Harry Potter, Sovereign - Chapter 27

Winky wasn’t like Dobby. She didn’t want to be free, she wanted to serve a family. However, house-elves that have been dismissed from service rarely find another family to serve, being disgraced. She would be more than happy to work for the Potter family, and would probably be even more dutyful than Dobby to make up for her previous mishap.

Concerning the manor, Harry didn’t want to rebuild it as it was before.

This place was going to be his HQ for the war against Voldemort. There was no doubt that at some point, the enemy would discover that he is staying at this place. At that time, they would come under heavy attack, and he sincerly doubted that he and his summoned ladies alone could handle it. There would be their allies as well. This place had to be a stronghold for both them and their allies. It should also be able to handle a few refugees.

But he was also worried about spies and traitors, and aside from being a stronghold, the place was also going to be his home. Because of that, he didn’t want them in the same building. He wanted a building to house guests, separated from the main house where he would live. To that end, he would have to slightly change the position of the wardstone in the property. That was going to take some work without disabling the wards.

The group would have to consult proper architects very soon. Non-magical ones, because witches and wizards relied more on wards and enchantments for defense, than clever construction. His family wardstone and his 3 Casters would be more than enough to take care of the magical protections. Furthermore, there was much less risks of enemy wizards finding the plans of the property.

With the hearing taken care without any complications, they could put any kind of political training aside. Harry’s magical education was still lacking, and he would have to focus on that until September 1st.

His morning schedule had little changes. He would spend 1 and half hour learning from Scathach, 1 and half hours studying the 5th year program, 30min casting spells from the previous 4 years, and 30min of spar. In the afternoon, he would spend 2 hours on breathing and meditation. Since it was still supposed to be a holiday, he would have the rest of the afternoon free. In the evening, he would spend 1 and half hour working on occlumency. It would start after his visit to Sirius.

That same morning, while they were talking, a notable part of Magical Britain population received the Special Edition from the Quibbler. And after reading it, they started to spread the word to their friends and aquitances.

The main article was a faithfull summary of the trial, with a small reminder at the end that the transcripts were available for perusal at the ministry. Following that article, was an interview of Caitlyn, in her role as advocate for Harry. In it, she sharply criticised the minister and his undersecretary, and their attack on Harry through the Daily Prophet. She further critisised said newspaper for being as corrupt and incompetent as the current ministry.

She presented Fudge as the one being an unbalanced attention seeker more interested in his own fame and comfort than properly taking care of magical Britian. She reminded them that he was the one who, during the earlier half of his term as minister, gave himself an Order of Merlin 1st Class, when he did nothing exceptional to receive it. All the critical problems of the afterwar had already been taken care of at that point.

Meanwhile, noone of the Potter were given an award for the Defeat of the Dark Lord in October 1981. She also expressed her concern for his association with people whose action in the previous war was suspect, and who was dismissed from Hogwart’s Board of Governors. Namely, Lucius Malfoy. The suspicion of bribery was heavily hinted as well, with a passing comment about the DMLE having their budget cut.

When Fudge was made aware of the articles at noon, he felt like he had been sucker punched and kicked in the balls. Dolores Umbridge looked like she was going to have a stroke, before shrieking in outrage. Madam Bones got a vindictive smile on her face. The common witches and wizards of magical Britain were forced to rethink their opinion on Harry Potter, and the current minister’s office.

Harry’s letter and the Qibbler arrived at Grimmauld Place at the same time. Sirius was estatic with the news, followed by Fred and George, then Ginny. They had a little celebration, and Tonks and Remus got swept in by the happy mood.

In the evening, there was another Order meeting. All the ministry workers in the Order were pleased, especially the aurors. The movements of the dark side in the ministry was restrained, and Dumbldore recovered some support. They didn’t get the upper hand on the opposition, but they were more evenly matched.

The rest of the discussion was about who would retrieve Harry at Kingcross Station.

Remus was an obvious choice. Dumbledore wanted an auror or 2 with them, but they would all be more busy during the day for the time being. He was thankful that Moody was retired, and was chosen alongside Mudungus Fletcher. Since they were certain Harry would have his people as well, they didn’t select more. A big group would be to noticable, and they wouldn’t have the cover of the night.