Chapter 161: Followers

"How many places exactly we're talking about?" Chris asked.

"France, Brazil, America, Romania, Russia... start counting." Leyla said. "He was all over the world. Now it's really difficult to retrace his tracks."

"So you're trying to stop him getting more followers?"

"We're doing our best," said Lupin. 

"How?" Harry asked.

"Well, the main thing is to try and convince as many people as possible that You-Know-Who really has returned, to put them on their guard," said Bill. "It's proving tricky, though."

"Because of the Ministry's attitude," said Tonks. "You saw Cornelius Fudge after You-Know-Who came back. Well, he hasn't shifted his position at all. He's absolutely refusing to believe it's happened."

"But why?" said Harry desperately. "Why's he being so stupid? If Dumbledore —"

"Ah, well, you've put your finger on the problem," said Mr. Weasley with a wry smile. "Dumbledore."

"Fudge is frightened of him, you see," said Tonks sadly.

"Thought so. What's he thinking by the way? That Dumbledore wants to throw him from his position?" Chris said.

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"Exactly." Bill said. "Fudge thinks Dumbledore wants to be Minister of Magic."

"Rubbish." Harry said.

"Of course it is," said Mr. Weasley. "Dumbledore never wanted the Minister's job, even though a lot of people wanted him to take it when Millicent Bagnold retired. Fudge came to power instead, but he's never quite forgotten how much popular support Dumbledore had, even though Dumbledore never applied for the job."

"Deep down, Fudge knows Dumbledore's much cleverer than he is, a much more powerful wizard, and in the early days of his Ministry he was forever asking Dumbledore for help and advice," said Lupin. "But it seems that he's become fond of power now, and much more confident. He loves being Minister of Magic, and he's managed to convince himself that he's the clever one and Dumbledore's simply stirring up trouble for the sake of it."

"So he thinks we're all making it all up?" Harry said angrily. "We're lying? Dumbledore is lying?"

"Yep." Chris sighed. "I guess that's what he thinks. Idiot."

"You see the problem," said Lupin. "While the Ministry insists there is nothing to fear from Voldemort, it's hard to convince people he's back, especially as they really don't want to believe it in the first place, let alone the fact there's someone stronger is with him now. What's more, the Ministry's leaning heavily on the Daily Prophet not to report any of what they're calling Dumbledore's rumor-mongering, so most of the Wizarding community are completely unaware anything's happened, and that makes them easy targets for the Death Eaters if they're using the Imperius Curse."

"But we can't openly oppose Ministry, you see." Tonks said. 

"What about the other Ministries?" Chris asked. "I mean if Malgino is calling his followers from all over the world then the other Ministers must have noticed this."

"He is." Aurelia said to Chris, smiling a little. "But they're well-practiced at operating in secrecy. The other Ministers had suspicions but they quickly cleared that up in many ways. Everyone thinks everything is going normal and smoothly, no need to worry and that's why IWSP needed to step in."

"IWSP?"

"It's a secretive community of some wizards and witches, who help to protect the Wizarding World from this kind of dangers. You know, dangers like Malgino, who will involve the entire wizarding world for his plan of world domination." Aurelia said. "I work in IWSP."

"So is this IWSP, works for any particular Ministry or country?" Hermione asked.

"No. We work separately. Maybe we help few Ministries, sometimes, when things go out of their hands, but otherwise no, we don't take orders from them." Aurelia said. "When we observed bunch of people from all over the world are disappearing, we went down to investigate. IWSP authorities don't like the power hungry Ministers like Fudge, so when it was Fudge's words against Dumbledore's, our decision was clear. I was sent by the IWSP with some other wizards to meet Dumbledore. We talked, Dumbledore explained the situation to us, and that's it. Now IWSP is working all over the world against Malgino, and gladly, I'm staying with the Order of the Phoenix."

"But you're telling people, aren't you?" said Harry."You're letting people know about these things?"

"Well... I'm not a very popular dinner guest with most of the community," said Lupin. "It's an occupational hazard of being a werewolf."

"Tonks and Arthur would lose their jobs at the Ministry if they started shooting their mouths off," said Sirius, "and it's very important for us to have spies inside the Ministry, because you know Malgino already had. And I was in Azkaban for twelve years, so how many days do you think they'll take, to prove me a madman affected by Dementors?" 

"Aurelia can't speak because of the secrecy of her job." Lupin said. "And Leyla is not from here."

"We've managed to convince a couple of people, though," said Mr. Weasley. "Tonks here, for one — she's too young to have been in the Order of the Phoenix last time, and having Aurors on our side is a huge advantage.."

"But if none of you's putting the news out that Voldemort's back —" Harry began.

"Who said none of us was putting the news out?" said Sirius. "Why d'you think Dumbledore's in such trouble?"

"What d'you mean?" Harry asked.

"So, wait, did they really kicked Dumbledore out from the International Confederation of Wizards? It was on Daily Prophet last week." Chris added, noticing Harry's confused gaze.

"Yes. They're trying to discredit him," said Lupin. "They reported that he'd been voted out of the Chairmanship of the International Confederation of Wizards because he's getting old and losing his grip, but it's not true, he was voted out by Ministry wizards after he made a speech announcing Voldemort's return. They've demoted him from Chief Warlock on the Wizengamot — that's the Wizard High Court — and they're talking about taking away his Order of Merlin, First Class, too."

"But Dumbledore says he doesn't care what they do as long as they don't take him off the Chocolate Frog cards," said Bill, grinning.

"Well, that's a relief." Chris grinned too.

"It's no laughing matter," said Mr. Weasley shortly. "If he carries on defying the Ministry like this, he could end up in Azkaban and the last thing we want is Dumbledore locked up."

"What's Voldemort is after apart from followers?" Harry asked swiftly.

Sirius and Lupin exchanged the most fleeting of looks before Sirius said, "Stuff he can only get by stealth."

When Harry continued to look puzzled, Sirius said, "Like a weapon. Something he didn't have last time."

Weapon?

Chris remembered Dumbledore telling her....

"The weapon he has been seeking so assiduously since his return: the knowledge of how to destroy Harry. The Prophecy."

"Can be the Dementors, isn't it?" Harry said glancing at Chris. "Looked like they are out of control, nowdays."

Instantly Chris's head snapped towards Harry. Hermione gasped, Ginny angrily looked at Harry, and Ron looked scared for Harry.

"What're you trying to say, Potter?" Chris said sharply.

"You know exactly what I'm trying to say." Harry replied without looking at her. "I was attacked by the Dementors, again, wasn't I?"

"I know you was," Chris snapped. "But if you're trying to blame..."

Chris got up from her chair before anyone else could react.

"Good night everyone." Chris said and walked out of the kitchen, leaving a surprised crowd behind.