Chapter 14: Pettigrew and Fluxline

"We missed broom practice" Tonks says as we walk back to the castle.

"I shall inform Madam Hooch that you will not be needing to be disciplined." Dumbledore told her.

Dumbledore's beard is quite magnificent. Intricate braids along with it's impressive length make it quite a sight. I start to replicate it.

Hagrid, Dumbledore, Tonks and I enter the Great Hall laughing over our new beards. I'm sure it made quite a sight.

Taking up our usual seat, we tuck in. Most of the school are currently in, I can see Harry and Hermione hunched over the beginners occlumency book. Maybe if he learns this early he can keep Voldy out in future.

I wave my hands, bringing up my grid. I should come up with a name for it. Zack grid? Flux grid? Flux something. Flux is a good word.

I start trying to create filters for it. Filter out life from the scan. Magical cores, different types of wards. This could probably pick up legilimens and veela allure. That could probably flood the scans.

My thoughts are interpreted by Tonks screeching in my ear. There is a rat on the table. The flux grid ( Still missing something there ) says it's not a rat. Scabbers. Peter. My hand shoots out and I send a powerful stunning spell through my fingers as I grab him and stand up abruptly, Holding 'Scabbers' in one hand and the Fluxline ( Good temporary name. Patent it ) in the other and walk to the teachers table.

"Headmaster." I say, breaking his conversation with McGonagall. "This is not a rat." I say, holding said rat out in front of me.

"Why it is not moving?" McGonagall asks me.

"I think I stunned it with my fingers. Anyway, This is not a rat." I explain.

"May I ask then, what it is?" Dumbledore asks me, his eyes are twinkling.

"This" I shake him. "Is a man."

"A man?" Flitwick asks me.

"To be precise, a wizard." I glance at my fluxline and hold it up infront of McGonagall. "Yes, yes." I mutter, holding it over Peter again. "An animagus."

The staff table gasps.

"Is there a way to force him out of the transformation? This might just be a student, in which case he is breaking the rules." I announce. "But I don't believe that any students here are thirty-one years of age." Drawing more gasps.

"Mr. Jackson, if you could set the rat on the pedestal." Dumbledore asks, whilst vaulting the table spectacularly. Whilst somehow transfiguring an ornate pedestal beside me. "The spell is slow, so if you would kindly place a body bind on whomever it may be." He raises his wand as I hold my hand near the rat.

He waves the elder wand at the rat, who grows into a small fat man.

I punch him in the gut. Hard.

"Was that necessary?" Dumbledore asks me, eye twinkling.

"Of course, I had to make sure the spell stuck." I grin at him.

Everyone looks at the frozen fat man.

"Peter Pettigrew." McGonagall whispers.

"Pettigrew!" I hear people shout.

"Minerva. If you could please call the Aurors and Madam Bones. I do believe there is an innocent man in Azkaban. Ennervate." He points at Peter.

The man groans then freezes as he realises he is a man.

"P-professor!" He squeaks out.

"So who is this guy?" I ask.

"This swine." Have to love Snape sometimes. "Betrayed the hidden location of the Potters to the Dark Lord."

I look at Harry, He is staring slack jawed at the fat man.

"Harry." Dumbledore says softly.

Harry stands up and begins to walk to the front of the hall. All eyes follow him. He gets to the front on the hall, looking around me at Peter, I appear have placed myself in the wrong spot. He looks at me.

"Thank you." He says with the smallest hint of a smile.

I should say something useful. Don't fuck this up.

"Have at him. I do think he has earned it." I grin at him before taking a short bow and stepping aside.

Harry stares at the fat man for a short time. The Aurors enter the hall and begin swarming in.

"You've got time for one good kick before the Aurors take him for good." I say as fast as I can, Glancing around again. "Make it count, Potter." I wink at him.

"Mr. Jackson!" McGonagall gasps at me. Harry seems to get my meaning and takes a few fast steps and kicks Peter in the teeth. A sickening crunch resounds around the room.

The Aurors roughly pick a wailing Peter up off the floor. Madam Bones walks to Harry.

"If I didn't stop then I would be no better than him." He says quietly.

"I think you deserve another kick." I supply helpfully.

Harry kicks Peter in the balls.

"Mr. Potter!" McGonagall gasps again, looking at Madam Bones.

The Aurors exchange a look with the Head of the DMLE. She shrugs. I grin.

"Oh, He is an animagus. Just in case it wasn't mentioned when you were called." I supply helpfully.

"Mr. Jackson, I presume?" She asks me.

"Yes, Ma'am"

"I will need you to come to the Ministry to answer some questions." She looks at Dumbledore. "Normally I would not do this in school time, but as this will be a high profile case, I have to take him now. You will also need to come for obvious reasons." She explains.

"Come along, Zack." He says to me.

We follow the Aurors to McGonagall's office, it's the closest that has outbound floo. A large dark skinned Auror grabs some floo powder.

"Ministry of Magic. Department of Magical Law Enforcement. Hippogriff." He says loudly. Nice choice of password.

"Bend you knees." Dumbledore says to me as we walk through.

There was a spinning of colours and lots of fireplace grates flowing by. I try and stop but I only slow down a bit before being thrown through the Ministry fireplace, sliding a few metres across the floor.

"Never seen anyone fly out of a fireplace before, kid." I hear a gruff voice beside me, then a strong arm pulling me up.

I turn to see a horribly scarred face, the big spinning eye is hard to miss and he appears to be missing a large chunk of his nose.

"I've never flown out of a fireplace before, Sir." I say to him, smiling all the way. "Curious set-up though."

I walk back to the fireplace before pulling up a fluxline. Ceramic lined with metal, blah blah blah. Ah, runes. Seems to be connected to a large grid that spans all over London. Somebody could bring down this whole section if they knew how. The password ward just seems to disable a mesh that would make coming through impossible. I move the fluxline over the floo powder beside it. Some sort of gunpowder composite with unicorn horn and snake fangs inside. Traces of silver inside the pot, it appears that the recipe has been changed but the pot hasn't been cleaned.

"There is silver residue on this pot. I would imagine that would cause havok if any got in with this new floo powder." I announce to the crowd, including an Unspeakable who was staring at my fluxline.

"May I suggest we move on to the questioning chamber?" Dumbledore chimed in, getting the crowd to move.

"Are there any forms of magical transport that don't involve me being thrown around?" I ask him when we begin to walk.

He chuckles. "Apparation isn't so bad once you get used to the feel." He explains to me. "Perhaps you could create a new one? We haven't gotten a new one recently." I nod slightly, pulling out a fluxline to scan the Ministry.

"Pretty big place they got, eh?" I say, spinning on the spot scanning everything we walk past.

"Yes." Dumbledore says. "This is the largest magical building in Britain. Many floors full of many mysteries."

"Mysteries?" I ask. "There is a whole floor that seems to be shrouded." I start twisting some of the lattice together. "Ah! There we go. It seems to be shifting around." I peer closely at the spinning and whizzing parts. "Although the doors tend to stay put, the rest of it is in a constant state of flux. Very cool." I hold up the fluxline to Dumbledore, who doesn't even pretend to understand it.

We arrive at the elevator, which has expanded to let the Aurors and us inside. I casually toy with the fluxline.

"Hey, kid." Mad-eye says. "What is that thing? Not even my eye can penetrate the Department of Mysteries." He asks me. I can understand him feeling unsettled by it.

"I call it a Fluxline. It's a working title." I explain. "It can be a scanner or an information holder. Anything really. It's how I saw that the rat was a man, The scan showed that he was similar to Professor McGonagall and Dumbledore in the respect that they are all animagi."

"What about when you looked into the DoM?" The Unspeakable asked.

"Initially I couldn't see it, I had to filter out the veil. Although there is one room that was unsettling, but I think it's supposed to be a secret."

"What room?" He asked, he was sweating.

"Erm." I fiddle with the lattice whilst trying to figure out what to say. "There is an arch inside. A truly horrific thing. Do you know it's there? It shouldn't be there."

The elevator opens and I get led to a questioning room, Dumbledore speaks to me before I enter.

"Do not forfeit your wand, nor submit to veritaserum." He tells me, I nod.

Madam Bones is in the room when I enter and take a seat.

"Mr. Jackson, Firstly we would like to congratulate you for finding this man and the Minister himself would like for you to come to the Ministry tomorrow morning for a few minutes so you can be thanked in person." She said in an overly sweet voice.

I lay my fluxline on the table instead on banishing it. It's mapping out the ministry, but they don't need to know that.

"I suppose I could get up early and have breakfast here, I'd hate to miss potions." I explain to her.

"That can be arranged." She says. "Now, could you explain to me how you captured Mr. Pettigrew?"

I gave a brief recount of how I was fiddling with my fluxline and saw a rat crawling on the table.

"So what is this uh fluxline?" She asked me afterwards.

"Unfinished." I smirk at her.

"Of course it is." She smiles and shakes her head. "I will collect you from Hogwarts at seven. You will be back in an hour at latest. Pick up the Daily Prophet"

I left the room to find the Unspeakable pestering Dumbledore.

"Ah, Zack. We were just talking about you." He says, brightening up now that the Unspeakable has stopped talking. "We had best get back to Hogwarts before you miss Astronomy." We head for the elevator.

"What's going to happen to that Pettigrew guy?" I question him.

"He will be sent to Azkaban. What happens inside is anyone's guess." He said curtly.

"I have a feeling that the Minister isn't the type to sit down for tea to say thanks, is he?"

Dumbledore thought for a moment before speaking.

"It's likely that he will give you a medal of sorts and then try and bask in the spotlight next to you in front of the press."

"The same press that slandered me?" I ask dryly.

"Floo back? Or apparate?" He says, smiling at me.

"Flooing is more direct I suppose."

"Hogwarts Headmasters office." He says clearly before striding into the flames.

"What the hell." I mutter before running through.

I quickly find my self spinning again before being thrown across his office. Freya bites at me ear.

"Hey girl." I mumble out. "Fancy seeing you here."

"Ah. It would seem there are only minutes until you class begins." Dumbledore says to me. "Walk or apparate?" He asks.

"One more can't hurt I suppose." I say, grasping his arm.

A/N: Powering through being ill, here is another one. Still not sure about the fluxline name. Order of merlin next time. Enjoy