Chapter 17
Ginny Weasley gripped onto Harry’s arm with a squeal, leaning her head against his shoulder.
“Wasn’t that romantic?” She gushed, as the two walked through the streets of Hogsmeade. Her Fourth year at Hogwarts had been wonderful. Immediately after the term had started, Harry had come up to her and asked her out. And the rest was history. They had been together ever since. It had been the most wonderful two weeks of her life, and she had felt as if she were walking on air ever since.
She could practically hear the wedding bells in the air as they walked along the snowy Hogsmeade grounds. The Christmas spirit was surrounding them both. Lights were flickering, children were laughing. It was the best night of her life.
But Harry seemed a little bit distracted. He was gazing off into the distance, as if he was trying to remember something very important. She gripped his arm.
“What’s wrong?” She asked tenderly.
He looked at her. His eyes looked somewhat vacant.
“Nothing’s wrong.” He said. “You’re beautiful.”
She blushed, and then smiled up at him. She never seemed to get tired of him saying it. She smiled to herself as she cast another look at their surroundings. And let out a surprised cry as she came face to face with Hermione Granger.
“Good evening, Ginny.” Hermione said brightly. She was clinging on to her brother’s arm. Harry had been spending so much time with Ginny over the past two weeks that Ron and Hermione finally got over their issues and started dating. “Hello, Harry.”
“Oh.” Harry said. “Hello.”
Ginny cast them a dirty look. “I don’t need to be babysat by my brother.”
“It’s not you we’re worried about.” Ron said, his voice dark.
“And what exactly do you mean by that?”
Hermione stepped forward and rapped Harry on the forehead with her finger. He barely reacted. He was staring vacantly at Ginny.
“Obsessive fixation on a single person.” She said. “Vacant staring. Unable to focus. These are all symptoms of love potion, Ginny.”
Ron nodded. His expression was tight. Ginny shook her head.
“Don’t be ridiculous.” She said. “Harry-“
“Isn’t your property.” Hermione said, her voice fierce. “You need to stop this. Now.”
Ginny stared at her. She gripped Harry’s arm one last time, and then went for her wand.
It was a disaster. It was two on one, and although Ginny was confident she could take her brother alone in a duel, Hermione was something else entirely. She was disarmed and thrown into the snow. She was hurt to see that Harry was watching her with interest, with no sign of worry or concern for her.
“Love.” Hermione said, her voice cold. “Cannot be replicated through magical means. You are enslaving him.” She sounded furious. “I thought better of you, Ginny.”
She scrambled for her wand again, but Ron stepped on it. She hissed at him.
“You don’t understand!”
“I do understand.” Hermione said. “I saw how you acted at the Quidditch World Cup. How you tried to ruin Anya’s experience. How you’ve been trying to win over Harry for years now. Only to be foiled by a filthy muggle.” She said the last part with derision.
“I don’t hate her because she’s a muggle.” Ginny snapped. She had some stink pellets on her. Perhaps if she shoved some down Hermione’s throat, she could overpower Ron and take back her wand.
“You hate her because you’re jealous.” Hermione said. “And you ruined their relationship because you wanted him for yourself.”
“Your wrong.” Ginny said, shaking her bright red hair. “You don’t understand… Anya is working with You-Know-Who!”
There was a very harsh silence.
“You disgust me.” Hermione said.
“How could you say that Ginny?” Ron said, sounding disappointed. “We’ve had her over for the summer and everything…”
“No… it’s true.” Ginny said. “I overhead Dad and Mom talking…. You-Know-Who reincarnated himself through a child of the Forgers! He is Tom Forger, Anya’s little brother!”
“That’s ridiculous.” Ron scoffed. Hermione however, was frowning.
“It may not be completely impossible…” She said, her voice slow. “Harry did say that Anya didn’t seem keen on the idea of him seeing the baby…”
Ginny grabbed her robe.
“You have to believe me!” She pleaded. “The Forgers are harboring You-Know-Who within their family!”
…
Anya Forger was giving Bond a much needed bath when she saw a vision of the future through him. In it, she saw her parents being surrounded by wizards at dinner and wiped clean of their memories. Without a second thought, she went to her parents and informed them that Harry had warned her that Dumbledore was sending agents that very evening.
A dark shadow fell across Yor’s face. And indeed when the Ministry Obliviators came by that very evening to wipe their memories, all three members of the family turned on them and attacked. Within seconds all three wizards were overpowered, and forced to talk by being exposed to Yor’s cooking.
“We were sent by… Dolores Umbridge.” The man wheezed. “The Secretary… of the Minister of Magic.”
Loid shot Anya a surprised look.
“Dumbledore controls the government behind the scenes.” She explained. “Like a Spy Wars villain. So I guess Umbridge is a lackey of the guy he uses to hide his true power.”
“Where is this Ministry?” Loid questioned the man further.
“I can help with that.” Tom told her, through telepathy. “I know exactly where the guest entrance is, and I can help you get inside.”
Anya couldn’t speak to him in front of her parents, but she nodded, her lips pursed. After a skillful bit of manipulation on her part the entire family, Bond and Tom included, got into the car and set off.
“These people…” Loid said. “There are no records of them anyway. His tone was casual, but Anya knew he had consulted WISE, an intelligence agency regarding the issue.
“They are very well hidden.” Anya confirmed.
“How, then, did we learn about Voldemort?”
Anya opened her mouth to answer, and then shut it again. Tom explained it to her.
“Another trick of Dumbledore’s, no doubt. He fed you the information and led you right to me. Doubtless he provided your Mother with the weapons she would need to kill me, as well. I wondered how such a spacey woman had managed to find me, while I was in hiding.”
They came to a stop outside of an old phone booth and stepped out. Tom explained the process to her as she walked up, hit the numbers, and waited. Loid, Yor, Tom, and Bond all packed in together.
“What is your business here today?” The cool voice asked.
“Be honest.” Tom hissed. “It’s checking whether or not you’re lying about your intended purpose here. No alarm will be set as long as you tell the truth.”
“Oh.” Anya said. She had never been honest in her life. “Um. We’re here to kill Dolores Umbridge.”
A number of badges clicked out of the coin slot.
“We here at the Ministry thank you for your service in our community, and helping make magical society a better place.”
The elevator began to slide down. Anya, through Bond, could see a future in which they walked across the entire hallway unhindered, as long as they acted as if they knew what they were doing.
“By the way.” Tom said. “That prophecy I mentioned early… the one that marked Harry Potter as my sworn enemy… I’d like to collect it, if I could.”
Anya ignored him.
The elevator came to a stop and the doors opened. The Forger family stepped through. Anya boldly led the charge, walking alongside her, while her parents followed along, trying not to marvel at the strange things going on all around them.
Anya, however, knew that they had to play it cool. She approached the front desk and waited as the surly looking man stared down at her.
“Yes?”
“I was wondering if you could point me to Dolores Umbridge’s office, please?” She asked sweetly.
He leaned over. “And you are?”
She knew that the general public wasn’t aware that the Ministry had tried to have her memories wiped. “Anya Forger. I’m probably going to marry Harry Potter and I wanted to get my parents to know that I’m marrying a wizard.”
The man stared at her.
“And you’re going to see… Dolores Umbridge for that?”
“Well, she works directly for the Minister, so…” She shrugged. “It’s a bit of an odd situation, I know.”
“I’ll need to speak to my superiors about this.” He said gruffly. “Wait here.”
He turned and left the desk. Anya, without hesitation, made their way past him and to the next elevator.
“We want to head for level one.” Tom told her helpfully, as she pressed the button. Loid adjusted his tie as the elevator descended.
“Tom seems happier than I’ve ever seen him.” Yor noted, as she bounced Tom up and down.
“Indeed, woman.” Tom hissed. “For the first time in fourteen years I am among my own kind. Someday I will rule over all.”
“Maybe he likes elevators.” Anya suggested, as the elevator began to descend. Tom shot her a nasty look, as she simply smiled.
Other people got in and out of the elevator with them and shot them curious looks, but said nothing. Loid and Anya had faces of impassive neutrality, and Yor was so busy with her baby that none thought to bother her.
And finally, the doors clicked open. Anya and her family stepped out into a vast, empty looking hallway. At the end stood golden wide double doors. Anya was sure this was the Minister’s office.
Bond had another vision, and she could clearly see Minister Fudge stepping out of the hallway and seeing them.
“I hear someone coming, let’s hide.”
The instant the double doors opened, everyone dove behind the bright gold pillars. Fudge came out, followed by Barty Crouch Senior and Dolores Umbridge.
“This isn’t a good look, Dolores.” Fudge said anxiously, as they hurried on past them. “If the public knows that a muggle family knows about us… I’ll be kicked out of office.”
“I’ll obliviate them all personally, if I have to.” Umbridge said. “Have a good evening, minister.”
Fudge and Crouch stepped into the elevator and turned around, pressing the button. The doors had barely begun to close when he noticed the Forgers hiding.
“Dolores, behind you!”
The doors shut.
Umbridge whirled, wand raised, as Yor Forger pushed her again the doors. They bent wildly out of shape by the sheer force of the blow, and Umbridge spit up blood. Loid awkwardly came up behind them, holding the family.
"What." Yor said, her voice low and dangerous. “Did you try and do to us?”
“N-nothing!” Umbridge squeaked. “Honest! I don’t… I don’t know who you are!”
“But we know who you are.” Loid said, his voice grave, as she handed off Tom to Anya. Tom bit her finger, causing her to scowl at him, as Loid stepped across the hall to meet Umbridge. “You are Dolores Umbridge. Senior Undersecretary to the Minister of Magic, and the woman who tried to have our memories eliminated.”
Yor shook her violently. Umbridge.
“My question.” Loid said, his voice quiet. “Is why you decided to target us?”
“If you have an inquiry about ministry policy.” Umbridge said, her voice desperate. “You can simply send an owl to our-“
Yor tightened her grip, lifting her further off the ground.
“We have been given no reason to believe that your government has our best interests at heart.” Loid said, his voice smooth. He tapped his ear. “Which is why we’ve decided that we needed to talk to you personally.”
Umbridge was very white now. “I… I don’t know what you want.”
“What I want.” Loid said, his voice cold. “Is for Albus Dumbledore to leave us alone.”
“D-Dumbledore?” Umbridge whimpered. “What does he have to do with…?”
The elevator door opened. Yor reeled back, easily carrying Umbridge with a single hand, as a handful of wizards all came into the room, brandishing wands.
“Freeze, or you will be cursed!”
Loid adjusted his gloves and considered their odds.
“Yor.” He said. “We’ve delivered our message. Time to leave.”
“Oh… yes.”
She brought her arm down and threw Umbridge with all of her might. Being a rather heavyset woman, the sheer speed and force of the throw sent her tearing through the crowd and slamming them back inside. Yor leapt forward, hands raised, and in seconds every man was down for the count.
The rest of the family stepped back inside the elevator and pressed the button, and it slowly began to ascend.
“We should hide in the Department of Mysteries.” Tom said, trying to keep his voice casual. “No one will ever find us in there!”
Anya rolled her eyes.
They stepped out to find the Atrium in complete chaos. Wizards were running amok everywhere, seemingly unaware of what the problem actually was. The Forgers found it extremely easy to simply walk across the Atrium, force themselves back into the phone booth, and back onto Muggle London.
“That was fun.” Yor said brightly. “But I didn’t get to kill that woman.” She paused, and than flushed. “Not… not that I could ever kill anyone, or anything…”
Anya wondered how she could have possibly gone this long without Loid figuring out that she was actually an assassin.
“Nevertheless, they will know better than to try this again.” Loid said. “Anya, I want you to stay home for school for a bit.”
She grinned. “Yes sir!”
..