October 5th, 1995 – Bones Manor
Amelia Bones sat at her desk in the family library of Bones Manor and rubbed her temples, trying to relieve the tension headache that she had endured all day. This morning had started just like any other day, providing no hint that her illusions about the safety of the magical community were about to be shattered.
The cause of her headache was currently sitting in one of her guest rooms and going through trunks full of family heirlooms. After careful consideration, she thought it best to bring Harry Potter into her own home.
The arrangement need not be permanent, and there was no safer place for him to be while she sorted out why everyone seemed to want him dead. The wards around her ancestral home were extremely powerful, and would take quite a concerted effort to breach.
Since her meeting with Harry Potter and Nymphadora Tonks, she had made a list of essential tasks that needed to be performed immediately. A potentially disastrous war with Voldemort was looming on the horizon, and the wizarding world was completely unprepared for it.
She had done some serious thinking this day, and her conclusions were not encouraging.
Minister Fudge had tried to destroy Potter's reputation, and may very well be aware of Voldemort's return. If he were intentionally concealing it, it could spell disaster for the British magical community. She was well aware of Fudge's connections to Lucius Malfoy, and of the latter's influence over the Wizengamot. If there was a conspiracy to cover up the Dark Lord's return at this level of government, they would be taken totally by surprise when Voldemort finally began attacking his enemies.
She now had to gather allies and inform them of the truly precarious situation they were in. But her position was a complicated one. She had been appointed to her post, and her mandate derived from the approval of the Minister and the Wizengamot. All senior members of the Ministry had backers on the Wizengamot, or they would never have risen to prominence.
But if she rocked the boat by publicly declaring Voldemort's return, Fudge and Malfoy probably had enough influence to get her removed, perhaps even arrested. Even if she went straight to the Daily Prophet, she wasn't sure they would print her claims. Cornelius Fudge simply had too much influence there.
She could gather likely allies within the Auror Department, at least those who weren't loyal to Fudge, and Croaker could do the same among the Unspeakables. But the big question was Dumbledore. Just what the hell was the old man thinking, concealing Voldemort's return and trying to sacrifice Harry Potter? Even if he were guilty, Bones knew she couldn't prosecute Dumbledore for anything; he was too important a fighter against Voldemort.
There was clearly more to this than met the eye, and tomorrow she planned to get answers from the man himself. The fate of the wizarding world was at stake, and he was playing mystifying games with the life of a teenager.
If her suspicions about what Dumbledore had done to the boy's magic were true, he would have quite a lot to answer for. If those answers were not forthcoming, she was prepared to…well, that was the question, wasn't it? Just how much was she prepared to do battle with Albus Dumbledore in a situation like this?
And so Amelia Bones was now feeling just as hemmed in as Harry Potter had felt prior to his escape from Hogwarts. She had to tread carefully, or this powder keg could explode without warning. The young man in her guest rooms would not have been heartened by her reflections.
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