Harry Potter and the Guild of the Night

Chapter 30

Christmas and the New Year passed uneventfully and the rest of the students duly arrived back for classes. The first day back however started with a bang when those students who chose to have the Daily Prophet delivered opened it at breakfast.

"FUDGE GONE!" screamed the headline. Hermione, who was one of those who received the paper, quickly outlined what was in the article to those around her.

"Fudge is gone!" she gasped.

"You mean they've finally chucked him out?" Ron asked through a mouthful of toast.

"No, Ron," she said, scanning the article. "I mean he's gone, he's disappeared. It seems there was a group gathering support to have him thrown out of office but it seems that's not needed anymore. There is no sign of him anywhere. There's going to be an official enquiry, headed by Kingsley Shacklebolt and Amos Diggory, to try and find out where he's gone." She made a tsking sound and shook her head. "Honestly, you'd think these people would work out the meaning of responsible journalism. They're spouting the most ridiculous types of rumours. Oh, this is interesting. The most likely candidate to replace Fudge is Madam Bones."

Harry looked up at her sharply. "I hope that rumour's right," he said. "She'd make a good Minister."

"Yes," Hermione agreed absently as she continued reading the paper. "She'd be a strong leader which is exactly what we need right now and I doubt any of Voldemort's people would be able to influence her."

Harry snorted. "Of course they wouldn't," he said scornfully. "They wouldn't take her seriously."

Everyone in earshot of that comment turned to look at him curiously.

"What do you mean?" asked Susan Bones, leaning over to speak with him from the Hufflepuff table.

Harry gave a start of surprise; he hadn't realised he'd spoken that loudly. He turned to face Susan. "She's a woman," he said flatly, "and Voldemort doesn't take women seriously. He thinks women lack the intelligence to be of any worth."

Susan and every other girl in earshot scowled.

"How do you know that particular piece of information?" Susan asked curiously.

"Er, you really don't want to know that, Susan. Trust me," Harry said with a pained expression, gesturing towards his scar.

Susan grimaced and nodded. She started to turn back towards the remains of her breakfast then paused. "Harry?" she said hesitantly. "Do you think I could have a word with you in private?"

Harry looked surprised and then nodded. "Sure," he said, "When?"

"Do you have any classes now?"

Harry thought for a moment. "No, just training. But Master Nhean won't mind if I'm a little late."

"Good," Susan said and stood. Harry joined her and they walked out of the Great Hall. Susan hesitated for a minute when they got out into the Entrance Hall and then led Harry down to the Hufflepuff common room. Harry was surprised at this but was prepared to see what Susan wanted.

The Hufflepuff common room was large and full of comfortable chairs and couches, similar to the Gryffindor common room. Susan settled him into a chair in one corner and sat down opposite him. She looked gravely at him for a moment, chewing on her bottom lip.

Finally she took a deep breath and opened her mouth. "Harry, I...I suspect you probably don't really want to talk about this," she said slowly, "but it's really important for my House. What happened in the third task in the Triwizard Tournament?"

Harry stared at her and swallowed. Susan bit her lip again.

"I...I don't mean the whole thing," she said in a rush. "Just what happened to Cedric. We...we all read the interview you did with Rita Skeeter last year but you didn't really go into that. I know it's painful but Cedric was one of ours and..." She trailed off a little helplessly.

"And you want to know whether I got him killed?" Harry said unhappily.

"No!" Susan gasped. "I know you didn't do that! Voldemort killed him. I...we just need to know..." She stumbled to a halt, grasping for the words to describe what she wanted to say. "We need to know, Harry. We need to know whether it was because something Cedric did. Whether it could have been avoided. Whether it was just an accident. I...it's hard to explain."

Harry nodded slowly. "Alright," he said slowly. "I think I understand." He paused and ran a hand through his hair. "Cedric and I separated when we got into the maze so I don't really know what happened to him, other than the point where Krum was using Crucio on him." Susan gasped and Harry hurried to explain. "He was under the influence of the Imperius spell. It wasn't his fault. Anyway, Cedric and I spilt up again and I didn't see him again until we got to the centre of the maze. There was an Acromantula coming at him and we fought it but I got injured. I told Cedric to take the Cup but he refused. Said that I should have won it. I said that wasn't the way things went, that he was the winner and he should take the Cup. I couldn't make it over there with my injury, He kept refusing, Susan, I didn't understand it! He was deliberately walking away from the kind of glory Hufflepuff hadn't seen for years."

Susan chuckled sadly. "It's obvious you're not a Hufflepuff, Harry. We believe in fair play. He thought you had won and it wouldn't have been fair for him to take that away."

"But he won," Harry said in frustration. "Or he should have! I wasn't even supposed to be in the damn Tournament. And the fake Moody kept helping me. Cedric should have won it!"

Susan leaned forward and patted his hand where it was clenched into a fist on the arm of his chair. "But that's not what he thought, Harry. Why don't you keep going?"

Harry sighed gustily and nodded. "Well, when I finally realised that Cedric was going to be so stubborn and really not take the Cup, I suggested we both take it. That we tie for it, then it would still be a Hogwarts victory."

"Why didn't you just take the Cup on your own?" Susan asked intently.

"Because I didn't win it!" Harry said firmly. "Cedric was the winner but the stubborn idiot wouldn't accept that!"

Susan smiled and gestured for him to continue.

"Cedric agreed to that and we both grabbed a handle each." Harry paused and scrubbed his face with his hands. He really didn't like remembering the next bit and his voice was a little shaky when he continued. "It was a portkey. The fake Moody had turned the Cup into a portkey. When we got to the graveyard, we both pulled out our wands but we couldn't see anyone. Unfortunately, they could see us. The first thing we heard was Voldemort's voice." Harry's voice became choked and he stumbled to a stop.

Susan patted his hand again and waited silently while Harry gathered himself together.

"He said 'Kill the spare'," Harry said hollowly. "And Wormtail used the Killing Curse. It was so quick, we couldn't do anything. Cedric was...dead."

Harry fell silent again and buried his face in his hands. Susan watched him for a moment and then looked down at her hands.

"Kill the spare," she repeated softly. "Like he was some kind of thing; like you were some kind of thing." Her face hardened. "And he thinks women are nothing more than things!"

Harry raised his face and stared at Susan. He didn't know her that well, so there was very little detail in the ghostly image of her face but what he could see showed determination and something else he couldn't define.

Susan looked up at Harry again. "I know what others think of Hufflepuff," she said, her voice hard, "that we get by only on hard work and that somehow we're not as good as everyone else. Our symbol is the badger, Harry. A badger burrows in the ground and is rarely seen during the day but you should never threaten a badger. They only attack as a last resort but when they do they do it well. Maybe it's time Voldemort found out what it means to threaten a badger."

Her voice trailed off and she fell silent, looking down at her hands again. After a few minutes, she looked up and smiled at Harry. "Thank you, Harry. I know that cannot have been easy for you. I won't keep you from your training any longer."

Harry nodded and rose. He was halfway out the door when Susan spoke again.

"And Harry? When the time comes, when you have to face Voldemort again, Hufflepuff will be standing with you. Never doubt that."

Harry paused and then nodded solemnly. "Thank you. I will be glad to have you all there."

He turned and left the common room.

**********************************************

The disappearance of Minister Fudge consumed to school for the rest of the week. Everyone was speculating on where he had gone and what he had done, fuelled by the constant reports in the Daily Prophet and the Quibbler. A small furore arose on Wednesday when it was revealed that Fudge had drained his entire account at Gringotts and that said account had contained more money than it should. Certainly more money that Fudge could have earned in his career. Harry and his friends had scowled at that news; all it did was confirm their suspicions that Fudge had been taking money from people like Lucius Malfoy.

By Friday, everything was starting to settle down. There was still no trace of Fudge but a detailed examination of the papers left behind in hid office seemed to indicate that the pressure had finally gotten to the man and he had simply left of his own accord. Certainly the team headed by Kingsley Shacklebolt and Amos Diggory could find nothing more nefarious than some evidence of Fudge taking bribes and influencing the media to print what he wanted. These two things were of no great surprise to Harry and as such he was more than a little concerned when on Friday evening he was summoned to the Headmaster's office.

When he walked into the office he was surprised to find quite a crowd there. Sirius and Remus were there and he quickly walked over to sit with them and stared around. Also present were Professors Dumbledore, McGonagall and Snape, as well as Moody, Tonks, Shacklebolt, Amos Diggory, Mundungus Fletcher, Molly and Arthur Weasley, Fred and George Weasley, Dedalus Diggle and Emmeline Vance. Most of them were gathered around Dumbledore's desk, examining something on a large piece of parchment. Moody was deep in discussion with Fred and George and the Weasley twins were nodding seriously and occasionally responding to a question.

Harry looked up at his godfather. "Sirius," he asked nervously, "what's going on?"

Sirius looked at him solemnly. "Wait a moment, Harry. I think Dumbledore's nearly finished up there. We're waiting for Master Nhean and then we'll get going."

Harry nodded and settled down to wait. One thing he had learned this year was that if he asked politely people were more than happy to tell him what he wanted to know. Sometimes, like now, he had to wait but knowing that he would be told things had done a lot to help him control his temper.

When the door to the office opened again, everyone looked around. Master Nhean greeted the stares with a raised eyebrow and nodded to the Headmaster. Dumbledore returned the greeting and gestured for everyone to take a seat.

"Thank you all for coming," he said seriously. "Kingsley and Amos have some news that they felt could not wait for the ordinary meeting." He gestured for the two men to continue.

"Thank you, Albus," Kingsley said in his deep voice. "As you all know Amos and I have been heading up the group that has been investigating our former Minister. I won't go into the details of what we have found. It is the information that one of the Order members found that we wish to inform you of. We are just waiting for his arrival with the papers. He found them in the Fudge's personal files yesterday and read them overnight. He contacted us this morning to give us a brief summary of what was in them."

"Who is your source?" Moody said suspiciously. "And what was so damn important in those papers that we have to review the warding here at Hogwarts?"

Just then the door opened and a very pale and disturbed-looking Percy Weasley walked in with a thin leather document wallet tucked firmly under one shoulder. Percy glanced quickly at his mother and brothers, flinching slightly at the glares from the twins, and walked over to Kingsley and Amos. They had quick muttered discussion then Kingsley turned back to face the room while Amos started pouring over the documents. Kingsley gestured for Percy to step forward.

"Percy, if you could tell us all what you have found in these documents," Kingsley asked.

Percy nodded and cleared his throat. "The investigative committee did not know that Fudge kept a number of files in a hidden compartment in his office. I only knew because I accidentally walked in on the Minister when he was putting things in there. I pretended that I did not see what he was doing and he certainly did not mention it to me." Percy shifted a little uncomfortably, obviously a little thrown by the continued glares coming his way from his brothers. "When I spoke to Kingsley and Amos yesterday morning it became clear to me that they had not found these files. I waited until everyone had gone last night and went to see if they were still there."

"Obviously they were," Moody said in his harsh voice.

"Er, yes," Percy replied. "I pulled them all out and took them home to read over." He paused and ran a shaky hand through his hair. "It seems the Minister had kept detailed records on his dealings with Lucius Malfoy and others that are known to support You...er, Voldemort."

"Cover your arse files," Moody said with satisfaction. "I think I'll have to revise my opinion of Fudge a little. The man wasn't quite as stupid as I thought he was."

A number of eyebrows went up around the room. "What did you call them?" Professor McGonagall asked disapprovingly.

"Cover your arse files," Moody repeated. "The files you put together when you want have that nice warm feeling around your rear end that tells you that if everything goes wrong you can legitimately blame someone else."

"What exactly was in these file, Percy?" Remus asked intently.

"Notes from all of his meetings with Lucius Malfoy and others," Percy replied. "But that wasn't why I wanted this meeting called, Professor Lupin. The last document in the files was report regarding a meeting Fudge had with Lucius Malfoy and a man called Peter Pettigrew two weeks ago. I think it may be this meeting that prompted Fudge to take the actin that he did. At this meeting Mr Malfoy detailed a number of things he would like the Minister to arrange for him. Mostly it was just ensuring that the Aurors and other Ministry staff were thoroughly occupied on a particular day. The Minister asked why he wanted this and he reports that Mr Malfoy laughed and said that day was very important for a friend of his. That was the day when his friend would obtain everything that he wanted." Percy paused again and drew in a shaky breath. "I couldn't see any other way of interpreting that other than that being the day that V...Voldemort would attack Harry."

Silence fell in the room as everyone digested that piece of news. Amos Diggory, who had spent the entire time reading through the papers Percy had brought with him, looked up.

"I have to agree," he said. "I've only read through that final report but Percy's report was accurate. If this is right, Voldemort will attack on April 1^st." He snorted. "April Fool's Day. Nice choice; he's taking the chance that we will look at the date and assume its just some kind of joke on Fudge's part."

"But you don't think it is," Dumbledore asked.

"No," Amos replied. "It's just too convenient. So we've got three months to get ready."

Everyone in the room exchanged worried glances and Arthur Weasley got up and walked over to his son.

"Thank you, Percy," he said and pulled Percy into a hug. Percy went with it and gradually relaxed against his father. Molly, Fred and George watched with astonishment.

"Dad!" Fred yelled.

"How can you forgive the prat!" George continued.

"Boys," Arthur said warningly. "Your brother came to me months ago to apologise and he wanted to make amends to the whole family but I wouldn't let him. He was in a perfect position to get information about what the Minister was doing to us. He wasn't happy about it but he agreed to do it. His help has been invaluable this year." Arthur glared at Fred and George as Molly got up and swept her wayward son into a hug.

Fred and George stared at Percy for a long time. He finally broke away from their mother and walked over to Harry under the eagle-eyed gaze of his brothers.

"Harry," Percy said, "I'd like to apologise for the things I said to and about you. I was wrong to place my trust in the Minister and I was wrong to disbelieve you. I should have trusted my family and my own instincts rather than blindly listening to the Minister." He held out his hand.

Harry stood up and shook Percy's hand. He wasn't in the mood to hold a grudge against Percy any more than he'd been willing to hold a grudge against his Aunt and Uncle.

"I accept your apology," Harry said and then grinned. "But I don't envy you the task of explaining things to your brothers and I really don't envy you the task of explaining everything to Ginny."

Percy looked startled for a moment then he blinked and a small smile appeared. "Oh yes, Dad said you and Ginny were going out now." He paused and drew him himself up to his full height and gathered his most pompous expression. "Now then Harry," he said officiously. "What are your intentions concerning my sister? I trust you don't intend to hurt her or do anything to her that we Weasleys wouldn't like, hmmm?"

Harry grinned at Percy. "Of course not," he said with a laugh. "I'm afraid of what Ginny might do to me!"

Percy dropped the pomposity and grinned, an expression Harry hadn't seen on his face since the day Gryffindor won the Quidditch Cup for the first time in years. "Yes well," he said, "I suppose I'd be more afraid of Ginny then anyone else in the family too."

The grin disappeared as he saw his brothers walking over and a slightly apprehensive look replaced it. Clearly Percy was well aware of the turmoil he had caused in his family and was not sure of a warm reception. Fred and George approached with fairly forbidding expressions on their faces.

"You're a right prat!" George said angrily.

"And a pompous idiot," Fred completed.

"How could you think Harry was any of things that Fudge said! You were in the same bloody House as him. You knew him a hell of a lot better than Fudge," George continued.

"Not to mention what your little outburst did to Mum and Dad," Fred said.

Percy held up his hands. "I'm sorry," he said emphatically. "Alright! I've said it a hundred times to Dad. I'll say it a hundred to times to Mum and the rest of you. I made a mistake. I was wrong and I'm sorry. What more do you want?" The last was said a little angrily.

"Nothing," Molly said firmly, coming up behind the twins. "Fred, George, stop it. You two have made mistakes in your lives. You don't get to judge your brother, especially when he has had the intelligence and the courage to realise that he was wrong and to try and make things right. Harry is perfectly happy to accept his apology and I think you two should as well."

"Quite right," the Headmaster said as he came up to the little group. "Could all of you come and gather around when you are done. Don't take long."

The twins stared at their brother for a long moment before they finally stuck out their hands. "Okay, Perce," Fred said. "Mum's right. We've done some pretty dumb stuff ourselves. Just don't betray your family again. We were starting to think you'd gone over to Voldemort."

"I wouldn't do that!" Percy blustered as he shook hands with his brothers. "I'm not a complete fool."

Molly glared at the twins as they opened their mouths to respond to that and ushered them all over to Dumbledore's desk. Harry wormed his way between in between Sirius and Remus and gave them a questioning look.

"It's a map of Hogwarts," Sirius murmured as Professor McGonagall pointed out the location of some of the wards. "Kind of like the Marauder's Map but a bit better."

Harry nodded and listened to the conversations going on around him. He was surprised when the Headmaster addressed him, clearly having overheard Sirius' comment.

"Ah yes," Dumbledore said, "that excellent map of yours. Gentlemen, how good is that map?"

Sirius and Remus shifted uncomfortably as everyone turned their attention to them. For an instant, they felt like they were back in school being hauled in front of the Headmaster again.

"Depends on what you're comparing it to," Sirius said. "For example, if you're looking at the detail in the map, this one is better." He gestured to the map on the table. "I can see a few rooms just without looking too hard that I know aren't on the Marauder's Map. But this map doesn't show the details of where everyone is and ours does."

"How accurate is that?" Moody asked.

"Very," Harry said with a shudder. Everyone looked at him with surprise.

"What do you mean?" Moody asked gruffly.

Harry hesitated. "Er well, in fourth year, when you...er, when you were supposed to be teaching us, it showed Crouch's name, not yours."

"Yes!" Remus said, ignoring Moody's sudden scowl. "And when I was teaching here in Harry's third year, I confiscated that map from him."

"Moony!" Sirius yelped. "What did you do that for?

Remus rolled his eyes. "Padfoot, I was a teacher. You know, a responsible adult. I had to take it, it wouldn't have been right not to." He paused and grinned, looking more like the Marauder of old to Sirius. "Besides I did give it back to him before I left." Moody cleared his throat impatiently and Remus continued. "Anyway, I had the map out when Buckbeak was going to be executed. I somehow thought that Harry, Ron and Hermione would want to go down to see Hagrid before it happened and when they left, instead of being three of them, there were four of them. The map clearly showed Peter's name and then your. That's why I headed down. I could believe seeing your name; it was Peter's I struggled with."

"So your map will show 'em even if they're transfigured or under an invisibility cloak?" Moody asked intently.

"Yes, definitely," Sirius replied firmly.

"Good," Moody said then looked at Harry. "Potter, I want to borrow that Map. Bring it to me after the meeting is over."

Harry nodded and went back to listening to the conversations going on regarding the protection of Hogwarts and the possible tactics that both they and Voldemort could use. As he listened something occurred to him and he looked around to where Professor Snape was standing.

"Professor Snape?" he said. "Should I try and find out what Voldemort is thinking?"

This question brought complete silence to the room and Snape sighed. He exchanged a glance with Sirius; for once they were in complete agreement.

"What is this?" Kingsley asked curiously.

"Oh," Harry said and sighed, a rueful smile playing on his lips. "I guess neither of you told anybody about that."

"Uh, no, we didn't," Sirius said. "We didn't want to risk anybody getting overexcited about it and putting you in danger."

Harry blinked at that and quickly dismissed the thought. "Oh, okay, but would it be a good idea?" he persisted.

"Personally, I don't think so," Sirius said bluntly, "but Snape's the best one to know."

Severus thought for a moment and grimaced. "It would be...extraordinarily helpful," he said slowly, "but also incredibly dangerous." He paused and seemed to come to some sort of decision. "We do it together," he said flatly. "We have worked together long enough that our minds should be able to mesh well. We go in together and you will allow me to protect you."

Harry grimaced; this was not something he had expected. He and Snape had gotten reasonably comfortable working together, mostly by not dwelling on what had gone on previously and acting as though this year was the first time they had met. It had worked extremely well thus far. When they didn't consider their past and concentrated on just working together on what they were doing, they could both forget that they didn't really like each other. An unspoken agreement that they did not talk about anything they might see in the other's mind also helped. But this would be different; Snape had told him about meshing minds in order to work together. They would essentially create a kind of Snape/Potter entity and it would bring their minds far closer than any other kind of contact they had tried before. It would also make it almost impossible to hide things from each other. Harry sighed; it wasn't like he could say no now. By actually offering the suggestion, Snape had indic! ated that he was amenable to the idea. And it had been his idea.

"Alright," he said slowly and he felt both Sirius and Remus twitch beside him. "When?"

"Now might be best," Snape said flatly. "Before the Dark Lord realises that Fudge has written everything down. I doubt that he would change his plans; he doesn't like doing that. But the knowledge might push him into acting prematurely."

Harry sighed; somehow he'd known Snape was going to say that.

"I want to be there," Sirius demanded as the ret of the Order members looked apprehensively at each other.

"Yes, yes," Snape said irritably. "I was going to suggest that you and Lupin be present, as well as the Headmaster."

The three men nodded their agreement.

"What's this all about?" Arthur said sternly. "What is Harry going to do and why?"

Harry smiled; he'd only ever heard Mr Weasley use that tone before when he was talking about his own children. He felt indescribably happy to have that tone used about him.

"It seems Potter's...link with the Dark Lord has changed somewhat," Snape said archly. "No doubt due to the events during his...escapade in the Ministry last year. He can, id he is very careful, infiltrate the Dark Lord's mind without him knowing."

"What? Really?" Arthur stuttered. "How many times has he done this?"

"Just once," Snape admitted.

"Are you sure it's safe to do this then?" Arthur demanded.

"Probably not," Snape said with irritation, "but Potter has offered and I believe it would allow us to gain invaluable information. I will go with him. He will be as safe as possible."

Arthur nodded slowly and looked at Harry.

"Are you sure you want to do this, Harry?" he asked anxiously.

"Yes, Mr Weasley," Harry said firmly. "I didn't have any problems last time and I will be careful."

Mr Weasley nodded, not looking very happy, and watched as Harry, Snape, Sirius and Remus were directed into a small room off the Headmaster's office by Dumbledore.

"Alastor, Kingsley," Dumbledore said, "will you continue the meeting. Make the best plans you can but try and keep them flexible. Don't forget to take into account the students. I will see that Harry's map gets to you as soon as possible, Alastor."

The others nodded and Dumbledore also disappeared into the adjacent room, shutting the door behind him. Arthur stared at the closed door for a long moment.

"I hope they know what they're doing," he muttered to himself as he turned back to the planning.