Chapter Seventeen
A/N: Uh…
This is sort of good but 'promise' the next will be great. ACTION ACTION
ACTION. I don't have much to say than to say thanks for the reviews and to keep
them coming in. All of you. I love to see you review and tell me what you think
of the fan fic and what you think will happen. Next chap up very soon.
Harry
followed both Professor Dumbledore and Minister Fudge in to the giant room on
the side of the Great Hall. After ushering Harry in, Minister Fudge locked the
door with a locking charm and Professor Dumbledore quickly performed a
silencing charm before turning towards Harry with a very somber expression.
Harry had the feeling that professor Dumbledore was finally opening himself up
to him. The In-Control looks that use to be had been replaced by his true
feelings and expressions at that very moment around him. He assumed he felt
Harry no longer as a student. He was more. He was much more. Even though it was
killing him to see Professor Dumbledore like this, all somber and worn out, he
was glad that he was doing so since he now felt close to him like he had never
been. He felt he could tell Professor Dumbledore anything. No longer was he a
Professor or Headmaster to him. He was a guide to him and a person to turn to
just like Sirius.
"Harry
Voldemort has attacked with considerable enormity," announced Professor
Dumbledore still looking somber if not more.
He noticed
Minister Fudge flinch at the sound of Voldemort's name, but looked too shocked
to say anything.
"He has
attacked the Ministry of Magic. He seems to have used most of his resources on
this attack, which means he is convinced that has recruited enough to start
attacks. Of course I doubt that the recruiting will stop but we have entered
anew stage in Voldemort's rise. He is now much more stronger than ever before
and his first target being the Ministry of Magic means that we are against with
a very powerful enemy." Said Professor Dumbledore and looked deep into Harry's
eyes as if to see if he was handling this well. After a few seconds he seemed
satisfied and continued.
"He was
able to over run the Ministry in no time and has now garrisoned a very large
army in it. Most of the Ministry workers managed to get out but several dozen
were either fatally harmed or were disabled. The biggest problem about
Voldemort acquiring the Ministry is not the loss of the building but the loss
of thousands of important and valuable documents. It seems that several of the
Brave hit Wizards entered the Ministry in a suicide mission to destroy as much
of these documents, but they didn't get much far. And several of the Ministry
workers also managed to appeperate the most valuable documents into a safe
location in Hogsmade. But there are still thousands of crucial information that
must be kept away from the enemy's, Voldemort's, hands. But M. Fudge here seems
to be lost about what to do next"
Suddenly
the Minister jumped in between Harry and Professor Dumbledore and gulped
loudly.
"Please
Harry! Do Something! Organize a squad or something! You have to get me back the
ministry before the Magical community gets wind about this. They will surely
panic!" Stammered the Minister looking
as if those few words alone took every ounce of his courage and strength.
Harry
stood there for a moment thinking over what Dumbledore had said and
particularly why he had said so. He himself was once again amazed how calm he
was. He then remembered that he was leading the battle against Voldemort
through the resistance. He still had no idea how he could be qualified to such
a possession but Dumbledore seemed extremely confident about his abilities. So
taking care of the Crisis at hand was his responsibility. Suddenly he wanted to
ask Dumbledore if Mr. Weasley was all right but held it back since he had to
think more broadly than that at a time like this. He would ask later. He had to
think rationally unlike Fudge in front of him.
"Harry I
know you are just getting use to this but your involvement is inevitable. You
make the calls from now on" said Dumbledore and stepped away from him and Fudge
as if saying 'go ahead!'
He
had to think but it wasn't easy when both Professor Dumbledore and Fudge was
staring at you expectantly. They were awaiting his response, Professor
Dumbledore patiently and Fudge not even seeing anything called patience in the
distant Horizon.
'Get your
priorities in Order!' said the voice in his head. It seemed good enough advice.
'Okay' he said to himself mentally and started concentrating on the situation.
"So…
Voldemort has attacked the Ministry and has taken control of it. He has further
more garrisoned it heavily. And there are important documents in there, which I
presume will be deadly in the hands of Voldemort. So our first priority is to
look into the matter of getting those documents out of there. Mr. Fudge, where
are the Ministry workers at the moment? Are the wounded being taken care of?"
he asked calmly.
"Uh… They…
They are… I don't know! Most probably scattered and I don't know where the
injured are. I hurried here right after the attack" he stammered Minister
Fudge.
It
was obvious to Harry what was going on. Fudge was too of a coward to be around
there and rushed to the security of Hogwarts. He was wondering how such a
coward could be the Minister of Magic. He could remember how Fudge had acted
when he told him Voldemort has risen again and here he was asking for his help
to get his own Ministry back from him. Things would have been different if he
had acted wisely. Especially to him. If Fudge hadn't rushed to perform the
Dementor's kiss on Barty Crouch Jr., they would have been able to get enough
information out of him to prove Sirius's innocence which in turn would have
changed Harry's whole life to the better.
"Okay
Minister, why don't you contact your ministry workers whom are still fit and
assemble them somewhere? Maybe even here at Hogwarts?" he asked and looked up
towards professor Dumbledore for permission to assemble at Hogwarts.
Professor
Dumbledore simply stared at him with a proud expression like earlier with his
lively and cheerful expression back. His eyes once again had depth and life.
"I think
what Harry says is very right indeed. We must get the ministry together. United
we are strong, divided we are vulnerable. Yes! Hogwarts will be open to host
such a meeting and Mr. Fudge" said Professor Dumbleodre and turned towards
Fudge. "Don't worry. Your ministry is in good hands. Allow Harry to run the
show and I guarantee that he shall succeed," he said looking prouder than ever.
He gave
Harry a cheerful uplifting smile.
Harry
and Dumbledore stared at Fudge as he stared at a wall of the room thinking very
hard. More than thinking he seemed to be considering something great and also
seemed to be fighting a battle within himself. This in no way made him look any
less than the lost pig he was. Finally he lifted his head and turned to Harry.
His eyes were unreadable as if they had no life in them.
"Harry" he
said in an unusually hoarse voice. "Harry Potter, you are the new temporary
Minister of Magic. The ministry control is now in your hands" he said and
turned to Dumbledore.
Harry
was horror struck. What just happen he asked himself but something told him
that it wasn't a Dream. First he is told to lead the battle against Voldemort
and now he's being told to lead the British Ministry of Magic. Sure he had to
get the Ministry back from Voldemort's control, but in no way did that include
in him being the Minister of Magic. He was not even fifteen years old. How can
he be a Minister of Magic? He had to decline it!
"Sir?" he
said trying to sound calm.
Both Fudge
and professor Dumbledore turned to face him.
"Uh… I
don't think I can accept it. I am not suitable in anyway fro such a post. Sorry
to disappoint you sir" he said. Relieved he got it all out all right.
Dumbledore
smiled and went forward and put a hand of Harry's shoulder.
"Harry? How
are you going to rescue the ministry f your not in control of the Ministry? We
have your complete trust and even more I shall provide you with an assistant
since you are bound to be over loaded with all your new responsibilities"
Harry was
still shocked even more, unsure. He just couldn't be. But, neither could he
disagree with the old mage. He will give it all a try.
"I'll try
professor," he said.
Then
another hand was on his other shoulder. He looked up to see that it was
Minister- Mr. Fudge. He too had a grim smile.
"I shall contact
you when I have contacted all of the Ministry" he said and turned to
Dumbledore.
"Harry, you
may leave now. Myself and Mr. Fudge have some small business to talk about".
Harry
nodded vaguely and turned around and started heading towards the door of the
room when suddenly he heard his name being called from Professor Dumbledore's
voice. He turned around. He saw the cheerful face of Professor Dumbledore
looking at him.
"Your
assistant will be Dobby. He personally asked to be such and I think there's no
one better. Both loyal and talented. He is waiting for you in your dormitory
now. You should get there before the others get there and make him some space
to sleep under your bed. I have already put a partial invisibility charm on him
so that you and I are the only ones who can see him. But please do eat
something before you go. You need as much as rest and energy possible before
the things become worse. And I need not remind you that everything we discussed
in here and about your new ranking should be kept to your self for the mean
time," he said and nodded towards him signaling he was done. Harry once again
nodded in agreement but Happy his assistant was Dobby, whom was very fond and
loyal to him.
He reached
the door and remembered that Fudge had put a locking charm on it. He slowly
pulled out his wand and muttered
'Alohomora!'
A brilliant white light shot out of his wand and hit the door at full force. The door immediately flew open so violently that a long crack appeared along the door and bits and pieces of wood flew out everywhere. The door hit the wall after turning a full 180 degrees and suddenly went hurling into the air, spinning, after breaking free from the hinges that bound it to the doorframe. He watched horror struck as the door went flying across the Great hall at top speed, over the long dining table and hitting the wall at the very far end of the Gigantic Hall. The boor flew so fast that it burst into tiny little dust particles after hitting the wall due to the velocity it was traveling at. The loud sound echoed through the Great Hall and Harry along with the rest of the Great Hall stared horror struck.
He had only used a simple unlocking charm which was suppose to simple unlock the door with a faint 'click'. Not send it flying into the air like a bullet. He must have messed up pretty bad for something like this to happen. But he had been using this very charm since his first year at Hogwarts and must have used it more than a thousand times, yet nothing of this manner had ever happened.
The crowd in the Great Hall on the other hand were glancing back and fourth from Harry to the place where a door use to be, back to Harry and finally to the place where the door burst into dust particles right across the massive hall. Their faces were stunned but not as much as Harry's.
He didn't want to look back at professor Dumbledore. He was too embarrassed. Harry felt himself going red and quickly started walking towards the table at the centre of the room very swiftly. He lowered his head but knew all eyes were on him, both from front where the Weasley's, Sirius and the others sat and from the back where professor Dumbledore and Fudge stood. He was an utter disappointment. He had just become the new Minister of Magic and not a minute passed before he accidentally blew up a door into smithereens. How could I be so qualified if I can't even perform a simple unlocking charm correctly?
He quickly slipped on to the chair between Ron and Hermione, which they must have spared for him, once he arrived at the table. Still everyone was silent as ever and was still staring at Harry. He then suddenly heard footsteps. He slowly looked up and saw a broadly cheerful Professor Dumbledore and a confused than ever looking Mr. Fudge walking towards them. The footsteps didn't seem to be enough to distract the stress he was getting. But when finally professor Dumbledore arrived many looked up. Most probably to see what his reaction might be to Harry blowing up a door into smithereens. Surprisingly his grin grew wider at seeing Harry's embarrassed and depressed face. He was grinning from ear to ear.
"Ah! A fine unlocking spell you did Harry" he said cheerfully.
"I must admit it was a the best in my whole lifetime. If I'm not wrong, that was the most protected door in the whole of Hogwarts. A unlocking charm wasn't even suppose to be able to be perform on that door, not to mention send it flying in to the air. I must say that I hope you in no way turn to a life of crime as a thief because it wouldn't be long before the whole magical community is robbed" he said still cheerfully and the whole table started to laugh out. Harry himself felt much better and grinned at the rest of them. Especially at Sirius, Ron, Hermione and finally professor Dumbledore.
Dinner finished without any more events and to his surprise Hermione and Ron didn't bother him into telling him what Dumbleodre wanted with him. He had a feeling that they were starting to suspect something.
Both Ron and Harry went to the fourth year dormitory along with five protectors. The female protector whose name he still didn't know but was determined to ask tomorrow decided to sleep in the sixth year dormitory. Ron went hysterical at the idea of sleeping in the same room with Mad eye Moody and Professor Snape calmed down only when one of the three unknown protectors said,
"Mister Weasley! Do you mind going to sleep! Or are you just going to be this hysterical like this throughout the year?" in a harsh voice in the middle of the night since Ron still hadn't stopped muttering to himself keeping everyone else awake. But the man's harsh voice had somehow penetrated Ron. He immediately stopped muttering.
Finally Harry could sleep but just before he went to sleep he heard a voice in his head. Not the voice, which had been giving him advice here and there. This was a much more commanding voice. Yet it had a kind and soft side to it. It was just the way professor Dumbledore talked but this voice seemed to have even more authority than the great mage
"The very reason
we are alive today is because another has died. This is the balance of life.
The same applies to death. There cannot be death where there's no life. So the
same way there cannot be good without evil and evil without good. But the
balance of good and evil can be broken due to both the order of the light and
the dark order. The balance id dependent on the strength of these too orders.
If one order is defeated, the side it represents too is over run. So to
vanquish mass evil, you must defeat the Dark Order. Only a Light Lord can lead
such a struggle."
Harry was surprised he could imagine things of that nature. To imagine you must know what it is in the first place. But he had no idea but he temporarily put the thought aside. He needed sleep. It had been one of the most eventful days of his life. He had feeling that today will be one of the better days when compared to the days to come.
Harry Potter fell asleep at last.