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zelda_queenZeldaQueen: Thank God, only two or so more chapters left. I can do this, I can do this, I can do this, dammit!
Projection Room Voices: Starting Media in 3...2...1...
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The Birth Of Hope (Part 2)
X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X
December 7, 1978
Harry was severely annoyed by the lack of progress in Britain. The Death Eaters had mostly been rounded up in Britain and what seemed like the worst offenders inside the Ministry had been, at the very least, fired.
But that hadn't begun any kind of healing or reconciliation process.
Could no one think of the big picture? Could no one envision a better society?
ZeldaQueen: I love how pissy Harry gets when people don't do exactly what he wants. Okay, he's basically trying to rewrite the past in his own image, with no regards towards anybody's choice in the matter. He's basically doing whatever the hell he wants and then is annoyed that people apparently don't have his knowledge of the future and aren't working accordingly. Seriously, is this idiot never satisfied? Apparently everything's head and shoulders over what Harry's old present was like. Hasn't he ever heard "Rome wasn't built in a day"?
Harry sat down to write. He'd send an article into his usual contacts at Ireland's main newspaper: The Magical Defender.
Britain at a Crossroads
The question for our magical friends in Britain is: what will they do now to stop the next Dark Lord from rising in thirty years?
ZeldaQueen: Yes, they need to start figuring out what to do when Harry decides to take over England for the Greater Good?
If they allow the recent wounds of the last war to fester, there will certainly be another would-be conqueror to deal with in a few decades, just as Voldemort followed on from Grindelwald who emulated the Dark Baron Erskvine, in the late 1890s, who was actually apprenticed to the Black Prince of the Crimea in the 1860s.
ZeldaQueen: Oh, so that's his justification. "You'd just better do what I want, or some other Dark Lord will come along and start murdering you all again! Tip, Harry - you can't force the world to be paranoid buggers always looking for danger
What are the problems the British face? Some families want stability at any cost and will support the Ministry whenever a dark voice rises up.
ZeldaQueen: Because the Ministry is Evil and only an idiot would support them
Other families wish to reclaim what they consider to be their heritage, the various forms of the Dark Arts.
ZeldaQueen: And some, like Harry, are entitlement whores
Other individuals merely fester and stew over the wrongs done to them in the past by 'enemies of the family.' There are a number of almost legendary private vendettas at work even today – like the one between the Bagshots and the Flints, the Weasleys and the extinct Malfoy line, or the one that caused both the Rockwall and Fennyfern families to become extinct five years ago.
ZeldaQueen: What a minute, what's that? The frigging Weasleys have "almost legendary private vendettas"? BULL, I SAY! Where is the evidence in canon for that? Where? Is DW referring to their dislike of the Malfoy family? Because considering how they pretty much sneered at the Weasleys and mocked them and made life difficult, not to mention the fact that they were all Death Eaters who supported Voldemort, which the Weasley family considered the height of wrongdoing, I wouldn't call that a "vendetta", I'd call that pretty freaking justified!
The wizarding world isn't large enough to support the volume and intensity of feuds we have been maintaining in the last century. So, how does the small group of British witches and wizards begin to remedy the problem?
ZeldaQueen: (Angsty Harry) "Do exactly as I say and no one gets hurt"
Put an end to the private feuds by having all participants, official or otherwise, in the last war testify at a public Truth Commission. Empower the commission to grant amnesty to anyone who testifies (who is not guilty of committing murder, torture, or other atrocities). Ensure all convicted criminals testify under veritaserum as part of their sentences.
ZeldaQueen: THAT DOESN'T ALWAYS WORK!
Don't let the happenings of the war fester in people's minds: bring out all the stories, from all the sides. Perhaps that which divides the various sides isn't all that insurmountable…but they will not know unless they have all the facts.
ZeldaQueen: Like how Harry looked at everything from Dumbledore and the Ministry's perspective - oh wait...
Give the Dark families of Britain and Europe some of what they seek.
ZeldaQueen: Is Harry actually suggesting that they use the Dark Arts against Dark wizarding families in retaliation? Son of a bitch!
Look at the so-called Dark Arts in a more logical, sensible fashion.
ZeldaQueen: Thank you, Rose "It's The Intent of The Spell that Matters" Potter
Establish a definition: in the fourteenth century, Rybald the Wise put forth the notion that 'the Dark Artes be those which mar men's souls.' Perhaps it no longer applies as a criterion, but the current Ministry ban stretched from the Mind Arts to Blood and Death Rituals and includes everything in between. That certainly isn't sensible either. Not all offensive spells are dark; not all rituals (though banned) cause damage to 'men's souls.'
ZeldaQueen: I really hate how much of a pretentious snot Harry is here
There are, at present, a number of fruitful areas of magic that are outright prohibited from study because of little more than fear. Allow people to openly practice the Mind Arts; permit books on the subject to be purchased, studied, and taught.
ZeldaQueen: "Mind Arts"? You mean Occlumency and the like? Because those aren't forbidden, just hard to master
Re-evaluate the ban on potions that rely upon willingly given human blood: from a survey of extant books, there are cures for a number of diseases and mental disorders among this class of potions.
ZeldaQueen: Again, what evidence is there that such spells were forbidden in canon? Or is this some take that against the "blood of foe, unwillingly taken"? Stop making up stuff just to demonize the Ministry
Reopen the study of rituals: some of them are useful in calming and pacifying angry spirits, in permitting trapped ghosts to pass on to the next plane of existence, or in protecting very young children from harms magical and physical. Permit offensive magics to be taught in our schools; require all students to learn magical dueling. As they are increasingly afraid of the Dark, they risk losing the proud heritage of being skilled fighters.
ZeldaQueen: This is just stupid! magical dueling wasn't banned, just because it wasn't taught! And the fact that Harry and his friends could fight proved that Hogwarts still taught "offensive magic"! I have yet to see evidence of any loss of the "proud heritage" of fighting. As for "study of rituals", what is DW's obsession with that? Why does he think that it's considered evil in canon? I don't think it even exists, unless this is also something directed towards the thing Voldemort did. It makes no sense!
You may ask if it is not odd and contradictory to say that the British must teach students to fight if they wish to prevent wizarding wars in the future. It is not.
ZeldaQueen: (Angsty Harry) "Because I said so"
Dark lords evolve out of fear and ignorance of things that are poorly understood. If all students learn offensive and defensive magic, the allure to follow someone who promises to teach these currently illegal magics will lessen. If they reintegrate many of the improperly designated Dark Arts into society, much of the old mantra used by Voldemort and others will have less power.
ZeldaQueen: Ah yes, so that's why the Death Eaters got control - the kids just weren't being taught to be violent enough buggers which made them all power hungry
At the same time, they must open their eyes and reduce their complacency. This will help to ensure the stability that a number of families seek and desire from the Ministry of Magic. Witches and wizards are strong individuals; if they are wronged without avenues for redress, they will turn to powerful, even self-destructing magics to achieve their aims. People who can have their problems fixed through the government simply and without corruption will usually choose to do that; people who must fight the bureaucracy or pay bribes to be heard may turn to other means of affecting change, such as intimidation, violence, or outright revolt and open warfare. How they make themselves more accountable, more open to the needs of those with silenced voices, is something for public debate. But it is not something they can all ignore as if they were Crouches, Fudges, and Bagnolds.
ZeldaQueen: More Ministry bashing! Hooray! Because of course it's the height of idiocy to dream of turning to one's government for help! Nope, governments are all corrupt cesspools of evil which should be attacked without discrimination
The war is over. It is now time to get to work preventing the next one.
ZeldaQueen: (Angsty Harry) "Now do what I tell you, or else!"
Harry thought the article rushed and short, but it would do to help start the world on its path.
ZeldaQueen: The little bastard! Oh, of course, an article from the Almighty Harry is just what it takes to send the world into total reformation! He's the only one who can do that! Gah!
He would follow up with other articles for other news providers on the same idea. He would slowly unwind a number of suggestions people might choose to follow.
ZeldaQueen: Which they'd better follow, or he'll come after them!
Harry couldn't force the world to be a better place,
ZeldaQueen: But he sure as hell was going to try
but he could show them a possible path or two. He could try to push them along a time or three. But if they didn't want it, Harry couldn't make it happen.
ZeldaQueen: Like I said, you're certainly giving a good try at it!
There was so much wrong, Harry wondered if the real leaders were just scared to even start somewhere. He hoped someone would steal a few ideas from his article and just get started doing something.
ZeldaQueen: OH YES, BECAUSE THE REAL LEADERS ARE ALL BRAINLESS GUTRAGS WHO HAVEN'T A BRAIN IN THEIR HEADS AND COULDN'T POSSIBLY GET ANYTHING DONE WITHOUT THE ALMIGHTY SAINT HARRY THERE TO OFFER IDEAS THAT THEY'LL "STEAL"! NOPE, NOT AT ALL!!!
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January 7, 1979
Alastor Moody lived in a Muggle neighborhood outside Bristol. The house was a ramshackle building that was rumored to be haunted and that the Muggle neighbors demanded be torn down.
He used very light wards around the property, primarily to scare away any curious schoolchildren intent on exploring the 'haunted' house.
ZeldaQueen: "Light"? That paranoid old goat? *snorts*
At the perimeter of the house, Alastor used the full package of wards, as strong as Harry could remember seeing on a residential property.
This was the third night Harry had spent attempting to determine the weaknesses in the wards. The problem was that there weren't any. Harry could bring them all down, no problem, just throw magic at them.
ZeldaQueen: Because Harry is Perfect and there is no force in the 'verse that can stop him
It would be big and splashy and utterly obvious. But he couldn't slip past them and surprise old Moody, the now confirmed Head Auror.
Harry wanted information, not attention.
ZeldaQueen: Coulda fooled me
He changed his plan and decided to pull a trick he knew had worked in the future. He deliberately tripped some of the wards near Moody's garbage cans and set the things to bashing each other. Sure enough, within moments, Moody was out in his yard casting spells at his misbehaving objects. Barty Crouch Junior had pulled the same trick before Harry's fourth year at Hogwarts…
ZeldaQueen: Um, no he didn't. Crouch attacked Moody and then sent the garbage cans attacking each other. It was his excuse to explain why there was a "disturbance"
Why hadn't Harry thought of his earlier? Don't try to get into defenses like Moody had; get Moody to step out of them.
ZeldaQueen: Because canon Harry sucks and can't think of cool stuff like this
Harry quickly stunned the old Auror and then dispelled the enchantment on the garbage cans.
ZeldaQueen: "Quickly stunned"? Moody? Bull, I say! Seriously, Moody's extremely paranoid and powerful! DW, stop godmode-sueing Harry!
He separated Moody from his two wands and hip flask (one could only guess what the man actually kept in there).
ZeldaQueen: How about actual drinks? That's what canon implied it was. Not everything in the world is sinister, you know
The man was in his nightcloak, otherwise he probably would have had a portkey or three on him.
ZeldaQueen: Again, I'm pretty sure Portkeys don't work like that
Harry grasped the man's shoulder and apparated him away. He used the same cottage where he had taken Lucius Malfoy for questioning…what seemed years ago.
ZeldaQueen: Looks like kidnapping habits die hard
Harry carefully disguised himself. He didn't know if the Auror had done anything to himself to increase his resistance to Memory Charms, but Harry didn't want to give the Auror clues in any case.
He placed a strong dose of Veritaserum inside the man's mouth – six drops – and then woke him.
ZeldaQueen: And still with the double standards! Harry was all righteous when it was Dumbledore sneaking around and screwing with Moody's mind, but now he is perfectly justified in doing so! Bah!
"Auror Moody, how many Aurors have been convicted of crimes and sent to Azkaban in the last year?"
The gruff man had glassy eyes and let the potion overpower his resistance. "Forty."
ZeldaQueen: The heck? Were there even that many Aurors employed at the Ministry?
"How do you feel about them?"
"Angry. Revolted. Betrayed."
ZeldaQueen: (Moody) "Canon raped"
Harry nodded. "How many Aurors were fired for any reason in the last year?"
"Sixteen."
ZeldaQueen: - candles
"How many Ministry officials who aren't Aurors are you investigating today?"
The man sounded feral, even through the truth potion, when he answer, "One hundred seven…"
ZeldaQueen: - trombones line the big parade
That had Harry almost in shock. He hadn't realized that the Death Eaters had had so much support…or was it a catch all for various witchhunts?
ZeldaQueen: I give up. I honestly don't know what's going on. First the entire Ministry is evil, then Harry's shocked that so many are being investigated. What does he think happens when corruption is being ferreted out of a system?
"How many of them are suspected of being Death Eater sympathizers?"
"Seventy or so." That was a jaw dropping number. Harry had only heard Rookwood and Lestrange discuss four names. Could there really be that many?
ZeldaQueen: It's not like this fic's made out like the Ministry is worse than the Nazi Party, of course it's inconceivable that they'd throw people under the bus to save face. Or that Rookwood and Lestrange wouldn't have time to hang around discussing seventy or so names. Or that just because they were sympathizers didn't mean they were actively involved with the Death Eaters, like Sirius's parents
"And the rest?"
"They did work for the Death Eaters under the Imperius Curse. We're restoring memories and trying to piece together who did what to whom…"
Harry nodded. He assumed Arthur Weasley would be horrified when he learned of his unwilling assistance identifying muggleborn witches and wizards to the Death Eaters.
ZeldaQueen: Leave the Weasleys alone! They're a million times more decent and honorable than this angst-bucket we're supposed to cheer on!
"When is Barty Crouch to be tried?"
"He already was."
"I didn't read the transcript in the paper."
"The Minister invoked a secrecy statute as Crouch was a Department Head. The Wizengamot convicted him. He'll never be returning from Azkaban."
ZeldaQueen: (Angsty Harry) "You mean his name isn't being dragged through the mud to publicly humiliate him? Lame!"
"How long ago was this?"
"Three months."
"And no notice will be published?"
"The Minister is dead set against it. His words: 'With the disaster in the Auror ranks, I can't see how the news of Barty's fate would help anyone at this point.'"
Harry was unhappy with this revelation, but not terribly surprised. The Minister was presiding over a broken ship of state and he was trying to use secrecy to improve his image…
ZeldaQueen: Or maybe the Minister was right! Did it ever occur to this Harry that maybe telling the public about a massive amount of arrests of Ministry officials would panic the public and leave them even more vulnerable to threats? They already know that a million Aurors are being arrested! They took Crouch out of office, why is Harry so pissy?
The man definitely had to go.
ZeldaQueen: The Minister decides not to tell about someone he arrested and Harry is going to get him kicked out of office. Lovely. Hey Harry, just because you need to extensively humiliate your enemies doesn't mean we all do. Why don't you take a lesson from Rose Potter and carve some words into his forehead while you're at it?
"How many Death Eaters had been sent to Azkaban without trial?"
"Once we went and looked, we found seven people there who'd never been tried. Five had the Dark Mark…"
ZeldaQueen: More double standards which make the Ministery look like irrational buttheads, hooray! And the author forgets that not all of Voldemorts minions were actually branded
Harry continued asking about the Ministry until he was satisfied he understood the situation. Then his questions turned to Albus Dumbledore.
ZeldaQueen: Time to drag Dumbledore through the mud. Author, why do you hate him so much?
"Why did you join the Order of the Phoenix?"
"I joined when Arbitrus Fortesque headed the DMLE. He was a nice enough man, but he couldn't wrap his head around dealing with Death Eaters. He should have stepped down, but didn't. I went looking for a better option…"
"Wasn't the Order the same as the DMLE?"
ZeldaQueen: Wow Harry, you have the brains of a troll, don't you? It's kind of obvious that the Order is different in that it's outside of Ministry control and thus able to operate without officials barring or monitoring it?
"No, not at all. We responded before the Aurors many times. We brought down Death Eaters. Albus had long talked of getting ourselves a spy or two among them, but it never happened. We did the best we could. We did more than the Ministry did, even after Crouch took over…"
"Why was Barty Crouch so empowered and respected? It seemed like he was a lock on the next Ministerial election…"
ZeldaQueen: Because it's inconceivable that he was actually a good worker who enforced the law
"Cult of personality. He seemed like he was doing a good job, people wanted it to be true. So the newspapers made it true, giving the man more power…until they brought him back down to earth after his son was found on a pike."
ZeldaQueen: GOD DAMN YOU TO HELL DW, THAT'S NOT RIGHT! CROUCH CARED ABOUT HIS JOB ENOUGH TO LOCK HIS SON UP!!! THIS ISN'T ALTERNATE UNIVERSE! YOU CAN'T TACK THIS ON THE END OF CANON AND THEN IGNORE CANON! GOD!!!
Harry never felt more reassured about his plan to remain perpetually in the shadows in this timeline. He wouldn't have wanted to be back in the headlines again…it would have done little or nothing to teach these morons self-sufficiency.
ZeldaQueen: And nothing of the fact that Harry hated being in the limelight.
Lovely how he calls the people "morons" and insists that he's teaching them "self-sufficiency". Um Harry? I do believe everyone made it through the first time around, without you skulking about and raping time and space within an inch of its life
"How is the idea of a Truth Commission playing out in the Ministry?"
"Most everyone, the Minister especially, hates it. But no one seems able to stop it. The people want to know what happened, when, and why. I think the Minister may try to scuttle it by naming incompetents to the panel…"
ZeldaQueen: You know, I think the author has some sort of anger towards the fifth book and how he thought it should have gone. Must have made him pretty angry that Harry didn't go storming in and force people to do what he wanted
Harry nodded. It made sense. Helfgott would protect his own legacy by obscuring the past, hiding the truth.
The questions continued on long into the night. When Moody woke up the next morning on the lawn of his home, he remembered only those damned enchanted garbage cans. Evidently some prankster had charmed them to attack Moody, as he had a lump on his forehead and a can of garbage lying next to him, its contents scattered everywhere.
ZeldaQueen: You know, I'd think that Moody would have been a good enough fighter to ward off a couple of garbage cans, at least enough that he didn't attribute unconsciousness and partial memory loss to them. And given how paranoid he is, wouldn't it bother him more that someone apparently was powerful enough to knock him out with garbage cans, for no apparent reason?
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Onward to: Chapter 5: The Birth Of Hope (Part 3)
Back to: Chapter 5: The Birth Of Hope (Part 1)
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