Moments later, he was standing there knocking on Hagrid's door. He had forgotten the time, as it was rather early, but surely Hagrid wouldn't blame him?

He heard a grunt from the inside and thumps which grew closer and closer before the door opened. Hagrid looked at him, barely awake, with his hair looking like a bird's nest, completely joined with his wild beard.

"I come with news Hagrid! And no, it can't wait."

Hagrid shook himself awake and invited the Headmaster into his home. Before he could get the tea started, Aurelian got to talking.

"So, is it true you kept a spider at the castle? What kind was it?"

Hagrid blinked several times in confusion. Very few knew the story, but he supposed it was probably in some file in the headmaster's office.

"Aye. Aragog is an acromantula. I swear he never harmed a soul though!"

He had added the last part in slight desperation, but Lian raised his hands to show he meant no harm.

"No need to explain. I know full well which animal caused the attacks back then and recently."

He pulled his collar down to show the grey lines from the Basilisk venom as confirmation, and Hagrid sighed in relief. He gave Lian a smile so he went on.

"I was just thinking that maybe there could be a case for you being exonerated. Now that we all know it was Tom Riddle who did it, I should be able to bring your case in front of the wizengamot and get your wand-rights back."

Tears started spreading in the giant man's eyes but he got out a response.

"I remember Tom. A very well liked boy, he was even the prefect who told the Headmaster it was me. I had liked him before then, but then he convinced everyone that I and Aragog were murderers..He spread so many foul lies. Told everyone that I couldn't help it, that it was who I was. Or rather, what I was.."

Aurelian reached up and placed a hand on his arm.

"We know that's not true though. Tom Riddle was a foul person without an ounce of humanity, while you are the kindest man at Hogwarts. In fact it's even better that he was the one to tell on you, it'll make it easier for me to prove your innocence!"

This was going to be a great day, he could tell. Before he could run back and gather the necessary reports to put this case in front of the head of the DMLE, he remembered a rather interesting little tidbit.

"Wait, before I go.."

He had Hagrid's full attention now.

"You said Aragog was an acromantula. What happened to him?"

Hagrid chuckled and scratched the back of his head.

"Well, he and his children have been living in the forbidden forest since that day."

Aurelian lit up.

"Excellent! And would you be able to make a trade arrangement with them? Acromantula Silk is absolutely flying off the shelves recently, and if we could get our hands on it, then that could massively help the school!"

Hagrid agreed to try and find an agreement while Aurelian went to the ministry later. Though he admitted to Aragog having quite an ego these days. Lian was just happy he'd try.

When he got back to the office, his animation spell had worn off and the newspaper lay on his desk. The portraits who had been reading it looked at him sceptically. They weren't convinced, but they also didn't doubt him as much anymore.

Lian didn't pay them any mind though. He flipped through the files and summoned what he needed in order to present his case. All he really needed was the incident report written by Dumbledore back in the 40s, Hagrid's file, and the new incident report written by McGonagall.

He threw some powder into the fire and flooed to the atrium.

The atrium is a rather odd looking place really. There was nothing special going on there except people entering and leaving the ministry, but it looked like the throne room of some kind of medieval emperor. Large sculptures and massive painted windows filled the hall. Much was made out of gold despite the sheer size of it. He sometimes wondered how vain his father was, but the massive banners hanging on every wall was answer enough to that question.

After handing in his wand for inspection, and stating his purpose, he was allowed in. Soon he reached the correct area where he saw a familiar face, or specifically he saw her hair. A smile shone on his face as he called out to her and walked over.

"Well if it isn't the pink little punk. Do you work here now?"

She turned in his direction but didn't quite return his smile. Nymphadora Tonks knew who Aurelian Fudge was from school. He always seemed to find ways to bother her. He never cared about anything and yet, somehow, she always felt inferior when he was around. Aurelian was a mystery to her, but a mystery she'd rather leave untouched until it rots in the ground if she was being honest.

"Fudge. Make sure to clean your hands, wouldn't want to make the doors sticky!"

His smile faltered slightly and he sighed. That was a common one. He hadn't actually heard those 'jokes' since graduation, but before then it was a common occurrence. The fact that he was a rather round kid until his sixth year certainly didn't help.

"Now now Tonks. You of all people should know not to taunt someone for their name. Hm?"

He had imitated an elderly voice and her eyes twitched as he said it, the grin he wore certainly didn't make it better.

"Now none of this, I don't have time for schoolyard banter. Do you mind showing me where Amelia Bones has her office?"

Tonks briefly looked down at his badge and straightened her back. It was clear he was here on official duty, so she should probably do her job.

The Badge read:

Headmaster Fudge

Meeting the head of the DMLE

He wouldn't have put his Headmaster title there if it wasn't in that capacity he was visiting, so she nodded and led the way. She did try to avoid any smalltalk on the way though. Just because it was her job, didn't mean she had to cheerfully talk about her life to this guy.

"Thank you Tonks, and hey, good job on getting into the Auror's department. I've heard most have a very hard job just being eligible to apply, much less actually get in. Then again, you always were a diligent worker."

He inclined his head before leaving her behind to walk the last few metres to the office. Tonks didn't know what to think. He was the first to actually compliment her on getting in without automatically putting her powers as the reason. Imagine that, Aurelian Fudge was the first one to acknowledge her hard work. Tonks scoffed at the notion and went back to her own desk.

Meanwhile, Lian had reached the secretary's desk.

"Excuse me, I have a matter to discuss with Madam Bones. Is she available?"

The secretary, a grey-haired tired old witch, didn't even look up from her paper.

"Did you make an appointment?"

"Well, no. But-"

She scoffed at him

"Well then she's busy. Come back after you've made an appointment."

He sighed and leaned over the desk. He knew this kind of person, he'd been at the ministry enough times to encounter them several times. They were tired of life and didn't care about anything. Most of the time their focus wouldn't be on their job at all, and with that in mind he simply walked past her. Before the slow old woman could react, he knocked on the door. That's when she finally stood up.

"You can't just-"

But Aurelian heard someone from the inside tell him to enter, so he did. He opened the door and quickly closed it behind him.

Amelia Bones was bored out of her mind. Day after day she sat in that office and watched the minister undermine her authority. He lowered her budget, fired her people and sometimes called for a trial without telling or inviting her at all. She, as the head of the department of magical law enforcement, had missed so many trials simply because the minister and Lucius Malfoy saw it fit to call one without her. There were also often emergency Wizengamot meetings called where they decided on laws without most of the full wizengamot's input.

She was insanely tired of seeing Minister Fudge's smug face. Countless times she had imagined taking the title from him and throw stinging hexes until he couldn't sit on that stupid throne of his. In the middle of that fantasy, someone knocked on the door. She told them to enter but as soon as she did, she knew something was wrong. The one to enter wasn't her secretary to tell her something, but a man who hurriedly came inside and closed the door behind him. Before he could even start closing the door though, she stood up and had her wand pointed right at his face. His face..God damn it.

As soon as he closed the door, he turned around only to see that he was at wandpoint. Looking at the woman behind the wand, it was undoubtedly Amelia Bones. Her strict demeanour combined with the fiery red hair, glistening golden eyes and a very snug auror uniform gave her away. Now, this wasn't how most people would recognise Amelia Bones. Whenever she made her public appearance, she would use a charm on her hair along with a monocle to go with the look. The hair was obligatory, per tradition's sake, but the monocle was a fashion statement on her part. Once again, he had to raise his hands. He kept doing this.

"I mean no harm Madam Bones, I am strictly here for business."

She sighed and pinched the top of her nose in frustration. Amelia clearly didn't want to deal with him, but he went on and placed the file on her desk.

"I am here to clear the name of Rubeus Hagrid."

Her face softened at the name. Hagrid was known to be a very gentle and humble man. Very few were aware of why he never had a wand, but most didn't even think of it. So when she picked up the file and saw that it said he was judged as a murderer, she unwillingly let out a gasp.

Aurelian remained standing as she sat down to read it.

"In the future, make sure to make an appointment. We'll let it go this time because you're the new Headmaster, but don't expect such leniency in the future."

He was going to answer but she didn't listen, she was immersed in the file. A few minutes later, she quickly scribbled a note and animated it into an aeroplane which flew out of the door she temporarily opened.

"I have sent word to one of my aurors. I must thank you for bringing this to my attention, Mr. Fudge."

He inclined his head to her with a smile.

"Of course Madam. I only heard about this earlier today and figured I might as well handle it straight away. Will this be handled quickly or is your department very busy? I'd like to let the man know."

She huffed and scoffed.

"Busy? Sure, with petty crime perhaps. We barely have any authority to investigate or seize property or anything of the like. But surely you'd know that?"

He raised an eyebrow and wondered what she could mean, but then it clicked.

"Ahh, my father is it? Yeah, I tend to not get into his business."

"And yet, he goes around the ministry bragging about how he placed his son as Headmaster of Hogwarts. Effectively getting rid of the disturbance of Dumbledore."

Now it was Aurelian's time to scoff.

"I don't work for him, Madam Bones. My father and I haven't really agreed on things since 1981. Take from that what you will."

She would make sure to look up if anything of importance happened in their household during 1981, but let it slide for now.

That was when a pink head showed up by the door.

"You called, Amelia?"

Aurelian met eyes with Tonks and grinned. Much to her annoyance.

"Indeed. I'm going to need you to find a certain file under the name Rubeus Hagrid. I do believe there might have been a misjudgement in his early life."

She looked surprised, but agreed and was off in a moment's notice.

"It is surprising to see her follow orders. But I guess everyone grows up eventually."

Amelia nodded at his statement.

"So it would seem. While we wait..."

She gestured for him to take a seat, which he gladly did.

"Why don't we discuss your plans? Anything the ministry might have to watch out for?"

He chuckled at that.

"Hardly. My plans mainly lay within Hogwarts grounds. There are many issues with Hogwarts which have been known for years but nothing has been done to fix them."

Before she could ask, he raised his hand to stop her.

"I am aware that you are interested, partly due to your niece, but I must ask that you give me time to show the progress instead of asking me to talk about my plans..however..There might be one thing I'd like to ask you."

She nodded and waved for him to go on.

"Could you place an auror or two to inspect the students' luggage before we bring it into the grounds? I have been notified that the book which caused the 'Heir of Slytherin' fiasco, was brought in and kept inside the castle for many months without notice. Perhaps a quick scan would do us good. We shouldn't tell them what we're doing, just punish those who brought in anything."

She nodded in agreement, and they started talking about what would actually be confiscated. It took a while, but they agreed that it would only be objects which were cursed or could cause massive harm. Prank objects or similar would be ignored. Hogwarts needs some fun every now and then, within reason of course.

By the end of their conversation, Tonks arrived by the door once more.

"I have the file right here Amelia!"

The file itself wasn't very interesting. Since Hagrid was a minor, Hogwarts had a large influence on the punishment. This meant that the ministry did nothing on the topic, only wrote down what 'occurred'.

"Good news little Fudge"

Quite ironic that the 5'2'' Amelia Bones called him little. Especially since there was only about a 6 year age gap between them as well.

"The ministry didn't lay a verdict on the matter, which makes this a simple matter to conclude. You will need the signatures of five members of the Wizengamot and the signature of the Headmaster to get rid of this filing. You and I can both sign it right away, and I trust you can find a member or two walking around. I have some aurors with Wizengamot seats. Might want to start there."

A wide, true, and honest smile brightened up Aurelian's face as he took the papers from Amelia's hands.

"Thank you Ms. Bones. If there's ever anything I can do to help, my floo is always open to you."

He walked out of the office with determined steps to find the required signatures. This should be finished so that he can take Hagrid wand-shopping by the end of the day!

Meanwhile inside the office, Amelia was explaining to Tonks what had happened.

"Well, good on him for getting it sorted as soon as possible. Hagrid deserves better. Still, not what I'd expect from Aurelian.."

Amelia smiled and looked at the door he had exited from.

"I suppose not. But as he said earlier, I guess we all grow up at some point."

Silence reigned in the office for a few seconds, before Tonks remembered something.

"His final words about his floo always being open. You don't think..was he flirting with you?"

Amelia had noticed a glint in his eye and his wide smile was still plastered all over his face when he said it. She thought it was completely possible that it was a feeble attempt at getting her to floo him for a chat. The thought of it, to her own surprise, brought a small smile to her face. One which Tonks didn't miss.

"I doubt it. He probably only meant official business, or about my niece."

Amelia's gaze remained on the door for that entire bit, which honestly worried Tonks quite a bit.

Half an hour later, he arrived back at the office with five signatures. They were Amelia Bones, Aurelian Fudge, Kingsley Shacklebolt, Alastor Moody and finally Rufus Scrimgour. The last was the trickiest, but a single comment about that it would make the law enforcement look bad if it got out that he didn't stand behind it, was all that was required in the end. That man cared more about the Ministry's image than his own.

He put the documents on Amelia's desk and sat down in front of her. Tonks had left by now, so it was just the two of them. Amelia read over the signatures and nodded before stamping it. As soon as it was stamped, it was sent towards the hall of records and she made a note of the file identification in her own book of records.

"All done, you may now tell Mr. Hagrid to go buy a wand if he wants to. His name is also officially cleared of all faults and the proper compensation will be put into question during the next wizengamot hearing. Any questions?"

He accepted a note with her stamp on it which basically said that Hagrid's name was cleared, then he stood up, and properly bowed to Amelia.

"Thank you once more. It's been a pleasure."

He stood up straight and smiled at her once more.

"I hope to hear from you."

Before she could question it, he smirked

"If anything comes up, that is. Though I'd prefer not to talk about my father next time, alright?"

She gave him a slight smile and nodded before restoring her face to emotionless.

"Then get out, I have work to attend to."

He waved her off, there was no work to do, and they both knew it, but he still exited the room and went back to his office. As soon as he got there, he waved the note in Armando Dippet's face then he ran out to Hagrid.

It was a very joyous occasion. Hagrid let his emotions flow and didn't stop crying until the two had entered Ollivander's shop. They explained the situation to the shopkeeper and soon Hagrid once again had his own wand to wave. The wand itself was large enough to be a cane for a normal person, but it suited Hagrid just fine.

As soon as they got back, it was time for the next step in his plan. No time to waste! So Hagrid and Aurelian went into the forest to discuss with centaurs regarding if they were okay with the plan to cut down a large part of the western forest.

"Oh yeah, how did it go with the acromantula?"

Hagrid nodded cheerfully, he was still holding his wand up and gazing lovingly at it though.

"He agreed to let us harvest some. Though we had to provide some food as compensation. They are omnivores though, if that helps. We might be able to figure something out there.."

Aurelian stopped walking instantly as he remembered something he read in one of the books in his office. The wizards of central America had managed to produce a massive magical version of a kind of Acacia tree, which produces small capsules called Beltian bodies. The local spiders and ants loved to eat them, perhaps it was worth a shot importing some before planting a tree.

He explained what he remembered to Hagrid, and although it was a decent plan, there were still some issues. Aurelian had been momentarily blinded by the monetary aspect. Now that he was inside the forbidden forest he suddenly remembered just what he was dealing with.

It was classified as an XXXXX Beast. The most dangerous category. It was Not something for children to play around with. The Acromantula was in the same category as Dragons and Nundus, partly because of how insanely difficult they would be to exterminate after a while. Every time they laid eggs, the colony grew by a hundred. If that spider still lived after about 50 years..Aurelian grew scared just thinking about it.

"Hagrid. Just how large of a spider colony is living in the forest?"

He wasn't even fazed in the slightest and offhandedly responded with

"Oh, well into the thousands. I actually have no idea how I could possibly keep count."

He gave a hearty laugh, but Aurelius wasn't laughing. The colony should have completely wiped out any life in the nearby area by now, why hadn't it? Then he thought back to what he experienced earlier that year. The basilisk, of course! The basilisk! It must have been feeding off of the spiders somehow. Perhaps there was a separate entrance that wasn't in the girls' bathroom, and the basilisk used it to get out and feed off the forest. It made perfect sense, how else would it stay alive all this time? And how else would the spider population have been kept under control?

"Hagrid..I'm sorry. But we can not have an acromantula colony right at the doorstep of our school. I was blinded by how much money we could make, but Acromantulas are some of the most dangerous animals known to man. Pack hunters, love to feed off of human flesh, and extremely poisonous..Terrible combination to have right next to a school of children. Surely you must see that."

Hagrid couldn't believe his ears. He thought Aurelian was on his side on this topic, and now he was scared of losing his friend.

"No! Aragog has never hurt anyone! Sure the odd creature in the forest, but never a person. I've made sure of that. He doesn't deserve to die just because the ministry says he's dangerous!"

Aurelian placed his hand on Hagrid's arm.

"I'm sure you have made sure of that. But what if you slip up? What about when Aragog dies and the next leader takes the reign? Go ahead and ask Aragog what he'd do if his children encountered a student in the forest. He wouldn't stop them, that's for sure. He likes you, Hagrid. Nobody else. You're the one who raised him."

Hagrid didn't know what to say, he was still very sad for his friend and he wanted to confirm what Aurelian had said.

"Also, I'm not certain he has to die. We have a dragon reserve in Wales, why not an Acromantula reserve in Scotland? As long as the ministry would get some of the profits, there's no way they'd say no. Currently we import all silk from eastern asia. Nobody thought Acromantulas could even survive in cold Scotland to begin with!"

The giant man looked contemplative. He was rather sad that he might lose his friend, but if a reserve was built for them then they'd live out their days with several people taking care of them and in an optimal location. He knew that the colony often starved in periods. Reluctantly, he decided that if what Aurelian said about Aragog approving of children being eaten was true, then he'd have to assist Lian in moving the spiders. If they were a danger to the students, the new Care of Magical Creatures teacher couldn't put them in such a spot.

"Imagine this as well, Hagrid. What if you stick around as a teacher and then in a few years you can start making educational visits to the Acromantula reserve! How about that?"

Aurelian knew he had to convince him, or nothing would be done. Hagrid had a heart of gold, but if he had fallen for a dangerous spider it would be difficult to convince him otherwise. He saw that he had struck Hagrid's heart with the last one so he let it go. They had other matters to discuss today. Once he got Hagrid's approval, he'd start looking around for support of an Acromantula reserve.

He knew he made it seem like it was an easy thing to do, but many hated spiders. Most wouldn't want anything to do with them and would rather exterminate them than take advantage of the resource. Perhaps if he got some prominent magizoologist on his side, then he'd have a case. But he didn't know any of those. Albus would have to come to the rescue again on that one, he'd be back in a few days. Nothing could happen during the summer when the kids were gone anyway..He hoped.

The rest of the trip went better than expected. Hagrid was sullen throughout but, surprisingly, he wasn't needed to discuss with the centaurs. A centaur named Firenze explained that their questions were expected. A very long time ago, a woman of very old age, had the same intentions and mapped out an area.

In gratitude, Aurelian promised to Firenze that he'd try his best to expand Hogwarts' protective area in the forest. He also whispered that he'd take care of the spider problem. That seemed to be received very well by the Centaur.

Overall a very nice excursion. He accomplished what he wanted, now he could let the elves get started. He could even start importing. The only one he had to wait for was Albus.

That very evening, his plans were set in stone. He handed a map of their territory to the old elf who had spoken to him before. Hagrid returned after talking to his friend in the forest and reluctantly accepted Aurelian's thoughts of relocation.

Plans were in motion.