"Yes, sir," Tonks intoned, voice completely flat. It was taking everything she had to keep her hair unresponsive. The logical inconsistencies and deductions that Harry and his group had come up with were crunched in her fist, completely ignored by her boss. "I understand, Sir."
"I don't think you do Auror Tonks," Scrimgeour said leaning back in his chair with her fingers steepled in front of him. "You have been with us what? A year?"
"Year and a half, Sir," Tonks ground out.
"Yes, a year and a half." He waved a hand dismissively. "And did you check with Auror Dawlish before bringing this to me?"
"This seemed rather important, Sir. Something to be brought up immediately."
"Yes. And yet you haven't followed procedure at all. You are supposed to be working to find Sirius Black not dredge up old filing errors."
"Sir, the magic involved with Wizengamot proceedings and the Hall of Records prevents filing errors like that. If they don't have – "
"Auror Tonks," Scrimgeour said cutting her off, "I assure you, a filing error is the only explanation. The Ministry of Magic is not in the habit of sending prominent members of the pureblood elite to Azkaban without a trial. The implications of something like that could bring ruin upon this administration and our way of life. It is simply not possible that such an event would have taken place."
"But, Sir – "
"Allow me to be perfectly clear, Auror." Scrimgeour scowled. "Drop this. Trying to find loopholes for your cousin is foolish and idiotic. If you want to drag your reputation down even further by all means go ahead. It gives me a legitimate excuse to drop you when more complaints against you are brought to me. But if you wish to maintain your position here I suggest you stop acting on your own initiative and fall in line." He sighed and shook his head. "Why do you have so many issues with this, Auror? Following orders is not that difficult. Look at Auror Shacklebolt! He voices his dissent once and then immediately does as told when shot down. You should learn from his example."
"Sir, this is – " Tonks' control slipped and her hair flashed a brief red as Scrimgeour again cut her off. It had been a mistake to come to her boss first. She should've listened to her gut.
"You are dismissed, Auror." Scrimgeour waved a hand towards the door. "I don't want to hear about this error again. I have far more important things to occupy my time. Like catching and killing a murderous madman."
Tonks walked out of the Head Auror's office and stormed past the desks of her colleagues. "Hey, Nymphie, your idea get shot down again?" Savage called with a grin. "What was it this time? Hanging around the pub looking like the latest heister in order to catch his buddies when they showed? Or maybe you wanted to implement those polyjuice screening attempts again?" The rest of them laughed as Tonks scowled and kept walking. As she stormed out of the main room towards she hesitated, leaning against the wall and taking a deep breath.
Going directly to Director Bones now would likely end her career if it got back to Scrimgeour. On the other hand...a group of teenagers were doing more to see actual justice done than any of the law enforcement personnel. Pushing off from the wall and heading towards the DMLE Head's office she couldn't help but think about what Harry had said months ago: maybe she should reconsider this job. She snorted derisively. Since when had she started to value the opinion of a 13 year old over that of her superiors?
Christmas time found Harry and most of his friends staying over at Hogwarts. While he actually had a home to return to now, Shiva was staying over the holidays to help some of her seventh years work on their senior projects, so he remained as well. Hermione's parents had left for a dentistry conference and Daphne…well he wasn't sure why Daphne was staying actually. Luna, Neville and Tracey had all returned home however. He was expecting a visit from Tonks before school started back up with word about the trial records. Why she wanted to deliver it in person he had no idea but he was willing to wait a few days.
Especially since his latest efforts with the Silver Spirit – his rune cluster answer for the Patronus charm – were not working at all.
Growling in frustration, Harry tossed his latest sketch of the cluster into the rubbish bin. "I don't understand why this doesn't work! The theory is perfectly sound and the interweaves are fine. It just doesn't make sense!"
"Harry," Hermione said gently, "maybe you're focusing on that too hard."
"I need this to work, Hermione," Harry said scowling. "And it should work!"
"Harry," Hermione sighed. "You could just learn the spell instead."
"A spell is inefficient." He waved her off. "A rune stone is better. It doesn't take concentration to activate, it doesn't matter if I start losing the happy memory with the Dementors nearby, it's more powerful, it's versatile…the rune stone is just better! Look at my utility belt!" Harry held up his latest accessory shaking it at her. "I have a Reductor, a Concussor, a Blastor, a Spiker, a Freezer, a Lockpick, a Boomstone, a Fishing Line, a Ninja, a Slow Burn, a spare Comm Stone, two Feedback Blastors. I'm walking around with a small armory now and I can only do half the spells these are based on well. Fixing the Silver Spirit is far better than trying to do the Patronus correctly. All I get with that is a half formed mist. This will work a hundred times better! And I can market it to people who can't do the Patronus themselves. It's safer all around, Hermione!"
Hermione's expression darkened and she stood walking over to stand in front of Harry with her arms crossed. "I can understand you wanting to make rune stones like that, Harry, but you are being lazy and irresponsible. They should be there to assist you after you manage to master the spell by itself not used as a shortcut or a crutch."
"If I can do it this way first why shouldn't I? I can do this stuff well. I can understand this stuff better than anything else. Why shouldn't I play to my strengths?" He scowled. Why couldn't she understand?
"Harry," Hermione's voice dipped dangerously low. "You will never pass your O.W.L.s or N.E.W.T.s if you cannot do the basic spells. Without those you will not be a qualified wizard. Even ignoring that simple fact, there may yet come a day when your…utility belt is taken from you. When you don't have your runes and you don't have the time or tools to make new ones. You need to focus more on the spells instead of discounting them and using your shortcuts!" Her face had gone red towards the end and her hands were balled into fists. Harry however, refused to back down.
"Shiva says my utility belt is a good idea! Now I'm always going to be prepared in case Voldemort comes after me again!"
"Shiva does not know everything, Harry! She is only a few years older than us!"
"Hermione, don't you dare imply – " Harry shouted surging to his feet.
"I am not implying she is an idiot, Harry!" Hermione cut him off. They were each full on yelling now and had attracted the attention of the remaining Gryffindors. "I am merely stating that she is not always correct. And you are taking things completely out of context! She said that your belt was a good idea when you brought up protection and preparedness!"
"Exactly!"
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