“Mr
Potter, we need you to come with us.”
Harry’s
stomach flipped as he got to his feet, pocketing his cards, though he didn’t
think that he’d be needing them much longer where he was going. “Thanks for
today.” He nodded to the Lovegoods before following the rather solemn looking
and constantly alert Aurors back to the Leaky Cauldron and of into one of the
side rooms where Harry was shocked to see the Minister for Magic waiting for
him.
“Sit
down Harry.” Fudge spoke, indicating a seat by the fire, which was roaring away
in the hearth.
Harry
sat nervously, goosebumps rising on his arms. If this was about what had
happened to Vernon, he was surprised that he wasn’t being escorted straight to
Azkaban, unless they wanted to snap his wand first...
Fudge
sat down in a chair opposite him and looked him over carefully before speaking,
“I am Cornelius Fudge, Harry. I am the Minister for Magic.”
Harry
knew that already but Fudge didn’t know that Harry had seen him arresting
Hagrid, nor could he be allowed to know unless he wanted to get a large group
of people into trouble.
Tom
entered the room, carrying a tray of tea and crumpets, confusing Harry further.
The innkeeper placed the food on the table and then left. The reassuring smile
Tom had on his face didn’t help matters at all.
“Well
Harry. You’ve had all of us in a bit of a panic.” Fudge told the very confused
boy. Harry just stared at him, wondering why there wasn’t shouting and
threatening and demands for him to hand over his wand, “Running away from your
Aunt’s home like that! Thank goodness we had Aurors out already...”
“S...Sir?”
Harry asked, too confused to know what else to say.
“I
have a bit of bad news for you.” Fudge’s face turned grave, “Unfortunately we
sent out an Accidental Magic Reversal team to deal with both your Uncle and
your Cousin and none of them could do a thing to help them.”
Harry
wasn’t sure if he should be happy or sad about that news.
“However
we have had them taken into St. Mungos and placed on the Janus Thickly Ward,
which is where those with long term spell damage are hosted during their
recovery.”
There
was something about Dudley and his Uncle being looked after in the same ward as
Lockheart that amused Harry, though he still wasn’t quite sure what this was
about since they didn’t seem too angry about his uncle’s unresponsive state.
“We
are still talking to your aunt regarding you going back to her next summer. The
woman seems quite certain you’re possessed or some such rot, but we can test
for that easily enough and we did assure her that we’d keep a close eye on you
while you were there, but I’m certain that she’s worrying about nothing.
Accidental magic is understandable in a child, you just need to learn a bit
better control.” Fudge paused for a moment, “Assuming it was accidental.”
Harry
nodded, “I don’t even know how I did it.”
Fudge
nodded at Harry’s not quite a lie. Harry could imagine that whatever he had
done while he’d been ‘asleep’ he’d probably meant to do at the time, but he
could honestly say that he had no clue how it had happened.
“So
all that remains is to decide where you will stay for the rest of the summer.”
Fudge said as he buttered one of the crumpets and took a big bite, “I suggest
that you take a room here for the rest of the...”
“Hang
on!” Harry blurted out, “You mean I’m not being punished?”
Fudge
grew confused and Harry could practically see the Minister for Magic trying to
put together what was going on. Then he chuckled,
“My dear boy, we’re not going to punish you for a couple of incidents of
accidental magic,” He was gesticulating with both arms, the crumpet forgotten,
“We don’t send people to Azkaban for defending themselves.”
Harry
blinked at him, wondering what Fudge knew about his actions during his
blackouts that he didn’t and was horribly tempted to ask. “But last year...”
Suddenly
the amusement fled from Fudge’s face and fear replaced it, “Circumstances
change Harry. We have to take into account the current climate...” In other
words something had happened to change their attitude towards him, at least for
now, and Harry had a feeling that it was something to do with the same Sirius
Black that Tom had mentioned earlier. “Surely you don’t want to be expelled.”
Harry
shook his head, more than happy to take advantage of the situation in order to
remain out of jail and to keep his wand. “No, sir.”
“Then
I don’t see what else there is to discuss.” Fudge got to his feet, “Now you
understand, of course, that you can’t go wandering off into Muggle London,”
Well there went his plan to get more cards, if only so he could understand what
Luna was talking about, “Nor should you go wandering down Knockturn Alley. You’re
much better and safer off wandering around Diagon...”
Where
the Aurors could keep an eye on him was the unspoken ending to that sentence.
Harry nodded of course. Anything to keep the Minister of Magic happy and him
out of trouble after all and it was better than being sent straight back to the
Dursleys where he could just imagine that his aunt would make his life a living
hell.
Right
up until she triggered a blackout at least...
“As
regards to the charge of possession, Shacklebolt,” He gestured to the man next
to the door who walked over, nodding to Harry as he did so, “Can test for that
right now.”
“Afternoon,
Mr Potter.” Shacklebolt spoke, “If you’d just take off anything magical that
might mess with the readings and put them and your wand on the table.” Harry
did just that, removing the bracer and dumping both his wand and it on the
table, covered by his jacket, “Now just hold still for a moment. This won’t
hurt in the least.” Harry couldn’t help the flinch that came when the Auror
raised his wand and spoke so swiftly that Harry didn’t catch what he was
saying.
A
bolt of yellow light hit Harry’s chest and before he could say a word a glow
suddenly appeared out of nowhere, surrounding him. Harry stared at his hand in
shock and examined it, intrigued by the pale green light. It was obviously not
normal as Shacklebolt looked rather surprised, but when it died down the
Minister turned all of his attention on the Auror.
“So?”
Fudge demanded.
“Clean.
He’s not possessed.” Shacklebolt commented, still giving Harry an odd look.
“B...”
“Good,
good that settles that.” Fudge interrupted as Shacklebolt went to say something
else, “I’d hate to have to send him through after all.”
“Definitely
no need for that.” Whatever the Minister had meant by that seemed to knock the
Auror back into ‘duty’ mode and Harry could practically see him snap back to
attention. “He’s not possessed, so...”
“In
that case,” Minister Fudge headed for the door, “I’ll just have a word with Tom
and check there’s a room here for you.”
Harry
pocketed his wand and was just slipping the bracer back on when Shacklebolt
caught his arm. “Potter, a word?”
Harry
didn’t have much choice in the matter but he nodded anyway.
“You’re
not possessed but I would suggest you lay low for a while.” Shacklebolt
informed him, “If they decide to test you again someone might not be as lenient
as I was. That glow was supposed to be white. That it was partly another colour
suggests that you have been possessed recently or have had soul to soul contact
with someone. People don’t survive possession normally. You could land up in
the Department of Mysteries as an experiment or worse. I don’t know what it
means, but I’ve heard of the term ‘sending them through’ before and when I
asked, I got told that the person in question was no longer alive so...”
Harry
paled slightly at Shacklebolt’s words, “Thanks for the warning.”
Shacklebolt
let him go and Harry finished adjusting the bracer, feeling slightly more
secure when the snake on it tightened itself, securing the bracer on his arm.
Shacklebolt
was giving it a curious look and was about to open his mouth to ask something
when the Minister walked into the room looking rather pleased with himself.
“It’s
all settled. Room 11 will be yours for the rest of the summer.” Fudge grinned
at him as Harry hastily shoved the arm with the bracer into his jacket sleeve,
not wanting Fudge to see the golden item for an odd reason that he couldn’t
quite explain besides ‘it felt like a bad idea’. “You’re to be back here before
dark and Tom will be keeping an eye on you for me.”
Harry
frowned, confused as to why Fudge was trying to keep him under his thumb when
he hadn’t cared enough to look into Harry’s situation before. It was all
because of Black, Harry was almost certain of that. “But...” Harry trailed off
at the look on Fudge’s face. “Yes, Minister.”
“Good.”
Fudge nodded, “Have a good summer Harry and try not to get into any more trouble.
Remember if you have any problems the Aurors are around to protect the public,
so don’t be afraid to ask.”
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