The Intelligent Potter

*** The happenings of November

The smear campaign against Amelia, and the entirety of the light side, was met with fierce competition. It was not an immediate success as the Dark Lord had assumed it would be, and it did not crush the light side as had been initially thought.

The mistake which Voldemort had made, in his haste, was to target Amelia first. He had thought that Amelia would be a softer target than Albus Dumbledore. It would have definitely been a harder fight to besmirch the name of the most famed and popular wizard in all of Britain. He had planned to crush the light side in the opinion of the public, and then cast Dumbledore under the same umbrella.

What he did not anticipate was that Albus would not take this blow to his cause lying down, and wait for his own turn on the slaughtering block. Nor did he anticipate the nigh unlimited finances of the House Black to fund a fight back in the press.

'The Times of the Phoenix' hit the market within four days of the beginning of the smear campaign.

With hundreds of thousands of galleons behind it, and magic speeding up the production of the printing press, Albus Dumbledore as chief editor, and the combined minds and might of Iliad Greengrass, Arcturus Black, and Nicolas Flamel (from behind the scenes, of course), the very first copy was distributed to every single witch and wizard in Magical Britain.

The very first page of the paper claimed it to be a true and honest source of information for all British citizens. In its own words, 'to ensure that the truth reaches all the people of Magical Britain', the paper was to be distributed to every magical citizen free-of-cost, for one entire year.

In the span of 24 hours, the Prophet and the Phoenix were embroiled in a press-war. People's beliefs were conflicted between the woman who they believed to be the best reporter in the world, and the man they believed to be the greatest wizard in the entire world.

The end result was that those who believed in Dumbledore, and the light side, continued to do so, rebelling against the new Ministry's administration, while those who were on the side of the dark, continued to oppose Dumbledore and his reforms.

Despite his best efforts to the contrary, it was made public knowledge that Lord Voldemort was the true power behind Pius Thicknesse, and his government.

Amelia Bones provided her memory of her last few moments before her escape from the Ministry, which showed Scrimgeour sacrificing his own life to save hers, and clearly showed the assault was instigated by Voldemort himself. The memory was developed into a wizarding photo which covered the front page of the Times of the Phoenix.

Scrimgeour became a sort of martyr for the light side, and the image of his death, taken from the Times of the Phoenix, was plastered across posters and banners at anti-Thicknesse, and anti-Voldemort protests.

On the back of the same memory, Amelia became a figurehead of the rebellion, gaining an importance in the public eye which she had never held before. She was the most hotly contested figure, with very polarised views on her between magical citizens.

As much of a victory as it was for the light side, in the end all they managed to do was equal the efforts of the dark, and while that was of extreme importance, and not doing so could have meant the crushing of any hope of victory, it did not change that they were in a position of weakness.

While riots and protests against the administration started out strong, with his cover of innocence blown, Thicknesse brought his full force of Aurors against the protestors. Those who protested were ruthlessly assaulted by Aurors, some who were directly controlled by Voldemort, and others who were under the Imperius curse to ensure their cooperation.

Only those Aurors loyal to Dumbledore were able to escape the Imperius, as they were saved by emergency alarm charms which the Headmaster had placed upon their person. Upon the usage of the Imperius, Dumbledore knew to go to them and dispel the curse, and he was keyed into the wards of all of their homes. He could not however, free all of the other Aurors.

Under this assault, the number of protests began to wane, and those unsatisfied with the administration had to express their disp.l.e.a.s.u.r.e in secret, and not in any public forums.

The ICW personnel who had not been slaughtered in the invasion by Voldemort remained with Babajide, who was their leader, who was sided with Albus. They were sometimes deployed to save people at certain protests which Baba and Albus were aware of, but their numbers were few, and their knowledge of protests incomplete, so they could not be relied upon.

Voldemort himself had not been seen. Some treated this as a cause for relief, but Albus, Baba, and the others found themselves worried by this.

This could only mean that the Dark Lord was busy planning another scheme, and frankly they did not have the time to deal with anything more than they were already.

Black Manor had been transformed into a home for refugees escaping the government, but there were only so many people who could be held, even with the enchanted tents made to have a dozen bedrooms inside of them.

As Black Manor became the hub for refugees, the organisation of 'The Resistance', as Dumbledore and his ilk had come to be known as, moved over to Hogwarts. The Resistance held its meetings in the Room of Requirement, and sometimes members of The Resistance who were in need of a place to stay stayed in the Room of Requirement as well.

Much as Dumbledore loathed the fact that it could possibly endanger his students, Hogwarts had become the bastion of the resistance.

They were at a stalemate, and it was clear that something would soon happen to break it.

*** End of Chapter