The Prewett family had not been having much luck at all this month[1]. March seemed to be a pretty bad sort for many reasons, especially after the previous year with the Ides and the direwolves.

However it was dementors who plagued them now. Garreth and Gawain, were attacked quite out of the blue. Thankfully the former would make a recovery, the other, well he would be looked after most carefully by St Mungo's to limit the impact of 'Dementor Dementia' according to the Daily Prophet earlier that month.

It had not finished there with the dementors, sadly, and a week later Persepolis was calling for unified moves against the wraiths. Would she lead them to defeat the dementors, to reclaim control of them since Voldemort's time? Many supported her, Edwin tried to do the same, but they did not always see eye to eye on matters. Either way, dementors both worried an excited him. Catastrophes were his department's forte.

"Don't forget to smile!" Edwin quipped a recent statement[2] in the Prophet from the aide to the Minister regarding the advice the Ministry dispensed to help prepare against dementors. He was adjusting his wizengamot robe collar as he spoke.

"Have we all gone soft since the war, I ask you?" He turned to regard Ignatius Prewett who had also been called to sit on the benches today to pass judgement on a case.

"I don't mean to belittle your family's suffering with the boys being put upon, but honestly, it was no wonder Forrester had a go[3] in the paper. He's never been Zephyr's greatest fan." He dusted off his hat. "Your response[4] was entirely justified." He agreed, turning the plum coloured thing in his hands as they waited in a side room for the courtroom to be prepared for the final sitting before judgement, right after lunch.

1.	March 9 2010: Dementor Encounter in Northumberland
2.	March 17 2010: Dementor Safety PSA Launched
3.	March 20 2010: Wizengamot Elder Questions Ministry Leadership
4.	March 21 2010: Stand Beside Our Muggleborn Kin…

Despite dementor attacks and a general ingathering of the Prewett family, the Ministry...and the Wizengamot kept grinding away.  There was ever work to be done.  Not that there was much more to do than usual for Ignatius, but it was times like this that he was glad he'd given up his other position in the Ministry.

"How does the Prophet manage to get such asinine quotes," Ignatius responded, "It's a good thing the aide was unnamed, or it'd be the last quote he gave to a reporter."  It wasn't so much that Ignatius was angry about the flippant nature of the original quote as it was the fact that aides from all departments had an unfortunate habit of giving the Prophet exactly what they wanted.

Ignatius pulled out his wand to remove some of the more stubborn wrinkles from his robes, "Not soft, perhaps less on edge.  I've never managed to truly master the patronus charm.  No doubt my nephews knew it, but it's different when a dementor is pulling every happy memory from you."  He had visited Azkaban back when dementor's had guarded the place.  It had been one of the worst experiences of his life.  And even after that, he'd never managed to produce a corporeal patronus.

"I knew he was not a fan of Zephyr's, I must have underestimated his disregard for what the Ministry does and stands for. "  Ignatius put his wand away, satisfied that his robes were immaculate.  "The Prophet is no place to air our disputes, but I could not let that interview stand as it was."

"… last quote he gave to a reporter."

"Yes, which made me wonder if it was a quote at all." Edwin agreed quietly, trying not to interrupt the response from Ignatius.

He nodded firmly to the assessment that creating a patronus was difficult, and significantly more difficult when every negative thought was being pulled to the front of your mind by a soul-eating wraith.

"It is not, no, but Forresters do love the limelight." The Head of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes agreed. "To my understanding, his son is just as bad." He referred to the quidditch player, who as a former Durmstrang student had been peppering the papers with quotes and features between tournament up at Hogwarts and Quidditch games on the pitch.

"Do you think he'll pick up a quill and try to return from your statement?" He asked, though the newspaper that day had not seemed quite so provocative.

"I would, only I cannot be seen to opposite Zephyr openly at this moment, and if I am entirely honest, i do not disagree with all her policies. One must bide his time. Her post is not one I haven't considered." Edwin explained in a low voice, inclining towards his fellow wizengamot elder.

"Would you really have him expelled from the wizengamot, if it came to it? I recognise faces who share his views but are less vocal. You can look back through patterns of their judgements, how they have ruled against anyone with less than pure blood who came before us."

There was not anything neccessarily wrong with loving the limelight as far as Ignatius was concerned.  His own grandson had his fair share of pictures and stories in the papers, sometimes less than flattering, though thankfully not the one that would cause the most problems for the family.  "Some trees are rotten."  He said simply in response to the comment about Forrester's son.

"Possibly.  The Prophet would love it."  He could imagine the headlines, which is why he'd been reluctant to write the letter in the first place. "I wouldn't expect a department head to agree with everything coming from the Minister.  I prefer it."  As far as Ignatius was concerned, a bunch of yes-men in charge would not bode well for the Ministry, he just did not generally approve of making the Prophet's job any easier than it already seemed to be at times.

He wasn't surprised by the other elder's admission of wanting the top post.  It wasn't an uncommon desire among department heads, or Wizengamot elders, or especially those that fall into both categories.  Though he thought the other man was needed in his current position, it took a strong personality to head his department and deal with level two, though he kept that to himself.

"That's the difference, they are not out giving interviews.  Yes.  I think I would."  Dropping his voice, "I'd see them all tossed out if it weren't for the problems it would cause."

Edwin gave a slight smile of thanks to Ignatius when he mentioned he was glad Edwin did not agree with everything the Minister proposed.

"Damn the problems," Edwin replied with a low growl, "they are worth it if we can cut out the rot."

A few glances were turned in their direction, others were beginning to listen, impatient to return to court.

"Does he have allies, Forrester?" Edwin dropped his voice, eyes keenly on those who had shown interest a moment ago to try and dissuade them from pursuing.

"There's always irregularities and new fresh faces in my Department only willing to prove themselves. Easily persuaded, without knowing the full motive at stake. Do you remember being young and far more open minded and innocent of the wider picture, Ignatius?" Edwin asked, tapping his fingers on the back of his other hand.

"Press the right buttons, and they might expel themselves…"

"Prewett."

Knox Greyfriar's voice always seemed to be just louder than wherever he was, so his baritone cut over the impatient mumbling of the plum-robed Wizengamot elders who were convening for a case.  He'd spotted old Ignatius Prewett from across the courtroom and defied the unspoken seating conventions to make his way over.

He laid a hand on Prewett's back in congratulations.  "Bang up job in the Prophet, Prewett," he said with a bearded smile.  "Sent old Foggy Forrester running, I think."

Knox's smile wavered for a moment upon seeing who Prewett had been speaking with.  "Glass."

Since Knox Greyfriar had been charged with a crime and appealed the decision, his already tenuous position in the Wizengamot had become polarized.  It couldn't really have been any other way - he'd demanded his colleagues make judgement upon him and then forced them to reconsider their decision.  With some, his bond had become stronger, with others it had become acidic.  And with others.  Like Glass.  Things had become...stale.  Neither hot nor cold.  A kind of unforgivable professional courtesy. 

Knox lowered himself down in the row of seats behind them and took off his purple cap.  He smoothed back his thick black hair that was streaking rapidly with grey.

"I thought we had," Ignatius said to Glass, "and yet, it seems the rot has set in again."  He knew it was more than that.  Centuries of thinking took a long time to undo, and it didn't help that there were still plenty of places out of the country that still held to those views.  Hopefully the Tetrawizard tournament would import more of the American ideals than Durmstrang prejudices.  Though not too many.

Ignatius frowned at the idea of Forrester having allies, "He has to."  No one would give an interview like that without support.  "There were never many new faces with the Trading Standards Body.  Not the best place to make contacts within the Ministry."

"Prewett"

Ignatius turned to look at the approaching Greyfriar, nodding in greeting and taking the congratulations silently.  "We can only hope.  The Minister has enough to be on with without Forrester making trouble.  And the last thing we need is the Prophet causing any more panic."

Or worse, allowing Forrester to turn the despair of heartbroken families to his own ends.  "There was a time, when Wizengamot members knew how to conduct themselves with the Prophet and my letter would not have been needed."

Greyfriar's interruption made Edwin close his lips together quickly and he didn't look round as their fellow wizengamot elder greeted Prewett and congratulated him on the Prophet.

"Glass."

Now there was no avoiding it, Edwin looked up as if he hadn't been purposely not paying attention.

"Greyfriar." He replied, and turned his shoulders as the other man sat down behind them.

"There was a time, when Wizengamot members knew how to conduct themselves with the Prophet and my letter would not have been needed."

"Now there was a time." Edwin replied, putting aside his hat and folding his arms across his wide chest.

"A time when Wizengamot stayed out of the newspaper apart from for noble reasons." He gave Knox a sidelong glance after he said it, the trouble with him and Bombay was still very much a bone of contention. In Edwin's eyes, wizengamot members didn't appear before the rest of them in the dock. He cleared his throat a little, and explained to Knox in a quieter tone, though his eyes didn't quite meet the other man's.

"We were contemplating whether Forrester will run, or whether he feels he has suitable support to persist with his line. You appear to be of the opinion Ignatius has delivered enough in column inches to do so?"

Prewett seemed to be above or outside of Knox's bad reputation enough to be a gent about it, whereas the cold from Glass was palpable.  Luckily, Knox Greyfriar had been audacious and shameless since the age of 23 and could easily ignore a gelid reception.

Knox settled into the seat next to Prewett and adjusted his robes, flicked a bit of lint off the traditional square-framed hat. 

"Forrester has nothing to lose.  He's an old codger and will continue to bludgeon, I have no doubt," he responded with a shrug and a careless raising of his eyebrows.  "Though we can't ignore he's got his supporters, that he's reflecting a way of thinking not totally absent from part of the community.  Carry your own wand, and all that."[1]

"Rubbish, but the impertive'll have to come from outside.  Here we mediate.  If we're to take action as a body, it'll have to be in the response to a case brought before us. As to predicting this body's response? You'd need a seer for that."

The unpredictability of the Wizengamot in some matters - Knox had intimate experience with that, surely.

1.	Perhaps a wizarding way of speaking about the philosophy of taking care of one's self as opposed to relying on others.

"Now Edwin, I think it can be safely agreed that all sides went too far in an attempt to set an example and right a wrong."  Ignatius said slowly.  He'd made his points clear in their deliberations of the issue at the time.  He'd been against the conviction in the first place but had voted to uphold it during the appeal.  While it shouldn't have happened, their hadn't been grounds to overturn the original decision of the Wizengamot.  "It's one thing to end up in the Prophet, quite another to go seeking it out."

He nodded in agreement with Knox, he was right about the man having supporters.  "We advise as well.  And there are a few archaic ways for the body to take action. " Ignatius smiled, his time dealing with obscure and sometimes ancient trading policies with the Trading Standards Body and his own family's long history with the Wizengamot had led him to some interesting decisions and actions by the Wizengamot.  And where there was already precedent there was certainly a way.

"You can avoid a seer with a hand picked committee as well."  It wasn't the most ideal solution but it could be done, had been done.

And there was a side the Wizengamot that Knox hadn't yet seen.  He'd known it was there.  A sly manueving, a guile of winning strategies and the deft manipulation of the meta-Wizengamot.  Prewett was suggesting something Knox had very little experience with.  He was an old bear and very much not a stalking feline.  His motives were plain as his roar. 

He wasn't sure yet to be repulsed or in admiration of such a thought as rigging committees and exerting heft.  It depended on the reasons why.

"A fresh idea," Knox joked, delighted at the intrigue. "You've done that before? I hope not too recently."

Greyfriar was of the belief that Forrester would continue as a thorn in their sides, which was Edwin's expectance - leopards did not change their spots after all.

"Well, unless we are all called, a random selection of elders may be called, or a selection according to the demands of a trial and our expertise. While we are meant to be a wizened cross-section of the population, we are not an impartial jury." Edwin elaborated, though he knew this was easily known by Knox. He turned his hat in his thick-fingered hands as he spoke, eyes lowered and tone steady.

"We wouldn't ever give you the impression that this system is open to influence, Greyfriar, would we, Ignatius?" He glanced to Prewett and then to their younger colleague and raised an eyebrow.

"But it is unlikely Forrester or his minions will ever reach something that can be criminally tried." His attention glanced over Greyfriar's shoulder to where someone had entered the room to give a little more news on whether they would be returning to court, and was consulting with Tarron Knight.

"Of course not," Ignatius said with a wave of the hand.  "No more open to influence than any other matter before the Ministry."  It was certainly not one of the nobler aspects of the Ministry, but was certainly advantageous when one had the power to influence decisions with personal or familial implications.

"Unfortunately, you may be correct."  And even if his followers stepped out of bounds, it was unlikely to lead back to Forrester.  At least not in an actionable way.  Not without bending rules or precedents.  Which despite his comment before, Ignatius was not eager to do.  Anything might be possible with enough digging through the archives, but that tended to cause as many problems as it potentially corrected.  "But one can always hope."

Catching movement near the door, "Good, are we finally moving on with today's business?"

"It seems so," Edwin replied to Prewett, as Tarron nodded and looked back at the rest of the room. People nearby to him were rearranging their Wizengamot robes and readying to go back to court. "We will pursue our line another time, for certain. I believe it i more than worthwhile."

The quiet ushering of the court staff now indicated they were all to move, back to sit in on the rest of the trial. He hoped that he would be able to discuss things more freely with Prewett later, when they wouldn't be overheard.

End