Chapter- 58 : Resurgence Part - 7

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Harry looked at her in confusion. "Why do you care? So far you haven't exactly done anything with the information I gave you already."

She arched an eyebrow. "Have you read anything in the papers about any attacks?"

"Of course I have," he said angrily. "Two bridges in London blew up killing a hundred-"

"Except that one," she interrupted.

"I..." He opened his mouth but closed it again when he couldn't remember any. "No," he said confused. He was sure there should have been a couple by now.

"That would be because we stopped all four of them but are keeping it quiet to sow confusion," she said haughtily, but with a hint of satisfaction. "They don't yet know we were expecting them to attack. Right now they're thinking the Aurors have very good response time after we're alerted. As soon as the Minister finds out though, the law forces me to disclose that we knew, though not how. What happens after that is anyone's guess."

"You stopped attacks?" Harry asked, reeling. "But why not the big one with the bridges?" He scowled. "Was it because the victims were Muggles?"

"Do you even remember the casualty figures you 'predicted'?" she hissed icily.

"Of course, about three hundred and fifty..." He trailed off and his eyes widened.

"Two hundred and fifty people lived," he whispered reverently.

"And none of those that died were children," she added before sighing. "I personally cast weak aversion wards at all four entrances, repelling all but a third of the people crossing and completely preventing children or anyone with them from setting a single foot on those bridges."

"I... That's...," he sputtered before taking a deep breath. "Why not stop it completely?"

Her eyelid twitched and inwardly Harry screamed at himself that he should stop pissing off this woman.

"You gave us less than twenty four hours notice of a big attack in a public Muggle area we couldn't evacuate completely because the mad bastards would just have blown up something else. Defending that entire area would take more Aurors than we have and most of those are skittish at the idea of fighting Voldemort in the first place and doubly so because they know they cannot even kill him. Without details beyond 'they blow up the bridge' we had no idea what to expect and too little time to prepare.

"I was there," she said in disgust. "Dozens of Death Eaters appeared in the air obscured by clouds of smoke, blew the supports to smithereens and disappeared within ten seconds. There was nothing we could have done. We just didn't have enough time."

Eyes blazing she turned to him. "We need to know more and we need it as soon as possible. Is there anything more you can tell me? Anything at all?"

Regretfully Harry shook his head. "I'm working on it. All I have to go on are my memories of reading the paper and they simply aren't clear enough. Augeomency should help and I'm working on that for many reasons, but until then I have nothing."

She clenched her jaw, biting back her disappointment and nodded stoically. "Do what you can. I've never even heard of Augeomency but I assume it's a derivative of Occlumency?"

Harry nodded. "It's one of the Mind Arts."

"Then you study until your brain is bruised and your nose is bleeding. Work hard, because it may well save lives."

Harry narrowed his eyes. "I was worried you weren't doing anything with the information I gave you," he confessed before squaring his shoulders and looking her straight in the eyes. "Now that I know you're not, as soon as I have something, so will you."

They parted ways and Harry returned to the waiting area where he quietly joined the back of the queue again, having quite a lot to think about.

He'd badly misjudged the woman. Just because she was incapable of helping him with one problem didn't mean she wasn't doing anything about the rest. It felt good to know that even if he flat out refused to help the Order he wasn't letting innocent people suffer in his place. Two hundred and fifty people would go on to live their lives. Lives which would have been cut short if not for his actions.

Plus, there had been more attacks later on which had been quietly thwarted. Had they captured any Death Eaters? He forgot to ask.

"Sir?" A female voice jarred him back to the present where a short woman was holding the door open for him. The queue in front of him had miraculously disappeared. "We're ready for you."

The test was simple as Harry obediently followed his instructor's commands, Apparating from one hoop to another before finally making a long-distance jump, appearing next to the frumpy little witch without a problem. Finally, at her invitation, he grabbed her by the arm and Side-Alonged her back to the Ministry, where she told him he passed and directed him to a line of busy secretaries to fill out the paperwork.

"One Apparition Exam and one Apparition Licence with gold star for Side-Along," a blonde female secretary listed off in a bored tone of voice. "Identification please."

"Er, I don't have any papers with me," Harry said awkwardly. It was only now that he realised he had been dragged here by Amanda who had ditched him a while ago without telling him what her plan had been.

"I'm sorry, sir. I am not allowed to award you a licence without proper identification," she rattled off mechanically. "If you go and retrieve it right now it will be waiting for you when you return. Please don't Apparate, however, because I will be forced to add a fine to the fee."

Frustratedly Harry tried to remember what Amanda had rattled off. "Isn't there some regulation about, um, independent pairs for identifying, or something?" he clumsily tried to parrot her. He was fairly certain he got it wrong.

The secretary's bored look was finally replaced by a flat one as she stared at him, utterly unimpressed.

"Blast it," he said finally, fishing in his pocket for his wand and Gringotts key which he dropped on the desk. "I was told just bringing these would be enough."

She pursed her lips and eyed him up and down as if weighing his worth. "You're going to insist, aren't you?"

"Yes," Harry said full of conviction, adding a firm nod for emphasis even if he didn't know exactly what he would be insisting on.

The woman let out a long aggravated breath. "A wand and Gringotts key can indeed substitute for lack of proper identification, providing it is, in fact, your wand and the key and vault are officially and properly registered in your name." She arched an eyebrow at him.

"Of course," he lied through his teeth.

She pursed her lips and for a second Harry thought she would call him out on his bluff before she handed him a stack of parchment.

"Fill that out, hand it in, get your licence," she said, resuming her bored tone and waving him off. "If you ask more annoying questions I'm going to double the fee."

An hour later Harry walked into Gringotts and waited for a teller to free up.

"Hello," he greeted the surly goblin, placing his key on the counter. "I would like to officially register my vault in in my name." He smiled self-deprecatingly and placed his newly minted Apparition Licence next to his key. "I brought proper identification this time."

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If you're eager to delve deeper into the story, consider joining my Patreon for exclusive content and early access to new chapters

50+Advanced Chapters there.

(P).(A).(T).(R).(E).(O).(N)

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