Thanks to Lady Starlight for her work on this chapter....yep, we're back...be afraid, very afraid
Chapter 25: Until We Meet Again
*************************Little Hangleton***************************
"Sire?" Lucius Malfoy asked as Voldemort strode from his chambers, looking pale and drawn. A subtle sense of weakness permeated the air, as Tom sneered at him, and shoved him aside. A quick glance into Voldemort's chambers showed a nude Bellatrix, collapsed across the black covers, looking...dead. Malfoy quickly averted his eyes and followed Voldemort, as the Dark Lord swept down the corridor.
They stopped briefly for Tom to admire a recently captured prisoner, before they continued pacing down the hall. "I have heard that the blood-traitor Weasley has finally succumbed," Voldemort mentioned casually, and Lucius nodded, "good, good. How does our next major step progress?"
Malfoy paused, and gulped slightly, but did not try to soften his words, "It does not go well; he is always extremely well protected. We have not yet been able to see a situation where he could be taken."
Fortunately for him, Voldemort was in a forgiving mood; he nodded and continued down the hall, Nagini looking up as he passed, looking for a treat, "Use the circumstances to our advantage Lucius." Riddle turned slightly back towards the direction of his chambers, "Have someone look in on Bella. I am afraid that she is somewhat...drained. And find Wormtail, either have him feed Nagini, or feed him to her, I do not care."
****************************Hogwarts, Hospital Wing***********************
November 16, 1997.
9:00 am.
The events of last night were secret, discrete, so of course the entire school was buzzing on this early Sunday morning about Potter and Granger being unconscious in the Infirmary, and of Ronald Weasley sitting in a chair, not moving or talking, looking out the Infirmary windows at the grey skies of middle November in the Highlands. Madame Pomfrey looked at this sad tableau, shook her head and checked on Harry and Hermione before leaving with a pat on Ron's shoulder. He never noticed.
Against this backdrop of tribulation, Luna walked with a large paper sack in her hands. Her eyes focused oddly in the middle distance as she looked over at Harry and Hermione before she slid over to Ron and knelt in front of him, talking both of his hands in hers. "Ronnie, luv, I have some breakfast for you...Dobby packed it special." Ron sat motionless. "Ron, you have to eat, honey," she whispered, tugging on his hands, "Harry and Hermione will be fine...they will both wake up within the day." Luna's voice was soft and knowing and finally Ron looked at her hopefully.
"Are you sure?" he asked hoarsely, his voice rough and cracked as if he hadn't spoken in a long while. She smiled slightly and nodded, and reached out with her arms. Ron fell forward as she wrapped her arms around him, and pulled his head to her shoulder, holding him on the floor of the hospital wing. Her hair fell forward, like a blonde curtain hiding both of their faces, as soft sobs escaped Ron's throat.
They sat almost silent for a long, long time before Ron pulled back slightly to look at her. Sometime during the minutes or hours they had huddled together, his or her tears had dampened her hair to her cheek; he brushed it away with a shaking hand, "I can't remember the last thing I said to Charlie, Luna...I don't know if we were arguing or telling a joke or what, and it's driving me insane."
"You'll see him again, Ron," she whispered as she leaned towards him, and softly pressed her lips to his bangs. "You can ask him then."
"Really?" Ron whispered in a voice filled with a bare tinge of hope. He looked over to see his best friends still unconscious from the night before. Luna just smiled as she leaned in and kissed him before flicking her wand behind her to set out the food that she had brought.
******************Transylvanian Alps, Romania**********************
November 21, 1997
2:15 pm
Charlie Weasley's enumerated last request had been a simple one, for a wizard anyway. In his will, which had already been opened due to his long, lingering illness, he had requested to return once more to his beloved Dragons. And so, he had. A tall, wooden platform sat empty, waiting, for his final flight.
A brisk wind blew down from the mountaintops surrounding the small, hidden valley where a large crowd stood, waiting. Black clad figures stood huddled against the cold, as the shadows of a phalanx of multi-hued Dragons standing on the surrounding mountaintops looking down, crossed them. Charlie had been popular, well loved, and so there were many from his days at school. An entire contingent of black-clad young women stood weeping softly into a rainbow of handkerchiefs from some of Charlie's friends. Several of the Hogwarts Professors stood in a clump near the front, with McGonagall holding a tissue to her eyes.
Another clump of mourners stood to their side, with Alastor Moody, Kingsley Shacklebolt and scattering of others, a barely paltry scattering that amply showed just how deep the causalities to the Order had become. Mundungus stood a bit away from them, looking guilty, which he probably was. With them, sticking out like a sore thumb, Rufus Scrimgeour, the Minister of Magic for Britain was surrounded by ten uniformed Aurors, their wands hanging loosely in their hands as several of them looked up nervously at the silently watching Dragons. His reasons for attending were suspect, at least to the few Order members present, but they kept carefully mum, content to let sleeping Cerberi lie.
On the other side of a cleared aisle, Molly and Arthur were standing, with Molly hanging almost limply in Arthur's arms, her face was sallow, pale in against her black robes, and half-veil. Several other friend of the family stood with them, Remus, Tonks, and Hagrid. She turned and looked as if looking for a missing presence; then with an obvious pause, she turned and glared to her right.
Harry sighed to himself as Hermione leaned on his shoulder, not looking in the direction of Molly and Arthur. He shook his head as he pulled her against his side, both of them shivering slightly in the frigid, mountain air. His eyes caught Remus', the lycan nodded slightly and he and Tonks casually drifted to place themselves between Harry and Hermione and Molly. On Harry's other side, Luna took that movement as a signal, as she wafted over to interpose herself as well, both movements in an effort to diffuse the situation that was only growing worse every day Ginny was gone. Molly's acrimonious feelings towards Hermione and to a somewhat lesser degree Harry, had already colored the morning, with her lashing out at the pair as they all had waited for a Portkey to this remote location in the Romanian mountains.
Fleur stood next to them; she shared a tight look with Hermione and a small, tired smile as she held an inconsolable Gabrielle in her arms. The small girl had developed a hard, unrelenting crush on the second oldest Weasley boy since he had danced with her at Bill and Fleur's wedding. The tiny girl's sobs whispered out into the afternoon air as a sudden silence fell over the attendees.
The four Weasley boys approached silently, a shrouded body resting on their shoulders. They passed between the mourners, as soft cries followed their progress. Molly bawled loudly as the body passed her, and Harry, closed his eyes. He felt Hermione's fingers crushing his as Ron passed them, at the head of the procession with tears filling his eyes. The four ascended a set of stairs and gently placed the body on the wooden bier and retreated, still without any more noise than their harsh breathing between them. The four retreated, passing back down the stairs as they came to stand with their friends and family.
Luna almost vanished in Ron's arms, only her light colored hair shown against his robes as she buried her face in them, for a moment, before she turned back to face forward as Bill went to stand with Fleur and the twins with Ron, Luna, Harry and Hermione.
An old, white-cloaked wizard ascended a small platform, and stood. "Charlie Weasley was a good man, a loyal man, and a man I was proud to know, I will miss him." He looked about the assembled crowd, "If there are any who wish to give witness on this man's life, please step forward and give witness."
Harry did not hear as folks stood to give witness to Charlie's life, he merely held his wife to his chest as several girls told of Charlie saving them from a rampant Dragon in the nearby forest. As Fred and George told of pranks they had pulled with Charlie against their eldest brother. As Bill related, tearfully, of the time his younger brother won the Quidditch Cup for Gryffindor for the first time in years. More and more stepped forward and told of the Weasley's kindness, bravery and humor, and finally after several more stories and many more tears, it was done.
The speeches and remembrances given; a single rough-hewn man in worn and battered leathers approached from behind the bier. The ground shook at his approach, not from him, but from the fifty-foot wall of green at his shoulder. A great triangular head looked down at Charlie's' shrouded body with uncanny intelligence and bowed its head, and closed its eyes for a moment. Slowly it opened them again and rose up, until its head was directly above the body looking down.
A shimmering field snapped into place as the Dragon took a breath and a torrent of fire erupted, flaring out as it impacted the bier. Flames licked the sky as the wood and the body rapidly immolated, until after only minutes there was only ash. Silence reigned as the mourners turned to leave, save for the soft sobs from Molly and Gabrielle as they were led away from the site.
Sudden exclamations of surprise rang out as several Wizards tried to Apparate away. Harry and Hermione turned automatically to the cries of shock, and he reached up to brush away a dripping sensation on his forehead. Pulling away his hand, he looked at the red stain of his own blood on his fingers for an instant, before a sudden spike of pain staggered him.
Shouts of dismay from the Auror escort to the Minister echoed off the rocks as they tried to Apparate or Portkey away, and they closed around the Minister. Harry's eyes lit, and the pain vanished, driven away as he felt energy start to flow to him. His eyes tracked to an empty spot, just up the hill from a pile of rocks, and he took a breath, "SHOW YOURSELF TOM!" His voice stunned nearby attendees, and small rocks tumbled down the hill.
A shadow wavered in the light before resolving itself into a tall, pale hooded figure. Skeletal hands reached up to sweep back a hood; dropping it to reveal sullen red eyes set in a flat, nose less face. Thin, almost non-existent lips curled in a caricature of a smile as a thin hand fell to his robes to remove a twisted Ebony wand. "Lord Voldemort does not answer to that name, Harry...you know that." Cries of dismay and fear answered his words from the side of the attendees. Voldemort took a step forward, his free hand in the air, "I so love the spectacle of a good funeral...this one was almost as good as Albus'."
"That's interesting," Harry said softly, though every ear heard his voice. A small smirk, graced his lips, "I seem to remember that you were too afraid to face him yourself...you sent your lapdog and Lucius' leavings instead." Next to Harry, Hermione choked out a harsh laugh.
"What are you laughing at Mudblood?" Voldemort sneered in his high, raspy voice. A chattering laughter surrounded him as another twenty Death Eaters faded into view. Bellatrix giggled highly as she stood next to Voldemort, and pulled her wand out.
Hermione looked the Dark Lord in the eyes, his glowing, red-cat pupiled eyes, and cocked her head slightly as if looking over a particularly interesting creature in a Dark Arts class, "Well, if you really want to know...A pretentious half-blood arsehole, who hides behind a made up name, and who isn't worth the Dragon dung he's standing in right now...just my opinion..." She added sweetly.
"YOU...AVADA KEDAVRA" Bella screamed and a jet of green shot for Hermione, only to be intercepted by a flying rock. It shattered into gravel, the fireball blinding all for a second. Harry and Hermione dove to either side as eyes lit and summoned shields deflected half a dozen curses.
The ten Aurors surrounding the Minister were immediately cut in half as a torrent of green washed over them. A quick-thinking Auror pulled Scrimgeour out of the line of fire and behind several boulders. Hermione's eyes snapped to them and threw her hand out, a sudden cyclone of stones, ranging from gravel to rocks the size of Quaffles, spun around the Aurors and the Minister, deflecting curses, falling away as gravel as Kedavras or Reductors shattered them.
Behind her, Harry rolled over the top of a bolder and fired two quick Severing Charms dropping a pair of Death Eaters as they lined up on Arthur and Molly. He dove back behind cover as Voldemort snapped a Crucio at him, before he was distracted by Mad-Eye and Kingsley volleying curses at him. Tom sneered as a pair of Stunners merely bounced off him. "Fuck," Harry snarled under his breath as he rolled out from cover, and fired a Reductor at Voldemort.
A hastily summoned silver shield emblazoned with a green serpent deflected the curse, off into the sky with a resounding GONG. Tom turned to Harry, and the battle seemed to pause. The fighting around did not stop, as the twins reared up and dropped a pair of Death Eaters, with a Severing Charm and a Asphyxiation Curse, while at other end of the small, cleared valley, a pair of Death Eaters killed another Auror. Harry felt it as Hermione danced to the side and engaged Bellatrix.
Bella shot a Cruciatus at Hermione, she dove under it, and retorted with a Piercing Charm that blew a neat hole through the boulder Bella had sheltered behind. Harry... she snapped as she and Harry both felt another ten or twenty Death Eaters approaching from behind. We need to get out of here...
You noticed... Harry muttered as he blocked another curse from Voldemort and dove behind another boulder. His wand flicked to either side of Voldemort and twin piles of rocks reorganized themselves into monstrous great stone Golems. The Golems strode towards Voldemort, swinging. Voldemort shattered both into gravel and the battle went on.
"I was so glad that you came looking for me, that I thought I'd come to see you, Harry," Voldemort laughed, and shot another Kedavra at Harry. Harry batted it away with the flat of the Gryffindor sword and vanished in a twirl of a cloak.
Hermione...Harry sent quickly as he faded back into view behind Voldemort. A flaming whip shot from his wand, encircling Voldemort and turning to bands of steel. He doesn't know we were after the Horcrux, he thinks I we were looking for him... He felt Hermione's acknowledgement, Can you break his anti-Apparation Field?
YEAH. Hermione spun out from cover, her eyes glowed as she MOVED out of the way and threw Bella against a wall of stone, hard. She slid down it, and didn't move. "RON, COVER ME!" Hermione screamed, and Ron looked up, spun around the Death Eater he was dueling with and sliced downward with his sword. He nodded and didn't even flinch as Luna's own dagger flicked past his ear to embed in another Death Eater's throat. Hermione dove behind a pile of rocks as Voldemort shattered his bonds and spun to Harry. If you keep him busy.
Two-dozen huge constrictors shot out of his wand at Harry, only to vanish as a wave of Harry's hand threw up a wall of fire between Harry and the snakes. He chanced a glance backwards to find that Remus and Tonks had pulled all of the Weasleys behind a rock pile where they were busy trading curses with the ever-increasing number of Death Eaters that seemed to be appearing out of the very ground. Harry gave them a wave down, and Remus nodded.
Back next to the Minister, Shacklebolt stood and fell almost immediately as a silver jet, tore his leg open, and Mad-Eye pulled him back under cover. He cast a Ferula charm, bandaging the wound, Scrimgeour grabbed his arm; "WHAT IS POTTER PLAYING AT?" he screamed in Alastor's ear.
"He's trying to save your worthless hide," Moody barked, "now bloody well stay under cover Minister and let the experts handle this."
"Potter's out there."
"I was talking about Potter." Moody hissed back as he reared up and dropped three Death Eaters, as he used a half dozen small boulders summoned with his wand to crack them in the back of the heads. Their dark robes fluttered as they fell.
Harry and Voldemort circled, as a rainbow of beams scintillated back and forth between them. Harry flipped back and to the side as yet another Kedavra raced towards his chest. The beam shot off behind him, to kill a Death Eater dueling with Tonks. She rolled sideways and pulled Remus to her, pointing to Harry. Harry pointed his wand to one side, his sword to the other and twin searing blue bolts shot out shattering the rocks to either side; he dropped both and waved his hands inward as a pile of stones formed a dome over Voldemort. INCENDIO MAXIMA Harry snarled and a firestorm erupted from his wand, racing over the dome and leaving behind a smooth, obsidian dome.
Ron and Luna spun out from behind cover and fired three Cutting Charms, the purple waves flashing out and cutting the legs out from another two Death Eaters as they tried to line up on Hermione. She was kneeling, her eyes glowing brightly and seeing nothing as she muttered long strings of Latin under her breath. A torrent of magic streamed past her, concentrating between her hands, HARRY, I NEED YOU...
Harry looked up, spun right and opened up a Death Eater's chest with a quick upswing of the Gryffindor Sword. He breathed and MOVED, he slid in on his knees to Hermione, and his hands clasped to hers.
A great, white shockwave snapped out, and the anti-Apparition fields died. "GO!" Harry screamed as Voldemort's cage exploded and a chunk of rock ripped into his shoulder. His left arm suddenly numb, Harry stood and vanished in a flutter of a cloak as a ripple of CRACKs, POPs, RIPs and other assorted sounds of Apparation sounded in the glen. Hermione looked around saw that everyone was gone save Ron and Luna, she waved at them and they vanished with a loud CRACK as Ron grabbed Luna and vanished. She vanished in a twirl of a cloak to reappear next to Harry.
Harry grabbed Hermione, raised one finger to Voldemort and vanished in a breath of displaced air as a bolt of green shattered the rocks behind where they had been.
****************************Hogwarts*****************************
A soft pop of light and sound snapped out and a half dozen wizards and witches whirled as Harry and Hermione appeared from mid-air in the middle of McGonagall's office. Ron hurried over, followed closely by Luna. Luna's hair was matted with blood, but she didn't seem to notice it, or Ron the black eye that he had somehow gained during the fight.
Ron reached out as Harry staggered back to the outside wall and slid down it, Hermione still bundled in his arms. Harry's left arm hung limply at his side, and blood shown in his hair, and along his side. Ron looked down to see Hermione's blood mixing with Harry's as a large gash oozed on the same leg she had taken damage from Greyback on, her skirt was torn and rent on that side, and Ron couldn't figure out when she had gotten hit. Ron reached out to touch Harry on the shoulder, but jerked his hand back as a spark of magic snapped from Harry, like a massive bolt of static electricity. Small eddies of energy were still sputtering about them as Harry leaned fully back against the wall and muttered a cushioning charm softening the wall and floor.
Hermione slipped down until her head was resting more or less on Harry's stomach, she pried her eyes open a sliver, taking in Ron before she slipped them closed with a sigh. Harry glanced around the room, and every one there felt it as he sent out a pulse of magic, checking for anyone not seen, "Ron, secure the room..." Harry whispered as he felt his eyes slipping closed again.
Ron flicked his wand and watched as Imperturbable Charms established themselves over the wall, before he slid down to sit next to Harry. Luna joined him and leaned her head on his shoulder. "I do have furniture," Minerva mentioned with an odd tenor to her voice.
"We know ma'am," Hermione whispered without opening her eyes, "but that's all the way across the room." She took a deep breath, unconsciously perfectly in time with Harry's, "We're bleeding on your floor...aren't we?" she added wryly.
McGonagall pursed her lips as she looked around the room. Remus and Tonks were sitting together on a couch, Tonks had her legs up in Remus' lap as he gently probed her ankle; she had twisted it getting away. "Go to bed, Potter," McGonagall said after a moment, and rolled her eyes as both Harry and Hermione replied together, "alright," but did not move. "And take your minion with you," she added with a small, worn smile.
She did not comment as Harry felt around for something in his pocket and he and Hermione, along with Ron and Luna vanished in a fall of color and a rush of wind. Instead she looked over at her Transfiguration and Defense professors. "We need to be ready, Remus, as soon as you finish with Nymphadora," she said dryly, "please have Dobby and the rest of the elves check to see if anything untoward happened during our absences."
*****************************Head's Chambers***************************
"Hey, Harry, I'm a minion now," Ron said oddly as he collapsed in a large, worn, overstuffed chair near the fire in the Head's Common Room. He glanced up, grunted as Luna just let her weight drop on him, and canted his head in a question, "Is that a promotion from sidekick?"
Hermione winced as she heard Harry pop his own shoulder back into place. She limped slightly as she walked to the couch and hissed as she peeled back her skirt to find a gash in her thigh. She bit her lip as Harry ran a wand down it, sealing it without even a scar to match the four, faint, pale ones she had from Greyback on that same leg. She rolled over on her side until she was looking at Ron, "No, Ron, that's a demotion," she teased, blackly, "sidekicks generally have a chance to get laid...minions tend to die horribly and frustrated."
"You'll always be my hero, Ronnie," Luna put in lowly, and all four laughed but the sound was hollow and short lived. Harry coughed as he pulled off his black cloak, which was torn and muddy, and tossed it on the floor. He pulled up his shirt and looked down at a cut along his ribs, and touched a wand to it. White bandages wrapped around his chest, and he sighed.
"I'm going to take a shower," Harry announced, and rolled his sore shoulder experimentally.
"Take me with you?" Hermione whined, with the tiniest grin, and Harry rolled his eyes, before waving his hand in her direction and watching as she levitated off the couch and to her feet. "You're supposed to carry me," Hermione pouted and leaned against him. She glared at Ron and Luna as they leered at her, "Keep your minds out of the gutter, unless you want to wait for both of us to finish separately?" Ron and Luna looked at each other, for a long moment, before they erupted in laughter, and Hermione closed her eyes as she realized that her explanation hadn't been much better. She left for her bedroom, muttering, and Harry gave Ron a look promising divine retribution before following her.
Half an hour later Hermione reclined back against Harry with a mug of hot chocolate clutched between her hands, and glanced over at Ron and Luna. Luna was in a pair of Hermione's pajamas, curled up like a huge cat, on the couch next to Ron, reading though the Familiars book again. The blood was washed out of her hair as she swept a lock of it back behind an ear and turned a page, "I could get a Crumple-Horned Snorkack...but then they tend to fight with the owls..." Hermione rolled her eyes, not sure if Luna was having her on, as Ron was sitting starting off into space. She frowned and nudged Harry.
"Ron," Harry asked with his voice full of concern, "are you alright, mate?"
"Not really," Ron admitted after a long minute, "I just don't want to contact mum and dad, I'm sure she's going spare about now...fucking V..V...Voldemort, showing up..." He paused and looked directly at Harry, "She heard the part about where he said he was there for you."
Harry nodded and paced to the window. His shoulders slumped as he looked out on the grounds, and watched Hagrid staggering back to his cabin. "I know, Ron," Harry replied in a soft voice, "I know...this is why I wasn't going to return," he added, and didn't turn as he felt three pairs of eyes on him. He leaned into Hermione's hand, as it found his shoulder, she had followed him over, "It's too late to run now."
**************************Godric's Hollow**************************
6:30 pm
"That's one thing I like about the Magical world," Roger quipped as he poured Poppy a cup of tea from a service set on the table, "you can actually get someone to make house calls." He pushed aside his plate and leaned back laughing slightly as Jane looked up at him, and grinned.
"You two are a special case," Poppy admitted, as she sipped her tea contently, and sighed slightly at the thought of the complicated procedures Remus had put into place since the events of this afternoon. She had not told either of Hermione's parents of the events of this afternoon, but merely explained away her tardiness with a supposedly injured student, which there had been, more than one. For once though, it wasn't their daughter or son-in-law, not that they or she knew that he was, that had been driven to the Hospital Wing. Harry and Hermione had gotten off lightly and even treated their injuries themselves, refusing to go back into the Hospital Wing so soon after their last visit.
"Are you sure you don't want to stay for dessert, Poppy?" Jane asked as she pushed a freshly baked pie towards Roger, the scents of cinnamon and pumpkin trailing in its wake. Roger took a slice and pointed towards it as he looked to the Medi-witch, but she smiled and shook her head.
"It was enough that you insisted that I join you for dinner," she replied quickly, and finished her tea before leaning forward. "I need to return, but I want to remind you again that if you experience any...odd, occurrences please let Remus or I know."
"We have a witch for a daughter," Roger reminded her absently, "we are used to weird." He and Jane shared a look as both of them, separately, recalled the odd hair-cuts of the pets, random fires and explosions, their brand new car suddenly matching their daughter's new polka-dot Easter dress when she was six, and other humorous and not so humorous events.
"I know, however, the second child from a Muggle couple where the first was already a magic user, and your new daughter will be a witch as well, is often a bit more active in the womb," Roger rolled his eyes and sighed theatrically, and Poppy graced him with a rare grin, "I know that you had, issues with the instruments going haywire in the delivery room with Hermione, in fact I had the records sent over from St. Mungo's from the specialist they sent over to your hospital for review." She nodded to their shocked expressions, "Yes in cases like that it is often standard procedure for Physicians in the know, to send for a Healer, just in case. They don't tell Muggle parents usually however, they like to wait until Minerva contacts you eleven years later." Pomfrey scowled her disapproval of that practice; "You may start to see occurrences of spontaneous magic before she is born, so be ready for them." She took a deep breath, "Just in case, when she is ready to be born, even if you are still in hiding, we will move you to either Hogwarts or St. Mungo's for the delivery."
Jane nodded and smiled slightly as Poppy got up from the table and gathered her bags. She took a step back and waved, "I will see you in two weeks." She vanished with a soft CRACK.
"Well," Jane said, turning to Roger, and pulling her hair back from her face as one hand dropped to fall to her slightly protuberant belly, "I guess Anastasia will get to see her new school a bit early."
"A bit early for Kindergarten, I would think."
"Well is Hermione's sister," Jane commented wryly and stood to start to remove the dishes to the sink.
******************Ministry of Magic******************
November 22, 1997.
8:35 am
Rufus Scrimgeour sat alone at his desk in his expansive, Ministry of Magic office and slowly paged through stacks and stacks of reports. He sighed as he opened a folder on the total destruction of a small, Muggle village in Ireland. The entire town of fifty was gone, with only a blackened crater remaining. A force of ten Death Eaters had attacked, for no more apparent reason than to have something to do. He set that report aside, and picked up another folder, this one marked detailing the abduction of several workers for Gringotts, with their bodies being found later that day.
He dropped that report and paced to the false window in the corner of the underground office, as he clasped his hands together to stop their slight shaking. Images of yesterday's attack flashed through his thoughts. He felt the panic, again, as that Potter boy had stood up and called out the most feared wizard of the last hundred years, almost as if Dumbledore himself had stood on the field once more. He felt once more the shame, the guilt, as teenagers had held off the attackers long enough for his surviving security detail and him to escape along with the other surviving guests. Eight of the ten Aurors he had had with him, exclusive of those attending separately had died along with two more guests. No one really counted injuries any more, unless they were critical or crippling.
Scrimgeour glanced at a side table where a copy of the Saturday Prophet sat folded so the front-page headlines could be seen. He gritted his teeth as he picked up the paper and read the first:
Minister Ineffective, You-Know-Who Strikes Again.
By: Angie Forthright
Once again the Wizarding World wakes up, shocked at the sheer evil of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. Yesterday, at a funeral service for Charlie Weasley, son of Ministry of Magic Official Arthur Weasley, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, stuck immediately following the service. He and his forces are known to have killed at least eight Aurors, further reducing the ranks of our valiant defenders.
Reports are that the majority of the Aurors killed were actually killed sheltering the current Minister Rufus Scrimgeour from attack. It is unknown what actions the Minister undertook during this attack, but the very ability of the leader of the feared Death Eaters to strike directly at the head of the Ministry of Magic cannot bode well for the average civilian on the streets of England. Minister Scrimgeour took over from former Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge, after the former Minister was dismissed via a vote of no confidence in June of 1996.
It is highly debatable, now, that the replacement has been for the better. During Scrimgeour's leadership, vast numbers of disappearances have occurred, Giant, Inferi and Werewolf attacks have become common, and his crown jewel, his supposed security of Hogwarts was penetrated numerous times last year, the ultimate result of which was the death of Albus Dumbledore, one of the Greatest Wizards of our times.
Indeed from many reports of attendees, it was only the presence of the Chosen One, Harry Potter, and his companions at the funeral, one of whom, Ronald Weasley is the youngest brother of Charlie Weasley. It was not the 'experienced leader' who stood against, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, but a seventeen-year-old boy who has already lost so much to this conflict. One must therefore wonder whom we should be looking to for guidance, the Boy-Who-Lived, or the Minister-Who-Hid....
Scrimgeour threw down the paper in disgust and stood looking blankly out the false window for several minutes. Finally, he looked back at the stack of folders and made a decision. Pacing to his desk, he leaned foreword and touched a button on a small box. A soft, voice came out of it, "Yes, sir?"
Rufus looked at a small flyer, barely visible from under a corner of one of the stacks of reports. What could be seen of the bright green and red flyer, depicted a lit fir tree, with the lights softly twinkling in the dim office, and a round, bearded man in red and white, endlessly waving. "Stephen, I think that we need to send another invitation to next month's event."
There we go again, next chapter, a secret will be revealed, and an invitation given...to more than one...