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CHAPTER EIGHT: Generation Plans

The inner circle – Harry, Hermione, Ron, James, Parvati and Emily – were meeting at Grimmauld Place again. James looked awkwardly around. "You're sure you're happy for me to take the lead here?"

"The decisions I made as leader got us into this,"Harry answered.

"That's not right, Harry,"Hermione argued. "Nott must have had a plan to turn the wizengamot against us. He'd always have found some reason."

"I made it easy for him, though, didn't I?" Harry turned back to James. "I turned leadership of the Order over to you because I thought you could do a better job of it. You haven't let me down so far."

"And I haven't exactly got anything to lead at the moment,"Ron noted. "The Aurors and the Inquisition are taking orders from the interim minister."

Emily looked at James. "You've got this."

James smiled at her. "I know, I was just being polite. All right, first things first: Assets."

"Rose and Scorpius are still in the ministry,"Hermione began. "But…"

"But everyone knows that Rose is Ron's daughter,"Parvati concluded. "They might not want to upset Scorpius' family but they're not going to trust him."

"Is your sister still with the Department of Mysteries?"James asked.

Parvati nodded. "They're keeping her pretty isolated though. She said that Nott and his new entourage are making most of the decisions. Romilda Vane's there a lot of the time. She's not anything official but she's part of whatever plans he's making."

"Is there anyone else there we can trust?"

Harry shrugged. "Demelza Robbins?"

James laughed in bewilderment. Demelza had been a few years younger than Harry and the others at Hogwarts; her daughter had been at school with James. And she'd achieved a lofty position in the broom licensing department. "Wow, we really are scraping the bottom of the barrel, aren't we?"

"The thing that's bothering me,"Ron put in,"is the wizengamot. I mean, I knew they were stuffy and I knew a lot of them weren't keen on many of the reforms we'd made, but I thought, for the most part, I had their respect and support. Why would they suddenly do this?"

"You know what this reminds me of?"Hermione asked.

All eyes were on her. "What?"Harry responded.

"When Dumbledore was removed as headmaster of Hogwarts."

"You were in a coma,"Parvati reminded her.

"Beside the point."

"You're right,"Ron agreed. "This is like how the school board suddenly turned against him."

"When Lucius Malfoy manipulated them,"Harry recalled. "Threats and blackmail for anyone who didn't step into line."

"You think that's what's going on?"Emily wondered. "Nott's threatened or blackmailed the members of the wizengamot that would rather have Ron in charge?"

"It would explain a lot."

"If that's true,"James considered,"then we really have got something to use against him."

Nymphadora felt badly out of her depth. But she needed help and she needed lots of it. She and her friends had made a difference during the civil war, but back then James had been at the school, giving them direction. Now, despite having Ernie there, they were having to be a lot more discreet than that.

So she'd reached out to any friends she could trust. Bradley was there, of course, and Gemini. Beverley, Maxwell Jordan and Flavia Lupin. She'd considered asking Verity Higgs, Gemini's girlfriend, but Gemini had seemed reluctant so she'd left it. She'd been reluctant to involve the younger students but in the end she'd invited Tracey and Balthasar, along with Bradley's younger brother Richard and Aishi Patel.

Finding a meeting place had been hard, even with her new powers as prefect. She couldn't get them all in the common room and she couldn't officially request a room without arousing suspicion. In the end, she'd had to resort to asking Ernie if he knew any private meeting places. He'd informed her that he'd be out of his office that evening…and casually mentioned the password.

Nymphadora looked around at the group. "There's been a lot of changes at the school recently,"she reminded them.

"You're telling us,"Maxwell agreed. "They've got rid of almost all the decent teachers and this new lot…"

"They seem a bit intense,"Flavia suggested.

"I was going for unhinged but that'll do."

"Do you know what's happened to my mum and dad?"Tracey asked.

Nymphadora kicked herself for not thinking of it sooner. James' departure from the school had been quickly followed by Emily leaving Hogsmeade, with her courier business left in the hands of her staff. "They're at Grimmauld Place with my mum and dad. You can tell Joshua but keep quiet about this."

"Keep quiet about what?"Flavia asked. "What are we doing here?"

Nymphadora took a deep breath. "Professor Parkinson and the others, they're part of this group that have taken over the ministry."

Richard nodded. "We've all heard about that. Minister Weasley being suspended and everything."

"I still can't believe Nott's in charge,"Aishi agreed.

"Do you think they'll go after muggleborns?"Beverley asked nervously. "Like You-Know-Who did?" Maxwell squeezed her hand in reassurance.

"We're not going to give them the chance,"Nymphadora replied. "There's no way Nott's done this properly. There's some sort of scheme going on and we need to find out what it is."

"And how are we going to do that?"Flavia asked, still trying to be practical.

"I'm not sure,"Nymphadora admitted. "I haven't got any sort of grand plan, but if these new teachers are who we think they are, then they're not going to stay respectable forever."

"So, just a case of keeping our eyes and ears open?"Gemini asked.

Nymphadora nodded. "They can't be that careful. Sooner or later they'll give a sign of what's going on and we need to be watching for it."