Ok. Everyone knows the drill. Still here goes nothing -
Harry Potter & the other characters of J.K. Rowling are strictly hers (though this plot here is mine J). I am not the original writer (though I wish I could be) & I do not wish to make money from this. Most Importantly, I DO NOT want to get sued. So if anyone has any problems with anything I write, then just tell me.
There's plenty more...blah blah blah....forget it & let the story begin :).
Note: US English has been used here.
HARRY POTTER & THE POWER OF HOGWARTS
Chapter 8 – Ministry & Family
Harry was about to take another bite from the chinese dish which Dobby had cooked today when his hand, with the fork, stopped in mid-air. His eyes had rested themselves upon the heading of the newspaper which lay in front of him. It read – Ministry Building Attacked By Death-Eaters.
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"I can't believe this" Amelia Bones seemed very agitated as she entered the ministry building along with a colleague "2 attacks in 2 days". Her colleague said nothing in return. Her mood was very somber, just like that of every other ministry employee.
"Amelia." Arthur Weasley called out as he was passing her "The minister has called a meeting in his office in 10 minutes time."
"Thank you" Amelia's replied sarcastically. A meeting with Cornelius Fudge was the last bit of news she wanted this morning. A thought came to her and she called back to Arthur who had already gone past her.
"Arthur" Mr. Weasley stopped and turned around. Amelia Bones excused herself from her colleague and went to talk to Mr. Weasley. "Where's Dumbledore?" came a quite question.
"He's with Fudge now" Mr. Weasley had a sad look on his face indicating that this was just a futile exercise. "He's been here ever since he got the news."
Amelia Bones nodded. "Did the Order find any clues?"
"Nothing much" came the reply. "We arrived here just as some ministry aurors arrived. All we found was the Dark Mark inside the lobby area." Amelia Bones shuddered inwardly on hearing this but did not let the expression to show up on her face.
"Any idea on why they attacked the building?" Amelia Bones didn't have a full update on what had happened here and wanted to get her facts right before meeting Fudge.
Arthur Weasley looked at her before giving a shake of his head. "We have no idea. Fudge won't let the Order have access to the whole of the ministry building."
"But no one's stopping you, right?"
"Wrong" Mr. Weasley corrected her. "Fudge knows that I am in the Order. And in any case, only those people who have authorization from Fudge himself can have access to the entire building."
"But…" Amelia Bones looked desperate "…but…what about Dumbledore?" She looked hopefully at Mr. Weasley.
"Don't know about that." Mr. Weasley said hesitantly. "Dumbledore's trying to let him have access but you know how Fudge is…" Mr. Weasley trailed off. Amelia Bones just nodded in reply. Everyone knew that Fudge was very adamant and liked to show off his powers over the ministry, especially in front of Dumbledore.
"Do you know why they attacked twice in 2 days?" Amelia Bones was still having trouble finding an answer to this question.
"It was the best they could do" came a gruff reply from behind her. She turned around to face Moody. Both gave a nod of acknowledgement to each other before Amelia asked "The best they could do?" she looked puzzled.
"C'mon woman, think about it" Moody's voice was like that of a person who was fed up with having to explain the same thing over and over again. "Who would have expected them to attack so soon?" Moody went on as if this question was itself an answer. Amelia looked at him for a moment before understanding – these twin back-to-back attacks were to take the ministry by surprise.
"But why Alastor?" Amelia looked puzzled once again. "Why did they attack the ministry building?" She had always felt safe in her office but after the news of this attack, her feeling of safety had evaporated.
"I think they had a very good reason to be here" came a gentle voice from behind her which she immediately recognized.
"Dumbledore" Amelia said as she spun around as relief washed over her. She looked like a little girl in school who had just read about something new and had a thousand questions going around her mind when her favorite teacher had appeared before her. But before she could ask anything, Dumbledore gave a smile and said "I think it is almost time for your meeting with the minister"
This sentence dashed the hopes of the little school girl. She knew there would be no answers for the time being. She gave a curt nod and excused herself just like Mr. Weasley. Both of them proceeded towards Fudge's office.
"Do you know what he meant?" Amelia didn't look at Mr. Weasley as she asked this. Mr. Weasley thought for a moment before replying "He must have a theory about it". Amelia looked as if she already knew this. As they were nearing their destination, she said "Maybe Fudge let him have access to the whole ministry building". Mr. Weasley didn't comment on this as he looked lost in thought. He seemed to come out of his stupor only when Amelia pushed open the door to Fudge's office and let them inside.
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"Ladies and Gentlemen" a bunch of reporters had gathered in the conference room of the ministry building "What I have to say today is not what I would have liked to say." The man paused for a moment knowing fully well that his next statement would cause ripples all over the wizarding world. "The Ministry Building was broken into by You-Know-Who's death-eaters." came the blunt statement. A murmur broke all around. Some reporters dropped their quills while some others let out shrieks.
"Minister Fudge" called out a lady reporter who had previously worked for The Daily Prophet but was now a permanent member of The Quibbler staff. The minister turned to face her "Didn't you-know-who attack the ministry around 2 months ago?"
"You are right. He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named was himself present during the last attack" Fudge replied.
"What had the ministry done to prevent such attacks any more?" came the question but this time it seemed like an overseas reporter who had asked it.
"The mini…" Fudge had begun when he was cut-off by a reporter.
"HOW CAN WE REMAIN SAFE WHEN THE MINISTRY CANNOT PROTECT ITSELF?" Reporting for the newspapers was the last thing on the mind for many of the reporters now. Reporting would always be there if they were alive or not under the control of the dark lord.
"WHAT ARE THE AURORS PAID FOR?"
"WHERE WERE DUMBLEDORE AND HARRY POTTER?" came another question.
"Yeah. Were they here?" The names Dumbledore and Harry Potter always seemed to give some hope to people much to Fudge's dislike but he knew he would have to tolerate it.
"No, they were not here last night." Fudge replied.
"Did they come to meet you?" asked a reporter from The Daily Prophet.
"I had a meeting with Albus Dumbledore today. We have discussed a lot of things and hope to work together against You-Know-Who."
"Why was the ministry building attacked?" Rita Skeeter finally got a chance to ask her question. This question seemed to drain whatever color there was on Fudge's face. He paused for a moment before replying.
"We are still searching the building for clues. We still don't know what their motive was." Fudge replied before adding "Maybe it was a show of strength from their side." He immediately cursed himself under the breath for letting out the last statement. It was sure to cause panic among people.
"SHOW OF STRENGTH?" came a shout from one of the reporters. "WHAT DO YOU MEAN? HOW MANY ARE THERE?" A buzz went round the crowds. Everyone seemed shocked that there could be many death-eaters around. Some even looked around to see whether they were in 'safe' company.
"SILENCE PLEASE" Fudge shouted above all others. When everyone had quitened down sufficiently he took a deep breath and said "We have every reason to estimate that there may be around 50 death-eaters around." This was an outright lie. Fudge knew that if he said a 3-digit figure, everyone would be gunning for him to step down then and there. He didn't want to let go of his post, at least not yet when his well-wisher didn't want him to.
"Minister Fudge" Rita Skeeter was able to make herself audible above all others though there seemed to be a bit of apprehension in it "You mean there are around…50 death-eaters along with many others held at Azkaban?"
Fudge's heart skipped a beat at this question. He had always known that this woman was a very dangerous reporter, one who had been on his side for the previous many years but lately, her loyalties seemed to rest someplace else. He hated her for asking this question because he now had to say something about Azkaban. He knew that the twin attacks story would make his position more questionable.
"No." Fudge made his voice as confident as he could. "I meant that there are a total of around 50 death-eaters around."
"So you mean to say that there are around 15 to 25 death-eaters amongst the general public while the rest are at Azkaban, right?" Rita Skeeter was one who always wanted to get her figures correct.
At this moment, Fudge was sure he could have casted a very powerful cruciatus at this Skeeter woman. "No. All the death-eaters are free." An uproar went up in the crowds at this statement. Even the ever-so-composed Rita Skeeter seemed shaken at this announcement. She kept opening and closing her mouth as she desperately tried to get her next question out but no sound came from her throat. Fudge looked around the scene and knew that he would be lambasted in all the newspapers tomorrow. He had to do some damage control and he had to do it NOW but he seemed to be at a loss of how to do it.
"Thank you Minister Fudge" came a voice which had been amplified by the Sonorous charm. Everyone looked around to see a teenaged boy with long hair standing in the back rows. He seemed to be wearing muggle clothing and his hair seemed to fall almost over his eyes – eyes which were shining a deep blue. He looked at everyone and then started approaching the podium. Immediately, many aurors around Fudge raised their wands at the boy but the minister raised his arm to stop them. As the aurors lowered their wands, the boy gave a smile to the minister which caused the minister to shudder. Fudge knew that whatever was coming his way wasn't going to be any good for him, not now when his doctor had just informed him yesterday that his health was not the best due to the mental strain he was going through and not when he was already at a press conference announcing disastrous situations. Followed by the gaze of all of the people present there and also followed by a single gaze which had a deep fear in them, the boy stepped on to the podium and said "Ladies and Gentlemen, I have a small announcement to make."
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"Did you see what happened at the press conference?" Tonks asked Remus knowing fully well that Remus had followed everything from a distance. "I know that guy." She announced.
"What do you mean by that?" Both of them were seated at their chairs near the fire. It was 9:30 in the morning and the Order meeting was scheduled to begin at 10:00. They had some time before the members started to trickle in.
"It was the same guy who had been in Diagon Alley that day when the three of us…" Tonks voice trailed off at this point. She missed Kingsley very much. He had been her mentor for the final year of her auror training and had taken her under his wings when she had passed out. He had helped her on a lot of things and had even stood up for her when the other aurors picked up on the newest stumbling kid on the block. It was a shame that she had had the privilege to know Kingsley Shacklebolt for only 2 years in her lifespan of 20 years and 10 months.
Remus felt very sad for Tonks. He understood how much she missed Kingsley. "Tonks, we can't help it now, can we?" He said with great concern and sympathy in his voice. "All we can do is to try that there are no more death's in the Order." Tonks nodded her head in understanding though her gaze remained fixed on the ground. "So, this was the same guy who had stunned another one in Diagon Alley?" Remus thought that the change in the subject would help her mood.
"Yes." Tonks said as she wiped a single tear and looked up. She didn't want to think about Kingsley now. "It was the same guy."
"Then why didn't you arrest him?"
"Didn't you see how Fudge let him onto the stage?" Tonks said before adding "Even if I had tried anything, Fudge would surely have stopped me and I would have got kicked out of there."
"Yeah…maybe." Remus knew that a person who didn't believe Dumbledore wouldn't believe an auror, a new one at that.
"But what he did was…" Tonks stopped in mid-sentence as she saw Snape stride in with his trademark sneer in place.
"Did I interrupt a nice tête-à-tête?" Snape smirked. Somehow it seemed that he never liked people having any kind of conversations between them.
"Ahh…Severus…" Tonks spoke before Remus had a chance to say anything "So nice to join us when we were talking about you." She said with a smile. Snape looked at her with narrowed eyes and asked "Talking about me?" Tonks just nodded while Remus thought it was best to remain silent. His relation with Snape was already strained to the utmost point possible.
"What were you talking about me?" Snape felt angry at receiving just a nod for his previous reply. He wasn't used to these kinds of responses to say the least.
Tonks looked at him for a moment and said "Actually, I am getting a bit fed up on my spiky hair…" Remus almost burst out laughing at this as he understood what was going to come. "…and I wanted to have a hairstyle like yours. So, I was asking Remus whether he knew what hair-oil you use" Tonks barely managed to finish her sentence as her insides had already started to complain due to her efforts of trying not to laugh. Remus had burst out laughing now while Snape looked livid and ready to kill. He was about to do something when, thankfully, Mrs. Weasley walked in. She saw Remus trying to control his laughter and Tonks also seemed to be grinning from ear-to-ear.
"WHAT?" she asked looking the two grinning people. Getting no reply, she called out to Tonks. "Can I have a moment with you in private please?" Tonks was rather grateful when she heard Mrs. Weasley's request. She got up and went towards the kitchen without looking at Snape who was staring daggers at her. As she went past him, she passed her hands through her hair as if trying to flatten it. This caused Remus to laugh even more though he successfully managed to steer clear of looking at Snape in the eye.
Once in the kitchen, Tonks came face-to-face with a very concerned looking Molly Weasley and her smiled vanished immediately. She waited for what Molly had to say which didn't take long.
"Do I look weird?" came the question from Mrs. Weasley. Tonks looked puzzled for a moment.
"Why do you ask?" She asked inspecting Molly closely.
"The moment I came in, you two started laughing." Apparently she had thought that they were laughing at her. Tonks realized this and smiled at her.
"No Molly" she explained. "We were just sharing our thoughts with Snape" Molly Weasley looked relieved at this and wondered what thoughts they could be sharing with Snape but thought better not to interfere. She thanked Tonks and went towards the meeting room where the meeting was about to start in a few moments. All the members seemed to have arrived almost simultaneously and had taken their seats quietly. Tonks went up to take the empty seat beside a grinning Remus just as Dumbledore arrived.
"Thank you for assembling as requested" Dumbledore started the proceedings. "These last 2 days have been very distressing to say the least." A murmur of consent went round the table. "I have both good news and bad news and since we have had a terrible experience these past two days, I want to continue in that mood for 2 more minutes." Everyone looked resigned at the moment thinking what bad news was to come their way. "The bad news is that we don't know what happened at the ministry and Cornelius won't let us access to the building. Also…" Dumbledore paused as an uproar went round the table. "Please…" He tried to calm everyone. "As I was saying, Cornelius won't even let us access to any of the information which the ministry officials may have found. This information or probably clues is known to a very select number of people."
"HOW CAN HE DO THAT?" Bill shouted in frustration.
"Bill, ya shoul' take him ter Egypt an put him in a tumb" Hagrid chorused in support.
"I don't know why they have even retained him as the minister" Minerva McGonagall said in agreement with all others. Dumbledore raised his hand to calm everyone down.
"We all know that Cornelius has got every power to do what he wants to do, so it is fruitless for us to waste our time and energy contemplating whether Egypt is a better place than, say, the North Pole" Some people even gave a weak smile at this intended joke but knew that Dumbledore was right in that they didn't have any kind of power to stop Fudge. As the people settled down again, Dumbledore smiled and said "Now the good news – we have some death eaters imprisoned."
"WHAT!!!" Hagrid, Bill and Tonks chorused together though Tonks's case was different from that of the other two since she knew that these death-eaters could have only come from Harry's prison.
"What do you mean Albus?" Minerva McGonagall looked puzzled while the Moody looked on in anticipation.
"What I meant was…" the room fell into silence. No on wanted to miss a single word now. "…that we have 4 death-eaters imprisoned. I have personally secured them in their new prisons."
"But Headmaster, how did you imprison them?" Snape asked, his curiosity getting the better of him. "You weren't even there on that day."
"Ahh Severus…that remains one of life's mysteries." Snape looked at Dumbledore in disbelief – the man was not making any sense and Snape hated it when Dumbledore talked in puzzles. "I should say one of our…well-wishers…had the generosity to hand over the death-eaters."
"Who was it?" Bill asked.
"That, Bill, I can't reveal as I myself don't know the true identity of the person." Dumbledore spoke the truth because he had only guessed that the person was Harry and had no real confirmation. Moody however didn't seem to buy the story.
"But Dumbledore, you surely have some idea…" Moody trailed off as his eyes met those of Dumbledore's. He saw the confirmation in them – after all, he hadn't been the ministry's top auror for nothing. He was one who suspected anyone and everyone but this time he had only one prime suspect.
"Alastor, it could have been you…" Dumbledore gave the answer as many heads turned towards Moody who grunted in response. Dumbledore assumed that Moody had guessed correctly since Moody didn't put up any further questions.
"But sir…" this time it was Snape again but he was stopped in mid-sentence as Dumbledore put his hand up.
"Severus, I have the same questions as you but honestly, your guess is as good as mine. I can guess names of people who could have helped us out but I really can't point out any particular person as the one." This was a clear signal to everyone to end the issue, which everyone did.
"So Albus, where are the prisoners?" Molly Weasley spoke for the first time. Her reactions to any kind of news in the Order meetings had become much more controlled nowadays.
"I would say that they are at a safe place." Dumbledore didn't want to reveal the location to everyone as it would be quite easy to put someone under the Imperius and get the required information. Molly Weasley understood the hidden message and didn't pursue the question any more.
"Did they reveal anything?" Arthur Weasley was the next one.
"Yes Arthur. But I might add that whatever they revealed was a bit too late." Dumbledore sighed as he finished his answer. Everyone went silent and looked towards Dumbledore who continued "One of them revealed information about an impending attack but couldn't name the time and location."
"Severus, did you have any knowledge about this ministry attack?" Arthur turned towards Snape.
"No. Nowadays the Dark Lord intimates us of the attacks only at the last moment possible. Even then, I didn't go to the ministry yesterday and I have no knowledge of what had happened there." Snape finished, his last sentence putting to rest some of the question which would have come up.
The proceedings went on for about another hour where everyone exchanged opinions and the latest news. It seemed that Voldemort had been spreading his network to other countries in Europe with his first target been Bulgaria. There had not been any attacks in those places and he was carrying out his operations as silently as he could though it was now known to the Order members that Voldemort's army had grown quite a bit. Tonks and Remus were mere spectators for most of the time and they took in as much information as they possibly could. Arthur Weasley informed that the meeting with Fudge had been nothing more than an employee-bashing scene. Tonks informed them that Fudge had made a special team of his most trusted aurors which he had named as HRAF standing for Highest Ranking Auror Force. Even though Fudge didn't know that Tonks was in the Order of Phoenix, she couldn't make it to the HRAF because of she wasn't one of his trusted aurors yet. After all the points had been discussed, Dumbledore called an end to the meeting at nearly 12:00 noon saying that the next meeting may come at any time and that everyone should prepare themselves for anything which might happen nowadays.
"Why did he do that?" Tonks was the first to talk as she and Remus sat down to have lunch.
"Who had to do what?" Remus asked, lost in his own thoughts.
"Harry…hand over the prisoners."
"Maybe…" Remus paused "maybe he thought he had got enough information from them."
"Maybe…" Tonks agreed "I think we should visit him and update him about the ministry news."
"Yeah…you are correct. We'll go in the evening, ok?" Remus asked.
"Afternoon." Tonks replied.
"Evening." Remus said in his don't-argue-with-me voice.
"Afternoon. After we finish lunch." Tonks's voice was like that of a little girl pleading for a toy. Remus looked at her and saw her batting her eyelids furiously while giving him one of her most innocent smiles. Sighing, Remus gave in to her demand.
"Ok. But we come back in the evening." He said with a smile.
"YESSSSSSSSSS SIR"
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Harry's spoon clattered down as he dropped it to pick up the newspaper.
MinistryBuilding Attacked By Death-Eaters
Our special correspondent had just brought the news that the ministry building had been attacked yesterday night or early today morning. It is still unclear whether the attack was carried out by people who are trying to oust Minister Cornelius Fudge or by the followers of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. If the attack has indeed been carried out by the dark forces, then this is very troubling news. A lot of questions arise in such a situation – what are the aurors doing nowadays? Is Azkaban well-guarded? Why did the Minister ignore the warnings of Harry Potter and Dumbledore for over a year? But the most important question is – IS CORNELIUS FUDGE THE RIGHT MAN?
Since we don't have any confirmation from the ministry officials, we can only hope that the attack was NOT carried out by dark forces. Look up this section for a detailed report on the ministry revelations.
Page 3: Harry Potter – What People Think About Him
Page 4: Dumbledore – Can He Defeat HIM?
Page 5: Cornelius Fudge: The Man Who Is The Minister
Harry went through the article once again before believing what he had read the first time round. "Death eaters at the ministry again? WHY?" Harry thought.
"Dobby"
"Yes Harry Potter"
"I will be gone for a while" Dobby saw the concerned look on Harry's face and was about to say something when Harry continued "Don't worry, I am going to a public place. I will be safe." Harry ended with a slight smile which caused Dobby to brighten up a bit. Harry quickly went inside his trunk and got ready. In the meantime, his mind was racing, trying to formulate some kind of a plan. After a few minutes of thinking, he took out a piece of parchment and used one of his self-dictating quills to write down something on it and tucked it in his jeans pocket. When he was sure he was armed for anything which might come his way, he climbed out in his disguised look and apparated near the ministry building. Checking his wizard radar, he found only one thing out of ordinary – a large number of wizards and witches were collected inside a room just adjacent to the ministry building – and one of them was named Rita Skeeter. Obviously, it had to be some kind of press meet for some ministry spokesperson and he knew that it was the best method to get the knowledge which he needed. After all, Rita was one hell of a reporter, no one could argue with that, though she sometimes tended to bend the truth for getting better reports for her paper. But lately, rather ever since she joined The Quibbler, she had not said anything which Harry found irritating.
As Harry made his way towards the ministry building, he saw a group of aurors trying to keep the public at bay. He closely looked at the aurors and saw that one of them seemed to have a wound on his left hand. He took out his wizard radar again and saw the name of the man marked as Timothy Dragandula. Confidently, he marched up to him.
"Tim, isn't it?" He asked the auror who looked a bit surprised at being addressed in this manner by a complete stranger.
"Who are you?" Tim asked Harry with narrowed eyes. He seemed to be studying Harry as minutely as possible.
"Oops..where are my manners?" Harry said with an expression of absolute shock in his eyes. "I should pay more attention to what Uncle Fudge says." This comment was loud enough for Tim to hear. Without letting Tim interrupt him, Harry held out his right hand and said "I am Simon Sinatras, nephew of Cornelius Fudge." Tim didn't take Harry's hand and just continued staring at him. Harry knew that Tim wasn't buying his story so he decided to make his main gamble. In a low whisper which was heard only by Tim he said "Uncle Fudge said you did great at the battle of You-Know-Where. He was even talking about a promotion for you." This comment had the desired effect on Tim. None of the local public knew about the battle at Azkaban and so, he guessed, this guy in front of him could be genuine. Also the prospect of hearing about a promotion seemed to light up his face. Slowly but surely, he extended his hand and, at last, took Harry's outstretched hand in his.
"Nice to meet you Simon but I never heard of the minister mentioning of any of his nephews coming here today." Though he was almost convinced that this guy was genuine, his auror instincts had taken took over again.
"Uncle Fudge doesn't know about my coming here." Harry's face looked quite sad now. "He never tells us of the problems he faces in running the ministry." Timothy almost snorted at this which Harry ignored. Fudge doing the hard work in running the ministry was a really amusing thought for everyone. "My mom said I should come here to provide him moral support. I believe he is here, right?" Tim gave a nod in reply.
"Where can I find him?" was Harry's next question. Tim looked to be in thought for a moment and then came to his decision.
"I'll take you to him." He said not wanting to take any kind of risk. Harry just smiled in return, he had got what he wanted. Tim led him straight to a room where many people had assembled and which Harry instantly recognized as the press conference room. Both Tim and Harry settled down at the chairs present in the left hand corner of the room.
"I'll take you to him myself." Tim said once they had settled down. Harry just smiled and said "Don't worry, he'll recognize me as soon as he see's me." Tim said nothing in reply and in a few minutes the press conference started. Harry and Tim both saw that the conference was not going well for the minister, rather, it was becoming a disaster. Harry's mind started racing because he knew that if the proceedings went as they were then would have to make his move. "Well, I guess I have to just wait and hope that I get the right moment to strike" He thought as his lips curled up in a smile as yet another question went hurtling towards Fudge.
"So you mean to say that there are around 15 to 25 death-eaters amongst the general public while the rest are at Azkaban, right?" Harry heard Rita Skeeter's next question.
"No. All the death-eaters are free." Fudge's statement caused an uproar to go up in the crowds. This was it, Harry knew. If he wanted to do something, it was now. Harry quickly cast a Sonorous charm on himself and said "Thank you Minister Fudge" just as he rose from his seat. Everyone looked around to see him while the aurors raised their wands. Out of the corner of his eye he saw a pink-haired auror standing near the exit door of the room. "Damn" Harry thought to himself as he knew Tonks was sure to recognize him but he kept a smile plastered on his face without showing his discomfort. As he started to walk towards the podium, he saw Fudge instructing the aurors to lower their wands. Also, he heard a deep sigh of relief from behind which he guessed was from Tim who had become really tense when Harry got up. Slowly Harry went up to the podium, wearing a smug look mainly because he could see that Fudge was almost trembling in fear, and said "Ladies and Gentlemen, I have a small announcement to make."
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"It's that guy" Tonks said to herself. She was shocked that he would show up in the ministry building and was sure that this guy would try some kind of assassination attempt on Fudge. It was not a very bad option of getting rid of Fudge but still, she had a duty to perform. Instinctively she raised her wand and was contemplating on what spell to perform when, to her utmost surprise, she saw the minister raise his hand.
"DAMN" she swore loud enough for a few people nearby to hear her. "The minister knows this guy? Now I won't be able to even touch him." she muttered to herself as she understood that there was nothing more to do but stand and watch what was going to happen and hope that this guy had come to kill Fudge.
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"Who are you?" Rita Skeeter was one who never liked to stay behind someone. She always had to be the first and she had been the first in questioning this boy.
"I am Simon Sinatras but I think my identity is of lesser importance than what I am about to say." Harry said with a smile. "What I wanted to say here is…that I am extremely grateful to Minister Cornelius Fudge for doing a great task of protecting the common people." Fudge hated this boy more than ever before as it became apparent to him that he was going to make some sarcastic statements before getting down to the real statements – statements about him and Malfoy.
"Mr. Simon, this is not the place for a kid making some stupid statements." Said the sarcastic voice of the top reporter of The Quibbler.
"Maybe, but there are many things that I know which you don't." The warmth of the smile had vanished by now. "Do you know that if it weren't for this man here, then we would have had over 100 death-eaters running all over England at this time?" Fudge looked shocked at this statement. He had already started contemplating on which door would be the closest one to run for IF the situation called for it when, out of the blue, his well-wisher had just praised him. For a moment, he even felt grateful to this guy but his feeling vanished when he remembered all the money which he had transferred over to this boy's vault. He looked over at the reporters and saw that many were shocked while others looked simply curious but what he knew for sure was that the level of his bashing in tomorrows newspapers had just been reduced. Slowly, the color seemed to come back to his cheeks as he gave one of his renowned smiles towards the boy.
"WHAT?" some of the reporters screamed at the same time along with a few of the aurors in the back (including Tonks) all of whom, thankfully, had not been heard by Fudge.
"Yes. If Minister Fudge had not reacted promptly to the threat at Azkaban, no death-eater would have been killed. A total of 70 death-eaters had attacked Azkaban out of which only 29 managed to live. They escaped with the prisoners." Harry was hating himself for every lie which he was telling but he knew that all of this was for the greater good, the line which he had heard Dumbledore say many times. He saw that Fudge looked quite happy with the scenario and knew it was time to put his new plan into action.
Rita Skeeter was not at all convinced "But how do you know all this?"
"Excuse me for a minute." Harry said to the chorus of protests. "I have an urgent private message for the Minister and will join you in 2 minutes time." Without waiting for an answer, Harry went towards Fudge and asked him to lead him to a room where they could talk privately.
"What a nice day." Harry said in a mocking voice as they entered into the room into which Fudge led him.
"What do you want this time?" Fudge came straight to the point.
"Ah Fudge, I like this attitude of yours. You don't waste any time, do you?" Fudge patiently waited for Harry to continue as he knew it very well that this was a one-sided game. "Ok…this is it." Harry showed him the piece of parchment which he had written with one of the self-dictating quills he had bought from Diagon Alley some weeks before. The last thing he wanted to happen was Fudge finding out his identity with the help of his handwriting, a method which wasn't too frequent in the wizarding world but still a possible threat. "Below are the instructions given and I want this done in 2 minutes flat."
"But I can't do this." Fudge looked desperate though Harry knew that it was another one of his well-rehearsed looks. "This is against the law."
"Do you want me to go out there and tell them how many laws you have already broken?" Harry's tone took a menacing as he pointed out the tip of some parchments (all of which were blank) jutting out of his left pant pocket. Fudge went pale and said "This will be done tomorrow."
"Ok…and the press will learn about your truth today." Harry started to leave the room when Fudge's shout stopped him.
"Ok…I will do it today." Fudge had no other way out and he knew that only too well.
"Not today…" Harry felt it irritating to have to go over his threats and the same kinds of negotiations over and over again. "…NOW. I will be holding the press here for 2 more minutes while you come back to me with the news that everything has been done. If you don't come back in 2 minutes then…" Harry's voice trailed off as Fudge gulped. Harry couldn't quite remember the occasion when he had started to love to torture Fudge in this way but he surely didn't want to miss out on any single opportunity nowadays.
"Ok…Ok…I am going to do it." Fudge said as he rushed out towards his room.
"Oh Fudge…" Fudge turned to see what more may be coming his way. "…Your time starts NOW." At this announcement, Fudge took off towards his office at full speed leaving quite a few ministry officials wondering what had got into him and how come he had the energy to run so fast.
"Sorry for making you people wait" Harry looked pleased when he returned to the conference room. "Oh you asked me how I know about so many things Ms…" Harry said with one of his most disarming smiles. Even Tonks, who was still contemplating whether to kill this guy or not (for saving Fudge), couldn't help becoming impressed with the manner in which Harry said the last sentence added to the fact that when he smiled, he looked quite charming.
"Rita Skeeter" Rita Skeeter said with a smile on her lips.
"Ahh…I have heard so much about you. It's a pleasure meeting such a wonderful lady in person." Even Harry was puzzled at how smoothly he could say all this but nowadays, he felt a calm within himself. A year ago, he had butterflies in his stomach while even thinking of going out with Cho (which ultimately was a disaster) and here he was, in the full view of a horde of reporters and aurors, on the verge of what many people would term as flirting – that too with an older woman. Rita Skeeter's response was a disarming smile – apparently, she could also play this game and Harry knew it very well that she was a veteran of many such battles. "Well, Ms. Skeeter, I know all this because it is my job to know all this. But if you don't have any faith in my comments, you can ask the aurors present here." Harry knew that this was another gamble but a very well calculated one. He knew that no auror of the ministry would like to lose his or her job just to clarify the truth to Skeeter and even if someone wanted to tell the truth, that person would be far outnumbered by the others. Harry felt bad about bringing the aurors into the scene but he reminded himself of the motto of a great man – it's all for the greater good.
"Anyone who thinks I am lying please say so now." Harry looked over at the aurors present who were all looking daggers at him. His eyes paused for a moment on Tonks before he moved on. "Look, they all agree with me. What else can I say?" Harry had a helpless expression on his face. Just then, Fudge came running in, much to the amazement of all the people present. Harry glanced at his watch to see that 2 seconds were still left and was happy to see that Fudge nodded his head in an affirmative gesture – everything had been done according to his demands.
"Minister Fudge, I think you have something to give me." Harry held out his hand as Fudge thrust the parchment into his hand. Harry looked casually at the parchment and noticed that there was a ministry seal on it beneath the word 'Approved'.
"I have the pleasure of making one more announcement before I go" Harry said as he acted as if he was reading something from the parchment. "Minister Fudge has announced a reward of 100 galleons to each of the light wizards who fought against the death-eaters at Azkaban along with an additional amount of 1000 galleons of those who were injured in the fight. An amount of 5000 galleons will be given to families or the closest kin of each of the deceased aurors. Isn't this a touching gesture from our minister?" Harry said to a round of applause from many people and ALL the aurors. Somehow, the aurors guessed that this was another one of the series of lies which this boy had said today but they were more than happy with it since almost everyone had some kind of a minor injury to remind themselves of the Battle of Azkaban. This was added to the fact that the announcement had been made in front of about 25 reporters from various newspapers of various countries and hence there was no way they wouldn't be getting this reward. Harry smiled at all those who were present and received huge smiles in return from many of the aurors. Even Rita Skeeter flashed a big smile at Harry as she knew that she had a wonderful story ready for her paper – and she also knew just whose exclusive interview would top all of it. On the other hand, Fudge looked stunned and just kept staring as Harry who, after pocketing the parchment, got down from the podium and started to make his way out. At last Fudge breathed a sign of relief as Harry reached the exit but – to his utter horror – stopped and turned around.
"Sorry people but I forgot to say one thing…" the reporters who were starting to pack up their things stopped dead in their tracks as they waited for the 'next announcement'. "…did I mention the fact that Minister Fudge has already arranged for the payments of all these awards…" Harry waited for a moment before continuing "…from his own personal account as a donation for the fight of the light wizards."
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Tonks stood dumbfounded at the last statement made by this young man. Looking around, she saw she was not the only one, all the aurors present were looking at each other, searching for the right words to express their feelings. Another round of applause broke out as everyone seemed quite happy with whatever the boy had done for them. Even Tonks began to doubt whether this boy was really a bad guy as she had earlier presumed. As soon as she recovered from her shock, she ran outside to seek out the boy. She saw that he was about 80 meters ahead of her and she took of at full pace. Finally, she caught up with him.
"Hey…who are you?" Tonks said as soon as she had regained her breath. The boy had stopped when he had heard the sound of footsteps behind him but he had taken the precaution of putting up his glove-shield in case the auror tried to hex him. He had also noticed that he had just crossed the perimeter of the anti-apparation wards around the ministry building.
"A friend" came the reply accompanied by a charming smile as he apparated away leaving a baffled Tonks behind.
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"What the hell?" Fudge was too stunned to think about anything else. His so-called well-wisher had just made him poorer by around 100,000 galleons more. Even though it didn't make quite big dent on Fudge's bank balance, he hated it when his money was spent unnecessarily and he hated this boy though he had no power whatsoever to harm him. Mentally, he decided to co-operate as much as possible with his well-wisher so as not to end up with an empty account at Gringotts. With great difficulty, he silently cursed that damn boy while giving a trademark smile as the reporters took his photographs and as other aurors came up to thank him. At least, this boy had ensured him some good press for the next day.
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"Dobby" Harry called out as soon as he reached his home. It was about 9:15 in the morning and he already had had a hectic morning.
"Yes Harry Potter" Dobby said as soon as he popped by his side.
"I am going into my trunk to practice. If something happens, please notify me, ok?" Dobby gave an affirmative reply as Harry vanished into his trunk.
The next two days in the trunk were very fruitful for Harry. He had been able to hold out on 4 opponents for close to two hours and had even managed to take two of his opponents down. It was a shame that the room immediately provided replacements otherwise Harry could have had a chance to defeat his quadruplicates. Also, his meditation had been proceeding very nicely. Nowadays, he felt a strange calm inside him whenever he was doing something. Once he even asked the room to provide a duplicate of Draco Malfoy so that he could test out his resistance to Malfoy's insults. It had taken Malfoy's duplicate a total of 18 minutes and 23 seconds of constant abusing before Harry finally reacted by hurling a reductor curse at him. He now felt he was ready to begin his second part of his mental training – that of Legilimency. He spent the third day reading books on Legilimency to get a grasp of the basics. After he had read a lot (according to himself), he started working on something which had been at the back of his mind for long but which he had consciously avoided all this time – conjuring objects. Somehow, Harry found that this was something which was taking him longer to get hold of but he reconciled himself with it – after all, he already had the gifts of being a natural flyer, a parselmouth and a metamorphmagus. How many things could one hope to get for free? He was well into his fourth day when Dobby appeared before him.
"Harry Potter. Your Tonkie and Werewolf are here." Dobby said as Harry thanked him. Quickly, Harry closed his books which he was studying and came out to meet the two of his most favorite people.
"HARRY" Tonks jumped on him, causing both of them to fall on the ground.
"Ouch…" Harry shouted as Tonks got up, murmuring something under her breath. Remus, who looked quite amused, helped Harry up.
"Tonks" Tonks looked at Harry, wondering whether he had got hurt because of her "How much do you weigh?" Tonks gave him a mock glare and playfully slapped him on his arm.
"Manners Mr. Potter" she said in a tone much like that of Harry's headmistress causing all of them to have a good laugh.
"How are you…" Remus had just started to talk when Tonks got hold of Harry and started pushing him towards the trunk.
"What the…" Harry just managed to blurt out these words as Tonks pushed him to the front of the trunk.
"Lets go inside and talk" Tonks said in a cheery voice. Harry looked at the two of them and gave a shrug – he was going to be having guests for some days now which fitted very nicely into his plans.
Once inside, Remus was the first one to speak out "So, that's why you wanted to come here for some hours?" The question was obviously directed towards Tonks.
"Of course, but it seems that werewolves find it a bit difficult to understand the most obvious things." Tonks said with a sneer which reminded Harry of his least favourite professor. All of them had a good laugh again but not before Remus gave a glare and bared his teeth in an aggressive gesture directed at the others.
"Did you two ever grow up?"
"Nope" came the prompt reply from Tonks who immediately changed herself to look like a 15 year old before changing back again.
"Me, grow up? How dare you ask a marauder to ever grow up?" Remus looked very offended at being asked such an 'abusive' question.
"OK…No offence meant." Harry put up both his hands in surrender. To everybody's amusement, the room of requirements even provided a white flag near Harry. "Can someone update me on the ministry event?" Though Harry knew about the minister's version of things, he desperately wanted to know what information the Order had been able to get. Remus updated Harry on what had happened and how much they knew while Tonks started to wander around the room, wishing for different objects and firing curses to blast them off. She even wished for a replica of the Knight Bus and fired a very powerful Reductor curse which blasted a hole from one end of the bus to the other.
"Satisfied now?" Harry called out as Remus finished telling Harry about the Order meeting. Tonks turned around with a big grin on her face which told the whole story.
"Hey Remu, did you tell him what happened at the ministry building?" Tonks asked as she walked over towards the other two. A comfortable rocking chair appeared as soon as she was close enough to both of them.
"No Tonkie" Remus looked a bit angry at his shortened name but what surprised him was that Tonks didn't seemed offended at being called Tonkie.
"What about the ministry?" Harry asked innocently, knowing fully well what had happened. Tonks told him the full story, including what she had seen in Diagon Alley. When she finished, Harry asked her happily "So, you both are richer by around 1100 galleons, right? When are you giving a party?"
"Party?" Remus asked. "Yeah. How can you not give one?" Harry responded.
"Har, shouldn't you get 1100 galleons as well?" Tonks seemed thoughtful.
"Nah…I already have enough money to feed all of England for a year."
"How about the first Hogsmead meet?" Remus asked brightly and Tonks seemed to agree as well.
"OK. So it is fixed" Harry agreed "On the first Hogsmead meet, I will go to a party thrown by a werewolf and a klutz." This was a big mistake which Harry made as two Jelly-Legs curse hit him instantly. He was lucky that he was wearing his dragon hide boots but even it couldn't fully stop the curses. He felt a slight tingle which went away rather quickly.
"That, my dear mighty Potter, is why you shouldn't bite more than you can chew." Tonks said to a grin and a nod from Remus.
"Yes Harry. You should make it a point to only pick on Tonks, not the both of…" Remus couldn't finish his sentence as he was hit with a Jelly-Legs curse this time around. Harry and Tonks had a good laugh while Remus finally managed to perform the counter curse. After chatting for a few more hours, Harry excused himself to prepare dinner for everyone. The room had already redesigned itself into that of a big house with a big kitchen, 3 bedrooms, a drawing room and a dining room. Soon, everyone, including Dobby, was seated around the dining table, having a wonderful oriental dish for dinner.
"Harry…" Tonks said as she took another bite from an oriental dish which Harry had prepared "…once you defeat You-Know-Who, you can work as a chef in a 5 star hotel."
"Thank you for your compliment, my lady." Harry said, giving a low bow. "It is the most appropriate job for a person who would save the world."
"I am serious…" Tonks put on a serious look on her face, but the expression suddenly changed "Hey…I forgot to tell you about that guy."
"Which guy? The one at the ministry today?" Tonks nodded in affirmative gesture as she gulped down some lemonade.
"You know what, he was flirting with Rita Skeeter." She looked quite glum as she said this but Remus was muttering something like '…girl gossip…" under his breath.
"So?" Harry raised his left eyebrow "Rita is quite attractive after all"
"Yeah…but she is over 30. I bet that guy couldn't have been more than 17 or 18 years old." Tonks explained to both of them.
"But why is this bothering you?" Remus asked.
"Maybe our dear Tonks developed a crush on him." Harry said playfully before adding "Remu, did you notice how minutely she described him to us?" Tonks blushed deeply and muttered "It's nothing like that." Seeing Tonks discomfort Harry let the topic drop because he knew that this discussion could lead to some unwanted questions – and answers. Soon Harry explained that he had decided to hand over the death-eaters to Dumbledore because he thought they had spilled whatever they knew (It was Tonks who brought up the topic). After finishing their dinner, all of them went into their respective rooms with only Harry staying up for his meditation.
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"What's that noise?" Tonks thought to herself as she opened the door of her room. It was just past 7:00 in the morning and, according to her, the whole world should be soundly sleeping at this 'odd' hour. The previous night had been one of the worst in her life as she kept waking from nightmares where Voldemort was killing Harry. She understood a little bit of what Harry usually went through when he saw Voldemort hurting people in reality – it had been quite painful for her even if she knew she had a nightmare. She didn't know why she felt so drained after her third straight nightmare, it was as if someone was taking away her own life force. At last, at 6:00 in the morning, she decided that she didn't want to sleep anymore. She spent a lot of time thinking about how it was between her and Remus and Harry. She knew that all of them got along really great and nothing would come between them. Her thoughts wandered to how it would have been if Sirius had been around but she felt very sad about it. She also thought of how her mom and dad may be doing nowadays but broke out of her thoughts soon. Finally, at 7:00 in the morning, she got dressed and opened the door of her room, only to hear sounds from outside. She stepped out to find Remus standing in front of her, staring at something. Following his gaze, she saw not one, not two but five Harry Potters in front of her. At first she thought she was dreaming and rubbed her eyes but no, not even one of them vanished as they seemed to move at frightening speeds as they attacked each other.
"Wait a minute…" Tonks said to herself before turning to Remus "Remu, am I seeing things or are 5 Harry's fighting each other or are 4 Harry's attacking one?"
"4 to 1…shhhh" Remus quickly answered here without taking his eyes off the duel in front of him.
"How long has this been going on?" Tonks asked as the REAL Harry slided along the floor, shooting rapid fire curses at the others. One of the 4 others seemed to be hit and fell down (this time the room didn't replace the downed Harry because the real one had wished it not to.).
"Don't know. I have been here for only 30 minutes" Remus said as he didn't know that this was going well over an hour now though Tonks wasn't listening to him as she saw the REAL Harry summoning the downed Harry just in time to shield his body from 3 curses heading his way. This was almost similar to the move he had done against Bellatrix. Tonks and Remus kept on watching for 10 more minutes before a curse hit the REAL Harry on his shoulder from where blood started to ooze out. Tonks gave a scream at this and rushed towards the scene, firing off curses at the other Harry's.
"Tonks!!!" The real one gave a shout as the others vanished in thin air "No need to panic, they don't hurt me."
"You can say that again" Tonks looked livid as she grabbed Harry's shoulder causing him to scream out in pain. "Ohh…sorry" came the timid apology.
"Don't worry, I'll be all right." Harry removed his robe to reveal a bleeding left shoulder. He was wearing a black jeans while his white tee-shirt seemed to have become smudged in blood. This particular tee shirt had a lot of red stains on it, almost anywhere and everywhere.
"What the hell?" Tonks shouted at Harry while Remus, who had a concerned look on his face, asked quitely "Harry, do you do this kind of thing often?"
"Hey you guys…what's the matter with you?" Harry said as he performed a healing charm on his shoulder and another charm to clean up the blood smudge as best as he could. "Look, it's gone." He thought this would help lighten up their moods but one look on their faces confirmed his worst fears right now. Tonks gave him a despairing look as she turned and stomped away to her room while Remus shook his head.
"You shouldn't push yourself so hard, you know that?"
"Remus, look on the bright side – if I work hard for these few days, I might live to enjoy my whole life." Remus knew this was true but he still felt that Harry was unnecessarily pushing himself to the limit. He just shrugged his shoulders and headed towards his own room. But Remus was not his main problem now, it was Tonks and Harry looked quite worried as he realized this. Harry knew that Tonks was really upset with him (she was never one who would have left without a comment unless it had had a really grave impact on her) and knew that he had to do something about it.
"Tonks…" Harry called out slowly as he knocked on the door of Tonks room. Getting no answer and finding the door open, he slowly entered inside to find Tonks, who was sitting on a chair and…weeping. "Tonks" Harry rushed to her; never in his dreams did he imagine that Tonks would react like this. Tonks quickly brushed off her tears as Harry sat down in front of her. "I am sorry" Harry whispered. He didn't know what else he could say to her but he knew that somehow, he had hurt her deeply. "I really didn't want to hurt your feelings." He still got no response from Tonks as she kept looking at her feet. He continued in his whispering tone "hey…please forgive me. I don't do this quite often but you know I have to do it, right?" Still no response – but Harry decided to continue the one-way dialogue. "Please tell me what is wrong? You didn't react like this even after I got injured in Azkaban. Please Tonkie…" Harry had come to like this name by now.
"Oh Harry" Tonks burst into tears as she hugged him; she couldn't control herself any longer. She wept like there was no tomorrow and Harry somehow knew he had to hold onto her to provide her some kind of support. After about a minute, Tonks finally was able to stop her flow of tears and broke away from Harry. "I..I…" Her words were interrupted by hiccups which was soon taken care of as a glass of water appeared on a table near her right hand. "I am sorry" this apology came from Tonks which surprised Harry to a great extent.
"Tonkie, I am sorry for what happened." Harry whispered as Tonks wiped her face clean. "I did not…"
"No Harry" Tonks cut in "I understand what you are doing is the right thing but…"
"But what?" Getting no response from her, Harry continued "Do you want to talk about something?" After a long moment of silence, Tonks explained her nightmares to Harry.
"Oh Harry…the moment I saw one of them hit you…and the…the blood…I thought…" Tonks voice trailed off as a single tear escaped the clutches of her eyes.
"…that I was going to die." Harry finished off which earned him a slow nod from Tonks. "Tonks, you are a brave girl. You shouldn't be acting like this. And this is war, you know that, don't you?" Getting no reply Harry continued "But hey…I am alive and kicking." He said brightly but couldn't brighten up Tonks. He knew he had to somehow cheer her up, but how? All of a sudden, an idea came to his mind "OK, close your eyes, will you?" He asked Tonks.
"Why?" Tonks's curiosity got the better of her.
"Just do it…please…" Harry pleaded. Tonks did as she was told while Harry concentrated on one of his favorite memories ever.
"OK. Open your eyes." Harry announced. Tonks did so and the next moment she was howling in laughter. She was laughing so hard that she fell off her chair (the room provided a cushioned landing place for her) and she clutched her stomach which had already started to cause her pain because of her effort. She gasped for breath but one more look at the person before her caused her to double up in laughter again – in front of her stood Severus Snape in the dress of Neville's grandmother. By this time Remus had also come to see what the commotion was all about and he too doubled up in laughter. Finally, after about 5 minutes, Harry returned back to his normal form and Tonks forced him to tell the story of how he had dressed up Snape like that. Another bout of laughter followed after Harry had finished his story of Remus's class related to Boggarts.
"Hey" Remus was the one to get his breath back first "You never mentioned that you were a metamorphmagus." Remus seemed quite impressed at finding out Harry's new ability.
"Oops…Sorry Remu, I just thought Tonks had told you." Seeing Tonks discomfort Harry explained "It was almost accidental. I never even knew about it until Tonks explained it to me. We are both sorry."
"No sorry's in a family, right?" Remus told to both Harry and Tonks who looked relieved. A smile broke out on everyone's face and they were then treated to a delicious breakfast by Dobby.
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"How come Harry gets to do whatever he wants to?" Ron asked for what seemed to be the hundredth time. "He even got to shout at Snape while we were mere bystanders."
Hermione, on the other hand, seemed very thoughtful "Did you see the expression in his eyes?"
"What expression?" Ron looked bewildered. Ginny, on the other hand, replied "Yes. He seemed very confident about whatever he was doing."
"Yes, that's true but…" Hermione trailed off thoughtfully. Ginny, on the other hand continued "But why did he come just because Tonks asked him to?"
"Gin, Tonks didn't ask him to come" Fred said confidently as he and George entered the room. It was past 8:00 in the evening and they had just returned after closing their shop on another profitable day.
"How can you say that?" Ron asked in a reflex. Fred and George exchanged a look before George said "Ron, when have you ever seen Harry do anything he was told to do?"
"He attended all the classes over the past 5 years" Ron replied.
"George, how come our brother is so dumb?" Fred asked. "Is he dumb or were we speaking some other language?" George queried back. Hermione put them out of their misery of having to explain to Ron.
"Ron, Harry came here yesterday because he decided to come. No one can make him do anything…other than attend classes, that is." Ron looked at Hermione and opened his mouth to say something but then had the good sense to shut up for the time being.
"But he could at least have stayed behind to talk to us." Ginny protested. Hermione couldn't help but agree "He could have…if he wanted to."
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"Nice to see you Potter" Mad-Eye Moody greeted Harry at a deserted lane in London. It was the 4'th of August and it had been over a day and a half since he had been last visited by Remus and Tonks. Both of them had come back to visit him again on the 2'nd of august and had stayed for around 3 days in the trunk during which Tonks and Remus had helped out Harry with the basics of conjuring up objects. Tonks had explained that conjuring up objects was much more like being a metamorphmagus – one had to visualize a object mentally to be able to conjure it up. This seemed to help Harry a lot since his metal visualization had become quite good with the long hours he had spent on meditation but he was still having a lot of problems with conjuring up an object. Later when they were leaving, Harry had promised both of them that the next time they came around (which was supposed to be in 2-3 days time), they would find that he was able to conjure up some simple objects. The next day, i.e. on the 3'rd of August, Harry had carefully planned out his next move and had fixed his appointment with Moody but not before he had found a secure place and had warded it off so that no unwanted trespassers crossed this place. He had also spent a couple of days in the trunk making some portkeys needed for successfully carrying out his plan. Today, he had come early here and had waited under his invisibility cloak for Moody to arrive. After his wizard radar confirmed that this was indeed the real Moody coming along, he had been able to relax a bit under his cloak. He finally pulled off his cloak when Moody had entered into the protected area (which had been also warded off to be invisible for a period of an hour) and had greeted him. "Seems like you have both buttocks still in place." Harry gave a small smile at Moody's comment as he folded up his father's cloak.
"So, why did you call me here?" Moody came straight down to business. Harry then explained his plan to Moody who looked a bit hesitant at first but agreed finally.
"You'll have to do quite a bit of explaining." Harry warned Moody who just gave a scowl in return. "Best of luck." Harry said as he apparated away.
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"RON…GINNY…" Mrs. Weasley's voice echoed all over 12, Grimmauld Place. The Weasleys had shifted to the headquarters yesterday, i.e., the 4'th of august, and were planning to stay here till the 1'st of Spetember. "The first morning here and no one's in sight." Mrs. Weasley looked very angry as she started climbing the stairs to the 1'st floor of the house. She opened the door to Ron's room and saw that it was empty but what made her gasp was the fact that it hadn't been slept in. Panicking, she went to the rooms of Hermione and Ginny and found that their beds had also been not slept in.
"ARTHUR WEASLEY'S OFFICE" Mrs. Weasley screamed into the floo. As soon as her husband's office came into view, she started crying and explained that none of their children were at home. Arthur Weasley promised that he will be back home in 5 minutes time in which he would have to explain to Fudge why he was leaving office within 10 minutes of entering. Mr. Weasley did better than he had promised; he had come back in 4 minutes only to find a weeping Molly Weasley sitting at the dining table with what looked like a parchment in her hand.
"Molly" Mr. Weasley rushed to her. "Did you find them?"
In between crying and hiccupping, Molly Weasley managed to thrust the parchment in her husband's hands "They…left this…uh…at the dining…table." Taking the parchment, Mr. Weasley found that it was a letter from Ron.
Dear Mom,
We are going over to Harry's place for the time being. Don't worry about our safety. We will call by floo tonight to let you know we are safe. Fred and George will also come over tonight to Harry's place. If you want to send us a message, you can send it through them. Ginny and Hermione are also coming with me. Don't be angry mom, Harry said he had some urgent thing to discuss. Don't worry about our safety AND don't try to find us because you won't be able to even if you tried. Remember how Dumbledore failed to trace Harry? Well, talk to you tonight.
Bye,
Ron.
p.s.
Mom, we'll be safe. – Ginny.
Mrs. Weasley, please don't inform my parents now. I will myself talk to them. And please don't worry, I and Ginny will take care of Ron. Bye. – Hermione.
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A/N:
Ok guys, here's the 8'th chapter. I am sorry it is a week late but I was really busy at my office.
Hope you like this chapter. If you guys are disappointed, then just say it in your reviews. And thanks to everyone who read this.
skeeter007 – Tonks will have her turns too. Payback time is slowly starting now.
grand griffon – Firstly, thanks for pointing out my mistake of making Harry turn into Malfoy in chapter 4 under the assumption that he was Malfoy when he took the polyjuice potion. I have rectified that part in chapter 4 though Harry still turns into Malfoy when he is concentrating. Just twisted the thing a bit :).
As to why Harry would care about Hermione's feeling of jealousy – Well, Harry has made it a point to distance himself from his friends physically but that doesn't mean that he can distance himself from them mentally. After all, no one can expect someone to forget their friends so soon. Harry will continue to care for his friends but he won't be too open to them.
As for the pistol, hope you read the chapter 6 :).
Be0t – I think you have made a BIG mistake. I hope you know that there are different kinds of Indians in this world – one are the Indians who are the native people of America and the other Indians are those who live in India, which is in Asia. Another kind of Indians are those who live in West Indies and are referred to as West Indians. Well, I live in India and we never had intermarriages to expand our population. Please get your facts right before you post these kinds of comments in your reviews which I strongly dislike.
MaxFic – All death-eaters, who were not held by anti-apparation wards, escaped.
C. Rose – Hope you won't find any more 'common' ideas anymore.
BytheBorg – I doubt whether you will be reading this but I really think you did a great thing by reviewing – at least, you wrote something for fanfic after all. Oh, for your 'trouble accepting this garbage', I can't help it. I have a knack of creating trouble :).
And all the other guys who reviewed – Thanks for your reviews. Please know that they are very much appreciated and give me a real kick-in-the-back to continue writing.
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