The Spark {Book 5 in the Star of Gryffindor Series}

Chapter 40 - Keeping the Spark

The Daily Prophet
Issue No. 102,224
19 June, 2022

Parliament Predicts War, Though Spark of DA Rebellion Smothered, Source Says

The Magical Parliament has taken reign at the eve of war, one member says. With Caymus Stillens growing bolder, it seems to be only a matter of time until war is upon us. The auror department is being strengthened, and Harry Potter has been confirmed as retaining his position as Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, which should put many readers at ease. This is in spite of rumors that Potter is a leader in the secretive DA, rumors that Potter has declared to be unfounded.

Many key members of the DA have been ousted by loyal members of the community, however. Among them are Hermione Weasley, a high-ranking official in the old Ministry; Lee Jordan, a popular radio talk show host; and Parvati Patil, a professor at Hogwarts. These, along with many others, have suddenly found themselves out of a job, and the public is warned that communication with them could put individuals in danger. For a full list of known DA members, check page B7...

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O.W.L.s seemed a lot less stressful now, for some reason.

Perhaps it was the fact that they had nothing on the stress of watching the Magical Parliament form itself. Over the next few days, dozens of people with ties to the DA were fired from various jobs around the country. Dozens more were fired for being suspected of having ties to the DA, but in fact didn't. We watched with bated breath, but somehow both Mr. Potter and Mr. Macmillan kept their jobs. Albus and Lacy spent hours speculating about it, but no one could get better than Wren's initial idea: the Parliament needs a strong, popular defense. And when it came to popular defenders, the Wizarding world had no better than Harry Potter.

More confusing was Mr. Macmillan's continued status of having a job. Lacy was quick to assure us that she was very happy about it (after all, her family was supporting her grandfather at St. Mungo's, for curse damage during the last war, so they needed the money), but she couldn't understand it at all. Albus offered  that firing Mr. Macmillan might inadvertently implicate Mr. Potter in something, basically meaning they had to be kept as a pair or fired as a pair. Or perhaps Mr. Macmillan had become almost as favorable to the public; after all, he basically ran the auror department now, since Mr. Potter had several other things to worry about as Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, and a professor to boot.

Teddy wrote to me to tell me he'd managed to be passed over in a sweep of the auror department for potential DA associates. He didn't know how, except for the fact that he was still in training, but he wasn't going to question it. Now that things had come to this, it was really important that there be DA members in the government. And there were, he promised; most DA members were not as obvious as Neville Longbottom or Ginny Potter.

So O.W.L.s passed uneventfully, at least for us. The other fifth years didn't let current events topple their rising mountains of panic. The only thing giving most of them hope was the ever-closer light of Friday afternoon, the day of our last exam. After that, we were free, and returning home the next week.

I half dreaded returning home. I'd be away from my friends, while Wren, Albus, and James would all be together. There was a bit of a morbid satisfaction that Colette was facing the same separation I was, but withered away into guilt soon enough; at least I had a good family, at least I could visit the Potters, at least I wouldn't be entirely alone.

It was because of my good family that I only half dreaded returning home. The other half was excitement. Victoire's most recent letter had containing a photo of her, Teddy, and Charis. Charis had grown so much since Christmas. Toire said she had just started crawling a few days ago. I couldn't wait to see her, or Toire, or Aunt Andromeda, or Teddy.