Chapter 20: The Theater Is Set

Albus Dumbledore was a very troubled man. He paced at the head of the table in the meeting room of the Order of the Phoenix. Too many things have been going on lately and he was surprised that he had been caught unawares. He could not help but wonder if there was an invisible puppeteer pulling all the strings, but soon discarded the idea. Albus Dumbledore never realized how close he had come to the truth. He looked around the room to see most of the witches and wizards gathered there discussing the latest events in hushed tones.

"Can someone recap the series of events that took place this week?" It was more of an order than a request.

When nobody volunteered, Alastor Moody cleared his throat and spoke. "Last week, the High Inquisitor ran a series of articles on Hogwarts finances that effectively terminated half the board members and teaching faculty. The newer board members are more amenable to suggestions from us, but they are not our blind followers. The High Inquisitor took potshots at not only the Headmaster and the board members, but also the Minister of Magic and Dolores Umbridge, who was subsequently arrested."

"While this was going on Lord Voldemort," he paused to wait for the shuddering in the room to subside, "ordered attacks on thirteen houses of Potter's friends. Interestingly, all those houses had very strong intent wards and a very unique portkey ward which transported the death eaters to the DMLE after putting them in a magical coma. How these muggleborn houses, many of them in muggle areas, were warded with such strong wards, no one knows. They could not talk about them and Legilimency did not work on them, even though some of them were muggles. Bill Weasley has been to more than 60 houses till date and has found similar wards around everyone of them. These wards must have cost a fortune and we are not sure if many of them could have afforded it. Mr. Creevey Senior, for example, works as a milkman, that is, he delivers milk to various muggle homes. He definitely could not have afforded the 70,000 plus Galleons it would have cost to have these wards erected."

"Snape reported that Voldemort," there was more shuddering in the room, "was unhappy about the failed mission. He swore a retaliatory attack on Diagon Alley which Snape informed us about. As we were not sure of the date of the attack, we adopted a wait and watch approach. The order and the Aurors, who were tipped off by us, were on alert for the first sign of trouble."

Moody took a deep breath before continuing his narration. "Three days ago, twenty five death eaters attacked Diagon Alley at 5 PM, the busiest time of the day. By the time the Aurors and Order members apparated to the Alley, we saw that most of the Alley had been destroyed. Every shop and building was in shambles except Gringotts. The attack was localized to Diagon Alley and did not extend to Knockturn Alley. The Order and the Aurors fought with the Death Eaters and managed to apprehend 4 of them. We lost an Auror and several order members were injured and subsequently treated."

"After the battle, we looked around for survivors and to our surprise, did not find anyone. There was absolutely nobody in Diagon Alley and there were no dead bodies. Initially we wondered if the Death Eaters had captured all the shop keepers and shoppers, but we discarded that idea after we interrogated the captured Death Eaters. They claimed that as soon as the Death Eaters entered the Alley, everyone had mysteriously disappeared. We have been searching for these people and could not find them."

"We received our first break from a suggestion in the High Inquisitor. They reported that if we track where Underage magic was being performed, we might be able to find the missing people. The rationale being that, most of those who disappeared had at least one child with them. True enough, as soon as we tracked the underage magic usage, we found the 124 missing people in the abandoned grounds where the Quidditch World Cup was held two years ago. None of them wanted to risk an apparition, not knowing where they were. None of them could perform the Patronus charm to send a message. They told us that they were portkeyed as soon as the Death Eaters entered the Alley. We scanned them for portkeys and did not find any on them."

"Voldemort," there was another round of shuddering in the room, "had ordered an attack of Azkaban at the same time as the attack on Diagon Alley. The outcome of that attack was worse for us, with us losing 5 Aurors. Sixty-five Death Eaters and 28 inmates were liberated in the jail break. The other 13 inmates who refused to join the death eaters were kissed by the Dementors. The 200 plus Dementors who were guarding the prison have abandoned their posts and joined the dark forces."

"The Minister tried to hush up the debacle as usual, but once again the High Inquisitor published details of the attack that only the Aurors knew about. The Minister is in political hot soup and is facing a No Confidence Motion. The newspaper in the meantime has published report after report showing Fudge's misdeeds. The most damning of them are Fudge's refusal to accept the Dark Lord's return, refusal to give Sirius Black a fair trial, Umbridge's tenure at Hogwarts and accepting bribes from Lucius Malfoy. How the High Inquisitor got access to Gringotts bank records is a mystery. I would not be surprised if the Goblins themselves presented the damning evidence."

"Snape reported that Voldemort tortured the death eaters for destroying Diagon Alley. His instructions to those death eaters had been to cause mayhem as a distraction for at least 20 minutes before portkeying out. The disappearance of the shopkeepers and the public caused the death eaters confusion and they interpreted destroying the shops as causing mayhem."

Moody paused to take a swig from his hip-flask. "Yesterday, after the shop keepers returned to find their shops completely destroyed, the High Inquisitor ran an article about a new shopping alley called 'Magic Alley' which is to open the day after tomorrow. The advertisement in the newspaper claimed that the Alley was as protected as Hogwarts and St. Mungos and was definitely better protected than the Ministry and Diagon Alley. Most of the shop keepers were depressed to hear the news that would further ruin their businesses. However, Steven Rothschild, the owner of Trunks and More, told me in confidence that he and some other shop keepers had been approached to move their business to Magic Alley. He refused to give me more information except that only those shop keepers who did not give their allegiance to the Dark, the Ministry and the so-called Light were approached."

Moody waited for everyone present to process this new information that he had given them before he continued with his summation. "Our Minister in all his stupidity tried to portray Magic Alley as an illegal Alley similar to Knockturn Alley and promised to send Aurors to 'check out' this place. I guess he was caught unawares as we were when a whole Alley suddenly appeared out of nowhere. Madam Bones recalled me into Auror service yesterday now that I have both my legs and sent me along with a group of Aurors and warding specialists to check out the Magic Alley."

Moody took another swig from his hip-flask and savored the looks of anticipation on his audience. "Albus, I cannot tell you everything I wrote in my report as my Auror Oaths of Secrecy supersede the ones I took for the Order. But what I saw wowed me. We flooed to 'Magic Alley' and found ourselves in a very huge 20-feet high ceiling room that can easily hold at least a hundred people. On the wall opposite the entrance to the Alley, there were 10 fireplaces connected to the floo network. Five of those floos were in-operational and there were shutters on the fireplaces covering them. Whoever would have thought of physical barriers to shut off the floos, ingenious, I would say."

"On either wall adjacent to the fireplaces, there were 5 security desks for possibly 10 security personnel. In between each fireplace, there were what I can describe as a disillusioned Auror-grade practice dummies. These proved to be the first line of defense. A warding specialist cast a simple ward revealing charm to study the wards in that area. He was promptly stunned by one of the dummies. All fireplaces and the entrance to the Alley automatically got shut off by wards and physical barriers. Anti-apparition and anti-portkey wards got engaged on that room and we were effectively trapped. The room got flooded with an invisible gas that knocked us all out."

Everyone in the room gaped at the veteran Auror with open mouths. "We were ennervated by an American wizard who introduced himself as Max Rutherford. He told us that he was the owner of the construction and warding company which was tasked to build the Alley. He informed us that we received 'minimum punishment' from the wards as we did not cast a lethal spell and did not have any harmful intent. I wondered what maximum punishment of the wards would be. I asked him about the strange runes on the floor of the room and Max just smiled at me. After receiving a warning from him not to poke our noses into things that did not concern us, he allowed us into the Alley."

There was pin-drop silence in the room. Everyone waited in anticipation to hear a firsthand report of what the Alley looked like. "As soon as we entered the Alley, we gawked at the scenes we saw just like how the eleven year old muggleborns behave when they visit Diagon Alley for the first time. There were close to a hundred shops and they are huge, even without magical expansion. The whole Alley has the look and feel of a high-end muggle shopping mall. The Alley is about 40 feet wide with stores on either side and is covered by a 50 foot tall ceiling made of transparent glass. The metal grids in the ceiling was the only indication that there was a ceiling. The Alley is temperature controlled and brightly lit with Muggle lights fueled by Magic. All shops have similar lighting and beautifully crafted displays and name boards which are lit by background lighting."

"The regular shops that students visit such as, wand shop, apothecary, book store, robes shop etc were scattered by design so that there could be easier crowd control. There are many restaurants, bars and a couple of night clubs there too. There were three ice cream parlors with lots of space for customers to sit down and enjoy a break. There was a huge store, the '21st Century' store that had displays of the Lightning brooms and some muggle electronics. There was also a building similar to Gringotts at the other end of the Alley. Max told us that there were plans for at least 2 hotels, a Quidditch stadium, a muggle gym with a huge swimming pool which would be completed in a couple of weeks. I was very impressed with the security of the place. Did I forget to mention the disillusioned dummies in the Alley at strategic locations? Though I wondered how they could charm the dummies to act so intelligently. If death eaters attack this new Alley, they will be in for the surprise of their lives."

"Thank you Alastor for your succinct report." Dumbledore stood up from his chair and resumed his pacing. "As you can see, clearly things have been happening behind our backs. First, the High Inquisitor seems to know things even before we do. The newspaper seems to have spies/informants at the Aurors office, Gringotts and probably even at Hogwarts. How else can one explain how they know so much? But they are very clever in covering their sources by quoting only publicly available information."

"How do we explain how they knew where to look for Hogwarts' budget and expenditure reports? We still can't explain how they knew so much about Sirius Black. How did they get the idea of looking into Underage Magic notices to trace the missing people? In spite of my best efforts, I have not been able to find out who works for the newspaper. The only public face we know is that of Mrs. Longbottom and there is no way anyone can 'handle' her."

Dumbledore continued his rant. "How did all the students' houses get warded? Is Max Rutherford, the American wizard, responsible for warding all the houses that were attacked? If so, how did he know which students to contact? How long has he been in business without our knowledge? What is his allegiance? Is he the one who built the beautiful Weasley Manor? Where did the Weasleys get the money to pay for it?" Dumbledore looked at Mrs. Weasley pointedly and was surprised to see that he could not read her thoughts. He had a very nauseous reaction as soon as he tried to enter her mind. She seemed to have learnt a way to block his Legilimency attempts.

Mr. Weasley cleared his throat and answered the Headmaster's question. "We can't tell you anything about our deal. We signed a secrecy oath that we won't reveal any information. However, I can tell you that your suspicions are in the right direction."

"Very well!" Dumbledore sighed and continued pacing, "I can't help but suspect that there is a force behind all these events. It cannot be Lord Voldemort as most of the newspaper reports seem to have affected him adversely. The new businesses at Magic Alley seem to be the reason for the Goblins to have been excited. They have been neutral in the first war and I don't expect them to take sides. Issuing those money pouches to everyone seems have been an excellent idea, now that we know that there will hardly be anyone visiting Diagon Alley. They must have expected Tom and the death eaters to make such a move."

"It cannot be one of us, as we too have had to face the public heat when the financial scandals were exposed. I don't see others who are not in the Order to have that kind of influence or money to do all this." Dumbledore paused while he gathered his thoughts. "It cannot be anyone in the Ministry. Only Lucius Malfoy has the influence and money to have pulled off such tactical measures. It sure cannot be the muggleborns. They hardly know enough about our world and P.O.M.S. seems to be just a random thing. Does anyone have any ideas as to who is behind all this?" Dumbledore stopped pacing and made eye-contact with several members of the Order of the Phoenix who were gathered in the room.

"The only public figures we know are Max Rutherford and Augusta Longbottom." Kingsley Shacklebolt spoke up. "And don't forget that potions company headed by Andromeda Tonks. Makes me wonder if there is any link. I have tried to look Rutherford up using my connections in the United States and found him to be a genuine person. He moved back to England to start a new life after he lost his family in a werewolf attack, which brings me to an interesting point. I was also one of the Aurors who visited Magic Alley along with Moody. I agree with Moody's report that the Alley is awesome. I expect everyone in the United Kingdom or even the world to come and shop there."

"But what was surprising was seeing two offices in the Alley, 'Elf Life Foundation' and 'Welfare of Lycanthropes Foundation'. Both E.L.F. and W.O.L.F. offices were not operational yet, but I sneaked a peak in there and found a lot of brochures dispelling many myths about the two species. What caught my eye was that W.O.L.F. offered to provide free modified-Wolfsbane potion to every werewolf on the island and the continent. They also claimed that they were involved in research to cure, I repeat cure, not control Lycanthropy and were hopeful to have it ready in the next six months. The office also provided an employment center for the werewolves. In fact, the security booths at the entrance of the Alley are to be manned by werewolves and Veela, two groups that generally do not get along well. Makes me wonder if we lost Lupin and Delacour to this invisible fourth power, if we consider the Dark, the Light and the Ministry as the three powers."

This sparked a lot of whispers in the room. They were surprised to see that W.O.L.F. was able to give the werewolves two things that everyone promised them: free Wolfsbane and employment. "The Dark, the Light and the Ministry... Isn't it the same phrase the Trunk guy used?" Someone enquired. "Does that confirm a fourth front in this war?"

"Alas! We do not know that yet. Just some suspicions." Albus Dumbledore sighed. "Severus, do you have anything to report?"

The potions master cleared his throat and said, "The Dark Lord has been ruminating in his chamber a lot these days. He did call specific death eaters into his chamber for private questioning and possible Legilimency. I was not called for such a meeting, so I can't tell you more. None of the death eaters mentioned any of this, but I think that the Dark Lord has his suspicions too." Severus Snape looked at Auror Shacklebolt and asked, "Do you know who is brewing the Wolfsbane potion on such a large scale? It must be terribly expensive."

Shacklebolt smirked and said, "Three guesses as to who it is. Actually after hearing all this, just one would do. It is the Pleasant Potions Inc. that is supplying the Wolfsbane potion. Apparently they have modified the Wolfsbane to taste much better than traditional recipe and have found a cheaper source of Monkswood, the most expensive ingredient in the potion."

Severus sputtered and said, "That is impossible! You have to collect the Monkswood or Wolfsbane flowers during the full moon and they only grow in areas where werewolves are abundant. These plants need the urine of transformed werewolf as an essential nutrient to thrive and for the flowers to bloom. That is the reason why it is almost impossible to harvest these flowers. Unless someone has a transformed werewolf urine collection system, these flowers cannot be grown in a greenhouse. There is something fishy about this potions company. How can they brew such complicated potions consistently on a large scale like that? Pity the Metamorphomagus left us."

"And that adds another thing to our list, Tonks leaving us", Kingsley said solemnly.

"Speaking of Pleasant Potions Inc., I was able to acquire tomorrow's edition of the High Inquisitor. I was curious about tomorrow's headlines after seeing today's about the Dementors defecting to the Dark Side. Imagine my surprise when I read about the Pleasant Potions Inc. advertising to sell 'Joy Juice', a potion that will induce happy thoughts into the mind of the person who drinks the potion. The potion is sold at 1 sickle a dose, or in the case of werewolves 29 knuts a dose." Albus laughed at the joke because 29 knuts were equivalent to one sickle.

Albus became more serious and read from the newspaper, "The potion knocks the drinker out for about an hour when consumed for the first time. This potion helps to catalog all the happy memories in the mind. It even works on muggles and squibs. The next time a Dementor attacks, another dose of the potion will save the person from the vile beings for an hour by reminding the drinker of only happy memories."

"The company claims to have done research among members of the Dumbledore's Army (DA), a study group lead by Harry Potter last year, and they were able to produce corporeal Patroni easily after the second dose of the potion. 'More than 90% of the 50 DA members who could not produce a Patronus earlier were able to produce a corporeal one after the second dose. We can also partially attribute this success to the five one-hour classes that Mr. Potter taught these students about the Patronus charm. We were very surprised that 7 members of Mr. Potter's class could already produce a corporeal Patronus before we approached them. Mr. Potter must be some teacher to achieve what others could not in the past.' A company spokesperson commented."

The twinkle in Albus eyes increased. "I have received 100 doses of this potion for the Order, as did Amelia for the Aurors. Again, makes me wonder how the company knew about the Order. I want everyone to take this potion after the meeting today and learn the Patronus charm. The potions company wanted us to ratify the efficacy of their potion before the High Inquisitor went out tomorrow. And Molly, can you guess the inventors of this potion?" Mrs. Weasley looked confusedly at the Headmaster. "It is your twins! They are selling this potion at the Weasleys Wizarding Wheezes starting tomorrow."

Molly was torn between being elated and angry at the twins. They had collectively got 3 OWLs in Potions, Herbology and Charms. They refused to take their NEWTs. The potions master gaped at Albus Dumbledore as if he had grown a pair of horns. "It is true Severus, they did invent the potion. Mrs. Tonks has nominated them for the Golden Cauldron Award and if this works, I will be nominating them for the Order of the Merlin. It makes me wonder if we were too hasty in not accepting the twins' application to join the Order."

"Professor, it actually makes me wonder as to why they withdrew. It all sounds very fishy, yet we can draw the connections between various parties."

Almost dramatically, Albus became more serious, "Yes, I agree. We have a few graver things to discuss. In tomorrow's High Inquisitor, they are publishing an interview with Minister Fudge to coincide with the no confidence motion. In a desperate attempt to hold onto his seat, Fudge has revealed the presence of a prophesy linking Harry Potter and the Dark Lord. He has referred to Harry as 'The Chosen One'. He claimed that if he is allowed to continue being the minister, he will put all his effort to bring an early end to the war by getting Harry Potter to work closely with him and fight the Dark Lord." Dumbledore shook his head sadly.

"Today, I am going to reveal a part of the prophecy about Harry that is known to Lord Voldemort. Harry was prophesized to have the power to vanquish the Dark Lord, though we do not know what the power is. Voldemort will not rest till Harry is killed and that is why it is important that we protect Harry." There was immediate chaos in the room. "The poor dear..." "Another attempt at seeking attention by the brat..." "I always knew there was something special about the boy..."

Dumbledore called everyone to order and asked them if there were any reports about Harry. Everyone told him that Harry was keeping to his room, doing a few chores and studying. Minerva reported that Mr. Potter had surprisingly done extremely well in his Arithmancy and Ancient Runes OWLs. She also reported that Ms. Lovegood had finished her OWLs a year in advance as a home-tutored student and will be joining Hogwarts as a sixth year student this year.

"There is another thing I would want to report. Mr. Oliver Wood and Ms. Katie Bell approached Madam Hooch with a proposal from the company that they work for called the 'Quidditch Network'. They wish to 'broadcast' Hogwarts' Quidditch games on their Quidditch Network. They explained that everyone would be able to view the games on a flat screen box called 'Wizion'. They did not describe more about it and said that they could not as it was a company secret. They offer 25,000 Galleons to the Quidditch department at Hogwarts for rights to 'broadcast' old Quidditch matches and 250 Galleons for every new match to be played. They also offer 20 tickets and portkeys for 15 students and 5 faculty to watch every professional game played in the UK live. Madam Hooch is very excited about this offer and does not see any harm in accepting it. The Hogwarts Board will have the final say in this matter."

"Yet another interesting development we had no idea about," Kingsley remarked darkly.

Dumbledore nodded in agreement and asked for other reports. Mr. Diggle, the lawyer, raised his hand and spoke when acknowledged. "I talked to Amos Diggory yesterday to find out if he was considering running for the new Minister. During that meeting, he made a comment about there being a 75% drop in employment applications from fresh graduates this year. Apparently there were many more applications this year for Summer Internships and Apprenticeships from private companies and individuals which were approved. You all know that Internships and Apprenticeships come with a waiver for Underage magic use." Diggle paused.

"Is that how they got around the underage magic restriction to test the Joy Juice on students?" Kingsley enquired.

"Aren't you a smart one? Were you a Ravenclaw?" Shacklebolt nodded. "That makes sense. Yes, the majority of the Summer Internships were from the Pleasant Potions Inc. and a few from 'A New Company', '21st Century' and Gringotts. Obviously, I was not given access to the names of the students who were doing these summer internships. And you guessed right, Max Rutherford owns 'A New Company'."

While everyone pondered this new information, Professor Flitwick asked, "Dedalius, did you find out about possible candidates for Minister?"

Mr. Diggle smiled and said, "Yes, there are five front runners among the crowd: Damian Nott, Amelia Bones, Amos Diggory, Albus Dumbledore and Arthur Weasley." The Weasley family was stunned by this news. Mr. Weasley told the crowd that he would respectfully decline in favor of Amelia Bones or Amos Diggory. Dumbledore mentioned a similar sentiment. "I have heard a rumor that possible candidates might have to answer a few questions under Veritaserum. So that might invalidate Mr. Nott's candidacy." Dumbledore commented. "Are there any other reports?"

Hagrid spoke up, "The forest is humming. There are a lot of new animals I saw: Abraxians, Kelpies, Kappas, a few Little Dragons too. It is probable that they moved here now that the Acromantula have disappeared."

"Thank you Hagrid. I will ask you to meet the Giants once more. I can make a portkey to save time. Will you be able to go next week?" Hagrid nodded and worried as to who would take care of his half-brother Gwarp. He decided to ask Charlie for a favor.

"If that is all, let us get on to learning the Patronus charm. Alastor, if you could vanish the table and expand this room?" Albus Dumbledore stood up from his chair and conjured multiple beds. Snape mumbled something about not taking potions he did not brew, walked out of the room and disapparated. Bill Weasley distributed one dose of the 'Joy Juice' to everyone. He floo called Weasley Manor and invited Ron and Ginny for the exercise.

"Ron and Ginny, I know you cannot talk about what you did during your DA meetings. But we are having a class on the Patronus Charm. Do you want to learn it?" Bill enquired.

Ginny smirked at Bill and asked, "What makes you think that we don't already know how to do it?" She whipped out her wand and shouted Expecto Patronum to produce a fully corporeal Patronus in the shape of a medium sized jungle cat.

There were numerous exclamations of surprise at seeing the corporeal Patronus. "Ginevra Weasley! How dare you use magic during the summer without permission? Have you forgotten the restriction on Magic usage?" Mrs. Weasley was working up her anger at her youngest.

"MUM! Have you forgotten that this place is unplottable and under a Fidelius? Did you not know that most pureblood family homes are not monitored for Underage Magic?" Ginny cut off her mother before she went into a full-blown rant.

"Is that true Albus?" Mrs. Weasley spluttered.

"Unfortunately it is, Molly. However, I ask you children to not abuse this privilege. I give you permission to use magic while you are in this class." Ginny looked away from the headmaster and rolled her eyes. "Ronald, can you cast the Patronus charm?" Albus enquired.

Ron cast the charm and was able to produce a thick mist which almost had a definite shape. "I suggest that you both join this class too. Here is a potion that will help you. It will knock you out for an hour."

Madam Pompfrey monitored everyone while they downed their potion and were knocked out. An hour later, most of them had the biggest smiles on their faces. Alastor Moody then instructed all the members about the basics of the Charm. All those present in the class were instructed to think of their happiest memory, become one with it, and try to push out the emotion while they cast the Patronus Charm. Almost 90% of those gathered there, who had never successfully cast a Patronus, could cast a thick mist on their first try. Ron was able to cast a corporeal lion Patronus. Ginny's Patronus was much more defined and looked like a white Bengal tiger. When Dumbledore cast his Patronus charm, people could actually hear and feel the gold-colored Phoenix Patronus flying. Albus was able to pet the now solid Patronus. Everyone gaped at Albus in awe.

Moody congratulated everyone and asked them to try again, if necessary with a different happy memory. By the end of the hour, all the Order members were able to cast a corporeal Patronus. Every one promised to practice the spell and took a chocolate bar that Hestia Jones distributed. Professor Flitwick collected a few extra vials of the potion promising to teach the other professors at Hogwarts, while Mrs. Weasley collected them for Percy and Charlie. She was sure that the twins already knew how to cast a Patronus.

The next day, a different kind of meeting took place at Godric's Hollow in the evening. Harry Potter and his four wives played the hosts for the celebratory party in honor of Amelia Bones being elected as the next Minister of Magic. There were many invitees that included ministry employees such as Alastor Moody, Kingsley Shacklebolt and Tonks from the DMLE, Percy Weasley and Algeron Croaker from the Department of Mysteries, Mrs. Longbottom and Mrs. Marchbanks from the Wizengamot.

The other invitees included Dobby, Winky, Mrs. Tonks, the Grangers, Mr. Lovegood, the Broomstick Twins, Petunia Crouch Evans and Remus Lupin. There were many students and Hogwarts graduates such as Neville Longbottom, Tracey Davis, the Patil Twins, the Weasley Twins, Penelope Clearwater, Katie Bell, Angelina Johnson, Alicia Spinnet, Lee Jordan and Oliver Wood. The final contingent that arrived were from Gringotts, Ragnok, Griphook, and Fleur Delacour.

Harry had met Moody, Shacklebolt, Remus, Mrs. Marchbanks, Mrs. Tonks, Neville, and Tracey in the foyer with a charmed hood that masked his face. He got everyone to sign the secrecy oaths and offered them jewelry charmed to act as an emergency portkey and to protect against Legilimency attacks.

Those who did not know the secret were surprised to see the others in the room. Harry called for a toast in honor of Amelia Bones, the Minister of Magic. Amelia glared at Harry and said, "It is all your fault, Harry. I was happy being the Director of DMLE." Alastor and Kingsley's jaw dropped. Seeing the look of confusion on many faces, Harry deferred to Susan and Hermione to tell the story of the reluctant Messiah, Harry Potter. Kingsley had a triumphant expression on his face, "I knew that there was someone behind all those who quit the Order," while Alastor just chuckled and asked, "Tell me lad, how do you expect me to keep this a secret from Albus?"

"Professor, your boss, the Ministry of Magic is going to order today's events as an Auror secret. Don't Auror secrecy oaths supersede that of the Order?" Harry smiled while Alastor chuckled louder.

"First, let me congratulate you on the excellent security in Magic Alley. I was very impressed with it." Alastor complimented Harry. "I used your motto, CONSTANT VIGILANCE!" Harry bellowed just like Moody and many people around them jumped. Moody chuckled further.

Harry walked away from the Aurors and Neville stopped him. "Harry meet my uncle Algeron Croaker! Uncle Algie, this is Harry Potter."

"Mr. Coaker, pleasure to meet you, Sir. Our meeting is long overdue." Harry greeted the visitor. "Wait a minute! This is you 'Uncle Algie' as in THE Uncle who dropped you on your head from the second floor?" Harry enquired looking at Neville. Mr. Croaker chuckled and said, "Aye, Lad! I apologized profusely to my sister." He said looking at Mrs. Longbottom who was talking to Mrs. Tonks. "Let me give you a piece of advice. Don't ever get her mad at you." Harry laughed and mumbled, "Been there, done that!" Mr. Croaker must have had very sensitive hearing, "And you survived? Now you earn the title 'Boy-Who-Lived' in my books." Harry loved this man's sense of humor. He also loved the fact that Mr. Croaker discarded his traditional hyphenated title so easily. Harry promised Mr. Croaker, the head of the Unspeakables, to meet before he left for Hogwarts to start his sixth year.

The next person Harry greeted was Mrs. Tonks. "Mrs. Tonks, I have something that you will love. In return, I need a favor." Harry handed her a small bottle with a clear liquid. "A Hundred milliliters of fresh Phoenix tears," Harry leaned forward and whispered in her ears. Mrs. Tonks was so shocked that she almost dropped the bottle. "Harry, do you know how expensive this is?" Her hands were trembling. Harry could not help but laugh hysterically. "Funny how the Phoenix that gave it to me equated it to a by-product of its body, just like its urine!" Mrs. Tonks and Mrs. Marchbanks who overheard that comment gaped at him like he had lost his marbles. Harry bent forward in between the two witches and whispered, "If you don't believe me, wait till you see my second bargaining chip, a box with 1 kg of Phoenix shells."

"What do you want?" Mrs. Tonks asked hesitantly. She wondered what Harry Potter would want for such precious gifts. Harry smiled and said, "I need one dose of the malnourishment potion that your daughter gifted to me on my birthday for every werewolf who is a member of W.O.L.F. I know that the potion uses the Elixir of Life. So I would appreciate it if you could convince the Flamels to give you enough for all the doses. Also a dose for every student at Hogwarts this year including the incoming students and one dose for every incoming student in the subsequent years."

"And I thought you were going to ask for my soul!" joked Mrs. Tonks. "I will talk to Parenelle and get back to you. You don't know it, but she has a big soft corner for you because you are so selfless. I am sure she will agree."

"Brilliant! If she is in a good mood, maybe we can get a dose for all current and future Aurors and Hit Wizards too. They are willing to put their lives on the line for our sake, so it is the least we can do." Harry grinned as he handed the shrunken box to Mrs. Marchbanks. "That was very Slytherin of you Harry. May I call you that?" Harry nodded. "Where did you learn the art of negotiation from?" Harry smiled and said, "From the best of course, the Goblins!" Harry never saw their jaws hit the floor as he walked away.

"Hello Auntie! I see you have met my secondary Godfather," Harry smiled happily as he hugged his aunt, Petunia Evans. "I have missed you, Harry!" She replied. Both Harry and Petunia had agreed to let bygones be bygones. She had gotten over the Drusley saga by putting her heart and soul into 'Parents of Muggleborn Students'. She had moved in temporarily with the Grangers at their Holiday home in France. The Elves had been helping them commute to various meetings.

Harry looked at the last remaining Marauder and smiled sheepishly. Remus glared at him as Harry fidgeted, "You set me up with W.O.L.F., Harry!" Petunia laughed and smacked Remus on his elbow and said, "Moony, you better not give my nephew a hard time. I remember all the stories Lily told me about the Marauders. Can't you see that Harry is pulling the world's biggest prank?" Moony laughed and ruffled Harry's hair, "Sorry cub! I am so glad to FINALLY know who my boss is!" Harry groaned and they both laughed at his obvious discomfort. Harry could not help but notice the spark between his aunt and the old werewolf. 'Auntie, wait till Moony gets his malnourishment potion!'

Harry spent the rest of the allotted hour for 'Meet & Greet' talking to all the invitees. He was cornered by Tracey Davis who tried to give him the "You hurt her, you are going to answer to me!" talk. She had hoped to intimidate Harry, but Harry pulled on his serious face and gave her the "You hurt him, you are going to answer to me!" talk instead. They both could not keep up the charade and laughed together. She hugged Harry tightly and said, "I am so happy for her. You are good for Daphne." To which Harry replied, "The feeling is mutual Tracey. You are good for Neville too."

Fleur pulled him aside and gave him a letter from the Veela Queen. Harry cast a privacy ward and read the letter. He was happy to see that the Veela Queen was bustling with excitement while she profusely thanked Harry for teaching how to control the Veela allure. She told him that every Veela who learnt this technique was indebted to him and asked him what he wanted in return. It seemed that the Veela and particularly the Queen hated being in debt to someone.

"Fleur, can I take a rain check on the debt?" Fleur reluctantly nodded. "I have a more exciting offer for you though. My brilliant friend, Daphne Greengrass, has created the following products, thanks to the Arithmantic formulae you gave me." Harry gave Fleur a very chic box with three products in it: A beauty cream, a perfume and a face wash. "If the Veela Nation agrees, we can go into business together and sell these products in the muggle world. These products have the Veela Allure potion in it at its mildest concentration."

"In fact, it could also create a whole new employment opportunity to the Veela. They could go into modeling, movies and show-biz. Since the Veela can now control their gift fully, they will never be taken advantage of. To the world, you will all be pretty women and nobody will know the difference. If you agree, I have contacts in the muggle world and I can set up a modeling agency along with a cosmetics company. The partnership would be 10% to the Goblins, 10% to me, 10% to Daphne Greengrass and the rest 70% to the Veela Nation. What do you say?"

Fleur looked shocked and asked, "You managed to create a potion based on an Arithmantic formula?"

Harry smiled and shook his head. "I did not. Daphne did. Maybe I should put my business idea onto paper and make it more formal so that you can present it to you Queen." Fleur nodded and started to move away.

"Oi Fleur, what other magical creatures do Veela interact with?" Harry enquired as an after thought.

"Veela are closest to Vampires. Both are sexual creatures and Vampires are not affected by the Veela charm and Veela are not affected Vampire mind tricks. There can be no children born out of such pairing, primarily because the Vampire are dead. Only those Veela who had some control over their charm, could marry muggles and wizards to have children. Veela can't stand most other species. Why do you ask?" Fleur enquired.

"Do you think you could get me in touch with a friendly Vampire?" Harry asked hesitantly.

Fleur laughed and said, "Harry, most Vampires are friendly. They are not the blood sucking creatures everyone fears. They hardly ever turn a human into a Vampire, with the frequency it is written about in books. Of course I can get you in touch with them. When do you want to meet one of them?"

"How about in a couple of days? I will request one of my house-Elves to give you a portkey tonight. You may send it with your request." Fleur nodded. Harry grinned and thanked her.

After the designated hour, Harry took a crystal glass and tapped it with his spoon to gain everyone's attention. "I think we all know who everyone else here is. For today's 'Entertainment', we have Luna Lovegood, Hermione Granger and Wanda 'Winky' Potter. Ladies, will you please take over now?"

Hermione walked over to the front of the room. "Ladies and Gentlemen, if you could all please follow me downstairs to the Situation room?" Everyone walked down the stairs to a room that had seating in a semi-circular gallery arrangements. Everyone took their seats. Each seat had a display screen which was similar to those found on a first class muggle airplane seat. In the bottom of the room, there was a large map of the world on a huge table and on the adjacent wall, there were three columns showing three different maps.

Hermione, Luna and Winky walked up to the large table in the bottom of the room and addressed the crowds. "Ladies and Gentlemen, could you please press the power button on your display screen of your seat? This button has a Circle with a vertical line extended from its center outwards." There were a lot of Oohs and Aahs in the room as the displays turned on. "On your display, you should find the map of England. Are you all familiar with it?" There were many nods around the room.

"Alright. Now I want you to use your index finger and move it across the screen." There were many Oohs and Aahs this time. "Yes, the map moves in the direction of your finger. Now, I want you to use your thumb and index finger, place then together on the map and move the fingers away from each other. This should help you zoom into the map." There were a lot of compliments in the room. "Now, do the reverse, keep the thumb and index finger separated and place it on the display screen and move them closer. This should zoom out of the map." There were many who clapped their hands and shouted, "Bravo" or something similar.

"Well, we are not here to play with just maps and display screens! Luna and Winky, if you could turn it on please?" Luna and Winky walked over to a central console near the main table and pressed their fingers the runes in the central console. Suddenly a single red dot and an information flag appeared on the screen. Almost everyone screamed when they read the name, Tom Marvolo Riddle a.k.a. Lord Voldemort. "Yes, we know exactly where the bastard is in real time."

Multiple "Bloody Hells" were heard in the room. Everybody was just speechless. For over a minute, nobody spoke and Hermione started fidgeting.

Harry stood up and addressed the room, "Yes, we can track him. Does that mean, we kill him tomorrow? No! I 'killed' him 15 years ago and he came back. We know that there is a secret to his not dying. We are working on finding it. Moreover, if we kill the head, the body does not crumble. The death eaters will still be there, and a new Dark Lord will come up. We need to cure our society. That is what I plan to do before finishing off Riddle."

Everyone looked at him in awe which made Harry very uncomfortable. It was a similar gaze anyone would give when they meet the Boy-Who-Lived. "Please do not look at me like that. I am just Harry. I hate attention and I hate fame. I am sure you would all do if you were in my shoes and had the resources I have at my disposal." Everyone felt chastised by his outburst. They felt ashamed and averted their gaze to their feet.

Hermione continued, "In time, we will add all the death eaters to the map and we will know exactly where they are. Don't ask us how we are tracking them, that is confidential. We need the names of suspected death eaters from the DMLE so that we can add them to the map. Sometimes it may take a little longer to add a name because of the process involved. However, we can use this map to give the Aurors warning about attacks. We will watch for patterns made by death eaters, i.e. if a bunch of them apparate to a house in the middle of the night, Aurors will be informed immediately. So we need a mechanism for us to send the Aurors alerts. Mr. Moody and Mr. Shacklebolt, could you please meet with us before you leave from here?" The addressed persons nodded their head. "Thank you for a lovely evening! We hope everyone stays safe. Don't forget to keep your portkeys on person."

Amelia, Croaker, Moody and Shacklebolt walked down to Harry and congratulated him, his witches, his Elves and the Goblins. Harry asked them to stay back for another 'surprise'.

Pretty soon, everyone left the building using the portkey they had used to come there. Harry asked Augusta and Neville to stay behind so that he could discuss a few things. Tracey Davis and Patil twins stayed behind too, as the former wanted to spend a few days with Daphne, where as the latter two just wanted to hang out with Harry and his witches.

Harry handed Mrs. Longbottom an interview transcript of what he would want to appear in the High Inquisitor the next day. Mrs. Longbottom looked at it and laughed. She thanked him for making her job easier by having it written out. Before she could leave, Harry asked a question that he had been pondering over since he heard about the Happy Juice.

"Augusta, have you thought about giving the Joy Juice to Neville's parents?"

"No Harry! I think St. Mungos will be safe from Dementors. There are many wards around it." Augusta replied.

"No, that is not what I meant. Hear me out as I put my thoughts into words." Mrs. Longbottom nodded.

"This is what I learnt about Brain and Mind. Our brain is the physical living tissue that consists of millions of cells called the neurons. Memories and thoughts are stored as chemicals and are retrieved due to the process of brain cells interacting with each other. Our Mind however, is a virtual representation of our brain within ourselves. Our mind accesses the physical layer to retrieve information and memories and create a complex interaction needed to live our lives. Are you with me so far?" Harry asked. His audience had grown to his wives, the Patil twins, Tracey Davis and Neville and they all nodded.

"Now, here is where I am guessing things. I might be wrong, but please hear me out." Augusta nodded to let him continue.

"When a person is held under the Cruciatus curse for a long time, the mind shatters and the person appears insane. I understand you have been doing your research to find a cure based on various effects of the curse on nerve endings, but what if the shattered mind just needs a push to heal itself? If pain and suffering could shatter a mind, why can't happy thoughts mend it? It is just a suggestion from me that you should consider giving Neville's parents the Joy Juice. One does not suffer from thinking happy things, so it may not cause any harm."

Harry was surprised when the usually stoic lady engulfed him in a hug and kissed his forehead. Neville and Mr. Croaker who had never seen Mrs. Longbottom behave this way and gaped at her. It still hadn't sunk into Neville's mind that Harry's suggestions might improve his parents' condition. Harry smiled as he watched Tracey slip her hand into Neville's. He suddenly realized what was happening and pulled Tracey, his grandmother and Harry into a four-way hug. "Thank you, Harry. I hope it works. But what you say, makes sense. Grandma! Let us give them a dose tonight and see how they do tomorrow morning."

Winky lead Harry, Amelia, Moody, Shacklebolt and Croaker to an adjacent room that had a similar seating arrangement as the situation room, but without the displays on the comfortable chairs. Mad-eye noticed that there were speakers around the room. In the center of the room was a large 20 feet X 10 feet screen.

Harry then explained to Moody, Croaker and Shacklebolt about the ritual he had undergone. He explained that the killing curse had left behind a part of Voldemort's soul in Harry's scar and thus Voldemort was able to send false visions to Harry that lead to the fiasco at the Ministry of Magic. He voiced that Dumbledore knew all along about this soul fragment and had decided to sacrifice Harry Potter before killing Voldemort.

Amelia agreed that nothing else would explain the lack of training of Harry for all these years when Albus had heard the prophecy in full almost 17 years back. She was thankful that Harry was resourceful to find about the ritual to remove the soul-fragment. She then explained that Harry was soul bonded to four witches, a goblin and an Elf. Dobby demorphed himself into an Elf. Mr. Croaker looked at Harry and Dobby as experimental animals to be studied in a lab. A glare from Amelia made him reconsider what he wanted to suggest. Moody and Shacklebolt were furious with Albus.

"I want your help in fighting this war. I am but a single student and I wont risk the lives of my friends. I believe that any war should involve the ministry Aurors as the primary force to lend credibility to the government. Unfortunately, it is not always easy to trust everyone. What do you say about creating a fourth front in this war, one that is neither Dark nor Light. I don't want to hand over everything to the Ministry, but I am willing to bring the Ministry as a front runner. I suggest that us five and Mrs. Longbottom be the primary members in this coalition. I don't trust Dumbledore to spin this into his own schemes if we invite him over."

The others in the room had a pensive expression on their face while they thought about this idea. Harry reassured them that he would probably not be involved in active combat until his majority but would primarily be responsible for ruining the Death Eater war machine and its finances. Once such a guarantee was given, the others immediately agreed to it.

Harry cleared his throat to get their attention. "I have something else to show you. Very few people know about this and I would like it to be kept that way. I want you all to swear a wizard's oath to never talk about it."

After receiving their oaths, Harry signaled to Winky. "What you may see may be a little disturbing. Please bear with me." Winky walked to the center of the stage and pressed a rune to display a man being put under the Cruciatus curse. "This is what the Dark Lord is seeing and thinking in real time! He does not know that we can see it though." Harry proclaimed.

"Holy Merlin" "Blood Hell" "Merlin's Flaming Testis" "Sweet Mother of God!" were the exclamations in the room.

Harry laughed at the ones in the room. "This is what I would see every time he was angry or putting someone under the Cruciatus. I have built such a tolerance for pain, that I think I might be able to resist the Cruciatus from weaker wizards."

"What you see is a projection of what is on the other side of the link from the soul fragment that was in my scar. Winky needs to be thanked for capturing the soul fragment before it disappeared. We keep it alive by feeding it some magic every day. I plan to learn Legilimency from a Vampire and try to use it against Riddle through this link. I should be able to unearth interesting information as to what is keeping him alive. This soul fragment is too small for it to anchor him from moving on."

Croaker sucked in his breath. "Lad, I would never have talked to anyone your age about this dark magic. Have you heard of something called a Horcrux?" It was the other adults' turns to suck in their breaths.

"Horcrux is the darkest of dark magic. It involves deliberately splitting your soul into fragments and storing them in an object. There are no known reports of a Horcrux stored in a living person." Mr. Croaker explained.

"This is eerily similar to a children's story I read yesterday in Great Indian Wizarding Folk Tales! An evil wizard king puts his soul into a parrot and nobody can kill him even though many try. A prince kills the parrot before killing the evil king." Harry commented.

"They have something as dark as a Horcrux in a children's story?" Amelia wondered while Moody chuckled.

"Eighteen years ago, our department found a huge gold locket with an S shaped serpent on it. We believe that it is the Slytherin Locket and we suspected it to be a Horcrux. Unfortunately, before we could determine whose soul fragment it was, the locket was stolen." Mr. Croaker confessed. "From the report I read after your Chamber of Secrets incident, we suspect that Riddle's Diary was also a Horcrux. How did you destroy it?" He enquired.

"I poked the diary with a Basilisk fang, from the one that I had killed." Harry replied. "So does that mean that my scar was a Horcrux too? Do you think Dumbledore knew it? Is that why he did not train me?"

Mr. Croaker sighed and said, "Yes, even though the amount of soul in your scar was minimal, it is still technically a Horcrux. Had he deliberately tried to create one, you would have had a much bigger chunk of his soul in you. The Diary and probably the Slytherin's locket are too. That means that Riddle had made more than one Horcrux. But according to all literature we know, it is theoretically not possible to split a soul into more than one piece."

"Master, if Winky may speak?" Winky asked Harry. Harry seeing a formal requests acquiesced to her request. "Master, Winky knows a house-Elf that saw the Evil Wizard. House-Elf says Evil Wizard has less than a seventh of a full soul."

"Only you, Harry! You are so resourceful. Thank you Winky." Mr. Croaker looked excited. "Seven is a good number Arithmantically. Riddle made 6 Horcruxes to anchor him."

An epiphany hit Harry. "'The Dark Lord Shall Mark Him As An Equal!' He created 6 Horcruxes to anchor him, and I have 6 soul-bonds. What an irony!" Harry exclaimed.

Amelia knew Harry well enough to see where this was going and wanted to nip it in the bud. "Harry, Riddle used hate to create each Horcrux, where as you used love to create each soul-bond. You are no way like that monster. A deliberate act of murder is required to split your soul. Did you do it?"

Harry shook his head and got out of the funk immediately. He chuckled and said, "When I asked Dumbledore what the 'Power The Dark Lord Knows Not' was, he said it was 'Love'. Merlin, for once, he might be right." The rest of them chuckled. "Do I have your permission to learn Legilimency and try to use it to find out what the Horcruxes are? I promise I won't try it till I have excelled in the skills. My Occlumency is 100% perfect. Vampires, Veela, Dementors or even Boggarts cannot crash my shields." Harry grinned while the others gaped at him. Harry shrugged and said, "What can I say? I am a resourceful guy" and chuckled.

"I like your plan, Harry. Do you know which Vampire is going to teach you?" Amelia asked.

Harry had a wicked grin on his face before he replied, "The Veela Queen owes me big time and Vampires are big chums of the Veela. So whoever she recommends, will be trustworthy. I will let you know in a week's time. I am not Dumbledore who keeps all the cards close to his chest. I am willing to trust people until they betray me. And to ensure that they don't betray me, I expect oaths from those I trust. You four know most of my secrets now. I want you to be my advisors. But please, DO NOT treat me like a kid. That is Albus Dumbledore's primary mistake and I will not tolerate anyone else doing it to me again. Do NOT hide anything from me."

The five of them discussed their plan a little longer. Harry agreed to secretly fund a few projects at the Department of Mysteries. He also promised that he would fund the Ministry, DMLE and Hogwarts. After saying goodbye, they took the portkeys back to their respective destinations.

The next day, the whole magical world was in a state of shock after reading the headlines of the High Inquisitor. Albus read the newspaper and collapsed in his chair. "What have you done, Harry?" Similar sentiments were echoed by all the members of the Order of the Phoenix throughout the United Kingdom.

HARRY POTTER REFUSES TO BE 'THE-CHOSEN-ONE'

Our reporter tracked Harry Potter for the second interview he has ever been known to give. 'What do you say about Ex-Minister Fudge's comments about you being the Chosen One?'

"Chosen One? To do what? To save this bigoted and fickle magical world? I refuse to accept to be the Chosen One." Our reporter was shocked beyond words. 'But everyone expects the Boy-Who-Lived to vanquish the Dark Lord...' our reporter asked.

Harry Potter snorted and said, "That is exactly what the problem is. First, I am not the hero (Boy-Who-Lived), it is my mom who 'killed' the Dark Lord (Read more below). Second, the magical world is full of selfish and lazy people who do not believe in contributing towards fighting against the Dark. So why should not I follow their example and withdraw from the war. They are content to let a 16 year old untrained wizard bear the responsibility. Well, I don't want to bear the responsibility. Who knows? Some Auror or even Professor Dumbledore may get lucky and kill Riddle. After all, I am supposed to be an insane, arrogant, attention-seeking-brat according to your very own dear ex-Minster and his cronies. "

"Every year, I have had numerous attempts on my life. Ever since I reentered the magical world, public opinion has swayed too quickly for my liking. First year, I am a hero for something I have not done and every one gawks at me. Second year, I am a Dark Lord as I have the gift of speaking the serpent-tongue. The third year, I am a 'poor dear' who needs to be kept in the dark because big, bad Godfather of mine, Sirius Black, was coming to kill me, when actually he was innocent and had to break out of Azkaban to save me from the real traitor, Peter Pettigrew. Dear Minister refused to believe my tale even though I offered to take Veritaserum to testify. The fourth year, I am a liar and an attention seeking brat who cheated to get into the Triwizard tournament. The fifth year, I was a deranged lunatic suffering from delusions of the return of the Dark Lord and tortured with a blood quill during my detentions."

"Throughout my time in the magical world, I was manipulated, and kept in the dark for either my own good or for the 'greater good'. I was not informed of my heritage and I did not even know my parents occupation till a few days back. My parents will was sealed and I was not allowed to attend my Godfather's will reading. I was sent back to my abusive relatives for my summer dose of abuse by the same person who then 'rescued' me from my dreaded relatives. I had to go back to the same place where I grew up in a 'cupboard under the stairs' every year for my own safety and for the 'greater good'."

"With the way the magical society has behaved, changing its opinion of me as soon as a new news report from Rita Skeeter was published, everyone believing that someone will fix their problems, the politicians doing things only for personal gain, the light side hell bent on manipulating me and controlling me, WHY SHOULD I FIGHT FOR YOU? I REFUSE TO DO SO!"

"And who says I am the Chosen One? I may have fit some criteria, but there are definitely others who also fit the criteria in the prophecy. I have already proven that I am not the Boy-Who-Lived (Read Below). So keep looking to find your Chosen-One who will fight for you."

"Lord Voldemort, do you think you will get eternal glory by killing an under-trained, under-aged 16-year-old boy? If you really wish eternal glory, at least wait for me to be fully-trained OR at least until I am no longer under-aged."

HARRY POTTER KILLS 'THE-BOY-WHO-LIVED'

Harry Potter also known to his friends as The-Boy-Who-Hates-Hyphenated-Names in a rare interview told our reporter the story of what happened on that Halloween night 15 years ago.

"The Dark Lord apparated to our house and blasted our door in to gain entrance. My father dueled him and was killed with the killing curse. He reached my room and found my mother next to my crib. He gave her a choice to serve him and live if she handed me over to him. My mother obviously chose differently and gave her life to protect me. When the Dark Lord tried the Killing Curse on me, it reflected back to him destroying his body. But the Dark Lord had undergone many dark rituals and hence his spirit stayed on."

Our reporter asked, 'But how did you survive? The Killing Curse is unstoppable.'. Our reporter was surprised when Mr. Potter snorted and said, "There are three ways to survive the Killing Curse. 1) Get out of its way, don't let it hit you. 2) Conjure or move either something living or something solid in its path. A simple Avis will conjure a bird that will block the curse. Or move or conjure a marble boulder in its path and the curse is blocked. OR 3) Do what Lily Potter did."

"My mother was a genius! Did you know that she worked as a spell researcher in that unnamed department in the Ministry? I have read her notes and while studying the killing curse extensively, she came up with a possible reflecting shield against it. The only problem was that the shield needed too much energy that could only be given through sacrifice and hence not useful for herself. She sacrificed her life to erect this shield on me that reflected the Killing Curse."

"If she was the one who was responsible for the Dark Lord's disincorporation, why am I famous? She should be the one who should be given the full credit."

"But the 'powers that be' in the Wizarding world did not want to accept a muggleborn genius lady besting the fiercest Dark Lord ever and hence created the B-W-L persona. All you readers are guilty of accepting aggrandizing stories from selfish politicians such as Fudge, manipulative old men such as Dumbledore, and vile reporters such as Rita Skeeter. The magical world needed a hero, but a dead hero is of no use to anyone; so why not promote her son as the hero with a false story instead?"

"The magical world believes the Boy-Who-Lived to be this knight in shining armor who is very powerful, very proficient in magic, and will save the innocent and kill the evil wizards. Well, too bad, the Boy-Who-Lived does not exist. Hence I wish to kill the Boy-Who-Lived permanently."

"In reality, what exists is a simple, down to earth, average boy who did not know that he was magical till he received his Hogwarts letter at the age of 11. The boy was brought up by magic-hating muggle relatives who abused him and treated him worse than a house-Elf in the Malfoy family. He slept in the cupboard under the stairs till he got his Hogwarts letter."

"When he did reach Hogwarts, nobody explained what to expect, while everyone expected him to know and do everything. Every year he was at Hogwarts, his life was in danger and he had his share to fight a Troll, Basilisk, Acromantula, Dementors, Dragon, Blast-Ended Skrewt, Grindolows, Death Eaters, and the Dark Lord on four different occasions. It was only pure luck that he survived and in some cases, someone else had to lose their life to rescue him."

"In reality Harry Potter is a malnourished, average-powered, undertrained, uninformed, lucky boy who managed to survive till date. He is no Boy-Who-Lived."

"I, Harry James Potter, hereby forsake the title and privileges of the mythical 'Boy-Who-Lived' or any other hyphenated name he is known by."

HARRY POTTER ASKS THE DARK LORD FOR HIS AGENDA

Dear Dark Lord,

Greetings! My first introduction to blood politics was at a tender age of eleven when a Death Eater spawn told me that Purebloods were the elite in our society. The half bloods were only fit to serve the Purebloods as servants and the muggleborn (actually he used that derogatory equivalent) were only good enough to fall on their knees and polish the Purebloods' shoes. Muggles were good enough only to be killed for sport.

No wonder I did not agree with him! There are 100,000 magical people in the United Kingdom. There are less than 2,000 purebloods, 74,000 halfboods and the rest 24,000 are muggleborns. But then, I believe that the actual number of muggleborns is actually a lot more because not many accept to go to Hogwarts to get their education. In the last category are the most surprising numbers. There are 58 million muggles in the United Kingdom and 5.5 Billion muggles in the world. How can 2,000 purebloods lord over so many muggles, let alone the half-bloods and muggleborns?

When the death eater spawn told me that half-bloods are to be servants of the Purebloods, I had a déjà vu of my life before Hogwarts. I have been treated as a servant my whole life by my relatives (and I believe you have had similar experiences from muggles), so I did not relish the idea that I would be a servant of another group.

I am currently disillusioned by the Ministry (Fudge's regime) and most shockingly by the Light side too, for Light side forced me to grow up in an abusive environment and believed in keeping me in the dark which lead to some disastrous events such as losing my godfather and your resurrection.

I am curious as to what the Death Eater Philosophy is? Why do people follow you? You once told me, "There is no good or evil, only power. There are only those who seek power and those who are too scared to seek it." What is this power that you promise your followers? Do you promise to create the perfect world for them? I know your 'means', but I want to know what you 'end' looks like.

I hope to hear your views on this.
Happy Torturing (I pity your minions who you routine put under the Cruciatus curse),
Harry James Potter

HARRY POTTER TO FILL MINISTRY AND HOGWARTS COFFERS

When Harry Potter heard about financial situation of our Ministry and Hogwarts, he promised to fund 100,000 Galleons to improve educational standards at Hogwarts, 100,000 to outfit protective gear and equipment for the Aurors and 100,000 Galleons to improve public's role in Wizarding governance. Mr. Potter said that these funds would be given every year for the next 10 years, provided the parties concerned show proof of accountability by publishing a budget-expenditure report in the leading newspapers.

Three million Galleons for 10 years, Mr. Potter? Your parents must be rich for you give away that much money! Our reporter commented.

"Are you kidding? I have only 32,000 Galleons from what my parents left me and my Godfather left me 12,000 Galleons after distributing more than 2 million Galleons of the Black fortune. You may ask how I can promise so much money?" Mr. Potter sighed as though he was reluctant to answer that question, but he did anyway.

"I killed an 81-feet long Basilisk in the fabled Chamber of Secrets during my second year. This was the time when all those muggleborn students were petrified by the indirect stare of the Basilisk. I killed it by foolishly pushing a sword up the roof of the snake's palate and puncturing its brain. Thinking back, I agree that it was a reckless thing to do. According to the ministry laws, I own the carcass of the basilisk by right of conquest. I contacted the Goblins who appraised it and I have asked them to invest the proceeds from its sale to earn interest. I guess the money I am donating comes from the interest from that fund."

"I don't like fame, attention or being rich. I am happy with my meager existence. Who knows, I might not even live for a long time, thanks to the Dark Lord who is gunning for my blood."

HARRY POTTER TO SPONSOR JOY JUICE FOR ALL

When our reporter informed Harry Potter about the success of the 'Joy Juice', he was very elated. He told our reporter that he had taught the Patronus charm to a group of students last year and he was very happy when seven of his students could cast a corporeal Patronus. And they had spent only five one-hour sessions on it.

"Do you realize that there are more students who can cast a corporeal Patronus than the faculty! And is half the total number of Aurors who can cast the charm? So much for a difficult charm to master! How long did you teach them?" Mr. Potter laughed and replied, "Five hours".

Our reporters are happy to report that hundred percent of our Aurors are now able to cast a corporeal Patronus. The excited Minister also reported that Albus Dumbledore had conducted a similar study and had found that hundred percent of the 35 witches and wizards tested could cast a corporeal Patronus after a single dose of the potion.

Mr. Potter when he heard of how good the potion was, immediate wrote a letter to The Famous Weasley Twins, the inventors of the potion. He requested that 1) They distribute the potion free of cost and that Mr. Potter would bear the expenses, 2) They distribute the potion in an auto-refilling vial so that the potion is always available to the needy.

Our reporter contacted the Weasleys Wizarding Wheezes, the official distributor of the potion. They said that they would be distributing the free auto-refilling vials on a chain or belt starting tomorrow. Their only condition being only one vial per person. They promise to start more distribution centers soon, but the one vial per person rule stands. So if you want to save yourself from the Dementors, get yourself in the line.

HARRY POTTER FLAVORED POLYJUICE

After making all these announcements, Mr. Potter expects trouble from the Headmaster and the Light and wished to take a vacation. He asked our reporter for suggestions to sneak away. When our reporter suggested Polyjuice, Mr. Potter wondered if he could distribute Polyjuice vials with his hair in it to our general population. This would help in false sightings to those would undoubtedly be looking for him and trying to lock him up for speaking his mind. "Mind you, the danger is very real. The Death Eaters and the Dark Lord might capture you or even kill you on the spot. So please be careful where you go and please announce that you are a Polyjuiced person."

"Dear Dark Lord and the Death Eaters, please don't kill those Polyjuiced fellows when I am trying to get in touch with my Slytherin side. We are just having some fun at the Headmaster's expense. Surely you can appreciate that!" Mr. Potter requests.

The vials of Harry Potter Flavored Polyjuice will be given to lucky winners in the Joy Juice queues at various distribution centers.

AMELIA BONES ABSOLVES SIRIUS BLACK OF ALL CRIMES

Minister of Magic, Amelia Bones, reviewed the evidence presented to her and has absolved Sirius Black of all his crimes. She declared that Peter Pettigrew was alive and was the betrayer of the Potters and murderer of the 12 muggles when Sirius Black confronted him.

"The Potters went into hiding to protect young Harry by using the Fidelius Charm, a very powerful charm that erases the location of a place from every person's mind in the world except that of the person designated as the secret keeper. Sirius Black convinced the Potters to make their other friend Peter Pettigrew the secret keeper while telling the world that Sirius was the secret keeper. This decoy plan would have worked perfectly but unfortunately for the Potters, Peter Pettigrew was a closet death eater and he took the secret straight to the Dark Lord."

The Ministry apologizes to Mr. Black for wrongful imprisonment. Mr. Black's portrait refused any monitory remuneration, but has requested the Ministry to enact stricter laws to ensure that all accused were innocent until proven guilty. Charges will be filed against Cornelius Fudge for brushing aside all the evidence shown to him and continuing to persecute an innocent man.

Amelia Bones has made a bold decision to display pensive memories of evidence she based her judgment on in the Ministry's Atrium.

MINISTER TO REBUILD AZKABAN

The Minister of Magic, Amelia Bones declared today that she has signed a contract for the demolition of Azkaban and rebuilding of a newer, humane prison that was more in tune with prisoner-rights of the current times. She promised to never use Dementors as guards and that the prisoners would be treated humanely.

The Minister reported that there have been many irregularities with the way the prisoners have been treated. All prisoners were chronically starved, insane to varying degrees and ill-treated. There have been instances of misbehavior by the prison staff which has been hushed up by the previous Minister. There have even been at least four break-outs that have not been published in the newspaper.

Prison time is for criminals to introspect on their crimes, feel remorse and undergo re-education before they reintegrate into the society. Torturing them would only make the criminals more hardened. I have been to Azkaban and believe me, that place is the hell on earth. It has not been cleaned in over 500 years and the inpatients are hardly fed more than a morsel per day. The Minister assures that the new prison system will be very secure and humane one.

AUROR TRAINING ADMISSION GUIDELINES CHANGED

The DMLE conducted a survey among the last five graduating classes from Hogwarts and found that most of them did not consider becoming Aurors because of their Potions grade. Auror training requires the candidates to have taken at least NEWT Level Potions. While it may be considered that requiring at least an Acceptable on the NEWT Potion Examination is not too stringent, we found that most of these graduates who rejected Auror as a career choice were not allowed to take NEWT Potions at Hogwarts. The reason being that only those students who got an 'O' in Potions OWL were allowed to take the NEWT Level classes.

The Minister has written a letter to the Hogwarts Board requesting them to implement guidelines for entry into NEWT level courses. Amelia Bones is of the opinion that, "If you have received an OWL, you should be allowed to take the NEWT in that subject." That means for the last 15 years since Severus Snape taught Potions at Hogwarts, all those students who had an Acceptable and an Exceeds Expectation grade could have taken NEWT level potions and become an Auror. What a shame!

"It is going to take me several years to undo all the nonsense that has been done by bungling idiots for many decades now. Please do not expect instant results tomorrow. For now, I have requested the Director of DMLE to waive the NEWT Potions Auror Training requirement in lieu of an additional Potions class."

Albus Dumbledore, Minerva McGonagall, Alastor Moody and Hagrid apparated to Privet Drive to have a chat with Harry Potter. Mundungus Fletcher was on duty and they found him in an alcohol induced stupor. Albus walked up to the door and rang the bell. He knew that they could not use magic to enter the house without Harry Potter's permission, thanks to his new blood wards. As soon as his finger touched the calling bell switch, something shimmered on the door. It appeared as though a disillusion charm was cancelled as soon as he touched the bell. Albus pulled the paper and read.

Gone for a Vacation, Headmaster! See you on September 1st.

"Alright everybody! Let us gather around." Harry clapped his hand to get the attention of everyone assembled in the conference room of the 'fourth estate'. Almost immediately the noise in the room dropped to a minimum and everyone found a seat. Sitting on either side of Harry were his wives. The others in the room consisted of Griphook, Mrs. Longbottom, Mrs. Tonks, Fleur Delacour, Nymphadora Tonks, Charlie Weasley, the Weasley twins, the Patil Twins, Neville Longbottom, Tracey Davis, Oliver Wood, Katie Bell, Remus Lupin and Dobby.

"We are here to make sure that we have made all the arrangements for the Opening day of Magic Alley. We specifically want to concentrate on the shopping experiences of students. So where do we start?" Harry inquired.

"Why not we take a typical student's school list and see if we have everything set up in the Magic Alley?" Hermione suggested.

"Sounds like a good idea, Hermione." Harry picked up a first year student list that they had compiled. "We start with... Wand? Is that the first thing the student is going to do?"

Susan replied, "Yes, it actually makes sense to go there first. Ollivander has disappeared from Diagon Alley and we were not able to contact him. The students will go to Dexter's Wands to get their wands. Dexter has a device that displays the core and the wood that are most compatible with the student's magical core, thus reducing the need to try a zillion wands like we all did at Ollivanders. We want the students to go to the wand shop first so that Dexter has the time to craft a new wand in case the right combination is not already available."

"Makes sense. What is next... A health check-up? That is a brilliant idea." Harry agreed.

"We thought so too!" Daphne said with a smile. "After pulling a few strings, we have contracted with 10 Healers from St. Mungos to moonlight for us during the next three weeks. They will check every student for abuse, magic core bindings, and other muggle and magical illnesses. This is where we will give each child the Nourishment potion and we have already received the first batch for tomorrow. Any child who needs corrective glasses will be given self-adjusting magical contacts free of cost. If the child has had fractures healed by muggles earlier, those will be reset or bone strengthening potions given."

"Brilliant! Next is... A Trunk!" Harry looked around expectantly.

Luna spoke up, "Mr. Rothschild from 'Trunks and More' has agreed to all our terms. That means that you are now 51% shareholder in his company and one of our Elves has to work on the trunks. Every trunk he sells will, at a minimum, have basic security charms and have runes to control a feather-light charm, shrinking and expanding charms and a muggle-luggage morphing charm. These basic trunks cost 15 Galleons a piece compared to a normal trunk at Diagon Alley for 10 Galleons."

"The 'LEEF Special' trunks however sell for 75 Galleons each and are the ones we recommend for students. Each trunk has two compartments; the first one looks like a regular school trunk's compartment for obvious reasons. The second compartment has a furnished apartment that contains a living room, a kitchen, a bedroom, a walk-in closet, a bathroom, a library, a potions lab, a muggle gym and a dueling chamber. The library has some nifty features such as indexing, stacking and retrieval charms. The modern potions lab has four stations with protection wards, anti-displacement and ventilation charms."

"There are no archaic features such as ladders or different locks for each compartment. The student enters the second compartment by touching a rune and saying a password. He gets sucked into the living room. From there, the student can go to any of the other rooms in the apartment. These trunks have all the security and protection charms on them."

"This trunk also has a few 'uber-cool' features. If you put your books in the first compartment and touch a rune while wishing to 'Store' them in Library, the books automatically get transported to the Library and stacked on the cupboards. Touching the rune and thinking of retrieving a book, the book gets transported from the library into the first compartment. This feature also works with the potions equipment, potions ingredients, broomsticks, etc."

"The store also sells bottomless backpacks for 10 Galleons that can be linked to the 'LEEF Special' trunks. The retrieval and storage charms can retrieve a textbook from the trunk in the dorm even if you are in the classroom. So no more forgetting books or scrolls."

"That is amazing! I wish I had such a trunk from the first year onwards. Heck, even a feather light charm could have made all the difference. What do you say Hermione?" Harry winked at the brown haired witch who blushed. She was notorious for carrying a library with her always. "What is next on our agenda? Robes?" Harry enquired.

Parvati face glowed while giving her report, "Most muggleborn students have no idea as to what to wear in the Wizarding world. The school letter does say what to buy, but not any specifics. What about what to wear under the robes or during the weekends? Rubeena's Robes solves most of these issues. My aunt Rubeena and Mrs. Jennifer Brown have hired 10 Veela assistants. I am shocked to confess that they know more about fashion than Lavender and I do." Parvati pouted while the others in the room laughed.

"As soon as the student enters the store, their measurements are recorded. The students sponsored by LEEF are given a choice of either choosing their own wardrobe or letting an assistant pick for them. The wardrobe consists of everything including undergarments, swim suits, cloaks, and two pairs of dress robes along with usual. The robes are of much superior quality than that of Madam Malkin's, thanks to the Acromantula Silk we received at discount prices. All these clothes have auto-resizing charms to accommodate for growth during the school year. Our goal is that nobody should be able to tell the difference between a pureblood and muggleborn just based on their clothes."

"You are right, Parvati. I hate to admit it, muggleborns, especially first years do tend to stand out in the magical world based on their dress sense. At least this will take away one ammunition from bigots such as Malfoy." Harry commented. "Next we move on to potions and books."

Padma spoke up, "Mr. Clearwater runs the apothecary and has agreed to our idea to create potions kits for the students that are similar to the 'Slytherin Specials' available at Diagon Alley. Placing the kit in the LEEF Trunk will automatically fill the ingredients in the trunk's potions lab. Each kit costs about 10-15 Galleons based on the year. Mr. Clearwater also sells potions ingredients via Rune-Mail. Did we mention that the LEEF trunks are able to send and receive Rune-mail?"

"That is amazing. Please make sure that the trunks are warded against Rune-Ports. We don't want Death Eaters Rune-Porting into Hogwarts and creating chaos." Harry warned.

Hermione nodded and continued the report, "The bookstore is called Flourish and Botts and it is owned by the same person who owns the Diagon Alley store." Hermione looked at Harry and winked at him. She laughed as Harry processed the information that he was the owner of both the bookstores and his jaw dropped confirming that he had worked it out. "The store was originally started by Frederick and Benjamin Potter a few centuries ago and they named the store after their nicknames. They created a lot of charms that are used by the printing businesses today."

"Anyway, that was a little detour into the history of the store." Hermione smiled weakly. "We have a huge inventory of the textbooks and books that will be helpful for the students. 'LEEF Special' bundles include textbooks for all years including those for the electives. We have included a few additional books that the students would benefit from. These bundles sell at 125 Galleons and are recommended to the students. We felt that it was a good idea to give them as much reference material as we could. If they are motivated, that might even speed up their learning."

"Hermione, please tell me you have not included 'Hogwarts: A History' in those bundles!" Harry laughed while the bushy haired girl blushed.

"What else is left?" Harry consulted the list once again. "Herbology gloves, brass telescope, etc."

Neville spoke for the first time in the meeting. Gone was the hesitant boy with an inferiority complex, this was a very confident person speaking in the room. "Mr. Thadeus Newton runs the Newton's Nursery. Students may pick up their dragon-hide gloves there for 2 Galleons a pair. Other general purpose gloves are available, but LEEF recommends a good pair of dragon hide gloves."

Harry smiled at them and looked at Dobby for his report. "Harry Potter Sir! Dobby has been busy impersonating Harry Potter when Harry is busy or on vacation." It was Harry's turn to let his jaw drop. Seeing Harry's expression, Dobby recounted that he had been seen studying in Harry's room, gardening at Privet Drive, and as Max Rutherford in Magic Alley when the Aurors visited. Dobby was proud that nobody was able to recognize Dobby in those disguises.

Fleur reported that more than 50 Veela had good jobs at the Alley. The stronger ones worked in Security along with the Werewolves. Others worked as assistants in almost all kinds of businesses, the popular being fashion, entertainment and food.

Remus reported that 238 werewolves in England were now members of W.O.L.F. and were receiving the Wolfsbane potion. Remus explained that no one really knew how many werewolves were currently in the country, but if Remus were to guess, this was about 60% of the total population. He told everyone that availability of the potion and employment are the two retainers of the werewolves in the Foundation. Remus also informed them that they were going to record their first public service message that would be broadcast on the Wizion this month.

Harry told Remus with a wink that a third secret potion would be supplied to the werewolves on the morning after the next full moon. Remus told them that it should not be a problem, because one of the SOCO (Single Overriding Communication Objective), a term borrowed from muggles, of the WOLF campaign was to consume the potion when the necklace changed temperatures, be it hot or cold. Remus also informed every one that portkey method of prevention of transformation was going to be tried this month end on a group of 10 werewolves. Luna piped in that Healer Hestia Jones and Petunia Evans have been very helpful with WOLF. Petunia was WOLF's liaison with the US muggle agency, the CDC.

Harry beamed at his aunt and smiled. His aunt almost blushed at the praise she received from Harry in that silent communication. "How is it going with POMS, Auntie?" Harry enquired.

"It has been great." Petunia grinned. "We have 196 new muggleborn students that LEEF is sponsoring this year, along with the 47 that it had sponsored last year. The new students are going to shop at Magic Alley over the next 5 days. Schedules had been sent out to all the parents and the Elves were transporting them to Magic Alley. Each family would have an Elf guiding them through their first magical shopping experience."

Hermione reported that their special project had been extended to Ministry of Magic, Hogwarts, Magic Alley and Diagon Alley. Very few understood that the special project was the ward that stole blood, but seeing the satisfied expression on the faces of those who understood it, the others did not bother to enquire about it.

"I guess we are done. Congratulations everyone. Great job! Are there any more questions or comments?"

"Harry, are we really going on a vacation tomorrow? Did you not just come back from one?" Tracey asked excitedly. She was very happy that this would be the first vacation that she would go on with Neville. She had not technically lied to her parents when she told them that she was going on a vacation with Daphne and Susan with an Auror as a chaperone and escort.

"Yes, Tracey, the Veela Queen ordered me to leave England and go to a quiet place. We are going to 'Dream World', the island resort that 'A New Company' is building. It is in the Florida Keys and is actually a country on its own. It is naturally under heavy enchantments to hide it from the muggles. While you all would be having fun on the beach and visiting other interesting places nearby, I will have to attend classes the seven days we will be there."

"Do you mind if I invite Blaise Zabini along?" Tracey enquired.

"Are you sure you want to invite another boy along with you on a vacation with your boyfriend?" Harry winked at her.

Tracey laughed at that and blushed. "Neville is not yet my boyfriend and Blaise is my best friend."

"As long as I receive a magical oath not to reveal any of our secrets, I am fine."