Thirty minutes later Minerva arrived with George and Lee. They were followed into the Hall by Kingsley and Auror Roberts. Minerva said, "I asked Kingsley to come so he can offer advice."
They had all read the article so Harry said, "I want to answer questions but I don't want Rita anywhere near me. I would much rather Lee do it."
"I would love to do it Harry." Lee said, "But I think we should have questions submitted from other sources. I'm so close to the story I may not ask the questions they want to know. Like I doubt I would ask any questions about the DA since I was part of it."
Harry was skeptical until Hermione said, "The more questions they get answered now the less they'll bug you in the future. I think we should have all the reports come to the Great Hall and listen to the interview and submit questions as you go. We can do the interview in another part of the castle and just run questions from the Hall to your interview."
Kingsley agreed that would be a workable solution, and they started making plans. When they decided a time they informed all the papers and the wireless.
A week later all was ready. Harry had discussed with Kingsley, the Weasleys and the Professors what he should say about Voldemort and his horcruxes. He thought he had a fair idea of what questions would be asked.
Lee sat up his equipment in an empty classroom out of site but not far from the Great Hall. There was enough space to have the most important people Harry wanted in the room with him. Likewise the Great Hall was set up with desks so that each reporter could write new questions and submit them to a ministry employee who would use the interoffice memo spell to send the question down the hall.
When they started Lee said, "Good afternoon everyone I am River and welcome to Potterwatch. For those you who have listened before welcome back. For those of you who have not let me introduce you to our show.
A few of my friends and I came up with the idea to distribute resistance information. We wanted the truth not what the other news sources were spouting from the Ministry. The idea was a bit scary because if Volde's people had found us we would never have had the chance to rot in Azkaban.
We each had a code name to protect ourselves. I went by River but my name is Lee Jordan. We had several friends of Potter contribute to the show. One was Royal, but his other name is Kingsley Shacklebolt, newly elected Minister of Magic. He is here with us today welcome Minister."
"Thank you Lee always good to be here." Kingsley said.
"Raven is also here, his other name is George Weasley. Welcome George." Lee continued.
"Thanks Lee. Good to be back." George said.
Lee continued, "We had two other regular contributors Romulus and Rapier. Unfortunately both died in the Battle for Hogwarts. They were Remus Lupin and Fred Weasley. We will now have a moment of silence for all those who died at the hands of Death Eaters and Voldemort."
After a few moments Lee continued, "Ok now to the show. Minister I understand you would like to start with an announcement about the demise of Voldemort."
"Yes I do." Kingsley said, "Voldemort's body was proven to be dead and has been tossed through the veil. The Auror department had never believed him fully gone because there was no body. But they believe it this time."
"That's lovely." Lee said, "Thank you Minister we all rejoice at this news. George do you have any news to add today?"
"Well as you know Lee, I have been devastated by Fred's death." George said, "I had considered closing the shop, but my silent partner refused to let me, thanks Harry. So I will be reopening probably at the beginning of August. Not sure exactly when, because I have a lot of cleanup and manufacturing to do."
"George does the words silent partner mean anything to you?" Lee chuckled.
"Of course it does." George smiled, "I only needed to thank my friend Harry for helping me get my head back on straight."
"Well speaking of Harry," Lee smiled, "we happen to have him here for the first time ever to Potterwatch. Welcome Harry Potter."
"Thanks Lee." Harry said, "I can't tell you how great it was to hear those familiar voices when we were on the run. We only got to hear it a few times last year, but it was a real boost when we were down."
"You're welcome." Lee laughed, "Now we have a few people you consider friends here with us today do you want to introduce them?"
"Well in addition to Minister Shacklebolt, you and George, " Harry said, "I have Professors McGonagall, Flitwick, Hagrid, Firenze and Sprout. And then Mr. and Mrs. Weasley along with Bill, Fleur, Charlie, and Percy, then Angelina Johnson, Katie Bell, Alicia Spinnet, Oliver Wood, Seamus Finnigan and Dean Thomas. And finally Neville Longbottom, Luna Lovegood, Hermione Granger, Ron Weasley, and Ginny Weasley."
"Quite a group of friends there Harry." Lee commented.
"I would have liked to have had the DA and the Order in here too but there wasn't enough room for everyone." Harry said.
"Yes that would have been an additional hundred people." Lee said, "What can you tell me about the DA and the Order?"
"The DA was a group of kids during my fifth year that took it upon themselves to learn Defense Against the Dark Arts." Harry said, "We started the group because Umbridge wouldn't let us use magic in DADA class. She said if you study hard enough you should do just fine on your OWLs and NEWTs. Hermione was the most furious, how could that woman expect us to pass our tests if we were never allowed to actually do the spells before we sat for the test. I don't know about you but I can't usually do a spell on the first try."
"Me either," Lee said, "so it was Hermione's idea, figures she isn't called the brightest witch of the age for no reason. So the group was started who attended and who taught it?"
"Well I taught it, and we had about thirty students, from Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Gryffindor, fourth through seventh years. We didn't invite any Slytherin's because we thought they were all for Voldemort's cause, which was wrong. Although I don't think any of them would have broken the rules to join us. And if they had it would have put them in a lot of danger from the kids who did support Voldemort." Harry then gave the entire list of names.
"So did they all fight in the Battle for Hogwarts?" Lee asked.
"Yes they did," Harry said, "even the two who were underage. Colin Creevey and Ginny Weasley. Unfortunately we lost Colin in the battle. I really didn't expect Colin and Ginny to fight but I didn't have a choice in it. Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil are still recovering in the Hospital. Terry Boot was released earlier today."
"Ok, if this was a DADA club why was it just called DA?" Lee said.
"Shortening it was a way of hiding what it was." Harry said, "But it was also a strike at Ex-Minister Fudge. He was accusing Professor Dumbledore of making an army of kids to take over the ministry, that's why Umbridge wouldn't let us learn anything. So we called it Dumbledore's Army."
"I loved that." Lee said, "Ok, so did it work? Did the students learn defense?"
"Yes," Harry said, "I don't know about the other years but we had the largest group ever to reach a level of E or better for the OWL."
"Well Angelina and I both got E's on our NEWTs." Lee said, "So I would say that's a yes. What about the Order?"
"The Order of Phoenix is an organization that was fighting Voldemort, or Tom Riddle as I prefer to call him." Harry said.
"Hold on a second Tom Riddle is Voldemort's real name?" Lee asked.
"Yes his name was Tom Marvolo Riddle." Harry replied, "He anagrammed that into 'I am Lord Voldemort'. I thought it was pretty stupid when he told me that in my second year but I guess he thought it sounded more impressive than Tom."
"Yes well I guess the Evil Dark Lord Tom doesn't have the same ring of threat to it." Lee said, "So the Order of the Phoenix fought him, was it filled with people who specialized in fighting dark wizards like Aurors?"
"No not really." Harry said, "I mean there were several Aurors in the group but there were also housewives, business men, professors and even Mundugus Fletcher. I don't think I knew everyone who was in the Order but Professor McGonagall would probably know."
"There is a list of Order Members on a plaque that has been set up in the Ministry Atrium," Kingsley said, "there is also a list of DA members and anyone else that fought in the battle."