First Meeting
Thanks for all the reviews. It’s been ages since I’ve read the books, which is why it’s all glossed over. So, I might miss something. Please, feel free to point it out, I’ll fix it.
Hphphp
Bill finished reading the seventh book and he was flabbergasted. For one he married a Veela, that was mind-blowing. Though if things worked out differently, that might not happen. He would have to find this woman and see how it played out.
For second, his brother had left his friends in the middle of a war. That didn’t sit well with him. Sure, they had planned poorly and didn’t have enough supplies, but Harry and Hermione needed Ron there with them. Not for him to run off. Sure, he returned, but only after he had rested and was no longer starving. He didn’t know what to think about his brother right now.
And a third thing, and one of the most important, there were horcruxes. Seven of them and one in Harry Potter. He could deal with the ones not in a human, but that one was going to be tricky. He needed to read the rest of the books.
And a fourth thing, the Deathly Hallows were real? What was he supposed to do with that information. He knew where and what they were. He could make a fortune telling the goblins about this. Or anyone really. It was a burden to have this information. He wouldn’t, he was not that type of person. But Merlin be damned, why did they have to be real?
Last, but certainly not least, Fred died. That was quite the blow. One of his family members was dead. It hadn’t happened yet, so it didn’t make quite the impact as it would have if say Fred was dead right in front of him, but the fact that is could happen was mind blowing.
He went to find Black. He moved through the house, not sure where he was going, but following the smell of tea. Soon enough, he was in the kitchen. There was Black sitting at the table scratching away on some parchment. It looked like he had been writing a lot of letters.
“Mr. Black?” he said, hoping the man didn’t mind the interruption.
“Yeah,” Sirius said, stretching from his long stay hunched over. “Did you finish? That was quick,” he said, looking at the clock on the wall. It had only been about four hours.
“I’m a speed reader,” Bill explained, having been taught by the goblins. “There are a few questions I have,” he said, taking a seat near the other man.
“Shoot,” Sirius said, stretching his hand out, getting rid of the cramps.
“A Veela?” was his first question.
“Yeah, you met her in the fourth book,” Sirius said with a wink.
“Do you know if I was happy?” he asked, not sure if the other man would know. He sounded like he was happy in the end, but Sirius had read more of the books than he had. He wanted to read more about this lovely woman.
“In the books you were,” the other man said with a shrug.
“Oh, okay. Voldemort is not dead?” was the next question. That was still something he was coming to terms with. He had been told for the last thirteen years that the man was dead and gone, and now to hear that he was not. It was unsettling.
“Nope, you read about the horcruxes?”
“Yes. Do you know how to get them?” Bill asked, hoping beyond hope that Black had a different approach than what was in the books.
“Yes. We already have the one from Gringotts, so you don’t have to worry about that one,” Sirius said, making Bill sigh with relief.
“Thank Merlin,” Bill said, he had been hoping they didn’t have to do anything that would jeopardize his job. He had been impressed with Harry’s, Hermione’s, and Ron’s robbery. It had taken guts to pull something like that off. He hadn’t been impressed with Griphook’s betrayal though. He understood it but wasn’t impressed by it.
“Yes, what we need you for is the ring. It’s in the sixth book, which I will give you next,” Sirius said, getting up to retrieve said book. “Do you want to eat first?” he asked, picking up the book from the shelf he stored them on.
“Yeah, I’m a bit peckish,” Bill said, having not eaten since breakfast, and it was going on dinner.
“Dobby will get you something,” Sirius said, handing the book to him. “When your done with that one, you can start from the beginning, or keep going backwards. The choice is yours,” he said, waving to where the books were. “This one will tell you where the ring horcrux is, and all about Riddle. It’s actually one of the more boring of the seven,” he added, thoughtfully. All those ‘lessons’ with Dumbledore had been tedious in his opinion.
“I think, I’ll start from the beginning after this,” Bill said, looking at the cover of the book and read the title Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. He wondered who that was. He thought he remembered something about Snape’s potion book being mentioned in the last book. But a whole book on that? That is just weird.
“Suit yourself,” Sirius said, going back to his letter writing. He was almost done. He had to write to every governor on the board, to let them know he was taking back his seat. He told them not to tell Malfoy. He wanted it to be a surprise to the man.
Dobby popped in with a meal of pork chops and mashed potatoes with gravy and carrots. The two men didn’t let food slow down their pursuits in reading or writing. They ate in silence, while doing their own thing.
Hphphp
Amelia finished the sixth book and unknowingly agreed with Sirius in that she thought it was a boring book, up until the end. She was impressed with Harry Potter in that he put up with the idiocy of his friends and the headmaster. No one would listen to him throughout the whole book, and he was right in the end, yet no one acknowledged it. No, they were all too busy mourning the fall of Dumbledore, who died due to his own mistakes.
The invasion of Hogwarts was worrying. That was the first thing they were going to have to prevent. It was an easy thing to stop. All they had to do was make sure the Vanishing Cabinets were purchased and not in Hogwarts. They would also have to plug those tunnels in and out of the castle. Sure, some of the students might not like that, but it was too easy to exploit.
She would have to talk to Sirius about stopping Albus’s funeral. She didn’t think that Albus needed to be seen as the next Merlin when he died. The pompousness of his funeral was over-the-top. No other headmaster had ever been buried on the Hogwarts’ grounds. Not even the founders had been buried there. There was no reason he should have. It was just not done.
But there were bigger fish to fry right now. They needed to get the ministry cleaned up. And she was going to propose that they bring Alastor in on their little group. He might be Albus’s friend, but if he read these books, he would be on their side.
She took some floo powder in her hand, threw it in the fire, called out Grimmuald Place’s address, and put her foot in when it turned green. “Sirius?” she called through the fire.
“Amelia?” was the return answer a few seconds later.
“Can I come through?” she asked, waiting for him to confirm.
“Come on,” he answered.
So, she threw some more powder in and stepped through. “I have somethings to talk about,” she started, only to stop when she saw Bill. She knew who he was, they had told her they were bringing him in, but she didn’t know how much he knew.
“Amelia Bones, Bill Weasley,” Sirius said, pointing to each as he said their name. “Let me mirror call Remus. We’ll make a meeting of it,” he said, pulling his mirror out of his pocket. He said Remus’s name and soon the werewolf appeared.
“What’s up?” the other man said when his face appeared.
“Amelia and Bill are here,” Sirius said, sitting down and indicating for her to do the same thing.
She sat next to Bill nodding her head at him. “Remus,” she said in greeting.
“Amelia,” was his in return.
“Okay, what did you want to say?” Sirius asked, nodding to Amelia.
“I want to bring in Moody,” she said, holding up her hand to ward off protest. “I know he’s Albus’s friend, but he is an enemy of Riddle’s first,” she said, firmly.
“What do you think, Remus?” Sirius asked, going over in his mind that the man would be a good heavy hitter. “I’m in,” he added, making sure they knew he was okay with it.
“I think it would be a good idea,” the werewolf said with decisiveness in his voice.
“Bill?” Sirius asked the new guy.
“I don’t know him well, but my dad says he’s a straight guy,” Bill said with an affirmative.
“Okay, we’ll contact him,” Sirius said, nodding to Amelia, leaving it up to her. “Anyone else?” he asked the group.
“I think I know how to get rid of Umbridge,” Bill said, glancing at the head of the DMLE. He hadn’t talked it over with the other men yet, but he knew that that woman had to go. The death camps were something no one should have to deal with. She was just plain evil. And he was a nice guy and he wanted to kill her.
“I think, I’ll just go powder my nose,” she said, moving to leave the room. If she didn’t hear anything she could claim plausible deniability. She wanted the woman gone just as much as they did.
When she was gone Bill continued. “The goblins hire out Greyback now and then when they need someone to disappear,” he said quickly. He knew their practices better than most.
“No,” was the quick response from Remus. “I will not use Greyback. I want him dead,” he added. “He was the one to infect me.” He was very firm on this. If he had it his way they both would be dead.
“We can kill two birds with one stone,” Sirius said, thinking on it. “We use Greyback to kill the toad, and then get him when he’s done.” He was on the same page as Remus.
“How? None of us can take on that monster,” Remus said in defeat. He knew he was not strong enough to kill that demon. “He is the alpha for a reason, Sirius. There isn’t a werewolf on this island that can beat him,” he added, his shoulders slumping.
“Maybe not separately, but together…” Sirius said, trailing off, hoping that Remus would figure something out. The man needed closure.
“If we are strong enough to kill Greyback, we could kill Umbridge and cut out the middleman,” Remus pointed out. He didn’t like the thought of killing anyone even people as evil as those two.
“You’re right,” Sirius said, tapping his chin, though he was thinking they were going to do the deed. “We can do both, but let’s wait until we get Moody on board. He might have some ideas we don’t.” Mad-eye Moody might be the thing they need to get the deed done with both those evils.
It was then that Amelia came back in, they all pasted innocent looks on their faces. “Done?” she said, not buying those looks for an instant.
“Yup,” Sirius said, moving the subject along. “How are things at the ministry?”
“Rough. I have so many things that need done. However, I can’t do them alone,” she sighed. “The transportation department is corrupted, and I can’t do anything until I catch them red-handed. Same with so many other places. And that won’t happen until the war starts again,” she said, polishing her monocle in agitation. “Which is what we are trying to stop,” she said, taking an extra strong swipe at the glass.
“We need to get Skeeter on our side,” Remus said, trying to think out loud. “Without telling her about the books. Maybe one of you can blackmail her,” he said, thinking about what Hermione had done to the beetle animagus.
“I can do that. My family has dirt on everyone. I know she knows that,” Sirius said, tapping the table with his quill as if figuring out what to write. He would have to meet her in public and make it look good. He knew just what to say too.
“What about Skeeter?” Bill asked, not having read about that yet.
“She’s an illegal animagus,” Sirius said, looking at Amelia.
“We can use that,” she agreed with a nod. “Tell her that I’ll be in contact if I need her.” There were many things she could use a snitch for. She could also feed some things to the little bug. Things that Fudge might not want in the papers.
“She might use that against you,” the dogman warned, not wanting her to have any marks on her clean record.
“She can try. I have her dead to rights. She can be tried for treason,” Amelia said with a wicked grin. “She’s been sneaking around the ministry getting confidential information using her animagus form. That’s treason,” she finished, putting her monocle on her eye.
“Smart lady,” Remus said with a small laugh. He was right about her. She was one smart lady.
“We can use her to get the goods on Umbridge,” Bill said, thinking of a different way to rid themselves of the toad.
“That is a thought,” Bones said, rubbing her chin. “And a lot cleaner than killing her. I know she’s not a pureblood, no matter what she spouts to everyone.” There were many things that she knew about that toad that Umbridge wouldn’t want to see the light of day. If Skeeter could get into the woman’s office, and get more dirt on her, all the better.
“She’s not?” was the question from the three men. They were sure that she was.
“No, her mum was a muggle,” the only woman stated with a smug look. “It’s in her file. Anyone can look it up. She tried to bury it. But you can’t fake magical paperwork.” She had the file on all employees of the ministry. “I also know what happened to her father,” she added with a smirk.
“That is something Skeeter can play with,” Sirius said, liking that idea. “We can use it to blackmail the toad to behaving for now. But if she gets out of hand, like she does in the books, they’ll never find the body,” Sirius warned, not caring that Bones heard him.
“I didn’t hear that,” she said, with a shake of her head. She had already decided that.
“So, we bring in Alastor, and blackmail Skeeter and Umbridge, anything else?” Sirius asked, ready to get his letters posted.
“I need copies of the first four books, then I’ll be back in four days,” Amelia said, standing and straightening her shirt. She was ready to get back home and read the first book. She wanted to read what happened Susan’s first year.
“I’m still on the sixth,” Bill said, since it had only been a few hours since he started. He too was anxious to read his siblings first years. He knew there had been problems but not what they were.
“I’m good. I’m going to start teaching Harry the Patronus tomorrow,” Remus said, happiness clouded his tone.
“That’s great,” Sirius said, wishing he could be there to see that. “Alright, I call this meeting closed,” he said, with a voice of an official.
Everyone laughed and went to do what needed to be done.