Breaking the Law

Harry arrived at the Burrow early one morning. After bidding farewell to Sirius, he greeted Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, with whom he found a few surprises.

The first surprise was that the entirety of the Weasley family had assembled at the Burrow, including Bill and his girlfriend. The second surprise was Bill's girlfriend.

"Fleur Delacour?" Harry asked.

"I believe ve met at Hogwarts," she said. "You are Harry Potter?"

He smiled as cheerfully as he could, given that his mind was still miles away.

"Is that where you met Bill?"

"Eet ees," she said, smiling at him.

Harry smiled again.

"Good for you. Can't go wrong with the Weasley men."

Behind Bill and Fleur, Charlie gave him a thumbs up and mouthed "nice".

The third surprise was Harry's favorite by far: Ginny still had her hair pulled back.

She came down from her room shortly after he arrived.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Fleur give a look of disdain.

Ginny averted her eyes from Fleur and focused on Harry.

"Happy Christmas," he said, giving her a hug.

"Happy Christmas," she said, quite a bit louder than she'd been last they'd talked face to face.

"The whole family's here."

"Everyone." Ginny glanced upstairs. "Ron's still in his room."

"Would someone tell him to come down?" their mother asked. "Sally-Anne will be here soon, and then we're all going to eat lunch. He shouldn't stay cooped up in his room all day."

The Weasley children and Harry covered their ears when Mrs. Weasley drew in a breath.

"RONALD!" she bellowed. "COME DOWNSTAIRS! HARRY'S HERE!"

Fleur winced, not knowing the Weasleys well enough to protect her ears.

Harry gave her a knowing look and nodded.

<Your mum would like you to come down,> Harry said.

At first, Harry was surprised that he'd gotten there ahead of Sally-Anne. Usually, she'd have been there at the crack of dawn, but then he realized why: her mum. Any time they'd show up late, her mum was still giving her dad grief about it. She was probably the reason the Perks family was always early.

<I'll come down when she gets here.>

Harry saw Mrs. Weasley taking another breath.

"I'LL BE DOWN IN A MINUTE!" Ron called before Mrs. Weasley could make another attempt to deafen them all.

Harry and Ginny walked over to where the Twins were, and Harry said hello.

"How's the joke shop?" he asked.

"Humiliating," Percy muttered.

"It's great," George said.

"We've been a huge hit.��

"Even with that whole deal last week."

"Which reminds me, what's going on with Hermione?"

Harry shrugged, although out of the corner of his eye, he saw Fleur turn their way. He wouldn't have thought Fleur would've known who Hermione was.

"I honestly don't know. She vanished at the end of last year without a word. She and Luna both. We've hardly heard from them, and now she's been arrested and sent to Azkaban."

The Twins exchanged glances.

"Oh well," Fred said. "Thanks again, by the way."

George produced a bag of galleons and handed it to Harry.

"I think that's all of it," he said. "Plus interest."

Harry opened it up and became aware that they had the attention of everyone else in the room.

"What's going on?" Percy and their mother asked.

Harry took a break from counting and turned back to them.

"I lent them the money for their shop. Unless this is Leprechaun gold—" he glared at them, knowing their innocent looks were nonsense, "— we should be even."

"Harry, I'm hurt," one said.

"You think so little of us."

Harry narrowed his eyes at them.

"Wow, he's like a real adult," Fred said.

"Which is more than I can say for either of you," Harry said, putting the money in his pack.

He sensed the relief of Mrs. Weasley, who'd probably assumed they'd stolen the money.

"Why'd you lend them anything?" Percy asked.

"Because I saw how well their… inventions worked at Hogwarts." He grinned at them, thinking how much he must've looked like his dad. "Everyone needs a good laugh once in a while. I knew my money would be in safe hands if it helped them get their shop off the ground."

Both Twins put an arm around Harry.

"We might be the most successful ones of the family."

"And it's all thanks to Harry here."

The sound of a car rolling up drew Harry's attention from Mrs. Weasley's mixture of anger and concern. He slipped away and went to the window.

"Sally-Anne's here." Before Mrs. Weasley could act, he added, "I'll go fetch Ron."

He started upstairs as Mrs. Weasley ran to the door. As he got to Ron's room, he heard Sally-Anne's voice downstairs. Even from so far away, he could sense something was bothering her.

Harry knocked on Ron's door.

"She's here."

When Harry rounded the corner into Ron's room, he saw books and papers scattered throughout the room. It reminded Harry a little of the way Hermione would get with Arithmancy.

"If you're about to go on about some new spell you've invented, I'm going to be worried."

"Remember back in first year, when we ran into that dragon?" Ron asked. "Only Charlie's never heard of one like it."

Harry nodded, not sure where Ron was going with it.

"And then in second year, the Basilisk only went after us. Like something was trying to get Rose's attention."

Harry began to put the pieces together.

"Are you saying that," he glanced back, making sure no one was around, then lowered his voice, "that whatever's messing with our heads controlled the Basilisk?"

"Rose was down there much longer than she should've been," Ron said.

Harry focused on seeing Rose in the Hospital Wing that day. She'd been wearing some sort of bandoleer, the same one she'd had on the day of the invasion. It held explosives of some kind, but he'd never seen her use them before.

"She had that bandoleer on then," he said. "But the Basilisk was up with us, and Lockhart was down there. He was a pushover, so why use it at all?"

Ron nodded, then grabbed a book.

"That's a good point. I've been grabbing every book on Salazar Slytherin I can. If that thing was in the Chamber of Secrets, then it's got to be something to do with him. It turns out, his daughter was killed by Muggles, and that's why he hated them so much. He didn't even trust Muggle-borns to keep Hogwarts a secret."

As much as Harry wanted to continue down the path that might lead them to more answers, they had more pressing matters at hand.

"Ron, this is brilliant. Really, it is. But Sally-Anne's here, and I think she could use her friends right now."

Ron looked at him, then started packing up papers.

"You go down, I'll—"

Harry shut the door.

"I know you like her, Ron," he said. "I know you don't want to talk about it, but I know you do."

Ron stopped collecting his notes and glared at Harry.

"I don't like her like that. She's just a friend."

Harry narrowed his eyes at Ron.

"Besides," Ron said, going back to packing up papers, "even if I did, she's interested in guys like Viktor Krum, or Malfoy apparently. Quidditch stars with money or power or looks. I haven't got any of that."

"No, you've just got a tactical mind good enough to outsmart Professor McGonagall and didn't abandon her when we all did. Besides, don't talk about Quidditch stars like you're not one of them. You're the best Keeper Gryffindor's ever had."

"Yeah, Keeper. Fat lot of good those do. I don't score points, I don't win matches, that's your job."

Before Harry responded, he took stock of his friend. Ron wasn't making eye contact anymore, and his face was turning the same shade of red as his hair. Harry knew Ron was wrong; he'd heard it from Sally-Anne's mouth that she felt the same way about him, but it wasn't doing them any good to keep talking about it.

"Alright, different subject then," Harry said. "Would you mind if I asked out Ginny?"

Ron stopped collecting his notes and stared at Harry. He looked as though he were about to drop the stack of books he was holding.

"My sister Ginny?"

"Do you know another Ginny?"

"Why?"

"Because she's a brilliant Quidditch player, and despite everything that's happened to her, she's still struggling to be strong."

Harry smiled. He hoped he could tell her one day how happy it'd made him to see her with her hair up.

"Erm… go ahead, I guess. Why are you asking me?"

"Because she's your sister, and you're my best friend. I didn't want it to be weird for you."

"Go for it. Mum will be thrilled."

Harry smiled, glad everything was beginning to look up. He knew Ron wasn't going to make a move on Sally-Anne, but perhaps he'd have better luck convincing her.

After lunch, the four of them went outside (Mrs. Weasley wouldn't let them all stay inside in a room unsupervised, despite the many times they'd done exactly that at Hogwarts), where Ron explained to them what he'd learned.

"It really does sound like something's living in the castle," Sally-Anne said. "That's… creepy."

"What do we do?" Ginny asked. "We can't go back with whatever it is inside."

"We'll have to worry about that later," Harry said. "Without Hermione, there's not much more we can do."

"But we can't go back inside," Ron said. "No way."

Sally-Anne looked to him, hoping he'd have an answer. Ron always had an answer to everything.

"Sally-Anne, what about your mum?" Harry asked.

She turned to him instead, then produced four pieces of parchment from her pack.

"Courtesy of Lucius Malfoy," she said. "After hours passes to the Ministry of Magic. We can walk right in, without giving our real names. He said they don't keep a log."

"Not for after hours visitors," Ron said. "They used to back in the early 1900s, but then the Minister of Magic kept bringing his mistresses around for a tour, so he got rid of it."

Despite the gravity of their situation, Sally-Anne smiled. There were times she strongly believed that Ron knew everything.

"Right," Harry said. "Are we sure about her location? Have they moved her?"

"They wouldn't," Ron said. "Umbridge wouldn't break protocol. She's got her old job back, but that doesn't mean she can do whatever she pleases, not without drawing unwanted attention. Besides, if there's a real problem, Parliament can use brute force to take down the Ministry of Magic."

"That's true," Sally-Anne said, "but it's Umbridge. She doesn't consider them a threat. The only people she cares about are the people in her way."

"But that does mean she won't break protocol," Harry said. "Right?"

Both Ron and Sally-Anne nodded.

"Then Sally-Anne's mum will still be in that holding cell. Is there any chance she knows we're coming?"

"She'll be waiting for us," Ron said. "She's already got Hermione, and now she's after the rest of us."

"So we've got to slip in unseen," Harry said. "We'll fly there by broomstick tonight."

"That'll work," Ron said. "Leave anything valuable here. If this goes wrong, we won't want anything happening."

"We should leave a note," Sally-Anne said. "Hidden somewhere, but like you said, if this goes wrong, your mum will worry."

"We'll leave out the bit about what your mum does," Ron said. "Just say that she was captured."

Sally-Anne smiled at him again. She was still scared; they were breaking into the Ministry of Magic, where Umbridge was almost certainly waiting for them. But it was the only chance to get her mum back, so they had to risk it.

They started to head inside, but Harry pulled her to the side before they got too far.

"How are your hands?" he asked in a low voice.

Sally-Anne glanced over her shoulder and saw Ron giving them questioning looks. She smiled at him and motioned for him to go inside.

"They're better," she said, turning back to Harry.

She tugged off one of her gloves, wincing as it pulled on the blisters that still littered her hand. A few of them distorted the Shield Rune on her hand.

"That looks awful," Harry said. "Have you seen a doctor about them?"

"We thought about it, but Daddy's so worried about Mum, we haven't had the time."

Harry gave her a significant glance as she carefully replaced her glove.

"So long as you see someone about it. Can you still use the Shield Rune?"

Sally-Anne frowned. She'd hardly thought about the runes in months. She concentrated on it, then felt the energy flowing through her to her hand.

A small shield formed for a second. It took no longer than that for her hand to start burning. She nearly cried out before dismissing the shield.

"I'll have to save that tonight," she said, "if it's going to be that hard to use, I'll have to save it for an emergency."

"Don't worry about it," Harry said, "Ron and I can keep down any trouble we encounter. If all goes well, we won't encounter any at all." He looked back at the Burrow. "Have you talked to Ron?"

Sally-Anne frowned, not catching his meaning.

"About the Shield Rune? Not really."

Once Harry narrowed his eyes at her, she caught his meaning.

"Oh. You mean like that."

Harry rolled his eyes, something he picked up from either Sirius or Rose.

"I will slap you," she said.

"Sure, but it won't help you."

She glanced back at the Burrow to triple-check that no one could hear them.

"What's the point? I haven't got my dress or ribbon anymore. After a while, he won't notice me at all."

"Talk to him after we've rescued your mum."

"Didn't you hear me?"

"Give him a chance to decide for himself. Like you said, you haven't got the dress or ribbon anymore. If he says yes, then you'll know for sure that it's because he wanted to."

Harry nodded towards the Burrow and the two started back. Sally-Anne hated it when Harry talked like Alavel. It made him sound like he knew exactly what he was doing, enough that Sally-Anne almost believed it. There was so much that could go wrong, she couldn't bear to think about it. A knot formed in her stomach trying to imagine what she'd say to him. She wasn't sure what was worse: if he returned her feelings or not. How could she ever talk to him if he didn't? What if it blew up in her face like her old feelings for Harry? What if he got hurt for being around her like Draco and Viktor?

She forced it all out of her head when they walked inside the Burrow. It wouldn't do her any good to be distracted while rescuing her mum. So instead, that's what she chose to focus on for the rest of the day.

That night, the four of them met outside the Burrow. Instead of broomsticks, Ron had come up with a better plan.

"We're going to apparate," he said. "We learned it last year, except for Ginny, who'll go with Harry. We'll apparate into London, then walk to the Ministry of Magic."

Lucius had already given them spots to land a broomstick, so the idea was to apparate to one instead.

"Everyone ready?" Harry asked.

Sally-Anne looked at her friends. Her heart pounded in her chest, and she had to fight the urge to rub her hands together, but she nodded anyway.

She concentrated on the Ministry of Magic, then activated the spell.

It felt as though she were being pulled through a small hole in space. She was hardly aware of anything, then she appeared in an alleyway in London. Ron stood in front of her, catching his breath. Another pop signaled the arrival of Harry and Ginny.

Sally-Anne stretched out to loosen her body, then looked at her friends. Ron and Harry were already moving ahead. Harry lagged behind Ron to give them a chance to catch up.

They peered around a corner. After Harry gave them the all clear, they moved forward, heading towards a phone booth. One by one, they entered the phone booth, picked up the phone, read off the contents of the pass, and vanished.

When it was Sally-Anne's turn, she repeated the process, and ended up inside the Ministry of Magic.

She looked around at the entrance hall, a little in awe of where she was. A fountain roared nearby, and statues of various witches and wizards decorated the interior.

A hand grabbed her and pulled her away. Before she could scream, Harry put a finger to her mouth. He did the same with Ron and Ginny.

<Look.>

He motioned for them to look around the corner. When she did, Sally-Anne saw what he'd seen. It was hard to see it in the dark, but mounted on the far wall was a small eye. It scanned the area, looking left, right, then left.

<I'll bet it's like the ones she put up in Hogwarts,> Harry said. <Princess?>

The others nodded, then Harry looked out again.

<It's range is limited, but there's another one farther down. Ron, which way are we going?>

<There's a corridor to the right across the hall.>

<She'll have someone on duty,> Sally-Anne said. <She's expecting us.>

Despite their urges to move, Harry held them in one place for nearly a minute.

<There's a pattern to it. It has to scan the whole area, so we can stay in its blind spot. I'll guide each of you, then go last.>

They all agreed, then Ron went first. On Harry's signal, he ran out into the hall sprinting towards the far wall.

Sally-Anne looked up, but didn't see an eye scanning from their wall. She wondered if Umbridge didn't have the funds to put them up everywhere. That made some sense; it wouldn't do any good to worry people, and the Minister must've known that the eyes were a concern to those around them.

When Ron reached the corridor, it was her turn. She ran as fast as she could towards the far wall on Harry's command. Without stopping for a breath, she darted towards the corridor, staying up against the wall where the eye couldn't see her.

Sally-Anne used the time it took Ginny and Harry to get there to catch her breath. Her lungs burned, and she kept involuntarily trying to cough.

<Are you alright?> Ron asked.

<Fine,> she said, covering her mouth with a gloved hand as she tried to stifle another cough. <A little out of shape is all.>

They moved as one down the corridor to an elevator. When they reached it, they called for the Special Interest Prisoner Holding Area. The elevator jolted to life and flew backwards. Sally-Anne didn't know through where they were traveling, but after it flew around for awhile, it flung forward and opened.

<Lucius has been silently urging more and more of them to leave early,> Sally-Anne said. <Or paying them off if necessary. He really is on our side.>

She knew Ron wouldn't be convinced, but she hoped she was getting through to him. Not for the first time, she wondered what life would've been like if Draco had survived. She could imagine he and Ron getting along for her sake, glaring at each other whenever they were forced to be together. They probably wouldn't have said much to one another, but they'd tolerate the other.

If he'd survived…

Ron and Harry led the way down the corridor. Harry checked for surveillance; there was less of it here. Ron reasoned that Umbridge must've had limited options, and so put the eyes where people would be forced to pass. After a few turns, they came upon the holding area.

Sally-Anne had to resist the urge to run ahead. Part of her wanted it to be a trick, but her dad and Eric wouldn't have lied to her about her being in the Ministry of Magic. This wasn't a dream or a delusion; her mum really had been taken captive.

They arrived at the fourth cell.

<She's not here,> Sally-Anne said. <Where is she?>

<She's been moved to Block D,> Ron said, spinning around. <Let's move and—>

The light from the corridor was blocked out by Aurors stepping into view, wands drawn.

Ron and Harry were faster. Ron threw a Scattering Hex at them, while Harry disarmed one.

<Move!>

The four of them ran for the exit. Harry and Ron stunned the two Aurors before they could recover, giving them a clear shot at the exit.

They found the stairwell guarded by another pair of Aurors. Harry and Ron once again made quick work of them before flinging the door open.

<There's only one path to Block D,> Ron said. <We'll have to figure out something, since they'll all be blocking the way.>

<Umbridge is clever,> Sally-Anne said. <She won't send people running to us, she'll wait for us to go to her.>

Ron looked over the side of the stairwell. It was a straight drop.

<We haven't got feather fall anymore,> Harry reminded him. <We've got to take them one at a time.>

Sally-Anne heard them coming, then started down the stairs after them. She glanced beside her and saw Ginny shaking.

<Skyeyes, Firecracker needs you.>

Harry fell back a step and switched places with Sally-Anne as they ran down the stairs.

They'd passed Block C when the Aurors met them at the bottom of the stairwell. The Aurors fired Stunners, but the four of them ducked down, one flight of stairs above the Aurors. Ron threw another Scattering Hex, but the Aurors tumbled with it and fired on him.

Harry threw a Stunner at one, but he avoided it and fired back.

Sally-Anne stayed low. Without a clear line of sight, she couldn't be much use figuring out where they were going to fire.

<Firecracker,> Ron said, <aim for the wall above them.>

Ginny looked up and prepared her wand. She waited for them to fire again. As soon as the spells flew, she hurled a burning rock at the wall.

The wall above the pair of Aurors broke apart and fell on them. Using the confusion to their advantage, Harry and Ron stunned them both.

<Good work,> Harry said as they all ran ahead.

They got inside Block D and found someone waiting for them, but it wasn't Umbridge.

Rufus Scrimgeour, the Minister of Magic himself, fired a green bolt at them.

Harry tackled Ginny to the ground as the bolt sailed past them, missing them both by centimeters.

Sally-Anne and Ron pulled them back to their feet and got them out of Block D before the Minister could fire another Killing Curse at them.

<What's he doing here?> Ginny asked. <Why did he try to kill me?>

<That's a good question,> Ron said, firing a hex around the corner. Judging by the green bolt that shot back through the threshold, it missed. <Why can't they decorate this place? A suit of armour, a vase, something.>

Harry fired a Stunner, but it failed to find its mark.

<He's got us all pinned,> Harry said. <Cohort, take Princess and go. I'll stay here with Firecracker and draw his fire for you.>

Ginny looked like she wanted to argue at first, but she nodded instead. A new look of determination came over her.

<Are you sure?> Ron asked.

Another bolt narrowly missed Ginny.

<He's aiming for Firecracker,> Harry said. <I'm guessing he'll ignore you two.>

Sally-Anne and her friends exchanged glances, then Harry and Ron fired Stunners through the threshold.

<Princess, go!>

Sally-Anne ran in, staying low as spells were thrown over her head. She dove to the side of Scrimgeour, then kept running once she was past him.

She looked back and saw Ginny fire a burst of flame at the ground in front of him. Once it let up, a Stunner flew from Harry as Ron ran in to get around him.

Ron ran past her and grabbed her hand. For the first time in months, she was okay with someone touching her hand.

<What? Why would the Minister of Magic do that?>

<That sounds exactly like something she'd do,> Sally-Anne said.

<We've seen her use an Unforgivable Curse before,> Harry said. <It makes sense that she'd use it again.>

They rounded another corridor and skidded to a halt.

"I think the Muggle phrase is 'Speak of the Devil'," Ron said.

Umbridge stood in their way, without reinforcements. She held her wand in her hand, keeping it leveled at them.

"I'm curious. How did you know I'd moved her? It should've taken you far longer to search every cell block. I almost wasn't ready for you."

"By ready," Ron said, "do you mean you hadn't put Scrimgeour under the Imperius Curse yet?"

Umbridge turned her attention from Sally-Anne to Ron.

"Whatever do you mean? The Minister and I wanted to personally oversee our newest prisoner. This Muggle has been meddling in Ministry affairs for decades. It's time she was brought to justice. I tried to urge Minister Fudge to take action, but he wouldn't listen. Now with all of these ghastly problems, these so-called New Death Eaters, Minister Scrimgeour has finally seen sense."

As it always did, her voice dripped with condescension.

Sally-Anne kept her hands ready. It was easier for her to bring up a shield than it was for Umbridge to fire a spell. By the time she fired, Sally-Anne would be ready for it. Didn't Umbridge know that?

"Now, I'm going to take you both into custody. Are you going to put up a fight?"

Sally-Anne kept her focus on Umbridge. She figured Ron would want to say something witty before they took on Umbridge, but he had nothing to say.

"You kidnapped my mum," Sally-Anne said. "What do you think?"

Ron smirked, then fired a Stunner at Umbridge. Umbridge dodged aside and fired her own Stunner at them.

Sally-Anne flipped her hand over and activated the Shield Rune. As it had earlier, energy flowed to it, causing her hand to burn.

Then nothing happened.

Ron shoved her out of the way and took the Stunner. Before Sally-Anne could call out, Umbridge fired another Stunner at her.

As Sally-Anne fell to the ground, she realized what had happened: she was still wearing her gloves, and the rune had to be unobstructed.

She'd let them down because of what she'd done to her hands.

You were right, Daddy. It did hurt my friends.

Harry fired another Stunner at Scrimgeour, but with no luck. After another Killing Curse flew by, an idea struck him.

<Flashbang.>

<Done.>

Ginny spun around and fired into the corridor. Harry saw a quick flash come out of the corridor, then fired another Stunner. This time, Scrimgeour couldn't dodge aside or provide cover for himself. The Stunner hit the Minister, who went down.

Harry pulled Ginny into a quick hug. He wanted it to last longer, but they had a mission to complete. They started into the corridor when another person joined them.

"Avada Kedavra."

A green bolt lanced out and struck Scrimgeour's unconscious body. He gasped, then went limp.

Harry tried to grab Ginny and get out, but a Stunner flew at him and knocked him to the ground. Before he lost consciousness, another one flew out and struck Ginny. He saw her fall to the ground, then Umbridge walked back into view.

"Don't worry. The four of you will be nice and cozy with Ms. Granger in Azkaban."

The last thing he saw before he passed out was Umbridge's smirk.

Bab 173: Breaking the Law

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Bab 173: Breaking the Law

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