AN: this chapter brings in the adults of the story and we get to see what the adults are doing and how they are reacting to Harry. we also get to see the dark lord Dumbledore and how he reacts to Harry.
Minerva ran up the stairs to Albus's office and barged right in. Albus saw the shocked look on her face and the fact that she was drained magically and emotionally. She walked right passed his desk and took the decanter of firewhiskey off the drinks cart. She didn't even bother with the glass she took a drink right from the decanter. Albus tried to ask her what happened but she shut him up with a look that brokered no back talk.
"You will tell me right now what you did to the Potter boy! You will not lie to me and you will not shade the truth. You do and I'll walk away from this school!" She shouted as she took a second drink this time she filled a glass.
"Minerva, what happened?" He asked.
"I went to a muggle borns house to do an orientation. Her name is Hermione Granger. Harry Potter was there and he knew how to do wandless magic! He showed me some and I got spooked so I tried to leave the house to tell you about it but the wards locked me in the house. Wards! On a muggle house! I pulled out my wand and I was locked in place by Harry. He was expecting me to pull my wand! It was a trap! The whole thing was! He used a mind compilation on me and tried to get information out of me! I couldn't hold back. He's too powerful. He knew about his inheritance! His title! He even knew you put him with the Dursleys! He knew about you tampering with his mail and he said he knew you were playing him. NOW YOU WILL TELL ME WHAT YOU DID!" She screamed losing her last bit of calm.
But Albus didn't say a thing, he just fell back into his chair and looked shocked. That's when his fireplace lit up and Amelia's face showed up. He took one look at the victorious look on her face and he knew his goose was cooked even before she opened her mouth.
What followed was a very eye opening conversation in which Amelia talked and Albus sat at his desk looking more and more sick. Minerva, for her part sat at the desk and looked more and more shocked as Amelia talked about the abuse Harry lived with under the roof Albus put him and the fact that the blood wards didn't even exist. What was worse was the fact that she had just enough proof to sink him but not enough to make a case stick. But it didn't matter. His plans and plots were sunk, his second in command looked at him like he was something she stepped in and Amelia looked like the cat who ate the canary. In ten minutes his world came crashing down around him. They wouldn't care that Tom was still alive, they wanted blood and they would take it from his back.
"And if you so much as look at that boy when he comes to that school in september I will take great pleasure in destroying you. For too long you've plotted and planned now that shit ends right now. From now on you work with me or I'll burn you and rebuild this country on the ashes of your reputation. I'm done with half measures and your bullsthit. I'll give you a few days to get your head out of your ass, then me and you are going to have a little conversation about the ministry and how it's going to run in the future." Amelia said ending the call before he could say a word.
"ANd I will also give you a few days to get your head out of your ass before we have a conversation. You may or may not be headmaster after we're done talking. You lie to me or try to shade the truth and I'll do much worse then she will. I know about Grindelwald. How would the Prophet like to know you two used to be a thing?" She said standing on unsteady legs and walking out of the room.
Albus took out a black book from his desk and looked at it. The book was old and worn. Inside were decades of plans. Marriages he "helped" set up. Power he "helped" spread out over the wizarding world. But more importantly his plans for the future. He had the next twenty years mapped out in painstaking detail. He looked at the book one last time before he banished it into the fire. As he watched his plans for the future of the wizarding world burn he sat in deep contemplation. Did he go too far? Was there such a thing as too far when it came to the future of the world? He didn't know but he needed to have a talk with Severus.
Minerva walked into her one bedroom apartment in the castle and tossed a handful of floo powder into her fireplace. She called out Amelia's office and stuck her head in. When she stopped spinning she looked up and saw Amelia sitting at her desk looking at the fireplace with an expectant and miffed look on her face. It was at this moment Minerva realised she made a rash call.
"Was there something I could do for you?" Amelia asked.
"Yes, I would like to see the memory." Minerva said looking sheepish.
"Why?" Amelia asked.
"I have to see how far he went. I know he did what he did because he thought it was for a greater good but I want to see how far he went for no good reason. I want to know if the man I followed for all these years has finally gone dark. I want to know…" She trailed off.
"If you were complacent in your vigilance and allowed your leader to become a dark lord?" Amelia said filling in the sentence she let hang in the air.
"Yes." Minerva said looking haunted.
"Come through, I'll open the wards for you." Amelia said.
A few minutes later and Minerva saw sitting in front of a bowel full of silver. She looked at Amelia who was sitting across the desk from her and she saw the haunted look in her eyes. She knew this was going to change her, she didn't know how or what the end results would be. She took a deep breath and stuck her hand in the bowel. An hour later she jumped out of her seat as a sobs rocked her body.
"What did you do? What did you do you crazy old man? What did I let happen? How long has…" She stopped short as the weight of her decisions over the last, she didn't even know how long, hit her like a ton of bricks. Her legs buckled and she fell on her ass. Amelia came around her desk and handed Minerva a handkerchief. She helped her up and sat her back in the chair.
"Minerva, things are changing, the world is changing, and the old man is not fit to run the world going forward. No one man should. We both know he will never see the inside of a jail cell for this. We also both know this country can't handle the truth of all of this coming out. What we need is for him to get his head out of his ass and willingly sit down with us and commit to making some changes. The school is pumping out weak witches and wizards. The Death Eaters not only got away without jail time they actively run the country through the weak and spineless Fudge. The Wizengamot is full of fat lazy purebloods that will never lift a finger to stop their pureblood friends from committing crimes. My department is so under funded we will never be able to hold off a new dark lord and you know one is coming. The country learned nothing since the last dark uprising. We can't afford to let the old man play god anymore. He's got so much power and so many titles that he's dropped the ball on everything. The school, the wizengamot, I can only imagine what the ICW thinks of us if he's the man we send to deal with them." Amelia said handing minerva a glass of scotch.
Minerva sat there sipping her drink for a few minutes mulling it all over in her head. "How can I Help?" She finally asked looking up at Amelia.
"I need you to take charge of things at the school if we have to burn the old man. If not then I need you to keep him in check. Now what I'm hoping is that he comes to his senses and joins us at the table freely. If not then I'll hold his feet to the fire and make him submit. I need you to keep the pressure on at the school. Keep pushing for change. Fire the shit teachers you have and hire better ones, stop the infighting between the houses, and expel the Death Eaters spawn when they get into trouble." Amelia said.
"It won't be easy, Malfoy has a good grasp on the school." Minerva said thinking about her task.
"That won't be an issue, I'm planning on expending every resource I have to make his life a living hell. Harry is a Maker Minerva. A Maker, we have unlimited resources at our disposal. I talked to Ragnok about it and he's on board with this plan. Harry's been making gold bars and adding them to his account. Ragnok has been using the gold to buy up stock and controlling interests in companies owned by Death Eaters. It's slow going to keep it under wraps but soon Harry will own half the wizarding world and once he owns the companies he's going to have Andromeda vote proxy for him and have the Death Eaters voted out of the companies. If that doesn't work he's going to dilute the stock, if that doesn't work he'll publicly boycott the company and their stock prices will plummet. Harry finally grasped the fact that he has a name and he can use it for good. On the legal front I'm going to raid Malfoy's house every week until I find something. And if I can't put him away at first then I'll go after the rest of the death eaters first. He'll have no friends, no money, and no power." Amelia said.
"You've been thinking about this for a while haven't you? Have you always wanted power Amelia?" Minerva asked.
"No, and to tell you the truth I don't want power now, I want Justice! I fought a war and lost every member of my family but my niece. After the war the Death Eaters walked free and they took power of the country without having to kill. They did it with money, and the old man let it happen because he had a hard on for keeping control. Now I'm going to dedicate my life to fixing this country. You can help me or hinder me." Amelia said.
"I'm going to help you. What are you going to do about the Wizengamot?" Minerva asked.
"I'm going to bust most of them for being Death Eaters and the one's I can't get that way I'll out maneuver through a voting block gridlock. Now that the cat is out of the bag Andy will sit in Harry's seat and start voting to enact new laws. Laws that will make Purebloods face the same jail time as non-purebloods. We have Augusta Longbottom on our side, we also have Diggery, Abbot, Cornfoot, Brown, and Macmillan. With you in your seat that gives us a voting block of nine. With the old man on our side we get his lap dog Arthur weasley, we also get Marchbanks and her voting block of super old timers. That's 11 more votes bringing us up to 20 Votes. The Death Eaters hold 30 votes between them and the people they control. However if we get Fudge voted out of office then he goes and so does his under secretary. If we get dirt on a few of the members being controlled by the Death Eaters or if we imprison the Death Eaters then it frees up more votes. In two years we can have all new laws in place and we can start filling Azkaban with Death Eaters." Amelia said coldly.
"So you've been building a coalition already? Good. I'm tired of sitting on my hands and waiting for Albus to plot and scheme. I'll do my part, but I want something in return. I want to meet with Harry and apologise for not checking up on him. I loved his parents and I just left the boy… I'm going to Kill Albus!" She said letting her anger surface.
"Minerva, relax. You can come with me to dinner at their house. Harry wants to apologize for hurting you. He has so much power and he could be the worst dark lord in history with the way he grew up but instead he has a strict moral code and he tries very hard to stick to it. Today he let his anger take control of him and he feels terrible for it. Susan will come through the floo in a few minutes and then we'll portkey to the backyard from here." Amelia said.
"Good, I feel like I made a fool of myself earlier." Minerva said shaking her head as her ears turned red.
"Well don't worry about it. For now we need to talk about your boss, do you think he's turned dark? Of do you think he's just a fool with too much power?" Amelia asked.
"To tell you the truth, I'm not sure anymore. A long time ago he was brilliant. An alchemist, a war mage, a master planner. If he did these things fifty years ago I would have said he was a dark lord. Now? I'm not sure if he's that on top of things as he once was. Over the years i'm seen things. Little things, like he misplaces things. He doesn't eat well, his sleep patterns are all off. He can't remember things like the password to his office unless it's the name of a candy. I think decades of plotting and planning have driven him mad. He's slowly going senile." Minerva said out loud and Amelia could tell it was the first time Minerva ever said the words. "How did I not see it?" She asked softly.
"You were blind to his faults. When you see a leader start to fall you don't notice it at first, but now we have to do something about it. We'll talk about it later. For now you need to start wearing this." Amelia said handing her a big ruby pendent on a gold chain.
"What is it?" Minerva asked feeling the magic rolling off the stone.
"A protection ward. Harry made a few dozen of them. It protects you from mind intrusion, poisons, and spell fire." Amelia said.
"How did he… Maker, right. I almost forgot about that little detail. A Maker!" Minerva said shaking her head as she put the chain over her head, as soon as the pendent touched her chest she felt warmth and comfort. She smiled a soft smile and sighed.
"It's something else isn't it?" Amelia asked with a smile.
"I really need to apologise." Minerva said shaking her head.
Later that evening the three women portkeyed into the Granger's back yard. When they landed they saw Harry still under the tree sitting cross legged in deep meditation next to a big gray dog. Minerva approached Harry as the two bones women continued into the house. The sun was slowly setting giving the sky an orange color. When she got within ten feet of him the dog's head popped up and locked eyes with her stopping her in her tracks. He looked deep in her soul and after a few seconds he nodded and layed his head back down. Minerva stood next to Harry and was unsure of what to say to him. Lucky for her Harry was willing to start the conversation.
"For the last three years I've been trying very hard to understand my powers. Until last year I just though there were a few powers. Push, pull, levitate, mind trick, but as I tapped into more of my core I learned just how powerful I was. Since then I've spent a lot of time in deep contemplation. With so much power I have the temptation of using my skills for evil. So I made a deal with myself to try very hard to use my power for good. I would abstain from using my powers for for personal gain. Sure I would make things for my family. Gold to pay for things and make things to have, and give as gifts, but never for anything else. A few weeks ago I met Amelia, and since then I've been bending my rules and so far almost everything I've done can be considered good. I've made gold to buy stock in companies run by bad men. But today I went very deep into the darker side of the Force. Today I used my power to hurt you and extract information out of you. For that I am deeply sorry." Harry said in a very sad tone of voice.
"No, Harry, I am the one that is sorry. I taught your parents and I considered them to be friends. They were both good people. And I let my dedication to a man I once considered a leader to blind me from the truth that you should have been checked up on. We all failed. Your parents were part of a group that helped to fight the last war. They gave their lives to defeat the dark lord and we in turn put there only son in a home with muggles. Even if you were not being abused we should have looked in on you. Talked to you. Taught you about your parents. Showed you your heritage. Instead we followed orders blindly. We all left you in hell and we never thought about you. For that I know I will never be able to forgive myself and I can never ask you to forgive me. What I can do is the job I should have done from the very beginning. Which is to protect the son of two people I once considered my own children. What I can do is tell you everything about your parents." Minerva said with tears streaming down her face.
"I think I would like that very much." Harry said standing up. He stood there for a second not sure what to do or say until Minerva pulled him into her chest and hugged him as hard as she could.
"I'm so sorry." She sobbed holding him tight.
"I can't breath." Harry muffled out.
"Oh! Did I hurt you?" She asked pulling back to look him over. Now that she got a good look at him she could see just how big he was for his age. He was tall, and thin, but not skinny. He was well built and his muscles rippled under his skin like cords.
"No, I'm tougher than I look. But what we can start with is, what were my parents like?" Harry asked leading the older woman back to the house with Blaze by his side.
"Your parents were good people. Well your mother was. Lily was a bright ray of sunshine that made the world better just by being. James was a bit of a little jerk when he was younger but he grew up and became a good man. In fact he became my most gifted apprentice. There was a time when you almost grew up at the castle. Both your parents were apprenticing to become teachers and get their masters of magic. Your father was going to help me teach transfiguration and your mother was a charms master…" She said as they walked into the house she stopped talking however when they walked in and she saw the Grangers. It was at that moment she forgot to apologise to these people for causing a scene in their living room. The Grangers for their part saw the look and again for the second time that evening Minerva was spared the embarrassment of having to come up with an opening line. This time it was Dan.
"Look, you drew your wand in the house, we trapped you into an interrogation. I say we call it even and move on from there, how about you?" Dan said with a half smile.
"Yes I think we can call it even. Thank you for letting me back into your home." She said with a sheepish smile.
"Amelia vouched for you. If she says you're a good person then you're on our side." Dan said.
"Professor Mcgonagall was just telling me about my parents." Harry prompted the teacher to get her to go back to the topic at hand.
"Right, where was I?" Minerva said.
"Mom was a Charms master and dad was a transfiguration master." Harry said as they all sat down at the table.
That evening Minerva talked to Harry and the Grangers and answered any and all of their questions she was as honest and forthcoming as she could be and with her good natured attitude and her honest opinions she earned some much needed points with the family. She even asked if they would like for her to take them to the alley to get their school supplies but they declined. There was no need to head back to the alley, they had Axton's school supplies and what they didn't have or needed two copies of like textbooks and thing like that Harry would make for them.
That night Minerva took a portkey back to Amelia's office and before she flooed back to the castle she took a copy of the memory with her. She landed in her apartment and a house elf was waiting for her.
"The headmaster is be requesting you in his office." The little elf in a red pillow case with the house crest said.
"Well you can inform the Headmaster he can take his request and shove it up his arss for all I care. I'll see him when I'm good and ready. Until then I might just kill the old bastard if I see him. Can you tell him all that or would you like me to write a note?" Minerva asked.
"Um…" The house elf said wringing his hands.
"I'll write a note." Minerva said patting the small elf on the back with a soft smile.
The elf took the note and popped into the headmaster's office. Albis saw the note and knew it was going to be bad. After reading the short but concise note he nodded and dismissed the elf. It was too soon. She needed to calm down a bit but when she was calm he would tell her that Tom was still alive and she would see he was just looking out for the wizarding world. Tom killed so many during the war and a second war would destroy the country. Surely one boy's suffering when weighed against the death of the world was nothing. He just had to spin it his way and make sure he gave out enough information to stay out of jail and more importantly out of the papers but maintain his hold on the future. His plans would have to change but he was sure he could still save the world and save his reputation. He reached into the candy dish and took another lemon sherbet. He popped it into his mouth and nodded as the strength of Severus' words replayed in his head. Everything I did was for the greater good. He would really have to thank Severus for keeping his candy dish full. He always had better ideas after sucking on a hard candy.
The next week was eventful for all the parties involved. Andy brought her defamation lawsuit to the wizengamot on Monday. Her case was a simple one, Harry Potter, nor his gardens never gave anyone permission to use Harry's name ever. Therefor everything with Harry's name on it was in violation of the laws regarding the trading on an old pureblood name. She spun her arguments in a way that made not voting in favor of her client would undermined the law in the future and anyone could sell any product with their name on it. The first ones to vote in favor of the lawsuit were the old purebloods with companies that used the family name. People like Ogden, Crow, and Greengrass. And with those people and the voting block she built the vote was almost a unanimous decision. That evening hundreds of companies received cess and disses letters.
The next morning Andy took her case to the Prophet and really made those companies wish they never traded on the boy who lived name. She spun the piece as it was. These companies were trading on their savior's name to sell lies and junk to an unsuspecting wizarding public with the sole goal of getting rich on the back of an orphan. By monday of the next week every one of the companies that got a letter contacted Andy's office to work out a settlement. If Harry was the kind of person that cared about money he would have been ecstatic at the amount of gold he got from the lawsuit, as it was he shrugged when she handed him the balance sheet with the total and told her to take double her normal ten percent fee and put the rest into the war fund. That morning Andy was a moderately wealthy attorney with thirty thousand galleons in her bank account, that night she had just under eight million galleons in her account. Her husband Ted was exsatic, and her daughter was shocked into silence.
Harry spent the week training with Hermione, Susan, and Hannah. Since the day the came over with Amelia the two girls started hanging out at the house during the day to practice wandless magic and lightsaber dueling. So far the two girls were progressing nicely and having one on one training from both Harry and Hermione helped them make sizable leaps in a short time. By the end of July they were getting the hang of the simple Force powers and they were skilled enough with a lightsaber to not burn themselves. But Harry also made sure to spend time with the Granger's as much as he could. He wanted to soak up as much love and happiness as he could before they shipped off to the castle. He knew he was going to hate the school. Wizards for the most part were lazy, and unwilling to learn more then they needed to, to become 'adult wizards'. That included normal book smarts. As someone that dedicated his life to become a Jedi he knew living with these lazy stupid wizards was going to test his calm. He knew he was going to have to cling to Hermione to maintain that sense of calm and home.
He also started on the potions books Axton wrote himself. Each of the three books was full of pages and pages of modified potions. Harry started out by making a few with the supplies in Axton's very big potions kit but soon he found himself running out of ingredients. He started making these ingredients but after a while he had a thought. He studied the advanced healing potions Axton made and after looking at the instructions for a few minutes to make sure he had it all down he held out his hand and a glass vial with red glowing liquid was sitting in his hand. Harry took out his pocket knife and ran the blade down his forearm. It hurt like hell but he was learning to control the pain centers in his brain thank's to a book on the mind arts. He took a sip from the potion and the cut healed instantly. Harry smiled and made a big potion's rack and set it up on his desk in his room at the Granger's house. Over the next few days he made a few more potions. It was draining, but if it was an emergence and he needed a potion he could now make them.
Amelia for her part gathered her most trusted and loyal Aurors into her office. There were ten of them in total but all of them were hold overs from the last war and all of them had lost friends and family to the war. These were soldiers with real stake in the coming war. When they were all in her office she sealed the room and told them her plan for taking over the wizarding world and cleaning it up, she made them all swear allegiance to her and with that she had them dig into Fudge and his undersecretary. She also had them start digging up dirt on suspected and pardoned Death Eaters. By monday of the next week they had files on everyone but Amelia didn't pounce on her prey yet, she had them keep digging. She needed the old man on her side so she could oust Fudge and then she could start arresting Death Eaters. If she arrested them now they would be back on the streets in a week and every bit of evidence they collected would be burned for the future. Instead she met with the old man in his office on Wednesday morning.
"Amelia, has it been three days already?" He asked in a tired tone as she walked into his office without knocking.
"Yes it has, now you and me are going to have a little chat. When I'm done, I'll either be headed back to my office to keep working or I'll be heading to the Prophet with a very interesting story, and before you even think about threatening me, the story, the memory strand, and mind healer results are being held by several different people. You can try to take us down but if something happens to one of us. If we suddenly change our tune or if we all of a sudden die then your ass is burned. We both know you would never see jail time for any crime you committed but we also both know you're not afraid of a jail cell, your afraid of the people finding out you're a dark asshole." She said in a cold tone.
"Name calling Amelia? Do we really have to sink so low?" He said with a smile that didn't reach his eyes.
"Fuck low. I want you to view this memory then I want you to tell me if swearing is appropriate or not." Amelia said placing an Auror's pensive on his desk and pouring the silver memory in. "You will view this and then you will have ten minutes to explain to me why you did this." Amelia said in a cold voice.
"If you insist." Albus said sighing as he stuck his finger in the pensive. One hour later and he came out looking raw and green but resolute. "Having witnessed the failure in my planning I must admit this is bad. But I have to say that this was not my plan in the slightest. I put Harry in his aunt's house and I set up blood wards. I also put minor competitions on them to treat him like a normal boy. I wanted Harry to grow up as a normal muggle boy. To have a normal muggle upbringing. I never checked up on him because I didn't want to interfere. Harry was supposed to grow up with no knowledge of our world. I made it this way so that when he got to the magic world he would be in awe of the wonder of our world. I needed him to be so indebted to the magic world that he would be willing to fight Voldemort when he comes back." Albus said.
"Come again?" Amelia said trying very hard to not slap the man.
"Voldemort is still alive. He used a ritual to cheat death. That night when the Potters were killed I was one of the first ones to get to the house. His magical essence was still lingering on the house. He's still out there and one day he's going to find a way to get his body back. When that happens the world will end. Unless, Harry fights him and kills him for good. Harry is an Arch Mage. I tested him when he was born. He is the only one powerful enough to kill Voldemort for good. He is the only one that has the power to kill him and break the ritual he used to keep himself from dying. Now if Harry potter grew up a pampered little pureblood prince with money and house elves and fans he would never be willing to fight Voldemort when he gets his body back. But if he grew up poor, and as a muggle? He'd be willing to do anything to save the world that took him in. Now Amelia, I ask you, having lived through the last war, is one child's happiness worth the end of the world?" Albus asked sitting back in his seat and taking a candy from the dish.
Amelia sat there in quiet contemplation as she thought about everything he just said. She was weighing the pros and cons of his logic and thinking, but then she saw him smile as he popped a second candy in his mouth and the anger inside her chest swelled to the surface.
"You sick twisted old fuck you. You think we're all chess pieces in your own little board game. Well fuck you. Fuck you and your games. As of three weeks ago your whole plan that was built on a house of card to begin with collapsed. Harry doesn't even want to join the magical world and let me tell you this your plan to keep him in the dark and feed him the bulshit you just spun for me would have resulted in him walking away. The fact that you tried to withhold his title put the final nail in the coffin for you. Harry would sooner watch the world burn then help you after what you did to him." She said with a cold smile. As she said this she could see the color drain out of his face.
"He can't, he has to face Voldemort. We have no hope of winning without him. He must come to this school so he can be trained to face voldemort!" He said looking panicked.
"What if I was to make you a deal. Step down as Headmaster and Harry would be willing to join the magical world. Would you do it?" She asked.
"I can't! I have to be here to mold and shape the boy so he can face the dark lord." He said.
"It's not going to fly with him. He hates you and the thought of being in this castle with the man responsible for the torture he grew up with would eat at him." She said.
"How about this, he comes to the school and I promise to not interact with the boy. But if the dark lord shows his face then I'll arrange for him to get training." Albus said looking panicked. She had him up against the wall on this.
"I'll bring it to him, but the first time he think's you're playing him, he will walk away from this school and our world. The boy is a very powerful Archmage and he doesn't need this school." Amelia said.
"Please Amelia, the boy must be looked after and taught." Albus said.
"Fine, but if the dark lord is really coming back then we need to do more than pin all our hopes on a boy that wants nothing to do with our world thanks to you. We need to start fixing the other problems and weaken the dark lord's power base before he regains a body. Now like I said before I can burn you and do this the hard way or you can work with me and we can clean up our country. We have to get rid of Fudge. We have to then get rid of these death eaters. Azkaban has a lot of free cells thanks to Fudge taking bribery money. We need to fill those cells!" She said with emphasis.
"And you want me to make you minister so you can do all this good work?" He asked.
"Yes. I'm tired of fighting with one arm tied behind my back. We need to stamp out the corruption now!" She said getting angry at his wording of the question.
"And once you're minister, what's to stop you from turning against me?" He asked.
"What's to stop me from burning you now you old fool! I'm tired of your games. Are you going to help me fix the mess you made by trying to be the biggest dick in the room or are you going to sit on your ass and watch the world burn just so you can keep hold of what little power you think you still have left. I'm not a politician old man. I'm an Auror. I'm not eloquent but I'm honest. Now are we working together or are you going to fight me and watch the world burn?" She asked sitting back in her chair.
"I will help you but I'm not making you minister. You want the job you have to campaign for it. I'm also endorsing Arthur for the job." The old man said.
"Really? You think you have some leverage here? You think you can dictate terms with me?" She said asked.
"You have dirt on me, I have dirt on you. How do you think I stayed in power all this time?" Albus said.
"Dirt? What dirt? I'm the cleanest person in the ministry." She said looking confused.
"July 10, 1978. You and your team were responding to a Death Eater attack. You attacked a group of Death Eaters trying to attack a muggleborn's house. You exchanged spell fire and when your partner was dropped by a killing curse you threw one back. That death eater turned out to be Ogden's son and he didn't have a dark mark. I have the memory of that night. Now, I will allow you to blackmail me on behalf of Harry. But if you're going to use that information against me to get the minister job and further your own career then I will bring charges against you for use of the killing curse against an unmarked death eater. You want to play politic? This is politics. When you bring down Fudge and his cronies, I will move to have an interim minister put in place for the next nine months until a real Minister can be elected during the regular election in May. We will both pick someone we trust to hold the office until the election. For now I want you to leave my office before I make a call to the Prophet. Top Auror killed the innocent son of prominent wizarding family is just as good of a headline as anything you can come up with." He said popping another candy as he folded his hands.
"One day, when you're dead the people of the wizarding world will know your were the worst dark lord we ever had in this country. I look forward to the line of people waiting to piss on your grave." She said getting up and walking out of the room. The old man just smirked and sucked on his lemon candy.
She made it all the way back to her office before her legs stopped working. She was fucked and if that was what he had on her, a women that spent most of her life trying extremely hard not to break the law then what did that sick old fuck have on the rest of the world? She would need to take this to the group and figure out how they were going to proceed from here. She took the bottle of scotch out of her desk drawer and poured two fingers in her empty coffee mug. She sat there staring at the mug for a few minutes before Emmeline Vance knocked on her door. Emma was one of her most trusted Aurors and a long time friend. She walked in and saw the look on her bosses face and knew something was up. When she saw the bottle on the desk she knew it was bad.
"What's going on boss?" She asked taking a seat in one of the chairs in front of the desk.
"I was just at the castle to see the old man. I tried to get him to play ball and help me keep our planes moving forwards. When he said no I tried to blackmail him. He inturn gave me a detailed run down of the night of July, 10, 1978." Amelia said finally taking a drink from her mug. As the warm scotch burned her throat going down she felt the comforting warmth that came with drinking when you felt shaken up.
"What happened that night? Or is it better off if I don't know?" She asked.
"Remember James Ogden? That was the night I killed him. I'll just say that much incase the old man puts me on trial for it." Amelia said.
"So he's not willing to help us fix the country?" She asked looking shocked.
"Oh, he'll help us pass the laws and prosecute the DEs, but he's not endorsing me for the mayor job and he's putting his lapdog wesley's name into the hat for the job. He's not giving up control to other people he's doubling down on his power grab. On top of all that the dark lord might not be dead. And yes before you freak out, it might be some bullshit the old man cooked up to get off the hook for the shit he did but if it's not and that old fuck is in control of the ship when we enter into a second war with the dark lord then we're all going to die." Amelia said sighing into her drink.
"Well, what if neither of you take the job? Do you really want to be the minister?" Emmeline asked.
"Not really, but I know it's a hell of alot easier to get things done in this ministry if you're the top dog. I mean unless we can find someone that the old man will sign off on and we can still control." Amelia said going back to her drink.
"You mean someone like Aurora Sinistra?" Emmaline said.
"In the words of the virgin Mary, Come again?" Amelia said looking at he friend and second in command.
"You heard me, Aurora Sinistra. She's from an old neutral pureblood family, last of the line in fact. She's smart, knows the pureblood laws, she was apprenticing with Andy Tonks during the war and she has a masters in law. She was engaged to Sirius Black until he went all Sirius Black. After that she dropped out of the apprenticeship and became an alcoholic. Teaching astronomy is the only steady job she can hold down. She looks good, she sounds good and she looks like she could run the country, if you can get her sober. On top of that she's not fond of the old man. But he'll have to endorse her or it will look bad. Here's one of his own teachers quitting her job to run for minister. He can't say anything. If he tries to call into question the fact that she used to be engaged to Black then we make her the victim. If he calls her a lush then we fire back and say it's a lie, if she's such a drunk then why would he let her teach at his school." Emmeline said with a smile.
"Do you think we can clean her up and get her to take the job?" Amelia asked.
"We can tell her we're going after the death eaters. She's got a real sore spot for the DE's as you can imagine. If we tell her what's going on then I think we can get her to go for it." Emmeline said.
"Set up a meeting with her. We'll tell her everything and see if we can pull the case file on Black, maybe we can get him kissed or veiled. It will make a good first case for her." Amelia said sitting back in her chair with a smirk. "Fuck you old man." She said before she laughed.