A/N: Hey guys, thank you for waiting. Now, this chapter is going to bash Umbridge and Fudge so enjoy. Please feel free to leave creative criticism, advice, and comments. Also, we know that some of the chapters have a lot of information and not a lot of action, and for that, we do apologize. This is one of the first stories that we are writing together and we have still to find our groove. Also, writing action sequences is something we are still working on. However, we want to assure that there is plenty of information and battles coming up soon. We also like to acknowledge that we did borrow the title from Harry Potter and the Daft Morons as we are both big fans of the story and would like to pay homage to it.
Chapter 3: The Ministry of Daft Morons
"Cry 'Havoc!' and let slip the dogs of war."
- Mark Antony, Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare
The Ministry of Magic's central building was impressive, but to the Lord of House Vulpus, it screamed of ego. The Light Lord and the Light Lady, Scar and Wolf, walked through the building to the wand check in, both with feelings of anger, annoyance, and excitement. Well, the excitement was more from Wolf than Scar as she was looking forward to giving Umbridge and Fudge their just desserts. The anger and annoyance was both towards them and Albus Dumbledore for not telling Harry his lordships and their treatment of him.
Harry Potter, or Henry James Potter, was the Lord of two Houses. They were the Noble and Most Ancient House of Potter and the Most Ancient and Revered House of Peverell. He should have been told as soon as he received his letter to Hogwarts, at the latest.
Scar and Wolf were not happy to hear that Harry knew nothing. That anger increased especially when he told them, over dinner, about his struggles following the four years he had at Hogwarts and the fourteen years he spent with the Dursleys. After the boy explained everything, a few owl-delivered letters arrived. The first one was from the Ministry, revealing he was being expelled from Hogwarts and that his wand would be snapped. The second was from Dumbledore and his Order of the Phoenix (Wolf likes to call them the Order of the Fried Turkey). All that was said was that he (Dumbledore) would take care of everything and not to hand over his (Harry) wand over to anybody. And overall, treating Harry like he was five. They also demanded that he tells them where he was. The third, and final letter, was also from the Ministry, this time stating that there would be a hearing next week and that he was not expelled - yet.
Scar's reaction was to write a letter to Dumbledore which basically stated that 1) Scar was taking care of Harry and if Dumbledore didn't like it, he could deal with it. 2) Scar had better things to do then listen to an old mad man acting like a spoiled child and doing nothing to improve the magical world. Scar signed the letter with his seals, both as the Lord of House Vulpus and the Guardians. Dumbledore, while high ranking in the Pack, was still of a lower rank to the Guardians, something that annoyed the old man very much. Scar also decided to pay the Ministry a visit to demand why they decided to punish Harry instead getting his side of the story.
Wolf announced the note was much too long. She took the letter and "made the letter better". By better, she basically ripped up the letter, stamped the center of a new piece of parchment with a giant image of the Pack, followed by two simple sentences of "Harry is safe" and "We know all, Albie" followed by two smaller stamps (compared to the one of the Pack) of Scar's House and her own House. This was done as Scar protested wildly and Harry watched with wide eyes.
As she sent it off with a deranged cackle that could rival the Wicked Witch of the West, Scar faced palmed and wondered why he allowed her into his home. But Wolf wasn't done. She also demanded to join Scar on his trip. Harry smirked and Scar sighed as she ran off to get ready.
Scar thought back to the final fate of the Dursley adults. It made him wince. Yes, the Dursleys were pompous jerks, however they did not deserve what happened to them. They had been tortured to death by intense power and skill of magic. Only seven people he knew off the top of his head had this level of skill or power. One was himself, but he was busy saving Harry and Dudley from dementors. The other was Wolf, but she was with him. Albus Dumbledore wasn't to blame either. Another was Merlin, but he was far from Britain and as far as the Wizardry World knows, he died. Scar and Wolf know the truth about Merlin, but they were prevented from revealing his secrets. Gellert Grindelwald was locked up in Nurmengard. Voldemort was also in the running, but it did not fit with the so-called Dark Lord's methods. While he was noted to be a torturer, this intense amount of power showcased not only the Torture Curse, but ancient dark magic only known to a few, especially to the highest ranked in the Pack. That only left his brother; Corvo. And if he knew his brother like he thought he did, then he was the prime suspect. Corvo loved to torture people, often times to death and had a deep understanding and knowledge of the darkest arts of magic. Also, Corvo was the only Herald of Darkness or the true Dark Lord to be present on the Earth. The other Dark Lords of Null were all accounted to either be in the Void with their master or battling the Pack in the Realms as the long running Mystic War.
Scar shook his head, removing himself from the surging memories of himself and his brother fighting to protect the innocents, and each other. To remove himself from those memories, he went over the Code of the Pack in his thoughts; serve the innocents, defend those in need, honour all life and traditions, and kill only to protect and for the greater good, not for personal glory and sadistic fun. As he did this, his thoughts circled back to his brother.
When did his brother go from being a dedicated and strong man who followed the Code to becoming the Avatar of Darkness?
"Scar?" Wolf's gentle voice pulled him from his musings of the past. Scar turned his attention from his thoughts to her.
"I am fine Noxxie,'' Scar replied, using the nickname only he could say. She looked like she didn't believe him, but she didn't push him.
Scar sighed. He traced the scars his mother left on his face when he was born. The scars that gave him his name. His mother, Ellen Le Fay, was forced married into his family and his father, Wilferd, had not been a fan of his new wife. His father was brutal and prejudiced to those who he considered to be dark, even if they were members of Pack. His new wife came from the Le Fay family, while members of the Pack, which were long term foes of House Vulpus, even in the Pack's more peaceful days. Ellen had scorned her husband by scarring the face of their eldest son, who was given the name of Scarious. His name and face were symbols of how little his mother cared for him and her husband. Scar only needed one hand to count how many he had interacted with his mother. She eventually poisoned his father out of disgust and revenge for cheating on her. She was supposedly hunted down and executed by the Pack's Hellhounds, but unknown to most, it was Scar and Corvo who killed her after a mighty duel. Scar supported letting her live to face trial, but Corvo killed her with one of his signature spells, the Cruciatus Curse or the torture curse. Looking back, Scar realized that was where he saw the seed of darkness had been planted in his brother, but he was blinded by his love for him to see it at that time. Instead of doing his duty of reporting the incident, he covered up his brother's actions. In return, Corvo betrayed everything they stood for by becoming a Herald of Darkness, an Agent of Null, or in other words, a Dark Lord.
Scar returned his gaze back to his partner. Wolf had been raised far differently than he. She was a member of an Italian House known as the Royal and Divine House of Romulus. Their house originated from the God Mars, and their namesake came from one of his sons, the first King of Rome; Romulus. That was only the paternal branch of their House's Founder. The maternal branch started with Rhea Silvia and went back through the long line of Alba Longa Kings until it reached Venus, another Roman divine. Their family had become leaders of the Roman Cell of the Pack after the disappearance of Romulus and Remus, and they remained in power decades after. To this very day, they commanded great influence within the Pack. Their family, along with House Vulpus, ruled the Pack Faction of Europe. But unlike the Vulpus family, induction into the Pack was not mandatory. The Vulpus family was dedicated to the Pack, and any member who did not join was viewed as an outcast.
Wolf's father was still alive, serving as King of her House, but her mother had passed after her youngest sibling turned five. She had two older brothers and a younger sister. Her father's line spanned the centuries of Italian history, blending with other ethnic groups in Europe, but always coming back to Italy. They had strong ties to other Houses in Italy, France, and Greece. Her mother could have been described as a newblood, or muggle born, despite coming from a long line of magicals. Well, near-squib magicals as their bloodline had just enough to not be considered full squibs. Despite this, they worked as shamans in the Shinto religion.
Wolf watched her partner walking up to the wand checking station and passed by the wizard manning the station without a second thought.
The wizard looked shocked at his actions. "Hey, what do you think you are going?" he demanded, drawing his wand, moving to confront the pair.
Scar spun around and showed the man the two rings on his right hand. One was the globe symbol of the Pack crossed with a sword and wand. The other was that of a lion, a fox, and a griffon circling each other around a wand. Symbols of House Vulpus. Scar fingered his wand with his other hand. If the fool dared start a duel with him, then he would draw his griffon head-shaped handle wand, made from lion's blood, ebony and fox hair, from his holster
"My apologies, my Lord," the man spoke, after he swallowed, visible and quickly stowing his wand. He gave a bow to the Light Lord. He knew better than to mess with the Lord of House Vulpus. He then turned to Wolf, who showed off her two rings, one for the Pack, same as Scar's, the other which bore the insignia of her House; a wolf head bearing a spear in its mouth. This time, the man stiffened in fear and bowed. "My lady." The reputation of House Romulus was also a pretty noteworthy noble Wizarding family. They were not to be messed with unless one wanted to experience pain.
So, he let them pass.
The two walked to Fudge's office where they could hear Fudge and his pet toad chuckling at their decisions to get Harry out of their way. Scar smirked. Oh, those two idiots, those daft morons, had no idea what was going to happen to them. Scar moved to knock on the door, but Wolf merely kicked the door in. Scar bowed to her and moved out of her way. She marched into the office, the air humming with her power. Ignoring the protests from the toad and the moron, Scar merely conjured a chair in the doorway and summoned one of his house elves. "Waxy, bring me popcorn and root beer," he instructed his servant who vanished and brought him his favorite snacks.
He leaned back in his seat and dropped the buttery popcorn into his mouth. He was ready to enjoy the show.
"Cry 'Havoc!', and let slip the dogs of war," he whispered, quoting a line from one of his favourite plays. However, Wolf heard and glared at him sideways, not listening to Fudge and Umbitch's loud protests.
"I am not a dog," she muttered to him, "I am a wolf." She turned back to the toad and the moron with a feral grin, ready to give both a new asshole. The grin shut Fudge up, but not the idiot toad, whose brain wasn't that developed.
"I demand to know who you think you are barging into the Minister's office like this!" the pink toad shrieked. She then devolved into rambling how she was the Undersecretary, whatever that had to do with her previous demand. Fudge looked like he wanted to hush the pink monstrosity but the words also caught in his throat, making him appear to choke on a lemon.
"Be quiet you silly toad!" Wolf snarled, her voice thundering through the office as her pale violet eyes seemed to spark with her magical power.
Umbridge started sputtering, then glanced at Fudge. The man had paled slightly, but otherwise stayed quiet. Seeing that her beloved Minister wasn't going to tell this woman off, she opened her mouth to begin another tirade when intense magical energy swamped over her. Hard. It rattled through her bones, chattering her teeth together, before she collapsed to her knees, then her ass. Fudge went ashen and he gripped the armrests on his chair.
Those outside the office shuddered as chills followed down their spine. The only one unaffected was Scar having been used to the feel of her magic through the Mystic Wars and was enjoying the show with a grin on his face as he sipped his root beer with glee.
Wolf crouched in front of the downed pink toad, balancing on the balls of her feet, resting her wrists on her knees. Her lips were still twisted into a feral grin, then she spoke, "I am of the Pack." This time, Umbridge went the route of Fudge; ashen. "I want to know what… inspired… you to send dementors to the one you dubbed the 'Boy-Who-Lived'." Her head tilted to one side. "Was it because he spoke the truth?" Tilted to the other side. "Or because you were afraid of the truth?"
Scar grinned as Umbridge attempted to speak. "That boy is lying-"
"Silence!" Wolf exploded as the toad flinched at her shout. She reached out with one hand, grabbing the pink monstrosity by the front of her garish shirt, and lifted her as the Guardian rose, using magic to strengthen the muscles in her arm, before dropping the Umbitch in a chair rather roughly. "Listen well, Toad, before I lose my temper. You and that poor excuse for a Minister will behave yourselves at the hearing otherwise Scar and I will teach you some manners, understand?" Scar and Wolf grinned as Umbridge and Fudge nodded rapidly in fear. However, deep down, the Guardians know that the two will never listen to them and will try to have revenge on the two.
After Wolf's explosion at Fudge and Umbridge, she and Scar left the Ministry of Magic to talk to Grimhand, one of the Pack's operatives, in Gringotts to get Harry's lordship rings. They walked to the floo point chamber and the other wizards backed away from them out of fear. Scar smirked at her. "Bet you had fun."
She grinned back. "You know I did." As the two Guardians walked, someone called their names.
Turning, they saw Martin, one of their Hellhounds, appearing before them, in a cloud of black smoke. There were calls of surprise and alarm from the wizards watching. Scar glared at them and most ran or backed away. Martin bowed to Scar and Wolf and handed Scar a scroll. Scar unrolled it and read the words on the paper. He gave a snarl of anger.
"What?" Wolf asked. Then she blurted; "It wasn't me this time!" Scar looked at her, Wolf had a reputation for being a troublemaker that made the Weasley Twins, James Potter, and Sirius Black look like angels.
"No, Wolf," Scar spoke, rage in his voice. "One of our main bases on Earth, the Preserve, is under attack by Null's forces right now!"
A/N: Next chapter is going to be a big action one where our heroes fight Null's armies and we will get back to Harry and Dudley. Also, you might be seeing some familiar faces. Now, some of you might be wondering when we are going to talk about the other Guardians, but not to worry, me and my co-author have a plan and all will be revealed.