Chapter Ten
Filch was in a bad mood. But then again, when was he not. However, this bad mood was brought on by the sounds of spells being fired off in one of the hallways. Whoever it was, he promised to himself that he would see them hanging by their thumbs before the day was out. Even if Dumbledore refused.
As he drew closer to the hall were the spells were coming from, the sounds grew louder and louder until he finally rounded the corner where it was taking place.
"Now see here," he started to say, but then quickly ducked when one of the spells hit the wall just a few feet to his left.
"Come on Snivellus, is that the best you got?" taunted James. "Or have the years of sitting on your arse dulled your so called dueling skills."
"Or perhaps I am toying with you," Snape said. "Because when I wish to hit you, you will know it."
"Is that so?" asked James, who sent a bludgeoning hex at his nemesis, who easily deflected it with a shield and sending it smashing into a suit of armor.
Filch, who had taken cover around the corner of the hall, peeked out to see what was going on. Children he could handle, but not to grown wizards. Especially when one of them was a professor.
"Right," he said as he ducked back. "Didn't see it. Someone else's problem."
And with that, he took off running to the opposite side of the castle where there was surely a first year he could intimidate as the sounds of spell fire echoed behind him.
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Dumbledore yawned as he sat behind his desk, contemplating if he should take a short nap until dinner as he had been awake since yesterday morning. And while he could take a Pepper-Up potion, he had already drank two of them earlier to get him through the day. There was no chance that Madam Pomfrey would give him a third. He could have asked Snape for one, but with the mood the potions master was in after learning of the Potter's return… Dumbledore felt it best to let the man have a bit of space.
Just as he had decided that a nap was his best course of action, practically hearing his bed calling to him to rest his head on his oh so comfy pillow, the blank portrait reserved for occupants of other portraits around the castle to come and inform him of a emergencies was suddenly filled with six different painted witches and wizards, all of whom were trying to talk at once.
"Please, please, one at a time," Dumbledore said as he held up his hands to get them to quiet down.
"Headmaster," one of the wizards said. "Professor Snape is dueling a strange man in the third floor corridor."
All of the others in the portrait nodded and confirmed what the first had said.
"Tell me, did this man have glasses and messy black hair?" Dumbledore asked, and the painted witches and wizards said yes.
"Oh bother," Dumbledore said, realizing that his nap would have to wait.
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Amelia entered the school and made her way towards the Headmaster's office with a purpose. That purpose was to find out what Dumbledore knew about the return of James and Lily Potter and to have him put her in touch with them.
She was just starting to ascend the Grand Staircase when the sound of spell fire reached her ears. Years of training and experience instantly told her these weren't stinging hex's and jelly leg jinx's. They were spells designed to hurt.
Pulling out her wand, Amelia rushed up the stairs, running into Albus as she passed the second floor.
"Madam Bones," Dumbledore said as they ran up the stairs together. "To what do I owe the pleasure of your visiting the school? Nothing wrong with your niece I hope?"
Amelia ignored his question, which in fact raised a question of her own. How could he act so calm when it sounded like a duel to the death was taking place within the school he was trusted to run and keep safe?
Just as they were about to reach the third floor, where the duel was obviously taking place, the staircase they were on started to shift and extend, making it so it now led up to the forth floor.
"My apologies," Dumbledore said. "But as you know, these stairs have a mind of their own."
Amelia was about to say something quite unpleasant about the stairs when someone else spoke.
"Just the man I wanted to see," Lily said as she stormed up the stairs towards Dumbledore.
Amelia's eyes went wide, causing her monocle to fall out, as she looked upon the face of someone she had not seen in many years.
"Lily?" Amelia asked, having trouble believing her own eyes.
"Amelia," Lily said, not taking her eyes off of Dumbledore. "You sir, have a lot to answer for."
"I do?" asked Dumbledore.
"Oh, you better believe you do," Lily said. "I just finished talking to Hermione about her suspicions regarding my son's life living with my sister. Not to mention everything that has happened in this school for the last three years."
"What do you mean?" asked Amelia. "What happened?"
"Perhaps now is not the best of times," Dumbledore said as he gestured to where the sounds of spells were coming from.
"Well, since we're not going anywhere for the moment, it seems like the best of times to me," Amelia said. "Now what events are you referring to?"
"I'm talking about a professor possessed by the shade of Voldemort trying to kill my son in his first year," Lily said. "While he was trying to get his hands on the Philosopher's Stone, which you were keeping hidden within the castle."
"You kept a level eight magical object in a school full of children?" Amelia asked. "The Flamel's had special permission from the Ministry to keep it within their possession with the understanding that it would go right to the Department of Mystery once they decided to pass away."
"Yes, well…" Dumbledore started to say.
"Oh, that's not the worst of it," Lily said. "Did you know that in Harry's second year, someone located and opened the Chamber of Secrets?"
"I heard of the rumors from my niece, but figured it was just that… A rumor," said Amelia.
"Not a rumor," said Lily. "And not the first time it was opened. As a teenager, Voldemort found and opened it, unleashing the monster within, which killed a student. I've been told Hagrid took the blame for it."
"But if You-Know-Who opened it then, who opened it two years ago?" asked Amelia.
"It seemed Voldemort imprinted himself into a diary," said Lily. "A diary which later landed in the hands of a student, which then possessed said student and used their body to open the chamber again… Unleashing a fully grown basilisk. And guess who ended up in a situation where he was forced to deal with the basilisk?"
"Harry," Amelia said, though finding it hard to believe that a twelve year old boy had survived an encounter with such a deadly and dangerous creature. Yet, she knew he was still alive, and based on the look on Dumbledore's face, what Lily was saying was true.
"Tell me Albus, why did you not inform the Department of Magical Law Enforcement of a level five class creature?" she asked.
"I did not know what it was until after Harry had slayed it," Dumbledore said. "I figured since it was already dead, there was no point bothering the Ministry with it."
"I see," Amelia said in a cold, clipped tone. Though while she was mad at Dumbledore, she was also mad at herself for not putting more stock into the rumors her niece had told her about. "Anything else I should know about?"
Dumbledore sighed and said, "Last year, the dementors that the Ministry demanded be placed here attacked Harry on three separate occasions."
"Those dementors were here to protect the school from Sirius Black," said Amelia, defending the Ministries decision to place them at Hogwarts.
"Who was innocent," Lily said.
"Innocent?" asked Amelia. "But everyone knows he betrayed your family to You-Know-Who, not to mention killing Peter Pettigrew and a dozen muggles."
"I don't know anything about what he may or may not have done to Peter and those muggles," Lily said. "But I can tell you that he played no part in betraying us."
"But he was your secret keeper," Amelia said.
"No, he wasn't," said Lily. "It was a lie to protect the real secret keeper… Peter."
After so many years working within the DMLE, very little surprised Amelia. This was one of the rare moments that did.
"Are you telling me that he was innocent of one of the crimes he was accused of?" Amelia asked. "Why didn't this come out during his trial?"
"That's a very good question," said Lily. "Albus, would you like to tell her, or should I?"
Amelia looked at Dumbledore, who had gone quite pale.
"Well, you see," he started to say, when suddenly the stairs started to move back towards the third floor. "This will have to wait."
Dumbledore didn't even wait for the stairs to stop as he leapt up onto the third floor landing and took off towards where the sounds of the duel were coming from.
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James and Snape were moving back and forth as they each dodged the others spells.
"Come on Snivellus," said James. "I know you got better than that in your arsenal. Why are you holding back? Afraid someone will find out the truth about you?"
"I fear nothing," spat Snape. "Especially not from you."
"Is that so?" James asked with a smirk. "What about your daddy?"
Snape froze in his tracks for a second as what James had said sunk in. He never had told anyone about his father. No one, except for Lily.
"Yeah," said James. "That's right. Lily told me all about it in our seventh year in order to get me to go easy on you with our pranks. Said that you had enough to deal with at home during the summer, you didn't need it here as well… Didn't you ever wonder why I stopped pranking you during our last year here?"
Snape was now breathing heavily as his rage boiled over inside him. The one person he had ever truly trusted in his life had betrayed him. Betrayed him to his worst enemy. The irony wasn't entirely lost on him.
"CRUCIO!" Snape shouted as he pointed his wand at James, who instantly fell to the floor as he felt a million burning needles stab every nerve in his body, his wand slipping from his hand and rolling across the floor.
"What's the matter Potter?" Snape asked. "No pithy comeback? No cocky little smirk? No…"
Snape suddenly collapsed to the floor, unconscious and his spell ending.
Ten feet away, Amelia stood with her wand trained on the potions master.
Lily rushed past her and over to her husband, where she quickly dropped to her knees and held him close.
"Albus," Amelia said as she kept her eyes and wand trained on Snape, just incase. "I seriously think you and I need to have a little talk about what the fuck is going on in this school."
"I think you're right," Dumbledore said in a defeated tone.
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Dumbledore sat behind his desk as Amelia paced back and forth in front of it, while an unconscious and bound Snape sat on the floor in the corner.
"I don't know where to begin," Amelia said. "I mean, leaving the savior of our world with an abusive family? Not reporting crimes happening within this school? Or how about not informing me the moment two people who claimed to be James and Lily Potter showed up? I had to learn about it from a notice from Gringotts for Merlin's sake."
"Things happened so fast last night…" Dumbledore started to say.
"Right now, I don't care about your excuses as to why you didn't floo call me," Amelia said. "Do you understand how huge this is? The parents of the Boy-Who-Lived have returned from the dead. When word gets out, people are going to go nuts. And the press… I honestly worry what Skeeter will write. You know how blindly some follow her articles like gospel. From Merlin's lips to her quill. All it will take is one little mention of the possibility of them being brought back by dark magic and the masses will be demanding that the two of them be put through the veil."
"You're right," Dumbledore said. "But what's done is done."
"In regards to the Potter's yes," said Amelia. "But not about what has happened in this school."
"The Board of Governors were kept abreast of the goings on…" Dumbledore started to say when Amelia cut him off.
"I don't give two fairy farts about the Board of Governors," Amelia said. "Those self serving arses don't care about the school or the children. They only care about the prestige their position gives their already bloated egos. You know that as well as I do."
Of course Dumbledore knew that. It was why he had only informed them instead of the Ministry. If the Ministry had gotten wind of what had happened within the school, he would have been sacked before Harry had gotten out of the hospital wing at the end of his first year. However, he needed to stay at the school in order to protect the students from Voldemort, should he ever gain himself a new body.
"So," Amelia said. "Are you going to tell me the truth, or am I going to have to add a second passenger when I return to the DMLE?"
She glanced over at Snape. As much as Dumbledore didn't want to lose his 'ace in the hole', should Voldemort return, there really was nothing he could do since the man had been caught using an unforgivable. With a sigh, he knew there was really only one option left available to him. Tell her everything and hope she believed him enough to help when the time came.
"Voldemort is still alive," he said.
"I know," answered Amelia, which surprised Dumbledore.
"You know?" he asked. "How?"
"Please, Albus," she said as she finally sat down in one of the chairs in front of his desk. "I'm not a fool. I've spent my life dealing with dark witches and wizards since I left school. And him… He was the worst. Killed countless families, including all of my own save Susan, because I was a thorn in his side. I was on the front lines of the war. Seen him do amazing, yet horrifically terrible things. There is no way someone as powerful as He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named was completely defeated by a child still in nappies."
"I see," said Dumbledore.
"Plus, I checked the Ministry death certificates," Amelia said. "There were only two recorded deaths in Godric's Hallow that night, and those people are currently in your hospital wing."
Dumbledore couldn't help but let slip a small smile at that. Leave it to Amelia Bones to continue an investigation while all others considered the matter closed and were celebrating.
"So now that you know that I know," said Amelia. "Where does that leave us?"
"Hopefully working together," said Dumbledore. "I believe he is in the process of trying to gain himself a new body, and I believe the tournament is part of his plan."
"I take it you believe that Harry Potter's name coming out of the Goblet is part of that plan as well?" she asked.
"I do," said Dumbledore. "However, the question still remains as to who had done it?"
"I'll tell you my guess," Amelia said as she looked over at Snape.
"I do not believe Severus was behind it," Dumbledore said. "He might have no love for anyone carrying to Potter name, save Lily. But there are two things preventing him from doing anything that would cause or lead to harm befalling Harry."
"And what's that?" Amelia asked.
"First is a life debt he owed James," Dumbledore said. "The night he died, that debt was passed on to Harry."
"And the second?" she asked.
"An oath he swore the night Lily died," he said.
Amelia thought about it for a moment before she said, "Alright… So he's not involved with that. However, I still will have to bring him in for his use of an unforgivable."
"I know," Dumbledore said. "And it saddens me that he allowed his school years grudge against James to grow, even when he was still dead, and allowing it to reach the point it did. However, what's done is done. There is really nothing more I can do for him."
"Now, before we move on with what has been happening here and what is going on with the tournament, I need to know about James and Lily," Amelia said.
"Such as?" Dumbledore asked.
"Such as, how the bloody hell are they alive?" Amelia asked.
"Magic," Dumbledore.
"You know, I can easily change my mind about dragging you to the Ministry and tossing you into a holding cell," Amelia pointed out.
"Madam Bones, I am very serious," Dumbledore said. He then went on to tell her everything Harry had told him about the old woman and the wishing stone.
"Interesting," Amelia said. "I'll need to talk to my contact in the Department of Mysteries. He might have some kind of record of who that old woman was. And if not, he should at least have something about the magic involved with this wishing stone. While I trust the goblins about them really being James and Lily, I would feel much better knowing who and what exactly brought them back to life."
"I agree," Dumbledore said.
"Now, on to the matters of Sirius Black's innocence," Amelia said.
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Dozens of reporters were gathered in the atrium of the Ministry of Magic, waiting for the Minister, who had summoned them all with the promise of an amazing announcement. Most of them figured it was in regards to the Tri-Wizard Tournament. And a few of them even hoped that the ban on the press being on the school grounds had been lifted. Others suspected that the Ministry was about to announce that they had finally captured Sirius Black.
They were all about to find out just how wrong they were.
Cornelius Fudge approached the podium after his Senior Under-Secretary made one final check that he was presentable. It just wouldn't do for someone of his position to have even a single hair out of place after all.
"Thank you all for coming," Fudge said as a few camera flashes went off. "Today I bring you news of the most joyful sort. As you all know, last night was the thirteenth year anniversary of the defeat of You-Know-Who, but also the anniversary of the deaths of James and Lily Potter. Both of whom courageously gave their lives to protect their son and allowed him to defeat one of the darkest wizards our world has even known. However, late last night that has changed. And through confirmation by the goblin nation of Gringotts, I can say to you all that James and Lily Potter have returned from the land beyond."
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A/N: Not much to really say on this chapter. I kind of feel like I've written myself into a corner. I want to move on with the story and get to the tournament and the other stuff that happens throughout the year, but I've written so much about other things, I need to deal with them first before I can move on. Oh well, I'll figure it out. And don't worry, I won't allow it to affect the posting schedule. Chapters will be posted on time every other Monday as usual.
Next chapter… A confrontation between houses.