Chapter 2

For over a week Harry failed to get any new signatures for his petition. With the new requirement that signers provide identifying information, only Dumbledore, Snape, the Weasleys, and Neville put their names on the magic parchment. Two days later, at around midnight, Neville's home was burned to the ground in a deliberate arson and Neville was found laying in the middle of the street suffering from a Cruciatus curse. The next night a fire began at the Burrow and was fortunately extinguished before it did major damage.

Three days after the fire at the Burrow, the next edition of The Quibbler came out. Most of The Quibbler was boilerplate, but in the back there was an editorial supporting Harry's campaign. That night the Lovegood residence burned as well, and Mr. Lovegood also suffered a Cruciatus curse.

The message to the public was clear: Don't support Harry's campaign!

Meanwhile, Scrimgeour was again plotting with the Death Eaters for the next part of the election.

"What we need," Scrimgeour thought aloud, "is photographs of Potter or his friends in embarrassing situations. Something, perhaps, like Potter wearing a bikini."

"The difficulty then would be creating these pictures without actually picturing Potter," Lucius said. "If we were to Imperio him, he would know after the fact."

"Polyjuice potion?" Draco suggested.

"Very smart idea, son. All we'll need is a hair from Potter and each of his friends."

"How will we get that?"

"We'll go at night. Bellatrix, you could use a broomstick and go to the Weasley house. Use Silencing charms, open the windows, cut the hair, and escape. Draco, you do the same at Longbottom's house. I will gather the rest of the ingredients for the Polyjuice. It will require a month to brew."

As the August 13 deadline approached, Harry finally settled on a brilliant maneuver. He posted his petition again, this time on the wall of The Leaky Cauldron, and next to it placed a second parchment offering the protection of the Order of the Phoenix to anyone who wished to sign the petition. Within one day he acquired the signatures and turned over the petition to the Ministry. Even though sixteen of the signers were murdered by the next morning, he had gotten almost six hundred signatures, so he still had enough to legallyqualify.

Rufus Scrimgeour purchased several full-page advertisements in the Daily Prophetfor his campaign,trumpeting Scrimgeour's age and experience over Harry's youth and lack of knowledge about matters of state. The Daily Prophet also spread a rumor that Harry was gay; he vigorously denied this, and the accusations had little effect on the campaign. The Quibbler opinion polls still showed Harry Potter slightly ahead, with 45 percent support versus 38 percent for Scrimgeour.

However, a week later, Lucius was standing over a cauldron of Polyjuice potion. He poured some into two vials, one for Rodolphus and one for Bellatrix. In Rodolphus's vial he placed a length of hair that Bellatrix had earlier cut from Ron's head; Bellatrix's potion used a hair from Ginny. Lucius wasn't as good as Snape in potion making, but the potion worked. Rodolphus gagged as he swallowed the foul-tasting potion.

"Now what?" he asked, looking at his new, younger-looking body.

"Make out so that we can get some photographs," Lucius said. "Make it realistic, just the same as if you hadn't taken the potion. We'll send the pictures to Rita Skeeter. It should be enough to get some nasty rumors swirling around Potter's camp."

Draco held up a camera. Rodolphus embraced Bellatrix and kissed her deeply, closing his eyes and imagining his own wife in front of him. He ran his tongue along the seam of her lips, and she opened to allow him entry. As he thrust his tongue into her mouth Draco started to snap a series of photographs, spaced a few seconds apart. Rodolphus pulled off Bellatrix's robe and started to unbutton her shirt, and she did the same to him while Draco kept photographing. In one minute he had fifteen photographs.

"Okay, that's enough for our purposes," Lucius said loudly. The Death Eater couple broke apart. "Develop the photographs and send them on their way."

Following the instructions Draco had forced Colin Creevey to write for him, the Death Eater developed the film from the camera. The result was breathtaking: fifteen splendid color photographs showing what seemed to be Ron and Ginny Weasley, lips locked together in a passionate embrace. They picked out a few of the best ones and delivered them to the Daily Prophet's office.

Harry and his friends didn't know this. The next morning, Harry, Ron, and Ginny saw Mr. and Mrs. Weasley both unconscious, slumped on the dining table over an unfolded copy of the Daily Prophet.

"Mum! Dad! What's happened? Wake up, please!" Ron, Harry, and Ginny rushed to the table: a severe mistake. When they reached the table, they saw the large front-page photograph of "Ron" and "Ginny" kissing. Ron and Ginny both promptly fainted, which allowed Harry, standing behind them, to get a glance at the paper. When he recognized the figures in the picture, his eyeballs rolled back in their sockets and he, too, collapsed unconscious.

About ten minutes later, Hermione, Luna, and Neville flooed into the Burrow, just as they had arranged the previous day. Hermione and Neville rushed to see what had happened to their friends, but the shock of the picture was so great that they only ended up joining their friends on the floor.

It was as if the Daily Prophet had a stunning spell on it: everyone who saw it fainted immediately. With this in mind, Luna (now the only person standing in the Burrow) warily approached the area, checking for any hidden traps. When she didn't see any, she glanced at the paper. It caught her attention, but she was one of the few who weren't knocked out by the shock.