Chapter 3
As the grey light of dawn peeked above the horizon on the morning of November 1st, the activity in the area around Main Street, Godric's Hollow had only increased during the night. Red robed Aurors contained the scene and obliviated the muggles of the events of that fateful Halloween.
Chief Detective Inspector Pennifold surveyed the scene as the muggle repellent wards were finally activated over the area. From the corner of his eye he noticed the Auror in charge of the crime scene, DI Mcgowan heading his way.
"Initial report Mcgowan?"
"Sir, it appears that the perpetrator erected anti-apparition and anti-portkey wards before attacking the original wards around the house, from what the MEA can determine the wards were shattered after 2 or 3 pure magic bombardments. There are also traces of another ward that seems to have broken afterwards separately from the rest. Unspeakables from the MEA department are already trying to determine what all the wards were, but are tentatively leaning towards the ward being a Fidelius charm that broke upon victim 1's death. It then appears that the perp entered the house via the front door before being confronted by victim 1. The only magical residue in the hallway is that of the perp's and the MEA were able to easily identify the Killing Curse as cause of death.
"Victim 2 clearly ran upstairs during the time victim 1 confronted the perp, probably hoping to escape via apparation but was stopped by the perp's wards. The perp clearly followed victim 2 into what appears to be a nursery, again victim 2 was struck down by what the MEA believe is a Killing Curse but the magical residue in the room is too strong to say for certain at this stage.
"What happened then is almost a complete unknown but we've seen the results; an ash pile is all that's left of the perp after the largest magical backlash the MEA have recorded, and an intact but empty cot.
"The victims are identified as Lord James Potter and his wife Lady Lily. An Unspeakable expert on Magical Signatures has identified the perp's magical signature as that that has been identified as belonging to the current Dark Lord. There was also 1 identifiable trace of magic, belonging to Hit Wizard Black, apparating from the nursery. There are other traces of magic but they are too small to be positively identified."
Pennifold nodded; "Have Sirius Black found, that's a priority one order. There's a child missing in all this, and we need to get this investigation concluded before Politics get involved. Take a squad of 5 and follow the apparition trail, if that's a dead end you have the authorisation to use any means available to track Black and discover what has happened to the child."
Under the streets of London, within the bowels of the hidden Ministry of Magic, order was called for among the attendants of the emergency Wizengamot meeting. Presiding over events was Chief Warlock Albus Dumbledore, a tall, thin, elderly man, shrouded in a robe of purple, that depicted his membership of the ruling body of the British Magical community. Even for the early time of the meeting, Dumbledore's long white hair and beard were tidy and with the half-moon glasses perched upon his nose, half hiding twinkling blue eyes, he was the perfect image of wise grandfather, someone to respect and trust. Many were fooled by this image, those who were not fooled remembered the intelligence that the man possessed, and how for, someone who claimed to want no part in leading the country, had many positions of power and influence, especially over the younger generations. But no matter what his de-criers tried, there seemed no way to prove Dumbledore's underhanded tactics or ulterior motives, as there was not even a whisper of something to darken his shining reputation. Even those with the knowledge could find no evidence and without evidence of irrefutable wrong doing Dumbledore's followers would ruin the reputation of the accuser.
Today Dumbledore was planning to gain control of the prophecy child, to be able to mould them into a weapon against the return of Voldemort, a weapon that only Dumbledore would be able to control, and when the weapons use was finished, well, it was hardly Dumbledore's fault that the Dark Lord managed to corrupt the child and that they obviously needed to be dealt with for the safety of the rest of the community. And wouldn't Dumbledore be heartbroken at the loss of his only 'apprentice', his 'protégé', to the dark side, but wasn't it fortunate that the weapon left everything from the Potter line to use for the 'betterment of the magical world', and by magical world Dumbledore means Wizards, and by Wizards Dumbledore means one wizard, himself.
Yes Dumbledore had everything planned out, now only to get the sheep 'ahem' other Lords to agree with his way of thinking and then everything else will fall into place.
Dumbledore brought his gavel down, the sound being magically enhanced to be heard no matter the volume level of the Wizengamot chambers; "I call this emergency session of the Wizengamot to session. This session has been called to deal with the aftermath of the current Dark Lord, Voldemort's defeat by the child of the Potters."
Shudders ran through the members of the gallery as they heard the name of the Dark Lord, many flinching, others looked around quickly as if they expected the Dark Lord to appear, just from the mention of his name.
"Now, now there is no longer any need to react to his name as this meeting has been called to discuss and arrange appropriate actions to help us recover from this war. For example the placement of the Potter Heir needs proper consideration as the security measures needed to protect the child are only one consideration."
Dumbledore drew breath to speak again when the entrance doors to the chambers were thrown open and Chief Inspector Owen Morgan strode into the chambers.
"Members of the Wizengamot, on behalf of the Investigation Department, of which I head, I must interrupt this meeting in order to gain a special disposition for the truth serum, Veritaserum for use on Hit Wizard Black, the Heir presumptive to the Black family, as soon as he has be captured, so that we may discover what has happened to the missing Potter heir."
Silence filled the chamber once for but a second before Chief Inspector Morgan was assaulted with a wall of sound. Unintelligible shouts and demands, some upset at the thought of forcing a Pure blood heir to take Veritaserum, something that the laws of the Wizengamot forbid, more demanding that the child be found. None seemed to reach Dumbledore as he felt his plans starting to unravel. Sirius Black could not be questioned under Veritaserum, as he would clear his own name, and discredit claims Dumbledore had made about having no knowledge of the Potter's protections. If Sirius Black was cleared than he would be forced to hand over the Potter child and the weapon would slip out of his control. This had to be stopped, but Dumbledore could not work out how he was going to stop it.
AN: The DMLE has 2 sections: Law enforcement, consisting of the everyday Auror all the way up to the more Elite Hit Wizards. And the Investigative Department which consists of 2 departments itself, the detective Inspectors and the MCSA, Magical Crime Scene Analysis, think CSI, with the department of MEA Magical Evidence Analysis mostly staffed by Unspeakables studying magical criminology.
