Harry Potter and the True Power

Chapter 19: The Coupe'

Fawkes was now sitting opposite Xarobian, their leader.

"Why are you looking so worried, Fawkes?" Xarobian looked at Fawkes. He was one of the senior members of this race which were the guardians of the light. For such a creature to be worried, it would have to be a big thing.

"I am worried about Albus. Since the loss of Harry, he had been worrying a lot. He seemed to have lost all perspective. The latest attacks against him by the Daily prophet and the news that he is going to be removed from his position as the head of Wizengamot has really hurt him and shaken him through the core."

"We all know his little weaknesses. I have just seen him. I have never seen him in a worse condition. If we don't do something, we may loose him to the evil."

"But why did such a thing come up so soon? The article was printed only today. He is a very wise man. He has been through worse." Xarobian asked.

"I don't know. That is why I have come to ask you for your suggestion. As far as I know, only Harry Potter himself can save him. But he is under the protection of our lord. So advise me." Fawkes asked for a suggestion from his senior. He was truly at a loss. His liking for Albus was clashing with his loyalty to his king.

"I think we should take this matter up with Lord Zarafin. He alone can decide what is to be done. Come with me." With this Xarobian led Fawkes into his chambers where Xarobian sat and called for Zarafin using the phoenix magic. A few seconds later, both Fawkes and Xarobian started to fly towards the edge of their homes. As soon as they crossed the magical boundary, both of them flashed and disappeared.

There were thirty three families with their heads as the member of the Wizengamot. Out of them, six had no more heirs or those that were there, had been disqualified from this position of eminence. They had been wiped out due to the very turbulent recent history of the Wizarding world. Of the remaining twenty seven, seven of the head of families, including the Malfoy and other dark lord cronies were under arrest at the Azkaban prison.

The remaining twenty, nearly all except two, were either neutral or light wizards. Albus Dumbledore led them all and today, they were in an emergency session pending the very disturbing facts printed by the Daily Prophet.

Madame Bones, who was chairing the meeting in absence of Albus Dumbledore, called the meeting to order.

As she looked around, she saw several faces were very serious today. It had been not an easy morning. Looking at all the facts from an objective perspective, it had been a very painful realization. They all had been astounded by the amount of foolhardy every one of them had been a party to in the last fifteen years. These were very proud people. This did not sit well with any of them.

In the last year or so, Lucius and his band of supporters had painted the picture in very different colors. Add to that, he had arm-twisted a few of them. But with him gone, for the first time in a few years, the Wizengamot was actually ready to do what was called upon it as its sacred duty.

Madam Bones understood it all very well, even more so, as she herself did not feel very different from others. But this was not the time to dwell at the past. The future of their world was in their hands today. This meeting would decide their very way of life. The daily prophet had sent them a copy of the evidence on the basis of which, all these accusations had been made.

Normally, a newspaper need not disclose the evidence preemptively, yet, for the first time in several years, they had been given the evidence. The packet was sent specially to Madame Bones and she had had it verified. Every single fact had checked out. She had prepared several copies of the same and given it to the erstwhile members of the Wizengamot as soon as they had arrived.

The evidence included several documents prooving many extra-legal activities done by the present minister of magic himself. It had details such as the liberties the presently arrested death eaters had enjoyed. They being released without prejudice after being caught due to direct intervention of Minister Fudge himself. Every such event led to an increase in wealth of the minister.

Due to an ancient, unchangeable law, the minister's personal account was a matter of public domain. Though fudge had changed the law quite a few years back, still statement of his accounts was available till that period. Since then fudge, who had come from a very ordinary financial background had amassed a substantial wealth. Copies of several property deeds were attached (obviously, all these details had been furnished by the goblins. They had also offered to give Harry a statement of Fudges account but Harry had refused. He did not want any repercussions on his family.) As all these papers were of public domain, they were easily verified.

The correlation of time period of such events as well as copies of paper work of confluence with several known death-eaters had sealed the case for Fudge. Also the fact that he had not done much for a whole year since the article by quibbler on the reappearance of the dark lord could not be overlooked.

As far as Dumbledore was concerned, there were several instances where he had broken the law. He had decided to Place the Boy-who-lived, Harry Potter to his muggle relatives without any authority what-so-ever. As per the will of his parents (copy attached of the pertinent sections, duly notarized magically), in case of their demise, the custody would transfer to one Sirius Black, the god father of Harry Potter.

One might say that he was indisposed. Yet, any further decision should have been made by the concerned department. Till that time, Harry would have been a ward of the ministry. But again, several laws had been circumvented and Harry had been given to muggles without any authority..

Then there were several issues of direct obstruction in the workings of ministry. The evidence was unilateral.

The head of the Wizengamot was an extremely respected position. It had code of conducts attached to it which would normally be put on other Wizengamot members.

The decision had to be made. As all this was now information in public domain, the dirty laundry had to be washed.

Madame Bones knew it was an opportunity to do what she had wanted to do for so long. With the manipulating and threatening death-eaters out, she might end up doing something good for the Wizarding world.

Looking at everybody and taking stock of each person, she started the speech she had been practicing for the last one hour.

"Respected council members, I understand the introspection every one of us going through. With all the information which had come to us, how could we not be looking into ourselves? How could we not be blaming ourselves for our inaction earlier? How could we not blame ourselves for all the needless waste of life? I know; I blame myself."

"But there is no time to waste. The introspection and analysis of our actions can wait for a moment. We realize some hard cold facts. You-know-who has returned and nothing is being done. Our minister, Cornelius Fudge is totally incompetent at the least and our very own head, is far from totally absolved of blame."

"But this is not the time when we can afford to be living the past. We have to make decisions which would most certainly decide the shape of the very society we live in. I have a few ideas and so, I hope, do you. We shall very soon create an agenda after mutual discussion. However, there are two primary decisions which we need to make. First, shall we continue with Albus Dumbledore as our head or not. If not, who shall replace him? And secondly, should we impeach the current minister of magic? If the answer to the second question is yes, then the first event becomes even more important. As till the time of a proper election, the head of Wizengamot shall lead the government."

Now that everybody had a proper idea as to what to decide, both the votes were taken with a minimum of fuss. Fifteen minutes later, Fudge had been impeached and Albus Dumbledore had been suspended from the position, pending an official enquiry in the case against him.

Nobody found it strange when Madame Bones was elected as the ad-hoc leader pending the resolution of charges. Due to absence of both Fudge and Dumbledore, the two most avid orators, there were just nods and the decision was made. These were special resolutions which required two-third majority. The Quorum was seventeen. Hence, a minimum of twelve voted were required for both the decisions to be passed. They were passed unanimously.

The Wizengamot had just filed its decision, making it official. Just then, the ex-minister of magic, who didn't know about his new status, or the lack of, thundered down the hall and opened the door to the Wizengamot conference hall. He was fuming.

He had been aware of the emergency meeting. Due to his incarceration, he was late by approximately twenty minutes. As he entered, he saw that there was a very pensive attitude all over. But everybody was moving about and not sitting on the table. Relieved that the session had not yet started, Cornelius Fudge started his monologue.

"I am sorry to be late. I was held up at the stupid daily prophet. I have taken care of that. The editor is under arrest and the arrest warrants have been issued against the new owner. Let's get this session started shall we?" Fudge had not, even for a second looked up to see every member of the Wizengamot. He was just taking out copies of the ministerial edict that he had signed.

As now he sat down at his usual chair, he looked up and saw nearly all the member of the Wizengamot trying to suppress their smiles. In the end, Manuel Zabini could not control himself and burst into a fit of laughter. Cornelius was perplexed. Had it not been for his precarious situation, he might have really burst up on Zabini. However, he knew his position and he was not in a position to alienate anybody.

He had inside information that his impeachment was on the unofficial agenda today. He could not afford it. He won't survive a look into his affairs. So he cooled down his legendry temper and was about to say something when Madame Bones quietly took a copy of the filed motions and handed it to Fudge.

As soon as he read of his impeachment, he started to sweat heavily. He sat down heavily on his seat. Though it seemed, the very floor had been pulled from under his feet.

Madame Bones looked at the auror standing besides fudge. It was Elias Smith. She had never liked him much. She would have fired him a long time ago, had it not been the minister's intervention as well as a request to put him to his personal detail.

"Who else is with you, Smith?" she asked in a tone which was totally devoid of any respect. Elias knew which side his bread was buttered now. Seeing the reaction of fudge, he had correctly surmised all that had transpired.

"Senior Auror Shacklebolt, Sen…" he was interrupted before he could say anything.

"Call Kingsley in here." Madame Bones, rather acting minister bones told him. Elias nodded and quickly walked forward. This was a heavy security area. Their regular communication devices didn't work here. A few moments later, Kingsley entered the conference room.

"Madame Bones, Council Members." He saluted in his ever quiet manner. He was held in very high regard by all the council members. Some due to and some because of his honesty, ability, integrity and industry. Most of the members present here were 'due to' members.

Madame Bones nodded and asked, "What can you tell about the event at the daily prophet?"

"We were called by the offices of the daily prophet nearly two hours ago at 12:13 PM. The minister and his security details were imprisoned in blue shields, which we were informed, was like a petrification spell. It seems that the newspaper has just been overtaken and a new owner and editor are in place. They have added some security to the wards around the office for security of their personnel."

"Very commendable but what has this got to do with Fudge being imprisoned?" Madame Bones asked more for other member's benefit than hers. She had a sneaking idea of what could have happened. She was not the head of Department of Magical Law Enforcement for nothing. Kingsley understood how the game was being played now.

"It seemed that one of the wards is that if somebody tries to enter the building with any negative intentions towards the newspaper or its employees, they are automatically pushed back and held in a stasis field. Only the editor or the owner may free them. Unfortunately, at that moment, the editor had just left for a meeting with the owner and nobody could contact them. I had several ministry experts come in and try to break the shield, but all of them refused it. It was a very powerful bit of magic. If they fooled around with it, they couldn't risk what may happen to the people inside."

"I thought it prudent to wait it out. As soon as the editor came back and learnt of everything, she came down and released all of them. But the minister had her arrested and put her under the petrifying spell. He also served them a ministerial edict putting a hold on the sale as well. He issued a warrant for arrest of the new owner of the paper, a David McCall."

Everyone was surprised at all that had happened. Minister Bones made a decision.

"Kingsley, find out where is the new editor? By the way, what is his name?" she asked. She had overlooked this information.

"Her not his. The new editor is Ms Luna Lovegood." Kingsley told them.

"Oh my God! Isn't she John Lovegood's daughter? But she is still at Hogwarts. I believe she is an year behind my daughter." Zabini exclaimed.

"Yes, the very same." Kingsley nodded.

"But I don't think that she hasn't given her OWLS as yet." Madame Bones was now a bit startled. It was a new development. She would have to think about it.

"What-ever-it-may-be, I want you to get hold of her and free her immediately. Escort her to where ever she may want to go and ask her if she could meet me as soon as convenient to her." Kingsley nodded and turned to go out when he heard the new minister of magic again.

"Also tell her that I would also like to meet the new owner of the newspaper. Ask her if that could be arranged. Also, find out everything about Mr. McCall. I don't believe I have ever heard of him. Squash the arrest order for the arrest of him and Kingsley," at the use of his name, Kingsley frowned. He did not like the mischievous look which had come into the new minister's eyes.

"You are the acting director of DMLE until I can officially have it cleared." The shock was evident on his face but he was not respected for nothing. A split second later, his face was as impassive as if she had said nothing of consequence.

He nodded and walked out.

Luna had been shown to a separate guest suite where she was sitting with Rita planning further strategies. The minister had given them a notice which may have stalled the transfer process but in all his hurry, he had made a critical error. Had it come from the proper department the of the Wizard Information office and not from his office himself, he would have known that the Goblins had overtaken the company from the Malfoys. There-in after, they had sold it across to his alter-ego. Even if there would be a problem, the transfer to the Goblins was protected under the 1639 treaty. Legally, this notice was not of much consequence to him. What he was worried about was the further steps Fudge would take to get at David McCall.
At the moment, Harry was lying down on his couch, and was telling lily about his latest adventure. Over the last seventeen years, they had become a true family. During all his training with Merlin, lily had become a student with him too. This had enabled him to learn even faster.

Despite his earlier reticence about his mother's plans to pass on, both of them had discussed it several times. Several theoretical scenarios had been made but even Merlin could not do anything about it. The best they had come up was that just before she wanted to pass on and join his father in the ever beyond, Merlin or Harry would create a golem or transfigure or conjure a body for her which she could live in for a few days until her magic rejected it slowly.

They had not been able to decide what to do. It was still under debate.

"She had a few scores to settle." lily maintained.

At this moment, they were laughing at the genius of Harry. "Transfiguring a cat! Harry" lily said. "The poor cat!" It was hilarious.

"Harry. We need to be serious. Don't underestimate fudge. You have dealt a heavy blow. Be prepared for repercussions." Harry nodded.

Soon they were discussing what to do next. Suddenly, Harry felt a message from Merlin appeared in his mind. He wanted him to come down into the vault.

A few seconds later, Harry appeared in his vault. There he saw Merlin sitting with two more people. One of them looked very familiar. Yet he could not remember where had he seen them earlier?

Kingsley came out with a smile playing across his face. He was a hard working-man, but it didn't mean that he did all this work for altruistic reasons. He liked a promotion as much as the next person and this one was a jump of three ranks. He was pleased.

His golden senior auror badge had magically turned into a platinum Director badge. As soon as Tonks saw the change, she nearly screamed with excitement. It was only at the last second that she remembered that she was at the ministry. The news spread across like fire amongst the aurors. The magical plaque at the ministry had also changed. Director Bones' office was now his and the Minister's office now belonged to Madame Bones. House elves were already finished with the transfer.

Kingsley found that Luna was at the moment undergoing documentation pending the transfer to Azkaban. He belayed the harassment immediately and apparated to the office.

At the burrow, things were not very calm. The rift between both Ron and Hermione had increased to indeterminate proportions. Had somebody with a clear head been there, the matter would have been settled a long time back. But the present environment was too volatile as is.

Not many people had seen Dumbledore. He had been a nervous wreck for the past few days. He had been second guessing himself all too often now. Nobody knew why and nobody knew how. But everything was falling apart.

The order was without their leader. Nobody had foreseen an event whereby Dumbledore may become unavailable for an extended period of time. Whenever he had earlier been indisposed, instructions were left with either Minerva or Mad-Eye about what needed to be done.

This time however, Dumbledore had lost it. He had been at the meetings, but it was as if he was nothing more than a shell of a man that he earlier was and was clearly not doing anything.

In wake of the earlier successes they had by getting fudge to send all the prisoners arrested during the Department of Mysteries fiasco, had been a master stroke. In a single stroke, more than eighty percent of you-know-who's inner circle had been decimated. Fudge was again doing as requested.

But after the disappearance of both Harry & Fawkes, Dumbledore had withdrawn into himself. No longer in control of anything and everything had gone from bad to worse and then from worse to worst.

Hermione, to keep away from Ron as much as possible, had joined the twins in their shop with Ginny. In the beginning, she had joined to serve the counter like Ginny. Yet, her intelligence was being wasted there. The twins, realizing the potential they had under them, transferred her into R&D section. It was an instant success.

Till now, they had come up with several items which were useful as a prank. Mostly boys bought them. The girls, it seemed found them too base. They were, so to speak, more evolved than the opposite sex.

But now, Hermione had come up with so many things from a girl's point of view. Now their shop was filled equally with both boys and girls. They had decided to give her a commission on each sale of her line and had offered her a partnership as soon as she left Hogwarts.

After many days, Hermione's eyes smiled.

Ginny was being unusually silent. She used to disappear for long times during the weekends. Nobody was free enough to care.

Everybody else was too worried about the order to look at the enormous trouble brewing in there own homes.

"Harry, come in. Let me introduce you to these fine young men. You already know them. This young man, although he seemed to be in middle forties is better known in your world as Godric Gryffindor and this other, a bit older man, is better known as Salazar Slytherin. You already know them as Fawkes and Xarobian."

Harry had matured a lot over the last many years. That was the only reason he was standing. His younger self would have, no doubt, been on the floor.

Author's Note:

I have started to answer what is going to happen to lily. The answer will be finished in the next chapter.

Shadowed Rains: don't worry. I don't think the story is going to end that soon. I have an outline in my mind. I am keeping the story in line with it. I hope it will be as long as it can be without loosing its charm. The day you think I am stretching it, let me know. I like quality far more than quantity.

Bharat1969: thanks mate.

To everybody else, I thank you for your reviews and appreciate them.

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