Hindsight

A New Year

Harry and Hermione eagerly awaited Sirius's return Wednesday evening. The Wizengamot special session for the selection of the new Minister had begun at five. By the grandfather clock on the wall, it was already seven.

'Calm down, Harry,' Hermione said soothingly as she lay in bed in Harry's arms. 'You know it'll be fine. Kingsley has the full support of more than half the Wizengamot.'

Harry did not answer but leaned in to kiss her. Consciously, he knew that there next to no chance of Nott's victory, but that did not help his nerves, especially as the post-coital euphoria began to fade. Things had been going almost too perfectly recently. He could not help but feel that the time was ripe for something not going his way.

It was almost half-past-eight when Harry heard the Floo activate in the basement kitchen. He and Hermione hastily got out of bed and threw on some clothes before dashing downstairs, hopefully to see Sirius.

'How did it go?' Hermione demanded before they had even entered the kitchen.

'Just as we expected it to go,' Sirius replied with a broad grin.

'So…Kingsley's Minister?' Harry asked.

Sirius nodded. 'It wasn't even close. The Dark faction's candidate was about as repugnant of a blood bigot as they come – almost as big as he is an idiot. He gave thinly veiled threats against muggle-borns, half-bloods, and "blood-traitors" for nearly half an hour. The Neutrals had no candidate and threw their weight behind Kingsley. As I said, wasn't even close.'

'Anything else?' Hermione demanded to know.

'Kingsley was setting up as I left,' Sirius replied, 'First thing he did as Minister was to acknowledge Riddle's return. An owl should be off to the Prophet as we speak.'

'That's great!'

Sirius grimaced. 'It was necessary, but I don't know how "great" it is,' he said grimly. 'Kingsley just forced Riddle out into the open. The violence will only get worse. He's rushing to secure Azkaban. I don't doubt Riddle will make a move soon to get his followers out.'

'Then we'll have to end it as quickly as we can,' Harry said firmly. 'We have a plan. We can get it going now that we have someone useful in the top job.'

Sirius nodded and moved to sit down at the kitchen table. He grabbed a sheet of parchment and a quill. 'How?'

'Well, we have a plan, don't we?'

'And each plan needs a beginning.'

Harry sighed. 'Well…the Horcruxes are out of the way...so we can move against Riddle himself.'

'And you wanted to lure him to the Ministry, just like how you described in the "old timeline".'

Hermione nodded. 'That's the idea, I think.'

'Then you'll need to start putting out information,' Sirius said. 'Slowly. First, we need a valid excuse for knowing about the Prophecy.'

'Pardon?' Harry asked, puzzled.

Sirius rolled his eyes. 'You can't just owl the Daily Prophet and have them print an article on you going to the Department of Mysteries for the Prophecies without any setup! That reeks of a trap!'

Harry nodded in understanding. 'So…you're saying we need to build up information…'

'Exactly. Which brings me back to my first point. We need an excuse about how you know that the Prophecy is stored at the Department of Mysteries.'

They brainstormed ideas for ten or so minutes before Hermione sat bolt upright.

'Yes?' Harry asked with a chuckle, knowing that she had come up with something.