Defence, Pretence, Offence (Hecatemus Book #2)

Chapter 34 - The Universe Objects

It was mid afternoon and it wasn't their weekend to supervise the Hogsmeade visit, so Harry was using the time to catch up on his Quidditch reading. When he had told Draco that he had to be up on all the latest gossip because of his position as a flying teacher, his soulmate had laughed at him for a good two minutes straight. Draco just did not understand how important it was in case his students ever brought it up.

The major advantage of teaching a discipline like flying was that it involved no essays, at least not unless he was making a point. He was willing to help Draco mark his, but today his aid had been turned down. Which was why Draco was down in the Potions classroom and Harry was in their room. They could easily have been in the same place, but Draco had wanted to test something or other and Harry wanted to read in natural light.

The feeling started at the base of his spine and lanced upwards, daggering into his skull. He couldn't help it, he dropped the magazine he was reading onto the bed.

[Harry?] immediately came from Draco's direction.

[Sirius,] was all he replied.

The grating sensation always made his nerves feel raw, even though Harry was always glad to see his godfather.

"Now this looks posher," were the first words out of Sirius' mouth as he faded into existence.

"We've gone up in the world," Harry replied and smiled.

Pushing the reaction Sirius caused in him to the back of his mind, he stood up.

"What have I missed?" Sirius asked.

"Well Albus held summer classes," Harry said, "and trained up a good percentage of the students from fifth year and above. It's now the Autumn term and fifteen of us are Assistant Professors to the teaching staff."

"That's fantastic," Sirius said. "How on earth did Albus get the Ministry to agree to that?"

"I think he probably bribed and subtly threatened," Harry replied and grinned, "because Fudge is still a moron."

Sirius lifted his eyebrows.

"What did he do now?"

"Well, promise you won't try and do anything rash."

[He can be as rash as he likes,] came from Draco's direction and Harry realised he had managed to open the connection between them rather wide; [what can Fudge do to him anyway.]

[Oh, he'd try something.]

"I don't like the sound of this," Sirius said, "why do I have to promise?"

"Because sometimes you do things without thinking," Harry pointed out.

Sirius looked no more impressed.

"Promise or I'm not telling you."

Harry could play that game too.

"Okay," his godfather said, "I promise."

Sitting back down, Harry waited until Sirius folded into the chair.

"Well, we have no actual proof, but let's just say everyone involved believes it has Fudge's fingerprints all over it," Harry began. "One of the Aurors who was here for the summer classes wasn't actually really an Auror at all, he was an Unspeakable."

"But what would one of them want outside the Department of Mysteries?" Sirius asked.

"Seems there is a new section of their department that not even most of the other Unspeakables know about," Harry explained. "They're tasked with investigating what creates a dark lord and how to stop another rising."