Chapter Fourteen
Harry and Ginny returned to the study after the meeting with the Professors; the only Weasley left was Bill as everyone else had returned home after dinner the previous evening. Bill had stayed at the school as he wanted to meet with Harry about his Uncle to find out some more. He had found out some information from Griphook, but wanted to talk about everything with Harry.
"Bill, can we meet after breakfast, I have another investigation that I would like to discuss with you," asked Harry.
"That would be perfect, Harry," answered Bill.
They all headed down to breakfast and Bill decided to join them at the Gryffindor table rather than sit at the head table. Whilst they were eating, Fleur Delacour came up.
"Harry, how are you both doing?" asked Fleur.
"Fleur, we are doing very well, thank you," answered Harry.
"I am just glad that they cancelled the task as soon as you reported Ginny missing, and have decided to award full points to each of us so we don't have to worry about the task again," said Fleur.
"Yes, mind you they didn't have much choice, after what happened to Ginny," answered Harry.
For some reason, Fleur didn't seem to want to leave the table.
'Harry, I believe that she wants you to introduce her to Bill,' Ginny told him.
'Why would she want that,' asked Harry.
Then he looked up and noticed that both of them were looking at each other. He knew that look; it was the one he had often had when he looked at Ginny before the Yule ball. He only found out afterwards when he saw Ginny's memories of him.
'Oh, I see, well that is certainly interesting isn't it,' said Harry.
'Yes, very interesting.'
"I'm sorry, Fleur, where are my manners; I would like to introduce Ginny's brother, Bill Weasley," Harry said as he introduced Bill.
"It's nice to meet you, Bill," said Fleur.
"Good to meet you too. Fleur," answered Bill.
Before they knew it, Fleur sat down at the table too and proceeded to talk with Bill for the rest of breakfast. They quickly discovered they had a lot of similar interests and hit it off very well.
As they continued to eat breakfast the morning post started to arrive and Harry noticed Hedwig was carrying a Daily Prophet.
Malfoys sent to Azkaban
by Rita Skeeter
After a trial of short duration yesterday, Lucius and Draco Malfoy were sentenced to life in Azkaban for multiple counts of rape, abuse, keeping illegal dark objects, the kidnap of Miss Weadley, and a number of other crimes. The evidence presented was gathered during the investigation into the kidnapping of Virginia Molly Weadley daughter of Ministry Official Arthur Weadley, who disappeared during the second task of the Triwizard Tournament currently being held at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
During the course of the investigation, it became clear that Mrs. Malfoy was also a victim of both her husband and son. In accordance with the marriage agreement between the Black and Malfoy houses the marriage has been annulled. The currently location of Ms. Black is unknown at this time.
The Daily Prophet has also been advised that several other people have been implicated during investigation and that warrants for their arrest had also been issued during the hearing. The names have been withheld pending the arrests to avoid any escaping. We have been told that the evidence against each of these is just as compelling as that which was presented today.
Albus Dumbledore, when asked about the charges against the Malfoys, had this to say, "Never, in all my years in the Wizengamot, have I had to deal with a list of crimes so disturbing. The evidence is concrete. Having interviewed several of the rape victims myself, I can tell you that we have done the wizarding and Muggle world a great service by removing these monsters from our streets."
Several members of the Wizengamot who wished to remain anonymous, stated that the evidence was overwhelming. Minister Fudge was unavailable for comment. However, this reporter has dug up evidence of cooperation between the wizarding world's highest office and the Malfoy family.
Madam Bones who is currently Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement had this to say after the case, "I would like to thank each of the Aurors who handled this case. I have spoken with them individually and the scenes they found at Malfoy Manor were disturbing to say the least. One Auror said that it took a lot of effort to not hex Mr. Malfoy on the spot when Albus Dumbledore handed him over to be arrested."
Story continues on page 4...
"I'm going to kill her," stated Ginny after reading the article.
"It could have been worse, Ginny, at least she only got your name wrong and spelt your last name incorrectly. She could have done much worse," said Harry.
Ginny didn't bother responding and just huffed.
After breakfast they returned to the study so that they could meet with Bill.
"Bill, we know you are investigating my Uncle's dealings at his company, but we actually have a new investigation that we would like started. During our dealings with Malfoy we discovered that he had been bribing the Minister for some time. We would like a secret investigation started into the transactions so we can determine what each related too. At the moment we are not going to do anything but would like to have the evidence available should it ever be needed," stated Harry.
"Wow, thank you, Harry; that is a big accusation, but based on what I have learnt recently, I don't doubt what you are saying. I know the Goblins will be only too happy to help as Fudge has been one of the worst ministers when it comes to Goblin relations," Bill told them.
They continued to talk about what Harry had learnt as well as his Uncle. Bill was horrified by Ginny's description on Harry's life as he grew up, and promised to look into that as well to see if there was any evidence they could find.
"Bill, before you leave can we met at least once a week to discuss progress on the investigations," asked Harry.
"Yes, Harry, that would be acceptable. If we could meet at the castle that would be perfect," answered Bill.
"Great, then how does each Saturday morning work? I am sure Professor Dumbledore will not have a problem with you joining us for breakfast," said Harry.
After everything was arranged, Bill returned to work whilst Harry and Ginny cuddled on the couch.
Life at the school quickly returned to normal. Harry had not yet confronted Crabbe, Goyle or Parkinson about their involvement in the plot, but had noticed that they now stayed together as a group; it appeared that Crabbe and Goyle were acting as her bodyguards.
They also noticed that a growing number of Slytherin's were starting to interact with students from the other houses and didn't have a problem being seen talking to them. Now that Draco Malfoy was gone for good, his bad influence had completely disappeared and no one feared what would happen if he found out.
They noticed Professor Snape had started acting better towards all the students in general, and had actually started disciplining the Slytherin's more if they deserved it. He was still unfair to some students, but it was never as bad as before.
The New Marauder's decided it was time for another prank. Harry had told them who was involved in the plot against Ginny, so they already had their targets. Of course, this would implicate Harry a little, but they really didn't care. As before, Dobby was very happy to help and offered some useful tips for them too. Harry used Potter Castle to have the potions made; this way there would be no evidence at the school, making it even harder for anyone to determine who was involved.
They decided that the prank would be done the next Monday morning, and would last for the whole week. They were sure that the Professor's would be angry, but as each of them had strong shields they knew no one would be able to find out it was them, so didn't really care.
The rest of the week passed very quickly, and before they knew it, Saturday morning had arrived again. As they made their way down to breakfast, Harry and Ginny met Bill in the entrance hall, and proceeded into the Great Hall. As they sat down at the Gryffindor table, Harry and Ginny both noticed that Fleur Delacour made her way towards them and, proceeded to sit next to Bill again.
'Hmm, I do believe, Mrs. Potter, that your brother and Miss. Delacour like each other,' said Harry.
'Yes, I do believe so, Mr. Potter,' answered Ginny.
'Well, that explains why Bill wanted to meet here each week,' laughed Harry.
"Bill, can we meet for a few minutes after breakfast to discuss your investigations, then you will be free to spend the rest of the day with Fleur," whisper Harry caused Bill to blush Weasley red.
'That was so mean, I Love You,' said Ginny as she leaned over and proceeded to snog him senseless.
'I thought so too, I think they are great together' replied Harry.
'Yes, they are; who knows what will happen. I am happy for Bill.'
"You know, Harry, if you weren't already married to my sister, I would make your life a living hell for that little comment earlier," whispered Bill as they returned to the study to talk.
"I know," laughed Harry.
They continue to talk and joke all the way back to the study. Once they got there, Bill informed Harry that they had found substantial evidence of embezzlement by his Uncle, and were currently preparing a case against him. It also turned out that he had been sexually harassing several members of staff, and whenever a complaint was made, they would suddenly find themselves out of work. Harry asked Bill to talk to each one and ask if they would be willing to testify when the case went to court.
It turned out there was even more evidence of wrong doing when it came to Minister Fudge; the Goblins had reviewed his accounts going back many years and had been able to link payments from several known Death Eaters to a private account belonging to the Minister. Each time, a significant law was changed or someone was suddenly pardoned and released from Azkaban. They were still gathering evidence to build an ironclad case so when the time came to prosecute they would not fail.
Bill quickly disappeared after the meeting and was later spotted walking hand in hand with Fleur around the great lake.
The New Marauders made their way down to breakfast on Monday morning having just completed their dueling training; they were looking forward to breakfast as they knew the next prank would be starting. To avoid any suspicion, they had long ago agreed that they would not all sit together; particularly as that would mean Luna sitting at the wrong table, so they each sat at their usual spots in the Great Hall.
The hall quickly filled up as the students arrived. Everyone was chatting away as normal, discussing the events of the previous evening or working out what homework they may have forgotten, when a loud scream was heard from the Slytherin table. Everyone looked up to see what was happening and it was immediately obvious when they spotted Parkinson, Crabbe and Goyle with violently pink hair and some very nasty boils on the faces. There was silence for about twenty seconds before someone in Gryffindor burst out laughing and the rest of the hall soon followed suit.
Harry looked up at the Professor's table and he could see that Snape was looking directly at his plate, and he could swear that he was trying not to laugh.
'Gin, look at Snape,' Harry said.
She looked up at him and could see it to.
'He is trying not to laugh. Oh this is great; it looks like he is not going to even try and help them; well, at least not yet,' replied Ginny.
Their assumption had been right, Snape made no effort at all to help the students. He took away the food they had eaten and reported that after testing it that there was no evidence of tampering. Of course that had nothing to do with the fact he never tested it.
The Marauders had designed the potions to last for a whole day. This ensured that Parkinson, Crabbe and Goyle were humiliated throughout the day, even members of their own house were laughing at them whenever they made an appearance.
The rest of the week proceeded quickly for the whole school. The New Marauders trained every morning as normal, and were now in the top of every class in the school. The physical training was helping their stamina; all of them could now duel for an hour solid, Harry and Ginny with two wands. The knowledge that Harry and Ginny were absorbing was helping in all their classes; they had completed all the course work for Hogwarts and were now working through the library at Potter Castle.
The entertainment provided by Parkinson, Crabbe and Goyle, continued for the whole week. Their hair colour changed at breakfast each day. Each day something else would happen to them. Tuesday their ears grew four times bigger; Wednesday their noses grew much larger and longer; Thursday they had to hop around the school as their legs would not work correctly; and Friday was the best. Crabbe and Goyle had grown a very impressive set of breasts, whilst Parkinson completely lost hers. All three of them rushed out of the hall that morning and were not seen all day, losing their house an impressive number of points and earning several detentions.
Saturday was finally on them again and it was a Hogsmeade weekend; they had their normal meeting with Bill, who reported that all the employee's who had been harassed where very happy to help, especially when they found out how Vernon had treated Harry. After that, Bill, Fleur, Harry and Ginny lined up to go to Hogsmeade together. Professor McGonagall was surprise to see Harry in the line so pulled him aside.
"Mr. Potter, I didn't know you had a signed permission slip?" she asked.
"Ah, yes, Professor, I have finally," he said as he presented the slip to her.
"What is the meaning of this Harry, you cannot sign your own slip?" she said.
"Ah, but I can, Professor, you see it states that the legal guardian must sign the form. Well, I am my own guardian, so I signed it," stated Harry.
"This isn't a joking matter, Mr. Potter," she said in an angry voice.
Before she could continue however, Bill Weasley came over and explained the situation to her, she looked at both Harry and Ginny and then back at Bill. He told her that only the family and Professor Dumbledore knew about that aspect of it and she promised to not say anything either.
"Well, it appears you are perfectly within your rights to do this. I will advise Mr. Filch that you have permission. Please leave the form with me to avoid any unnecessary questions," said the Professor before she walked up the line to Filch.
They didn't have any further problems and were soon walking down the main street in Hogsmeade. Neither Harry nor Bill cared which shops they went to, as long as the ladies enjoyed themselves. Several hours later, and having made a nice dent in their money bags, they walked into the Three Broomsticks for lunch.
"This place is so cool," said Ginny.
"Yes, it has so many shops and not nearly as busy as Diagon Alley. I bet everyone avoids it if they know it is a school weekend," said Harry.
"Most likely," said Bill.
They talked over lunch. Fleur told them that she wanted to move to England after finishing school this year, and work at Gringotts. There were a number of jobs that she found fascinating. Both Harry and Ginny noticed the smile on Bill's face when she said that. After lunch, they decided to head towards the shrieking shack. Of course Harry and Ginny knew what it really was, but had not told anyone else.
As they left the pub however, Harry noticed a sudden chill in the air. He remembered feeling that before somewhere when it dawned on him.
"Dementors!" he shouted.
As they looked around they could see a large number of Dementors in the town. They were already attacking students and villagers when Harry spotted them.
"EXPECTO PATRONUM," shouted Harry, Ginny, Bill and Fleur together. A very large Stag appeared out of Harry's wand and an equally large Doe from Ginny's. They both started charging the Dementors. Interestingly enough Bill and Fleur had a Tiger and Tigress which were slightly smaller but still started charging at the Dementors too.
They could see that the four Patronuses were having an effect, but it wasn't quite enough, it appeared that no one else was able to produce one. Suddenly Harry had an idea.
'Ginny, we need to try casting another Patronus, but at the same time and when touching,' he said.
'Okay, Harry, we can try to see what happens.'
With that they grabbed each others hands and together shouted "EXPECTO PATRONUM."
Bill and Fleur had looked round at them wondering why they were casting again when everyone knew you could only produce a single Patronus. They were therefore amazed, as were Harry and Ginny, when an enormous Phoenix Patronus appeared in front of them and started charging the Dementors. It soon made quick work of dispatching the Dementors.
The attack was over very quickly after that, the Dementos had started fleeing when the Phoenix Patronus approached them. At the same time, the Aurors, and several teachers, arrived at the scene and just stared at the massive Patronus, if it wasn't for the fact that Dumbledore had just arrived and was clearly as shocked as everyone else, they would have suspected it was his. The five Patronuses were now patrolling the area, making sure that all the Dementors had gone. Whilst they were searching, the Death Eater that had organized the attack was captured trying to escape. To Harry's delight, it was Peter Pettigrew; he was quickly arrested and taken to the ministry.
The four were interviewed by the Aurors regarding the attack and once they had each given their statements, were allowed to leave.
"Wow those were some impressive Patronuses you produced," said Bill as they walked back to the castle.
"We knew we could do the first forms, as I had done it last year when dealing with Peter Pettigrew first time around," answered Harry.
"The Phoenix however was Harry's idea. We know that our magic is strongest if we are touching and cast at the same time so we tried it," stated Ginny.
"That's why I think it worked. The first two forms were our individual ones, but the third one was our combined one," said Harry.
"That is very interesting, and in this case, was very useful," said Bill.
The news quickly spread around the school about the attack, and the rather impressive Patronuses that had been produced. It appeared that no one knew where the Phoenix came from, but all agreed that it had made the difference. The four of them had decided to not reveal anything except to Professor Dumbledore and of course the New Marauder's.
After dinner, Professor Dumbledore asked to speak with Harry and Ginny. They made their way up to his office as soon as they had been dismissed. As they approached, the Gargoyle again jumped out of the way and allowed them to head up to the office.
"Come in," Professor Dumbledore said as they got to the door.
"Good evening, Professor," they both said.
"Thank you for coming; please have a seat. Would either of you like a lemon drop?" asked the Professor.
They quickly sat down at the offered seats and waited for Dumbledore to proceed.
"I wanted to talk to you about what happened today in Hogsmeade," Dumbledore stated.
"Firstly, I wanted to thank you both for you quick thinking in the town. Mr. Weasley told me that without any prompting, you both immediately fired off individual Patronuses at the same time as Miss Delacour and he did. Without your intervention we almost certainly would have been dealing with a tragedy. Fortunately none of the students were seriously hurt, a few minor cuts and bruises but none were kissed. The villagers were not as lucky, as two were kissed, but again, it could have been much worse."
Dumbledore could see that they were not taking the news that others had suffered, well.
"I know it is unpleasant, but you cannot blame yourselves; as I said, if your Patronuses had not disrupted the attack, I have no doubt we would have lost a number of students today."
"Thank you, Professor, that does make it a little easier to handle," Harry told him.
"Now, I would like to discuss your other Patronus. Mr. Weasley told me that after you had already cast your Patronuses, you both attempted to cast again at the same time and he noticed that you were holding hands when you did. He wasn't expecting anything to happen, and it was clear that you were not expecting it to work either. It appears that when you combine your magic, you have a different signature which was why you were able to cast the new Patronus. I am glad that you tried that because it made the difference today."
"Professor, we have known for a while that if we combine our magic it will be strong. Just as we did after the incident earlier this year, when you attempted to restore the trace. We were not sure it would work, but at that point we could see that no one else was able or willing to cast a Patronus, so we needed to do something," Harry explained.
"Thank you for being honest with me Harry, I would like to encourage you both to continue practicing your combined magic as it could well be the difference in the future. I do know about your training sessions in the mornings. Don't worry, I have no plans to stop you. I would encourage you to teach your friends the Patronus charm as soon as possible; I doubt there will be any further attacks for a while, but now we know that Voldemort is willing to stop at nothing to get you and we need to all be ready."
"Thank you, Professor, we will start teaching them tomorrow. I doubt it will take long for them to learn it," replied Harry.
"Also, Professor, we want to keep the source of the new Patronus a complete secret; only a select few, including you, will know where it comes from," Harry told him.
"I agree, Harry; there would be too many difficult questions to answer if we revealed the source. I spoke with the Aurors and they arrived after the Patronus had been cast so none of them know the source; the same applies to the teachers."
"Harry, you should know that Voldemort ordered the attack as punishment for our interference in his plans at Malfoy Manor. Apparently, they had been informed that you didn't have permission to be in town so were planning to have as many students as possible kissed, and then make sure everyone knew it was because of your actions," Dumbledore told them.
"Well, it seems that it was fate that we would realize that I could sign my own form now, and that Bill has taken quite a liking to Fleur," said Ginny.
They all laughed at that, and they could see a twinkle appear in Dumbledore's eye again.
"Before you both leave, I wanted to also inform you that at breakfast tomorrow, we will be presenting each of you with a Special Services to Hogwarts Award for your actions. I know you don't like all the attention, but we felt that it was too important to ignore."
"Thank you, Professor," they said as they got up and left the office.
Harry and Ginny decided to stop in the Founder's Study before going to bed as they wanted some time to relax; yet again their day had been interrupted by someone else. However when they got there, all the other members of The New Marauder's were waiting for them.
"There you are, we have been looking for you," Hermione said.
"Sorry, Professor Dumbledore wanted to talk with us," Harry told them.
"So, what happened? We heard about the Patronuses," asked Hermione.
"There isn't much to tell really; we came out of the pub after lunch and I could feel the Dementors. Next thing I know, all four of us had cast the Patronus charm," stated Harry.
"But what about that other Patronus? Apparently it was massive," asked Hermione.
"Look guys, we will tell you about that, but like everything else it has to remain a complete secret," said Harry.
They again promised not to reveal anything.
"It was our combined Patronus; we didn't even know if it would work but could tell that the fight was not over. Deciding that we had nothing to lose, we attempted to cast the charm again, at the same, time whilst holding hands, and the Phoenix Patronus was the result," explained Harry.
They could tell that Hermione had a lot more questions, so Harry cut her off before she could ask any more.
"Sorry, Hermione, I know you have questions but this is one part of the bond we are not going to discuss further. It is very personal for us and is off limits, other than the fact that we can do the combined Patronus, we will not talk about it," stated Harry.
He could tell that she wasn't happy about it but at least had the decency to see the discussion was over and didn't try and continue it. They soon headed to their rooms and bed.
At breakfast the next morning Hedwig arrived with the latest copy of the Daily Prophet. For some reason, Hedwig only seemed to bring them when there was something about Harry, Ginny, or their friends. They had never bothered trying to find out how, but did appreciate it.
Dementor Attack Thwarted, Pettigrew Arrested
by Rita Skeeter
Yesterday afternoon, a large Dementor attack on Hogsmeade during one of the student days was thwarted when Mr. Harry Potter, Miss. Ginevra Weasley, Mr. William Weasley and Miss. Fleur Delacour each produced a Patronus charm that was able to hold of the attacking Dementors. During the fight, a fifth much larger Patronus, appeared close to the four and was the primary reason that the attack failed.
During interviews with the Aurors, Students and Professors present after the fight, no one was able to explain where the fifth Patronus had come from. There has been speculation that it was Albus Dumbledore who produced the Patronus, as he had the same form as his, however, a number of witnesses confirmed that the Patronus had already appeared before Dumbledore arrived and that he seemed equally surprised at its appearance.
After the attack was thwarted, Peter Pettigrew, once thought to have been killed by Sirius Black, 'see page 5', was captured attempting to escape from the scene. After questioning by the Aurors, it was determined that he was responsible for the attack on the town. During questioning, he also admitted that he had been the secret keeper for James and Lily Potter, and not Sirius Black as had once been assume.
Minister Fudge has refused to comment on the latest revelation and continues to insist that Sirius Black is a known mass murderer who has escaped from Azkaban. Based on the latest evidence from Peter Pettigrew and the fact that it recently came to light that Sirius Black never received a trail for his alleged crimes, it is this reporters opinion that Sirius Black is innocent of all charges.
Peter Pettigrew is currently being held in Azkaban awaiting trail.
Harry didn't have a chance to say anything about the article as Professor Dumbledore took that moment to stand up and address the whole hall.
"Your attention please," said Professor Dumbledore in a loud clear voice.
"Yesterday afternoon, Mr. Potter, Miss. Weasley, Mr. William Weasley, and Miss. Delacour's actions prevented what would most certainly have been a tragedy, as I am sure most of you saw in the Daily Prophet this morning. In recognition for their actions, it has been decided that they should each receive a Special Services to Hogwarts Award. Would each of them please come forward to receive their awards."
Each of them made their way up to the head table and received the awards, and congratulations from the Professors. They received a standing ovation from the students and Professors, it took quite a long time for everyone to leave the hall that morning, and numerous students wanted to thank them as they had been in town at the time.