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A/N: Hey. Please review! Haven't been getting many, I'm losing faith. Maybe the age of HPFF is gone?
Summary: A continuation of Complexities of the Heart,
Things Between People
By katemary77
Chapter Nine:
Let me take some of the punches
For you tonight
- Sometimes You Can't Make it on Your Own, U2
New Minister Elected!
Amelia Bones to Reshape the Ministry of Magic!
After weeks of confusion, our elected leaders have finally been able to select a new Minister of Magic to replace Cornelius Fudge. Yesterday, during yet another meeting to discuss the vote for a new leader, Aurors arrived to take into custody Richard Tibbons, who was been accused of high treason by way of consorting with He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named.
Almost immediately after, leader of the Wizengamot Albus Dumbledore called to vote. Amelia Bones won the vote by a clear landslide and was officially sworn in as Minister for Magic only moments later.
In a press conference yesterday evening, Minister Bones declared her intention to completely rework and redefine the Ministry of Magic; "Our government has become stifled by corruption and the prejudices of pure-blooded leaders. It is time to wipe the slate clean and start anew."
Minister Bones aims to select the members of her cabinet throughout the next week. When asked how she will approach the looming threat of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, Bones responded that it was an issue she intends to tackle with determination. "We are a country at war," she said, "There's no point denying that any more. You-Know-Who and his followers are increasing, he is gathering forces already in his efforts to take over the Wizarding World and as a community we must band together to stop his rise."
More information on page four.
"Well," Hermione said with a frown, "I suppose that's something."
"Anyone is better than Fudge," Harry muttered.
It was the Monday of their second week back at Hogwarts and Hermione had been reading aloud the front page of the Prophet, which had become a tradition in the last little while.
"Agreed," Ron chimed in, "Imagine if Umbridge had been made Minister!"
Harry shuddered; "I'd rather not."
"I wonder what Dad thinks about it all," Ron said a few minutes later as they made their way to their first class of the day.
Just what Mr. Weasley thought of the new Minister of Magic became clear when Errol, the family owl, flew through the Gryffindor Common Room that night.
"Hey Ginny," Ron called across the room, "Mail from Dad."
The fifth year extricated herself from her friends and came to sit by Hermione. Ron began reading from the parchment.
"'Kids," he read, "By now I'm sure you've both heard the news that Amelia Bones has finally been elected Minister of Magic and has begun to reorganise the Ministry. I thought I would tell you both this in person, rather than letting you find out by the Daily Prophet tomorrow, but the new Minister has decided she would like me to fill the post of Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement that she has left vacated. Of course, I have accepted. This position will of course put myself and our family in the spotlight and so in more danger but I feel it is important for the Order and for myself personally to take over this role.
Your mother and I hope you and your friends are well,
Love, Dad.'"
There was a brief moment of silence.
"Wow!" Ginny exclaimed excitedly. "This is brilliant!" She leapt across to Ron and gave him a tight hug. "Isn't it?"
Slowly, a wide grin appeared on Ron's face.
"Yeah it is, fantastic! Finally he's getting some of the recognition he deserves, I reckon he would've been head years ago if not for bloody Fudge."
"Language, Ron," Hermione scolded, but she was smiling. "Congratulations!"
"This is great," Harry said earnestly, "You're dad will do it brilliantly."
"You should write back and congratulate him," Hermione urged.
Ron nodded and leant down to his school bag. Before even opening it though, he looked back at Hermione ruefully. She was already holding a piece of blank parchment and a quill in her hand.
"You're the best. Hermione!"
She rolled her eyes.
"Aren't you going to be late for Occlumency, Harry?"
"Damn! Thanks, Hermione!"
Patting her on the shoulder, Harry took off out of the common room and jogged to the Room of Requirement. Anna had arranged to meet Harry there once a week until she was sure he needed no more help defending his mind. By the time the holidays had ended, Harry had built a solid wall around his mind, but Anna could still breach it with a bit of force. Tonight though, he wanted to try something different.
Anna was waiting for him when he arrived.
"Sorry I'm late!"
"No matter," she smiled, giving him a quick one-armed hug. "How is school going?"
"Okay," he answered, "Our new Defense teacher is okay, he's not as good as Remus though."
"Of course he's not!" she replied with a grin. "Now, get ready. Legilimins!"
He could feel her penetrating his mind, her presence was hard and demanding, impossible to ignore. She reached his wall quickly and after about half a minute of pushing, broke through into his memories.
"You're definitely improving, Harry," she said, lifting her wand. "Again. Legi -"
"Wait a sec," Harry said, stopping her mid-spell. "Can you give me a moment? I want to try something new."
Anna nodded, curious. Harry focused intently for few moments, determined to make this new idea work like he imagined it would.
"Okay, go."
"Legilimins!"
This time she whispered it and her presence in his mind was just that, a whisper. Anna often changed her approach to his mind, she said it would prepare him for all kinds of attacks. They stood in silence for almost three whole minutes before she cracked through to his memories.
"Very good, Harry," Anna said once she'd withdrawn from his memories. "Did you read about that approach in one of the books we gave you?"
Harry nodded. Anna and Remus had gifted him with a number of books on Occlumency for his birthday and he had been eagerly reading through them. One of the more obscure tomes discussed various visualisations that could better defend the mind. It had given him an idea.
"Talk me through it, Harry."
With a thought, two comfy chairs and a coffee table appeared in the room. They sat.
"Well," he began, "You know how you keep saying it's all about visualising an unbreakable wall? And building on from that? Like, in your mind you have dozens of walls and the last one is the strongest?"
She nodded and waved her hand for him to continue.
"Well, I was thinking… do they have to be walls? Why not a maze?"
Anna grinned. "Inspiration from the Triwizard Tournament, perhaps?"
"Yeah," he admitted with a smile. "But do you think it'll work?"
She thought for a moment.
"I don't see why not," she replied eventually, "But you'll have to be sure that every wall is completely unbreakable, so as to stop someone from simply breaking through everything into the centre."
"Okay. I was thinking of getting even more complex. For example, at the end of every passage could be a giant stone door and maybe I could set traps like a pretend memory or just a harmless memory to disorient whoever is trying to get in and… and maybe even a moat!"
Anna laughed; "One step at a time, kiddo! Let's just start mapping out this fortress of yours." With a flick of her wand, a large sheet of parchment and a pencil appeared. They got to work.
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The next day, as Harry was leaving Potions, a very small Hufflepuff tugged on his robes and said, "Excuse me," in a very high voice.
Harry looked down and said, "Can I help you?"
The young boy took in a deep breath and then almost shouted in one great rush, "Mr-I-mean-Headmaster-Dumbledore-asked-me-to-tell-you-that-he-wants-you-to-meet-him-in-his-office-tonight-after-dinner-and-that-he-really—really-likes-chocolate-frogs-or-maybe-it-was-chocolate-toads-or-maybe-tadpoles-I'm-sorry-I-don't-remember!"
"Um, thanks, I think I caught that," Harry said, grinning as Ron guffawed and Hermione smacked the back of his head with a stern frown. The first-year stared at Harry for a few more moments before remembering himself and running up the dungeon stairs.
"Do you think Dumbledore is going to start your wandless magic training?" Ron asked quietly as they sat down to dinner.
Harry shrugged; "I guess I'll find out."
A short while later, Harry was standing at the bottom of Dumbledore's office.
"Chocolate frogs," he told the gargoyle.
It didn't move.
"Um, chocolate toads?"
Nothing happened.
"It can't be chocolate tadpoles!"
Harry laughed as the gargoyle jumped aside and allowed him entry. Professor Dumbledore's office looked the same as always, minus the few ornaments he had shattered in rage during his last visit.
"Ah, Harry! Come in, come in. Take a seat."
"Good evening, Professor," he greeted as he sat down.
"Good evening, Harry." The old mage was sitting behind his desk, his fingers steepled together under his chin. "Of course, you know why you are here; to continue the training Remus and Anna began whilst you were staying at Grimmauld Place. I thought we might start with a demonstration of what you have achieved so far." He motioned to a pile of quills arranged on his desk. "Please lift as many of these as you can."
With a wave of his hand, the entire stack of quills rose neatly in the air.
Dumbledore's eye twinkled. "You may lower them. Now, can you do that again without using your hand?"
This was only slightly trickier. Remus had explain that hand movements were much like wand movements, they focused magical energy into action. Keeping his hands in his lap, Harry directed his emerald eyes to the heap of quills. They slowly rose to the air.
The Headmaster clapped his hands together.
"Very good, Harry! Perhaps I need to give you a bit more of a challenge. Come to the window."
The moved to one of the wide, arched windows in Dumbledore's office. Dumbledore took Harry's book bag and with a wave of his wand, it disappeared from the office entirely.
"You're bag is now somewhere in the grounds of the school. Please summon it."
Harry's eyebrows raised of his own accord. He hadn't done anything like this with Remus or Anna, only simple levitations and light spells. Focusing on his bag, picturing it in his mind clearly, Harry thought, Accio! They waited a few moments, but nothing happened.
"May I say the words, Professors?"
"You may."
"Accio!"
Sure enough, a whistling noise soon reached their ears and Harry's bag flew through his window and into his arms.
"Very good, now, again Harry but this time with hand movements, no words."
They continued in this way for about an hour, with Harry performing Summoning spells on various objects by various means until he could summon whatever Dumbledore asked from the Hogwarts grounds by his mind, hands or words only.
"Unless you have any objections, Harry, I think we will meet at this time every week. Next week, I think we might find an empty classroom and begin Conjuring but please meet here first."
"Yes, Professor."
"In the meantime, please continue practicing on your own. When you feel the need to cast a spell, attempt to do it wandlessly, by any of the methods we've used tonight. In class as well, attempt what you're learning wandlessly as well as nonverbally."
"Yes, Professor."
Dumbledore smiled and his eyes twinkled again. "You are doing very well, my boy. I don't think it will take long until you have mastered wandless magic and can begin to use it defensively."
"I hope, Professor, that you can teach me to use it offensively as well."
The Headmaster sighed and some of the twinkle left his eye.
"I'm afraid I might have to, before the end."
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Anna stretched her pale hands above her head and gave a yawn. Rolling out of bed, she grabbed her dressing gown from a hook on the back of the door and strode out of the room, wearily rubbing sleep from her eyes. As she descended the stairs to the basement kitchen, there was a loud crash!, like the sound of a plate being broken. Swiftly removing her wand from the pocket of her robe, she pushed the door to the kitchen open and readied herself to cast a spell.
There was only Remus, however. He was facing away from her with hunched shoulders, tightly grasping the counter with his hands. A few metres away from him were a few pieces of broken china, as if the plate had been hurled with some force.
A question was on the tip of her tongue but then she remembered; it was Halloween. Silently, she crossed the kitchen to Remus, careful not to step on any broken shards of china, and wrapped her long arms around his torso, resting her cheek against his back.
"I hate this day," he said quietly, and Anna nodded against him.
After a long while, Remus turned in her arms and properly accepted her embrace.
She didn't leave him that day, instead they sat together – reading, just thinking or watching the television – but mostly silent.