Categories > Books > Harry Potter > Failure Is Not An Option
"Avada Kevadra" the robed figure fell lifelessly to the ground. Madeye Moody carelessly stepped over the fallen figure and continued down the long, hollow dimly lit corridor.
Clunk Clunk Clunk, that was the last thing Sam Perkins ever heard as a long knife slashed his jugular. Ugh, good thing I did that from behind Moody though upon seeing the blood spray from the mans neck. Moody continued until he reached a stone door with no handle or visible markings. He pointed his wand at himself "Invado demensoculus" He phased out of sight for a moment before coming back looking as normal as ever and simply walked straight through the door.
True he may be allowed here but memory charms can be broken and he wanted know one to know he'd been here. And after all, who would expect the great Madeye Moody to waltz into the ministry and kill two unspeakable. Moody audibly growled at this thought, the department was going downhill; those two couldn't have been on the job for more than a week. Assigning greens to security, terrible.
"No no, we can't have that try Valde Cautella, we can't work a more complex spell in with the web we already have, it can only hold so much power." Oh shit Moody thought, he had planned this out perfectly, there was not supposed to be anyone here, they should be at the hearing, and by the sounds of it they wouldn't be leaving anytime soon. With a resigned sigh he left as silently as possible, cursing his damn wooden leg the entire time.
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Harry Potter walked into the hearing room. Well walked as well as anyone who had magical bonds on every limb and 2 aurors on either side could. He was escorted over to a wooden chair with chains on the arms and legs in the middle of the large stone room. The magical bonds were released and he was quickly shoved into the chair, the chains snapped and tightly bound his arms and legs with the aurors not leaving his side. He just sat there, knowing it would be futile to struggle but still wondering just what they thought a 15 year old boy with little magical education or knowledge could do. Perhaps they thought he would starting should Avada Kevadra's out of his eyes, how cool would that be.
He looked around the room and noticed it looked larger than the time he had seen it in Dumbledore's pensieve and it still seemed to be overflowing with people. There must have been 500 members of the press alone. He spotted 8 flaming heads of bright orange hair all sitting together. He gave them a second glance and then continued to search through the stands, he was only looking for 1 person and he was surprised to find he wasn't there. Albus Dumbledore was nowhere to be seen.
The Wizengamot filed in through the back door and took there place in the front of the right side of the bleachers. Dumbledore walked in after the and took his place beside the minister at the front of the room.
Oh, no wonder he couldn't find him, he would have to be with the Wizengamot. Harry started to wonder what Dumbledore was going to do here but was pulled out of his thoughts by Amelia Bones saying in obviously magically enhanced voice "ORDER, ORDER!" This had the effect of making people stop talking for all of about three seconds before people started talking again if possibly even louder than before.
Amelia Bones was visibly frustrated. "DO YOU WANT THIS TO BE A PRIVATE MATTER BECAUSE THAT'S WHAT IT'S GOING TO BE VERY QUICKLY IF YOU DON'T CEASE TALKING AND LET US GET ON WITH IT!"
This had the desired effect and people stopped talking immediately, looking to Amelia, then to Fudge, and then to Dumbledore, eagerly waiting for the "show" to start.
Cornelius Fudge rose from his chair at the front of the room and pointed his wand to his throat and incanted "Sonorous" "Hello Everybody and thank you for coming. Today is the beginning of the end for You-Know-Who! With Harry Potter back and fighting evil there's no way we can lose!
No one said anything, waiting for the Minister to continue. "I understand some of you are weary to have a criminal back in society" Fudge waited to see the response he would get before continuing, he had to play this very carefully if he wanted to succeed.
People in the crowd stayed silent as if waiting to see what everyone else thought of Harry before they said anything. 30 seconds later a large man broke the ice, "YOUR DAMN RIGHT WERE WORRIED ABOUT HAVING A MURDERING PSYCHO ENDANGERING US AND OUR FAMILIES, WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO ABOUT IT"
Fudge had to stop from laughing, looks like having a plant in the audience as a plan B was a good idea afterall. "Harry Potter will take a wizards oath, constructed by the Wizengamot on his life and magic that no harm will befall ANY of you. There will be other things he will have to do as well." Harry personally thought that was overkill, if it was on his life why must he swear on his magic as well?
Dumbledore then rose and said in a kind voice "And on that note lets not wait any longer. Do any members of the Wizengamot oppose to the oath we have agreed on?"
No one said anything, "As you all know, silence isn't agreement" Dumbledore said this as a Professor would to a first year, yet no one seemed insulted, visibly insulted anyway.
A murmur of agreement passed across the Wizengamot and Dumbledore pulled a parchment from inside his robes. He unfurled it and it was much longer than anyone expected. "Blimey, he has to agree to all that!" Ron said a beleaguered look on his face. "Dumbledore knows what he's doing Ron." Hermione said in whisper.
Dumbledore looked down at Harry "Harry If you would repeat after me, I Harry James Potter, do swear on my life and magic that," But Dumbledore was interrupted by Harry, who spoke for the first time since he entered the courtroom. "No, I'm not swearing, my life and magic on some foot long oath I've never read before"
Pandemonium ensued.
It took several minutes and many Sonorous enhanced rants to get any semblance of order restored. It was not until Dumbledore made a huge gong like sound with his wand that everyone quieted down. "Now Harry, this will go much easier if you just do as your asked, I've looked over several times myself and there's nothing unfair with, I wouldn't allow it" Dumbledore said this as though that settled the matter.
Harry shot Fudge a meaningful look and Fudge stood back and said "No, Dumbledore, I think we should allow him to read it over first, after all, if there's nothing wrong with it, it can do no harm."
Harry smirked victoriously and Dumbledore made a very disappointed sound but floated the parchment down in front of Harry's face. Harry read it twice over and bowled over by what they expected of him, any by how stupid some of the demands were. There were things in there that he and Fudge had never talked about. Like "I will give half my assets to the war effort" or "after the war is over I will continue to fight evil should another Dark Lord arise" and that completely contradicted "I will not attack anyone who doesn't bear the Dark mark." Did Voldemort even have the dark mark, Harry doubted it, and what's to stop Voldemort from simply just not marking his followers. He couldn't believe Dumbledore would agree to this, after all he had final say as the Head of the Wizengamot. What did he want him to be, a damn martyr.
The parchment floated away and Dumbledore looked down to Harry with an expectant look on his face. "Does that seem fair to you?" Harry couldn't believe the tone that Dumbledore had said that in, he said it as though Harry had no choice to agree. Charlie Weasley noticed this as well, didn't Dumbledore say he was going to let Harry live his own life.
"About as fair as I if I were to ask you to off yourself." Harry replied nonchalantly
"Harry, I know some of those things seem like quite a lot to ask but you must realize that this all for the greater good." Dumbledore again said this as if that's all that needed to be said.
"The demands are so broad! Not attack anyone that doesn't have the dark mark, what if I'm wrestling with a friend, and you all expect me to go defeat Voldemort do you think he has the mark? That's not a risk I'm willing to take. This is a public affair as well, what's to stop him from creating a different mark for his followers or not marking them at all. You greatly underestimate him. Why even have this public at all. I mean now Voldemort will know what I can and can't do and he can find loopholes and I'll end up offing myself. I will not continue fighting evil if I survive this war, 1 war is enough for me thanks. The last thing I will bitch about, but not the last thing I don't agree to is me giving half my money to the "war effort" what's that supposed to mean? All I have is 1 vault with a moderate amount of money in it and I'm going to need it!" The rant over Harry just looked to the front podium and locked eyes with Dumbledore.
Dumbledore sighed and shook his head as though he couldn't be more disappointed. "I'm sorry Harry but these are necessary precautions."
Harry fought to keep his cool façade and said as calmly as possible "I'll tell you what, I'll say the oath as I see fit in PRIVATE, and then if you feel I left something out I can always make another covering what you think I missed."
Fudge senses an opportunity and addressed the reporters more than Harry "No, I'm sorry Potter but the public deserves to know what to expect! It's there RIGHT!"
The crowed cheered and Harry couldn't help but role his eyes. "Fine but I'll say my own oath because you" He looked accusingly at the Wizengamot "Have proven yourself incompetent to make one that won't have me dead by next Tuesday."
Dumbledore's eyes were devoid of not only his signature twinkle but of any emotion at all "I'm sorry Harry but I can't allow you to do that"
"Well then you can just lose this war and I'll go back to Azkaban" Harry looked up at Fudge while saying this.
"You can do that but anything you miss that we deem necessary will be stated in a second oath" Dumbledore looked shocked that Fudge said this.
Before anyone had a chance to say anything Harry spoke up "I Harry James Potter do hereby swear on my life and magic that I will fight Tom Marvello Riddle to the best of my ability. I will not harm innocents but anyone considered a threat shall be eliminated. I shall support the public and try to make the world the safest place it can be. I will also give Albus Dumbledore 1 shiny galleon to support the war effort. So mote it be!
Harry shimmered for a moment before returning to normal and looked to Dumbledore. Dumbledore was, to say the least dumbfounded at how little Harry had promised to do but knew that any other requests would seem unfair.
Everyone was looking to Dumbledore expectantly and Dumbledore stood up and said in a powerful voice "SO MOTE IT BE" Harry rolled his eyes, Dumbledore was always one for theatrics, he could of just said sure.
The aurors removed the chains and tried to escort Harry forcefully from the room. "Tut tut ickle aurors I'm a free man now, don't touch lest ye be bit."
Harry walked over to Fudge and said "I take it my wand was snapped?"
Fudge looked visibly uncomfortable "Er.... Yes. Yes it has."
"Fine, I'll have to get another"
No one had left apparently all waiting to mob Harry Potter as he left so Harry merely walked up to Amelia's chair which she had vacated and sat down. "This is going to be a long day"
A/N Didn't go the way I planned I wanted him much more restricted but I couldn't figure out a plausible way to make it look believable. Next chapter will have Harry trying to remain calm around the Weasleys and Hermione, some action and maybe shed some light on just what Moody is doing.
Clunk Clunk Clunk, that was the last thing Sam Perkins ever heard as a long knife slashed his jugular. Ugh, good thing I did that from behind Moody though upon seeing the blood spray from the mans neck. Moody continued until he reached a stone door with no handle or visible markings. He pointed his wand at himself "Invado demensoculus" He phased out of sight for a moment before coming back looking as normal as ever and simply walked straight through the door.
True he may be allowed here but memory charms can be broken and he wanted know one to know he'd been here. And after all, who would expect the great Madeye Moody to waltz into the ministry and kill two unspeakable. Moody audibly growled at this thought, the department was going downhill; those two couldn't have been on the job for more than a week. Assigning greens to security, terrible.
"No no, we can't have that try Valde Cautella, we can't work a more complex spell in with the web we already have, it can only hold so much power." Oh shit Moody thought, he had planned this out perfectly, there was not supposed to be anyone here, they should be at the hearing, and by the sounds of it they wouldn't be leaving anytime soon. With a resigned sigh he left as silently as possible, cursing his damn wooden leg the entire time.
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Harry Potter walked into the hearing room. Well walked as well as anyone who had magical bonds on every limb and 2 aurors on either side could. He was escorted over to a wooden chair with chains on the arms and legs in the middle of the large stone room. The magical bonds were released and he was quickly shoved into the chair, the chains snapped and tightly bound his arms and legs with the aurors not leaving his side. He just sat there, knowing it would be futile to struggle but still wondering just what they thought a 15 year old boy with little magical education or knowledge could do. Perhaps they thought he would starting should Avada Kevadra's out of his eyes, how cool would that be.
He looked around the room and noticed it looked larger than the time he had seen it in Dumbledore's pensieve and it still seemed to be overflowing with people. There must have been 500 members of the press alone. He spotted 8 flaming heads of bright orange hair all sitting together. He gave them a second glance and then continued to search through the stands, he was only looking for 1 person and he was surprised to find he wasn't there. Albus Dumbledore was nowhere to be seen.
The Wizengamot filed in through the back door and took there place in the front of the right side of the bleachers. Dumbledore walked in after the and took his place beside the minister at the front of the room.
Oh, no wonder he couldn't find him, he would have to be with the Wizengamot. Harry started to wonder what Dumbledore was going to do here but was pulled out of his thoughts by Amelia Bones saying in obviously magically enhanced voice "ORDER, ORDER!" This had the effect of making people stop talking for all of about three seconds before people started talking again if possibly even louder than before.
Amelia Bones was visibly frustrated. "DO YOU WANT THIS TO BE A PRIVATE MATTER BECAUSE THAT'S WHAT IT'S GOING TO BE VERY QUICKLY IF YOU DON'T CEASE TALKING AND LET US GET ON WITH IT!"
This had the desired effect and people stopped talking immediately, looking to Amelia, then to Fudge, and then to Dumbledore, eagerly waiting for the "show" to start.
Cornelius Fudge rose from his chair at the front of the room and pointed his wand to his throat and incanted "Sonorous" "Hello Everybody and thank you for coming. Today is the beginning of the end for You-Know-Who! With Harry Potter back and fighting evil there's no way we can lose!
No one said anything, waiting for the Minister to continue. "I understand some of you are weary to have a criminal back in society" Fudge waited to see the response he would get before continuing, he had to play this very carefully if he wanted to succeed.
People in the crowd stayed silent as if waiting to see what everyone else thought of Harry before they said anything. 30 seconds later a large man broke the ice, "YOUR DAMN RIGHT WERE WORRIED ABOUT HAVING A MURDERING PSYCHO ENDANGERING US AND OUR FAMILIES, WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO ABOUT IT"
Fudge had to stop from laughing, looks like having a plant in the audience as a plan B was a good idea afterall. "Harry Potter will take a wizards oath, constructed by the Wizengamot on his life and magic that no harm will befall ANY of you. There will be other things he will have to do as well." Harry personally thought that was overkill, if it was on his life why must he swear on his magic as well?
Dumbledore then rose and said in a kind voice "And on that note lets not wait any longer. Do any members of the Wizengamot oppose to the oath we have agreed on?"
No one said anything, "As you all know, silence isn't agreement" Dumbledore said this as a Professor would to a first year, yet no one seemed insulted, visibly insulted anyway.
A murmur of agreement passed across the Wizengamot and Dumbledore pulled a parchment from inside his robes. He unfurled it and it was much longer than anyone expected. "Blimey, he has to agree to all that!" Ron said a beleaguered look on his face. "Dumbledore knows what he's doing Ron." Hermione said in whisper.
Dumbledore looked down at Harry "Harry If you would repeat after me, I Harry James Potter, do swear on my life and magic that," But Dumbledore was interrupted by Harry, who spoke for the first time since he entered the courtroom. "No, I'm not swearing, my life and magic on some foot long oath I've never read before"
Pandemonium ensued.
It took several minutes and many Sonorous enhanced rants to get any semblance of order restored. It was not until Dumbledore made a huge gong like sound with his wand that everyone quieted down. "Now Harry, this will go much easier if you just do as your asked, I've looked over several times myself and there's nothing unfair with, I wouldn't allow it" Dumbledore said this as though that settled the matter.
Harry shot Fudge a meaningful look and Fudge stood back and said "No, Dumbledore, I think we should allow him to read it over first, after all, if there's nothing wrong with it, it can do no harm."
Harry smirked victoriously and Dumbledore made a very disappointed sound but floated the parchment down in front of Harry's face. Harry read it twice over and bowled over by what they expected of him, any by how stupid some of the demands were. There were things in there that he and Fudge had never talked about. Like "I will give half my assets to the war effort" or "after the war is over I will continue to fight evil should another Dark Lord arise" and that completely contradicted "I will not attack anyone who doesn't bear the Dark mark." Did Voldemort even have the dark mark, Harry doubted it, and what's to stop Voldemort from simply just not marking his followers. He couldn't believe Dumbledore would agree to this, after all he had final say as the Head of the Wizengamot. What did he want him to be, a damn martyr.
The parchment floated away and Dumbledore looked down to Harry with an expectant look on his face. "Does that seem fair to you?" Harry couldn't believe the tone that Dumbledore had said that in, he said it as though Harry had no choice to agree. Charlie Weasley noticed this as well, didn't Dumbledore say he was going to let Harry live his own life.
"About as fair as I if I were to ask you to off yourself." Harry replied nonchalantly
"Harry, I know some of those things seem like quite a lot to ask but you must realize that this all for the greater good." Dumbledore again said this as if that's all that needed to be said.
"The demands are so broad! Not attack anyone that doesn't have the dark mark, what if I'm wrestling with a friend, and you all expect me to go defeat Voldemort do you think he has the mark? That's not a risk I'm willing to take. This is a public affair as well, what's to stop him from creating a different mark for his followers or not marking them at all. You greatly underestimate him. Why even have this public at all. I mean now Voldemort will know what I can and can't do and he can find loopholes and I'll end up offing myself. I will not continue fighting evil if I survive this war, 1 war is enough for me thanks. The last thing I will bitch about, but not the last thing I don't agree to is me giving half my money to the "war effort" what's that supposed to mean? All I have is 1 vault with a moderate amount of money in it and I'm going to need it!" The rant over Harry just looked to the front podium and locked eyes with Dumbledore.
Dumbledore sighed and shook his head as though he couldn't be more disappointed. "I'm sorry Harry but these are necessary precautions."
Harry fought to keep his cool façade and said as calmly as possible "I'll tell you what, I'll say the oath as I see fit in PRIVATE, and then if you feel I left something out I can always make another covering what you think I missed."
Fudge senses an opportunity and addressed the reporters more than Harry "No, I'm sorry Potter but the public deserves to know what to expect! It's there RIGHT!"
The crowed cheered and Harry couldn't help but role his eyes. "Fine but I'll say my own oath because you" He looked accusingly at the Wizengamot "Have proven yourself incompetent to make one that won't have me dead by next Tuesday."
Dumbledore's eyes were devoid of not only his signature twinkle but of any emotion at all "I'm sorry Harry but I can't allow you to do that"
"Well then you can just lose this war and I'll go back to Azkaban" Harry looked up at Fudge while saying this.
"You can do that but anything you miss that we deem necessary will be stated in a second oath" Dumbledore looked shocked that Fudge said this.
Before anyone had a chance to say anything Harry spoke up "I Harry James Potter do hereby swear on my life and magic that I will fight Tom Marvello Riddle to the best of my ability. I will not harm innocents but anyone considered a threat shall be eliminated. I shall support the public and try to make the world the safest place it can be. I will also give Albus Dumbledore 1 shiny galleon to support the war effort. So mote it be!
Harry shimmered for a moment before returning to normal and looked to Dumbledore. Dumbledore was, to say the least dumbfounded at how little Harry had promised to do but knew that any other requests would seem unfair.
Everyone was looking to Dumbledore expectantly and Dumbledore stood up and said in a powerful voice "SO MOTE IT BE" Harry rolled his eyes, Dumbledore was always one for theatrics, he could of just said sure.
The aurors removed the chains and tried to escort Harry forcefully from the room. "Tut tut ickle aurors I'm a free man now, don't touch lest ye be bit."
Harry walked over to Fudge and said "I take it my wand was snapped?"
Fudge looked visibly uncomfortable "Er.... Yes. Yes it has."
"Fine, I'll have to get another"
No one had left apparently all waiting to mob Harry Potter as he left so Harry merely walked up to Amelia's chair which she had vacated and sat down. "This is going to be a long day"
A/N Didn't go the way I planned I wanted him much more restricted but I couldn't figure out a plausible way to make it look believable. Next chapter will have Harry trying to remain calm around the Weasleys and Hermione, some action and maybe shed some light on just what Moody is doing.
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