Chapter Text
The day after Harry had begun to learn wandless magic, Tom requested that the three of them sit down to discuss those Harry thought might be swayed to their side, or at least be amenable to going neutral.
“It isn’t as though we can’t discuss this after you’ve moved. “ Tom explained. “I just thought it would be easier to discuss this face to face rather than through journals and such.”
Harry had no issue with discussing it now rather than after the move. In fact he wanted as many of these discussions to be done before his and Severus’ move to Switzerland. He would still work with Tom on certain things, but for the most part he wanted to leave the painful parts of Britain in Britain, and start fresh in another country far from this one.
“I can only say what I think, I can’t say that someone will or won’t do something, if they’ve not told me themselves.” Harry’s tone was anxious. Severus tucked him a little closer to his side.
Tom nodded in complete understanding. “I’m not expecting you to know another’s mind. I only ask if there are any you ‘think’ may be willing to join our side, or even just go neutral.”
“Well, I don't know much about Bill or Charlie Weasley. I know that both of them left the country, almost as soon as they graduated. I know they both have good jobs that pay well, and give them reasonable amounts of time off, but that they almost never use it to come to Britain to visit. I know Mrs. Weasley does not approve of their jobs; but she really doesn't seem to approve of any job that isn't in the ministry. Neither Bill nor Charlie seem to get on very well with their mother, but that doesn't necessarily mean that they'll agree with you.”
“slightly off topic, but what exactly is the situation between most of the Weasley children and their parents?“ Severus asked.
Harry was silent for a few moments. Finally he began, “Once in a while I was able to sneak off to the public library and spend a day reading. One of the things I read about was the different types of abuse.”
He fell silent again for a while, gathering his thoughts. “I don’t think it’s unfair to say that Molly Weasley is abusive to her children, and Arthur doesn’t seem to care enough to ever step in.”
“Abusive how?” Tom inquired.
“With Bill and Charlie it’s pretty much the same. She complains that their jobs take them out of the country, complains about what they wear, complains about Bill working with nasty creatures, and dangerous curse breaking. She complains that Charlie works with dangerous animals. She complains about how long they keep their hair. She complains that they haven’t settled down with a nice girl and given her grandbabies. And none of it ever sounds like concern, but just complaining that she doesn’t get to control every aspect of their lives.
She pushed Percy to be perfect. Perfect grades, perfect conduct, become prefect, and head Boy, get a job in the ministry. He bent over backwards trying to be good enough for her. When he got a job in the ministry, she complained that it wasn’t in a dept. she wanted. When he wasn’t willing to follow Dumbledore off a cliff, Molly basically wrote him off as useless, while Arthur did nothing.
Molly always takes every opportunity to berate the twins over every little thing, and sometimes over nothing at all. She acts like she hates them, and nothing they do will change it.
She treats Ron as an afterthought pretty much all the time. The only time he managed to get her attention in a somewhat good way was when he got the prefects badge, and even then she made it more about herself then him, and used the opportunity to make sure the twins felt like they weren’t even part of the family.
Most people say that Ginny is spoiled because she’s the youngest and the only girl, and in some ways she might be spoiled. But Molly wants her to be some weird idealized version of a perfect lady, and doesn’t care what Ginny wants at all. I’m pretty sure Ginny’s stalking of me is something Molly encourages. When whatever happened with the diary in Ginny’s first year, Molly and Arthur never had her seen by someone who knew what they were doing. Dumbledore said she had been possessed for nearly a year, but that all she needed was a cup of cocoa, and Pomfrey wouldn’t know how to help even if she wanted to, and yet neither of Ginny’s parents took her to even see if she was no longer possessed. They got all that money in the grand draw and used it to go spend a summer in Egypt, but they didn’t use any of it to get Ginny help, or buy things the kids still at school needed, except for a new wand for Ron, and that was only because he broke his. Not because it was in bad condition when Ron got it or even because it really wasn’t matched to him. And that’s not just me guessing, I asked the twins if Ginny went to see someone about her first year, and they volunteered about not getting new school things with the money Arthur won.”
Both Tom and Severus sat in stunned silence after Harry’s diatribe, Severus of course knew a bit more about the goings on with the Weasley’s than Tom did, but even with what he knew he had not put the pieces together to show the picture that Harry painted.
Considering Molly’s frequent howlers to her children at Hogwarts, as well as her behavior at Grimald Place, and Arthur’s continual non-involvement, what Harry said made complete sense.
“In light of all that,” Tom finally said. “I can see why the older two and the twins might be open to go neutral at the very least if not completely switch sides.”
“Fred and George say that Bill and Charlie would at the very least be open to finding out what your goals are; and even if they didn’t agree with you, would almost certainly be neutral, since they have flat out stated they want nothing to do with how Dumbledore runs things, or how their parents act.
Bill is part of the order, partly to keep Molly off his back and partly to keep an eye on what’s going on. Pretty sure the twins mentioned that Bill has a file of all the things Dumbledore and the order have done that’s illegal.
I really don’t want to speak for them since nearly everything I know comes through the twins but Fred and George said Bill would give you a copy of the file he’s made on the order.
Tom’s eyes gleamed with the possibilities with such information. Knowing what the order was doing, had done, or intended to do would be more than a little helpful, not only to himself and his side of this infernal war, but also would almost certainly prove to be useful to the ICW.
Dumbledore had misused his power as Headmaster of Hogwarts and chief warlock of the wizen gamut, this was something easily provable In both cases. The chances that he abused his authority as supreme mugwump of the ICW was extremely high, it was possible that some of that misuse of power would be in the notes the eldest Weasley child held.
Severus made Harry stop for a few minutes and drink some tea to soothe his throat from talking so much. He then tucked a fleece blanket around the lightly shivering teen.
After Severus had settled his little Gryffindor to his satisfaction, tom asked Harry, “Is there anyone else you can think of that might be receptive to being approached?”
“I’m sure Luna Lovegood and her father would be willing to join your side. Harry considered for a moment then said, “The Bells are already neutral and I don’t think it would take much for them to be willing to come to your side. Katie’s really popular, so she would likely be able to tell you who else might be willing, at least those in Gryffindor.” He thought for a few moments. “The McDougal family is more than just neutral and I think if they know what you stand for, they’ll be more than willing to join your side. The Boots are seriously considering going neutral from what I have heard. I’m pretty sure that as soon as they know what Dumbledore has been up to, they’ll go fully neutral.”
Harry hesitated. “ I really do not want to say what others will or won’t do unless they’ve told me directly, so all those names other than the Lovegoods are only those I ‘think’ might join your side or go neutral. I’ve talked to Luna personally, so she’s the only one I can say for certain.”
“That’s not a problem.” Tom said. “even just having a few names that might be safe to approach is a big help. And like you said with the Bell girl, they might know of others, who know of others, and so on. So even what seems like a little could turn out to be a lot.”
“No Hufflepuffs?” Severus questioned lightly.
Harry flinched violently and began to shake, twisting his fingers in agitation. Alarmed by his reaction, Severus carefully lifted the little wizard into his lap and gently stilled the fingers.
“Harry, please tell me what is wrong. I promise you will not be in any trouble.”
“the Hufflepuffs r-really don’t l-like me. Th-they thinkg I k-killed Cedric, and have made sure I know how they feel.”
Severus closed his eyes in defeat. He was partially responsible for never noticing things that definitely should have been noticed, but by no means was he the only one. What Harry said sounded very much like more than hurtful words had been thrown in Harry’s direction. How was it that the staff never saw any of the things that happened in the school?
By silent agreement, Severus and Tom decided to take a break and let Harry calm down. Tom asked and elf for a tea tray and the three men had their tea with only light conversation.
Once Severus was sure that Harry was truly ready and able to continue they began to discuss those Harry would want to be considered off limits, even if they did not go neutral or switch to Tom’s side.
“I honestly believe that Neville will go neutral. He doesn’t agree with anyone who calls themselves light, and certainly not anyone who follows Dumbledore in any fashion. But in case I’m wrong I would like to have him under my protection.”
Tom nodded, understanding and agreeing with Harry’s reasoning. Much harm had been done to the Longbottom boy by both sides.
Harry hesitated for long moments before speaking. “I’m not at all happy with Sirius. To be completely honest, I don’t want to even see him again. I know there are things he needs to answer for, but he was put in Azkaban without a trial for crimes he did not commit. I would like to see that injustice corrected. If for no other reason than the fact that things really need to change, and this is one of them.”
Severus attempted to keep the distaste from his expression over the subject matter, but also felt he had a point to make. “I am certainly not someone who can be considered to be at all fond of Black, but the fact is, his lack of trial and the mismanagement concerning his lack of trial, his imprisonment, the kiss on sight order, the dementors being put around a school full of children for one criminal even if he had been a criminal, much less one who had already proven he could get around the dementors, and continued to prove such when he entered the castle at least twice… The fact that had the DMLE even attempted to do their job they would have pulled all the files concerning Black when he escaped to see if there were any clues of where he might go for sucker. Who he might still trust, etc. If they had done so, they would have realized at that point there had been no trial. Everything concerning his case can be used to highlight the corruption and incompetence of the DMLE at the very least. When you factor in all those who should have been involved in a trial in ’81 and all those who should have questioned it when there wasn’t one, especially when taking into account just how high profile the case was, this should also help the ICW with their takeover.”
“That.” Tom said with feeling, “is an excellent point.”