Lies

By Neurotica

Fourteen

Is the Ministry Causing Unnecessary Panic?

Special Correspondent Rita Skeeter

Two months ago, Minister of Magic Amelia Bones announced the return of the feared wizard He-Who-Must-No-Be-Named to the magical community. Widespread panic was rampant throughout the country as families prepared themselves for an imminent attack.

Since that announcement, however, there has been no sign of He-Who-Must-No-Be-Named. There have been no deaths or disappearances, as such as was the case at the beginning of the Dark Lord's reign in the first war. With these results, the popular question being asked is this: Is the Ministry causing panic for no reason?

According to Minister Bones, Albus Dumbledore, eccentric Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, was the one to inform her of He-Who-Must-No-Be-Named's alleged return to power.

But who informed Dumbledore?

Your Daily Prophet correspondent can exclusively reveal today that the information was passed onto Dumbledore by none other than the famed Boy-Who-Lived, Harry Potter. According to his peers, Potter went into a kind of trance-like state the night before the announcement was made. When he woke, he began running down the Hogwarts corridors, shouting to anyone who would listen that He-Who-Must-No-Be-Named has returned.

Raised by Head Auror Sirius Black, the former "framed" prisoner of Azkaban, and a childhood friend of Black's, Norris Lupin, Harry Potter has been undoubtedly corrupted into believing these lies—


"What the bloody hell is this?" Sirius shouted in disgust at the newspaper before him.

Tonks, who had stayed the night at Grimmauld Place after a late Order meeting, jerked her head up from where she'd fallen asleep. "What's what?" she muttered tiredly with a large yawn.

"This," Sirius said, tossing the paper at his cousin.

"Ah, I see you've read the paper this morning," Remus said lightly, coming down the kitchen stairs.

"What the hell is she on about? Feeding him lies... that woman has got some issues," Sirius fumed.

"And you've just figured this out after everything she's written about you being a Death Eater?" Remus asked, pouring himself a cup of coffee.

"You know what this is going to do, right? People are going to start believing this rubbish. She may be Rita Skeeter, but the more people hear this rubbish, the more they're going to start to wonder," Sirius said.

"Well..." Tonks said with raised eyebrows, slowly setting the paper down. "That's... er, nice. Norris," she smirked, "could I get a cup of coffee?"

Remus glared playfully at her. "Anyone who calls me 'Norris' today is going to see why I was the best in Defense Against the Dark Arts at Hogwarts."

"What? Are you going to send a Boggart after us?" Sirius asked with a grin.

"I wouldn't joke if I were you, Padfoot. I know what your Boggart is," Remus said casually. Sirius promptly shut his mouth and shivered.

"What I'd like to know," Tonks said, looking back at the paper, "is how she found out about Harry."

"Well, her facts were a bit twisted, but yes, that's a very good question," Remus agreed.

"It said a 'peer' gave her the information, so it had to have been a student," Sirius said.

"I'd bet anything it was Draco Malfoy," Remus said.

Sirius nodded his head.

"The Death Eater's son?" Tonks checked.

"None other," Sirius replied.

"But how would he know what happened? You said Dumbledore, McGonagall, and the boys in his dorm were the only ones who knew," Tonks said.

"You'd be surprised what he can do when he's determined enough. And he and Harry have never gotten along," Remus said darkly.

"Thank, Merlin," Sirius muttered.


In the first two months of Voldemort's return, the majority of the magical community remained on their guard. Not many frequented Diagon Alley unless it was an absolute necessity. The Leaky Cauldron had seen a drop in business due to the threat of Voldemort, and the area was strangely empty on normally busy days save the Aurors on guard duty.

Two weeks before Christmas, however, Remus noticed an immense change in behavior. Witches and wizards with small children filled the alley doing their Christmas shopping in high spirits. The fear that had previously been on their faces was gone without a trace. They were carefree, laughing and greeting one another while the children played in the snow banks unsupervised as if nothing had changed in the past months. It was disturbing to the werewolf to see how careless they were acting. Of course, it was good to see people getting on with their lives, but even the Aurors patrolling around seemed lax.

It had been a week since Rita Skeeter's article about the Ministry appeared in the Prophet, and it seemed Sirius, once again, was correct in his assumptions. The world was taking Skeeter's article to heart and disregarding everything the Ministry of Magic told them. Did they really believe the Ministry and Dumbledore would lie to them about something this important?

"...mad... the whole lot of them. And Dumbledore's their ring leader."

"But Harry Potter—"

"He's been raised by an ex-convict and a werewolf, Martha, what else do you expect..."

Ah, so they think we're all mad? Remus thought bitterly. Splendid...

He entered Flourish and Blotts, nodded hello to the shopkeeper, and went instinctively to the defense section of the shop. He looked through the books and tried to find something he had not yet read; a tough feat to accomplish for Remus J. Lupin. One thing he did find was Defend Your Mind: Occlumency for Beginners.

Remus pulled down the dusty book from the top shelf and began to flip through it. He'd always had an interest in Occlumency, and in the years after Lily's and James' deaths, he'd begun to study it. While he was nowhere near the level of Dumbledore, he could successfully close off his thoughts and emotions to the world.

"...took the boy to St Mungo's."

"No! Why?"

"He was runnin' through the school, shouting at the top of his lungs that You-Know-Who was on the Quidditch pitch with dementors and dragons. Scared the other kids out of their wits."

Remus put the Occlumency book back on the shelf as calmly as possible and took one down about Dementors.

"Seemed like such a nice boy..."

"That Black's corrupted him. Just like Rita Skeeter said."

'Studies have been performed after a victim receives the Dementor's Kiss to test the theory of Bordham Livingston that the soul can be returned to the body. The studies concluded, however—'

"I've seen Sirius Black with that boy, and they seemed normal enough to me."

"Well, I heard from my son that Black keeps him locked up in a basement..."

Remus had enough. He put the book back on the shelf and left the store, fuming. Where do they get this stuff? he wondered angrily. Not only did they believe the Ministry was lying to them about Voldemort, but they actually thought Sirius locked Harry in a bloody basement? How thick were they?

Sure it had been two months since the announcement, but the entire world knew enough about Voldemort to know that he wasn't just going to pop up at Madam Puddifoot's in Hogsmeade for a cup of tea. He would sit back and relish in the panic he'd created in a matter of hours. He would wait until the world let their guard down completely and unleash his terror upon them.

Harry wasn't having nightmares about Voldemort for fun. He didn't do it for attention; he got enough of that when he was awake, not having dreams. Since he was five years old, Harry had dreamed of what Voldemort was doing. The only people who had known about the dreams before now were Sirius, Remus, and Dumbledore. Remus often wondered if Voldemort was aware of the connection he shared with Harry. After the first dream Harry experienced in the presence of one of his guardians, Dumbledore claimed to have seen a shadow of Voldemort behind the child's eyes. It had only been seen that day by the Hogwarts Headmaster, however; Sirius and Remus searched for signs of something in Harry's green eyes, but never saw a thing.

Possession was always probable for Harry due to the connection. Malfoy had most likely informed his master of Harry's connections with Dumbledore; a connection that could give Voldemort highly classified information. Occlumency could be the only way to protect Harry from the Dark Lord invading his mind. Two faces popped into Remus' mind at the initial thought: Albus Dumbledore and (Remus shivered) Severus Snape. If he even mentioned Snape giving Harry Occlumency lessons to Sirius, he may as well plan on being killed, stuffed, and used as a rug after the full moon.

Remus Apparated to a deserted alley around the corner from the hidden Ministry of Magic building and made his way to the "out of order" telephone booth. Inside the Ministry, he was immediately asked for his wand and Ministry issued identification card. The cards had been administered during the first war to monitor activities of the Ministry's idea of dark creatures.

"State your business," the Auror in front of Remus said dully.

"I'm here to see Sirius Black," Remus responded.

"Right. Level two, straight down the hall."

"Thank you," Remus said, taking back his belongings.

Even the Ministry's employees didn't seem overly worried about Voldemort anymore. A group of wizards stood beside the Fountain of Magical Brethren discussing Quidditch. A group of young witches were gathered around the elevators exchanging ideas for what to wear to the upcoming Ministry ball.

On level two, Remus took the familiar path to Auror Headquarters and entered through the large brown doors. Sirius had done an excellent job of keeping his Aurors focused on the threat of their world. Passing by cubicles, Remus noticed the majority of the Aurors were researching cases of known Death Eaters or going over reports from the first war.

A door at the very back of headquarters was closed door with a gold plate stating Head Auror Sirius Black. Remus knocked on the door and only had to wait a moment before he heard Sirius' welcoming voice.

"Go away!" he called through the door.

Remus smirked and opened the door regardless of Sirius' request. He found his best friend sitting across from Tonks and Kingsley rubbing his temples. "I thought I said—oh, hey, Remus, come on in," Sirius said, raising his head.

"You know, it's quite unprofessional to greet visitors in that manner, Sirius," Remus said patronizingly.

"Yeah, whatever. Sit, stay awhile. Want a butterbeer?" Sirius asked, rubbing his eyes tiredly.

"No, thanks," Remus said, sitting in a chair beside Kingsley and watching as Sirius nearly feel asleep in his chair.

"Long day?"

"You could say that," Kingsley responded as Sirius merely grunted. "Bones is under pressure to take the Aurors out of Diagon Alley. Complaints have been made that we make the patrons 'uneasy'."

"They'll feel more uneasy if Voldemort shows up outside of Madame Malkin's tomorrow," Tonks said.

"I was just in Diagon Alley, actually. Nobody's taking this seriously. They all think we're mad; Dumbledore's the ring leader, of course. And I heard one woman saying Sirius locked Harry in the basement," Remus said.

"Only on weekends, and I feed him at the very least," Sirius said dryly with a smirk.

"How late do you have to stay tonight?" Remus asked.

"Not too late," Kingsley answered. "We have—"

A knock sounded on the door, causing Sirius to groan loudly. "Go away," he said. The door opened nonetheless and Dumbledore entered the room.

"Am I interrupting?" the headmaster asked.

"Not at all, sir. We were just giving Sirius a lesson in manners," Tonks said.

"A lost cause, I am afraid," Dumbledore said with a mock sad shake of his head and a wink to Sirius. "Kingsley, Nymph— er, Tonks, would it be possible to speak with Sirius and Remus alone for a moment?"

"Of course, Dumbledore. We've got to get back to work anyway. Come on, Tonks," Kingsley said. The two Aurors left the office as Sirius offered Dumbledore a seat.

"I've just been meeting with Minister Bones," Dumbledore began. "I've asked her to increase security around the Department of Mysteries."

"Why?" Sirius asked, his brow furrowing in thought.

Dumbledore cast a strong silencing charm around the room causing the two younger wizards to raise their eyebrows at one another. "I fear Voldemort may be after the prophecy," he said.

"What makes you think that?" Remus asked. He knew this day would come; he knew Voldemort would want to know the Prophecy in its entirety, but he had to know why Dumbledore thought it was happening now.

Dumbledore sighed. "Severus was summoned to meet with him last night. He wished to know how to get into the Hall of Prophecies undetected. It is not possible, of course, as Voldemort apparently realized last night, but I believe he will stop at nothing to gain access to the department."


After a meeting with Dumbledore that lasted nearly three hours, Sirius and Remus returned to Number Twelve.

"Snape is not giving him Occlumency lessons," Sirius said firmly over a late dinner.

"If it can help protect him—"

"No, Remus! We both know what he is! He hates you, he hates me, and he hates Harry. I agree on the lessons, but Snape will not be doing it," Sirius said.

Remus massaged his temples, feeling a headache approaching quickly. "I'm not going to argue with you about this, Sirius. Dumbledore trusts Snape. Why, I don't know, but he does. Yes, he hates us, and I'm sure we will all agree that the feeling is mutual. But you have to understand there could be worse things for Harry than extra lessons with Severus Snape."

"Why can't Dumbledore do it?" Sirius asked stubbornly.

"I don't know, Sirius," Remus said honestly. He agreed with Sirius, but would never admit to it. He loved Harry more than anything in the world, and while he didn't want to see Harry go through the torture of more time than should be allowed with Snape, he also didn't want to see what Voldemort could do if he gained access to Harry's mind.

"It's not going to happen, Remus. I won't allow it," Sirius said.

"You know, you're not the only one who gets to make the decision," Remus said quietly, looking at his full plate of spaghetti.

"No, maybe not. But I am the only one who is seeing sense here. If Harry gets these lessons with Snape, you don't think that slimy Death Eater isn't going to do everything to make Harry miserable?" Sirius replied heatedly.

"Which is worse, Sirius? Harry being miserable for a few hours a week or Harry being possessed by Voldemort? Because that's a scenario we may have to deal with. We aren't dealing with a normal teenager here, Sirius. It's Harry bloody Potter. You know, the Boy-Who-Lived. There's a reason they call him that. There's a reason Voldemort wants him dead," Remus said, getting frustrated.

"There are people more qualified to teach him," Sirius said.

"Like who? Dumbledore has his reasons for not doing it, as he patiently explained when you started this back at the Ministry. Who else can do it?"

"You said you studied Occlumency."

"I studied it, yes. But that was more to keep me from thinking about James, Lily, Peter, and you," Remus said flatly. "I know you despise Snape, Sirius, but for once think put your feelings about him aside and think about Harry's well-being."

"I do think about Harry's well-being, Remus. Every goddamned day. I know what the possibilities are, and I know what could happen if Voldemort gets that damn prophecy. But I don't trust Snape to prepare him," Sirius shouted.

Remus rubbed his hands on his face roughly. "Look, we can discuss this tomorrow. I'm tired and I need sleep." Before I hit you, too, he added in his mind.

"Er, am I here at a bad time?" asked a hesitant voice from the basement stairs.

Sirius and Remus turned their heads and faced Tonks. "No, Tonks. We were just... discussing something. What's up?" Sirius asked.

"There's been an attack. The Dark Mark is floating above St. Mungo's."