Harry woke up the next day, to find that the day hadn’t quite started yet. The sun was barely peaking through the window.
Yawning slightly, Harry walked to the bathroom, freshened up and made his way to the kitchen to find only Tonks and Lupin sitting at the table, whispering away.
“You know, you should do your flirting behind closed doors” said Harry with a laugh, causing Tonks to jump up and tumble off her chair.
“Harry! Don’t scare me like that!” she yelled causing both Harry and Lupin and laugh.
After laughing for a few moments, Lupin turned to Harry, “Tonks said you wanted to talk about something?” he asked.
“Ah, not here, let’s go get Sirius and find an empty room. I don’t want anyone overhearing us” replied Harry.
The three quickly made their way to Buckbeak’s room, since Sirius seemed to spend all his time in there and dragging him along, they made their way to the empty room that Harry usually used.
“So why’d you bring us all here Harry?” asked Sirius.
“Just a moment” replied Harry, closing the door behind him and then placed several charms on it to prevent any eavesdropping.
“You’re being awfully careful, inside the headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix, no less” said Lupin, confused at Harry’s actions.
“What I want to talk about can’t even get to the Order. Not yet anyway” said Harry.
Tonks nodded, “Yeah, so let’s all sit down and discuss this”
Everyone sat where-ever they found a comfortable spot, on the floor of course, since the room had no furnishings. Tonks took a seat next to Lupin, Sirius sat against the wall not far away and Harry stood between them, making it easier for him to talk.
“So, the reason I wanted to call you two here is because I need your help with a certain - mission, let’s say” said Harry, “I’ve already discussed it with Tonks and she’s agreed, I need your help in supporting her”
“What sort of plan Harry?” asked Lupin.
“To put it simply, I want to remove Fudge from office and I need Tonks to cover for me, by morphing into me, so that I can have an alibi” replied Harry.
“What!?” shouted Lupin. “You want to mess with the Minister for Magic?”
“So you were serious about that?” asked Sirius, dumbfounded.
“Wait, Sirius, you knew about this insanity?” Lupin turned to Sirius with an incredulous expression.
Sirius shrugged in response, “We had a conversation that may have involved this thought but it wasn’t anything concrete. Not that I’m against the idea though”
“That’s crazy, if you get caught, you could compromise the entire Order!” argued Lupin.
“Nothing of the sort would happen, Remus, don’t worry about that” said Harry soothingly. “I do understand that there is a risk here but believe me, if we do nothing about Fudge then forget the Order, the entire wizarding community would be in grave danger”
“I get how dangerous Voldemort is, thank you very much” replied Lupin with a little irritation in his voice.
“It’s not just Voldemort” said Harry. “The way the Ministry is, it can’t combat any threat ever. Not to mention the people in the Ministry who are just as twisted as Voldemort himself”
“What do you mean Harry?” asked Tonks, she had been quietly listening so far, probably to see how the other two would react.
“Other than the ridiculous number of spies that Voldemort has, the main issue is people who aren’t related to Voldemort but are still evil” replied Harry. “One main example is Dolores Umbridge”
“I know Umbridge is horrible but is she really that bad” asked a confused Tonks.
“I haven’t really told anyone this but after the hearing, Umbridge tried to use Legilimency on me” said Harry. “Though the fact she used it, itself is suspicious but what makes me sure she’s evil is what I saw when I countered her”
“What did you see?” asked Sirius with a frown.
“She’s the one who ordered the Dementors to attack me” replied Harry with a sigh.
“What!?” the other three said in unison, a reaction Harry found rather amusing.
“When I countered her Legilimency I saw her memory. She ordered the Dementors to attack me because no matter the result, she would benefit from it” Harry replied. “If I died, then the Ministry wouldn’t have a thorn in its side and if I used magic then they could use that as a reason to destroy my wand and possibly arrest me”
“That little-” Sirius started cursing with clenched fists.
“I can’t believe I work alongside such a - such a disgusting little maggot” said Tonks, unbridled fury dripping from her voice.
“I get that the Ministry is in more danger than we assumed, so what’s the plan Harry?” asked Lupin.
“Well, it’s rather simple really. You know how the Ministry’s been using the prophet to make it seem like Dumbledore and I are crazy, making the wizarding world lose trust in us?” asked Harry, causing the other three to nod in response.
“Well, we’ll use a similar tactic. I’ll do certain - actions - that would make Fudge seem absolutely cuckoo in front of his colleagues, the mass media and the entire wizarding community” said Harry. “That brings me to my problem”
“What kind of problem?” asked Sirius, finally having calmed down.
“If I want to pull this off, then I’ll need to physically be near Fudge to do everything that needs to be done” said Harry. “But no one should be able to link it back to me, mainly to prevent Dumbledore and the Order from being suspected. So, I need someone to pose as me for a few days, so that even if anyone looks into it, they wouldn’t be able to pinpoint me as the perpetrator”
“That’s where I come in!” said Tonks cheerfully. “I’ll morph into Harry and act as him but well, you know how clumsy I am-” Tonks’ voice grew softer and softer as she spoke.
“Haha! That you are” said Sirius, while Lupin just smiled.
“That’s why I need you two to just support her, in case there are any blunders, help her cover them up” said Harry. “I don’t think it’ll take long to mess with Fudge, he’s already stretched really taut when it comes to me”
“So, when do you start this plan of yours?” asked Lupin.
“Today” replied Harry, “I only have a week or so left before the new term starts. I need to make sure I get everything finished before that”
“A week is a rather short time Harry, are you sue you can get it all done with in such a short time?” asked Tonks. “If you can’t then maybe we should postpone this plan till the winter holidays”
“Absolutely not!” said Harry. “We already have so little time left. We have no idea when Voldemort will strike and how he would strike. We can’t take the chance of delaying this”
“I get that it’s important but we can’t half-ass it Harry” reasoned Lupin. Sirius nodded on the side.
“I know that, I agree that time is short but keep in mind, that only after Fudge is out of office and someone competent takes over can we hope for the Ministry to be cleansed of all its spies and other tumours” said Harry. “That alone would take a really long time. With Voldemort’s threat looming on one side, things would only get more and more difficult if we delay it. Voldemort is clearly trying to amass strength as he lays low, we can’t let him do that”
Lupin and Sirius finally sighed and nodded. “You’re right Harry. We know that but, it’s quite the big risk so it’s hard to leave it to you alone” said Sirius with a sigh.
“Oh don’t worry about it Sirius! This part is easy. Once the new Minister is in place, depending on who it is, we can hand Pettigrew in and get you free!” said Harry with a smile.
“Wait, what do you mean hand Pettigrew in? Do you know where he is?” asked Lupin with a frown.
“He can’t be that easy to find right?” asked Tonks.
“Oh, right - I forgot to tell you guys” said Harry sheepishly. “I might have gone and caught Pettigrew and brought him back to this house. He might also, kind of be in Buckbeak’s room - tied up”
Lupin put a hand on his forehead and massaged it while Tonks just gaped at Harry.
“So, you’re telling me, the man who was such a huge pain in our necks. Practically single-handedly helping bring the dark lord back to power, is actually tied up in the headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix and no one, other than the two of you knew about it?” asked Lupin, with a calm voice that would have sounded conversational had it not been for the growing expression of anger on his face.
“Well, kind of yeah” replied Sirius, looking away.
“You - absolute - utter - morons!” said Lupin, gritting his teeth after every word.
“We could have done something like that, without having to have Harry put himself in danger!” Lupin practically yelled.
Sirius just rubbed the back of his head and replied, “Well, I’m not saying it was the best idea but I was pretty annoyed with the Order and the way they were treating me and Harry seemed really confident so I kind of just let it happen”
“That’s not-” Lupin started to say but was interrupted by Tonks.
“He’s fine Remus, doesn’t look like he even had a hard time bringing that rat here. So just let it go” she said soothingly.
“Haah, fine, whatever” sighed Lupin, “Anything else we need to know?”
Harry thought for a moment, “Oh right! I ended up healing Pettigrew’s hand by mistake so the telltale missing finger is no longer there, so you might want to help him lose it again” he said with a sadistic smile.
“I can do that!” Sirius replied happily.
“Okay, with that sorted out, I’ll get going to the Ministry after I get my cloak, I’ll do as much damage to him as I can today” said Harry, getting up, he quickly ran to his room, grabbed his cloak, ignored Ron who was reading a book sitting on his bed and ran back to the room.
Once he was inside, he turned to the other three.
“Well, take care of being me for the next few days, I’ll stay out of the headquarters till I’m done” said Harry. “Oh and play with Hedwig when you can, Tonks, she gets lonely”
Seeing Tonks reply with a nod, Harry waved and quickly disappeared with a loud pop.
