PART II

As with Part I, it is important to mention that this book may not be introduced into commerce, since all of the characters, settings, and plot borrowed from the original Harry Potter series are the property of J.K. Rowling. The new plot and characters are my property.

Chapter One – Doctor Wright Takes a Chance

"I think we've found Delores Umbridge's dwelling," Dad made a bad attempt at distraction, "but the house won't fully materialize for us or allow us to set foot on its top stoop, even when we approach with the key. I have one of my own aurors working on it, along with one of the magical engineers who worked on the restoration of the Hogwarts defenses. It turns out that the idea of exchange students isn't entirely new. Our man trained at Durmstrang nearly sixty years ago. He's worked here at the Ministry for over fifty years."

"That's interesting Dad," I replied, probably not hiding the fact that three quarters of my interest was still focused on the three Grangers. "Speaking of Durmstrang, where did Viktor Krum get to?"

"He went back to Hogwarts with Professor McGonagall and Madame Delacour. Why don't I get copies of the morning papers so that you can read the accounts of the press conference? I'm sure that the healer will want to be alone with the Grangers. When he gets here, we can all go back to the conference room."

"Sure, Dad, that would be great. We were sorry we had to leave before we got to read what Ernie wrote. That was his first serious assignment. Well, he had actually only been at The Prophet for four days, but he's impatient to get ahead."

"I guess. He seems to have tired of the family business in less than a week. Although, it can be difficult to work for your father. I took a very junior job with the Ministry rather than work with my father. I sometimes regret that. He died a long time ago, one of Voldemort's earliest victims".

"What business was he in, was it terrible…"?

At that point Prudence returned with Dr. Wright. As Dad predicted, his second request was for us to leave him alone with the family. His first request was for Harry to remove the petrification spell from Mrs. Granger. I joined Ron and Harry in bidding goodbye and good luck to Hermione, and obediently following Dad back to the Minister's conference room.

As we entered the conference room, I said to Dad, "I knew bringing them all back here was the right thing to do. It's fortunate that the healers are so adept at removing even the convoluted confundus spells that sixth years learn from library books."

"Yes, removing a confundus spell can be slightly tricky, but really not at all difficult for a healer. I recognized right away, however, that we are likely dealing with something more than that. Probably another Wizard put a second spell on top of the confundus, or Hermione messed up far worse than I would expect that she is capable of doing. We'll just have to wait for Dr. Wright to complete his examination and treatment. Knowing that Umbridge knew where the Grangers had relocated leads to certain speculation about who applied the second spell and what it may have been."

As Dad had concluded his remarks, Harry blurted out a "what?" which was far too peremptory in tone to be addressed to either the Acting Minister of Magic or a future father-in-law. Dad seemed too distracted to mind, or perhaps, even to notice. Harry, misjudging the silence for opprobrium, tried again: "um, Sir, what do you think the second spell might have been?"

"I hate to prejudge the opinion of a professional like Dr. Wright, but I would guess the second spell was the Imperius. But that is just idle speculation. We may be waiting awhile. I suggest you review what Ernie wrote."

"Why would anyone put a confunded Muggle under the Imperius curse?" Ron asked Dad.

"I don't know for sure, this is just a speculation on top of a speculation. I'm assuming whoever did it assumed that Hermione could very quickly undo her confundus, and wouldn't notice the Imperius. Then perhaps her parents could have been spies or even assassins for the Death Eaters. I concede that given how this is playing out, that seems like a very lame plot. But then, we need to remember that our opponents are not infallible intellectual giants. They have made at least as many mistakes as we have. Now, go read your paper."

Everyone grabbed a paper. Mine was The Daily Prophet. The front page headline blazened in large typeface:

Rogue Auror Dies in Failed Assassination of Minister

Shacklebolt in St. Mungo's

Further down the page, I read

Amelia Bones to Head Inquiry into Rogue Aurors

I read a few paragraphs, and Ernie's article seemed completely factual. Since it didn't contain anything that I didn't already know, rather than follow the suggestion to continue reading on page six, I turned to page two, to find equally bold headlines:

French Invade Britain. French Minister LeDoux Slain.

An only slightly smaller headline under it proclaimed:

French Routed at Second Battle of Hogwarts

Here, Ernie had perhaps taken a little license, with his 'battle' seeming far more intense and heroic than the one in which I had participated. You had to read down quite a few paragraphs, including continuing onto page seven, which I did, to learn that the French Minister was not killed in the battle, but murdered by the same rogue auror who tried to kill our own Minister. That would have been a Wizarding first, the assassination of two Ministers in the same hour, by the same assailant. I didn't believe that startling fact could stay buried for long. I next turned my attention to the back cover to read another huge headline:

Harry Potter Leads Defense of Beauxbatons

With the sub-headline reading: Six Giants Slain

It was clear in reading Ernie's actual description that the Beauxbatons battle had been very much a team effort by us and the French. Either the headline writer just got a little carried away or the publisher was determined that this was not going to be the French Wizards' day. This thought was reinforced as I turned to page 4 and glanced at the headline:

French Invade Germany, Kidnap Mrs. Weasley

and below that:
Read of Daring Assault on French Ministry to Rescue Deputy Minister's Wife

Normalcy returned on page 5, beneath a much smaller headline, which read:

German and French Wizards Pledge Solidarity with Our Ministry

This was a very concise and factual account of what Viktor Krum and Madame Delacour had said at our press conference. This article was accompanied by a very nice picture of Dad and Viktor, with their arms around each other, and Dad looking fiercer and more determined than I had ever seen him. The picture was captioned "Acting Minister Weasley takes charge, Viktor Krum pledges support".

Further into the paper were announcements to come back for tomorrow's edition to read "startling details of the Battle of Durmstrang" and "Viktor Krum Speaks about Quidditch." Ernie's career was well and truly launched - the stories all carried his by-line, with two even saying "with help from" the paper's two remaining senior reporters. I looked up from the paper to see that Dad had stepped away. Perhaps my movement roused the others.

Ron tired of reading his Prophet about the same time I did, and looked up. "I don't think Dad could have asked for much better coverage. Really cool, tough looking picture too. Old Ernie didn't do badly by Mom or Harry, really any of us. Makes it tough to feel too broken up about what happened to Rita."

"We all got uniformly good coverage from Mr. Lovegood," Harry chimed in. "He really went to the effort to get all of the little details right. He makes our version of the Battle of Durmstrang seem quite feasible, with gasoline as the only secret weapon."

Dad walked back into the room. "Pretty good press coverage, wouldn't you say. The almost-successful attack on the Minister could have been an excuse to really pound us. May still come to that, if he doesn't recover soon and our auror friend, Bill, isn't found quickly. I went to notify Professor McGonagall and Molly that you had returned, by the way. I looked in through my ante-room window to see how things are going with Hermione's parents, but Dr. Wright just waved me away. Hermione was looking very worried and serious. I guess reversing her confunding and whatever was placed on top of it isn't going to be as easy as I initially hoped. We're just going to have to wait and give Dr. Wright time to work his magic, or to unwork Hermione's magic.

"I realize how difficult this is for her, not being able to undo her spell, but I think the problem really lies in the secondary spell. I'm still trying to figure out what the purpose of that could be. I could see the Death Eaters trying to neutralize all of you by taking Hermione's parents hostage, or using the Imperius to have them attack you, especially if they thought they might get Harry that way, but neither of those explanations hang together logically. I would have expected them to either be dead, missing, or seemingly easy for Hermione to bring back to 'normal'. Nothing else makes sense."

"I know, Dad. This all makes me feel very helpless," Ron agonized. "I wish there was something I could be actively doing to help Hermione, or at least to support her. Just waiting is awful. The worst thing is that she did what she did in order to keep her parents safe. If Dr. Wright can't fix her parents, Hermione's going to be blaming herself for the rest of her life, and crippling her capabilities because of self-doubt. I know she thinks the problem is that she was too arrogant in believing that she could self-teach a difficult skill by reading books in the library. But that is who Hermione is. Take away her faith in her ability to read and learn and she just isn't Hermione anymore. She hasn't said the words, but I know she has visions of the cure going bad and her parents ending up in St. Mungo's for the rest of their lives, like Neville's parents. You said nothing else makes sense, Dad, but if the Death Eaters used some curses that reduced Hermione's parents to the state of Neville's, that would pretty much destroy our circle. I don't even…"

Hermione walked into the room, still looking depressed. "The doctor confirms that they each have at least an Imperius curse on top of the confundus spell which I applied. He thinks there may be something more, especially with my mother, so he is moving very carefully. He says that Mom's mind is in a state that he has never observed before in a Muggle. He is quite sure that he can fix Dad, but we agreed to delay that a little, because he'll freak out if he finds Mom in her current condition. For what it's worth, and I'm not taking any comfort from it, he says he can't find anything that I did wrong in trying to reverse the confundus and that, although he is a little appalled that someone of my level of experience would try such a complex confundus on someone they cared about, he can't find anything that I did wrong. I asked him what was the worst thing that could happen when he tried to reverse the spells on Mom, and he tried to pooh pooh it at first, but then said it was very highly unlikely, but St. Mungo's, or a Muggle psychiatric hospital for an extended stay, was possible.

"That doesn't ease my mind at all. It wasn't making me feel any better to stay there and I wasn't doing anything to help my parents, so I decided to join the rest of you. I think Dr. Wright wanted me gone, anyway. Two of his associates have arrived and are helping him. Nothing more I could do, he really just wanted a better understanding on exactly what specifics I applied with the confundus curse, whether my parents appeared to be living according to the background information that I tried to imbed, and exactly how I tried to reverse the spell and what reactions I observed as I did so. He was disappointed that we left them under the petrificus spell while I tried to unconfund them, so there really were no reactions to report to him. I didn't even think at the time: it just seemed easier to not have them running around shouting about home invaders while I tried to remove the spell. Dr. Wright reasonably pointed out that that was at least a third level of spell that they were under, while I tried to reverse the confundus. I hadn't thought of that either. I'm just afraid that my ignorance has caused this to happen. We knew that Umbridge was aware of my parents' location, so we should have considered, no, I should have considered, that the Death Eaters would have done something like this. How could I do this to Mom and Dad?"

Hermione, who had resolutely avoided crying, collapsed into tears. Ron cradled her in his arms. The rest of us basically just sat around in silence, listening to Hermione's sobs and Ron's soothing whispers to her. It felt like a gross violation of their privacy to stay in the room, yet callous to leave them suffering by themselves. It was very awkward either way, and we all felt quite helpless, especially Dad, who just kept pacing and wringing his hands. We soon ended up sleeping on the floor of Dad's office, while he slept on his surplus cot.

We awakened in late morning. Hermione went off to check on her parents. Her spirits seemed significantly brightened. "Dr. Wright is still developing his treatment plan, but he thinks he has identified the anomaly with Mom. He says he thinks the unusual thing he saw in her mind was latent magical ability that is being triggered as a reaction to all the various spells. He says it is even possible that she had hints of magical ability, but either suppressed or hid them. The presence of whatever abilities she has makes removing the spells a bit more difficult, but he seems a lot more confident that he can do it safely. He said she is not quite a Witch and not quite a Muggle – it's rare but he has seen it before. It is most common in squibs that a Wizarding family hides away or sends into the Muggle world to be raised and educated. He also stated with great certainty that he sees no problem with fixing Dad. That's encouraging enough that I think I'll be able to eat some breakfast. The doctor told me to make myself scarce, but that I could check back in a few hours. I don't know whether or not he was just trying to lift my mopey spirits, but I choose to be optimistic."

Ron looked very relieved as we all made our way to the elevator to go down to the Ministry commissary. The aurors accompanied us, so we had to go in two elevators, and everyone not in our group was shooed away by Dad's guardians. The commissary was quite empty. We were about an hour from the normal start of lunch service and well past what was normally a little-used breakfast service. There were half a dozen groups of two to four Wizards scattered around the room, drinking coffee or tea, with small pastries. I don't think we could have gotten anything more substantial than that, had not one of the aurors gone to the kitchen and said the magic words 'the Minister's party'. It apparently was quite rare for the Minister to eat in the commissary. We were being eyed by the little groups of Wizards, who seemed to be trying to decide whether or not it would be appropriate to approach our party. I heard one elderly Wizard say in what was clearly a louder than intended whisper "but, after all it's Arthur and he's never stood on ceremony."

With that, Wizards started breaking away from their separate groups and wandering over to see Dad. There were comments like "we're behind you all the way, Arthur", "I've got faith in you", "you're doing a magnificent job", interspersed by questions about Minister Shacklebolt's condition. To the former, Dad gave humble thanks. I strained to catch his answers to the Shacklebolt question "doing as well as expected…. Madame Delacour….Rod of Asclepias….he should pull… moved… thank's for asking, I'm staying optimistic…. miss him too… probably a few days." Dad's presence was apparently becoming known and we were soon surrounded by a couple hundred Witches Wizards, with the aurors looking upset and keeping the crowd at a bit of a distance. Dad decided to stand and give a general report.

"The Minister is still unconscious. The doctors consider it a wise precaution to keep him that way for a while. I'm assured by the head of St. Mungo's that Minister Shacklebolt is expected to make a full recovery. I expect it will be several more days before he is revived, and I don't expect him to be back at work until at least a week after that. I'm carrying on as best I can in his absence. We've been up most of the night with Hermione Granger, whose parents were Imperiused by the Death Eaters after she hid them away in Australia to keep them safe, while she went hunting for Voldemort. I'm encouraged that they also are going to make a full recovery, but it also is going to be a while until they're out of danger. We just came down to grab some food. The kids haven't had anything to eat for a day. Yes, everything that you read in the papers is true. Thank you very much for your concern."

With that, the crowd moved away, as the Ministry Elves materialized platters of food in front of us. It was a little strange eating with a couple of hundred Wizards watching us from the periphery of the room, but I was hungry enough that I just tried to maintain a modicum of table manners while slaking my hunger. It was quite good food, which I consumed almost without tasting it. I can't say I was sorry to finish the meal and escape back to the sanctuary of Dad's office. I realized in the elevator on the way up, that as we ate in the glare of our public, we had all eaten almost wordlessly. The only comment that I remember was Ron saying "Dad certainly seems to have a lot of support at the Ministry."

When we returned to his office, Dad told us, "I'd like you to sit in on my briefing from the investigatory commission that I appointed. They have a lot more to do, but wanted to give me an interim report after their first, almost full, day of work. It's scheduled for two hours from now, in the Minister's conference room. Then, I'd like you to go back to Hogwarts and compare notes with the rest of your circle. Viktor Krum is still there. He was going to train a few of the professors this morning. Hermione has time to check in with Dr. Wright before the briefing, and I want to check with the Minister's doctors".

"Yes, Dad."

"I want to stay here, until my parents are okay," Hermione said.

"Then, I'll stay too," Ron seconded her view.

"I'd prefer that we stay together," Harry replied, "although I obviously can't insist that you come back to Hogwarts. I just think there are still things that we can do to prepare for the future. That includes Hermione's parents. There is expertise at St. Mungo's, but there is also expertise at Hogwarts. It's not like us to go all passive and just wait for the doctors to make something happen. I'm not trying to be cold, and I'm not saying we shouldn't keep checking back on Hermione's parents, but we can't do anything here but worry, and get in the way."

"You may not be trying, but you are being cold," an irritated Ron replied.

"No, Ron, Harry's right," Hermione replied. "At Hogwarts I can check possibilities in the library or help figure out which aurors are trying to kill us. Mom and Dad are going to be helpless, even if, even when, they are cured. They'll never be able to go back to their lives, not unless the other Death Eaters are tracked down and we root out the aurors and other Ministry people who can't be trusted. For some reason my parents were a target in Australia. They're just as much a target here. If they were attacked to take us out of the battle, I'm not going to let the Death Eaters win. If I can help, and I think I can, then I'm going to fight for my Mom instead of just sitting and worrying. I think I know the first thing that I need to do. Now, I'm going to go check on my parents, and you're going to be nice to Harry."

"Sorry, mate."

"No problem, this is tough on all of us, but tougher on you."

Harry and my brother didn't have a lot to say to each other, and for some reason Harry was keeping a little distance from me, so we just sat and waited for Hermione to return. It was a great relief when she walked back into the room. We were all shocked to see her Dad follow her into the room. "Dad, you know Ron and Ginny, but I'd like you to re-meet my boyfriend Ron Weasley, and my other friend Harry Potter, whom you haven't met. They've all been fighting Voldemort's people with me, and they're going to help me keep you and Mom safe."

"Hello, it's good to meet Hermione's friends. I guess it's even better to remember that I'm Hermione's Dad. Hermione says that I can help Edith by telling you as much as I remember about her background. She says I've been married to a Witch all these years, without realizing it. I started to give the background to Hermione, but she said that I should hold off so you all could hear it at the same time."

"Thanks, Dad, I really think that will help."

My Dad came back into the room and Hermione told her father that he was now the Minister of Magic. Mr. Granger seemed suitably impressed, if perhaps a little surprised, that Dad had sought or attained this high office.

"Okay, I first met your Mom when we both started dentistry school. There was an immediate spark between us - you could really call it love at first sight. We exchanged glances in our first class, and went for coffee after. She told me that she grew up in Sheffield, with her adoptive parents, the Wilkinsons. She had a scholarship to both college and the University. It was from a special foundation for orphans set up by the same organization that arranged her adoption, The New Start Society. Her parents were Brits who were killed in a bombing in Jerusalem toward the end of the British mandate in Palestine. Edith checked, and found that her father was a Captain Howcome, who was a supplies officer, and her mother was a civilian clerk, Edith Shaw. Her parents never had a chance to marry, and your mother was less than a year old when she was orphaned.

"The Wilkinsons were a kindly older church couple. He was a rector and she was a church organist, in a small suburb of Sheffield. There was not a lot of money, and they were not as intelligent as she was, but they were very supportive of her academic studies. They saved her from life in foster care or an orphanage. The nation didn't look all that kindly on illegitimate orphans back in that day, and Edith had nowhere else to turn. Her father was an only child and both of his parents died at a relatively young age, while he was still at school. Her mother's family was quite poor; they were killed in a freak auto accident while Edith's mother was still in Palestine. Their death cancelled the scheduled wedding, or your mother would not have been illegitimate.

"Your mother was always an excellent student, that's where you get most of your brains from. She was always smarter than me. Your mother and I married before we graduated from dental school, and have been together ever since. I think you know the rest of the family history. We would have told you this before, but for some reason, your mother has always been ashamed of the circumstances of her birth, and made me swear never to discuss it with you. We stuck with the made up story that your Mom has always told. Somehow, a family estrangement, and a marriage of which her parents strongly disapproved, seemed more acceptable to her."

"Mom was a squib!" Hermione shouted excitedly.

"That doesn't sound very nice," her father replied. "Is that the term the kids in your school use instead of bastard?"

"No, Dad, although many Wizards consider it more shameful than that. A squib is a child born to Wizards, but who fails to develop any magical powers. Some are hidden away, while others are sent into your world to make their way. Some, like Mom, do very well. I have no idea how many non-magical Witches like Mom live in the non-Wizarding world. It isn't something that is discussed much. I'm definitely going to do some research on this. I'll find out who Mom's parents really were. Okay, gang, Dad and I are going to go back in and see how Mom is doing."

Dad was telling us that the briefing was now in just a half hour, and fussing about formalities. "I know some of you can be more outspoken than Wizard elders deem appropriate. Including you in the briefing is a little unusual, so it is important that you be discrete and largely silent. Keep your wands handy: one reason I want you to attend is in case one or more of my aurors decide to act up, if they are unhappy with the direction that the inquiry is taking. I'm not going to push the commissioners hard at all in my questioning, because it is early days in the investigation, and this is just a courtesy briefing. The commissioners will be justifiably concerned about stating anything that might be construed as even a working conclusion, until they are done with their work. People's reputations are at stake, after all. The gist of the matter is that I need to start taking action on behalf of the Ministry to guard against any threats that their investigation suggests are out there, but my understanding with the members is that I would take emergency preventive action only, no legal action is to be undertaken until the commission finishes its business."

Hermione and her Dad rejoined us, and, from the look on Hermione's face, there were new problems. This time, however, she seemed more indignant than worried "Dr. Wright found another, older, confundus spell that was interacting with the one that I applied. I removed a little of each when I tried to reverse my spell. He thought he could remove both, but his older assistant objected, saying it was against St. Mungo's policies and nothing should be done until he could return and bring back the Director of the hospital. He tried to apparate, but couldn't."

"I'm going to go see about this," Dad replied, as he hurried back to his office. Since we hadn't been instructed to remain where we were, the rest of us followed. As we crossed the ante-room and entered Dad's office, we first noticed Dr. Wright and one of his assistants talking furiously at each other, while the other assistant was trying to keep Hermione's mother calm, as she paced about in the far corner of the office.

"Silence! What is the problem?" Dad asked.

"My assistant says it is strict St. Mungo's policy that confundus charms applied to a squib at the behest of the squib's family must never be removed. I've not been told that, but then dealing with the confunding of squibs is not usually my department. It's possible that I'm not senior enough to be read in on all the pertinent policies. I'm here because I've accumulated a lot of expertise in dealing with cases involving Imperius curses, as a result of this Voldemort business. Perhaps I should wait for guidance from my superiors."

"I'm giving you instructions to proceed," Dad replied. "I'm sure you'll agree that the Minister of Magic can countermand whatever order your superior might give, were he here. You've said yourself that this woman has magical abilities, so she obviously isn't a squib, and any rules that St. Mungo's might have regarding squibs do not apply. Besides, this is a matter of security. This woman was Imperiused by the Death Eaters and we must get to the bottom of this quickly. We've already had one bombing in Diagon Alley."

"I really must object," the elderly assistant boldly replied. "I insist that I be allowed to return to the hospital and check with my superiors, before any action is taken. I'm going to go apparate now. I guess I have to go to the Entry Hall."

"He is staying right in my office until Dr. Wright finishes his work," Dad calmly informed one of his aurors. In response, the assistant was firmly steered to one of Dad's guest chairs.

"Now then, Doctor Wright, if you would kindly complete your work. Don't worry about a thing. I take full responsibility. The woman's family is here and they all clearly wish for you to proceed."

Doctor Wright looked dubious, but did proceed, which I think is what he wanted to do anyway. The procedure was rather anticlimactic: it took only about three minutes before Dr. Wright pronounced Mrs. Granger free of all spells. It was immediately clear that she now recognized Hermione, whom she rushed over to hug and kiss. Hermione and her mother were both reduced to tears.

"Thank you for your help, Dr. Wright," my Dad concluded. "You and your assistants are free to go." Looking at the obstreperous aide, Dad concluded, "I think you would have found, sir, that had you only returned to the ante-room, that you would have been able to apparate. Fortunately, you failed to think of that option. Goodbye all, and please contact me, Dr. Wright, if you run into any difficulties from your superiors." They walked to the other room, and were gone.

"I suspect that I'll be hearing from the Director of St. Mungo's before this day is finished," Dad said calmly, with an air that suggested he was rather looking forward to the prospect.