I'M A SLAVE FOR YOU
"No! Absolutely not!"Albus had expected that reaction. He had no doubt that Lucius was probably part of the plot to deny him the right to adopt Harry, but he had to give it a try. Harry's safety was at stake right now.
After retrieving the freedom contract and making sure Severus was still more or less in one piece and after getting the signature of consent from the Dursleys, he apparated straightaway to the Ministry with the other proper documents in order to apply for adoption of Harry James Potter. As expected, the whole Ministry of Magic board was in a huge state of hullabaloo hearing that the member of the high council of the Ministry and the Headmaster of the prestigious Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry was going to adopt a child from the lowest of the low society circle with a tainted mind and body to begin with.
Needless to say as well that the news spread like wildfire as many of the news-hungry reporters from every wizarding media agencies, including the Daily Prophet as well as the infamous Quibbler, got the juiciest scoop of the century and reported for every literate citizen possible, resulting in a very exciting talk among the people, most of it not very positive. In fact, it was such a huge news that every member of the high council held an emergency meeting to discuss about Albus' insanity.
Lucius Malfoy was the least happy person to find out about the news of Albus planning to adopt Harry. When he received the news from one of his Ministry connections via owl, he was in such a foul mood that he literally rammed his cane against a priceless china vase, smashing it into pieces before picking one of the pieces and stabbed a poor servant, who just so happened to be at the wrong place and at the wrong time, on the shoulder. The poor servant had to be quickly escorted out to St. Mungo by the Head Housekeeper before he bleeds to death and had to be given about 25 stitches for the stab wound.
The last thing Lucius wanted was to have Albus bar him from having kinky sex with the young jade-green eyed boy that he had worked so hard to separate from his ex-god-brother and be charged with pedophilia whenever he tries to even think of ravishing the boy as he pleased. It was already bad enough that he had to lock away the only sex slave he could have fucked since he had to let go of that crazy nymphomaniac—but not challenging—slave Sirius sold him (and also because Remus would growl at him and threaten to bite him even in his human form every time he tried to go near him); he did not want to let the chance of his only outlet for great sex go by just because the old man suddenly thought the boy was of sentimental value (and that probably he was too old to 'get it up' for the kid anyway) and should be monopolized by his side every waking moment of that old geezer's hour. As he sat at the meeting table among the council members, his mind was determined to fight this if it was the last thing he did.
"You have officially lost your mind, Albus!" Cornelius Fudge bellowed, slamming his palm angrily onto the table. "Having a slave—a sex slave,as a matter of fact—to become your grandson is absolutely unheard of! What have you to say for yourself?!"
"Nothing," Albus replied calmly, "only that I have come to this decision only for the wellbeing and for the parental love I have developed for the child."
"Preposterous!" Dolores Umbridge chided. "To have a slave being adopted into a common wizard's family is not only degrading the purity of the wizarding bloodline, but polluting the sanctity of human mankind. Slaves are no different than animals, and should be treated as such. What possessed you to even think of considering having a grandchild as filthy as him?"
"The same thing you would feel if you see the child of your closest friend who has lost everything, even their dearest parents, and have no one else to turn to, or does love not exist in your vocabulary or your hearts?"
"We do not deny the compassion you have for this child," Kingsley noted before Dolores had the chance to yell something vulgar at him. "But to have a child from the lowest society circle to be a legitimate citizen of the wizarding world is not very pleasing to the public's eye. What would the people think of the honourable and respected Headmaster of Hogwarts and the face that represents the Ministry of Magic to accept a child of such indecent background as family?"
"We have done many things in the past that was not very pleasing to the public's eye in order to ensure law and order in the wizarding world, and still we get by, and the world is better off with it, and the things that the public thought were not pleasing were soon forgotten, some even grudgingly accepted. Why should this be any different?"
"That may be true, but still," Lucius voiced out after quite a long silence, "unless you have the consent of the next of kin and also a personal deed that says that the slave is officially a free man, we cannot abide with your decision to adopt him." Like hell I would let you take away such a luscious boy like him! In truth, his heart was screaming in angry protests.
Albus just smiled in his usual way and produced both the deed Severus had risked almost his whole life to get and the letter of consent that he got unpleasantly from the Dursleys to the council. Cornelius read it first, then passed the papers around for the rest of the council in the meeting room. Everyone had a sort of mixed feelings written on their faces, but the most obvious of feelings were contempt and anger, and even though Lucius' face looked calm and collected, Albus could tell that his grey eyes were burning with fury.
"How was it that you have obtained the deed of Harry's freedom since you are not the boy's official Master and Severus had been relieved from being the boy's Master?" Dolores asked, her tone probing and vindictive.
"Well, as you put it, Ms. Umbridge," Albus shrugged, "even though the council here had ordered an isolation period, relieved Severus of his Master role over Harry and gave the ownership to me, you have failed to approach the manager of the slavery business to transfer the ownership from Severus to me, so technically Harry still owned by Severus, not me."
"Regardless when we decide to approach the manager, an order from the Ministry is absolute," Lucius noted. "The Ministry runs the entire wizarding world and we do not have to make any immediate follow-ups as long as the initial order is already given and heard by every member of the Ministry in the council. Due to other underlying things we had to complete, including the usual inspections of Hogwarts, but the point is, we could've approached him anytime we want to do any follow-ups to make him transfer ownership to you."
"Yes, I understand that, but still, when I went to meet the manager and had Severus accompany me just in case, the manager immediately addressed Severus as Harry's Master and not me, so apparently since he had no idea of our decision to have me as Harry's new Master, it is clear that you still have not given him the green light for that transfer, so technically Severus still owns Harry, and whatever dealings that needs to be done is between the manager and Severus, not me. In order for an order from the Ministry to be absolute, regardless of the follow-up paperwork, both parties must have knowledge of the order. So isn't it your duty to at least tell by verbal command to let the manager know that the transfer has been made, or am I mistaken of this?"
The council was struck dumb with this one. They knew that Albus was right, and neither of them looked like they had anything to retaliate in this matter.
No one except Lucius Malfoy.
"Since you have stated that Severus maintains ownership of Harry, shouldn't you receive his consent as well to allow you to adopt the boy? The Dursleys have already forgone their rights as his family once they sold the boy into the business, so why did you ask their permission instead to sign the release papers and not Severus?"
"Well, to answer that question," Albus replied in a clever tone, "I was simply following the rational way in doing things."
"Please elaborate on this so-called 'rational way' of yours, for clearly wanting a slave for a grandson is already irrational enough in your part."
Albus shrugged, "When the manager made his demands as a price to release Harry, Severus had immediately headed off to do his thing. I only started going through the procedures of adopting Harry as soon as I heard Severus had succeeded in his mission and that Harry had been officially released. I must say that it was a very brave thing Severus did, risking his life to get the price to pay for Harry's freedom. The last thing I would do is risk my life fighting a dangerous beast to meet up the conditions for that slave manager, who, in my personal opinion, is the worst kind of person to ever walk on this earth.
"Since Harry was free, Severus no longer holds the rights to own him or order him around, much less giving permission as to whether I can adopt Harry or not. To adopt a child, I must have the father/guardian/next of kin to permit me to do so, and since James Potter—may Merlin bless his soul—has already passed on and Severus is no longer Harry's guardian, so to speak, the only person I can think of are the Dursleys, who, even though have forgone their rights as Harry's family, are still of related blood, thus his next of kin. Besides, when I approached them, they didn't seem to entirely removed Harry out of their system, and they seemed to sign the consent papers very eagerly…"
"That doesn't mean that you can just gallivant around like a knight in shining armour and do as you please without the Ministry's express permission…"
"Alright, Albus, alright, you may have the paperwork to support your reasons, but you have yet to tell us the true reason you wish to adopt this slave," Cornelius interrupted, his face obviously showing that he wanted to try and find a way to dissuade the old man from carrying on with his plans. He could tell that if he allowed this argument go any further, it would probably cause an all-out war between his benefactor and the highly respected old man.
"I agree. There must be some other more viable reason other than your…attachment towards the boy," Lucius said with an incredulous gaze.
"I was hoping you might ask this," Albus replied as he took out the Daily Prophet that had the headlines of Tom Riddle's escape on it and passed it to Cornelius. "I'm sure every one of you has already known about Tom Riddle's escape from Azkaban…again?"
"Yes, of course. And are you trying to lecture us about the incompetence of our security?"
"No, I wouldn't think of it. Everyone makes mistakes sometimes, and we are not in a liberty to point fingers at the moment, since the priority of ours is to apprehend the Riddle fellow with the strictest of conduct."
"Then what does that have to do with…"
"I strongly believe that this Riddle fellow may target the child as soon as he gets the chance, and I wish to protect him in any way I can."
"Surely you do not believe that Riddle would know that the slave is still alive and would come after him now, do you?" Lucius asked skeptically.
"Who's to say that he doesn't know Harry is alive?" Albus challenged. "His parents were the people who sent him into prison in the first place, and it was them and his entire family that he has a grudge with. Why, we might not know that he'd probably be off right this moment to hunt down the rest of Harry's blood relatives, including the Dursleys whom I asked for consent of release for adoption, just to make sure that there are no other people would turn him in like his parents did and that it probably be his way of revenge.
"And let's not forget the fact that during both arrests of Riddle, his loyal follower Peter Pettigrew a.k.a. Wormtail was still on the loose before he got himself caught so as to free his master. We cannot ignore the possibility that this Wormtail character may have been helping his master to clean up his mess and tie up loose ends, and possibly having the knowledge of Harry's survival and then spying on him so that he could gather enough information for his master to help him in killing the boy…"
"Yes, yes," Dolores interrupted in an impatient tone, "but that doesn't explain why you are so bent on wanting to adopt this slave."
"Remember the will written by both Harry's parents?" Albus asked.
"Yes, we do," Cornelius replied, "What about it?"
"May I request that the will of James Potter and Lily Evans, parents of Harry James Potter be brought forward, please?"
The people present looked at Cornelius for a reaction. Though he couldn't figure out why he would want to bring up a will that was already discussed beforehand during the trial meeting of Severus Snape, he decided to humour him anyway and see what bright ideas he could come up. Motioning one of the secretaries present to bring in the will, everyone waited patiently and quietly for that 5 minutes before the secretary came in with the paperwork. Presenting it to Cornelius, the man turned to Albus with a questioning look.
"If my memory serves me correctly, the main article of their last will and testimony was to have Harry be under the care of Hogwarts, and I quote 'by any means necessary for the wellbeing of our precious son'. If you don't believe me, read it out loud for everyone to hear."
Cornelius went silent for a while as his eyes scanned through the papers. He hesitated a little before reading, "'I hereby, under the consent of my wife Lily Evans, appoint my son Harry James Potter to be put under the care of any member of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry whosoever the Ministry of Magic sees fit should the event of me and my wife's death occur simultaneously. We strongly stress that our son must be taken into Hogwarts custody by any means necessary for the wellbeing of our precious son as we believe the danger that may befall us is imminent towards our son'."
"Well then, now that we've heard what Harry's parents' will speaks of, it is our honour and our duty to fulfill their last wishes. You should know by now that under the strict rule of the Legal Affairs written since the dawn of magical mankind, we must carry their wishes to the letter. Isn't that so, Cornelius?"
"Well, yes, but…" Cornelius wanted to worm his way out of this one but was met by a knowing look from the older man.
"So, since the will states that he should be under our care 'by any means necessary', and since there could be a possibility that Riddle's escape may cause danger to him as feared by his late parents, is it not true that I, not as his ex-Master—since he is already officially free from slavery—but as Headmaster of Hogwarts, still have the obligation to protect and look out for Harry with all my entirety, even if it means adopting a sex slave as my own grandson?"
"But…But that is a different situation…" Lucius wanted to argue as well, only to receive a sharp question by Albus.
"Are you trying to say that I should challenge an age-old rule that has existed since the age of Merlin?"
Lucius hesitated, wanting to retaliate, but knew it was a vain attempt. He leaned back in his chair and replied grudgingly, "No, Albus. I'm not."
"I have argued every point I need to make to convince you to allow me to make Harry James Potter my legal grandson," Albus nodded and sat back on his seat. "All I wish from you all is a favourable answer for my request."
A long silence ensued. Everyone looked at each other for something to say that would deter Albus' decision, but truth be told, they couldn't help but agree that his arguments were legitimate and that they made sense at the very least. He had the paperwork, he had followed the adoption procedures by the book, and he had ample reasons as to why they should allow him to adopt Harry. Even Lucius, while his heart was seething in anger and discontent, could tell that the council was wavering and probably wondering whether they should carry on and grant the old man's madness, and he felt betrayed because he knew that despite him being one of the most powerful member in the Ministry besides Cornelius and Albus, he could do nothing to stop the possibility of Albus' success from happening.
"We will review your paperwork and your request," Cornelius finally came to a decision after receiving a unanimous expression from everyone. "And we will also evaluate your backgrounds and your reasons for adoption. Expect our answer by the end of this week at the earliest."
"I'd be delighted to hear from you," Albus smiled in his usual way as he got up, nodded his head in respect and left the council meeting room.
Later that night at the Malfoy manor, another servant had to be sent to St. Mungo for stitches on the head.
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