Harry fell in-step with Madame Bones as they left the courtroom, hastening to keep up with her shorter but no-less intimidating form. Her hair was grey and cropped short, accentuating her square jaw. The monocle must have been held in place by magic since it never seemed to so much as quiver from its position. They made pleasant small talk with each other as they made their way back to level two and into her office. Harry saw Lucius Malfoy like he did last time, but the aristocrat did not dare to insinuate things in front of Amelia Bones – he just sneered like the petulant man he was.
Once they were both seated, with Harry sitting in front of her desk, she slid out a wooden slab from under the top of the desk that was absolutely covered in runes. Harry wanted to kick himself once again for signing up for tea-leaf-reading with Trelawney and promised himself he would keep studying as he did in the tent. The Head of the DMLE tapped the central rune with her wand, causing the whole wooden sheath to glow – the glow then spread throughout the rest of the office, racing over the carpeted floor and crawling up the walls. Harry felt the magic wash over him as it rushed towards the door.
Madame Bones saw Harry watching her curiously and said, "In-built silencing and protective charms for the office."
Harry nodded, "Thank you for agreeing to meet with me today, Madame Bones."
She cocked an eyebrow at him, "Well I could hardly say no when I got sent such an intriguing letter."
"Did you watch the memory?" Harry asked, trying desperately not to fidget.
Her mouth set in a tight line that rivalled McGonagall's disapproving frown she seemed to reserve for Potters, "I did. Fortunately, the law allows memories to be used as evidence when the wizard is over 14 years of age. I have opened a case into the events of last June and have made changes to Black's case, accordingly."
"That's brilliant."
"Yes. Quite. However, I do not want you to get your hopes up prematurely. There are a lot of hoops to jump through since the Minister is being rather…obstinate at the moment," she said with a grim look.
Harry grimaced and nodded, "I understand. Thank you, Madame Bones. As long as the Aurors are aware of the events of last June and are looking into it, it will allow Magical Britain to be more prepared for what is coming."
"Did you notice Peter Pettigrew in the memory, ma'am?"
"I did, however there is no way to verify it is him. The best I can do is add it to Sirius Black's file and try to rescind the kiss-on-sight order. However, the minister will not be likely to believe this memory even if he sees it with his own eyes," she warned him.
"I understand Madam Bones. I was hoping – that you could – maybe prepare the department on your own," Harry said, trying to appear confident and not like he was suggesting she exploit the grey areas of ministerial law.
"I will take it under advisement Mr. Potter, thank you."
Xxx
After the meeting, Harry went to Mr. Weasley's office further down the hallway of level two, and together they made their way back to Grimmauld Place.
The evening was pleasant, and Harry allowed himself a night of carefree fun with the Order members who came for dinner while they celebrated his escape from expulsion. Every time Fred or George would slip someone a sweet that changed their hair color or something else, Tonks would mimic it, complete with the victim's expression of surprise and anger, and Harry and her would dissolve into laughter at the end of the table.
Harry was unpleasantly awoken around 8 am by Sirius.
"HARRY! Wake-up! Dumbledore is downstairs, he says it's urgent!"
Harry shot out of bed, shocking Sirius. His wand was ready in his hand, though everything was blurry without his glasses. He gathered himself quickly however – dressing and following Sirius downstairs.
When he got to the kitchen, what looked like Dumbledore's inner circle of the order were there. Harry warily took a seat between Moody and Sirius (no-one wanted to sit next to that creepy swirling eye that early in the morning). He didn't remember an emergency meeting being called last time around and a swoop of dread flew through his stomach.
Dumbledore stood at the end of the long kitchen table looking particularly grim. He tapped his fingers on the wood and the quiet murmuring settled.
"I have called you all here to say that the guard duty for the Department of Mysteries is no longer necessary. The object we were protecting is gone."
Well fuck, harry thought as the table erupted into conversation around him. Oh fuck, what have I done? I've made everything worse by coming back oh no.
While Harry was having a minor crisis, the rest of the Order were fearful and questioning the Headmaster – especially the members who knew that they were guarding a prophecy (really just Snape).
"Albus, I thought you said it was vital that Voldemort not get this object – that it would be a weapon in his hands?" asked Mrs. Weasley, wringing her hands in front of her. The other Order members turned to face the Headmaster as they waited for his response.
"It may be Molly. I do not know how Tom managed to get his hands on this particular object."
"Who was on guard duty last night?" Sirius asked.
"Ah – well, Mundungus – "
"FLETCHER?!" Harry stood and slammed his hands on the table, completely forgetting his new and calm personality, "The same man who abandoned his post and let me be attacked by dementors?" Also, the same man who fell asleep and let Harry wander off onto an extended shopping trip, but he wasn't going to mention that. "Why was he even still on the guard rotation? Where is he now?"
"In St. Mungos. Nymphadora -" Tonk's left eye twitched in annoyance,"- found him when she went to replace him this morning. He was lying on the ground, unconscious and barely breathing from snake venom."
Harry immediately felt rather guilty for assuming Dung had abandoned his post again, however warranted the suspicion had been. Apparently, Nagini had attacked again, only much earlier this time. Harry also felt rather disgusted at himself for being grateful it was someone else instead of the kind Arthur Weasley this time.
"But how could You-Know-Who walk into the DoM?" asked Molly Weasley.
"He isn't exactly an inconspicuous bugger," Sirius muttered. Remus snorted from his other side.
"How do we know it wasn't one of his minions?" Harry interjected.
Dumbledore sighed, "This object could only have been removed by two people, one of whom definitely did not do so, and the other is Tom."
"How could you possibly know that?" Harry asked, trying to circumvent the Headmaster's compulsive secret hoarding. His mind was still reeling at this change in events – he thought he would be able to make things better by coming back in time (not that it was really much of a choice in that creepy King's Cross). Instead, he had created a more dangerous enemy apparently. The guilt was suffocating.
The Headmaster hesitated slightly before saying, "I do not think it is information I should share with more people than need to know."
Harry barely suppressed an eye twitch at that. Was he really not going to tell Harry about the prophecy? Did he still not trust him? Harry was afraid of pushing for more information and making the Headmaster suspicious of him.
"What do we do now, Albus?" asked Remus.
"For now, we end the guard rotation, and we stay vigilant. Continue with your other assignments. We have to hope that this object will keep him occupied for a while."
When the other members started getting up to go to their jobs, Harry escaped upstairs to his room, where he locked the door, threw himself onto the bed, and screamed into a pillow. He felt tears of frustration threaten to leak out of his eyes and he tried to force himself to breathe deeply. What had he done?! He needed to be extremely cautious with how he proceeded from here on out. Making more changes could cause the timeline to change drastically and he wouldn't be able to predict what would happen anymore. He had been so hopeful when he realized he had gone back in time but now he wondered if this was all a horrible curse.