CHAPTER WON WON
"Do you, Harry James Potter, solemnly swear to uphold your duties as Head Auror and promise to lead your fellow Aurors in line of duty and use your position not to serve but to be served?" Gawain Robards, the soon-to-be former Head Auror said to the young man before him. He had no doubt that the young man right in front of him will not fail his duties in his place. He even dares to say that he believes that the man will even succeed more than he, himself as Head Auror, not that he is willing to admit it to the public.
Harry sighed in exasperation at the profound sound of the cameras clicking beside him. He tried his best to shut all of the sounds out. "I, Harry James Potter solemnly swear to uphold all to be done as Head Auror and to make decisions for the sake of the wizarding world and not for mine. I swear to use my position for the better of the wizarding world," Harry said with little to no effort.
"Amen to that!" he heard a male voice shout out loud, whom he recognized to be his best friend's, Neville Longbottom. It was quite hard for people to believe how much Neville has grown out of his shy phase and it certainly did not disappoint, especially between him and the ladies. In place of the shy and meek boy who thought it to be smart to name his toad Trevor was a quite handsome young man who stood confidently with his peers. Despite this new confidence Neville never fails to be humble and respectful even if he could choose to be a major prat for he has the looks and charm to do so.
He heard the crowd laugh and even he and Gawain could not hold back a light chuckle. He glanced at Neville and managed to see him send a wink in his way. He heard a group of ladies squeal at Neville's wink and Harry rolled his eyes response. He then turned his head back to face his guide throughout all these years as a mere rookie Auror.
Gawain let out a cough and continued, "I, Gawain Robards, Head Auror from 1996 to 2003, willingly step down my position as Head Auror and give this esteemed position to the hands of Harry James Potter." He pulled out his wand from his robes and waved it in a specific manner that seemed too complicated the average wizard. Even Harry could not help but keep his eyes trained at the wand but had to stop for it made him dizzy.
Gawain then asked, "Your hand please." Harry locked his left hand with Gawain's left hand and a bright gold light shone between them. As soon as the light appreared Harry felt his body become lighter, But that feeling quickly disappeared as soon as it came.
They both turned to face the great number of people before them. Gawain lifted his hand up to quiet the whispers and murmurs of the audience. "On this day of year 2004, as former Head Auror of the British Ministry of Magic, I declare Harry James Potter as Head Auror. May he serve us well."
"May he serve us well!" repeated the crowd. A round of applause was produced from the hands of each person who watched that day. Even the little kids who understood nothing of the situation could not help but clap joyfully along with the crowd.
As Harry looked at the large amount of people before him he felt a twinge of fear and self-doubt. A million thoughts came to his mind at the same time and his fear of disappointing them became stronger and seemed to swallow his entire being.
Gawain took note of the emotions displayed on the boy's face and clapped his back on the new Head Auror's back. "You'll be fine. It is just like leading your team except that team is all teams in the Auror Department and with your skills and talent it's going to be a piece of cake," the man said nonchalantly.
Harry gave a hesitant smile back at Robards. "Yeah, s-sure it's going to be fine. Piece of cake."
"Yeah, piece of cake," he repeated once more.
ONE YEAR LATER
"Piece of cake?" A 25 year-old Harry Potter said. "Don't know what in the bloody hell you were thinking appointing me as Head Auror. That man was not in the right mind to appoint me here. I think even Trevor would have done better than me and he's a goddamn frog," he continued to grumble to no one. "Bloody prissy media. Damn them all to Tartarus."
"You seem to be in a good mood." He heard a voice said in a light and cheerful tone. "Don't take it out on poor Trevor he's sensitive."
"Piss off, Neville," He continued to grumble, his mood seeming to go twenty feet below the ground. If only his body was too below the ground. That seems better than staying in this suffocating office filled with mountains of paperwork and reports.
Neville, not even bothered by Harry's rude remark, pushed himself off Harry's door and sat on the chair situated in front of Harry's table. Harry glared at his friend before continuing to grumble under his breath whilst signing more papers. "What do you want Neville?" Harry said, not bothering to look up at all.
Neville looked at his friend in worry, all traces of humour gone. "Mate, you've been pushing yourself lately. You need to take a break."
The Head Auror did not even take a minute to think before saying, "Can't. I'm too busy. Work needs to be done."
Groaning, Neville placed his hand on top of Harry's, stopping him from writing any further. "Come on, Mate. Just listen to me this once."
Harry let out a deep sigh and rubbed his nose bridge with his free hand before looking at his concerned friend. "Okay. I'm all ears. Make it quick, these papers are not gonna sign themselves."
Unhurriedly and not even concerned on being fast, Neville implored to his friend, "When was the last time you were on a date?"
Harry's eyes opened widely at the question. He mentally traced back to his last date with a girl. "Not long," he lied.
His friend gave him a look that said he clearly saw through that sentence. "You know, during the war we were taught to lie to Death Eaters and alike, But we've never been taught to lie to each other, that's why we're both extremely horrible at it." He grinned.
Harry seemed to accept defeat and finally realised he can't lie to his best friend even if he wanted to. Now that he thought of it, maybe that's why they seemed to click with each other easily. They both lost their parents to Voldemort. Neville stayed with his grandmother while Harry stayed with his godfather, Sirius Black. While Harry never went to Hogwarts, Neville and Augusta Longbottom frequently visited Grimmauld place when they both were younger and there a friendship was born. "Okay, okay, it's been like few months since my last date, nothing wrong with that," he tried to defend himself.
The young friend of the Head Auror laughed, "Mate, would you mind telling me who was your last date?"
"Padma Patil," Harry admitted. Padma is one of the million witches who wanted to date him for the sake of wanting popularity.
His friend laughed again. "Mate, it was Parvati, Padma's her twin sister," he corrected.
Harry flushed in embarrassment, "An honest mistake. I get confused."
"And she was last year," he further retorted. "So in other words, you've been lonely for a year now, not just a few months."
"So? I've got mountains of paperwork to keep me company."
"That's no excuse to shut yourself out. You need someone who understands," Neville implored.
Harry grinned cheekily, "Someone like you? Is that why your hand is on mine during the whole period of this conversation?"
Neville flushed red and looked down at his hand that was set on top of Harry's. He hurriedly removed his hand and watched as Harry die of laughter. "Mate, that's not funny!" he cried.
Harry ignored him and proceeded to continue laughing. Neville glared at Harry for a few seconds before succumbing to laughter like his friend. After a few minutes both men finally stopped not before wiping the corner of their eyes from the tears that slipped out amidst their laughing.
"Thanks mate. I really needed that." Harry smiled widely at Neville.
"Anytime, Mate. Anytime," told Neville. "Besides I'm not interested in muscular Head Aurors like you. I am more interested in the secretary of said Head Auror," he confessed.
Harry raised a brow, "My secretary? Better not break her heart. I actually quite like her as my secretary."
Neville brushed off Harry's words, "You know I'm not the type of wizard who does that."
Harry opened his mouth to say, "That's good to-" not before being cut off but the rapt knocking on his door. "Come in," he called.
The door opened to show Harry's secretary, Luna Lovegood, although she is quite the strange sort, she does not stare and gawk openly at Harry which puts her above most witches of this century. She walked over in a robotic manner even strange for Luna herself. She repeated words that were unintelligible before it became quite clear for both men to hear. "Give the letter. Give the letter. Give the letter."
"Hey beautiful," Neville grinned at the pale girl, But his grinned faded as she did not even glance at him. She kept her eyes trained on Harry's form. "Give the letter. Give the letter."
Both men were quite alarmed at the unusual behaviour even Luna would not do. "Give the letter. Give the letter."
Now they were aware of the letter in Luna's hands. A formal white letter envelope was clasped in Luna's hand. She set down the letter on Harry's desk and continued to repeat the phrase, "Give the letter. Give the letter."
"Harry! Her eyes look at them," Neville noted in a panicked tone.
Harry stared into Luna's supposedly silver eyes, but was shocked to see her eyes dull and grey. "Imperius curse," he stated.
Neville nodded in agreement and seemed to worry more for his girl. "What's in the letter then?"
He looked on his table and wearily stared at the suspicious letter. "Be careful, Harry." He heard Neville say.
As he slowly picked it up he was alarmed to see it glow blue. "Harry, put it down! It's a Portkey!" He then recognised the familiar effect of a Portkey and immediately set it down on the table before it disappeared.
As soon the Portkey disappeared all that was left was the letter but gone was the envelope encasing it moments ago. Luna's eyes went back to their silvery colour and soon fainted to the floor not before Neville caught her in his arms.
Harry was still extremely wary of the letter and moved his wand over the letter to scan it in case of other spells or charms in the letter. When it was confirmed nothing was left on the letter he set his wand down and picked up the dreadful letter.
He was not surprised to see it was addressed to him. He too was not surprised to have it printed in a general writing, similar to a Daily Prophet paper.
Harry Potter,
I knew you were smart enough to recognize a Portkey. You aren't as dim-witted as the Dark Lord thought. But I will cut to the chase. On the Yule Pageant this year someone will sabotage it and aim to kill all contestants including the audience on the coronation of the winner on the last day. It is your choice to believe me or not. My master will stop at nothing to sabotage it. Don't expect for other letters to come.
Truly yours,
A concerned citizen
The letter stopped at that and Harry's instincts told him to trust the letter but at the same time he was extremely hesitant.
"You're not going to believe it are you?" he heard Neville inquire over his shoulder. After situating Luna on the chair he went over to Harry to peer over his shoulder and read the letter.
Harry sighed deeply and felt older than he ever was before. "I don't know Nev. I really don't know." He leaned into his chair for a few seconds then proceeded to stand up and take the letter with him. "I'm gonna have Kingsley and Robards check it out," he decided.
"Take Luna to the infirmary to get her checked out. Neville, stay with her. When she wakes up I want you to investigate and have a full interview with her to see who placed her under the Imperius curse," he ordered.
Neville nodded and lifted the lifeless body of Luna and turned to the direction of the infirmary. While Harry on the other hand went to Kingsley's office, he stopped at the door with the label Minister of Magic and didn't even hesitate to go inside.
Kingsley, who was used to the young man's impulse to never knock on his door, greeted Harry, "Hello Harry. What can I do now?" The older man felt all the cheerfulness and joy disappear as he looked at the grim face of the Head Auror.
"Somebody is planning to sabotage the Yule Pageant," Harry informed with a frown.
Kingsley stood up straighter. "And you know this how?" he queried.
Harry passed the letter to Kingsley and watched as the minister's face grew grim as his is.
With the same reaction as Harry, Kingsley sighed deeply and leaned into his open palms. "Call for an official meeting. I want everyone here ten."
Harry nodded and felt a heavier burden on his shoulders. Kingsley watched the young man with deep sadness. He doesn't deserve any of this. He watched the young man walk out of his room.
Twenty minutes later and in a round table sat Gawain Robards, Kingsley Shaklebolt, Senior Aurors Mad-Eye Moody, Sirius Black, Amelia Bones, Remus Lupin and of course, Harry Potter.
"Do you think we can trust this source? What if it is just is prank? Kids are into it these days." Amelia as was the rest was hesitant with the tip.
Moody grunted and said, "Kids are into Wizards Wizarding Wheezes, Amelia, not sending out death threats to the bloody ministry."
"I have to agree with Ams," Sirius said grimly. "But what if it is true and we chose to ignore it. Think about the huge cost we have to pay. All those lives lost because we had d."
Remus stood from his chair and told the group, "If we choose to believe it what are we supposed to do then? Waltz in and tell everyone they are going to die because of a letter?"
Kingsley and Harry were the only ones who still stood in their chairs, both thinking deeply. The voices of everyone seemed to irritate Kingsley even more. "Everybody shut it!"
Immediately all the noise ceased to exist at that moment and guilt spread through the features of nearly everyone who was the source of the noise, save for Moody to refuses to feel guilty but still kept his mouth shut and said nothing.
"If someone proposes their idea raise their hand," Kingsley explained slowly as if the people in front of him were mere children. "And please just sit down. We're all mature adults here. Act like one," he scolded.
Everybody sat back down on their chairs and raised their hand for their opinion on the matter.
Kingsley nodded in satisfaction. "That's better. Let's start with Amelia."
Amelia gave Kingsley a nod of gratitude before saying her piece, "I must say that there has been a lot of letters give to the departments concerning attacks and the sort so why should we believe this one now? What makes it different from the others?"
This started the argument once more and even Kingsley could not help but argue too.
Harry, who stopped with his deep thinking, said, "What makes it different Madam Bones is that the way it was delivered and the letter seems to have a deeper meaning than the others."
"It was Luna who delivered it, right? Did she say anything when she woke up?" Remus voiced.
Shaking his head, Harry told, "Sadly she never saw the face of the wizard who cursed her. He took her from behind."
"Weak form of an attack," Moody scoffed.
"Well it was never to attack her, it was to send the letter," Sirius pointed out. "Whoever this person is, he must be risking a lot for us to have this letter sent."
The group contemplated and offer their opinions once more until Harry confessed his concern, "If we were to believe this, in what way can we stop it? I don't think the owner of the Pageant would like to cancel it due to this."
The room was silent for a moment until Sirius said, "We can't cancel the pageant but we can send one of our own in the show."
Everyone seemed to slowly agree with it, but there was one major problem.
"Who are we going to send? It has to be a witch."
They nodded, "We can't afford to send out any high profile Auror or any Auror in the matter or else they'll be on to us." Kingsley declared. "We don't know who this person is but he might have seen each Auror file up to date."
Each individual in the room sighed, "This is getter harder and harder," Amelia muttered to Remus who was beside her.
Harry then perked up, "The Auror trainees. The files are to come to my office today and nobody has seen them except a few people who are trustworthy."
The idea seemed to appeal to them. "But she isn't trained yet. We can't send her out there without proper training."
"Then I'll personally train her," said Harry.
All of them nodded in gratitude. "All of us will help too. This pageant is on December, we have one month to prepare her."
They all set out their planning, but forgot one problem. Sirius groaned, "It's nice we are planning and all but we still don't have our witch."
"Oh."
"Harry can you get those files now? It's imperative we choose her today," Kingsley asked the Head Auror.
Harry nodded then left the room to get the files from his office. Meanwhile the others set out the general plan. Each of their faces seemed to age faster than the average person and finally after a few minutes Harry arrived back into the room emptyhanded but with a stack of folders floating behind him. Harry then set the files on the table and each individual in the room stared at the files as if it were about to curse them to Azkaban.
"Harry, are these files segregated to the witches' files already?" to which Harry said yes.
"Now," Kingsley announced. "Everyone will take a look at each individual file and pick one file of their proposed witch. We will take turns with each file moving in a clockwise direction. Is that clear?"
"Yes."
"Sounds straightforward," Sirius shrugged.
A grunt from Moody and nods from Amelia and Harry in response to Kingsley.
Each person took a file, taking their time with reading all the information of the trainee. The room was silent and only the sound of papers being flipped was heard.
Finally a few minutes later each person had their chosen witch, except for Remus and Sirius who shared the same file. "Who would like to start?"
Nobody answered until Amelia let out a sigh and said, "I'll start then."
She let out a cough, "My witch is Clara Coverstone. Studied at Ilvermony but graduated with no honours," she started. "She looks like she fits the role for a pageant. Pretty and not really a ditz."
Harry snorted at that and asked for his turn, "I propose Demelza Robins, she studied at Hogwarts, played Quidditch in her fifth year. She can fight well, joined the secret association of the infamous Dumbldore's army. She looks decent."
Sirius laughed at the last line. "S-she l-l-ooks d-decent," he choked out in between his laughter. "Trust Harry to give a compliment that way."
"Boy, if you don't stop laughing now, I swear to Merlin," Moody threatened the still laughing man. Sirius took a deep breath and let out a loud exhale and finally (to the relief of everyone). Moody turned to Harry, "She looks decent? Boy, I don't think decent will cover for a beauty pageant."
"If you disagree with Harry then, Moody, why not propose your witch?" Remus raised a brow.
"Fine then," Moody snapped. "I propose…" he began.
When Moody finished everybody was done proposing other than Sirius and Remus who shared secretive grins.
Kingsley sighed once more, "We are not agreeing with anyone. Sirius and Remus, I hope you've got one for us."
Sirius gave a mischievous grin, "I'm sure all of you will agree with out witch. Remus, will you please introduce our amazing, fabulous, fabazing witch please," he called out dramatically. Everyone rolled their eyes at the immature Auror.
"What in the world is fabazing?" Gawain whispered to Harry.
"Pretty sure it is a mix of fabulous and amazing," Harry whispered back.
Gawain rolled his eyes in amusement.
"Thank you for that Sirius," Remus told his grinning friend. "We propose…" he stopped for a dramatic pause (He thinks Sirius is rubbing off him) "Ginny Weasley."
This raised a few brows. "Weasley, as in Arthur Weasley's daughter?"
"Yup." Sirius smiled. "To explain why she is perfect for this role, she studied at Hogwarts and she was one of the co-founders of Dumbledore's army during her fourth year."
Everyone looked impressed and interested. "What else?"
Remus continued, "She played chaser in Hogwarts, meaning she is fast and agile. She became Quidditch captain during her sixth year, the year Voldemort came into power. She secretly led the DA once more during her sixth year. And that is why is perfect for the role. She fights well but with a little more practice and training from Harry I'm sure she'll be better."
"I think she's a little one the boyish side but despite that her features are feminine enough to not be suspected as an Auror in disguise," Sirius finished.
Everyone in the room was silent for a moment. Until Amelia spoke up.
"How come I did not see her file? I would have chosen her too," she protested.
Sirius laughed (again) "I wanted her to moment I saw her file. I knew none of your witches have anything on my witch so I hid her file from everyone other than Moony who caught me."
Everyone other than the two men scoffed and protested some more.
"I think," Kingsley began. "I think we've found our witch."
They all looked at the single open file on the table.
"I think we've come to an agreement, haven't we?"
Everybody nodded.
"I think that concludes the meeting. We'll call her up here tomorrow." Kingsley then stood up and stretched whilst letting out a yawn. "See you all tomorrow," he waved goodbye while walking away.
Slowly everyone left the room leaving only Harry and Sirius.
"I'll see you at home, Harry," Sirius waved. "I'm gonna head over to the leaky with Remus, do you wanna come?"
Harry shook his head saying, "Nah, I'm knackered. I'll put these file back to my office then I'll head back to Grimmauld."
Sirius shrugged and left the room saying goodbye.
When Sirius finally left Harry picked up a file and stared at the picture. A red-headed witch he had to admit was gorgeous. Guiltily he set it back down with the other files.
Whilst heading back to his office he was thinking of the single name that ran through his mind the whole afternoon.
Ginny Weasley.
A/N: Hellooooo!! This is my second story and I will be very happy if you leave a review and provide me ideas for the story because I might have the disease of writers block. I am not really good at writing soooo don't be too harsh but you could always leave a respectful comment about my typos or mistakes.
Fun fact: This story is based on the movie by Sandra Bullock, Miss Congeniality. BUT I am only taking the concept of the pageant and undercover. I am not going to use the same idea of the antagonist or anything.