Chapter 55 – Back At Hogwarts And Out Of the Loop
I felt as Cissy must feel when her student status caused her exclusion from what seemed likely to be an exciting adventure. Still, I recognised that the meeting to come would not be a comfortable one for either my husband or father. They were honourable Wizards who felt they had some soil on their hands, and needed to confess same to a prickly Witch, whom they did not see as a true part of the team. I could understand that they preferred that Hermione and I not witness this. We linked our hands and found ourselves in the Apparation pocket. We scurried across the grounds and were once again lying upon our blankets, on the Hogwarts grounds.
The difference was that Cissy was gone and McGonagall was approaching. "I was going to accuse you of littering the school grounds, but now I see that you have returned. I suppose it would be too much to ask what you have been up to, even though one of you is still a student. A student, I might add, whose mother has no idea where she was off to. At least you took Barb with you. I certainly hope the Minister won't consider me presumptuous, if I inquire what you've done with Cissy. She is only a third year, after all."
"I'm sure Dad would be perfectly happy with your asking about Cissy's whereabouts," I replied, as sweetly as I could, as in you and I have our own disagreements, you can fight your battles with Dad directly. "When we left her, she was planning to return to her castle, to search through her father's financial records."
"Well, I can see that as legitimate, as long as she doesn't miss classes, but she needs to tell me before she leaves. I am responsible for her safety. Might I inquire what the two of you were up to?"
"We went to the Ministry to ask that some research be done in The New Start Society records. We wanted to check on someone whose name came up in the course of our investigations."
"You have the auror-speak down very well. I take it that's a long way of saying you won't tell me the name. Will it help you catch Roderick?"
"Can't give you the name now. It wouldn't be at all appropriate. Roderick has already been captured. That's what kept us so long."
"Ah, I imagine it wasn't a pleasant meeting with Madam Bones."
"We wouldn't know. We weren't there," I informed McGonagall.
"Well, it's good to know that Harry has some sense. What that tells me is that you were there when Roderick was illegally questioned."
"I prefer extra-legally," Hermione replied.
"Call it what you will. I call it very foolish. I don't know how Harry and the Minister expect to have any chance of convicting Roderick, given how you've all conducted this 'investigation'. Now you'll blame Madam Bones, because she's unable to make a case from the hash she's been given." Yes, McGonagall did make little finger quote marks around "investigation" in the air between us. I chose to convert them to single quotes, because I think that's more grammatically correct.
"Does it really matter?" Hermione replied in a very un-Hermione disdain for rules. She elaborated "what would he be prosecuted for? Hiring Muggles to rob a Muggle home? Lots of luck with that."
"I've never known you to be that cynical," a genuinely shocked McGonagall confronted Hermione.
"I lost some respect for the rules when I learned that murdering an Elf is considered less of a crime than leaving a dead hare on the floor of the bar. It didn't help when I subsequently learned that an Elf can't testify against a Wizard and have that testimony be worth anything, that an Elf who defends himself against a murderous attack risks assaulting a Wizard charges, and that an Elf preventing a Death Eater ally from tearing up the Deputy Minister's office and destroying key evidence is viewed by Madam Bones as having made an unlawful arrest and possibly being guilty of assault. I find it all disgusting."
"Well, yes, there are some rather distasteful old rules, which run contrary to how society should operate. On your prior point, I concede that Madam Bones was unlikely to prosecute and the Wizengamot unlikely to convict Roderick, in any case. So, perhaps you all did well to simply learn what you could from him. He's just a loyal puppet in any case. But, what will you do with him now?"
"We don't know," I admitted. "He's in jail for the moment, but I expect that to last about a day. Perhaps we'll get lucky and he'll try to escape and one of the dragons will eat him."
"Indeed." I record this as said, not knowing whether it was a positive or negative comment. 'Indeed' can be so very ambiguous in that regard. I noticed that McGonagall had forgotten Cissy and had sat down upon our blankets. I wondered what was to come next. I was stunned by McGonagall's comment.
"I suppose Harry wants to wait so that he can tell Dudley himself. I understand that he's become somewhat estranged from his father, but it must still hurt to have to listen to what Harry has to tell him about his father." My open-mouthed gape must have caught McGonagall's attention, as she continued "Well, what else could it be Ginny? I'm not stupid. Both Dudley and his grandmother are hiding out at Hogwarts. Dudley has been acting like he as good as assaulted his own grandmother. You won't tell me who the unidentified Squib is. Cissy's checking financial records. I overhear student conversations. I know how stupid Vernon Dursley is and how he went out of his way to mistreat Harry. I know Harry never saw his grandfather – the grandfather who was Lord Montaigne's brother. I can only conclude that Vernon is a Squib, who has been helping Lord Montaigne, in exchange for a job which is well above his intellectual level. You may think I have auror-blood, but it was also very clear to me the last time Dudley was here, with his mother, that something was very wrong with that family, and that Lord Montaigne knew Vernon, before he insisted upon hauling all of you on that ridiculous trip to inspect the Dursleys.
"And I'm very pleased to have so impressed you with my intellectual crime-solving abilities, Mrs. Potter."
I couldn't stop a "Just, wow!" from escaping my lips. McGonagall couldn't stop grinning ear to ear.
"Well," McGonagall continued, "I've thought about that Dursley family from the day we dropped Harry off on their doorstep. That's now eighteen years of thought. I'm surprised that Voldemort accepted the piffle that Dumbledore spread about: 'Harry is protected by his mother's love as long as he is living with relatives, who obviously don't love him, in a house in which his parents would most certainly not be welcome'. I was so worried that I sometimes spied upon the Dursley household. I almost intervened more than once. I did intervene once, but that's another story. I always felt that Harry would have been safer and better served if he had lived at Hogwarts permanently. I think Dumbledore was afraid, both that Harry would start to think of himself as the school mascot, and that he would think of himself as too special, too early. I think what you've learned from Roderick confirms that I was right and Albus was wrong.
"I know that all of you have a talent for solving mysteries and chasing down bad guys. I think it important to realise that I'm not the only one who shares these skills. There are bad guys who also are very good at this game. You really are in more danger than you care to admit. I know that Kingsley's aurors have proved themselves to be more than a little spotty, but you still might do best to tell Bill and Barb what you know and let them do their jobs. They were both excellent aurors before they met the Light Guardian. If I did the risky things you two do, I'd welcome the presence of a trusted ally who possessed a God-given skill at detecting the presence of imminent danger. It would greatly reduce your risk of being back shot. Speaking of aurors, it did not escape my notice that Harry was concerned about the aurors guarding the twins and that those aurors promptly vanished. More problems with Shacklebolt? I don't blame your circle. I don't trust him either. Perhaps now you realize that Amelia's law-breaking was for the greater good. Don't fret, I know you aren't allowed to respond to any of that."
I wondered if Mrs. Granger had used the 'awarding yourself stars' line with McGonagall as well as me. It seemed clear that she had just awarded herself a star - probably a couple. The bit about the special aurors was good enough that I worried she had a Hogwarts Elf spying on us.
"Well, that was a major but fruitful digression. I had been seeking Ginny to rather pointedly remind her that she has Quidditch matches coming up. I assume the seniors will be practicing this afternoon. I had hoped you would have been present for the juniors' practice."
"Yep, definitely holding practice today," I assured her. It was strange how unimportant Quidditch had seemed the past few days. But…I was still going to be a Harpy and I still took my Quidditch seriously. I vowed to have a great practice, starting… exactly an hour from now. Oops! I told McGonagall "I chose the captain. The team won't respect their captain if I butt in on their practices. That would demonstrate a lack of faith."
McGonagall seemed satisfied by that explanation. At least she was smiling as she left us.
We had an excellent practice. After the first half hour, I no longer felt sluggish upon my broom. My team had obviously come with the thought of working hard. Jimmy Peakes was especially energetic, to the point that I had to tell him that the 'practice squad', all good souls who had tried out for and not made the team but still volunteered to help us get ready for competition, did not deserve to be bashed quite so severely. Jimmy Jones was putting in a very strenuous effort as he challenged me in pursuit of the Snitch. It was good to see that his fall hadn't broken his nerve and that he was apparently fully recovered from his many injuries.
Severus Marks, our Hufflepuff Keeper was getting a thorough working-over by the Chasers. I had decided to move the first-team Chasers onto the practice team for this and the next practice, so that our first team Keeper and Beaters would get to hone their skills against better competition.
I was oddly pleased to notice Professors McGonagall, Hootch, and Trelawney joining Neville, Margaret, and young Wood as the audience for our simulated match. I was less pleased when McGonagall blew a whistle and loudly announced that we had five minutes to dress for supper. As we landed, Margaret gave us a thumbs-up of encouragement.
Harry had returned in time for supper. I wanted to quiz him about the meeting with Madam Bones, but his grandmother, Dudley, and Cissy were sitting with us. I requested an explanation on our whisper channel, but Harry halted me, whispering back that he might as well explain about Uncle Vernon here at the table, to stifle the water works from Dudley. We were buffered from the other students by Ron, Hermione, Luna, George, and, for some strange reason, Neville.
Harry told the whole story, including reporting that Vernon was not a Squib. Still, he was one of the Muggle-world orphans served by The New Start Society. The realization hit me that, of course, the Society would have to serve primarily orphans who didn't come from our world. It would make it far easier to hide in plain sight. I was not at all surprised when Cissy reported that her father had indeed been a major shareholder of Grunning's, when that firm had hired and aggressively promoted Vernon Dursley.
Dudley was stoic and dry-eyed throughout the explanation. Harry's grandmother was fierce, proclaiming, "I always knew that Vernon was a no-good bastard. I'm not surprised that he tricked Petunia with a love potion or that he was given his job as a reward for evildoing. He's too stupid, boring, and ugly for it to be otherwise. But, Harry, what are we to do with Petunia? She's stayed with Vernon, possibly of her own free will, but may well not know of his crimes. She could still be drugged, or at the least, badly deluded about the man. It's sometimes impossible for a woman to admit that she's married to a complete louse. I feel that we really must rescue her, before her husband learns what happened with Roderick."
"I totally agree, Gran. We'll go after her, right after supper," Harry promised.
"I'm coming too," Dudley declared.
"We need to talk about this. Shacklebolt and Madam Bones will be here shortly. We can't really arrest Uncle Vernon. Neither can the Muggles. We are left with threatening him to be good and not cause trouble. We think a combination of frightening him and bribing him is the way to go. There is the money that he got from Lord Montaigne. The records regarding that can conveniently disappear at the Treasury. We talked to Tony. He and the guy from Treasury will come with us. We'll basically give Uncle Vernon his choice of behaving and keeping quiet and keeping the money or being bad or blabbing and finding himself in jail, or possibly dead. The tricky part is Aunt Petunia. We need to both find out if she had any involvement in Uncle Vernon's actions and determine if she wants to stay with Uncle Vernon, after she's been apart long enough to make sure she isn't drugged. Depending, she can either stay with Uncle Vernon, or start anew. That means she needs to trust us. For that reason, we all agree that it is important to take Dudley and Gran with us, when we go visiting. Here's the plan.
There were a few questions, a lot of resolve, and an excellent dessert. Shacklebolt and Madam Bones arrived with four aurors. Dad arrived with Tony and the Treasury man. Harry and Bill apparated to the new Dursley home. I had five minutes to wait, until my group reinforced Harry. I had a second loganberry tart with fresh cream and chatted with Tony and Dad. Hermione, who was the timer of this operation, gave me a nudge, saying "thirty seconds, Ginny."
Barb and I got up from table, joined by Dudley and Harry's grandmother. We walked back to the Gryffindor landing, held hands and were gone. When we arrived on the Dursley front lawn, I could see a fairly heated argument underway inside the house. The front door was ajar, so we let ourselves in.
Vernon was yelling to Harry to "get out of my house", while trying to soothe Petunia in a calmer voice "of course what he says is a pack of lies, dear. I sweated for that job. I wouldn't even know where to get a love potion. We didn't visit your parents, because I never liked your parents."
Uncle Vernon was interrupted by Petunia's own screams of, "Mom, Dudley. Is what Harry says true?"
"I'm not sure what Harry has told you," Mrs. Evans replied, "but we know for sure that Vernon is a rotter. He may not have been part of murdering your father, but he certainly committed a lot of crimes against our family."
"It's bad, Mom," Dudley told her. "You need to come with us. We can't be sure you're not drugged. I can't be sure you're not as responsible as Vernon for what's happened. I was nearly killed the other day. Two thugs invaded Gran's house. Vernon told them that Gran had grandfather's diary. The diary proves that the man who got Dad his job is a serious criminal. Probably murdered my grandfather."
"It's not true Petunia. None of it is true. I swear it," a red-faced Vernon screamed.
"Please come with us, Mom," Dudley pleaded. "Are you going to trust us, or Vernon?"
Petunia edged closer to her mother and Dudley. Bill prevented Vernon from stopping her.
"Are you willing to come back to Hogwarts with us?" Mrs. Evans asked her daughter.
Petunia nodded yes. She was crying. "Yes, please get me out of here!"
"Just take my hand, Mom," Dudley told her. Petunia did so. Dudley linked up with his grandmother, Ellen, and me. A moment later we were in the Great Hall.
"Once again, welcome to Hogwarts," Professor McGonagall enthused. "You must be hungry. The students have gone back to their houses, but there is plenty of food and dessert left. You must be very worried and frightened. Just sit here in this calming room and your son will explain everything. We can show you what we learned from the thugs who invaded your mother's home."
It was incredible how solicitous McGonagall was of Petunia, after her reaction the last time Petunia and Dudley had visited our school. I thought she was just happy to be back in the centre of activities. Everyone else was off at Harry's grandfather's house. They would question, cajole, and threaten Vernon to the extent deemed necessary and decide what was to be done about him. It was up to Hermione, Mom, and me to make sure that McGonagall stuck to the agreed plan and that we stayed on Petunia's good side. We needed to make her feel comfortable, but we had other objectives. We had to make sure she fully understood what her husband had done. We needed to determine her role in these events. We needed to determine if she was drugged. Finally, we had to help her decide whether she wished to remain with her husband. Call it emergency divorce counselling
After Petunia had calmed down and eaten, both Dudley and Mrs. Evans told their tales. I then informed her that we had caught all three thugs: the one in the car who had spied on her house and the two who broke in to steal the diary. I also told her that we had captured the bad Wizard, who worked for Lord Montaigne and had hired the thugs. I concluded by asking if she would like to see a record of our interrogation of the baddies. She nodded yes, saying she very much wanted to see the villains who had almost certainly intended to injure or even murder her mother, had we not intervened.
McGonagall led us to her office. Hermione had our own wooden block filled with our memories of important history. Before we were finished, Petunia, Dudley, and, perhaps unfortunately, McGonagall, had viewed them all. I sequentially added to the Pensieve the questioning of the driver, the lead thug in the break-in, and Roderick. Petunia was especially shocked by what Roderick had to say. She was quite angry.
I took that moment to ask her if she would like to see the record of what we knew of her father's murder. I showed her the memories from the several vials dealing with Bruce's trial: Lord Montaigne's testimony, Bruce's initial defiant testimony, Bruce's later confession to killing his uncle, and finally, Lord Montaigne lashing out at Cissy.
As she turned away from the Pensieve for the final time, Petunia declared, "I shall never return to my husband."
That concluded phase one of our assignment and brought us to the most sensitive part of our group's mission. McGonagall broke out the sherry and had the Elves bring coffee, tea, and biscuits to her office. We delicately shifted the conversation from how horrible all of this must be for Petunia to have to absorb, to tangential comments and questions of the sort "But you couldn't have known about any of this, could you?" and "How horrible is it to have your husband involved in trying to have your nephew murdered and not even know of it?" and "It must have been the drugs or fear of what Vernon might do to you or Dudley, that caused you to accept his treatment of Harry, hmm."
All the while, Cissy, Hermione, and I had to be locked onto every detail of Petunia's facial expression, body posture, tone of voice, and aura, while seeming to be paying her only peripheral attention as we drank our coffee and ate our biscuits. I could tell that this was an especially tense time for Dudley and his grandmother. They understood that Petunia needed to be tested, felt awkward watching the process, while fervently hoping that she passed every test.
Petunia's responses were quite innocent. "I just wanted to protect Dudley and hold my family together… Vernon frightened me… Convinced myself things weren't really so bad for poor Harry… I am amazed how much I didn't know and how much I misunderstood what I did know… Vernon can be very intimidating, when he's angry… I always wanted you to be a part of our lives, Mom… I'm so sorry."
"She's telling the truth," Hermione messaged me. Cissy gave me a surreptitious thumbs up. I agreed with them. Petunia had told the truth.
Our mission was complete. I announce, "It's getting late, we should be off." Dudley and his grandmother took this as the positive sign that it was, rushing over to hug Petunia. They led her off to the apartment where Dudley's grandmother was staying. Dudley announced that he would spend the night there, rather than back in Gryffindor. Hermione escorted Dudley's family, leaving Cissy, Ellen, and me to wait with McGonagall for the return of Harry's group.
It was not an unpleasant wait. Cissy and McGonagall were both in high spirits, happy to have participated in what Cissy called "just another truly great adventure, and one with such a happy ending."
