Chapter 123 – A Near Miss
Severus was aware of Harry's arrival in his laboratory, of course. But he was at a particularly delicate stage in testing one of the tinctures he had received from Tante, brewed from a plant in the Winter Lands with which he was completely unfamiliar. Even with the benefit of her cautionary notes, it was proving to be a very volatile substance; its use in a very basic potion had already resulted in one cauldron exploding, another being nearly melted through and at least one other probably ruined when the potion within caught fire and burned out of control, leaving a brittle crust. Each mess only reinforced Severus' belief that the potential in these Winter Lands materials was enormous, once he discovered how to safely use them. The growing pile of ruined cauldrons against the wall attested to his commitment to that discovery.
Severus was finally at a point that he could safely take a break from his brewing, and was just about to speak to Harry, when he became aware that Harry was staring into space with a look of alarm on his face. Before he could say something to draw Harry's attention back to the lab, Harry had stood up, the look of alarm now one of horror, sending his stoo clattering onto the stone floor.
The noise drove Severus to act. He needed just a second to disable the shield Harry had put in place, and raced to Harry's side, not sure what was wrong, but wanting to provide whatever assistance or support he could. The episode took just a few seconds, before Harry seemed to become aware of his surroundings once more, and he sagged into Severus' arms.
"It's starting, Severus. The ravens showed me – muggles are getting ready to attack Hogwarts! It looked like soldiers, muggle soldiers, and, and . . ." Harry was near to hyperventilating as the words rushed out. He was trying to make sense of the scenes he'd just been shown, to put some order to it all, but he was panicking as well. What if the attack was beginning right now?
This was clearly something that needed to be brought to the attention of the Headmaster, immediately, so Severus guided Harry into the sitting room and settled him on the sofa while he firecalled up to the Headmaster's office.
"Albus, Harry has had a vision, from the ravens, and we need to speak to you right away," he said as soon as he broke through to the flames in the other man's office. The tension and worry was clear in his voice.
Albus was on his feet immediately, a look of alarm on his face. "I'll floo down, Severus. Be sure Harry is all right."
Severus had no intention of doing anything but seeing to Harry at this point. He was sitting next to him on the sofa, offering a mild calming draught, just as Albus stepped through the floo.
Albus was worried at the concern shown by Severus, even without knowing what exactly had happened. He took a seat in one of the chairs next to the sofa, and peered intently at Harry, to assure himself that the young man was capable of a conversation. The wizarding world needed Harry as it never did before, and once again, the burden on those small shoulders was enormous. He waited patiently for a moment, allowing the calming draught to do its work, before leaning forward to pose his questions.
"Are you alright now, Harry?" was his first question, and in response, Harry was able to manage a shaky nod. Albus reached out of offer a consoling pat on the hand, before sitting back and continuing.
"I'd like to know what you saw, in as much detail as possible, so I can get word to the right places. What exactly did you see?" he asked, as gently as he could.
Harry leaned into Severus, practically forcing Severus' arm around his shoulders, as he took a deep, slightly-less- shaky breath.
"I'm fine now, sir. I was sitting in the lab working on a summer homework essay, when the ravens came back. They've been around a few times over the last week, but whispering too softly to be understood. Today, they showed me visions: I saw large rooms, I saw groups of muggles, and they appeared to be meeting someplace. It was vague, but I got the impression that there were many meetings, all stirring up anti-wizard sentiments. I couldn't make out faces, or specifics of where they were, but there were isolated words that made it through that showed me they were angry with us."
Harry took a breath. "And then they showed me muggle soldiers. It looked like armed soldiers were boarding helicopters – those are like airplanes, but they don't need runways – and trucks." Albus had looked puzzled at the reference to "helicopters" and appreciated the explanation.
"I think they are coming here, because the final vision was of a battle being waged. The soldiers were in a forest. I saw the smoke from guns being fired, and I heard the sound of bullets and mortar hitting something. They were dropping bombs, too, so there were loud explosions. It took me a few moments to get a wider view – it was just outside of Hogwarts. The soldiers were in the Dark Forest, and they were attacking the castle!" Harry was wringing his hands; but for the calming draught, he'd not have been able to get this far. He just had a bit more to add.
"And the ravens told me, clearly – the first thing they've said in days now that was clear enough to understand – "It has begun."
Harry sagged into Severus even more, as Albus leaned back in his chair. He sat still and quiet for a moment, sending his own magic out to check the wards. A flicker of relief crossed his face as he realized the castle wards were unmolested.
"Not to worry, at least right now, Harry. The castle wards are fine, no attack has occurred. I believe the ravens have shown you what is planned, but not yet occurred, at least in part."
Harry seemed to be calmed by that, but Severus was perplexed. "But, Albus, the spells and enchantments that protect the castle make it impossible for a muggle to see it if they don't know where it is. How can the muggle army even find us?"
Albus had identified that same problematic issue himself. "I've no idea, Severus. Perhaps someone is guiding them. Who that might be, I can't begin to guess."
The old man seemed to reach a decision. He slowly got to his feet and looked at one of the house elves standing (invisibly, it thought) against the wall, and beckoned to the little creature. "Would you please locate Kingsley Shacklebolt and ask him to join us right away up in my office?" Turning back to Harry and Severus, he asked "And would you two be amenable to joining us there, as well? I need to alert the Ministry of Magic about this. They have an Auror stationed at the muggle Prime Minister's office. If the muggle military is engaging, the Prime Minister's office must be involved."
With surprising energy, the Headmaster activated the floo to return to his office, trusting that the others would follow. Severus stood first, and extended his hand to help Harry stand as well. Harry seemed reluctant to let go of Severus' hand, as he needed comfort.
"Why are they attacking the school, Severus? After all the Ministry did, why are they turning on us?" he asked in a soft voice.
"No idea. Let's see what we can find out from Kingsley. Maybe the Ministry knows something."
Harry and Severus arrived in the Headmaster's office just moments before Kingsley, who seemed surprised to have been summoned because he'd only just gotten information that he wanted to share.
"I'm sorry that I don't have details yet, sir. I just received an owl from the Ministry. Apparently, the Prime Minister summoned his entire staff back to the office tonight, and he will be meeting with the Queen tomorrow morning. Our Auror has been able to deduce that there is planning afoot for some sort of military operation, but we have no confirmation yet as to the target. It does seem to have something to do with magic, hence the Auror's immediate report to the Ministry."
Albus heaved a troubled sigh and shook his head sadly.
"Unfortunately, Kingsley, I believe that we are the targets, here at Hogwarts."
Kingsley looked shocked. What on earth caused the Headmaster to suspect that? The muggles didn't even know where Hogwarts is, and why would they be attacking a school?
Albus continued. "It would be extremely helpful to ascertain what triggered this. Everything was fine a few hours ago, but now the muggles are going to war. What happened?"
In response to the look of incredulity on Kingsley's face, he added "We do, indeed, have reason to believe the target is Hogwarts. That raises other questions. How are they going to find Hogwarts? The spells and enchantments keep it hidden from muggle eyes, unless someone has told them about the castle and where to find it, so I have to assume someone from our world is helping them. And don't the muggles realize that their weapons will not be effective? Their muggle bombs and bullets will not penetrate our wards."
Severus had a suggestion. "Might we invite the Minister and her senior team to meet with Mr. Potter and his advisors here at Hogwarts, right away? Some explanation as to why we believe Hogwarts is the target is probably in order, and if whatever the muggle Prime Minister is doing requires consultation with the Queen, we have floo access to Balmoral Castle from here."
Albus nodded, smiling now. "Excellent thought, Severus!"
The Ministry might have a new Minister of Magic, but the simmering resentment directed toward Albus and Hogwarts that defined the paranoia of the prior Minster might still linger in some parts of the Ministry. Extending this invitation from Harry, and conducting the meeting in his offices, would make the invitation difficult, indeed, to resist. And they'd never actually told the Ministry about the ravens. It was probably time.
"Kingsley, would you try to arrange such a meeting in Harry's offices, in half an hour or so?"
Kingsley nodded his head. His experience with Albus Dumbledore was extensive enough that he had learned not to question even the most bizarre statements. The idea of muggles attacking Hogwarts was preposterous, but who was he to argue? He went off to make the arrangements.
Harry found his voice. "I take it no one ever told the Minister about the Ravens?"
Severus directed a questioning look at Albus; he certainly had no reason to tell the Ministry anything, so the decision to share that information was Albus' alone. Harry concluded from that look that this was not something that Severus and the Headmaster had discussed without him, and was inwardly pleased.
Albus smiled at Harry. "I do try to respect your privacy, Harry, please believe that. I never saw any reason to tell anyone anything about the Ravens, or the paths that I understand you see sometimes. Now that we better understand the power inherent in having such information, I think you'll agree we must tell the Minister."
Harry thought to himself, "at least this Minister is trustworthy," and then he chuckled when the old man continued "I'm sure you agree that Minister Bones can be trusted with sensitive information and will use it for the good."
"My thoughts, exactly, Sir. Spoken by you just as I thought them, too," Harry explained.
Harry was quiet as he and Severus walked across the landing to his offices. He had grave reservations about being regarded as even more of a freak when his magical familiars (if that is, indeed, what the Ravens were) were revealed, let alone how his "visions" would be received. He was mollified a bit by the way the Headmaster had been so matter-of-fact, and Severus was taking this seriously, as well. Their reactions were hardly predictive of how the Minister and her people would react, but it was encouraging.
Severus noticed how quiet Harry was, and took advantage of their momentary privacy in Harry's conference room to be sure Harry was alright with this meeting. Severus had perched on the end of the large table and pulled Harry to stand before him, putting the two a bit more eye-to-eye. He kept his hands lightly but firmly on Harry's shoulders, as he'd noticed that Harry seemed to crave contact after this vision. "Do you have reservations about proceeding, Harry? It might be a bit late to cancel, but if this is too much for you. . " he trailed off, offering a way out if this was too much for the younger man.
"No, no, Severus," Harry replied, pleased at Severus' attentiveness. "I'm fine. We have to do something – the worst course of action would be not to act. The Ministry needs to know about this, and I need to be the one to tell them. I can do it. I'm glad you're with me, and the Headmaster, too, but I need to do this myself. I think it is the only way."
It was Severus' turn to sigh. As much as he wanted to shield Harry from this sort of thing, it was obviously part of the Gryffindor mindset to face things square on. That didn't make it easier to deal with, but it was an explanation of sorts.
When Severus stood, Harry did not move back, but stepped into his bondmate, holding the man around the waist. Severus accepted the gesture and folded his arms around Harry's shoulders, holding him in a tight embrace. Severus looked down and smoothed the dark hair that was pressed against his chest.
For his part, Harry pressed his ear firmly against Severus' chest and reveled in the warmth of the returned hug and the comforting strokes of his unruly hair. But best of all was the infinitely soothing sound of the beating of Severus' heart. As he often found it wonderful to fall asleep to the sounds of that heartbeat, this evening, he found that he drew calmness and courage from it.
Harry was confident that he could do this.
Just a short while later, the floo in Harry's offices sprang to life with green flames, and the Minister of Magic and several of her key advisors, as well as half a dozen Aurors, stepped through. Harry greeted each in turn, and Severus got the guests all pointed to chairs around the wooden table. Finally, Harry and Severus took the last two seats, at the head of the table. Albus had arrived while the others were gathering and was directed to a seat of prominence across from the Minister herself, but the overall seating arrangement conveyed clearly that this was Harry's meeting, not Albus', although Severus was prepared to step in to assist, if necessary.
"Thank you for joining us here on such short notice," Harry began. His tone was gracious, but strong, reflecting the confidence he felt growing within himself.
"Allow me to share a bit of the story behind the reason for this meeting," he continued. Despite the terrible pressure felt by the people from the Ministry to get back there to prepare to deal with whatever was going on with the muggle Minister's office, Harry's voice had a steely quality that caused them to sit still and listen.
"In the weeks before Voldemort sent all of us to sleep, I began to have visions. I could not make out their meaning; birds would whisper things in my ear that I often couldn't understand, or show me images that did not make much sense to me," and with a gesture to encompass Severus and Albus, he added "or to us."
"The most significant vision was of a city that I could not identify. I only saw that all the people within that city were dead. It was upsetting, horrifying, actually, but I had no idea what it meant. In retrospect, I believe I was shown what Voldemort had planned to do, unfortunately just not with enough detail to enable me to prevent it."
The Minister saw where this was likely heading – Harry must have had another vision. The reference to "birds," though, really shocked her, as well as all the Aurors in the room.
The head of the Magical Law Enforcement Department had told her about the theory that Hermione Granger was researching, about magical transference, as he'd given the young woman access to his Aurors to pursue her research. She'd been very impressed with Hermione's project, and pleased at the Aurors' initiative in assisting her.
In an idle conversation one recent day, one of the younger Aurors had wondered aloud to his colleagues if it might be possible for a magical artifact to transfer its magic when it was destroyed, and that captured the imaginations of others. That had also reached the Minister's ears, so she was aware of the speculation about what might have happened when the Eye of Odin exploded in Harry's hand just over a year ago. Might any of the magic in the Eye of Odin have transferred to another? And if so, to whom?
She had to ask. "Mr. Potter, the birds who speak to you – might they be ravens?"
Harry was a bit surprised himself that she had figured that out so quickly. "Yes, ma'am, I believe they are ravens."
The Minister quieted her colleagues, who had begun to whisper among themselves. "I have heard of Mr. Potter's friend's theory that magic may be released when a wizard is killed. Is it possible that this can also occur when a strong magical artifact is destroyed? If so, do remember who was holding the Eye of Odin when it was destroyed, and recall your history about the Eye."
Harry nodded at her, the room suddenly having gone silent. "Thank you, Madam Minister. I don't know if we can prove the theory about the destruction of a magical artifact, but that incident is part of what caused Hermione Granger to decide to research magical transference."
It was unintended, but that little aside had largely removed the usual unwillingness to believe a vision shared by anyone other than a highly-renowned seer. The pedigree of a vision provided by ravens, given what had occurred a year ago with the Eye of Odin, gave Harry's vision instant credibility.
"The Ravens have been around for a while now, but not saying anything I could actually hear," Harry continued. "Until tonight. They showed me three visions." Harry recounted the visions he'd already described to Albus and Severus. He concluded, "And when the visions were over, they said, very clearly, "It has begun." That was the first time I've heard them clearly in months."
The Minister seemed perplexed. She asked Darmut, "Did Auror Entwhistle say anything in his reports from the muggle Minister's office since the muggles woke up that would suggest they were turning on us to this extent?"
The somber man shook his head. "No, ma'am. Up until today, everything had been fine. If anything, young Entwhistle felt that the Prime Minister was quite supportive of good relations between muggles and those with magic. The notion that the muggles should now attack us seemed to come out of the blue."
The Minister took a deep breath, and looked once again at Harry. Back in her days as an Auror, Amelia Bones would have grilled Harry extensively about these visions. It was her nature to be suspicious and unwilling to accept a story like this unless and until she'd poked at it and challenged it and forced its retelling in different words several times. Something about the look on Harry's face quelled this instinct. The young man wasn't glaring, as his bondmate was known to do, and there was none of Albus' deceptively-twinkling steeliness. But beneath the calm politeness, there was something the Minister knew she could not question. She'd never seen anything like this, and really did not know what to do about it.
"So, Mr. Potter, you say they are planning to attack here. You are certain that it was Hogwarts Castle you saw, not some other fortress or castle?" She was willing to press for that degree of clarification.
Harry was not offended by the question – he'd posed it to himself several times since his original vision. "Yes, ma'am. When I was seeing the vision, I was desperate to see where I was, and I made a great effort to turn away from the source of the attack, to see the target. It was absolutely Hogwarts."
The Minister looked at Albus. "And the wards are untouched?"
He smiled slightly. It was hard to believe that someone from the Ministry hadn't assessed the wards at Hogwarts before she traveled here. "Yes, Minister. The very first thing I did after hearing of Harry's vision was to check them all. No intrusions or attacks are under way."
The Minister pondered her options. The muggles were out there, assumed to be planning to do something. He own Auror confirmed that much, and Harry Potter was adamant their target was Hogwarts.
"I think it is time that I pay a visit to the muggle Prime Minister and speak to him about this. Did Entwhistle believe that whatever they are up to is against everyone with magic, or are the muggles just targeting one place, presumably Hogwarts?" she asked her team.
Several of the Department Heads looked horrified at the thought of their Minister placing herself in danger. Darmut, however, realized that it hadn't been that long since she'd been an Auror herself, and a very good one at that. If anything went amiss, pity the muggles, not her.
Darmut answered, "Entwhistle's last report indicated that he believed that the Prime Minister was still favorably disposed toward magic. Entwhistle suspects that the Prime Minister thinks he's going after rogue wizards, possibly ones who meant harm to muggles. He has no idea what prompted the change, though. As we reported earlier, everyone in the office had left for the day and then been summoned back, later in the evening, and all of this was immediately afoot."
The Minister made up her mind. "We'll return to the Ministry, and I'll have the little man in the painting at the Ministry inform the muggle Prime Minister that I will step through." As she stood, and the others around the table followed suit, she added almost as an afterthought, "How unfortunate that I must meet the man over an incident like this; with all that's been going on, I have not taken the time to visit him before."
"Please keep me informed, Amelia," Albus added as he walked his old friend over to the floo. "I'll send word if we detect anything here, of course. Even if the muggles have someone who can tell them where to look to see the castle, the wards will repel any muggle weaponry." Albus was about to help her into the floo when it occurred to him that there might be a risk to the muggles themselves in this attack. "Harry told me the muggles were using some sort of transportation – some kind of airplane that does not need a runway, he described it. I don't know what will happen if they try to land that airplane here – they can't get within the wards, of course, but hitting the wards might cause damage to the airplane. We'll keep our eyes on that."
The Minister thanked him for that, and nodded a good-bye to Harry and his bondmate as she threw down a handful of powder and disappeared into green flames. It took just a few minutes for the Ministry contingent to depart via the floo.
Albus had noticed a rather distraught house elf standing near the door; as no one from the Ministry had said anything, he assumed the elf had not made herself generally visible. Harry noticed the house elf at the same instant, and spoke to her.
"Casable, is that you?" he inquired, to be sure he had the name correct.
The little elf, already very nervous and wringing her hands, nearly jumped when she heard her name, bursting out in tears.
"Oh, Mister Harry Potter! That you even recall Casable's name! And so graciously acknowledge Casable – such a remarkable, kind, gracious wizard!" she blurted around her sobs.
Before she could continue for too much time down this conversational path, Harry interrupted. "Please, Casable, it appeared that something was amiss, or possibly you had something you needed to tell the Headmaster, or me?" he offered.
With a very intentional blink of her huge eyes, Casable focused on the question, and remembered that she did, indeed, have worrisome news to share.
"Well, Mr. Harry Potter, and Professor Headmaster Dumbledore, and Mr. Harry Potter's Beloved Bondmate", which reference drew a bit of a scowl from Severus, "Casable is visiting at Balmoral Castle tonight, and hears that the muggle princes are very upset. Casable is told that someone is visiting their grandmother tomorrow, and wants to be starting a war against Hogwarts! All the elves are upset. We don't want any of our castles in a war, sirs!" She began sobbing again, as her focus returned to the reason she'd returned to Hogwarts right away and sought out the Headmaster.
Albus nodded at the little creature with a gentle smile on his face. "Thank you, Casable. That was very responsible of you," at which point the elf stood up quite straight and proud. "We heard about the attack and have told the Ministry, and the Minister is addressing this. But we are very grateful that you confirmed what we suspected, and you've helped us avoid this disaster."
X X X X X X X X X X
The Minister's staff summoned the little man in the painting in the hallway outside her office, and asked that he return to his portrait in the muggle Prime Minister's office, to announce that she would be stepping through momentarily. He was not entirely happy to have to return to that dreary painting, although he knew his duty, and sauntered off after acknowledging the request.
The little man heaved a sigh as he entered his picture in the office at 10 Downing Street. This room was so boring, so typically muggle! He saw the Prime Minister sitting at his desk, as usual, although he appeared to be working a bit more diligently than was his standard. This one was a slacker, this Prime Minister.
The little man cleared his throat, several times, to attract the Prime Minister's attention. Once he saw the man look over, with distress, he proceeded. "Attention, Prime Minister. The Minister of Magic advises that she will be stepping through your floo connection in the next five minutes, to introduce herself and consult with you on matters of mutual interest."
The Prime Minister was so rattled by the announcement from the oil painting, which had been blessedly silent for a long while now, he never noticed that the references to the Minister of Magic referred to "she." He cleared up the papers on his desk, and prepared to receive Cornelius Fudge.
The grate in the large fireplace suddenly sprang to life with those odd green flames, and to the Prime Minister's surprise, a sedately-dressed woman stepped out of the fireplace. She adjusted her robes, and brushed a bit of ash off the sleeve, and approached him to introduce herself.
"Hello, Mr. Prime Minister. I am Amelia Bones, the Minister of Magic. I'm sorry it's taken me so long to visit your office and introduce myself, but as I'm sure you can imagine, we've been busy," she began, extending her hand, muggle-style, to shake the Prime Minister's hand in greeting.
For his part, the Prime Minister looked completely confused and more than a little suspicious.
"Who are you? You aren't the Minister of Magic – I know Cornelius Fudge!" he blurted out, taking a step back.
Amelia sighed, as she withdrew her hand and took a seat, unbidden, across from the Prime Minister's desk. "Please have a seat, and I'll explain," she said politely.
The Prime Minister was not in the mood for games, but the lady sitting in the chair across his desk looked harmless enough, with her dark hair primly collected in a bun, and her plain robes creating a rather matronly image. Not really knowing what to do, the Prime Minister took the path of least resistance, and did as she told him to do.
"Mr. Fudge is no longer Minister of Magic. We don't know exactly what sent him off, but when he called on you to send troops to take over our Ministry, it was clear that he was terrified of being ousted from his role. Of course, your troops couldn't find the Ministry, so nothing came of that, but in the chaos that followed, we found out what he'd done. The Wizarding Registration Act that you and he were negotiating was an act of treason, you see."
The Prime Minister looked scared that that. He certainly hadn't intended to do anything so anti-magic in that legislation! Was he going to be held accountable for whatever was done? And what did that mean, in the magical world?
Amelia continued with her most calming voice, not wanted to terrify the obviously hoodwinked Prime Minister. "Fudge had only disclosed the first part of the Act to the magical community, and it was roundly opposed. But we saw the documentation about the second part once he was in custody and we inspected his office. Wizards are immune to the diseases for which the Act proposed to vaccinate us – that made no sense at all. When we saw the lists of materials he had asked you to begin acquiring, his plan became clear to us. We believe that he was going to use this whole vaccination process to infect the magical community with Bowtruckle Fever, and he was having you stockpile the ingredients for an old remedy, once it was needed. I don't know what he told you – we haven't had a real outbreak of Bowtruckle Fever in over 100 years, and the remedy he seemingly wanted you to stockpile is highly narcotic and addictive, far from optimal."
The Prime Minister was appalled by this. He had to consider if it was possible that this woman was an imposter, but she'd been announced by the portrait as the Minister of Magic. He decided to tell her what he'd been told, if it offered some explanation. "Mr. Fudge told me that wizards do get those diseases, but are not really sickened by them. He said that a wizard could pass the illness along to someone else, such as a person without magic, even though the wizard was not showing any signs of illness. That was why he proposed that we have you all vaccinated, so you could interact with us without possibly infecting us with diseases."
Amelia nodded, and went on, "Well, that does explain why you went along with the idea of vaccinations. However, it is more probable that he was planning to use the vaccines to infect wizards, not protect muggles. And, unfortunately, all this would do is make many wizards and witches sick. It became clear to us that Cornelius wanted to cement his position of Minister by enslaving the wizarding world. He was going to make everyone ill with a Fever that would kill us if we did not take medicine for the rest of our lives. He seemed to have the idea that we'd take the remedy he had you stockpiling, which he knew would render us all addicted and feeble. What he seemed not to have realized is that no one takes that remedy any longer. There is a very effective, non-addictive and non-narcotic potion available now, and it is the remedy of choice. We'd all be sick, but his position would not be secured."
The Prime Minister looked suitably horrified at this. Even by his own standards, it was horrifying to cause an entire population to become sick with something that the Minister of Magic said could actually kill them, just so he could retain his political power. But he remembered that was not all he'd learned from Fudge.
"Fudge told me that the wizarding world was coming under the influence of a terrible, dangerous wizard! He said we needed to unite against this menace to prevent him from taking over the entire world and enslaving us all," he ventured, to see how true that statement was.
Amelia smiled. "Ah, yes, Cornelius' irrational fear of Harry Potter. Actually, Cornelius had tried to court Harry Potter's favor, and even tried to adopt him at one point, as the boy – he's 17, actually – is an orphan. But Harry would have none of it. He sees Cornelius for what he is, a power-mad fool, and made it clear that he would not support Cornelius. I think it was becoming clear to Cornelius that his days in power were numbered, and that was behind his efforts to enlist you to his cause."
"But Fudge was here tonight! He told me this just a few hours ago," the Prime Minister offered, suddenly recalling that he initially did not believe the amazing story he'd been told, accepting it only because a man he knew to be the Minister himself had told him so.
Amelia was surprised to hear that. "We had Cornelius under arrest in our Ministry, but he was able to escape a month or so ago. He disappeared, and we assumed he left the country. He's been back?"
"He arrived in the fireplace, like always, like you just did."
"Was he announced, as I just was?" Amelia asked, slipping into Auror mode.
The Prime Minister thought for a few seconds. "Now that you mention it, he wasn't. I heard the wooshing noise those green flames make, and here he was. He told me that his enemies had taken control of the Ministry, and were aligned with Potter, who is dangerous and planning to control the world. He told me that the only way for us to escape enslavement was to attack the stronghold where Potter and his allies are holed up, in a castle in Scotland, he said. He was going to come along with us, to show us where it is."
Amelia's mind was racing, as she considered options.
"Do you remember, by any chance, what Cornelius said as he left your office? I assume he left via the floo – the fireplace, no?"
The Prime Minister nodded mutely, trying to remember in as much detail as he could, what transpired when Fudge left.
"He mumbled something – all I could make out was 'Alley' at the end of what he said.
Amelia could think of several destinations that included the word "Alley," but only one stood out as a place that a wizard keen to avoid honest citizens and Aurors might feel safe – Diagon Alley. She needed to pass this information along.
"Is your senior secretary Martin Entwhistle at work this evening, Prime Minister?" she asked.
The Prime Minister audibly gulped. Another one of them! Why was it that all his very best assistants were planted here by the wizards? "Ah, yes, hmmm, another of yours, then? One of my very best assistants, handles the work of three." Almost to himself, he added "I should have known he'd be a wizard."
Amelia bit back a smile as Entwhistle was summoned. He did a perfect double-take seeing his real boss chatting with his assigned boss, not entirely sure how to react. Amelia stood to speak to Entwhistle, making it clear that his Auror assignment now took precedence over his role in the Prime Minister's office.
"Mr. Entwhistle, in light of the events of this evening, I paid a long-overdue call on the Prime Minister. It turns out that Cornelius Fudge has been here, earlier this evening, to exhort the muggles to attack Hogwarts Castle because, as Cornelius explained it, Harry Potter is set on taking over the world."
Entwhistle's reaction to this news made it abundantly clear that he was scandalized at Fudge's audacity, and by his gross mischaracterization of Harry Potter. "Attack a school? Is that what you're planning to do?" he blurted out to the Prime Minister.
"A school? No, a stronghold, a castle, that's what Fudge told me," the Prime Minister protested in his defense.
Amelia stepped in, as Entwhistle seemed to be getting quite angry at this news. "Actually, Mr. Prime Minister, Hogwarts Castle is home to the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Classes aren't in session yet, but many students and families spent the summer there, given the state of things. It is well protected, however. I fear, Mr. Prime Minister, that your attempts to attack the school would likely result in harm to your people, not us. The castle is protected by wards, forces that repel any attempts to attack it. People would be prevented from getting close, as would any vehicles."
The Minister of Magic looked from the Prime Minster to Entwhistle. "If I may offer a suggestion? I need to ask Mr. Entwhistle to connect with my team at the Ministry, to alert them to Fudge's appearance. Most likely, he is using a floo from one of the dives on Diagon Alley. No one there ever sees anything, and they would never cooperate with an Auror. But he's making a move, so we have a chance to return him to custody." She pointed to the fireplace in the Prime Minister's office, and without hesitation, the young man strode over to it, extracted some powder from a pocket, and disappeared into those strange green flames.
"And would you like to pay a visit to Hogwarts yourself, Prime Minister? It's actually very close to Balmoral Castle, where I understand you have an appointment tomorrow. You can accompany me via portkey – quite safe, I assure you." She saw the Prime Minister eyeing the fireplace, and added "Actually, using the floo is rather difficult for muggles, non-magical folk like yourself. A portkey is safer and more comfortable. I will return you here in an hour or so, if you remain unconvinced of the folly of the course of action you are planning."
She used the floo to firecall to Albus Dumbledore's office back at Hogwarts to inform him that she'd be arriving with the Prime Minister. She produced a small metal object that looked like an old-fashioned bottle cap, and instructed the Prime Minister to touch it. Looking very suspicious, but ultimately convinced that something as small as a little bottle cap could not be dangerous, he complied with the request. Everything went dark, or fuzzy, and he felt terribly squeezed.
And as suddenly as it began, it was over.
He found himself standing in a room unlike any he'd seen before. The walls were stone, and it looked like leaded glass in the windows. Actually, he'd gone on a school visit to some old ruined castles years ago, and it occurred to him that a few of them might have looked like this room back when those old castles were standing and occupied. He was standing in front of an old man in a long, brightly colored robe, with a long white beard and an odd cap on his head.
He most definitely was not in London anymore. The old man smiled genially at him, looking like an old grandfather greeting a favored grandchild. He didn't know what to think.
"Ah, Prime Minister! Welcome to Hogwarts! We've never had a visit from a Prime Minister before, so this is very exciting for us all. Thank you, Minister Bones, for arranging this visit," the old man said, as he approached them. He moved with surprising agility for such an obviously old man, and reached out to shake the Prime Minister's hand in greeting.
Amelia stepped in to make the introductions, presenting the Prime Minister to Albus, giving all of his numerous titles in the wizarding world. He shook his head at the extended recitation of his honors and awards.
"Far too much detail, Amelia! Prime Minister, the most significant title of all those our Minister of Magic has just recited is that of Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. We're in the Headmaster's Office here in Hogwarts Castle. I'd be happy to show you about a bit. I'd like you to become acquainted with who we are, so you can understand that wizards and witches are people, just like you."
The Prime Minister had glanced at the walls, covered as they were with obviously old oil paintings. He thought his eyes were playing a trick, as several of the paintings seemed to move. He was nonplussed when Headmaster Dumbledore actually introduced him to several of the portraits, the occupants of which greeted him back.
The Prime Minister was escorted downstairs to the Great Hall, encountering more moving and speaking portraits, and several ghosts. Like his monarch before him, he took it in stride, returning greetings from all quarters, human or . . . whatever.
The Great Hall was occupied after dinner by students working on their summer essays and families visiting among themselves before taking the little ones to their tents to sleep. It wasn't nearly as raucous as it was a few hours earlier, when dinner was served, but there were still quite a few people lingering there.
And that was the point. They were people, just like the people back in London. Students, children clearly too young to attend school, young women who were obviously the mothers of those young children, and others who seemed to be family groups. People.
Albus suggested a quick walk around the lawn, as a few lumos charms created enough light for a late pick-up Quidditch game. The Prime Minister was amazed to see people actually flying broomsticks, and able to do so with such skill that they were playing a most intricate game up there.
The tour ended in the Ministry of Magic Annex in a room off the entryway, where Harry and Severus had come to meet the Prime Minister. Albus had noted that the man was a bit winded from just walking down from the tower, and decided that they would not ask him to walk up there later.
The Prime Minister was taken aback by the scowling face and black, black eyes of the tall man, dressed all in black robes, he encountered as he walked into the reception room. The man was terrifying, although he was greeted quite cordially by his escorts. He recognized Harry Potter from the taped messages he'd seen, a smallish, wiry young man, with green eyes far too old to belong to someone so young. He was startled to see the obviously easy interaction between the severe man and Harry, and was not entirely sure what to make of the explanation in the introductions he received, that Severus Snape was Harry Potter's bondmate. It did not seem polite to ask, so the Prime Minister followed his good political instincts and filed that away as something to learn at a later date.
Harry provided a bit of background as to how the Ministry of Magic happened to have an annex office in the school – it was all because of him and his recently conferred title of king. "While the title itself is without political influence or boundaries, I needed help managing all the people who wanted to contact me. I asked the Ministry to help, as I'm British, of course, and they established this office for our mutual convenience."
Minister Bones chimed in, suspecting that it was very important to make it clear that this connection between the Ministry and Hogwarts did not in any way make Hogwarts a governmental installation. "The school and the Ministry have always taken great pains to be very clear that they are totally separate institutions. When Mr. Potter was called as king, the flood of letters and efforts to contact him was more than Hogwarts could manage. We agreed, at the Headmaster's invitation, to establish this Annex to support Mr. Potter."
Harry continued. "And this is a school, as I'm sure you've seen, first and foremost. Normally, it would be a few days yet until the students would return, but because of all that's been going on, many spent the summer here. We also have invited families who felt that they wanted the safety and security of the castle to come here to live, and others who, for various reasons, wanted to be here. Your princes lived here during the time that everyone was asleep, since they were among the ones I had woken up, which is how I came to meet them."
Several tumblers of Rosmerta's finest mead appeared on a side table (their arrival an event that made the Prime Minister actually jump) and as they sipped, the group had a casual conversation. The Prime Minister was most interested in the fact that Harry had grown up in Little Whinging – he'd gone to school with someone from that town – and in how he became king, if not through heredity.
Albus and Amelia were courteous and attentive to their guest, hoping as they were to enable him to conclude that it was a terrible mistake to pursue his plan to attack the school. Even Severus held his usually acid tongue, not quite managing attentiveness but at least not projecting annoyance. Harry was the one who carried the day, with his genuineness and straightforward manner.
It was slightly more than two hours before the Minister produced another odd little bottle cap and offered it to the Prime Minister. "When you say the words "Downing Street" this portkey will take you there. Just like before, you'll be fine."
The Prime Minister was suddenly standing in his office, wondering if he'd had a dream, or what on earth had just happened. He looked down at the bottle cap in his hand, certainly not something from any beverage he'd ever consumed. No, that had been real.
He sat heavily in his leather chair, and summoned one of his assistant into the office. He'd almost attacked a school, of all things! He had to make sure those plans were called off immediately.