Chapter 32

"Harry, wait," Priya ordered just as Harry gathered up his power and prepared to pop away to France.

"Why?" Harry asked, as if the thought of not rushing off to an unknown, dangerous location was something that made any sort of sense.

"Because we need to plan better than that. We don't know what's going to happen and going in blind hasn't worked out the last two times," Priya said.

"She has a point," Fumiko said.

"Neville is in danger. I'm not going to let anything happen to him when I can stop it. I'll just pop in and out. It'll be like two minutes," Harry said.

"That's what you thought last time," Priya countered.

"And it was only a few minutes."

"And you blew up a mountain."

"Technically that wasn't my fault."

"Sure it wasn't," Priya said. "Now how about we formulate a plan and use a few of these Aurors?"

"Excuse me?" one spat, while staring at Fudge.

"I'll go," the young one, Harper, shrugged.

"See, backup," Harry said. He didn't know anything about the man but hey, if he tried to curse him in the back he'd kill him. Seemed simple enough.

"You don't even know where he is," Fumiko countered.

"You said they were near the edge of the exclusion zone. I can figure it out from there. Will take me a few minutes but it'll be fine."

"I know. But I'd still like to take a minute and discuss a strategy. For all we know this could be exactly what Grindelwald wants you to do," Priya argued.

"Grindelwald doesn't even know where I am," Harry countered.

"We can't assume that. He very well might have put two-and-two together with what happened in the mountains," Priya said. Harry frowned as she said it. He knew she had a point but he didn't think that the man would have assumed there was anything afoot there other than a slight delay.

It wasn't like he wouldn't have known what he was sending his men to fight. And he had to know that doing so had a chance of them meeting their demise. He couldn't have been too cocky to think that they would prevail.

Then again, he'd bested her once. And if these troubling rumors were true that he was somehow powering people beyond their own capabilities, then, well, maybe, just maybe, he severely underestimated her.

But would that help his cause or hurt it? Obviously if he sent people after Emily only to have them be killed it couldn't be a bad thing. It didn't sit well with him, though. Emily had not sent much since she'd mentioned it. Granted, if there was something out of the ordinary she'd have almost certainly told them. Unless the entire thing was some sort of a trap.

If it was, though, they were doing a poor job of it. They hadn't asked for much specific information on his whereabouts or plans. Granted his plans, at this point, were at best unformulated. And he wasn't sure he'd have shared that much information with her regardless. But they didn't know that. So it would have only made sense for them to try. And as such, they hadn't tried.

Maybe they could capture her deadpan disinterest perfectly. He wasn't sure. It may not be that hard. Except the magical journal didn't keep every old message. It started to purge them after a couple of months. So they wouldn't have access to a full history. If he was concerned he could just ask her about something from a few months ago and that would solve any sort of problem he may have.

He made a mental note to ask Priya to do just that, just to be on the safe side. It wasn't like they had much to lose. What was the worst case scenario? That Emily thought he was an idiot. He was pretty sure that she already thought that and there wasn't a whole lot he'd be able to do to change her mind.

"I don't think he has," Harry said. He hadn't noticed that everyone in the meeting room was now staring at him. The Aurors seemed to be growing progressively more uncomfortable each moment that passed. Harry could feel the rising tension in the room with each moment. And they clearly weren't thrilled with the thought of losing access to their wands while Harry talked around them.

Well, all but Harper, who returned to the buffet in the corner and added two more chicken legs to the plate he was carrying, before walking back toward the table. Harry enjoyed the bravado. It seemed like how he'd want to act in the same situation. Part of him wondered if there was some other life where he was an Auror being annoyed with the minister while some other malcontent more or less ignored him.

He wasn't sure he had that type of passivity in him. The more he learned about Aurors the less he thought he'd have been able to do the job. It wasn't that he thought himself incapable of tracking down and eliminating dark wizards. In fact, quite the opposite. He thought himself to be quite good at that.

And he'd proven himself capable of such things. There were officials in Bihar, Canada, Chicago and Japan who would vouch for him if push came to shove. Although he had only been called in once to help with that in Japan. Mostly they used him for help with disaster relief and prevention.

There was actually some fairly interesting magical work going into the prevention of earthquakes and tsunamis. Some of the older magicals seemed to be of the opinion that they were caused by the Muggles and the Muggles should be left to deal with it while magic protected magicals. But a growing group was rebelling against that notion and trying to find minimalistic magical solutions to problems that could affect the whole nation.

Harry happily attended the meetings after he and Priya were invited. There hadn't been many of them. And they hadn't brought Emily. Even though she probably would have been able to help. Her mentality fit far more in the former category than the latter. Although she would at least admit that the Muggles weren't causing the earthquakes or tsunamis that occurred in Japan.

Still, he hadn't known much about the science behind it all. And he hadn't been that interested in learning. He could tell someone in the most basic terms why such an event occurred. But he couldn't go into much more detail than that. And because of it, he didn't feel like he could offer much in the way of suggestions.

But when they learned that he was more than willing to fly out into the middle of an oncoming storm and attempt to dissipate it with magic based on their instructions, well, they adored him for it. And he loved a good magical challenge as much as the next person.

And while the Japanese ministry had no problem with him destroying tidal waves before they hit the mainland, even if they assumed their tsunami defenses were more than up for the task, they didn't seem very interested in letting him track down magical Japanese fugitives.

On the flip side, in his time there, there hadn't been one that they couldn't handle on their own. And given that it was, you know, their job to handle it. He didn't seem to think it too unusual that they didn't ask him to do it. Even if he could have.

And he'd agreed to stay out of their hair, more or less, if they stayed out of his. His time in Canada or Bihar had started quite the opposite. He'd rushed into a situation where there hadn't been much governmental oversight and handled it. In both cases he was more lucky than anything that there hadn't been more severe consequences for him.

But now, as he looked at the Aurors in the room, he wondered if he'd be able to do what they did. This group was at least allegedly loyal to Fudge. And they were standing by him while a madman ravaged France. Harry didn't want to stand by and let it happened. He wanted to stop it. But the men he was staring at didn't have that jurisdiction or that drive.

He had to wonder how long it would have taken for him to be drummed out of the Auror corps for that attitude. He suspected he would have lasted even less time than Neville had.

He'd assumed Fudge had fired Neville because he hadn't acted to arrest Harry when they'd crossed paths in Oslo. But in his time working with Neville he'd learned there'd been more to it than that.

While Neville had excelled after the Order of the Phoenix. The removal of Severus Snape from Hogwarts had only helped his education. While he'd been disappointed at the rumors that surrounded Harry Potter. When it all turned out to be true, he'd found himself oddly popular at the start of his sixth year, precisely because he'd known Harry Potter better than most.

He'd spoken about all of this with Harry during a few of their training sessions or meetings about Hogwarts. Harry, who if he was being honest, found that things at the school rarely warranted more than a few minutes of conversation.

It wasn't a bad thing, he didn't think. Although he suspected the Department of Magical Education would disagree with him on that. But the institution ran well. Dumbledore had been rather good at what he did. And there was very little need for him to do much more than let the systems run the way they had for years.

Sure, given the expected turnover from Professors in the coming years he'd expected that he'd have more problems in the coming years that he'd need to take a more hands-on approach for. But at the time he figured he should observe how things ran when they were running properly rather than trying to get involved.

Now he realized he'd never go back to Hogwarts. And his petty concerns such as whether or not Gemma Farley cared more about being the potions mistress or the mistress to a wealthy politician seemed like a lifetime ago.

And while he had more interesting things to talk about with Neville, he found their conversations often shifted toward his time as an Auror. He couldn't help it. It was the most intriguing part about his friend to him.

In those conversations he'd learned about all of the paperwork, all of the hand holding from the superiors, and all of the little regulations that he could tie their hands. Frankly, Harry understood the need for them. And he knew as well as anyone that the courts had their places in society.

But he had a hard time imagining that he would have been able to talk down Dark Wizards, or see much of a point in minor things like gathering evidence, when he could just, you know, kill them.

Problem solved.

Now, as he stared around the room and looked at the Aurors handpicked by Fudge, he only saw one of them that he would have guessed would rather charge into battle than stay and wait. And the biggest problem he had was that he had no idea who that man was.

He stared at Harper in particular as the man finished the chicken leg and moved back toward the buffet. For a moment, Harry thought he was going to grab more food. But instead he cleaned off the plate and put it with other dishes and resumed his post leaning against the wall.

Fudge, for his part, hadn't said much since Fumiko's arrival. His own eyes focused on Harry. He recognized the expression well enough. Fudge knew he only had, at best, a tenuous hold on the situation. And he wasn't going to let whatever Harry decided counter whatever he would say.

No, the minister was too good of a politician for that. He would make sure he was on whatever side Harry chose to be. He wouldn't let himself be countered by whatever Harry said or did. If Harry chose to stay, Fudge would take credit for it, and if he chose to go, he would say it was the decision he'd wanted him to make.

It was, Harry realized, the most overt sign of support he'd received from Fudge. Sure, it was self-serving. But he now realized that Fudge was really hitching his wagon to Harry. It eased his mind some. Everything, in that moment, felt like less of a trap.

He peered to Fumiko, then to Fudge, then Harper, then finally to his wife. He took a deep breath and let silence linger in the room for a few more moments. He'd been so focused on himself he wasn't quite sure how much time had passed while he thought.

However long it was, it hadn't been long enough for Priya to snap him out of it. So he figured he must have not looked like an utter psycho. He peered around the room once more and wondered if he cared what they thought anyway.

It was Priya who broke the silence.

"I think we should act under the assumption that he at least has an idea we're involved and back in England," Priya said.

"That seems wise," Fudge said. "It's always best to assume your enemy has more knowledge. Caution is often paramount."

A few of the Aurors nodded their assent of that assessment. And Harry knew the logic was sound to a degree. But if one assumed the enemy was operating with knowledge they didn't have. Then when they reacted opposite of that knowledge, because they didn't have it, it could be exactly what one didn't want to happen.

"I don't think that's the right play," Harry said.

"Why not?" Fumiko asked.

"How hurt is Alex?" Harry countered. A small part of him regretted he hadn't asked for more details on his friend's injuries. But she hadn't seemed too concerned. Now she paled and looked away.

"He was recovering before I came. A few hexes but nothing he shouldn't recover from," Fumiko said. Harry closed his eyes and a moment later a regulation St. Mungo's bed, containing one Alexander Avery, appeared in the hotel.

"What the hell!" Avery exclaimed. His eyes darted around the room and Harry felt power rise from him. But once he saw his wife he mellowed out. Fumiko glared at Harry and rushed toward her husband, but Priya was already there running basic diagnostics, making sure that Harry's impromptu use of magic did not have any negative repercussions.

He gave her a moment to check him over before he did anything else. He knew there was little reason not to as she wouldn't let him talk if there was something deathly wrong with Alex. So he waited until she turned back to him.

"This should only take a minute and then I'll let you go back," Harry said.

"I'm fine," Avery scoffed.

"As far as I can tell he is, more or less," Priya said. "I'm sure they wanted to keep him for observation overnight. And he'll be sore in the morning but nothing a pain potion, or hell, even some Tylenol, can't take care of."

"That's what they said," Avery scoffed. Priya shifted away from the bed as Fumiko did her best to not push her out of the way. Avery made his way to his feet, stepping carefully onto the ground. Fumiko both made to help him and push him back down onto the bed. The end result was some stumbling but Avery kept his feet and turned to Harry.

"Next time bring yourself to the hospital rather than me to you," Avery scoffed.

"Too much of a crowd and you know how much I love having to repeat information," Harry countered. Avery rolled his eyes at him.

"So you're done gallivanting across Japan while the rest of us work?"

"Didn't do a whole lot of gallivanting. Mostly just set up shop in a nice small town and enjoyed life. You two would love it," Harry said. He made sure to not disclose the location of just where they'd set up their home. Although he did suspect that, unless Fumiko grew to absolutely adore London or Paris, the Avery family would join them in Japan after the war.

At least partially. He could see them splitting time. Avery tended to prefer cities, though. And while they could try to talk them into Ehime, he suspected that Osaka or Kyoto would win. And they'd be little more than a floo trip away.

"That just makes things worse," Avery said. Harry shrugged his shoulders and meant to continue the banter when Harper interrupted.

"Excuse me, minister. But isn't this man a Death Eater?" he said. Fudge opened his mouth to comment as Avery turned his attention to the young Auror.

"We can deal with that later, Harper," Fudge dismissed the young Auror. But the young man's eyes narrowed. And again, Harry found himself drawn to him. That was the exact

"Alice and Martin's boy?" he asked, his brows raised.

"That's right," he said. Harry recognized the tone in the young Auror's voice as he spoke about his parents, even if it was just a couple of words. He'd heard it in his own voice when talking about his own.

"My first wife was friends with your mother," Avery said. It caught Harper by surprise. He raised his brows but before he could comment Avery continued. "Didn't much like your father though."

"I'd have thought you friends," Harper responded, an accusatory dryness in his voice. Avery shook his head.

"Life is never that simple," he said. He turned his gaze back to Harry. "I'm surprised you're not already in France."

"Priya won't let me."

"It's less of a won't and more of a maybe come up with a plan first," Priya countered. "And to get to said plan he should consider talking to the people who were, you know, actually there."

"Which is why I brought you here," Harry smiled cheerfully. Fudge surprised him by chuckling.

"What?" Fumiko asked, seeming to have no qualms about throwing basic questions at the British Minister of Magic.

"It's nothing," Fudge said. "I'm just pleased to know I'm not the only one Mister Potter treats that way."

Harry turned to look at the minister. His cheery disposition used more often in the guise of a joke than anything, wasn't something he thought he'd ever directed at the Minister. Or had ever even had the intention of doing so. But the minister's comments had also relaxed some of the Aurors with him. Although Harper was still glaring daggers at Avery. The rest of them seemed to have decided that Harry had some use. And some prearranged relationship with the minister.

Which he supposed he did. Technically Harry had worked for the man. Even if the man had gone out of the way to get him out of his position. He wondered how Fudge had spun that, and how quickly he'd been able to turn it around.

The irony, of course, was that Fudge could have had such a relationship with Harry had he been even the teeniest bit more open to it. Harry didn't think he was particularly hard to get along with. And all he'd really wanted was to be left alone. Fudge had, more or less, done that. At least until he saw the golden opportunity to promote Percy Weasley above him.

And yet here, with a sentence, he'd made it seem like they'd been friendly. Like they'd had banter in their months working together. And, disturbingly, the Aurors all seemed to be buying it without question.

"I'm a firm believer in equality," Harry said. He hoped the dry nature of his comment would get his point across well enough.

"Odd words from someone who was mildly obsessed with Robert E. Lee when we visited America," Avery countered. Harry bit his tongue and felt his jaw clench.

"It's not my fault the Americans put a monument to a traitor within walking distance of their capitol. If that's not sending mixed signals then I don't know what is. Anyway, pot, kettle much?"

"Fair on both counts," Avery said without a trace of the insult in his voice.

"Can we get back to the topic at hand?" Fudge asked. Harry gave him a brief glare before looking at Avery.

"They think Grindelwald is expecting me. I don't think he had any idea I'm not in Japan. And based on what I did there, outside of someone in this room talking, I don't think he can have any clue that I've left Japan," Harry said.

"And?" Avery asked.

"What are your thoughts on the matter?" Harry sighed.

"If he's expecting you then he's either massively underestimating you or doing a terrible job of preparing for you," Avery said.

"What makes you say that?" Priya asked.

"There weren't any real defenses. If anything it was the opposite of what you'd expect. It's more like they're trying to draw in unsuspecting people rather than keep them out. I didn't see anything that would lead me to believe they expected to be attacked," Avery said.

"I see. How did you get caught then if they weren't trying to keep anyone out?" Harry asked.

"Neville," Avery answered.

"What did Longbottom do now?" Fudge scoffed. He didn't put nearly enough respect on Neville's name for Harry's taste. But he resisted the urge to hex him and instead focused on Alexander.

"He's famous," Avery shrugged.

"Hardly," one of the older Aurors laughed.

"But he is," Fumiko said.

"Miss he was a barely competent Auror. I doubt he accomplished anything worth noting," the Auror repeated.

"He's friends with Harry Potter and started one of the most prominent defense start-ups in history," Priya countered. "Certainly a person of interest if you're wary of Harry Potter. And one with a rather impressive track record on everything he's done outside of the ministry," Priya shot back at the Auror. Harry smiled and nodded, figuring there was little wrong with her voicing his opinion in that moment.

The Auror merely snorted his derision at her response.

"Either way, they recognized him," Avery said. He turned his attention to the buffet in the corner of the room. He looked like he was about to move toward the table, but Fumiko sat him down and made to prepare a plate for him. She took out her wand and in moments an assortment of the food floated onto the plate. He started on it as soon as it was within his grasp.

"And what happened then?" Harry asked. Avery looked up at him as he chewed his food. Once he'd finished he took a sip of water before answering.

"Some pretty generic conversation. I'd say one of the weakest sales pitches I'd ever received. They seemed less interested in our reasons for showing up there. It was strange. Like they assumed we would come eventually. The specifics of why we were visiting didn't make any difference to them," Avery said. "They didn't even listen to our explanations and started on their own almost as soon as we'd finished speaking."

"What brought on the violence?" Harry asked.

"They turned on us when we tried to leave. They were not at all interested in that option. I'm not sure exactly what they wanted with us. But leaving was certainly not it," Avery said.

"And that resulted in them attacking you?" Fudge asked. Harry glared at him, but the minister was looking at Avery and not paying any attention to Harry. Unlike with Priya he didn't quite appreciate the Minister asking his questions. He spent a moment debating his best course of action. But Avery looked to Harry before answering the minister.

It gave Harry some pause. Part of him wanted to criticize the minister and ignore his interruption. But that didn't serve him any purpose so he gave Avery a curt nod.

"They attempted a more charismatic form of persuasion first. When that failed and we turned our backs, they attacked," Avery said.

"And you got away," one of the Aurors said, skepticism filling his voice as he spoke.

"Yes. But I'm not sure why you had to bring me here, Harry. My wife was there. And is more than capable of explaining it all as well as I was," Avery said. He turned his attention back to the food.

"I value your opinion," Harry said.

"My wife and I share an opinion," Avery countered. Fumiko laughed when he said it.

"Sure we do, babe," Fumiko laughed. She swatted him playfully on the arm. Avery smiled at her as she moved behind him and started to rub his shoulders.

"Well, on this we do," Avery said. Fumiko nodded.

"We do," she agreed.

"Do you want me to send you back?" Harry asked, feeling oddly self-conscious about the situation now that he had some time to think about it.

"Hell no," Avery said.

"So what happened?" Priya asked.

"As we made to apparate away they put up some wards. The first I'd seen them use something like that. Like I said there weren't really any magical defenses around. No Muggle ones either, really," Avery said.

"Well, it was kind of like a fort though," Fumiko added.

"I suppose," Avery frowned. Before Harry could ask he held up his wand and an image appeared in the air. Harry had trouble calling it a fort, but it seemed to be a better description than anything he could come up with.

It was a small, walled building that seemed to hover a few feet above the ground. It would stick out quite obviously to anyone who saw it.

"That's not quite the building I'd use if I was trying to hide," Harry said. "It actually floats?"

"Sort of."

"It's hard to explain," Fumiko said. "It really messes with your senses when it's close. Sometimes it feels like it's hovering. It's why I said I thought it might be mobile."

"That's not possible," one of the Aurors said.

"Sure it is," Fudge responded, peering at the floating image. "Dumbledore wrote a paper about something not too dissimilar late in his life."

"Really?" Harper asked, sounding as surprised as Harry felt by that notion.

"Yes. It was published in a few of the magical journals. He never seemed to be that interested in doing anything about it. But I think he liked the thought of a mobile school. He wanted there to be more travel as part of the Hogwarts curriculum but we could never come up with an agreement on how to make that work out," Fudge said.

"Travel promotes growth and learning. That's not a bad idea," Harry said.

"No, it isn't," Fudge agreed. "We actually agreed on it in theory. There was just the war, and then we fell out after. And then the second war. And once that was over Dumbledore wasn't quite as energetic as he had been. We never really seemed to have time to hash out more detailed plans for it."

"I think you should look into that more," Harry said.

"I plan to," Fudge countered. Harry doubted he did. But that wasn't his problem any more. And he saw no reason to dwell on it, even if he wanted to argue with Fudge about it.

"When you're there it's hard to leave," Fumiko said, bringing the conversation back around. "Much like how she described the cave in Iran."

"What cave in Iran?" Harper interrupted.

"The one in the mountain Harry didn't blow up," Priya said.

"And who's the 'her' you're referring to?" Harper continued.

"Another companion of ours," Priya answered. She kept it as intentionally vague as she could manage. Harry rather hoped he'd let it drop there but instead his eyes narrowed.

"This companion have a name?" he asked.

"Many," Harry answered. He let some steel rise into his tone. Harper glared and seemed to contemplate his next words carefully, but Fudge spoke before he could.

"It doesn't matter, Harper. You know who she is," Fudge said. He emphasized three words far more than the others. Out of the corner of his eye Harry saw a few of the Aurors grimace.

"I really don't like that," Harper hissed, his eyes narrowing as they focused on Fudge. Harry noticed a few of the Aurors shifted and started to stand behind him. He couldn't help but be glad he'd taken away their wands. They'd reacted to the news about as well as Harry would expect anyone to. Even if Fudge hadn't actually confirmed who they were talking about.

"We don't have to like it, Harper," Fudge said. His tone sounded defeated. He let out a long drawn out sigh before he continued. "We have to tolerate it for now. At least until there's a better solution."

"You're asking us to literally pick between Lord Voldemort and Gellert Grindelwald," Harper asked. "And one of those had a far more negative impact on most of our lives."

"That's not what he's asking you," Priya said. Her voice was little more than a whisper. It drew the eyes of the room to her.

"Then what is he asking?" Harper asked, sarcasm dripping from his every word.

"To pick between Gellert Grindelwald and Harry Potter," Priya said. It didn't seem to have the effect she'd hoped.

"I'm not sure I see the distinction," one of the older Aurors commented.

"If I win, my plan is to go back home and never be heard from again. Can you say the same for Grindelwald?" Harry asked.

"All we have on that is your word," one of the Aurors countered.

"A word that is suspect at best," Harper added.

"Is it?" Harry asked, peering around the room.

"Of course it is. You have a reputation," one of the Aurors started.

"A reputation earned by what? I don't recall giving it to any of you. I don't recall giving it to anyone, really. The Prophet loves to give it, often for things I find nonsensical. But this is the first time I've spoken to any of you," Harry said, his eyes shifting around the room. He took a moment to look into the faces of each and every one of the Aurors.

"And?" one of them sneered.

"And nothing," Harry shrugged his shoulders in a way that indicated he was about to say all he would on the subject. "You have a choice. Trust me or don't. You know what will happen if you don't. If you think that's a better world, then by all means take that action."

The Aurors all stared at him. A few turned their gazes to Fudge. Harry looked back for a few moments then, in an attempt to show them how little he thought of them, went back to talking with Avery.

"How did you get out?" he asked. He lowered his voice so they'd have to strain to hear him.

"Like I said," Fumiko answered for her husband. "Something felt like it was drawing us in and making us stay. Neville picked up on it first and exploded with one of your shockwaves. He raised a sort of nullification field after he did it and it cleared our heads. I guess fight or flight kicked in and we got out of there as quickly as we could. But they started firing spells at us as they realized what was going on."

"And Neville?" Harry asked.

"About a score of other people there flocked to him when he did the spell. I think they were as relieved to be free of the magic as we were. It's insidious, Harry. It works into your head without you even noticing but as soon as it's gone…" she shuddered as she spoke.

"In the end," Avery interrupted as his wife's voice trailed off. He raised one of his hands and rested it on hers on his shoulder. "Neville chose fight rather than flight. I'm not sure the people with him were any different than the Iranian villagers. Honestly they looked a bit like images from the camps in Germany during the war."

"I have to go," Harry said. The same determination that filled him earlier rising once more to the front of his mind. He raised his hand and the magical fort was replaced with a map of southern France. "Where were you?"

"Hard to tell," Avery said. He held up his wand though and highlighted a small area on the map. Harry didn't notice anything special about it. He didn't recognize any of the names of the towns but his knowledge of French cities was rudimentary at best.

"I think a bit more south of that," Fumiko said with a frown. The highlighted area on the map shifted slightly with her suggestion. Harry only nodded.

"Good enough. I just need enough of an idea to get close. I can take care of the rest when I get there," Harry said.

"You shouldn't go alone," Avery said. He rose to his feet as he spoke but Harry shook his head.

"You need at least a few more potions before you should get back into a fight," Harry said.

"I'm fine," Avery said, but his wobbling stance gave him away.

"Rest for a bit," Harry said. "I'm not going to do anything stupid."

"I've heard that before."

Harry's response was interrupted by a rapping on the door. Nearly everyone in the room jumped at the noise. Fudge reacted first and made to open the door. A disheveled witch ran in.

"Minister Fudge," she said, catching her breath. "There's an urgent call for you from Minister Gouin."

"About?" Fudge asked. He kept his expression blank and Harry could tell he was trying to maintain as much control as he could.

"She didn't want to say over the floo. But it sounds bad. She's panicked. She seemed worried about her own safety. I let her take the liberty and she is waiting in your office," the witch explained. Fudge turned his expression toward Harry for a moment, before looking back at the witch.

"I'll go speak with her. Jenkins, Gould come with me," Fudge said. Both Aurors moved to flank him. Harry held up his hand and their wands all appeared on the table. A few of them seemed shocked by the sudden display of power. But they reacted quickly and armed themselves as Fucge continued.

"The rest of you should go to the Auror office. Try to get as many trustworthy bodies as you can. We may have to act," Fudge said. The Aurors nodded their agreement, all except for one.

"I'm going with him," Harper said, nodding toward Harry.

"I was actually hoping Mister Potter would come with me to meet Minister Gouin," Fudge said. Harry saw the ghost of a smile flash across Priya's face. For at least the briefest of moments she thought Fudge found a way to keep him out of trouble.

"Priya will join you," Harry said. Priya frowned but he could tell even she knew that was the best decision. "I've got to see what's going on in France."

"I don't want to cause an incident," Fudge said.

"Seems like it's too late for that," Harry said. "I doubt something minor is causing the French premier to come rushing to you."

"It would still be best if I didn't send in Aurors before I knew what was going on," Fudge said.

"You didn't send in any Aurors," Harry smiled. "And I don't work for you. Or get along with you."

Fudge shook his head but the ghost of a smile rose onto his lips as he turned away. Harry wondered if deciding to try out being the Headmaster of Hogwarts had been a mistake. With his amusement with euphemism maybe he should have tried politics.

"I do, though," Harper frowned. Harry turned his attention to the young Auror once more. The man was clearly looking for an excuse to go with him. And it made sense, he knew. Even the first time he'd gone off to France he hadn't gone alone. Another pair of eyes couldn't hurt.

"Fudge found out I was in England and was concerned about it. He decided to have an Auror tail me just to be safe. You tailed me to France," Harry said. Harper's eyes narrowed until he realized what Harry was implying.

"That works for me," Fudge said.

"Fine," Priya agreed. She walked over toward Harry and kissed him. "Be careful."

"Always," he said. Fudge moved to leave the room. He surprised Harry by holding the door for Priya and his Aurors.

"How are we getting to France?" Harper asked. Avery chuckled from the table. Harry looked toward his friends. He pressed his lips together, wishing Avery was the one joining him. It would be easier, he knew, if he had someone he could completely trust with him. But that wasn't to be the case.

"The quickest way," he said, holding out his hand toward Harper. The Auror raised his brows but after a moment took it. Harry let the magic swell through both of them. He relaxed against it in those few moments as it pulled him toward France.

Author's Note: Thanks for reading and reviewing I do appreciate all of the support I receive. If you'd like to support me further I am available on PAT RE ON at TE7writes. The final chapters of this story are already live over there as well as the next ten or so chapters of my other WiP, Conjurations and Catacombs. Thanks again!