Harry Potter and the Time of Shadows

- Chapter Six-

Jedediah Fudge

Harry's first Divination lesson of the year was far from fun. Professor Trelawney, who was none too impressed with Harry's cheerful prediction of his own death, had begun to make her usual comments about Harry.

"My dear, how can you be so oblivious to what is in your future? Do you not see that death is now one step closer."

Ron, who usually laughed at her predictions, was looking extremely worried. Was he starting to believe her? Although, Harry thought, maybe death is one step closer.

"I took the liberty of doing your chart myself," Professor Trelawney continued, with twice the normal amount of mistiness in her voice. "If you would like to see it, you only need to ask. But of course I must warn you that it is not as 'happy' as the predictions you have come up with."

Lavender and Parvati, who always believed everything Professor Trelawney said, looked at Harry with some small tears in their eyes.

"Oh please," said Harry, astounded at how much he sounded like Hermione. "Nothing's going to happen. Dumbledore has protected me against Voldemort."

Everyone in the room flinched. Harry did not apologise as he usually did, he was angry.

"For God's sake. VOLDEMORT!" he yelled.

Professor Trelawney looked furious, the first time Harry had ever seen her so.

"Ten points from Gryffindor! Now, if you can control yourself, kindly tell the rest of us why you of all people would say the Dark Lord's name to frighten others."

Harry didn't know what had come over him. For four years he had been irritated by everyone, especially fully grown adults, being scared to say one word. He tried to speak in a calm voice.

"It's just a name. Yes, he did terrible things, but saying his name is not going to harm anyone."

The bell rang, to signal the end of the lesson, and everyone looked as though they were glad for a reason to end the conversation.

As they all headed towards their next lesson, Defence Against the Dark Arts, everyone avoided Harry, except for Ron, who walked beside him, but did not talk.

When they met Hermione outside the classroom, they did not discuss what had happened, they just lined up by the door, still in silence.

The Ravenclaws arrived just as Professor Fudge did, and none of them seemed to think it strange that the entire class were standing in silence.

Everyone sat at a desk. The Gryffindors, except for Ron and Hermione, all sat far away from Harry, and a group of Ravenclaws sat in front of and behind him.

Professor Fudge walked to the front of the class, and smiled.

"Hello, as you know, I am Professor Fudge, and I will be taking you for Defence Against the Dark Arts from now on. I know about all these rumours about the job being jinxed, but I don't believe it. I don't believe in stupid superstition. I believe you make your own fate."

Harry smiled, that was exactly how he felt too.

"Well, let's get started! I have to say, I've always wanted to teach here at Hogwarts, and Defence Against the Dark Arts was my favourite subject when I was here. I have to thank my brother for getting me the job."

Harry stopped smiling, remembering how his brother had fired Hagrid.

"OK, like I said. Let's get started! We will be starting off with a small practical lesson."

There was a general murmur of excitement, practical lessons were always fun, except for the time in their second year when Lockhart had set loose a bunch of pixies.

"Will you all please take out your wands," he said, brandishing his own wand.

"Now," he said as he looked at each person in the class. "You there," he pointed to Neville. "Mr...?"

"Longbottom, sir," Neville answered nervously.

"Longbottom," Fudge repeated thoughtfully. Harry was sure that he was thinking about what had happened to Neville's parents.

"Please stand Mr Longbottom."

Neville stood, his knees shaking uncontrollably.

"Now," Fudge called to the rest of the class. "Say that Mr Longbottom and I had a duel, and he managed to Disarm me." Fudge threw his wand away, and it landed on the floor, next to Seamus's desk.

"For most of you, once your opponent has been Disarmed you assume you have won the duel. After all, you cannot fight very well without a wand." He smiled, and Harry was very interested to see someone duel wandless.

"Please curse me Mr Longbottom. Nothing too powerful yet, something like a body-bind."

Neville looked around the room desperately. Hermione rose out of her seat and whispered something in Neville's ear. He nodded, looking extremely grateful. He stood up straight, and seemed to be trying to muster as much strength as he had. He pointed his wand at Fudge.

"Petrificus Totalus!"

A thin jet of blue light came out of his wand, speeding towards Fudge. Fudge smiled, and held out his open hand. The curse slowed down, until it was barely moving at all. He closed his hand into a fist, and the curse stopped completely. It was just a spec of blue light, hanging in mid-air. Fudge chuckled quietly and said to the class,

"Your opponent won't be expecting that, and he won't be expecting this!"

He opened his hand again quickly, and the curse started moving in the opposite direction. It sped up and Neville's eyes had gone wide with fear. It hit him and his arms pinned to his sides, his legs sprang together, and he fell to the floor. Most of the class laughed while Neville seemed to be trying to shout through his clenched jaws. Fudge pointed his wand down at him and muttered the counter-curse.

"Finite Incantatem."

All of Neville's limbs jumped apart, and he got slowly to his feet, smiling. Fudge smiled back.

"That was a pretty strong body-bind," he said kindly.

Neville smiled more broadly, and sat back down. Fudge looked around the class again.

"Now, I will try and block two curses at once. You, Miss...?" he said, his eyes landing on Hermione.

"Granger, sir."

"OK Miss Granger and Mr...?" he looked towards a Ravenclaw boy.

"Boot, sir."

"Mr Boot and Miss Granger, please curse me. Feel free to use curses slightly stronger than the body-bind."

They both stood and pointed their wands at Fudge.

"Impedimenta!" Boot said.

"Stupefy!" Hermione screamed just after.

Fudge stretched out both his fists and stopped both spells, before sending them both back to their makers.

Boot was frozen still, holding his wand and his mouth hanging half open. Hermione fell to the ground and her eyes closed. Ron looked as though he was fighting to stay in his seat and not go over to her.

"Will someone please revive them," Fudge called as he straightened himself up.

Ron raced over to Hermione, pointed his wand at her chest and said "Enervate."

She opened her eyes and smiled at Ron, and he smiled back. And then it seemed as if they both realised what they were doing and looked away.

Harry saw a Ravenclaw girl revive Boot, and the class started muttering excitedly.

Fudge sat in his chair at the front of the class and put his feet up on his desk.

"Here's a good way to get your wand back when you are Disarmed."

He stared hard at his wand on the floor, and it raced through the air towards him. He caught it, spun it around in his hand, and tucked it into his belt.

"Easy," he said casually.

He waved his hand around the class dreamily and said,

"Please divide into pair and practise this, it just takes willpower. Will the curse to slow down, and it will. Will it to hit the other person and it will, hopefully."

"Will it?" said Ron, grinning.

"I think it will," said Harry, catching onto what Ron was saying.

"Very funny boys," said Professor Fudge. "Now will you please divide into pairs?"

Harry looked toward Ron, but he was already standing next to Hermione. He looked back at Harry with an apologetic expression.

Harry walked up to Neville, who looked at Harry, as though begging him silently to go easy on him.

"Alright, one of you put your wands away," said Fudge.

Feeling it was better to spare Neville some embarrassment, Harry put his wand inside his robe pocket. Neville nodded, his face set in concentration.

Fudge moved his chair away from his desk to get a better look at the class.

"Now, face your partner, and begin."

Neville pointed his wand at Harry, and almost bellowed "Impendimenta!"

The white light sped from Neville's wand. Harry reached his hand towards the curse, willing it to stop. It began to slow down, and Harry balled his hand into a fist. The curse moved at a very slow rate, but was showing no sign of stopping completely. As the light hit Harry, he felt a strange tingling spread throughout his whole body.

The next thing he knew, Neville was standing right in front of him, evidently having just done the counter-curse. They both smiled, and Neville seemed very pleased with the strength of his curse.

Harry looked around the room, no one seemed to have stopped the curses, Parvati had a serious case of Jelly-Legs, Seamus looked as if he had been hit by the Tarentellegra curse, his legs were doing an uncontrollable jig. Hermione had been Stunned again, and it looked as though she had injured her backside this time.

Fudge walked around the pairs and tutted, shaking his head.

"Oh dear, no one stopped the curses, I'm very disappointed." He bowed his head, and when he lifted it back up, he bore a small smirk on his face.

"Only joking, I wouldn't expect any of you to do it the first time, it's very hard. And I did notice a few of you came quite close." He looked in Harry's direction for a second, then looked away.

"Now if you were attacking, now's your chance to try and defend."

Harry took his wand out of his pocket while Neville pocketed his, Neville looked frightened, but focused.

"Now," Fudge called. "Face your partner, and begin."

Harry picked a simple spell.

"Locomotor Mortis."

The curse shot from Harry's wand towards Neville, the determined look on his face stronger than ever. He threw out his hand and instantly the curse began to slow down. It got slower and slower. Harry wondered if it was going just as slow as the curse that had been directed at him.

Neville closed his hand, and it slowed down even more. Just as Harry started to really think that Neville was going to stop the curse, it hit him. Neville's legs became fused together forcing him to put his arms out to keep his balance.

Harry performed the counter-curse quickly, amazed at how well Neville had done.

"Wow Neville, you almost did it," he said.

"Thanks Harry," he replied, with a smile bigger than Harry had ever before seen on his face.

After everyone had been and cured from all the curses that they had been hit with, (with the exception of Dean, who was belching out slugs), Fudge walked around the room again.

"Excellent Mr Longbottom! The best first attempt I've ever seen!"

Neville's incredible smile increased, so that the corners of his mouth were very nearly touching his ears.

"For homework," Fudge continued, and there was the usual groan whenever homework was mentioned.

"For homework," he repeated. "Practise that. I want to see some improvement. So curse each other until there are slugs pouring from your mouth!" Dean smiled, and a few slugs trickled down the front of his robes.

The class all went towards the door, and Fudge called,

"Mr Potter, could I have a word?"

Harry looked at Fudge, then at Ron and Hermione, who looked back at Harry curiously.

"Meet you at lunch," he said to them.

He turned back and walked to Fudge's chair, and Fudge opened a drawer in his desk.

"First of all Harry," Fudge said gently. "That was a great attempt at blocking the hexes, almost as good as Neville. Ten points to Gryffindor, and another ten for Neville," he chuckled, and Harry noticed that he was now referring to the students by their first names.

"And I want to ask you Harry," he said with more seriousness in his voice. "How was your meeting last night with your godfather?"

Harry was horrified. Fudge was going to report that Sirius was in the castle!

"No, Sirius isn't a murderer! He was framed! Please don't tell your brother! Don't send him to Azkaban!" he said urgently.

Fudge raised a hand to stop him.

"It's alright Harry, I know he's innocent. But I just want to ask you a few questions about what happened "

"Er ... OK. Wait a second," Harry said. "How did you know I was meeting Sirius?"

Fudge smiled again. "Well last night, I was arranging my office and I found a great deal of paperwork, no doubt left by the last teacher, Professor Moody. Most of it was not very interesting, forms, letters, the occasional issue of the Daily Prophet. But I found this as well."

He reached into the open drawer in the desk, and took out a square of very old, very worn parchment. On it, there was a drawing of the entire Hogwarts castle, and all the grounds. Harry recognised it instantly.

"That's mine!" he said, reaching to touch the map. "The Marauder's Map! Moody, or Crouch really, took it from me!"

"This is yours?" said Fudge doubtfully. "Where would you get something like this?"

Harry thought briefly of telling him how he had got it, but it would incriminate the Weasley twins, who had stolen it from the caretaker, Mr Filch.

"My dad helped write it. See there," he pointed to the words at the top of the Map. "Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs. My dad was Prongs. Remus Lupin was Moony, Pettigrew was Wormtail, and Sirius was Padfoot."

Fudge looked thoughtful for a moment.

"Well like I said, I found this map, the Marauder's Map, and I noticed a few dots moving around, after dark, when all students should be in bed."

He gave Harry a look, that would be a scolding look, if it was not for the fact that he was trying his hardest not to laugh.

"What was the strangest thing about the people out of bed was the name 'Sirius Black' that appeared in Hagrid's hut, at the time I believed him to be a mass-murderer. And even stranger was the fact that he was there with a dot labelled 'Harry Potter'. I thought 'Harry Potter, the boy who defeated You-Know-Who, talking to Sirius Black, one of You-Know-Who's most loyal supporters?'

"So I went down to the hut with my wand, worried he had sneaked into the castle and had taken you hostage."

"You were there? I didn't notice you." Harry said, suddenly feeling slightly uneasy that his professor had been eavesdropping on his conversation.

"I was standing outside the front door in my Invisibility Cloak," Professor Fudge replied. "I heard Black saying that he was worried about your safety, that really puzzled me, so I waited out there instead of bursting in as I was originally planning to do. Then when he gave you a birthday present, I figured that he was trustworthy, so I left, still looking at this Map to see if you were alright, or if anyone else out of bed. I saw one dot that had previously been in the Trophy Room with someone else was now in Hagrid's hut with you."

"Malfoy?" Harry said. "Who was he in the Trophy Room with?"

Professor Fudge hesitated before answering him. "Pansy Parkinson. I might add that those two dots were very close together.

So that's how Malfoy could see him, Harry thought, he had been sneaking around in the Trophy Room with Pansy Parkinson!

"I saw Sirius run away before Draco could see him," Fudge continued. "But when Draco reached you, you both stayed in Hagrid's hut for a while, then you left, and Draco's dot didn't move at all. After a while, Draco seemed to start moving again, but he just stayed in Hagrid's hut by himself for a few minutes before he left. Is there anything you want to tell me Harry?"

Harry grinned quickly, wondering whether Fudge would find it funny or not.

"I put the Impediment Jinx on him, and bound his wand to the ceiling. He probably stayed in the hut to try and get it back."

Fudge stopped smiling, he gave Harry another serious look.

"That was wrong Harry, you shouldn't have done that."

But then a smile crept over his face, and he burst out laughing. Harry laughed too, and they both laughed together until they were out of breath.

Fudge looked at his watch.

"Oh, we're late for lunch. We'd better get a move on, I never miss a meal."

"Er, Professor," Harry started, unsure if he should say what he was about to say, he wanted his Map back, but wasn't sure whether Professor Fudge would give it back, after all, Professor Lupin had confiscated it.

"Yes Harry?" Fudge said, beginning to put the Map back in his desk.

"Can I have my Map back?"

Fudge opened the desk drawer, Harry's heart leapt; he was actually going to give it to him! But then --

"I'm sorry Harry, I can't give it back. But let me ask you, what would you use it for if I did?"

Harry looked down at his feet for a second, in the past he had mainly used it for sneaking out at night, and getting into Hogsmeade without permission. When he looked back up, Fudge was staring straight at him.

"Fine," Harry said, trying to keep the resentment out of his voice. "Lunch?"

They both walked down to the Great Hall together, and when they got there, Fudge went to the staff table, while Harry went to the Gryffindor table. As he sat down in a chair next to Ron, he whispered,

"What was that about?"

Harry explained everything that Fudge had said. Ron howled with laughter after hearing about Malfoy and Pansy Parkinson in the Trophy Room, and Harry's Impediment Jinx. Hermione was shocked when he told them about the Marauder's Map.

"Fudge has got the Marauder's Map! You can't wander around the castle at night now, he might see you."

"Well, he didn't sound like he was going to tell anyone," Harry reasoned. "Actually he was being very friendly."

"Really?" Hermione said, the worry in her face increasing rather than diminishing.

"Yeah, why?" Harry asked, concerned about her expression.

"Well ... what if he's only acting nicely to you to get you to trust him," she said meekly. "What if he wants to get information on you?"

"Oh come off it Hermione," Ron scoffed. "You think Professor Fudge works for You-Know-Who?"

"No," Hermione replied. "I think he works for his brother."

"The Minister!" Harry interrupted. "Of course! Professor Fudge wants to report back to the Minister! Cornelius Fudge was the one who appointed him as a teacher here after all."

"Do you think he's here to find out things about Dumbledore too?" Hermione asked. "I mean, they did have a big argument at the end of last year, didn't they?"

"So what are you saying?" Ron asked. "We shouldn't trust Fudge?"

"I don't know," Hermione said sceptically, "We don't know for sure what he's doing. I say we just act normally around him, but keep the caution light on."

After dinner had finished, Harry got up from the table to leave, when Malfoy walked past him towards the door. He stopped in front of Harry, and Harry gripped his wand in his robe pocket, ready.

"Potter! I am going to make you pay for what you did last night!"

"Oh yeah," Harry retorted. "How was your adventure in the Trophy Room with Pansy Parkinson?"

Malfoy froze for a second, and he seemed to mouth some words under his breath.

"How did you know that?"

"I have eyes everywhere," Harry whispered.

Malfoy's eyes widened, he looked as though he were about to say something, but Professor McGonagall had just got up from her seat, and was walking towards them on her way out.

They both walked out of the door in silence, and when Professor McGonagall had passed, Malfoy whispered,

"Watch your back," and without another word, he walked away.

*

In the afternoon they had their first Care of Magical Creatures lesson with Charlie. As much as Harry was looking forward to it, Harry still could not get used to the idea of anyone teaching them except for Hagrid.

When they reached Hagrid's empty hut, Charlie was standing there, a fulfilled smile on his face. He was wearing a tight black T-shirt, that displayed his muscles, and the shiny burn on his arm was plain to see.

"Hello Gryffindors! Hope you're all OK. We'll have to wait for the Slytherins."

At those words, the Slytherins walked towards them, Malfoy in the lead, with a disgusted grimace on his face.

Charlie, pretending not to notice, clapped his hands together and began to speak to his class.

"Alright everyone? Now, I have to say, I am very glad to be teaching here, but I am very sorry to be replacing Hagrid, he was very good to me when I was here, and I was upset to hear he had gone."

"Dumbledore's really gone crazy now," Harry heard Malfoy whisper loudly to Crabbe and Goyle, who were both sniggering.

"I mean, I thought we couldn't have a worse teacher than that beast Hagrid, but a Weasley!"

"That's Professor Weasley to you!" Charlie shouted over the class. His face was contorted in fury, and Harry thought he resembled Mrs Weasley when she was angry.

"Ten points from Slytherin for insulting a Professor! And another ten points for insulting Hagrid! And one more word out of you and you'll get detention. Your name is?"

"Malfoy, Draco Malfoy," Malfoy replied coolly, not looking even slightly disturbed by the fact that he had just lost Slytherin twenty points.

Charlie nodded, the furious look still on his face.

"Malfoy, Lucius Malfoy's son."

"That's me," Malfoy replied, just as coolly.

"Mmm, well I'm watching you. The rest of you, welcome to another year of Care of Magical Creatures. I promise you, this year will be just as exciting as the last."

He had regained his cheerfulness, and Harry smiled at him.

"Today, we will be studying Demiguises. Now, who can tell me what a Demiguise is?"

To the surprise of no one, Hermione's hand shot into the air.

"The Demiguise is creature often found in the Far East, and is capable of invisibility. They resemble large silver apes, and their hair is woven into Invisibility Cloaks."

Malfoy shot a meaningful look at Harry, but looked extremely sour at Charlie's next words.

"Excellent, ten points to Gryffindor!"

Harry noticed that Pansy Parkinson was giving Charlie an enraptured look. Indeed, a few of the other girls was staring intently at Charlie. Malfoy it seemed, was not happy about the attention Pansy was giving the man who had just told him off. Harry was painfully reminded of what the two of them had been doing in the Trophy Room.

Charlie disappeared behind the hut for a minute, and brought back a huge crate, with one side made of glass, so the class could see it. Although seeing it would be rather difficult, because there appeared to be nothing inside the box.

"It's kinda shy," Charlie told the class. "He'll reappear soon enough though."

And within a few minutes, a creature materialised inside the crate. It looked, as Hermione had said, like a large silver ape. It had giant black eyes, barely visible under its long silver hair. It moved very nimbly inside the crate, it jumped up high and landed on the floor silently.

Almost everyone seemed to like the Demiguise, even Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle, who usually spent their lessons standing at the back, talking. But they seemed to take a genuine interest in the Demiguise. Whether that was because of the creature, or because of Charlie's warning, Harry was not sure.

After a lesson of observations, Charlie dismissed the class, and Harry, Ron and Hermione stayed behind to talk to Charlie.

"Hey guys," he said to them when he saw them coming to talk to him. "Did you like my first class?"

"Oh, it was great," Harry said.

"Excellent," Hermione agreed.

Ron nodded. "Brilliant, Professor Weasley."

Charlie laughed, "Professor Weasley, I'll have to get used to that."

"Have you been having fun teaching?" Hermione asked.

"Oh yeah, of course I have. Fred and George gave me a bit of trouble yesterday, but they're just kiddin' around," he replied, using his wand to drag the Demiguise crate back behind the hut.

"So, are you the gamekeeper too?" Harry asked, thinking of Hagrid.

"Yeah, it's not too bad, I just take care of all the creatures in the grounds and lake, and I look after the gardens and everything. Much easier than handling those dragons in Romania."

"But you don't live in Hagrid's house?" Harry stressed.

"Nah," Charlie said, looking at the hut. "I sleep in the staff quarters with the other Professors. We each get our own room. You'll have to come and see sometime."

"That'd be cool," Ron said, nudging Harry. "We could jinx Snape's bed! Make his mattress turn into nails when he lies on it or something!"

"Yeah, or we could cover his robes with Itching Potion," Harry said, as Ron burst out laughing.

Charlie, who had been laughing too, cleared his throat in an authoritative way.

"Sorry to disappoint you, but I can only get into my room, I haven't got the key to Snape's room."

"Shame," Ron said, genuinely disappointed.

After a longer talk with Charlie, Harry, Ron and Hermione went back up to the castle.

"Wow," said Ron as they reached the Gryffindor common room. "My brother, a Hogwarts Professor. I wonder if I'll be able to teach here someday."

And then, they all sank into soft armchairs by the fire.

Almost at once, the Weasley twins walked up to Harry.

"Harry, we've been waiting for you," said Fred. "McGonagall's just been here, she asked us to give you a message."

"What was it?" Harry asked.

"Oh, I don't remember. D'you remember George?"

"Er, no, I'm not sure. Was it about a detention?"

"No, I don't think so. Oh yeah, she wanted to ask if you wanted to go out with her tomorrow night."

Harry laughed along with them.

"No, seriously, what did she want?"

"Oh wait, I think I remember," George said, continuing their joke. "It might have been something about Quidditch."

"Oh yeah, thanks for reminding me George. Harry, you're the new Gryffindor Quidditch Captain!"

Harry felt happier than he had done in a long time. He was Captain of Quidditch!

He smiled at Ron and Hermione, who smiled back, all lost for words.

Harry stared into the fire, picturing himself one day, maybe playing Quidditch for England, as he had after the World Cup. He had never seen the England team robes, but he pictured them as red, with blue trims. He saw himself wearing those robes, going into a spectacular dive, then rising back up, with the Snitch clutched in his hand. The commentator's voice boomed over the cheering crowd. "LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, HARRY POTTER HAS JUST WON THE QUIDDITCH WORLD CUP!"

End notes:

Thanks to Pallas Athena, Mysteriosa and Sexy Slytherin for your reviews of my last chapter. And a special thanks to ADJ for your, er... violently positive review, saying that if I stopped writing, bad things would happen to me!