… - ...
Chapter Five
October
Tuesday October 2
Tom at the Leaky Cauldron had his helper, Nobb re-clean the public toilets in his pub. He'd taken to politely not noticing the scores of people who would floo in every morning or so to use the facilities because theirs weren't working. Nobb made sure that there were stacks of small washcloths and hand towels near the sinks, so people could maintain some semblence of dignity. Nobb also had trays of water there, so the visitors could walk out and say hello before going back to what all too frequently was a dark home.
It had been 14 weeks since the Wandout.
… - ...
Harry reviewed his notes one last time with Ted Tonks. He'd received notice last Friday morning that he was to appear before the Wizengamot. Newly appointed Minister Scrimgeour, who was serving out the remaining 13 months of Fudge's term was nominally presiding. Shortly after the meeting had started, Harry was called. Scrimgeour asked, "How is it that you opened a wand shop?"
"I borrowed millions and signed on with a Wandmaster for lessons. We received our ICW wandcrafter journeyman licenses. My Gringotts Account Manager made the arrangements to build the building and craft the mithril tooling. Minister Fudge contacted me and after studying the financial situation and the international market for wands, we agreed on pricing, He organized a group led by Amos Diggory, Dale Dawlish and Connor Fudge to supply full-length unicorn strands, an expected delivery schedule and the like. I paid him, on behalf of the ministry 150,000G. What else would you like to know?"
"How many wands have been sold?"
"As of the end of September approximately 3,300. To date, they have gone to the Wizengamot members and their guests, followed by ministry workers and their guests. Additionally, we invited staff from St. Mungo's and the Diagon Alley merchants to get fitted. Our scheduled selling times are Mondays through Wednesdays. We plan on selling and fitting 200 people each of those days."
Scrimgeour stated, "There have been reports that you commissioned broomsticks to be made."
Harry didn't reply.
Scrimgeour added, "Well?" He was certain that he could intimate the teen.
Harry replied, "Minister, you made a statement. You didn't ask a question."
"Did you and if so, why?"
"Yes. A dragon reserve that I've contracted to purchase material from needed them to remain in operation."
Rufus admitted, "That seems reasonable." Then he asked, "There have been reports that foreigners are purchasing wands from your shop. Is that true?"
"Minister, please show me your drivers license."
"My what?"
"Minister, my points are; one - there's no standard form of identification that I can ask for and examine. Second, there's no law stating that a person needs to be a citizen to purchase a wand, just as there's no law stating that Molly Weasley can't go to France to buy a new wand. To circle back to your question, based on a check that I attempted last week, 20 percent of the people buying wands that day hadn't attended Hogwarts."
Scrimgeour asked, "How do you intend to correct the situation?"
"Minister, the last time that the ministry decided to help me, they disclosed the location of the largest supply of wand core in Britain, posted it in the newspaper, failed to provide security and Minister Fudge personally pocketed half of the money that I paid. My question to you is, does the ministry intend to continue to search for and acquire core material for a fee on my behalf, or do I need to find it myself?"
"What about using something else?"
"There's a fair bit of testing involved."
Slughorn suggested, "What about ground fire crab shell?"
"Professor, we're happy to make a test set of 36 wands out of anything that you want. The charge is 18,000G per test. Commission one out of dragon shite if you think that it will work. I have no interest in going broke testing to see if a wand made out of wit sharpening potion is the end-all of wands. If there aren't sufficient quantities of the material available to make thousands of wands, the suggestion is moot." Scrimgeour gave him a stern look but was biting his lip to avoid laughing. Everyone knew that the giant fire crab that Slughorn was referring to was all but extinct.
Harry added, "The issues seem to be; does the ministry intend to provide direction with respect to who gets to purchase a wand on a given day? Second, does the ministry intend to regulate the sale of wands to only citizens? Third, does the ministry intend to offer meaningful assistance in the acquisition of core material?"
Scrimgeour didn't have immediate answers for any of his questions and replied, "Thank you for your insight into the matter, Mr. Potter. What else can the ministry do to help you?" He silently admitted that he'd just had his arse handed to him by the highly prepared teen.
"Figure out who killed the unicorns, catch them and if possible, recover the tail hair."
"Thank you, Mr. Potter. That will be all." Five minutes after he'd left, it occurred to Scrimgeour that he should have asked Potter how many wands he had materials on hand to make.
… - …
Steeljaw, the Black Account Manager had delivered, sort of. While Harry was getting grilled in the Wizengamot, Hermione brought enough copies of documents and folders to completely fill three boxes. Sirius wasn't yet wearing the head of house ring and the account manager seemed to be making the most of it. Sirius commented, "I accept the fact that he was waiting for me to get kissed and have Draco take over. It didn't work that way. He'll have to be over it by the next time I see him, or I'll demand a different account manager. This passive resistance act is dragon shite."
Remus calmly replied, "Let's stay on task."
… - …
Thursday October 4
Harry was sitting at his workbench indenting blocks, chatting with Dan. The older man mentioned, "It's great that Dobby and Winky found the six unicorns at that lodge. Sirius should use it as leverage."
Harry had come to appreciate Dan's tactical thinking. He asked, "What did you have in mind?"
"Six unicorns times 150 hairs equals 900 full length strands. That's enough to make 2,700 12 inch wands, or 5,400 pencils. You need to point out to Rufus that you're running out of core and go back to him a few days later with a note that Sirius just sent you stating that he'll give you the unicorns on the condition that he gets a Veritiserum Trial. Sirius accepts the risk that should he be found guilty, he'd be in trouble. Either way, you get the unicorns, we make the wands and 5,000 people are in a better place this winter."
Harry replied, "We could show the third year memory with Pettigrew in the Shrieking Shack." Looking at Dan he added, "You're thinking something else; keep going."
Dan continued, "There are two interesting issues here. They tossed him in prison for 12 years and 342 days without a trial. It would be easy enough to demand to see the original paperwork. If it was a 30 day order or similar, he could demand a veritaserum deposition with an agreed upon set of questions. He'd be found blameless of whatever the original charges were and could demand the moon in recompense. They don't have any money, so Sirius could arrange a trade of sorts. There's your chance to get the elves some basic rights; the same for Hagrid."
Harry asked, "What was the second issue?"
"You should consider showing her the video memory of your graveyard experience."
Knowing that he was referring to Amelia, Harry asked, "Why her and why now?"
Dan replied, "I trust her a lot more than I trust Scrimgeour. She'll owe you the moon and if you do it in between crisis moments, it will be easier to get her undivided attention for an hour. Scrimgeour doesn't seem to know how to act around you; one moment he's trying to take advantage of your age, the next, he's actually helpful."
… - …
Monday October 8
Carol walked up to Padma. "It will be moon rise soon. Here's your Bane. We're all sharing this dose. You'll change and keep your mind but not automatically fall asleep. You can access and control the Wolf in you. We call it Edging when you have a short dose. This first time, your inner wolf will want to run, so Adele and I will be with you out on the fields. You can expect to run until you fall exhausted. I suggest you just go with it. Transformations after the first one are always a bit easier. Just don't fight it. Take your clothes off now, the moon will be up in a few minutes."
Adele smiled at Carol and nodded.
"Why strip?" asked Padma.
"You're wearing tight clothing. None of it will survive the night. It will rip in the transformation and when you awake you'll find that you clawed it to shreds, so if you want something to wear in the morning, shuck your clothing." She did.
Several minutes later, the moon began rising and moonlight flooded the room. The three Were's started to transform. Padma screamed in agony as hair sprouted everywhere, her hands twisted into paws, nails elongated into sharp claws, her face elongated, changing shape into the telltale snout of the wolf, teeth lengthened, ears grew pointed and stood up straight, her back bent and she was on all fours. She tilted her head back and howled, then leaped through the open window out onto the grass.
Tossing her head up, she sniffed the air and caught the scent of prey! Prey! With a howl she took off following the scent. She let the wolf take over. The primal urge to hunt was upon her. She reveled in the chase. Her adrenaline pumping, she ran, stretching out her legs, powering off her hind legs, leaping over any obstacle in her path. Following the spoor. She was closing rapidly with her prey. She could smell the fear as it raced away from her. Adele and Carol were flanking her on each side and spread out to be about 20 feet away as they raced in the moon light, howling in delight and herding the animal towards Padma when it tied to veer away.
Padma closed on the small deer and lept onto its back, claws digging deeply into its back, burying her teeth into its neck, twisting herself to the side and pulling the animal off its feet and rolled on the ground. Ending up on top, she twisted her head from side-to-side biting and ripped great gashes in the neck of the poor animal. Blood gushed from the rent neck. Padma stood on top of the still quivering dying animal. Her transformation was complete, abandoning herself to the wolf within her, she tilted her head back and howled in ecstasy!
Adele's wolf face had the hint of a smile. Carol just nodded and joined Padma, burying her snout in the warm meat of the prey. She understood Fenrir's point about the need to grow the pack; she just believed that it should be on a voluntary rather than a forced basis.
… - …
Friday October 13
At 3 pm Scrimgeour and Amelia came to the Wand Shop. As Harry had been the one arranging the visit, it had been cleaned up and out several days prior. He gave them the tour with the work benches and the different tools. There were 600 wands with their first or second coat of shellac drying on the racks. He showed them the various wood varieties in the store room. Genuinely interested, Rufus asked, "What are these?"
Harry explained, "These are the core materials that we have." Pointing to the unicorn hair, he added, "We bought these from Mr. Diggory." Pointing to the hippogriff hair, he said, "Hagrid owns some hippogriffs. He let me cut these. They've also worked very well. The trees came from the property that my grandfather owned."
Scrimgeour replied, "I remember him. Fleamont was a good man. It's too bad that the filthy Death Eaters burned down their home. It was a nice place." Pointing to the dragon material, he asked, "What are these?"
Pointing to one of the cedar boxes, Harry replied, "This is a dragon heart. You'd asked about the broomsticks a few weeks ago. Charlie Weasley works there. He's the one who contacted me. The box is used to draw the moisture from and preserve the heart until it's ready to be used as wand core."
He asked, "How long will that be?"
"Just over two years."
Amelia nodded. She'd never spent any time in a manufacturing operation and was quite interested in what she'd seen. She looked at what appeared to be over sized pizza boxes and inquired, "What's in these?"
"Wings. I want to see if there's a chance that they could be used either as wand or broomstick core. They need to dry too, so they're a project for later next year."
Rufus asked, "What's in these big boxes?"
"Dragonhide. I'm hoping to sell it later. The blood over here will be used both at St. Mungo's and also as the secret ingredient for one of Mr. Ogden's products."
Just then, Redeye walked in and said, "There is a messenger toucan for you at the front door." They all went to look.
There was a big black and white bird perched on the front ledge. It had a huge orange and green bill and a message securely tied to its leg. "Interesting delivery bird," commented Amelia.
Harry gave a look of surprise on his face, took the letter and opened it.
Harry,
I don't know if you remember from a few years ago but I told you I'd help you if I could. I read in the international newspapers that you'd opened a wand shop business. I own a small herd of of six unicorns. The newspaper stated that the tail hair could be used as wand core.
As I told you, I never received a trial. Crouch and Dumbledore threw me in Azkaban on a thirty-day holding order and they held me there for twelve years 342 days until Fudge showed me that picture with Peter Pettigrew in his rat animagus form and I escaped in mine.
If you're interested and can contact either Amelia Bones or Rufus Scrimgeour, give them this. I'll trade you the six unicorns in exchange for a chance to safely come back and tell my story under veritaserum. Have them write or call me. Here's the telephone number. If they believe me, I'll be a free man. Either way, you'll get the unicorns if you want. They may be of some help in your business.
Sirius Black
As rehearsed, Harry asked, "What kind of bird is this?"
Amelia replied, "A toucan. They live in South America."
He asked, "What should I tell him? What's a 30-day holding order?"
She said, "It's normally used to place a witness in protective custody. It's possible that he's telling the truth." She sent a Patronus message to Randi Bell, her administrative assistant to look for any trial records on Black.
Harry wrote out a bit of math on the whiteboard and commented, "If he's right, that would be enough wand core for about 5,000 of the pencil wands. That could help a lot of people who use charms to heat their homes and stuff."
Amelia gave Rufus a meaningful look. Potter may have set the messenger bird up but there would be no risk in at least hearing Black out.
Randi's patronus came back - "Nothing except a 30-day hold order."
Amelia said, "If you wouldn't mind, write back to him and ask him to call me. I'll hear him out for three hours without harming or attempting to capture him. Here's my cellular telephone number. Thank you for the tour." She was curious how many minutes or days it would take the strange bird to reach Black. It never occurred to her that Dobby had moved half of their core supply to Harry's bedroom at the Granger home for the afternoon.
… - …
The headlines from the Prophet were mixed.
Too many Foreigners in Line
Ministry should do something – Slughorn
Britain's Recovering Faster
Foreign wandmaking efforts stalled - Scrimgeour
Potter Alleges Graft
Fudge pocketed wand core money
The Abbotts and the Bones family had been friends for decades. Amelia and Susan had been invited over for dinner. Tom Abbott pointed out, "The redundancy cutback has been getting a lot of public pushback."
Amelia replied, "There was pushback when they were working, there was pushback when they were let go. People are justifiably frustrated."
Julie asked, "How much is actually coming in?"
Amelia replied, "According to Gringotts, deposits into the sales tax vault all but dried up. The shelves of the stores are all empty. Mitchell's grocery store on Merlin Alley closed their doors last Sunday."
Julie pressed on, "The floo system effectively shutting down caused this. It makes no sense for someone in Aberdeen to buy tomatoes in London when there's a Tesco store three streets away. We're utterly spoiled when it comes to easy transportation. On a different subject, what was Slughorn on about in his letter to the Prophet?
"He took Potter up on his challenge to sit in line for a few days last week. He stated that he only recognized half the people who were getting wands."
"He could be right but he'd have no reason to recognize anyone under 30, being away from Hogwarts so long."
Amelia pointed out, "On the other hand, say he's right; that's still gold coming into the country. That's not bad either."
Julie asked, "Why is there no sales tax on wands?"
"Potter claimed that he paid over 150,000G and has the bank records to back his claim. Fudge pocketed half and claimed that it was a sales commission. As to your question, it's ICW convention that wands aren't taxed. He's in debt up to his eyeballs launching that business. I'm not inclined to add to his burden."
She added, "He rightly challenged Rufus at the Wizengamot and offered to pay for unicorn hair that the ministry was able to collect. Even if Fudge had stayed in office, Potter was paying enough to single-handedly fund the ministry until the unicorns in the Forbidden Forest were slaughtered. Rufus hasn't found a substitute supply to use to take Potter up on his offer. If he's as low on core as he implied and there are as many foreigners buying the wands that he does have available, it feels like he'll stall about halfway through rewanding Britain."
… - …
Monday October 16
Hermione asked, "When did the second dragon delivery arrive?"
Harry replied, "An hour ago. I sent the meat to Gringotts and the organs to St. Mungo's. We're keeping the wing skin, wing bone as well as the heart. Neville said that he could use any of the bone that we didn't want. Fred and George asked for the skulls. They're trying to charm them to sing ribald songs. Apparently they think if they get a handful of them, they could form some sort of musical group – the Talking Skulls."
She asked, "What about the blood and hide?"
Harry replied, "I was going to sell it to Ogden. He told me he'd buy whatever we had."
She asked, "Would it be OK if we didn't?"
"Sure. What did you have in mind?"
"I just want to be sure that the right people get it and the wrong people don't"
He asked, "What are you getting at?"
"There's a fair amount of evidence that the wrong Weres are getting it."
Harry asked, "Wouldn't they just take it and go to sleep by their dish?"
"She rolled her eyes at his lame comment and replied, "With the correct dose, yes. That's exactly what Remus does. With a half or quarter dose, they turn into Weres, don't go to sleep and still have complete control of their thoughts and actions. That makes them doubly dangerous."
Harry agreed with her suggestion.
… - …
Wednesday October 18
Scrimgeour's trip to Hogwarts wasn't a social call. Flitwick let him into Dumbledore's office where his portrait was on display. He demanded, "Wake up."
"Minister Scrimgeour. What a pleasant surprise. What date is it?"
Ignoring his question, Rufus replied, "What kind of game were you playing, locking Sirius Black up with a 30-day custody order and leaving him locked up for almost 13 years?" Surprising no one, there was no response.
"We interviewed him two days ago for three hours under veritaserum. He told us what really happened and compared it to the report that you gave to the Wizengamot concerning who cast the spell and who the Potter's secret keeper was. We looked at the Potter Will. Black was never the Potter Secret keeper. Since you cast the Fildelius charm, you would have known that. You deliberately screwed him over. I hope he finds a way to get back at you. Where's your greater good bullshit now?"
Not waiting for an answer, he added, "You weren't satisfied bankrupting the school; you decided to bankrupt the Ministry as well."
"I hardly think that will happen."
"Here's the demand letter for 12,342,000G, you fool."
"He doesn't need..."
"That's not your call, nitwit. The castle would just about fetch that much."
"It's not yours to sell..."
"Either was his life yours to steal. When he turns the castle into a muggle bed and breakfast, it will be on your shoulders. Maybe he'll put your portrait in his washroom and piss on it every day for the rest of his life."
"There's no reason to be vulgar. I'd have thought better of..."
Slam!
… - …
Thursday October 19
The law firm of Cutthroat and Killjoy representative sat at the chair offered. He presented Minister Scrimgeour with the document that he prepared and Black had previously signed, then stated, "Mr Black's response to your counter offer of Hogwarts castle is as follows.
"In exchange for holding the ministry harmless for his unjust and illegal imprisonment of twelve years, three hundred and forty two days, Mr Sirius Orion Black demands the following;
1) Give Rubeus Hagrid his wand rights back. Hire him a qualified home-tutor for a period not to exceed one year to allow him to earn an OWL certification in Charms.
2) Free the house elves residing within Britain. They will be allowed to make mutually agreed upon arrangements with their current family or employer, or leave at their option.
3) Restore the Black Wizengamot seat to active status. Sirius will be allowed to take the seat himself or designate someone else.
4) Seize and equally split the assets of the Albus Dumbledore and Bartemius Crouch estates between Mr. Black and the ministry. The goblin Senior Estimator will do the overall evaluation. The ministry will perform due diligence to reasonably ensure that the assets referenced in fact belong to Mr. Dumbledore and Mr. Crouch. Mr. Black has the option of asking that any of the property be sold, or can keep the item(s) of his choice at the estimated value. After Mr. Black has made his selections, the ministry can do the same with the remaining items. Mr. Black and the ministry will divide the net proceeds equally.
5) The Minister of Magic will make Mr. Black's innocence public by purchasing at the ministry's expense a full page advertisement in the Daily Prophet and the Quibbler stating that Mr. Black is innocent and was illegally imprisoned on the orders of Albus Dumbledore for no cause. The advertisements will be posted at with the first available issue."
Scrimgeour examined the document for invisible ink or other issues. He found none and signed it. He tapped it three times to have copies made and filed. The agreement cost him nothing personally, righted a wrong and hopefully would net the ministry several million. He wrote out the advertisement and half page letter of apology to be printed in the Quibbler and Daily Prophet and gave them to Weasley to be published.
… - ...
Back at the Wand Shop, Redeye announced, "Wandcrafter Potter, Director Bones is here to see you."
"Hi Madam Bones. How can I help you?"
"Good morning, Harry. This is something of an official visit. Can we go to your break room?"
"Sure. Do you want to see Dan or Mr. Tonks too?"
"If you wish. It's certainly not necessary."
Harry looked at Dan and nodded. They walked into the break room. Hermione looked like she was going to follow when she saw the shake of her Dad's head. He closed the door behind them. Harry offered her tea and grabbed a bottle of Orange Crush. Amelia sat at the table, so he followed. Dispensing with the usual greetings, she went right to work. "It's my understanding that you were in the United States for the month of July. Is that correct?"
"Yes. We were at the Salem Institute, where with the help of Ragnok, the five of us were enrolled in wandmaking class. We were taught by an ICE certified Wandmaster. We each earned ICW wandcrafting licenses. We also have a business license." He pointed to one of the walls, where they were displayed.
"Prior to going to school last Autumn, did you live with the Dursleys at Privat Drive?
Surprised by her question, he replied, "Yes."
"How did you get placed there?"
"Dumbledore sent me there to live. I don't think he actually had the authority to do that. I doubt that my parents would have requested that I be placed there."
Dan asked, "Is this a conversation, or a deposition?"
She stopped. "I'm sorry, Harry. Absolutely it is a conversation. It's a hard habit to break. Harry, I don't know if anyone else told you but the Dursleys were the victims of a robbery gone bad on the evening of July 26. They were all killed by a man who we believe was Fenrir Greyback."
Harry replied, "I've heard the name. He's the one who attacked Rumus Lupin when he was five in revenge for being mad at Lupin's dad. My parents were good friends with him."
"Where are you living now?"
"I live with the Grangers."
Dan added, "We've told him that he's welcome to stay with us on a permanent basis."
"That's very generous of you, Dr. Granger. This isn't a child welfare call. Mr. Potter has legal classification as an adult several times over; through his winning that thrice blasted tournament and through his wandcrafters license. If I may ask, how did you end up in this excellent building?"
"Ragnok loaned me eight million for the construction of the building, the tooling and the training."
"Personally?"
"Yes."
"You've met him, face-to-face?"
"Yes. We all have."
Dan remarked, "I think you should show her."
Harry took one of the memory cubes out of his bottomless bag, held it to his forehead and set it on the table. He said, "This was the night of the third task," and set it to play.
When it finished, she asked, "How do you think that happened?" She was absolutely astounded at what she'd just seen.
"When the spells connected and I forced my spell into his wand, I think it recast every spell that he'd ever done. It was draining him magically, so he in turn drew all of the magic from the marked members of his tattoo club until they were completely drained. Then it drew the magic from the horcruxes that he'd created, then that body that the potion or ritual made collapsed and he turned into a puddle of goo."
"How many of the Death Eaters were there?"
"46." Harry went to the refrigerator, took out two bottles of Orange Cruse, opened them and handed her one. She took it with shaking hands.
"Where was this?"
"Little Hangleton."
"So you single-handedly fought and won a war that previously had taken several thousand lives including your parents, as well as Susan's, solved a thousand other problems and nobody knows about it?"
"Ragnok knows, You do."
"Thank you. Thank you on every level that I can think of."
Harry held up his bottle of Orange Crush and said, "Cheers."
They sat in comfortable silence. Five minutes later, when she had collected herself, she asked, "What happened to the Death Eaters.?"
"The complete loss of their magic killed them."
"I meant, what happened to their bodies? They were never discovered."
"I transfigured them into trees."
"One at a time?" She doubted that she could do 46 human transfigurations in an entire evening without a break, let alone 15 minutes.
"Yes. I tossed their masks and wands into the bonfire. From the pictures that I'd seen in the Prophet, most of them were friends with Minister Fudge. I didn't think he'd believe me."
"Could I see that? I'd like to know who they are."
He showed her. She took notes. When the memory was done, he vanished the two cubes. By instinct, she was going to object; instead she said, "Thank you." A moment later, she asked, "What are your plans for the wand business?"
"To make a lot of wands. The issue remains core. We'll be running out of tail hair in the next month or two; certainly by the end of the year. Even with the six unicorns from Sirius, we'll run out of what we have in two or three months unless we find something else to use. The people who buy wands next year will likely be getting wands made from different materials than the ones that we're making today." While the subject of wand core was far from her areas of expertise, she was a quick learner.
He added, "The real issue is, who is buying them? Assuming that we find materials to use, there's no doubt that we can make 30,000 wands. My feeling is that we may need to make 90,000 before every witch and wizard in Britain has had the opportunity to stand in line and buy one.
"The Wandmaster we learned from talked with us about the European wandcrafters, both past and current. To the person, they're individual operations. They have small, private supplies of wand core such as a pair of unicorns that are hidden away somewhere or under screening charms like my parents used. Ironically, when the wandcrafters died, knowledge of their secret supplies probably went with them. The Wandmaster in Bucherest who trained the two guys working out of France and Germany was rcently killed in a car crash. My point is, the percentage of people from the Continent coming here looking for wands is only going to grow.
Amelia was amazed at the level of thought that the teen along with the others had put into the situation. She nodded and he continued.
"With respect to Britain, Gringotts could have issued a priority card to everyone who has a vault here but it's too late for that. They're amazing beings. They take the time to learn a lot more about us than we do about them. Excuse me for a moment."
When he'd left the room, Dan asked, "What are you going to do with the information that he gave you today?"
"Nothing. It's his story to tell and I expect that telling it was somewhat therapeutic. I'll pursue getting the tattoo club members declared dead, so their estates can be disposed of properly. If Harry comes looking for an award, I'll give him a few. I came over today to make sure that he had a safe place to live. I'd have offered him house space if he wasn't staying with your family. Thank you for asking. Every teenager needs an advocate or three."
… - ...
Friday October 20
Sirius Black Innocent
Never received a trial – Dumbledore lied
Molly Weasley felt ashamed and angry that she'd bought into Dumbledore's lies, omissions and manipulations. In hindsight, it was obvious that he'd ruined Black's life in one of his seemingly endless greater good schemes. Sirius was simply another bystander who'd been set up like a bowling pin to fall.
… - ...
Saturday October 28
Rufus Scrimgeour was a man marked by contrasts. He was a lifelong cop. On his first day on the job, he carried the outlook that many recruits brought with them – the optimism and desire to do good, to help people and magically sweep the streets clean of all of the bad guys. That optimism slowly tempered by interacting with people in extreme situations – the vulnerable, the injured, the frightened, or lost children on one end. At the other side were the angry, abusive, violent, or the lawless who followed no rules not of their own making.
He'd witnessed the cruel teens who, by the grace of God, grew out of it and came to live within the framework of society; choosing to cause no real trouble. He also saw the sociopaths. By age six or seven, they were undeniably veering onto a different path than other children. Rufus knew that the eleven year-old Tom Riddle must have been on such a path and that the man who introduced him into magical society had a dozen years to take increasingly strong disciplinary action. Dumbledore's enormous ego allowed himself to be stretched far too thin to have done anything meaningful about it. Two thousand people were dead as a result.
Scrimgeour's own outlook had migrated over the years, beginning with the unbridled optimism of youth, to a more realistic, simple work plan of protect and serve, to the more pragmatic mantra of doing what needs to be done in such a way that you will go home at the end of your shift. He perfectly understood the analogy that there were the sheep, the wolves and the sheepdogs. Far too many times he'd personally witnessed the politicians toss the sheepdogs out the window for taking action against those wolves who happened to have money, or influence.
As Minister, he was entitled to a security detail, Fudge's had been headed up by Dale Dawlish, a man who had learned when to look and when to look away. Rufus had spent half a decade with that duty with Fudge's predecessor in the early 70s before the self-styled Lord Voldemort had become a full-blown menace. Much of the time had been spent sitting in a room alone, playing solitaire while waiting for her to decide to go anywhere. During one of his assignments, he met Rachel. They flirted and eventually married. After more than a few years, they had a daughter, Amy.
Amy was besotted with Oliver Wood. She met him when he tried out for a spot on the Puddlemere United team, where she worked in promotions. They flirted, dated and had recently gotten engaged, The only cloud on their horizon had been the Wandout and temporary loss of the brooms. They both hoped that it was a very temporary condition.
Scrimgeour had made several discreet inquiries with Potter regarding the possibility that there might be sufficient wand core available to make more broomsticks without lengthening the wand shortage. In the last of those exchanges, Rufus had taken the unusual move of dropping Wood's name into the conversation.
Rufus lived in Kent. It wasn't a 30,000 square feet manor home like Malfoy Manor. At 4,000 square feet, it was a well appointed six bedroom country home with an acre of land and a pool. The yard had been charmed to be warm year round. Even in late October, they could comfortably sit in the back and grill steaks or seafood, as they were doing tonight. Rufus was having Oliver and his parents over for the evening. They were celebrating an engagement and making wedding plans.
Rufus enjoyed grilling. It was something that he'd done all of his life. The brick grill pit that he'd completed had room for company to set their beers down and the like. The charcoal was ready and he took the steaks off the platter and placed them onto the grill where they gave off a satisfying sizzle while Andrew, Oliver's father gave an approving nod, as men had for thousands of years while grilling meat.
Without warning, a short sword blade appeared seemingly out of nowhere and effortlessly was pushed into Scrimgeour's back and out again through his front. The assassin twisted the hilt sideways as he pulled the blade out, removed his hood and said, "No one else has to die tonight. Mrs. Scrimgeour, if you look at your daughter for a moment, you'll see that there's a blade poised to go through her. Everyone, place your hands on your heads with your fingers interlocked. If you behave, you won't feel a blade on your neck.
"Oliver, you can choose to remain calm tonight, have a great career playing keeper, get married and have a family, or you can attempt to reach for the wand that's in your right pocket and be sprayed with your betrothed's blood before your hands reach your belt. The same for the rest of you. You'll all die tonight, or you'll all go home and sleep in your own beds.
"Minister Scrimgeour should have known that there would be consequences from making statements that as far as he was concerned, it was open season on anyone affected by the moon. Hopefully the next minister will be more sympathetic to the Weres. There are laws passed that the peaceful people of my kind can't hold jobs, have a bank account, own property, can't marry, can't openly attend school, can't inherit property and others. The ministry created our situation."
"Rachel shouted, "He didn't make those laws."
"Perhaps not but he didn't call for their removal either. Perhaps his successor will be wiser on the matter. I'm not hiding behind a mask. So what will it be? Will you have us walk away in peace tonight, or shall we attempt to end each others' lives? Mrs. Scrimgeour, what will you choose?"
"Leave now. Leave Oliver and Amy alone. Please leave."
Within seconds, Greyback and Brent Buckland had vanished.
… - …
Sunday October 29
Scrimgeour Murdered
Weres demand repeal of restrictions
Remus was physically sick when he read the news. Greyback's action put dozens of lives at risk. Getting any positive change now would take a miracle.
… - …
Carol Phillips became more furious with each sentence she read in the Daily Prophet as she sat reading in one of the houses at the farm. She folded up the paper, placed it in her pocket, went to the floo, tossed in a handful of powder and called out the Lodge then stepped through calling for her friend, Sarah.
"In the kitchen Carol. Do you want tea I just boiled some water."
Carol found her sitting in one of the leather topped high chairs looking out of a large window at the trees that rose up the slope behind the lodge. She slammed the newspaper onto the counter beside her friend, harder than she meant to, then sat down and stated, "This is a nightmare. Can he be anymore impetuous? What did he do that for?"
Sarah had just been thinking the same thing for the last twenty minutes as she read the article that had the potential to blow the anonymity from her world apart. She nodded. "Looking at you I think I need something stronger than tea." She poured both herself and her friend a glass of French wine from the central Loire valley, placed the glass in front of herself and handed one to Carol. She added, "Fen shined a light that got some attention."
Carol snorted, "Attention? He put the spotlight on us and gained the attention of every witch and wizard in Britain and on the Continent." Several other members of the pack had been walking by and stopped to listen.
Carol added, "He shined a light on every Were. Fen shined a bright spotlight on the entire pack. We are all in danger now."
Brent Buckland, who'd accompanied Greyback out to Scrimgeour's home declared, "It will all blow over."
Carol jumped to her feet and retorted, "You think so Brent? Really? Oh you're right, Brent. It will blow over in six months... when every last one of us are dead. The new minister may even repeal those horrid laws that Umbridge somehow got passed. At the same time, the DMLE will plot a way to hunt us down. She's not going to invite Fen to tea in order to ask his position on Were rights. If she sees him, she'll AK him and anyone who's with him."
Brent backed away for the agitated witch. Carol was a tough one to survive as long as she had. Everyone in the pack knew not to cross her.
Greyback, who'd heard the noise, clarified, "I admit, I shined a light on myself. No one saw anyone else. Bones or whoever gets the job will repeal those stupid laws. No one else has to be involved."
Someone behind Fen called out, "Making or unmaking laws won't change the way people think. We'll still be hated. We'll still be shunned and hunted."
Carol got in his face. "Don't you ever think things through Fen? Since we came back from Italy you've taken your time planning. We had good heists, pulled good jobs. For the most part we got away clean. The only job they can be sure of is the Hogsmeade job where we lost two of the pack. They may have thought it was us on other jobs, but we left no evidence. You made two colossal mistakes Fen. First you go haring off with no thought and kill the Minister of Magic at his own home. Second mistake was to leave witnesses. We would have been better off if you slaughtered them all. That way they would not know it was you. How soon before there's a bounty on bringing in a were dead or alive, preferably dead? Don't forget that the DMLE will be hot for vengeance. You killed one of their own! Idiot." She stomped back to her seat and downed her wine in one long swallow. She glared at him.
"Enough. That's enough. I don't need your permission to do things. Yes, I didn't talk this over with any of you. I found out about the BBQ at Scrimgeour's house, grabbed Brent and did the deed in the heat of the moment. He was a target of opportunity. It's for the best. I'll not apologize for it. I took out the biggest, most dangerous opponent we had. We needed something big to garner attention and be heard. He was the only one who had to die that night."
Sarah stood up with her hands up in a placating gesture. "Now everyone take a deep breath and calm down. Fen, you made a mistake with this caper. I don't know what got into you to go off half cocked and look for trouble without talking this through. You didn't have to kill him to give him a message. You could have stated your case for rights, stolen their wands and left. With everything we've taken this year, we could have faded away and lived comfortably. More than half the pack just wants a quiet life. You know that."
Greyback realized that they had valid points "Ok, OK Sarah and Carol, you've made your points. Perhaps I made a rash action in the heat of the moment. But we needed to get their attention if we want change and it wasn't going to happen with Scrimgeour. We've sold the crops for the year at the farmers markets. We'll lay low for a few months. There's not much that we can do until we see how the ministry reacts. I'll stay at the lodge and keep out of sight." He turned on the spot and disappeared.
A minute later, Sarah put her fingers in her mouth and whistled. "OK everyone, you heard the man. We're going to keep a low profile. Those who want to stay here are welcome; otherwise go back to the farm and stay out of sight and trouble."
… - ...
After the others had left, Sarah was quiet as she sat next to Carol and looked out the window at the trees. She sipped her wine and thought about the points made in the confrontation. The new minister would be appointed in a day or two. If Fen was correct in his assessment, their rights would be restored within a week. If not, they'd be hunted like dogs and put down within a month.
… - ...
Monday October 30
Floo Powder Available
Call or send an owl if in need
Hogwarts to Open on December 1
Letters and booklists being sent today
Molly looked at the cookie jar full of coins that she'd earned and smiled. She had enough to send all of her children to school and had only spent fifteen galleons for the floo powder when she'd bought it last June. Arthur might be out of work right now but they'd manage.
… - ...
Tuesday October 31 - Halloween
Early that morning Harry asked, "How are the unicorns?"
Winky replied, "They are happy in their new space. There are twenty-two now."
Surprised at her words, he asked, "How?"
"Beth from Limerick knew two other people. Winky and Dobby traded them some wands for their unicorns like Harry Potter did. Six little ones came from the centaur forest. That's ten. Six were owned by Death Eater bad people who had died. That's sixteen. Doggie man gave us six. That's twenty two."
"Have they been trimmed?"
"Four had been when we found them. The six little ones are too young. We had trimmed the first two from Limerick when we received them. Ten need to be trimmed."
"How many wands are in stock?"
Remus who had just walked into the break room replied, "1,800 unicorn, 1,500 hippogriff and 500 thesteral wands."
Harry said, "For once, let's have something good happen on Halloween. Let's sell until we run low, or until 5 pm. We have the material to make more. Hermione's right; there's no sense in holding these in inventory another month." She smiled at him; intending to snog his socks off tonight if they weren't too tired.
They opened early.
People came, then more and more.
Redeye opened a new box of loan forms.
Still people came.
Redeye opened another box of loan forms.
More people came. Winky found matches for each of them.
The line never shrank.
Redeye ran out of forms.
Winky found matches for everyone.
Five pm came. Hermione fitted a wand for an eleven year-old girl and said, "That's enough, Redeye."
The line had never shrunk.
They closed the doors and took stock of what they had left. Lupin said, "There's 90 unicorn wands, 300 hippogriff, and 110 thesteral – 500 in total. We sold 3,300 wands today!."
Dan pointed out, "That's as many as we sold in August and September. Redeye, how many loan forms did you approve?"
"2,500. That was all that I had."
Harry asked, "How many were from Britain?"
"All of them. Most of the others wanted to fill out the forms as well but Director Ragnok restricted the loans to British witches and wizards. The others paid in coin."
Hermione asked, "How many wands were sold in the rest of October?"
Redeye replied, "3,100. That's 6,400 in total for the month."
Winky observed, "We will run out of thesteral hair in November. We'll run out of hippogriff hair in December."
… - ...
A/Ns
It's about time that Harry had a decent last day of October. Hermione wasn't wrong regarding her rant about building up inventory during a crisis. Then again, Emma had an excellent point as well. Daryl's previous comment about It won't be enough rang true.
A question – During his brief tenure, was Scrimgeour a better minister than Fudge? Why?
Story recommendation: Beepkeeper and TomHRichardson both have large bodies of stories that are well worth reading. Additionally, Apprentice Tom wrote a companion piece regarding the Patils. It can be found within within his Cabinet of Curiosities collection on his page.
Cheers
… - ...
OMAKE
Picture that the wizards live in Alaska. For the most part, they're all out in the wilderness scattered throughout the state, since they don't want to be near any "Normals" There's no central electricity - they all run on generators.
One day, all of the gasoline disappears. For the most part, it won't be coming back for a year. In the long term, there's no central means of communication. Batteries (floo powder) runs out after a month or two.
The government is powerless to help people - they never even bothered to give them proper identification papers. The government is broke. They can't just hand people money and unlike ours, they can't just print money.
The first shipment of gas arrives 60 days later. There's enough for 50 people or so. The gas guy asks the mayor, "who should get gas first?" They mayor replies, "Me and my buddies, along with their families. Then I need some for the people in the building that I work in, so they can get the air conditioner back on and the elevator to work."
The gas guy asks, "Who then?"
The mayor replies, "Whoever shows up to buy some is fine with me."
Perhaps my example is bad - the wilderness people would know how to hunt and the like. They wouldn't starve. What does Mundungus Fletcher know how to do? Arthur Weaslsy?
Cheers
