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Godspeed
Godspeed - Chapter 1: Godspeed by Sovran
Fri, 10/09/2009 - 20:29August 11, 2028
“Please go in, Mr. and Mrs. Potter. The Minister is waiting.”
Oh?
“Thank you, Miss Brocklehurst.”
Alex pulled open the heavy wooden doors and entered the office of the Minister for Magic. The room had changed over the decades, but it still carried an air of authority and a hint of mystery.
“Mr. and Mrs. Potter,” the Minister said, rising from her expansive mahogany desk to shake their hand. “Thank you very much for coming on such short notice.”
Her, too?
Something’s definitely afoot.
“Our pleasure, Minister Weasley. We are always at your disposal.”
The Minister smiled a bit stiffly and waved them towards the chairs facing her desk. “Please, sit down. Tea?”
She looks a bit shaky.
But why?
“No, thank you, Minister. We’ve just come from lunch.”
“Ah, yes, of course.”
Look at her face. Ten galleons says she hasn’t even thought about lunch yet.
The minister settled back into her chair and leaned forward to rest her clasped hands on her desk. “The Ministry would like to ask a favour of you, Mr. and Mrs. Potter.”
What in Merlin’s name is going on here?
Alex nodded graciously. “We’re happy to help in any way that we can, as always.”
“This favour is . . . a bit peculiar, perhaps.” She paused and idly rearranged a quill. “Not far away, there is an elderly woman who is very near her death. She would like to see a bit of magic before she passes.”
Puzzled, Alex waited for the minister to elaborate. When she did not, Alex said, “To see magic? She’s non-magical, then?”
“Yes, she is.” The minister seemed to want to say more, but instead she stared into her fireplace in silence.
“We apologise, Minister Weasley, but we don’t quite understand what you’d like us to do.”
At last, she looked up and met their eyes. “I would like you to show this woman absolutely anything she wishes to see, provided you do not violate Wizarding law.”
Whatever this is . . .
It’s big.
“I see,” they said. “May we ask who this woman is?”
The Minister for Magic took a deep breath. “She is the Duke of Normandy, Mr. and Mrs. Potter.”
Alex swallowed as their muscles tightened involuntarily. “Oh,” they said. “She is . . . dying?”
“She is. Quite soon, I’m told.”
They closed their eyes for a moment and tried not to think about what was going to happen. “That is a terrible tragedy, Minister.”
She nodded.
“Of course we’ll do it. But why did you ask us? You could certainly have done it yourself.”
“You can show her things that no-one else can, Mr. and Mrs. Potter. Beautiful, wondrous, joyful things. And I believe she will recognise you.”
“We’re honoured, Minister Weasley.”
She nodded. “There is a car waiting outside the public entrance to take you to her current location. When you arrive, tell the man in uniform that owls hunt by night. You will then be tested to verify your identity; please cooperate fully. And when you see her, please convey our deepest appreciation.”
“We will, Minister.”
“Thank you, Mr. and Mrs. Potter. You do us all a great service.” She rose, pulled a folded piece of paper from her pocket, and dropped it into the fire. Then she looked up and met their eyes squarely. “This never happened. None of it. You understand?”
“Of course.”
They moved to the door, and just before they reached it they heard the minister speak again in a strained whisper.
“Godspeed, Alex.”
(1 vote)
Comments
So, off to see the Queen,
So, off to see the Queen, eh? :-)
Indeed
And hopefully without offending the Commonwealth in the process.
Out of curiosity, am I correct that her title is Duke of Normandy, rather than Duchess? I found that tidbit of information but did not have time to verify it with a trustworthy source.
Duke of Normandy
I'm assuming this is in the past and the referenced Duke of Normandy is Queen Victoria. But the Minister is a female Weasley... Ginny is "the first Weasley girl in several generations," that period could cover fewer than 80 years. Hmm... Interesting snippet!
Erm...
I'm assuming this is in the past and the referenced Duke of Normandy is Queen Victoria. But the Minister is a female Weasley... Ginny is "the first Weasley girl in several generations," that period could cover fewer than 80 years. Hmm... Interesting snippet!
Why would you think that?
Chatmandu wrote: Ginny is
Ginny is "the first Weasley girl in several generations," that period could cover fewer than 80 years.
Who says it has to be a Weasley born into the family? It could be a Hermione that married Ron for all we know.
A fish without a bicycle cannot contemplate his navel.
Interesting
I was wondering about the Duke/Duchess thing. I always thought they were same title, just male and female respectively.
I'm assuming this is in the past and the referenced Duke of Normandy is Queen Victoria. But the Minister is a female Weasley... Ginny is "the first Weasley girl in several generations," that period could cover fewer than 80 years.
Two things. First, Sovran did give the following summary: A brief moment from the distant future of the Meaning of One universe. Clearly not the past. Second, the Minister's parting line, “Godspeed, Alex.” The only person to call them Alex, at least up to the current point in MoO, is Luna Lovegood, as it was her that chose that name for them.
This leads to two questions. Did anyone else ever start calling them that as well? I could see Hermione doing so. If she married Ron, and then became Minister of Magic, then she would be Minister Weasley. If, however, Luna was the only one to EVER call them Alex, then that begs the following questions: One, since most people think Luna is as nutty as a fruitcake, what sad state must the country have been in for the people to willingly place her in charge? Don't get me wrong, I love Luna. Most people think she's a bit dotty, however.
The second question is: Which Weasley did Luna marry? At the current point in 'Chambers and Secrets', Luna seems (or at least she did during the summer) to have a bit of a crush on Ron. Did Ron marry her instead of Hermione?
One more question. Why exactly might this Duke recognize them? Many of these questions may be answered in the rest of the MoO stories, but I am curious to know any answers that won't ruin vital plot elements.
For what, essentially, amounts to a drabble, this one sure made me think a lot. That's always a good thing.
Am I the only one…
…who spotted the timestamp?
I thought it made it quite obvious.
ETA: and isn't that also quite a significant dateGinny's birthday?
And I thought it also quite obvious that the Minister is supposed to be Hermione, and that "Alex" was surprised that she and "Miss Brocklehurst" (presumably Mandy?) were calling them "Mr and Mrs Potter", which suggests that the collective name was fairly well-known by then.
For me, this is a fascinating insight into the possible (probable) future of the MoO universe, and I look forward to hearing more nearly as much as an update on the mainstream story itself.
/me peers over the top of his glasses at Sovran in a meaningful fashion and jiggles his pop-corn menacinglybut not very ;-)
it will be interesting to
it will be interesting to see which Mrs. Weasley is Minister. There are a lot more choices in this AU universe. It could be Charley's wife who has always called them Alex, or Luna Weasly(husband to be named at a later date) or daphne greengrass weasley(married to fred) or even pansy weasley....
I personally think its Hermoine but really don't know--there aren't enough clues for us to know. What's most interesting however is how this has blown the cliffhanger in the pending Alex story out of the water--this means somehow Harry and Ginny survive the Basilisk and Voldemort and Molly's disapproval to reach 2028 alive and seemingly well. All suspense has been eliminated now so I think I will stop reading.
That was tongue solidly in cheek, of course. I'm really not surprised that Harry and Ginny survived Molly. .
Yes....
..... she is the Duke.
Erm... redux
Why would you think that?
Hmm... perhaps because I: (1) didn't read the story summary and, (2) ignored the time stamp and began reading at the first line of the narrative.
If you need to find me over the next few hours I'll be in the Cave of Embarrassment beating my forehead against the back wall.
A bit more info
I'll add just a tiny bit more information.
First, the month and day in the timestamp are not significant. Actually it's quite embarrassing. . . I was trying to come up with a date that was specifically [i]not[/i] interesting, and August 11 popped into my head. I couldn't immediately think of anything important about that date in the HP universe, so I went with it. Sad, isn't it? Let's all pretend it was August 14th or something else nondescript.
Second, at no point does the story specify how many bodies Alex brought into the office. Two personalities, clearly, and two names (Mr. & Mrs. Potter). But no evidence about their bodies.
As to the identity of the Minister, I'll keep that one to myself for now, but I'm glad that everyone is thinking broadly about it. If you think about the year in which the story occurs, you might find that there are even more options.
Anyway, I'm glad you all liked this little story. I can't quite explain why, but it really wanted to be written, even though I've worked very hard not to write and/or post any of the many future scenes I've conceived. I think that what got me started was wanting to answer the question of whether or not the Queen knows about magical society. Which ties right back into someone's question about her recognising Alex.