Krios POV
"You do know that the Daily Prophet is considered little better than a gossip rag outside of Britain, right?" the smug voice of Princess Natalia asked me as I sat at the table reading the paper. Breakfast would be served when the rest of the Royal family arrived. Bellatrix and Vladimir Dolohov would also be joining us for breakfast, as they helping the King attend to important matters of state over the weekend and would be arriving at the palace early.
The headline of the paper was actually pretty interesting. Apparently there had been an attack on the MACUSA Headquarters in New York by the trio of evil sorcerers Wizard, Felix Faust and Wotan. The two had wiped out the majority of the leadership there before retreating to attack Ilvermony, the main American school of witchcraft and wizardry. They had done killer many before Faust had been injured, forcing them to retreat.
The attack had devastated the American Wizarding World and had left a massive vacuum there. The White Council had promptly left their Headquarters in Edinburgh and had taken up residence in the MACUSA Headquarters, which they promptly rebuilt. The ICW had protested, saying that they were working with the British ministry to reestablish control of American interests. The ICW were operating under the impression that our current Minister was intelligent enough to pull that off, which she most certainly wasn't.
The White Council was not nearly as powerful as they used to be. Arthur Langtry, their leader, was a power house on the level of Dumbledore. Ebenezer McCoy and the mysterious wizard known as the Gatekeeper were extremely powerful as well. The rest of the members of the council were a shade less powerful than that, and their most experienced Wardens were on par with the greatest Aurors in our history. But there weren't many of those left. That being said, they had no intention of assisting the British Ministry in taking over the MACUSA. Langtry despised the majority of the British ministry, the minister included.
In the end, the ICW gave up any attempt to stop Langtry and the White Council. Most of the vampire problems were currently concentrated over there, as the majority of the Red Court was based there. The situation with the Red Court would have been a worse problem if someone else hadn't been hunting them. Something about a shapeshifting demon. Hopefully the White Council and the Wardens would be able to get control of the Red Court. The White Court has been quiet, and the Black Court has long been allies to the House of Black. One of the reasons they are called the Black Court.
"Yes, but the quality of writing has become better these days. I hear the new ownership has been giving instructions and advice to the new editor-in-chief to improve the paper and its' reputation," I replied with equal smugness as I finished reading the speculation about what the White Council was up to. Seeing as I was the owner of the paper in question, I thought my smugness was justified. The article I had just finished reading was very well done.
Natalia scowled. "Is there anything you and your family don't have control of?" she asked in exasperation. She was very quick on the uptake, something I appreciated about her.
"Well, if Lord Bones accepts my offer to make his daughter Lady Black, I will have control of the Wizengamot once he had his vassals join the Neutral Party. The Minister is likely on the way out, but Minchum is not a man to be controlled. So I don't have the Ministry in my pocket. Or Hogwarts. And I find that a bit hypocritical coming from the Princess of Wizarding Russia, by the way," I replied. Granted, I wasn't entirely sure Lord Bones was going to bite at my offer. The man had a strong sense of justice, and would likely hesitate to hand the majority of the votes to the Neutral Party, which was led by the House of Black.
Amelia Bones was currently a sixth year Hufflepuff that I had little interaction with. I was pretty sure she was one of Susan McKinnon's roommates. One thing I had noticed was that she was an extremely hot redhead that had a strong sense of justice that she had no doubt inherited from her father. She definitely had the biggest bust out of all of the girls at Hogwarts, which had inevitably earned her the attention of several admirers. Not that she had bothered acknowledging them. She hadn't even gone on a Hogsmeade date in her time at school. Someone in Slytherin had started the rumor that she was into women instead of men, which was entirely possible. The Slytherin in question had regretted spreading that rumor once Amelia found out about it though.
One thing I did know was that if her father did accept my offer, she was probably going to be pissed. Amelia had ambitions to go far in the Ministry, and had no intention of being a housewife for a rich pureblood lord like myself if the rumors were true. I knew from my previous life that she had eventually succeeded in doing so, although the changes she undoubtedly intended to make in the Ministry had stalled due to the corruption in the Ministry of that time. It would be interesting to see how she would react if her father accepted my offer, as well as the changes it would cause in the original timeline.
"Yes, but my family does it so much better than your stupid Ministry ever could," Natalia retorted, my reply having successfully gotten under her skin once again. There had been a lot of banter between the two of since my arrival, something I think we both enjoyed. Nothing like witty conversation to keep you on your toes. Although she did look legitimately irritated with me for some reason.
"Well considering he is going to be part of our family in a few years, maybe he will be able to turn things around in jolly old England for the better," Prince Boris said with a smirk as he entered the room. Over the past month and a half since my arrival, the prince and I had become very good friends. He reminded me a lot of my cousin Eric in personality, only his sense of humor was there to mask his pain. Having your parents murdered in front of you and having people trying to kill you all the time would make most people paranoid and cause them to shut down, so the Prince had resorted to sarcasm and an early drinking problem to deal with it instead. Royalty did not have the luxury of shutting themselves away.
"Oh don't worry, I have plenty of plans for the Ministry when I come of age. Too many of those in power are babbling sycophants, and I intend to change that some day," I replied. I had met most of the Department heads in the Ministry before at various events. The only ones that I had met that were more than halfway competent are my Uncle Charlus of the Auror Office, Harold Minchum of the DLME, and Bartemius Crouch of the Improper Use of Magic Office. Although the last one was an ambitious, power-hungry asshole at best. The rest were either barely competent enough to hold office or were unable to tell one end of their wand from the other.
"I wish you the best of luck with that," Boris said sincerely. Natalia merely scowled at me and turned away, much to my confusion. I racked my brain trying to figure out why she was upset. She had already told me that she was fine with marrying me. She claimed that I was the best option out of all the suitors she had before, most of which were twice her age or more. I was bearable in comparison. Her words, not mine. So what the hell was bothering her. I decided not to worry about it for now. I had more pressing concerns.
Kreacher popped in at that moment, startling one of the castle elves who had come in to inform us that the King and Vladimir had been held up with important matters and would be unable to join us for breakfast. Bella had elected to stay in her room for breakfast. I had no complaints there. Bella was now seven months into her pregnancy, and she was having mood swings because of that. And in the case of my dear yet extremely violent cousin, that was bad for everyone involved. Especially since she already had mood swings before she got pregnant. No one had died yet, but one of the Dolohov elves had been traumatized when she had all of her limbs cursed off. They had managed to reattach them though.
"Kreacher has mail for Master Krios," the house elf said earnestly. He had been getting better since my mother passed, although he was still creepy as hell.
"Thank you Kreacher. That will be all for now," I told him, taking the four letters that he had given me. One was from my account manager at Gringotts, causing me to ignore the other letters for the moment. The elf bowed before disappearing.
I opened the letter from Gringotts and started to read it in silence. Apparently the ring was cleansed of the soul shard and was now resting in my private vault. The nice thing about the goblin ritual was that they performed it in a vault that prevented any magic from escaping it. Voldemort would be unable to feel the backlash of the destruction of his Horocruxes, keeping me and the bank safe from Voldemort's wrath. On top of that, the goblins were doing an excellent job in investing my money. I was a billionaire in the Muggle world without the Black family accounts.
After reviewing my financial statements, I looked down at the other three letters, which were sealed by the signet rings of three noble houses in Wizarding Britain. Black, Lestrange, and Bones. I opened the one from my grandfather first. He had been spending quite a bit of money lately trying to find Andromeda, with very little success. She had left a note in her bed saying that she was running away, and that she would die before marrying Rodolphus Lestrange. She had then used the Portkey Dumbledore had given her to disappear from the grounds. It had caused quite the uproar.
Both my grandfather and the Lestranges had been understandably furious. There had been a Ministry investigation of all things into her disappearance. A first year Gryffindor claimed he had seen her walking into the Forbidden Forest the night before she had disappeared. The centaurs had seen her, and claimed that she was alone and heading into the deepest part of the woods when they last saw her. The investigation hadn't found any evidence of her death, but the fact that the forest was forbidden for a reason had convinced the morons in the Ministry she was dead, and proceeded to close the investigation.
Thanks to the family tapestry that hung in both Black Manor and Grimmauld Place, my grandfather knew better. And Lord Lestrange was no fool. They had both had people searching for her. Both correctly suspected that Dumbledore had something to do with it, but they did not have enough evidence to even think about accusing the headmaster publicly. It was fortunate that I was the only witch or wizard outside of Andromeda's now-fiancé Ted Tonks that knew where she was. Dumbledore only knew that she was in America.
The letter confirmed what I had suspected. There was no trace as to where Andromeda had gone. She had been declared legally dead, although my entire family and several others knew otherwise. It did officially kick Andromeda out of the House of Black, and she and any children she had would never be able to be brought back into the House of Black. Except through marriage, but there wasn't a chance in hell of that happening. You only needed to look at the Gaunts to see what consistent inbreeding does. It would be the downfall of the House of Black if I let it continue.
I disregarded the letter from Lord Lestrange for the moment. I knew full well what that particular piece of shit wanted. I had to pat myself on the back for getting my grandfather to allow me to have control of Narcissa's future. The agreement with the rich Spaniard had cost me a bit of gold to get him to agree. Although the opportunity to have his son have the first crack at courting my cousin had definitely played a part in his signing the tentative betrothal contract that had exit clauses if it didn't work out between them. And it gave me the ability to get Lord Lestrange and all the perverted old pureblood lords looking for a young trophy wife to back off.
It was rather nervous as I opened up the letter from Lord Bones. His answer would definitely impact my plans for not only Wizarding Britain, but the entire Wizarding World. I was well aware of the threats that our planet would be facing in the years to come. The men and women that would eventually become the world's greatest heroes and villains were all children currently, with only a dozen or so exceptions. The majority of those exceptions were immortal and not currently active anyway. Batman and Superman were only a year or so older than I was right now. I had maybe a couple of decades if I was lucky. I knew that I needed to use that time to prepare the Wizarding world for the coming storm. And getting the various ministries that I was allied with to work together was the first step.
I had no desire to rule the Wizarding World. That sounded like exhausting work, and I had no desire to deal with some of the idiots that were granted the gift of magic. But I was the only one who could do it. I was the only one who could protect the Wizarding World from being destroyed or exploited in the coming years. My grandfather was too old and was deeply mistrusted by Dumbledore and his followers. Dumbledore was also too old and would never be able to get the support of the pureblood nobility which would be required in order to save our world. Voldemort was an insane and power-hungry asshole who would only leave a trail of bodies in his wake, which would ensure our destruction.
But to even start being able to accomplish that goal, I needed to have control of the Wizengamot and the support of one Albus Dumbledore. The allies I had made in Wizarding Europe and Russia were a strong start. I could definitely do it without Dumbledore, but it would take me longer. If I had Dumbledore's support, it would make things a lot easier down the road. I had decided to wait until after Voldemort was dead to try and convince him though. I did not want to have Dumbledore and Voldemort as my enemies if Dumbledore didn't believe me when I told him what needed to be done to save the Wizarding World from being destroyed by their own hubris.
I had no intention of meddling in either North or South America though. I wanted to avoid the Justice League as much as possible, and most of their heroes would be spending most of their time in America. I wanted to keep the ocean between us as much as possible. The longer I can keep the Statute of Secrecy intact, the better. I am not sure the idiots in the Wizarding World will ever be able to function in the normal world, especially one where they are not the most powerful beings around. It might give them a brain aneurysm. Unfortunately I needed them to find and protect the growing the growing number of Muggle borns. They would be the first to be captured and exploited, and I would prefer to keep that from happening.
The magical population in Canada was small and mostly focused on protecting the Statute. They kept to themselves for the most part, allowing the American Ministry to represent them in the ICW, something that would undoubtedly continue. Central and South America were strange. They kept to themselves much like the Canadians did, but they didn't even bother with the ICW with the exception of Brazil, which was where their school Castelobruxto, which was more than happy to have exchange programs between them and the students of European magic schools. Despite this, there was no information about any ministries anywhere else in South America, and the Brazilian Ministry wasn't telling. The blood magic practiced by the Aztecs and the Mayans were blamed for the lack of magical activity in Central America.
China and the Middle East had effectively enslaved or killed off all the magicals that lived there at a young age when their powers surfaced. They never had the opportunity to build a functioning government there. The only witches and wizards that lived in China were ICW employees who kept an eye on the Chinese Fireball population and the few lucky refugees that managed to escape the Chinese government. The Middle East didn't even have that. The religious zealots there made sure of that.
Japan's wizarding population had been devastated by the Second World War. The school had been destroyed by the atomic bomb that had been dropped on Hiroshima, though that had been covered up by the ICW to prevent a panic. My grandfather had an old friend who had survived the war that had told him what had happened. It was unlikely that the magical population would ever recover.
The rest of Europe was run similarly to Britain, as was Australia and New Zealand. India had a ruling sultan, and Russia had their monarchy. Africa had several small ministries. The magical population across Africa was rather scattered, but they did a good job despite that. The fact that nundus hadn't become a problem there was a testament to the perseverance of the people there. Both Australia and Africa had a shit ton of dangerous magical creatures, and the fact that they kept it under control with minimal ICW assistance was impressive considering how undermanned they often were.
I shook my head to clear them of my musings on the political landscape of the Wizarding World. I probably wasn't going to interfere with Africa and Australia anyway, and I had years to consider the Wizarding World outside of Europe and Russia anyway. I started to silently read the letter from Lord Bones.
"Lord Krios Black,
I was honored to receive your offer for the hand of my daughter Amelia in marriage. The dowry offer was especially generous, and I was flattered by your offer to forge a political alliance that would allow us to shape the future of our country in the years to come. I have heard many great things about you over the years, and I know that you have the best interest of the Wizarding World in mind. I was extremely impressed with how you handled the situation with the Malfoys.
For centuries my family has resisted joining yours. I believe it has been over five hundred years since the last marriage, which I believe ended rather badly for both our families. I firmly believe that it is time for this to change. I accept your offer, and I look forward to seeing you make long overdue changes in the Wizarding World in the years to come. The Bones family will be by your side when the time comes, with my daughter as Lady Black. I look forward to your response and hope to see you in the summer to discuss the wedding plans.
Lord Everton Bones of the Most Ancient and Most Noble House of Bones
Damn. I hadn't expected him to respond so quickly. I had hinted at my intentions of making sure that the next Dark Lord wouldn't even be able to get enough followers to even come close to being the threat that Grindelwald and Voldemort posed. He apparently already had a high opinion of me and believed that I could and would be able to do it. Which was surprising, but entirely welcome. Getting control of the Wizengamot when I came of age was a huge accomplishment. And the fact that I got a hot and busy redhead on top of that was beyond fantastic.
"Letter from a secret admirer?" Boris asked with a smirk, noticing my slight smile as I finished my letter. Breakfast had already been served, and both the Princess and Prince were nearly finished with their meals.
"More like from her father. Lord Bones has agreed to betroth his daughter Amelia to me. His support wins me the Wizengamot, and I get a beautiful Lady Black on top of that," I replied with a triumphant grin.
A clatter of silverware and the scraping of chair legs on the floor caused my grin to drop as Princess Natalia left the table in a huff. It was then I realized why the Princess was upset.
"She hasn't taken the idea of you being married to multiple women well. It's not uncommon for royalty to have multiple wives. But my sister has always imagined being the only one in her husband's life. And her crush on you has not helped her deal with the idea of sharing you," Boris explained with a sad sigh.
"I guess I had better go talk to her," I said, leaving the table, my food untouched. I would have Kreacher bring me something later. I had a Princess to console. I only hoped I could make this whole thing work. Hopefully my future Lady Black would take it better than the Princess did.
December 13th, a few hours later
Hogwarts
No one POV
The student body had settled down quite a bit since the departure of Krios Black and the disappearance of Andromeda Black. The rumors of where she had gone had died off a week or two after she vanished, as the murders of several Muggle born families at the hands of the Death Eaters once again become the central topic outside of school related matters. Dumbledore had even organized a massive feast tonight to brighten the mood and get them excited for the upcoming winter holidays.
Unfortunately, the feast was doomed as soon as the owls flew in. Dumbledore nearly choked on his turkey leg when he read the headline.
Black Heir Chooses Bones Heiress as Lady Black!
The most eligible young bachelor in Wizarding Britain has chosen his future bride, writes Miranda Driscoll, senior reporter for the Daily Prophet. Many fair maidens will no doubt be devastated to learn that he has chosen sixth year Hufflepuff Amelia Bones, the only daughter of Lord Everton Bones.
"It gives me great pleasure to announce that the Most Ancient and Most Noble House of Black and the Most Ancient and Most Noble Houseof Bones willbe joining together in marriage for the first time in centuries. I look forward to seeing our houses grow together in the years to come," Lord Bones announced proudly at his Sussex Manor.
This marriage will undoubtedly have important ramifications down the road? Will Lord Bones move to the Neutral Party in the Wizengamot when young Lord Krios comes of age and marries his daughter? What do the future Lord and Lady Black think about this arrangement? The Daily Prophet will inform you as soon as possible!
Dumbledore noticed that Amelia Bones was absent from her spot at the Hufflepuff table where she usually sat with her friends. He also noticed that several girls were throwing that vacant spots looks of absolute jealousy and loathing. The Headmaster sighed. He was getting to old for this crap. Hopefully he could convince Lord Bones to continue to vote with the Light faction. If he couldn't convince him or Krios the importance of what he was doing, there would be devastating consequences for the Light.
Eric Potter shook his head over at the Slytherin table. "Krios, you devious bastard. Only you could possibly pull off the greatest political power move in centuries and still get one of the hottest girls in school out of it. It's official, my cousin has the luck of the gods," Eric said with a grin. He was so proud of his cousin. He couldn't help but envy him for it a bit, but he was more proud than anything. The fact that his cousin was married to the Princess of Wizarding Russia as well made him the envy of the entire Wizarding World, and he was no exception.
"You really think that frigid Hufflepuff bitch is one of the hottest girls in school? Seriously?" Adrianne asked. She was extremely bitter that her friend and crush had chosen someone other than her as the future Lady Black, and a Hufflepuff at that.
Eric, Hadrian Pucey, and Cyrus Greengrass all looked at each other before turning to Adrianne. "Yup," they said in unison. Crabbe and Goyle were also nodding in agreement. The two had been hanging out with them since Krios left. No one was sure whether it was for the protection of the second year Slytherins or to make sure that Crabbe and Goyle didn't fail everything without someone to remind them to do their homework. Everyone who knew Krios suspected that it was probably both.
"Such nice boobies," Crabbe said with a sigh, staring off into space. As usual, Goyle joined him in doing so. Eric, Hadrian, and Cyrus burst into laughter at this, causing the girls to scowl at them in disgust. It also caused them to wonder if the only boy worth dating in their year was the one that wasn't there.
Amelia Bones was absolutely furious when she got the letter from her father telling her of her engagement to Krios Black. Not only did she feel betrayed by the match, but also that her father was giving control of the Wizengamot to a Black. The injustice of it caused her to refuse to go to dinner and stew in her room in anger.
But then the owl arrived, carrying a letter from her betrothed. As much as she didn't want to read it, she knew she had to. The contents of the letter were nothing like she expected from the Heir of House Black though.
"Dear Amelia, I have been told that you are a straightforward person, so I am going to get straight to the point. While I have indeed admired your beauty from afar, the offer for your hand in marriage was mostly for political reasons. Goyle could have told you that, so I see no reason to try to convince you otherwise.
Amelia scoffed at this. "Well at least he's honest about it," she muttered. She shook her head and continued to read.
"But that doesn't mean we need to have a miserable marriage. One of the reasons your father agreed to my offer was because we both want the same thing. A competent Ministry that is been purged of the corruption that has allowed Voldemort to take power. He is my enemy as much as I am sure he is to you and your family. I have no intention of stopping you from pursuing your dreams in the Ministry and making you a housewife. I need a Lady Black who can stand by my side and fight to create a better world for our children. I hope I can count on you to do that. And in time, I hope our marriage will someday be a loving and happy one.
Yours, Krios Black
By the time, Amelia had finished her letter she was gaping in shock. She had not expected that at all. Most pureblood lords wanted a bride that would do what they were told and pop out heirs. Amelia decided then and there that if Krios meant what he had said in the letter, she would give him a chance. She jumped up from her bed and grabbed some parchment and a quill. "Maybe this won't be so bad after all," Amelia thought to herself, smiling slightly as she wrote a reply.
Black Manor
Sirius and Regulus froze at the sound coming from the office of their grandfather, Lord Arcturus Black. It was uncommon for any noise to be coming from that office, as Lord Black desired peace and quiet while he worked. But the fact that noise was coming from the office wasn't the strangest part. No, the strangest part was the fact that the noise coming from the office was the sound of laughter. Neither of the boys had ever heard their stern grandfather laugh before. Hearing it now was absolutely terrifying to them.
Regulus turned to Sirius. "What did you do?" Regulus hissed quietly as they watched their grandfather laughing in his chair in slight terror.
"I didn't do anything! I swear! Gramps would kill me if I intentionally pranked him!" Sirius whispered back furiously.
It was then that their grandfather spoke. "Well done, my boy. Well done," Lord Black said with a chuckle as he read the news of the engagement in the paper. He was so proud. The boy would be the one to bring the House of Black to unprecedented heights. Arcturus just hoped that he lived long enough to see the changes his grandson brought to Wizarding Britain.
The two boys snuck away from the office. Regulus looked at Sirius. "Krios?" Regulus asked resignedly. Only his oldest brother could get a reaction like that from their grandfather.
"Krios," Sirius replied with a sigh. He had no idea what his brother had done this time, but he had no doubt that it would cause a stir. Something that he had every intention of doing when he got to Hogwarts. Although there would definitely be more dung bombs involved.
Russia, the next day
Krios sighed as he looked at the Morning Prophet. While he wasn't surprised to see his engagement in the paper again, he could have done without all the speculation. It was one of the things he really wanted to get the Prophet to stop doing. Especially since he was entirely unsure if he had gotten through to Natalia the previous morning. They had talked for almost an hour, but he still had no idea if he was out of the woods yet. He hoped that Amelia was alright and would write him back soon.
Hogwarts, Great Hall
Amelia pointedly ignored the stares and glares as she walked into the Great Hall for breakfast. It had taken some time for her to convince her roommates that she was fine. The unholy squeals that they let out when they heard about the letter Krios sent her cracked one of the mirrors in their bathroom much to her chagrin. All of them were happy for her. It helped that all her roommates had a boyfriend or were betrothed like she was. Although Susan seemed a bit envious of her despite her relationship with Amos Diggory. Although Amelia thought that was an explanation by itself.
As she and her friends sat down, all conversation at the Hufflepuff table stopped. After a few moments of silence, Amelia finally decided to put an end to the awkwardness.
"Quit looking at me like I have the bloody dragon pox. I'm fine. There are far worse men to be married to. And Krios even promised me that he wouldn't stop me from working in the Ministry, so I am honestly fine with the match," Amelia snapped at them in a tone that suggested that she did not want to discuss it any further.
Amelia could tell that they still had questions, but the Hufflepuff table simultaneously relaxed and turned back to their meals and conversation. Unfortunately, there was a certain Gryffindor that had something to say about it.
Barnabus McLaggen had never been known for his common sense or manners. It was a big reason why he had no friends outside of Wallenby and Barny Weasley, twins that were cousins of Arthur's. Both boys were ill-mannered as well, and both were not the sharpest knives in the drawer. They were considered to be the intellectual equals to their fellow fourth years in Slytherin, Crabbe and Goyle. McLaggen and Lucius Malfoy had been compared to each other often as a result of their arrogance and cruel words. Not that either boy realized it, of course.
This lack of common sense and empathy reared its ugly head at a time that would be considered terrible timing by anyone with a shred of intelligence. "Hah! There is no way any self respecting Lord would allow his wife to work anywhere outside of the kitchen where women belong. The only thing Bones will be doing is cooking and popping out babies once they get married," Barnabas said, laughing mirthlessly at the idea of a married woman holding power in the Ministry. Only unmarried hags worked for a living if you asked him.
Wallenby and Barny Weasley were not the smartest boys in Hogwarts, but even they realized that McLaggen had screwed up when the sixth year Hufflepuff girls stood up from the table, looking at him in absolute fury. The twins then proceeded to do the smartest thing that they had done in their entire lives up to that point. They dove to the side, well out of the line of fire. It turned out that this wasn't necessary, however, as Professor McGonagall had just walked into the Great Hall and had heard what he had said.
"Is that so, Mister McLaggen?" McGonagall asked with a tone so frosty that it could have froze the Sahara Desert. It also caused McLaggen to pale in horror as he realized that he was screwed.
"That will be fifty points from Gryffindor and a detention for your cruel and crass words. You will be serving your detention with Mr. Filch at five o' clock tonight," she told him with a stern glare that informed him that he had no choice in the matter. This declaration did not help McLaggen's complexion, as he paled even more at her words. He had good reason for that, as teachers typically did not assign students to serve their detentions with the cantankerous caretaker.
Dumbledore had ended up getting a lot of pushback from the board of governors in his attempt to ban corporal punishment at Hogwarts when he became Headmaster. The discussions were still ongoing. Most of the pushback was from the traditional pure-bloods that were led by Board member Reinhardt Lestrange. Despite it still being allowed by the school charter, most of the teachers did not use it when students served detentions with them, either out of respect for the Headmaster or for moral reasons. Only three members of the staff still used corporal punishment when they felt it was necessary.
The first was Professor Alphard Black, though it was extremely rare that he assigned detentions at all. Ancient Runes was a very serious subject that could be dangerous if you screwed up the rube patterns, so it was understandable to most that he took any misbehaving seriously. As it was a third year elective, it was typically only the driven and the studious who took the subject, so it was extremely rare for him to assign a detention, especially since he did not interact with the students outside of his classroom and mealtimes. In fact, he had only assigned one since he had started teaching. The stories told afterwards from that one student made everyone think twice before misbehaving in his class.
The second was Professor Kipling. He was second only to Filch as the most hated man in the castle, although that hatred was strongest amongst the students of Slytherin House. Krios had privately thought that he was a Gryffindor version of Snape, and it was an accurate assessment. He absolutely delighted in taking points and giving detentions to the students of Slytherin for made up reasons, and he especially enjoyed it when he could send them to Filch for the sadistic caretaker to punish them how he saw fit. Fortunately Professor Black caught wind of it, and he and Dumbledore put a stop to the worst of the bullying.
The third was obviously Argus Filch. It was many students greatest dream to cause Filch to suffer an "accident". The man hated children, and enjoyed punishing them because he was bitter about being a Squib. The man had next to no redeeming qualities. Why Dumbledore had allowed the man to have as much power as he did was beyond the understanding of many.
So for Professor McGonagall to assign anyone to a detention with Filch was shocking, especially since it was a member of her House. It was safe to say that McLaggen had pissed McGonagall off, and he was going to regret it. While Amelia and the other girls didn't feel sorry for him, they also refrained from hexing him. He was going to be in for a rough night.
Or as Wallenby Weasley noted as he climbed back onto the bench, "You are so fucked, bro".