Disclaimer: Do I have to still put this?

A/N: Thanks for all the reviews! I got a bit of a flurry of them (guess updating the pairing does that?) and I think I may have gotten more hits on my story due to that chapter than all the other ones combined. This chapter is a bit shorter and not quite as exciting, but hopefully still good. Let me know what you think! Oh and more of Harry's point of view will be coming in the next couple chapters.

Chapter 14: Fifteen Years

Harry watched as the Great Hall fell deathly silent as the door creaked open. Everyone was sitting with rapt attention, staring unabashedly as a single boot clad leg emerged from the doorway into the light, before the rest of the man's figure practically stumbled in; Harry very nearly fainted when he finally got a good look.

"Bloody hell," said Ron from beside Harry quietly.

Bloody was certainly right. Blood was dripping off the man's leather jacket and black cargo pants as he entered, falling onto the Great Hall's stone floor like a painter dripping paint onto a canvas. A sleeve of the leather jacket was missing, revealing a long gash that was still a raw, angry red; Harry could tell it had probably only recently stopped bleeding. The pants were also torn and shredded, with small nicks and gashes visible under the shreds. The man's hood was pulled down over his face, concealing it from view, and two sheathed swords were strapped to his back, underneath a rather worn but sturdy looking backpack. Harry watched as the man sort of lumbered into the room, as if he could barely stand, but still somehow on guard and extremely dangerous, like a wounded tiger.

After three or four steps the man seemed to realize he was spilling blood onto the floor, and broke the silence in strangely accented English.

"Ahh…Sorry about your floor Headmaster Dumbledore…things got a little….messy."

A pin drop would have seemed like overwhelming noise in the silence that follow. Dumbledore himself seemed to grow extremely pale and for the first time in living memory was rendered completely speechless. Harry's panic raised another few notches, desperately hoping that the blood wasn't his godfather's. His hands turned an ethereal white as he clenched the Gryffindor table hard enough to nearly break his own fingers.

Xander watched with surprise as Dumbledore visage became extremely pale and worried.

'That wasn't what I was expecting…" thought Xander as he stole a glance at Mad-Eye Moody, who was also looking oddly panicked. 'Weird…well…not my problem.'

"This might take a bit…and I'm honestly bordering on exhaustion…any chance we could get some chairs for everyone around here," asked Xander, internally laughing at the looks on everyone's faces.

Xander's question seemed to snap Dumbledore out of his stupor.

"Of course, my apologies for the poor hospitality," replied Dumbledore while drawing his wand and waving it through the air. Instantly a couple dozen large comfy armchairs appeared in a large circle in the open space at the back of the Great Hall.

"Now before we get started if you would just allow me to dismiss the students…" began Dumbledore, only to be cut off by a forceful Xander.

"No, they will be staying here as witnesses. There is a reason I chose Hogwarts for this, Headmaster Dumbledore."

"But...they are but children…they can't be witnesses!" yelled an stern looking older woman with brown hair pulled into a tight bun from just behind Dumbledore.

Xander rolled his eyes as he sank into the squashy mauve armchair Dumbledore had conjured, if there was one thing he hated, it was the 'but they are only children' argument.

"They have working eyes and ears don't they?"

"Yes...but I must insist," began Dumbledore.

"They are staying. That is final. I can swear they won't be in any danger and they won't see anything…ahhh mentally scarring," replied Xander with finality. He heard Raine chuckle behind him and turned to shoot him a glare.

The rest of the adults, save Raine Talbot, quickly took their seats, having been seemingly revived from their comatose states of shock during the exchange. The reporters all sat fidgeting, quills and parchment already out; they looked like small children on a caffeine kick waiting to go inside a toy store.

"Before you begin, could we see your ICW medallion to confirm your identity?" asked one of the goblins, who appeared highly amused by the whole situation.

Xander fished the medallion out of his pocket, tapped it with his wand cancel to unshrink it, and tossed it over to the goblin, who pulled out a bizarre looking cylindrical device and ran it over the medallion.

"Bounty hunter eleven, Xander. Is that correct?" asked the goblin, to which he received an affirmative nod.

"Now where is Sirius Black!" exclaimed Hans Muller excitedly, the head of the ICW, no longer able to contain himself. This was about to be a major political victory for him.

A wave of whispering that began at Hans Muller's exclamation was immediately silenced as Xander brought a hand up, before swinging around his rucksack to rest just in between his legs.

"I have a very short story," he began, as everyone stared at the rucksack that Xander began to open.

"There was once a man who tricked all of Britain. He tricked his friends, and ended up betraying them to the Dark Lord he serves. He tricked the world, and managed to escape justice. He rejoined his master, helping him to his return, and serving him to this very day, " said Xander clearly, as he pulled Pettigrew's cage out of the rucksack.

Stunning Pettigrew one last time, Xander opened the cage and pulled out the rat, setting it on the floor in front of him. As he looked up he saw Dumbledore's eyebrows shoot straight to his extremely grey hair, before a twinkle emerged in his eyes. 'Looks like he knew,' thought Xander, before continuing speaking.

"This man, if you can even call him that, also tricked Britain in the one last way. He was an unregistered Animagus, in the form of a rat."

Xander wove his wand, casting the spell to force Pettigrew out of his Animagus form. As the rat morphed into a human, Xander let out a statement to shock the entire Hall.

"I give you Peter Pettigrew, betrayer of the Potters, murderer of at least a dozen muggles, bearer of the Dark Mark, and current servant of Voldemort."

There was perfect silence for one brief moment in the Great Hall as Xander's words were processed. Everyone stared at a slightly ragged, but clearly recognizable, Peter Pettigrew. Then complete pandemonium erupted.

The student tables of the Great Hall broke into whispers, while the reporters began bellowing questions at Xander. Hans Muller and the goblins were simply shocked speechless. The British contingent of wizards for the most part was blustering and shouting accusations of fraud. Once Fudge began yelling about how "preposterous" this all was Xander raised his wand and caused a bullhorn like sound to cut through the air.

"If you would give me a moment, I believe I can answer some of your questions, and accusations," said Xander, immediately regaining everyone attention; the crowd was truly eating out of the palm of his hand.

"First," began Xander as he stood up and rolled back Pettigrew's left sleeve, revealing the Dark Mark for everyone to see, "the Dark Mark."

This silenced and shocked most of the British wizards. Xander saw Fudge grow slightly pale, though the toad looking witch besides him still seemed to muttering accusations and excuses under her breath.

"Second, I think I will ask our guests from the British Ministry a question. Madam Bones, you are head of the DMLE, correct?"

"Yes," replied a slightly confused Amelia Bones.

"Good, now can you tell if Sirius Black received a trial?"

"Err...I believe he was convicted and sentenced in absence of a trial at the time," replied a now red-faced Amelia Bones.

"What!" exclaimed Hans Muller. Aftermath of a war or not, a man convicted without due process was simply inexcusable in Hans Muller's opinion.

"The proof was irrefutable! There were dozens of Muggle witnesses that watched him blow Pettigrew to bits! All we found was a finger!" yelled Fudge defensively.

Xander made a show of inspecting Pettigrew. "Hmmmm, he doesn't really look 'blown to bits' to me. A little tattered maybe, one of his hands is silver, though we will get to why later I believe. His other hand, however, seems to missing a finger. What a coincidence!"

A veritable tsunami of epiphanies seemed to sweep through the Great Hall at Xander's sarcastic comment, much to the chagrin of the British Ministry officials.

"He faked his own death!" exclaimed a reporter from the Wizarding Times, the premier American magical periodical, as the Great Hall broke out into excited whisperings.

Xander briefly rolled his eyes before rummaging through his pockets for a corked crystal vial. "Well how about we ask him?"

Xander tossed the vial to Hans Muller, who caught it somewhat surprised.

"Can one of your bodyguards can confirm that the vial is Veritaserum."

"We have a potions master on hand, Severus Snape, who may be more of an expert for this situation," interjected Dumbledore.

"No. I refuse to trust anyone with the Dark Mark," responded Xander coolly. Dumbledore, whose eyes had been twinkling madly since Pettigrew's unveiling, looked like he had been slapped across the face.

Hans Muller handed the vial to the robed man just behind him, who uncorked it and waved his wand over it a few times before nodding and tossing it back to Xander.

"Good, so no one will be accusing me of tampering," said Xander as he revived Pettigrew. As Pettigrew was groggily returning to consciousness Xander forcibly opened his jaw and dripped three drops of Veritaserum onto his tongue.

"You cannot do that! Veritaserum is a Ministry regulated substance! Arrest him!" shouted the toad looking witch at Xander, to a number of incredulous looks.

"Lady, I'm an ICW agent. I don't have to follow your rules, whoever you are, and Herr Muller seems to have no problems with my use of Veritaserum. Also, so you know, if you try to arrest me…well how about I just emphasize the word 'try' here," replied Xander confidently, drawing one of his wands and twirling expertly in his fingers. The technical term for what Xander was doing here would be 'bluffing out his ass'. Xander knew that after the day he had, it'd be a miracle if he could cast a dozen Stunners, much less escape being arrested while surrounded.

Hans Mulller just waved his hand in front of him, giving a slight glare at the British witch. "None at all, carry on please."

Xander smirked before turning to Pettigrew. "Now, for starters. What is your full name?"

"Peter Pettigrew."

"Were you the Secret Keeper for the Potters?"

"Yes"

Xander continued his questioning, ignoring the whispers erupting around him.

"Did you reveal the secret to Voldemort?"

"Yes"

"Why did you reveal the secret to Voldemort?"

"Because he is my master." Pettigrew's use of present tense did not go completely unnoticed by the crowd, and Xander could hear the cacophony of whispers grow louder. Still, he pressed on.

"Did you fake your own death for Sirius Black to take the blame?"

"Yes"

"Did you or Sirius Black kill all those muggles?"

"I did."

Xander looked down at the shivering, nervous wreck that was Peter Pettigrew for a brief moment before turning away to face his audience.

"Madam Bones, you and your department can question him about specifics to your heart's desire, but I think that covers the basics. I just have a couple more questions I feel everyone would love to hear the answer to," said Xander, smiling mischievously under his hood.

"Peter Pettigrew, you said earlier that Voldemort is your master. Did you take part in a ritual last June to return Voldemort to his body? Has Voldemort returned?"

The whispers immediately died down as everyone waited to hear Pettigrew's answer.

"Yes," Pettigrew squeaked softly, though the silence of the hall allowed his answer to be carried through to be heard by everyone.

Oddly enough, the Great Hall did not explode into noise, as Xander expected. Most everyone seemed too shocked to speak, though Xander saw that Dumbledore, Mad-Eye, and a few others seemed to be rather pleased. Finally, Fudge managed to break the silence.

"Impossible! He died fifteen years ago! He can't be back!" stuttered Fudge, who seemed to almost willing himself to believe his words.

"Well, did you ever find a body?" asked Xander evenly, though internally he was marveling at the British Minister's stupidity.

"There wasn't a body to be found! There wasn't anything left of him!" Fudge yelled back.

"You mean like you only found 'bits' of Pettigrew? You Brits have some rather interesting interpretations of death it would seem," replied Xander.

Fudge immediately paled like a ghost and seemed to lose the ability so speak. The Great Hall broke into a wall of noise. Students were screaming hysterically, reporters were shouting questions, and Hans Muller was chewing out Cornelius Fudge like he was a small child.

Xander turned to the goblins, who had gotten over their shock quite quickly and now looked like they were watching an entertaining comedy routine.

"Master goblins, a quick question if you will," asked Xander in Gobbledegook, taking care to be respectful. Goblins were creatures you didn't want to get on the bad side of; the little Xander knew of their justice system was that it involved a lot of beheadings.

The goblins raised an eyebrow at Xander's use of Gobbledegook, before one of them responded. Xander noticed that their uniforms had very subtle differences; the one on the right had a small English flag imprinted under the Gringotts seal that adorned his vest. The other goblin had the Egyptian flag in the same spot.

"Branch Managers Sharpclaw and Lockleap, what can we do for you?"

"The contract was for 'the betrayer of the Potters', not necessarily Sirius Black. I believe I have completed the terms and would to be paid," said Xander.

Both goblins smirked briefly before responding, "Of course, 2.5 million galleons will be transferred to the vaults of your choosing. All fees will be charged to the British Ministry, so if you want the gold transferred to branches in different countries or to affiliates I would recommend doing so now."

Xander nodded and analyzed his options briefly. "I'll commit one third of the gold to a vault in Gringotts London to be opened under the name 'Xander', I'll come into the branch to finalize the paperwork in the next few days. One third I wish to be sent to my vault in Mexico City under the name Alejandro. The last third send to Gringotts Cairo, the vault is under the name Yusuf."

Xander then pulled out some parchment from his bag and smeared some of his blood on it, handing it the goblins.

"I assume that will be enough to confirm the transfers to those vaults? I really don't want to do any paperwork."

"Yes, for a one hundred galleon fee we can simply use your blood, especially for a Preferred Client" responded Lockleap, of Gringotts Cairo.

Xander briefly wondered if he used the 'Preferred Client' title due to the 2.5 million galleons he was about to deposit, or whether he recognized that 'Yusuf' was already a 'Preferred Client' of Gringotts. 'Probably the latter…damn goblins seem to know everything,' thought Xander before responding.

"That'll be fine, anything to avoid paperwork."

"Will there be anything else?" asked Sharpclaw.

"I don't believe so…err wait actually one moment," said Xander as he turned back toward the commotion. Little had changed except Hans Muller had accidentally switched to German while berating Fudge; Fudge clearly had no idea what the man was saying but it did sound pretty scary.

Xander did notice that Mad-Eye Moody was laughing in a corner while Dumbledore seemed to be speaking to his staff, his eyes twinkling madly. 'Glad that they at least are happy about this shitshow' thought Xander before firing up sparks from his wand, immediately gathering everyone's attention.

"I just have a quick question while I'm finishing up my business with the representatives from Gringotts. Was there a bounty out for Fenrir Greyback by any chance?"

There was a collective 'deer in headlights' moment from the British wizarding contingent before Madam Bones spoke up.

"Err…I do not believe there is…if we decide to put one out for him we will be sure to contact you though."

Thinking of Fenrir Greyback sent a shiver down Madam Bones' back; the reason the DMLE had never considered a bounty on Greyback was they didn't think anyone would be crazy enough to go after him.

"Oh, well…I only asked because you'll find his body along with six of his pack members, just outside the Hogwarts wards. Err…what's left of their bodies, anyway."

Everyone, including even Albus Dumbledore, just turned into silent bug-eyed statues with their jaws dropped.

"I think you finally broke them," said Raine Talbot in Spanish, walking up to stand beside Xander.

"Looks like it," replied Xander, as they both tried to keep straight faces.

"You…Greyback…kill…" stuttered one of Fudge's bodyguards.

"Yeah, him and six of his Werewolf and Death Eater friends tried to ambush me after I grabbed Pettigrew. Tried not to kill them…but…well…yeah…Werewolves…you know?" shrugged Xander. The man just kept gaping at Xander wordlessly.

"I don't think rent-a-cop here 'knows' anything," laughed Raine, still speaking in Spanish.

Xander just shrugged in response and stood up to grab his rucksack when he tripped over. Xander was not someone you would ever describe as klutzy, but after the kind of day he had, anyone would lose some grace. As Xander stood up, rubbing his forehead and trying to ignore Raine's roaring laughs, he suddenly had a horrible realization. His hood had come off his face. He looked up instinctively, unwittingly giving the entire hall a very clear look at his boyish face.

"Well…shit," Xander muttered as all the reporters began snapping photos while everyone stared in shock.

"Headmaster Dumbledore, is there any chance I can stay somewhere in the castle tonight?" called out Xander, trying to ignore the reporters shouted questions.

"Certainly, you may stay as long as you need. Just allow me to call a house-elf to show you to our guest quarters," responded Dumbledore merrily, giving Xander a rather appraising look.

"Thanks," replied Xander, before turning to the crowd of reporters and Ministry officials.

"Alright shut up all of you. I am tired and I am going to bed. British Ministry, I'll be around for two or three days at least so if you need me you can contact me. After that, it might be significantly harder to find me. Reporters, I feel I already gave you enough to write about. Ask other people your questions and leave me alone or I will hex you, and it won't be pleasant," yelled Xander before marching straight out the doors of the Great Hall with a house-elf.

"Well aren't you just a people person?" quipped Raine as he jogged to catch up to Xander.

"Shut it, Raine."

As Xander dragged his body to the Hogwarts guest quarters, Lord Voldemort stood on a small knoll overlooking the hamlet of Godric's Hollow, dozens of Death Eaters gathered behind him.

"My Lord?" asked Lucius Malfoy nervously. The Dark Lord's tirade after discovering Fenrir Greyback's failure had been the largest he had ever seen, and Lucius still feared his Lord's mood.

"Godric's Hollow," whispered Voldemort softly, "It has been fifteen years…fifteen years this very day."

Voldemort turned to face the gathered Death Eaters, old followers and new recruits alike. If the world was to discover his return tomorrow, Voldemort as going to add a message of his won

"Raze the village. Kill all in your path. Leave nothing of the Potter residence standing."

A/N: Hope you all liked it, read and review, and feel free to PM me if that is more your style.