Harry Potter and Voldemort's Champion.
Chapter 7. Harry and Hermione's fireside chat with the Boss.
04/12/17 beta alix33 thank you so much.
I don't own the Harry Potter verse. Just playing.
AN: Thank you for all of your kind reviews. It was nice for Severus Snape AKA Alan Rickman to play the good bad guy for once rather than the usual bad good guy.
It was less than twenty minutes later while Harry was still wrapped up in the arms of Hermione, when his scar flared up in an intense pain and he had a vision of the big black snake, Nagini, with a star picket through her head. Hermione kissed Harry's scar better and five minutes later it stopped hurting as if a distant fog had lifted from off his mind as though a presence had gone to sleep.
There was absolute Chaos in the Great Hall with two redheads furious at the Boy-Who-Lived for attacking the headmaster, ignoring the authority of the Ministry of Magic, disrespecting inviolable Pure-Blood traditions for certain death Tournaments, all that gold and eternal glory, and worse of all, using the V word. While a lot of the witches and wizards who had seen that the headmaster was about to attempt a mass obliviation on everyone, argued back at the very few diehard supporters of the headmaster who believed that he could do no wrong.
"He is Albus Dumbledore!" They said as if his name gave him a license to kill.
Harry was very thankful when the two angry Redheads had been silenced and bound before they could cause more trouble by the terrible twin Dumbledore mini-mes who showed their shock and awe at the prank Harry had pulled on Dumbledore. The absolute chaos continued until Madam Bones arrived with her elite squad of Aurors and took charge and Professor McGonagall was finally able to send the students to their common rooms.
All but one and his girlfriend, and their two best friends, Neville and Luna, who wouldn't abandon them.
Madam Bones decided to make the most of her first opportunity to talk to the Boy-Who-Lived without the headmaster interfering and allowed Harry's three friends to remain and support him as he was not in trouble, and it also gave her the chance to confirm whatever Harry said, by their reactions. They might leave something unsaid but they couldn't make something up without at least one of them giving it away. Plus she knew Neville's Grandmother would be there soon with the rest of the Board of Governors and would want to see if he was safe.
Madam Bones didn't use a Dicta Quill as the scratching might be distracting and she didn't need one as she had an eidetic memory. As head of the DMLE she had a lot of information to remember perfectly. She just gently chatted to Harry and Hermione for about fifteen minutes to gain their confidence and trust as the four of them sat on the couch next to one of the fireplaces in the corner of the Great Hall, with Hermione snuggled into his arms.
Hermione showed Madam Bones the piece of charmed parchment that had recorded who had entered their names in the Goblet of Fire.
Harry explained. "We knew that the headmaster was up to no good when he didn't remove my name from the Goblet of Fire."
Hermione pointed to the record of Barty Crouch junior's entry of Harry's name. "This particular entry was for a fourth school. So we knew that Harry's name would be the fourth name to come out of the Goblet of Fire."
Madam Bones read the record and when she came to the name of the wizard, she exclaimed. "Barty Crouch junior! Do you know..."
"Bloody hell, Barty Crouch junior?" Neville shouted, accidentally cutting off Madam Bones who put up some privacy wards. He hadn't seen Hermione's piece of parchment until then. "He was one of the Death Eaters who attacked my parents. Gran said he had died in Azkaban!"
"Oh, Neville, I am so sorry." Hermione apologised.
"We didn't show you the piece of parchment as we were hiding it from Ronald." Harry added. "He was getting suspicions, angry and jealous that I was spending too much time with Hermione."
"And I kept it hidden in my bed as we didn't want Ronald to ruin everything." Hermione explained.
"Thank you for understanding." Neville accepted their apology. "And you were right to hide this from Ronald."
"Yes he would have stopped us from checking on the headmaster and demanded we tell him everything." Harry supported Hermione's decision.
"And me!" Neville said and then added as he saw their confused expressions. "If you had shown me the parchment, I would have told my Gran and she would have ripped Dumbledore a new one."
"Oh?" Harry said.
"And that would have stopped you from exposing the headmaster in the Great Hall." Neville continued.
"Oh, okay Neville. There seems to be a lot I still don't understand about the magical world." Harry said annoyed. "I hated it when Ronald seemed to take pleasure in my ignorance."
"That's okay, Harry." Luna continued. "Neville and I can help you there. It seems like Ronald was planted by the headmaster to keep you isolated and ignorant."
Hermione gave a very unladylike snort. "I am looking forward to learning about the magical world and its actual traditions other than that all Slytherins are evil and don't say the 'V' word."
"Well it explains why Ronald had spent so much time talking to the portrait of Professor Eupraxia Mole in the Gryffindor common room when you weren't around." Neville said as Harry looked at Hermione.
"Professor Eupraxia Mole was Headmistress of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry when Dumbledore first arrived at Hogwarts as a student. She was replaced by headmaster Phineas Nigellus Black." Hermione explained. "I read that in."
"Hogwarts, a history!" They all said together and laughed.
"I have seen her portrait in the headmaster's office. She would know Dumbledore very well." Harry added. "So that is how the headmaster keeps tabs on me."
"Oh, the headmaster has all the portraits keeping tabs on you, Harry." Luna added. "They talked about you all the time."
"Oh?" Said Harry.
"Yes, they all said how boring the castle was before you came along."
"Oh?"
"How did you and Mr Ronald Weasley become friends?" Madam Bones asked Harry.
"Well, Hagrid forgot to tell me how to get onto Platform 9 ¾ and Mrs Weasley found me wandering around outside, she introduced me to Ronald and showed me how to go though the barrier. Ronald found me later on the train and he slid open the door of the compartment and came in. He asked, if anyone sitting there, pointing at the seat opposite me and said, everywhere else is full."
"Full?" Queried Hermione, Neville, Luna and Madam Bones.
Harry facepalmed himself as Neville, Luna and Madam Bones said. "The Hogwarts Express is enchanted to never be full."
"And there were empty compartments on both sides of your compartment." Hermione continued. "Our year was the smallest since World War Two."
"So our friendship started with a lie." Harry said sadly.
"Pretty much." Said Luna sadly.
"I should have known when he said he didn't like corned beef but still ate his mother's sandwiches after he had eaten all of my Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans, Drooble's Best Blowing Gum, Chocolate Frogs. Pumpkin Pasties, Cauldron Cakes, Licorice Wands, and a number of other strange things I had never seen in my life."
"Sound like you bought some of everything." Madam Bones said.
"Yes, I did. I didn't want to miss anything, so I got enough of everything to last me the school year as I didn't know if there was a shop at the castle." Harry explained. "But it only lasted Ronald for an hour."
"Oh, does he really eat that much?" Madam Bones asked quietly as the Harry and Neville nodded their heads while Hermione and Luna rolled their eyes.
"Oh?" Madam Bones said. "Now to clarify, Hagrid had your ticket?"
"Er, yes, but I don't want him to get into trouble." Harry said carefully.
"Hagrid won't get into trouble but it is usually Professors McGonagall, Flitwick or Sprout who visit the Muggleborns and do the introduction and orientation to the Magical World." Madam Bones explained.
"Introduction and orientation to the Magical World?" Harry wondered why he had missed out. "Hagrid was under the impression that my relatives would have told me, but they hate everything magical. He had my Gringotts key and took me shopping."
"Oh!" Madam bones said and asked a question after what Harry said about his relatives. "Do you have your Gringotts key?"
Harry shook his head. "No, Mrs Weasley asked for it so she could buy our things while we went to the Quidditch World Cup."
"And she hasn't given it back?" Madam Bones asked as Harry shook his head. "It is very important that only you hold on to your Gringotts key, Harry."
"Oh?"
Madam Bones made more notes. "And the Weasleys were outside the Muggleborn Entrance to Platform 9 ¾?"
"Er, yes."
"Waiting for you?"
"Oh?" Harry felt a fool. "I suppose Malfoy wouldn't use the Muggleborn Entrance."
"Not over his father's dead body." Neville replied as he realised how ignorant the Weasleys had kept Harry. "We just use the Floo network to go directly to the platform."
"Oh?"
"And once you had seen them use the Muggleborn Entrance, they had to keep using it in case you wised up." Luna added as Harry shook his head.
Madam Bones gave Harry a knowing look as she continued to make copious notes and then asked Harry and Hermione. "How did you two become friends?"
"I tried to befriend Harry from the beginning of first year, but Ronald kept me away until Harry saved me from the troll." Hermione said sadly as Madam Bones wrote down troll and underlined it.
"Why Harry?" Madam Bones asked.
Neville answered. "Hermione tried to befriend everyone, being new and all, but her lack of knowledge of the magical world, who was who, and all of our confusing our traditions made it hard for her, and Ronald was particularly nasty to her. Even more so than Draco."
Harry and Hermione smiled a thank you to their friend as Luna snuggled into the warmth of Neville's caring heart.
"Oh, er, by troll, are you referring to a large older student?" Madam Bones asked hopefully as they shook their head. She pinches the bridge of her nose and asked. "Oh, right. How big?"
Harry and Hermione looked at each other as they conversed with their eyes. Then Harry spoke. "I am not sure about its height, but I could just barely get my arms around its neck." And made a loop with his arms to show how big the troll's neck was.
"Oh, er. Neck?" Madam Bones was about to ask how Harry had measured the size of the troll's neck but decided to save that question for another time.
When Harry started to mumble an answer. "Er..." Mumble, mumble mumble.
Hermione chuckled. "What my bashful knight in shiny armour was trying to say, is that he charged the troll and grabbed hold of the club as it raised it up, and was lifted high enough to jump onto its shoulders and wrap his arms around its neck as he shoved his wand up its nose and blew its brains out through its ears with accidental magic. Then he stood on the troll's back as he rode it to the floor."
The last part Hermione said with a bit of dreamy admiration while Madam Bones looked again at Mr Potter.
"It was scaring Hermione." Harry mumbled.
"Then Harry reached out for my hand, to help me stand up and said; 'Come with me if you want to live.' so I did." Hermione said the last part in a deep voice as she and Luna put their hands to their heart and let out a big sigh, as Neville chuckled while Harry went red and mumbled something that sounded like, it was a cool line from a movie.
"Oh." Madam Bones said amused at the antics of the two witches. "That now makes perfect sense. You were very lucky of course."
Madam Bones made some notes and asked. "And you didn't go ask a professor for help?"
Their spontaneous laughter gave Madam Bones cause for concern that the four students thought asking a professor for help was a very funny joke.
Luna restarted the previous line of questions. "So, Ronald the mole got a job from the headmaster?"
"So it seems." Harry replied sadly.
"It is not your fault that Ronald has kept you isolated and ignorant of our history, Harry, and I agree that if you had told Ronald of your concerns about the headmaster, he would have ruined everything. His family is very tightly connected to Dumbledore." Neville added.
Neville turned directly to Harry. "And that stuffy old Ministry official that you dropped the 'V' bomb on, that was Barty Crouch junior's father, Bartemius Crouch senior. He is third rank in the Ministry after Madam Bones."
"Oh, dear!" Harry said slowly as he added another name to his list.
Madam Bones smiled as she watched the interaction with interest as she saw the concern and care between the four friends. Their view on Ronald Weasley and the family connection to the headmaster was another avenue for her to investigate later. Starting with Arthur and totally avoiding Molly. She could ask Arthur for Harry's Gringotts key and let him deal with Molly. That would give her a reason to see Harry again.
Madam Bones asked. "And how did Harry and Neville become friends?"
"Oh, like Hermione, I tried to befriend everyone but Ronald pushed me away as I don't particularly like Wizard chess, Quidditch or Football for that matter. I like plants; they are so peaceful and always do their best to enjoy life." Neville explained.
Luna continued. "Neville and I met in the Forbidden Forest, he was looking for exotic magical plants and I was looking for exotic magical creatures." She smiled at the memory of their first meeting and pointed to Neville as he was the most exotic magical creature she had ever found. Madam Bones, Harry and Hermione smiled as they got the joke. "We just clicked looking for the exotic."
"Neville was always friendly and ready to help. I just didn't realise that Ronald was keeping you away." Harry continued sadly and then brighten up. "While Luna is a little ray of sunshine."
Hermione continued with a smile. "She brightens the day."
"Okay, thank you for that." Madam Bones said as she noticed the smile on the little blonde witch and it made her think of a warm summer day. The same bright smile her Susan had before she lost her parents. She grinned as she tried to bring the discussion back on point. "Neville is right, Barty Crouch junior died in Azkaban." And she remembers that it was not long after her very ill friend and Barty's mother had also passed away. What a coincidence?
"It was the headmaster's Age-Line that detected Barty junior's magical signature." Luna reasoned. "And it would have cross-checked with the register kept by Hogwarts. So it most definitely was him."
"And everyone thinks Voldemort is dead." Hermione added.
"And everyone thinks Peter Pettigrew is dead too!" Harry threw in.
Madam Bones made a note about Voldemort and then asked carefully as this might just be the missing clue to Sirius Black's innocence. "You know about Peter Pettigrew?"
"Yes." Harry said disgustingly. "He was a friend of my parents and an Animagus who hid as a common garden rat with the Weasleys since 1981. He was Percy's pet first and then Ronald's. Ronald kept the rat in our dorm for three years and complained about it continually. The rat was revealed that night when Sirius Black was caught and er, escaped. Peter is a marked Death Eater and admitted to being my parents' Secret-Keeper. He was the one who betrayed my parents and led Voldemort directly to them, then framed Sirius for murdering all those unfortunate muggles, and faked his death."
"We told the headmaster and Minister Fudge that night, but the Minister wouldn't listen to us." Hermione said disappointedly. "And the headmaster said that there is not a shred of proof to support Black's story, except our word — and the word of two thirteen-year-old wizards will not convince anybody. Oh?"
Hermione had just realised that the headmaster had completely discounted her word as a witch and a muggleborn.
"But there was proof!" Luna injected as everyone turned to her. "Sirius Black did not kill Harry when he was at his mercy. He didn't harm anyone including professor Snape. In fact they were all returning to the castle when the Dementors attacked." Thoughtfully leaving out the bit about a wolf.
"All year we were told that Sirius was trying to get to Harry to murder him." Neville said. "That was why the Minister forced the Board to have Dementors surrounding the school."
"Yes, Minister Fudge is still driving everything to have Sirius Black kissed." Madam Bones added. "And very good reasoning, Miss Luna Lovegood. That should have been enough proof to stop the execution and start an investigation." Luna smiled.
"Oh?" Harry and Hermione said and Hermione continued. "That is so obvious now and Minister Fudge couldn't claim we were confunded alive."
Harry continued. "Dumbledore said he believed us, but he focused on the negative side of the situation. That Sirius has not acted like an innocent man. The attack on the Fat Lady — entering Gryffindor Tower with a knife — without Pettigrew, alive or dead, we have no chance of overturning Sirius's sentence."
"And that the headmaster had no power to make other men see the truth, or to overrule the Minister of Magic." Hermione added and it was Madam Bones' turn to laugh.
"Sorry." Madam Bones calmed herself. "But Albus Dumbledore is the most Machiavellian Manipulator I have had the misfortune to ever cross paths with. The sheeple believe his word as god. It was his word and his word alone that saved his Potions professor from Azkaban and any punishment for his crimes. While the headmaster of Hogwarts could have granted Sirius sanctuary in the castle." She paused to let that settle. "The headmaster of Hogwarts couldn't overrule the Minister of Magic. But if the Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot had any doubts, it would be his duty to investigate. So if the most senior Ministry legal official, Albus Dumbledore, wanted to free Sirius Black, he only had to say the word."
"Oh?" Hermione said as she reviewed in her mind what happened that night. "We were in the hospital ward and trying to convince the Minister of Sirius's innocence while professor Snape gave a plausible explanation that damned Sirius. The argument was getting heated while the headmaster didn't say a word and Madam Pomfrey was trying to calm things down when the headmaster then said he wanted to speak to Harry and I alone and stopped the argument cold."
"Oh? Did the headmaster speak platitudes about the sanctity of life and demand that Sirius be returned to Azkaban unharmed like he did for the worst of the murdering Death Eaters?"
Harry and Hermione shook their heads.
"Did the headmaster claim that Sirius was innocent?"
"No, he hadn't said anything, it was mainly professor Snape talking to the Minister about some award for the capture of Sirius when we told him that Sirius was innocent and it was Peter Pettigrew who had betrayed Harry's parents."
"Oh, the headmaster just let you two protest Sirius's innocence?"
"Er yes, and Ronald added a bit about Peter being his rat which seemed to confuse the Minister. But after we had mentioned Peter Pettigrew, the headmaster just said he wanted to speak to us and just sent the Minister, professor Snape and Madam Pomfrey, away like recalcitrant children. They weren't happy but they obeyed." She turned to Madam Bones. "You are right, if the headmaster wanted Sirius free he only had to say the word and it was his word back in 1981 that damn Sirius to Azkaban."
Madam Bones smiled and acknowledged the reasoned support. "And the headmaster didn't say the word for Sirius that night."
"No, he didn't say anything to the Minister that supported Sirius. He just shooed them away like they were naughty children." Harry said in wonder. "The Minister, professor Snape and even the scary Madam of Pain."
Madam Bones chuckled at the reference to her friend. "And Sirius escaped?"
"Er yes. The Minister was most upset that he would lose all that positive publicity but professor Snape was absolutely furious that Sirius wasn't kissed, while the headmaster was calm and pleased with himself."
Hermione thoughtfully added. "It was as if the headmaster had succeeded in getting what he wanted while the Minister, professor Snape and Sirius were completely blocked from getting what they wanted or needed." She turned to Harry. "And the headmaster may have disappointed professor Snape but Sirius was still trapped out in the cold."
"Oh, I wonder what the headmaster has on professor Snape to be able to control him like that. He was absolutely furious." Harry said from his painful knowledge of how bullies operated.
"That is the master Machiavellian Manipulator in action." Madam Bones shook her head in frustration. "The headmaster controlled the wards of Hogwarts and while everyone was in the Hospital ward, he could have unlocked the dungeon and allow Sirius to accidentally escape."
"Er, Sirius wasn't in the dungeons." Harry said.
"Oh?" Madam Bones said getting interested.
"Sirius was locked in Professor Flitwick's office on the seventh floor. Thirteenth window from the right of the West Tower." Hermione added automatically.
"Oh?" Madam Bones said as she thought about the detailed answer. "Did the headmaster expect Sirius to just fly away?"
"Er, yes." Harry said uncomfortably.
"Would you suspect the headmaster was involved in Sirius's escape?" Hermione asked carefully.
"Oh, please, that escape has Dumbledore written all over it." Madam Bones chuckled. "Sirius was captured outside the castle and taken up seven floors to the West Tower instead of the dungeons. All he would have to do was distract the Minister by bringing everyone to the Hospital ward, the Minister would love to get a photo of himself with you, then the next day's headline would be; Minister Fudge saves Harry Potter from Sirius Black. Then headmaster would remotely unlock the office with a thought command to the wards of Hogwarts, send a house-elf with a school broom and goodbye Sirius."
"Oh?" Harry and Hermione said feeling a little like they had been used by the headmaster.
"Sirius would be alive but still trapped just as effectively as if he had never left Azkaban." Madam Bones finished as she carefully watch these two. It was obvious that they knew a lot about Sirius's escape. So she added. "While the headmaster was unperturbed by the events, Minister Fudge was most upset that a dangerous criminal had escaped along with a Hippogriff earlier that evening and then the Dementors tried to kiss the Boy-Who-Lived. To block any chance of the Daily Prophet from getting any details, the Minister declared the official secrets act and blocked any investigation by my department."
"Third time!" Harry said.
"Excuse me?" Madam Bones asked.
"That was the third time that the Dementors tried to kiss Harry." Hermione explained. "On the Hogwarts Express, during the Gryffindor Hufflepuff Quidditch match and that night Sirius escaped."
"Damn bloody fools!" Madam Bones cursed as she made more notes. "I am so sorry, Harry, I could have ordered the Dementors back to Azkaban if I had known."
"Oh?" Then Hermione turned to Harry. With a glance they communicated that the headmaster could have easily done what Madam Bones suggested, but instead he deliberately had exposed two third year students to extreme grave danger as he broke about a dozen rules and laws to send them back out into the forbidden forest to save Buckbeak and Sirius. Knowing that there were hundreds of Dementors, a vicious crazy werewolf and a very dangerous Death Eater out there. They realised that the headmaster only wanted to spare Sirius from being executed. But not to completely save him and certainly not to free him, and he had manipulated them to do so. Harry shook his head disgusted that the headmaster had so wilfully put Hermione in such terrible danger. But he realised that the manipulative headmaster had trapped them in their silence as he couldn't say anything as that would reveal Hermione's misuse of the Time-Turner and their part in Sirius' escape.
Madam Bones watched the non-verbal communication between the two, so far she had noted that Sirius had indeed flown away and the headmaster didn't want Peter Pettigrew discussed or investigated. After all it was the headmaster who pushed for Pettigrew to be posthumously awarded the Order of Merlin instead of the Potters or their son. She looked up while Neville and Luna tried to explain what Harry and Hermione were doing.
"Yeah, they do that all the time." Neville said.
"And it leaves out all the juicy bits." Luna added disappointed.
"But it saves a lot of time."
"Particularly when Ronald is around."
"Yeah, he really hates it."
"And demands to know."
"What they were talking about."
"But they only give him a very brief summary."
"Which just makes him angrier."
"His head is full of Wrackspurts."
"Oh!" Said Madam Bones knowingly as she made a note, and getting a warm smile from the blonde but she was starting to get a sore neck as she turned back to Harry and Hermione.
"You know what Wrackspurts are?" Asked Hermione.
"It's an ongoing investigation and no clue can be overlooked." Madam Bones smirked with a non answer. "But Miss Lovegood is correct in assuming that something is not right with Mr Weasley or Professor Snape and I do hear a lot of very creative language. I just make a note and wait for it to be explained."
"Oh?" Said Luna with a smile. "A Wrackspurts, they're invisible. They float in through your ears and make your brain go fuzzy, I thought I felt hundreds zooming around in the Great Hall tonight."
"Oh. The headmaster has a similar effect on a lot of people." Madam Bones said as she made a note as Luna agreed.
Madam Bones looked at Harry and Hermione with a questioning eye to encourage them to divulge what they had discussed with their eyes.
"Sirius is my godfather and wanted me to live with him. I would be free of Durzkaban and the headmaster wouldn't be able to insist I go back there, and I wouldn't have to be a burden on the Weasleys." Harry said very disappointed.
"Oh?" Madam Bones said as she realised that she had been given a very brief summary but more importantly she had been given the missing link to Sirius Black's freedom. She noted that the Weasleys and the headmaster were also involved. "The headmaster has always said that Sirius Black was the Secret-Keeper who betrayed your parents. It was the headmaster's word that got Sirius sent straight to Azkaban without a trial."
"Oh?" Harry asked as he recalled what the headmaster had said. "He told us that he gave evidence to the Ministry that Sirius had been the Potters' Secret-Keeper."
"Had been the Potters' Secret-Keeper." Hermione added carefully. "Which was true, but Sirius had not been the last Potters' Secret-Keeper."
"Oh? Any change of a Secret-Keeper would automatically require the secret to be shared again." Madam Bones explained. "So he would have known that the Secret-Keeper had been changed and you know that the headmaster would demand to know who to."
"Oh?" Harry said and then asked. "So he knew all along?"
Madam Bones nodded sadly.
Harry pinched the bridge of his nose. "What has the headmaster said lately?"
"Nothing about Sirius Black, he hasn't interfered or said anything which is most unlike him as he loves to interfere in everything, while Minister Fudge has pushed the order, to have Sirius kissed, on to the back burner. And the headmaster has hidden behind the Minister's gag order, because, as the Chief Warlock, it should have been his duty to have Sirius Black completely investigated if he had any doubts, let alone knew he was guiltless for all those years. He has kept silent about the fact that Sirius wasn't the Secret-Keeper nor had he said that Sirius was innocent." Madam Bones replied a little disgusted with the great leader of the light and how easily the manipulator gets his way, while she hoped Hermione and Harry would get the hint to not be silent and insist on an investigation into the mysterious case of missing godfather if there was a new Chief Warlock soon. "What is Durzkaban?"
"Er, the headmaster insists that I live with my, er, relatives, the Dursleys, my mother's sister is aunt Petunia Dursley." Harry explained. "And Azkaban has Dementors."
"Oh, but to compare your relatives with Dementors?" Madam Bones asked concerned.
Harry shrugged his shoulders. "I have been close up and personal with both, the Dursleys and the Dementors, but I understand that they actually have to feed you in Azkaban."
"Oh!." Madam Bones was beginning to understand why the four students thought asking a professor for help was such a joke, and more importantly, why Mr Potter didn't hesitate to use his wand against the headmaster to protect Hermione. She made some more notes and then added.
"I have always found that one needs to listen very carefully to what the headmaster actually says. If Sirius is your ticket to get out of this Durzkaban, then maybe the headmaster wants to keep you there, and therefore he will find any excuse not to help Sirius win his freedom."
"He certainly insisted I stay there, each time I have asked." Harry said and then realised what Madam Bones had meant. He gave a grim smile. "Oh! Suddenly, I don't feel so bad about disarming the headmaster."
"Me too." Hermione said slowly. "It is such a pity that the headmaster may not be able to do his duty as Chief Warlock."
Madam Bones smiled as she agreed and then made a note to ask for a copy of the memory of Mr Potter disarming the headmaster, and then added a second note remind her to ask more about Durzkaban later as she brought the interview back to the piece of parchment.
Madam Bones continued. "So, the headmaster was aware that Barty junior was alive and had entered your name?"
"Yes, for a fourth school, St. Brutus's Secure Center for Incurably Criminal Boys." Harry replied. "That is the same school that the Dursleys tell everyone that I have gone to."
Madam Bones nodded and noted as Hermione added. "And confunded the Goblet to accept the forth school."
Luna continued. "Which was a very dangerous thing to do on such a powerful ancient magical artefact, and totally unnecessary."
"Unnecessary?"
"Yes, a powerful Confundus curse wouldn't have worked on the engraved ancient runes contained in such a powerful ancient magical artefact, and Luna had spotted that the configuration of the ancient runes on the Goblet of Fire had been already set to allow for four schools before Barty junior entered Harry's name." Hermione explained.
"Oh!" Madam Bones wondered who had reset the configuration of the Goblet of Fire.
"So, when the headmaster caught the fourth name, we already had a plan and Harry had executed it brilliantly. He had confronted the headmaster about his Age-Line and as expected the pet Death Eater ran interference to protect his master." Hermione summarised.
Harry continued. "While I felt the telltale sign of a compulsion curse to force me to do what the headmaster wanted. I was so angry that I stuck to my guns and gave a reasoned explanation as to why this was all Dumbledore's fault as I stared down the obtuse Potions master. Then I saw something changed, and Sna." Hermione gave Harry a correcting glare as it was important to make a good impression on Madam Bones. "Er, Professor Snape, looked at me as if he was seeing me for the first time. Then I felt a full-blown Imperius curse from the headmaster that he had wandlessly cast on me to try and force me to do what he wanted."
"An Imperius curse?" A surprised Madam Bones questioned. "Do you know what an Imperius curse feels like?"
"Yeah, it feels like the most wonderful awareness. I felt a floating sensation as every thought and worry in my head was gently wiped away, leaving nothing but a vague, untraceable happiness. I could stand there feeling immensely relaxed, only dimly aware of everyone watching me. And then I heard the headmaster's voice, echoing in some distant chamber of my empty brain: Be silent and follow his directions. It was for the Greater Good." Harry answered the shocked Head of the DMLE.
"How? Where were you exposed to the Imperius Curse?" Madam Bones demanded.
"Professor Moody told us that the headmaster wanted us taught what it feels like." Hermione answered. "Professor Moody put the Imperius Curse on each of us in turn, to demonstrate its power and to see whether they could resist its effects."
"Everyone? Fourteen year old? Underage children?" Madam Bones questioned careful not to over react as they all nodded.
The Alastor Moody she knew was a very tough Auror but he would never use that terrible Unforgivable curse on a child. She turned to see Poppy was caring for the old Auror on the floor near the Goblet of Fire. Someone had used a dark paralysing curse on her former mentor and no one had been able to remove it. Next to the Auror was the headmaster. Poppy had told her that Dumbledore had made her swear an unbreakable oath to always treat him in Hogwarts and to never send him to St Mungo's. The force at which the headmaster hit the stone wall had broken every bone in his body and Poppy was keeping him alive with the Draught of Living Death as it will take weeks to painfully regrow each bone. She noticed that the headmaster was closest to the large fire and she smirked as she thought how toasty he would be and that he should be getting used to it, if she could send him directly there. She turned back to the four students.
"All of fourth year that we know."
"Including my Susan?"
"Yes. She gave a great rendition of the Frank Sinatra song 'My Way'."
"She did?"
"Yes."
"That would be very UN-Hufflepuff of her."
"She sang it brilliantly."
"Damned headmaster!"
"Professor Moody got our classmates to do the most extraordinary things under its influence. He ordered Draco Malfoy to say the word; 'rhubarb', instead of the words; 'my, father, hears and the 'M' word'." Hermione said.
As Harry continued. "Malfoy went red and cursed. 'When rhubarb rhubarb rhubarb this! Stop laughing you rhubarb!'" As they all laugh because the boy couldn't express himself without using those words.
Madam Bones could imagine how the little miscreant would react from what her Susan had told her about the Slytherin bully.
Hermione continued. "Dean Thomas hopped three times around the room, singing the national anthem. Lavender Brown imitated a squirrel. Neville performed a series of quite astonishing gymnastics he would certainly not have been capable of in his normal state."
"Neville?" Madam Bones questioned as the boy blushed.
"Yes."
"Your Gran would be furious if she found out." Madam Bones said to the boy as the young blonde wrapped her arms tighter around him.
"Not one of them seemed to be able to fight off the curse, and each of them recovered only when professor Moody had removed it. Except for Ronald." Hermione continued.
"Ronald Weasley?"
"Yeah, he had run from the classroom before the professor could lifted the curse." Harry explained.
"The professor had used the Imperius Curse to force him to say that he loved Slytherins, use a knife and fork, and to skip very second step. Ronald refused to go anywhere near the professor to have the curse removed." Hermione added annoyed that Ronald was such a coward.
Neville continued the sad tale of the cursed Ronald. "And his mother was furious when she found out that her ickle Ronniekins had eaten with a knife and fork from the Slytherin House Table, and was still skipping every second step a week later. She tried to send professor Moody a howler but he blew it up."
"Harry was to only one who could fight the curse and throw it off." Hermione said proudly.
"Professor Moody wanted me to jump onto the desk." Harry explained. "I started to bend my knees obediently, preparing to jump, when another voice in the back of my head asked, 'why, though?' 'It was a stupid thing to do, really.' Moody tried again to order me to jump onto the desk, when the other voice said, 'No, I don't think I will, thanks,' and a little more firmly. 'no, I don't really want to.' "
"Then professor Moody yelled at Harry to 'jump! NOW!' " Hermione explained. "And Harry sort of jumped and not jumped at the same time."
"Yeah, I ended up hitting the desk with my knees." Harry said as he rubbed his still bruised knees.
"Professor Moody did it four times until Harry could throw the curse off." Hermione continued.
"What! Four times! In less than an hour?"
"In less than fifteen minutes! But as I had learnt how to fight the curse, it made it easier to identify and resist the headmaster's Imperius Curse." Harry explained to a very angry Madam Bones. "The headmaster's curse was far stronger than the one Professor Moody had done and the headmaster was casting it wandlessly and silently beckoning with just his hands."
"But My Harry was still able to throw off the terrible curse." Hermione continued before Madam Bones got any angrier. "Then that Ministry official tried to add his two Knuts' worth and tried to force Harry to compete just because he said so. We came up with plan 'V', to spook the Ministry by using the 'V' word and declaring the fourth champion would be Voldemort's Champion. And if the ministry continued to argue that, they would push Harry into an undignified impossible position of being Voldemort's Champion."
"Then unexpectedly Professor Snape cut off Dumbledore's move to force his will, and dropped the clanger about the headmaster trying to set me up to face a dragon, and pandemonium erupted as all the adults started to yell at the headmaster." Harry smiled happily remembering the adults confronting Dumbledore. "I saw the headmaster get very angry, and draw out his famous wand. Instinctively I drew my own, and when I heard the start of the Memory Curse, I quickly screamed the Disarming Hex with everything I had as I pointed my wand at the headmaster."
"Harry caught the famous wand as the headmaster went cartwheeling into the back wall of the Great Hall, and the brilliant shower of tiny stars felt all over us as the wand spoke in our minds." Hermione continued. "And you saw the pandemonium that erupted until you arrived."
Madam Bones was livid after Harry explained how he could detect and resist the compulsion hex and the Imperius Curse after Professor Moody's lesson on the three Unforgivables. She was shocked to discover that the headmaster could cast a wandless Imperius Curse at Harry in a crowd Great Hall, but that explained how the Chief Warlock got his way in the Wizengamot. She asked for a memory of the event as she wanted to see if she could feel the wandless Imperius curse being cast by the headmaster, but really she just wanted to watch the old manipulative fool go cartwheeling into the wall.
But something clicked in Madam Bones' mind and she asked. "How did you know the headmaster was going to cast the Memory Charm?"
"Well, at the end of second year, Ginny Weasley had been taken into the Chamber of Secrets. Hermione had worked out what Slytherin's monster was, and we had worked out where the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets could be, and Ronald thought it would be a good idea to take professor Lockhart with us." Harry started to explained. "In the tunnels under the school, professor Lockhart stole Ronald's broken wand and revealed that he was a fraud. That his stories were the work of others and he had used the memory charm to steal their stories. He wanted to obliviate me and Ronald and make his next story about how he discovered the Chamber of Secrets."
"Oh, and he stole Ronald's wand?" Madam Bones had already worked out that Lockhart was a fraud. She used his books as punishment, er, encouragement for underachieving trainees to read between the lines.
"Er, well the other Professors had assigned professor Lockhart the task to find and save Ginny, but he was actually running away and he had to be er, encouraged to go and rescue Ginny at first, and er, lost his wand." Harry put it delicately. "But he used Ronald's broken wand and the memory curse backfired and blew away his own memories. I didn't want that to happen to my friends."
"And the headmaster sent him to St Mungo's without any investigation?" Madam Bones concluded.
The four students shrugged their shoulders.
Madam Bones made some more notes and then looked up and said one word. "Voldemort?"
"Oh, him." Harry relied. "He escaped in his Wraithmort form after professor Quirrell died. His real name is Tom Marvolo Riddle and his Lord Voldemort is just an anagram of his real name. I had a dream about him during summer."
Madam Bones had been quickly writing notes but looked up when Harry mentioned a dream which stopped him. "Go on."
"Er, he was in a big old room with a fireplace, the carpet was rotting as was the furniture. Wormtail er, Peter Pettigrew was there caring for him as was his snake Nagini, and an old muggle whom he murdered. They were discussing plans to remake his body which involved killing me."
"Oh, and you have had dreams about Voldemort before?"
"Er, yes and my scar hurts when he is nearby or extremely happy or angry."
"Oh, have you heard the name Nagini before?"
"No, but that was what he called his familiar snake."
"Anything else?" Madam Bones asked as she made some notes. The dream could be true as only high ranking Death Eaters knew the name of Voldemort's familiar.
"Er, no, wait a minute, there was a witch that recognised Wormtail and had given them a lot of information about some events happening this year that brought Voldemort back to England."
"Oh, do you remember the name of this witch?" Madam Bones ask getting very interested.
"Er, she worked for the Ministry of Magic and her name was, er, Bertha Jorkins."
'Bingo!' Thought Madam Bones. There was no way Mr Potter would have known that name. She calmed herself and then asked. "Bertha Jorkins?"
"Yes, Wormtail found her in a wayside inn and Voldemort searched her mind for information and destroyed it so they killed her." Harry said sadly.
Madam Bones was sad to hear of another murder by Voldemort, she knew of Bertha, the biggest gossip in the Ministry. "Voldemort doesn't have a body?"
Harry looked at Hermione, he had not told anyone this but she nodded to encourage Harry to speak. "Er, not an adult body, it looked like a big ugly baby. It could move its arms and cast magic with his wand but the legs and feet were deformed and it was wrapped up in a blanket."
"Oh?" Madam Bones said as Hermione eyed Harry to remind him of the vision he got this night.
"Oh, yes. I got another rather painful vision earlier tonight shortly after Dumbledore was stopped. Nagini was killed by a star picket through the head. Hermione kissed my scar better and five minutes later it stopped hurting as if a distant fog had lifted from off my mind as though a presence had gone to sleep." Harry said and hoped that meant something to her.
"Oh? A star picket?"
"It is a steel stake with three sides star shaped and about eight feet long with a pointy end. Muggles use them as poles in fences to support the barbed wire strands." Harry explained as both Madam Bones and Neville had never seen one.
"So one would be effective in killing a snake?"
"Absolutely lethal in killing anything even if you got the blunt end." Harry said.
"Your scar has hurt you often?"
"It really started to hurt when I first came to Hogwarts but that was because Voldemort was nearby possessing professor Quirrell. It has hurt when Voldemort is near or extremely angry or happy."
"Happy?"
"He likes to plan and scheme like Dumbledore, and sometimes something works or he is using the Cruciatus curse. He really loves that curse and it really cheers him up. He got Wormtail a couple of times over the summer." Harry replied as if discussing the weather.
"Was he extremely happy tonight?"
"Er no, he was extremely angry when Nagini died."
"Oh! When we have a moment soon, I would like to have your scar checked out."
Madam Bones made some more notes, wrote down 'Scar', 'Nagini was killed by a star picket through the head', 'sleep' and 'no Cruciatus' and underlined those words. She was about to send Harry, Hermione, Neville and Luna to their dorm when Minister Fudge and his Undersecretary Madam Umbridge arrived fashionably late with a lot of noise and pomp, just in time to see Professor Moody change into Barty Crouch junior as he lost his magic to a flaming fist that came out of the Goblet of Fire. Fudge had junior immediately kissed by one of the Dementors bodyguards he brought with him, much to the anger of Madam Bones, Barty's father and the other adults, while Madam Umbridge demanded that they kiss Potter as well, as it was all his fault for defying the Ministry of Magic.
It was a very tense moment in the Great Hall as all the Aurors looked to Madam Bones for orders. She shook her head. "Mr Potter has not committed any crime."
"But Amelia, the Minister needs to be seen doing something." The toad said sickly.
"He has already done something to Barty Crouch junior before I had a chance to question him!" Madam Bones fired back in disgust, while Fudge was desperately thinking of something to separate the two witches before Dolores pushed the wrong button and got ripped to shreds. Fudge had learnt his lesson to never underestimate Madam Bones.
But Dolores and Harry was saved when a Patronus message charm from the warden of Azkaban arrived for Madam Bones, that stated that Azkaban was being attacked by Death Eaters.
Minister Fudge ordered. "Madam Bones, you will be remaining at Hogwarts, while I and Undersecretary Umbridge leave to save Azkaban. This is obviously the work of Sirius Black! Aurors to me!"
The Aurors looked to Madam Bones who signalled which Aurors were to go with the Minister. Fudge was annoyed that the Auror didn't immediately respond to him while Undersecretary Umbridge was furious that the Aurors were ruining Cornelius' moment of eternal glory.
"Stay safe!" She said as they left the Great Hall. The squad of Aurors Madam Bones had brought with her was her elite squad who were fiercely loyal to her alone and were the best Aurors in the DMLE and contained the biggest, ugliest and toughest wizards and witches that had been personally selected and trained by Alastor Moody. Behind her back they called themselves; 'The Boss' Immortals'. They marched way and understood that Madam Bones' order to stay safe, meant don't let the idiot get you killed.
Madam Bones sent a Patronus Message charm to order her second elite squad to come to Hogwarts and to send all available Aurors to reinforce Azkaban.
Madam Bones excused Harry, Hermione, Neville and Luna and they were escorted from the Great Hall by a young Auror with hot pink hair, and returned to the Gryffindor common room only to be confronted by a very angry redhead who was upset that Harry hadn't told his best friend how he entered his name into the Goblet of Fire. Harry was about to respond when Hermione stepped past him and after a few choice words, socked the foul loathsome evil cockroach, crushing his nose and sent him flying into the soft stone wall as the rest of Gryffindor cheered.
Harry turned to Hermione as she looked down at the cockroach.
"That felt really good!" Hermione said quietly to herself as she rubbed her knuckles.
"And you might have knocked some sense into him!" Harry added hopefully as he kissed her knuckles and made them better.
"Not bloody likely." Snorted Neville as Luna nodded in agreement as she said.
"Wrackspurts!"
The four of them found a quiet spot on the couch by the fire. With Hermione in his arms, Harry had never been so happy. The only thing missing was Padfoot. He would have loved to have seen the pandemonium his pup had caused.
- Harry Potter and Voldemort's Champion. -
Thank you for reading.
