Adult-FanFiction.org : Harry Potter

Intoxicate the Sun	By : Lomonaaeren Category: Harry Potter > Slash - Male/Male > Harry/Draco Views: 18051 -:- Recommendations : 1 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, and I am making no money from this story.

Chapter List
- 25
- 26
- 27
Thank you again for all the reviews!

Chapter Twenty-Six--On Wings of News

            Memo from the desk of Minister Clearwater to Head Auror Summers:

            Rumors are spreading of the fall of Azkaban and the escape of the prisoners. Find some way to deny the rumors, or to harness the panic usefully.

            Memo from the desk of Judith Summers to Minister Clearwater:

            I believe that your new asset is most usefully put on that. She knows Potter, she understands the way he thinks, and she has already shown that she is skilled at disseminating rumors.

            Memo from the desk of Minister Clearwater to Judith Summers:

            For reasons that do not need explaining at this juncture, she will be unavailable. Put a team in the Auror Department on it.

            From the lead article of the Daily Prophet, A NEW THREAT FROM DRAGONS?

            ...As most of our readers will know by now, Azkaban has fallen, its prisoners freed to create a new reign of terror throughout the land. There are rumors that dragonfire was used in the attack, as it would be the only substance that could reliably melt the rock of the walls. Of course, as no Ministry official will permit our intrepid reporters onto the island, there is no way of confirming this.

            Dragon-Keepers across Britain are refusing to comment, despite the rumors that also say a flight of dragons was seen leaving each reserve.

            "That many dragons being loose would cause far more havoc than the destruction of a single building," says Rolf Scamander, son of the respected Magizoologist Newt Scamander. The younger Scamander has some experience in attempting to breed dragons himself and replicate his father's successes, and he was eager to talk to our reporters. He is a tall young man with flyaway dark hair and believable, bright blue eyes who gestures as he speaks. "That's the thing about dragons, y'see. They can't be controlled. It's perhaps the case that a single rogue Dragon-Keeper has allied with Potter and somehow managed to bring along a beast--a big male in the throes of rut, I reckon--who burned the building to the ground because of a glamour that made him think it was a rival male. But this business about a flight of dragons is nonsense."

            Nonsense? Maybe so. But with the Ministry buttoned tight and quashing the natural process of gossip without releasing clear information to quell the rumors, we will have to see how long it remains that way.

            Owl received by the Minister from a mysterious location, bearing marks of a spell to change handwriting:

            Minister Clearwater, you need not be frightened or alarmed by this "revolution" that Potter is stirring. There is a reason that it will fail, and it has nothing to do with the character of those who have followed Potter or the way that the Ministry interacts with our society. It is Potter himself who will cause this rebellion to falter, and then to fall apart.

            If you need more proof of my knowing what others might not know, recall the artifacts taken from the Unspeakables, and ask yourself again what they might represent.

            From a Daily Prophet article with the byline "Aenigma":

            ...Following are photographs of and excerpts from several books that were in the Ministry's possession. All concern the Dark Arts, specifically necromancy, and should shed some light on what exactly Harry Potter was rebelling against. Several contain notes in the hand of the late Minister Duplais, reproduced in the photographs...

            From a pamphlet bearing the byline "Hermione Granger," distributed by the Ministry two days after the fall of Azkaban:

            IS HARRY POTTER YOU-KNOW-WHO?

            Many have fears that Harry Potter might have inherited several interesting powers when You-Know-Who died. There are multiple witnesses to the fact that he spoke to a snake in his second year, and as his mother was Muggleborn and his Potter ancestors had no trace of Slytherin blood, speculation as to where he might have inherited that particular gift can only lead to one source.

            Now we have NEW information concerning Potter's strange powers! He was seen flying without a broom on more than a few nights, crossing to Azkaban that way--a power also demonstrated by You-Know-Who before his death!! He tortured prisoners with the Dark Mark, indicating that He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named lives on in Potter and takes out his disappointment and revenge on his failed followers!!! Potter was also seen with a huge snake draped around him, which might be the snake 'Nagini' who was said to accompany You-Know-Who, and whose fate has never been successfully accounted for!!!!

            What powers do you think he has? Does our world face a new threat of resurgence from the Darkest of Dark Lords?? The Ministry needs your advice!!!!! Contact us!!!

            Placards found around the necks of convicted Death Eaters, minus Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy, and several convicted murderers, Dark wizards, and thieves, deposited bound, gagged, and unconscious at the doorstep of the Ministry two days after the release of the Granger pamphlet:

            Here, these are the guilty ones. They confessed under Veritaserum that they did what the Ministry said they did, and we're satisfied that they won't give us promises not to escape and would be more trouble than they were worth to keep. Take them back and guard them better this time. -H. P.

            From a Quibbler article on the deposited prisoners, by Luna Lovegood:

            ...Truly, I have to wonder about anyone who can question Potter's motives now. He does not have the same methods of fighting for truth and justice that he did when he was an Auror. Then again, the Ministry sacked him, so he's just obliging them by not acting the same way that an Auror would. It makes one sentence of what they've said true.

            Letter from an unknown source to the Daily Prophet, containing photographs of the deposited prisoners and the placards:

            This is no reason to trust him, you realize. But the Ministry will doubtless arrest more innocents in the future, and we applaud Potter's resolution to find and free them--as long as he burns down no more prisons. There is no reason to destroy structures that matter to the wizarding community.

            Memo from Minister Clearwater to all members of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement:

            Stall. Damage control. Now.

            From a Daily Prophet article on the prisoners left at the Ministry door, interview with Auror Kenneth Malvorn:

            KM: Obviously, I think that leaving the prisoners for us like this only shows that Auror--excuse me, old habits die hard--Mr. Potter is more dangerous than ever.

            Interviewer: Why? This seems to show that Mr. Potter still holds onto Ministry ideals of truth and justice, and suggests that, perhaps, he could be brought around to reason, if the reasoner was persistent enough.

            KM (smile): Pardon me, Mrs. Opal, but you don't know very much about the way the Aurors work. We require respect from our members above all, something that we teach our trainees as their very first lesson. We work in a hierarchy, after all, and we can't have some random trainee deciding that she doesn't want to work with a certain partner, or that he'll change the routine because it interferes with the drinking that he wants to do the night before. So we teach them to respect their partners, their instructors, the rules of the Ministry, and the rules of arresting suspects. That's very important, obviously--we have to have suspects treated justly even if we know that they're guilty of the crimes they've been arrested for--

            Interviewer: But how is this applicable to Mr. Potter's situation? It does seem to show that he has some respect for the Ministry rules of justice, if he leaves some of those the Ministry has judged as guilty in front of its doors, and makes sure they cannot easily escape.

            KM (stiffly): Please, Mrs. Opal, refrain from interrupting me.

            Interviewer: I'm sorry. Please proceed.

            KM: This has everything to do with the way that Mr. Potter is going about his rebellion. He parodies the rules that he spent so much time learning, along with every other Auror--although, if you ask me, he always got away with more than the rest of us because of his face and his name, and how bad it would look to have the Ministry treating him like an ordinary Auror.

            Interviewer: That's odd. I would assume that they would go out of their way to avoid treating him differently, because that could have led to accusations of favoritism.

            KM: Not so odd when you think about the way that we tend to work. Of course the more absurd suggestions were shot down--I believe someone, perhaps former Minister Shacklebolt, suggested that Potter be admitted to the Aurors without having taken his NEWTS, which is plainly nonsense--but that very respect for rules means that some Aurors do dream of defying them and doing other things sometimes. Someone who can leap over all the complicated procedures of tracking and questioning suspects and constructing an air-tight trap for a Dark wizard, someone who simply went after him and faced him down in single combat...you could see how that would be very attractive to a certain type of person. Who hasn't dreamed about being the maverick Hero once in a while?

            Interviewer: And you think that influenced the way people treated Potter?

            KM: Oh, of course. We couldn't help, sometimes, respecting and admiring him more than was his due. He'd been so young when he defeated He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, it was impossible not to dream of what he could achieve when he was older and acting properly within the rules. Who would have thought that we were harboring a revolutionary on our hands?

            Interviewer: Do you remember treating him in any unusual way, Auror Malvorn?

            KM: There were a few times when I was instructing him that I accepted answers from him I shouldn't have. Oh, they didn't really fulfill the question or the assignment that I'd given him, but they were so [deleted] creative.

            Interviewer: It sounds as though you admire him still, Auror.

            KM: Ah...of course, I'm sorry to see so much potential wasted. But Potter never fit within the rules the way he should have. The Ministry is really better off without him.

            Interviewer: Would you have preferred that he hadn't delivered these Death Eaters back into custody, then?

            KM: Oh, we're happy to have them back, no question. But you're missing the most important point, Mrs. Opal. He is the one who took up the task of judging them, as if to say that we weren't good enough. And he didn't return everyone. That's the most important fact that I feel has been overlooked in this case. Where are Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy? If Potter is serious about wanting to get back on good terms with us and remand the freed Azkaban prisoners to custody, then he should have included them in his delivery.

            Memo from Minister Gillian Clearwater to Head Auror Judith Summers:

            Make sure that Kenneth doesn't given any more interviews to the press. The last one was a disaster. I'm sure it's generated more sympathy for Potter than already existed!

            Owl from Head Auror Summers to Minister Clearwater:

            Are you sure, Madam Clearwater? I've had several people tell me that they now understand the Potter problem better than they did, and it's largely due to K.'s skills in showing what's wrong with his brand of "justice."

            Memo from Minister Clearwater to Head Auror Summers:

            I'm sure. There are reasons involved that you don't need to know at this time, and I'm preparing someone to speak who will be a much better witness against Potter than all of the others we have produced so far.

            Letter from Ron Weasley to Hermione Granger:

            Hermione, you haven't communicated with us in far too long. Are you all right? Harry wants to know about the fall of Azkaban and what the Ministry thinks of it, of course, but I want to know about you. Tell me if you're all right. Tell me whether you're healthy, sleeping well at night, getting along with the Minister and the Aurors...

            Harry might laugh at me for asking about something so trivial, but it's important to me. Or he might not laugh at me. I think he has someone in his life who he wants to ask those questions about. I'm just not comfortable with who it is.

            But write me back, please, Hermione. We need to know about all sorts of things, and you're at the heart of most of them.

            Love,

            Ron.

            Letter from Harry Potter to Hermione Granger:

            Do what you need to do. I know Ron would be happy to hear from you, but I reckon there's some reason that you haven't contacted us, and I know how dangerous the life you lead is. Do what you need to do, and do it as soon as you can.

            There's someone close to me now that Ron sometimes acts like he trusts and sometimes acts like he doesn't approve of. I would be happy to have your opinion, but not if it compromises you.

            Love,

            Harry.

            From George Weasley's experimental notes for the week after the Azkaban raid:

            That doesn't work. Stop being ridiculous. I can't build a cage that big.

            Lightning means what?

            I know, Fred. I know. That doesn't mean that we can talk to him about that. But we can build this, and make it unusable by anyone other than him. At the same time, it'll channel his power in certain ways, and if you're right, it'll reveal a connection between him and something stronger or wider or faster or however you want to phrase it.

            Okay, so I left one word off the list. Doesn't matter. I'll call these things Harry is supposedly connected to "greater" if you want me to. Doesn't matter.

            Now, back to the cage. And lightning. Lightning is a cousin of fire, right? And sometimes I think our Harry is all fire.

            Second owl received by the Minister from a mysterious location, bearing marks of a spell to change handwriting:

            I don't resent you asking for proof, although you had to do it from associates of mine rather than ask me directly. How could you when you don't know where or who I am?

            Recall this, since you were once an Auror (and still act like one on your best days). Remember that we sometimes saw criminals do something on a scene to deliberately cover their tracks. In a vengeance murder, they might take something from the house, so as to make us think that their main motive was the gold or the crystal or the spellbooks and killing was a secondary one. I did the same thing with the artifacts I removed from the Unspeakables. One of them is important, and I know how to use it. I knew what it must be when I studied it in more detail, and the reports of the Aurors who originally discovered it. The others are cover only. You can be assured that I will not use any of them against the Ministry.

            But it is important that you not commit any of your forces to a grand battle against Potter's. You will fail, because the flaw in him that will cause the rebellion to fall apart will not manifest itself until a crucial moment. A single, crucial moment. That is bound to come, and which I will be able to ascertain with greater certainty with more study.

            You ought to know what I am talking about, now, if you have paid attention to history, and reports, and superstition, and legend.

            Letter from Hermione Granger to Ron Weasley, carried by Hector the post-pigeon:

            There are reasons that I haven't contacted you. You might say that I've been rethinking my life and the way I go about things. You might say that I've been rethinking my ideals. All of those would be true.

            But they aren't the main reason.

            The main reason is that I've endured too much, Ron, and I'll ask you to give up these pathetic attempts to write to me. You're professing a love that never existed. You were the one who chose to follow Potter into danger, instead of choosing me and remaining with the Ministry. You were loyal to your best friend instead of your wife. What kind of marriage is that?

            It's a wrestling contest.

            It took me a long time to admit this to myself. We've been good friends for so long. We quested and fought beside each other. But even then, you were always looking to Harry for orders, weren't you? When you left us in the middle of the hunt, you didn't invite me to come with you. You just went. You abandoned Potter and me. That says a lot about how important I am to you.

            There's a corner of my mind that doubts.

            You are nothing more than an overgrown child, Ron Weasley, and I hope that you won't be surprised if divorce papers appear on an owl for you someday. The only reason I haven't done it so far is that it would take up too much of my time, and I'd have to search old memories and old photographs for some of the evidence I'd need, and that would stir up emotions I have no reason to live through.

            The Ministry can't find out.

            Go back to your Potter lover--he's your lover by now, isn't he? all those little awkward references in your letters don't fool me--and your vigilante justice and forget me, a better woman then you'll ever deserve.

            Don't back down.

            Hermione.

            From George Weasley's experimental notes a fortnight after the Azkaban raid:

            Lightning is a form of fire, but I don't think you can use it that way.

            Why not? Harry's done all sorts of things with fire that we didn't think he could do. Ropes. Ladders. Gags. Commanding dragons. You don't command dragons, things like that aren't done.

            A cage? Not the best idea? Something more open, something for the lightning to flow through and awaken?

            Awaken? Have you been hitting up the Firewhisky again?

            Only get what comes in through your mouth, remember? Not that that's anything but rubbish, these days.

            Bloody ha-ha. We'll turn to something other than the cage.

            Letter from Harry Potter to Hermione Granger:

            All right. We understand your feelings, or we did after a careful reading. We'll make sure that you have what you need from us, which is distance right now.

            Never give up the struggle.

            Love,

            Harry.

            From the private diary of Minister Gillian Clearwater:

            ...The war becomes more confusing each day. Now the press is baying on our trail, saying that we should have guarded Azkaban more carefully, asking how something like this could happen? As if attacks from impossibly controlled and organized flights of dragons happen every day!

            Our attempts to control the damage seem to make it worse. Auror Malvorn has resigned because of the mockery he received as a result of the interview, and yet the Daily Prophet keeps hounding him for a repeat performance. Of course, poor, unguarded words sell papers. I hope he does not give in. He could say more damaging things now that he is no longer part of the Ministry, with our reputation to protect.

            I have received letters from at least two disparate sources. One seems to be an organized group, commenting on my handling of the war from a perspective that seems to imply they have a better plan. Of course, Merlin forbid that they tell me what this plan is or how to implement it.

            The other is mocking, and from the thief who stole the Unspeakables' artifacts. The hints dropped are presumably meant to coalesce into a larger picture, but I refuse to allow myself to lose sleep over it. The hints most likely mean nothing, and while the thief was talented enough to enter the wards and take the treasures lost, that does not correspond to a tactical brain that can teach me how to win the war.

            I wish someone else was Minister. I wish someone else was handling this.

            But because that is not happening, I must rely on my wits and my oath to protect the wizarding world. Luckily, I have another trick up my sleeve to try.

            From a Quibbler article discussing the Ministry's "antics" in response to the deposited prisoners:

            ...And another attack on our press was made in the early hours of this morning. Your devoted editor escaped with nothing more than a slight nick on the shoulder. When will the Ministry learn that they cannot take from us more than we wish to give?

            Letter from an unknown source to the Minister, arriving in the early hours of the morning:

            We know what you meant with your attack on Luna Lovegood. We will not tolerate such measures. Your spy has been found and thwarted.

            Third owl received by the Minister from a mysterious location, bearing marks of a spell to change handwriting:

            You felt it last night, didn't you? You must have. The shifting thunderstorms, the brewing lightning, the magic moving closer to the earth. And yet you make no effort to prepare for it, as you should, by luring Potter into a trap and allowing the flaw that lies at the center of his character to take over.

            Perhaps my hints have been too mysterious. The artifact I refer to that the Unspeakables stole and hid away, and which I simply stole back from them, is the book. When one opens it in the right way, it records the prophecies that were thought to have been destroyed by Potter in 1996.

            Why would anyone assume that such valuable things were housed in one place only? It is profitable for the Department of Mysteries to make believe that such things are true, of course. But as Minister, someone should have told you the truth.

            There is another prophecy concerning Potter. And it says nothing about a rebellion. He is being pulled away from our mortal world towards other things, greater things. Forces of magic that we have no name for because no wizard has ever wielded them, wildness that becomes tameness in its own way. Natural disasters sometimes cross our paths and damage or destroy us, but there is no malice in them, only coincidence. That is what Potter is growing towards. His wild magic is too extreme for any wizard to wield and survive, otherwise. It was granted to him in the first place because it was never meant to affect the world he is a part of.

            Take heart, Minister. He will soon be gone, and without him, the rebellion will fall apart.

            You would do well, of course, to make sure that the Ministry is poised to take advantage of picking up the pieces.

            Letter from Ron Weasley to Hermione Granger:

            All right. Harry's explained it to me, focusing on those specific paragraphs, and I think he's right. But that doesn't mean it doesn't hurt.

            But I want you to stay safe, and to know that I love you at the same time. If that means that you need to wrestle the demons in your own mind for awhile, without hearing from me, all right. I might not even send this letter. I just wanted to write it down and get it out there.

            But there's one thing I want to put down because it's true and I can't keep it locked up in my head all the time, and I can't tell Harry the way I can tell him I still love you.

            If it turns out that Harry's suspicions are right and the Minister did this to you...

            I'm going to kill her.

*

            kit: I think Lucius is trying to prevent Draco from seeing him that way, yes. Draco is the only one whose opinion he would really be worried about.

            This chapter has the answer to what happened to people who failed the interrogation. Of course, Harry didn't announce that beforehand.

            SP777: This is a story where not a lot of people know how it will be resolved. Thus you get many different guesses!

            No, Catchers isn't based directly on anyone I know, just taking lots of little behaviors from different people, as I do with most characters.

            cinder1013: Thank you! I don't think I can imagine Lucius being abjectly grateful no matter what.
- 25
- 26
- 27
You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.
Report Story

Intoxicate the Sun