Harry Potter, Sovereign - Chapter 24

While Harry and his group were moving out of the courtroom, Dumbledore tried to catch up to them without being rude to the ones in front of him. They quickly reached the lifts and took one to the Atrium of the ministry. Dumbledore was forced to take another one. He was able to catch up to them in the Atrium near the central statue.

“Harry!” Dumbledore shouted.

He stopped and the ladies stopped between him and the rapidly approaching old man.

“Headmaster” he greeted him in a neutral tone.

“Harry. I’m happy to see that you are well” he said, looking at the 3 women surrounding him. “I also see that you found charming company. Would you mind introducing us?”

“Yes, I would mind.”

That stunned Dumbledore for a second. He took a more serious contenance, the grandfather figure taking a backseat.

“Harry, it was imm.a.t.u.r.e of you to disappear and not contact us or any of your friends. We have all been very worried about you, and our only comfort was that our informant in the dark side didn’t give us any news of you being in their hands. Come with me, I’m going to take you to a safe house where you’ll be able to stay until September 1st. Your friends will be there as well.”

“Excuse me?” Harry asked in a low and dangerous tone. “Contact you? After you’ve taken my owl, my only companion during the summer, hostage with the excuse that it was for my safety? Just like I’m supposed to be safe with the Dursley? Like I’m supposed to be safe at Hogwart? Go to the people who left me completly in the dark about what was happening in the magical world? That’s a load of hyppogriph dung, Headmaster.”

He turned away from the bewildered old man, barrely able to restrain himself from cursing him.

“You will release my owl today. If she hasn’t reached me this evening, our next contact with each other will be far from pleasant. And my lady friends will be able to tell if she has anything extra on her that shouldn’t be there.”

He didn’t wait for an answer and resumed his way to the floo, accompanied by Caitlyn. Scathach and Xuanzang moved a second later, their attention mostly on Dumbledore. The warning gaze they gave him, and the presence of other people in the atrium, told him that it was best to not insist. The last things he needed was to make a scene in front of the public, especially if said scene is him engaging 2 strong witches in battle. He could only watch the group disappear through the floo.

“That was Harry? Is he alright?”

Dumbledore turned around to look at the person talking to him. It was a middle aged red haired man, the father of one of Harry’s friend and ministry worker, Arthur Weasley. He was both happy to see Harry, and worried about what had happened to him during the past few days.

“Yes, it was him Arthur. He is alright, he won his case. Young Harry seems to be in a rebellious phase though, probably due to the dementor attack and minister Fudge.”

“That’s good to know at least. Who was he with? I don’t think I’ve seen any of these women before.”

“One of them was his advocate. The other 2 seem to be bodyguard. It looks like Harry hired them. I’m calling a meeting this evening to talk about it. I have some business to take care of. I’ll see you later Arthur.”

“Of course headmaster.”

Dumbledore didn’t just leave the ministry after Harry’s departure. He went to talk to his allies in the wizengamot. He had missed the start of the hearing, and wanted the details of what happened before his arrival. After that, he went to look for informations about the 3 ladies that were with Harry. There wasn’t much he could do beside making some discreet inquiries and wait for the results.

That evening at Grimmauld place, the entire Order of the Phoenix was there, except those few who had duties elsewhere they couldn’t miss. Also present were the Weasley children and Hermione.

After separating from Dumbledore, Arthur had sent a message back to the headquater to announce that Harry had been seen in good health and won his case. That put Sirius in an excellent mood, though the fact that Harry didn’t come back with Dumbledore worried him. The others were happy as well, and everyone could breath a sigh of relief. Now they were eagerly waiting for the start of the meeting to know the details. Once Dumbledore arrived, the meeting started.

He first gave a summary of how the whole hearing went, and watched their reactions. They were all happy with how Harry and his companion handled the case. Especially Sirius and Tonks. The former had been badly treated by the ministry, and the later had to deal with the unpleasant undersecretary a few times. The aurors in the Order also liked their boss, Amelia Bones, so they were quite pleased that she would have less shackles on her.

Among the children, the twins were the most enthusiastics, closely followed by Ginny. While Hermione was happy with the result, she was also disappointed that Harry didn’t come to them or the headmaster for help. Ron was happy that Harry won, but he was getting unhappy with the situation. He didn’t know why, and it confused him.

With the hearing dealt with, they focused on Harry and the 3 women that were with him.

“Harry is in a contentious phase at the moment” said Dumbledore. “He refused to come with me, choosing to stay on his own. He also refused to say anything about his companions. I think he has decided to stay on his own, and I think he wants to keep the location of his current residence to himself.”

“No!” shouted Molly. “He should have gone to us! It’s too dangerous for him to be on his own.”

“He isn’t that daft, Molly” retorded Moody gruffely. “He clearly took good precautions if noone of us could find him. And danger? He didn’t show himself to the public alone, he got himself some protectors. He didn’t reveal anything in a place where he could be overheard. The kid is practicing Constant Vigilance.”

“But he is with unknown women!”

“True” replied Dumbldore. “While things seem fine for now, we can’t be certain that they have his best interest at heart. However, I am sure we will see them soon enough. Harry will want to see his godfather after all. I sent him a message with Hedwig, and he should be receiving it about now. I am sure we will get a response tomorrow.”

They traded ideas about where Harry had been and who the women were, but couldn’t come to an agreement. Of course Dumbledore didn’t tell them about how angry Harry was at him, and them by association. He didn’t tell them he used his family crest, and thus had become aware of things about his family he hid from him. He didn’t tell them that he was practically threatened to release Hedwig. He wanted to use Sirius to calm Harry down and have a chance to speak to him first before he met the others. His control over him was slipping, and a bad relationship with the other wouldn’t help.