Harry Potter and the Destiny of Prophecies - 5. Chapter 5

“Are either of you named Harry Potter?” Headmistress McGonagall’s voice was sharp, and Harry winced from where he was listening to her lecture. He stood at the entrance of the Headmistress’ office, and he could see the backs of two students facing her desk. They were shaking where they stood.

“No ma’am.” They murmured in unison, and Harry vaguely recognized them as seventh year Ravenclaws.

“Then what gives you the idea that the school must sanction your union and give you private quarters?” McGonagall asked, her eyebrow raised at them.

“Well, you gave him and Draco quarters.” Said the male, whose name Harry could not remember for the life of him.

“Mr. Potter is the head of the Defenders, and Mr. Malfoy is his second.” McGonagall said, her voice dripping ice. “That is why they share quarters holding two bedrooms. Even if that weren’t the case, I’d be willing to consider the matter when you’ve faced Voldemort four or five times…oh stop flinching! If you’ve done a tenth of what Harry Potter has done, then you might earn such a privilege. Since I would not grant Mr. Potter such a privilege based solely on his reputation and desire to live with his fiancé, you have no grounds to stand on. I suggest you do not push me any further. If you do, I do believe we will begin using certain resources to make sure every student is in their own beds after curfew.”

“Yes, ma’am.” They said, again in unison.

“You may go.” She told them curtly, then a little louder. “And you may come in now Mr. Potter.”

Both students blushed a bright red as they turned and saw him there. He just gave them cool, appraising looks as they shuffled out. He took the seat the Headmistress waved him to and gave her a gentle smile.

“I hope that sort of thing doesn’t happen too often.” He told her.

“I’ve memorized the speech by now.” She replied with a grimace. “Still, hormonal children trying to wheedle perks they don’t deserve isn’t why I asked you here.”

“So, what can I do for you, ma’am?” Harry asked politely, trying to forget all of the work piling up on his desk in his quarters. Maybe Draco would handle some of those essays he had to grade?

“Well, as you are quite aware, it has been almost three weeks since our muggle visitor left.” McGonagall began, and Harry suppressed a groan.

“Yes.” Harry replied, His thoughts running to the Samhain/Halloween Feast tomorrow night. Had that new robe he’d ordered last week arrive yet?

“Well, the Minister of Magic has just informed me by fire that your presence is being requested at the muggle government offices tomorrow. They aren’t sure how long the meetings are to last, but you should be prepared for an overnight stay.”

“What?” Harry exclaimed, all thoughts returning to the present. “But it’s Samhain!”

“I know, Mister Potter.” McGonagall said with a sigh. “I also stressed that you’ve missed far too many classes for my comfort this year, but the Minister made it very clear that this is not an optional meeting. You will be at the Ministry of Magic lobby by seven in the morning. You should be in muggle attire and will be taken from there to the Muggle government building. Based on what Minister Milieu did not say, I am under the impression that your interview there will have lasting repercussions on our world.”

“Draco...” Harry began, but she cut him off.

“Has not been invited.” She said sternly. “They want to talk to the Boy-Who-Lived, not the son of a former Death Eater.”

“Oh.” Harry said, sitting back in his chair. “Very well, I suppose there’ll be a carriage waiting for me?”

“No, you will portkey from my office. I will be waiting at precisely five minutes to seven.”

“Very well, ma’am.” Harry said, standing at the obvious dismissal. He tried not to slump as he returned to his quarters, but he was already cringing at Draco’s reaction. Sure enough, once he returned, the blond Slytherin turned from his desk where he was correcting potions work to ask what the old cat wanted.

“I have to leave tomorrow for the muggle ministry.” Harry told him.

“NO!” Draco thundered. “Tomorrow’s Samhain. We were going to…”

“I know.” Harry interrupted him sadly. “I’m sorry but the Minister of Magic made it very clear that this wasn’t optional, and it was very important.

“How long?” Draco asked, his anger disappearing from his face, if not his heart.

“At least a day.”

“Let’s get you packed, then I’m going to make sure you come running back here when you’re done.” Draco said with a sly grin. Harry couldn’t help but return that grin.

The next morning, Harry had to take a few small sips of a bruise-away potion to remove some of the marks Draco had left. Precisely on time, he showed up in the Headmistress’ office, wearing a black Armani suit and holding a garment bag with two more suits in it and a small bag with toiletries. McGongall nodded approvingly before handing him the portkey, and he soon found himself at the Ministry, where a very anxious Orrin Milieu was waiting for him.

“Harry my boy!” The man said with a smile when Harry appeared.

“Minister Milieu, good to see you.” Harry greeted the man.

“Yes, yes, well, their driver is waiting by the telephone booth upstairs. Come right this way.”

“What exactly is this about?” Harry asked as the man led him through a relatively quiet lobby. Harry noticed that they’d finally fixed those damn statues.

“The Prime Minister wouldn’t say outright, but I think the bloke you escorted to Hogwarts said some things in his report that didn’t jive with what they got from the other people, and they’re going to try to disprove or prove whatever it was he reported.”

“Interesting.” Harry said.

“You do have your wand with you?” Orrin Milieu asked with a worried glance as Harry entered the booth.

“Never leave home without it.” Harry said, patting his side where the wand was hidden.

“Good luck, Harry.” Milieu said with a smile as the booth moved Harry to the surface.

A government vehicle waited for him there, with two men in dark suits standing by it. One approached, asking if he was Harry Potter, and then took Harry’s bags and put them in the boot before opening the door for Harry. Once Harry was inside, the men climbed into the front seat and the car took off into London.

Harry’s stomach was fluttering, and his palms were sweaty, but he forced himself to calm down as they approached a building that looked vaguely familiar. The car turned down a side street, went through some type of security checkpoint, and finally stopped at what was obviously a back entrance to some type of home. The driver got out, opened the door for him, and as Harry got out, he saw a familiar face coming out of the building’s door.

“Harry!” Richard Miles said in a friendly manner, crossing the distance between them to shake Harry’s hand warmly. “Glad you could make it.”

“Not like I had much choice.” Harry said with a wry smile. “Glad to be back in the muggle world?”

“Yes!” Richard said, a little more strongly than Harry had expected. Harry followed Richard’s lead as he led him into the building. “I realized when I got back that you were very much right about the jealousy factor. It wasn’t until I was back in the office trying to write out the report on that bloody laptop that I realized how glad I was to be back home.”

“Told you.” Harry said with a smile as they entered what appeared to be the hallway of a very upper-class home. “I felt the same way my first five years when I was forced to spend the summer hols with my muggle relatives. I’d take one look at Hogwarts castle and relax because I was home.”

“Yes, I didn’t understand what you were saying, but it really hit me when I got back.” Richard said, repeating himself as he led Harry into what looked like a small sitting room. He invited Harry to sit in one of the armchairs, but remained standing near the fireplace the two armchairs were facing. “Do you know where you are now?”

“I have no clue.” Harry admitted with a smile.

“Does #10 Downing Street ring a bell?” Richard asked with a sly smile. Harry just raised an eyebrow.

“I’m glad I’m wearing Armani.” Harry answered instead of the obvious.

“A wise choice.” A new voice said, a voice that tugged at Harry’s memory until he remembered the last time he heard it. Of course the way Richard was standing a little straighter gave him a clue. Harry stood and turned to face the source of the voice.

“Mr. Prime Minister.” Harry said with a smile, taking two steps and extending his hand as gracefully as Draco himself would have done. “It’s an honor to meet you again.”

“From all I’ve read, I’d have to argue that the honor might be mine.” The Prime Minister said with a slight smile. “Please have a seat. We should have some tea here soon. Mr. Miles, thank you for greeting our guest, you may return to your work now.”

“Yes, sir.” Richard said, nodding slightly before he left. Harry sat down, just a hair of a second after the Prime Minister sat. Harry noticed that there were four men in suits arranged around the room and took careful notice of their placement. Nothing was said as a maid came in with tea service for two and poured a cup for each of them. Harry directed her to pour cream and two sugars in his.

“I must say that reading your file and seeing you here dressed like that, it is quite hard to imagine that you are only sixteen.” The Prime Minister said as the maid left. “We can speak openly in this room, although only the guards are aware of your…nature.”

“I’ve never really had a chance to be just a child, sir.” Harry replied with a nod of his head. “That choice was taken away from me when I was a toddler.”

“Don’t you see that as a failing of the magical world?” The Prime Minister asked. “So many lives torn apart, so many children forced to grow up far to soon…it really makes me wonder some times.”

“It’s no different than the muggle world in many ways.” Harry replied. “Look at what your government has dealt with in Bosnia and Kosovo. I dare say it would be worse if I had been born and raised there.”

“Still, Britain is not a place like that.” The Prime Minister shifted a little in his seat. Harry made a note to remember to thank Hermione for the list of muggle world events to use in a discussion like this. It had only been a hunch that made him ask her for the information, but it was paying big time.

“Isn’t it, sir?” Harry asked him politely, taking a sip of tea before continuing. “When was the last time the Irish Republic Army set off a bomb either here or in North Ireland?”

“Mr. Miles was right about you, it seems, despite your age.” The Prime Minister said instead of answering. “You seem well-versed in, what do you call them? ‘Muggle’ affairs?”

“Correct term, sir.” Harry said with a smile. “Not all wizards and witches were born and raised only in the wizarding world. Some are muggle-born and keep tabs on the world from which they came. I was taken from the wizarding world after my parents were killed and placed with muggle relatives, so I have a better understanding than many wizards such as my best friend Ronald Weasley.”

“Not quite what I expected when we began our review of the Ministry of Magic.” The Prime Minister acknowledged, “Yet it does give me hope for the ideas we have generated from that review.”

“Which is why I’m here.” Harry stated, not a question in any way shape or form.

“Yes.” The Prime Minister said simply, pausing to take a couple sips of tea before continuing. “Several of our reports contained warnings that your people would not accept many changes without some…resistance. Mr. Miles’ report contained the most detailed, and strongest warnings based on conversations with you. I have spoken several times with your Minister of Magic, but he does not seem to have the understanding of the non-magical world that you possess. His answers just did not give us a clear enough picture.”

“A picture you hope to have me help paint more clearly?” Harry asked him.

“Precisely.” The Prime Minister said. “I’ve arranged several meetings with key members of my government. They will be asking many questions and I hope that you can shed some light on some confusing issues for us.”

“Such as?” Harry asked.

“My security detail were quite concerned with a reported plot from this Voldemort character to take over the government of one of the European countries. Your Law Enforcement people seemed to think it was quite possible and my detail would like more information about that.”

“Why didn’t they just ask for a demonstration?” Harry asked.

“A demonstration?”

“It would be simple.” Harry answered. “Just put a protection spell on you, and on the people participating and we could do it right here.”

“Would you be qualified do perform such a demonstration?” The Prime Minister asked, and Harry noticed one of the guards edging closer into view.

“If you so desired, yes sir.” Harry replied, then went on to explain. “I’d need to place a spell that repels bullets on everyone participating, but that is quite easy to do.”

“Repels bullets?” This came from the guard that had edged closer. Harry looked up and noticed he was an older man in his fifties.

“Yes.” Harry replied with a smile. “It’s actually quite an easy spell to cast.”

“Eric?” The Prime Minister asked.

“I’m not sure, Prime Minister.” The guard replied.

“I’d also cast a version of the spell so that no sound or bullets would leave the room.” Harry added, somehow wanting to prove just how vulnerable these people were. It just might work to make them really think twice about their plans.

It might also backfire, but he had an idea of how to handle their reactions.

“Are you sure there would be no danger to the Prime Minister?” Eric, the guard asked.

“None. If you wish, I can cast the spells on the room, and on you and I. Then the Prime Minister can leave the room, you can verify the safety, and then I can give the demonstration.” Harry told him.

“That would be…acceptable.” Eric said after a moment of thought. “I wanted to see a demonstration but I wasn’t part of the team that visited your Ministry.”

“Very well, then.” The Prime Minister said, standing. Harry stood quickly as well. The remaining guards also left the room at that point, leaving just Harry and the Detail Captain.

“First, I’ll cast the protections spells on us.” Harry said, taking his wand out of his hiding place. The older man started to reach inside his jacket, but relaxed as Harry touched the wand to his own chest. “Velo Protectum”

His skin tingled for a moment as the spell set. “Now for you, sir. You’ll feel a slight tingling as the spell sets on your skin. Once it’s set, you’ll feel normal.”

“Go ahead.”

“Velo Protectus” Harry said again, as he touched the man’s chest with his wand. There was a slight silver glow about the man that lasted for three seconds before disappearing. Harry smiled as the man shivered then looked at Harry with wide eyes.

“You know, I didn’t really believe in magic.” He said in a slightly breathy voice.

“Common reaction.” Harry replied with a smile. “Now, I’m going to cast two charms on this room. The first is a silencing charm. Silencio! There, that’s set. The second is a sticking charm. It’s a little different than the protection charm in that instead of blocking the bullet, or any other object, that object will stick to the walls. Impervius stickilis! I’m actually proud of the bullet protection charm and the sticking charm. I made them both in the past few months based on existing spells.”

“Interesting.” The muggle said. “So, if I were to scream right now no one could hear me?”

“Using your voice, no.” Harry said, and winced when the man yelled at the top of his lungs. When no one came inside, he whispered into a button on his lapel, then listened to the speaker set in one of his ears before nodding.

“Well, that was accurate.” He said with a nod of appreciation. “Now what.”

“Take out your gun and shoot me.” Harry said with a smile, moving a few feet back from the man.

“Son, are you sure about this?” He asked cautiously.

“Absolutely.” Yhe man slowly pulled his weapon out. He did something to it, then pointed at Harry’s leg.

“Last chance.” The muggle said.

“Go ahead.” Harry said calmly, and the man fired. Harry jumped a little. The gun was extremely loud in the small room and it almost deafened him. The bullet had bounced off his leg and was now sticking in the ceiling above them. The muggle looked at Harry’s leg, then at the ceiling in utter disbelief.

“Try it again.” Harry said with a grin, then quickly raised his wand to his ears and cast a protection charm. The man fired twice this time, at Harry’s chest, and both times the bullets bounced off. One of them bounced back and hit Eric, then bounced off him and stuck on a far wall. The other stuck on the curtains covering one of the windows. Harry released the charm on his ears as the muggle wiggled a finger in the ear that did not have any protection.

“Amazing” He said, a little loudly, then whispered something into his lapel. “They didn’t even hear the gunshots and they’re leaning against the door trying to listen!”

“Now, if you want a demonstration in front of the Prime Minister?” Harry asked him. He just nodded. Harry made a hole in the sticking charm so that the door could be opened. He saw the Prime Minister and four more guards enter. One of the guards disappeared after Eric spoke to him, and returned a moment later with ear protection for everyone. Harry refused the offered contraption, that looked like stereo headsets, and cast the protection charms on everyone in the room. When he was done, he looked around the room in satisfaction.

“Now, if you don’t mind.” Harry said with a smile. “I’ll leave the room. Prime Minister, sit or stand wherever you want. Positioning of everyone doesn’t matter. I’ll come in like an attacker. The only difference will be that the spells I use won’t kill or cause any type of injury that I can’t heal myself without outside help. Is that acceptable?”

The Minister and Guard Captain both nodded. Harry left the room, resetting the charms to cover the door as he left. He stood in the hallway where three more guards were located and asked them where the loo was. One of them followed him there and as soon as he was inside, he emptied his bladder, rezipped his pants, took his jacket off, picked his wand back up, and disapparrated.

He apparrated into the exact middle of the room to see Eric and all four guards standing with their weapons drawn. They began firing immediately, but he responded just as quickly.

“Expelliarmus!” One guard’s gun went flying and he flew against the wall, sticking to it.

“Stupefy!” Another guard collapsed unconscious.

“Expelliarmus!” Another guard stuck against the wall, his gun crashing and sticking to the curtains far away from him. Then a weight hit him as Eric tackled him. He cast another stunning spell as he was falling which took the fourth guard out before Harry hit the floor. Even with the breath knocked out of him, he managed to twist in the man’s grip and hit him with the disarming spell. The net effect of which was that the older guard was now stuck to the ceiling. Harry stood up, pointed his wand at the Prime Minister who was sitting in his chair watching with wide eyes and smiled. “With the killing curse, you would be dead now, sir. With the Imperius curse, you would be under my mind control, and with the Cruciatus curse you would feel pain like your very bones were melting.”

“Impressive.” The Prime Minister said, taking his hearing protection off. Harry took the charm off of his ears as well.

“What if I told you that the spells I used to disarm and incapacitate your guards could be performed just as effectively by my first year students?” Harry asked him.

“Seriously?”

“Yes, Mr. Prime Minister. The spell allowing me to appear out of thin air is a little more complex, as are the protection spells I used, but most adult wizards could manage them, and I’m only one person.”

While the Prime Minister stared at him, Harry released the charms around the room, and lowered the older Guard Captain from the ceiling. The younger guards immediately started picking up the bullets, counting them all. Amazingly, none of the furniture had been damaged, even though Harry hadn’t put spells on them. Lucky that. When all the spells were taken off, Harry found him face to face with the older guard captain.

“I will have to have your weapon, sir.” He told Harry.

“Sorry, not going to happen.” Harry told him. “I’ve got enemies out there who could care less about your Prime Minister, but will move hell and earth to see me dead. I’ve just shown you what one wizard can do to your protections. Do you expect me to entrust my safety in your hands?”

“What makes you say they have no interest in the Prime Minister but would go after you?” The older muggle asked.

“That’s an easy question.” Harry said, smiling slightly. “In England, the muggle government does not have any real impact on the wizarding world. Except in very specific circumstances, the governments never really impact each other. While this leaves the muggle government void of magical protections, it also makes it a useless target until the Ministry of Magic is either destroyed or controlled by them. If they attack the muggle government, or seek to gain control of it, the Ministry of Magic will be able to stop them before they do any lasting damage. No, you and your Prime Minister are safe precisely because the two worlds are so separated.”

“That’s why you told Mr. Miles that any intervention by the non-magical world in the magical world would be disastrous.” The Prime Minister said thoughtfully.

“Precisely.” Harry said.

“Thank you, Mr. Potter.” The Prime Minister said. “Eric, let him keep his wand. I seriously doubt that he will use it for harm as he hasn’t done so already.”

“Thank you sir.” Harry said with a nod of his head.

“Now, if you don’t mind, I believe there are some people in another room that would like to meet you.” The Prime Minister said, holding his arm out towards one of the doors. Harry smiled and followed him out, stopping by the lavatory he’d used to pick up his coat. Somehow he had the impression it was going to be a very long day.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

What followed in the next day and a half was pure hell, pure torture, boring, aggravating, and a whole host of other adjectives that Harry was far to tired to think of at the moment. As the muggle car made its way through mid-day London traffic, Harry allowed his worn out mind to rest, doing his best to ignore the snippets of memory that popped up. He’d only had a few hours of sleep the entire time he was there, and the repeated use of magic had made him very, very tired. Right then, he wasn’t sure if he could apparate if his life depended on it, but he believed that it had all been worth every bit of effort, sweat, and frustration.

That first meeting after his “demonstration” had probably been the most volatile. It was with several military experts who had watched his little show on a closed circuit camera. Somehow, the device had operated, probably because the spells he’d used weren’t extremely powerful. It had fuzzed out a little when he cast the charms on the walls, but the picture had still been clear enough for the men watching to see him disable five of the best security guards Britain had to offer.

They’d wanted to know how they could use wizards and witches as part of combat units overseas and what opposition such an idea might face from the wizarding community.

They didn’t like his answer about wizards and witches living all over the world, and any army that fielded such a force would likely find itself soon facing similar forces in other armies. He likened it to nuclear weapons (another thing to thank Hermione for) and how their very existence in arsenals across the world prevented their use short of apocalypse. At least they accepted his assurance that they could always find volunteers if some other country used wizards and witches first.

Silently, Harry prayed that would never happen again. It had happened in 1944 with a desperate Germany losing the war and throwing everything they could find at the encroaching troops. Wizards and witches had responded to the call that time, but that was the last time magical communities had fought in muggle wars. Harsh lessons were learned, lessons still not forgotten.

The medical people who came next were much harder to deal with, especially as he thought of Madame Hooch now recovering in St. Mungo’s from an injury that would have forever paralyzed a muggle. Fortunately they understood the term ‘scarcity of resources’ (Harry reminded himself to thank Blaise Zabini for that one), and had largely decided to feel him out about the idea of sharing resources in extreme cases. Since that largely happened on an unofficial basis right now (according to Pansy Parkinson), that was something he encouraged.

Then there were the Law enforcement people who just couldn’t understand why Magical Law Enforcement had to handle all magical offense. Although they’d had the most contact over the years (especially with wizards like Arthur Weasley), they seemed the most incapable of understanding how their prisons could not hold magical people and how their criminal court system couldn’t really judge the cases. Harry had resorted to using magic with them more than any of the other groups he had met, and he’d cast a lot of spells in the eight hours they’d harangued him.

He did everything from casting a basic glamour to change his appearance just enough so that they didn’t recognize him when he came back from a trip to the loo, to changing his shoe into a brick and throwing it through a window, followed by summoning the brick back through the broken window and changing it back into his shoe. They’d angrily shouted at him about breaking the window until he repaired it and asked them to prove he’d broken the thing in the first place.

Then he’d turned the bloke who refused to shut up into a frog and cast a silencing charm on him when he still croaked.

He waited until he’d finished explaining how magical law enforcement could figure out how he’d done these things while they could never figure out how to prove he’d done anything wrong, especially if all the witnesses were toads. He’d turned the offending bloke back into human form at that point, but left the silencing charm on since the man was still trying to shout, his face far beyond purple.

The man calmed down a half-hour later and Harry took the charm off. The man didn’t say a word after that.

Then had come a late night conversation with the Prime Minister and his wife about what it was like to live in the magical world versus the muggle world. The man seemed absolutely incensed when Harry told him about the cupboard under the stairs and how much better things had gotten when he was allowed to just wander the streets without any attention at all during the summer before his first year(b/n the dementors didn’t come that summer). The Prime Minister couldn’t understand though, why citizens of the magical world could care less about ‘voting rights’ for muggle representatives. He seemed intent on the concept that since they lived in the same land, within borders on some map, that they belonged as part of the muggle world. Harry thought his wife might have been beginning to grasp the concept, but the man just couldn’t seem to get what Harry was talking about. That was when he suggested the man take a trip down to Kings Cross Station and go through the barrier to platform 9 ¾ . For Harry that was always a significant step, as if he was sloughing off his old self and putting on his real identity.

The education people were probably the worst, and were why he was so tired today. They couldn’t understand that the magical world had no use for muggle education beyond basics. Magical schools taught much the same subjects for children under age 11, or for richer families, private tutors would be used to teach reading, writing, and arithmetic. Like Richard, they were shocked by disinterest in muggle history, and found Richard’s reports of Muggle studies totally confusing. Nothing he said seemed to persuade them, and he finally realized that was in part because they didn’t want to look at ideas other than the ones they had already formulated. Two of the women seemed ready to descend on Hogwarts and force students to sit in a range of classes from muggle history to cooking!

Harry had shocked her by going into the kitchen, ordering the kitchen staff out (which they obeyed) and using a few spells he’d learned from Molly Weasley. The sight of bacon and eggs cooking themselves, followed by the pans cleaning themselves, made one of the women swoon so that Harry thought she’d faint.

“Why should I bother learning to cook the way you do?” Harry asked her afterwards, conveniently ignoring all the muggle meals he’d prepared for the Dursley family. That was the only point they conceded the whole morning.

After lunch, a quick phone call to Minister Milieu had arranged for the barrier at Platform 9 ¾ to be opened. He’d apparated the Prime Minister and his wife (separately) to an office (over the objections of the security detail and after a few phone calls made sure the office was empty), and then escorted them through the barrier. When they returned to the Prime Minister’s residence, he thought he’d seen a glimmer of understanding in the man’s eyes.

Only time would tell.

The car finally reached the Ministry of Magic’s guest entrance, and he soon found himself in Minister Milieu’s office giving him a brief overview of his time with the Prime Minister. He learned that several Ministry officials had been called into various muggle offices over the next few days and he let out a weary sigh. This was not just going to go away.

Could Voldemort have been right? Harry pushed that thought away with a grimace of distaste.

“Being around the muggles that bad, eh, Harry?” Milieu said at Harry’s expression.

“Some of them are so thickheaded.” Harry said, then realized a pattern he’d seen. It hit him like a lightning bolt. “Minister, how many of the people we had working with their reviewers are muggle-born or have actually lived in the muggle world?”

“Off the top of my head,” Milieu said thoughtfully, “You probably were the only one who fits that classification. Even Arthur Weasley really hasn’t lived as a muggle.”

“I think that’s part of our problem.” Harry said, his brain protesting at being worked when it was so tired. “I was reading some of their reports, or they’d quote it to me and it sounded like what you might get when someone who’s Spanish speaks to someone who’s Portuguese. The languages are similar, they can understand the words, even communicate, but when they try to explain something that one has understood all his life and the other has never seen before, they don’t really understand what they are saying to each other.”

“Where’d you get that idea from?” Milieu asked, his eyes going wide.

“Well I remember a Spanish kid and a Portuguese kid from grammar school. They were speaking in their languages since they understood each other better than trying to speak English, but they didn’t understand a lot of the stuff we were studying in school. Then I remember Ron Weasley trying to explain stuff to Fleur deLacour during the Tri-Wizard tournament and that didn’t work too well either, and I also remembered Mr. Weasley going all crazy over the stupidest muggle stuff, except he’d never seen it before and it wasn’t stupid to him.”

“My boy, that sounds like you’ve hit on part of the problem, but what’s the solution?” Milieu asked.

“Put muggle born wizards and witches to act as ‘translators’ when Ministry officials meet with muggle officials?” Harry opined.

“That’s something we’ll have to think about.” Milieu said, tapping his chin with one finger while Harry yawned.

“Goodness, young man!” Milieu said in a shocked voice. “You must be tired. Think you can get back to Hogwarts okay?”

“I’ll use the portkey.” Harry said with a wan smile. The Minister shooed him out of the office then, and Harry made his way to the lobby where he could utilize the portkey. Moments later he was startling McGonagall who was just entering her office. She took one look at Harry and told him to get to bed, even though it was only mid-day.

Harry was asleep by the time his head hit the pillow.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Harry curled up into the warmth of Draco lying next to him and let out a content sigh. He’d been exhausted on his return from the muggle government meetings and really didn’t want to get up yet, although his stomach was growling. Draco’s warmth was relaxing, even through the clothes he was wearing.

Clothes

Draco

Draco would never wear his robes in bed.

Harry opened his eyes and turned slightly to find himself staring into a set of hazel eyes. Before he could react to the sight of Oliver Wood in his bed, hugging him while he’d been sleeping there was a gasp from the entrance to the bedroom, followed by the sound of running feet. There was a bang as something hit the portrait door, and the loud complaint of the portrait at being mistreated. Harry looked again at Oliver Wood’s face, now showing a bit of surprise.

“GET THE FUCK OUT OF MY BED!” Harry shouted. When Oliver didn’t move fast enough he added a shove that pushed the young man onto the floor “GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE!”

Oliver’s retreating back was the only thing that helped Harry get control of his temper. With a sigh, he got out of bed and quickly crossed over to the wardrobe, picking out the first set of clothes he could find, pulling a school robe on before rushing out of the room. He was feeling a little more awake now and had to think. There was no doubt in his mind that it had been Draco coming into their rooms and who had run at the sight of an all-but nude Harry in bed with a fully clothed Oliver Wood.

This was so not how he wanted his evening to go.

It was evening too, he figured by the mass of students heading into the Great Hall. A few saw him and waived at him with smiles, but he ignored him as he tried to think where Draco might have gone. Of course, the Slytherin common room!

Draco wasn’t there.

The Great Hall!

No Draco.

Their rooms!

Still not there.

Another check of the great hall earned him several curious glances, and he noticed that Ron wasn’t at the Gryffindor table. Maybe he was with Ron? But why would Draco be talking to Ron? Despite the events of the last year, they weren’t really friends. They tolerated each other, but actual friendship? No.

Still, Harry headed to the Head Boy’s room. He knew the password to the portrait that guarded the common room shared by Head Boy and Head Girl, so entered immediately. Ron’s door was shut, so he went over to it, preparing to knock when he could faintly hear voices. He cast a hearing augmentation charm and he could clearly make out the voices speaking in the room. It was Draco and Ron.

“But I don’t understand how he could let that Wood hold him in our bed.” Draco was sobbing.

“Well, Oliver is an old friend.” Ron replied. “Maybe he always had a crush on him?”

“But what about us?” Draco was nearly wailing, and there the sound as if Ron was clucking over him.

“I’m sure Harry will come back to his senses.” Ron was saying now. Harry put a hand on the door handle getting ready to storm into the room. What Ron was saying made no sense.

“I swear if I saw either of them right now I’d hex them into next week!” Draco snarled, and Harry let his hand drop to his side.

“Harry’s just got a big heart, Draco.” Ron said consolingly. “He has a hard time turning his back on people that need him, and Oliver Wood is his friend.”

“But how could he cheat…” Draco started to say, but was interrupted as Harry’s anger leaped inside him and he threw the door open with so much force that it banged as it hit the wall and only an outstretched hand stopped it from hitting Harry as he stepped into the room. Draco was sitting on the edge of Ron’s bed, with Ron’s arm around him and there were tears falling down his face.

“I have never, and never will cheat on you Draconis Malfoy.” Harry said angrily. “The very fact that you can’t seem to get that through you head is infuriating, but you had better believe it is true. You see this?”

Harry lifted his arm so that his silver bracelet was very visible. Draco just stared at it blankly. Ron was looking at him with a very worried expression.

“It didn’t even get warm, much less burn like it did when that bitch tried to seduce me.” Harry snarled fiercely. Draco’s lack of faith in him had him furious beyond belief. “I thought it was you that was snuggling up to me. I was asleep and had just woken up when you came in. If you’d stayed a moment longer you would have gotten to see me push Oliver off of our bed where he did not belong. I don’t know what kind of game he was playing but it will not work.”

“Oh yeah?” Draco snarled, anger filling his face as Harry spoke. “Why did my bracelet grow cold like it did when you were captured? I know what that means and it means that your faithfulness is lapsing! I know what I saw! You staring into the that Wood’s eyes and you were smiling! You might want me to believe something else but I know what I saw and what I felt from my bracelet! Just leave me alone, Harry bloody Potter!”

With that, Draco stood and pushed Harry aside as he stormed out of the room. Harry stood in the doorway, totally stunned, before turning on a very nervous looking Ron.

“What kind of game are you playing?” Harry asked his red-head friend fiercely.

“What are you talking about, Harry?” Ron asked with a confused voice on his face. “I saw Draco storming out of your rooms and he looked angry. I asked him if he wanted to talk and brought him back to my rooms and was trying to calm him down until you came storming in here!”

“Calm him down?” Harry asked, his voice cold as his guts knotted. “Do you call telling him how Oliver and I are old friends, that I have such a big heart I’ll sleep with anyone who crawls in my bed calming Draco down? If I didn’t know you better I’d think you were trying to break us up!”

“That’s crazy!” Ron nearly shouted. “You know I support you two together! Why would I want to break you two up?”

“I don’t know, Ronald Weasley.” Harry told him in that cold voice. “But I swear that if I find out you were, you will wish you had never been born!”

“Don’t you threaten me!” Ron nearly roared, his wand appearing in his hand. Harry just stared at him for a moment before turning and walking out of the room. He made his way down to the great hall and found Draco sitting at the Slytherin table, looking extremely angry. He took one step in that direction and stopped at the furious gaze of those silver eyes. Instead he went and sat down next to Hermione who looked like she was just finishing her meal.

“Harry, what’s wrong with Draco?” Hermione asked as soon as he sat down.

“Long story.” Harry told her.

“Want to come up to my room and talk about it?” She offered.

“No.” Harry told her honestly.

“How about the library?” She persisted.

“Okay.” Harry said, realizing he really wasn’t hungry. They got up and left the room. Harry noticed Oliver at the staff table, staring at him but refused to meet the man’s gaze. The library was mostly empty and he broke into tears as he told her what had happened. She let him cry on her shoulder, but before they could really talk about it, McGonagall appeared and asked Harry to come to her office.

By the time he got done talking to the Headmistress about the past few days, it was well past nine. He returned to his apartment, hoping Draco would be there and willing to talk, but was shocked to see the second bedroom’s door shut. The only response he got when he knocked was a sharp “GO AWAY!”

For the second night in a year, and the first where they ever had a choice, Harry Potter went to bed without Draco Malfoy next to him.