42

Chapter 42: Plotting, politics, research and VACATION!Notes:

Good morning everyone,

here you have this week's chapter. Hope you'll like it. I can by now tell you that we'll either end up with 46 or 47 chapters overall, so the end is near :)

Have fun reading

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

Once again, weeks and months passed, in which Albus and his companions researched possible locations based on the book of King William. That was not an easy thing to do, and it was constantly interrupted by other missions or another family visit for Nathaniel around Christmas. 

The biggest problem was the inconsistency of the Arthurian mythology, the fact that most texts got written long after Arthur, and that muggle and magical stories differed gigantically. Besides, it could be every single spot on the western coast of Great Britain. Some were more likely than others, but since so much tales could have been lost, nothing was to be excluded. 

So Augustus came up with a new plan sometime in February. He began working on spell creation - a discipline neither of them were great in - to make a spell that would copy the encrypted location signature off the gem. They could - hypothetically - put that on any object then and send people to all the possible spots, and the spell would light up if they were at the right location.

By May he had a working spell at hand he wanted to try out, so Albus created a reusable portkey with a specific location and Augustus transferred the signature of that portkey onto a small trinket that would heat up in the immediate vicinity of the location.

After a thirty minute search, he actually found the spot, so the spell worked. Now he only needed to implement the encrypted location signature of the gem onto enough trinkets to be usable, and then start giving those trinkets to their associates in Britain, since the ministry was keeping a much closer look on their borders. Going by themselves was dangerous at the moment unless the council could get some of their people on the border control. 

Since travelling to the UK was not really an option after discussing that with their allies, Dedalus smuggled thirty enchanted trinkets back into magical Britain, handing them out to some of their allies all over the country.

Two of those, Albus Dumbledore had hand picked himself, and Dedalus was due to meet them at Hogsmeade, even though one of them was mostly busy revising for his OWLs. The other was just as annoying as his father, and a sixth year student.

Ronald Weasley and Cormac McLaggen had received a letter from Cormac's father, to meet with a fellow Dumbledorian at Hogsmeade, because he had a mission for them. Those two were the biggest supporters of the Dumbledorian movement at Hogwarts, and so picked to serve the council. He had informed them to wait at old Abe Dumbledore's pub, the Hog's Head, which was in Dedalus' possession (Albus was "dead" and so were most of the other close friends he had had, Dedalus excluded, he let someone else do the day-to-day business though) and upon his own arrival he led them into the private part of the pub.

"So, gentlemen, as discussed I first need a vow of silence."

Despite not being amused about it, they both gave their magical vow to Dedalus.

"To be blunt, Albus Dumbledore is still alive and has chosen you to help him as he still can't return to the UK."

As expected, they started asking Dedalus so many questions, Hermione Granger would have been proud of them, and after answering most of them sufficiently, he handed both a list with locations and a trinket so they could check those spots.

While Cormac started working down his list during the weekends (getting permission to leave via his father), Ronald had to wait until the school year had ended. Which, to be honest, wasn't that bad, because he spent hours and hours studying for his OWLs - in secret. By now he was a competent combat mage and got his seven OWLs, while simultaneously trying to be as "invisible" as possible. And that he had managed. Barely friends, no quidditch, only some conversations with Dean or Seamus when it came to boys in his dorm, and mostly hiding away silently. 

Though some might claim it, the Weasleys were not stupid. They just had the tendency to be lazy, but with a motivating goal (getting revenge on Potter), they were able to achieve a lot.

Back at the Burrow, he didn't even talk about how his exams went, having begun ignoring his father a long time ago, and his sister was a completely different person by now, so he didn't talk to her either. 

And after months of trying, starting when Molly was imprisoned, Arthur just gave up, seeing that his son was too convinced of Molly's and Dumbledore's lies - and other than Ginny that had nothing to do with brainwashing from a young age and could be cured.

The consequence of that was that Ronald was basically free to come and go as he pleased, Arthur was mostly gone for work and Ginny tried her best to socialise with friends at all times. Even when she was at the Burrow, she avoided Ron and didn't even notice when he was gone, thinking he was again hiding in his room.

With the money Diggle had given him he began touring around on the knight bus, checking dozens of locations all over the British coast, but so far without any success.

And while Ronald was following Dumbledore's orders, Amelia Bones, having revealed her pregnancy to everyone on the evening Harry, Hermione and Susan came back from Hogwarts, was thinking about her future. It was clear to her that she had done a great job as Minister of Magic, but could she still give everything if her child was born?

She discussed the topic with her husband-to-be (the wedding was planned for this summer), who agreed with her. As much as Amelia loved her job, she had done so much good that she could take personal time without having to feel bad. Sirius' offer to stay home so she could continue working full-time was declined, Amy had lost all her family but Susan, to dedicate the next years of her life mainly to family was feeling right to her. 

The next step was to discuss that with the other leaders of the alliance, Harry and Neville (since they were all at Potter Manor the first few weeks) first. They both supported her too, but Neville was asking the most important question.

"Whom do we want now then?"

That was a good question, because Sirius declined to take the job, neither the Lord Potter nor the Lord Longbottom wanted a political office yet, Lord Greengrass was a fantastic Chief Warlock and should keep that title, Arthur Weasley didn't even want to become Undersecretary to the Minister (oh, they tried hard) but was happy as Head of the Human Resources Department (doing a great job working towards equality), so he would decline that for sure. From the biggest alliance members there were only Ogden and Marchbanks left, the latter being too old for the job. Lord Jacob Ogden was wealthy due to his family business, and had always been a close ally of Arthur Greengrass and Augusta Longbottom on the light-to-moderate side of the Wizengamot. He had always been hiring regardless of blood status, muggleborns tended to bring modern technologies and innovative ideas into the business, increasing the efficiency. 

In regards to any "non-wizards and other magical beings" he was rather tolerant. His elves were treated well, respected goblins, centaurs and co., his only problem was with werewolves, but only because he lost his uncle to an attack by Greyback. He had no issue with werewolves per se, but was weary, especially when employing them (which he did). After all, the werewolves were not at fault for their disease, as long as they got locked away with wolfsbane in a secure location during the full moon, everything was okay. But they needed to be extra careful and should be held responsible for any attack due to their own mistake.

Over all, Ogden was a pretty good candidate and had the necessary support within the alliance and the public to have a good chance. 

The Dark sided Lords didn't have anyone popular enough for any proper nomination, all of the big dark Lords were arrested and imprisoned with their wives as proxy. The only big question was whom the Dumbledorian movement would nominate, probably with support from the dark side. It could actually be a close call if they nominated anyone else but that damn McLaggen, who was despised by most people within and outside of the Wizengamot.

During the first week of the holidays, Sirius called for an alliance meeting, where Amelia's decision was explained. After the congratulations on the pregnancy, it was Arthur Weasley who asked the important question.

"And who are we going to nominate? I don't see many candidates with enough support, and just for the record, I don't want it. I'll keep on working in Human Resources to fight for equality."

Most people within the alliance had expected that, but were not too happy about it. As a personal victim of Albus Dumbledore, a man who had been dosed with potions by his wife and manipulated, he was the ideal candidate for them. 

"I think I know whom you're gonna suggest, Amelia. Sirius will probably stay in his position and not get even more workload now, Potter and Longbottom are too young and I'll stay Chief Warlock. No offence, Griselda, but I think you're past the age of becoming Minister, so I suggest Jacob. He has the support."

Amy nodded, and the others soon showed their agreement. A formal vote was held, and the alliance unanimously nominated Lord Jacob Ogden as their candidate for Minister of Magic once Amelia formally resigned. That she would do at the next Wizengamot session, held next week, so the Lords and Ladies could nominate someone and the campaign could start.

Ronald Weasley was currently swearing a lot. He was - despite the stormy weather - working down the list that Dedalus Diggle had given him. Sure, he felt important knowing that he was helping Albus Dumbledore, but at the same time it was an exhausting job. The unspectacular golden ring he had hidden under a loose floorboard at home was now on his finger, and apparently it should light up when he was within three metres of the location they were looking for.

Did he know why they searched for a specific spot? No.

But that didn't change anything, because he hated Potter and his whole reform of the magical world more than anyone else. Back in 1991 he had hoped to run into the helpless and clueless Potter boy at King's Cross so he could befriend them, but no, Potter was together with that mudblood and the Longbottom squib. 

Well, actually Longbottom was one of the strongest wizards of their year, so he couldn't call him a squib anymore without making himself a laughingstock, but still…it was Longbottom. A nobody with no parents and just his old grandma, a boy that by all accounts hadn't shown any magic before the age of ten.

But no, that little boy had to befriend Potter, and it was over with getting a part of his wealth and fame. And damn, that fame was justified, because as much as he hated him, Potter was a brilliant wizard. Just twelve years old he defeated Dumbledore and a teenage Voldemort at the same time, outplayed them politically and then won the Battle of Hogwarts.

Ron had decided to become the quiet boy in class, unnoticed by most, so he could study, and finally use the Weasley brilliance that all his other brothers had. Bill was one of the best curse breakers in the country, Charlie a supreme dragon handler, the twins were definitely geniuses (mad ones, but still) and Percy…he was absolutely unbearable, but still prefect, head boy and now a rising star in the DMLE justice department. 

And he, Ron, would become the man on Dumbledore's side, defeating that damn Potter boy and his friends on his rise to power. Dumbledore, the great man that he was, would certainly give him a high-ranking job and then all his brothers and his father would beg him to help them. And he would get his mom released, once Potter was gone. She was just wanting the best for her family, that's all.

After he finished checking this spot on the list, he lifted his wand and called for the knight bus, where Stan already greeted him.

"Mr. Weasley! Another tour 'round the country for you?"

"Yep, Tintagel Castle please, you know it?"

"Oh yes, the castle rumoured to be the place of King Arthur's conception. Merlin apparently put a concealment charm on Uther Pendragon so Lady Igraine would think he was her husband, Gorlois, Duke of Cornwall and Lord of this very castle. And so Igraine would carry the son of King Uther."

Then he turned around while gesturing to Ron to get in.

"Ernie? Heard that? Tintagel Castle for our top customer Mr. Weasley."

And while Ronald was busy scouting the entire peninsula on which Tintagel Castle was located (which would probably take him an entire week), Harry and Hermione were continuing the animagus classes with their friends at home, sometimes joined by Minnie. Just to clarify, those two were pretty great at the transformation and held the classes. Susan tried her best at those, since she was always there, but meditation wasn't really her thing so she didn't have a form despite the transfiguration skills she possessed. 

Neville had found his form on one of the first meditation sessions in the holidays, and since he had trained so much on the practical side (performing the spells leading to the transformation was possible without having a form yet, you just didn't transform) up until now he would most likely manage to transform into his horse form soon.

Daphne was a different case, her transfiguration talent was great yet not as great as the others', but she knew it was a mammal, a small one, and it was something from the dog family. She would probably have success finding it out precisely very soon too. 

Normally Luna and Padma would have joined them too a lot, but the Patil family was making a summer trip back to magical India, now that their daughters got through their OWLs, and they took the Lovegood family with them. Xeno claimed there he could find an interesting subspecies of the blibbering humdinger (or he made up that reason so Luna and he could join the Patils without making Luna feel like she's hindering her father from working), so he was writing an article for the Quibbler there.

Studying aside, Harry had a plan for these vacations, one he hadn't told Hermione about yet. Before he could do this, he needed to talk to Dan and Sirius.

When one of the Potter elves informed both Sirius and Dan to go meet Harry in his office, they were already surprised. They were even more surprised when Harry offered them both a drink and appeared very serious.

"Dan, Sirius, I have a question. Can Hermione and I spend a week or so at the castle during the holidays?"

Dan was the first to respond while Sirius already had a cheeky grin on his face.

"Sure, I don't see why…oh. You want to spend the time alone with her, don't you?"

He downed the content of the glass.

"You know what, you're nearly sixteen and Hermione is closer to seventeen than sixteen. I don't even want to think about these kind of things, but you two are bonded by magic which is basically an unbreakable engagement if I didn't understand that wrong. You're a couple for…we can argue about how long, Emma and I would say long before you made it official…so, yes, you may. But I don't want to hear anything about this week you'll have."

Sirius just grinned smugly and shooed Dan out of the room so Harry would have his time alone. He had had THIS kind of conversation with his godson before fourth year before realising he was from the future. Harry had to admit though that no one had given him the talk per se, and not even under love potions with Ginny he got even remotely that far - thank god the burrow was small and chaotic (same was with Hermione, they had a conversation about this already a while back. Neither Weasley got far with them, not more than a few snogs for Harry and Ron just tried to flirt clumsily ).

Now he had to tell Hermione the good news.

His lovely girlfriend was down in the library, he had let her into the hidden part of it, the one behind the big obelisk which only he could open. She was doing some research on some ancient charms to get a better understanding of the theory behind charmwork, and some of the Potter books were quite extraordinary.

"Mione, dear?"

Her face lit up as she heard him call and she put away the book.

"Love?"

"I got a surprise for you. We're going on vacation."

"What?"

"Oh yes, you heard me correctly. You and I, Potter Castle for at least a week."

"That's lovely. I love the view from the tower there, and the path down to the coast is so perfect for a quiet afternoon…wait! Just you and I?"

He grinned at her and nodded, causing Mione to jump up and wrap her arms around him.

"How did you…?"

"Honestly, I just asked."

For them that meant a lot, because as relaxed as the Grangers were with their relationship, much time in peace and quiet was nearly impossible, and sleeping next to each other aside from an afternoon nap on the couch was not possible either (excluding those three instances in which Harry sneaked over to her when he knew the Grangers would get up and leave so early they wouldn't wake the kids during the Christmas holidays). So to have a week or more just on their own in a big house - or to be more precise, Harry's castle - was a chance to advance the depth of their relationship.

Emma Granger was, to be honest, torn between happiness and unhappiness with the whole situation. She loved Harry like a son, but if she thought back to her teenage years and what she did with sixteen…it was very strange to think that her little daughter was now at that age. 

On the other hand, those two had been through so much together (more than Emma actually knew), much more than some adults go through all their life. It shouldn't bother her at all. They were mature enough.

So she shrugged the worries off and continued with baking an apple pie for the afternoon.

The following day in the morning Harry and Hermione flooed into Potter Castle, and the first thing Harry did was lock down the floo for now. An elf had already brought their things into their bedrooms (well, he had asked the elves in secret to put both of it in the Lord's rooms) so they had nothing with them and just walked into the big living room Harry had furnished with a comfy red couch and armchairs, a bit like the Gryffindor common room.

With a snap of Harry's fingers music started playing, one of their favourite bands, an Australian band that got popular in the sixties and Dan had seen in his teenage years here in the UK, The Seekers. Mione started humming along immediately before punching Harry playfully on the shoulder and said "you little showoff!"

They both started an impromptu dance session in the living room before collapsing on the couch snogging and being very glad that no one would come in and interrupt them. Thankfully the fireplace was on, otherwise Mione would have probably started complaining about freezing as soon as her shirt was off - which was the first, yet not the last piece of clothing to go.

And while Harry and Hermione were enjoying their alone time, Ronald Weasley was still walking across the damn peninsula trying to find the right spot for whatever Dumbledore wanted. Not that he didn't enjoy seeing the country, but it was damn exhausting. Following a pattern he had devised on a map he checked every single spot hoping for the ring to start heating up. 

His biggest issue wasn't even the walking, he was still actively training to be a good quidditch player, even if he hadn't joined the team at school. Ron was rather fit, that much was clear.

No, his biggest issue was the lack of magic, because he still had the damn trace on his wand and there was no family wand back home he could "borrow." If only Charlie's wand, the one he started Hogwarts with, wouldn't have broken after the car incident, then he could have used it. Back then he hadn't known and his parents hadn't cared or thought about that, but since Charlie was an adult by then the trace was gone. They hadn't officially registered that wand as his so the trace was put back on - the normal way to deal with heritage wands for Hogwarts students.

On the day when his father got called to the latest alliance meeting just a few days back, Ron had gone up into the attic to find the trunks with the rest of Uncle Bilius' and Grandpa Septimus' stuff his father had inherited. The only fascinating thing he had found was a protective necklace whose charms had nearly faded, but the rest was old clothing and a few wizarding pictures. 

And since Ronald had no talent whatsoever for wandless magic (not that he hadn't tried), he had to work down his list without magic. How annoying.

As the day slowly came to a close, he called the Knight Bus once again and went back home. The bus dropped him off about a mile from home and outside the wards as always, so no one would find out that he had left with the bus. 

Once he entered through the front door, he immediately noticed the noise upstairs telling him that his father was in his study. Ginny was nowhere to be found, so she was probably in her room too. After grabbing something to eat from the kitchen he went upstairs, but upon walking past his father's room he heard him on a floo call.

"No, Amos, I don't want to, and that's what I told you and the others more than once. I get that you'd rather see me than Jacob as Minister, but I'm gonna continue working in HR."

"I know, I know, but you were one of Dumbledore's victims. That would be a big plus, you're one of the most liked politicians we have. I don't have a problem with Jacob, but I want this win to be secure. We can't lose now."

"We won't. Amelia's pregnancy is unexpected, and no one will see it coming that she resigns next week. We have a candidate and a campaign ready, that puts us lightyears ahead of the opposition."

Ronald grinned. That was exactly the kind of information which Dumbledore would need, so he quietly rushed into his room and grabbed the protean charmed parchment, hidden under the loose floorboard, he should only use if he had found the right location and wrote on it.

Headmaster, 

Amelia Bones will resign from her post as Minister of Magic next week due to pregnancy. The Alliance intends to nominate Jacob Ogden as her replacement and they already have a campaign ready. You might want to prepare a strong opponent so it doesn't hit the council in surprise.

My search is still ongoing, only downside is that I don't have a trace-free wand, maybe you can change that? I tried my best to support your cause and have seven OWLs and competent combat magic skill to take down Potter and his associates.

Sincerely yours,

Ronald Bilius Weasley

For a very short moment there was happiness at Nurmengard as one of the protean charmed parchments started glowing and a message appeared, but Gareth, who read it first, just shook his head.

"False alarm, but you might want to read that either way, Albus."

He handed Dumbledore the parchment, who quickly read it and started to smile.

"Oh. That changes a lot. Send a trace-free wand to Ronald Weasley through our smugglers and find me a way into the UK. It seems like we can try grabbing for power earlier than expected."

Notes:

So, that's it for this week, I hope you liked this chapter. Let me know in the comments :)

Until next week, see ya