Chapter 3
After the occupants of Dumbledore's office had settled it was decided that an empty classroom would be set up as an area to interview all of the participants in what was being referred to as 'the auto incident'. Dumbledore tried to keep the interviews sequestered to his office, citing that he wouldn't want rumors about either Ron or Harry's meeting to get around Hogwarts and damage their second year there. To Dumbledore's annoyance, Amelia informed him that the ministry was already being asked questions by the British Prime Minister, and that it was just a matter of time before the Prophet picked it up.
Ronald Weasley sat in a chair facing the front of the room with his parents on either side of him, his mother grasping his hand tightly in hers. In front of him was Madame Bones and an Auror she'd introduced as Kingsley Shacklebolt. Ron was just about to open his mouth and demand to know what was going on when Madame Bones tapped what Ron knew was a recording crystal, while Auror Shacklebolt activated a diction quill, and began to talk.
"Interview with underaged wizard Ronald Billus Weasley, age twelve. Ministry advocate for the minor wizard, the lad's father; Arthur Weasley, former ministry employee, Misuse of Muggle artifacts, a subdivision of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. Scope of interview is to look at events that happened this Seventh of September, Nineteen Ninety Two. Manner of record; recording crystal as well as a diction quill and parchment." Looking towards Arthur, Amelia addressed her next question to her former coworker.
"Do you Arthur Weasley, head of the Weasley family, consent to the questioning of your son at this time?" Amelia asked in the gentlest tone she could use in a proceeding like this. Arthur was about to reply in the affirmative when Molly opened her mouth and start to give her unwanted opinion.
"No, we don't consent to the questioning of our son at this time Amelia, what is wrong with you?" Molly shouted, shocked at how her son was being treated. The Weasleys were one on the most well know light sided pureblood families, they should be given the respect they deserved, not treated with suspicion like criminals. Getting ready to give Amelia a piece of her mind, Molly was shocked when she opened her mouth to find that she had been silenced. Glaring at the aurors in the room who she thought had silenced her, Molly had another surprise coming to her.
"Molly, be quite, I warned you before we came here what would happen if you acted this way." Arthur said sternly to his wife, rising in esteem in the eye of his fellow ministry workers; who would joke, when Arthur wasn't around, that Molly was the one who 'waved the wand' in the Weasley family. Looking towards Amelia, Arthur answered her question.
"Yes, I give permission for Ronald to be questioned, I only ask that the questioner be gentle. The lad is our youngest son and as such we've granted him allowances that weren't warranted to his brothers that may have lead the lad to grow to feel entitled, thinking that because his mother dotes on him so much he would never really get punished for his actions." Arthur finish, getting up to remove a resisting Molly, with his head hung in shame.
Amelia felt a twinge of sympathy for her old co-worker but the law was clear, anyone suspected of wrong doings was to be questioned by an auror, accompanied as back up by a more experienced auror of no less than ten years on the job. As she watched Arthur and Molly walk out of the interrogation room, Arthur having resorted to casting Pertrificus Totalus (Petrification spell) and Wingardium Leviosa (Levitation Spell) in order to get his wife to actually accompany him.
While Amelia and the aurors sat in silence, waiting for Arthur to come back Ron was quietly freaking out. While he had realized that his actions with the car would be considered bad especially after he had gotten to Hogwarts, Ron had felt safe in the fact that he was an underage wizard protecting him from the worst of whatever punishment there would have been. The fact that his father had walk out and left him to the wolves, taking his mother who in the past had always made excuses of him being the baby and forgiving him any trouble he had gotten in, made Ron start to consider the seriousness that he was in. Still Ron felt if Harry had been in the car with him than he wouldn't be in this predicament. His Father stepping back into the room stopped the panic attack Ron was feeling, what Amelia Bones said next brought the panic right back, making him feel as though someone had thrown icy water over him.
"This is a preliminary examination of the destruction of the Great Hall ceiling which happened at Hogwarts this afternoon the first of September 1992; assumed defendant Ronald Bilius Weasley, to be questioned first among the relevant witnesses." Amelia took a breath and seeing the goblet of pumpkin juice to the right of her, picked it up and took a drink. Putting down her goblet she addressed the boy in front of her.
"Are you Ronald Weasley the youngest son of Arthur and Molly Weasley of Ottery St. Catchpole, Devon?" Amelia asked Ron.
Ron was still looking towards his parents, more so his mother, expecting them to get him out of the predicament he seemed to have gotten himself in. Unfortunately, he was quickly brought out of thinking that his parents would handle everything by his father.
"Ronald answer the woman's question." Arthur's quite, calm command made Ron jump in his chair and turn to look at the auror who was slightly frowning at him. Swallowing Ron gave a jerky nod.
"Please answer verbally for the records." Amelia instructed.
"Yes." Ron said in a small voice. Upon sensing her baby boy's nervousness Molly starting glaring at the other occupants of the room as she opened her mouth to tell them all what she thought of how deplorable they were treating her Ronnie. Unfortunately for her, but fortunately for everyone else's hearing, Arthur had the foresight to cast a wordless silencio (Silencing Charm) at Molly when she wasn't paying attention. By the look his wife shot him Arthur was aware that she was not pleased with him but right now his focus was seeing that his son answered for himself and his actions.
"And did you, earlier this morning, steal a illegally modified muggle automobile and use it to get to Hogwarts, causing no less than", and here Amelia referenced a piece of parchment that she had brought with her, "twenty-seven muggle at last check to report the sight of a flying auto to either the muggle auror's or the muggle new services, upon where you crashed into the ceiling of the Hogwarts great hall causing both structural and monetary damages which still have to be determined." Ignoring the groaning that her news caused Amelia stared at Ron waiting for an answers. Feeling put upon Ron's temper, unfortunately, got the best of him
"It's all Harry's fault, if perfect Potter had just agreed to taking the car to Hogwarts than you would all be lauding me for getting the Boy-Who-Lived to Hogwarts." Ron snarled, doing a fantastic impression of Severus Snape in the process, unfortunately his outburst caused Madame Bones to focus on something like a terrier with a bone.
"What does Harry Potter have to do with your destruction of the ancient Great Hall ceiling with a muggle auto?" Madame Bones asked puzzled by the sudden turn in the interrogation.
"Harry was with me when I decide that we should fly the car to Hogwarts, but the pansy didn't want to get into any more trouble after what the house-elf did to the muggles that he got blamed for, when I told him how we should get to school." Ron stated with a sneer, so caught up in his self-pity party that he didn't see the mingled looks of disgust, horror and sadness about how he was speaking about one of the most beloved people in wizarding Britain, not that he would have cared if he had, the mood Ron was in. After a few minutes trying to get her head around the youngest Weasley son's attempt to accuse the savior of the wizarding world for his troubles, Amelia jotted some notes down on the parchment she had brought with her, finishing that she refocused on the wizard in front of her and got back to business.
"Did Mr. Potter make any attempt to keep you from taking Arthur's modified car, or did he just stand to the side and let you precede with your plan after you voiced it?" Amelia asked, in order to get the facts straight. Ron's answer, while it cleared up who was responsible for egregious use of magic in front of numerous muggles, made Amelia wonder what Arthur and Molly were telling their children that lead to their youngest son behaving this way.
"No, the pansy, should've been an stinking Slytherin, just tried to keep me from getting to Hogwarts by grabbing my arm and telling me we needed to wait for mum and dad, like a Gryffindor waits around when there's action to be taken. Anyway, I got into dad's car and started flying here, once I got here the charms dad placed on it must have worn off and the car fell onto the ceiling of the Great Hall. Don't know why the car fell through the roof though, some stinking Slytherin must have messed with the charms on the ceiling." Ron finished his explanation, sat back as crossed his arms across his chest like he hadn't done anything wrong and was in the right about what happened.
Arthur sat and stared at his son with a look of horror, shock and sadness on his face, unable to believe that his son would act this way about anyone, not the least the boy who in losing his parents brought them all freedom from the tyranny and oppression of You-Know-Who and his followers, who was supposedly his youngest son's best friend. While still feeling somewhat annoyed that he had been fired, Arthur began to see it as a good thing given that being the parent who, for the immediate future, would be at home be the parent he could try to cure his youngest son of this entitlement complex he seemed to have. He was about to say something, in all honestly he wouldn't be sure if you asked him latter what he was going to say when there was a knock at the door to Albus office. With a look like she expected this Amelia replied.
"Come in." The head of the DMLE said. Upon hearing his boss speaking a tall black man draped in the traditional crimson robes of an auror open the door and stepped in. the auror noticed Arthur and gave him a respectful nod. Upon closer examination Arthur realized that the auror was Kingsley Shacklebolt, one of the premier aurors in the force, if he was at Hogwarts investigating this then the situation was much more serious than he had believed Arthur realized with dismay. As Arthur was coming to grips with his families' potential future Shacklebolt spoke.
"Upon our initial investigation of the ceiling of the Great Hall it does not appear that there has been any immediate tampering with the magic that protects the ceiling. That being said it does appear that the wards on the ceiling/roof of the Great Hall have either been significantly weaken over the years by someone or the wards that protect that part of Hogwarts have been allowed to lapse to the point that this was able to happen. I was told that if the wards were at full strength than the auto that young Mr. Weasley crashed through the ceiling would have come to rest on the roof of the Great Hall and someone would have probably have required a broom to go up and get him. This is the end of my preliminary report, if you have any other questions I will be in the Great Hall with the rest of the team." ,bowing Kingsley turned and walked out of the classroom that Amelia was using to return to the overseeing of the investigation/repair of the Great Hall roof.
After Shacklebolt finish delivering his report, Amelia turned to look at Ronald Weasley, to her shock, the boy didn't look remotely repentant after hearing what the consequences of his actions where. Wondering again about the way the Molly was raising her children Amelia turn to Kingsley and ordered him to do an extensive search.
"King, go to the Hogwarts ward room, check the state of the wards and of the ward stone. Once you have done that go to the ministry and get in contact with Philpott and have him check the enchantments that are monitoring Hogwarts, especially the ceiling." Not noticing Dumbledore's slight frown that someone could be monitoring Hogwarts for any reason without his permission Amelia continued.
"After you're done at the ministry, go by Gringotts and ask to speak to the goblins in charge of building and warding about fixing the Great Hall ceiling. Given what has happened today it certainly appears that the maintenance that should have been done on the ceiling wasn't kept up and as such Hogwarts could be looking at s bigger problem than just what happened today." Finishing her assignment to her subordinate Amelia turn back to Albus, smirking at the frown on his face. With the most sincere look on her face Amelia addressed the headmaster.
"Is something amiss Albus? I was just trying to help you fix the problem you have with The Great Hall in the most expedient manner possible. After all you still have this difficulty with young Ronald to hash out, not to mention your slightly delayed welcoming feast to prepare for. I would think that you would appreciate whatever help you could get to resolve these disturbances as quickly as possible." Amelia finish her statement with a look on her face that suggested that butter wouldn't melt in her mouth. Realizing that continuing in this direction would show him in a bad fashion, Albus made a note to repay Amelia, before turning his attention to young Ronald and the lad's parents sitting in front of his desk.
"It is my unfortunate task to tell you that the expense of repairs will be added to the costs of Ronald's tuition for the length of time he is a student here at Hogwarts by a factor of 15%, if that turns out to not be enough than the other children's tuition will be raised by 5% across the board, with further fines if the payments are not made in a timely fashion." Dumbledore stated to the surprise of almost everyone in the office, Molly especially had seen Dumbledore as a savior of the Weasley family she was shocked he was acting so cruelly to them. While Dumbledore was finished with 'disciplining' the Weasley parents he still has some punishment to deliver to Ron.
"Also, for the entire year, Ronald will be in nightly detention with our new DADA professor, Professor Lockheart, who has requested that any student assigned detentions be sent to him this year, unless he gets too busy, something that I don't have a problem granting." Having finished 'laying down the law' as it was for young Ronald and the rest of the Weasley's continued stay at Hogwarts, Albus sat back in his chair, crossed his hands over his stomach and look at the rest of the occupants of his office waiting for them to say something.
Molly was shocked by what Dumbledore had said; she had always seen the Headmaster as a guardian of the Weasley family. Especially after that business with the Malfoy family that had caused them to lose their family fortune, and manor. Hearing him act like her and Arthur were responsible for how Ronnie was acting; well, it was true that she sort of lost sight of Ron once she had given birth to Ginevra and somewhat allowed him to his own devices a little more than she probably should have, but there was no way to tell that he was going to do something like this. This was something that she thought she would have to look after the twins about not her baby Ronnie. Having the Headmaster treat her this way was the last straw of this horrid day, realizing that she made a decision.
"Children, gather up all of what you brought with you to Hogwarts, we will be leaving right away." Molly announced, not swayed by Percy falling on his knees in a position of pleading.
"Mother, please, this is my chance to get picked to be next year's Head Boy. If you pull us out of Hogwarts now the damage to my future at the Ministry could be unthinkable. Why I might have to get a job as an apprentice and work my way sideways." Suddenly a thought struck him that made him pale even more so than he already was.
"I might even have to join the Aurors!" Percy declared with a wail of horror, attracting a glare from Madame Bones, who in his horror Percy forgot was still in the room.
Now to understand Percy dislike of the Aurors you have to understand a little bit about the history of the Prewetts. Both of Molly brothers, during the first Voldemort War wanted to show that they weren't afraid of Voldie and signed up with the Aurors right out of Hogwarts. It was during a routine sweep of Diagon Alley that Gideon and Fabian came across Bellatrix LeStrange on a 'recruitment drive' i.e. threating various shop owners to fall in line with Voldemort's 'policy for a purer wizarding world'.
The battle between Molly's brothers and Bellatrix was the stuff legends were made of. It was said in the Aurors ranks, that Gideon and Fabian annihilated an entire battalion of You-Know-Who's force before being brought down by overwhelming force, right before their back up showed up as well. The Weasley's had to hide under the Fidelius Charm for the rest of the war after the dust clear from Gideon and Fabian's last stand.
Seeing as this happened mid-way through the 70's, during the tail end of You-Know-Who's rein, Molly wasn't able to see her children mix with 'proper' families due to the Weasley family being hidden under the Fidelius Charm during prime relationship building time for the children their age. This being one of the reasons Molly had felt that her two eldest children picked so poorly when it came to them choosing their careers. Something that it seemed Arthur's obsession with Muggles might lead Percival into as well. Molly scooped Percy up into her arms and clutching him tight to her like he was much younger than he actually was she set about to reassure him.
"There, there now Percy; mummy will make all of this turn out right, you'll see." Seeing that Percy seemed to be getting himself back together like a Gryffindor should, Molly reluctantly let him pull back from her. Conjuring a tissue, Molly set to work drying the tears that Percy cried while still reassuring her favorite son.
"Don't worry Percy, mummy gonna keep you right here under her wing, and make sure that everything turns out right for you. You're mothers going to check out all your girlfriends for you. And mamma won't let anyone dirty get through. Mamma's gonna wait up until you come in. She won't let you fly but she might let you sing. Mamma's gonna keep baby cozy and warm. And mamma will always find out where you've been. Mamma's gonna keep baby healthy and clean. Don't worry you'll always be mamma's baby." Molly finished comforting Percy and led him back to his chair.
After Amelia brought herself back from gawking in outrage shock at the relationship between Molly and her middle son she sent a stern glare at Auror trainee Nymphadora 'just call me Tonks' Tonks, who seemed to have started humming some song soon after Molly started to consoles her son. Given that Shacklebolt seemed to be internally debating between chastising Tonks and breaking down in helpless laughter Amelia felt it best if she took the matter in hand herself.
"Auror Trainee Tonks, please refrain from that distracting humming." Amelia chastised Tonks while shooting a glare at a snickering Shacklebolt which thankfully seemed to make him fall in line as well. Turning back to the Weasley family she addressed the still hyperventilating wizard.
"Percival, you don't have to worry about joining the Aurors," seeing the lad starting to look relieved Amelia spoke again, twisting the knife just so. "With this kind of mark against your family you'll probably have to look outside of Britain to find a job anyways." Ignoring the fainting Weasley matriarch and her bespectacled offspring, Amelia addressed Arthur.
"Ronald will have to come by the Ministry for follow up questioning, say tomorrow, afternoon tea?" Seeing Ronald struggling with no words coming out of his mouth Amelia glanced towards Arthur, who nodded. Smiling Amelia started to step through the floo before being interrupted by Severus Snape.
"What about Prince Potter, what's his punishment going to be?" Snape, who had come in with Shacklebolt, demanded, glowering at the son of his childhood enemy. Hearing Snape's demand Amelia wondered why Albus kept the Death Eater around. Brushing away her darker thoughts Amelia turned and addressed the Hogwarts Potions professor, trying to ignore the bizarre sight of Ronald Weasley, or any Weasley, in agreement with the Head of Slytherin.
"Why should we punish Harry? From our questioning it is clear he didn't have anything to do with Ronald's taking the auto to Hogwarts and destroying the school. In fact," here Amelia pull a scroll out of her robes, "from the interview he had with my aurors, Harry tried his best to stop Ronald from doing what he did today."
Hearing that Harry was apparently going to get away scot free was too much for Snape, faster than the aurors had anticipated, he had Harry out of his seat and press against a wall. With his left hand Snape dug around in his robe. With a look of triumph on his face the potions professor started to pull something out of his robe. Before Snape had gotten whatever it was out a shout of 'Stupify' had the professor slumped against Harry, who was still stuck, trapped against the wall.
"Could someone please get the professor off of me?!" Harry politely requested, well maybe not so politely. Still, Snape actions, towards him and anyone else not in Slytherin allowed for a bit of rudeness in Harry's book regardless of Mrs. Weasley or Dumbledore's beliefs to the contrary.
Soon after having said this Harry felt the weight of his potions professor being lifted off of him. A small part of him wondered if it was done with a Wingardium Leviosa, but Harry was too relieved to have the professor off of him to question the method by which it was done.
Amelia Bones was incensed, this 'reform Death Eater' was the kind of person that were allowed to call itself a professor and teach at Hogwarts. She had originally thought that her niece's complaints over the summer about the potions professor were just a girl having to come to grips with the fact that not everyone was going to like or get along with you. Now Amelia realized she should have paid more attention to Susan, and owed the girl an apology. Quickly calming herself down she turned to Shacklebolt.
"Please escort Professor Snape to an interview room at the Ministry, King." Amelia commanded Shacklebolt. Seeing the Auror and most likely former professor out of the office Amelia turn back around and lit into Dumbledore just as the man was opening his mouth to chastise her.
"What in Merlin's name are you doing here, Albus? Letting a professor, especially one with a criminal record, absolved or not", Amelia added, seeing Dumbledore opening his mouth to make the same excuse he always would whenever anyone had the gall to complain about Severus. "attack The-Boy-Who-Lived. If the result of our investigation into Severus' behavior over the years turn out the way I expect it to I would suggest that you start looking for replacement Potion teach immediately."
Having said this Amelia turned and left Albus to his business. The venerated Headmaster of Hogwarts slumped in his seat in dismay. First the ceiling of The Great Hall gets destroyed by the youngest sons of one of his biggest supporters, now his potion professor has been arrested. Did no one other than him understand that some 'difficulties' must be allowed for the greater good. On the bright side, hopefully this was the end of the difficulties this year; Albus thought to himself. Little did he know how much worse things were going to get.
A/N: Please review.