I'm sorry for the long wait! This chapter isn't corrected yet, so please don't be too strict, but at the moment I can't do it with no computer regularly available.

I hope you still like it. To make up for the long waiting, I have uploaded two chapters at once.

Happy reading.

Operation Ministry Misery

Cornelius Fudge was not a happy Minister of Magic. In fact he was sleep deprived from all those howlers furious parents had sent him about the dementor disaster. Then the thing with Sirius Black. It was a stain on the reputation of the Ministry. Something no politician liked to happen during his reign. Past sins that were not buried deep enough. Well at least the majority of those howlers had been directed at Barty Crouch's office. He had to be thankful for every small favor he could get.

The problem was, with Sirius Black freed, there would be a shift in power. Sirius was the lawful Lord Black. Even if his mother had blasted his name from the family tapestry, his father Orion had never formally disinherited his oldest son, so he would get the title and the seat at the Wizengamot. Until now the seat had been empty as nobody had the right to claim it. The next one they thought inheriting it would be Draco Malfoy as he was the only living male descended from the Black family through his mother Narcissa. But as long as Sirius lived he couldn't claim the title. Except for the now new found information that this seat would also go to Harry Potter as Black's godson.

Sirius Black was the godfather of Harry Potter. A boy who already had massive political weight. The boy was heir to five other important magical families. All of which had seats at the Wizengamot and two of them with veto powers. The heirs of the four founders of Hogwarts were special. Due to the importance of their families and their example in their days, those four families had gotten the right to veto laws. Until now this hadn't been a problem. There hadn't been many occurrences where any heir had used that privilege. But now, if he judged Harry right, it would become really difficult to get some of the laws the pureblood fraction wanted passed through.

Harry Potter was known to be outspoken for equal rights between all witches and wizards. Preposterous if he had to say anything about it. Purebloods were clearly superior witches and wizards. But the boy had been tainted with Dumbledore's ideas for two years.

And Sirius Black, while being raised by an old pureblood family, had always been different, open to the inventions of muggles and flat out opposing his parents' points of view. If he was to become a major influence on young Harry, the boy would be more tempted to oppose the things the Ministry needed to be done.

Some levels under Fudge's office there was a meeting between Ministry workers who had long waited for an opportunity to get rid of some of the more corrupt politicians here. Fudge and his cronies had nearly ruined the Ministry and if You-Know-Who returned, which according to Orion de Jarjais was only a question of time, and Comte de Jarjais' information source was Harry Potter who had seen the spirit of the Dark Lord in his first year, it would be way too easy for him to get the Ministry under his control.

"So, are we complete?" Rufus Scrimgeour asked.

"Yes, we are, Rufus." Amos Diggory answered.

"Good, we all know why we are here." Rufus said, getting nods from all the witches and wizards.

"Fudge's days as Minister are numbered, we all know that. The scandal with the dementors at Hogwarts attacking Harry Potter was the last drop in his filling water glass. He won't be in office for much longer. The problem is that Fudge is just the head of the Snake we have to kill. For a decade there have been too many former Death Eaters who managed to buy their way out of Azkaban. Malfoy, Crabbe, Goyle, Nott to name just a few. They also bribed Fudge and his followers to get their interests seen passed in the laws.

"We lost one of the few here who was really opposing them as you all know. Arthur Weasley has taken a new job at Juneur Wizarding Technologies and I can't say I blame him. A man can only take so much if he has to look after a family. I still am in contact with Arthur though and he said he was fully supportive of our plans to clean the Ministry of the corruption inside. His new position allows him to tell me of some really fantastic inventions Juneur has brought onto the market in the last decade; those would vastly improve the lives of witches and wizards in Great Britain if they were introduced to our community.

"One point we have to look upon are market restrictions for muggle related products. I never knew what possibilities there were until Arthur showed me some when I visited him at his home."

"So Arthur is happy at his new job?" Desrella Ronins asked smiling. She worked in the Department of Regulation of Magical Breeding.

"Yes, he is. Couldn't be happier. He is earning a lot of money and can tinker with muggle things all he likes." Rufus answered.

"How are we going on about this? Fudge won't clear his office without complaints." Amelia Bones asked.

"We have one supporter he doesn't know we have. Orion de Jarjais informed me that Harry Potter wants to get the Ministry ready for the time You-Know-Who returns." Frederick Rawthorn said.

All eyes were now upon him. Frederick had decided that it would be utter madness to wait until the Dark Lord had gained enough power to push wizarding Britain into another horrible war. No, if they could prevent it early on, he would help to do it.

"From what I have heard of Susan, there are movements at Hogwarts which are doing something similar like what we are attempting to do. The houses of Hogwarts are beginning to unite for the first time in decades if not centuries. It is only starting and some of the more traditionally raised students are very opposed to it, but they only have so much power. The center of it is seemingly Harry Potter. He has told off Percy Weasley for the boy's unquestioningly foolish opinions of the Ministry.

"It seems there are now several student groups consisting of members of all houses who are researching several laws they think are unjust. I wouldn't wonder if you got some petitions from students to do something for house elf rights, Amos. While the students see that house elves like to look after wizards they think that they deserve to be treated kindly. A very good opinion I think. Next, I know the Potter boy will fight for the rights of werewolves. I can't wait to see Dolores' face when he blocks her new laws. It will be priceless." Amelia grinned happily and was joined by the others.

Nobody could stand the pink toad menace.

"Yes, I can't wait to see that. With the boy being in a position to veto any law in the Wizengamot for some time, she won't be able to pass her racist laws anymore. About time I think. I mean, I am afraid of werewolves during the full moon, but I am smart enough to know that only those extremists like Greyback are also dangerous during the time between. The others only want to be left alone and live their lives." Amos agreed.

This was part of his job. While werewolves were mostly human they were classified as magical creatures and therefore had to register at his department.

"I think what we need to do is to find out who the most bigoted members of the Ministry are and isolate them in their positions. We need to find every little bit of dirt they have on their hands to get them out of positions of power. Preferably to get them out of the Ministry but we have to take this in small steps. We can't reveal our hands too early or we will lose." Patrick Healcon said.

"You are right, Patrick. We will have to use our brains for this. The first and most important step is to arrest the Death Eaters that got away pleading on being imperiused. Veritaserum will be essential for our plans. With Fudge out of the way, nobody will stop the DMLE to do a thorough investigation on the integrity of the Ministry. We will plan and prepare to do this step by step. Like those children at Hogwarts are beginning to do, we will unite all the qualities the four houses are representing. We will be smart like Ravenclaws, brave like Gryffindors, loyal like Hufflepuffs and cunning like Slytherins. We will show our world what the founders had in mind when they built the school." Amelia agreed.

They all nodded in consent and then began to list the persons who would give them trouble while achieving their goals. None of them were aware that they would get a fabulous distraction for Fudge in two days time. But they would be thankful nonetheless.

It was Saturday. The twins, Harry, Sirius and Remus were getting ready at Grimmauld Place to go to the Ministry. Thanks to a clever device the twins had developed to act as a beacon for apparition and which had an inbuilt silencing charm for the arriving party, they would be able to apparate into the office of Amelia Bones without anybody being any the wiser. They knew, the office would be empty today as the whole Department of Magical Law Enforcement was outside.

The aurors were busy with organizing the trials for Wormtail and Sirius, getting the security around Hogwarts checked and had a new lead on an escaped Death Eater. The rest was at a meeting for some big event, probably the upcoming Quidditch World Cup next summer. Well, they would use the near empty Ministry to their advantage. Sirius had placed the device in Amelia's office during a visit a week ago, when she had asked him to come by for some information exchange.

The last preparation was to disillusion the whole group, so even if a sole member of the Ministry staff was working at the weekend, they would not be discovered. For this operation a disillusionment charm was way more practicable than Harry's invisibility cloak. They took their positions around the device which was the counterpart of the one in Madam Bones' office and channeled their magic into it.

The twins had explained, that the device worked in a similar way as a portkey, but couldn't be traced as one. While a normal portkey was a spell, this device was based on old Egyptian runes the twins had learned from Bill during the summer holidays. Harry really wondered how anybody could ever underestimate the twins' brains.

They landed with a small pop in the office of Amelia Bones and promptly began to split up to get their pranks set up all over the Ministry. Sirius would take the offices of Fudge and his personal staff, Remus those of the Department for Control of Magical Creatures, Fred had the Atrium and way to the Department of Mysteries, including all the courtrooms, George would take care of the lifts and the fifth floor and Harry had the sixth and seventh floor with some not so important offices. They had planned, that they would need three hours to set up the whole thing.

They worked swiftly and silently, even if they only met one wizard that stopped in his office for five minutes to get some papers and left soon after. Harry took care to place small disillusioned devices on every door on the floors he was working at. They had decided, that they would prank each floor in a different way and that they would set it up so that the pranks would be completely unpredictable. It would start harmlessly in those offices where the employees of the Department of Magical Games and Sports worked. They thought they would most likely be able to laugh at the pranks. Next would be the offices of the magical reversal squads, they didn't want them to stop the pranks after all.

Then the next was the Department of International Magical Cooperation. Barty Crouch was meant for severe pranks that Sirius personally had thought up. The man wouldn't have a single quiet moment if Sirius had any say in this. And he had. For the blatant abuse of his position to send people to Azkaban without a trial, he was a figure of hatred in the group.

In the period of a week the whole Ministry would be victim of the well thought up pranks. And that would probably mean, that they would ask for help at Hogwarts as they didn't have enough experts at reverse charms at the Ministry. Oh yes, sweet revenge. And Dumbledore would be nicely distracted.

Harry sat next to Ron and Hermione at the Gryffindor table. He tiredly ate his dinner and soon excused him to go to bed. It was just half past seven, but he was really tired. He had been up since four in the morning and then had been setting up lots of pranks at the Ministry. For some of the pranks he had to use spells and so he had used a lot of his magic. He just wanted to sleep for some hours. Ron and Hermione had done a great job to cover for him and the twins.

As the twins often disappeared to plan for one prank or the other it hadn't been difficult to make something up. And for Harry they just acted as if nothing was wrong. They spent some time at Hagrid's and when he asked about Harry, they told him, that Harry had a letter he wanted to write to his uncle and that he had already pushed it to the weekend and felt bad if he didn't write today. They told Hagrid how nice Harry's uncle was and that he had given them the money for their sundaes at Fortescue's when they had gotten their school things.

They also ranted about Harry's horrible muggle relatives and how glad they were that Harry was finally out of there. Hagrid whole heartedly agreed and also told them what he thought of those horrible muggles. How he had had to rescue Harry on his eleventh birthday to make sure he got his letter and came to Hogwarts. Nobody at the castle was missing Harry as everybody thought he was with Ron and Hermione and as they were not in the castle it was logical to think Harry wasn't as well and with them.

The two returned to Gryffindor common room at the time Harry and the twins had told them they would probably return. One hour before dinner. And they came. Looking utterly exhausted but with very smug looks on their faces. Their looks told Ron and Hermione everything. It had worked well. While Hermione was a bit disappointed that they would prank the highest authority in the British wizarding world, she could agree that it wouldn't harm anybody and that those corrupt workers didn't deserve any better.

The next morning Harry was up again to full power and the three did some leftover homework together. Harry decided it was time to ask his friends about their decisions.

"Hey Hermione, I wanted to ask if you had decided about dropping Divination and Muggle Studies." He said.

"I have thought about it Harry. I can see that Trelawney doesn't teach us any real things about how to predict the future. And as useful as Muggle Studies are for wizards who have been raised in the wizarding world, it really is severely outdated. I had hoped you were mistaken and they just wanted to start small with easier understandable things. But it is all about technologies, that aren't used anymore or were updated. I think you are right. I will talk to Professor McGonagall to drop those two subjects."

She didn't look happy, but Harry could see a relieved look in her eyes. The workload she would save would do her good in the end. He knew she only did this because she couldn't deny his arguments. He had taken the only road possible to convince her. The use of the subjects for her life. If he had argued only about her ability to manage all the work, he would have lost. Hermione was too proud for this road.

"Ron, what do you think about my suggestion?" Harry asked his best friend.

"Well, I really hate Divination. We only learn how to make gruesome death predictions. Then Trelawney is happy. I am really sick of trying to make up things which won't happen anyway. I have no problems with ditching the subject. And I have asked mum if she could send me Bill's old Arithmancy book to get a good impression of the subject. I have to say it sounds interesting. So I agree. I will switch subjects. Hermione, what do you think, do you want to go to McGonagall together to get it over with?" He asked.

"Yes, I think that will be best. Harry, do you want to come too?" She asked.

"Sure. We can take a walk outside after it and finish the essay for Snape when we return. That's the only thing left on my list." Harry answered.

They put away their books and materials and then left the common room for Professor McGonagall's office. When they reached the door, Hermione knocked.

"Come in." They heard the voice of their head of house.

Hermione led the three of them inside. Harry as the last of the group closed the door behind them. The witch was seated behind her desk and was grading some essays.

"Miss Granger, Mr. Weasley and Mr. Potter. What do I owe this surprising visit?" She asked.

"Professor, Ron and I would like to change our electives. I have taken the last months to get an opinion of the new subjects and I would like to drop Divination as I can't learn the subject from books and a teacher if I don't possess the gift of being a seer and I clearly don't and I also want to quit Muggle Studies. While it is interesting to learn about it from a wizard's point of view, I have found the material severely outdated and as a muggleborn witch I don't need the subject."

"I understand, Miss Granger, and I have to say, I am glad you have taken your time to think this through and make an informed decision. For my own curiosity. You said the material is severely outdated. How much have the muggles improved the things they use compared to the things you were taught in the classes by Professor Burbage?" Minerva asked.

"Well, the technology covered in the course is from the 1940's perhaps 1950's. None of the inventions that were made after 1950 have even been mentioned in the textbook and I have read the whole book." Hermione answered.

Minerva was shocked. Not that Hermione had read the whole textbook, that was normal for the smart witch, but that their classes were behind time by at least 40 years. The whole purpose of Muggle Studies was undermined that way. No wizard would be able to blend in with the muggles if he followed his knowledge from this class. She hadn't thought Sirius' information had been correct.

"Thank you for this information Miss Granger. I wasn't aware, that we were so far behind the developments of the muggles in our material. I will see to it, that it will be changed. But I think it will have to wait until next year as the textbooks for this year have already been bought and I don't think it would be possible for all our students to get new ones during the year."

"If I may make a suggestion, Professor?" Harry asked.

"Of course, Mr. Potter." Minerva answered.

"Well, I had an idea how we could help all those here in the castle who want to learn more about the muggle world without producing massive costs. I mean, we have lots of muggleborn witches and wizards who live here in the castle. Why don't we ask some of the fourth and sixth year muggleborns from Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff and Gryffindor to give tutoring to small learning groups. I suggest the fourth and sixth years because they have had enough time to integrate fully in the magical world and are not pressured with their O.W.L.s or N.E.W.T.s at the end of the year, which would undermine the purpose of the tutoring.

"They could be rewarded with an extra credit on their N.E.W.T. result list. I know in the muggle world this kind of extracurricular activity is seen very positive when it comes to decisions for an employer which one to take for a job. Perhaps this could also work in this way."

Minerva smiled proudly. Harry had really made huge steps since the end of last year. She could see how Sirius influence had done wonders for the boy's behavior. He was less reserved and it was obvious, that he was now able to think things through.

"That's a great idea. I will speak with Professors Flitwick and Sprout, as they are the heads of Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff. But I think we can build some study groups this way. So now I think Mr. Weasley also wanted to change his electives?"

"Yes, Professor. I want to exchange Divination for Arithmancy. I, like Hermione, see no sense in taking a subject, which I can't learn and after speaking with Harry I thought Arithmancy might be something I could like. I already asked my mum to send me Bill's old books for the subject and have already begun to learn the things Harry and Hermione said they have covered in the last months."

Minerva was really surprised. She would never have thought for Ron Weasley to take his education serious. But with the change of attitude in Harry it was not that unbelievable.

"Of course Mr. Weasley. I am glad to hear this. I don't see a problem with this change. I will inform Professors Trelawney and Vector of this. I hope you get up to the stand the Arithmancy class is at the moment on your own, but I am sure Mr. Potter and Miss Granger will help you to reach it."

Hermione and Harry nodded smiling.

"Well, if this was everything you wanted to ask me, I would like to send you on your way. I have to grade these essays until tomorrow and I think you three can spend your time better than entertaining this old lady." She said earning a few chuckles from her little lions.

"Of course, Professor, thanks for your help." Harry said and led the other two out of the room.

When the door was closed behind them, Minerva couldn't help it but smile fondly about the change that has been happening since Sirius breakout. And she would make sure it stayed this way.

The Ministry was in uproar. Somehow there had been several incidents which made the normal procedures impossible to uphold this day. The whole team of the Department of Reversal of Magical Accidents had been transformed into owls. And the rest of the Ministry was trying to find out how to turn them back to their normal forms. They had no clue how the transformation had happened and to make things worse, the specialists in this field were the victims. Victims who were showing their displeasure about the incompetence of their colleagues with picking at them when they tried wrong spells or sprouted nonsense.

The ones that had gotten away best were the ones working in the Department of Magical Games and Sports. They were changing colors and hairstyles every five minutes. Most had taken it with humor and were betting on the next change. Ludo Bagman was no help at all at reversing the effects as he was the one setting up the betting pool. Not that Fudge believed the fool would be able to do anything about it, but hell, he was the department head.

Fudge was rotating and trying to get some healers of St. Mungo's to help them, but they were all really busy. It was the time of the year where usually some of the older witches and wizards were prune to magical infects and maladies. They couldn't spare any healers as they were already working overtime to make sure none of the ill patients were getting in a fatal state of illness.

The next option were those who had the abilities to work in the targeted department, but preferred to work in others or were not of the right blood status to qualify for the prestigious jobs there. But did he have a choice? He had to get the department running again. Then there was Hogwarts. The teachers, especially McGonagall, Flitwick and Dumbledore would probably be able to help reverse the effects. But he didn't want to depend on Dumbledore. That would be fatal for his political standing as the man was clearly at fault for the Potter and Black disaster.

The next thing happening he would get crazy about. He was sure of it. His door was opened.

"Cornelius, we need you at the …" Umbridge yelled before she was replaced by a white cloud and a pop was heard.

Fudge looked at the place where his loyal employee had been just a moment ago. A big pink toad with a black bow tie was sitting on the floor croaking.

It was just too much for the Minister of Magic. Forget pride. He was calling Dumbledore.

Minerva McGonagall was smirking. The headmaster had called her into his office to tell her he needed to go to the Ministry to help there to undo some cases of inexplicable transformation and that she was in charge of the school for the time being. Oh yes, she would use this time well. What Albus was forgetting was that as acting headmistress she could initiate some things up to a certain level. Approving the new Muggle Studies tutoring was one of these things. Albus didn't need to know this though.

She had the distinct impression, that Fawkes, who had returned after taking Albus to the Ministry was grinning. It was hard to tell with a phoenix, but she got this feeling, that the fire bird didn't approve of Albus' actions. Well, she would use the time she had to the best of her abilities. Sadly she couldn't tell off Severus for how he treated everybody except his Slytherins, but she could give the other heads of houses a tool to see if the punishments of their students were justified or not.

This way the heads of houses could just give the points back, which were taken wrongfully. And Albus would only find out if he checked all of the day's paperwork, what he would never do voluntarily. He was quite willing to let her handle most of it.

"Tell me, Fawkes, where would you place paperwork that Albus has no need to see immediately?" She asked the phoenix.

Fawkes gave an amused trill and looked at a sideboard.

"Good idea, Fawkes. I think I will follow your suggestion. It's high time that the ridiculous point system was brought back to its original purpose without Severus meddling with it or Albus giving points to his favorites."

"Well said, Minerva." The sorting hat said.

"Thanks. It's rare for you to speak with somebody outside of the sorting." She answered.

"Well, most of the time only Albus is here and it is depressing to talk with a man who has allowed to be overwhelmed by his ambitions. He is delusional of his own position. He seeks for glory and ignores the other people. I find it quite amusing that Mr. Potter has gotten out from under his thumb. Albus' rants are really interesting. I would advise you to up your occlumency. He is sure to try and pry information from the students and teachers sooner or later if he thinks something is amiss. For the moment he will be distracted by the things happening outside the school. But when those distractions have been dealt with, he will try to find a way to regain control of Harry Potter."

"I know. We are already trying to conceal Harry's true abilities from Albus. As long as Harry can learn undisturbed, he will be better prepared to face You-Know-Who, if he returns like Harry and his guardian believe he will. I am inclined to trust their opinion. He isn't dead and he is powerful enough to find a way to get back a body for himself."

"I know. I have seen his mind when I sorted Tom Riddle. He was always ambitious and cunning. But he could have been saved, if the right steps would have been taken. A magical child, who was clearly disliked by his muggle guardians at the orphanage. He was a child, who wanted to stay in the magical world, who wanted to be special. If Armando and Albus had taken the initiative to find a suitable magical family for Tom, he would not have turned out utterly evil.

"And Albus has learned nothing from that part of history. He has purposely placed Harry with his magic hating muggle relatives to make him suffer. To have the boy formable by him. He didn't realize that if Harry had not found true friends in Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, he could have become the next Dark Lord."

"My god. I didn't realize that it was such a close thing." Minerva said shocked.

"There aren't that many differences between Harry and Tom. But Harry hates bullies, because of his cousin. If he had believed, that the wizards were no better, he would have set his mind to make it happen. He would have taken measures to ensure that those bullies were taken care of. And if there were nobody to stop him from delving too far into the darkness, what do you think would have happened?

"He is a boy, a child which never got attention at home. An abused child. If they are not treated properly, they tend to become bitter and hateful. They can become a danger to their fellow students. I wanted to sort the boy into Slytherin for some time, he had a strong urge to prove himself, but he insisted on another house. Funnily he didn't prefer Gryffindor, he just didn't want to go to Slytherin, I think Mr. Malfoy's behavior was an important factor in his decision."

"Oh that is rich, a shame, that I can't rub it into Severus' face. It would be funny to see how he would react to the thought, that the son of his school Nemesis was nearly sorted into his house. But Harry wouldn't thank me for this. He is happy in Gryffindor and from the looks of it, he is slowly uniting the houses."

"Yes, that is one other point Albus rants about. While he always speaks about the unison of the houses in public, he really does everything to ensure it never happens." The hat said wisely.

"Well, too bad, that now he has an opponent in the boy he thought he could control and who has a lot of political standing. I mean heir to two founders and four other noble and most ancient houses. It's normal for the other students to be most interested in him."

"Yes. By the way, you should tell the boy that he can gain the lordship of Slytherin as well by right of conquest. Sometimes it is rather amusing how those ancient and overcome laws of our world can still be used." The hat chuckled.

"Wait, you mean because he defeated You-Know-Who he can claim his title?" She asked shocked.

"Of course he can. The law originates from 774 and is still valid. It was really popular in those times to challenge other nobles to gain their title and properties. Under Arthur Pendragon's reign the fights died down because Merlin managed to get the wizards to behave more civilly, and the law became forgotten. Only a few knew about it. One of them was Rowena. But then again, she knew about all the laws, even the curious ones. She thought it better to not say anything about it to not wake sleeping dragons and give new fuel to those fights."

"But wouldn't it be better to keep this a secret? I mean a lot of pureblood families would abuse the law." Minerva argued.

"Not if it is done in secret. Harry has found the Chamber of Secrets last year. If he goes down there again, which he really should do to claim the corpse of the basilisk he slew, he can claim the title of Lord Slytherin in Salazar's own chamber. Quite ironic how history goes, don't you think? Magic had her own ways to balance things out. If people would just let her champions grow without negative outside influence things wouldn't be as bad as they are now."

"Yes, it is. I will have to contact Harry and his guardian in secret without Albus becoming suspicious. Hm, the problems at the Ministry will occupy him for some time. I think I will let Harry know what you suggested and then give him short notice when to do it and how."

"That would be the best, Minerva. Tom has to be stopped from ever again gaining enough power to start a new war. The last one was bad enough. If we don't act quickly, there won't be enough wizards and witches left to save the magical society in Britain."

Minerva nodded and left the office to go and find Harry.