The-Fated-Meeting (II) [Chapter 232]

~~Bones Manor~~

“Is there a reason why you are in my manor, uninvited?” Amelia asked drily with a deadpan look on her face. Only a couple of minutes ago, she was informed by her house elf that Harry was in her house and honestly, she couldn’t fathom why he was even here in the first place. “Since you have already made yourself comfortable, I am not going to bother offering you anything else” Amelia added when she noticed the milkshake in his hands.

“Well, when your house elf offered me a milkshake, I was intrigued. This is the first time a house elf offered me a milkshake, so I knew I had to try and I admit, this is really nice” Harry answered back with a beaming smile on his face. From the look on his face, he clearly wasn’t bothered by the fact that he was intruding inside her house. After staring at him for the next couple of seconds, who was innocently sipping the milkshake, she sighed in defeat before she sat down.

“Susan loves having milkshakes” Amelia answered before she summoned her house elf and asked for some coffee. She just woke up from her afternoon nap, so she needed some coffee to get her cogs running.

“Looks like you are the most popular candidate” Harry said as he picked up the evening edition of the Daily Prophet from the center table. The pictures of the candidates running for the position of temporary Minister were published along with their popularity and from the informal survey done by the Daily Prophet, it seemed like Amelia was going to be the temporary Minister of Magic, just like he wanted.

“You must be really glad” Amelia snarked sarcastically and Harry adopted a mock hurt look on his face at his words, which made Amelia roll her eyes at him.

“You hurt me, Amelia…” Harry said with a hurt look on his face. “Rufus Scrimgeour is a good man, but he never got his chance to shine, being under your command for all this time and all that. He is a very ambitious man and that is another nail in the coffin… People are scared right now, and they have known you as a fair and righteous woman. People are not sure if Rufus would try to take advantage of the situation to further his own agenda” Harry explained with a shrug.

“Thankfully, there is nothing to be said about Pius Thicknesse. His closeness to the Dark Faction already makes him unpopular among the people as they know that there is a very good chance that he is a Death Eater or at least a Voldemort sympathizer. So, you are obviously the most popular candidate… You should be proud of that” Harry said with a deep nod of his head and Amelia was left speechless by his words.

“...That is exactly why I feel like I am betraying them” Amelia muttered under her breath and Harry softly smiled at that.

“That’s stupid!” Harry exclaimed, surprising her. “I am not asking you to be corrupt or anything. Nor am I asking you to do anything illegal for me. I want you to be the Minister so that you can rebuild the country” Harry stated firmly. “And as for your revenge, you deserve it. You had tried to get justice for your brother and sister-in-law through lawful means, but you know that is not going to work. As long as the Dark Faction has any say in the Government, you will never get justice for them. Tell me I am wrong!” Harry challenged her.

Amelia simply lowered her head and remained silent at her words… She also knew he was right, but still, the truth was hard to swallow. For so many years, she had worked within the system, so it was hard for her to accept the deal she was getting… Though she had long decided to give into the temptation of revenge. She was simply lashing out from time to time for the sake of her pride.

“You also want me to become the Minister to stop anyone from going after you” Amelia stated with a smug look on her face, but this time, there was no heat in her voice. It was clear that she was joking.

“Correct, madam” Harry cheerfully clapped his hands. “After all, I want this country to flourish, but if I keep sending back people in body bags, then it would become counter-productive” Harry added with a grin and Amelia simply shook her head. Amelia had realized that she had stared long enough into the abyss and now that she had made a deal with the thing that stared back at her from the abyss, she would have to live with the choices she made for good or worse.

“So, why are you here? I don’t believe you are here for just casual chat” Amelia repeated her original question.

“You are the most  popular candidate, so why don’t you connect the dots?” Harry asked in an amused tone, making Amelia frown at him.

“You are using me as bait to draw Voldemort out of his hidey hole” Amelia accused him. “It didn’t take me long to realize that. That is why I sent Susan to stay with the Abbotts for the night” Amelia added, looking somewhat unhappy, but she couldn’t blame him for using her as bait. Voldemort was keeping a low profile since he regained his body and this was a good chance to cull his numbers and knock him down a peg or two.

Though instead of trying to deny the accusation, Harry simply nodded his head in understanding. “I knew Voldemort would want to place one of his followers as the Minister of Magic after he killed the previous Minister. It would give him legitimate power and say within the Government, so I decided to urge someone more popular to become a hindrance in his plans… If it wasn’t you, then it would have been Rufus, but with you, I get the ability to act more openly” Harry explained with a smile.

“Voldemort can’t have someone like you becoming the Minister even if temporary” Harry decided to add a compliment at the end. “By the way, are you mad at me for using you?” Harry asked as he didn’t want to leave too much dissatisfaction when it could lead to problems at a later date. He wasn’t worried, but it would be annoying as hell and then he would have to return and deal with her in a permanent fashion.

“I am a bit mad, I am not going to lie, but I would have probably done the same if I was in your shoes” Amelia admitted, somewhat reluctantly. “By the way, are you planning to face him and his men on your own?” Amelia asked curiously.

“Why? Are you worried for my sake?” Harry asked with a teasing grin on his face.

“No, if it is just you then I will be able to able to say that you showed up all of a sudden and started to help me and since I was outnumbered, I decided to fight alongside you, but I won’t be able to say that if you decided to show up with full force… That would look like you and Lost Garden are supporting me” Amelia explained and Harry’s smile widened at her.

“Already thinking like a politician” Harry stated with a smirk. “And as for your question, yes, it is going to be just me and you. Though I will reveal myself when the situation starts looking dire for you” Harry answered softly.

“Why, looking forward to saving a damsel in distress?” Amelia asked with a smirk tagging on her lips and Harry simply scoffed at her.

“You are no damsel, woman and you are not going to be in any distress since I will be here” Harry stated with a confident look on his face.

“Arrogant much” Amelia huffed before she stood up. “Well, anyway, make yourself comfortable. They won’t attack before midnight” Amelia said before she turned around and started to leave. She had other things to do than humoring Harry. Though she stopped at the doorstep and turned to look at Harry with a grave look on her face. “If I die tonight then just give Susan a good life” Amelia practically begged.

“I promise, I will take care of her” Harry vowed with a serious look on his face and he was being completely genuine with his promise. Amelia gave him a grateful nod before she left the room…

~~Timeskip~~ (A few hours later)

Amelia and Harry were silently sitting at the dining table, waiting for the impending attack. The whole house was completely dark as they wanted the attackers to think everyone was fast asleep. “You need to relax with that or you will be drunk by the time they arrive” Harry warned Amelia while staring at the firewhiskey bottle in her hand. Unlike Harry, she was quite restless and nervous as might die tonight, so she was trying to calm her nerves with Firewhiskey.

“Don’t worry, I don’t get drunk easily and I have this” She jabbed her chin toward the Sobering Potion vial on the table “In case I get drunk” Amelia finished before she burped. Her cheeks flared up in embarrassment. “...I think I should have gotten something to eat” Amelia added after a few moments of silence. She wasn’t that hungry due to all the tension, so she decided to skip dinner unlike Harry, who was completely calm and relaxed.

Harry didn’t bother to answer her and decided to lean back in his chair and close his eyes… After nearly half an hour, Harry’s eyes snapped open. “They are here” Harry muttered as a smile bloomed on his face.

“Really?” Amelia asked, looking unsure as the Alarm Wards were not triggered, but Harry was saved from answering when moments later, the alarms started to blare loudly. Amelia immediately grabbed the Sobering Potion and gulped it down in one go before a loud crash was heard outside the house. She closed her eyes before taking a deep breath and when she finally opened her eyes after a couple of seconds, her eyes were burning with determination.

“You won’t need it, but good luck” Harry offered before Amelia could finally make her way to a vantage point…