A/N: Thanks for the reviews, guys! :) You'll be glad to know I'm procrastinating on my big deadline later this month, hence the quick update.

Chapter 25 - Information

Issie had seen James in the common room after he'd been released from the hospital wing the previous day. He'd been surrounded by his friends and relatives, and had looked pale and tired. Now, she thought, apart from a bit of a bruise on one cheek, you'd never have known anything had happened to him.

Of all the people to find her now, though, he was about the last one she'd have chosen. Trying to choke back her tears, she shuffled to one side so there was room for him to pass, hoping he would go on his way and take no notice of her.

He didn't do that.

"What the hell were you sitting there for?" he demanded instead, though his tone wasn't as annoyed as his words.

"I… I…" Her voice wobbled ominously and she stopped, not trusting herself to go on.

He stared at her for a moment, apparently taking in the state she was in.

"You're not hurt or anything, are you?" he asked doubtfully.

He couldn't have seen the paper, she thought, or he'd surely have guessed immediately why she was crying.

"No," she gulped.

He looked relieved.

"Well, shouldn't you be in a lesson or something then?" he demanded.

"Shouldn't you?" Issie retorted. She no longer cared what she said to whom. Even James Potter couldn't make anything worse than it already was.

He raised his eyebrows at her, looking almost amused.

"No, actually, I have a free period right now. But first years don't get those, so I'm guessing you are meant to be in a lesson. Don't worry," he added. "I'm not a prefect and I'm not going to tell on-"

He broke off, and she realised why. There were voices coming towards them. And one of them, she thought, with a sudden panic, was Professor Clearwater's. Who had been cross with Issie last time she'd seen her, for sneaking into the hospital wing.

"Here," James muttered, and stepped forward and grabbed her arm. Issie had frozen to the spot and didn't even manage to protest. He hesitated for a moment, glanced back at the stairs he'd just come from, then rather than pull her towards them, pushed her in the direction of a suit of armour standing in the hallway.

"Get behind there," he hissed, and Issie had no time to do anything but obey him and scramble in behind it.

It was not really the right shape to hide behind properly; there was a gap between the legs that anyone would be able to see her through, if they looked the right way. Issie huddled back against the wall, hugging the newspaper to her chest, her heart pounding. At least she was partially hidden and in shadow. Then James's legs appeared in front of the armour, blocking the gap. Her confusion increased. Why was he helping her hide?

She heard Professor Clearwater's voice get louder, and the tapping of her shoes along the floor. The other voice was the Muggle Studies Professor, Issie thought; she couldn't remember his name.

The sounds of voices and footsteps were very close. And then they stopped. Issie tried not to breathe.

"What on earth are you doing, Potter?" Professor Clearwater sounded exasperated.

"I was posting a letter, Professor." James's voice came smoothly. "I have a free lesson just now. I hope that's okay?"

"Yes, yes, very well," Professor Clearwater said testily. "No need to loiter in the corridor though, is there?"

"No, Professor." He sounded almost hesitant now. "I only stopped for a rest for a minute. Going up and down the stairs was a bit harder than I thought it was going to be. My leg, you know…"

There was a fraction of a pause.

"I see," Professor Clearwater said at last, sounding a little mollified. "Are you still in pain, Potter? Perhaps you should see Madam Booth."

"Oh no, it's not that bad," James answered hastily. "She said it might ache for a few days. I'll be fine. And I have to go back tomorrow for her to check on me anyway."

"Very well," Professor Clearwater said again. "But in that case, you oughtn't to wander around unnecessarily. You'll only end up injuring yourself further."

"Yes, Professor," James agreed, more meekly than Issie thought she'd ever heard him speak before.

Then the steps of the two teachers were moving away, towards the stair into the owlery, and up it. She heard their voices start up again as they climbed the stairs, and then fade.

James moved away from the suit of armour.

"Okay, come out, quickly!" he murmured.

Issie scrambled out on all fours, then got to her feet.

"Why did you do that?" she demanded. "Why did you hide me?"

He paused for a moment, and looked at her.

"Gryffindor's lost enough points this term to last us a good few years," he said at last. "No point losing any more."

She swallowed.

"Was that true?" she blurted out. "About your leg?"

He laughed. "Nah. I'm fine. It's all fixed up. You'd better get out of here though," he went on. "They could come back any minute." He glanced over his shoulder, and hesitated, almost as if he wanted to say more.

Issie nodded. For a moment, thinking about getting caught skipping her lesson, she'd almost forgotten why she was here. Now it all came back, but she was no nearer knowing what to do. She wouldn't cry again. Not in front of him. She wouldn't. Trying to hide her face, she bent to pick the newspaper up from where she'd dropped it on the floor behind the statue.

"Listen. That girl, she's friends with your brother, right?" James spoke quickly, sounding a little uncomfortable.

Issie straightened up again, with the newspaper in her hands, and stared at him, taking a moment to realise what he was talking about.

"You mean Hazel?"

"Yeah. Yeah, Hazel," he agreed. "D'you know how she is? I mean, she wasn't too great after what happened, but they took her away. Did they wipe her memories in the end, or what?"

Issie blinked at him. Why was he asking her about Hazel? All she could really focus on was her mum, and anyway, she didn't have any answers.

"I don't know," she said at last, in a small, tight voice that held the tears back. "I didn't talk to her. I don't think they took her memories away." She looked up at him. "Can't you, you know, ask your dad or someone?"

"I could, but he doesn't exactly tell us Auror stuff," James replied, with a laugh that sounded a little forced. He looked down at her, his expression changing to a puzzled frown. "Hey, look. What is the matter with you?"

Issie crossed her arms across her chest.

"Nothing." She didn't care if he could see quite clearly that she was lying. It was none of his business.

His eyes had fixed on the newspaper in her arms though, and then narrowed. He continued to stare at it for a few moments, and she watched his face change again, and stunned realisation come into it. Hastily, she snatched it away from where it was crushed against her, and turned it over, but it was too late. She'd been holding it where he could see the words of the headline. Issie glared defiantly at the older boy.

"Don't!" she said fiercely. "Don't say anything, just- just don't!"

He took a step back, and held his hands up.

"Okay, okay. I'm not saying anything."

Suddenly, shamefully, the tears were spilling over again.

"It's not true, all right? She didn't do it, she didn't!" Even as she spoke, she felt that he must be able to hear the lie in her voice. Because it wasn't true, was it? She knew Mum had done it, she'd heard her talking about it.

"Well, you'd know more than me." His voice was neutral, but when she looked up at him, he looked uncertain. "But, look, Iseult. The Auror Department… Well, they give people a fair hearing, you know? They do it properly. They don't chuck people in prison unless they're sure they're guilty."

Dimly, she was aware that he was making an effort. He was being nice, and he'd never bothered to be nice to her before and she didn't understand why he was doing it now, when he probably thought her mum was a horrible dark witch.

He knew about the Auror Department, though, because his dad and his uncle both worked there. They gave people a fair hearing. They listened. They looked at evidence, and surely, surely, they took it into account when people were forced into doing something bad by foul, horrible people like Mrs Nott. And suddenly, Issie knew with complete clarity what she needed to do.

"I… I have to talk to them," she said slowly.

"What? Talk to who?" James sounded confused.

"The Aurors, I have to tell them…" She stopped, suddenly aware of who she was speaking to. "Never mind, I've got to… go and do something…" she finished, stumbling over her words. How, though? How was she to contact them? A letter would take too long. Maybe she should ask Scorpius.

James was staring at her.

"You have to talk to the Aurors?" His voice had become suddenly sharper. "Why, d'you know something?"
She looked back at him, feeling cornered. What should she say? She couldn't tell him.

"I… I don't…"

He wasn't pushing her though. Instead, his eyes narrowed, and he simply nodded.

"All right. Come on then."

She blinked.

"What?"

"You need to talk to the Aurors. If you know something about this whole thing, then it's important. I know how we can contact them. So come on."

Almost before she knew what was happening, Iseult found herself trotting along the corridor beside James Potter. Despite what he'd said about being fine, he was walking with a limp, but still moving fast enough that she could barely keep up. She was too startled and confused even to ask questions, and she sincerely hoped that he was really going to help her – and that she was doing the right thing. She had the information that might help her mum though, so it had to be right, didn't it?

They rounded a corner onto the corridor where Professor Longbottom's office was, and found the professor himself just leaving his office, and looking as if he was in a hurry.

"Uncle Neville!" James came to a halt, and Issie stopped just behind him.

"Jamie." Professor Longbottom looked surprised, and his gaze moved to Issie. "Iseult. I'm glad you're here; I was just coming to look for you." He hesitated, and looked again at James. "Is there a problem, Jamie?"

"I don't know. Sort of. I came to look for you. Her mum's been arrested." He jerked his head at Issie.

Professor Longbottom frowned anxiously. "Yes, yes, I know. I'm very sorry, Iseult, I had no idea. Just got a message from Professor Sewell telling me about it. He's got your brother with him. You'd probably like to talk to him - your brother, that is - so I think we'd better-"

"Uncle Neville, she needs to talk to the Auror Office," James interrupted, suddenly sounding very grown-up. "I think she's got some information."

Professor Longbottom looked taken aback.

"Information? James, I don't have a direct floo line to the Auror Office. What sort of information?" He looked at Iseult, and spoke gently. "If there's something that needs reporting, Issie, we'll see what we can do. Why don't you come and wait in my office, and I'll send word and tell Professor Sewell and Scorpius that you're here?"

"I know the floo address of Dad's own office," James said. "If we can use your fire."

Professor Longbottom looked at James with an expression that was a mixture of exasperation and worry. "I don't know if that's a good idea, Jamie. Your dad's going to be very busy at the moment."

Issie took a deep breath and stepped forwards.

"Professor, please let me." She gazed pleadingly up at her Head of House, Alice's dad, who had been nothing but kind to her, despite the fact that she knew he and her father had never got on. "They've arrested my mum, and it wasn't like they think it was. Please let me talk to them!"

Professor Longbottom sighed, closed his eyes, and then opened them again.

"Very well. You can try. If James can get hold of his dad, and if Harry'll see you, then you can talk to them. Come on."

Together, they all trooped into Professor Longbottom's office. Issie, at Professor Longbottom's suggestion, perched on the edge of a chair. It was all very well to tell her to sit down, but she could hardly sit still with nerves. Professor Longbottom gave James a jar of floo powder, and James knelt down on the hearth rug, wincing slightly as he bent his knee. He said nothing, however, merely threw a handful of the powder into the fire, and after a moment, stuck his head into it.

It was only a few seconds before he pulled back, looking frustrated.

"He's not there. The place is empty, and nobody heard me when I called."

Professor Longbottom sighed.

"Well, as I said, he must be up to his ears. Never mind; don't worry, Issie. They're not going to be making any decisions in a hurry at the Ministry, so we can try again later by the official channels. It might be best for you to write down whatever it is you think you know, and-"

"Wait. I know somewhere else I can try." James broke in. "Can I use some more floo powder?"

"James, I really don't think..." Professor Longbottom began wearily, and then stopped and seemed to consider again. "All right. One more handful."

James repeated the process. This time he remained with his head in the fire for considerably longer. Issie couldn't speak, and Professor Longbottom didn't try to make her, merely sat in his chair and tapped a quill against his desk, looking as if he was thinking very hard.

Finally, James emerged, and he was grinning triumphantly. Issie stared anxiously at him.

"Did… did you…?"

"Did you see your dad, James?" Professor Longbottom finished the question.

"Nope. But I saw someone at least as good. She's coming here."

James stood up and stepped back from the fire, which began to glow green. Issie gripped the arms of her chair, and watched as the Head of the Department for Magical Law Enforcement stepped out of Professor Longbottom's fireplace.

Harry had had a total of four hours sleep over the previous three days and nights. He had been home only once in that time, for a brief few hours on Sunday afternoon. Things were finally beginning to fall into place, but he knew that they were missing significant parts of the story.

Astoria Malfoy's story had been brief – too brief for Harry to feel that they'd got the full picture. She had cast the spell on Fiona Murphy., she was quite definite about that. When it was pointed out to her that they had already tested her wand back in October, and found that it was not the wand that had cast the Imperius Curse, she said that she had borrowed a wand in order to cover her trail. At the moment, she was refusing to say whose wand she had borrowed, which was deeply frustrating, since it was known to be the same wand that had cast the memory charm on Meredith Hewitt.

When questioned about this, Astoria denied all knowledge. They had tested her husband's wand too, but it was not the same one either. Draco Malfoy was claiming to have known nothing about any of it, and as Astoria backed him up in this, they had no evidence to contradict it. Astoria also denied any involvement in attempts to break into Hogwarts or in the attack on Kilmary.

She was clearly protecting people, which was frustrating enough. But what was really bothering Harry was the question of why she had cast the spell on the Muggle child. They had asked her this repeatedly. At first they had been met with complete silence. Eventually, she had offered a whispered answer: "I wasn't myself."

But what did that mean? Was she claiming to have been under some spell or curse herself, they had asked. She had paused for a moment, then answered, "No."

They had brought her healer in to give an assessment of her health, both mental and physical, and the news that she had been suffering from mild post-natal depression, as well as high levels of stress and anxiety, had not surprised Harry, from what he'd seen of her. But the healer was completely convinced that these things had developed since the baby's birth in October, and that before then, Astoria had only been suffering from the usual strains of pregnancy. Besides, as the healer had pointed out a little irritably, mental illhealth was not, in itself, an explanation for uncharacteristic violence, and Astoria had shown no signs of any kind of psychosis.

It made no sense. Astoria Malfoy had never involved herself with the Dark Arts. Even Draco had nothing on his record since the war. They weren't members of the League, and were well known for keeping themselves to themselves. Harry had questioned Astoria himself, and found it hard to believe that the quiet, softly-spoken, sad woman, who worried about the fact that her baby son was without her, and wept when they talked about how Fiona Murphy had tried to hurt her fellow students, could have committed such a horrible act. And yet she herself claimed that she had done it.

But Astoria Malfoy was only one of the people occupying the Auror Department. The other two were in some ways easier to deal with, and in other ways more difficult, Harry thought wearily to himself as he read, for probably the hundredth time, the reports of the facts of the incidents at Hogwarts. Re-reading them had so far brought him no closer to answering his questions, but each time he hoped something would jump out at him, something that he'd missed.

They had been left with four prisoners after the events of Friday night, and Harry had no doubt that all four had been part of the same plot. Unfortunately, he also had no proof of that, since they were refusing to talk, and what the purpose of the plot was remained a mystery. Two of them were people he did not know, although he knew who they were, for they were known members of the League.

he other two, he knew only too well, for he had been at school with them: Gregory Goyle and Theo Nott. Goyle had been apprehended in Kilmary, apparently stunned by Scorpius Malfoy after firing the spell that had hurt Lily, something that Harry might have found grimly amusing, except that he had gone beyond amusement. Goyle was now facing numerous serious charges, which should see him locked up for quite some time.

Nott's case was more frustrating. He had been caught, with another League member, attempting to enter the grounds of Hogwarts. While it was obvious to assume that this was linked to the attack in Kilmary, and also to the attacks on Meri and Angharad earlier in the year, there was no actual evidence to prove it. The two men claimed blandly that they had been for a day's walk in the hills, and had been on their way down to Hogsmeade to have a drink in the Three Broomsticks, and had tried to take a shortcut. An extremely unlikely story, but virtually impossible to disprove. And Scotland, in line with the Muggle legislation of the country, had no laws against trespassing. With nothing solid to charge them with, therefore, there was only so long the Auror Department would be able to hold the two in prison.

None of the prisoners' wands matched the traces of the one to have cast the two earlier spells, so they still had no link between Friday's events and the Imperius curse Astoria had confessed to. Their only further lead at all was that three of the four captured (not including Goyle) had apparently had dinner together at the home of Daphne Greengrass the previous week, along with Pansy Nott.

The other two women had been called into the office, and they were currently being interviewed. Harry had handed this task over to other Aurors, as he found questioning his former classmates in person fairly thankless. He'd seen Pansy coming in, though, and she had loudly and tearfully been denying any part in the whole affair as she walked down the hall in the company of Auror Kennet. He was just wondering how the interviews were going, when there was a hurried knock on his office door, and Natalie Kennet herself appeared before Harry had a chance to speak. Harry looked up, and immediately saw something in the other Auror's face that told him this definitely wasn't a casual visit.

"Progress?" he asked eagerly, banishing his tiredness, and pushing the reports to one side.

Kennet nodded.

"Daphne Greengrass is here. And she's talking."