A/N: First of all, I'm so sorry for not updating any of my stories in more than a month! No, I haven't left you all! I intend to write more; that's one of my new years resolutions! I know that I can't make it up to you, but I can post two chapters in the same day! Does that help?
Also, thanks to all my reviewers so far! You guys motivate me like you wouldn't believe! I hope you liked last chapter; I was so focused on getting something finally posted, I forgot to put in authors notes thanking you guys!
In this chapter, some startling news. That's why it's called Startling News! LOL! Well, please read and review, I hope you like it!
~**~
Harry had half completed his essay when Dumbledore's letter arrived. He abandoned his essay, and just as he was detaching the letter from Hedwig, it occurred to him that he was probably disturbing the Headmaster with all of his letters. Harry was sure that Dumbledore was very busy with the Order of the Phoenix, and he, Harry, was just bothering him with stupid things that Dumbledore already knew.
Sighing, he read the letter.
Harry;
Though, as I'm sure you know, the Daily Prophet is not a very reliable newspaper, there have been no articles claiming that you and I are crazy attention seekers who's goal is to take over the ministry. I'm sure you, as I have been, are particularly glad for that. All that's been in the Prophet are articles about how to defend and protect yourself from Voldemort or his minions, which is at least something beneficial to the public.
Yes, Sirius did know about the prophecy. He was not happy at all with it, but he accepted that this was your fate. If we told Molly Weasley, she would never allow you to fulfill the prophecy. I promice to you that I will not tell her unless it is necessary.
Professor Snape is on our side, Harry. Of course, he hates the prophecy too. I need not explain why.
How did we know that you were going to yell that night? Easy; we know you, Harry. We know that you would be begging for information, and your friends didn't have it. Actually, Sirius was the one who reminded us to expect it.
It sounds to me like you are making fast progress on Emolegancy. That is very good; the art is beneficial, as I should know. And if you managed to hold your face in front of the Dursleys, especially after the last scene, then you are advanced for your level of skill. Your friends' reactions interest me a bit…
Hope you are well
Albus Dumbledore
Harry still didn't understand why Dumbledore told Snape, and he realized that Dumbledore's vagueness and ability to avoid certain questions struck again. He knew, though, not to ask again. He didn't know how he felt about Sirius knowing the prophecy. Maybe that was why he went to the Department of Mysteries and died for Harry. If he hadn't known, would he have come?
Harry, forgetting all about his potions essay, wrote a letter back.
Professor Dumbledore;
I've just realized that I'm most likely bothering you with all of my letters. I'm sure you have some work for the Order to do, so I'm sorry for taking up your time with stupid questions.
I'm glad that the Prophet is not printing lies anymore, though I'm not to sure that they will have so many more readers now.
Again, I'm sorry for wasting your time.
Harry
There; that was short, and it wouldn't take up Dumbledore's day. Sighing again, he went to his potions essay, but found that he could not concentrate. Abandoning the task yet again, he decided to practice Emolegancy.
After an hour, there was a tapping at his window. He saw Hedwig, and hastily let her in. Nipping affectionately at his finger, she extended her leg and Harry grabbed the parchment attached.
Harry;
Don't even think for a second that you are bothering me with pointless questions. I simply love getting mail from you, Harry. I'd much rather answer a letter than do boring paperwork of sorting through the letters to the new first years who turned eleven this year.
Please write to me, Harry! I need something interesting to occupy my time. I would love anything to read right now, even an account of every waking moment with the Dursleys.
Do you realize how boring paperwork is? Think of having to do 100 potions essays (though I beg of you not to tell Professor Snape!). You know how tedious that is.
About the Prophet. Actually, they have very few readers at the moment. More people seem to want to read the Quibbler, thought this might become a problem in the future. Fudge is relying on the Daily Prophet for addressing news to the public; it's the unofficial Ministry newspaper. Now, the world is upside down: Fudge was lying to everyone after all, the ministry was so unsafe that they could not prevent Voldemort and his Death Eaters from entering, and the Prophet was printing lies, but the Quibbler printed the truth. You can see that no one knows what or who to believe.
On a lighter note, your friend Miss Lovegood's father is becoming quite wealthy.
Albus Dumbledore
Harry was particularly astonished that Dumbledore was complaining about paperwork. He had never imagined the eccentric, powerful Dumbledore doing something so simple with his time as that. He smiled when Dumbledore compared it to 100 potions essays.
Taking out his quill once again that day, he wrote another letter, hoping that Hedwig would never tire of her job.
Professor Dumbledore:
I really thought that you would tire of listening to me. But, if you insist…
Interesting how you compared your paperwork to Snape's essays: I'm doing one now… well, I'm supposed to be doing one now, but I can't concentrate very well.
How is Luna doing, by the way? She told me that she was going on a trip this summer to find a crumple-horned snorkack… if only I knew exactly what that was…
My guess is that everyone in the Wizarding world has read my interview about the third task by now. I knew when I gave the interview, it would be public, but I never imagined it to be that public. The day that issue of the magazine came out was one of my best days that year.
This is a rather random question, but what happened to Malfoy's dad and the other death eaters that were captured in the Department of Mysteries? Last I heard they were going to be sent to Azkaban without a trial. Even though I know they are death eaters, and are fully guilty of their crimes, I think they have the right to a trial. I think everybody should get a right to a trial. And I'm going to press that issue!
What is going on with Fudge? If no one believes him, will he be voted out of office? How does Wizarding politics work?
Well, I'll let you get back to sending out the first year letters. Any one I know in there?
Harry Potter
Harry sealed the letter and sent it off with Hedwig. Knowing that it would take her more than a few minutes to get to Scotland and back, he went downstairs for dinner, to find the Dursleys already there.
More than a week passed, and Harry still had not received a reply from Dumbledore. He figured that he had to write the letters to the first years, and had not had the time to reply. That morning, Harry went down, slightly worried, for breakfast with the Dursleys. They only glared at him as he sat down and grabbed something to eat. After a long silence, Vernon grunted.
"Your aunt is coming to stay tomorrow, Dudley. I hope everyone is on they're best behavior, and I want no tricks while she's here." He finished his little speech addressing Harry, who nodded.
"I'll try," Harry began, "but every year, something happens, so we're bound to have something happen this year too." Vernon and Petunia gave him hard glares, but Dudley looked scared.
Before any of them could open their mouth again, Harry said quickly. "But I'll try my best to prevent such an event"
Harry wore a calm expression, and Vernon stared at him hard in the eyes, as if searching for his intentions, but couldn't seem to find anything, and broke the gaze.
"What time is Marge coming?" Petunia asked, ignoring Harry once again.
"Around noon tomorrow. She's staying for a week."
Harry bit his lip. Should he tell her about the wizarding world? Does she have the right to know? Harry personally thought that anyone who was to be staying at Privet Drive should know why the house and its occupants were in danger, and this included half-aunts that were prone to exploding. But he knew that if he asked his aunt or uncle whether he should tell Aunt Marge, they would protest instantly. He decided mentally that he would tell her only if the situation presented itself, or if he would have to explain himself for something during her visit.
And of course, Harry was not looking foreword to Marge's visit. Four summers ago, she made him incredibly angry; so angry that he blew her up, in a manner of speaking. He hoped that she would not take to her hobby of insulting him again, but he doubted that she would desist.
Sighing, he ate his food and the rest of the meal was uneventful, apart from the obnoxious passing of gas that Dudley and Vernon always seemed unable to stop every meal. To Harry, it was the makings of a horrible orchestra. Every meal, he had to sit and endure their farts, each louder and smellier than the last. It seemed sometimes that they would wordlessly have competitions, and the one who farted the loudest and the smelliest was the winner. The first couple of times Harry witnessed their unpleasant "orchestra", he snorted and laughed, but when the music grew louder and more toxic, he ended up choking.
As the music crescendoed, he gasped for breath and shared an unamused look with Aunt Petunia, who hated this part of the meal as much as Harry did, but voiced nothing in protest.
After the disgusting lunch, Harry decided that unlike last summer, he would not spend almost all of his holiday doing nothing inside his bedroom. Making sure that Dudley would not follow him and try and beat him up, (though he doubted that this would occur, as Dudley was just as scared of magic as his parents were and knew fully well that the last times Harry had done magic, he had been released unpunished) Harry left the house and walked in the direction of the old park he had been to last summer. The day was a beautiful day in the beginning of July, but it felt like the middle of spring. There was no drought this year; instead, lots of rain. For a fleeting instant, Harry dimly thought that the weather reflected his mood; last year he was hot and angry that he would not get information and the weather was sweltering hot and unforgiving, and this year he was mourning for Sirius and it would often rain. However, it did not rain that day. Instead, the sky was clear blue, and he knew that if it were not so early in the morning, there would be many people outside enjoying the nice weather while it lasted.
As Harry left his house, he had not a care in the world, but his carefree mood soon came to a halt. When he passed a house 3 doors down (A/N: I couldn't resist putting the name of that band in there—they're one of my favorites and I got tickets!!!) from the Dursleys', he heard something rustle in the bushes, and he realized that, for all he knew, there could be Death Eaters around. Mentally scolding himself for not thinking of the dangers of his simple neighborhood, he searched around him to make sure that no muggles were looking out their windows at him. Satisfied, he pulled out his wand that was always kept with him in his back pocket (no matter what Moody said) and turned to the bush.
He crept up to the bush almost silently, and prepared to pull the branches aside and reveal whatever was hiding there. His heart beat fast as he steadied his wand. On three, he pulled apart the branches and saw only a non-threatening rabbit hiding there. Regaining his cool, he wiped a bead of sweat off his forehead that he hadn't realized was there, and rolled his eyes. He had been scared of a bunny rabbit! Come on, Potter, have a backbone! He reprehended himself, though he was a little relieved that it had not been anything more.
And then, as he stared at the rabbit, it could have been his imagination, but it seemed to wink at him before hopping away. And it dawned on him after a little thought that the Order of the Phoenix was still probably guarding him. The more he thought on it, the more he was sure that they were following him and making sure that there were no Death Eaters lurking about.
But was that simply a wondering rabbit, or was it a person from the Order instead? He had never seen a rabbit wink at him before, so he assumed it was an actual person. Who could it be?
Pushing the thoughts of the Order trailing him in the back of his mind, he continued on to the park. When he got there, he sat on the same swing that he had last summer, on the day the Dementors came. He supposed that he had saved his cousin's life, and his cousin should have thanked him. But he assumed that the Dursleys thought that night that it had been him who made the Dementors come in the first place, and it was his fault that Dudley had almost been killed. Thinking on the matter, he realized that he had heard Umbridge confess last year that it had been she who sent the soul-suckers after him. This brought up his thoughts on her throughout the year, and he glanced at the scar on his hand that she made him open up every day for two weeks. Suddenly, an idea came to him, and he decided that he should tell someone about what Umbridge made him do. If the detentions that she made him serve were allowed, (which he doubted) he knew that sending a pair of Dementors after someone was certainly not within the laws of the Ministry, and neither was almost performing the Crucio curse to get information out of students, which she tried last year in her office on the day that he had the dream of Sirius.
He knew he should tell someone about these crimes she committed, but he didn't know what that would do. Dumbledore told him that his name was good within the Ministry again, but how good was it? What would they think if he went accusing a former teacher of crimes? Would they go back to calling him a mad liar? He decided that he should at least mail Dumbledore with the information, and ask him to decide whether he should go around accusing Umbridge.
The morning soon left and it became afternoon quickly. The weather had improved more within the few hours; the sky was bluer than that morning, and there was not a cloud in sight. Lunch had already passed, and people were going outside to take advantage of the weather. Harry's stomach grumbled, but he knew that the Dursleys would have already finished lunch and he would not be allowed to have food after them. So, he sighed and got up off the swing. He really didn't like to be outside in the park when other people were out there staring at him suspiciously, as if he was going to try and steal something. He knew that they all thought he went to a Juvenile Delinquent school, because he couldn't tell everyone that he was a wizard, of course.
Ignoring the questioning eyes of other kids and adults, he strode back to Privet Drive. Reaching the house, he went up to his room without bothering to announce that he had returned. In his smallest bedroom he found two owls waiting for him; one was Pigwigeon, from Ron no doubt, and the other his own Hedwig, back from the trip to Dumbledore.
He reached for the letter from Ron first. Pigwigeon zoomed around the room excitedly, and Hedwig glared reproachfully at the tiny owl. Harry looked up at Ron's pet and realized with a jolt that it had been a gift to Ron from Sirius, because Harry's godfather felt guilty that he had rid Ron of a pet rat.
Sighing, Harry tore open the letter and read,
Harry;
Hey, mate, how are you? I hope you're ok at the Dursleys; they shouldn't be treating you too badly after the warning Moody, Tonks, and my dad gave them. The look on your uncle's face was pretty funny!
Not much is going on here. In about half a week, we're going over to Headquarters. Hermione will too. Fred and George are living in a small flat above their shop. We're going to take a trip to Diagon Alley to visit them tomorrow. I wish you could come. I asked my mum, and she said that she didn't think Dumbledore would allow it, and she didn't want you to come because there could be a chance that you could get hurt. I think there's more of a chance of you getting injured by one of my brothers' pranks than by a Death Eater. I told her that, but she just swatted me with her frying pan and told me to finish my Transfiguration homework.
Fred and George seem to be doing really well with their business. They're making loads of gold. They told us that there are hundreds of students from Hogwarts alone buying their pranks, just incase Umbridge is back next year. I don't think she will be, but you can never be too sure.
Well, I'm sorry, but I'm forbidden to tell you anything. And don't blow up on us again. I really wish you, Hermione, and I could join the Order. That would be so cool! But no… "You have to be of age and out of school!" Hrmmph!
Anyway, let me know what's going on over there. To be frank, it's the first day of vacation and I'm bored. My mum just told me I could start on my homework. She sounds like Hermione!
Your friend,
Ron Weasley
Harry laughed at the news of Fred and George's business. He sincerely hoped that Umbridge would not return. And Harry really did want to join the Order, but he knew he wouldn't be allowed if he asked.
Setting Ron's letter aside, he read the one from his headmaster:
Harry,
I'm sorry my letter took so long; I had to finish writing the letters to the first years. Professor McGonagall would not let me put the task off any longer, and frankly, I've been bombarded with owls recently, and many events have taken place that have kept me occupied.
I believe that Mr. Malfoy, along with the others who were caught in the Department of Mysteries that night, were taken to Azkaban without a trial indeed. I agree with you: every one deserves a trial, even if they were caught in the act. Currently, the Ministry is in such an array of chaos that they simply sentenced them to a lifetime in Azkaban without trial just to be rid of them. There is much confusion in the Ministry right now; so much confidence that the public had in them is now lost, and they are doing everything they can to stay on top of things again.
Before last year, the Ministry ran the Wizarding World. Now, however, they have almost no control over anyone. You can't possibly understand what it's like. There is chaos in the streets. People are committing crimes, and the Aurors are too busy looking for the escaped Death Eaters and Voldemort and the Ministry is to busy covering up themselves and trying to restore their dignity to do anything about it. There is no use subscribing in the Prophet anymore, because the Prophet is one of the few things the Ministry still has control over, and they tell the newspaper to print stories on things such as how well Fudge is handling the crisis and how very prepared the Ministry is, and everyone knows that those stories are, excuse the French, bull, so the Prophet isn't selling anymore. And the newspaper isn't making enough money to go on. Only those who are currently isolated from the Wizarding World now (namely you, Miss Granger, and a couple witches of the Salem Cult from America) are subscribing. I am still getting it delivered, however, because I need to see what they are printing.
There has never been such chaos. With the main newspaper down, people are turning to any other news sources they can find, including some that aren't so trustworthy. People are publishing papers just to make money, and printing fake stories, such as ones that tell how Voldemort burned down 12 muggle villages in Ireland, or how he is now the queen of Australia (I'm being entirely serious when I say that I did indeed read an article claiming just that!). Even some uncaptured Death Eaters whom I happen to know about have published their own papers, claiming many things. I read two papers published by Death Eaters. One said that the rumors that Voldemort is back is all just a scandal trying to scare everyone, while the other says that Voldemort is back and we all have no chance of surviving his take over, so we should just surrender now or join him. There are so many rumors flying around that people don't know whom to believe. Currently, the Quibbler is the most popular newspaper, because people know that they published the truthful article about you this spring.
I know that this must be a shock to you, but you said that you wanted information, and this is what is happening. And everyone is extremely worried, including me. We don't know what the future holds. All we know for sure is that Voldemort will have a much easier time taking over if the Wizarding World is already in pandemonium.
Meanwhile, Fudge is having a terrible time trying to restore order. He tries, I'll give him that, but he is not successful at all, because he has almost the whole Ministry out looking for Death Eaters and Voldemort, while petty crimes being committed are ignored because there is simply no time or room for them. Every day I get a hoard of owls bombarding me, some from Fudge asking for help, others from other Ministry members asking for help, some from people who claim they saw Voldemort and want to report it, and others from people and reporters who want to know which sort of people and newspapers I trust, so they will follow my lead. It's madness, Harry, madness! To tell the truth, I am exasperated with it all.
And the worst part is, there is to be an election for Minister of Magic in December. This means that people who want to run are campaigning, but being ignored because people have other things to worry about, mainly protecting themselves and their families from Voldemort. Some Voldemort supporters have used this to their advantage and they are running for Minister. Fudge is also planning to run, the Prophet reported once, but after this, he will certainly not be reelected.
I do apologize, I was ranting and rambling. I am clearly frustrated by what's going on. To answer your last question: yes, there is someone you know, I believe, in this stack of letters. He lives in Surry…I think you've met him before briefly.
Please excuse my ramblings;
Albus Dumbledore
Harry stood, gaping at the letter. Was this really happening? Was the Wizarding World really at a loss for what to do, reduced to stealing in the streets? Ron had mentioned nothing of that sort of life, and Harry decided that he would write to Ron immediately and ask him if what the Headmaster described was true.
Ron;
I've just got a disturbing letter from Dumbledore. He says that the world has gone mad! He described that chaos is going on in the streets, and the whole thing with trusting the newspapers! Is this true? I can hardly believe it! Why didn't you mention anything like this?
I wish I could go with you, but after reading Dumbledore's letter, I don't want to go out in the streets at all!
On a lighter note, have you talked to Hermione at all yet?
Harry
He knew it was short, but he wanted a quick reply. Calling Pigwigeon down from the ceiling, he sent it off with the minute owl, telling him to return quickly.
Harry figured he'd wait for the reply before beginning to write the letter to the headmaster, just to verify its authenticity. He hoped it wasn't true, but at the same time didn't, because he didn't want Dumbledore to lie to him again. He wanted to be able to trust Dumbledore.