The Portkey Solution

CHAPTER 9 - Unexpected Trips

Staci stared at the spot where Voldemort had been. Harry could hear Malfoy shouting at the other Death Eaters to retreat, having seen their Dark Lord disappear for reasons unknown. He searched for Wormtail, who was still lying unconscious in his rat form at the base of one wall, the right front paw shining brilliantly.

Harry remembered how Hermione had dealt with an Animagus and looked around hurriedly. He chose a large jar of spider legs from the ravaged potions stand, dumping the contents on the ground. He used his wand to open a few holes in the lid and scooped the rat inside. He noticed several redheads coming up the alley where Malfoy had Disapparated.

Staci shook her head once more, still looking slightly dazed. "What did you do?"

"Got him to touch a Portkey. Do you know any Unbreakable Charms?"

Staci saw Wormtail in the jar and complied. With Pettigrew imprisoned and able to clear Sirius' name by his very existence, Harry relaxed minutely and explained further. "Hermione and I worked together to create a special Portkey. If it worked, we may be rid of Voldemort forever. It was designed to send him to the moon."

Staci choked between laughter and astonishment. "To the moon? Oh, that's brilliant!" As the others hurried up to them, she sobered. "But if he thinks to use a Bubble Charm or something to keep his air, he'll just use it to return."

"Well, he can't use ours. We made it a one-way Portkey." Harry led her back to the dustbin to snag his backpack.

"And you set it for the moon. How on earth did you pull together those calculations?" Her expression wavered between respect for Harry's idea and his ability to carry it out against anger over his disobeying orders.

Harry shrugged and started to reply, but they were surrounded by the Weasleys and others. Charlie had blood running down the side of his face, but seemed all right. Many of them had seen Voldemort disappear and were shouting their questions or relief. Harry spotted Dumbledore hanging back slightly and fought his way over to him, dragging Staci with him and clutching the jar.

"Professor, we have to go to the Ministry of Magic right away." He held out the jar. "This is Peter Pettigrew!"

Rather than waste words, Dumbledore simply put a hand on each of them and they disappeared.

*****

The Ministry was a shambles of frantic witches and wizards. Some tried to control the flood of owls intent on delivering panicked messages about the fighting in Diagon Alley. Harry could see Percy in front of a fireplace, attempting to keep order over the half-dozen heads trying to command his attention through the flames.

It looked as if they might be swarmed over when Dumbledore, Harry and Staci appeared in their midst, but Dumbledore held up a hand and started through the crowd. Harry and Staci trailed behind him to a large door with an ornate plaque on it: Cornelius Fudge, Minister of Magic.

Dumbledore knocked and opened it, revealing Fudge behind his desk giving haphazard orders to a witch as he tried to sort through yet more messages spilling over his desk. They entered and Fudge glanced at them distractedly.. His hair stood in wild licks, as if he'd spent the morning clutching it in a frenzy. "Dumbledore, I need your help! There's all sorts of unfounded rumours erupting about Death Eaters in Diagon Alley and You-Know-Who attacking a group of Hogwarts students--"his gaze fastened on Harry with a rat in a jar and he began to sputter. "Dumbledore! What is he doing here? Where has he been the last month? How did--"

Dumbledore interrupted Fudge before he could climb to hysteria and took the jar from Harry. "Cornelius, this is Peter Pettigrew. He's an unregistered Animagus. I will return him to his proper form and you can arrest him for falsifying his own death, framing Sirius Black for his supposed murder, betraying Lily and James Potter to Lord Voldemort, and activities as a Death Eater, including aiding Voldemort in his return."

Fudge's mouth worked wordlessly for a moment as he tried to adjust to the shock. Harry glared at him, silently daring him to deny any of it. Staci fell into a chair near the door and began scrubbing her eyes under her glasses.

Dumbledore put the jar on Fudge's desk. The rat inside cowered, trying to keep its silver paw hidden. Dumbledore raised his wand and looked to Staci. "If you would remove your charm, Anastacia?"

Staci looked up, pulled her wand out of a clever pocket along the outer seam of her jeans and flicked it absently toward the jar. At a glance from Dumbledore, Harry opened it and dumped the cringing rat onto the floor. Dumbledore waved his wand. With a flare of blue light, Pettigrew appeared.

Dumbledore held his wand on the little man, who continued to cringe. Fudge backed away, open anguish on his face. The witch who had been taking notes gasped, "Peter Pettigrew!"

Pettigrew nearly doubled over, burying his right hand deep in the sleeve of his robe. Harry strode forward and grabbed his right elbow in a particularly vicious nerve pinch Staci has taught him and forced the silver hand out again. "Be careful, Professor. I saw that hand crush wood to dust!" He kept the pressure on the nerve and Pettigrew sank to his knees, whimpering. Dumbledore searched his robe and pulled out a wand, which he handed to Fudge. He then pulled the left sleeve up, revealing the Dark Mark on Pettigrew's arm, a deep red against his pale skin.

"Here is the proof you refused to see before, Cornelius. These marks darken as Lord Voldemort's strength grows. I believe Severus Snape showed you his and told you the same thing. Now, if you are ready to listen, we need to act quickly."

*****

A long and frustrating hour later, Pettigrew was imprisoned in an Apparation-proof cell in the Ministry, bound with magical chains and drugged with a sleeping draught until the Aurors could determine how the silver hand had been created and how to stop Pettigrew from using it. Harry and Staci were still sitting in Fudge's office, watching Dumbledore try yet again to convince Fudge to take his advice. Harry was doing his best to sit on his anger rather than give the minister the opportunity to try and discredit him again. He could feel that Staci was coiled tight as a spring beside him, but was as startled as the rest of the room when she shot to her feet, her fury boiling over as Fudge tried to explain yet again why he couldn't remove the Dementors from Azkaban.

"God damn you, Fudge! Stop being a politician and start being a leader! Voldemort is at the very least out of commission for several days, maybe weeks, or he may be dead for good this time. Either way, there's still the problem of the Death Eaters and the Dementors to deal with, and you are wasting time!" She finished the tirade by bringing both fists down on Fudge's desk and leaning over to look into his open-mouthed face. "If I have to, I will bring in the Department of International Magical Relations in on this. We are not giving Voldemort a second chance to get a toehold here, whether you help us or not."

At the mention of international attention, Fudge had gotten to his feet, ready to respond in kind, but Dumbledore stepped in, taking Fudge's arm, while Harry tugged Staci back from the desk. "Anastacia may be expressing herself in an overly forceful manner, but she is right, Cornelius. We absolutely must work together to prevent Voldemort from regaining even a fraction of the power he once had.

"First, announce the pardon of Sirius Black. As you have seen for yourself, he is innocent of the murder for which he was imprisoned. Then go public with Alastor Moody's Auror program; recruit as many witches and wizards as possible so that we may have some of the best to help us. Third, remove the Dementors from Azkaban--"

"I cannot do that, Dumbledore! The public would hang me if I left those criminals unguarded!"

"So don't leave them unguarded," Harry snapped scornfully. "Hagrid and Madam Maxime have spent the entire summer working to contact the giants in Europe. There's your new Azkaban guards!" He could feel Dumbledore's gaze on him, amused and proud.

Fudge looked at Dumbledore, who nodded. "Indeed, Harry has guessed correctly. I sent Hagrid to try and contact his mother and he and Madam Maxime have gathered some fifty giants willing to aid us in return for a magically shielded area in Britain in which to live without interference."

Fudge gaped for a moment, then his face darkened as the blood rose in it.. "You had no right to do that, Dumbledore! Your authority ends at Hogwarts!"

"Yes, it does, Cornelius. Which is why I sent my staff member to make the contact and have promised the giants that they will have a section of the Forbidden Forest, on the ground of Hogwarts, unless the Ministry of Magic wishes to choose an alternate site."

Harry smiled slowly, taking great pleasure in seeing Fudge trapped so neatly. He managed to shift his expression to a serious one before the Minister saw him, but Fudge simply stared at Harry a moment before his shoulders slumped in defeat. "Fetch Miss Ivey, please, Harry. I have a pardon to draft."

*****

Harry sped out of Fudge's office and through the mass of Ministry people still trying to deal with the continued flood of messages. He was looking for an exit when someone grabbed his elbow. Harry seized the hand, whirled and had the other person tilted backwards and about to fall when he realized it was Percy. Harry reversed his turn in order to pull him back up. Percy made an irritated show of straightening his clothes and glasses.

"Hullo, Percy. You've heard the good news, right?"

Percy glared at him. "Since you have been the one holed up with Mr. Fudge for hours and not me, I can safely say I have no idea what's been going on to make half of Diagon Alley think that You-Know-Who attacked someone there."

Harry stared at him. Percy had, quite honestly, been his least favourite Weasley even when they were both at Hogwarts. Since graduating, however, Percy's ambition seemed to be the only part of his personality that he fed. He snapped back, "What happened is that Voldemort and the Death Eaters did attack. They were after me and didn't seem to care if they hurt or killed Ron and your parents to get me."

Percy paled slightly and grabbed Harry's arm again. "Ron? Mum and Dad? Are they all right?"

"Yes, and so are Bill and Charlie. If you had been paying attention instead of spending all your time in here hiding from the real world, you might have been beside them helping. Then you could have seen the Death Eaters for yourself." Seeing Staci wave to him near a fireplace, Harry shook himself free. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go find Sirius and tell him he's been pardoned." He ignored Percy's new barrage of questions at that bit of news and strode over to her.

The Floo Network dumped them into the main dining room of the Leaky Cauldron. Before Harry could race to the alleyway to get into Diagon Alley, Staci seized his arm and dragged him into an empty parlour.

"What?"

She thrust him into a chair and sat down opposite him. She pinned him there with a look that would have done McGonagall proud.

"Why the hell didn't you tell me you'd come up with an idea to get rid of Voldemort?"

"You wouldn't have let me try, would you?"

"Why not? It was an amazing idea! We could have had a dozen Portkeys scattered among our side, ready to use when an opportunity struck! We could have set them to any secure place and used them for all the Death Eaters, not just Voldemort! But you didn't give us a chance, Harry."

He opened his mouth, ready to protest hotly, and then her words sank in. Staci thought he'd had a great idea. She would have worked with him on it. Why hadn't he come to her first?

Slowly, reluctantly, he answered, "I haven't had much luck getting adults to listen to me when I have ideas." He paused, and Staci simply looked at him encouragingly. "Dumbledore and Sirius are probably the only other adults I can think of who would have taken me seriously, and even then they wouldn't have permitted me to try the idea myself."

"I admit, I'm not sure I would have, either, but I certainly would have made sure you had one of those Portkeys, just in case." She leaned forward and took his hands in hers. "We try to protect you because we care about you, just like you try to protect your friends. But keeping secrets like this doesn't help."

Harry nodded, only half-listening as he realized he might have been able to talk to the Weasleys, or Remus, or possibly even Professor McGonagall, if he'd bothered to try. Once he stopped to think about it, that is. He hadn't stopped to think.

"Harry." He looked back up at Staci. "Promise me, before you do something like this again, you'll talk to me first? And I promise to hear you out and work with you on whatever it is." She smiled hesitantly.

He smiled back and squeezed her hands. "All right. I promise."

"Good." She hauled him to his feet. "Now where were you rushing off to?"

To find Sirius and tell him he's a free man!"

Staci's smile widened. "Race you!"

*****

Hedwig arrived as they set the table for lunch, a letter from Ron and a copy of the Daily Prophet in her beak. The headline blazed across the page: SIRIUS BLACK PROVEN INNOCENT, PARDONED. The picture showed Sirius trying not to grin too much as Fudge reluctantly shook his hand.

"You're going to have to be doubly careful around Hogwarts now that Portkeys are firmly in the arsenal," Staci said.

Harry looked at her distractedly, still triumphantly engrossed in the story. "What? Why?"

"Portkeys work at Hogwarts, remember? What happens the first time one of the children of the Death Eaters switches your fork, or your textbook?"

"If I make a habit of having someone else grab things for me, that'll prevent them from trying it."

Staci raised an eyebrow. "And what happens on the Quidditch field, Seeker-boy?"

Harry opened his mouth, then shut it again. While he searched for an answer, he read Ron's letter, demanding every detail of what had happened after his parents had whisked him home. He'd gotten only scattered bits from Bill and Charlie, and apparently was still smarting over being left out of the plan. Harry had already sent Hedwig with one letter of apology, but it looked like it was going to take more than that.

The phone rang, and Staci went to answer it. Her "hello" dissolved into a beaming smile as she exclaimed, "Dad! Hi!" She listened for a moment, then turned to look at Harry while she listened some more. "I don't know, but I can ask." She covered the mouthpiece and asked, "My parents are inviting us to come over to the States this weekend for a short visit. They want to meet you and show off Washington, DC to you. Interested?"

Harry's eyes widened and he felt his heart leap in excitement. "Could I invite Ron?"

Staci spoke into the phone again. "Any problem with him bringing his best friend?" She shot Harry a thumbs-up. "OK, let's plan for us arriving Friday night and leaving Saturday night. If we stay any longer Harry will never finish his summer homework before school starts."

Harry paused in mid-sentence of the giddy note he had been scribbling to Ron and groaned mentally. Homework! He'd completely forgotten about finishing his assignments!

*****

Dumbledore spent the next few days after the events in Diagon Alley shuttling between the Ministry and his office at Hogwarts, working to solidify the pact for the giants. It was Saturday evening and he was taking a well-deserved nap in his favourite chair when someone knocked at the door. Still half-asleep, Dumbledore answered automatically, "Come!" He expected it to be Hagrid and sat up in startled wakefulness when Snape came in.

"Headmaster, I have news."