Chapter 1

2:30AM – Minister Office, Ministry of Magic

Kingsley Shacklebolt was not having a good night.

He clasped his hands tightly while pacing back and forth.

"Who else knows this?"

"No one else aside from the people in this office, Minister." Amelia Bones replied.

Kingsley stopped and stared at the 3 aurors in front of him. It seemed like an eternity before he finally took a deep breath.

"Good. We need to deal with this situation carefully."

He sighed as he looked out of the window, deep in thoughts.

The Wizarding World was in shambles after the defeat of Voldermort. The hardest part was the aftermath of the war. The first few days...Kingsley shuddered. It was as if a grey cloud was cast over the entire wizarding community. Even as the Minister of Magic, he was pessimistic about the community getting through this.

The joy and relief from seeing Voldermort's demise were quickly replaced with harsh reality. As Minister, Kingsley did his best to demand swift justice for all the Death Eaters captured. However, many of the surviving Death Eaters were from powerful pureblood families who held considerable power and wealth. Despite holding the most powerful position in the Ministry, Kingsley was powerless. The trials for the surviving Death Eaters drag on for many months due to their families' influence. Finally, the pureblood families approached the Ministry with a deal; they would throw their support behind the Ministry with their wealth and influence in exchange for lighter sentencing.

Kingsley and the Ministry tried to resist at first. However, the war was not kind. The economy of the Wizarding World went on a downward spiral as businesses refused to set up shop here and people were beginning to starve. Poverty began rising as pillaging became more common. After six long months, the Ministry finally gave in.

Most of them ended up being given short sentences in Azkaban with their family members being forced to wear an enchanted bracelet that tracks their daily movements and only being able to travel to Ministry sanctioned places. Many in the Wizarding community were not happy with the results. Families were torn apart and children were orphaned. Many lost somebody they knew and loved. The torture and the lost time from the war added salt to the blistering wound.

It was an ugly sight for the first few years. Pain and anguish blinds even the most morally upstanding wizards. There was a huge movement within the Wizarding World demanding a public execution for all surviving Death Eaters and their families, as well as the immediate resignation of Kingsley Shacklebolt who allowed these Death Eaters to get away scot free. The movement and protests went on continuously for 3 months and only died down when Harry Potter, the boy who defeated Voldermort, came out in support of the sentences.

The Golden Trio were furious when Kingsley told them the Ministry was going to accept the deal. Hermione came around to the idea first, to Kingsley's relief, he always knew Hermione would view this logically. It took Ron and Harry a couple weeks to begrudgingly accept the decision.

Things start getting better with the support of the pureblood families. Policies were immediately pushed in place, businesses started flourishing, The shaky support of Kingsley began to grew stronger as the community starts growing again. As time goes by, the community slowly started healing as they begin to move on from the atrocities of the war.

Not everyone moves on of course. Vigilantes pop up every other month or so, attacking and robbing the pureblood families. Five years has gone by and it seemed that the Wizarding War was well behind them. That is, until this afternoon when Kingsley received a worrying intelligence.

"We have to capture them as soon as possible, Minister!" exclaimed Zacharias Smith, interrupting his thoughts. "If the public knows that there's a Death Eater reemergence in Hogwarts of all plac-"

"Quiet Smith," Amelia admonished. "We know this is bad."

Kingsley shook his head. It took awhile but the Wizarding World was finally putting Voldermort, Death Eaters and war behind them. The public will go after the surviving Death Eaters and their families first. Merlin, there will another movement and waves of protests on the streets to punish them. The Ministry cannot afford to have that happen. As much as Kingsley hates to admit it, the support those pureblood families were valuable and crucial to the policies Ministry has implemented and several more are ready to be implemented in the near future.

"Bones, checking the tracking locations for all the ex-Death Eaters and their families," Kingsley instructed. "flag down everyone that looks suspicious and send Aurors to tail them."

"And Hogwarts, Sir?" Amelia asked hesitantly.

Kingsley buried his head in his hands at the thought of the public getting wind of Death Eaters re-emerging at Hogwarts. Hogwarts of all places! McGonagall is going to have a field day with this if she knew.

Feeling the gravity of the situation, the entire room went completely silent.

"We need someone we can trust to infiltrate Hogwarts," a crisp voice broke the silence. "Someone who is smart enough to find out who are gathering secret sympathizers of Dark Lord quietly."

Kingsley eyed at the blonde wizard who spoke up. Draco Malfoy. Thanks to his mother aiding Harry Potter at the last moment, his family were spared from Azkaban despite being notable Death Eaters. There were a few objections when Draco Malfoy applied to be an Auror that were immediately shot down the moment Harry Potter threw his support behind Malfoy.

"We have to find and protect the whistleblower as well," Zacharias nodded, turning to Kingsley.

"We cannot send Aurors in" Draco frowned. "It will alert the sympathizers."

"What if we have an Auror disguised as a new teacher?" Amelia said.

"The intelligence given to us mentioned that fifth year students are being recruited," Zacharias replied solemnly. "No fifth-year students are going to confide a teacher! Unless.."

"You can't possibly be thinking that we should have a fifth-year student to spy for us!" Amelia shrieked. "That is dangerous!"

"What choice do we have!" Zacharias argued. "Anyone else would only alarm the sympathizers!"

Kingsley blinked. A brilliant idea just popped in his mind.

"We don't need an actual fifth year student," He said slowly. This might actually work.

"Just someone who looks and pretends be a fifth year to get the information we need."

Amelia and Zacharias exchanged puzzled faces.

'Minister, Polyjuice potion is illegal!" Draco stared at Kingsley, realization dawning on him. "If anyone finds out, I-"

Both Amelia and Zacharias gasped audibly as they shouted.

"This is madness!"

"You can't possibly think that is a good idea!"

"I know, I know," Kingsley waved his hand dismissively. "However, the other option is having an actual fifth year student to spy for us."

The protests stopped as the Aurors pondered over the implications of his words.

"It is not a bad idea," Draco began slowly as Amelia look sharply at him. "a fifth-year student might slip up and giveaway information."

"Who do we send?" Zacharias Smith sighed, ruffling his hair in frustration. "This is going to be a long ass mission."

"What are we going to do with McGonagall?" Amelia murmured softly. "She will be suspicious of a student joining Hogwarts at this time of the year."

"Don't worry about the details for now," Kingsley said, grinning. "I know the perfect person for this job. Go get some rest."