Chapter Twenty Three- Occurrences

Just as the Minister and his men ran into the hallway, a door on the other side of the passage burst open, and several people stormed in.

For a moment, silence reigned as Harry stared at the new arrivals. Albus Dumbledore stood just inside the hall, his gaze scanning around for Harry, as Snape stepped in beside the older wizard. Another door opened further down the corridor, admitting Sirius and Remus. The two men looked slightly startled at seeing the Ministry officials, two standing with wands out, shocked expressions covering the faces of all three.

Finally, a thoroughly dishevelled Fudge shook his head, his wand ready, though shaking in his hand. "What are you doing here, Dumbledore! With your wand out, are you threatening me?"

"Minister Fudge, I have merely come to retrieve one of my students," replied Albus, his voice calm, yet steely. "Harry, why don't you come here?"

"Now see here, Dumbledore!" Fudge exclaimed, brandishing his wand. "How dare you have the audacity to barge in on Ministry business! I demand you leave at once!"

Without a word, Albus easily disarmed Fudge and his man. "You, Cornelius, are out of line. You will be hard pressed to keep out of Azkaban after this."

"Azkaban!" Fudge blustered, wide-eyed and looking nervous at the loss of his wand. "Why in the world . . . never did anything, how could you say . . ."

"I do believe kidnapping is a punishable crime," said Albus, handing the Minister's and the Auror's wands to Snape, who took them without a word.

Fudge shook his head, attempting a smile that came out as more of a grimace. "Kidnapping? Albus, how could you say such a thing? I only brought Mr Potter where we could talk without interruptions. He came willingly."

"Is that so?" Dumbledore asked, raising his brow. He glanced past Fudge. "Harry?"

Harry pushed away from the door frame, containing a wince at the movement. Keeping a fair distance from Fudge and the Aurors, he walked past them to the professors. He still held his borrowed wand in his hand, ready if needed. Luckily, the Ministry wizards were effectively cowed by Dumbledore's angry presence and they stayed still.

Albus' eyes narrowed as he looked over Harry's condition, and Sirius rushed up to the younger wizard. The Animagus grabbed Harry's arms in both hands, looking him over in quite the parental fashion. Harry wasn't sure whether to be annoyed or not.

"Harry, oh Merlin," Sirius burst out through clenched teeth. "What did that bastard do to you? Are you all right? I'm going to kill Fudge, I swear it."

"Sirius," said Harry, pulling his arms from his godfather's overenthusiastic grip. "I'll be fine. It's not terribly bad." A grimace when he moved his arm disagreed with him. But I've had worse.

Harry took a step back as he glanced toward Fudge, his eyes narrowed, though not all of his anger was directed toward the Minister. When Fudge looked nervous, Harry realized he was fingering the wand he held in a rather intimidating manner, and he had to smirk slightly. He almost wished that the others had taken a little longer to show up, which would have given him time to get back at his attackers.

Feeling that the others were staring at him, Harry glanced at Dumbledore, who looked amused with him, then to Snape's fathomless face. The Potions master looked at him for another minute, then turned to look down the hall. Harry watched him, then forced a small smile onto his face as he faced Sirius again. Remus had joined the Animagus, and it was clear that he could smell exactly how much blood Harry had all over him.

To stem the tirade both of them looked likely to start, Harry turned back to Dumbledore, gesturing down the hall. "This is one of those Aurors' wands. I'm not sure where mine is."

Some of his displeasure at that must have shown through as he handed the headmaster the wand, because Dumbledore's eyes regained a bit of their usual twinkle. "Thank you, Harry. Here is yours."

Harry raised a brow with a smile as he took his own back. He suddenly felt, if not well, at least much less disconcerted.

"Albus, we should get Harry to the hospital wing," Lupin stated. "Sirius and I will take him."

"Thank you, Remus," replied Albus, his eyes going cold as he turned to Fudge. "I will deal with our Minister. Severus, please accompany them, if you would?"

Snape looked like he wished to remain with the headmaster, but he nodded after a beat. He offered Dumbledore the seized wands, their handles pointed toward the headmaster. Glancing back toward the Minister, Snape then pivoted around and stalked out the door he'd come from.

"Come on, Harry," Remus said, gently guiding both his student and partner after Snape. Sirius seemed more reluctant to leave than Snape, as he cast Fudge an evil look. "We'll have to Floo to Hogwarts."

Though wishing to know what Dumbledore was going to do with the Minister, Harry knew it would just be too much trouble, and he was just plain tired. He knew the headmaster would explain later. Most likely. But Harry walked out, he did catch a very amusing glimpse of Dumbledore spelling ropes around Fudge and the Aurors, pulling them into each other and toppling them over. Harry silently applauded.

It didn't take overly long to reach the public fireplaces, as Harry found that Fudge had held him in a unused section of the Ministry very near the lifts. As they were following Snape's quick pace, they reached Hogwarts and the hospital wing in record time. Harry was unusually glad, as he could feel that the healing charm he had applied was not nearly enough, and the Floo travel hadn't helped anything.

Madame Pomfrey strode out of her office at Sirius' call, and Remus nudged Harry toward her. "What is it– Mr Potter. Why am I not surprised? Are you trying to set a record?"

"Of course, Madame," Harry responded smoothly, though his hand was holding a painful stitch in his right side. "I have two years to catch up on."

Snape snorted, but otherwise ignored the other wizards. "Madame Pomfrey, are there any extra potions you are going to need to deal with Potter?"

"Well, I wouldn't know yet, now would I, Severus?" Pomfrey said, herding Harry toward a bed. "If you would be patient."

Harry had to stifle a snicker at the glare that received from Snape. In the next moment, he found himself behind a curtain with the express orders to disrobe and lay down while she went for supplies. Pomfrey had offered to assist, but Harry wasn't quite willing to appear that disabled. It took much moving of pained parts of his body, even with the assistance of some wandless spells, but he'd managed by the time she had returned.

"Goodness, Mr Potter, what have you been doing this time?" Pomfrey asked, shaking her head and running her wand across his body.

Not bothering to give an answer, not that it really seemed she wanted one, Harry let the Mediwitch examine him. He heard the murmur of voices outside the door of the hospital, and realized that Pomfrey must have banished Sirius and Remus to the outside hall. Glad that he wouldn't be expected to explain anything, including how he had gotten an Auror's wand, Harry closed his eyes.

He felt Pomfrey cast a cleaning charm, clearing the area of his wounds, then a healing charm settled over them. It was much stronger than what he'd been able to put on himself, and Harry let out a soft breath at the relief. He may be experienced in pain, but he usually didn't consider himself a masochist. When Pomfrey tutted, Harry blinked up at her.

"Severus," Pomfrey called out, glancing past the curtains surrounding the bed. "I'm going to need a vial of Organ-Healer. And quite a bit of Bruising Salve and that strong pain reliever you make."

"Medicamenti," Snape informed her, stepping around the curtains. "Didn't I just refill your stock of both that and the Salve at the beginning of the term?"

Pomfrey waved her left hand at him. "Never mind that. Would you just see to it?"

"Of course. And I'll be sure to provide extra." Snape glared at Harry as he turned away. "As you seem to run through it so very quickly."

Harry had barely fallen asleep after the Mediwitch finished with him when Dumbledore strode into the infirmary. Having not felt comfortable taking a sedative, not with Riddle looking to exploit his sleep, Harry woke immediately, his wand in his hand before he opened his eyes. Having fallen into a dream regarding everything the Dementors had dragged up, he was very on edge. A chuckle from the headmaster made him alert him to the visitor, and Harry looked over with an apologetic smile.

"I assure you I mean no harm," said Dumbledore, his eyes twinkling as he walked up to Harry's bedside.

"I was actually expecting an overbearing Mediwitch," Harry explained. "Or perhaps a suffocating godfather."

"Well, I can honestly say I'm neither," stated Albus, laughing lightly. "Now, how are you, my boy?"

"Better than I was," Harry replied.

"Excellent. Well, I imagine you're interested in what happened after you were ushered out of there," Albus said. At Harry's nod, he continued. "Frankly, I was shocked by Cornelius' actions, Harry. I never thought he would go quite so low. Few people are going to want to believe it, but we have plenty of evidence. The main deterrents in having him relieved of his Ministry duties and put on trial are his many connections. Luckily, I do believe that my own will manage to balance the scale.

"Unfortunately, bureaucracy moves slowly. I will do all I am able to speed up the process. I already have the Minister and his friends in holding by a few people I trust."

"Order members, I suppose,Headmaster?"

"Of course."

It wasn't until a couple of uneventful weeks passed that Harry heard anything more about the Minister. He had explained everything to Hermione and Ginny, who'd been more than upset at the entire thing. Ginny had passed it on to Neville, and according to him, it was as much Snape's fault for leaving him as Fudge's for taking him. Harry knew a little more about politic relations, and didn't quite hold as much anger towards the Potions master, though it surprised him when he realized that.

On Saturday, Harry was up before the school, training in his little forest alcove. He'd repaired most of the damage he'd inflicted with his loss of control, and thus far, hadn't destroyed it again. It was starting to become habit to come out in the morning, and as the injuries from the Ministry had completely healed, Harry had gotten into the same routine he'd done before dawn in the other realm. It felt natural, more than how he had to act in the school, and Harry enjoyed being away from everyone sometimes.

It was while working on his stance with his battle staff that his wards had alerted him to an intruder. Spinning the pole so he had a two-handed grip on it, Harry pivoted around. Upon seeing who it was, he raised an eyebrow and lowered the weapon.

"Good morning, my boy," Albus greeted jovially as Harry allowed the headmaster access to the alcove. "Well, this certainly looks a lot more green than the last time I saw it."

"Hello, Headmaster," replied Harry with a grin, propping the staff against the nearest tree. "What can I do for you?"

Dumbledore turned toward him. "Actually, I had a little more information regarding the Minister. I thought you might be interested, and as I wasn't busy, well . . ."

Harry nodded. "Great. What's going on?"

His eyes doing their normal twinkling, Albus merely pulled out a thick parchment from his robes. As he handed it over, Harry saw the headline.

Minister of Magic accused of abduction, assault of Boy-Who-Lived!

Cornelius Fudge, a supposedly distinguished model of proper wizardry, has fallen far, writes Rita Skeeter, Head Correspondent. Not long after having been found disturbingly wrong regarding the much publicized 'death' of Harry Potter, Fudge has found a way to destroy his image further. Just two weeks ago, the current Minister walked into Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, against the wishes of the honourable Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster, and seized young Potter right in front of several eye-witnesses, states a source close to the case.

Following this, the much abused Potter was taken to a dilapidated section of the Ministry, an area feared to collapse, where Fudge locked him in a cell with several Dementors, who are now considered illegal creatures. According to a psychiatrist from St Mungos Hospital, it is not expected that young Potter could ever fully recover from such an ordeal. Then, to make it worse, the Minister, a man who is chosen to protect our people, sent a horde of private Unspeakables into the cell to beat and curse Potter.

The Daily Prophet, as your best and most reliable source of wizarding news, is calling for the impeachment of the Minister. Cornelius Fudge has gone too far this time. First he doesn't acknowledge the return of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, even when the greatest voices are insisting, now he turns to common brutality and child abuse. (See pages 5, 7, and 8 for other grievances against Fudge.) Take a stand, now! (See page 4 for a list of new Minister candidates, as chosen by Rita Skeeter, Head Correspondent

Harry had to reread the article, as it was difficult to see while trying to stave off his laughter. "This is ridiculous. Skeeter is Head Reporter? Myrddin. They're right, Fudge needs to get kicked out, but this is . . ."

"The most truthful article written in the last, what, three years?" Albus answered mildly.

"Oh, yes," Harry replied, shaking his head. "Several witnesses? Other than Hogwarts, I don't remember anyone there. And Unspeakables, what in the world? Not to mention they've implied that I've gone mad, and am considerably younger than seventeen."

"Perhaps, but what can you do?" Albus asked. Gesturing toward the ever brightening sky, he then said, "Perhaps we should return to the school. I believe that today is the first Quidditch match of the season. Gryffindor vs Slytherin. I seem to have heard that you've been asked to commentate?"

Harry looked at Dumbledore, stifling a grimace. He'd refused to return as Seeker, much to Ginny's displeasure, as she'd been hoping to play Chaser. Still, he turned it down, citing the fact that he had to make sure he stayed up with his classes. In truth, though he missed the sport, it just seemed too far removed from him. A different life.

Forcing away his darker thoughts, Harry nodded. "Yeah, though conned into it is more correct."

"You may find yourself loving it," Dumbledore stated, making his way to the alcove's exit. "I'll see you at the Pitch, my boy. Good luck."

As the headmaster walked away, Harry shook his head. Glancing back down at the paper he still held, he snickered, then banished it. He quickly transfigured his training outfit into some Muggle trousers and a jumper, secured his weapons in a hidden truck, and made his own way back to the school.

A/N: Well, that was a faster update than usual. I know it may not be the most exciting chapter, but frankly, I agree with some of my reviewers, Harry needed a bit of a break. He won't have time after this. ;)

Now, I'm not certain whether I should include the Quidditch match or just gloss over it. Any thoughts? I'll probably decide from popular opinion. And Fudge will get more of what's coming to him, so don't worry, though it won't be until nearer the end of the story.

Thanks to everyone who stuck with me, reviewers and readers, even though it's been so long. Things are picking up, and I am more able to write more often, now. Everyone's reviews help, and definitely improve my mood, especially when things in Real Life get bad. Thank you.

Best Regards and Pleasure Reading,
Zenn

PS- A shout out to those who put me on C2 lists. It's quite flattering. Thanks.