Amelia was on the warpath, and those with sense kept their head's down and prayed to Merlin they weren't the ones who had royally angered their director.
"Who was on duty last night?" she demanded. "I want them front and center!"
It was not a request.
Five aurors stepped up, as they had the late shift last night.
"Tell me...who was in charge of all incoming calls?" she demanded. She knew some of them were doing paperwork in spelled rooms, and likely wouldn't have heard the calls.
One auror stepped forward. A man by the name of Perkins. He wasn't particularly impressive as a wizard, and had gotten to where he was now by toadying up to the right people.
Amelia's glare was positively frigid.
"Why did you not raise the alarms for a possible dementor attack last night?" she demanded.
"As if I'm going to fall for that. All the dementors are in Azkaban, why would they be anywhere near Wolverhampton?" he said dismissively. He had silenced the bloody floo so he could go back to his nap after the first hour of it.
Amelia was on him in seconds.
"We recaptured no less than ten dementors missing from the lot sent to guard Hogwarts a few years ago that never returned. If it wasn't for the fact they were targeting a specific house, it's likely that we'd be dealing with a mess of biblical proportions from the number of victims they could have kissed," she snarled at him.
"They're alive, so what's the problem?" he said grumpily. It wasn't like he cared about the muggleborns.
"One of which happened to be the second son of the current owner of the Daily Prophet and the younger brother of the Department of Magical Accidents," she informed him. He started to sweat now. "Never mind the fact that the one they were targeting happened to be the bloody Girl-Who-Lived."
"Why should I care what a bloody liar like her says?" he demanded. "We all know she's an attention seeking brat."
Amelia calmed herself. Nimue had sworn on her magic she had never once met any reporters and honestly had no idea what she was talking about regarding the articles, as she read the Quibbler and almost never read the Prophet after what Skeeter did.
When she looked into the situation, it became clear almost immediately that it was less "attention seeking" and more "Dumbledore was causing trouble and Fudge wasn't willing to humor his nonsense anymore and was doubling down on avoiding the real problem".
Which meant that Fudge was using an innocent girl as a scapegoat because Dumbledore was callously using her fame to make the Minister agree.
As if that wasn't enough, there was a trial set to debate the fact she had used magic to defend not only herself, but others from dementors.
Amelia's next stop was to have a nice long chat with Mathilda Hopkirk regarding the matter.
A few hours later...
If she was angry before, it went apocalyptic when she heard about the trial date.
That sent her on yet an even bigger warpath, as Mathilda Hopkirk had been far more reasonable once she saw the pensieve memories.
The Minister could bluster all he wanted, but the simple fact was that he didn't have the authority to expel an underage child or demand a trial when there was an active investigation going on.
By the time she returned to the mansion, it was to find her niece, her best friend and Nimue experimenting with a massive and clearly magical fish hook, of all things.
"What in the name of Merlin is that?" she demanded.
"Near as we can tell, some sort of divine artifact. I'm fairly certain of who it belongs to, but I'm unable to determine where the proper owner is or how to contact them," said Nimue.
"...Are they dangerous?" asked Amelia. She was already just done with today and this was not helping her mellow.
"They're a trickster god, but what little research I've found on them indicates he's more in line of someone who doesn't think of the consequence first and rarely thinks his plans through properly than actively malicious," said Nimue.
That was enough for her, though she did cast several spells to check the...hook...before she went to get something to eat.
There were no malicious or dark spells, which was enough for her to live with.
The next morning, once she had her four cups of industrial grade coffee in her (fortified with more than a dram of whiskey), she helped Nimue with enchanting a pendant to carry the hook, since it was entirely too large to actually carry around without drawing attention.
Nimue made it clear she was more interested in returning said artifact than keeping it for practical reasons...it would only be a hindrance since it would take someone of Hagrid's size and strength to actually use the bloody thing as anything more than an oversized and garish paperweight.
Returning it and possibly earning the favor of the proper owner was a far more sensible use.
The day of the so-called trial, Amelia's patience had run very thin and was close to snapping. Despite the fact they were still investigating why the hell those dementors had been there in the first place or targeting Nimue directly, Fudge had insisted on putting the girl on trial.
Which was why the second the trial started, in a courtroom used only for adult wizards no less, Amelia immediately spoke up.
"Witness for the defense," she called out clearly. Fudge was not pleased.
"Madam Bones, is this really necessary?" said Umbridge.
Madam Bones glared her down.
"Considering I made it very clear that this was not a case of illegal underage magic and that the circumstances absolutely dictated the use of it in public, yes," she said sharply.
Dead silence. One brave soul spoke up, which was Madam Longbottom. She had come to support Potter since she was good allies with her grandson.
"Could you clarify, Madam Bones?"
"Simply put, Miss Potter was under direct attack by several rogue dementors," said Madam Bones crisply. "The auror who failed to take the calls of multiple wizards and witches from a known magical village is already under investigation and his removal is guaranteed because he openly admitted to silencing the floo when the calls came in. There are over twenty witnesses to the event, never mind the fact that an off-duty auror was helping to keep the creatures from entering the hostel Potter was staying at."
Dead silence as several people turned to look at the Minister in disbelief...mostly that he had gone through with a trial at all.
"I also found it extremely odd that Potter was being tried in this particular courtroom, seeing as how she is still fifteen and hasn't even taken her OWL's yet...and not a fully legal adult witch," said Madam Bones pointedly.
Fudge tried to bluster, but it was already clear he had fucked up royally.
"She's an attention seeking brat!"
Nimue spoke up at that point, seeing as how it was clear all charges would be dropped.
"Minister, why in Morgana's name would I bother going to the Daily Prophet with anything when I'm best friends with a girl who's father is the owner and head editor of the Quibbler?" she said exasperated. "Especially since I've been avoiding Dumbledore ever summer since second year?"
"Avoiding Dumbledore?" said Madam Longbottom, as this was news to her.
"The headmaster has an unhealthy interest in me," said Nimue crossly. "He's also made it clear that he expects me to spend my summers with relatives who have made it abundantly clear they want nothing to do with magic or any reminder of my mother. We've had an agreement for the past several years where we only have to suffer a week of each other's presence before my uncle gives me enough cash to pay for a train ticket to anywhere other than Surrey or an area they'd visit until school starts again."
Vernon happily paid for a train ticket if it meant he didn't have to acknowledge her as anything other than an annoying piece of furniture for a single week out of an entire year. It was an arrangement both parties were very happy with overall.
Especially since the wizards had different ideas of childcare.
Madam Longbottom looked to the other witches and wizards in the room.
"All in favor of dropping all charges?"
Nearly everyone raised their wand.
"All opposed?"
A few oddballs raised theirs, including Umbridge and Fudge.
"Case dismissed," said Fudge sullenly.
Nimue's smile turned positively shark-like. It was rather ominous.
It also firmly reminded people that the Minister had just tried to screw over a Black, which was never a good idea.
On the way out of the courtroom, Nimue spotted Lucius Malfoy. Before he could get a word in, she walked up to him with clear purpose in mind.
"Lord Malfoy, what a surprise to see you here. Though this does make this easier."
"Makes what easier?" he asked confused. And why was she talking to him in a friendly manner.
"Well to be honest, you would be on the top of my list to ask who the best barrister is to sue the Minister for slander...among other things. After all, your wife is my cousin and I see no reason to keep someone that incompetent in office when he's more interested in going after an underage witch for something they had nothing to do with than trying to find out why there were rogue dementors where there shouldn't be," she explained.
Dead silence...then Lucius looked at her properly before giving a carefully measured response.
"If you wish to hire a proper barrister, your best bet is my cousin Murdia. I'm sure she'd be delighted to take on the case...at an exorbitant rate of course. Malfoys don't come cheap," said Lucius after a moment.
"Neither do Blacks, which is why I'm sure cousin Narcissa made sure to only marry the best for her station," said Nimue pleasantly. That made Lucius preen just a bit. "However, could you please do something about your son? Draco is all talk and next to no action and having to hear him brag about your influence rather than using his own is rather grating. It's almost an embarrassment to the house of Black."
"How so?" asked Lucius evenly.
"The only reason he gets away with half of the things he says or does in the school is because the teachers are spineless and Snape covers for him," deadpanned Nimue. "The second he leaves school and loses that protection, I have little doubt that a large number of people would happily hex him to hell and back and have any number of witnesses claiming it was self-defense or saying they saw nothing but heard him cast first. And that's including Slytherins."
Lucius was somewhat out of his element, but managed to maintain his composure.
"And your opinion of Dumbledore?"
"He's a senile old bastard who should just retire already and keep his overly long nose out of people's business," said Nimue sharply. "I've long since lost my patience with his little games and honestly if the dark tosser happened to take him out I wouldn't lose any sleep over it. The second I graduate I am going on an overdue vacation well away from England."
The two parted on agreeable terms, and Malfoy was starting to gain a higher respect for Potter as a potential peer. She was nothing like the 'spoiled brat' his son had ranted about.
Far from it, it had become clear that in her the Black blood ran true...she just hadn't had a proper chance to show it yet.
Coincidentally he started to distance himself just a bit from Fudge before the ax began to fall. If the man was so incompetent that he'd pull a stunt like this despite a magnitude of evidence that would have the case thrown out entirely, then his usefulness had come to an end. The fact that Potter was almost certainly going to gouge the man for a large chunk of the gold Lucius had "donated" over the years did not bother him.