— — — — — —
"Security Chief Ivan Leopold of the Magical Congress of the United States of America (MACUSA), Babajide Akingbade of the International Confederation of Wizards (ICW), and Robert Graves all arrived in London yesterday."
Amelia Bones briefed him on the situation. "Leopold is demanding that the MACUSA prosecute you, but Dumbledore shut that down immediately. Babajide wants to play mediator. Graves hasn't said anything until now."
"Either way, this has reached the point where it has to be resolved. There'll be a hearing in three days."
"Three days?" Tom frowned. "I've already scheduled something. Tell them tomorrow. Tomorrow morning I'll go to your office, and if they don't show, then forget it. If they've got the guts, they can come arrest me."
"Um…" Bones hesitated, not agreeing right away. She contacted the Ministry first.
Tom didn't rush her. He took his time finishing breakfast with Daphne and Astoria.
By the time they were done, Bones had her answer.
"They agreed. Tomorrow at nine." She added, "Dumbledore will be there too. He's talking with Babajide right now. It should… not be a problem."
Tom nodded absently. Since the crowd turned up in force, he figured he could invite a few people of his own to liven things up.
As soon as Bones left, Tom started calling in favors. One day was plenty.
---
The next morning
The British Ministry of Magic was completely bewildered as it welcomed more than a dozen important guests from various countries. Some were Ministry officials, some were representatives of influential families. None had appointments, none had invitations, and all of them just showed up out of the blue.
Fudge was hosting Babajide and Robert when he got Umbridge's report. He was just as confused.
Robert's face changed the moment he heard. A bad feeling crept in.
Sure enough, when Fudge finished greeting the visitors, he came back looking strange. "Gentlemen, it seems today's hearing will be… a bit more crowded."
---
At 8:50, Tom arrived at the Ministry. Lady Greengrass led him to Bones' office.
Seeing him, Bones gave a helpless smile. "I didn't expect you to pull together such a huge crowd. My office can't hold them. Everyone else has moved to Courtroom Nine."
Tom raised a brow. "What, they planning to put me on trial?"
"Of course not." Bones shook her head. "We're just using it as a meeting room. The layout's already been changed."
Rules are rigid, people aren't. For an ordinary underage witch or wizard caught performing magic outside school, they'd get a warning on record or go straight to a formal trial. Nobody would give them a chance to defend themselves.
But Tom clearly wasn't in the "ordinary" category anymore.
...
Inside Courtroom Nine, two long rows of tables had been set up with a wide aisle in the middle, the sides clearly divided.
When Tom entered, Robert stared at him with naked hatred. On the other side, Tom's guests smiled and stood to greet him.
Everyone Tom had invited was either one of his current distributors or families and countries eager to become one.
Relationships built on profit might be blunt, but as long as no bigger profit appeared, they were the most stable alliances.
This time the unlucky one was Graves, the embarrassment belonged to the MACUSA, and none of it touched continental Europe. As for the ICW, no one needed to save its face either. If it dared meddle in another country's internal affairs, every nation present would push back hard.
"Happy New Year, Mr. Graves." Tom took the main seat in the front row. He nodded toward Dumbledore first, then smiled brightly at Robert. "Great to see you again. Where are the other Graves? Why didn't they come?"
"Riddle, don't get cocky."
Robert forced each word out. "You think being protected means you can do whatever you want?"
He looked pointedly at Dumbledore.
"Tom Riddle..."
Ivan Leopold spoke sternly. "The MACUSA is filing charges with the ICW accusing you of violating the Statute of Secrecy, using magic recklessly outside school during the holidays, and murdering wizards."
"Minister Fudge, Riddle may be a British wizard, but the crimes were committed in our territory. You should hand him over to the Confederation for arbitration."
"Don't jump to conclusions," Bones snapped coldly. "This is an accusation, not a verdict. Who says Riddle violated the laws you just listed?"
"Exactly." Fudge, for once, stood firm. "If you could convict someone just by saying so, why would we need laws at all? Even if Mr. Riddle really had done something wrong, we would handle it. You don't need to worry."
"..."
"According to the International Convention, the Confederation only has authority to pursue and arbitrate if our representative submits an international warrant. Dumbledore, you're our current representative. What's your opinion?"
Tom turned and saw that the speaker was old Barty Crouch.
Strictly speaking, this wasn't him taking Tom's side. Crouch was rigid and meticulous, obsessed with rules and procedures. He was simply following protocol.
Dumbledore shook his head gently. "Robert, Babajide… Tom acted in self-defense. Young people have tempers, that's normal. It was your man who cast the Killing Curse first and set everything else in motion."
Not only the opposing side, but even many on Tom's side turned to stare at Dumbledore. The old man's ability to lie with a straight face was… impressive.
This had been Tom barging into the Graves estate, not the other way around. If he hadn't provoked them, would they have attacked first?
"Dumbledore, I finally see your true colors," Robert said with a furious, mocking laugh. He pulled out three glass vials. "These are the memories of three clan members, each recorded from a different angle. They show the entire conflict. No matter how you spin it, Riddle abused magic and ordered his creature to kill wizards."
Leopold produced three kettles. Robert poured the silver memory threads into them, and white mist surged upward, forming scenes from that night.
For most people in the room, it was their first time seeing the memories. Watching Tom break bones one after another and crush wands underfoot made everyone's hearts skip.
A broken bone wasn't a major injury for a wizard, healed in a day or two with the right potion. But the pain was real.
Even without sound, the expressions on the Graves family members' faces said enough. And when they saw Rayquaza slicing through the sky and smashing through the estate's wards to intercept the Aurors, the room filled with stunned silence and awe.
A dozen Aurors could knock out a dragon without much trouble, but against Rayquaza, their spells weren't even fast enough to reach it.
"Riddle, what else do you have to say?" Robert demanded.
Tom shrugged. "I've been saying it from the start. I'm a law-abiding wizard. I never cast spells outside school. And in the memories you showed, did I cast a single spell?"
Leopold shot back, "Maybe you didn't attack anyone directly, but you clearly used Shielding Charms and acceleration magic. Those are no different. Both violate the Statute of Secrecy."
"Sorry, but ordinary people wouldn't understand." Tom sighed. "It's a rare gift. My skin has extremely high resistance to magic, even stronger than a dragon's. Physically I'm not far off either."
To demonstrate, Tom raised his hand. Lady Greengrass cooperated by casting a Stunner at his palm. The glow of the spell vanished the instant it touched his skin, leaving no mark.
"Did I use magic just now?" Tom asked, watching their stunned faces.
"You…"
Robert's chest heaved with anger and envy. Why should he get that kind of talent while Graves had none?
"Fine. What about the creature you ordered to kill?" Robert pushed on. "Even if you didn't use magic, the deaths are real. Ten people, Riddle. You're nothing but an executioner."
"Usaki isn't a pet. She's my friend, my partner," Tom corrected. "She saw you lot bullying me and got angry. So she took revenge on her own. Wizarding law doesn't apply to her. If you think you can capture her, go ahead. I won't stop you."
What a joke… Tom couldn't beat Usaki even now. Between her flight and her species' natural power, there wasn't a soul alive in this world who could threaten her right now.
Tom stood. "There's nothing left to discuss. If you can find a single piece of evidence that I broke the law, do whatever you want with me. If not, stop bothering me. Minister Fudge, you can show them the Ministry's monitoring report so Mr. Graves doesn't keep wasting everyone's time."
Fudge nodded eagerly. "Rest assured, Mr. Riddle. The British Ministry never wrong an innocent man."
Tom thought that for someone like Fudge, being Minister suited him. As long as you didn't go against him, he was a very agreeable, very loyal lapdog.
Robert and Babajide were arguing furiously now. To be fair, Babajide didn't want to wade into this mess at all. Grindelwald was the real threat weighing on the entire wizarding world.
But ever since the early twentieth century, the MACUSA and the ICW had grown tightly intertwined. Within the ICW, the North American bloc was the strongest faction. Without Robert's support, Babajide might as well be a commander without troops.
Creeeaaaak—
The heavy iron doors of the courtroom swung open. Scrimgeour walked in with a grave expression. Every eye turned toward him. The room fell silent.
He scanned the chamber, then spoke in a low voice that carried with perfect clarity.
"Vinda Rosier is here. She wants to see Tom Riddle."
.
.
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