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Things Fall Apart, But Then You Build Again	By : zeldaofarel Category: Harry Potter > Slash - Male/Male > Harry/Draco Views: 13943 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 7
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor any of the characters from the books or movies. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
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Author’s Notes: Here is an unscheduled update for you guys. With this I’ll be back on track. I’ve been watching some “Doctor Who” these days and realised that it helps in remembering the British English I knew. It’s such a brilliant show too, I really enjoy it. I’m up to the third season.

This weekend I had a look at my old main website and realised that it was so long ago that I created it, it didn’t reflect me at all anymore. I put a lot of thought into it, and ended up taking off most of the things up there. I haven’t written a poem in like 10 years anyway. This is when I’m reminded of how old I’m getting. I also totally revamped it. Have a look! Of course, I still have my old stuff and may end up putting them up somewhere, maybe on my DeviantArt, so as not to lose them.

Another thing that you can check out is my update group on Yahoo!. I always post a message when I post a new chapter and sometimes write when there's a hold-up.

As always, I want to thank my lovely betas Hazel and Icicle for working with me on the chapter. They both really loved this one and I hope you all will too.

Chapter 5: Malfoy on How The Wizarding World Works

“Hello, Potter, long time no see,” Malfoy greeted, smirking at the two.

“Malfoy.” Harry nodded, not taking his eyes off the man.

“And if it isn’t Hermione. You clean up well,” he remarked as he looked her over. Hermione couldn’t decide if it was a compliment or an insult, so she just ignored the remark.

“Thank you for coming, Malfoy,” she decided to say.

“Let’s sit down,” the host proposed as he felt awkward just standing around. At that Malfoy took a seat in the chair and the two friends occupied the sofa that was at a 90-degree angle to the other furniture. The blond man looked around the room with obvious distaste. Harry couldn’t understand why, Ginny had tried to put into that room an opulent elegance. Frankly, he didn’t care for it much, because all the seats were rather uncomfortable, but it was what Ginny had wanted. He had thought that Malfoy would be pleased with the room at any rate.

“Tea?” Hermione asked suddenly. She seemed a bit nervous.

“No thank you. Let’s get to business, shall we?” he suggested. The other two people nodded. “As I understand, Hermione would like to divorce her husband, finally, and keep her children as well.”

“That is correct,” she said.

“Are you sure they are both the Weasel’s?”

“Yes, of course, Malfoy.” She was a bit irritated by his question.

“I’m only asking because if they were not, then you could just reveal that fact and they would be yours. Of course, you can’t lie and say they are not, because a simple paternity spell would reveal it. Anyway, in this case, you will have to prove that he is an unfit father. That is the hardest thing to do. Perhaps he has beat or starved the children?” he tried.

“No. He’s a great father.”

“Isn’t that a surprise. I though with his temper he would let loose a few punches now and then. If he’s so great, why are you divorcing him anyway?” Malfoy gave her a smirk, making it obvious to her that she had made a mistake in marrying the man in the first place.

Hermione took her time gathering her thoughts. Malfoy tended to rattle everyone and she had grown so unused to communicating with anyone who wasn’t family. She had been too busy with trying to be the perfect wife and mother.

“He allows me no freedom. He wants everything to be his way and for me to be his meek little wife. I know I have been for some years, but I don’t want to be anymore. I want to work - to become a healer. All he wants to do is produce more children. He knows we would not be able to afford any more, but he says he wants to have the most children out of all his brothers. I told him I don’t want to do that, but he just ignored me,” she explained, all of it coming out in a rush.

“I see,” Malfoy said, nodding to himself. “If he came here and told you that he had changed his mind and he will allow you to do all that, would you go back to him?”

“No.” She shook her head. “The things he has said to me since then, the way he’s acted, I could never go back to him. In fact, it makes me wonder why I had married him in the first place.”

“Oh? Is that so?” He seemed puzzled. “In school everyone knew you two would get married. Though I didn’t understand it myself. A smart witch like you marrying a big stupid oaf like him … such pairings never work.”

“Oh really? You are such an expert in relationships, Malfoy?” she said, not being able to let that slide. “I never heard of you dating anyone. Your marriage just came out of the blue.”

“It was arranged when she was only a few months old. We both knew that and had such expectations of each other. She has her wing in the manor and I have mine. That’s how these things work in our world,” he informed her.

“So you expect nothing and get nothing. Doesn’t sound like a happy marriage,” Hermione pointed out.

“Happiness is not the purpose.” Malfoy seemed irritated with her prying into his life. “We have a son and my family has an heir. That’s all that matters. She can do whatever she wants as long as she doesn’t bring a shame on my name, or a bastard in my house. I don’t care. Nevertheless, your expectations in a marriage are different. He would have never meet your expectations, even I could see that from Slytherin.”

“Hermione, Malfoy, this is not leading us to anything.” Harry tried to take up the role of referee. “Malfoy, can you think of another way that Hermione could get her children? Maybe a solicitor would be of help.”

“Potter, I know the laws as well as any solicitor. I’ve been studying them since I could read. The law was written to prevent women who are divorcing their husbands from getting their children. The little lenience it gives is only there to prevent a bastard from inheriting or a child from being harmed. Magical children are highly valued and there are many laws in place to prevent abuse. But if the Weasel does not abuse his children in any way, shape, or form, then he can keep them,” Malfoy explained to the frustrated duo before him.

“What if we changed the law?” Hermione asked. Harry almost smiled; his best friend was still the revolutionary that she had been in school.

“That’s not easily done.” He shook his head at the crazy notion. “Ever since the end of the war the Dark Families, well, what remained of them anyway, have been trying to bring about changes in many laws. We have realised that brute force will not save our culture from Muggles, so now we are trying to change the education system in order to better integrate the Muggle-borns into our culture. It’s my project, but I’m not getting anywhere with it. The Light Families are in majority and they are opposed to any sort of change. They claim that things are fine the way they are.” He frowned. “This is unimportant now though. With the Light Families in charge of the Wizengamot, you’ll never change the divorce laws.”

“What does the Wizengamot have to do with anything?” Harry asked, clueless as always.

“Oh, Harry,” Hermione cried, obviously distressed about his lack of knowledge. “The Wizengamot makes the laws. Seriously, didn’t you learn it as a part of the Auror training?”

Harry sheepishly ducked his head.

“I may have learned it,” he said, his face turning red. From the corner of his eye he could see Malfoy shaking his head in disbelief. “So could we change the Wizengamot’s mind?”

“Harry Potter, the Boy-Who-Thinks-He-Can-Do-Anything. No we can’t change their bloody minds, Potter!” Malfoy was getting very irritated by the things coming out of the other man’s mouth. He took a deep breath to still himself. His voice was calm as he went on. “The Wizengamot is divided up into two parts, as always: the Light and the Dark Families. Both have their own agendas. You may be able to sway a few families on minor issues, but not on major issues like family law, or education. Especially not since Arthur Weasley holds three votes in his hands!”

“He does?” The surprise was clear on Harry’s face and Malfoy looked ready to punch him.

Hermione stood up and poured a glass of Firewhisky. She handed it to the blond and he drank it without even glancing at the glass. He put it down onto the coffee table empty, but the fury was gone from his countenance.

“But the Weasleys are still poor. If they had seats in the Wizengamot, wouldn’t they have more money?” Harry reasoned, taken aback by Malfoy’s lack of control. Apparently, they were discussing one of his sore spots.

“The Wizengamot members don’t get paid. It’s a position of honour, not a job. Honestly. No wonder Weasley holds your positions for you,” he said in a huff.

“I have a position in the Wizengamot?” Harry said, and then almost cried out as Malfoy’s eyes were clouding again. “This is the first time I heard about it!” he shouted, attempting to calm the other man.

“Wait, you didn’t know?” He calmed instantly, but a perplexed look stayed on his face. “You have the Black and the Potter vote. It’s what sways the whole establishment to the side of the Light Families. Luckily many of the Darker Families managed to keep their positions by foreign relatives moving into the country and taking their place, but the Black vote was lost as you inherited it. That gave more advantage to the Light Families, when before they were only ahead by one vote.”

“Malfoy, honestly, this is the first time I've heard about this. I know that the Light Families have been in power for a while, but I didn’t know how that came about,” Harry pleaded. He wanted to hear everything.

“All right, Potter.” Malfoy had probably realised that that little bit of history was never taught at school and Potter obviously had no interest in politics, so he would not have found out on his own. Thus, he settled back in his really uncomfortable seating and started to tell the story: “About 300 years ago the Potters joined the Wizengamot. They took the place of the Gaunt family. The Gaunts were a Dark Family, but intermarried too much and when not a single offspring was deemed sane enough for the position, they were voted out. At the same time, through an unfortunate accident another Dark Family, the Wenlocks died out as well. The Gaunts made even and the Wenlocks were the deciding vote. However, the Potters were a Light Family and they made it even. The Abbots played both sides as they seemed neutral at the time and managed to get in as well. Only when they had the position, they declared their true alliance to the Light Families. Thus, for three hundred years, the Light Families had the deciding vote,” he finished with a flourish.

It took a minute or two for Harry to digest everything. He had no idea why no one ever told him that he had two votes in the Wizengamot.

“I’m the deciding vote!” he shouted as he realised. Two votes meant that he would decide everything. “It’s simple, Malfoy. I take back my votes and change the law.” He grinned at Hermione and his eyes shined.

“No, Potter,” he said, bringing an end to the dark-haired man’s good mood. “It’s not that simple. Weasley has the votes and you can’t just take them back whenever you want to. He was given the votes because you were unfit as a minor. Of course, it was Dumbledore, the Chief Warlock, who appointed him as the guardian of your votes.” He paused a bit, considering his next words. Harry got the sense that Malfoy wanted to remark on that piece of the past, but eventually decided not to. “Since you never claimed them, you still have to prove that you are fit to hold the positions. Only the others can vote you back in. So you would need to convince the Light Families that you’re on their side, while also giving a reasonable explanation why you would like to have the votes now. If they know you want to change a law, they’ll never side with you. Although, in order to actually change the law, you would need the support of one side.”

Harry ran a hand through his hair. Politics was not his forte, but he knew where he could get help. Therefore, he brought forth his friendliest grin and directed it towards the man in front of him.

“You could help me get it back, Malfoy.”

“Fine.” Harry was surprised at how readily he had agreed. “But you become a Dark Wizard once you get it and support my educational reform. In exchange, I’ll support your divorce law.”

The dark-haired man thought about it for all of two seconds, until he stuck his hand out. Malfoy eyed it warily, but then took the offered limb all the same. Once they shook on it, they knew that nothing would ever be the same. Now that Harry knew what it was really like to be a Light Wizard, he had no doubt that he would rather be a Dark Wizard.
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Things Fall Apart, But Then You Build Again