Chapter 15.3- Doom Days

“We have to see this family heirloom” Scrimgeor finally said, and I actually snorted.

“It’s Potter family magic” I said, using the excuse that pureblood families had used to keep the ministry out of their business for centuries. It worked just as well now as it had back in the 1700s and both of the ministry workers just gave me flat looks.

“That’s bullshit” Scrimgeor said and I shrugged at him. I didn’t make the rules. Even if the Marauder’s map wasn’t family magic, they needed a way to prove that and since I was declining to even show it to them based on the fact that it is family magic, then there was nothing that could be done. Basically, the law was that the ministry was prohibited from examining relics or practices deemed or claimed to be family magic unless it could be proven that there was no family magic involved or the claimed family was extinct. The best part about the law was that the burden of disproving family magic fell to the ministry instead of me having the burden to prove family magic. And you couldn’t legally mandate examining something that qualified as family magic. A perfect example of a catch-22. They needed to examine it to prove it wasn’t family magic, and they could only get to examine it by proving it wasn’t family magic.

The old families loved their little privileges. Percival Potter might have opposed the Family Magic Act of 1722 but his descendant would be getting a lot of use out from it.

“Well, that’s that then. Eyewitness testimony from Hagrid the Care of Magical Creatures Professor confirms that he recognised Bartemius Crouch Junior as the one you dueled, and examining memories provided by several eyewitnesses has given the both of us the same conclusion. On examining the quarters he occupied, we were able to locate the body of Alastor Moody contained in a trunk. Thankfully he was unconscious and not dead. His preliminary testimony includes that he was taken by Crouch Junior and held hostage while having genetic material harvested for the poly juice potion. Your wand also reveals that you did not cast any illegal spells during the duel and while I have several reservations about where you learned several of the countercurses you used, there is nothing that can legally be done about that...”

“So you’re saying I’m free to go” I cut in with an easy smile. I could work with this woman. I really could, but I was getting impatient, and the indignity of sitting in this interrogation room with sullied robes was beginning to wear on me.

“Yes I am, Mr. Potter” She said with a sigh.

“So what are you going to be doing about Crouch”

“None of your..”

“Rufus” The Director cut in.

“To answer your question, Mr. Potter, the present international situation is far too tenuous for much to be done, but a bounty on his head will be placed and we will be looking to arrest him.”

“And I trust you have arrested Bartemius Crouch Senior at this point?” I asked.

“Aurors found him dead in his home this afternoon” She replied. Fuck.