CHAPTER {246-248}

****NEW-MACHINATIONS (I)****

~~Abandoned Warehouse, Scotland~~

"A couple of days ago, Voldemort attacked Amelia Bones with his Death Eaters, but before he could kill the woman, Harry Potter arrived and kicked his arse. There is a rumor that Harry Potter sent him packing and to be honest, I believe it" Rachel Node revealed.

"Then why are we hearing this now?" Derrick Oswell asked with a frown and Peggy seemed to be curious about the same.

"Because I needed to confirm the rumors before telling you guys" Rachel answered like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "There are always some rumors going around in the Magical World, do you want to listen to all of them? Only a handful of them are ever true" Rachel added with a shrug, but neither Peggy nor Derrick were happy with the explanation.

"Look… I can understand where you are coming from, but if it is anything about Potter, we need to know. Even if it turns out to be a simple rumor. Understood?" Peggy asked in a sharp tone while glaring at Rachel, but the other woman didn't look bothered in the slightest.

However, instead of answering, Rachel simply turned around. "Give me the file" The woman demanded and one of the agents handed over the file to her. Rachel turned around and handed over the file to Peggy. "There are rumors just from the last week. I hope your men will be able to verify them?" Rachel sneered before walking out.

"Do all Witches have sticks up their arses?" Derrick asked with a frown as he turned to look at Peggy.

"Most of them do" Peggy answered absentmindedly before she opened the file.

'Harry Potter is the son of You-Kno-Who and Lily Potter'

'Harry Potter is a clone of Gellert Grindelwald'

'Harry Potter is in a relationship with Amelia Bones'

'Harry Potter is the secret child of Gellert Grindelwald and Lily Potter'

'You-Know-Who is dead and Harry Potter is masquerading in his place'

'Harry Potter and You-Know-Who are brothers'

'Lily Potter is You-Know-Who's Daughter'

…

…

Peggy closed the file with a snap before gathering the courage to take another look. She opened the file again and closed it again… 'Nope. I am not doing this… This is just a big file of… nope. Yes, this is a big file of nope' Peggy decided inside her mind before deciding to ignore the file. The file was basically filled with outrageous rumors.

They needed to do an extensive investigation before accepting anything at face value… 'Wixen are fucking insane' Peggy decided and handed over the file to Derrick…

"What did you find?" Derrick asked, looking confused.

"Nothing useful. You can look it up if you have time" Peggy answered absentmindedly before she decided to leave Derrick to his own devices.

Derrick gave her a frown before he opened the file and after some time, he decided to toss the file and walk away. 'Wixen are fucking insane!' Derrick decided as he walked out of the room while fixing his tie…

<Line Break>

Merlin wasn't sure what to think… The security in the Ministry of Magic was completely despicable. A part of him was happy that he didn't have to work hard to infiltrate the building, but the rest of him was simply dumbfounded… The Ministry of Magic was probably the second most important place in Wizarding Britain, but the security was practically laughable.

"Are you sure about this, Merlin?" Alan asked in an unsure tone. "Bones could be already working for or with Potter… If we fail to convince her, then our cover will be blown" Alan pointed out, in an attempt to warn him of the consequences.

"Right now, we are fucking nobodies, which is a good thing, are we would lose a significant amount of advantage if he learns about us" Agatha added, trying to dissuade Merlin from his foolish course of action.

"I know, but we need to give it a try… If we are able to form an alliance then it would be great and if she is already working with Potter, then we would know that we can't trust the Minister and the Ministry" Merlin answered dismissively. He could see no negatives no matter how much he tried.

"Potter will know about us" Agatha decided to remind him.

"Yes, that is a risk, but I will simply erase the memory of the meeting from her mind" Merlin answered and while it was pretty obvious that Agatha and Alan were still unsure about the plan, they decided to follow Merlin's lead for the time until everything went tits up.

"We are here" Merlin intoned when the elevator opened with a ding. "Okay, let's get this over with" Merlin clapped his hands and all three of them turned invisible. Moments later, the three of them were heading toward the Minister's office. They weren't sure what to expect, but from what they had managed to learn, Amelia Bones was a righteous and fair woman.

Which meant, there was a very small chance that Amelia Bones was a part of the Lost Garden and that was the reason why Merlin decided to cook this plan of his… Having the Minister on board with them was going to be a massive help…

The three of them decided to wait in front of her office until someone opened the door so that they could enter without alerting anyone. They could have turned the door intangible, but they didn't want to trigger any alarms. After all, this was the Minister's office. They were confident that they could deal with any Wards, but they still wanted to play it safe.

So they simply decided to shrink themselves and wait beside the door. Someone finally entered the office and they quickly slipped inside the office before returning to their original size. They quickly spread around the room and decided to inspect it… Merlin was kind of outraged that there were no extra Wards inside the office.

Soon the Minister was alone in the room, and Merlin decided that it was time… "Hello, Minister Bones…" Merlin began to speak only to be hit by a Stunning Charm straight on his face…

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****NEW-MACHINATIONS (II)****

"Whoa… That was completely uncalled for" Merlin gripped unhappily after the Stunning Charm failed to knock him out. Amelia instinctively lowered her Wand with a stumped look on her face. Two more figures shimmered into existence and both of them had their hands raised in the air. To be honest, Amelia wanted to trigger the alarm, but her curiosity won over.

"We are simply here to talk" The sole woman in the group explained as she stepped forward. Amelia pursed her lips and lowered her Wand. At least, one of them could easily shrug off the Stunning Charm, so she wasn't so inclined to pick a fight with the three of them. They were probably in Harry's league, which meant they were not the opponents she could beat.

"Alright" Amelia nodded her head before placing her Wand on the table, but she didn't let it go. "Let's talk" She added in a no-nonsense tone.

"Hmm… That was a nice Stunner. My nose feels numb" The man she hit with the Stunning Charm mumbled while rubbing his nose and he was kind of looking impressed. "So, let's start with introductions… This is Agatha, and this is Alan" The man introduced his companions before pointing at himself. "And you may call me M" The man finished and Amelia furrowed her brows.

"M?" Amelia asked with a frown on her face.

"Yes, just M" The man confirmed. "May we sit down?" M asked while pulling back the chair.

"Of course, go ahead" Amelia answered drily.

"Okay… I am not going to beat around the bush, you have a problem of Dark Lord infestation" M said as he leaned forward on the table. Instead of saying anything, Amelia simply leaned back in her seat as she continued to stare at M before she glanced toward Alan and Agatha. The two of them seemed to be giving her sympathetic looks.

"That I do" Amelia nodded her head in acknowledgement after a few seconds of silence. There was no point in denying it, after all, the return of Voldemort and the rise of Dark Lord Potter were open secrets.

M glanced toward Alan and Agatha from the corner of his eyes. "We would like to give you a hand, if you prefer" M said, making Amelia frown.

"And what would you like in return, if you don't mind me asking" Amelia asked in a mock sweet tone.

"Welllll… That's the thing" M trailed off with a grin on his face. "We don't want anything in return" M revealed and Amelia scoffed in derision.

"Pull another one" Amelia scoffed.

"No really… We don't want anything in return. The thing is, the grudge is kind of personal for us" M revealed, making Amelia frown as she started to tap her finger on the table with a thoughtful look on her face. If it was for revenge, then she could understand why they were willing to work for free. After all, she herself made a deal with the devil for her revenge.

"So, what did Voldemort ever do to earn your animosity?" Amelia asked, trying to fish for some information. There were a lot of people who held a grudge against Voldemort since the last War, but only a handful of them were powerful enough to pose even the slightest threat and she was certain that there wasn't anyone who could casually shrug off a Stunning Charm straight to the face.

"We weren't talking about Voldemort" M replied simply and Amelia seemed to sag in her seat. This was not a conversation she was looking forward to… M could shrug off a Stunning Charm, which meant he was strong, but she didn't know if Harry could do the same too… Harry Potter was most definitely a threat, but that didn't mean that she wanted to get herself killed due to some foolish sense of duty.

Yes, her inner Auror was screaming at her to do the right thing, but the voice was becoming weaker day by day… After all, Harry was right. The people at the top were the ones who decided what was right and what wasn't…

"So, what did Harry Potter ever do to you or any of you?" Amelia asked, hoping they didn't catch her true feelings about the matter.

"It is kind of personal" M answered simply with a smile on his face. Amelia stared at him for the next few seconds before leaning forward on her table. There was no way she was going to turn on Harry even if these people could possibly beat him… Firstly, she didn't know any of them, so it was kind of hard for her to place her trust in them. Secondly, she wasn't a dumb bitch…

If her little coup d'etat failed then Harry would kill her and he wasn't going to stop there… He would kill her niece too…

Though all of a sudden, the look on Alan's face changed and before she could make a move, a red Spell struck her and she slumped down on the table. "What the fuck, Alan!?" M asked as he whirled around, looking startled. "I was having a chat with her if you didn't notice" M added with a scowl. Though before Alan could say anything, Amelia's body disappeared with a soft crack.

"The hell?" Agatha also jumped up in surprise. From their brief inspection, they knew there weren't any extra Wards inside the room.

"It is useless now, she is already gone…" Alan slumped down, looking defeated. "I have been saying this from the start, this was a risk… An unnecessary risk. Now, Potter is going to know about us" Alan took off his cap and ran his fingers through his hair in frustration.

"Fuuuckkk…." Agatha groaned… "All of this is your fault, you sick pervert" Agatha screeched at Merlin.

"Wait, how was I supposed to know?" Merlin tried to defend himself, but glares from both Alan and Agatha seemed to shut him off. "Alright. Fine. It was my bad" Merlin decided to admit his mistake even though he still believed that it wasn't his fault. "A pity, she really did have a nice rack" Merlin muttered with a sigh.

"Merlin!!" Both Alan and Agatha screamed at him in outrage…

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****NEW-MACHINATIONS (III)****

"So, the two of you are dating?" Jacklyn asked slowly while staring at Harry and Tonks. The whole revelation was kind of surprising to her since Harry never showed any kind of interest in the opposite sex… She knew. After all, she had flashed him in her underwear, but he never showed any interest in her.

"Isn't my daughter… kind of old for you?" Ted said with a weird look on his face. He didn't want to call his daughter old, but Tonks was at least six years older than him.

"Yes, are you sure you want to date her, Harry? She is a baby trapped in an adult's body" Andi pointed out with a frown as she glanced at her daughter.

"How could you two say that?" Tonks looked outraged, but moments later, she started to sulk when both Ted and Andi decided to ignore her outrage.

"I am certain" Harry confirmed with a nod of his head. "We aren't getting married or anything, so we do have a lot of time to see if we are good for each other or not" Harry added with a smile as he glanced toward Tonks, who huffed smugly. Jacklyn had to admit, Andi was right.

"Well said! I knew my Godson wasn't going to disappoint me!" Sirius exclaimed as he started to do a little jig. "James would be really proud" Sirius sighed as he wiped a fake tear from the corner of his eyes. "And Lily… I am not sure what she might have done" Sirius admitted unsurely after thinking for a bit.

"Ignore them, Harry. Congratulations" Narcissa decided to congratulate them with a pleasant smile on her face.

At first, Tonks didn't want to reveal their newly budding relationship this soon, but Harry managed to convince her with some well-said arguments. Firstly, both of them were living under the same roof, so it would be impossible to hide their relationship for the long term. Secondly, it would also give them more room to act freely. They wouldn't need to lie or tip-toe around the others.

"Thank you, Aunty" Tonks beamed at the older Witch.

"Harry?" Gellert knocked on the doorframe. Harry stood up and smoothened his robes.

"Excuse me" Harry said as he decided to leave with Gellert, but before he could do that, he was stopped by Tonks and Jacklyn.

"Can I come?" Tonks and Jacklyn asked at the same time and the two of them glanced at each other in surprise, but they quickly turned back toward Harry.

After thinking for a bit, Harry answered. "Yeah, sure" He agreed since he needed to know if Tonks could digest all of their actions or not, and there was no harm in letting Jacklyn join them since she was pretty much okay with anything they did.

Tonks shot up on her feet with a grin on her face and skipped to Harry while Jacklyn easily caught up to the couple as they walked out of the room. "So, what do you want to talk about, Gellert?" Harry asked when they were sufficiently far away from the parlor. Harry knew that there must be a reason why Gellert decided to call him out instead of delivering the report in front of the others.

Gellert glanced toward Tonks with some hesitance in his eyes. He wasn't sure what to think about the girl… "...I have finally located Greyback and his pack" Gellert revealed and Harry simply raised his brows in interest while Tonks paled at the revelation. After all, Fenrir Greyback was a monster.

"Ohh… How many of them are there?" Harry asked, looking interested.

"I am not sure about the count, but hundreds?" Gellert guessed and Harry whistled, looking impressed.

"Looks like the fleabag was working really hard in the past few years" Harry said with a grin, only to receive a nod from Gellert.

"That he was. He was spotted near Berlin" Gellert revealed and Harry froze.

"Berlin? Are you sure?" Harry asked with a frown.

"Yes, I was surprised too, but the report is solid… It was a case of dine and dash. It perfectly matches his M.O." Gellert answered with a straight face, making Tonks and Jacklyn blink in confusion. They couldn't relate the crime of 'dine and dash' with someone like Fenrir Greyback.

"Dine and dash?" Tonks ended up asking, looking confused and after staring at her for a moment, Harry decided to answer.

"He ate a few people before he escaped" Harry answered and Tonks turned white as a sheet before turning green. She knew that Greyback was a cannibal from all the reports she had read in the Ministry, but like a total dunce, she failed to connect the dots. "Was he alone or…?" Harry trailed off.

"He came with at least 10 of his pack" Gellert answered without missing a beat and Tonks started to look more sicker at those words.

"Alright. Send a team to follow their trail and tell them to pull back during full moons. I will deal with them when they reach the shore" Harry said and Gellert nodded his head in understanding. Their pack was huge and it was a risk to surround them so it would be easier to simply box them in with the sea. "Is there anything else?" Harry asked.

"Yes, the Guild decided to put a bounty on our heads" Gellert deadpanned and Harry's lips started to twitch in annoyance, but before he could answer, something pinged in his senses. Someone has knocked out Amelia Bones in her office…

"Wait a bit" Harry raised his hand to stop Gellert from anything else. Then he closed his eyes and reached out to Amelia through her Mark. While he wanted to review her memories to see who had dared to attack her in her office, it was not the time since the attackers were probably still there, in her office. So, he activated the Portkey in her Mark and moments later, Amelia appeared in front of them with a soft pop.

"Morgana's tits!!" Tonks exclaimed in surprise when her former boss appeared in front of her out of the blue and then Amelia slumped down on the floor, kind of lifelessly, surprising her even more…

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