A/N: I know that the new Harry Potter book is coming out soon, but this story is in not association to The Order of the Phoenix. I might mention the order in the future but this is my version of what would happen if I were J.K. Rowling. But I'm not, although I sometimes wish I were her but I'm not, so there. O.k. now that that's taken care of…on with the story!

The Secrets of the Past

Chapter 5: Meeting with the Ministry

"Harry, are you up yet? Get down here right now!" called Aunt Petunia.

"I'm coming." groaned Harry as he got out of bed. He stayed up late the previous night hoping to get another letter from someone saying that he can go to the Weasley's for the summer. When Harry got downstairs, he found that he Uncle Vernon, cousin Dudley, and Aunt Petunia were all in the kitchen having breakfast. Dudley was still in his pajamas that had little teddy bears on them, and that didn't fully cover his enormous gut. Uncle Vernon was in his suit for work, reading his morning paper and complaining about how he didn't want to go in on a Saturday.

"Well, it's about time you got up. There are a ton of chores for you to do today." said Aunt Petunia as she gave Dudley another bowl of cereal. "Oh Diddy sweetie, don't eat your food so fast now. I don't want you to get an upset tummy."

Harry laughed to himself thinking that in all the years he has lived there, never has Dudley ever listened to his mom when it came to food. Uncle Vernon had noticed Harry smirking as he sat down at the table and buttered a piece of toast.

"What are you smiling about boy?" asked Uncle Vernon.

"Huh?…Oh, nothing sir." said Harry. As they all continued to eat their breakfast and hear Uncle Vernon read off random stories from the paper, the postman dropped the mail through the little slot in the door. Harry heard the little slot open and close, so he got up and retrieved the mail. He handed the pile of letters to Uncle Vernon without looking through them, since he never really received mail. (Well, the muggle way anyway.) He sat back down and started to finish his breakfast thinking about things, such as Sirius, the Burrow, the Weasley's, Hermione, Quidditch, and…Cho. As he was daydreaming about what it would be like to be on his Firebolt flying through the air with Cho at his side, he was interrupted by Uncle Vernon's yelling.

"What the bloody hell is this?" asked Uncle Vernon as he read the letter in his hands. Harry noticed that the envelop in had came in had the Hogwarts seal on it, but the letter itself was addressed to Uncle Vernon. "Uh oh." thought Harry as his uncle read the letter out loud.

Dear Mr. Dursley,

I'm writing to inform you that due to some recent events that have occurred, that it would be in your nephew Harry's best interest, and you family's to allow him to spend the rest of his summer holiday with a wizard family. He will be staying with the Weasley family until it is time for him to return to school. Mr. Weasley, and several other people will come on Monday at around eleven thirty in the evening to pick him up by car. This will hopefully be less of a convenience to you and your neighbors. I please ask that you do not tell anyone when or where Harry will be leaving, for his safety and your family's.

Sincerely yours,

Professor Albus Dumbledore

Headmaster

"What does he mean about "his safety and my family's"? Did you know about this boy?"

"I ah,…well…sort of. I got a letter the other night." said Harry, and then added quickly, "But I didn't think they were serious."

Harry sat there looking at Uncle Vernon, hoping that he didn't see through his lie. Vernon just sat there looking at Harry debating on whether or not he should be upset over the fact that he got a letter from those people, or to be thrilled that he didn't have to deal with his nephew for almost two whole months. Finally he decided to go with the second one.

"Well I guess they are serious, so I think you should go and start to pack up now."

Harry was taken back by what his uncle said. He was so happy with what his uncle had just said, he actually thought about hugging his uncle, but fought the urge to do so. Harry just simply nodded and told his uncle, "Yes, sir." Look of shock on Dudley's face with what his father had just said was priceless to Harry. He wanted to remember that look forever.

"Well, I guess I should be off now. Petunia, dear, I'll see you later." said Uncle Vernon as he got up from the table.

"Oh, good-bye dear. Have a good day." said Petunia as she gave Vernon a kiss good-bye. Vernon then gave Dudley a pat on the head and a look to Harry before he left the house for work. When Harry heard his uncle's car drive away, he got up from the table and headed up the stairs to pack.

"When your finished packing, I want you to go out and mow the lawn." called Petunia as Harry made his way up to his room. He could hardly contain his happiness. When he got into his room, he saw that Hedwig had returned from her nightly flight with a letter from Ron.

Dear Harry,

I hope this gets to you first, but if it doesn't that's fine. My dad just told me that you'd be coming here on Monday. He said that I could come along to keep you company on the long trip home. (I still don't understand why we have to travel by car.) Mom's getting everything ready for your arrival. She's been worrying a lot more lately. You'll be staying in my room again, since Fred and George are constantly locked in their room, doing god only knows what.

See you soon, and Hang in there just a little bit longer!

-Ron

After reading Ron's letter, Harry sat down at his desk and wrote back to Ron.

Dear Ron,

Sorry to tell you, but your letter did come late. My uncle got the letter from Dumbledore in this morning's mail. You should have seen the look on their faces when he read the letter out loud, it was priceless! I couldn't believe that Dumbledore sent him a letter the muggle way.

I can't wait to get out of here either. Almost two months without hearing my aunt and uncle yelling or Dudley's whining is a dream come true. I'll hang on as long as I have to.

See you soon!

-Harry

P.S. I'm sending Hedwig to you so that she doesn't get hurt in the process of traveling.

"Here you go Hedwig. Now I want you to stay at Ron's so you don't get hurt." said Harry as he tied the letter to Hedwig's foot. She nipped at his hand affectionately and then flew off to the Burrow. As Harry watched his owl fly out of sight, he smiled to himself thinking that is going to be a very interesting year.

*********************

(At the same time this went on…)

"Welcome to Liverpool, miss. I hope you enjoyed your flight." said the flight attendant at the gate.

"Yes I did, thanks!" said Miranda as she walked into the Liverpool John Lennon Airport. She looked around and saw a bunch of tourist walking around wearing Beatle T-shirts and hats. She laughed to herself as she thought how ridiculous some of these people looked covered head to toe in The Beatles merchandise.

After acquiring a car that she had borrowed from a trusted friend from her days as an aurora, Miranda drove away from the airport and through the city of Liverpool toward the countryside. As she drove near one of the biggest tourist attractions in Liverpool, the home of John Lennon, she could see the hoards of Beatle fans going in and out of the immortalized museum. She still couldn't believe that after all these years, people were still obsessed over the popular quartet. Seeing all these people young and old from all over the world seemed so unreal to her. As she waited for a light, she over heard this one American man talking to his wife about how great it was to see his idol's home, and that he couldn't wait to tell his students back home all about his trip. In Miranda's mind, she felt sorry for those students that had him as a teacher.

After nearly half and hour of trying to get through the busy streets of Liverpool, she finally made her way to the English countryside. While she was driving through the country roads with the top of the car down, she started to feel a little bit guilty about what she did yesterday to all her friends in Paris.

Right after Miranda booked her flight back to England, she went into BLACK CAT ADVERTISING and performed a memory charm on everyone that she worked with. She told them all that she was going back to England to join another company. But whenever someone wanted to contact her, the moment they began to dial her cell phone number, they would suddenly forget whom they were calling or what the number was. It broke Miranda's heart when she put the final memory charm on her best friend Nicole, but she knew that it was better that none of them knew where she was in order to keep them all safe. However, right before she put the charm on Richard, she decided that it was time for a little pay back. She remembered going into Richard's brand new office and performing several little hexes on him. The look on his face when Miranda caused practically everything in his office to levitate was priceless to her. She even caused Richard himself to float several feet off the ground and hang upside down for several minutes. She hadn't had that much fun since her days at Hogwarts with all the Marauders playing pranks on their fellow classmates. Especially the ones played on one Severus Snape and one Lucius Malfoy.

After driving for about an hour or so, Miranda finally reached her destination, a hill just outside of a remote town. She stopped the car by a huge oak tree, and began to unload her luggage. After she heaved her very heavy trunk out of the back of the car, she turned back to the car and pulled out her wand, making sure that no muggle was near by. She muttered a spell and the car that was under the tree had suddenly vanished from her sight and back to her friends driveway in Liverpool. "Well that takes care of that!" , she thought to herself. "Now where is that key?" As Miranda started to climb the hill, she called for her luggage to follow her up the hill. When she and her things had finally reached the top of the hill, lowered her trunk down to the ground until it made a soft thud on the deep green grass.

"Ouch! Hey watch it out there!" called a muffled voice from within the trunk.

"Sorry Christine."

"Are we there yet?!" whined Christine from within the truck.

"Keep your shirt on! I'm trying to find the key." said Miranda as she looked around for the Portkey.

"Well hurry up, would ya! I'm starting to get tried of smelling your socks in here. God when was the last time you washed these things?"

"Christine would please shut the hell up! You know I could have left you in France."

"No you couldn't. You need me, and besides who else is going to give you advice about fashion? Huh?" asked Christine in "a matter of fact" tone.

As Miranda started to open her mouth for a nice comeback for Christine, she noticed an old traveling mug that was lying in a patch of soft grass. "Ah there it is! I found it!" she called as she went over and retrieved the dirty mug.

"About bloody time! Oh I can't wait to get home!" cried Christine happily through the trunk.

Miranda then placed her right hand on her pile of luggage and held the handle of the mug in her left. Suddenly, a familiar wave came over her. She felt herself being jerked forward and her felt her feet leave the ground. The wind rushed past her and then suddenly she found that her feet had hit a hard street. She looked around and found herself just outside of Ollivander's in Diagon Ally.

A bunch of witches and wizards who were shopping around noticed that Miranda had just appeared courtesy of the Portkey. She felt a little out of place, since she was still in her muggle clothes, while everyone else around her were in their normal wizard robes. She charmed her luggage to float behind her as she made her way through the ally. Miranda said hellos to several witches and wizards as she made her way to the Leaky Cauldron. When she entered into the inn, some of the wizards who were enjoying their drinks, stopped and looked up at the blond haired witch who was wearing sunglasses. They were all surprised and shocked to see her there. Even Tom the innkeeper was taken back by Miranda's return. He was pouring a drink that was now spilling over on to the bar.

Miranda walked awkwardly through the crowd of people staring at her, to the door that lead to the busy muggle streets of London. When she got to the door, she undid the charm on her luggage, and began to heave the heavy trunk out on to the street. She dragged the trunk and the rest of her bags about a block and a half until she came to an old apartment building that had been inhabitant for years. She pulled out a set of keys and opened the front door of the building. When she got all of her things into the building foyer, she recharged her luggage to levitate and follow her up the flights of stairs.

It seemed like and eternity climbing the many flights of stairs. "I don't ever remember it being this difficult to get to my place." thought Miranda. Finally after climbing nearly 17 flights of stairs, she finally reached the top floor of the building. "Ah, finally!" said a now exhausted Miranda. " I need to start doing some more Tao-Bo or something. I didn't realize I was that out of shape."

"Oh will you shut up! You're not that out of shape. Hell, if I just flew ex amount of miles, drove for hours, and then take a Portkey to London, I'd be tired to. Now could you please hurry up!" cried Christine from the trunk.

"Oh, alright! Just hang on a sec. God!" exclaimed Miranda.

She walked down the hallway that contained many lofts that haven't been used in years, with her luggage and Christine floating behind her. As she reached the end of the hall, she turned to her right and stood right in front of a painting. The painting was of a bright white unicorn, taking a drink from a lake at night, with a dark castle in the background.

"Marauder's midnight ride." said Miranda. Suddenly the unicorn looked up and ran away into the background, and the wall that held the painting swung open to reveal Miranda's home: the Locked Box.

"Ah, home sweet home." said Miranda as she walked in. The room was filled with sunlight that come from the three large windows in her living room. A chandelier with candles hung in the middle of the room. A big comfy couch and two loveseats covered in deep blue upholstery were arranged around a glass coffee table that was near the fireplace. Along the wall that the entrance was along had a long bookshelf that was built into the wall and stretched halfway around the room. Above the bookshelf was yet another one built into the wall with a balcony that stretched along with the bookcase. There were two openings in the second level bookcase. One lead to the study, while the other lead to the bedrooms and some other rooms.

As Miranda looked around her home that she hadn't seen in along time, she noticed her two cats were sleeping on one of the windowsills. One of them was a black cat that had a purple collar on. The other was a blond cat with soft, bushy fur and had on a light blue collar.

"Hello there Midnight, Amber! Did you miss me?" asked Miranda.

Amber lifted her blond head up and looked at her master with her pale blue eyes. Midnight opened her bright yellow eyes and let out a soft meow. Both cats then jumped down to the floor and walked over to Miranda and purred affectionately to her as they both rubbed their heads against her leg.

"I'll take that as a yes." she said as she bent down and picked up both of the cats.

"What you be doing with Miss's kitties?" asked a high stern voice from behind Miranda.

Miranda startled by the voice quickly turned around and found one of her three house elves standing right behind her looking up at her.

"Blinky! Oh, you scared me." said Miranda as allowed her cats to jump out of her arms and onto the floor.

"Miss?! Ms. Andy! Oh, Ms. Andy! Blinky is so happy to see you! Oh, please forgive Blinky. He didn't know that it was you who had returned." cried Blinky who was now on the verge of crying.

"It's alright Blinky. You didn't know. Besides I taught you to say that, in case someone who wasn't suppose to be here did come in." said Miranda as she bent down to meet Blinky face to face. "Come here." she said as she stretched out her arms.

"Oh, Blinky is so happy to see Ms. Andy home again." cried Blinky as he ran into Miranda's arms and hugged her.

"It's good to see you too. Where are Jewels and Ribbon?" asked Miranda as she broke from Blinky's embrace.

"Oh, they is cleaning the attic and the rest of the rooms in the building miss. They be back in a little bit." sniffled Blinky.

"Are they now." said Miranda in an amused tone. "Well alright then. Um… Blinky would you please have my things brought up to my room?"

"It would be Blinky's honor to do so miss. Does miss want Blinky to unpack her things?"

"Not all of them. Just my mirror, please. I might be leaving to go to Hogwarts later on." stated Miranda.

"Very well then. Blinky will have Ms. Star's things up in her room in no time."

"Thank you very much. Um…Blinky one more thing. Are my robes still in the closet?"

"Washed, dried, and ready for miss to wear them." said Blinky.

"Good, and thank you again. I'll be up in a bit."

"Ms. Star doesn't need to thank Blinky. It's an honor and a duty to serve Ms. Andy Star." said Blinky as he took a deep bow and used his elf magic to take up Miranda's things.

As Miranda walked up to one of the windows, she looked down at the busy streets of London, and could see part of Diagon Ally from her view. As she looked up at the bright Saturday afternoon sky, she noticed a cloud with what looked like a large building floating on top of it hidden in the clouds.

"The Ministry of Magic, now that's a sight I never thought I'd see again. Wait a sec." said Miranda as she suddenly looked down at her watch which now read 1:08 p.m. "Ah, crap I'm late!" yelled Miranda as she quickly ran up a spiral staircase to her room to change into her wizard robes.

***************

At the Ministry of Magic…

"I don't care what the Ministry in Greece says! There is now way that the Dark Lord is back in power." said Fudge.

"Cornelius, they say that they have enough evidence to prove that he is back!" said on of the ministers.

"Impossible." said Fudge from his high desk in the Ministry's conference room.

"But Cornelius what about what happened at Hogwarts? Harry Potter himself said that he saw him come back before his very eyes, and tried to kill him again!" said a female minister.

As all the wizards in the great conference room argued about the whether or not the Dark Lord Voldemort had indeed return, Arthur Weasley looked at his watch, and then turned to Dumbledore who was seated next to him. "Where is she?" he whispered.

"Don't worry Arthur, she'll be here. Just have a bit more patience." said Dumbledore.

"Well if she doesn't get here soon, they're likely to continue this for ages! This is getting us nowhere." said Arthur in a disgruntled tone.

"Patience, Arthur. Patience." said Dumbledore with a smile.

"I'm sorry but I'm still not convinced that You-Know-Who has returned!" said Fudge.

"But what about…"

"I don't care want to hear about what the other ministries are doing. They can go and get all worried about You-Know-Who, but I'm still not convinced." said Fudge. "I'm tired of hearing about it! If I have to hear one more word about this matter I'll…" said Fudge but was interrupted by voices from outside in the hall way.

"I'm sorry but you can't go in there! Miss? Miss!" said a female voice from out side of the large double doors in the back of the great conference hall.

"What in Merlin's beard is going on out there?" asked Fudge with a worried look upon his face.

Suddenly a bright light blasted the doors apart and shot directly at Fudge's head causing him to duck underneath his desk to avoid being hit. Through the smoke at the back of the hall, came Miranda in dark purple robes holding her wand and wearing her sunglasses.

Many of the wizards in the hall chimed out with "What the devil?" and "Have you lost your mind?" until they all saw who was the one that blasted the doors apart and gasped in shock.

"Er…sorry about that!" said Miranda coolly and turned around and muttered a spell that fixed the doors she blasted. When she finished she turned back toward the front of the hall and walked up to Fudge's desk.

"Ah perfect timing." said Dumbledore as he got up and joined Miranda up at Fudge's desk. "Everyone I'd like to introduce and welcome back, Ms. Miranda Starmenter who has come here today to discuss the matter that is at hand." said Dumbledore, who voice echoed throughout the hall.

As Dumbledore spoke, Miranda started to feel as if something wasn't right, as she looked around the hall of wizards. She felt as if something awful would soon happen, to someone she cared about. Something that would be caused by someone in that very room.

"Now wait a minute, Albus." said Fudge who was now fixing what little hair he had left on his head as he settled himself back into his seat. "I know you said that you were bringing a guest that would supposedly convince me that You-Know-Who is back, but you never said anything about it being her."

"Oh what's the matter Cornelius? I thought that you'd be pleased to see me. Although I must say that was surprised when I heard that you were the Minister of Magic. Such an honor." said Miranda as she took off her sunglasses.

"I've told Ms. Starmenter of what has happened the past couple of years, and she has agreed to come back and help stop Voldemort before it's too late." said Dumbledore.

"Now look Albus, I mean no disrespect toward you but, there is no need for Ms. Starmenter to be here. Especially after what happened the last time she was here in England. Now if You-Know-Who has returned, then I myself will organize an army to bring him down and capture him." said Fudge.

"Capture him? Capture him?! You think that a pathetic wizard such as yourself is capable of bringing down one of the darkest wizards the wizardry world has ever seen? I mean come on! You couldn't even re-capture Sirius Black when he escaped from Azkaban!" said Miranda. Her statement caused several of the wizards to go into shock. Fudge's eyebrows rose quickly as his eyes started to bulge out over what Miranda had just said.

"How did you know about…"

"Like Professor Dumbledore said, he told me everything that has happened the past couple of years." said Miranda coolly.

"Well then," said Fudge softly "you certainly have done your research, Ms. Starmenter. Now let me tell you something that Dumbledore has probably neglected to tell you, there is no, no evidence whatsoever to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that You-Know-Who is back to his full power. And until there is some evidence that proves that he has returned, the ministry will not discuss this matter anymore."

"Mmmh huh, that a very good speech Cornelius. Are you finished?" asked Miranda as she looked at Fudge who nodded. "Good, now let me tell you something. The last time I checked it was the minister of magic's job to protect the wizard world from dark forces, and that includes all underage wizards too. Right? So tell me then why, my godson Harry was taken away by Voldemort and tortured by him, and why Voldemort himself killed another student? It was your job to make sure that none of them got hurt. But instead we now have one innocent boy dead. How many more innocent lives need to be taken away until you are convinced that Voldemort is back? Huh? What 2? 3? 1,000 maybe?"

"Now listen here Miranda…" said Fudge.

"No, you listen! All of you! Whether we like it or not, Voldemort is back! And he'll pick up right where he left off, unless we do something to stop him right now. Otherwise, our world and the muggle world as well, will cease to exist." said Miranda in a forceful tone.

"Well, wait we don't know for sure what You-Know-Who will do if he is back." said one of wizards.

"You want to know what Voldemort will? I'll tell you what he'll do, no wait, better yet let me show you." said Miranda as she pulled out her wand and began to draw figures in the air that projected in the air of all to see. When she was finished, pictures of buildings burning filled the room. People, both wizard and muggle, lay dead in the streets. Women and children screaming as they are subjected to the Cruciatus Curse. Entire villages ransacked by Voldemort's Death Eaters, and Dementors running amuck throughout the world. "Destruction, chaos, endless suffering and pain, fear, and death. This is what our world will look like if Voldemort isn't destroyed! His reign of terror will take over our very lives and our children's. He will stop at nothing until he has conquered the world! And the first places he will hit are all the wizard schools throughout Europe. We must end this now before it's too late!!" said Miranda as she pleaded with the members to believe her.

The sights and sounds coming from Miranda's pictures were so graphic and detailed that many of the wizards couldn't stand looking at them any more, neither could Fudge. He pulled out his wand and dismissed Miranda's pictures. "That's enough Ms. Starmenter. You have said your piece, but I'm still not convinced. No one is for sure what he'll do, if he even has returned. I'm sorry but there is nothing that I can do." said Fudge.

"Well then, if you won't stop him. Then I will." said Miranda and then stormed out of the hall. Miranda was so frustrated and angry at what had just happened in the hall, that she wanted to go back in there and make them believe her. When she turned around, she saw that both Dumbledore and Arthur Weasley were standing behind her.

"I'm sorry about that Miranda. As you can see, this is what we have been dealing with ever since it happened. He simply won't listen." said Dumbledore.

"Yeah, I kinda realized that." said Miranda sarcastically. "Look, I'm sorry Albus. I didn't mean to bite your head off."

"It's alright. It's perfectly understandable." said Dumbledore.

"Fudge is definitely one stubborn wizard. If only he'd listen to reason." said Arthur Weasley.

"I'm afraid that's quite impossible now. It looks like it's just us, that is if you will still willing to help?" asked Dumbledore as he looked at Miranda with a twinkle in his eyes.

"Oh come on Dumbledore, you know I'd never miss a chance to help bring down that monster once and for all. Of course I'm willing." said Miranda with a smirk on her face.

"Very well then. Well I guess I should be on my way back to Hogwarts. Miranda I'll expect to see you there soon so that you can get yourself settled in, and Arthur will be preparing for Harry's move."

"Um…Albus, when exactly is Harry being moved?" asked Miranda.

"Monday night at about eleven thirty." said Dumbledore

"O.k. then, and who is going to pick him up?"

"Well, myself, my son Ron, Remus Lupin, Sirius Black, and another member of the ministry." said Arthur. "Why do you ask?"

"I don't know. I just got a weird feeling in there. Like someone was planning on doing something." said Miranda.

"Do you think it was one of You-Know-Who's spies?" asked Arthur.

"I don't know, but take a couple of more members from the ministry along with you just in case." said Miranda as she started to walk away.

"Alright then. Um…do you mind if I ask where are you going?" asked Arthur.

"Oh, I'm just going to go and prepare for trip to Hogwarts. I'll see you both later. Bye!" said Miranda as she walked away from Dumbledore and Arthur Weasley.

Dumbledore looked at her with a questionable look and had a pretty good idea as to what Miranda was planning on doing.

______________________________________________________________________

A/N: I'm sorry that it took so long for this chapter to get out. I've been having a bad case of writers block, but I think I'm past it now. (hopefully) Plus, I've been having trouble uploading for some reason too. But anyway…I hope you all liked this chapter. I know that nothing really exciting happens, but trust me it will get better soon. O.k. and what exactly is Miranda planning and when is she finally going to see Harry? Find out soon.

Disclaimer: I own nothing! It's all Joe Rowling. She did it, not me.

Yea! The new Harry Potter Book is out! Like I said before, I'm probably going to continue on with my own version of Harry and the gang's fifth year at Hogwarts, unless I get the new book soon and I find out that what J.K. did affects my version.