Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot and OC'S.
Chapter 3:
Cornelius Fudge was not in a good mood. After a long and tiresome day at the Ministry of Magic, most of it spent defending himself from key people who wanted him thrown out of office, he had come home expecting dinner on the table and the chance to read quietly in his study the rest of the night. That, however, had not happened. As soon as he had stepped through the door his wife had immediately laid into him, accusing him of cheating on her. It was an argument they had had many times during these last few months.
They had used to be so close, so in love, he wasn't sure what had changed but now it seemed they argued about anything. They could argue fiercely about something as small as the garbage not being vanished or as big as her unfounded accusations that he was cheating on her. He had explained many times that when he came home late it was because of work not because he was having a fling with 'some floozy' as she liked to say.
'Blimey,' the perturbed man thought as he savagely threw the door to his study closed, 'I wish that woman would get off my bloody back. As if I don't have enough problems what with half the wizarding population trying to expel me from my position as Minister of Magic, I have to deal with her incessant nagging as well.'
"Makes me wonder why I fell in love with her in the first place," he muttered to himself angrily as he walked to his sideboard and poured a large glass of brandy.
He had been in his late twenties when they had first met. He had been an aspiring apprentice to the Minister of Magic at that time and she, Elizabeth, had been the Minister's personal secretary.
When he first saw her he thought she was the most beautiful woman in the world and every time they bumped into each other he would become tongue tied and make a complete fool of himself.
Beth (Elizabeth) would just laugh and tease him lightly, pleased with the reaction she caused in the normally self assured man. One day he finally plucked up the courage and told her that whenever she laughed she sounded like and angel. After that their bond began, finally leading to their marriage two years later and they had been happy ever since.
Well at least until six months ago when the wizarding world had begun to voice their distaste for him as their Minister, they questioned his competence at every chance they got. That's when the wizarding magazines had commenced manufacturing false stories about him telling the public outrageous stories like him being in cahoots with you-know-who and his followers, although those stories stopped when the dark wizard was later defeated by Harry Potter and the death eaters were captured. One day his wife had picked up a paper and the headline was a woman claiming she and the Minister were having an affair trying to further discredit the man. He had told Beth that he did no such thing and that the woman was only looking for fifteen minutes of fame. She had believed him until more and more women came out claiming the same thing, some even going as far as claiming he made them trade certain 'favors' for things.
Beth had refused to listen to reason when he told her he loved only her and would never do such a thing, and now with more pressure being added to his job as he fought to keep said job he stopped trying to convince her and let her believe what she wanted. That had created tension and ferocity between them and had driven them apart further.
Sipping his drink he tried to calm himself as he picked up the evening paper hoping to relax. Slamming his drink down on the table next to the chair he was sitting in he let out a roar of anger as he saw the headline that day.
The front page showed a picture of him the headline read; Minister Fudge involved in Ministry scandal!
The article went on accusing Cornelius of bribing many prominent witches and wizards into giving him their loyalty and support during his time of crisis, hoping that their status might be enough to save his job.
Cursing angrily Cornelius heaved the paper at his fireplace watching in satisfaction as it quickly lit up and burned before his eyes.
Cornelius knew he wasn't the best Minister of Magic that there had ever been, but he had always tried his best, he had sacrificed many a thing for his position, but right now he was seriously considering resigning and ending all the drama.
Taking another sip of his drink Cornelius was suddenly startled by a scream and multiple crashes coming from the kitchen. Momentarily shocked it took the man a couple of moments to gather his wits enough to drop his glass and dart for the door.
"Beth!?" he cried stumbling into the kitchen looking around frantically, "what the bloody hell…" he trailed off as he took in the horrifying sight before him.
The kitchen table had been thrown into the far wall as well as the chairs leaving an empty space in the middle of the kitchen. Lying in that empty space in a pool of blood was the woman he had fallen in love with so many years ago, an arrow buried in her chest.
Gasping Cornelius darted over and dropped to his knees beside his wife, taking her hand he was relieved to find she was still alive. If he didn't get medical attention soon though, he realized, she wouldn't last much longer.
"C-Cornelius?" Elizabeth questioned her glazed eyes turning to look at him as a thin line of blood trickled out of the corner of her mouth.
"Yes darling, I'm here," the man whispered his eyes never leaving hers, "just hold on, I'll get a healer here quickly." He moved to stand but stopped when his wife squeezed his hand the best she could and tugged gently; stroking the hair from her face he asked "what is it?"
"I-I'm sorry," she whispered "for the way I've been acting lately. I should never have believed you were doing those awful things the papers were accusing you of, I just…"
"Shhh, it doesn't matter. We're both stressed we both said things we didn't mean." The man murmured tears filling his eyes as he watched the light begin to fade from his wife's eyes. He felt so helpless, he knew it was too late for a healer and he had never managed to master any spells that might save her life.
"I love you…always." Beth whispered.
Cornelius choked out a sob as her hand went limp in his, there was so much he wished he had or hadn't done during these last few months, and now he would never get the chance to correct them. He would never be able to hear her laugh again, or hold her hand as they walked through Diagon Alley as he had done so many times before. Small things like that had always been taken for granted by him before, but were now his most cherished memories.
With shaking hands he raised her hand to his lips and kissed it lovingly, quietly apologizing for everything he had said and done that hurt her.
"How sweet," a cruel condescending voice said from the far end of the kitchen.
Whipping his head around and drawing his wand with a livid look in his eyes Cornelius snarled at the cloaked figure menacingly.
"You did this," the politician roared gently laying his wife on the ground and standing to face the man, "you killed my wife!"
The figure chuckled and clapped mockingly, "Very good, what gave me away, the bow and quiver of arrows strapped to my back?" he questioned patronizingly.
"I'll kill you!" Cornelius roared his wand shaking slightly as he barely managed to restrain himself from doing just that.
"Really? Oh my, I am in trouble then aren't I?"
Shaking with rage Cornelius prepared to curse the man but before he got the chance he was knocked to the ground from behind, as he hit the floor his wand fell from his grasp and skittered away.
Watching helplessly as the man picked up his wand and snapped it, Cornelius closed his eyes in self contempt. In his grief over the death of Elizabeth he had forgotten an important rule of combat; always prepare for the unexpected. He had not made sure his rival was alone and was not prepared for someone else being in the room with them. He also cursed himself for not checking the kitchen more thoroughly when he had first entered.
"Now there's no need to get upset," the person who had knocked him down said moving to stand next to the stranger. This person was female and was also wearing a cloak that hid her head from view.
Pushing himself to his knees Cornelius glared at the strangers, "who are you? What do you want from me?"
The male figure laughed and lowered his hood. His eyes twinkled in amusement as he looked calmly at the scared man on the ground before him. Beside him the female lowered her hood as well.
They bore a striking resemblance to each other; Cornelius could tell that they were probably twins. They both had long black hair tied back into pony tails, high cheekbones, and long noses the only difference between them were their eyes; his were a pale grey while hers were brown. Noticing something strange about them Cornelius peered at them closely and gasped when he noticed their ears; they were pointed.
"You're Elves," he spluttered shocked. He had good reason to be shocked, even though he knew they existed, no one had seen an elf since almost 300 years ago when the wizarding world had raged war against the Elves, slaughtering many of their kind and forcing the others into hiding.
When Cornelius had first heard about the massacre in school he had been horrified; to think all that death simply because wizards believed that they ought to rule over all other magical beings. When the wizards had stated that the Elves could only live in 'their' land if they obeyed their rules, the Elves had refused, in retaliation the wizards had attacked the peaceful people and drove them out of Britain. The last Cornelius had heard the Elves had created a new home out in a desert somewhere that was heavily guarded to keep wizards and other creatures out.
"You are correct," the female said severely a cruel smile twisting her lips; "we are indeed Elves. I am Florence, this is my brother Ragon."
Swallowing his fear, Cornelius pushed himself to his feet scowling at the twosome as he felt his rage resurface.
"You killed my wife," he repeated trying his best to sound menacing even though his only defense lay broken at their feet, "why? What has she ever done to you?"
Ragon sneered, "what did our people ever do to deserve what happened all those years ago?"
"We had nothing to do with that…" Cornelius started but what cut off.
"It doesn't matter," Florence said waving her hand dismissively, "you see we need to send a message to your world, and we thought what better way than to get rid of the Minister of Magic, your wife was just a bonus."
His ire reaching its boiling point he roared angrily and dove towards Ragon his fist poised and begging for contact with the Elf's face.
Startled at the sudden burst of brutality Ragon almost didn't grab the man's fist in time to stop its path towards his face, but at the last second he grabbed it and used the Ministers own momentum to twist his arm behind his back and force him to his knees.
"You fool," Ragon snarled, smirking as he enjoyed the scream Cornelius made when he wrenched his arm up neatly dislocating it from his shoulder. "An Elf's strength is four times that of a human you stood no chance."
"Ragon," Florence said, sounding annoyed, "can you please just finish this so we can get going, the others are waiting for us, and we have much to do."
Ragon sighed melodramatically, "Alright, Flo…well Cornelius it looks like your time has finally run out."
Cornelius trembled in fear as Ragon shoved him to the floor and calmly pulled out his bow and arrow. Closing his eyes, he realized that this was the end. As the arrow pierced his chest and a hoarse scream tore from his throat he wished he had one last breathe to proclaim his undying love for his wife.
"You alright, mate?" Ron asked as his friend yawned for the third time in as many minutes.
Harry blinked rapidly as he shook his head trying to wake himself up, "hmmm, what did you say Ron?"
Ron worriedly put his fork down and leaned across the table to look closely at Harry. Ever since the boy had come down to breakfast ten minutes ago he had just stared at his empty plate looking like he was about to collapse to the floor.
"You look terrible," Ron admitted, "did you have a nightmare or something?"
Harry smiled tiredly at his friend appreciating his concern, "no, since Voldemort's death my nightmares have been few and far between. I was up most the night with Jessica again."
Ron nodded sympathetically, they had been at school for nearly two weeks and every night Harry stayed up with Jessica. Ron knew that their late nights had probably been the reason for his friends' exhaustion but felt the need to ask anyways, after all that's what friends are for, right? "That's too bad," then, as if noticing for the first time that she wasn't at the table with them, he asked, "Where is she anyway?"
Harry yawned again flashing Ron an apologetic smile when the red head sighed exasperatedly, "Since its Saturday she went home, she's hoping to catch up on her sleep there."
"Students aren't allowed to go home during the school year," Hermione pointed out taking an interest in their hushed conversation for the first time.
"We talked to Dumbledore and he agreed because of the circumstance that she could go home on Saturdays if she wants to but she has to be back on Sunday morning." Harry explained softly; awake enough now that he began filling his plate with sausages, bacon and eggs. "She won't do it all the time but she needs a day of rest every once in a while to catch up with the rest of us."
"What about you?" Hermione questioned, "You lose just as much sleep staying up with her."
Harry threw his friends a small smile before finishing the bacon in his mouth and responding, "She came to the same conclusion so last night she forbade me from losing anymore sleep because of her. I tried to explain that I don't mind but she wouldn't hear anything of it even went so far as to threaten me if I dared disobey her." Harry chuckled slightly before taking a long drink of pumpkin juice from his goblet.
Ron and Hermione exchanged amused glances but before they could respond an almighty shriek erupted from the far end of the hall.
Whipping around the three friends, along with the students from Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff and Gryffindor all looked towards the Slytherin table where the girlish shriek had come from.
As one the entire student body exploded in laughter. Most had managed to remain in their seats but a couple of the more uproarious ones, including Ron, fell off their benches and rolled on the floor in delight.
Harry grinned as he took in the sight before him. Four Slytherin boys stood at the end of the table turning red from humiliation and anger. Their robes, normally black, silver and green had changed into tight red and gold spandex suits. And if that wasn't humiliating enough the extra body parts they had somehow managed to grow was. The boys had each grown a set of breasts and their hair had been turned blonde and grown to just above their shoulders, decorated with pink bows and berets.
Trying desperately to cover themselves the boys tore out of the Great Hall so fast they might have left a trail of fire as the students began applauding and giving the shocked boys cat calls.
While the Great Hall continued to laugh and talk amongst themselves Harry glanced back to the Slytherin table looking for Draco. He found his blonde friend talking animatedly with Jeremy and Millicent and laughing with them. Catching the blondes' eye he smirked and winked at the boy.
Draco's eyebrows shot up and he gave Harry a 'did you do that?' look. When Harry just grinned even more the Slytherin smiled and raised his glass in a toast downing his pumpkin juice after Harry had raised his own glass, before turning back to his friends.
Harry chuckled and turned back to Ron and Hermione. Ron was still trying to control his mirth but Hermione was gazing at Harry shrewdly.
"Weren't those the same boys Jessica said were planning a nasty trick on Draco the first day of classes?" she questioned narrowing her eyes when Harry grinned maniacally from behind his goblet.
"Were they?" the raven haired boy asked innocently, "I didn't notice…"
"Sure," Hermione said trying to fight off a grin, "how long have you been planning that?"
Laughing happily Harry informed them quietly that he had started thinking up a suitable punishment since Draco told him that those were also the boys that took all his Potions ingredients.
"Apparently their still taking his stuff and ganging up on him when they can catch him alone," Harry said, "so I decided turnabout is fair play. They got what was coming to them."
"T-that was b-bloody brilliant," Ron choked out his throat hoarse from laughing, "did you see the looks on their faces?"
Hermione looked torn between disapproval and amusement, "I know I shouldn't be condoning this but I have to admit it was, in Ron's words, 'bloody brilliant'."
Harry and Ron's mouths dropped open in shock; Hermione had never cussed before and was always chastising the boys when they did it.
"Who are you and what have you done with Hermione," Ron sputtered staring at the girl with a slightly dazed look.
Harry and Hermione took one look at Ron's stupefied face and burst out laughing again, it wasn't long before Ron joined in as well.
"Mr. Potter, may I have a word?"
Harry blinked and turned around in his seat to see his head of house standing behind him a grim look on her face.
"Of course Professor," Harry answered immediately gathering his books and shoving them back into his rucksack. "Sorry guy's, looks like I'll have to study later."
After breakfast that morning and Hermione's short-lived amusement at Harry's prank she had ordered the boys to gather their books so they could all study together in the library, "after all," she had said "we have NEWTS next year". After much grumbling the boys had finally agreed and that's where Professor McGonagall had found the three friends.
Following his teacher out into the hall silently he couldn't help but wonder what she needed to speak to him about. Had she found out he was the prankster from that morning? Was she going to punish him for it? What if Snape had found out and was vying for his expulsion! Or was it something completely different.
The grim look on her face had Harry thinking it was the latter and he couldn't help but wonder what was making his Professor so somber.
He was so deep in thought he hadn't noticed she had stopped and blushed fiercely as he smacked into the back of her knocking himself to the floor.
Professor McGonagall waited until the Gryffindor had picked himself up off the floor muttering apologies before she said, "The Headmaster wishes to see you and Jessica. He asks that you fetch her from her parent's house and return to his office promptly. The password is 'Skittles' should you need it."
Harry nodded worriedly and watched his head of house stride away stiffly before shimmering to his dorm and throwing his rucksack on his bed, sighing gently at having to wake Jessica he quickly shimmered to the quiet street in London that she and her parents lived on.
"Good morning Mr. Lock," Harry said quickly when Jessica's father answered the door, "can I see Jessica?" Harry knew he could have just shimmered into the girls room but he preferred to enter houses the normal way, he had always thought it rude and an invasion of privacy when people just popped in unannounced.
Patrick Lock look mildly surprised to see Harry but quickly allowed the boy entry into their home.
"What's going on Harry?" Mr. Lock questioned noticing the boy's slightly frazzled look as he led Harry to Jessica's room on the second floor.
"I'm not sure," Harry answered honestly as he followed the man, "Professor Dumbledore wants to see Jessica and me in his office right away."
"Alright," Mr. Lock said looking slightly worried, "you will let us know if there's anything we can do, right?"
Harry smiled sadly; Jessica had told him that her parents hadn't quite come to terms with the fact that she was a Mystic Knight, and had been constantly worrying about her and trying to talk her out of going on dangerous missions. Once they realized she wouldn't be swayed from her destiny they had settled for offering their assistance should she or Harry ever need it.
"Of course Mr. Lock," Harry said gently, "you'll be the first ones we come to for assistance."
Mr. Lock nodded strongly then wandered off, presumably to find his wife Amelia and update her on the situation.
Harry knocked lightly on his girlfriend's bedroom door and waited until he heard a sleepy moan and a call for him to come in before pushing open the door and walking softly to Jessica's bed.
"Jess, you need to get up, Professor Dumbledore needs to see us right away." Harry said softly smiling at her in sympathy as she groaned tiredly and threw the covers over her head trying to block Harry out. Smoothly tugging them down he ignored her glare and continued, "He wouldn't have made me fetch you unless it was important."
"Alright, alright," she yawned, "I'll be out in a minute."
A few minutes after Harry left the room Jessica came out dressed and looking exhausted.
"This had better be important or Dumbledore's gonna get a taste of my grumpy wrath." Jessica whined slightly as she sneered at a chuckling Harry.
Rolling his eyes with a grin the boy shimmered back to the castle knowing Jessica would follow.
"Come in," Albus Dumbledore called solemnly watching silently as Harry opened the door and followed a worn out Jessica into the office. Waiting until they had taken their seats Dumbledore couldn't help but notice that Harry looked tired as well although he hid it better.
"You wanted to see us Professor?" Harry questioned shifting slightly in his seat as he got comfortable.
"Something terrible has happened," Dumbledore said not bothering to mince his words, he had learned long ago that Harry preferred candor and he also knew that the two Mystic Knights expected to be treated as adults even though they were only sixteen year olds.
"What is it?" Jessica asked suddenly more awake as she stared at the Headmaster in alarm rarely having seen him so grave.
The old man sighed as he took off his glasses and rubbed the bridge of his crooked nose, "Minister Fudge didn't come into work this morning, when the Aurors went to check on him they found that both he and his wife had been murdered the night before."
Harry gaped at the man before him, scarcely being able to comprehend what he was hearing. Cornelius Fudge dead? The idea seemed so farfetched to Harry he almost refused to believe it. After all the annoying man had become a constant in Harry's life, much to Harry's displeasure. The past few months, ever since he and Jessica had come out as Mystic Knights, he had been begging Harry to put in a good word for him with the press. Harry had, of course, refused believing that anyone could be a better Minister of Magic then him, but still the man had persisted. Now Dumbledore was telling him that the resilient man was dead, impossible, right?
"How? Who?" Jessica inquired when Harry hadn't said anything after a few minutes; she figured he was still in shock.
"It was quite unusual actually, both died from an arrow through the chest," Dumbledore explained, "we're not sure who did it, though it could have been a many number of people. Cornelius Fudge had many enemies."
"Yeah," Harry agreed his shock worn off, "but how many would use arrow's?"
Dumbledore nodded, "I suspect the Ministry is hiding something from us, a key clue into who killed Cornelius and Elizabeth, but for whatever reason, they would not tell me."
"You think they know who did it, but aren't releasing the information to anybody?" Harry said, "Why would they do that?"
"Maybe to avoid spreading panic," Jessica suggested thinking carefully, "maybe they don't want word to get out about it because the killers had left some kind of message saying they were going to kill more people."
Dumbledore's eyes shone proudly at Jessica's astute observation, whether she had thought of it herself or read his mind he couldn't tell, but he knew it was probably the former. Both she and Harry were much smarter than many people gave them credit for.
"Precisely," Dumbledore informed them, "which is why I think it imperative for you two to go down to the Ministry of Magic and try and get information from them."
Harry exchanged a look with his partner before turning to Dumbledore and nodding determinedly, "you can count on us sir."
Dumbledore smiled for the first time since the friends' had entered his office, "I knew I could, Harry."
