"How wonderful it is that we can finally put that dreadful matter behind us." Minister Fudge said, dotting at his brow to remove the sweat that had formed upon seeing the terrifying beast. "The basilisk is dead, the children are safe and the victims have been well compensated -" Arthur barely held back his snort of disgust. If the Ministry thought 700 galleons (given to him indirectly too, those cowards) was enough for him to forget about his daughter being possessed! Well, that was why he had insisted on being at this meeting, even if the portkey had been expensive and nauseating. "It should be a simple matter to close off that bathroom. The people will be reassured to hear of the news, I'll make sure to give out a statement to the press. On to our next order of business, if I may recommend, is the matter of Sirius Black." Murmuring puttered across the table as Fudge motioned to Amelia Bones, who stood to address the party.
"May I remind you all that we are here in confidence and out of respect for the safety of the students. You will not repeat this information. The rumors are true, Sirius Black was heard muttering in his sleep before his escape. "He's at Hogwarts," he said. This is believed to be in reference to Mr. Potter, but either way makes it clear that his target is Hogwarts." Arthur looked over to Ms. Adams, who looked neither surprised nor concerned at the news. They both knew Black was Harry's godfather, but this? He hoped Harry was taking all of this well. "The Ministry has a few proposals on how to protect the students. The first is the restriction of those allowed to visit Hogsmeade village. As we've already discussed, our students have not been receiving proper DADA instruction, and it's best we only let older students - perhaps fifth years and above - off campus, those more capable of defending themselves. Another is an overhaul of Hogwarts wards, to prevent any object or creature entering the grounds with intent to harm the students."
"Just creatures and objects?" interrupted one of the Board of Governors, an ancient pureblood with as much hair as he had teeth. "Can we not ward against humans with ill-intent, why not Black himself?"
"May I, Madame Bones?" A young man stood, one of the ward masters called in to provide expertise. "Wards like these are complex. They are not like spells, which may be molded through intention and emotion. You must give it an exact list of parameters, and if you overlook anything, then the ward will not function properly. For example: for a common ward against dark creatures you would specify any creature that can poison, slice, claw at, strike, etc. However, these wards would include benign creatures, like the student's pets, as even a housecat has claws. So often, these wards - including the ones at Hogwarts, are lists of creatures to exclude, such as dragons, centaurs, and such. It is simply a matter of listing every creature, which can have loopholes, as we can see. If snakes are allowed, so are basilisks. Neither method of warding is foolproof.
By these rules, we cannot ward against humans then, for obvious reasons, nor against any specific action Black could do, as those are dangerously vague, and could easily include the person trying to protect themself from Black. It is possible to exclude one specific person, but that would require some of his blood. I would say we should exclude any Azkaban prisoners, through warding similar to that used on the prison itself, but he has gotten around those before, so he must know of some loophole."
"Then what is the point of updating the wards," the grumpy old wizard argued. "This is going to cost us a lot of money."
There began a great deal of arguing and it was obvious who among them had school-aged children and who cared more about the political and financial side of things. This was why Arthur abhorred politics. All of this fighting about the cost of things when all they should be worried about was the children.
"It just seems a lot of trouble, Minister, when there is only one child in danger now, and only a few muggleborn children harmed last year," Malfoy said.
"Hem-hem," interrupted another Ministry official, a woman in a shockingly pink suit. "Madame Bones failed to mention the Minister's solution, which is much more effective and less expensive than updating the wards. Minister?"
"Yes, thank you, Dolores. I think it best that we post some guards around the school, a few dementors will surely keep Black away."
That caused even more of an uproar. Arthur wasn't even sure he could comprehend what was happening, the room was filled with so many overlapping voices.
"No, this is too far, Cornelius. The effects this will have on the students are too much of a risk," Dumbledore argued. Even Malfoy was nodding in agreement.
"Black's already gotten around the dementors, why would they stop him now?" Madame Bones said in a tone that made it clear she had not mentioned this suggestion on purpose. "This is a generation of children who've lost parents and family in the last war, they are extremely susceptible to the effects of the dementors."
"As a medical professional, I must agree. Being exposed to dementors for even a brief period is enough to increase depression and suicidal ideation, to have them here all term? It will destroy our student's health. We will have suicide attempts, mark my words." Madame Promfrey said in a heated tone. She was fuming. "Those beasts are illegal in most countries, I will not have them near the children."
"We must do something! " Fudge ordered. "What are our other options?! The children need protection, this is the easiest and most effective manner to do so!"
The arguments devolved even further. Arthur watched it all quietly. Most of the people at this table had no right to argue against the Minister directly. Arthur was pushing enough buttons as it was spearheading the complaints against the professors and general safety - thus he kept his mouth firmly shut. Although never had he wanted to argue more.
"I am taking this seriously, Cornelious, I don't appreciate the implication otherwise!" Dumbledore said, an angry tone in his voice you didn't hear from him often. "Last year the spirit of Tom Riddle - Lord Voldemort possessed a student -" Arthur winced. "And now one of his most dangerous followers has escaped from Azkaban! This is absolutely a cause for concern, however -"
"Nonsense, nonsense! We've been over this, Albus. There is no evidence that what possessed Ms. Weasley had anything to do with You-Know-Who and frankly -"
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