The Gryffindor-Slytherin game lasted until evening and probably would have gone on longer if Ginny Weasley hadn't finally caught the snitch. It proved to be a hollow victory for the Gryffindors though because the game had ended in the first tie in Quidditch history with a score of 510 to 510. Usually catching a Snitch gave the team whose Seeker got it the victory, however the World Cup during the summer of Ron's fourth year had proven that wasn't always the case when Krum caught the Snitch but Ireland won the game. Madame Hooch had declared Gryffindor the winners because of Ginny's catching the Snitch, but Slytherins were requesting a rematch since they had been ahead by 150 points until it had been caught and no game was supposed to end in a tie. Madame Hooch had refused. Pointing out that the rules never said that a game couldn't end in a tie, just that it never had before.
Ron, instead of being pleased with Gryffindor's victory over Slytherin, had been spent the better part of the evening snarling at his sister telling her she should have held off long enough for them to get another goal, so they would have been the clear winners. It had taken Ginny cursing him with her favourite curse, the Bat Bogey Hex to get him to shut up. While he was suffering the results of Ginny's hex, Ron spent the evening glaring at Potter, certain that if he had just co-operated, their victory would've been a clear one and not just one won by default because they gotten the Snitch. He wisely kept his thoughts to himself though not wanting to get in any more trouble with McGonagall, Hermione… or Merlin forbid his mother. He winced when he thought of what his mother's reaction would be to his no longer being a prefect.
Hermione had made it clear that she was disappointed that he had lost his Prefect's badge because of a fight over Quidditch. He would have thought she would be on his side given the fight had been with Potter but she hadn't been. She had just told him it was stupid to lose his Prefect status because of a stupid game. Even after all this time she still didn't understand that Quidditch was just as important to him as her books were to her and he realised she probably never would. Just like he would never understand her obsession with books and learning.
He found Hermione's obsessive need to know everything about anything new she encountered very unsettling, especially when she expressed her annoyance because no one else, usually meaning he and Potter, wanted to do the same. They really had very little in common and it had only been their both being friends with Potter that had brought them together in the first place. In fact he was beginning to rethink his idea of asking her to marry him once they got out of school. He cared for her, he really did, but he didn't think he could live with her for the rest of his life.
...
Alexander Boet was finishing up his argument in front of the wizarding tribunal, "as you can see from the documents in front of you, gentlemen, Gareth Weyland was indeed found innocent after he was Kissed and his property confiscated. Yet no attempt was ever made by the Ministry of the time to return his family's property to his heirs as it should have been under the law even when Kerr Weyland tried to get it legally returned to himself and his sisters. The sole remaining Weyland heir, Mr. Dantes has asked that the current Ministry honour its obligations, by arranging the return of all of his family's property"
"According to Ministry records, the only remaining member of the Weyland family was Kerr Weyland, who died without producing or naming an heir." One of the tribunal members, Mr. Barthold reminded Boet. "Therefore this person can not be the heir of the Weyland family."
"The Inheritance ritual performed by Gringotts on Mr. Dantes and is legally recognised as valid by the Wizengamot because it samples both a person's blood and magic says otherwise. It named this previously thought muggle-born wizard as the heir to the Weyland family and its property." Boet countered. "Ministry records also show that Kerr Weyland had two sisters both of whom vanished during the time of the Dark Lord Grindelwald. It was presumed that they died because of Grindelwald, but it now appears that Kerr took them out into Muggle London, probably after a bombing and left them to be found. Given the fact that Mr. Dantes has thought all this time he was a muggle-born it is reasonable to assume that at least one of the sister's was a Squib and survived to have children of her own, and it is plausible to assume that Mr. Dantes is her grandchild. Mr. Dantes simply wants his family's rightful property returned by those who have no right to it since Gareth Weyland was proven innocent. Or adequate compensation of his choosing if the property is no longer in the possession of the person or family it was given to."
"Given the amount of time that has passed, we have no way to tracked down who received what from the Weyland properties when Gareth Weyland was wrongly sentenced and his property confiscated." Another tribunal member, Mr. Lumari disagreed. "It has been over sixty years after all."
Boet shook his head and produced a sheaf of parchment from his briefcase.
"I have here a list provided by the Ministry Records Department of all of the property taken from the Weyland family at the time of Gareth Weyland's conviction and who that property was given to." He scanned the list and then said in seeming surprise, "Mr Lumari, Mr. Barthold, you should not even be sitting on this tribunal due to a conflict of interest. You both knew from the initial brief I submitted that this case was going to involve the Weyland Family estates and should have made arrangements for someone else to take your place given that at least one member of each of your families have in their possession items that were confiscated from the Weyland family when Gareth Weyland was convicted and said items were never returned. Would you have ruled against my client so that your family's dishonourable behaviour would never come to light?"
"After all when Kerr Weyland tried to get his family's property back just after Grindelwald's defeat the Ministry of that time stalled and delayed until he was dead. It was this in all likelihood that convinced him the only way he could get justice from a corrupt Ministry was to join Voldemort. Would you have tried to do the same? Probably." Boet gave them a look of contempt. "Your families stole from children over sixty years ago. Then the Ministry, probably at their instigation treated the Weyland children like they were little better than werewolves, so what's a little corruption of your honour now when compared to what was previously done to the remaining members of this family."
The third tribunal member, Mr. Capran looked at the other two in disappointment. He told the court clerk, "Let the record for these proceedings show, that as Eldest member of the panel, I am disallowing the votes of Mr. Lumari and Mr. Barthold due to a conflict of interest that should have been reported before the hearing started. I also do not intend to allow the British magical justice system to remain a laughing stock among the rest of the wizarding community as it has because of that travesty of a trial that the Boy-Who-Lived received. Let the record show that since this matter has been pending for over sixty years, there should be no further delay in its resolution until say the current heir is dead, allowing those with no right to the items they currently hold to keep it by default, I am exercising a little used statute and casting all three votes in favour of Mr. Dantes the legally recognised heir of the Weyland family."
....
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