Chapter 57
The spat between Snape and McGonagall gave Harry and Hermione, the opportunity they needed to implement the next phase of their plan. That Friday night, Hermione held an extended study session near the second floor girls' toilets. Just before the study session, Hermione used the fake diary to summon Ginny to the second level girls' toilets. When Ginny arrived, she was immediately stunned and hidden.
Meanwhile, Harry was meeting wih the Weasley twins. The purpose of the meeting was provide Harry and the twins with unchallengable albilis. At the meeting, Harry was not really focused on what was being said. If the twins told him to run naked through the Hogwarts hallways he would unknowingly agree. His focus was on the Marauders' Map waiting for an opportunity to snatch Draco without anyone noticing.
When the chance finally arrived, he quickly excuses himself saying that he needs the toilet urgently. Once he was sure that the Weasley twins were distracted by his future self, Harry rushed to to stun Malfoy before Draco had a chance to rejoin his friends. Following the plan that they had devised, Harry hides Draco near the second floor girls' toilet before moving Ginny to the passageway that leads into the Chamber of Secrets. Once Ginny was moved, Harry strategically places several large boulders which they determined would protect Ginny from the colllapsing ceiling. When he is satisfied with the placement of the rocks, he puts Ginny under a disillusionment charm which will be cancelled when the ceilling falls. He removes some hair from Ginny to use for Polyjuice, takes her wand and the fake diary before transfiguring his clothes to look like Ginny's.
After taking the Ginny polyjuice, Harry blindfolds the Basilisk before leading it to where he hid Malfoy making sure to avoid the classroom that Hermione was using for her study session. He strips Malfoy of his clothes and wand before allowing the Basilisk to eat Draco. Draco's clothes is used to stage a voilent crime scene by Harry. Once he is satisfied with the work which he knows does not need to be perfect as the Magical Aurors were know to be lazy and have a tendency to jump to conclusions (just look at how they treated Sirius). He leads the blindfolded Basilisk past Hermionee's study group.
"What was that?" One of the student's exclaimed while pointing at the door. Everyone turned towards the door to see something scaly blocking the door. Michael was first to stroke the basilisk as it passed but he was soon followed by also all the students. When the door cleared, Cedric and Hermione lead a small group of students out the classroom to try to see what was happening.
"It is a massive snake!" Cedric exclaimed.
"That must be the youngest Weasley. No other else has red hair like that or at that length!" Mandy stated. She had followed the group out because it was a massive opportunity for discovering gossip.
"I will get a Professor. Everyone stay here." Cedric suggested as he quickly left.
"We should follow it together so that it doe not disappear?" Another student suggested. "We don't something big roaming our school."
"I agree." Padma interjected. "It will help investigators if we determine where it going. If we stay together we can defeat anything."
"You just saying because you are scared the school will closed and you will have to be home schooled again." Mandy countered.
"It is better than sitting and waiting." Padma replied.
"Alright enough." Hermione yelled. "Put up your hands if you think we should follow it."
Most of the students raised their hands. Their faith in the Professors had been eroded by Hermione's observations.
"We will follow but I will take the lead as I am the best in defence. Anyone who does not want to go can remain here." Hermione announced.
They followed the snake to the second floor girls toilets. When they reached the entrance to the secret passageway, Hermione used her book bag to prevent it from closing. As soon as, Harry saw Hermione's study group, he fired several reductos above them to scare them off. When they ducked, Harry sneaked away into the actual Chamber of Secrets. This was the signal for Hermione to bring down the ceilling destroying any traps they had setup and blocking the path to the actual Chamber of Secrets.
When the dust settle, Ginny could be seen pinned under some rocks. Clearly knocked out.
"Is everyone alright?" Hermione asked.
"Yes." Everyone responded out of habit. Most of them were scared witless while most of the boys were focused on the fact they were in a girls' toilet.
"Is that the female Weasley down their?" Padma asked.
"I believe so. Can someone go and get Healer Chapman?" Hermione asked.
"I will go." Hannah offered as she did not want to be in such a confined space with the possibility of another ceilling collapse.
"I will inform the other Weasleys." Su Li offered.
Professor Sprout was first to arrive. She was quickly followed by Dumbledore, McGonagall, Snape. Flitwick and Healer Chapman.
"What happened here?" Professor Sprout asked as the others tried to rescue Ginny.
"We were holding our usual study session when something big passed our room. Not wanting to let something so big and dangerous get away, we decided to follow it as a group. Anyway, it lead us here where Ginny started firing spells at us. We return fire which caused the ceiling to fall." Hermione explained.
"Whose wand is that?" Padma asked as she pointed to Draco's wand that Harry must have deliberately dropped. Everyone checked to make sure they had their wands. Professor Sprout performed a spell to identify the owner.
"It is Mr Malfoy." Professor Sprout informed them.
"Why don't you check what spells he recently performed?" Hermione suggested while praying that he had not done anything illegal recently. Professor Sprout complied.
"Just the usual second year spells. Nothing unusual." Professor Sprout said to the relief of Hermione.
The other professors had finally been able to free Ginny from her rocky trap. As they were about to take her to the hospital wing, Harry and Ginny's brothers arrived.
"What happened?" Percy asked.
"We don't know yet." Professor Dumbledore replied honestly.
"What do you know?" George asked rudely. Hanging around Harry and all the aticles about Dumbledore had destroyed his respect for the professor.
"Ginny got trapped under some rocks in what looks like the Chamber of Secrets." Professor Dumbledore replied as he looked around with obvious fasination.
"Make way so that we can take her to the Hospital Wing, immediately!" Healer Chapman yelled. Instantly the crowd of students who had started to gather created a path for the Healer and his patient.
"Thank you." Healer Chapman said in a more even tone. He speed off with his patient quickly followed by the rest of the Weasleys. Dumbledore asked the same questions to Hermione's study group as Sprout and got the same responses.
"I want to have you all checked out by our healer in case you have some unknown injury." Dumbledore announced as he herded them to the Hospital Wing. The real reason for the examination was so that he could have access to Hermione. He was desperate to give her a potion or put her under some sort spell. Doing it under the guise of medical treatment could be his only chance to do so undetected.
Every time he tried previuosly had been stopped either by Harry or someone else (Dobby). Potions during meal times was too risky because if it was discovered, shit would hit the fan. It was another headache he needed as much as a hole in his head. Dumbledore started scanning students as he could not do Hermione immediately without raising suspicion. Since he was already scanning the students, Dumbledore decided to try to read their minds as well. He was shocked to discover, they all had mental shields.
Before he could work on Hermione, Lucius Malfoy arrived with a squad of Aurors.
"What are you doing here, Lucius?" Dumbledore asked pleasantly while in his head he was saying damn orver and over again.
"One of my house elves noticed a change on my family's tapestry. It indicates that my son, Draco has died. Since he is currently residing at your school, I immediately came here to investigate." Lucius informed Dumbledore.
"I can assure you that no one has died. A student got injured but she is being cared for right now." Dumbledore replied as sincerely as he could.
"Do you mind fletching my son to put Narcissa's mind at ease?" Lucius requested.
"That is fine. It is probably a problem with the tapestry" Dumbledore replied before ordering Snape to fetch Draco.
"Why did you bring these Aurors with you? Do you mind me asking?" Dumbledore asked suspiciously.
"If my worse fears are realised then I want an investigation to begin immediately before the culprits can escape." Lucius explained.
"I can assure you, your son is alright and your tapestry is just malfunctioning. You just wasted the aurors time for nothing. If you had such concerns, you should have approach me first." Dumbledore accused Lucius as he resumed scanning the students. He knew with Aurors and Mr Malfoy present, casting any sort of spell on Hermione would be plain stupid.
Snape came rushing back in.
"Draco is missing!" Snape exclaimed. Professor Sprout then remembered the wand from the Chamber of Secrets, she took out the wand. As soon as Lucius saw the wand, he exclaimed.
"That is Draco's wand Where did you find it?"
"I found his wand in the room with the cave in." Sprout said as she handed the wand to Dumbledore. He performed the same spells as Sprout to identify the owner and what the wand was used for.
"Which room did you discover the wand?" Lucius asked fearfully.
"It was a room connected to the second floor girls toilet. I personally never knew that the room existed." Sprout replied.
"Could the room be the Chamber of secrets?" Susan asked.
"A monster is suppose to live in their." Snape stated with fear.
"We saw the monster. It was following the Weasley girl." Susan supplied.
"I want an investigation to be started right now." Lucius demanded angrily.
"That will not be necessary. I am sure that my staff can take care of it." Dumbledore said reassuringly as he did not want outsiders to know of any problems at the school.
"I do not think so. You can not even keep track of my son. A member of a prominent wizarding family. I believe that professionals should be brought in. In fact, I will speak to the Minister right now." Lucius said before stalking away. Dumbledore soon followed him out trying to stop him from fulfilling his threat.
A short time later, the school was swarming with aurors. Everyone were interviewed at least three times. No one at Hogwarts got much sleep especially the people in the infirmary. Healer Chapman were more than willing to let the aurors interview all the patients under his care. He believed that if you give the authorities what they want then they would leave you alone. That way the patients can rest easier with nothing to interrupt them or give them anxiety. When they took Ginny away, Healer Chapman was still non-fussed. The reason that he gave Dumbledore when he asked was that it was one less patient to distract him.
As soon as Hermione was released from the infirmary, she headed to Harry's trunk. Harry was waiting for her impatiently.
"Did any of the rituals or spells to remove the Horcrux work?" Hermione asked.
"Nothing worked. They tried for hours. I had to stab the diary with a basilisk fang dagger to destroy it. Hopefully Emily will be able to find something because I don't want to step in front of a killing curse again." Harry replied.
"Where is the diary now?"
"They are still examining it to try to work out why none of it worked."
"Have you informed Sirius about what is going on?"
"I sent Dobby with a message to let Sirius know. I suspect that tomorrow headlines in the LAV will be interesting."
"Do you think the Daily Prophet will cover the story?"
"Knowing them it will probably take a week for the story to appear."
"But it involves the Malfoys which is one of the most prominent wizarding families."
"They will hold off publishing the story until they get the facts straight. Speaking of the Malfoys have you been able to feed them that special steroid you cooked up. The one that will cause violent rages before they die from a heart attack." Harry asked.
"That was taken care of ages ago. The Malfoy wards did not take into account, animigus. So I got one of our employees, who happens to be a dragonfly, to contaminate the Malfoys' food with the steroid." Hermione replied.
"Good. I will send Dobby to observe them for the next few days." Harry suggested.
"Dobby will jump at the chance to observe the demise of his hated masters." Hermione observed.
"Do you know whether they have arrested Ginny yet?" Harry asked.
"I don't know about arrested but they did take her away. From what I heard in the infirmary they found all your breadcrumbs and have reached the conclusion we wanted them to."
"So they believe that Ginny used a Basilisk to kill Draco?"
"Yes. The aurors were able to identify the presence of a Basilisk from the spittle left behind by the snake when it consumed Draco."
"Let us hope the rest of our plans go as smoothly."
Sirius was on his way to meet Alain Delacour when Dobby appeared with the message from Harry. After reading the message, he forwarded it along with a note to his editor. He continued to his destination with a spring in his step, happy that his exile from Britain was about to end.
Unknowst to Sirius, Fleur had deliberately timed her lesson today to coincide with his visit. When one of the house elves informed her that Sirius was at th door she shorten her skirt length until it bearly covered her bum and undid several buttons on her blouse to show off her developing breasts.
"Hello old hag." Sirius said in greeting as Fleur opened the door for him.
"Hello geriatric pervert." Fleur greeted in return while sucking on a lollipop and turning on her allure to full power.
"Scare any boys lately?" Sirius said in jest. As he reinforced his mental shields. This game he was playing with Fleur had improved his mental abilities to the point where Dumbledore would have trouble entering his mind.
"Not that I am aware of. Have you slept your way across America already and come here for new conquests?"Fleur asked as she started licking the lollipop.
"As if I would come here for my search. I am not desperate enough to lower my standards enough to admit people like you." Sirius replied to both the direct question and the implied one.
"So you admit sleeping your way across America."
"I did not say that." Sirus said before smiling and saying "It is good to see you Fleur."
"It is good to see you too, Sirius." As they hugged.
"It is Mr Black to you, young lady."
"Are we going to have the same argument again?" Fleur asked questioningly as Alain entered the room.
"Do I have to separate two again?" Alain asked.
"We were just joking around." Sirius said.
"See you later, Sirius." Fleur said as she left before he could counter.
"What is she doing away from school?" Sirius asked.
"Her school does not offer some of the subjects she is interested in like fencing and politics. So she has a private tutor come here to teach those sujects." Alain replied.
"So has Rita Skeeter helped you take down any more politcal rivals?" Sirius asked.
"No. But she has been helping me destroy a lot of their support base. How she told you about what we are doing?" Alain asked.
"No. I had no contact with Rita ever since they put a price on my head. She would be too tempted to cash in." Sirius replied.
"You are going to love how are taking them down. It is something inspired by you. Anyway, whenever my rivals organise prostitutes for high ranking officials they are trying to sweet talk or a thank you for their high value sponsors, we will intercept these sex workers and replace them with polyjuice hags. The polyjuice is one of the special ones your friends developed which was designed to be undetectable and wearable during figurous activity. You should hear some of the abusive correspondence that occur afterwards especially when the potion wears off in the middle of the act. They are bloody hilarious. It has created rifts between my rivals and their support network. I will send you copies of the memories and any letters I have intercepted." Alain explained as his smile grew.
"Do you pay the hags?" Sirius asked while trying not to laugh.
"We pay the hags and the prostitutes. But from what I have heard that is not really necessary as the hags would have fights amongst themselves about whose turn it is." Alain commented. Sirius immediately imagined selling tickets to see hags fight each other or other ways to use the hags. Unbeknowst to him, Doug and Grant had being doing so already.
"I still like our first project together."
"Yeah. That was a classic. How did you get his secretary to change his appointments so that Monsier Solomon was carrying illegally smuggled contraband when he visited his mistress?"
"That is a trade secret." Sirius said with a twinkle in his eye. "I like how you made him admit in court that she was his mistress and not his smuggler."
"Did you know I am still getting the finest cognac from his ex-wife every month?" Alain said smugly.
"I thought she would have stopped once the divorce was finalised." Sirus said.
"It was better before the divorce as she would send unbelievable gifts like that Revoir in the hallway."
"I like how you reported all those gifts. Then as your opponents were preparing to bury you due to the gifts she comes out swinging on your behalf. Causing havoc in the ranks of your enemies while keeping your hands clean." Sirius said with a smile.
"She also offered other gifts that I was forced to decline since I did not want to be killed by my wife." Alain whispered to Sirius.
"Do tell." Sirius said encouragingly.
"Not on your life." Alain said before breaking out in laughter. "You would fall for anything. I have a Veela wife. It is hard enough keeping up with her to even consider an exttramartial affair."
"You are so whipped." Sirius said good naturely.
"So have you found out who was preventing the uniting of the various magical communities before the Grangers arrived?" Alain asked in order to change the subject
" We have worked out who the current players are but we have no idea who the money men or how organise they are. The search has become easier after the various American magical governments united and started drafting a new treaty with the muggles."
"Did you identified any new players?" Alain asked with concern.
"Some but the main players are surprisingly well-known in the non-magical community and with well known links with the religious movement."
"Could the catholic church be involved?" Alain asked with outright fear. Another war with the church would be a disaster.
"We don't believe so. Our sources within the various churches suggest that would prefer ignoring us as we represent mistakes they made in the past. Does Spanish inquisition, Salem witch trials and the holy wars ring any bells? Anyway most of the money is coming not from Europe where the church is strong but from some where from Africa. We don't know where." Sirius explained.
"Do you need help tracking the money?" Alain offered.
"That would be great if you could. We are having trouble tracking the money when it goes through Europe." Sirius replied.
"I will get my people to contact you in a few days." Alain offered.
Breakfast at Hogwarts, the next morning was very unusual. The first thing was the absence of the Professors who were helping the Aurors search for clues and answering questions. Noise from people gossiping was at an all time high. Things quieten down when Pansy stood up with outrage and screamed.
"I am not a cradle snatcher!"
"Yes, you are. You know that your father and Lucius Malfoy created an ironclad marriage contract between yourself and the next Head of the Malfoy family. Since Draco died and the next heir has not been born yet. That would mean that you would be over a decade older than your new groom. Can you imagine the wedding? An 17 year old Pansy going to the altar with a pram. Instead of I do, the baby will either shake his rattle or throw it. That is assuming that you, her father and Mr Malfoy do not lose their magic for breaching the marriage contract. Especially if the rumours about Mr Malfoy's inability to get his tool in the upright position are true." Daphne teased as she wanted the attention focused away from her and her friend Tracey. The gossip within the female population of Hogwarts was hurting her future prospects.
"At least my husband is going to be wealthy and powerful. The decline of your family business combined with your well known lesbian tendencies would mean the best match your parents could organise is with people like Goyle and Crabbe ." Pansy replied vindictively.
"Well at least my husband will be interested me. You are going to be an old hag by the time your future husband is ready for kids. Anyway in all likelihood, he will not be interested in you since he will bat for the other team just like his father and brother." Daphne countered.
"What are you saying bitch?" Pansy asked.
"I am saying that everyone knows that Draco use to spend nights with Weasley and Longbottom."
"I am not gay!" Ron and Neville yelled out at the same time before looking at each other accusingly. Nott saw this as an opportunity show his leadership of the now headless Slytherins.
"You protest too much. As they say. Someone in denial will over compernsate." Nott said..
"We are not involved with each other." Weasley said angrily. Neville took at few steps towards Ron to back him up.
"Your boyfriend has come to support you." Nott teased.
"He is not my boyfriend. Besides we have not spoken to each other in weeks."
"Someone is counting the days. Weasley, you really must be missing your partner for you to use your single brain cell to count the days that you have been apart." Nott said insultingly. Neville held back Ron from trying to punch Nott.
"Longbottom has your grandma ban you from playing with your special friend because she is scared that the Longbottoms will not have an heir." Nott teased. Neville let Ron go who immediately launch himself at Nott. It soon became a free for all as the Slytherins and Griffindors used the opportunity to settle old disputes. The fight would have included the Hufflepuffs and the Ravenclaws if it was not for the fact that they had noticed the aurors approaching.
Stunners were being fired at a rapid pace by the arriving aurors in order to stop the fighting. After half the fighting students were stunned did the fight cease. Auror Dawlish took the opportunity to ask loudly.
"Can someone please tell me what happened?"
No one wanted to reply. Nott did not say anything as he knew the Weasleys were close allies of Dumbledore and his life at Hogwarts will be hell. Ron knew that if he dobbed in Nott then his first punch would come to light. Daphne and Pansy refused due to the sensitive subject matter of their argument.
"Could someone please answer me?" Auror Dawlish asked again while giving the students piercing looks. They were saved from answering as Dumbldore and the other Professors finally arrived.
"This is just children fighting at school which means that this is an entirely internal matter. We don't need the Ministry to deal with such a minor matter." Dumbledore said in his most authoritiative tone. Dawlish back down immediately as he did not want a confrontation. He lead his aurors out of the Great Hall as Healer Chapman started treating the injuried.
"Does someone want to tell me what happenerd?" Dumbledore asked after all the aurors had left. No one responded.
"Let us pretend it did not happen and chalk it to the lack of sleep." Dumbledore decided Snape and McGonagall looked happy with the decision. Since it was obvious that their houses were heavily involved in the fight. Any investigation will likely result in both houses losing a heap load of points.
OMAKE
On Friday, Harry met with the Weasley Twins to discuss business.
"Where is your better half?" George asked.
"She is holding another study session?" Harry replied.
"Why are you not attending?" Fred asked.
"We need a break from each other." Harry lied. The real reason was that he needed a good alibi for himself and the twins when the shit hit the fans.
"Had a lovers' spat?" Fred teased good naturedly.
"Did you have a fight with the Misses?" George asked as he winked at Harry.
"Do you need a place to hide?" Fred asked jokingly.
"We just needed a little space from each other. Every couple needs that on occasion. As they say. Distance makes the heart grow fonder." Harry said defensively.
"Are you in the doghouse for doing something wrong?" George suggested.
"Did you comment on her weight?" Fred added.
"Even we know to never to say anything about a girl's weight. We learnt it the hard way." George said with a shiver.
"No, nothing like that." Harry said defensively.
"I know. She is going through her monthlies." Fred exclaimed.
"That would explain the need for space." George said in agreement.
"Enough teasing." Harry said.
"We will only stop teasing if you do us a favour." George suggested with Fred nodding his head in agreement.
"What is the favour?" Harry asked suspiciously.
"We want some love potion." George replied seriously.
"No." Harry exclaimed. He and Hermione both hated love potions. It was the reason why love potions and ingredients used for love potions were not sold by twins. The twins were disappointed and decided to continue their teasing until Harry relented.
"Maybe you accidentally reached second base and she got mad." George said.
"No. Hermione is too uptight. It is more likely that Harry tried to slip his tongue into her mouth and she objected." Fred teased. Harry was getting mad by the insinuations.
"I think you are right brother of mine. Look how red he is getting." George said in support of Fred.
"Fine but tell me right now why you need love potions for. If are you trying to sell it to other people then I will force feed it into both of you during lunch at the Great Hall. So that we can watch you two get it on with on another." Harry said threateningly.
"It is for a prank we are planning. Hearing about how those two Slytherin girls pashing Professor McGonagall inspired us to do a similar prank. We are thinking of dosing all the cats in Hogwarts to fall in love with Professor McGonagall's animigus form. Can you imagine all those cats following Professor McGonagall around?" George explained. Harry thought for a minute before agreeing.
"Okay but you provide me with Professor McGonagall's hair to create the potion." Harry said. Fred immediately handed Harry a bag of fur balls.
"How did you get all that hair?" Harry asked.
"You really don't want to know." George assured Harry.
"Okay. I believe you. If you will excuse me I need to use the toilet?" Harry said as he spotted an opportunity to snatch Draco on the Marauder's map.
"We will be here." Fred assured Harry.
Chapter 58
Lucius and Narcissa Mafloy had spent an anxious couple of days waiting for news about their missing son. This was the first time, the lead investigator, Auror Dawlish was meeting with them personally. Their contacts within the Ministry were keeping them informed about the progress of the investigation.
"Thank you for taking the time to meet us, John." Lucius said in greeting.
"No problems, Mr Malfoy, I wish it was under better circumstances." Auror John Dawlish replied.
"So what progress have you made?" Narcissa asked impatiently.
"I am sorry to have to tell you but we believe your son has died." Dawlish replied in a somber tone.
"Have you found his body?" Narcissa asked quietly as she attempted to keep her composure.
"No. But all the evidence we have uncovered lead us to believe that he is dead." Dawlish replied
"So you are not positive my son is dead. I will not believe that my son is dead until you bring me his body!" Narcissa asked angrily.
"We have tried but we believe he was eaten by an giant snake which was buried by a cave in."
"SO GET SOME PEOPLE TO CLEAR THE CAVE IN AND RECOVER MY BABY'S BODY! IT IS NOT THAT HARD!" Narcissa screamed as her composure finally cracked. Lucius pulled his wife into a hug.
"The Minister will never authorise such a major operation. It is cost double our yearly budget due to the danger involved." Dawlish replied timidly.
"Don't worry about the cost. I will personally pay for it. In regards to the Minister, I am certain he will agree with me. Just start the process immediately." Lucius ordered.
"I am sorry, Mr Malfoy but until I get approval from the Minister. I can not do anything." Dawlish informed the Malfoys.
"It is not your fault, John. I blame Dumbledore for this disaster." Lucius said ominously.
"On that front, there is some good news. We believe that their is enough evidence to charge Dumbledore and the Weasley girl. So at least you will finally be able to get rid of Dumbledore from Hogwarts." Dawlish explained.
"Why are you wasting time talking about politics now? My baby is missing!" Narcissa sobbed.
"Sorry about my wife." Lucius apologised on his wife's behalf.
"It is totally understandable." Dawlish replied. "How do you want to handle Severus Snape?"
"How is Severus involved?" Lucius asked in surprise.
"Our investigate indicates that he knew about the possible threat but he disregarded the warning."
"WHAT!" Narcissa exclaimed.
"He was warned by the Potter kid about the possible threat but Severus thought the child was just playing with him. So he did not take it seriously. Not surprising considering the hatre he has for the kid s father. Since he took no action in regards to the warning, which makes him criminally negligent."
"I want him prosecuted! He should have investigated the potential threat to his godson" Narcissa screamed.
"Yes, Madam." Dawlish replied, "But it is going to hard as Dumbledore is protecting him and a lot of the recent Slytherin Alumni will back him as well."
"I want him punished to the full extent of the law! Do it now!" Narcissa said angrily as she now had a new person to direct her anger at. Dawlish took that as an invitation to leave so he willingly got up to leave.
"I will show you the way out." Lucius offered as he led the auror to the reception hall fireplace. Once they were out of earshot of Narcissa, Dawlish asked.
"Does she expect us to prosecute, Severus?"
"I think you better. It is not a good idea to get on her bad side. She is not related to Bella LeStrange for nothing. Her family knows more dark curses than even the Dark Lord." Lucius explained.
"I will try my best. But the most I can do with all the resistence is give him a slap on the wrist. You are better off taking him to the civil courts which will wipe him out." Dawlish suggested.
"You can only do your best." Lucius said reassuringly as he patted Dawlish on the back.
"Good Evening Mr Malfoy." Dawlish said formally after taking a deep breath to settle himself and prepare for the uncoming battle.
Goodbye, John. Malfoy replied.
The next morning, a red letter approached the Malfoys.
I wonder who is so rude to send us a howler at this time. Lucius thought as he opened the letter.
HOW DARE YOU, LUCIUS? I KNOW YOU WERE THE ONE WHO SUPPLIED THE CURSED DIARY THAT POSSESSED THE WEASLEY GIRL. YOUR OLD HOUSE ELF RECOGNISED THE DIARY AS BELONGING TO YOU. AFTER ALL, HE USE TO DUST IT FOR YOU.
PUTTING ALL THOSE CHILDREN AT RISK SO YOU COULD WIN SOME STUPID GAME YOU ARE PLAYING IS GOING TOO FAR. SINCE YOU KILLED MY HEIR I WILL ANNUL YOUR MARRIAGE AS IS MY RIGHT AS YOUR WIFE S HEAD OF HOUSE. YOU BETTER GET A GOOD LAWYER BECAUSE I AM GOING AFTER EVERYTHING! IF YOU LUCKY YOU WILL HAVE ENOUGH KNUTS LEFTOVER TO BUY THE DAILY PROPHET!
SIRIUS BLACK.
The howler then ripped itself into pieces. Lucius quietly admitted to himself that Sirius had out played him this time. That was when he looked up and saw the murderous look in his wife's eyes.
Tell me that my cousin got it wrong. Narcissa demanded.
Well... Lucius began to say but the stinging curse aimed at his groin stopped him from continuing.
"Let me explain." Lucius pleaded as Narcissa sent another string of curses at Lucius. "So explain!" Narcissa said angrily as she paused her cursing.
"This was not meant to happen."
"What was suppose to happen?" Narcissa asked.
"The cursed book from our Master was suppose to kill the youngest Weasley." Lucius explained.
"Did you know what the book would do?" Narcissa asked.
"No." Lucius admitted.
"Yet you introduce it to a children rich environment and our baby is now missing possibly dead." Narcissa screamed as her temper ignited again. She immediately fired a powerful stinging curse at Lucius.
"I did not introduce the cursed book into the school." Lucius replied.
"But you did not know what the book would do. Did you?" Narcissa countered.
"I never imagined this happening." Lucius admitted.
"Not good enough." Narcissa said as she fired a reducto curse directly at her husband. Lucius dodged baredly in time. Mr Malfoy spent the next few minutes trying to dodge the powerful curses of his wife. When the curses turned deadly with things that can cause permanent injury. He started returning fire with disabling curses. Due to the drugs in her systems and her extreme rage at him, the curses that did connect had no effect. As a stunning spell hit her face with no effect, the fight became a battle of survival with lethal curses being exchanged.
It reached the stage when she was firing killing curses while he was responding with borderline dark curses. That was when Lucius was hit with a killing curse to his leg which put him down permanently. Narcissa who was saisfied with the result sat down to recuperate that is when the curses she received finally took its toll. She was dead within a minute of her husband dying. Unnoticed in the corner, a house elf was sobbing while saying.
"I tried to stop the possessed girl." over and over.
When the aurors arrived and saw the damage.
"What the hell happened here?" An auror asked.
"Do not touch anything. One of you go tell the Minister. While the rest of us stand guard and investigate what we can.." The Senior Auror in charged decided.
Minister Fudge arrived at the scene shortly after being informed.
"What happened?" Minister Fudge asked as soon as he arrived.
"It looks like a domestic dispute that turned deadly. We suspect it was triggered by the Howler over there. This is all speculation as we have found no evidence of any witnesses." The Lead Auror replied completely ignoring the house elf entirely as offcial procedure dictates.
"Very sad business. It must be the emotional tormoil from having their child missing presumed dead." Minister Fudge said to no one in particular.
"I will try to identify the sender of the Howler in order to determine the cause this incident." The Lead auror said as he resumed the investigation.
"Bugger! Who is going to pay for the work on the Chamber of Secrets. I need to stop it immediately before we incur a too big large a charge to hide from the Wizemgamot's oversight committee. This is not the type of thing I need just before an election." Fudge exclaimed as he rushed off.
When Harry, Hermione and Mandy went down for breakfast in the Great Hall, they noticed a large stream of goblins heading to the Chamber of Secrets. All the goblins were carrying mining equipment and were moving in a rapid pace. Their were quiet a bit of jostling between the goblins in their rush to reach the Chamber of Secrets.
"Last night Marietta told me that the goblins are here to clear the cave in." Mandy informed them then lowered her voice. "Initially the Malfoys were going pay for the operation but they passed away yesterday so now the goblins are going to make their money from selling anything valuable they recover. The only reason they agreed to such terms is the thought of the valuable Basilisk corpse that is suppose to be down there."
"The Malfoys are dead, I am surprised their was not a special edition of the Daily Prophet." Padma commented.
"That particular paper is super conservative. So they would hold off publishing anything until they have confirmation from official sources. They would not dare publish something so damaging to such a powerful player in the political arena without triple checking everything." Hermione theorised.
"The LAV does not care about such things. I wonder why they did not release a special edition." Padma asked.
"The Malfoys' deaths is big news in Magical Britain but the rest of the world could not care less. Since the LAV is more an international paper, the story is not big enough in global terms to justify a special edition."
As soon as they entered the Great Hall, Pansy approached them.
"Hello Potter, Granger. Or should I say son and daughter." Pansy said smugly.
"What are you talking about, Parkinson?" Harry asked impatiently.
"Don't you know, I am going to marry your magical guardian in the not so distance future. The contract is ironclad. My father and Mr Malfoy made sure of that when Draco started showing homosexual tendencies. After the marriage, the first thing I will do is remove you from my husbands' protection if you are lucky." Pansy said vindicately. She was still angry that they had refused to let her join their study sessions.
"At least I am not marrying someone many years my senior." Hermione countered.
"It could be worse. He is easy on the eyes and rich. Maybe I should get my future husband to arrange a betrothal contract for you to the ugliest guy I can find." Pansy replied.
"That is assuming that you can control your so called future husband. He might decide to fulfil the contract then ship you off to Siberia for the rest of your life." Hermione said vindictively.
"What would a mudblood like you understand proper society?" Pansy said arrogantly before walking off. She knew that Hermione statement was most likely true.
"Come on. Let us get breakfast and see what the competing papers say about the demise of the Malfoys." Harry suggested. After they sat down, Harry started reading the Daily Prophet like normal while Hermione began with the LAV. A little later, Harry was interrupted by Hermione grabbing his arm.
"What?" Harry asked.
"Read this article." Hermione directed. As she pointed to a story on the second page.
PREWITTS PARSELMOUTHS AND KILLERS
Draco Malfoy's killer might have inherited her homocidal tendencies. During our research to uncover the origins of the killer's ability to speak to snakes we might have discovered a possible link between the Killer's Great Aunt and an unsolved murder which occurred at the same school.
As we previously reported, the killer claimed she was possessed at the time that she killed Draco Malfoy. Our experts consider this possibility highly doubtful. The ability to control snakes is an inherited ability, a possessing spirit would not be able to use such innate ability. So we starting researching her family tree to identify the origins of her abilities. We soon discovered the killer s great great grandparents spent quiet a bit of time in India where the ability is common. According to a diary we obtained the Killer s great great grandmother was very friendly with her native butler. During our research we discovered an interesting fact. It turns out the killer's great aunt, Muriel Prewitt, was attending Hogwarts at the time the same snake killed another student.
At the time, they were unable to say for certain what happened. The incident was blamed on Hagrid based on hearsay with Dumbledore's backing. It seems that Dumbledore did not want a proper investigation as he banned senior aurors from being included in the team sent to Hogwarts. He claimed that it would frighten the students and parents unnecessary. When the aurors arrived Dumbledore pressured them to blame Hagrid even though the initial inquiries put doubts to his guilt. The preliminary examination suggested that a snake was responsible for the death while Hagrid admitted in questioning that he had a dangerous spider as a pet. When the aurors were not able provide an alternate suspect after a single day of investigation, they gave into Dumbledore s demands and blamed Hagrid.
Muriel Prewitt was not questioned due to the brief nature of the investigation even though classmates have indicated that Muriel and the murdered girl did not get along. The same classmates were pretty sure Muriel was missing from her bed on the night that the girl was killed. What was even more suspicisious was the Prewitts suddenly support of Dumbledore not long after the incident.
This support seems to be mutual as Dumbledore refused to allow aurors to take the recent killer and her brother into questioning when they publically demostrated their ability to communicate with snakes. If they had been allowed to be questioned, then the Malfoy death might not have occurred. Dumbledore assured the Ministry that he would personally investigate the matter which is the only reason the Ministry back down. What happened to the investigation? It is still continuing as Dumbledore has not been able to find the suppose culprits (Scapegoats).
We tried to contact Dumbledore to comment on our investigation but he has not returned our owls or floo calls. The British Ministry of Magic has said they will be investigating our claims and requested that we pass on our supporting documentation which we gladly did. Hopefully Hagrid will have his name cleared and the responsible parties will be held to account.
"That is brilliant!" Harry exclaimed.
"I agree. Padfoot is back to his pranking best." Hermione said in agreement. "Blaming everything on Dumbledore."
Filch stormed into the Great Hall in a towering fury. He immediately started chucking nails, knives and his other torture instruments at Dumbledore. The first knife barely missed its target. But Dumbledore was not as lucky in regards to the nails as they hit their mark.
"MRS NORRIS BEING PETRIFIED IS YOUR FAULT, DUMBLEDORE!" Filch accused as he continued throwing sharp objects at the Headmaster.
"Please calm down." Dumbledore replied as he did not want this argument out in the open. Filch refused to listen to him instead he continued throwing sharp objects at the Headmaster. The other professors were too shocked to assist Dumbledore and the students were enjoying the show. They watched the usually dignify Headmaster race around the Hall trying to avoid Filch. His beard and hair flying behind him like a flag while his usually hidden knobby knees and arms pumped to give him the speed he needed to avoid FIlch. No one knew that the reason why Dumbeldore had not used his wand was that he did not want people to know he lost the Elder wand. Just as Dumbledore was running out of steam and it looked like Filch was catching up, Harry pushed Percy into Filch's path.
"YOUR SISTER IS RESPONSIBLE FOR MRS NORRIS BEING PETRIFIED!" Filch yelled as he chucked a fanged frisbee directly at Percy's groin. Percy collapse to the ground in obvious pain. That was lucky as the next object that Filch had thrown would have hit Percy square on the head if he had not fallen. Flitwick finally took action and put Filch in invisible ropes before he could do anymore damage. McGonagall transfigured the knife in Filch's hand into a rubber ducky. It was left to Snape to confiscate the bag with all the sharp objects that Filch had brought with him and make sure he had no other weapons consealed anywhere. As Dumbledore and Percy headed to the infirmary, Filch yelled.
"I SHOULD HAVE NEVER TRUSTED YOU! I QUIT!"
Muriel Prewitt got up late. Getting up late was in her opinion, was a right that every proper pureblood should have. After getting up she ignored the massive flock of owls outside her window and proceeded with her morning routine. It was only when she went to open her window to allow the owl to deliver the Daily Prophet did she realised something was wrong. Like a scene from Alfred Hitchcock's Birds, she was overwhelmed by the flock of owls as they delivered Howlers and other unpleasantness on to her. A frightened Muriel covered in bird droppings and other unidenttified potions sat shaking in a corner as Howler after Howler accused her of being a murderer. When the doorbell rang. she ran to open it hoping that help had arrived. . The sight of two aurors greatly relieved Muriel.
"Are you here to help me get rid of all these owls?" Muriel asked desperately.
"No, Madam. Are you Muriel Prewitt?" One of the Aurors asked.
"Yes."
"You have to come with us?"
"What for?"
"Have you not read today's newspaper."
"I did not get a chance to as I got over run by owls."
The more senior auror handed her a copy of the LAV. The article was the straw that broke the camel's back in this case, Muriel's heart gave out an she died from a heart attack.
Oh Shit. We found like this. The senior auror said to his junior.
Why can we not tell the truth? We did nothing wrong. The junior auror asked.
Do you want to fill in 500 different forms and risk getting sued by her family for wrongful death? The senior auror explained to the horror to his partner.
You are right. We found her dead like that when we arrived. The junior auror said in agreement with his partner. You better remove that paper in her hand. It might contradict our story.
Good thinking.
A few days later, Sirius walked into the British Ministry of Magic for the first in months. He took a moment to appreciate the freedom that the death of the Malfoys gave him before he headed to the Ministers' office.
"What can I help you with today, Mr Black?" Minister Fudge asked nervously. It was understandable since rumour has it that Sirius had inherited all the Malfoys' accounts and so that meant not only was he extremely wealthy now but he had also evidence of all the bribes that Lucius had paid Fudge over the years.
"I wish to discuss a few things with you."
"I have time for such an important member of society like yourself."
"That is good to know. The first issue I would like to discuss is the Ginerva Weasley case."
"Why are you taking such an interest in the case?" Minister Fudge asked curiously.
"I can understand how young people can do stupid things. In fact, when I was slightly older than her I did something very stupid that almost cost two lives. So I believe that young people should be given second chances." Sirius explained.
"So what did you do? May I ask?". Fudge asked curiously.
"It is a long time ago and I have paid for the mistake many times over."
"Alright." Fudge replied even though he made a note in his head to investigate Sirius' past. The possibility of blackmail material would be worth the effort.
"Getting back to the girl. Is their anything you can do for her?"
"The late Mr Malfoy did quite a bit of lobbying to impose the maximum sentence on the girl before he died." Minister Fudge replied.
"I believe it will be a simply matter for me to change those minds." Sirius replied.
"What sort of punishment do you think she deserves?" Minister asked.
"A slap on the wrist and a warning." Sirius said hopefully.
"That is not going to happen. The members of the Wizemgamot that are violently opposed to Dumbledore will never go for such a light sentence. Especially for someone so close to the ex-Chief Warlock." Minister Fudge replied.
"What do you think would be acceptable to them?" Sirius asked.
"A few months or years at Azhaban." Minister Fudge replied honestly.
"That is way too harsh. Do you think you can sell a sentence of expulsion from Hogwarts if you point out her young age?" Sirius asked.
"If you you are willing to push it I believe they will accept expulsion plus having her wand snapped."
"Can you get them to back down a bit more? Maybe only supervised use of her wand until she is of age."
"I think I could sell that to the Wizemgamot but the supervison will have to extended to her 21st birthday. The extra supervision will satisfy the hardliners especially when I suggest that her mother will be held accountable for wand use."
"That sounds acceptable." Sirius replied reluctantly. It was a harsher punishment then he was hoping for but the fact that Fudge was willing to go this far without enticements was a good sign.
"What the next topic on the agenda?" Fudege asked as he wanted the meeting over so that he could survey the new political landscape with the demise of the politically influential Malfoys. The shake up could create opportunities to establish new alliances.
"I heard that you were searching for the person who sent the howler to the Malfoys just before they died. You can end the search as I can it was me." Sirius stated matter of factly.
"Thank you for the information. The aurors would appreciate the information even though they have although ruled the deaths accidental." Fudge said dismissively. "Just out of curiousity what did the howler say?"
"I just told them they need to work on a new heir immediately. It seems that Narcissa did not agree." Sirius replied.
"Speaking of the Malfoys. Is it true that you will inherit everything including their title?" Fudge whispered.
"I believe so. We made an agreement where if one of us passed away then the other would inherit everything including the responsibility of our respective charges. This was for the protection of the children."
"Does that mean you will get the Malfoy vote in the Wizemgamot was well?" Fudge asked eagerly.
"I suspect so but I would not know for certain until their wills are read. But I do not really care about politics." Sirius replied honestly.
"If you want you could assign me your proxies so that you don t have to deal with the political game? It is very cut throat and if you do not devote a lot of time to it. The game can eat you alive." Fudge offered quickly. He wanted the votes to sure up his position as Minister
"That is a very kind offer but I want to look for someone to look after my interest." Sirius explained.
"If you want, I am willing to offer you a magical oath to use your votes in your best interests."
"That is not really a good offer since we both know that vote trading for unimportant issues is how you get legislation you want passed." Sirius replied illustrating his understanding of the political process.
"What do you suggest?"
"How about this deal? I give you the Malfoy title including its vote and in return you use your considerable influence to protect me and my godson's interests." Sirius suggested.
"How could you give me the Malfoy title?" Fudge asked with curiousity.
"I was thinking that if you can get the Department of Magical Law Enforcement to declare that Lucius died beofre Narcissa. Then we can create a retrospective marriage contract between the Fudge house and the Malfoy house where her death is considered a breach of contract and you get the house as a result." Fudge realised immediately that it could work and it would not take a lot of work. A big part of him wanted to accept the proposal immediately as this offer will make his family a political force to be reckon with for generations to come.
"Why don't we let our lawyers work out the details of our agreement but I think your proposal is very interesting." Fudge countered.
"Before we begin negotiating can you do me a favour."
"Depends on the favour?" Fudge said cautiously.
"Well as you know, the Department of Magical Law Enforcement has not been able to confirm the deaths of the people in Azhaban when the prison was destroyed. So they are considered as in limbo. If you declared them dead as Minister of Magic then their wills will come into play." Sirius explained.
"May I ask why you need such a favour?"
"I am pretty sure that Narcissa Malfoy inherited the LeStrange fortune through her sister Bella." Sirius explained.
"You want the cash and the vote." Fudge suggested."That will not be a problem."
"That is great. You probably have a lot of work to do so I better leave you too."
"Great meeting with you, Mr Black." Fudge said .
"I will get my lawyers to contact your lawyers tomorrow." Sirius said as he made his exit. Satisfied in the knowledge he had got everything he could set out to achieve in the meeting. After taking a short celebrating drink at the Leaky Cauldron, Sirius made his way to the Grangers. Dan, Emma and Grant were all waiting for him in their finest clothing.
"What is the occasion?" Sirius asked.
"We have been waiting for an opportunity to introduce you to the British Prime Minister. So that when we do leave the country you can act as our representative. As chance has it, we are going to make a joint announcement today with the British Government. The Prime Minister and his minister for the environment are both attending to get some of the good press. So get changed so that you don't look like a wizard." Emma explained.
"What is the announcement? If you are funding a celibacy before marriage program then you can count me out." Sirius asked in a joking manner.
"Our solar business is going to merge with the National Grid Group which is the company that owns the country's gas and electricity network. We will gain control over the entire network and the government gets over sight plus dividends. It is great deal for everyone. Consumers will be charged less for utilities and employees of the National Grid Group whose jobs would have been threaten by us will not have to worry." Grant explained.
"Are you going to reveal to them how we generate the electricity?"
"No. That was not part of the deal we made. The government really wanted that knowledge to be included in any deal but we stood firm refusing such a request. We were in no hurry to do the deal but they had a deadline. We both knew that if they wait too long and enough individual consumers got their own power units then the deal would not be worthwhile." Grant replied.
"Are their still a lot of attempts to discover our company secrets?" Emma asked.
"It has gotten worse. Last week, our security division had identified at least one attempted intrusion per hour. We predict it will get worse before it gets better as we expand into more areas." Grant replied.
"We better get going before we become late." Dan urged.
"Okay. Let us go." Emma said as she lead the others out.
"By the way, what is our relationship and how did we meet?" Dan asked.
"We are trying to keep the lying to the minimum so we are going to say that you are our fellow investor, our daugther's best friend's godfather and family friend. Our first meeting was when we applied for guardianship of Harry." Emma explained.
"What excuse do we give for me not applying for guardianship myself?" Sirius asked.
"You are too much of a womaniser." Dan replied.
"Not too mention too irresponsible and too flighty." Emma added.
"So all my virtues." Sirius said with a smile.
"Speaking of being responsible today. We need you to act like your name and be serious. This meeting is important and establishing a good relationship with the Prime Minister is essential to our future plans. So do not good around chasing interns." Emma warned.
"I can be charming when I want." Sirius replied as he gave Emma one of his winning smiles.
"That will not work on me. I know you too well." Emma replied while smiling showing that she was not as immune as she claimed.
Chapter 59
Professor McGonagall approached Harry and Hermione right after breakfast.
"Mr Potter, Miss Granger, Please come with me." The professor asked curtly.
"What is this about?" Harry asked, still seated.
"Mr Black is waiting for you in my office." McGonagall replied.
"Why is Sirius here?" Hermione asked.
"He is here to take you to see your lawyers." McGonagall said.
"Why do we need lawyers for?"' Hermione asked. She was getting frustrated by the Professor's lack of response. What Hermione did not know was that McGonagall wanted Sirius out of her office as quickly as possible. Leaving Sirius alone in an empty office was just asking for trouble but she had no other option. The house elves were busy with breakfast and the students would soon be leaving for there classes.
"The Ministry is launching an inquiry tomorrow. You are both required to give testimony" McGonagall replied tersely.
"What about the rest of us? Will we be required to provide evidence as well?" Susan asked with concern.
"If you entered the Chamber of Secrets the other day then you will be required to give a statement. Before you ask, those students will be seeing their own legal representatives later today. Since you will all be required to give evidence tomorrow, they will question the professors the day after" McGonagall said quickly.
"What if we cannot afford lawyers?" Lisa asked, as she knew her father was a tight ass and would never fork out money for a lawyer.
"Mr. Black has offered to pay for your legal fees. A few of your families have already taken him up on his offer." McGonagall admitted with distaste. She knew the offer was an insult to her and the other professors suggesting that they would not have put the best interests of their students first.
"Are our lawyers coming here or are we going to their offices?" Susan asked.
"Why does it matter?" McGonagall asked impatiently.
"If the meetings were conducted in classrooms then the portraits or house elves could report what is said in the meetings to the headmaster" Susan explained reasonably.
"The headmaster would not do such a thing!" Professor McGonagall replied in outrage.
"You might trust him but we don't. Especially since the morning paper suggested that he could be facing possible charges for his conduct" Susan said cynically.
"I am sure it is just a misunderstanding and he will be vindicated at the inquiry" McGonagall replied assuredly.
"You might believe that but we don't" Hermione stated coolly.
McGonagall knew that the Professors were under a lot of scrutiny from the Ministry. She did not need the additional headaches that a major dispute with a student would cause.
"Alright, I will need to speak to the headmaster to make alternate arrangements." McGonagall conceded. "Now are you two ready?"
Harry and Hermione both nodded before standing up.
Sirius took them to their magical lawyers' meeting room. They were surprised to see Dan and Emma waiting for them as well. Greetings were exchanged.
"When will the lawyers be ready for us?" Hermione asked.
"We have an hour before the consultations and I have booked this room until then." Sirius explained.
"What is this inquiry about?" Harry asked.
"With all the accusations flying about, the Minister and Amelia Bones decided a public inquiry is needed to sort out the truth from the lies. It will be focused on the Chamber of Secrets especially the two related deaths. Witnesses will be required to answer questions under truth serum." Sirius explained. Seeing the concerned looks on Harry and Hermione's faces he decided to put their concerns at rest. "Don't worry. Ashley has developed an antidote to the truth serum they are using."
"That is great!" Hermione exclaimed. "Everyone thought that it was not possible to develop an antidote. That is a massive achievement. Is she going to publish it?" Hermione concluded excitedly.
"She is not going to publish it as she can see how it could go against our goals to have such a potion out in the open. She has agreed to keep the formula secret from everyone but us. Not even her apprentices are in the know." Sirius informed them.
"She must be disappointed to discover such a major breakthrough and not be able to release the findings" Hermione stated.
"Ashley actually was not that disappointed. She claimed that Snape did most of the work and if she published it, he would likely recognize his own work. Especially since he was one ingredient off getting the potion to work" Sirius explained.
"What was the ingredient?" Hermione asked.
"Saliva from the liar bird" Sirius replied. Hermione burst out laughing at Snape missing such an obvious ingredient for an anti truth serum potion.
"When are we going to get the antidote?" Harry asked.
"We will give it to you on the day since the potion does not have a long shelf life and it is most effective taken just before the truth serum is administered." Sirius replied.
"Speaking of the inquiry, can you make sure that Lockhart testifies?" Harry asked with a mischievous smile.
"We have already taken care of that. Amelia Bones has a list of questions to ask and one of our reporters are tailing him so he does not run away. The reporter has already caught him trying to get away five times already. One time he took polyjuice to look like Flitwick when he made his escape. The potion wore off while he was in the custody of some aurors. Lockhart's girlish screams as his underwear became too tight frighten the aurors so he almost got away. If his clothing had not restricted his movements so much he would have made it. I'll give you photos of it sometime. It was hilarious" Sirius said with a smirk.
"Can you also make sure that Dumbledore's phoenix is not allowed at the Ministry?" Hermione asked.
"Why?" Sirius asked.
"We are planning to separate Dumbledore from his phoenix and having him busy at the Ministry would be the perfect time for our plan" Hermione replied.
"I thought that the pheonix was his familiar" Sirius asked confused.
"The pheonix is not his familiar. He bound the pheonix to him years ago" Hermione huffed.
"Can I report that in my paper?" Sirius asked with a malicious grin.
"I recommend that you wait until after we break the bond, of course this is just a suggestion" Hermione said slyly.
"What are you planning?" Sirius asked recognizing the look on Hermione's face.
"Just wait. I don't want to spoil the surprise. But I will suggest that you would not want to be close to Dumbledore when the bond breaks" Hermione said.
"If you are going to be that way then I won't tell you what is happening at the inquiry" Sirius replied childishly.
"Are the results of the inquiry predetermined?" Dan asked with curiously.
"Snape and the Weaselette have both copped early plea deals which are going to be announced at the end of the inquiry. Dumbledore is the only one holding out and he is believes that the Wizengamot will clear him of all charges" Sirius replied.
"Is he going to get off?" Emma asked.
"He might. Dumbledore is one slippery character. His old faction will want to crucify him. What we don't know is the support he has in the other factions. I know members of the pureblood supremacist faction are remaining closed lipped. That is usually a sign that there are secret agreements in place" Sirius responded.
"So what pleas have the youngest Weasel and Snape agreed to?" Hermione asked.
"You tell me what you are planning?" Sirius countered.
"Just tell us" Emma said warningly.
"Yes madam. Snape has lost his family fortune. While the youngest Weasley is going to be expelled from Hogwarts and can only use her wand under supervision for the next 10 years with her mother responsible for any trouble she does" Sirius replied.
"How did you get that plea?" Hermione asked with surprise. "I thought she would be going to Azkaban for sure."
"Who said I had anything to do with it" Sirius replied.
"Sirius" Emma said threateningly.
"Alright, I know how you wanted that Weasley away from you but not necessarily in Azkaban. So I suggested that in her permanent records, it would show five failed attempts at OWLs and there be a ban from her from getting her NEWTS in anything. The members of the Wizengamot liked the idea of blood traitors having such a black mark against their name" Sirius said with a grin.
"What is going to happen with Hagrid?" Harry asked.
"He is going to be exonerated since it will hurt Dumbledore. When Hagrid read that article of ours he became mad at Dumbledore. Hagrid finally realized that Dumbledore was only using him. I would like to be there the next time the two of them meet especially after Dumbledore finds out about the 50 thousand galleons compensation demand, Hagrid is requesting from him" Sirius said with a sly tone.
"Speaking of compensation, how much is Moaning Myrtle's family getting?" Harry asked curiously.
"Nothing" Sirius admitted.
"Why?" Hermione replied in shock.
"She is a muggle-born and no one else from her family is magical so the Wizengamot does not care about them. When I receive compensation for Draco's death, I plan to pass on a significant amount to Myrtle's family" Sirius replied.
"Do you need help in locating Myrtle's family?" Dan asked.
"I got that sorted. My new poker buddies have started looking for me" Sirius replied.
"Who are your poker buddies?" Harry asked.
"The British Prime Minister, the leader of the Opposition, the Treasurer, the Police Commissioner and the Head of MI5" Sirius said as he pretended to clean his nails to the shock of everyone else in the room.
"How did you organize that?" Emma asked in shock.
"The British Prime Minister and his Labour Party counterpart are both mad that the Magical Community is getting away with so many crimes for so long. They have decided to start a joint Police and MI5 taskforce with assistance from us to investigate magical crime. Once a week we meet to discuss the results and plan what we will do when they confront the Minister of Magic. This meeting is done under the cover of a weekly poker game" Sirius explained.
"Do you need help planning the government's response?" Hermione asked.
"It's better if you are not involved" Sirius replied. Suddenly the lamps started flickering.
"What is happening?" Hermione asked.
"The leprechauns are letting us know that someone is at the door. It is most likely the lawyers" Emma replied.
"Why are the leprechauns here?" Hermione asked with surprise.
"After the Outcast Organization reached an agreement with them, we learnt a lot about them. It turns out they are the best warders in the world even better than goblins. When countries stopped using real gold for currency a lot of them had to find a new occupation. Swapping people's real gold with their fake ones was a common occupation in their society before the change in currency made it unprofitable. Warding became their replacement occupation since they became good at it trying to protect their pots of gold" Emma explained.
"So they actually have pots of gold?" Harry asked.
"Yes they do. It is the savings from what they steal. If they are ever caught, then the person who catches them gets the pot of gold" Emma explained.
"Are the goblins the best at ward breaking?" Hermione asked.
"Not by a long shot. The best at ward breaking is actually gnomes. A popular story going around is how the goblins with their human helpers spent several years trying to break into an egyptian crypt. One of our new professors who learnt to ward break from the gnomes walked right through the wards like they were not there and took everything. When the goblins actually made it in they found nothing. That pissed them off so much they almost brought the structure down upon themselves" Dan explained.
"We really should meet our lawyers." Hermione suggested. "How do we let the leprechauns know we are ready?"
"We just turn off a lamp." Dan replied as he did just that.
Dumbledore walked confidently into the Ministry with Fawkes on his shoulder. He was not happy that he was banned from attending the inquiry yesterday. The Ministry officials claimed that his presence might prejudice the children's testimonies. Instead, their testimonies made him look like an incompetent headmaster who played favorites which the media exploited to make another dig at him. If only he was there, he could have minimized the damage to his reputation. At least, today he had a chance to fight back as he was going be called as a witness. In fact he was the first one up. He wanted to be last so he can revoke all the accusations made against him but his opponents pushed disagreed. So he was stuck as the first adult witness.
Just before he entered the Wizengamot chambers, a court official intercepted him.
"Sorry sir, but no pets allowed." The court official told Dumbledore.
"This is not a pet. His is my familiar" Dumbledore replied arrogantly.
"It is still an animal" the Officer responded
"A phoenix is not just an animal. It is a creature of light and will ensure that evil will not get its way" Dumbledore said patronizingly.
"So your familiar will influence members of the Wizengamot. Another reason for you to get rid of that bird" the Officer said impatiently.
Just as Dumbledore was about to lay into the court officer, Amelia Bones approached.
"Is there a problem?" Amelia asked.
"No." Dumbledore replied. He could not afford a confrontation with the Head of the MLE in his current state of disfavor. So Dumbledore commanded Fawkes to head back to Hogwarts. Fawkes obediently flamed away.
"The Wizengamot is waiting for you. Please head to the witness box" Amelia suggested.
When Dumbledore finally looked at the assembled Wizengamot, he was shocked to see so many unfamiliar faces. He desperately searched for the members who owed him favors and to his horror a lot of them were missing. That was when he realized what happened. Draco's death scared a lot of them away. The members who owed him favors were the ones who had relatives that were Death eaters. If they thought that Voldemort was coming back with a debt to settle then many of them would have head for the hills. This scared Dumbledore like nothing else would. The possibility of going to prison made a strategic retreat(or running away) an attractive option. It was too late now but there would be plenty of opportunities later.
"Please swear the oath before you" the Court Official informed Dumbledore.
"I am not going swear this oath. If I say something wrong or forgot about something then I will lose my magic" Dumbledore said in outrage.
"Since you have previously lied to this court while under truth serum. This is your only option" the officer said while looking at a document.
"When have I lied to this court?" Dumbledore asked.
"So far we have confirmed four times so far" the Officer related.
"That cannot be true" Dumbledore said pretending to be in shock.
"You said that Sirius Black was the Potters' Secret Keeper, Peter Pettigrew was not a death eater, Harry Potter was safe after his parents died and you did not know the true identity of Voldemort" the Officer relayed back to Dumbledore while reading from his document.
"I did not lie. At the time I made those statements I must have believed they were true" Dumbledore replied.
"We have found evidence to suggest that you knew the facts were false before you made your statements in front of this body. According to our experts, someone you know deliberately removed the knowledge from your mind before you made the statements and probably put it back afterwards. That is why you cannot be allowed to testify under truth serum" the court official explained.
"Then I refused to testify" Dumbledore announced. The court official conferred with the Chief Warlock.
"Mr. Dumbledore, if you refuse to swear the oath then I will hold you in contempt of the court" The Chief Warlock threatened.
"I doubt you have the numbers to push such a motion." Dumbledore replied daringly. He wanted to see if the proxies or replacements would uphold the deals he previously made. To his relief, they upheld the deals and his contempt charges were squashed. What shocked him was that most of his old allies who were now in the minority and had voted for a conviction. That meant someone had discovered his loyalty charms and removed them. Dumbledore tried to remove the requirement for an oath but he lacked the support. It fell outside the terms of the deals he had made. Seeing no other option, Dumbledore refused to testify.
So the next witness was called. He watched as Hagrid was brought in. To his shock, Hagrid was giving him the evil eye. Dumbledore sat up with interest when Amelia asked Hagrid if Dumbledore knew that he had a giant spider and not a basilisk."
"He knew that I had a giant spider as the headmaster helped me get a mate for my spider" Hagrid replied as he stared at Dumbledore with contempt.
"In other words, he knew you were innocent of Myrtle's death. Since her death was caused by a snake rather than a spider" Amelia explained.
"That is correct" Hagrid replied.
"When the Minister came to arrest you after the cat got petrified what did Dumbledore do?" Amelia asked.
"He told me to go with the authorities and not to say anything" Hagrid replied. Dumbledore could see where this was leading and stood up and exclaimed.
"That was not what I said" Dumbledore said pompously.
"Are you willing to swear an oath for that statment?" The Chief Warlock asked.
"No" Dumbledore replied.
"Then please sit down and stop interrupting proceedings." Chief Warlock instructed. Dumbledore reluctantly complied as he did not want to be chucked out and banned. The inquiry did not get any better for the ex-Chief Warlock. Crouch Senior, who was part of the original murder investigation, deliberately blamed Dumbledore for the rushed job. The rest of the aurors made the same comments or claimed not to remember the original investigation. Snape's testimony which Dumbledore was hoping would be his saving grace turned into another nail in his coffin. He might not go to prison but his remaining positions of authorities was heading the way of the dodo, extinction.
The final witness for the inquiry was Lockhart. When the court official approached Lockhart with the truth serum, Lockhart announced:
"I got this fake Healers certificate saying I am allergic to truth serum" Amelia pounced and asked.
"How and why did you get the fake Healers certificate?"
"I bribed Healer Chapman, two thousand galleons to give me a fake healers certificate as I do not want to reveal some of my secrets" Lockhart replied.
"What secrets?" Amelia asked.
"I am a paid assassin and troubleshooter" Lockhart responded with a red face.
"Who are your clients?" Amelia charged on.
"I work for one client exclusively. They pay direct to my vault with instructions delivered by general post owls" Lockhart said.
"What was your most recent job?" Amelia asked sharply.
"Well my current job is to evaluate Dumbledore's performance in preaching the pureblood doctrine to the next generation. The job before this one was a failed attempt to interrupt the negotiations between the magical and muggle governments in the US. Their security is way better than anything I encountered previously" Lockhart said
"What was your biggest job?" Amelia asked precisely.
"I had to kill a wizard who discovered the cure for werewolves. The killing was not difficult it was the changing of people's memories to think that he was a werewolf that was hard. He had good standing in the local community when I arrived and I had to destroy that. This meant changing everyone's memory of the guy" Lockhart replied calmly.
"How do you kill your targets?" Amelia replied with hard eyes.
"I can only use memory related spells so I have to resort to muggle weapons like guns to do my job" Lockhart responded in monotone.
"Are there any truths in your books?" Amelia asked in a suspicious tone.
"No. They are fabrications of what I want people to believe" Lockhart replied.
The testimony went on and on. Everyone was shocked by his revelations. As the session of the inquiry came to a close, a dementor flew directly at Dumbledore. Luckily for Dumbledore, one of the court officers was able to cast a patronus charm before the dementor came too close to the audience. Aurors came and herded the dementor into a containment area to be examined. An exclamation from one of the aurors drew everyone's attention.
"This dementor is Dumbledore's familiar!" the auror said.
"Fawkes!" Dumbledore screamed before racing for an exit. One of the aurors deliberately walked into his path and prevented him from leaving.
"Get out of my way" Dumbledore told the auror.
"Please stay in your seat while we investigate what is happening with the stray dementor" the Auror said forcefully while pushing Dumbledore back. Dumbledore could see other Aurors arriving and reluctantly made his way back to his seat.
Half hour later order was called in the court room. The senior investigator of the dementor situation entered the witness stand to deliver his report.
"Did you discover why the dementor entered the court room?" the Chief Warlock asked.
"The dementor was seeking out its owner and familiar bond mate, the Former Chief Warlock Albus Dumbledore" the investigator replied gravely.
"I thought his familiar was a phoenix. Does this mean he has two familiars now?" Amelia asked.
"No Madam. We believe that his phoenix broke his previous familiar bond. Probably because Mr. Dumbledore has turn away from the light. This open bond attracted the dementor who then latched on" the auror replied to the disgust of Dumbledore. He knew this was pure speculation and it was really damaging his reputation. The media was going to portray him as the new dark lord.
"Is the dementor a threat to Mr. Dumbledore?" the new Chief Warlock asked.
"No sir. The dementor cannot devour Mr. Dumbledore's soul without killing itself due to the familiar bond. This bond will give Mr. Dumbledore a certain amount of control over the dementor. For the duration of the inquiry I recommend that the dementor be keep in its holding cell" the auror replied. Umbridge gave Dumbledore a glare filled with jealousy.
"So ordered. Since the Dementor was not trying to kill a witness, I order the inquiry to recommence. Madam Bones do you any more questions for Mr. Lockhart?" The Chief Warlock announced.
"No, your honour" Amelia Bones replied.
"Do you wish to call your next witness?" the Chief Warlock asked.
"We do not have any unless Mr. Dumbledore is willing to testify, your honor" Amelia asked, looking at Dumbledore.
"Mr. Dumbledore, do you wish to testify?" the Chief Warlock asked.
"No" Dumbledore said with no hint of respect.
"We will resume tomorrow morning where I will announce our findings and suggested sentences" the Chief Warlock announced before getting up to leave. Dumbledore was one of the first ones to exit the chamber. He went straight to his office at Hogwarts to find everything burnt to a crisp and Fawkes missing.
"Fawkes! Where are you?" Dumbledore yelled as he fell to his knees.
"Fawkes, please come back to me!" Dumbledore pleaded with no response. After a few minutes crying on his knees, Dumbledore got up with purpose burning in his eyes. He walked to his private quarters to find the place in the same state as his office, covered in ash with nothing to scavenge. Fearful that Fawkes destroyed everything in the school, Dumbledore proceeded to his deputy's office. To his relief, he it found the office in its normal ordered state. His next stop was Snape's office. He had two reasons for the visit, the first reason was to check that it was not destroyed and the second reason was to reclaim the things he had collected from Fawkes over the years. Upon arriving at Snape's office, he found the room clustered as always to his relief. That relief was short lived as all the phoenix products were missing. Luckily that was all that was missing from what he could tell. Still, the loss of all those valuable potion ingredients was going to be a massive headache for him.
As he began cleaning up his office, Dumbledore discovered the sorting hat hidden in the ash.
"What happened?" Dumbledore asked.
"Fawkes was using his perch to scratch himself when suddenly he made a triumph screech and began burning everything in sight. I had to use my limited ability to shield myself as everything else around me burned" lied the Sorting Hat. In actual fact, Hermione had stolen the portraits after she transferred Dumbledore's artificial familiar bond to the dementor. This was to prevent Dumbledore from using the portraits to spy for him.
"So the auror was correct, Fawkes broke my bonds himself" Dumbledore said in shock and disbelief.
"What am I going to do for clothes?" Dumbledore exclaimed to no one in particular when he realized all of his belongings had been turned to ashes including his entire wardrobe.
Omake
Severus Snape desperately searched his office and private quarters for the ingredients required for a dreamless potion. His addiction to the potion began after the death of his godson, Draco Malfoy. He could no longer sleep without the potion and today had been a particularly stressful day for him. Tomorrow was going to be worse and he needed the rest. After an unsuccessful search, Snape decided to take a risk and harvest the ingredients from the Forbidden Forest himself. Collecting the instruments he needed, Severus made his way into the Forbidden Forest. As soon as he lost sight of the castle, Snape encountered an unfamiliar ward blocking his path. Knowing nothing about warding, Severus decided to blast his way through. He raised his wand and sent his most power reducto hex at the ward. What happened next shocked him, the curse was absorbed by the ward and converted into a shockwave that sent him flying through the trees and into the Black Lake. The impact with the water robbed him of his conscious.
When Severus Snape awoke, he was lying face down, soaking wet covered in leaves and branches with an unknown number of broken bones.
"This could not get any worse" Severus said.
Suddenly, an arrow came flying from the Forbidden Forrest straight into his butt. The sharp pain from the arrow made him run screaming towards the castle. His screams woke the students from Gryffindor and Ravenclaw houses, who watched from the dorms as the most hated professor ran towards the castle with his hands at his butt. Colin was the first student to take a photo but he was certainly not the last. Flashes from the castle and students laughing made Snape aware that he was being watched. He stopped running and straighten his robes before walking in a more dignified manner. This did not work as he was limping from the wound in his arse. Students laughter followed him as he made his way to the school infirmary.
"What happened?" Healer Chapman asked.
"I had a problem in the Forbidden Forest." Snape replied as he did not want the details to be generally known.
"Could you please sit on one of these beds so that I can examine you?"
"I can't" Snape replied, as he pointed to the arrow in his butt.
"Okay. Please lie face down on that bed please" Snape complied.
Healer Chapman used some diagnostic spells to determine what injuries Snape was suffering from. He removed the arrow and started treatment for the various injuries. It was not too long before Snape was asleep recovering from his ordeal. Chapman examined the arrow in case it had any poison on it only to discover an attached note. The note read, "You are no longer welcome! Intrusions into our territory would be considered an act of war and would be treated as such. Bane Centaur- Defence Leader."
"I better tell the staff about this" Healer Chapman said.