With the addition of Lord Slytherin there were now three Gray members, two Dark, and six Light, making eleven members, not including the chairman, who acted as casting vote in the event of any ties.
If Harry wanted to have any chance of swinging the board to his favour he needed to get at least one of the light members to switch sides on the eventual matter of Dumbledore.
His father was, of course, totally out. Lord Black, who looked bored out of his mind, was about as likely to split off from Dumbledore as Alexandra was to declare herself a lover of frilly pink dresses.
Lord Fowley was one-half of Wizarding Britain's ministry enforced oligopoly on food trade with the muggle world, which might have been promising, if the other half hadn't been the Greengrasses, making Lord Fowley entering a political alliance with the Gray highly unlikely — unless the man wanted the department of magical trade investigating them both for possible charges of breaking their charters.
Lord Blott was a possibility, but would have to have a very good reason to vote anti-dumbledore. The Noble House of Blott was one of the largest winners in the ministry's long term effort to control the supply of information on magic spells and practises. There was a good reason why everyone bought their books at Flourish and Blotts, after all.
Lord Hawking was the undisputed king of space charms. His house had a stranglehold on the supply of trunks, tents, and all kinds of space expanded items, from pouches to ministry cars. If you wanted something to be bigger on the inside than on the outside, you had to go to a Hawking, something that wizards of other countries tended to resent. The Hawkings had been the subject of more foreign familicide attempts than any other in Wizarding Britain.
Finally, if you didn't count Flume, there was Lord Smith, who sat in his chair like a retired warhorse, massive and armoured, with a moustache to rival Uncle Vernon's. The armour was steel and concealed under his robes in a way that somehow drew even more attention to it. A large war hammer was propped up on the wall behind him. Lord Smith had three children, all married, one daughter and two sons. The sons had children of their own, two of whom were in Harry's year — Zacharias Smith, and Sally Smith, both in Hufflepuff.
It was Lord Smith that Harry had his eye on as the man to sway. The Lord's oldest son had already given his allegiance to the Gray, which must make for some interesting family gatherings. Lord Smith himself was known to be a heavily pragmatic man, and the Light were squeaking that he was going to be the next to jump ship, something the younger son, who was a fierce Dumbledore supporter, was supposedly desperate to prevent. "All those in favour of Professor Burbage's proposal for a reworked muggle studies curriculum?" Flume asked.
Harry raised his hand. So did Lords Black, Greengrass, Woodcroft, and Potter. All the Gray and two of the Light. His father raised an eyebrow at him. Harry nodded his head slightly. Hey, only one off… not bad.
Polyjuiced Susan walked out of the castle and out across the grounds, all the while trying to think like Granger, trying to copy that same purposeful yet graceful movement Granger had, as though the ground were made of the upturned faces of those she barely tolerated.
Susan sort-of glided out towards the lake and saw her quarry levitating blobs of water. She'd been watching how Granger and Greengrass interacted when they thought no one was watching, and she thought she'd be able to imitate the style quite well.
She moved towards her. "Daphne."
Greengrass raised her head from where she'd been concentrating. "Hermione? I thought you had Healer lessons?"
"Madam Pomfrey cancelled them, something about an emergency at St Mungo's."
"Oh. Well, I'm going to continue draining myself for a little while more. Want to join in for a bit?"
"Ah," Susan hesitated, but it didn't look too hard. "Sure."
Greengrass nodded. "Our lord should be done soon, I think he wants a word with us after the board meeting." Susan suppressed a swallow. Meeting Lord Slytherin while polyjuiced as Hermione was not in her immediate plans. "Oh? Any idea what about?" She started to levitate a blob of water about the same size as the Greengrass heiress.'
Daphne looked around briefly and opened her mouth as though to say something, but no words came out. Instead she choked.
Susan had just enough time to raise a concerned eyebrow before Greengrass' water blob fell into the lake with a splosh and the next thing she knew, Greengrass had her wand pointed straight at her.
Susan's eyes widened, still with her wand pointed at the lake, her water blob still floating. "Who are you?" Greengrass demanded.
A bead of sweat formed on Susan's brow. How had Greengrass found out? "I'm Hermione, of course."
Greengrass' eyes narrowed. "Sure, you—"
Susan's blob of water fell.
"—Are."
Susan shielded and dived backwards just as Greengrass's first spell hit. Easy. Another spell splashed off the shield and she dodged a third. Despite her heart thumping a drum beat in her chest, she wasn't panicking. Another spell whizzed by. She wasn't first seed on the Hufflepuff duelling team for nothing and she didn't even need to beat Greengrass, just get away with her identity safe. She dodged another spell, this one much closer. Adrenaline surged. Hah! Her eyes danced. Her heart raced. This is what she loved about duelling! That game of mere inches, where every split second counted, but this was no mere practise duel — no, this was the real thing and the stakes were much higher. Adrenaline coursed through her blood. Her eyes widened, taking in every bit of light they could.
Greengrass started yet another basic chain, her own eyes two ice-blue furious slits.
Susan instinctively countered it, months of practise making every motion automatic. Greengrass and her were about equal in terms of raw power, so they'd both be slowing down soon and at about the same time. That would give her the opportunity to get away. Her feet dug into the soft grass making indents in the soil.
Then, suddenly, two jelly-leg jinxes collided in mid air and Susan watched in horror as a long silver thread formed between hers and Greengrass' wands. Greengrass' free hand started to glow red, the silver threat strengthened, thickened with raw power, and before Susan could think another thought, she'd been yanked forward as though from the world's largest reverse portkey. Greengrass flew towards her, connected by that silver thread, a bolt of red filled her vision, and she knew no more.
…
…
…
Susan awoke, bound in ropes and wandless, to the sight of Greengrass standing over her, smiling, her own wand pointed down at her.
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