It was now approaching dinner time when Harry looked up from the parchments Amelia had given Harry and Ginny. They detailed how exactly the current ministry worked. Even though they had huge amount of magic law in their heads, it was still somewhat outdated. What made matters worse was that between Fudge and Scrimgeour, most of the decent laws had been repelled.
Just as Harry was about ready to give up and go to dinner when a small model of armor spoke up, "My Lord, Madam Bones is here to see you, she says it is very urgent."
"Very well Max, allow her access." A few moments later, Amelia knocked on the door to the study and entered.
"Harry, I have spoken to a few contacts I have in Buckingham Palace and on Downing Street. Her majesty and the Prime Minister wish to meet with you tomorrow morning, early. Neither seems to be happy with Rufus right now."
"Thank you Amelia. Why don't you join us for dinner tonight so that we can discuss this further?"
"Thank you Harry. I gave the house elves the day off at home, Susan is off visiting Hanna Abbott, and I am not the world's best cook." With a loud laugh, Harry finished putting the parchments away and stood up.
"Nothing to worry about Amelia, not everyone can cook like Molly Weasley." Harry led Amelia out of his study and down to the first floor where the goblins were still working on some finishing touches to the house. After a quick discussion, Harry led Amelia thru another door and into a rather large dining room where dinner would be held. A few minutes after they arrived, so did everyone else in the house. Ginny entered the room and made her way over to Harry whom she kissed. Soon everyone was sitting and enjoying the dinner.
Dobby, Winky, and Kreacher were already becoming accustomed to being treated as equals with wizards when Molly Weasley suddenly shrieked. "Dobby! Did you forget to wash your hands before dinner? You go wash your hands right now young man! You too Kreacher, I see you trying to wipe them off on your new clothes."
Both elves ran from the room quickly, Molly muttering to Winky about men and constantly having to train them. This earned a small squeal from Winky as she talked to Molly and Fleur about the habits of men and how she needs to contain to train her Dobby and of course Kreacher.
Both male elves returned a minute later, looking somewhat guilty, and retook their seats. After showing their hands and arms to Winky and Molly, they were permitted by Winky to resume eating. It was then Charlie spoke up, "Don't worry about Mum guys; she's been like this forever. It just means that you're part of the Weasley Clan." Little did anyone know that the Weasley Family Clock had added three more hands, a single hand for Kreacher and a matching pair of hands for Dobby and Winky.
Dinner continued on from there. As it was a mostly Weasley crowd, dinner was loud with many different conversations. As the third course was being served, Amelia spoke up.
"Harry, I think you, Ginny, and Albus should meet the queen and Prime Minister tomorrow." That statement caused the entire table be stopped talking and stare at Amelia.
"The reason why I think the three of you should go is because you are, well you. Ginny being your soulmate and wife would be required for any official function and Albus, as the old grandfatherly type, you are the perfect choice to accompany these two hooligans." There was a lot of laughter at the thought of Harry and Ginny being considered hooligans, however Amelia wasn't done yet.
"Oh and Albus, I did some very quiet investigating around the ministry. It appears that everyone knows that you are alive. There are a number of people on the Wizengamot who want to speak to you. However no one has any idea where you are because Hogwarts is in lockdown, and your ancestral home is…well its unknown to anyone thanks to the Fidelius Charm you and Abe placed.
"Also, the Department of Magical Education still has you recorded as the Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry so you might want to talk to your boss soon and get back to school."
Another round of laughter erupted after which Harry and Ginny retired to their study to finish studying the parchments Amelia had dropped off earlier. They had arranged with Albus to meet in their en suite dining room the next morning at 6 a.m.
_________________________________________________________________________________
It was now pushing 10 pm when Ginny finally had enough of looking over the old parchments.
The parchments that Amelia had given her and Harry were actual copies of all of the original treaties that wound up serving as the foundations of the Council of Twelve and later the Ministry of Magic. Included in these parchments were the charters between the Council of Twelve and King Edmund II, the original charter for Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry from the Council of Twelve, and the royal charter for the Ministry of Magic signed by King Henry III.
Besides these charters and treaties were copies of every treaty the Council of Twelve and the Ministry of Magic had ever signed. These included the treaty that led to the creation of the ICW. Another treaty spelled out exactly what the roll of the ICW would finally wind up being as well as its laws. Also included were copies of every single treaty with the Goblins Nation, and a number of treaties with the ministries of Europe and the United States that established, among other things, embassies and ambassadors and other diplomatic channels.
The one that caught Harry's eye was the treaty between the Ministry of Magic of Great Britain and the Lord of Azkaban which established Azkaban Prison. According to the treaty, a tribute was to be paid to the Lord of Azkaban every year. This tribute would cover the costs of running the prison and insure that the Lord of Azkaban remained comfortable in the living conditions he had become accustomed too.
After hours of searching, Harry and Ginny found that this treaty, like so many others, was broken. The reason was because, in a nutshell, the Ministry of Magic was corrupt from the Minister of Magic all the way down thru every department and to the house elves.
The house elves were bound to serve the Lord Protector of the Realm, but not the Ministry itself. This had led to many of the laws that relegated house elves to slave status.
However, Harry and Ginny knew that not everyone was corrupt in the Ministry, but those who were not were either relegated to positions of little importance, like Arthur Weasley, or were fired for no true cause.
As Ginny stretched, Harry looked up and saw his wife's bare torso. Harry dropped the parchment he was reading, grabbed Ginny and flamed them both to their bedroom and into bed. After a few minutes of snogging, Ginny spoke up.
"Harry dear, I wanted to have sex tonight. But it's almost midnight, and we need to be up in 5 hours." Ginny pouted, giving her husband the biggest pair of puppy eyes he had seen yet.
Harry, who was still trying to strip down, walked around the bed and pulled Ginny into his arms. "Sweetheart, I know, I really do. If I had my way, we'd seal the entire floor and I would make love to you for hours on end, then turn around and fuck your brains out on whatever surface you wanted, but we can't.
"One thing I learned using the time turner yesterday was that there isn't enough time to get everything done. I am glad Mackrack gave the time turner, because if not, then I do believe that Headquarters would not anywhere close to be completed."
Ginny could only nod and agree with her husband. It had been a really long day by the time Harry and Ginny returned from their use with a time turner. When that had left the meeting last night, Mackrack held them back for a moment and offered the time turner so that they could have more to deal with a number of items that had crept up.
It worked out quite well in the end, but it did cause Harry and Ginny to be awake for almost 40 hours straight. After straightening out the business with Gringotts, including replenishing Vault 713 for the Order's use and their plans for Headquarters, Harry and Ginny also spent quite a bit of the day down in the vaults of Gryffindor, Slytherin, and Azkaban.
They found many useful items which would be arriving from Gringotts the next day. Including these items were 20 invisibility cloaks, 3 pensieves one of which was a presentation pensieve, and armor.
"Besides Gin, I really want to meet with the Queen, get the Ministry settled, and then let Albus and Minerva handle things for a few days as we take a small honeymoon. Have you ever heard about Disneyland?"
"Of course, Walt Disney was a squib." That floored Harry. "Anyway, let's go to bed; you're right about needing sleep." Both of the Potters stripped down and crawled into bed. After spooning up behind his wife, Harry closed his eyes, performed his Occlumency exercises, then fell sound asleep.
_________________________________________________________________________________
Six o'clock Harry and Ginny entered their dining room for breakfast with Albus. As they entered, they saw that, for the first time in their memory, Albus Dumbledore was not wearing his usual robes. He was instead wearing a very nice black pin strip three piece suit with matching overcoat and carried a nice black dress cane.
"Good morning Mr. & Mrs. Potter, Dobby let me in a few minutes early. I hope you do not mind, but I could not stand another moment in the infirmary. Thankfully Poppy and Minerva cannot reach this floor." Albus stated, smiling broadly.
This was the Albus Dumbledore Harry had missed terribly. The smiling, eye twinkling somewhat crazy Headmaster that ate lemon drops and spout out useful and sometimes useless information. With large smiles, Harry and Ginny sat down and enjoyed breakfast.
As they finished eating, Albus withdrew two small packages from his pocket and enlarged them, handing one to Harry and the other to Ginny.
"These are complete outfits for the two of you. They are dress robes made out of Egyptian cotton and Acromantula Silk. Now please hurry, we do not wish to keep the queen and Prime Minister waiting." Both Harry and Ginny left the room to change into some appropriate clothing to wear under the robes.
Thanks to Winky shopping spree the day before, Harry and Ginny had different clothes that they could choose from. Harry chose to wear a pair of black dress slacks with a blood red dress shirt with his Hungarian Horntail Boots; an early gift from Charlie Weasley, while Ginny wore an almost matching set of clothing, except her blouse was golden.
The robes Albus had given them were black with gold and red trim. On the back of their robes were two matching phoenixes surrounded by flames. Over their hearts, stacked on top of each other, were the family crests. Each one was a single solid color except for the Gryffindor/Potter Crest which was on top. This crest was fully colored.
Below the Potter Family Crest was the Black Family in black, then the Weasley Family Crest in red, then the Slytherin Family Crest in green. Underneath them next was the Azkaban Family Crest in steel gray and finally underneath that was the Flamel Family Crest in yellow.
On the opposite breast was the Crest of the Order of the Phoenix, beneath that was the Hogwarts Crest, also in full color. With the two crests in full color, a person would assume that the phoenix was super imposed over the Hogwarts Crest.
Underneath that crest was the Crest of Azkaban, which was done in steel gray, like the Azkaban Family Crest. The Crest of Azkaban was different from the Azkaban Family Crest due to the fact that since there was no Lord of Azkaban, magic would prevent anyone from using it. So the Ministry approved warden created the new crest that became known as the Crest of Azkaban.
The last Crest on Harry and Ginny's robes was the Crest of Gringotts. Because he was indeed a majority shareholder, Harry earned the right to wear this crest. With this Crest, the Potters were considered to be ambassadors from a foreign nation, and were to be treated as such. This applied to the Muggle and Magical Worlds.
A few minutes later, Harry and Ginny both returned to the dining room. As the entered the room, Dobby and Winky appeared and helped Harry and Ginny strap their swords and scabbards to their belts.
"Harry, Ginny, you both look remarkable. When I sent Tonks and Remus out to purchase our robes, I told them the very best. I see that Madam Maulkin has not lost her touch.
"NO she hasn't Albus. Though how did she know which crests should be on our robes?"
Albus smiled at the young couple. "Harry, it's magic."
This answer, like so many others, was a very simple answer that many people would accept without question. However, Harry and Ginny were not many people. See this, Albus answered. "Harry, your magical signature, tells items that are charmed properly, certain things about you. The charmed item then shows what your magic says.
"All formal dress robes, like these, have this charm built into the very fabric. When you touched them, they became keyed to the two of you. Anyone can wear these robes, but the Crests will disappear when they wear them. As to the order of the Crests, that is because your magic told the robes the order that it wanted.
"For example, today you are going before the queen as Lord and Lady Gryffindor, the robes knew this so the Potter/Gryffindor Crest is in full color. The Black Family Crest is right underneath it because you are currently in the house of Black. The Weasley Family Crest is underneath the Black Family because your magic considers the Weasleys to be your family. The Slytherin, Azkaban, and Flamel Family Crests are the deepest down because while they are family, you do not feel that you are close enough related. The same goes for the institutional crests over your other breast."
"Oh, ok. I guess that answers that; how are we going to get there Albus?"
"Portkey Harry. There are very strong wards around Buckingham Palace to prevent any unwanted entry. We will be Portkeying to the family entrance." Albus held out his cane and a moment later, they were all gone.
_________________________________________________________________________________
The
reappeared in a large formal entrance hall; along the walls were
murals of Kings and Queens from times past as well as many suits of
armor. As they were looking around, a young woman entered the hall
and approached, "Headmaster Dumbledore, Lord and Lady Potter, I am
Katherine, the Queen's personal assistant. If you would follow me
please, her majesty is waiting."
Without a backwards glance towards them, Katherine walked out of the hall. Harry and Ginny, with Albus trailing behind them, followed her towards the queen.
A few minutes later, the small group had arrived in a small antechamber. Katherine gestured for them to stop as she walked thru another door only to return a few minutes later. "Her Majesty will see you now."
Harry's senses were screaming that something was wrong. He ignored it and took Ginny's arm and escorted her thru the door and into the official throne room. Even though it was only used for ceremonial functions nowadays, the throne room was still very impressive and a little intimidating. The rooms was decorated with drapes hung in deep purples, red, and gold, and a long red carpet led to a raised platform and stairs where a single throne stood.
As Harry was looking around, his senses told him that there were wizards with weapons around him. Without a conscious thought, Harry withdrew his sword and wand and cast the strongest shield spell he knew around the queen.
The moment he reached for his sword, 30 men appeared out of then air and began to attack Albus Ginny and Harry. Ginny drew her sword and wand and began to fight right along with Harry. Albus too pulled his wand and began to duel with 3 attackers.
"Albus, we need to get the queen out of here! Start making your way to her!" Harry ordered. The older man nodded and began to push towards the throne while Harry and Ginny dove into the heart of the attackers.
As the fighting continued, Harry became enraged and grabbed his wife. Together, they rammed the swords into the floor and channeled their magic into the swords. When the magic was released, the attackers, just like at the Burrow, were thrown away from them.
However the magic did not expand over all of London. When the magic hit the wards surrounding Buckingham Palace, the magic within the wards accepted the magic from the Potters and merged, making the wards stronger than they had been in hundreds of years.
Harry and Ginny then waved their wands and every single one of the attackers were bound and gagged. Ginny summoned their wands while Harry summoned their other weapons and portkeys. After levitating them into a transfigured cage, Harry and Ginny turned back to the queen was sitting on her throne in shock.
The twosome walked up the red carpet and kneeled before the queen herself. Harry removed the shield charm and inspected the condition of the queen. She was wearing a formal robe and crown; however, she had a very smile that Harry saw was there very often, but when it was, it was because she was happy. 'Albus was right,' Harry thought. 'She really is a mix between Minerva and Poppy.'
"Albus Dumbledore, your two students just defeated thirty of my personal body guards. I am truly impressed."
Albus' eyes twinkled, "Your majesty, Lord and Lady Gryffindor are the strongest Witches and Wizards I have ever met. They dwarf my powers considerably."
The queen looked interested in this fact, but continued on. "I can see that Albus Dumbledore." She turned to Harry and Ginny. "Lord and Lady Gryffindor, please accept my apologies for my guards attacking you. They have been trained since childhood to protect me and my family. No one ever sees them unless they are needed. I do wonder though, how did you know they were there?
"Your majesty, I felt their magical signature and aura. Even invisibility spells and disillusionment charms cannot hide ones aura, whether it is that of a muggle, wizards, squib, or animal. Would you like us to free your men?"
"Yes please Lord Gryffindor."
With a wave of their hands, Harry and Ginny not only released their prisoners, but also returned their wands and weapons and also returned the room to its previous state. Harry heard Albus mutter under his breath 'Show Offs' which made Harry chuckle.
The queen took on an official stance and addressed the assembled crowd, which now made up many of her personal guard. "Lord Potter, I have reviewed your ancestry and I am quite pleased to see that it does indeed seem that we are of the same blood line." The queen took the sword that her father, George VI, used many times before herself, and turned back to the kneeling form in front of her.
"Lord Gryffindor, Harry James Potter, son of James and Lily, Head of the Noble Houses of Potter, Black, Flamel, Azkaban, Gryffindor, and Slytherin, by the power invested to me by god all mighty, I hereby dub thee, Lord Protector of the Realm of Magical Great Britain. So mote it be."
As soon as she christened Harry with her sword, a magical vortex appeared around the queen, Harry and Ginny; moments later, the vortex disappeared.
"It seems Lord Gryffindor, that our ancestors approve of your choice for a wife and my choice for Lord Protector, arise Lord and Lady Gryffindor."
Both Harry and Ginny did this, and stood before the queen who once again was smiling. "Lord Gryffindor, the swords you both used earlier. Are they indeed the swords of Godric and Gwendolyn Gryffindor?"
"Yes they are your highness. We have carried then since we were bonded. Would you like to see them?"
"Yes, Sir Harry, I would."
Harry handed his sword over to the queen, hilt first. She accepted it and looked at the beautiful craftsmanship. She knew this was indeed the sword that was mentioned in some of her family journals. After inspecting Ginny's sword too, the queen returned both swords to their owners.
"Harry, may I call you Harry?"
"Of course, ma'am."
"Harry, my I present Captain Jennings, Head of the Magical Royal Guard."
Harry, Ginny, and Albus all took the moment to look at Captain Jennings. He was about 6'1" about 210 pounds with short brown hair and no facial hair. He was dressed in wizard's robes of deep purple and had on battle armor over it. Attached to his belt was a muggle gun, a Glock 18 by the looks of, and a wand holster. The man's eyes were steel blue and very, very calculating. Harry tried subtle Legilimency on the Captain and found that he a very strong wall around his mind. Withdrawing from his mind, Harry had more questions than answers.
As he was thinking, the queen brought him out of his stupor, "Harry, I think we can drop some of the formalities, we are after all related. We have much to discuss. Katherine," the queen looked over to her assistant "Please inform the Prime Minster that we will see him in one hour. Harry, Ginny, Albus, please join me." She then began to walk to away before stopping, "Captain Jennings, you should join us too. Your men can stand down."
_________________________________________________________________________________
Queen Elizabeth led the group to her personal chambers and right into her sitting room where there was a tea service already waiting. Katherine followed the queen out of the room for a moment. While she was gone, Captain Jennings walked around the room placing a number of charms.
"Captain Jennings, I placed charms on this room when we entered to insure our privacy." Harry spoke, somewhat irritated at the Captain.
"With all due respect, Mi Lord, but I am in charge of the queen's security and I do not trust you three; three wizards, two of whom took out 30 of the best trained wizards in the world; at least one them is capable of doing wandless magic, and do not forget that they were accompanied by an old man who was reported dead. If you were in my position, what would you do?"
Harry thought for a moment, "The exact same thing Captain. My apologies."
"Of course sir; I will say this though, these charms look like Filius Flitwick's work. Is he still teaching at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry?"
This caught the other wizards surprised, how does he know Flitwick?
"I believe that it is time for the Lord Protector to understand where you come from Captain. Please sit down Captain; I do not want to tell you again." The queen spoke as she reentered the sitting room. She was wearing a classic business suit and was carrying a leather bound book.
"Of course your majesty" Captain Jennings sat down and turned to the three wizards. "As you know, one of the first people to harness and control what we call magic was the Legendary Merlin himself. As Merlin the Great was guiding the creation of the Council of Twelve, he was also performing a task for King Edmund II.
"This task was to create a small army of magicians who could fight and protect the king. After the group was created, King Edmund realized that it was too much and so refined this army into an elite squadron whose task was close quarters protection of the King and his family. This lasted until his death. After his death, the squadron disappeared into the night without a trace.
"When your Ministry of Magic was founded, King Henry decided that he needed some wizards on his side, in case of a fight between wizards and the crown. King Henry approached the Lord Protector and asked for 50 men. These fifty men became the first members of Black Squadron.
"Black Squadron has given the sovereign and their family close proximity protection since that day. We have taken magical and muggle technology and combined them into a cohesive unit. We are responsible for all of the magic that exists around the sovereign. The wards around locations like Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle were created by us and the goblins of Gringotts Bank.
"We are trained in all areas of muggle combat from guns, to swords, to unarmed combat. We are also trained in battle magic thanks to the goblins, druids, and certain members of your government. As you can tell, we do not answer to your Ministry of Magic, but to the sovereign."
This information floored Harry for a moment. He looked at Ginny who was also just as floored, when he looked over to Albus, Harry noticed that he did not look at all surprised. "Captain Jennings, I would assume that Lord Dumbledore has been involved with your training in the past. By the look on his face, this information is nothing new to him."
The Queen spoke up at this point. "You are correct Harry. Albus here has done a lot of work for Black Squadron over the years, as well as for me personally. His magical oath prevented him from saying anything.
"However, today we have more important things to discuss. Harry, as Lord Protector of the Realm, you have sweeping powers over Magical Britain as I am sure you know. What I would like for you to do is rebuild a government that is more open then the previous governments under the last three Ministers.
"You see Harry, Albus has kept me informed regarding Tom Riddle and I have come to the conclusion that Lord Voldemort was created thanks to poor relations between my two groups of subjects, the wizards and the muggles. I want the Minister of Magic to meet with my Prime Minister weekly, and actually do something.
"Now I am not planning on renouncing the International Statue of Secrecy, but I do feel that there are many areas where both worlds can compliment each other and I believe that the free flowing of ideas is exactly what will facilitate this.
"As the Lord Protector, you will meet with me weekly as well; either here, at Windsor Castle, or if possible, at a location in Wizarding England. I understand that you control many properties and have many duties that require your presence, including school, so meeting there might be easier for you.
"Now, after careful consideration, I am giving you Black Squadron to command. Captain Jennings will still be the squadron commander, but he will answer to you. The squadron's mission is still to protect the sovereign and her family; however, you may assign them other tasks that will not take away from this mission."
"Thank you, your majesty. I am deeply honored." Harry turned to the Captain, "Captain Jennings, how many men do you have on normal protection detail for the sovereign?"
"Mi Lord, I have 30 men protecting the sovereign when she is awake, 15 when she is asleep and teams of 4 protecting all other members of the royal family at all times, except for Prince Charles and Prince William. Each of them has 20 men each. I currently command over 300 witches and wizards, many of whom have no love for the Ministry of Magic since they are muggleborn."
This did stun Harry. "Thank you Captain, carry on your standard assignments, however, I want a team to perform reconnaissance on the current Minister of Magic and on the Ministry itself. When I take control of the Ministry, I want as many men as you can spare. I do not know whom I can trust in the Ministry yet."
"Very well Mi Lord, it shall be done. My men will begin recon within the hour, when do you wish to take control?"
"Tomorrow morning Captain; also please provide me with a secure way of contacting you."
With a curt nod, Captain Jennings rose and left the room. As he left, Prime Minster Tony Blair was announced and entered the room. After brief introductions, Mr. Blair spoke up.
"This Scrimgeour person is somewhat scary, but at least he is better then Fudge. So what is your plan Lord Gryffindor?"
"Please, it is Harry when we are alone. To answer your question, I plan on doing a massive house cleaning. All of the current department heads are too questioned, extensively, as well as all Ministry personnel.
"From there, I am going to review every law that has been created in the last 30 years. Those that limit the rights of a group based on blood or some soft of prejudice reason will be abolished. I also plan on seizing the accounts of all known terrorists as well as their properties and other belongings.
"After that, I will install Madam Amelia Susan Bones as the new Minister of Magic and Mr. Arthur William Weasley as Deputy Minister. Mr. Weasley will be directly in charge of the Department of Muggle Affairs. This department will be one of the largest in the Ministry and will actually crossover into Magical Law Enforcement, Magical transportation, and others.
"Once everything is started, I plan on taking my wife on our honeymoon to Disneyland."
Tony Blair was very impressed with this young man. His plans were bold, but it is what was needed. Blair hated Fudge and Scrimgeour just rubbed him the wrong way for some reason. Hopefully, things would improve.
"Harry, you have a huge task ahead of you, I wish you luck. If you need anything, you are always welcome to seek out my council."
The meeting only lasted a few minutes after that. As they were leaving, Harry called for Captain Jennings. "Captain Jennings, I plan on confronting the Minister of Magic and the Wizengamot tomorrow morning at 9:00 am. Please have your men meet me in the Atrium of the Ministry at 8:30 am."
"Of course Mi Lord; Sir, may I make request?"
"Or course Captain."
"Lord Gryffindor, I would be honored if I could serve as your personal body guard tomorrow."
Harry shook his head. "Thank you Captain, however, my personal protection is already taken care of thanks to the Goblin Nation. However, I would be honored if you were to serve as my one of my military advisors."
"I would be honored, sir. Thank you."