Chapter 10 – Trap or Trapped

"George, Amelia was asking about you. She wanted to know if you were ok."

George turned away. "I need some time before I talk to her again."

I let it drop. We left the shop and headed for their place. When we got there Hermione made quick work of the locks on the door. As we entered Ginny held her nose.

"These two are slobs."

"Search the place."

We fanned out and stared looking. After an hour of looking, I had found that Ginny was right; they were slobs but nothing else.

"Anybody find anything?"

Hermione came out of the kitchen.

"I did. According to this there were only 2 families not bound."

"How does Fudge fit in?"

"His was a family that was a spy for the rule the muggle group. They were spying on the live side by side group so nobody thought of binding them in the beginning. When they decided to bind all the families in the war they vanished and couldn't be found."

"You look a bit distressed at something. What's wrong?"

"It's to pat. I think this is a plant. I don't like Fudge but I don't think it's him."

"Come on Hermione, its all there. Let's get him."

"No Ron. Some of this doesn't fit the known facts. Somebody planted this."

Ginny looked at everyone. "Who then?"

"I don't know but Fudge might."

"We don't have much time. If we don't catch them they might vanish."

"Ron, I think we need mom and dad."

"Home, we can contact them from home."

We arrived to total chaos. Half of the order was there.

I saw Mr. and Mrs. Weasley in the crowd. "Ron, get your mom and dad to the shed – nobody else."

"Right mate."

I took Hermione and Ginny to the shed.

"Ginny, I want you to not come with us when we leave."

"I will not be left behind."

"Before you say anything else listen. I want you to get Amelia Bones from her office and the cloak from George. Meet us at Fudges residence. You both need to be under cover of the cloak. I am taking a chance so make sure you keep your wand out. Stay out of sight but close enough to help if needed. Tell Amelia that she can't do or say anything unless you say so. We may need her. If she is on our side you will have little to do. If she isn't you may have a problem. Make sure she understands that you have your wand out and she needs to keep hers put away."

Ron came in with Molly and Arthur as Ginny left.

"What is all the fuss? We expected you to be at the ministry."

"Arthur got a note to meet with the order at his place just as I got there."

"Molly said you were being followed. The note said that someone was following Harry. "

"We are being followed and being used against Fudge. I don't like him but Hermione said the evidence we found was planted. We need to get to Fudge before the bad guys."

Arthur looked a bit worried. "What if it is some elaborate trap set by Fudge?"

"If it is a trap, we have set a plan in motion to counter it. I think we have it covered. We need to keep the order from trying to interfere."

Molly looked at me. "I think I can miss lead the group for a while. I may even be able to persuade them that we need to wait for a couple of days."

Mr. Weasley, Ron, Hermione, and I went to Fudges home. We looked around outside and didn't see anything, walked up and Mr. Weasley knocked on the door.

Fudge came to the door with his wand out and ready to use.

Fudge glared at us. "What do you want Arthur?"

"I believe you are being framed for murder."

"You expect me to believe you and your three friends came to help me?"

Hermione held forth the book. "I found this."

He looked down at the book. "Come on in and let me look at it."

We sat on the couch as Fudge looked through the book.

"I see your point."

He walked to the sideboard. "Would you like a drink?"

"No," answered Arthur. "Do you know who would want to frame you?"

Fudges hand started shaking and he spilt some of his drink. He put it down. "No."

He bent over to wipe the floor and touched something. "Circlus. I got you. You fell for it."

I couldn't move but I smiled. Hermione was nearly vibrating.

"What do you mean?"

"My family has dedicated itself to the extinction of the Weasleys."

Ron got heated. "Just your family?"

"Fudge and Bones. Well part of them. Part of the Bones family was bound. The part that wasn't bound died out 200 years ago. We have been working without anybody else since then."

Arthur spoke without any fear in his voice. "I am going to give you a chance to surrender. If you do I will only have you bound. If not, I will invoke the full power of the staff and you will perish."

"You can't threaten me Weasley. Nothing can be summoned within the circle. I have not attacked you directly so the staff will not protect you. Nobody knows you're here and the staff only works for males in your family."

Ron, Hermione, and I started chuckling.

"You think this is funny Potter? It won't be when you die."

Arthur looked puzzled. A moment later the Ginny appeared holding the Staff.

"This is your last chance Fudge."

He pulled out his wand and cast a curse at Ginny. The staff reacted by putting up a shield.

"The staff can only protect bound members of your family. How?"

"Allow me to introduce you to my wife, Mrs. Potter, joined under the old law, recognized by Head of House and Clan Weasley and bound to the House."

"It may protect you but you still can't use it."

Arthur spoke. "Any member of the House Weasley may invoke the binding as the staff has granted the power to all members."

Ginny smiled.

"Through the mind to your soul. We as one invoke the binding of loss on you Fudge."

Fudge realized to late that Ron, Hermione and I had joined her in speaking the spell. The spell emerged from the staff and traveled toward Fudge. He dodged and erected a hasty shield. He was a bit slow. The spell ignored his shield and struck. At first he stood there waiting for the spell to do something.

A smiled played on his lips. "It didn't do anything to me."

Ginny smiled even broader as she calmly walked over to the circle and struck the spell with the staff. Fudged raised his wand.

"Goodbye."

To his surprise nothing happened. From under the cloak stepped Amelia Bones.

"As Auror for the Ministry of Magic, Magic Law Enforcement, I arrest you for your crimes Fudge. You will spend the rest of your short existence in prison."

"You can't arrest me you have no proof."

"You know that an Aurors memory is proof but in this case the Staff of Judgment has the first and final say."

Arthur took hold of the staff from Ginny and started to glow.

"As Head of House and Clan Weasley I have witnessed the spell of binding. It is now up to me to determine what consequences will result. The binding of loss leaves me little choice. You shall spend the rest or your days as a muggle, a person without the power to use magic. You will be taken and trained for muggle work. Your memories of the magical world will be erased. Your crimes against the magical world are many. You have killed many. You will be rendered incapable of harming any others by a spell to prevent you from doing any violence even in self-defense. All of your belongings will be sold to cover the cost of your care and repay the families you have harmed."

Fudged scoffed, "You don't have the knowledge to do what you have proclaimed."

Arthur hung his head. "I am sorry for you. You are correct, I do not have the power or knowledge but the staff does. This staff was created by the first born of the leaders of the first magical war. They had agreed that this had to be done or we would all perish. They traded their lives in a bargain with magic Herself. The staff was given final say. If the staff agrees with me you will never again see the magical world or harm another person."

"You're bluffing."

Amelia was staring at Fudge. "Arthur has said you shall live. I would not have been as merciful."

Arthur stood rock still. "As Head of House and Clan Weasley I ask, is my judgment fair?"

Three figures stepped from the staff. "Your judgment is merciful and fair. You have not sought revenge but justice. It shall be as you have said."

Fudge was unable to believe his eyes. "No. You can't do this. You have no right."

The three figures surrounded Fudge and joined hands.

"The binding of loss has been cast on you. The consequences have been made known. Your power over magic has been taken by magic Herself. You will never harm another as long as you live. The mercy of the judgment is that you will not remember anything before today."

I had never felt such power. Each person put a hand on Fudge and a hand on the person to their left. There was no light, no sound, nothing to indicate that anything was happening. Fudges face went blank and he sank to the floor.

They turned to Amelia. "You have been given knowledge that few know. They went to her and looked into her eyes. You shall keep the knowledge you have learned but you may only speak to a member of the House and Clan Weasley of this knowledge. To ensure this we ask if you are willing to be bound by the old law to silence."

Amelia looked at all three figures. "I am willing to be bound to silence by the old laws. Nobody should learn what I know."

"Put forth your hand."

She put her hand forth. The three placed their hand on hers.

"Silence is golden and knowledge used wisely more so. We see you have wisdom."

They walked back to the staff.

"We chose wisely. The price of peace has been paid with lives of many but no blood was spilled today."

The room was empty except for us. Arthur turned and looked at Amelia. "This is the first time the staff has allowed anybody outside of the Weasley household knowledge about the staff. Is there something I should know?"

"I don't know of anything. I still don't know why Ginny came to get me."

"I knew Ginny didn't come with us but I thought she had been told to stay home. I can see I was wrong. Harry, why did you send Ginny to get Amelia?"

"Hermione said it was too obvious a plant. She asked Ron to come up with a backup plan."

Ron jumped in.

"If Hermione was wrong then we needed some help. Harry said to use Amelia. Ginny was the obvious one to be missing from our group. Nobody would think twice if Ginny wasn't with us."

"I was the choice to get Amelia and Harrys cloak was a way to be with you but not seen."

"I had to take a risk. I trusted my instinct. She had gone out of her way to warn me. She said she would be in her office. She didn't warn the person tailing us as she pointed him out. It was the same person I had suspected as she walked out the door. I took the chance."

"Ginny took the flu network to George for the cloak then Amelia. Amelia then appearated them both to Fudges residence before we arrived."

Amelia looked at Harry. "She made it plain that she would have her wand out and that I was to not take mine out. After I agreed to her conditions she produced this beautiful cloak to hide under explaining its use and where we needed to go."

"Amelia, I am going to ask you to do something that hasn't been done in a long time and keep it a secret until the parties affected decide to make the announcement themselves."

"What would that be Arthur?"

"You just found out that Harry and Ginny are married. Ron and Hermione are also married. Because of something that happened, Harry, Ginny, Hermione, and Ron are joined and are a married pair of pairs under the old magic laws. As the Head of House and Clan Weasley I have recognized this marriage. This also grants them majority rights."

Amelia looked at us. Her eyes widened a bit.

"That is unusual in this time but is still part of magic law. I will put a secrecy spell on the complete arrangement but let the majority rights be public knowledge if someone checks. That way nobody will know about Ginny's marriage until they announce it themselves."

"They are going to have a public marriage ceremony before school starts."

"What do you want me to do with Fudge?"

"We will take care of that but his belongings need to be sold for his care and training."

"I can take care of the sale. Where do the proceeds go?"

"St. Mungo's care of the magically impaired."

"Dad."

"Yes Ginny?"

"George may need to have some help with six thugs and two Death Eaters that tried to attack us this evening."

"What kind of help?"

"The Death Eaters need to be taken and tried. The other six are working off their debt to the Joke Shop in an unusual way."

Amelia looked over at Ginny. "How are they working off their debt?"

"At the moment I think George is having them clean the store. After that they are going to be advertising the reopening of the shop by demonstrating some of the items in front of the store. One of my favorites is the ball and chain wedding joke. That way they won't run off before the day is done."

"Have they agreed to this?"

"If Amelia were to drop by this evening with us, she could explain how this is better than a trip to prison."

"I will have a squad from Magical Law Enforcement pick up the two Death Eaters but for the other six I have a better idea. I think I will take a couple of my Aurors with me. They need a practical demonstration of how sometimes it's better for everybody involved to come to a peaceful resolution to their problem and save hours of paperwork. This way if they decide they don't want to co-operate we can take them in and process them for breaking and entering and I can give them the paperwork. I have enough of my own to do."

Ginny looked at Amelia. "I think you are sweet on George and are going to use this to see him."

Amelia looked at Ginny. "And how old are you? Nobody else has said anything and yet you just say it as if it were fact."

She smiled. "I think the staff gave you away. That is when I started thinking something may be going on between you and our family. The only person that I could think of was George. Now you have confirmed it."

"I am going to have to be a bit more careful around this family. You are a little too perceptive."

We finally arrived back at the burrow very late.

"I want to know how the four of you figured out what to do without letting me know what was happening."

Ginny looked at mom and dad.

"The binding between us is really deep. We seem to know which of us is better at doing some things and we trust each other."

"What I want to know is how mom kept the order from interfering with us this evening."

"I had to use my feminine wiles and play the frustrated wife who didn't know what was happening. It wasn't hard to play the worried part."

It had been a long night and it was time for bed. Ginny and Hermione had an evil look in their eyes. Ginny spoke first.

"Hermione, maybe you and I should sleep together and let the men fend for themselves tonight."

"Oh, that sounds like fun."

Ron started to sputter but I saw through their joke and started laughing along with mom and dad. Life was not going to be dull for a while anyway. I took Ginny's hand and we went off to bed while Hermione teased Ron some more.

Author note:

Thank you, Stephanie O. I added more hints to the story line for Ginny to catch Amelia and her being Sweet on George.