Once again returning from the dead, it is I, Peeves' best friend! I would like to thank everyone who reviewed, alerted and favorited. Also apologies for the wait, but writer's block and stuff got in the way so yeah. Anyways, whilst distracting myself with another nonsensical and weird oneshot, I had an epiphany and this is the result. Little to no action, just the necessary aftermath that comes with the international fiasco that was the Third Task.
Enjoy!
DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN HARRY POTTER!
Harry opened his eyes as he heard the hospital wing's fireplace roar with the fire of an incoming person via Floo travel.
Turning his head, to watch whoever was coming in, lazily, Harry blinked his eyes twice before paying more attention. He didn't do things lazily. Ever.
The first person stepped out of the Floo, and Harry wasn't exactly jumping for joy when he recognized the werewolf Lupin.
Lupin didn't acknowledge anybody, instead just glancing around the wing quickly, towards the few ill and wounded spread throughout the wing. His eyes skimmed over Harry, but he didn't seem to register whom he was looking at, as he'd turned to watch the next incoming arrival the next second.
Black came swaggering out of the Floo, his Auror robes burnt and a rip in those robes near his ribs showed the white bandage that laid underneath. Obviously, Black had been heavily involved in the battle of the Forest, as it was becoming known already. The torn robes had been caused by the actual fighting, the burnt parts of robe must have been caused by an Acromantula actually spitting venom. A rarity for certain, but some of the elder spiders were indeed capable of this.
Black didn't ever bother with checking his surroundings, instead turning to the fireplace immediately, where the third Marauder stumbled out, almost smacking into the ground nose-first if it weren't for Black and Lupin catching him. James Potter clearly had no talent for Floo travel.
"Thanks Pads, Moony," The elder Potter muttered distractedly, yet loud enough for Harry to hear, which was quite loud, seeing as Harry did lay on almost the other side of the wing.
As the other two men distractedly waved off James' apologies, all three men turned around to look at the fireplace almost anxiously.
The reason for this became obvious seconds later as Max Potter came stumbling out of the fireplace. He didn't seem to have had trouble with the actual travel, as he appeared as if he was just going to walk out, but then he sagged and fell into the waiting arms of his father and uncles.
Max was wearing a hospital gown and he appeared to have fallen asleep between already. Obviously, he was on some very powerful sleeping potions. Harry must've done more damage than he'd realized. Which was weird, because blood-replenishing potions should have easily made up for the only real threat Harry's … ahum, methods, had caused to Max. The cuts hadn't threatened any vital organs and all of them would've been easily healed as they were made by common spells.
He must've let Max bleed more heavily than he'd thought. Oh well, no point crying over spilt milk.
As the three men fussed over an apparently already sleeping Max, the flames spewed out one last person, and Lily Potter stepped out of the fireplace to direct the three men to guide Max to the closest available free bed.
Whilst the newly arrived group was slowly letting Max sink back into his pillow, the doors to the hospital wing swung open and a new group of people came marching in.
Albus was leading the group with Minister of Magic Cornelius Fudge by his side. Draco and Neville were walking side by side and slightly behind the actual group. Two men wearing Auror robes were following Fudge, they were obviously a hastily assigned guard detail.
Other than that, McGonagall was in conversation with a woman Harry recognized as Amelia Bones, who was head of the DMLE and who had been taking an increasing amount of flak from the Prophet ever since the successful escape(s) from Wormtail. Harry thought those critiques were undeserved, after all, Bones' department had been on the wrong side of budget cuts ever since Halloween '81.
As the small group started moving for his bed, Harry saw Sirius and James jerk to attention as they noticed both their boss, and her boss.
The group led by Dumbledore ignored the Marauders and co though, instead swiftly passing by Max' bed to form a semi-circle around the end of Harry's bed. Draco and Neville moved to stand next to Harry's shoulders, one on each side.
With a polite nod, Harry spoke, "Minister Fudge, Madam Bones, it's an honor to meet you. It is unfortunate that it has to be under these circumstances." Harry said formally.
Fudge seemed to puff up slightly at Harry's words, whilst Bones merely gave a curt nod.
"Of course, a pleasure to meet you too my boy." Fudge spoke in a pleased tone.
"Now then, how about we do this as efficiently as possible. I understand you got injured quite severely my boy, and after the events of tonight you must be absolutely exhausted." Fudge continued, leaving Harry pleasantly surprised at the take-charge tone the man was using. Perhaps his evaluation of Fudge being a puppet wasn't as correct as he'd thought.
"First and foremost, you won the Triwizard Tournament. The images have since been reviewed and it is obvious that whilst Max Potter was pulled along with the Portkey just as much as you yourself were, Mr. Potter, it is also indisputable that you were in fact the only person actively touching the Cup at the moment of activation and as you were the first person to touch the Cup, that makes you the undisputed winner of the Triwizard Tournament. Congratulations." Fudge spoke, smiling proudly down at Harry, as if the man had been rooting for him all along. Harry had to give it to the man, he was a born politician.
Before Fudge could continue, Sirius and James arrived, James appearing to be quite angry.
"Now wait just one second! Max would have won this tournament fair and square if it hadn't been for your cheating!" James interrupted loudly.
As everyone turned to look at the angry Potter patriarch, the man in question continued, "You didn't participate fairly in the task! The maze was intended to be ran yet you used levitation to hover over it to spot the Cup faster! And when Max tackled you after you shamelessly attacked him from behind, you dragged him along with the Portkey instead of fighting honorably! You don't deserve to be declared the winner!"
Harry sighed, when would this idiot learn?
"One, there was not a single rule that forbade me from using the Porposo to hover over the maze. Two, I did participate fairly, but the Cup was not in the center of the maze, where it should have been. Only after arriving there to find an empty pedestal did I use the spell to locate the Cup. Three, I wouldn't have needed to attack him from behind had it not been for number 2, and there was once again not a single rule that forbade me from attacking Max. Four, I won both other tasks with ridiculous ease and have demonstrated repeatedly during this Tournament that I am by far the most skilled of the four Champions, so in conclusion I am most definitely the deserved winner." Harry listed of, Neville being so helpful as to count along on his fingers, thus giving the visual reinforcement Harry was too tired to give himself.
Fudge interfered before James could get another word in, "Auror Potter, I believe you have no official business attending this conversation so I strongly suggest you remain silent if you don't want to be evoked from these proceedings." The Minster of Magic spoke sharply, getting a venomous glare from James.
Harry lifted an intrigued eyebrow. Tension between Fudge and Team BWL? Now that was useful information.
"Now then, Harry, you don't mind if I call you Harry, do you?" Fudge started only to pause and look at Harry with a friendly smile.
"Of course not Minister." Harry answered politely, settling back to listen as the bowler hat wearing man continued.
"Excellent, now then, there will be an award ceremony later, we will have to postpone because of recent events, but I see no reason for it not to continue. So with that out of the way, why don't you tell us what transpired between the moment when you touched the Triwizard Cup, and the moment when you arrived on the stage where you should have arrived directly." Fudge finished before gazing at Harry expectantly. To be honest, Harry was really surprised at how Fudge had completely taken charge of the conversation. Dumbledore hadn't even spoken yet!
"Well, when we arrived at our destination, I was thrown to the ground due to the added weight of Max, who was in the process of tackling me when I touched the Cup. Because of this, I was unable to grab my wand before being knocked out by a Stunner." Harry spoke, getting gasps from his audience.
"When I woke, I was tied to a statue and my wand had been taken from me. I was also bleeding quite a bit from a deep cut that had been made in my arm. As I regained my bearings, I spotted two men who were watching me and Max. He too was tied up to a statue, and he had yet to regain consciousness."
"The smaller of the men was Peter Pettigrew, also known as Wormtail. I recognized him not only from the Wanted posters, but also as I had previously apprehended him about a year ago. Anyway, Pettigrew was bleeding from his right arm socket, as his entire limb was missing. Despite this, he was grinning like a lunatic and he seemed almost ecstatic."
"Next to the rat stood a man of about six feet and two inches, he had full dark hair and a slightly pale skin tone. His eyes were entirely red and he had that classic pureblood bone structure we are all familiar with."
"Then, Pettigrew fainted from what I venture to have been blood loss. The second man waved his hand at Max and me, paralyzing me from the neck down. I believe it probable that he did the same to Max. The man then went on to wave his wand over Pettigrew's bloody arm socket repeatedly which somehow resulted in the creation of a completely silver limb, covered in archaic runes I did not manage to decipher."
"Unfortunately for Max, he still hadn't regained consciousness, and this seemed to irk the man, as he aimed his wand at him before using the Cruciatus." Harry spoke, pausing to allow for the dramatic and horrified gasps of his listeners. They didn't disappoint.
"Yes, well, this of course woke Max up, and the man immediately cut off the spell. He'd only held it for a fraction of a second. Then, Pettigrew started gloating, explaining how his Lord had been waiting for this moment for quite some time. How everything had been part of his plan, which Dumbledore and I had managed to delay by stopping Barty Crouch Junior and by fighting Voldemort," cue more expressions of shock and horror, "but we had not managed to stop completely. At this point, it was revealed that the second man was indeed The Dark Lord Voldemort himself."
Harry allowed the incomprehensible shouts and questions of his audience to die down before answering the main questions he had managed to pick up out of the hardly comprehensible shouts.
"Yes, Voldemort has indeed returned to a full physical form and he has full availability over his magic. I am certain it was him and no I did not hallucinate nor am I making this up." Harry spoke calmly, trying to get the crowd to calm down so that he could continue his story even as most of them shivered, jumped or squawked at the use of Voldemort's name, only Dumbledore did not show any reaction at all, though Harry was proud to say that Draco and Neville barely reacted as well, Draco just twitching slightly and Neville blinked twice rapidly. Both of those reactions were far better than when Harry had first used Voldemort's name around the two. That story involved an exploding desk and Draco walking headlong into a door.
Harry's tactic worked marvelously, which wasn't all that surprising as he was talking to people either a) rather intelligent or b) trained to remain silent. Even James fell in that second category at least as a trained Auror.
"Harry, please this is of the utmost importance. Did you get a look at the wand Voldemort was using?" Dumbledore inquired curiously, leaving everyone confused and once more reacting in some way as the Headmaster's question seemed completely irrelevant to the core of the matter whilst still using the feared name.
"It was of a very light wood, but I have no way of knowing any further specifications. As far as I am in a position to judge, I would say Voldemort wielded it with ease and was perfectly matched to his wand." Harry answered, trusting that Dumbledore did indeed have a reason for his question, vague or unknown as it may be. Their audience seemed to be getting worse with every use of the word Voldemort though, and that was getting very annoying.
"Thank you Harry. Please, continue your story." Dumbledore answered, and Harry could swear he saw Fudge let out a relieved sigh at the lack of the word Voldemort in Dumbledore's last two sentences.
"Right, so, Pettigrew proudly explained that Voldemort had reached out to his 'redeemed' servant, whom turned out to be Igor Karkaroff, whom had been instructed to get Max to Voldemort, something which I foiled by reaching the Cup first, but unfortunately Max tackled me at the last second leading to him coming along with the Portkey and thus placing the plan back on schedule." Harry spoke, trying to regain the thread of his story, as all of these interferences were not helping his tired and wounded self with recollecting and logically ordering everything that had happened since he had entered the maze.
And Harry wouldn't be allowed to continue his story now either, as a red-faced James Potter spoke up, "Are you insinuating it is Max' fault that You-Know-Who has returned to a body?"
Harry was impressed, despite James' obvious anger, he asked his question in a deceptively calm tone, and Max still held a lot of sway as the Boy-Who-Lived. Accusing Max of being in line with Voldemort was equivalent to political suicide, as Harry would never be forgiven for something like that, up to the point where people would actively seek to do him harm in retaliation.
So, Harry frowned in thought, before slowly speaking up, carefully considering each word that left his lips, "That's… not what I meant. I will reformulate my message. I meant to express the following sentiment: "Due to an unfortunate combination of circumstances, one of which was Max tackling me, another of which was Karkaroff being a slimy bastard, Max reached Voldemort despite the temporary possibility of that event not taking place." Does that sound better mister Potter?" Harry politely questioned, looking at James with his true feeling hidden behind a curious and slightly apologetic mask.
James nodded brusquely, and Harry continued his story immediately. He needed sleep , and by the Founders, if these people kept interrupting he was liable to call Hedwig and just let her fly him to Antarctica.
"So, the rat explained he'd used a ritual involving blood of both me and my brother," Harry barely managed to pronounce the word brother normally, and noticing the sudden extra interest from Fudge, Harry deduced that Dumbledore wasn't the only one to have caught his near slip, "Bone of Volde-" Harry tried to continue, only to be interrupted yet again.
"Stop!" One of the Aurors accompanying Fudge surprisingly shouted, "Please mister Potter, don't use that word. That's bad luck." The formerly intimidating man continued, and Harry lost a significant amount of respect for the Auror office, if this was what they used as guard detail for the Minister of Magic.
Harry let out an aggravated sigh, "Normally, I'd ridicule you and point out why that is ridiculous, but I have had a horrible day and I just want to get some rest. So fine, now shut up and let me finish this story." Harry spoke angrily, not pleased about giving in on this, but not willing to get into another long, derailing argument.
"So, again," Harry looked at the interfering Auror until he started shuffling uncomfortably, "Blood of me and Max, bone of You-Know-Who's father and finally flesh of a servant, which had been Pettigrew's arm. This was followed by You-Know-Who using Pettigrew's arm to summon his Death Eaters."
For the first time, Fudge interfered in a way more reminiscent of the weak sycophant Harry had been expecting, "Now surely mister Potter, you aren't insinuating He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named has any significant amount of followers remaining? Those are locked up in Azkaban!"
Harry frowned, "The following Death Eaters were directly addressed by name: 'Rookwood, Mulciber, Nott, Crabbe, Macnair, Lucius Malfoy, Karkaroff.' There were also half a dozen Death Eaters who were not addressed by name." The Ravenclaw Champion spoke harshly, fearing where Fudge was going with this.
Fudge turned a blotchy red, and now Harry realized that Fudge was still an idiot unwilling to face the truth, who had put up the strong façade in the hope to hear Harry say what he wanted to hear.
"Now you listen to me young man," So much for Fudge using his first name, "those men were all acquitted and the Ministry decided over a decade ago that these men were brave and innocent civilians whom had been put under the Imperius Curse! You insult not only them, but the Ministry of Magic as well with these fabricated claims!"
Harry was stunned, unable to respond for a second as Fudge's sudden obstinacy threw him for a loop even though he should have expected it. Fortunately, Dumbledore stepped in.
"Cornelius, I believe Harry to be telling the truth and you would do well to take what he says very seriously."
"Now you listen here Dumbledore, I am willing to believe that He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named still lives, but it is obvious that the boy must have been hallucinating through parts of his horrifying encounter. That is nothing to be ashamed of after the evening he'd had, but I refuse to believe such baseless claims about upstanding members of our society!" Fudge shouted, puffing up, baring vague resemblance to a red hot air balloon.
Before Harry could offer testimony under Veritaserum, Bones spoke up, "If you are about to offer testimony under Veritaserum mister Potter, I shall spare you the trouble. Veritaserum forces one to speak the truth, but if you have been hallucinating or were under an enchantment or illusion by You-Know-Who, then Veritaserum will be fallible as it forces one to speak what they perceive to be the truth. Thus making it inadmissible in court as long as the defendant has an alibi."
Harry frowned at that. That was true, but he'd been counting on Fudge's incompetence to slip that past the Minister. Bones was losing some serious brownie points tonight.
"Fine, asking you to check them for Dark Marks won't work as you'll claim insufficient evidence for such a violation of privacy, which is ridiculous by the way, so let me continue my story." Harry spoke tiredly, once again defeated because people were once again failing/refusing to realize that he was to be taken seriously.
"So, after the summoning of his Death Eaters the amount and identities of which we will obviously not agree on, You-Know-Who started another monologue, this time about the night of his apparent defeat." Harry spoke, but as he opened his mouth to continue and unveil what Voldemort had explained, Dumbledore gave a near imperceptible shake of his head, obviously wanting Harry to keep this part under wraps for now, until the old man had had time to listen to this part in private. How the hell did Dumbledore know what he was about to say though?
"He claimed that his apparent defeat had been a fluke and that he would prove it by killing Max tonight." Harry thus summarized very shortly, agreeing to wait and discuss Voldemort's monologue in private with Dumbledore first.
Lily Potter let out a dramatic sob at that, and Harry only now realized that she and Lupin had now taken up positions around his bed as well.
Not paying his biological mother any attention, despite the desire to look her in the eye for the first time in his conscious life, Harry continued.
"Before he would kill Max though, the Dark Lord claimed he needed to make an offer first. And then he turned to me. Turns out, Karkaroff and Crouch Junior have been praising my magical ability all year, and He wanted to offer me a place amongst his ranks." Harry spoke, blinking as there were suddenly multiple glowing wands pointed at his face.
"Suffice to say, I didn't take it." Harry said dryly, making most people relax and return their wands to their various pockets and holsters. Foolish really, just saying that he didn't do something shouldn't be enough to make everyone relax. Harry was happy to note that Dumbledore nor McGonagall hadn't drawn their wands. Draco and Neville had, but they'd been pointing them at James and one of the Aurors respectively. Pleased to see that those he trusted would be so willing to trust/defend him as well, Harry continued.
"Of course, I couldn't just say no, that would've meant either my death or extensive torture, so I acted as if I seriously considered You-Know-Who's proposal, and after actually negotiating with him, getting the concession that my guardians and cousin would be allowed to live as long as they did not produce any offspring, I agreed. Staying in my role as the angered reject looking for revenge on those who'd abandoned him, I begged Him for the right to torture Max, which was part of my plan to get us out of there. He granted it." Harry said slowly, keeping an eye on the Potter clique, knowing that any attacks would come from them. Lily actually made a move to pull her wand, only to immediately have Neville and Draco shove their own wands under her nose before she could even get her wand half out of her pocket.
"Make your move," Neville led, only for Draco to spit out, "Punk."
Harry was hard pressed to suppress his laughing, and he was certain that he saw Dumbledore's beard twitch. He was somewhat less sure of the slight smile he thought to have seen on McGonagall's face for the slightest of a second, and that sound Black produced must've been a cough he'd just misheard as a chuckle.
As Lily slowly let go of her wand and patted down her robes with an impressive poker face, Neville and Draco returned their own wands to their side, they didn't let go of them though.
"Well then, I will repeat that it was all an act. Keep that in mind, the next part was necessary to sell the ruse. Max insulted me, claiming I should have been killed in my sleep by my biological parents instead of dumping me with the Muggles, as he so eloquently put it, I will admit that this angered me somewhat, which did help in selling the ruse. I then vanished Max' clothes, leaving him only in his underpants, and then I used my wand to cut that large lightning bolt into his chest." Harry spoke calmly, as if he wasn't describing the story of how he'd tortured his own brother.
Most people looked as if they wanted to interfere, so Harry interrupted himself with a quick, "Let me finish!"
As everyone remained quiet, even if some of them looked rather mutinous whilst doing so, Harry continued, "Then I fired a boatload of minor cutting curses at Max, focusing on his limbs. In the mass of spells, it was easy to sneak in some cutters meant to weaken the bonds that were still holding him pinned against the tombstone he was bound against. Once the bonds were sufficiently weakened, I needed to get Voldemort and his followers to be unprepared for what I was about to do. So, I fired a Crucio at Max. I followed this immediately by creating a snowstorm between me and the Death Eaters, obscuring their view. My one-second Crucio managed to make Max spasm hard enough to tear through his bonds, making him fall to the ground. I summoned the Cup to us, managed to dodge a Killing Curse but lost my arm to some kind of translucent Cutting Curse, and then the Cup arrived and I threw myself haphazardly over an unconscious Max as I grabbed it, and that is how we arrived back at Hogwarts." Harry finished, gladly accepting the cup of water Neville offered him, gulping most of it down immediately.
Everyone remained silent until Dumbledore eventually spoke up.
"I believe it would be best if we all spent some time thinking about the information that has come to light tonight, Cornelius. If you could maybe send me an owl tomorrow I would be more than willing to discuss the consequences of these events with you. For now, I am the Headmaster of a traumatized school and there are other people who need me more urgently." Dumbledore said calmly, looking at the Minister with a polite half-smile.
"Yes, yes, yes I think that would be for the best. A speedy recovery mister Potter, and taking into account the circumstances I believe the Ministry won't be pressing charges for the use of an Unforgivable, just make sure to never do it again. Now come along Amelia, I believe we should be leaving." Fudge stuttered slightly before falling back into his strong façade, and Harry was honestly disappointed that it had turned out to be no more than a façade.
Bones nodded before following Fudge and the two Aurors out of the hospital wing, leaving only Dumbledore and McGonagall, Neville and Draco, and the Potter Posse.
"Well then, Minerva I would be much obliged if you could go speak to your Gryffindors and do a quick headcount, make sure to account for misters Potter and Longbottom, also Severus of Draco's reason for being absent, I believe Filius already knows about his own Potter." Dumbledore continued to direct, getting a brisk nod from McGonagall before the cat Animagus left the wing as well.
"Sirius, if you could visit some of the old crowd and put the word out, I would be much obliged. I fear we shall once again be necessary as Cornelius won't acknowledge how truly powerful Voldemort still is." The usual people shivered, though Harry noticed that they were noticeably calmer in their reactions than earlier in the conversation.
Black pouted and whined, but when he noticed the lack of compassion he got, he just shrugged before marching out of the wing as well.
"Remus, I suggest you prepare, you will have to leave tomorrow night if you are still prepared to take up the task that only you can fulfill." Dumbledore turned to Lupin, gazing piercingly into the werewolf's eyes. Lupin could do nothing but nod, which was followed by him too slowly walking out of the hospital wing.
"James, Lily, visitor's hours have ended and Max is in no danger whatsoever, I would be much obliged if you would be willing to leave the hospital wing for the night, as I can already feel Poppy's gaze burning into me. The same goes for you misters Malfoy and Longbottom."
And with that everyone was vacating the wing, only Dumbledore remained standing in front of Harry's bed a little longer.
"I'm going to need the memory of tonight, Harry." Dumbledore said softly, suddenly looking much older and weaker than he had five minutes ago.
"Of course, Albus." Harry said softly, using his wand to extract the memory starting with him touching the Cup, and ending with him touching the Cup again.
Dumbledore conjured a small flask in which he stored the memory before nodding at Harry, "We will talk more later Harry. For now, focus on resting. I believe you will have quite some interested visitors come morning."
Harry just gave a weak nod, dropping the last pretense of having energy left, and he felt his eyes close even as Dumbledore turned to leave the wing. The last thing Harry saw was Hedwig gliding above him before settling down on his headboard to wait.
And with that, Harry fell asleep, unaware as an upset Madame Pomfrey did her best to fix up the winner of the Triwizard Tournament, the Champion of Hogwarts, Harry Potter.
And that's that. Chapter 38 who'd have thought I'd ever get this far on my first fic ever. Anyways, thanks for reading, drop me a review by the door and if you ever feel like winning the lottery and giving me half your winnings, feel free to tell me ;). Other than that, I don't really have anything to say so now it's your turn, and you can do this by reviewing.
Ciao