A/N: Hello! I'm here to introduce my first Harry Potter fanfiction! This fanfiction is inspired by and written for the Multi Chapter Boot Camp in the HPFC forum. This fic will, obviously, be multi-chaptered and updated often! Hope you guys enjoy and feel free to follow/favorite/review if you like what you read!
Prompt: Unholy Place
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, the story or the character. I own only my OCs and the original plot.
Of a Tragic Nature
Wind howling, leaves rustling, darkness and shadows in every corner. A shiver ran down the spine of Carson McLoren, a ministry official. He worked in the Department of Mysteries, which meant that his job entailed visiting scary and strange places usually.
This place in particular was a church, of a sort; the gothic, dark and not-so-holy kind. The Head of the Department of Mysteries had told him to come to this place and collect a package. What was inside it, he had no idea and didn't particularly want to know. Carson had been chosen especially for this task because of his discretion and his ability to not ask questions.
Carson suddenly felt as if he was being watched. Looking around the dark church grounds, he could see nothing, but could feel the invisible eyes on him. Shivers ran down his spine again and he wondered if it would be best to go inside the church. He took a look at the towering gothic spires and thought better of it, deciding instead to pull out his wand. If a muggle saw him do magic, so be it. He was unconcerned about the repercussions, being a ministry worker.
Finally, after what felt like ages, Carson saw a man. Well, it had the shape of a man, but it growled and wobbled, which had Carson thinking that maybe it was a werewolf. He raised his wand, ready to defend himself, but all the werewolf-man did was drop a package on the ground and left. Carson hesitated slightly, thinking it might be a trap, but surely the department head would not have him sent somewhere that could be of actual harm to him.
The package was no bigger than Carson's palm. It was a small box wrapped in some sort of foil with a red ribbon tied around it. For all he knew, it could be a gift! Shaking his head and wondering what on earth this little box held, Carson Disapparated close to the Ministry. From there he took a secret passage that only the Department of Mysteries and the Minister, of course, knew about. It led straight to the main hallway and from there Carson went straight to the Head's office.
The office of the Head of the Department of Mysteries was not an interesting one, Carson thought. You would think, being such a mysterious person, that it would have more... mystery to it. But it was just a normal office, with an owl, papers strewn over desks and random magical objects that detected intruders, repelled intruders, and the like. Carson could not see the Head anywhere, and decided to leave the box on his desk. He supposed that was all he had to do, so he took his leave, completely oblivious to what was about to happen.
The Minister of Magic arose from his desk, several parchments in his hands. He absentmindedly pushed his rounded spectacles further up on his nose and stepped out of his office. Several Aurors stood around waiting for him. One of them, a particularly red-headed fellow, gave him a confident smile and gestured for him to start walking.
The hallway to the main entrance of the Ministry seemed infinite. The Minister started the long, anxious walk towards it, reciting his speech in his head. Today was the day he announced to the whole of the Ministry that they were going to incite the Muggle Peace Act. It would cause severe controversy, that much the Minister knew, but he hoped they went for it.
The red-headed Auror turned as they were walking and noticed the Minister's worried face. "You've prepared a great speech, Harry - er, I mean, Minister Potter. They'll love the idea."
The Minister, slightly flushed, gave a weak smile and nodded. "Thanks Ron. But um, you can still call me Harry. You're my best friend, you know."
Ron shrugged. "I dunno, Minister Potter has a ring to it, don't it?"
Harry laughed. "Yeah, I suppose it does." Pushing his spectacles up once more, Harry looked up and realized they had arrived at the entrance. A podium stood in the middle of a deafening crowd of what had to be at least a thousand. Briefly he wondered if they actually had that many workers at the Ministry.
Silence suddenly washed over the crowd as Harry entered, walking towards the podium with Ron at his side. He'd requested Ron to be right there with him through this, as it was his first official speech as Minister.
Unfortunately, the silence didn't last very long as one person, that Harry suspected was actually a reporter that snuck in, started asking questions straight away.
"Minister, is it true that you want to expose us to the muggles?"
The crowd struck up a roar of gossip before Harry could even get a word out. Ron, ever the best friend, stuck his wand to his neck and said, "Quiet." It was spoken normally, but he cast a spell that made it sound as if he yelled it.
The crowd quieted once more and Harry nodded a thanks at Ron. Clearing his throat, Harry prepared himself for his speech.
"Ladies and gentlemen, witches and wizards, ministry officials and friends. Twenty-five years ago, the war between good and evil finally saw its end. Lord Voldemort," a shudder went through the crowd, "whom was a truly evil wizard, lost sight of what true leadership was. He sought to make followers, minions, people to do his bidding, instead of comrades, friends and allies. That is ultimately what caused his downfall. As you all may know, Voldemort's hatred was most directed to the non-magical folk, or muggles. His hatred for them blinded him and much was lost in his quest for ultimate power, over Muggle and wizard alike. I'm here to propose something today, a treaty of sorts, between the Prime Minister of England and myself. Muggles in this day and age have more open minds and don't raise pitchforks and torches at things they deem unnatural or strange. I propose that we introduce the magical world to muggles. Gradually at first, of course, and there would be extreme precautions taken by both the Prime Minister and myself. I'm here to implore the idea of living in peace and non-secrecy with the other beings we share this world with. I'll take any questions at this moment."
Surprisingly, the crowd stayed quiet up until this point, most probably from shock. But now, a roar of questions filled Harry's ears and he held his hands up. He could catch glimpses of the questions or accusations, to be exact, and they dropped Harry's confidence with each one. Things like, "You'll kill us all!" and "Muggles won't understand, they must be kept in the dark!" were not what Harry had expected to hear. He'd hoped for at least some positivity from this, but alas it seemed as though the whole of the Ministry was against his proposal.
He turned to look at Ron for guidance, but Ron was talking with the other Aurors. They were talking frantically and as if he were not even there, but Harry heard bits of their conversation. Harry walked closer to them, so he could hear them better over the crowd. "What is going on here?" Ron turned towards Harry with fear in his eyes. "Harry... the Head of the Department of Mysteries is dead."
Harry blanched. "Pardon? I don't think I heard you correctly over the crowd."
Ron dragged Harry to an alcove while the other Aurors attempted to calm the crowd. "Minister, the Department of Mysteries is gone. It was blown up, along with most, if not all, of the workers and the Head."
Disbelief coursed through Harry. "Gone? How can it just be... gone? Aren't there protections? How was it breached?" Anxiety rose and Harry started to feel dizzy. It was only his first month as Minister, how was he supposed to deal with this?
Luckily Ron did have all the answers to his questions. "The protections were taken down, we don't know by who yet, and the source of the bomb was this." He handed Harry a small object in the shape of a serpent. It was misshapen and grotesque which scared Harry all the more, not to mention that it reminded him of a certain, dead, dark wizard that used a serpent as an emblem.
"Ron. What exactly does this mean?"
"I don't know. I'm having Hermione come take a look at it. She'll do her magic research thing and find out, I'm sure of it."
Harry's nerves were shot, although that comforted him some. Still, he had a lot of work to do now. The proposal would have to wait. Suddenly it clicked. "The speech. They set off the bomb during the speech." Closing his eyes, Harry spoke through his teeth. "How did they know? How were they to know when I would be giving the speech, and what's more, how would they know when it would be the loudest, when we couldn't possibly hear it?"
He opened his eyes. Ron was looking down at his feet. "Ron. Find out for me, please. I'm going to send all of these people, except for the Aurors, home. The Ministry isn't safe anymore."
Ron nodded hesitantly and left to do his job. Harry, shaken and crushed, walked slowly to the podium once more. He hated that another speech would have to be given, this time an even worse one. He thought, with some morbidity, that at least everything was set up perfectly for it.
"I regret to have to inform you that a tragedy has struck the Ministry. A bomb of a magical nature was set off down in the Department of Mysteries." Worried cries were heard from the crowd. He was sure that some of the workers had family, husbands, wife, children even, down there. "I'm sorry to say that everyone working down there today is gone. The Aurors and myself are doing everything we can to find out what's behind this and stop whoever caused this mayhem. I urge you to all to go home, be with your families and be safe. Do not come back to the Ministry unless summoned. Thank you."
Harry turned from the podium without another word. Many yells and sobs could be heard and Harry's heart broke with every step that he took. He decided that a trip to Hogwarts was needed. After all, Ginny was there and so were his kids. He had to see his family before anything.
He had to make sure they were safe.