“Harry! Harry!”
Harry turned from where he was repairing the banister on the
marble staircase in the entrance hall to see Neville hurrying towards him. Harry had gotten cleaned up after he and Ginny had come back in from the grounds, but Neville was still covered in blood, soot, dust, and a surprisingly large quantity of dirt.
“What’s up?” Harry asked as Neville reached him.
“I was helping Professor Sprout fix up the greenhouses when what looked like a Patronus came down and it said Kingsley wants to see you and Ron and Hermione,” Neville said. “And me too, for some reason.”
“He probably wants to give you your Order of Merlin, Neville,” Ron said as he and Hermione walked over; they had been repairing the hourglasses that recorded house points. “Harry, Hermione, and I are probably going to be arrested, though.”
“What? Why?” Neville asked, looking almost as surprised as Harry and Hermione.
“For breaking into Gringotts, of course,” Ron replied, grinning.
Harry and Neville laughed, but Hermione looked worried.
“Oh you don’t think they would do that, do you?” she asked. “After all, we weren’t stealing for ourselves, we were trying to destroy Voldemort!”
“Hermione, I was joking,” Ron said, throwing an arm over her shoulders. “Besides, I’m pretty sure if Kingsley even tried to arrest Harry, there’d be a revolt. No one wants ‘The-Boy-Who-Lived-Again’ locked up.”
Harry rolled his eyes, but Neville and Ron grinned and even Hermione gave a small smile. “Come on, we can’t keep the Minister waiting,” she said, leading the way up the marble staircase.
“We’ll be back in a bit, Ginny!” Harry called.
Ginny waved from where she was standing near the double doors to the grounds, repairing the battered wood. “I’ll let McGonagall know where you’ve gone!”
Harry watched her walk into the Great Hall, where McGonagall was supervising the repairs, his mind wandering to their stolen time on the grounds not so long ago. However, realizing that Ron, Hermione, and Neville were already at the top of the staircase, Harry shook his head to bring himself back to the present and hurried to catch up.
Kingsley had set up his temporary office in the Transfiguration classroom. He was working out of Hogwarts rather than the Ministry at the moment because, as the Daily Prophet had already quoted him as saying this morning, “Hogwarts, unlike the Ministry of Magic, was never fully under the control of Lord Voldemort. The Minister’s office will be operating out of Hogwarts until such a time as the snakes have been completely cleaned out of the Ministry premises.” Harry knew that multiple arrests had already been made, not least interesting of which had been Dolores Umbridge, who was currently being transported to Azkaban to await trial for crimes against Muggle-borns. Harry smirked satisfactorily upon recalling this information.
Two Aurors flanked the door of the Minister’s office, but as they saw Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Neville approach, they saluted and one, a burly, bearded man, hurried to open the door for them.
“Er”thanks,” Harry said, leading the way into the classroom.
“My pleasure, Mr. Potter,” the man said. “Miss Granger, Mr. Weasley, Mr. Longbottom.” He nodded formally to Hermione, Ron, and Neville as they passed him as well. Hermione looked bemused, Neville turned pink, but Ron seemed rather delighted. Concealing a grin, Harry made his way towards the front of the classroom, where Kingsley was sitting behind McGonagall’s desk.
The Minister looked up as he heard them approach. “Harry, Ron, Hermione, Neville, thank you for coming. Please, have a seat,” he said in his deep, slow voice, gesturing towards the front row of desks.
They sat, Harry starting to feel unaccountably nervous. Kingsley was regarding them seriously. They weren’t about to be arrested, were they? Harry ran through a mental list of everything they had done the past year and had to admit that between the break-ins to the Ministry and Gringotts, not to mention all the Apparating without a license, there were grounds for it. He was just beginning to compile arguments for exactly why they had broken the law, when his fears were put to rest. Kingsley smiled.
“Well done,” he said. Harry very nearly breathed a sigh of relief. “The wizarding world owes you all a debt of gratitude.”
“Thank you,” Harry said. “Congratulations, by the way. I can’t think of anyone better for Minister.”
“Thank you, Harry. This is only temporary at the moment. In a few weeks, once the situation has stabilized, the wizarding world will be allowed to choose, once again.”
“You’ll have my vote,” Harry said.
“Mine as well,” Ron said. Hermione and Neville both nodded fervently.
“Thank you all,” Kingsley smiled again, “but I did not call you up here to solicit votes, though I certainly appreciate the support.” He looked serious again. “Harry, I must tell you, something you said to Voldemort shocked me. The reference to ‘Horcruxes’. I take it he had made one?”
Harry’s mouth went dry. His heart seemed to be pounding rather harder than normal. He only had a split second to make his decision. Dumbledore had told him only Ron and Hermione”but Dumbledore was gone. And so was Voldemort. So was there really any point to the absolute secrecy anymore? He could feel Ron and Hermione watching him closely, but he didn’t look at them. He knew what choice he was going to make. He shook his head. “He didn’t make one.” Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Hermione bite her lip. “He made seven. Six on purpose, one by accident. I was the accident.”
Harry finally glanced at Hermione and Ron. Hermione had visibly relaxed and she gave him a small smile, which he returned. Ron looked surprised, but as Harry met his eyes, he nodded.
Kingsley looked horrified. “That’s not possible.”
“It is,” Harry said, turning back to look at the Minister. “It’s why Voldemort became less human-looking over the years. He’d gone past, as Dumbledore said, ‘usual evil’. That’s why he created an accidental Horcrux, he’d made his soul so unstable that when the curse rebounded the first time he tried to kill me, a bit broke off and attached itself,” he swallowed, “to me.”
Kingsley just looked at him, stunned, and Harry reflected that this was the first time he had ever seen the man lose his cool.
He kept talking, to give Kingsley a chance to collect himself. “He purposely created six Horcruxes. One was Tom Riddle’s diary, which Lucius Malfoy gave to Ginny Weasley to open the Chamber of Secrets five years ago, but I destroyed that one with a basilisk fang. He also used a ring that had belonged to his grandfather, but Dumbledore destroyed that with the sword of Gryffindor last year. Then, he stole Salazar Slytherin’s locket and Helga Hufflepuff’s cup from a woman and made them Horcruxes. That’s why Ron, Hermione, and I broke into the Ministry and into Gringotts; Dolores Umbridge had obtained the locket, even though she didn’t know what it was, and the cup was in Bellatrix Lestrange’s vault; we had to get them.
“Ron destroyed the locket with the sword of Gryffindor and Hermione stabbed the cup with a basilisk fang. He also used Rowena Ravenclaw’s diadem as one but that was, somewhat accidentally, destroyed last night by Fiendfyre in the Room of Requirement.” He paused, wondering whether to mention Crabbe, but decided to leave it for the moment. “Then, when Voldemort used the Killing Curse on me in the forest, instead of killing me, it killed his own bit of soul that was in me and then Neville killed the snake, which was at that point the last Horcrux. Once he cut off its head, there was only Voldemort left. And he got hit by his own rebounding curse, again, but this time, with no Horcruxes left, he just…died,” Harry finished.
There was silence for several minutes. Kingsley still looked aghast, but Harry couldn’t really think of anything else to say.
Neville tentatively raised his hand and everyone turned to look at him. “I’m sorry,” he said in a low voice, “but what exactly is a Horcrux and how did I destroy one by killing the snake?”
Harry glanced at Hermione, hoping that her need to deliver word-perfect textbook answers was still present. It was.
“A Horcrux is an object in which a Dark Wizard has concealed of piece of his or her soul, the soul having been torn apart as a result of a murder committed by the Dark Wizard,” she answered. She then gave Neville and Kingsley the same explanation about how Horcruxes worked that she had given Harry and Ron what felt like a hundred years ago in Ron’s bedroom before the wedding.
“…and so, when you killed the snake, thereby putting it beyond magical repair, you simultaneously destroyed the Horcrux,” she finished.
Neville looked thunderstruck. “Whoa,” was all he managed to say.
Kingsley was staring hard at Harry. “So Mad-Eye was right,” he muttered.
“What?” Harry asked.
“Mad-Eye wondered if that was what Voldemort had done, created a Horcrux, but he could never get Dumbledore to give an opinion on the subject,” Kingsley replied.
“Mad-Eye knew?” Harry said, stunned by this revelation.
“He guessed,” Kingsley corrected him. “He’d been fighting the Dark Arts long enough to pick up a few things and he told Remus and I it was the only thing that made sense, it explained why Voldemort was able to continue to exist after the curse rebounded, why he was able to return. He even ran the theory by Dumbledore, several times, but Dumbledore neither agreed nor disagreed with it. Mad-Eye eventually got frustrated with him, stopped bringing it up.” Kingsley smiled again. “He’d be pleased to know he was right.”
There was silence for several moments. Harry knew that Ron and Hermione, like himself, were processing this surprising revelation and Neville seemed to be trying to fully understand the implications of what he was hearing and what he himself had done. Kingsley, reminding Harry strangely of Dumbledore, simply sat quietly, still watching them.
It was Hermione who finally broke the silence.
“Is there anything else you wanted to discuss with us, Kingsley?” she asked. “I’m sorry, I mean, Minister?” she quickly corrected herself, blushing.
Kingsley smiled at her. “That’s alright, Hermione,” he replied. “And as a matter of fact, yes, there is one more thing.” He looked serious again. “I understand from Professor McGonagall, Harry and Ron, that you both spoke in your career meetings several years ago about wanting to be Aurors?”
“You did?” Hermione asked, quickly turning to look, not at Harry, but at Ron. He had turned a bit red, but looked defiantly at her.
“You knew I’d talked about wanting to do that,” he said.
“Yes, but I didn’t realize you were serious enough about it to discuss it with McGonagall!”
“Why, you don’t think I’ll be good enough?” Ron asked her, his ears turning scarlet.
Hermione looked shocked. “Of course not! I think you’ll be brilliant! I’m just surprised, that’s all, you’d never mentioned discussing it with her.”
Ron shrugged, but he looked rather pleased with her praise. “It never came up. Weren’t those meetings the day you spent every spare minute nagging Harry not to break into Umbridge’s office?”
Hermione glared at him, but Harry snorted a laugh, remembering the shouting match between McGonagall and Umbridge.
“Sorry about that, Kings”Minister,” Ron said, turning back to Kingsley. “I think the answer you were looking for is ‘yes’, we did.”
Kingsley had raised his eyebrows, but he continued as if the conversation had been uninterrupted. “Then, in that case, I would like to make you all a job offer. Not just to Harry and Ron, but to Hermione and Neville, as well. The Auror office has been sadly depleted over the last several years, as you can imagine. We need people with a strong understanding of the Dark Arts, people who have proven themselves capable in a fight, individuals who are both resourceful and quick-thinking, possessing both a highly specific yet varied skill set.” He paused. “From everything I know, you all fit that description exactly. I would like to extend to each of you a formal offer of employment.”
It was Harry’s turn to feel stunned. He had wanted to be an Auror ever since impostor Moody had first put the thought in his head, but he had never expected to get the job offer without preamble, not after what McGonagall had told him about the strenuous tests the office conducted on potential candidates. But then, a little voice in his head said, I suppose everything we’ve done the past year was more difficult than any test could ever be.
He looked at the others. Ron looked as stunned as he felt, yet excited, too. Hermione looked confused. Neville looked as if someone had clubbed him.
“An Auror? But I haven’t really”“ Neville started to say, but Harry cut across him.
“You fought with me in the Department of Mysteries fifth year, sixth year you fought the Death Eaters in Hogwarts, and you led Dumbledore’s Army against the Carrows all this year,” he said firmly. “Not to mention standing up to Voldemort himself and killing the snake just a few hours ago.”
Neville turned brightly pink, but looked rather pleased. Before either he or Harry could say anthing else, Hermione spoke.
“But what about our N.E.W.T.S?” she asked, looking very worried. “I thought, to be an Auror, you needed to get at least five ‘Exceeds Expectations’ N.E.W.T.S. So don’t we need to finish our last year at school?”
Ron groaned and Harry rolled his eyes. However, before either of them could say anything, Kingsley spoke. “Given everything that you have all done in the past year alone, we, the Ministry, are willing to make an exception. There are people who have worked in the Auror office for decades who have not faced half as much.”
Hermione opened her mouth again and Harry had a strong desire to clap his hand over it. However, Kingsley quickly added, “If you wish to finish your education, I would completely understand.” Hermione shut her mouth again. “I am not asking for a decision today,” the Minister continued. “I wanted to let you know what was on the table and that we would be glad to have you all join us. However, I understand that there may be other interests which you wish to pursue and so I would like you all to take some time to think about it, then make your decision.
“In any case,” he continued, “I would not want you to begin immediately. This week, I understand, is largely to be given to repairs to the castle, and next week, there will be funerals.” Harry clenched his jaw against the burning in his throat. Kingsley swallowed hard, then continued, “Shall we say, then, that I will take your answers in a month? That will, I believe, allow you sufficient time to consider your answers, as well as give you time to grieve and, also, to relax. After what you have told me,” Kingsley smiled grimly, “I believe you’ve earned a bit of a break.”
Ron gave a hollow laugh, Neville a weak chuckle. Hermione looked strained, and Harry felt drained; the mention of funerals had seemed to suck the energy out of the room. Suddenly, he felt exhausted, as if he could sleep for a month.
Kingsley seemed to have noticed the shift. He said hesitatingly, “There’s to be an awards ceremony at the end of the week.”
Harry’s head shot up. “A what?” An awards ceremony? Before the funerals?
Kingsley seemd to read Harry’s mind. “Initially, I know, it seems inappropriate to give awards before we lay the dead to rest, but the idea is that many of those who died will be receiving formal recognition of their sacrifice and we believe their loved ones will appreciate the opportunity to be able to say at their funerals that they were a recipient of the Order of Merlin.”
Almost against his will, Harry looked at Ron. He was looking at Kingsley, stony-faced. Between them, Hermione had tears in her eyes. On Harry’s other side, Neville’s jaw was set and there was a wetness in his eyes. Turning back to the Minister, Harry nodded. “I think that’s a good idea,” he managed to say, despite the constriction of his throat.
Kingsley nodded back. “I’m glad you think so,” he said. He paused, as if unsure what to say next, then simply said, “I think that is all I had for today. Thank you for meeting with me. I hope you will consider particularly the offers I have made to you.”
Understanding the dismissal, Harry stood up. Ron, Hermione, and Neville followed suit. “We will,” Harry replied, already moving towards the door. “Thank you, Kingsley.”
“No, Harry,” Kingsley said, looking hard at him again, “thank you.”
With a small smile and wave, Harry led the way out of the room.
Over the Next Year by Arial Felchem
Chapter Endnotes: *****Sorry it took me so long to get this chapter up, for some reason it was difficult to write. I had it about three-quarters of the way done, then realized it just didn't work, scrapped the whole thing, and started over. It's not my favorite chapter of the story, but it does what I needed it to do. Chapter Four is already underway and should hopefully be up soon.*****