Chapter 9

Disclaimer: Take from the rich and give to the poor. That is my advice to you. Also, I do not own Harry Potter.

A/N: Thank you every one for reviewing.

Here is the 9th chapter ENJOY!

"Albus can I speak with you?" Sirius Black asked Dumbledore.

"Of course my boy." They walked into the sitting room. "What can I do for you Sirius?"

"Well I wanted to know if you have found a new DADA professor yet."

"No I am still looking for one and so is the ministry." Dumbledore said.

"Have you found anyone yet?"

"Well I have several candidates but the ministry has rejected all of them so I have to keep searching." Sirius nodded.

"If I may make a suggestion?" Sirius asked. Dumbledore nodded.

"Weatherby!" The minister of magic shouted. Percy Weasley came shooting through the doors of the minister's office.

"What can I do for you sir?" Percy asked.

"Have you found anyone to fill the position of the Defense teacher in Hogwarts?" Fudge snapped.

"Yes sir I have and they are being evaluated at this very moment." Fudge nodded and reached into his desk and pulled out a bottle of brandy and a glass. He poured him self a generous amount and started drinking.

This had not been a good week for him. First, his Under secretary was sent to prison for using an unforgivable on a student and now the citizens were questioning his leadership skills. This is all Potter's fault he thought to him self.

Fudge put down the glass and was about to get up when he was hit in the head by a paper airplane. He picked it up and read the message that was on the parchment.

Moments later Fudge burst out of his office running as fast as he could. "Amelia!" He shouted as he entered the meeting hall. Almost all the members of the wizengamot were sitting down. "What is the meaning of this?" He shouted brandishing the letter at her.

"Did you read it?" She asked him.

"Yes I read it and I want to know how you made this decision without consulting me first." He was breathing very hard and glaring at Amelia waiting for her answer.

"We all voted and Dumbledore's candidate got the most votes. But if you would like to vote anyway please feel free to do so."

Fudge was fuming. "What was the count?" He asked her.

"33 votes to Dumbledore and 17 to you." She watched in satisfaction as Fudge realized that he had lost. "But you should be Happy." She said to him and he looked up.

"How so?"

"She works for me and as far as I know she has hardly ever had contact with Dumbledore." Fudge smiled at the last thing but he was still worried. He did not know how loyal this person was to Dumbledore.

"Very well then as long as they are a ministry employee." And he left heading back to his office intending to have another drink when he bumped into Lucius Malfoy.

Harry, Neville and Hermione were all eating breakfast when the owls began to fly in to deliver their mail. Hedwig and a brown eagle owl landed in front of Harry. Excitedly Harry took both letters and fed Hedwig and the other owl bits of bacon before they flew off.

Harry opened the letter that the eagle owl delivered first. It was from Gringotts.

Dear Mr. Potter,

We are pleased to inform you that the hunt for the Horcruxes is going very smoothly and we have acquired the ring from Marvolo Gaunts home. We are now in possession of two and we are now in the process of visiting your home in Godric's Hollow to get the Diadem. We shall contact you when we have it.

Sincerely,

Director Ragnok

Harry handed the letter to Neville who read it before passing it to Hermione. Harry then turned his attention to the other letter that was from Sirius.

Hey there Pup. I did as you asked and Dumbledore just told me that they accepted her and that she should start teaching the day after tomorrow. Take care of your self and prank Snape for me.

Snuffles

Harry grinned widely. "Looks like our plan worked. She got the teaching job." The other two smiled happily.

"Um Harry we have a problem." Neville said.

"Where?" Harry asked while looking around the room to spot the problem. "Not here it's about the Horcruxes." He said whispering the last part.

"What about them?" Harry said whispering back.

"Well how are they going to get the snake and the locket?"

"Damn your right." Harry cursed under his breath.

"The locket is not a problem we can always ask Sirius to send it to us." Hermione said and Harry nodded. "But Nev's right the snake is going to be very hard to get."

Hermione and Neville could see the gears in Harry's head turning as he tried to think of a solution. After a minute of thinking, Harry's face lit up as he found the solution to their problems. "Remember back in our time Nagini attacked Mr. Weasley when he was guarding the prophecy at the ministry?" Harry asked the two of them.

They nodded yes. "Well all we have to do is be there on that day to capture the snake."

"Well that will work but it also presents another problem." Hermione said.

"What?"

"Well first we all have to leave school and then we also have to get into the ministry undetected which will be very hard because it will be in the dead of night. They have added protection now"

"Your right Hermione. I need another plan." Hermione nodded. They went back to eating and shortly after Neville got up. "Where are you going Neville?"

"I was going to sit with." Hermione cut him off.

"It's fine go." Neville smiled at her and ran off. "Luna" was all Hermione said as she turned back to her food.

Harry smiled and went back to eating.

Gryffindor dorm room boys

Ron waited until everyone had gone down to breakfast before he went back up to the dorm rooms where he and Harry slept. Going over to Harry's bed, he searched the entire bed and then he went through Harry's trunk. When he found what he was looking for he pocketed it pulled out his wand he gave it a flick and muttered a spell and everything that he had messed up was put back in their proper place. He was laughing by the time he finished and he left to meet Ginny.

Gryffindor dorm room girls

Ginny walked over to Hermione's bed and began to shift through the sheets. She turned the pillows over until she found what she wanted. Carefully she picked it up and put it into a plastic baggie before slipping it into her pocket. Then she re-made Hermione's bed before leaving to meet up with Ron.

When Fudge had first met Lucius, he was quiet fond of the man. He thought that Lucius was the perfect citizen. He would always give to charity and support Fudge in every election. Now after years of working with Lucius he finally began to notice that Lucius was not as perfect as he seems.

To be completely honest Fudge was now scared of Lucius and tried to avoid him at all costs but fate seemed to hate him this week. "I haven't seen you in a while Fudge. How have you been?" He asked.

"Good doing fine. Why are you here?" Fudge asked him his voice shaking slightly.

"I am about to attend a board meeting about Hogwarts." Fudge nodded and began to walk away. "And to ask you where the press conference on the 31st is being held."

"Oh is that all?" Fudge asked sounding relieved. Lucius nodded. "It will be in the main lobby of the ministry at 11:00 sharp."

Lucius nodded his thanks and turned walking away from the minister. Fudge let out a huge sigh and went back to his office. Not even bothering with the glass Fudge raised the liquor bottle to his mouth and drank deeply.

"Ginny are you there?" Ron whispered from the door of the girl's bathroom.

"Yes now come in before we get caught." She whispered back. Ron entered the room and walked over to the last stall in the bathroom.

"How are the potions coming along?" He asked his sister.

"It should be done in about two days. Did you get the hair?" Ron nodded. "Good hand them over." She held out her hand. Ron took Harry's hairbrush out of his pocket and handed it to Ginny. She pulled a few strands of hair from the brush and dropped it into one of the potions.

The hair dissolved and the potion turned a light blue. "Good Harry's is done." She took out the plastic baggie and took out the strands of Hermione's hair that she had taken and dropped it into the last potion, which turned a dark red. "Now all we have to do is let it simmer for the next two days and it will be done."

"Good." Good Ron said gleefully. "The sooner the better." They stepped out of the cubicle, Ginny cast a powerful locking charm on the door, and the two of them left.

Neville looked up from his breakfast and saw Luna coming into the Great Hall. He got up but stopped when Harry asked him where he was going. Hermione saved him when she told him to go. Silently thanking her, Neville made his way to Luna's table and sat down next to her. The other members of the table looked at him once and then went back to eating.

"Hello Luna."

"Hello Neville. How are you?" Luna asked him while putting some bacon on her plate.

"I'm fine." He paused. She looked at him and smiled.

She really liked Neville because he never made fun of her and accepted her for who she was. She noticed him fidgeting and decided to relieve him of his burden. "Is there something that you wanted to ask me?"

A faint blush crept into his cheeks. He looked at her and stammered out. "If yo... you're not doing anything this Saturday would you like to accompany me to Hogsmade?" Neville asked hopefully.

She stared at Neville. She could see that he really wanted her to accept so she did. "Of course I would. What time should I get ready?" She asked him.

Neville smiled brightly and said, "8:30." Luna smiled and ate some bacon while humming a song to her self. She was looking at a wrackspurt which was floating above Cho Changs head when all of a sudden the Great Hall began to spin and it disappeared completely only to be replaced by the girls bathroom on the second floor. She saw two red heads coming out of a stall and then the image was gone. The bathroom vanished and the Great Hall came back.

Luna looked around and saw that no one had noticed anything. She decided that the bathroom was important so she would check it out. Turning to Neville, she asked the boy to come with her. Looking very confused Neville got up and followed Luna out of the Great Hall.

As they neared the bathroom, Luna heard footsteps and she quickly grabbed Neville's hand and pulled him into a broom closet. "What the…"

"Shhhh." Luna said holding her finger to her lips. The footsteps faded away and they got out of the closet and resumed their journey. The two of them entered the girl's bathroom.

"Uh any particular reason we are in a girl's bathroom?" Neville asked her.

"Yes we are here for what is in that last stall." She told him pointing to the one she had mentioned. Neville walked over to it and pulled on the handle but found that it would not open.

He raised his wand and confidently said "Alohomora" When nothing happened Luna stepped forward. "May I?" She asked.

Neville moved aside, she raised her wand and jabbed it at the door, and it flew open. "What spell did you use?"

Luna smiled at him. "We have to get rid of those potions." She said pointing the two potions that were inside the cubicle.

Dinnertime two days later.

Harry was looking up and down the staff table for her but she could not be found. "Calm down Harry I'm sure its nothing." Hermione said.

He nodded and tried to eat but he was too excited. The doors of the Great Hall opened up and Harry turned hoping to see her but instead the sight of two very angry red heads greeted him. They shot him and Hermione death glares as they passed. "I wonder what's bothering them." Harry said.

Dinner was now done when Dumbledore stood up and cleared his throat. The noise in the Hall immediately quieted down. "As you all know we lost our Defense Professor recently and I am pleased to tell you that we have found another."

The whole student body drew in a huge breath as they waited for his announcement. "Please welcome our new Defense against the Dark Arts Professor Nymphadora Tonks!"

A/N: Well what do you think was she a good choice? Please tell me what you think, I really want to know.

Please review and no flames.

I hope all of you have a happy and safe Christmas and New years.

MERRY CHRISTMAS

HAPPY NEW YEARS

Or

HAPPY HOLIDAYS

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