Chapter 34

Amelia Bones was beside herself. She'd been overhauling the Auror force and the general security of wizarding Britain since Harry's takeover, and with even just the increased funding she'd accomplished things that would never have been possible during previous administrations. Combine that with the increased freedom and autonomy, and law enforcement in the magical community had never been better, even before the Ministry started succumbing to corruption so many years ago.

Despite that, a juvenile and the Emperor of their nation had been attacked in broad daylight in the center of their busiest community. What's worse is that she had assigned several aurors to patrol the alley, and all had been found dead in Nocturne. Just as she had thought things couldn't be worse, she received a message from Harry himself, asking to meet her in her office at noon. It was five minutes to Twelve and she was steeling herself for what she'd been told would be the most righteous bollocking of her career.

"Madame Bones?" A voice from her door asked. She looked up and saw the pale, nervous face of her assistant. She didn't like that. Her assistant was always very cheery and confident and now she seemed to be on the verge of crying. Amelia sighed, resigned to her fate.

"Yes, Mary?" Amelia asked.

"Emperor Potter-Victoria here to see you." She said, her voice breaking. Amelia nodded.

"Please show him in." Amelia said. She nodded and left, returning moments later with a stone-faced Harry. Amelia stood and fidgeted, not knowing how to address him.

"Madame Bones, thank you for seeing me." Harry said, offering his hand. She shook it nervously.

"Emperor Potter-Victoria, it's a pleasure to see you. Can I offer you anything?" Amelia asked.

"Tea would be wonderful." Harry said. Amelia nodded and ordered some tea from her house elf.

"Is your son ok?" Amelia asked. Harry nodded

"I think I came out of that worse than he did. I can surmise from Susan's adventures you know that feeling well." Harry said with a slight grin. Amelia smiled.

"I seem to remember you were the center of many of those adventures." Amelia said. Harry laughed at that.

"Well to my credit, I never asked her to come along, she insisted." Harry said. Amelia nodded. She was aware of her niece's drive to fight for what she thought was right. Her unrequited crush on the young man sitting in front of Amelia had quite a bit to do with it as well. Amelia sighed.

"I believe I know why you've asked to see me." Amelia said. Harry nodded.

"I assume you have been made aware of the details of what happened in the alley?" Harry asked. Amelia nodded.

"Yes, sir. I am still waiting for the aurors I assigned to that patrol to check in." Amelia said.

"None of that, Madame Bones. Call me Harry, please. You earned your position a long time before I had my little hissy fit." Harry said with a grin.

"Then call em Amelia." She said with a smile. Harry nodded, then his expression fell.

"Well I suppose I should rip off the band-aid and get this done." Harry said. Amelia's heart clenched and she steeled herself, mentally thinking on how best she could go about packing up her office.

"Amelia, I am deeply sorry..." Harry said. Amelia nodded, but couldn't meet his eyes.

"Your aurors were good people, and they died in defense of the innocent. They are heroes, and they will always be remembered. You have my sincerest condolences. I need to know who their next of kin are, I'd like to visit them in person and thank them for their sacrifice." Harry said solemnly.

"Wait... what?" Amelia asked. Harry looked at her oddly.

"The aurors. I want to meet with their families, I want them to know that their sacrifice would not be forgotten. Are you alright?" Harry said.

"I- I'm sorry. I was not expecting that." Amelia said.

"Why did you think I was here?" Harry asked, looking extremely confused.

"Truthfully, I was expecting to be fired." Amelia admitted. Harry's eyes widened. He paused for a few moments before speaking

"Do you feel that you have not been performing to the best of your abilities?" Harry asked.

"Well, no but-" Amelia said, Harry interrupted her.

"Did you order those aurors to stand down?" Harry asked.

"No, but the thing-" Amelia said, but he interrupted her again.

"Did you meet with Millennium before the attack and make a deal to let the vampire into Diagon Alley?" Harry asked.

"God, no!" Amelia insisted.

"Of course you didn't. You've never show anything but dedication and competence in performing your duties. If I'd doubted your abilities I'd have never left this department in your hands, Amelia. I'm sorry, I should have been more forthcoming about my purpose here. I'm only here to offer my condolences, find out how to contact their families and inform you that I'd like their pay to continue going to their families for another twenty years. If it's not in the budget I'll pay it myself." Harry said. Amelia's eyes widened.

"Harry, that's very generous." Amelia said.

"It's a pittance compared to what they gave us." Harry said. Amelia nodded.

"I'll see to it, and we'll make room for it in the budget. We can't rely on you to pay for everything." Amelia said. Harry nodded. Their tea arrived and they discussed the current state of things. Harry was about to ask her to hire some vampires or werewolves into the force because of their increased durability in combat when she informed him that three vampires and a werewolf were close to graduating the academy.

"What has the ICW response to Millennium been?" Amelia asked.

"Frantic pleas for our help. They've grown complacent since the Grindlewald war, and when we successfully contained Voldemort to the UK they've felt no need to invest resources into defense. Even though we lost so many people both in the war and the battle of London, we still have far more combat veterans and resources ready for deployment." Harry said.

"What did you tell them." Amelia asked.

"I asked them to remember what they told us when we begged them to step in against Voldemort and the Ministry, then ask me again in a week. That was six days ago. Tomorrow should be interesting." Harry said.

"What was their response back then? Cornelius never told me." Amelia asked. Harry grinned.

"Their exact words were 'We deeply regret that we cannot at this time commit resources to conflicts that affect only one member nation." Harry said.

"But... The charter demands they step in and assist if any ICW country gets involved! They were breaking the law!" Amelia said.

"Britain was the most corrupt European magical nation, but not by much. Saving British muggleborns does not pad the pockets of French and German politicians." Harry observed with a scowl.

"Of course if you do the same you're violating the law too." Amelia warned. Harry grinned.

"No I'm not. We're no longer a member state of the ICW." Harry said.

"What?!" Amelia asked.

"The agreement the Ministry signed was invalidated when I overthrew the government. The ICW had two weeks to step in and force a renegotiation, and they failed to , so as a result we dropped out of the union. Technically speaking we are no longer bound by the statute of secrecy. I've implemented a domestic version, the details should be in the prophet this week." Harry said

"Any changes?" Amelia asked.

"Well for one a breach won't land you in a freezing castle full of soul sucking monsters. Each incident will be investigated and acted on fairly. Secondly there are more exceptions. For example, organizations like Hellsing and Father Anderson's orphanage are exempt, though each employee will need to sign a binding contract promising to keep the secret. Grandparents, grandchildren, nieces, nephews, aunts, uncles and cousins of magic users are allowed to be in on the secret. Also, classes will be mandatory for everyone that go over the secret, why it's important and how to deal with accidental breaches, and techniques for diverting attention away from the magical world. Nobody will pass first year without knowing notice-me-not charms." Harry said.

"You've really thought this through." Amelia observed. Harry shrugged.

"It's just common sense, something the magical world has lacked for entirely too long. That reminds me, would you be amenable to cross-training our Auror force with Hellsing and The Wild Geese? Hellsing specifically has far more experience dealing with rogue vampires than the aurors ever did." Harry asked.

"I have no objection, but I mean you're the Emperor here." Amelia said with a grin. Harry scowled.

"I expect you to push back if I'm making a bad call. I demand that you do it. Never be afraid to tell me if I'm being an idiot. I'm 24 years old, Amelia, I have no business running a country, I need all of the ministers to do their part. Besides, I've only got power for eight more months, we need to build a strong foundation for when we create the real government." Harry said. Amelia frowned.

"I'm sorry Harry, I didn't mean to upset you. I promise I'll make my opinion known." Amelia said.

"Thank you. I desperately need you all, I'm flying blind here, it's sheer luck that I haven't steered this country into chaos." Harry said. They spoke for another hour or so, Amelia gave Harry a preliminary plan on how to arrange the cross training, and Harry recommended Amelia promote some more of her better aurors to leadership positions, and work with smaller more specialized squads. Harry smiled and shook Amelia's hand before leaving her office.

"Good afternoon, Mary." Harry said.

"Good afternoon, Emperor." Mary said. Harry sighed.

"Please, Mary. My name is Harry." He said.

"Sorry! Good afternoon Harry!" She said nervously. Harry smiled.

"Thank you." Harry said before leaving. Amelia came out shortly after.

"Is everything ok? Did you get the sack?" Mary asked frantically. Amelia shook her head.

"All he wanted to do was express his regret at the loss of our aurors. We then spoke for a while about some policy ideas he and I had. I think I accomplished more of my goals in that one conversation than I did during Fudge's entire career." Amelia said smiling.

"I was terrified when he stormed in here with all of those people, I can't believe how he's turned things around like he has." Mary said. Amelia laughed.

"He told me he wanted all of his ministers to take more active roles in their departments because 'He's only got power for eight more months.'" Amelia said with a grin.

"Why is that funny?" Mary asked.

"Mary, if things keep going the way they have, if he keeps the promises he's made, and thus far there is no reason to believe he won't, do you really think people will vote for any other leader? Even the pureblood elite are coming around. I suspect in eight months our Emperor will be unwillingly re-elected." Amelia said.

"What if he refuses?" Mary said.

"If it is the will of the people, he won't." Amelia said confidently.