Disclaimer: Believe it or not, no money is being made through this as all characters etc that you recognize belong to Madame Rowling. Anything else is, most obviously, property of Egyptian Flame unless stated otherwise. Egyptian Flame does not have an army of lawyers like the aforementioned literary genius but that doesn't mean to say he hasn't got an army…
Chapter 17: The New Minister
Harry spent a lot of time in the Chamber of Secrets, doing some exercises of Magic Control. He sat on the ground with his eyes closed and was surrounded by eight stones that were laid out in a circle around him. The exercise consisted of Harry 'leaking' some of his magic from his core and outwards to the surrounding area, trying to keep it out as long as possible with the objective of levitating the stones. He was in an advanced stage, something that took him nine years to accomplish, where he could push the magic out of his core and onto his surrounding area and levitate the stones for 30 minutes.
These Magic Control exercises helped limit the excessive magic leaked when a spell is performed and helped immensely with wandless magic. Not many wizards had the patience or the knowledge to be completely in control of their magic, something that Dumbledore had in spades.
Dumbledore was one of three wizards in complete control of his magic, a fact that made him feared by dark wizards in general. The other two wizards were Nicolas Flammel, a wizard who had 6 centuries to refine and be in control of his magic, and Tom Riddle, who spent most of his life learning to control it.
The discipline that this technique demanded was enormous and Harry was thankful that they had managed to get the tribe leader to teach them the technique. Harry began another technique linked to this one, where he would throw the levitated stones at a wall but stop it just before it touched the wall. It served the purpose of increasing the speed of magic connecting to Harry's fingertips. He kept repeating the exercise until Salazar came to get him for an Order meeting. It was an uneventful meeting, with reports of Voldemort's quietness, which Harry had predicted in the aftermath of the upgraded wards.
The next couple of days witnessed emergency meetings of the Wizengamot due to the occurrence of Fudge's assassination. Members of the Wizengamot had met several times, discussing the procedures and laws pertaining to the selection of a new minister. Most of the recommended candidates backed down, fearing the lives of their family and loved ones.
People flooded the ministry of magic to provide their votes to the future minister of magic. In an act to increase the support of their candidate, Harry and Dumbledore made their way to the Headquarters of the Daily prophet, making a remarkable entrance and leaving most people in awe at seeing the two famous wizards in one place.
The interviews took about an hour, in which they supported Rufus Scrimgeour and announced that they had voted for him. The news of the interview circulated every corner of the wizarding world in no time, providing the right incentive for some people to change their minds and their votes.
By Tuesday morning, Rufus Scrimgeour was easily elected Minister of Magic and immediately rushed in the next day. Harry and Dumbledore were satisfied as they heard the results of the elections but someone else was not satisfied in one bit. In fact, he was so enraged that the messenger, who delivered the news, had his skin melt and a killing curse to the chest.
An owl carrying the ministry seal approached Harry a few days after the new minister was sworn in asking Harry for a meeting. Harry had replied with an invitation to have the meeting in Dumbledore's office in the afternoon.
Harry sat in Dumbledore's office, talking about some wards that Harry had created in the past and about some charms that Harry invented that were used in modern world.
"You have to apply some potions on the ground surrounding the house. This ward is much like the Fidelius in its casting, but not all people in the past were proficient in runes. The potions are a substitute, although they are weaker than when a wizard is using runes," explained Harry, but stopped when a knock on the door interrupted his explanation to Dumbledore, who sat paying attention like a Ravenclaw student.
"Enter," said Dumbledore loudly.
Harry's first thought was that Scrimgeour looked like an old lion. There were streaks of gray in his mane of tawny hair and his bushy eyebrows; he had keen yellowish eyes behind a pair of wire-rimmed spectacles and a certain rangy loping grace even though he walked with a slight limp.
"Good afternoon gentlemen," said Scrimgeour as he closed the door behind him. Harry could see two Aurors stationed outside the door and cast a silencing charm so that their conversation remained private. The minister's eyes scanned the room shortly for any threats, before extending his hand to Harry.
"Mr. Potter, it is a pleasure to meet you," said Rufus politely and turned to Dumbledore, who was watching with amusement as Scrimgeour's expression turned sour for a split second before he nodded and said, "Dumbledore."
"Minister Scrimgeour, welcome to Hogwarts," said Dumbledore pleasantly. "Please have a seat, lemon drop?" The new minister ignored Dumbledore's pleasantries, leading Harry to believe that Dumbledore had already spoken with the new minister before.
"First of all, let me offer my congratulations on your election. Although it is sad that Fudge was lost to assassination, we needed a new minister who had the ability to respond to the current situation in the wizarding world," said Harry cheerfully, though Dumbledore could tell that he was suppressing a laugh at the false persona.
"Thank you Mr. Potter," said Rufus Scrimgeour grinning at Harry. "It is, of course, an honor that the Wizengamot nominated me as one of the candidates. I wanted to thank you for backing me up, as it was mostly your support that got me the most votes." Dumbledore was rolling his eyes as if to say 'suck up'. Harry held back a chuckle as he listened to Rufus Scrimgeour ramble a little.
"What's your purpose of this visit, Minister? Surely, you are not here to thank us for supporting you or having the pleasure of meeting me. I have classes to teach so if you would please get to the point, I would be grateful," said Harry. Scrimgeour's attitude changed to formal as he gathered an answer in his mind to reply to Harry's question.
"The rumors that have flown around!" said Scrimgeour. "Well, there are all these whispers of a prophecy being smashed in the Hall of Prophecies, and of you being the 'Chosen One'…"
"I thought you were too old to believe rumors and gossips, Minister," said Harry raising an eyebrow. It was, perhaps, the first time the Daily prophet got the rumors right. The minister blushed at Harry's exclamation and replied heatedly.
"People believe you are the Chosen One," said Scrimgeour. "The point is that you are a symbol of hope for the people. The idea that there is somebody out there who might be able, even destined, to destroy the Dark Lord would give people hope and lift their spirits. I feel that you realize that it is almost a duty to stand alongside the Ministry of Magic and give everyone a boast."
"So basically, you want me to be the scapegoat of the ministry. I would go and make an appearance as if I'm working for the ministry," said Harry coldly, stroking the edge of his wand.
"It would give the people a lift to think you are more involved, Harry," said Scrimgeour almost desperately.
"I don't remember giving you the permission to call me by my first name, minister. If I do what you want then it would be seen as if I approve of what the ministry is doing, something which is far from true. You seem cleverer than Fudge was, Scrimgeour, and I thought you would have learned from his mistakes." Dumbledore chose that moment to interfere, having left Harry to settle the meeting himself with his own chosen path.
"I think Mr. Potter was clear about his answer, Rufus, something of which I've told you in our meeting earlier. My advice is, if you want the ministry to be in a better light, do something positive, not imprisoning innocent citizens for the sake of calming the public!" said Dumbledore with a tone that sent chills down the minister's spine. Harry, on the other hand, used a little legilimency to know what Dumbledore was talking about and his anger surfaced at what he found.
"You think Stan is a Death Eater? That's pathetic. If you'd checked him, you would have known that he is no Death Eater with a little Veritaserum, which the ministry happens to forget when dealing with wrongfully accused citizens," said Harry angrily. The pain of his godfather's death was always there, beneath the surface, simmering softly and waiting for a chance to erupt.
"The ministry would never imprison innocent citizens," replied Scrimgeour imperiously.
"I fail to see the records of a trial for Sirius Black before he was chucked in Azkaban. The ministry didn't even use Veritaserum since they knew that nothing would come out of Sirius Black's mouth that would prove him guilty. Don't argue about things you have no prior knowledge about, minister."
"You refuse to aid the ministry?" asked Scrimgeour.
"I think we already covered this subject, Minister, this meeting is over." The minister shot Harry a glare before storming out of the Headmaster's office, leaving two laughing wizards.
Harry and Salazar sat in Harry's office, having tea and talking about everything that happened in their lives. Salazar couldn't have dreamed that in any lifetime he would time travel to the future and do all of the things they had done. He could still remember the boy who mysteriously appeared in front of his house, unconscious and malnourished. Nobody would have ever guessed that Harry would evolve through hardships into the powerful and respected wizard who sat in front of him. He would have traded his whole family in a second, if it had meant meeting Harry earlier in life.
"What's on your mind, Sal?" asked Harry as he took a sip from his coffee.
"It's nothing of importance, brother. I wish to ask you something," said Salazar conversationally. Harry nodded for him to continue, putting his fork down as he finished his own breakfast.
"When in the bloody hell are you going to ask Rowena to marry you?" asked Salazar impatiently. Harry raised an eyebrow and calmly asked.
"What brought this on, Sal?"
"What brought this on, Harry, is that Rowena had left her life, family, friends, and everything else of importance to follow you to the future and be by your side. You are in love with her and you are her world," said Salazar smoothly. "When the hell are you going to grow up and ask her?"
"Although I'm grateful and thankful for you being here, Sal, I never asked you to follow me to the future. I never had the choice of returning to the future or staying in the past or I would have done so in the first place. I have a destiny to fulfill and a powerful evil mage who will not let me have a peaceful moment and will not hesitate to kill my loved ones, just to see me get hurt.
"I love Rowena with all my heart and I intend to marry her, but not before I destroy Tom Riddle. I could never have a complete, peaceful life with him alive and he could never have the complete domination with me in his way."
"Why not marrying her and completing your destiny?"
"I intend to marry Rowena Ravenclaw, not Rowena Morgan. The truth will come out soon after Tom is dead and I'll have a safe life in which to marry and raise my children. I don't want anyone to be born in the age of darkness created by a psychopath," said Harry solemnly.
"She came here for you, Harry, and I don't think she will be satisfied with the girlfriend status for long," said Salazar softly, before smirking.
"I knew you couldn't handle the fluffy love talk for long before that smirk would resurface," said Harry grinning.
"Well, I'm Salazar Slytherin after all, the supposed Dark Lord extraordinaire. I have a reputation to uphold," said Salazar with a sneer.
"I didn't know you're such a softie Slytherin," said Harry teasingly with a chuckle.
"Shut up, Potter."
"So, what's up with you and Bella? You spend a lot of time lip-locked," said Harry teasingly. Salazar blushed a little before smirking at Harry. "At least we are decent in doing it and not tearing each other's clothes apart." This time, Harry's blush was apparent.
"I really need to learn a good memory charm that works on annoying Slytherins," said Harry as Salazar laughed coolly.
"I've grown fond of Bellatrix during the time we've spent together," admitted Salazar. Harry rolled his eyes at his blood brother and replied. "What's wrong with you people and long sentences. Can't you just say 'I like her' and get on to the next sentence?"
"I'm sorry, Harry, I know you're brain is confused when I say complicated sentences and long words," mocked Salazar with a smirk.
"Suit yourself, Slytherin, so are you and Bella an item now?" asked Harry excitedly.
"The giggly gossip talk that you're attempting isn't going to work on me," said Slytherin imperiously as Harry rolled his eyes again.
"Fine, Slytherin. I'm going to my classroom since I have sixth year Gryffindors and Ravenclaws class to teach," said Harry, standing up and clearing the table with a wave of his wand. Salazar picked the Daily Prophet making Harry sigh in annoyance and gather his lesson plans to prepare for the upcoming class.
He arrived to find the class full of the students, with Ron and Hermione sitting in the front, waiting eagerly for Harry to begin the lesson. They have learned many things since Harry had begun teaching and to say that Harry had a hard time having them catch up was an understatement.
"Good morning class," began Harry.
"Good morning Professor Potter." They always did that to annoy him, seeing as that was how they responded to Umbridge the year before, or to Harry's inner clock, 10 years ago.
"Today, I'm going to teach you two useful spells that Aurors always use to apprehend a criminal. The first spell is Capio aggredior.I want you all to repeat the incantation until you pronounce it right. Very good. Now, the wand movements are like this," said Harry, showing them a complicated wand movement.
A bright white beam flew from Harry's wand towards Seamus, who was drawing on a piece of parchment. As if by magic, two bracelets appeared on his wrists and two others on around his ankles and attached. The bracelets were attracted like a magnet to its counter part on the other limb and the ones on the wrist connected themselves around his back.
The other students laughed while Seamus glared at Harry for suddenly cuffing him like a criminal but blushed when Harry summoned the parchment he was drawing on, which held a picture of Lavender Brown. Harry smiled softly and returned his attention to the class.
"Pay attention, Seamus and collect the parchment after class. What I teach you in this class may save your life or help you in whatever career you hope for in your future. It may also save you from the Death Eaters, if they ever have the chance to attack you."
Seamus nodded his head as he saw the disappointment in Harry's eyes but sighed in relief when the handcuffs disappeared. The students kept repeating the incantations and memorizing the wand movements but Harry knew that Hermione would succeed in doing the spell quick enough.
"Miss Granger, why don't you give me a demonstration of your spell?" said Harry as Hermione was bouncing on her seat in excitement with her hand raised high. She sprang from her seat and came to the front, standing and facing Harry with her wand held high.
"Capio aggredior,"shouted Hermione, waving her wand in a perfect motion. The white beam sprang from her wand and hit Harry, but had no effect whatsoever. Hermione frowned and looked almost near tears as she failed to perform the spell.
"The wand motion is perfect and the pronunciation is superb but you are visualizing the wrong effects, Hermione. What are you willing your spell to do?" asked Harry patiently.
"I…I visualize your hands being bound together and the same with your ankles," said Hermione frowning in confusion. Harry chuckled and Hermione glared at him, thinking he was laughing at seeing the bookworm, Hermione Granger, not performing a spell on her first try.
"It's a difficult spell Hermione, but you are forgetting one main thing. This spell is based on two fields: conjuration and charms," said Harry but stopped as he saw comprehension dawning on his best friend. She raised her wand once more and performed the spell but this time, cuffs appeared on Harry's arms and legs in the same way that happened with Seamus. Hermione squealed happily, forgetting to remove the cuffs from her Professor.
"If you would be so kind, Hermione, my back is killing me," said Harry, clearing his throat. Hermione blushed prettily and performed a 'Finite Incantatem' but nothing happened.
"There is a countercharm for this one. The incantation is Eximo adstringo and the motion is a clockwise circle and anti-clockwise half circle." This time, Hermione performed it on her first try, relieving Harry of the bind. He turned to the rest of the students and walked around helping the students, while Hermione helped others.
"Hermione did it wrong at first, because she assumed that the bracelets were part of the spell and only concentrated on the effects of the bracelets. This spell is based on conjuring the bracelets on the person's limbs, charming the wrists together like a magnet and the direction of the hand wrists connecting, either backward or forward," explained Harry to the rest of the students.
"The other spell I intend to teach you is an anti apparation jinx. The incantation is Occurro Contra Peragro. It has a long incantation, so it is best to perform on a bound person or nonverbally so the person is not aware of it. An Auror developed it long ago when he realized that applying anti-apparation wards to prevent one criminal from escaping was tiring as well as next to impossible to do in time. Its counterjinx is Solvo Subiungo."
The lesson soon came to an end and Harry started to gather his papers when Fawkes appeared in a flash of flames with a paper clutched in his beak. Harry saw the familiar writing of the Headmaster on the note and dread filled him, as the Headmaster never sends post with Fawkes except in emergencies.
Harry,
Death Eaters are attacking the cities of Yorkshire, Manchester, Liverpool, and London. You are needed in Yorkshire since I am heading for Manchester and I've sent Salazar and some of the Order to Liverpool and the Ministry Aurors are headed for London. Remus Lupin, Nymphadora Tonks, and Dedalus Diggle are the only ones who will accompany you since we have none other to spare. Please take care, Harry, and if Voldemort is present, stall him long enough for the others to escape but do not endanger yourself. He is still unbeatable.
Albus Dumbledore.
Ps: This note is a portkey and the activation word is Help.
Harry paled and disappeared to his room to gather his battle equipments. He noticed the absence of Rowena and hoped the Dumbledore hadn't sent her to battle. Making sure that he is ready, he whispered the activation key and felt a tug on his navel, signaling the activation of the portkey.
He arrived to find three wands pointed at him and relaxed when he recognized his three companions, Lupin, Tonks, and Diggle. He nodded to them in greeting and looked around to find himself in an alley and his ears detected the screams and explosions. Death Eaters roamed the village, killing and torturing the helpless people unfortunate enough to stand in their way.
They appeared to be around 60 Death Eaters in the alley and Harry wondered when Voldemort had the time to recruit all of them. Harry recognized most of the Death Eaters were newbies, with only 10 or so old Death Eaters. Harry's fury gathered up as he saw butchered bodies of young children littered around everywhere and the laugh of delight on the Death Eaters.
'Cado Ictus,' thought Harry, bringing his wand down like a hammer. Three bolts of lighting fell from the sky in an angry light beam, hitting three Death Eaters torturing a little girl with the Cruciatus. The Death Eaters exploded in a shower of blood. A beam of green light barely brushed his ear as he gained the attention of other Death Eaters.
Remus, Tonks, and Diggle seemed to hold their own against a large group of Death Eaters, but Diggle was bleeding from his left arm, having been hit with a mild cutting curse. Harry slashed his wand, aiming it towards the group fighting with the order members and muttered.
"Trucido aliquantus"
Several heads exploded in a shower of organs as the massive organ-exploding curse reached its target. A scream brought Harry's attention to a corner of the village were a young girl was being raped. Harry's wand glowed bright green as he angrily flicked the tip of his wand in a large sweeping motion. The Death Eater flew rapidly into the wall near him, his expression turning from pleasure to pain in a matter of moments.
"Crucio," bellowed Harry as he poured all of his anger into the spell. The familiar crimson beam erupted from Harry's wand and soared rapidly the air towards the molesting Death Eater, hitting him squarely in the chest as he tried to get up. The high-pitched screams were familiar to Harry and in a split of a second, a maniacal grin threatened to split his face apart.
As Harry had thought, Rudolphus Lestrange writhed on the ground as pain that not even his master was able to produce flowed through his veins, setting them on fire as thousands of hot knives seemingly drove themselves into his skin. His screams were so horrible that all action around them ceased as they watched as one of Voldemort's Inner Circle being tortured with the Cruciatus curse.
Harry was sure that Rudolphus Lestrange's mind had snapped under the strain of the Cruciatus. The remaining Death Eaters began firing curses towards Harry as they saw their fellow Death Eater tortured to insanity. Harry dodged and rolled to the side, a few curses missing him by inches.
"Imperio," muttered Harry, pointing at one of the Death Eaters. A transparent beam wrapped itself around the Death Eater's mind, creating a mind link associated with the Imperius Curse.
'Kill your allies,' ordered Harry, watching satisfied as the controlled Death Eater began firing killing curses at the others. He was quickly brought down, but not before killing many Death Eaters with him and allowing Remus, Tonks, and Kingsley to attack ruthlessly.
Harry waved his wand at some stones next to him, changing them to sharp knives and waited until some Death Eaters moved forward as they sent their curses.
'Waddiwasi,' thought Harry. Death Eaters screamed as hundreds of knives rapidly embedded themselves in their bodies, courtesy of the banishing charm. The rest of the Death Eaters knew that they were losing and wisely apparated away to face their master's punishment.
Harry walked towards his companions, stepping through rubbles and dead bodies of the citizens of the unfortunate village. He couldn't comprehend how someone could be so cruel as to torture and rape innocent children, destroying happy homes of people who had never crossed paths with Voldemort or provoked his wrath.
"Is anyone hurt?" asked Harry as he approached the group. Kingsley had a few scratches and bruises and Tonks had taken a bone-breaking hex to her left wrist. Remus looked uninjured but fatigued as he held the return portkey, which would take them to Dumbledore's office.
They appeared in the Headmaster's office to find Madam Pomfrey treating Dumbledore's hand, which looked to have been hit with several curses and the others who went to the different locations of the multiple attacks including Salazar and Rowena who looked fine. Everyone looked grave and some order members were even crying which led Harry's stomach to do back flips from worrying, as he feared the worst. He was about to ask what happened when McGonagall entered the office with none other than Hermione beside her.
"Ms. Granger, Hermione, please have a seat," said Dumbledore wearily. Hermione's face had a look of confusion as she entered and looked around the bloodied and sad faces of the Order members and sat down on the offered chair. Harry didn't have to use legilimency to know what happened as he moved beside Hermione and wrapped his arms around her.
"Professor McGonagall said you wanted to see me Professor," said Hermione as she looked around in concern at some injured members, then back at Harry with confusion.
"What's going on, Harry?"
"It is with deepest regrets that I give you this news; Hermione, your parents are dead."
