“Like a password?” Harry asked, feeling confused about the whole process. The bracelets were beginning to sound far more complicated than he wanted to deal with, but it was ridiculous to carry several different coins.
“You will get used to it quickly,” Remus said.
“What would Scrimgeour use?” Harry asked.
“The item does not have to be exactly the same for this particular charm to work,” Remus said. “Unless Scrimgeour has other charms on his watch, it would work well enough.”
Harry grimaced. “So, I will have to be connected to Scrimgeour,” he said in disgust.
“It is probably a good idea,” Remus said mildly. “You never know when you might wish to have an easy way to contact him as well.”
Harry was forced to admit the truth of Remus’ words and nodded reluctantly. Severus had warned him just earlier in the day that things would likely be turning bad soon, as if things weren’t already dire enough in the Wizarding world.
“You go entertain the Minister,” Remus said, standing up. “I need to have a quick word with Severus before I put these charms into place. Perhaps one of the others may have other suggestions as well.”
Harry started to protest, but realized it probably was best if he stayed here with Scrimgeour. “Fine,” he grumbled, finally grabbing the sugar and adding it to the tray.
Remus slipped out the back door as Harry returned to the living room to serve tea, wondering how he’d gotten himself into the situation. Glancing around the room, though, he had the sudden urge to laugh. Arthur was the only one who looked at all comfortable, and everyone but Scrimgeour looked at least mildly bewildered.
Harry corrected that mental observation as he caught sight of the twins. They simply appeared amused by the whole situation. Ginny, Ron and Hermione seemed to be bewildered by Harry’s show of politeness to the Minister, as they knew how he felt about the man. Molly was surely confused as to why the man was in her house and why Harry had turned into the semi-formal host for the visit. Arthur seemed a little bewildered by the events, but was also the one most comfortable, considering he worked with the Minister on a regular basis. Bill and Charlie were sitting back and observing the odd gathering.
An awkward silence had fallen over the room as Harry entered. Inwardly rolling his eyes, Harry fell into his role again. “Remus had to step out for a few minutes,” he informed Scrimgeour. “I believe when he returns we can get back to business. How would you like your tea?”
Harry calmly and efficiently poured tea for everyone as he talked with the Minister, already knowing how almost everyone else preferred theirs. No one else seemed willing to draw attention to themselves, only moving to accept the cups of tea from Harry. No one knew exactly what was going on, but it was clear that Harry was firmly in control.
Harry asked about possible arrests, as if he didn’t already know exactly who was arrested. Scrimgeour followed along, answering the questions, and Arthur was drawn into the conversation – both men talking about the progress being made at the Ministry.
It felt like forever to Harry, but it couldn’t have been more than ten minutes before Remus returned. “If you would excuse me for a minute,” Harry said. He was smirking as he walked into the kitchen, thinking about how proud Narcissa would be of his show of manners.
“I gather it is going well in there, then?” Remus asked.
“I’ve just been proving I have a few of those manners things after all,” Harry said, still smirking.
Remus shook his head in exasperated amusement.
“So, what’d Severus have to say about this?” Harry asked.
“To be honest, he’s not pleased with it,” Remus said.
Harry grimaced. “I’m still not that happy with being connected to Scrimgeour, either.”
“He’s concerned about the fact that Scrimgeour was looking for you, but has agreed that being able to contact him quickly could be useful,” Remus said. “As he had no better solutions, I suggest we get this done and over with so Scrimgeour will leave.”
“Yeah, I didn’t want him here at all,” Harry said, scowling as he turned to go get Scrimgeour.
“Oh, Harry,” Remus called.
Harry looked over his shoulder. “What?”
“I informed Draco about your invitation to go out tonight,” Remus said.
Harry’s eyes widened and he turned fully to face Remus. “And what did he say?” he asked.
Remus looked at him in understanding. “He said to tell you to go, but as Lucius pointed out, it is not safe for you to drink. There would be far too much risk of you mentioning things that you shouldn’t,” he said.
“Yeah, I reckon that’s true,” Harry said, only mildly disappointed. He was more shocked that Draco didn’t mind. “Draco really said it was all right with him?”
Remus smiled. “Yes, he did, Harry,” he said. “I will be taking Victoria back with me and you are to go out and have fun for a little while. It is your birthday.”
“I wish Draco could come,” Harry said with a sigh. “I don’t know that that will ever happen, though.” He shook his head. “I reckon it doesn’t matter much anyway. Mainly I’m going just to try to keep Ron out of trouble.”
Remus chuckled. “I did notice things did not seem well between Ron and Hermione,” he admitted.
Harry rolled his eyes. “It’s a long story that I doubt you’d want to hear even if we had the time,” he said, turning again to go get Scrimgeour.
A short time later and Scrimgeour’s watch had an activation that would transfer as an alert message to Harry’s new bracelet. Harry was impressed, but he wasn’t about to say anything in front of Scrimgeour. Finally the man left and Harry and Remus joined the others in the living room.
“Well, that was fun,” Harry said sarcastically. “Sorry for forcing him on all of you tonight.”
“It’s quite all right, dear,” Molly said, standing to gather the dirty cups and tea things. “I don’t claim to understand what was going on between you, but I was quite impressed with your manners this evening.”
Harry sent a smug smirk in Remus’ direction. “I kind of impressed myself,” he said.
“What was that all about?” Bill asked curiously.
Harry was grateful when Remus answered. “Scrimgeour’s preference is to keep close tabs on Harry,” he said mildly. “However, Harry has not exactly been cooperating the way he would prefer. They reached a compromise of sorts this evening.”
“What kind of compromise?” Hermione asked.
“Show them, Harry,” Remus said.
Harry frowned, but did as Remus asked, pushing up the sleeve of his jumper and revealing his new bracelet.
“Bloody hell!” Ron exclaimed. “Where’d you get that from?”
Harry’s frown deepened. “From Remus,” he said shortly.
“It looks nice,” Hermione said. “But what does it have to do with Scrimgeour?”
“We are using the same principle that you used with the DA coins,” Remus explained. “But it is a two-way system.” He explained how Scrimgeour’s watch was connected and went on to state that he could connect others to Harry as well.
“Oh, this is brilliant!” Hermione said excitedly. “I want to know exactly how it works.”
“I think we should get going finally,” Bill interjected, eyeing Hermione’s enthusiasm with amusement and obviously not wanting to stick around. “This is one of my last few nights as a free man and spending it with Scrimgeour is not my idea of a good time.”
“Sorry,” Harry said.
Bill waved his hand dismissively. “Not your fault, Harry. And I could have left, but it was actually fairly entertaining,” he said with a grin. “It’s time to go out now, though.”
