"...okay, I think we all need to get out of the Chamber and get some fresh air," Hermione finally said. The others had been silent for about 3 minutes, processing what Harry had said. Even Jasmine, as loud and dramatic as a woman could get, had stared at him in stunned silence. "Because clearly Harry being trapped down here-"

"I'm not trapped!" he complained. "I can leave whenever I want to, I just don't do it often!"

"-Harry being trapped down here is driving him crazy."

The young man huffed. "I am not crazy."

"You just accused Fudge of being Voldemort!" Hermione complained.

Luna frowned. "And clearly we all know if Voldemort was going to be a desert he'd be a pudding!"

"The minister," Ginny said.

"The Minister is a dessert?!"

Hermione grabbed Harry's shoulders and gave him a shake. "Harry… Luna right now is behaving more sanely than you are. Lu-na. Does that comprehend?"

He let out a huff of frustration. "And it's crazy to believe that Fudge be that ghostly bastard?"

Neville shrugged. "More like it's crazy to believe that Voldemort would have that low of standards." Ginny bobbed her head back and forth, murmuring in agreement at that logic, much to Harry's annoyance.

"Listen, I'm not crazy! Do I sound like a crazy person Ron?"

Luna's brow furrowed. "Harry... who is Ron?"

Harry gestured at the red head, who was just as befuddled by Luna's statement. "Him! He's Ron!"

Luna waved her hand in front of Ron's face. "Harry... there is no one there."

"... ha ha, very funny."

"She's right, Harry," Neville chimed in. "It's just you, me, Hermione, Luna, Ginny, and Jasmine. Do you see anyone else in the chamber?"

Jasmine sighed. "So sad when the pretty ones turn out to be insane."

Ron stared at his hands in horror. "Oh no..."

Ginny finally slapped him across the back of his head. "You're real, you idiot!"

Harry glowered at Luna. "That wasn't funny."

"It was hysterical," Luna countered. "Always funny to make people think they are seeing things that aren't there! Isn't that right sparkling elves?" She looked at a spot just to Harry's right. "What? Oh yes, I have been working out!" She patted her tummy. "Yoga and some weight training. Thanks for asking."

Harry rolled his eyes as Luna began chat with the elves only she could see. "Still think she's more sane than me?"

"That's just Luna being Luna," Ron pointed out (having quickly recovered from his fear that he didn't actually exist). "But thinking that of all people Fudge could be Voldemort? I mean, maybe a flunky or something like that but he's NOTHING like Voldemort!"

"That's the point!" Harry exclaimed, leaping up and pacing. Leon and Hedwig moved to join the group, watching as Harry began to circle The Pride in tight circles. "It's the person we'd least suspect but who can have the most influence! Being some master criminal or monster like Malfoy or Umbridge would be too on the nose for him! He wants to hide in the shadows and playing up the buffoon would be the perfect way to do it!" He waved his arms about wildly as he made his points, his friends and his girlfriend all watching him with tilted heads and furrowed brows. "Voldemort's original endgame-"

"NO!" Luna screamed, falling to her knees. "Don't take Tony Stark! Who else will take normal people and turn them into villains and never get called out on it!? We need Mr. Chaos to finish 'A Song of Metal and Marvels'!" Neville shrugged and rubbed her back as Luna softly cried.

"…anyway," Harry said, continuing on, "Voldemort's original… plan… was to get Avalon to give him a role in government. To give him power to shape and affect the world. He had enough Gym Leaders on his side to make some strong pushes into the directions he wanted to take us. It was only because of Looker and my mum he was driven off and had to go for a more direct route of full blown terrorist. But look at the choices he made for hosts when he returned: two professors and a popular student. He didn't go after warlords or big hulking monster men with tree trunks for arms, he went people you wouldn't expect. Fudge fits that description."

Ginny frowned, puzzling that over. "So like T2 Terminator rather than T1." The others all looked at her and she shrugged. "What? Luna's still mourning that "Tony" guy so someone had to make references."

"Thank you," Luna sniffed.

"The point!" Harry snapped, getting a bit annoyed no one was taking things seriously anymore. "The point is that Fudge is someone no one would expect but gave Voldemort all the power he wanted. He is Prime Minister now. He can direct what laws get passed, who gets positions of power, the Avalon government's stance on issues, what departments get funded. Want to make sure that the Aurors don't look too deeply into someone's business? Well, Minister Fudge redirects some of their budget or request that Bones investigate something else. Or…" he looked at Jasmine, "get certain Aurors that are friendly to Nocturne into cushy positions within the different departments." She narrowed her eyes at that, her rage over what had happened to her father flowing through her veins once more and pushing her to move past the horror she had felt in taking a life. But there was also something there… a flicker of anger at him using Jack as a needle to prod her towards his view. He decided to move on before she lingered more on that. "Hold up votes, push things through, assign toadies positions of power… a silent takeover, one the public doesn't even notice. One that ends with them believing they made all those choices for themselves because Fudge has framed it in such a way that they believe it was the only choice."

"Except," Hermione said, pushing in before Harry could continue on, "he hasn't done any of that. At worst he's called for Jack's head but even then a lot of regional governments are investigating him for Surrey." Jasmine grit her teeth at the reminder of just all that had been done to slander her father in the past year. "He hasn't passed any restrictive laws, the Gym Leader positions are locked in stone, he hasn't made a move against the Elite 4 to try and get his own people in..." Hermione trailed off, letting out a sigh. "I get what you are saying, Harry, but if Voldemort took over Fudge to gain power than he is being insanely slow in claiming it."

"But that's the point," Harry said, latching onto a new piece of evidence. "Look at what tripped him up the last time. He went too hard and too quick and he and his people made mistakes. Evidence was left behind, Looker was able to find it all, and within five minutes of exposing it to the Gym Leaders his plan was scrapped. Voldemort learns from his mistakes."

"So what?" Hedwig asked, finally making her and Leon's presence known in the conversation. She flew down and perched a half-crumbled pillar while Leon walked over to Luna (who was now whimpering about "who is supposed to stupidly side with the government he swore he could never side with now?!") and began to nuzzle her leg to get her to pet him. "You saying he's playing some kind of long game?"

"Exactly!" Haryr pointed his finger at her. "He has to move slow, as to be gradual. There is a reason they call it the 'long con'. He comes out making radical changes all of a sudden and people will either know something is up or throw up a fuss." Harry shook his head. "Avalon doesn't like change, for the good or ill. Most of the region is full of cowards but so long as you aren't affecting them personally they won't fight… especially if its only a few of them being affected at a time. But you do something insane and wild that alters the landscape of the entire region?" He rolled his hand around in a dismissive gesture. "They will fight back. That is what is happening with Jack. If he had killed one Nocturne Agent then we wouldn't have the problems we do now. He went big though to wipe out the problem…"

"And now we have Aurors that are setting up traps for my da," Jasmine growled.

Ron swallowed. "You know we didn't know anything about that." He gestured at Ginny and himself. "Mom and dad-"

"At worst were scared and at best were just as much the victims," Jasmine said, flexing her fingers to work off some tension that had begun to build again. "Don't worry, I get it and you don't have to worry about me pulling a knife in your back."

Ginny smiled weakly at that. "With anyone else I'd think you were just using a colorful metaphor…"

Hermione cleared her throat. "So you think Voldemort as Fudge-"

"Fudgemort?" Neville asked.

"Voldefudge," Ron offered.

"Jackass Squared?" Jasmine stated.

"Who else is going to steal Uncle Ben's spot now?!" Luna whined.

Harry sighed in frustration. "What are you doing?"

"Trying to lighten the mood since you are going a bit funny in the head," Ron pointed out.

Jasmine nodded in agreement. "Yeah Harry, no offense but… if after what I did this morning I think you are being a bit too intense and moody then you might want to take it as a sign to calm down and think things through."

"What did you do?" Neville asked.

"She killed Draco's mom, focus!" Harry snapped, clapping his hands. "Fudge as Voldemort needs to secure his power base. In Avalon you have several different pillars that you need to control if you wish to truly rule. First you have the financial sector. The money needs to keep flowing and you need to direct it where you want to go. Now the Pack has done well to take out some of the bigger players in that, like Parkinson, but with the Malfoys still bankrolling Nocturne and controlling so much of Avalon's business community that was always a drop in the bucket. But with him also being Fudge he doesn't need to have his lackeys hide what they are doing… they can openly spend money. Better yet it comes off as them being all noble and patriotic because they are helping Avalon itself. Bonus points for them. Next you want to control the press." He shot them all a dry look. "Do we even need to debate that the likes of Rita are in the Ministry's pocket?"

"More that Rita and the Ministry have a symbiotic relationship," Luna said, snapping out of her funk. "The Quibbler can only report so much in so many funny pirate voices. The Gallahad Gazette has a wider audience and the Ministry has made sure for years to put the pressure on them. They'd have done the same to daddy if he weren't a Gym Leader as well."

"Exactly. With all the Anti-Jack pieces being written and everything that might blow back on the Ministry being covered up they are the most powerful propaganda tool the Ministry has. And isn't it interesting that the Ministry's line and Nocturne's line both run so close together? Both want to keep Nocturne's actions quiet… now you might assume the Ministry doesn't want riots on their hands and Nocturne wants to go back to being in the shadows but what if it isn't merely them running parallel but them actually having the same goal?" Harry ran his fingers through his hair. "Gym Leaders… that is where Nocturne is losing out. Parkinson is dead and Lucius Malfoy will be gone if Sirius and I can make it to my graduation. But that's where we hit upon the big one: after the Elite 4 the only other pillar of Avalon Society left is Hogwarts."

Neville frowned and Harry could tell that he was following his logic but wasn't quite at the same place Harry was. Same for the others… they were willing to listen now but they weren't for sure yet if they were buying into what he was trying to sell them on. "So what… Voldemort takes over Fudge's body and becomes him. He then decides he is going to eliminate all the professors?"

"Already planted Umbridge here, didn't he? Put her in charge of History. Shape how the young see our society. Play up the heroes they support, downplay those that might be seen as rebels or dangerous thinkers. A society under the thumb of the likes of Voldemort can't have its people actually thinking for themselves, can they?"

"Is this where he begins telling us about the aliens?" Leon snickered.

Harry grit his teeth and a small pulse of Speaker energy shot from him. "THIS… is serious." He fought to remain in control. He got why they were joking around… they thought he was losing his mind and were trying to break through the tension and get him to see reason. But he was seeing things far clearer than they were… it was he who needed to get them to look past what they thought they knew and see the truth. "If Voldemort gets rid of the staff and puts his Agents into power they will be able to shape the minds of Avalon's children for at least one generation. And one generation is all they need. Because once one believes something is correct and is fine, that the world should operate that way, they will thank you for seeing that world come to be. We are right now exposing Umbridge but what happens if they keep her here after we graduate? Can we trust other students to keep up the good fight? Or will they do what Avalon always does and choose to ignore things because it is just easier to keep their heads down? Then we end up with the firsties turning into little Dracos who think that your family's lineage determines if you should be allowed Pokemon… at best."

"Harry, we know how serious this is," Jasmine said softly. "Believe me… of anyone here I get it. But you can't just throw out conspiracy theories-"

"This isn't a theory! You heard him on that tape!"

"…yeah," Hermione admitted. "But-"

"But nothing! Fudge is Voldemort."

"And if he isn't?" Ron asked gently, not wanting to upset his friend. "If this is just another set up?" Harry looked at him and Ron set his jaw, steeling himself for a blowup. "My parents, Harry. We thought my dad was in danger and that nearly got Jack killed. Your source gave us bad information once."

"He gave us information that Nocturne used to sway the Aurors. We don't know that your father wasn't always in danger." Harry's jaw worked as he looked away from jasmine. "I know you aren't going to be happy with me saying this but if I had to do it again I'd still send your dad to protect Mr. Weasley. With back up and better prepared, of course, because I'm not insane, but I would still-"

Jasmine chuckled, cutting him off. "I get it. He'd do it too… he'd rather take every arrow in the world right to the chest than let someone else get hurt because he was scared. He's… stupid like that." Harry turned and saw her grinning even if there was great sadness in her eyes.

Hedwig clicked her beak. "This is all well and good but speaking for the Pokemon contingent in the Chamber I'd like to know how you are so sure that Fudgey is Voldemort. Because you are putting a lot of faith into a recording."

Rubbing his cheeks Harry gave himself a moment to figure out how he wanted to answer. "I know it sounds insane. I get it, guys, I get it. Before the end of last year, before the graveyard, I would have never believed it. But you weren't there when Voldemort revealed his forces to me. When he showed me just how many people he has in Nocturne. Who are willing to side with him. Who had no problem seeing Jasmine down on the ground, being taunted and threatened with…" he stopped, unable to even voice what he knew those bastards were planning for her, "…and me holding my arm… my stump-" he snarled the words, gesturing at his right hand, the prosthetic flexing and twitching in time to his agitation, "-cheering on Voldemort as he laid out to me all he was going to do once he gained control of my body. The powerful, the elite… they are hungry, greedy bastards who will do anything to get just a little bit more. They saw two children, abused and beaten, and they were thrilled.

"That is what Voldemort is. He picks those that want power, who long for power, and he gives it to them… for a price. He almost won the war because he convinced enough people that if they tossed away what was moral and right then they could have things be, perhaps, a little bit better for them. And they were willing to do that! They were willing to…" he sighed, refocusing. He was rambling. He was tired. Not so much in his body but his soul and his mind. Just so… tired. "And when I think about Fudge I just see someone else who is greedy for more."

"But that doesn't mean he's Voldemort," Neville pointed out. "He could be sympathetic to him. He could be an Agent."

"Not that that's any better," Ginny pointed out.

Neville grimaced. "Yeah, good point."

"But I think the source is right. I think Voldemort realized that the best way for him to gain control of Avalon was to stop dancing around claiming power and just seize it. He went to Fudge and he tempted him… to be the last Minister of Avalon and the first dictator of our Region and the fat idiot accepted. Then he began moving pieces into place to take control of the school… but me, being down here? It pushed him to have to accelerate his plans. The school was looking bad and the reason was Umbridge. So he calls everyone to the Ministry, there is an accident, new teachers are selected that are more subtle in their manipulations, Umbitch is sacrificed like all good pawns in a chess match… and everyone thinks that he just did the world a favor by course correcting when in reality he just made the Headmaster and all the Heads of Houses be filled by his minions. Minions who will hunt me down, drag me out of the Chamber, and present me right to Voldemort so he can use me as his next skin."

His friends were silent for a long time.

"I'm going to stop him," Harry finally said, cutting through the tension. "I'm going to the Ministry and I'm saving the professors. It doesn't matter what our differences are I am not going to let them die just out a spite. I'm going to go there and I'm going to-"

"What?" Hermione pressed. "Kill Fudge?"

"If I have to," Harry said coolly.

"Speaking as someone who just took a life," Jasmine retorted with utter stillness, "don't be so quick to proclaim it easy to kill someone. Death is never easy."

"I know," harry admitted.

"No," she said coldly, "you don't."

Harry swallowed at that. "But it has to be done. I'm not-"

Ron held up his hand. "If the next words out of your mouth have to do anything with us not going with you or you doing this alone we are going to have a repeat of our conversation on The Ghost... only this time I might use sign language." He slammed his fist into his open palm to make it clear just what he would be 'signing'.

Luna smiled. "Ohana."

"Excuse me?" Harry asked.

"Ohana means Family. Family means no one gets left behind."

Ginny reached over and patter the blonde on the shoulder. "A reference that actually works. Good job."

Ron brought Harry's attention back to him. "We are with you on this mate... even if Fudge ain't Voldemort he is still hindering everyone that wants the bastard gone. So we take him out, plain and simple."

Hermione nodded even as she closed her eyes, gathering herself. "Just so long as we all understand... there is no going back if we do this. This is an assassination. We can't walk it back. It is as final as it gets."

Neville gestured at Harry. "The moment they targeted one of us? There was no going back."

Ron merely nodded at Harry. "I'm with ya, mate." Hermione silently agreed, casting her vote.

Ginny shrugged. "I'm already looking at 30 to life if they figure out I was the one that's been hacking their computers and replacing their files with granny porn. What's a little murder between friends?"

Jasmine though was quiet for a long time, eyes half shut as she mentally went over all the pros and cons. "Killing is never easy. If it becomes easy then you've become everything that you fight against. But..." Her eyes snapped open and her mask slipped for a moment, "when left in the situation we find ourselves now in... our choices are to kill or submit to absolute surrender. And I will not surrender to the bastard whose actions let Nocturne and the Aurors think they could kill my da without retribution." She held up her fist and her bracer blades snapped out. "I have a promise to keep."

"Do you even need to ask?" Leon said, Hedwig huffing at the mere idea she wouldn't be right at Harry's side.

Luna was the last. "Demons run when a good man goes to war."

"Alright then," Harry said with a sad smile, the weight of what he and his friends had just agreed upon pressing down upon him. This was the type of decision that historians would look back on, centuries in the future, and debate the merits of. For all of fate would now pivot and twist on what Harry and his friends had decided. Countless possibilities had shattered while many more now crystalized. They would go after the Minister of Avalon... and let the consequences come.

"How are we going to do it?" Neville asked.

Luna raised her hand. "We will turn him into a Joltick. A harmless little Joltick. And I'll put that Joltick in a box. And I'll put that box in another box and mail it to myself! And when it arrives!" She lifted her hand and to the confusion of them all she suddenly had a large mallet gripped in her fingers. "I"LL SMASH IT WITH A HAMMER!"

"...we'll make that plan b," Hermione said, Luna beaming at the fact that there was a chance they'd smash a Joltick with a hammer. "And I think you mean how will we get to Fudge?"

"Yeah," Harry said. "We have to do it now, before he can kill the professors. And he's going to invite them into the Ministry meaning we have to break in there during their evening meeting."

"Easier said than done, mate," Ron stated, slouching down. "Dad took Gin and I to the Ministry once... that place is a nightmare when it comes to security."

"Can you hack it?" Harry asked Ginny.

"I've tried," she admitted. "I can get into their external servers but their internal ones? Those are on a closed circuit that passes through a firewall so tough to crack that I'd have a better chance catching every Pokémon native to Avalon. I get to one of their internal computers and that's a different story but here at Hogwarts? Not happening."

"And we can't get you to an internal computer without getting into the building," Harry complained, sitting down once more next to Jasmine and resting his chin in his hands. "I love Catch-22s."

"I prefer the B-52s," Hermione said. Everyone turned and stared at her and she snorted in annoyance. "Oh yes, Luna can reference anything she wants but I do it..." Luna reached over and gave her a 'there there' pat on the knee.

"Is there anyone we could turn to that might be able to help us?" Neville ased only to quickly add, "And I know the Pack and Tonks and Remus and Sirius are out, of course. We take this to them-"

"Which we aren't going to do," Harry said firmly. "I nearly got Jack killed doing that... not going to gamble a second time. We do this on our own, plain and simple."

"Right," Neville stated. "But is there anyone else? What about the Defense club?"

Harry considered that. The Club had been set up as his way of recreating the Order of Moltres, only in a new effective form. One not designed to merely seek ways to meekly work with Voldemort but to actually take him out. And the mission that had taken down Stan had been a success. And yet...

"No," he finally admitted. "The only one that might be able to help us is Susan and it would be too obvious no matter what we did that she was the one that fed us the access codes or whatever we use to get into the Ministry. And that's assuming she could even let us in... or would want to. Going after a criminal is one thing, she was able to justify that. But assassinating the Prime Minster? Even with everything that we have I don't think she'd go for it." Getting Susan to help them with the Stan Mission had been hard enough, as the young woman had been worried the entire time that they'd be found out and her aunt would be enraged. This would be far worse. "The rest won't be able to help us."

"Justin?" Jasmine offered. "His mom does design things."

Hermione though stomped that idea out. "The Avalon Ministry is centuries old and they are really bad about updating things. She might have helped with some renovations but something that would have given her full blueprints? I doubt it."

Ron frowned. "So how do we break into the Ministry then? Because it seems like we are ready to charge in but no one is just going to open the door for us."

Jasmine began to chuckle.

"Mind sharing with the rest of the class?" Ginny said.

"Sorry," Jasmine said, her laughter tapering off. "This just reminded me of a story Uncle Jonas would tell me about the war... one of the few anyone would share with me. He and Da and Sirius needed to get into Celadon Prison in order to get to a criminal that had information about the passcodes to get into the Red Fort. Problem was, obviously, that it's real hard to break into a prison... nearly as much as breaking out. So they needed some way in and finally Sirius had a plan." She began to snort again, unable to control her laughter.

"What?" Harry asked.

A mad giggle escaped Jasmine's lips. "He, Uncle Jonas, and da dressed up in..." she snorted. "Drag and got arrested. Prostitution. Got walked right into the prison, got to the criminal with the pass codes, and then Uncle Jonas pulled out Pokeballs he'd hidden in his-" she began to laugh again and wildly gestured at her breasts. "And they got out."

The others chuckled a bit at the tale, envisioning Sirius trying to fight his way out of a prison in just a slip, but Harry rubbed his chin in thought. "That might work."

Ron frowned. "...mate, I'm not wearing a damn dress-"

Harry rolled his eyes and waved Ron off. "Not that part. But we make enough noise, get the attention of the right person... and they would arrest us in a heartbeat."

"...Umbridge," Neville said, finishing Harry's thought.

Harry leaned forward, a grin plastered on his features for the first time in a long while. "My friends... who here feels like stealing Fred and George's titles as greatest pranksters in Hogwarts? Because I think it's time to light this castle up!"