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Chapter 21 – The Ministry's List
Monday morning after breakfast, a week since everyone had returned from Hogwarts Ginny and the rest hurried through breakfast so they could get to work quickly. After a week of getting organized and reviewing and studying the decade's Death Eaters Ginny sat at her desk ready to begin to really them and find Horcruxes.
Ginny's desk was much too clean for someone who was supposedly on a path to defeat the greatest and darkest wizard the Wizarding World had ever seen. She pulled out a few files on death Eaters and read through them, leaving them open and disorganized on her desk when she finished. She listed in her mind again when Voldemort had created each Horcrux. After a few more attempts at finding something productive to accomplish she let her eyes glance over at James' desk. But he returned to her the same clueless and lost expression she gave him. She was quite at a loss as to what on earth they should do now. Turning further around she realized everyone wore the same expression.
Regulus broke the silence. "We're organized and have all the information we've gathered locked in our brains. What's next on our 'to do' list?"
"Honestly, I don't know where to begin," Ginny admitted despite herself. She was supposed to be a leader. She was supposed to know what to do next.
"Well I think -" both James and Lily said. "You go on, Lily," James offered and she shook her head, gesturing for him to continue. James stood and pointed his wand to the far wall opposite the kitchen. Magically, it revealed their list of Horcruxes, where Harry had found them, where they could potentially be as of now, and if or if not they presently existed. The charm guarding the wall had been created by Remus and Lily. It required no spoken enchantment but only a specific and very complicated movement which, besides the creator, only James had mastered. Ginny hadn't bothered to learn. All the information hidden beneath the charm came from her mind anyways. That information had been seared into her brain when she watched Harry's memories. "We know," James said, "that the snake and Harry aren't Horcruxes. We don't have to worry about those for another four years. The main idea is obviously to get rid of those that do exist before all that time passes. Ideally, before Voldemort even targets any of us." He lifted his wand and a red mark scratched itself over "diadem" and two black marks crossed out "Harry" and "snake." "We need to figure out which is potentially the easiest to obtain and destroy and go after it as soon as we can."
Now Lily stood. "You're absolutely right. But I think something that is imperative for all of us before we go hunting for Horcruxes is to learn Occlumency." Ginny cringed at the idea, remembering how difficult Harry had found learning the discipline. It would take too much time for all of them to learn it and perform it well without detection. But Ginny realized how necessary it was and with a shock sat upright.
"Merlin, she's right. Especially James and Lily and Alice and Frank. You're supposed to face Voldemort himself three times in the next few years and he can't know that you know about his horcruxes. That will ruin everything. He'll move his horcruxes and will make a great and probably successful attempt at killing us all. The most important thing is that Voldemort remains ignorant of our knowledge about his horcruxes."
"So we need to learn Occlumency and find horcruxes."
"We'll need to make a plan before we get up and search for horcruxes. It'll be dangerous," Remus noted.
"Supplies. Things we can use defensively," Regulus said.
"We should probably get ingredients for Polyjuice Potion. Lily, you can brew Polyjuice Potion right? Harry told me Slughorn said you were good at potions."
Lily blushed. "Really? I mean, yes, it'll take some time but I can definitely do it."
"Good. We'll probably need a few Extendable Ears and Decoy Detonators too. We've already got two Invisibility Cloaks, and plus the Polyjuice we'll be good on disguises," Ginny said aloud, absentmindedly scribbling each thing down on a piece of parchment.
"What are Extendable Ears?" Sirius asked with a laugh. "They sound wonderful."
The question brought Ginny back to her senses. She crossed out both Extendable Ears and Decoy Detonators. Of course, they hadn't yet been invented. She took a mental note to visit Zonko's. The must have something that could serve a similar purpose even if it wasn't explicitly meant for it. "Never mind that. Either way we're going to have to make a trip into Diagon Alley."
"We can't just up and go to Diagon Alley either. It's practically just Knockturn Alley. I went just before school and it was practically deserted. Probably worse by now," Regulus said.
"What do you mean deserted?" Lily asked.
"Remember my mum not wanting us to go to Diagon Alley, Sirius? I bet that's why," James said.
Regulus shrugged. "The only places still going are the ones needed and the ones that haven't made a peep about what's going on. Gringotts, Ollivander's…a few shops here and there. Most of them have closed down. Either attacked or scared of being attacked. A bunch of them are being controlled by Voldemort now. My dad kept telling me which stores are run by him. He would only shop in those…proudly," he said with edge to his voice.
"Then we'll go to every other shop," Sirius said scathingly.
"We won't all be able to go. There's too many of us, people only travel in groups of two, three at most but never alone," Ginny said and they all looked sharply at her. She nodded. "It's just like it was in the future I imagine. We need to be as discreet as possible."
"So that's our plan. Diagon Alley and Occlumency lessons. We've got to decide which Horcrux we're going to go after first," James declared.
"The ring," Ginny decided, twisting the one around her finger. "We know its location best and what it looks like." She held up her hand for inspection by the rest and Sirius let out a "Blimey! That's what we've got to find in a bloody mussed up old shack?"
"Yes, but it won't have a crack in it. And it's heavily, heavily cursed so if you find it, don't touch it. If Dumbledore hadn't been murdered, the curse he attained by putting this on would've killed him within the year he got it. And that's only because he was taken care of afterward. I imagine one of us would die from it." Ginny wondered if she should mention the Headmaster's interest in the ring when Peter, who'd been silently listening until now said, "Why would he put it on? He must've known it was cursed."
"I don't know. It must be something special other than a horcrux. But it doesn't matter. We aren't concerned about what it is other than a horcrux."
"Do we have any information from the Ministry?"
"Alice and Frank are coming over for dinner tonight to give us an update. We can tell them about practicing Occlumency as well."
Alice and Frank were late. They were meant to be at Potter Manor by six thirty but it was already seven and they hadn't shown. Lily was pacing a crevice into the living room floor. The Marauders were in the kitchen, staring at the food they were not allowed to touch by decree of both Lily and Awner. Regulus and Ginny sat by the cold fireplace on the small loveseat. She sat sideways with her legs over his lap reading the Daily Prophet. He kept tickling her toes. Luckily with all her experience from Fred and George's foolishness she was able to ignore it quite easily.
"Hey Gin?"
"Yes Regulus?"
"I was thinking… I want to go to Diagon Alley with you."
"How do you know I'm even going?"
Regulus pulled the top of the paper down to see Ginny's face. He raised his brows. "For starters you've been stuck inside this house for weeks. I'm sure you're just itching to get out and see what's going on on the outside. And you're the only one who could possibly imagine what we might need to fight a war. We all know it's going to come down to that, whether we find all the horcruxes or not. You're the only one who's experienced it. You've got to go."
Ginny mulled this over and nodded. He was correct on both points. "Honestly, I want you to come," Ginny admitted. "You're the only other one who even has any idea what the place is going to look like. You'll be prepared for the shock of it. And you know what places we can't go. It'll be a real help." Regulus smiled, relieved he was going to get to go with her. "And I think James should go too, but that's it," she continued. "He was a trouble maker at school but I think he's grown up. A lot. He won't cause any trouble and he'll be a good help if anything happens."
"Right," he agreed, releasing the newspaper. "Doesn't he have to study Occlumency though?"
Ginny shrugged and put the paper down entirely. "We all do. I don't think Voldemort is going to be strolling down Diagon Alley to read our minds though. The small group of us isn't a threat to him just yet. We've just left school after all."
"Right," he said again.
Before they could say anything else someone knocked at the door and without a wand raised, Lily leapt for it. Frank and Alice were there, greeting the redheaded witch with tired smiles. Ginny stood and approached them warily.
"What is Lily's and James' future son named?" she asked them before embracing them.
Confused, they looked back at one another. "Harry?" Alice said, but it sounded more like a question.
"Yes. Lily, I know it doesn't seem as dire now but we need to get into the habit of double checking our friends just as we would someone suspicious. Don't underestimate the Imperius Curse and Polyjuice Potion. We discussed that this morning."
"I'm sorry, you're right. I lost my head." She turned to Alice. "What did we decide when Ginny wouldn't speak to us?"
"That we'd show her we wanted to help whether she liked it or not," Alice said proudly.
Despite knowing how bitter she'd felt about it at the time, Ginny blushed.
"Are you practicing Lily?" Regulus asked from the loveseat. "You know Ginny just confirmed they are who they are. Or whatever."
Lily blushed again. "Regulus, aren't you hungry? Go into the kitchen with the rest of the boys," she bantered playfully, pointing to the kitchen entrance. "Come on, all of us are starving. You can tell us why you're late over meat pie."
"Thank Merlin," Sirius said when Frank and Alice walked in. He stood and hugged her. "Awner wouldn't let us eat until you'd arrived. I'm starving."
"Not worried for our wellbeing or anything were you?"
"Not at all! You'd better have a good explanation. My stomach is quite angry."
They didn't get to talking until they were done eating though, which only took a mere fifteen minutes. There was no time in between bites to say anything. But when they'd removed themselves to the living room and Frank and Alice had been shown their own shared cubicle they discussed shortly the need for them to study Occlumency. They quickly agreed and they all arranged to practice daily. James suggested a room in the house to use explicitly for practicing Defense of any sort. Finally, they began to explain why they'd been late.
"We've got to go careful from now on. It's bloody insane at the Ministry. They've written a list," Frank said.
"We stayed after the meeting because we tried to get you off of it," Alice went on. "The Minister of Magic must be mad to have agreed to make it."
"You spoke to the Minister yourself?" Remus asked.
"We had no choice! And it was fruitless anyways. You're all still on it. There was no way we could get ourselves off of it because we're at the Academy. But if we could've gotten you off the list it would've been helpful."
"Wait. Explain the point of the list. Why is it so important that we're not on it?" Ginny asked.
Frank sighed. "Lucius Malfoy came up with the list which is no shocker there. They think he's some young and growing aristocrat just because he pays them to think that way. But either way, at least we know it's true purpose. To the Ministry it is a list of those we can trust. The witches and wizards that are on 'our side' and will potentially fight for the Ministry. Malfoy is on the list himself."
"It's really just a hit list made for the Death Eaters. The Ministry has created its own folly. The Death Eaters will just kill every person listed like target practice," Sirius said. "And we're on it?"
"All of you but Ginny and Regulus," Alice said. Sirius looked somewhat relieved for his younger brother. "But that doesn't mean much. The Death Eaters already know about both of them. Ginny wasn't placed on the list because she technically doesn't exist. When her name was mentioned the higher-ups laughed, knowing Arthur and Molly Weasley didn't have a daughter."
"You don't think that would put my parents in danger do you?" Ginny asked and Frank shook his head.
"No I don't but it does make things a bit simpler for you. The Ministry can't detect you or your magic. You're quite invisible to them, which could be an advantage."
"But that the Death Eaters know about you is a disadvantage either way," Alice continued. "Regulus isn't there I assume because Malfoy didn't want to mention he knew you'd gone to stay with James and your brother because that would suggest he's in contact with Bellatrix and the like, giving away his cover. But it won't be long before the Ministry gets word and puts him there too."
Lily shook her head. "But I don't understand. We're not affiliated with the Ministry. Why are we on that list?"
"Your anti-You-Know-Who leanings are quite noted and I can only assume it was Snape who'd led them to believe that. You all made it obvious at Hogwarts that you disagreed with Death Eater philosophy and word got around pretty quickly."
"We've had a death sentence put upon us. What did the Minister say when you asked him to remove us?" Remus asked.
"'No.' He wouldn't hear about removing anyone from the list and we weren't the only ones to ask. There was an Auror asking to have his wife removed and the Minister gave him a blatant 'no' like he did us. You don't think he's Imperiused do you Ginny?"
Ginny thought for a moment. Somehow, it reminded her more of something Cornelius Fudge would do rather than Pius Thicknesse. She shook her head. "I don't believe so. I think he's just desperate to show that he's accomplished something."
For hours they discussed other things happening in the Ministry. How difficult it was becoming to cover up magical mayhem from muggles across the country. Muggles were being murdered by the dozen a day for no apparent reason to them. Of course, Death Eaters were just doing it for sport. They'd caught a man named Lestrange and imprisoned him in Azkaban. Ginny figured it was Bellatrix's father-in-law and Bellatrix and her husband were probably furious. The Ministry would pay for that of course. Also, the Ministry was considering closing the Auror Academy and just promoting the students directly to be Junior Aurors.
"That's a great way to get under-experienced witches and wizards killed. They're really thinking about putting untrained fighters out there?"
"They're really that desperate," Alice nodded. "The only bright side is that we'll have more, if only a bit more, influence on what cases we go after. In the Academy, they choose for us."
"Bloody hell," Sirius said. "The Ministry is going to get us all killed in their attempt to keep us alive."
Ginny agreed. More than anything did she want Dumbledore to organize the Order of the Phoenix. They needed it now more than ever.
The next morning was a mess when Ginny tried to discuss who would accompany her to Diagon Alley over breakfast.
"Explain to me why Regulus is going? In fact, why do you even have to go?" Sirius asked Ginny.
"Yea, why does Regulus get to go?" Remus asked and Sirius elbowed him in the arm.
"We're going because we are the least familiar to them as adversaries. You heard Alice. The Ministry already considers you all as allies, not civilians. Lucius Malfoy I bet has already given that list to Voldemort name for name and out of the lot of us, Regulus and I are the only ones not on it. The Ministry hasn't considered Regulus' part in the war and they don't know I exist."
Sirius huffed. "Exactly. They aren't familiar with you. So why send you out where they can become familiar with you?"
"The Death Eater's know Regulus is with Sirius. Bellatrix was on the platform at Christmas and saw him go home with the Potters. They must assume he's on our side even if he isn't on that list. And same with you. They think you're responsible for staging a coup against all the Death eaters at Hogwarts. Just because you're not on some list doesn't mean they don't know anything about you," Remus argued. "You're best kept at home where we can protect you."
If Ginny were honest with herself she knew he was right. But they knew pretty much everything she did, except a few sensitive pieces of information, enough to go on without her anyways. But like Regulus said, she'd been cooped up in the manor for weeks now and she was going to take every opportunity she could to get out and do something productive. "They won't bother me. They'll wait for more information. Watch to gather intell."
"What if they decide they don't care and kill you anyways?" Regulus asked. "We can't afford to lose you of all people." He wrapped an arm around Ginny's shoulders and squeezed. She didn't know why he was being so protective all of the sudden. The evening before he'd practically told her she was going before she'd even decided to go.
Remus forced himself not to glare at Regulus. But he agreed with him, regardless of how touchy feely he was becoming toward Ginny.
"He's right Ginny. James and I will go," Remus said.
"I have to go. I know what to look for," Ginny protested.
"Make us a list," Remus insisted.
"Because we know how great lists are these days," she retorted. "It's not like I've been to Diagon Alley in this decade. For Merlin's sake Remus, I'm going," Ginny said. Ginny had the fleeting feeling that this was what Harry always felt like. Wanting to fight and to protect but whose own protection was always more important to everyone else.
"I still don't see why Regulus has to go," Sirius said and Remus was grateful he'd said so first. "He's young and they're blood-thirsty. I'll go."
Finally, Lily jumped in. "Regulus is going because he was the last person in Diagon Alley. He knows what's going on there best and where to go. Ginny is going because she knows what to purchase. James is going because he won't lose his head trying to protect someone if anything happens. Now let it go," she commanded Sirius and Remus. "However, I do agree that you should be a bit more protected Ginny. You should wear the Invisibility Cloak."
"That's my girl," James said, kissing Lily on top of her head. "Brilliantly said."
"Perfect. Now let's go," Ginny said, pushing her porridge from in front of her and whipping out her cloak. She wrapped it around her neck so that only her floating head could be seen.
They all gaped at her. "Now?"
"Will there be a better moment?" Ginny asked honestly. The perplexed faces of her companions shifted to acceptance.
Please, please, please excuse the lateness of this update. After two weeks of midterms and writer's block I have desperately concocted something almost worth posting. Hope you enjoy it!
Also, do me the honor of reviewing! I love getting feedback from you guys.