"And he didn't bite you or anything?" Nicholas asked incredulously.
"Not at all. He was really well mannered. Did his business in the right place, didn't make a mess at all, did what he was told to. I reckon he might have been house trained before but his owner abandoned him or something."
"Is he still with you?" Perenelle asked.
"Oh yes. He was sleeping when I came over," Mr. Fortescue said, before using his napkin to wipe his mouth and stand up, "Speaking of which, I should probably head back. He must be awake now."
And with that, Mr. Fortescue shook Nicholas's and Perenelle's hands, picked up his hat from the table, and headed out.
Harry looked at the clock on the wall. It was almost eleven now, and if he wanted to find and talk to Wright before the Trial, then he'd have to leave now. Turning to Nicholas, he asked, "Is it alright if I head on to the Ministry straight from there?"
"Ministry?" Nicholas asked with a frown, "The Vote is happening at noon Harry. Why do you want to go now?"
"I…" Harry hesitated, before thinking up a simple enough lie, "I wanted to go down to the Archives again to look at my parents' files again."
Ping!
Lie Successful!
Nicholas's face softened, and he nodded, "Alright. If you get lost or need help with something just ask anyone wearing a uniform. They'll help you. I will see you directly at the Trial."
"Thank you," Harry said, before quickly finishing up his toast, getting up, and heading upstairs to his room.
"Hedwig," he said as he closed the door behind him and turned to look at the phoenix perched on the golden perch, "I'll be gone to the Ministry for a while today. Maybe even till the evening. Will you need anything?"
Hedwig had started to recover from her Burning Day blues and started using the perch again, which was quite nice to see. Her feathers had almost fully grown back, except for the tiny patches on her wingtips and around her neck, and she was almost back to full size again.
"Are you going to talk to that Wright person?" echoed Hedwig's voice in his mind.
"I am," he replied.
There was a moment's silence in which Harry opened his wardrobe and pulled out a robe and his old wizard's hat which had developed a rather droopy brim. The robe he put on, and the hat he stuffed into his Inventory in case he needed to stay a bit inconspicuous in a crowded area.
"Can I come?"
Harry raised an eyebrow. Hedwig hadn't wanted to go out four days now. This was an unusual surprise, but not an unwelcome one, "Are you sure?"
"I don't want you to be alone today," she said concernedly.
Harry smiled at her, "I'm the one supposed to be taking care of you Hedwig, not the other way around."
"You're an idiot if you still think that with the amount of trouble you get into Harry," she said, her tone mocking.
"Shut up," Harry tossed back, before pulling the rim of his pocket open. Hedwig spread her wings and lifted off of her perch into the air, before diving straight into to Harry's robe pocket.
It was a good thing that Perenelle had lined all of his robe pockets with Undetectable Expansion Charms and the One-Way-Transparency charm that he had created back in his first year. Hedwig could easily fit in there as well as see clearly out of the pocket. Combining that with the fact that Hedwig could now talk to him mentally made the entire thing all the better.
As ready as he could be, Harry jogged off downstairs, said goodbye to his still eating guardians, and headed out of the apartment.
On the way to the tiny room off the corridor that contained the Floo, the only sound that Harry heard was the occasional loud bark, presumably from Mr. Fortescue's new pet Sir Knucklehead Fudducker McSpazzatron which, upon second thought, wasn't that bad of a name.
For a dog.
Ducking into the Floo room, Harry handed the man in green robes a sickle, collected the Floo powder, and stepped into the fireplace.
"Ministry of Magic!"
Barely a second of him and Hedwig passing through a blizzard of flitting lights later, he stepped out of one of the Ministry fireplaces just off the Atrium. Quickly pulling out the hat from his inventory and stuffing it onto his head in an effort to stay inconspicuous, Harry made a beeline for the Atrium. The wizard at the security desk was absent, which was why Harry simply jogged through the crowd towards the small door off to the side that led to the stairs.
The way up to Level Two, where all the Wizengamot offices were located, was thankfully empty, with the only people that Harry passed being a pair of peach robed witches, one of whom was complaining to the other about the Invisibility Task Force strike.
Harry briskly walked on and slipped into the Level Two doorway. Turning left, he headed into the massive corridor lined with doors that each led to a Wizengamot member's office whose name was engraved on the door. Dozens of purple paper airplanes that Harry knew to be Interdepartmental memos followed the same corridor as Harry, and as soon as they reached their destination doors, they unfolded themselves into flat paper and slipped under the gaps beneath.
It took him a while to find the office he was looking for, especially since it was quite far into the corridor.
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