Christmas Tidings

'By then Harry, who I saw talking to Neville all this time when, notices what is going on. And that is where the fun begins!' said an animated Ginny to her two elder twin brothers who were listening with rapt attention. It was Ginny's second day back home for the winter holidays and the twins had cornered her as soon as they had found time to stop by at the Burrow. They heard about the incident that had occurred between their youngest brother and his girlfriend. Ginny was more than willing to tell the two about what had happened.

'Go on,' said Fred eagerly.

'Well, this is really hilarious, but Harry and Neville are looking at the scene Ron and his girlfriend are creating with this dumbfounded expression for practically a whole minute, something like this,' She paused to grossly imitate the expression on their faces. 'Then, finally, Harry snaps out of it. He gets up, takes his wand out, bellows out "Ron" pretty loudly, only, the dolt didn't hear a word Harry was saying. So Harry sends out a jet of really cold water towards those two!' Ginny cracked up at the bit followed by the twins roaring with laughter.

'It was a real blast of water alright! It sent both of them sprawling onto the floor. And, and the best bit was that by then Lavender had her hand in Ron's pants. So when that jet hit them, it caused her to pull on his willy rather painfully before they were separated!' The three of them were breathless with laughter by then.

'Thankfully I was too far away to see everything, but from what I could hear, apparently all the first- and second-years got to see his willy sticking out of his trousers as he scrambled to get up.' Ginny said after calming down.

'So, Harry is standing there trying not to look too amused as lover-boy and his girlfriend are trying get back up on their feet. Then, as soon as he got their attention he gives them a real talking-to.'

'What did he say?' George asked in anticipation.

'I have no idea,' said Ginny. 'He put up a privacy ward before reaming them out. But from the wild gestures he was making, and the way those two were flushing as he was shouting at them, I could tell that it was the mother of all lectures. I can't explain it, but it was like he had managed to combine McGonagall and mum together at the same time!'

'Whoa,' said an awed Fred.

'Oh the best bit is that while Harry is busy with those two, McGonagall had entered the common room by then. Oh, she was not well pleased when she found out, let me tell you! Only, instead of intervening she just stood to the side. She actually said that Harry was doing a good enough job for her!'

'And then, as Harry was winding down, he drops the ward. So everybody and McGonagall heard his next few words.'

'What'd he say, what'd he say?' George was practically bouncing in his seat.

'Oh calm down, I'm going to tell you!' said Ginny. Taking a moment, she mustered up the sternest expression she could, looking rather comical as she said, '"Right, so that's going to be ten points each for dereliction of duty, inappropriate behaviour, general slovenliness in attire, and lack of proper decorum from Gryffindor, Weasley. And ten points each for inappropriate behaviour, slovenliness and lack of decorum, Brown. Oh, and detention with Filch for two days for indecent exposure of private body parts, not listening to the captain of your house when he called out the first time, and groping for the both of you. Now get your arses to bed this instant. If I find even one of you not yet in pyjamas and in bed by the time I come up in five minutes, trust me I will deduct more points from Gryffindor and make it a week's worth of detention with Filch."'

Ginny continued in the same deep stern tone as she imitated Harry's stance, much to the amusement of her audience. '"Unfortunately, while I would love for this to be between the three of us, your actions have made it a public matter. Added to that is the fact that the amount of points I have taken means that McGonagall is going to have to hear about it. And I think you know what that means, Ron."'

Switching to her normal voice, she said, 'Then McGonagall decides to make her presence known. She simply says something to the effect of "I doubt I would need to add anything more to the two of you without having to repeat what Potter has just said. However, Potter's prescribed punishment is not fully appropriate. Therefore I will be taking a further thirty points from you, Weasley for behaviour unbecoming of a prefect, irresponsibility as well as another ten points from each of you for indecent public displays of affection. Furthermore, you will have detention every weekend night with Mr Filch." Then McGonagall gives them a filthy look and without a word, turns around and walks out of the portrait.'

'And then as Ron is turning around, Harry gives his last parting shot which had almost everybody in stitches.' Switching back to her imitation of Harry's voice she reiterated what he had said, '"Oh, and Ron, when I told you to keep it in your pants, I actually did mean that literally as well." and he gives this meaningful look downwards causing everybody to laugh as Ron blushed a deep red. I heard that his willy was still sticking out!'

At this Fred and George both burst out laughing. 'It's a good thing that Harry never made prefect last year George, otherwise the two of you clowns would have been shut down quite quickly!' said Bill who entered the living room with Fleur as Ginny was in the middle of her story.

'Nah,' said Fred, not unfazed by Bill's sudden intrusion. 'Harry's too nice to us. He'd never do such a thing! And it's not as if we would practically shag our girlfriends in the middle of the common room in public! Nor would we go around displaying our bits around.'

'So how long is Won-Won's detention?' asked George.

'Oh you heard about that stupid nickname, huh? Well, Ron asked McGonagall that question the next day, and after giving him a nice chewing out she basically said "until I feel that the two of you have learnt the lesson, Weasley!" So far she hasn't let up yet. I dunno if she is going to let up even after the holidays are over!'

'Whoa, that's two weeks so far!' Bill whistled. 'McGonagall really must have been angry! Even the two of you monkeys didn't get that many detentions!'

'And those detentions aren't a picnic either,' snickered Ginny. 'I heard Lavender tell Parvati that Filch had her clean the toilets and do other such things ... far, far away from her Won-Won!'

'What are you lot talking about?' said Harry curiously as he walked in. His cheeks were still flushed from the time he had spent outside while his hair was even messier from being buffeted by the wind.

'You,' said Ginny and the twins in unison.

'Ginny shared her story about the kissing show Ron had set up with that Brown girl,' Bill explained further.

'Ah,' said Harry absently running a hand through his hair to remove the tangles and make it more presentable.

'I never thought you would be the type, Harry,' said George in a faux serious voice as he affixed a look of mourning on his face.

'Indeed,' continued Fred in the same tone and with an identical expression. 'While we fully agree that Ron deserved what he got, did you have to imitate McGonagall and mum?'

'What? I did not do that!' said Harry, aghast.

'Of course you did! The way you sent Ron upstairs was so mum, and the way you were shouting at the two of them, even though we did not hear what you said, was definitely what I would imagine McGonagall would have done in the same situation.' Ginny said in response as the twins nodded vigorously in agreement.

'Exactly,' said Fred.

'I concur,' said George. 'The two of us have been on the receiving end of too many a berating, scolding and reprehension from each of those illustrious witches not to know a McGonagall or a Molly Weasley castigation when described to us from a reliable enough source.'

'Though this is the first time I have heard of the two being combined,' mused Fred.

'Indeed Fred, I agree,' said George. 'It's a good thing that we left school before ickle Harry here became the big bad captain. I bet we would have been in really hot water then! I cannot believe that he actually made old Minnie proud!'

'Of course, he'd have to catch us first,' said Fred with a wide grin.

'Well in my defence, I had no idea that she was behind me. I still have no clue why she was there in the first place! And Fred, don't forget that I happen to have a certain tool that would make sure that I caught the two of you reprobates any time I wanted to.' Harry added the last part leadingly as he waggled his eyebrows.

'You wouldn't!' said the twins simultaneously in horror while everybody else looked confused.

'Maybe ... maybe not ... but I guess that we will never know for sure!' said Harry shrugging. He still had a malicious grin on his face.

'Erm, care to share what you three are talking about with the rest of us?' said Bill.

'Nothing,' Harry and the twins said together.

'The look on your face when you found out she was right behind you was classic!' chortled Ginny. She put on an exaggerated look of disbelief and shock to show what she was talking about.

'And just where were you, Harry?' asked Bill mildly curious.

'Out,' replied Harry easily while adding mentally to give Ollivander my wand. He had woken up really early and had apparated to the wandmaker's shop as soon as he finished with his morning exercise. Admittedly, he hadn't been able to do much since the weather really was not conducive to running around outside.

'Exercising? In this weather?' Ginny said incredulously gesturing to the window where it was furiously snowing, hampering visibility.

'Yeah,' Harry said succinctly. 'Well, not really. Nobody could possibly run outside in that!' he said upon seeing the look of incredulity on everybody's face. 'I just went out for a walk. You know, a bit of fresh air, some sunlight? It was rather nice outside actually. I sort of liked the cold wind and the snow falling.'

'Right,' Bill drawled while Fred and George asked the room in general, 'Since when does Harry exercise?'

Further conversation was stopped as Ron made his presence known. The twins' eyes lit up at seeing their younger brother.

'Well, well, well, look who it is Fred! Casanova himself has graced us with his presence!'

'I see that he has managed to keep it in his pants this time,' said Fred jeeringly as he looked down at Ron's pyjamas.

Ron took a moment to process the comments the twins had made. Eventually he understood what they were insinuating as he shortly turned to Harry's direction and said, 'you told them?' with accusation in his eyes.

'No I did,' said Ginny as Harry silently raised his hands and pointed towards her.

'What? How could you embarrass me like that?' Ron said angrily.

'Embarrass you?' Ginny laughed derisively making Ron even angrier. 'You were doing a fine job embarrassing yourself! I didn't even need to say anything more! And let's not forget how much you embarrassed me what with the number of questions I was getting from all the curious first- and second-year girls about what they saw.' She looked at him with disgust, 'And from what I heard, I guess I was spot on when I named your owl.'

Before Ron could open his mouth, no doubt to give a scathing reply, he was interrupted by Molly Weasley who chose that moment to scream out, 'Ronald Weasley!'

Those two words served to remind everybody but the twins (who had just arrived) about just how displeased Mrs Weasley was with her youngest son. The next five minutes that ensued involved a nice lengthy and loud lecture which told the twins just how much of hot water their younger brother had landed himself in. Apparently not only was Ron grounded for the rest of the holidays, but he also had to do all the chores in the house.

'Ron's rather lucky actually,' Ginny whispered to Fred as Ron was getting chewed out for lazing around and being ordered up the stairs to go change so he could get to work. 'Mum had initially tried to involve dad, but dad did not feel that the situation was serious enough for him to be involved.'

As mother and son went their separate ways Ginny and the twins looked at Harry with a smile on their faces that said, you did the same thing to Ron, earning a dirty look from their raven haired friend as he gave them the two fingered salute.

Just remembering something, Harry hurried towards the kitchen where Mrs Weasley had bustled off to.

'Mrs Weasley?' he called out hesitantly, not sure of her mood.

'Yes, Harry dear?' Apparently the woman had managed to regain her good humour, in record time, no less.

'Er, I just got a letter from Neville. Well, from Mrs Longbottom actually. They invited me to a party they will be holding on the twenty-sixth at their house. They also invited me to stay over at the manor for the remainder of the holidays ...' he trailed off here, remembering the imperious letter sent by the dowager all but demanding that he attend the party, if not stay over. The letter may have been signed by Neville, but Harry knew that the words were written by the boy's grandmother. Neville was simply capable of writing such a letter.

Mrs Weasley had the pleasure of meeting the older woman before and knew that Augusta Longbottom was not someone you say 'no' to, without seriously risking your life. The woman did not look like much nowadays, but back in the day, Augusta Longbottom was very well known for her love of hunting. Not many people knew these days that the stuffed vulture the old battle axe wore was actually a trophy and the last of its kind. It was rumoured that Augusta had actually killed the very last member. Mrs Weasley had heard a lot about the plethora of trophies, both from Muggle and Magical animals that adorned the walls of the woman's study. There was even a rumour that the Longbottom matriarch had killed a Nundu of all things, and had used its hide as a rug.

Suffice to say, Mrs Weasley was very wary of Augusta Longbottom and she understood that Harry really had little choice but to go to that party.

'I did not know that Neville and you were friends dear,' she commented lightly. 'Of course you can go, but I don't know if it is safe. Perhaps we should talk to Dumbledore about this first?' she said the last bit to herself uncertainly. She was so caught up in her musing that she did not notice the look of irritation that crossed Harry's face at the mention of the headmaster.

'Well,' he said removing a letter out from his pocket. 'It says here that the letter will act as a portkey should I accept by putting a drop of blood on the parchment.'

Mrs Weasley took the letter. Her initial glance at the faint markings of hair on the stiff, thick, high quality vellum took her back a few decades when such things were common in her life. Reading the letter she saw and recognised the Longbottom coat of arms on the wax seal below. As far as she knew, there was no way anyone not in the family could duplicate that. The seal along with the quality of the stationery also indicated that Harry was a highly valued individual as far as the Longbottoms were concerned. It meant that his attendance was more of a necessity. It was this seal and the quality of the stationery that convinced that her that this letter was the real deal and not some underhanded method of trying to get Harry out from the protection of the Order and into You-Know-Who's clutches. She was rather fond of the boy, and had been so ever since she had first laid eyes on his tiny, scrawny, thin frame five years ago.

'Well, Harry dear, I think you should go. The Longbottoms are a good family and I know that Neville is in your year and house.' Mrs Weasley said.

'Thanks Mrs Weasley,' Harry said in response, glad that he had encountered no resistance from the overbearing mother of seven. He did not want Dumbledore to get involved and nor did he want to play the I-am-emancipated-and-you-are-not-my-mother card. Deciding to push the envelope a bit further as it were, he hesitatingly spoke up. 'Erm, I was wondering if I could stay over too.' Getting a sudden burst of inspiration he added, injecting the right amount of hesitance and awkwardness in his tone, 'I hope that it is OK, and I don't want you to feel that I am leaving you behind or anything. I mean, I think of the Weasleys as my family and this place as my home, so going over to the Longbottoms is more like a-a sleepover, and I never had a sleepover before ... so I was hoping if it would be alright...?' he trailed off. What he said did have a grain of truth to it, so he did not think of it as lying or him trying to manipulate Mrs Weasley.

Mrs Weasley beamed at Harry as she replied, 'You are such a dear boy! Sure, I don't mind if you stay over at Neville's! We all will meet you at the platform after the holidays then.' Harry thought he saw her eyes misting slightly as the older woman turned away. Score! He yelled mentally in jubilation. Mrs Weasley was a mother of seven and thus not fooled easily, but that was when it came to her own children. Harry knew that she had had a soft spot for him ever since he had first properly met her in his second year. He had no idea why, but it served his interests rather well here. He supposed that it was because he was technically the youngest boy in the household. That made sense, seeing how she also had a similar soft spot for Ginny.

The acknowledgement of the fact that Mrs Weasley had a soft spot for him gave Harry a funny feeling in his chest that he could not recognise or identify. After some consideration, he decided to ignore it, which he managed with some difficulty. He was rather unnerved by it, having never experienced it before. Had he explored that feeling in more depth, he would have realised that it was the same feeling that he had when thinking of Sirius.

The news that Harry was going over to Neville's for the last bit of the holidays after Christmas was met with a general acceptance from the other Weasleys. The elder siblings and Ginny really did not care much, since they understood that Harry could have other friends as well. Besides, they would have him for Christmas, which was the most important part of the holiday. It was Ron who had the biggest problem with Harry's plans.

'Why can't I go?' he whined to his mother.

'You were not invited, Ron. And even if you were, you still would not be allowed to go because of the stunt you pulled at school. I think your father and I made it more than clear that you were grounded for the holidays!' Mrs Weasley snapped at her youngest son as she gave the scowling boy a venomous look.

Things just went downhill for Ron the very next day. He had been caught throwing a knife at Fred by Mrs Weasley who had then proceeded to make the youngest Weasley boy peel all the sprouts without Harry's help, which he had offered in an attempt to keep the peace.

The twins used the free time Harry now found himself with to suggest that he sneak off with them to the village. Fred and George thought it was a shame that Harry was stuck in the house and never had the opportunity to visit Ottery St Catchpole properly now that he was, in their words, much cooler to hang out with now that he wasn't a snotty little twelve year old. As an added precaution they had offered to put a glamour charm on the younger boy so that he would not be recognised by anyone unsavoury.

'Right,' drawled Harry as he looked at them speculatively. 'So let me get this straight, you expect me to let you clowns cast a spell on me and actually trust the two of you not to pull some prank?'

'Aw, Harry, you wound us!' said George dramatically. 'You're our little brother, our, as our resident veela would say, our petit frère, our fratellino ...'

'Not to mention our investor, and the person who made our dreams come true,' added Fred.

'Exactly, so why would we prank you?' asked George.

'You do have a good point,' Harry said after thinking about it, although he still sounded wary. 'By the way, speaking of which, do you have any expansion plans?' He decided to ask.

'Yeah, we plan on opening a place in Hogsmeade soon. As soon as the bank approves our loan, we will be able to buy the property ... all we need to do is move the products and put up the shelves. I reckon we'll be up and running in a few months,' said George as he absently toyed with his wand.

'Oh, well, how about I give you the money instead? That way, you won't owe the bank a loan...'

'Is this your way of making sure we don't prank you or something?' asked Fred as he raised his wand. 'Because we already told you we wouldn't prank you!'

'Of course it's not that!' Harry replied even though it was partly for that reason. 'I thought I was your petit frère ... your fratellino ... the least I can do is help you nitwits along! Besides, I have seen the returns your business has given me, and I am pretty impressed with it. I think it would be viable to invest further in your business. Also, don't forget, you made me a partner, albeit a silent one, using the capital I have to buy the property outright is the least I can do to pull my weight around. The property can even be in my name, you guys will just be using it. We'll work out the finer details'

'Fair enough,' said George. 'Now hold still...'

A few flicks of the wand now had Harry sporting blonde hair and deep blue eyes.

'I look like a Malfoy,' said Harry in a deadpan as he looked at his reflection in the mirror that Fred had conjured.

'Erg, you do,' said Fred suddenly noticing. 'If you just slick your hair back a bit, you could almost pass off as Draco. Though with that hair of yours, you actually look like the son of James Potter and Narcissa Malfoy.' Harry gave him a filthy look.

'Blonde does not suit you,' observed George. 'Oh well, at least it is a sufficient disguise, not to mention the only glamour charm that we know ... Let's head out lads!'

A few hours later, as they were headed back to the Burrow, Fred commented, 'Not bad, mate! You really have the skills in picking up girls. I'm surprised that you don't have a girlfriend by now.'

'Who said I don't? I will have you know, gentlemen, that I, the Boy-Who-Lived, and the heir of Slytherin, can keep a secret ... unlike some other people whose name shall not be mentioned.' Harry shot back pompously.

'Of course, how could we have doubted the heir of Slytherin and the Chosen One!' said George dramatically as Fred chuckled and removed the glamour charm as they passed through the wards.

'By the way, we could not help but notice that Gin-Gin seems rather angry at dear Won-Won'

'Oh, that, well it's a fight that has been going on for a while now ... something Won – I mean – Ron said that had her pissed off with him. I wouldn't get into it if I were you.' replied Harry.

Fred whistled, 'Wow, you would be right there, mate. Gin-Gin really can be quite vicious when someone pisses her off. Trust me, I know! Though, I think that Won-Won there didn't get that reference to his owl's name.'

'Oh, that was cruel!' agreed Harry. 'I get the feeling that she had been pissed off with him too when she first named that owl. Did she look through the dictionary specifically for that name?'

'Nah,' said Fred gleefully. 'We supplied it! We got a good deal on it too. She agreed to hide most of our inventions from mum in return.'

Harry privately decided, then and there, not to let Ginny know that he was the one who had directed all those curious first- and second-years with their questions to her ... Ever.

Harry was woken up suddenly on Christmas morning by Ron's exclamation of despair. Turning around on his camp bed, he found the redhead holding a gift which was no doubt from his girlfriend. After all, no one sane would send a thick chain with the words "My Sweetheart" dangling from it.

'Real classy, that,' said Harry with a straight face. 'You should definitely wear it today, Fred and George would really appreciate it!'

Ron became bright red as he stuffed the chain underneath his pillow. 'If you tell Fred and George, I-I'll-'

'Stutter at me? Come on, would I really tell? I haven't told anyone anything about you,' Harry laughed as he put on the snitch patterned jumper Mrs Weasley had made for him.

'Good morning Harry, thanks for the book by the way,' said Arthur as he clutched a book Harry had bought from a Muggle bookshop some time back, titled How Stuff Works.

'It was no problem, Mr Weasley. The book even has a part describing how planes stay up.'

'Really?' said Mr Weasley excitedly. Unable to contain his enthusiasm he immediately opened the book, reading and eating at the same time as he searched for the correct section.

Mrs Weasley just huffed. 'Eat first and then read your book Arthur!' she admonished.

'I love you too dear,' her husband said distracted as he shovelled a forkful of eggs into his mouth and turned the page.

'Why do I even bother,' Mrs Weasley muttered throwing up her hands.

She immediately stopped cursing suddenly the minute she looked out of the window.

'Arthur,' she said suddenly, her hand on her heart. 'Arthur – Percy's here!'

'What?' Mr Weasley looked around. Quickly everybody set their sights out of the window. Sure enough, Percy could be seen making his way into the house through the window. What was more, he was not alone.

'He is with the Minister!' Mrs Weasley cried out in shock.

And sure enough, Harry could see Amelia Bones walking beside Percy. And walking behind her almost as if he was hiding was...

'Fudge,' Harry growled upon seeing the former Minister. That one statement brought the attention of the other members of the house to the portly man who looked rather haggard.

'Merry Christmas, mother,' said Percy rather stiffly as he stood on the threshold of the back door, causing Mrs Weasley to fall into his arms with a cry of 'Oh, Percy!'

'Please, forgive this intrusion,' Madam Bones said to Mrs Weasley, who beamed as she turned her eyes towards the Minister. 'But I do have a few matters to discuss with the young man sitting in front of me.' She gestured to Harry as she said this.

At once the situation around the room became tense as all the members stiffened as they looked between Harry and the Minister and Fudge, who squirmed uncomfortably at the hostile looks sent his way.

Harry however remained composed. Slowly getting up, he asked calmly, 'What may I help you with, Minister?'

'Perhaps we could step outside? Let Percival here get reacquainted with his family in peace.' Amelia Bones replied. She either missed the gleam on the twins' face or ignored it altogether.

'Sure,' Harry said after a pause. 'It's fine,' he muttered to Bill who looked like he wanted to object. 'Fine,' he assured Mr Weasley who was nearly out of his seat.

Harry led the way out. Taking long, slow strides, he led the other two to the fence between the backyard and the paddock. As the Minister approached followed by Fudge, who was huffing slightly at the mild exertion, Harry noticed a shimmer for a brief second.

Harry murmured a spell he had learnt about from Salazar's journals. It was the precursor to the Homenum Revelio spell, and in Japanese. However, Salazar had been kind enough to put the phonetic translation of the spell in Parseltongue. Then again, from the two paragraph rant on what the Founder thought of the written form of the language and the difficulty he had learning it, Harry had a feeling that the spell was written down in the way it was because of the man's inability to write in Japanese.

Either way, it suited Harry as he felt the effects of the spell settle on his eyes. The spell was simple enough to do wandlessly and made the caster aware of any human presence in their vicinity. There were limitations, however. While it did show Harry that there were four other people besides the two approaching him in the form of bright blue blurs, the spell made him blind to his surroundings and also messed up his depth perception. All Harry saw was four colourful blurs surrounding them in a black field.

Letting go of the spell, Harry looked at the Minister in silence as the older woman settled against the fence and observed a gnome struggling with a worm.

'So ... what did you want to speak to me about, Minister?'

Before Madam Bones could open her mouth, Fudge butted in. 'Ah, Harry,' he began jovially.

'The last time I checked, the Minister of Magic currently is Amelia Bones.' Harry spoke over the man while still looking at Minister Bones, cutting the former Minister off before he could finish his sentence. 'Not you, Mister Fudge.' Harry finally deigned to look at the portly man with a sneer on his face. 'Or are you so stupid that you did not realise that fact? After all, it has been quite a few months now.' He sniffed slightly as he turned back to the Minister while muttering 'Moron' loud enough for both of them to hear.

'Mr Potter is right, Cornelius. Please do keep your counsel to yourself unless specifically addressed,' she said dismissively. Then looking at Harry she continued, 'Then again, it is "Lord Potter", is it not?'

'You've heard then,' Harry said without changing his now pleasant expression.

'Oh I have heard a lot of things, my Lord. The fact that you have been all but given emancipation by the Ministry is just one of those things, though a fact recently learnt.'

'Took you long enough,' said Harry lightly.

'Well, it wasn't much of a priority. After all, I do have better things to be doing than agonising over whether or not a sixteen year old has managed to get adult status roughly a year or so before his majority. Like running a country for example, or taking care of this – ah, conflict that has seen to my rise in power,' Madame Bones replied with equal levity.

'I must admit,' continued the Minister after a few short seconds of silence. 'That I have wanted to meet you ever since I have been elected. Of course as you undoubtedly know, it has been much earlier.' She looked at Harry meaningfully to which Harry nodded understanding what she was talking about, while Fudge looked on, completely clueless.

'You are not an easy person to meet, you know. In fact, I daresay that it is easier to get an appointment with me than it is to meet you.' The woman chuckled.

'But it normally shouldn't be,' said Harry confused. 'After all, I am just a sixteen years old schoolboy. You are the Minister of Magic. All you would need to do is write me a letter.'

'True,' the Minister replied. 'Under normal circumstances, we may have met much earlier. However, I had to contend with your headmaster in this matter. Dumbledore has been rather ... averse to letting the two of us meet.'

Harry kept his expression blank as he processed this new information. After all, what business was it of Dumbledore's to prevent people from meeting him without asking Harry's permission in the first place?

'Initially, I let it be, as I assumed that you were a minor with Dumbledore responsible for you. However, some recent developments along with the information that you are now emancipated have made this meeting possible.'

Harry met her appraising gaze calmly, not breaking eye contact.

'There are rumours that you are the "Chosen One", the one who is destined to end the threat posed by the current Dark Lord.'

'Yes, I have read of those rumours,' said Harry mildly. 'The Prophet seems quite eager to praise me nowadays. Though, I have yet to see an apology from them about the slander and ridicule they have subjected me to throughout last year.' He sniffed disapprovingly, 'Arrogant twa – twits.'

'Quite,' the Minister coughed, giving the boy a disapproving look at his use of language. Suddenly she said, 'Secure the perimeter, Cornelius. Potter and I have important matters to talk about.'

'But there is nobody around for miles,' said Fudge. 'Even if somebody came along, the guards will be able to intercept them.'

As Minister Bones closed her eyes and took a deep steadying breath, pinching her nose, Harry covered his mouth with his hand while shaking his head. What an idiot he thought. He had to wonder if Fudge was being clueless on purpose or if he actually was a slack-jawed halfwit. Thinking that it was none of his business, Harry took to staring out at a distance as he watched the Minister deal with her predecessor while imagining a speech in his head that involved a lot of inventive and rude names to call the man.

Eventually overcoming her incredulousness at the man's stupidity, and suppressing the urge to kill the man in the spot, the Minister opened her eyes and said icily. 'Do not forget Cornelius that you are only retained by the Ministry in an advisory capacity. You were also supposed to be liaising with the Muggle authorities. And need I remind you how much success you have reported there?' she gave him a stern look causing the man to flinch. 'What I am going to discuss with Lord Potter is my business, and not yours. So please make yourself scarce.'

'Fudge is advising you?' Harry said incredulously. 'Fudge?' he laughed. Sobering quickly he said, 'I do not have any experience with dealing with politics, but why would you want Fudge as your advisor? I never got the feeling that he was any good as Minister ...'

The portly former Minister scowled at the insult. However, he really could not afford to say anything in reply as his current boss was giving him a steely and unsympathetic look. Scowling, he jammed his hat onto his head and stomped off.

'Well, my Lord, now that there are no – distractions,' said Minister Bones as she erected a ward around the two of them. 'How about we stop playing games with each other?'

Harry gave her a long look. 'I know that you are a fair and honest woman, Minister. After all, Susan has nothing but good things to say about you. However, thanks to morons like him,' he jerked his head towards Fudge who was standing a bit away and trying his level best to overhear the conversation. 'I have lost much faith in the integrity of the Ministry.'

The Minister looked at him appraisingly. 'You do not have to worry about anything like that from me, My Lord. Even if I did not owe you a life debt, I, unlike my predecessor do have good common sense. Now I know for a fact that you were involved in an incident with the Death Eaters and that the incident in question took place in the Department of Mysteries. Normally the Unspeakables are tight lipped over the details, and they may have modified the memories of the captured Death Eaters. But fortunately, I had the opportunity to interrogate one of the Death Eaters before the fact. From what the man told me, it isn't difficult to come to the conclusion that there was a prophecy that involves you and He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. That fact is anyway more or less an open secret seeing as the Prophet has heard of it. Now ever since I became elected, you will have noticed that there have been no articles about you. That has been mainly because I have taken steps to debunk those rumours.'

Harry was silent for a moment. 'You are right in your theory. However, I would keep that knowledge to myself if I were you, Minister. You don't want Voldemort to figure out that there may be the possibility that somebody knows the wording of the prophecy that he has been after. You already have enough of his attention.'

'I will keep that in mind, Potter,' said the Minister. 'So do you know the wording of the prophecy?' she asked curiously.

'The prophecy broke in the ensuing battle. Surely the Death Eater you interrogated told you that!' Harry said in response. 'I certainly could not hear the words that were being said by the recording when it broke among the ruckus around.'

The Minister's mouth gave a minuscule twitch, 'Indeed. It can be rather hard to hear what a recording is saying when there is a lot of noise.' Her expression became serious once again, 'However, that is not the reason I came to speak to you my Lord.'

'Uh-huh,' said Harry warily. 'So why have you come?'

'Well, let me tell you what exactly happened first,' the Minister began. 'After the ... events, at the Department of Mysteries, it did not take long for Fudge to figure out that you and Albus Dumbledore were right all along. Fudge also heard the rumours about the prophecy concerning you and He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. Add in the fact that there have been widely circulated rumours that have been recently unearthed about previous confrontations between the two of you, and your current upswing in popularity (which was high even before you started Hogwarts), Cornelius thought it would help him stay in power if he were to gain your support.' She smiled as Harry snorted at the idea. 'Anyway, that idea does have merit; Rufus certainly finds merit in it. I, however, feel that I should let my actions do the talking for me, not a sixteen year old.'

Minister Bones took a deep breath, 'Now things would have continued as normal with the idea dying out. I would have met with you today just to give you my thanks for saving my life, recommended you for the Order of Merlin, Third Class and left you to enjoy your holidays. But unfortunately Fudge had to open his big mouth and blab to the Muggle Prime Minister. Again, that would not have been of any concern since the Prime Minister did not comprehend what was said. Unfortunately, Fudge also was idiotic enough to say something similar to the Queen. Unlike the Prime Minister, Her Majesty is a very sharp quill. She immediately started asking questions about you, asking what Fudge was talking about and why did a former Minister feel it necessary to use a sixteen year old as political clout when he was in office. Cornelius, in his infinite wisdom, decided that he would sit on it and did not inform me about the situation. He also decided to evade questions Her Majesty was asking, thinking that she would give up. However, he underestimated her as she finally got fed up with the evasions and sent me a direct summons.'

The Minister paused, taking off her monocle and polishing it. 'That was in September,' she said tiredly. 'I met her afterward in October. And it was not pretty. She definitely wasn't smiling then. The minute I met her, it was clear who was in charge.' Harry could hear admiration in her voice.

'In the end, certain details have come out into the light, and now we have a very unhappy monarch who has expressed a desire to see you in order to be appeased.'

Harry looked at her in disbelief for a few seconds. 'You aren't serious,' he finally managed to get out. Seeing the Minister's sombre expression, he let out a gusty sigh. 'What would The Queen want from a sixteen-year old schoolboy?' he nearly whined.

'I have no idea, Mr Potter,' said Amelia Bones. 'I suggest you ask her when you meet her. She is very interested in meeting you. She even has gone through the trouble of inviting you directly to her residence in Sandringham. In case you are interested, that invitation was issued yesterday when I tried to dissuade her from meeting you citing your being unavailable due to school.' Saying this, Minister Bones extracted an envelope from her robes and handed it over to Harry.

Harry broke the seal at the back and extracted the thick bond sheet within. With an almost detached air, he read the words written below the recognisable Royal Coat of Arms.

To,

The Rt. Hon. Harry James Potter-Black, the forty fifth Earl Potter.

Dear Lord Potter,

Her Majesty, the Queen requests your presence in Sandringham House at 10 A.M. on the 28th of December 2003.

From the office of Her Majesty, Elizabeth the Second, by the Grace of God, of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and of Her other Realms and Territories Queen, Head of the Commonwealth, Defender of the Faith,

Elizabeth II R

'That's in three days!' Harry said finally, clearing his throat as he stared at the scrawled signature at the bottom.

'Indeed,' said Minister Bones. 'You can imagine now why we carried out this ambush of sorts. While sending you an owl with the letter would have been easy, I thought it prudent to inform you of this in person. It was very lucky that Percival there had overheard the conversation. I do not know what Her Majesty would have done if we had failed to produce you before her. She was not most pleased when we met yesterday.' She paused for a moment with that look of admiration in her voice.

'I shall have a portkey prepared for you to reach the private chamber within the house that normally serves as an apparation point for the Minister of Magic. Since I too will be attending the meeting, I expect that one of us will be greeting the other there.'

'Sure,' said Harry. Remembering something at the last moment, he spoke up, 'By the way, I will be at the Longbottoms' place then. I am leaving tomorrow actually.'

'Excellent,' said the Minister in reply. 'Then we shall be meeting each other much earlier then. I too have been invited to Lady Longbottom's ball.'

As the Minister of Magic turned away, Harry noticed Fudge standing there looking very disgruntled. Just as the Minister was about to lower the wards, he spoke up.

'May I ask why you would want a tyrant as your advisor, Minister?' he said with genuine curiosity as he indicated Fudge.

'A tyrant, My Lord?' said the Minister, her eyes growing wide in surprise, nearly causing the monocle to slip out. 'I do realise that he has misused his power the past year, but surely, you exaggerate?' the fact that the boy called the former Minister a tyrant was enough of a shock to her that she decided to ignore the rudeness and forwardness of the question asked of her. After all, what business was it of his if she appointed Fudge or not? Eventually she decided to let it go. The boy was young, and he looked like he wanted to make a point but had no idea how to go about doing it.

'Yes, a tyrant,' said Harry succinctly. 'Not only did he abuse his powers to try and expel me without so much as granting me a hearing but he also brought me before a full court last summer for a case of underage magic. But that is nothing compared to what his undersecretary has done in his name.' He gave Fudge a disgusted look as he said the last bit.

'What?' The Minister looked at the man in question dangerously as her left eye painfully constricted around her monocle. Harry was sure he heard a creak coming from the eyepiece. He guessed that the news that the former Minister had tried to destroy Harry's wand without a trial was new to her.

'Oh yes,' Harry said with badly disguised glee. 'I even have the letter to prove the fact that he had summarily expelled me and was sending someone to destroy my wand. Also I have five other witnesses, two of which are inside that house which we just left by the way, who will attest to the fact that one Madame Umbridge had fully confessed to ordering two Dementors to my house in Surrey to have me kissed in order to "silence me" as she put it, for the "good of the Ministry". This, just before she enunciated the first syllable of the Cruciatus Curse with her wand pointed right at me.'

'Is that so?' said the Minister as she fixed Fudge with an eagle glare that had the former Minister squirming, wondering what they were talking about.

'Oh yes,' said Harry. 'Isn't it convenient that Fudge's Undersecretary became insane once everything came to light?' he said in a burst of inspiration. 'After all, no one can question what she had done ... I wonder what he would have tried with my friends and me if he had stayed in office any longer ... after all, he had authorised use of an Unforgivable on another human being ... and a minor to boot!'

The Minister had a predatory look on her face as she processed this information. 'You have tremendously helped with the investigation, My Lord. We might be able to hold a trial faster than what was projected...' she trailed off in thought. She did not mention that with the current state of affairs, an investigation into the previous Minister and his actions was not exactly a priority. After all, it wasn't any of his business.

Eventually, the Minister took down the wards and with a contemplative smile on her face made her way to the very nervous Cornelius Fudge.

'One other thing, Minister,' said Harry walking next to her. 'What was that about an Order of Merlin you had mentioned?'

'Oh yes, well there will be an official ceremony soon. We have no idea when though, what with the state of affairs,' replied Minister Bones absently as she headed towards the house. 'The committee has to first review and approve the honour first.'

'Understandable,' said Harry.

'I am sure you will get that Order, Harry!' Cornelius chose to speak up at that moment as he started to ramble on about the virtues he had noticed in Harry's character before, acting as if they were old friends.

'Minister,' said Harry with a tight smile, finally at the end of his tether. 'I would like to apologise.'

Minister Bones looked at him in confusion, 'For what?'

'For what I am about to do,' and with that Harry whirled around and punched Fudge right in the face sending the portly man on his arse, breaking his nose.

'That was for the name calling and slander last year, arsehole,' Harry snarled. 'And this,' he aimed a vicious kick to the man's side, 'is for having the gall to act as if we were old friends as well as for thinking of using me for your own ends.'

'I very much disapprove of such disorderly conduct and would in normal situations have you pulled up for such loutish behaviour. However, I will let this one go, Potter, just this once. Assaulting an employee of the Ministry can lead to a fine at best and imprisonment at worst. You are no longer a child, but an adult. It is time you start acting like one, young man.' The woman paused for a moment, looking at the now sheepish boy sternly. 'If a gentleman has a disagreement with another person, he does not physically lash out.' She further reprimanded. 'Just because I did not say anything about the impudent question you asked me a few minutes back about matters not concerning you, does not give you carte blanche to do whatever you wish.'

'Sorry,' mumbled Harry, looking at the ground as he hung his head and rubbed the back of his neck, sufficiently cowed.

'Apology accepted,' said the Minister primly. 'Ensure it does not happen again. Or I might find it necessary to revoke the emancipation and convince the Wizengamot that you are not fit to be considered an adult till you are twenty.' Watching the boy flinch at the last statement, she finally relaxed her features. Looking at Fudge on the ground, she said, 'And we will touch upon your incessant brown-nosing when we return to the Ministry, Cornelius, so wipe that smirk off your face.'

Just then an owl flew towards Harry carrying a Howler in its talons.

'Oh bugger,' said Harry as the owl dropped the Howler and sped away. Opening the smoking red envelope Harry covered his ears as soon as he could.

'POTTER!' Tonks' voice screeched from the envelope shaking snow from the trees, 'WAIT UNTIL I GET MY HANDS ON YOU!'

'At least she was short and to the point' Harry said.

'Why was Auror Tonks issuing death threats to you?' the Minister asked, mildly curious.

'Oh, cousin Nymphie was just conveying her appreciation for the gift I sent her for Christmas!' Harry said lightly after his hearing cleared sufficiently.

'Well, if you actually wrote "Nymphie" down in the parcel, I would understand the reason for that threat already,' said the Minister wryly.

'Yes, but then I had sent her a pink stuffed unicorn.'

Minister Bones looked at the boy for a moment before bursting into laughter, 'And that explains the Howler! I must say, you have stones kid! We are living dangerously here, aren't we?'

Harry just shrugged. Suddenly a bang was heard coming from the house in front of them.

'Well it looks like you needn't come in to collect your employee,' said Harry as yelling could be heard accompanied by a lot of sniggering and outright laughing.

'Yes, I hope that nothing too permanent happened to Weasley there. He is pretty excellent at taking down notes. You don't find that many young men capable of writing fast and neatly,' Said the Minister worriedly.

'Uh-huh ... Percy is a secretary eh?' Harry remarked as the former head boy stormed out of the house, his green hair clashing with the large purple pimples erupting on his face.

'Yes, a pretty good one too,' said the Minister, finally regaining her good mood. 'Anyway, until the ball Lord Potter,' she inclined her head and turned around, following a limping former Minister and a glowering secretary out of the property. Harry soon heard three soft 'pops' followed by two loud 'cracks' and after a minute, two other 'pops' signalling the exeunt of the last of the Minister's security detail. He briefly wondered what had possessed him to act like that (and in front of the Minister of Magic) no less as he walked back to the house.

Harry came in to find that Mrs Weasley giving her unrepentant twin sons a dressing down. Once she had calmed down, Mr Weasley just said 'Boys, you are becoming too old for this,' in a monotone causing the twins to grin even more as they knew that their father's heart really wasn't in it. Harry just gave them a discrete thumbs-up as they winked back at him once Mrs Weasley's back was turned.

Remus and his wife stopped by on Christmas night with news of a happier nature.

'It's going to be a boy,' said the proud father-to-be as he threw an arm around his glowing wife.

'So soon?' asked Mrs Weasley after congratulations were passed around. 'But you've only been pregnant for a month! How can you tell?'

'Oh it's just a feeling I have,' Tonks said as she rubbed the bulge in her stomach lovingly.

'Harry, I was wondering if you could be the godfather,' said Remus tentatively causing Mrs Weasley and Ginny to gasp.

'I-um, OK,' said Harry slowly. He had no idea why the two wanted him to be godfather. After all, he barely knew Remus and Tonks. Remus was only a friend of his fathers' and Nymphadora was just a cousin, and somebody whose existence he had no clue of till a year back. Harry couldn't help but feel that he had been put on the spot here. It would be rather churlish of him to decline in front of so many people. He really wished that Remus had thought to ask him in private instead of out in the open in front of so many people.

Harry eventually relaxed after thinking about it for a bit. After all, he doubted that he would need to take care of the thing. After all, the baby would have its parents to take care of it, and failing that, its grandparents. All he would have to do is drop by occasionally and spoil the child silly. A slow smile spread across Harry's face as he thought of the things he would tell the sprog and the ways he would corrupt it.

'By the way, I did not get the chance to thank you properly for the book you gifted me,' said Bill in the lull in conversation that followed. 'This should make my job easier. Where did you get the book by the way? Those wards and how to put them up and take them down is rather rare! Almost nonexistent in fact!' the elder Weasley son all but gushed.

'Ah, now that is a secret,' said Harry mysteriously while smiling at the man.

'Speaking of gifts...' Tonks began suddenly becoming rather menacing ... for a pregnant lady, thought Harry. 'I have a bone to pick with you on the one you sent.'

'Aw come on Tonks,' said Harry innocently. 'Surely a godfather can buy his future godchild a gift!'

'A pink unicorn for a boy?' said the clearly unimpressed Tonks.

'Hey, it could be a girl,' Harry shot back. 'Besides, if it is a boy, then you can just change the colour of the toy to blue, or give him the wolf and save the unicorn for his sister. Every baby needs a stuffed toy!'

'Oh, really,' said Tonks in fake politeness. 'So what would you suggest I do with the "Property of Remus Lupin" tag around the unicorn?' she fairly snarled causing the twins to start sniggering.

'What? Oh, I had forgotten about that, damn...' Harry breathed, clearly heard by the irate expectant mother. He smiled winningly at Tonks. 'Well, you could just remove the tag ... Then again ... it does have a permanent sticking charm on it ... oh, well!' he grinned unrepentantly at the glowering pregnant Auror.

Hearing Tonks growl, Harry continued, 'Oh, come now, it isn't that bad! I mean after all, I got you a wolf with the same thing written on it except it had your name instead of Remus''

'I am going to hurt you,' Tonks said.

'But you mustn't!' cried Harry. 'Think of all the stress you will put on the baby!' he said in exaggerated concern, making Tonks' eye twitch.

'Remus!' Tonks called for her husband. 'Oh, he'll clean your clock, he will, just you wait,' she said to a very amused Harry. 'Rem-' she stopped in mid sentence when she saw that her husband was passed out next to her.