Chapter 32 – The Day After the Hogsmeade Attack
From the Journal of Freddie James Potter – 9 October 2013
The kids who had narrowly escaped death from the Avada Kedavra joined us for breakfast. They did not look entirely well but were able to walk to their tables under their own power and eat at least a bit of breakfast, without barfing it right back up again. One of the recovering students was a third year Gryffindor named Bellamy Huffington. I didn't like intruding, especially as he seemed happy to be able to tell an interesting story to those seated near him, but I was curious. "Were you one of the students who volunteered to receive the charm against the AK?"
"Yes. I think most of the students volunteered. Lucky, I did. I'm sure I'd be dead, otherwise. I spoke to the other students, in hospital. They all had the charm."
That prompted me to take a quick survey. Of the eighty-seven Gryffindors at table, seventy-three had volunteered for the charm. Those who hadn't planned to beg for it today.
The Daily Prophet raised my anger at just the wrongness of their position:
MINISTER HERMIONE ALLOWS AURORS TO MURDER ONE OF 'OUR STUDENTS' WITHOUT PENALTY!
The story went on to say that under prior administrations, aurors did not use killing curses and were severely disciplined, including a trip to Azkaban, if they did such a thing. To kill a child in such a way was nothing short of unpardonable official murder. The Prophet calls for our Minister and all of the leaders of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement to resign at once. "This reporter asked Minister Hermione if she intended to resign. She said 'absolutely not. Current Wizarding law allows the use of a killing curse in self-defence or the defence of an innocent against an attacker using or threatening the immediate use of a killing curse or lethal force. That has been the law for close to twenty years. The child in question was hooded, so not recognisable as a child and was awaiting trial for the attempted rape of a first-year student and firing an Avada Kedavra at another student. His wand had fired the AK on the day he died, and there were numerous witnesses who gave statements that he was attacking innocent students. So, even if his age weren't hidden by a hood, the use of a killing curse would still be legally permissible, by an auror or a helpful citizen. We have moved beyond the days when only Death Eaters were permitted to use killing curses. Even under the old law, only the AK and the other two Unforgivable Curses were automatically illegal, although once again, apparently not for Death Eaters. The auror in question did not use the Avada Kedavra.'
"If that really is the law, then this reporter says the law must be changed. It must be changed immediately. If the Minister will not resign, then we must be allowed to vote her out of office. The Prophet is beginning a petition to demand such a vote. Extraordinarily reprehensible behavior must be able to end a Minister's term in office."
We attended our morning classes, then it was off to the Ministry. The Ministry was in an uproar over the demand for Aunt Hermione to have to be re-voted into the office she already holds. I thought people were talking about the article in The Prophet, but there had been new developments. We heard about them as we gathered our food and began to eat lunch.
First, every one of the opposition Gamots had signed a letter demanding that Aunt Hermione "follow the will of the people and support a vote to determine whether or not she may serve the remainder of her term as Minister." The second development was Aunt Hermione's statement:
"I will not be singled out as the only person with skin in the game for this proposed, extra-legal election. I am willing to move the election scheduled for a little over two years from now forward to two weeks from now. But this is what that means: the opposition will have to name a candidate to run against me and another to run against Deputy Minister Longbottom; each member of the Wizengamot will have to run in that election; and finally, I and all the other winning candidates will begin a fresh, full new term after that election. If the signers of this letter agree, I will urge my supporters on the Wizengamot to support this early election. It is my understanding that the date of the election may be moved up by two years if two-thirds of the voting Gamots agree. I await the decision of those who signed this letter."
Aunt Hermione quickly changed direction, calling the meeting to order, and turning it over to Mum. The first speaker was Aagog, who described the attack on the traditional Veneran temple, which housed the priests and priestesses who supported the soldier caste. "My spiders killed six priests and three of the priestess leaders of the order. All the younger priestesses, those taken advantage of and forced into marriages with elderly officers of the soldier caste were spared. We told several young priestesses that if the order didn't change its ways, we would return. We continue to guard the ribbons-between-worlds and other important spots in seid-space. In this, we take our direction from Minister Hermione."
The big surprise of the meeting was Director Shacklebolt's description of what was found in an auror raid on a building just discovered to belong to Barnabas Cuffe. "We found a half dozen gold bars, weighing a little over two pounds each. The bars had mint stamps. The stamps were identified as belonging to the soldier caste of Venera. A smaller bar, a little over a pound bore the imprint of the Peoples Bank of China. Several of the attendees gasped "Mr. Tsieh."
Viktor spoke about the difficulty in identifying so many of the attackers. "They almost certainly are from Eastern Europe. Some come to Durmstrang, but most are home-schooled and unregistered. They fear that we will somehow release their identities to their nonmagical governments, and they and their families will be imprisoned or killed. They are mostly poor, so it not surprising they could be paid to attack Hogwarts. Hogwarts means nothing to them. Durmstrang and our magical government, which nominally represents them, mean nothing to them. They are in basic survival mode. The only way to identify them, through their nonmagical governments, would be a horrible mistake. We'll never know who they are.
Break
From the Journal of Rose Weasley - 9 October 2013
Freddie journaled the exciting parts. Now it's boring. Who will send how many forces to defend seid-space; what to do with the gold bars; whether it is just and proper to blame Mr. Tsieh for some of what happened, based only upon one gold ingot, whether it makes any sense for we students to still be here? Not enough of the members thought it did, so Headmaster Longbottom is taking us back to Hogwarts.
Then there suddenly was a bright flare of excitement and fury. Prime Minister David thundered "This cannot be left as something for Headmaster Krum to discuss with his sort-of subjects to the East. Britain has been invaded by murderous mercenaries from Russia and the Ukraine. We've now witnessed two attacks and can't be assured there won't be more. I can't be assured that future attacks will be limited to your magical community. I demand that my government be part of the investigation and discussions with the magical people of the East."
It was decided that Mrs. Toms and a couple of her agents would join Viktor's people. Of course, Mum added two of her aurors to the team. Aagog menacingly suggested "I will add two young spiders to the mission. If deaths are called for, they will seem to possibly be accidental deaths. At least your communities won't be blamed. My children will carry non-thinking, but highly venomous spiders with them. They will be blamed for the accidental deaths."
After that detour, it was back to the boring. We had been allowed to stay through this part, because Headmaster Longbottom was too interested to leave midway through. I didn't need to be present for the rest of the meeting to know that Dad would be heading east with Viktor and Mrs. Toms.
We were at Hogwarts in time for dinner. As we sat at the table, waiting for the Elves to cause the food to appear, Maxwell Sharp stopped behind Freddie's chair. "Room of Requirement, right after dessert. Children of Potter's Forest Meeting. More instruction and we can bring each other up to date on recent happenings."
I wouldn't have taught a deadly curse to fellow students. I also couldn't; I didn't know any. Erin did. Apparently, her father had considered that it might be necessary for her to protect herself. She had learned the 'Kill!' curse at the height of the fear surrounding the super-strong love potion and undetectable poison. The theory was that she could strike with 'Kill!' as she felt herself falling prey to the effects of one of these potions. I argued that we shouldn't learn this curse, which my own grandmother had invented. It damages a kid's soul to kill. Damages it in a way that is often beyond repair. I advised "we have 'Off!' That will take down an attacker. If your aim is off, you don't risk permanently harming a friend. There are no moral issues with using it. 'Kill' should at least not be for the younger students. You do run legal risk if you use it."
Others took up my plea, but six of the Children of Potter's Forest asked to be taught how to 'Kill!'. One of those was Scorpius. I think he just wanted to keep more on a par with his sister, but maybe he is more blood thirsty than I am. Surprisingly, Iona also wanted to learn this curse. Her experience with the attempted rapists must still have her very anxious.
Freddie, Scorpius, and I told much of what we had learned at Aunt Ginny's committee. What we knew, or strongly suspected, to be secret we kept to ourselves. We certainly said nothing about the planned trip to the east, to confront the source of the mercenaries. I don't know how we silently agreed what to keep secret. We mentioned the gold bars, but not that one was from the main Chinese government bank. Obviously, we did not mention the really big bomb.
Maxwell and the others told us about three "suspicious acting" students they had observed prior to the Hogsmeade attack. What made them suspicious? They didn't enter any of the shops. They weren't paired off and sneaking off to snog. They spent their time scanning the other students, as if searching for someone. They checked into alleyways and looked through the windows of shops. They scanned the rooftops - they did this repeatedly. When the attackers arrived, they looked straight at them and shook their heads 'no'. They didn't dive to the ground or rush for cover when the attack began. They calmly walked into an alleyway and were never seen again. They neither attacked other students nor helped to defend against the attackers. Gerald, a third year Hufflepuff, checked the alleyway the three students had entered - there was no sign of them. It was effectively a dead-end alley because the gate at the end of it was locked. It all seemed so suspicious.
Of course, they knew who these students were. Spokesperson Maxwell listed them:22-year-old Dumbledore 2nd-year Alexander Panshin, 21-year-old Dumbledore first-year Marshall Smith, and normal-aged Ravenclaw third-year Brent Parks. "Where could they have gone? Either one of the two shops on the sides of the alley, or the people in the house on the end, unlocked a door for them and let them in, or else they Apparated. I guess they could have transfigured something they were carrying into brooms and flown over the fence, but that seems less likely."
I promised that I would ask Mum to investigate these three students and their families. I sent a Stone message right after our meeting ended.
The group almost unanimously decided that we needed to spy on these three students to learn what they were up to. If we, did it in shifts, we were less likely to be spotted.