章 74: 5/7
In his three hours, he had tracked down and harangued all of his supposed supporters that he could find. He had made as many threats as he had promises, including a few strictly outside the purview of his job. One or two had alluded to Lucius' hand in their persuasion away from Fudge's cause but would not confirm anything.
It seemed Lucius was taking his dismissal from Cornelius' confidence a tad personally.
The press had crucified him over the attack last week, and now they would all start up about who would take over the Ministry next, as if he was already out of the job. While they had taken the bait with regard to it being a terrorist incident and that the villains were outside of the Ministry, they had linked it to the dementor attack on Hogwarts, the year of terror caused by Black's escape, and the escape, civilian capture and then 'accidental' Kissing of Peter Pettigrew. They were painting it as a systematic failure from the highest levels of the Ministry of Magic, the result of lacking leadership.
One article had even gone so far as to suggest the next Minister for Magic would need to be ready for the rise of a Dark Lord, with this resurgence in Death Eater activity! Poppycock!
At least that Gaara boy was behaving himself, along with the Black malcontent. A small mercy, but perhaps he could put that particular issue to the back of his mind. The inspection of the Black household had yielded little of interest but the Aurors' observations indicated that despite his powers and the resulting dangers posed, Gaara was nothing more than an irrelevant teenager. So long as those two disappeared from his sight, he would leave them alone.
He was so close now to his salvation. He had to leak a few details to regain one or two vital votes but only to those wizards he knew would not be speaking about it to the press before the time came. When the story broke in a little over a week's time, they could come out and say they knew all along and increase their public profile and perceived importance.
Ludo was due in his office soon to make the final plans and discuss the first wave of publicity efforts.
It was a sad fact that meeting Bagman was the highpoint of his day, between staving off impeachment and then beginning talks with the head of the Ministry Workers Union to prevent an incoming strike action from the maintenance workers in their buildings. Although, there was also the floo conference call with the Siberian and French Ministers and trying to mediate between those egomaniacs trying to encroach on Britain's imminent good publicity. Finally he would be spending his evening and much of the night reviewing the draft budget to extend the Ministry's line of credit with the goblins. If his venture did not end up being profitable, whoever did take Fudge's job would find him or herself staring down the barrel of a fifth goblin rebellion.
In which case, Cornelius would be glad to retire and escape that mess. His successor would probably have to sell Wales to the goblins to stop another open war.
"Ludo Bagman is here for his one o'clock meeting, Minister." Came the voice of his secretary.
Groaning, Fudge rose to his feet and rubbed his eyes, "Send him in, and bring us coffee in ten minutes."
"Yes, Minister."
OXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO
Remus was enjoying the residual high of the last of the pain potions St. Mungo's had sent him home with as he relaxed back in 12 Grimmauld Place. Sirius was out, dropping something off at the Burrow. He was "just popping out for five minutes" and had presumably "lost track of time" about two hours ago.
The recovering werewolf was still weak and his arm was throbbing even through the haze of analgesics. The scarring was pretty impressive, Sirius had assured him when he been taught to redress the wound at the hospital.
He had insisted that Gaara come down to join him instead of staying sequestered upstairs as per usual. However, with Remus' injuries, they were rather limited in their activities, outside of Exploding Snap, Wizards Chess, or a discussion of DADA theory) but the adult was glad of the company and counted any time Gaara spent in the company of others as a success. No matter how bored the boy appeared to be.
Elsewhere, Sirius was enjoying the lively Weasley household while loudly complaining that he had forgotten his watch.
He had stepped away to conduct his small bit of business with the twins as soon as he arrived since they looked like they were about to start acting like loan sharks. As funny as that would have been to watch, Sirius knew Molly would spot them and put a stop to the whole transaction, which Sirius' code of honour would not allow. Blacks always paid their debts, unless they were one of the many Blacks who were broke and had lived on credit awarded to the Black name.
For decades during the nineteenth century, it had been seen as terribly common to actually carry or use money. Sirius had tried that once, at a restaurant, but the waiter had threatened to call the Aurors so Sirius had to make his date pay. She found it less amusing than he did and entirely failed to appreciate the history lesson.
Sirius would have liked to heft a full chest of galleons to the twins but in the name of discretion he had stored the full five hundred coins in a magically enlarged pouch.
When the business was concluded, and the rest of the ginger family were suitably puzzled, Sirius then spirited Harry away to Ron's room, kicking the indignant boy out of his own bedroom with an aristocratic wave of his hand.
As Sirius sat in the chair and Harry took the bed, they heard the clamour of Fred and George celebrating their winnings upstairs.
"How much did they win?" Harry asked, listening to what sounded like dozens or even hundreds of coins clattering on the floor above them.
"A gentleman never discusses money, Prongslet." Sirius smiled. "I will say that it should be enough that they will be in a very good mood for the rest of your stay, I should think."
"I think twenty galleons would have done that. How's Remus doing, now that's he's back at home?"
"Well, he doesn't actually live at my house but I can understand how you made that mistake since he never leaves." Sirius laughed. "And he's doing as well as can be expected. The curse sadly did nothing to fix his face, hitting his arm and all, but he's in good spirits nonetheless. He dragged Gaara down for a game of Exploding Snap as I was leaving."
"Hard to imagine Gaara playing that." Harry said, thoughtful.
"Not as hard as you might think. Boy never flinches. I can't play it with him anymore. Plus he has the reaction time of a cat."
Harry laughed. "I hope you don't mind, I showed Gaara's results to Ron and Hermione when she was here. I think she was a little jealous of his results considering where he started. I know that Ron's jealous of his Potions results. Keeps suggesting he and I should ditch the lessons and do what Gaara does and avoid Snape."
"I am always happy to encourage people to disrespect Snivellus but I wouldn't recommend burning that bridge just yet. You've seen how much of a bookworm Gaara is. I don't mean to be harsh, but I don't think that it's yours or Ronald's specialty."
Harry sighed but accepted the sad reality that he would be stuck with Snape for the time being, especially if he were to follow his dream and try joining the Auror program, which required Potions.
"How is Gaara doing?" Harry asked.
Sirius took a moment to consider the question, since Gaara was normally at best a sore subject and at worst Harry's enemy. "He's… well. Quiet as you would expect. Honestly, half the time I forget he can talk now."
"Yeah, I can imagine. How did his voice get healed in the end, anyway?"
Sirius froze for a split second, his mind jumping back to what he now knew of Gaara's nature. Of course, he quickly gave an excuse, "Finally got him on the right counter-curse."
"It was a curse that made him mute? I thought he got cut across his throat?"
"Well, it was a cursed knife; stopped anyone from healing him until we found the right counter-curse. Horrible bit of magic, that." He concluded.
"I guess it was. I'm glad you found it. Who did it? I mean, who cut his neck and cursed him? Was it anything to do with what happened at the World Cup finals, the terrorist attack?" Harry did not like manipulating Sirius, but he needed answers about that night and what part Gaara had played in it.
"No, that was a completely unrelated thing. The so-called terrorist attack was a Death Eater raid. Used to happen all the time during the war but we just called them attacks. I suppose if you call it a 'terrorist incident' it sounds less common."
Harry mutely nodded, always receptive to lessons and stories concerning the war from his godfather.
"What exactly did Gaara do that night?" When subtlety failed a frontal assault was needed. The Gryffindor style of diplomacy.
Sirius frowned, "Because of where he comes from, Gaara knows how to fight. He thought he needed to join the battle to help Remus, Arthur and I. He was wrong to do that."
"Where does he come from? He's never said and we all want to know, to get to know him better."
"He comes from far away. You don't need to worry about that. He just doesn't like to talk about his past, other than to his close friends. If you and he become closer, he might open up. I don't mind sharing his results but I can't break his trust and share things he would prefer left unsaid. You understand, right?"
"Of course!" Harry all but blurted out, afraid he had overstepped the mark and upset Sirius.
"Not to worry."
"So, you and he aren't in any trouble with the Ministry? You mentioned that inspection but you didn't say why they needed to do one. Ron said no one needed to talk to his dad afterwards."
"I suspect if they wanted to speak with Arthur, they would call a meeting in the Ministry where he works. But no, there's no trouble. We got into a fight, Gaara and I, and they just wanted to make sure we were okay and that Gaara was not upset. As a rule, teenagers aren't supposed to run towards battles, much less fighting in them."
"Did he hurt someone?" Harry pressed on.
Sirius sighed heavily. "Gaara was only trying to protect Moony and I, and the people he hurt were bad people. I don't think we should be talking about this anymore. The Ministry concluded that everything we did was justified and the matter is closed. Try to forget about it."
Harry pretended to agree.
After their serious chat, they moved on to a game of Quidditch in the back garden with most of the Weasley family present taking part, minus Mrs Weasley. The teams were divided with Harry, Sirius and Ron versus Fred, George and Ginny. Percy was busy at the Ministry with his internship but the other Weasley children decided to try to enjoy the afternoon without him.
Understandably Harry, Sirius and Ron won the first match so they switched up the teams several times.
After Sirius left, promising to visit Arthur and Molly sometime when the children were away, Harry dragged Ron away unceremoniously to share what Sirius had told him. This time it did not occur to him that he was breaching his godfather's confidence when he recounted what had been said, about Gaara having fought and hurt Death Eaters but that the Ministry was not upset over it.
"Sounds like it's what we thought. Gaara went and joined the adults. If one of his levitation charms managed to knock out a couple of those blighters, good to him."
"Yeah, you're right. I'm over thinking it. It's just…" Harry hesitated, "We saw what Gaara was capable of against those dementors, if he used that power against people… I'm just glad no one was killed."
"Well, they… Dad wasn't supposed to tell us, and I only overheard him telling Percy so that he didn't let it slip to Fred and George, but apparently a couple Death Eaters were killed. It was a few, maybe two or three, but two of them were killed by one person and Dad definitely didn't want Percy spreading who that was."
"You think Gaara killed two Death Eaters? By himself?"
"Not by himself, but if he was fighting with Dad and Sirius and Professor Lupin and the others there, maybe he got a couple lucky shots in, you know?"
"What else did your Dad say?"
"Not much, mostly about the Ministry being in a fuss at the time, and that they were ruled self-defence. No one's fault."
"Sirius said the Ministry weren't pursuing him and Gaara for hurting Death Eaters during the fight!" Harry's whispered excitement lasted only as long as his train of thought let it and then he realised what he was suggesting.
"We have to tell Hermione about this!" Ron replied, still riding the high of discovering the conspiracy.
"Let's wait till we see her next. I don't want to send this sort of thing by owl." Harry replied before going over to soothe Hedwig's ruffled feathers. "You know I didn't mean it like that, girl. I meant that the news should be given in person, not that you aren't a perfect messenger."
"Stop flirting with your owl, Harry." Ron laughed.
Hedwig screeched and Ron flinched and stopped laughing.
At Grimmauld Place, Sirius relieved Gaara from duty and allowed him to return to his peaceful solitude. Remus had bored the poor boy half to death, which was feat considering Gaara's chosen hobbies of meditating and spending days at a time reading six-hundred-year-old books on magical theory, often written in Middle English verse.
"I'll see you back down here for dinner." Sirius told him.
"No more junk food this week." Gaara demanded. Sirius' ambition to introduce Gaara to all the delights of this world had turned into a marathon of greasy and unhealthy foods that Sirius felt he 'needed' to try.
"But tonight's doner kebabs!" Sirius yelled after him.
OXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO
On the last Saturday of the holiday, Gaara was due to visit the Malfoy household again for the day. Sleepovers were for muggles, children and poor people, according to Draco, so Gaara would stay for dinner and return with Sirius in the evening. It was just as well since Sirius would probably have tried even harder to put his foot down on the subject, if Gaara had proposed to stay the night.
As it was, Sirius had ended up loudly admonishing Gaara over the boy's insistence that he stroll into 'Death Eater central' on his own, trying to order him to stay away from that house and refuse Lucius' invitation. Sirius had even tried to write a refusal on Gaara's behalf but redhead intercepted him and declared his steadfast intention to accept.
Sirius was surprised at Gaara's determination to visit Draco but he still tried to convey the dangers of going to Malfoy Manor after what Gaara had done at the World Cup. Gaara calmly told him that Draco was alone in the Malfoy house too and Gaara would not abandon him.
Sirius went and punched a wall for twenty minutes by the sound of it, but he did not try to stop Gaara anymore. He was upset that he hadn't been able to tell his fourteen-year-old ward what to do. He would need to work on his stern voice.
Maybe Snivellus would be willing to give him some tips if Sirius brought him some shampoo. Sirius smiled despite himself at that thought. He had pulled a similar joke in third year and it had been funny then too. Lily had threatened to curse him bald, but on balance it was worth it.
Snivellus never had used that shampoo.
Sirius had also relented when Gaara assured him he would be bringing his full gourd with him to the Malfoys.
If even one grain of sand was out of place when Gaara returned, Sirius would convene the Order himself and storm Malfoy Manor and burn it to the ground! When Sirius told Gaara this, he agreed and went back to his lunch.
Remus had agreed with Sirius' sentiment but decided to stay out of the argument.
On Saturday, Sirius insisted on dropping Gaara off at the door just so he could glare at his cousin's husband. He had planned to be invited in for a congenial cup of tea and then drag Lucius off to threaten him, instead he was waved off at the door like an expectant delivery driver waiting for a nonexistent tip.
"You may return for Gaara in the evening, after nine. Good afternoon." Lucius had said before slamming the door in Sirius' face.
So much for manners in the upper classes…
Gaara was led through the familiar and grand halls of the mansion to the enormous drawing room where Draco and Narcissa were waiting. Draco was clearly excited but was trying to suppress it in front of his parents, so he was hovering an inch over his seat and had a totally blank face.
The four of them exchanged proper greetings and pleasantries over tea, discussing their leisure activities since last they met and any mention of the World Cup was assiduously avoided. Anything straying towards anything substantive was quashed expertly.
Once the formal sit-down tea was done with, the boys were released to their own devices until lunch was to be served in an hour. Both walked briskly away to catch up properly and the adults watched them go like a pair of hawks.
"That went rather well, I thought." Narcissa said the moment the door shut after them.
"As could be expected, considering. Care for something stronger than tea?" Lucius replied, moving over to the well-stocked drinks trolley.
Narcissa looked down at her diamond encrusted wristwatch and confirmed it was after midday. "Just a small one, I think. It was too early to be having tea so we might as well have a snifter before lunch too."
"It couldn't be helped, dear. The boys wanted to spend a full day together. Merlin knows why. They will be living together soon enough."
"Don't look a gift horse in the mouth, Lucius. I trust you were cordial with cousin Sirius when he dropped Gaara off." She said.
"As cordial as I felt appropriate. I don't think he was going to be inviting us to any parties either way, do you?"
"The sort of parties my cousin would throw would feel quite unfamiliar to us, I am afraid." She tittered.
"It's not him we need, anyway. Your cousin can rot, but need I remind you of how precarious our position is at the moment? Securing Gaara's loyalties to our position would be an enormous boon to us."
"I want to leave the boys alone today, as much as we can. Gaara is clearly uncomfortable around adults but he made the effort to come here to see Draco. I don't know that the friendship between Draco and Gaara is as profitable as we might like, but they are undoubtedly close. We would be best to try and improve our image in Gaara's eyes on a personal level before propositioning him to our cause on an ideological level."
"That's a risky way to conduct this affair, you realise. We could waste months on making him warm to us only to reject the rightful world order in favour of his guardian's beliefs. If he is indeed ruled by his personal bonds more than any more pragmatic ones his House might suggest, we will never win out against the man who is caring for him."
"Perhaps…" She admitted, taking a sip of her gin and tonic.
"Our best chance is to make him see things from our point of view. After all, he and Draco are close, as you said, and Draco was raised in our world. Surely we can find some common ground from which to work on the boy."
"I would like to think so, but you must remember that Sirius was raised by Uncle Orion and Aunt Walburga. Upbringing isn't everything."
Lucius scoffed. "This is all moot. We do not have the time for the safest approach. My patience and my waning influence with Cornelius is being turned by the old circle into signs of weakness and betrayal. Cornelius has my department under more pressure than ever and with those two oafs still missing, I have not had the requisite time needed to increase my presence amongst our old friends. Some are starting to question my protection of Gaara, especially after what he did to Grimes and Dagnes. Some of them understand the power I could be bringing over to our side, but most believe I am being sentimental."
"Lucius, my love, I have heard you called a great many things but never a sentimentalist." She chuckled. "But you are correct as usual. We might have been on the inside during the last war, but a new one is going to start soon and everyone is beginning to stake their places where they think things will end up. The Dark Lord has not returned to us yet but we may have to make our move before then."
"That is more of a risk than I had anticipated taking." Lucius frowned.
"Yes, well, you always were too cautious about these things. That is exactly what these upstarts are sensing, I fear. They want a commitment or a sign of your intentions before you're forced to declare."
"Precisely what I wanted to avoid. With what I sacrificed during the first war, you would think I could be granted some lenience." Lucius took a swig of his whisky.
"Quite the opposite. You are expected to set the standard. If you don't make your move, if you associate with known enemies, you will be judged more harshly than anyone else. There's nothing else to be done about it, my dear." She said.
"Hmm, you're ability to always be right is the only reason I still hold any position of wealth or authority, you know that?" He smiled.
"Of course. Now, I may agree that we need to induct Gaara sooner rather than later, but do not forget what Draco confessed to me yesterday."
"Yes, how can I forget? Still, I could not care less about Gaara's personal grievances against me. You will have to take the vanguard position this time. If only Draco could be counted upon to do this himself."
"With the changing times, it is a miracle Draco does not question our judgement more than he does. It would be dangerous to put so much pressure on his beliefs at the moment. When he has his Mark and is serving the Dark Lord personally, he will lose his doubts." Narcissa chewed her olive.
"As countless young men have before him." Lucius smiled.
Outside, the weather was uncharacteristically warm for so late in the season so the pair had taken a stroll around the grounds. They had been idly chatting as they walked but when Draco was sure they were away from prying eyes and ears, he abruptly changed the subject.
"Okay, spill it now, what happened that night? I left my tent and found you gone and two of my father's friends unconscious on the ground." Draco's father, who hadn't been involved at all in any way whatsoever in the attack had alluded to Gaara's involvement the day after. Draco had neglected to add to his question the minor detail that he had been the one to take off those men's masks before the Aurors arrived, so they weren't arrested as suspects.
Truth be told, Draco had been upset by being forcibly involved in Gaara's violence and his father's political activities (doubly so considering he wasn't sure he even liked the Dark Lord's ideas anymore), so he wanted answers.
"I did join the fight and I as arrested. They released me without charges." Gaara was tired of discussing what had happened over a week ago. More importantly, he knew he would eventually have to disclose the full truth to Draco someday, to fully explain what he had done, but it was too soon after Remus and Sirius.
As they walked they had drawn a small following of peacocks and Gaara could hear the ruckus coming from the kennels they were approaching so he asked to see the Malfoy library's new acquisitions.
週次パワーステータス
-- 推薦
ランキング 
-- 推薦
チケット