I do not own Harry Potter... Unfortunately.
xaviorismy1andonly3512: Thank you so much! I'm so glad you're enjoying it!
CrystalKaouri: Lol, he'd probably deserve it. Yeah, while Umbridge is the most hated character in the series, I feel like Fudge does not get enough hate from the fandom. James will have to be very careful if he wants to keep his job, won't he? As for Umbridge, guess you'll have to find out :) Sorry for the long wait; I hope these two long chapters make up for it
Lily Potter was reading the newspaper while magically washing dishes. Honestly, the Daily Prophet wasn't worth much more than fire fuel these days, but it was better to keep up with the times. She was the only one who really did. James dealt with enough of the ministry's crap at work without reading the papers; Harry got the papers but had never mentioned their disreputable content, so he probably didn't read it cover to cover; and if Lily had a habit of throwing things when she was alone and finished with the paper... well, who could blame her?
Fudge's position at the end of the tournament (the end of which all three Potters still had nightmares about) had not changed over the summer. To be fair, Voldemort was lying low, more or less. At least, he wasn't doing anything that would make the papers in a way that couldn't be explained away. It was still stupid. James had told her that he was sure if he it wasn't for his status as a war hero and a miraculous survivor of Voldemort, he would have been fired by now. As it was, he still might have quit by now if Dumbledore didn't need as many people at the ministry as he could get. This currently included James, Arthur, Tonks, and Kingsley.
The light around her seemed to dim. Lily glanced outside as she put the last few dishes away. It was getting dark out, rapidly. It wasn't unheard of for it to get this dark by seven thirty... but it was the middle of summer. She had a bad feeling. She wished she had a clock like Molly's, as Harry had been spending more and more time out of the house after the events of June. Lily worried about him, but according to Dumbledore, the blood magic that had protected Harry at Petunia's house and transferred to herself when they had taken custody of Harry were still intact. Voldemort and the Death Eaters could not get him here, even if he did wander a little.
Still, she did wish he'd stay closer.
Harry was frustrated, and Lily could not blame him. His parents were in the order, and they couldn't tell him anything that was happening because he wasn't. And that was not because he couldn't take care of himself; if anything, Lily rather wished he didn't have to take care of himself so much. But the order did not accept members that were underage, and all information at meetings were classified. It didn't help that Ron, Hermione, and Sirius were at headquarters. No information could be passed through a letter for fear of being intercepted, so there really wasn't much to say, even though she knew they tried. It was an all-around bad situation.
Despite all these logical and necessary reasons, Lily still felt guilty for all the things they were keeping from her son. She was pretty sure that there were some things they could tell him. He was, after all, more involved in this than most. But Dumbledore thought there was no need to tell Harry more than he needed to know, and James backed him up. As protective as Lily was, James was more so.
Besides that, there was, Lily winced at the thought, the prophesy. She could not decide if it was a good idea to tell Harry about it or not. James didn't, but Lily wasn't so sure. The last thing she wanted to do was to place more burden on her son's shoulders. She also wanted him to have a choice; she knew the prophesy didn't actually dictate what would happen and Harry did not have to defeat Voldemort, but she wasn't sure if Harry would understand that. However, she couldn't help but feel that the prophesy had to come out sometime, and the longer they waited, the more betrayed Harry would feel that they kept this from him.
Ok, so maybe it was a selfish reason to tell him. But didn't he deserve to know? Lily didn't know what to do.
It was at that moment in her musings, that the front door opened, and Harry entered.
Lily knew immediately that something was wrong. "James, get in here!" she called, as she hurried to her son. "Are you alright?" she demanded, catching sight of his wand still gripped in his hand. "What happened?"
"Dementors," Harry muttered, as they entered the living room. Lily examined him. He looked tired and pale, but otherwise unhurt. She silently thanked Remus for teaching him the Patronus Charm, as James came into the room.
"What's going on?" he asked, also examining Harry. He sat down on the couch, Lily sat across from him in the armchair. James remained standing.
"It was dementors," Harry repeated, meeting his parents worried gaze. "There were two of them. They…"
He was interrupted by a screech owl who swooped into the room, dropped a letter at his feet, and then zooming off again. Harry ripped open the letter and read it. Lily watched as what little color remained in his face left it. She exchanged a look with James. There was only one way for Harry to have chased off two dementors, and the ministry was just looking for a reason to get at Harry these days.
Harry read the letter again, then handed it to James with shaking hands, refusing to meet their eyes. Lily watched James' face darken with fury as he took in the letter. He handed it to Lily quickly and started pacing the room, looking like he was only just refraining himself from breaking something.
Lily knew what the letter must contain. Harry must be expelled; nothing else could provoke this reaction. It only made it marginally easier. She fixated on "Ministry representatives will be calling at your place of residence shortly to destroy your wand." The parchment crumpled in her clenched fists. Destroy his wand? The wand that had saved his life only last a couple months before?
"Harry," James said. Lily looked up, recognizing the determination (stubbornness) in his tone. "It will be alright. We…"
He was interrupted by another owl colliding with the closed window with a loud crack. It was Errol. Harry crossed the room at a run and unfurled the note he took from the owl. He looked up at his parents, and Lily couldn't read the look in his eyes. Was it hope? Despair? "It was Mr. Weasley," he said, unnecessarily, "He says Dumbledore's trying to sort it out. He says not to surrender my wand or leave the house."
"Well, that settles it then," James said, still looking rattled, "Dumbledore will figure it out."
"But," said Harry, "If they come to get my wand…"
"We'll stop them," James dismissed this.
Far from reassuring Harry, Lily saw something like panic pass across his face. "You'll go to Azkaban if you duel…"
"It won't come to that," she said, hurriedly. "They might not even come here, and if they do, we can keep them from taking your wand peacefully."
Harry didn't look convinced, but let it go.
"What exactly happened, Harry?" Lily asked, "Start at the beginning."
Harry took a deep breath. "I went for a walk, as you know. I just wandered, and eventually it went all dark. I recognized the feeling. I used Lumos and saw that there were two of them." He swallowed. "It took a couple of tries, but I sent my Patronus at them, and they left. Then Mrs. Figg showed up." Arabella had moved from Privet Drive when Harry did and had taken up residence not far from the Potter's. Harry knew she was a squib. "She walked me home." His voice suddenly sharpened. "She said Dumbledore was having me followed."
James and Lily glanced at each other. "Followed is the wrong term," James said, looking back at Harry. "One of the Order is stationed here to keep an eye on things in case we need back up. All three of us are kind of high on Voldemort's hit list."
"Right," said Harry, grumpily.
"Who was supposed to be there tonight?" Lily demanded, feeling rather angry. If whoever it was had been there, they could have gotten rid of the dementors, and they wouldn't be in this mess.
"Mundungus Fletcher," was the answer.
She should have known. Before she could imagine exactly what retribution she would visit upon the sneak thief when she saw him next, when a third owl arrived. It dropped an official looking letter and flew out again. Harry grabbed it and ripped it open before the owl had left the room.
"Well?" James asked. "What does it say?"
"They say I've got to go to a hearing on the 12 of August. They'll decide whether to expel me and destroy my wand then. Until then I can keep it."
Lily let out a sigh of relief.
"Well, that settles that then," James said, with slightly forced cheerfulness. "You haven't actually broken any laws. Wizards are allowed to use magic outside of school in life threatening situations. So, the hearing will find you innocent."
Harry did not seem to find that convincing. Lily couldn't blame him. The ministry wasn't exactly her son's biggest fan at the moment.
"There's nothing we can do about it now, so there's no point…" she was interrupted by yet another owl she recognized as Sirius'.
Harry read it and turn it over to see if there was anything on the back. He looked up, and Lily caught disappointment and frustration in his eyes. She decided to head off that line of thought quickly.
"These things are better discussed in person," she tried to explain. Harry nodded, but Lily had the sinking feeling that the explosion was just delayed, not prevented. Her son had been on the tipping point of losing his temper most of the summer, and she was sure that it was bound to happen sooner rather than later. Both she and James had their own versions of ferocious tempers; Harry had inherited James ability to keep things bottled inside where things were just made worse, as well as her own red-hot temper which usually ended at least with shouts, if not shattered objects. It made for an explosive combination.
"Well, it can't be a coincidence that two dementors turned up here," said James, as if continuing a conversation. "We're the only wizarding residents for miles."
"You think Voldemort sent them?" Harry asked, eager for any information.
"Might be," said James, vaguely, as he considered.
"Who else would it be?" Lily almost snapped. As bad as it was that the most powerful dark wizard of our time was gunning for her son, they knew that already. It would be worse if there were more people who wanted him dead. People they didn't know.
Lily could tell by the look in her husband's eyes that he wasn't convinced, but he didn't want to continue the conversation in front of Harry. Harry, who had just fought off two dementors with a spell not taught until seventh year, who had been through more in fifteen years than most wizards in a lifetime, who had more reason than most to know what was going on but didn't deserve to have the burden that was already on his shoulders.
"I think we all need to go to bed," she said, slowly. "We'll figure out what we're going to do, tomorrow."