Chapter 18: Digging Deeper

"So, we have three people that can vouch for Watson being in Transfiguration," Cedric said, glancing at his notes. "Unfortunately, McGonagall isn't being overly cooperative, so we don't have any adult confirmation on that. However, at least she isn't saying that he was gone."

"You'd think the head of Gryffindor would have the courage to stand up for the truth, rather than just keeping her mouth shut to avoid problems with the ministry," Harry remarked bitterly.

It was certainly the truth, and everyone there knew it. When Cedric and Harry had begun work on proving that the students who had been arrested were, in fact, innocent, many people had willingly joined in their efforts. Now, more than a dozen people were gathered in the room, reporting the results of their interviews with their classmates. Several of the teachers had assisted the group by signing affidavits that, according to their records, those students were in class at the time the crimes had been committed. McGonagall, Snape and Sinistra were the only ones who weren't helping in that regard. Though to be fair to Professor Sinistra, she didn't really have anything she could report, since her Astronomy classes were at night.

"After Transfiguration, he would have had Potions," Head girl Natalie Boyer said with a bit of a smirk. "And he was there, according to Snape," she finished.

Silence reigned throughout the room as everyone stared at the girl, her triumphant smile not revealing any clue of how she had accomplished such a miracle.

"Snape is helping us now?" Cedric asked incredulously.

"Absolutely not," she said, rolling her eyes. "However, the Head boy and girl can access Hogwarts records of points given and taken, provided that it is a matter of student discipline. Obviously, this is a matter of student discipline, so I was able to look, and it turns out that Snape took ten points from Watson for disrupting the lesson."

"Natalie, you are a genius," Harry praised, echoed fervently by several others. "Can you check and see if there were any other times the point record shows those students in class that day?"

"I already checked, that was the only time," she responded. "Well, actually, Larson was given some points in Herbology, but since Sprout is already backing us up, that doesn't really help us."

"But it doesn't hurt," one of the others, a fifth year Ravenclaw named Jessica Knowles, pointed out. "It could be used to prove that Sprout isn't just trying to protect her students after the fact. This proves that he was there, unless they want to accuse Sprout of deliberately colluding in the attacks."

"That's a good point," Cedric said as he jotted the notes down. A few moments of silence followed as he flipped through the pages. "So, that's almost everything. We have at least two people willing to vouch that the students attended classes in most cases. We've only been able to prove Beckett was at one class, but everyone agrees he tends to be a very quiet and private person, so it's unlikely that we'll find anyone that remembers him doing something distinctive enough to stand out and be remembered. It certainly doesn't help that two of his classes that day were Transfiguration and Potions," the blond boy finished.

"I don't think that we should delay reporting our findings any longer," Natalie said. "I wish that we could prove they were all innocent, but there's no guarantee that we'll find better evidence for Beckett if we keep interviewing students. We can show beyond a reasonable doubt that five of the six are innocent. If we do find further evidence supporting Beckett's innocence, we can tell people then. So the question is, how do we report this?"

"My mum says that Fudge is on the warpath about this whole idea. He keeps saying that it's an attack on the ministry for people like us to be challenging the accusations the ministry made against Mark and the others," a fourth year Hufflepuff that Harry didn't really know piped up.

"Given how much flak he's taking, both at home and abroad, that's understandable," one of the others remarked.

Harry suppressed a grin at that. Peter had certainly come through in his attempts to spread the word. Britain was one of the preeminent countries in the ICW, and the wizarding world as a whole. For the leader of such a country to be caught up in a major miscarriage of justice such as this, arresting people with no evidence simply because of their blood status was a juicy scandal that even foreign newspapers were happy to report on. Magical governments like those in France, America and Canada that had a close but somewhat rivalrous relationship with magical Britain were all too happy to fan the flames among their citizens.

"Natalie has a good point," Cedric said. "Even if we were to send it in the Prophet, would they print it?" He looked doubtful. "They've been toeing the ministry line pretty faithfully thus far."

"Shotgun approach," one of the other students called out. "Don't send it to one person. Make copies and send it to everybody we can think of. The Quibbler did a good job with that report on Lockhart a few months ago. They would probably report it. Maybe Teen Witch Weekly would be interested as well. You never know."

"We should also send copies directly to members of the Wizengamot. At least to members who aren't in Fudge or Malfoy's pocket," Neville suggested.

A few other ideas were offered, with Cedric faithfully noting down the recommendations. "Alright," he finally said when the talking died down. "I'll put our separate reports into one complete document tonight. You can all review it tomorrow, and we'll make any changes if needed, then copy and send it out."

"That's going to require a lot of copy paper," Harry pointed out.

"I can buy it," Cedric replied quickly.

"When? How long will that take?" Natalie countered. "Scrivenschaft's in Hogsmeade sells it, but even if you sent them an owl first thing tomorrow, owl orders like that usually take a few days."

"I'll ask Fred and George to sneak out and get it sometime tomorrow. I know they have secret ways in and out of the castle," Harry said. He, of course, could go himself, but best not to let anybody know that Harry Potter was sneaking out of the castle at times. That could lead to some awkward questions.

A few more questions of logistics and timing were raised and answered, then everyone returned to their dorms for the night.

The furor that the Hogwarts Report, as it came to be called, generated was impressive, to say the least. Even some of the foreign newspapers had picked it up. And that wasn't the only bit of news related to that farce of justice. An internal memo had been leaked from the Ministry, stating that when, not if, the students were found guilty, they were to be sentenced to Azkaban. The memo had been signed by the Minister's Undersecretary, Dolores Umbridge.

Even the Daily Prophet, which had been surprisingly supportive of the ministry during this whole affair, bowed to the population's demands for real news. In fact, to Harry's surprise, they were the first to report that the ICW had announced it would be sending observers to ensure that the trial, which the ministry had finally announced would be held the next week, was fair, and the suspects had not been spelled or coerced in any way to plead guilty. While some people raged at this intrusion by the normally distant ICW, the argument that attacks by the government on muggles or muggleborn put the Statute of Secrecy at risk were enough to silence any objections.

Harry couldn't help but smile as he imagined just how much Fudge must be panicking right now. What he had, no doubt, assumed would be a quick thing to sweep under the rug and forget about was now becoming a scandal that may well end his time as Minister.

Peter had good news at their meeting a few days later.

"One of my contacts in the ministry was able to get ahold of this," he said, handing a folder holding an official-looking document to Harry.

Harry looked at the document, excitement growing as he read the cover. "The transcript from Black's trial! I thought it was sealed."

"It was," Peter replied dryly, "thus, the 'confidential' stamp on the front. But my contact agreed something suspicious was going on there and was willing to help out."

"Which contact?" Harry asked.

"Henry MacArthur. Retired Auror, now works independently as a Hit Wizard. Not a big fan of the ministry, especially with regards to the war against You-Know-Who. I've actually been thinking about approaching him about joining us."

"I think you've mentioned him before. If you think he'd be willing to, then go for it," Harry replied absentmindedly, still focused on the document in his hands. "Have you read this yet?"

"No, I figured that should be your prerogative. He's your godfather, after all." Peter seemed a little uncomfortable. "But Henry did. I don't know exactly what's in there, but he seemed convinced that you would want to talk after you had read it."

Harry stared at his friend, a shocked look on his face. "He knows you're working with me?"

Now Peter looked unsure. "I really don't know how much he's figured out. He's a smart man, with a background in investigation. He knows that I am working for someone who has an interest in this case. That's a pretty small list. I've tried not to say anything that would suggest your involvement, but I don't know what clues I've accidently given him. He only refers to you as my 'patron' or 'employer', but he seems like the type that wouldn't be pleased with getting involved with unknown people."

Harry thought for a moment, his face pensive. "Set up a meeting with him. If he knows about me, we need to get him to sign a secrecy contract. And having a former Auror on our side would be a big help."

Peter nodded, jotting down a reminder in his notebook.

Harry left the meeting pleased that he was finally getting somewhere in the mystery revolving Sirius Black. That good mood, however, did not last long once he started reading.

The report wasn't particularly long. Not surprisingly, it had been established fairly quickly that Black had been innocent of the crimes he had committed. Given that Harry and Peter had almost literally gift-wrapped the criminal responsible for those crimes, it shouldn't have taken a genius to prove that Black hadn't committed any crimes.

But that was where everything went wrong.

"Dumbledore," Harry hissed furiously.

As expected, the trial of the Hogwarts students was a complete disaster for the ministry. As expected, the prosecution had no real evidence. The testimonies from the 'victims' were completely useless, with none of them able to provide any information that remotely suggested that the six students had committed the attacks. The accused had immediately demanded veritaserum, and, to the complete shock of absolutely nobody, testified that they were innocent. With ICW healers willing to confirm that they had been under the effect of the veritaserum and that they had not been enchanted in any way, there was no hope for the Minister or his pet toad to continue their crusade against the students.

Instead, all six were released immediately with the ministry's 'most sincere regrets', returning to Hogwarts amidst a storm of cheers and applause.

Harry waited patiently in the private room in the Three Broomsticks, deep in thought. His anger against Dumbledore had cooled. Now, instead of a towering rage urging him to rush to the Headmaster's office and curse the man into oblivion, he felt a cold determination to utterly destroy the man and everything he held dear.

The door opened and Peter entered, followed by a tall, powerfully built man. Harry studied the newcomer closely. His eyes were blue, and very sharp, carefully sweeping across the room with a gleam that made Harry think the man had already noted and analyzed everything in view. He was mostly bald, with just a thin crown of grey hair clinging to the edges. But that didn't take away from the man's intimidating looks. Of course, the scars on his face didn't hurt in that regard.

"Henry, meet my employer, Harry Potter. Harry, this is Henry MacArthur," Peter introduced.

"Glad to see I was right," the tall man said, holding out his hand. "Potter," he said with a considering nod.

"MacArthur," Harry replied evenly with a similar nod as he shook the offered hand. He didn't like being seen as a child. If the man wanted to refer to him by last name only, Harry would do the same back, just like an equal.

The former Auror seemed to be aware of his thoughts, and a small expression that might have been a smile crossed his face. "I'm sure there's a story here about how the Boy-Who-Lived began secretly forming his own little team right under Dumbledore's nose, but the more important questions are what are you trying to accomplish, what do you want me to do, and why should I help you?"

"We're trying to fix magical Britain, we want you to help us primarily by offering your advise and expertise with regards to the Auror department, though I would also like some training in magical combat, given that You-Know-Who is still around in some sort of wraith form and will likely try to kill me at some point, either personally if he regains a body, or through one of his followers. And I don't know enough about you to determine why you would want to help us. But obviously, you are at least willing to consider it, or you wouldn't be here. So, why did you decide to come today, MacArthur?" Harry asked, refusing to be cowed.

"Good, you've got some steel in your spine," the man commented. "I'm here because I don't agree with how things are going in this country, and I think you might be willing to help change them. My discussions with Peter make me think that you've got plans beyond proving Black and those Hogwarts students are innocent. I came to find out if those plans are ones that I can agree with."

"My original goal was to survive. At the end of my first year, I came face to face with You-Know-Who, who survived as some sort of ghost or apparition. He was possessing one of my teachers. Now that I know that he's still around and trying to find a way to regain a body, I need to prepare for if that happens. The ministry's complete incompetence during the last war proves that I can't trust them to win should the Dark Lord make a reappearance. So, I decided I needed to have my own group. And rather than waiting until the enemy is at the gates, we decided to be proactive. If we can eliminate the corruption in the ministry, then they should be more effective if the war ever starts again."

"And why didn't you go to Dumbledore?" MacArthur's face was unreadable, but Harry couldn't help but feel that this was some sort of test.

"Multiple reasons. Dumbledore was no more effective than anyone else, despite having his own private, supposedly secret army. From what I can tell, the only thing the Order actually did was get good people killed. And it doesn't take a genius to see that Dumbledore has his own agenda, which is obviously different from the image he portrays. He paints himself as a champion of truth and justice, and yet, just my experiences in Hogwarts show that he doesn't really care about it. The case with Sirius Black proves that."

MacArthur grunted in agreement. "That was a farce that should never have happened. Almost as bad as the nonsense with those kids."

"I still can't believe that the Wizengamot is going along with holding someone in Azkaban pending investigation," Peter commented.

"Dumbledore suggested it, and a fair few members think that the sun shines out of his arse, so they'd do whatever he said. The Minister supported it, and there's a definite group that follow him closely for various reasons. And Lucius Malfoy wasn't exactly shy in expressing his 'concerns' about his wife's cousin. A lot of the elders are in his pocket, either through bribes or blackmail. With all three of them supporting the idea, those few people on the Wizengamot with both a brain and a conscience didn't have much hope of resisting."

"I know why I don't like Dumbledore. Why don't you?" Harry asked.

"The old goat pays lip service to the law, but he doesn't care about it. One of the last cases I worked was investigating the disappearance of a young man who had just graduated from Hogwarts a few months earlier." MacArthur looked deep in thought, eyeing Harry carefully, before he sighed and continued. "My top suspect was Severus Snape, though I'll admit that there wasn't much evidence. Didn't have a chance to find any, though. I'd been on the case for less than a month when the investigation got shut down for 'lack of progress'. From what I heard, it was Dumbledore who intervened."

"You really think Dumbledore would help cover up a murder?" Harry asked incredulously. Sure, letting the odious man get away with biased point deductions and detention was one thing, but killing a former student seemed like a bit of a stretch.

"To protect his pet Death Eater, I think he just might," the gruff Hitwizard said.

"We've suspected for a while, but do you know for a fact that he's a Death Eater?" Peter asked eagerly.

"Heard it straight from the old fool's mouth," MacArthur replied with a sardonic smile. "You ever hear of Igor Karkaroff?"

"Death Eater from Ukraine, handled most of the training in magical combat for the new recruits. When he was arrested, he claimed that he had been hired under false pretenses to offer tutoring in dueling to a number of wealthy patrons, then was unable to leave when he found out the truth," Peter recounted.

"He was released early because of a combination of pressure from the Ukrainian government and the fact that he snitched on some of his fellow DE's. I was one of the guards during that hearing. Most of the names he had were worthless. They'd already been killed or captured. But he was the first one to identify Augustus Rookwood as a spy. That, alone, was probably enough to earn his freedom. But, he knew one other DE as well, someone else who spent most of his time back at their base."

"Snape," Harry said, realization dawning.

"Yep," MacArthur agreed. "Of course, there was a bit of a stir when Karkaroff said his name. Dumbledore then stood up and said some nonsense about Snape turning to our side. The important thing in my mind, however, was that the old goat openly admitted Snape had been a Death Eater. At the end, Dumbledore suggested that the hearing be classified to prevent people from learning that an Unspeakable like Rookwood had been a Death Eater, but I've always wondered if his real concern was protecting Snape."

Harry thought for a few minutes. There was certainly more to this story that he needed to know. But that could wait for later. "So, to get to the heart of the matter, are you willing to join us?" he asked.

"I think that sounds like a good idea," the old, but obviously still strong man said, raising his glass in a mock toast.

A/N – Merry Christmas, or Happy Hanukkah, or whatever other holidays you may celebrate!