Chapter 1 - The Minister
Shutting the office door, he sighed loudly. He was tired, worn out, but he felt that he could at least relax for now. Kingsley Shacklebolt looked down at the organised but cluttered desk, took off his deep purple hat and sank into his comfy chair. Closing his eyes, he listened to the quiet, enjoying the peace. It had been a very long week.
His whole focus had been on the rebuild of the wizarding world after the Battle of Hogwarts and the defeat of Voldemort. The Ministry of Magic was starting to get back to normal, but there were still major issues he needed to fix, like the amount of staff he needed to replace and all of the hearings of people accused of being Death Eaters he needed to attend. On top of it all, people were celebrating and mourning simultaneously across the country and it was proving difficult to keep from the muggles; their news had already reported a huge party down in the South, where the reporter seemed quite amused at their funny dress sense and mysteriousness as to what they were celebrating which had included many 'fireworks' day and night.
He tried to clear his mind of all thoughts of work for now, he needed to rest. Opening his eyes, he looked around the room and decided he would go home for a few hours to try and induce some form of sleep. He left the office and found his secretary, Marie.
Kingsley liked Marie, she was helpful but she never got in his way. She was rather plain looking, although there was something very pretty about it; she was thin and had long dark hair that she left down. She always wore colourful robes, which she paired with matching high heels as she was so short.
"There's no point in you staying here, go home and get some sleep. You deserve it" he told her, "come back in around nine o'clock".
"Okay, you are going home too aren't you?" she replied.
"Yeah, I think it's time I went to feed my cat" answered Kingsley, smiling at her.
"Goodnight, Sir."
Marie put down the pile of parchment she had been reading, picked up her bag and smiled when she saw that Kingsley was holding the door open for her; Kingsley followed her out of the office, along the corridor and watched her out of sight as they headed for separate lifts.
Kingsley got back to his London flat and found his cat, Taylor, lurking under the kitchen table. After he had fed her, he went straight to bed; he hadn't realised how exhausted he really was until he had hit the sheets.
Sunlight streamed through the curtains, shining right on Kingsley's eyes. He moved, opening his eyes as little as possible to read his clock on the opposite wall. It was half past seven; he liked the idea of staying in bed all day but knew that he was now too important and too busy to do that. Maybe when he wasn't Minister for Magic?
By the time he had eaten, showered and dressed it was nearly half past eight, he thought about the paper work on his desk and everything he had to do today and turned on the spot, disapparating.
When he got to his office, he sat down at the desk and pulled a pile of papers towards him. On top of the pile was a list of his meetings and things to do:
9am – meeting with Percy Weasley to discuss Harry Potter, Ronald Weasley and Hermione Granger.
10 am – meeting with Minerva McGonagall to discuss Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Appointment of staff members, clean up of school, discuss Harry Potter.
11:30am – Prep for Hearings of accused Death Eaters.
12:30pm – Lunch
1pm – Hearings begin in Court Room 12; Hearing of Dolores Umbridge, Amycus and Alecto Carrow, Augustus Rookwood and Yaxley.
4pm – Hearings due to end, paperwork to be completed. Answer owls and attend to issues highlighted during the day.
There was a knock on the door, and in came Marie.
"Good morning, Sir. How are you today?" she asked.
"Hello Marie, I'm fine thank you. Did you get much rest?"
"Yes thank you, how long have you been here?" she looked at him as though inquiring if he really had gone home.
"I came in around fifteen minutes ago, don't you worry about me" he replied, smiling at her kindness. "Have you got anything for me?"
"Yes, these have been delivered this morning and I thought you would like to see this…" she handed him a pile of letters and left closing the door behind her. On top was the new copy of the Daily Prophet.
It had been a month since the paper had last published anything. During the war, Voldemort had kept it going but as the war had progressed he had put all of his Death Eaters on finding Harry Potter – he hadn't cared about silly things such as newspapers on a normal day and cared even less when they had been at war.
This was the first Post-War edition, as it had taken a while to get a team of reporters together. The front page was headlined with the words "Harry Potter, the Chosen One" and a picture of Harry that covered most of the page. He was bruised and had cuts on his face and arms, but he had a look about him that was victorious and was occasionally letting out a smile and a wave. The first few pages of the paper were dedicated to photos of victims of the war: some were Ministry workers who had refused to work for Voldemort, some were students who had stayed to fight at the Battle of Hogwarts. There were whole families who had been murdered and the pictures showed just how many people were willing to fight for the safety of everyone else. He noticed that there was a large amount of magical beings included; goblins, giants and even house elves - he had a strong suspicion that Harry had been at the centre of making sure they were included. There was a whole double-page spread dedicated to muggles who had been killed as a result of the war too: neighbours, friends, and government officials. As Kingsley turned the pages, faces stared out at him; some of them he knew but most of them he did not.
On the seventh page, Kingsley found that he was staring a picture of himself underneath the title "Kingsley Shacklebolt named Minister for Magic".
He couldn't help himself, he began to read:
"Kingsley Shacklebolt, ex-Auror and protector of the muggle Prime Minister, has been named Minister for Magic on a temporary basis. Having been in office for no more than a week, many are calling for him to be named permanent Minster after the positive results he has already produced.
His first job as minister came as a decision about Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Whilst in power, Severus Snape (now believed to be under the order of You-Know-Who) made it compulsory for all young witches and wizards to attend school, after being registered at the ministry to check their blood status. Shacklebolt has since revoked this, allowing children to be home schooled by their parents if they so wish. He has also publicly supported the newly appointed Head Mistress - Minerva McGonagall"
"Many are calling for him to be named permanent Minster..." he said it out loud, trying to make it feel more real.
When he was appointed Minister, it had been made clear it was temporary, until a more permanent suitor was found. It sounded to him like there was nobody...unless it was because he was best for the job. He didn't know what he found stranger; being asked to become Minister for Magic permanently, or finding out that he was wanted to stay from the newspaper.
The clock on the wall chimed 9 o'clock. There was another knock on the door and Marie entered for a second time.
"Sir, Mr. Weasley is here. Shall I bring him in?"
He nodded and she moved into the room to allow Percy Weasley to follow her in, he sat in the chair on the other side of Kingsley's desk and thanked Marie. She left, closing the door behind her, leaving Percy to shuffle the folders he was holding. He laid them out on the desk; the first three folders were thick and battered looking, the last three were thinner and newer.
"Who would you like to discuss first, Sir?" asked Percy.
"You" he said with a smile.
"Me?" he looked nervous, his hand twitched slightly, but he tried to keep calm in front of the new Minister.
"I would like to make you my Senior Undersecretary" he said it calmly and waited for Percy to respond. He knew Percy had ambition and he wanted that in his office. He also knew he wanted someone he could trust, and a Weasley could be trusted.
"I, erm, wow... I... I would be honoured" he smiled, and then sat up straighter.
"Brilliant, Marie has your contract on her desk. Once we are finished here, you can collect it and take it home. Read it through and see if you want to add anything to your work conditions, then we can finalise things tomorrow. I need you to start as soon as possible."
"Yes, Sir" he was stiff and Kingsley knew this was him already trying to prove he was ready to start now.
"Please don't call me 'Sir', it makes me feel old. I've lost count of the amount of times I have asked Marie to stop... she's very stubborn. Now, to our real reason for being here: Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger, Ginny Weasley, Neville Longbottom and Luna Lovegood".