Chapter Eight
Whispers and rumors surrounded the mysterious death of Ezekiel Greengrass in the days that followed. Some believed that he had been murdered by Severus Snape, who had also mysteriously disappeared on the same night. Little did they know that he sat in one of the cells in the lower levels of the Ministry. Rather than confirm Snape's capture, the SAF had intentionally left a mystery, hoping to create instability among the Death Eaters.
Another prevailing theory regarding the identity of Ezekiel Greengrass's murder was that Voldemort must have taken care of him for his failure to assume control of the Ministry. Another rumor still suggested that the Aurors must have executed him for his support of the Death Eaters. The one person who knew the truth, Astoria Greengrass, had been silent in public.
Meanwhile, Harry had been dragged into the Ministry to report to Percy, Amelia, Tonks, and about half a dozen other Ministry officials. In truth, it was just an excuse for Percy to scream at Harry in front of some other people, knowing that Harry wouldn't dare to defend himself. While Harry wasn't an Auror, he was an authorized agent of the Ministry, which meant that there were certain situations in which lethal force was authorized. Ezekiel Greengrass's repeated use of the Killing Curse meant that Harry wouldn't be charged for his actions but a formal warning had still been issued by Tonks herself.
A warning was just that. However, another warning could lead to the removal of his status as a Ministry agent which would also lead to his dismissal from the SAF. For the time being, he needed the SAF, which meant that he would toe the line as long as possible in order to ensure that he could retain access to his team.
As the month of February stretched into the beginning of March, Harry felt that he was going in circles. It seemed as if, after Greengrass's death and Snape's capture, the Death Eaters had gone completely into hiding. Since Harry's return, Snape's capture was the only public appearance of any of the Death Eaters. Additionally, Voldemort had yet to make a move. There had been no mysterious deaths, no circumspect conversations, no strange disappearances, nothing.
Harry knew that the longer Voldemort stayed silent, the more likely it became that Percy would take away his access to the SAF. Percy had only agreed to Harry's role with the team because Harry had forced him to and because, somewhere deep down, he believed Harry's warning that Voldemort was once again an imminent threat. Every day that passed without an attack or an appearance made Harry look more like a fool.
This was made worse by the fact that neither Harry nor Hermione could figure out what Voldemort was doing. They had spent dozens of hours working through every piece of information that they had researched over the last few weeks, trying to make connections between the researchers. Officially, they were still working on it. Unofficially, they were at a dead end. The Friday meetings of the SAF had turned into eight-hour brainstorming sessions at Potter Manor with all six members of the team joining Harry and Hermione to try and put the pieces together. Even with all of that combined brain power, they had come up with nothing.
At this point, Harry could only hope that Voldemort would make a mistake somewhere, something that could give them a new perspective on the information that they had gathered.
It was mid-day on March 1 when Harry heard the telltale sound of someone Apparating into Potter Manor. With the tracking charm on Daphne removed, she no longer lived at Potter Manor and as far as Harry knew, Hermione intended to work at the Ministry all day that day. However, when Harry's office door opened, it was none other than Hermione herself barging through the door, a large roll of parchment in her hand.
She marched across the room and threw the parchment onto Harry's desk.
"I'll kill him," Hermione growled.
"Who?"
"Amos Diggory," Hermione replied fiercely. "This is the new piece of legislation that the Wizengamot is getting ready to approve."
"I take it that it's not good?"
"This legislation has been nicknamed the Restoration Act. For four years, we've been trying to get it to pass. With it, we would eliminate all of the current legal restrictions in place against Muggleborns. No more prejudicial hiring, no more tax loopholes for Purebloods. More or less, it restores the laws to what they were like before the Purebloods wrote a thousand protections for themselves into law."
"That sounds great," Harry said, slightly confused. "Why is this a problem?"
"It wouldn't have been a problem if that's what was in here!" Hermione roared. "Instead, Amos authorized a full rewrite of the legislation two days ago. Importantly, he gave it to the Wizengamot finance committee, which has almost nothing to do with the bill and, more importantly, is run by Theodore Nott."
"Like our classmate?" Harry asked. "The one whose father is a Death Eater?"
"The same," Hermione confirmed. "Ten minutes ago, they dropped this on Amelia's desk. They gutted the entire thing. Not only are most of the restrictions still in place, but the loopholes for Purebloods are made permanent. There's a provision written in here that would ensure that even if the laws were changed, they wouldn't apply to families in the Sacred Twenty-Eight. Basically, families like the Notts and the Lestranges would get to operate under the current laws in place forever. Any future changes to the law wouldn't apply to them."
"How did this happen?" Harry asked. "Why in the world would Amos agree to this?"
"Well, his grandmother was a Fawley," Hermione replied. "Politically, the Purebloods might be less popular than ever, but they're still the dominating force in the Ministry. But everything I know about Amos suggests that something else happened here. My bet is that someone like Nott or Yaxley probably threatened him. Hell, they might have used Greengrass's death. Give us what we want or there'll be retribution for whoever killed Ezekiel."
Harry knew that wasn't out of the realm of possibility. Hell, it was even likely. Diggory had never been a particularly stout man and The Notts, both Junior and Senior, were more than willing to threaten, cajole, and bully their way to the top. Thankfully, this wasn't the end of the line. Before a bill passed the Wizengamot, it went to the Minister of Magic.
As part of the magical code that governed the Ministry of Magic, the Minister was given the ability to affect certain changes or rules on any particular piece of legislation. While the Minister could theoretically change the bill as they saw fit, in modern society, that measure was almost never used by the Minister of Magic, simply because it was seen as a relic of a bygone era when the Minister of Magic, once appointed, could do almost anything they pleased.
In the end, that left them with two options if they didn't like a piece of legislation. The first option would be to require a full vote of the Wizengamot, which at this point was basically a way of ensuring that a vote never took place. Due to the number of people who had seats in the Wizengamot due to their lineage along with the people that were assigned to the Wizengamot by the Ministry, the Wizengamot currently sat at around six hundred people. The last full vote of the Wizengamot had occurred in 1973 and had caused so many procedural issues that the Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot ended the vote by getting into a fist fight with four other members of the court.
The other option would be to require a two-third vote of all active members of the Wizengamot. In 1984, as a way to make the Ministry and the Wizengamot functional again, the Wizengamot had passed a provision which created a distinction between active and inactive members of the Wizengamot. Effectively, it required you to vote at least three times a year in order to be considered an active member. In most cases, votes were tallied based on the number of active Wizengamot members. At the moment, there were one hundred and ninety-seven active members, which meant that in a typical vote, ninety-nine votes were required to reach the majority. However, if the Minister of Magic called for a two-thirds vote, then one hundred and thirty votes were required for a piece of legislation to pass.
Harry had learned all about this when Percy had been nominated for Minister of Magic. When Harry had heard that Percy had been nominated, he had raced back to London to do everything that he could to ensure that Percy never had a chance to become Minister. In most cases, a two-thirds vote of the Wizengamot was required to approve the new Minister of Magic. However, because Amelia had been removed from her position rather than resigned, that particular provision of the law didn't apply for reasons that Harry never quite fully understood.
Out of the one hundred and ninety-two active members at the time, Percy had received ninety-seven votes to approve, one more than the simple majority that had been required. If it had been any normal situation, Percy would have failed in his bid to become Minister. In the end, it was the fault of the Wizengamot themselves that Percy ended up running the country. First, they had been the ones to remove Amelia (a decision that Harry had agreed with at the time) and then they had approved Percy's nomination (something that Harry had decidedly been against at the time and every day since then).
Currently, Percy sat in a strange place among the members of the Wizengamot. While none of the more traditional Pureblood families would admit it, they strongly favored Percy who had gone out of his way to accommodate them in the name of "unity." Personally, Harry thought that was a bullshit excuse to be a coward, but that was Percy. Additionally, he was a Weasley, which meant that most of the former members of the Order and Legion supported him, even if they wished that he did more to support them.
In one of life's great ironies, the only group of people that outright opposed Percy's tenure as Minister of Magic were the Muggleborns. Percy had been appointed after he had promised to help the Muggleborns to gain equal rights. Thus far, he had done absolutely nothing to ensure that.
Still, for all his tepid popularity, all three groups would see Percy replaced rather than have him stick around. Therefore, it was in Percy's interest to keep as many people happy as possible. If they had a strong Minister of Magic, the Minister would have already promised to call for a full vote of the Wizengamot on this bill, putting a stop to it before it even hit the floor.
But they didn't have a strong Minister of Magic. They had Percy.
"Any idea what Percy intends to do?" Harry asked.
"No clue," Hermione answered. "He's been holed up in his office with Dawlish all day. Penelope tried to get in to see him twice for Amelia and she got stonewalled both times. I tried three times and on the third time, I was blocked from even entering the Executive Wing."
"Sounds like someone is hiding," Harry commented. "Sounds like someone isn't planning on doing anything about this."
"That's exactly what I thought," Hermione replied. "What do you want to do about it?"
That was not exactly what Harry had expected.
"What do you mean?"
"Harry, this legislation would make me a permanent second-class citizen. It would mean that if we ever had proof that Nott was a Death Eater, he could walk free. It means that because Voldemort himself is a descendent of one of the Sacred Twenty-Eight, he could never be tried for any crime related to his blood status. This law would allow every single Death Eater to get away with murder. It would let every lawyer argue that they were only acting in the interest of protecting their blood status, which this law clearly allows! Now, what do you want to do about it?"
This was as angry as Harry had ever seen Hermione. She had good reason, of course, but this was bordering on unhinged. Harry stood from his seat and walked around his desk, taking a seat in one of the two chairs across from his usual seat.
"Hermione, sit down," Harry said calmly, motioning towards the other chair.
"I will not sit down," Hermione snarled. "What are we going to do about this?"
"I'm not certain," Harry admitted. "But I need you to sit down. Whatever plan we come up with is going to need your brains and right now, if you don't sit down, I'm worried that you might pass out."
Hermione glared at him but eventually related. She collapsed into the other chair, her eyes focused on the ceiling above her, frustration etched on her face.
"Can we get to Percy?" Harry asked. "If I showed up at the Ministry, would he let me in?"
"I doubt it," Hermione replied. "There's a reason this legislation showed up like this the day before a vote. Amos or Percy, one of them wants to push this legislation through before people can get a look at it."
When Harry was a child, he had always been frustrated with the Ministry. Fudge had been a permanent obstacle between them and any meaningful change or effective strategy for stopping Voldemort. But he had never thought that Fudge was directly siding with the Death Eaters. Fudge was foolish and incompetent, trusting of those with money and a tradition of power.
But this was something else. Theodore Nott was the son of a Death Eater. That was a matter of public record. The fact that he was in the Wizengamot at all was solely down to the fact that his family would always have a seat. Hell, as the final member of the Gaunt family, Tom Riddle could walk into the Ministry and demand a seat on the Wizengamot and there was nothing that they could do to stop that, although Harry hoped that in that situation, someone would at least make a cursory attempt at arresting or killing him.
"Who can we talk to?" Harry asked. "If Percy won't take my meeting, then I can assume that Dawlish and Diggory are out as well?"
"Amelia couldn't meet with you and she would direct Penelope to hide from you as well," Hermione replied. "Hell, I wouldn't be shocked if she ordered Tonks to hide from you until after the vote. Amelia might not like Percy, but she does work for him ultimately."
"Seems like a shitty excuse for endorsing blood status laws," Harry grumbled. "Well, if we can't get a meeting at the Ministry, there's always another option."
Hermione immediately knew what Harry meant and from the look on her face, she didn't like the idea.
"Harry, the last thing we need right now is a public pissing match between you and Percy in the Prophet."
"Then, we don't go to the Prophet," Harry replied. "It wouldn't be the first time we took our story to a less reputable news source."
It took just a moment for Hermione to figure out what Harry meant, but when she did, a mischievous smile crossed her face.
"Are you suggesting that we reach out to Luna?" Hermione said.
"Officially, no, I am not."
"Good, because officially, if you did that, Percy would certainly remove your Ministry access. You'd be done with the SAF."
"I'm well aware."
"So if we can't officially go to Luna, how do we get the information to her?" Hermione asked.
"By sending her this," Harry said, pointing to the scroll on his desk. Hermione's face dropped.
"We can't do that. I wasn't even supposed to take it out of the Ministry."
"And yet, you did."
"Only to show you!" Hermione protested. "If that gets leaked, they'll know it was me. I'll lose my job."
"No, you won't," Harry assured her. "Think about it. Even if you end up admitting that you were the one who leaked it, Percy can't possibly fire you and he can't order you to be fired either."
"And why not?"
"Because this legislation is a joke," Harry replied. "No one is supposed to read it. You even said it; they're trying to push this legislation through before anyone can look at it. If people get a chance to read it, people will lose their minds. Only the staunchest Purebloods will follow them."
"You think that if people get a chance to read it, they'll push back?" Hermione asked. "And you think that's enough to save my job?"
"If it becomes obvious that you were the one who leaked it, then...wait a minute-"
"Wait a minute for what?" Hermione asked impatiently.
"Why don't you leak it?" Harry asked. "You could be the one to send it to Luna. Include a letter that says why you felt that you had to do it. You're Hermione Granger, only the single most popular figure in our world for everyone who isn't practically Death Eaters. This isn't pitting me against Percy anymore. That's a fight that people are tired of. But you've never publicly stood up to him."
"Unlike you, I've never had a particularly good reason," Hermione replied. "There's still the fact that leaking this legislation before it's gone to the Minister of Magic is illegal."
"Yes, it is," Harry admitted. "Yes, you would be publicly admitting that you broke the law in order to save the country from its Minister of Magic. There isn't a single person brave enough to prosecute you for that. Even the Purebloods don't have that kind of power."
Hermione seemed to be considering Harry's idea. He knew that it was risky and he knew that it would be her that was taking the risk, but he genuinely believed that it would work.
"I have an alternative solution," Hermione said. "What if we sent a letter to Percy? We tell him that we have a copy of the legislation. He can come here and meet with you or we can send the legislation to the Quibbler. He knows that Luna and Xenophilius will absolutely print that and he can't afford that-"
"So he comes here. We get the meeting that we wanted and a chance to convince Percy to end the bill without you having to commit a crime," Harry smiled. "It's a far better idea than mine."
"Only if it works."
"It's your idea. Of course it will work."
Over the next hour, Harry and Hermione crafted a letter to Percy, telling them exactly what Hermione had suggested: they had a copy of the legislation and they wanted to meet. If Percy elected not to meet with them, then they would ensure that the public got a chance to see the legislation before it passed.
Less than twenty minutes after they sent the letter, Percy arrived at Potter Manor. As requested, he came alone. He walked into Harry's office, a look of fury on his face and a large roll of parchment in his hands.
"Harry, Hermione," he said as he entered the room. "Are the two of you actively trying to get fired from the Ministry? Hermione, I expect this from Harry, but you should know better. I could have the two of you fired even for-"
"Percy, sit down," Harry ordered the Minister. When Percy turned to Harry, Harry added. "Tell us what you plan on doing with this legislation, because there's no possible way that even you would be stupid enough to sign it."
If Percy had possessed the ability to spit fire, Harry would have certainly been dead. Instead, Percy did exactly as he was told albeit with a look on his face that told Harry that he was considering just how many different ways he could have Harry arrested.
"Now, Percy, we both know that this legislation is rubbish," Harry said. "Was it illegal for Hermione to take it from the Ministry? Yes, yes it was. However, you and I both know that two-thirds of the country are going to lose their minds the moment this gets signed. Sure, Theodore Nott will be happy, but he and his ilk are going to be the only ones."
"Not when I show everyone this," Percy said as he tossed his own roll of parchment on the desk.
"What's this?" Hermione asked, getting to the parchment just a beat before Harry.
"That's the original version that Amos passed to me," Percy replied. "The last Minister of Magic to put changes into a bill was Ignatius Tuft in 1959. As you'll notice, there are some rather large changes between the version that you're reading and the one that the Wizengamot is voting on."
Percy was right. While the most recent version of the bill was reprehensible, it was tame compared with the original. In that version, protections were given for all Purebloods and were quite literally written into the founding documents of the Ministry. Writing laws was a difficult process. It took months of meetings and rough drafts, rewrites and surveys. In the end, you ended up with a law that everyone hated but some tolerated.
However, removing laws was significantly more difficult and removing laws to the Ministry's charter was almost unheard of. As far as they knew, it had happened only twice. If this law had been passed, it would have permanently codified Pureblood power in their society for the next century.
There was just one problem with that and one that Hermione noticed right away.
"There's no way this could have ever passed," Hermione said. "Why didn't you let this go to a vote? This would have gotten laughed out of the Wizengamot and we never would have had to deal with it again."
"Listen, I know that the two of you think that I'm an idiot-"
"I don't think you're an idiot," Hermione replied.
"I do."
"Harry!"
"I know that you think that I'm an idiot," Percy repeated, "but this is the best deal we were going to get. Nott assured me that he had the votes to pass the first version."
"And why didn't you call for a vote of the entire Wizengamot?" Hermione asked. "That's a surefire way to ensure that there's no vote."
"I considered that," Percy admitted.
"And?"
"And...I...determined that it wasn't a viable option," Percy replied. Harry could tell that there was something that Percy wasn't saying. All Harry had to do was give Percy a look that suggested that Harry didn't believe the Minister's story and Percy broke.
"Nott...threatened to have Amos killed if I called for a full vote."
"He said that?" Hermione asked. "Why didn't you report him?"
"Because Nott isn't a moron, as much as we'd like him to be," Percy replied. "He never said that outright and he never would. He insinuated just enough so that I knew exactly what we were talking about and then dropped the subject entirely."
"If that's true, then put Diggory in protective custody and call for the vote," Harry said. "That seems like a simple solution."
"It would be...if that had been Nott's only threat," said Percy cautiously. "He also implied that if I interfered in any way, he...would call for a vote of no confidence."
Almost instantly, Harry's blood boiled.
"Let me get the straight," Harry said through clenched teeth, "you have the opportunity to shut this legislation down completely and protect Diggory, but you refuse to do so because you might lose your job!?"
"If I'm removed, there's no assurance that we hold onto the Ministry," Percy replied. "I know that you don't like me, but I would think that you would prefer me over Nott or Parkinson."
"Only marginally," Harry growled. "This law would destroy the Ministry."
"No, it would injure it," Percy replied. "If this bill is the cost for retaining control of the Ministry, then I'm willing to pay it."
"It doesn't hurt that it personally benefits you."
An accusation like that from Harry would have meant nothing. But it hadn't come from Harry; instead, Hermione was the one who stood next to Percy, defiantly staring down at him with a look that seemed to mix disgust, rage, and disappointment into one.
"Excuse me?"
"The Weasleys are one of the Sacred Twenty-Eight," Hermione said, her voice even but tinged with a hint of a threat. "This will protect you and your family for the rest of time."
"I assure you, Hermione, that is not at all my concern."
"That's nice. Meanwhile, I'll make sure to enjoy living my life as a second-class citizen."
Percy scoffed. "That's an exaggeration and you know it. This law doesn't make anyone second-class citizens. It just allows for certain protections for Pureblood families."
At that point, Harry came to a disappointing and yet entirely predictable realization.
"You're going to sign this, aren't you, you piece of shit?" Harry growled. "I thought that you were just going to send it back to the Wizengamot. But you intend to sign it before sending it back, don't you?"
When a Minister of Magic signed a piece of prospective legislation was important. If the Minister sent it back to the Wizengamot without their signature, they were sending a sign that the Wizengamot was going to have to pass the bill without the assistance of the most powerful person in the country.
However, if the Minister of Magic signed it before sending it back, they were tacitly stamping it for approval, making it much more likely that it would pass since Wizengamot members knew that approving it would curry favor with the Minister.
While Percy couldn't really block legislation (outside of a political Killing Curse like calling for a full vote), Harry had never expected Percy to outright support this bill by signing it before it passed a vote. But Percy was already rationalizing the bill, defending it in a way that suggested he was going to be taking a public and positive stance on it that he couldn't easily walk back.
"Harry, I envy your ability to remain apolitical, but some of us live in the real world," Percy said snidely. "The Death Eaters and the Purebloods control a significant part of our world and are some of the wealthiest people in our world. We can't simply ignore them."
"No one is suggesting that we ignore them, Percy," Harry replied. "We are suggesting that we don't give them the keys to every vault in Gringotts without a fight!"
"If you honestly think that's what this is, then there's nothing more I have to say to you," Percy said. The Minister of Magic quickly stood and made his way towards the door. Behind him, Harry fumed, his heart pounding.
"Percy."
Percy paused at the door and then turned back to Harry.
"Yes?"
"This legislation will be going to Luna within the hour," said Harry, his voice like ice. "The letter that I send to her will include a statement. In that statement, I will formally request the Wizengamot to move for a vote of no confidence in you. I will also vow to publicly oppose any member that votes for this garbage in perpetuity. You say that I don't live in the real world? Well, I'm going to join yours then and I'm going to make sure that when I'm done with you, you can't even get a job as a janitor as The Hog's Head, you pathetic worm. Now get out of my house."
Percy stood tall, but Harry could tell that he was worried. For years, Harry and Percy had stood at opposite ends of their side of the war, vying for control in a cold war of sorts. Now, Percy would have to stand up to the full power of Harry's influence and it clearly worried him.
"You think that people care what you say?" Percy said, his voice trembling as he spoke. He wasn't afraid of Harry. No, the coward was afraid that Harry could make good on his threat. In the end, power, vanity, and prestige were the only things that mattered to Percy Weasley.
When Harry was done with him, Percy would have none.
"For better or worse, they do," Harry said.
"If you send that legislation to Luna, I'll remove you from the SAF. I'll fire both of you."
"Try me," Harry said, calling Percy's bluff. For a moment, Percy looked at Harry like he wanted to come across the room and strangle him. Then, as expected, he turned and marched out of the door. A few moments later, Harry heard a pop and he and Hermione were once again alone.
"Are you seriously going to send it to Luna?" Hermione asked. "We promised Percy that we wouldn't if he met with us."
"That was before I learned that he was supporting it," Harry said as he grabbed a quill. "Now, I just want to make sure that his political career ends up in a garbage bin before that bill has a chance to pass."
"Do you think he'll fire us?" Hermione wondered, although she made no effort to stop Harry as he wrote.
"I think he'll try, but in the end, he'll fail. He can't fire us directly. He'd have to go to Amelia. She might get rid of me, but she won't let you go."
"And she won't get rid of you because she knows that doing so makes Percy more powerful," Hermione replied. "Well, now that we have that figured out, let's write a letter."
That evening, the legislation was sent to The Lovegoods along with a letter. Harry and Hermione had worked together on the letter, ensuring that it articulated their viewpoint clearly and without anything that could be seen as an attempt to wrest power from Percy for Harry or Hermione themselves.
In addition, they also sent the letter to a number of members of the Legion and Wizengamot for their signatures.
The letter read:
To the people of England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales,
The legislation that you are about to read was obtained legally by Hermione Granger as part of her duties at the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. We admit that it was disseminated illegally. We admit that we have broken the law by knowingly sending out legislation before the measure has been formally presented to the Wizengamot. We are aware that by doing so, our positions within the Ministry of Magic could be terminated with good reason.
However, we knew that this was true and sent it to The Quibbler anyway. It is well known that I, Harry Potter, am not a supporter of our current Minister of Magic. In fact, some would suggest that I was one of his most outspoken critics, at least among those that have never been tried for being a Death Eater. More than once, I have spoken out in opposition to the Minister's actions, doing so because I believed that silence on my part would be seen as consent for the Minister's actions.
In that same vein, I could not be silent when I learned about the legislation that you are about to read. This legislation would undo all of the work that the Ministry has done over the last century to ensure a better place for all of its magical citizens. In short, it is a travesty, the kind of legislation that even Cornelius Fudge never had the audacity to support.
In our meeting with The Minister of Magic, Percy Weasley suggested not only that he would make no attempts to halt the passing of this legislation, but that he would also sign it before it went back to the Wizengamot.
This cannot stand. I am officially asking the members of the Wizengamot to postpone all future hearings on this legislation. If the Wizengamot does go forward with this legislation, anyone who votes to approve such a measure can count me among their enemies, now and always. In addition, I am also asking for the members of the Wizengamot to move for a vote of no confidence in Minister of Magic Percy Weasley. It is clear that Mr. Weasley is no longer in a position to lead us and new leadership should be appointed.
I am asking that these measures be put into place as quickly as possible so that the Ministry can move forward with an actual leader.
Harry Potter
The following have signed this letter to indicate their support for the measures proposed:
Hermione Granger, Neville Longbottom,
Luna Lovegood, Parvati Patil,
Daphne Greengrass, Cho Chang,
Samantha Williamson, Michael Kliner,
Kevin Goran, Albus Dumbledore,
Remus Lupin, Katie Bell,
Fleur Delacour, Alicia Spinnet, and
Fred and George Weasley
The following morning, The Quibbler ran a summary of the legislation and Harry's letter in its entirety under the headline: Potter Has No Confidence in Minister of Magic! It was a slight juxtaposition of Harry's meaning, but it was catchy and had the added benefit of being largely correct. Normally, Harry would have likely been inundated with letters in response. Some of it would have been letters of support, other letters would have been hate mail from the select few people who passionately supported Percy. Most of it just would have been requests for further interviews.
Thankfully, Harry had blocked all owls from entering the grounds of his house unless he cleared them which meant that he got no letters at home. However, he had not warded his office and when Harry arrived for his anticipated scolding from Tonks, there were stacks of letters from the floor to the ceiling, practically walling his office off from use.
Harry stood in the doorway for a moment. He could just destroy the letters, but there was a chance that there was something valuable in there. But he didn't have time to go through all of them either. Harry made a mental note to ask Tonks if she had someone to spare who could go through it for him.
Instead, Harry went to Hermione's office to work. That lasted only a few moments before both of them were summoned to Amelia's office. Almost immediately, it became clear that Amelia intended to blame Harry for this. Technically, Harry hadn't done anything illegal. He hadn't removed the legislation from the Ministry and the rules never explicitly stated what should happen to a third party who sent classified documents to another third party. It was a legal gray area, but one that would likely keep Harry from losing his status at the Ministry.
In truth, Hermione had committed a series of infractions that, if she had been anyone else, could have landed her with some minor time in one of the lesser wings of Azkaban. However, because Amelia seemed dead set on blaming Harry and because Hermione was Hermione, they were ultimately given nothing more than a stern talking-to by the Head of the DMLE and then were sent on their way.
Over the next few days, dozens of Wizengamot members came out against the legislation and by the end of the week, it became clear that the attention that had been paid to the bill would sink it. Now, the only question remaining was whether Percy Weasley would remain resolute in his intention to sign the legislation.
The following Monday, everyone got their answer when Percy's office returned the legislation without his signature. At that point, everyone knew that the bill was dead and when an informal vote was held later that day, only thirty percent of the members present voted in favor of it.
On the other hand, only a little movement had been made on actually removing Percy as Minister of Magic. More than one member of the Wizengamot had publicly supported the idea, but no one had yet been bold enough to step forward and be the one to actually propose the motion. Harry knew that it was a risky proposition for any member of the Wizengamot. If they moved for the vote and the vote failed, then their days as an influential member of the Wizengamot were over. As it was, it would take a member of influence to even bring the matter to a vote. If someone that operated on the fringe of the Wizengamot proposed the idea, it would be immediately shot down and Percy would remain Minister of Magic having successfully fended off a vote of no confidence which would only make it all the more likely that he would continue to push weak pieces of legislation like the one that they had just successfully defeated.
On March 1, ten days after the letter had been published in The Quibbler, Harry was leaving The Ministry of Magic when he was intercepted by Penelope Clearwater, the Assistant Head of the DMLE.
"Do you want to get a drink?" Penelope asked.
Harry could count on one hand the number of conversations that he'd ever had with Penelope and they had all occurred at the Ministry of Magic and not a single one of them had been social in nature. Their relationship (if you could even call it that) was entirely professional and yet, here she was, asking him out for a drink.
"Not really," Harry said honestly. "I'm not really interested in getting a drink with someone that I barely know."
"Not even if I told you that I could get you that vote of no confidence you're looking for."
Harry's ears immediately perked up. That's what kind of drink she was after.
"You know, I think I know just the place."
Five minutes later, Harry and Penelope were seated at The Twilight Cafe, the same Muggle coffee shop that he and Ron had gone to after the last time he had spoken with Penelope. They each quickly ordered a black coffee before they found seats as far away from the rest of the Muggles as possible.
"You say that you can get the vote of no confidence?" Harry asked, quickly getting to the point.
"I can," Penelope replied.
"And who is the person making the motion?"
"That would be me."
That had not been the answer that Harry had expected. Generally, it was assumed that Department Heads and their immediate assistants would show solidarity to the current Ministry since they all had their jobs because of the current Minister. For the Assistant Head of the DMLE, the largest and most powerful branch of the Ministry, to break rank and move to remove the Minister of Magic was a huge deal.
"You're going to move for a vote of no confidence?"
"Not currently, no," Penelope replied, "but I could be...persuaded."
It was at this point that Harry knew that Penelope wasn't simply seeking to have Percy removed out of the goodness of her heart or out of her concern for the people of their world. She wanted something out of the deal.
"Alright, what do you want?" Harry asked.
"Your support is all I need," Penelope replied.
"Support for what?"
"I would like to be the next Minister of Magic."
Harry wasn't at all surprised. Penelope had always been ambitious. After all, she'd been a Prefect and Head Girl at Hogwarts. She had risen at the Ministry of Magic almost as quickly as Percy. If she'd been a man, she might have been the Minister already. However, she was a woman which meant that she had a reputation for being difficult, an accusation that reeked of sexism.
The few times that Harry had worked with Penelope, he had come away impressed. She was clearly bright, well connected, and almost always seemed ahead of the game. However, that was about all Harry knew about her and he wasn't at all prepared to put her up as Minister of Magic at the moment, a fact that he quickly related to her.
"I understand," Penelope replied. "I really do, but you also have to understand how this works. The longer Percy sits on his throne after that article, the less likely it becomes that he gets removed. You're not stupid. You know that if he survives this, he'll be practically invincible and he'll come after you next."
She wasn't wrong.
"So, take all the time you need to look into me. Ask my coworkers, my friends. Hell, call up my mother if you have to. But the longer you take, the more entrenched Percy Weasley becomes and you and I both know that we can't afford that."
Penelope collected her coffee and stood.
"I'll work with you, Harry. But making that motion is a limb I can't afford to step on unless I know that I have your support. You give me that and we can end Percy's time as Minister before he can do any more damage."
And then, without even giving Harry a chance to respond, she was gone. Harry knew that she was right. But he also knew that he wasn't about to throw her his support simply because she would get rid of Percy. The last thing they needed was to replace one ineffectual Minister of Magic with another.
Harry also knew that he needed to talk with Hermione. She had made it very clear that she wanted to be Minister of Magic someday. But, she was only twenty-one years old. It wasn't uncommon for the Minister of Magic to be in their thirties. Only since Millicent Bagnold had the trend of older Ministers become commonplace. However, twenty-one was young, especially for a Muggleborn. Still, if Hermione was interested, there was no chance that he would push for Penelope in her place.
He had a lot to think about. As usual, Harry found himself in a position to make a decision that could affect their entire world for years to come. In the past, Harry might have been impatient and rushed to make a decision within hours. But Harry was probably the most patient twenty-year-old on the planet and as such, he knew that he needed to explore all of his options before he made a decision.
Because whoever became the next Minister of Magic had the potential to be his greatest ally in the fight against Voldemort.
But they could also be his largest obstacle.