Disclaimer - Any and all characters or places or stuff that you may recognise in the story below does not belong to me.
A/N - I strongly urge you read this before you begin. This short one-shot is set in a world of my own. It serves as an advertisement for a fic I'm currently working upon. Think of it like the trailer to a movie. This seemed like a good idea to do when I was bored and serves my already bloated ego. Anyways, it is set after around eighteen years after the end of 'Deathly Hallows'. The epilogue has been scratched and disregarded. Read, review, appreciate. Oh and eagerly wait for my fic. ;)
An Interview with The Minister
It wasn't often that Miranda Knowles was nervous. She had been a reporter for various newspapers before she had landed a job in the Wizarding Wireless Network as a news broadcaster. While she might have enjoyed it a little less than her field job in various newspapers, it paid better and so she had stuck with it.
Throughout her five years at the WWN, she had interviewed quite a few famous personalities. In fact just two weeks before she'd had the Weird Sisters on her show. And she'd never been nervous while interviewing any of them.
Today however, was slightly different.
For the first time, she would be interviewing the Minister of Magic, Leonard Carr.
Throughout his tenure, the Minister had been a quiet personality. He had never been interviewed by any newspaper and all the offers to appear on the WWN had been met with a swift refusal. All his statements had been mailed to the newspapers or were read out on the radio by his subordinates.
However, in light of recent events, the Minister had decided to break his media silence and had contacted the WWN for an exclusive interview. They had been given only one day to prepare all the questions and send it to the Minister for his approval. Any questions deemed unfit would be scratched. No one had argued, of course. An exclusive interview with the usually silent Minister of Magic was too good of an opportunity to pass.
And so now, here she sat, with the list of questions in her hand. She had memorized every single one of them, yet had the sheet in front of her lest she forget.
The Minister sat in front of her patiently waiting for the interview to start. A tall man in his early fifties, Minister Carr did not, in any way, strike her as a politician. He was dressed in a regal black robe that made his rather pale skin stand out. His hair was cut short and had a few streaks of gray in it. He glanced around the room with his dark brown eyes, as if taking in every detail of the room.
He looked almost average. Nothing about the Minister stood out. In fact if not for his work, no one would have recognized this man as the Minister.
Leonard Carr had been sworn in as Minister for Magic 13 years ago when the former Minister Timothy Bagwell had been sacked. Bagwell had been Minister for four years before he was sacked for incompetence. When Bagwell had been sworn in, the Wizarding World was in chaos. Harry Potter had defeated the Dark Lord. However, his followers still remained loose and the damage done to Wizarding England had to be repaired. Bagwell had gone straight to it. However his rash decisions led to a huge debt on England. After the sacking, no one had any thoughts of being the Minister of a country which steeped so much in debt.
No one except Leonard Carr. A member of the Wizengamot, Leonard Carr gave up his seat and took over the post of the Ministry of Magic. Slowly, but surely, his measures and policies began to take hold. It took him four years to repay the debt. Side by side, the country was slowly rebuilding itself. The Dark Lord had done much damage to the infrastructure as well as the morale of the people. But Leonard had worked the Ministry hard and six years after Leonard Carr was sworn in as Minister, the Wizarding World was stabilized.
"Miranda, we go live in ten seconds."
The voice had brought Miranda's thoughts to a screeching halt.
It was time to begin.
She cleared her throat and was ready just in time to see the various devices on the table start glowing faintly. They were live.
"Witches and Wizards, we here at the Wizarding Wireless Network present to you an exclusive interview. I am Miranda Knowles sitting here with the Minister of Magic, Leonard Carr."
The words came out with a practiced ease. All her nervousness had left her.
"Hello Minister and welcome."
"Thank you Ms. Knowles" Leonard Carr responded.
"Witches and Wizards, as you know, Minister Carr has never appeared for a public interview in the last thirteen years of his tenure. May I inquire as to why, Minister?"
"I did not feel the need. All my plans and policies have been put in front of the world through the press and the radio. Any and all oppositions have been received, studied and replied to. I do not believe I was put in this position to talk to people."
The Minister's reply was carefully worded. It was as if he had made up all the answers beforehand and was only doing the job of relaying them. Maybe he had.
"We can accept that. But then, why now?"
"Because recent events have forced me to address the general public."
"You speak of the recent trial of Harry Potter, I assume."
"You assume correctly."
"People of England have of course heard about the famous Trial that took place three days ago. Harry Potter, who had returned to England three weeks ago after a seventeen year sabbatical, stood trial for the murder of Draco Malfoy. The Wizengamot were unanimous in their decision to convict him. A rare occurrence, don't you say?"
"A rare occurrence indeed. But the evidence that was gathered put no doubts in their mind. Harry Potter's wand was checked with the Prior Incantato and it clearly showed that Mr. Potter's wand had been the one to cast the Killing Curse on Draco Malfoy. Mr. Potter himself was found stunned at the scene of the crime; a stunner which was cast by Draco Malfoy, perhaps just before he had been killed."
The Ministers voice was calm and emotionless. It was almost as if he had been discussing the weather with her. Miranda was getting slightly uncomfortable. Discussing death and destruction did not seem to fit well with her. However, she had a job to do. So she continued.
"Mr. Potter was a hero in the fight against the Dark Lord Voldemort. Why do you think he would want to murder Mr. Malfoy?"
"I do not claim to understand Mr. Potter. He was obviously a troubled soul. Forced to fight against an enemy as deadly as the Dark Lord Voldemort certainly seemed to have played a part in damaging him. I assume that he had taken a leave from England for this very reason. There is also the fact that Draco Malfoy was engaged to Ms. Ginevra Weasley. Ms. Weasley who at one time had been a love interest of Mr. Potter, was now engaged to a former Death Eater. And if we knew something, Mr. Potter loathed Death Eaters."
Oh they knew that alright. Miranda remembered the massacre that had taken place after the Dark Lord's defeat. Harry Potter had taken it upon himself to rid the world of Death Eaters. For almost a year, he had searched throughout the country for anyone with a Dark Mark. And he had found them. Some had surrendered and were brought to the Ministry for trial, where most of them were shipped to Azkaban.
Most were killed.
Only a handful had remained free and alive. Draco Malfoy was one of them.
"But hadn't Mr. Potter himself testified in favour of Mr. Malfoy?" Miranda recited another question from her memory. This was not an interview, she thought to herself. This was another one of the Minister's statements staged as an interview.
"Yes he had. And perhaps that was what angered him the most. A man he had set free was engaged to someone who had turned him down, someone who he had loved very much. And don't forget, when Mr. Malfoy was set free, Mr. Potter had approached him and said to him 'This is your second chance. Mess this one up and I will kill you'."
Now that was something Miranda had not known before. Perhaps this interview wasn't that much of a waste of time after all.
"Perhaps the engagement of Mr. Malfoy to Ms. Weasley was too much for him to bear" the Minister continued. "Perhaps it was something else. One cannot be sure."
"Do you personally believe that Mr. Potter was guilty of the crime?"
She had said it before she could stop herself. That question was not on the list.
"My personal beliefs hold no weight over the collective decision of the Wizengamot, Ms. Knowles."
His voice had become a little sharper. Miranda glanced nervously at the Minister. But he motioned her to continue.
"Despite the trial being an interesting topic in itself, what happened after the trial was even more interesting."
And so it was. After the trial, as soon as Harry Potter's arms were released from the shackles of the chair in the courtroom, his wand had suddenly appeared in his arm. And before anyone could realize what had happened, the five Aurors present in the room had been stunned, the door to the courtroom had been blown open and Harry Potter had escaped. A few more Aurors were found, these with cuts and bruises, in the Atrium of the Ministry.
"I'm not sure if interesting is the word I would use to describe the condition, Ms. Knowles."
The Minister's voice had gone back to normal. Miranda was thankful. She didn't want to earn the ire of anyone, much less the Minister of Magic himself.
"How would you describe it then, Minister?"
"Despicable! Two of the Aurors that Mr. Potter had assaulted are admitted in St. Mungo's due to heavy blood loss while three had fractured various parts of their bodies. Mr. Potter might have been a hero once, but now he's another criminal who will be dealt with swiftly and surely."
The Minister had seemingly become more and more angry and his voice had risen by a level or two as he had finished his tirade.
Miranda couldn't help but wonder if even this was pre-planned.
"Forgive me, Ms. Knowles. I shouldn't have lost my temper like that."
He did seem fairly apologetic. Perhaps the emotion was real.
"There is no need to ask for forgiveness Minister. I'm sure similar thoughts are echoing throughout the country."
"That may be, but my behavior was entirely unprofessional and for that I wish to apologise to all those who are listening to this broadcast."
"Our audience is a forgiving bunch, Minister. However I'm sure they would like to know what measures are being taken to ensure the capture of Harry Potter?"
"All Aurors who were not under any assignment have been gathered and are currently taking all possible measures to locate him. Rest assured it would only be a few days before we have Harry Potter in our grasp. Until then I urge the people to remain vigilant. Any sightings of Harry Potter should be reported to the Ministry as quickly as possible. Also, Harry Potter is extremely dangerous. Please do not approach him or try to restrain him yourselves."
"Lastly, Minister, I'm sure that all associates and friends of Mr. Malfoy are listening to us. Would you like to say something to them?"
"I knew Draco Malfoy. As the people would know, Mr. Malfoy was a very vocal critic of some of the Ministry's recent policies. So I had met with him to discuss a few things. Draco Malfoy was a very intelligent mind and from what I knew of him, a good person. I'm sure he will be missed. My heart reaches out to Ms. Weasley who had a life of joy taken from him due to the selfishness of one man. Harry Potter will be punished for it."
"Thank you for those heartfelt words, Minister. To the people of England, thank you for tuning in. I'm afraid the Minister is a busy man and we cannot keep him from his work any further. Thank you, Minister, for joining us."
"It was a pleasure, Ms. Knowles"
The Minister smiled at Miranda and she smiled back. Despite her doubts about the way this interview was conducted, Miranda had no doubts that what the Minister said was genuine.
"Well, to all those who are listening, I'm afraid we must end it here. Thank you all for joining us. Tune in tomorrow at this time to hear the happenings of the day. This is Miranda Knowles, signing off."