CHAPTER 36 – AS SNUG AS A BUG IN A MAGICAL BOX

I thought it had been a good day's work all around and was prepared to head back to Hogwarts, but Shacklebolt was intent on sharing what we had found with Ernie and Xenophilius. Harry compromised by agreeing to kick off the press conference and then leaving Shacklebolt and Madam Bones to carry on. Harry absconded with the recording of Madam Bones, lest Shacklebolt be unduly tempted.

We made it back to Hogwarts in time for a nice dinner. McGonagall cornered Harry over dessert, but he shed her by simply reporting "we're not unwilling to offer some relief to Pansy, but more chatter about it will only reduce our sympathy, Draco is conflicted, and we have a very solid case against the Stowes. The peach cobbler is excellent, my compliments to the Elves. We have some students who need to speak to us back in the common room."

It was very nice to be back in our own bed at a reasonable enough hour, when we both had enough energy to thoroughly appreciate why we had married in the first place. As I contentedly drifted off to sleep, Harry's Ministry cell phone rang, with the attention-getting, but truly annoying ring tone that Hermione had programmed into it. We had turned off the other phones, but this one could not be escaped or avoided. I quickly climbed up out of advancing sleep and linked to Harry's thoughts.

{[sluggish]'Excuse me, Sir. Sorry to bother you currently. This is Robert, the duty auror, and I thought you would want to know right away that a band of Elves caught a Witch who looks an awful lot like that dead reporter, Rita Skeeter. She had broken into your office and smashed a recording and was about to burn some documents, when they caught her. I wouldn't believe this if I hadn't seen it myself, but as we were trying to get her totally secured inside a jail cell, she turned into a rather large beetle and tried to fly away. An Elf caught her, and we have her in a glass jar, inside an insect net, in a covered empty fish tank, in a strong magical box, inside the cell. Is there anything else you want me to do? I've contacted both of your Directors and the Minister.'}

"No," my husband replied "you've done very well. I'm on my way to the Ministry, right now. I must pick up a few things and people, but I'll be there within half an hour. Would you please alert Wood, as well?"

As I brightened the lights, so we could dress, I saw Harry's face bore a very satisfied expression. Just if I was one of the people Harry needed to pick up and bring with, I quickly scrambled into my clothes and loaded a few potions and other supplies into the pockets of my robes. Hermione had taught me the value of preparedness. Barb was standing guard in the corridor outside the stairs to our apartment. Harry dispatched me to collect Ron and Hermione, while he told McGonagall of our imminent departure.

We Apparated to Harry's reception room, where Wood, Callista, and Madam Bones were waiting for us. There was a large hole in the wood panelling behind Callista's chair, and a big scorch mark in the carpet in front of her desk. "Looks like there was quite a fight here," Ron commented.

"Yes. Before we set off for the jail," Harry declared "I want a quick look around my office to see what has been destroyed or disturbed."

We found that the door handle and lock had been very much disturbed, being partially melted and the wood burnt away from them. I entered the inner office, right behind Harry, and it was clear that the intruder had known what she wanted to destroy. The picture of Umbridge with Thicknesse and Doctor Sprout had the bottom third burnt away or scorched. At least all the faces and upper bodies remained visible. The recording, in which Umbridge had instructed Mrs. Parkinson on the kidnapping plot, seemed to be irreparably damaged, although Hermione said she would ask her father to take it to a Muggle professor friend, to see if it could be salvaged. "Seeing this destruction, I'm almost glad that Kingsley went against my wishes and played that full recording for the reporters," Madam Bones confessed. I was considering this comment and considering just how 'reformed' Madam Bones was, when I heard Harry gasp.

I whispered this sentiment to Harry and was surprised, when he whispered back {She represents a different point of view, which is best not ignored, lest we become like those we fight.} Not very Harry, but he was soon jolted out of this philosophical moment.

"The remaining magical box has been destroyed. The one that I was unable to open," Harry's voice was filled with emotion. "It must have been designed to destroy its contents if subjected to a brute force attack." As Harry said this he pointed to a heavy hammer and steel chisel, which had been shoved under his desk.

"Rita do much damage, before Elves can stop her. Knock Elves out of way, lock office door. One Elf injured," Cotto spoke to Harry, although I hadn't noticed him entering the room and hadn't heard a pop.

"Will the Elf be alright?" Harry asked him "I'd hate to think someone was badly injured protecting my office and springing our little trap."

"Blissmo will be fine in few days," Cotto assured Harry.

Dad and Shacklebolt were at the jail ahead of us, talking to the auror jailers. "She's to be charged with breaking into the Ministry, destroying evidence in a criminal investigation, assaulting an Elf, and failing to register as an Animagus," Dad was telling the head jailer. "I'm trying to think how we can contain her, while giving her enough space to return to her human form."

"I believe the determination of suitable charges is my responsibility, Minister," Madam Bones objected as we approached Dad. "There is also the issue of whether or not Cotto's Elves had the authority to apprehend the defendant."

"I'm glad you at least refer to her as a defendant," Dad replied. "Harry authorised the Elves to guard his office, Rita invaded the office and began destroying things, the Elves stopped her without killing or injuring her, they've given the aurors a statement describing what they saw. I don't see the problem."

"Her defence lawyer may well claim…"

"You'll certainly need a strategy to overcome any objections which her lawyer may raise, but we don't need to do his job, do we?" Harry interrupted her objection. "For now, we need to decide which crimes she has committed, for which we can reasonably expect to convict her. Do any of the charges that the Minister suggested fail to meet that hurdle?"

"Not necessarily, but I also can't necessarily get a conviction on all of them."

"Nobody's perfect," Harry replied, turning back to Dad and inquiring "when do you want to announce her capture?"

"If I hadn't been interrupted, I would have already told you that Prudence has scheduled a press briefing for 8:00 A.M. I'm sure you'll want to be there. So, you might as well stay and help us conjure up an effective container for Ms. Skeeter. On the plus side, the Elves managed to separate her from her wand as she was changing into her bug form, so she will be unarmed and possibly unable to change back and forth."

We had soon created a transparent magical containment, big enough for the human Rita, and with no holes big enough for the bug Rita to slip through. We stunned the bug inside the jar, levitated it into the containment, and then released the bug from the spell. It fluttered around a bit inside its invisible container, which was still inside the cell. We had to wait four hours before Rita reverted to Witch form.

The reversion was nearly instantaneous, leaving Hermione to wonder "where does the extra mass go to and come back from? We saw the beetle Rita fly. How does a hundred- and twenty-pound beetle, the size of my fingernail, fly? I think we can safely charge her with breaking the fundamental laws of physics. This would certainly bolster the theories of some modern physicists who say that there are a lot of extra, hidden dimensions, which we can't see. These string theory physicists might say that there is a little puddle of Skeeter blood and bone lying on a flat, desolate surface, beyond our ability to sense it."

"Perhaps that's where Baal went?" I suggested "although I hope he isn't trapped and dying on some desolate surface, beyond our reach, that's too horrible…"

The head auror guard had heard quite enough of what he obviously felt was infantile musing. "I don't understand a word of what you're saying, and I'm not sure that you do either, but I can tell you that I carried that jar, with the bug in it, and it weren't any heavier than the empty jar. Even with the little piece of wet lettuce that I threw in for her. Do you think I could carry a hundred- and twenty-pound jar, with one hand? Don't be daft."

I hadn't realised that the Stowe parents had already been arrested, until Mrs. Stowe felt obliged to add her voice on the matter. "You young Witches think you're so clever, talking about nonsense that you pretend to understand. Rita is my friend and she has an appreciation for the traditional ways and the value of Witches and Wizards like me and my husband, which you'll never understand. I'm not sorry for what I did. I only wish Silas had succeeding in killing the Muggle-born Witch. She doesn't belong in our world and she's entirely too uppity. She comes here with Muggle knowledge, which she got for free, is given our Wizarding knowledge for free, so that she starts out ahead of good boys like my sons, who were born into this life and will willingly carry on its traditions. She'll end up as an important Hogwarts professor or Ministry expert, while my sons would have been left trying to scrape out a living on a too-small scrap of farmland. It's not fair, and I'm not sorry we fought to try to make things right."

"I realise that you are filled with hate," Harry responded to her, as Hermione and I were left spluttering "but you know that just isn't true. Both of your sons were experts in magical engineering and could have had very good Ministry jobs, just by asking. They certainly wouldn't have been forced to be farmers. One of your sons was already an auror. They knew enough that they likely could have been Hogwarts professors."

"And you think that's what Pa and I wanted for our boys? Leave the farm to work at Hogwarts or the Ministry? That would be like spitting in our faces and the faces of our parents. Abandon a farm that's been in the Stowe family for seven generations? That's who we are. A mother wants to pass on something of great value to her children. She certainly doesn't want them to look at the little scrap of farm that she's left behind and sell it off to the neighbouring Wizard for a few galleons, like some piece of trash that has no significance in their lives. You grew up amongst the Muggles yourself, so you come by your perverse ways naturally. Shouldn't have let you come here, either. Now you're Lording it over the rest of us. I've heard the mean things you've said about that poor remaining Frakes boy, who at least reports the truth. Saving your good titbits for your friend Ernie, so that an honest boy can't make an honest living. Your pal Ernie spit in his father's face, didn't he? Working the farm and learning from his Dad were just beneath him. He had to abandon his parents to go work for the Prophet. The Frakes boy had no choice in the matter, the Frakes farm couldn't even support two sons, let alone a third. But you persecuted the brothers for doing a little Elf hunting to keep the family homestead going. What else were they going to do? That ground could only produce so many turnips. But they fought for it. It was their life as it was their parents' and grandparents' lives. They understood tradition."

"That's nonsense. Their grandfather was a lawyer and a Gamot. I doubt he planted a turnip in his life. So, if you object to you and your sons living on a tiny farm and you also object to them getting a good job off the farm, exactly what is it that you do want, that you thought Bruce would give you?"

"There'd be no Muggle-born taking the land and jobs that good Wizard-born sons need and deserve to have. We would also simply take as much land as we needed to farm from the Muggles and whatever nice house we wanted, too. Witches wouldn't have to get jobs and young Wizards wouldn't have to leave the family homestead. Parents wouldn't grow old alone. Our traditions would be preserved. That's worth fighting for. A son should stay with his parents, marry a dutiful, traditional Witch who stays at home and raises the children, and then replace the parents after they die. A Wizard homestead should stay in the family forever. Your lot work to keep us poor and set hurdles so we must send our children away to Hogwarts and they, girls as well as boys, must work away from the homestead just to survive. It didn't used to be like that."

"Well, our administration created programs that would allow Wizards, like your family, to borrow money to buy more land from the Muggles to enlarge your farm, so that it could actually support all of you."

"You want my sons to go beg for money from the Goblins or a Muggle-raised Wizard like you, when they could just fight the Muggles and take it – act like Wizards who still have their pride. I don't think so! And now the Deputy Minister pals around with and even marries the sort of Witches I see standing before me. It's disgraceful!"

"If you say so," Harry replied, temporarily forgetting Rita's presence, as he added "and yet you like and support Rita Skeeter, who has never married and works for the Prophet."

Now Mrs. Stowe had amped up to a higher level of anger. "That shows how little you know about Rita. Didn't have a choice, did she, with her parents being killed while she was still at Hogwarts. Her brother got the tiny homestead, but already had a wife and kid and couldn't support the sister. So, she had to work. No choice about it. But I can tell that she would rather be living the life of the traditional Witch. She's suffered badly. Traditional Wizards, the only sort of husband a worthy Witch like her would consider, passed her by, because she had to strut about as a tough reporter. She's given a lot to our cause. Why she…"

"Please don't go into detail," Rita screeched. "It will all just become evidence at my trial. And I am not the pathetic creature Mrs. Stowe makes me out to be. Powerful Wizards fear me, and for very good reason."

"We know you've been feeding Frakes the material for his stories. Fortunately for us, he couldn't even write it up without making errors," Harry acknowledged "but that hardly makes us fear you. You were just another nuisance to be cleaned up. Not nearly on a par with Thicknesse, Barty, or even the Stowes."

"Frakes meant well, but he's kind of stupid," Rita agreed. "Still, between us, we obviously managed to keep all of the masses from adopting you as their hero. You'll never learn, Harry. Telling the truth and trying to help people will never be enough to cause them to believe you or to like you. I warned you of that at the Triwizard Tournament. You should have listened to me. Telling people an obvious truth, which they find inconvenient and would rather ignore, will cause them to hate you more. Did you really believe there were people who didn't want to know Voldemort was back and just had to be told in a louder, whiny little boy's voice in order to believe it? The Wizarding world enjoyed a couple of extra years of feeling secure by pretending that Voldemort was gone forever, and I helped to deliver that good feeling to them. It was a gift to my public, and it hurt only me. None of my readers was able to stop Voldemort. So, a gift of two years of normalcy and happiness and no harm done other than to your sense of self-importance. Ergo, I was loved, you were hated. Nothing you said or did changed a thing."

"I KILLED VOLDEMORT!" Harry shouted at her.

"Yes, you did, but that would have happened anyway, maybe even sooner, if you hadn't gone around upsetting good Wizards with your talk of Voldemort returning. Fudge and Scrimgeour would both have helped you, had you managed a little humility and insight into how people think. They asked only that you give them the barest, minimum cover, so that they could remain in office and help you destroy Voldemort. If Scrimgeour was so awful, why do you think Voldemort had him murdered? I can assure you that Scrimgeour never supported Voldemort. He had been fed information and needed to be jollied along slowly and in private. He would have ended up right where you wanted him, but you were too proud and impatient to let him take his own approach. I've provided you many opportunities to learn, Harry Potter. Someday you'll grow up and take advantage of them. I'm not evil. I just tell the Wizarding world what it needs to hear, in order to make it through one day and into the next. There is so much I could teach you about how this world really operates. All I ask in return is a little clemency. I've always been just a poor Witch chasing enough stories to feed myself and ingratiating myself enough with the powerful that they don't kill me."

"We'll talk later," Harry assured her. "For now, I need some fresh air." I followed Harry out of the jail and back to his office. Ron and Hermione tagged along.

"Mrs. Parkinson and Mrs. Stowe certainly seem to share a viewpoint," Hermione commented. "No matter what I do, Witches like them are always going to hate me."

I commented, "I suspect we may have found McGonagall's particular villain who 'doesn't like our type of Witch'. When she said that, I assumed we would find an old-fogey Slytherin Wizard, not a couple of Witches."

"Odd, isn't it," Hermione agreed. "Some may fear Rita Skeeter, Umbridge, Voldemort, or even Harry, but others fear us most of all."

"You mean, what young Witch would want to be Mrs. Parkinson, when she could choose to be you or me?" I responded.

"Crudely put, but true, and I imagine something Mrs. Parkinson asked herself about Pansy over the past several months. Taken to its conclusion, Draco could well have been correct in predicting that the days of the Slytherin wife were ending. To a Mrs. Parkinson or Mrs. Stowe, that may be the most frightening thing in the world – more frightening than Voldemort ever was to them. Mrs. Stowe seems to be the Slytherin wife, without even having an Elf."

All of us were too revved up to consider sleep, so we passed on Dad's offer of beds in the auror quarters and camped out in the library, which happened to be available at this hour of night to the Deputy Minister and his party. Hermione researched Runes, while I slouched in a very old over-stuffed chair in the Muggle books section and chatted with Harry, Ron, Percy, and Wood. It was a pleasant chat, as that elusive scent of victory was back in the air. After an hour, Dad joined us and seemed more upbeat than I had seen him in months. I remarked on his mood, asking if the likely closing of the leak in the Ministry and the hope that the quantity of bad press in the Daily Prophet would at least slow a bit was really that big of a deal in the grand scheme of things a Minister of Magic had to deal with.

"It's not just that, but that certainly helps. Harry has convinced me that it would be unrealistic to ever expect favourable coverage from the Daily Prophet, but a reduction in the attacks is a prospect that I savour. More important, however, is that this allows me to wholeheartedly trust the good people at the Ministry, whom I work with every day. You can't imagine how much it hurt me and sapped all the pleasure from my work, having to spend each day in guarded fashion, not being sure whether people I liked and respected, like Madam Bones, Kingsley, Professor McGonagall, even Prudence, Percy, and your group were either actively sabotaging me or not bothering to give a care about whom they told what. I trust Harry and Percy, but hearing of your meeting with Percy's breakfast buddies was disquieting, not just because of that leak, but because I could see that happening a dozen times a day, with a dozen different aides and confidantes, who, for whatever reason, didn't protect our secrets as carefully as I do. It hurt me not to tell your mother a lot of the things I kept from her, but I felt that if I expected others to keep secrets, then I must be extra vigilant myself. Knowing that it was literally Rita as a bug on the wall lifts so much weight from my shoulders. I feel better than I did when Harry dispatched Thicknesse.

"But, as I said, it's more than that. It pleases me to see how well you and Harry are getting along, how you've scaled back the dangers you face, while still doing what you need to do. I know that you impersonated Pansy, Ginevra, but Kingsley has explained all the safeguards that you took. I approve. I'm also pleased how well Harry has fit into the new role which I assigned to him, and how Amelia and Kingsley seem to be getting along a bit better.

"I feel better about all of us, just listening to how petty the opposition, like Mrs. Stowe, actually are. It's easy to fall into the trap of trying to please everyone, but as I listened to that Witch it became crystal clear that there was no way I could satisfy her and retain a smidgeon of my self-respect. I don't think the woman even understands what she wants, and to the extent that she does, I'm quite sure it is unobtainable. Listening to her was a very liberating experience. Bruce would have been a far greater disappointment to her than I have been. She's not even that old, but she's a bitter old Witch. Unhappy with her lot and not willing to make a single compromise to improve things for herself or her children.

"I'm also pleased to see how well Ron and Hermione work together and how much they respect each other. I'll be very pleased to add Hermione to the family, which reminds me that amidst the press of all the other things you're working on, it's past time for all of you to start planning your joint wedding. Your mother has been thinking about it, but I'm not sure any of you will be totally happy leaving the planning in her hands. You're a lot less pliable than Bill and Fleur were. You should know that I've also asked George if he really is interested in marrying Luna during Christmas break. He says that he is. I gave him the same message, which I'm giving you now - not a lot of time left.

"I think that I'm finally starting to see myself as a successful Minister, while I'm seeing the successful conclusion of my role as father. I'll still be your father, of course, but you'll have your own families and I'll be more of a grandfather."

"Callista and I definitely want to get married with the rest of my siblings," Percy added "and we have begun to think about and plan what we want. I think we're better at planning than the rest of you, so if you're willing to sit down with us and discuss what you want, I'm sure we can reach agreement and Callista and I can work with Mom to make it happen."

"Thank you, Percy," Harry and I answered in unison. Ron was just a few seconds behind us, but he then added "I know Hermione has been doing some planning. She's very flexible, however. Since we have so many friends and relatives in common, it makes a joint wedding more doable. It's still going to be a bit bizarre."

We shared an early breakfast in the commissary, chatting with Percy's breakfast buddies, but being a bit circumspect in what we said. The papers were filled with the tales from yesterday's press briefing. Since only Ernie had most of the information, the Daily Prophet was unable to be too negative, although they led with the digs.

McGONAGALL ORDERS CLEMENCY FOR PANSY, POTTER COMPLIES

POTTER FUNDS MINISTRY BY OPENING MAGICAL BOXES

TROVE OF EVIDENCE FOUND UNDER PARKINSON PATIO

RECORDING OF UMBRIDGE PLANNING KIDNAPPING

MRS. PARKINSON SETS UP OWN DAUGHTER

DOCTOR SPROUT TIED TO THICKNESSE, UMBRIDGE

Hermione smiled and shook her head at the headlines. "When did our Pansy become like one of those Muggle starlets who are referred to in the press by just their first name. I mean, Harry isn't Harry, he's Potter. Do we have a new Witch celebrity or something? It makes me less eager to let her out of jail quickly. I'd hate to have to watch her bask in her new fame, which she earned by trying to kidnap and murder us. I think that might be worse than sharing Hogwarts with her."

The last four headlines introduced totally factual articles by Ernie, beginning with a description of 'recordings, which I heard personally' and reproductions of some of the pictures and documents from the Parkinson and the other lock boxes. Ernie walked the reader through the Ministry's case with deft skill, leaving little room for doubt. I thought that he might convince even Madam Bones that the prisoners were very guilty and should spend a lot of time in jail.

His third article gave fairly convincing proof that Pansy was largely the unwitting pawn of her mother in the kidnap plot, totally repudiating Frakes' lead article. Harry was quoted as saying "I was originally quite sceptical that Pansy was deserving of clemency, but as the investigation continued, she seemed more and more to be a victim, herself. Her mother treated her very shabbily. It is terrible what can happen when parents try to dictate the lives of their adult children and fight to eradicate their free will, even to the point of having them Imperiused. If that's what it takes to preserve 'tradition', then I'm all for change."

Xenophilius provided very favourable and totally accurate coverage.

The press conference started tamely enough. Harry described the assault on his office by Rita Skeeter and the destruction of evidence. He said Rita had been captured by the Elves, whom he had asked to guard his office at night, with one Elf having been injured. He explained how Rita had transformed into a bug at the time of her capture, and how he had been present for her transformation back to Witch form. One of Cotto's Elves described the assault on Harry's office. Hermione did her side of beef demonstration, to show how Rita had feigned her death with the help of a corrupt auror and used her skills as an Animagus to steal information from the Ministry, information which Frakes then got wrong. There were gasps from the reporters and demands to see Rita. As Shacklebolt and Harry had planned from the start, Rita was levitated into the Minister's conference room, still ensconced within her magical cage. All the reporters were duly impressed, although Frakes was cringing.

That was when things got strange. As Ernie was asking Harry "have you gotten any useful information from questioning Rita", Harry was starting to stammer about "investigation in its early stages… happy with what we have learned…," when Rita decided to hold her own press conference. Harry and Kingsley decided to just let her talk, and it was very entertaining.

"Potter is just going to mumble meaningless trivia and platitudes at you, like how he can't give you any details until I am charged, and yet how it's super important to have finally captured dangerous little me. As if I'm the enemy. I take no political sides, other than the side of my readers, who want me to inform them, as they enjoy being informed. It is not some threat to Wizardom for the average Wizard to learn what is said inside this Ministry by the powerful, who run it. I've faithfully recorded what was said. Anyone will tell you that I am noted for the excellence of my notes.

"Let me tell you my story, which happens to be the real story. I am not an evil person. I am a solid, professional reporter who recognises my duty both to inform and entertain my readers, while not confronting them with too many unpleasant truths all at once, which might cause them to feel discomforted that their most deeply held beliefs are being attacked. I admit that not everything that I've written over the years has been strictly true, but I've written more truth than falsehood and the small amount of falsehood was true in spirit and written with the best of intentions. As I was just telling Harry Potter: I've revealed the essence of Harry in greater accuracy than he can admit to himself. I've also uncovered my share of blockbuster breaking news.

"I think I've gleaned some important secrets that the public had the right to know, as I moved surreptitiously about the Ministry. If people at the Ministry were more open, such techniques wouldn't be necessary. Most of the distortions and falsehoods that my trusting readers have read in copies of the Daily Prophet, which have appeared since my untimely 'death', are the result of Mr. Frakes' stupidity and incompetence, not to mention his ongoing grudge against Potter. They are not the result of any intent on my part. I assure you that I delivered accurate notes to Mr. Frakes of conversations which I overheard.

"I apologise to my readers for writing certain untruths during the time of Voldemort's rise. I assure you that I had no choice. My life was threatened, and neither the Ministry nor my publisher had any interest in publishing the truth. All the Ministers, from Fudge, to Scrimgeour, to Thicknesse paid Barnabas Cuffe to publish articles written by them under the names of Daily Prophet reporters. I never permitted my name to be used in this way. Still, I was blackmailed and threatened, with very convincing demonstrations of how easily I could be killed, into writing nasty things about Potter and Dumbledore. I tried to write in a way that a discerning reader could tell I was writing a fiction as jest. This brings me to my alleged plot to fake my own death.

"This was not a crime. I was not the subject of an arrest warrant, and the Ministry had charged me with no crimes. The simple truth is that I was disappearing to protect myself from the remaining Death Eaters, not to escape the law. I was certain that Thicknesse or Umbridge would have me killed within the day, unless I vanished. The auror who helped me owed me a favour and, having granted that favour, could not admit what he had done. He would have been pursued by both sides. I had just come from a meeting in which it became clear to a corrupt auror who was present for the meeting that I knew quite a bit about the Death Eaters and Grindelwald's and would shortly be forced by the Ministry to reveal everything. I certainly would have cooperated with the Minister, had it not been for the corrupt aurors, who would have seen me dead. So, I did nothing the least bit illegal.

"I am charged with destruction of evidence in Deputy Minister Potter's office. I did this act, but I did it under fear of my own death. Delores Umbridge had found me and blackmailed and death-threated me. She caught me inside the Ministry the prior night. Yes, Delores Umbridge was inside the Ministry of Magic two nights ago. She used Polyjuice to appear in the form of Madam Bones, but I stayed with her long enough for the potion to wear off. I saw the true Delores Umbridge, as she intended me to."

Hearing this, Hermione whipped out her Goblin pen and touched Madam Bones' chin, as Ron and I pointed our wands at her. Madam Bones passed the test and our attention turned back to Rita.

"Umbridge said the Ministry had information that would allow them to find her and to convict her and other good people. She said that I would not permit that to happen, if I knew what was good for me. I had seen her before she discovered me. I saw her talking to Wendell Zabini. I heard him address her as 'Deputy Minister Umbridge', even though she was in the form of Madam Bones. I felt that was odd enough to merit my attention. She asked him to attack the Gringotts management for making risky loans to undeserving Wizards. She said it was most important that the loan program fail, so that the Minister and Potter looked like failures. Wendell said he would be happy to do as she asked. I then was moving to the elevator to see what I could learn in the Deputy Minister's office, when Umbridge caught me and told me that there was evidence that must be destroyed. She said there was a magical box that contained the names of all her Ministry contacts, everyone who had ever supported the Death Eaters and Grindelwald's in any way, with enough evidence to ensure their future support. The box also contained quite a lot of Muggle money, which would unfortunately have to be destroyed.

"We went to the Muggle shop and she gave me tools and told me to attack the magical box in Deputy Minister Potter's office. I did as she insisted. I'm sorry, but the box is lost. I also destroyed some pictures, documents, and a recording.

"I have more that I can tell, but I need Ministry protection. My life is in great danger. I'm not a bad person and I'm a great reporter, it's not my fault that I had to pass my notes on to a lying idiot, because I'm supposed to be dead. Protect me. I promise you will not be disappointed. One last point – how can I be guilty of not registering as an Animagus? The past four Ministers knew that I was an Animagus. That includes Minister Weasley and Deputy Minister Potter. It is hardly my fault if they neglected to record that which they already knew."

As Rita stopped talking, Shacklebolt declared the press conference over and led his aurors in whisking Rita out of the room. As soon as the procession had left the conference room with Rita, Xenophilius asked, "Is he allowed to end this press conference, Minister? I have some questions."

"Of course, you do, Xenophilius," Dad replied, "and Harry, Madam Bones, and I will stay here to answer them. Now, what do you want to know?"

"With some of the evidence destroyed, do you still have enough to prosecute Delores Umbridge, should you catch her?"

"We'll catch her," Dad instantly responded, "and there is plenty of evidence. There was plenty of evidence, even before we found the magical boxes and got the statements from Mrs. Parkinson and Barty. Isn't that true, Madam Bones?"

"Well, I certainly plan to prosecute her, and I fully expect to gain a conviction," Madam Bones responded. "You may be a witness. You heard the recording yesterday."

"We have the other recordings, and none of the pictures was actually destroyed, just singed. I took some of the best stuff for safekeeping," Harry replied.

"My next question is for Mr. Frakes," Xenophilius continued. "Is Rita correct when she says that you're a lying idiot?"

"Shut up, you old fool. Delores Umbridge will create a victory for my side, whether you like it or not. The traditional Wizards believe what I write. Enjoy your time of triumph, it won't last long. Now, I must get back to the Prophet."