85 Chapter 82
It was the second of November, a Saturday, and Harry and Hermione were sitting at the Gryffindor table with Terry and Padma. Dean and Ron were setting up his wizard's chess kit. The pieces were yawning and stretching, getting ready for a brawl. Parvati was chatting with Padma and Hermione about something or the other after Hermione had called wizard's chess barbaric, with which the twins wholeheartedly agreed.
The chess board was set up and Harry's pieces started yelling directions at him. Tuning them out, Harry used Gamer's mind to predict Ron's strategies and play. In the end, Ron won, but it was a much closer game than anyone expected.
"Wow Harry! You're almost as good as Bill! We have to play more. The way you took the knight…" But Harry wasn't listening to Ron's ramblings. No, he was staring at the window that had popped up as soon as the game had finished.
Ping!
Due to constant use of your brain to play chess with a chess prodigy you have gained 1 Wis and +1 Int!
Harry grinned like a Cheshire cat.
"Ron, what would you say to a few more games eh?"
A chill passed through Ron Weasley's spine. Gulping, he replied in a much squeakier voice than he intended, "Sure."
They all moved to a table in the library and played chess for the next three hours, which left Harry's Wis and Int at an incredibly high state. Harry had even won once!
INT-32
WIS-36
"And now that my mana regen rate is insanely good, I don't have to worry about collapsing magically drained anytime soon," Harry happily explained to an uninterested Hedwig as he walked towards the Great Hall.
He'd just stepped into the bathroom to relieve himself when a ball of fire burst in front of him, revealing Fawkes with a note tied to his leg.
"Hello Harry, Hedwig," Fawkes greeted the boy and the bird snoozing in his pocket.
"Hello Fawkes."
"Letter for you Harry."
Harry untied the note from Fawkes's leg and watched the phoenix vanish away in another warm burst of flame. He opened the note. In a curly handwriting, it said,
Mr. Potter,
Officials from the Ministry of Magic would like to meet you to discuss your guardianship with you, since the Dursleys have been deemed unfit for so. Do not worry, nothing will be finalized in this meeting. Its just to bring you up to speed with the proceedings.
Kindly come along to my office at your earliest possible convenience. I hope you are enjoying school so far.
Yours sincerely,
Albus Dumbledore
P.S. I enjoy Acid Pops
Harry sighed. He'd been expecting something like this for a while now. And while he had quite a bit of distrust and anger towards the old headmaster for trying to manipulate him into some sort of dangerous hero testing treasure hunt, he wanted to have a say in choosing whomever he was going to be stuck with for six more summers.
With that thought he walked all the way to the headmaster's office entrance, told the password to the grumpy looking gargoyle, rode up the revolving staircase and knocked on the old oak door.
"Come in Mr. Potter."
One thing was certain. Of all the teachers' offices Harry had visited so far, Dumbledore's was by far the most interesting.
It was a large and beautiful circular room, full of funny little noises. A number of silver instruments stood on spindle-legged tables, whirring and emitting little puffs of smoke. The walls were covered with portraits of old headmasters and headmistresses, all of whom were snoozing gently in their frames. There was also an enormous, claw-footed desk, and, sitting on a shelf behind it, was a shabby, tainted wizard's hat, the Sorting Hat.
The headmaster was standing next to a throne-like chair near the desk, smiling towards Harry and standing beside the fireplace was a portly man in bottle green robes with a bowler hat.
'Must be the Ministry official,' Harry thought.
Upon catching sight of Harry, the man's face lit up and he strode over to Harry and grabbed his hand in a handshake.
"A pleasure, a pleasure Mr. Potter," the portly man said, vigorously shaking Harry's hand. "It's an honor to finally meet you. Cornelius Fudge, Minister of Magic."
Harry's eyebrows rose up, before he almost unconsciously slipped into the dialect he used when talking to Draco Malfoy.
"The pleasure is all mine Minister. But if I may ask, how did the Minister of Magic himself end up in a guardianship meeting?" Harry asked with a small smile.
The Minister's cheeks reddened a bit. "Nothing but the best for you Mr. Potter."
Harry gave another smile. "Thank you Minister. Please call me Harry. I must say, I've been extremely curious about the Ministry ever since I've come back into the wizarding world. I'd love to see how you manage to keep it all working someday."
Out of the corner of his eyes, Harry noticed that the Headmaster was watching them both intently, no doubt taking note of the fact that Harry was behaving like a very different person in front of the minister than he did in front of his friends. Realizing how odd that must appear to the headmaster, he quickly toned his pureblood-speak down a little bit.
Minister Fudge's chest swelled. "I'd be honored to show you one day Harry. Why Albus here is the head of the wizarding judiciary, the Wizengamot! I'm sure he'd be able to tell you more about the ministry than anybody alive."
The headmaster intervened. "I'd be glad to Harry, but I'm afraid we have to get into the issue of your guardianship now."
"Of course. Of course," The minister hurriedly pulled out some papers from his pocket and guided Harry to a chair before taking the other for himself. He then opened a chart and put on his wire frame glasses.
"We will just go through suitable candidates and present you with a list of people who could be your guardians. Nothing final today, just catching you up on what has been happening so far in the process," Dumbledore explained.
Harry nodded and waited for the Minister to start speaking. 'Observe' he thought.
Cornelius Fudge
Lv-36
HP-12000/12000
MP-3000/3000
Race-Wizard
Str-10
Vit-12
Dex-18
Int-27
Wis-12
Luc-14
Cornelius Oswald Fudge is a money hoarding corrupt stereotypical politician. He will do anything in his power to mantain his position and wealth. He is a proponent of equality in public but promotes blood privilege in private. He has a wife but continues to have a running affair with his maid.
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