FicWad

Chapter Thirty Seven: Out in the Open.

Head of the Auror Office Rufus Scrimgeour sat in his office, looking over the paperwork with a large amount of frustration. The Auror Office and the Wizengamot had been working double overtime over the past week or so, fixing the errors that were made by the previous regime of Lucius Malfoy. Many trusted Ministry employees were fired by Malfoy and replaced by his friends, all of which were not equipped to do the jobs Malfoy had employed them in. Of course, this was all done by design, as the return of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named was made much smoother and allowed him to steal a set of mysterious scrolls from the Hogwarts library. The Death Eaters that were captured had failed to shed any light on the subject, as You-Know-Who had failed to inform them precisely what he was stealing. A rather intelligent move in hindsight for him, but a rather frustrating move for the Ministry of Magic, as they could not determine what precisely what He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named had planned.

Of course, the scroll theft was only compounded by the ongoing investigation of the January election to determine an interim Minister of Magic and the fact that there may have been some fraud on the part of Malfoy, fixing the election to his benefit. The Ministry had a lot on their plate at the moment and one would be foolish if they went under the assumption that their problems would end soon.

Truthfully, their problems looked to have only just begun.

Scrimgeour was brought out of his thoughts of the last week by a knock on the door. His head jerked up before he responded to the knock.

“Enter,” said Scrimgeour curtly and the door pushed open, revealing Amelia Bones, who looked equally as tired as Scrimgeour. Being the heads of the Wizengamot and the Auror office respectively, they had to do the bulk of the work because of the fact the current Minister of Magic was currently in Azkaban for being a servant of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named.

“It wasn’t easy but he agreed to meet with us tonight,” said Madam Bones in a tired voice as she closed the door behind her. “On rather short notice to and we managed to put together this meeting on the condition that Dumbledore is not to know about it.”

Scrimgeour nodded, the truth was he was leery around Dumbledore. In fact, most non-Gryffindor students were in a way, but they didn’t voice their objections, because of the fear they’d be branded a dark wizard. Still, Dumbledore’s hold on the pulse of the magical world was beginning to strain, as the younger generations had found a new leader to follow. It was a shrewd political move on the part of Scrimgeour, as there might have been a good chance that he would become one of the most powerful officials in the Ministry due to their not being a Minister and the fact that last time, there wasn’t a steady Minister during his first reign of terror.

“When is he exactly coming to meet with us?” prompted Scrimgeour.

“He should be here soon, he had a few small things to take care of before he departed,” answered Madam Bones and sure enough, Scrimgeour heard another knock on his office door.

“Enter,” said Scrimgeour for the second time and his door opened to reveal the form of Harry Potter.

Harry entered the office of the Head Auror before waving his wand, sealing the door shut against Alohomora and placing silencing charms around the parameter of the office.

“Auror Scrimgeour, Madam Bones,” said Harry, shaking hands with both of the Ministry officials in a very diplomatic way, without a hint of what his mood was. “I’ll cut right to the chase, since Voldemort has returned; you are going to be rather pressed for time. Keeping his minions under control will be a task, and keeping everything from the Muggles, especially since that department store attack last night.”

Scrimgeour and Bones exchanged glances. Only a select few within the Ministry had found out about that attack.

“How do you know about this Mr. Potter?” asked Madam Bones. “That information hasn’t even reached the Daily Prophet yet.”

“I have better sources than the Daily Prophet, Madam Bones,” replied Harry. “It was a mess, fifty employees and customers dead, while a few others merely escaped with horrific injuries. If it wasn’t near closing time, otherwise the attack would have been even more catastrophic. From what I’ve read and heard about Voldemort’s history, it seems this is just a small scale assault.”

“Exactly what makes you think that?” asked Scrimgeour.

“We’re talking about the same madman who attempted to flatten Flourish and Blotts with dozens of Hogwarts students inside for what the Ministry of Magic acknowledged as his first attack,” replied Harry. “He’s even set a Nundu loose in several small Muggle villages before and just let the beast’s breath drop the entire population of Muggles in said villages to dead. Of course, that is just a couple examples of what he’s done before.”

Harry just put his hand over his scar absentmindedly, before speaking once more.

“So, we have that attack, that in hindsight could have been much, much, worse, and then the Dementors just disappearing from Azkaban,” said Harry calmly. “Did I miss anything?”

“No, Mr. Potter, I believe you have everything,” said Madam Bones. “The Ministry is at a loss at what You-Know-Who’s plan exactly is? Perhaps you might be able to shed a little light on the subject.”

“Truthfully, I think only Voldemort can tell us that in detail,” said Harry slowly, choosing his words carefully. “When he invaded Hogwarts, he just stole the scrolls but yet, I was right there and he didn’t attack me. Voldemort has never passed up a chance in killing me and I doubt that he would let me live. Nothing Voldemort’s doing so far is making sense, it’s almost like he’s throwing us a few pieces of a larger puzzle and the few pieces we do have, don’t connect. The Dementors leaving Azkaban, the scrolls, the fact he busted his Death Eaters out of Azkaban. Not to mention the simple fact that one of his top Death Eater’s was Minister of Magic for over five months and thus, there is a chance that Voldemort could have confidential information in his possession that will cripple all of Magical Britain. Unfortunately, other than what Voldemort has done already, I don’t have the slightest idea of what precisely he has in mind.”

“There is a chance, of course, that he might try and take over the Ministry,” said Madam Bones slowly.

“Of course there is a chance, there was always that chance, but what do we do about it?” added Scrimgeour in a gruff voice.

“I’m not going to tell the Ministry, as they do have the public to answer to and some of my ideas on how to approach this upcoming conflict might not be considered ethical,” said Harry slowly. “The only thing that I would strongly suggest is having a plan to evacuate the Ministry quickly; as I’m afraid there is a pretty good chance that once Voldemort consolidates his forces, he is going to flatten the Ministry to the ground.”

Bones and Scrimgeour gasped, before looking at Harry.

“How much of a chance is there of this happening, Potter?” asked Scrimgeour in a slightly apprehensive voice.

“Oh, I’d say a pretty damn good chance,” remarked Harry in a tone of voice that indicated that the fact that Voldemort would crush the Ministry was as certain as the sun coming up in the morning. “I’ve kind of expected it to happen since the moment he got back, so I’d figure since the Ministry and myself are on neutral terms at the moment, a heads up might be in order.”

“But, if the Ministry of Magic falls, what hope is there for us to beat He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named?” asked Scrimgeour.

“Governments can be rebuilt,” remarked Harry calmly. “The Ministry of Magic may seem like a necessity but what’s the difference if the people who have the abilities to fight Voldemort are still in one piece? The people who could stand to utter his name, I might add.”

Scrimgeour looked a bit put off but Madam Bones decided to voice a question.

“What about Hogwarts then?” asked Madam Bones.

“Hogwarts is my concern and no one else’s,” replied Harry, in a chilling voice. “I would strongly suggest after the mess the Ministry of Magic made last year, they stay away from my school.”

“Your school?” asked Scrimgeour. “I suspect Dumbledore would disagree with that.”

“I suspect Dumbledore would disagree with a lot of things I do,” answered Harry. “Dumbledore is hanging onto the past and he is only the Headmaster because I haven’t called him out of some actions. And the fact that he intimidates Voldemort, which is another good reason to keep him around.”

Scrimgeour looks as if he wanted to ask Harry about what Dumbledore precisely had done to Harry in the past to inspire such distaste but Harry rose to his feet, as if excusing himself from the meeting.

“This has been most amusing, I will return when I feel it is necessary,” said Harry. “Good luck in trying to combat Voldemort by the book.”

With that cryptic remark, Harry walked from Scrimgeour’s office, leaving both of the high ranking Ministry officials alone. As Harry walked to an unwatched location, he reflected about the fact that the Ministry didn’t seem to be in a hurry to acknowledge that his mother had won the election to become interim Minister of Magic fair and square. Of course, Harry suspected that she wouldn’t have been too bothered by it, as the only reason she ran in the first place was to keep Lucius Malfoy out of that position and now since Lucius was in Azkaban, he was out of the position of Minister of Magic. Harry just hoped the Ministry didn’t get in his way again but something told him he would be at odds with them all too soon.

While the return of Lord Voldemort was a great reason for terror, the fifth years at Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry had to encounter what many had overblown to be a different type of terror, the Ordinary Wizarding Level exams or O.W.L exams as they were more commonly known. Throughout the entire schools, all fifth years were extremely stressed about the upcoming exams. The horror stories that many of the older students told about their own O.W.Ls had compounded matters and many fifth year students were sent to the hospital wing because of their nerves, receiving a calming draught to help ease their anxiety.

Harry didn’t feel as if his nerves was as shot as his fellow fifth year students, but he would be lying if he didn’t feel the slightest bit of anxiety. The Ordinary Wizarding Level exams were second only to the Nastily Exhausting Wizarding Tests, or N.E.W.Ts, in difficulty and Harry very much wanted to remain at the top of his year, so he did a bit of brushing up on things that he was almost certain would come up on the exams.

Inevitably, the day that the exams started had arrived. As Harry found out, the O.W.Ls was spread out over a period of two weeks. The theory portion took place in the morning. Then the fifth years joined the rest of the school for lunch before they moved straight into the practical portion, which took place in the afternoon hours.

Daphne, Theodore, Hermione, and Harry stood outside the Great Hall with their fellow fifth year students. The first O.W.L. exam would be Charms and when the examiners pushed the doors open, summoning the students inside. Tiny Professor Flitwick turned the students, placing his hand on the hour glass.

“You all have an hour,” said Flitwick as he turned over the hourglass. “Begin!”

The Great Hall was filled with the scratching of quills, followed by a few gasps of despair as the students attempted to recall five years of lessons in the field of Charms the best they could, as the hour seemed to slip away from them before they could ever realize it.

The theory portion of the exam went as well as Harry could have expected. Most of the questions seemed to be common sense, with a couple here and there being slightly more difficult and obscure.

The practical portion was more of the same. Most of the charms the examiners had asked the students to perform had come second nature to Harry. There was no doubt in Harry’s find that he had done exceptionally well on the practical portion of that exam.

Transfiguration the following day was much of the same, if not a little harder. While Harry wasn’t as good as Transfiguration as he was at Charms, Harry still was able to competently complete both the theory and practical portions of the exams.

The next day’s Care of Magical Creatures exam went well, if Harry discounted the mishap with the Fire Crab. Harry found that he focused on that particular subject the least, with the exception of the more dangerous creatures that Voldemort could have used for his own lethal purposes. Even with that fact in mind, Harry walked out of the exam rather pleased with his performance.

Defense Against the Dark Arts was the one exam that Harry knew he had nailed head on. Hermione, Daphne, and Theodore seemed to have felt the same way, as the four of them had spent quite some time, along with Hailey and Ginny, training with the various curses that were under the Defense Against the Dark Arts curriculum. In the end, the exam seemed to have gone well and Harry would not have been surprised if he had achieved a completely perfect score. The defense study group he had founded, even through it was only in play for a few months, may have also helped several students achieve better scores on their O.W.Ls then they might have had if they just had to rely strictly on Umbridge’s horrid classes.

The week closed out with Herbology, a subject that Harry really didn’t put much of his focus into. All the knowledge that was Harry’s concern was the plants that were used commonly in poisons. Harry went through that particular exam, completing all of the questions the best he could manage, but in the end, with a few exceptions, the material in the subject came as something that wasn’t important to Harry.

The fifth years breathed a sigh of relief as they had an entire two days to prepare for the next set of exams.

“Shouldn’t be bad,” said Daphne as herself, Harry, Theodore, and Hermione left the Herbology exam. “Only another week to go and then we don’t have to worry about our exams anymore. At least until we get our results in six weeks.”

“Yes, but we do have Arithmancy and Potions, two of the most difficult subjects taught at Hogwarts in the second week,” replied Theodore before looking at Hermione and Harry. “Of course, for most people that is.”

“We went over everything, we should do fine,” said Daphne in a reasonable voice.

Harry just nodded, but his mind wasn’t truly on the O.W.Ls. He had heard about several more scattered attacks by Voldemort. He didn’t have too much time to dwell on them because of the simple fact the Ordinary Wizarding Level exams had taken up so much of his concentration. There weren’t any known fatalities in these attacks over the last week, but there was still much that Harry’s sources from outside the walls of Hogwarts that wasn’t exactly clear. Every day led to the possibility of a horrific attack and once Hogwarts got out, the chance for a death seemed to be even more prominent, as Voldemort and his Death Eaters would have hundreds more possible victims. A horrifying thought, but after what his mother had told him about Voldemort’s first reign of terror, Harry came to the unfortunate conclusion a few familiar faces would be missing at the start of his sixth year.

After two full days off, that mostly contained quite a bit of last minute studying, the fifth year students prepared to take their Potions exams. Snape had worked them hard, covering an insane amount of material in the first five years and to continue Potions, Harry found out that he needed to achieve an “Outstanding” grade on his Potions O.W.L. Not that difficult, considering Potions was only Harry’s third best subject for the simple fact he excelled so well in Defense Against the Dark Arts and Charms. The examiners pulled no punches the theory exams, covering a wide variety of aspects that Snape had covered during the past five years.

The practical exam saw the fifth years set to make one of the most difficult potions that Snape had assigned, the Draught of Peace. This tricky little potion seemed to prove to be the deciding factor between a pass or a fail, and even an Exceeds Expectations or Outstanding. From what Harry could tell, a good portion of his fellow students struggled to complete this potion. Most certainly more than half found themselves unable to successfully complete the potion anywhere close to what it was supposed to be. Harry looked at the potion, as it looked to be as close to perfect as he could manage it. He wondered if it would be enough to achieve an Outstanding O.W.L. Daphne, Theodore, and Hermione relayed similar concerns to him as they left the practical exam, completely worn out from what turned out to be the most taxing O.W.L.

The next day’s Arithmancy was difficult, even for someone who excelled in the subject. Of course, it was the type of subject that only Ravenclaws, Slytherins, and Hermione took, so the exams difficulty was adjusted accordingly, more than a weaker option such as Divination.

The theory and practical Astronomy exams followed the next day, with Study of Ancient Runes sandwiched in the middle during the day. Both subjects were led Harry to a little bit of difficulty, but they were child’s play after the difficult Potions and Arithmancy O.W.Ls the day previous. After the Astronomy exam late at night, a feeling of relief began to spread through the fifth year, as the next morning, after the O.W.L. on the most boring subject every conceived in the entire history of the Magical world, History of Magic. Of course, many thought that the subject would have been a bit more interesting if it was taught by the ghost of a teacher who died even before Dumbledore had come to Hogwarts.

In the end, History of Magic O.W.L. was rather bland, with very few questions on Goblin Rebellions, considering how much Harry remembered Professor Binns droning on about them before Harry sunk into a deep sleep. It was a fortunate thing that Harry had read a lot of books, and by all indications, it seemed to just be enough for Harry to barely scrape an O.W.L. in History of Magic. It wasn’t really a subject that Harry felt that would do him much good carrying on but still, achieving an O.W.L. in every subject was something that Harry wanted to accomplish.

After an hour, the fifth years were prompted, much to their glee, to roll up their parchments. The second most difficult task of their entire time at Hogwarts was over.

Daphne, Theodore, Hermione, and Harry exited the Great Hall, a bit behind of the other fifth years, feeling rather relieved at the end of the exams. In six weeks, they would know how well they did on their O.W.Ls. They headed out towards the lake, where they would be meeting with Hailey and Ginny to chat and just celebrate their liberation from exams in general. It was such a beautiful day outside, that they didn’t want to spend any more time cooped up in Hogwarts that they had to.

Harry, in particular, was looking forward to spending time with Ginny in a more private location later on in the evening. It had been a couple of weeks since they really had any time alone, because of the O.W.L. exams.

In the depths of Salazar Tower, Peter Pettigrew shivered in spite of himself. He was summoned to report to Lord Voldemort, who had been in a towering rage ever since several of his Death Eaters and his top werewolf had been entombed in Azkaban. Wormtail felt sickened at the fact that he had to bow down to a half blood for a taste of power. The very notion was absolutely sickening to his pureblood heritage but the Dark Lord had such a hold on his Death Eaters through their dark marks, that it inspired forced loyalty, even through there might have been a few Death Eaters who regretted joining him.

“Enter,” hissed a cold voice and Wormtail pushed open the doors, to walk inside a chamber where the Dark Lord was sitting on a seat that resembled a Muggle electric chair. Wormtail sunk down to his knees, bowing at the feet of the Dark Lord. “On your feet and stand straight, Wormtail!”

Wormtail hastened to obey, as the look on the Dark Lord’s face showed that he was obviously looking for an excuse to murder someone to make an example.

“So tell me, Wormtail, my Death Eaters had the Weasley girl and the Potter girl, behind a barrier that I am informed only someone with a dark mark could break, and yet Harry Potter managed to get through and save them in time,” said Voldemort in a cold voice. “I wanted those two girls dead, to set an example to Potter and to perhaps drive him to a path not unlike the one that I have taken.”

“Why would you take such a drastic action my Lord?” asked Wormtail in a simpering voice. “Aren’t you afraid that if you manage to turn him to that path, Potter might practice the dark arts and still decide to attempt to destroy you, if only just to replace you?”

“Are you questioning my power, Pettigrew?” asked Voldemort coldly, causing Wormtail to take a step back as he eyed Voldemort’s wand nervously.

“No, of course not,” said Wormtail, backtracking but wishing he could master the Dark Arts well enough to destroy the Dark Lord and replace him.

“Good, because I’d hate to have to execute one of my most valuable spies,” hissed Voldemort. “Of course, you have much to answer for, as Potter took a passageway around and caught my Death Eaters off guard, Death Eaters that are currently entombed in Azkaban I might add. You did not inform me of this passageway, Wormtail.”

“I was unaware,” said Wormtail quickly. “Really, Sirius, Remus, and James did most the work, I just used my form to get into places where they couldn’t, so they could add detail to the map. Invaluable detail, because it allowed us to hide some suspect items at times and…”

“Wormtail, enough babbling about fond memories of your days at Hogwarts,” interrupted Voldemort. “I better not have heard sentiment in your voice when talking about Potter, Black, and Lupin.”

“No, My Lord, absolutely not!” snapped Wormtail. “I stopped caring for them when James, I mean Potter, started dating the Mudblood. I was forced to tolerate her; even through she scarcely belonged in the magical world. If she had never been included in our circle of friends I would have...”

“Never joined my cause, Wormtail?” asked Voldemort and Wormtail grew silent, mentally cursing himself for saying way too much. “You may have, there is a chance you may not have, but the fact remains you are nothing but a worthless coward Wormtail. You sold out the Potters and if you did not fear that I would kill you, you would sell me out in an instant. And Wormtail, allow me remind you that if I find any hint of you planning to betray me, you will rue the day you were born. Is that clear?”

“Yes, My Lord,” replied Wormtail in a flat tone, as Voldemort stared at him, as if considering something.

“Obviously, I need a reinforcement to convince myself of your loyalty to Lord Voldemort,” said Voldemort, pondering the most cruel test for Wormtail’s loyalty before something truthfully ironic came to mind and Voldemort smirked in a sadistic matter before proceeding to further address Wormtail. “One of my most trusted Death Eaters, Severus Snape, needs assistance when he leaves Hogwarts. He has several delicate potions to concoct for our cause and he requires some assistance with some of them. You will assist him with those potions and anything else that he asks of you. Is that clear, Wormtail?”

Wormtail nodded, as Voldemort waved his hand to dismiss him and Wormtail promptly left the room before his facial expressions could betray any more of his thoughts to his master. If there was anyone that Wormtail hated without question and didn’t respect at all, it was Severus Snape. Everything the Marauders did to Snape during his time at Hogwarts was absolutely justified as far as Wormtail was concerned. Wormtail may have not been completely loyal to the Dark Lord, but Severus Snape was not loyal at all. Snape had passed information to the other side during the Dark Lord’s first reign and the Dark Lord had brushed off those concerns when Wormtail had brought them to his attention. The fact remained that Snape was a master of deception and Wormtail knew too much about Snape to be foolish enough to assume that he was loyal to any cause but his own.

Unfortunately, Wormtail had a job to do for the Dark Lord and after that unfortunate incident with Wormtail’s faulty information leading to the capture of several Death Eaters; he was willing to do anything to get back into favor with the Dark Lord. At the very least, the Dark Lord’s trust would give Wormtail a better opportunity to stick a knife in the half blood’s back at the earliest possible opportunity. At the end of the day, Peter Pettigrew would achieve the potential that he was told that he had all those years ago and the entire magical world would learn to fear the name, Wormtail.