Who'll Fill a Coward's Grave? ↣ Harmione

Chapter Seven

Chapter 7 - Bad Memories

Albus watched on impassively as the supposedly most powerful wizard in Britain, the Minister of Magic, threw up over his shiny shoes and plush office carpet. The new Head of the D.M.L.E. at least managed to hold onto her breakfast. That greenish pallor though would lend even more credence to the often used amphibian nickname Albus knew Dolores hated with a passion. They had just left his pensieve after watching Harry's memory of Voldemort's rebirth, neither were taking it well.

It took a good ten minutes, a couple of cleaning and air freshening spells, as well as Cornelius being on his second glass of brandy, before the Minister of Magic was able to reboot his brain.

"So Albus, what are your young man's demands?"

All three people in this office knew Albus held a strong hand, he saw no reason to rub their noses in it at the moment. That may change however, depending on the response he got here.

"Demands, Cornelius? Harry doesn't have any demands. He would like to see his godfather, Sirius Black, receive a fair trial. Harry and his friends told you a year ago his godfather was an innocent man, a man sent to Azkaban without even being questioned. Pettigrew being instrumental in the Dark Lord's return lends credence to those claims of innocence. Harry isn't looking for any special treatment, just a fair trial of a man neither you nor Dolores had anything to do with wrongfully imprisoning over a decade ago."

Albus could see both liked that angle, he then sweetened the deal. "Since his godfather will voluntarily submit to questioning under truth serum at any trial, you can perhaps see why Harry is pretty confident of the outcome. He's so confident, he has offered to have his picture taken with you, as you hand his godfather that deserved Ministerial Pardon for wrongful imprisonment."

Cornelius couldn't hide his surprise, or delight, at hearing that. Dolores made no attempt to hide her nod of encouragement for Cornelius to accept the totally unexpected offer of perceived boy-who-lived support.

The wily old politician knew this pair wouldn't like the next bit nearly as much. "Harry understands better than most the monumental task he's faced with. You saw from his memory that the lad is also up to the task. He doesn't think a normal Hogwarts education will give him the tools he needs to complete that task however, so won't be returning to the castle come September. Instead, he and a few of his closest friends will have the best tutors we can find to help them prepare."

Here was the opening Cornelius was looking for, he quickly snapped it up. "That's all very well, Albus, but we're working in the dark here. If young Harry were to come into the Ministry and collect that prophecy, we would have a much better idea of how we could help him."

Knowing that Cornelius would go down this route, Albus had already prepared a suitable road block. "The Dark Lord only knows a piece of the prophecy, that was why he targeted the Potters - and Harry in particular - all those years ago. Voldemort would do anything to discover this Prophecy in its entirety, that must remain our ace in the hole. Anyone knowing the full prophecy automatically sees their name added to the very short list of people Voldemort would gladly torture to death to get that information."

Hearing Albus' opinion, and understanding the reasoning and sense behind it, saw Cornelius swallow the rest of his glass of brandy. Knowing the contents of this prophecy was suddenly not top of his to-do list. Following Dumbledore's advice just might save his life, and Albus had more of that advice to offer.

"I approve of the increased security inside the Ministry but would advise a twenty four hour guard be placed in the corridor leading to the hall of Prophecies. We need the alarm raised if the Dark Lord ever decides to come and collect it himself."