Chapter 6: Happenings at the Ministry

When Harry woke up, he was relaxed and enveloped by a warm feeling. As the fog cleared from his mind, he started to comprehend that he was hugged by more than a warm feeling.

"And, I did it again. Great, falling asleep cuddling Daphne…" he thought with a slight chuckle that immediately fled once he heard someone giggling. Someone who was most certainly not Daphne.

Freeing his face from Daphne's hair and shoulder he took a look at the source of the giggling, its volume constantly increasing and now nearing full blown laughter. There, in the door of the library, one hand on her stomach and one on her mouth to muffle the noise stood Tori, as he had come to call her.

"Good morning," he said lowly, not daring to look at her for fear of becoming even more red should he dare to do so.

"Enjoying yourselves, are you?" she asked with a smirk after finally getting a hold of her uncontrollable laughter.

"Yes I am, now go away" came a voice from Harry's neck where Daphne's face was hidden behind her blond strands, "I was sleeping just fine until you had to interrupt it," she scolded her little sister, brought her face up from Harry's shoulder and glared at Astoria.

"As much as I'd like that Daph-Daph" she responded, using a nickname Daphne obviously hated, "mum sent me to get you and Harry for breakfast. It's nearly nine, you don't wanna miss your important Ministry appointment, do you?"

"Well in that case" Daphne, now in a dangerous voice, said," you won't breath a word of where or how you found us to mum or dad, you understand me? There are things you don't want them to know, right…" she finished ominously.

Harry watched the whole exchange in fascinated silence, having never seen any sibling-dynamic before. When he saw Tori pale at Daphne's threat he knew her leverage must be quite good to evoke such a reaction. He resolved to ask her about it later.

"Deal?" Daphne asked, a small winner's smile apparent in her voice.

"Deal" Tori answered with a gulp.

The situation resolved, Harry and Daphne went back to their respective rooms. Shortly before they reached Daphne's door where they would part, Harry held her back and looked at her a while.

"Just so you know; I don't mind when it happens like that…" he began, timidly, "when we fall asleep like that. I would not do it as a plan, but it's okay like that."

He was extremely anxious about this confession, not about the content of it, which he was very sure of, but about her reaction. However, his fears turned out to be unfounded, as she only smiled at him shyly and gave a little nod, like she was not trusting her mouth to answer.

Without another word to each other they parted to their respective rooms and immediately, Harry's anxiety returned to its original topic: The appointment with the Ministry. He was relieved Daphne was allowed to come along, even with his self-imposed restrictions upon her presence. He didn't want her to hear what he had to tell the Ministry people, didn't want her to think less of him. And if she was there he was absolutely certain she would.

He quickly changed into some of his new clothes and left his room. When he reached the kitchen, the Greengrass household, minus Daphne, was already sitting there, waiting for the two to come. Harry was greeted with, somewhat forced smiles, by Daphne's parents and with a wink and a small shake of the head by Tori, signalising him she had kept her word about "not breathing a word".

The boy joined the others at the table and they made small-talk for a few minutes until Daphne, clad very respectably in witches' robes, joined them. As breakfast wore on, the topic of conversation gradually turned away from the rather mundane topics of Quidditch (a wizarding sport played on brooms, or so Harry was told), the potions Tori and he had been working on and a delightfully clumsy auror-candidate named Tonks, who had just joined the academy.

Instead, they were now talking about the appointment at the Ministry, a topic Harry was decidedly unhappy about. Tori was prying for information what exactly had been important enough to warrant getting an appointment at such short notice and why exactly no one had told her the reason Harry was suddenly living in their house.

"Not that I mind," she suddenly blurted out, ears red and looking at Harry with slight horror in her eyes," of course it's great to have you here, finally someone to talk to about potions. It was just really suddenly; you know?"

"Of course, Tori. Didn't assume anything different" he soothed her. He really had not thought anything different, because he knew how real rejection was delivered and felt. Still, he had not been able to completely block out all his anxiety when Tori had spoken.

"Oh, I'm relieved. Because I, for one, really do love to have you here;" Daphne cut in, throwing her sister a small, dangerous glare. Obviously, there was more going on than Harry was able to comprehend.

"We all are," Mrs. Greengrass now tried to end the situation, throwing a glance at Daphne, eyes widening a little when she noticed the glare in her daughter's eyes. "But now it really is time to eat up, you'll want to be at the Ministry a little early, just so you have some time to cool down after floo travel." After that, and even though Harry could tell "floo-travel" was in no way the reason for him having to cool down, breakfast went down without a hitch and by a quarter past nine Mr. Greengrass, Daphne and Harry were ready to leave for the Ministry.

Harry fell out of the floo in a large, gloomy room. It was a big atrium, two walls lined with a multitude of fireplaces. On the far end of the room stood a large fountain with a wizard, a witch, a goblin, a house-elf and something Harry was not sure about but thought it could be a centaur.

He was soon joined by Daphne and Mr. Greengrass, both of them leaving the fire with a lot more grace than Harry had shown. When they were all there they made their way to a small desk at the end of the hall and the bored looking wizard behind it. As they drew closer, the wizard looked up and quickly took in Mr. Greengrass and Daphne. Then his eyes fell on Harry, or rather his scar. He dropped the paper he had been reading and in an instant was at attention.

"H… Harry Potter, an honour to meet you. Auror Greengrass, how can I help you" he asked with way more professional dignity than shown before.

"My two guests and me have an appointment," he answered and Harry noticed the vagueness of that answer.

"He wants me to have the choice about how much the guard knows," he thought.

"Okay. I assume you don't have wands to register? No. Fine, then state your name and business so you can be outfitted with visitors' badges. Let's start with the young lady, all right?"

"Daphne Greengrass, I'm here to support a friend," she stated with an immense conviction that warmed Harry's heart and helped him formulate his answer:

"Harry Potter, hearing with Magical Child Protective Services" he nearly mumbled. But the stunned expression or even ridicule he had expected did not come, instead the security wizard just gave him a smile and an understanding look before handing them both visitors' badges. One read Daphne Greengrass, Moral Support and the other one displayed the words Harry Potter, Witness at Hearing.

Shooting the security wizard one last thankful look they departed the lobby towards an assortment of elevators. They boarded a lift and Mr. Greengrass pushed the button for level two.

"MCPS is with the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. Seems a bit strange, but to be honest, the whole Department is misnamed. The closest thing in the Muggle world would probably be the Home Office. DMLE is very important, and the head of it is surpassed in power only by the Minister and possibly the Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot and the Senior Undersecretary, that would be Fudge, Dumbledore and Umbridge." Pondering a little, the auror added "I'm quite certain neither of those three would wish to run afoul of Amelia Bones…" He chuckled a little.

At that moment the doors of the elevator opened and a warm female voice announced "Level One, Minister for Magic and Support Staff."

The three of them were then joined by a small swarm of self-propelled paper airplanes, that started to circle the ceiling. As the doors closed again and the elevator set in motion, one of the airplanes was not fast enough to react and add the sudden vertical velocity into its trajectory, leading to it being smacked by the now rapidly falling elevator.

This absurd picture prompted the first real laugh Harry had uttered since waking up that morning and a lot of the pent up tension he felt was released as he saw the now severely battered plane trying its best to stay aloft and failing at it spectacularly. Instead of flying, the plane had now taken up a sort of spiralling motion, following the bend in its wing.

"Level two, Department of Magical Law Enforcement, including the Improper Use of Magic Office, Auror Headquarters, and Wizengamot Administration Services" the voice now proclaimed, immediately forcing Harry's anxiety back to the forefront of his mind.

He startled a little as he felt a small, warm hand encircle his and saw Daphne throw him a small, warm albeit a little forced smile. After one last squeeze she released the hand of a surprisingly reluctant Harry. He had found the physical contact quite reassuring and was hesitant to let go of pretty much the only thing that was reassuring him at that moment.

They left the elevator and followed Mr. Greengrass along a corridor lined with doors until they reached a larger intersection where they found two larger doors at the ends of the intersecting corridor. Daphne's father purposefully led them through one of them into a small waiting area, obviously meant for children, as it was adorned with a number of very worn toys and some children's books.

"Daphne, this is where we have to leave you behind. I think we won't be long, I'm certain you'll find something to occupy your time," Daphne was instructed by her father.

With a disdainful look at the toys and books, both clearly meant for much younger children, she answered," I'll be fine." Now, she turned towards Harry," And you'll be too. I'm just outside, everything will turn out just fine."

To Harry however, she sounded a little like she wanted to convince herself rather than him. With a last reassuring smile on her face they lost sight of her as they made their way deeper into MCPS.

Their target was a simple, nondescript door with a worn brass name-plaque: Jenny McGregor.

Jenny McGregor's alarm sounded.

Sleepily, she turned around, hit the magical alarm clock to make it stop ringing and slowly she started to get up. Looking at her dresser, she wondered why she even bothered having a multitude of different clothes, considering that in workdays she had to wear her boring, traditional ministry robes and on the weekends she was usually too depressed from the days she spent working at MCPS to do anything more than hang around in her pyjamas and sleep. A lot.

"Well, this is what you get for dropping out of Hogwarts" she thought to herself, remembering a conversation she had led with her father that had predicted pretty much exactly this to be the outcome of her decision.

After a hasty breakfast, she took the floo to the Ministry lobby and took an elevator to level two, where she walked to her office. With a sigh, she let herself fall into her uncomfortable, old chair and took out her schedule for the day. When she reached the appointment at 10, her eyes nearly fell out of their sockets.

Auror Greengrass, escorting Mr. Harry Potter

Harry watched, feeling almost detached from himself, as Mr. Greengrass knocked at the door and heard a surprisingly young, and nearly timid voice answer: "Come in."

The woman that greeted them from behind the desk in the tiny, stuffed office looked to be in her early twenties, although Harry found it hard to judge due to his inexperience with most people and the somehow silly expression of awe on her face.

Harry sighed; It seemed he had not been lied to about his celebrity status and he didn't like it one bit. He was drawing attention, drawing attention got you hurt, that much he knew.

Both having taken the seats offered to them by hand gesture, they now looked at the young witch expectantly. Shuddering a little, shaking her head as if waking up from a dreamy state, she looked at them and finally found her voice again.

"Auror Greengrass, Mr. P… Po… Potter, how may I help you?" she asked in a slightly squeaky voice

"We are here to file for the removal of Harry from his guardians; They are unfit for the task of raising a magical child" the annoyed sounding auror filled her in.

"And w… why are they unsuitable guardians, if I may ask Auror Greengrass?"

"They are abusive. When I first saw young Harry here, he was bruised and from what he told me and my daughter, this is due to his uncle's hatred of all things magical. It was neither the first time, nor will it be the last time, should he return there."

The ministry witch looked at the duo in front of her in complete shock. To Harry, it seemed as though she could not make the connection of The Boy Who Lived being the same person as Harry Potter, battered child, and it annoyed him to no end.

Ms. McGregor, for the first time, turned her eyes toward Harry and looked straight at him. With a soft voice, her limited professionalism obviously kicking in, she asked: "Mr. Potter, can you confirm this?" At his nod, she continued," Then I'll have to get a full statement from you, as well as any possible witnesses. Yours I will take now, all other statements can be written and sent here."

She started to bustle around in her chaotic desk and pulled out a large feather and a roll of parchment. The feather dipped itself into the ink glass she opened and, with a flick of her wand, the parchment smoothed out and the quill hovered over its surface.

"Now, Mr. Potter, please tell me: How was it living with your relatives?"

After telling his story, Harry just sat there, staring at the wall of the office, consumed by sadness, embarrassment and shame. No one tried to get him out of his state and he was glad for it, just wanting to be alone with his thoughts for a while.

Suddenly, the door to the office burst open and in flew a blonde-haired missile. Harry, his senses alert from reliving memories of past encounters with Vernon's rage, tried to hide behind his chair, but before he could get anywhere, Daphne had reached him and thrown her arms around him, completely oblivious to her lightly astonished father and the completely flabbergasted ministry worker.

Regaining her composure, Ms. McGregor shot a glance at the auror and, upon seeing him relax, she turned towards the intruder.

"Might I ask what you are doing here?"

Without moving away from Harry, Daphne answered her: "It felt like Harry needed me, so I came." Her rational tone paired with her being unwaveringly positioned in Harry's arms seemed to convince the grown-ups they would be hard-pressed to either force or convince the girl to leave. In all honesty, Harry was sure they would be biting their teeth out trying either of these things.

Overcoming her shock, the ministry worker now addressed her guests," Now, from what I heard, it should not be much of a problem to remove Mr. Potter from the care of his relatives. It will, however, require a full investigation to fully rescind their rights to him, although I am not certain how these rights came to be anyway. As it stands, Mr. Potter will stay with a ministry-approved temporary guardian until a permanent solution can be found. Are there questions?"

"Who will this ministry-approved temporary guardian be" Harry inquired, terrified by what little he knew about the foster system in the muggle world, which his uncle had sometimes used to scare him.

"If I may, I might be able to offer a solution", Mr. Greengrass interjected," my wife and I talked about this, and we would be happy to be Mr. Potter's temporary guardians. If it is okay with Harry of course…"

As he heard this, Harry was flooded with an even more incredible feeling of warmth than that of Daphne still hugging herself to him. "Well, maybe not better, but different" he thought. The idea that someone wanted him, and that he would even be asked beforehand, was filling him with feelings he could not quite place.

"Mr. Potter, while I take your grin as a Yes I do need your verbal assent, just for the sake of protocol. Otherwise I'll have to fill out even more reports later, in triplicate."

Xander Greengrass sighed loudly. They had returned from the Ministry a few minutes ago and Harry and his daughter had immediately taken off to celebrate. Whatever that meant. He wondered how it would all turn out and also how his daughter had been able to come in at just the right time and get Harry out of his stupor. His reverie was interrupted by his wife, Eleanor.

"What is whirling around your head, my dear husband?" she asked with a concerned voice.

"It just wasn't an easy morning. I mean, I know how his relatives treated Harry, but hearing it always shakes me to the core. There was also something curious with Daphne; She seemed to sense how distraught Harry was at the end of the interview and just stormed into the room to hug him…" he trailed off, not knowing how to properly describe the situation.

"Were you able to do what we planned?"

"Yes," he chuckled, and as an answer to her questioning glance, added "it's highly irregular. But being an auror has its perks, seeing as we are all vetted for potential dangers regularly. And that the case-worker was completely in awe of Harry did not hurt either."

"I can imagine that" she chuckled," but I'm sure Harry did not like it, did he?"

"Not one bit. Maybe that's a good thing, that he doesn't enjoy the attention. Otherwise he would become spoiled, it would kill Daphne for Harry to change like that."

Daphne took Harry "celebrating", which for her meant going to the kitchen and indulging in whatever they found. As it turned out, the supply they found was inadequate and she decided, with Harry's backing, that something had to be done. This meant cooking. Or rather baking, at least for Daphne, because, just like her mother, she hated cooking. Baking was better.

Harry however seemed to be more of the cooking type, so they determined that he would cook and Daphne would bake. Dessert seemed to be exactly what they needed after their day. The decision about what they would make was not that hard: Harry wanted treacle tart, Daphne wanted Chicken Tikka Masala. Harry would make the chicken, Daphne would make the tart.

Two hours later, Eleanor Greengrass entered the kitchen to take in a view of utter devastation: There was flour all around, a multitude of pans and pots were strewn around and two children were sitting at the table, grinning and happily munching on a somewhat dishevelled looking treacle tart.

Her shock and anger she felt about the state of her kitchen were abated by the joyous smiles on the two faces before her. Nevertheless, she had to scold, for appearances sake.

"Would you mind telling me, what you are doing here?"

The children's faces froze, and they looked up at her, some trepidation in Daphne's face, utter terror displayed on Harry's.

"We're sorry, Mrs. Greengrass, we really didn't mean to make a mess. Please don't make me go back to the Dursleys." Eleanor heard panic in his voice, and her annoyance over the state of her kitchen was replaced by sadness and sympathy for the distraught boy.

"It's alright, Harry. We will never make you go back there. The way things are handled here is, you make a mess, you clean it," she said, in as calming a voice as possible, but clearly, she was unable to completely reach Harry, who still looked terrified.

"Harry," Daphne now interceded with a warm, concerned tone," Harry, snap out of it. You never have to go back. We'll just have to clean the kitchen, nothing more. And maybe we'll have to relinquish some of the food, as an appeasement, you know."

Her small joke, along with her soothing words seemed to get through to Harry and the boy started to relax a little. Still the tension never fully left his body, his eyes never really shed their haunted look.

"Come on, let's clean this up and then we can take a stroll over the grounds, okay?" her daughter asked, a forced calmness in her voice. With a slight nod, Harry acknowledged her, and Eleanor left the pair to their cleaning, knowing it would be better for Harry to not have any grown-ups present at this time.

AN: Hello all,

I hope you all enjoyed your holidays, or rather still are. This is a shorter chapter and you can expect another one shortly.

Please review, it helps a lot.

alexandertheII