Chapter sixteen

Two days later their plans were made and in place, Ron had an appointment with Herbert Pickford. He explained that he had been listening in on Harry, Minerva and his parent's conversations and that he heard some disturbing news. The group inside Harry's home were going to make sure Pickford was sacked as minister but also disgraced in front of the wizarding world. Ron made it sound casual when he offered to let Herbert Pickford see his memory of the conversation as he believed his old friend and parents were in the wrong and Mr. Pickford was in the right.

It went perfectly, Herbert Pickford and Ron left his office, the minister sealing it to anyone entering, then left, but also made sure a guard stood near his door and he was not to let anyone enter.

Harry had been standing outside the door, not far from the guards. When he saw Pickford and Ron leave, he pointed the elder wand at the auror, imperiused him and used a confundus charm so he could slip into the office unseen. Harry didn't know how long he had, they all agreed ten minutes and no longer. Kingsley was going to try and make sure he stayed longer but if not then ten minutes was all they were counting on. So Harry started to go through every drawer and cabinet in the room. He never found anything, so he cast some revealing charms and discovered a hidden space behind one of the pictures of a previous minister, just like the space behind Albus Dumbledore's portrait. Harry used a few spells to undo any enchantments and found three vials of memories. He knew he couldn't be sure these were the ones they needed, not till he got back to the house. So he put the vials inside his pocket, replaced them with identical bottles with fake memories, then quietly and again unseen, he left the office. Kingsley had explained about a secret entrance that is only used for the minister. So Harry went back down towards the end of the corridor and slipped through the unseen and unknown door. He knew Arthur Weasley was at that time in the personnel office with Hermione. She was going in not long after Arthur, then keep the woman in there talking about a career working in that office while Arthur went about filling out his official release forms, but also as the woman was talking with Hermione, he used a confundus charm then petrified her, so he could go through the files and find any address Pickford ever had. That was one thing with the ministry, they kept all information, old and new. When Arthur was done, he nodded to Hermione, removed the petrifying charm and Hermione was just talking like nothing out of the ordinary happened.

'Thank you for your time Mrs. Shelbourne, you've given me a lot to think about. So maybe one day I might end up working in here beside you,' Hermione smiled at the confused woman, shook her hand and left.

Arthur pretended to be still filling out his form, then he walked over to the woman, handed her his form then he left. Arthur met up with Harry in a small laneway not far from the ministry. They both looked at Hermione, nodded then apparated away.

The moment they stepped into the house, which now had the fidelius charm and a few other enchantments around it, one to stop anyone entered Harry's home without his permission and two if anyone tried to get in like Pickford who had been in the house before, he would be blocked from entering. But Harry went a bit further, if he kept trying to get in either through a door or window, his hand would burn at anything he touched and if he aimed any spell at the house it would rebound on its attackers.

Harry pulled three vials out of his pocket and put them on the table. Arthur pulled out a few pieces of parchment and put them on the table.

'So we need to see if these are the memories of his plans for us?' Charlie stared at the vials.

'Yes, but we don't all need to, it just needs to be checked,' Arthur said.

'I will do that now, why don't you go through those addresses and try to find Mrs. Shacklebolt,' Minerva got nods from everyone, so she took the vial and went to Harry's office where Albus Dumbledore's pensieve now sat.

Harry, Charlie, Arthur, Molly and Aberforth each took some parchment and started reading.

'He has a few places by the looks of these. One he lives in, one his parents owned that he never bothered with after they died, one old building and another house that he rents out. That place wouldn't be the one he used unless it was rented to someone that he knows and was helping him.' Arthur said.

'I'll check his parents old home first. Sounds like its deserted and just sitting there, it's also in the country, so it wouldn't get a lot of people just turning up.'

'What if he has those death eaters watching her Harry, it could be dangerous,' Charlie said and everyone could hear how worried he was.

'They won't see me under the cloak Charlie, plus I have the wand. Remember what I said, the cloak isn't like other invisibility cloaks, it's the cloak of invisibility, there is a difference. This is more powerful than others, no one will see me.'

'Yeah, I remember, but I can't help worrying.'

'I know love, but I'll be fine. What did Ron say about what he was going to do when he left the ministry?'

'He was heading back to the Burrow to wait, there isn't anything else he can do until they hear from us. They know this place is now being watched, so they can't come here. We couldn't connect the floo because then the ministry would know.'

'They should stay there, then it doesn't look suspicious.' Charlie said.

Minerva stepped into the kitchen, 'It's the right memories, it's all there. The plan to kill Charlie using death eaters, his plan to make Harry believe he wanted to help, all about Arthur and Molly's plans for their restaurant and Aberforth's pub, the plans to get me out of Hogwarts for two reasons, one, I'm close to Harry, two, the wand, he did want it. There are a few other plans that he never put into action, one for Neville, but he never worked out what to do about him and one for Ginny. He was going to see if he could get her thrown off the Holyhead Harpies team, but he wasn't sure Gwenog Jones would go with the story he was trying to work on. The main one was for Harry, once he had Harry believing he wanted to help, he was going to make sure Harry always supported him and was going to use him as much as possible, using any means he could. He was determined that people will think that Harry Potter, the saviour was his friend and behind him in every way. Then he was going to find a way to get the wand off him.'

Everyone realised how far this bloke was willing to go to keep his job but more importantly, to have Harry support him. Pickford might not be into dark magic, but he was just as evil as Voldemort because he was willing for someone to die to get what he wanted. But now they had their proof, they just needed to find Kingsley's wife before exposing Pickford for what he really was. A power hungry delusional idiot who wanted to use Harry Potter's name and good nature and none of them were going to let him get away with that.