Harry left the village immediately after school on Friday afternoon and traveled by floo to the British Ministry of Magic. Appearing in the atrium, he submitted to a wand check at the security guard's desk and then took the lift to the Department of Mysteries visitor's area. He waited impatiently for twenty minutes before an energetic young witch appeared to escort him to the Hall of Prophecy through a part of the building he had not seen before.

"Since the Hall suffered severe damage recently, you may not find what you seek," she told him cheekily as they walked along rows of glass orbs.

"I already know one of my orbs was smashed. Is there a way to check if there are any other records of prophecies about me?" Harry asked.

"Well why didn't you ask that in the reception area?" she asked teasingly as she spun around and led Harry back the way they had come. When they were nearly back to the visitor's desk, she stopped and turned into a side room. It proved to be a records library where shelf after shelf held books.

"Accio Harry Potter prophecies!" she said. As two books left the shelves and flew towards her she explained proudly that the spell only worked for such a vague class of items because the room had a very thorough cataloging system that cross-referenced each and every entry contained therein. She caught the books with a hover charm when they got close enough to touch and set them down at a small, spindly table. She then summoned parchment, ink, and a quill as well and began flipping through the books to locate the relevant entries. Using a copy charm, she copied three Potter family prophecies that had a very small chance of applying to Harry and then closed the book and Banished it back to its place on the shelf before opening the second book and leafing through it. This book was considerably smaller and had smaller print arranged in charts. When she finally found the entry she sought, she shook her head and copied the section on the parchment before casting an ink-drying spell and rolling it up to hand over to Harry.

"Our records of the prophecy about you have been lost. Seers do not remember their prophecies. However, yours did have two witnesses. The parchment lists them. One heard the prophecy in its entirety and one heard only part. You might try contacting them and asking to see the memory."

"Thank you," Harry said, taking the parchment with some disappointment. He had not learned anything he hadn't already suspected. The witch led him back out through the visitor's area and to the lift. Harry rode to the Atrium but just as the doors were opening, an alarm went off. It took Harry a moment to see why.

The Order was storming the Ministry. Dumbledore stood at the center of the pack. Tonks and Hestia Jones were busily securing the floo while someone Harry did not recognize cast anti-apparition wards. Others followed Dumbledore towards the lift.

Harry stepped aside and, before anyone could recognize him, he pocketed his wand and took his animagus form. He soared over the Order members and circled as he tried to think. Then the spells started to fly between aurors entering the Atrium from a side door and the Order members attacking from the center of the room, Harry landed in a secluded corner and changed back. He had to get out and get help. The aurors were at a disadvantage here. They were all trying to get through a single door while the Order stood by and Stunned them one by one. Harry grabbed his wand and tried to use his family ring to portkey home only to find that there were new wards up to block that. He heard Tonks shout that they had to hurry up with the wards against long-range portkeys before anyone could make one. Harry hurriedly checked his pockets. He knew he had his portkey to his apprenticeship attached to the drawstring on his money bag. He activated it just before the final wards were put in place.

With a crash, Harry landed in a heap in an alley on the Rue d'Etoiles. He immediately used his ring to return to his home. With only a few shouted explanations to Hermione and Ron on his way out the door, Harry hurried to get help. Belatedly, he realized he could send Cedar as well and summoned her. He sent her with a message to the Snapes while he took bird form and flew to the Black home.

It took only a minute to explain to Regulus, a Legilimens, about the problem and then he was off to his Lord's side to get reinforcements. In his wake, Electra called the house elves and ordered them to mind the children while she alerted the village hospital to the possibility of casualties. On her way out the door, she warned Harry to go home and wait there. Death Eaters did not take children into battle. He would do the most good where he could sit alone in silence and speak to Tom Riddle through their mind link if the Dark wizard had need of information about what Harry had seen. Harry reluctantly returned home and prepared for the vision of battle through his scar. After taking a mild sleeping draught, Harry lay in bed and entered the dream-state that brought on visions best.

Just minutes later, Harry saw the first scenes of the Death Eaters in full battle robes appearing in a room that Riddle's mind told Harry had self-contained wards, effectively creating an un-warded bubble in the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, prepared against the possibility of something like this happening by a Death Eater in the department. From there, Harry watched as Tom directed his warriors out in groups. Tom himself climbed to the floor just below the Atrium. That was where the Minster's office was and it was the most likely place to find Dumbledore and his main fighting force. Sure enough, this was where the Death Eaters with Tom first found Order members. The aurors there were outnumbered and loosing. It took them long, dangerous minutes to realize that the Death Eaters that had arrived were going to back them and not start a three way war. The skirmish ended in retreat for the Order. They dispersed quickly and the Death Eaters had to split their forces again in order to follow them and also check that the Minster was not in any more danger.

Tom had not battled any one person specifically on Level One, sending choice spells at any opening any among the enemy presented while his forces fought the contingent of Order members in attack/defense pairs as trained. When he pursued a pair of Order members to the Atrium, he did engage. At first, he and the two Death Eaters who had followed him seemed outnumbered, but the Order's numbers included Dung and a near squib who simply could not match Malfoy, Riddle, and Snape in battle. Tom found himself fighting with Nymphadora Tonks, sending a barrage of offensive spells and then quickly casting a shield against possible retaliation. It did not come as Tonks dodged into a stairwell only to roll down the stairs, richochet off the opposite wall, and continue down the stairs and out of sight. Tom left her, closed the door to the stair well, and sealed it. By then, Malfoy and Snape had killed or severely wounded five opponents in a coordinated barrage of cutting curses and driven the last into retreat. It was then that he acknowledged Harry's presence in his mind.

"Mr. Potter, you are distraught at seeing damage done to former friends. A good fighter sets their emotions aside in battle. I cannot control my own and yours. It is time for you to leave."

Harry felt himself being forced from Tom's mind. Harry woke with a start half an hour later as the potion wore off. There was only waiting to do then. Finally, Percy arrived, looking worn out in sweaty black robes with his mask clutched in one hand.

"We won. There were a several injuries on our side and a lot of aurors are in St. Mungo's but the Order was beaten back and Fudge was liberated. Hagrid was captured..." Percy proceeded to list the fate of Order members. Harry knew a few names. Vance was injured, as was Diggle. Doge was dead. Dung had been wounded before he disappeared. Percy had been the only Weasley in attendance. Harry wasn't sure whether to sigh in relief or feel more anxious. This battle could well be the start of all-out war but it was possible that it had been decisive enough to unravel the Order and prevent further bloodshed. That no Weasleys had fought for Dumbledore suggested there might be hope yet but it was still a waiting game.

//-//-//-//-

The morning paper the next day was full of news on the attack and its aftermath. "Eaters save Minister," the headline read. The article listed the casualties and reported that all known and suspected Order members were wanted for questioning. Tom sent his spies in immediately with his letter of Marque. Percy and Charlie stopped by Harry's home to tell Ron that they had seen their parents there as well and they were well, having also been cleared of involvement in the Battle at the Minsitry, but they had not seen any other Order members. It eased a bit of Harry's tension to hear this. He visited the Snapes that afternoon for more news. Professor Snape was of the opinion that it was a small miracle that no one was being punished for their loyalties, only for their actions. He knew how hard Tom had worked to secure that promise from the Minister. It would have been typical of Magical Law Enforcement to arrest and try everyone with ties to Order for the attack on the Ministry. Nevertheless, justice was a small victory considering that wizarding Britain was on the verge of splintering, falling into an anarchy that could make civil war look tidy. The uncertainty of what the Death Eaters would do to preserve their newly won control was nearly matched by fear of another attack from Dumbledore's forces in a bid to recapture the reins of government. Worse than fears of attacks on muggles and magical combatants was the real possibility of a series of coups as the Death Eaters and Order members took, lost, and retook control over the government. Tom requested Harry's presence again.

This time Harry and Aurelia met Tom in his study.

"If we can't assure the public that the government is stable, I fear there may be a mass exodus from this country," Tom explained solemnly. "We saw it before. It crippled magical advancement here. We had only just begun to recover."

"What are you planning to do about it?" Harry asked. He knew it was happening already. Ron had received an owl from his mother letting him know that they were fine and telling him that Fleur had left for France. She was barely married and already a widow.

"My people are already working with the Daily Prophet and to emphasize that government is functioning. What we need is for the Order to come forward and surrender. They must know they can't win back control in battle before the government would collapse but that doesn't mean they won't try to hold out and hedge their bets. I want to try an appeal to members directly, to ask them to come forward even if it goes against the wishes of their superiors."

"I'm going to give another speech then?"

Tom nodded.

Harry took a seat across the table from Tom and picked up a quill. He knew only that the prophecy called him the Bringer of Peace and that the seer at the Midwinter festival had told him to be a connector. Whether that meant that this was the right course of action, he wasn't certain but it was a cause Harry could get behind regardless. He didn't need to make his choices with any prophecy in mind for it to come true. He had only to think with his head and his heart.

They crafted a message to Order members asking for a peaceful end. He passed on the assurances Tom had received from the Minister that no one would be punished for their membership in organizations on either side of the war, only for their actions. Though he did not say it, Harry knew that it was only the Order that would be held accountable for acts of war and then, likely only for the attack on the Ministry.

Tom had explained that two factors were at play: the fact that Death Eaters held the upper hand and the desperation of the people to see the war cease. Amnesty had been secured for all fighters before the attack on the Ministry; it had only been a matter of time before the announcement would have been made by the Minister's office but then the Order had tried to take Fudge hostage. It had nearly caused the whole deal to be thrown out but Tom had convinced the Minister that keeping the amnesty was the fastest way to peace and so it had been agreed that only the attack against the Ministry would not fall under the already signed amnesty law.

All that remained was to have aurors speak with all known associates of the Order and the Death Eaters so that crimes could be recorded even as they were forgiven. Tom had already made appointments with the aurors for each of his own people and more than half had already been cleared of all charges. Harry only hoped that his speech would help convince the Order members to partake in the process as well.

Harry gave the speech to an invitation-only gathering of reporters, Ministry officials, and already-cleared Order members that afternoon. It had already fallen to page 2 however, by the time the Daily Prophet was printed the next morning. Dumbledore had been rushed to St. Mungo's during the night by an anonymous witch that Harry suspected might have been Tonks. The old man had been pronounced dead of natural causes.

Tom contacted Harry and the two worked on a press statement to appease the reporters clamoring to find out how Harry, once Dumbledore's protégé, felt about the news.

"Magical Britain won't be the same without him," Harry said. "He will be missed. His service to our people was honorable, as was that of his followers. We owe them all a debt. I renew my call for followers of Albus Dumbledore to go before the Reconciliation Committee and seek amnesty…"

/-/-/-/-/-/

In the days that followed, there was a rather disconnected effort on the Order's part to combat Harry's press statements. They painted themselves as betrayed by Harry and angry that everyone thought that the loss of Albus Dumbledore was an end to the movement. It all came to a head when, a week after Dumbledore's death, Tonks appeared at an event hosted by the Minister of Magic and made an impassioned speech about how much the Dark had hurt her family. Then, she drew her wand, aimed at the Minister and spoke the incantation for a cutting curse. The Minister's bodyguards' stunners hit her simultaneously. She died. A note was found on her person that proved this was suicide. Her wand had been fake and she had taken heart-weakening potions in advance so that stunners would be enough to kill her.

The news of her death was the final straw for Remus Lupin. He didn't like the way this war had ended, but he could see that it he had well and truly lost. Having not taken part in the attack on the Ministry, his only hesitation in seeking amnesty had been the concern that it was a ploy to round up Order members. But when Lupin arrived at the appointed office and turned himself in, he walked right back out three hours later without penalty.

Once Remus had been released, the Order members that had not been involved in the Ministry attack quickly came forward and were cleared. Criminals couldn't participate in politics. With the conflict clearly destined to be carried on in the chambers of the Wizengamut and the ballrooms of the manors of the social elite, it was in their best interest to disarm. Those who were known to have been involved in the Ministry battle and knew they could not look forward to release either remained in hiding or fled the country.

As soon as the Snape and the Blacks agreed that it was safe so long as one of them accompanied them when seeing former Order members, Harry, Ron, and Hermione wasted no time in visiting loved ones outside the wards. Hermione could be relatively certain of her reception with her parents. They would be angry that she had disappeared on them but overjoyed that she was safe and had returned to them. However, Ron and Harry, accompanied by Percy, Charlie, and Professor Snape, faced uncertain welcome at the Weasley home.