Harry landed absolutely without grace. He was so exhausted from the battle that had concluded just seconds before that he landed flat on his face. That did not matter to the audience, however. Immediately, there came a cacophony of cheers and applause from the stands.

Somewhere, a band started playing, but Harry did not take notice. He glanced to his left and confirmed that Pettigrew was still there.

He staggered to his feet and looked through the stands. He spotted Tonks. Amelia was not there, neither was Kingsley. He locked eyes with the pink haired Auror and jabbed a finger at Pettigrew's unconscious body. She seemed to realize immediately that there was some emergency and rose, charging down the stands and in the direction of the Quidditch pitch.

The cheers, applause, and music gradually gave way to murmurs of confusion, perhaps at his ragged state or the fact that he had brought with him an unconscious body. He saw Dumbledore leave his seat and hurriedly descend the stairs onto the pitch. Snape and McGonagall were rising, too.

He searched for Hermione with his eyes. His eyes scanned for the place in the stands that she had been sitting with Ginny and Neville. She was not there. Neither were Ginny and Neville.

'Stay in the stands!' came Dumbledore's voice from somewhere. Harry stood up. He needed to find Amelia…and Hermione…

He did not have to wait long for one of them. Less than a minute later, Amelia rushed onto the Quidditch pitch, panting. Behind her were Ginny, Neville, Susan, and Daphne. Hermione was not with them.

Harry forced himself to stop thinking about Hermione. He turned to Amelia and pointed at Pettigrew. 'You know what that thing is.'

'That's the real Peter Pettigrew?' she asked, awed.

'Yes.'

'Tonks!' Amelia barked. Tonks appeared from behind her. 'Send him straight to the holding cells. Portkey him in. Make sure you've got the Animagus transformation-preventing wards activated.'

Tonks knelt down next to Wormtail's prone body and drew her wand. She muttered spells for several minutes. Harry was not sure what she was checking for, nor did he care very much at the moment. Hermione was still missing, and Harry was getting increasingly worried. What if she had been taken by Crouch? He forced himself not to think of that possibility.

Amelia turned back to Harry. 'Harry, what happened tonight? Where did Pettigrew – '

'Good evening, Amelia,' Dumbledore interrupted with a twinkle in his eye, appearing next to Amelia. 'May I ask what the disturbance is?'

Amelia glared at him. 'You know very well what this disturbance is,' she answered in a clipped tone. 'Harry here has just brought back Peter Pettigrew. From where or how I do not know. Incidentally, Albus, were you aware that a marked Death Eater has been masquerading as Mad-Eye Moody for the last year?'

So Crouch had been captured, and Hermione had not been abducted by the Death Eater. Harry wanted to breathe a sigh of relief, but he could not bring himself to do so. There was still no sign of her, and Harry could think of a million terrible things that could have happened…

He forced himself to look up at Dumbledore, whose face had a look of shock, but it was one that was very clearly faked. A surge of hatred for Dumbledore bubbled up in him. Had he known about, or at least had suspicions of Crouch all year and not done a thing to protect the students?

'I was not, Amelia,' Dumbledore said in a forced emotionless voice.

'Well, now you are. Send the rest of the students back to the castle, Albus. Auror Tonks is handling a sensitive investigation right now.'

Dumbledore glanced down at Tonks. 'Very well. Minerva, Severus, inform Flitwick and Pomona that all the students are to be returned to their House Common Rooms immediately.'

McGonagall and Snape marched off. At that very moment, a mane of brown hair appeared from behind Amelia.

'Harry!'

'Hermione!' Harry cried in elation. Hermione launched herself into Harry's arms, and Harry squeezed her tightly. Never mind that they were right in front of Dumbledore. She was safe…it was all that mattered.

They let go of each other after what felt like many minutes. Harry turned back to Dumbledore and Amelia, still holding on to Hermione's hand like a lifeline.

'Do you not question the necessity of Nymphadora's investigation, Amelia?' Dumbledore was asking.

'I was not aware that the Headmaster of Hogwarts or the Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot had the right to intrude in the business of the DMLE,' Amelia snapped back.

Dumbledore looked at her with what might have been a placating expression. 'Amelia, we must work together.'

'You have not informed me on what it is we need to work together, Albus.'

'We simply need to present a united front,' Dumbledore continued, undeterred by Amelia's ire. 'We cannot show divisions in our ranks. Not while…'

'Not while what?' Amelia demanded.

Harry had had enough of Dumbledore and his ridiculousness. 'Voldemort returned!' he shouted so that all gathered could hear. 'I saw him return, I fought him, I fought his Death Eaters.'

Amelia whirled around on her feet and stared at Harry. 'Did you just say what I think you said?'

Harry nodded. 'Voldemort is back.'

'What?' a new voice shouted. Harry recognized it as that of Cornelius Fudge.

'You heard him, Cornelius,' Amelia said shortly. 'Voldemort is back. What part of that do you not understand?'

Fudge chuckled nervously. 'Now, Amelia. Please. That's…that's just frankly ridiculous! The boy has just gone through a traumatic experience…perhaps he saw visions or had hallucinations…there was a dementor in the maze…'

'Cornelius, are you out of your mind?' Amelia bellowed. 'There have been signs for months! Death Eater activity at the World Cup, Crouch's murder. And now this confirms what's behind the unrest!'

'Amelia, there's no way! You-Know-Who is dead!' Fudge protested, trying and failing to keep his voice dwon. 'He cannot be! I mean, where's the evidence?'

'We have Barty Crouch Junior in a cell in the DMLE right now,' Amelia said. 'And we will have Peter Pettigrew there in a second. Tonks?'

Tonks nodded and withdrew a piece of string. She enchanted it into a Portkey, grabbed Pettigrew by the collar, and activated it, disappearing in a swirl of colours.

'Those…those are just rogue madmen!' Fudge insisted. 'There's no way!'

'Why don't you read the interrogation reports when they come out and see if they're just rogue madman, Fudge?'

'I don't care!' Fudge yelled. 'I won't survive this! I barely survived the…the scandal last December! If word gets out that You-Know-Who…' He shuddered.

Amelia was seething in rage now. 'You're telling me that you value your office more than the lives of innocents whom you were charged to protect?'

'This investigation ends right now, Amelia! I will not allow this!'

'Unfortunately for you, Cornelius, you have no right!' she shouted him down. 'The Minister for Magic has no power over the investigations of the DMLE! If you value your office at all, then you would do well to see sense, or I assure you, you will be out by the end of the summer!'

Fudge fumed silently for several seconds. 'This does not end here, Amelia!' he roared, before stalking away.

Amelia watched him leave. Once he was out of earshot, she turned back to Harry.

'Harry, I need to speak to you. Alone, or only with Hermione.'

Harry nodded. 'With Hermione, please.'

'Now, Amelia,' Dumbledore, who had been silent through the entire pitched battle between Fudge and Amelia, interrupted. 'I am sure that as the Headmaster of his school, I should be allowed an audience when you are – '

'You should not be,' Amelia snapped. 'This is a classified investigation from now on. Follow me, Harry, Hermione.'

'I cannot allow them to meet with a non-staff member out of my company right after what just happened, Amelia,' Dumbledore attempted to intrude again. 'Surely you'd understand.'

Amelia scoffed. 'What, do you think I'm a Death Eater, Albus? Are you out of your mind? You will leave us now. I will be bringing Harry and Hermione to my office in the Ministry. You will not be invited.'

'I cannot allow my students to leave Hogwarts without my company or consent,' Dumbledore said, the grandfatherly tone gone from his voice.

'I don't care what you will allow, because you have no say in this matter,' Amelia snapped. 'This is an official investigation, Albus. You will leave the children alone or suffer legal consequences.'

Dumbledore sighed. 'You do realize that with Voldemort's return, we must remain united, especially in the face of the Minister's obvious denial.'

'I would rather go it alone than ally with a man who attempts to obstruct me at every turn, who believes that the best way to deal with Death Eaters is to let them walk free, who refuses to give me the very information that I need to take effective action.'

'I am simply trying to keep you on the right path, Amelia,' Dumbledore said placidly.

'I do not care what your warped definition of the "right path" is, for I will not be following it!'

'That is the way to darkness…'

'Enough,' Amelia said, her voice quiet and dangerous. Even Dumbledore was forced to close his mouth. 'Harry, Hermione. Follow me. Unless you want to stay here with the Headmaster…'

She began walking away. Hermione took Harry's hand and pulled him forward. Harry chanced a look back at Dumbledore. He was looking at them with a most disappointed expression, but Harry found that he could not care less what the Headmaster thought.

The threesome walked in silence until they reached a point just outside of Hogwarts's gates. Amelia grabbed Harry and Hermione by the hand and disapparated.

They reappeared seconds later directly in Amelia's office. She shut the door and cast a series of charms on it, presumably to prevent Dumbledore or anyone else unwelcome from entering. She transfigured the chair in front of her desk into a far more comfortable sofa as a Ministry house elf appeared and brought in a large pot of tea and a heaping platter of tea sandwiches.

'I assumed that you must be hungry,' she said with a small smile.

Harry leaned forward and grabbed two curried chicken sandwiches. 'You assumed correctly, thank you,' he said as he devoured them.

Amelia waited until both Harry and Hermione had eaten their fill before speaking.

'I brought you here because I needed a full account of what happened from the moment you entered the maze to the moment you returned,' she explained. 'If both Albus and Cornelius intend to work against me in their own ways, then I will need all the information I can get to prepare the Aurors. If it makes it easier, a memory of the incident will be good, as well. I have a Pensieve in my office. One of only eleven in Britain, in fact.'

Harry considered this. On one hand, providing a memory would allow him to avoid reliving the events that night, much of which was gruesome and terrifying and shook him to the core. He still could not get the screams of the dying out of his head, especially that of Goyle's in his last moments. He had killed so many…

The problem, however, was that he had used Unforgivable Curses on several people. To give the evidence of that to the Head of the DMLE was like asking for a one-way ticket to Azkaban. Besides, how would he explain from where he learned to use such Dark Magic?

Amelia alleviated his concerns, however. 'I'm aware of the possibility that you may have done things that would be considered highly illegal to escape the Death Eaters. Rest assured, however, that I will not be prosecuting you if you did what you did in self-defence.'

Harry relented. 'I'll provide the memory, then.'

He raised his wand to his temple and extracted the memory. Hermione conjured a vial and Harry lowered the gassy substance into it before handing it over.

Amelia walked over to the side of her office. She waved her wand at a seemingly blank stretch of wall and it opened. Contained inside was a Pensieve. It was smaller than the one in Dumbledore's office, but its surface shimmered in the same way. She poured the memory in, then dipped her face into the surface of the bowl and disappeared into it in a fashion akin to being sucked in.

Harry and Hermione sat silently for what seemed like hours. He helped himself to more sandwiches. Briefly, his mind flitted back to the battle in the graveyard. He heard once again the screaming of the dying, the entrails of the killed flying through the air…how he seemed to have killed several Death Eaters without even realizing it.

Or did he? Harry sat bolt upright. Hermione had been missing right after the Third Task…she had not been with the others when they captured Crouch… Had she been…?

'Hermione?'

'Yes, Harry?' she said gently.

Harry turned to her. She was paler than a sheet. Her eyes were wide and distant and…hard. Harry knew this look. It was the look she always had after she had killed.

'You were there, in the graveyard,' he breathed hollowly.

Hermione gulped. She looked like she wanted to deny it for a moment, but then, she slowly nodded.

Harry's jaw dropped. 'I…I told you…'

Hermione looked genuinely frightened now. 'Please don't be mad at me, Harry – '

'You could've gotten hurt!' Harry cried. 'Or worse! Why, Hermione? Why? You didn't have to! There was no need!'

'What would you have done if our positions had been reversed?' Hermione shot back. 'If I had been in the graveyard, and you – '

Harry shook his head. 'I don't even want to think about it.'

'Then think about it,' Hermione demanded. 'And tell me. What would you have done?'

'I'd have wanted to follow you,' Harry muttered sheepishly.

'Exactly, Harry! How do you think I felt sitting there, knowing that you were facing Merlin-knows-what?' Hermione asked.

'I can't even begin to imagine,' Harry replied. 'I don't blame you for…for going…even though I told you not to…but if you were hurt…'

'But I wasn't hurt, Harry. Let's just leave it at that, okay?'

Harry nodded, pulling Hermione into a sideways embrace. 'We'll just leave it at that.'

They cuddled for many more long minutes before Amelia emerged from the Pensieve. She extracted the memory from the Pensive, then went over to her desk, took a long gulp of water, before collapsing into her chair. She dipped her wand back into the vial and extracted the memory and placed it back into Harry's head.

'Well, I will be sending Aurors tomorrow morning to the graveyard in question. To recover the bodies if nothing else,' she said darkly. 'It appears that between nine and twelve Death Eaters are dead. Draco No-Name no doubt survived, though. I told Albus…'

'His incompetence is no one's fault but his,' Harry said harshly. 'He could have prevented all of this if he'd not given second and third chances to people who never deserved them.'

Amelia nodded. 'Now is not the time to discuss Dumbledore's case, but it is progressing along nicely. Anyway, back to the matter at hand. It appears that Voldemort was weakened by his regeneration.'

'Yes,' Harry affirmed. 'The ritual used for his regeneration must've…hit a snag.'

'That is obvious,' Amelia said with a chuckle. 'Your goading of the most evil dark wizard in history is certainly something that deserves a prize for either sheer courage or stupidity.'

'I'd like both,' Harry chortled, feeling a little more alive at the humour.

'Now, I've already said that I won't prosecute you for your use of so many Unforgivable Curses tonight, and I intend to keep that promise. I do want to know, however, from where did you learn all these dark curses? Obviously, they're not taught at Hogwarts.'

'Oh.' Harry began concocting a lie in his head. 'Uh…well, Hermione was concerned about the tournament…and we…we had access to the Black Library at Sirius's place. There were shelves and shelves of books on the Dark Arts in there… She reckoned I should learn some lethal curses just in case…something…something like this happened.'

Amelia nodded, seemingly buying the lie. 'I will need to speak to Sirius about keeping schoolchildren away from books on severe Dark Magic. If only he could be here, I'd have his head served on a plate…but DMLE investigations have protocols, unfortunately,' she huffed. 'I can't say I'm too sorry that you did learn them, though. Ten or so Death Eaters are now dead and unable to cast terror, and most importantly, you're alive.'

'Your duelling skills are something the entire Auror Office would envy, Harry,' she added.

'Thank you,' Harry muttered.

'Now, we need to have a plan,' Amelia said. 'Sirius might have my head for this, but I think it's right to involve the two of you in this. You've certainly proven yourself more than capable tonight, Harry, and I'm sure you're no dainty princess, Hermione.'

Harry and Hermione both blushed. 'Thanks,' Hermione murmured shyly.

Amelia laughed a little. 'Well, now that's out of the way, do you two have anything to tell me? Anything to add? You might know something from the graveyard that I didn't catch in the memory, Harry.'

'Uh…how many Death Eaters and Death Eater sympathizers have you found in the Ministry, exactly?'

Amelia smiled sadly. 'You know that count is classified, Harry. But I'll go with "a lot" being fired or sent to Azkaban. We can't remove members of the Wizengamot, unfortunately, but the ones that are known sympathizers have been assigned around-the-clock Auror watch and shouldn't be too dangerous. Voldemort's influence here is extremely weak now, if at all existent. Anything else?'

Harry took a deep breath. 'I have a suggestion.'

'Go on.'

'I think it might be wise to reinforce Azkaban and remove the dementors. You must have heard him in the memory, talking about how he wanted to sack the prison. Voldemort lost almost half of his followers tonight. He'll likely be making an attempt on Azkaban sooner than later to gather more followers.'

Amelia sighed. 'I cannot remove the dementors from Azkaban. That's the authority of the Minister, and I think you've seen enough to know that he won't listen to anything you or I say. As for reinforcing Azkaban…Fudge has been cutting the DMLE's funding for years. We're running ourselves into debt just with maintaining the operations we have.'

Harry remembered suddenly the money that he had long set aside in his vault. 'Um…Amelia,' he began gingerly. 'How much exactly is the DMLE's budget?'

'Oh.' Amelia looked taken off guard slightly by that question. 'Um…about a million and change Galleons per year. A good quarter of it ends up disappearing into who-knows-where, though.'

Harry took a deep breath. 'What can you do with two million Galleons?'

Amelia's eyes widened. 'A lot,' she breathed, 'More Aurors, better equipment, a much better spy network. But…where…how?'

Harry smiled slightly. 'I tipped the goblins off to the Lestranges hiding a trove of Dark Artefacts in their vaults,' Harry replied. 'As compensation…they credited me with eighty-five percent of the Lestranges' holdings. I don't really want the money…so…'

'I think it'd be really ironic for the Lestranges' money to go to fighting Voldemort,' Hermione chortled. 'Amazing poetic justice.'

'You understand that I'm not exactly supposed to accept…private donations, right?' Amelia asked with raised eyebrows.

Harry shook his head. 'This isn't going to you. This is going to your entire department. Aurors, Hit-Wizards, even Misuse of Muggle Artefacts. I hope that'd not be technically bribery?'

Amelia snorted. 'No. That wouldn't be bribery by our laws. Not that it shouldn't be, but…well, I'm not really in a position to complain, am I?'

'Well, that's up to you,' Hermione said fairly. 'I think Harry might be onto something, though. Fudge will no doubt cut back the DMLE's budget further after…well, what happened on the Quidditch pitch tonight. If you can have an alternate source of funding…'

'It'd be welcome,' Amelia conceded. 'But…if I were to accept…we must be discreet… Fudge will no doubt block any attempts to reinforce the department. If only we could get rid of him…'

He exchanged a glance with Hermione. There were no charges they could bring on Fudge, not after he had gotten off the corruption charge because of an equally corrupt Wizengamot. They had planned for Fudge's removal, but could not reveal that plan to Amelia. As much as Harry hated it, they would simply have to let this event run its course.

'So how do we…discreetly fund the DMLE, as you say?' Harry asked instead.

'You're sure of this?'

Harry nodded. 'I've never been surer of anything than this. Except maybe about Hermione.'

Harry saw Hermione blush out of the corner of his eye. Amelia thought for a long while. 'You'll have to slowly put money into the DMLE vaults,' she answered finally, 'Only when the DMLE is…in need of extra financial support. And maybe…shuffle it around vaults or…or set up some alternate operation. I'll have to consider that further.'

Harry and Hermione nodded. 'We'll think of a way…maybe Sirius can, too?' Harry suggested. 'I can ask him to speak to you.'

'Yes…perhaps,' she mused before turning serious. 'You two have endured much tonight. I don't want to burden you any more. I've seen the memory that I brought you here for. I'm not going to ask you anything else this evening. May I suggest that I send you to Sirius's place to spend the night away from the eyes of Hogwarts students? I can collect you tomorrow to return you to Hogwarts.'

Harry suddenly had an urge to yawn. 'I'd like that, actually.'

'Very well. You can use the Floo in my office,' Amelia said, pointing towards her fireplace. 'Let me speak to him first, though. I don't want him bothering you more than necessary about the events of tonight.'

Harry nodded. 'Do you know where Sirius's house is?'

'Oh, yeah,' she said with a laugh. 'Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place. He invited me for tea once.'

Amelia walked over to the fireplace and grabbed a pinch of Floo Powder from the mantle. She threw it into the flames and knelt down in front of the fireplace before sticking her head through. Harry could not hear what she was saying from this end of the connection, but she drew back a few minutes later with a satisfied expression on her face.

'Go on. Just step right through,' she said, 'Sirius knows not to ask you too many questions.'

Harry stepped into the fireplace and was immediately whisked quite uncomfortably through the Floo Network. He arrived with a thud in Grimmauld Place's kitchen, a concerned-looking Sirius standing in front of the fireplace. A whooshing sound a second later indicated Hermione's arrival.

Sirius looked at the two teens appraisingly. 'Are you well?' he asked tentatively.

Harry shrugged. 'We didn't get Riddle,' he said dejectedly.

'Don't blame yourself,' Sirius assuaged, 'Taking out Riddle in the graveyard was always a long shot. You knew he wouldn't risk his new body and that he was likely to set the Death Eaters on you before retreating.'

'I was close,' Harry muttered, 'If I had aimed that final Confringo just an inch lower…'

Sirius gently hugged him. 'We'll work with this, okay, Harry? You've eliminated a lot of Death Eaters from what I'd gathered from Amelia. What's important right now is that the two of you are safe and together. You need rest. Really.'

Harry gave a small nod but otherwise remained silent. Sirius showed them up to their bedroom. He seemed to not have bothered to show them to separate rooms, which was perfectly fine by Harry.

They showered and got into bed. It was only eleven, but Harry felt like he had already been awake for a week. He closed his eyes nervously, clutching Hermione's body tightly. He was anticipating nightmares. He always had them after a fight like this, after he had to end so many lives.

But they did not come tonight.


Harry woke groggily the next morning. Despite having a nightmare-free night, he did not feel at all well-rested. All his sores and aches from the previous night were still there. Not to mention the anguish and guilt.

'How are you?' Hermione asked, her face full of concern.

Harry gave a weak shrug in reply. 'I don't even know myself.'

Hermione nuzzled him. 'I understand,' she muttered into the bedsheets.

'If I only aimed that spell an inch lower…'

'Don't,' Hermione said suddenly, popping up. 'You heard what Sirius said last night, what we've been saying all along. Taking out Riddle in the graveyard all on your own with twenty or so Death Eaters with him takes a lot of luck. You just weren't lucky. It wasn't your fault. It's not easy to hit with every cast, especially not in a situation like you…we…were in last night.'

'But now people are going to die…because of me…'

Hermione pressed her lips to Harry's. 'No, not because of you,' she said resolutely when she broke the kiss, 'Because of Riddle. We're going to finish him. We're going to finish him years before we did in the "old timeline". We're going to save a lot of people who would've otherwise died.'

Harry nodded half-heartedly, knowing that she was right but stubbornly refusing to be truly convinced that he had done nothing wrong. He and Hermione got out of bed and got dressed before heading down into the basement kitchen. As they descended the stairs, they heard voices in quiet conversation.

'The Aurors came back an hour ago,' Amelia's voice was saying, 'Nine killed outright and three have died of wounds since last night. One is in St Mungo's and is not expected to survive.'

Hermione gasped from behind Harry and gripped his shoulder. Harry was glad of the contact, for it at least temporarily prevented him from seeing all the death that he had inflicted last night.

'Bloody hell, that's half the inner circle,' Sirius's voice replied. 'That's good, then, isn't it?'

'No, it isn't,' Amelia said sadly. 'The Prophet isn't reporting what happened. There was a short blurb about Harry winning the tournament, but the headline was just your typical celebrity rubbish. Celestina Warbeck getting married a second time or something idiotic like that. Fudge is using all his powers to deny what happened last night.'

Harry could imagine Sirius rubbing the bridge of his nose in frustration. Harry himself was not surprised, for Fudge had pulled a similar stunt in the 'old timeline', but to see it play out again was frustrating to no end.

'What's worse,' Amelia continued, 'Fudge gutted our funding, again. It came through just after midnight. It's less than a quarter of what it used to be, and that was already a pittance. If not for – ' She caught herself.

'If not for what?' Sirius questioned.

Amelia sighed. 'Harry.'

'What about Harry?'

'He offered to…provide funding for the DMLE…with the Lestranges' confiscated assets.'

Sirius whistled, seemingly impressed. 'Their ill-gotten gains finally going to some proper use, then?'

'I'd hope so. We'll need to keep it low-key, though, not do anything too dramatic with it, keep it from Fudge.'

'Get rid of Fudge,' Sirius said as if it were obvious.

'We don't have a charge to get him on. And even if we did, we have another problem.'

'What other problem?'

Amelia took a deep breath. 'Albus.'

'What about him?'

'He…he's not exactly on our side,' Amelia explained. 'He wants things done his own way. You know that, Sirius. He wants to work against Voldemort, I think, but his secrets…and his tactics, or lack thereof! And he'll…have plans…for Harry and possibly Hermione, too. Especially after last night. You'll need to impress on them the need to be careful, Sirius. It's not just Voldemort that might do them ill, Dumbledore might, too.'

'I don't think we need to tell them, Amelia.'

'What?'

'They're listening in. Come out!'

Harry and Hermione sheepishly descended the stairs. 'How did you know?'

Sirius laughed. 'Surely you weren't so engrossed in eavesdropping on our conversation that you missed Kreacher coming down the stairs?'

Sure enough, the old elf was standing next to Sirius's chair, looking like he was struggling to hold in his laughter.

'Oh,' Hermione squeaked, her face turning pink.

Sirius snorted. 'If you've already heard what we had to tell you, then I presume I won't have to tell you again?'

'No, you don't,' Harry agreed. 'Fudge is denying Voldemort's return and we need to be careful around Dumbledore.'

'That's the crux of it,' Amelia said amusedly. 'I think you know by now after all your…encounters…that Albus has ulterior motives that aren't necessarily in your favour.'

Harry and Hermione both nodded.

'Do not seek confrontations with Albus,' Sirius advised. 'And don't ever go see him alone. Always go together, even if Albus insists on seeing only one of you. Even he can't attack two students and get away with it. If he wants something…fishy…write to me or to Amelia immediately.'

Harry and Hermione agreed. They had a quick but filling breakfast, courtesy of Kreacher, before Amelia brought them back to the gates of Hogwarts by side-along apparition. She sent a Patronus up to the castle. They waited for nearly ten minutes, mostly in serious silence, before Snape strode up the path to the gates.

'Severus,' Amelia greeted curtly.

Snape inclined his head. 'Good morning, Amelia. I will take the children from here.'

Amelia bade Harry and Hermione goodbye and handed them over to Snape, but not before casting a cautionary glance at them.

'The Headmaster has demanded your presence in his study,' Snape said silkily as they walked.

A sudden fear gripped Harry. 'Are you bringing us to him?'

'No. Not unless you want me to. We need to speak, but not here.'

Harry and Hermione exchanged a nervous glance, but seeing no alternative, followed Snape into the dungeons. He shut the door behind him and cast his usual privacy charms before sitting across from the two teens.

'The Dark Lord returned last night,' Snape said matter-of-factly.

Harry nodded.

'I was sent to him on Albus's orders. The Dark Lord appeared weak and angry. From what I gathered, you witnessed the resurrection, Potter.'

Harry nodded again while strengthening his Occlumency defences. He could not be sure of Snape's allegiances now that Voldemort had returned and his trust in Albus had been shaken, as much evidence as he had that Snape's repentance was genuine.

'He appeared to be missing many of his followers,' Snape continued, 'Did they return to his side, or have they abandoned him?'

'They're dead,' Harry replied savagely. 'I killed them.'

Snape looked rather impressed. 'That would explain, too, the impressive wound that the Dark Lord had sustained?'

'Yes. Sectumsempra.'

'Those wounds cannot be fully healed except by timely administration of the counter-curse that I showed you,' Snape said. 'Suffice to say that the Dark Lord has been permanently weakened.'

Harry nodded. That was good. Another blow against Voldemort.

'He will be moving against Azkaban soon. The Dark Lord is desperate for followers. Considering the numbers that have recently been incarcerated there, I am not surprised. Fudge, meanwhile, is refusing to acknowledge the Dark Lord's return, which will only open Azkaban to attack.'

'What can we do?' Harry asked.

'Not much, I fear,' Snape answered with a sigh. 'Not unless you fancy joining the Azkaban guards. No, the best you can do is hope that Fudge sees reason before Azkaban is sacked, and if he does not, fight and kill the scum that escapes. That, I can continue to assist you with, but it is of even greater importance now that you keep this information from the Headmaster. He refuses to believe that lethal force may be necessary in the current…situation. He remains deluded that all men can be redeemed.'

'Does Dumbledore know about what happened in the graveyard, Professor?' Hermione asked in a small voice.

'I do not know, but it is only a matter of time until he finds out. As Chief Warlock, he has access to information that he readily…abuses.'

'What has he done about Voldemort?' Harry asked, curious.

'Albus has re-called the Order of the Phoenix,' Snape replied. 'It is weak, however. He does not have the loyalty of the teachers of Hogwarts anymore. He has sent messages to Black and Lupin – ' Snape could not help but sneer, ' – but I question their allegiance. He will not find followers among the ranks of the Aurors. The Order will likely be more hinderance than aid in the coming struggle, with Albus's insistence that all enemies be shown mercy instead of being put down like the swine they are.'

Snape was about to speak again when there was a loud banging on the door. Snape opened it with a flick of his wand, and standing there, red-faced, was a Hufflepuff third or fourth-year.

'Yes?' Snape asked impatiently.

The Hufflepuff blanched. 'P-Professor, the Headmaster has demanded the presence of Potter in his study.'

'Potter is busy,' Snape snapped. 'He will see the Headmaster later.'

'S-Sorry, P-Professor, but he told me to bring Potter to him,' the Hufflepuff stammered. 'He…he insisted.'

'Potter, Granger, go with him,' Snape conceded with a scowl.

'P-Professor, he only wanted Potter…'

'I'm going with him,' Hermione demanded firmly, 'You're not stopping me.'

'But – '

'I'm not going without Hermione,' Harry cut across him.

The Hufflepuff looked like he was about to piss himself. He gave an almost imperceptible nod and turned to walk out of the room. Harry gave Snape one last look. As he did so, he felt a Legilimency probe graze the surface of his mind and pull back immediately. Harry understood. Snape was silently reminding him to beware of Dumbledore's Legilimency.

He took Hermione's hand and the two trudged up out of the dungeons towards the Headmaster's study, neither looking forward to what was waiting for them there.


A/N: You might be wondering, why is Fudge denying Voldemort's return again when he had been so keen to work with Harry and Amelia with the Sirius affair and purging the Ministry of Death Eaters?

The answer, in my opinion, is that Fudge has no loyalty to anyone. He does what keeps him in power. If exonerating Sirius will give his legitimacy a boost, then he will do that. If the public and the Prophet is demanding a Death Eater purge, then he will allow it to save his skin, especially after he had almost been booted out of office for corruption.

And now, if acknowledging Voldemort's return is the final straw that will spell the end of his term as Minister, then he will do all that is in his power to deny it. That, at least, is my rationale behind Fudge's contradictory actions.