Chapter 38
AMELIA BONES
By her estimation, the vote for the next Minister should have taken place by now. Yet here she sat in her old office at the DMLE, with the Ministry still stuck in a limbo as Fudge and his cronies continued to push the inevitable.
"I still cannot believe Ogden sided with Fudge and his cronies," and it may have surprised Kingsley, but not her.
"You don't know Ogden as well as I do. He is an old and stubborn man, and has set his mind on having Albus Dumbledore run for Minister," and this was not the first time the old Barrister had pushed for the Hogwarts Headmaster to run for Minister.
And she doubted if it would be the last.
"But Dumbledore's insistent that he has no desire to run," Kingsley added, and she knew that as well.
"As I said, Ogden and his ilk are old and stubborn. They will push and push as much as they can, for their generation put Albus Dumbledore on a pedestal, and think that the old man can do no harm," but she knew better. Knew that as powerful and well-meaning as he may be, Albus Dumbledore was as flawed a man as any.
"He is a great wizard,"Kingsley defended him, and she was not denying that.
"Of course he is. But that does not mean that he will make a fine Minister, and the man himself recognises it. However, Ogden and his block refused to see any of his faults. So now we must wait until the end of the Quidditch World Cup Finals for the final vote," she said, hoping to gather some international support through this event.
Because, if her information was accurate, many of the Death Eaters had begun fleeing to other nations, while many more were planning to do that, just to escape her eventual fury.
It gave her satisfaction to know that these monsters were running away in fear. Still, now, with the World Cup Final set to happen under Fudge, it would be challenging for her to gather support among foreign leaders to capture and prosecute these Death Eaters.
"Well, in the end, it gives us more time to shore up our numbers," and much to her dismay, the vote was going to be close.
"I am getting rather tired of kissing people's..." and she did not finish, her sentence as Kingsley chuckled.
"Well, consider it practice for when you will be Minister," and she was under no illusion that being the Minister would be easier. Still, she hoped that it would allow her to be effective at least so that she could bring meaningful reform to their society.
"Well, until that time comes, we need to discuss the Quidditch World Cup Final," she turned to the main reason for summoning Kingsley here, and as the Head of the DMLE, it was her duty to see to the security of the tournament.
"I believe I have information that the Death Eaters are planning something," and that made him sit up, as Kingsley suddenly gained an alarmed look about him.
"Are you being serious?" she wondered, and then she considered voicing the little joke that came to mind, but chose against it, adding, "Yes, the threat is real, and I have confirmed it, and the information comes from a very credible source." That source, she noted, was the same enigmatic stranger behind all the recent chaos in the Magical World.
"Then we need to nip this in the bud. If anything happens during the World Cup, it would look reflect badly on you," and that was her headache.
Because Fudge, in his great animosity, had significantly reduced the budget of the DMLE and made it his duty to dismantle her department.
"We can try, but I am afraid we do not have time to locate and arrest these people beforehand. Therefore, we must develop an elaborate security plan for the World Cup Final to tackle any such incident with due haste, and I believe with our reduced personnel we might need to ask other departments for help...."
.
.
.
After discussing the initial steps, Kingsley was about to leave when she remembered something rather important.
"Kingsley," she called out, stopping the Auror captain.
"Yes," he turned towards her with a raised brow.
"Has there been any contact with you from Lucius Malfoy's lawyers?" and he shook his head.
"No. Not at all..."
0000
CASSIUS MALFOY
Despite what it may seem, the chaos lasted but a few days, and soon enough, Grimmauld Place turned into the quiet and somber home of a normal family, with each person busy in their own life.
He had already made it clear to Sirius that he did not need micromanaging and was fairly independent, something which, to the man's credit, he had respected. They still met during meal times, talked, and joked, yet he did not try to insert himself in Cassius's life.
Neither did his Aunt, nor Ted Tonks for that matter, and so as each of them busied themselves in their jobs. At the same time, Sirius began to show Harry the nuances and joys of the wizarding world, and Cassius found himself holed up in the library as he tried to finish his ultimate project.
Learning Parseltongue and getting rid of the Horcruxes.
Tom had not lied to him about Herpo, and as Cassius found himself delving into the works of the First Dark Wizard, he found himself getting closer and closer to a breakthrough.
And so, he found himself a bit surprised as his cousin suddenly brought up an interesting topic.
"A duel," he asked, as Nymphadora Tonks nodded, giving Sirius a sidelong glance.
"Yeah, our former Auror here believes that he can take you on," he said, turning towards the man in question, who had raised a brow.
"Nymphadora!" her mother cut in from the side, casting a glance filled with disapproval at her.
"Will you ever stop causing trouble?" and the girl in question turned her hair a funky pink as she shrugged.
"Nope," and then she turned towards Sirius.
"You still up for it, old man?" she challenged as Sirius made a face and retorted.
"I don't want to bully children," and that was a jibe at him as Cassius put down his fork.
"Is that so?" and the thought of testing his skills against a former Auror was tempting. He had been holed up in the library for some time now, so stretching out his duelling skills was not the worst idea.
"Or are you simply too scared to face me?" he continued with his taunt, making the older wizard narrow his eyes.
"After all, you have gotten quite old," and Sirius took the bait.
"I was an Auror kid. I could take you on in my sleep," and Cassius smiled as he rose to meet the challenge.
"Well, why don't we put that to the test then," and if Sirius was nervous about it, it did not show as the man rose up from his chair.
"Sure," and Cassius followed suit as his cousin gave a whistle, her hair turning bright red.
"And we are on!"
"What is wrong with the two of you. Can't you finish your dinner in peace?" and Sirius shook his head.
"No. Not when my honor is at stake," and she glanced between the two of them, and gave up on trying to stop them.
"To hell with the two of you. It's been years since I have seen a good duel or two," and with that, they began to walk out of the dinner room, just as Harry was about to enter.
"Where is everyone going?" he asked, perplexed by the sudden end to their dinner.
"To the duelling room....".
.
.
.
The Black Family had a fairly standard duelling room, one which was a luxury in these days, given that the Ministry had essentially banned the sport for some odd reason. And Cassius planned to rectify this massive mistake as soon as the election for the next Minister was done, for he found it absolutely abhorrent that they had excluded such an important discipline from both the society and the school.
"Are you sure you are up for it, kid?" Sirius asked, and though the words were a bit scathing, his intentions were not so wrong, as Cassius spun the wand and felt its warmth arch up his arm.
"You should worry about yourself," Cassius added as he took his stance as Nymphadora, and even his Aunt stood to the side to spectate. Harry was here as well, watching this all with a very keen gaze, as Tonks counted them down.
"Don't make me lose my money, Cassius," she warned him, as he nodded. She raised her hand as Sirius took his own stance, his wand aimed squarely at his face, and Cassius took a deep breath.
"Start," and as soon as Tonks uttered those words, Cassius whipped his wand slightly as a spell quickly raced through the air, much to Sirius's surprise.
"DAMN!" he ducked under the spell, avoiding the disarming charm by sheer inches as he looked at him with widened eyes.
"Chant less casting," he whispered as Cassius raised a brow, cracking his neck.
"Don't underestimate me," and then he launched a barrage of attacks, a few basic spell chains that he had mastered in his first year, all of them cast with no chant and minimal wand movement.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
Sirius's experience showed up as the wizard put up a massive shield, deflecting all his attacks, as Cassius pushed it all up a notch. Yet just as he was about to turn to transfiguration, the former Auror saw through the opening and launched a spell sequence of his own.
"Expelliarmus," and the disarming charm raced towards him, along with a barrage of other spells, as Cassius brought down his wand in a simple line.
"Protego," and the golden shield shimmered in front of him, deflecting his attacks, but Sirius seemed to have anticipated this move as the man took aim once more and shouted.
"Bombarda!" and his preference for chanted magic made it so that his spells carried more power, and as the purple orb raced towards him, Cassius knew that his shield would not hold up.
And so he quickly let it dissolve as he pushed pure magical power into his wand, and just as the spell was about to hit him, he slashed at it, and felt it get torn apart as the orb divided into two and passed behind him to hit the wall.
BOOOM! BOOOM!
The walls behind him felt the brunt of his attack, as his move caught him by surprise, as Cassius took things to the next level.
"Incendio Trio," he whispered as a firestorm whipped out of his wand, much to Sirius's surprise, as it rushed towards him, trying to overpower him from all sides.
But he was an experienced Auror who had fought in a war, and Cassius watched him whip his wand, yet not a single spell shot out of it, until suddenly he felt something racing towards him, forcing him to stop his spell and duck.
WHISH!
And he watched a half-broken dummy whip through the air, as his spell dissolved in mid-air.
"Even the unforgivable are useless as long as you don't get hit," and he seemed to be getting back his instincts, as he spun his wand over his head, and the furniture and the dummies all around the room rose into the air and began to whip towards him, forcing him to blast them out.
"Bombarda!" "Bombarda!" and Cassius was on the back foot, and found himself impressed by his tactic, yet he held on for dear life, knowing that he would get an opening soon.
"Time to end this," and suddenly all of the objects stopped and rushed towards him all at once, as Cassius took aim at Sirius and cast.
"Finite!" and it was a gamble, one that paid off as his spell was interrupted, and Cassius found himself an opening he had been searching for.
"Silencio!" he whispered, realising Sirius's weakness as Sirius lost his voice, as he spun his wand and launched another barrage at him, not letting him get back his footing.
"Tempest!" and lightning raced out of his wand, as Black tried cast a defensive Protego, yet without his voice, his spell was simply too weak as Cassius's spell raced through the air, and pierced through it.
BANG!
"And it's over!" Sirius was thrown back from the platform as Nymphadora began to jump out in joy.
"I won! I won!" and Cassius found himself impressed by Sirius's skill, for the former Auror must have been quite out of practice, yet he had given him quite a hard time.
"Actually, I won," Cassius corrected her, as she waved him away.
"Yeah. Yeah, but I am talking about Galleons. A hundred Galleons!" and with that amount of money on the line, it was no wonder she was jumping out in such joy.
"What the hell were you thinking, casting a Bombarda for a silly duel like this?" Andromeda Tonks was there, standing above her cousin as she began to berate him.
"You should know how dangerous that spell is!" and he seemed taken aback, as he pushed himself off of the ground.
"I don't know what you were watching, cousin. But I lost," he argued weakly, rubbing her abdomen, yet she was not done.
"I don't care about you losing. But you are the adult here. To cast such a spell against a kid," and just as Cassius was about to walk towards them, Nymphadora caught him on the shoulder and whispered.
"We should get out of here before she turns her attention towards us," and he agreed, and just as they were about to leave the room, they heard a screeching voice from behind.
"And where do you think you two are going...."
0000
A few days later, on the day of the Quidditch World Cup Final, Sirius and Cassius found themselves outside a well-kept house in a posh Muggle neighbourhood
"You ready kid," he asked with a teasing smile as Cassius rolled his eyes.
"It's not as big a deal as you are making it out to be. We're just here to prick them up," he clarified, as the man refused to believe his words and wiggled his eyebrows.
"Say what you will, but you and I both know it is not that simple," and with that, they heard the locks turn, and the door was opened as an older woman opened the door.
"Hi, I am Mrs. Granger," she introduced herself warmly as Sirius smiled.
"Hi, I am Sirius. I believe I wrote to you and your husband a few days back," and her eyes widened in recognition as she nodded.
"Yes. Yes, I must say there was no need for such an imposition," as Sirius shrugged.
"It was not an imposition at all," and at that, her gaze finally turned towards him, as Cassius saw those eyes narrow slightly.
"Hi, I am Cassius. Cassius Malfoy," and there was a slight glint in those eyes as she heard his name, before she smiled and shook his hand.
"It is good to see you, Cassius. Why don't you both come in and sit down? We will be ready in a few minutes..."
0000
Read ahead and support me on Patre 0n. Help me write this and other such stories by becoming a Patr 0n and help me out in this journey. I would be extremely grateful to you.
www.Patre 0n.com/Drkest
Have a nice day!