Harry Potter and the Seal of Merlin
Chapter 1: Convincing Fudge
"Good evening, minister! How was the meeting with Delacrois?"
Fudge ignored his assistant. Important work awaited him. There was no time for pleasantries. Once he was inside his office, he hung his coat on the hanger and let himself fall down on the nearest couch. His bowler hat came loose from the impact, rolled down his arm and fell down on the floor. It was upside down, just like his life in that moment.
The Triwizard Tournament had seemed like an excellent idea at the time. Relations with the French had been a bit strained at the time. What better way to strengthen the diplomatic bond than renewing an ancient and respected magical competition that promoted international cooperation?
How could Fudge know that it would turn out to be a disaster? How could he know Crouch's insane son would sabotage the entire thing to take revenge on his father?
The diplomatic fallout was unimaginable. The French ministry was colder than ever and the Russians had outright accused Cornelius of conspiring to murder a Durmstrang student. The entire international cooperation wing of the Ministry of Magic wing was taking additional shifts on a regular basis just to restore the foreign relations to the level they had been at a year ago.
"Minister! Sir?" his assistant's muffled voice sounded through the door.
Fudge let out an exasperated sigh.
"What is it, Weatherby?"
"It's Dumbledore, sir. He's here to meet you."
The Minister of Magic held his face in his hands. His schedule comprised entirely of meetings these days. About two thirds of them were with infuriated French dignitaries. The rest were with Dumbledore.
As if the Triwizard Tournament wasn't a big enough disaster already, the Hogwarts headmaster insisted that it was also a ploy for He-who-must-not-be-named to return, and a successful one too. Dumbledore kept wasting Fudge's time by trying to convince him of that every other day. The minister had had enough. It was obvious the entire thing was a fabrication of Potter, the fool hungry for more front pages in "The Daily Prophet".
"Let him in." Cornelius replied, making no effort to disguise his exasperation. He then took a mental note to schedule a meeting with Umbridge for the following day. It was time that Hogwarts got a more stable leadership.
A bearded figure stood at the threshold of the room.
"Thank you, Percy." it said to Fudge's assistant.
"Have you come to tell me something of importance this time, Albus?" Fudge asked him.
"Or will you keep claiming nonsense?"
"There is only one thing I've come to tell you, Cornelius, and there is nothing of greater importance. Voldemort is back. We need to take measures."
Suddenly, the minister decided he was too tired to have any more of that. He jumped from the couch and turned to face Dumbledore, ready to order him to leave the room and never return. Curiosity stopped him.
Dumbledore was holding a weird object. A shallow stone chalice filled with either water or a transparent potion indistinguishable from it. Inside the liquid, glowing strands as thick as hairs were swirling in an irregular fashion.
"I see you are not familiar with pensieves, minister?"
Fudge shook his head.
"They are a tool for showing memories. There is one I want you to see. I regret that it has come to this. Reliving this memory was very painful for a person close to my heart. However, you have convinced me that you won't see reason otherwise. Please, submerge your face in the water."
Fudge regarded the Hogwarts headmaster with suspicion. After a brief moment of wondering, the minister decided that Dumbledore wasn't mad enough to try to poison him in his own office. He bent over the chalice and soon felt the soothing chill of the water on his face.
His office disappeared, replaced by an impenetrable darkness. He was falling, falling endlessly. The old coot had tried to kill him indeed! While the minister wondered how to proceed, the surroundings returned. However, he wasn't in his office anymore. He was in a graveyard at night, standing in front of Tom Riddle's grave.
Upon coming back to the real world, Cornelius Fudge fell on the carpet. He looked around frantically, expecting to find Death Eaters and He-who-must-not-be-named. He searched for Cedric Diggory's limp body lying on the ground and Harry Potter engaged in a duel with You-know-who. However, he only found Dumbledore extending a hand to him.
"I am sorry you had to go through this, Cornelius." the bespectacled wizard said after he had helped Fudge get up.
"It is a dreadful memory. Unfortunately, it is also a true one."
"He's... he's back. He was there. He killed that boy."
"I know. This is what I wanted you to know."
"We... we must..."
"Take measures." Dumbledore finished the sentence. Fudge nodded with gratitude.
"I agree. Luckily enough, it is still not late. If I remember correctly, I left you a proposition on how to tackle Lord Voldemort when we met last Tuesday. I believe it is the stack you've put under the front left leg of your chair over there. Give it a read and think of any suggestions you may have. I will return tomorrow to discuss them with you. For now, I leave you. Rest well, Cornelius."
Dumbledore was already at the door when the minister spoke again.
"Pettigrew was there too. I saw him. How can that be?"
The headmaster turned around.
"Oh yes, I was planning to discuss that tomorrow. We had it wrong, Cornelius. Sirius Black didn't betray the Potters. Pettigrew did. When Black went to confront him, Pettigrew set him up by killing the muggles and running away in his animagus form. A rat."
"But then Black is innocent!"
"Indeed. However, this is a problem easily fixed by a press conference. When you hold it is up to you, Cornelius, but I am sure Harry would appreciate it if it were sooner. The smear has been on his godfather's name for too long."
Fudge's mind was overloaded. All he could manage in reply was a nod. Dumbledore wished him a good evening and left. The dazed minister found his way back to the couch. The problems that he had faced until a few minutes ago now seemed inconsequential. What did foreign relations matter when You-Know-Who was on the loose?
"Come here, Weatherby!"
His assistant arrived so fast that one could have thought he had apparated.
"Call Moody up here. Tell him to be ready to take a night shift."
"Of course, minister. Will you be going home after meeting with him? Shall I call your wife to tell her when you'll be home?"
Fudge shook his head.
"Tell her I'll be taking a night shift too."
Disclaimer: Harry Potter and all other characters from the wizarding world belong to J.K. Rowling. I'm just playing around in her playground :).
A/N: Hello everyone, I hope you like the story so far! Any constructive criticism is welcome and a review is always nice!
To my old readers: you may note that I updated Chapter 1. I'm planning to do the same with Chapters 2,3 and maybe 5. However, be aware that this does not mean I'm changing the story. I'm keeping the storyline more or less the same, no retcons. I've just progressed with my writing style since I started the story and now I'm updating my first chapters with this new style.
Because I don't want to spam your update notifications with stuff like that, I'll always add a newer version of an older chapter together with the upload of a new chapter. This way, an update alarm will always equal a new chapter.