Battle of the Heirs

"Well, it may not have been necessary, but I had to let some steam off. Now, I have a plan - I'm glad you're here, Mrs. Longbottom, as it will save me having to explain it to you again later on..." he paused before continuing, "... I've asked Mr. Weasley to run for Minister of Magic."

"And I've agreed," interjected Mr. Weasley, earning a surprised but warm smile from Harry before he carried on.

"And I know that it will take hard work to ensure that he wins the election - this is one of the reasons that I was eager to fill all three seats that are available to me; I know that I surprised you both, Hermione, Professor.

"However, I wanted the Minister to know that I plan to oppose him - the price I'm going to pay for that is that he is likely to launch some sort of smear campaign against me, and ignore all other opposition. My guess is that he came here tonight to try and convince me to help him save his job, and instead he's found exactly the opposite. Mrs. Longbottom, why did he bring you with him?"

"He certainly didn't invite me, Harry; he just happened to mention that he had just heard that you had been transferred to Hogwarts, and would be calling in to see you, and I drew the same conclusions as you - why else would he be coming here at this time of night? So, I thought that I had better come along to keep an eye on things. I have to say, though, I expected to have to fight to make you see the error of his ways - I was pleasantly surprised. Not to mention, you have picked two very suitable candidates to join the Wizengamot. Miss Granger, I will send you information on the next meeting. Minerva, your position in Dumbledore's seat will have to be approved by the Wizengamot, but that should not be a problem - you are well respected. I will nominate you tomorrow." Hermione and Professor McGonagall both nodded their agreement. "Now, it's getting late; I should leave - Algie has probably burned the house down by now!"

"Mrs. Longbottom; one more thing before you go. Would it be okay if Neville comes here to visit us occasionally? I want to rebuild the DA, and he was always an important member. It would give him something to do over the summer, too."

"I think he would like that. I'll ask him for you."

"Thank you, and have a good night. I look forward to seeing you soon," Harry said, waving goodbye to her as she walked towards the fireplace. As soon as she disappeared, he turned and motioned for everyone to take a seat.

He waited until everyone else was seated before sinking into a chair by the fireplace. McGonagall sat at her desk, with Ron and Mr. Weasley in front of her, and Hermione went to a small table near the window, where she promptly began writing her letter to Rita Skeeter.

"Well, I have to say, Potter - I didn't expect that," McGonagall said after a few seconds, breaking the silence.

"I'm just tired of the Ministry acting like a bunch of idiots about everything. I mean, he had the nerve to bring Umbridge here after what she and her bloody 'Inquisitorial Squad' did to you! Sorry, Professor, they just make me so angry!" He paused, taking a deep breath to calm himself, and McGonagall waved him on. When he continued, it was in a calmer tone. "Anyway, you wanted to discuss my inheritance from Dumbledore?"

"I did. You already know that he left you his seat on the Wizengamot, either to fill yourself, or to find another suitable replacement for; but he also made another suggestion - Madam Marshbanks is going to be retiring from her seat soon, and he thought that it would be advisable for you to nominate Remus Lupin for the placement."

"I'll ask Professor Lupin about it as soon as he gets back. I don't suppose you would be able to write to Madam Marshbanks and double check that she is retiring?" Professor McGonagall nodded her acquiescence. "Anything else, Professor?"

"He left his Gringotts vault to you, as well as more-or-less the entire contents of this room. Most of his personal items were given to his brother, Aberforth." Harry glanced around the room. It was still decorated the way it had been on the night of Dumbledore's death; books lining the walls, bizarre magical devices all over the room, the Pensieve still in its cabinet. All of this was his.

"What about everything else?"

"What do you mean, 'everything else'?"

"Well, when's the next Order meeting; what do we know about the breakout from Azkaban? That 'everything else'."

McGonagall sighed. "I'm afraid we do not know much about the breakout at all, though Nymphadora, Kingsley and Moody have been trying to gather information. There's something of a shortage of witnesses, but we have found out that at least a couple of Aurors were killed, and we can probably assume that the situation is fairly dire if Scrimgeour risked coming here in the hope of gaining support."

The door to the office opened slowly, admitting Lupin and Hagrid.

"Good to see you, Harry," Lupin said faintly - he seemed to be in shock.

"What did you manage to find out, Remus?" McGonagall asked.

"Not much, we didn't get any of the big names; the only two bodies belonged to Casper Burke and an unidentified woman, who Moody reckons looks like a member of one of the Carrows clans." He glanced around the room. "Have we missed anything here?"

"Harry has just been showing his claws," McGonagall said, looking amused. "He seems to be jumping headfirst into his newfound leadership; so far, he has forged a relationship with the new head of the Wizengamot, appointed three new members to the court, and informed Scrimgeour that he will see him out of office before the end of summer..."

"He did what? Minerva, I meant to speak to you earlier - are you entirely sure he's ready for this responsibility? Isn't he... well, a little young to be running the Order?"

"You heard just fine, Professor," Harry snapped, annoyed, "and Professor McGonagall seems to think that 'he' has done a perfectly reasonable job so far."

"I seem to have missed a lot," Remus said carefully, trying not to upset Harry any further, but before he could continue, Harry had started talking again.

"Okay, I need to arrange a meeting of the Order as soon as possible. Professor McGonagall, can you handle that for me?"

"I can," she answered.

"Good, thank you. Was there anything else that needed to be discussed tonight?"

"Actually, there was one other thing, Harry - I have arranged for you to take over the personal rooms of Professor Dumbledore. I am going to have all of the things you have inherited sent there tonight."

"Where is everyone else staying?"

"We've managed to give everyone their own rooms, rather than having to put them in the dormitories - and Ron, Hermione, Fred and George are all near you.

"Thank you, Professor." Harry stood up and walked out of the office and down the stone staircase, followed by Ron and Hermione. "Ron, could you please go get the twins and Ginny?"

"Yeah mate, I can do that."

"Great, thanks," Harry said, watching Ron leave and then heading in the opposite direction. He waited until the boy was out of earshot before the determined expression he had been wearing all night left his face and he turned to his other friend, looking troubled. "Hermione, I think I'm out of my depth."

"What do you mean, Harry? You were great tonight! You managed to show everyone that you were in control of everything. People listened to you; you finally proved to everyone that you're not just their puppet. Gods, even Ron was speechless! I know this is going to be tough, but you've already done us proud - as long as you don't order us around too much!" She started to laugh. "I still can't get over you just ignoring the Minister like that - the look on his face, Harry!"

Harry cracked a grin, though he still didn't look completely convinced. "Cheers, 'Mione. Anyway-" he had come to a stop outside the Room of Requirement. "Here we are!" He walked past the blank wall three times, I need a headquarters for the DA, and a door appeared. The first thing that Harry spotted was his copy of Advanced Potion-Making from the year before, sat on a table right in the middle of the room. "Do you think there might be something important in here?" he asked, picking it up.

"Well, I suppose it does give us an insight into Snape. Here, let me read it; I'm sure that if the room thinks it's important, there must be something in here." Harry handed her the book and she went to sit in the corner and began flicking through it. Harry walked over to the bookshelf on the other side of the room, scanning the titles and pulling out a book on the First War, which he took back to the centermost table and began to read. It was a few more minutes before Ron and the others joined them, and when everyone else was gathered around the table, Hermione put down the Potions book and joined them.

"Now that we're all together: Fred, George, what did you find out about Katie?" Harry asked.

"She said all you had to do was ask. She seemed happy to be able to do something to help with the war, and she wants to meet up with you the next time you go to London."

"Brilliant! You all know that I've decided to challenge Scrimgeour, and have suggested to your dad that he runs for Minister. I've also placed Hermione, McGonagall and myself on the Wizengamot."

"Yeah, you missed Harry going off on one at the Minister," Ron cut in, looking positively gleeful. "It was priceless! Our dear older brother turned fourteen shades of green, but didn't have the guts to say anything. He - he... Harry didn't," he snorted, "didn't even acknowledge them!" He had to stop talking at this point, as he was laughing too hard to continue.

Harry gave a crooked smile. "Er - yeah, thanks, Ron! Right! To win this election, Mr. Weasley is going to need support from all different areas of the public, which is where you guys come in; we need to get the word out to as many people as possible, drum up some enthusiasm! We need some information on impeachment procedures..." He looked at Hermione. "And you three," he said, pointing at Fred, George and Ginny, "could you get to work on designing some posters?"

"Did you find out anything about the Death Eaters?" Ginny asked.

"Just that only two of them went down at Privet Drive, and McGonagall reckons the breakout must have been pretty bad for Scrimgeour to come here looking for support," Harry replied.

There was a pause while they all considered their situation.

"What we need..." Hermione was deep in thought. "What we need, is a spy within the Death Eaters!"

"Yeah, 'Mione, I'm sure there's loads of people who'd volunteer for a job like that!" Ron said sarcastically, causing the witch to flush.

"Well, where's your brilliant idea then?!"

"Calm down, I was only saying!" Ron raised his hands in surrender.

Hermione tutted. "Harry, what about the you-know-whats?" she asked, earning her confused glances from the twins and Ginny.

"I know that we haven't made much progress over the summer, but I just know that we're on the right track - there's bound to be more books here at Hogwarts, so maybe the research will be more successful here, plus I want to go and have a look around at Godric's Hollow." He paused, sighing. "Before any of that, though, I need to help Aunt Petunia plan Uncle Vernon's funeral.

"Anyway, other than that, we just all need to keep our eyes and ears open - we need as much information as we can get! Fred, George, are you planning on keeping the shop open? If you are, it could be invaluable; you'll have easy access to the customers, not to mention you're right next to Knockturn A- " a large yawn broke him off, and he grinned, "-Alley. Guess I'm tired! If no one else has anything to add, I think it's time to go to bed; it's been a long night." He waited a few moments but no one spoke. "Right, I'll see you all in the morning then." He stood up.

Fred and George also got to their feet. "This way Harry," they said in unison.

"We'll show you the way; we've got some things we want to discuss with you anyway," said George.

"Yeah, we wanted you to know that we've been working on a new range of products, more stuff on the defensive side of things. We're still testing them at the moment, but as soon as we're happy with them, we'll give you some to try out."

"Awesome, guys. So how is business anyway?"

"Fantastic - we've just bought Zonkos. This way, we have an excuse to come to Hogsmeade whenever we need to."

"Listen, I wanted to thank you for coming when you did. I'm not sure what would have happened if you hadn't been there."

"It was nothing mate. You are our fearless leader, after all! You've never called us before, so we knew you must really need us; it's good to know that you realize you can rely on us," Fred said.

"You know it was nothing personal, me never taking you with me before, right? If you'd been there, you would have been with the rest of us - you're as close to me as any of the others. I'll tell you what; I give you my word that from now on, I will not go into battle without you. Can't have you missing out on all the excitement!" Harry finished talking, realizing that they had stopped in front of a large oak door.

"Dumbledore's bedchambers," George said. "McGonagall said that no one has been in there since he died. We can come with you if you want."

"I'll go in with him." They turned to see who had spoken, and saw Lupin standing behind them. "I'll go in with you," he repeated. "There are some things we need to talk about anyway."

"Go ahead, we'll catch up with you tomorrow," George said, walking away from Harry.

Lupin ushered Harry inside the room, which was already filled with all of the books and magical instruments from Dumbledore's office, plus about three times as many again. Harry noticed a flash of silver out of the corner of his eye; the Pensieve had been moved here, too. He had to admire the efficiency of the house-elves.

As soon as he had shut the door, Lupin started talking: "Harry, I'm sorry about earlier - everything was just a bit of a shock. I'm having a hard time relating my best friend's son and my former student to this new friend and leader. I think, for a start, you need to begin calling me Remus." He smiled at the younger man, who inclined his head slightly. It was likely to be the best reaction he could hope for at the minute. "Thank you, Harry," he said softly. "Now, Minerva tells me you put on quite a show tonight! And yes, she and Arthur are as convinced as I am that it was an act. You don't need to try and fool us; we know how hard it must be to have all this responsibility piled on you all of a sudden. I think you had the Minister convinced, though!"

Harry chose not to comment on this; let them think what they wanted, he couldn't afford to show any weakness. He couldn't be bothered explaining about the empty place on the Wizengamot to Lupin just yet either - he made a mental note to leave that conversation till tomorrow. Instead, he turned his attention to the room. "I never would have pictured it like this," he murmured.

Lupin smiled gently, not wanting to press the issue. Let Harry open up in his own time. "Minerva thought it best to let you stay here. I think she secretly hopes that there is something in there that will help you to solve whatever it is you are working on. I hope you know you can count on me - if you want my help with anything, that is." Harry remained silent. He looked around the room.

"Here, Harry - look at this." He was stood by a desk that held a delicate-looking instrument; Harry recognized it as the one that Dumbledore had used on the night of Mr Weasley's attack in his fifth year. "It lets you see the very essence of an incident - it can be incredibly useful! For example, you can usually use it to deduce whether someone was acting under the Imperius Curse or not. Unfortunately, it wasn't invented until after the First War. But this time, we can use it to see who is guilty and who is innocent!" He looked at Harry expectantly, but no response was forthcoming.

"Yes, well... it's very late. I should let you get to bed. Before I go, I thought you would like to know - Tonks returned while you were with your friends. All of the Death Eaters escaped from Azkaban, and all of the guards were killed." He hung his head. "We lost Mundungus Fletcher, too - it was over his body that the Dark Mark was suspended."

"Thank you, Pr- Remus." They had walked over to the door whilst the man had been talking, and now Harry opened it for him. "Goodnight. I'll see you in the morning."

Alone at last, Harry walked through to the bedroom, and found that all of his personal belongings had been moved in for him. Probably Dobby, he thought wryly, flopping down onto the bed. He felt a little intrusive, staying in Dumbledore's quarters. But, he reminded himself as he drifted off to sleep, without so much as removing his glasses, it's for the best; Dumbledore's gone now, and I'm in charge... of everything.