginny, that can aid him."

"Ah yes, his we know of some of them." Ron nodded, "I don't wanna say we know all of them because with that man you never know."

"Who do you suspect as of now?" Remus asked.

"Burbages, Trelawney, Hagrid, and Vector are missing the required Mastery in their chosen subjects but Dumbledore gave them jobs anyway so there are the leading suspects," Hermione answered looking angry over the sub-par education. She wasn't the only one, all of the Death Eaters, Remus and Tom looked equally annoyed.

"I want to ask why this was unknown to the Board but I already know the answer." Lucius griped, "instead I'll ask how he managed to cover it up?"

"We have yet to find that out, unfortunately," Neville shrugged, "there are too many things going on for that to be a crucial branch of research right now."

"Understandable." The Malfoy Lord allowed.

"Anything else?" Theodore questioned and Harry grimaced.

"Vector, in particular, we need to be careful with as she has a rather vicious streak and we know that Dumbledore covered up the fact that one of her experiments broke the mind of a muggleborn student that should have been in our year."

"Excuse me!?"

"The joy of their being so much prejudice built up that covering up a muggleborn going missing was very easy for him." Ron pointed out, "as long as it stayed covered up that wouldn't be an issue."

"Something we will be changing." Hermione stated firmly, "it'll come out when it's of most benefit."

"There are others that will need to come out," Luna murmured eyes unfocused before she shook her head and looked at them seriously. "Since before he became Headmaster."

The group collectively balked at the thought.

"He's been helping himself to the muggleborn?"

"And the halfbloods."

"Fucking wonderful." Harry groaned, "do we know why?"

"The further back I need to see the less clear things are. The past is harder than the future and the original decision was made so long ago."

"Don't push yourself," Harry rushed to say, "the reasoning isn't important yet, but I'm sure we'll find it eventually."

Luna grimaced but nodded.

"Did Dumbledore mention anyone else we need to be concerned over?" Draco wondered, "I've noted the teachers and obviously the female Weasely."

"No, and that's what concerns us the most," George admitted.

"Yeah, he just said things need to be 'handled carefully', which with him could mean anything."

"Right, so once again we need to be on our guard." Harry sighed rubbing his temples. "And he knows we're fully ourselves so he'll plan around that instead of underestimating us."

"Then we need the Board to step in sooner than the month they granted McGonagall." Blaise pointed out, gaining a few raised eyebrows.

"What's your idea?"

"Full staff and ward review." He answered, "we can hide our shit in the Chamber, but with the Board cracking down Dumbledore can't do anything that might remove what he believes is a sympathetic McGonagall and we'll have the security of stronger wards and those staff Dumbledore owns gone."

"Not a bad suggestion." Draco allowed, "with Harry coming out as Lord Gryffindor and claiming the Slytherin Proxy it would be an excellent time for the Founders' blood to revive the ancient wards."

Harry and Tom shared a look.

"You could start a public persona that would throw Dumbledore completely off his game." Harry mused and Tom tilted his head.

"Step out in public in an effort to protect the next generation after Dumbledore's complete lapse to bolster my own platform and then both of us backing Lucius on his Ministerial campaign."

Harry smirked.

"You read my mind. Then it would be Dumbledore's word v your new persona as you never openly claimed the Slytherin title last time."

"And with his shaky reputation – that you intend to fully skewer – his words won't be accepted."

"Plus, as I was the one who he used to call about your return I will easily deny Lord Slytherin being anything even remotely close to the creature I fought at the end of my fourth and fifth year." Harry's voice took on a dramatic fearful tone and Tom rolled his eyes even as he smirked.

"Do you have anything I can pass on to the Board to make them move sooner?" Lucius wondered, "as the McGonagall has been given a month and I agreed to it I do not want to suddenly backtrack so suddenly after being voted in."

"Yes, it would look as if you were trying to use your new status to interfere with the Board." Theodore mused, "you may have to step down from the Board, Lucius."

"I will take his place." Narcissa told him, "we have discussed it, and as I meet the criteria we were going to ask for you to back Lucius when he suggested it at the next meeting."

"It will have to be handled delicately." Theodore said after a moment, "do we have you switch immediately and wait for the review or try and find something to push the review and then switch?"

Harry, Ron, and Hermione shared a look of bafflement.

"Are you all seriously concerned about finding something the push the review?" Ron wondered.

"We will need something that can be logically explained rather than the things you all seem to know without explanation." Lucius pointed out and Hermione scoffed.

"Do you want an alphabetical or chronological list?" She muttered and Harry barked out a laugh.

"How about we just go immediate threat, easy to explain, and make Swift happy all in one?" Harry offered and Ron perked up.

"Good fucking bye Aragog may you rot somewhere I will never see again!" Ron cheered and the teens snorted.

"Would you care to share with the rest of us?" Rodolphus asked and Harry smirked.

"You do know there is a full colony of Acromantula living in the forbidden forest right now, right?"

Harry relished in the looks of stunned disbelief from most of the Death Eaters and he raised his eyebrow at Snape's sneer.

"That is merely a rumour generated to keep wayward students out of the forest." He denied and both Harry and Ron scoffed.

"Trust me, Snape, I can personally assure you that it is no rumour." Ron stated with a haunted look. "They tried to eat us."

"Where the hell did they come from?" Lucius demanded looking both horrified and outraged.

"And more importantly how long have they been there? Depending on the length of time they have been there would give us an idea of how many there are." Dolohov added and Harry offered a mean little smirk.

"Why don't you ask the King of shifting the blame over here; he was the one that turned Hagrid in for having a dangerous beast that killed poor Myrtle."

Tom blinked at him in confusion before he paled and his eyes went wide.

"Do not tell me that oaf was keeping an Acromantula as a pet when we were in school and then stashed it in the forest!"

Harry gave him a solemn look.

"Dumbledore allowed him to get it a wife."

There was a poignant pause as Tom looked at him in blank disbelief.

"What the fuck!"

Harry threw back his head and laughed.

"He's laughing because he wishes he was lying," Ron assured them all. "Yet here we are."

"You mean to tell us there has been an Acromantula colony growing in the forest for fifty-three years," Theodore questioned looking pale at the thought.

Harry and Ron shared a look before nodding.

"Yeah, pretty much."

"I had detention in that forest when I was eleven!" Draco exclaimed horrified and both Narcissa and Lucius' faces drained of colour.

"I will call an emergency Board meeting as soon as possible."

"Good, you can have the memory of us in the nest." Ron said, "you can see how the giant leader of the colony can speak English and offered us up to his children as a meal."

"It speaks." Tom deadpanned and Harry offered a wry little smile.

"Of course it does."

"Why were you in an Acromantula nest?" Narcissa demanded and Harry wrinkled his nose.

"Well, now we know Dumbledore definitely compelled us to go there when we were investigating the Chamber of Secrets."

"What would he have done if you hadn't gotten out of there?"

"Honestly, they make a great clean-up crew if you want to get rid of a body so no one would have had a clue what happened."

"I could have gone my whole life not knowing that was in the forest," Blaise muttered and Ron snorted.

"You and me both, babe. Trust me on that."

"Well if nothing else that should buy us more time within the school." Hermione offered brightly.

"Even better, as we have been trying to unravel the wards with varying success it'll give us chance to work on other things if the Board brings in an official wardmaster to do it." Rabastan pointed out, "sure we've managed to isolate some that Dumbledore absolutely has altered, removed or added, but they're such a mess that it's been difficult to know what is supposed to be there, what has been added by other Headmasters and what Dumbledore has done."

"Oh yeah, and let's not forget that a handy little thing we didn't realise until much too late." Ron remembered making Rabastan grimaced, "once Dumbledore was officially ousted, the visual of the wards on the map changed and we can no longer visibly see which ones he cast, changed or removed. I mean, we know because of time, place, and by what they do, but it's been a nightmare."

"Wait, so because he wasn't headmaster his work was no longer highlighted?" Harry confirmed and the pair nodded making him wince. "Good Merlin, they were hard enough to look at before that happened."

"We know. It's also what tipped us off that the other Heads would have been able to add/alter/remove something and it would only be indicated by time as there is nothing there highlighting it once they're not Head anymore."

"Having a couple of wardmasters and maybe even the Goblins come in and do a full review would save us so much time." Neville said, "and with you two being the Founders Lords you should be able to get a copy of it so we still get the benefit of seeing what Dumbledore has done."

"I'd request a copy either way." Tom agreed, "if we see the full extent of his mechanisms with the wards it may give us more of an idea of what his intentions were other than hijacking power from the Founders line wards."

"Ugh, I forgot he had done that." Harry sighed. "Well that's a later problem: let's go back to dealing with current affairs."

"We've covered the Order and Dumbledore for now; they don't have any solid plans but we know they'll be going for Harry the most. The Board will go for an emergency review and hopefully, that will gut Dumbledore's ability to access us within the castle as he won't be able to do so himself." Draco summarised, "next is the outside reactions to your presence."

"So, how are we looking?" Harry asked looking towards Lucius and Theodore specifically.

"You really threw the niffler amongst the gold with your arrival, that's for sure." Theodore said gleefully, "I haven't seen this level of political unrest since the beginning of the first war."

"We do try." Ron joked making Harry, Hermione and Neville grin.

"There were so many abrupt changes that the Ministry is scrambling to catch up." Lucius told them, "your entrance into the Wizengamot shifted a great deal of power but that, while shocking and will take adjustment, has happened before and will happen again. My sudden placement as Interim Minister on top of that has had many of the Ministerial staff scrambling and I fear the office will take much longer than even I believed to clear up."

"It is that bad?" Tom said and Lucius nodded.

"Much worse, my Lord. Obviously, we knew Fudge could be bought, but from my short time in office already I have seen that there doesn't seem to be a single department free of corruption." Lucius explained, "not only that but we seem to be either understaffed or completely missing departments that I believe are crucial to the betterment of our world."

"How wonderful to know our government has fallen so far," Theodore commented sarcastically much to the rest of the room's amusement.

"The only benefit to the mess within the Ministry is that the Order haven't been able to get a foothold in there to start getting people to condemn you as evil," Lucius said to Harry. "With Skeeter's articles on top of the sudden changes it has been one huge spiral of confusion."

"Well that's something, I guess." Harry murmured, "and with you, at the helm, there isn't likely to be a smear campaign like Fudge ran."

"Obviously," Lucius shot him a look, "I have been working with Hadrian to evaluate what needs to be done and what is priority but I fear the task is going to need more trusted hands than we currently have."

"In your opinion, as the Ministry is now, to what scale do we need changes?" Tom asked him and Lucius clenched his jaw as he seemed to steel himself.

"We need a complete overhaul, my Lord."

Tom looked at him seriously as the rest of the room shared looks of resignation before the Dark Lord nodded.

"Very well, we shall use your campaign to start the overhaul immediately." He decided, "you will create a report of the state of our government and include everything you believe needs changing, what you would add or remove, and what you consider priority and we shall work a way to incorporate it into your Ministerial campaign."

"I will begin as soon as I return, my Lord, though I shall need more hands."

"Speak with those of ours who are either young enough to work as assistants or interns or have children who fit into that category. Not only will that give you trusted hands, but it gives you the ability to evaluate their abilities and find workers for when we implement our changes."

Lucius perked up the idea.

"I will do." Lucius agreed, "it'll also enable me to monitor the Order members in the ministry until they can be purged should the campaign be a success."

Tom nodded before turning to Harry.

"Can you make it happen?"

Harry looked at his group and they all nodded.

"Of course, we can, and this way we'll have a solid idea of what we really need to focus on instead of winging it."

"You intended to wing the Ministerial Campaign?" Theodore said incredulously and Harry shook his head.

"Not the actual campaign, but the planning and building process," Harry replied.

"For example, we said earlier we could use the unjust prison sentencing as a campaign point but with Lucius' actual report we can actually get a full layout of which angle would be the most beneficial and have it be backed up by actual ministry information." Ron continued and Theodore nodded.

"Smart."

"We have our moments."

"Not only that but it gives us the priority factors to be focusing on rather than making things too broad. If we expand too much the public isn't going to believe our words as they won't think it's possible." Hermione added.

"This way we can say we're going to fix Azkaban and not only is that a crucial thing that needs change, but it will appeal to the public because the thought of Azkaban horrifies most people even if they have never met a dementor." Neville explained, "plus, thanks to Fudge' idiotic movement to put dementors around a school three years ago, there is going to be three/four years worth of students that can vote and will remember the utter hell that year was and find the changes very appealing."

"You've thought a lot about this." Narcissa noted impressed.

"Absolutely,"

"Our laws won't pass unless we have the ministry." Draco pointed out.

"Not only that but if our standing within the international community goes any lower we're opening ourselves up to a war we will not win," Blaise said with a grimace that was reflected around the room.

"The international community has heard of the political movements within Britain and there has been much talk from allies and enemies alike," Theodore stated and Dolohov hummed in agreement.

"Countries that are more Dark aligned are suddenly paying much more attention to us and while that will be a benefit should we success with the ministry, it currently puts us in a very precarious position." He explained and Tom looked thoughtful.

"Do you believe we'd be able to gain any of them as allies should we take the ministry?"

"Those where you have people see the current happenings and are both excited and confused. The Boy-Who-Lived legend was peddled way beyond our borders thanks to Dumbledore so there are questions being raised. But the shift to a more Dark orientated 'Mot shows our success from where things laid fallow from Dumbledore's actions." Dolohov told him.

"I see," Tom tapped his lip in thought before turning to Narcissa. "I believe I will need your delicate hand, Narcissa."

"What do you need of me, my Lord?"

"We need a formal alliance ball for the entirety of our people, old and new."

Narcissa's eyes widened understanding the gravity of such an event before they narrowed in contemplation.

"Location?"

Tom paused before looking at Harry.

"Technically, I am Heir Peverell."

The teen blinked before smirking.

"You're birthday?"

Tom looked pleased before turning back to Narcissa.

"Peverell House will be the ideal location."

"Especially as it is very incorrectly named." Harry told her, "it's about the size of this place."

Narcissa's eyes gleamed.

"I shall need to see the location, of course, but other than that and you seeing to the wards, I shall have everything in place. Do you have a date in mind?"

"Ostara? For new beginnings."

"Wonderful, that gives me enough time to plan to accommodate everyone and send out invitations early enough for people to clear their schedules." Narcissa said pleased, "it shall be done, my Lord."

"Good. I have no doubt you shall impress us all." Tom stated and Narcissa allowed a demure smile as she folded her hands in her lap neatly, ever the Pureblood Lady.

"What's this ball going to entail?" Harry questioned and Tom blinked.

"It's to formalise alliances again and to induce any new ones to the greater collective." Tom answered, "it will be your official dark affiliation announcement."

"I see," Harry looked at the others, "I assume there will be protections in place."

"Of course,"

"Then I'm sure we'll have a grand time messing with people who think they know who we are."

Tom show him an unimpressed look that was ruined by the surge of amusement Harry could feel through their connection.

"Do remember we would like these allies to remain allies by the end of the ball."

"That's a you problem." Harry brushed off, yelping when Tom jabbed him in the ribs. "Mind the goods."

"It's an us problem if you want our success to continue."

"Ugh, I suppose."

"Remind me why I continue to deal with you, again?"

"Because of your inability not to have the best things in life," Harry replied without shame and it was Tom's turn to laugh.

"You are not wrong, Snake." He smirked before turning back to Dolohov, "the Act of Silence is set to release very soon, do you believe that it plus rumours of a Dark Alliance ball would settle our allies internationally."

"It should keep them still until the ball itself." Dolohov answered after a moment, "I can begin releasing small details here and there, and with the Act's release and Theodore once again on the scene, I believe we can keep them contained."

"That shall have to do." Tom said, "we simply do not have the reach internationally to do much else right now."

"Leave the international dilemma to us for now," Theodore said.

"Do not forget that I can speak to Nonno to begin rebuilding the British/Italian relations."

"Ah yes, Duca Marcello, I forget," Theodore remembered and Blaise smirked.

"Most people do."

"Plus, I may have an in with the French Ministry if things go well," Ron added with a wry tilt to his lips.

"Oh?"

"I cannot confirm yet as I need to have some very unpleasant conversations that could go unspeakably wrong, however, my brother's fiancé is L'héritière Delecour."

All of the Death Eaters and even Tom seemed to blink at that.

"How in Merlin's name did your brother manage to become engaged to the heiress of Jaques Delacour, who was notably furious with the disaster of the Tri-wizard tournament and its aftermath. On top of that, your brother is an English wizard, untitled as far as I'm aware and the Delacours are famously non-human." Dolohov demanded and Ron huffed a slight laugh.

"Honestly, I have no idea as I haven't really had any contact with him that didn't involve me pretending to be someone completely different or being so wrapped up in Dumbledore's spells I didn't know the colour of the sky." Ron admitted with a grimace, "I do know they met working with Gringotts, and given that Bill is one of the best Curse Breakers currently employed by the bank I can only assume his reputation that he built himself was enough to override everything else."

"He is that successful?" Rodolphus questioned surprised and Ron nodded.

"Oh yeah, both Bill and Charlie have done ridiculously well for themselves hilariously out of this country and out of Dumbledore's sphere of influence."

"When will you be speaking with your siblings?" Tom wondered, "if we manage to secure at least neutrality with Italy, France, Bulgaria, and the Eastern Slavic nations until the alliance ball or we have more security within the Ministry it would certainly give us space to work."

"I sent off a request to meet before we came here, I need to get to them before my mother does which I should have done. Harry, Hermione, and I will be meeting with them as soon as they send back a reply."

"Very well," Tom nodded then looked back towards Theodore. "The ICW?"

"It will take but a nudge for him to be fully ejected from the body, not only as Supreme Mugwump but altogether." Theodore stated with a smirk, "I imagine any of the scandals you intend for the old man or even the review into Hogwarts will do it but I shall keep an eager ear out in case anything changes."

"Dumbledore will be out of direct political power within the month," Hermione stated pleased.

"Then we just have to play a gripping round of 'Guess which Sycophant' and hope for the best," Harry said cheerfully making all the teens snort.

"Not only that but we need to remember that Dumbledore is playing a longer game than what it appears to be." Neville reminded them.

"Until something drastic happens Dumbledore isn't going to reveal anything. It's been over fifty years and we only found out he's been planning things for that long by accident." Ron said with a grimace, "clearly whatever he's been doing is either entrenched or more hidden than his own past because even digging out his skeletons we didn't find anything that suggested he'd been playing such a long game."

"It's not something we can focus on currently." Draco dismissed, "we already have too much to work on and until Dumbledore slips or we stumble across a minor miracle we can't spare any time or resources searching."

"Draco is right, right now Lord Malfoy's campaign has to be our main focus because if we don't secure the ministry and Dumbledore gets one of his lackeys in we're either screwed, dead, or both."

"No pressure then."

"It may be pertinent to create backup or escape plans out of the country to be cautious." Tom suggested, "I should have done so before."

Harry blinked at him in surprise but he wasn't the only one, the rest of the room bar Theodore and Dolohov looked shocked at the admission and Tom gave them a pointed look.

"Should I have made better contingencies while my sanity was less questionable our cause wouldn't have lost thirteen years of progress."

"When you put it like that…" Harry allowed with a frown, "we'll have to think of something. We have plenty of places to hide in other countries but getting there with the number of people Dumbledore would have searching for us will be the problem."

"We'll need time to create those plans but it's something we can do easily enough." Neville brushed off, "focus on the Order and the ministry for now."

"Yes, we keep getting distracted," Hermione agreed, "what are the plans for the Order in the ministry?"

Lucius looked towards the Dark Lord before answering.

"With the current shakeup I'd rather focus on the changes we can make than expelling the Order members, however, with them there Dumbledore has a constant link to what we're doing and that can only be problematic."

"Unfortunate but nothing we will immediately be able to work around." Tom stated, "I assume that Dumbledore will have his spies within the ministry no matter what we do. Our people were there while he maintained control so it's not too much of a stretch."

"I'll use the interns and the new hires to maintain a level of observation on the known Order members."

"I will have some of our best infiltrators added to the new hires so they try and pick up ideas of who Dumbledore's secret people are." Tom decided, "make some of the monitoring obvious as it's what the Old fool and his ilk will expect. It may make the others sloppy if they don't believe we are looking for more eyes."

"And should you use the people we already have in the ministry to monitor people, when Dumbledore gets ousted from the Wizengamot they may have a visible reaction enough for us to note who needs watching." Harry pointed out.

"You have a plan to remove the old fool, then?" Theodore wondered and Harry nodded, a grimace on his face.

"His flagrant misuse of the Chief Warlock position. If nothing else, the sealing of my parents' wills and keeping Sirius in Azkaban without a trial on top of his already dubious reputation will shatter him."

"He sealed their wills?" Theodore exclaimed, "but that's…"

"Exactly,"

"What we intend is once this has been announced to the public, Lord Malfoy will issue a statement indicating that the first thing he intends to do is a full review of Azkaban including its inmates, uses, laws and policies to make sure that the previous administrations have not buried more people in the hell hole," Ron explained.

"During this point, we will be releasing carefully constructed bits of information about the review and when it's starting to look really horrifying Lord Malfoy will speak to the public and declare his intention of a complete overhaul should he be voted into power."

"Ah very clever."

"Which also ties into your plan to keep Amelia Bones of Lucius' back," Narcissa remembered and they nodded.

"It is also an opportunity to get Dumbledore out of the country, or at least in hiding." Tom mused and they all turned to look at him.

"Oh?" Harry raised an eyebrow, "despite everything, I do not see people actively accepting Dumbledore's arrest easily."

"No, but as you have said, Dumbledore has people in Azkaban and his actions of late have been questionable. A review of Azkaban and questioning people – especially if we release the information – would spark enough outrage for it to be acceptable to question people closest to Dumbledore. Amelia Bones has ever been one for justice, I am sure she would be more than willing to question all of you plus the delightful little information bag Dumbledore has so carelessly left in the castle." Tom pointed out with a vicious smirk.

"Ginny!" Ron exclaimed, "she knows a significant amount of what Dumbledore planned for Harry at the very least. And with our testimonies on top of that…"

"Oooo we can work with that!" Hermione hissed pleased, summoning parchment to her to write a few things down. "If done right, we could take out a bunch of Dumbledore's supporters without it even looking like we're doing it."

"We'd need to keep an eye on Bones, if only for protection, if we're going to use her as a weapon against Dumbledore." Neville stated, "and I'll gladly throw Augusta towards Bones' care as she's bound to know even more."

"Do you think you can convince Bones to go for it?" Harry asked Lucius, who paused thoughtfully before nodding slowly.

"Once she sees the blatant injustice – and you have to remember she knew Sirius Black back when he was training to be a Hit-Wizard – I believe she'll be more than willing. Especially if I offer her the full resources she's been denied for so long to pursue this. She may be suspicious, but if she's the one conducting the investigations with people she chooses then she'll have no choice but to follow through."

"A plethora of brilliance and you get rid of Ginny; you really are a genius," Harry said to Tom, who smirked and raised an eyebrow.

"Of course." Tom said as if it was obvious much to Harry's amusement, "it also looks exceptionally good for Lucius' campaign as with all the new resources Bones will have access to he can actively say he's overhauling the DMLE; something that has gone notoriously under-budgeted and staffed since Fudge took over."

"The whole department is a huge mess, my Lord, and it does need an overhaul."

"Two birds," Hermione said pleased.

"Three actually because Dumbledore being on the wanted list will only look good for our grey/dark international allies and if the school review doesn't lose his Mugwump position actively being a criminal definitely will." Blaise corrected and they all looked pleased.

"So we have school sorted, Order monitored, Dumbledore planned for and international issues in hand: shall we turn our attentions to the rest of my father's campaign or some of the other issues we need to go over?"

"Let's get the campaign out of the way because a few of our other issues will need to be incorporated into the campaign for maximum effect." Harry decided, then he looked towards Tom, "what about your side of things?"

"I believe we are in the same position. Until Lucius' campaign is organised I do not know where to best place my people."

"Very well, Paws, what do we have?"

"The lead issue Lord Malfoy is going to come up against is anything related to muggleborn; whether people like it or not our population is at least third muggleborn. We hope to get rid of the issue entirely."

"That is a broad claim," Rodolphus said as he, his brother, and his wife wrinkled their noses at the thought.

"Not when you take into account that true muggleborn children are actually incredibly rare." Ron countered, "those we believe to be muggleborn are actually 75% of the time they are descendent from squibs which should enable us to fully remove the title of 'muggleborn' therefore cutting the link to muggles entirely. We're going to call them First-generation witches and wizards."

"You have proof of this?" Dolohov asked intrigued.

"I am living proof." Hermione pointed out.

"The plan is to track, identify and bring in all magicals as soon as magically possible so we can eliminate contact with muggles as much as possible. Our overall idea is that only those trained and qualified will have contact with the muggle world." Harry explained, "for example, our idea is that we stop tossing squibs into the muggle world like it's their fault they don't have full access to their magic and while we're working on a way to cure squibs we put them to use instead of wasting active magic users on pointless tasks they would be better of not doing."

"There's a lot to unpack there." Theodore noted, "break it down."

"The end game is separations of our worlds, however, that's never going to be possible, because we don't have an active way to trace squibs until a child with active magic is born, and even if we did we'd still need contact with the muggle world if only for the fact that the muggles need to be monitored else they finally discover us when we are not prepared and kill us all." Hermione began only to receive scoffs from most of the Death Eaters in the room.

"Muggles kill us?" Bellatrix scoffed speaking for the first time in this meeting. "As if the filth would stand a chance."

"I find it ridiculous that you seem to believe muggles could ever pose a threat." Rodolphus sneered and the sentiment was echoed by his brother.

Harry gave Tom a look of disdain and deep disappointment.

"I hope you know you have utterly failed your entire organisation."

"Excuse me?" Tom demanded with narrowed eyes and Harry sat up and moved away so he was able to fully look at him with a glare.

"You're really going to sit here and let them continue to sprout shit like them when you damn well know what kind of threat muggles could pose if magic was revealed to them."

Tom sneered.

"Muggles are a useless blight on this earth that-,"

"The Blitz. Hiroshima and Nagasaki,"

Tom froze and fell silent immediately and Harry's lip curled, his expression savagely mocking.

"Yeah, easy to forget what they can do when you're tucked away in the magical world but the aftermath… hmm not pretty. And for the Japanese well… they're still feeling it now. How many were killed with the use of just 2 of these weapons? Go on, remind us all what these useless blights on the earth are really capable of."

Tom continued to glare at him silently and Harry could feel how utterly furious he was by the burning in his scar, but underneath it he could feel the fear and the hatred he must have felt as a child living in London during ww2. Harry wasn't about to let this go, however. He refused to allow the continuation of ignorance of what muggles could actually do because, as much as Death Eaters and purebloods liked to bitch, whinge and complain about the muggleborns breaching the statute Harry would put money on it being a Pureblood that would break it if this ignorance continued.

"No, don't want to? Shame that." Harry mused as if talking about the weather, "'Mione, do enlighten these highly ignorant individuals of what muggles are capable of if they want to kill people."

"Over the course of eight months during the years of 1940-41 muggle Germany dropped a series of bombs – think a contained Bombarda maxima times ten – over England and killed approximately 40-43 thousand people. This was called the blitz."

The purebloods gasped in disbelief and shook their heads but Hermione kept on talking, reciting from memory what every muggle-raised child was taught in history class.

"In 1945, the US detonated two atomic bombs – equivalent to the strength of 10000 simultaneous Bombarda Maximas and throw in some poison to really seal the deal – on the Japanese cities Hiroshima and Nagasaki on the 6th and 9th of August respectively. The bombings killed 226,000 people and over the course of the following years, the poisoning from both bombs continued to play havoc on survivors giving them diseases, defects and disabilities."

"That cannot be true." Lucius denied, "nothing would be able to kill that many people so quickly."

"Oh, it is indeed true," Snape spoke quietly but the seriousness of his voice was unmistakable. "I have been telling you for years, Lucius, that muggles are more dangerous than you can possibly imagine."

"And Tom very much knows its true, too. Given the fact he lived through it."

"My Lord?" Bellatrix questioned sounding shaken.

"It's true," He ground out giving Harry a look of poison that he ignored entirely.

"But-but how?"

"Muggles are good at hurting or destroying that which they don't like." Harry said simply, "we may have magic, we may be vastly superior to them without question, but for outright distruction? Muggles win hands down."

"Grindlewald killed between 100,000 to 500,000 magicals during his entire campaign that lasted twenty years? Hitler, his muggle counterpart, killed 6 million muggles in four years." Hermione added.

"What!?"

"6 million?"

"Now I know you're lying!"

"No, they are still being truthful," Snape confirmed wryly, "Hitler locked Jewish muggles in things called concentration camps where they either starved to death, were beaten to death, or locked in a huge room and were forced to breathe in poisoned gas until they died."

"Oh trust me over the next few weeks you are all going to get a lot of literature and pensieve memories to know exactly what muggles are capable of." Harry said darkly, glaring at Tom. #You should have had this handled long ago#

#Do not question how I run my organisation# Tom snapped and Harry snarled back.

#I damn well will when you know the consequences. You know full well it's not going to be a so-called muggleborn that reveals magic but the purebloods who tote muggles as useless.#

#The likelihood of the Statute being breached is slim! You know this, it is not a concern for us and until we have control there is very little to be done.# Tom countered and Harry scoffed.

#Oh yes, it's all easy to brush aside until some idiot does something that cannot be covered up. I will not have the future of the magical world threatened just because you do not want to acknowledge that muggles can both be below us and dangerous.#

#I know very well what they can be.# Tom bit out magic snapping slightly, #as you so kindly reminded me I lived through it.#

#Then why are you allowing possible breaches when education could prevent it?# Harry demanded his own magic rising, #It only takes one thing, Tom, and then we are all screwed. How many people do you think the magical world has ostracised? How many people would be willing to turn on it should there be a breach that can't be covered up? Muggleborns who have been forced out, squibs who have been abused and dumped for something they never had any control over. It takes one, tiny incident and we will lose everything.#

#Do you honestly believe this to be a current problem?# Tom wondered clearly sensing something in Harry other than anger and the teen looked at him.

#Current? Maybe not immediately. But a serious problem? Absolutely.#

#Harry…#

#Think about this just for a second; recording technology is getting better by the day and there is a breach in the Statute that we are not fast enough to cover up. It may be only the one thing, but then, an angry squib comes forward, a pissed off and resentful muggleborn forced out of the magical world – hell, even a vampire or a werewolf who has known nothing but discrimination in this country. They can offer up all the proof in the world. And then, what do you suppose the muggles will do, Tom?#

"We know what they will do," Tom allowed and Harry nodded.

"Exactly, we know what they will do. Because I'll tell you what I'd do as a pissed off magical who has been forced out; I'd give all these angry muggles coordinates for the most important magical places and watch them fall without hesitation. No more ministry, no more Hogwarts, no more Diagon, and then there is nothing."

"We need to make sure magic is never discovered so in order for that to happen we need people who are fully qualified to go out into the muggle world. That way not only can we collect active magical children as soon as possible, but we have the ability to remove any breaches in the Statute before it becomes a problem." Ron picked up clearly brushing over the argument Harry and the Dark Lord obviously had in parseltongue

"This also links into the fact that dumping squibs in the muggle world has done us no favours and they should have been kept in the magical world." Neville continued, "Squibs can still make most common potions, there's nothing stopping them doing secretarial world, they are able to do pretty much all Arithmetic calculations and if we are able to decriminalise blood magic there is nothing stopping squibs from using, casting or manipulating Runes."

"Really?" Dolohov wondered intrigued and Neville nodded.

"Their blood is still magical, it's the core or the connections to it that's damaged."

"We really need more research on squibs to be done." Theodore mused and there were murmurs of agreement throughout the room.

"Maybe something for the DoM to work on as we don't really have the time for it right now." Blaise wondered, "or something we need to look into internationally because squibs are a universal problem not just in the UK."

"There is a possibility that other countries have been looking into the problem while we have been idle." Dolohov agreed, "but that is a problem for a later date. We need to repeal the ban on blood magic so squibs can be fully incorporated."

"Well as magicals have been outright killing or dumping squib children into the muggle world for centuries, it is why the so-called 'muggleborn' population continues to grow. We believe we'd be able to use this as a stepping stone for another branch of Lord Malfoy's campaign." Luna pointed out, "it would work wonderfully. Purebloods would be satisfied that muggleborns would be favoured and muggleborns would finally feel included and be accepted in the magical world."

"Also, we need to take into consideration how many dormant Houses in the Wizengamot are lost within the so-called muggleborn population."

"So we figured that the campaign could focus on the growth, expansion, and the future of the wizarding world all with this one linked idea." Ron said, "return the squibs to the magical world and bring in the active magical children as soon as possible."

"If this is to work we'd also need to expand how we handle our children. Pre-Hogwarts schools would be ideal not only for socialisation but to further push the growth of our magical education."

"What do you mean?" Rodolphus asked.

"Think about this: one of the issues purebloods have with the muggleborn is that Hogwarts – and other magicals schools that admit them I'll agree – is that education has to be slowed as they do not have knowledge coming in. If we have the children discovered early and all magical children begin education at 5, what do you suppose it would do to the education in Hogwarts if every student attending already knew basic history, runes, arithmancy ect?"

"It's an intriguing concept." Theodore allowed, "we'd be able to expand on what is taught to a greater degree."

"That's the idea,"

"How would this be pitched for the campaign?" Lucius wondered and Hermione shuffled some of her paperwork.

"A new department solely dedicated to muggles and a revamp of the Department of Education."

"How are we going to tie in the repeal of the blood magic ban?"

"Twofold: 1st, we need all the information of the other countries in the ICW that do not have it banned." Harry began.

"So basically all of Africa, Asia, and the Oceanic region," Blaise muttered much to their amusement.

"2nd, when the inevitable Dumbledore/light supporter pipes up with disagreement we can use the fact that most old manors are so secure because of blood magic, Hogwarts and the Ministry both included in this, and the very entrance into the Wizengamot being blood magic. Our inheritances, our titles, everything like that is also blood magic and if that somehow still fails we use the fact that Dumbledore used blood magic on the place he dumped me in." Harry continued.

"Very clever, using things so intrinsically in our culture that cannot be refuted."

"Then we can use the fact that our healing rates are significantly lower than other countries because of the ban on so many different magics including blood magic."

"So you intend to lessen the muggleborn problem, expand on job opportunities, change the negativity surrounding squib births, bolster the population and the old Houses, further the education nationally, and hopefully repeal the ban on blood magic with one campaign point," Lucius said slightly disbelieving and the teens shared a look.

"We pick 'em well."

"There will be a lot of work put into making that palpable to the public," Narcissa warned and they all nodded.

"Yeah, we know, but we figured if we divided it correctly not so much," Hermione said.

"We're-," Harry indicated himself and the Dark Lord, "are working on finding something that can track new magicals in the muggle world."

"I've got the international blood magic information," Blaise said.

"I'm on the actual laws surrounding blood magic," Draco added.

"I'm looking into the benefits of using such magic outside of keeping squibs in the magical world." Neville picked up and then looked towards Hermione.

"I'm working on getting more proof surrounding so-called muggleborns being squib born."

"And I'm working on what we would need to make a department focusing on the muggles."

"We need more hands," Harry admitted.

"I can aid in the information surrounding blood magic internationally," Theodore offered and Blaise nodded.

"While I can get information on the benefits of using it internationally." Dolohov continued.

"Perfect,"

"I can take over helping find something that can find magicals in the muggle world." Rabastan suggested, "then you'd be free to overhaul the Department of Education, my Lord."

"Yes, that would work well. Rodolphus, Bella, Narcissa, you were all tutored extensively as children but in vastly different ways. You will aid in creating plans on what children should be taught from the ages of 5 upwards while myself, Remus, and Severus will work on Hogwarts and further education."

"I have already begun on the side of things I doing simply by necessity," Remus admitted, "there were many things I wished to have been able to cover while teaching at Hogwarts and now teaching the wolves has enabled me to do so."

"I, too, have many thoughts on the matter, my Lord. With the ideas of pre-Hogwarts education able to be adapted we can easily make sure children have the education needed to perform better at Hogwarts." Snape admitted and Tom nodded.

"We shall all compile our ideas and information and meet at a later date to consolidate."

"So that's Azkaban reforms and muggleborn/squib reforms for the campaign; is that all you intend to cover?" Theodore wondered and Harry shook his head.

"No, we figured we'd go on the big three."

"Oh?"

"Magical beings."

"Ahhh,"

"When the Azkaban reform goes head, many of the laws that creep up will involve 'creatures' as they're known now as loads of them are either killed or dumped in Azkaban. That will be one point in our direction. Number two, the fact that Magical beings, some of which are way older than the wizarding population, are treated like dirt is unacceptable and it's easily proven that in countries with fewer restrictions there are fewer attacks ect. And finally, many Ministry resources are wasted on the culling and hunting of these beings that really want to be left the hell alone when they could be put to better use bettering our nation."

"That's going to be a hard sell to the public that have been brainwashed to believe beings such as werewolves and vampires especially are dangerous ect."

"Ah but that's why the sanctuary and the blood banks are crucial." Harry pointed out with a smirk. "The sanctuary is proof that when wolves are left alone without people attacking them they are perfectly lovely beings. When we get the blood banks up and running it will show that vampires are just people with a different diet and while we are able to buy our food so shall they."

"How do you intend to make that public friendly?"

"Frame it as if we're trying to lessen attacks and so on." Ron suggested, "we're not lying, it's just that we're also making it so Beings start getting their own rights and liberties."

"Goblins especially need their own rights because sooner or later they're going to rebel and we're all going to be poor as Hel,"

"Goblins, wolves, and vamps leading magical beings needing reform then branching out to others down the line." Draco made a note. "So we need people to examine international laws surrounding them, which are going to be extremely varied, and we need to start planning on how we present it to the public."

"I say we go old-fashioned." Hermione said with a slight smirk, "good old tell-alls with the beings themselves."

"Get ready, Moony, you are about to be famous," Harry told him with a grin.

"I am in no way reassured." The Marauder muttered but he was also grinning.

"With Lord Malfoy tearing through the ministry we should be able to get accurate – somewhat – statistics on how often attacks and other happenings went up when a law or restriction was added to magical beings," Ron said and the Minister nodded.

"There may be some corrupt data but we should be able to parse the real from the fabrication." Lucius agreed.

"I don't envy you," Tom said seriously and Lucius grimaced.

"I still can't believe the Ministry was able to function in the state that was in."

"We will need a plan for the blood banks, but once they are secured they can be added into the campaign." Draco reminded them and Hermione nodded.

"I'm working on it, but it won't be our first topic so we have time."

"They'll work out wonderfully," Luna assured and all the teens took a breath of relief.

"We're also going to need all the data you've managed to collect about the creatures being driven out of the country by the so-called 'light'," Ron remembered looking towards the Death Eaters.

"We have plenty and I am sure I can find things we collected during the previous war," Dolohov said with a thoughtful look.

"I have much of what was collected still," Tom assured and Ron nodded.

"That will give us an edge as we have years of proof rather than just recently," Neville said pleased.

"Yes, plus it gives us a visible decline in numbers while an incline in attacks."

"I think that's the three main parts of the campaign covered," Harry said looking around to make sure he had everything and got nods from his friends.

"It ties in well with what our end goal intends to be." Tom acknowledged sounding pleased, "and it should guarantee a win for us."

"You all have your things for the campaign-," Fred said,

"What are we doing at this time?" George asked and Harry blinked.

"You are going to be our eyes and ears everywhere as you have been doing so very well." Harry pointed out, "but even more than that; you are very successful businessmen and you have many connections we simply don't have reach for. You'll be pushing the campaign on the ground. Rumours we need circulating without it being obvious, leaks we need to happen without it looking deliberate, secrets we need exposing at the right time."

"Oh good-,"

"Our expertise then,"

"Plus, you are kind of our magical department when it comes to experiments right now." Neville pointed out.

"And I'm going to need you with Bill and Charlie."

"We're going to have such fun." They chimed together and Harry snorted.

"Don't jinx it."

"Everyone clear on what they're doing? Yes? Good, then let's move on."

"Oh good, does this mean we're done with politics?" Bella exclaimed, "they're exhausting."

"Yes, Bella, we're indeed moving on from the politics," Tom confirmed amusement lining his tone.

"Finally!"

Harry laughed at her muttered exclamation and shook his head.

"So what's next?"

Here we go! Meeting part 1 done and dusted thankfully. Hopefully you enjoyed it because let me tell you, trying to balance out that many characters in one scene was an absolute nightmare. Please let me know what you think – I love hearing from you guys