Choices

Choices

Chapter Five: The Boy Who Lived

2000 - Ministry building, Minister's Office

No one had even suspected. Not even Harry himself, not until he'd gotten over his grief (useless thing, really) and put all the pieces together in his head. He had a good mind, after all. The Sorting Hat had told him that, at age eleven, along with a great many other things. (You could be great, you know, it's all here in your head...)

Albus Dumbledore - the greatest wizard of their time, an extraordinary man with the most profound understanding of humanity possible - didn't even think twice about The Minister's sudden invitation to tea.

It was really quite smart. Ingenious in its simplicity. He, Harry Potter, one of the most paranoid people in the wizarding world, (and he had every right to be, dammit) didn't see a thing out of place.

No one even thought - Dumbledore had been fading for some time, after the huge power expenditure in the Last Battle. No one wanted to think about it. They all knew he was old, but no one, not even the Slytherins and ex-Slytherins, could imagine life without their strange Headmaster.

So when Cornelius Fudge refused to hold a public funeral reception for the man, Harry knew something was up. However, he couldn't just let the life of a great man who was almost a father to him go just like that. He held an unauthorized funeral himself, helped by his old friends from school and his Auror colleagues at the Ministry. The attendance was astonishing. Even the Malfoys showed up, in an uncharacteristic display of decency and respect.

After that, his guard was up. He kept an eye on the Ministry at all times. Easy to do when you are an Unspeakable, and when many of your old friends from school work for the Ministry in crucial positions. Harry warned them to be discreet. The Weasleys were a powerful family, with four family members (including Ms. Granger-Weasley) in important posts, and very likely to attract enmity and suspicion. But as much as he loved them, they really had no sense of subtlety.

Arthur Weasley died a month later under suspicious circumstances. Between comforting Ron and letting Ginny cry on his shoulder, he talked to Hermione and gathered his thoughts together.

Two men in positions of influence. Both died suddenly. Both did not have health trouble. Both were invited to tea with Cornelius Fudge two days before their death. Harry drew his own conclusions. But they had no evidence. They could convince no one this way. Besides, Fudge's spies were everywhere.

He took the matter into his own hands, as he had been doing for most of his life. Obtaining body tissue samples were easy. He had them examined by the only one he could both trust to keep it quiet and who had the skills necessary. The best Potions Master in Europe, as it turned out- Severus Snape.

Harry did not particularly like Snape, but having worked with the man throughout the War, he knew that the man could be trusted with this particular secret. So he waited for the results to come in, and prepared in secret for both answers.

After one month of test after test, one month of hoping against hope that he was just deluded and paranoid, like the rumors that the Ministry had been spreading about him had said, he had the results back. Poison.

He was shocked, but not into inaction. After all, his childhood and adolescence were littered with revelations and betrayal. Nothing should have been able to stun him anymore. But he was hurt by the thought, that what he and countless others had risked their lives to save was just as bad as that which he had destroyed. Fudge had gotten a taste of true power during Martial Law time, and he had been seduced by it. So he was now trying his damnest to keep that power, even if it meant leaving Voldemort alive in Azkaban, even if it meant stirring up hostile relations with other races and conflicts within the Wizarding population. Harrry could only see one path of action - stop him before he sets himself up as Dictator.

And that's what he set out to do. Gathered support, planned, and waited. When Fudge invited him to tea, and politely told him to stay out of the Ministry's business and that 'if I hear of any more of your meddling, I'll have to fire you, Harry,' he smiled back and said: "No, you can't."

Which is quite true, as the Ministry does not directly control the Department of Mysteries, he has good friends in every single department, and evidence that Fudge is a power-hungry murder.

He promptly told Fudge so, in a voice which has since been described to him as 'horribly cheerful'.

It wasn't really much of a fight. As soon as the articles in the Daily Prophet came out, detailing the corruption of certain officials in the Ministry and those official's unwillingness to act during the War, people were clamoring for the Minister to resign and for a 'thorough investigation' to be conducted, spanning the whole Ministry itself.

Of course, what the people wanted, the people got. Voldemort had once told Harry that War is the ultimate opportunity to have a coup - especially if you're on the winning side. Harry thinks that it's just fear. When people are afraid (for their positions, or for their lives), they flock to a larger power. In that one storm-like week of confusion and fear, he suddenly had more supporters than ever before, and he made them promises. He promised great things, to restore the Wizarding world to a state of glory that has not been seen since before Grindelwald's reign, to make peace with the other races, to finally exile the Dementors, and to retrial the Death Eaters without discrimination. He believed in every word he said.

Our system of government has long been in decay, he told a bright-eyed reporter. Fudge's government could not act effectively when Voldemort rose again, and allowed many innocent people to die. They could not run without blind discrimination, so they locked up innocents and let the real culprits run free. Democracy is the ultimate system of government, but it is susceptible to the mass's opinion. And the masses may not always be right, as they can be deceived using mediums such as the press.

Therefore, he said, we need a board that will watch over the Ministry itself, one that can act independently and advise the Minister before mistakes are made. They have to be people who can see the whole picture, not just the fraction that the public is fed. They can ensure quick actions in the case of any emergencies, and watch for corruption in the government itself.

Two days later, that speech was printed in the Daily Prophet. The day after that, the Ministry had almost unanimously voted to form the Adviser's Board, with Harry at its head. He had smiled at Ginny when she appeared to tell him the good news, her cheeks flushed with surprise and happiness. Both he and Hermione had known that would happen. After all, most of those who would have voted no were currently under investigation.

They call him the Adviser. Not Harry, not Chief Adviser Potter. Just 'the Adviser', spoken in hushed tones filled with reverence. Ginny had done a good job with the publicity. Sometimes Harry suspected that she believed what she fabricated.

Now, as he signs the document for the new Minister of Magic (a nobody, really, just weak enough to control until everyone gets over the Mudblood nonsense, they all know he's saving that post for Hermione) and the final verdict for Fudge's trial (who knew that treason was worth a lifetime of Exile?), he wonders. About Voldemort, Grindelwald, and all those who came before. Did they feel this shrill as well? The shrill of building, of crafting something new and good, with his own hands, in his own image.

They must have, he decided, as he looked down at the outline of his announcement speech. (He never writes them beforehand, it's not sincere) Yes. He will change everything and nothing will ever be the same again. He is the Boy Who Lived, after all.

'There will be no more death or mourning or dying or pain, the old order of things has passed away.'

The End