As always, I'm only playing with JK Rowling's toys. All credit goes to JK Rowling, her publisher and all the other people involved in bringing her work to life.
#
Amelia Bones was taking a well-earned break, for the last few weeks she had been working tirelessly to ensure that Harry Potter would be protected from enemies known and unknown. Her hand-picked security team of Tonks and Shacklebolt had reported no attempts to circumvent the protections that had been placed on the cup.
As she sat at home, her feet up and a nice cup of tea in hand, she took a moment to relax and enjoy doing exactly nothing.
'Missus Bonesy ma'am' said a voice out of nowhere
'BLOODY BUGGERING BOLLOCKS!' yelled the startled woman, the cup in her hand shot towards the ceiling.
She looked around and saw a somewhat nervous look house-elf standing holding a piece of paper.
'I'm so sorry. You gave me such a fright. May I ask who sent you?' she asked in a soft tone
'Missus Bonesy Ma'am, Professor Kitty sends Dobby from Hogywarts. Harry Potter Sir be telling Dobby that he be needed today.' Said Dobby nervously.
'Is that for me?' Amelia asked
Dobby gave his seasick inducing nod and handed the paper to Amelia.
'Oh you bastard, Thank you Dobby. Can you tell Professor Kitty that we will be with her shortly?'
Dobby silently popped away.
Amelia saw the remains of her cup lying on the floor by the window 'I was enjoying that' she said with a huff.
'Jeeny' Amelia called for her elf.
'You called Ma'am?' asked Jeeny
'Would you mind bringing Aurors Nymphadora Tonks and Kingsley Shacklebolt here? It is of the utmost importance.' She asked.
'Of Course Ma'am' said Jeeny before popping away
In her private study, Amelia kept an array of items that she had gathered over the years. Some magical in nature others more mundane. Due to the nature of the task that she would have to undertake, she felt that having a full set of magic suppressing cuffs and shackles would be advantageous. Her desk had a secret compartment that only she knew of, that's contained a single vial of the purest veritaserum she had ever encountered. Lily Potter had managed to refine the process to the extent that there was no counter to it, not even a master Occlumens would be immune to its effect.
'Boss?' called the unmistakable bass-filled voice of Kingsley
'I'll be there in a second.' She called back, she collected her bag of goodies and headed out to the main hall.
'Boss, your elf didn't tell us what you needed only that it was urgent.' Said Tonks
'Do you want to catch a dead man?' Amelia asked with her eyebrow raised.
The two Aurors looked at each other in confusion.
'I have received intel that one Barty Crouch Junior is currently at Hogywarts' she cleared her throat 'Excuse me, Hogwarts posing as Alastor Moody. We have a potential Tiger Kidnapping in progress, Professor McGonagall has advised that she will take steps to apprehend the culprit, our task is to detain, question, and recover the victim. Do you have any questions?' said Amelia
'Only one boss, where is this intel coming from?' asked Tonks
'Harry Potter' said, Amelia
'That's good enough for me.' said Tonks.
'We will floo directly to Professor McGonagall's office; a very excitable elf will let us know once Crouch has been apprehended, then we go to work. Make sure you are ready to leave in two minutes.' said Amelia.
##
Minerva was not, by nature, a nervous woman. Highland women are cut from granite and more ferocious than the Highland men, especially when children are in harm's way, only her many years of experience of dealing with children kept her expression neutral as she approached the defence classroom.
She entered the room with her wand out and her shield charm cast, fully expecting a stunning spell to come hurtling towards her. She had walked no more than five foot from the door when the expected spell splashed against her shield.
'That a damn good shield, you have there lass.' Said the fake Moody
'I have always found that it pays to be on one's toes. I have been teaching the Weasley Twins for a few years now.' She deadpanned her reply
'So what d'you want lass, I'm very busy?' Crouch asked, a hint of irritation in his voice
'There have been several complaints, Alastor. I am here in an official capacity.' Minerva replied.
'Complaints? HA! What did the little darlings expect? Hinkypunks and Redcaps?' demanded Crouch
'The complaints are not about the content of the course, or about you for that matter.' She replied
'Then what, huh?' Crouch barked
'The female members of staff and student body have raised concerns over your eye. I imagine that there were many things that Albus neglected to inform you of?' Minerva asked as she perched on the edge of the desk closest to her.
'All he asked was that I would fill in for the year.' Crouch said dismissively
'Well, unfortunately, he should have informed you that the School charter stated that every magical item has to be examined to ensure that they are not a danger to the student population. EVERY magical item Alastor, eyes included. CONSTANT VIGILANCE, I believe, is the term that you use.' Said Minerva calmly.
'My eye? How would I be able to keep tabs of the little darlings without my eye?' Crouch demanded
'You get it back once it has been checked out, the process takes no longer than an hour.' Minerva said.
'If I refuse?' he asked
'Then you have approximately three minutes to get packed and leave the grounds; it is entirely your choice. I do not care what Albus or the board of governors has to say on the matter, our students come first, and my word is final.' The deputy headmistress spoke with such authority that fake Alastor unconsciously took a step back.
Realising that he had nowhere to go on the subject, he relented 'Fine lass, have it your way. I expect it back in an hour' Crouch said as he uncoupled the eye from its housing and levitated it over to the desk beside Minerva.
'Thank you for making this easy Alastor, after the day I have had the last thing I wanted was a prolonged battle with you over this.' Said Minerva as she picked up the eye.
'I can't condemn you for wanting to keep the little Darlings safe –' he was cut off mid-sentence as Dobby stunned him from behind.
'Thank you Dobby, can you tell Amelia that our guest is ready?' she asked the house-elf who popped away.
'Incarcarous' said Minerva as she pointed her wand at the prone figure on the classroom floor.
A few moments later, Amelia, Kingsley, and Tonks entered the room.
'We can take it from her Minerva, once we find out where Alastor is we'll come and get you.
##
The ministry was deathly quiet on a Sunday afternoon; Ronald Weasley sat in his holding cell. The bed was uncomfortable, the blanket was wiry and scratched him, and the light that shone through his window was only an illusion. All in all, it was safe to say that Ronald Weasley was depressed.
He had been here for less than an hour, and in this short time, he had run the gauntlet of emotions, and nor he was spent. No more tears would fall, his fists were sore from pounding on the wall, and his throat was raw from the shouting that he had done. Now all he was left with was thoughts and memories of his stupidity, his jealousy, and ultimately his selfishness.
For the first ten minutes of his stay, he ranted about Harry fucking Potter, how he was the bane of Ron's existence from the first moment he laid eyes on the arsehole. Hermione Granger was next on his hit list, how bloody dare she get involved in things she had no business being involved in. Of course, it was her fault that his friendship with Harry had fallen apart, her and that damn broom.
If only that stupid troll had killed her in the first year, then he wouldn't be stuck in this bloody cell. This comment bounced around inside his rather empty skull.
Why would he say that? It was his fault that Hermione was in the toilet in the first place, surely that would make him a murderer?
Ronald grew more fearful at this thought; he would have been a murderer if it wasn't for Harry, Oh Merlin, what had he done!
When the realisation hit him that there was no-one but himself to blame for his current predicament, it shook him to his core.
He was lazy, rude, unhygienic, and to top it off he was a petulant bully.
Now he was in a gaol cell, his sister had lost her magic, and his family would likely disown him. Ronald Weasley, welcome to your life.
Ronald compared himself to Harry and found that in the grand scheme of things, he was in not to bad shape really. He had a loving family, a home full of love and fun, he had friends, and importantly he didn't have a maniac after him. Harry, on the other hand, had none of the positives that Ron had but had more negatives than any one person should have.
And what about Hermione? Could he compare himself to her? She had parents and by all accounts a happy home, she was smarter than anyone he had ever met, and she could be scary with it.
Outside his door, he heard the soft echo of footsteps walking along the corridor; perhaps it was time for him to be fed? His hopes slowly began to rise at this thought, only to be dashed when the footsteps continued past his door.
Ronald rubbed his face with his hands before he chose to lie down on the shelf that passed for his bed. He had no idea how long he would be here, so he decided to try and get as comfortable as he could. It could be a while.
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A/N: I don't really like adding notes to my writing, but in this instance I thought that I should give an update on what I am doing.
I know that there have been long absences in posting chapters; there is a very good reason for this.
I am currently working on my own original piece of work, the research and the first draft have taken up the majority of my writing time, which is limited due to the fact I have a full time job and a family.
I will finish this story, it will not be abandoned or placed in hiatus or adopted out in anyway. So please bear with me on this, I will finish it and I hope that in you enjoy reading the coming chapters as much as I will enjoy writing them. The coming chapters will be longer than these last two have been; I just wanted to get something out there for you all.
Thank you to all of you who have stuck with me so far, thank you for your reviews and your points, I read them all. I also want to point out that as I am British I use British punctuation, a few people have highlighted this and I wanted to just confirm this.