The literal day of my 11th birthday, was skipped in retelling. My bad, but to be fair, it was super boring. Inheritance doesn't come in until that night while I sleep, and the party was the day before. AND I'll be potioned to sleep early as a precaution, so on the day of my birthday I was only awake for about 14 hours, and the entirety of it was spent spelling my bed and myself for safety. Super boring. I wasn't even the one doing the magic. I didn't even get to read a book.
And a time-skip of one day? I skipped a few days so far, so what if I skew off the little bits of time and get to the good stuff. Previously, who cares? Now, I do! Because now it's vitally important, mathematically.
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Before we get to that, however, some information needs cleaning up. Yes, yes, I'm interrupting the flow again, but a little filler doesn't hurt and this isn't even really filler, it's really important for the world building and it'll matter later in the story.
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So I have yet to explain the political system in this wizarding world. It was a requirement before I was blood adopted, but it got glossed over to get the ball rolling.
We have the Lord and Lady system, ancient and noble houses, the typical fan fiction ranks as well as titled magical nobility. The current Queen, Queen Victoria, is very much aware of magic and magical nobility.
In the background of my mother, I mentioned the Grace family, they are related, and by blood adoption myself, however it's really not all that important as we are not in line of succession. I have used the term family in the past, however in the eyes of the Wizengamot it should be termed as House, for voting purposes and some legalities. House and family are otherwise interchangeable.
Moving on, Albion and House Pendragon, is also a thing. Emrys, is a title not a name, and it's passed down by those deemed worthy by Mother Magic. It's the title given to her champion. The current Emrys is enrolled at Hogwarts as a student in Ravenclaw. The current Heir Pendragon, is enrolled at Hogwarts as a student in Hufflepuff. Neither of those two are me.
Founder's Heirs, and current heads, EXIST. They don't have controlling interest over Hogwarts, they can't influence policy, and they have generally no say outside of The Wizengamot. They do however have the ability to order an audit of Hogwarts, and they have more votes than any other House at 5 votes each. Ancient houses have 3 each, Noble houses have 2 each, Ancient and Noble houses have 7 each stacking with the 5 others. Lord Gryffindor thus has 17 votes from those titles alone. I am not the heir nor lord of any founder.
The Gryffindor seat is also Marquess of Magical Dorset. The rank of Marquess grants 4 votes, bringing up his total votes to 21.
However, one may not vote for more than one seat. Lord Gryffindor may only ever vote for the Gryffindor seat. The Gryffindor seat holds the title of Marquess of Magical Dorset, not Lord Gryffindor, and a seat may only hold one ranked title of magical nobility.
Proxy chairs and votes exist as well. However, Lord Potter my not give Lord Gryffindor his seat by proxy to vote, proxy chairs may only be given to a non Lord or non Lady. Additionally, proxy chairs are the only seats that may vote for more than one House at a time. It is common place for a Lord of many titles to grant their lesser counting seats to a trusted aid by proxy. Lord Potter grants his seat of Peverell to the Potter's Steward by proxy to vote. Lord Gryffindor grants his seats of the lines of Beaufort, Stamfeild, and Milford, to the Gryffindor's Steward by proxy to vote. The Gryffindor's Steward, using a proxy chair and not a Lord's seat, may vote for those three Houses at once. Seat and chair are also interchangeable, but politically they imply a difference, even when they talk about the same vote.
As a side note, The Peverell seat has more combined votes than the Potter seat, however Lord Potter proxies this seat. Why? I asked. Lord Potter can't inherit the title of Peverell, while he may proxy this seat and his descendants can carry the title as he does to proxy out, the Peverell Lordship requires something he does not have and thus it must remain as a proxy only until such time as it can be claimed by Potter blood. He, however has not shared what it requires. Which brings up the idea and notion that while blood may be enough for some, other Houses require something more, but more about that another time.
Next there are three leaders of factions in the Wizengamot. One can also call them voting blocs. The leader of the light, the leader of the grey, and the leader of the dark. These leaders' seat gains 1 additional vote per seated member of their bloc. The leaders of each faction are decided by vote amongst themselves each time a new minister is sworn in. These factions are so named after the core colors of a mage's magic and have no bearing on good vs evil. Members of a bloc may vote however they wish and also may or may not have a core that aligns with that named bloc. The name is traditional not a requirement. Additionally this core color does not restrict ones type of magical usage, nor what spells one can cast, nor how powerful one may be. The color of ones core instead reflects how one replenishes magic, but more on that later.
There is also knighthood, stewardship as I mentioned earlier, and apprenticeship.
Knighthood is rewarded upon deed of great value to the crown. It is entirely their decision as to if an action is valued or not, whatever one party does to earn knighthood may not work a second or third time. Knights of the realm, given whichever task, under command of whoever, for however long, and for whatever reason are all subject to change and no known pattern has emerged. A knighthood is granted 1 vote and is awarded to the chair not to the seat, thus it is added to the total of votes a Lord may cast. A knighted mage who is not a Lord, Lady, nor an elected public official is added to the Wizengamot as an extra chair. There are no limit to extra chairs, but a knighthood may not be passed down nor proxied, thus once a Knighted mage passes, that chair is reclaimed. A reclaimed chair has no vote, however a token of it it remains in the honor of. A knighted mage is also not belonging of/to any voting bloc, no faction gets any boon from their ability to vote.
Stewardship is granted by a Lord or Lady of a House. The reasons vary, but it is typically to delegate responsibility of the day to day. Additionally, a stewardship may be because a house is left with no adult or ruling leader of that House and the steward would then oversee the House until the next heir is of age. A steward may not inherit a house even if there is no one to become heir or lord. A house without an heir or lord becomes vacant. A vacant House's vote are ruled as neutral and added as a fourth block which then votes to abstain. If still yet unclaimed after 100 years of neutral voting, a House then is declared lost, it's votes cease and all of it's assets are claimed by Mother Magic. Mother Magic can then assign the House to whomever she deems worthy. This process can take a long time. This process is also how the title of Emrys is decided, thus it is deemed fair. When Mother Magic decides if one is worthy of a House, said House is then reborn, the name of the House is granted as the name of the chosen, and after an apprenticeship they may regain their former glory instead of starting a new House.
Apprenticeship, is more for mastery of crafts, trades, and schools of magic, but one can also apprentice under a Lord or Lady of a House and earn rank among magical nobility. When one apprentices under a House, they are normally doing so of a new House. A new House must firstly be of a linage of 3 or more in magical generation, secondly they must swear a temporary vassalage allegiance under the House they are taking their apprenticeship with, and thirdly pass a test given by that House. The test isn't uniform, each House has their own traditions and values. Upon success and after a series of no less than 3 more generations, the new House may then declare their allegiance from vassalage to simply allies or separate entirely as their own entity. If an existing House that is reborn enters apprenticeship, they must only swear a mutual allegiance and pass that House's test, followed by 3 generations of said allegiance with no severing of ties allowed until after such time.
Declarations of allegiance, vassalage, and sworn enemy, are to be declared publicly and be confirmed in the Wizengamot at the next most available session. Declarations of trade or cooperation are not required to be public, but may be done so if all relevant parties agree. Declarations of betrothal are also to be done in the Wizengamot, to signify the unavailability of a person. Anyone found attempting to thwart a declaration made public, during or after the fact, may be judged by Mother Magic and found wanting.
Additionally, this world is not as backwards as the books and movies made it to believe. We also have elected chairs. Upon every new minister, we elect Public Chairs or Public Seats, of the Wizengamot. A minister is elected either at the end of a 10 year tenure or if one steps down, is voted out, or dies naturally. An exception is made when one is killed by non natural means, to prevent a coup. The ministry then goes on without an elected minister until their natural 10 years would have ended. In their place, the vice minister takes chair. There are 15 public chairs of office on the Wizengamot that the population may vote on, an additional 15 chairs appointed by the Wizengamot members, and yet a third set of 15 chairs appointed via the minister's cabinet. The minister's cabinet is decided before they run for minister, thusly the people know who they are voting for to begin with.
The vote for minister is done in two steps. The public votes for the first 15 chairs and a choice tally of 3 ministers plus their cabinet. Then the Wizengamot plus those publicly voted 15 chairs, vote for that second 15 chairs. Finally the Wizengamot and the now 30 chairs vote the choice of minister of the 3 candidates chosen by the public. The winner for minister plus their cabinet then join the voting Wizengamot, the vice minister is chosen from the runner up, and the candidate who lost goes back who whatever they were doing before.
Each member of Public office minus the minister gets 1 vote. Then both minister and vice minister get 2 votes each. No Lord nor Lady of a House my use both their House votes and an elected public vote. If a Lord or Lady of a house is elected they must proxy their House seat during their term.
And while this seems like extra steps even if their proxy would align their votes, it is in such a way for two major reasons. The first being that should they have more than one child to inherit their titles, they must pass different seats to different children. We want growth in numbers not stagnation. The second reason and perhaps the biggest reason is that not all votes are yes or no. Sometimes, and often enough for this ruling to be established, a vote is over a topic of multiple choices and more than one outcome.
The vote for minister as stated above, results in the runner up as the vice minister, and the vice minister's chosen cabinet goes to to a secondary administrate role under the ruling cabinet. Essentially, 30 public seats fill a 15 chair vote cabinet and should a lord or lady sit the vice minister or secondary cabinet they can vote their own seat.
Now, one might be thinking why anyone would want to win if the second placer seems to get everything. Sometimes the goal is second place, yes. However, while any of the Wizengamot can introduce a bill, law, or policy. Only the Minister and their cabinet can call for a repeal of any old bill, law, or policy.
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I woke with a start from an incredible dream, my inheritance. Was I really magical as a child? I was always magic? Why don't I remember that normally?
I cast a quick tempus and I felt dread. My birthday was yesterday. My blood adopted birth, which magic recognizes as my actual birthday (making me legally 3 years old, a little funny but not the point), was yesterday.
Now getting back to why that skewed timeline from before was so important.
I was, taken, remarkably close to my biological birthday. In fact, it was 20 days after my original birthday when adult Harry showed up in my apartment. Then I passed out due to apparating for the first time and all the other shocks taking place at the same time. I was taken, just after midnight, EST.
I hadn't realized it when I awoke in the hospital, but thanks to the occlumency and training, I now recall I awoke at 5am in Hogwarts, GMT. With at least one day passing between my arrival and waking up.
I was first potioned to de-age to approximately 8 years old, and then sent back in time to 1943, where 12 hours passed while reading and waiting for Professor A.
When I landed in Godric's Hallow, I passed out again from the stress of it all and I was also attacked by a plant of opportunity. Between the venom form the plant and my exhaustion, I awoke 2 days later on the couch.
Other than knowing I was in 1890, the month and day were irrelevant to me so I discarded them. Then the blood adoption was nearly two weeks later.
Even after the blood adoption, I didn't think to see what the exact date was. I became so engrossed in catching up and getting as ahead as I could that it wasn't until my '11th' birthday three years thereafter that I even bothered to remember what date it was.
Then to top it off, knowing the date didn't mean much until after I woke up from my inheritance dream.
I suddenly remembered a lot more stuff about cannon. Looking up at the date, I then calculated my time unconscious in Hogwarts.
Doing the math:
20 days, after my biological birthday,
3 days, 5 hours, in the Hospital,
12 hours, at The Gambit's Den,
2 days, unconscious on the couch,
12 days, until the blood adoption,
1 day, between my birthday party and waking up from the inheritance.
And the overlooked 5 hour time difference from EST to GMT.
Waking up from my inheritance dream, on the morning of August 1st, 1893, the morning following my blood adoption birthday, July 31st.
I desire foul language.