Chapter Thirteen: Limelight
September 25th
9:14am
Ministry of Magic, London
Harry
"Yesterday morning," Scrimengour began, "the cowardly Death Eaters launched an attack on our defenceless muggle neighbours. By releasing six giants in the countryside, the Dark Lord has proven he cares not for the preservation of wizarding life as the giants killed seven wizards and injured countless others."
The audience listened enraptured to get their scoop, reporters who weren't on scene clamouring to record every detail and cameramen creating blinding flashes every few seconds. The high ranking officials behind the minister stood resolute in composure beside Harry Potter and Daphne Greengrass.
"The auror force responded swiftly to contain the threats and I can confirm the extermination of all six giants including the Gurg Karkus who is noted for his brutal savagery. I want to make sure the distinct efforts of our aurors are not overlooked. Even after being placed on the back foot, Senior auror Shacklebolt stood firm and faced down a giant on his own until help could arrive. For that I award the Order of Merlin 1st class, Kingsley please step forward."
Kingsley approached the podium and the minister pinned the green ribbon on the man's breast before turning to the audience and clapping. The audience followed suit and Kingsley shook the minister's hand before returning to the line up.
"Thanks for your help yesterday Harry and please extend that to Daphne," Kingsley whispered as Scrimengour went back to reporting events.
Harry shook his head, "it's no worries at all."
"Well without your assistance I may have been receiving a posthumous award so just know you have my gratitude," Kingsley reiterated as he put a hand on Harry's shoulder.
"And now a special mention to your 'Chosen One' and 'Ice Queen,' Harry Potter and Daphne Greengrass, for saving the lives of myself and several aurors on scene yesterday. I can not give an order of Merlin to underage witches or wizards but I can ask for everyone to show their appreciation so please put your hands together for these two," Scrimengour congratulated.
The applause was thunderous and reporters went fanatic trying to ask them questions over the noise but they both ignored them and shook the minister's hand as he gave them another personal thank you before returning to the line behind.
"That concludes the award ceremony, if you have any questions we'll be moving to conference room four so if you would like to wait there we will be with you shortly," Scrimengour dismissed. The mass exodus to the conference room lowered the noise in the awards room to just the shuffling and hushed conversations of ministry men.
"So," Rufus started as he approached Harry and Daphne, "your first award ceremony. As torturous as you expected?"
"Less so," Harry admitted.
"We are in agreement that the press conference will be much worse," Daphne continued. "We are glad it is a weekend though, explaining our absence from class would be difficult."
"Don't worry about that, if anyone gives you trouble send them to my office," Scrimengour said. He now realised their true value and he wasn't about to let anyone get in the way of that. "Speaking of, we've wiped your wand off the trace signature Miss Greengrass. I was tired of Madame Marchbanks sending me reports of your underage magic so it felt only natural."
"Many thanks minister," Daphne replied humbly.
'You should save people more often Daphne, seems the minister is keen to keep us happy,' Harry thought as he watched her play a role. It was fascinating to watch her work sometimes, the way she guided conversations and wrapped people around her finger. It made him wonder how often she had done the same to him which both frightened and enticed him.
"No thanks needed, you two weren't joking when you said you were the real deal. If my aurors were half as competent and a fraction as powerful then we'd have the dark wizards packing. Unfortunately Fudge let the department run stagnant and now I've only got a few competent aurors left."
"Did you lose any yesterday?" Harry asked, curious to know the ministry's current status. If there weren't many good fighters left it might be best to detract themselves as much as possible and focus on themselves.
"Thankfully no," he began, "Pritchards was a good man but foolish more often than not. Kingsley's team suffered several casualties but only an injury to one of my better aurors, she'll pull through. I'm surprised you haven't heard about it already."
Daphne and Harry shared a look, "why would we have heard about it before you?" Daphne asked.
"Because she works for you, auror Tonks to be clear," the minister replied in a monotonous tone. Neither of the two could gather any information as to how the minister felt about it. "Don't worry," he continued, "no actions will be taken against her. I would simply place her as the official correspondent between the auror office and P&G securities."
"That… works for us," Harry agreed. He didn't want Tonks to lose her job so thought it best to comply for now.
'So he's been spying on us, but when could he have found that out? In Diagon she was disguised as normal and surely the father wasn't in any position to hear any of us refer to her by name… this is not good.'
"Very good," Scrimengour intoned. "Now let us throw ourselves to the wolves, shall we?"
The pair followed Scrimengour through black bricked corridors and through a door to a room in a state of which Harry would describe as pandemonium. Reporters and journalists fighting over what seats to take and cameramen trying to set up their tripods in places with clear lines of sight to the interviewee table. Their entrance, however, commanded instantaneous silence and everyone took the seat closest to them and prepared the questions they felt most prudent.
The minister, Harry and Daphne sat down and watched them all prepare themselves. "Alright," Scrimengour called, "let's get this over with." With that reporter's hands shot into the air and shouted one of their three names to garner their attention.
"Go on Amorim," Scrimengour almost sighed.
A good looking man stood and addressed the minister, "for those who don't know I edit and maintain the security section in the daily prophet. What I'd like to know, minister, is how six giants managed to cross into our borders without anyone knowing?"
Scrimengour cleared his throat and gave the man a hard stare. "The giant's weapons were heavily enchanted and that points to the fact that they were concealed by death eaters to cross Europe undetected. When they entered England we now know they were smuggled in with a contingent of mercenaries that call themselves 'Giant's Fist' via portkey."
"And the portkey went undetected?" the reporter continued.
"Not at all," Scrimengour refuted, "aurors were on scene in under two minutes but in that time they had been moved to a second location so knowing the size of their force was next to impossible."
"Thank you minister," the reporter said before taking his seat and engaging another man in conversation.
"Alright, you can go next Andy," Scrimengour said.
A lanky, dusty haired man stood and said, "Andy Smudgley, daily prophet. My question is for Mr Potter and Miss Greengrass, how is it you two are always present for when calamity strikes?"
There was a wave of muttering as the reporters all asked the same question or swapped theories. Daphne cocked her head to the side to Harry and had a silent conversation with him ending with both of them nodding in agreement.
"Myself and Daphne are part of a security company with a government contract which involves cooperation with the auror force and the minister," Harry answered honestly. Their preparations for if the contract became public were sound and no one would try and politically take them out now without the minister's favour.
The room was shocked that the ministry would allow students to join the war effort and Smudgley voiced their disgruntled thoughts. "But you are students, why would you be more qualified than others to respond to attacks on our people? Surely you would get in the way of auror operations."
"Smudgley!" Scrimengour called out, "you were present at the award ceremony were you not? Mr Potter and Miss Greengrass have proven to be assets to the auror force and if you spent any time outside of your office and in the auror HQ the sentiment is felt there." Smudgley sat down and stayed silent for the rest of the conference.
"There's always one," Harry muttered to himself.
"You in the back, grey robes," Scrimengour called out.
A tall man with short greying hair stood and said, "Helbert Spleen, Daily Prophet medical column. Miss Greengrass, can you comment on why your father would purchase apothecary suppliers in the east now when the country needs those ingredients most?"
Daphne's schooled features were unshaded by the question as she regurgitated her practiced answer. "Yes my father bought up many suppliers in Asia," she began, "and in the coming week you'll see large drops in the price of such ingredients as the import cost has decreased dramatically. As for the timing, well I'm sure you can see the significance now."
"Thank you Miss Greengrass," he said and as he sat down Harry noticed that he pocketed some coins that another man gave him, presumably winning some kind of bet.
"Alright final question, Lima you can take it."
The middle aged man wearing the same blue scarf from earlier I the year stood and Harry recognised him immediately. "Eduardo Lima, Daily Prophet. I have here a photo of you Mr Potter on the back of the giant plunging a knife into the eye of one of the giants before it burst into flame. Is this knife some kind of weapon of legend?"
"A fanciful one aren't you Lima?" Harry asked good naturedly as some of the reporters around him laughed.
"It is my job to be sir, and it is fun to come up with such theories," he admitted to the room's delight.
"I'm sure it is, well first off no, it is not a weapon of legend but rather an heirloom from an old family. If you want to get technical it's a heavily enchanted dagger that's all. Honestly the fact that I managed to get the Giant's stench off of me is more legendary than anything I've done — you can quote me on that."
Eduardo laughed and replied, "thanks Mr Potter, I will," before sitting back down and writing on a scroll.
"Okay everyone that concludes the press conference, my weekly update will still be tomorrow at eight in the morning so there will be more time for questions then," Scrimengour said before standing with Harry and Daphne guiding them out of the room through a side door.
The trio and two aurors traversed across the atrium, through corridors and up elevators towards the minister's office. When they had reached it, Scrimengour dismissed the two aurors and invited Harry and Daphne to take a seat.
"Before you return to Hogwarts," he began as he walked around his desk with a slight limp to take a seat, "I would know if you need anything from me before we meet again or any intelligence you'd like to share."
'You're not getting anything about the Horcruxes that's for sure but I've got something better in mind,' Harry thought. "In my capacity as an investigator for P&G securities, I've uncovered a gross miscarriage of justice."
Scrimengour's face twisted into discomfort, "I'm not removing anyone from Azkaban at your whim."
Catching on to Harry's thought process, Daphne continued, "good thing the man isn't in Azkaban then."
Scrimengour looked at Harry in confusion, he'd been in the auror department a long while so anyone they were talking about that had been given bad treatment would've eventually reached his ears.
"We discovered, with Damien's help, that the man in question received no trial but was sent to Azkaban anyway on a pile of hearsay and conjecture," Harry shared an uneasy look with Daphne before revealing, "that man's name is Sirius Black."
"Black!" the minister cried in outrage.
"Yes, my innocent godfather in both my eyes and the eyes of the law," Harry reiterated.
"That's a big favour," Scrimengour sceptically replied. Sirius Black is perhaps the most famous criminal in Britain besides Voldemort and to pardon him would be simply political suicide.
"I know what you're thinking," Daphne said. "You're thinking it's going to be political suicide but not necessarily. If you frame it in the way that you're correcting a past administration's mistake and a sizeable donation will be made so that you can announce a large stimulus package for the auror force at the same time."
"We're on the front foot right now," Harry continued for her. "Keep presenting real wins to the population and we'll have their support without needing to undercut it with false victories."
Harry could see that they were swaying the shrewd man, not only would it be a victory for Harry's side and the ministry. The donation helped too and Harry now understood the phrase 'money makes the world go 'round' as it certainly seemed to sway the powerful man in front of him.
"I'll have an answer by tomorrow," Scrimengour said, which Harry took as a dismissal and left with Daphne and looked forward to resting the rest of the day after having such a packed weekend.
October 2nd
3:22pm
Hogsmeade, Scotland
Harry
"To freedom and to Harry Potter for pulling through time and time again! Drink!" Sirius yelled from his place standing on a table, raising his glass of fire whiskey before downing it in one go to the cheers of many in the three broomsticks. He returned to his seat in the booth with Harry and Remus and poured himself a glass.
"A question, Sirius," Remus began in a tone that the two had become accustomed to know as disapproval, "how will you enjoy your new found freedom if you die of alcohol poisoning?"
"Oh come off it Moony," Sirius slurred. "You know Harry, back in seventh year Remus got so 'hiccup' sloshed that he ended up in a broom closet with both of the seventh year Ravenclaw prefects."
Harry raised his eyebrow at Remus who sighed dramatically, "my… exploits are no excuse for your excessive day drinking, besides it was the Puff's not the Claw's."
"Oho! See you know how to celebrate so chill out old man!" he declared before grabbing the bottle and wading into the crowd to find someone to do shots with.
"Let him have his fun, if we're lucky he'll be hungover for the next day or so which will calm him down a bit," Harry said. He'd never seen Sirius so happy before but it certainly felt right, a somber Sirius is one that concerns him more because that probably means he's trapped in bad memories and guilt.
"It's not that I'm not happy for him, I really am," Remus said. "But we've got a war to fight, tomorrow Voldemort could siege the ministry or make an attempt on Hogwarts and the fool would get himself killed trying to fight with more alcohol in him than blood."
Harry watched him down a shot with two other wizards and laugh before moving in to find more people to revel with. It seemed Sirius' optimistic mood was infectious as Harry replied, "you're right. We could be fighting for our lives tomorrow but in my eyes that makes his actions make more sense than less."
"How so?"
"He's been in captivity for so long, if this is his last day on earth then he'd want to spend it being happy and spreading merriment wouldn't you say?"
Remus laughed, "I'd say if it was his last day on earth he'd want a pair of twins in his bed more than anything else but I suppose this would be a close second."
"Exactly, so let's enjoy it while it lasts. I'm sure he'll do something embarrassing anyway and if that's not motivation enough then I question your title as a prankster," Harry teased good naturedly as he took a drink from his butterbeer.
"Please," Remus scoffed, "already his chest hair is a ghastly colour of pink and his underwear has been transfigured into a spectacular g-string." Harry just managed to keep the drink in his mouth from spraying everywhere at the prank-lord's revelation. "I don't know what's worse honestly," Remus continued, "he's either so drunk that he hasn't noticed the g-string or he has noticed… but simply doesn't care."
The table was painted with butterbeer courtesy of the chosen one's mouth as Remus took a satisfied sip of his tea, no one challenges a marauder so brazenly and gets away with it.
A/N: A bit of a shorter one for today but it was just meant to be a connecting chapter. I had two goals for this chapter: show the minister's new approach to Harry and Daphne and Sirius' freedom. I thought of doing a full trial for Sirius but figured the minister would rather a speedy acquittal considering he was in a bit of a win streak. So the Three Broomsticks scene was born which was more fun anyway, a Sirius retrial has been done so many times so a bit of love for the marauders felt like a better use of my time.
Also, yes, Sirius and Remus are confirmed as Bisexual. I feel like it doesn't need to be said but also didn't want any ambiguity. I could, of course, give one of them both male and female partners but I've got Remus/Tonks as endgame already and no plans for Sirius to be in a relationship so I figured I'd just chuck it here. It doesn't affect the story in any meaningful way so if you don't read the author's note it doesn't really matter.
Today's recommendation is 'Seventh Horcrux' by Emerald Ashes. It's a fairly original take on a common trope and a super fun read (semi-crack!).
Hope y'all enjoyed :)
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