Harry Potter and all characters, etc. belong to J.K. Rowling, not me.
Harry Potter-McGonagall - Chapter 6 - The Minister of Magic
"It's still hard to believe that Brianna can go to Hogsmeade now," commented Harry as he and his girlfriend walked out of the castle. Padma was nearby walking hand-in-hand with Terry Boot while Brianna was up ahead of them walking with her boyfriend, James Sauder of Hufflepuff. "Who knows what those two'll…"
"Nothing worse than we did in our third year," interrupted Hermione. "Besides, we'll be meeting up with them at the Three Broomsticks."
A grin formed on the face of the Boy-Who-Lived. "That should be good. It'll be nice seeing Sirius and Remus without their disguises."
"Indeed it will."
The young couple walked around Hogsmeade, first stopping by the bookstore (to get that over with) so that Hermione could try to fill up their bottomless backpacks. Since Harry hadn't been to the village in over a year, he wanted to go everywhere. They hit Zonko's and Honeydukes, along with several other places before finally walking into the Three Broomsticks. It wasn't hard to find Remus and Sirius, since they were both talking to Rosmerta, who was setting glasses of butterbeer on their table.
"Hello, Sirius," said a smiling Harry as he approached his godfather. "It's good to see you as yourself."
"You're one to talk," replied Remus with a grin. "You didn't look like yourself for fourteen years."
"It was quite a surprise to everyone when Harry McGonagall turned out to be Harry Potter," commented the owner. "What would you like?"
"Two butterbeers, please," were requested by Hermione as they sat down. Harry felt uncomfortable when Rosmerta, like everyone else seeing it for the first time, glanced at his famous scar. Before the beverages arrived, Brianna and her boyfriend had walked in, followed closely by Padma and Terry.
What followed was an introduction of the former fugitives to the boyfriends and an enjoyable lunch. At one point, Harry asked what had happened to their rather successful woodshop in muggle Indiana, where they'd transfigure wood into whatever shapes customers would ask for. Remus told them they'd let a few American wizards manage the shop for them, making sure they knew all the rules for protecting the statute of secrecy so that the muggle customers never suspected that they were doing business with wizards. On a more serious note, it was mentioned that since the Dementors had left Azkaban, Pettigrew had been sent through the Veil of Death instead of receiving the Kiss, which everyone agreed was more merciful anyway. After an hour or so, the students left to wander around Hogsmeade for the remaining time before they had to return to Hogwarts, promising to keep in touch.
--HPM--
Not long after the students left, Charity Burbage walked into the pub. When she saw Remus Lupin sitting at a table with Sirius Black, she turned around to leave. However, the former Defense professor had spotted that and hurried to stop her. "Charity," he called. "Don't leave on my account."
"No," she replied, looking at the floor. "I just remembered something I…"
Remus sighed. "You don't have to lie. You have every right to be upset at me. We were colleagues and I stunned you. I…"
"It's not that you stunned me!" she interrupted. "It's that you didn't trust me with the truth! None of you did! I know we're not the closest of friends but I thought…"
"That you deserved to be told the truth," agreed Moony sadly. "You're right. At the time, it seemed like a good idea not to tell you, but we were wrong." He took a deep breath. "Let me try to make it up to you. Let me buy you a drink?"
Reluctantly, Professor Burbage sat with Mr. Lupin to share a few drinks. Neither noticed a smiling Sirius Black leaving the pub.
--HPM--
"It won't be long now," bragged Draco Malfoy in the Slytherin common room. He was in a corner talking to Crabbe and Goyle. "We'll have Pius Thickness as Minister of Magic. He'll sort things out for the Dark Lord."
"How do you know he'll get the job?" asked Goyle.
"The Dark Lord will arrange it. My father said so. Once Thickness is Minister, he'll put the mudbloods in camps to keep them away from us." He sniffed and looked disgusted at what he smelled. "I can't wait until the air around here is cleaned from their filth.
Slowly, a black tabby cat stalked away from that corner of the room to another section until he could hear someone breathing, although he couldn't see this person. He easily found her ankle through the thin material of the cloak she was wearing and rubbed his face against it. Within a few seconds, he heard a hissing sound that caused a hidden doorway to open. Both the invisible girl and the feline walked through.
Harry changed back to human form and Hermione took off his invisibility cloak as soon as the door closed behind them. "It's a good thing that there's a notice-me-not charm on that corner of the room," commented Harry. "Otherwise the secret passage would be useless."
"That's why Slytherin put it there. He wanted to sneak around the castle undetected. Did you hear anything useful?"
With his face taking on a serious expression, he replied, "Yes, I did. We need to tell Aunt Minnie."
--HPM--
"Are you absolutely certain of this?" asked the headmistress.
"Absolutely," he responded. "You know how easy it is to eavesdrop as a cat."
"Then I must tell the Order. We have to prevent it."
"The only question is how," said Hermione. "Obviously, this Pius Thickness has the necessary support in the Wizengamot…"
"You mean enough Death Eaters and sympathizers there," clarified Harry.
"Or Voldemort wouldn't be pushing for him," she continued as though her boyfriend hadn't interrupted.
"I think I know who could beat him," replied Minerva, "If we can persuade her to run."
--HPM--
"As Minister, you could make an arrangement with the Goblin Nation to have Death Eater vaults checked for cursed items, especially Horcruxes," suggested Dumbledore, who'd, under Minerva's very strong suggestion, told Amelia Bones about the vile creations that kept Voldemort alive. He suspected that one was in a Gringotts vault and didn't fancy breaking into the bank.
"I prefer to run the Department of Magical Law Enforcement to waving at the crowds and saying everything is fine," replied Amelia Bones. She was in her house entertaining two guests - Minerva McGonagall and Albus Dumbledore.
"But you won't have to do that," replied the former headmaster of Hogwarts.
"And you could appoint whoever you like in your position," said McGonagall.
"I have a few suggestions, of course," added Dumbledore, his hand still blackened from a terrible curse.
"And you could give your department a realistic budget!" Minerva suggested. "You've always complained how that Fudge gave you barely enough funds for peacetime."
Amelia sighed. It was obvious they were getting through to her. "That is a good point. I'll…" At that moment, there was a loud siren-like sound filling the air. "My wards are under attack," she exclaimed, flicking her wand out of its holster into her hand with practiced ease. She then took a fighting stance. Her guests joined her in preparing for a fight.
Before they reached the door, they heard a loud explosion. "May I assume that your wards have been breached?" asked the aged man.
"Yes," was the only reply given before the door to Bones manor was blasted off its hinges toward them. All three managed to dodge that as a dozen uniformed Death Eaters stormed into the house.
Instantly, Amelia Bones started firing silent Reducto's at the invaders. She believed that a fight for your life wasn't the time to show off your vast knowledge of magic. She'd stick with one or two spells that she was good at whenever she had to fight. As usual, she was effective and deadly. Two of her attackers literally lost their heads before they'd taken one step into the house.
At the same time, Minerva was transfiguring one of the Death Eater's masks into an airtight helmet of death. Within seconds, the suffocating killer was desperately trying to remove his mask, making him easily vulnerable to McGonagall's stunner to the chest. He'd die quickly from his lack of oxygen as he lay on the floor.
Dumbledore, in the meantime, had five Death Eaters wrapped up in a fire whip shooting from his wand. With a flick of his wrist, they were all bound tightly in a series of metal chains so tight they fell.
The battle was going well until a hooded figure calmly stepped up to the threshold. As he took off his hood, he was revealed to be none other than Voldemort himself. His wand was in his hand, but pointing at the ground as he politely said, "Amelia, I had no idea you had guests. Please forgive me. I had hoped to come calling when you were alone."
"Get out of my house," the owner replied, her wand pointed straight at the Dark Lord.
"How utterly rude," he replied, and with a small gesture the head of the DMLE was hurled against the wall.
"This ends tonight, Tom," proclaimed Dumbledore, before forming a magical circle around himself and Voldemort.
Amelia, with a few cracked ribs, got up and moved toward the barrier of magic Dumbledore had formed. She pointed her wand at it and made to fire.
"No, Amelia," shouted Minerva, looking like she wanted to cry. For all the problems she'd had with her former employer, she still cared about him. "He's buying us time to escape…with his life."
"But…"
"It's his choice. He wants you to be Minister. Come on!" she said before grabbing her long-time friend by the arm and Apparating them both away to safety, after sending Reducto's at the Death Eaters Dumbledore had captured.
--HPM--
Voldemort glanced around the wall of magic that surrounded him and Albus. "Very impressive," he commented. "I can't tell you how long I've waited for the chance to fight you one on one."
"Only one of us will survive this battle, Tom," promised the aged wizard.
"You're willing to kill me, Dumbledore? I thought you believed in giving everyone a second chance," the Dark Lord mocked.
"I'm willing to do what is necessary for your final defeat, Tom."
"Then let us begin," Riddle answered before taking his wand in both hands and shooting a large flame shaped like a basilisk straight toward his foe.
Dumbledore twirled his wand counterclockwise twice before a funnel of air began shooting out of it toward the flaming serpent, engulfing it in magic.
Not one to be outdone, Riddle conjured large wooden stakes and sent them toward the old man. The weapons flew straight through the funnel of air, which added spin to them as they raced toward their target. Albus quickly conjured a metal wall which blocked them before he animated Voldemort's cloak.
The Dark Lord found himself fighting his own cloak that was trying to suffocate him, so he cancelled the spell before hurling a bolt of lightning at his long-bearded opponent.
With a small chuckle, Albus transfigured his metal wall into a lightning rod which drew the bolt into it.
Getting furious, Tom shot a spell of thunder at his former teacher, which filled the air around him with the amplified sound.
While he couldn't hear over the noise, the defeater of Grindelwald could still cast a silencing spell that greatly lessened, if not completely ended, the sound of thunder. "You cannot win, Tom. It would be best to give up now and leave your darkness," he calmly stated before sending a blinding light at his opponent.
Voldemort looked away from the bright light before conjuring a snake to sneak upon his enemy. He then quickly sent a killing curse toward Albus so he wouldn't notice the serpent.
Dumbledore easily dodged the green spell before sending a super-powered Aguamenti at his former pupil, drenching him. He quickly followed that with a freezing charm.
"Argh!" shouted Voldemort as he found himself frozen in his clothes. He started casting a heating spell with his wand to melt the ice without burning him, but knew it would take too long. His only chance was…
"Ow!" shouted Dumbledore as the conjured snake bit him in the left leg. He shot a vanishing spell at the slithering creature, but it gave Voldemort the chance to break free of the ice and shoot a disarming spell at his long-time enemy. It hit him squarely and sent the wand flying from its master's blackened hand, landing on the floor in front of the Dark Lord.
While suffering from the pain of his bite, with venom making its way through his veins, Albus was unable to dodge the next spell that his enemy fired. "Avada Kedavra!"
Voldemort was laughing with glee as the former headmaster fell. The magical field collapsed. He'd lost a dozen of his disposable servants, but it was an equitable trade as far as he was concerned. He picked up the wand he'd expelled from Dumbledore's hand moments ago and Apparated away.
--HPM--
Albus Dumbledore Dies in Fight with the Dark Lord
By Anna Jesse
One of the most notable figures of our time, Albus Dumbledore, passed away yesterday. He and Headmistress McGonagall of Hogwarts were having tea with Amelia Bones, head of the DMLE, when Death Eaters attacked. The trio held their own until the Dark Lord himself showed up. Dumbledore took on You-Know-Who himself, allowing the two others time to escape, and was killed in the battle. His body was found in the ruins of the Bones ancestral home. His wand is missing, presumably taken as a souvenir by the Dark Lord.
Why were McGonagall and Dumbledore visiting Bones, you may wonder. The answer is even more interesting. "Because we'd found out that *the Dark Lord* was planning to get Pius Thickness into the now open position of Minister of Magic, we'd decided to persuade Amelia to try for it. She's been doing a good job as acting Minister."
While Headmistress McGonagall actually used the Dark Lord's vile name in her quote, we decided to omit it, but her point is a valid one. Amelia Bones has been doing a splendid job. In related news, Senior Auror Pius Thickness was investigated late last night and found to be under the Imperius Curse, which adds more credence to the proposition that he was planned to be the next Minister.
Dumbledore's funeral will be held at Hogwarts in three days…
"The next page has the Daily Prophet strongly supporting Amelia Bones for Minister," commented Hermione when she perceived her boyfriend had finished reading the front page article. They'd naturally been told what had happened, so they weren't surprised. They glanced up toward the black banners hanging in the Great Hall as the school mourned its former headmaster.
--HPM--
The Daily Prophet article had done its job, and the next day Minister Bones was sworn into office. It seemed that none of the Wizengamot members, even the Death Eaters, wanted to appear to be dark enough to vote against her. They might be plotting assassination attempts or other similar things, but didn't want to be perceived by the public as evil.
The first thing she did was propose a law that said all convicted criminals should have their vaults searched for cursed items. It was easy enough to push through, since the dark wizards on the Wizengamot weren't stupid enough to keep cursed items in their vaults. After the new law had passed, Amelia stated, "Now the hard part will be my persuading the Goblins to agree to enforce it."
--HPM--
"No. The policy of this bank has always been and will always be that everyone, regardless of their legal standing anywhere else, can always access their vault if they can get into this building and that no unauthorized people, including the human Minister of Magic, can access those vaults. That is the only reason we're trusted. It is not up for negotiation no matter what you offer."
"But Chief Ragnok," pleaded Amelia, "these people are using the goblins. They don't respect you or your traditions! They're just trying to protect themselves!"
"Be that as it may," the goblin replied, now showing some irritation, "it is not up for discussion. We will never allow Ministry personnel access to those vaults no matter what your courts claim they did!"
"Those people are killers!"
"That's what your Ministry said about Sirius Black not two weeks ago!" he retorted. "But his vault was safe with us the whole time your government held him in Azkaban and while he was in hiding!"
"The Ministry broke its own rules in that case, and it won't happen again while I'm Minister. But regarding the vaults, we just want to check the items and destroy anything dark - not to confiscate them."
"No!" he growled at the woman in front of him, showing his teeth. "Even if I agreed, the Goblin Nation wouldn't! They'd chop my head off for agreeing and then kill any aurors you send!"
Amelia sighed. She had to admit that Ragnok was beginning to frighten her, but she knew that she couldn't show any weakness to him. At the same time, if she drew her wand in Gringotts, she knew they'd kill her no matter what position she held in human society. She was just about to give up when she got an idea.
"What if the Goblins checked the vaults for cursed items that could be a threat to your people? There are some curses that could even possess some of your associates. Imagine if a dark curse caused a goblin that happened to be near the vault to attack his brothers."
"You believe that such a thing could happen?" Ragnok asked, now more concerned than angry.
"That and much worse." She leaned forward and looked intently at him. "I have reason to believe that at least one container of a bit of Voldemort's soul is in your vaults."
"I believe that it would be in the interests of the Goblin Nation, for the safety of the goblins that work near the vaults, for the contents of known dark witches and wizards to be checked for severe curses that could harm goblins. Any item with such a curse will be destroyed by the goblins and left inside the vault. It wouldn't hurt if I discussed what's been done for goblin safety with the human Minister of Magic to advise her on safety precautions she should take within her own Ministry, in the interests of good relations with the human government." He paused for a moment before adding, "I do not see any reason to inform the human public of this small change in policy regarding goblin safety when working near the vaults."
"I can respect your decision not to help us," said Amelia with a smirk. "It was foolish of me to try to change your policy of protecting vaults. I do look forward to our future discussion of safety measures."
Three days after Dumbledore's grand funeral where he was entombed at Hogwarts, Amelia Bones had been informed that a Horcrux had been found and destroyed in the vault of Bellatrix Lestrange.
--HPM--
A/N As I don't feel like writing about a funeral, that scene won't be in that story. Much of it will be similar to the one in Half-Blood Prince.
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