The Core War

(A Great Wandout Tale)

Summary

New problems arise on the evening of the third task.

Ships – Age appropriate harmony all the way

Book compliance – The story begins during June of 1995, the evening of the third task.

This tale is a Great Wandout Challenge story. Effectively it is as if Unexpected Consequences had been like playing a role play game at the novice level. The Core War tale has a harder set of challenges. There are a half dozen major changes in the first chapters – several will seriously impact the rest of the tale. While not a sequel, this story assumes that you've read Unintended Consequences. We're not going to spend another fifty pages reinventing the basics of wandcrafting.

Please note – This was another collaboration with Apprentice Tom. He's a very easy guy to work with. I'm truly grateful for his assistance and advice. He didn't get his own chapter this time; instead he wrote the scenes involving the bad guys.

Disclaimer - JKR's sandbox, not mine. We had a blast pushing some of the piles around a bit and rearranging them. We're beyond grateful that anyone would spend their time reading our twisted thoughts.

Wizarding etiquette – This and most fanfiction stories are written strictly on a hobby basis. I make no claim that these chapters are error free. If you enjoy my little stories and are willing to accept the quality level, please read on and leave a review every few chapters. If you don't care for the story concept, pairings, story arcs, content, or style, just walk away. I don't want to hear that you don't like the way that I write my stories. We're volunteering our time for your enjoyment. Leave a note every once in a while. Writing three tales in 24 months has been a serious effort.

Please note: There are some new Original Characters in this story, as well as many of my old friends. I intend to make a brief reference to one of Full Pensieve's original locations from his epic tale. Also, Robst's O-C, Barchoke appears in a few scenes. O-Cs will be listed at the end of chapter one after a few chapters have been posted.

… - ...

Chapter One
June

Saturday June 24, 1995 – The evening of the third task

Harry fired back, "Mrs. Weasley, your two youngest children lie as easily as they breathe." He was fed up at being guilted over those two. "Ron's been telling lies about me since my name popped out of the Goblet of Fire last October. He got Ginny involved and they haven't stopped in eight months. Hermione's been my girlfriend since November. I'm not, nor have I ever dated Ginny. Bill, I'm certain that you're a great guy but your mum has bought into their lies and I don't need any distractions today. You should spend some time with the twins; they've loads of clever stuff to show you. I have to go."

As Molly was sputtering, "But he needs us... Dumbledore invited us... I was just pointing out..." Harry walked away.

He found the person who he'd been hoping to see when McGonagall had told him that his special friend and parents had come to see him off before the third task. He hugged Hermione and said, "Dumbledore tried to fob the Weasleys off on me for the afternoon."

She kissed him and asked, "Who was the other person there?"

"Bill Weasley, their oldest. He's the one who is a curse breaker at Gringotts. He seemed like a very solid guy."

"I wish my parents could have come today. They would have liked to have seen this."

Harry agreed. "Stupid anti-muggleborn rules. I hate that word. Magicals are the one in two thousand people. You parents are the normal people. I'd like to spend more time with them. School will be finished soon. As for tonight, this has to be the worst spectator event ever. I suppose the first task was exciting to watch from the stands. The second one must have been a complete bust unless the giant squid did juggling tricks or something while we were underwater. There was absolutely nothing to see. This one's another disaster. No one in the stands can see into the hedges. They must be twenty feet high. Maybe Fawkes will do aerobatic stunts while we fumble around in the maze."

Hermione suggested, "Remember, you're starting at the south end of the maze and want to work your way north. Use the point-me spell. Take my wand as a spare. You don't have to win, just come back in one piece." She adjusted her jumper and placed his hand on the softest thing he'd ever felt. "I'll be waiting for you. I love you."

With a goofy smile on his face, he replied, "Thanks. I love you too."

The cannon blast sounded and he knew that it was time to make his way to the starting point. He hugged her again and hoped that he'd see her again soon.

… - …

While Harry was discovering some of the delights of teenage romance and Minister Fudge was entertaining Lucius, Narcissa and their bratty son, Draco, Dumbledore was on alert. Something was wrong but he couldn't put his bony finger on it. Moody had been patrolling the perimeter of the maze and Snape was hovering around like a bat. Minerva was muttering threats to him again over not having stopped the contest last October; yet the old headmaster knew that somehow, it had to play out.

Something was wrong.

The five-minute warning cannon was fired, and the rest of the spectators made their way to the stands; for what purpose, Albus couldn't fathom. Even he realized that no one would be able to see a thing in the maze. They would be better served at the hor d' oeuvre or beverage tables.

The whistle blew and Harry, the Champion with the most points, carefully walked into the maze. Two minutes later, the second Champion ran in. A minute later, the third and finally the fourth Champions had dashed headlong into the danger. As far as the spectators could tell, nothing happened for twenty minutes.

… - …

The group directly behind Lucius all seemed restless for some reason as they waited. Several scratched their left forearms that seemed to be bothering them for some reason.

Fudge looked around and realized that the group around him was no longer paying polite attention to his every word. He sat there, in an uncomfortable silence.

Suddenly, ten of the men and six of the spouses got up and quickly made their excuses to leave.

… - …

A few minutes before the group got up to leave, Dumbledore was all but certain that he'd seen the telltale electric-blue flash of a portkey. He'd initially assumed that it was due to one of the champions reaching the cup but no one appeared on the winner stand and he decided to ask Alastor, who was back in the front row, sitting next to Minerva to check on it.

Suddenly, he felt a horrible pain in his back and realized that Severus had pushed a Potioneers knife into his chest and was twisting the blade. The last thing he saw was Alastor stabbing Minerva with the nine-inch blade of the Sykes-Fairbairn commando knife that he always carried.

As the victims hadn't made any noise, the crowd hadn't really paid any attention to the two assassins, who now were walking away. They'd completed their assigned tasks. Moments later, someone finally noticed the two slumped over figures. They screamed. As people got up to assist them, the most remarkable thing occurred. All of the wands that had been in their hands or their pockets suddenly tore away and seemed to form a thick cloud as the swarm flew away. They were joined by another trail of wands that must have been left in the castle and flew off, to catch up with the others. The broomsticks also flew off, joining the wands that had been summoned. Faster and faster they flew until most seemed to simply break apart in flames.

After the shock of the wands flying away, more people noticed that Dumbledore and McGonagall were down on the ground. Then, they noticed that Moody, Snape and Karkarov were also down on the ground, dead.

Fudge went into full panic mode as his orderly world with regular donations to his campaign fund was being turned completely upside down.

… - …

Back in London, to say Dolores Umbridge was in a bad mood was a complete understatement. Someone had pulled a colossal prank in the Ministry and everyone's wand had flown out of their hands and burned to ash in seconds. The damn Unspeakables refused to open their door on level 10, so she left the Ministry for Diagon Alley. She rushed to Ollivander's to get a new wand and was horrified to see a smoking shell of a business. Shaken, she went into the new Three Thestrals Pub on the corner of Knockturn Alley. As she entered the pub, a cloaked figure standing in a doorway halfway down the alley spied her and waited.

Dolores had a quick double of Odgen's Finest Fire Whiskey and then stepped out of the pub and turned to go back to the Leaky Cauldron to take the floo home, when she was shoved from behind. She stumbled and hit her face on the ground. Groaning and dazed, she was pulled, up only to feel a knee slam into her gut, knocking her breath out as a hand pressed on her throat. Gasping for air, her eyes reacted in horror as she recognized the cloaked figure near her.

"Hello Dolores," whispered the figure as a knife was shoved between her ribs and into her heart. The figure rose and wiped the blade off on her shockingly pink cardigan. "Too bad about your wand," the assailant said with a smile, walking quickly away.

… - …

All throughout Britain and countries within 2,000 miles, the same thing was happening with the wands and brooms. As far as Newfoundland, Sicily, Greece, Finland, Poland, Ukraine, the northern edge of the middle east and into Romania, wands and broomsticks were flying away at a ridiculous speed. Those wandcrafters who'd had the misfortune of being in their shops had been impaled by the madly flying wands. Most of the wand shops caught fire due to the flying objects knocking over kerosene lamps. The Nimbus broomstick building in Tipperary caught fire, as did the Comet broom making storeroom building in Lancashire; burning all of their wood and core material. Willie, the Master Wandcrafter in Munich was impaled by thirty-four of his own wands as his building burned around him. Twenty other Wandmakers and Master Crafters suffered the same fate. Ollivander's shop caught on fire as the Master Wandcrafter took his last breath. The flames ignited several other buildings. The fire looked like it was going to spread throughout the alley, until three hundred goblins came running out from Gringotts, carrying buckets of water and formed a well-organized fire brigade that put the flames out after a few minutes.

… - …

Back at Hogwarts, Hermione grew increasingly frantic when she realized that she'd unconsciously seen Moody murder her favorite professor. Minutes later, the wands flew away. She looked around for any of the champions and eventually saw the French champion walk out, followed by Cedric Diggory, who stumbled out of the maze entrance, only to collapse. He had been bitten by an acromantula, which had been in the maze. Five minutes later, she saw Victor crawl out; with his clothing smoldering and looking horribly burned. Poppy Pomfrey immediately ran over and attended to the wounded.

In all of the confusion, few noticed the smoke that had been pouring out of the seventh-floor windows of the castle for a few minutes until the elves put out the fire.

… - ...

Hundreds of miles to the southwest of Hogwarts, fewer still would notice a shack that had burned down less than a mile from where moments before Harry had overpowered a re-embodied Tom Riddle and his band of murdering followers. After being attacked one final time by a few of the dying Death Eaters, who had yet not completely succumbed to having had their magic drained by Riddle, as he'd lost a test of wills with the fourteen-year-old teen; who suddenly remembered that he had a lot to live for, Harry slumped onto the ground/.

While the blood and black ichor ran down his forehead, Harry had cast a grossly overcharged spell at the remaining Death Eaters who, in their death throes, had decided to attack him. Due to temporarily absorbing the magical energy from fighting Riddle, the acquired excess energy seemed to discharge when he'd cast the spell summoning their wands. Due to the force of his spell, he was dazed for nearly a half hour.

Finally, he stood up and tossed the broken wands and masks into the much larger than expected bonfire that had been used to heat the giant cauldron that reformed Riddle. He was in pain from superficial burns and his robes were badly singed. Unknown to Harry, thousands of wands had burned up in the fire while he'd been unconscious.

Recognizing the dead Death Eater's faces from having seen their pictures the Daily Prophet, society section, Harry realized that most of the people here had been pictured with Minister Fudge. The corrupt politico would never believe that the pile of goo just feet away from him had been responsible for all of their deaths. Knowing that, Harry transfigured the dead snake and all of the dead bodies into trees and bushes to hide any traces of his involvement in their demise.

Being practical, he collected the bags of coins that had been in their pockets When he'd stuffed all of them into his robe pockets, he grabbed the cup like the ghostly image of his father had suggested. It brought him back to Hogwarts.

… - ...

No witch or wizard connected the fire at Grimmauld Place with the events of the evening. All of Riddle's horcruxes had burned up as he'd drawn their magic in a desperate attempt to remain alive. The only one who eventually came to that conclusion was Ragnok. He'd been informed of a fire in the Lestrange vault minutes before Gumeye reported the deaths.

At Gringotts, Gumeye, the weekend attendant for the Book of Death was panicking. Page after page was being written by the charmed recording pen. He'd seen more deaths recorded in the last half hour than he normally would in six months. He called for the runner to request that Senior Manager Barchoke come down.

A minute later, Barchoke hurried down to see the problem for himself. Much to his surprise, there were five pages from this evening. As he thought about it, another name was added to the book, Dolores Umbridge. He directed, the runner to request that Director Ragnok come down.

After examining the names, Ragnok directed, "Have Snotnose and his team lock down their estates and vaults."

… - ...

Back at Hogwarts, Hermione finally saw an exhausted looking Harry wandering around, carrying the trophy cup. He'd spotted Fudge and brought it over to him, saying, "Here's the cup, Minister."

Fudge seemed to calm a bit, seeing Potter in one piece and replied, "Cedric mentioned that you were the first to grab it."

Before he could ask, Harry told a half-truth and said, "There was something wrong with the portkey. I had to walk a ways to give it to you."

Completely distracted, Fudge replied, "Completely understandable. With all of the chaos here, we can't do a proper awards ceremony. Here are your winnings." Looking at the blood on the teen's face, he suggested, "Perhaps you should go see Healer Pomfrey." With all of the chaos of the evening, his explanation of a slightly miscast portkey wasn't even noticed. He never gave the teen's explanation a second thought.

"Thank you, Minister. I'm just glad that it's over."

Harry allowed himself to be dragged into the Ancillary Room off of the Great Hall, where this nightmare had started months back on Halloween. As his girlfriend was closing the door, he requested, "One question at a time from each of us. We'll take turns. You go first."

As she tenderly cleaned the blood and black ichor off of his forehead, she asked, "What happened in the maze?"

The weary teen replied, "It was pretty easy; there was an upside-down trap and a boggart. I heard Fleur scream but she was a ways away. I thought I'd heard Krum cursing her but I was distracted at the time. I met a sphinx who asked a riddle. I answered the question and saw a giant spider that was chasing Cedric. I grabbed the cup. It was a two-way portkey."

He paused for a moment and practically inhaled a sandwich and a butterbeer that Dobby had brought him.

He continued, "The entire tournament had been a setup to get me into a graveyard with Tom Riddle. He was inhabiting the body of some toddler. Pettigrew was there and I was stunned and tied up. The short of it was they had made some sort of potion or ritual. The final ingredients were bone from his father, flesh of a servant and my blood. Pettigrew put baby Riddle into the pot and a minute later, a re-embodied Tom Riddle emerged. He called his followers and talked with them a bit. Then like a cat playing with its food, he made a big show of torturing me for a few minutes."

He finished his sandwich and a second butterbeer and continued. "Apparently his ego had been bruised. He ordered me to be untied, tossed my wand back to me and started a duel. He fired a killing curse and I fired the disarming charm. Somehow the two spells connected. It was a test of wills and I wasn't going to give in to the bastard. A glowing sphere formed around us. I pushed my spell into his wand and an image of every spell that he'd ever cast came out of his wand – killing curses, torture curses, everything. It seemed to be taxing to Riddle, like he was recasting them. I think he somehow drew the magic from his followers to keep going. It seemed to energize me, as they all grew weaker. After a few minutes, they were completely drained and started dying off. Riddle eventually collapsed and turned into a bunch of goo. A couple of the Death Eaters who somehow hadn't died yet tried to curse me. I wanted to hit all of them with a sweeping Diffindo. Somebody charged at me, I cast somethingas hard as I could and collapsed by the bonfire. I must have been out for a half hour. I woke up and felt like I'd been half roasted."

He finished his second butterbeer.

"Everyone else was dead from being sucked dry by Riddle. I picked up the wizard coins that I could find, tossed their broken wands and masks into the bonfire, then transfigured them into trees and bushes. I was so tired. I picked up the cup and was taken back to the entrance to the maze. I walked around in the crowd for a bit, talked with Fudge for a tic and you found me."

Hermione had a million questions but could see how tired he was. She said, "Your question."

With eyes starting to droop, he asked, "What happened here?"

"For a while, nothing. Then it got crazy. Professor Snape killed Professor Dumbledore. I witnessed Professor Moody stabbing Professor McGonagall. They tried to get away and somehow died."

Harry stated, "Mad Eye wouldn't have done that. Let's go to sleep."

"Here?"

"Why not? Dobby, can we get a couple of pillows and blankets?"

As if by magic, they appeared.

As they were settling in, Harry felt something and said, "Here's your wand. Thank you."

She gasped, "How?"

"I dunno. We'll solve it tomorrow."

She said, "I'm glad you're here. I love you.

He was already sleeping. She watched over him for a while, then snuggled into his back and went to sleep.

… - …

Sunday June 25

While Hermione and Harry were questioning each other and snuggling together, Fudge had returned to the ministry and had been grilling Percy Weasley off and on throughout the late evening. The redhead had yet to find the outer boundary of the affected area. "I've heard back from Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Norway, Iceland and Switzerland. They're in the same condition that we are."

Not wanting the lad to start whinging, Fudge asked, "Do any of them have a wandmaker?" He'd previously heard that Ollivanders had burned up.

At Weasley's pause, he added, "Percy, I don't expect you to know; I'm asking you to find out. Also, if you can, find Lucius. I need to talk with him. Snape and Mad Eye killing Dumbledore and Minerva in front of all those children... Bad business. Where's Amelia?"

"She's still out at Hogwarts. That wasn't Moody. Someone had locked him in his trunk and impersonated him; apparently for months." Weasley's reply barely registered with the frustrated minister who was at his limit.

"Where's Dolores?"

"I don't know, Sir. She's not answered her floo call."

"That'll be my problem. Check back in this afternoon." He went home to get cleaned up.

… - ...

Back at Hogwarts, it looked like an absolute nightmare for Amelia and the other Aurors. If she'd had her wand, Senior Investigator Connie Hammer could have cast a quick spell to end a polyjuice potioning. The real Moody was unconscious and hopefully would be able to shed some light on the identity of his captor when he woke up. There were stoppered bottles full of the polyjuice mixture in the impostor's office but nothing leading to their identity.

Poppy's infirmary was full – two champions and Moody; all serious cases, along with a few hysterical children; now resting with dreamless sleep potion. Amos' boy should make a complete recovery in a week or two, though it had been a near thing after having been bitten by one of the giant spiders in the maze. The prospects for the Bulgarian champion weren't as good, as the burn potions were usually supplemented by charms that they currently couldn't administer. Minimally, he would have significant amounts of scar tissue on his hands and face as well as his crotch area.

Amelia had seen Snape and Karkarov. Their Dark Mark tattoos were vivid black, a shade that she'd not seen in over thirteen years. She fully expected that the impostor was also wearing one.

Rufus had received the floo call from Warden Speirs regarding the dead Death Eaters and in turn had floo called Amelia at Hogwarts. The Azkaban guards were safely locked in their blockhouse. While Rufus could mount a rescue mission for them, moving the remaining prisoners represented a far greater risk. It was a serious assumption that the dementors were all in the high security area at the time of the Great Wandout, as Tonks had referred to it. It was a huge assumption that they had all been locked in. It was a gross generalization that only the Death Eaters had been housed in the high security area. That said, it was a reasonable belief that they would all be dead of dehydration in little more than 72 hours without assistance.

Amelia thought the responsible thing to do would be to mount a rescue mission for the guards and the low/medium security prisoners. They could parole the low security prisoners and house the few medium security prisoners – those who had been sentenced to more than ten years but less than life, in the converted cells in the ministry. Alternately, they could ask if the goblins needed help cleaning their dragon pens and offer them up. Either option was likely to be a hard sell with Fudge, who didn't like to think of unpleasant details. She decided to explore the dragon pen option and give him a plan that he could say yes to.

Earlier in the morning, she'd met with Flitwick and Sprout and agreed with their plan to start sending the students home as soon as their parents could be contacted. Flitwick suggested that the house elves could be asked to transport the student trunks to the children's' homes. They decided to have the first through third years attempt to floo call their parents and go home today and the fourth and sixth year students go home tomorrow. Madam Marchbanks and crew would begin the OWL examinations tomorrow and the NEWT exams on Wednesday.

Amelia decided to talk with Flitwick later and circumvent the pompous arsed, Goblin liaison department. She was convinced that nearly 2/3 of the ministry positions were excess, or make-work jobs for friends of the tattoo club and Fudge. She smirked at the thought of his reaction when, not if, her assumption was proven correct, and thirty or so people wouldn't show up for work on Monday morning.

… - …

Back at Gringotts, Director Ragnok and his lifelong friend and closest confidant, Senior Account Manager Barchoke were discussing what they knew and were extrapolating to what they believed happened. With the information obtained from the Book of Death, telephone conversations with Ragnok's counterparts around the world and the spontaneous combustion of the contents in the Lestrange vault, they were working from a far larger base of information than Fudge and Percy. Ragnok stated, "We know the timing of the Wizard Tournament. The timing almost perfectly lines up with the other events. The key name is here - Tom Marvolo Riddle. It is listed seven times in the Book of Death. The timing of the deaths of his slaves is within minutes of his listings on the front end and mere seconds on the back side. It also coincides with the fire in the Lestrange vault."

Barchoke correctly concluded, "The most likely explanation is horcruxes. Additionally, something happened that made Riddle draw upon the magical essence of his marked followers. No other single physical event would explain the simultaneous deaths of his slaves when they were in physically different locations."

Ragnok added, "It is likely that someone used the old wizard ritual to re-embody him. That requires the blood of an enemy, bone from his father and willingly offered flesh from a servant. Dumbledore and Harry Potter were Riddle's greatest enemies. Dumbledore was in plain sight the entire time, whereas Potter's whereabouts were hidden from the moment that he walked into the maze until he was seen presenting the prize cup to Minister Fudge 90 minutes later. If Potter had been forcibly transported to where Riddle was, the ritual wouldn't have taken long. It fits within the framework of what we know."

At nearly 200 years old, both goblins had solved their share of mysteries together. "Once Riddle was re-embodied and had called his slaves to his side, his pride would have demanded that he duel Potter for a demonstration of his prowess. If it started going badly, he could have drawn on their magical essence until he had drained them, then drawn from the essence of the horcruxes. He was a fool to start a fight until he had rested and his magic had stabilized."

Barchoke agreed. "True; though his mistake does not take away from Potter's apparent achievement. Riddle's recent actions were to our benefit. He single-handedly removed fifty thorns from our side. There is much profit to be made. Your theory all fits together. There are no contradictions, or conflicts. Perhaps when he summoned his slaves, Snape and the impostor felt the call and took the opportunity to kill Dumbledore and McGonagall. Perhaps they were completing their assigned tasks. The fact that they were both murdered simultaneously supports that theory."

"Who was the impostor?"

"Wick chose not to check. It is likely that he'd lost his wand and didn't want to reveal our methods in public."

Ragnok replied, "That leaves two other mysteries - the disappearance of the wands and the circumstances of the other one. I expect that Potter will be in to conduct business within a few days. Be certain that the tellers are watching for him and are told to notify us when he arrives. What did the other branches report?"

Barchoke replied, "If Potter and Riddle's actions are the epicenter, as we suspect, the effect seems to range for just over 3,200 kilometers; about 2,000 of the English miles. The effect doesn't seem to be even or consistent, as if it were caused by an overly powered, hurriedly cast spell of some sort. It appears that most of the wandcrafters in the affected area died as well. Without their sticks and the ability to remake them, their economies will fail. That would be disastrous for us. Irrespective of what the other branches choose to do, I recommend that we assist them, - preferably in a way that is directly profitable to us."

"That would involve securing the services of a Wandmaster outside of the affected area. I'll get the information from my counterpart, Director Goldbar in Boston. Find me if something else happens with the book, or as soon as Potter comes in. We'll both talk with him."

As they were talking, the runner knocked and said, "Gumeye has reported a new round of events." They went down and looked at the latest listings of deaths.

They examined the names on the list for the morning; Carl Warrington, Marcus Flint, Adrian Pucey, and Jacob Bole. On the current page were Claire Nott, Theodore Nott, Vincent Crabbe, Gregory Goyle and the most recent two - Draco Malfoy and Pansy Parkinson; heirs to some of the larger estates that the bank worked with. While the goblins didn't know the circumstances, all of the students, in three separate groups, had gone into the forbidden forest in search of a unicorn, which could be captured and its tail hair used to make a wand. They had each unintentionally gone near the part of the forest inhabited by the bear-sized acromantulas. The giant spiders had poisoned them and would soon drink all their fluids.

Gumeye reported, "The first two were three hours ago, the second two were one hour ago and the last six occurred ten minutes ago."

Barchoke observed, "Based upon their ages, they all should have been at Hogwarts. Nine of them were primary heirs."

Ragnok directed, "Have Snotnose freeze the vaults and ward the estates. Verify that he has done the same for those who died last night without living spouses referenced in their wills. Excellent work, Gumeye. Perhaps you would enjoy being one of my runners?"

"Thank you, Director. I would be honored."

To Barchoke, he commented, "Find a suitable replacement and see that they are both well trained."

He nodded and they went their separate ways.

… - ...

Earlier that morning, Pomfrey, Sprout and Flitwick made the decision to send all of the children who weren't taking OWL or NEWT exams home. They made the announcement that the students were to pack their trunks and that they would floo from Healer Pomfrey's floo either to their home, if it was connected to the floo network, or the nearest location if it wasn't.

Hermione borrowed Hedwig and sent a note to her parents, requesting to be picked up at the Leaky Cauldron, Monday morning at ten. She requested that her dad bring the Land Rover. Not having a telephone to call from was ridiculous.

As they were getting ready to send the note, Dobby and Winky appeared and asked if it would be possible for them to go with the two teens.

Harry replied, "We'd be honored if you both did. Are you sure?"

Winky replied, "Dobby and Winky will go where Harry Potter goes. Perhaps Harry Potter should be wearing best clothes tomorrow for meeting?"

Hermione asked, "Who will Harry be meeting with tomorrow."

"Hermione's parents and important Gringotts people." It wasn't framed as a question or a possibility, rather a certainty.

Harry really didn't have anything better. Dobby looked at him for a minute and said, "If Harry Potter has a few galleons, Dobby and Winky will buy some appropriate clothing for him."

Having just received a bag of galleons, plus thousands from the Death Eaters, Harry took out a good handful and handed them to Dobby. The excitable elves popped away. Five minutes later, Dobby appeared with shoes, shirts, several ties, a hand-crafted suit, along with several casual outfits that all looked like they would be a perfect fit for him. Hermione smiled as she saw them, thinking how good her boyfriend would look. Winky said, "Harry Potter should be wearing suit tomorrow. Winky will throw old rag clothing away."

Dobby handed half of the coins back and added, "We didn't spend all of Harry Potter's coins."

Harry handed them back and said, "You should keep them, Dobby. You might need them to buy something else next time."

Beaming, Little D replied, "Dobby will keep them safe."

… - …

That afternoon, Amelia went to find Fudge. He asked, "What do you have to report?"

She replied, "The younger students who are able to contact their parents either by owl or floo call are being allowed to leave today. The rest of the students are contacting their parents by owl and are expected to leave tomorrow. A few may have left already. Poppy, Flitwick and Sprout seem to have the situation in hand.

"Master Auror Moody is expected to live. The Champion from Bulgaria is also expected to live. The students are sailing their ship back to the school tonight. The Beauxbatons group left this morning. Cedric Diggory is expected to remain in the hospital wing for at least another week. The Impostor, the two Death Eaters, Dumbledore and Minerva are in a cold storage stasis at Hogwarts that the elves initiated.

"It's highly likely that there are some new, underage orphans. Since Malfalda Hopkirk can't operate the underage magic detectors without a wand, I'll reassign her to look into it and make any necessary arrangements."

Finally she added, "Rufus heard back from the Warden, who reported that all of the Marked Death Eaters in Azkaban died about the same times as the ones at Hogwarts."

Fudge gulped. As long as the Campaign Donations kept coming, he'd been happy to overlook their past. He had the sinking feeling that the donations well had suddenly run dry. He asked, "What else?"

"Using their call-only Floo, the Warden floo called Rufus and stated that they believe that all of the dementors were either locked in the maximum security wing, or in the Dementor Tower. The guards and the Warden are currently safe in the employee quarters. They're not certain if there are other dementors that were somewhere else during the Wandout. Their emergency portkey is wand activated, so they have no way of getting off of the island. Rufus is arranging a muggle transport, as the magical ferry won't run without a wand."

She added, "We need to decide what to do with the 6 medium and 25 low-security prisoners. The two options that I've considered are paroling the low-security prisoners and either housing the medium-security prisoners in our holding cells, or asking the goblin nation to put them to work cleaning their dragon pens."

Fudge replied, "Without their wands for personal protection, the public will never stand for anyone being released, nor would they allow any witch or wizard to be turned over to the goblins. I'm not paroling anyone."

"The third option is to leave them there." She thought it was a horrible option, given the possibility of loose dementors and hated even mentioning the idea. It was a slow death sentence.

"That would be best."

She observed, "Without any food or water, they'll all die within a week."

The only card that she could play would be to suggest actually taking the issue to the Wizengamot. Neither said anything for a minute; each hoping that the other would blink first. Finally, Fudge directed, "Have Scrimgeour collect the warden and guards. I'm not signing any prisoner releases. By the time that the Daily Prophet starts up again, it will be old news." Fudge added, "Who's looking for Lucius?"

"No one. His family hasn't reported him missing. He and Narcissa were seen voluntarily walking away from the tournament with some of his pals. My personal belief is that he met the same fate as the other tattoo club members like Snape, Karkarov or the Azkaban Death Eaters." She chose not to mention that she knew that they'd been sitting next to him or ask if they'd mentioned where they were going.

Fudge sent her off. Neither one got what they wanted from the meeting. Fudge never liked Amelia; their styles were too different. He was the consummate politician who knew how to please people and hold his hand out. Bones dealt in facts and the gritty side of life that he wanted no part of. That said; their styles balanced each other to good effect. She had a clear respect for the law and the rights of individuals. He respected her as a leader but doubted that she would find any joy in the necessary art of compromise that he believed politics frequently demanded.

… - …

Monday June 26

When it was their turn to leave that morning, Harry and Hermione went to the Hospital Wing where Madam Pomfrey had her fire running. She said, "Take a pinch of the floo powder, toss it in the fireplace, clearly say, The Leaky Cauldron, then just walk in at a slow pace and keep walking." She was well-practiced in explaining how to use the floo system.

Harry gave Pomfrey a roguish wink and said, "Thank you for everything. Have a nice holiday." They stepped through and a few seconds later they were walking out of the fireplace at the Leaky Cauldron.

She brushed a bit of soot off of his slate gray suit and looked for her dad. She had requested that they bring the Range Rover. Since he was the one who drove it and it was unlikely that they both could take the day off in short notice, she'd effectively invited her dad. They saw him standing just outside the pub. Hermione grabbed his hand and they went back inside. She said, "Dad, this is my best friend, Harry Potter."

OK, it was the handmade suit, or rather the effort that the lad had made to be presentable. He held out his hand and said, "Hi. I'm Dan Granger. Pleased to meet you."

"I'm Harry, Sir. Hermione's told me a lot of nice things about you and your wife. I'm pleased to meet you." He had a good grip. The two men had a common interest and just hit it off. He added, "We have a bit of business to do at the bank. Would you join us? I think I'll need a bit of advice, if you wouldn't mind."

"Let's go." Somehow, the brick entrance had been set to remain open and they walked through the alley until they reached the marble steps. Harry nodded respectfully to the guards as they walked by. Hermione noticed that they had nodded back.

One of the tellers recognized Potter as they walked in, called the runner and stepped out to greet them. He said, "Good morning, Mr. Potter and party. My name is Sharktooth. The runner will escort you to Barchoke, your Account Manager."

"Thank you, Sharktooth. Thank you." The teller nodded back and Harry, the Grangers and Dobby and Winky who had just joined them followed along until they reached Barchoke's conference room.

Barchoke was impressed with the young wizard. He had introduced everyone properly, making no exception for the two elves. He offered them refreshments and they began. "We have at least three bits of business to handle today, Mr. Potter but something brought you here. How can I help you?"

Harry took out the various moneybags from the bottomless bag that Hermione had bought him and said, "If it's possible, I'd like to deposit half of these and convert the other half to pounds."

He didn't mention it, but Barchoke recognized Malfoy's bag, confirming at least part of their earlier speculation. He emptied the bags with practiced ease into two others and said, "19,050G total. Would you like me to dispose of the other bags?"

Harry nodded and said, "Please."

In less than a minute, the runner returned with a brushed aluminum case and handed it to Barchoke, who handed it to Harry, who set it on the floor next to him. Barchoke handed Harry a one-inch metal cube and said, "Please hold this to your forehead and think about the night of the 24th with Tom Riddle until you handed Minister Fudge the cup."

Harry had been expecting this and readily complied. He handed it back to Barchoke who set it down and set it to play.

The Sphinx was a magnificent being. Dan watched in wonder, silently guessing along as she gave the clue. He gripped the arms of his chair when he saw the giant spider and Harry grabbed the cup. The next 45 minutes sickened, shocked and amazed him as he watched the strong-willed teen fight to survive and eventually triumph. It was the most remarkable demonstration of verifying your daughter's boyfriend's bona fides in centuries.

When it finished, Barchoke said, "Perhaps we could take a break for a few minutes. The restroom is right here. Please have a refreshment. I'll be right back."

Hermione was in the bathroom, disgorging everything that she ever remembered eating.. Winky went in to assist her. The little elf said, "Your Harry Potter is the bravest wizard Winky has ever heard of. Winky will clean you up and you will kiss his doubt away." She flicked her fingers; vanishing the sick and left a minty taste in Hermione's mouth. The teen dashed out of the room and followed the little being's directions as best she could with her father in the room.

Dan poured himself two fingers of the whiskey that was in the bottle and had half in one gulp. He'd seen some action in the Falklands on a short tour of duty. Nothing, nothing he'd seen had compared to this. A Victoria Cross would only be a down payment for what he'd just witnessed.

Hermione finally put enough distance between the two to allow breathing. Dobby handed his best friend a butterbeer as Winky did the same for Hermione.

Harry said, "I'm sorry that you had to see that, Sir. I'm..."

"Nonsense. I'm sorry that you had to live it, Son but I'm damn glad that you're here and whole to have a drink with and delighted that it ended as it did."

"Well spoken, Dr. Granger," said Barchoke, who had just returned. "You put Tom Riddle down for good; something that others were unable to do for the last fifty years. The fact that he showed no value in the lives of his murdering slaves and took them to their graves along with him is just a bonus to the magical world. Who else knows of this?"

Harry replied, "To my knowledge, no one outside of this room."

"I have given the memory cube to Director Ragnok, who is watching it while we conduct our business. He'll be in after he's seen it. My personal opinion is that you would do well to leave that list very small, as long as Minister Fudge remains in office. He values bribes far too much to see the true worth of your actions that night. Let us begin."

"Your father's parents left him an estate consisting of a spacious, well-appointed home built on an eighty-acre property in Gloucester, along with five million galleons. Your parents lived there for a while until you were a year old. Professor Dumbledore was constantly asking your father for gold to fund his plots and schemes to fight Tom Riddle and his slaves. Ironically, he could have ended the conflict anytime in the first fifteen years that he'd known him but he didn't have the stomach to clean up his own mess. Aside from a ruined home on eighty acres of land, your father died virtually penniless. As luck would have it, he'd previously set up a generous trust fund for you when you were born that couldn't be touched until your school years.

"Fortunately, your mother had received a modest amount of money from her parents, which she kept away from Dumbledore's reach. We followed the remarkable directions that she left and turned the fifty thousand pounds into five million. Your Aunt received the same and purchased the home that you lived in located in Surrey. They remained out of prison for the mistreatment of you through Dumbledore's manipulation of the child welfare system. I am sorry to say that because of his various positions, we were unable to aid you."

Dan immediately said, "You're more than welcome to spend the summer with us if you wish. I'm decent at hobby woodworking. I'd be happy to show you what I know. We have plenty of room."

"Thank you, Sir."

"Dan. Dan and Emma. You've earned it."

Another goblin stepped in and observed, "Indeed he has; that and much more. I'm Ragnok, the Director of this branch of Gringotts. I'm happy to meet you, Mr. Potter."

"Harry."

"I'm happy to meet you, Harry. Who are your friends?"

Harry made the introductions and while goblins society was very respectful of earned titles, the seven of them were on a first name basis that day. Ragnok said, "In partial recognition of your amazing achievements, I would like to like to offer you and your friends an adventure and an opportunity. Aside from the two of you, the witches and wizards of Britain have lost their wands and their Wandmaster. I have made arrangements with the Wandmaster in Salem Massachusetts in the US to teach you and your friends the art of wandcrafting. It is an excellent profession in ordinary times. In this extraordinary situation, you and your friends could become quite wealthy."

He continued, "If you agree, you and your friends would be taught the basics; more than enough to get started. You would be invited back next July to finish the training."

Hermione asked, "What of our education?"

He replied, "Hogwarts is unlikely to reopen in September. You could defer your Hogwarts education for a year or so, learn something unique and be in a position to truly help 30,000 people. Your getting rich along the way is a fitting thank you from the Goblin Nation."

Dan asked, "Please tell us more. We're interested."

… - …

Back at the ministry, Fudge had Weasley summon the facilities people to his office. Bernie Pillsworth was what would be a heating, ventilation and cooling specialist had he worked in a nonmagical building. Reginald Cattermole was the supervisor. He was also responsible for the magical windows, the elevator and supervised the floo system.

Fudge asked, "How long before the elevators are working again?"

Cattermole replied, "They'll work fine again when people have wands to use to tap the appropriate rune. Changing and recharging the rune set to work without them would be completely impractical."

It wasn't the answer that he wanted to hear but he wasn't surprised by it. "What about the floo system?"

"The floo system as a whole will continue to operate for another two or three months before it powers down. In the mean time, there's no way to put in new addresses or make changes without wands."

"That's not the problem," interjected Pillsworth, who somehow had the idea that the Minister would appreciate unpleasant (but true) details. Cattermole gave him a death glare but apparently he missed it. "The stores are about out of floo powder. The factory was shut down for maintenance and wont be able to restart without wands. I doubt there'll be any left on the shelf by next Saturday."

Fudge replied, "People will just have to make do with what they have, or borrow a bit from their neighbor." Mentally he thought to ask Weasley to go buy him a jar when the meeting was over. He asked, "What about the lights and ventilation?"

Pillsworth replied, "They're powered by a separate rune stone than what the floo system uses. I charged it on Friday."

"Excellent. How long does the charge last?"

"Maybe as long as a month. We normally charge them once every two weeks."

Fudge asked, "How could we keep the lights on longer?"

Pillsworth replied, "Have somebody tap their wand on the off rune for the cooling system." It sounded flippant but Fudge was certain that it was accurate.

Fudge summarized, "So nothing on our end is going to break for another two weeks or so. Thank you, gentlemen." He didn't want to know any details. He operated best with the half-page summary sheet. Dolores had always handled the details. If only he knew someone with a wand.

Five minutes later, Percy was at Diagon Alley shopping for floo powder. There may be an upcoming shortage but Cornelius wouldn't be the one who ran out anytime soon.

… - …

Pamela Goyle hadn't seen her husband in three days. That in itself wasn't that unusual, so she wasn't panicking. She went to the counter at Gringotts where Snotnose, the Senior Appraiser, was about to suspend access to all of the Death Eater accounts. He saw Mrs. Goyle there; having recognized her from having done some appraisals on modest pieces of jewelry in the past. He decided to wait another five minutes before freezing all of the Death Eater accounts. She waited quietly in line and withdrew her monthly 500 galleons allowance. from their account. As she was walking out the door, he passed the notices out to the tellers. He wasn't completely heartless.

… - …

Before Fudge left for the night, he looked at the various daily reports from the different departments. He wiped his brow in relief and frustration when he tallied the reports and noticed that thirty of the employees didn't show up for work today and hadn't called in sick either.

… - …

Ludo Bagman had won a pile of gold on the third task. The majority of the Death Eaters had bet on Krum. He'd bet on Potter. The only problem was that Malfoy was holding the bet money and was nowhere to be found. He'd borrowed the money to make his bet. He needed to pay it back soon.

… - …

Wednesday June 28

Scrimgeour began the briefing to rescue the Azkaban guards. "We'll leave from John O' Groats at the spot where the regular ferry boat is moored. It should take us less than an hour to reach Azkaban island. You've all been to it. Not everyone has been through it. There are five buildings – the prisoner quarters building with the three wings. It's connected to the Dementor tower. According to Warden Speirs, almost all of the dementors are locked in either the dementor tower or the prisoner quarters building.

"There's the storage building. It should be locked. That's the building closest to the ferry dock. We have no plans of going in there. There's the guard blockhouse. It's about 200 yards from the dock. Finally, there's the Warden's office halfway between the guard blockhouse and the prisoner quarters building. It's about 100 yards from the guard blockhouse." His chalkboard drawing was clearly marked and reasonably to scale.

"Everyone hear me out. Unless you trained with Allan Wells, the dementors can float faster than you can run – maybe by half." The chatter in the room stopped. No one wanted to French kiss a dementor.

"I'm not expecting any problems on our way to Azkaban Island. We'll get to the dock and take a look out the windows of the boat cabin. If it's safe, we'll tie up. We'll assess how many dementors are loose, or at least visible. If there are none, we'll go. If there are more than six, we'll turn around and go back."

Someone asked, "Why six, sir?"

"There are only twelve of us to fight them off."

"What are we using for protection?" The billy clubs that Bones had issued them were fine for breaking up a brawl at Dumbledore's goat club bar but no one wanted to hold a dementor off with one.

"I've managed to find these flare pistols. According to the instructions, they will fire a burning flare that would be reasonably accurate at ten yards. They are for defense only. I was able to acquire twelve of them and a total of thirty-six flares." He held one up along with the flare cartridges which looked like an overlarge shotgun shell. "To load it, you press this lever and the barrel hinges open." He passed out the pistols and everyone tried it. "You load the flare into the chamber like this and close the barrel until the lever clicks shut."

The Walther flare pistol was a single shot handgun made in the 1940s that fired a 29MM (1.2 inch) flare with the pull of a trigger. It resembled a one-shot over sized break-open revolver more than anything. A person who had practiced with it could fire three flairs in a minute with some accuracy within ten yards.

He passed out the flares; three to a person.

Someone asked, "Shouldn't we practice with these, Sir?"

"I was only able to find twelve pistols and thirty-six flares. If we each test fire one, we'll each have two. Would you rather walk onto the island with two flares or three?"

"What else can we bring, Sir?"

Rufus replied, "I'm open to suggestions." While there was some chatter, no one volunteered anything. "If we see a dementor, we don't know how it will act. It might float away from us, it might watch, or it might be aggressive. We're not going to make any particular noise unless things have gone pear shaped."

"Sir, what if we brought more people?"

"And armed them with what? We already have thirteen unarmed guards to worry about." The Aurors could see his point. "Again, if we see more than six dementors, we don't get out of the boat. I want everyone here to end their shift, then go home and have dinner tonight. If Warden Speirs has armed all of the guards with pitchforks and flaming torches, all the better for him. We sneak in, collect the guards and we sneak out. If we're lucky, we'll be back on the boat in ten minutes. We're not equipped to fight our way in, grab the guards and fight our way out. Any other questions?" No one said a word.

"OK. Saddle up."

They took the floo to the building in John o' Groats and found the completely enclosed cruise ship life boat that Amelia had procured for them. John Proudfoot, the pilot was ready for them.

Azkaban island was about a half mile square. It was simply a large rock that stood defiantly several miles out in the North Sea. The water was no more than a few degrees above freezing in late June. There was no beach, just a series of jagged rocks that stood guard, menacingly keeping the ocean away. The elevation was twenty to thirty feet above sea level. Whereas Hogwarts castle was warm and inviting, the Azkaban fortress was cold and ideally suited for housing a hundred or so of the most deranged prisoners that Britain had ever known.

When the covered rescue boat arrived at the dock, Scrimgeour opened the door and looked to the sky. He could see two dementors floating above the stone tower that housed their fellows. His second in command for the mission, Alastor Gumboil asked, "What do you think?"

"There are some out floating around the tower." They didn't have their wands, they didn't have their patronus animals waiting to charge after any dementors that floated too close or who had the idea to attack. Suddenly, twelve aurors armed with flare pistols that they'd never practiced with and only three flares apiece made them feel like fattened lambs strutting around at a hungry-wolf convention.

Rufus replied, "I could see how they might have missed that pair. I doubt they missed fifty. Get everyone out of the boat except the pilot. Keep the engine running. Let's go."

The twelve member team led by Scrimgeour divided into an eight person group who were to go to the employee barracks and the warden's office, in that order and get the twelve guards and the warden to the boat which the other four would be guarding. He had the guard room door key in one hand and his flare pistol in the other. In the event of a numerically superior attack by the dementors, they were to run back to the boat as fast as they could.

As Alastor Gumboil stepped off the boat with the others, he wished that he'd had two flair pistols with him along with an entire backpack full of flares. They didn't. Their only winning move was to not have to fire a round. The eight men were ready to go. Tom Savage, who was in charge of the other four who were guarding the boat gave his boss a grim nod.

They didn't run, rather they walked purposefully. Gumboil was tasked with watching the skies as they walked along. It took them about five minutes to reach the barracks. It was locked. When he unlocked and opened the door, he was delighted and disappointed that the room was only occupied by eight people. Scrimgeour asked, "Where are the others?"

One of the guards replied, "Warden Speirs' office."

Scrimgeour said, "You two take them back. Use the same walking pace that we came out with. One of you watch the skies as you go. Move out."

The six of them made their way towards the office. Gumboil whispered, "Shite. There's eight of them!"

Scrimgeour kept walking to the door, in spite of his own instructions, knocked and opened the door. He only said two words, "Let's go."

They had taken about six steps when Gumboil whispered, "They're floating our way. They're about 200 yards behind us and off to the left."

The eight dementors were about 100 feet up and were still matching their pace. Rufus whispered, "When we get toward the docks, those of you with the flare pistols hold back a bit. Have a second flare ready in case we need to reload. Keep walking."

When they were about 100 yards from the boat, Gumboil shouted, "Run."

They did.

No one would have mistaken them for track stars, but nobody tripped and they made a respectable showing. They all made it into the boat and had the door closed before they could have made an accurate shot. Warden Speirs asked, "What about the prisoners?"

Scrimgeour replied, "Fudge wouldn't sign any transfer or release papers. You can stay on the boat, or go back to your office but they're not coming with us and we're leaving."

No one was happy but they left anyway. They unloaded the flare pistols and started back to John o' Grotes.

… - …

Harry used his newly gifted gold portkey watch to get to Hagrid's house. He was out in his garden, weeding. Harry greeted his friend and said, "I need to talk with you a bit. I need your help."

"Anything. Let's go inside. What's up?"

"Hagrid, this needs to stay a secret; a real secret. You can't tell anyone."

The big man ran his hand through his beard a moment and replied, "I can do that. What do you need?"

"Hermione and I are going to America to a wandmaking class in a few days. I need you to help me collect material to use for wand cores."

"I've got loads of stuff." He grabbed an old pillowcase and in a minute, it was full.

Harry said, "Thank you. We're going to try to make wands for every witch and wizard in Britain. That's about 30,000. I'll pay you a fair price. I'm going to need everything that you can find."

Honored to be asked to help with such an important task, Hagrid replied, "I'll go out every afternoon and see what I can find. I'll help you, Harry. You've helped me plenty o' times."

"Thanks Hagrid. Not a word. Seriously. OK?"

"OK. I promise. When will you be back?"

"About a month."

"I'll have another bag or two for ya when ya get back."

"Thanks Hagrid."

… - …

Twenty-three year old Sloane Selwin was meeting her friend Charlene, who was one of Conrad Parkinson's mistresses in one of the corners of the Three Broomsticks. Rita Skeeter, muckraker extraordinaire and part-time bug, flew to the back of Sloane's chair to listen.

"They were all sitting together in the stands at the third task. Their Dark Marks had been acting up for a few weeks, I was sitting by father..." Charles Selwin, recalled Skeeter. "When Dad's Dark Mark went totally black. I'd never seen it like that. Anyway, a few minutes later, he got up and whispered, The Dark Lord has called us back."

Charlene was hanging on every word. She asked, "Then what happened?"

"They all got up, made their excuses to Fudge and left. I assume that they apparated away to wherever he was. They haven't come back yet."

This was the biggest story Rita had ever personally heard. She flew out the door and wandlessly apparated to her boss, Barnabas Cuffe. She gave him the details. He replied, "Get back there and stick to Miss Selwin like glue. Crawl into her pocket or handbag. Don't let her get away."

She got back to the Leakey Cauldron just as Sloane was standing up. The bug hurriedly crawled into her raincoat pocket as Sloane was entering the floo. Moments later, Sloane was back home, where she was getting ready to take her coat off. She checked her pockets and the beetle fell onto the floor, where Sloane stepped on the bug without a second thought.

… - …

Back at Gringotts, Gumeye was training his replacement, Greenear when he saw Rita Skeeter's name appear in the book. Gumeye said, "Call the runner to inform Barchoke."

Greenear did as he'd been told.

A few minutes later, Barchoke came and examined the book. He nodded at Gumeye and told Greenear, "You did your job well. Continue." On the way back to his office, he wondered what sort of mischief the reporter had gotten into a moment before getting herself killed.

… - ...

Thursday June 29

The Thursday before they left, the five wandcrafter students went to see Barchoke and Ragnok for the purpose of structuring their business. Harry had talked with Dan and Emma the night before. He took her advice to heart – In business, the math needs to work. He wanted to borrow 1.5 million galleons to buy the building and extra tooling. Dan had cautioned him to accept Barchoke's offer of a lease but the teen refused. Dan was happy to take a leave from their practice but didn't want to invest millions into a fledgling business that he knew nothing about. They talked about different pricing plans. Harry was certain that Fudge would force some sort of involvement on them.

Dan asked, "Where are you planning on getting your materials?"

Harry was silent for an uncomfortably long time and replied, "I expect mostly from the forest by Hogwarts. I have enough for us to get started with." Dan wasn't convinced.

Dobby explained, "There are many magical creatures in the forest – unicorns, thestrals, hippogriffs. Other places have dragons. Also, there are other magical animals that could be asked."

Ragnok solved much of Dan's financial worry by stating that he would personally guarantee Harry's loan. Everyone was happy.

… - …

Friday June 30

The day before they left, Harry stopped into Gringotts to see Barchoke. Harry asked, "Could I get a couple; actually four of those memory cubes?" He thought that they'd be useful in class.

"Certainly. Here." He handed the teen a package from a bag that he had in a drawer.

"How long do they last?"

"I don't know; the oldest memory that I've personally seen is just over 1,100 years old." Barchoke held out another package of four and added, "You seem to collect interesting memories."

Harry put one to his forehead, thought about what he wanted and set it down.

Barchoke asked, "What is the context?"

Harry said, "This is the Chamber of Secrets from two year ago." He tapped the play rune on the side.

When it was done, Barchoke handed Harry the entire bag of the cubes and said, "You have highly interesting memories. I hope to see some happier ones someday. What was the disposition of the animal?"

"It's still there."

"It certainly belongs to you. Would you like to sell it?"

Harry replied, "If you can have it processed properly, I'd like to sell parts of it."

Barchoke nodded and observed, "It will still be there when you come back, I will ask the Senior Appraiser to look into this. Do you have access to the animal?"

"Limited."

"I'll have some portkeys made while you're at Salem."

… - ...

A/Ns

After posting Chapter One of Unintended Consequences, we realized that the story could have gone in vastly different directions. I'm happy that we're trying this path.

My intent is that most of the future chapters will each cover a month in the story. Some will be longer than others. It is what it is.

This version of Fudge has two priorities – collecting bribe money and staying in office. He'll prove far more of a hindrance than a help to Harry.

There are 14 planned chapters. We'll probably release three chapters a month. I retired from my business and Mrs. Crow has planned some trips, along with an enormous list of projects to occupy my time.

Are there any guesses who the bad guy might be?

Thank you for reading. As a recommendation, please consider Cronus by Deathbeast.

… - …

There are some 125 named characters in this story. About half of them are original characters. The rest came from the Lexicon.

List of Original characters worth knowing (Spoiler Alert - not intended to be used before chapter four)

Amanda Crabtree – Head of St Mungos

Anna Daily – Investigator

Anne Chambers – Department head at Salem

Basil Debit – Ministry Finance Director

Ben Olifson – Emma's Dad

Bito – Director of the Romanian dragon reserve

Bob Sunset – Auror. Named after a storyteller

Brent – Ones of the Weres

Carol – ones of the Weres. Friends with Sarah.

Cindy Creevey – Colin and Dennis' mum – teacher

Conner – Estate Disposition

Connie Hammer – Investigator. Classmate of Amelia and Moody

Cyrus Greengrass – Daphne's dad. Businessman

Dan Granger – Hermione's dad

Daryl Whitehorn – Wandcrafter. Devlin's Uncle

Demi Greengrass – Daphne's mum. Negotiator

Diane Lind – Head of Comet

Dr. K – Cypress wandmaker

Emma Granger – Hermione's mum

Felix Badeaux – French wandmaker. Attended class the same time as Otto Krebbs.

Geoffrey - One of the Weres

Gretta Macmillan – Ernie's mum. Finance director

Jay – One of the Weres

Jochiam Diesel – German Minister of International Relations

Joe Alton – One of the Weres

John Macmillan – Ernie's dad. construction business

Josh – One of the Weres

The J-Team – (Aurors of questionable ability)

*Jim Nibb

*Jim Paulson (No relation to Mick)

*Jim Mickelson

*Jim Tuttle

Luca - Burglar

Lynn McLaggen – Cormac's mum. Sister of Tiberius Ogden

Mandy – Salem – Daryl's girlfriend

Mattia - Burglar - AKA L'Ombra

Michelle Wood – Hit witch/Amelia's administrator. Oliver's older sister

Mick Paulson – Auror Cadet – Mick's Carm Repair – Conner/Staci

Nobb – Works at Leakey Cauldron

Otto Krebbs – German Wandcrafter

Randi Bell – DMLE Administrator. Katie's older sister

Rolf Toftland – Assistant Head of St. Mungos

Rose Moonshine – Regulus' daughter Potions master

Sally Daily – Real estate salesperson. Anna's Sister

Sarah Goode – the Beta Were in the pack. An uncertified potions mistress

Staci - Estate Dispositions

Sylvia Clearwater – Penny's mum. Transfiguration master

Mr. Wick – Alias used by an accomplished Gringotts operative.

Elves

Kaia – Elf who helps Diane Lind

Layla – Winky's sister

Nobby – Head elf at Hogwarts

Smidgen – Bones elf

Goblins

Barchoke – Sr Account manager – Borrowed from Robst

Snotnose – Sr Appraiser

Eye Brothers – Redeye, Blackeye, Blindeye, Sharpeye (Guards)

Foot Brothers – Guards

Tooth Brothers - Guards

Gumeye – runner

Other account managers – Sneerwell, Ironrod, Crackjaw, Rockcrusher

(There are about 40 other O-Cs with cameo roles, or who were mentioned, such as Death Eaters spouses, Gringotts guards and the like)