“Mr Potter, we need you to come with us.”
Harry’s stomach flipped as he got to his feet, pocketing his cards, though he didn’t think that he’d be needing them much longer where he was going. “Thanks for today.” He nodded to the Lovegoods before following the rather solemn looking and constantly alert Aurors back to the Leaky Cauldron and of into one of the side rooms where Harry was shocked to see the Minister for Magic waiting for him.
“Sit down Harry.” Fudge spoke, indicating a seat by the fire, which was roaring away in the hearth.
Harry sat nervously, goosebumps rising on his arms. If this was about what had happened to Vernon, he was surprised that he wasn’t being escorted straight to Azkaban, unless they wanted to snap his wand first...
Fudge sat down in a chair opposite him and looked him over carefully before speaking, “I am Cornelius Fudge, Harry. I am the Minister for Magic.”
Harry knew that already but Fudge didn’t know that Harry had seen him arresting Hagrid, nor could he be allowed to know unless he wanted to get a large group of people into trouble.
Tom entered the room, carrying a tray of tea and crumpets, confusing Harry further. The innkeeper placed the food on the table and then left. The reassuring smile Tom had on his face didn’t help matters at all.
“Well Harry. You’ve had all of us in a bit of a panic.” Fudge told the very confused boy. Harry just stared at him, wondering why there wasn’t shouting and threatening and demands for him to hand over his wand, “Running away from your Aunt’s home like that! Thank goodness we had Aurors out already...”
“S...Sir?” Harry asked, too confused to know what else to say.
“I have a bit of bad news for you.” Fudge’s face turned grave, “Unfortunately we sent out an Accidental Magic Reversal team to deal with both your Uncle and your Cousin and none of them could do a thing to help them.”
Harry wasn’t sure if he should be happy or sad about that news.
“However we have had them taken into St. Mungos and placed on the Janus Thickly Ward, which is where those with long term spell damage are hosted during their recovery.”
There was something about Dudley and his Uncle being looked after in the same ward as Lockheart that amused Harry, though he still wasn’t quite sure what this was about since they didn’t seem too angry about his uncle’s unresponsive state.
“We are still talking to your aunt regarding you going back to her next summer. The woman seems quite certain you’re possessed or some such rot, but we can test for that easily enough and we did assure her that we’d keep a close eye on you while you were there, but I’m certain that she’s worrying about nothing. Accidental magic is understandable in a child, you just need to learn a bit better control.” Fudge paused for a moment, “Assuming it was accidental.”
Harry nodded, “I don’t even know how I did it.”
Fudge nodded at Harry’s not quite a lie. Harry could imagine that whatever he had done while he’d been ‘asleep’ he’d probably meant to do at the time, but he could honestly say that he had no clue how it had happened.
“So all that remains is to decide where you will stay for the rest of the summer.” Fudge said as he buttered one of the crumpets and took a big bite, “I suggest that you take a room here for the rest of the...”
“Hang on!” Harry blurted out, “You mean I’m not being punished?”
Fudge grew confused and Harry could practically see the Minister for Magic trying to put together what was going on. Then he chuckled, “My dear boy, we’re not going to punish you for a couple of incidents of accidental magic,” He was gesticulating with both arms, the crumpet forgotten, “We don’t send people to Azkaban for defending themselves.”
Harry blinked at him, wondering what Fudge knew about his actions during his blackouts that he didn’t and was horribly tempted to ask. “But last year...”
Suddenly the amusement fled from Fudge’s face and fear replaced it, “Circumstances change Harry. We have to take into account the current climate...” In other words something had happened to change their attitude towards him, at least for now, and Harry had a feeling that it was something to do with the same Sirius Black that Tom had mentioned earlier. “Surely you don’t want to be expelled.”
Harry shook his head, more than happy to take advantage of the situation in order to remain out of jail and to keep his wand. “No, sir.”
“Then I don’t see what else there is to discuss.” Fudge got to his feet, “Now you understand, of course, that you can’t go wandering off into Muggle London,” Well there went his plan to get more cards, if only so he could understand what Luna was talking about, “Nor should you go wandering down Knockturn Alley. You’re much better and safer off wandering around Diagon...”
Where the Aurors could keep an eye on him was the unspoken ending to that sentence. Harry nodded of course. Anything to keep the Minister of Magic happy and him out of trouble after all and it was better than being sent straight back to the Dursleys where he could just imagine that his aunt would make his life a living hell.
Right up until she triggered a blackout at least...
“As regards to the charge of possession, Shacklebolt,” He gestured to the man next to the door who walked over, nodding to Harry as he did so, “Can test for that right now.”
“Afternoon, Mr Potter.” Shacklebolt spoke, “If you’d just take off anything magical that might mess with the readings and put them and your wand on the table.” Harry did just that, removing the bracer and dumping both his wand and it on the table, covered by his jacket, “Now just hold still for a moment. This won’t hurt in the least.” Harry couldn’t help the flinch that came when the Auror raised his wand and spoke so swiftly that Harry didn’t catch what he was saying.
A bolt of yellow light hit Harry’s chest and before he could say a word a glow suddenly appeared out of nowhere, surrounding him. Harry stared at his hand in shock and examined it, intrigued by the pale green light. It was obviously not normal as Shacklebolt looked rather surprised, but when it died down the Minister turned all of his attention on the Auror.
“So?” Fudge demanded.
“Clean. He’s not possessed.” Shacklebolt commented, still giving Harry an odd look. “B...”
“Good, good that settles that.” Fudge interrupted as Shacklebolt went to say something else, “I’d hate to have to send him through after all.”
“Definitely no need for that.” Whatever the Minister had meant by that seemed to knock the Auror back into ‘duty’ mode and Harry could practically see him snap back to attention. “He’s not possessed, so...”
“In that case,” Minister Fudge headed for the door, “I’ll just have a word with Tom and check there’s a room here for you.”
Harry pocketed his wand and was just slipping the bracer back on when Shacklebolt caught his arm. “Potter, a word?”
Harry didn’t have much choice in the matter but he nodded anyway.
“You’re not possessed but I would suggest you lay low for a while.” Shacklebolt informed him, “If they decide to test you again someone might not be as lenient as I was. That glow was supposed to be white. That it was partly another colour suggests that you have been possessed recently or have had soul to soul contact with someone. People don’t survive possession normally. You could land up in the Department of Mysteries as an experiment or worse. I don’t know what it means, but I’ve heard of the term ‘sending them through’ before and when I asked, I got told that the person in question was no longer alive so...”
Harry paled slightly at Shacklebolt’s words, “Thanks for the warning.”
Shacklebolt let him go and Harry finished adjusting the bracer, feeling slightly more secure when the snake on it tightened itself, securing the bracer on his arm.
Shacklebolt was giving it a curious look and was about to open his mouth to ask something when the Minister walked into the room looking rather pleased with himself.
“It’s all settled. Room 11 will be yours for the rest of the summer.” Fudge grinned at him as Harry hastily shoved the arm with the bracer into his jacket sleeve, not wanting Fudge to see the golden item for an odd reason that he couldn’t quite explain besides ‘it felt like a bad idea’. “You’re to be back here before dark and Tom will be keeping an eye on you for me.”
Harry frowned, confused as to why Fudge was trying to keep him under his thumb when he hadn’t cared enough to look into Harry’s situation before. It was all because of Black, Harry was almost certain of that. “But...” Harry trailed off at the look on Fudge’s face. “Yes, Minister.”
“Good.” Fudge nodded, “Have a good summer Harry and try not to get into any more trouble. Remember if you have any problems the Aurors are around to protect the public, so don’t be afraid to ask.”
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