FicWad

Chapter 16
Editor: The Resident
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Harry smiled at Zara, who was still blushing. She looked much better, compared to how she'd looked just a few minutes ago. Harry was not sure if he'd given her the same treatment as he had given his girls. Zara did not have long hair, and she did not look as healthy as his girls did. He had the feeling that Zara was not one of those who he'd made healthy.

Probably something of his worries showed on his face.

"Is there something wrong, Mr. Potter?" the Queen's firm voice sounded next to him. The Queen was looking at him with a worried expression on her face. That got the attention of all present, except the black dressed soldiers.

"No... no... uhm... Your Majesty. Nothing is wrong... I only wonder if Zara is all right. She seems to look different then my gi-... I mean... she looks different then the girls I have... treated before." He looked sheepishly at his feet.

Harry heard Matt Granger snort at the back of the room.

The Queen looked briefly at Harry, and then frowned.

"While you were unconscious, I asked the doctor here to check Zara. He promised me that she is well, and said that he could not see any sign of the cancer. Even better; he could not see any sign that she is sick at all. The doctors will take Zara for tests within an hour, and they will see if she is really healthy."

She turned in the direction of Matt Granger, who was smirking.

"Mr. Granger, I presume," the Queen asked.

The expression on Matt Granger's face fell immediately.

"Your Royal Majesty," he answered and bowed his head.

"Your Majesty is enough," the Queen said huffily.

"Yes, Your Majesty," Matt answered blushing.

"Come forward please," she asked, gesturing to the chair.

Matt walked quickly to the bed, took the offered chair and sat down.

"You're supposed to stand in the presence of the Queen," whispered Harry to Matt.

Matt Granger jumped up from his chair with a red face. "I'm sorry, Your Royal Majesty... I mean Your Majesty," he stuttered.

"That is quite alright, Mr. Granger. You may sit down," she said, frowning at Harry. Harry could see the corners of her mouth pointing slightly up, and Prince Philip was grinning.

"Are you making fun of the poor man?" Prince Philip whispered in Harry's ear.

Harry smiled wickedly. "It's pay back," he whispered back, smiling.

Harry started to feel something he had never felt before. He belonged to someone... he'd found family. His eyebrows went up. And what a family! The bloody Queen herself. What was it the Queen told him...? He was the nephew of the Queen eight times removed. He could feel pleasant warmth spread through his chest and wrap itself around his body like a warm blanket.

In the meantime, Matt Granger had sat down on his chair and was looking uneasily at the Queen.

"Was there something amiss with what Mr. Potter told us, Mr. Granger?" the Queen asked.

Matt thought about Hermione and his face brightened considerably.

"Well, Your Majesty. Harry here treated my daughter... and the other girls as well..." answered Matt, still thinking about his daughter. "After his treatment of my daughter, she looked so much better then before, he turned her into a goddess." He looked pensive for a moment. "You see, Hermione... that is my daughter, was a normal looking girl, but after this treatment, she was changed into an alpha female with excellent health... it shouldn't have been possible..."

Before Matt could make a fool out of himself, the doors of the room slammed open and the figures of Albus Dumbledore and Cornelius Fudge stormed into the room. They froze in their tracks, because they were surrounded with soldiers pointing their weapons straight at their heads. For several seconds nobody spoke, nor moved.

Prince Philip stood up and signalled the solders.

"It is alright," he said. "I know these two men. You can release them."

The soldiers warily lowered their weapons, but were still ready for anything.

Cornelius Fudge looked relieved and walked pompously towards Harry's bed.

"I see that you are sick again, Mr. Potter," he drawled. "You can be found regularly in a medical facility, can't you?"

"Minister Fudge!" the Queen exclaimed. "It's been a very long time since we have spoken with each other. I believe it was four years ago," she said in an icy tone of voice.

Fudge looked at the older woman, and suddenly he recognized her.

With a very surprised expression on his face, he bowed his head.

"Your Royal Majesty," he mumbled.

"Excuse me?" the queen asked icily.

"I mean Your Majesty," he said with a stronger voice, but still not looking at the Queen.

"Four years ago, we made agreed that we would see each other every three months, and yet you have never once shown up. May I remind you that you are a citizen of Britain, wizard or not, and you are the Minister of Magic, and you fall directly under my authority," she scolded.

Fudge winced... he'd never expected to meet the Queen with the Potter brat. He'd known that the boy would become powerful because of his elemental abilities, but he would never have guessed that he would be politically powerful. The Queen! How had he managed that?

Fudge realized that he was in trouble. He'd made the arrangement with the Queen to see each other every three months in order to avoid some problems they'd had at that time. He never went, and always sent some minor clerk to those meetings instead. He did not like the feeling that there was a person above him.

He, as Minister of Magic, was the most powerful leader in the world. With only a word, he could do anything. He knew that the Ministry of Magic in Britain was part of the Royal House, the same as any other ministry of her government, and the Queen was the head of the British government, and in this way head of his government, but how could the Queen expect to enforce her rule?

He was the head of the wizarding Government... well... actually the Ministry. He knew that the Queen did not like his reforms to the voting systems; he also knew that the Queen did not like him much... or rather she did not like him at all. That was also the main reason why he never attended those meetings with the Queen; he was afraid that she would lose her patience and throw him out.

He looked at the regal old woman, standing now with a straight back and her flaming eyes looking straight into his. He became instantly nervous. This was a bad situation for him.

"Yes... well... sorry about that," he said jovially. "I don't have much time..."

"Bollocks"

Everyone in the room was shocked.

What had the queen said? Bollocks? The Queen had said... bollocks? Fudge paled immediately.

"Excuse me?" Fudge said perplexed.

"You, Minister Fudge, are an incompetent Minister and administrator," the Queen snapped, pointing her finger at Fudge, who was wincing even more. "I've had your government monitored, and it has all the signs of corruption and incompetence up to the highest echelons of your administration."

The Queen stepped closer to Fudge, and she stabbed her finger at Fudge's chest repeatedly.

"I want to open an official investigation, investigating you and your administration. If I find even one little thing wrong, even if it is a small pencil missing from a desk, I will personally see that you get fired, and I want to review the Act of Wizarding Government from 1012 by Lord Gryffindor as well.

"We, the Monarchy of Britain, have always allowed the magical population to vote for the Minister of Magic, instead of being appointed by the Crown and its government. We agreed upon that as is defined in the Act of Wizarding Government from 1012. But you as Minister have misused that arrangement."

The Queen's finger jabbed at Fudge's chest as she spoke.

Poke - Poke

"Can you believe, an evil wizard on the loose, and you haven't done a single thing about that threat!"

Poke

"You even reduce the police force by half, and redirect twenty percent of the budget for Law Enforcement to your re-election campaign!"

Poke

"You attack the wizard's and witches high school with all kind of nonsense, and you think you get away with that?"

Poke

"You try to discredit an honest person like Mr. Potter and the Grand Sorcerer Mr. Dumbledore, and you do what Mr. Malfoy, a convicted criminal, tells you, after receiving a lot of his money... Minister Fudge!"

Poke

"Mr. Potter is my nephew, and nobody touches my family without getting into trouble with the Crown!"

Poke - Poke - Poke

The poking of the Queen's finger had started to hurt. Fudge hadn't expected so much power behind the muggle woman.

The Queen suddenly turned to Dumbledore.

"Mr. Dumbledore, what a pleasure to see you," she said pleasantly. She turned her head to the Minister once again. "You can go now, Fudge. You will hear from us soon," she muttered, her eyes flashing.

"Thank you, Your Majesty. You look wonderful today," Dumbledore said with a smile, and bowed his head to the Queen of United Kingdom and sixteen sovereign states, the most powerful woman in the world and very nearly the richest.

Fudge thought it best to leave as fast as possible. He turned and strode quickly and silently out of the room to return as fast as possible to the Ministry and to prepare himself for the onslaught which was for sure to come very soon.

Harry was watching with amusement as Fudge fled from the onslaught of the Queen. Oh - he loved the Queen; he'd had a lot of fun listening to the tirade of this powerful and most impressive woman. He turned to Zara and looked at her.

Zara had only eyes for Harry and she brightened up when he looked at her.

"Are you really a wizard?" she asked softly.

Harry nodded and looked briefly at the Queen and the headmaster, who were deeply involved in a conversation. Prince Philip walked over to Harry and Zara and smiled at them.

"Can I call you Harry, Mr. Potter?" Prince Philip asked.

"Of cause you can call me Harry, Your Highness," Harry answered.

"You did an excellent job with Zara, Harry." Prince Philip said. "I think it is better to keep this secret, otherwise you'll end up in healing all the people in the world. That would be nice, but the repercussions of that would be... let's say problematic, don't you think?"

Harry nodded.

"But Your Highness, I need to cure the rest of the children in this room as well, not only Zara. I feel... well... kind of tired... and it will take some time to recharge my gifts for healing."

Prince Philip nodded his understanding.

"Can you tell me about your gifts?" he asked.

"Of course, Your Highness. I am an elemental sorcerer. That means that I have small creatures in my head, which represent the elements of nature, called elementals. You understand what I mean by elements of nature, Your Highness?"

Prince Philip nodded again. "You mean fire, water, air and earth?"

"Yes Sir. All of those elementals are now in my head. I can ask or command these elementals to do work. For example, I can create fire, or I can heal. I have learned lately that the elementals are limited though. They can only do their work until they are exhausted," he said, looking at Zara.

"Does it always hurt so much when you try to heal somebody, Harry?" Zara asked hesitantly.

"No, I think I made a mistake by trying to see what was going on with you and your body, without being prepared to shield myself against the pain I would feel." Harry looked pensive for a moment. "I guess that I can heal the children the other way." He looked at the children who were left in the room.

"What way?" Prince Philip asked puzzled.

"I will order my elementals to heal the children directly, instead of scanning them and wasting precious magical energy," Harry answered, looking apologetically at Zara.

"That is okay, Harry," she said with a smile. "I feel like running at the moment."

Prince Philip smiled. "Harry, please call me Uncle Philip, we are family after all," Prince Philip said, ruffling Harry's hair. "You are a good kid."

Harry beamed and Zara laughed. "Where are your parents, Harry? Do they know what you are doing?"

Harry's face fell. "My parents died when I was one year old," he said. "I live with my aunt and uncle, but they don't like me much... because of my magical gifts, I assume."

Prince Philip nodded knowingly, but said nothing.

"Mr. Potter," the voice of the Queen sounded behind him. Harry turned.

"Please call me grandma, like Zara here. We are family, and it is not good to keep to etiquette between the family. May I call you Harry?"

Harry nodded.

"Of course, Your h- I mean grandma," he said with a smile. "I have a question... Grandma."

"Yes Harry?" the Queen asked.

"You mentioned Lord Gryffindor," Harry said. "Is that the same Gryffindor we know from the history, a thousand years ago?"

"I believe it is the same Lord Gryffindor," the Queen answered, looking briefly at the smiling Dumbledore, who nodded.

She turned back to Harry.

"You, young man, will go with us to Windsor Castle, where you will meet some members of your family and where we can talk in private."

She turned to Zara.

"And you, young lady, will stay here. Your parents will be here very soon, and the doctors will see exactly how well you are. If you are healthy, you will join us at Windsor Castle tonight. If there are still some problems, then we will come to visit you tonight. So we will see each other regardless." The Queen smiled warmly at Zara, who was beaming.

"Will Harry still be at Windsor Castle tonight?" Zara asked.

"He will not be at Windsor Castle tonight," her grandmother said. "He has other business to attend to in the afternoon. We can organize something suitable in the near future." The Queen looked at Dumbledore, then at Harry, who nodded enthusiastically.

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"The queen lives in three castles!" Harry exclaimed. "And Windsor Castle is amazing."

Hermione's mother and Hermione were listening intently.

"And?" Hermione asked anxiously.

"What 'and'?" Harry asked Hermione grinning.

"Well, Harry. You were with the Queen, what happened? What did you see? Windsor Castle is the biggest inhabited castle in the world. Don't tell me you were only interested in the food, like Ron! Please Harry, I need to know!"

Harry looked at the excited Hermione.

"The Queen insisted that I learn something about its history. Let's see. Uhm... it is the biggest castle in the world where people are currently living. William the Conqueror lived there, from 1066. That year he conquered England, and was known as William II."

Hermione made strangled noises, while Harry tried to remember what else the Queen had told him.

"Let's see. We have the round tower in the middle, then we have the gates; the St. George Gate, the Norman Gate, the Edward III tower... oh yes, that's where I fell... it is an amazing tower, and then we have the Curfew tower, which was also amazing. We went to the private apartments of the Queen and family, which overlook the East terrace.

"There I met Prince Charles, Prince Henri, Prince Richard and Prince Michael, and the Queen introduced them to me. They are amazing people. After the Queen introduced me to them, they all dropped the Royal thing, and insisted that I call them by their first names, except Prince Charles. Henri and Richard taught me how to play chess much better than I could before. I bet I can give Ron a run for his money now," Harry grinned, looking at Hermione with his big bright green eyes.

"Then Michael was telling me about secret rooms in the Edward III tower, and he promised to show me them the next time I visit the castle. And before I forget, all those soldiers are amazing. I tried to talk to one of those soldiers, but he acted as if he did not hear me. I even pulled on his nose, and still didn't get a reaction from him."

"You didn't?!" exclaimed Hermione shocked.

"Yeah, I did," Harry said with a laugh.

He could hear Matt Granger laughing in the background.

"What you did to Zara was amazing," Matt Granger said. "She is healthy, no traces of cancer, and she is now with her parents at the castle."

Harry nodded happily, and turned back to Hermione.

"I am going with Dumbledore tomorrow to Gringotts to visit my family vaults, then we'll go to the hospital to treat the other children, and then we are expected at Windsor Castle," he said.

"Prince Philip knows that I am going to marry my girls, but the Queen doesn't yet. He thought it might be better for me to explain the coming wedding to her in person, because the idea of a harem is - let's say - foreign to her. Prince Philip said that it would be much better if all the girls were present."

Harry looked pensive for a moment, then turned to Hermione. "Do you want to come with us, Hermione?"

Hermione nodded happily.

"Now Harry, tell me exactly what you saw at the castle," she said.

Harry rolled his eyes.