The-Error-They-Made (I) [Chapter 157]

Harry appeared inside one of the alleys in front of the Daily Prophet's office before he started to rise in the air as Rita was waiting for him on the roof of the Daily Prophet. The streets were almost empty as it was pretty late, so Harry wasn’t worried about getting noticed by anyone and if anyone did see him, then they would probably dismiss the sight of someone flying without a broom. 

He finally noticed Rita on the roof of the Daily Prophet. The woman seemed to be pacing around with a worried look on her face while biting her nails. Harry swiftly landed behind her, making the woman shriek in surprise. The woman jumped around in fright and a look of relief crossed her face when she realized that it was Harry, though that didn’t stop her from glaring at him.

“You almost gave me a heart attack!” The woman griped unhappily as she continued to glare at him.

Even though Harry would never admit it, he was amused. “You are still alive, are you not?” Harry asked in an amused tone and her glare intensified. “So, what is so urgent? If you must know, I was having a lot of fun” Harry pointed out childishly.

The worried look returned to Rita’s face. She nervously fiddled with her hands for a couple of seconds before she finally started to speak. “Well, there was an emergency Wizengamot meeting today. They are keeping a tight lid, so it took me some time to discover everything” Rita explained slowly, making Harry wonder why Rita believed he should be concerned.

“And I should care, why?” Harry asked curiously as he raised his brows at her. 

“You should care because the meeting was about you. Sirius Black was decided to be an unfit guardian by the Wizengamot and Lucius Malfoy was voted to be your new guardian by the Wizengamot!” Rita exclaimed, looking exasperated.

“They can do that?” Harry asked her with an incredulous look on his face. To be honest, he wasn’t expecting something like this.

“Yeah” Rita nodded her head tiredly. “They used an old Law. Here take this” Rita pulled out a file from her purse and handed it over to Harry. He simply accepted the file and decided to take a peek… It was a copy of the whole Wizengamot session. He started to wonder how the woman was able to get her hands on something like this. 

|Maybe she is sleeping with the scribe| Lily suggested helpfully and Harry had to admit, his mom was on to something. 

“How much time do I have before the Ministry comes for me?” Harry asked.

“A couple of days at most” Rita answered worriedly, making Harry nod his head in understanding.

“I see… Thanks for the heads-up” Harry thanked the woman. “I would have given you a reward, but I don’t have anything on me at this moment” Harry explained apologetically and the woman didn’t seem to mind it.

“What are you planning to do? Lucius Malfoy is a very dangerous man…” Rita began to explain worriedly, but Harry stopped her before she could continue with her downtrodden explanation.

“I know, I have done my research, Rita” Harry pointed out drily. “Go home and call this a day, everything will be alright” Harry assured her before a portal appeared beside him. Without saying anything else, he entered the portal while back at Rita who couldn’t help but stare at Harry with a look of worry.

Harry knew that even though the woman had accepted her place as his servant, she was only worried about him due to the rewards she would receive from him for good work, and then there was the fact that her life was now connected to his through the Sigil of the Lost…

<Line Break>

Instead of returning to his apartment or Jacklyn's house, Harry arrived at one of the hills near Ilvermorny and sat down while staring down at the city. After staring down at the city for a few minutes, Harry finally took a deep breath and opened the file in his hand. Sometimes, he envied the normal people since he knew that he could never have a normal life like them. Thankfully, it was only a small part of him that desired such a mundane life. He knew he was destined for something great, but he didn't want to stop at that.

|What are you planning to do?| Lily asked. She wasn't worried about him as she knew that her son was strong enough to deal with the likes of Ministry and Lucius Malfoy on his own, but she wanted to know what he was planning.

|First of all, I want to see who my enemies are| Harry declared airily as he started to read through the file Rita gave him. He felt bad for Sirius, the man genuinely cared for him, alas the man will get his chance to seek his revenge… Sirius was his family regardless of what the Wizengamot believed and Harry would never dismiss his family.

|I wonder what Lucius could have offered to buy Greengrass' support in this endeavour of his?| Harry asked himself.

|You said he is a businessman, right? Then they must have made some sort of deal| Lily suggested after some thinking.

|Probably| Harry agreed. |Unfortunately, it doesn't matter. He had acted against me and he would have to pay the price for that| Harry decided coldly. He might be interested in Daphne Greengrass, but the girl didn't mean anything to him in the long run. Then all of a sudden, Harry felt a familiar presence trigger the Wards at his apartment. Amelia Bones wanted to get a clearance from the ICW before sending her Aurors to grab him. It would take a couple of days to get the clearance, which meant that Alastor Moody was at his apartment on someone else's behalf.

With a cruel grin on his face, Harry stood up and disappeared with a soft pop…

<Line Break>

~~Harry's Apartment~~

Harry arrived inside his apartment and opened the door. "I wasn't expecting you to make such an amateur mistake" Harry said with a curious look on his face as he stared at the scarred man standing in front of him. The man didn't seem to be surprised by Harry's arrival in the slightest. In fact, it seemed that the man was actually waiting for his arrival. The man was probably waiting for him for quite some time, but he got tired of waiting and decided to trigger the Wards intentionally.

"It wasn't a mistake, boy, since I knew you would be arriving" Moody snapped at Harry as his Magical eye swirled creepily.

"I see…" Harry muttered with a hum. "So, what do you want?" Harry asked as opened the door wide and stepped back as an invitation for the man.

The man carefully looked around before finally stepping inside his apartment. "Something happened back in Britain. Something that concerns you" The man revealed gruffly before taking a small sip from his hip flask.

"If you are talking about the Wizengamot meeting where Lucius Malfoy was decided to be my new guardian, then I am already aware of that" Harry revealed dismissively and the look of surprise on Alastor's face was completely priceless, but the look of surprise didn't last for long as he was able to quickly regain his bearings.

"Then you already know how much danger you are in, right?" The man asked with a heavy frown marring his face.

"Yes, I know, but it is none of your concern" Once again, Harry dismissed the man, only for Alastor to scowl unhappily. Not that Harry cared. "I am grateful that you came here to inform me of this development, but I will deal with this my own way" Harry added as he looked away from Alastor. He wanted to see if the man would try to take him away forcefully or not.

"You have no idea…" Alastor growled as he stepped forward, but the next moment he found himself falling. For a paranoid person like him, it was a shock of the century. He immediately stumbled up on his feet with his Wand held out in his hand. He looked around frantically before he finally lowered his head with a dumb look on his face. He was in the middle of Hogsmeade, but how? 

'The boy didn't use a Portkey' Alastor decided. He had taken Portkeys hundreds, if not thousands of times so he knew how a Portkey felt like. He remembered taking a step forward and then he remembered the sensation of falling like the floor disappeared from under his feet… Alastor knew that this couldn't be an illusion as his Magical eye could see through all illusions, so how? How did he arrive at Hogwarts from the boy's apartment? He scowled unhappily as he kicked the ground, only to find a note sticking on his peg leg. With a murderous scowl on his face, he took off the note and read it…

'The next time you will find yourself in the cells of MACUSA' 

He read the note and crumpled it with a furious look on his face. He wasn't angry at the boy specifically, he was angry over the fact that the boy was able to take him by surprise and he had no idea how the boy was able to do that. With an unhappy scowl on his face, he took a large sip from his hip flask before disappearing with a soft crack. He decided to inform Amelia about this development before trying anything else…