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Chapter Thirty One: Terror in Hogsmeade Village.

Hogsmeade weekend after the second task was a greatly anticipated occasion. Many of the students were looking forward to get out of the confinements of Hogwarts as the teachers seemed to be piling on more homework than ever in recent weeks, as the time drew closer to the exams at the end of the year, including the much dreaded OWLs for the fifth year students and the NEWTs for the seventh year students.

Harry didn’t worry too much about exams as due to his name being thrown into the Triwizard Tournament, he was exempt from taking them. In fact, the only thing Harry worried about was the survival of the third task. Whoever put his name in that Goblet of Fire was running low on chances to finish him off and if they would strike, they would most definitely do it during the third task of the Triwizard Tournament. Harry decided to study up on any and all defensive magic that might help him in competing in the Triwizard Tournament. He had a few surprises for anyone who might try and attack him during that third task. There would be no way Harry would be going into that task blindly, he would have a trick or two up his sleeves.

Of course, Harry still had to sneak into Hogsmeade as technically he wasn’t allowed in legally, thanks to Dumbledore forbidding him from visiting but Harry could care less what the Headmaster told him. Using the Marauder’s map Harry went in through the one eyed witch and ended up in the basement of Honeydukes. After sneaking around and double checking to make sure no one knew he was there, Harry gracefully slipped out of Honeydukes and walked to the outside area of the Three Broomsticks area where his friends would be meeting him.

In a wooded area a bit outside of Hogsmeade, the assassin known as Marcos had just spied his target. He prepared to move into position for a quick, assassination before he was detected. The boy moved fast and Marcos remained hidden, with a silencing charm on his feet as he stalked Harry Potter before raising his wand.

Harry looked over his shoulder. He sensed a presence, someone or something was definitely following him. He raised his wand cautiously, looking around, watching a group of fifth year Ravenclaws walk past him, chatting. Harry pulled out his two way mirror.

“Ginny, are you there?” whispered Harry.

In a few seconds, Ginny’s face appeared in the two way mirror with Hermione, Daphne, and Theodore in the background.

“Yes, Harry, what is it?” asked Ginny. “Where are you?”

“I’m on the path just right beside the wooded area outside of Hogsmeade,” said Harry. “I think someone’s following me. Whatever you do, don’t come looking for me because…”

Harry felt a thick cord wrap around his right hand, causing him to be yanked towards the woods. Struggling to hold his wand, and dropping the mirror on the ground, Harry raised his wand.

“Diffindo!” yelled Harry cutting the cord that was wrapped around his hand before looking around for the person who attacked him.

Outside of the Three Broomsticks, Ginny looked at the blank mirror in horror.

“Harry!” screamed Ginny. “Are you there?”

“What happened?” asked Hermione looking frantic.

“Someone attacked Harry,” said Ginny. “I can’t get a connection on the mirror.”

“Where is he?” asked Daphne. “I couldn’t quite here what he said before he was cut off.”

“Pathway outside of that wooded area outside of Hogsmeade,” said Ginny absentmindedly, too worried to think straight. “I’ll be right back.”

Ginny ran off leaving Daphne, Theodore, and Hermione looking confused, wand in hand to where Harry said he was. If he was in trouble, Ginny needed to help him. After all, Harry would have done the same for her if he was in trouble.

Harry looked towards the direction of where he was attacked, his wand held in the air.

“Whomever you are come out and face me!” yelled Harry.

A rustling sound was heard from inside the woods.

“Incendio!” cried Harry, sending a jet of fire towards the woods, catching it on firing and flushing his attacker out into the open.

The scarred form of Marcos turned to face his prey, raising his wand and shooting a net dipped in poison of his wand towards Harry.

“Evanesco,” whispered Harry, vanishing the poisoned net before it hit him.

Marcos twirled his wand, sending a series of metal spikes towards Harry in an attempt to impale him. Harry managed to blast most of them away but one of the spikes hit Harry’s hand, impaling itself into it. Harry fell to his knees, wincing in pain, attempting to pull the metal spike out of his hand. His hand was slightly mangled due to the spike hitting it.

“Avada Kedavra,” said Marcos in a raspy voice, preparing to finish Potter off to earn his money.

“Accio rocks,” said Harry, causing a pile of rocks to rise into the air taking the brunt of the killing curse. The impact knocked Harry back, knocking the wind out of him from the impact.

Marcos sneered at the fallen form of Harry before conjuring a spear out of midair and raising it about his head.

“Nighty, night, sonny Jim,” rasped Marcos, preparing to impale Harry with the spear but Harry pulled out his double edged sword, blocking the spear before rolling back and kicking Marcos causing him to fly backwards.

Ginny pushed through the people at Hogsmeade; she hoped she wasn’t too late to help Harry.

Marcos raised his wand sending jets of black light at Potter. This lad was definitely a little more harder to knock off them he thought.

“Protego!” muttered Harry. The jets of black light shredded their way through the shield, slightly stinging Harry’s chest but most of the brunt was blocked by the shield charm. Harry clutched his mangled hand from where the spike connected with it. He needed to find a way to take this guy out long enough to get to safety.”

Ginny arrived, seeing Harry avoid a jet of black light from Marcos. Raising her wand, Ginny prepared to strike.

“Petrificus Totalus!” yelled Ginny, but Marcos saw her coming and deflected the spell with one of his own.

“Ginny, I told you to…” said Harry, before throwing himself on the ground to avoid another dark curse. “Stupefy!”

A green shield appeared in front of Marcos, causing the spell to bounce off. Harry and Ginny turned to each other before whispering in her ear.

“Ginny, I wish you wouldn’t have showed up to put yourself in harm’s way but I have an idea,” said Harry. “Impediment jinx in a few seconds.”

Ginny nodded as she ducked underneath a black jet of light.

“Now!” yelled Harry.

“Impedimenta!” yelled Harry and Ginny in unison, sending a combined Impediment curse at Marcos. Marcos attempted to block it but he didn’t have enough power to block the super powered jinx from both Harry and Ginny.

Marcos found himself unable to move and Harry rolled into place, taking the wand out of Marcos out of his hand. Harry then stuck his double edged sword in the throat of Marcos.

“Why did you try and kill me?” asked Harry in a dangerous voice. “You better speak up to me.”

“You’ll never get anything out of me, boy,” rasped Marcos before managing to move his hand to reach into his robes and prepare detonate a time Muggle explosive device just in case he was ever caught during one of his assassination attempts.

“Ginny we need to get away, now!” yelled Harry seeing that Marcos detonated the Muggle explosive device.

Harry grabbed Ginny by the hand and wordlessly summoned a pile of rocks to form a wall in front of them. An explosion was heard just a second later as Marcos blew himself to pieces, killing himself to prevent any incriminating information from getting out.

The quickly transfigured stone wall managed to absorb most of the blast.

“Ginny are you okay?” asked Harry quietly.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” said Ginny before looking at Harry’s mangled left hand in horror. “Harry, you’re hand looks…”

“I know, it’s not really that bad, really Ginny,” said Harry, clutching his hand. “I wonder why that guy was trying to kill me.”

“Well he blew himself up before we could get any answers,” said Ginny. “That hand really doesn’t look good Harry, are you sure you’re okay?”

“Yes I am Ginny,” said Harry in a patient voice. “I’ll be fine, trust me and…”

“You won’t be fine for long Potter,” said a very familiar, unwelcome female voice.

A jet of red light was shot straight towards Harry but Harry managed to push up a shield charm, causing Harry to block the spell. Harry turned to see that he was not completely out of the line of being killed as Bellatrix Lestrange was standing in front of him and Ginny with her wand in the air.

“Luck, Potter, that was nothing but luck blocking that. Why don’t you try this on for size?” said Bellatrix before pointing her wand towards Harry. “Crucio!”

A jet of red light connected with Harry, causing him extreme pain which Harry struggled vainly to shut out.

Thankfully, Ginny managed to get her wits about herself before Harry could scream out in utter agony.

“Stupefy!” yelled Ginny, causing a stunner to break Bellatrix’s concentration so she could put up a shield to block it.

“We must stop meeting like this Lestrange,” said Harry in an irritated voice while cursing the stupidity of the Ministry for ruthlessly hunting Sirius but leaving this mad woman to run free.

“We will once you lay insane or dead at my feet Potter!” screamed Bellatrix in an insane voice.

“That won’t be happening today Lestrange,” growled the voice of Mad Eye Moody.

“Mad Eye!” shrieked Bellatrix, before raising her wand in the air and pointing it towards the grizzled former Auror. “Putesco Viscus!”

The flesh rotting curse was set at Moody but he deflected it with a jet of blue light, causing the light from the curse to rip apart in mid air.

“Stupefy,” growled Moody, sending a curse towards Lestrange. He needed to take this woman out of commission, as Potter must not be harmed for any reason whatsoever.

Bellatrix blocked the stunning spell and sent a sinister jagged jet of grey light wordlessly to Moody.

“Harry,” whispered Ginny. “I think we should get out of here while Lestrange is distracted.”

“I agree,” said Harry, putting his wand over his shoulder as he picked up his mirror and walking off with Ginny as Moody attempted to bind Bellatrix with cords but Bellatrix managed to blast the cords into dust before they wrapped around her before disapparating to fight another day.

Daphne, Theodore, and Hermione were waiting anxiously outside of the Three Broomsticks.

“We’ll wait another five minutes,” said Theodore. “If Harry and Ginny aren’t back by then, we go looking for them because something is definitely up.”

“I hope they’re both okay,” said Hermione fretfully.

“Harry can handle himself,” said Daphne quietly. “He’s done it before but I’m still not going to say he’s okay for certain until he joins us here.”

“Still,” said Theodore but before he could continue talking Harry and Ginny walked up in front of the Three Broomsticks, with their wands in the air ready to defend themselves at a moment’s notice. “What the hell happened to you two?”

“Some assassin attempted to do me in,” said Harry causing Hermione to gasp. “Before I could figure out exactly why, he used a Muggle explosive device to blow himself up.”

“Any idea as to why this person attacked you Harry?” inquired Daphne.

“I have my theories,” said Harry. “But nothing more than that. Until I have more information, I’m not going to even completely speculate why that assassin attempted to kill me.”

Harry wiped his hand across his forehead, this had been a long day but Hermione looked at Harry anxiously.

“There’s more, isn’t there Harry?” asked Hermione.

“Unfortunately yes,” said Harry. “I also ran into Bellatrix Lestrange again.”

“She seems to be keen on doing you in, Harry,” said Daphne.

“Damn right she is, she’s been at large for nearly two years and she’s been sighted in Hogsmeade many times, yet the Ministry isn’t doing a damn thing to stop her!” snapped Ginny angrily. “Innocent people are being hurt through the Ministry’s inaction!”

“I know,” said Harry quietly, grabbing her hand in an attempt to pacify Ginny before she blew something up. “She’s too dangerous to be allowed to live and yet the Ministry if they accidentally catch her, she’ll be tossed into Azkaban where she’s escaped once before.”

“Bloody double standards,” said Theodore angrily. “They are hunting the one who didn’t do anything and the one who did all the crimes as a Death Eater gets off easily.”

“That’s the Ministry for you,” said Daphne dismissively. “Let’s go inside before something else bad happens.”

“Yes, that would be wise,” said Harry quietly.

Late Saturday evening at Malfoy manor, Lucius Malfoy was expecting a very important visitor but Lucius’s mind was strictly on other matters than his meeting tonight. His attempt to send an assassin after Harry Potter to kill the brat did not pay off. He had only until Monday to appease Harry Potter to make him drop the charges and keep his son out of Azkaban. The Malfoy name must be preserved as each and every Malfoy had finished school. Lucius was not going to ruin the flawless record of each Malfoy finishing school with his son. Potter had agreed for one final meeting but Lucius felt he didn’t know what he could wave underneath Potter’s nose to make him drop the charges.

Lucius looked up at the sound of his visitor, Evan Darthmorth who had a newspaper tucked underneath his arm with a grin on his face

“Lucius how are you on this fine evening?” asked Darthmorth.

“I could be better,” said Lucius coolly. “Look Evan, I’m very busy so if you excuse me, I’m not in the mood to read your journalism, as entertaining as they may be at times. Especially the one about that oaf Hagrid if I may say so myself.”

“Indeed, I did enjoy that piece, and we got that half breed out of Hogwarts forever,” said Darthmorth nodding his head. “Still, I an continuing your campaign to discredit Potter and after your tale about the Chamber of Secrets incident a couple of years ago, I’ve written up a nice little piece on that Weasley girl that will drag her name through the mud.”

“The Weasley girl Evan,” said Lucius looking a bit disturbed. The last thing he needed before that meeting with Potter was the boy in a bad mood due to Darthmorth writing a slanderous article about that particular person. “Are you sure it’s wise?”

“Lucius, its pure journalistic dynamite,” said Darthmorth. “It’s about a Weasley and if anyone deserves to be discredited it’s one of those worthless Mudblood lovers.”

“Yes I know they deserve to be discredited but I need Potter in a good mood if I am to get him to drop the charges on Draco, you fool,” whispered Lucius in a dangerous voice. “If he sees that article and you ripping into his girlfriend attempting to make her look bad, Draco is going to Azkaban because even through you went and wrote this particular article without my consent and my approval. He’ll blame me and the Malfoy name will be dishonored. There’s no way I can let that happen, Darthmorth.”

“Well, maybe if you see the article, Lucius, you might see it really isn’t too bad,” said Darthmorth before handing Lucius the advanced copy of the Monday version of the Daily Prophet.

Lucius took the article, scanning the content briefly. His face had a grave expression on this.

“Potter is not going to like this,” said Lucius. “By writing this infernal article, you are putting your own neck in a noose Darthmorth. I do not endorse this article at all and I never asked you to print anything such about the Weasley girl until after I got Draco off the hook. You need to get that article pulled now or...”

“Too late Lucius, it’s already in the Daily Prophet and they are being printed to be sent out late Sunday evening,” said Darthmorth. “Look I just thought that Potter needed to be…”

Lucius put his head in his hands in frustration.

“Your job is not to think Darthmorth, you’re job is to write articles to discredit whomever I’ll tell you to,” said Lucius. “The fact remains that I still need a way to get Draco off and I don’t know…”

Lucius stopped before a completely brilliant idea came to his head. If that article by Darthmorth got out, Potter would want him to pay no matter what the cost was. Lucius felt there was a pretty good chance of his plan to work and all he needed to do was sacrifice his friend’s job.

“Sorry Evan, I’m just a little distracted tonight, excellent article, most excellent,” said Lucius. “It should really ruffle a few feathers, you did well.”

“Thank you Lucius,” said Darthmorth in a relieved tone of voice. “If you excuse me, I’ve got to go, things to do, people to visit. Contact me again if you need me to discredit anyone.”

“Oh I will,” said Lucius with a sinister grin to Darthmorth’s retreating back. Malfoys had no true friends, merely acquaintances and if Darthmorth had to suffer to insure Draco stayed out of Azkaban then so be it.

Deep underneath the Slytherin library Sunday afternoon, Harry was talking to his mother on the two way mirror. He had already talked about recent events with his brothers and Master Splinter.

“I think I know who the assassin was who attacked you Harry,” said Lily. “Goes by the name of Marcos if I’m not mistaken. If he has a metal prosthetic arm and a large scar on the side of his face that would be him.”

“Yep, that’s him,” said Harry grimly. “Mum, to the day I die, I still don’t know how you seem to know everything.”

“Now Harry, I don’t know everything, it’s just I know more than I should most times,” said Lily. “Most of the things I know were found out by complete accident. Back on the subject of your assassin, it had to be someone extremely rich to afford his services as he wasn’t the kind of person who works for cheap.”

“He blew himself to bits before I could figure out more than the fact he was after me,” said Harry. “I think Lucius Malfoy might have paid him off, but I can’t prove it.”

“Yes, that would be a definite explanation,” agreed Lily. “I’m not going to sugarcoat anything Harry, people are going to be after your blood for a while for a variety of reason that I can’t tell you just yet for your own safety and the fact I only have like about ninety percent of the information myself. If Voldemort ever comes back to power, I’ll tell you but I’m afraid that might be sooner rather than later.”

“Not that I don’t disagree with you but why do you think that?” asked Harry.

“Well for one, I heard some really strange rumors about Barty Crouch,” said Lily. “The fact he’s apparently been ill since November for one.”

“Yes, he hasn’t been seen since the first task of the Triwizard Tournament but why is that important?” asked Harry.

“It’s important because in my experience Crouch never misses a day of work, ever,” said Lily. “He’s either dead or someone is holding him hostage somewhere. The only person I can think that might get the drop on him is Lord Voldemort himself. Crouch has made so many enemies throughout his years at the Ministry, and this is just from what I know before Voldemort attacked us on Halloween night all those years ago, he is liable to put powerful defensive measures around his house so no one uninvited decides to pay him a visit. Not just anyone could take those down.”

“So Voldemort could have likely got to Crouch,” said Harry.

“Well, it’s a possibility and with the things I’ve heard about what happened with the Death Eaters at the World Cup, the forces of Voldemort are definitely a bit more active recently,” said Lily. “Still, just worry about the third task, and be ready for anything.”

“Right,” said Harry. “Now last time we talked, you said you finally found a book on how to undo the Horcrux rituals. Is there anyway we can do that any time soon?”

“I haven’t deciphered the entire book but it looks to be something very precise and extremely complicated, if this is done wrong, who knows what the consequences could be,” said Lily. “I think we need all of the Horcruxes gathered in one place as well as Voldemort himself and piece of the soul has to be in something solid, which means we have to wait for Voldemort to regain a body.”

“So if Voldemort doesn’t come back to power, we can’t do anything to return the pieces of soul to him but if he does come back to power, he could kill a bunch of innocent people before we manage to return the pieces of his soul back to the original soul to make him mortal,” said Harry.

“And even then, Voldemort still has all of his magical knowledge and powers and all this does is make it a possibility that he would die,” said Lily nodding her head gravely.

“Wow, that’s just…I don’t see anyway that will turn out good at all,” said Harry in a cynical tone of voice.

“We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it,” said Lily. “Still, you and Hailey are coming home for Easter right?”

“Yes, if all goes well,” said Harry nodding. “Ginny will be coming with us too. Hermione wanted to come but her parents wouldn’t let her come to New York without them.”

“Just as well, my presence will lead to a few awkward questions,” said Lily. “I’m not quite ready to reveal that I’m not dead to anyone else. It should be great; I managed to buy a house about a block away from the warehouse that houses the elevator to the lair.”

“Excellent,” said Harry. “Especially since the lair was a bit too crowded last summer.”

“Yes, tell me about it, I don’t like being in enclosed crowded spaces for too long,” said Lily. “Well, I need to get back to attempting to figure out this book, I’ll try and talk to you soon Harry. Bye.”

“Bye Mum,” said Harry as his mother’s face disappeared from the two way mirror.

“Whatever you do don’t let Harry or Ginny see this,” whispered Hermione desperately at Breakfast on Monday morning to Daphne and Theodore looking horrified at what was written in the Daily Prophet. “I think Harry’s on his last nerve at that Hogsmeade incident and Ginny’s also extremely upset about that as well, so this could send them over the edge.”

“Yes, extremely lucky that Ginny and Harry aren’t here yet,” said Daphne quietly.

“Why is it extremely lucky that Harry and Ginny aren’t here yet?” asked Ginny narrowing her eyes dangerously.

“Yes, that’s an extremely suspicious thing to say,” said Harry with a suspicious look in his eyes.

“Harry, Ginny, good morning,” said Hermione in a forced cheerful voice. “Wonderful day, not a cloud in the sky and Harry, you have a meeting with Lucius Malfoy today. I think Draco will be sent to Azkaban…”

“I certainly hope so Hermione,” said Harry. “Why are you shielding the Daily Prophet from my vision?”

“No reason, no reason at all Harry,” said Hermione in a nervous tone of voice. “It’s a slow news day, nothing you should see at all. Why don’t you go and eat Breakfast?”

“Potter, hey Potter, is your girlfriend going to set a basilisk on anyone today?” shrieked the shrill voice of Pansy Parkinson. “Doing any favors for dark wizards to learn dark magic, allowing them to ride her like a broomstick.”

“Damn you Parkinson,” whispered Daphne.

“Well the cat’s out of the bag now,” said Theodore.

“Give it here, Hermione,” said Harry in a tired voice.

“No, Harry you really shouldn’t read this, Darthmorth’s went too far this time and you’ll accidentally blow up Hogwarts if you read what he’s wrote,” said Hermione.

“Hermione, it can’t be that bad,” said Ginny in a logical voice.

“It’s about you, Ginny,” said Hermione. “About your first year and he’s spun it into something extremely sinister.”

“Hand it over Hermione,” said Harry.

Hermione sighed before reluctantly handing the newspaper over to Harry.

“I know I’m going to regret this,” said Hermione.

Harry and Ginny both looked at the paper to see the following.

The Truth about Harry Potter: His Girlfriend More Evil than Potter Could Hope To Be!

By Evan Darthmorth, Ace Reporter of the Daily Prophet.

In recent months we at the Daily Prophet have been warning you about how Harry Potter is in fact a budding dark wizard. However, there is a more sinister force within the walls of Hogwarts that may have actually turned Potter towards this dark path that he is navigating in life. The driving force between Harry Potter’s dark path is third year Slytherin student Ginevra Weasley who also happens to be young Mr. Potter’s girlfriend. Miss Weasley, who was rumored to be prostituted by her parents at a young age so they could make enough money to live from month to month, was the mastermind between several attacks two years ago at Hogwarts. She opened the Chamber of Secrets, setting a basilisk upon many helpless students, including well respected pureblood fourth year Hogwarts student Draco Malfoy. No action was ever taken against this girl and she went off free as the attacks mysteriously stopped at towards the end of year. Of course, there is more to Ginevra Weasley’s dark arts exploits, as she paid for further training in the black arts with the use of various sexual favors. More troubling yet, the little slut exerts some kind of mysterious influence over Harry Potter and we fear she is just using him to gain even more power. If this is the case, then we have made a grave mistake in judging Harry Potter but he is no doubt foolish by falling underneath the spell of someone that corrupt and evil. This reporter hopes that Weasley is struck down and that Mr. Potter may some day recover from being put under the spell of this harlot to gain a girlfriend that is more deserving with being with someone of his stature. Still, hope is fading with each and every passing day.

Ginny looked extremely upset at the article but it was nothing to how Harry looked. The look of rage upon his face was something extremely terrifying.

“Harry, don’t do anything rash,” advised Hermione cautiously but Harry was too enraged to pay her any mind.

“How dare he?” whispered Harry. “HOW DARE HE! It’s one thing when he mocks me but he took it one step too far this time. “

“Harry I’m just as upset as you are but…” said Ginny.

“Damn right I’m upset, he insulted you and your honor, with all those blatant slanderous lies,” said Harry causing several pieces of silverware on the table to rattle due to the emotionally charged accidental magic coming from him.

“Harry, calm down please, you’re going to end up blowing up the Great Hall,” said Theodore.

“This is about as calm as you’re going to see me for the rest of the morning,” said Harry through gritted teeth as the silverware shook a little bit more.

“That’s extremely reassuring,” said Daphne.

“I need to go to the Ministry now, I need to speak to Fudge, and if he knows what’s good for him, he’ll make sure Darthmorth loses his job at the Daily Prophet,” said Harry before turning to Daphne and Theodore. “There is a good chance I won’t be able to attend classes today so tell the teachers that I really wasn’t feeling too well.”

“Will do Harry,” said Theodore. “Take care of your business at the Ministry.”

Ginny watched Harry go nervously. She could handle anything that anyone might say about her but she was extremely worried that the wrong person would say the wrong thing about her in front of Harry and she didn’t know exactly what Harry might do.

Harry arrived at the Ministry right outside of the Minister’s office just a few hours before they were to expect Harry. Fudge and Lucius wanted to both meet with Harry about Draco’s situation but that wasn’t on Harry’s mind right now. Harry walked up to the door, knocking on it with forced politeness. A moment later, the door opened revealing Fudge inside.

“Ah Harry, I wasn’t expecting you for another few hours,” said the Minister in a jovial tone of voice, as if nothing had happened between him and Harry in the past.

“Something has happened that has justified an early trip,” said Harry in a cool voice but the look in his eyes gave away he was not too happy about something.

“Should I go get Lucius and see if he is ready to join our meeting?” asked Fudge, attempting to be polite to Harry to put the boy in a good mood.

“That might be wise, as I need to have a nice little chat with him again,” said Harry briskly, while clutching the copy of the Daily Prophet in his hands.

Fudge looked nervous now, he wondered what the Potter boy might have wanted to talk to Lucius about but Fudge hoped it didn’t effect him too much as the last thing the Minister needed a year and a half before an election was his popularity rating to go down the tubes for some reason.

“Very well, do wait here Mr. Potter,” said Fudge.

Harry sat himself in the chair, drumming his fingers while briefly glancing at a document that Fudge had left out on his desk. It had the words Project: Pureblood Purification on the top and Harry was able to make out the words “Darthmorth” and “Muggleborn regulations” by glancing at the document before the Minister returned with Lucius Malfoy.

“Greetings Mr. Potter,” said Lucius Malfoy in a calm tone of voice.

“Good morning, Mr. Malfoy,” said Harry, but his mind was focused slightly on the document “I’ll cut the chase, could either of you explain this?”

Harry handed the Minister a copy of the Daily Prophet who looked horrified at what he read. Lucius forced his face into a look of shock as he read the paper of the Minister’s shoulder.

“I don’t take too kindly to lies being printed about my friends,” said Harry. “Especially one’s who certain people in this room know are innocent of the things being accused of…”

“Indeed, this is a very serious matter but I am sure Mr. Darthmorth backed up his article with some basis of facts, even through his information may have been a bit skewed,” said Lucius.

“I want him gone,” said Harry. “Put pressure on the Daily Prophet to fire him.”

“I’m afraid that can’t be done, according to Ministry regulations Harry,” said Fudge in a nervous voice. “We will make sure Darthmorth writes nothing like this ever again…”

Harry sighed, he really didn’t wan to go this route but sometimes to outsmart a politician one must act like a politician.

“Okay, I’ll make you a deal,” said Harry. “It seems that you don’t want word of Draco’s little use of the Unforgivable curse to get out. If you get rid of Darthmorth, I’ll drop the charges and Draco won’t go to Azkaban for this or get his wand snapped. As long as he never shows his face within Hogwarts for the rest of his life.”

“Done, Mr. Potter,” said Lucius quickly. “Darthmorth’s gone and my son’s future doesn’t get ruined.”

Fudge looked reluctant to do this before Lucius discreetly passed Fudge a small bag of gold behind his back or that’s at least what Harry interpreted he saw, because after that Fudge nodded quickly.

“Make no mistake about it gentlemen, you hold up your end of the bargain, I’ll hold up mine,” said Harry. “But, if I see anything that looks like it might be written by Darthmorth, I’ll get Draco sent to Azkaban so fast his head will spin.”

“Fair, Mr. Potter,” said Lucius with a curt nod.

“Good day to you both,” said Harry pulling himself up and walking out of the Minister’s office. Something about that was just a little bit too easy but Harry couldn’t put his finger on that.

Still, if Darthmorth ever returned to write just one more article, Harry had enough information to discredit both Malfoy and Fudge.