DEATH EATERS CAUGHT IN MINISTRY
No less than twenty active Death Eaters were arrested yesterday as the Department Of Law Enforcment activated the first of what new Minister of Magic, Rufus Scrimgeour say will be a serious of protections for our government.
All entrances into the Ministry are now set up with a serious of wards that alert the Aurors that the person passing through the ward is marked as a follower of You-Know-Who. Upon its first day of activation, the Aurors took 23 people into custody, some of them high leveled government workers. Their names were not revealed at press time.
Scrimgeour claimed that he had unspeakables and cursebreakers working at night to complete the project. The goal to weed out any spies that You-Know-Who might have within our government. The wards went active this morning at about five am, roughly an hour before people begin to arrive for work, completely unaware of what awaited them.
The Death Eaters are being questioned extensively and will be given the Dementor 's kiss, as part of Scrimgeour's no tolerance policy.
"You-Know-Who's followers are a brutal and merciless bunch. We will show them the same treatment until this war is over. Anyone caught bearing the mark will be given to the Dementors. No exceptions."
When asked how he came to the idea of warding the entrances, Minister Scrimgeour simply said that a young friend gave him the suggestion.
Harry was beaming as he re read the article. He remembered meeting Scrimgeour at the Ministry and hoping the man was not the buffoon that Fudge had proven to be. Now here was the proof. Not only had he taken Harry's suggestions to heart, but he was also not going to back down.
"I just can't believe it!" Susan beamed as she read the article with Harry at breakfast Friday morning. They were sitting at the Gryffindor table that morning along with the rest of their friends.
"I just can't believe it." Harry muttered, still in awe of the bravado the new Minister was flaunting. It was now clear to Harry that Scrimgeour wanted to make head way in this war, and he had truly listened to what Harry had said.
"I wonder who they caught." Neville asked as Hannah, who'd been running late that morning sat down next to him. Hannah looked preoccupied, and Susan had to smile to herself. They'd nearly made it through the week and Susan had not yet had her life threatened by anyone over her being with Harry. Susan was getting more and more confident that Hannah was going to be giving the rest of Hufflepuff house a very interesting show later that day.
"What's going on?" The blonde asked. Susan took the paper from Harry and handed it to her best friend.
"It's a bit much, don't you think. Simply handing the Death Eaters to the Dementors without a trial?" Hermione asked, looking to Susan.
"Would you rather all those murders go free?" Neville asked. "Most of those people's families are so rich, they can buy their way out of jail. Even though they might not be Death Eaters themselves, a lot of those people on the Wizengamot are rather corrupt."
"He's right." Susan nodded. "I've heard Auntie say some of those people would sell their own flesh and blood if the price was right.
"But to condemn a person just for bearing the Mark?" Hermione looked appalled.
"Do you know anything about the Dark Mark?" Susan asked. Hermione gave a sigh, and shook here head.
"I know that it's a variation on the protean charm and that only Voldemort can mark his followers with it. He can call them to his side no matter where he is by using it."
"Not bad, but a person has to take it willingly." Susan explained. "Or it won't work. So, if someone has the mark, they've accepted it. They joined his forces of their own free will. And let's remember that there's a whole mess of people who are about to be out of school, who could be manipulated into taking the mark and flying his flag. Maybe if they know the consequences are this serious, they'll think about it a bit more before blindly following this ... psychopath."
"I suppose you're right." Hermione sighed again.
"He's replenishing his numbers, while ours are dwindling." Harry said. He kills without a care, and our side prefer to take prisoners. I'm not saying that being kiss by the Dementors is better than death, but at least this way, Voldemort's numbers might start declining a bit."
"And just maybe by offering up these idiots, we might keep the Dementors on our side." Ron pointed out.
I hadn't thought of that." Hermione admitted. "I just… I don't like the thought of someone not getting a trial. What if someone took the mark, but hadn't done anything else yet? Would you feel good about possibly locking up someone who was innocent again… like Sirius."
"Sirius didn't have the mark." Harry said quickly, his voice becoming sharp. Hermione held up her hands defensively.
"I know he didn't but I'm saying…"
"These people will have to be marked." Harry said, ending the discussion.
"It's war, and it's ugly, and the things we do may not be moral, or right, but it's about survival." Neville said wisely. "I want to live, and I want all of you to live. So if that means I have to take someone else's life to protect you, I won't hesitate."
"Here, here." Zach said from Hermione's left.
"I wonder who gave the Minister the suggestion." Hannah said, as she lowered the paper. Harry beamed a bit more, sitting up a bit straighter.
"Oh, you're kidding." The blonde Hufflepuff said with a roll of her eyes.
"My boyfriend is so smart." Susan grinned. "But when did you ever talk to him?"
"The first day I trained with Tonks in the Ministry. We went for tea in the Atrium and we ran into him. He tried to get me to... I don't know, support him or something. We got to talking, and I made a few suggestions. He told me that it was complicated, but it looks like he uncomplicated it. If he keeps getting these kind of results, I might actually be willing to do what I can to help him."
"Careful." Susan warned. "You don't want to end up becoming his puppet."
"Can we talk about something else?" Hermione asked, looking a bit pale. Harry knew she must still be very uncomfortable with Scrimgeour's no tolerance approach. He knew that she understood the reasoning behind it all. Hermione had her reputation for brilliance for a reason. But her high morals were clearly at war with her reasoning.
"You still holding tryouts for the team tomorrow?" Hannah asked Harry.
"I need to. I've got to put together a team and start practices. I heard the Slytherin team's already set their first practice for Sunday." Harry said, finishing his toast, and downing the last of his juice before getting to his feet. Everyone followed his lead, Hannah grabbing an apple and a piece of toast. They began heading towards the Transfiguration class as it was the only class they had for the day.
"When are we starting the DA?" Neville wondered.
"Next week." Harry said. "I talked to McGonagall yesterday, and she wants to make sure everyone has a chance to sign up. It's going to be in the Great Hall. She said a lot of people have signed up already. She also gave me a few books to go over."
"They were fascinating." Hermione smiled to the rest of them.
"Clearly someone beat me to it." Harry remarked, and everyone laughed, including Hermione. "With so many people, I'm going to need people helping me teach. I already asked Ron, Hermione and Neville."
"Wish I could help, Harry." Hannah said around a mouthful of apple. "But I'm there to learn all I can. It was made very obvious this past summer how much I need to improve."
"Same here." Susan admitted, her chest tightening as she remembered that night she nearly lost her Aunt. Harry gave her hand a reassuring squeeze, and some of Susan's tension melted away.
"I understand." Harry smiled warmly, looking at his redheaded girlfriend. "But I wanted to make the offer."
"Are we going to be using silent casting?" Zach wondered.
"I think we should." Hermione suggested. "And we shouldn't just make sixth and seventh years do it."
"You're right." Harry nodded. "I asked McGonagall when we spoke why we learn incantations if we're just going to end up learning silent casting. She said it's easier to learn at first with incantations. It helps us to learn what the spells are supposed to feel like and get used to it over the years. She also said that it's easier as our magic develops."
"That makes sense." Hermione agreed. "Our magic is tied to our bodies, and as we grow up, and go through puberty, our magic has to mature as well."
"I think it would have been easier to learn silent casting, if we'd been doing it all along." Ron said as the group entered the classroom and took their seats. No one disagreed with him.
Harry took his seat in the second row with Susan and Hermione on either side of him, and began thinking of how he was going to begin teaching this year. He knew there were going to be far more students this year than before when the club was secret. McGonagall had told him that nearly everyone in his year had signed up as well as most of the fifth, fourth and third years, as well as quite a few seventh years. Harry had been concerned that no first or second years had asked to joined, but McGonagall explained they would not be ready physically for the lessons. That had been how they began discussing why students weren't taught silent casting from the start.
Harry felt confident that more and more people were going to learn how to fight, and it made him smile to think that Voldemort would not be having an easy time this time around. Dumbledore had said the power he had that Voldemort knew not was love. Harry thought it was actually is ability to convince people to fight.
Susan took Harry by the hand and led him to the Seventh floor. It was only another minute until they were inside the Room of Requirement and the door was sealed behind them. The room was small and cozy, with a large sofa and a fireplace.
"Why'd you bring me here? Harry asked curiously. Susan could feel her face flushing as she fidgeted, looking at him with anxiety.
"Urn.. .well, I need to explain before anything happens. See, Monday, Hannah and I made a bet." She began. Harry's eyes narrowed a bit as he turned to look at his girlfriend.
"What kind of bet.?" He asked slowly. Susan could see that Harry was getting suspicious, and he had begun very subconsciously backing up. Susan took his hand again and guided him to the sofa in front of the fire. They sat down and Susan heaved a nervous sigh.
"Hannah told me that she thought that other girls would be really jealous of me since you and I were together. I didn't think that was true. I mean outside of Ginny, I didn't think anyone else really fancied you to that extreme. No offense." Susan quickly added. Harry simply shook his head.
"I'm not offended." He assured her. "So what happened?
Susan could already tell that Harry was feeling protective of her, and she had to admit that it felt kind of nice
"Hannah was so sure that I would be threatened that she bet that if I didn't get at least one death threat by tonight, she would run starkers through our common room. But If I did get a threat, I had to do something."
"Oook." Harry said, unsure where they were going now.
"Here's the thing. It's something I wanted to do on that last night before we came back to school. I was really close to doing it, but I was afraid my aunt would come out and catch us, and that would have been so humiliating. So I made us go to bed."
Harry remembered when the two of them had lain on the sofa in the sitting room and had begun kissing each other, and how the parts of Susan that were not covered by her shorts or her bikini top felt against his own bare skin. Just the memory of that moment made his body react, and he had to fight to keep from blushing the way Susan was now.
"So, wait. You're saying someone threatened you?"
"Just after lunch. Some Gryffindor girl with black hair and like thirty friends with her. It wasn't anything big. The thing is, the parameters of the bet I made weren't met, and I never told Hannah about it. So, she's going to have to go through with her end of the wager. But, I 've been feeling really guilty, so I decided that I would live up to my end, so that way neither of us loses."
Harry felt his mouth go dry at Susan's words. "And um.. .What, urn.. .what was your end of the bet?"
Susan quickly took off her robe and removed her jumper before pausing.
"There's two parts really." She said, her blush deepening. Then she began to unbutton her shirt. Harry watched mesmerized as his girlfriend began to undo her shirt. His brain seemed to be locked, and he was barely breathing now. It wasn't until his eyes caught sight of the lacy sea green material beneath her shirt that Harry reached out and took both of Susan's hands.
"You don't have to do anything you don't want to do." Harry said quickly, his hormones screaming at him for ruining everything. Susan stared at him, her eyes bright, a small embarrassed smile on her face.
"Harry, I told you. I wanted to do this last week. I still do, but I'm just... I'm nervous. You'll be the first boy that... you'll be the first."
Susan removed Harry's hands and slowly opened her shirt, slipping it off her shoulders. Harry had seen Susan in her bikini most of the summer, so he'd seen her less covered than she was now, but instinctively, he knew that he was about to seer much more of her. He wasn't wrong.
Susan kept her eyes locked on Harry's as she first slipped the straps off her shoulders and than reached back to unclasp her bra. It hung on her, keeping her covered momentarily until she slipped it off.
For a moment, Susan thought Harry might pass out as he didn't really appear to be breathing. He was staring hungrily at her, and Susan had to fight not to giggle. He looked so silly to her in that moment.
Deciding to be a bit bolder, Susan took Harry's hand, and placed it on her left breast. The moment Harry's hand came in contact with Susan's bare flesh, he jumped as if he'd been shocked. Susan had to hold his hand to her to keep him from scurrying away. He'd gone from looking like a starving man looking at a buffet to a frightened bunny.
"It's ok, Harry." She said in a soft, still quite nervous whisper. "It's ok. I want you to touch them. Just be gentle, Ok?"
Harry could only nod stupidly. Susan had to smile as she though of how many times she'd heard older girls claim that girls had the power to ensnare boys without the use of wands. She now understood perfectly. She could have asked Harry to do anything in that moment, and he would have complied without hesitation.
At the same time, Susan began to feel a warmth in her chest. She let go of Harry's hand, and he began to slowly move it around her breast, caressing it. But when his thumb ran over her nipple, Susan sucked in a sharp breath. Harry's hand shot away and he looked at her, filled with fear.
"I'm sorry, I didn't meant to..." He began.
"No. it felt...it felt nice." Susan said, confused, but intrigued. "Try it again." She urged.
Harry brought both hands up to her chest, this time, manipulating both of Susan's breasts. Again he slid his thumb across her now hardening nubs, and again Susan sucked in a breath, her eyes falling close as sharp jolts of pleasure course through her young body.
"That's really… interesting." She sighed.
Harry was now circling both his thumbs against her nipples, and Susan was arching her back towards him. Suddenly, Susan grabbed Harry by the back of his head, and drew him to her for a very deep kiss. She pushed him back onto the couch and slid on top of him, never breaking the kiss.
It was an hour later when they finally broke apart to take a bit of a break, each of them flushed and flustered.
"Ok, we are definitely going to be doing much more of that." Susan said as she gasped for breath.
"No arguments here." Harry said, though he was rubbing at his scar, which had begun to tingle. He also noted that he felt a bit dizzy. He'd never felt dizziness in association with his scar. Usually it was severe pain and often vomiting.
Harry rubbed at it instinctively, but the tingling did not abate.
"Are you alright?" Susan asked. "I've been noticing that you've been rubbing at your scar a lot more lately."
"It's probably nothing." Harry waved it off.
"Please don't do that." Susan said irritably. "Don't pretend like everything is ok, when a moron can see that it's not."
"Susan, it's fine. Really." Harry tried again, but Susan backed away from him, and covered her bare chest with her arms, feeling hurt and very self conscious.
"I think I showed a lot of trust in you just now." Susan began. "I don't know why you can't have the same trust in me."
Harry sighed heavily. "I do trust you Susan. It's just... We were having a good time, and I don't want to ruin it."
Susan bent down and retrieved her bra, and began redressing. "You did ruin it Harry."
"Oh, come on, why do you have to push all the time?" Harry asked, now exasperated.
"Because it's my nature." Susan fired back. "Excuse me for wanting to be involved with my future husband's life. For wanting to help him, no matter how trivial the problem might seem!"
"Fine. Fine." Harry said agitatedly, getting to his feet. He strode angrily to the fireplace before spinning on his heel and glaring at Susan. "You want to help? You want to know about this?" He pointed to his scar, which looked almost as if it were pulsing in the firelight.
"Just remember that you asked for it!" Harry snapped. He then began shouting about how he was able to feel just what Lord Voldemort was feeling and how it affected him. He told her about the nausea he always had whenever he was sucked into the Dark Lord's mind he saw what the Dark Lord saw.
"Tortures and killings." Harry concluded. The happier, or angrier he is, the worse this feels." Harry said pointing again to his scar. His tone had calmed considerably over his nearly ten minute rant, while Susan sat there paralyzed by the horror she felt learning of Harry's burden.
"I'm sorry." She whispered, tears stinging her eyes. Harry's shoulder's slumped as all of his irritation left him.
"I wasn't trying to make you angry, or say that you can't help me. And I do trust you, but you can't push me."
"I know." Susan nodded. "I'm sorry. I guess that sometimes I forget that we've only just started dating. There's times when it feels like we've been together for years. When we have moments like..." Susan nodded towards the place she and Harry had been snogging only moments before. "It's times like that I forget about how things really are between us. It makes me want more between us, and I don't mean just physically."
"I know. I sometimes feel like that too. It's hard for me to, because I have the whole Voldemort thing on me." Harry said, taking his seat next to Susan again. "I'm being torn in two directions here. My heart wants to focus on you, but my head keeps telling me that defeating him should be my priority."
"Well, I think you've been doing a good job of balancing." Susan gave a soft smile.
'Thanks." Harry smirked.
Susan stared at him for a few minutes before maneuvering herself into his lap and wrapping her arms around his neck.
"I meant what I said, Harry. I want to help in whatever way I can, no matter what the problem is. No matter what it is, you can tell me. I'm here to support you. You can trust me." Susan whispered, keeping her eyes locked on his.
"I do. I promise that I will try harder to let you in. There's still a lot that you don't know, and I'm still trying to sort out myself. Be patient with me. I'm not really used to people caring."
"I can do that." Susan sighed as she rested her head on his shoulder.
Oh, I almost forgot!" She said suddenly getting to her feel. "There's one more part of the bet I need to do.. .or actually, you need to do for me. Uh..."
Susan looked far more nervous than she had before she had taken off her shirt. "Stay there, and no matter what, don't turn around, or I swear I will hex your bits right off."
"Ok." Harry said nervously.
"You two are a little weird sometimes." Harry said, looking at his girlfriend with an odd expression.
Susan ran around to behind the sofa they had shared, and Harry heard her clothes rustling, and then she came back and sat on his lap again. She was still dressed, and her shirt was buttoned all the way up again, and she had something in her closed fist.
"Put these in your pocket and tomorrow at breakfast, let Hannah see them. Hannah, and no one else! I mean it Harry, I will die if anyone else sees them. Promise me." She pleaded.
"Alright. Hannah and no one else, but what is it?" Harry asked curiously. Susan placed the item in his hand and after a moment's hesitation, let it go for him to examine.
"I'm putting a lot of trust in you here Harry. Please don't make me regret this." She sighed, looking apprehensive. She pulled his right hand from around her and placed something in it.
"If you show these to anyone, I will hurt you very badly. I will give you very painful boils on your bits, and your bum, so your can't sit down."
"I promise. What is it?"
Susan took her hand away, and Harry saw a wadded bit of cloth in his hand.
What he held took Harry's breath away, and he swallowed heavily.
The cloth was silky feeling and sea green in color, just as her bra had been. Harry looked at Susan confusedly and she was smiling back at him, though her checks were burning red.
"Put them in your pocket, and tomorrow at breakfast, show them to Hannah."
"But you just told me not to show them to anyone." Harry pointed out.
"Except Hannah. She wanted you to have my bra, but then I guess she realized that my bra is kind of huge, and it might be awkward to keep in your pocket."
"Yeah, a bit." Harry agreed. Susan smiled and playfully slapped his shoulder.
"Anyway, when you let her see that you have these, she'll know I kept up my end of the bet."
"We should be heading back." Susan said, trying to take attention away from the fact that she'd just given her knickers to her boyfriend.
"Wait.. .what? Why? We still have hours before our curfew." Harry said, stuffing Susan's undergarment in his pocket. "We can stay here for awhile..."
Susan grinned at Harry and kissed him sweetly. Despite everything, Harry WAS a teenaged boy.
"And don't think I don't want to, but... Well, Hannah's going to be streaking the Common Room, and I'd really like to watch her make an idiot of herself."
"So you like watch Hannah naked then?" Harry said with a lecherous smile. Susan shoved him hard back into the sofa.
"You are such a boy!" She laughed.
Hannah was waiting on her bed in the fifth year Hufflepuff dormitory when Susan rushed in, looking excited and a bit flushed. Hannah had no doubt that she'd just been with Harry, and they had likely been snogging in some broom cupboard.
"There you are. I was beginning to think you were going to miss my show." She smiled.
"You don't have to do this, you know." Susan said.
"Nope. I made a bet, and I lost. I'm still shocked no one threatened you though." Hannah sighed, getting to her feet and kicking off her shoes. "I can't believe I'm going to do this. I should really think before I speak, you know?"
Hannah slipped off her robes, and begin shedding the rest of her clothing before walking nude into the bathroom.
"Um, the common room is through that door." Susan said, pointing the dormitory door.
"I am well aware of where the Common room is, thank you. But I figure if they're going to get a look, I want to make it memorable. Where is your razor?"
Susan walked in and handed Hannah her razor and watched as Hannah ran her hands over her legs and other areas before applying some lotion and running the razor over her skin to make herself smoother.
"Whoa!, Your shaving there?" Susan asked in shock as Hannah went about her beautifying regime.
"My sister told me that guys really like it when it's smooth. She wasn't wrong about the underwear, so I figure why the hell not?" Hannah smiled. "Neville really liked it!"
"OH, will you stop it! I don't need those pictures in my head." Susan wrinkled her nose. "Just hurry up!"
"Why are you in such a rush? I'm the one whose going to be walking down the au natural. You should be reveling in my misfortune."
"I'm thinking you're actually enjoying this." Susan quirked her eyebrow.
"A bit." Hannah smirked. "I don't know why, but ever since 1 made the bet, I've been kind of hoping you wouldn't get threatened so I could do it. It's thrilling in a weird way. I mean, don't get me wrong. I'm freaking out a bit, but... I don't know. Maybe I'm a deviant, and I'm only beginning to figure it out. Hand me a towel."
Susan complied and Hannah cleaned herself off and double check to make sure she was all finished. Satisfied that she'd done a good job, she then checked her make up, and re applied her lip gloss.
"Ok, Showtime!" She grinned, and Susan finally saw her friend beginning to blush.
Susan followed her best friend out of the dorm, where they nearly collided with a third year girl, who went beet red at seeing the naked older girl.
Hannah went down into the common room to find it quite full, though most of the first second and third years were now in bed. Hannah actually felt relief at that. She didn't want to scar the babies.
Almost at once, there was whistling and cheering as she emerged from the stairs. Hannah decided that she would play it up, instead of being embarrassed. She had decided earlier in the week that this was the best course of action. If she ran through and tried to hide the fact she was without clothing, no one would ever let her live it down. However, if she walked around calmly, and acted as if nothing was wrong, it would just be thought of as an interesting beginning to another sexually charged year at Hogwarts. So, she strolled around the common room thrusting her ample chest out, blowing kisses and wiggling her bum enticingly. Girls were laughing and cheering her on while boys were drooling and whistling. Hannah simple strutted about the Common room before taking Susan by the arm, and with a rather suggestive comment about what they were about to do, went back to their dorm.
Susan had real difficulty in going to sleep that night. Between fits of laughter at her best friend's antics and remembering what she and Harry had gotten up to, Susan's mind and hormones had a real tough time settling down.
The next morning Hannah and Susan took seats at the Gryffindor table where Harry, Ron, Hermione and Lavender were sitting together enjoying their morning meal. Susan greeted Harry with a kiss on the cheek, before taking a seat on his left. Hannah squeezed in between Neville and Harry and began filling her plate.
As she was about to take a bite of her toast, she felt Harry nudge her shoulder. She looked at him, and was just about to ask what he wanted, when she saw his eyes looking between the two of them. Following his line of sight, she saw that his hand was in his pocket. She watched with growing curiosity as his hand slipped out and she saw that he had a bit of sea green fabric between his fingers. He then shoved it back into his pocket, and she looked up at him to find him smiling at her coyly.
It took a minute for Hannah to puzzle together what had just happened, and what she had just seen. She knew that lacy green fabric, but for some reason, it wasn't coming to the front of her mind right away. And then she remembered Susan making a point of putting on her Green knickers the day before. The same shade of green Harry had just shown her. And if Harry had Susan's knickers, that meant that Susan had given them to Harry. Which meant…
"You Bitch!" Hannah snapped, looking at Susan, who looked shocked until she saw Harry grinning, and realized he must have just revealed that she had made good on her bet.
Susan simply looked at her friend with the same grin Harry had the previous night when she'd taken off her shirt.