Disclaimer: All character and the world in this story belongs to JK Rowling. I own nothing.
A/N: I hope you guys liked the story so far. This chapter will explain what has happened in the last month. This chapter and the next chapter (maybe two) would put the story on the right track which would determine the path.
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Chapter Twenty: Last one Month
…. "Now we can talk."
Harry took the armchair on the other side of the table and Hermione took the second one. Ron remained seated in his chair by the fireplace but turned so that he could face the other occupants of the room. Remus did not move from his place either, he stood leaning against the bookshelf, his arms folded in front of him, his eyes on Sirius.
"Go on, I know you have questions, a lot of them. Ask away." Sirius said in a fake upbeat manner which did not deceive anyone.
"What's wrong, Sirius? What happened down there?" Harry asked, very much concerned about the situation.
Sirius took a deep breath and sighed, "long story, Harry. In short, Molly doesn't trust me. She is quite judgemental, always have been and sorry Ron but that's the reality."
Ron gave a curt nod, no other expression on his face but his reddening ears gave away what his real reaction was or would have been. When he didn't say anything, Sirius continued. "She is not fond of me and the charms of this old dog doesn't work on her so I think it would be some time before she starts to accept me. Anyway, that's between me and her and I would like to keep it that way."
Harry gave a nod of understanding, a small smile coming to his face. He wanted to move away from this topic so he asked, "what is this place?"
"This…." Sirius opened his arm as if introducing them to the place. "….is my ancestral home, 12 Grimmauld Place. And before you ask, I hate this place."
"Then why aren't you at the cottage if you hate this place?" Harry asked, confusion clear in his voice.
"This place is now the headquarters of Order of the Phoenix. It's a secret society, formed by Dumbledore to counter the Death Eaters, he formed it eighteen years back, the year we graduated, on Halloween." His features turned morose with that thought, Halloween will always be a sore point him. "So, when he asked me to use this house as Order headquarters, I did not refuse. That is the only good thing this house has witnessed. The house is unplottable, there are very powerful wards to keep muggles at an arm's distance. We put this under a Fidelius, Dumbledore is the secret-keeper."
"Weasley's are part of it?" Harry asked out of curiosity.
"We are, we were there last time too." Ron answered from his seat, "I mean, my parents were, since the beginning."
"So, what were you doing this past month and why didn't you tell me anything? I would have helped." Harry said, his tone more pleading than he would have wanted it to be anywhere else but here he need not worry about it. "What was Voldemort doing this past month?"
"Nothing, at least nothing directly. He is in hiding, pulling strings from behind the curtains. It's his followers, most of the traditionalist have made some kind of an alliance. Malfoy is heading that group from outside the Wizengamot, he is brewing quite some trouble for us."
"What's Wizengamot? And don't people understand that something is wrong and he is back?" Harry asked, disbelieving his ears.
"Wizengamot is amalgamation of Wizard High Court and Parliament, Harry and no, people don't know that he is back. Fudge has been putting all his efforts to control the news right now." Remus answered and walked up to stand by the table, leaning against the furniture, looking at Harry.
"How did Dumbledore let that happen? I bet Skeeter is in Fudge's pocket." Harry asked to Remus.
"No, she isn't." Hermione answered flatly.
"How can you be so sure of that?" Harry asked without wasting even a fraction of a second.
"Because she is in the attic, Kreacher is making sure that she stays there." Hermione answered, her gaze on Harry, a smirk on her face.
"Which creature? You still have her, here? You kidnapped her?" Harry asked, his eyes going wide at that thought. "Who are you and what did you do to Hermione Granger?" Harry asked and Hermione blushed, the comment made Ron chuckle.
"Well, I didn't want to release her without assurance but before I could accomplish that, we arrived here and she was with me when I portkeyed and now she has access to the wards and the Fidelius and she knows that Sirius is here and we all know about his whereabouts. So now we can't let her go. And Kreacher…." She did not answer and turned towards Sirius.
"Kreacher is my house-elf, he is quite repulsive. Solitude had turned him soft in head." When he noticed that Hermione was about to say something, he continued, "And for the last time Hermione, I'm not freeing him. We have had this discussion multiple times and besides he knows too much."
That stopped all the future questions from Hermione in this regard. She just huffed and folded her arms in the gesture of defiance. "It's not over yet."
"Who all knows about her?" Harry asked to Hermione.
"We four, now five; the twins and Tonks also know so does Kreacher; Dumbledore and Moody. In total, 11 of us." Hermione replied.
"How did you keep it from Mrs. Weasley?" Harry was shocked that she was yet to find out. "And for that matter, from others?"
"We were able to convince Dumbledore to put a Confundus charm on the attic door, with some exceptions. Unless someone tells anyone or they drag him beyond the charm line, they would know." It was Ron who answered it for Harry.
"Anyway, let's get back to our discussion. I told Dumbledore that it was a bad idea to block your Daily Prophet supply and even worse to keep you uninformed in our correspondence." Sirius continued, as if nothing was spoken between him and Hermione.
"You didn't send me one letter and why would you block my subscription?" Harry asked, with every revelation and realization, he was inching closer to losing his temper.
"There were too many things happening Harry and Dumbledore explained that it would do no good to trouble you with them. You needed some peace of mind." Remus answered, genuine concern for him was clear in his eyes.
"What too many things?" Harry asked, turning back towards Sirius. "What's wrong, Sirius?"
"After you people returned from school, Dumbledore was trying to talk some sense into Fudge but he refused to listen and their relationship strained. On July 1, Dumbledore gave a speech in Wizengamot, he told the Wizarding Britain that Voldemort was back. The very next day he had a private meeting with Cornelius Fudge, his Senior Undersecretary and Constantine Ogden. Ogden had been Dumbledore's political rival for more than five decades and his grandson is married to Lucius's younger sister. Constantine Ogden leads Lucius's block in Wizengamot and he has good grip on the members. The morning of the meeting, Daily Prophet ran a story discrediting you and Dumbledore. Dumbledore's speech the day before shifted to the fourth page. Ogden, Fudge and Lucius were able to outfox Dumbledore, could you believe that, they did something that Dumbledore didn't anticipate one bit."
"In one week, since his return, they bribed many members, threatened a few and told the remaining Voldemort supporters about what was going on. By the time of the meeting, they had the signature of more than half the Wizengamot on the letter that said that Wizengamot had voted out Dumbledore as Britain's representative to the International Confederation of Wizards because he's getting old and losing his grip. That resulted in Dumbledore losing his place as Chairman for the time being. Dumbledore was later able to do the damage-control, they are keeping the post empty. His deputy would act in his place until the situation here gets under control. Fudge thinks or as we believe Lucius has convinced him that Dumbledore is behind his chair and hence he is trying to destabilize his administration."
"But that's stupid. Why would anybody think that in their right state of mind?" Harry asked, he was completely baffled by what was happening.
"And you are right, Harry. Nobody in their right state of mind would think that about Dumbledore. But Fudge is not thinking straight, he is blinded by power and greed; he is afraid of losing his position. All his actions are influenced by that fear. Harry, the Minister of Magic is given seven-year term, he is appointed by Wizengamot. Fudge became the Minister about one and half years after the fall of Voldemort. He is worried that Dumbledore wants to oust him and usurp himself as the Minister in the next Ministerial election." Remus answered it for him.
"And I wish that was it but the meeting took a turn for worse." Sirius commented.
"How could anything be worse than that?" Harry asked.
"Oh, you have no idea." Ron was the one to answer.
"Dumbledore wasn't upset about being removed but he was upset about you being discredited. He wanted to show Barty Crouch Jr's confession so that the situation can be resolved then and there but Ogden said that it was futile to listen to the words of an Azkaban escapee psychopath. Dumbledore, in his vast knowledge and experience missed some very important things. He admitted himself when he told about this fiasco. Neither Dumbledore nor Barty Crouch Jr was in the graveyard, his confession of sending you there could be accepted but what happened in the graveyard had no witnesses except the people present there, namely you, Wormtail, Voldemort and Cedric. But according to the Minister and the wizarding world, Wormtail and Voldemort both are dead. That leaves you and Cedric and we do not want this to be highlighted."
"But why? I could testify with Veritaserum or I could show my memories. And I wasn't alone there, the Death Eaters were there, they can be questioned."
"I wish things were that simple Harry. I would try to explain this to you as clearly as possible otherwise Hermione would help you with it, I'm sure. First, you are underage so your testimony will not be considered inside Wizengamot. Veritaserum can't be administered on underage wizard so that is out of question. Your memories can not be accepted as they can be manipulated. Second, you can call only those witnesses who agree to testify for you, if you call a witness and they refuse to testify, you can't do anything about it. If you somehow get your testimony on record, the Wizengamot is going to vote on it and that is a conclusion we don't want you heading towards to. Besides, there was no body so there is no proof of Cedric's death. Fudge wanted to put the blame of his murder and disposing of his body on you. He wanted you in Azkaban for something that you hadn't done." Sirius stopped at that, the words stung pretty badly. The situation was very similar to his, this was the first time he noticed this similarity.
"All the members of the Order were there when Dumbledore told about this. We were brainstorming for hours to find one loophole in all this. Anything remotely helpful but we came out emptyhanded. We thought that your wand could be examined for past spells but it turns out we are not in the possession of Cedric's wand which you could have used in 'murdering' him. The tournament trophy had the trace of the portkey and on the place where it led had very strong lingering trace of dark magic which could have been due to a murder. There was no other trace present, no signs of any ritual taking place, nothing." Remus continued the explanation from the point where Sirius had stopped.
"So according to Dumbledore, Fudge got you in a very tight position. To stop him from pressing charges against you, Dumbledore had to negotiate a truce. Dumbledore would resign as the Chief Warlock of Wizengamot with immediate effect and in return, they will not bring charges against you and there will be no character assassination of yours. But Dumbledore's name is still being dragged through mud on daily basis and there are few mentions of you but you have been kept safe." Sirius completed the retelling of the meeting. It looked like all his energy, every bit of it, was drained out of him.
"So, nobody supported him, not after the speech, not even after he was voted out of ICW. He resigned and nobody asked a question?" Harry asked, all colour gone from his face.
"There was support a lot of it, some old friends of Dumbledore inside the Ministry, who were on our side last time supported him. To tackle this, one of Ogden's lackey brought a bill to restructure the Ministry. There was quite an uproar about it, many department heads or directors, who weren't in with Minister, opposed the move but Wizengamot passed the bill and they restructured the Ministry. Earlier, directors were directly under Minister but now they elevated the post of Senior Undersecretary. Senior Undersecretary is now superior to the directors and answerable only to Minister himself. Also, Senior Undersecretary now has the authority to issue executive orders, earlier only Minister and Chief Warlock had the authority. Every Director has to get their decisions approved by Senior Undersecretary who would countersign it on the approval of Minister." Sirius answered truthfully.
"So that's it, Fudge is trying to make himself a dictator, hording all the power?" Harry asked.
"No, Harry. The ministry is still answerable to Wizengamot, they would need 2/3 majority vote in Wizengamot to amend that law. For the moment, we are safe from dictatorship. Well that is until Voldemort resurfaces." Sirius chuckled dryly, no mirth in it.
"And what is this Order doing?"
"Gathering information, keeping tabs, monitoring alleged and known Death Eaters, guarding duties." Sirius answered offhandedly.
"What are you guarding?" Harry asked, his ears perking at that statement. "I'm already here. And if you call Tonks a guard, I hope whatever you are guarding is behind a ten-foot-thick wall."
"She wasn't your guard, Harry. The actual one left without notice." Whatever life was in his eyes started to evaporated with his words. "We have been guarding something important, something that we know Voldemort did not have last time."
"Sirius!" Remus warned him, his voice low but cold.
"What? Like a weapon?" Harry asked, looking between his two 'uncles'.
"We believe that Voldemort is pursuing something devotedly and we are trying our best to prevent him from getting it." Sirius answered but did not elaborate on it.
"What are we planning to do now?" Harry asked.
It was Hermione who answered him. "We contacted Neville, Susan and Hannah after this fiasco. Neville's grandmother, Susan's aunt and Hannah's father are members of Wizengamot. Mr. Diggory is also a part of Wizengamot and for the time being, so is Dumbledore. They were able to push the Wizengamot to initiate an investigation in the disappearance of Cedric and Hestia Jones is assigned as the investigating officer. She is a member of the Order."
Harry did not reply, he just nodded. When Harry did not say anything for the next few seconds, Remus continued. "Susan's aunt and Neville's grandmother know about the Order but neither of them is part of it and Dumbledore is uncertain about involving them. Hannah's father knows nothing about the Order and he was reluctant to support us, he does not trust your story. But he relented because of Diggorys, Mr. Abbot and Mr. Diggory are old family friends."
"Dumbledore have a few friends loyal to him and they were able to do some damage control. We haven't yet let the situation go to extreme, we just somehow stopped the situation from diving from the cliff." Sirius told him, some relief present in his demeanour. "All in all, before your date with dementors, we had lost the Chairmanship of ICW, position of Chief Warlock in Wizengamot and in return, we were able to keep you out of prison. I believe that's a positive deal."
"Hah, really positive Padfoot, cause of celebration it is, don't you think?" Harry responded.
"Listen to me, Harry, you are more important, to all of us. If I had to surrender to keep you out of that hell, I would have done it without a second thought. You are the hope of the future, Harry. We can't have you locked up in Azkaban." Harry understood the sincerity of that proclamation. Hermione put her hand on his and gave it a gentle squeeze. Harry turned to look at her, a smile coming over his features.
"What are you planning to do with Skeeter?"
"We are at an impasse with Dumbledore on that front and now I am unsure about what I had in my mind." She stopped her answer and looked at Ron, urging him to continue. "She has got dirt on many people, Harry and we could use those pieces of information to bargain the next time we find ourselves in a tight spot. Dumbledore thinks it is unethical, criminal even. He said that we will release her once things get settled down a bit and she agrees to an unbreakable vow. She hasn't agreed to it in the past month."
"What's an unbreakable vow?" Harry asked.
"It's a vow that can't be broken." Ron answered. Harry could not stop himself from commenting, "any first year could have told me that much, Ron."
"You don't get it, you can't break it because if you do, you die." Ron replied, his ears turning red.
"Got it. I wonder why she hasn't agreed to it yet!" Harry responded, the concept of someone losing their life for going against their word was alien to him.
"Many in the Order would agree with the idea of extracting information but they won't stand against Dumbledore so we are stuck with an uninvited guest for the foreseeable future." Remus responded.
For the next couple of minutes no one spoke, a silence fell on the room but it did not last. Harry still had a lot of questions and he wasn't going to keep them buried for future.
"Was there anything in Barty Crouch's confession or my memories of the graveyard that could help us?"
"There were a few things in his confession, how he escaped, what he did afterwards and so on but nothing critical. But your memories of the graveyard were important in our response afterwards. Voldemort was boasting in front of you and gave a detailed run-through of his plan. The ritual he performed was some variant of a reanimation ritual, understandably very dark in nature. Dumbledore recognized the runes Wormtail made on Cedric's body, they were similar to the ones used in Inferi creation. He was able to understand the components of the ritual Voldemort used for resurrection. But he said that he did not have enough information to relate to." Sirius stopped that, Harry's lips were pursed, his eyes on the intertwined fingers of his and Hermione.
"I think that is enough information for one night, Harry had a long day and it would do him good to have some much-needed sleep." Remus stopped the discussion before another question could be asked. "You three, off to bed now, good night."
Remus went to the door and opened it, the trio walked out of the room. As they stood in front of the door to Regulus's room, now Harry's, Hermione's hand was on the doorknob. She did not open it, her eyes on Ron, her gaze questioning.
"What?" Ron asked innocently.
"Please don't mind Ron but can you leave us alone for some time?" Hermione asked him in a sweet voice.
"You don't have to be shy in front of me guys, I know what you are going to do inside the room." Ron replied, a mischievous smile on his face.
"Ron!" She punched him in the arm. "We are just going to talk."
"Really?" When she gave him a look that could kill, he relented his teasing. "Okay, I will leave you two to it. Good night, guys."
Ron turned and started to walk down the stairs. "Got my own room, now I need to get a girlfriend."
That made Harry chuckle and Hermione to grumble under her breath. They did not wait to get inside the room any longer and Hermione locked the room from inside.
"You look anxious, what's on your mind?" Harry asked, he placed his trunk on the bed and started to unpack. There wasn't much to unpack anyway.
"Harry, please don't get me wrong but why did you leave when we send Errol to give you the letter. It wasn't safe for you to leave that house, Order was planning to get you out of there." Hermione asked, her emotions were mixed, she wanted him out of there but she did not want him to be in danger. That stopped Harry's unpacking which had barely started.
"Errol wasn't there, Hermione." Harry answered and turned towards her.
"Harry we sent him the moment we got the news and Dumbledore left to talk with Fudge. There was an Order meeting going and one of the auror members got the tip. I believe Errol would have reached Privet Drive by the time you left." She replied, her voice getting dry.
"What does it matter now, Hermione? Aren't you happy to see me, have me here?" Harry asked, very much confused about her line of questioning.
"Do you really need a proof to know if I am happy to have you back or not?" Hermione's voice was louder than she wanted it to be, unable to understand how Harry reached that conclusion. "Harry, it wasn't safe out there, you must realize that. You were on thin ice already with the ministry, what if you had come across something else on your way here? Even if you were able to fend off the danger, you would have been in more trouble with the Ministry."
"I really don't care what Ministry thinks about me, Hermione. I needed to get out of there." Harry replied before taking a step closer to her, she was leaning against the pole of the four-poster.
"You can't be reckless, Harry, not when he is out there. Why can't you understand Harry that we worry about you and your every action affect us too." She slowly slid her arms over his shoulder, her fingers interlocked behind his neck. Harry moved his arms to snake around her waist and slowly brought her closer. "That's what I do, Hermione, I act reckless and enjoy watching you get worried over me."
That cheek earned him a punch in the shoulder from her. "Ouch, Hermione, it hurt."
"It will hurt more if you tried to do something stupid again." She replied, her nostrils flared. Harry just nodded before resting his forehead over hers.
"It was suffocating there, Hermione. Then Vernon told me that I should be gone for good before he returned. How could I refuse such an opportunity, Hermione?"
"Where would you have gone, Harry? You didn't know about this place before today and Burrow was empty, well except for Winky." She was looking into his emerald eyes, she was lost in their depths and she liked it that way.
"I was going to Leaky Cauldron, I would have contacted you, Sirius and Dumbledore from there." He answered and closed his eyes, "I will try to be more careful, okay?"
"Mm Hmm." She answered, she had closed her eyes too, this was too comfortable and relaxing, the warmth of his embrace, the feel of being with him, close to him. Their bubble of peace was burst by opening of the door.
In the threshold stood a very old looking elf, the patch of hair on his head was completely silver, the bat like ears were hanging limply. His skin was very wrinkly, a toga wrapped around his frail looking body, his long and pointy nose scrunched. "The enemy of the Dark Lord and the Mudblood in master Reggie's room, what would master and mistress think of Kreacher. Dirtying my master's room!"
"Leave Kreacher, now!" Sirius was standing a few feet away from the door. He was angry and disgusted with the elf as if his presence was enough to make him dirty.
"As traitor master says!" The elf bowed slightly and walked away slowly.
"Sorry for his interruption, he is very sour." Sirius told Harry. "I hope you are not planning to remain in his room tonight, Hermione. You know I can't be that lenient."
Hermione turned red with embarrassment and so did Harry, they dropped their hands and took one step back, each. They were looking at their feet now, unable to form any coherent thought.
"Hermione, I want to talk to him alone, if you don't mind." Sirius asked her politely but the words were not a request. She nodded and turned to wish Harry goodnight before leaving. She just gave him a peck on cheek and left with a smile.
Sirius locked the door once Hermione was out of the room. He walked up to Harry's trunk, he scrunched his nose at what he saw inside it. He started to throw the clothes on the floor which he did not consider good enough for, which was almost everything. By the end of his cleaning spree, the only articles of clothing that remained in the trunk were the formal robes Harry wore to Yule Ball, his Hogwarts uniform, the quidditch jersey from his third-year, couple of Weasley jumpers and the dragonhide vest.
"Kreacher!" the elf appeared out of thin air with a snap. "Take those away and burn them."
The elf left to follow the orders with another snapping sound, leaving Sirius and Harry alone. Sirius did not wait to give any explanation and walked to the wardrobe and opened it to survey the contents. The wardrobe was stuffed with assortment of various clothing. There were robes, slacks, shirts, formal robes, cloaks, enough clothes to dress Harry thirty times over. "I believe you can use it, most of them are Slytherin coloured or with Black crest but we can make do with them."
He pulled a set of robes and handed them to Harry, "try them, they should fit."
Harry did not move, he remained standing in place, the robe in his hand. "Oh, you can't be serious!"
"Oh, but I am Sirius!" Sirius replied, smiling at his own little joke. "I have seen you naked Harry, after your parents, I was the first one to hold you. I will close my eyes if you feel shy."
Sirius closed his eyes while Harry tried the robe, luckily it wasn't very loose. Sirius opened his eyes and surveyed him, he gave satisfied nod. "You should check in the wardrobe, there might be some clothes of your size."
"Sirius?" Harry asked.
"Hmm."
"Who was Regulus?" The question made Sirius flinch a bit, he recovered quickly but a sombre expression remained on his face. "He was my younger brother, Harry, favourite to my parents."
"What happened to him?" Harry could not stop himself from asking.
"He was killed a few weeks after you were born." Sirius stepped away from Harry and moved closer to the shelf where the photographs were. "He was the obedient son, the better son and he did what was expected of him as a Black."
Harry watched Sirius pick a photo frame and watch it with regret. "He was a Death Eater, he joined just after his seventeenth birthday and got himself killed a few days after his eighteenth. Some say that he was killed by Voldemort himself but he wasn't special enough to be killed by him, most likely he was killed on his orders."
"Why would he order to kill one of his followers?" Harry asked, it was difficult to accept that his brother was a Death Eater.
"That's a story of some other time, Harry. We have something else to talk about right now." Harry did not miss the look in his eyes, there was regret, deep inside the pit of his dark grey eyes. They both sat on the bed and Sirius threw his arm over Harry's shoulder in a patronizing gesture. "Harry, I know that you and Hermione are quite close, most of us here do, and I hope you will behave responsibly. You are at a very critical stage in your life Harry, you should learn where to draw a line."
When the meaning was understood by Harry, a deep blush adorned his face. He turned his face away from Sirius in an attempt to hide it. "Sirius, I, that is…."
Harry stammered and stuttered before he abandoned all attempts to give a smart reply and took a deep breath. "You don't need to give me 'the talk', Sirius."
"Oh, thank merlin! That was uncomfortable." Sirius stood up and walked to the door. "But I expect mature behaviour from you, Harry. You understand, right?"
Harry just nodded so Sirius bid him goodnight and left the room.
-0X0-0X0-0X0-
"Aunty, did you know about this? How is it possible?" She was bewildered, her finger on today's edition of Daily Prophet, it was the front-page story she was pointing at.
"What are you talking about, Susie?" Amelia walked to her side of breakfast table and read the newspaper over her shoulder.
"This!" There was a photo of Harry Potter during the wand-weighing ceremony. The headline of the story was above the photograph while the story below it.
Potter Under Criminal Investigation
By Regina Cogburn
Last evening, the famous teenage wizard who recently won the 'Wizards' Quintuple Cup', The-Boy-Who-Lived Harry Potter was charged under the Decree for the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery and under Section 13 of the International Confederation of Warlocks' Statute of Secrecy. An enquiry in the matter is pending and the disciplinary hearing in the case is scheduled for 12 August, 9 AM.
It had come to the notice of the Ministry that Mr. Potter had performed magic in front of a muggle in a muggle inhabited area. It is important for our readers to understand the severity of the actions and to show Ministry's unbiasedness, Mr. Potter is suspended from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry with immediate effect.
It is of note that this wasn't the first-time, Harry Potter had performed magic in front of muggles and in a muggle populated area. He had already received a warning three years back for a similar offence.
The team at Daily Prophet would like to remind the Wizarding public that the Statute of Secrecy is of paramount importance and Ministry would do everything in their power to maintain the secrecy of our world.
Amelia Bones read the article twice, needless to say that she was astonished. If a criminal case under Statute of Secrecy was registered, her department was surely involved and yet she did not receive any news or notification about it. Potter was already on the 'VIP List' due to the sensitivity of his case and everything of notice had to be brought in her notice immediately.
"You should send him a letter, you are friends with him." Amelia suggested, she was going over a to-do list in her mind.
"It's of no use aunty, Summer couldn't deliver my letters to him all summer. Wherever he is, they have wards up." Susan answered, her shoulders falling. Amelia put her hand on her shoulder in a sympathetic and reassuring manner.
"Security is important Susie and if he is right about You-Know-Who, then it's good that he has some ward work on the property." Amelia answered.
She felt bad for her niece. A week before last Christmas, Amelia received a letter from her niece, the letter showed her excitement, Amelia could even feel it. Susan was asked to the Yule Ball by Harry Potter and Amelia knew very well that her niece had a crush on the boy, she was happy for her girl. A couple of days later, she received another letter from her, this one was exact opposite to the last one. The letter had few of teardrops on it, she had written that Harry Potter had ditched her for his best friend, and yet she still remained friends with him.
It was a good thing that she was close with her niece, Amelia had made sure that Susan knew she could talk openly with her about everything. She was a teenage girl and it was a good thing to be friendly with her. It was difficult for her to accept that her niece was hurt and she would be able to do nothing about it. It was part of growing up, to get hurt, to fall and stand back, to move on. She just hoped that Susan would not get her heart broken by this boy again but the signs were indicating in that direction only.
"You could write to his friends and ask." Amelia suggested. She walked out of the kitchen to the living room, she had to make some appointments. She floo called her secretary to tell her to arrange the meetings. When she returned to the kitchen, Susan had left already, probably busy writing to friends.
Amelia left kitchen to get ready, she had a long day ahead of her. Twenty minutes later, she had bid her niece goodbye and left for her office. On entering the office, she was informed by her secretary about the scheduled meetings, according to which she had a meeting scheduled at eleven with the Senior Undersecretary. She wasn't looking forward to it, not one bit. She hated that woman, more than anyone she had the fortune of acquaintance. It wasn't a political rivalry, everyone knew that Amelia had no political aspirations. No, it all started way back, in her school life. Amelia Bones had the misfortune of being in the same year and house with Dolores Umbridge.
Hufflepuff house was known for its loyalty and hard work and yet the sorting hat had placed Dolores in Hufflepuff. There wasn't an ounce of loyalty in her, although there was no lacking of ambition, cunning or hard work in her. Throughout their time at Hogwarts, Amelia and Dolores had been on unfriendly terms. The things went worse when Amelia was made prefect, Dolores's jealousy made it impossible for her to stay out of Amelia's way. Everything went downhill in their final year when Amelia was made Head Girl and Dolores was her replacement Prefect for Hufflepuff.
One thing about Dolores Umbridge that no one can deny was that she holds grudges, even after two decades. They both joined Ministry, while Amelia applied for Auror Academy, Dolores went for the wizarding law apprentice position in Wizengamot. By the time Amelia's auror training was over, Dolores had completed her apprenticeship. While Amelia was a junior auror, Dolores was an assistant in legal team of Wizengamot.
The year Amelia was promoted to Senior auror, Dolores had risen to the post of team leader. After twelve years of job and training, when Amelia was promoted to Head Auror, Dolores was Secretary of Wizengamot Working Committee. The day Amelia was selected as Director to Department of Magical Law Enforcement, Dolores was appointed as Senior Undersecretary to the Minister of Magic.
At every important juncture in her profession life, Amelia found that Umbridge was always there, enjoying her success and Amelia had no problem with it, none at all. The problem was, Dolores never missed any opportunity to boast that how she was doing better than Amelia. Her remarks were subtle and yet they hurt, just a little bit. Dolores got her lifetime wish granted to her a couple of weeks back when her position was elevated and in the chain of command she had risen one step above Amelia. A month back, they were on the same level professionally and they did not have much opportunity to come across.
It wasn't that there was regular interaction between Amelia and Dolores even now, most of their official interaction was taken care through correspondence or through their respective secretaries or assistants.
No, the problem was that now she had authority over Amelia on the professional level. On the personal level, Amelia wanted that smug smile to be wiped off her face.
Amelia had reached the entrance to the Secretariat but she halted her steps for a moment, she needed to get her mind focussed. It won't do to lose your composure in front of her or to lash out. She entered the building and walked towards the Senior Undersecretary's office, she wanted to just barge in but professional ethics dictated her to ask her secretary if Umbridge was available for the meeting. But she was stopped by her secretary and was asked to wait outside. She patiently waited for 5 minutes before she was asked to enter.
"Good morning, Dolores." Amelia said, her eyes scanning the room. She had been to this office before Umbridge was appointed and the changes she brought were not appreciated by Amelia. The rectangular room was full with china and pink articles; there were drapes, hangings, wallpaper and all of them in pink; every inch on the wall was either covered with these or china saucers with different cat pictures. It was repulsive.
"Good morning, Bones." Dolores replied in her girlish voice. The formal tone did not go amiss from Madam Bones, Umbridge didn't even offer her a seat. "I don't seem to remember so please enlighten me about the subject of this meeting."
"I did not mention the subject to your secretary but I can assure you that it is important." Amelia replied, try to keep her face straight. She moved closer to the desk and sat on the chair in front of it, the chair wasn't very comfortable.
"I would be the judge of it. What is it Amelia that you wanted to discuss so urgently?" Dolores was not very patient and she was not even trying to hide it.
"Why wasn't I informed about last night?" Amelia asked, leaning forward in her seat.
"What about last night?" Umbridge asked and picked up a report to read.
"The Potter incident, a criminal investigation was launched and I wasn't informed. He is on the 'VIP list' and according to the procedure, I was to be informed before any action in the matter was taken." Amelia replied, the façade of emotionless expression falling off, it was replaced with disapproval.
"Oh dear, you don't remember, do you? He was removed from the list some time back. If that was it…." She did not even look up from the report.
"Dolores, I would like to remind you that he can't be removed without my approval. Besides, any criminal investigation has to be authorized by Director of DMLE which still is my position." Amelia's voice was now shaking with suppressed irritation and bubbling with anger.
"He was removed from the list with Minister's permission and I believe he has the authority to do that. That leaves us with the authorization of investigation. You need to recall, Amelia, that according to the new ministry structure Senior Undersecretary supersedes Directors of departments and I do have the authority to issue executive order for lower level investigations." Dolores explained it with an overly sweet voice as if she was explaining it to a five-year-old. Amelia would have given her some choice words but she was a mature and experienced witch and understood that it would be counterproductive to do so.
"If that would be all, Bones…." Dolores gestured towards the door with her raised chin, Amelia did not wait one more second in that room.
-0X0-0X0-0X0-
The lunch break was just over and Amelia had barely settled down when there was a knock on the door. Her secretary opened the door partially and entered.
"He is here." She told her boss.
"Send him in and please send a tea service." Amelia instructed. Her secretary left and a few moments later re-entered with a guest. Amelia stood up in her place to welcome the guest.
"Good afternoon, Director Bones." The wizard said and offered his hand which Amelia shook with firmness.
"Good afternoon to you too, sir. Please take a seat." She directed him to the chair on the opposite side of her desk.
"Looks like your work burden is very well taken care off." The wizard commented, looking at her almost blank desk, there were no files or parchments on it.
"I prefer to keep things in drawers rather than the desktop." She replied, she understood his reference to the order of investigation issued. "I wasn't aware that you had already spoken to her."
"I haven't but I had an audience with our Honourable Minister last night." The wizard answered and shifted slightly in his seat. "What is your opinion about this incident?"
"At this moment, none. I need to know a few more facts to form an opinion and I would prefer if that happens with the investigation report or the hearing." She answered flatly, she was now curious but she looked at the wizard sitting before her suspiciously.
"I am not here to influence your opinion or impartiality in the case, Madam Bones although I think the investigation report would not be coming to you." The wizard replied shaking his head gently.
"Why wouldn't…." then she realized it, "the restructuring."
"I hope he comes to his senses, soon." He stood up from his seat, "if you would allow me…."
"I would like to meet him." Amelia said in a firm tone, it was balanced between request and decision. "Before he comes here, that is."
"We both know Amelia that I can't allow it but I can assure you that he is safe and innocent." With that he started to walk towards the door.
"Farewell, Amelia." He said, one of his hand on the door knob.
"You can't keep him in hiding, locked away in some vault, you can't keep him safe always, Albus." Amelia commented, many things were going through her mind at that moment.
"I wish I could."
-0X0-0X0-0X0-
It had been 5 days since Harry had arrived at Grimmauld Place, needless to say that the days were as boring as History of Magic lectures by Prof. Binns. There was one meeting of Order and the teenagers were kept out of it. They had used one of the inventions of the twins, the extendable ears, to eavesdrop on the meeting but the meeting itself was extremely boring. There was nothing substantial in it, it was a normal gathering to know if everyone was able to do what they were assigned. No details.
There were some kind of guarding duties for a handful of places, all mentioned as vaults. There were tailing assignments, all codenamed and the only one Harry understood was 'silver pony' which had to be Lucius Malfoy. There were some other assignments too, Remus was being sent to stay with a werewolf pack in Scotland and convince them not to join Death Eaters, Dedalus Diggle was assigned the job to go through the financial records of ministry of last four-five years for discrepancies. Only interesting event of the meeting was the quarrel between Snape and Sirius, it ended rather quickly due to Dumbledore's intervention but it gave the teenagers something to laugh about.
Hermione had wanted Harry to meet Rita Skeeter the next day of his arrival but he had tried to postpone it as much as he could. He wasn't sure how he would react to seeing her or rather he was very much sure about how he would react. But Hermione was relentless in making him meet her.
"Hermione, what's the matter? Why are you so pushy about it?" Harry asked one evening, he had had enough of her suggesting to see the beetle.
"Harry I have told you I have a plan. Can't you just listen to me?" Hermione replied, she was getting fed up. She was trying to do something but she could not do that unless Harry agreed.
"I am listening to you Hermione. Why is it so important?" Harry asked, it was a good thing that they were alone, it was a rare occurrence these days.
"Harry, I don't like this situation and I think we can do something about it but others don't think so." She took hold of his left hand in hers and caressed the back of it with the pad of her thumb.
"What has happened to you, Hermione? You are not doing something illegal, right?" Harry asked, he didn't believe one bit in that but he needed a confirmation from her.
"No!" She jerked his hand away, an expression of hurt on her face. "How could you even think something like that for me?"
"I don't. I just want to know what you want to do." Harry answered, this time he was the one to take hold of her hand.
"Harry, I think you should give her an interview." When she saw Harry attempting to protest, she continued. "Please listen to me first. People only know what they are told by the Ministry through the Prophet. Don't you think they have the right to know the truth?"
"Hermione, I want people to accept the truth but I am not going to sensationalize Cedric's death for it." Harry answered and rested his other hand on Hermione's shoulder. "Besides, if Fudge is controlling the Prophet then why would they publish it?"
"We can try 'Witch's Weekly'." Hermione replied, uncertain about the alternative.
"It's a gossip magazine, it would be utterly useless to do that. It would become a joke." Harry answered. He slowly pulled her into a gentle hug, his finger's going in her hair, making it even more messed up. She just buried her face in his shoulder, her nose touching the side of his neck.
"I just want this to go back to normal." Hermione mumbled. "It was better before, even if it was bad."
"It will, Hermione, I hope it will."
-0X0-0X0-0X0-
When the next day Harry came down the stair for breakfast, he was greeted by an unexpected and not at all welcome visitor. He was walking down the stairs, a heavy tome held in his hand. He was about to approach the fireplace, intending to leave when Sirius entered through the kitchen.
"Where are you taking it?" Sirius asked in the sternest voice he had. His finger pointed at the tome clutched by Snape's side.
"I don't answer to you, Black." Snape answered in his trademark style, a sneer present.
"That book belongs to this house, Snape and you take permission from me before removing it from the house." Sirius replied, taking a couple of steps towards Snape in a threatening way.
"I seem to forget the date of your reinstatement in the House of Black." Snape answered before turning completely towards Sirius.
"You will when I will dump your sorry behind in a tub of grease. Oh wait, someone already dumped some of it on your head." Sirius answered and thrust his hands into his coat pockets. For any unexperienced wizard, the gesture was just that, a gesture but Snape knew that Sirius's fingers were around his wand. He took a step closer and dropped the book on Sirius's foot. Sirius flinched but did not break the eye-contact.
"Oops, your precious heirloom was quite heavy." He turned to leave but turned back and put his hand inside his robe, Sirius did not waste any time in drawing his wand. Snape just smirked at the action. "Don't flatter yourself, Black. If I wanted you hurt, you would be begging me for your dear life."
"Let's give it a try now, shall we?" Sirius replied.
"I don't have the luxury to stay home all day, Black." He pulled out a bundle of parchment tied with a ribbon and dropped on the table in front of the fireplace and left without another word.
"What's that Sirius?" Sirius bent down and picked up the book, it was some obscure old book about potions. Harry could not understand the title, it was runic but he noted the image of a cauldron on the front, which must mean that it was a potion's book.
"I have no idea." Sirius left the room and started towards the stairs. Harry reached to the table and picked up the bundle of parchment and walked down to the kitchen. He slowly removed the ribbon, the bundle was their Hogwarts letters.
"What you got there?" One of the twins asked from the dining table.
"Snape just dropped off our letters." He walked towards the table and handled everyone their respective letters. He then walked up to where Hermione was and took the seat next to her.
"Looks like our little genius was made prefect!" one of the twins said, looking towards Hermione. She blushed at the remark, "I might not be the prefect."
"Oh common, Hermione, you and Harry would be the prefects, no doubt about it." Ron jumped in the conversation.
"I think Dean would be made prefect, he is a better student." Harry replied, not hopeful about his prospects, he wanted to be one but he knew he wouldn't be.
"It's not just about grades, Harry, prefect has to be a leader through example. And you certainly fit that description." Hermione tried to raise his hope.
"Open up then." Molly came to the dining table and stood behind Ginny.
Hermione was first to open the envelope and something metallic fell out of it which was followed by a loud shriek. Hermione was so excited that she threw herself on Harry and pulled him in a vicelike hug.
"Congrats, Hermione. You deserve it." Harry congratulated her, patting her back to calm her excitement.
Molly looked at the twins in a questioning look, they both stuffed the letter in their pockets without opening. "It's for the first time that a Weasley in the final year is neither a Head Boy nor quidditch captain."
The twins slowly turned back towards Harry to avoid the disapproving look they were receiving from their mother. "Let's see your badge, Harry."
Harry opened his envelope but there was no metallic badge inside it, just a parchment.
"No way!" Both the twins shouted in unison, they were not looking at Harry but towards their youngest brother.
"It's me."
A/N: I hope that the next chapter will put things on the right track. Please Review.