mast6

Disclaimer in Part 1.

This is an extremely short chapter written mainly for the advancement of the plot. I didn't want to combine it with any other plot threads, that's why it's alone instead of part of a longer segment.



Mireille d'Renair was a twenty-five year old witch with a lustrous mane of thick black hair, sparkling black eyes, and a warm, open - hearted personality. She was known for stuffing her robes full of Chocolate Frogs to hand out to any children she happened to meet and telling fantastic stories about legendary witches and wizards of long ago for hours on end. never getting tired of entertaining others. She was loved by everyone and held in very high esteem; everyone who knew her said that it would be impossible to find someone more caring and gentle than she was. But they didn't know about her other life, a life that only a few of her most trusted friends knew about. It was her secret.

Mireille was in fact one of the Ministry of Magic's top Aurors.

So that explained what she was doing in the Ministry headquarters at two in the morning with her hands cupped around a steaming mug of tea as she blinked tiredly at her partner, a tall, lanky man with a permanent guarded expression named Peter Lanelin.

Do you know what this is about?

He shook his head shortly and seemed about to speak when the door swung open to admit Ellie Allistor, the Minister of Magic.

She smiled a rather exhausted looking welcome at the pair before seating herself at the impressive mahogany conference table, her hands folded neatly in front of her. Mireille noticed that she looked like she really didn't want to be having this meeting, more like she'd rather just shove the whole situation into a box, lock it, and throw away the key. That caught her attention, in all the times she'd been called on to assist in dealing with the many instances of rampant Muggle-torture, sadism, and mass slaughter that accompanied the new Dark Lord's rise there had always been an atmosphere of tense resignation but never as if the whole thing should just be buried. This must be a rather unusual case.

Ellie ran her fingers through her short brown hair in a self-conscious gesture before taking a deep breath, fortifying herself against what she had to say.

You both know Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley - interns at the Departments of Secrecy and Magical Law Enforcement. She waited for their nods of confirmation before going on. Well, we've received information from them - while willingly under the influence of Veritaserum - that - that -, Ellie took another deep breath as if dreading what came next, - Harry Potter is indeed ... a threat.

There was complete silence, louder than a scream. Then Mireille drew in a slow, shaking breath as Peter leaned back in his chair, his face an unreadable mask. They could both see where this was going; it was obvious.

You want us to...well, track him down?

Ellie nodded slowly. When you find him bring him immediately back to the Ministry for his...trial. She couldn't quite suppress a wince at saying those words. In all likelihood he'll be facing a life in Azkaban or St. Mungos at the very least... her voice trailed off into the uneasy silence that permeated the room. The whole damn thing just felt so surreal; Harry Potter...? the last person anyone would think of being a Dark wizard was now being hunted, hunted for doing terrible things and to be condemned for a life of imprisonment. But it had to be done, the laws had to be obeyed. Threats had to be dealt with.

Peter's voice was low and expressionless. Is he in league with the Dark Lord, then?'

We don't know. Ellie swallowed nervously, the blue shadows under her tired eyes very apparent in the dim light. It is, of course, possible, very likely, in fact, but we just don't know...we'll find out when he's caught.

There was another long silence, broken only when Mireille put down her tea mug with a rather forceful *thunk*.

We'll set out at dawn.

No one was exempt from wizarding law, not even the erstwhile Boy Who Lived. And that was that.





Next chapter is back to Harry and Draco with some more stuff about the Arnelin...until next time, then.