DISCLAIMER! This Harry Potter story was written for fun. All rights belong to the wonderful lady (JK Rowling) who gave the world Harry Potter to read and enjoy. Fanfiction is a great place to stretch your imagination and enjoy someone else's creativity!
Chapter 13: True Results and ConsequencesThe day after the students left Hogwarts at the end of the year, the staff gathered for a final lunch before dispersing until the middle of August. Minerva and Albus would remain in the castle until early in July before departing for some well-deserved rest. Minerva never bothered with the calendar Albus kept – she'd return to Hogwarts for a fortnight. Then she would make the mandatory home visits to muggle-born.
The rumours of war with the French had filtered through the floo and that explained Dumbledore's absence. The arrival of Madam Griselda Marchbanks and her demands to speak with Albus Dumbledore were mildly entertaining for some and distracting for the rest.
Griselda demanded, "Where is that worthless wizard? He's dodged my owls, clogged my floo, and made me walk all the way from Hogsmeade to this drafty castle trying to find him!"
"What is the problem, Madam Marchbanks?" asked Hooch, drinking her tea that had long gone cold listening to the woman's diatribe.
"We've got the worst examination results for NEWTS, OWLS, and the other years in more than fifty years! 1944 was the last time tests were this bad! Sixty-five percent of students must repeat the past year at Hogwarts and all of them must take the tests again!"
Shocked to hear this news, McGonagall asked, "What's wrong with the test results?"
"The practical portions of all the exams are weak but the written portions are all a spoiled potion poured into a cracked cauldron! The purebloods in years four through seven failed! Every last one of them!"
"Did all the students fail this badly?" asked Filius Flitwick as he reviewed the written report.
"No, the muddies…the muggle-born did somewhat better. They're among the thirty-five percent that passed. But every pureblood and half-blood living in Magical Britain failed the theory and written application portions of the examinations."
"That's very strange!" McGonagall admitted, hiding her shock. These poor grades reflected poorly on her instruction as well as the entire faculty.
Flitwick agreed and added, "Student essays and homework were graded with exceeds expectations across the board for most of the year. Starting in November, everyone had great homework essays. With all the demands for the tournament, I never gave it a thought."
"That's true," Pomona Sprout agreed. "Even the Headmaster from Durmstrang and Headmistress from Beauxbatons said their students exceeded expectations in written essays."
"Well, something didn't take!" Marchbanks fussed. "The Wizengamot is going to demand the heads of everyone when they discover every student in the upper years has to repeat the past year! Not to mention the delays for students not entering apprenticeships. We'll all be lucky to not be in Azkaban for a month or two!"
"What! Surely Not! Everyone?"
"Well, not Hooch who just teaches the kiddies to fly, or Tonks who teaches potions," Marchbanks admitted. "But the rest of you will!"
Filius Flitwick rose, his wand in his hand and shouted, "Alright, Sirius Black! This prank has gone too far! Are you glamoured or in Polyjuice knickers pretending to be Marchbanks!"
The elderly witch hissed and declared, "Filius Flitwick, I suggest you run back to the goblin halls and hide for the next ten years! If I get my wand on you, I don't care how many European championships you hold, I'll skin you and use your hide for new shoes!"
Revising Test ResultsGrabbing the test results from Marchbanks' hand, McGonagall read them twice, drank some tea and then announced, "Griselda's doom and gloom are mostly correct. All students in years one through three have normal scores. Only one third-year student failed her examinations."
"Who?" asked Andromeda Tonks. The potions professor was packed and ready to escape from Hogwarts for the next six weeks.
"Ginevra Weasley passed potions but received a troll in every other class. I knew she didn't practice spell casting enough, but her essays were always Acceptable and occasionally Exceeds Expectations," Minerva revealed.
"How did the fourth year do?" asked Pomona.
"There are a few purebloods who did well – Greengrass, McMillian, Bones, Abbot, Longbottom. Half-bloods that passed are Davis and Potter. And Granger had a mixture of Outstanding and Exceeds Expectations."
"They were part of Potter's study group, weren't they?"
"That was Susan's study group," Pomona insisted.
Flitwick frowned, "Our seventh-year students will all have to take their NEWTs again. There's not a single outstanding in the class."
"How did the potions exams go?" asked Andromeda.
"Your potions exams are the only shining cauldron in the upper years," Marchbanks admitted. "The grades are better than last year with Severus as the professor."
"Griselda, have the governors seen this report yet?" asked Minerva.
"They got it yesterday. Most probably won't look at it before today and then they'll begin shouting for Dumbledore's head. And yours too. I know my head is already on the chopping block."
Flitwick left the table without another word to anyone and departed for his vacation travelling around the duelling circuit in Europe and the Middle East a few hours early. The other teachers made excuses to leave the table and depart from Hogwarts as quickly as possible.
"Thank you for the warning, Griselda," Minerva told Marchbanks.
"I came to yell at Albus, fool that he is!" Marchbanks replied. "Now, where is he? The whole Wizengamot is going to blame someone and if I know that wizard, he'll manage to shift the blame to you or me!"
26 June 1995 Dwarves and Pence in ZurichThe first morning in Zurich, Harry and Padfoot played ball on the lawn behind the hotel for an hour before Remus came for him and they went to a meeting with several officials that included witches, wizards, goblins, and dwarves.
Since this was only the eighty-third time that Remus had made the presentation, he anticipated many of the questions and led the audience where they needed to go. A demonstration of a new application called a 'spreadsheet' left the goblins chattering excitedly while the dwarves muttered about using such things as muggle mathematics rules and symbols to achieve sums. The 'formatting' capabilities left the goblins dancing in their chairs and irritated the dwarves.
With a computer, monitor, and printer set up and demonstrated to work in the magical environment of the ICW office, Remus was asked multiple questions about his runes and how they functioned in magical and non-magical environments.
"And the runes are not all mine," Remus reminded them. "A lot of the theory and original work was done in conjunction with James Fleamont Potter and Lily Marie Potter."
"These Potters…where are they?" asked a voice. Harry looked at the dwarf who asked the question and made a sour face that drew the attention of the dwarf and everyone else in the room.
"The Potters were my parents."
"And why are they not present?"
Caught off guard by the question, Remus and the adult wizards remained silent while Harry replied, "They were murdered on Halloween 1981."
"Why is this child here?" asked the same dwarf who now was the centre of attention.
"This is Harry James Potter," Remus told the dwarf. "He owns half of the patents runes that run the computer, monitor and printer. He also created the spell to convert regular paper into parchment and to change the block printing into the quill script."
"Useless spells," the dwarf replied, ignoring the frowns on the faces of the goblins and wizards.
Padfoot growled and the dwarf sneered before Remus continued, "Young Mister Potter also invited the magic mirror spell to scan induvial pages into the computer memory and then to scan entire documents into the computer."
"All in English, no doubt," the dwarf replied.
One of the goblins laughed at the dwarf and made a comment about how difficult it was to teach dwarves to walk and talk at the same time. The meeting deteriorated from there with a dwarf pulling his battle axe from some hidden location and leaping onto the table to rush forward. The goblins reacted in a similar fashion while Remus and Harry were jerked away from the conference room by Dobby.
"What was that?" Remus demanded of the ICW wizard who came to check on them. The man was disconcerted to discover he could not get any closer than ten feet. The visitor was surprised to see the computer, monitor and printer also sitting in the guest rooms of the visitors.
"We underestimated the lingering animosity between the dwarves and goblins," the man admitted. "It was hoped the excitement of your technological breakthrough would help overcome the centuries of…strife between the two races."
Dobby popped into the room and said, "Mr ICW Wizard also wants to steal runes! He knows dwarves wants to steal runes to makes galleons and they pay him lots of gold for runes!"
Remus shook his head and said, "Don't worry Dobby. The spells on the runes protect them from being copied. Mr Lancing here can stare at them all day long but until he signs a manufacturer's agreement that guarantees payments to Gringotts London for every use of the runes, he can't even draw the image on a sheet of parchment."
"The next meetings will be only goblins or dwarves."
"Nope," Remus said. "Dwarves have to sit at least ten feet away and only one of them is allowed to address me with questions after the individual who insulted my nephew has apologized. Otherwise, we're only doing business with the goblins around the world."
When Madam Pence arrived after lunch, she fussed at Remus, "Britain is already at war with France and the ICW! Are you wanting to start a war with the dwarves too!"
The dwarf made a formal apology before supper that afternoon and immediately left the conference. The goblins were quiet and well-behaved in their meetings with Remus and Harry for the next three days. The lawyers pushed their way to the forefront when negotiations began and several wizards from Austria and Germany visited with Remus privately to heal the breach caused by the dwarf.
Unhappy but forced to accept the terms that Remus and Harry agreed to, the dwarves were allowed to purchase manufacturer licenses at a rate three percent higher than the goblins. and t
Harry spent his free time teaching Madam Pence how to scan documents into the computer's memory, and how to access the files stored there. Then he introduced her to the idea of using the word processor application to write a new paper or letter. The librarian spent an entire night reading a few computer guides and experimenting on writing. Then she discovered the different fonts and sizes of type available.
"This is like magic!" she gushed at breakfast where Dobby made her drink a pepper up potion. "Hogwarts library will be available to every student all the time…of course Dumbledore will not agree."
I want fifty computers monitors and printers in the library. The elves can use a couple reading rooms…or should I put them in the hallway leading to the library? Mr Potter, I'm going to make you a library prefect and steal your free time.
Hogwarts will agree. She's got plans for me next year."
"Maybe we should get a hundred computers and printers?"
Remus sat back and began playing with the idea of multiple printers sharing a printer.
Harry said, "Remember, Hogwarts plans to make some changes."
DATE: 29 June 1995 Fall of Ministry for MagicIt was midmorning, when everyone in the British Ministry for Magic stopped what they were doing when they felt the anti-apparition wards rise suddenly and with extreme power. People rose from their chairs in the Wizengamot where an emergency session had continued through the night with arguments about how to handle the 'war'. No one believed the French or the ICW would invade Britain. No one had succeeded in an invasion of the British Isles in a thousand years!
Several persons attempted to flee via portkeys. While the devices did activate, the bearer was shunted off to a secure facility on the Isle of Man. This facility was manned by soldiers from Her Majesty's Armed Forces and the arrival of unconscious wizards and witches triggered protocols for removing all wands, jewellery, and other magical devices as well as all clothing (robes, shoes, underclothes, hair ribbons, pins, etc.) Upon waking naturally, the wizards and witches began screaming but, in each case, fire hoses blasting the screamers with cold water proved to be effective in subduing the prisoners. Instructed to dress and then proceed to an interview room, the prisoners once again began screaming and the hoses were brought out again.
In three cases, wizards suffered heart failure and several witches continually fainted. Medical personnel were summoned and treated the ailments of the witches and wizards appropriately but did nothing to improve their behaviour. It would be three days before the fifty-four wizards and witches could be processed properly. The invasion was complete and done at the end of the second day as more and more prisoners arrived at the camp via muggle flying contraptions (helicopters).
In the Ministry for Magic underneath a car park in London, Muggle-born soldiers entered the ministry via the telephone booth and their weapons put wizards and witches on the ground – in some cases permanently. Aurors from the ICW and France seized control of key rooms that shut down the floo system and all monitoring devices. The Department of Mysteries had been closed off at the beginning of the attack when a series of muffled explosions threw dust from a thousand stone walls about the ministry.
Calls for surrender by command of Her Majesty the Queen were ignored. With the Wizengamot cut off by fast-moving ICW Aurors, Director Scrimgeour and the last Aurors fought a hopeless rear-guard while Minister Fudge and Undersecretary Diggory escaped into the sewers under London.
In the offices for monitoring excessive use of magic in the British Isles, there was no one monitoring the devices to report the excessive use of magic in the national park that included Hadrian's Wall. British Aurors and Obliviators were not dispatched as most of them were wounded and deprived of their wands. The Ministry for Magic surrendered to the invading muggle-born military officers and soldiers who led the ICW and French Aurors as the last remnants of Tom Riddle's soul dissipated among the ruins of Roman ambitions.
Amos Diggory was abandoned by Fudge and his two guards who rushed through the sewer tunnels never understanding the purpose of the metal ladders placed in the wall every so many metres, or the metal coverings above their heads. Diggory realized he'd been left behind, cursed Cornelius Fudge and then noticed the word EXIT and an arrow pointing up. He climbed up the ladder and used the levitation charm to move the heavy metal plate from the hole. Smiling at his cleverness, Amos scrambled out but never saw the garbage lorry that crushed him into the pavement. Mrs Diggory and Cedric only learned of Mr Diggory's ignoble end three months after his disappearance.
On 1 July 1995, the first edition of the Occupied Britain Daily Prophet was published and carried the Queen's message to her magical subjects that at her request blah, blah, blah. British wizards would never believe that a muggle woman had any power over Magical Britain. The requirement for a binding magical oath also meant nothing to them until they learned of the eighteen wizards and witches who took the oath to receive their wands back and who lost their magic after taking the oath and being handed their wands. The Occupied Britain Daily Prophet carried photographs of the eighteen painful deaths (including the editor of the Daily Prophet who anticipated getting his old job back). Only three wizards and two witches (half-bloods) took the oath the next day.
On 2 July 1995, a contingent of French Aurors and ICW Aurors approached Hogwarts. They were there to set the castle to rights, but Hogwarts took exception to their plans and educated them on the effectiveness of her wards, before sending them packing with painful but non-life-threatening injuries. The castle also expelled the two staff members who remained in the castle after the end of the school year.
Minerva McGonagall found herself with all of her belongings packed into two shrunken trunks on the path to Hogsmeade among the Aurors who retreated from the castle gates. A letter of dismissal was placed in her pocket. Similar letters were dispatched to almost every person who taught at the school. The only professors invited to return for the next school year were Andromeda Tonks (Potions), Rolanda Hooch (Flying), and Pomona Sprout (Herbology). All members of the Board of Governors were dismissed.
The other castle inhabitant expelled was Albus Dumbledore. He appeared with a single trunk of personal belongings. He was delivered wrapped in muggle chains with magical suppression cuffs on his wrists to the Royal Army Command Centre in Windsor where the commanders of the joint forces dealing with Magical Britain met. After receiving assurances of the wizard's return to Britain at an appropriate time in the future (for any appropriate trials), the ICW used a powerful port key to take Dumbledore to Zurich for questioning.
A letter written by Hogwarts was delivered to the queen asking Her Majesty to appoint a muggle-born or half-blood of acceptable educational qualifications to be the new headmaster or headmistress of Hogwarts and a second person to be the deputy. The castle provided an extensive list of suitable candidates along with their CVs and an apology for imposing on the Queen's commitments, but the castle felt it imperative to start the next school year with a new staff in September.
The ministry's records of the examination results (general, OWL and NEWT) were released in the Occupied Britain Daily Prophet on 4 July 1995.
Only 5 July 1995, Amelia Bones took the new oath of allegiance to the Crown and Her Majesty's Government. While she was not promised any role in the new government, Amelia Bones spent the whole summer meeting with British witches and wizards trying to convince them to change their minds about magical superiority and take the oath. She never forced anyone to take the oath and while many did take the oath and live, a few still did not survive.
Date: 5 July 1995 Dumbledore's GambitAfter two intense days of questioning by ICW officials and Unspeakables, Albus Dumbledore began to worry that he would never return to Britain and his seat of power. The Elder Wand was kaput! Upon awakening in a guest room in Zurich (with bars on the windows and several guards outside the door), he quickly searched through his belongings. His portkeys to carry him to Hogwarts or to Hogsmeade were missing. As were his spectacles, hairpins (with charms to make him appear taller), and shoes (also with charms to make his footsteps silent and make him appear taller). The charms on his robes were disabled and so no one would be mesmerized by his platitudes on forgiveness and second chances.
When Albus found his wand among his robes, he rejoiced, thinking he could use it to charm, confundus, notice-me-not, and obliviate his way of the ICW headquarters. He couldn't know the last drops of magic fell from the tip of the elder wand as Hogwarts pushed him through the wards and into the waiting arms of the ICW Aurors outside the gates. Minerva was allowed to go her way, but Albus was taken to some muggle army camp and then sent to Zurich using a powerful port key (that left the old wizard asleep for almost four hours).
The questioning by old colleagues in the ICW was contentious – Albus never saw any reason to provide a straight answer to even the simplest of questions. After several sessions, Albus believed he had managed to confuse every issue and raise enough doubts that he would have to be released. On the afternoon of 5 July, learning the ICW did not take the threat of Dark Lord Coq seriously and believed Dumbledore was withholding valuable information, Dumbledore overheard his guards saying that Compulsive Veritaserum would be given to the elderly wizard in the evening questioning session. He took the chance of grabbing a wand from one of the guards, blasting the two wizards against the wall in the hallway and then running as quickly as he could to the elevator.
He pressed the button for service and while he realized he had no idea what floor he was on or even if he was above ground, the elevator doors opened to reveal Harry Potter standing there with a black-haired poodle in his arms.
"Harry? Harry my boy, what are you doing here? It isn't safe," Dumbledore said, stepping forward. With the stolen wand in his hand, Dumbledore cast, 'Legilimens.'
The strangest sound Albus Dumbledore had ever heard in his life filled the compartment. The headmaster's mind probe followed the dial-up sounds and the crash of accessing the internet. The headmaster's spell was then captivated by a glimpse of the universe of the impossible.
'I was right!' the consciousness of Albus Dumbledore realized happily. 'I do have another great adventure! Beginning now!'
The guards arrived shortly after the breathing body of Albus Dumbledore dropped to the floor of the elevator. Examination by healers and Unspeakables could find nothing wrong with the wizard except that his consciousness appeared to have left his brain. He wasn't simply unconscious; 'Albus Dumbledore' was gone. Remus and Madam Pence forced Harry behind them as soon as Albus fell, and they told the truth about what had happened. Padfoot growled and refused to allow anyone to touch Harry.
Certified copies of the Witness Statement from Irma Pence were forwarded to the appropriate ICW offices, the Occupation Forces in Magical Britain, and the French Department of Magic to establish what happened to Albus Dumbledore. The statement was factual without explaining more than the headmaster saw a former student, was surprised, and apparently suffered a major stroke that left him lost in his mind. Dumbledore was housed in a quality care facility in Zurich at the expense of the ICW.
Date: 6 July 1995 Last CasualtyThe last casualty of the Magical Anglo-French War of 1995 was the British Minister for Magic. Once he and his Aurors managed to find an exit to walk out of the London sewers they were exhausted and filthy. One Auror attempted to find clean clothing while the other Auror conjured a shower for Minister Fudge. The first Auror returned with muggle clothing and Fudge managed to dress with tears on his cheeks at the shame of 'going muggle'. There were only two shrunken broomsticks between the two Aurors so one wizard flew away from London with Cornelius Fudge. The Auror left behind was arrested by local police officers for vagrancy and he was held in a Scotland Yard facility for two days before being handed over to the military.
There was a merry chase across Britain that remained out of the press, as French Aurors claimed the honour of capturing the wizard who insulted Mademoiselle Delacour so grossly at the end of the Tri-Wizard Championship. His Auror guard was captured outside of Glasgow while Fudge flew north. There followed another day of pursuit with the weary Minister for Magic fuelled by fear of his capture and trial.
With the French Aurors closing on his location in Scotland, Cornelius Fudge attempted to escape from capture. Leaving his lunch on the table at the muggle café, he grabbed his broomstick and skimmed across Loch Ness, attempting to hide his magical signature by flying close to the water. An intrepid war photographer (American) followed along, and his camera captured the end of Cornelius Fudge. A series of photos documented the head and long neck of the mysterious magical creature rising from the waters of Loch Ness. The mouth with sharp teeth approached from behind the minister before it grabbed Cornelius and pulled him under. The end of the minister was displayed in a series of eight photographs on pages 1 and 3 of the Occupied Britain Daily Prophet. The newspaper's headline for the morning was Former Minister Fudge Invited to Lunch.
