Harry Potter And The Betrayal

Once Molly was seated before the two wizards and the goblin, the dark haired young wizard was given a folder by the silver haired older one. It took Molly a few moments to place where she had seen this silver haired wizard before. He was Alexander Boet the solicitor who worked for Potter and who had been successful in getting the legacies given to them by Sirius Black revoked.

"I thought you were working for Potter, Mr. Boet. Considering what he's been having you do, I wouldn't have thought you would have time for another client." Molly spoke curtly to the silver haired solicitor. She was still furious with Potter for turning her little girl into a dog, not to mention the possibility of her being expelled if they couldn't prove that the statements she'd made in the Great Hall were lies.

"Who I work for is none of your business, Mrs. Weasley," Boet countered just as curtly.

"Molly Weasley nee Prewitt, who my solicitor is has no bearing at all on why you are here today." The younger wizard interrupted firmly before Molly could say anything further to Alexander. "I am Liam Dantes and you are here to return a goblin made tiara that was given to my great grandmother Annalysse Weyland by her mother Malynda Carric. This tiara was given to Muriel Prewitt in reparation for my great grandfather Gareth Weyland's supposed crimes against her. Muriel Prewitt never returned the tiara to his family when it was finally learned he was actually innocent of the crimes he was accused of after he was KISSED . The fact of his innocence was widely broadcast in the wizarding world, which means that you cannot claim she didn't know given she never has lived in the muggle world. So where is my family's tiara?"

Molly found it hard not to squirm under Dantes' cold gaze. The man could give Snape lessons in 'The Stare'. Gathering her resolve, Molly told him firmly, "I dispute your claim of ownership of my family's tiara. My Great Aunt would never have kept anything that didn't belong to her."

"Do you have proof that anyone in the Prewitt family prior to Muriel Prewitt owned the tiara?" Liam was certain of what her answer would be.

"No," Molly was annoyed that he wouldn't take her word about Great Aunt Muriel's character. The Prewitts had a well-earned reputation for being honest in all their dealings. "The Prewitt family home was destroyed by the Dark Lord and most of my family's records went with it."

"Very convenient," Everyone in the room could hear the sarcasm in Dantes' voice as he pulled a clipping and a piece of parchment from the folder in front of him. "Fortunately, I do have proof of my claim."

He set a clipping containing a picture of Great Aunt Muriel when she was younger and wearing the tiara on the table in front of Molly. Then he laid a parchment document with a lot of Ministry seals on it beside the Daily Prophet article. Next he pulled a shrunken portrait from his pocket and restored it to full size. One of the Goblins waiting behind the table came forward and took hold of the frame, so that the person in the picture would be able to view the proceedings.

"Hello Grandmother Carric," Dantes greeted the woman in the portrait warmly.

"Hello Liam, dear," the woman responded just as warmly.

The witch in portrait, from what Molly was able to see, was dressed in wedding robes that were popular about a hundred years ago and she was wearing a tiara that looked like Great Aunt Muriel's and she was studying the group in the room with great curiosity.

"That portrait proves nothing." Molly refused to back down. "Great Aunt Muriel could've had a copy made of that one."

"Preposterous!" Malynda Carric's portrait snapped. "Craftmaster Abalock's pieces were all original and as far as I know never copied."

"That is true," the goblin seated at the table spoke for the first time. "Craftmaster Abalock was and is highly revered among our jewelsmiths and even now fifty years after his death, none of them want to attempt to duplicate his work because they feel they couldn't do it justice."

"Now madam, given the evidence I have to back up my claim that the tiara did belong to the Weyland family, you either need to produce proof that the tiara was in the hands of the Prewitt family, prior to Muriel Prewitt, or admit publicly that your Great Aunt violated her precious ethics and stole from children." Dantes' face was an unemotional mask, but his voice conveyed the level of contempt he felt for someone who would do that.

Molly was silent for several minutes before repeating yet again, "I have no proof other than my knowledge of my Great Aunt's character and the Prewitt family's reputation for honour. I know as certainly as I am seated here that Aunt Muriel would never keep anything that didn't belong to her. Nor would my family have allowed her to do so."

Tapping the Daily Prophet clipping and then gesturing toward his great great grandmother's portrait, Dantes commented. "It would seem the Prewitt family's honourable reputation is about as reliable as the Daily Prophet's reputation for truth."

Leaning back slightly in his chair, Dantes folded his hands in front of him and continued a smirk on his face. "Reputations are very fragile things…. Easily made…. and just as easily destroyed. Harry Potter the Boy-Who-Lived has experienced that first hand. I doubt that a year has gone by since his entry into the wizarding world, where he hasn't either been treated as a saviour or the next Dark Lord in training, depending on the whims of the Ministry, the Prophet, or the public at large."

"Don't you dare compare my Aunt to that vicious boy!" Molly flared up. "He has done nothing but bring harm to my family!"

"Oh really?" Dantes drawled sarcastically. "It was my understanding that your family did far more harm to him. After all it was testimony from your son's Percival and Ronald as well as testimony from your daughter Ginevra, that insured that he was condemned to Azkaban when he was in fact innocent "

Molly knew there was no point in denying the truth of that, since Potter's trial had been very public, so she said, "My Aunt wasn't a thief."

"But she was madam," Dantes tapped clipping of Muriel Prewitt wearing the tiara. "And I want what she took from my family back."

Still convinced that he was wrong, Molly told him, "I don't have it."

....

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