Chapter 18 - Laying the Cards Out - II
'I was an accidental Horcrux and in my old world, he thought that when he created Nagini, he had seven Horcruxes, although he actually had eight. All along, he wanted seven because it's the most powerful number. So depending on whether he knew whether he had created a Horcrux that Halloween night, he's going to make Nagini a Horcrux sometime next year.'
'Which means we have to go to Godric's Hollow and scout around for Horcruxes,' Hermione supplied.
'We have lots to do,' Harry groaned.
'We still haven't talked about Voldemort's rebirthing party itself and what to do with the Ministry and its corrupted ranks,' Hermione added helpfully and Harry groaned even louder.
'Harry,' Hermione said sternly,' get serious.'
'Yes, m'am,' Harry drawled.
'About Voldemort's resurrection ceremony,' Hermione began, 'do you remember the people who attended who were working in the Ministry at the time?'
'Yeah, I think so,' Harry said, thinking hard. 'There were a couple of lackeys like Avery, Nott, Crabbe Senior and Goyle Senior but Lucius Malfoy and Walden Macnair were also present and they are currently department heads in the Ministry. Well, not exactly, Lucius was the head of the Board of Governors for Hogwarts until recently.'
Hermione muttered something darkly under her breath.
'What?' Harry asked.
'How does it happen?' Hermione asked furiously. 'How do unscrupulous, vile bigots rise to such high positions of power and dictate terms to a whole country based on their evil whims and fancies?'
'That's just how it is, Hermione,' Harry replied sadly, 'the majority of witches and wizards in Britain are sheep. They just blindly follow their leaders and when things turn bad, they run around like bloody rabbits waiting for someone or something to change their own country for them. For example, they could have done things so differently in the last twelve years since Voldemort fell. They could have revamped the Ministry, got rid of the Death Eaters who claimed to be under the Imperius and reformed the Wizengamot to consist of wise, capable people instead of the ignorant, bigoted people from the Old Families.'
'There are around fifty people on the Wizengamot, right?' Hermione asked.
'Yeah.'
'Are all of them Voldemort supporters?'
'No, it's not like that. Hermione, this world isn't divided into good people and Death Eaters,' Harry said, echoing Sirius' words from a long time ago. 'There are people who aren't evil, but they're content to ignore the suffering and abuse of other people as long as they're leading happy lives. Most witches and wizards in Britain fall under this category. And there are some people who don't care what group is in power, they don't care if the common people are being oppressed, as long as they get a share of that power, as long as they can lord it over other people and bend them to their will. People like Dolores Umbridge. Now the Wizengamot currently consists of the Minister, a couple of his lackeys, the Chief Warlock, the heads of various departments and all the bigwigs from the elite pureblood families of old. Unfortunately, the majority of the Wizengamot consists of people who fall right in between the good people and the evil Death Eater category, and it's been like that for hundreds of years now. And that's why magical society is stagnating. That's why people like Voldemort find their power bases pretty easily and are able to take over the country by military force or through a quick and silent coup.'
'You told me he took over at the beginning of your seventh year. How exactly did it happen? Was it a coup d'etat?'
'Well, the actual takeover was a perfect example of a coup d'etat, but he also had a strong military presence to back him up, to keep stability in the country, not to mention round up anyone who opposed him.'
'Care to elaborate?' Hermione pressed.
'Well...' Harry started, 'interestingly, his rise to power is frighteningly similar to the way Palpatine took over the galaxy in Star Wars.'
Hermione raised her eyebrows. 'You turned over to the Dark Side and changed your name?'
'No,' Harry rolled his eyes. 'Palpatine was just a Senator before he became Supreme Chancellor. After he became Chancellor, he slowly collected emergency powers and cut down on democratic rights and eliminated key figureheads that would surely oppose his rule by getting them killed in the fake war that he set up from scratch. And then, after the main Jedi that could possibly fight him died, he declared an Empire and started ruling. Voldemort did pretty much the same with the Ministry. He got a lot of supporters like Umbridge, Thicknesse, Malfoy and Runcorn into the upper echelons of the Minstry and then he got rid of people like Amelia Bones, Barty Crouch and Dumbledore and then everything else was a cakewalk.'
Hermione listened to his comparision with interest ; the way he explained it, the two stories did seem very similar.
'So how are you going to avoid a repeat of that this time around?' Hermione asked.
'Well, I can't kill or save anyone till at least Voldemort comes back, and that's not for another two years at least, so.. '
'Why do you have to allow Voldemort to come back?' Hermione asked, 'Why can't we just destroy all the Horcruxes and then go to Albania and destroy his snake body?'
'I don't know why, but Jenny from heaven told me to keep that part as it is.'
Hermione snorted loudly.
'What?'
'The way you said it... Hi, I'm Pete from McDonald's. Hi, I'm Jenny from heaven!'
Harry raised his eyebrows.
'Anyway... there are ways of getting rid of a person which doesn't involve them losing their oxygen supply,' Harry continued.
'And what may those be?' Hermione asked.
'Putting them in a permanent coma, or having a Dementor suck their soul, or amputating all four limbs, or - '
'HARRY!' Hermione shouted, her hands going over her mouth.
'What?' Harry asked casually.
'Y - You - You can't do that t - to people,' Hermione said.
'Well, that's where you're wrong,' Harry smiled, 'the way I see it, they don't pass the test that proves that they're human beings.'
'Harry, they're horrible people. But if you do to them the same things they do to others, then you're no better than them! It just means you're horrible too!'
'Really?' Harry asked quietly, 'says who?'
'I â€" um - it's just logic Harry. It's freaking common sense! You can't torture people just because they're in your way or because they're against your ideals, you have to stop them and put them in prisonn and - '
'Let me get this straight,' Harry interrupted, 'suppose there's a scuffle between us and some Death Eaters. Suppose, hypothetically, in one situation I kill a Death Eater and that makes you pissed off at me because of an anim â€" er - human rights violation. In another situation, I either stun or disarm a Death Eater but he gets his wand back or he's revived by another Death Eater and later on he manages to kill you. Are you telling me you'll die happy because all I did was stun him and not kill him?'
Hermione opened and closed her mouth without comment.
'Well?' Harry pressed.
'Well, no, I wouldn't be happy, but... but killing is just wrong!' Hermione said. 'We can't do the same things those monsters would do.'
'It's okay if you feel that way. Once upon a time, in all my naivety, I felt that way too. I realised how wrong I was, how foolish it was to just temporarily eliminate your opponent and not put him down permanently when you have the chance.'
'I agree with what you're saying but you can't use any means to achieve your desired ends, no matter how just they are,' Hermione said sternly.
'Well, lucky for you, I'm not allowed to kill anyone,' Harry responded coolly.
There was two minutes of frosty silence between them and just as Hermione was about to get up and storm away, Harry caught hold of her hand and said, 'This is silly. We've been a couple for barely a few days and we're arguing about how we should treat an enemy Death Eater when we come across one?'
Hermione glared at him for a moment.
'You've only read about Voldemort and his Death Eaters in books right?' Harry asked.
Hermione nodded.
'Well, that's okay I guess. Wait till he comes back and starts murdering poor Muggleborns left, right and centre. I think even you might end up clamouring for a change in policy,' Harry said harshly.
'Are you insulting my parentage?' Hermione gasped.
'No!' Harry snapped. 'I'm just giving you a taste of reality! I honestly don't blame you for thinking this way, believe me I felt the same way too, but it's seriously not worth capturing Death Eaters and placing them in Azkaban. Have you heard of Antonin Dolohov?'
'Hmmm,' she offered.
'Is that a yes or a no?' Harry asked angrily.
'It's a yes Potter and this better be good,' Hermione growled.
'He killed scores of Muggles in the first war and he brutally murdered Molly Weasley's twin brothers. They captured him, put him in Azkaban and he escaped 15 years later and threw some deadly purple curse at you that nearly killed you and caused all kinds of serious internal damage. He was recaptured and put in Azkaban again. And then what happened? Take a guess... yeah, he escaped again and I made the mistake of only Obliviating him and not killing him when I faced the bastard again! And that was really stupid because that enabled him to kill Professor Lupin and leave a two month old baby fatherless. But that's okay right? Because who - '
'Harry,' Hermione tried softly.
'Because who cares if a few hundred mundanes die a painful death, who cares if my best friend is nearly struck dead and who cares if some werewolf spawn is orphaned?! It doesn't matter as long as I didn't use the Killing curse right?' Harry finished very loudly.
'Harry,' Hermione whispered very timidly.
'No, save it,' Harry said tiredly, all the anger in him evaporating in an instant. 'This is a moot point. I can't kill anyone anyway and yet we're arguing about the ethics of such an action.'
'But - '
'We can talk about it later Hermione,' Harry said, 'although I don't think I've left anything unsaid, have I?' he finished apologetically.
'Not really...' Hermione said nervously.
Harry shrugged. He scooted closer to her and slightly extended his hand ; his way of testing the waters between them.
After a tense moment, Hermione took the proffered hand in hers and leaned against him. They laid there silently and they slowly found themselves drifting off into the land of dreams.
*
This was how Thomas and Jane found them when they came back from work at six.
'They look cute, don't they?' Jane gushed to her husband.
'This house elf of his is pretty damn inefficient, isn't he?' Thomas grumbled, walking quickly into the house.
AN - Two and a half days after the 20th, but damn close enough ain't it?
Short chapter, but you can still review right?! Of course you can...