Chapter 10
A few days after his first class with the Aurors, Harry gathered the oldest and most trustable members of the DA at his quarters. Everyone could figure out the reason of the call: there would be a Hogsmeade weekend in 2 weeks.
"I presume that all of you know or can suspect the reason for the call, right?" The teen asked as soon as the dinner was over. His absence, along his friends', from any meal at the Hall, had stopped raising questions long ago.
"The visit to Hogsmeade of the next week." Hermione said and everyone nodded.
"The logic says that LV won't attack again so soon. But being logical is not something that the Wizarding World is known for." Harry said with sarcasm.
"Amen to that!" The twins said laughing and everyone nodded to that.
"I want to make sure that another attack won't take us by surprise." Harry said returning to business: "We'll work on the same way we did last time.
"The first priority will be sending away the youngest student." Harry said before turning to the twins: "I want your fireplace open again that day. I'll talk to Rosmerta and both of your places will be the first stations of evacuation."
"You can count with us." The twins said with a serious nod.
"Susan, Ernie, Hermione and Luna, you 4 will work on watching their retreat again." He said to the 4, who nodded and then turned to Ron and Neville: "Our teams will have the same job: to hold them till our backup arrives. And hopefully this time, it won't take so long as now I can send messages with my Patronus."
"Do you have any other ideas?" Ron asked, before the portrait was opened and Albus and Minerva entered.
"I presume that you are making plans for the next Hogsmeade weekend." The Headmaster commented and everyone nodded.
"Although the logic says that there won't be a new attack so soon, I prefer to be ready." Harry said and the aged Professor nodded.
"Will you be working on the same way that last time?" Minerva asked and Harry nodded, explaining to both how the DA would move.
"May I make a suggestion?" Aileen asked, and Harry nodded to her: "Why don't you tell all the students to move always in big groups with older students as chaperons? It would make faster the evacuation if they are together."
"I like the idea. I'll pass the message to the Head of House to have it delivered." Albus said with a nod, as everyone agreed that it would save some time.
"We know that the twins and Rosmerta will have their fireplaces open in case they are needed. Is there any chance to have more? At least, the shops that we know that will have more visits." Ron asked the 2 Professors.
"I can talk and ask, but I can't make any promise on that." The Headmaster said with a sigh, as the idea was good and would also save time. During the last attack, the evacuation had lasted almost 40 minutes with only 2 fireplaces open. If they had more, the time would be reduced a lot and it would mean less risk for the students.
"Then we'll use what we have and if needed, we'll play by ear as the last time." Harry said and everyone nodded.
"Aurors?" Ernie asked.
"I'll talk to Madam Bones tomorrow when I have to go to the MOM and see if she has any idea for this. But surely, there will be Aurors there." Harry said with a nod.
"And they might make a mistake too." Hermione said suddenly. When everyone looked at her confused, she said: "They'll station too many Aurors for sure."
"And with that, they'll leave other locations too unprotected." Harry said as he saw her logic.
"That would be an invitation to a new attack." Minerva commented, as all of them realized it too.
"We'll talk tomorrow then." Harry said with a nod, before ending the meeting.
… … … …
The next day, Rosmerta was attending her bar when Harry and Aileen entered and went to her.
"You left the castle, Mr. Potter?" Rosmerta asked with an arched eyebrow.
"Actually I need 2 things: the fireplace and to talk to you for a minute." Harry said sitting down and Rosmerta joining them.
"Why my fireplace?" The witch asked curiously.
"Because I'm trying to avoid a meeting with the Minister and he expects me to go to the MOM through Hogwarts' floo connection, not from here." The teen said with a smile.
"What do you need from me?" Rosmerta asked seriously, and assuring them that she had no problem with both using her floo.
"There will be a Hogsmeade weekend next week, as you know." Here Rosmerta nodded and he continued: "We are trying to make sure that we are ready in case of any other nasty surprise."
"You think that there will be another attack?" One of the clients asked, as he went to the table and sat too. Harry recognized him as one of the clients that had helped the students' evacuation last time.
"If I have to think using the logic, there won't. But unfortunately, the wizarding world is not known exactly for using the logic and the common sense too often." The teen said with sarcasm.
"He got you there, Bill!" Rosmerta told her client laughing and the man raised his hands in surrender. Then she turned serious and asked: "You want me to do the same than last time?"
"I spoke with the twins yesterday and they assured that their fireplace will be open once more. We would appreciate if you do the same." Harry said with a nod.
"You can count on me for that." Rosmerta assured him very seriously. Then she turned to Bill and told him: "I want you and your cousin here too. You 2 do that and I will give you a free bottle of whiskey for each."
"You have a deal!" Bill said laughing and assuring her and Harry that he would be there too.
"If you excuse us, we need to go to the MOM." Harry said standing with Aileen and shaking hands with both adults.
… … … …
Tonks was with Dawlish at the Ministry Atrium when both teenagers arrived and both Aurors went to meet them.
"I LOATHE the floo." Harry muttered, cleaning his robes.
"You are early, Harry." Tonks said right before Aileen arrived too and started to clean her robes.
"Tonks, this is Aileen. Aileen, this is Tonks." The teen introduced both witches, who shook hands with a smile.
"I better go to meet Dad and you meet Madam Bones. When you are done, go to his Office, ok?" Aileen said to her boyfriend, who nodded and the witch went to the lifter.
"Oh, meeting your in-law for the first time, Harry?" Tonks teased him while the 3 went to another lifter and went to the DMLE.
"I can't avoid it forever, can I?" The teen said with a smile before the 3 headed to Amelia's office, where they found Bones meeting with Shacklebolt.
"You are early. You won't tell me that you are trying to avoid a meeting with the Minister, right?" Amelia asked with a smile.
"No, I have to meet with my girlfriend's father and I decided to have some time to do so." Harry said laughing and taking a seat. Then he turned serious and said: "I need to talk to you about the Hogsmeade weekend of the next week."
"Do you expect another attack?" Dawlish said with sarcasm.
"No, but I prefer to worry too much in advance than regretting too late." Harry said seriously before adding with a twisted smile: "After all, the wizarding world is not exactly known for showing a lot of common sense and logic."
"The common sense is the less common of the senses." Tonks muttered, and shut her mouth when her boss looked at her.
"We were just discussing it right before you arrived." Amelia informed the teen, pointing to Kingsley. Then she asked: "Do you have ideas?"
"How many Aurors will you have stationed there?" Harry asked seriously.
"The idea is of 6 teams of 8 or 9 Aurors." The black Auror said.
"That would be a huge mistake, Kingsley." The teen said seriously.
"How so?" Amelia asked interested.
"Although it's true that LV lost too many followers in his last attack, he still has a lot. And I'm sure that he'll want revenge on that." Harry started to say and the 4 adults listened in silence:
"He knows that Hogsmeade will be too protected, after what happened last time. Now, besides of Dumbledore and the MOM, he'll have to worry about the students, who were the main responsibility of his failure.
"The Minister has shown that he wants to prove that he's not as useless as Fudge and to do so…" Harry said before Amelia realized what he meant.
"He'll place most of the Aurors at Hogsmeade and will leave all the other places too unprotected." Madam Bones said, and the teen nodded.
"That's like inviting YKW to attack once more." Tonks muttered with a sigh.
"What's your idea then?" Amelia asked, ready to hear suggestions.
"Three teams of your Aurors plus the DA and a couple of teachers should be enough to buy time till the back up arrives." Harry said before he explained what they had thought the previous night. When he finished, he added: "And we are trying to get at least one more shop."
"The twins and Rosmerta agreed to this?" Kingsley asked, while he and Amelia took several notes.
"The twins assured me of it last night and I talked to Rosmerta just before coming. As a matter of fact, I came through her fireplace." The teen nodded to the Auror.
"Why a third shop?" Dawlish asked confused.
"Because the last evacuation took 40 minutes and that time is too high. It has to be reduced as much as possible." Harry said seriously.
"What if we get a PSA too?" Tonks asked suddenly, before she explained to Harry: "Primary Station of Arrival. PSE stands for the same, but the E means Evacuation."
"I can get one or two of those for sure." Amelia said with a serious nod.
"Do you know how to send messages with the Patronus?" Harry asked suddenly to Kingsley and Tonks.
"I never learnt it." The black Auror said with a shake of his head, and Tonks did the same.
"Remind me of it and I'll teach it to both after the class." Harry said and both Officers nodded. Then he said to Amelia: "My ideas are open to discussion. I hear any of yours."
"Your ideas will be useful and we can change ours to make them work together. Can you give us a couple of days?" Amelia asked, knowing that all the ideas that had been thought were too stupid compared to his.
"You know where and how to find me." The teen said with a nod and he stood. Then he told them: "I have to meet with my in-law before the class and to do so I need to stay a bit away from the Minister. I doubt that he'll like that miss another appointment like the last time." He nodded to the adults and left.
"What are you thinking about?" Amelia asked Kingsley seriously.
"That if we accept the challenge he did last time, Potter and his friends will sweep the floor with us." The black Auror said as serious as his boss.
"Explain." Bones ordered him, as he had caught the attention of the 4.
"We might have the experience, Amelia, but they have one thing on their side: they can work separated from the head and on their own." Kingsley said before he explained:
"Potter will surely divide his friends into teams, and anyone can guess at least 2.
"One of them will be the twins. Those two can work together without talking to each other and will be the second hardest team to beat.
"If the duel is about 12 against 12, he'll team Johnson, Spinnet and Bell together. They played Quidditch together as Chasers for 5 years. That means that they know how to work together as well as the twins.
"About the other teams, I can only make guesses." Shacklebolt said and Amelia nodded to tell him to do so. He continued:
"One might be formed by his girlfriend, Lovegood and the Weasley girl. Holster and Ginny are close friends with Xeno's daughter and the 3 might work well together.
"If I was Potter I would do the same that in Hogsmeade: Longbottom with the last Weasley. They know each other and will work fine together."
"And Potter with Granger?" Amelia asked curious.
"Those 2 will be the hardest to beat for one reason: she is the brain while he's the power. That means that they'll be more prepared than the others, although not much more. But they'll fight harder than anyone else and they'll be last to attack and they'll hold nothing back." Shack said seriously.
"How do you beat them then?" Dawlish asked arching an eyebrow.
"With a miracle." Tonks said with a snort. Then she added: "There's no team on the force that can work as well as any of those that Kingsley mentioned, mainly because all of the duelers will try to withstand themselves and will forget the team work. Harry's friends will never do that as all of us know that the attention will be centered on him, no matter what they do."
"And knowing that all the Aurors will go after him, his friends will use that to their advantage." Kingsley said seriously, before adding: "By the way, Amelia, don't count on me for that duel. I have no wishes to be humiliated that bad."
"How would you beat him?" Amelia asked seriously.
"I see only one chance to be close to it: not losing Aurors for the duel against Potter and being sure that he's alone. But even under those circumstances, I wouldn't bet against him going down peacefully. Then he'll show all the hidden tricks up his sleeve and will make sure that we don't have a clean win. And with the Weasley Twins on his side, you can be sure that he'll have a lot." Kingsley said more serious than ever.
"You are exaggerating!" Dawlish said and left the room.
"I'm not, Amelia, and you know that too well." Kingsley told his boss.
"What's the deal between Potter and the Weasley twins? I always wondered that." Amelia asked curious.
"There are 2 explanations as to why they became friends: the simple would be Ron is Harry's best friend and that the 3 played Quidditch together. The not so simple is that the twins opened their shop thanks to Harry giving them money. The Galleons he won at the Tournament if details are needed." Shacklebolt said with a smile. Then he added: "And he'll pay them 10000 Galleons for sitting and passing the NEWTS exams of DADA, Charms and Transfigurations."
At that moment someone knocked the door and Rufus entered without waiting invitation. Amelia and the Aurors could see reporters outside.
"Rufus, if the door is closed, there is a reason to it." Bones told the Minister with a stern voice. Then she added: "You are late, Mr. Potter left to meet his father-in-law."
The Minister sighed and left once more closing the door behind him. Amelia waved her wand and locked it before turning to the 2 Aurors.
"This is getting funny." Tonks commented with a smile.
"It's getting annoying." Amelia said with a sigh. It was obvious that Rufus was decided to use Harry as a poster boy with the media and the teen had no wishes of that. Then he told Shacklebolt: "What's the situation Potter and the rest of the Order?" She knew its existence since the first war, but never showed intention to be on it.
"It's 50/50 right now. It's neither too good but not bad." The black Auror said thinking for a moment about how to answer that. Then he elaborated: "Molly still claims that he's too young to fight or to be part of the Order and they had a… argument this summer." Tonks snorted at his choice of words.
"How bad was it?" Amelia asked confused.
"Harry's shouts could have easily woken a few dead men and we had to rebuild 3 walls after the end." Kingsley said before adding: "And as you surely saw after the duel, they are not in good terms. Even if in public they'll act as if they do."
"Which is the real reason?" Bones asked, knowing that the joining of the teen in the Order was just the tip of the iceberg.
"Molly interfered in Harry's relationship with Sirius too much last year and he hasn't forgiven her for that. And he considers her as a hypocrite, as she claims that he is too young to be part of the Order, but she knows that he's the one that has to kill YKW." Tonks said before she added: "And those are just 2 of the reasons."
"What about the others?" Amelia asked seriously.
"Although he doesn't say it aloud, I think that for him, we are as responsible as Lestrange of his Godfather's death. And that we are doing too little and hiding all the time." Kingsley said seriously, before adding: "Publicly, he'll put aside all the differences. Privately, it's a very different matter."
"And how is the Order reacting to this?" The witch asked with a sigh.
"For some of us, me included, he's right in several of the accusations." Tonks said seriously. Then she added: "For the others, he's not thinking straight as he's driven by the grief."
"Is there a rift on the Order?" Amelia asked shocked with the news.
"It's not a rift per se, but there are divergences. And some people are starting to wonder about Dumbledore's ways. Not too loud, but they are." Kingsley said seriously.
"Who supports him?" Amelia asked, before seeing that it was almost time for the class and they got ready to leave.
"That's not the question you should make, Amelia. You should wonder in whom he trusts. And the answer is that he only trusts on 12 people he selected for the duel. I don't know if there are more, but that's his inner circle of friends." Kingsley said very seriously now, before she added: "This chat never happened, right?"
"Which chat?" Amelia asked with an ironic smile.
AN: This won't be a bashing fic! Harry will be more independent than in the books!
Next time, I'll try to update one of the other fics.