Harry awoke the next day, feeling happy with what he had managed to accomplish. ‘Thank god things worked out, though it was fun in a way, I really don’t want to have to do that again’ thought Harry.
He went downstairs, thinking about what he had to finish doing that day and ran into somebody just after he reached the end of the stairs
“Oh sorry for that” apologised Harry and looked at the person he ran into, “Oh! Hi Kingsley, how’s it going?”
Kingsley beamed at Harry, “Things couldn’t be better” he said, his voice still deep but not nearly as calm as usual. It contained a major sense of excitement.
“You seem happy” smiled Harry.
“Of course” replied Kingsley, “Fudge is finally out of office and Madam Bones ended up getting elected”
“Oh great! Good for her” said Harry sincerely.
“That reminds me Harry, Madam - or should I say, Minister Bones would like to meet you tomorrow” said Kingsley.
“What about?” asked Harry curiously.
“She said she has some questions for you” replied Kingsley with a shrug.
“Alright then, can you help me get there tomorrow?” asked Harry.
“Sure thing, I’ll meet you here at 8 in the morning” replied Kingsley and waving to Harry, made his way out of the house.
Harry stood in place for a moment, thinking about his meeting with Amelia Bones but shaking his head, he decided not to think much about it.
He went about his day as usual but just after lunch, he told the few people in the kitchen that he’d be leaving for a few hours.
“Where to?” asked Mrs Weasley. Though she had become much more accustomed to Harry’s forays in the last few weeks but she still seemed to worry.
“Nothing much, just a little stroll I suppose” replied Harry and waving his hand, he made his way out of the room, ignoring Ron’s bitter glare.
Harry made his way to the empty room as usual, even though he didn’t particularly have to in this instance but it had almost become a habit for him.
After entering, Harry apparated and soon found himself in front of one of the shabbiest shacks he had ever seen. It was almost as bad as the shack on that rock in the middle of the sea he had gone to a few days back.
The shack was in such an obvious state of disrepair that Harry wondered why no one had bothered to tear it down yet.
‘Must be some muggle repelling magic at play around here’ thought Harry.
Harry stood at the door and fell deep into thought, ‘The ring has a curse on it but the memories are a little fuzzy about where all the curse was placed. Seems like Voldemort himself didn’t pay attention to where he placed the curse but it really is a rather potent curse’
“But before all that!” said Harry with a clap and then started concentrating on his powers. A warmth radiated from him and soon started forming into a large ball of a fire, the ball changed shape and soon turned into the shape of a flaming bird.
“Hey Fawkes!” said Harry with a smile.
Fawkes cooed happily and landed and Harry’s shoulder, rubbing his cheeks with Harry’s.
“Hey that tickles” laughed Harry, petting Fawkes. ‘I still don’t understand how a ball of flame could be so soft and cool to the touch’
The phoenix finally calmed down after a few minutes and then started to look around.
“Let me explain” said Harry. “Inside that shack, there is a box with a ring placed inside it. That ring is a horcrux but the ring and possibly the box itself has a potent curse placed on it”
Fawkes nodded, seemingly having understood.
“I can break the curse but it’s rather complicated and it will take me several hours to do it so I can’t be bothered” said Harry with a sigh, “So I decided to just take the box out and use phoenix flame on it”
He then turned his head to Fawkes and asked, “What do you think? Any better ideas?”
Fawkes looked at Harry and tilted his head, a few moments later he cooed and jumped off Harry’s shoulder, floating in mid-air in front of the shack. Harry could swear that just before Fawkes jumped off, he could see a twinkle in Fawkes’ flaming eyes.
Harry was about to call out to Fawkes but suddenly stopped and backed up several steps till his back hit the fence around the shack. He could feel an insane heat emanate from Fawkes’ body.
Fawkes continued to flap his wings and emanate that heat for several moments before -
BOOM
A huge pillar of flame erupted from the ground, travelling at least a hundred meters into the air. The pillar of flame swirled around in place for a good minute before it finally shrunk and died down.
Harry watched, wide-eyed, gaping at the scene in front of him. The shack had been reduced to ashes in a mere minute.
“Di-did y-you just blow up the entire shack just to break one curse?” asked Harry. Incredulity, shock, surprise, disbelief, a myriad of emotions swirling around inside him.
Fawkes turned around and flew towards Harry, landing on the fence behind him. The phoenix stared into Harry’s eyes, practically exuding an aura that screamed, ‘Praise me! I did good!’
A few moments of staring later, Harry finally rubbed Fawkes’ head, “Good job, that helped Fawkes” he said, with a forced smile. “I think” he added in an undertone.
Eventually Harry turned back to the shack - or the place the shack once stood, “There’s no way no one noticed that pillar of fire so I’d better grab the ring and make my way out of here”
Harry flicked his wrist and what little rubble remained, flew off to the side and a rather ornate box flew up from the ground.
‘It’s a little charred but I’m surprised the box was fine after all that’ thought Harry.
Another flick of his wrist and the box flew open and a ring flew out of it. Harry had the ring float in front of him and looked at it closely.
‘I can’t feel the curse or the horcrux from it’ thought Harry, ‘Fawkes basically vaporised the shack, the horcrux and the curse in one go’
“The horcrux and curse are gone, thanks Fawkes” said Harry, with a more genuine smile this time. “I can’t believe the ring doesn’t even have a scratch on it despite all that”
Harry stuffed the ring into his pocket and turned to Fawkes. “Thanks for helping Fawkes but I need to go back now, so I’ll call you some other time”
Harry pet Fawkes a bit more and even though the phoenix seemed a little unwilling, he willed Fawkes to return and the phoenix’s body just fizzled out.
‘Time to get back to the headquarters’ thought Harry. ‘That took a lot less time than I thought’
Making his way back, Harry spent the rest of the day with Hermione, Ginny, Sirius and Tonks who had for some reason been in the house for the last few days even after the mission.
The next day, Harry woke up early and got ready for his meeting with Minister Bones.
He found Kingsley already in the dining room, talking to Mr Weasley and Mrs Weasley.
He looked up when Harry arrived and smiled, “Morning Harry, ready to go?”
“Right after breakfast, sure” replied Harry smiling back.
After breakfast, Harry followed Kingsley and they went to the Ministry. They made their way into a different room than the one Fudge had used as an office. The room they arrived at looked more like a reception.
Two plush sofas sat in the center of the room, facing each other. A coffee table was placed between them with a pot of what appeared to be freshly brewed tea and two cups.
On one of the sofas sat a woman Harry remembered rather clearly, Madam Amelia Bones, or rather, the one known as Minister Amelia Bones now.
“I’ll take my leave then” said Kingsley, as he bowed to Amelia and then walked out of the room.
Harry walked to the sofas and shook Amelia’s outstretched hand. “Thank you for joining me on such short notice Mr Potter” said Amelia.
“No problem at all, Minister Bones” replied Harry with a smile as the two took their seats on the sofas.
“I wonder what I was called for?” asked Harry.
“I’m sure you’re aware but Cornelius Fudge was recently arrested and I have taken the post of Minister” said Amelia to which Harry nodded. “I just went over the situation of the Ministry and frankly, it’s rather appalling”
“How so?” asked Harry.
“Fudge really did a number on this place, it’s practically falling apart” replied Amelia with a frown.
“I don’t think Fudge was the only one to blame though” said Harry.
“What do you mean?” asked Amelia, her frown deepening.
“Well, while Fudge has been getting rather confident in his power over the last few years, but, he always struck me as an easily influenced man” said Harry, “One such major influence in his life, one that I have witnessed on several occasions was Lucius Malfoy”
“I know Malfoy has been a major influence on Fudge but what does that have to do with anything, Mr Potter?” asked Amelia, however her expression said that she already understood what he was getting at.
“As I have mentioned on several occasions, I was there when Voldemort was resurrected” said Harry, causing Amelia to wince at the name. “Malfoy was among the death eaters who showed up and pledged allegiance to him”
“That is a severe allegation Mr Potter, I hope you have proof to back up such a claim” said Amelia, her frown not changing in the least.
“I have no proof for the matter” replied Harry, “However, by the time you do get proof, I believe it would be much too late”
“By that, you mean you-know-who coming back to power and catching us unaware?” asked Amelia.
Harry nodded. “I know it won’t be possible to take any action against Malfoy and that he has much too much influence over several people in the Ministry. However, I would suggest you covertly try to exclude him from dealing with the Ministry”
“We will definitely look into that. Is there anything else you could tell me?” asked Amelia.
“One thing I know for sure, is that Voldemort has a lot of spies in the Ministry” said Harry, “I don’t know how you could go about flushing them out but I would really suggest you do something to flush all those spies out”
Amelia frowned and a moment later, nodded. “While I’m not sure if what you’re saying is believable but it is still in the interest of the Ministry so I shall take it into consideration”
They then spent the next hour discussing the various events that happened during the resurrection and Harry informed her everything he knew about the death eaters.
Eventually, they decided to finish the meeting as Amelia was extremely busy. Harry shook hands and turned to leave but then paused and turned back.
“I do have one, rather personal request, I would like to make. Though I would like to keep this just between the two of us. No one else knowing.” said Harry.
“Please do tell, if it’s possible, I’ll arrange it” replied Amelia.
“There is a prophecy regarding me and Voldemort in the Department of Mysteries. I have reason to believe that Voldemort would go after it, so is it possible for me to go in there and destroy it?” asked Harry.
Amelia had a rather shocked expression for a moment before she gathered herself and replied, “That - was not information I was privy to” she said, “I do not see a problem with you doing that but, it would not be possible in the coming weeks. You would be going back to Hogwarts as well in a few days”
Harry nodded, waiting for her to finish speaking.
“How about this, you come here during your winter break. The Ministry would have had enough time to adjust and set up by then so I can arrange for you to go to the Department of Mysteries” suggested Amelia.
‘The winter vacation was when Mr Weasley was attacked so I suppose I could use that as a chance as well’ thought Harry.
“That sounds good. Thank you for listening to my selfishness, Minister” said Harry with a smile.
“It’s really no problem. It’s the least I can do to make up for how the Ministry has treated you” she replied with a slight melancholy.
“Don’t worry about that, it’s already done” said Harry and then with a final handshake, he left the room.
