Ominous Tidings
Have We Learned Nothing?
Voldemort's body lies in the ignominy of an unmarked grave. His legacy, however, is alive and well. I have given Minister Thicknesse the benefit of the doubt, and he had his 100 days to reveal the kind of administration he will oversee. The Muggle Born Registration Commission is still in operation. The pure blood fanatics still dominate the Wizengamot. As you are aware, the Muggle Born Registration Commission was installed by Voldemort himself. Is there any reason why it should still be in operation? I can think of several reasons, none of them good.
There have been a few trials of Death Eaters, but most of Voldemort's followers still hold positions of power and influence in Thicknesse's government. The prosecutions that have occurred have turned out to be purely for show to convince the public that something was being done, and to lull the public back to sleep. As it was back in the early '80's, those with the gold have bought their way to freedom and respectability. They are still pleading the Imperious, and they are still getting away with it.
I ask: has Magical Britain learned nothing from this latest battle against a dark lord wannabe? One generation is all that stands between us in the here and now, and the previous dark lord who attempted to take over Magical Britain to show the muggles their proper "place". Of course, I speak of Gellert Grinddelwald.
There is something very wrong with a society that keeps sewing the seeds of its own destruction. I've heard the arguments before, and there is nothing new about them. They go back at least as far as the founding of Hogwarts. It was this argument that led to Salazar Slytherin's break with his colleagues. The muggle born will bring with them their muggle ways. They will dilute our traditions. It is one thing to honour tradition, but another thing entirely to be hide bound by it. It is well past high time that Magical Britain realize this is no longer the tenth century. We have a lot of catching up to do, but we insist on standing still while time passed us by. This can not continue. Do you not realize that, had Voldemort been just a little smarter, a little less arrogant, a little less convinced of his own brilliance and magnificence that he would have won? What happens when the next dark lord arises, and learns from the errors of Grindelwald and Voldemort? Will we be so lucky as to have a "Chosen One" fated to defeat the next dark lord wannabe? Do you want to take that chance? I, for one, do not.
Xenophilius Lovegood
Chief Editor and Publisher
The Quibbler
"What do you think?", Ginny asked Harry at the kitchen table.
"I think we need to be getting to Hogwarts, I have a Transfiguration test…"
"I meant about what Mr Lovegood said".
"Look, Ginny… we talked about this before. Xeno means well, but he really needs to keep such opinions to himself, at least for now. We're still recovering from Voldemort, and the Minister doesn't need this right now".
"How can you say that?!"
"I'm training for the Auror Corps. What chance would I have if I become a known trouble maker? I've explained how difficult it is to make it to the Cadet Corps. You do know that there hasn't been a new Cadet in three years? There will be plenty of time to make changes later. You do know that the Auror Corps is the gateway to influence in the Ministry? Dumbledore explained everything to me. Once I have a measure of influence, then I can begin to implement his reforms. But I have to get in to do that".
"I… still don't know… I mean, you are the Chosen One, they'd listen to you".
"You over estimate, Ginny. The Prophet would accuse me of trading on my fame for favours. I won't do that. Let's not be late for class".
London: Weasley's Flat
Ron was once again filling out an employment application: "Don't you think", Hermione started, "you should be a bit more practical? An undersecretary…"
"Don't lecture me! I'm not in the mood for another lecture", he replied unpleasantly.
Ron's dreams of his post-Voldemort life were crashing and burning. He was a star Keeper for Team Gryffindor, once he overcame his stage fright (with Harry's help by tricking Ron into believing he'd spiked his morning pumpkin juice with Felix Felicis – the "liquid luck" potion). He learned the hard way about the difference between school Quiddich and professional Quiddich. He never got to the try-outs for his favourite team: the Chudley Cannons. He was rejected by every team even before he could show them how he played.
Then he sent in applications for jobs at the Ministry for which he wasn't remotely qualified.
"What's the harm? I'm sure Percy…"
"I am not going crawling on my hands and knees to beg my brother for some shitty job. Forget that!"
"George could use…"
"Is that what you want? Is that all you think I'm capable of? Clerking Weasley's Wizard Wheezes for the rest of my life?! How dare…"
"That's not what I meant at all! Ron…"
"Don't 'Ron' me. Don't you have to get to the Leaky Cauldron?"
Despite finishing her OWLs with the highest marks of her class, despite spending seven years hearing about how she was "the smartest witch of her age", the reality was much different. There would be no working for the Magical Wildlife Department, no S.P.E.W. work to improve the lot of house elves. She was a muggle born, and that shut her out of any Ministry employment. Not even as a janitor to empty waste baskets and polish floors. The best she could do so far was working as a barmaid at the Leaky Cauldron, and even them, Old Tom had been reticent about hiring her.
Later that afternoon, there was a knock at the door, and Ron went to see…
"Mr Weasley? Hi, I'm Rita Skeeter…"
"I know who you are. What do you want?"
"May I come in? I'm working on a special feature, and I was wondering if you'd like to tell your side of how Voldemort was defeated"
He stepped aside; "A special feature?"
"Yes, that's right. For the Prophet"
"Butterbeer?", Ron offered.
"That would be nice", Rita accepted.
After settling in: "Would you mind if I used a Quick Quotes Quill?"
"Not at all"
Rita took out parchment and an acid green quill with bushy feather. She balanced it in its point.
"Now then, let's begin. What can you tell us about Mr Potter?"
"I can tell you this, Harry's so full of himself…"
"How do you mean?"
"There's that whole 'Chosen One' deal. That's what he thinks, but all he did was get lucky. He had no idea what he was doing. After Dumbledore's assassination, he had us traipsing over half the country. We, Hermione and I, we thought he had a plan, that Dumbledore had told him something. He didn't".
"You know Mr Potter said he didn't want the fame".
"His false modesty has always been a deception. I know. I've seen him revel in attention, and he doesn't give a rat's ass whether it's good or bad. There was the Triwizard Tournament, and Potter somehow got his name into the Goblet of Fire. Hogwarts already had a champion, Cedric Diggory. Potter got him killed, you know…"
"How did he do that?"
"Potter had the Triwizard Cup won, but Potter, being the oh so noble Potter, let Cedric grab the Cup at the same time he did. He should have gone to that graveyard by himself when Youknowwho reincarnated himself.
"Then there was that incident with the DADA professor…"
"DADA?"
"Defense Against the Dark Arts. Our professor, Madam Umbridge – he mouthed off in class, got a detention doing lines with a Blood Quill. He couldn't keep his big mouth shut even after Professor McGonagall warned him. He didn't listen, like he always does when he doesn't like what he hears. He missed Quiddich practice. When we, Hermione and I, asked him to go to McGonagall, the Deputy Headmistress and head of House Gryffindor, he refused. He wouldn't go to Dumbledore either. You see, Potter loves playing the martyr. I think he actually enjoyed it".
"On what do you base that opinion?"
"He did it again, mouthed off at Umbridge and got another detention doing lines with that Blood Quill. McGonagall was furious, and rightly so. Potter had another chance to play the martyr. That was bad enough, and he lost Gryffindor ten points. He didn't care about the rest of us, he's extremely selfish that way. That wasn't the worst of it, however".
"What could be worse?"
"He got his own godfather, Sirius Black killed…"
"He did what?!"
"Got Sirius killed. You see, he wouldn't take Snape's Occlumancy lessons seriousy. He was having these dreams or visions…"
"I remember reporting on that".
"Potter didn't take Snape's lessons seriously because he didn't want the visions to end. I overheard Hermione and Potter talking about it. Potter always knows best. Yeah, Youknowwho sent him a vision. He was most insistent, that we find a way to get to the Department of Mysteries. Hermione tried explaining, how silly it was, for Youknowwho to sneak into the Hall of Prophecies with Sirius, right there in the most secure facility at the Ministry, and no one noticed. Fed right into his hero complex. I should have known better, we all should have, but we agreed to go with him. After Snape alerted the rest of the Order, of course they came to pull Potter's fat out of the fire of his own creation. Naturally, Sirius wanted to come too, though Dumbledore tried to keep him away. That's when Bella…"
"Bella?"
"Yeah, Bellatrix Lestrange. Anyway, she hit him with a curse of some sort that made him fall through the Veil in the Death Room. If Potter hadn't gone off half cocked, Sirius would still be alive. Of course, Potter blamed everyone but himself. More poor, poor, pitiful me posturing".
"So far, what you're telling me doesn't square with the public impression".
"They didn't live with him as long as I did. When he wasn't at Hogwarts, he was always staying at the Burrow…"
"Burrow?"
"Our homestead, outside Ottery St Catchpole. He spent his summers there. I got loads of chances to see what he's really like. I suppose it doesn't agree with his public persona – the Harry Potter he shows to the outside world".
"Tell me more about the pursuit of Voldemort".
"Gladly. After Snape offed Dumbledore, Hermione and I went with him. We thought he had a plan, but it became all too obvious he didn't know what he was doing. We got lucky, finding Slytherin's Locket. As for the rest of the horcruxes, he knew nothing. He got distracted looking for Hallows, after we dropped in on Loony Luna's father. He went on and on about these Hallows, you know from the kiddie story, The Three Brothers. Lovegood had him believing in them, and that sent us traipsing all over the country for the better part of a year. I got pissed off, and left them.
"I eventually caught up with them. That's when Potter said Youknowwho's real name, and we got caught by these Snatchers. They took us to Malfoy Manor where Bella was going on and on about something in her vault. That led us to Hufflepuff's Cup which was now a horcrux. It had nothing to do with any sort of brilliance on Potter's part, just pure dumb luck. If he hadn't said his name, it'd still be there.
"I got us out of Malfoy Manor. You see, I can imitate voices pretty good. When they sent Wormtail to bring us up for interrogation, I used my Deluminator to fill the normally dark dungeon where we, Loony Luna, and Ollivander were being held with light. In his confusion, we got the drop on him. After that, the silver hand Youknowwho gave him strangled him. When Lucius called out, to see what was going on, I faked him out by doing an impression of Wormtail's speech. It worked. We got away.
"At Hogwarts, I did an impersonation of Parseltongue I'd heard Potter use to get us into the Chamber of Secrets so's we could get basilisk fangs. Basilisk venom is one of the few things that can destroy a horcrux. That's how we got rid of the horcrux that Hufflepuff's Cup had become. You could say I defeated Youknowwho, or at least set him up".
"Very interesting take on the whole situation", Rita said.
"I hope I was helpful".
"You have been, Mr Weasley, most helpful".
0xFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF
The morning Rita's interview appeared in the Daily Prophet, Ginny asked: "What're you going to do?"
"Nothing, you keep asking and the answer's always the same".
"It… isn't right…"
"You know Ron's jealous streak. He always resented the hand-me-downs: hand-me-down robes, school books, hell, even a hand-me-down pet. There was that time when the Goblet spit out my name, and how Ron couldn't believe I didn't put my name in there and how he got when he thought I wasn't sharing my 'secret' (finger quotes).
"Then there was the World Cup. Ron bought a lot of souvenirs, those rosettes for Ireland, the Irish flag, that miniature Viktor Krum. Then when we came across someone selling something actually useful, those Omnioculars, how he wished he hadn't bought all that crap. I offered to buy Ron, Fred, and George each a pair, and he resented the 'charity'. I told him that was his early Christmas to placate him that it wasn't charity. Then he thought it'd struck it rich when the leprechauns showered the audience with leprechaun gold, and how pissed he got when it disappeared and I didn't mention the Omnioculars.
"It's hard, being the side kick, and before we destroyed the horcrux in Slytherin's Locket, Voldemort played on that. He told Ron he wouldn't have any friends unless I befriended him. Voldemort said your mother wanted another girl instead of him, that he was nothing without being the side kick. He was right: it couldn't've been easy for Ron, not with the examples his older brothers set, not with so much he felt he had to live up to. If Ron wants to play the big man, let him. Sometimes people have to learn the hard way, and he will learn soon enough that fame isn't all it's cracked up to be".
