Chapter Text
It wasn’t a surprise, Amelia Bones thought, that Dolores Umbridge was pulled out of her job as Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher just a few months in. It really wasn’t much of a surprise to anyone in the Ministry actually, except to perhaps Fudge, who simply was shaking his head in pure astonishment, repeatedly muttering, “Unfortunate, terribly unfortunate.”
After several parents had bustled into her department, with crying children in tow, complaining about ‘Professor Umbridge’ permanently scarring the back of their children’s hands, the least the department could have done was investigate. And so they did – and what did they find? A hoard of Dark Magic items, primarily Blood Quills.
Dolores was fired, much to the delight of many Hogwarts students as Amelia heard from her niece, Susan. She was carted away to Azkaban for the use of Dark Magic, and Amelia had to admit that she took some pleasure in hearing Dolores shriek when she saw the Dementors coming for her.
However, the Ministry ran into another predicament.
They could not find a replacement.
After all, who would’ve wanted to be the replacement to a position that no teacher could keep for longer than a year? Especially considering the fact that in the past five years, the people hired had been a possessed man with possibly the Dark Lord sticking out the back of his head (Fudge denied all rumours), a werewolf (although Remus Lupin was a very charming person), and a Death Eater in disguise.
Parents were demanding someone who was reliable for the job and Cornelius’ lack of response as well as the fact that he had personally handpicked Dolores, did not reflect well on him. He could only use Harry Potter and Dumbledore as scapegoats for so long.
With the Ministry scrambling for a proper explanation as to why one of their highest ranking officials was responsible for practicing Dark Magic on Hogwarts students, they were desperate.
Maybe desperate enough to consult the List.
Of course, there had been no need to before, but with no one to step up to the job of professor… well no one trustworthy enough in the eyes of the Ministry…
( “No Albus, this is my last time telling you this, you cannot have Severus Snape as a Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor.”
“Amelia, please reconsider–”
“I am done reconsidering – he served You-Know-Who during the war! The parents aren’t going to be happy with that. I’ve heard numerous complaints from parents about him, and I run Magical Law Enforcement, not the Board of Education! Merlin, it’s a wonder that he even managed to be Potions Professor… now that I think of it, we never really cleared him for the job –”
“Nevermind that, thank you for dropping by Amelia. It’s been lovely to see you. Do you want a lemon drop on your way out?” )
Amelia sighed.
As for why the job landed her to pick a new Defense teacher, she didn’t truly know… well… she actually did.
It might've had something to do with Albus’ lack of the ability to choose a suitable teacher or Cornelius being too preoccupied with trying to find something new to blame Dumbledore and the Potter boy for.
She sighed once more. It always fell to her.
The List it was.
***
The Department of Mysteries, like its name suggested, had always been the most mysterious and relatively unknown department in the entirety of the Ministry. It was said that the secrets they contained had to be so well-kept that the workers who worked there, the Unspeakables, were unable to discuss any of their work with anyone, not even their close friends or family.
Amelia herself had only been to the department two times in the thirty-three years she had worked at the Ministry and even as Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, she only knew so much.
That was why she was currently standing to the side as she watched the Unspeakables bustle around her in a hurry.
The moment she had stepped into the circular room, she had waited for the wall to turn accordingly to match her up to the correct door. She then strode directly to the door, freshly labeled “Julius Nott, Head of the Department of Mysteries.”
Nott was an old man in his sixties and though his prejudice towards muggleborns was unfavorable, his influence in the Ministry was strong. He was one of the many Nott family members interwoven into the upper class of the Wizarding Community.
So Amelia had followed him when he had opened a passageway behind his desk, simply with the flick of his wand, and after a few minutes of walking, was led out into a rather large atrium, with swarms of Unspeakables buzzing around them.
Per his request, she stood to the side as he continued onwards to fetch what she had requested.
Amelia gazed at the workers, none of them recognizable to her. Their faces were all strangely distorted – she tried to make out any distinct features, but that only resulted in her head pounding. She shook her head and sighed, then simply waited for Nott to return. There was a good reason most of the Unspeakables identities were concealed.
She waited in eerie silence, as none of the Unspeakables bothered acknowledging her presence.
After a couple of minutes, the other department Head swiftly appeared with a box held in his hands. It was almost comical, the way it seemed to engulf the short man’s body.
Silently, they walked back to his office.
***
Nott was seated across from her as he propped the box up on his desk. It came in rather casual packaging, brown cardboard sealed by Muggle tape – it was unusually underwhelming. Such a prized and renowned object shouldn’t be stored in something so ordinary, but yet it was.
“The List,” he said, interrupting her thoughts. “Let’s see what it contains, shall we, Madam Bones?”
Without waiting for her response, he sliced open the box with a quick diffindo , and both witch and wizard peered inside. At the very bottom of the box, amidst all of the bubble wrap, lay a small scroll of parchment.
Nott cautiously picked up the parchment, as if it were about to rip in two at any moment. She supposed it could, based on how fragile and devastatingly ancient it looked. From the yellowing of the paper alone, she could estimate it to be at least over three hundred years old.
“You are aware of the List’s history, are you not Madam Bones?” said the elder across from her, as he inspected the paper.
She raised one eyebrow (an art she had spent years practicing and perfecting thanks to the absolute buffoonery of the Wizenmagot). “Of course.”
“Then you should know how valuable this is.” With a wave of his wand, he cleared the table to set down the piece of parchment and smoothen it out.
It couldn’t have been any bigger than the average scroll, yet Amelia stared at it in awe. Written in cursive, at the top was simply ‘THE CHOSEN,’ and underneath, were a list of twenty or so names.
Despite hearing the tale many times from when she was a young girl she couldn’t help but say it under her breath once more. “A group of wizards and witches for when the Wizarding World is in need. Rumoured to have been gifted –”
“ – by Hecate herself,” Nott continued with a gleam in his eyes. “It has been in the possession of the Department of Mysteries for centuries, ever since the Ministry was formed, we’ve worked endlessly to protect it. Of course, there have always been instances…”
She remembered said ‘instances’:
Augustus Rookwood, former Unspeakable and infamous Death Eater. Perhaps his theft of The List had been why he was one of the most highly guarded prisoners in all of Azkaban, but Amelia would not forget the day that he was arrested, laughing at the indignant faces of the witches and wizards that stood before him.
Rookwood and his theft of The List was the main reason that You-Know-Who was such a source of chaos.
The Minister had tried to keep it quiet at the time – Amelia remembered sending out Aurors to search those at the top of the suspect list – but word had eventually gotten out to Ministry-workers in other departments, and the whole story spread like wildfire. The more naive wizards cowered in fright, because what were they to do with no last resort, while the more reasonable ones pointed out the existence of Light Wizards and Dumbledore, constantly fighting against You-Know-Who’s forces.
In the end, it was the existence of The List that explained why You-Know-Who went after little Harry Potter. The public reasoned that Potter must’ve been at the very top of The List.
This was according to the public, of course. When the parchment was later recovered by a group of Aurors, little Harry Potter’s name was nowhere in sight. But, the public believed what they wanted to believe, so Minister Bagnold stuck with their story.
The Unspeakables were still shocked – they had never suspected it to be Rookwood, one of their own, till the very end.
“So,” Nott resumed, “you see why I am hesitant to allow you to use the List for such trivial matters? We do not know who The List might have chosen and what forces they might bring. If theft happens, the public will–”
“ – the public will be grateful. They need something stable right now.” Amelia said. “They need something better than Cornelius blaming anyone he can find. For Merlin’s sake, he’s resorted to accusing a fifteen-year-old of being crazy to bolster his popularity. The whole idea of picking something as simple as a Hogwarts teacher using The List, might sound absolutely ridiculous, and I agree. But look at where we’re at right now. Using The List might allow us to get something more out of this situation – some support for what might be approaching.”
Julius Nott scowled. “I do not like what you are implying Madam Bones.”
Amelia grimaced internally. The Notts were a Dark family that had favored You-Know-Who during the war, of course this Nott wouldn’t respond well to her reasoning. She switched tactics.
“Do you know my niece currently attends Hogwarts?” His beady dark eyes narrowed. She continued. “She’s actually in her fifth year, right alongside Harry Potter. I don’t know about you, Julius Nott, but I’ve heard that the heir to the Nott fortune… Theodore, was it? … is in the same year. The Potter boy and them probably even share some classes, now that I’m thinking about it…” she pretended to ponder about the statement, before shrugging it off.
From the side, she could see Nott’s face becoming a distinct shade of purple.
“The arrival of Harry Potter at Hogwarts has set off a chain of quite interesting Defense professors. First a possessed man, then a werewolf, and finally a disguised Death Eater. Merlin, I don’t know, but Hogwarts isn’t that quite safe, and it would be terrible for something to happen to Susan or Theodore. The List guarantees their safety, but without it why who knows – ”
***
Amelia Bones appeared in Albus’ office with a pop, startling the congregation of teachers that had gathered there at his summons. She dusted off the ashes from the Floo and benignly acknowledged the teachers clustered down on the lower level of the office.
(His office was really too big.)
“Ah, Amelia.” The Headmaster of Hogwarts appeared from seemingly nowhere. “I do take it that you bring good news?”
And as much as she did not like Albus Dumbledore, because those damn twinkling blue eyes had always set on her edge even when she was a student, she smiled.
“Well?” Severus Snape snapped. “What is it?”
“Your new Defense Against the Dark Arts Teacher,” she said primly (and oh, how she delights in seeing Snape’s face flooded with barely concealed annoyance), “will be …”
She procured a slip of parchment with only basic information: a name, an age, and an address. She held it in such a way that all could see – and in big bold printed letters, reads:
“... a Miss Annabeth Chase.”