"There's no way we can go back to school," Harry protested.

They were gathered in the Temple; the lights had been dimmed so that the only light came from glowing crystals. It made the cave walls look a little like stars, which, given where the gems were from was probably the point.

Hermione nodded. "Harry's right. The Ministry isn't stupid. We'll be the first people who get questioned."

With occlumency there was a chance they might be able to resist Veritaserum, which was one reason it wasn't used for every court case. It wasn't certain, however, and with time, Harry had no doubt that they'd crack.

Dumbledore and Sirius glanced at each other.

"There's no need to worry," Dumbledore said. "Your classmates were all in bed before our venture into the Ministry; no one will know anything."

Hermione was the first to catch on. "No...you want to obliviate us?"

She glanced at Harry with a guilty look, and he wondered why. She had nothing to feel guilty about. It was Dumbledore who was talking about stealing their memories.

"But why?" he asked.

"Education is important," Dumbledore said gravely. "And there is work that still needs to be done in the shadows."

"You're going after the last of the Horcruxes," Harry said flatly. "Without us."

"There is no need for you to endanger yourself before the final battle," Dumbledore said. "And the final battle will come, sooner rather than later."

He seemed so certain that Harry wondered just far ahead into the future Dumbledore had looked with Sapphire's help.

"You're leaving the school undefended," Harry said. "From Umbridge or whoever else the Ministry sends."

"There is nothing to fear," Dumbledore said. "All will be revealed in time."

The thought of losing his memories bothered Harry. It seemed like the worst kind of violation. There had to be another way.

Before Harry could react, Dumbledore had already lifted his wand. The last thing he saw was Steven's face, looking guilty and worried.

The Daily Prophet screamed about the attack on the Ministry; four Death Eaters were dead, including Bellatrix Lestrange, who had been crushed to death beneath a mass of stonework while defending her master.

A dozen others had been captured, although Voldemort and his other most important minions had managed to escape, including Barty Crouch Junior.

Harry looked at Hermione, and he saw his own worry reflected in her face. Had Voldemort's men broken into the Ministry and taken Steven?

He'd been tired this morning, almost as though he hadn't actually had the full night's sleep he remembered having. Had he been plagued by dreams of what Voldemort was going to do and simply hadn't woken up in time?

He'd once heard that dreams that happened when someone was asleep were not remembered later. Had his studies of occlumency caused him to not see something vital?

The worry on Hermione's face was even worse than his.

What was worse was that Dumbledore had disappeared. He wasn't at the head table at breakfast and he was nowhere to be seen. That wasn't usual; neither was the look of smug satisfaction on Umbridge's face as she declared that Dumbledore was wanted for questioning by the Ministry and that she was taking over as Headmaster.

That look of satisfaction vanished as a group of Aurors entered the great hall.

"Dolores Umbridge!" the lead Auror said. "You are under arrest."

If it had been Harry, he'd have waited until he was closer to make the announcement so she'd have less time to get away.

Fortunately, her first impulse was to bluster. "What is the meaning of this? I answer only to Cornelius Fudge."

From behind the Aurors came the sound of a cane clicking against the flagstones. Lucius Malfoy stepped out from behind the Aurors with a smirk on his lips. He was obviously aware of the impact his presence was having on everyone in the great hall, and he looked as though he was enjoying himself.

"I'm afraid that Mr. Fudge has resigned his position, effective this morning," He paused for a moment, and his lips quirked. "I was fortunate enough to be voted into his place as Minister during the interim."

Harry glanced at Hermione, whose face had turned as white as a ghost.

"I have sworn affidavits that you used a prohibited Dark Item on a number of children from Pureblood families," Lucius said. His expression tightened. "Including my own."

Harry couldn't help but glance toward Draco, who kept his expression carefully neutral. It hadn't occurred to him before, but Draco had been somewhat less hostile toward Harry since they'd figured out a way to replace Umbridge's blood quill earlier in the year.

"I was simply providing discipline!" she protested. "These...students...need to learn to see the error of their ways."

"Perhaps if you had confined your attention to...riff raff...the Ministry might have been willing to turn a blind eye. However, you tortured children from good families. I think you will find that the Ministry now will not be nearly as merciful as it was in the past."

He gestured with his cane, and a moment later the Aurors swarmed Umbridge.

If Steven and the twins hadn't come up with a way to replace her Blood Quill, it really would have happened for the entire year. However, it had apparently happened to enough members of Slytherin that they had a look of intense satisfaction.

Or maybe it was the fact that Lucius Malfoy was now Minister.

Did that mean that Voldemort had taken over entirely? How had Dumbledore and the others not foreseen this happening? What did it mean for Harry?

"Bring Harry Potter, Hermione Granger and Ron Weasely to the Headmaster's office, now," Lucius Malfoy said. He smirked a little as his eye caught Harry's.

Harry glanced at his friends again; he was sure that the worry he saw on their faces was reflected on his own.

"I don't know anything about the attack on the Ministry," Harry said.

He felt a little woozy; being forced to take Veritaserum after being stunned by one of the Aurors when he initially refused.

"You didn't participate?"

"I spent all night in bed," Harry said. He was relieved to be able to answer truthfully. "What's this all about?"

"You have no knowledge of where the...gems...might be?"

Harry frowned. He'd met with them several times...it was somewhere deep and dark, but for the life of him he couldn't remember where it had been or how he had gotten there. How odd.

"No," he said. It was true as far as it went. Even if he'd remembered where he'd met with them, there was no guarantee that they were there now.

It bothered him that he couldn't remember. It wasn't natural that something so important would have gone out of his head.

"You have no idea what Dumbledore plans to do?"

Harry opened his mouth again. He should have known...it was on the tip of his tongue, but somehow he couldn't recall it at all.

Finally he shook his head. "No."

There was a reason Veritaserum wasn't used all the time in Wizarding court cases, he realized. It only forced someone to tell what they thought was the truth. If their memories had been obliviated or changed, there was no guarantee that what they told would be the truth at all.

The questioning went on for some time, but somehow all the information that Harry was certain they'd once had was gone, not just from his memory, but from that of Ron and Hermione.

The Aurors seemed satisfied with this, and eventually they left, taking a protesting Umbridge with them.

This left them alone with Lucius Malfoy.

"I wouldn't get too comfortable," he told them. "It's useful to have the facade of warring factions, and for the moment it may even be true."

He reached out and picked up a cockroach cluster from a bowl on Dumbledore's desk. He popped it in his mouth and chewed on it with an audible crunch.

"There will come a time when everyone will be...appropriately loyal. When that happens, I fear your days will be numbered."

He was careful with his words, even though he knew they understood what he was implying. He probably didn't want them using a pensieve to show him admitting to being a Death Eater.

"The Malfoys are a proud family, and we always pay our debts. Losing me the services of a house elf whose family had served my family for generations was an insult that has yet to be repaid."

Lucius Malfoy hesitated. "However, what you did saved Draco pain."

Umbridge had been targeting Slytherins and Gryffindors more than any other house; Harry hadn't realized that Draco had been one of the targets although he should have. Umbridge was a jealous shrew of a woman, and given power over children from formerly powerful families, she would have taken out her anger on them disproportionately.

"I understand that you were never the recipient of her...attentions," Lucius said.

Harry nodded numbly.

"Then what you did for Draco matters. I now have enough authority that I could bring you in to the Ministry for questioning, and no one would ask any questions. Should you disappear...such things have been known to happen."

Harry glanced at Hermione and Ron, who had instinctively moved toward each other. He'd have to train them out of that habit should they ever resume defense classes.

"Consider my current mercy as payment in full for helping Draco," Lucius said. "Don't expect any in the future should our paths cross again."

"Go back to your classes," he said after a long moment. "Enjoy the little time you have remaining."

Numbly, Harry turned and headed down the stairs leaving the Headmaster's office. He didn't want to turn his back to Malfoy, but he didn't have a lot of choice.

Thankfully they all reached the hallway outside without an Avada Kedavra to the back.

There was an Auror waiting outside. Presumably this was part of the excuse Malfoy was going to use to Voldemort for restraining himself. Most of the Aurors probably hadn't been subverted yet, and the death of the Boy-that-lived at the hands of the Minister would raise questions Voldemort's camp wasn't ready to answer yet.

It might even be believed. Malfoy was still risking the Cruciatus, and Harry had to respect him for that.

Malfoy left, followed by the Auror. As he walked down the hall, he whistled a tune that sounded oddly familiar to Harry.

"Do you know what that was?" Harry asked Hermione.

She nodded grimly. "It's a song called 'Time it's on my side," by a Muggle musical group.

Malfoy listened to Muggle music? It didn't seem likely. Was he trying to send them a message that he wasn't as against all things Muggle as he presented himself, or was he simply trying to intimidate them?

Whatever it was, the message was clear.

War was coming.