When they returned, Ron, Ginny, Fred, and George were finishing breakfast. They all wore expressions of jealousy that Hermione had been able to leave the house, even for just an hour. The absence of cleaning left everyone restless that morning, each struggling to find something to do with their free time.
Tonks did her best to entertain them, but their nervous energy was almost unbearable. Fred and George eventually disappeared to their room, Ron announced he was going to take a nap, Tonks and Ginny started a game of Exploding Snaps before Tonks had to head back to the Ministry, and Hermione joined Mrs Weasley in the kitchen to work on the Jammie Dodgers. She noticed Sirius was nowhere to be found.
As Hermione rolled out the dough, Mrs Weasley mixed new batches and started on lunch. They worked silently for a while, but Hermione couldn't shake what was on her mind. "Mrs Weasley," she began hesitantly, "would you help me write to my parents? I don't know what to say."
"I'm sure it will come to you," Mrs Weasley replied warmly, "but you can certainly run anything by me."
"I suppose inviting them here is out of the question," Hermione ventured.
Mrs Weasley's face softened with understanding. "I don't think that's wise for many reasons. But perhaps we can speak to the Order about accompanying you back to Lavenham for a visit before school starts?"
"No, that's alright," Hermione said quickly. "I was just wondering. But you're right – can you imagine them in this place?"
Mrs Weasley laughed. "Mrs Black would have a thing or two to say about that."
"Honestly, my parents visiting might finally convince Mrs Black to remove the Permanent Sticking Charm herself just to get away," Hermione joked.
"Well then, let me figure out how to get them here!" Mrs Weasley responded with a chuckle.
Just as they pulled the last batch of biscuits from the oven to cool before filling them with jam, Ron and Ginny returned to the kitchen. Hermione could tell they were just as anxious as she was.
"You're making Jammie Dodgers? Wicked!" Ron exclaimed, doing a silly little dance.
The joy of the Jammie Dodgers wore off quickly, however. Ron kept glancing at the large wall clock, his face contorting as he did the math in his head. Hermione knew he was calculating the time left until Harry's hearing ended.
Fred and George eventually came down, attempting unsuccessfully to sneak a few shortbread biscuits from the cooling rack. Just as Mrs Weasley shooed them away with her dishrag, they heard footsteps coming down the stairs. They all held their breath as Harry crossed the threshold with Mr Weasley and Sirius right behind him.
"Cleared," Harry said with a grin.
"I knew it!" yelled Ron, punching the air. "You always get away with stuff!"
"They were bound to clear you," Hermione added, though her hands were still shaking. "There was no case against you, none at all."
"Everyone seems quite relieved, though, considering you all knew I'd get off," Harry said, smiling.
Mrs Weasley was wiping her face on her apron, and Fred, George, and Ginny were doing a kind of war dance to a chant: "He got off, he got off, he got off…"
"That's enough! Settle down!" shouted Mr Weasley, though he too was smiling. "Listen, Sirius, Lucius Malfoy was at the Ministry-"
"What?" said Sirius sharply.
"He got off, he got off, he got off…"
"Be quiet, you three! Yes, we saw him talking to Fudge on Level Nine, then they went up to Fudge's office together. Dumbledore ought to know."
"Absolutely," said Sirius. "We'll tell him, don't worry."
"Well, I'd better get going. There's a vomiting toilet waiting for me in Bethnal Green. Molly, I'll be late. I'm covering for Tonks, but Kingsley might be dropping in for dinner-"
"He got off, he got off, he got off…"
"That's enough – Fred – George – Ginny!" said Mrs Weasley as Mr Weasley left the kitchen. "Harry, dear, come and sit down, have some lunch; you hardly ate breakfast."
Hermione and Ron sat themselves down opposite Harry, positively beaming. Hermione noticed Harry looked almost like himself for the first time since before the last Triwizard Task.
"Course, once Dumbledore turned up on your side, there was no way they were going to convict you," said Ron happily, now dishing great mounds of mashed potatoes onto everyone's plates.
"Yeah, he swung it for me," said Harry, then suddenly clapped his forehead with his hand.
"What's up?" said Hermione, her eyes wide with concern.
"Scar," Harry mumbled. "But it's nothing... it happens all the time now."
The happiness Hermione felt immediately ceased. Her mind raced with questions. What did it mean that Harry's scar was hurting again? Could things possibly get worse?
Before she could dwell on it, Ron interrupted her thoughts. "I bet Dumbledore turns up this evening to celebrate with us, you know."
"I don't think he'll be able to, Ron," said Mrs Weasley, setting a massive plate of roast chicken down in front of Harry. "He's really very busy at the moment."
"HE GOT OFF, HE GOT OFF, HE GOT OFF…"
"SHUT UP!" roared Mrs Weasley.
After lunch, Hermione, Ron, Harry, and Ginny escaped to the drawing room.
"Okay, spill it," Ron demanded eagerly.
"Tell us everything," Hermione urged.
"Don't leave a single thing out," Ginny added.
"Okay, okay, okay," Harry said, adjusting his glasses. "When we got to the Ministry—"
"Did you take the Floo Network or the Visitors' Entrance?" Ron interrupted.
"Visitors' Entrance," answered Harry. "So once we got inside—"
"What was that like? Where is it? We've never gone that way," Ron interrupted again.
"Bloody hell, Ron! Let Harry talk!" Hermione snapped, her anxiety spiking along with her voice. Everyone stared at her, slack-jawed.
"Blimey, Hermione," Ron said, wide-eyed.
"Sorry," Hermione mumbled. "I'm just a little on edge."
"A little?" Ron whistled.
"Ron, leave her alone!" Ginny said. "Don't make me hex you."
"Can I just tell you what happened?" Harry interjected, stopping the siblings' fight before it started.
"Yeah, mate," Ron said, glaring at Ginny and Hermione. "Go ahead."
"If you must know, we took the Underground," Harry said with a grin. "And then we entered through a phone booth. But yeah, when we got inside, we took the lifts to your dad's office because we were early. We saw Kingsley there, but he pretended like he utterly hated your dad."
"Why?" Ginny asked.
"Well, I guess so people don't think they are working together in the Order," Harry said. "But he gave me a copy of this magazine called The Quibbler, and there was an article about Sirius. I still have to read it and then give it to him—"
Hermione gave an exasperated sigh. "Can we get on with it?"
"Yeah, yeah," Harry said. "So there we are, sitting in Mr Weasley's office, and this guy, Perkins, comes running in. He tells us they changed the time of the hearing to eight instead of nine and changed the location to the big courtrooms on the tenth floor."
"Why would they do that?" Ron asked blankly.
"So Harry would miss the hearing," Hermione said, the realisation hitting her.
"Exactly," Harry confirmed. "Luckily, we were so early that we could get there before they cancelled it, but they said I was late."
"Did they even pretend that they tried contacting you?" Hermione asked.
"Oh yeah," Harry said. "They said they sent an owl to let me know, but I didn't see any owl. Did you guys?"
"No," Ginny said.
"Bloody git," Ron cursed. "What got in that Mafalda Hopkirk's knickers to make her try to screw you like that?"
"I don't think it was her," Harry said. "It was the full Wizengamot."
Ginny gasped. "The what? For a bloody underage magic infraction?"
"Obviously, Fudge is abusing his power because he's terrified," Hermione said grimly. "He's testing how far he can push it." Her knowledge of European history, especially circa the late 1930s, made this whole thing all the more ominous.
"Yeah, Fudge was there," Harry said. "He ran the thing." He paused and looked at Ginny and Ron. "Percy was there too, taking down the transcription."
"That no-good, rubbish bastard," Ron growled.
"He didn't even look at me once," Harry said. "I know it sounds stupid, but I was so nervous, and all I wanted was a familiar face, you know?"
"That's not stupid at all," Ginny said, reaching out to put her hand over Harry's. "I'm sorry, my brother is an arse."
"It's okay," Harry said. "Because Dumbledore showed up right around then. Though, to be fair, he barely looked at me either."
"What is his problem?" Ron said, his anger at Percy spilling over to the Headmaster.
"I dunno, but Fudge was so mad he was there that he kept stuttering. But then they started asking me all kinds of questions but wouldn't let me answer. They just kept asking question after question, and I couldn't explain anything. It was maddening," Harry said. "But a few of them seemed impressed that I could produce something called a corporeal Patronus which—"
"Is a fully formed Patronus, not just smoke or vapours," Hermione finished.
"Exactly. I think the woman was Madam Bones, Susan's aunt. Anyway, I finally was able to explain that the only reason I cast it was because of the Dementors. Everyone went nuts. Apparently, Fudge had 'forgotten' to mention that small fact," Harry snarled.
"Small fact, my arse," Ron said.
"Fudge backpedalled and said that I was just telling a story and that it was 'convenient' that Dudley couldn't see it since he was a Muggle, so it was just me at my word—"
"Which has been completely destroyed by The Daily Prophet," Hermione added, her stomach knotting. This was well-planned, and it was utterly terrifying. The forethought that went into it was chilling.
"Exactly," Harry said. "But that's when Dumbledore stepped in and brought forth Mrs Figg as my witness. She's the Squib that lives in Dursley's neighbourhood and helped spy on me for Dumbledore."
Hermione noted Harry's choice of words. He had so much anger inside him that she worried about the coming year.
"But everyone could tell Mrs Figg was just repeating descriptions of Dementors she had read in books rather than what she saw, and I thought it was all over… but Dumbledore took over and talked circles around them all. Fudge said something like, 'Why would Dementors be randomly in Little Whinging?' and Dumbledore agreed, saying, 'Oh, I don't think any of us believe the Dementors were there by coincidence… I think they were ordered there.' Then this horrible woman (I think they introduced her as the Undersecretary?) got all defensive and asked if Dumbledore was inferring that the Ministry sent the Dementors or that the Dementors weren't under the Ministry's control."
"Why was she horrible?" Ginny asked.
"Well, for one thing, she looked like a bloody toad," Harry said. "But there was just something creepy about her voice and the way she talked. But Dumbledore was brilliant. He said, 'If it is true that the Dementors are taking orders only from the Ministry of Magic, and it is also true that two Dementors attacked Harry and his cousin a week ago, then it follows logically that somebody at the Ministry might have ordered the attacks,' and then added, 'Of course, these particular Dementors may have been outside Ministry control.' Fudge went completely mental, screaming that there were no Dementors outside Ministry control because he knew the alternative was that Voldemort was controlling them. That was pretty much the beginning of the end of it all. After that, Fudge just kept making excuse after excuse, which Dumbledore countered. It was a massacre," Harry grinned. "Fudge looked like an idiot. Only he, the Toad Undersecretary, and maybe a handful of other Wizards voted to charge me. And that was that."
"What did Dumbledore say after it was all over?" Ginny asked.
Harry's face turned dark again. "Nothing. The git just walked out without even looking in my direction."
"I'm sure he has his reasons," Hermione said, primarily out of necessity. She didn't really believe it herself but didn't want Harry to let his anger get the best of him again.
"Well, whatever his reasons are, they're a bit dodgy, yeah?" Ron said. Hermione tried to quiet him with a look, but it didn't work. "The bloke owes you at least the courtesy of a civilised greeting after ignoring you all summer."
Harry nodded in agreement. "Oh," he added. "And guess who we caught Fudge talking with after the trial? Lucius Malfoy."
"What?!" Hermione gasped.
"Mr Weasley is going to let Dumbledore know. He suspects Malfoy is trying to bribe Fudge on Voldemort's behalf," Harry said.
Things just went from bad to worse, Hermione thought. If someone like Malfoy could infiltrate the Ministry even more than it already was, they were in serious trouble… even more than they usually were.
"But," Harry continued, interrupting Hermione's thoughts. "The Order doesn't think Fudge is under the Imperius Curse yet… but that means he's acting of his own accord, which may be even worse."
Hermione nodded. It was much, much worse.
They all sat in a heavy silence for a moment, the weight of the information settling over them. The threat felt closer now, more real, and it was clear to Hermione that they would need to be more vigilant than ever.
"We should probably get back to the kitchen," Ginny said quietly, breaking the silence. "Mum's going to wonder where we've disappeared to."
As they stood up and made their way out of the drawing room, Hermione couldn't shake the dread that had settled in her chest. This was just the beginning, and she knew that whatever came next, they would have to face it together.
She glanced at Harry, who seemed deep in thought and reached out to give his arm a reassuring squeeze. "We'll get through this, Harry," she said softly. "We always do."
Harry gave her a small, grateful smile, and as they walked down the hallway, Hermione felt a renewed sense of determination. They might be facing dark times, but they had each other, and that made all the difference."