The Intelligent Potter

*** Later, Hogwarts

Harry fingered the ring which was lying on the table.

"Don't touch it," Albus said.

"C'mon Professor, it's harmless," Harry protested, not letting up touching his own ring.

"We don't know that yet," Albus retorted, before the expression on his face changed to a more pleased one, "But we are about to find out," he said, "Come in, Nicolas."

Nicolas Flamel entered the office of the Headmaster.

"All good, Albus?" the oldest man in the world asked casually.

"To cut to the chase, old friend," Dumbledore began, "I would like you to take a look at a ring for me, and check it for curses and such, and tell me what you think of it."

Flamel hmmed, "Very well then, where have you kept it?"

Harry gestured wordlessly to Dumbledore's table.

With a flick of a single finger, the ring shot into the air.

Unlike Dumbledore, who used his wand and muttered complex and arcane spells to test the ring, Nicolas merely observed it in silence. He did not hold his wand - Harry could still see it stowed away in his holster - and he wasn't saying a single word.

"Where did you come across this?" Flamel asked, his voice betraying a sense of awe.

Without answering Flamel's question, Albus responded with a question of his own, "So it is the Resurrection Stone?" he confirmed.

Flamel nodded, "There are no curses placed on it by any humans, but it bears the unmistakable mark of Death. What's more..." he said dramatically, "The Stone has picked a welder."

Dumbledore gasped, at the same time as Harry asked in a confused tone, "What does that mean?"

"The Resurrection Stone has chosen you to wield it," Flamel explained to the young Potter.

"But I don't want to bring anyone back from the dead!" Harry protested, before hesitating, thinking of the parents he had never had the opportunity to get to know.

Dumbledore looked at him sadly, knowing what Harry must have been thinking of.

"That is wise beyond your years," Nicolas observed, "To let the resting be is a lesson that not many wizards have learned."

"So?" Harry prompted, "What does this stuff with the stone even mean?"

The two old men looked at each other, clearly trying to figure out what to tell the boy.

They were saved the trouble of having to do so by a patronus - a majestic elephant - bursting into the room.

The elephant spoke in the voice of Babajide Akingbade, a man who both Nicolas and Albus were familiar with, but Harry had yet to have the p.l.e.a.s.u.r.e to have met, or indeed have heard the voice of.

"The Ministry has fallen."

*** An hour earlier, The Ministry for Magic, London

The Dark Lord stood outside the Ministry for Magic, on a normally-crowded street in the middle of muggle London.

It was deserted.

Voldemort did not yet want to take on the muggles directly - though he planned for them to fall under his direct control in years to come, perhaps after he had taken over all of Wizarding Britain - so his men had been working on redirecting muggles around the area, and using extensive muggle-repelling charms. It had proved even beyond the ability of Voldemort's resourceful men to deal with all of the muggles' technology, so The Darkness had to lend a helping hand to obscure the street from technology.

Behind the Dark Lord stood a contingent of about three dozen of Voldemort's best Death Eaters, all ready to storm the Ministry itself.

Voldemort had not wanted to attack the Ministry till the following summer, as he wanted to grow his strength further before launching an attack on that scale, but his hand had been forced by The Darkness, which was pushing him to take Harry Potter as soon as possible, and he could only get to the wizarding school of Hogwarts after he had taken over the Ministry.

Voldemort raised his wand arm, and all of the Death Eaters fired blasting spells at the phone booth which served as the entry to the Ministry of Magic.

The booth was blasted into smithereens within seconds. It left a hole on the floor, which was shimmering, as it was magically enchanted to protect the Ministry, and only allow one person at a time, to prevent a storming of the Ministry, exactly what Voldemort was about to do, at the moment.

Some of his men shot blasting spells at the hole, but to no avail, the enchantment stayed, and the ground refused to be blown up, probably due to more security upon the Ministry, which was located underground.

Voldemort waved them off, and pointed his own wand at the shimmering hole.

Without saying a word, the Dark Lord cast a spell which ripped straight through the enchantment and burst a large cavity in the ground, leading directly to the atrium of the Ministry for Magic.

With the enchantments down, all of Voldemort's men apparated straight into the atrium.

As had been planned, the first spell any of them cast was not any kind of battle spell, but rather the Imperius curse.

As each Death Eater hit their targets - who were not moving due to the surprise part of the surprise assault - the numbers under Voldemort's control doubled from thirty-five men to seventy.

The Death Eaters had the Ministry employees under their control surround them, so all the fire from the other employees hit their own colleagues instead of the enemies.

The battle was short, as the Ministry employees were all forced to retreat from the atrium, or were imperiused before they could. All of the Ministry employees with even half a brain fled to the level where the Department for Magical Law Enforcement was located.

Only the very stupid and the very brave stayed on in the atrium, the former just to try and fight a battle which it should have been obvious they would lose, and the latter to try and distract the Death Eaters so that others of their own side could escape.

One person of the latter category of those who stayed was Cyril Cosmos. He had been on his way to deliver a report to Amelia herself when the attack started.

The Greek immediately began to fire at the Death Eaters, but soon realised that it was a futile endeavour which was harming his comrades as much as his enemies. Instead, he focused his endeavours on protecting those who were fleeing, with large shields which blocked the spells which the Death Eaters were sending.

In his haste to save others, he was not able to save himself.

The Dark Lord, Voldemort, hit Cyril Cosmos with the killing curse, and Cyril Cosmos was no more.

*** Department for Magical Law Enforcement

Amelia Bones made her way to the DMLE. She knew, without a doubt, that that was where the resistance to the assault would be organised, and the Minister for Magic was completely right.

The floor was barricaded, as desks and tables had been put up right in front of the elevator. The moment she stepped out, a wand was put to her throat, and she could spy several more being pointed at her discreetly from behind the makeshift barricade of office furniture.

The Minister looked up at the man who had a wand to her throat, and found it to be Babajide Akingbade, whose very presence made her feel a little bit relieved.

"Name," he growled out, despite knowing full well who he was face-to-face with.

"Amelia Bones, Minister for Magic," Amelia said, as calmly as she could, given the circ.u.mstances.

Before she could even see him move, Baba had moved his aim to her left ear, and shot a powerful stinging spell at it.

Amelia yelped as she nursed her ear and glared at Baba, "What was that for!" she asked.

"The shock would shock you out of the Imperius curse," Baba explained, "If you were under it."

"I wasn't though," Amelia muttered, despite knowing that she herself would not be taking any such chances herself, in such a crisis situation.

The elevator opened again, except this time, it was a contingent of unknown Ministry wizards, who immediately began to fire spells at Amelia, upon recognising her.

With a large gust of air from the side of Babajide, they were all blown into the wall, which knocked them all out cold.

"Get inside," Baba said shortly, "We're trying to figure out the best course of action from here."

One of the people behind the barricade moved aside one of the tables to let Amelia in. Once she was in, Amelia recognised another familiar face manning the barricade.

Anu Iyer, the Indian witch.

"Anu," Amelia said, "It's good to see you here," she grinned at her normally cheerful friend, but did not receive a grin in return.

The Minister's grin faded at the grim expression on Anu's face, and the dried tear-tracks running down her face.

"Amelia," she said, painfully quietly, "Cyril, he-he didn't make it," she rushed out.

Amelia had not personally been very close at all to the Greek wizard, but she could feel for her distraught friend, who she knew had been extremely close to the late Cyril Cosmos.

"Amelia!" she heard a voice exclaim, as she tried to comfort her friend. She looked up to see the scarred face of her replacement as the head of the DMLE, Rufus Scrimgeour.

"The wards are down," he said in a softer voice, "We are trying to get as many of the employees of the Ministry, apart from my Aurors and the few peacekeepers, out of here as possible. We don't want any more casualties than are strictly necessary."

Amelia nodded, that made sense.

Rufus kept looking at her expectantly, and she began to feel a little bit uneasy.

"What?" she asked, more than a little grumpily, "Don't you have anything better to do than stare at me?"

Rufus hesitated, "I know you want to be in the thick of things, Amelia," he started, "but I think it might be a better idea if we get you out of here. I'm going to level with you, the Dark Lord himself is here. Right now. We stand no chance of keeping this building. It is a losing battle. If you get out of here, you can rebuild the Ministry somewhere else. If he gets you, the Ministry is done for, this country is done for."

He took a breath.

Amelia prepared to protest, but he shot her a pleading look.

"Please, Amelia." he said, "Apparate to Bones Manor, get out of here."

Amelia hesitated, weighing up her options.

That was the moment when the barricade was blown into smithereens.

The Dark Lord's eyes immediately settled on Amelia.

She knew she was done for. She knew it the moment she looked into the eyes of the Dark Lord, and saw the power and the intent, and she knew she couldn't do anything to stop her imminent demise.

She tried nonetheless.

Amelia raised her wand arm, preparing a spell on its tip, but she felt like she was moving in slow motion, relative to Voldemort.

The killing curse left his wand. She couldn't move.

Then she moved. Or more accurately, she was moved.

Amelia stumbled and fell onto the floor.

"Apparate, Amelia," Rufus Scrimgeour barked at her, right before the killing curse hit him in the middle of his c.h.e.s.t.

She apparated just before the next killing curse passed right through the spot she had just been occupying.

Voldemort laughed out loud. Mockingly.

"Your Minister…" he lingered on the word with extreme vitriol, "has fled. What do you fight for now? Why resist me?"

The Aurors and Ministry employees all hesitated for just the split second requisite for the Death Eaters to mass murder about half of their numbers.

The remaining employees took one look at each other, and - those that could manage to do so before they were killed - apparated.

Anu shot one final curse before leaving.

Baba was the last wizard left in the Ministry. With a roar of fury, he hurled fire around him in scales which he could scarcely control.

He took out eleven Death Eaters before the Dark Lord was able to get the fires and such back under control.

Then, with a final deafening crack, Babajide apparated away as well.

*** Present, Hogwarts

The elephant spoke in the voice of Babajide Akingbade, a man who both Nicolas and Albus were familiar with, but Harry had yet to have the p.l.e.a.s.u.r.e to have met, or indeed have heard the voice of.

"The Ministry has fallen." the gravelly voice of the Nigerian wizard came across.

Albus, Nicolas, and Harry gasped appropriately.

"Amelia survived the attack," Babajide continued, "But there were many, many casualties. The remainders of the Ministry have dispersed, but they are not safe right now. As this patronus speaks to you, I have sent others to try and gather as many people as possible at Black Manor, which Arcturus has agreed to use. Please make your way to here as soon as possible to discuss further."

With that, the silvery ethereal elephant faded into mist, which was carried away by the wind.

It was a few minutes before anyone spoke.

"Harry," Dumbledore said quietly, "Please go and inform Iliad of these...happenings, Nicolas and myself will head forward to Black Manor."

Harry nodded, deciding not to protest that he be allowed to come, for it was no doubt going to be enough of a headache for the two old men among others in the days to come.

Surprisingly, it was Nicolas who spoke up, "No Albus, I will send my own patronus," he took out his wand.

"Why bother?" Dumbledore asked.

"Because the boy is coming with us," Flamel said, "I believe I may have an idea as to 'the power he knows not.'"

*** Black Manor

In the end, Iliad did not accompany Dumbledore, Flamel, and Harry to Black Manor. With the other two leaving Hogwarts, Iliad decided that he had better stay at the school to ensure the security, considering that Voldemort now had the resources to besiege the school.

Black Manor was overflowing with escaped employees of the Ministry.

A lot of the loyal members of the Ministry had not only come themselves, but some had also brought along their families, to protect them from being attacked by Voldemort's ministry in retaliation.

Presently, there was a meeting going on between the most powerful individuals on the side of the light. And also Harry.

Babajide Akingbade, Amelia Bones, Anu Iyer, Kingsley Shacklebolt (in place of the recently deceased Scrimgeour), Arcturus Black, Nicolas Flamel, Albus Dumbledore, and Harry Potter were in attendance at the meeting.

The atmosphere was grim, as Anu informed the rest of the committee of the deaths of Cyril Cosmos and Rufus Scrimgeour.

Amelia got up to speak. The poor woman seemed more defeated than anyone had ever seen her before.

She hesitated before she began to speak.

"At this point," she began, "it is next to impossible to regain control of the Ministry. For all intents and purposes, our Ministry are the rebels now. I am more than a little ashamed that he was able to simply walk into, and walk over, my Ministry, but there is little that can be done about that now."

She sighed, "Does anybody have any ideas how to proceed?" she asked with a b.a.r.e minimum of hope.

Other people continued to speak.

Babajide rose, "I think right now, we are beyond the point of bargaining with the ICW," he said, "We must send a plea to them for help, and hope that they put their entire force into restricting the rise of Voldemort. Surely, they will notice the danger posed to all magical society by the threat of Voldemort. The matter of British governance can be sorted out after the current government has been deposed of its power."

"But even with the entire force of the ICW, the fact remains that there is no-one who can directly take down Voldemort himself," Amelia said, "I'm sure we'll be able to take on his Death Eaters, but who is going to take on the Dark Lord?"

Harry looked nervous, but remained silent.

Dumbledore cleared his throat, "There is a prophecy," he said, "A prophecy which predicts that Harry Potter will be the one who can take down Voldemort. It is said that he will do so with a power that Voldemort 'knows not'."

As soon as Dumbledore said this, chaos broke out in the room, each of the people with their own points of view.

"Silence!" Amelia commanded, then waited until the entire room had become silent, and she had the attention of all of the occupants of the room.

She cleared her throat.

"I do not think it is wise, Dumbledore," she began saying, "to put the fate of the Wizarding World upon the shoulders of a teenage boy, no matter what a prophecy says. Besides, I don't even think that we know what this mysterious power of Potter's is."

Harry looked somewhat awkward, being there while he was being talked about. He still remained silent.

"Actually," Nicolas said, "I think I might know that this mysterious power is."

*** End of Chapter