Harry smiled at them. "Do you really want to know?"
"Yes!" They all chorused.
"Well, that's too bad." Harry snickered. "It wouldn't be very wise to spout off the name of my candidate when I haven't even approached that person yet."
Tonks rolled her eyes in a very annoyed manner. "Very funny, Harry. Do you think that this person will be likely to work with you? Especially after all that you have and will be blamed for?"
"Who can resist the lure of power and glory?" Harry countered. "It's a very Slytherin-like way to deal with someone, but I've been backed into a corner. I'll make this person such a big hero in the eyes of all British wizardom that I may not even have to shove Fudge out of office. They'll drag him out for me."
"How?" Moody asked.
"You'll see." Harry smiled. "I think that we've covered enough. Remember to work on bringing people around to believing that I'm not a murderer."
Everyone stood up and Snape pulled out the special Portkey that Harry had sent to him. They were about to leave when Harry stopped them for a moment. "Neville? Would you like to visit your parents for a moment? I can make a separate Portkey."
"Sure, Harry." Neville said, stepping away from the others. They portkeyed away as Harry and Neville left the study, talking amiably as they made their way to where the Longbottoms were being looked after.
Harry took aim, waved his black ash wand casually, and whispered an incantation. "Maximus twiserio aeros." A silent explosion jerked Harry's arm and conjured dummies were violently tossed away from him, some crashing into rocks, others being thrown to the ground, and still others blown for over a hundred feet into the choppy ocean as Harry watched with fascination.
The elemental style of spells were difficult to cast, unpredictable at best, and classified as extremely dangerous- yet Harry had found them to be very effective thus far. They could be used against a large host of enemies, but Harry was nervous about the well-being of anyone fighting by his side. The results of the elemental spells didn't affect him, but they might affect others.
He was about to summon the dummies back to try another elemental spell when he sensed someone approaching from behind. A glance back toward the fortress revealed Narcissa Black picking her way across the not so very smooth beach as she made her way in his general direction.
After several minutes, Narcissa finally came close enough to speak to him. "Could we talk… milord?" she asked carefully, apparently unsure as to how she should address him.
Harry nodded, then said in a fairly happy tone, "But I insist you call me Harry." He then put his wand away and stepped over the relatively smooth piece of ground and sat down cross-legged.
Narcissa frowned at the dusty sand and sharp rocks before gingerly sitting down across from him. For this conversation, she would rather face him and judge his reactions. He was currently studying her with his luminescent emerald green eyes. "I'm sorry." she blurted out, wanting to smack herself as soon as she realized that she had already lost her composure. She had always prided herself on keeping it in all situations. Perhaps it was his eyes.
"For what?"
She squirmed for a few minutes before answering. "Everything, I suppose."
Harry smiled calmly at her. "What is everything?"
"Aiding Death Eaters, supporting people like the Dark lord, stuff like that." Narcissa said shakily, trying to gloss over the subject that she herself had brought up. Instead of answering, Harry continued to study her thoughtfully. In an attempt to fill up the silence, Narcissa elaborated. "I suppose that I'm sorry for my whole attitude as well."
Still nothing. Therefore, she continued to talk, and before she knew it- she had divulged everything she had ever thought or done to Harry. She even told him about tripping her cousin Sirius down the stairs once when a child. "So, I just want to say I'm sorry."
"How sorry?" Harry asked as he played with some rocks that he had found lying in the sand.
What did he mean? How could one measure sorrow for past actions? Unless he was referring to punishment. Of course. Punishment. Not only had she gone through life with a bad attitude and contempt for others, but she had committed a few crimes as well.
The consequences must follow. What would he do? Send her to Azkaban? He certainly could now that he controlled that island. Or worse. Narcissa drew a deep breath and prayed that he didn't know about the special chamber deep in the dungeons of his fortress. "Sorry enough to take any punishment you see fit to inflict." And she really was that sorry.
An annoyed look flitted across Harry's face. "What do you think I am, woman? Some Dark lord who tortures people who goof up? Or perhaps a Lord High Executioner? You didn't do any of that stuff against me."
Narcissa made a noncommital noise that didn't seem to have any particular meaning to it.
"I wanted to know if you're sorry enough to change." Harry explained calmly. "After that, it's up to you to figure out how to pay your debt to society or whatever you want to call it."
"I am definitely sorry enough to change." Narcissa announced, trying to inflict some strength into her voice. "But, I was hoping that you would help me pay my debt to society. You're working against the Dark lord and the corruption in the Ministry. If you allowed me to help you, I think that would go a long ways toward fixing things."
"What can you do to help me then?" Harry inquired, now looking straight into the blonde woman's timid eyes.
Narcissa began to idly draw in the sand. "Well, I know a lot of people and have social connections. You're powerful, but you lack means by which to channel your power. I could open up connections and broaden your influence."
"That would be useful." Harry said in a thoughtful tone.
"Please let me!" she begged, realizing that this was probably her only chance to redeem herself and turn her life around.
"All right then." Harry said, slightly intimidated by her suddenly servile attitude. "You can go back to the castle and tell Bellatrix or the housekeeper to set you up in a better bedroom. Talk to Reggins and I'm sure he'll be able to assign you a place to work from. I'll talk to you tomorrow about some people I'd like to… influence from off the bat."
Narcissa leapt forward from her sitting position and landed on her knees- causing Harry to start and nearly fall back. She grabbed his hand and began to pepper his signet ring with kisses. "Thank you, thank you, thank you." she said over and over again. Before Harry could say anything, she stood up and quite nearly skipped back to the fortress.
"Absolutely bonkers." he muttered to himself. He laid back in the sand and allowed himself a laugh. Perhaps Narcissa would be able to assist him with contacting his proposed candidate and if not, at least set some things up.
Bellatrix hummed a lullaby to herself as she poured a small amount of rat blood into the boiling gray potion. As soon as the red liquid made contact with the gray, the boiling immediately ceased and the mixture soon swirled into a sickly shade of pink. Within moments, the pink mixture had thickened considerably and reached a chilly temperature.
Several special dueling dummies were summoned from their resting places against the wall, and one by one dunked into the large cauldron and its disgusting potion. Bellatrix then performed some more magic to banish them each to their own table.
A couple of cleaning spells later, and Bellatrix was making her way up to Narcissa's new office. Unconsciously, a smile crossed her lips. Her sister had finally seen the light and was now contributing her talents to Harry's cause. Narcissa had played the social scene more than she herself had, and therefore was more useful in the regard of contacting prominent wizarding folk in Britain. It was a shame that she was not acquainted with the Ministry official that Harry had developed an interest in.
However, Narcissa had already been useful in other ways and would certainly prove helpful in the future. She had already lined Harry up with those in a position to deal with money obscurely . . no matter the source of purpose.
Bellatrix soon arrived at the right hall, and was soon in front of Narcissa's door. She knocked, and opened it up to find her sister and husband discussing a new matter that Harry felt was necessary. Harry flashed a tender smile at her before turning his attention back to some sort of diagram Narcissa was making on a piece of parchment.
"The Tremayne's have this annoying tendency to stay neutral during any sort of conflict or disagreement, but I'm sure that given the circumstances that you plan to create, they will have no other choice but to make a move beneficial to your purposes- whether or not they're aware that you're behind the events." Narcissa explained to Harry, as she positively beamed at Bellatrix.
"Exactly!" Narcissa concurred as Bellatrix sat down in a chair and observed the ongoing dialogue.
The discussion of various family positions continued for several minutes until Harry moved onto the structure of the Ministry. "It isn't a requirement that one has to be a Department Head to become Minister, correct?"
"Not necessarily." the blonde Black sister hedged. "But, it's a long-standing tradition and those are sometimes difficult to break.
"Wouldn't they make an exception for someone perceived to be a hero? None of the Department Heads have done anything that can be commended to improve the situation of the Wizarding World thus far- therefore, if my man does something big, he would be the only one on the playing field." Harry said.
Narcissa smiled. "They probably would- assuming that there was a good reason to oust Fudge."
"I think that Bellatrix can provide enough dirt to bury him six feet deep." Harry said wryly, glancing at his wife for confirmation.
His wife grinned predatorily. "More than six feet, dear."
"I think that covers it then." Harry mused. "Thank you for your time, Narcissa."
"My pleasure, Harry." Narcissa glowed, reminding Harry in some twisted way of Dobby. "Reggins wanted me to finish analyzing these reports, so I'd better get to them."
Harry stood up, quickly followed by Bellatrix. "Well, I won't stop you then." He waved and the couple exited the small office hand-in-hand.
"Any good news from Hiscophney?" Bellatrix inquired.
A frustrated sigh seemed to erupt from Harry. "Nothing good. For the past two weeks, Voldemort has been hitting a town or two every night. The Death Eaters stay only long enough to slaughter a few Muggles, torture a couple of people, and they're gone before Hiscophney even has time to assemble his strike team."
"Then you get all the credit for the attacks." Bellatrix concluded.
"That sums it up."
"People hate me now more than ever, thanks to the explicit details the Ministry Chronicle always provides." Harry grumbled.
Bellatrix shrugged. "I think that they'll eventually come around, love. Right now you should concern yourself with the Ministry. You'll also need to tell Hiscophney to engineer a new plan of fighting back. Voldemort has found a way to combat strike teams- not that he didn't have one before."
Tonks glanced up at the large, glittering sign above Weasley Wizard Wheezes and drew a deep breath. If the twins weren't able to be convinced, then no one would be convinced. Without wasting another moment, Tonks entered the shop and managed to make her way unmolested to the counter where both twins were working on their newest invention, taking advantage of a slow moment.
"Wotcher!" Tonks greeted them, attempting to inflect her voice with more confident than she felt.
"It's our favorite Auror." Fred grinned.
"What can we do for you?" George asked.
Butterflies fiercely attacked Tonk's chest and it was a moment before she responded. "How do you feel about this whole mess concerning Harry?" she blurted out, wanting to smack herself as soon as she repeated her words in her mind. Dumb, dumb, dumb.
Silence descended over the shop as the twins grew more serious and seemed to concentrate more on their project. Finally Fred answered quietly, after sweeping the shop with his eyes to check for unwanted listeners. "The whole thing seems rather… fishy."
"Yeah." George agreed. "Saint Potter goes on a murdering spree. Bollocks."
Fred elbowed George. "Careful what you say! She's an Auror you know."
"She's not a Fudge flunkey!" George exclaimed, giving Tonks a flirtatious grin. "Any dope can see that."
"How about a Dumbledore flunkey then?" Fred muttered.
George winced. "Didn't think about that."
"Look you two- I'm not a Fudge or Dumbledore flunkey." Tonks said, trying to clear things up. "How do you feel about the attacks that have been going on during the pat two weeks up north? Everyone says that Harry has done it- what do you think?"
Fred looked at her suspiciously. "Why are you asking us all these questions?"
"Will you please just trust me and answer?" Tonks pleaded. "I swear, I am not trying to get you into trouble or anything like that."
"Oh all right." Fred acquiesced.
George set down the unidentifiable thing he had been tinkering with and set his elbows on the counter. "Ron and Ginny came back from that first village and went on for hours about how they had caught Harry in the act and what a horrible person he was. Mum fiercely agreed and even promoted the idea, and our father tried to pretend he wasn't involved. It made for a rather merry circus."
"Get to the point." Fred advised.
"Oh, yes. Well, we noticed throughout the whole thing that not one of them actually saw Harry cast a spell of any sort for or against the Muggles in the town. Then as they kept going on about his faults, it came out that no one has actually seen him do anything." George said.
"What if I told you he was innocent?"
Fred and George both raised their eyebrows. "We didn't expect you or anyone else to take that type of attitude toward him."
"Lots already have." Tonks informed them. "Most of the members of the former DA, Lupin, Moody, and Snape."
"Snape!" Both of the twins exclaimed loudly.
Tonks shrugged. "I suppose he believes in Harry's innocence and ability to bring down You-Know-Who."
"I guess so!" Fred said loudly.
George looked slightly disturbed. "There's a lot of first-class idiots out there. I would have thought Snape the absolutely last person to believe in Harry's innocence. Hopefully the world is ready to face Harry Potter's wrath."
"Does that mean you believe he's innocent too?" Tonks asked eagerly.
"Depends on who is asking." Fred said casually.
Tonks grinned at them. "What if a Harry Potter flunkey was asking you?"
"I reckon that's good enough for us." George said.
Harry pulled a slip of parchment from a cloak pocket and compared the address written on it to the house that he was standing in front of. They matched. He put the parchment away and studied the dwelling curiously.
It stood in a fairly wealthy Muggle neighborhood. Despite this, the appearance was rather modest and homely looking. Kind of like the Burrow, except that it was cleaner, less disorganized and not so poor.
Hoping that the owners' characteristics were similar, Harry Apparated into a small room that seemed to serve as a study of sorts. There was a desk with files strewn all over it- most of them Ministry files dealing with Gringotts. There were also toys strewn across the floor and a large bookcase with children's books of every sort.
Conjuring a seat, Harry sat down and waited . Someone would come into the room eventually. As the time passed, Harry listened to the noises that the resident family made. From what he could gather it was some sort of story time.
After half an hour, the noisy pitter-patter of feet could be heard going past the door and up a flight of stairs a woman's voice asked if someone would be coming up to tuck the little ones in bed.
"Just a minute, dear. I need to put the book away." came a male voice.
Harry stood up as the door opened to admit a man of medium height, dark blonde hair, and in the neighborhood of about thirty years. He was casually flipping through a storybook with big pictures in it.
Sensing the presence of another person in the room, the man abruptly froze and then slowly moved one of his hands toward a light switch. Harry made no move to stop him. The lights clicked on and the man took one look at Harry and nearly fainted.
"What are you doing here! What do you want?"
A smile spread across Harry's face as he spread his arms innocently. "I have a proposition for you, Mr. Mockridge."