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batsutousaiTitle: Royal
Author:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
batsutousai
Pairings: N/A
Warnings: Ooc, OC
Disclaim Her: I apologise in advance for any inaccurate information about Salem, Massachusetts, as I have never been there myself. I get all my info from the internet. (And the god that is Google, without whom I wouldn't know anything. XD)
A/N: Sorry about the OCs, but it was hard to send them to a new country and NOT have any OCs.
~
America
~
A large part of what made the American Ministry work, Harry found shortly after arriving, was that there were very few purebloods in the States. Most of the population was muggleborn or halfblood and had learned about the American Civil War in their muggle schools. They didn't believe in slavery and they very much believed in equal rights. Non-humans had the same rights that the humans had and a large number of them worked at the Ministry. (A vampire had been the one to greet them at the International Portkey Terminal, since they'd gotten in at night, and had patiently helped the two humans figure out how to get to their hotel.)
Their first day – after sleeping until daylight and downing a potion to help them adjust to the new time – was spent with Sirius dragging Harry through the underground shopping mall in Salem, Massachusetts, which could be reached through a variety of entrances, the most popular being the one in Washington Square, by the gazebo. The underground shopping mall was huge, far bigger than Diagon Alley.
"Biggest shopping centre of any magical people," Sirius commented when Harry asked about the size. "Americans seem to like things big, so the American witches and wizards built the biggest shopping centre they could. Runs through-out Salem."
Harry shook his head. "But why Salem? Isn't that where the more publicised witch hunts were?"
Sirius grinned. "Of course. And that's why they picked it. What better way to scorn the muggles than to make your largest magical centre right under the noses of the people that used to burn witches?"
"More than just shopping down here," a new voice commented. They turned to see a grinning woman wearing light blue robes with some sort of company symbol on it which Harry didn't recognise.
Sirius chuckled and held his hand out. "Sirius Black," he introduced himself. "And this is my godson, Harry. We're just visiting. Don't mind us."
The woman shook his hand, waggling her eyebrows. "Sirius Black, hm? Aren't you that dude that's had the British Ministry doing cartwheels for the past three years?"
Sirius laughed nervously. "Well, yes. But I got cleared earlier this week. They finally gave me a trial."
The woman blinked. "They didn't– Oh, for the love of God! Brits!"
Sirius laughed at that, but Harry just frowned and said, "At least we introduced ourselves."
The woman rose an eyebrow at him and looked him over. "Not properly, I think. You're Harry Potter." Harry glowered at her, earning him a smile. "Well, oh famed lunatic, I'm Ashley Jones, AMP."
Harry blinked, completely thrown for a loop, and looked at Sirius. "American Magical Police," the Animagus translated. "They wear the symbol of the crossed wands on the left side of their chest when they're on duty. And he's not loony," he added to Ashley.
Ashley laughed. "No, I didn't think so. More Brit nonsense, probably. Sorry if I offended you." She looked at Harry.
Harry shrugged. "I got used to it," he admitted.
Ashley shook her head. "Brits." Then she grinned at them and said, "Right! More than shopping. The Salem Underground also has housing for the magical population, as well as hotels for guests. You're not staying down here?"
Sirius shook his head. "Last time I was here, there weren't any hotels. Anyway, half the adventure is staying up on the muggle half and sneaking down here like proper wizards."
Ashley sighed. "Brits," she muttered again, and Harry snickered, as he'd had rather the same reaction when Sirius insisted they stay at a muggle hotel. "There's nothing 'proper' about sneaking around. Anyway, other than the International Apparation Point, everything's down here. Even the Intercontinental Apparation Point is down here. Most of America's magical cities have gone to ground, as it were. Americans like building up, so we built down."
"Clever," Harry admitted. "The British Ministry is underground, but everything else is up on the surface. 'S just got Muggle Repelling Charms on it."
"Shockingly, the Brits are who we got the idea from," Ashley replied, motioning the two visitors to walk with her, which they did. "Our Minister at the time, Jacob Adams, went to England for something – never got solved, so far as I know, whatever it was – but he saw your building and thought it was the coolest thing ever, so he came back and hired some people to build him an underground Ministry building. The old building is still in Washington, where the Ministry was at the time, but it's muggle-owned, now, because they found it. Ministry's here, now." She pointed to a set of glass double doors that she'd walked them to.
Harry grinned. "Brilliant!"
Sirius sighed. "Harry, you agreed to wait a few days before we went to the Ministry."
Harry glanced back at him and waved him off. "I can wait. But you didn't tell me they were in Salem."
"I doubt he knew," Ashley offered. "We've only been here for the past five years. And why do you wanna go to the Ministry? Gonna turn your godfather in?" She grinned.
Harry shook his head. "Lord Kaizer heard I was getting dragged to America by Sirius and asked if I could see how you lot work while I'm here."
Ashley blinked. "Lord... Oh! That dude who's popped up with the old royal family, right?" Harry nodded. "You're friends with him?"
"I don't know that I'd call them 'friends'," Sirius muttered, only to be firmly elbowed in the stomach by Harry.
"Kaizer's related on my mum's side, so we're cousins, kinda. Though he calls me his nephew." Harry made a face. Hermione had been the one to suggest the relation after she heard about Harry's claim to being his own nephew. (She and Harry had been forced to kick Ron until he stopped laughing, first.) When Dumbledore heard the idea, he had agreed that it was probably the best way to face down any questions to the claim, as tests would show that to be true.
Ashley nodded. "Well, you can set up an appointment, if you'd like?"
But Harry was already shaking his head. "If it's all the same, I'd much rather catch them off guard, if I can. Am I allowed to just wander through and see how things work?"
Ashley waved her head back and forth in a sort of 'yes, but no' way. "Some sections don't mind civilians, like the Games and Sports and the Transportation departments. My department doesn't mind them so much, but they start to get a bit twitchy if you poke about too much. The DoM and Ministers' office, though, require special passes, which you can get at the front desk, but they're really paranoid about who goes in and why and it's usually a couple day wait. Some parts of the DoM aren't open to the public, though, but that's partially to do with personal danger and partially to keep people from stealing their research."
Harry blinked and translated DoM to Department of Mysteries, then blinked again as everything processed. "Wait, the Department of Mysteries actually allows visitors? And the Minister's office, too?"
Ashley grinned. "I take it it's not like that in the UK."
"Are you kidding?" Harry replied. "You can't even get into the Ministry without being cross-examined, and going into the Department of Mysteries or the Minister's office is a dream, even for most Ministry employees."
Ashley rolled her eyes. "Brits."
Sirius coughed. "I did tell you the American Ministry works."
Harry shook his head. "Bloody hell. But, why are you lot so lax? That's what I don't get."
Ashley sighed and motioned towards a bench near the double doors. Once they'd all taken a seat, she said, "Part of it is that we don't have a Dark Wizard problem. You may have noticed already that very few Old families live in America, and most of us are muggleborn or halfbloods, so we grew up with the stories of Civil War and Women's Rights and such. We believe in freedom, both of the people's rights and the simple right to know what's going on. A large part of our government was built on the same ideals that the American muggle government was built on: Democracy and Basic Rights. Except we're a much smaller community, so it works a bit better for us than it does for the muggles."
"So, because you're built on freedom, you believe in letting people waltz through the Ministry?" Harry asked, still trying to wrap his head around it. Behind him, Sirius shook his head and got up to get himself some ice cream from a nearby vendor.
"I wouldn't say we let them 'waltz', so much. More that we let them see what's going on in the government. Everyone has equal right to see what's happening, so they also have the equal right to say when they see something going wrong. Having civilians about keeps us on our best behaviour, too, so there's none of that embezzlement that goes on in the Brit Ministry. Chances are, you'll get caught out by someone and then you get the boot."
Harry shook his head. "No embezzlement?" he muttered, remembering how Malfoy always seemed to be filling Fudge's pockets. "No paying the Ministry employees to do things your way?"
Ashley grinned at him. "I take it that's a bit hard to believe."
"Not hard to believe so much as hard to imagine in Britain," Harry replied. "Perhaps it's because you don't have the Old families, the ones with the money. And perhaps you've got the lack of truly Dark wizards to help, too." He sighed and rubbed at his face. "I can't see Britain ever working like that. Our way of life is too ingrained."
"Perhaps it's time someone rubbed their faces in their own shit," Sirius suggested, plopping back down on the bench and holding out a chocolate ice cream to his godson.
Harry blinked at him and shook his head, but took the shit-coloured treat without a word.
Sirius grinned.
"Okay, I don't know a whole lot about this royal family you Brits are so in love with," Ashley said, "but isn't it said that they'll be the ones to change everything for the better or some such?"
Harry shrugged. "Prophecy only says they'll bring equality to all," he said. "But, considering how backwards most of Europe is in that regard, it might as well be changing everything."
"Then maybe it's a bit of what he said," Ashley suggested, jerking her head towards Sirius, who was going after his giant ice cream with a vengeance. "Maybe they need their faces rubbed in it."
Harry sat back to consider that, licking at his own cone. Rub their faces in their own mistakes? Wasn't that an interesting concept. An image of Lucius Malfoy face-first in the sewer came to mind and Harry snickered.
Ashley nodded and stood up. "Well, I'll leave you two to it, then. I very much suggest you put your names in for a formal visit later this week, since you're so interested. But, like I said, you can mostly wander at your own leisure. And I'll have desk work for all of next week, so I might see you in there."
"Desk work?" Harry inquired. "You mean you don't always wander the shopping centre?"
Ashley laughed a bit. "Oh goodness, no. We rotate every week. We get enough desk work that someone's gotta be in there, but you've gotta have someone out here, too, to watch out for the petty crime and the stupid tourists." She winked. "But I pulled the short straw for next week, as it were, so I get to sit on my behind for a few days."
Harry nodded. "I suppose we'll see you, then. Enjoy your week of freedom?"
"What's left of it," Ashley agreed, then left them with a wave.
"Can I finish my ice cream before you drag me in there to set a date?" Sirius requested tiredly.
Harry chuckled and relaxed back onto the bench. "We can wait until I finish my ice cream," he promised, glancing over at where Sirius had mostly finished his.
Sirius smiled a little sheepishly and nodded.
-0-0-0-
The rest of that week and the weekend was spent with a great deal of running about and playing tourist. Sirius was quite determined to see as much of the muggle monuments about witches as he was to see the magical monuments. They both had a great deal of laughs over some of the muggles' ideas of magic, and Harry eventually agreed that looking at the muggle side of America was worth it.
On Monday, Sirius managed to talk Harry out of visiting the Ministry and took him clothing shopping in the Salem Underground instead. He gleefully spent a day spoiling Harry rotten and Harry allowed it, because he knew Sirius needed to know he still had a part in Harry's life. More of a part than just the emotional support. Harry was quite happy to let Sirius play parent for a day, especially since they were often more like best mates when together.
On Tuesday, however, Harry put his foot down. His tour of the more secure areas of the Ministry was set for Wednesday, and he wanted to get an idea of how the Ministry was operated before he walked around with a guide – which was, the welcome wizard told him when he signed up, the usual policy. Sirius did a great deal of whinging and moaning until Harry hit him with a stupefy and changed himself into Lord Kaizer so he could go alone without anyone questioning his lack of guardian.
No one in America really know what Lord Kaizer looked like, and Harry managed a fair approximation of an American accent, so even less people looked at him cockeyed. Harry's trip through the Ministry was quite enlightening, of course, especially when he saw the Non-Human Complaint Department, which was a section of the AMP where non-humans could come to report either their own species attacking humans, or humans who were taking a nasty attitude with non-humans. There was also the ability for humans to report non-humans who were acting out, but those were handled at a different booth and had more paperwork to fill out. (Harry had chuckled at the idea of keeping humans from calling out against the non-humans as often by giving them more paperwork.)
Harry also enjoyed the Muggle Cooperation Department. Because America's magical population was so muggleborn-heavy, they had worked a lot more towards finding a way to make muggleborns more at home in the magical world, something which Harry could very much appreciate. The things offered covered such things as a magical integration program for muggleborns and their families before school and working muggle concepts in to the magical world, such as the telly, computer and phone. (Harry couldn't help but think that Ron could have used a crash-course in using a muggle telephone a few years ago.) The department also set standards for the Muggle Studies class, which was a required class in all American magical schools through third year.
All told, Harry couldn't wait until the next day, when he could see how the Ministry acted when they knew someone was watching them.
-0-0-0-
Sirius hadn't been pleased by being stunned, but he'd also been rather pleased to have avoided a trip to the Ministry. Of course, the next day, he couldn't avoid going, so he followed Harry to the Ministry with a rather glum look on his face.
The glum look disappeared when they found Ashley waiting for them at the information desk.
"You're showing us around, then?" Sirius asked as he and Harry had their wands registered. ("Just a precaution," the welcome wizard told them, and seemed almost surprised when neither wizard looked irritated at having their wands checked. Ashley had helpfully commented on how the Brits always checked the wands of guests, which explained far more to the poor welcome wizard than it did to the two British men, who, honestly, could care less.)
Ashley gave them quite the grand tour. She had great fun with it, so far as Harry could tell. (Of course, having seen the pile of papers on her desk the day before, Harry could quite understand why.) She also had a minor sales pitch – that's what Harry called it in his mind – for every other department. Eventually, Harry said, "I did say I was just looking around for Kaizer, right? Not that I'm looking to move to America?"
"Of course you did," Ashley responded, wearing an affronted look. She did stop with the sales pitch, though, so Harry didn't bother bringing it up again.
At the end of the tour, Ashley turned to him – they'd both taken to ignoring Sirius, other than the occasional need to drag him away from something shiny, usually on Harry's part – and asked, "So, what say you about our Ministry?"
Harry hummed for a moment, considering the question. "It's much better than the Ministry back home," he admitted, ignoring the various high-fives going around the AMP department, where they'd stopped. "Though, honestly, that's not saying a lot. The way your lot treat non-humans and muggleborns is kinda what I wish the British Ministry would do, but I also think that a lot of your policies wouldn't work back home."
"Oh?" Ashley asked, waving some of her co-workers away and leading the way to where some doughnuts and tea waited for them at her desk. "Like what?"
Harry snagged a doughnut and took a bite before saying, "Well, your open door policy, for starters. It's brilliant here, because so many of your lot are muggleborn and Light. Back home, such a policy would end up getting things all mucked up. Already does, to be honest. Too many purebloods with too much money and free time go running about, making sure things go their way."
"Like Malfoy," Sirius muttered, mouth full of doughnut and tea.
Harry rolled his eyes at his godfather and gently whacked the bottom of his chin in a reminder to not talk with his mouth full. "There’re too many purebloods who demand their rights back home," the teen continued, ignoring Sirius' sheepish grin and Ashley's snicker. "And not enough muggleborns or halfbloods with the money or magic to back up their own demand for rights. I would like to see a system back home where everyone gets what they're due, but I don't see it happening, especially not with such emphasis being put on purebloods."
Ashley shrugged. "Didn't you say Lord Kaizer's your cousin? On your muggleborn-mom's side? So he'd have to be at least halfblood, right?"
Harry munched thoughtfully on his doughnut, absently smacking Sirius' hand when the man went for the last chocolate doughnut, which Harry had put to one side for himself. Admit his halfblood status? That was sure to go over well. But, then again...
Sirius whimpered when Ashley followed Harry's example and smacked his hand away from her doughnut.
"Padfoot," Harry said with a tired look, "there are three doughnuts left in the box."
Sirius gave him a wounded look. "But they're all plain."
"No they're not," Harry replied, looking into the box. "Look, this one has lemon crème inside–"
"Lemon," Sirius said with distaste.
"And this one's got powdered sugar all around it."
Sirius eyed said doughnut, then shook his head. "It's almost all been shaken off. And none of it's chocolate."
Harry rolled his eyes. "Are you, or are you not, a wizard?"
Sirius silently considered the doughnuts for a long moment, then said, "But I don't know any spells that can make those chocolate."
Harry closed his eyes, mentally asking some higher power for patience, then split his chocolate doughnut and gave half of it to his godfather, who looked rather like Christmas had come early. "That's all you're getting," Harry warned him. "If you want more, you'll have to eat what's in the box. Understand?"
Sirius smiled at him and shoved the whole half-doughnut into his mouth. "Yesh, Mummy."
Harry waited until his godfather had mostly swallowed, then smacked him.
Sirius winked.
Ashley chuckled, then hid her extra doughnut in a cubby with a preservation charm on it when Sirius started eyeing it. "What about non-humans? You said you like how we work with them?"
Harry nodded. "A friend of mine's a werewolf, so I very much appreciate how you work with them," he agreed, "and I'd love to see Britain do the same, but unless something major happens, it'll never work. It's just like the inequality facing muggleborns: the purebloods are just too powerful – and too set in their ways – to allow it. It works so well here..." He sighed and rubbed at his face. They were trying, with the changes they'd already made to the Ministry, but it was so hard.
"Britain's got a different idea of what 'Dark' means," Sirius commented. "When someone says 'Dark', I think about torture and violence. About Voldemort. What do Americans think about?" He glanced at Ashley.
Ashley blinked, a little surprised. "When you say 'Dark'?" Sirius nodded. Ashley tapped her chin for a long moment, then said, "I suppose I think of a story my mom used to tell me about this horrible Dark wizard who ruled over America when we'd first come here. He got beaten down by the native wizards, though, the Native Americans. They welcomed the Light wizards and taught us about loving the land."
"Stories?" Harry asked, aghast. "You think of a–"
Sirius covered Harry's mouth with a smile while Ashley shook her head. "Well, yes. We get mostly petty crime here: wizards stealing a couple of lizards tongues from across the way, maybe a witch selling human fingers. We don't have Dark Lords popping up every ten years. I mean, sure, we've got a couple of magical folk that practise Dark Arts, and we've got a lot of stuff that's illegal, but most of it stays private and we never hear about it."
Harry shook his head. "Boy was I ever born in the wrong country."
Ashley and Sirius – as well as the few AMPs who had come to listen to their conversation – all chuckled a bit.
Harry rubbed at his face beneath his glasses, feeling far too old. Would a Ministry like America's even work in Britain?
"So, do you think of vampires or werewolves when I say Dark?" Sirius asked, curious.
Ashley shrugged. "Sure, I suppose. But I think of them more in the way I think of Dark wizards and witches: Something that exists, but not something I need to be particularly worried about. They're there, yeah, but they're not going to suddenly go on a killing rampage. Well, I hope not. You plannin' on killing anyone today, Jeff?" she asked one of the AMPs poking his head over her cubicle walls.
The man in question flashed two very sharp teeth at them in a grin. "Dunno. The kid looks mighty tasty."
Harry rolled his eyes, not the least bit concerned, while the others laughed. "Yeah, yeah. You can take a bite if you'll let me practise some of my spellwork for school."
Sirius snorted. "I'd suggest not taking him up on that, personally. He taught a number of his fellows in fifth and seventh year Defence."
"Serious?" another AMP asked, looking surprised. It seemed that, once Ashley had pulled them into the conversation with Jeff the vampire, they all felt willing to join in.
Harry felt his face heat and kicked Sirius under the edge of the desk. "It was just review of what we learned–"
"Or should have learned," Sirius helpfully added.
"–in our first through our fourth years," Harry finished, ignoring Sirius. "Because Kingsley couldn't cover all that and help us with all the stuff we should have learned in our fifth or seventh years from the Toad."
"You must be damn good at Defence to have pulled that off," Jeff the vampire commented. "Even just for review. I've heard some about the quality of Defence work at Hogwarts over the past seven years. My sire still lives there, and he likes to keep updated on any schooling."
"Why?" Harry asked, curious.
Jeff shrugged. "He's got a natural-born son who's about age to join Hogwarts, if he weren't a vampire. He'd like to send Alan to Hogwarts, 'cause that's where he went, but he's probably going to have to come here and stay with me. Which I don't mind, but it's the principle of the thing."
"Has he spoken to Professor Dumbledore?" Harry asked. "My friend who is a werewolf went to Hogwarts, even though he was a non-human. And one of our professors right now is a centaur, while another is a half giant. Professor Dumbledore's really good about the whole non-human thing."
"The centaurs live in the forest, so it's not unusual to see them on the campus, and it's actually pretty easy to hide half-gianthood and being a werewolf. Not so with being a vampire."
Harry sighed. "I suppose so," he agreed, recalling what he'd learned about vampires in third year with Remus. "Still, he could try?"
Jeff offered him a lopsided smile. "I'll suggest it to him," he promised.
"Hey! I know a way to shock Britain out of their crazy ways!" Sirius decided.
"Bloody hell," Harry muttered, even as Ashley said, "What is it?"
"Harry can be turned into a non-human!"
Harry kicked his godfather. Hard. "Are you planning on a repeat of your fifth year or something?" he asked.
Sirius flinched. "Harry, that's not what I meant."
Harry cocked an eyebrow at him. "If Moony were here, he'd have cursed you for a suggestion like that."
Sirius huffed and crossed his arms over his chest, refusing to comment on that.
Ashley cocked an eyebrow at the teen. "Do I want to know?"
"Our werewolf friend," Harry said, shrugging. "And I doubt my becoming a non-human would endear the Ministry to them, especially with how the Ministry and I have been feeling about each other for a while now."
"It's changed a bit, though, right?" one of the AMPs said. "Now they know that dude is back?"
" 'That dude'?" Harry parroted, amused.
The AMP shrugged. "Yeah. What's his name? Volt-Man?"
Harry shook his head. "Voldemort. And, I don't know, myself. I sort of left for here before the Ministry could make up their mind either way. They were sort of busy finding a new Minister, actually..."
"I hope they pick Amelia Bones, myself," Sirius offered, grabbing the lemon-filled doughnut and considering it with his wand out. "She'd make a brilliant Minister."
"She's not your average pureblood," Harry agreed. "But I have a feeling Britain will think she's too soft. No, I have a feeling we'll end up with Lion Hair."
"Scrimgeour?" Sirius offered, then jabbed his wand into the doughnut.
Harry used his paper plate as a shield from squirting lemon crème, while the others around them either used their wand to block it, or ducked behind the cubicle walls. "Yes, him," Harry agreed with the air of someone far too used to squirting lemon crème to let it phase him.
Sirius squinted at the doughnut. "Well, you pay far more attention to politics than I do," he decided, then set the doughnut down and looked at his yellow-tipped wand. "Oh, bugger."
"Well, they picked someone," one of the wizards around them said, passing Harry a paper while Sirius tried cleaning his wand with magic. Finally, Ashley handed him a napkin, tired of watching him shoot off yellow sparks.
Harry looked to the bottom of the American paper to find the page with the world news and flipped to it. A picture of a man with a lion's mane for hair dominated the page. Harry sighed and glanced down to read the article. " 'Rufus Scrimgeour was sworn in to the British Ministry of Magic as the new Minister last night. His promises for the Ministry include more funding for the Auror program and a harsher response to the threat of You-Know-Who. He's also promised to help back the Chosen One in–' Hold up." Harry frowned at the paper. "Who's this 'Chosen One'? Her Majesty?"
He glanced around at the various AMP looking down on them, then looked to Sirius. The animagus cleared his throat, then said, "I think he means you, pup."
"Codswallop," Harry replied, looking back at the paper. " '–help back the Chosen One in his fight against You-Know-Who in any way he can. The Chosen One, as we all know, is our saviour, Harry Potter, who is said to be a part of a prophecy concerning the defeat of You-Know-Who. He is currently travelling outside of Britain for the moment and Scrimgeour hopes to meet him with open arms when Harry returns.' "
Sirius snickered. "What say you, Oh Chosen One?"
Harry folded the paper back up and cleared his throat. "Think the Headmaster would be okay with us secretly Flooing into his office from France or somewhere?"
Sirius grinned at him. "What's this? No fan-fare? No speeches?"
Harry just stared at him after handing the paper back to the wizard who'd let him borrow it.
Ashley chuckled. "Well, does anyone know your itinerary?"
"Other than the entire British Ministry?" Harry replied drily.
"So change it," one of the AMP suggested. "Nothing says you can't change when you're going home a bit. Maybe America agreed with you and you decided to stay an extra week."
"They'd never let him get away with it," another AMP said. "Not if they think he's the one who can destroy their big, bad Dark Lord. They'll want to make sure they know exactly where he is."
Harry tapped on the desk thoughtfully. "But the Minister would have to step back if someone more important than him came to meet us."
"This is the Minister for Magic," Sirius pointed out. "There's no one more important than him."
Harry smirked. "There's Her Majesty."
Ashley grinned. "If you're some big hot-shot, it would make sense for her to come and greet you when you return home," she agreed. "Especially if you're supposed to be able to get rid of the dude wrecking havoc on part of her kingdom. Right?"
"Exactly," Harry agreed.
"Time to owl your cousin then."
"Oh, Merlin, not him," Sirius complained.
Harry kicked Sirius again and rolled his eyes while the others around them laughed. "We should probably be off, then," the teen decided. "If that owl's going to get there in time for them to greet us..."
Everyone agreed to that and stood. Ashley saw the two British wizards to the door and waved them off.
"So, how're you really going to do this?" Sirius asked quietly.
Harry shrugged. "Hermione's back from France tonight. Send her and Ron an owl. If we work this right, there shouldn't be a single hiccup."
"Even though neither of them can do magic?"
Harry smiled. "They can't," he agreed, "but I can."
-0-0-0-
After Hogwarts and the Ministry, the plan for meeting Harry as he returned from America was actually pretty easy to put together. It managed even better once Hermione decided to contact Dumbledore, though Harry wasn't made aware of that addition to the plan until after he'd arrived.
Harry and Sirius came through the International Portkey Terminal to be greeted by a crowd of aurors, reporters and various Ministry personal, including Minister Scrimgeour. However, leading the party were Her Majesty, Lord Kaizer and Rögnvaldr, all of whom wore fancier battle robes than their usual dress.
Before Harry could do more than grimace at their welcoming committee, however, lights started going off as the reporters started taking pictures, and Scrimgeour dashed forward to shake Harry's hand, completely ignoring Her Majesty, which made Rögnvaldr bristle angrily. "Welcome home, Mr Potter. Welcome home," Scrimgeour said.
Harry drew his hand back from the Minister and said, "And you are?"
There was a brief moment of silence while everyone seemed to stare in shock at the too-small teenager.
Then Lord Kaizer laughed and said, "He's the new Minister."
Harry rolled his eyes. "You any more effective than Fudge?" he asked the new Minister.
Scrimgeour tried a smile and said, "Much more effective, Mr Potter."
Harry glanced around behind the man at the various Ministry employees, then leaned in a whispered, "You might want to get rid of Umbridge, since she's got a Blood Quill." Then he leaned back while Scrimgeour looked startled and said, "I'll believe it when I see it," in a voice that would carry to the reporters.
Scrimgeour cleared his throat and forced his smile – which had fallen a bit at the corners – back into place. "I won't let you down, Mr Potter."
Harry shrugged. "Okay," he said in a careless voice, then wandered around Scrimgeour to walk over to where his older self and his two best friends stood. Rögnvaldr didn't look very impressed with the Minister, and Lord Kaizer was watching everything with an amused smirk while Queen Perdita wore a blank expression. Harry bowed in front of Perdita and said, "Your Majesty."
"Good to see someone knows how to treat royalty," Rögnvaldr muttered darkly.
"Harry Potter," Perdita replied, smiling at the teen. "Welcome home."
Harry turned to Lord Kaizer. "Hiya, stupid."
Kaizer rose an eyebrow at the teen. "Brat," he replied fondly, then looked past Harry and said, "Lord Black."
"Lord Kaizer," Sirius said, managing to somehow sound both disgusted with the other Lord and accepting of him at the same time.
Harry rolled his eyes.
Before anything else in the way of greeting could be said, a blonde woman scampered forward with a too-happy smile on her face. "Forgive me, Majesty, Lords," she said, performing a quick curtsey, "but we really must know if the rumours are true."
"What rumours?" Harry asked, pulling off confused rather well.
"Why, about the prophecy concerning yourself and You-Know-Who, Mr Potter," she said, eyes wide. "You are the Chosen One, are you not?"
Before Harry could answer, another voice said, "Of course he is." Everyone turned to stare in shock and horror as Lord Voldemort stepped into the circle of on-lookers. "But not for much longer. Avada Kedavra!"
-0-0-0-0-0-
A/N: Because I'm a jerk, you get a cliffy. Though it really isn't much of one, all things considered. XD
Next chapter is the last!! XD
~Bats ^.^x
Chapters:
1 - Descendants ||| 2 - The Truth About Muggleborns ||| 3 - Defence ||| 4 - The Ministry
5 - DoM |||6 - America ||| 7 - Playing at Life
Author:
batsutousaiPairings: N/A
Warnings: Ooc, OC
Disclaim Her: I apologise in advance for any inaccurate information about Salem, Massachusetts, as I have never been there myself. I get all my info from the internet. (And the god that is Google, without whom I wouldn't know anything. XD)
A/N: Sorry about the OCs, but it was hard to send them to a new country and NOT have any OCs.
America
~
A large part of what made the American Ministry work, Harry found shortly after arriving, was that there were very few purebloods in the States. Most of the population was muggleborn or halfblood and had learned about the American Civil War in their muggle schools. They didn't believe in slavery and they very much believed in equal rights. Non-humans had the same rights that the humans had and a large number of them worked at the Ministry. (A vampire had been the one to greet them at the International Portkey Terminal, since they'd gotten in at night, and had patiently helped the two humans figure out how to get to their hotel.)
Their first day – after sleeping until daylight and downing a potion to help them adjust to the new time – was spent with Sirius dragging Harry through the underground shopping mall in Salem, Massachusetts, which could be reached through a variety of entrances, the most popular being the one in Washington Square, by the gazebo. The underground shopping mall was huge, far bigger than Diagon Alley.
"Biggest shopping centre of any magical people," Sirius commented when Harry asked about the size. "Americans seem to like things big, so the American witches and wizards built the biggest shopping centre they could. Runs through-out Salem."
Harry shook his head. "But why Salem? Isn't that where the more publicised witch hunts were?"
Sirius grinned. "Of course. And that's why they picked it. What better way to scorn the muggles than to make your largest magical centre right under the noses of the people that used to burn witches?"
"More than just shopping down here," a new voice commented. They turned to see a grinning woman wearing light blue robes with some sort of company symbol on it which Harry didn't recognise.
Sirius chuckled and held his hand out. "Sirius Black," he introduced himself. "And this is my godson, Harry. We're just visiting. Don't mind us."
The woman shook his hand, waggling her eyebrows. "Sirius Black, hm? Aren't you that dude that's had the British Ministry doing cartwheels for the past three years?"
Sirius laughed nervously. "Well, yes. But I got cleared earlier this week. They finally gave me a trial."
The woman blinked. "They didn't– Oh, for the love of God! Brits!"
Sirius laughed at that, but Harry just frowned and said, "At least we introduced ourselves."
The woman rose an eyebrow at him and looked him over. "Not properly, I think. You're Harry Potter." Harry glowered at her, earning him a smile. "Well, oh famed lunatic, I'm Ashley Jones, AMP."
Harry blinked, completely thrown for a loop, and looked at Sirius. "American Magical Police," the Animagus translated. "They wear the symbol of the crossed wands on the left side of their chest when they're on duty. And he's not loony," he added to Ashley.
Ashley laughed. "No, I didn't think so. More Brit nonsense, probably. Sorry if I offended you." She looked at Harry.
Harry shrugged. "I got used to it," he admitted.
Ashley shook her head. "Brits." Then she grinned at them and said, "Right! More than shopping. The Salem Underground also has housing for the magical population, as well as hotels for guests. You're not staying down here?"
Sirius shook his head. "Last time I was here, there weren't any hotels. Anyway, half the adventure is staying up on the muggle half and sneaking down here like proper wizards."
Ashley sighed. "Brits," she muttered again, and Harry snickered, as he'd had rather the same reaction when Sirius insisted they stay at a muggle hotel. "There's nothing 'proper' about sneaking around. Anyway, other than the International Apparation Point, everything's down here. Even the Intercontinental Apparation Point is down here. Most of America's magical cities have gone to ground, as it were. Americans like building up, so we built down."
"Clever," Harry admitted. "The British Ministry is underground, but everything else is up on the surface. 'S just got Muggle Repelling Charms on it."
"Shockingly, the Brits are who we got the idea from," Ashley replied, motioning the two visitors to walk with her, which they did. "Our Minister at the time, Jacob Adams, went to England for something – never got solved, so far as I know, whatever it was – but he saw your building and thought it was the coolest thing ever, so he came back and hired some people to build him an underground Ministry building. The old building is still in Washington, where the Ministry was at the time, but it's muggle-owned, now, because they found it. Ministry's here, now." She pointed to a set of glass double doors that she'd walked them to.
Harry grinned. "Brilliant!"
Sirius sighed. "Harry, you agreed to wait a few days before we went to the Ministry."
Harry glanced back at him and waved him off. "I can wait. But you didn't tell me they were in Salem."
"I doubt he knew," Ashley offered. "We've only been here for the past five years. And why do you wanna go to the Ministry? Gonna turn your godfather in?" She grinned.
Harry shook his head. "Lord Kaizer heard I was getting dragged to America by Sirius and asked if I could see how you lot work while I'm here."
Ashley blinked. "Lord... Oh! That dude who's popped up with the old royal family, right?" Harry nodded. "You're friends with him?"
"I don't know that I'd call them 'friends'," Sirius muttered, only to be firmly elbowed in the stomach by Harry.
"Kaizer's related on my mum's side, so we're cousins, kinda. Though he calls me his nephew." Harry made a face. Hermione had been the one to suggest the relation after she heard about Harry's claim to being his own nephew. (She and Harry had been forced to kick Ron until he stopped laughing, first.) When Dumbledore heard the idea, he had agreed that it was probably the best way to face down any questions to the claim, as tests would show that to be true.
Ashley nodded. "Well, you can set up an appointment, if you'd like?"
But Harry was already shaking his head. "If it's all the same, I'd much rather catch them off guard, if I can. Am I allowed to just wander through and see how things work?"
Ashley waved her head back and forth in a sort of 'yes, but no' way. "Some sections don't mind civilians, like the Games and Sports and the Transportation departments. My department doesn't mind them so much, but they start to get a bit twitchy if you poke about too much. The DoM and Ministers' office, though, require special passes, which you can get at the front desk, but they're really paranoid about who goes in and why and it's usually a couple day wait. Some parts of the DoM aren't open to the public, though, but that's partially to do with personal danger and partially to keep people from stealing their research."
Harry blinked and translated DoM to Department of Mysteries, then blinked again as everything processed. "Wait, the Department of Mysteries actually allows visitors? And the Minister's office, too?"
Ashley grinned. "I take it it's not like that in the UK."
"Are you kidding?" Harry replied. "You can't even get into the Ministry without being cross-examined, and going into the Department of Mysteries or the Minister's office is a dream, even for most Ministry employees."
Ashley rolled her eyes. "Brits."
Sirius coughed. "I did tell you the American Ministry works."
Harry shook his head. "Bloody hell. But, why are you lot so lax? That's what I don't get."
Ashley sighed and motioned towards a bench near the double doors. Once they'd all taken a seat, she said, "Part of it is that we don't have a Dark Wizard problem. You may have noticed already that very few Old families live in America, and most of us are muggleborn or halfbloods, so we grew up with the stories of Civil War and Women's Rights and such. We believe in freedom, both of the people's rights and the simple right to know what's going on. A large part of our government was built on the same ideals that the American muggle government was built on: Democracy and Basic Rights. Except we're a much smaller community, so it works a bit better for us than it does for the muggles."
"So, because you're built on freedom, you believe in letting people waltz through the Ministry?" Harry asked, still trying to wrap his head around it. Behind him, Sirius shook his head and got up to get himself some ice cream from a nearby vendor.
"I wouldn't say we let them 'waltz', so much. More that we let them see what's going on in the government. Everyone has equal right to see what's happening, so they also have the equal right to say when they see something going wrong. Having civilians about keeps us on our best behaviour, too, so there's none of that embezzlement that goes on in the Brit Ministry. Chances are, you'll get caught out by someone and then you get the boot."
Harry shook his head. "No embezzlement?" he muttered, remembering how Malfoy always seemed to be filling Fudge's pockets. "No paying the Ministry employees to do things your way?"
Ashley grinned at him. "I take it that's a bit hard to believe."
"Not hard to believe so much as hard to imagine in Britain," Harry replied. "Perhaps it's because you don't have the Old families, the ones with the money. And perhaps you've got the lack of truly Dark wizards to help, too." He sighed and rubbed at his face. "I can't see Britain ever working like that. Our way of life is too ingrained."
"Perhaps it's time someone rubbed their faces in their own shit," Sirius suggested, plopping back down on the bench and holding out a chocolate ice cream to his godson.
Harry blinked at him and shook his head, but took the shit-coloured treat without a word.
Sirius grinned.
"Okay, I don't know a whole lot about this royal family you Brits are so in love with," Ashley said, "but isn't it said that they'll be the ones to change everything for the better or some such?"
Harry shrugged. "Prophecy only says they'll bring equality to all," he said. "But, considering how backwards most of Europe is in that regard, it might as well be changing everything."
"Then maybe it's a bit of what he said," Ashley suggested, jerking her head towards Sirius, who was going after his giant ice cream with a vengeance. "Maybe they need their faces rubbed in it."
Harry sat back to consider that, licking at his own cone. Rub their faces in their own mistakes? Wasn't that an interesting concept. An image of Lucius Malfoy face-first in the sewer came to mind and Harry snickered.
Ashley nodded and stood up. "Well, I'll leave you two to it, then. I very much suggest you put your names in for a formal visit later this week, since you're so interested. But, like I said, you can mostly wander at your own leisure. And I'll have desk work for all of next week, so I might see you in there."
"Desk work?" Harry inquired. "You mean you don't always wander the shopping centre?"
Ashley laughed a bit. "Oh goodness, no. We rotate every week. We get enough desk work that someone's gotta be in there, but you've gotta have someone out here, too, to watch out for the petty crime and the stupid tourists." She winked. "But I pulled the short straw for next week, as it were, so I get to sit on my behind for a few days."
Harry nodded. "I suppose we'll see you, then. Enjoy your week of freedom?"
"What's left of it," Ashley agreed, then left them with a wave.
"Can I finish my ice cream before you drag me in there to set a date?" Sirius requested tiredly.
Harry chuckled and relaxed back onto the bench. "We can wait until I finish my ice cream," he promised, glancing over at where Sirius had mostly finished his.
Sirius smiled a little sheepishly and nodded.
The rest of that week and the weekend was spent with a great deal of running about and playing tourist. Sirius was quite determined to see as much of the muggle monuments about witches as he was to see the magical monuments. They both had a great deal of laughs over some of the muggles' ideas of magic, and Harry eventually agreed that looking at the muggle side of America was worth it.
On Monday, Sirius managed to talk Harry out of visiting the Ministry and took him clothing shopping in the Salem Underground instead. He gleefully spent a day spoiling Harry rotten and Harry allowed it, because he knew Sirius needed to know he still had a part in Harry's life. More of a part than just the emotional support. Harry was quite happy to let Sirius play parent for a day, especially since they were often more like best mates when together.
On Tuesday, however, Harry put his foot down. His tour of the more secure areas of the Ministry was set for Wednesday, and he wanted to get an idea of how the Ministry was operated before he walked around with a guide – which was, the welcome wizard told him when he signed up, the usual policy. Sirius did a great deal of whinging and moaning until Harry hit him with a stupefy and changed himself into Lord Kaizer so he could go alone without anyone questioning his lack of guardian.
No one in America really know what Lord Kaizer looked like, and Harry managed a fair approximation of an American accent, so even less people looked at him cockeyed. Harry's trip through the Ministry was quite enlightening, of course, especially when he saw the Non-Human Complaint Department, which was a section of the AMP where non-humans could come to report either their own species attacking humans, or humans who were taking a nasty attitude with non-humans. There was also the ability for humans to report non-humans who were acting out, but those were handled at a different booth and had more paperwork to fill out. (Harry had chuckled at the idea of keeping humans from calling out against the non-humans as often by giving them more paperwork.)
Harry also enjoyed the Muggle Cooperation Department. Because America's magical population was so muggleborn-heavy, they had worked a lot more towards finding a way to make muggleborns more at home in the magical world, something which Harry could very much appreciate. The things offered covered such things as a magical integration program for muggleborns and their families before school and working muggle concepts in to the magical world, such as the telly, computer and phone. (Harry couldn't help but think that Ron could have used a crash-course in using a muggle telephone a few years ago.) The department also set standards for the Muggle Studies class, which was a required class in all American magical schools through third year.
All told, Harry couldn't wait until the next day, when he could see how the Ministry acted when they knew someone was watching them.
Sirius hadn't been pleased by being stunned, but he'd also been rather pleased to have avoided a trip to the Ministry. Of course, the next day, he couldn't avoid going, so he followed Harry to the Ministry with a rather glum look on his face.
The glum look disappeared when they found Ashley waiting for them at the information desk.
"You're showing us around, then?" Sirius asked as he and Harry had their wands registered. ("Just a precaution," the welcome wizard told them, and seemed almost surprised when neither wizard looked irritated at having their wands checked. Ashley had helpfully commented on how the Brits always checked the wands of guests, which explained far more to the poor welcome wizard than it did to the two British men, who, honestly, could care less.)
Ashley gave them quite the grand tour. She had great fun with it, so far as Harry could tell. (Of course, having seen the pile of papers on her desk the day before, Harry could quite understand why.) She also had a minor sales pitch – that's what Harry called it in his mind – for every other department. Eventually, Harry said, "I did say I was just looking around for Kaizer, right? Not that I'm looking to move to America?"
"Of course you did," Ashley responded, wearing an affronted look. She did stop with the sales pitch, though, so Harry didn't bother bringing it up again.
At the end of the tour, Ashley turned to him – they'd both taken to ignoring Sirius, other than the occasional need to drag him away from something shiny, usually on Harry's part – and asked, "So, what say you about our Ministry?"
Harry hummed for a moment, considering the question. "It's much better than the Ministry back home," he admitted, ignoring the various high-fives going around the AMP department, where they'd stopped. "Though, honestly, that's not saying a lot. The way your lot treat non-humans and muggleborns is kinda what I wish the British Ministry would do, but I also think that a lot of your policies wouldn't work back home."
"Oh?" Ashley asked, waving some of her co-workers away and leading the way to where some doughnuts and tea waited for them at her desk. "Like what?"
Harry snagged a doughnut and took a bite before saying, "Well, your open door policy, for starters. It's brilliant here, because so many of your lot are muggleborn and Light. Back home, such a policy would end up getting things all mucked up. Already does, to be honest. Too many purebloods with too much money and free time go running about, making sure things go their way."
"Like Malfoy," Sirius muttered, mouth full of doughnut and tea.
Harry rolled his eyes at his godfather and gently whacked the bottom of his chin in a reminder to not talk with his mouth full. "There’re too many purebloods who demand their rights back home," the teen continued, ignoring Sirius' sheepish grin and Ashley's snicker. "And not enough muggleborns or halfbloods with the money or magic to back up their own demand for rights. I would like to see a system back home where everyone gets what they're due, but I don't see it happening, especially not with such emphasis being put on purebloods."
Ashley shrugged. "Didn't you say Lord Kaizer's your cousin? On your muggleborn-mom's side? So he'd have to be at least halfblood, right?"
Harry munched thoughtfully on his doughnut, absently smacking Sirius' hand when the man went for the last chocolate doughnut, which Harry had put to one side for himself. Admit his halfblood status? That was sure to go over well. But, then again...
Sirius whimpered when Ashley followed Harry's example and smacked his hand away from her doughnut.
"Padfoot," Harry said with a tired look, "there are three doughnuts left in the box."
Sirius gave him a wounded look. "But they're all plain."
"No they're not," Harry replied, looking into the box. "Look, this one has lemon crème inside–"
"Lemon," Sirius said with distaste.
"And this one's got powdered sugar all around it."
Sirius eyed said doughnut, then shook his head. "It's almost all been shaken off. And none of it's chocolate."
Harry rolled his eyes. "Are you, or are you not, a wizard?"
Sirius silently considered the doughnuts for a long moment, then said, "But I don't know any spells that can make those chocolate."
Harry closed his eyes, mentally asking some higher power for patience, then split his chocolate doughnut and gave half of it to his godfather, who looked rather like Christmas had come early. "That's all you're getting," Harry warned him. "If you want more, you'll have to eat what's in the box. Understand?"
Sirius smiled at him and shoved the whole half-doughnut into his mouth. "Yesh, Mummy."
Harry waited until his godfather had mostly swallowed, then smacked him.
Sirius winked.
Ashley chuckled, then hid her extra doughnut in a cubby with a preservation charm on it when Sirius started eyeing it. "What about non-humans? You said you like how we work with them?"
Harry nodded. "A friend of mine's a werewolf, so I very much appreciate how you work with them," he agreed, "and I'd love to see Britain do the same, but unless something major happens, it'll never work. It's just like the inequality facing muggleborns: the purebloods are just too powerful – and too set in their ways – to allow it. It works so well here..." He sighed and rubbed at his face. They were trying, with the changes they'd already made to the Ministry, but it was so hard.
"Britain's got a different idea of what 'Dark' means," Sirius commented. "When someone says 'Dark', I think about torture and violence. About Voldemort. What do Americans think about?" He glanced at Ashley.
Ashley blinked, a little surprised. "When you say 'Dark'?" Sirius nodded. Ashley tapped her chin for a long moment, then said, "I suppose I think of a story my mom used to tell me about this horrible Dark wizard who ruled over America when we'd first come here. He got beaten down by the native wizards, though, the Native Americans. They welcomed the Light wizards and taught us about loving the land."
"Stories?" Harry asked, aghast. "You think of a–"
Sirius covered Harry's mouth with a smile while Ashley shook her head. "Well, yes. We get mostly petty crime here: wizards stealing a couple of lizards tongues from across the way, maybe a witch selling human fingers. We don't have Dark Lords popping up every ten years. I mean, sure, we've got a couple of magical folk that practise Dark Arts, and we've got a lot of stuff that's illegal, but most of it stays private and we never hear about it."
Harry shook his head. "Boy was I ever born in the wrong country."
Ashley and Sirius – as well as the few AMPs who had come to listen to their conversation – all chuckled a bit.
Harry rubbed at his face beneath his glasses, feeling far too old. Would a Ministry like America's even work in Britain?
"So, do you think of vampires or werewolves when I say Dark?" Sirius asked, curious.
Ashley shrugged. "Sure, I suppose. But I think of them more in the way I think of Dark wizards and witches: Something that exists, but not something I need to be particularly worried about. They're there, yeah, but they're not going to suddenly go on a killing rampage. Well, I hope not. You plannin' on killing anyone today, Jeff?" she asked one of the AMPs poking his head over her cubicle walls.
The man in question flashed two very sharp teeth at them in a grin. "Dunno. The kid looks mighty tasty."
Harry rolled his eyes, not the least bit concerned, while the others laughed. "Yeah, yeah. You can take a bite if you'll let me practise some of my spellwork for school."
Sirius snorted. "I'd suggest not taking him up on that, personally. He taught a number of his fellows in fifth and seventh year Defence."
"Serious?" another AMP asked, looking surprised. It seemed that, once Ashley had pulled them into the conversation with Jeff the vampire, they all felt willing to join in.
Harry felt his face heat and kicked Sirius under the edge of the desk. "It was just review of what we learned–"
"Or should have learned," Sirius helpfully added.
"–in our first through our fourth years," Harry finished, ignoring Sirius. "Because Kingsley couldn't cover all that and help us with all the stuff we should have learned in our fifth or seventh years from the Toad."
"You must be damn good at Defence to have pulled that off," Jeff the vampire commented. "Even just for review. I've heard some about the quality of Defence work at Hogwarts over the past seven years. My sire still lives there, and he likes to keep updated on any schooling."
"Why?" Harry asked, curious.
Jeff shrugged. "He's got a natural-born son who's about age to join Hogwarts, if he weren't a vampire. He'd like to send Alan to Hogwarts, 'cause that's where he went, but he's probably going to have to come here and stay with me. Which I don't mind, but it's the principle of the thing."
"Has he spoken to Professor Dumbledore?" Harry asked. "My friend who is a werewolf went to Hogwarts, even though he was a non-human. And one of our professors right now is a centaur, while another is a half giant. Professor Dumbledore's really good about the whole non-human thing."
"The centaurs live in the forest, so it's not unusual to see them on the campus, and it's actually pretty easy to hide half-gianthood and being a werewolf. Not so with being a vampire."
Harry sighed. "I suppose so," he agreed, recalling what he'd learned about vampires in third year with Remus. "Still, he could try?"
Jeff offered him a lopsided smile. "I'll suggest it to him," he promised.
"Hey! I know a way to shock Britain out of their crazy ways!" Sirius decided.
"Bloody hell," Harry muttered, even as Ashley said, "What is it?"
"Harry can be turned into a non-human!"
Harry kicked his godfather. Hard. "Are you planning on a repeat of your fifth year or something?" he asked.
Sirius flinched. "Harry, that's not what I meant."
Harry cocked an eyebrow at him. "If Moony were here, he'd have cursed you for a suggestion like that."
Sirius huffed and crossed his arms over his chest, refusing to comment on that.
Ashley cocked an eyebrow at the teen. "Do I want to know?"
"Our werewolf friend," Harry said, shrugging. "And I doubt my becoming a non-human would endear the Ministry to them, especially with how the Ministry and I have been feeling about each other for a while now."
"It's changed a bit, though, right?" one of the AMPs said. "Now they know that dude is back?"
" 'That dude'?" Harry parroted, amused.
The AMP shrugged. "Yeah. What's his name? Volt-Man?"
Harry shook his head. "Voldemort. And, I don't know, myself. I sort of left for here before the Ministry could make up their mind either way. They were sort of busy finding a new Minister, actually..."
"I hope they pick Amelia Bones, myself," Sirius offered, grabbing the lemon-filled doughnut and considering it with his wand out. "She'd make a brilliant Minister."
"She's not your average pureblood," Harry agreed. "But I have a feeling Britain will think she's too soft. No, I have a feeling we'll end up with Lion Hair."
"Scrimgeour?" Sirius offered, then jabbed his wand into the doughnut.
Harry used his paper plate as a shield from squirting lemon crème, while the others around them either used their wand to block it, or ducked behind the cubicle walls. "Yes, him," Harry agreed with the air of someone far too used to squirting lemon crème to let it phase him.
Sirius squinted at the doughnut. "Well, you pay far more attention to politics than I do," he decided, then set the doughnut down and looked at his yellow-tipped wand. "Oh, bugger."
"Well, they picked someone," one of the wizards around them said, passing Harry a paper while Sirius tried cleaning his wand with magic. Finally, Ashley handed him a napkin, tired of watching him shoot off yellow sparks.
Harry looked to the bottom of the American paper to find the page with the world news and flipped to it. A picture of a man with a lion's mane for hair dominated the page. Harry sighed and glanced down to read the article. " 'Rufus Scrimgeour was sworn in to the British Ministry of Magic as the new Minister last night. His promises for the Ministry include more funding for the Auror program and a harsher response to the threat of You-Know-Who. He's also promised to help back the Chosen One in–' Hold up." Harry frowned at the paper. "Who's this 'Chosen One'? Her Majesty?"
He glanced around at the various AMP looking down on them, then looked to Sirius. The animagus cleared his throat, then said, "I think he means you, pup."
"Codswallop," Harry replied, looking back at the paper. " '–help back the Chosen One in his fight against You-Know-Who in any way he can. The Chosen One, as we all know, is our saviour, Harry Potter, who is said to be a part of a prophecy concerning the defeat of You-Know-Who. He is currently travelling outside of Britain for the moment and Scrimgeour hopes to meet him with open arms when Harry returns.' "
Sirius snickered. "What say you, Oh Chosen One?"
Harry folded the paper back up and cleared his throat. "Think the Headmaster would be okay with us secretly Flooing into his office from France or somewhere?"
Sirius grinned at him. "What's this? No fan-fare? No speeches?"
Harry just stared at him after handing the paper back to the wizard who'd let him borrow it.
Ashley chuckled. "Well, does anyone know your itinerary?"
"Other than the entire British Ministry?" Harry replied drily.
"So change it," one of the AMP suggested. "Nothing says you can't change when you're going home a bit. Maybe America agreed with you and you decided to stay an extra week."
"They'd never let him get away with it," another AMP said. "Not if they think he's the one who can destroy their big, bad Dark Lord. They'll want to make sure they know exactly where he is."
Harry tapped on the desk thoughtfully. "But the Minister would have to step back if someone more important than him came to meet us."
"This is the Minister for Magic," Sirius pointed out. "There's no one more important than him."
Harry smirked. "There's Her Majesty."
Ashley grinned. "If you're some big hot-shot, it would make sense for her to come and greet you when you return home," she agreed. "Especially if you're supposed to be able to get rid of the dude wrecking havoc on part of her kingdom. Right?"
"Exactly," Harry agreed.
"Time to owl your cousin then."
"Oh, Merlin, not him," Sirius complained.
Harry kicked Sirius again and rolled his eyes while the others around them laughed. "We should probably be off, then," the teen decided. "If that owl's going to get there in time for them to greet us..."
Everyone agreed to that and stood. Ashley saw the two British wizards to the door and waved them off.
"So, how're you really going to do this?" Sirius asked quietly.
Harry shrugged. "Hermione's back from France tonight. Send her and Ron an owl. If we work this right, there shouldn't be a single hiccup."
"Even though neither of them can do magic?"
Harry smiled. "They can't," he agreed, "but I can."
After Hogwarts and the Ministry, the plan for meeting Harry as he returned from America was actually pretty easy to put together. It managed even better once Hermione decided to contact Dumbledore, though Harry wasn't made aware of that addition to the plan until after he'd arrived.
Harry and Sirius came through the International Portkey Terminal to be greeted by a crowd of aurors, reporters and various Ministry personal, including Minister Scrimgeour. However, leading the party were Her Majesty, Lord Kaizer and Rögnvaldr, all of whom wore fancier battle robes than their usual dress.
Before Harry could do more than grimace at their welcoming committee, however, lights started going off as the reporters started taking pictures, and Scrimgeour dashed forward to shake Harry's hand, completely ignoring Her Majesty, which made Rögnvaldr bristle angrily. "Welcome home, Mr Potter. Welcome home," Scrimgeour said.
Harry drew his hand back from the Minister and said, "And you are?"
There was a brief moment of silence while everyone seemed to stare in shock at the too-small teenager.
Then Lord Kaizer laughed and said, "He's the new Minister."
Harry rolled his eyes. "You any more effective than Fudge?" he asked the new Minister.
Scrimgeour tried a smile and said, "Much more effective, Mr Potter."
Harry glanced around behind the man at the various Ministry employees, then leaned in a whispered, "You might want to get rid of Umbridge, since she's got a Blood Quill." Then he leaned back while Scrimgeour looked startled and said, "I'll believe it when I see it," in a voice that would carry to the reporters.
Scrimgeour cleared his throat and forced his smile – which had fallen a bit at the corners – back into place. "I won't let you down, Mr Potter."
Harry shrugged. "Okay," he said in a careless voice, then wandered around Scrimgeour to walk over to where his older self and his two best friends stood. Rögnvaldr didn't look very impressed with the Minister, and Lord Kaizer was watching everything with an amused smirk while Queen Perdita wore a blank expression. Harry bowed in front of Perdita and said, "Your Majesty."
"Good to see someone knows how to treat royalty," Rögnvaldr muttered darkly.
"Harry Potter," Perdita replied, smiling at the teen. "Welcome home."
Harry turned to Lord Kaizer. "Hiya, stupid."
Kaizer rose an eyebrow at the teen. "Brat," he replied fondly, then looked past Harry and said, "Lord Black."
"Lord Kaizer," Sirius said, managing to somehow sound both disgusted with the other Lord and accepting of him at the same time.
Harry rolled his eyes.
Before anything else in the way of greeting could be said, a blonde woman scampered forward with a too-happy smile on her face. "Forgive me, Majesty, Lords," she said, performing a quick curtsey, "but we really must know if the rumours are true."
"What rumours?" Harry asked, pulling off confused rather well.
"Why, about the prophecy concerning yourself and You-Know-Who, Mr Potter," she said, eyes wide. "You are the Chosen One, are you not?"
Before Harry could answer, another voice said, "Of course he is." Everyone turned to stare in shock and horror as Lord Voldemort stepped into the circle of on-lookers. "But not for much longer. Avada Kedavra!"
A/N: Because I'm a jerk, you get a cliffy. Though it really isn't much of one, all things considered. XD
Next chapter is the last!! XD
~Bats ^.^x
1 - Descendants ||| 2 - The Truth About Muggleborns ||| 3 - Defence ||| 4 - The Ministry
5 - DoM |||
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no subject
Date: 16/3/10 23:51 (UTC)I was enjoying everything and found America really cool and then I get to the last paragraph:
Lord Voldemort stepped into the circle of on-lookers. "But not for much longer. Avada Kedavra!"
A/N: Because I'm a jerk, you get a cliffy. Though it really isn't much of one, all things considered. XD
GIRL, WHAT HAVE WE TOLD YOU ABOUT CLIFFHANGERS!?!
REMEMBER SAY NO TO CLIFFHANGERS, YOU EVIL SLYTHERIN!
HOW IS THIS NOT A CLIFFY, ALL THINGS CONSIDERING?!?! EVERYTHING IS OK AND WELL, AND THEN WHAM SURPRISE!VOLDEMORT FTW, THAT CAN TOTALLY PWN EVERYONE WITH HIS MAD
SKILLZSPELLZ!!!ALKDSJLASJDFL, IDEK!!!
Then I was in such a confused state that I almost missed:
Next chapter is the last!!
I DON'T UNDERSTAND HOW IT CAN BE THE LAST!!!
THERE IS SO MUCH LEFT TO BE SAID AND DONE!
*breathes**breathes**breathes*
Now, I just have to find where my brain went off too. It totally exploded and ran away from me. *whistles* Here Brain, Here Brain! Come back and stay away from those Zombies and Evil Authors!!!
no subject
Date: 17/3/10 05:38 (UTC)*mad cackle* I love cliffies.
Also, it's not a real cliffie 'cause you already know Harry survives. ^.~
Oh, I know there's still a lot to be said and done, but I finished the fight between Harry and Voldie and realised I didn't really have the energy to come up with enough crap to last them through two more years of schooling. So I went the newspaper articles route. Everything'll be explained, but not with ten more chapters. O.o
*pats*
XD
no subject
Date: 16/3/10 23:51 (UTC)I guess I'll just have to rally the masses so we aren't all waiting for days and days and days for you to post the next chapter. Honestly, the review blackmail is just downright evil if there are CLIFFHANGERS involved.
I do like this story. Tell me there will be more soon?
no subject
Date: 17/3/10 05:32 (UTC)Ah, but it works better that way. *mad cackle*
Three days. Give or take a few hours.
no subject
Date: 17/3/10 13:14 (UTC)no subject
Date: 17/3/10 04:13 (UTC)no subject
Date: 17/3/10 05:33 (UTC)♥