Harry Potter and the Child of Tourach

a/n: First of all thanks for the reviews. This is the penultimate chapter, followed only by an epilogue, so I hope that you enjoy it.

@BZLF: Yes Harry is nearly unbeatable, but this is not going to help him very much in this situation. Of course he could walk into the ministry and slaughter everyone standing between him and Scrimgeour, before killing the minister as well. However this would make him as bad as Voldemort and would be awfully out of character. Therefore he is trying a gentler attempt, trying to get as few people hurt as possible.

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The gloomy twilight in the room completely matched Harry’s mood. He was sitting in one of Grimmauld Place’s many bedrooms, which was bare except for a big bed and the chair Harry was sitting in. A single candle burned on the windowsill of the room’s only window, which was shut and so dirty that you could not see through it, creating more darkness than light. Harry’s unseeing gaze was fixed on the head of the bed, where a bright red shock of hair was barely visible. He sat there completely unmoving, only his right hand sometimes scratching a few stubbles on his chin.

A sudden creak caused him to jerk out of his silent vigil. He looked over his shoulder and saw Hermione entering the room, wearing a dressing gown and looking as exhausted as he felt.
“You should be sleeping Hermione.” he heard himself saying, his gaze resting once again on Ron’s blank face. “It was a hard day.”
“Same back to you Harry.” she replied tiredly, a hint of irritation creeping in her voice. “You should have gone to bed hours ago; after all you have been fighting today. How long have you been sitting here?”
“I dunno, lost count of the time.” he answered truthfully. “I came in as Ginny dragged you out to eat something.”
“That has been almost three hours ago!” she said, shocked. “What have you been doing all the time?”
“Thinking.”
“About what?”
“Life, the universe and everything.” he replied tonelessly. “Oh and about the fact that I got my best friend nearly killed because the minister of magic holds a grudge against me. Why are you asking?”

“You are doing it again, are you?” she said after softly a few heartbeats of silence.
“Doing what again Hermione?” he asked, finally standing up from his chair and turning around to meet her. His muscles, stiff from hours of sitting, groaned in protest but he fought down the pain, deep down welcoming it chasing away the numbness, which had taken over his senses directly after he had appeared back in this wretched house. The evening’s events had thoroughly shaken him. Even though Ginny had stitched Ron back together, it was evident that he had nearly been killed. To make matters worse all of them could have died if it had taken them one minute more to escape. It had been close, much too close for Harry’s taste.

“Beating yourself up inwards for something that’s not your fault.” she replied in a rush, defiantly meeting his gaze. “You are feeling guilty again like you have been doing so often in your life. You are blaming Ron’s injury on yourself, even though you were the one who saved him! Harry, you are not making any sense!”
“If it were not for me and my problems with Scrimgeour, Ron would have never been in this situation.” returned Harry angrily. “Without me nothing of this would be happening! I am putting every one of you in danger, like I did when Voldemort was still alive! Ginny was about to get murdered because of me. God damn it Hermione, how can it not be my bloody fault?”

Hermione answer was to slap him as hard as she could into the face. He was too surprised to react and received the full force of the blow. It knocked him slightly backwards, causing him to trip over the chair and falling down to the floor. As he looked up, Hermion’s fiery gaze was meeting his.
“Now you listen to me!” she all but snarled, her face twisted with anger, looking eerily similar to an angry Weasley woman, which she was technically. “You are right Harry, Ron would not have been in this situation. He could not have been because he would already be dead! Who would have stopped Voldemort if not you? Who would have entombed the leviathans? Would you have known the right spell if you had ostracized yourself from us? Bloody hell, Harry! You have saved so many lives, you saved Ron, Ginny and me countless times and still you feel responsible for everything bad in the world! Stop it! It makes me sick! If you want to do something then finish thus madness as fast as possible and don’t mope around!”

For a moment Harry was too stunned to speak, his mind racing. In his opinion it was not that easy, but maybe his and Hermione’s point of view were the two sides of the same thing. Pushing this thought away, he decided to focus on the last part of Hermione’s speech: doing something to end this madness. And he just had had an idea to do so.
“You are right Hermione.” he replied excitedly, pushing himself up from the ground. “I should be doing something and I think I know just the right thing. Could you wake the other Order members? We will have a meeting in half an hour.”

“This was not what I meant” thought a confused Hermione as Harry bolted from the room.


* * * * *


Ten minutes later most of the Order stumbled into the kitchen they had always been using as a make-shift meeting room. Almost all of them had been roughly shaken awake only a few minutes ago and, quite understandably, were in a pretty foul mood. Waking up in the middle of the night because someone wants to speak to you normally had this effect on people. As they entered the kitchen, they found Harry huddled over the kitchen table, looking closely at a ridiculously big magical map in front of him, while scribbling frantically on a piece of parchment.

“Potter!” barked Mad-Eye Moody, still wearing his nightcap and pyjamas. “Why on earth did you wake us up in the middle of the night? We are not even getting attacked!”
“Oh you are here already.” replied Harry, looking mildly, but pleasantly surprised. Nothing in his appearance or demeanour indicated that he had taken offence at Moody’s words. “I expected you to take a little longer and I am afraid that I will still need a while to get this done.”
“Harry would you be so kind and enlighten us on what you are working?” asked Ginny dryly, before Moody, who had swollen dangerously, had any chance to explode. “Getting kicked out of bed in the middle of the night tends to make people short tempered, you know?”

“Yeah, I am aware of that.” answered Harry, the corners of his mouth twitching. Leave it to Ginny to bring a bit of humour into any situation. “I am sorry about waking you, but this is highly important. As all of you should know, we were lucky to get away unscathed yesterday. It required too much luck for my taste and nearly got Ron killed. After thinking for a long time last evening I have come to the decision to stop this mind game between the minister and myself as fast as possible.”

“You are not going to surrender, are you Harry?” asked Tonks, a mixture of surprise and anger evident on her face. “Everything is working fine; Scrimgeour is under a lot of pressure at the moment! I agree with you that today should never have happened, but we can’t simply give up because it’s getting dangerous! Every one of us knew that this was going to be risky and still we agreed to help you! Don’t even consider to chicken out now!”
“Don’t worry Tonks.” returned Harry, chuckling. “I am not going to capitulate or to run away, quite the contrary actually.”

“What’s that supposed to mean? Spit it out Potter!” growled Moody.
“This means that we are going to use the minister’s own strategy against him.” said Harry, still unaffected by the old auror’s bad mood. “So far we have always been the attackers, never the defenders. Scrimgeour’s last move forced us to act accordingly to his plan, because we had to rescue Mr. and Mrs. Weasley. He had caused us to be personally affected by the war. And this is what we are going to do as well. We will bring the war directly to its originator: the minister himself.”

“And how exactly do you plan to do this?” asked Moody, his interest piqued.
“That’s where this enters the picture.” replied Harry, gesturing at the map on the table. “Tonight I remembered overhearing Sirius once during my fifth year that they found a detailed map of the ministry while cleaning the house. A few summoning charms later, I found it and it will provide all the information we are going to need to execute my plan.”
“Alright, alright, but what exactly is your plan?” asked the grizzled, old auror, impatience evident on his scarred face.
“We are going to kidnap the minister of magic.” replied Harry grimly.

Stunned silence followed his announcement.

“You can’t be serious.” blurted Charlie, after having recovered. “This is completely impossible!”
“No, impossible is to survive the explosion of a nuclear bomb right next to you, when your only protection is a big role of packing paper.” replied Harry calmly. “The plan I designed can work, if you have got strong enough nerves.”
“Okay Harry, lets assume for a moment that this great plan of yours will work.” said Ginny. “How exactly will kidnapping Scrimgeour help us? We are still going to get hunted by the whole ministry, probably even more than before.”

“That’s right, but if the minister of magic is unavailable for whatever reason, all his powers will get transferred to the current head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement.” returned Harry smugly. “Conveniently this is John Wright and he will be more than willing to negotiate with us.”
“Well that sounds like a plan.” said Remus Lupin, smiling. “How are we going to get in there?”
“Actually that’s pretty simple.” replied Harry. “As you can see on this map the ministry is a lot bigger than most people think. Great parts of it are not in use anymore due to various reasons and naturally this renders them attractive for us. Despite this, I am very sure that the whole ministry is protected by anti-apparation wards and probably by a Displacement Aura as well. Because I rather like my body undivided, I am not going to try to use a portkey. Instead we are going to use the floo network. Tonks will use my Invisibility Cloak during a lunch hour to reactivate an unused fireplace in the abandoned parts and Hermione will create a safe connection. A small group of us will go in, disguised of course and will overwhelm the minister in a quick strike. If everything works, we will be out in twenty minutes.”

“How many of us are going to get in?” asked Bill.
“Three of us and that means me and two others, any volunteers?” responded Harry.
“Bill and me will accompany you.” said Remus. “Bill is eager to pay the ministry back for the last encounter and I want to have a little chat with the minister about threatening the youngest marauder and his charming wife.”
“Thanks Remus, I feel honoured.” replied Harry, genuinely touched. “Alright then, let’s get cracking!”
“Wait, how are you going to disguise yourself? We don’t have any Polyjuice Potion left!” cried Ginny, just as Harry wanted to leave the room.
“We are going to lose our faces.” he answered, before crossing the threshold.


* * * * *


Still slightly dizzy from the unpleasant journey, Harry stumbled out of the fireplace into what appeared to have been a small office a long time ago. Now the room was completely bare and coated thickly with dust. It was part of a rather spacious wing of the Department of Mysteries and had not been in use for at least fifty years. The old fireplace flared green again and Remus nearly fell into the room, followed closely by Bill.

“Has everyone got some floopowder?” asked Harry. “We are going to need it, if we want to go back the same way. If we are lucky, we might persuade the minister to lower the Displacement Aura, but I would not count on it. Probably we have to fight our way out, but I doubt that any auror would risk the death of his boss just to get us caught. And remember we have to appear as though we had every right to be here. Oh, and stay silent all the time, faceless don’t talk!”

The three Order members were dressed in long grey robes with hoods, which covered their faces completely, while still allowing them to see thanks to some enchantments. They were disguised at faceless, elite aurors, who infiltrated criminal organisations and therefore always kept their face hidden and their voice unheard during their visits to the ministry. They enjoyed unquestioned authority and usually were never checked or denied entry. Still it was uncommon to see three of them at the same time and this fact might endanger their disguise. This also was the reason, why Harry had chosen such a small group for this operation, a larger number would have rendered this plan completely impossible to execute.

“Follow me.” said Harry, and left the office, followed closely by his two companions. At first they were walked through deserted corridors marked by the years of neglect and disuse they had to endure, but after about five minutes they entered the populated part of the Department of Mysteries. Well, populated was a slightly hyperbolic term in this case, they still only encountered one or two workers at the same time, who quickly averted their eyes as they saw the three approaching. Interfering with faceless work was a serious crime and therefore anyone was trying to have as little contact with them as possible, an effect which was fortified by the very flexible definition of work usually employed in this case. They did not have any trouble until they reached the end of the department, only a few meters away from the lift. Two aurors, one young, one old, were guarding the exit and the younger one moved to block the doorway, as they approached, while the older man’s eyes remained glued on the newspaper he was reading.

“State your final destination and your business.” said the young auror in a rather pompous tone, which reminded Harry strongly of Percy Weasley.
Harry looked him straight into the eye, what guard was not able to see thanks to the robe Harry was wearing, and did not say anything. Instead he tried to stay as still as possible, not showing any nervousness, guilt or even fear for being in this part of the ministry. Still he was worried. If their disguise would be rendered useless at this early stage, capturing the minister would be impossible. They would have to retreat through the floo, possibly losing this way to enter the ministry in the process. Of course, this was better than having to fight your way through a horde of aurors, but it still would be a bitter pill to swallow.

“I asked you to state your business.” the young guard said again, in a much sharper tone. He was reaching for was wand and made a big show of pulling it out of his pocket.
Harry could feel the tension cracking in the room, but he had no other choice but to return the threat. If he uttered a single word, the older auror would recognize them as impostors immediately. He had to win this battle of wills! Making an effort to move very slowly, Harry’s hand reached into his own pocket and grasped his wand, but remained there. The young guard was inhaling sharply at the thinly veiled threat, and for a moment Harry thought that he was going to attack them.

Luck was on their site this day. Just in this moment the older auror finally looked up from his paper and quickly grasped the scene unfolding in front of him.
“For heaven’s sake boy, let them pass.” he rumbled, once again looking down on his newspaper. “They are faceless and unless you want to get into really big trouble you should leave them alone. It’s the best thing to keep out of their business, you know?”

The young auror glared at Harry for a few seconds before finally stepping aside and letting them pass. Harry felt Remus and Bill relax behind him and thought it prudent to leave as quickly as possible. Thirty seconds later they were standing in the crowded elevator, getting closer and closer to the minister’s office.

It was easy to blend with the crowd in these busy parts of the ministry. As good as no guards were present; apparently Scrimgeour was relying heavily on the ministry’s magical protection and considered it unnecessary to employ any more manpower. He was going to regret that soon enough! Their disguise was not tested anymore; all other people gave them a wide berth and did not bother them. They walked up the stair leading to Scimgeour’s office without getting halted by anyone and found themselves standing in a long corridor, which ended in a delicate mahogany door, framed by two rather bored looking aurors.

Harry approached the door slowly, careful not to alert the guards before it already was too late. Then, roughly fifteen feet before reaching the entrance, he whipped out his wand in a lightning fast movement and stunned the two guards, before they had the time to draw their own wands. Then he cast a Disillusionment Charm on them, causing them to blend nicely with the hardwood floor. Removing their hoods, the three Order members stormed into the room at wandpoint and were more than a bit surprised to find themselves face to face with the minister and two other aurors, who also had their wands drawn.

“I knew, I heard something.” growled one of the minister’s bodyguards, a huge man with a long black hair and ice-blue eyes. “Who the hell are you?”
“Potter!” interrupted the minister, before anyone else had the chance to say something. “You are even more foolish than I thought! You are never going to escape here, in a few minutes this place will be swarming with aurors! You will be locked in a cell before this day is over!”
“I highly doubt that anyone is going to come here in the near future.” replied Harry calmly, unimpressed by the minister’s threats. “And even if they came, I doubt that they would be willing to risk your life, minister, just to capture me. Surrender now or I will blow you away without batting an eye!”

“You wouldn’t dare Potter!” hissed Scimgeour, even though his eyes had widened significantly. “My guards would slaughter you and it would not gain you anything!”
“You really believe that two aurors are going to stop me and my two friends here?” returned Harry, laughing mirthlessly. “Let my refresh your memory: I have defeated Voldemort and am more than able to send all of you to hell within a heartbeat. And if you are no more minister, then Wright would become interim minister. I am sure that he would be more willing to negotiate with the Order than you were. But if you surrender and come with us quietly, you are going to stay alive, what shall it be?”

Just as Scrimgeour opened his mouth to respond, the door behind Harry, Bill and Remus burst open, and a volley of stunners, downed everyone except for Bill, Harry and the minister. More aurors started to pile into the room and Harry prepared himself for a difficult fight. Just as he wanted to fire a supercharged Starfire Charm into the threshold, Wright appeared in the doorframe and stunned Bill with a lazy flick of his wand, before speaking up.

“Minister Scrimgeour, you are placed under arrest. The charges include, but are not limited to: kidnapping, blackmail and attempted murder. Until you are either cleared or convicted, you will be stripped of all power.”
“You can’t do this Wright! Who on earth do you think you are?” shouted the minister, red with fury.
“I think I just did.” returned Wright calmly and stunned Scrimgeour as well. “Harry, please lower your wand. You are standing alone against twenty aurors. I know that you would probably win, but let’s avoid this pointless bloodshed. I promise you a fair trial under the influence of Veritaserum and your companions clearing of all charges, if you agree to surrender your wand. Trust me; if you are innocent, nothing is going to happen to you.”

Harry was at a loss for a few moments, waging an inner war. Should he trust Wright in this situation? Was this one of Scrimgeours tricks? Was it worth to slaughter his way out of here? Finally he decided to listen to his gut instinct.
“Alright.” he said, before laying his wand down on the ground.