Harry took a deep breath to calm his nerves and observed his company as he climbed the stairs to Dumbledore's office. Hermione, his closest friend, walked alongside him. In front of him was Auror Tonks, Auror Proudfoot, and Amelia Bones, Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement.
Madam Bones adjusted her monocle as they reached the door at the top of the stairs.
A shout came from within the room; "Come in!"
Harry took a deep breath, trying in vain to steady his nerves.
The door swung open unassisted, revealing a large circular room. In the centre of the room was a large desk, clawfooted and covered in heavy books and long scrolls of parchment. The Headmaster sat behind it. Warm blue eyes found his own.
Fawkes trilled in greeting, preening on his golden perch. The steady whir of Dumbledore's assorted instruments, sat delicately atop finely crafted tables with spindly legs, filled the air of the office with a pleasant ambience.
Perched precariously on a small shelf to the left of the door, out of sight of anybody entering the office, was a shining silver box with a small hole in the top and artistically painted golden accents. As the guests entered the room, the device emitted a soft red smoke. The smoke dissipated moments after, drifting off in the soft breeze from the open door into nothingness.
Dumbledore's face seemed to flash with an expression, though only for a moment, melting back into a warm smile before Harry had time to decipher it.
"Madam Bones, what a pleasant surprise!" Dumbledore smiled warmly, "do sit down. I can fetch tea if you wish."
"It will not be pleasant for any of us, Headmaster," said Madam Bones. Her face was without warmth.
Dumbledore's eyebrows rose slightly, "Oh?" His gaze shifted to the other occupants of the room, "Tonks, hello. Proudfoot, I hope you are well. Harry, Miss Granger, greetings. What brings the five of you to my office this afternoon?"
Madam Bones stepped forward, her wand gripped loosely in her hand, "we know what you've done, what you are."
Dumbledore leaned forward in his seat, "You do, do you? I confess that your statement is too broad for me to divine your exact meaning." He chuckled goodnaturedly.
"We aren't here for your games, Dumbledore," Madam Bones ground out, "I have enough evidence to bury you, along with your puppet, Fudge."
Dumbledore frowned sternly. "My puppet? My dear, Cornelius is his own man. A man I hold in the highest esteem. You insult him."
Madam Bones' jaw clenched and her ever thin patience ran out.
"Surrender your wand and come with us quietly. There is no reason for us to take you in by force, but if you fail to cooperate, we will. That I can promise."
"I see. Before we indulge in such… unpleasantries, I'm afraid I must inquire as to how you plan to capture me?" Dumbledore smiled patronisingly, "Do you expect me to come quietly to Azkaban?"
Madam Bones frowned. Aurors Tonks and Proudfoot spread out in the room, forming a semi circle around Dumbledore's desk and levelling their wands at him. Harry and Hermione gripped their own wands tightly.
Dumbledore appeared unaffected by the threat.
"And let us pretend for a moment that you manage to capture me through some means unknown to us both, and that I did not escape before I stood trial." Dumbledore sighed heavily before he continued, "if the Minister is my puppet, as you so crudely put it, how do you plan to convince the Wizengamot to convict me? They will do as the Minister says, will they not?" He asked with the air of a man reminding a child of something he ought to already know.
"Enough of this," snapped Madam Bones, "Stun him."
Proudfoot and Tonks both lunged forward, their wand jabbing forward as the crimson jet of the Stunning spell lunged toward Dumbledore.
Dumbledore moved too quickly for the eye to follow, and in the blink of an eye he was on his feet, wand in hand.
A shining shield of resplendent silver formed from nothing in front of him, the spells glanced off the shield and dissipated harmlessly against the office walls.
With a wave of his wand, the shield tilted and shot off toward Proudfoot. The sharp edge found its mark in his neck, his head hitting the ground with a dull thud moments after his body.
Madam Bones and Tonks paused only for a brief moment at the loss of their companion before they renewed their assault, spells of every colour flying across the room toward the Headmaster.
Dumbledore's wand moved faster than Harry's eyes could follow, batting away the spells like flies. Harry raised his own wand, intending to aid the others in their struggle. He did not get far. Before he could even begin to cast a spell, Dumbledore jabbed his wand in his direction and he was bound in thick rope and falling heavily toward the ground. A cry of shock and a glance to his left told him Hermione found herself in the same situation.
With a flick of Dumbledore's wand, his heavy desk was launched toward Madam Bones, who raised her wand and shattered it into a thousand pieces with a well placed Blasting Curse. A thousand wooden fragments exploded outward, and Dumbledore capitalised.
Sharp wooden stakes shot toward Madam Bones and Tonks. Madam Bones hunkered down behind a strong shield, weathering the storm. Tonks was not so lucky. Her hair flashed a vibrant yellow as a wooden stake slipped through her defence and pierced her neck. She collapsed with a weak gurgle.
Now focusing his attention fully on Madam Bones, Dumbledore launched a brutal assault. Spell after spell left his wand in rapid succession, battering her shield. An odd curse that seemed to shift colour as the light hit it shattered her shield, and a jet of light blue lifted her off her feet, throwing her bodily against the door. Her wand clattered loudly against the floor, a final nail in her coffin.
Madam Bones lay bloody and beaten against the door of Dumbledore's office. Her wand across the room. She coughed wetly, blood trickling from the corner of her mouth.
Dumbledore stood triumphantly, his long, ornately crafted wand held loosely in his right hand
"Truly, your foolishness surprises even me. What were you expecting to happen?" Dumbledore's triumphant smirk grew into a grin and his eyes were mocking, "did you truly believe that you could defeat me? The greatest wizard to ever walk the face of this earth, in my own seat of power no less?"
"Are you going to kill us?" Hermione stammered, speaking for the first time since they had entered the office.
Dumbledore turned to face them, his old blue eyes meeting each of theirs. He seemed to weigh his words before finally speaking, "No." He said it with a finality that surprised Harry. Dumbledore continued, "a dead man tells tales. What reason could I have for slaying two students, one of which the Boy Who Lived? No, I have further use for you yet." His gaze met Madam Bones' "You, however…"
With a wave of his wand and a flash of deep purple she crumpled further and her head slumped against her chest. She did not move again.
Harry cried out in horror and shock. The tip of Dumbledore's wand glowed an eerie red, then all he knew was darkness.
· · ─ ·✶· ─ · ·
Albus Dumbledore sat back in his chair and allowed himself, if only for a moment, to savour his victory. Only the whirring of his hand crafted instruments filled the air of the Headmasters office.
He knew he could not wait around all day, and so he stood up and with a practiced wave of his wand, his office put itself back in order. The fragments of his desk were pulled back together and to their proper place and scorch marks from spellfire faded into nothingness. Dumbledore made his way to the fireplace, sat to the left of the room. Taking a handful of floo powder, he threw it into the fireplace and called out "The Minister's Office!"
With a flash of green Dumbledore found himself looking at a surprised Minister for Magic sat at his desk, surrounded by mountains of paperwork.
"Merlin's beard! What on earth are you doing, Dumbledore?"
Dumbledore's eyebrows drew together and his face was grim. "What we spoke of last has taken place. Come through to my office." And with that, his face withdrew.
Fudge jumped up from his seat with a speed that belied his frame, and made his way over to the fireplace in his office. "Hogwarts, the Headmasters Office!"
The setting evening sun bathed the richly decorated office in a warm golden hue. The steady whir of the office was pierced only by the heavy footsteps of the Minister.
Dumbledore watched as Fudge paced around his office, his face was pale as he paused and glanced at the bodies. His green bowler hat spun in his shaking hands.
After a minute of silence Fudge finally stopped his pacing and turned to the Headmaster, "And what role exactly did Mr Potter, and er-, the other one, have in this?"
"They were bewitched," Dumbledore explained gravely, "he was tricked, I believe, by a letter from Madam Bones in which she told him she could help him get out of the Triwizard tournament. He met her a week later. The meeting of which I spoke to you about is when, I believe, the two were bewitched."
"Merlin's beard!" Fudge exclaimed, "two students, bewitched on the grounds of Hogwarts? And you are certain, absolutely certain, that Amelia Bones did this because she wanted control of the Ministry?"
"I have complete confidence that my initial assessment was correct. She believed the public support of young Harry Potter would benefit her, Miss Granger she had no choice but to bewitch, she would have noticed the differences in Harry's behaviour immediately."
"But why…" Fudged paused for a second, thinking deeply, "why would she come to your office?"
"She knew I am your greatest supporter," Dumbledore placed a hand on his shoulder. "She knew that I would not rest until the ministry was returned to its rightful ruler."
Fudge nodded to himself, "yes, yes, that does make sense. Well, stopped her right in her tracks didn't you eh?" Fudge chuckled heartily, his green bowler hat now firmly on his head. "There'd be an Order of Merlin, First Class with your name on it if you didn't have one already."
Dumbledore nodded humbly, "I did what I had to do. The loss of life is, of course, regrettable." His face was somber as once again his eyes found the three lifeless bodies spread across his office.
"Well, they were plotting against me weren't they? Better them than me, eh?" Fudge nodded to Dumbledore before turning back to the fireplace, "I ought to get back to the Ministry, the Wizengamot needs to be briefed."
With that, the Minister disappeared with a flash of green flame and a shout of "The Minister's Office!"
· · ─ ·✶· ─ · ·
It was with great effort that Harry opened his eyes, and none at all that he shut them immediately after. He squinted against the harsh shock of light. His eyes slowly adjusted to the light and it didn't take him long to figure out where he was. He laid back in the bed of the hospital wing, his head throbbing. He tried to remember what had happened, but the events of the past few months seemed just out of reach.
He remembered meeting with Madam Bones, but why? Why had he met with her? He remembered her turning her wand on him, putting him under the Imperius Curse and doing the same to Hermione soon after. He had broken out of it moments later, but a Confundus Charm followed swiftly by another use of the Imperius crushed any resistance before it could begin.
What came after was foggy, clouded by the artificial bliss of the Imperius Curse. He vaguely remembered meeting with Madam Bones, giving reports on the movements of Dumbledore and what was going on within Hogwarts. Fragments of conversation remained clearer than others. He remembered the Aurors, Tonks and Proudfoot, joining them in some of the meetings too.
They had spoken of corruption in the Ministry of Magic, of their plans to remove it, of Dumbledore being a puppet master. That seemed the most extraordinary thing of all their ideas. Dumbledore, a puppet master? The thought almost made Harry laugh. The clandestine meetings reached a conclusion 6 months after the first one. They had gathered together and marched to the Headmaster's office, intent on arresting Dumbledore and seizing control of the ministry from the hands of Cornelius Fudge. It was here that his memory ended.
He was taken out of his attempt to make sense of his disjointed memories when he heard footsteps approaching his bed. The white curtain was drawn back to reveal the tall, thin figure of Albus Dumbledore. He smiled warmly when he saw that Harry was awake. "Awake, I see. How do you feel, Harry?"
"A little confused if I'm being honest, sir." Harry was relieved to see Professor Dumbledore, he could always trust him to make sense of confusing situations.