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

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter 17 - Stepping Up

Albus was soon given an opportunity to witness first hand what his appointment as interim Minister of Magic meant to the ordinary witches and wizards of Britain. It was perhaps a tad unkind to consider the gathered Order members as ordinary. After all, here was a group of individuals who had potentially risked their very lives by banding together to stand in opposition to the Dark Lord. Through their discussions and decisions, decisions taken in this very room, the country was well down the road to ridding itself of the Death Eater problem, and Lord Voldemort too.

Without exception, every single member was pleased and also relieved to hear Albus had taken over the reins of government. If this scene replayed itself around the rest of the country, Albus was certain he'd made the right decision.

After the meeting broke up and the 'inner circle' met, a red-faced Albus wasn't feeling so sure. Kingsley was using all of his considerable skill as a raconteur to unveil his version of the new Minister of Magic's first official task, this afternoon's meeting with the muggle Prime Minister. Kingsley's rather dramatised version of events of course resulted in much embarrassment for Albus and Emma, while everyone else appeared to find it hilarious. That Severus was laughing along too Albus accredited purely to him finally breaking from Voldemort. While Severus was of course also delighted to take on the position of Defence Professor, he wouldn't actually teach his first class until Monday. Albus would have a quiet word with Minerva later, hinting that this might be the opportune moment to give Severus a taste of school management. Having him as acting Deputy Headmaster for this preset period of time could let all three of them see if he wanted the big chair someday.

That Albus wouldn't be in the castle when Horace made the unpopular discovery that Harry Potter was not going to be attending Hogwarts this year was simply another bonus of his interim Ministerial appointment. He would advise Minerva in any dealings with Horace to allude that, should Voldemort be defeated, the reason for Harry Potter not attending Hogwarts would no longer exist.

While Kingsley had changed subjects and was now talking about protecting prominent muggles at risk, Sirius interrupted him with a name none of them had thought of including in that 'at risk' bracket - and also instantly garnered Albus' full attention.

"Shack, I understand why Tonks would be near the top of your Officers on protection detail list but there's a need for her skills a lot closer to home. Emma here now works for the Phoenix Force, the Minister of Magic and the muggle Prime Minister. I would like Tonks to be Emma's bodyguard anytime she's on official business - make that anytime she leaves the house."

Emma was about to protest when Sirius effectively took away her argument. "When you are meeting with the muggles, there may be occasions where a demonstration of Magic could save loads of time, and any arguments. There is also not a snowball in Hell's chance of you entering Diagon Alley or the Ministry of Magic without an escort everyone in here trusts."

While Hermione was telling her mother what a great idea that was, Harry just had one of his own. He need a question answered first however, and knew exactly who to ask.

"Moony, can muggles see a Boggart?"

"Muggles can feel their presence, and may even glimpse them, although they seem less capable of seeing them plainly and are usually easily convinced that the Boggart was a figment of their imagination." As Remus rhymed off his textbook defence professor answer, the Marauder's face broke into a wide grin as he realised where the young wizard was going with this. "Harry, that's genius!'

With everyone now looking at Harry, he expanded on his idea to the group. "The biggest problem we've got here is Dementors can't be seen by muggles, making the job of convincing them of the dangers extremely difficult. As Moony here just confirmed, Boggarts can though - especially if they were concentrating on seeing that something. My Boggart is a dementor, allowing these people some first hand experience of the effects while they would be in no danger whatsoever."