Chapter 6
Judge Wallace began describing her decision in the custody case. "Mr. Potter, Professor McGonagall has made a very generous offer indeed. Many in the wizarding world would believe that assigning Harry to her care would be the most responsible move that we could make today. On a personal basis, I happen to agree. However your parents' original wishes were not followed. The documents that Director Bones has previously presented clearly indicate that it was their request that their son be placed in the care of their friend Sirius Black in the event of their death. Pettigrew had not had his confrontation with Mr. Black until two and a half days following the Death of James and Lilly Potter."
She continued. "It is outside the scope of this hearing to understand how Harry was ever placed with his aunt and uncle, but the placement procedure was clearly violated. The overriding guidance is to be provided by the parent or guardian. Sirius Black was illegally stripped of his guardianship of Harry Potter. That much is clear. Black's wishes were to emancipate Harry in the event of his death in a document that is barely two months old."
Dumbledore had the manners not to ague the point.
She continued. "Supporting that is the Will of the people who were his appointed guardians at the time of their death, Vernon and Petunia Dursley. Their wishes were to have Harry live on his own, though the muggle legal language is a bit different from that used in the wizarding world, their intent was plain."
She finished, by asking, "Harry, Professor Dumbledore has continuously argued the overriding factor of consideration is your safety. What are your thoughts on that subject?"
"It is true that Voldemort has taken an unhealthy interest in me, as he has with anyone who chooses to know me. I was attacked nearly fifteen years ago in a home protected by the Fidelius charm that the professor helped set up. My own neighborhood was no safer. Hogwarts has not been the safest place for me either."
McGonagall felt shame in her heart at his words.
Harry continued. "That said, Director Bones has provided me with the means to legally protect myself. She has also provided qualified people to help protect me from harm's way. I say help, because I believe that it is every witch or wizard's personal responsibility to be able to protect themselves and their loved ones in the event of an attack. Some may argue that it's the Ministry's job to protect everyone. I believe that it's their responsibility to inform people of the situation and to help. However I believe that people should also have a responsibility to help protect themselves." Harry realized that he'd climbed on a soapbox and felt a bit embarrassed. However she had asked his opinion on a subject where nothing was completely black or white.
Satisfied that Wizarding law had been followed, Wallace stood and said, "In the matter of custody over Harry James Potter we find that Mr. Potter has the means and the ability to govern his own affairs within the wizarding world. The Family Custody Team believes that Law Enforcement Director Bones has acted responsibly and provided a complete due diligence relating to the case. We also believe that it is prudent that Mr. Potter be provided full access to all of his financial accounts and provided Auror protection for the remainder of the summer."
After the hearing, Dumbledore mindful of needing Amelia's cooperation the next day asked if he could speak with Harry, and Hermione on matters largely related to schoolwork. Delighted that he would even think to ask, she pointed him back into the conference room where Harry was talking with Remus and Hermione and her parents were talking with Minerva. Seeing him stand patiently to the side, Minerva and Remus both left so he could have his conversation. Emma sat nearby wishing that she had the old wizard in her surgery with one of her dental probes in her hand.
Dumbledore smiled at the two teens and said, "I wish the best for you as always Harry. I do not want the mistakes that I have made in the past to cloud our future together. I have prepared a list of books that the two of you may wish to read this summer, if you have the time. They may prove more useful than simply reading ahead in your school books."
Turning to Hermione he said, "The field for the position of Head Girl when you are in your seventh year is quite crowded and you will need every advantage that you can get. Such an honor usually is worth more to perspective employers, and you should continue to work hard. I would like to see you be awarded that honor."
"Since you both have your magical practice licenses, there is no reason that would prevent you from learning to apparate. Perhaps Auror Hammer could be talked into giving you both some guidance if you so desire. You would be eligible to test this summer if you are ready."
Looking back at Harry, he said, "It is unfortunate that the prospects for Miss Tonks career within the Aurors have been dimmed by means of her attempt to ask your uncle to behave in a civil manner. Fortunately Kingsley will not be sentenced to prison for looking for you, though he most likely will lose his job."
Emma wished that she had him in the middle of an un-anesthetized root canal. 'The nerve of that man, playing on their sympathy.' In a loud enough voice to be heard, she said, "Professor Dumbledore, what does the illegal search of my home by Senior Auror Shacklebolt have to do with their schoolwork? Were you not advised to leave these two children alone this summer?"
Amelia was out in the lobby heard the shouting and put two and two together. "Dumbledore…Out! And those wards better be down on that home by the time I inspect it this afternoon."
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Amelia was so angry at that infernal man. In ninety minutes, she would be asking for the shield and a year's pay from a man who, a week earlier, she had counted as her most competent Senior Auror. She understood Shacklebolt's reasoning, but he had clearly taken advantage of his position and crossed the bright red line of what could be forgiven.
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Kingsley knew that he was screwed. Not because he was of Afrikaner-Boor descent. The wizarding world in Europe was virtually colorblind. He had simply tried to be thorough as always, and had taken a shortcut to try and save time in an effort to find Harry. He bore no ill will against the Grangers, Potter, Bones, or Dumbledore. He was a man of conviction, had put his money down on a gamble and lost.
He was surprised when Dumbledore approached him before the hearing, and more surprised at his words. He had faith in the man and he had not been let down. He signed the documents that Dumbledore had produced and sat down at the table.
Dumbledore had a few words with Director Bones and the overseeing Wizengamot judges. A moment later, they each nodded and walked to the table.
Director Bones looked at the document, and gave her former officer a sad smile before countersigning his resignation. He handed her his Senior Auror shield, Ministry identification card and sat down again.
Bones spoke. "Judge Street, in the matter of Mr. Kingsley Shacklebolt entering the Granger household specifically looking for a student who had been reported missing, Mr. Shacklebolt has resigned his position as Senior Ministry Auror. The student in question has been found, and the Grangers have not pressed charges either in wizarding or the Queen's court. I am satisfied that Mr. Shacklebolt represents no threat to decent wizarding society and recommend that any additional charges be dropped. I also recommend that this be expunged from Mr. Shacklebolt's record, and that an honorable discharge from the Ministry be recorded."
Kingsley could hardly believe his ears. If Director Bones' recommendation was accepted, he would not be fined seven thousand Galleons which at this point represented his life savings.
Judge Street asked, "Professor Dumbledore, what is your interest in this particular case?"
Dumbledore stood to speak to an inferior grade Wizengamot Judge and said, "I am here in my role as Headmaster of Hogwarts, and am prepared to offer Mr. Shacklebolt a teaching position if there are no additional charges pending against him."
Kingsley was shocked. Dumbledore had really come through for him. He smiled at the man and said, "I accept."
Dumbledore said, "Good. You can start today if you wish, or next week if it would be more convenient."
Kingsley said, "Thank you, Professor." As Kingsley spoke the words, Amelia thought the same thing. 'Thanks Dumbledore.' He really had made the best of a bad situation.
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Meanwhile, Harry had finished signing his papers. Hermione had received her very own vault key, and had taken her parents in the cart to visit it. While nowhere near the size of Harry's vault and numbered 2240, it was a fun cart ride to get to it. She was so pleased with herself. It was hers. None-the-less, her parents enjoyed the ride. She had withdrawn two hundred Galleons and was itching to go spend it at the bookstore.
Harry had been presented the keys to the Potter family vault and the Black family vault. He was unquestionably the wealthiest student at Hogwarts, but it mattered little to him. His thoughts were focused on the beautiful witch bouncing his way followed by her amused looking parents. They smiled as she took his hand as they found Auror Church and made their way out to the bookstore. The books that Dumbledore had suggested seemed to be NEWT level or beyond – conjuring, occlumency, invisibility, developing advanced wards, apparation, and first aid healing.
Emma smiled at her overly focused daughter and said, "Dear, there is a difference between getting a few books from a list, and getting the entire list. I don't see Harry with an armload of books."
Harry misinterpreted her remarks and offered to carry Hermione's books for her.
Emma smiled at the well-meaning young man. "Thank you for helping her, Harry. I meant to say, I didn't see you buying an armload of books to read."
"That's really not a fair comparison, Ma'am. I inherited a library today. I have no idea which books are in it."
Hermione recalled that the Black library was extensive and contained at least a fourth of the volumes that were found in the restricted section of the Hogwarts library. "Oh Harry, there are thousands of volumes there, some really obscure. We should go over and look at…"
Dan said, "There are swimming lessons, tennis, bicycles and time to relax. You two really should make time to have a summer. If you want to go visit it later in the week we can."
He continued. "I talked with Director Bones before we left. She will have a passport issued for you this week, Harry. I would ask that you two study your magic either in the morning, or the afternoon, but not both. We should try and take the time to do things as a family before school starts again. It comes up so quickly. We need to get back now. It's been a long evening for Auror Church, and we have appointments at the surgery all afternoon."
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That afternoon, Harry discovered the pleasure that a wet, white, unlined bikini can bring to a young man. The slash that McNair's weakened spell had hit Hermione with had all but disappeared, though she smiled as Harry searched for it for a very long time sat as she sat drying off by the edge of the pool with her feet in the water.
Harry did look closely. He knew that it was had been about two feet long beginning at he left collarbone going diagonally down ending above her right hip. Whether he started at the top and traced his way down or if he started at the bottom and traced it back up, his eyes always seemed to stop half way.
Hermione followed his eyes with silent amusement. She had never allowed anyone to look at her so closely, and Harry obviously enjoyed what he saw. She had never noticed Harry really check out any of the witches at school, and guessed that he hadn't. She was delighted that he wanted to look at her and even more-so that he was obviously fascinated with what he was seeing.
"Breathe Harry. It's OK to look, but you have to breathe. I'll demonstrate." As she took a deep breath, Harry discovered the beauty of motion.
She smiled at him as he stood in the water transfixed. "It's OK, Harry. I don't mind." She leaned over to kiss his forehead, and fell forward into the water on top of him. They laughed as they splashed each other. It had been a fun afternoon.
They got out and went back inside to get dressed. Afterwards Harry started dinner while Hermione cleaned a bit around the house. Harry made a split breast chicken dinner, baked in a pan with rice and a cream cheese sauce. In truth, it was a very good dinner. The dentists were very grateful to come home to a clean house and a delicious meal.
Emma brought a plate out to Auror Hammer. She smiled and thanked her, saying, "It looks like you're a very good cook, Dr. Granger. Thank you."
Emma smiled at her and said, "You are very welcome, Senior Auror Hammer, but it was Harry who made the dinner."
She looked stunned. "Mr. Potter conjured this? It's delicious."
Emma shook her head. "Actually, he cooked it in our kitchen. He's quite the cook."
Hammer was impressed. "He's had a hard childhood, that one. He chased off two dementors that had attacked him and his cousin last summer and nearly went to prison for defending himself."
Emma hadn't heard the details of that story. She asked, "Why?"
Hammer replied, "The Minister of Magic is a small-minded man. He said Mr. Potter had no right to defend himself because he was underage. The whole world's strange sometimes as far as how they react around Mr. Potter. Shacklebolt was dismissed from the force today for trying to find him when he went missing, another young Auror was suspended for telling his uncle to behave himself. Mr. Potter got in a jam last year for showing other kids how to properly defend themselves."
She continued. "With the possible exception of your daughter Hermione, it's like no one can see straight as far as he's concerned. It's like he's royalty in some folk's eyes. Now with you-know-who back, the whole wizarding world is looking to him again for some kind of a miracle. He's just a bloke who wants a bit of time to be a teenager and chat up a nice girl. Who can blame him?"
Emma had a different viewpoint of Shacklebolt, but didn't press the issue. Instead she asked, "What about the other Auror?" She had seen the confrontation at the train station and was interested in Hammer's viewpoint.
Hammer replied, "There's a regulation against using magic or threatening to use magic to intimidate ordinary folk like yourself. She knew about it and chose to ignore it."
"True," said Emma. "But there are also regulations against abusing children."
Hammer nodded. "I understand, Dr. Granger. I wasn't there at the train station. I never met Mr. Potter's relations. I never met Mr. Potter before a few days ago. Aurors are held to different standards than ordinary witches or wizards. No one else was punished for standing up to that man, just Auror Tonks. She knew she shouldn't have done it. It's just the way it is."
Emma was concerned for the young woman. She asked, "Are there long-term consequences for her?"
Hammer nodded and replied, "A black mark like that on her record, particularly one relating to Mr. Potter will follow her for the rest of her career as an Auror."
Emma asked, "If Harry were to make a statement on her behalf, would that help her?"
Hammer gave a small laugh. "It would be like having your photo taken with Lady Di and signed, Dr. Granger, Best wishes and thanks for helping me. He's that popular in the wizarding world right now. Maybe you didn't know."
In truth, Emma didn't know. She assumed that she had taken in some poor friend of her daughters, not the prince of the wizarding world. She replied, "I'm sure his fame has its ups and downs. Hermione's told me that there have been some pretty awful things printed about him too."
Hammer nodded sadly saying, "She's right about that. A year ago, the paper really went off against him. I'd best get back to work, and make my rounds. Thanks for the plate. I really appreciate it."
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Back at the burrow, Arthur was explaining the no confidence vote process to Molly.
Molly listened carefully then asked, "I agree that Fudge has been doing more harm than good the last year and a half, but why you Arthur? We finally are getting to the point in our lives where we have a bit of gold to spare and Professor Dumbledore asks us to risk our entire financial future to align the government closer to his viewpoint. That's asking a lot. Why doesn't he ask Amelia instead?"
Arthur had asked himself the same question, particularly after hearing from Ginny a few nights before. He replied, "Several reasons I suppose. I'm not certain that the two of them have mended fences yet and I think he is hoping that she'll endorse Amos for the head position."
Molly was not happy at the prospect. She asked, "And what about you? We take all the risk and what has he proposed for us?"
Arthur thought for a moment and replied, "Molly, maybe we should look at it from another angle for a minute. V, Voldemort is taking on supporters faster than our side possibly can. Fudge won't allow more Aurors. If Dumbledore looks to make up the difference, who is left?"
Molly looked at him with a tear in her eye.
Arthur looked at his loving companion of twenty seven years and nodded. "That's right. Our children. If we want to stand a prayer of not having this war fought by fifteen and sixteen year old children, we need to remove Fudge today. We've placed our faith in Dumbledore before; we can do it on this. I'm certain that he's already counted the votes.
Molly only wished that she was so sure.
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While Molly and Arthur were steeling themselves for the job that they knew would be done, the Grangers were watching a movie, Groundhog Day together. Suddenly there was a flash and a swan size bird appeared and landed on their coffee table. It was the most beautiful creature that Dan or Emma had ever seen.
Harry watched them in amusement for a moment, before greeting the wondrous bird. "Hello Fawkes." The phoenix looked at him with its steely eyes and gave a trill. Dan shut off the DVD and continued to stare in awe at the bird.
Hermione broke the silence saying, "Fawkes is Professor Dumbledore's phoenix. Dan and Emma moved a bit closer.
Harry took the letter from the bird and surprisingly it waited. Harry explained, "He must be looking for a reply." He opened the letter and looked. It was addressed to Hermione and Harry. They opened it together.
Harry and Hermione,
While this is not strictly school business I am certain that it is of interest to you. Arthur Weasley has decided to initiate a vote of no confidence for Minister of Magic Fudge tomorrow. This is a highly unusual move, but these are highly unusual times. As you both may know, there are fifteen department and sub-department heads within the ministry. Arthur is head of one of the sub-departments – the misuse of muggle artifacts.
Any of the department or sub-department heads may initiate a petition for a vote of no confidence. A simple majority of the fifteen votes is required. If the petition is successful, a combined vote of the managers and the sixty members of the Wizengamot is taken the next day. If fifty or more votes are cast to replace, the action is passed, and the initiating author is given the privilege of nominating the successor. Since the senior undersecretary position is vacant, it is likely that Arthur would be named to fill that position if the vote is successful.
In this case Arthur would almost certainly name Amos Diggory as his choice for Minister of Magic. Given that Lucius Malfoy is currently enjoying some time in Azkaban prison, there will be much less chance of underhanded lobbying, bribes or threats.
If the petition or the vote is unsuccessful, tradition dictates that the author of the bill resigns their position. A Wizengamot judge cannot initiate the action; it has to be a manager.
If you would like to help the Weasley's in this effort, you may wish to write a well-worded letter of support that would appear in the Wednesday morning edition of the Prophet. I personally believe that the time has come to publicly take a stand against Fudge. He has refused to support the Aurors expansion plasn in this time of great need. If you would be willing to take such a public stand, please prepare your letter this evening, and let me know that you are doing so. Fawkes would be by at 8:00 AM to collect it.
I am certain that your endorsement would be enough to move a few votes and help the Weasleys. I know that they would be very appreciative of your support.
Albus, Dumbledore
Emma was watching the two teens while Dan was mesmerized by the beautiful bird. "Would it possibly let me touch it?" he asked with some hesitation.
As in answer to Dan's question, Fawkes gave a little hop and stood on the coffee table right in front of the amazed dentist and stuck out the bottom of his neck to be scratched. Harry said, "That's amazing. He allows very few people to touch him."
Back to topic, Hermione asked, "Harry, what do you think?"
Harry shook his head, saying, "I think Professor Dumbledore made the suggestion to Mr. Weasley and he's doing whatever the professor asks. What would they do if he lost his position? The professor moves people around like Ron moves his chess pieces, without considering their personal consequence. It would be nice if Mr. Weasley got a promotion, but an absolute disaster if he got sacked."
Harry put down his coke and finished, saying, "So he sends Fawkes here with a note, knowing that I'd do anything to help Mr. Weasley. They've done so much for me, I would never refuse a request to help him. I'm not saying that I think getting rid of Fudge is a bad idea. I just hate being manipulated."
Emma remembered what Hammer had mentioned, and said, "Speaking of being manipulated, Harry you may want to say something to Director Bones on Auror Tonk's behalf. Auror Hammer seems to think that her suspension will have long-term consequences for her. She may have been wrong, but she was only trying to help."
Harry felt terrible, and replied, "A lot of things got balled up that day. It never occurred to me that the wards protecting their home would come down like that."
Hermione could see that he was quickly sinking into a self-induced funk, walked up to Harry, put her arms on his shoulders, and said, "Harry, stop it. You didn't burn your uncle's home down. Death Eaters did. Tonks didn't burn their home down either. You don't blame her, so don't go blaming yourself."
Harry calmed down, thought for a minute and replied, "OK, I'll do it. How long would it have to be?"
Emma thought for a moment and said "About four to five hundred words would be best. Hermione could probably help with the wordsmithing if you'd like. Dan and I would be happy to read it over if you wish."
Fawkes made some obvious movement to be noticed. Hermione grabbed a piece of parchment and wrote, We'd be glad to help Mr. Weasley. H&H
Fawkes took the parchment in his claw, and in another fiery flash vanished.
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Ten minutes later, Fawkes arrived at the burrow with a note.
Molly and Arthur,
Harry Potter has just volunteered to write an endorsement of your plan that will appear in the Wednesday editions of the Daily Prophet, and the Quibbler. That should be worth five to seven swing votes, and ensure that the vote passes easily.
Thank you for taking the lead in this action. Your words will be heard as the voice of reason.
Albus Dumbledore
Arthur thought to himself, 'I wonder how much arm bending Dumbledore did to get Harry to agree to this plan?' He knew that Harry hated publicity and had little interest in politics.
Regardless of the origin, Arthur was silently relieved that Harry had made such an offer.
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Back at the Grangers, Harry thought that the Granger's home should be warded as soon as possible. He would talk with Mr. and Mrs. Granger in the morning.
A/N
Given the circumstances, what is the likelihood that Fudge would be sacked?
Would Snape allow Malfoy to attack the Granger's home?
Did the child protection panel act responsibly?