Reviews please! And your opinion on whether I should do a sequel or a new fanfic
Chapter 23 - A Visit from Fudge
Harry was called to Dumbledore's office early the next morning, and so finishing his piece of toast, he quickly headed there. After speaking the password to the gargoyle outside ('pepper imp') he travelled up the staircase and knocked on the door. Dumbledore called him in, and he entered the office to see Dumbledore sitting behind his desk, and Sirius and Fudge sitting on chairs on the other side, eyeing each other was great dislike, though not as much animosity as Sirius showed Snape. Buffy was prowling the office, examining various instruments with delight. Dumbledore stood up.
"Harry," he ushered him into a chair, "Cornelius has come to have a talk with you, he wishes to discuss the finer points of your future." Harry raised his eyebrows and looked coolly at Fudge, remembering that this man had branded him a liar for the year.
"It's good to see you, Harry" Fudge began nervously, "How is school?" Harry just stared at him, while Fudge looked nervously around the room.
"Yes….well…," he stuttered, "Dumbledore has informed me you've been having extra defence lessons with Professor Moody, very good, very good. He has asked for my permission to teach you the unforgivable curses and I have given it. We need you really, don't we know." He laughed nervously.
"A lot more than we need you," Sirius broke in angrily, but he was silenced by a look from Dumbledore.
"And you have been learning some practical defence as well, I hear," Fudge continued as if Sirius hadn't spoken, "From Miss Summers and her friends." Harry nodded slightly.
"That's partly why I came here, to meet you Miss Summers," Fudge said, turning to Buffy "I hear you have decided to join our side."
"I've joined Dumbledore's side," Buffy corrected shortly. She had heard about Fudge from Sirius. "I'm prepared to do what ever I can to help him." Fudge laughed nervously again, and it hit Harry just how much Fudge needed them now, having heard the prophecy, and now accepting Voldemort had returned. No longer would he pretend they were liars, they were all that stood between his ordered world, and complete chaos.
"I must get back to the ministry not," Fudge said, standing up awkwardly, "You have my complete support Dumbledore, to do what you have to do." He took his leave from the office.
"What was that all about?" Sirius asked Dumbledore, his eyes blazing, "Why was he here?"
"Cornelius has just come to full comprehension of how much he need Harry," Dumbledore said lightly. "He has lost any hold he has over us, he seems to think I have control over harry now."
"And he thinks that whoever controls me has the power to control the Wizarding world," Harry said nodding, "What a fool."
"Indeed," said Dumbledore, "But he has agreed to provide whatever resources we need, including the use of all the Ministry's Aurors, which means we have some planning to do. Harry do you wish to remain?"
"Yes, if that's okay," Harry said, "If you're not going to allow me to fight, then I at least want to know what is happening."
Very well," Dumbledore said nodding gravely, "I agree that we should continue with the pairing of wizards and fighters, Fudge has provided us with about 50 Aurors, so added with the others we have, we should have just about the same amount of fighters. Now I'm expecting you two will want to be together?"
Buffy and Sirius glanced at each other.
"Well, I'm the best fighter," Buffy said, "So maybe I should be with you, I mean you are the best Auror so.."
"I haven't blushed so much since Professor McGonagall told me I was noble," Dumbledore said, "We need trust, and you two trust each other, I would trust any of your friends."
"If your sure," Buffy said happily, squeezing Sirius' hand. "I think you should be paired with Angel, you're obviously going to be a target for Voldemort, and he's one of the best we've got."
"We need to make sure Arthur Weasley ahs a good fighter, I don't want to lose him" Sirius said gravely, "His family mean too much for all of us. Do you think faith would be up for that?"
"Definitely," Buffy said, "Wesley could go with Remus, Dawn wants to fight so she can work with Moody, Giles with Tonks."
"How about Miss Rosenburg?" Dumbledore asked, "What does she need?"
"I want Xander to go with Willow," Buffy said firmly, "Those two will protect each other with their lives."
"And Miss Chase?" Dumbledore asked again.
"She's too important to fight," Buffy said seriously, "She's still fragile from her coma, and she's never been a fighter. What's the word on when the attack is coming?"
"We have two months," Dumbledore announced, "Two months before they come."
Harry had another lesson with Moody that night, and Dumbledore's words stayed with him, two months until the battle came to Hogwarts. Harry didn't know if he would be ready at that point, but he knew he had to try. He entered the classroom, and waited for five minutes until Moody appeared.
"Sorry lad," Moody apologised, "Had to deal with fudge, the old bungler." He pulled out a jar of spiders from his bag and placed them on the desk in front of harry.
"Now I understand you have seen the Forbidden Curses, two years ago, with Crouch," Moody growled, "And that you attempted the Cruciatus curse, on Bellatrix Lestrange." Harry looked at the floor, ashamed.
"Hold your head up, boy," Moody commanded, "I would've done the same, for what she did. First we will perform the imperius curse." He let a spider loose on to the table, and pointed his wand at it.
"Imperio." Harry watched the spider turn somersaults on the table, and then spin into a cartwheel. Moody lowered his wand and the spider stopped.
"Takes power of the mind," Moody growled, "Got to really concentrate on being in that persons mind. Saying to them in your head what you want them to do. Like Leglimency. Try it now."
Harry raised his wand and said the incantation, thinking in his head 'do a tap dance….do a tap dance.' He watched as the spider, indeed did a tap dance, not as fine as the one he had seen Crouch's spider do in his fourth year, but a tap dance all the same.
"Not bad boy," Moody said, watching the spider continue to dance. "Of course it's more difficult on a human, they tend to have more will power than spiders." He put the spider back in the jar, and brought out another.
"Now this one, the Cruciatus, is much harder," he growled, "You need to mean it, really mean it. I know that when you tried it, you didn't mean it, that's why it wouldn't work. You have to really want to cause pain. I know it's hard, but you've got to be able to do it."
Harry concentrated hard on the thought of Voldemort, of the hatred he felt towards him, on his parents, who were dead, of Sirius who had been dead, and for Neville's parents who would never know their son again.
"Crucio," he muttered, and the spider curled up and began to rock. The sight of this caused Harry to drop his wand, ending the curse.
"That's enough of that one," Moody said quietly, "You haven't got enough hatred in you for that one, just enough to get it started but the sight of it was too much for you. That's' good."
"Good that I can't do it?" Harry said curiously, "But what if I need to do it, to stop Voldemort?"
"You have compassion, harry," Moody growled, "That's greater than any power Voldemort holds, that is how you can win against him, by using what you have and what he doesn't."
He picked up the final spider and let it run around on the table.
"The killing curse," Moody said softly, "The worst one, the one you are going to have to use against Voldemort when the time comes. Needs power behind it, but you've got that sonny." Harry looked at him blankly, feeling that he would never have much power, not like Voldemort did.
He raised his wand, his hand shaking slightly, and pointed it at the spider.
"Avada Kedavra," he yelled and a green light filled the room, causing Harry to close his eyes. When he opened them, he saw the spider on the desk in front him, unmistakebly dead. He turned and walked from the table, staring at the blank wall in front of him.
"Was that what it was like for them?" he asked, his voice strangely muffled in his ears. "Is that what they saw? Did it hurt them?"
"It doesn't hurt," Moody growled softly, "There's just nothing." Harry clenched his shaking fists.
"Will that do for tonight?" Without waiting for an answer he left the room abruptly. Moody followed him.
"I'm sorry laddie," Moody said tiredly, "I truly am. But Dumbledore said you had to know. You can't let personal feelings come between you and your destiny. It's hard, its difficulty, but life always is, and will continue to be. It doesn't let up."
"How can I kill someone?" Harry asked him, staring at the stone floor, "How can I do that?"
"You have to," Moody growled, "Kill or be killed, that's the story of your life. And unless you want to die any time soon, I'd suggest that you get used to the idea of killing someone."
Later that evening, Harry went to Sirius' room, to talk to him. Sirius welcomed him in and they sat on armchairs in his room, with cups of coffee.
"How am I supposed to do this?" Harry asked bluntly, "Could you kill someone? Could you do it?"
"Yes," Sirius said firmly. "If it were Voldemort, then yes I could. He took away from me my best friend."
"But how can I do it?" Harry asked, "He took away my parents from me, but still I don't know if I can. Even after I watched Bellatrix Lestrange kill you, I couldn't perform the Cruciatus curse on her."
"You'll do what you do," Sirius said looking at Harry, " Whatever happens, it will be because that's the way its intended. When the time comes you will know."
Harry sipped his coffee pensively.