Author's Note: Okay, yes, I am reposting this chapter because I overhauled the last half of it. The outcome is very different from the original and I must give the credit to one of my reviewers, Hahukum Konn, for the time and ideas he spent emailing me on how to fix the issue that was bothering me with this chapter. I'm sorry for any confusion on my reader's part. But just so you know, your reviews are read and when you give me suggestions for what you want to see, I do spend a lot of time considering all suggestions. So keep the reviews coming! ;-)

And Hahukum Konn, I hope I did you proud!

First Times, Second Chances

Chapter Fourteen: Under New Management

Four Months Later…

Meri couldn't believe the day she was having. She and Kingsley were a breath away from nailing Avery and possible the Carrows, though she was finding it hard to contact Severus. With him being the headmaster, she was certain that he was busy but he had refused her owls and the last time she had seen him had been in the graveyard at Godric's Hollow. He had so completely shielded his mind from her there was no way to contact him that way either. And if that wasn't enough, the Minister had called a meeting to ask about how she had brought in a Death Eater the other day. Getting on the lift, she jabbed the button for the ninth floor.

"Rough day?"

Meri turned around to see Arthur Weasley standing in the lift. She hadn't even realized she was scowling until she forced a smile on her face. "You could say that."

"Where are you headed?"

Meri rolled her eyes. "A possible disciplinary hearing."

Arthur hid his own smile with a cough. "Because you brought in that Meadows bloke unconscious?"

"Yeah. Apparently they like to talk to them before they toss them into Azkaban. Don't see what the point is really. It's like they don't even care if the person could be innocent. What happened to the trials?"

Arthur shrugged. "Did away with them because they took up too much time."

"Unbelievable. Meadows I knew was guilty when I caught him. He had a muggle half dead in an alley way practicing his Cruciatus Curse. They don't want to throw him in Azkaban, no, they want to talk to him."

Arthur laid a hand on Meri's shoulder. "Careful. This is your third disciplinary hearing in the last four months. You're too good an Auror to have them run you out of here because of politics."

Meri sighed deeply. "It's almost as if Death Eaters have infiltrated the Ministry and are working against us. Tying our hands when we catch one of their own and demanding we catch and throw into prison the innocent ones."

"I'm afraid that may very well be the truth of the situation."

The lift dinged and the witch's voice announced, "Level Nine, Department of Mysteries."

"Someone needs to do something about it then," Meri said, stepping off the lift but holding the door back so she could still speak to Arthur. "What about the Minister?"

"Thicknesse?" Arthur shrugged. "He doesn't seem to be much of leader. We had a better chance when Scrimgeour was the Minister."

Meri nodded and waved goodbye as she headed down the hallway to the staircase that led to the sixth courtroom. Arthur had hinted before of his belief that the Ministry was either in or soon would be in the hands of Voldemort. Meri had a hard time buying that as there were so many witches and wizards involved in the organization that it seemed so terribly unlikely. She checked her watch and found she was five minutes early. Better early than late, perhaps they would go easy on her this time. But when she stepped into the room, she realized this was no disciplinary hearing.

It seemed half the Wizengamot were present as well as an odd collection of friends and foes. Dolores Umbridge sat primly in the front row, regarding Meri with a air of smugness. Meri had had some interesting run ins with that particular woman and wished desperately she could throw Umbridge in Azkaban just being an arrogant bigot. Kingsley Shacklebolt was there as well which encouraged Meri to no end. Thicknesse, of course, sat in the center seat with the various Wizengamot officials behind him.

Something familiar flitted in the back of her mind and she looked back up at all the faces before her and found what it was: Severus Snape was seated in the chair that the Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot usually resided in. Whenever she had come before the Wizengamot it was always Dumbledore in that seat and it seemed to make his loss more real. Snape kept his face expressionless and his mind closed tight so she couldn't tell if he was friend or foe. Before she could think any more on the matter, Thicknesse banged the mallet to start the meeting. Meri had stood for the last three hearings without anyone ordering her to sit in the chair appointed to the defendant so she stood for this one as well.

"Meriam Anne Potter," Thicknesse started, "do you know why you are here?"

Meri squared her shoulders. "No sir, I do not."

A man sitting behind the Minister sneered at her response which Meri thought was slightly odd. Even Umbridge had maintained that annoying little smile at her response. And it wasn't far from the truth. Having so many people present for a disciplinary hearing seemed like overkill in her mind.

"It has come to the attention of those gathered here," Thicknesse said in his flat voice, "that you have used more force than necessary to apprehend those suspected of being Death Eaters."

"I can assure you, Minister," Meri started to say when he cut off as if she hadn't said anything at all.

"We have reached a decision that you should be confined to the Auror's office until further notice. You will not have any contact with any suspect from this time forward."

Meri hadn't listened to a word he said after he cut her off. She was watching the man behind Thicknesse murmuring to himself, or so she thought. Staring straight at Thicknesse she delved into his mind to find not one person in there but two. His own mind was dormant and the man behind him was whispering what he wanted the Minister to say.

Kingsley had stood up to protest the punishment but Meri held up her hand to him and sat back down. "Minister, may I say something?"

He looked up at her with slightly unfixed eyes. "Yes?"

Without any pretense, she said the counter curse and watched as confusion spread across his once emotionless face. Everyone sat still and quiet, wondering why she had uttered a counter curse, waiting to see what would happen. But when Thicknesse looked down at his clothes he jumped up from his seat. "I'm Minister?!" he exclaimed and pandemonium broke out. The man who had been sitting directly behind the Minister had bolted from his seat and was almost to the door. Meri took off after him and made it to the door just as he slipped out and down the hall.

"Incarceratus!" she shouted and thick ropes exploded from thin air and wrapped themselves around the fleeing man. He fell with a thud to the floor, spitting and cursing. Kingsley stepped forward, hauled the man up to his feet and then gave Meri a surprised look.

"I saw him whispering things into Thicknesse's ear. He showed all the signs of being-"

Kingsley pointed towards her. "Where's your wand?"

Meri patted her robes and pulled it out from her inner pocket. "Here, why?"

"You used the incarcerous spell and didn't use your wand?"

"I didn't have time to pull it out."

Whispers started to break out behind her and she could hear snippets of "didn't use a wand," "stopped him without a wand," "I couldn't have done that," "very powerful." Thicknesse came out of the room and saw the man tied up.

"Yaxley!" he exclaimed. "Out of all the people here, it was you!"

The man's face reddened. "The Dark Lord was very pleased with me! The Ministry is already in his hands!"

"He's not going to be very pleased with you now, will he?" Meri said.

"I am one of his most faithful!"

"Really?" Meri walked up to him and stared up into his hate twisted face. "How about we send you back to him and you can tell him that the Minister has been returned to his right mind. Being his most faithful I'm sure he'll welcome you with open arms."

The anger faded and it left his face almost chalk white. "No, no…don't send me back there, please! I'd rather go to Azkaban."

"I'm sure that can be arranged," Kingsley said as he pulled the whimpering man back towards the steps that lead to the lift. Meri watched them till they were out of sight and turned around to a mass of shocked and some indignant faces. Thicknesse stepped forward from the group and placed a hand on Meri's arm.

"I was hoping you and Kingsley have time to meet with me later on."

"Of course," Meri answered.

Thicknesse moved down the hallway and the Wizengamot slowly followed him out. Meri moved out of their way and nodded to them as they passed, all thoughts of her disciplinary hearing out of their minds. When the last one disappeared up the stairs, she slid down the wall and sat on the floor. She needed time to process the events that had happened. Apparently, Arthur was right about the Ministry being in a bad way concerning Death Eaters. Surely there were more legilimens out there than just her. Why hadn't anyone else noticed that the Minister wasn't himself?

"I would imagine you're very proud of yourself at the moment."

Meri looked up to see Severus standing over her with his unreadable face and cold eyes. "Oh, you're talking to me now? I wasn't aware of that. My apologies."

His mouth twitched in a half smile. "It's been…interesting at the school."

"I can imagine. From what I remember, Professor Flitwick can be a handful."

He pulled his wand out and waved in a circle. Meri felt the muffliato charm fall around them. "You have no idea what I've been dealing with."

Meri grinned. "You're right, I don't. It may have something to do with you refusing my owls and locking up that intriguing mind of yours. Know what I've been doing? Catching all your old buddies from school. We're just about ready to go snatch Avery. The Carrows are next on my list."

"Wonderful," he replied. "They've been nothing but a headache at the school. You'd be doing me a favor."

"You're the headmaster now, why did you even put them in a teaching position?"

Severus raised an eyebrow. "Having one of the Dark Lord's most faithful servants at Hogwarts and not appointing some of his followers would be suicidal."

"Why the Carrows?"

"They were the most…innocuous of all the Death Eaters."

"You do realize that burning a candle at both ends means you're going to get burnt, Sev."

"Thank you for your concern. The reason why I stayed behind was to warn you about what the Minister is going to ask you to do. While you were busy taking down Yaxley, I monitored Thicknesse's thoughts."

Meri stretched out her legs and crossed her arms. "And? He's not going to ask me to work with Umbridge, is he?"

"As entertaining as that might be, no. He felt guilt over being so vulnerable to the imperious curse that he doesn't want to face the public. He's probably writing his resignation now."

"What does this have to do with me?"

"By Merlin's beard, you're dense."

"Apparently, you're rubbing off on me."

"The point," he hissed, "is that he was impressed with your actions today. The fact that you realized something was wrong and fixed it. Then there was that incident of wandless magic you pulled off which means you have a decent amount of power. He's most likely reading over files at the moment. He'll appoint Shacklebolt as Minister given he's head Auror at the moment. With that position open, he'll ask you to take Shacklebolt's place."

Meri frowned. "Why me? I've only been back for four months."

"You were trained by Alastor Moody. Since Moody's retired and Tonks, his last protégé, is on leave, you are the only logical choice. Besides," Snape gave a half sneer, "you claim to have come from a time where the Dark Lord ruled and you survived for sixteen years. If that were true, I would appoint you as Head Auror as well."

Meri's eyes narrowed to slits. "What do you mean 'if' that were true?"

"I'm not the only one who's keeping their mind locked up."

"Fine," she acquiesced. "When we have time to shoot the breeze I'll be sure to fill you in on everything that happened there. Be prepared for a lot of James, Sirius and Remus because they were alive there."

A muscle twitched in Snape's cheek but he remained silent.

"Alright, if you're right about this," Meri stood up from the floor, "what do I do about you and the Carrows? Kingsley would like nothing more that to toss you and the Carrows into Azkaban and put Hogwarts in McGonagall's hands."

He shrugged. "Then you come after us. Personally, I would love nothing more than to hand the school over to McGonagall and get the Carrows out but I still have to stay in the Dark Lord's good books. If you come, I will put up a fight."

"Wonderful. Nothing like beating up an ally."

Snape waved his wand and the muffliato charm broke. "Miss Potter."

"Headmaster."

She watched Snape as he walked down the hall and disappeared up the stairs. She thought it was such a waste of time keeping everyone in the Order ignorant of who's side he was really on. As far as she knew, his only confident was her and having only one person who you trust implicitly was never good.

"You alright?"

Meri looked up to see Kingsley had returned. "I'm fine, why?"

"Snape just passed me and he looked murderous."

Meri gave him a smile. "He always looks like that."

Kingsley gave her a stern look. "I was a little concerned seeing you here by yourself with him still lurking around here. It's why I came back down."

"Don't worry about it. I've been dealing with him since my first year at Hogwarts."

"Speaking of Hogwarts," Kingsley said as they started back up to the Auror office, "we really need to do something about Snape and the Carrows. Now that Thicknesse is released from the Imperious curse we may be able to convince him of going into the school and arresting them all."

Meri chewed on her lower lip. She knew Snape was doing his best at keeping the students safe. But the situation was still lose/lose for Snape: either they would arrest him and he would be sent to Azkaban or he would flee and suffer punishment from Voldemort for abandoning his post. Voldemort would not be pleased to lose both the Ministry and Hogwarts. She needed more time to think about the situation and see if there wasn't a win situation for them so she changed the subject.

"Thicknesse said he wanted to meet us later on."

"Really? Did he say about what?"

Meri shrugged. "I don't know."

Harry sat in the tent and listened to the rain pelt the top and sides of the canvas. They had found the locket, thanks to some useful help from Kreacher, but how to destroy it was still a problem. He didn't like how it was affecting them even for the short amount of time that they took turns wearing it. Ron in particular seemed to be having a hard time with it which only made Harry want to find a solution even more.

"You'll never believe this!" Hermione exclaimed as she burst through the tent flaps. She dropped the food she had scavenged on the threadbare carpet before pulling out a two day old Daily Prophet. "Listen to this, 'A new minister was appointed this morning to replace Pius Thicknesse, who was found to be under the imperious curse which was cast by a Death Eater, Alex Yaxley. The new minister, Head Auror Kingsley Shacklebolt, officially took office as of noon today and promised that the Ministry would continue to stand for what it had originally been founded for: equality, unity and freedom in the wizarding world. He vowed that the Dark Lord's reign of terror will be quickly coming to a close."

"Blimey," Ron exclaimed. Harry felt the same way, thrilled that the Ministry was back in the Order's hands. Perhaps now it would be enough to gather forces to fight Voldemort more efficiently.

"Wait, there's more," Hermione said, turning to one of the inside pages. She was practically jumping up and down in glee. "' To replace Shacklebolt as Head Auror is Meriam Potter. She has claimed to have lived in a world ruled by You-Know-Who for the last sixteen years and promises to not rest until the Dark Lord has fallen.'" Harry's hopes rose higher at that news. She was alive and now with a very clear purpose.

"'Dolores Umbridge has been dealt a particularly hard blow as her Muggle-Born Registration Committee has been permanently disbanded. The statue in the Atrium has already been ordered to be taken down and a new one is under construction. There has also been talk of the new Minister re-evaluating the way the Ministry deals with magical beasts, such as centaurs, vampires and werewolves.'"

Ron laughed. "I would have loved to see the look on Umbridge's face when they came in there and got rid of her blood status division."

Harry and Hermione laughed as well, trying to do their best impressions of their old Defense Against the Dark Arts Teacher. It was the first time in a very long time that Harry could remember them laughing together. He enjoyed every second of it and found his spirits lightened enormously as he gazed down at Kingsley and his Aunt's picture on the front of the paper where they were standing in the Atrium of the Ministry, waving and smiling. It was the first sprig of hope that he had felt since Dumbledore's death and he latched onto it with all his might.