C 21 The Education of Harry Potter
Harry arrived back at his office and sat down at his desk, staring at his plain white walls. There was knock on his door but before he could answer it the door swung open and Draco Malfoy walked in and pulled up a chair. Closing the door behind him he indicated to the cabinet behind Harry.
"So, Scarhead, are you going to pull out a bottle of Ogden's Finest and tell me how things went with Lord Greengrass, or what?" he said with a smirk as he pulled two shot glasses out of a pouch in his robes.
"It could have been a lot worse," said Harry with a grin as he pulled a bottle out of his cabinet. He was about to open the bottle when someone else came in through the door.
Gawain Robards glared at the two young men. "I'm not surprised to see the two of you causing trouble, at least not surprised to see Malfoy stirring up trouble. Shouldn't you be doing something somewhere else, Junior Prosecutor?"
"Why, do you have someone else you want me to try and get acquitted?" sneered the blonde attorney. He left the shot glasses on Harry's desk as he turned to face his friend. "I'll catch up with you later, Scarhead."
Robards was still blocking the door so Malfoy stayed in his seat for a moment. Gawain then tossed a sealed envelope onto Harry's desk. "This just came from MI-6. Tanner said you need to be over there an hour ago. So you're already late. What is it with you, Potter? Always getting yourself in trouble, and now with even more dangerous people. And these folks aren't even magical."
"But they're probably even more dangerous," muttered Harry as he picked up the envelope.
"I wouldn't open that in here," commented Robards, "you probably shouldn't even look at that until you get over to their offices."
He stepped back to allow Harry leave his own office. Once Harry had exited he turned to Malfoy who was about to leave. "Has he heard about the commotion down in the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures?"
"I doubt it," answered Draco as he watched Harry leave, "he was too calm. And I'm not about to be the one to tell him. I'm sure he'll find out soon enough though."
Gawain shook his head at that thought. "I wouldn't want to see that scene. That won't be pretty."
"It depends," smirked Draco, "on who tells him, Daphne or Hermione." Then he walked off heading back to his own office.
~~~~…~~~~OOOoooOOO~~~…~~~
MI-6 Offices
Tanner was impatiently waiting on Harry Potter to arrive. He found the young man to be abrasive and arrogant. Worse than any of the double "O" agents when they first received their orders. This Potter was an unknown, he had no formal training. He was young, and only had the training of a magical schoolboy. Rumours were that he defeated some Dark Lord that terrorised the magical population, but that didn't mean much to Tanner. But what did mean something to him was that he was given explicit instruction by M to bring the young man in for a private debriefing on the Lord Eris case. She had not asked to bring any of the Double "O"s in on this at this point, and Tanner believed that was because she didn't want to risk any more after the loss of 008.
The brash young wizard was shown into his office and he noted that the young man with the striking emerald green eyes and still not even opened the envelope that had been sent to him. Tanner wondered if it was arrogance or ignorance that caused him to leave the envelope unopened.
"Took you long enough to get here," he commented to Harry.
"I came as soon as Robards told me that my presence was requested," replied Harry.
"You haven't even opened your envelope," snapped Tanner.
"Robards told me to wait until I arrived here," replied Harry. He then tossed it on Tanner's desk. "I don't work for you, and if you're going to take this attitude I don't need to work for anyone." He then turned to leave.
"You can't leave," barked Tanner.
Harry turned and glared at the man in front of him. "You sure as hell can't keep me here. I'm not about to take any crap from you or anyone in your organisation. Last I knew I worked for the DMLE. And right about now, I'm not sure I'm going to continue doing that, so, from where I'm standing, you can't make me do a damn thing." Harry paused for a moment and tried to sense with his magic and he didn't detect any anti-apparition wards before he spoke to Tanner again. "And one more thing, I am pretty sure I can leave here any time I want, so, yes I can leave."
Tanner started to turn pale as he realised that he couldn't face M without Harry Potter. "Excuse me, would you please have a seat and would you please open the envelope and read the contents."
Harry relaxed his shoulders and raised an eyebrow. Obviously his threat of apparating away touched a nerve with the man in front of him. Tanner was acting as a bully, and Harry wasn't about to stand for it. He had his full of it when he was at Hogwarts. Harry slid into a nearby seat as he silently and wandlessly cast a summoning spell on the envelope and then he casually began to look at the contents. There was a simple letter asking him to meet with M, the director of MI-6, to further discuss the case of the self proclaimed Lord Eris. Harry was almost surprised there was nothing more in the envelope. "Bloody secret agent types, have to go through all of this just to ask me to meet with the head of their organisation," he thought to himself. He shook his head in wonder, thinking to himself that they were almost as messed up as Dumbledore when it came to keeping secrets and choosing not to reveal information that may be important to others. Finally he looked up at Tanner who was waiting impatiently for him to finish reading the short note.
"Are you ready to go meet with M?" he asked.
"Sure, that's what you all asked me here for," Harry replied with a sly grin.
Tanner restrained himself from responding, as he knew that his boss was the one who wanted to meet with Harry Potter. Harry could sense the uneasiness of the man in front of him, and he was not about to let it slide at this point. One thing that he had learned through all of his previous adventures was how to speak his mind at times, particularly when he knew that he was in a position where he held the cards, and seeing as how he figured that MI-6 needed him more than he needed MI-6, he decided he could afford to go out on a limb.
Tanner pressed a button on his desk and spoke into an intercom. "Is mum ready for our guest?"
A female voice responded, "I do believe she is."
"Then I'll bring him right over, Moneypenny," he replied.
~~~~…~~~~OOOoooOOO~~~…~~~
Greenhouse Restaurant
Mayfair
Hermione and Daphne were finishing their lunch and were about to order dessert. Hermione was growing more comfortable with talking with the woman who may have cost her her job earlier, even if she did explain her reasons for it. Hermione looked around feeling self conscious despite knowing that Daphne had cast very secure privacy charms upon their arrival.
"I do have a serious question for you, and I'm not sure that you are even willing to answer it," she said looking down at the middle of the table.
Daphne raised an eyebrow, realising that her lunch mate was actually starting to get a little emboldened at this time. "So the Gryffindor courage seems to be starting to show forth, bravo girl, it's about time!"
Hermione had a slight blush at those words. "Well, I guess there's no way around my concerns. You are the one who did take Harry out on a date to mess up your betrothal contract in a very public way. Are you trying to steal him away from me at all like the papers say you are? I need to know. Am I really in a competition with you for Harry? Because if I am, I really don't see how I could ever compare to you," she finished dejectedly.
Daphne laughed. "How could you ever think that? How could you ever doubt Harry? This is Harry freaking Potter we're talking about here. The most noble Gryffindor to ever come out or Hogwarts. Yeas over half of the girls in Hogwarts fantasised about him back when we were in school, and that obviously includes Slytherin. Why do you think Draco hated him so much back in school? Even Pansy talked about Harry in her sleep. All the girls in our dorm would compare the guys in our classes regularly. Harry was always near the top of our list for cutest guys. By the time seventh year came around even Neville started getting higher on that list. So I'd be lying if I told you I'm not interested. But Hermione, don't sell yourself short. And don't sell Harry short. No one, no witch, no muggle woman, is catching Harry's eye, he only has his eyes set on you. Can't you see that? I knew my father's foolish marriage contract was just that, a foolish waste of time with Harry. The only chance I would have ever had with Harry was if he understood the old ways and he was interested in a second wife. Then I might have a chance to have a Greengrass Heir with him as his father. Or I might have a chance as Lady Black after you become his Lady Potter. But I don't see Harry ever going that way, so why waste my time. I may be from the house of Slytherin, and yes I have the cunning to see all of those options, but I'm also smart enough to know that any of those plans have no chance in Gehenna of coming true."
Hermione sat there speechless for a moment. Daphne tilted her head at the silent woman across from her. "Did I say something wrong?"
"I guess I just was jealous," she said softly in reply.
"Jealous," said Daphne, "what on earth would you be jealous about?"
"Jealous of you," whispered Hermione, "of you, of your beauty, your long blonde hair, your gorgeous smile. How can I compete with that?"
"You're not competing with me about anything," Daphne laughed again. "You already have the man devoted to you. For being the brightest witch in our class, I don't know how you can't see that."
"But if you're not trying to steal him from me, then why are you trying to help him?" wondered Hermione.
Daphne shook her head in amazement. "Like I said before, I'm from the house of Slytherin, of course there is something for me out of all of this."
"Then please, Mistress of Slytherin, do enlighten me as to what it is your cunning and ambition will get out of this," deadpanned Hermione.
Daphne smiled at the comment. "I already have the benefit of being saved from the betrothal contract, so in some ways I feel I owe the man something more than the little information I provided to him. Besides, this whole mystery is intriguing, I just seem to be drawn into it. I guess it must be similar to the adventures you all had back in school, the ones we only heard rumours about. The Golden Trio of Gryffindor running off and saving the world, or at least saving Hogwarts, or your own sorry arses at any rate. But I guess on some level its Harry, getting to know him, he becomes infectious. You just want to help him. You want to stick with him and see this through to the end. This probably doesn't make any sense, I'm just rambling now."
Hermione laughed quietly, "It makes perfect sense to me, but it stopped making sense to Ron, who actually left us at one point during our time hunting for things during what would have been out seventh year."
Daphne noticed some pain on Hermione's face and decided not to press the issue. "But to be fair, maybe a part of me hopes against hope, that something could happen, that maybe he might want a second wife, a concubine, something." She paused and looked Hermione square in the eyes, "But please believe me when I say this, as I have gotten to know you, Hermione, I do not want to do anything to hurt you. A girl can always dream though."
~~~~…~~~~OOOoooOOO~~~…~~~
MI-6 Headquarters
Tanner arrived with Harry outside of M's office. The receptionist looked at the two of them. "She is waiting for you, I'll buzz you in," she commented.
"Thank you, Moneypenny," replied Tanner.
Miss Moneypenny hit a button on her desk and waved the two men forward. Tanner opened the door and ushered Harry into the office. Harry looked around and noted the understated but elegant office. Fine panelling and wooden desk with the always stern M seated behind. She did not bother to stand upon their arrival. Tanner simply bowed his head slightly and pointed to a seat across from M. Harry made his way across the room and noted that Tanner simply closed the door behind him and left. He was almost surprised that this was turning out to be a meeting just between him and the formidable woman in front of him.
M waited patiently for Tanner to leave and for Harry to take his seat. "Welcome Mr. Potter, or should I say Lord Potter-Black."
"Harry would be perfectly fine with me, Madam," replied Harry.
M raised an eyebrow at the young man. "I am not accustomed to such informalities from those who work for me," she stated, clearly a little surprised.
"Excuse me, but as far as I know, I am an employee of the DMLE, and not of MI-6," commented Harry, "so no offence but I did not realise that I was working for you."
M smiled at him, "Perhaps that is the case when you walked through that door, but I have asked you here to see if there is some way that we can come to an understanding."
Harry raised an eyebrow in response. "If you pardon my being blunt, if working for you means having to put up with the rudeness of the likes of Tanner, then I think I already have an answer for you, no matter what your offer is, or what you need me to do."
M sighed heavily. "Tanner does not mean any offence, but my staff has been stressed since the loss of 008. In fact that is the reason I have asked you here. We have not been able to make any progress on this case of the Lord Eris. And apparently your own DMLE has been in the dark on this entire situation. You of all people seem to be the key to this mystery. I was hoping that after sharing with you the detailed information which we have, information that we have not released to the DMLE as of yet, that I may be able to persuade you to work for us, to work with us here at MI-6."
Harry was almost surprised by her comments. He paused for a moment as he carefully considered her offer. True, he needed to learn as much as he could about the case but did he really want to begin to work for MI-6? If he did begin to work for them, would there be any way to stop working for them?
"I'm not sure how to respond,"commented Harry. "Once this particular mission is done, assuming that it is done satisfactorily and everyone survives, how do I know that I am free to move on, and that I will not be beholden to MI-6, that you will not try to control my life going forward?"
M narrowed her eyes and smiled slightly. "I can saw that you are a wise one, and you probably won't take anything as any sort of guarantee, for after all, we are the country's secret service agency. If you are working for us and are captured by any foreign government we will disavow any knowledge of working with you. If you get into trouble that your own Ministry for Magic cannot get you out of, then we will not make any efforts to help you."
Harry looked at her with scorn. "Then why should I ever try and help you, if something goes wrong then you'll just hang me out to dry."
M smiled again, "Just our routine arrangements with all of our agents. However, I am sure that from what I have heard of you and your various accomplishments that if you so chose to not work with us that there would be little that we could do to force you to work for us."
Harry forced himself not to smirk at that comment. "Personally I'd rather not dinar out just what it is that your organisation could or could not force me to do. But I am at least willing to hear what it is that you have to say, as it seems that I do have a personal interest in what is going on here, that is if there is a link between what happened with your agent 008 and what happened to me not too long ago and I do presume that you are already aware of that incident."
M nodded to acknowledge that she had indeed heard about the incident. "If you are referring to the incident after the ball at your manor and the magical gem that caused the 'hallucinations' which you experienced, then yes I am aware of that event. It may be that those two events are linked."
Harry was hopeful that perhaps he would be able to learn something more about the events of earlier this summer. "If you don't mind my asking, I'm not sure what exactly I can do for you as I am currently stuck with what essentially amounts to a desk job at the DMLE, my supervisor and the Minister of Magic both have this idea that it would be too dangerous for me to do field work, being a Lord of two Ancient and Noble Houses."
M steepled her fingers and looked Harry straight in the eyes. "I can't tell you what to do with your life, but I have reviewed a lot of information that we have on you. Apparently many people didn't have this concern about the dangers you faced when you were in school. You seemed to face plenty of dangers year after year, and your faculty did nothing to protect you. In fact, it appears that they knowingly allowed these incidences to occur." She then pulled out a file that Harry noted was marked "For Your Eyes Only" and opened it. She scanned through a few of the forms within the folder, and it was clear that she was quite familiar with the items in front of her.
She then looked up at Harry as she scrutinised him again. "So, you were considered the 'chosen one,' expected to fight the Dark Lord Voldemort as an untrained wizard at the age of 17, when he was considered the most skilled and most lethal wizard in hundreds of years. And now your ministry thinks you're too fragile and too much at risk to do anything but sit behind a desk? I, for one, find what ever argument that they would come up with to be quite absurd at this point. From what my magical experts tell me, you've faced death, more than once. The fact that you are even alive at all is a mystery."
Harry was currently at a loss for words as he looked at the director sitting across from him.
"No smart responses for me?" she asked. "Good, I don't need a young foolish man who thinks he can get away with his wit and his charm." She then closed the folder that was opened in front of her. "And there is no use trying to peer into what is in this file, besides, you can guess what is in here, as it pertains to your activities. You'd be quite surprised what my magical experts can come up with."
"I might be," he commented, "but as they haven't given you any answers on the demise of agent 008 I wonder how accurate all of their information really is. I could give you a better idea of how accurate your information is if you allowed me to review the folder you have on me, but I doubt that you trust me enough to do that. Or at least not yet anyway."
M nodded in agreement with his words. "You are quite correct in that assessment, Mr. Potter. But I am willing to give you more information about agent 008. You may not be aware of this, but we recruit most of our agents from orphans, or from people who have lost their families. We find that it in the long run it is safer, less emotional leverage can be used against them. 008 was no different. When she was young adult, her parents were both killed. Apparently as collateral in what was referred to as your first wizarding war. The first war with Voldemort and his Death Eaters."
Harry grimaced slightly at the thought of muggles being killed by Riddles and his followers.
"The coincidences don't just end there," continued M, "her parents, well they were orphans." She paused and seemed to be uncomfortable as she searched for the right words before she continued. "There is no delicate way to say this, Mr. Potter. Her parents met growing up, in the same orphanage where a young boy by the name of Tom Marvolo Riddle grew up."
Harry was shocked to hear that statement. His attention was definitely increased at this revelation. "And you're telling me this because you think this is not a coincidence."
M was very solemn. "008 was assigned to our magical investigation team. She was researching the magical threats to Britain, including Voldemort. Once you defeated him, she was then set to the task of looking for other potential threats and eliminating them. We think that was how she came across this Lord Eris. We think that this Lord Eris was discovered in Eastern Europe, that was where the investigation she was last assigned to was based. She had gone there after basing some of her search in Albania."
Harry's attention was drawn to the mention of Albania for he knew that was where Voldemort had been hiding in his spirit form. "Do you have any of 008's records from her investigation and research?"
M frowned at that request. "Sadly, no," she replied. "All of her data was in the warehouse that was destroyed by fiendfyre the night she died."
Harry nodded in understanding. After a couple of minutes of considering the facts that had been laid out before him he looked up at M as he stated boldly, "You do know that none of this makes any sense at all."
The head of MI-6 raised an eyebrow at the young man's assertion.
"And just why would you come to such a conclusion as that so quickly?" she asked.
"The facts make no sense," he said simply, relaxing more in the chair he was sitting in. "You have a dead secret agent, killed by a magical self proclaimed dark lord, whom the magical world has never heard of. This magical person has only contacted MI-6 and has made no contact to anyone within the magical world. The individual that they killed was leading a secret investigation into magical threats against the muggle world. Yet somehow you claim that this magical dark lord is linked to the attacks against myself, although there has been no direct contact and no demands from whomever made the attacks against me. The common thread is that someone or some group wants me to think that I am a dark lord and that someone or some group wants you to think that there is a dark lord attacking your group. We still have lots of questions."
M smiled. "Now you're thinking like someone involved with the investigation. Tom Riddle seems to be the common thread here. You seem to be the living expert on the man. What is it about the orphanage where he grew up that affected 008 and her parents? Why would this affect Lord Eris and have this person attack 008? What is your connection to Lord Eris? Does it have to do with Tom Riddle? There are plenty of loose ends here, the DMLE has so far been unwilling to work with us, and what leads we have tried to give them they have, to be blunt, simply ignored. You, Mr. Potter, have intimate knowledge of Mr. Riddle, his past, his history, and his ultimate demise. You were responsible for his defeat on multiple occasions. You were responsible so much involving him and his followers. You are the key to all of this. Keeping you locked away behind a desk will help no one, I am afraid. 008 was on to something, but what that was, is lost with the remains of the warehouse and ashes left behind by fiendfyre."
"So, your people investigated the rubble and they found nothing," commented Harry.
"Of course," replied M.
"And then you brought in the DMLE and the confirmed the findings," added Harry.
"We saw no point in doing that, as even we know that fiendfyre leaves nothing trace of anything, magical or otherwise," concluded M.
Harry shook his head, "I wouldn't be so sure. There are times when a careful investigation by a highly trained Auror can uncover something, even in the ashes left behind by fiendfyre."
M actually smiled at his comment. "Does that mean you're actually willing to take on the task of the investigation?"
"So far I have agreed to nothing," answered Harry, "and you have officially made no offer of anything. I've learned a little more about this agent 008, about her parents and about an apparent connection to Riddle. I still have more questions. The warehouse would have been an important scene to investigate, but that incident occurred last year, so even if I was to investigate that location, I would find it highly unlikely that I would find out anything now, however I still think it would be prudent to check it out nonetheless."
M inclined her head in understanding of his arguments.
"I do have some questions for you," Harry added, "if I may be so bold."
"You may go right ahead an ask away," she said encouragingly. "It is refreshing to have a young and potential agent who is willing to speak so freely."
Harry took her comments as a compliment and he continued, "Why would MI-6 not bring in magicals to investigate the fiendfyre explosion immediately? If it was clear that the messages from Lord Eris were magical in nature, again, why not involve the DMLE immediately? Why all of the separation if this was clearly magic related from the onset?"
M shifted in her seat. "Your own battle with Riddle, the self titled Lord Voldemort, made many in Parliament very uncomfortable to work with the Ministry of Magic. The Prime Minister wanted us to be very careful in our dealings with your world after the fiasco of trying to work with Fudge. The corruption within his administration had made it difficult to reestablish relations with your world. Our initial attempts to work with the new leaders, this Kingsley Shacklebolt and the head of your DMLE, have been much more satisfactory but we have done so with caution. If this operation works out well, then we may be more willing to work in a more cooperative fashion in the future with the Ministry for Magic."
Harry sighed heavily. "So the future of relations between the magical world and the crown now rely on how I perform in handling a problem that lies largely within the scope of MI-6? Why do these sorts of things always seem to happen to me?"
M chuckled at his comments. "From what I have read of your history, I do believe that some of your school friends might have said it is because you are 'the chosen one.' Or, to put it in what you might call 'muggle terms' it is simply because you seem to have 'what it takes' to get the job done."
Harry smiled at her comments. "When do you need an answer from me?"
"Yesterday would be preferable," said M, and Harry noted that her face was serious. "However, I'll send a car around to pick you up tomorrow afternoon, and we'll meet at two to discuss what you have found out about the warehouse."
Harry looked at his watch, it was already 2 PM, so he would have less than 24 hours to answer his own questions. "Where will the car pick me up?" he asked.
"Wherever you are at two," she commented.
Harry was very uncomfortable with the answer he received, but clearly there was no room to discuss this any further. "Right, then, tomorrow, 2 o'clock. We'll be seeing you then. In the mean time, what was the address of the warehouse that was destroyed by the fiendfyre?"
M almost sneered at the question. "Moneypenny will have a folder with the remaining information that you may need. She will hand it to you on your way out."
Harry could tell that he was being dismissed. He stood up, bowed his head slightly as he left. On his way out the door Moneypenny quietly handed him an envelope just as M had said she would. Tanner was waiting for him and silently he escorted him out of the building. Once he reached the afternoon sun, he thought to himself, now what the bloody hell am I going to do?
Harry decided to duck into a pub and sat down in a corner booth. He put up some privacy charms and quickly looked at the information. He noted the address for the warehouse that had been destroyed the previous year. As the waitress came by to take his order, he smiled and left her a tip without ordering anything. He then made his way to an alley and apparated as close as he could to the old warehouse site.
AN: So, 2 chapters in a relatively short period of time...and some readers may have thought this story had been abandoned. My muse for this has apparently returned, after some nudges from some of my readers of my other stories. However, while the main story and plot will be unchanged, it will not be as detailed and as drawn out as some of my imaginations had once had it becoming. This, however, may be a good thing.
As far as some of my other stories on this site, I am strongly considering taking some of them off of this site. I do not see myself finishing Harry Potter and The Dark Mark (Part 2) any time soon, if at all. (Besides I think the writing is not nearly as good as some of my more recent stories. There were some interesting plot ideas I had in that story though, and some interesting ideas that never were completed). I do not plan on taking it down until I know that I have it saved somewhere for certain. Also, the one chapter intro to a story I never finished may also come down...(Harry Potter and The End of the War)...as I have so many other stories (with better developed and frankly more interesting plots) in the works...I see no point in keeping that up there.
Recently I was encouraged to consider expanding Harry Potter on His Own...OldCrow feels it would be better at a much higher world count. I will take that recommendation and review the story...no promises on that one though.
As far as this story goes...I will keep working on it...the next chapter is already outlined...the rest of the story is loosely outlined...but LE-DH needs to be finished (the next chapter is over halfway done, and then there will be an epilogue after that, unless of course that story just continues to expand...).
Then I have vacation coming up soon with my son's college graduation...so there will be interruptions...but I will keep working on plots in my mind if not typing them out on the computer...
Thanks again to all my readers for your continued support...