The Auction’s Impact
In the aftermath of the reopening of the Atrium and Ministry’s auction debacle, different sides begin to emerge. There are those who believe the Ministry when it says it wants to protect muggleborns from harm, but there are others who have noted that Death Eater violence has gone down in the past few weeks. There are still others who make the connection between the two and though they have no proof, they wonder just how much the Ministry has been infiltrated by pureblood supremacists.
However, even Albus Dumbledore will not call Barty Crouch anything but fair and just, which makes the Ministry’s actions all the more confusing.
The rift becomes even more apparent on March 5, with the announcement of new anti-muggleborn legislation by Interim Minister Crouch. Couched, yet again, under the guise of protecting muggleborns, Interim Minister Crouch announces the Muggle Influence and Child Protection Act, effective immediately. With the act also comes the creation of a new office: The Office for the Protection of Muggleborn Children.
Under the Muggle Influence and Child Protection Act, any child under Hogwarts age who has been identified as magical and has two muggle parents will be removed from the household. The parents’ memories will be modified and the child will be placed into a Wizarding Orphanage and available for magical adoption, a procedure involving blood magic that had previously been illegal as it quite literally removes the hereditary ties of the biological parents and replaces them with the adoptive ones, legally making blood adopted children the blood status of their parents.
There are many tax incentives for adopting a magical child and some pureblood families with no heirs see this as the perfect way to continue their family name. At any rate, Interim Minister Crouch argues that this will remove the violent influences of muggles and ensure that all children are brought up in British magical culture. While halfbloods and purebloods are encouraged to adopt, muggleborns are prohibited from doing so.
It is hoped, Interim Minister Crouch states, that muggleborns will eventually be discovered at birth so as to make this ease of transition better. If this is effective, within two centuries, the idea of muggleborns could be all but eradicated.
While this act is not retroactive, it makes many muggleborns uneasy and some begin to hide their own parents, worried that one day they will lose the only family they have left. Similarly, those halfbloods with a full muggle parent remain watchful, yet concerned, many of them refusing to be complacent any longer.
The Death Eaters are pleased and Voldemort encourages them to adopt any muggleborn children, knowing that if they are indoctrinated early enough, he will soon have a new generation of followers.
The Order of the Phoenix is aghast and Albus Dumbledore publicly decries the legislation, calling it barbaric and inhumane. He has realized that he is now fighting a war on two fronts with a similar enemy and he resolves to get a spy into the Ministry of Magic as soon as possible.
Simone Rowle, who had been leaning toward the Order of the Phoenix for months, finally takes the plunge, blaming the Death Eaters fully for her brother’s death. At the next meeting, she is confirmed as a member, armed with the knowledge that she may very well be fighting friends and family in the future.
The Wizengamot calls an emergency session, though their vote is little more than ceremonial, as the Ministry has suspended the Wizengamot’s authority until the state of emergency has ended. At the end of the vote, several members are arrested outside of the chamber under guise of treason, though they are released the following day. The damage - public perception - has already been done.
You may now RP until April 13, 2018. While your character can be suspicious of pureblood supremacist influence at the Ministry, they still do not have any idea that the Death Eaters have taken over. Please let us know if you have any questions or if you would like your character to be further involved [whether through magical adoption or through working at the new Ministry department].
