Let's Try Again

Chapter 26: Sixth Year (Part 1)

June 29, 2006

It was a Thursday, four days after the students had returned home from Hogwarts, when the elections were held. It had been arranged so that the students that were of age would be able to get home and get settled in time to still be able to go out and vote.

By the end of the day all the votes were in and counted. No one was really surprised as Kensington Shacklebolt came out the clear victor.

Well Albus wasn't really surprised, he was still angry about the outcome. Gertrude just hadn't had the same name recognition as Kensington. What had happened with the attack on the ministry hadn't helped.

The attack had allowed Kensington to portray himself as being in control and a stable leader. The past few weeks the papers had been full of all kinds of stories, all of them praising Kensington for his swift and decisive action that had stopped so many Death Eaters.

Even though Albus had control of The Prophet and had them printing positive stories about himself and Gertrude, it just wasn't enough. They had started from too far behind.

It hadn't helped that James had refused to listen to him and switch his support to Gertrude. They had had a quick talk just before the school year had ended during an Order meeting. Not only had James refused, but so had all the others. The only ones that had supported the woman were those Albus had known he could count on supporting anything he said.

Unfortunately, even Albus had to admit that they had a point. Kensington had proven to be a capable minister, and Gertrude had not. The woman had struggled to keep her cool just during the election. No one who really looked thought she would be able to handle the pressure. It had seemed that whenever she was placed in a situation with any form of pressure, even just doing an interview with a friendly reporter, the woman had struggled and said all the wrong things.

Now, Albus just needed to get the new minister on his side. He had finally reached the point where he had to admit that it was going to be difficult. He remembered all those years ago when Kensington had served as proxy for James. The man, while willingly listening to what he had to say, had never once agreed with him.

Albus needed to get control. He needed to be in charge with what was to come. Voldemort was back, and he was the only one that could arrange his defeat.

Mischief Managed - July 7, 2006

Fred and George were just closing up the shop when two owls arrived, one going to each of them. They already knew what it was.

The week before, they had received their NEWT results, both had passed everything, and this was the final response to the applications they had sent out.

After receiving their results both of the twins had reached out to masters in their chosen fields of study. Since the apprenticeship program had been returned, they were planning on applying to it. Fred wanted to try for his mastery in spell crafting, while George wanted alchemy.

In the week since they had received their results they had been in near constant contact with their chosen masters. These letters contained the final requirements for them to get the positions. If they could meet these final requirements then they would be starting their work on getting their masteries.

It wasn't going to immediately get them the mastery, it was only the first step. They would spend two years on their apprenticeship, before they could take their first round of tests. After that they would need to write a peer reviewed article, do more practical and theoretical work in their field, take another round of tests, write their thesis and present it to a review board of masters before taking a final round of tests. If they could complete it all, then, and only then, would they be able to get their mastery.