CHAPTER 118: Trouble

Amelia Bones stood on the podium in the Wizengamot. She was not happy. An emergency meeting had been called before the sun rose, but few yet knew the full extent of what the day would bring. The first reports were just coming in. Crouch was dead. Moody and Scrimgeour were unaccounted for. Li was cursing up a storm.

Bones tapped on the podium with a dark rod. There was, for a moment, silence in the Wizengamot. She began slowly. "Rumors have reached us that the dark lord has returned. Not as a dark lord may return from a device, as we have seen before, but has returned at once in full power. Today I see little reason to doubt them."

Cornelous Fudge spoke. "But I do. In all our years, and in all the annals of our history there is record of no such thing. The interdict of Merlin forbids it."

There was a murmur that spread through the hall.

"But I do not", Amelia Bones continued. "Witches and wizards, we have sought in vain for a way to bypass the interdict, and so we think there is no way. But it is a good guess that a way remains to be found. Either way, Voldermort is upon us. Come there is little time. But I to not mean to leave you without hope. I heard from Moody last night that the dark lord is missing his wand hand. But where Moody is now I cannot say." That at least was not a lie. If she knew what Moody was up to she would have forbidden it. "I do not know what manner of power was responsible, but the dark lord can yet be stopped. Let us stop him."

Lucius Malfoy spoke with a haggard voice. "You jest. No one has laid a spell on the dark lord. These things do not happen. But come, how is this to be believed. All we have are rumors. We have no ... evidence." Lucius Malfoy was not accustomed to arguing in such terms, but he had paid attention to Draco enough to learn what he was talking about. One more clever ploy to gain time.

"Enough!" roared Auror Li. "I can read intentions from a word or a hesitation. The dark lord is upon us and Mr. Malfoy knows it. I must ask for aid, all we can possibly give. No call for a draft this time. I call for arms. Every able bodied wizard or witch. Now is not the time to consider who must fight for the rest of us, for this is not a mere threat of war but of obliteration of our nation. Nothing less will serve."

Lucius wavered, but he recovered before Li finished speaking. "Li's proposition is madness. Shall we put down this madness as it belongs and relieve Li from his position. I call for an immediate vote."

There was a show of hands great enough to see there was no need to bother counting them. Amelia Bones spoke. "Vote or no vote, I'll not do it."

Fudge spoke, his mouth dripping with sarcasm. "What is this? You would overturn a vote of the Wizengamot. For a vote as lopsided as this such a thing is not done."

"This is the end. The last session of the Wizengamot is adjourned. I do not look to this body being drawn together ever again." Bones tapped the podium once and walked away. Li swiftly followed.

Minerva moved her wand and dismissed the bubble-head charm so she could make her answer heard. As she was not yet accustomed to a zero gee environment, that first motion sent ther tumbling. No sooner than she opened her mouth, she smacked her head on the wall. She re-oriented herself and tried again. "My name is Minerva, and please keep it off the radio. I really don't want trouble following me. Some really bad people are out to get me. It was said they would hunt me to the ends of the earth." As she tumbled round again, she finally noticed the grab bars and was able to stop her rotation.

There was no shuttle at the international space station at this time, and there was only one astronaut with the three cosmonauts. Minerva had managed to find the one astronaut. It did not, however, take very long for one of the cosmonauts to overhear, and radio home with the disturbing news. This was, however, answered with "We don't have time for jokes."

But nobody was joking. The astronaut was really quite put off by the incomprehensibility of what was before him. It sounded like somebody was fleeing the mob, and managed to get up here by some hodge-podge method. But that was preposterous. If someone can get up here why do they fear the mob. The power differences are just too great. Whoever can get here ought to be able to deal with any threat the mob can produce. It must be a great opponent indeed. "What's this? Someone who can get to the space station at considerable risk is deathly afraid. It took some effort indeed to get here. What is it that you fear so much?"

Minerva decided that total truth was dumb, but she wasn't that good of a liar. "I ran away. War has come upon us and I needed somewhere to flee to. I haven't a clue what I'm doing."

"Well I can see that. Who sent you and how did you get here?"

"I followed a long sheet of numbers. Here, see what Michael figured for me. I reall am in a lot of trouble and need a safe place to stay."

You don't become an astronaut without a lot of training, and burn timing sheets start to look familiar after awhile. "Seriously. By hand. Lady, to my knowledge nobody has figured an intercept by hand." And gotten it right with the utter impossibility of any course correction, at least. Had she not come within sight of the space station things would have gone badly.

"Would you rather I say I popped in out of thick air?"

"Nah. I'd rather you say who you really are and why you're really here and why you want it off the radio."

"Let's start with the last one. If you call home and say I am here, either they will think you're lying or they make too much chatter on it and the man who is looking for me will bring war here. I am here because he won't think to look here and probably can't figure out how to get here even if he does. And if you don't believe who I am there's not much point me trying to explain."

"All right Minerva who ARE you?"

"I am Minerva, a schoolteacher by trade. The darkness that was struck down has returned with vengeance and new terror. One man will soon conqueror. We ask little. Are you willing to shelter us for a little time?"

"You keep on going on about a war I am not aware of. Water costs ten thousand dollars a glass up here. This is no small thing you ask."

"Bring me an empty glass." A flexible bottle was swiftly produced. "Aguamenti. Water doesn't cost anything anymore. And we've worked out a way to bring up other supplies. We need nothing but room."

He looked at the full bottle and said "Huh."

"Now", Minerva said, "would you mind conducting me to the center of this space station so we can start sending up supplies?"

"What are you actually looking for?"

"Michael said the center, and said to be careful about being right at it because the hill sphere is only two meters wide. I don't quite know what that means and I'm not sure I want to know why it needs to be the center right now. I've heard enough things I don't really understand today."

"Lady, so have I. So have I."