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Harry Potter and the Unexpected Visitor | ||||||
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Category: Post-OotP Characters:All Genres: Action/Adventure, Comedy, Fluff Warnings: Disturbing Imagery Story is Complete Rating: R Reviews: 223 Summary: Harry James Potter has come back to Privet Drive after his abysmal fifth year at Hogwarts School of Wizardry and Witchcraft, as Albus Dumbledore asked him to do. There, he mourns around everything that happened the last months, especially his Godfather's death, but all will change when someone he did not expect comes... The author has stated this story will not be continued. SIYE Hitcount: Story Total: 176684; Chapter Total: 6188 |
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White Christmas In The Air Harry was really looking forward to his first Christmas with Sirius that weren’t marred by somebody else’s injuries or horrible toads’ behaviour. He would certainly like the fact that, according to Sirius, Number 12 Grimmauld Place had been completely changed by Dobby, who, considering that he didn’t have anything to do for Harry, had decided to redecorate the grimy house into something more lively. The home would be fully occupied for the first time in centuries, as not only Harry and Sirius would be there: the Weasleys minus Percy, the Grangers, Neville, his Grandmother, Luna, her father, Draco, Narcissa, Susan (with permission of her aunt, Amelia Bones) and (surprisingly) Remus, Tonks and her parents, Ted and Andromeda. Sirius had really liked to meet her favourite cousin again, and in the first thirty minutes they had already managed to drive ‘their dear Cissy’ mad in their ‘Black Family Meeting’ with their constant jokes and wit contests — Sirius had pouted and said that, before, it only took them ten minutes to reach that stage, something that Remus had taken hold of and suggested that maybe ‘the great Padfoot’ had lost his edge on the business. By four o’clock PM, a full-fledged prank war was being fought between the two Marauders. The Eight were laughing a lot at their antics. Harry especially liked the clownish look Sirius was sporting courtesy of a Time-Released Disguise Charm Remus had thrown at him — not that he would tell Sirius that: if asked by him, he would point out the Heavy Storming Curse that casted a miniature storm over the objective, complete with thunder and lightning, which were triggered by the words ‘Moony’ or ‘Padfoot’, whether uttered by him or anybody else in the house, something Sirius was very proud of accomplishing. Fun was, however, cut short when Molly Weasley wielded her wand, cancelled all the curses on the ‘adults’ and then took both of them by their ears to their bedrooms, much to the amusement of her own sons and daughter, who had many times been given the same treatment, as well as the other teenagers’. All of them came upstairs, commenting on the many fun things they had seen that afternoon. When they reached the second floor, where the girls were sleeping, each couple separated, so that the boys could properly kiss their girlfriends good night. As they left the girls in their bedrooms, Harry, Ron, Neville and Draco went upstairs to Harry’s bedroom, which was the biggest and allowed a better meeting room for them. “So, what do you think we could do tomorrow? We should start with some sort of a big bang, to surprise the hell out of the others,” Draco said. They were discussing the means through which they were going to play a good prank on the people living on the house. “We should leave the girls free from this prank, because if we don’t there will be hell to pay, and Hermione is rather efficient when paying hell to someone else,” Ron replied with a worried face. “Perhaps,” Harry said. “If you think Hermione is bad, you should see Ginny when she gets angry. She is too much like your mum, Ron, and I’d rather stay alive to see the next year” Ron grimaced, especially remembering a night a few months before he had started his first year at Hogwarts in which he had played a small prank on him and the resulting storm had left his left ear half deaf. “So, no girls. If there is an Order meeting on Christmas, we could do a good number on casting something that activates when all of them are together. I’d bet that Moody would go mad after that,” Neville said, grinning. “Yeah, all his talk about ‘Constant Vigilance’ going down the drain after a small, little prank. People would pay to see it, though!” Ron said, grinning. “The twins will worship us forever if we manage to do it. I mean, who would be able to catch the great Alastor Moody unaware?” Draco said. “Barty Crouch Junior did,” Harry replied, grimly. “Remember the day you got transformed into a ferret, Draco? That day’s newspaper talked about Ron’s dad running to help Mad-Eye because he had been ‘attacked’ in his own house. It wasn’t a fluke at all: Crouch and Wormtail had gone for him ‘cause they knew that Moody would be teaching at Hogwarts and Voldemort wanted someone to get here and ‘help’” Harry actually did the inverted commas, meaning sarcasm, “me get into the Triwizard Tournament.” “Well, anyway, what we are going to do isn’t as bad as that. Any bets on Dumbledore’s reaction? If we manage to get him, I’m sure he’ll start laughing,” Draco said. “I never bet on a sure thing, mate. He has always liked a good prank, even if he has been hit. Remember that he was a very good sport after the BR prank,” Ron told the others, referring to the Broken Records prank him, Harry, Hermione and Ginny had pulled to stop girls from asking him and Harry out to the Ball. “If only we could have been included in that,” Neville said, wistfully. “We would have gotten a few extra points, and maybe gotten free of all the pesky girls throwing themselves over us.” “You think you can complain about that? Harry had to stand the worst part of it! Honestly, one hundred and seventy girls asking you out when you already have a girlfriend?” Draco replied. “Honestly, at least Pansy stopped going behind me!” “Oy, that’s something I wanted to ask you. Why did were you always with her?” Ron asked. Draco shrugged. “Father told me to do it, I quote, ‘to improve the bloodline of both our families’, end quote,” he said. “Anyway, my father and Pansy’s had set a marriage contract as soon as we were born, and unless I annul it when I get to be officially the Head of Family — that time in summer was because I was the only Malfoy male able to represent the family — I’ll have to marry her when I get out of school.” “No way out of that contract officially?” Harry asked. “Not unless something that annuls the contract happens, like one of them getting married with somebody else or dying,” Neville supplied. “Gran said once that in her times few young people got married out of their betrothals. She got lucky and was betrothed to a boy she really liked a lot, but when she tried to betroth my dad, he outsmarted her and got married with mum before Gran could say anything.” “Huh, that’s a good story if I heard it,” Harry said. “Anyway, let’s get back at business. Any ideas to strike at the adults?” Ron snorted. “Let me say that Sirius can’t be fully described as an adult, as this same afternoon showed.” “That’s it!” Neville nearly shouted. “Do you imagine what would happen if all adults in the order were suddenly turned into kids?” “Apart from being pure chaos,” Draco said, “it would be really difficult. You would need some kind of Time-Turner that turned the user’s biological clock backwards and then returned them to their normal ages after a few minutes. I doubt that we could do it in less than 24 hours.” “Although your idea has some merit, Neville,” Harry replied, thoughtful. “We may not need to actually turn them into children. Perhaps…” The four boys cracked up and started laughing at the mental image Harry’s idea had invoked on their minds. They went on for some minutes until someone opened the door without asking. “Is there a reason why you are laughing with such a loud noise, and why haven’t we been invited to it, if it is such an uproarious occasion?” Hermione said, sitting down next to her boyfriend, and being followed by Ginny, Luna and Susan. “Uh, oh, she’s using big words,” Harry said, hugging Ginny, who was smiling and returning the hug. “Yep, and you know what that means,” Neville said, with Luna sitting down in front of him. “ANGRY!” all the boys cried at once. Hermione rolled her eyes. “Well? Are you going to tell us what was so fun?” Susan asked. “Oh, it was something we were just thinking about doing while we were here at Headquarters. Listen…” Fifteen minutes later, Remus — who had managed to dry the water Sirius’ Heavy Storming Curse had dropped on him — entered Harry’s room to find eight teenagers laughing non-stop. Unable to get something from them but more laughs, he took out his wand and sent Stinging Hexes to each of the eight so that they went to their beds and, while on his way to his bedroom, prayed that whatever those eight had cooked up, he was well far from it. hpgwrwhghpgwrwhghpgwrwhghpgwrwh ghpgwrwhghpgwrwhghpgwrwhghpgwrwhghpgwrwh ghpgwrwhg It was too much to wish for, wasn’t it? Remus thought two days later. Albus had called the Order of the Phoenix for a last meeting in Christmas Eve so that the plans for the holidays and the next year could start to be developed. The meeting had gone along the normal lines, and some plans were put to vote. Narcissa had proposed to go into the offensive, with a raid against some of the lesser Death Eaters, especially Crabbe and Goyle, whose manors might hold dark artefacts that, if used, could give an advantage to Voldemort’s side. A heated debate amongst the members — with Moody, Snape and Narcissa in the for, and McGonagall and Dumbledore in the against — ended after a voting established that three quarters of the group were fed-up with just reacting and wanted to take some action against the Death Eaters. Dumbledore promised to hold up to the result of the voting, albeit reluctantly. When Dumbledore finally closed the meeting, the door clicked to mean it was completely closed and a white mist started to fill up the room, one that no effort from the adult wizards was able to dispel. When the room was so filled up with the mist that the only thing the Order members could see was pearl white, Remus felt as if he was shrinking to a small size, something that, when the mist cleared, had been too much real: now, everybody else in the room had shrunk to what it looked like to be a childlike version of themselves - Dumbledore still had his beard, and Moody his magical eye. Fortunately, their clothes had adjusted to their new sizes. But it wasn’t until Severus talked that they realised the extension of how childlike they were. “What’s going on in here?” he said, and he immediately put his hands over his mouth. It wasn’t what he had said: it was the tone in which he talked. Somehow, everybody had been ‘graced’ with an acute voice much like a child — and a very small child, that is — would have. Immediately, chaos erupted. Sirius, now looking much like the young boy Remus had first met in their first year at Hogwarts, started to behave like the eight year old he looked like by jumping from his chair running around the table and screaming, only to trip on Moody, who had jumped down to the floor and had fallen to the floor when he tried to walk around: he had realised a bit too late that his new body was not the same as a few minutes before, and therefore the point of equilibrium that allowed the feared ex-Auror to be one of the best duellers in magical Britain was completely different from his new one. Dumbledore tried to call for a bit of order, but it wasn’t too much time until Minerva threw him to the floor and started to tickle him between giggles; Arthur and Molly were playfully wrestling on the floor; Tonks had stood up and immediately fallen to the floor, taking Remus with him in her trip; Narcissa and Andromeda, who were sitting down together, had started to giggle and gossip like they would normally do when they were children; and the other members of the Order were wrapped up in similar childish actions. A few minutes later, a yellowish mist filled the room and as soon as it disappeared, everybody had recovered their normal bodies, although nearly all of them were in very compromising positions that made them blush a lot. Sirius was the first to talk. “HARRY POTTER!!!!!!!!” hpgwrwhghpgwrwhghpg wrwhghpgwrwhghpgwrwhghpgwrwhghpgwrwhghpg wrwhghpgwrwhghpgwrwhg Three floors upstairs, eight teenagers were laughing non-stop and so hard that tears were freely flowing from their eyes and their stomachs were aching a lot. However, they didn’t stop laughing for at least ten more minutes, when they were able to calm down enough to rest their throats and stomachs from the laughter. “My, so much fun should be forbidden,” Draco said, drying his cheeks. “One hundred percent behind that, mate,” Ron said. “We really outdid ourselves, no?” “Yes,” Hermione replied. “But I have to say that it was masterfully planned. And, Susan, your idea of putting the two-way mirror in that room was wonderful!” “Merci!” the girl said, curtsying. “But, you know what the best thing is?” Harry asked the others. “What?” “We have blackmail material on all of them for a whole life!” That started them off again. hpgwrwhghpgwrwhghpgwrwhghpgw rwhghpgwrwhghpgwrwhghpgwrwhghpgwrwhghpgw rwhghpgwrwhg Harry woke up early in Christmas Day. He grinned when he remembered the day before, when they had so effectively pranked the whole Order during one of their meetings. Seeing Sirius frothing in the mouth when he realised that Harry and his friends had outdone any prank he might have played against anyone in the house had been priceless, and Dumbledore’s dumbfounded face when Hermione, in the name of the others, implied the possibility of showing their memories of the prank to certain people unless certain matters were done at the eight teens’ pleasure was even better. Fortunately for the old Headmaster and the others, the conditions Harry and his friends asked for in return for not to show the embarrassing moments were rather simple and into their reach: full access to the Restricted Section (Hermione and Luna), being allowed in the meetings of the order (Ron and Ginny, and accepted under the strenuous objections of Molly Weasley which were quickly put down by them by means of using the trump card that even if she didn’t want them to be in the meetings, they had a way to listen on them that they couldn’t stop), the possibility of taking a few books from the Headmaster’s personal library (Harry, who also made the promise of taking the maximum care of those books) and full access to all the greenhouses (Neville and Susan) and the Potions lab (Draco). The professors rattled for a bit with this ‘invasion of their territories’ as they claimed, but little could they do against the good-natured blackmailing they were part of. In private, everybody said that it had been a good prank, although they made sure that the word didn’t reach the teenagers. Anyway, Harry rose up so that he could go to the dining hall — which Dobby had cleaned to the point that it was almost unrecognisable as the one that they had had to clean the year before —, where everybody had agreed to go to open their Christmas presents in front of everyone else. As he reached the second floor, he decided to knock on Ginny’s door so that she could come with him. Slowly, the door creaked and the sleepy but happy face of the pretty redhead he was so much in love with. Merry Christmas, Ginny, Harry Mind-spoke to her, caressing her left cheek with his hand and smiling at her. Merry Christmas, Harry, she replied to him, leaning into his caress before finally hugging him with all her might. Harry was surprised by the strength of her hug, which rivalled Molly Weasley’s at that moment. “Wow, there, Ginny, what’s the matter?” he asked. Ginny laughed softly. “Why, it’s my first Christmas with you as my boyfriend, Mr. Potter!” “Why, it is, Miss Weasley!” he whispered back. “You know, we should wake the others up so that they also can enjoy this wonderful day.” “Perhaps we should,” she replied, a glint shining in her eyes. “But before we try to do anything, why don’t we go downstairs and relax a bit? We may have to prepare ourselves, for if our friends catch us unaware, we might endure ourselves a bit too much pain, if you catch my drift.” Harry nodded solemnly, and Ginny looked into her room for a decent gown that she could wear. After putting it on, Harry and Ginny went downstairs, interchanging small kisses in the way and Ginny laughing at Harry while he subtly tried to slightly open her gown and see inside it, but Ginny had all corners covered so that he couldn’t take a peek. It wasn’t until they arrived to the dining hall — in which they had accorded to meet for the presents opening — that Harry and Ginny jumped into action: Harry did a few wandless conjurations while Ginny overturned the furniture — with some help from Harry — so that a fortification could be done against the attack the two of them were sure to receive. “OK, Ginny, just let me throw this charm… now!” Harry had put up one of the most complicated wards he knew, but fortunately it wasn’t power the main necessity, but the fact that one had to completely concentrate on both the workings of the ward and the disposition of it, something that Harry could do perfectly. This ward would keep any magic cast in the room from being detected out of it for a few hours. That last thing sucked a bit, but Harry thought that perhaps, in the future, he would be able to put some touches in it so that it could be made more permanent. Then, Harry made a sign with his hand to Ginny, who nodded and raised hers, with three fingers extended. Three... Two... One... WAKE UP!!!!!! They shouted through the Mind Hub, which they then closed into their minds so that no shouting attempt was done through it towards them. It was less than three minutes later that Harry was able to hear someone thumping downstairs and going towards the room they were in. “That's Ron,” Harry said, knowing that only his friend was able to run downstairs and make that much noise. “And I think that Hermione and Draco are just behind him,” Ginny told him, preparing her wand to start the small battle. Sure enough, the door that communicated the dining room with the rest of the house forcefully opened and the tall redhead entered, throwing spells towards his sister and best friend, who were covering themselves in the furniture and nearly falling down in laughter at the prank they had come up with. Soon, it was a three-on-two battle, with Hermione and Draco joining Ron, and a bit later it was a six-on-two, with the others joining the fray against Harry and Ginny. After twenty minutes of fighting, the eight teenagers were exhausted, but Harry and Ginny were still laughing. “I don't understand you two, guys! Why did you woke us up? I was having a wonderful dream with...” Ron said, but stopped himself and reddened slightly when he realised that Hermione was in the same room. “Me?” Hermione asked him with a grin. Poor Ron blushed even more, his face turning the colour of his hair. “Obviously,” Draco said. “Although I think that that shade of red is not very healthy, it truly screams 'Yes, I dream with you, Hermione, and I truly love what you do to me in there'.” Harry didn't think that it was possible for someone to blush as much as Ron had, but now it seemed to be a competition between Ron and Hermione to see who was more red. Susan smacked her boyfriend. “Get your mind out of the gutter, Mister! Or I'll make sure you don't get any!” Harry snorted. He couldn't really help it. “Hey! Weren't we going to open the presents here?” Ron said, changing matters. “Yes, but we still have to wait to the others, remember?” Neville replied. “Believe me when I tell you that it's not a good idea to open presents before my Gran has woken up, especially when she has bought you one.” “We'll have to wait, then,” Susan said. “Is anyone up to having breakfast?” “Yes. Anybody want pancakes?” Harry asked, glad to show off his ability as a cook — practically the only good thing he had been taught at the Dursleys. In the end, everybody asked for pancakes and Ron helped to make some bacon and eggs. “A Galleon that the smell wakes Padfoot and Moony up in less than five minutes,” Hermione told Ginny. “I never bet against a sure thing, 'Mione,” Ginny said with a grin. Sure, three minutes after they had started cooking, Sirius ran downstairs and entered the kitchen, being joined soon after by Remus and Tonks, who was sporting green fir coloured hair in honour of Christmas. The other adults started to trickle in, one by one, into the kitchen that self-expanded so that all the people in the house were able to enter it without becoming like tinned sardines. Fortunately for Ron's nerves, everybody finished their breakfast soon and then they went to the dining room where they would be opening their presents. The eight teenagers got many books with interesting charms, hexes and jinxes from their families, as well as clothes and candy. Hermione's parents had bought some books for their daughters' friends, and it was obvious they had asked her for advice, because each book was well suited to the characters of the teens: Harry got a book about martial arts and related things; Ron got a book about chess strategies and old matches (after getting surprised at the fact that Muggles actually held international tournaments, he took to reading the book and studying it); Ginny was given a book on First Aid tricks and other things related to medicine; Luna and Neville got a good set of books about animals and plants as they were known in the Muggle world; and Draco and Susan got similar books, but about Muggle advancements and technology, considering that their knowledge of it was rather sketchy at best. The seven thanked the couple profusely for their gifts. “Well, we hardly could not give our daughter's best friends something nice, no?” Mr. Granger said. The adults also got a good deal of things: the eight teenagers had pitched in to give their respective parents, godfathers and others a set of nice personalized robes which they had made and charmed so that they all had every charm they could think of. Molly had really liked how her robes flashed the words GREATEST MUM EVER, and Adam Granger had laughed at his I CAN SEE YOU LYING THROUGH YOUR TEETH robe. Remus thought that Sirius' HOT DOG was hilarious, but the one everybody liked the most was Narcissa's, which said DANGEROUS BLACK WOMAN. “And I am,” she said while giving her son a peck on his cheek — much to his embarrassment. “I truly wish to show Lucius that I can be dangerous when I want to.” hpgwrwhghpgwrwhghpgwrwhghpgwrwhghp gwrwhghpgwrwhghpgwrwhghpgwrwhghpgwrwhghp gwrwhg The good mood Christmas brought to those living in Grimmauld Place vanished two days later when Sirius opened the Daily Prophet. What does the Boy-Who-Lived do? Written by Lise Votivir Last evening, a cadre of Death Eaters showed up on the small town of Paignton accompanied by several vampires and a few trolls. Upon their arrival, the Death Eaters started to launch curses — the Unforgivables being the most pre-eminent in their arsenal — at the unsuspecting Muggles who were out in the street, celebrating the holidays and coming back to their houses, while vampires attacked on those who passed near enough and trolls smashed every 'automobile' in sight. The attack resulted with the death of ten Muggles before the Auror Corps arrived just five minutes before the attack started. However, that still leaves a question: where was the Boy-Who-Lived while this was happening? According to certain sources, he is spending Christmas with his supposed girlfriend Virginia Weasley, daughter of former Head of the Misuse of Muggle Artefacts Office and current Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement Arthur Weasley. Miss Weasley, who is described by these sources as 'a plain-looking, boring witch', has apparently been going out with our young hero since last autumn. However, according to a Hogwarts student who wishes to remain anonymous, this relationship may not be a completely voluntary one on the part of the Boy-Who-Lived. “The Weasley girl has had a crush in Harry for many years,” this student says. “She has tried to get Harry's attention for a lot of time, and I'm sure that she must have used some kind of love potion on him. That's the only possible explanation, because just before last summer he was going out with somebody else with whom he was much in love with.” This is not the first time the young Mr. Potter has been subjected to a love potion: in 1994, Miss Hermione Granger tried to use one on both Harry Potter and Viktor Krum, but apparently it never did its job, something for what we should be thankful. However, ensnared by a love potion or not, Mr. Potter should be out there, fighting You-Know-Who's followers and saving us like he did fifteen years ago. Sirius didn't read more of the newspaper, and angrily threw it aside, cursing the idiots who decided to contract that Votivir woman. “What's the matter, Sirius?” Remus asked when he saw his friend insulting the mother of the editor of the newspaper and her abilities to keep her from hitting on other people. “Those idiots in the Prophet,” Sirius spat, “although right now they tend to do good articles, sometimes they contract the most stupid reporters. That one about Harry is a quarter normal article and three quarters Witch Weekly rubbish!” Remus took the newspaper Sirius had thrown away, and one minute later the paper flew back to the same place as Remus cursed the intelligence of the Daily Prophet reporters. “Moony, you know, I think that thing you are suggesting is physically impossible,” Harry told his adoptive uncle with a smirk. “Harry, although I don't like to do this, you have the right to read this,” Sirius said, and Summoned the newspaper so that Harry and his friends could read it. “Two Galleons to Harry putting the paper on fire,” Remus whispered to his best friend. “Accepted, but I think that he will shred it with his hands.” None of them won: upon reading the accusations of laziness from the reporter, he just made a black hole and threw the paper inside. His green eyes were darkening in anger, and he was radiating power through all his pores. “How dare that... witch accusing me of 'not doing my duty'? And accusing Ginny of using love potions on me?” “Any bets on 'the mysterious Hogwarts student'?” Ron said, red-faced with anger, too. “Oh, come on, that one was obviously Chang,” Ginny replied. “She is the only one who could have made those idiotic comments on 'Harry being much in love with somebody else'.” “Pretty clear, but who is this 'Lise Votivir'? I've never heard of her in my life,” Hermione said. “I doubt that anyone would try to pull out that article Rita Skeeter wrote in fourth year for Witch Weekly.” “Maybe because the one who wrote this is Skeeter,” Luna said in a less-than-dreamy voice. Everybody looked at her. “How do you know it?” Draco asked. “If you rearrange the letters in Votivir's name and then change each letter for the vowel or consonant before in the alphabet, you get Skeeter's name.” She took a piece of parchment and a quill from those who were near the fireplace just in case and wrote: SOVE TLIIVIR RITA SKEETER Neville was the first to speak up. “Have I been going out with her too much, or is she actually making sense?” “The latter, I think, Neville,” Harry said. Then, he turned to Hermione. “Couldn't you have blackmailed her for a few more years, Hermione?” “It wasn't as if I could see the future, you know,” she replied. “Why don't you try to make a formal complaint against the Daily Prophet?” “It wouldn't work,” Draco said. “When the Freedom of Press Act was signed in the 1800s, no one thought to made an addendum to stop reporters from vilifying other people,” Susan said, “and an attempt to make a complaint could be seen by the press as trying to censure them.” Harry was thoughtful for a few seconds. “Sirius, do you know when is the next meeting of the Magical Heads?” Harry knew, through his classes with Dumbledore, that the Magical Heads Council was able to submit laws that could be accepted by the Wizengamot if it passed a vote. “Next Sunday, I think. They usually send the invites three days before of the meeting. Why?” Sirius asked. “Because I have an idea,” Harry said. hpgwrwhghpgwrwhghpgwrwhghpgwr whghpgwrwhghpgwrwhghpgwrwhghpgwrwhghpgwr whghpgwrwhg “ORDER! ORDER!” Minister Amelia Bones shouted. It was the day before New Year's Eve. The Magical Heads Council had been called to a meeting in which any laws that any head wished to put forward for a voting could be done. The Heads had just arrived to the courtroom and had been talking for a few moments and greeting those they hadn't met before. Minister Bones, in her position as the Minister for Magic, and Albus Dumbledore as the Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot, would be presiding. When all the Heads were silent, Minister Bones stood up. “This is the last Magical Heads Council meeting for the year 1996. As you know, the meeting we are holding right now is being held so that any proposition of law can be requested and debated according to the Wizengamot Foundation Laws of 1100. Does anybody hear wish to submit a law to be debated?” Harry then stood up, grateful that Dumbledore had given him so many classes on the workings on the Government of Magical Britain, since what he had learnt there would help him a lot in here. “Minister Bones, Chief Warlock Dumbledore. I, Harry James Potter, Head of the Most Noble and Ancient House of Potter, wish to present a possible law to be debated by the members of this august Council and then given to the members of the Wizengamot to be accepted.” “Then state your proposition, Lord Potter,” Minister Bones said. Harry cleared his throat and started talking. “Members of the Magical Heads Council, I come here, before you, to present a proposition of law. I am sure that, giving that you are upstanding citizens of Magical Britain, you use to read the Daily Prophet newspaper, no? And I am also sure that you read Miss Votivir's article on the attack on Torbay a few days ago. If you remember it, only one paragraph talked about the actual incident — which I had hoped didn't happen at all — and the rest of the article only talked about my personal life, vilifying my name and that of my girlfriend, Miss Ginevra Weasley, as well as mentioning other things that were shown to be clear fabrications a long time ago.” “Do please go to the point, Lord Potter,” the Minister said. “Of course, Minister. I was just trying to tell the members of this Council the circumstances behind my proposition. As I was telling, the newspaper was showing falsehoods and lies as true facts, at the same time showing my name and that of my friends and family under a bad light. “I'm not sure how many of you are familiar with the Muggle world, but I'll suppose that more than a fifty percent of those in this room don't know anything and just explain something. “Muggle press, of which I can tell that there are much more different newspapers than the magical world has, works under certain premises: independence, attempt to make sure facts in there are as certain as possible, and complete objectivity. “The latter means that, when writing an article, a reporter should stick to the facts and not present his personal views on it, unless it is an editorial. If you ever read a Muggle newspaper, you would see that what they show are the utter bare facts, with no criticism on it against the Government or a concrete person.” “Excuse me, Mr. Potter,” Mr. Crofton, the runner-up in the Minister elections, said on a voice that clearly showed what his feelings towards Harry were. “Are you, perhaps, suggesting that we apply a censorship on the press?” Harry shook his head. “I would not suggest that, Mr. Crofton. Afterwards, it would be rather hypocritical of me when hardly a few months ago we ousted Cornelius Fudge from his position as Minister for Magic for, between many other things, censoring the Daily Prophet to stop them from publishing articles that showed that either the Chief Warlock and me were right about Voldemort's return. “No, what I am trying to push forward is a law that I know exists in the Muggle world but not in here. I wish that a law may be approved so that, although newspapers may still write what they wish, a complaint can be presented against them if an article that has clearly been written to run someone's reputation down. For example, if this Miss Votivir wrote that you, Mr. Crofton, were an evil person and a menace to the society, without actually presenting proof, would you prefer to report their vilification of your character or would you let them talk bad about you?” Crofton didn't say anything, he just sat down and grunted. “I'll take that as a 'yes, I would do the report',” Harry said, not surprised by the lack of an answer. Then he looked at the other Heads. “As you have heard, even Mr. Crofton has realised that this kind of thing would be beneficial, not only for us, but for the whole country, as no one would have to be subjected to the whims of stupid reporters or be accused through the newspapers, as it has happened to many people who have been humiliated by Rita Skeeter's Quick Quotes Quill, which usually tends to spout the hugest lies I've ever read.” “I think that it is enough, Lord Potter. Your idea has been perfectly explained to the members of this council. Will someone second the vote?” “I, Sirius Orion Black, will second the vote,” Sirius said. “Thank you, Lord Black. Now, everybody must vote on the proposition. Cast a green light if you want to vote in favour, a red light if you want to vote against.” Harry cast his green light. He discreetly looked around and saw that there were more green than red between the members of the council, and smiled. hpgwrwhghpgwrwhghpgwrwhghpg wrwhghpgwrwhghpgwrwhghpgwrwhghpgwrwhghpg wrwhghpgwrwhg Harry Potter, proposer of the new law. Written by Nick Haydyn. During yesterday's Magical Heads Council official session in Courtroom one of the Ministry of Magic, Mr. Potter surprised everybody when he made a proposition of law. The surprise was that he was asking for the Council to approve a law which would make possible for wizards to make a formal complaint should there be vilification of character in an article. Until today, this wasn't possible under the Freedom of Press Act of 1885, which allowed the press to act independently from the Ministry. However, this didn't stop former Minister Fudge from pressing the editor of our newspaper to run down Harry Potter's and Albus Dumbledore's good names — of which I, in the name of the staff of the Daily Prophet, beg forgiveness for. Apparently, Mr. Potter's idea was prompted by Miss Lise Votivir's article in 27th December's Daily Prophet. Also, it's possible that in his mind was the articles Miss Rita Skeeter wrote about both him and his good friend Miss Hermione Granger for both the Daily Prophet and Witch Weekly during the school year 1994-95, when Hogwarts School of Wizardry and Witchcraft held the famous Triwizard Tournament. I, for one, didn't like Miss Skeeter's unscrupulous idea of journalism, and I'll be glad to see that this new law will manage to draw a line in the sand that no one will dare to go through, any more. hpgwrwhghpgwrwhghpgwrwhgh pgwrwhghpgwrwhghpgwrwhghpgwrwhghpgwrwhgh pgwrwhghpgwrwhg It's shorter than normal, I know. However, I couldn't think of more things to put in here, as nothing more would happen during Christmas holidays. Writing will resume at mid-January (in the story, of course!), and Harry and Co. will have to face both the problems of being a teenager and the problems of being the future saviours of the world. Now, a teaser for the 7th year story, Harry Potter and the Cup of Merlin will be available for the first five people who read this and answer correctly the next question:they will learn what is the Cup of Merlin and the new things that will appear for Harry's last year at Hogwarts! (Of course, I'll ask them not to tell anybody else about this). This is the question. What do the next happenings have in common? * Harry sees Snape being badly injured by Fluffy. * Dobby tells Harry that the Chamber of Secrets exists. * Harry falls down from his Nimbus 2000 broom while hearing his mother. * Harry and Ron decide to go play Quidditch against Hermione's advice. * The human toad commonly known as Dolores Umbridge talks in a fluttery, girlish, high pitched voice: Harry expected her to croak. * Luna tells Harry that Wrackspurts make your brain go fuzzy. * Hermione Side-Apparates Harry and Ron at the same time. |
| Reviews 223 |
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