"That demand for justice has been slowly brewing ever since; people want to know who killed their loved ones, they want to know their fates, they want to know what happened to them.
They want answers, Severus. Those same people then see individuals like Lucius and it just reminds them of all the wrongs and the many injustices that occurred after the war; it fuels this hidden, but brewing anger and rage in their hearts."
...
"The public rarely gets what it wants," Severus countered with a dismissive wave of his hand. "The rich, they get what they want; the masses get what the rich allows them to have. That's the natural order of things. The way it's always been and always will be."
"How true, but I think you actually mean the powerful get what they want," he corrected, going off his pre-planned script for a moment. "Tom wasn't rich, was he?" reminding Severus of the Dark Lord's humble roots.
"No, he wasn't," Severus offered in return, conceding the point with a slight bow of his head.
"I'm not rich either, am I? Yes, I have great personal wealth compared to others thanks to my early discoveries in life, but compared to many of the old pureblood families, my fortune is remarkably small and quite modest really," Albus expressed with a small smile. "But I'm the most powerful wizard in Britain and one of the most well-respected in all of Europe."
"What about the Order's vaults then? Don't you count them as your own?" Severus challenged.
"Those are for the cause, Severus; I don't touch them for personal matters," he defended, giving Severus a pointed look.
That was one of the few subjects they had never discussed over the long years, and he had no intention of changing that unless it was absolutely necessary. That was another lesson he had learnt from the last war: the need to have gold on hand, since one could not always rely on donations from one's followers to fund a war effort.
Especially from the older pureblood families who perhaps rightly saw money as influence and expected favours and influence in return for their personal donations to the cause. Realising he was getting sidetracked, he refocused on the subject of the meeting.
Rearranging his features to give Severus a sterner look, he continued, "I plan on giving them the answers they want, Severus," he voiced, declaring his position on the subject before sipping some more of his tea. He resisted the impulse to scowl as the cold herbal tea caused his tongue to rebel at the horrible taste; he discreetly cast another warming spell on the tea with a simple flick of his wand, reheating his cooling tea to a more enjoyable temperature.
"With Peter being in the newspaper and Sirius being released from jail after falsely being imprisoned for over a decade, it has awoken the public's desire for justice, reminded people of old wounds and the many miscarriages of justice that occurred over a decade ago," he explained to the younger man, who had no real interest in politics.
"To make matters more difficult, an Auror was attacked in this school. Not just any old Auror, mind you, but Alastor Moody, due to the opening of the Chamber of Secrets, ensuring that Madam Bones' attention is fully set on bringing the culprits to justice. And that has also been all over the paper. People want this school to be safe; they want their children to be safe; they want action and they want to know who is to blame."
"Then there was that unfortunate Quidditch incident with young Neville that has ruffled some very old feathers, to the point that Lady Longbottom is up in arms about the matter. What do you think will happen when it comes out that it was a Malfoy family house-elf that was responsible for the attacks on her grandson?" he asked. "Do you think anyone would believe that the house-elf was acting alone? Independently? Or will they believe it was only carrying out its master's will?"
"No, no one would believe that the house-elf was acting independently," Severus voiced firmly with a disappointed shake of his head. "House-elves always obey their master's will. Even if the house-elf said otherwise, people would just assume that its master had ordered it to say that and it was merely obeying his or her orders to give a false confession."
He decided to list Lucius' crimes to Severus to help the potions master understand the true extent of Lucius' criminal dealings in order to help Severus make the correct choice.
"So that's two attempted murders of innocent schoolchildren from Ancient and Noble households, both war orphans, one a national hero and the other one a rising star. Then there is also the opening of the Chamber of Secrets to consider; that is another two attempted murders, if not an act of terrorism against the whole of magical Britain who have their children here," he gave Severus a piercing look to help emphasize the seriousness of these crimes.
"Then we have assaulting an Auror to add to the list and dealing in Class 5 Dark Arts artefacts. Finally, we now know that Lucius has been assisting a wanted criminal for several months now. Did you know Lucius met Peter at Christmas? Did he tell you that? How the pair of them discussed the best way to murder Lily's child?" Albus asked the utterly silent man who appeared to be in a state of shock.
"Poisoned chocolate candy, Severus... it was meant to happen this coming Thursday," he added grimly. "What would have happened if Harry had offered to share those sweets with his friends and classmates? How many innocent people would have died along with Lily's only child?" once again mentioning Severus' first and only love to drive the point home.
"Lucius has to be stopped, my friend, he's gone too far now," he stated firmly, his voice as hard as tempered goblin steel.
"Why are you telling me all this? Are you not worried that I'll run off and tell Lucius?" Severus challenged.
"I admit I strongly considered keeping you out of the loop on this matter and very much in the dark for your own good," he voiced, believing that it was for the best to be honest with Severus. "But I knew that after the events had happened you would have demanded an explanation as to why I didn't tell you. You would mistakenly think I didn't trust you and you would be resentful. And that wound would fester and grow between us," he stated.
"I know that you are a good man at heart, Severus; you risked your life to protect Lily from Tom," once again using Lily's name and memory in the hope that it would make Severus do the right thing. "Events are in motion now and have been for some time, and unfortunately they cannot be stopped, even if I wanted them to. By the end of the week Lucius will be arrested and the world will know of his many heinous crimes. We need to decide how best to protect you and your godson Draco from the inevitable fallout of this," Severus seemed to refocus on him at this dose of hard reality.
"How bad do you think the fallout will be for Draco?" Severus asked. "He's only a child, not his father."
He took a moment to seriously consider the question, as several different scenarios and outcomes went through his sharp mind. "Very bad, my friend, worse than even what happened to the Lestrange family after the war," he offered soberly.
"People will want blood after hearing of Lucius' many crimes and the Ministry will want to make an example of him and his family. The Minister, despite his long personal friendship with Lucius, will be forced to take a hard line on the matter if he has any hope at all to hold onto his office.
Otherwise people will assume he is defending his friend and long-time political benefactor... All it would take would be one piece of evidence, no matter how tenuous, showing a possible bribe between the two to reach the papers and he would be forced to step down in disgrace, all the while being investigated for corruption."
"Fudge will save his own ass then," Severus muttered quietly.
Ignoring Severus' remark, he continued, "Just shows that gold doesn't buy reliable loyalty, my friend. The Prophet will naturally stoke the flames, driving up the public's fury, as the Malfoy name is dragged through the dirt. People like Rita Skeeter will encourage people's anger and disgust to last as long as it can.
I personally expect that the Malfoy family will lose nearly everything, especially with Lucius having so many of his own powerful enemies wielding their influence to help destroy his family for good.
You know as well as I do that Lucius has enough enemies to last ten lifetimes; there will be calls for him to be given the Kiss or the Veil in the courts. Lady Malfoy will also be questioned, after all, how can a wife not know of her husband's dirty dealings? She will be questioned; interrogated might be the better word, and anything she was even remotely involved in will stick."
"To make the situation worse, due to Lucius' reckless actions, he has even alienated Narcissa's own birth family, a powerful family who could have possibly sheltered her and Draco from the full political fallout. I seriously doubt Sirius will lift a finger on their behalf now. And whatever personal favours Narcissa has gathered will be essentially worthless as people will avoid her like Dragon Pox.
After all, no one will risk openly supporting them in case the Aurors decide to investigate them too. Then add into the equation that other people will inevitably be put on trial. If they're fighting for their lives as well they will not want to risk being seen as connected with the Malfoys," he explained soberly.
"Not to mention, as soon as Veritaserum touches Lucius' lips I doubt Madam Bones will stop her questioning of him until she knows every dirty little secret he has ever been privy to."
"I see," Severus expressed, his face turning even paler.
...
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