Chapter 6 – A World Revealed
The next two weeks following Dumbledore's speech were met with a mixture of fear on Harry's part, and utter bewilderment at that on the general student body. It made him suffer inside to see his fellow peers act the days out with such ignorance. Having listened to the headmaster regarding the wards, he was surprised that he (and Hermione for that matter) hadn't figured it out sooner. The Ministry was always well inclined to keep serious matters looking relatively innocent. This however, only served to deceive the public and borrow time for the wizarding world in past events. Voldemort's return to power was well evident of this. And despite the occurrences of the previous year, Harry was quite certain that the Ministry was still dabbling into the workings of the Daily Prophet. How much longer would the Ministry continue to deny there was any kind of problem?
For the better part at least, Hermione seemed to be working some things out on her own. Each day she'd collect a subscription to the Prophet and re-read it continuously, as though trying to divulge every scrap of information it contained. For all his worry, Harry did feel slightly ashamed that he wasn't digging for info as much as she. But what was truly remarkable, was the amount of knowledge she'd acquired in the past weeks regarding the subject. Having collected (and kept) all issues of the Prophet since, Hermione had founds links to the slow breakdown of the port key system (as was mentioned in one of the copies), and an extremely large influx of broom travelers towards the region Hogwarts was situated in. Something that even Harry was unaware of, despite being in Dumbledore's loop.
Ron being as he was, was unsurprisingly not interested in the affairs of the Daily Prophet, let alone the strange absence in Owl post that most suddenly gripped Hogwarts. Hermione however, found this extremely suspicious, as did Harry. Both had words with each other about it, though much to Harry's dismay, Hermione's tendency to bend people under her will hit him, and after a quick listing of evidence she'd acquired, Harry was forced to tell her everything he'd been told by Dumbledore, which to a greater extent, put fear into her good.
'I can't believe you didn't tell me earlier about this Harry!' she said in an exasperated tone at the time. 'What did you honestly hope to achieve by keeping this a secret from me?!'
Harry thought for a moment, and remembered his promise of silence he'd kept with Dumbledore, which to his guilt he'd broken.
'Just trying to keep a promise… that's all I swear.' He answered her, in a less than convincing tone. 'By all rights I shouldn't have even told you. Dumbledore doesn't want to be held accountable for a panic.'
Hermione considered this for a moment, but in her usual fashion, she held a self righteous view about everything and promptly started to convey her own point of view.
'I think people have a right to panic, given what may happen very soon. If muggles discover this world, my first guess is that they'll be shocked, then afraid, and then they'll want to burn it to ashes just because of it's difference to their own world. No one likes change Harry. Not when people have perfectly good lives already.'
'Sounds to me like you're expecting a war.' Harry interjected in mock amusement. But his smile faded as Hermione held him with a contemptuous look.
'I just don't know Harry… anything could happen.' Hermione sighed as she finished her sentence, before withdrawing a copy of the Daily Prophet from her robe pocket and throwing it to him. 'People are going to start panicking soon, with Dumbledore's help or not. Read this!'
Harry stole a look at the front page, which bore a large, unceremonious heading.
"Wards useless!"
'In a shock announcement yesterday evening, Cornelius Fudge (minister of magic), stated before the entire International Confederation of Witches and Wizards, that the situation regarding the recent state of ward failures was now beyond repair. Adding to the shock of the wizarding community, the minister further added, that the re-application of dissolved wards was now fast becoming a futile practice that was yielding little in the way of results as all newly applied wards began to quickly dissolve as their predecessors did.
This news has come as a terrible revelation to the general public, who as recently as two weeks ago, were receiving ministry assurances that the ward issue was being resolved quickly and efficiently. Subsequently however, theories as to why the minister has revealed such sensitive information have come to light.The most predominant of these theories was recently proposed by G. R Lovegood, editor of the fast selling wizard magazine entitled "The Quibbler". In an interview he mentioned in great detail, large amounts of damming evidence suggesting that the Ministry of Magic, and hence the minister himself, no longer had any rudimentary control over the wizarding world at large.
"If this theory is to be pursued…" says retiring wizard Lester Shunpike, "then I believe that the minister's diminishing power would tie in well with other unusual happenings that have been occurring as of late. Take my son Stan for instance. Usually works on the Knight Bus he does. Said to me two weeks back he was leaving for a holiday. Gonna catch the quickest port key for Wales if he could. But he never arrived there. My sister Lauren says he didn't turn up. Since then neither of us has seen hide nor hair of him. He's gone I tell you, and I reckon it's the bloody port keys that are to blame!"
Mr Shunpike refused to comment further on his son's disappearance, but his is only one of many cases of missing persons to date, and port keys have more often than not been at the center of allegations. This is no more evident then when we take into account another recent announcement by Cornelius Fudge, that stated quite simply that all port key travel was to be banned henceforth, lest more of the public go missing.
What effect this will have on the wizarding world is difficult to tell at this present time, but what is for certain is that the new outlawing of port key travel will have the most detrimental effects on our economy. Analysts predict that if this mode of travel is removed altogether, Gringotts gold guilds, their chain banks and all other economic activity up and down the British Isles may cease completely. A thought which has more than one wizard on edge.
To the dismay of Mr Fudge however, some skeptics are suggesting that this may be yet another sadistic plot by He Who Must Not Be Named to take seize power over the wizarding world. A claim which has been promptly denied by the minister. This has however, been seen as foolhardy considering the events of last year, when it was recorded that Cornelius Fudge was quick to squash any and every rumor of You Know Who's existence, only to be proven incorrect, when You Know Who himself and a number of loyal Deatheaters infiltrated the Ministry of Magic. Clearly there are gaping holes in the Ministry's structure, and there have been numerous calls for Cornelius Fudge's resignation, amidst comments from some concerned witches, that the situation will only get worse, and that the entire wizarding world should not have to suffer to the ends of the earth just because of his own sheer stupidity.
In addition to the pressing ward issue at hand, muggle repelling charms are beginning to fail at an astronomical rate. One wizard, Jones Wickmar had this to say;
"My house in the Evan-shire countryside has been protected by muggle repelling charms for as long as my family has lived there. But since all these funny happenings have started to occur, the wards protecting my house have all but diminished, to my expressed horror. Just two days ago, I had to Obliviate over fifteen muggles who were standing slack jawed out the front of my house looking at it.
I ask now, where was the ministry when I needed them the most? I've no doubt that my Obliviation spells I cast are less than effective than that of a trained ministry official. I can vouch that the spell wouldn't have worked well enough to make them forget everything they saw, and most likely they're off telling other muggles about my house, and any other wizarding residence that has suffered the same fate.
Sadly however, I won't be there next time to erase their memories, my family and I are going to the last place left that we reckon is still protected by working wards. We're going to Hogwarts, and we suggest that everybody who has less than two stupid bones in their body should do the same. Who knows what's going to happen when muggles come in greater numbers. Guarantee you all that the ministry isn't going to lift a finger, that's for sure…"
Mr Wickmar unsurprisingly has acquired quite a large retinue of followers since this statement was taken. More and more witches and wizards have since owled similar concerns and also plan to take up on Wickmar's lead. What bearing this will have on Albus Dumbledore, current headmaster of Hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry, not to mention his current students, is difficult to tell, but more likely than not, many civilians will venture back to their old school in search of safety until this ordeal is over. For none can be guaranteed with the Ministry in it's current state of disarray, and inquisitive muggles discovering previously warded sites in ever increasing numbers. One can only hope that the cause of this problem is discovered quickly, for the wizarding world has never been more threatened…'
Harry finished reading the paper with a renewed sense of alarm. The public was now beginning to become aware of what was happening on the greater scale. More poignant still, was that Dumbledore was correct. Witches and wizards with sense were indeed heading to Hogwarts, and he thought briefly how the school was supposed to accommodate for so many magical folk. Hermione looked to him with concern , and in an instant Harry's eyes flickered to the date at the top of the paper.
'Wait a second!', he said in alarm, 'This edition's over two days old, where's the current edition?' Hermione stood there briefly perplexed before regaining her composure.
'Didn't I tell you Harry? They've stopped printing it. The problem is too big now, and I'll bet anything that the ministry doesn't want anything else so sensitive to leak out to the public. Did you read where it said there were calls for the minister to resign? Fudge doesn't want that. I'm sure he's the one who's put a stop to the Prophet.'
'Then that means…' Harry continued, 'If the public stops getting the Prophet, they'll also figure out how bad the situation is. In that case, they'll be heading to Hogwarts as well.'
Hermione shook her head briefly, confusing Harry to a large extent.
'No Harry, I'm afraid you're only half right… Don't you see? The edition is three days old, the public isn't coming to Hogwarts anymore… They're already here!'
The next two weeks following Dumbledore's speech were met with a mixture of fear on Harry's part, and utter bewilderment at that on the general student body. It made him suffer inside to see his fellow peers act the days out with such ignorance. Having listened to the headmaster regarding the wards, he was surprised that he (and Hermione for that matter) hadn't figured it out sooner. The Ministry was always well inclined to keep serious matters looking relatively innocent. This however, only served to deceive the public and borrow time for the wizarding world in past events. Voldemort's return to power was well evident of this. And despite the occurrences of the previous year, Harry was quite certain that the Ministry was still dabbling into the workings of the Daily Prophet. How much longer would the Ministry continue to deny there was any kind of problem?
For the better part at least, Hermione seemed to be working some things out on her own. Each day she'd collect a subscription to the Prophet and re-read it continuously, as though trying to divulge every scrap of information it contained. For all his worry, Harry did feel slightly ashamed that he wasn't digging for info as much as she. But what was truly remarkable, was the amount of knowledge she'd acquired in the past weeks regarding the subject. Having collected (and kept) all issues of the Prophet since, Hermione had founds links to the slow breakdown of the port key system (as was mentioned in one of the copies), and an extremely large influx of broom travelers towards the region Hogwarts was situated in. Something that even Harry was unaware of, despite being in Dumbledore's loop.
Ron being as he was, was unsurprisingly not interested in the affairs of the Daily Prophet, let alone the strange absence in Owl post that most suddenly gripped Hogwarts. Hermione however, found this extremely suspicious, as did Harry. Both had words with each other about it, though much to Harry's dismay, Hermione's tendency to bend people under her will hit him, and after a quick listing of evidence she'd acquired, Harry was forced to tell her everything he'd been told by Dumbledore, which to a greater extent, put fear into her good.
'I can't believe you didn't tell me earlier about this Harry!' she said in an exasperated tone at the time. 'What did you honestly hope to achieve by keeping this a secret from me?!'
Harry thought for a moment, and remembered his promise of silence he'd kept with Dumbledore, which to his guilt he'd broken.
'Just trying to keep a promise… that's all I swear.' He answered her, in a less than convincing tone. 'By all rights I shouldn't have even told you. Dumbledore doesn't want to be held accountable for a panic.'
Hermione considered this for a moment, but in her usual fashion, she held a self righteous view about everything and promptly started to convey her own point of view.
'I think people have a right to panic, given what may happen very soon. If muggles discover this world, my first guess is that they'll be shocked, then afraid, and then they'll want to burn it to ashes just because of it's difference to their own world. No one likes change Harry. Not when people have perfectly good lives already.'
'Sounds to me like you're expecting a war.' Harry interjected in mock amusement. But his smile faded as Hermione held him with a contemptuous look.
'I just don't know Harry… anything could happen.' Hermione sighed as she finished her sentence, before withdrawing a copy of the Daily Prophet from her robe pocket and throwing it to him. 'People are going to start panicking soon, with Dumbledore's help or not. Read this!'
Harry stole a look at the front page, which bore a large, unceremonious heading.
"Wards useless!"
'In a shock announcement yesterday evening, Cornelius Fudge (minister of magic), stated before the entire International Confederation of Witches and Wizards, that the situation regarding the recent state of ward failures was now beyond repair. Adding to the shock of the wizarding community, the minister further added, that the re-application of dissolved wards was now fast becoming a futile practice that was yielding little in the way of results as all newly applied wards began to quickly dissolve as their predecessors did.
This news has come as a terrible revelation to the general public, who as recently as two weeks ago, were receiving ministry assurances that the ward issue was being resolved quickly and efficiently. Subsequently however, theories as to why the minister has revealed such sensitive information have come to light.The most predominant of these theories was recently proposed by G. R Lovegood, editor of the fast selling wizard magazine entitled "The Quibbler". In an interview he mentioned in great detail, large amounts of damming evidence suggesting that the Ministry of Magic, and hence the minister himself, no longer had any rudimentary control over the wizarding world at large.
"If this theory is to be pursued…" says retiring wizard Lester Shunpike, "then I believe that the minister's diminishing power would tie in well with other unusual happenings that have been occurring as of late. Take my son Stan for instance. Usually works on the Knight Bus he does. Said to me two weeks back he was leaving for a holiday. Gonna catch the quickest port key for Wales if he could. But he never arrived there. My sister Lauren says he didn't turn up. Since then neither of us has seen hide nor hair of him. He's gone I tell you, and I reckon it's the bloody port keys that are to blame!"
Mr Shunpike refused to comment further on his son's disappearance, but his is only one of many cases of missing persons to date, and port keys have more often than not been at the center of allegations. This is no more evident then when we take into account another recent announcement by Cornelius Fudge, that stated quite simply that all port key travel was to be banned henceforth, lest more of the public go missing.
What effect this will have on the wizarding world is difficult to tell at this present time, but what is for certain is that the new outlawing of port key travel will have the most detrimental effects on our economy. Analysts predict that if this mode of travel is removed altogether, Gringotts gold guilds, their chain banks and all other economic activity up and down the British Isles may cease completely. A thought which has more than one wizard on edge.
To the dismay of Mr Fudge however, some skeptics are suggesting that this may be yet another sadistic plot by He Who Must Not Be Named to take seize power over the wizarding world. A claim which has been promptly denied by the minister. This has however, been seen as foolhardy considering the events of last year, when it was recorded that Cornelius Fudge was quick to squash any and every rumor of You Know Who's existence, only to be proven incorrect, when You Know Who himself and a number of loyal Deatheaters infiltrated the Ministry of Magic. Clearly there are gaping holes in the Ministry's structure, and there have been numerous calls for Cornelius Fudge's resignation, amidst comments from some concerned witches, that the situation will only get worse, and that the entire wizarding world should not have to suffer to the ends of the earth just because of his own sheer stupidity.
In addition to the pressing ward issue at hand, muggle repelling charms are beginning to fail at an astronomical rate. One wizard, Jones Wickmar had this to say;
"My house in the Evan-shire countryside has been protected by muggle repelling charms for as long as my family has lived there. But since all these funny happenings have started to occur, the wards protecting my house have all but diminished, to my expressed horror. Just two days ago, I had to Obliviate over fifteen muggles who were standing slack jawed out the front of my house looking at it.
I ask now, where was the ministry when I needed them the most? I've no doubt that my Obliviation spells I cast are less than effective than that of a trained ministry official. I can vouch that the spell wouldn't have worked well enough to make them forget everything they saw, and most likely they're off telling other muggles about my house, and any other wizarding residence that has suffered the same fate.
Sadly however, I won't be there next time to erase their memories, my family and I are going to the last place left that we reckon is still protected by working wards. We're going to Hogwarts, and we suggest that everybody who has less than two stupid bones in their body should do the same. Who knows what's going to happen when muggles come in greater numbers. Guarantee you all that the ministry isn't going to lift a finger, that's for sure…"
Mr Wickmar unsurprisingly has acquired quite a large retinue of followers since this statement was taken. More and more witches and wizards have since owled similar concerns and also plan to take up on Wickmar's lead. What bearing this will have on Albus Dumbledore, current headmaster of Hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry, not to mention his current students, is difficult to tell, but more likely than not, many civilians will venture back to their old school in search of safety until this ordeal is over. For none can be guaranteed with the Ministry in it's current state of disarray, and inquisitive muggles discovering previously warded sites in ever increasing numbers. One can only hope that the cause of this problem is discovered quickly, for the wizarding world has never been more threatened…'
Harry finished reading the paper with a renewed sense of alarm. The public was now beginning to become aware of what was happening on the greater scale. More poignant still, was that Dumbledore was correct. Witches and wizards with sense were indeed heading to Hogwarts, and he thought briefly how the school was supposed to accommodate for so many magical folk. Hermione looked to him with concern , and in an instant Harry's eyes flickered to the date at the top of the paper.
'Wait a second!', he said in alarm, 'This edition's over two days old, where's the current edition?' Hermione stood there briefly perplexed before regaining her composure.
'Didn't I tell you Harry? They've stopped printing it. The problem is too big now, and I'll bet anything that the ministry doesn't want anything else so sensitive to leak out to the public. Did you read where it said there were calls for the minister to resign? Fudge doesn't want that. I'm sure he's the one who's put a stop to the Prophet.'
'Then that means…' Harry continued, 'If the public stops getting the Prophet, they'll also figure out how bad the situation is. In that case, they'll be heading to Hogwarts as well.'
Hermione shook her head briefly, confusing Harry to a large extent.
'No Harry, I'm afraid you're only half right… Don't you see? The edition is three days old, the public isn't coming to Hogwarts anymore… They're already here!'