Okay this took me ages, sigh, I have a faulty router which screws up my internet…
But on the good side I passed my exams, every single one of em. And I'm registered for Law School. To Uni I go, whee…frankly after 6 years of high school I got a bit fed-up with the same stuff day in day out…
anyway
finally here, though way too short…
Chapter 23
Revolution
The four Mages, Dumbledore, Minerva, Remus, Kingsley, Tonks and the Weasley's adding Fred and George joining over the summer minus Ginny were standing around a large table in the living room of the HQ. These were core member of the Order and they were currently bended over a mountain of papers.
"This isn't going anywhere." George groaned flipping back on to the chair.
"We could take the MOM by force." Charlie said squinting over a picture.
"Would that work?" Molly wondered while she absentmindedly carved a hole into the table with her quill.
"Well, the people would probably be suspicious at first, but you've got to take in account that the current ministry isn't explaining much about the DE attacks and most of the public has started to believe he's back even if they don't trust us." Arthur said playing with a small battery in his hands.
"So if we were to perform a coup d'etat and then hand the ministry over to the Wizengamot until a new minister is elected there should be less resistance." Audrey pondered pensively.
Dumbledore nodded over the top of a report. "I would think so."
"So we bust into the MOM, guns blazing!" Tonks exclaimed.
"What?" the purebloods asked befuddled.
"Nah," Tonks said rolling her eyes, "Forget it." she said as she went over to Kingsley, who pensively said, "How do we keep casualties low, I mean it won't do us any good to take over the ministry by ending up killing innocents."
"And how can we be of help, we're suspected of following Voldemort." Hermione said snatching Mrs. Weasley's quill to prevent it from doing any more harm.
Ron tossed a piece of paper into the rubbish bin. "Interesting isn't it, Fudge doesn't accept Voldie's back but he does say that we're in league with him."
"He uses every opportunity possible to secure his base of power, even contradictory statements." Remus said tiredly as the others nodded to his words.
Minerva huffed. "Back to the mission at hand, we still haven't resolved the "how"."
The group sighed.
"Well, plans to overthrow governments usually aren't made up in a single night." Tonks said pulling a face.
"Or performed by a small group considered both criminal and illegal." Minerva added as she massaged her temple.
Everyone bent over the papers again.
"Can't we just force an election and rig the outcome!" Ron exclaimed pushing his bucket load of paper away.
Arthur sighed, "Not really. To force an election you need to prove malpractice or the minister needs to be dead."
"And it's extremely hard to rig an outcome. We would have to get an election where we can be sure that the right person would win" Remus added.
"I'm assuming we can't kill Fudge?" Audrey said as she looked up hopefully.
Dumbledore for once looked up from behind his reports commenting "No miss Black we cannot."
"Bummer..." Harry growled.
"We'll we don't necessarily need to kill Fudge to call for a new vote." Moody said tapping the floor with a repetitive "clonk" every two seconds.
"What do you propose?" Minerva asked, a hopeful light shining on the prospect of getting away from the table.
"We kidnap him." Moody readily replied.
Minerva slumped across the table with a deadly sigh.
"Right, and people won't notice that" Hermione said skeptically while McGonagall bonked her head onto the little bit of table top that was not cluttered with paper.
Ron conjured a pillow for the bonking professor. "Letting Fudge disappear wont do us any good if people loyal to him remain behind though." he said.
Bill gave a sigh with all the others, "So what do we do?"
Everyone sat down to think. Again.
"Hey I've got it!" Hermione exclaimed making Minerva drop out of her seat.
"What?" everyone asked.
"We persecute Fudge and his associates." Hermione replied heartily.
"That's crazy!" Molly said waving it away.
"But it might actually work." Dumbledore said finally putting his files to rest.
"Effective in its simplicity." Fred said.
"I would hardly call it simple" George said "as much as I would call it ingenious."
The core went back to making preparations for the final plan.
1 week later
The four mages were all standing outside the Ministry going through everything one last time.
"Okay, Prowl and I stand guard while Snitch and Nova grab Fudgie. The Order will deal with the possible, actually probable, problems with the rest of the ministry. As soon as we have Fudge secured Dumbledore will announce the trials and the new elections." Hermione said checking of boxes.
"What exactly did you and Nova decide to do to secure Fudge?" Ron asked his two companions.
"We take him to HQ and when Dumbledore gives the clear we'll send him back to the MOM under guard of Order members that are also Aurors" Hermione replied.
"We'll put him on trial for dereliction of duty, abuse of power and some other things." Audrey summarized.
"He still gets of too easy I think. If he'd done his job and accepted Voldemort's return when it bit him in the ass there would've been less casualties." Harry growled.
"No use dwelling on the past Snitch" Audrey said and put her arm around his shoulders.
Audrey used her other hand to dig into the pocket of her trench coat and took out a communication mirror. She activated it with a whispered spell.
"Draco?"
Draco, Pansy and Blaise had been taken to HQ to serve as additional mission contacts since most of the Order members would be partaking in the mission. Better safe than sorry Dumbledore had said.
"I'm here." Draco replied as his face appeared.
"Is everyone in position?" Audrey whispered.
"Yes, the waiting is for Dumbledore's signal." Draco replied.
"Right keep us posted." Audrey finished.
"Will do, HQ out."
10 minutes later their Order amulets heated. It was time.
The Mages disapparated into the ministry appearing right in front of Fudge's office. Slipping through the wards with ease, Ron went further down the hall and Hermione stood in front of the door as Audrey and Harry went through it where inside there was a desk with a secretary behind it. When she saw them she started to scream, though Harry silenced her swiftly with a wave of his hand.
"Now there is no need to panic. We're just here to pick Fudge up. Nothing bad, so if you just stay put nothing will happen." Audrey quietly said as she moved to the door to Fudge's office with Harry close behind.
The secretary nodded, big eyes following their every move.
"Mary! Are those files here yet?" Fudge's puny voice came from the other side of the door.
Audrey made a mime face while she opened the door and stepped into the office.
"Sorry, Mary is otherwise engaged." she said with a smirk seeing the little man giving start.
"Wh-wh-wha-t!" Fudge stumbled.
"I believe "who" would be grammatically correct, not to mention more polite." Harry said grimly.
"Potter, Black, ha…so you finally show your true colors!" Fudge exclaimed.
"And what would those be?" Audrey asked as she leaned over the table in the Minister's face.
"You're followers of He Who Must Not Be Named!" Fudge said poking an accusing finger against Audrey's chest.
"That is the greatest load of BS I've ever heard," Audrey growled "and you better get that finger off of my immediate person fuckface." The Minister gave a squeak as he snatched his hand back.
"But that doesn't matter to you now does it? As long as you get what you want." Harry prowled around the table until he came right before the Minister.
Audrey sent a message to Ron and Hermione to go back to HQ. Meanwhile Fudge was still sputtering.
"You are the ones who started this…this…"
"We like to call it a little revolution for the better of the people." Harry said in a matter of fact voice.
"Enough! Now will you come quietly of do we have to force you!" Audrey snapped.
"I will most certainly not go!" Fudge said stubbornly grabbing his chair and holding on tight with one hand as he pulled his wand and aimed it at Harry, pronouncing a curse which Harry deflected with a bored wave of his hand. Fudge didn't notice Audrey vanishing in a whiff of wind and reappear behind him where she promptly knocked him unconscious with an ugly vase.
"Good, let's go." Harry said and disappeared in flames.
Audrey followed him, taking Fudge with her.
Ron and Hermione were already waiting for them, having apparated as soon as Audrey had sent them the message. Hermione took her mirror and contacted Alastor.
"Target's in our possession. It's all up to you now." she said.
"Good work, we'll deal with Fudge's followers and the trials." Alastor said and signed off.
"What now?" Ron asked sipping a glass of water.
Harry gave a tired sigh to his companion's question.
"Now, we wait."
It was a good 3 hours later that most of the Order had returned. Harry had erased every memory Fudge had of his kidnapping and of Grimmauld Place and sent him back with Kingsley and several other Aurors.
It was even later when they saw Dumbledore making his statement on the wizarding news, which was broadcasted through the fireplaces. He announced the new elections and the trials of Fudge and his followers. They were being charged with negligence, abuse of power, dereliction of duty and several other crimes. Everyone at HQ watched and cheered when Dumbledore was done.
"Maybe we can start taking some serious action now." Tonks said celebrating her happiness with clumsily fall backwards over the chair she sat on.
People cheered her on. "Yeah!"
"Let's hope there's little resistance." Harry said softly to his companions as he stared into the fire.
Hermione sighed.
"Only time will tell."
This was one of the shortest chaps ever if not the shortest.
I know I promised more fighting but it'll be another chapter before the Mages fight.
Sorry, I'm suffering from long periods of writers block…
hope you liked it
anyway next chap --- Chapter 24 – Trials & A New Ministry