Twelve

Chapter Twelve

As it turned out, the door to Sybill's office swung open without protest when Arthur, in his capacity as Minister for Magic, ordered it to. When Snape murmured a simple Revealing Spell, a small filing cabinet appeared next to the desk. It wasn't even locked, and the files inside the top two drawers were in neat, alphabetical order.

Snape pulled out the folder marked 'Vital Statistics' and opened it on the desk.

Hermione pulled open the bottom drawer, which was crammed with a large number of parchment rolls.

"Look," she said as she pointed, "there's my challenge! And I see several others, as well. And lots of messages – none of them addressed to Sybill, I might add." She reached into the drawer and picked up several of the tightly rolled parchments.

"Oh, these are nothing. We'll deal with these later," she said a moment later. She put them back into the drawer and closed it.

"Won't we need to show those to the Wizengamot?" Arthur asked as he pulled the drawer back open. As soon as he picked up one of the parchments, however, he dropped it back into the drawer. "No, we won't need these."

"Aren't those challenges to the new law?" Snape asked as he lifted his eyes from the file he was perusing.

"Are they? I didn't think they were important," Hermione said. She shook her head slightly. "Why didn't I think they were important?"

"Weren't they adverts?" Arthur asked in a puzzled tone. "I thought they were adverts."

Snape pulled the drawer open and peered inside. He could clearly see that most of the parchments were addressed to the Chief Warlock or to Arthur, and that many of them had a subject line that stated the purpose of the document was to challenge the new law.

"They've been bewitched," Snape said. "Probably some variant of a side-tracking or procrastination spell."

"Are you sure they're not adverts?" Arthur asked as he reached again for one of the scrolls.

"Wait," Snape said as he aimed his wand at the parchment. "Finite Incantatum." The parchment quivered slightly. "Do you still think it's an advert?"

Arthur picked it up. "It's addressed to me," he said. He unrolled the parchment and skimmed it. "It's from Hermione. She's asking for a meeting to discuss charms and potions being developed to counteract the toxic magic."

He dropped the scroll back into the drawer and raised his eyes to meet Snape's. "I never saw this message."

"I'm sure you didn't," Snape agreed. He waved his wand over the other scrolls in the drawer.

"All of these will need to be looked at now," he said.

"I can't believe I didn't think she might have bewitched them," Hermione muttered as she began sorting through the pile of scrolls.

"Why would you?" Snape asked. "If I hadn't seen you and Arthur react so oddly I probably wouldn't have suspected that the scrolls had been tampered with."

Hermione nodded and continued sorting the scrolls.

Arthur was skimming through messages that had been addressed to him from Hermione, Snape, Filius, and dozens of other people.

"Bloody hell," Hermione said angrily as she slapped a parchment down on the desk.

"What is it?" Snape asked.

"It's our Declaration of Betrothal – the one the Ministry 'never received'!"

"The Wizengamot will need to see all of these," Snape said. "But more importantly, they need to see the unaltered birth statistics."

"Has there been a decline in the birth rates?" Arthur asked as he leaned over the parchments Snape had unrolled on the desk.

"There was actually a substantial rise in the six to twenty-four month period after the war ended. This is a natural phenomenon, and would have corrected itself gradually. As the effects of the toxic magic began to spread, the birth rates declined, but only slightly. It appears that most normal, healthy individuals weren't too seriously affected by the Dark Lord's final curse. And, as the toxic magic faded, the birth rates returned to normal pre-war levels, except in the places where Sybill placed containment charms – notably in areas with a larger than average wizarding population, which she could readily monitor. Areas outside the city actually maintained a slight increase in the birth rate. But because she intercepted all the reports about birth and death rates that were sent to the Ministry's Division of Vital Statistics, she was able to manufacture a crisis where none existed."

"What about our work?" Hermione asked. "How did she reverse the intent of the contraceptive charms and potions?"

"She didn't. I found her journal in the same folder as the Vital Statistics reports. She's had a Confundus Charm on the three of us for years."

"How did she manage that?" Arthur asked.

"It was over Spinner's End, actually. She made a point of passing the house, just outside my wards, at least once a week to renew the charm. It was a rather broad, encompassing spell that caused anyone working inside to misinterpret data. Had we moved our experiments to another location, we wouldn't have had a problem."

"Unbelievable."

"When Sybill lost control, the charm failed."

"What about Calvin and his poor wife?" Hermione asked. "You told me that he said his wife used a contraceptive potion every night, yet they have six children."

"Alas, it appears poor Effie is one of a very small minority of witches who are resistant to the effects of birth control potions; though why it took seven pregnancies to make that discovery, I'll never know. I've made arrangements with Calvin to meet with them and teach them some basic contraceptive charms, which are less likely to fail than potions are. Their family should be complete when their seventh 'bun' emerges from the oven.

"The bottom line is that the wizarding world is not 'on the brink of extinction' and never has been," Snape concluded. "The extraordinary measures implemented by the Wizengamot are certainly not required."

"Who would have believed that someone who appeared as scatterbrained and ineffective as Sybill did could have conceived of and implemented such a scheme – and maintained it for more than five years?" Arthur mused.

"Genius and madness are often two sides of the same coin," Hermione said.

"She didn't appear to exhibit either side in any great abundance," he said.

"Sometimes the coin stands on edge," Snape put in.

"Look at the time," Hermione said sharply. "We've got to get this stuff upstairs." She was gathering scrolls and tying them together as she spoke.

Arthur conjured a box and tossed a number of scrolls inside. "Once the Wizengamot goes through all these and sees the true birth and death statistics, I'm sure they'll do the right thing."

Snape picked up the file marked Vital Statistics and nodded. "One can only hope that reason and truth will be more impelling than malignant – and fraudulent – prognostications."

"Not to mention they'll be making decisions without my misguided influence," Arthur added glumly.

"You weren't the only one she used the Imperius on," Hermione consoled him.

"I'm afraid that's little comfort, but thank you," Arthur replied.

They exited Sybill's office, and Arthur closed and warded the door. "I'll have to come back and search through every inch later. Let's hope there are no other surprises hidden here."

As they approached Arthur's office, an aide rushed up.

"Minister, the members of the Wizengamot are all here. And there's a bloody gaggle of reporters trying to gain access to the courtroom as well. Do you want me to call the Aurors to keep them out?"

Arthur swallowed hard. He looked like a man about to walk to his own execution. "No, Edwards," he said as he straightened his shoulders. "Let them in."

Edwards nodded and started to turn back the way he'd come.

"Wait!" Snape called out.

"Minister?" Edwards asked.

"Wait here," Arthur said to his aide as he opened the door to his office and gestured Snape and Hermione inside. "I'll give you instructions in a moment."

"Of course, sir."

"Is the Wizengamot aware of what transpired yesterday?" Snape asked as soon as Arthur followed them into his office and closed the door.

"I spoke with a few members. They know that there's a ... a problem with the new law."

"You need to brief them completely before you allow the press in. If the Wizengamot can't answer their questions, they'll fill in the blanks themselves."

"You saw the headlines in the papers this morning. Nothing they'll hear could be worse than the rumours and lies they've already printed."

Snape nodded grimly. The headlines that morning had been lurid and had ranged from the ridiculous and absurd (Hermione and Sybill had duelled over the last remaining eligible bachelor) to the frightening and macabre (the Dark Lord's followers had staged a bloody breakout from Azkaban and were even now on their way to avenge their master's death). None of the stories, however, had even hinted at the true nature of the events that had taken place in the marriage office or the actions that had precipitated them.

"You're right," Snape said. "But there needs to be some sort of plan, however rudimentary, in place before the details of Sybill's manipulations are released."

Arthur seemed about to protest, but then he sighed and nodded in agreement. "Rita Skeeter has been trying to contact me all night. Perhaps I should speak to her."

"Rita Skeeter is a sensationalist," Hermione protested.

"Yes, but her readers believe whatever she prints. If we can get her on our side ..."

"She has only one 'side' – her own."

"If I agree to give her an exclusive interview, she'll jump at the chance. I'll stipulate that she can't use a Quick Quotes Quill and that I have final approval before the interview is published."

"I hope you know what you're doing, Arthur," Snape said. "She'll chew you up and spit you out."

"I expect she will," Arthur agreed. "But she'll also spit out the information we need to get to the people."

He opened the door and indicated that Edwards should come inside.

"Show the esteemed members of the press corps to an empty room well away from the Wizengamot. Tell them that I'll be issuing a statement and answering questions in three hours." Arthur glanced at his watch. "It's nearly elevenses; have tea and biscuits served."

"Yes, sir."

"Is Rita Skeeter among the members of the press in attendance?"

"She's the one insisting the loudest to be let into the courtroom," Edwards replied.

"Wait an hour, and then ask Miss Skeeter to join me here."

"Be discreet, Edwards," Snape put in.

Edwards looked to Arthur, who nodded.

"Of course, sir," Edwards replied and backed out the door.

The headlines in The Daily Prophet on Thursday morning were even more lurid than they'd been the day before. The headlines, and the stories that followed, were, however, much closer to the truth.

‛MARRIAGE AND BABY LAW' TO BE REPEALED!

"A sick and misguided mind has perpetrated an unprecedented hoax upon the wizarding world," Minister for Magic announces.

By Rita Skeeter

The events that took place at the Ministry's 'Marriage Office' on Tuesday afternoon have been explained.

AW: We do, and we intend to fulfil those legal and moral obligations. After much deliberation, however, we've decided that we have a greater legal and moral obligation to any children who may be born as a result of the statute. We mustn't forget that this was the Marriage and Baby Law. Many of the couples who married under the new law, especially in the first few weeks, are probably already expecting a child.

AW: Precisely. The wizarding world expects ... no, demands ... that all children be born into the protective relationship of marriage. The children who were conceived as a result of the new law will have the same protection. Their status must be and will be protected.

Look for further reports soon.

Author's Note: This story was written for the Potter Place's Variety Challenge. This is the prompt I chose: Something Old – Revisit a once popular challenge. I chose to revisit the Marriage Law Challenge, but I've placed the story in a post-DH timeline.