The Weight of the World

Chapter 23 - The Plan

Harry walked over and picked up the wand that he had thrown into the cave, made the light go out and put it in his pocket.

"This can't be Peter Pettigrew," Fudge said, "He was killed by Sirius Black."

"I haven't killed him yet, but if you stick around, you might be proven true," said a voice from behind them.

"Sirius!" Harry said.

Harry bumped into Fudge as he ran towards Sirius and gave him a big hug.

"You look terrible,” Harry said looking up at him.

"I feel terrible thanks,” Sirius said smiling.

"You! You.. You just hold it right there,” Fudge said.

"Don't worry I grabbed his wand out of his pocket when I ran by him,” Harry whispered.

"Well well, if it isn't Cornelius Fudge the Minister of Magic himself,” Sirius said.

"Harry, get away from him. Don't you know who he is?" Fudge said while searching frantically for his wand.

"If you're looking for your wand sir, I've got it right here," Harry said holding up the Minister's wand.

"What is this? You are mad!" Fudge said to Harry.

"I'm hardly the one who's mad sir. Why don't you look closely at the person shackled down there. You'll see that it is in fact Peter Pettigrew, and if you look closer, you'll see the Dark Mark on his arm as well,” Harry said.

Fudge slowly crept over to Wormtail and looked at him closely he kept glancing up at Sirius as though he was waiting to be pranced on. He then pulled the sleeve of Wormtail's robe up and saw the tattoo.

"What's going on here?" Fudge asked when he saw the Dark Mark tattoo.

"Sir, it's what we've been trying to tell you. He faked his own death. Sirius was innocent. Peter laid low until he found Voldemort and then brought him back to power,” Harry said.

"Harry, I'm glad you made it out okay," Sirius said, practically ignoring Fudge. "I was worried until I got your letter; I was already on my way here when Hedwig found me. I used her to send a letter to Dumbledore."

Fudge just stood there and tried to make sense of it all. His face kept screwing up with frowns, and then it would go blank, and then frown again.

Harry walked past him and reached down and un-tied the ropes around Wormtail's mouth.

"Hello Wormtail,” Harry said not sounding very friendly. "It's really nice to see you again."

"Harry! Thank god you're here. You have to tell Sirius, you have to tell him how I couldn't get away from the Dark Lord. You have to tell him how he controls me Harry," Wormtail said.

"Shut your mouth Peter. You don't know how close I am to ending you?" Sirius said sharply.

"Minister sir, please. I don't know what's going on sir. They captured me sir. He won't let me go, he keeps torturing me, using unforgivables sir,” Wormtail said to Fudge.

Harry reached into his cloak and pulled out the letter that Sirius had written him earlier that morning and handed it to Fudge.

"Sirius was the reason I knew about the attack sir. If it weren't for him warning me, we would have never made it out of there,” Harry said.

Fudge looked at the letter and then back down at Wormtail.

Sirius then walked over to Fudge. "Mr. Fudge, sit down over there, there are some things I would like on record."

Fudge was too confused and scared to say anything; he just walked over to the side of the cave and sat down on the large rock that Sirius had pointed to.

Sirius pulled out his wand and pointed it at Peter, causing him to start shaking.

"Okay Peter, if you want to live, if you want to survive this, you are going to start talking. You are going to start from the beginning, how you gave away the Potters, how you faked your death, when I found you at Hogwarts, when you escaped, how you found Voldemort, when you brought Voldemort back, all the way to what you told me last night. And we'll play the game we played last night, if you stop, if you leave anything out, of you stall, I'll hurt you bad Peter. Now, please begin." Sirius said.

And begin he did.

He talked, and didn't leave out a single detail. Fudge sat in horror as he talked about blowing up the Muggles all those years ago, and framed Sirius, how he cut off his finger, how he was the Weasley's rat and hid out all those years. How he escaped and found Voldemort. How he found Bertha Jorkins, and brought her to Voldemort. How they planned the events of the Tri-Wizard Tournament.

When he began to describe what happened after Harry and Cedric appeared after grabbing the cup, Harry had to get up and walk outside of the cave. He didn't want to hear it again. After a few minutes Harry walked back in and heard him talking about his meeting with the Death Eaters, and their plan to take over the castle and to put Fudge under the Imperious Curse so that they could control the Ministry.

After he finished with this, Fudge got up with look on his face that was nothing short of sheer anger.

Harry and Sirius both could see this and a smile almost crept across both of their faces.

"Harry, go ahead and give the Minister back his wand. I think he has finally seen the truth,” Sirius said.

Harry reached into his robe and pulled it out. He then walked over to Fudge and handed him the wand.

Fudge took it from Harry, but never took his eyes off of Wormtail. It was obvious that everything he had just heard needed time to process. Harry for a second thought Fudge might blast him with his wand right there.

The silence was broken by Wormtail.

"Please Mr. Minister sir, please don't let them kill me. Voldemort had control of me sir, there was nothing I could do sir."

Sirius gave his wand a flick and the ropes went back over Wormtail's mouth.

Fudge turned around and walked blindly towards the entrance to the cave, tapping his wand against the side of his face.

"This changes everything," he said silently.

"This changes everything,” he said again a bit louder.

Harry and Sirius could tell that he was on the verge of panic.

"Mr. Fudge, sir, we don't have a lot of time," Sirius said. "What we need to do is meet with Dumbledore and make a plan to take back the castle. If you can get word to the Ministry and gain us the aid of the Aurors, we should have no problems getting the school back,” Sirius said.

"What? Yes, we have to get word,” Fudge said almost at a whisper.

"Sir?" Harry said, "Also, if you can sir, you need to write a pardon for Sirius, we can't afford him to be attacked by anyone at the Ministry sir. They have to know the truth."

"Oh, yes of course,” Fudge said again.

Harry and Sirius looked at each other. They could tell that Fudge was on the verge of collapse. He needed some rest and possibly some food and water.

"We need supplies Harry until we can connect with Dumbledore. Are Ron and Hermione in the village?" Sirius asked.

"No, well Hermione is. Ron went home to tell his dad what's happened. Hermione and the others are at the inn."

"Good, I can change to Padfoot and go find her. She can get us some food and water up here. We'll be staying here tonight,” Sirius said. "It's not safe for any of us out there until we have a plan."

Harry couldn't argue.

Sirius was out of the cave towards the village as Padfoot after that and Harry walked over and sat down next to Fudge.

"I told you sir. I know it's a lot to take in, but hopefully now you see what's been going on,” Harry said.

Fudge was staring at the ground. He looked up at nothing in particular and spoke.

"I'm finished. I sat around and let all of this happen, and now I'm finished."

"How can you say that sir?" Harry said.

"Harry, there was an innocent man in Azkaban for twelve years, and the man who framed him for it was responsible for bringing back the Dark Lord. People will say that I sat around and let this all happen," he said.

"Well sir, you did,” Harry said bluntly. "But that doesn't mean that it's too late for you to do something about it. We can stop them sir. Now that we have the backing of you and the Ministry, we can stop them."

Fudge didn't look as confident as Harry thought he should be. He just sat and stared at the cave wall.

It was beginning to get dark when Sirius finally returned. He had Hermione with him who was levitating a large basket which Harry could only guess was food. Sirius was carrying a smaller box that seemed to have drinks and some parchment and other things.

Harry got up immediately and gave Hermione a hug after she sat the basket down. Sirius saw this and smiled at the two of them. Sirius went over to the basket and got out some bread, meat and different containers of food items and then picked up the basket and sat it down by Fudge.

Fudge looked up at him quickly, still obviously having a hard time seeing Sirius and not wanting to run in fright. He overcame this brief instinct however and thanked him, then dug into the basket to get some dinner.

Harry, Hermione and Fudge were eating, while Sirius kept keeping a close eye on Wormtail.

"Aren't you eating Sirius?" Harry asked.

"Already did," he said smiling, "I was so hungry I decided to lighten Hermione's load on the hike up here."

Hermione smiled at him.

"Harry, Sirius got some parchment so that Mr. Fudge can write his pardon,” Hermione said proudly looking at Fudge.

Fudge looked up from his piece of chicken and the three of them, and then kept eating.

"You will write it Mr. Fudge?" Harry asked.

"Yes, Of course I will," he said quickly.

Harry couldn't wipe the smile off of his face when he heard this. His Godfather was finally going to be free. He would have a place to stay away from the Dursley's after all.

Hermione knew Harry was thinking about that and she shared his smile.

"Shouldn't we give Wormtail something to drink at least?" Hermione asked them.

"Let him dry up,” Sirius said quickly.

"Let's give him some water. I'm sure he'll have to testify to the Ministry at some point, we should probably keep him alive,” Harry said standing up.

Harry picked up a small goblet and filled it with water then walked over to where Wormtail laid.

He pulled his ropes away from his mouth and then pulled on one of the ropes around his chest causing him to sit up partially.

"Hurry up and drink this,” Harry said.

Wormtail was obviously very parched, and gulped the water down in three swallows.

"Thank you. Thank you, Harry. You are kind Harry. Kind indeed," He said.

"Shut up," Harry said pulling the roped back over his mouth. He then quickly let go of the rope he was holding on to which caused Wormtail to land hard against he ground with a thud.

Harry sat back down by Hermione and the two started talking about whether or not Ron had made it home safely, and whether or not he would be sending them an owl soon.

Fudge seemed less frightened of Sirius now, and had asked him about the night Harry's parents were killed and the events that happened after that.

Sirius seemed a bit reluctant to go into details with Harry there, but it wasn't until Harry told him it wouldn't bother him, did he begin to talk about it.

Sirius told him about their plan to change the secret keeper to Peter, and he told him how they suspected Lupin as the traitor at first. He went on further and gave details that even Harry had not heard yet.

Hermione grabbed Harry's hand when he heard Sirius' voice crack when he began to talk about going to the Potter's house in Godric's Hollow and seeing Harry's parents dead and finding Hagrid holding Harry. He described how he was frantic after seeing the large cut on Harry's forehead and how he screamed at Hagrid to give him Harry. He said he finally realized he wasn't going to convince him so he gave Hagrid his motorcycle and then went off looking for Peter.

The story went on for some time and Fudge looked as though he was a man that was finally figuring out the answers to questions that had eluded him for many years. And this was true. The fact was that they were all so happy about Voldemort being gone, and so outraged about the Potter's murders, that they simply failed to fill in many of the gaps that a true investigation would have uncovered. Fudge ended up telling Sirius that he blamed himself for allowing Crouch to throw him in Azkaban without a trial, and that he didn't blame him if he did everything in his power to make sure he was out of office.

Harry and Hermione waited anxiously to see how Sirius handled this remark.

"Mr. Fudge, you can make up for these mistakes by setting all of the wrongs right. You can pardon me and put Peter on trial for the murders and conspiracies that he has committed. You can get Dumbledore back in control of Hogwarts and give him and Moody the full resources that they need to fight this battle. You can arrest all of the people that Harry and Peter have already named as being Death Eaters, no matter of their social status. It's not too late to do the right thing Minister."

Fudge seemed a bit reassured by these remarks. It finally sank in that he might, in fact, lose his job in the long run, but it was far too late to worry about that now. He felt compelled to do the right thing. He had been elected to his position for a reason after all. There was a time when he was considered as one of the wisest wizards of his time. It was time for him to live up to his position. The kids had been right. Dumbledore did what was right despite risking his job and creditability in the process. He had to do the same thing.

Hermione lit one of her famous blue flames that warmed the cave to just the right temperature. Both Sirius and Fudge were very impressed with how quick and efficient she was in creating it. It had no smoke, no fumes at all, and it felt as though a warm blanket had formed around all of them. Fudge complemented her, but Hermione was very humble and said that her wand was the reason for the quality of the flames. Harry and Sirius knew better.

They didn't have much in terms of blankets and pillows to sleep on. Somehow Hermione and Sirius hadn't thought of the possibility that they might in fact be sleeping there. Sirius didn't seem to mind. He had been so used to getting almost no sleep and sleeping on and in almost anything through the years, that he had no trouble just lying flat on the rock floor of the cave. Mr. Fudge was so comfortable with the flame Hermione created, that he pulled his cloak off and used it as a pillow under his head.

Harry and Hermione had only the blanket from the basket that they had used to bring the food in, but it was very small and wouldn't cover either one of them. Harry sat upright with his back against the cave wall and put the blanket behind his head. Hermione lay in front of Harry sitting between his legs with the back of her head resting on his chest. It wasn't very comfortable for either one of them but just being together made up for some of that.

Harry would have normally been very reserved laying there with her in front of the Minister of Magic, and his Godfather, but for some reason he wasn't. He didn't even think about how it looked to them. He was too happy with just being there with her and Sirius. No one really talked much; they all just tried to get some sleep while listening to the hard breathing of Wormtail and the crackling of the magical fire. Harry put his arms around Hermione and made sure she was warm enough. They also held on to each other's hands for most of the night. Hermione felt safe with him and Harry somehow felt relaxed when she was there. They both got some sleep.

The next morning Harry and Hermione were awakened by Sirius. He made sure they were up and had already made them tea while they stretched out their stiff backs. Harry helped Hermione up and smiled at her when her back made a popping sound as she stood up.

"Sorry about that. I guess I don't make a very comfortable bed," he said smiling.

"It wasn't that bad," she said smiling back at him.

Harry tried to hide his blushing as he got up and began to stretch. While he and Hermione started drinking their tea, they heard voices outside of the cave. There were obviously new people outside.

Harry walked out and saw Fudge, Moody, Arthur Weasley, and three other men who Harry guessed to be Aurors. Ron's dad came over to him immediately and ruffled his hair and patted him on the back. Hermione walked out behind Harry.

"Harry! Good to see you're okay. Molly and me have been worried sick about you and Hermione all night. I had to wait for an owl from Dumbledore before we could get up here. When Ron told me what happened at the castle, oh my goodness, it's a wonder you lot weren't hurt or killed. You boys were quite amazing according to Mr. Fudge," he said.

"We just did what we had to sir, got lucky really," Harry said.

Hermione and Mr. Weasley looked at each other for a second. "That's not what I heard Harry, I heard you took out three of them by yourself."

"Yes sir, well they weren't too bright the ones I saw. Sort of slow,” Harry said.

"Humble.. Humble.. starting to sound like Dumbledore," Arthur said.

"So what's going on?" Harry asked him trying to change the subject.

"Well, Rooney, the big fella over there by Alastor, is going to stay here with you and Hermione for a bit. We decided we don't want you two down in Hogsmeade just yet. We would leave you here alone, but they don't want to move Pettigrew yet either, so Rooney will make sure nothing happens. It might not be safe yet, and this place seems as good as any. Don't think anyone knows about this place. Mr. Fudge is going to apparate to the Ministry and get started on Dumbledore's suggestions of actions to take against Voldemort. After he writes up Sirius' official pardoning papers, he's going to get a group of wizards to Azkaban and get rid of the Dementors. We don't want that lot getting out."

"What about the castle?" Harry asked.

"Moody and the other two fellas, that's Hurston his right and Jax behind him, they are Generals for the Aurors. Each of them has command of a team of around ten Unspeakables. I didn't tell you that of course, but Moody has your map. It doesn't have to be in the castle for it to work evidentially, so they can see exactly how many Death Eaters are in there, what their names are, and exactly where they are and how their moving," he said.

He then crept down and pulled Harry and Hermione a bit closer to him as to be more secretive. "If it were my guess, I'd say with the use of that map, it will take them around half an hour or less to have the castle cleared."

Harry turned to Hermione and smiled. For the first time in a while, Harry felt like their luck may be changing.

"Is Ron doing okay sir?" Harry asked.

"Yeah, he's doing fine. He didn't sleep a wink last night. He was all worked up about fighting that Death Eater. He wanted to come back here so badly. I almost had Molly put a sleeping draught in his tea this morning just to calm him down. He was so worried about you two. I told him to just get some rest and pretty soon the castle would be cleared out and he could come and find you."

Moody limped over to Harry with a smile that looked as though it was very painful to maintain.

"Potter," Moody said, "heard about what you did yesterday. Heard ya took out three of them single-handed."

"Yes sir,” Harry said.

"That'll get around between 'em Potter. They'll think twice next time when they see ya comin'. They tried that with me when I was first out of school. It only takes one time. From then on you know the ones that face ya, that really face ya, are the good ones," he said, but this time the smile left his face.

"That doesn't sound like a good thing," Harry said.

"It is a good thing Potter, it just means you'll probably have to fight less of them, but the ones you do have, will be the most dangerous ones. It'll make you stronger boy, don't let it eat at ya, it's just the way it is now," he said as he turned around and hobbled back off.

"We all set?" Moody yelled at the others.

"Looks that way," Hurst said.

"I got the Shack entrance, Hurst has the Honeydukes entrance, Moody's coming in from the forest, and Dumbledore and his group are coming right in through the front,” Jax said.

Mr. Fudge and Arthur Weasley both nodded at him.

"Make sure everyone stays in contact, Moody you have to make sure the positioning stays accurate with the map. We need to know about any of the changes in their patrols immediately,” Hurst said.

"Sounds like a devastating plan. They won't know what hit them," Fudge said smiling.