Chapter 1
It all started the day after Sirius Black's death. Voldemort had attacked the Ministry, and everyone had seen him. The newspaper had already published over ten articles about the return of You-Know-Who, the heroics acts of Harry Potter and Albus Dumbledore trying to stop him despite public opinion against them, and Fudge's ineptitude as a minister in allowing the Dark Lord to return.
Fudge had spent the night having interviews with various journalists, both from the prophet and other magical newspapers, even going so far as to do an interview with the Quibbler, the only newspaper that had been on Harry Potter's and Dumbledore's side, in an attempt to appear more assertive than he actually is.
The truth is, the way things were going, Fudge would be forced to resign in less than a week because of his incompetence, and that was something Fudge himself could not allow. So, in an attempt to save his job, the only thing Fudge could do was to try to stop Voldemort before he resigned, so that he could be publicly recognized as a heroic figure and be hailed for generations to come as the minister who defeated a Dark Lord.
The problem he had was that there was no plausible way for him to defeat Voldemort, he knew neither his location, nor his forces, nor the spies he had infiltrated the Ministry, so the only option left was to go to Dumbledore.
That is why, at nine o'clock in the morning, Cornelius Fudge was in Albus Dumbledore's office at Hogwarts, discussing a way to defeat the Dark Lord with the revered Headmaster.
I'm telling you Dumbledore, we must find a way to defeat you-know-who before next week or I will be remembered as the most incompetent minister in the history of magical Britain,'' Fudge shouted for the umpteenth time as he paced around Dumbledore's office.
Dumbledore simply sighed as he massaged his temple, ``I have already told you Cornelius, we cannot simply kill Voldemort. He currently has Horcruxes hidden all over the country that we don't know the whereabouts of, so even if we kill him, he will revive in a few years''.
Fudge already knew this, he had heard it as soon as he arrived in Dumbledore's office, but he could not allow himself to be dismissed so easily.
``Well, let's find someone who knows his whereabouts!'' Fudge shouted as he stood in the middle of the room in complete anger.
Dumbledore had had enough of Fudge and looked him in the eye and began to shout as well, having lost his patience, ``Do you really think Voldemort is stupid enough to have told anyone where he kept them! Who would know where they...are?
As he asked the question, Dumbledore stopped shouting as an idea occurred to him. He got up from his desk and ran to one of his bookshelves, from where he grabbed a book and began to look through it quickly until he found what he was looking for.
Fudge, on the other hand, was very confused by Dumbledore's actions. His tiny brain was not enough to understand that Dumbledore had come up with an idea, so he simply became angry again at the thought that Dumbledore was ignoring him. Before he could shout again, Dumbledore began to speak excitedly.
I think I may have found a way to communicate with someone who might know where Voldemort's horcruxes are and help us defeat him,'' said Dumbledore as he looked at the book with a big smile on his lips.
Fudge was taken aback for a moment, but when Dumbledore explained his plan, he began to rub his hands together in anticipation. Little did they know that this plan wasn't going to be as great as they thought.