Prodigy

The commotion created by the arrival by Dumbledore and his two companions at the British Ministry of Magic would be memorable for many years to come. The sudden appearance was felt more than observed as the power radiating off the wizened headmaster grew suddenly in a raw display of power. Dumbledore new he would need every once of perception that the display would create in order to accomplish what he needed from this trip: the freedom of Sirius Black.

Bypassing the required wand weighing, Dumbledore practically dragged his hostage into the Minister's office, slamming the door open with a wave of his hand and throwing his prisoner to the floor.

“Do you know who this is?” Dumbledore bellowed loudly as he entered, the power he contained could be felt through his voice.

“Dumbledore? What's the meaning of this?” Cornelius Fudge, the current minister of magic asked angrily. He had been in the middle of an important meeting with Lucius Malfoy, one of his closest advisors, only to have the current most powerful wizard in the land burst into his office asking silly questions. Of course, he would just have to reign the old man in. Cornelius Fudge was the minister of magic, after all.

“Do you know who this is?” Dumbledore repeated himself, louder this time. Cornelius Fudge flinched and found him self trembling slightly. Thoughts of `putting the old man in place' disappeared from his mind.

“What are you going on about, Dumbledore?” Lucius asked with more than a little hesitation. He recognized the man that Dumbledore had brought in, though he couldn't very well give that fact away. Dumbledore ignored his inquiry, however and remained focused on Fudge.

“Get Amelia Bones up here immediately,” Dumbledore ordered.

“Bones? Why do we need her?” Fudge managed to stutter out. Arthur Weasley came into the room, finally catching up to his friend. He was amazed at how quick Dumbledore could move, when needed.

“Arthur, please go fetch Amelia,” Dumbledore asked the tall redheaded man, who turned immediately to go do just that.

“Once again, Professor Dumbledore: What's all this about?” Fudge asked, beginning to gain a little confidence back.

“It has been brought to my attention that a grave mistake has been made by the ministry of magic. If my suspicions are correct, that is,” Dumbledore said, not giving away the fact that he already knew of the truth. There was a moment of silence until Amelia Bones, director of the British Magical Law Enforcement strode into the room.

“Ah, Director Bones, how nice to see you,” Dumbledore said in a very nice voice. Fudge wondered where the display of power had gone.

“Professor, it's been too long,” Amelia Bones answered with a smile.

“I only wish it was under better circumstance, Amelia,” Dumbledore explained.

“What circumstances is this?” A confused look appeared on the head of the magical law enforcement department's face.

“This man is Peter Pettigrew,” Dumbledore said simply, noticing the fact that Lucius Malfoy had slowly made his way out of the office and disappeared. That worked in the headmaster's favor, as the minister quickly found himself with an ally in the room.

“This is preposterous, Albus! Peter Pettigrew is dead!” Cornelius Fudge exploded while his mind raced. What was going on? Was this the end of his political career?

“You have to admit, Professor, that the claim is rather… interesting,” Amelia offered diplomatically.

“Luckily, we have a simply way of discovering the truth,” the headmaster said with a twinkle in his eye. “Would you please, director?”

Amelia nodded her head and called for an auror to bring some veritaserum. It turned out to be another friend of Dumbledore's who appeared with it: Alastor `mad-eye' Moody.

“Good day, Albus!” The weathered man with a missing (natural) eye said when he recognized his friend. Then he turned to the women that had summoned him. “What's this all about, Director?”

“We have a prisoner to interrogate, Alastor,” Amelia explained, gesturing towards the bald fat man secured behind Dumbledore. Moody's eyes brightened in prospect. Interrogations were almost as fun as captures.

“Let's get to it then,” he said, pulling out the vial. Peter Pettigrew was pushed into a chair, and administered the potion.

“What is your name?” Moody said while is eye swirled around intimidatingly. Fudge had quieted down by now, accepting that there was no way to stop what was happening.

“Peter Pettigrew,” the prisoner replied. Amelia and Arthur gasped at the same time - Amelia because she realized the repercussions for the first time; Arthur because he was reminded of them.

The wizarding world changed radically that day. After the questioning, Aurors were immediately dispatched to begin righting many of the wrongs that had come to pass years ago. First, Sirius Black was released from prison. That was a big thing, but not the biggest. One by one, the heads of some of the oldest families in the wizarding world were brought in for questioning - under veritaserum. One by one they were sent to prison. Sometimes their wives, children, and other family members were sent too. Lucius Malfoy was the first to fall. People with the last name Avory, Borgin, Bulstrode, Parkinson, Nott, Carrow, soon followed, with more after that.

Cornelius Fudge lasted two more days as minister of magic and was the victim of the quickest vote of no confidence in the history of the ministry. Amelia Bones, who was not implicated in any of the wrongdoings that started it all, became the first woman minister of magic and began to clean house. Bureaucrats were given pink slips and people who could get things done were put in their place. On more than one occasion, the position occupied simply was not filled.

All because a little boy thought that he could do magic with a stick.

The boy in question was currently standing back in his library holding an old leather bound book in his hand. The book was perhaps the most valuable book in the entire existence of the world - it was definitely the oldest. The book was none other than the personal journal of the last known living ancient - Prometheus. The boy was Harry Potter.

Harry slowly opened the book and became the first human in several thousand years to glance upon its contents. Unfortunately, he soon discovered that was all he could do: look at the words; they were written in another language. Harry didn't know which language it was; it didn't matter. He was having a hard enough time learning the English he needed.

“Well, what does it say?” the old woman asked him curiously, once again invading his mind.

“I don't know. It's in another language,” Harry said.

“Well, surely you know what do to about that?”

Harry didn't answer but merely scowled slightly. There was something, however, that seemed to stick out in his mind. Hadn't there been a translation charm that he had read about? How did it work? Would it even work for him?

“Ah, so now you know what you need to do,” the woman chuckled.

“How do I even know if this is going to work? Won't it just translate into more words I can't understand? How is this going to help me?” Harry fired the questions out quickly and didn't expect an answer. He received one, anyway, though.

“You control the magic, don't you?”

The question was simple, but it stopped Harry in his tracks. It was true - he did control it. What did that mean, however? Would he be able to force the translation into using words he understood?

Harry quickly fetched the book he had seen the charm in. The incantation and wand movement was simple, the spell should be easy to cast. Harry took a deep breath before trying it for the first time.

In retrospect, Harry would realize that it probably hadn't been a very good idea to try out a spell for the first time on the oldest book in the world. As soon as the spell hit the book, it had begun to shake. If Harry had been touching it, he would have had to drop it, for it was quickly getting hotter and hotter. It began to smoke. Harry quickly broke the spell and cast a cooling charm. The book however continued to shake, and the smoke continued to roll. Harry closed his eyes and concentrated on pouring all of his power into the simple cooling spell. A flame burst from the book, and Harry was panicking. What was he going to do?

As suddenly as it had started, it all stopped. There was something different, though. There were now two books; the original lay apparently undamaged next to another, newer book, also in perfect condition. Harry cautiously picked up the original and opened it. He was relieved to see that all the text was still there, thought it was still unreadable. The new book, however, turned out to be just what Harry was looking for. The book, while still handwritten, had text that was clearly readable English.

The first entry read:

13 Reder 3042

I have started this journal because my friend Raat suggested it would help with my studies. They let me into the school finally, so I can begin learning the ways of magic, like my brother. I'm very excited about it. See you later.

The text was definitely simple enough, but Harry was hoping to find something related to magic. Quickly scanning the next couple entries, Harry continued reading with the fourth entry.

20 Reder 3042

Magic is a wonderful thing. I performed my first spell today! It was a levitation spell. My parents are extremely proud of me and they even let me pick out dinner! I can't wait until tomorrow so that I can learn some more.

Harry frowned. There still hadn't been anything helpful there, though he was comforted by the fact that the first spell he had done was the same as Prometheus. Harry turned a random number of pages and began reading again.

9 Sevenithous 3042

Today I brewed my first potion successfully. It was difficult considering the teacher is a real git, but Raat helped me, and I did it. Raat said something about classifications, but I didn't really understand what she meant, though. Perhaps I should look into that some more.

This jogged Harry's memory back to his own first experience with potions in the potions lab under his feet. Perhaps he should try that some more. He still needed to try to find the other book that the Flamel book kept referencing. Hopefully it was in the library somewhere, or he didn't know what he would do.

Shaking his head, Harry returned his attention back to the journal. He was now hooked, began reading page after page very quickly. Time seemed to lose it's meaning to him once more as he spent the whole night in his chair, reading away.

# End Chapter #

Hey guys, sorry it took so long for me to get this out, but school started, and that been driving me crazy. I've got a lot of new ideas, though, for all of my stories, and hope to be updating Magic of Music and Mind very soon. I've also been able to map out the sequal to this - and let me just say this now: it's going to be unlike any other Harry Potter fiction you've ever read. I promise. We're talking amazing stuff that I can say now, no matter how much I want to. Voldemort will not play any part of the story. As a matter of fact, it won't be a good vs. evil thing at all, but more of a thriller, or suspence. I'm even considering making it a crossover with stargate, but not sure about that yet.

Speaking of crossovers, I've been tossing around the idea of making this one a crossover as well. How would you like to see Will Hunting make an appearance? It would definitely fit the story, and it would add a lot, I think. I want to hear from you guys, though, since it is your opinion that matters the most. Well, mostly. I may put it in no matter what you say ;)

Ok, enough of that! Please Review!