Chapter 39 -
"Now Amelia I am sure that his is all merely a misunderstanding." Minister of Magic Cornelius Fudge said as he stood in the office of Amelia Bones, the head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. Amelia Bones who was sat behind her desk gave him a 'are you kidding me?' look. "Dolores is a smart and intelligent woman, not the sort who would do such things, I mean a 'blood quill', how ridiculous." Fudge scoffed. "I am sure that this is just someone with a grudge wasting time." He said as he waved his hand in a dismissive gesture.
"Minister if Dolores is innocent then you will obviously have nothing to worry about." Amelia countered. "I cannot just leave it," She said when Fudge looked like he was about to respond. "it is my job to investigate crimes, no matter who is being accused, I do not care if it is Dolores Umbridge or Albus Dumbledore himself, I will do my job." Amelia said in a voice that said that was the end of it.
"Who...who even made the complaint?" Fudge asked, fidgeting with the green bowler hat in his hand.
"Harry Potter." Amelia Bones answered, shocking Fudge who was now gaping.
"M...Mr Potter you say?" He asked in a failed attempt at sounding casual once he was finally able to close his mouth.
"Yes, I have a very talented auror who is related to Lord Sirius Black, I presume the auror has a relationship with Mr Potter because of that, the auror in question had handed me a letter from Mr Potter himself. Mr Potter claimed that he was comforting the youngest Greengrass daughter after she had a detention with Umbridge, the letter said that she had words carved into her hand."
"R...really?" Fudge stuttered, he could not believe it. Surely Dolores was not stupid enough to do that, especially to one of Lord Greengrass's daughters.
"Yes, Mr Potter said that if did not see a sufficient effort from the ministry in dealing with this situation then he would come here along with Lord Black and Lord Greengrass and deal with it himself if necessary." She said, trying not to smirk at the way that Fudge's face paled, it was quite amusing watching the man's face change and lose colour, for a second Amelia thought it was possible that he was a metamorphamaugus based on how he quick his face shifted.
Fudge as of the moment was in an internal conflict. On one hand he really appreciated the work that Dolores had done for him, sure at times she had the subtly of a Griffin in a china shop and she could also benefit from some cough drops with how much she kept clearing her throat but she was a good, hard working woman who always did as he asked. She was also a member of his team so anything bad connected to Dolores meant that it was something bad that was connected to him, at least as far as the public was concerned.
But on the other hand Fudge really did not want to get on Harry Potter's bad side, after all Harry Potter had stood alongside him against Albus Dumbledore of all people and refused to play along with Dumbledore and his insane lies about you-know-who, if Harry had played along then Fudge knew that there would be a lot more people who would have believed that he-who-must-not-be-named had indeed returned.
Plus Harry Potter was the last remaining member of the Potter family and ever since he was emancipated thanks to the bloody Triwizard tournament he was Lord Potter, Harry Potter also had a strong connections to the Black family through his godfather and was at least on good terms with the younger members of the Greengrass family, all three were powerful families in not just reputation but also political power. And the cherry on top was the fact that Harry Potter was the boy-who-lived and saviour of the wizarding world plus a Triwizard champion and the one who had captured Peter Pettigrew, he had a lot of influence and power even if he did not realise or use it.
Having Harry Potter on his side was far more beneficial in the long run than a 'yes woman', there were plenty of those in the sea, but he might not ever get a chance with a catch like Harry Potter. Regrettably it appeared that he would have to chose between Dolores and Mr Potter, sadly for Dolores...he chose Mr Potter.
"Very well," Fudge sighed. "have the aurors arrest Dolores." Fudge ordered while he mentally began trying to think of a way to spin this in his favour, perhaps showing how he was not willing to let personal ties get in the way of justice, he might have to get Mr Potter to help him out but Fudge was sure he could convince the boy, after all Fudge was Minister of Magic and a politician, Harry Potter might be magically powerful but he was still just a simple boy.
"Already done Minister." Amelia smiled, she knew full well why Fudge was no longer complaining.
Amelia knew that Fudge simply chose Mr Potter over Umbridge, not a hard choice for anyone with a brain so she was not surprised that it has taken Fudge so long to come to a decision. Truthfully Amelia hoped that Umbridge did get arrested, she did not like Umbridge at all. Umbridge did not even bother to hide her discriminatory views and ways like any person with half a brain would, Lucius Malfoy was smart enough to say something along the lines of 'those from different families' and subtly insult someone's heritage.
Umbridge on the other hand was about as subtle as Dumbledore's robes, in fact the only person she appeared to not use the word 'mudblood' in front of was the Minister himself. It was easier to count the amount of people that liked Umbridge instead of the amount that hated her, she was pretty much disliked by everyone. In fact Amelia was sure that even those who agreed with her views disliked the woman. Amelia had known for years that Umbridge was committing some forms of crime, the only ones she was sure about were blackmail and bribing but she was unfortunately unable to find evidence.
Nobody would stand against Umbridge out of greed or fear or simply the knowledge that they would not get results, in fact a few days ago Amelia would not have done so either because she knew that with the Minister's backing Umbridge was basically untouchable. However when Auror Tonks had given her the letter from Harry Potter she saw it as a great opportunity to finally get rid of Umbridge and do her job without interference, mostly to get rid of Umbridge, yes Amelia acted professional when she had to but she did not like that woman.
Now that Fudge would no longer block her and she had the support of Harry Potter and probably Sirius Black and Lord Greengrass she was sure that she could get Umbridge put away for good.
"G...good, now is there any news on Dumbledore?" Fudge asked in a hopeful voice that was matched by the look on his face.
"No " Amelia sighed as she shook her head. "not yet at least. I have my aurors looking for him but Dumbledore is as slippery as can be, it will not be easy to find him and if we do it will more than likely be when Dumbledore wants us to find him. I only wish I knew what he was planning." Amelia said, while she was not entirely sure that Dumbledore had committed the crimes that he was accused of she at least wanted to investigate it.
"You are not the only one." Fudge muttered, hoping that soon all of this mess would just hurry up and go away.
"Oh hi Luna," Harry said when he along with Daphne and Tracy ran into Luna in a hallway. "how are you doing?"
"I am fine," Luna smiled dreamily before she reached a hand up and began scratching Harry behind the ear. "how are you kitty?" She asked.
"Little higher." Harry smiled and Luna obliged, causing his smile to widen. "Hmm...kitty is good." Harry hummed as a shiver went through his body.
"That's nice." Luna replied as she continued scratching him.
"She does know that he is not an actual kitty, right?" Tracy whispered to Daphne.
"I am not sure that he knows that he is not an actual kitty." Daphne whispered back just before Luna continued speaking.
"The nargles have been better behaved," Luna commented in an appreciative voice. "whatever spells you have put on my things have stopped them from wanting it I think, though it is a shame that it harms people when they try to touch it." She added, Harry frowned for a moment, not sure if that was an act or if she genuinely thought that but decided not to comment on it even though he did think that she was being genuine.
"Well...they will just have to learn." Tracy said eventually after exchanging a look with Daphne.
"I suppose," Luna shrugged "though it might take them some time, they are not very smart." Luna whispered the last part before she suddenly stopped and pulled out a small bracelet which she handed to Harry. The bracelet appeared to be made of rainbow coloured stones and a green string. "I was told that it was a common thing to give friends gifts so I made this for you." Luna explained.
"Well I love it Luna." Harry smiled and put it on without any hint of embarrassment. "Thanks, I suppose I should try and get you a gift before the next time we meet." Harry added with a thoughtful look on his face.
"That sounds nice," Luna said in her usual dreamy voice though her smile was slightly wider. "I have to go to classes now, bye-bye." She smiled, she did manage to pet Harry on the head before she left, the single Gryffindor and two Slytherin's watched as the young Ravenclaw happily skipped away, all that was missing was a Hufflepuff.
"Come on kitty." Daphne rolled her eyes at Harry.
"You know if you two ever wanted to pet or stroke me then I would be fine with it." Harry joked.
"You sure you wouldn't prefer if your girlfriends did that?" Tracy grinned at him.
"We have more fun things to do and the few times that they do stroke me it is not my head that they stroke."
"Well...he is right about that." A voice snorted just as the group had found a Hufflepuff.
"Hey Tonks." Harry turned around along with the girls and smiled at her, noticing that she was wearing her auror robes.
"Wotcher Harry." Tonks smiled and walked up to him before planting a quick but possessive kiss on his lips, just to mark her territory in case any of the Slytherin girls got any wrong ideas, Tonks already had to share with Fleur and that was her limit.
"Oh...so this is Miss Tonks?" Tracy said as Daphne raised an eyebrow at Tonks.
"Nah, just Tonks." Tonks smiled. "When you say 'Miss' it makes me feel old."
"You don't look it." Harry replied.
"Flatterer." Tonks rolled her eyes but still smiled.
"I am curious, what is your first name?" Daphne asked. "Harry refuses to tell us."
"You have just won major boyfriend points." Tonks mock whispered to Harry who happily grinned. "As for my name," Tonks said as she turned back to Daphne. "classified." She smirked.
"So I suppose that you are here working the case of Umbitch?" Harry asked.
"Yep," Tonks nodded, she either did not notice the way Harry referred to Umbridge or did not care, most likely the second one. "Bonesy saw your letter and..."
"I am sorry," Tracy interrupted with an apologetic look. "but 'Bonesy'?"
"Oh, it's just what I call my boss, Amelia Bones...Bonesy." Tonks shrugged before turning to Harry. "Anyway she saw your letter and sent me and a couple of aurors to arrest the pink toad, I am actually working now." Tonks admitted. "Speaking of, have any of you three seen Umbitch...I mean Umbridge?" Tonks corrected herself.
"Nope," Harry said, ignoring the obviously intentional slip-up. "She wasn't teaching her class today. Haven't seen her all day."
"Right well I have got to go and keep looking and confirm if she has done a runner or not, you know that because of you I have a lot of work now." She said with a mock glare at Harry. "And a lot of paper work."
"Aw you poor thing, how about I make it up to you later?" Harry offered with a charming smile.
"I will hold you to that Potter." Tonks smirked before she planted one more kiss on his lips before walking off.
"So that is 'Tonks'," Daphne said once Tonks was out of earshot. "you were right, she certainly is interesting."
"Yeah," Harry agreed. "she's a lot different from Fleur. Fleur is like perfection while Tonks is like uniqueness, you know what I mean?"
"We do understand, yes." Daphne nodded. "She doesn't seem to mind public displays of affection either, though I suppose that it is fine since you don't mind them as well."
"Who said I don't mind them?" Harry frowned.
"Are you saying you do?" Tracy looked at him with disbelief.
"Oh hell no, I love it, you just shouldn't assume."
"Well Umbitch," Harry said as he arrived in the chamber to find Umbridge still stuck on her chair, though the biggest difference from last time was the fact that she was covered in dry blood, Harry saw that she was missing her toenails and her right ankle looked broken, her face was bruised and her hair was sticky and appeared to have several insects in it. Another difference was the trolley next to her that was full on muggle DIY equipment and surgical tools. "how are we?" Harry asked.
"P...Potter..." Umbridge barely managed to gasp out.
"Master." Kreatcher bowed as he appeared. "Kreatcher's apologies, Kreatcher wanted to start lighty and build up." Kreatcher explained as he gestured to Umbridge, "Kreatcher was about to start doing job properly." He explained as he pointed to the trolley, hoping that his master would not be angry with him. Harry was tempted to ask Kreatcher if this was what counted as light before he remembered all the possible ways of torturing, both muggle and magical, so Harry supposed that whatever Kreatcher had done was probably pretty light.
"That makes sense I suppose," Harry said after a moment of thinking. "good job Kreatcher." Harry praised the old elf, who beamed under the praise. "So Umbridge, how are you?"
"F...filth...filthy..." Umbridge gasped out, clearly in pain.
"Well...yes, you are but that is hardly new for you, is it?" Harry shrugged.
"F...filthy half...filthy half-blood!" She managed to shout out before coughing violently just as a tooth fell out of her mouth.
"Oh Dolores," Harry tutted. "insulting my blood status, is that an insult to my mother?" Harry asked lightly.
"Y...your mother was a...stupid...mudblood! I...I am Dolores...Umbridge...S...Senior un...under..." Umbridge was cut off as Harry waved his wand and Umbridge felt like she was punched in the nose, Harry followed up with a cruciatus curse and kept it on for several moments before he grew tired of her screams and stopped.
"I had considered giving you a quick death Dolores, I really did think about it but you have insulted my mum so I have just decided fuck it." Harry informed her before he turned to Kreatcher. "Kreatcher, I don't think that Umbridge has suffered enough. Give her an hour to recover then get to work."
"Oh yes, Kreatcher will do it." Kreatcher grinned happily. "Kreatcher will make Master proud." Kreatcher said as he rubbed his hands together.
"I believe you." Harry said before he smirked at Umbridge and walked off.