Chapter 24
The Ministries of Magic's Decision
Disclaimer: Nope, I don't own Harry Potter, and I also didn't write the quotes I used that were said by the cool female voice at the Ministry of Magic in the 5th book of Harry Potter. Oh, and no offence to any of the countries I mentioned that were against the Monarchy of Magic, especially Germany (don't hate me!!!). I just randomly selected some countries that didn't have the Monarchy, and I am not trying to offend those countries AT ALL in my story. And also, forgive me if my instructions to make tea don't seem right, 'cause I don't know how to make tea.
Author's Note: Hey, people! Glad you're reading this. Once again, I'd like to thank ANYONE who has reviewed this, especially the most recent reviewers in particular, who I won't say because I'm not sure if they want their name in this. If they do, they can tell me, 'cause I'll gladly put it in. Oh yeah! Recap: Harry woke up and later found out that Malfoy wasn't a filthy brat, that Glory was wonderful and gorgeous and that Cho was a liar who used him while dating (and that his friends were all scarred for life and were having a bad day). He and CHo broke up and he's now dating Glory. Oh, and Glory and Malfoy broke up too. Now READ AND REIVEW!!!!
It was the last day of the school year, and everyone was packing up all their belongings into their luggage to get ready to go back home. Harry wondered if he would meet Remus at the train station. Why hadn't Harry written a letter to him? He also wondered how he would keep in contact with Glory during the summer.
While he looked under his bed to pack everything there inside his luggage, he came across the picture album Remus had given him. He flipped through its pages, and saw many pictures of James, Sirius and Remus during their years of Hogwarts. He also saw Peter Pettigrew, but tried to ignore his image. He was the one who helped Voldemort kill his parents.
He slid the album in his luggage and found the wooden box with all of Sirius' things, including the two mirrors Sirius had given Harry the Christmas he spent with him. He remembered when he had thought he could contact Sirius with it after he had died. He wondered if they'd ever find his body beyond that mysterious veil. He looked at the mirrors closely, but quickly put them away. His throat hurt from trying to not cry. He couldn't look at the mirrors and not feel awful and miserable. He tried to think of one good thing that could cheer him up: he would finally be able to do magic out of Hogwarts.
Once he had finally packed all his things and put them in his BCB, he left the Gryffindor dormitories and common room and went to the Great Hall to meet his friends. On the way there, he spotted Professor Luigi who was directing the house-elves where to put the cases of luggage.
"Put them right over there - Hello, Harry. How are you doing on this wonderful day?"
"Pretty well."
"Are you going to be going to the meeting of the Ministries of Magic?"
"I hope so. I just need a ride to get there and someone who knows where it is. I'll ask Remus about that. Are you going to be coming here next year?"
"I'm afraid not, Harry. I only had a 1-year contract to teach at this school. I was actually hired to make sure the Princesses fitted in alright. Besides, I miss Italy and I have to go back to Nero Gatto Academy for my post as Deputy Headmaster. My brother says the year wasn't the same without me."
"We'll really miss you."
"I'll miss you all too, especially you, Harry. You're going to be a great Auror someday," said Professor Luigi, as he patted him on the back.
Harry smiled and went to meet his friends in the Great Hall. There, he talked to his friends and ate a nice breakfast. Joy was a bit nervous for the following day, although everyone reassured her many times that everything would turn out fine. He didn't get to see Glory in the morning. He hoped she wasn't barfing up from nerves.
All the 6th-year students were excited to finally be able to do magic. Harry wondered if he could get back at Dudley for all the nasty things he had done to him
during his life.
After Dumbledore said a goodbye speech to all the students and staff at Hogwarts, they all parted for the Hogwarts Express. While walking with Joy, Ron and Hermione, he noticed that they weren't heading to the royal cars.
"Why aren't we using the royal cars?" asked Harry.
"Yeah, why aren't we?" asked Ron.
"It's the last day of my 6th year," stated Joy. "I want to be with everybody, although I do kind of want a private booth with you, Ron, for at least part of the trip."
"Hey, I'm up to that!" said Ron smiling.
"Is Glory going to be in her private car?" asked Hermione.
"No, she's going to be with us too. I wonder where she - Oh, there she is!"
Harry looked in the far distance to see Glory and her four friends trying to catch up to them. When they finally caught up to them, they talk a deep breath from running.
"We were trying to call you!" said Glory, panting. "We were waving and screaming out your names but you didn't look back!"
"Sorry, we didn't hear you," said Joy. "It's hard to hear anyone from far away. Are you sitting with us?"
"Of course we are," said Tiffany. "Glory wants to share a private booth with Harry though."
"Would that be all right?" asked Glory to Harry.
"That would be wonderful!" said Harry, giving Glory a peck on the cheek.
"Come on, let's go!" said Ruth.
All of them entered the Hogwarts Express and took their seats. Hermione and the four Ravenclaw girls took a booth, while Ron and Joy and Glory and Harry took their private booths. Glory and Harry closed the door to the booth and sat opposite each other.
"Who's going to be picking you up from the train station?" asked Glory.
"It's probably going to be the Dursleys," said Harry, "but I'm not too sure if Remus will be there. And you?"
"My mother is going to be there with one of our chauffeurs," stated Glory.
"One of your chauffeurs?" questioned Harry. "You have more than one?"
"Of course I do! So the Dursleys are Muggles, right?"
"Yeah, they're Muggles. They're not too fond of magic. I hope they don't say anything bad about you. They have a tendency to think 'our kind' is weird."
"Don't worry, I have a way with talking to Muggles," said Glory in a smirk.
"What do you mean?"
"Let's just say I know their interest in money."
Glory winked at Harry mischievously, and he couldn't stop but feel attracted to her.
"You learned a bit of sly things when you dated Malfoy, didn't you?"
"Actually, I did, but I don't have to learn from a Malfoy to be slick."
"I'm learning something new about you every day, aren't I?" chuckled Harry.
"Same here. I feel like I'll never know myself completely."
"I feel that way too. Are you happy that the summer's here?"
"Yes, of course! I can't wait for the International Duelling Championship, which is in mid-August. They didn't hold the event last year, because of the war. I'm so excited! What about you?"
"I'm happy to be home and to get a break from schoolwork. The summer's a bit more enjoyable without the Dursleys being so horrible to me. Even so, I will finally be able to do magic! What about the meeting? Are you nervous?"
"What? Meeting? That?" questioned Glory in a tense and shocked tone. "Uhm... I suppose... Ah, who am I kidding? I'm freaked out!"
Glory gripped onto the armrest of her seat, and squeezed it with all her might.
"Glory, you're going to be fine! Joy even told us that more than 3/4 of the Ministries are voting to keep you two."
"What if they do decide not to have the Monarchy?" questioned Glory. "What if they decide not to have us as Queens? I'd have to rebuild my whole entire life! What am I going to do with my powers? Are they going to take them away from me somehow?"
"You're acting ridiculous. Everything will be fine, and no matter what, I'll be there for you." Harry took Glory's hand and held it in his own. "I'll be there by your side no matter what."
"By the way, I've been meaning to talk to you about that," said Glory. "If I do become Queen and we end up wanting to get married, we'll have to decide if we want to get married before or after the coronation. If we get married before - "
"Don't worry so soon! I think Joy might have explained something to me about that. I, personally, would like to get married after the coronation. It would be too soon to get married before."
"That's exactly what I thought," said Glory. "Is talking about this making you uncomfortable?"
"No, not really. It isn't something you usually talk with your girlfriend or boyfriend of two days, but I understand you have to talk about it."
"Thanks for understand," said Glory, grinning. "I'm really happy we understand each other on a lot of things. Like Lord Voldemort, for example!"
"Oh, I forgot to tell you something when we were talking in the Infirmary," said Harry. "Do you remember when you asked me what Voldemort thought of you?"
"Yes, I remember."
"Well, he was giving you a lot of compliments about how smart you are, and that you seemed a lot more powerful than your sister. He also said you were kind of beautiful... and charming... The point is, it sounded as if he had a crush on you."
Glory gasped, her jaw dropped and she looked completely stunned. She put her hand to her mouth.
"No... It couldn't, could it? But he... It's just... Oh that's just so disgusting! I mean... he... liking... me... It's just nonsense... I feel like I'm going to be sick!"
"It sounds really gross, doesn't it? I thought it was kind of funny. He got really mad when I told him that. Ha!"
"It's not funny," grumbled Glory, trying to keep herself from vomiting.
"Do you want to see what the others are doing?" asked Harry.
"Fine, it'll take my mind off that... 'disturbing' news."
Harry and Glory walked over to where Joy and Ron's booth was, and opened the closed door. They found both of them kissing and hugging in the booth, and once the compartment doors were opened, the two jumped from the surprise. They quickly stopped kissing and sat straight in there seats.
"I can see you two are having fun in here," chuckled Harry.
"Yeah... uh... maybe," said Ron. Joy quickly tried to change the subject.
"So, do you want to see what the others are doing?"
"Whatever," said Glory, as they went over to the booth where Hermione, Vicky, Ruth, Tiffany and Lucy were. They all managed to find an extra-large booth and seated themselves there. They enjoyed themselves in each other's company and had a good time along their journey.
After a long while, the train stopped at Kings Cross Station. All the students got out of the train, retrieved their luggage and met their parents or guardians on the platform.
Harry and Glory got out of the train and stepped onto the platform (their luggage was in their BCBs). Wizards and witches were pointing and waving at the couple, who were astonished to see them together that way. While walking on Platform 9 3/4, Harry spotted Remus who was waiting for him. Remus spotted Harry as well and ran over to him.
"Harry, I'm glad you're here!" exclaimed Remus. "I decided to meet you when you got off - Princess Glory! It's such a pleasure to meet you."
Remus quickly bowed to her so low that his nose touched the floor.
"Thank you for the kind greeting," said Glory.
"It was my pleasure, Princess. What brings you here with Harry?"
"Sorry, Remus, I forgot to tell you," said Harry. "Glory and I have started dating."
Remus had a sudden glorious and shocked expression on his face.
"You two? Together? That's wonderful, Harry! But, what about Cho?"
"She's a slime ball," stated Harry. "She was using me. I found out that she wanted someone to talk about her previous boyfriend, Cedric, and someone to date so she wouldn't be bored on those 'lonely Saturday nights'."
"Harry, I'm so sorry that happened to you," sighed Remus. "Nonetheless, you now have a better girlfriend. How long have you been dating?"
"Our first date was yesterday," said Glory.
"But I'm still deeply in love with her," sighed Harry.
"You two make such a sweet couple! Harry, do you think I can drive you to that huge meeting with the Ministries tomorrow?"
"I'll have to ask the Dursleys," said Harry. "They're becoming accustom to magic. Glory, are Muggles allowed at the meeting?"
"Only if they're accompanied by a wizard or witch," stated Glory.
"That settles it," said Remus. "All you need now are the Dursleys' permission. Come on, we should go through the barrier."
The three of them walked through the barrier into the Muggle platform between Platform 9 and Platform 10. Harry looked straight ahead and saw the Dursleys approaching the platform. Uncle Vernon was making quick looks everywhere he went. They finally met up with Harry, Remus and Glory.
"Hello, Harry," said Aunt Petunia warmly.
"Yeah, hi!" said Vernon bluntly. "Hello, Remus. He - and who are you?"
The Dursleys looked oddly at Glory, not knowing who she was. Even so, Dudley (who was regaining his wrestling physique) had a different expression on his face. His eyes were fixed on the Princess, his mouth was open and he looked completely love-stricken.
"She's beautiful," sighed Dudley.
"Dudley, behave yourself!" said Vernon, slapping him on the back of the head. "Excuse me, young lady, but who are you?"
"I'm Glory," she said, shaking Uncle Vernon's hand with a smile. "It's a pleasure to meet you."
"I assume it's a pleasure to meet you too," said Uncle Vernon.
"Hello, dear," said Aunt Petunia kindly. "Are you Harry's friend?"
"Actually, I'm his girlfriend."
"You lucky boy!" exclaimed Dudley enviously.
"Dudley, act proper!" said Vernon, giving him anther smack on the head. "Glory's the name, is it? It's a bit odd."
"It's actually Princess Glory," stated Remus. "One of the most powerful witches in the wizarding world. She'll be crowned when she's 18 years old with her twin sister."
Aunt Petunia gasped at the new information.
"A Princess? Lily used to talk about Magic Royalty. I can't believe I'm standing in front of one."
"Your gorgeous girlfriend has a twin sister?" enquired Dudley. "There's two of them?"
"They're fraternal," said Harry.
"You mean your kind has a monarchy?" questioned Vernon, looking a bit disgusted.
"Darling, I need to speak to you," said Petunia.
She whispered into Vernon's ear about Princess Glory and the Monarchy for a while. At the beginning, Vernon had a disgusted look on his face. Afterwards, he started to have a shocked and intrigued expression. After Harry heard Petunia say the word 'filthy rich' and 'gigantic palace', Vernon seemed dazed and excited.
"I'm so sorry for what I said, Your Royal Highness," apologized Vernon, shaking her hand vigorously. "I never knew. Are you really filthy rich?"
"Yes, absolutely."
"And you live in a palace I suppose. How big is it?"
"Mr. Dursley, have you seen Buckingham Palace?" asked Glory.
"Yes, many times."
"My home palace in Rome is at least 5 times bigger than that."
Uncle Vernon looked as if he was going to faint.
"Five times bigger?" he gasped.
"Ah yes. It's almost as big as Versailles. I also have at least one castle or palace in each country."
"My goodness. I never knew your kind could be so filthy rich."
"Aunt Petunia," said Harry, "I wanted to ask you if Remus could bring me to this huge meeting tomorrow. It takes place in London."
"Of course," said Aunt Petunia. "Would you like me to come?"
Harry was stunned at the suggestion, but agreed to it even so.
"Sure," answered Harry. "Since Dumbledore wants you protecting me and everything, it would be all right for you to come. So Remus, are you going to pick us up?"
"Actually, I was wondering if my sister and I can pick you all up," suggested Glory. "We'll use our Muggle limo."
"A limousine?" questioned Uncle Vernon. "You have a limousine?"
"We have a few Muggle vehicles in case we have to go to Muggle-inhabited places. I see my mother over there. I have to go now. Bye!"
"Bye!" said everyone, as they saw her and her sister going into the limousine which their mother was in. The chauffeur drove off into the distance.
"Was that blonde girl her sister?" asked Dudley.
"Yeah, it is."
"Is she single?"
"No, she's dating my best friend, Ron."
"Grr..."
"Harry, we should be going now," said Uncle Vernon. "Come along!"
"Goodbye, Remus!" said Harry, as he sat in the Dursley's car as they drove off out of London and all the way to #4 Privet Drive.
*****
"That's them, isn't it?" asked Uncle Vernon, as a black limousine pulled into the front of their house.
"I suppose so," said Aunt Petunia, who had dressed very nicely for the occasion. "Look, that girl and her sister are coming out of the limo."
Their chauffeur had opened the car door, and both Princesses came out of the limo and went to the Dursleys' front door. They were dressed in Muggle clothes; Joy was wearing a pink silk top with butterfly sleeves, a denim mini-skirt and stiletto shoes while Glory was wearing a thin, red sleeveless turtleneck with white capries, her cross necklace and her usual black boots.
Joy rang the doorbell, as Dudley rushed to get it and opened the door.
"Hello!" said Joy with her famous smile. "We're here to pick up Harry. Are you his cousin?"
"I - I... I uh... I - "
"I'm here!" said Harry as he rushed to the door. He was wearing his dark blue dress robe. "Is it okay if I'm wearing a dress robe? I don't have many wizard robes."
"Almost everyone there will be wearing dress robes," said Glory, "so you don't have to worry."
"I wish we could wear Muggle clothes all the time," said Joy. "I love dressing up in them. There's so many clothes to chose from: shirts, t-shirts, sweaters, jeans, skirts, pants, mini-skirts, dresses - "
"We get the point," said Glory. "Is your aunt ready?"
"Yes, I'm ready!" said Aunt Petunia as she went to the door. "We're all set."
"Great!" said Joy. "We can go in the limo now. Bye, Harry's cousin!"
"Bye!" said Dudley, waving shyly. Aunt Petunia, Harry and the Princesses went to the limo. Just as the chauffeur opened the door, Mrs. Figgs came out of her house.
"Hello, Harry!" she called out. "Why - MY GOODNESS! IT'S THE PRINCESSES!"
"Hello, Mrs. Figgs," said Harry. "Yes, these are the Princesses."
Mrs. Figgs walked over to where they were with an excited look on her face, as if she won the lottery.
"It's a pleasure to see you both," she said, as she curtsied graciously.
"It's a pleasure to meet you too," said Glory, as Joy and her shook her hand.
"I cannot believe I shook the hand of the Princesses!" said Mrs. Figgs. "My name is Arabella Figgs. I'm a Squib, but I know all about you two!"
"Were you going to the meeting of the Ministries of Magic?" asked Joy curiously.
"Dear no," said Mrs. Figgs. "However, I was thinking of maybe take the Knight Bus."
"Would you like a ride with us?" asked Glory.
"In the limousine? It would be a pleasure!"
Mrs. Figgs got into the limo, following Aunt Petunia, Harry and then Joy and Glory last. All of them settled in and buckled up. Harry looked around at the white-leather seats, carpet, mini-bar and TV screen. He had never been in a limo before. The chauffeur turned on the vehicle, and in a few seconds the limo was already moving.
"The inside of this limousine looks wonderful," said Aunt Petunia, marvelling at it.
"Why thank you," said Joy.
"Aren't your parents coming?" asked Harry.
"They're going in another limousine," said Glory. "They have to arrive earlier than we do."
"Does anyone want drinks?" asked Joy.
"I'll have a Butterbeer," said Harry.
"Coming right up!"
Joy took out her wand that was sitting at the side and waved it. On the tiny counter of the mini-bar appeared a bottle of Butterbeer.
"Here you go," she said, handing the bottle over to Harry. "Does anyone else want a drink?"
"Is it possible if I had a cup of tea?" asked Aunt Petunia.
"Of course!"
Joy waved her wand again and a cup of tea appeared on the counter top. Joy kindly handed it to Aunt Petunia, who looked at the cup of tea as if it was going to bite her if she touched it a certain way.
"Would you like anything, Mrs. Figgs?"
"Me? Well, I would love a cup of tea as well."
"Sure."
Joy conjured up another cup of tea and handed it to Mrs. Figgs.
"Using magic is way easier than using the mini-bar," stated Glory, as Joy was conjuring herself up a Butterbeer.
"Since I have my wand out, do you want a drink, Glory?"
"No, I don't feel thirsty right now," said Glory.
"Your Royal Highness, you have such a beautiful wand!" said Mrs. Figgs, as she looked at the magnificently-crafted magic tool.
"Thank you! Would you like to look at it?"
"I could? That would be marvellous."
Joy handed over the wand to Mrs. Figgs, and she examined it thoroughly. Aunt Petunia noticed the wand too and couldn't take her eyes off it.
"Is that wand made of gold?" asked Aunt Petunia.
"Yes, it is."
"I've never seen something more extravagant," said Petunia.
"I do agree!" said Mrs. Figgs. "Princesses, shouldn't you be in your dress robes?"
"Oh, we almost forgot about those!" said Glory.
Glory took out her wand and waved it around herself and her sister. Suddenly, their Muggles clothes changed into beautiful dress robes. Joy was wearing a nice pink dress robe with purple sleeves, a purple hem at the bottom, a strip of embroidery around the waist and a V-neck collar. Glory wore a light blue dress robe with a hem of dark blue around the edges, a strip of dark blue down the front of the robe and a small v-neck ending with a large embroidered button at the tip. She was still wearing her necklace. Their Muggle clothes appeared and were folded up next to them.
"You both look beautiful!" declared Mrs. Figgs.
"Thank you."
"You'll outshine everyone in the room," said Harry, as he winked at Glory. Her cheeks turned red.
"Glory, we forgot about our tiaras and rings!" remarked Joy.
From a little cupboard next to the mini-bar, Joy pulled out a mahogany box with a combination lock. After turning it several times, the chest opened, uncovering two jewelled tiaras and their large ceremonial rings. Everyone in the limo looked at the rings and tiaras as the girls helped each other put them on.
"You look stunning!" said Aunt Petunia.
"Thank you," said Glory.
"Dear, is that the necklace?" remarked Mrs. Figgs, as she pointed to Glory's cross necklace. "May I?"
"All right."
Mrs. Figgs gently touched the cross and examined it. She turned it over and looked at the miniature and quote at the back.
"I remember hearing about this necklace you always wear. Your late godmother gave it to you before she died, didn't she?"
"Yes she did," sighed Glory. Harry could see by the look on her face that the mention of her godmother made her depressed.
"Was she Princess Joy's godmother too?" asked Harry.
"No, we have different godparents," said Joy.
"She was a wonderful woman, and a wonderful Minister for Magic," sighed Mrs. Figgs. "No one talked bad about her. I was deeply sad when she died."
"I was too," mumbled Glory.
"I've never seen anything like it," said Aunt Petunia, glaring at the cross.
Harry could tell that Glory didn't exactly like the attention she was getting with her necklace. To her, the necklace wasn't something gorgeous, but something sacred that her deceased godmother had given her.
"Are we going to pick up Remus?" asked Harry.
"We're going to drop by his house to pick him up right before we head to the meeting," said Joy.
It was a long drive to London, although Harry quite enjoyed himself. Afterwards, Harry changed his seat so he could sit next to Glory. During most of the ride, she clutched her necklace and clutched onto the armrest near her, looking quite tense. Joy, on the other hand, looked a bit nervous but was feeling more relaxed.
After a very long drive, they finally arrived at Remus' house. They parked in front of his house, as Remus was locking his front door (in his dress robe). The chauffeur opened the door and Remus entered the limo.
"Hello, everyone!" he said. "Is everyone ready for the Meeting of Ministries?"
"Uhm... I'm not too sure," mumbled Glory.
"Don't worry, you'll be all right! They've got to realize how wonderful you two are."
Both Princesses blushed at the comment. Remus sat next to Harry and buckled himself in, as the limo started to drive to their destination.
"Hello, Remus," said Aunt Petunia shyly. "It's a pleasure to meet you again."
"A pleasure to meet you two. Your Royal Highnesses, you look lovely!"
"Thank you," they said together.
"Remus, I forgot to ask you about that girl Julia you were dating," said Harry. "How's your relationship going?"
"We broke up," said Remus sadly. "We had a bit of problems with me being a werewolf and all."
"A werewolf?" gasped Aunt Petunia.
"Yeah, I'm a werewolf. Don't worry, it's weeks until the next full moon."
Aunt Petunia looked very appalled at Remus and turned back to her conversation with Mrs. Figgs.
"I'm sorry to hear that," said Harry.
"It's all right. It was a great experience though. I hadn't dated in years. Even though it didn't work out, I'm glad dated her."
Harry was also glad that Remus was happy. They talked a while during their journey, until the limo stopped. The chauffeur opened the door and they all came out of the limo, and Harry was surprised to see what he saw.
All of them walked into a tiny old neighbourhood, but it wasn't uninhabited at all. There were witches and wizards in dress robes, cloaks and even Muggle clothes everywhere. Harry could tell it was a wizard neighbourhood. There was a long, red carpet with many reporters and photographers on each side of it. Harry could see in the far distance that there was some kind of small building that everyone was going into.
"Come on, Harry!" said Glory, as she led him onto the red carpet. "Listen, I've got to do some interviews with The Daily Prophet and a bunch of other magazines and newspapers. Is it okay if Remus leads you into the Ministries of Magic Council Auditorium?"
"Sure," agreed Harry, as Glory kissed him on the cheek (many cameras were flashing at the kiss).
"Let's go, Harry!" said Remus.
With Remus leading him, Mrs. Figgs one step behind him and Aunt Petunia holding onto his shoulder, Harry walked down the red carpet as very many witches and wizards called out his name. The red carpet led to a dark place between two large buildings. Straight ahead was a low, cement building with very many doors. It looked a bit like a long, grey rectangle. Stretched out on a poster in big letters on the top read the words, THE MINISTRIES OF MAGIC COUNCIL AUDITORIUM.
Harry and the other adults around him walked into one of the many wooden doors. They went down a marble flight of stairs with red walls and ceiling, and lanterns on the wall which provided a dim light. Harry, Remus, Mrs. Figgs and Aunt Petunia opened a door across a long hallway and entered a gigantic and extraordinary auditorium.
There were rows, rows, rows and more rows of circles of seats in the gigantic auditorium. Each row was more elevated than the next so everyone could easily see what was happening at the bottom. There were blue seats making up all the rows that went around the room, and there were aisles of stairs in various places of the auditorium that divided the blue lines of seats.
At least ten of the rows at the bottom were reserved for the representatives of the Ministries of Magic around the world by alphabetical order, which had long tables that went all around the rows. Harry could see at the table that said, 'ITALY' on a nameplate was Glory and Joy's parents, who were looking extremely nervous. At the table of the Ministry for Magic of the United Kingdom sat Cornelius Fudge, Percy Weasley, Professor Dumbledore and a couple of others. At the very bottom was a circular platform with two thrones and long table on one side, and a large seat and table on the opposite side with a microphone and a nameplate that said: 'SPEAKER'.
Harry looked up at the ceiling, and saw a large painting of a phoenix holding the world on its shoulders, with the words, 'THE MINISTRIES OF MAGIC COUNCIL AUDITORIUM' painted magnificently on the dome ceiling.
"Harry! Harry, over here!" shouted a familiar voice.
Harry looked around him and spotted Ron Weasley waving his hands. Ron was with all the other Weasley members (except for Percy) and Hermione and her family, who were sitting in a row that was a lot closer to the platform than all the other rows.
"Hi, Ron!" shouted Harry back.
"Over here! We saved seats for you!"
"Remus, I found seats," said Harry.
Harry led everyone accompanying him to where Ron was, who was wearing the green dress robe Harry gave him. They all got a warm welcome from the Weasley gang and the Grangers. All of them seated themselves in the empty seats the Weasleys saved for them. Harry sat between Aunt Petunia and Ron Weasley.
"So Harry, you're dating Princess Glory?" asked Mr. Weasley.
"Yes I am, but we haven't been going out for long."
"Ron told us all about it," said Mrs. Weasley smiling. "They're such nice girls."
"We never thought our Ron would get hooked up with a filthy rich babe like that!" snickered Fred.
"We're still trying to find out how he got a date with her," said George.
"Fred! George! That's very rude to talk that way about your brother!" scolded Mrs. Weasley.
"We're sorry, Mum, but it's true!"
"We kind of expected it from Harry," admitted George. "Quidditch player, You-Know-Who defeater and everything, he's a heartthrob!"
Harry blushed at the comment. He was quite flattered at the thought of being a heartthrob.
"Well, he did make Ginny fall in love with him."
"Leave me out of it!" shouted Ginny angrily.
"Ron must have picked up something from us!"
"Our Ron, growing up!"
"And to think, he might be King!"
"Royalty in our family!"
"We'd have to bow down to him - "
"- that's not going to happen - "
"- but we'd gladly bow down to his Queen! - "
" - what a Queen - "
" - the most beautiful Queen - "
"Why don't you both just face it?" said Harry. "You don't have a chance with any of the Princesses!"
"We can dream, can't we!" pouted Fred.
"They are two years younger than us," admitted George.
"Love is ageless!"
"It's blind too."
"That's probably why Ron's with Princess Joy."
"Weasley is our King, Weasley is our King..." sang the both of them.
"WOULD YOU SHUT UP?!?!" shouted Ron, as he let out a long and angry sigh afterwards. He was looking rather tense and nervous.
"Ron, what's wrong?" asked Harry.
"I'm just a bit worried about Joy," sighed Ron. "What if the Ministries do something unexpected?"
"Ron, you know Cornelius Fudge, Professor Dumbledore and Glory's father are going to make sure nothing goes wrong. They'll be fine!"
"I heard you came here with Joy and Glory," said Ron. "How were they?"
"Glory was getting really tense," said Harry. "Joy was more relaxed."
"It's good to know she's not as nervous as I am," said Ron.
Harry wondered if what Ron thought was true. He kept on saying that Glory and Joy were going to be fine, but were they? New thoughts ran into his head, and his stomach started to twist in a knot.
"Isn't this a magnificent place?" enquired Hermione, looking everywhere interestingly. "It's so large."
"Thanks, Hermione, we didn't notice that!" joked Ron sarcastically.
"How rude!" puffed Hermione, turning her head from Ron.
Aunt Petunia, looking at everything curiously, tapped Harry on the shoulder.
"Dear, where are we exactly?" asked Aunt Petunia. "This place looks very...
odd."
"It's called the 'Ministries of Magic Council Auditorium'," explained Harry. "This is where all the wizarding governments from each country come together to discuss topics. It's almost like the United Nations."
"That explains the strange wizard men and women at tables with nameplates that say countries on them. What are they going to discuss?"
"They're discussing if they should keep the Monarchy of Magic," stated Harry. "They're debating whether they should have Princesses Glory and Joy as royalty."
"That's horrible!" said Aunt Petunia. "They seem like such nice girls. It seems very sad to strip them of their powers."
"Aunt Petunia, how do you know about the Monarchy of Magic?"
"Your mother used to tell me about it," stated Aunt Petunia. "She read me excerpts from her strange history books about how rich and powerful they were. She was in love with how wonderful it sounded. It was probably the only thing I found interesting. It seemed almost like a fairy tale." Aunt Petunia cleared her throat and spoke a bit uncomfortably. "Your mother would have been proud to see you with that Princess Glory girl."
Harry was really happy to hear that. He wondered if his father or Sirius would be happy for him too. It was so strange that him and Glory only had one date, yet it felt they
were dating longer than that. Harry was very glad Aunt Petunia came with him. She was becoming a lot more motherly than he ever expected.
After a while, Glory and Joy took their seats in the large thrones on the platform. Two pages brought them glasses of water which they gladly accepted. Joy took a sip of her glass, but Glory put it aside. A tall bald man with a long nose and spectacles who was wearing a long black robe and carrying a briefcase, making him resemble a judge, approached the platform. He sat at the Speaker's seat, opened his case and laid out a few portfolios and papers on the table. Once everyone was seated and he was ready to begin, the speaker tapped on the microphone lightly, cleared his throat and spoke into it.
"May I have your attention please?" called the Speaker. Not many people were listening to them, since there were still a few wizards and witches talking. "Excuse me, but may I have your attention please?" Yet again, they would not listen to him. He was getting a bit irritated. "May you please stop talking?" he questioned loudly. He was very angry now. "SILENCE!!!"
All the talking in the auditorium screech to a halt and the large room became amazingly quiet.
"Thank you," said the bald man. "We have called a meeting today of the Ministries of Magic in this Council Auditorium to discuss the issue at hand: the Monarchy of Magic and their place in the future. I welcome everyone who has come to see the meeting or has come to participate. This is the last meeting to debate the issue and the decision will be made at the end of the meeting, which will last about 2 hours. I, Henry Wifnot, am the Speaker and will be conducting the speeches and arguments. If
you want to speak in the debate, please tap your wand on the mechanism on your table, which includes a light-bulb and microphone, that will turn on when you will be able to
speak.
"We may begin right now. Does anyone have an argument to start with for the debate?"
Harry saw at the table of the Ministry of Magic for Germany, that the Minister, a tall wizard with a pointy nose wearing a dress robe and a matching long hat, tapped his wand on the mechanism to speak. The light-bulb lit up with a bell noise.
"Yes?" asked Henry Wifnot. "What is your argument, Mr. Hisburg?"
"As one of the Ministers against the Monarchy, I would like to address the topic further of the riches of the Monarchy of Magic," snickered the Minister. "As you can see, the Princesses are finely dressed in garments that completely outshine everyone else. And their jewels? Just look at their rings! I bet if you piled all their jewels together they could fill up this auditorium. It's disgusting how these girls bathe themselves in luxury and wealth while others are striving to live off of what they've got. I am not paying enormous amounts of taxes just so they can have matching necklaces and earrings to go with their gigantic rings."
Harry was disgusted at what Mr. Hisburg said. Harry glared at the expressions on Glory and Joy's faces, and their expressions were both very serious and stern-looking. Dumbledore tapped the light-bulb, which rang and lit up.
"Yes, Mr. Dumbledore, you may speak your case."
"I would like to make a defending statement for what the Minister for Germany has just spoken off. If anyone has noticed the true jobs of these young girls, they would understand that they do not bask in the taxes that we pay, nor are they the lazy aristocrats we claim they are. They are involved in many different things. Glory helps out with medical and scientific research, and has created countless inventions and potions over the years. Joy has also create various beauty lines and environmental-cleaning inventions. They do many countless things that make them rich, despite that they are the Princesses of Magic.
"The truth is, they don't even use the taxes that we pay for their personal needs.
Those taxes are used to restore palaces, and major landmarks dedicated or not dedicated to them or previous Monarchs. They are not bathing themselves in luxury and wealth that we pay them with taxes, for they've earned it themselves through business and experiments.
"As for the jewellery, weren't all of you at their birthday ball? If you watched them opening their presents, you will see that they received countless jewelled items. You can even ask them about their jewels. Most of their jewels have been presents from their birthdays."
"Is this true, Your Royal Highnesses?" asked Mr. Wifnot. "Most of your jewellery have been gifts from others?"
"Yes indeed," answered Glory. "Only one eighth of our jewels we have bought for ourselves."
"I rest my case," said Dumbledore, as he sat down.
Most of the debates went that way. It looked like many Ministries of Magic were for the Monarchy than against it. At the end of the nerve-wrecking discussions, the Speaker cleared his throat to state the result of all the discussions.
"After many meetings of discussion by all the Ministries of Magic, we have come to an agreement for the future of the Monarchy. We have realized after countless debates, that the Monarchy of Magic wasn't what we all thought it was, and that our Monarchy is a lot more sincere, hardworking and loving to its subjects than we thought. These two girls were blessed with extraordinary powers and talents that none of us should abuse. Their characters and talents shine brightly among us, and it is our blessing as well that they may be leaders to the country in a few years time. Our nations and governments wouldn't be the same if we didn't have such wonderful witches leading us.
"We've also seen during the war of last summer that we can count on them to lead us all to victory from the harmful Dark Arts. They also love and protect their subjects as much as they can, which was proved at Hogwarts a few days ago. We are all truly happy that we can have such beings in our governments.
"After explaining this, I, with the help of all the Ministers, have made a decision that is in this yellow envelope," said the Speaker, lifting up a sealed envelope. Harry's heart raced like mad. It's time to see what's going to happen to them both, thought Harry. Please let it be good. The Speaker opened the envelope. "The decision is... that we will keep our tradition of the Monarchy."
A roar of cheers echoed in the large council auditorium as many people hugged each other in happiness. Glory and Joy looked extremely relieved and hugged each other. Harry was too happy for words, and he couldn't believe the wonderful words the Speaker said.
"Harry, they're keeping the Monarchy!" shouted Ron.
Harry stood up and hugged his best friend, and he hugged the Weasleys, Hermione, Aunt Petunia, Remus and Mrs. Figgs. He was jumping up and down with excitement. The Speaker cleared his throat again.
"This is all for the Meeting of Ministries," said the Speaker.
Harry looked at the Minister of Germany who was in a furious rage. Everyone gathered up their things to leave.
"Aunt Petunia, is it all right if I go to see Glory?" asked Harry.
"Yes, of course."
"Ron! Hermione! Do you want to come with me to see Joy and Glory?"
"Sure!" they both said.
All three of them went down the aisle closest to them and went through a door where a lot of the representatives were leaving. Trying to find their way through the crowd, Harry finally spotted Glory and Joy who were crying with happiness. Harry dragged his friends over to where Glory and Joy were. Glory and Joy noticed they were there and were so happy to see them.
"I can't believe you're here!" said Joy, who was hugging Ron, Hermione and finally Harry.
"My goodness, you will not believe how happy I am to get that weight off
shoulders!" said Glory.
"We're so happy for you!" said Hermione. "You're both going to make wonderful Queens."
"Thank you," they both said.
"We were thinking of inviting all our friends over to the palace for the summer," said Joy. "We're so happy about it that we just wanted to celebrate."
"That would be great," said Hermione.
"Your palace?" gasped Ron. "We'll be able to visit your palace?"
"You and your families," added Glory. "You could stay there with us for 2 weeks or so. Harry, we could have your birthday at the palace!"
"That would be awesome," said Harry, as he dreamed of his birthday being at their gorgeous castle.
"Harry! Harry Potter!" called Cornelius Fudge, who was pushing his way through the crowd, and finally got to Harry.
"Hello, Mr. Fudge," greeted Harry.
"Hello, and hello to everyone else! Princess Glory and Princess Joy, everyone in the Ministry is happy for your success!"
"Thank you," said Joy.
"We appreciate it," thanked Glory.
"Harry, I need to speak to you in my office. Would it be all right for you to come at 4 o'clock to the Ministry of Magic?"
"I guess so."
"Good. It would be nice if Remus Lupin was there with you. It concerns him too. Well, I'll see you there!"
He went off out the door with his other representatives. Remus came down to the platform and went to Harry.
"Harry, what was that all about?" asked Remus.
"Cornelius Fudge wants you and I to go to the Ministry in his office at 4 o'clock."
"What is it for?"
"I don't know."
"Do you want us to drive you there?" asked Glory.
"If it's all right with his aunt, you can drive us to my house. We'll wait until 4 o'clock and then I'll drive Harry to the Ministry."
"Sure," said Glory. "We'll meet you in the limo."
"Bye!" said Joy, as Glory and her sped off through the door and into the crowd of wizards and witches.
"Good luck on that, Harry!" said Hermione.
"Yeah, we don't want you getting in any more trouble with the Ministry," told Ron sarcastically.
"I appreciate it," thanked Harry. "I have to go now, I'll see you soon!"
"Bye!"
"Don't forget to write!"
Remus and Harry went up the long aisle of witches and wizards getting out, but they finally made it to where Aunt Petunia and Mrs. Figgs were. They were both very happy.
"Finally, those Ministers have some common sense in their brains," said Mrs. Figgs. "You have to be stupid to not know those girls are great."
"Mrs. Dursley, would it be all right if Harry and I were dropped off at my house in the limo?" asked Remus. "The Minister wants to speak with us. I'll drive Harry back home as soon as possible."
"Did you want me to come, just in case?"
"No, it'll be all right."
"It seems very important," said Aunt Petunia, who looked a bit worried. "Just bring him home safely."
"Thanks, Aunt Petunia!" said Harry.
After saying a last goodbye to the Weasleys and the Grangers, they exited the auditorium and went down the red carpet to the awaiting limo. They hopped inside and waited for Joy and Glory. The two girls struggled to get into the limo with the paparazzi annoying and blocking them. Once the door was closed, the chauffeur drove off out of the old wizard neighbourhood to Remus' house.
The whole entire time, Harry was deep in thought about what the meeting with him and the Minister would be about. Soon enough, the chauffeur dropped both of them off. Everyone said their goodbyes and Glory gave him a warm peck on the chick ('Lucky boy,' mumbled Remus, glaring at Harry with a grin.) Remus unlocked the door and let them both in.
"Do you want some tea, Harry?" asked Remus, heading towards the kitchen.
"Sure," agreed Harry, following him.
They both entered the kitchen. Harry pulled out a chair and sat down at the kitchen table. Remus quickly pulled out a tea kettle and tea bags.
"Do you want scones?" asked Remus.
"Fine."
Remus quickly opened a cupboard, pulled out a container and plate and laid some scones onto the platter. He put them on the kitchen table for Harry to eat.
Remus poured some hot water into the kettle, and then tapped the kettle with his wand to make the kettle boil the water. He laid a couple of cups with tea bags in them, saucers and spoons for the both of them and laid the tea pot on the kitchen table once it had finished boiling the water.
"That was fast," remarked Harry.
"It's how you make tea the magic way. Oh, I forgot creme and sugar!"
With a flicker of his wand and a casting of 'accio sugar and creme cups', the sugar and creme cups appeared onto the center of the table.
"Nice spells," said Harry, as he poured some creme into his tea.
"Thanks. Did Cornelius Fudge tell you anything about what the meeting was about?" he asked, as he poured him some sugar.
"Unfortunately, no. I wish he did. It's driving me nuts just thinking about it."
"It can't be anything serious, can it?" asked Remus. "Did he give you a clue at all about what it's about?"
"He just told me to that he'd like to see you and I in his office at 4 o'clock, and that it concerns us both. He went off into the crowd before I could ask him anything."
"That's too bad," said Remus, taking a few sips of his tea.
"Do you think it's about the Order of the Phoenix?" asked Harry.
"Maybe, but we'll never know until we get there."
"You're right," said Harry, taking a huge bite of a scone.
Harry and Remus waited a while before leaving for the Ministry of Magic. Harry finished his scones and tea very quickly, and he tried to take his mind off of what Mr. Fudge wanted to tell him. His palms started to sweat and he twitched once in a while. Remus asked what was the matter, but he didn't say anything.
He glared at the black cat-clock constantly, as its tale went back and forth. It's 2:30 p.m., read Harry to himself as he glared up at the clock at the wall. He waited a while, and then looked at the clock again. 2: 35, only 5 minutes has passed. He was getting a bit anxious. He thought about what Cornelius Fudge had said to him, and his tone of voice. He seemed a bit concerned, thought Harry. It didn't exactly seem as if I was in trouble. What if I am? Maybe they found out about that car that moved accidentally last summer. No, they took care of that. Would it be about Glory or Joy? Maybe it's about Voldemort... He continued on and on like this, until finally it was time to leave.
"It's 3:30," stated Remus, looking at the clock. "We should get to the Ministry now."
"Will we be going by Floo Powder?" asked Harry.
"No, I'm all out. Instead, we'll drive there."
Harry jumped out of his chair and pulled it in. Remus flicked his wand and the tea pot, cups and spoons cleaned themselves and everything went in the cupboard. They got out of the house and hopped into Remus' Thunderbird. Remus started the car, drove out of the driveway and went on their way to the Ministry. As the wind blew in his messy hair and rattled his glasses, Harry sighed and thought more about what Fudge could say. In no time, they drove into an alley between two large buildings in the heart of London. Making sure no one was watching them, Remus beamed up his car into his BCB and headed passed several street corners to a place that wasn't so crowded and just a bit shabby, where stood the phone booth in bad condition, which was the entrance to the Ministry of Magic.
"Curious entrance, isn't it?" remarked Remus, as he closed the door behind Harry and himself. Remus picked up the receiver and quickly pushed a few buttons on the dial. A female voice spoke out from the telephone box.
"Welcome to the Ministry of Magic. Please state your name and business," said the voice cooly.
"Remus Lupin and Harry Potter," stated Remus. "We're here to meet the Minister of Magic."
"Thank you very much," stated the voice. "Visitors, please take the badges and attack them to the front of your robes."
Two square silver badges spat out of where the coins usually dropped out with a few clinging noises. Remus took them and pinned them both on himself and Harry, which read on Harry's badge, 'Harry Potter, Meeting with the Minister of Magic'.
"Visitors to the Ministry, you are required to submit to a search and present your wand for registration at the security desk, which is located at the far end of the Atrium."
With a quiver, jolt and clicking sound, the telephone booth lowered itself down in the ground slowly. As the abandoned street of London slowly disappeared into a long shaft, Harry remembered the couple of times he had went to the Ministry last year. After going a few depths under the cement surface of the road, the telephone booth gave another quiver, jolt and clicking sound, and the doors immediately opened to them.
"The Ministry of Magic wishes you a pleasant day," said the voice inside the telephone box.
Harry looked around at the long, polished-wood hallway with phoenix-blue ceiling of golden runes floating about and walls of many fireplaces with a few wizards or witches emerging from them. A few inter-department memos which looked like paper airplanes zoomed passed Harry. There were a few paintings and potted plants here and there, but what Harry mostly noticed was at the middle of the hallway.
At the centre of the long hallway, there used to be a golden fountain, which had been destroyed that horrible night when Harry and his friends were battling Death Eaters, and when Harry was trying to fight off Voldemort. The statue had been ruined, and now all that stood left were a few funny-shaped pipes and a pit where the fountain used to stand.
He was very interested in the fountain, and was really sad that it was gone. He remembered he had put in a bunch of galleons that would be donated to St. Mungo's Hospital when he found out that all the charges of under-aged magic were cleared from his name. The pit and pipes were surrounded by a small wire-fence which had a sign. Harry looked closely and read the sign, which said: THE FOUNTAIN OF MAGIC BRETHREN THAT WAS DESTROYED LAST YEAR WILL BE RECONSTRUCTED WITH A FEW MINOR ADJUSTMENTS BY MID-JANUARY OF 1998. Harry smiled, glad that the marvellous fountain that had captivated his mind would be restored. He was curious to know what were the minor adjustments.
"Harry, we have to go to the security," said Remus as he nudged Harry. He followed Remus to the security desk where sat the same badly-shaven bored security guard in blue ceiling-coloured robes Harry had seen before, who had kicked up his feet onto the desk and was yawning away. Noticing that two wizards were there, he immediately took his feet off of the desk and straightened himself up.
"I'm with a visitor to meet the Minister, Eric," stated Remus.
Looking closely at Harry's forehead with his watery eyes, he noticed the scar scratched on Harry's forehead.
"You're Harry Potter," observed Eric bluntly. "You've been to the Ministry before, haven't?"
"Yes," answered Harry.
"Please step aside to the left," said the guard.
Harry stood over to the left as the guard passed a golden flexible rod up and down Harry rapidly. The guard bent down and flipped through pipes of impaled narrow papers and ripped off a thin piece of paper.
"Do you still have the eleven-inches, phoenix-feather core wand that's been in use for four years?" asked the security guard.
"It's been in use for 6 years now," stated Harry.
"Please hand me your wand," said Eric, as he crumpled up the paper and flicked it with his wand, which immediately turned into ashes that dropped to the floor.
Harry handed over his wand and the guard slid it onto the brass object of a dish with a set of scales used to detect wands. A slit at the bottom slipped out another piece of parchment which the guard grabbed quickly. He skewed it onto the brass pipes with the rest of the collection and shoved the wand into Harry's hand.
"You may leave."
Remus and Harry walked away from the desk, through the golden gates and into the crowd of workers and visitors into another hallway where there were very many elevators. Harry and his mentor walked in with the crowd of workers and visitors into an elevator, and with a large bang of lift-doors colliding and a ding, it went up slowly, stopping at levels where a few witches, wizards and messages got off at a time, while others went in and joined the crowd scrunched inside the lift.
"Level Two, Department of Magical Law Enforcement, including the Improper
use of Magic Office, Auror Headquarters, Wizengamot Administration Services and the office of the Minister for Magic," stated the female voice.
"This is the level, Harry," said Remus, as the elevator doors opened, and them, with a few other employees, left the elevator, while a couple of employees walked inside while a flying message zoomed in.
Both of them passed the enchanted windows (showing a bright sky) and went through two large wooden doors, and walked into the large area of many cubicles where all the Aurors worked.
"This is where I work, Harry," declared Remus as he was greeted by many Aurors passing him by, greeting them back as well. "See that booth over there?" Remus pointed to one of the largest cubicles on the left that had many files, photos and maps and a computagram on a nice, large desk.
"Yeah, I see it."
"That's my office. It's one of the nicest at Auror Headquarters."
"You have a computagram?" asked Harry.
"Of course! Most of the higher Aurors have computagrams now."
There was one Auror, a young wizard with black hair with blond near the forehead, who noticed Remus and called after him.
"Mr. Lupin!" called out the Auror, waving his hands. Remus turned back to see who was calling him.
"Jake, how are you?" greeted Remus, as the Auror approached him with a few portfolios in his hands.
"Great," said Jake, taking a deep breath from running up to Remus. "It's your day off, what are you doing here?"
"Harry and I have a meeting with the Minister," stated Remus. "We're not too sure why though."
"Harry? Harry Potter?" questioned Jake, examining the scar on his forehead. With a smile, he shook Harry's hand excitedly. "Very pleased to meet you, Harry Potter. Remus has told me all about you."
"So, did you come up to me to say 'hi' or is there something else you wanted to tell me?" asked Remus.
"Oh yeah!" said Jake, as he pulled out a few yellow portfolios and handing them to Remus. "These are the new files and research of the loose newly-made Death Eaters. I was thinking of giving them to you tomorrow, but you know, since you're here..."
"Thanks, Jake. Harry, it's almost time for our appointment with Mr. Fudge," said Remus, looking at the clock on one of the walls. "We should go."
"Of course," said Harry.
Harry and Remus continued on their journey to find the Minister's office. After passing many hallways, corners and corridors, they found themselves walking down a lovely hallway with paintings and small statuettes here and there, with large wooden doors to the offices of the members of the Wizengamot. At the very end of the corridor was a large wooden door with a brass knob, and in gold letters saying: Office of the Minister for Magic, Mr. Cornelius Fudge. There was a guard in blue robes with an expressionless face in front of the door.
"I guess this is it," said Harry, as they approached the door. The guard quickly blocked their way.
"Are you both Harry Potter and Remus Lupin?" questioned the guard.
"Yes we are," said Harry, as both of them pointed to their badges.
"You may enter," said the guard, stepping aside.
Remus opened the door into a nicely decorated room with a marble floor, orange walls filled with paintings of previous Ministers, potted plants, sculptures and more decor pieces and details. The ceiling was phoenix blue with floating golden signs just like the entrance hall. A desk with a computagram, files, parchments, quills, ink bottles and drawers all nicely filed was in the centre of the room, with a curious little old witch with small spectacles in the chair. She was obviously the secretary. The old lady looked up at them.
"If you're Remus Lupin and Harry Potter, the Minister for Magic is waiting for you in his office," said the secretary, pointing to her left to a wooden door.
"Thank you," said Harry, as they started walking down the hall of previous Ministers for Magic. Harry looked at all the wizards (only two witches unfortunately) who were speaking to each other, debating or sleeping. Right when they were steps away from Mr. Fudge's door, Harry noticed one of the Ministers for Magic, which was the second last painting in the hallway.
It was Glory's godmother, who was reading a book peacefully. Harry remembered the image from the back of Glory's necklace, and the lady looked as sweet and kindred as Glory had told him. Under the painting was the gold label: MILLICENT BAGNOLD. Harry went towards the portrait. She peered up from the book she was reading and put it down.
"Hello!" she said kindly with a warm smile. "And why, you're Harry Potter!"
"Yes, I am."
"You're dating my goddaughter, aren't you? I heard she was delighted to be dating you."
"I'm really delighted to be dating her too. She's a wonderful girl."
"Oh, I know. Every day I peer from one of my other paintings and I can see she's always making me proud. It's so sad how heartbroken she felt when I died. You're here to see Cornelius Fudge, aren't you?"
"Yes, he told me for Remus and I to come and see him at 4 o'clock."
"Well, I'm sure it's something important. I should let you go now, seeing that it's almost that time. Enjoy your time at the Ministry of Magic."
"I will," said Harry, turning around and smiling to himself. Glory's godmother seemed as nice and as wonderful as she told him. Remus knocked on Fudge's door gently.
"Come in!" said the voice of Mr. Fudge. Remus gently opened the door and he and Harry entered the room.
Cornelius Fudge's office had a marble floor with a nice blue rug that seemed very similar to its ceiling, that also had hovering symbols. It had two large enchanted windows on each side of the large room, and there were bizarre plants and sculptures here and there. He had a few chairs around the room that had phoenix-red walls. There were portraits and paintings of him around the wall, and in the middle of the room was Cornelius Fudge sitting on a nice big chair in a large mahogany desk with many files and parchments, with a few quills and a lovely ink pot.
"Hello, Mr. Potter and Mr. Lupin!" greeted Fudge. "Please sit down!"
Harry and his mentor immediately sat on the two chairs in front of Fudge's desk.
"So, Minister," said Remus, "what is the purpose of this appointment?"
"The purpose is a very important one," said Fudge. "It concerns you both."
Mr. Fudge tucked his chair a bit more into his desk, and loosened the collar of his dress robe.
"How important?" asked Harry.
"Highly important. Unfortunately, we were so preoccupied with the war during the summer and defending the Monarchy that we didn't quite take into account the break-in last year of the Death Eaters and, him..."
"So, you're taking it into account?" asked Remus.
"Indeed, we are. In fact, it has a bit to do with what I need to tell you both. Harry, Remus," said Fudge, nodding at the person of the name he said, "we found the body of Sirius Black."
Author's Note: DUNDUNDA!!!!!! Sweet cliff-hanger, eh? I don't want to be too overconfident, but I'm pretty proud of that cliff-hanger phrase. SO the next chapter's called, "Together Again (Final Goodbyes)". Pretty self-explanatory from the cliff-hanger, but to be completely frank: Harry's going to Sirius' funeral. The next chapter's actually pretty much tragedy/spiritual (actually, it's not pretty much that, it's REALLY in that category). So if you're into that, stay tuned. Oh, and by the way, about that for the Monarchy thing? It may sound cheesy at times, but I am a strong Loyalist to the Queen of England and the Monarchy, so long live the Queen!!!! Oh, and PLEASE REVIEW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The Ministries of Magic's Decision
Disclaimer: Nope, I don't own Harry Potter, and I also didn't write the quotes I used that were said by the cool female voice at the Ministry of Magic in the 5th book of Harry Potter. Oh, and no offence to any of the countries I mentioned that were against the Monarchy of Magic, especially Germany (don't hate me!!!). I just randomly selected some countries that didn't have the Monarchy, and I am not trying to offend those countries AT ALL in my story. And also, forgive me if my instructions to make tea don't seem right, 'cause I don't know how to make tea.
Author's Note: Hey, people! Glad you're reading this. Once again, I'd like to thank ANYONE who has reviewed this, especially the most recent reviewers in particular, who I won't say because I'm not sure if they want their name in this. If they do, they can tell me, 'cause I'll gladly put it in. Oh yeah! Recap: Harry woke up and later found out that Malfoy wasn't a filthy brat, that Glory was wonderful and gorgeous and that Cho was a liar who used him while dating (and that his friends were all scarred for life and were having a bad day). He and CHo broke up and he's now dating Glory. Oh, and Glory and Malfoy broke up too. Now READ AND REIVEW!!!!
It was the last day of the school year, and everyone was packing up all their belongings into their luggage to get ready to go back home. Harry wondered if he would meet Remus at the train station. Why hadn't Harry written a letter to him? He also wondered how he would keep in contact with Glory during the summer.
While he looked under his bed to pack everything there inside his luggage, he came across the picture album Remus had given him. He flipped through its pages, and saw many pictures of James, Sirius and Remus during their years of Hogwarts. He also saw Peter Pettigrew, but tried to ignore his image. He was the one who helped Voldemort kill his parents.
He slid the album in his luggage and found the wooden box with all of Sirius' things, including the two mirrors Sirius had given Harry the Christmas he spent with him. He remembered when he had thought he could contact Sirius with it after he had died. He wondered if they'd ever find his body beyond that mysterious veil. He looked at the mirrors closely, but quickly put them away. His throat hurt from trying to not cry. He couldn't look at the mirrors and not feel awful and miserable. He tried to think of one good thing that could cheer him up: he would finally be able to do magic out of Hogwarts.
Once he had finally packed all his things and put them in his BCB, he left the Gryffindor dormitories and common room and went to the Great Hall to meet his friends. On the way there, he spotted Professor Luigi who was directing the house-elves where to put the cases of luggage.
"Put them right over there - Hello, Harry. How are you doing on this wonderful day?"
"Pretty well."
"Are you going to be going to the meeting of the Ministries of Magic?"
"I hope so. I just need a ride to get there and someone who knows where it is. I'll ask Remus about that. Are you going to be coming here next year?"
"I'm afraid not, Harry. I only had a 1-year contract to teach at this school. I was actually hired to make sure the Princesses fitted in alright. Besides, I miss Italy and I have to go back to Nero Gatto Academy for my post as Deputy Headmaster. My brother says the year wasn't the same without me."
"We'll really miss you."
"I'll miss you all too, especially you, Harry. You're going to be a great Auror someday," said Professor Luigi, as he patted him on the back.
Harry smiled and went to meet his friends in the Great Hall. There, he talked to his friends and ate a nice breakfast. Joy was a bit nervous for the following day, although everyone reassured her many times that everything would turn out fine. He didn't get to see Glory in the morning. He hoped she wasn't barfing up from nerves.
All the 6th-year students were excited to finally be able to do magic. Harry wondered if he could get back at Dudley for all the nasty things he had done to him
during his life.
After Dumbledore said a goodbye speech to all the students and staff at Hogwarts, they all parted for the Hogwarts Express. While walking with Joy, Ron and Hermione, he noticed that they weren't heading to the royal cars.
"Why aren't we using the royal cars?" asked Harry.
"Yeah, why aren't we?" asked Ron.
"It's the last day of my 6th year," stated Joy. "I want to be with everybody, although I do kind of want a private booth with you, Ron, for at least part of the trip."
"Hey, I'm up to that!" said Ron smiling.
"Is Glory going to be in her private car?" asked Hermione.
"No, she's going to be with us too. I wonder where she - Oh, there she is!"
Harry looked in the far distance to see Glory and her four friends trying to catch up to them. When they finally caught up to them, they talk a deep breath from running.
"We were trying to call you!" said Glory, panting. "We were waving and screaming out your names but you didn't look back!"
"Sorry, we didn't hear you," said Joy. "It's hard to hear anyone from far away. Are you sitting with us?"
"Of course we are," said Tiffany. "Glory wants to share a private booth with Harry though."
"Would that be all right?" asked Glory to Harry.
"That would be wonderful!" said Harry, giving Glory a peck on the cheek.
"Come on, let's go!" said Ruth.
All of them entered the Hogwarts Express and took their seats. Hermione and the four Ravenclaw girls took a booth, while Ron and Joy and Glory and Harry took their private booths. Glory and Harry closed the door to the booth and sat opposite each other.
"Who's going to be picking you up from the train station?" asked Glory.
"It's probably going to be the Dursleys," said Harry, "but I'm not too sure if Remus will be there. And you?"
"My mother is going to be there with one of our chauffeurs," stated Glory.
"One of your chauffeurs?" questioned Harry. "You have more than one?"
"Of course I do! So the Dursleys are Muggles, right?"
"Yeah, they're Muggles. They're not too fond of magic. I hope they don't say anything bad about you. They have a tendency to think 'our kind' is weird."
"Don't worry, I have a way with talking to Muggles," said Glory in a smirk.
"What do you mean?"
"Let's just say I know their interest in money."
Glory winked at Harry mischievously, and he couldn't stop but feel attracted to her.
"You learned a bit of sly things when you dated Malfoy, didn't you?"
"Actually, I did, but I don't have to learn from a Malfoy to be slick."
"I'm learning something new about you every day, aren't I?" chuckled Harry.
"Same here. I feel like I'll never know myself completely."
"I feel that way too. Are you happy that the summer's here?"
"Yes, of course! I can't wait for the International Duelling Championship, which is in mid-August. They didn't hold the event last year, because of the war. I'm so excited! What about you?"
"I'm happy to be home and to get a break from schoolwork. The summer's a bit more enjoyable without the Dursleys being so horrible to me. Even so, I will finally be able to do magic! What about the meeting? Are you nervous?"
"What? Meeting? That?" questioned Glory in a tense and shocked tone. "Uhm... I suppose... Ah, who am I kidding? I'm freaked out!"
Glory gripped onto the armrest of her seat, and squeezed it with all her might.
"Glory, you're going to be fine! Joy even told us that more than 3/4 of the Ministries are voting to keep you two."
"What if they do decide not to have the Monarchy?" questioned Glory. "What if they decide not to have us as Queens? I'd have to rebuild my whole entire life! What am I going to do with my powers? Are they going to take them away from me somehow?"
"You're acting ridiculous. Everything will be fine, and no matter what, I'll be there for you." Harry took Glory's hand and held it in his own. "I'll be there by your side no matter what."
"By the way, I've been meaning to talk to you about that," said Glory. "If I do become Queen and we end up wanting to get married, we'll have to decide if we want to get married before or after the coronation. If we get married before - "
"Don't worry so soon! I think Joy might have explained something to me about that. I, personally, would like to get married after the coronation. It would be too soon to get married before."
"That's exactly what I thought," said Glory. "Is talking about this making you uncomfortable?"
"No, not really. It isn't something you usually talk with your girlfriend or boyfriend of two days, but I understand you have to talk about it."
"Thanks for understand," said Glory, grinning. "I'm really happy we understand each other on a lot of things. Like Lord Voldemort, for example!"
"Oh, I forgot to tell you something when we were talking in the Infirmary," said Harry. "Do you remember when you asked me what Voldemort thought of you?"
"Yes, I remember."
"Well, he was giving you a lot of compliments about how smart you are, and that you seemed a lot more powerful than your sister. He also said you were kind of beautiful... and charming... The point is, it sounded as if he had a crush on you."
Glory gasped, her jaw dropped and she looked completely stunned. She put her hand to her mouth.
"No... It couldn't, could it? But he... It's just... Oh that's just so disgusting! I mean... he... liking... me... It's just nonsense... I feel like I'm going to be sick!"
"It sounds really gross, doesn't it? I thought it was kind of funny. He got really mad when I told him that. Ha!"
"It's not funny," grumbled Glory, trying to keep herself from vomiting.
"Do you want to see what the others are doing?" asked Harry.
"Fine, it'll take my mind off that... 'disturbing' news."
Harry and Glory walked over to where Joy and Ron's booth was, and opened the closed door. They found both of them kissing and hugging in the booth, and once the compartment doors were opened, the two jumped from the surprise. They quickly stopped kissing and sat straight in there seats.
"I can see you two are having fun in here," chuckled Harry.
"Yeah... uh... maybe," said Ron. Joy quickly tried to change the subject.
"So, do you want to see what the others are doing?"
"Whatever," said Glory, as they went over to the booth where Hermione, Vicky, Ruth, Tiffany and Lucy were. They all managed to find an extra-large booth and seated themselves there. They enjoyed themselves in each other's company and had a good time along their journey.
After a long while, the train stopped at Kings Cross Station. All the students got out of the train, retrieved their luggage and met their parents or guardians on the platform.
Harry and Glory got out of the train and stepped onto the platform (their luggage was in their BCBs). Wizards and witches were pointing and waving at the couple, who were astonished to see them together that way. While walking on Platform 9 3/4, Harry spotted Remus who was waiting for him. Remus spotted Harry as well and ran over to him.
"Harry, I'm glad you're here!" exclaimed Remus. "I decided to meet you when you got off - Princess Glory! It's such a pleasure to meet you."
Remus quickly bowed to her so low that his nose touched the floor.
"Thank you for the kind greeting," said Glory.
"It was my pleasure, Princess. What brings you here with Harry?"
"Sorry, Remus, I forgot to tell you," said Harry. "Glory and I have started dating."
Remus had a sudden glorious and shocked expression on his face.
"You two? Together? That's wonderful, Harry! But, what about Cho?"
"She's a slime ball," stated Harry. "She was using me. I found out that she wanted someone to talk about her previous boyfriend, Cedric, and someone to date so she wouldn't be bored on those 'lonely Saturday nights'."
"Harry, I'm so sorry that happened to you," sighed Remus. "Nonetheless, you now have a better girlfriend. How long have you been dating?"
"Our first date was yesterday," said Glory.
"But I'm still deeply in love with her," sighed Harry.
"You two make such a sweet couple! Harry, do you think I can drive you to that huge meeting with the Ministries tomorrow?"
"I'll have to ask the Dursleys," said Harry. "They're becoming accustom to magic. Glory, are Muggles allowed at the meeting?"
"Only if they're accompanied by a wizard or witch," stated Glory.
"That settles it," said Remus. "All you need now are the Dursleys' permission. Come on, we should go through the barrier."
The three of them walked through the barrier into the Muggle platform between Platform 9 and Platform 10. Harry looked straight ahead and saw the Dursleys approaching the platform. Uncle Vernon was making quick looks everywhere he went. They finally met up with Harry, Remus and Glory.
"Hello, Harry," said Aunt Petunia warmly.
"Yeah, hi!" said Vernon bluntly. "Hello, Remus. He - and who are you?"
The Dursleys looked oddly at Glory, not knowing who she was. Even so, Dudley (who was regaining his wrestling physique) had a different expression on his face. His eyes were fixed on the Princess, his mouth was open and he looked completely love-stricken.
"She's beautiful," sighed Dudley.
"Dudley, behave yourself!" said Vernon, slapping him on the back of the head. "Excuse me, young lady, but who are you?"
"I'm Glory," she said, shaking Uncle Vernon's hand with a smile. "It's a pleasure to meet you."
"I assume it's a pleasure to meet you too," said Uncle Vernon.
"Hello, dear," said Aunt Petunia kindly. "Are you Harry's friend?"
"Actually, I'm his girlfriend."
"You lucky boy!" exclaimed Dudley enviously.
"Dudley, act proper!" said Vernon, giving him anther smack on the head. "Glory's the name, is it? It's a bit odd."
"It's actually Princess Glory," stated Remus. "One of the most powerful witches in the wizarding world. She'll be crowned when she's 18 years old with her twin sister."
Aunt Petunia gasped at the new information.
"A Princess? Lily used to talk about Magic Royalty. I can't believe I'm standing in front of one."
"Your gorgeous girlfriend has a twin sister?" enquired Dudley. "There's two of them?"
"They're fraternal," said Harry.
"You mean your kind has a monarchy?" questioned Vernon, looking a bit disgusted.
"Darling, I need to speak to you," said Petunia.
She whispered into Vernon's ear about Princess Glory and the Monarchy for a while. At the beginning, Vernon had a disgusted look on his face. Afterwards, he started to have a shocked and intrigued expression. After Harry heard Petunia say the word 'filthy rich' and 'gigantic palace', Vernon seemed dazed and excited.
"I'm so sorry for what I said, Your Royal Highness," apologized Vernon, shaking her hand vigorously. "I never knew. Are you really filthy rich?"
"Yes, absolutely."
"And you live in a palace I suppose. How big is it?"
"Mr. Dursley, have you seen Buckingham Palace?" asked Glory.
"Yes, many times."
"My home palace in Rome is at least 5 times bigger than that."
Uncle Vernon looked as if he was going to faint.
"Five times bigger?" he gasped.
"Ah yes. It's almost as big as Versailles. I also have at least one castle or palace in each country."
"My goodness. I never knew your kind could be so filthy rich."
"Aunt Petunia," said Harry, "I wanted to ask you if Remus could bring me to this huge meeting tomorrow. It takes place in London."
"Of course," said Aunt Petunia. "Would you like me to come?"
Harry was stunned at the suggestion, but agreed to it even so.
"Sure," answered Harry. "Since Dumbledore wants you protecting me and everything, it would be all right for you to come. So Remus, are you going to pick us up?"
"Actually, I was wondering if my sister and I can pick you all up," suggested Glory. "We'll use our Muggle limo."
"A limousine?" questioned Uncle Vernon. "You have a limousine?"
"We have a few Muggle vehicles in case we have to go to Muggle-inhabited places. I see my mother over there. I have to go now. Bye!"
"Bye!" said everyone, as they saw her and her sister going into the limousine which their mother was in. The chauffeur drove off into the distance.
"Was that blonde girl her sister?" asked Dudley.
"Yeah, it is."
"Is she single?"
"No, she's dating my best friend, Ron."
"Grr..."
"Harry, we should be going now," said Uncle Vernon. "Come along!"
"Goodbye, Remus!" said Harry, as he sat in the Dursley's car as they drove off out of London and all the way to #4 Privet Drive.
*****
"That's them, isn't it?" asked Uncle Vernon, as a black limousine pulled into the front of their house.
"I suppose so," said Aunt Petunia, who had dressed very nicely for the occasion. "Look, that girl and her sister are coming out of the limo."
Their chauffeur had opened the car door, and both Princesses came out of the limo and went to the Dursleys' front door. They were dressed in Muggle clothes; Joy was wearing a pink silk top with butterfly sleeves, a denim mini-skirt and stiletto shoes while Glory was wearing a thin, red sleeveless turtleneck with white capries, her cross necklace and her usual black boots.
Joy rang the doorbell, as Dudley rushed to get it and opened the door.
"Hello!" said Joy with her famous smile. "We're here to pick up Harry. Are you his cousin?"
"I - I... I uh... I - "
"I'm here!" said Harry as he rushed to the door. He was wearing his dark blue dress robe. "Is it okay if I'm wearing a dress robe? I don't have many wizard robes."
"Almost everyone there will be wearing dress robes," said Glory, "so you don't have to worry."
"I wish we could wear Muggle clothes all the time," said Joy. "I love dressing up in them. There's so many clothes to chose from: shirts, t-shirts, sweaters, jeans, skirts, pants, mini-skirts, dresses - "
"We get the point," said Glory. "Is your aunt ready?"
"Yes, I'm ready!" said Aunt Petunia as she went to the door. "We're all set."
"Great!" said Joy. "We can go in the limo now. Bye, Harry's cousin!"
"Bye!" said Dudley, waving shyly. Aunt Petunia, Harry and the Princesses went to the limo. Just as the chauffeur opened the door, Mrs. Figgs came out of her house.
"Hello, Harry!" she called out. "Why - MY GOODNESS! IT'S THE PRINCESSES!"
"Hello, Mrs. Figgs," said Harry. "Yes, these are the Princesses."
Mrs. Figgs walked over to where they were with an excited look on her face, as if she won the lottery.
"It's a pleasure to see you both," she said, as she curtsied graciously.
"It's a pleasure to meet you too," said Glory, as Joy and her shook her hand.
"I cannot believe I shook the hand of the Princesses!" said Mrs. Figgs. "My name is Arabella Figgs. I'm a Squib, but I know all about you two!"
"Were you going to the meeting of the Ministries of Magic?" asked Joy curiously.
"Dear no," said Mrs. Figgs. "However, I was thinking of maybe take the Knight Bus."
"Would you like a ride with us?" asked Glory.
"In the limousine? It would be a pleasure!"
Mrs. Figgs got into the limo, following Aunt Petunia, Harry and then Joy and Glory last. All of them settled in and buckled up. Harry looked around at the white-leather seats, carpet, mini-bar and TV screen. He had never been in a limo before. The chauffeur turned on the vehicle, and in a few seconds the limo was already moving.
"The inside of this limousine looks wonderful," said Aunt Petunia, marvelling at it.
"Why thank you," said Joy.
"Aren't your parents coming?" asked Harry.
"They're going in another limousine," said Glory. "They have to arrive earlier than we do."
"Does anyone want drinks?" asked Joy.
"I'll have a Butterbeer," said Harry.
"Coming right up!"
Joy took out her wand that was sitting at the side and waved it. On the tiny counter of the mini-bar appeared a bottle of Butterbeer.
"Here you go," she said, handing the bottle over to Harry. "Does anyone else want a drink?"
"Is it possible if I had a cup of tea?" asked Aunt Petunia.
"Of course!"
Joy waved her wand again and a cup of tea appeared on the counter top. Joy kindly handed it to Aunt Petunia, who looked at the cup of tea as if it was going to bite her if she touched it a certain way.
"Would you like anything, Mrs. Figgs?"
"Me? Well, I would love a cup of tea as well."
"Sure."
Joy conjured up another cup of tea and handed it to Mrs. Figgs.
"Using magic is way easier than using the mini-bar," stated Glory, as Joy was conjuring herself up a Butterbeer.
"Since I have my wand out, do you want a drink, Glory?"
"No, I don't feel thirsty right now," said Glory.
"Your Royal Highness, you have such a beautiful wand!" said Mrs. Figgs, as she looked at the magnificently-crafted magic tool.
"Thank you! Would you like to look at it?"
"I could? That would be marvellous."
Joy handed over the wand to Mrs. Figgs, and she examined it thoroughly. Aunt Petunia noticed the wand too and couldn't take her eyes off it.
"Is that wand made of gold?" asked Aunt Petunia.
"Yes, it is."
"I've never seen something more extravagant," said Petunia.
"I do agree!" said Mrs. Figgs. "Princesses, shouldn't you be in your dress robes?"
"Oh, we almost forgot about those!" said Glory.
Glory took out her wand and waved it around herself and her sister. Suddenly, their Muggles clothes changed into beautiful dress robes. Joy was wearing a nice pink dress robe with purple sleeves, a purple hem at the bottom, a strip of embroidery around the waist and a V-neck collar. Glory wore a light blue dress robe with a hem of dark blue around the edges, a strip of dark blue down the front of the robe and a small v-neck ending with a large embroidered button at the tip. She was still wearing her necklace. Their Muggle clothes appeared and were folded up next to them.
"You both look beautiful!" declared Mrs. Figgs.
"Thank you."
"You'll outshine everyone in the room," said Harry, as he winked at Glory. Her cheeks turned red.
"Glory, we forgot about our tiaras and rings!" remarked Joy.
From a little cupboard next to the mini-bar, Joy pulled out a mahogany box with a combination lock. After turning it several times, the chest opened, uncovering two jewelled tiaras and their large ceremonial rings. Everyone in the limo looked at the rings and tiaras as the girls helped each other put them on.
"You look stunning!" said Aunt Petunia.
"Thank you," said Glory.
"Dear, is that the necklace?" remarked Mrs. Figgs, as she pointed to Glory's cross necklace. "May I?"
"All right."
Mrs. Figgs gently touched the cross and examined it. She turned it over and looked at the miniature and quote at the back.
"I remember hearing about this necklace you always wear. Your late godmother gave it to you before she died, didn't she?"
"Yes she did," sighed Glory. Harry could see by the look on her face that the mention of her godmother made her depressed.
"Was she Princess Joy's godmother too?" asked Harry.
"No, we have different godparents," said Joy.
"She was a wonderful woman, and a wonderful Minister for Magic," sighed Mrs. Figgs. "No one talked bad about her. I was deeply sad when she died."
"I was too," mumbled Glory.
"I've never seen anything like it," said Aunt Petunia, glaring at the cross.
Harry could tell that Glory didn't exactly like the attention she was getting with her necklace. To her, the necklace wasn't something gorgeous, but something sacred that her deceased godmother had given her.
"Are we going to pick up Remus?" asked Harry.
"We're going to drop by his house to pick him up right before we head to the meeting," said Joy.
It was a long drive to London, although Harry quite enjoyed himself. Afterwards, Harry changed his seat so he could sit next to Glory. During most of the ride, she clutched her necklace and clutched onto the armrest near her, looking quite tense. Joy, on the other hand, looked a bit nervous but was feeling more relaxed.
After a very long drive, they finally arrived at Remus' house. They parked in front of his house, as Remus was locking his front door (in his dress robe). The chauffeur opened the door and Remus entered the limo.
"Hello, everyone!" he said. "Is everyone ready for the Meeting of Ministries?"
"Uhm... I'm not too sure," mumbled Glory.
"Don't worry, you'll be all right! They've got to realize how wonderful you two are."
Both Princesses blushed at the comment. Remus sat next to Harry and buckled himself in, as the limo started to drive to their destination.
"Hello, Remus," said Aunt Petunia shyly. "It's a pleasure to meet you again."
"A pleasure to meet you two. Your Royal Highnesses, you look lovely!"
"Thank you," they said together.
"Remus, I forgot to ask you about that girl Julia you were dating," said Harry. "How's your relationship going?"
"We broke up," said Remus sadly. "We had a bit of problems with me being a werewolf and all."
"A werewolf?" gasped Aunt Petunia.
"Yeah, I'm a werewolf. Don't worry, it's weeks until the next full moon."
Aunt Petunia looked very appalled at Remus and turned back to her conversation with Mrs. Figgs.
"I'm sorry to hear that," said Harry.
"It's all right. It was a great experience though. I hadn't dated in years. Even though it didn't work out, I'm glad dated her."
Harry was also glad that Remus was happy. They talked a while during their journey, until the limo stopped. The chauffeur opened the door and they all came out of the limo, and Harry was surprised to see what he saw.
All of them walked into a tiny old neighbourhood, but it wasn't uninhabited at all. There were witches and wizards in dress robes, cloaks and even Muggle clothes everywhere. Harry could tell it was a wizard neighbourhood. There was a long, red carpet with many reporters and photographers on each side of it. Harry could see in the far distance that there was some kind of small building that everyone was going into.
"Come on, Harry!" said Glory, as she led him onto the red carpet. "Listen, I've got to do some interviews with The Daily Prophet and a bunch of other magazines and newspapers. Is it okay if Remus leads you into the Ministries of Magic Council Auditorium?"
"Sure," agreed Harry, as Glory kissed him on the cheek (many cameras were flashing at the kiss).
"Let's go, Harry!" said Remus.
With Remus leading him, Mrs. Figgs one step behind him and Aunt Petunia holding onto his shoulder, Harry walked down the red carpet as very many witches and wizards called out his name. The red carpet led to a dark place between two large buildings. Straight ahead was a low, cement building with very many doors. It looked a bit like a long, grey rectangle. Stretched out on a poster in big letters on the top read the words, THE MINISTRIES OF MAGIC COUNCIL AUDITORIUM.
Harry and the other adults around him walked into one of the many wooden doors. They went down a marble flight of stairs with red walls and ceiling, and lanterns on the wall which provided a dim light. Harry, Remus, Mrs. Figgs and Aunt Petunia opened a door across a long hallway and entered a gigantic and extraordinary auditorium.
There were rows, rows, rows and more rows of circles of seats in the gigantic auditorium. Each row was more elevated than the next so everyone could easily see what was happening at the bottom. There were blue seats making up all the rows that went around the room, and there were aisles of stairs in various places of the auditorium that divided the blue lines of seats.
At least ten of the rows at the bottom were reserved for the representatives of the Ministries of Magic around the world by alphabetical order, which had long tables that went all around the rows. Harry could see at the table that said, 'ITALY' on a nameplate was Glory and Joy's parents, who were looking extremely nervous. At the table of the Ministry for Magic of the United Kingdom sat Cornelius Fudge, Percy Weasley, Professor Dumbledore and a couple of others. At the very bottom was a circular platform with two thrones and long table on one side, and a large seat and table on the opposite side with a microphone and a nameplate that said: 'SPEAKER'.
Harry looked up at the ceiling, and saw a large painting of a phoenix holding the world on its shoulders, with the words, 'THE MINISTRIES OF MAGIC COUNCIL AUDITORIUM' painted magnificently on the dome ceiling.
"Harry! Harry, over here!" shouted a familiar voice.
Harry looked around him and spotted Ron Weasley waving his hands. Ron was with all the other Weasley members (except for Percy) and Hermione and her family, who were sitting in a row that was a lot closer to the platform than all the other rows.
"Hi, Ron!" shouted Harry back.
"Over here! We saved seats for you!"
"Remus, I found seats," said Harry.
Harry led everyone accompanying him to where Ron was, who was wearing the green dress robe Harry gave him. They all got a warm welcome from the Weasley gang and the Grangers. All of them seated themselves in the empty seats the Weasleys saved for them. Harry sat between Aunt Petunia and Ron Weasley.
"So Harry, you're dating Princess Glory?" asked Mr. Weasley.
"Yes I am, but we haven't been going out for long."
"Ron told us all about it," said Mrs. Weasley smiling. "They're such nice girls."
"We never thought our Ron would get hooked up with a filthy rich babe like that!" snickered Fred.
"We're still trying to find out how he got a date with her," said George.
"Fred! George! That's very rude to talk that way about your brother!" scolded Mrs. Weasley.
"We're sorry, Mum, but it's true!"
"We kind of expected it from Harry," admitted George. "Quidditch player, You-Know-Who defeater and everything, he's a heartthrob!"
Harry blushed at the comment. He was quite flattered at the thought of being a heartthrob.
"Well, he did make Ginny fall in love with him."
"Leave me out of it!" shouted Ginny angrily.
"Ron must have picked up something from us!"
"Our Ron, growing up!"
"And to think, he might be King!"
"Royalty in our family!"
"We'd have to bow down to him - "
"- that's not going to happen - "
"- but we'd gladly bow down to his Queen! - "
" - what a Queen - "
" - the most beautiful Queen - "
"Why don't you both just face it?" said Harry. "You don't have a chance with any of the Princesses!"
"We can dream, can't we!" pouted Fred.
"They are two years younger than us," admitted George.
"Love is ageless!"
"It's blind too."
"That's probably why Ron's with Princess Joy."
"Weasley is our King, Weasley is our King..." sang the both of them.
"WOULD YOU SHUT UP?!?!" shouted Ron, as he let out a long and angry sigh afterwards. He was looking rather tense and nervous.
"Ron, what's wrong?" asked Harry.
"I'm just a bit worried about Joy," sighed Ron. "What if the Ministries do something unexpected?"
"Ron, you know Cornelius Fudge, Professor Dumbledore and Glory's father are going to make sure nothing goes wrong. They'll be fine!"
"I heard you came here with Joy and Glory," said Ron. "How were they?"
"Glory was getting really tense," said Harry. "Joy was more relaxed."
"It's good to know she's not as nervous as I am," said Ron.
Harry wondered if what Ron thought was true. He kept on saying that Glory and Joy were going to be fine, but were they? New thoughts ran into his head, and his stomach started to twist in a knot.
"Isn't this a magnificent place?" enquired Hermione, looking everywhere interestingly. "It's so large."
"Thanks, Hermione, we didn't notice that!" joked Ron sarcastically.
"How rude!" puffed Hermione, turning her head from Ron.
Aunt Petunia, looking at everything curiously, tapped Harry on the shoulder.
"Dear, where are we exactly?" asked Aunt Petunia. "This place looks very...
odd."
"It's called the 'Ministries of Magic Council Auditorium'," explained Harry. "This is where all the wizarding governments from each country come together to discuss topics. It's almost like the United Nations."
"That explains the strange wizard men and women at tables with nameplates that say countries on them. What are they going to discuss?"
"They're discussing if they should keep the Monarchy of Magic," stated Harry. "They're debating whether they should have Princesses Glory and Joy as royalty."
"That's horrible!" said Aunt Petunia. "They seem like such nice girls. It seems very sad to strip them of their powers."
"Aunt Petunia, how do you know about the Monarchy of Magic?"
"Your mother used to tell me about it," stated Aunt Petunia. "She read me excerpts from her strange history books about how rich and powerful they were. She was in love with how wonderful it sounded. It was probably the only thing I found interesting. It seemed almost like a fairy tale." Aunt Petunia cleared her throat and spoke a bit uncomfortably. "Your mother would have been proud to see you with that Princess Glory girl."
Harry was really happy to hear that. He wondered if his father or Sirius would be happy for him too. It was so strange that him and Glory only had one date, yet it felt they
were dating longer than that. Harry was very glad Aunt Petunia came with him. She was becoming a lot more motherly than he ever expected.
After a while, Glory and Joy took their seats in the large thrones on the platform. Two pages brought them glasses of water which they gladly accepted. Joy took a sip of her glass, but Glory put it aside. A tall bald man with a long nose and spectacles who was wearing a long black robe and carrying a briefcase, making him resemble a judge, approached the platform. He sat at the Speaker's seat, opened his case and laid out a few portfolios and papers on the table. Once everyone was seated and he was ready to begin, the speaker tapped on the microphone lightly, cleared his throat and spoke into it.
"May I have your attention please?" called the Speaker. Not many people were listening to them, since there were still a few wizards and witches talking. "Excuse me, but may I have your attention please?" Yet again, they would not listen to him. He was getting a bit irritated. "May you please stop talking?" he questioned loudly. He was very angry now. "SILENCE!!!"
All the talking in the auditorium screech to a halt and the large room became amazingly quiet.
"Thank you," said the bald man. "We have called a meeting today of the Ministries of Magic in this Council Auditorium to discuss the issue at hand: the Monarchy of Magic and their place in the future. I welcome everyone who has come to see the meeting or has come to participate. This is the last meeting to debate the issue and the decision will be made at the end of the meeting, which will last about 2 hours. I, Henry Wifnot, am the Speaker and will be conducting the speeches and arguments. If
you want to speak in the debate, please tap your wand on the mechanism on your table, which includes a light-bulb and microphone, that will turn on when you will be able to
speak.
"We may begin right now. Does anyone have an argument to start with for the debate?"
Harry saw at the table of the Ministry of Magic for Germany, that the Minister, a tall wizard with a pointy nose wearing a dress robe and a matching long hat, tapped his wand on the mechanism to speak. The light-bulb lit up with a bell noise.
"Yes?" asked Henry Wifnot. "What is your argument, Mr. Hisburg?"
"As one of the Ministers against the Monarchy, I would like to address the topic further of the riches of the Monarchy of Magic," snickered the Minister. "As you can see, the Princesses are finely dressed in garments that completely outshine everyone else. And their jewels? Just look at their rings! I bet if you piled all their jewels together they could fill up this auditorium. It's disgusting how these girls bathe themselves in luxury and wealth while others are striving to live off of what they've got. I am not paying enormous amounts of taxes just so they can have matching necklaces and earrings to go with their gigantic rings."
Harry was disgusted at what Mr. Hisburg said. Harry glared at the expressions on Glory and Joy's faces, and their expressions were both very serious and stern-looking. Dumbledore tapped the light-bulb, which rang and lit up.
"Yes, Mr. Dumbledore, you may speak your case."
"I would like to make a defending statement for what the Minister for Germany has just spoken off. If anyone has noticed the true jobs of these young girls, they would understand that they do not bask in the taxes that we pay, nor are they the lazy aristocrats we claim they are. They are involved in many different things. Glory helps out with medical and scientific research, and has created countless inventions and potions over the years. Joy has also create various beauty lines and environmental-cleaning inventions. They do many countless things that make them rich, despite that they are the Princesses of Magic.
"The truth is, they don't even use the taxes that we pay for their personal needs.
Those taxes are used to restore palaces, and major landmarks dedicated or not dedicated to them or previous Monarchs. They are not bathing themselves in luxury and wealth that we pay them with taxes, for they've earned it themselves through business and experiments.
"As for the jewellery, weren't all of you at their birthday ball? If you watched them opening their presents, you will see that they received countless jewelled items. You can even ask them about their jewels. Most of their jewels have been presents from their birthdays."
"Is this true, Your Royal Highnesses?" asked Mr. Wifnot. "Most of your jewellery have been gifts from others?"
"Yes indeed," answered Glory. "Only one eighth of our jewels we have bought for ourselves."
"I rest my case," said Dumbledore, as he sat down.
Most of the debates went that way. It looked like many Ministries of Magic were for the Monarchy than against it. At the end of the nerve-wrecking discussions, the Speaker cleared his throat to state the result of all the discussions.
"After many meetings of discussion by all the Ministries of Magic, we have come to an agreement for the future of the Monarchy. We have realized after countless debates, that the Monarchy of Magic wasn't what we all thought it was, and that our Monarchy is a lot more sincere, hardworking and loving to its subjects than we thought. These two girls were blessed with extraordinary powers and talents that none of us should abuse. Their characters and talents shine brightly among us, and it is our blessing as well that they may be leaders to the country in a few years time. Our nations and governments wouldn't be the same if we didn't have such wonderful witches leading us.
"We've also seen during the war of last summer that we can count on them to lead us all to victory from the harmful Dark Arts. They also love and protect their subjects as much as they can, which was proved at Hogwarts a few days ago. We are all truly happy that we can have such beings in our governments.
"After explaining this, I, with the help of all the Ministers, have made a decision that is in this yellow envelope," said the Speaker, lifting up a sealed envelope. Harry's heart raced like mad. It's time to see what's going to happen to them both, thought Harry. Please let it be good. The Speaker opened the envelope. "The decision is... that we will keep our tradition of the Monarchy."
A roar of cheers echoed in the large council auditorium as many people hugged each other in happiness. Glory and Joy looked extremely relieved and hugged each other. Harry was too happy for words, and he couldn't believe the wonderful words the Speaker said.
"Harry, they're keeping the Monarchy!" shouted Ron.
Harry stood up and hugged his best friend, and he hugged the Weasleys, Hermione, Aunt Petunia, Remus and Mrs. Figgs. He was jumping up and down with excitement. The Speaker cleared his throat again.
"This is all for the Meeting of Ministries," said the Speaker.
Harry looked at the Minister of Germany who was in a furious rage. Everyone gathered up their things to leave.
"Aunt Petunia, is it all right if I go to see Glory?" asked Harry.
"Yes, of course."
"Ron! Hermione! Do you want to come with me to see Joy and Glory?"
"Sure!" they both said.
All three of them went down the aisle closest to them and went through a door where a lot of the representatives were leaving. Trying to find their way through the crowd, Harry finally spotted Glory and Joy who were crying with happiness. Harry dragged his friends over to where Glory and Joy were. Glory and Joy noticed they were there and were so happy to see them.
"I can't believe you're here!" said Joy, who was hugging Ron, Hermione and finally Harry.
"My goodness, you will not believe how happy I am to get that weight off
shoulders!" said Glory.
"We're so happy for you!" said Hermione. "You're both going to make wonderful Queens."
"Thank you," they both said.
"We were thinking of inviting all our friends over to the palace for the summer," said Joy. "We're so happy about it that we just wanted to celebrate."
"That would be great," said Hermione.
"Your palace?" gasped Ron. "We'll be able to visit your palace?"
"You and your families," added Glory. "You could stay there with us for 2 weeks or so. Harry, we could have your birthday at the palace!"
"That would be awesome," said Harry, as he dreamed of his birthday being at their gorgeous castle.
"Harry! Harry Potter!" called Cornelius Fudge, who was pushing his way through the crowd, and finally got to Harry.
"Hello, Mr. Fudge," greeted Harry.
"Hello, and hello to everyone else! Princess Glory and Princess Joy, everyone in the Ministry is happy for your success!"
"Thank you," said Joy.
"We appreciate it," thanked Glory.
"Harry, I need to speak to you in my office. Would it be all right for you to come at 4 o'clock to the Ministry of Magic?"
"I guess so."
"Good. It would be nice if Remus Lupin was there with you. It concerns him too. Well, I'll see you there!"
He went off out the door with his other representatives. Remus came down to the platform and went to Harry.
"Harry, what was that all about?" asked Remus.
"Cornelius Fudge wants you and I to go to the Ministry in his office at 4 o'clock."
"What is it for?"
"I don't know."
"Do you want us to drive you there?" asked Glory.
"If it's all right with his aunt, you can drive us to my house. We'll wait until 4 o'clock and then I'll drive Harry to the Ministry."
"Sure," said Glory. "We'll meet you in the limo."
"Bye!" said Joy, as Glory and her sped off through the door and into the crowd of wizards and witches.
"Good luck on that, Harry!" said Hermione.
"Yeah, we don't want you getting in any more trouble with the Ministry," told Ron sarcastically.
"I appreciate it," thanked Harry. "I have to go now, I'll see you soon!"
"Bye!"
"Don't forget to write!"
Remus and Harry went up the long aisle of witches and wizards getting out, but they finally made it to where Aunt Petunia and Mrs. Figgs were. They were both very happy.
"Finally, those Ministers have some common sense in their brains," said Mrs. Figgs. "You have to be stupid to not know those girls are great."
"Mrs. Dursley, would it be all right if Harry and I were dropped off at my house in the limo?" asked Remus. "The Minister wants to speak with us. I'll drive Harry back home as soon as possible."
"Did you want me to come, just in case?"
"No, it'll be all right."
"It seems very important," said Aunt Petunia, who looked a bit worried. "Just bring him home safely."
"Thanks, Aunt Petunia!" said Harry.
After saying a last goodbye to the Weasleys and the Grangers, they exited the auditorium and went down the red carpet to the awaiting limo. They hopped inside and waited for Joy and Glory. The two girls struggled to get into the limo with the paparazzi annoying and blocking them. Once the door was closed, the chauffeur drove off out of the old wizard neighbourhood to Remus' house.
The whole entire time, Harry was deep in thought about what the meeting with him and the Minister would be about. Soon enough, the chauffeur dropped both of them off. Everyone said their goodbyes and Glory gave him a warm peck on the chick ('Lucky boy,' mumbled Remus, glaring at Harry with a grin.) Remus unlocked the door and let them both in.
"Do you want some tea, Harry?" asked Remus, heading towards the kitchen.
"Sure," agreed Harry, following him.
They both entered the kitchen. Harry pulled out a chair and sat down at the kitchen table. Remus quickly pulled out a tea kettle and tea bags.
"Do you want scones?" asked Remus.
"Fine."
Remus quickly opened a cupboard, pulled out a container and plate and laid some scones onto the platter. He put them on the kitchen table for Harry to eat.
Remus poured some hot water into the kettle, and then tapped the kettle with his wand to make the kettle boil the water. He laid a couple of cups with tea bags in them, saucers and spoons for the both of them and laid the tea pot on the kitchen table once it had finished boiling the water.
"That was fast," remarked Harry.
"It's how you make tea the magic way. Oh, I forgot creme and sugar!"
With a flicker of his wand and a casting of 'accio sugar and creme cups', the sugar and creme cups appeared onto the center of the table.
"Nice spells," said Harry, as he poured some creme into his tea.
"Thanks. Did Cornelius Fudge tell you anything about what the meeting was about?" he asked, as he poured him some sugar.
"Unfortunately, no. I wish he did. It's driving me nuts just thinking about it."
"It can't be anything serious, can it?" asked Remus. "Did he give you a clue at all about what it's about?"
"He just told me to that he'd like to see you and I in his office at 4 o'clock, and that it concerns us both. He went off into the crowd before I could ask him anything."
"That's too bad," said Remus, taking a few sips of his tea.
"Do you think it's about the Order of the Phoenix?" asked Harry.
"Maybe, but we'll never know until we get there."
"You're right," said Harry, taking a huge bite of a scone.
Harry and Remus waited a while before leaving for the Ministry of Magic. Harry finished his scones and tea very quickly, and he tried to take his mind off of what Mr. Fudge wanted to tell him. His palms started to sweat and he twitched once in a while. Remus asked what was the matter, but he didn't say anything.
He glared at the black cat-clock constantly, as its tale went back and forth. It's 2:30 p.m., read Harry to himself as he glared up at the clock at the wall. He waited a while, and then looked at the clock again. 2: 35, only 5 minutes has passed. He was getting a bit anxious. He thought about what Cornelius Fudge had said to him, and his tone of voice. He seemed a bit concerned, thought Harry. It didn't exactly seem as if I was in trouble. What if I am? Maybe they found out about that car that moved accidentally last summer. No, they took care of that. Would it be about Glory or Joy? Maybe it's about Voldemort... He continued on and on like this, until finally it was time to leave.
"It's 3:30," stated Remus, looking at the clock. "We should get to the Ministry now."
"Will we be going by Floo Powder?" asked Harry.
"No, I'm all out. Instead, we'll drive there."
Harry jumped out of his chair and pulled it in. Remus flicked his wand and the tea pot, cups and spoons cleaned themselves and everything went in the cupboard. They got out of the house and hopped into Remus' Thunderbird. Remus started the car, drove out of the driveway and went on their way to the Ministry. As the wind blew in his messy hair and rattled his glasses, Harry sighed and thought more about what Fudge could say. In no time, they drove into an alley between two large buildings in the heart of London. Making sure no one was watching them, Remus beamed up his car into his BCB and headed passed several street corners to a place that wasn't so crowded and just a bit shabby, where stood the phone booth in bad condition, which was the entrance to the Ministry of Magic.
"Curious entrance, isn't it?" remarked Remus, as he closed the door behind Harry and himself. Remus picked up the receiver and quickly pushed a few buttons on the dial. A female voice spoke out from the telephone box.
"Welcome to the Ministry of Magic. Please state your name and business," said the voice cooly.
"Remus Lupin and Harry Potter," stated Remus. "We're here to meet the Minister of Magic."
"Thank you very much," stated the voice. "Visitors, please take the badges and attack them to the front of your robes."
Two square silver badges spat out of where the coins usually dropped out with a few clinging noises. Remus took them and pinned them both on himself and Harry, which read on Harry's badge, 'Harry Potter, Meeting with the Minister of Magic'.
"Visitors to the Ministry, you are required to submit to a search and present your wand for registration at the security desk, which is located at the far end of the Atrium."
With a quiver, jolt and clicking sound, the telephone booth lowered itself down in the ground slowly. As the abandoned street of London slowly disappeared into a long shaft, Harry remembered the couple of times he had went to the Ministry last year. After going a few depths under the cement surface of the road, the telephone booth gave another quiver, jolt and clicking sound, and the doors immediately opened to them.
"The Ministry of Magic wishes you a pleasant day," said the voice inside the telephone box.
Harry looked around at the long, polished-wood hallway with phoenix-blue ceiling of golden runes floating about and walls of many fireplaces with a few wizards or witches emerging from them. A few inter-department memos which looked like paper airplanes zoomed passed Harry. There were a few paintings and potted plants here and there, but what Harry mostly noticed was at the middle of the hallway.
At the centre of the long hallway, there used to be a golden fountain, which had been destroyed that horrible night when Harry and his friends were battling Death Eaters, and when Harry was trying to fight off Voldemort. The statue had been ruined, and now all that stood left were a few funny-shaped pipes and a pit where the fountain used to stand.
He was very interested in the fountain, and was really sad that it was gone. He remembered he had put in a bunch of galleons that would be donated to St. Mungo's Hospital when he found out that all the charges of under-aged magic were cleared from his name. The pit and pipes were surrounded by a small wire-fence which had a sign. Harry looked closely and read the sign, which said: THE FOUNTAIN OF MAGIC BRETHREN THAT WAS DESTROYED LAST YEAR WILL BE RECONSTRUCTED WITH A FEW MINOR ADJUSTMENTS BY MID-JANUARY OF 1998. Harry smiled, glad that the marvellous fountain that had captivated his mind would be restored. He was curious to know what were the minor adjustments.
"Harry, we have to go to the security," said Remus as he nudged Harry. He followed Remus to the security desk where sat the same badly-shaven bored security guard in blue ceiling-coloured robes Harry had seen before, who had kicked up his feet onto the desk and was yawning away. Noticing that two wizards were there, he immediately took his feet off of the desk and straightened himself up.
"I'm with a visitor to meet the Minister, Eric," stated Remus.
Looking closely at Harry's forehead with his watery eyes, he noticed the scar scratched on Harry's forehead.
"You're Harry Potter," observed Eric bluntly. "You've been to the Ministry before, haven't?"
"Yes," answered Harry.
"Please step aside to the left," said the guard.
Harry stood over to the left as the guard passed a golden flexible rod up and down Harry rapidly. The guard bent down and flipped through pipes of impaled narrow papers and ripped off a thin piece of paper.
"Do you still have the eleven-inches, phoenix-feather core wand that's been in use for four years?" asked the security guard.
"It's been in use for 6 years now," stated Harry.
"Please hand me your wand," said Eric, as he crumpled up the paper and flicked it with his wand, which immediately turned into ashes that dropped to the floor.
Harry handed over his wand and the guard slid it onto the brass object of a dish with a set of scales used to detect wands. A slit at the bottom slipped out another piece of parchment which the guard grabbed quickly. He skewed it onto the brass pipes with the rest of the collection and shoved the wand into Harry's hand.
"You may leave."
Remus and Harry walked away from the desk, through the golden gates and into the crowd of workers and visitors into another hallway where there were very many elevators. Harry and his mentor walked in with the crowd of workers and visitors into an elevator, and with a large bang of lift-doors colliding and a ding, it went up slowly, stopping at levels where a few witches, wizards and messages got off at a time, while others went in and joined the crowd scrunched inside the lift.
"Level Two, Department of Magical Law Enforcement, including the Improper
use of Magic Office, Auror Headquarters, Wizengamot Administration Services and the office of the Minister for Magic," stated the female voice.
"This is the level, Harry," said Remus, as the elevator doors opened, and them, with a few other employees, left the elevator, while a couple of employees walked inside while a flying message zoomed in.
Both of them passed the enchanted windows (showing a bright sky) and went through two large wooden doors, and walked into the large area of many cubicles where all the Aurors worked.
"This is where I work, Harry," declared Remus as he was greeted by many Aurors passing him by, greeting them back as well. "See that booth over there?" Remus pointed to one of the largest cubicles on the left that had many files, photos and maps and a computagram on a nice, large desk.
"Yeah, I see it."
"That's my office. It's one of the nicest at Auror Headquarters."
"You have a computagram?" asked Harry.
"Of course! Most of the higher Aurors have computagrams now."
There was one Auror, a young wizard with black hair with blond near the forehead, who noticed Remus and called after him.
"Mr. Lupin!" called out the Auror, waving his hands. Remus turned back to see who was calling him.
"Jake, how are you?" greeted Remus, as the Auror approached him with a few portfolios in his hands.
"Great," said Jake, taking a deep breath from running up to Remus. "It's your day off, what are you doing here?"
"Harry and I have a meeting with the Minister," stated Remus. "We're not too sure why though."
"Harry? Harry Potter?" questioned Jake, examining the scar on his forehead. With a smile, he shook Harry's hand excitedly. "Very pleased to meet you, Harry Potter. Remus has told me all about you."
"So, did you come up to me to say 'hi' or is there something else you wanted to tell me?" asked Remus.
"Oh yeah!" said Jake, as he pulled out a few yellow portfolios and handing them to Remus. "These are the new files and research of the loose newly-made Death Eaters. I was thinking of giving them to you tomorrow, but you know, since you're here..."
"Thanks, Jake. Harry, it's almost time for our appointment with Mr. Fudge," said Remus, looking at the clock on one of the walls. "We should go."
"Of course," said Harry.
Harry and Remus continued on their journey to find the Minister's office. After passing many hallways, corners and corridors, they found themselves walking down a lovely hallway with paintings and small statuettes here and there, with large wooden doors to the offices of the members of the Wizengamot. At the very end of the corridor was a large wooden door with a brass knob, and in gold letters saying: Office of the Minister for Magic, Mr. Cornelius Fudge. There was a guard in blue robes with an expressionless face in front of the door.
"I guess this is it," said Harry, as they approached the door. The guard quickly blocked their way.
"Are you both Harry Potter and Remus Lupin?" questioned the guard.
"Yes we are," said Harry, as both of them pointed to their badges.
"You may enter," said the guard, stepping aside.
Remus opened the door into a nicely decorated room with a marble floor, orange walls filled with paintings of previous Ministers, potted plants, sculptures and more decor pieces and details. The ceiling was phoenix blue with floating golden signs just like the entrance hall. A desk with a computagram, files, parchments, quills, ink bottles and drawers all nicely filed was in the centre of the room, with a curious little old witch with small spectacles in the chair. She was obviously the secretary. The old lady looked up at them.
"If you're Remus Lupin and Harry Potter, the Minister for Magic is waiting for you in his office," said the secretary, pointing to her left to a wooden door.
"Thank you," said Harry, as they started walking down the hall of previous Ministers for Magic. Harry looked at all the wizards (only two witches unfortunately) who were speaking to each other, debating or sleeping. Right when they were steps away from Mr. Fudge's door, Harry noticed one of the Ministers for Magic, which was the second last painting in the hallway.
It was Glory's godmother, who was reading a book peacefully. Harry remembered the image from the back of Glory's necklace, and the lady looked as sweet and kindred as Glory had told him. Under the painting was the gold label: MILLICENT BAGNOLD. Harry went towards the portrait. She peered up from the book she was reading and put it down.
"Hello!" she said kindly with a warm smile. "And why, you're Harry Potter!"
"Yes, I am."
"You're dating my goddaughter, aren't you? I heard she was delighted to be dating you."
"I'm really delighted to be dating her too. She's a wonderful girl."
"Oh, I know. Every day I peer from one of my other paintings and I can see she's always making me proud. It's so sad how heartbroken she felt when I died. You're here to see Cornelius Fudge, aren't you?"
"Yes, he told me for Remus and I to come and see him at 4 o'clock."
"Well, I'm sure it's something important. I should let you go now, seeing that it's almost that time. Enjoy your time at the Ministry of Magic."
"I will," said Harry, turning around and smiling to himself. Glory's godmother seemed as nice and as wonderful as she told him. Remus knocked on Fudge's door gently.
"Come in!" said the voice of Mr. Fudge. Remus gently opened the door and he and Harry entered the room.
Cornelius Fudge's office had a marble floor with a nice blue rug that seemed very similar to its ceiling, that also had hovering symbols. It had two large enchanted windows on each side of the large room, and there were bizarre plants and sculptures here and there. He had a few chairs around the room that had phoenix-red walls. There were portraits and paintings of him around the wall, and in the middle of the room was Cornelius Fudge sitting on a nice big chair in a large mahogany desk with many files and parchments, with a few quills and a lovely ink pot.
"Hello, Mr. Potter and Mr. Lupin!" greeted Fudge. "Please sit down!"
Harry and his mentor immediately sat on the two chairs in front of Fudge's desk.
"So, Minister," said Remus, "what is the purpose of this appointment?"
"The purpose is a very important one," said Fudge. "It concerns you both."
Mr. Fudge tucked his chair a bit more into his desk, and loosened the collar of his dress robe.
"How important?" asked Harry.
"Highly important. Unfortunately, we were so preoccupied with the war during the summer and defending the Monarchy that we didn't quite take into account the break-in last year of the Death Eaters and, him..."
"So, you're taking it into account?" asked Remus.
"Indeed, we are. In fact, it has a bit to do with what I need to tell you both. Harry, Remus," said Fudge, nodding at the person of the name he said, "we found the body of Sirius Black."
Author's Note: DUNDUNDA!!!!!! Sweet cliff-hanger, eh? I don't want to be too overconfident, but I'm pretty proud of that cliff-hanger phrase. SO the next chapter's called, "Together Again (Final Goodbyes)". Pretty self-explanatory from the cliff-hanger, but to be completely frank: Harry's going to Sirius' funeral. The next chapter's actually pretty much tragedy/spiritual (actually, it's not pretty much that, it's REALLY in that category). So if you're into that, stay tuned. Oh, and by the way, about that for the Monarchy thing? It may sound cheesy at times, but I am a strong Loyalist to the Queen of England and the Monarchy, so long live the Queen!!!! Oh, and PLEASE REVIEW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!