chapter 22

The door to the telephone box swung open as the nasally female voice said "The Ministry of Magic wishes you a pleasant day."

A young man, who looked to be in his early twenties, stepped out of the telephone box and began to make his way across the atrium of the Ministry of Magic, heading for the security desk. The young man had light brown hair that reached down to his shoulders, and his eyes were a deep blue in colour.

This young man, of course, was Harry Potter. Glamour charms really could work wonders. Today Harry was meeting with the Minster for Magic, Cornelius Fudge, to discuss plans for Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

The disguise was necessary due to the fact that Albus Dumbledore likely had people within the Ministry of Magic who would tell the old man about Harry turning up at the Ministry, should they see him. As it was, Harry Potter appeared to be just another anonymous face in the crowd. Dumbledore was also the reason that Harry was using the visitor's entrance rather than using the floo network. Floo travel was monitored, and Dumbledore might just have one of his people in that department. However, the visitor's entrance was not monitored.

The meeting had been thoroughly planned for, but Harry was still nervous. There was a lot that could go wrong, especially if the Minister decided that he did not care for some of Harry's suggestions.

Sarah Abbott's dreamless sleep potion had, thankfully, worked wonders the night before, and Harry had not been troubled by visions of the part of Voldemort that resided within his scar, resulting in a rest filled night for all residents of the Bones family manor house.

At the security desk, Harry was greeted by Amelia Bones. Her insistence to the guard on duty that Harry was with her saw the man wave Harry on through without checking his wand.

Madam Bones escorted Harry over to the lifts, for appearances' sake, and then left him to it. Harry would be on his own for this meeting, as it would do no good to have the Minister suspect Harry of being a puppet controlled by Amelia.

The Minister knew to expect Harry to arrive in disguise.

After several stops to allow various other people to get on and off of the lifts, Harry finally stepped out onto Level One, which was home to the Minister for Magic and related administrative personnel.

Harry walked by several doors, including one marked "Senior Undersecretary to the Minister for Magic" and another marked "Junior Assistant to the Minister for Magic" before coming to one with a golden plaque that read "Minister for Magic" in resplendent lettering.

The door to the Minister's office opened slightly, just enough to let none other than Percy Weasley, the Junior Assistant to the Minister for Magic exit the room.

The young man, only a few years older than Harry himself, looked Harry up and down before asking "And who might you be?"

"Archibald Gunderson," replied Harry "I have an appointment to meet with Minister Fudge."

"Very well, I shall see if he is ready to receive you," said Percy.

Harry gave him a polite nod of thanks as he turned back to the room.

A moment later Percy returned and said "Right this way, Mr Gunderson."

"Thank you Mr" here Harry took a deliberate look at Percy's name badge "Weatherby."

He saw a muscle twitch on the side of Percy's face as he walked past the Junior Assistant and into the Minister's office.

Cornelius Fudge looked up from some paperwork on his desk and smiled "Ah, you're here. Good."

He gestured with his wand towards the door and it swung shut and locked.

"Thank you for agreeing to meet with me on such short notice, Minister," said Harry politely "Um, if you would?"

He gestured to his face.

"Oh yes," said Fudge, drawing his wand again "Of course. Finite Incantatem."

The disillusionment charms on Harry's face faded out, causing the appearance of Archibald Gunderson to disappear, and the visage of Harry Potter to show.

"Excellent spell work by Madam Bones," said Fudge happily as he settled himself back into his seat "Now, as to why you are here. I understand that you have a few thoughts on how the Ministry intends to handle its tackling of the seriously falling standards at Hogwarts School?"

"Yes, sir, I do," replied Harry "And may I just say first of all what a relief it is to me that the Ministry is stepping in to address the situation at Hogwarts. I have been concerned for quite some time about a few of the things that go on up at that castle, and yet have never felt that there was anyone that I could turn to in order to discuss these issues."

"Is that so?" asked Fudge "And what things have you been concerned about, Mr Potter?"

"Quite a number of things," replied Harry "First and foremost, however, is security," at this leaned forwards in his chair and asked "Did you know that a fully grown Mountain Troll wandered into the castle one night during my first year?"

Fudge's eyes widened in surprise.

"Oh yes," continued Harry "It was all hushed up, obviously, but this thing apparently got into the castle and got down into the dungeons where it was seen by the Defence Professor who, rather than take the thing down like any competent Defence Professor would, ran up to the Great Hall to announce it to the whole school. By the time the beast was found again, it was destroying the girls' bathroom up on the first floor. A girl in there was nearly killed, and others would have been had they not been in the Halloween Feast."

Fudge was gaping at him "Why I – Well – I mean," he stammered "Well there were rumours of course, but nothing more was ever said on the matter…"

Harry nodded and said "Of course nothing was ever said of it. Dumbledore couldn't have that getting out now, could he? Then people would know of his mistake."

"What mistake?" asked Fudge.

Harry didn't like to say this next bit, as it meant that he had to be seen as thinking of the welfare of Slytherin students, but none-the-less it had to be said.

"Once the Defence Professor had informed the school of the Troll's presence, the great and wise Albus Dumbledore ordered everyone return to their House Common Rooms. But here's the thing, at that time the Troll was last known to be in the dungeons, and the location of the Slytherin Common Room is-"

"In the dungeons," Fudge finished for him, shocked "But surely they had a few teachers providing an escort, just in case?"

Harry shook his head "No, sir, they did not. The students were left in the care of the prefects."

"Dear Merlin," muttered Fudge, sitting back in his seat "Imagine if the thing hadn't moved off elsewhere…"

"The Slytherins could have walked right into it," said Harry.

Fudge shook his head before asking "Any other examples?"

"Where to begin?" said Harry "In my second year, how long did those attacks on Muggleborns go on for before the perpetrator was finally stopped?"

Fudge nodded "I heard more on that matter than I did of the Troll. Wasn't it Arthur Weasley's daughter acting under the influence of a dark object?"

"It was," replied Harry "Looking past the obvious question of how no one noticed that she was being possessed, the more serious question is how did such a dark object get into the school in the first place? I mean, I'm no expert, and I do not pretend to be, but surely there must be ways of detecting objects so evil that they can possess the mind of the one holding it?"

"There are a few spells that can be used to detect if an object is dark," replied Fudge "I don't know how to cast them myself, but they are used by Aurors who raid the homes of Dark Wizards."

"And yet those same spells are not used to keep Hogwarts students safe," said Harry "I know that it is highly unlikely for students to bring dark objects to Hogwarts, but Healers in the Muggle world have a saying which is "prevention is half the cure." I'm sure you can see how such a thought can be applied here."

Fudge was nodding with understanding "Yes, I can see what you mean. Stop the thing from even getting into the castle, and you've solved the problem before it can become one. But how would such a feat be accomplished?"

"Well for one," said Harry "when students get off of the express train at Hogsmeade station, they leave their trunks and things on the train, and those things are taken up to the school by, well I presume by the House Elves. How much trouble could it possibly be to have a couple of people spend half an hour walking the length of the train, firing off the detection spell at every trunk in every compartment, just to be safe?"

"Well, I cannot see that being too much of a problem at all," replied the Minister "What's half an hour of a few Aurors' time so that we can all have a little piece of mind?"

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