St. Augustine Church, London, England
It was typical fall weather in London, the chilly moist air and dark clouds mirroring the people who were lined up outside the church’s mood. It was nearly an hour before the funeral was to begin but already there were over one hundred people sombrely waiting for the doors to be opened. Harry, Ginny, Hermione, and Ron were in that line, accompanied by Tonks and Lupin, and immense gloom hung over them all, and what would otherwise be a nice escape from school was filled with tears and sorrow.
Earlier that morning, after flooing to the Ministry of Magic (everyone agreed that Emma seeing the now charred shell of her old house by Headquarters would be too much) they dropped Emma off at her aunt’s house. Then the group had stopped by a small department store and purchased some more appropriate clothing for the situation (other than Lupin and Tonks, none of them had been to a funeral before and were therefore unfamiliar with exactly what the funeral would entail). Harry, Ron, and at Harry’s urging, Lupin, all wore newly tailored black suits with dark ties, and Hermione and Ginny had both chose dark coloured dresses with black shawls. Tonks had chosen to wear a black skirt with a white shirt and had changed her hair to a honey blonde that was the closest colour to normal any of them had seen.
The clock in the church struck nine, the bell’s signalling the time to everyone below. One by one, people turned to face the street, the quiet murmurs from earlier had died out, the only sound to be heard was the solemn resonance of the church bells tolling.
Ginny gripped Harry’s hand as the front of the slow procession turned onto the street in front of the church. The hearse was followed by two black town cars and made its way up to the front of the church, the rows of people parting ways silently to make room for the occupants to step out. Six men stepped towards the hearse and opened the back door.
Harry’ heart jumped momentarily at seeing the cold hard truth for the first time, Joy really was dead, this was not some elaborate farce. He returned Ginny’s grip and took a breath. The pallbearers took the sides of the coffin, removed it from the car and, moving in lockstep, began to walk towards the opening doors of the church where the priest was waiting.
The front town car opened and out stepped two men, presumably Emma’s two uncles that she had talked about, followed by an elderly couple that could only be Joy’s parents judging by the similarities. The woman looked nearly identical to Joy and parts of her face reminded him of Emma.
The next car opened up and the woman that Harry knew to be Emma’s only aunt exited the car closely followed by Emma who was desperately clutching at her aunt’s hand. There was one thing that was different with Emma since they had dropped her off, her hair was no longer her normal black, but instead a silvery grey. It was not the grey of an old man but instead seemed to be made of metal than anything else; waves of it flowed off her shoulders down her back. Harry flashed back to the first time he had met her and remembered that Emma’s hair had changed colour back then too, some latent metamorphmagus ability that Tonks had briefly mentioned, although this was the only other instance of it he had seen.
Harry heard Ginny hold back a sob and rubbed took her hand in both of his, knowing that if he looked over at her he wouldn’t be able to hold back his tears either. He did look over at Ron and saw that Hermione had collapsed in his arms and was crying into his shoulder, all the while he was trying desperately to maintain a strong composure like Harry patting her gently on the back hoping it might help.
The procession marched into the church, the crowd of people falling into line behind the family, many of them already brushing tears from their eyes. Harry put an arm around Ginny and, following Lupin and Tonks, entered the church.
The church was damp and dark thanks to the weather outside with most of the light coming from rows of candles scattered throughout the building. As the mourners behind them got to their seats Harry stared vacantly at the metal coffin that sat so stoically in the middle of the nave. This was his first funeral but it seemed like his hundredth, the weight of everyone else’s deaths lay there inline with Joy’s at the foot of the altar . No matter how many times Ginny, Remus, Hermione, or Ron told him that these deaths weren’t his fault every time his thoughts drifted back to the prophecy that it was his responsibility that no one else died.
“We’ll do it Harry, we’ll stop him,” Ginny whispered feeling his torment through the bond.
Harry nodded, never breaking contact with the coffin, as the priest rose from his seat and started.
“Dearly beloved, we are here today to celebrate the life of Joy Vivian Massey…”
South Audley Street, London, England
After the funeral the crowd travelled a few blocks to Joy’s sister’s house for the wake, a custom Harry had heard about, but as with the wizarding world’s view on death, didn’t fully understand.
Harry and the others entered the house and were greeted by Joy’s sister who was putting on a brave face despite the circumstances.
“Hi my name is Harry Potter and this is…”
“You must be Emma’s friends,” the woman interrupted, “She’s told me a lot about you over the past few hours. I’m glad she has such great friends to take care of her during this horrible time. I’m Annie Massey, Joy’s sister. I feel horrible for Emma, first her father… and now this. How does she seem to be holding up to you?”
“Emma?” Harry asked, “well I don’t think it’s exactly sunk in yet, I mean this is the first day she’s even seen the repercussions of the attack. At school she seemed to just be going about her daily routine.”
“Attack?” Annie asked, “It wasn’t an attack, the gas main in the house was leaky and the stove ignited it.”
“Erm…” Harry searched desperately for a way out of his mistake.
“Sorry we’re all just a little shaken up ourselves. Harry’s house was just across the street from theirs and we’d gotten to be really good friends with Joy over the summer,” Hermione chimed in mercifully, covering his slip.
“I know, I know, I’m sorry I am too.” Annie smiled sadly and dabbed at her eyes with a handkerchief, “may I ask you for a favour?”
“Sure,” Harry said.
“Well with Joy’s passing Emma will come into my custody seeing as I’m her guardian. I won’t be able to look after her at school so I’m hoping that you might be able to… for me. I want to send her back as soon as possible because I want to make sure her education isn’t disrupted, and I think the best way to help her deal with the pain is to keep busy.”
If only you knew, Harry thought to himself. “Of course, we want to make sure she’s okay too.”
“Thank you very much, now I’m sure Emma would love to talk to you, last I saw her she was sitting in the kitchen.”
Harry did indeed find Emma in the kitchen. She was sitting at the table staring forlornly at her hands; her hair had fallen to both sides of her face hiding her behind a silvery waterfall.
“Em, it’s Harry,” he started walking up to her, “could we sit down with you?”
She nodded mutely and everyone took up a spot around the kitchen table.
“I like your new hair colour Emma, very fetching” Tonks gently teased as she brushed it out of the little girl’s eyes.
“I don’t want it, it makes me look old, like Dumbledore.”
“Don’t worry Emma you don’t look a thing like headmaster, you haven’t got his wrinkles!” Ron said trying to get her to laugh but failing.
Emma murmured something under her breath too quiet for any of them to hear.
“What’d you say?” Harry asked.
“Could… could we go now?” she said a little louder, sounding almost as if she were afraid she would get in trouble for asking such a thing.
“Of course we can, where do you want to go?”
“I want to go back to school. I want to be able to stop him from hurting anyone else. I want to learn how to fight him.”
Harry could feel some of Emma’s anger through the bond and it saddened him. Someone who had been so happy and precocious that she’d managed to help pull Harry out of his depression this summer was now being subjected to just the same thing he had. What troubled Harry was he didn’t know if he’d be able to return the favour.
“Well if you’re sure that you want to go we just need to go check with your aunt…” Lupin started but Emma had already walked out of the kitchen towards the front door.
Harry exchanged a worried glance with Ginny who clearly felt Emma’s sorrow as well. Everyone stood and followed her course to the front where they saw Emma talking to her Aunt.
“Emma says that she wants to go back to school,” Annie said looking up at Lupin and Tonks. “You know my thoughts on her going to school, but I don’t think that it is a good idea so soon after.”
“Normally I wouldn’t either, but Emma’s found a new home and family in Hogwarts and I think that right now what she needs most are her friends, as well as things to keep her busy.” Lupin said adopting his most official professorial tone. “I am also a representative of the school and sometime in the future, whenever is convenient for you, I’d like to sit down and have a brief conversation about what Emma’s education will entail.”
Everyone knew that Lupin had been authorised by Dumbledore to tell her new guardian about Emma being a witch and guessed that he’d probably wait until later to tell her though.
Annie seemed somewhat confused by the request but nodded her head, “Sure… I’ll contact you later next week if that’s okay.” She then looked down at Emma and sighed, “I guess you may be right about her returning to school, I really would like to keep her here but that would be more out of my selfish want for something that reminds me of my sister I think. Would I be able to come visit her occasionally?”
A smile flashed across Lupin’s face then he nodded, “I’m sure that could be arranged.”
“Well Emmaline, I guess you can go back to school if you’re sure that’s what you want. You heard our conversation and I’ll try and visit as much as I can. So… you want to go?”
Emma nodded, “yeah.”
Annie sighed then looked back up, “well I guess she’s ready then. If she changes her mind though know that you can bring her back any time of any day, I don’t want her to think I’m abandoning her.”
“You’re doing no such thing,” Tonks said.
‘Emma I love you loads, just say the word and you can come on back here okay?” Annie said kneeling down and hugging Emma tightly, tears forming in her eyes.
“I love you too,” Emma said hugging her back.
After the hug Hermione took Emma’s hand and then, following Lupin’s lead, left the sorrow filled house and stepped into the ominous grey fog.
Against Tonks and Lupin’s advice the small group had opted to walk the dozen blocks to the public entrance of the Ministry of Magic. They took their time, no-one exactly wanting to go back to Hogwarts immediately. Hermione and Tonks each had one of Emma’s hands and were trying their best to lighten her dark mood with light conversation. Ron too took part, making several jokes that in the past had at least elicited a grin from the little girl.
Harry and Ginny knew, and felt, that none of this was doing much good. Her hurt was too deep and new. The couple had dropped back a bit from the rest of them and Ginny spoke quietly to Harry,
“If I feel this miserable I can’t imagine how badly she feels,” Ginny said sympathetically. She’d been experiencing these pangs of sorrow she knew weren’t her own ever since Emma had learned of her mother’s death. “I wish there was something we could do to help her.”
“She needs time,” Harry spoke for the first time since leaving the, “and we need to start working harder on the DA.”
“Harry, we can’t do more than we are already. We have nearly eighty kids in it and at least one group is meeting each day of the week. On top of Offensive Light Magic, I don’t think we can do much more without blowing our cover. We do want it to be secret still don’t we?”
“We have to, I don’t trust Dumbledore to help us. And if Tom found out this was happening, then everyone in it, and their families, would become targets. Anyone who gets near me becomes a target haven’t you noticed that!” Harry snapped.
Ginny’s temper immediately flared and Harry winced, “I know that Harry! But Moody and Shacklebolt, not to mention you, have all said that this is war. It’s nasty, dirty, unfair, and horrible, but we’re in it now and we can’t get out of it ‘til it’s finished. You’re not forcing people to put their lives on the line for you; we’re all doing it willingly!” She took a breath and with it took some of the edge off her temper, “And that, that is the difference between us and Tom Harry, we are coming together through a desire to protect, not because there’s some madman promising power and riches to anyone who kills under his name! That’s also why you’re going to win Harry, because it won’t be only you going into battle, it will be all of us. You’ve heard the thing’s Ron’s been learning about Muggle warfare, the people who win are the one’s who were unified under one cause, and weren’t just fighting for power or land.”
“What about Alexander? Or Genghis Kahn?” Harry said.
“Well those are… different. Dammit Harry I was trying to make a point not a historical statement!” Ginny cursed looking up for the first time at Harry’s face to see him grinning slightly.
“You’re too easy sometimes” he chuckled then kissed her on the cheek, “thank you though, that was exactly what I needed to hear right now. I think, my dear, that you just dethroned Hermione for who will be my speechwriter if I become Minister of Magic.”
“Uh-oh I don’t want to take that away from Hermione, what will she do then?” Ginny asked, glad to see she had lifter his spirits some.
“Maybe she could be in charge of the House Elf Liberation Front or something.”
“Or you could just give her Umbridge’s job, she’d like that I think.”
“And then make Umbridge Chief Undersecretary to the Broom Closet of Windsor.”
“Think that’s too good for her, maybe we could get her a job as a tester for the Twin’s pranks?”
“That’s far too cruel Ginny, I wouldn’t wish that on anyone. I can’t imagine what Fred and George would do if they got their hands on her.”
They were a few steps though listing the different ways Umbridge would be harassed when the familiar red phone booth came into sight at the end of the street.
Everyone congregated around it and Tonks, Lupin, and Ron waited outside as Harry, Ginny, Hermione, and Emma went down in the first one.
As the bottom of the glass case broke through the ceiling of the Ministry the phone booth was filled with a cacophony of noises from below, but it wasn’t the usual hustle and bustle noises of a busy office. As the phone booth continued to lower Harry glanced over to the others and was glad to see that he wasn’t the only one who’d drawn their wand at the sounds from below; Ginny, Emma, and Hermione all had drawn theirs too.
“If there’s some sort of attack go to the fireplaces as fast as possible, don’t go to Hogwarts either, go to Headquarters, it’ll be safer.” Harry said calmly as he waited for the rest of the scene to come into view.
What greeted them was absolute chaos. The usually constant traffic of people and messages through the grand entrance to the Ministry had come to a complete halt, replaced now with a line of burly looking wizards in navy blue cloaks who had formed a barricade in front of the dozens of gold elevators which lead to the various departments. On the other side of this line were hundreds of witches and wizards all milling around, unsure of what exactly to do now that they couldn’t get to their offices.
Thankfully no one seemed to take much notice of Harry and the other’s arrival and they quickly got out of the phone booth sending it back up to the street.
“Excuse me do you know what’s going on?” Hermione asked a very small man with an enormous black beard who was scurrying by.
He jumped as she tapped him on the shoulder and he turned around clutching his bag, clearly terrified. “What!”
Hermione was startled by his response but repeated her question, “do you know what’s going on?”
“They passed it! The bloody codger managed to force it through. This completely sidesteps all of the checks and balances put there for this very reason!” He turned his back on them and ran off for the nearby fireplace.
“What did they pass?” Harry looked over at Hermione but she appeared to be as confused as he was.
“Excuse me ma’am!” Harry said to a nearby witch who was walking towards the stairway.
She turned to face them and Harry saw the flash of recognition as her eyes landed on the scar. “Harry Potter,” she murmured.
“Yeah, that’s me.” he said impatiently, “ Would you happen to know what’s going on?” He asked, pointing with his wand towards the group of blue robed wizards.
“The start of martial law that’s what. Fudge was just granted ‘emergency’ regulatory and offensive powers by the Wizengamot. Course he didn’t mind that half of the Wizengamot wasn’t there, probably had a hand in them not being there in the first place.” She stopped suddenly looking around nervously, “I’m sorry I really must go.” The woman said making to leave, but then stopped for a moment now looking over her shoulder, “you really should leave. I don’t think you’re safe here right now.” She then turned on her heel and made for the stairs.
Up above them there was a cracking noise and the bottom of the phone booth breached through the ceiling. Tonks, Ron and Lupin stepped out of it a moment later their wands drawn.
“What’s going on?” Lupin asked.
“Fudge passed some sort of law that gives him power or something. We’re not entirely sure.”
“They’re not letting anyone into their offices though, there’s a bunch of guards around the elevators,” Ginny added.
All of a sudden the light in the building flickered in and out, and the fountain proclaiming magical cooperation between races stopped running. Everyone who was in the building now stopped talking a looked around nervously.
There was a loud snapping noise that made everyone jump and from above the magnificent main archway a large blank banner unfurled between the two large pictures of Minister Fudge. Words began to appear on the banner in flowing golden ink.
Per resolution M58F73 passed on this day of October 19, 1995 by the High British Wizengamot, Prime Minister Cornelius Fudge has been granted extraordinary powers to protect the greater wizarding population of Britain from whichever forces, foreign or otherwise, he deems a direct threat to the magical institution of Britannia. This power is limited to a strict six (6) month timetable whereupon it may be extended if deemed necessary by the Wizengamot at the end of said six (6) months.
The words lit up then faded leaving them emblazoned there on the paper, and the entire crowd staring upwards in complete disbelief. No one was saying anything, the silence was absolute, it seemed that a move like this from the Prime Minister was too much to comprehend.
Harry continued to stare up the decree, watching the magical photos of Fudge on either side smile weakly as he sat in his chair. He felt a hand grab his arm and turned around.
Lupin’s face was ashen, “we need to leave now while we still can. Everyone move slowly towards the fireplaces and then floo immediately to Hogwarts. Harry you take Emma and go first, no arguments.”
Around them people finally started to talk again, most of them talking to others trying to work out just what this meant. Harry, holding onto both Emma and Ginny’s hands, wove through the mass of humanity. The noise was beginning to increase around them, a slowly growing crescendo of outcries and a curse words.
They pushed through a few more people and finally arrived at the one of the Ministry’s fireplaces used for floo. Harry grabbed the jar of floo powder and opened it. “Ginny take some, you and Emma go first.”
“But Lupin said…”
“Just do it, please, I want to make sure you both get out okay before I leave.” Harry said earnestly, staring straight at Ginny.
Ginny nodded then grabbed a large handful of the powder and grabbed Emma. She tossed into the fire then, with Emma leading, walked into the fire and turned to face Harry. “Hogwarts!”
Harry looked behind him to try and find where the others were but couldn’t find them, through the crowd however he could see the still motionless blue-cloaked guards manning their positions. He turned back to the fireplace expecting it to be empty but Ginny and Emma were still standing there looking rather confused.
“Why didn’t it go?”
“I don’t know, nothing happened. Let me try again, pass me the floo.” Ginny took another handful and threw it into the flames, and once again stepped into the green flames. “Hogwarts!” She shouted emphatically, the flames turned blue and grew in intensity but nothing happened.
All around them the crowd was starting to push against the walls, their confusion was now growing into full-fledged outrage. To Harry’s shock the guards had now raised their wands and were pointing them at the crowd. He spun back to the fireplace, “We need to leave now! Go to Headquarters and then straight to Hogwarts.” He handed Ginny her third handful of floo powder, “and Gin, keep your wand out,” He said seriously.
“You too,” She said smiling, “See you in a second. Twelve Grimmauld Place!” This times the flames once again turned blue and grew but continued on and engulfed the two girls and then died down leaving an empty fireplace.
Satisfied they had gotten away Harry ran down the line of fireplaces hoping to find where Hermione, Ron, Lupin and Tonks had gotten to. He stuck close to the walls, trying to avoid the bustling crowd who had now started to push forwards towards the barricade; the ones in front were helpless to escape the crushing weight of the rows of people behind. The mob mentality seemed to be growing out of control now and Harry could make out a few witches and wizards who had actually drawn their wands.
On some unspoken cue the blue-cloaked guards took one step forward, aimed to their left, and fired. What was a mob now turned into pure chaos, the first casualties of the guards’ spells dropped to the ground, stunned. Even though this one barrage clearly had taken the fight out of the crowd the guards did not stop, in fact, if anything they increased the pace of their firing. The sky above Harry was streaked with blue as the spells ricocheted around the stone building.
Harry had run down nearly the entire length of the hall still not catching a glimpse of any of his friends when from behind him he heard a shout.
“Harry! Harry Potter!”
He spun around quickly and saw a red shock of hair and the unmistakable face of Arthur Weasley running towards him.
“Mr. Weasley!” he shouted.
“What in blazes are you doing here Harry?” Arthur asked he kept his one hand in his jacket, clearly holding onto his wand.
“We were at Joy Massey’s funeral and were heading back to Hogwarts. We were split up when this whole thing started, I was able to get Ginny and Emma out before though.” Harry said waving his hand around in reference to the now panicked crowd all around them.
“Now we need to get you out of here this very moment, come over to this fireplace. You’ve grown a bit since I last flooed with you so I think I’ll catch the next one. Sharpish now!”
Harry grabbed a handful of floo and tossed it into the fireplace then paused, “oh and the floo to Hogwarts doesn’t want to work for some reason so I sent Ginny and Emma to Headquarters.”
“Fine, fine! Just go now!” Arthur implored looking behind him at the advancing line of guards.
“Twelve Grimmauld Place!” Harry shouted, then felt the familiar sensation of the flames wrap around him as he began to spin, at the last second before he went away he remembered to grab his glasses so they wouldn’t fall off.
Seconds later he collapsed into the fireplace at Headquarters in a heap of soot.
“You can catch a snitch 100 feet up with your pinkie but you still can’t floo,” he heard Ron say as he stood up and put his glasses back on.
“Very funny,” Harry retorted. He looked up and saw that behind Ron stood Tonks, Hermione, and Lupin looking somewhat cross. Harry pre-empted their reprimand, “I had to make sure that Ginny and Emma got out okay and those fireplaces don’t fit three. Guess who’s coming behind me though?” As if on cue the fireplace lit up once again and out stepped Arthur.
“Hello there!” he said then paused after surveying the room, “Where are Ginny and Emmaline?”
“I told them not to wait here and just floo straight to Hogwarts, thought it was safer,” Harry said.
“Quite right Harry, quite right. I must say things have gone rather pear shaped around the Ministry today,” Arthur said dusting his jacket off.
“Do you know what’s going to happen now?” Ron asked his father.
“I haven’t the faintest. Truthfully no one thought that this was going to happen. Maybe a coup by he-who-must-not-be-named, or maybe Fudge getting sacked, but this is a third option none of us believed possible.”
“Why couldn’t we floo to Hogwarts from the Ministry?” Hermione asked.
“I don’t really know, the only way it could have been shut off like that is if for some reason a hold was placed on the network leading in and out of Hogwarts. This connection,” Lupin pointed towards the ornate mantle of the fireplace, “is a one to one connection set up by Professor Dumbledore himself meaning that it isn’t regulated by the Ministry.”
“It may have just been a mistake made in the chaos of this morning, but if I had to guess I think it most likely has something to do with this new turn of events at the Ministry,” Arthur offered. Everyone nodded running through what these “turn of events” just might mean.
“Well, we probably should be getting back to Hogwarts, now that the news is out I’m sure things will change around the school. Plus, we don’t want to leave Emma and Ginny wondering if we made it or not. I’m not sure which fireplace they would’ve taken so lets just go to the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom okay?” Lupin grabbed the small silver snuffbox full of floo off of the mantle and held it out so everyone in the group could get a handful. “Would you like to come with us Arthur? I’m sure you could stay and have dinner at least.”
“As appealing as a Hogwarts meal sounds I think I need to leave too. I’ll have to try and get in contact with Amelia and Dawlish, see if they have any other information. I’m sure the Order’ll be having a meeting soon enough. Tell Ginny I send my love, I’ll see you all soon enough again.” He stepped into the fire and was gone a moment later.
Harry left next; then Ron, Hermione, Lupin, and Tonks all followed suit and found themselves falling over each other as they each materialized in the classroom right up against a few desks that were pushed up against the fireplace. All around them were confused or startled looking first years.
“Sorry Nicholas, I forgot that you would be having class at the moment,” Lupin apologized to the professor as he untangled himself from the pile of chairs and people.
“Oh it’s quite alright, never a dull moment teaching here at Hogwarts. Are you all alright?”
Harry pushed Ron off of him and used a chair to lift himself off, then helped Hermione up, “Yeah we’re fine. Ron just weighs a tonne.”
The first years giggled nervously, most of them had never been this close to the famous Harry Potter and were anxious to see if he’d be as crazy as the Prophet made him out to be.
“Ah Harry, and Miss Granger and Mr Weasley! I didn’t see you three under that pile. Class these three students are some of the top of their grade when it comes to Defence Against the Dark Arts. If you get a chance to corner them in the hallway some day ask them a few questions, I guarantee you you’ll learn something!” Flamel exclaimed enthusiastically, causing Harry and Hermione to blush slightly, and Ron much more so.
“Well once again sorry about the disturbance, we’ll just be going now. Hope we didn’t scare any of you too much,” Tonks said bowing courteously.
They worked their ways through the crowded maze of tables towards the front, Lupin stopped at the blackboard and walked up to the professor. They conversed for a moment in whispers so quiet that even the silent students couldn’t pick up on what was being said. Finally Flamel sighed, “Very well, I assume the others know now or will be informed soon enough. I’ll leave later this evening.”
Lupin nodded “I’ll talk to Severus and Minerva tonight,” then shook the professor’s hand and turned to Harry, “Let’s go find Ginny and Emma, they’re probably worried by now.”
They found them at the Great Hall talking to each other quietly as Emma nursed a glass of milk.
“Harry!” Ginny exclaimed and ran up and hugged him.
“Hey there,” Harry said as he took Ginny’s hand and sat down at the table next to Emma. “Turns out it was a good thing you two left when you did. The guards started to fire on the crowd a few minutes later.”
“Are you lot okay here for a moment? We’ll come back in a little bit, just have to go tell the Headmaster about what happened.” Lupin asked.
“We’re fine, we’ll just be here or in commons room if you need us,” Harry said and the two headed off up the main stairs.
“They started to do what?” Ginny prompted a moment later.
“It got a bit more rowdy after we got you out and for some reason the guards started stunning anyone who was moving, it was absolute bedlam,” Ron exclaimed.
“Your dad was there though and he helped me get out in time, he says he sends his love,” Harry added.
“Hermione what’s wrong?” Ron asked looking across the table to Hermione who had a worried expression knitted across her brow. She had grown very quiet since leaving the Ministry.
“I’m just trying to sort out why Fudge would do something like this. He still hasn’t truly acknowledged that Voldemort is the threat he really is, aside from the posters and pamphlets the Ministry’s not really doing anything to stop him. I find it hard to believe that he suddenly decided to act.”
“Well maybe he did, you’ve seen the lists,” Harry said referring to the weekly list of missing witches and wizards that was published in The Prophet.
“Why would it be a problem if he finally did pull his head out of his arse and start doing what he’s supposed to?” Ron exclaimed then winced, “erm… sorry Emma.”
For her part Emma didn’t really seem to be very much into the conversation and simply stared into the opaque surface of her milk.
“Because it’s totally out of character for him. You were there Harry, you told us what he said. He emphatically denied the return of Tom, he was set of destroying you and Dumbledore’s reputations.”
“Did you see the way those first years looked at me back there? Judging by that I’m pretty sure he still is.” The year before the attacks seemed to come from all sides and it had nearly crushed him until he’d finally learned to just ignore all of the press.
“Plus Ron, let’s not forget about who his second in command is,” Ginny said.
“Umbridge,” Ron murmured then looked up, “well then I guess you’re right. No one who works with that old hag could be meaning anything good. What do you think he’s up to then?”
“It seems like he’s essentially instituting martial law on the wizarding population, why he’d need that I’m not sure. We do know that he doesn’t have any oversight which means no one can dictate what he does.”
“Umm guys…” Ginny started but Ron interrupted.
“Maybe Fudge’s joined sides with Voldemort? You’ve seen how cozy he is around Malfoy.”
“Really guys…” Ginny tried again but Harry broke in.
“That’s it!” he exclaimed excited to be able to return to his favourite person to hate besides Snape, “Lucius put him under the Imperius curse and is now controlling him.”
“Harry that’s impossible. Ministry law’s enacted after the fall of Grindlewald stipulates that the three most senior Ministry officials must undergo a series of tests every few days to ensure they haven’t been placed under any sort of corrupting spells.”
“Guys!” Ginny shouted, “I think I know what Fudge wants to do with his power.” She pointed towards the main entrance.
There, in front of the open door, stood none other than Cornelius Fudge himself accompanied by the squat toad-like form of their most hated former teacher Dolores Umbridge. They were flanked on each side by a veritable platoon of the same blue-cloaked guards that had attacked the Ministry employees earlier.
The minister took a step forward, cleared his throat, and then pointed the wand at his neck. “ATTENTION STUDENTS AND STAFF OF HOGWARTS SCHOOL OF WITCHCRAFT AND WIZARDRY!” He began then unravelled a scroll of parchment that was handed to him by Dolores.
“PER RESOLUTION M58F73 WHICH WAS RATIFIED THROUGH THE WIZENGAMOT THIS MORNING, THIS SCHOOL, ITS FACULTY, AND ITS STUDENTS WILL BE PLACED UNDER DIRECT MINISTRY CONTROL. THIS IS DUE TO SUSPICIOUS, AND POTENTIALLY TREASONOUS, ACTIONS IN THE CLASSROOMS.”
At that moment several professors including Snape, Lupin, Tonks, and the Headmaster himself came running down the main staircase into the hall.
Fudge saw them and held up a hand as if he were asking them to bear with him for just a moment longer.
“EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY THE FOLLOWING PEOPLE WILL BE TAKEN INTO MINISTRY CUSTODY FOR INTERROGATION.” The minister paused for effect, clearly relishing this moment.
“KINGSLEY SHACKLEBOLT
ALASTOR MOODY
NYMPHADORA TONKS
SEVERUS SNAPE
REMUS LUPIN
MINERVA MCGONAGALL
RUBEUS HAGRID
… AND ALBUS DUMBLEDORE”
Everyone in the Great Hall sat silent, the names still echoing through the halls of the school. The students sat completely motionless between the two groups of adults, waiting to see what the next move would be.
Harry looked around him to see his friends in various states of shock, or in Hermione’s case, disgust. He then realized that expression on her face and whispered, “Hermione…please don’t say anything. You don’t need to be taken away as well.”
Instead of stop her it seemed to act as a trigger “This is absurd!” She shouted, throwing off Harry and Ron’s hands as she stood up. “This makes a mockery of the entire…” and then suddenly Hermione simply disappeared from where she had been standing a moment earlier. There was a soft thump as something landed on the bench at the table. Then Harry saw it, Hermione was disillusioned, and stunned! It was a very good charm as he could barely make out the edges but by looking slantwise you could just make out her outline. She had collapsed against the table as she had fallen, and right now her head was being supported by a pile of mince pies.
Fudge and Umbridge had been looking at Dumbledore and the other teachers at the moment of Hermione’s outcry, and thankfully hadn’t been able to turn around in time to see who it was.
Harry nudged Ron who was looking around frantically but had been wise enough not to make any noise. He jerked his head over at Hermione’s direction then mouthed disillusioned, then looked up at where the teachers stood. Something caught his eye as he surveyed the group and he backtracked, landing on Snape. Once again he saw it but he didn’t believe it.
Snape had just nodded directly at him.
“You know that in the muggle world this form of governing is called a dictatorship?” Dumbledore spoke for the first time. He was completely unfazed by what was occurring, and talked to the minister in a professorial tone. Behind him more of the professors as well as other students were gathering on the landing
“THIS!” Fudge shouted, his voice cracking in his vehemence, “IS DOING WHAT’S BEST FOR THE WIZARDING WORLD!”
“Cornelius,” a hint of exhaustion appeared in Dumbledore’s voice, “we cannot be fighting two wars at a time like this.”
“Ah-ha! You admitted it, you admitted you were planning a war against the Ministry of Magic!” The minister roared excitedly, madness showing on his face.
“That is not what I was saying Cornelius, I was simply saying Voldemort is a master of doing just this, creating antagonism inside his opponents. Surely you haven’t forgotten the First War?”
“DON’T LECTURE ME ON HISTORY!”
“Harry,” Ron whispered, “we have to do something. Fudge’s going to lock everyone up.”
“We’re not ready, we’ve only been training for a few weeks. Plus we’d just get everyone in more trouble… or worse.” Harry said dismissing it immediately.
Seeing as this route was getting him nowhere Dumbledore tried another tact, “If you want to question me I will come willingly, but leave my staff here to run classes as normally.”
“You don’t understand do you Albus? YOU ARE FINISHED! You cannot train and run an army under the Ministry’s nose who are running completely outside of government and Auror sanctions!”
Then it hit Harry; the list, the army. Fudge wasn’t talking about the D.A. or some other student run club, he was talking about the Order! It was a secret organization certainly, but one whose actions were fairly well known during the First War. Somehow Fudge must have found out that it had reconvened and was operating once again.
“Mum and Dad,” Ginny whispered horror as she too put the pieces together.
“It may have been acceptable to flagrantly disregard the sanctity of the Ministry sixteen years ago but not in this day and age. There will be accountability now Albus!”
Dumbledore sighed, taking off his glasses apparently accepting that negotiation wouldn’t work with Fudge. “Very well Minister, we will go with you and your… ministry officials.” He said referencing Umbridge and the now advancing blue-cloaked guards.
Harry looked up, stunned that Dumbledore would actually be going into ministry control. What he saw from his angle though made him realize he wasn’t planning on going with them at all. Over the course of their discussion the Headmaster had gone down several steps while Mad Eye, Snape, and Lupin all had gathered behind him. What the Minister or the guards couldn’t see however, were that they all had their wands drawn, pressed up against their arms, ready to spring into action.
“Might I offer one piece of advice to you however? Just to aide in what I’m sure will be your string of arrests over the next few days?”
Fudge just looked at him with a mix of confusion and pure anger, his face was blotted with pale white patches mixed with ones of bright red. Tonks had now moved behind Mad Eye and she too had her wand drawn.
“You said not to lecture you on history my dear Minister, and you might not have this problem when arresting a group of, dare I say, less talented wizards, but for us…” the headmaster paused momentarily looking over his students arrayed below him. And when his eyes finally locked onto Harry’s he smiled, and gave him a wink. “…you should have brought some more guards.”
At the end of his last word there was a tremendous explosion in front of the group of teachers, which blinded anyone who was looking at it. Harry thought it had caused him to go blind only to realize a moment of panic later that the whole of the Great Hall had now been filled with thick white smoke.
An alarm began to echo throughout the school, seemingly emanating from the walls themselves.
“The anti-apparition wards,” to the group’s surprise Hermione had awoken and was now visible as she peeled a beef pie off of the side of her face, “Dumbledore must have broken them so they could escape.”
As the smoke cleared Harry saw the Minister standing there, his jaw agape, as the guards rushed towards the steps.
“THEY’RE GONE!” One of them shouted rather lamely.
“We’ll get them Minister, don’t forget about our other arrests today,” Umbridge said bracingly.
Fudge, without replying, walked out the front door and slammed it shut.
