He then quietly told the members he was somewhat disappointed in them over their lack of action over the past thirteen years and expressed his hope they'd be a lot more active from that point forward. No one gainsaid him.
The first order of business was congratulating, from the Alliance, Lord Ogden on attaining the role of Chief Warlock. He was clearly pleased at the praise. But also said he could not ethically allow the Alliance undue influence on his decision-making. That was expected.
Then came the formal advisement that House MacMillan had been excommunicated from the Alliance due to the actions and words of the Heir of the House, Ernest MacMillan. That had a few show they were uncomfortable.
"Any questions or comments regarding that matter?" asked Frank.
Samuel Greengrass immediately said, "I have been approached by Lord MacMillan, who asked of me I speak on his behalf when we all next met. He wishes to offer private apology to Lord Potter regarding the behaviour of his Heir, before then offering a public one.
"I said I would raise the matter so it was tabled, but not speak either for or against."
Madam Bones piped in. "Lord Potter was in the right to boot House MacMillan from the Alliance," she said. "I have discussed the matter at length and in detail with my niece and, I have to say, if someone had behaved as appallingly as Heir MacMillan behaved towards Lord Potter, towards me, I might have taken even stronger action."
The elderly Tyler Stebbins of the Elder House of Stebbins, who had no Heir, said, "Nevertheless, House MacMillan holds a seat on the Wizengamot. His House represented only one of six... sorry, seven... seats this Alliance has available to it - I'd forgotten about Amelia's seat as Director.
"Secondly, young Ernest has always been a bit of a hothead. I'm rather surprised he ended up in Hufflepuff, to be honest. I expected him to be sorted into Gryffindor.
"As it was the under-aged Heir Secondary that offered offence, and not the Lord of the House, I ask the matter of House MacMillan's excommunication be reconsidered."
Frank immediately said, "That's entirely up to Lord Potter. Heir MacMillan offended he, not the Alliance as a whole."
As everyone turned to Harry, he'd already been thinking about it, so was quick to respond.
"Mister Stebbins's opinion of Ernest MacMillan's attitude is correct. The boy is a hothead. However, I have also spent some time over the past four weeks reconsidering the matter and my reactions to it."
He paused a few moments and continued. "Points for the re-admittance of House MacMillan are such. One: Ernest MacMillan is a child who, from what I've seen, has an elevated sense of his own entitlement. The past four weeks should have taught him the error of that. Two: I was angry, at the time, over the behaviour of the whole school towards me, not just Heir MacMillan's. And I can see I let my own temper somewhat unfairly dictate terms. Three: Heir MacMillan is just that; the Heir Secondary. He is not the Lord of the House, let alone Heir Primary. Four: I could just have easily made the same decision regarding, except for Neville Longbottom, the behaviour of the other Heirs who currently attend Hogwarts. He just happened to be the one who said the wrong thing at the wrong time.
"Points Against are such. One: He is fourteen years old and should have a logical understanding of his responsibilities to his House. So, he cannot claim he didn't know what he was doing or should have done. Two: His actions against me were not reactive, like the other Heirs; but proactive. That is, he did not go along with the general consensus, at the time; he actively even led that behaviour. Three: He has had four weeks in which to offer apology off his own back and has not yet even attempted to do so; nor has the Lord of his House. I do not expect to have to ask for an apology for an apology to be offered. It should have been immediately offered... or as soon as available... and wasn't."
He gave the members time to absorb that information before he finally said, "I acknowledge the past four weeks have been... earth shaking... for the magical community of wizarding Britain. And, as such, peoples' minds have been on other matters. However, Heir Secondary MacMillan should still have been of sound enough mind to offer apology.
"My decision is this: If Heir MacMillan... not Lord MacMillan, on his behalf... publicly offers apology without expectation it would be accepted, then I believe we can revisit the re-admittance of House MacMillan to the Alliance at our next meeting."
As he was speaking, Harry was carefully watching the expressions of those around him. He was pleased to see they all listened carefully to what he had to say and were willing to hear him out.
After a few moments Samuel Greengrass said, "I like it. It puts the onus on House MacMillan to act before the Alliance will react."
That had the others all agreeing, with Frank offering Harry a smile that he could see showed Frank was pleased with him for his words.
Next came a discussion on whether they would support, as a whole, a single candidate for the position of Minister. Harry didn't have a view on that, so remained silent.
It was decided they would support a known and long-time member of the Unaligned faction, Lady Jacinta Cauldwell of the Noble and Ancient House of Ashwater. Ashwater was one of the few noble Houses that had passed on to another family through the marrying of a daughter of the House to another without a Line Continuation clause via contract, Cauldwell.
After that, a few other points were raised such as recent births, deaths and marriages within the member Houses, younger Heirs were formally introduced and updated orders of succession within the Houses were clarified. Then Frank raised the matter of Dowager Lady Augusta.
"Though I have decided not to disown her for her actions while acting as guardian of Heir Longbottom and as House Regent, I have banished her to a Longbottom holiday cottage until the legal matters surrounding her actions are resolved. At the conclusion of that I will revisit my decision regarding her and her behaviour. As such, she remains a member of House Longbottom... for now."
Again, the Members nodded.
He continued, "Both Alice and I have also rewritten our Wills. If we pass before Heir Longbottom reaches his majority, he is to be immediately emancipated and inducted as the newest Lord Longbottom. We believe he is now old enough to take up the Headship of the House, if it becomes necessary. He will not have a Regent. Dowager Lady Augusta, most definitely, will not be allowed either position of regent or guardian ever again."
As the others nodded in recognition of his words, Harry could see it did not really come as a shock to anyone.
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