To be Whole Again
Last Time
--
He moved through each door instinctively, knowing all the traps and alarms in place, and taking special care not to trigger any of them. How did he know of the alarms? Well, he was from the future, was an Unspeakable field commander, and had a research Unspeakable as his wife.
Harry moved ahead and towards the Hall of Prophecies, where he knew the orbs were kept. As he entered the Hall, he noticed shelves and shelves of Prophecies in the room. The hall filled to the brim with those glass orbs. Making his way to the 1980-1981 year section, he searched for the right Prophecy. Quickly, he swapped the real glass orb with a fake one with a surprise for dear old Tommy, just in case Voldemort got his hands on the prophecy. Harry had every intention of revealing him to the world at the end of the fifth year like it had taken place in the original timeline.
--
Ministry of Magic, London, 2nd August 1995
"Come in." said Fudge in an absent-minded voice and the door opened to reveal the smug face of Lucius Malfoy. "Ah Lucius, what a pleasant surprise. I did not expect you to come to the Ministry until later this evening."
"I felt it was necessary for me to drop by a bit sooner, given all the rumors that have reached me about He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named being alive. I am not sure what Dumbledor is playing at, trying to spread fear and unrest. Through children no less." Lucius said calmly.
"Yes, those rumors need to be silenced and put to rest, we do not want to cause panic among the general public, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named perished that night on Halloween so many years ago. There is absolutely no reason to believe that He is back. Certainly not due to some crazy ramblings of a psychopath like Barty Crouch Jr." Fudge said.
Hearing this Lucius had to try hard to fight off a smile. He had been sent here by the Dark Lord to convince the Minister that Barty Crouch Jr's word could not be reliable and make sure that the Minister was set against the idea of his return. As it turns out the Minister had already set his mind to the fact that a crazy lunatic's confession could not be trusted and was adamant about putting the rumors to rest.
Now the only thing remaining for him to do was to set the Minister against Dumbledore, and considering Fudge's paranoia about Dumbledore aiming for his seat, it would not be so hard to achieve.
"I am not sure what Dumbledore is playing at. It's like he is deliberately trying to cause mass unrest, and fear in the public, and not even thinking about the political or economical ramifications of it. If the public starts believing his words and stops coming out of their house, or worse, starts to relocate to different countries, there would be an economic breakdown, a recession on a scale never seen before, and all this on your watch too Minister. You might even be labeled as the worst Minister of Magic in history despite all you have given to Wizarding Britain over the years." Lucius said while knowing that this would certainly have Fudge worried and looking for guidance, which is exactly where he could brainwash the idiot and have him adamantly oppose Dumbledore.
"Yes, yes. It would be a nightmare! The poor would die of hunger, people would lose their jobs, and companies would start having mass layoffs on a scale never done before! We must stop this! We must stop this at once! And the only way I see is that we have to put those false rumors to rest. But the problem is that Dumbledore is admired and respected by many. Many would still believe in those rumors just because it was Dumbledore saying it. I am not sure how to tackle this." Fudge said, looking all the more worried.
Already his image had taken a hit. First, was the incident during the Quidditch World Cup, which was a PR nightmare, next was the fact that the Boy Who Lived's name came out of the Goblet, which made the Ministry look like complete incompetent buffons. And it did not even stop there, then the judges had the brilliant idea of using that Half-breed champion's sister as a hostage, it would not have made much difference if she was not who she was. The Delacours were pretty powerful and had many connections in the French Ministry of Magic. The changes that had to be done to the existing trade agreements and treaties were not beneficial for Britain but had to be done if they did not want an international-level scandal on their hands.
This is not even taking into account what happened at the end of the tournament. The Boy Who Lived had won the tournament but was portkeyed off to who knows where by a lunatic Death Eater that was impersonating the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher at Hogwarts. It's only by sheer luck that he was able to keep that under wraps if that got out… Fudge shuddered at the implications. Not liking it one bit, and hence, here he was, desperate for any solution and it just so happened that one of his biggest supporters in terms of political power and money was seated in front of him.
"Unless…" Lucius said before he acted a bit hesitant. He wanted Fudge to be the one that asked him for help.
"Unless what Lu-Lord Malfoy? Please, if you have an idea, let's hear it. Coming from such a prominent and upstanding member of the society such as yourself, I have no doubt that it would be greatly beneficial to m.. to the general public." Fudge practically begged for help, switching from Lucius to Lord Malfoy in a second.
"It's a simple rule in politics. If you want to discredit someone's words, then discredit the man speaking them. The Ministry does have influence, considerable influence at that, and were it to just leak some facts about someone and was able to make the public see the truth…" Lucius answered a bit vaguely, making sure that he was not part of any conspiracy that the Minister might think up, so nothing could be linked to him.
Fudge hearing this sat up straight faster than ever before and one could clearly see the gears in his head turning and plans forming.
' I can have the media run a slander campaign on that old coot, and it's not like Rita would need any particular incentive to write up the articles, I could instead help her by letting some information slip, who said it had to be the truth, it just had to be believable enough. Yes, yes, that would work greatly. I could even have him stripped of all his political positions once enough damage has been done to his credibility just to make sure no riots ensue.' Fudge thought.
"I see you have come up with a plan to save the country yet again Minister. One could not expect anything less from you. But with that issue solved, we still have another, much bigger issue at our hands now." Lucius said, which caused Fudge to look at him with a confused expression on his face.
"Dumbledore still is the Headmaster of Hogwarts. You won't be able to remove him from that position, and Hogwarts is a place where children from many prominent families go, along with the next generation that would lead our society, do you really think it's safe to have a man like Dumbledore in charge of what the world's future inheritors learn? I certainly fear for what my son, Draco is learning there. Narcissa is worried sick that she would lose her son to the ramblings of an old man, far past his age." Lucius said. "For all, we know he could be trying to train the students at Hogwarts in combat so he could overthrow the Ministry or something like that."
"Aha! I knew there was a reason why he wanted to hire Moody!" Fudge exclaimed, looking pleased at the theory that Lucius presented to him. It did explain a lot of Dumbledore's actions over the previous years.
"Of course, I'm just speculating Minister, I could be wrong about it after all." Lucius said, but left Fudge enough room to allow him to believe that Dumbledore was against him, fueling the idiotic notion in Fudge's mind that Dumbledore was aiming for his seat as Minister.
"Yes, but you could be onto something Lord Malfoy, I mean Dumbledore's always wanted this job. Yes, he needs to be controlled, for all we know he could be brainwashing those poor children at Hogwarts." Fudge said.
"Perhaps it would be prudent to pass a couple of education decrees that would allow us more power in choosing who will teach Defense Against the Dark Arts. Perhaps a more theoretical approach would be necessary for the future classes, to restrict their ability to rise up and become a threat to the Ministry, and we would have an inside person on the Hogwarts staff that could make sure that our children are in no way being harmed or brainwashed."
"Excellent idea, Lucius." Fudge said with a brightened look.
' Dolores might like this opportunity. She was always good with kids.' Fudge thought.
--
Number Twelve Grimmauld Place, London, 15th August 1995
"And as of yet, he is still remaining silent." Dumbledore said partway through a meeting of the order of the Phoenix. "It is my belief that Voldemort plans to stay in the shadows." He said while ignoring the shivers and flinches from others as he said the Dark Lord's name. "Without any proof of his return, people will not believe us. It will make it easier for him to catch them off guard in the future." He added, frowning deeply.
"That will be made all the more easier by the idiotic baboon we call a Minister." Sirius said, also frowning. Ever since this last week and a half the daily prophet had been releasing a large number of articles that were painting Dumbledore out to be a mad fool who was losing his touch and hold on reality. Just as Harry had predicted, the media was only focusing on discrediting Dumbledore and not him, Sirius did not know why, but that was the case.
' I still can't figure out how Harry was able to predict this. Sometimes I think he has gotten more from Lily than James. Until he starts using muggle prank items to embarrass me. Then he is all James.' Sirius thought while instinctively looking down between his legs on the seat he was sitting on, distinctively remembering the day when he sat on his chair for dinner while he had a wonderful woman sitting in front of him and all of a sudden a loud farting sound rang through the room which sounded like it came from him. It's safe to say that he saw no action that day.
"Indeed" Dumbledore sighed bringing Sirius's attention back to the matter at hand than the revenge he was planning. "Severus, what do you have to report?" Dumbledore asked.
"The Dark Lord has instructed Lucius to stop or at the very least reduce any and all negative press that Potter would receive, and has instructed Lucius to focus on discrediting you, Headmaster." Snape said.
"Why?" One of the Order members asked with a frown.
"Because he does not feel the need to discredit Potter." Snape drawled, glaring at the member for interrupting him. "He believes that trying to discredit both the Headmaster and Potter might cause some of the readers to question the media as both are famous around the world. And since Potter cannot remember anything about the Dark Lord's resurrection, he sees no need to run a similar campaign against Potter like he has Lucius run one for the Headmaster."
"It is as I expected, but it's not all bad news, at least Young Harry would be saved from the trouble and the slander that the media would surely run on him." Dumbledore sighed. "Now, it is late, unless there is anything else to discuss, we should end the meeting here."
"One more thing." Remus quickly spoke before anyone else could agree. "Do we have any idea what the Ministry is planning?" He was not employed by the Ministry, nor was he a prominent figure in the Wizarding World, and hence news about the happenings in the Ministry reaching his ears was a rare occurrence, and he wanted to make the most of this meeting to learn what the Ministry was planning to do in the near future.
"As far as I can tell, Cornelius is hoping to remove me from my positions." Dumbledore responded.
"And you're going to let him?" Molly questioned, scandalized at the thought that anyone could remove the Headmaster from any position in the Wizarding World.
"Fewer jobs for me means more time I have to focus on Voldemort." Dumbledore said with a small smile. "Besides, I have no doubt that I will be offered these positions once again after it has been proven that Voldemort has returned. My focus will primarily be on Hogwarts and tracking Voldemort's movements."
"Headmaster," Kingsley spoke in his deep voice. "You are aware that Fudge will be trying to remove you from Hogwarts as well right?"
"Oh, undoubtedly." Dumbledore nodded. "Though it will take him a very long time to accomplish that. Though a very pressing concern that I have is about their plans for this year, I have received word that Cornelius plans to shove one of his workers into the school."
"The Defense Against the Dark Arts position." Minerva added, already knowing about this particular detail, she was the deputy Headmistress after all.
"Yes. Well, there is nothing we can do about it for now. As reluctant as I am to agree to this, the Ministry does have some hold on Hogwarts." Dumbledore said before standing up, others following him to their feet. "Well, I believe that the meeting is over now."
--
Number Twelve Grimmauld Place, London, 15th August 1995
After listening in on the Order meeting that just took place, Harry made his way towards the room he knew the girls and all their friends were sitting in. He had invited them over for the day just to hang out, they got very little time during the summer with Harry's dueling championship tour and all going on that they were not able to keep in contact, and hence Harry thought it would be a great idea to have a get together before the start of the next school year at Hogwarts.
While on his way he saw an odd sight. Quickly backing up to the corner he had just rounded he peeked around. There was Hannah Abbot, one of his friends who was currently looking towards a dumbfounded-looking Neville Longbottom. Harry was curious as to what was going on, but it would seem he came right at the end as Hannah sauntered off. Poor Neville looked like he did not know what to do, his mouth opening and closing while looking back multiple times at Hannah as she left him alone.
Harry left his hiding spot as he approached the flabbergasted Neville who had failed to notice his approach.
"Hey Neville!" he greeted, and Neville jumped as if someone had just cast the explosion curse right next to his feet.
"H-Harry!" He said, calming down after recognizing Harry who just smiled at him.
"What's going on mate? Someone giving you trouble?" Harry asked. Already knowing what it might have been about. After all, Hannah and Neville had married in the future and given him a goddaughter to spoil.
"N-No! I m-mean, Y-yeah, you know I'm just going to g-go." Neville stammered out as he quickly scurried off. Leaving an amused Harry in his wake.
He then made his way towards his original destination while shaking his head and chuckling. As he arrived at the room he had left his friends in he quickly scanned the room and could only see Susan and Daphne sitting there, while no one else was in sight.
' Maybe they had to leave. The Order meeting did take a long time to get over, but it was important for me to listen in, in case anything had changed and deviated from the future.' Harry thought.
Harry quietly made his way towards the girls. "Hey girls" Harry greeted and for the second time that evening, he made people jump with his greeting. While Susan tried to calm herself down, Daphne just looked at him as a sudden glint appeared in her eye. It was not a particularly evil glint, but he did know that it meant trouble for him and he was not going to like what was coming.
"Hey, Harry." Daphne greeted him back after a quick peck on his lips as he took his seat opposite Susan and besides her.
Looking closely, he could see both the girls were a bit nervous. Daphne not so much so, but it looked like Susan was running a high fever with how red her face was.
"W-We wanted to ask you something." Susan said stuttering a bit at the beginning, mentally kicking herself for doing so. Their eyes met and that was a mistake as his curious emerald eyes seemed to glow and suddenly Susan's nerves turned to jelly.
She quickly gave Daphne a pointed look in an effort to gain some sort of support, this was her bloody idea in the first place. At the prodding, Daphne just rolled her eyes and looked towards Harry.
"We were wondering if you would like to go on a date with us. It is close to the start of the next year and we might not get enough time with ourselves with it being our OWL year and all." She said.
"Oh, sure I'd love to."
--
And that is how he found himself facing Susan and Daphne, his mouth agape as it opened and closed in his hopeless effort to form words.
Susan wore a rather nice-looking pink crop top with a white jacket over it zipped up just up to her bust with slightly ripped jeans at the bottom. While Daphne had decided to wear something similar, she wore a black crop top with jeans at the bottom. Both girls had applied just enough makeup to enhance their already beautiful looks while making sure they did not apply so much as to be mistaken for a clown.
The two girls just looked at Harry while he imitated a fish out of water. Seeing the effect they had over him with something as simple as these casual outfits and a touch of makeup filled them with some sort of prideful confidence. Susan especially since she was the most nervous between the two of them and insecure about her looks.
"I take it that you think we look good?" Daphne asked Harry huskily as she reached up to Harry's ear and whispered. Making sure to blow some air while hugging her boyfriend. Harry just nodded dumbly eliciting a light giggle from the girls.
"You both look gorgeous." He finally breathed out and the girls couldn't help the blush that came to their cheeks. While Harry was married to both of them in the future and seen them when they were a bit older and much more beautiful, he could not help but be struck by their beauty once more, he after all had spent decades alone, without them.
"We should get going." Harry said, extending his arms for the girls to take before they started to walk out of the house, all the while Sirius did a terrible job of keeping the grin off of his face and subtly giving his godson a thumbs up.
--
As it turns out Harry needed all the luck that he could get. For you see during their little lunch break Harry had let it slip that he needed a few new shirts and the girls all gained a predatory glint in their eyes. Susan in particular had always been insisting Harry go clothes shopping ever since after the Yule ball when she learned all he had were hand-me-downs.
Daphne didn't know that bit yet. Not that Harry did not want to tell it to her, but the topic just never came up and was never discussed. But she still had the same smile that Susan wore. So now Harry was being all but dragged by the girls towards the clothing shop and some men that they passed seemed to recognize his predicament. The looks of pity they gave Harry and their solemn nods made him feel as if he was going to a funeral. Which considering his past experiences, he would have preferred to go to an actual funeral than clothes shopping.
After their first date, Daphne had really come to appreciate muggle clothing and fashion and over the summer had explored all the shops in London with her mother and sister. Both taking a liking to the fashion. And so, Daphne was able to point them towards the stores that kept the best clothes in stock.
As they entered the shop Daphne asked. "So, what are we looking for?" and before Harry could respond Susan interrupted him.
"Anything and everything. He needs a whole wardrobe." She stated, and that seemed to make Daphne even giddier as they led him towards the men's side of the store.
Harry knowing that he had no say in this, just sighed and kept quiet while he had a small smile on his face. If someone asked him if he enjoyed this, he would say no, but deep down he knew, he would choose to be here with the present company, doing what the girls loved most than anywhere else in the world.
--
Platform 9 and 3/4, Kings Cross Station, 30th June 1995
"Harry!" A voice called out. Harry had just managed to turn around when he saw Daphne wrap her arms around his neck and pull him into a passionate kiss, one he gladly returned.
"I missed you too." Harry chuckled once they had let go. "How was France?" Daphne and her family had decided to visit a few of their cousins in France before the sisters had to go back to Hogwarts, and while Harry and Susan were invited to come along, Harry had some other commitments he had to tend to.
"It was great! Would have been better if you had come along." Daphne commented before lightly kissing him once more.
"Come on, let's go find ourselves a compartment." Daphne said as she took a hold of Harry's hand and pulled him towards the Hogwarts express.
As they made their way towards the end of the train where they knew Susan would have saved a compartment for them, they were suddenly interrupted by an obnoxious voice that they both hated dearly.
"Well, if it isn't Potter and his blood traitor whore." Drawled a voice and Harry knew it had gotten slightly more foul in here, as he was face to face with Draco Malfoy, who was more smug than usual, perhaps owing to the new shiny prefect badge on his chest. Or the fact that his father's dominator was alive once more. He particularly looked like a pompous pigeon as he puffed his chest out. "You better watch yourself this year around Potter, your titles won't help you going forward."
"Why? Did your mother finally decide to leave your cock sucking father?" Harry said with a smile. "I look forward to the money being transferred back to my bank accounts in that case."
"Mind yourself, filthy half-blood, you won't have that smug attitude for much longer, not even Dumbledore will be able to protect you all for long." Draco bragged. "Soon, all the Mudbloods, blood traitors, and half-bloods will kneel down at the feet of the Dark Lord where they belong. This time you won't get lucky, you will pay for disrespecting the Dark Lord, you will fall, and your Mummy won't be able to save you this time."
"Are you done yet?" Harry asked in a bored voice and Draco seemed very annoyed that he had not gotten under Harry's skin.
"Just a little advice, man to ferret, if you are trying to gain Voldemort's favor, I wouldn't broadcast his return out in the open while he is trying to keep his return quiet. It might spell trouble for your father if Voldemort heard you announce his return to the world. I hear a minute under the Curcio can snap a weak mind, and considering who your father is, I would bet he would last less under the curse than he lasts in bed." Harry taunted.
Draco was not too happy. How dare that filthy half-blood insult his father? His father would certainly hear about this, Potter had to be put into his place and soon. He was made the prefect after considerable pressure put on Snape by his father, and he was going to make the most of it, if he could not get under Potter's skin by insulting him, maybe he could make him do something by insulting one of his whores.
Turning towards Daphne, he noticed she had definitely started growing and was more beautiful now, and no doubt that Bones girl would too have grown. It was a shame they had no standards and were hanging off a filthy Half-blood's arm, but he could always change that once the Dark Lord defeated Potter, maybe he would be allowed to keep Potter's girls as his whores for entertainment.
Leering at Daphne he said. "This is your last chance slut. Leave him and come to me, I will show you what a real man can do. Or would you rather I show it to your sister first before taking you in front of the beaten body of your pathetic boyfriend."
Hearing that Harry could not control his anger anymore. Waves of magic were pouring out of him, suffocating everyone in their vicinity. Seeing this Daphne quickly turned to Harry, but did not try to stop him, she knew she would not be able to calm him down once the ferret insulted her and made his intentions toward herself and her sister clear. Harry if nothing else was protective of people he was close to, and the ferret just made the biggest mistake of threatening her and her sister. In her mind, the ferret deserved all that he was about to get, so all she did was take a step back and watch the drama unfold with a smirk on her face.
With a flick of his finger and the two overgrown gorillas were on the floor in a heap of bodies. While his eyes started to glow with emerald fire. The ferret was petrified with fear evident in his eyes.
Before Draco could even so much as blink Harry was in front of him. Harry pulled him close by his collar, the height difference clearly visible as Draco had to look up to meet the most terrifying eyes he had ever seen, not even the Dark Lord's evil red eyes were able to put such fear in him.
"Listen up, and listen up good you waste of a human. You so much as look in her direction, you so much as leer at her, let alone touch her in any inappropriate way, I will hound you till the gates of hell, and not even Satan would be able to save you from what I would do to you. I will eradicate your entire family. I am not the noble Gryffindor Golden boy that you seem to perceive me as. I am your worst nightmare. I will not hesitate to burn your house down to the ground with your father still in it, while I make you watch your pathetic father scream like a little hussy. Do. I. Make. Myself. Clear?" Harry asked while making sure to push a bit more of his magic out and suffocate the ferret enough that the ferret lost the last of his control over his bladder and a pungent smell filled the corridor.
All Draco could do was nod, the fear of god set in him as he was not even able to breathe. But before he could so much as make a sound Harry had suddenly moved behind him and before he could spin around Harry had snapped his arm out of his shoulder socket.
All Draco could do was scream in pain before even his elbow was twisted the wrong way, breaking it entirely, and before long he was on the ground with his other arm getting the same treatment. The pain he felt at that moment was unimaginable, and unbearable. Tears leaked out of his eyes as he tried and failed to move out of Harry's grasp, but he still had a hold of his arm in a vice grip.
Harry then pulled him up by his collar while ignoring Malfoy's pained cry. He had made sure to act only after Daphne had put up silencing and notice me not wards around the area, making sure there were no witnesses.
"This was just a warning Malfoy. I can break all the bones in your body in 100 different ways, I can fix them in the most painful way possible before breaking them once more. Do not test my patience, I am not the man you want after your blood, and if you touch or harm anyone close to me, I will be after your blood and it would be splattered across the ground that you stand on. Learn your lessons before I am forced to teach them to you." Harry growled out before throwing Malfoy to the floor and fixing his arms with a wave of his hand, not really caring that he was showing off his wandless abilities, they were already out in the open for the world to see after the world dueling championship finals.
Turning around, he took a hold of Daphne's hand and walked down the corridor to where they were going before Malfoy oh so rudely interrupted them, while he did not fear any repercussions that might come his way IF Malfoy was able to prove what he did, he did fear Daphne's reaction. Turning to face Daphne with worry evident in his eyes all he saw was a smirking face of Daphne before she got up to her tiptoes and kissed him soundly putting all his worries to rest.
' How did I forget Daph could be crueler than even me when someone got on her bad side.'
--
AN
So, that was the chapter.
If you get 13 or 26 notifications thats only because I was updating the previous chapters.
Fudge's POV and the campaign is under way
Some Order things
A joke of a date because I am still bad at writing them XD
And the train ride
I know this aint upto the mark but I have a lot of ring rust to shake off
Next up
Umbridge I think
Her first class maybe
I am still thinking if I should have harry do the whole blood quill routine again or no
Maybe I should, maybe not, tell me what you guys think
Suggestions are always open
And again I do have one issue, how to get the cup back, I have a few ideas in mind thanks to the wonderful people that suggested them previously, but now that I am back to writing and thinking over the plots and all, would like any other suggestions aswell if there are any
Though I do have a idea in mind
Take Care
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