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Chapter Twenty One

The door slammed hard against the wall as James rushed into his living quarter. He swiped the jar of floo powder from the fireplace and threw in a handful, yelling out Remus' address. James stuck his head into the green fire and waited for the swirling to stop. His heart thumping madly in his chest. He needed to see Harry. He needed him here right now. If anyone noticed Harry's absence they would become suspicious and the blame for last nights attack might fall on him.

James felt sick as he thought about all the victims. One hundred and seventy people! There were women and children amongst them as well. He knew it wasn't Harry. There was no way it was him. He could never do something as horrendous as that. 'But Harry was missing last night from Remus' house and he didn't come back until six in the morning' a voice echoed in his mind. James pushed all the doubts from his mind rather forcefully. Harry did not do this! He couldn't have.

James felt the swirling come to a standstill and he opened his eyes to find the empty living room.

"Remus!" he yelled. "Remus! Remus! Harry!"

There was no answer. Feeling as though his heart was about to rip out of his chest, James yelled for Remus again. He called out to both his friend and his son many times, but it was clear that no one was home. James pulled himself from the fireplace with a growl. Where the hell was Remus? He was home only a few minutes ago. And where was Harry?

'He probably heard you and didn't want to speak to you' the voice echoed in his mind again. James shook his head to clear away the voice. Now wasn't the time to think things like that. Harry was in trouble. He needed to come back to the safety of Hogwarts before anyone found out he was missing.

xxx

James tried throughout the day to contact Remus. After every class he rushed to his quarters and tried to floo call him. But no one was responding. 'Surely Remus saw the paper this morning! He should know better than to keep Harry away at a time like this!' he thought angrily.

He tried his best not to let his aggravation show while teaching his classes but it was in vain. The students could tell right away that their Professor was worked up about something. Add that to the very sudden and mysterious disappearance of Harry Potter and the end result was that by the evening everyone was convinced that last nights attack had something to do with Harry. A few students even went to the hospital wing to see if Harry was there or not. Madame Pomfrey had to chase them away. That only conformed that Harry was in fact not there.

As soon as the last class of the day finished, James wasted no time. He raced up to see Dumbledore.

"You have to disable the floo wards. I haven't received any word from Remus. I'm going to go over and see him for my self. I'll bring Harry back with me!" he explained.

Dumbledore agreed and in the next few moments, James was standing in Remus' living room.

"Remus! Harry!" James yelled as he crossed the room. He looked around for any sign of the two but it was clear that the cottage was empty.

'Where can they be?' James thought to himself, panicking over their disappearance. Remus was here in the morning. He had spoken to him. Where did the two go and why were they not back yet?

James waited nervously for them. He noticed his hands were shaking and had to take a few deep breaths to calm himself down. His mind was coming up with all sorts of horrible scenarios of what could have happened to his son and best friend. He shook his head 'they're probably at the pub!' he thought to himself in order to clam down.

After waiting for nearly an hour, James gave up. He was tired and drained from worrying so much today. He grabbed the quill lying on the table and looked around for a spare piece of parchment. He impatiently transfigured an old magazine into blank parchment and quickly wrote a message on it, addressing it to Remus. He didn't know if Harry would read anything from him yet.

He didn't write anything in too much detail. He told Remus about the attack and the large number of casualties. He asked Remus to bring Harry back to Hogwarts as soon as it was possible. Signing it, James moved away. He left the note in the middle of the cleared table, hoping it would attract the werewolf's attention right away.

James flooed back to Hogwarts and feeling exhausted with the day's events, headed for Lily's quarter. He really hoped that by the time he woke up tomorrow, Harry would be back at Hogwarts.

xxx

The first thing James did when he woke up was to race to the Gryffindor dorm in search for Harry. He had to bite back the groan as he saw that Harry was still not back yet. He met Damien in the common room on his way back. His eyes met the worried eyes of his youngest son and James felt his heart skip a few beats. Damien looked just as awful as he felt himself. He gave him the most comforting smile he could. He didn't want to openly talk about Harry. It would be too suspicious. He left the common room and headed straight for his quarter. He had to fire call Remus. Surely, they would be back by now.

As soon as he walked into his room he found Lily waiting anxiously for him.

"Is he here?" she asked at once.

James shook his head. Lily dejectedly curled up in her seat. Her green eyes showing how upset she was.

"I'm just going to floo call Remus. He should be home."

James turned towards the fireplace. He had just thrown in a handful of floo powder when there was a hurried knock on his door. James waited until Lily opened the door, his body blocking the green flames. He was surprised to see Tonks rushing inside looking panicked.

"Tonks? What are you…?" James was cut off by the purple haired Auror.

"I don't have much time. Fudge might realise I'm gone!" she said as she shut the door firmly behind her and cast the silencing charm so that no one could eavesdrop.

"Fudge? Why are you worried about him?" Lily asked.

"He's here, at Hogwarts!" she hurriedly told them.

"Who?" James asked.

"The Minister! Fudge is here at Hogwarts this very moment!" Tonks exclaimed.

"What!?!" both James and Lily shouted.

"Yes, he's here with a bunch of Aurors." Tonks explained quickly, casting a wary glace at the door.

"Why is he here?" James asked, feeling the unsettling sense of foreboding intensify.

"Where's Harry?" she whispered, even though the door had Silencio cast on it.

James felt his heart speed up.

"What do you mean? He's here of course, where else would he be?" he answered, masking his nervousness.

"Thank Merlin!" Tonks said visibly relieved.

"What's going on?" Lily asked her eyes fixed on the Auror.

"The Ministry got an anonymous call this morning, claiming that Harry was missing from Hogwarts. It claimed that Harry's been missing since the morning before the attack. Fudge ordered us to accompany him. He's here under the pretence of carrying out an unanticipated school inspection. What he actually wanted was to get proof that Harry really was missing."

James felt his legs go weak. This was what he had feared. Since the whole Daywalkers attack on Valentines Day, he knew that the next Dark Prince attack was going to be pinned on Harry. It was just something Fudge was likely to do after witnessing the Dark Arts Harry was capable of.

"He thinks Harry is behind the attacks?" Lily asked a fierce look in her eyes.

"Of course he does! He's always been afraid of Harry. He wanted to get Harry since the very first attack. The only thing stopping him was what the wizarding world would say about the arrest of their 'saviour'. Harry being at Hogwarts at the time of the attacks always saved him as well. However, if he found that Harry really was missing since the day of the attack he would have had all the proof he needed to arrest him." She told them.

Lily looked furious but knew that Tonks was right. Harry had never tried to be on friendly terms with the Ministry. Why would they give him the benefit of the doubt?

"Tonks, you better go!" James told her.

Tonks nodded her head and turned to leave.

"Try and get Harry to see the Minister. The sooner he learns Harry is here, the sooner he'll leave." she said before opening the door and exiting.

As soon as she left James collapsed next to the green flames. He shakily said Remus' address and waited for his head to stop spinning.

"REMUS! HARRY!" James shouted as loud as he could.

There was no answer.

"No, no, no! You have to be home!" he muttered in panic.

James continued shouting for Remus and Harry but no one answered his desperate pleas. Dejectedly, James pulled himself out from the flames and sat back on his knees, his breath coming in great gasps. 'What am I going to do? How do I get Harry here? What should I do about the Minister?' his head was spinning with panic.

"James, we have to go." Lily said while helping him to his feet. "We have to go to breakfast and act like everything is normal." She said in a shaky voice.

"What about Harry?" James asked.

"I don't know. There's nothing we can do right now. The only thing we can do is make everything seem normal. Fudge can't get suspicious." She answered, biting her lip in worry.

James shook his head. Fudge was already suspicious. If he didn't see Harry here, at Hogwarts, with his own eyes, he would assume Harry really is responsible for the Dark Prince attacks.

Lily was right though. They had to act as normal as possible. If only to buy themselves more time to find Harry.

Feeling like his legs were made of jelly, James and Lily headed out to the Great Hall to have breakfast with the rest of Hogwarts and the Minister.

xxx

Damien knew it was a bad sign that the Ministry had shown up at Hogwarts. He watched in numb shock as the Minister for Magic, Cornelius Fudge, walked into the Great Hall along with his Aurors and headed to the staff table to speak to Dumbledore.

"What are they doing here?" Ron asked a definite panic in his voice.

"Its obvious." Hermione hissed at him.

"It couldn't be about…about him missing. How did they find out?" Ginny whispered. She was referring to the Ministry finding out about Harry's disappearance.

"Don't know." Hermione shook her head, her brown eyes fixed on the Minister as he exchanged pleasantries with the Headmaster.

Damien watched as both his parents walked into the hall. They looked calm and almost oblivious to the fact that the Minister was seated at the staff table surrounded by Aurors.

As soon as breakfast was finished, Dumbledore stood up and the Great Hall quietened down to listen to him.

"I am sure most of you are wondering why our Minister for Magic, Mr Cornelius Fudge, is here at Hogwarts. The Minister has paid us a visit to carry out an inspection. He wants to make sure that all our classes are running accordingly to schedule. Please allow him and his Aurors to observe you in your classes. Thanks you."

Dumbledore sat down after making that announcement. Although the Headmaster had said everything in a pleasant enough tone, the students caught on to the fact that this visit wasn't to their Headmaster's liking. Firstly, the Minister just happened to appear at the school gates this morning, without sending any word beforehand. Inspections were not carried out like that. Usually there was a letter sent explaining the time and length of the inspection. Secondly, and most importantly, the inspections were not carried out by the Minister himself. It was the job of the school governors to carry out inspections. This was the first time most of the students had seen Fudge in Hogwarts.

All in all, it was plain to see that something else was going on. And it didn't take many guesses to figure out that it had something to do with Harry Potter.

xxx

James held back his groan as he saw the Minister and his Aurors pile into his classroom. This was his last class before lunch and it happened to be his seventh years. James tried not to look at the Minister as he openly smirked at Harry's absence.

Ron and Hermione threw very dirty looks in his direction but like the rest of the class, ignored them for the duration of the lecture. James was nervous. Of course he was nervous. Harry still hadn't shown up and now Fudge saw that he was missing from his classes. What explanation could he give? He couldn't tell them that Harry was ill and was in the hospital wing like he had told the rest of the school. Fudge would most definitely send someone to go and check on him. Poppy couldn't throw the Aurors or the Minister out of the wing, like she had with the students. Their cover would be blown.

He didn't know how he managed to teach the class while feeling like the bottom of his stomach was about to drop out anytime. He felt his skin prickle with anxiety as he told his class to pack up as that was the end of the lecture. Both Ron and Hermione gave him encouraging smiles as they left the classroom.

James packed up his material and wanted to leave as well but he couldn't, not until Fudge left the room. He watched out of the corner of his eye as Fudge gave his Aurors instructions to leave but stayed seated himself.

As soon as the last Auror and student left, James turned to find the Minister standing, wearing a big grin on his face.

"Minister, is there something I can help you with?" James found himself asking. He kept telling himself to stay on good terms with the Minister, to keep things as pleasant as possible.

"Very good lecture, James. I liked it. You seem to be enjoying teaching." Fudge said as he walked over to him.

"Thank you" James said, keeping his hands clutched tight inside his pockets. They were shaking too much and Fudge would have noticed.

"Your students seem to like you. That always helps, if you like your teacher, you tend to do well in that subject." Fudge praised again.

James was getting apprehensive now. This couldn't be the reason why Fudge had stayed behind, to praise him for his teaching skills.

"I saw your youngest earlier on." Fudge said calmly. "Damien, is it? Well, he seemed very…jumpy to me. Nearly shot out of his skin when I spoke to him." he carried on.

James felt anger explode in the pit of his stomach. How dare he? He had no right harassing Damien!

"Minister, why were you speaking to Damien? If you have something to ask, you should address me. Not my fourteen year old son." James knew that inspection, or no inspection, the Minister or the Aurors had no authority harassing the students. They spoke to the Professors and only them.

"I didn't mean any harm by it. I was merely asking him how he was. He seemed in a rush to get away from me though. He didn't even answer me." Fudge said.

"Minister, I really have to go. My next class is due after lunch and I have to get the lecture ready." James tried to leave. All thoughts of staying civil towards this man had left him.

Fudge didn't leave though. He didn't move at all. He let his face break into a sinister sort of smile before looking at James in the eye.

"Where's Harry, James?"

James was sure Fudge could hear his heart beating loudly in his chest. He knew his face conveyed his panic but he couldn't help it. He had expected to be asked this but was still thrown by the bluntness of the question.

"I don't know what you mean." James said, the answer leaving him automatically.

"I want to know where you eldest son, Harry Potter is?" Fudge repeated.

"Where could he be? He's here at Hogwarts." James said trying to look like the question annoyed him rather than scared him.

"Really? Well that's strange since I haven't seen him all day." Fudge retorted, his eyes never leaving James' face.

"You've only been here a few hours." James said at once.

"True, but in those few hours, I didn't see him at Breakfast or in attendance of any class. What sort of student is he if he doesn't attend any classes?" Fudge asked in faked innocence.

"He's not been very well…" James started, trying to offer a feeble excuse for Harry's absence.

"Yes, I heard about that. A few students happened to mention his stay in the hospital wing for the last few days. It's strange though, because when I went there to check on Madame Pomfrey and her paperwork, I saw that there was in fact no patients there."

There was a sickly triumphant smile on Fudge's face as he stared at James' panicked expression. James didn't know what to say. What could he say? What excuse would work? His mind was only focusing on one thing right now. How much trouble Harry was in and what Fudge would do to him if he got his hands on him. Fudge had never quite gotten over how Dumbledore had saved Harry at his trial.

"Fudge, what do you want with Harry?" James asked, his heart thudding at his insides painfully.

"I just wanted to see him. I needed to ask him about a few things." Fudge answered smugly.

"Ask me about what?"

The sound of his voice made James' knees buckle. He managed to stay standing upright by sheer force of will. He looked in the direction of the voice and saw Harry standing at the door. He was dressed in his usual school robes and had his books clutched in his hands. He was looking at Fudge with a quizzical expression but James could see the deep seated hatred in his emerald orbs. James closed his eyes and let out a quiet sigh of relief at the sight of him.

Fudge had spun around at the sound of Harry's voice as well. He paled as his eyes took in the standing figure.

"What did you want to ask me?" Harry repeated as he walked into the classroom. His movement was smooth and calm but James could see the fatigue on him. He still hadn't recovered fully.

"Harry!" Fudge exclaimed, a fake smile on his face. He ignored Harry's question.

"It's really nice to see you again." he said as he extended a shaky hand to greet him.

"Wish I could say the same." Harry answered, ignoring the outstretched hand.

For someone who had looked so smug only a few seconds ago, Fudge seemed to deflate. His face had lost its colour and his trembling hands showed either how angry he was that Harry had turned up or how scared he was that Harry had seen him harassing his father.

Harry ignored him and addressed his dad.

"Professor McGonagall wanted to see you before the next class." He said.

James could only nod his head. He didn't trust his voice at the moment.

"Harry, I…I didn't see you in class today." Fudge asked. He seemed to regret it as Harry glared at him.

"I only just got out of the hospital wing this morning. I'll be attending classes later on this afternoon. But I don't seem to remember the new rules that we have to discuss our personal matters with the Minister for Magic. What's the matter, Minister? Can't find enough work to do these days? Is that why you're wasting your time checking on Hogwarts? When perhaps you could actually be doing your job and trying to deal with the aftermath of the attack yesterday."

Harry's words attacked Fudge like blows. He was staring at the raven haired boy with wide eyes. No one had quite spoken to him like that before. If James wasn't feeling so resentful towards the Minister, he would have stopped Harry from talking to him like that.

Without saying another word, the Minister turned and walked out of the room. His steps showed how eager he was to leave. Harry watched as the man literally ran from the room like a hurt little child.

"Pathetic" he muttered under his breath.

He turned around to look at his dad. They were the only ones left in the room. Suddenly the awkwardness returned and both seem to look away from each other. Harry waved his hand towards the door and cast the 'Silencio' charm on it.

"Sorry" Harry said, making James look up at him in surprise. "I didn't see your letter to Remus until a few moments ago. I apparated back as soon as I read it."

James nodded his head again, trying to calm his still frantically beating heart. He was sure he hadn't been this nervous before in his life.

"Where were you?" he asked in a hoarse voice. Harry looked at him for a minute before answering.

"Why does it matter?" he responded.

"It matters because I spent all day yesterday and this morning fire calling you and you weren't there!" James could feel his anger building again and he frantically pushed it down. He couldn't get cross with Harry again. He had just stepped back into Hogwarts.

Harry stared at James, his eyes taking in every detail about his dad. Finally he answered.

"We had gone out since yesterday morning. We never got back in until a few hours ago. Both Remus and I didn't notice your letter until just now." He explained.

"That still doesn't tell me where you both went." James commented.

Harry had to stop himself from turning around walking back out of the castle.

"Are you seriously doing this?" Harry asked irritably.

James stopped himself from answering. What was he doing? Harry had just come back and was clearly still angry about the last time they had spoken. Instead of trying to make peace, he was harassing him about his whereabouts. 'It doesn't matter where he was. He was with Remus. That should be enough for you to calm down.' his mind told him.

"Sorry, Harry." he said with a sigh. "I didn't mean to say it like that. It seems nowadays I say a lot of things I don't really mean." He said while watching Harry carefully.

Harry bristled but didn't comment. James had to clear the air with him. He hated how awkward Harry was with him.

"Harry, I'm really sorry about what I said to you. I honestly did not mean that I would control you. I meant it in another way. I was concerned about your health and everything. I'm really sorry."

Even as James was speaking he could see Harry shutting off. The expressionless mask covered his face and emotions.

"It's fine." Harry said in a toneless voice.

"Harry…"

"We should go. If we don't make an appearance at Lunch it will look suspicious." Harry left after that, not waiting to see if James was coming or not.

As soon as Harry entered the Great Hall he could feel more than see the stares on him. Every eye was on him as he smoothly walked over to his usual spot at the Gryffindor table. His friends looked at him, trying valiantly to hide their surprise and relief. Damien didn't even try to hide his emotions. His face showed the relief as it engulfed him. The sight of his brother walking in and heading towards them made his heart beat twice as hard. Harry was here! He was here at last and the Ministry couldn't pin any blame on him.

As Harry sat down he looked over to the staff table. He smirked and gave a sarcastic little wave at the Minister who immediately diverted his gaze, growing redder by the minute.

Harry didn't say a word to anyone but threw Ginny a warm smile. His eyes met hers and he could tell how worried she was about him. He gave the other three a meaningful look that meant 'don't-talk-now-I'll-explain-later'.

The rest of the students shared curious looks with one another. This had been an interesting day at Hogwarts. If only they knew how much more interesting things were going to get.

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I know it's short but I wanted to give you guys something before Deathly Hallows comes out. As you all can probably guess, there won't be any more updates until after Deathly Hallows. I can't say when I'll update because I don't know when I'll finish the book. Hopefully it will be soon.

Take care and I hope everyone enjoys the last book in the fab Harry Potter series!

Oh, and please Review this chappie!! Cheers!!