Chapter Six
The First Spark
Alaw closed her eyes and let out a gasp of relief. She then looked down at her hands and realised she'd been clutching her file so tightly, her knuckles had turned white. In an effort to calm down she shook one of her hands and looked up at the benches. The Wizengamot was already getting its feet, the members putting away their papers and shuffling towards the stairs. Dumbledore had already swept from the room and Alaw hurried after him, hoping to catch up and talk to him. Outside in the corridor however, the only people to greet her were Mr Weasley and Hermione. They looked at her anxiously.
"Well?!" Hermione asked. "Dumbledore didn't say anything!"
"Cleared of all charges," Alaw said, looking over their shoulders towards the stairs. But there was no sign of Dumbledore. Hermione squealed and threw her arms around Alaw.
"Al! That's wonderful! Well of course they couldn't get away with expelling you, Amelia Bones wouldn't stand for it! Wait until we get back to the house, Ron snuck out yesterday and bought you a bottle of that gin you like just to celebrate."
Mr Weasley clapped Alaw on the shoulder, beaming, but the smile slid from his face as the door behind them opened. The three of them had to step smartly out of the way to avoid the members of the Wizengamot as they filed out with their briefcases. Most of them were muttering amongst themselves, a few glanced at the girls as they passed and a couple said good morning to Mr Weasley. Madam Bones nodded politely to them as she went by but Fudge completely ignored all three of them. He was deep in discussion with the toad-like woman called Umbridge. She gave Alaw a searching look as she passed and Alaw frowned back at her. Last to leave was Percy, and then something rather strange happened. Percy looked up from his notes and saw his father standing there. A strange expression crossed his face, his jaw tightened and his cheeks lost some of their colour. He looked angry for some reason.
Alaw's frown deepened and she looked over her shoulder at Mr Weasley, and she was shocked to see the same expression etched on his face. Percy swept away without saying a word, leaving Alaw and Hermione exchanging confused glances.
"Well, I better get you girls home," said Mr Weasley briskly once Percy had had time to disappear at the end of the corridor. "I'll just drop you off and then come straight back, I've got a lot of work to do."
"We can find our way back ourselves, we don't want to be a pain," Hermione offered as Mr Weasley ushered them towards the lifts.
"Nonsense. Dumbledore would have my head if he heard I'd let you wander around London by yourselves."
Alaw was feeling rather unsettled by the Headmaster's strange behaviour. Last night, he had swept from her presence without as much as a backwards glance. She'd been convinced he'd washed his hands of her. But he had shown up at the trial to defend her! Sure, he'd used it as an excuse to have a go at Fudge, but he'd still shown up. And now he had disappeared again without speaking to her. It was as if he was trying to confuse her. Alaw was shaking her head in irritation when she came up the stairs and came face to face with the second to last person she had expected – or wanted – to see.
Lucius Malfoy looked just as he always did. Impeccably dressed in dark purple today, his white-blonde hair was tied back in a ponytail and his piercing grey eyes latched on to Alaw's the moment she appeared. He cocked his head a little, his lip raised in the mere suggestion of a sneer.
"Well, here she is, then. The Minister was just telling me all about your trial, Miss Jones."
Alaw's mouth parted slightly in surprise and she spared Fudge a single, quick glance before focusing of Malfoy again. It was just the two of them waiting for the lift, there were no guards or other personnel. The last time Alaw had seen Malfoy senior, he had been wearing a black cloak and a Death Eater's mask. He had been begging Lord Voldemort to forgive him, and jeering as Voldemort turned his wand on Alaw. Alaw thought she detected the merest hint of a scar, hidden, almost out of sight, just below his jaw line. Perhaps a relic of Emrys' dragon fire.
"You don't work here," she said, unable to stop herself. "I thought Malfoys were all unemployed. What business do you have in the Ministry?"
Malfoy exhaled a small puff of air through his nose, which may have been a delicate snort.
"Just as uncouth as ever, Miss Jones. Really, you've had over two years in the wizarding world, surely it's time you learnt a witch's respect."
Alaw raised her eyebrows slightly and looked at Fudge again to see how he would react to this obvious racism. By the look on his face, Fudge entirely agreed with Malfoy.
"I only respect people who are respectable," Alaw replied smoothly.
Out of the corner of her eye she saw Hermione purse her lips to stifle a smile. Malfoy's gaze became even chillier and it suddenly stuck Alaw how strange it was that Draco's eyes could be the exact same shade as his fathers, and yet hold none of their ice. Alaw had thought Draco attractive for some time now, but though he was the spit of his father, Malfoy senior was in no way handsome. His manner erased all good features. Fudge gave a great tisk and motioned Malfoy towards the lift.
"Come, Lucius. We can continue this discussion in my office."
Malfoy nodded and gave Alaw, Hermione and Mr Weasley one last look of contempt before walking into the lift with the Minister. Alaw just couldn't help herself. As the grate rattled shut she called,
"Oh, please tell your boss that it was a nice try. Very clever."
If Malfoy reacted, Alaw didn't see before the lift rose out of sight.
"You shouldn't antagonise him," said Hermione quietly but Alaw shrugged.
"He'll try and kill me either way. Might as well have some fun whilst I'm at it."
Mr Weasley took the girls up the stairs instead of hanging around for another lift to come. He seemed unsettled by the encounter with Malfoy.
"What was he doing here?" Hermione asked. "Do you think he was trying to sneak into the trial?"
"Probably," said Mr Weasley bitterly. "He's very well connected, spends a lot of his time lobbying quietly in the background to stop laws he doesn't like from being passed."
"Is lobbying legal in the wizarding world?" Alaw asked as they left the stairwell and emerged into the Atrium. It wasn't as crowed as it had been earlier, the people having dispersed once rush hour was over. Mr Weasley grimaced.
"Technically no, it isn't. But who's to stop a rich patron from donating funds to a politician's election campaign, and then asking for a quiet favour later on?"
Alaw and Hermione nodded.
"It's like that in the muggle world too; companies have more power than elected officials a lot of the time," Alaw sighed.
They were passing the Fountain of Magical Brethren again and she glanced up at the statues. It really was gaudy, and in very poor taste. She wondered that the Goblins hadn't kicked up a fuss about it. After a pause, Hermione voiced the concern which had blossomed in Alaw's mind.
"Mr Weasley, if Fudge is talking to Malfoy privately, how do we know he hasn't been Imperiused? Or any of the other heads of department for that matter. I mean, there are a lot of Death Eaters who work here at the Ministry. Any one of them could curse one of the officials."
Mr Weasley took the time to check that no one was close enough to overhear them before responding.
"We have considered that, but Dumbledore knows Fudge, and he thinks he's acting of his own free will at the moment. As for the other heads of department, well, you're right, it is a disturbing possibility. But they've all been acting normally as far as we can tell. We have our eyes and ears peeled for any strange behaviour. And most of them are accomplished witches and wizards in their own right. Strong willed people can fight off the Imperius Curse and You-Know-Who wouldn't want to risk exposing himself so soon."
This was a little comforting and at the very least it reminded Alaw that she needed to fill in the gaps in her Defence Against the Dark Arts training. She only know the basics at the moment, it wouldn't hurt to research the types of spells Voldemort and his followers used to use. It wasn't until they'd made it to the visitor's entrance that it finally began to dawn on Alaw that she had in fact been cleared. A smile crept onto her face and she glanced at Hermione.
"So, what's this gin Ron bought?"
"Yes! I knew it!" Ron whooped when Alaw told him the news.
All the residents of Grimmauld Place had been gathered in the kitchen when Alaw and Hermione returned and they'd all jumped up from their seats when the girls entered the room. As Fred and George cheered and lifted Alaw onto their shoulders to do a lap of honour around the kitchen table, Mrs Weasley put a hand to her breast and sighed in relief.
"We told you, didn't we, Al?" Ginny called gleefully. "We told you you'd get off! Slytherins always wriggle out of things!"
When the twins put Alaw down, she was drawn into a tight hug by Sirius.
"Well done," he said feelingly, patting her on the back. Alaw grinned up at him.
"You should come out with us tonight, to celebrate!" she said excitedly. "I've never been out in London. Come on, what do you say?"
For a moment Sirius looked tempted, but he glanced at Mrs Weasley and shook his head.
"I'd love to, Al, I really would, but you know I can't leave the house. And you shouldn't either! I'll bet Voldemort is just dying to have another crack at you now that you're off the hook. We can celebrate here, some of the other Order members are coming round. Tonks, and Remus and I think Mundungus said he'd drop by. We'll make a good night off it."
Alaw would have honestly preferred going out on the town, but the Weasley parents were watching them like hawks so there would be no sneaking off that night. So, grudgingly, Alaw settled herself at the kitchen table and tucked into the lunch Mrs Weasley had prepared. Ron and Neville sat down opposite her and immediately demanded to hear a blow-by-blow account of the trial. Alaw filled them in between bites of chicken pie.
"… And the stupid bench was too high for me to reach so they made Percy carry all my evidence up to them. It was like bloody musical chairs."
"Wait, Percy was there?" Ron asked sharply, his fork stopping halfway to his mouth.
"Yeah, he was the clerk. But what's the deal with that? I thought he was working for Crouch."
Ron glanced quickly up the table towards his mother but she was talking to Ginny about her school robes needing alterations.
"Okay, I should've probably warned you about this before, but whatever you do, don't mention Percy in front of mum and dad," Ron muttered in a low voice that wouldn't carry. Alaw and Hermione looked at each other in surprise.
"Why?" Hermione asked in a whisper.
"Because there's been a massive bust up, that's why," said Ron grimly. "It's been terrible. So a few days after term ended, Percy came home from work with what he thought was good news. Fudge had promoted him, and moved him to his department. I bet Percy thought dad would be all proud."
"Oh, come on, Percy's not that stupid, he had to see what Fudge was after," Alaw scoffed. Ron laughed bitterly.
"Fat chance. Percy's always been dead ambitious. All he saw were the career prospects. He was too thick to realise Fudge only wanted him in his office so he could spy on dad and Dumbledore. When dad told him this, Percy went absolutely mental. He said – well – he said loads of terrible stuff to mum and dad. I've never seen dad get into a proper argument like that before. It was horrible, mum was crying and dad was screaming, and eventually, Percy just packed his bags and walked out on us. He lives somewhere in Diagon Alley now apparently."
Alaw sat back in shock at this revelation and Hermione put a hand over her mouth. Alaw had always quite liked Percy, always had a decent relationship with him. He may have been full of himself at times and overly bossy, but he had always treated Alaw well, despite her being a Slytherin. She would always be grateful to him for turning a blind eye to her many visits to Gryffindor Tower when she couldn't go back to the Dungeons. She had never expected him to do something like this.
"Why?" she asked hopelessly. "Why is Percy being so stupid?! He must know that Voldemort's back, he must know Dumbledore wouldn't lie about it!"
"That's exactly what he does think," said Neville unexpectedly. He'd remained quiet throughout Ron's explanation, looking sombre. "Percy might have idolised Dumbledore at school, but in the Ministry it's a totally different story. Dumbledore's never been very popular there apparently, he's stepped on a lot of toes over the years. Percy is trying to get ahead."
"Alright, maybe he's buying the whole 'Dumbledore is nuts' spiel, but what about me?! Doesn't he trust me? He's known me for two years, does he think I'm crazy?"
"I think he does," said George sadly as he came to sit with them. Apparently, he had been eavesdropping on their conversation. "A few weeks back, we heard Moody and Dumbledore talking about it on the extendible ears. Apparently, the story Fudge is quietly putting about is that you were captured by Sirius at the end of term and tortured until you went a bit nuts."
Alaw scowled, remembering that Fudge had put forward that very theory to Dumbledore in the Hospital Wing a few weeks ago.
"Bastard!" she spat. "No wonder everyone was looking at me funny at the trial! Well thank God I didn't lose my temper and prove them all right!"
"Yeah," George sighed, reaching over and stealing a couple of Ron's chips. "I'm sorry, Al, but I reckon you're going to have a really hard time convincing people You-Know-Who's back. Fudge's story has probably reached quite a few people by now."
Alaw grumbled incoherently and put her head in one hand, glaring down at her food. Well, if people weren't going to take her word for it, she'd just have to find some proof. The news of Percy's walkout had disturbed her deeply. Voldemort apparently had a great gift for sowing discord among friends and family. Alaw squared her shoulders and decided there and then that she would have to contact Percy right away. She wouldn't be responsible for the Weasleys' unhappiness any more.
Two days after the trial, the Order of the Phoenix had another full meeting which Dumbledore attended. As before, the young ones were shunted upstairs out of the way with a plate of sandwiches for their dinner. For once, none of them minded, because they had more important things to do than complain.
"Alright," said Alaw, sitting up smartly on the edge of the bed. "Welcome to the very first meeting of the Order of the Flame."
They were all gathered in a spare bedroom they'd been cleaning that day, perched on any available surface. Alaw had meticulously gone around the room before hand to make sure there weren't any magical listening devices. They were holding the meeting in this room rather than their bedroom because Alaw had been unable to prise the one painting in that room away from the wall, and she didn't trust portraits. Its occupant, a finely dressed wizard with a thin face and a black goatee, had eventually emerged from the edge of the frame to shout at her for desecrating the house of Black. But this spare room had no portraits, so they would be safe.
"So we're sticking with that name, are we?" asked Ron sceptically.
"I like it," Ginny declared. "It suits us."
Hermione was sitting on a chair next to Alaw, jotting down the minutes of the meeting on a notepad. She had appointed herself the official secretary of the Flames and no one had felt like challenging her.
"Right, so here's what I reckon we should do to start with," said Alaw. "I think we need to decide what our main goals are, and then how best to achieve them. All the fine details can be sorted out later."
"Well, isn't our goal obvious? We want to stop You-Know-Who," said Fred.
"We want to help the Order bring him down," Ginny agreed.
"Though, that might be a little a bit tricky when they don't want our help," George mused. "And because we're going back to Hogwarts in a month!"
"Voldemort knows about the Order of the Phoenix, he'll be keeping tabs on them for damn sure, but he doesn't know about us. We can tackle him in a different way to the Order," Alaw reminded them all. "And just because we'll be at school, doesn't mean we can't do anything."
Hermione was scribbling something and Alaw glanced at the notebook. At the top, Hermione had written,
Primary Goal – Dismantle Voldemort's operation.
She smiled and carried on.
"So, that's our main goal, now we can talk about how to do all this. Obviously, the most important thing is to get other people to believe us. We need to force Voldemort into the light."
"How do we do that? And please stop saying his name!" Ron winced. Alaw gave him a withering look.
"You're in the Anti-Voldemort League now, you better get used to the name. And I don't know how, yet. We'll need to think about it. So, that's one goal sorted, any other suggestions?"
She had about five more of her own but she thought it best to let the others voice their opinions first before she started sounding too much like a leader. Neville was the first to speak up, raising his hand politely. Out of the corer of her eye, Alaw saw Hermione grin fondly and shake her head a little.
"Um, I think we should try and take down his Death Eaters," said Neville. "I mean, You-Know-Who's dangerous, but he can only do all the things he does because he has support."
"Nice thinking! Very Slytherin of you," Alaw smiled, impressed. "Yeah, we should totally try and cripple his support staff."
"Again, how?" Ron asked. "Are you talking about – about assassinating them?!"
The others looked at him in shock.
"No!" Alaw cried. "No, no, no, nothing like that! No, there are plenty of ways of getting rid of someone without killing them. They're Death Eaters, right? Criminals. If we can expose them for the various crimes they've committed, they'll be banged up in Azkaban. Or - OR! We can turn them on each other!"
The others looked at each other in confusion.
"We're not following you, Al," said Fred and Alaw ploughed on excitedly.
"Just because they're on the same side, doesn't mean they all get along. There's plenty of rivalries among the old Pureblood families. I know for a fact that the Selwyns and the Rosiers fucking hate each other. Some sort of old feud that no one's sure how it started. And Ralph Goyle - you know, Greggory's dad - he's been shagging Corban Yaxley's wife on the sly. And I already managed to get Godwin Avery kicked out of the Wizengamot for insider trading; he's on trial next week. This could totally work!"
She grinned at her fellow Flames but they were all staring at her with varying degrees of confusion.
"How the hell do you know all that stuff?" Ginny asked in astonishment. Hermione raised an eyebrow at Alaw whilst the latter went a little pink and coughed awkwardly.
"Well, I - I've kind've been keeping my ears open, you know? Just jotting down gossip I overhear among the Purebloods. Here."
She reached behind her and picked up the file she'd brought with her. She flipped it open to reveal the detailed list of misdeeds she'd been noting down for the past two years.
"You've been spying on the Slytherins?" Fred asked incredulously, snatching the file from her and thumbing through it.
"Not just the Slytherins," Alaw shrugged. "Anyone who bothers me, really. That prick Eddie Carmichael from Ravenclaw is in there somewhere, you know, the one who keeps ripping people off. I've got enough on him to land him in detention for the rest of his life. And don't look at me like that!" she cried when the others continued to stare at her. "It's just insurance, okay? People tend to leave me alone when they know I've got dirt on them. Trust me, it's worth sneaking around a bit to have some peace and quiet in the corridors. Hardly anyone calls me a mudblood anymore."
Fred, George and Ginny looked back down at the file, and then Fred grinned evilly.
"Al… This. Is. Brilliant! Seriously, you could get half the school kicked out with this thing!"
"But how does that help us stop You-Know-Who?" asked Ron peevishly, apparently annoyed that his siblings were praising Alaw's Slytherin tenancies.
"Because he's bound to have recruited some of his Death Eaters' kids by now, and we already have them by the short hairs," Alaw explained, proudly taking the file back from Fred. Ron snorted derisively.
"Oh, please, as if he's going to let those idiots be Death Eaters!" he chortled. Alaw and Hermione frowned at him.
"Ron, that's exactly what he'll do…" said Hermione slowly but Ron rolled his eyes.
"Come on, really? Nott and Crabbe and Goyle and Malfoy? Those lot you mean? They're complete morons! And they're still at school! Why would You-Know-Who want a bunch of kids in his club?"
"Because that's what he does!" Alaw snapped. "Voldemort isn't Dumbledore! He doesn't give a shit about people still being in school! He was happy to recruit people from Hogwarts in the last war. Young, angry, bored men are exactly the kinds of people nutters like Voldemort go for. They're easily swayed. Trust me on this, we see it all the time in the muggle world."
Ron still looked sceptical but he apparently couldn't think of a good enough argument, so he sat back and folded his arms. Neville glanced at Ron, and then spoke up.
"Okay, Al, maybe You-Know-Who will choose that lot to be Death Eaters in training, but they'll be in the same jam as us. They can't do much once we all go back to school."
"They can torment muggle-borns and half-bloods," said Alaw darkly. "And they can recruit other Purebloods. Nah, that lot are just as dangerous as they parents. We should be on our guard around Theodore's gang this year, and we should warn as many muggle-borns as we can do to the same."
Hermione had been jotting all this down and her pen hovered over the short list of potential Death Eater recruits.
"Who else should I put on here?" she muttered to Alaw who frowned thoughtfully.
"No one, for now, we can add to it once we're back at Hogwarts and have more to go on. No need to brand anyone a Death Eater without proof."
Her eyes lingered on Draco's name and she tried not to sigh sadly. Then an idea occurred to her.
"Actually, there's something else I'd like to do," she said carefully. "You won't like it, but hear me out. There will be plenty of people whose parents will pressure them into joining Voldemort. Those people might not want to, but they'll have no choice, it's not really something you can opt out of is it? I think we should watch out for those people, you know, in case they ever need our help."
"You're talking about Draco, aren't you?" asked Ron with a resigned and slightly disgusted look. "I know you two got all pally last year, but if he's joined You-Know-Who, I don't think you owe him anything, Al. Except maybe a good kick up the backside."
Alaw scowled at Ron.
"Actually," she said acidly. "I wasn't just talking about Draco. I meant people like Cameron Boyle, and Daphne Greengrass. They'll be in real danger if they're branded blood-traitors. And you do owe it to Daphne to help her, seeing as you were on the Quidditch team with her."
Ron groaned and squirmed, but he couldn't deny that she was right. So, 'Protect the Reluctant Students' was dutifully noted down by Hermione. She tapped the notepad with the point of her pen and pursed her lips.
"Anything else? Or have we covered everything?" she asked.
"Not quite," said Fred. "We still have to find out as much as we can from the Order before we go back to school. The Expendables were great when they worked, and we'll need as much information as possible."
"I agree," Alaw nodded. "I'm sick of being kept in the dark. We need to find a new way to listen in on their meetings, and we need to know more about this object – weapon – thingy that Voldemort is after."
Now that the Hearing was out of the way, Alaw had been thinking a lot about what had been said on her first night in Grimmauld Place. Sirius had been about to spill the beans on this mysterious 'object' Voldemort was so keen to lay his hands on, but Mrs Weasley had stopped him. Dumbledore said on no account should you tell her about that. Those had been her exact words. So what was it? And why couldn't she know about it? What could Voldemort want so badly that he was happy to put a hold on all his other plans?
"Sirius would be our best bet," mused Ginny. "He nearly told you what it was before. And I get the feeling he's not too happy with Dumbledore at the moment."
Alaw nodded, she had surmised as much herself. She couldn't believe Dumbledore was forcing Sirius to stay trapped in this house, which held so many bad memories for him. If she didn't get him out soon, Sirius was going to sink deep into depression. She nudged Hermione.
"Spy on Order," she murmured, tapping the notebook. Hermione grimaced, but wrote it down.
"So, we've got one month," said Fred with a grin. "Better get cracking, then."