The Adventures of the Junior Phoenixes, Part 1: The Pendant of Life

Chapter 4: Rooftop Tea

Chapter 4

     Shade prepared tea while Jinx was in the bedroom, playing on her laptop computer. He prepared the tea pot, put it all on a tray, and shuffled out to the hatch and went to the roof deck, the lights of the harbor bright and the roof lights on.  Kingsley Shacklebolt was sitting, facing east, and he was writing something on a piece of parchment with a quill. Even seated, Shade thought, he cut an imposing figure. He seemed like a very busy man, though his shoulders seemed to be able to carry the weight of being Minister of Magic.

     After the fall of Lord Voldemort and the defeat of the Death Eater Puppet regime that had taken over the British Ministry of Magic, Kingsley Shacklebolt was named the new Minister. He was quick to dismiss those who were either part of the pro-pure blood movement pushed by former Undersecretary Dolores Umbridge and those were blatantly or secretly Death Eaters. With Kingsley came a whole new, more dedicated and determined Ministry. The years since the Battle of Hogwarts were not easy to the British Ministry; years of petty disputes among the officials there had created feuds among department heads, and even whole offices were against one another, and no one trusted the government, especially after former Ministers Cornelius Fudge, Rufus Scrimgeor, and Pius Thicknesse had all either served in denial of danger, been killed, or were under the control of Voldemort.  Kingsley, as Minister, began sweeping out the dirt and riff-raff, firing many of those who took advantage of the mad times during the Thicknesse regime, and those who favored pureblood legal decrees during the times of Fudge, Scrimgeor, and Thicknesse.

     Now, though there were still hiccups, the British Ministry of Magic was setting a new standard in the world of magical politics. Across the world, Kingsley was being touted as a hero and the leader of a new movement of magical cooperation across the blood lines, human/creature lines, even across the trust lines.

     This most of important men was sitting on the roof deck of the Morning Glory.

     “Milk and sugar, sir?” Shade asked, pouring tea into one of the two cups he had on the tray.

     “Yes, please, that would be splendid,” Kingsley said. His voice boomed, the low timbre strong, something Shade admired. “Two sugars, if you don’t mind.”

     “Coming right up, sir,” Shade said, feeling a little nervous. He trembled slightly as he gave the cup to Kingsley. He had only met the American Minister of Magic once. Pollux Gray was a busy man, and he often travelled to and fro across the country, from Salem to New Orleans to Seattle where there were other Ministry of Magic offices. Here, on the roof deck of where he lived, the British Minister sat and shared a cup of tea with him as though he were a visiting relative.

     Kingsley laughed. “You can call me Kingsley, Shade. No need for this to be so formal.”

     “Yes sir,” Shade said, “I mean, Mr. Kingsley, sir.”

     “Just Kingsley,” he replied, with a smile.

     Shade poured himself a cup, and sat down opposite Kingsley.

     “Why all the theatrics?” Shade asked as he sat down. “Why not arrive in Boston like most other Ministry officials?”

     “I’m sorry for my deception, Shade, But I had to know if you were as genuine and honest as Master Wolf said you would be,” Kingsley said, taking a sip from his cup of tea.

     “You had to see if I was honest?” Shade asked, looking surprised. “Why is that?”

     “Because I have heard of you, Mr. Shade. I know your reputation among your fellow Aurors in the Ministry. I know you are a humble young man with a great track record of helping clean up these shores in just a short amount of time. But I needed to see it for myself. Not that I expected to be accosted in the streets of Salem.”