Chapter Eleven – Back to the Atrium Wednesday 24 July

As Albus was walking to the great hall for breakfast he reflected on the last few weeks. Much had happened. The magical wards surrounding Privet Drive somehow degraded and were breached, causing the destruction of the Dursleys. The hatchling phoenix daughter of Fawkes met Harry and started the journey towards a lifelong relationship. Harry had been taken in by Amelia Bones and appeared to be having a pleasant summer holiday.

Things were active at the ministry. In an inspired move, Minister Scrimgeour stripped the Malfoys of their fortune. Then, of their own doing, the Malfoy family imploded. Lucius got himself killed and young Draco made poor choices and would soon find himself in prison for the rest of his life.

Vincent Crabbe and Greggory Goyle also got themselves killed in a failed attempt to assassinate Amelia Bones. Finally Severus Snape was killed in a failed attempt to abduct Ollivander.

Voldemort certainly wasn't sitting still for the month, nor did Dumbledore have any illusions that he wouldn't try again. He was relieved that Amelia had accepted his suggestion that a hit wizard be stationed at her home for the remainder of the summer.

Dumbledore had not felt well for the last several days and hoped that the dizziness and headaches that he'd been experiencing were merely the result of the last few days of rainy weather. Hopefully the forecasted week of sunny and hot weather would improve his health.

He started to read his morning mail as he ate. The trials for the Death Eaters had finally been scheduled enmass, to begin in two weeks. He was certain that Amelia would be at the top of her game preparing for what was likely to be a well-funded defense. He noticed that the trial of Draco was scheduled for the morning of Monday 5 August, two days before the others.

He glanced up and saw that Minerva and Poppy were busy chatting away as they came down to eat. "Good morning ladies, how are you both?"

"We're fine, Albus," replied Poppy. "Haven't you looked through your mail yet?"

"I was just doing that, Poppy. Is there something that I should notice?"

"Albus," remarked Minerva in a bit of frustration, "look at the letter from Becky Abbott. It will be the best event of the summer."

Dumbledore found the envelope in question and opened the letter. His eyes gave an extra twinkle as he finished reading it. He replied, "It does sound like a fine time. Is there any indication who else was invited?"

Poppy replied, "Hagrid, Pomona and Filius were invited, as well as most of the Hufflepuff and Gryffindor upperclassmen. I also understand that there were some others from the defense club that Potter started last year. I had the chance to firecall Becky this morning. She's invited a few people from the ministry, Remus, the Grangers, the Weasleys, Tom and Nob from the Leaky Cauldron and a few of the students from Beaubattons that they met during the Triwizard tournament."

Dumbledore nodded and replied, "It sounds like a splendid day. I'll go early and be back in time to allow the rest of you to enjoy the afternoon and evening at the event."

Poppy carefully looked at Dumbledore for a moment, saw something that she didn't like in his eyes, and asked, "Not to change the subject, Albus, but maybe you should stop up and see me this afternoon. Have you been feeling well lately?"

"I haven't been at the top of my game of late," admitted Dumbledore. "Would three p.m. be convenient?"

Poppy nodded and went back to talking with Minerva again. Seventy-year-old women were rarely invited to birthday parties for famous young men, and there were things to plan. Without question, it would be the wizarding social event of the summer.

… --- …

Back at Welshpool, Amelia and Harry were finishing breakfast. She said, "Thank you for suggesting that Susan do some training with Michelle. I know I have the habit of still seeing her as a first year, and in these times, everyone needs to know how to take care of themselves."

Harry nodded and asked, "Did she get a use of magic permit too."

Amelia replied, "Yes. They're really not that hard for a sixteen-year-old witch to get. You just need to fill out the proper form, have your parent or guardian sign it and send in ten Galleons for a background check." She choose not to tell him that the usual reason was so the young witch could cast contraceptive charms on herself.

Harry nodded, and replied, "That's good. They never mentioned any of the different forms at school."

Amelia was thoughtful for a moment and replied, "I suppose not. It's just assumed that parents would advise their children as needed."

Harry replied, "But the muggleborn witches and wizards can't get that kind of advice from their parents. They wouldn't know anything about it."

"I suppose that you're right Harry, but I really can't see Hermione Granger's parents coaching her on how to apparate."

Surprised, Harry asked, "How do you know her?"

Amelia replied, "I only know the name, really. She and Susan have taken Arithmancy together. They have owled each other a few times in the last few summers, and I saw her name on the Auror reports regarding the Death Eater raid at the department of mysteries. We spoke for perhaps half of a minute that night." She took a sip of her tea and said, "Harry, I wanted to ask you a few other things if that was all right?"

Harry replied, "Sure. What's first?"

"Are you all right with Minister Scrimgeour putting on his little dog and pony show this Saturday in the atrium?"

Harry nodded and replied, "Yes. He told me that he had awards to give to some other people, and if I accepted mine, they would get theirs. I'm fairly certain that it will come out in the Daily Prophet that "Harry Potter and several unnamed witches and wizards received recognition awards for their part in what-ever." To answer your question, its fine with me."

"Okay. Secondly, you mentioned in passing several actions taken by Delores Umbridge last year that were clearly illegal. The administration of veritaserum without authority is prohibited and is a felony. The use of a blood quill as you described it would be a misdemeanor. However it sounded like there were multiple occurrences both with you and with other students. Is that true?"

Harry replied, "Yes. Professor McGonagall records a log of all detentions given. It would list all of the dates if that would be helpful. Also, Umbridge told me that she sent those dementors after me last summer while she was in front of a half-dozen other people. She also committed offenses against Hagrid and Professor McGonagall."

Amelia replied, "I know Harry, and I'm not minimizing them, but her actions against you will be the easiest to prosecute. I want her removed from her position and put in a situation where she can never harm a young witch or wizard again."

Harry replied, "I understand. How can I help?"

"Connie will come by tomorrow and take a deposition from you and then get one from Professor McGonagall. That should be the extent of your involvement."

"Okay. What else?"

"I was going to ask you what career advice have you ever received, or what plans have you considered after you finish at Hogwarts?"

Harry replied, "I sort of had a discussion with Professor McGonagall, but Umbridge told me that I'd never get any sort of position. To be honest, I really don't know that much about what most witches or wizards do. One of Ron's brothers watches after dragons, another is a cursebreaker for Gringotts. The twins started a joke shop. Michelle's brother plays quidditch. Tonks is an Auror, Madam Pomfrey is a healer, Luna's dad runs a newspaper and Professor McGonagall is a teacher. Those are really all of the professions that I know of. Beyond that, I have the Voldemort thing to worry about."

She didn't comment about the "Voldemort thing," as he put it but said, "Lets frame it in muggle terms – you can open a business or you can work for someone else. You can also work for the ministry. There are jobs in healthcare, education, banking, or the research of spells. You could be a wealthy bounty hunter if Scrimgeour keeps his program up. You could become a storyteller like Lockhart. The only difference is your adventures could be filed under the non-fiction section. You should check into your family vault first, Harry. You might need to get working almost as soon as you finish school, or you might never need to work a day on your life."

Harry replied, "I don't really understand. Sirius left me something, but I haven't checked into it. I've been to my vault. It's number 687. I checked and it has fourteen thousand galleons in it. That's nice, but it doesn't sound like a fortune."

"True, "replied Amelia, "but we'll use the Bones family as an example. When Susan's parents were murdered, they had their personal vault that Susan inherited. Her parents were so young at the time that they hadn't yet set up a school vault for Susan, so she didn't have her own. The Bones family vault is currently controlled by myself as the head of this branch of the family. In the event of my death, she would stand to inherit it. The Bones family never had the wealth that some of the families do, but like most of the wizarding world, we own sections of land."

Smidgen handed Harry a small tray of biscuits and a butterbeer. Harry thanked the little elf, and Amelia continued, "Based on the vault number, the vault that you are accessing most likely is your school vault. Dumbledore mentioned your family vault as being part of the Potter trust. The reason I bring it up Harry is so you make informed decisions for the rest of your schooling at Hogwarts and beyond. In all probability, you don't need to work as a bounty hunter simply for the money or as an Auror simply because it pays better than an equivalent position in another ministry position. You may want to sign up for the estate management elective class at school, or you may decide to become the defense instructor because it interests you. My point is that you have good skills, a good name, some family money and literally thousands of options to choose from. I would be happy to help you in whatever direction you should choose."

Grateful at her words, Harry replied, "Thank you Amelia, very much. It's situations like this where having parents or a godfather would have come in handy. I really do appreciate your advice. Is there anything else you want to talk about right now?"

"Just a handful of topics for right now, first, regarding the trials for the Death Eaters, you and your other school friends will be the primary witnesses. They are being charged with three basic sets of crimes – being marked Death Eaters, illegal entry into a restricted ministry area, and assault on innocents or in some cases resisting arrest if they dueled any of the Aurors. If any of them fired unforegiveables, they will be charged with those crimes as well. Connie and Anna have run the spell checkers on the various wands that we collected. Several of the wands had signatures, so it will be easy enough to track who they belonged to. We can infer that each Death Eater had at least one wand."

Harry asked, "Why not simply use fingerprints?"

"I would, but they have never been made admissible in wizarding court. That's another needed change at the Wizengamot, but back to the subject. Naturally, you will end up being one of the key witnesses. The lead prosecutor in this case will be me. The trials will be enmass, meaning that since they are interrelated, they will be held simultaneously. The accused will have their individual charges read to them one at a time. They will have the opportunity to respond to each of the individual charges. Collective testimony will be given by yourself, Neville Longbottom, Connie, Tonks and Moody."

Harry asked, "What about the others?"

She replied, "They will be available. Their depositions will be admitted as part of the body of evidence. They will be available for cross-examination. Ideally we'll be able to keep their photos out of the Daily Prophet. We'll talk more about this later, but I wanted to give you an overview of the process."

"One question back; why Neville? Why not Hermione?"

"Several reasons. He was still standing at the end of the battle. Our evidence photos show him quite bloodied up and he has a good reputation among the Wizengamot members."

"But Hermione was hurt the worst."

"True, but the young lady would probably not wish to have a photo of her scar displayed on the front page of the Daily Prophet."

It took Harry a moment to picture Amelia's meaning, his face grew red and he replied, "Right. Was there was something else that you wanted to ask about?"

She looked at his unruly hair, smiled and suggested, "Harry, I have at least a million questions for you. Let's not count. This prophecy that you heard; let me ask you a question which you may not have considered. Do you even believe it to be true?"

"I'm not sure. I suppose half of the point is that Riddle believes it. He murdered my parents over it and Sirius died because of it."

Just then Michelle walked in and said, "Susan is resting right now, Mr. Potter. Did you want to try the simulator again?"

Harry nodded and asked, "Did you also bring the solicitor pensieve?"

"Yes. Would you like me to bring it in?"

"Please. Amelia, I think you and Susan might want to see this too."

She came back in a minute later with Susan, who looked exhausted. When she had set it up Harry said, Michelle and I were talking about shields and dodging spells yesterday. I saw an interesting shield spell and I thought that you all might want to see it. He pulled the memory from his head and carefully looped it into the dish. It was the battle between Dumbledore and Riddle from the atrium.

None of them had personally seen more than a glimpse of the duel. Harry showed them what happened, beginning with Dumbledore animating the statues to block the killing curses that Riddle was throwing at Harry to the fire whips. Dumbledore sent a particularly powerful hex at Riddle who had created the brass shield that deflected the hex with a rather loud clang. Harry was about to stop the memory, but Amelia said, "Wait Harry. Let it play."

They watched in horror as Riddle had possessed Harry who uttered the words, "Kill us, Dumbledore." Harry remembered the blinding pain and remembered thinking about Sirius. Suddenly, Riddle's body jerked and he grabbed Bellatrix and activated a portkey to quickly get away.

Amelia said, "Michelle, what you saw and have heard is never to leave this room. Is that clear?"

"Yes, Director."

"Harry, what did you do that made him leave so quickly? He obviously wasn't done torturing you."

"I guess I started thinking a happy thought. I was thinking that I might get to see Sirius and my parents again after he killed me."

Tears welled in each of the women's eyes at his words. Susan gave his arm a squeeze and whispered in his ear, "Harry, I promise I will give you a much happier set of memories to beat that bastard with."

Amelia guessed her niece's words and thought, 'You two are good for each other.'

Michelle said, "I'll look into the shield that he used for you. Let's go outside."

… --- …

"One fifty. Put your wand down. Harry, that was good. You had four misses and didn't hit any friendlies. Take a break for a few minutes and we're going to try something different."

Harry gulped down his butterbeer and reached for a second bottle before the hit wizard had even turned around. By the time she sat down, the scruffy haired teen was seriously looking at a third bottle.

Half teasing, half pushing him, she said, "Okay, that's enough sitting around for a few minutes. This won't take too long. Stand back where you were."

Harry walked back to where he had been.

"Ready?"

"Sure."

Instead of one image popping up, two appeared about ten feet apart. Harry aimed at the one on the right, called Stupefy, then whipped his wand to the left and did the same.

"Too slow. Get ready to try again."

"Wait a second." Harry pulled out his second wand and said, "Okay."

Michelle smiled as he pulled out a second wand. He obviously didn't know that no matter how many wands you carried, you could only cast one spell at a time. She waited a second and tapped the rune that indicated stations one and three.

Harry saw the two images, and aimed both wands. He called Stupefy and hit the right image but missed with the left. He felt drained from casting the spells and said, "Sorry, I missed."

Amazed at what she's seen, Michelle said, "I'll flash them in stations one and two. Actually take a break for a second. I need to use the loo. I'll be right back."

"Okay."

She trotted into the house and called, "Director Bones?"

Bones was reviewing budget requests at her study desk and asked, "What is it, Michelle?"

She replied, "Watch out the window for a minute." She went back out and said, "Okay stations one and two. Ready?"

Harry nodded and she flashed the bad guy images at the first two stations. Harry fired and hit both images at the same time.

She said, "Again. Ready?"

Harry felt tired, but nodded. He fired again and hit both images.

"Good Harry. Sit down and take a break. You did well. Actually, let's call it a day. I'll find Susan, and the two of you can take a swim. I'll put the equipment away." He nodded and finished his butterbeer while she went back inside. When she got in the kitchen, Amelia was standing at the window watching. Michelle asked, "Did you see that?"

Amelia nodded and replied, "That was remarkable."

Michelle replied, "The truly incredible part is he did that after firing over a hundred and thirty stunners in under seven minutes! I gave him no more than a five-minute break in between. He must have the largest magical core that I've ever seen."

Bones said, "I've only heard of one other wizard who could cast two spells simultaneously."

"Who was that?"

"Grindelwauld."

Michelle commented, "I suppose this falls under the "state secrets" category, too ?"

Bones nodded and replied, "It does."

… --- …

Outside, Susan found Harry snoozing in one of the lounge chairs. She walked up to him wearing her blue bikini, leaned over and gave him a quick kiss, then said, "Hi, Sleepy."

Harry opened his eyes, reached up and felt her long strawberry blonde hair in his fingers. He smiled and said, "Hi, back."

She noticed his eyes peeking at her and smiled. She hoped that he liked what he saw. She never thought of herself as a beauty like Hannah, but she had grown to be self-confident and was comfortable with herself. She had dated a few times in the last two years within the confines of the castle, but had never had any particular attraction to any of the young wizards who had sought her attention.

She hoped that her relationship with Harry would continue to progress. If she was honest with herself, she knew that if it didn't work out for some reason, no other wizard could ever measure up.

… --- …

Saturday morning, an hour before the awards ceremony was to begin, Delores Umbridge was surprised to see Aurors Straighthand and Sunset knock on her office door. She was an important witch in spite of Fudge's sacking and now that she was back in her office everyday and away from that retched school, she had a lot to do.

She looked up to dismiss the intruder, saw that it was one of the senior aurors and decided against being rude. In her sweet voice, she asked, "Can I help you?"

Straighthand replied, "Actually Ma'am you can. Stand up, please. Place your wand on the desk. You are under arrest."

She croaked, "What?"

"Ma'am, you are under arrest for unauthorized administration of a controlled substance in lethal doses, inappropriate direction of a restricted ministry resource with intent to harm a person, and sixteen counts of reckless endangerment of a student. Stand up and place your wand on the desk."

"I will not. Get out of my office. He's nothing but a lying, attention seeking brat."

Straighthand was beginning to hope that she would try something stupid and announced, "This is your last chance, Ma'am. Stand up, and place your wand on the desk. In ten minutes you will be sitting in one of the holding cells. How you get there is up to you." He was standing in front of her while Sunset had taken a few steps and was off to the side ready to strike if she made an aggressive move.

Surprising Straighthand and disappointing Sunset, she complied and Sunset sealed her office door as they left. Bob had the extreme displeasure of searching her while Straighthand completed the paperwork. When they were done, they hurried upstairs to see the presentation. The senior investigators would search her office in the afternoon.

… --- …

Scrimgeour was loving the moment. Here was his first big press covered event since becoming minister, and it was for something positive. Less than a month into office, and he was able to demonstrate results. He had told the Daily Prophet and the magazines in the strongest terms to keep Susan Bones' photo and name out of the paper, in exchange for his promise that they could ask Potter one question each. Seated in the front row of the atrium were Amelia, Harry, Susan, Tonks, Connie and Anna. Dumbledore was several rows back along with McGonagall and Sprout. In between were mostly Aurors, Moody, a few shopkeepers and a few civilians who Scrimgeour didn't recognize.

Fortunately Scrimgeour didn't talk just to hear his own voice. He kept his remarks to five minutes and had five goblins wheel five small carts out. Each cart contained fifty thousand galleons. Each coin was about the size of a British one pound coin and in an uncompressed, unmagical state they made sizeable piles of gold. Daily's eyes dazzled when she saw the stack and the card beside it that had her name on it. As she reached to touch the pile, her colleagues stood and applauded. She and Hammer were well respected within the Aurors. Hammer was expected to be named department head when the department wide meeting was held August 1. Tonks was speechless. In the entire time that she had been at the ministry, both as an auror trainee and finally as an auror, she had yet to earn a total of the fifty thousand Galleons, she had been handed in one day, tax free.

Scrimgeour was at his best, orchestrating the pace of the meeting. He was satisfied acting as the moderator. He had described the crimes that the dead Death Eaters had committed, holding open the possibility that Narcissa would make an offer for the Malfoy teen. He took some pleasure in pinning a dozen unsolved violent acts on Snape, constantly referring to him as "Professor Snape." However, he knew better than to beat on that drum too long, lest he completely burn his bridges with Dumbledore. It was time to bring out the main event. He pointed at Harry and said, Mr. Potter, could you come up for a few minutes?"

Harry had been looking around the atrium, considering the different battles that had taken place there in the last half dozen weeks. He obediently came up, and Scrimgeour announced, "It may come as no surprise, but Mr. Potter was involved in taking each of the four Death Eaters off of the streets. Would you be willing to answer a few questions?"

Harry nodded and replied, "Go ahead."

A witch stood and said, "Mr. Potter, Rianna Turpin, Teen Witch Weekly. Are you dating anyone right now?"

Harry replied, "That's a bit personal. Please ask a different question."

She asked, "What was it like then you saw he who-must-not-be-named in the atrium?"

Harry replied, "Really scary." The audience gave a nervous laugh.

Scrimgeour said, "Next person, please."

An older wizard stood and said, "Ron Wilson, Which Broomstick. Mr. Potter, has the ridiculous lifetime quidditch ban that was placed on you been lifted and, if so, do you plan on returning to your spot as seeker on the Gryffindor team this autumn?"

Harry replied, "I haven't heard about the removal of Professor Umbridge's decrees, and the team won the cup without my playing in the last two games. I doubt I could even get my spot back."

Dumbledore considered saying something, but wanted to see how Harry carried himself, and choose not to interrupt.

Scrimgeour announced, "Next person, please."

A witch stood and said, "Cheryl Whiteheart, Witch Weekly. Mr. Potter, what is your reaction to people calling you "The Chosen One" and do you believe that you are destined to end the war?"

Harry had been coached a bit before coming to the meeting and was ready for this sort of question. He replied, "I don't subscribe to any publications, and the only choices my relatives ever gave me was which chore to do first in the morning. As to your second question, I will do my best to end this war, just like everyone here."

He hadn't really answered her question, but had tried to reflect the activities needed to end the war back to the aurors. He had no intention of discussing the prophecy to a bunch of reporters.

Scrimgeour called for the next person and Harry saw Rita Skeeter stand. She said, "Hello Harry. My question is, now that you have been declared an adult and head of the Potter house, do you have plans on claiming the Potter seat at the Wizengamot?"

Harry replied, "I wasn't aware that my family had one, and I will have to think about it. I really didn't answer your question. Do you have a different one?"

Grateful at the offer she asked, "Harry, was Sirius Black killed during the break-in at the ministry, and who killed him?"

Harry was expecting this question and had thought about an answer. He replied, "Sirius Black was my Godfather. He was an innocent man who was framed by Peter Pettigrew who is still alive and running around as a rat animagus. Sirius was murdered that night by Bellatrix Lestrange."

There was a fair amount of murmuring at these last words, but no one directly challenged his reply.

Finally a man with fly-away brown hair stood and said, "Hello Harry. I'm Odd Lovegood owner of The Quibbler. What is your reaction to Minister Scrimgeour replacing Fudge?"

Harry replied, "Minister Fudge and his Undersecretaries gave Voldemort an entire year to regroup without any interruption. I named all of the Death Eaters that I saw the night that he got his body back and he called professor Dumbledore and me crackpots and delusional liars. We didn't lie, and a bunch of them got arrested a few weeks ago. There are still loads of them out there. Minister Scrimgeour seems to be doing things to make the wizarding world safer, but people need to be responsible and do what they can, too."

Most of the people in the audience stood and applauded his words. It was an opportunity to show their incredible frustration at Fudge and show support for Scrimgeour.

Scrimgeour walked over and held out his hand. Harry shook it and a camera flash went off. Scrimgeour said, "That was a good message, Mr. Potter. That ends the questions and also ends the meeting. Thank you all for coming today."

… --- …

As Harry was getting ready to leave, he noticed Ernie Prang and Stan Shunpike standing off to the side. He walked over to them to say 'hi,' but somehow Ernie saw him first and said, "We wanted to thank you Mr. Potter. Stan was released last night. You're a good lad."

Harry replied, "I'm glad that things worked out, Mr. Prang. Stan, it's good to see you again."

Stan replied, "You're right Ern, he does remember me. Pumping Harry's hand, he said "Thank you, Mr. Potter. Thank you very much. You call for us anytime you need a lift. Okay?"

"Okay, Stan. Thanks." He looked at Susan, who winked at him and smiled.

… --- …

Minerva looked into the owlery to find it was still empty. No one had been able to send or receive a message for a few days. She hoped that the bot charm would work. The Old Crow had asked her to look at the report from his fellow scribe, Jbern entitled, To fight the coming darkness. It sounded like a timely report, but not owning her own phoenix, she realized that she would have to be patient until the school owls returned.