Chapter Fourteen: Of Weddings and Take-overs
If Harish could have helped it, he would not have gone to the wedding. But the twins had begged and pleaded that he come with them, that it was a special moment, that Bill was their brother and the first Weasley in their generation to be married.
So Harish found himself wearing his dress robes and stuffing Glamor Globs in his mouth as he thought hard about what he wanted to look like. His hair lengthened until its shaggy tips reached his eyes, which swirled into a nondescript brown. His nose lengthened and grew slightly, and his jaw became more square. Finally, he shrunk by several inches and turned to the twins.
"How do I look?" he asked.
"Like Bart, our imaginary co-worker," both twins replied in unison, checking their own hair in the mirror.
So by three o'clock that afternoon, Harish found himself standing outside the great white marquee at the Burrow alongside the twins and Ron, who stood moodily off to the side with his arms folded across his chest. It was obvious he didn't want to be stuck with the twins.
The three Weasleys were each clutching seating plans, so that they could help show people to the right seats. A host of whited-robed waiters had arrived an hour earlier, along with a golden-jacketed hand, and all of these wizards were currently sitting a short distance away under a tree.
Behind Harish, the entrance to the marquee revealed rows of fragile golden chairs set on either side of a long, purple carpet. The supporting poles were entwined with white and gold flowers. Fred and George had fastened an enormous bunch of golden balloons over the exact point where Bill and Fleur would shortly become husband and wife. Outside, butterflies and bees were hovering lazily over the grass a hedgerow.
"When I get married," Fred said, tugging at the collar of his own robes, "I won't be bothering with any of this nonsense. You can all wear what you like, and I'll put a full Body-Bind Curse on Mum until it's all over."
"Already planning for it then?" Harish asked, thinking of Hermione.
"Shut up," Fred muttered.
There was silence for a moment. Then, George said, "Mum wasn't too bad this morning, considering. Cried a bit about Percy not being here, but who wants him? Oh blimey, brace yourselves—here they come, look."
Brightly coloured figures were appearing, one by one, out of nowhere at the distant boundary of the yard. Within minutes, a procession had formed, which began to make its way up through the garden toward the marquee. Exotic flowers and bewitched birds fluttered on witches' hats, while precious gems glittered from many of the wizards' cravats; a hum of excited chatter grew louder and louder, drowning the sound of the bees as the crowd approached the tent.
"Excellent, I think I see a few veela cousins," George said, craning his neck for a better look. "They'll need help understanding our English customs, I'll look after them…"
Fred shook his head as George wandered off to assist them into the tent. With George gone, Fred dealt with the middle-aged witches and Ron took charge of Mr. Weasley's old Ministry colleague Perkins, while a deaf old couple walked up to Harish.
"I'm sorry, you'll have to wait a moment," Harish said to them.
"Eh?" the old man asked.
"You'll have to wait a moment!" Harish repeated louder. "I'm not seating people."
"What did yeh say?"
"I can't help you!" Harish shouted. "I'm with the twins!"
Luckily, George appeared at that moment and took the old couple into the tent. After they had disappeared and Fred and Ron had reappeared, Harish folded his arms across his chest and leaned against the tent. He watched the crowd steadily sift into the tent and ran a hand over his face to mask his boredom. Finally, after determining that the twins would be a while, Harish went inside the tent to find someone to talk to.
Harish sat down in an empty seat behind where he knew the twins were going to be sitting and turned to watch as people filed in. Some he knew, such as Lupin and Tonks, Hagrid, and Hermione; but others he did not recognize. He guessed that they must be either relatives of the Weasleys or the Delacours. Finally, the twins came and sat down by him with Hermione in tow. Behind them, Ron led Krum to his seat.
"Fancy seeing Viktor Krum here," Harish muttered to the twins. "Who invited him?"
"Fleur," George replied.
As Hermione sat by Harish, she said, "I know, it's exciting! All three champions are here."
"Though they don't know I'm here," Harish muttered.
A sense of jittery anticipation had filled the warm tent, the general murmuring broken by occasional spurts of excited laughter. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley strolled up the aisle, smiling and waving at relatives; Mrs. Weasley was wearing a brand-new set of amethyst-coloured robes with a matching hat.
A moment later Bill and Charlie stood up at the front of the marquee, both wearing dress robes, with large white roses in their buttonholes; Fred wolf-whistled and there was an outbreak of giggling from the veela cousins. Then the crowd fell silent as music swelled from what seemed to be the golden balloons.
"Oooooh!" Hermione said, swivelling around in her seat to look at the entrance.
A great collective sigh issued from the assembled witches and wizards as Monsieur Delacour and Fleur came walking up the aisle, Fleur gliding, Monsieur Delacour bouncing and beaming. Fleur was wearing a very simple white dress and seemed to be emitting a strong, silvery glow. While her radiance usually dimmed everyone else by comparison, today it beautified everyone it fell upon. Ginny and Gabrielle, both wearing golden dresses looked even prettier than usual, and once Fleur had reached him, Bill seemed years younger.
"Ladies and gentlemen," said a slightly singsong voice, and Harish looked to see a short, tufty haired wizard standing in front of Bill and Fleur. "We are gathered here today to celebrate the union of two faithful souls…"
"Yes, my tiara sets off the whole thing nicely," an old lady said from beside Ron in a rather carrying whisper. "But I must say, Ginevra's dress is far too low cut."
Ginny glanced around, grinning, before turning to face the front again. Harish's mind wandered slightly as the wedding continued. He honestly would rather have been at Slytherin Manor opposed to there, he knew something big was going on, and knew he would have been able to be a part of it if it hadn't been for the wedding…
"Do you, William Arthur, take Fleur Isabelle…?"
In the front row, Mrs. Weasley and Madame Delacour were both sobbing quietly into scraps of lace. Trumpet-like sounds from the back of the marquee told them that Hagrid had taken out his own tablecloth-sized handkerchiefs.
"…then I declare you bonded for life."
The tufty haired wizard waved his wand over the heads of Bill and Fleur and a shower of silver stars fell upon them, spiralling around their now entwined figures. As Fred and George led a round of applause, the golden balloons overhead burst: Birds of paradise and tiny golden bells flew and floated out of them, adding their songs and chimes to the din.
"Ladies and gentlemen!" called the tufty haired wizard. "If you would please stand up!"
They all did so, and as the seats they had been sitting on vanished and were replaced by tables, Harish felt his coin heat up in his pocket. He stepped forward and grabbed the twins by the elbows. Then, they Disapparated. When Hermione went to go find Ginny, Ron stood and stared curiously at the spot where he had seen his brothers and their friend disappear.
LINE-BREAK
Harish and the twins reappeared at Slytherin Manor. Around them, Death Eaters were bustling. Within moments, Voldemort had made his way through the sea of cloaks and masks and came to stand directly in front of his son. Bellatrix was not far behind.
The Dark Lord handed the twins a pair of robes and two masks. The twins looked at the masks, realizing that they were not the regular skull-like-masks that the Death Eaters usually wore, but they were plain, black, and had no eye holes or noses at all.
"You'll need to put these on," he said.
As the twins left the room to change, they noticed that the Death Eaters were all wearing the new masks, giving them the illusion of not having a face.
Once they were gone, he turned to his son. "I am glad to see you actually turned up."
"You think I would let a wedding keep me from the fun?" Harish asked incredulously.
Voldemort said nothing, but motioned for his son to follow.
"I waited to brief our strike-team," he said, coming to a halt in front of a small group of Death Eaters—most likely Voldemort's most trusted and skilled Death Eaters.
Voldemort briefed them all on what they were actually going to do, before explicitly instructing them to refrain from killing people as much as possible—while Voldemort, Harish, the twins, and their strike team were there specifically for the Minister, the other Death Eaters would be taking out the heads of departments.
The twins returned in their new getup, Harish charmed his dress robes to change into regular jade robes (that may or may not match what Voldemort was wearing) and summoned a black cloak, and Voldemort addressed everyone, once again reminding them to only kill if they were being shot at with lethal spells, and they were off. Harish grinned as he knew that the Wizarding World would mark that day in their history books.
LINE-BREAK
Lucius Malfoy felt his Dark Mark burn and quickly wrapped up his work. Then, he made his way casually down to the atrium of the Ministry under the guise of going to buy a copy of the Prophet to read on his break.
There, he spotted several Death Eaters scattered, milling about casually. Among them were Macnair, Gibbon, Selwynn, and Nott. Lucius smiled to himself and bought a copy of the Prophet, as he said he would. Then, he stared blankly at the pages, turning them every now and then until the fireplaces lining the walls flared green and dozens of faceless people in black robes flooed out.
People, naturally, began to panic after that.
Taking their cue, Lucius and the other Death Eaters that worked within the Ministry jumped into the fray, vanishing amidst the confusion of their co-workers. The first thing Lucius did was to block the fireplaces. Then, he commanded the other Death Eaters that were a part of his team to keep any Ministry personal from entering or exiting the atrium.
Finally, he scoured the sea of black, looking for the Dark Lord. Finally, he spotted him standing with Harish. Perfect. Now it was only a matter of waiting.
LINE-BREAK
Amelia Bones was just closing off the office, preparing to return home for the evening when it happened. She reorganized her paperwork into neat little stacks and closed and charmed her desk drawer that held anything important. Then, just as she exited her office and was about to lock the door, as the young man that sold copies of the Daily Prophet in the atrium came running up to her.
He looked frightened as he shouted, "The Ministry's under attack!"
Amelia Bones made to grab her wand, but before it was even drawn, she and the young man were stunned. The boy's memory was soon wiped by a faceless person in black robes, and two more came, grabbed the Head of Magical Law Enforcement, and disappeared.
A man with a brutish face and magnificent, sweeping robes with gold thread embroidered around the edges then walked up to the remaining Death Eater and muttered, "Go round up the rest of the team and join the others in the atrium. Suddenly, an office opened and someone appeared. Yaxley hastily backed away from the Death Eater, suddenly looking concerned. He shot a few spells, and then ran off to his own office to floo out of the Ministry.
LINE-BREAK
"Is it time to move out yet?" Harish asked Voldemort amidst the confusion.
The Dark Lord's eyes took in the sight of the sea of Death Eaters that surrounded them, along with a good number of Ministry workers that were still panicking. He waited for word from Yaxley, and received it seconds later as one of the Death Eaters shot gold sparks into the air—the Head of Departments had been taken out.
"Yes," he replied simply and he began pushing through the crowd, leading his own hit team out of the lobby.
They made it to the lifts and stood in silence as Voldemort pressed the up button. The lift clattered to their floor with a halt and the grilles slid to the side to allow them inside. Once the lift was moving again, Harish asked, "How will the Minister be surprised if there is so much noise in the atrium?"
"It is not possible to hear what is going on in the atrium from the Minister's office," Lucius replied smoothly.
"And no one could have warned him?"
"I had Lucius and his team close off the atrium," his father replied. "Anyone that might have escaped before then would have been caught by Yaxley's team."
Harish nodded and waited as the lift stopped at each floor, naming off the floor and its use. Finally, the lift came to a halt and the witch said in a smooth voice, "Level One, Minister of Magic and Support Staff."
Their party walked down a hallway that was lined with door after door. Each one was wooden and had golden doorknobs and a plaque with the office owner's name on it.
They read the names on the plaques as they walked passed. None of them were the office they were looking for. The seven radicals turned around a corner and spotted another office. The nearest one had a plaque that read, "Dolores Umbridge, Senior Undersecretary of the Minister."
The twins grimaced behind their masks and Harish scowled coldly at the door.
This did not go unnoticed by Voldemort, who leaned over to his son and whispered, "I will let you deal with her later, if you wish."
Harish grinned widely.
They walked past her office, down to the end of the hall, and finally found the door that read, "Cornelius Fudge, Minister for Magic."
They came to a halt in front of the door. Voldemort shared a look with his son, and he nodded to the masked people behind them (plus Lucius). The five of them drew their wands, and Voldemort turned back. Without further ado, he jerked his wand and the door flew open with a crash.
Fudge, a portly old man, jerked upright in his luscious chair, which was situated behind a grand, wooden desk with clawed feet. Harish noted that his bowler hat was absent. After a second of investigation, he spotted it hanging on a coat tree with Fudge's coat.
"What's this, what's this?" Fudge blustered, his face turning red.
Voldemort smiled a nasty, wide smile and said, "Why I am afraid, Minister, that we just infiltrated your Ministry."
And before Fudge could even shout out, he had been stunned, and the seven had Disapparated with the disgraced Minister in tow. Before they all completely left the Ministry, there were two letters sitting on two different desks. One, waiting to be opened by one Arthur Weasley, held information of a promotion to Muggle Ambassador. The other, addressed to Dolores Umbridge, was waiting to inform its recipient that she had been fired and all of her accounts and properties had been repossessed. All in all, they got in a good day's work.
LINE—BREAK
Ron had sulked through the reception, wondering where the twins had gone. No matter what anyone else believed, Ron had not been fooled by the twins imaginary co-worker named Bart. He had never been mentioned before, he hadn't been at Hogwarts with them, and he was not in the shop the numerous times Ron had been dragged there by Ginny. But that was not the main reason he was certain that Bart was Harish Blake.
No one else could pull the twins around like that. Especially not when they were smirking like the world belonged to them. There was no doubt about it, Ron thought as he drained the rest of his butterbeer and watched the dancing couples, his brothers were up to no good along with that no good friend of theirs—Harish Blake.
Ginny plopped down beside her brother. Although Ron was an absolute prat, it did not mean that Ginny did not want to interact with her brother. It never made sense to her why Ron had cut off their relationship after she had been sorted into Slytherin. That, however, did not mean that she did not try to talk to him every now and then when she was feeling generous…or bored.
"Why aren't you dancing?" Ron asked snidely as she sat down beside him.
"I'm not really in the mood," Ginny shrugged.
"Why?" Ron retorted. "Because your boyfriend isn't here?"
Knowing that her brother just wanted to anger her, she shrugged.
"Probably," she replied chipperly. "But I understand that even if he were invited, he probably would have been disowned if he had tried to come."
Ron looked at her as if she had just presented him with a Dungbomb for Christmas.
"You disgust me," he said.
"Is this how it's going to be?" Ginny asked. Ron didn't answer, obviously determined to ignore her. "Please don't do this. I know it stresses Mum knowing that we don't get along—me, you, and the twins. It's hard enough for her to have to deal with Percy."
Ron folded his arms and stubbornly remained silent, but something flickered in his eyes.
"Fine!" Ginny snapped, folding her own arms and looking away. "Excuse me for trying to fix things."
They sat in angry silence for a time, pretending to watch the dancing couples. Regret settled in Ron's stomach, and he growled in aggravation, burying his head in his hands. He didn't know what to do. He didn't know which side to take anymore. But Ginny had said the right words to get him thinking.
He did not want his mother to suffer any more than she already did. He had never realized that his mother was upset that Ron didn't talk to his brothers, but know that Ginny had mentioned it, he realized that it was true. The silence turned awkward as Ron's anger melted away and he realized what a prat he had been—he had even lost his best friend because of it.
"What do you plan to do?" Ron asked, finally breaking the silence.
Ginny almost jumped in surprise and turned to her brother.
"What?" she asked.
"What do you plan to do," Ron repeated, "when Mr. Malfoy finds out?"
Ginny sighed.
"I don't know," she muttered. "I don't think either me or Draco have really thought about it—or wanted to."
Ron laughed mirthlessly.
"Yeah, I could believe that."
Ginny sighed again and her eyes rested on where Bill and Fleur were dancing in the centre of the tent.
"Their wedding makes me wonder if I want this," Ginny mumbled.
"Do you?" Ron asked.
"Maybe someday," Ginny replied.
"With M—Draco?"
Ginny looked at Ron.
"If I were to end up with Draco," she started, "would you stop speaking to me again?"
"I don't know," Ron sighed. "I guess…if you're happy…and he treats you right…"
"What am I thinking?" Ginny suddenly said loudly. "I would be disowned before I would ever get chance of your approval!"
Ron shook his head.
"I don't think so," he replied. "Dad has never really been openly hostile to Draco. And he only attacks Mr. Malfoy if he is goaded."
"You're right," Ginny agreed. "Mr. Malfoy would disown Draco first…but what about Mum?"
"Dad would talk her around eventually," Ron replied with a wry smile.
"After we all receive a tongue lashing," Ginny retorted.
"And after she hexes the pants off of Ma…Draco."
"I can see it now," Ginny laughed. "'You better run, Draco! The evil Molly Weasley is after your hide!"
They both laughed and silence fell over them again, but this time it was a warm, comfortable one. Their smiles fell as something large and silver came falling through the canopy over the dance floor. Graceful and gleaming, the lynx landed lightly in the middle of the astonished dances. Heads turned, as those nearest if froze absurdly in mid-dance. Then, the Patronus's mouth opened wide and it spoke in the loud, deep, slow voice of Kingsley Shacklebolt.
"The Ministry has fallen. Fudge has gone missing. Hogwarts is next."