Stirling Lines, British Army Garrison - May 22, 2006
Private Cedric Diggory made his way back to his barracks in deep thought. So much had changed.
After he had finished school Cedric had chosen to serve his country. He had wanted to help and protect others, but felt that the auror core was just to political nowadays. So, he had applied to the military. He had been quickly accepted and had started basic training that month.
It had been one of the hardest and most rewarding experiences of his life. Every day was as hard as it was possible to be, but he always felt like he had a sense of purpose when he returned to his bed each night.
When he had finished training he had been proud to have managed to be one of the top three in his class. He had been getting ready to make the slow climb up the ladder. Working your way up in the military took hard work and couldn't just be bought by some rich kids daddy like so many other things.
But then he had gotten that letter from Hadrian Potter warning him that they believed Voldemort had been successful in his attempt to be returned. It had only made sense to warn his superior officers.
Like him, they had been unsure of the information. Then, there had been the breakout from Azkaban. That had driven the idea home and made everyone realize it was more than likely he had returned.
From there the higher ups had had him start to get as much information as possible about what he knew. Hadrian's response was to get him in contact with an Unspeakable that had given them information, including conformation of the monsters return.
Now, he was assigned as a liaison between Hadrian, the Unspeakables, and his commanding officers. He knew enough that this would put him on a fast track for promotion, something he had been planning on taking years to happen.
Right now, there was nothing they could really do but gather the information. For their unit to operate within Britain they needed a specific invitation from both the muggle Prime Minister, the Minister of Magic, and the Queen.
The General had already had a discussion with the muggle Prime Minister and explained the situation to him. He was already making arrangements to increase security on important and strategic locations. The Queen had fully backed them up once she had been informed.
But then there was the minister of Magic. When they had approached Fudge he had dismissed them out of hand and refused to allow them to do anything. Even now, with a new minister in office, he couldn't invite them.
Only a full Minister of Magic, properly inaugurated and everything, would be able to issue the invitation for military intervention within country. And there wasn't going to be a proper minister until the beginning of July at the earliest since they would need to arrange the inauguration after the elections in June.
Shacklebolt had managed to give them permission to gather information, but that was all he could legally do. They just hoped that he would be the one elected since they had their doubts that the darks candidate, or the one backed by Dumbledore would allow them to handle the issue.
As of this point in time there were only three candidates for the position. Kensington Shacklebolt had decided to run to be the full minister. Humphrey Avery had been nominated by the dark faction, and given that he was a death eater who had bribed his way out of prison the first time there was no doubt the man would never give them permission to target Voldemort. The third, was Gertrude Marchbanks. Since she was being backed by Dumbledore they knew she wouldn't invite them either. During the last war they had originally been invited in, and had even been making serious progress, until Dumbledore had convinced Bagnold that they weren't needed and their invitation had been rescinded. Up until that point they had been winning the war and had believed they were within 6 months of complete victory. After their invitation had been revoked the war had dragged on for another 4 years and had only been ended by the attack on Hadrian Potter-Black.
While he would never admit it, those who had fought in the last war knew that Dumbledore hadn't wanted them to be involved in winning the war because he had wanted the victory for himself. His Order had been filled with untrained people that really had no business taking part in raids or arrests. It had been one of the reasons so many had managed to buy their way out of trouble. Most of those in the Order had no idea how to gather evidence, so much of it was destroyed or deemed unusable in court. They didn't want that to happen again.
But for now, all they could do was gather information and get ready.
Headmaster's Office - May 25, 2006
"Hem, hem." Came the sickly sweet voice as Deloris Umbridge made her way into the Headmaster's Office, an office that should be hers. "What is it you wished to speak with me about Headmaster?"
"Ah, Deloris. Please have a seat. Lemon drop?" Albus twinkled over his glasses while he really wanted to strangle the woman while she refused his sweets. "Now, I wished to speak with you about your Inquisitorial Squad."
"They are none of your concern." Umbridge snapped as her eyes flashed with anger. "I am a representative of the DOE and therefor do not have to answer to you, and neither do my chosen representatives."
"Of course. I am well aware of that Deloris, but as you just said, they are YOUR representatives." Albus gave her a small smile. "That means they represent you. And they have not been showing you in a very good light. If anything, they are making you look very bad."
"They are just doing their jobs."
"So you ordered them to skip class. You ordered them to physically, verbally, and magically attack other students, and each other. You ordered them to turn the house cup points system into a complete mess. That is very interesting to hear. Because from the outside it looks like you have absolutely no control over the actions of those you claim are representing you."
Umbridge hated what he was saying. It was all true, and that just angered her more. She had completely lost control of the members of her Squad. The only ones that even bothered to meet with her anymore was Hermione and her friends Ron and Ginny. But even they didn't really do as she instructed.
The month before when she had called them all together one of the students had even challenged her in front of the others. The girl, Pansy Parkinson, had questioned why they should even pretend to listen to her since they already had all the powers they wanted or needed, and she had gone over the rules and contracts they had signed that clearly stated that once they were members of her Squad they couldn't be stripped of the position unless she was removed from the school.
And the girl was right. She couldn't believe that she had missed that when she had written up the contract. There was really nothing she could do to control them, she just didn't want to have to admit it to anyone.
"They are just experiencing some growing pains as they work to establish themselves as being in a position of authority." Umbridge defended.
"It is not going to last for much longer." Albus steepled his fingers in front of him. "James Potter and the other school governors aren't going to let this stand. Either you get your people under control or you are going to lose it all."
"There is nothing they can do, the DOE outranks them." Deloris said imperiously.
"Not for long given how this year has gone." Albus smiled slightly. "I have already received notification that the school governors are demanding the Wizengamot intervene and force the DOE into compliance. And, given the actions of you and your, 'representatives', they will do it."
Umbridge quickly got up and hurried out of the office. She needed to find a way to fix this. She wasn't about to give up her position. She was being paid a lot of money to do next to nothing while she worked to get Dumbledore out and made herself the headmistress.
Once Umbridge was gone, Albus let out a breath and relaxed back in his seat. Oh how he had come to hate that woman. She managed to be the most irritating person in the world just by breathing.
At least some things were finally going his way. Ever since Fudge was removed from office Barnabas Cuffe was trying to get back on his good side and he had The Prophet writing glowing stories about him. Albus was taking great joy in making the man pay for his betrayal. So far there hadn't been a single day in the past month that there hadn't been a positive story.
He was also using the man to write stories promoting Gertrude's campaign for minister. It was doing her some good, but she was still behind. He just needed to think of something that would make her look far better than the others.
The downside was that he had no control over The Seer. That stupid paper was full of stories about the chaos that was happening at the school. They wrote an almost daily column on the different pranks that were being done to Umbridge and her Squad, as well as the still ongoing pranking of the DOE. They were making him look like he didn't have control of his school.
Albus was trying to make new plans and having little to no success when Ted came into the office.
"What can I do for you Ted? Lemon drop?"
"No, thank you Headmaster." Ted moved forward to take a seat. "I just thought I should warn you there has been another issue with the Inquisitorial Squad."
Albus let his head drop for a moment before he looked back at the other man. "What has happened now?"
"Cho Chang, Marietta Edgecombe, and Pansy Parkinson got into an argument with Hermione, Ron, and Ginny about points the others were taking. Chang, Edgecombe, and Parkinson were taking points away from girls for poor fashion sense and targeted Hermione and Ginny.
That set Hermione and Ginny of with Ron going on about Parkinson's being a Slytherin. I'm not sure who started it but the girls and Ron started throwing hex's at each other but kept missing and hitting those around them. Which just turned the rest of the school on them… Again.
The six of them are now stuck to the ceiling in the entrance hall, their skin is green, and they have pink and brown spots with tie-dye hair. They are also dressed like muggle clowns and have silencing charms on them.
And when we started questioning the other students about how they got up there we were told that they did it to themselves. That was all anyone would say. There really isn't anything we will be able to do. Even if Hermione, Ron, Ginny, or the other girls saw who it was, they still started it and would also have to receive punishment for it, and I know you want to try and keep them from any more trouble this year."
Albus groaned. Why couldn't his pawns just stop getting into fights? Even with the personality changes he had made they still got in fights.
"Why are we even allowing this to continue?" Ted questioned, it was something he had been wondering for a while now. "Why have you allowed Umbridge to get away with so much? Now that Fudge is gone she really doesn't have anyone in a real position of power backing her. What can we possibly gain?"
"It was Regina Cole's idea." Albus sighed. "Years ago, when I had control of the school board it was easy to get what we wanted done, but now that James and Alice are on the board I have no real control. Any rules I make they challenge me on.
I was speaking about it with Regina and she suggested that we find a way to transfer control of the school from the board to the DOE. It would allow me to once again be the one making the rules since Regina owes her job to me and will do as I say.
We created the position of the High Inquisitor for that reason. It was supposed to be fairly easy. They were just supposed to prove that there were dangerous classes, and that the students didn't need them. Then we could have started the transfer of power using the Inquisitorial Squad and we had planned that by the end of the year we would be able to oust the school governors.
But when Fudge saw what we were doing he had Umbridge installed in the position. It was a one time only things so she is the only one that could get rid of the school board, but clearly she is failing. The woman has lost complete control and Regina and I are working on fixing things or working around the mess she has made, but it is proving to be difficult.
We still need her, but she just isn't capable of doing what we need."
Ted thought it had started out as a decent idea, but it clearly had failed. "If you want, I will look over things and give you the legal perspective. Depending on what is in the contract we might be able to salvage this."
Albus gave a full twinkle eyed smile as he pushed over the contract and legal transfer of authority papers to the man.
Wizengamot Chambers - June 7, 2006
Everyone was settling down for a special session in the Wizengamot Chambers. It had been called by the school governors in regards to the events at Hogwarts that year.
Under normal circumstances the ministry wouldn't be involved since Hogwarts was a, mostly, private institution, but since the DOE had been making a mess of things it had been decided to use the Wizengamot to force the DOE back into line.
"I call this meeting to order." Alice said as she banged a gavel when the time came. "Now, I'm sure everyone knows, but I feel we shall just go over it for the official records. This meeting is being held in the Wizengamot Chambers due to the troubles that the ministry has caused at Hogwarts this year.
The board is making a formal petition to the Wizengamot to place the DOE under supervision due to the actions of this year. We are also requesting the removal of Deloris Umbridge from Hogwarts for her egregious actions this year. And, along with the removal of High Inquisitor Umbridge we also request the dissolution of her Inquisitorial Squad due to gross misconduct."
"I have done nothing wrong!" Umbridge shouted from where she was sitting.
"Please wait your turn to speak High Inquisitor Umbridge." Kensington requested from his seat as Minister. "Now, I feel that it would be best to get a full explanation as to what has been happening at the school from someone who knows best. To that end, student representatives, can you give us a basic overview of the issues that have been happening at the school this year?"
The student reps spoke amongst themselves for a moment before Angelina Johnson took a step forward to speak for the group.
"I guess the place to begin is of course the use of the blood quill on Luna Lovegood. That sort of set the entire school off as if a ministry representative is willing to torture one of us, then none of us were safe. While we understood that the DMLE couldn't file charges due to former Minister Fudge giving that… Woman permission to torture students, the Department of Educations decision to return her to the school just made a bad situation worse.
Almost the entire student body saw this as a direct attack and many chose to respond in kind. If the adults of our world refused to protect us, then it was up to us to protect ourselves. The students may have taken it a little over the top, but they are just teenagers, so…
Shortly after the return of Madame Umbridge things just got worse. She and the DOE passed another decree that would allow her to change any punishment she felt like. This meant that those who she liked were let off without punishment, but she also made the punishments worse for those she didn't like, most of who were muggle-borns. While we are grateful the school governors managed to limit what she did, she still made life hard for anyone who she didn't like.
Then things got even worse when the Inquisitorial Squad was started. Only Madame Umbridge's favourites were invited to join.
While prefects have rules that they must follow about what they can and can't do, the Inquisitorial Squad had no such rules. They did whatever they wanted and completely excused themselves from any form of punishment. They took points for any reason they wanted. I myself was docked 50 points and assigned a month of detentions because Gryffindor won a quidditch game.
While most of the staff and governors tried to stop the blatant bigotry and favouritism being shown by Madame Umbridge and her Squad of goons, the DOE stood in their way as much as possible, even defending many of their actions.
To put it simply, Hogwarts is currently a war zone, and we, the student representatives of Hogwarts, place the blame squarely on the shoulders of the DOE, Madame Umbridge, and her Inquisitorial Squad."
"HOW DARE YOU LIE ABOUT ME!" Umbridge screamed. "DETENTION FOR A YEAR AND 200 POINTS FROM WHATEVER HOUSE YOU ARE FROM!"
Angelina just ignored the woman. She didn't care. No one cared what she said anymore. If it got that harpy out of the school then it was worth it.
Alice slammed the gavel a few times. "That is enough Madame Umbridge! This is a formal meeting, not a shouting match. It is time to act your age, she was simply answering a question. There will be no point loss or detention simply for expressing her opinion.
Now, shall we carry on?"
"I do agree Lady Hufflepuff." Gerald Greengrass agreed, he had stood down as Chief Warlock for the day and was instead sitting with the other governors. "We open the floor to questions by the Wizengamot members."
Lord Bones was the first to stand. "I feel we must question the head of the DOE, Regina Cole." When the woman took her place in the centre of the floor he continued. "What was the purpose of returning High Inquisitor Umbridge to the school? She had already tortured one student, what made you think putting her around students again was a good idea?"
"As I previously informed Lord Peverell-Gryffindor and Lady Lovegood, High Inquisitor Umbridge had a contract. As she had not violated her contract we had no choice but to allow her to return." Regina kept her voice calm, but she knew this was going to end badly for her, that woman had more than likely just destroyed her career. "Her contract was still in effect so we had no choice."
"You should be aware Mrs. Cole, that after it was announced that this meeting was taking place more than a few members of your department came to us, on the understanding of anonymity, to inform us of just what has been going on." Edgar Bones informed the woman. "According to them you allowed High Inquisitor Umbridge to remain in the school because you had plans to use her to usurp the rights of the governors.
They said the DOE was attempting to take control of the school even though you have no legal right given that Hogwarts is a semi-private institution. It would seem that there were those in your department that don't feel gaining an unlawful advantage was more important than the students of the school. If anything, that proves to me that the DOE should not have complete authority over the students."
"We were merely following the mandate of our department." Regina said in a frigid voice. "It is our job to ensure the proper education of the next generation. That is all we were doing."
"So torturing children and making a complete mess of the school was about furthering the education of the next generation?" Narcissa questioned.
"Under the influence of those like you the school has started teaching children information that is far too dangerous for those their age." Regina argued. "The children need to be handled properly to ensure that none of them follow the path of the last Dark Lord. We need to protect our world. The children need to have the chance to be children. All those different classes aren't necessary."
"You are aware that a school is meant to educate?" Helen Davis questioned. "A school is meant to have classes to teach the children. That's the point of the whole thing.
And they do get to be children, they just get to learn too. If we do not educate the next generation then we will just be harming them and our society as a whole."
"But we need to make sure that they are learning the right information." Regina crossed her arms as she turned away from the other woman.
"It is specifically written in the founding charter of Hogwarts that we are not allowed to limit or slant what the students learn based off our own political ideals." Alice warned.
"What is the consequence of doing so?" Lord Ogden questioned thoughtfully.
"In the case that the headmaster were to only hire those who agreed with their political ideology or their allies, as has happened in the past, then the school loses access to the vaults set up by the founders. We were only able to regain access to those vaults a decade ago after it happened the last time. If it were to happen again then there would be multiple issues as we would need to cut back on the number of staff, increase tuition substantially, and reduce the number of scholarships meaning many students would be denied an education." James explained. "But, there actually is a clause that will be activated in the event a government manages to gain control of the school.
What everyone needs to remember is that Hogwarts was founded before this ministry was. At that time there were multiple different groups all vying to gain control of the students and what they were to be taught. In the event that were to happen then Hogwarts will be returned, in full, to the heirs of the founders. and the school itself would become completely separated from any government. It was designed that way because the school was to be neutral territory for the children even in times of conflict."
"You can't do that!" Regina, Umbridge, and a few others all screeched.
"We wouldn't be doing anything." Alice said primly. "It is an automatic thing. If you had been successful in your attempt at the DOE and Ministry gaining control of Hogwarts and ousting the school board then the school would have automatically reverted to our care.
As Lord Peverell is also Lord Gryffindor, and currently serves as proxy for both Lord Slytherin and Lord Ravenclaw, and I am Lady Hufflepuff that would mean the two of us would have complete control of every aspect of the school. However, we both feel that it would be better to carry on with the school board model we have been using for the past few centuries, as it allows for debates which have only bettered the school, so we would prefer it if the Ministry would rein in the DOE so that we can avoid that."
Everyone was slightly stunned by all that information. Albus, for his part was horrified. He could have lost everything if his plan had been successful. He was going to have to find the time to sit and read the entire Hogwarts Charter, but everything had been requiring his attention so much lately that he just hadn't had the time. And, he hadn't bothered in the past because he just hadn't really cared, up until James came around he had had complete control already so it hadn't mattered.
Many others were surprised that James and Alice were willing to give up that much power. Most knew just how much control being in charge of the children would give them.
Regina was startled enough that she actually took a step back. They couldn't risk that. While she still felt they needed to take control of the school, having some power was more important to her than risking it all. Unfortunately for her, there was another in her department that wasn't so thoughtful.
"You have no right." Regina's second in command, Toby Podmore, shouted as he stood from his seat. "You know nothing about how to properly educate children. The DOE should be the ones in charge. We are the ones that are responsible for ensuring a proper educational standard.
The school governors are just a group of people that only have power because their children are attending school. The DOE would be able to provide consistency since our members aren't constantly changing. The ministry needs to give us control of the school since we know what is for the best."
Albus wanted to sigh. Toby was the son of another one of his more dedicated followers, Stergis Podmore. Unfortunately he didn't have his fathers calm mannerisms. He knew that this was going to cause some issues.
"No, that isn't the job of the DOE and it's employees. The DOE is responsible for the policy side of things. You are meant to ensure that the quality of education is up to par. You are in charge of ensuring the teachers are properly trained on how to teach, not what to teach.
You are also responsible to liaise with the Department of Child Welfare to ensure that the children in their care are receiving a proper education. You also oversee the standardized testing, obviously, since the OWL and NEWT testing departments are among your sub-departments. You are meant to keep track of things, not control them. And your final responsibility is to oversee apprenticeship contracts to ensure their isn't any funny business between apprentice's and masters. Although I know the apprenticeship program through Hogwarts was cancelled some time ago for some dunderheaded reason." The rough voice of Euphemia Gamp echoed through the the chambers. The woman had been the head of the DOE about 20 years before but had retired from old age, she was now closing in on her 139th birthday.
James smiled at the woman. "On that topic, I have good news. When the lack of apprenticeship program was brought to our attention before Yule the school board voted to allow for a return of the program. We sent word to the DOE in hopes that we could have everything set up by the end of this school year, but we are still waiting for a response."
"Oh for Merlin's sake." Euphemia huffed as she shot a disgruntled look to the DOE members present. "You want more responsibility when you can't even do the job you have now. What a ludicrous idea. Stop acting like petulant children and do your blasted jobs. Or so help me I will return and deal with you all myself. None of this tomfoolery would have been allowed in my day."
"I feel I must agree." Kensington said, poorly trying to hide his grin at seeing the elderly woman chastise the DOE members like misbehaving children. "You have a job to do. It is time to stop ignoring the responsibilities you already have in an attempt to get more control over something you have no right to.
I also find much that the DOE has been doing highly distressing. Allowing a woman you know to have tortured a child to be around children, including the very child she had tortured is simply not acceptable. And that is before you even take into account the chaos that has been caused with the creation of this so called Inquisitorial Squad.
I am backing the school board in their request for the supervision of the Department of Education. I will also be backing them in their request to remove Deloris Umbridge and the disbandment of the Inquisitorial Squad. I would request that those last two things be done immediately. There has already been enough chaos caused by them."
The vote was called quickly after that, and it was a landslide. The DOE was going to be supervised for the next five years. And, it was none other than Euphemia Gamp that had been selected to oversee them. The Wizengamot even used the power they had as a body to break Umbridge's contract and order her to be out of Hogwarts by the end of the day. And, the Inquisitorial Squad was gone too.
James was more than pleased with how things had worked out. Especially considering how it could have ended. He hadn't been sure just how much support they were going to have when he had walked through the doors into the meeting. It had been the first time in years he had actually been worried about losing a vote.
There had been so many things that could have gone wrong. While he knew there was no way the DOE was going to be able to take over the school due to the safety clause in the charter he hadn't wanted to risk it. If enough of the members of the Wizengamot had backed the DOE they had risked triggering that clause.
And James really didn't want to have to deal with the responsibility of Hogwarts. It would just put too much pressure on him since everyone would be watching every move he made and every decision he made. He didn't need that, especially now that Voldemort was back, he had bigger things to deal with.
Attending meetings every month was fine, but he didn't want it to be his full time job. Even though it might be nice to have full control and be able to force Dumbledore out, it was just too much. As much as he hated having Dumbledore around his son, it wasn't too bad since they had protections in place.
Walking out of the meeting James was pleased. They had the school back to the way it should be, for the most part at least. More over, they had the apprenticeship program back. The professors were now able to take on apprentices if they wanted. It would help more members of their society work towards getting their masteries.
At least the school might get back to some level of normalcy in time for the end of year exams to begin.
Hogwarts, Gryffindor Girls Dorm - June 11, 2006
Hermione was hiding behind her closed bed curtains up in her dorm room going over her study notes. Headmaster Dumbledore had given her copies of past OWL exams to make sure that she would be ready. She had even arranged for Ron to have a few copies so he could do well, although she may have held a few back since she didn't want him doing better on the real tests like he had on the practice.
The exams were going to be starting the next day and she still didn't feel ready for it. Sure, she had memorized everything, but she wasn't sure if the testers would be as biased as the professors or not. She really hoped they would be better.
Normally, she would be studying in the common room or in the library so she wouldn't miss anything important, and make Ron study too, but she just couldn't. When she had first gotten her Inquisitorial Squad badge she had been so pleased, she had thought that there was at least one benefit from having a magical relative. But then Umbridge had proved she wasn't someone Hermione wanted to be associated with. The woman was a blood supremacist that wouldn't even listen to her opinion about freeing the house elves.
Having that badge was even better than the prefects badge since there was really no oversight. They could assign any punishment they saw fit. But even then no one would listen, no matter what she did. If anything, the other students had showed her less respect.
Basically from the moment she had put the badge on she had been attacked. It was like everyone in the school had turned against her even more than the pure bloods normally did. No matter how many points she deducted or detentions she assigned, none of them would listen to her and do what she said.
And now, the Squad had been disbanded. She had once again lost a position of power because of the actions of others.
But even losing that badge hadn't made things better, if anything it was worse. Now that she had no way to threaten the other students they were targeting her more than ever. It was why she was in her room.
Every time she sat and tried to study where other students could get to her she was targeted. Just a few hours ago when she had been working in the library someone had spelled the books she had been using to run away from her and she had been kicked out of the library for running after them. The librarian said that she had been causing a disturbance.
Even her own housemates were being mean. While they had never liked her because she was smarter, now it was worse. They had absolutely zero respect for her and many were going out of their way to be rude, calling her a traitor and a ministry suck up. Didn't they understand that she had only been doing the right thing, she deserved to be able to punish them when they were being bad.
"HERMIONE!" Came Ginny's whining voice from outside her curtains.
Sitting up Hermione threw open the hangings to see what was wrong. She was startled to see that Ginny's long red hair was now neon green snakes that kept hissing at her.
"What happened?"
"I don't know." Ginny whined as she threw herself onto the older girls bed. "I was just sitting in the common room trying to talk with Dean Thomas when everyone started laughing and my hair was hissing. Make it better!"
"I will try, but I don't know how this happened so I can't guarantee it will work." Hermione pulled her wand and started trying to determine what kind of spell was used.
"Why is everyone so mean?" Ginny whined, she couldn't wait for this horrible year to end.
"Everyone's just upset that we were invited to join the Inquisitorial Squad and they weren't." Hermione huffed as she tried another spell that once again failed. "We had power over them, and now that we don't they want revenge for us holding them to a higher standard. Now, sit still."
Ginny huffed, but continued to fidget. "What where you doing?"
"I was going over my notes for my OWLs. I have my exams in transfiguration and alchemy starting tomorrow." Hermione informed her. She ignored the girl as she moved her notes aside so she had more room to sit.
"I figured you'd be studying with Ron."
"I came up here for a little piece." Hermione tried another spell. "I told him to go and study in his room."
"Oh, he didn't listen." Ginny tattled on her brother. "He has his notes and everything out, but he is in the common room just staring around watching everyone. Well, that and trying to figure out who it was that made his hair like mine. He was having a screaming fit when I came to get your help."
Hermione sighed as she tried her final spell and failed once again. "Let's go. I have no idea what was done to you this time. We will just have to go to the hospital wing and get them to fix it. And we can get Ron along the way."
The two girls got up and got ready for a fight. They knew that by now Ron would be fighting with everyone and they were going to have to work to drag him away to get him to go with them.
Great Hall - June 23, 2006
Hadrian smiled happily as he laid his quill down. He had just finished his final OWL. Just before lunch he had finished the last practical part and this was the last written. He was so happy as he leaned back and sighed.
While he had known what to expect, and had been confident that he would pass everything, it had still been a lot of work. He wished they would have been able to spread the exams out more. Two weeks might have been fine when there was a limited number of classes like before, but now it was just too much. He had been doing multiple written and practical exams every day for the past two weeks. And, any free time he did have was spent on review.
In total over the last two weeks Hadrian had really only been able to spend meal times with the twins as they, like him, had exams to prepare for. It had been two weeks of constant work. He couldn't wait until the twins finished their final exam in a few hours so that they could just cuddle up and relax together. They had another day and a half before they were to get on the train to go home.
The only thing that was distracting him from completely relaxing was that this was his history exam. He still remembered having had that horrible vision of Sirius being tortured the last time he had been doing this exam. Tonight was the night that Voldemort and his followers had gone to the ministry to attempt to get the prophecy from the DOM.
At least this time they were ready. Regulus and Percy had already made arrangements. Just a few weeks ago one of the long time Unspeakables, Broderick Bode, had ended up in St. Mongo's after he had attempted, and failed, to take a prophecy. Hadrian and the others all knew that it had been the result of the imperious curse. Regulus had ensured that there was a guard on him to ensure that he wasn't killed by Voldemort or his followers when he started to recover.
Hadrian knew they were prepared for something to happen, well, anything to happen. His fathers and Uncles had made sure to assure him that he didn't need to worry about anything, but he still did. It was just in his nature.
Walking to the front of the hall Hadrian handed in his test and headed out of the great hall. He had seen the quick glares Ron and Hermione had sent him as he had walked past them where they were sitting at the front of the hall where Hermione had insisted they sit.
He smiled as he made his way toward the ROR. He knew the twins should be finished their own exams within the next hour. They would meet him he knew, and they would keep him from worrying about anything.
Hadrian was in the process of going over the spell work on his latest enchanting project when first Fred, and then George walked into the room, both grinning.
"Finished?"
"Finished." Both twins smiled happily as they made their way towards him.
Since Fred was the first into the room he made it to him first. Fred swooped down on him and pulled him into a soul searing kiss. By the time he pulled away Hadrians head was spinning. Only for George to take his place and kiss Hadrian until what little sense he had left was gone.
Hadrian couldn't say anything, so he just chose to smile at the two of them in a goofy manner.
"I do so love that look on you." Fred grinned.
Taking hold of the two of them he left his project and pulled them to the couch. Pushing the two down he crawled on top of them and snuggled close. He couldn't believe that they were done with Hogwarts. He really didn't want to have to go through the next two years without them. It just didn't seem possible to exist without the two of them.
Seeing that Hadrians mood was nosediving Fred quickly distracted him with a kiss. Pressing him back into George's body Fred slipped his hands under Hadrians shirt and let his fingers play across his stomach before slipping to the top of his trousers. Fred was in the process of unbuttoning Hadrians pants when the door opened and Sirius walked in. Freds hands were immediately gone, much to Hadrians frustration.
Sirius grinned as he saw what he had interrupted. He was pleased, he didn't want to have to have ratted out his godson, and he would have had too, James would have known he was hiding something as soon as he saw him.
"I hate you right now. You know that, right?" Hadrian sighed as he sat up and willed his body to relax as his godfather sat down across from him and his boyfriends.
Sirius just grinned. "I know. But, just be grateful it was me and not your father. I would think frustration would be better than having your boyfriends turned into potions ingredients."
Hadrian just harrumphed. Fred and George couldn't decide if they wanted to grin or shiver at the idea of Severus being the one to catch them with Hadrian, they really needed to remember to seal the room next time.
"I just came to check and make sure you weren't obsessing over what might happen this evening, but clearly you have found a distraction." Sirius smirked at the three.
"I'm fine, I know that you guys have taken care of everything, and there's nothing I can do but wait." Hadrian sighed. He really hated having to wait and not being able to do anything.
"Hadrian, you do understand why we are keeping you out of this, right?" Sirius made sure to catch the eye of his pouting godson.
Hadrian sighed out a long breath. "I know. You guys are doing it because you love me, not because you want to control me. I've had that conversation with papa more than enough over the years.
It's just hard having to sit back. I'm not a little kid anymore, but I understand that I'm also not an adult, even with the whole time travel thing. As much as I want to be involved, I find I actually am enjoying just being able to sit back and let others deal with things this lifetime. That is… when I'm not worrying about my lack of control."
"You know that if you want to be more involved you just need to come to us." Sirius reminded him. While Hadrian was their child, and they wanted to protect him, they also understood that he had the right to be as involved as he wanted.
"I know." Hadrian shrugged as he snuggled back into the twins, still pouting slightly. "I actually prefer not having to deal with everything like I did last time. I just have those moments where I feel like I have no control over what's happening.
Everything's just changed so much I don't know what to expect anymore. While I know when things might happen, I don't know if they will anymore. I can't help but worry that something might happen if I can't stop it."
"It's ok." George wrapped his arm around Hadrians shoulder. "You aren't responsible for everything."
"If something bad happens it isn't your fault." Fred agreed as he wrapped an arm around Hadrians waist. "You can't be expected to fix everything any more than we can."
Sirius smiled. "They're right and you know it. No one expects you to fix everything. You've already done more than your fair share. Now it's time for the rest of us to do ours.
I'll let you three get back to your… Relaxing."
Hadrian and the twins all rolled their eyes as Sirius wiggled his eyebrows at them before he left. Once he was gone the three just relaxed together. Being walked in on like that, and then talking about a potential attack had killed the mood.
Instead, the three just carried on cuddling like they normally did until it was time to go down for dinner. Once that was done they were planning to go for a walk around the lake and just talk with each other in a way they hadn't been able to due to the exams.
Gryffindor Common Room, Boys Dorm
After dinner the night they finished exams Hermione met with Ginny and Ron in his room. This year had been the year they only had to share their rooms with one other person so it was a lot easier to not have to deal with others.
Hermione had ended up sharing her room with Lily Moon, but since the two didn't get along all that much Lily was only in the room to sleep. Other than that she stayed in one of the other girls rooms. Ron was with Zacharias Smith. All of the other boys in their year really didn't like either of them so they had quickly paired off leaving the two no other choice but to room with each other.
While Zacharias wasn't overly close with any of the Gryffindor boys in his year he did have a few friends in the other houses. Because of that he spent a lot of time out of their room allowing Ron to take over, like he was now.
Ron lay sprawled out on his bed, but his bag, cloak, and shoes were spread across the room, including on the other bed.
"It's finally over." Ron grinned as he spread out more fully on his bed. "I never want to have to do something like that again."
"It can't have been that bad." Ginny rolled her eyes at her brothers dramatics.
"It was." Hermione said as she took a seat at one of the desks in the room while Ginny laid claim to the other bed. "Just wait until next year, you will understand. It is five years of work compressed down into two weeks.
How do you think you did on our history exam this afternoon?"
"It doesn't really matter, it's just history." Ron shrugged, he was sure he had done well enough to pass. "I mean, we're at a magic school, why would we have stupid classes that aren't magical."
"Oh Ronald." Hermione sighed, the boy just really didn't have what it took to do well in school. She had been more than a little surprised that he had studied with her when she had asked him too over the past months, but she knew there was no way he would do as well as her this time.
"Try telling that to mum if you fail." Ginny smirked at her brother.
"Shut up Ginny." Ron went to throw a pillow at his sister but stopped when he caught Hermione's glare. "So, what are you doing this summer?"
"I'm not sure." Hermione was pleased when Ron had backed down, he was finally learning to do what she wanted. "So far my parents haven't said anything, so I'm hopeful I won't have to do that stupid job again. Other than that I have no clue, I'm just hoping they will let me visit more with you guys this summer.
Honestly, I don't know why they made up all those stupid rules. I figure just so long as Professor Black doesn't speak with them again it should be fine, he just always makes me look bad to them."
Ron just shrugged. While he wasn't overly fond of the professor, he still remembered how he had helped him out earlier in the year.
Ginny huffed. "I have absolutely no idea why your parents would take Black's word over yours. Everyone knows he comes from a dark family."
"Professor Black." Hermione corrected. "I know. But, whatever, it has to be better this summer."
"Mum wrote to me the other day." Ginny grinned as she changed the topic to something she wanted. "She said that Dumbledore has reformed his old group that fought against You-Know-Who last time. Harry's parents are a part of it so she's going to work it so that he stays with us during any meetings."
"Headmaster Dumbledore." Hermione corrected absentmindedly.
"We're just going to have to make sure Fred and George aren't invited. We need to get him away from them, it just isn't right." Ron sat up.
Ginny growled as she thought about her brothers with her future husband. "I hate them! I warned them years ago to stay away from Harry, but they just wouldn't listen.
We're going to have to break them up. I need to get together with Harry, it's the only way. I deserve to be Lady Potter."
"What do you think Hermione?" Ron questioned the other girl.
"I think it's going to take more than just spending time with him to get him away from them. They've had years to make him think he likes them. It's going to take a lot of work to teach him it's wrong.
It depends on just how often they have meetings, but I don't think it will be enough. You're going to need to find a way to be around him more often than just that." Hermione tried to think. "Do either of you know what he does during the summer. I know he said he was visiting his cousin in France last year, but what about this year?"
"I don't know?" Ginny tried to think. "It's not like he could just stay home all summer, it would get so boring."
"Your forgetting his family is rich. He probably lives in some fancy castle with more rooms than there are days in the summer." Ron's jealousy was clear in his voice. "It isn't fair he gets all that plus the fame and everyone bowing down to him. He gets everything."
"And it will all be ours once I marry him." Ginny smiled as she thought of what her life was going to be like once she was Lady Potter. "When we were little I heard mum and Dumbledore talking about a marriage contract. They were saying how they were going to make it so that we had control of everything and Harry would just have to do what he was told."
"Marriage contract?" Hermione was confused. "That sounds like an arranged marriage."
"It is." Ron shrugged.
"But arranged marriages are wrong. No one does that anymore." Hermione was stunned. First slavery and now this, she couldn't believe how backwards the magical world was.
Ginny just rolled her eyes. "There are still plenty of families that use marriage contracts. Besides, what does it matter? It's going to ensure that I get Harry even if we can't get the twins to leave him alone. I'm just going to have to make sure that there is a clause that says he has to stay faithful to me"
Hermione didn't know what to say, on one hand she hated the idea of arranged marriages, but on the other it would finally get Harry to behave. "I think I'll get some books on them. It will let us figure out just what kind of things can be put in them."
Hermione started to get excited. This could be her summer project. Plus, once she was minister she could make arranged marriages illegal but it would be too late for Harry to get out of it. They needed Harry to be married to Ginny, and if that was how it had to be done than so be it, she just didn't have to like how it was done.
"Sure, whatever." Ginny just shrugged, she didn't really care what was in the contract. Just so long as she got to marry Harry and have access to all his money she would be happy.
Ministry of Magic, DOM
In the evening everything was quiet. In his office Regulus was sitting silently and going over an ancient text on shadow magics. Percy was sitting off to the side reading a scroll on transmogrification techniques that had once been common in Mesopotamia. It had been decided that there always needed to be someone in the DOM so Regulus and Percy had been on the night shift for the past week and worked from 10-4.
It had been the same every evening over the past week, and it would carry on like that for as long as needs be. They were waiting for Voldemort's attempt to steal the prophecy.
Since there was no connection between Hadrian and Voldemort there was no way for him to trick Hadrian into getting the orb for him. That meant the man would have to be the one to get it.
Augustus Rookwood, who had returned to spying, had warned them Voldemort was planning to get it soon, although he couldn't give an exact date. When Bode had failed to get the orb Voldemort had summoned him and finally gotten the information that only those who the prophecy was about could get it.
All Augustus had been able to learn was the basics. Evan Rosier and Antonin Dolohov were in charge of leading two groups of Death Eaters into the DOM to clear a path for Voldemort to take. They just hadn't released the date they would be doing it, the other death eaters had just been told to be ready at all times.
Regulus had arranged for an alarm to be placed on the entrance to the DOM and another on the entrance to the Hall of Prophecies. As soon as anyone entered they would be alerted. They had also arranged viewing spells since Unspeakables weren't known for keeping regular hours and often came in at night to work on different projects.
When Minister Shacklebolt was informed of what was happening he made arrangements for the aurors to be kept on alert. Once Regulus and Percy verified it was the death eaters they would send out the call. Arrangements had been made for aurors to floo into different offices that were usually secured from outside floos. They didn't want to move to quickly, they wanted to wait until Voldemort made his entrance.
To ensure that the plan wasn't leaked only those hand selected by Amelia were told the whole plan. The others were simply told they had had warning of some sort of event taking place and that they were to be ready to be called in at any time. They would floo into the auror office, be given the explanation of what was happening and their jobs, before they flooed into the DOM offices. Each team would be escorted by the leaders Amelia had chosen.
With everything they could do already done, all they had left was to wait.
It was just before midnight when the first of the alarm spells went off. Checking the viewing spell Percy jumped slightly when he saw the robed figures making their way into the DOM.
"It's them."
Regulus nodded. Turning, he sent out word that the death eaters were there, but that they hadn't yet sighted Voldemort.
Auror Headquarters
Amelia looked out over the aurors in the room. "I know you are all confused, but we need to do this quickly. We received conformation of Voldemort's return a few months ago."
Everyone started to whisper. There were a few who had known already, but most hadn't really believed the mad ramblings of Dumbledore given what the Prophet had written about him before. Although the paper had changed its tone it had done far too much damage to the mans reputation for it to be fixed quickly.
"Yes, I am aware of just what this means." Amelia swept her eyes across everyone. "We have also received information that he and his followers have been planning to break into the DOM. Two minutes ago we received notice from 2 Unspeakables that the invasion is happening now.
From what we know there are 2 teams of Death Eaters who are clearing a path and Voldemort himself will follow them. We will move only once he has arrived as he is the primary target.
Now, while we would prefer to take them all prisoner, we do understand that that may not be possible. Minister Shacklebolt has signed off on the use of lethal force if you feel you have no other option. But, I will remind you, it is an option of last resort.
The Unspeakables have temporarily opened the floos in their offices so that we can enter unnoticed. I will be breaking you up into five teams, the team leaders are already aware of which office they are taking you to and the fastest routes to where the Death Eaters are going. Are there any questions?"
No one had anything to say so Amelia and the team leaders got to work quickly getting their pre-chosen teams in line before heading out.
None noticed as Nymphadora pulled out a small piece of enchanted parchment and wrote out a quick note. But, it wasn't like she was the only one sending off a message, she just had the most direct way for contact.
Headmasters Office, Private Quarters
Albus sighed as an alarm started going off. He had only been able to get to bed an hour ago. There was a lot of paperwork associated with running a school.
Getting up he saw the alarm was coming from one of the pieces of parchment he had handed out to the Order. He swore silently that if this wasn't important then he was going to make sure this member suffered. It was only a short note but it made Albus's year.
'YKW/DE's going to attack DOM. Aurors called. Tonks.'
Albus was thrilled. Finally Voldemort was going public. This was his chance to show everyone that he was the one standing against Voldemort.
Moving quicker than he had in years Albus got ready. Once he had everything he needed he sent word to the other Order members to floo into the atrium of the ministry as the ministry was being attacked.
He also sent his patronus off to Barnabus Cuffe. He wanted to make sure that a reporter would be available to interview him after the upcoming battle.
DOM
Amelia had been waiting in the office with Regulus and Percy watching the viewing spells they had had set up when multiple silvery animals arrived. Looking around she was a little startled by the number of them. There was a wolf, 4 dogs, an owl, a stag, and a doe.
All spoke in different voices warning that Dumbledore knew about the attack and was planning to be there. They said he would be flooing into the atrium in a few minutes with other members of the Order.
"Who?" Amelia questioned.
"The owl is my wife, the big dog is my brother, the wolf is Remus, the stag is James, and the doe is Severus." Regulus explained.
"The collie and two labs are my dads." Percy added.
"I should have known someone would warn him." Amelia sighed. "Oh well, can't stop it now. We just need to try and make sure he stays out of the way. He just wants the glory of being the one to fight him, we all know that."
"I can go and try and slow them down as much as possible if you want?" Percy offered. "It might give you a chance to deal with this without having him interfering."
"That would be preferable." Amelia smiled. "You won't be able to keep him too long, I know that, he is too obsessed with control to let that happen, but every moment counts."
Percy nodded and flooed out to the atrium.
"If that man screws this up I will have his head, and the hide of whoever told him." Amelia glared down at the viewing spells.
"You and I both know there were more than a few who alerted him." Regulus glanced at her.
"I know. And I will make sure everyone knows just how… displeased I am." Amelia smirked slightly. "There."
Regulus looked to where Amelia was pointing. They both watched as a single dark cloaked figure slowly made his way through the entrance of the DOM with a massive snake at his side.
"Everyone needs to get ready. He's here." Amelia whispered into her contact mirror, alerting the other aurors.
They waited as he moved. The way they had planned this was that they would wait until Voldemort was in the middle of the DOM before making their move. Two of the offices the aurors had flooed into would be behind him while the other three were in front. It would allow them to surround him and keep him contained slightly. There were also anti-apperation and anti-portkey wards around the entire department. Once they were in, they were going to do their best to keep them there.
Atrium
Percy was glad to see the atrium was still empty when he arrived. Going over to the elevators he cast a spell on each elevator which would slow them down. It would only give the aurors a few extra minutes but, like Madame Bones said, every moment counted.
Walking back to stand in the centre of the atrium he set up a few quick wards. He wasn't sure who exactly would be coming with Dumbledore, but he figured they might be a little jumpy all things considered. The wards were only basic, but it would keep the Order members from doing too much damage to him if they started firing spells.
Once he was done, he stood with his hands clasped loosely in front of him and waited.
DOM
The moment Voldemort passed the half way point between the offices the doors were all thrown open. The aurors from the two offices behind him formed a semi-circle behind him blocking the escape route. The aurors from two of the offices in front of him took up a similar stance. Those in the third office moved towards the Hall of Prophecies to capture the Death Eaters.
Amelia took up her place facing Voldemort, her wand held tightly in her hand.
For a single heartbeat everything was still.
Then chaos rained as the spells started to fly.
While Voldemort was a master dualist, he was greatly outnumbered. There were over 2 dozen aurors all sending spells at him. His shields were strong, and he had plenty of protective jewellery and clothing, but spells were still getting through.
When the Death Eaters realized their Lord was under attack they turned back and tried to get to him, but there were two layers of aurors between them and him. The aurors were working on separating the Death Eaters and isolating them from each other so they wouldn't be able to back each other up or work together.
The aurors fighting Voldemort had started to be pushed back much to their distress. Unfortunately the man had spent decades before his defeat learning arcane magic most didn't even know existed so they didn't know how to block it. Since he was so greatly outnumbered he was using group effect spells.
Nagini was also doing her own damage. Thanks to the magical alterations that she had been subjected too she was much faster than a normal snake. She was darting around biting anyone she could reach.
The good thing was that Severus had found the anti-venom recipe in the journals so he had mixed up a large batch for the aurors. But the issue was that while the potion would counter the venom, it wouldn't close the injury. Because of the type of magic that had been incorporated into Nagini the puncture wounds would only heal with time and would in fact bleed more if magic was applied.
Once on the ground many of the aurors pulled themselves to be propped up against the wall and shot spells from there. They couldn't do much else without risking major blood loss.
Hall of Prophecies
Within the hall the aurors were fighting hard. They knew they needed to stop as many of the Death Eaters in the room as possible. They couldn't let them get back to their master.
Working in teams of two they worked to isolate the Death Eaters in the different rows. The Unspeakables had anchored the shelves more and cast multiple stabilizing spells on them so they wouldn't collapse this time. Too many aurors could get hurt if that happened.
Kingsley was working with one of the newer recruits, Benim Howard. Howard had only finished his training 2 months before which was why he was partnered with him, Kings was one of the stronger aurors so he would be there just in case. But Kings wasn't really worried, the younger man was holding his own even if he could improve.
Pushing the Death Eater they had targeted further away was difficult, who ever it was, they were a very good dualist. But they managed to get him separated, even if it came at a cost. An extremely powerful slicing hex had managed to break through Kings's shield and had cut through his protective robes, leaving him with a large gash from his right shoulder down across his chest to his left hip.
Kings knew they needed to get him down soon. He was losing too much blood to be able to keep fighting for much longer.
Throwing a blasting curse at the other man Kings managed to throw him off balance, which was extremely helpful as he was in the process of casting a bone crushing curse at Howard. Rather than hitting him in the middle of the chest where he had been aiming and crushing his ribcage, the spell only nicked his left thigh. It could have been a lot worse, but Howards leg gave out beneath him as his femur was broken in multiple places.
Seeing his partner go down Kings started firing of spells rapid-fire. Anything he could think of he sent. So many spells coming at him just pushed the Death Eater even more off balance. He was able to block many of the spells, but many others got through.
Benim Howard refused to just stay down. Propping himself in the sitting position against the shelf behind him he saw what Kings was doing. He waited for a little, and when he saw his opening he took it.
The Death Eater was so focused on the spells coming from Kings that he completely missed the full body bind coming from the auror he had thought was out of the fight.
Kings sighed in relief as his target hit the ground. Looking back he smiled. Howards face was lined with pain and was ghostly pale, but there was clear determination in his eyes. This kid was going to go far Kings knew.
Making his way over to the frozen Death Eater he took his wand out of his hand before snapping the power suppressing cuffs on his wrists. Taking his mask off Kings let out a low whistle. Grabbing the special portkey the aurors had been given expressly for this mission.
The portkeys had been made by the Unspeakables and were the only ones that would be able to get through the wards around the department. They had been set to drop their passenger off in one of the warded cells the ministry had.
Activating it both aurors watched as their target disappeared.
"That's going to look good in your file Howard." Kings smiled at the other man as he slowly lowered himself to the floor.
"What?"
"Well done kid, you just took down Evan Rosier himself." Kings smiled at the shocked look on the kids face. "Not many junior aurors will be able to rival that."
Pulling his robes fully opened Kings cast a sealing charm on his chest to slow his blood loss. Moving over to where the other man was, Kings got to work treating his injuries as best as he could. But there wasn't much he could do. Only skele-grow and time would fix his leg which was his worst injury.
"Unfortunately, you're down and out. I can't fix your leg, your gonna need a healer for that. I'm gonna go and see if anyone else needs help, just keep an eye open in case." Kings started to pull himself up using the shelves.
"Pull me to the end of the row." Howard said before Kings could leave. "I can keep an eye from there."
"Are you sure, it will hurt." Kings looked to the other mans leg.
"I know, but I can deal with it." Howard gave Kings a determined look. "I might be down, but I'm not out."
Kings gave him a respectful nod and grabbed hold and started to move him towards the end of the row. Thankfully they weren't very far down since it caused them both a lot of pain.
Propping him up in a protected position that would still give Howard a view of the other rows, Kings set off in search of others.
Atrium
Ten minutes after arriving in the atrium Percy watched as the floos started to flair green and the members of the Order stepped out. Percy was just glad that it hadn't been an emergency, if it had been it would already have been too late.
The members started milling around as they waited for Dumbledore. Overhearing the different conversations Percy could tell most didn't really understand anything more than the fact that there were Death Eaters in the ministry.
He smirked as he saw a few who had known what was coming give him silent looks, most likely guessing who he was. Marlene nodded to him before she pulled on an invisibility cloak and slipped past him. While he had slowed all the elevators on this side of the atrium there was a single elevator just down the hall and to the left that the guards used that he had left alone. They had arranged in advance that he wouldn't touch that elevator on the night of the attack so Marlene could use it if she needed. Since she was a healer she would most likely be needed in the DOM. Percy saw no reason to deny the aurors a trained healer just in case.
Percy watched as he was almost completely missed. While a few had noticed him, the vast majority completely missed him. It really wasn't giving a good image of them. It showed many were just followers and didn't really have a real talent for what they were planning to do. There was a reason aurors received training, one of the many things it taught them was to be aware of their surroundings.
About a minute after the others arrived Dumbledore himself arrived. He was dressed ridiculously in a purely Gryffindor outfit. His cloak was a vivid red embroidered with golden lions. Percy wondered if the man was trying to bludgeon Voldemort to death with the symbolism.
Albus twinkled his eyes as he looked out at his Order members that had answered his call. "Thank you all for coming."
"What is going on Headmaster?" Came a frightened voice.
"You said the ministry was under attack, but I don't see anything." Another added.
"I received a warning that Voldemort and the Death Eaters are going to attack the DOM tonight. We must ensure that they are stopped. There is something of extreme value within those halls that the dark must never get." Dumbledore's voice was grave as he spoke.
Albus felt a little annoyed that he had missed this. He should have expected Voldemort to try and get the full prophecy. But, since Severus refused to go back to spying he had lost his direct line into the dark.
But this might just be what he needed. This would help him to drive home the danger the Potter brat was in to his parents. Looking over he saw James and withheld a smirk. Maybe Severus would remember his place if his beloved husband were to be killed by Death Eaters tonight. It would also help him to get the brat into training with him.
"They must be trying to steal a dangerous weapon that is kept down there." One of the Order members who worked at the ministry muttered. There were many in the ministry that didn't like the DOM or the Unspeakables, they just gave them the creeps.
"A weapon more dangerous than you can imagine." Albus said ominously.
Albus went to go towards the elevators when he came up short seeing the Unspeakable standing silently watching them. He really didn't like Unspeakables, those robes they wore stopped him from being able to determine who they were. If he didn't know who they were he couldn't know how to properly manipulate them.
Pulling his wand, Albus aimed at the cloaked figure. The others saw what he was doing and they too finally noticed they were not alone.
"You were not invited here." Percy said in a calm voice, he knew it was only a matter of time before his voice was recognized. While his fathers and their allies wouldn't out him, there were others that knew him. That include Professor McGonagall, and both Professors Tonks.
"We have received information that the DOM is to be attacked, we have come to protect it, and you." Albus smiled, trying to figure out who was under those robes.
"That changes nothing. You were not invited here." Percy said, noticing the thoughtful look on Ted Tonks's face.
"You're a Death Eater!" one of the Order members shouted before throwing a spell at him.
Percy didn't even need to dodge, his attacker had zero aim. "No, I am not. I am merely stating a fact."
Ted realized why the voice seemed so familiar, the boy had always just said he was stating facts when they had debated in his class. "Percy Weasley."
Knowing there was no point denying it, Percy lowered his hood, hearing the Order members gasp. "Knowing my name changes nothing. You were not requested to come here tonight."
"Now my boy, we just want to protect everyone." Albus twinkled through his shock. Molly had told him the boy was working in the accounting office. "There is going to be an attack here tonight, someone needs to stand against Voldemort."
"I am aware. That is why aurors were summoned. You are not aurors, you have not been trained to handle situations like this. Leave it to the professionals." Percy instructed, knowing that he was going to be ignored.
"Don't you speak to the headmaster like that Mr. Weasley." McGonagall snapped at him. "We are here to help. You have no right to stand in our way."
"You, are a teacher. If you want to be involved with situations like this then you should joint the auror core." Percy said, his voice still completely calm.
"We are here to back up the aurors." Andromeda argued. "My daughter is down there, and I will not let you stop me from getting to her."
Percy raised an eyebrow. "Have I made a move to stop you. All I am doing is standing here. Although, your daughter is an auror, she will not keep that job long if she has to have her mummy come running to her defence every time she receives a call."
Andromeda just glared before she moved past him and hit the button to call for an elevator.
"It really is for the best that you let us deal with this my boy." Albus gave Percy a sad look hoping to make him feel guilty for holding them up.
"I have my doubts that Amelia Bones will feel the same." Percy smirked as the man got in an elevator and the doors closed.
Many other Order members started piling into the other elevators. In the end only those Percy knew and trusted remained behind.
"Why didn't you do anything to try and stop them Perce?" Fabian asked his son.
"Oh, I did." Percy smiled at his father. "Those elevators have been slowed down. It's going to take a while for them to get down there. Hopefully they won't do too much damage to Amelia's plan.
Wait here for a bit before using the other elevator please. If any of them ask just say you were waiting for the other elevators to come back up. It should only take them 10 minutes to reach the DOM floor. When you do get down there just try and stop any of the Death Eaters from leaving the DOM. We have wards up so if they are in the DOM they won't be able to apperate or portkey away."
Percy walked around the corner to the other elevators and left the atrium. Doing as he asked the others waited for a few minutes before they took the other elevator down, knowing they would arrive about the same time as the others so Dumbledore wouldn't know that they had known what was happening.
Albus was working through his strategy while he stood in the elevator. He wanted to make sure this fight was appropriately dramatic. He just hoped the reporters got there in time to witness his heroic duel.
After what felt like a few minutes he looked around. Normally the elevators were very quick. It only took a few seconds to pass each floor.
Sighing he realized why Percy hadn't tried to stop them from getting on the elevators. Looking up, he saw that they were only passing level 3.
The DOM was on level 9.