Chapter 12: The Takeover
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The days passed and the Wizengamot didn't do anything to give the muggleborn what they wanted. They dithered and talked, but they didn't come to any conclusion. They were waiting to see if Thomas was going to make good on his threat, or would the muggleborn military make theirs a reality. They didn't think either one had the bollocks to do it. They were wrong.
"Well, General Stevenson, it's all yours," Thomas said at nine the morning the day the time ran out.
"They can't say we didn't warn them. First, we have to get the noncombatants out of the ministry," he said, indicating the muggles and kids. There were around forty all together.
"Harry, come here a moment will you. Bring your godfather," Thomas called to the boy hero.
"Okay, Mr. Starchers," Harry yelled back and grabbed Sirius' hand and dragged him over to the two men. "Good morning, General, Mr. Starchers," the ever polite boy said, nodding his head in each persons' direction.
"What can we do for you two gentlemen?" Sirius said, in way of greeting.
"Give us just a second, Sirius," George said, nodding to Sirius.
"Harry, you and your friends need to go home now," Thomas said, squatting down to be at the boy's level. Harry might be twelve, but he was quite short. "We are going to do something to get what we want, and it will involve the military, which means guns and wands might be used. So, you and your friends can't be here," he explained with a wave of a hand in George's direction.
"Cor, really? I thought you were trying to be peaceful," Harry said, lowering his sign and looking at Thomas with a vaguely hurt expression. Like he had been lied to.
"We are, and we'll continue to try. However, there are some who just don't want us to have any kind of rights," Thomas said, seeing the hurt on the boy's face.
"Harry," George said, looking down on the preteen. "You do know who the Queen is, correct?" he asked, and waited for the nod, which he got. "She wants your friends and all muggleborn, half-bloods and purebloods to have the same rights. She is the one who ordered what we are about to do today. Do you want to go against the Queen's orders?" the man asked in his most gentle, yet authoritative voice.
"No, sir," Harry said, scrunching his brow at the thought of going against the reigning monarch. He knew that would be a bad thing.
"Therefore, you need to tell your friends, while your godfather tells the adults, that they need to go home," Stevenson said, still standing in a attention like manner.
"Yes, sir," Harry said, mollified, but sad that he wasn't going to be anymore help.
"Come on, Harry," Sirius said, hefting his sign to the side, and taking Harry's and doing the same. "We'll let them know that it just got taken up a notch."
"Okay. Bye, General Stevenson and Mr. Starchers," Harry said, then he ran to his friends.
"What's going on, Harry?" Hermione asked as Harry came running up to her. She was standing with Justin and Terry. They had been talking about what the military was doing there. Justin said that his dad said that they were going to take over the ministry today, but Terry said they were just there to guard the activist.
"We have to leave," Harry said, gathering all the kids around him, while Sirius did the same with the adults. "They are going to take the ministry," he said.
"Told you so," Justin said, glaring at Terry.
"How was I supposed to know," the other boy said, then he turned to Harry. "Why today?" he asked, hoping the boy hero had the answer.
"I'm not sure. I think they gave some upper ups a deadline," Harry said, scratching his nose in confusion.
"We just got here a few days ago," Hermione complained, wanting to do more for the cause.
"We can join the protest in Diagon Alley," Terry suggested, his eyes glittering with excitement. "We don't have to give up just yet. Let's go ask the parents," he said, running to do just that.
Harry and the others followed behind. Sirius had already told the parents about the takeover. Terry asked his dad, and the adults talked it over and thought it was a good idea. That and they could spread the word that the military was taking over the ministry. Hopefully putting an end to the bigotry.
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"Well, it was fun while it lasted," Thomas said as he watched the two go and tell the others. He then stood and stretched from where he had crouched to talk to Harry. "I'll go speak to those that don't work here. I'll tell my coworkers to stick around," he said, moving towards the rapidly diminishing picket line.
The general sighed and waited for the noncombatants to leave. Once the atrium was clear, he spoke into his sleeve and said, "It's a go."
With those words, the company of muggleborn came pouring in the floos. They spread out throughout the lobby and secured the floos once they were all there. Then they made everyone go to their office. There were many complaints, but they were very firm in leading them to where they were supposed to be. They needed them there, so they knew who was who, and who was missing. This way they had an accounting and could tell the leaders who to go after when they were done. It also got those that didn't need to be there out of the building.
A few fights broke out, but they found out that being shot in the shoulder led to not being able to use a wand. The magicals also found that their shields were useless against bullets. After the first few were shot, they didn't put up much of a fight.
The protesters were told that they had won what they wanted and should return to their previous position and stay there for now. They did so and were anxiously waiting to see how this all played out. They were glad what they started bore fruit, and they were finally going to see equal rights for everyone.
The one hundred-fifty men and women flooded the ministry, floor by floor, office by office, and started sorting through the ministry workers. It was tedious but they continued to go from room to room asking the same questions and arresting, or firing, or congratulating, each person there. Most of the heads of the departments were arrested or fired.
At first, only three questions were asked, if you answered those well enough you were let alone. If you answered them incorrectly, then you were asked more intense questions. These were designed to weed out the criminals from the bigots.
The commanding officers were doing the brunt of the work. They were doing all the interviews. The soldiers were mostly doing guard duty and taking those arrested to the cells down below. They were rapidly filling up and they would need to expand them soon.
The Auror department was the first one to be gone through. It was the most important, and they needed the cooperation of the DMLE to pull off the coup. There were six arrested and seven fired. It hurt the numbers, but in the end the soldiers made up for the losses.
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"What department is this?" one major asked Arthur Weasley. It was a small dingy office, with three desks and six chairs. The rest of the office was cluttered with filing cabinets and a water dispenser that was half empty and had a few chipped mugs for the water. There was a corkboard on the wall, but it looked like it got little use. The parchments that adorned the board were old and tattered.
"Well, we're part of the DMLE, but this is the Misuse of Muggle Artefacts Office," Mr. Weasley answered, fiddling with a paperclip. He was unsure if these new people would find his office useful or not. He had no clue how the muggleborn saw the relations with the muggle world. He knew from speaking with Hermione that she saw the wizarding world as backwards, and in some places, barbaric. Would the new government feel the same way?
"What do you do?" the major asked, knowing the answer, but needing to hear it from the man behind the desk. He was looking around the tiny office and thinking that such an office should be bigger and more manned. It was an important office that needed to be held in top priority. If those artifacts were in the muggle world the whole Statute of Secrecies would be exposed, and that would be fatal to the wizarding world.
"We keep charmed muggle artifacts out of muggle hands," Arthur said succinctly. He then went into a greater description, making sure to mention the raids they did on pureblood homes to confiscate those artifacts before they made it to the muggle world.
"I see," the major said, fixing his tie. That was quite the basic definition of what they did. He knew the man was downplaying his role in how important it was. "How many people do you have working under you?" he asked, looking at the three desks in the cramped office. There was only Mr. Weasley in here right now. His coworkers had been taken to be questioned elsewhere.
"Just the three of us right now," Arthur stated, knowing that they were severely undermanned. "I keep requesting more, but they said, that I had too many as it was," he explained, still fiddling with the paperclip. They really didn't use paperclips, but he kept them on his desk to play with when he was bored. He had seen them in offices of muggles and noted those office workers playing with them and it looked like good fun.
"I see," the other man said, jotting that down. "I need you to pull up your sleeves," he said, waiting for Arthur to do just that. He waved his wand over the exposed skin of both arms and noted there was no Dark Mark. They didn't think it could be hidden, but they weren't taking any chances. Everyone was getting the same treatment.
"I want you to take a few drops of Veritaserum," another commanding officer said, holding out the vial that contained the truth serum. "I will ask three questions, and if you answer them to our satisfaction, you will be given the antidote," he said, again they were doing it to everyone.
"I'm a pureblood," Arthur protested, it wasn't often he used that excuse, but he didn't want to take the serum. He was a member of an illegal vigilante group. If they found out what the Order had been doing here in the ministry, they could get into a lot of trouble. Not that what they were doing was illegal per se, but it wasn't on the up and up.
"You don't have a choice if you want to keep your job," the second man said, still holding out the vial. He had heard this excuse from many that day, and he was tired of repeating the same answer. While most, like Mr. Weasley appeared to be doing, gave in, a few quit right away. They were taken in for questioning. Obviously they had something to hide.
Arthur sighed and stuck out his tongue. He just hoped they spoke the truth and only asked the three questions. He knew he'd be in trouble if they asked about Albus. He was still flabbergasted that Amelia had arrested the great man. Then again, she did have a point, and he had put his family and the rest of the kids in danger by bringing that stone to the school. He was still miffed about that.
They placed three drops on the tip and waited for the reaction. Arthur's eyes glossed over, and he relaxed. They nodded to each other and the first one asked the three questions.
"Are you a follower of the man known as Voldemort?"
"No."
"Do you believe that purebloods are superior?"
"No."
"Are you willing to work with everyone, no matter their blood status?"
"Yes," Arthur said, and with that answer he was given the antidote. He was shocked at the questions. "That's all?" he asked, not sure how he got so lucky. "What if I had gotten one wrong?" he inquired, sure that he had given all the answers they wanted.
"We would have questioned you further," the major said, holding up a hand to stop the protest. "We would have told you first."
"What about the third question?" Arthur said, a bit confused about it.
"As long as you are willing to work with people, we don't care what your beliefs are," the man said, capping the two vials and putting them in his pocket.
"Then why ask the second question?" Arthur wanted to know. It just didn't make sense to him.
"So we can keep an eye on those that are bigots. They might get antsy," the major answered. He jotted a few more things down and then got up to leave the office. "They may be okay with it now, but that might change in the future," he added, knowing people were fickle.
The two men left to go to the next office and Arthur was left with his thoughts. Amelia came in and saw him staring off into space. "What happened?" she questioned, taking a seat in one of the few chairs.
"Some of those soldiers came in and questioned me," Arthur said, looking at her with a confused expression. "They only asked three, and the second one didn't really count," he explained his confusion.
"Ah, the superiority question," she said, nodding her head in a knowing manner. "I know this is going to be a hard potion to swallow, but your son Percy answered in the positive with that question, and I'm sure if your youngest son was asked, he too would answer the same," Amelia said, knowing it was true from the talks she had with Harry. That didn't mean the boy was bad, he was just spouting things he heard adults say. Percy had only been questioned because he was here under a summer internship. He was leaning hard in joining the ministry, though how that worked out now that it was under a new regime? Who knew.
"Ron would never," Arthur said in an affronted manner. He knew Percy was a bit stuck up, and he had no idea where he got his superiority complex, but Ron was one of the kindest of his children. Sure, he had a bit of a jealousy streak, but that was against the rich, not the muggleborn and half-blood, right? Then again, being biased against the rich was just as bad as against anyone else.
"According to some of the kids I talk to, yes, he would. You might want to talk to him," Bones said, kindly. "Back to the question, now that doesn't mean that they can't or won't work with muggleborn or half-bloods. But what if they get passed over for a promotion. And the other person was muggleborn, or even a half-blood? Now they are resentful, and think they deserved that promotion because they were born a pureblood. That leads to resentfulness, which can lead to violence. Now, I'm not saying your boys are prone to violence, but can you see where I am going with this?" she asked, tapping her finger on the desk to emphasize her point.
"I guess," the very pacifistic man said, he did not condone violence, and thought he raised his children the same. However, he knew that every person was different, and everyone had the potential to hate. Ron was a good kid though, and he didn't see Percy as a violent type either. He'd have to sit Ron down and discuss what was bothering him that others saw him as a bias person.
"That is why they ask the second question," she said, then rose and straightened her shirt. "I have to call the Wizengamot. I only came to check on you as you are one of the few department heads that hasn't been booted or arrested," Amelia said with a great deal of pride and kindness. She always liked Arthur; he was one of the kindest men that worked here. Plus, he worked hard at a job that most looked down on. No matter how much shite he got from the upper ups, he still did his job and did it well.
That made Arthur swell with pride for a moment. Then he realized the implications of what she said. That meant that most of his coworkers were gone and he was going to have to make friends with all new people. He truly hoped they didn't look down on his department like the last bunch did. "Thanks, I think," he said, fiddling with his paperclip.
"Congratulations for being a decent human being," Amelia said with sincerity. She then smiled at him again and left the room.
She hadn't lied, she needed to call the Wizengamot to the ministry. The new government was waiting to dismantle what they had and make it something new. She was glad of it but frustrated at the same time. She had a block of cells that were full to the gills with people waiting for trials, and she needed some of them tried soon. She could only hold them for thirty days. It would take that long to get this entire mess straightened out.
She went to Jackie, and was very thankful that woman was back, and gave the request to alert the members to an emergency meeting in one hour.
"Sure thing, Amelia," Jackie said, glad to be back at her desk. While what they had done was important, the missed pay had hurt her pocketbook a lot. She had gone through a large chunk of her savings to stay at the protest. She was now back to work and getting paid.
"Also, can you bring me some coffee. I've not had a decent cup since you left," the boss woman said as she made her way to her office. She had a ton of paperwork to get through and she needed the caffeine to keep her awake.
"Sure thing, boss," Jackie said, going to the coffee machine. It was run on magic, but you had to twist your wand in just the right direction to get the coffee to come out the way Amelia liked it. Which was strong enough to put 'hair on your chest', according to her boss. Jackie made sure that that pot was set aside so others could make coffee the normal way. The longer Amelia's coffee sat the more bitter it became, and the more the boss lady liked it.
Having finished and delivered the coffee, Jackie set out to alerting the Wizengamot members. There was a floo signal that would get most of them, and there were a few that had jobs in the ministry. So she went to the floo and sent out the message that way. Then sent out the paper airplanes to the others. There were a few that would not be getting that message, and they were all sitting in cells right now.
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Harry and Sirius were sitting at the ice cream parlor eating some delicious concoctions. Harry never had ice cream that had miniature jumping frogs on it. They were leaving tracks all over his dish. "Who are we waiting for?" Harry asked, catching a frog with two magically enlarged toothpicks held like chopsticks. He plopped it in his mouth and smiled. It was fun to do this and not have to worry about anyone to tell him to mind his manners.
"Remus," Sirius said, eating his more elaborate sundae. It had all the bells and whistles, literally. They were all edible, but they were noisy as well. It was good that they were small and only gave off small musical notes.
"I thought you were mad at him," Harry said, still catching his frogs and plopping them in his mouth. He was running out of frogs though and his ice cream was melting. He was going to have to eat it soon.
"Oh, I am, but I'll give him a chance to redeem himself," Sirius said, biting into a chocolate bell, making it stop ringing.
"Oh, does that mean I should too?" Harry asked, not sure what to think about the man who was his parents' friend. He had only met him for a moment, and he didn't seem like a bad bloke.
"That is entirely up to you," his godfather said. "He's been my friend for a very long time. You, on the other hand, don't know him. You do what you think is best for you," he added, then snatched one of Harry's frogs, and gave him a whistle.
"Hey," Harry said, stealing one of Sirius' bells too. "I'm almost out," he complained.
"Hello, Sirius," Remus said, sitting at the table with a Death By Chocolate sundae. It was every type of chocolate that the store had shoved into a bowl.
"I see your taste hasn't changed either," Sirius said, mildly chastising, reminding him that he felt that there were some things that the man should have changed by now.
"No, I guess not. Why are we meeting here? Aren't you still protesting?" Remus asked, taking a large bite of his sundae.
"The protest at the ministry is over," Harry said, then pointed to the picket line in the middle of Diagon Alley, which was now swelled with the children and their parents. "We're taking a break and then joining them," he added, a sense of pride in his tone.
"Why are you so interested in this cause, Harry?" Remus wanted to know. He was one of the minorities after all. What with being a werewolf.
"Because everyone should be equal under the eyes of the law," the boy said for the umpteenth time. He was getting tired of everyone asking him that question.
"How do you feel about werewolves?" Sirius asked, making Remus glare at him.
"I don't really know enough about them to make a good argument, but I think they got a raw deal," Harry said, rubbing his nose in thought. "I mean it's not like they asked to get bitten," he added, looking at his godfather with wide eyes of innocence.
"That is very true," the man said, smirking at Remus with a 'see, I told you' look.
"There are some that did ask," Remus rebutted, wanting to make sure the boy had the whole truth.
"Well, that doesn't mean all the werewolves should be punished. That's like punishing all kids because of the bullies," Harry said, hating it when the teachers did that. "That's why I don't like the house point system. If one person messes up, the whole house gets punished. That's not right," he added, folding his arms remembering his first year and how he was shunned because he was caught out after curfew. He could have handled the detention, but the shunning was just cruel.
"I concur," Sirius said, nodding in the boy's direction. He never liked it either. Much for the same reasons. Well, he shouldn't say never, in school they did it on purpose. No matter how hard someone worked, it all got screwed up because of what he and his friends did. They were bullies in school and his whole house paid for it. He knew that now; it was good fun then. He had years of contemplation to see that. It was sad that it took Azkaban to make him grow up. He wondered what it would take for Remus to do so.
"Are you going to join us, Mr. Lupin?" Harry asked as he finished off his ice cream. It was good. A cross between peanut butter and hazelnut. The chocolate frogs hidden inside were a bonus.
"I don't want to hurt the cause," he said, then looked away ashamed.
"How would you do that?" the preteen asked, looking at the man like he was strange.
"I'm a werewolf," Lupin whispered barely loud enough to be heard.
"So? That might be helpful," Harry said, like it was a given. "One minority helping another." To him it made sense.
"See, Moony, you might be helping. Besides, no one said you had to advertise what you were. Just pick up a sign and start shouting," Sirius said, finishing off his treat. He was scraping the last of the ice cream out of the bowl when Remus nodded his head.
"Sure, why not," he said, conjuring a sign that was a lot calmer that Sirius'. His read 'Equal Rights for Everyone'. He wolfed down the last of his ice cream and got a small freeze brain for his trouble. He picked up the sign and joined Harry and Sirius.
"That's the man I remember," Sirius said, clasping him on the shoulder and leading the way to the picket line. Things were going to work out just fine between them.