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CLAWS
OF A RAVEN
by Tyde
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Chapter Twenty Seven
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Dumbledore knocked firmly on the hard wood door that had Cornelius P. Fudge – Minister of Magic engraved into the middle panel. The knock sounded strangely one sided and almost tinny. He pressed an ear to the door and listened. No sound came from within which was very odd. Surely there would be the shuffling of papers, or a tick of a clock, but there was nothing. He checked his pocket watch to make sure he was on time.
"7 seconds to spare" he said under his breath as the door creaked slowly inwards allowing him entry. Papers were littered all over the floor in the entrance hall and he picked his way through them carefully as a dull white light crackled over his body indicating a silencing charm was broken. The mere hint of wind swirled at the bottom of his robes. He turned to face the doorway leading to Fudge's desk when he was blinded by a bright green flash that engulfed the whole room. The last letters of a terrible spell met his ears "...rdre" and a sharp popping sound of someone Apparating out in a hurry.
A cracking sound was heard and the room shook as smoke fluttered around the ceiling in great clouds. A quick wave of his wand cleared up the air and Dumbledore found himself staring at Cornelius Fudge sitting in his leather desk chair. He was staring back at Albus...but there was no life in his eyes. On the desk in front of him was a copy of the Daily Prophet from a few days ago. Three words from one sentence had been highlighted and they reflected themselves across the man's face in a macabre way. He has returned.
Dumbledore sighed "I guess you believe it now" was all he said. He picked up a few of the papers that were arranged haphazardly around the desk. There were piles and piles of documents, some halfway to the ceiling. One lot that seemed to be smoking slightly was labelled Complaints. It was three stacks high and as Dumbledore reached for one it exploded in anger. A few pieces of parchment were under the label Praise. Fudge had not had a good innings of being Minister – it appeared that the pressures of running a government institution had taken it's toll on him and he'd fallen into an idealised world, not willing to take in new thoughts and ideas. Dumbledore leant forward to close the eyelids of the startled looking dead man while offering another sigh as a prayer.
A few people that looked suspiciously like Unspeakables rushed into the room with their wands trained on what seemed to be the present threat.
The one closest to him lowered her wand immediately when she noticed who it was. "Albus"
"Kathryn" he said matter-of-factly.
"What happened here? I was coming back to the office when a terrified panic rose up through the crowd. They were pointing at the Ministry and I could scarcely believe what I was seeing in the sky" her colleague Nicholas was nodding his head along with her as she told her tale.
Dumbledore pointed at the scorch mark in the ceiling that was still smoking slightly. "If my thinking is correct then, right now above this very roof glitters the Dark Mark?"
Kathryn nodded her head vigorously and her throat moved in a nervous gulp. "Then he is back"
"I am afraid so. And poor Cornelius was the first one to be made a spectacle of" He stepped away from the desk so that the Unspeakables could look upon their former employer.
They both gasped and held a hand in front of their mouths. Fudge may well have been murdered with the Killing Curse but Voldemort had had his fun first. It was not a pretty sight.
"He has declared war again" said Nicholas quietly. "An attack on the Ministry is an attack on the very wizarding community, but with our Minister gone who will unite us?"
As if on cue a pale grey dove fluttered in through a hole n the shattered glass of the window. It landed on the desk and tottered over to the still form slumping in the chair. It pressed it's beak into a crease in Fudge's upturned palm and as it did so the feathers slowly disappeared from it's body and the dove transformed into a large parchment scroll. The words Last Will & Testament were scrawled across the flap in blood red ink.
Albus turned away from the other two and removed his glasses, rubbing at his eyes gently. He waited for one of the others to open it. The old wizard didn't need to read it as he already knew what it said. Under the lines about claims by family members was another paragraph titled – MINISTRY CLAUSE.
In the event of my untimely death due to a Dark uprising (whilst still in the position of Ministry of Magic) the duties of the Minister shall [pursuant to Clause 561 b (ii)] fall to one Albus Dumbledore, Order of Merlin First Class, Supreme Mugwump et al.
Kathryn gasped again as her reading caught up with what was running through Dumbledore's head. "Albus it says that-"
"I know what it says"
"Well aren't you going to-"
"No" he said firmly. "I will not take command of this Ministry. I know exactly what that clause is and I choose to ignore it. For too many years Fudge has run this Ministry like a clown at the circus. No proper security measures, no screening processes, the man sent me owls every day of his term because he didn't know what it took to run an operation like this. I'm surprised it hadn't come apart at the seams before now" He was pacing the floor and gesturing wildly with his wand. "I don't know how he managed to survive as long as he did. Therefore there is only one thing I can do". He clicked his fingers and Fawkes appeared from what seemed to be thin air. "The time of the Ministry is over. The Order of the Phoenix has begun"
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Author's note: Coming soon - Dumbledore will actually give Harry a legitimate reason why he doesn't want him to come up against Voldemort. Enough of this dilly-dallying around.
CrinkleCutRuffles – Harry does still care about Dumbledore, he's just not all that happy with him at the moment. As Sárince said – it's a teenage thing. Yep that cloak was the one Harry read about – glad you noticed. :o) It comes up later anyway. Hermione's potions are explosive, but they are more to blast walls away and things like that if you find yourself wand-less. I'm glad you're happy with the way it's going and I hope it will be 40 chapters, it's a nice round number anyhow!
Colleen – cheer away! Sorry I didn't write the actually torturing, but you can imagine the pain! Peeps sound delicious! And altogether evil hehehe. Yum.
labrisa – Oh yeah baby! With the curse I thought I better inject a bit of fun into the story. I have to keep remembering that they are still teenagers, and not 30 year olds or something :o)
Sárince – Arrrgghhh, she's back! Just jokes :o) Your questions are surprisingly logical and insightful to the vision I have for the story, even if you're not intending to make them like that :o) Yeah sonor means sound/noise in Latin. I always think a little dyslexic when I read Sonora and it makes me think of snoring and big noses (I have a big nose and I snore, hence the connection).
- I tend to put up a chapter a week for this story (usually on Thursday or Friday) so if you check on those days you'll get something new to read. Rambling reviews are a fabulous reward! I can't believe I have 73 reviews, that's the most I've ever gotten, must not let it get to my head hehe.
- Neville's Gran didn't want to wear the hat in Azkaban, she thought the filth would engulf it :oP No permanent damage to Snape's brain, he's just a bit wonky for a bit, combine that with sibling hatred and you're got one paranoid man. But I think he's always been a bit paranoid. He knows how deceptive the Dark Lord can be, so he's always on the lookout for suspicious circumstances.
- Peter? Yeah :o) Kinda obvious, eh?
- With the cursing, I thought it might be like that in the wizarding world. It's all easily reversible so it's all easily forgotten in my opinion.
