Chapter 15: Backlash

Amelia Bones marched into the Minister's office once again, startling Fudge who was looking over some documents, "A…Amelia…what can I do for you?" he stammered.

"Cornelius…I have some just received some news." Amelia said glaring down at him, "It appears a certain someone has been trying to potion Heir Potter and one of his friends."

"What? Who? Is it Black?" Cornelius asked.

Amelia looked at Cornelius with a shocked expression, "Cornelius need I remind you Lord Black is bonded to Heir Potter by Godfather ritual…he can not purposely cause Harry harm without forfeiting his own life. So no it is not Lord Black. However, Albus Dumbledore seems inclined to MAKE Harry Potter do what he think is best by potioning him."

"Amelia…you can't walk in here and accuse Albus Dumbledore of potioning Harry without evidence." Fudge groaned.

"I have evidence and the testimony from his potioneer." Amelia said firmly.

Fudge looked at her wide eyed, "Bloody hell we can't have this go public right now Amelia. Not with the Tri-Wizard Tournament underway…We are being watched by everyone!"

Amelia's kept her composure even though she'd like nothing more that to shake sense into this old fool, "If we don't do something Lord Black will retaliate and it won't just be against Albus! Do you really want the money and power of the Black family turned against you?"

Fudge paled at the thought, "We must contain this. Postpone any sort of arrest until after the tournament. Feel free to proceed in your investigation but please do not make any formal announcement until after the tournament ends, if the public hears of this there will be riots."

"Fine but if anything happens to Harry Potter I will see to it the public knows you were the one who stopped me." She warned then turned and stormed out leaving Fudge to ruminate of that.

~ ~ ~

Back at Hogwarts, Albus Dumbledore was working on some of the tournament's finer details. He worked quietly when suddenly the Weasley's owl, Errol, crashed onto the desk Albus jumped and his eyes widened when he saw the red letter attached to the owls leg. Before he could grab it the letter jumped into the air and began shouting in Arthur Weasley's voice:

"HOW DARE YOU!" the letter shouted, "HOW DARE YOU USE MY FAMILY FOR YOUR SCHEMES! YOU LEAVE MY CHILDREN AND THEIR MOTHER OUT OF WHAT EVER PLANS YOU'RE COOKING UP. AND KNOW THIS I HAVE ALREADY TOLD SIRIUS EVERYTHING! YOU BETTER WATCH YOUR BACK ALBUS. THE WEASLEY FAMILY IS DONE WITH YOU!"

After that the letter burst into flames right before the old man's eyes leaving Albus stunned, "Arthur found out…Molly must have been caught but who tipped him off…Sirius?" the old man stood and began pacing, "Perhaps I can convince Severus?" he mumbled, "No, Severus would never agree to potion Lily's son…perhaps Slughorn…he is hard to get in touch with these days though." He ponders even more.

What Albus didn't know was while he was busy thinking about all this out loud his rambling were being broadcasted to Severus' office by a eavesdropping charm he created himself. It had be place on one of Dumbledore's numerous trinkets, "So he is going to try to get Slughorn to make them." Severus said as he sat in his office listening to the old man ramble. He then grabbed a piece of parchment and started writing a letter to Sirius.

The next day Sirius came down and was passed a letter from Severus by Narcissa, "He's marked this as important." Narcissa said smiling.

Sirius took the letter and opened it, "Hmmm." He said as he perused Severus' letter. "It seems Dumbledore is planning to have our old Professor Slughorn try an brew him potions now that he's lost Molly."

"Old Slughorn huh?" Narcissa said with a smirk, "What do we do?"

"You were always one of Slughorn's favorites right?" Sirius asked her.

Narcissa smiled, "Indeed, after Lily of course."

"Good, get to him first." Sirius said, "Advise him what will happen if he chooses to side with Dumbledore. Be sure to put it delicately."

"Of course." She said with a sweet smiled, "I'll take care of it."

"Excellent," Sirius smiled, "I'll write to Harry to let him know what's going on."

That night Harry read over a letter from Sirius and smirked, "Sorry Dumbledore but I won't be joining the Slugclub this time around." He said as he tossed the letter into the fire. He then sat back onto the sofa in the Gryffindor common room and resumed working on his homework. They had barely been back three days and already he had piles of homework. However with his new desire to learn homework came fairly easily, so did his classes. His first day was spent battling Hermione to answer questions in class, between the two of them Gryffindor jumped into the lead for house points by the end of the day they were thirty points ahead of Ravenclaw who had gotten a head start thanks to Luna.

"Blimey Harry when did you become so studious?" Dean Thomas had asked him when they left Charms after Harry earned ten points. Harry joked that he just got tired of being in the bottom of the class rankings. This explanation seemed to satisfy most inquirers however one particular person was furious.

Ron was growing exceedingly more annoyed by the day. He watched Harry with a glare everywhere he went. He had sent a letter to his mother but had yet to receive a response from her in regards to the potions to get Harry back as his best friend. 'He has to give up this stupid bookish side he's developed and come back to Divinations with me.' He thought to himself. He needed the potions, one to get Harry interested in Ginny so he can get Hermione away from him. He was sure Hermione was the root cause of Harry's sudden interest in books and studying, that had to stop. The loyalty potion would make Harry want to hang out with him again instead of Draco then things could go back to normal.

"What the hell is taking mum so long?!" he grumbled as he sat at the Gryffindor table watching Harry at the very end of the table laughing with Hermione, Ginny, Draco, Luna and Neville. 'I should be the only one hanging out with Harry.' He thought, 'I have been with him for three years. I've put up with so much this last three years, that dog of Hagrid's, those damn spiders, and then his godfather nearly bit off my leg.'

As Ron grumbled about this, owls began flooding in with the morning mail. He sat there continuing his grumbles when something crash landed right in front of him. He was startled and jumped then realized it was his family owl Errol. He smiled, "Finally." He said as he pulled the letter from Errol's leg and tore it open only to find it wasn't a letter from his mother:

Ronald Bilius Weasley!

I can't believe you have been complicit in potioning your classmates! Your sister and mother told me everything and I am very disappointed in you! I wanted to send a Howler but unlike your mother I'd rather not embarrass you in front of your classmates in the Great Hall, but when you come home for Christmas you will be getting an earful and proper punishment. Fortunately for us yours and your mother's schemes never got very far so Lord Black has forgiven us. Your mother is currently on house arrest and probation by the DMLE so there will be no more potions. You will put this foolishness out of your mind and focus on schoolwork. I have sent word to Fred and George and they will be keeping close tabs on you from now on. If you step one toe out of line I will pull you from Hogwarts and send you to the Ministry's Auror Training Institute. Do I make myself clear? I better not hear a single thing about you causing any trouble.

Arthur Weasley

Ron stared down at the letter shaking with rage, 'Ginny told dad? How did she even find out? And now mum is on house arrest? How are we gonna fix things if mom can't make any potions?!' He then glanced down to Harry's group only to find Harry looking right at him with a smirk on his face. 'He knew…he did this! DAMN YOU POTTER!' he crumpled the letter and stood stomping out of the Great Hall.

"What going on with Ron?" Neville asked from his spot beside Luna as they all turned to watch him storm out.

"I'm certain he just learned that he wouldn't be able to pull off anymore sneaky plans." Harry replied.

"Yea it was probably dad." Ginny said, "He wrote me and the twins telling us to watch him like a hawk from now on and to let him know if Ron pulls something."

"Well then we'll leave your brother to you, Fred, and George." Hermione said with a smile.

"We'll handle him don't worry." Ginny said with a smile.

~ ~ ~

Over the next two months every time the gang saw Ron he was accompanied by the twins. Fred and George would wait outside their younger brother's classroom after every class and followed him everywhere. This irritated Ron to the point where he blew up at them in the middle of the Entrance Hall while they escorted him to Potions class. The youngest male Weasley shouted absurdities at them about them getting in his way and stopping him from helping their family. Fred and George eventually had to drag him back upstairs before their younger brother said anything that could incriminate himself or their mother in front of their housemates.

"Merlin, Ron's really lost it." Harry said as they watched from the entrance to the Dungeons.

"Harry, has he tried anything in the dorms?" Draco asked.

"No, fortunately George switched dorm rooms with me with McGonagall's approval. My bed is next to Fred's and McGonagall's put up some protections around it so no one can mess with me while I'm sleeping." Harry explained as they started down.

"I heard McGonagall is pissed." Draco said as they entered the dungeons.

"From what I heard from some sixth years she nearly blew up Dumbledore's office while yelling at him after Sirius sent her a letter requesting she move me out of the same room as Ron and explained why." Harry said.

"Bloody hell I bet that was a sight." Draco said as they entered the dungeon.

Harry sat down with Draco at his right and Hermione at his left. Crabbe and Goyle sat beside Draco while Neville took the spot by Hermione. Harry noticed the rest of the Slytherins were giving Draco dirty looks.

"Seems you're not popular right now." Hermione whispered.

"Yea, Pansy has turned the whole house against me except Vin and Greg." Draco said.

Harry gave Draco an odd look, "Look at you getting so chummy your calling people by their first names." He teased.

"Shut up Potter." Draco said rolling his eyes as Harry and Hermione chuckled a bit.

"He's far nicer now that his father is not drugging him." Greg said.

"Speaking of dads how are your mums handling your fathers' arrest?" Harry asked them.

"Well my mum couldn't be happier." Vin said, "Her marriage was arranged and she wasn't happy about it. Now that he's locked up she's getting a divorce finalized. Greg's mum…not so much"

Greg sighed, "She was livid after dad got caught at the World Cup she went bonkers. I had to stay with Vin for the rest of the summer."

"Oh dear," Hermione said, "Sorry you have to deal with that."

"I've known who my parents were from the get go." Greg said, "Vin and I had been planning on running away before our dads got locked up. Fortunately after our dads got caught Vin's mum welcomed me with open arms. I helped them move out of the Crabbe Manor and everything."

"You're always welcome with me and mum." Vin took Greg's hand and gave it a squeeze causing Greg to blush a bit.

Harry and Hermione saw this and their eyes widened a little, Harry then leaned over to Draco and whispered, "Did you know about that?" he said moving his eyes the two boys hands.

"No, and it was right under my nose the whole time. They're more affectionate than Sirius and Snape." Draco whispered back.

"Wow…I wasn't the only one messed up on potions." Harry said as Snape entered and began giving them an in-depth lecture on the Shrinking potion.

Up Next: Again Harry is chosen as a Champion but unlike his last life Harry choses to cause a massive scene in front of everyone.