I was in such pain when I awoke, feeling a dull throbbing in my head which made it difficult to hear before I could even hope to force my eyes open. There was a commotion, I think people were also screaming and as my eyes flickered open, I immediately saw the glint of gold half-moon spectacles and the heavily concerned gaze of Albus Dumbledore. All at once I sucked in a breath and my hands shot out to grab hold of him, my memory crashing back all at once and I hastened to try and tell him everything despite the fact my limbs and body felt like it was on fire. "He's back! He's come back…Voldemort…he's alive…he's…he's…Harry…where's Harry? HARRY! HARRY!"
"Calm yourself, Euphemia, Harry is…" Dumbledore lifted his head to look to his right but Harry was nowhere to be found. "Ah, well now. That is most unusual." Still frantic, I tried to garble out the information I needed to pass onto Dumbledore. He needed to know. He needed to know everything that was said, and Harry…where's Harry? He should be here. He should be right beside me. I should have held onto him more tightly, what happened? I don't remember…
"Albus, she needs to be treated, she's still bleeding! These wounds aren't closing!" Someone whispered frantically as I started to scream, thrashing and wailing to try and do everything at once. I wanted to explain everything, to find Harry, to find out who the traitor was, but everything hurt so much. In the end I was forced to drink something which was warm and instantly knocked me out, whereby I was then carried by Hagrid up to the castle and to the hospital wing, Madam Pomfrey trotting along behind us in order to keep up with Hagrid's long strides.
My injuries were treated, I knew that much as I ebbed in and out of consciousness, murmuring all the while about Voldemort and that everyone was in danger, though I didn't wake until much later. It was still dark, though that didn't mean much to me. It could be the next evening, or several days after, but the moment I opened my eyes and sat up, fully alert, my hand dove to try and find my wand until someone tackled me with a sob. I didn't know who it was, and my mind was still far too addled to realise that it was my mother so I screamed and fought her off, kicking and lashing out which caused everyone else in the hospital wing to look up in alarm.
"Darling it's me! It's mummy! Mia please, calm down, you'll hurt yourself…"
"No! NO! Get away! Don't touch me! I won't let you hurt him! I WON'T LET YOU HURT HARRY! HARRY?!" Screaming bloody murder, it wasn't until my mother was pulled off me and I was given space did I finally calm down, eyes shooting around me as the blank figures of people gradually came back into focus as I laboured for breath. A soft whimper sounded beside me as I wearily blinked, feeling something furry nudge and press against my hand.
When I looked down, I immediately saw the head of a great black hound with doleful eyes blinking up at me. My heart gave a leap and I immediately let out a loose sob, throwing my arms around his neck and mewling as I recognised dad beside me. He whimpered and began to nuzzle into my neck, letting me cling onto him as tightly as I needed until I finally felt calm enough to let go and look around me. Harry was asleep on the bed next to me, which was an instant relief, and around us both were gathered a collection of woeful, worried expressions.
My parents were both there, my step-dad holding my mother back to give me the space I needed to regain my senses, as well as Molly Weasley, Bill Weasley, Ron and Hermione. Sinking back against my pillows, I closed my eyes for a moment to try and straighten my thoughts, waiting until I had recollected everything as my mother gingerly inched closer. "Sweetheart? Mia?"
"I'm alright now, mum. Sorry I lashed out, I thought…well I didn't recognise you." She sobbed again and this time, put her arms around me much more carefully as dad stepped aside and sat down in the gap between mine and Harry's bed, as if guarding over the both of us. Mum wept and trembled as she clung onto me, Leo also looking extremely pale and put his arms around us both as mum warbled about how worried she'd been and that I was never going to be allowed to do anything remotely dangerous ever again.
"Y-You c-c-could have d-died!" She wailed as I tried to hush her, Madam Pomfrey already marching over in order to quieten the ruckus. "You c-came back…bleeding…there w-was so much blood…"
"Honestly now Diana, this is no time for hysterics. If you cannot calm yourself down, I will have to insist that you remove yourself from my hospital. These patients need peace and quiet. I can give you a calming tonic, if you wish?" But mum shook her head against Madam Pomfrey's offer, sniffing and clung onto me all the more as my other hand rested on dad's head, rubbing my fingers into his fur to draw comfort from his presence even though mum was completely oblivious as to who he was. Before I could ask what day it was, what had happened and whether Harry was alright, the sound of raised voices started to rise from outside the hospital wing, making Madam Pomfrey bristle in irritation. "Really!" And she strode off to deal with the noise.
"They'll wake Harry if they don't shut up!" Ron hissed quietly as Hermione came to sit at the edge of my bed, smiling at me shakily but I appreciated her effort all the same.
"What are they shouting about? Nothing else can have happened, can it?" Almost as if I sensed him beginning to stir, I looked across at Harry to see his eyes beginning to flutter lightly. He looked a little confused, but everyone else was now focused on the commotion outside.
"That's Fudge's voice." Molly recognised as she got to her feet with a frown, listening intently. "And that's Minerva McGonagall's, isn't it? But what are they arguing about?" Whatever it was, McGonagall sounded completely outraged and the sound of feet coming hurriedly towards the hospital wing began to grow louder as their voices became more distinguished.
"Regrettable, but all the same Minerva…"
"You should never have brought it inside the castle! When Dumbledore finds out…" McGonagall was really letting the Minister of Magic have it, and at that moment the double doors burst open with a loud clash. Bill and mum hurried to pull the screens around our beds, but not quick enough for me not to see Fudge, McGonagall and Snape come striding towards us, Fudge promptly ripping back the curtains and demanding to know where Dumbledore was.
"He's not here." Molly responded curtly with a clear tone of anger. "This is a hospital wing, Minister, don't you think you'd do better to…"
"What has happened?" The calm and wise voice of Albus Dumbledore sounded as he walked in through the door, as if knowing that trouble was brewing. "Why are you disturbing these people? Minerva, I'm surprised at you. I asked you to stand guard over Barty Crouch…" Crouch? As in Percy's boss? What's he got to do with all this? And why would McGonagall need to stand guard over him? Seems like I've missed out on a lot whilst I've been sleeping.
"There is no need to stand guard over him any more, Dumbledore! The Minister has seen to that!" The only time I'd ever seen McGonagall this enraged was when she'd caught me with the twins trying to drop baby mandrakes on the Slytherins from the moving staircases. If she'd been allowed, I'm fairly certain she would have thrashed us all there and then.
"When we told Fudge that we had caught the Death Eater responsible for tonight's events, he seemed to feel his personal safety was in question. He insisted on summoning a dementor to accompany him into the castle. He brought it up to the office where Barty Crouch…" Snape spoke in a low, soft voice as McGonagall then shrieked that she had said that Dumbledore would not agree to allowing a dementor into the castle, to which Fudge bellowed over her to give his feeble excuses, such as that it was his right to bring protection for himself when interviewing someone who posed a potential threat to his life. It continued with a shouting match, McGonagall effortlessly overpowering Fudge's voice as she explained that the moment the dementor had entered the room where they were keeping Crouch, it had performed The Kiss on him.
"By all accounts, he is no loss! It seems he has been responsible for several deaths!" Fudge insisted proudly, but upon hearing Dumbledore's quiet and icy tone, Fudge flinched.
"But he cannot now give testimony, Cornelius. He cannot give evidence about why he killed those people."
"Why he killed them? Well, that's no mystery, is it?" Fudge stammered, desperately trying to acquit himself of the blame. "He was a raving lunatic! From what Minerva and Severus have told me, he seems to have thought he was doing it all on You-Know-Who's instructions!" Dumbledore continued with his ice cold tone, being blunt and to the point on the matter.
"Lord Voldemort was giving him instructions, Cornelius. Those people's deaths were mere by-products of a plan to restore Voldemort to full strength again. The plan succeeded. Voldemort has been restored to his body." Fudge looked completely terrified, and in the silence that followed I took this as an opportunity to try and figure out what he meant by Crouch. I thought he was as anti-Dart Arts as they came, they couldn't possibly mean the same person, could they? "As Minerva and Severus have doubtless told you, we heard Barty Crouch confess. Under the influence of Veritaserum, he told us how he was smuggled out of Azkaban, and how Voldemort – learning of his continued existence from Bertha Jorkins – went to free him from his father, and used him to capture Harry. The plan worked, I tell you. Crouch has helped Voldemort to return."
It was then that I realised that they weren't talking about Mr Crouch, Percy's boss, but rather his son. Barty Crouch Jr. I remembered dad telling us about Mr Crouch's son who was sent to Azkaban for being a Death Eater. It made much more sense now, though Fudge seemed adamant to deny the truth, despite all the witnesses who were telling him to the contrary. "See here, Dumbledore. You…you can't seriously believe that. You-Know-Who…back? Come now, come now, certainly Crouch may have believed himself to be acting upon You-Know-Who's orders, but to take the word of a lunatic like that, Dumbledore…"
"If he was such a lunatic, then how could he have possibly orchestrated such an elaborate plan to get Harry to touch the Triwizard Cup first?" I suddenly demanded, speaking up for the first time and everyone now looked at me. "No person without his sanity could have made everything work so flawlessly, and not be found out for an entire year. There had to be someone pulling the strings behind him. Besides, Harry and I saw it all happen. We were there. That Cup took us straight to Voldemort – don't flinch at his name you spineless coward – and we saw him being reborn." Fudge gaped at me as my mother gasped, scolding me for speaking to the Minister in such a way. "Not my fault he's so dense and stupid to believe his own ears."
"Thank you, Miss Black." Dumbledore said to me with a hint of amusement before it then vanished, his tone returning to a serious murmur as Dumbledore invited Fudge to join him in his office where he could explain everything and rather adamantly stating that he could not allow Fudge to question either Harry or myself tonight. Glancing between us, Fudge nervously cleared his throat.
"You are – er – prepared to take Harry and Miss Black's word on this, are you Dumbledore?" Dad started to growl then, baring his teeth at Fudge so I reached out to touch his neck once more, calming him down before he could decide to spring on the Minister.
"Certainly I believe them both. I heard Crouch's confession, and I heard Harry's account of what happened after he touched the Triwizard Cup. The two stories make sense, they explain everything that has happened since Bertha Jorkins disappeared last summer, and I am quite certain that once I hear Miss Mia's version of the story, the three will perfectly correlate." I gave a broad grin at Dumbledore for his casual but firm belief in us. This was good, we can start getting ourselves prepared for war now.
"You are prepared to believe that He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named has returned, on the word of a lunatic murderer, and a boy who…well…and a girl who is known to be violent and has a partiality to tall tales, who is…and of course I mean no rudeness by this…is the daughter of a known convict." Dad growled again so I bunched my hand into his fur to make sure he didn't do anything reckless.
"You have been reading Rita Skeeter, Mr Fudge." Now defensive, Fudge demanded what other secrets Dumbledore had been keeping from him about Harry, mentioning his scar and the fact that he was a Parselmouth, having 'funny turns' as he called them, before suggesting that the headaches and nightmares could also have given Harry hallucinations. I had indignantly shouted that it was none of Fudge's business about Harry's private life, so why should he have to know anything about his scar hurting? Once again I was quietened down with a look from Dumbledore who then attempted to reason with Fudge, but he remained obstinate and refused to see the truth even when all the evidence was clearly laid before him.
Harry and I then argued loudly, Harry having been silent since this moment and awake due to the noise, both of us trying to get out of bed in order to defend ourselves but we were quickly held back by Molly and my mother, but continued to try and reason with Fudge, giving him the names we'd heard from Voldemort himself. However, Fudge gave even more excuses, insisting that each of them had been cleared and that we were just reeling off names we could have gotten hold of from anywhere. "You snivelling, worthless piece of scum! Grow a backbone and listen!" Visibly incensed, it took both my parents to hold me back as I tried to find my wand. "Give me my wand, I'll hex you into seeing sense!"
"You see? You see Dumbledore? The girl is dangerous! She should be placed under close observation by the Ministry!" Fudge crowed, pointing at me as I struggled but this only made me all the more outraged. In the end dad actually jumped up onto the bed and lay across me, giving me a short growl as if telling me to behave and calm down so I flopped, glaring at him but went quiet. Instead I wrapped my arms around him and just hugged him tightly, like cuddling a teddy bear when I was small.
Dumbledore and Fudge continued to argue intensely, talking about removing the dementors from Azkaban and sending an envoy to the giants but Fudge refused, insisting that it would be the end of his career if he made such drastic motions which caused Dumbledore to finally explode with rage at Fudge's incompetence and even I shrank back a little from his outburst. "You are blinded by the love of the office you hold, Cornelius! You place too much importance, and you always have done, on the so-called purity of blood! You fail to recognise that it matters not what someone is born, but what they grow to be! Your dementor has just destroyed the last remaining member of a pure-blood family as old as any, and see what that man chose to make of his life!"
Fudge stood perfectly still whilst trembling, completely ashen faced as we all continued to watch and stare at the pair of them, Dumbledore commanding the room with his powerful presence. "I tell you now, take the steps I have suggested, and you will be remembered, in office or out, as one of the bravest and greatest Ministers for Magic we have ever known. Fail to act, and history will remember you as the man who stepped aside, and allowed Voldemort a second chance to destroy the world we have tried to rebuild!" But Fudge still refused to listen or see sense, backing away with a shake of his head, leading Dumbledore to sigh sadly. "If your determination to shut your eyes will carry you as far as this, Cornelius, we have reached a parting of the ways. You must act as you see fit, and I – I shall act as I see fit."
"Now, see here Dumbledore. I've given you free rein, always. I've had a lot of respect for you. I might not have agreed with some of your decisions, but I've kept quiet. There aren't many who'd have let you hire werewolves, or keep Hagrid, or decide what to teach you students, without reference to the Ministry, but if you're going to work against me…" I bristled sharply at the mention of Hagrid and my Uncle Rem, baring my teeth like a snarl and I considered turning into a lion just to pounce on the imbecile before me.
"The only one against whom I intend to work, is Lord Voldemort. If you are against him, then we remain, Cornelius, on the same side." At a loss for words, Fudge gaped at Dumbledore before finally shaking his head, insisting that he couldn't be back. That's when Snape strode over and yanked his sleeve up his arm in order to expose the milky white flesh which looked as if it had never seen daylight in his entire life. There, inked onto the skin, was a deep black tattoo of a skull with a snake slithering out of it's mouth.
"There. The Dark Mark. It is not as clear as it was, an hour or so ago, when it burnt black, but you can still see it. Every Death Eater had the sign burnt into him by the Dark Lord. It was a means of distinguishing each other, and his means of summoning us to him. When he touched the Mark of any Death Eater, we were to disapparate, and apparate, instantly, at his side. This Mark has been growing clearer all year. Karkaroff's too. Why do you think Karkaroff fled tonight? We both felt the Mark burn. We both knew he had returned. Karkaroff fears the Dark Lord's vengeance. He betrayed too many of his fellow Death Eater's to be sure of a welcome back into the fold."
Firmly refusing to believe or even hear a word of what Snape said, Fudge backed away from everyone and looking at us like we were quite insane. "I don't know what you and your staff are playing at, Dumbledore, but I have heard enough. I have no more to add. I will be in touch with you tomorrow, Dumbledore, to discuss the running of this school. I must return to the Ministry." Fudge then walked away, but at the door he turned back, refusing to meet anyone's eyes as he pulled two separate pouches from within his robes and placed the first at the end of my bed and the other at Harry's as dad growled at him again from where he was curled up over me. "Your winnings. One thousand galleons, though since you both tied for first place, it's been split between you. There should have been a presentation ceremony, but in the circumstances…"
I glowered at him darkly, watching as he nervously stuffed his hat back onto his head then fled with a quick stride in order to leave. I was glad to see him go, the useless fool. Maybe Dumbledore should become Minister of Magic, then we'd actually be able to do something about Voldemort being back. Thankfully, he seemed to be on top of things. "There is work to be done. Molly, am I right in thinking that I can count on you and Arthur?"
"Of course you can." Molly Weasley responded firmly, straightening herself up. "He knows what Fudge is. It's Arthur's fondness for muggles that has held him back at the Ministry all these years. Fudge thinks he lacks proper wizarding pride."
"Then I need to send a message to him. All those that we can persuade of the truth must be notified immediately, and Arthur is well placed to contact those at the ministry who are not as short-sighted as Cornelius." Bill offered to go, so Dumbledore nodded his head approvingly. "Excellent. Tell him what has happened. Tell him I will be in direct contact with him shortly. He will need to be discreet, however. If Fudge thinks I am interfering at the ministry…" Bill promised to take care of it, giving Harry a clap on the shoulder, then kissed mine and Molly's cheeks before leaving. "Minerva, I want to see Hagrid in my office as soon as possible. Also, if she will consent to come, Madame Maxime."
Dumbledore rattled out orders, making Madam Pomfrey leave next before he then turned and looked directly at my dad. "And now, it is time for two of our number to recognise each other for what they are. Sirius, if you could resume your usual form." Getting up and jumping down from my bed, dad stood up and quickly turned back into his human form, and the moment he was in sight both Molly and my mother screamed. Mum dove for her wand but I launched myself forwards to grab her wrists, yelling for her to stop. "It's fine! It's just dad!"
"Mia say back! He's dangerous!"
"No he's not mum! He's innocent! Just listen will you?" I shouted over her as the two of us struggled for a few moments whilst Leo looked completely stunned. "Dumbledore wouldn't let him in here if he thought he was going to hurt us!" This made my mother think, however she was now staring at me incredulously as I let go and flung back my covers in order to sit with my legs over the side of the bed, holding onto dad's hand as he buried me in his arms to embrace me finally. Snape snarled fiercely, demanding to know what my dad was doing here as he stroked at my hair and kissed my face, looking at me with eyes identical to mine.
"He is here at my invitation. As are you, Severus. I trust you both. It is time for you to lay aside your old differences, and trust each other." Letting go of me in order to look around, dad looked like the very last thing he wanted to do was resolve things with Snape, so I rolled my eyes.
"Oh don't be petty." I quipped at him as Dumbledore smiled briefly before continuing.
"I will settle, in the short term, for a lack of open hostility. You will shake hands. You are on the same side now. Time is short, and unless the few of us who know the truth stand united, there is no hope for any of us." Dad looked at me then so I encouraged him with a smile and a gesture to do as Dumbledore requested, so he went towards Snape and the both of them shook hands, though they looked as if they would rather break each other's fingers and didn't linger for long. "That will do to be going on with. Now, I have work for each of you. Fudge's attitude, though not unexpected, changes everything. Sirius, I need you to set off at once. You are to alert Remus Lupin, Arabella Figg, Mundungus Fletcher, the old crowd. Lie low at Lupin's for a while. I will contact you there."
Harry started to protest, looking like the last thing he wanted was for his godfather to leave so Sirius swiftly returned to the both of us with a smile, looking first at Harry. "You'll see me very soon, Harry. I promise you, but I must do what I can. You understand, don't you?" Although hesitantly, Harry agreed so dad clasped his hand firmly for a moment before then turning to me. "And you, my brave, brave girl. I'll see you soon as well. I love you, my Mia."
"I love you too." Smiling as he kissed my head, we squeezed each other's hand before he turned back into his giant hound form before he bounded away. My mother was still staring at me, but I refused to look at her for now. Everything moved quickly after that. Snape was given his own instructions as well which he left to carry out, though they were rather secretive and ambiguous. Harry and I were told to take the rest of our sleeping potions in order to continue resting, though I had so many questions in my head. Since mum was still in a state of shock, it was my step-dad who encouraged me to drink the rest of my potion, Molly sitting with Harry however as we started to grow sleepy, our heads turned towards one another. For the brief moment that we were still awake, we shared the daunting relief and resounding tremor of emotion which came from the result of what we had experienced together. Not just in the graveyard, but in the past year, both of us working hard to protect each other, all of it boiling down to that final moment where we had almost been killed.
He reached out to me, and I to him, and as the potion took full effect, I felt my fingers brush against his before I fell asleep once more.