Chapter Sixty Seven - Winky

Disclaimer: The Harry Potter universe belongs to JK Rowling, Scholastic, Bloomsbury, Warner Bros and some other high falutin' companies. Me, I'm just a PR professional. I don't profess to own - and would never dream of making any money off - JKR's wonderful world. However, its her sandbox and she's left the gate unlatched so we can go in and play a bit. Which, I've done.

Chapter Sixty Seven - Winky

_‗_

-==(oIo)==-

\""/

Harry and Daphne returned to Hogwarts too late in the evening to meet their friends, so headed straight to their dormitories. It wasn't until the next morning they all met up again, at the Hufflepuff table.

Hermione leaned forward from where she was sitting opposite and asked, "What happened last night?"

"Oh," said Harry. "I was elevated to my seat on the Wizengamot. Fudge tried to stop it but failed. Straight after that, the Wizengamot voted to run a Wizengamot led investigation into the office of the Minister of Magic.

"Fudge then resigned before the vote could be taken - he clearly thought he could stop it by doing so - but he failed to grasp that the investigation isn't into him, it's into the office of the Minister of Magic; which is what one of the other members immediately pointed out. So, his resignation was accepted on the spot and the vote went ahead. It was comfortably passed.

"As soon as it was passed, Aunt Amelia used her auror badge to send in two aurors to immediately toss out anyone who was still inside the Minister's offices, even at that time of night, then seal and guard the door until this morning; when the investigation officially begins.

"The funny thing was watching Lucy Malfoy bolt out of the chambers as soon as the gavel fell to close the session, without even bothering to doff his Wizengamot robes first. I think he was trying to get to the Minister's offices before anyone else could. The pity for him is that the aurors were already in place well before he could have got there.

"Aunt Amelia isn't stupid. She anticipated what was going to happen and moved first. Unofficially, I think she already had her aurors securing the office as soon as the Wizengamot session began; before the motion was even raised."

When the mail arrived, Harry received his Daily Prophet from Hedwig and handed her a couple of slices of bacon as a reward. He then received a letter from Isabel, who wrote she'd passed the message on to Cygnus who laughed and was very happy.

The headline of the Prophet made Harry laugh, but the story was - troubling.

THE BOY WHO CANCELLED THE TRI-WIZARD TOURNAMENT

Yesterday afternoon the fourth so-called unwilling competitor in the Tri-Wizard Tournament used trickery to wheedle his way out of the tournament causing it to be cancelled, writes Rita Skeeter, your special correspondent.

In an argument across the stands surrounding the competitor's arena, the so-called fourth competitor used verbal chicanery to get the Ministry Representative to attempt to force through a change to the contract governing the tournament.

It is feared this trickery will result in the Ministry representative, Mister Bartemius Crouch, losing his magic and, possibly, his very life. We hope this foul deed will be recognised by the Goblet of Fire for what it is, and the so-called fourth competitor is the one who will lose his magic.

Mister Crouch and the three Headmasters of Hogwarts, Beauxbatons and Durmstrang will now need to work long hours to rectify the situation and allow the honourable competitors to continue on their quest for glory.

It makes one wonder just why the fourth competitor entered, at all. Was he looking just to spoil it for everyone because the tournament would take the limelight off him?

* # *

Further down, Harry saw a second article that was far more interesting.

THE BOY WHO WAS ELEVATED - THE MINISTER WHO RESIGNED

Last night, in an emergency session of the Wizengamot, our most famous Head of a Noble and Most Ancient House was elevated to his seat on the Wizengamot, writes Monty Wordsworth.

Earlier in the day, in a shocking turn of events, this Head's emancipation was accepted by the Minister's personal representative to the Tri-Wizard Tournament, Mister Bartemius Crouch. Immediately on emancipation the young man accepted his Lordship.

This new Lord, who we are not permitted to identify due to an unfair exclusive media arrangement with a competitor, was accepted among his new peers on the Wizengamot to applause by said peers. The young man in question was presented by Lord Cygnus Greengrass and Madam Augusta Longbottom. On no less than three separate occasions Minister Fudge unsuccessfully attempted to block his elevation.

Immediately after the new Lord was seated, the second item of business was announced. Lord Greengrass successfully moved to hold a Wizengamot led investigation into the office of the Minister of Magic regarding his attempts to stop the new Lord from being elevated to the Wizengamot.

Unsurprisingly, the Minister resigned before the vote could be taken. However, the investigation wasn't into Mister Fudge; but was, instead, into his office. As such, the debate continued until a successful resolution was reached. It appears the Lords and Ladies of the Wizengamot do not take kindly to the Ministry attempting to interfere with their rites of succession.

We look forward to the near future when this investigation is concluded and they report their findings.

* # *

Harry handed the paper to Daphne and indicated the two articles.

After she read them she grinned back. "That's typical Skeeter; but, I'm finding I like our Mister Wordsworth more and more," she said.

"As am I," said Harry. "I feel some remorse for arranging the exclusive media contract with Luna, as it applies to our Mister Wordsworth. If I could have allowed an exception for him, I would have. However, his editor, Barnaby Cuffe, would have - corrupted it, as Mister Wordsworth is essentially his employee."

"Cuffe would have simply used Mister Wordsworth's by-line for every article about you," said Daphne.

"I know," he replied. "Hence, why I couldn't do it."

"Write him a letter, apologising to him," she said. "One that lays out why you took out the exclusive contract."

Harry thought about that for a few moments, before he said, "You're right; I should. And, I will."

_‗_

-==(oIo)==-

\""/

At an undisclosed location - known as Riddle Manor - Pettigrew had to make himself scarce. His master was in a complete snit that his carefully laid plans to have Potter where he wanted him on the 24th of June, had collapsed. He ranted and raved; and Pettigrew believed he would probably have been killed by his master if his master did not still desperately need him.

His master had somewhat destroyed the room in which he stayed, and it was a while before he calmed.

"Wormtail!" Baby-Riddle breezily shouted. "Wormtail; I need my potion!"

Baby-Riddle could feel he was close to losing magical control of the infant he possessed. Only through use of the snake venom potion could he hold it.

Pettigrew, knowing his master had calmed once more, quickly brought in the potion and assisted his master to drink it.

Once he had imbibed the foul concoction, baby-Riddle said, "We need a new plan. It would be better to have that strategic mind of Lucius assisting us; but, he cannot be trusted, at the moment."

"I know it was the plan for the Potter boy to be captured while he competed in the final task, Master," said Pettigrew. "However, just because he will no longer be competing - can he not still be captured at that time, while all others are focussed on the final task?"

Baby-Riddle stared at Pettigrew for a few moments before he smirked. "Well, Wormtail; it appears you do have flashes of brilliance come upon you at odd moments."

"I live to serve, Master," said Pettigrew, with his eyes turned down.

"Of course you do," said baby-Riddle. "Leave me now. I need to think on what you've told me."

Pettigrew bowed deeply and fled the room.

_‗_

-==(oIo)==-

\""/

The investigation into the affairs of the Minister's office took a decidedly gleeful turn for House Potter and their allies when a secret drawer was found in the Minister's desk. Inside, was a slim ledger that listed what they discovered to be bribes paid to the Minister. And bribes the Minister paid to some of his underlings.

The last one was from Lucius Malfoy - as were many of the others - and the line item of the last one was for Fudge to block Harry's elevation to his seat on the Wizengamot. That explained Malfoy's sudden dash from the Wizengamot session the couple of night's previous. The little rotund fool had kept a ledger, not only of the bribes he'd accepted or paid, but also included the why's as line items. Apparently Aunt Amelia had done a little jig, right there in front of the now ex-Minister's desk.

The list of those arrested included: Lucius Malfoy; Delores Umbridge, Senior Undersecretary for the Minister; Pius Thicknesse, a Senior Auror, bribed to keep quiet about something he found in Malfoy Manor during a search a couple years ago; Marjorie Edgecombe, Head of the Floo Network Authority and mother of Fifth Year Ravenclaw Marietta Edgecombe, who monitored the floo network to track movements of certain people Fudge wanted to know about - including Harry Potter; and an Addison Yaxley who bribed Fudge for Fudge to drop investigating his dealings with the muggles.

There were others. Quite a few of them, in fact. But Fudge, Malfoy and the Umbridge woman were all definitely going to Azkaban. Others were going to be heavily fined and dismissed from service within the Ministry. But, all that could not happen until they were given trials.

"And how goes the search for a new Minister?" Harry asked his godfather via his mirror that night.

"The politicking and other manoeuvring has commenced," replied Sirius. "I'm surprised you haven't been approached, yet."

"Who said I haven't?" asked Harry a little cheekily. "There's a couple of Slytherins and Ravenclaws here, who've already come asking who I think would make a good Minister. One even alluded to someone of no consequence, as he's a - former - masked moron."

"Do you have someone in mind?" asked Sirius.

"Nope. Only who I don't want," he replied. "If they once wore a mask, they're out. If they work for the current Ministry - except for Aunt Amelia or any of her top Aurors - they're out. Oh, except for Arthur Weasley. Him, I like."

"That's a little unfair," said Sirius. "You've only met a few who work for the Ministry. Most of them are good people."

"True," mused Harry. "I'll probably wait, then, until the Prophet starts making their recommendations and cross them off the list, then."

Sirius laughed. "You need to take this seriously, Harry. It's an important job."

"I am," Harry countered. "That's why I'll only cross them off if the Prophet supports them. Anyone the Prophet supports is probably someone who bribed them." He then sighed and said, "I'll talk to Daphne - and you lot - and you can recommend who I should vote for. However, I will not be politicking for them. If they ask; they're off the list."

"Fair call," said Sirius.

_‗_

-==(oIo)==-

\""/

That evening, Luna approached him for the first of the three interviews for the year he'd promised her. She carried it out in their Room with the others of the Eight, plus the Weasley twins, in attendance.

Her interview style was, as expected, pretty relaxed. She asked all the right questions - which even surprised Daphne - and Harry answered them all honestly, and efficiently. There were even a couple of questions aimed Daphne's way; but, Luna told her not to answer them if she didn't want to, and she wouldn't include the fact she didn't want to in the piece.

Luna asked about how he felt when his name came out of the Goblet; how he felt about the other three contestants; who he felt would win; how his school mates were handling it all; how his close friends were handling it all; and how well he was doing in school.

She also covered the exclusive media contract and why Harry had agreed to one with Lovegood Publishing. He was full of praise for the Quibbler in their honourable approach to reporting, and said he thought the Prophet to be dishonest by reporting unsubstantiated rumours and half-truths as the whole unvarnished truth. As such he called the Prophet 'a written version of a neighbourhood gossip monger' that was only interested in sensationalism and what ever lies they could get away with so long as they continued to sell newspapers.

Luna then went into the events of the Chamber of Secrets and ensured she took down quotes from Neville, especially. She asked Daphne, Tracey and Hermione about their experiences being petrified; how Harry and the others felt about what was going on; and about the sub-standard teaching of 'Flophart'.

She lightly brushed over the betrothal and how both he and Daphne were coping with it; and even mentioned how close the two of them were.

"Of course," said Daphne, "Harry and I will be married this summer; so..."

"What?" squeaked Harry.

"We're getting married this summer, remember?" she asked. "It's in the contract. We are to be married the summer after you become of age or are emancipated sooner."

"Gahh! I! Errr!" spluttered Harry. He quickly read through the contract in his mind and found the relevant clause.

"Harry?" asked Daphne.

"Oh, my God!" he exclaimed. "I didn't realise! Oh, my God! Daphne!"

"Harry," said Daphne, growing quite concerned.

"When I became emancipated," said Harry, still in a bit of shock. "I didn't think about that specific clause in the contract! It just said we are to marry after I became 'of age', not when. I thought we could put it off until after we both graduated! Oh, my God!"

Daphne started giggling.

"Oh, my God!" he exclaimed again.

"Harry," she tried to soothe him while giggling. "We - that is, my parents and I - did remember the clause in the contract. It just wasn't in the part about emancipation. We knew that if you had to use the emancipation trick to get out of the Goblet of Fire contract, we would have to marry this summer."

"But, I didn't!" exclaimed Harry. "That's one of the foibles of an eidetic memory. While I remember everything I cannot think of everything at the same time! I hadn't thought to check my memories of the betrothal contract to see that particular clause about emancipation."

"Well, darling," said Daphne. "You and I will be starting our Fifth Year as husband and wife; Lord and Lady Potter."

"Oh, my God!" he exclaimed again.

Daphne giggled some more before turning to Luna. "I will ask you not include any of that in the article, Luna."

Luna simply smiled and said, "I haven't even been writing any of it down. So, I agree, it's off the record, so to speak."

After Harry had managed to calm himself down again, Luna continued.

Ending the interview Luna touched a little on Harry's home life before he returned to the wizarding world; and how he was now coping some three and half years after leaving Privet Drive behind for good.

When the interview finished, Harry was surprised by how much he divulged. Luna just made him so relaxed he just talked without considering the consequences. However, it was Luna's job to interview him and she did an admirable job of it; so, he couldn't fault her for getting so much out of him.

_‗_

-==(oIo)==-

\""/

A couple of days later, Harry learned via owl from Cygnus that Crouch had collapsed and was taken to Saint Mungo's hospital. It was believed he had collapsed from stress due to over work. He was currently being kept in a private room.

Harry wondered, however, if Crouch was actually losing his magic. Dewey assured him the Goblet of Fire would only strip him of his magic if it was Crouch's intent to breach the contract. As everyone knew it wasn't, they didn't think it would happen.

In Hogwarts, Harry also learned that the three real champions had each signed a new magical contract - one with signatures on parchment - to continue with the Tri-Wizard tournament. However, it didn't all go the Ministry's way, as the Ministry clearly expected it to. The three brought in Dewey and had him negotiate the contract on their behalf.

The contract was essentially the same. This time it had the proper dates included. It was also specifically written to include a competitor could withdraw at any time due to injury from either of the two remaining events without being in breach. And, the contract did not include the competitor was required to attend any other event bar the two remaining challenges.

When he approached Cedric about the rumours, Harry was informed the three champions were happy with the contract and wanted the event to go ahead. The added clauses in the contract also provided them relief against having their magics stripped if they could not compete when the remaining two events were to be held.

The Ministry was not happy to learn the champions could not be forced to attend the Yule Ball, as it was not considered an event of the Tri-Wizard Tournament, even though it was considered traditional. However, all three planned to attend anyway. They merely wanted the clause included in case some unforeseen emergency arose that meant they could not.

The other item the representatives of the Ministry tried to force through was an attempt to strip the competitors of their exclusive media contracts. Dewey resoundingly stymied that by stating the contracts could not be stripped, even if the competitors wanted them to be. The contracts were ironclad, and any clause in the new contract would automatically be void due to the pre-existing contract; so, it was pointless to include them.

_‗_

-==(oIo)==-

\""/

A few more days later and the issue of the Quibbler with Harry's interview was published. Harry was quick to read it and gave Luna a big hug in congratulations for such an excellent piece of journalism.

"You do wonderful work, dear Luna," said Harry with a big smile. "You clearly have a future in that field. Even if you don't choose to go into a career in journalism, I hope you consider a career as a writer."

"That is my intent, Harry," she replied with a wide beaming smile.

A few others in the Great Hall, that morning, also had copies of the Quibbler. There were a few Ravenclaws who had initially subscribed only to tease the girl about it; but, had kept their subscriptions after Harry had made her a Protectee of House Potter. They were looking at the girl with surprise.

Of course, the First and Second Years were not at school when everything came out over the Chamber of Secrets, and Harry's and Neville's involvement in it, and were now looking at both boys with not a little awe.

_‗_

-==(oIo)==-

\""/

It was the Monday evening after the first task when Dobby suddenly showed up in the Come and Go Room with another house elf. This one looked female as it was wearing what appeared to be a toddler girl's pink summer dress. It also appeared very drunk.

"Dobby?" asked Hermione. "Why are you here?"

"Dobby is sorry for not being at Mistress's home, Mistress Mi-nee," said the little elf. "Dobby's friend Winky is in need of help," he said gesturing to the other elf.

Almost unconsciously, Hermione muttered, "Hermione," while Dobby was speaking. "Besides looking like she's drunk, what's wrong with her?"

"Winky was personal house elf of House Crouch," replied Dobby. "But, her master gave her clothes because of something she didn't do."

"Winky is a bad elf!" the little elf wailed.

Harry frowned and looked at the little elf as it blubbered. "Winky!"

The little elf sniffled and looked at Harry. "Y-yes, Harry Potter sir?"

"What is it you were supposed to have done for your old master to give you clothes?" he asked.

"Winky is not being allowed to say," she blubbered. "It being House secret."

"You were the elf who was accused of casting the dark mark at the Quidditch World Cup, weren't you?" asked Tracey.

The little elf looked down and replied, "Master said Winky do it. But, Winky did not."

"That's impossible," huffed Hermione. "House elves cannot use wands."

"What do you want us to do to fix this, Dobby?" asked Daphne.

"Winky needs a new home, Miss," he said, almost hopefully.

Harry looked at Hermione. She immediately said, "Oh, no! My father still hasn't completely forgiven you for Dobby bonding with me."

The others snickered.

Thinking a moment, Harry then looked towards the twins, who were looking back from the potion station, where they were working on another prank potion.

"What..."

"... Harrikins?" they asked.

Daphne looked from Harry to the twins and back again, before she snorted in amusement.

"Oh, that's just perfect," said Tracey, giggling. She'd figured it out, too.

The others got it very quickly after that, except the twins.

Looking among themselves, for a few moments, Harry turned and grinned at the twins and said, "Oh, bo-oys. How would you like your own personal house elf?"

The twins glanced at one another before they replied, "Merlin..."

"... no!"

"Mum would..."

"... kill us!"

Thinking a moment, Harry said, "True; she would."

He looked around and asked, "Luna?"

"Yes, Harry?" she asked.

"You do not have a house elf, do you?" he asked back.

"No," she replied. "I do not know why not. But, yes; I think House Lovegood can make use of her - if she sobers up and stays that way."

"It's up to you, dear Luna," said Harry.

Luna thought it over and called Winky to stand before her. The hopeful little elf walked to stand in front of Luna.

"If I accept you on behalf of House Lovegood, will you stay sober and be a good elf?" asked Luna.

"Miss Luna wants Winky?" asked the little elf.

"If you're willing to stay sober; then, yes," replied Luna.

"Winky will do that," the little elf firmly replied.

Harry quickly wrote out the oath to bind Winky to House Lovegood and handed it to Luna. She held her hand out and placed it on the elf's forehead and gave the oath. Winky gave her part of the oath and there was the glow of binding taking place.

Dobby let out another "Yi-hoo!" with a fist pump in the air as Winky was immediately sober.

Luna smiled and looked down at the little elf and said, "My daddy lives at home, alone, for most of the year since I started Hogwarts. Your primary job is to look after him and make sure he looks after himself. If he asks who you are, you can tell him. And you can tell him you're mainly my elf and my Protector asked me to accept you."

"Yes, Mistress!" said the little elf. "Thank you, Mistress." She then popped away.

Hermione turned to Dobby and said, "You may go and help her settle in before returning to your normal duties."

"Thank you, Mistress Mi-Nee!" said Dobby, before he, too, popped away.

"It's Hermione!" muttered the girl with an exasperated sigh to spot where the elf stood.

Harry snickered. When she glared at him he said, "It's cute. He tries; really, he does."

"I know," she grumbled back with a pained expression.

"And, how are your parents holding up with Dobby?" asked Daphne.

Hermione brightened up and replied, "Oh, he and Daddy are best mates, now! Last summer, Daddy said he wanted to go hunting for red grouse and wished he could take Dobby with him to act as a game chaser.

"Dobby asked what a game chaser was, and he said the next moment Dobby looked like a beagle! He looked identical to the game chaser dog Daddy's friend, who often went with him, looked like. Daddy then recommended a few changes of colouring so Dobby didn't look like the same dog and he said Dobby was ready.

Then, the next Sunday, Dobby elf-apparated them both up here to Scotland and Daddy was able to bag three with Dobby chasing the grouse into the air!"

"What?" asked Daphne. "Do you mean to tell me house elves are animaguses?"

"Oh, no!" replied Hermione, with a grin. "It was a simple glamour. Dobby cast a glamour on himself to make people think he was a beagle! He even cast a sound-based glamour that made it seem like he was baying when he was yelling."

The pureblood among them where gobsmacked.

Hannah was the first to speak. "I think I speak for the rest of us when I tell you, we had no idea house elves could do that!"

"No, it wasn't in that book that Uncle Cygnus gave me, either," replied Hermione. "But daddy didn't know that. He thought it was normal for house elves to do it."

Harry laughed. "Typical!" he said. "There's an old muggle saying. If you want something impossible done; give it to someone who doesn't know it's impossible to do. It will then be done."

"Anything else he can do we didn't know elves could do?" asked Hannah.

"Well, he can use the same sort of glamour magic to look like a non-descript person when he's working outside," she said. "That's how he can get the outside work done in a muggle neighbourhood. Our neighbours think my parents have contracted a handyman-gardener to do the work for them."

"That's - wow!" said Susan in wonder. "I don't think my aunt knows they can do that."

"I don't think anyone in the wizarding world knows they can do that," said Daphne.

"In my defence for not telling you earlier," said Hermione. "I thought everyone actually did."

_‗_

-==(oIo)==-

\""/

Things were settling down again after the furore over Harry's withdrawal from the tournament, and the Eight were looking forward to the Ball - even though they were not supposed to know about it yet. However, that sort of information does not remain secret for long. When it was publically announced, there were very few who did not already know of it. But, the Third Years and down were quite disappointed to learn they could not attend unless someone Fourth Year and up asked them along as their date.

Neville, ever the gentleman, immediately turned to Luna and asked her to be his date to the Ball; which meant the Eight could attend, together, as they wanted to.

Once it was publically announced, Cygnus and Isabel began to visit the castle each Saturday as private tutors in dance. Originally, they were only there to teach the eight. However, many other students learned of the private tutoring and approached Harry begging to be allowed to be taught.

The lessons were held each Saturday in the Great Hall, and were open to Fourth Years and up, plus any younger years who were identified as dates of the older years for the Ball. They were also quickly joined by Professors McGonagall and Sprout and Sirius in teaching. Little Professor Flitwick happily looked after the music requirements.

For their part, Harry and Daphne both decided to keep their knowledge of other dances a secret. If the opportunity presented itself on the night for other forms of dancing, then they would hit the floor and dance that form. A plain old waltz was nice for a while, but it would quickly get boring.

_‗_

-==(oIo)==-

\""/

The other events of note were that Professor Snape had, again, backed off on his sneering and taunting of Harry. He even - though, reluctantly - handed Harry points in Potions. Harry was always only amused by the Professor's actions; especially, as the Potions Master never failed to take notes of Harry's minor modifications of the order in which to prepare said potions when a clear improvement was made.

The second other events of note related to Professor Moody. After Harry managed to get himself out of the Tri-Wizard Tournament the Professor had taken to watching Harry very carefully. On a couple of occasions he had to use his invisibility cloak and make judicious use of the secret passages within the castle to avoid the man to get to the Come and Go Room.

It was on one of his jaunts where the Professor continually seemed to be able track him that led Harry to find out how to test for tracking charms. In the library, he discovered a book that showed how to check for them. It wasn't one type of spell, either. It seemed various spells were required to show up any and all.

It was while in the library, he tested everything he had on him, and even himself. He found five different ones.

There was one on the outside of his cloak, two on his bookbag, and two on his shoes. The one on his cloak and one each on his bookbag and shoes all seemed to have been done by the same person. The other person was responsible for the other two.

It took him a while to get the incantations right, but he was finally able to remove all five. Or, rather, he was able to transfer them. The two done by the second person, he transferred to Ron Weasley. The person responsible for the other three had his, or her, tracking charms moved to Draco Malfoy.

The other thing he learned went hand in glove with testing for and moving tracking charms; actually casting them, yourself. And, of course, he was a quick study. Once the tracking charms had been moved he taught the others how to cast them. And allowed Daphne to cast a couple of them on him. One was on his personal self, while other went on his wand.

"Why my wand?" he asked her.

"Because you always have your wand with you," she smiled back. "Don't tell me you didn't understand that."

Sheepishly, he smiled and said, "It actually hadn't occurred to me."

After that, Professor Moody seemed to continually try and follow Mister Weasley the youngest about the place. And was confused whenever he came across Ron and not Harry. That, at least, gave Harry the identity of one of his taggers. But, it didn't explain why.

After that, each time he left the DADA class he would check for new tracking charms. Each time he found one he'd move it to another student. It would be a different student each time.

Harry had also tested to see if he could cast, or transfer to, a tracking charm on a ghost. He could not. However, he was once able to successfully transfer the charm to Peeves, the poltergeist. He also told Peeves what he had done and why. Peeves thought it hilarious and led the Professor on a merry chase throughout the castle for about four days.

Harry gave as good as he got. Now that he knew of the tracking charms - which were first invented to keep tabs on small children with a sense of adventure and wanderlust - Harry had taken to casting similar charms on Professor Moody. He'd cast them on the man's wooden leg, on his wand, on his cane, on his great coat, and once even on his magical eye. The last one gave the Eight no end of amusement.

By then, Harry thought both knew the other knew what they were doing. However, neither seemed to be inclined to stop. Though he didn't know why Moody seemed hell bent on continuing their little game, Harry was having far too much fun to end it. Many late afternoons were spent updating the group on to whom he'd transferred the latest tracking charms. It was the twins who'd suggested Peeves.

Unknown to Harry, though, Moody had no idea it was Harry and his friends who were the ones transferring his trackers, or putting them on him. He was positive it was a member of staff. After all, such charms were not taught to children. They were for adults to cast on children; not the other way around.

_‗_

-==(oIo)==-

\""/

The next afternoon, Harry was greeted by a clearly excited Hermione, Neville and Tracey. "What's going on?" he asked.

The three looked at one another for a few moments before Tracey said, "Professor Moody was arrested, today," she replied. "Only, it wasn't Professor Moody."

"Oh?" asked Harry, a little dumbfounded.

"Nope," she replied with a huge grin. "Rumour has it, it was some Death Eater using Polyjuice to make himself look like Moody. And that Moody was trapped inside a trunk in his office. He's - the real Moody, that is - is supposed to be up in the Infirmary, right now."

Harry was shocked.

Hermione said, "Apparently, Dumbledore finally figured it out. He compared the writing style of the hidden school on the bottom of the parchment that had your name on it, with the writing style of the staff. It matched Fake-Professor Moody's handwriting off a document the Professor - fake Professor - had to submit relating to the end of term progress reports of the students.

"He and Professor McGonagall had a fight with him this afternoon before Professor Dumbledore subdued him and tied him up. The aurors came by later and took away the Polyjuiced man once the potion wore off."

"Any idea who it really was, then?" asked Harry.

"None," said Tracey. "But, we'll learn, soon enough, through the Daily Prophet when the information is released."

Harry snorted and said, "The Prophet could tell me it was the Minister himself and I wouldn't believe them."

_‗_

-==(oIo)==-

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On the Saturday before Christmas - the day after the last day of school term and a special Hogsmeade visit day - Harry had to attend his first, proper, Wizengamot session. The previous three weeks had been horrendous, politically speaking.

The battle for the next Minister for Magic eventually cut down to three 'finalists'. They were Rufus Scrimgeour, the current Head of the Auror Office under Aunt Amelia; Lord Tiberius Ogden; and Dirk Creswell, Head of the Goblin Liaison Office.

When Harry asked his ex-Guardians who was the best choice his choice wasn't made easier when they hemmed and hawed a fair bit before finally telling him to go with his gut feelings on the matter.

Just before they entered the Chamber from the assembly room in the Wizengamot's private chambers, Scrimgeour approached him and tried to secure his vote. Which Harry didn't really mind as it was expected at that time. However, when Scrimgeour tried to impress on Harry that, as the Boy-Who-Lived, he should use his fame to support him, Harry snapped back at the man.

In a carrying voice, he said, "Mister Scrimgeour, you've just lost my support. While you may think it's alright to use me and my unwanted fame to your own advantage; I assure you, Sir, I most certainly do not! Anyone who would stoop to such tactics, in my opinion, would make a poor choice for Minister." And stormed off.

Cygnus and Sirius grabbed him and took him to one side.

"Well, that's going to put the kneazle in with the hens," said Cygnus with a chuckle. "Right up until you just shot him down, it looked like Scrimgeour had it in the bag."

Harry frowned and crossed his arms across his chest. "Good. Hopefully, who ever does actually get the job, will know not to try and use me like that."

Once they were all called in and were seated, Chief Witch Marchbanks had called them to order, the session was commenced, and the first item of business was the election for the new Minister. Dirk Creswell, the rank outsider, won it in a shock victory.

The man, shocked himself, stood in his place, thanked those who voted for him, and said he didn't even have a speech prepared as he believed he wasn't going to win. He gave a few words about doing the best he could do in the role, promised to ensure those caught in the incidences of bribery would be both fairly treated and honestly tried, and sat down again.

The rest of the session went on with normal Wizengamot business. Then, on it's conclusion, Madam Marchbanks wished everyone a happy Yule season and would see them all again on the third Saturday in January for the first session of the 1995 year.

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