Note: Part two! Normally I make a point of not changing the narrator halfway through a chapter – I think I've managed to be pretty consistent up until this point. For the next few chapters, however, things are going to get a bit hectic and (hopefully) exciting, with lots happening simultaneously, so I'll be changing narrators frequently to show all the action.
Note2: I should also point out that a lot of this chapter was written just after I'd attended my first folk festival and was plagued with the image of Voldemort and Harry galloping down the line at a ceilidh, and what wasn't written then was written whilst watching Children in Need 2011 or at half past midnight the day after CiN when I was completely crackered… I hereby blame those things for everything that is skewed in this chapter.
Chapter Fifty-Six
A Very Quiet Coup
Ducking into a dark corner, Tonks changed her appearance again. That was the beauty of metamorphmagi; you always had an infinite number of disguises available to you if you felt that the one you were wearing was attracting too much attention from the people whose attention you definitely did not want to attract.
This, she thought, stepping into the main corridor of the Department of Magical Transportation, was what she had signed onto the Auror Training Programme to do. Well, not infiltrating her employers per se, but the thrill of properly working in her chosen calling once more after so many months of paperwork and then inertia cancelled out any fear she might have held at the danger of their mission. This was it. This was the big one. Do or die. Kill or be killed. If the Order failed in this, their last stand, then it might as well be over.
It was early evening; the Ministry was quieter than it would be in the middle of the day but still not deserted; those witches and wizards putting in overtime would still be around for another couple of hours yet. Most importantly, though, the Minister would still be there, and at this time of day his numerous protection detail would hopefully be slightly relaxed. It was a simple enough plan that the Order had devised between them. Sneak into the Ministry and break the curse on Thicknesse, dealing with anyone who got in their way. They would thus free the institution from You-Know-Who's grip and grant it autonomy once more. They were willing the surprise nature of their attack to buy them some time since they were already hopelessly outnumbered without the addition of the Death Eaters and their goons. Every Order member who could be spared had been drafted in to take part in their daring raid, even those who would not normally fight on the frontline, and it was Tonks' job to make sure that they all got into the building. At that moment, she was on her way to do just that by meeting up with Seymour Tibbs, a nondescript member of the Floo Office who had been keeping the Order's channels of fireside communication open and unmonitored since the Ministry fell. Today, however, he was going to have to get them physically through the grates, not merely ensure that they could speak through them. Tonks had come in person to oversee the proceedings; they had not wanted any message to Seymour regarding the Order's current position to be tragically intercepted. At length, Tonks reached the Floo Office and entered.
The room was small and largely empty of furniture except the standard chairs and desks of the workers; the dominant spectacle was by far and away the massive fireplace on the wall opposite the door. It could have easily fitted seven people side by side standing in it, and it was from here that the entire country's magical grates were monitored, from here that a fireplace could be sealed or opened as necessary. Returning her hair to a shade Seymour would recognise, Tonks looked around the room for him but there was no-one to be seen.
"Seymour?" she hissed. "Seymour, where are you?"
"I'm afraid you've just missed Mr Tibbs."
Tonks whirled round to find the owner of the unpleasant voice. Three members of the Minister's upper echelons had entered the office behind her. Two faces were unfamiliar but at the third, Tonks had to stop herself doing a double-take and exclaiming in disbelief.
Percy Weasley's eyes flickered unsurely between Tonks and his superiors.
"I wasn't aware that you had returned to work after your extended absence, Auror Tonks," the wizard who had spoken before said lightly. "But as I said, Mr Tibbs has just left. We needed to speak to him about an urgent matter, you see. Someone was worried about his professional conduct and his service to the Ministry. There have been rumours that he has been lax in his duties, letting grates go unattended at rather convenient times for certain dangerous organisations whose designs upon our noble Minister should be monitored at all costs."
The Order, in other words, thought Tonks. Whoever the leader of this trio was, he was evidently newly promoted and enjoying being able to gloat as he continued to drone on about Seymour, whom Tonks had no doubt was now either dead or as good as. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Percy fiddling with his wand. If ever a young man had had a moment of truth, then this was Percy's. Finally, Tonks caught his eye and raised her own wand a fraction. It was all the impetus that the younger wizard needed.
The two stunned Ministerial wizards fell daintily into a heap on top of each other and Tonks bound them before Percy squeezed them under one of the desks. The goons taken care of, Tonks and Percy finally had the chance to appraise each other properly. The black sheep of the Weasleys was looking rather pink and, indeed, sheepish.
"I know it's too little, too late," he said, pushing his spectacles further up his nose, "but after I heard about what happened to Seymour and what he'd been doing I thought that this was probably my last chance to fight the good fight and…"
Tonks held up a hand to stop him mid-sentence.
"Right now, Percy, we need all the help we can get. Welcome to the fold." She turned to the gargantuan fireplace. "Now, have you got any idea how this behemoth works?"
X
Arthur was not usually a man for pacing, but pacing he was, to the extent where Hestia and Kingsley had threatened him with locomoter mortis twice if he didn't stop making them dizzy with his constant movement. He couldn't really be blamed for his nerves, thought Arthur defensively, since this was ostensibly the most dangerous thing they had ever done: not due to their destination or the feats they hoped to achieve there but merely due to numbers. The Ministry employed hundreds and could call upon many more allies. The Order had been lucky to scrape together the ten people that now stood in Ted and Andromeda's living room, waiting for Tonks and Seymour's signal.
"Arthur," warned Hestia again. Arthur stopped pacing with a sigh and joined his colleagues in their semi-circle around the grate, watching its emptiness for the slightest signs of life.
"Let's face it," said Mundungus after a few more silent minutes. "She's not coming. I may as well be…"
"Mundungus!" said Remus sharply. "You are not going anywhere. We're going to need all the help we can get for this one."
Obviously reluctantly, Mundungus remained where he was. Arthur couldn't blame him completely; his own feet were feeling distinctly chilly at the prospect. Before anyone else could have second thoughts, however, a flash of green bowled into the fireplace and Tonks' face appeared there.
"We're on," she said. "Sorry it took longer than expected, there was more than one setback."
The remaining Order members exchanged worried glances. 'More than one setback' was not a promising start to their mission.
"But we're back on track now," she said. "I've acquired a new ally, but we're going to have to get a move on. The connection's secure, come through."
Now or never, thought Arthur as Tonks' face disappeared and merely left the green gateway to the Ministry, to change. Andromeda and Ted stepped forward, ready to do their part, willing to follow their daughter to the end if that was what it took to turn their world around. They grasped their hands together tightly and dashed into the flames with a slight runup, Andromeda going into the grate first and pulling Ted after her. Their decisiveness spurred on the others and soon Arthur and Bill were the only ones left in the living room.
"After you, Dad."
Arthur nodded and took a deep breath before stepping into the green fire and hurtling through chimneys towards London and their fate. All too soon, he found himself in the Floo Network office with the others who had gone before him, Tonks, and…
"Percy?"
Bill stepped out of the immense grate beside him, the incredulity of finding the brother he had presumed lost to the Ministry for so long standing in their midst. Arthur himself was still speechless, but glad, glad to see that Percy was there to fight alongside them, but above all glad to see that his son was alright.
"I'm sorry, I've been an idiot," Percy began, but before he could elaborate any further, he was cut off by his eldest brother and father throwing their arms around him.
"Glad to have you back," said Bill.
The moment of reunion was cut short by Mundungus's voice.
"There's some dead blokes under here!" he exclaimed.
"Mundungus, I can't believe you're sniffing around for things to nick at now of all times! They aren't dead, they're stunned," said Tonks, "and it's thanks to them that we need to get a move on. They got Seymour," she explained to Arthur and Remus in an undertone. "We don't have quite as much of an element of surprise as we might have done but at the moment we've still got the upper hand. We should stick to the original plan,"
Arthur, Remus and Bill nodded their agreement. It was a simple enough plan – they were going to go straight to the Minister's office and attempt to get him back from wherever it was that his mind was being held prisoner under the complex imperius curse. Tonks was the first to leave the Floo Office, peering out into the corridor and assuring the others that all was clear before leaving the room completely and disappearing off into the direction of the lifts; Remus, Dedalus, Elphias and her parents followed her. Any reserves that the Ministry called in at a later stage would apparate into the Atrium as a central point and it made sense to have a little welcoming committee ready to spring out at them should this occur. As the lift returned empty, the others left the office and made their way down the corridor towards their destiny. Mundungus was with them in case his less than legal talents needed to be put to good use once they reached the Minister's cocoon. None of the Order had thought it unlikely for Thicknesse to have more advanced security than that which a simple alohomora could bypass, and Mundungus had a particular aptitude when it came to magical locks with suitable prizes on the other side of them.
As they got into the lift that would take them up to the top floor and the Ministerial offices, Arthur cast a glance sideways at his third-born son, still deep in conversation with Bill about the finer details of the plan that he had been so hurriedly brought in on. Percy had slid into Seymour's role with visible trepidation but no less visible determination, and right now, Arthur was too relieved at his being safe beside him once more to chastise his having been led astray by the Ministry machine in the first place. That said, it was undeniable that an insider at the Ministry was a necessary asset if their scheme was to go ahead, especially since the Order had, bit by bit, been coerced into giving up its positions therein. If there was anything unexpected that they ought to have been wary of, hopefully Percy would be able to enlighten them.
The lift shot past the Department of Magical Law Enforcement where Kingsley's fellow Aurors still worked under the misguided leadership of Dawlish, and Arthur let out the breath that he didn't know he had been holding. If they were going to encounter any further mishaps at this early stage of the proceedings then he had expected it to be at this level; indeed he had entertained horrific visions of their lift being stormed by the entire Auror Office in something akin to one of those muggle SAS raids which looked both exciting and terrifying in equal measure.
Thankfully the lift did not stop until it reached the top floor, the administrative centre of the wizarding world. Arthur had never had much occasion to visit these parts during the premiership of Fudge, Scrimgeour and their predessesors, but he could not deny that it had changed visibly since Thicknesse's initiation. Dark, impersonal and cold, it was as if the evil that had left its mark on the rest of the institution had impregnated itself into the very fabric of the building here, ostensibly its source. Arthur gave an involuntary shiver.
"Well, here goes nothing," said Bill, breaking the silence that had gradually fallen over them during the journey from the lower department. They set off towards their goal at the end of the corridor.
X
It was not the most conventional way of trying for promotion, thought Percy as they moved along the corridor: breaking into the Minister's office and attempting to break a curse that he didn't even know he was under. But despite the fact that he was almost certainly heading towards unemployment with all guns blazing, Percy would not have chosen differently given a second chance. He had made many foolish decisions in the past few years but he was certain that helping the Order now was not one of them. Whilst he and Seymour had not been the best of friends, they had got on well enough and exchanged pleasantries in the corridors. When Percy had heard that he'd been killed whilst resisting arrest for 'aiding and abetting a dangerous resistance force' it had knocked him for six. Until now, Percy had turned a blind eye to the murky goings on that always seemed to be happening very far away, as if he was viewing them through a haze of misinformation that had misted up his glasses. Now, however, his vision was crystal clear and events were very close to home. Percy cringed to think of how he had let himself be deceived, had let himself follow like a sheep. Hopefully it was not too late for him to help now.
It was only as they were almost at the Minister's office itself that Percy realised that it was far too quiet in the corridor. The security was lessened in the evenings but it was never this lax. He had warned the others as much, that they should anticipate their presence being challenged at least once before they reached Thicknesse. He turned and sure enough, he saw Yaxley and the Carrows standing behind them, wands outstretched.
"You've decided to return then, Weasley… most junior," said Yaxley to Percy after casting brief glances at Bill and their father. "Your superior was on the verge of sending out a search party for you. Dare I hope to assume that you are merely escorting these wanted criminals to the Minister for his immediate judgement or should I take a more realist approach?"
Percy responded with a curse and the others followed his lead. They outnumbered the three Death Eaters two to one and would have subdued them easily had their foes not retreated rapidly to the lift after only a few exchanged spells.
"They'll be alerting the rest of the Ministry and getting reinforcements now," said Kingsley. "Let's hope that we can do what we came for before they arrive."
"Let's hope that the others found fortuitous hiding places in the Atrium," said Hestia. She cast a glance over her shoulder to where Mundungus was tapping around the lock of the Minister's office with his wand, working out which spells he should use to get in. "I think we should split up," she continued, "and try and stop anyone who's coming. There's still time to intercept them, and we can't really be of use to Bill once he gets to the actual curse-breaking part."
The others nodded their agreement and set off in pursuit of the Death Eaters.
"Wait, Perce, I'll need your help," said Bill, calling his brother back. "If I do manage to break the curse on Thicknesse then he'll probably appreciate a slightly more familiar face telling him what the blazes is going on."
Percy nodded.
"I can get you past his secretary without you having to attack her as well," he said.
"We're in," said Mundungus from the door, which had clicked unlocked so quietly and delicately that Percy had not noticed it – and he doubted that the office's occupiers would have noticed it as well. "And I'm off. You're on your own in there, mate."
"Thanks, Mundungus." Bill turned to Percy. "You ready, little brother?"
Percy opened the door and the two Weasleys entered the heart of the magical government…
