Two Old Friends
If there was one thing Amelia Bones despised about her job as the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, it was the never-ending mountain that was paperwork. After the Dark Lord had come out of hiding and his new reign of terror had begun, Fudge and the Wizengamot (those who were not Death Eaters) had pressured her to quickly sort the problem out. For Amelia, it was like being back in the past when the Dark Lord had first begun his campaign of violence and destruction in the British Isles.
Millicent Bagnold and many others had been enamoured and compelled by his bewitching pitches of a society run by purebloods but that spell had thankfully died out when Voldemort revealed his true colours, as a bloodthirsty and evil tyrant, hell-bent on slaughtering every enemy he had. Bagnold had foolishly had her head in the sand for a long time before she pulled it out, by that point it was almost too late.
The only reason they'd gotten through the war, and Amelia was bitter and honest about this, was because of whatever happened at Godric's Hollow. Without Lily's sacrifice, Lord Voldemort would have won. Hands down. With the Auror's hands tied by Dumbledore and Bagnold, Death Eater casualties were low.
Fudge's time in office had been a nightmare for her department because, for reasons that beggared logic and reason, the pompous idiot listened to the lies the magical world was safe and they didn't need a DMLE that was fully staffed until their opinions became Fudge's own. The DMLE found itself a shadow of its former self. They had barely been able to hold the Death Eaters back this time around.
Amelia had gotten into many screaming matches with Fudge and Dumbledore about having fresh funding and resources; Dumbledore was more than happy to help, anything to provide an edge in the fighting even if he barely did anything himself, but Fudge seemed to think if he pointed fingers at someone the problem would just disappear. Sadly life did not work like that.
But now, once more, the Potter family had sacrificed a lot of itself to end the war.
Amelia sighed and pulled her monocle out of her eye and rubbed her face tiredly. In front of her were many reports, showing the conditions of many of the Death Eaters. Hundreds of them were now dead. They had no magic, it had all been taken out of them. A part of her wondered if Harry Potter had done it deliberately to slap her in the face, to tell her "All of you fucked up before, now you won't get the chance to make more mistakes."
Or had he done it because he felt none of them could be trusted with the Death Eaters? She believed that was it.
Amelia shook her head.
Harry Potter.
What a mess. It was just…just so wrong that the country had to depend on a child to save them; it was bad enough they had messed up when the boy was a baby and had lost his parents, but for them to sentence him to prison without first discovering the truth….
Was it any wonder Harry wanted to leave the British magical world? Actually, on that point, why wouldn't he just leave the whole magical world for good? He knew the muggle world. He could easily find a way to make a new life there for himself in some way. But no. There wasn't a single shred of doubt in her mind Fudge would try to use young Potter for his agenda, but she doubted it would succeed. After seeing those memories, Amelia Bones had the uneasy feeling that Harry Potter, who had seen through multiple manipulations over the years, would be prepared for new ones. And he had no particular love for Fudge and the Ministry. But it would happen. Bones had no idea how Fudge's administration was going to last since his backers were revealed to be Death Eaters, so he'd try to cosy up to the person responsible for ending the war.
Dumbledore, on the other hand, was trying to keep the boy in Britain. While she could understand his methods and reasoning, Amelia could not help but think if he was with his actual blood family, they would help heal him so he could never turn Dark.
Her communications mirror chirped. "Madam Bones."
It was Ada Cackle, her secretary. "Yes, Ada?"
"Sorry to disturb you, Madam, but Augusta Longbottom's here, for your 5:00 pm meeting."
"Alright, send her in." Amelia and Augusta, both old friends from Hogwarts, regularly met up and had a chat. Thinking of old friends made Amelia glance at the photos sitting on her desk. Seeing younger versions of Dorea Black and Euphemia Potter standing with her in Hogwarts uniform, both waving and smiling, unaware of the horrors that lay ahead, made her heartache.
'I wish you were both here, you would have never let anything happen to young Harry, and he would never have grown up because of Dumbledore's senseless mistakes,' Amelia thought sadly, remembering how Euphemia, old and ill, had spoken so happily about her adorable grandson, and she wondered how her old friend would have felt about Harry now…
"Amelia, is everything alright?" Amelia shook herself out of her trance and smiled at Augusta, inwardly rolling her eyes at the stuffed vulture on her head.
"Just remembering old times. Sit down, Augusta. How is everything? I wasn't expecting a get-together today, especially after…," she trailed off, unable to say it.
Augusta nodded sadly. "I was in the courtroom. I saw those memories. Seeing them, seeing Lily, James, and Euphemia and Fleamont… I just needed to talk."
Amelia was a professional Auror. She saw how her old friend's eyes drifted over to the photos, and she knew Augusta was thinking back to simpler, happier moments. She summoned a Ministry House elf and ordered some refreshments, and pretty soon both old witches were drinking tea with biscuits. Amelia gave orders to Ada to make sure nobody came in.
It was not long before Augusta, never one to mince her words, bluntly asked, "What's going to happen with Harry Potter, Amelia?"
Amelia sighed. Harry Potter was all anyone could speak of today, not that she was surprised. But the memory of those cold, dark and burning emerald green eyes made her shiver. "Nothing, if I can help it, but it's a shambles. Fudge overrode all of the justice protocols to achieve more votes and publicity."
Augusta growled at the reminder. "I tried to stop him doing that, the little toad. But he had too much support in the Wizengamot. It's times like that, I wish his father was around; he never thought Cornelius would excel after seeing for himself what a disaster he was."
Amelia blinked at the news Cornelius Fudge's father gave up on him in life. She wondered what he'd make of his son now; wilfully blind, stupid, dangerously incompetent, someone who cared more for publicity than getting the job done, blaming people without proof, subjecting children to the like of Dolores Umbridge….
"I'm going to try to find a way to make the justice protocols hard to ignore, Augusta. That trial last year should never have happened, not in the way it did. Harry Potter was humiliated and he was denied the truth potion. Fudge was never interested in justice, just making sure the Ministry was seen doing something," Amelia grimaced.
Augusta grimaced herself. "How's it going with the war now over?" She asked, slightly dreamlike, not too dissimilar to Luna, her grandson's girlfriend; the girl had won her over with her quick intelligence.
"Challenging. The Death Eaters have lost their magic, which means there are dozens of people dead or dying. To be honest, Augusta, I can't feel sorry for them. But it's left one hell of a mess."
"I know what you mean," the scowl on Augusta Longbototm's face was scary. "I'm just glad Bellatrix, Rabastan and Rodulphus are gone."
"I'm now left worrying about the next generation who grew up with that poison in their ears; I only hope that the loss of so many people has made them think twice," Amelia said seriously. She hoped that the next generation of Death Eaters who hadn't been marked were smart enough to realise it was a bad idea, considering the state of their world now so many families were now dead or in shambles.
"If they do then they should answer for it."
"Not if Dumbledore has his way, Augusta. You know what a bleeding heart that man is. How soft he is. He doesn't get the fact the world isn't some dreamy bubble or a fantasy where everything is like a school playground," Amelia pointed out. "I've spent years pressuring him to find someone proficient for potions and Defence. He has never listened. The way he kept defending Snape and his choices….." She shook her head. "I only hope with Snape revealed to be a Death Eater all along, he's been shaken enough to stop trusting everyone to the extent he has."
"I'm going to pressure the Board of Governors," Augusta promised, "with some luck, I can make them put pressure on Dumbledore to find decent Defence and Potions teachers. This madness has gone on long enough. There is a lot of pressure on the Board from the Unspeakables, the Healers at St Mungo's and the DMLE, but you know that already. I have no idea what the old fool was planning or thinking but I don't care, trusting Snape was a bad idea, but I don't know what made the man so complacent and stupid, Amelia. He was sharp when he was a professor during our time."
"I never understood it either, Augusta," Amelia replied. "I must have argued with Dumbledore a thousand times a summer to do something about the drop in recruits. He just waved me off like a schoolgirl. That man should never have been given so many positions, let alone still be at Hogwarts."
Augusta nodded. She and Amelia, along with Dorea and Euphemia, had always respected Dumbledore as a professor, but his actions during the war with Grindelwald had left dozens of red flags fluttering overhead for their liking.
"Amelia, do you think he's got plans over young Harry?" Augusta asked anxiously.
"Undoubtedly. I only hope there won't be plans we'll all live to regret. Dumbledore and Fudge have caused enough damage over the last couple of years; with Snape ruining potions, Dumbledore putting his plans first before everything else, and Fudge sending Umbridge of all people to Hogwarts," Amelia grimaced as she remembered Susan and Neville's stories about the blood quill and Umbridge's sick fetishes of seeing children bleed, "on top of the deaths caused by You-Know-Who, the last thing we need is more damage. I saw his eyes, those emerald eyes, Augusta," she said, letting her old friend know who she was referring to, "he just wants to be free. If Fudge and Dumbledore do something, then it could mean our doom. And this country has been badly hit more than once."
Augusta could not help but shudder. What if something happened to make Harry Potter finally snap?