A/N: I'm back again with a new chapter. Sorry for the delay, but I've been very busy lately and couldn't update sooner. I thank each and everyone that has reviewed, followed and added the story to their favourites. You feedback encourages me to write more.
I'm still searching for a beta. Anyone in?
Disclaimer: All the rights on Harry Potter belong to JK Rowling. I only own this story.
Chapter-4
Meetings at Hogsmeade
Amelia Bones sat on a couch in one of the rooms in The Three-Broomsticks pub and waited patiently for the arrival of Harry Potter and his girlfriend. To say, she was eager to meet Harry Potter was an understatement. She was dying to meet him. She knew him as a baby as she was close friends with James and Lily. She loved him so much as a kid only and she couldn't wait to see the young man he grew up to.
But she was also a little nervous. She couldn't understand why she never tried to meet him or approach him and she was feeling very guilty at it. She remembered the day she promised James and Lily to look after little Harry incase anything happened to them. Back during the war, when the Potters realized that they were being targeted by you-know-who himself, they became too much paranoid and stressful.
Despite everyone's assurances they always kept thinking that something bad was going to happen to them and they won't be able to be there for Harry. They made, the Longbottoms and herself and Sirius promise to them to look after Harry incase anything bad happened. They made sure that Harry had a happy and comfortable life incase they passed away.
Amelia also remembered them telling once that under no circumstances their son must be sent to Lily's sister's family. That made Amelia frown. When Dumbledore told her that he was sent to live with the people Lily prohibited, she did everything she could to convince the old wizard to bring the baby back. But the older wizard convinced her that Harry was at the safest place and it was best to let him live there. He convinced her that Dursleys were taking good care of young Harry. Amelia hoped that it was true.
One thing that she couldn't understand was that why she never tried to meet him. Ever since she received the letter from the younger wizard, who asked for her appointment, that question kept popping into her head. She couldn't answer it at all. She didn't thought of meeting him even when she spoke with her niece Susan about him. Also Susan didn't tell her much about him either. All she knew about the boy was that he was living with his muggle relatives, and his best friends were a muggleborn and Weasley's youngest son.
It doesn't matter. She thought. She resolved herself to speak to him, and get to know him more at least now. She was also curious about the latest tri-wizard fiasco and she wanted to know young Potter heir's perspective of things.
Amelia heard her guards talking with someone.
"What is it Taylor?" She asked him.
"Your guests are here mam. But they are saying they need their wands with them." The Taylor said.
"Then let them." Amelia said.
"But mam-"
"No buts. Just send them in. If they want their wands with them, then let them carry." Amelia did not think if the teens will posses any danger to her. Especially the son of James and Lily.
"Yes mam." Taylor yelled.
The door opened and the couple she was waiting for, walked inside. Amelia's eyes moistened a little when she got her first look at her friends' son. He was looking exactly like James. But he had Lily's eyes which she remembered since he was a toddler. She also noticed that he was a little thinner than James was at that age.
"Greeting Madame Bones." He greeted her with a warm smile, which she couldn't help but reflect. She got up from her couch as he walked to her with his girlfriend. She gave her his hand, which he took gracefully and kissed her on her knuckles.
"Heir Potter." She wanted to jump from the window for the formality. But she had to maintain it. "It's nice to meet you finally."
"Nice to meet you too mam." He said and turned a little to his female companion. "And this is my girlfriend Hermione Granger." He introduced the thin, bushy haired girl. She was quite pretty. "Nice to meet you." Amelia shook her hands with the girl.
"And mam, please don't call me Heir Potter. Harry or Mister Potter, if you insist, will do." Amelia smiled at the boy. Definitely like James, she thought.
"Harry it is then." She said and exchanged another smile with the boy.
"Take a seat." She told the teens and both of them sat on the love seat opposite to hers.
"Tea?" She asked them.
"No thank you mam. I'm more of a coffee person." Harry said. And this one is Lily, she thought. She turned to the third occupant who shook her head as well.
Since no one was going to drink the tea, she set it aside and leaned back in her seat.
"So what was this very important thing you wanted to talk to me about?" She asked.
The teens shared a look between them, before Harry nodded at his girlfriend. She put her hands into her robes and pulled out a small box. Amelia was curios about what it was. She watched as Harry pulled out his wand unshrunk the box. Amelia raised an eyebrow at it.
Her other eyebrow also raised when the teen opened the box and she got a look at what was inside. It was a pensive. Her curiosity grew more at it.
"It'd be more convenient if we rather show you than tell you mam." Harry said. She nodded at him.
He pointed his wand at his temple and pulled out a silver strand of memory and dropped it into the pensive. Amelia was really surprised at how easily he pulled out a memory and how clear it looked. First he had a pensive which was very rare and very costly, and he also knew how to draw memory from his brain. Only people who knew occlumency could do that and he had to be really good with that because of how easily he copied a memory into the pensive.
"Before you go into the pensive mam," he paused and raised his wand into air, "I, Harry James Potter, Heir apparent to the Most Ancient and Noble House of Potter, swear upon my magic that the memories you are going to view are all true and none of them were fakes. So I swear, so mote it be." Amelia's jaw hung open. Did he just do what she thought he did?
"Lumos." His wand glowed. "Nox." It went off.
"Now you can go mam." He said. She stared at him with wide eyes and open mouth.
"D-Do you understand what you just did?!" She asked angrily, "Do you even understand it's gravity?" She shouted at him. Magical oaths were really dangerous. Slightest mistake in wording will result in losing your magic.
"I do." He said simple. "I'm sorry mam, but I had to do it. Otherwise you are not going to believe what you are going to see. I assure you mam, you'll understand when you see the memories."
Amelia huffed at him. "Fine." She said. "But never ever give out oaths like that. It's very dangerous and you may lose your magic to something you don't even mean." She said in a warning tone.
"Yes mam." He said. She nodded at him and turned to the pensive. She dipped her finger into the bowl and was immediately sucked into the pensive.
She found herself in Leaky Cauldron and was once again surprised at how clear the memory was. Even she can't project such a clear memory. She watched as a younger and smaller looking Harry was shaking hands with the people around there. Hagrid was his companion and both of them moved away from the people and stepped in Diagon Alley. She watched as Harry and Hagrid went to Gringotts. She was very surprised when Hagrid took a package from vault seven one three and how secretive he and Goblins were about it. That vault was breached a couple of years back and she had hefty work during that time in controlling Goblins and investigating for the culprit. In the end, they weren't able to find anything and case was closed as nothing was stolen from the vault.
The scene changed and she found herself in the Hogwarts great hall. She was behind Harry, who was eating and happily chatting with his friends. Her eyes flicked to the Hufflepuff table, where she knew Susan was sitting. She smiled warmly when she found her niece also in a similar mood. From the decorations, she concluded that it was Halloween feast.
Suddenly the doors burst open and one of the professors came running inside, shouting about the troll. She frowned at him. He was a fully grown man, and the defense against dark arts professor. Can't he take down a mere troll. After all, trolls are not that hard to take down. She continued to watch as Harry and his friend got separated from the remaining students and went to the bathroom to find their classmate. She had to say, she was impressed by Harry's nobility. She watched as Harry and his reluctant friend searched for the girl.
"BLOODY HELL!" Was all she could at what happened. Harry literally jumped onto the troll's back to save the girl. Together, he and his redhead friend defeated it. Like the kids, she too didn't fail to notice odd behaviour of Snape.
The next memory was of the kids talking with Hagrid and asking him not to have dragon as a pet. She chuckled when McGonagall found out and gave detention to the three of them and Malfoy.
However, her amusement turned to horror when she realized that the detention was in the forbidden forest and that too was in the midnight. What the hell was going at Hogwarts?! She continued to watch the events of the detention.
Bloody buggering hell! Voldemort's alive! Is that what Harry wanted to show her? She perfectly understood why he gave her the oath. She definitely would never believe if he didn't. She wondered why none of this came out.
The next one was Harry's first match and she was absolutely terrified to find out that there was a fucking murder attempted on him. What she couldn't understand was that why no one stopped the match as soon as Harry's broom was out of control. Instead everyone watched like it was some drama. She was even more shocked when she heard Harry's friends telling him that it was Snape who jinxed Harry's broom. He was professor for Merlin's sake!
She continued to watch as the three first years solved the riddle and found about the philosopher's stone. She watched with confusion, anger and panic as the kids went past traps one by one. She was utterly horrified when she found Voldemort's face on the back of Quirrell's face. She watched as the professor mysteriously died on touching Harry.
In the next scene, she found herself in the hospital wing. She saw Harry lying on a bed and Dumbledore sitting on the edge of it.
She couldn't understand what to think of everything Dumbledore told to Harry. As the memory ended she was jerked out of the pensive and landed back on the couch. Her eyes immediately drifted to the teen in front of her. Now she understood why he swore a magical oath in the beginning.
She still couldn't believe everything she saw. And the question that was bugging her the most was that why Dumbledore never told any of this to her, or minister.
She also couldn't shake of the feeling that there was even more. When she was about to apologize to him for shouting about the oath, the door opened and Robards poked his head inside.
"Madame Director, A waitress is here. She asks if you need anything." Robards said.
"I need a bottle of strongest firewhiskey available here." She said.
Robards seemed to notice her flushed face. "Is everything alright Mam?" he asked with a concerned face.
"Nothing you need to concern yourself." She said. "And also get a couple of butter beers for these two." She said, looking at Harry and Hermione. They nodded at her, she turned and nodded at Robards. "Now go." She yelled. He nodded and hurried out.
"I'm sorry for shouting at you earlier. About the oath." Amelia apologized.
"It's okay mam." Harry said. "I'm glad you understood."
"There is still more, isn't it?" She asked after a couple of seconds of silence. Harry gave her a curt nod.
The door opened again and the waitress walked in, carrying a bottle firewhiskey and two butter beers on a tray. She laid the butter beers in front of the teens and poured the firewhiskey to her in a glass. Amelia drowned the whole in a gulp as soon as the waitress left and took a deep breathe.
"Ready mam?" Harry asked.
"Hit me." She replied, bracing herself mentally. She watched absentmindedly as Harry removed the existing memories from the pensive and added new ones.
"Before you go mam," Harry spoke. She stopped to look at him. "Keep and eye on Lucius Malfoy every time he appears." Amelia raised an eyebrow and then nodded. So Malfoy joins the crew now huh? she thought. She put her finger into the memory and felt herself sucked inside.
Amelia watched with curiosity and dread as the unknown elf warned Harry about something bad that's going to happen at Hogwarts. She had a brief idea of what it was.
She found herself in the Diagon alley in the next scene. She noticed the Weasley gang and Harry along with them at the Flourish and Blotts. His girlfriend was also there along with her parents. Amelia stiffened when her eyes fell on the Malfoy family. She forgot about everything else as she focused on the blonde haired patriarch of the family. Her eyebrows rose when she noticed him drop some book into Weasley's daughter's things. She wondered what it was.
The scene dissolved again and this time, she was in king's cross. She fondly recalled the memories of going through the barrier to platform 9 3/4 during her school days. The Weasleys and Harry were there again. One by one, all the Weasleys, went into the barrier, except for young Harry and his friend. Amelia cringed as both kids smashed themselves into the wall. For a second she thought they ran into the wrong wall. But she realized immediately that it was the same wall as the other Weasleys went right through it only moments ago.
She couldn't decide whether to laugh or be angry at the kids' adventure. They literally flew to Hogwarts in a flying car. She remembered the case on Arthur Weasley after that incident happened.
The scene dissolved again and she was now in a random corridor in Hogwarts. She saw Harry, and his two friends walking through it. She gulped when she read the note on the wall and wondered why she never heard of it. Someone was threatening all the muggleborns openly and still Dumbledore never approached DMLE about it. She watched through the whole scene with extreme curiosity and fear as Dumbledore and the professors spoke about petrified cat. She wondered what petrified the cat.
The scene dissolved and Amelia found herself in the great hall. Except for one table, all the remaining tables were removed and a huge group of first year and second year students were gathered around it. She watched as Lockhart entered the scene with Snape in tow. Amelia scowled on the sight of the man. He was part of the Wizengamot, thanks to his order of merlin, and used to do the most ridiculous things there. He used to criticize the work of each and every department and then start boasting himself.
She had a good laugh as she saw Lockhart being thrown across the room with a simple Expelliarmus. While she was not a fan of Snape, she cheered for him nonetheless.
She got tense when Lockhart called Harry for demonstration. What's gonna happen now? She thought with concern. Both Malfoy and Harry threw off a couple of hexes and things looked quite well.
Until Malfoy summoned a snake. A fucking snake! And more importantly, Harry communicated with it!
Sweet Melin! She thought, He's a parselmouth! She watched with open jaw as Harry spoke something with the snake. By the looks of it, it looked like he was telling it to back of the student she was heading at.
However, other students did not feel the same. They thought he was provoking the snake. Amelia palmed her face and groaned. She waited with anxiety at what was going to happen next.
Amelia watched with a pained expression as students started avoiding Harry because of his Parseltongue abilities. Amelia was disappointed a lot when her own niece was one of those students.
The next memory was of a quidditch match, where a bludger acted very strangely by specifically targeting Harry. She winced when it hit him and groaned out loud when Lockhart vanished his bones. Are there any boundaries for this man's idiocy? She chuckled at horrified looking Harry when he was told he should spend the night in the hospital wing.
It was the same night in the hospital wing and it was the same elf again! Amelia wondered whose elf he was. That would solve all the mysteries.
Amelia watched through the memories of students getting petrified and the efforts of three kids trying to solve the riddle of Chamber of Secrets. Amelia never knew that the situation was this serious. She was getting more and more irritated with Dumbledore after every scene. She decided that she was going to have a serious talk with the old man. He had many question to answer.
She wondered who this Tom Riddle was. She never saw such a magic as the dairy Harry was writing. It talks back to you and can even take you into it's memories. According to the memory the dairy showed Harry, Hagrid was the actual culprit. But that didn't seem very likely to Amelia. Hagrid is literally the last person that would ever do something like that.
Amelia watched the scene of Malfoy and Minister arresting Hagrid with immense anger. Really, Fudge was a useless minister. There were so many times he refused to listen to her and paid the price. But he still did not learn the lesson. That man is always first in licking Lucius' ass.
She rose an eyebrow at Hagrid's suggestion of following the spiders. She watched as Harry and his friend Ron made their way to the forbidden forest. Since it was Harry's own memory, Amelia could see the kids even if they were under the invisibility cloak. Amelia decided that she was definitely not going to like whatever that was going to happen next.
Her guess was correct. Amelia did not like what she saw. She was absolutely terrified by what she saw. There was a fucking giant Acromantula colony right beside the school, where her own niece and hundreds of other kids spend longest part of the year. Judging by the number of spiders currently staying there, those Acromantula can take over Hogwarts castle within a year. What the fuck was Dumbledore doing?!
She thanked the lucky stars when the flying car came out of nowhere and saved the kids. Lots thoughts were swimming in her mind right now. She couldn't think straightly about anything. She jus forgot about everything and focused on the memories she was watching.
A Basilisk! A fucking Basilisk was residing inside Hogwarts and was petrifying students. Is that still there at Hogwarts?, she thought and immediately shuddered at the idea. She couldn't help but appreciate the twelve year old girl. She found out something the professors with decades of knowledge and experience couldn't.
The next events went on a blur and now Amelia found herself in the chamber of secrets along with Harry, Ron and Lockhart. Her heartbeat was probably higher than it ever was in her life. The skin of the snake alone could make her knees tremble in fear. She wondered how these three were still moving forward. Granted Lockhart didn't have choice. But she couldn't help but appreciate Harry and Ron. Especially Harry, whose expression only bore determination to save his friend's sister. There was a lot of fear in Ron's eyes and Amelia could say that the boy did not want to be there.
Suddenly Lockhart stole Ron's wand and pointed at him. She watched as the ponce's curse fired backwards and hit himself. Amelia couldn't find a better fate for the cheater. A cave in happened and she definitely noticed the way Ron purposefully jumped behind the rocks. The boy did not want to go further and this was a perfect excuse for him to stop moving. Amelia didn't blame the boy for it though. But she frowned when he pushed Harry to the other direction when falling. She decided to ignore that and focus on what was playing.
She watched as Harry made his way forward. She wanted to shout at him to stop and stay there. She just couldn't help but applaud the boy's bravery.
The next twenty minutes went in a blur for her as she watched everything with eyes wider than ever. She kept gasping at almost everything. She couldn't even believe that all this was real. But he gave oath, and was still alive. So it has to be true.
She shrieked when she noticed that the basilisk fang was dug into Harry's elbow. She couldn't help but be impressed when he thought quickly and stabbed the dairy with the fang.
She let out a sigh of relief when Dumbledore's phoenix started shedding tears where the basilisk bit him. So that's how he survived, Amelia thought as she watched his wound closing itself slowly. Amelia's respect for young Harry grew massively after that memory. The young man was no ordinary person. She also wondered what kind of magic the diary was made of. She made a mental note of investigating it later.
Harry and Ginny were then taken to the headmaster's room by the phoenix and she watched the conversation between Harry and Dumbledore with interest. Only an idiot would call him more of a Slytherin than a Gryffindor. He's probably the bravest person that has ever been to Hogwarts.
That's when Lucius Malfoy entered the room. She gasped when she saw his companion. It was the same elf! The same elf that warned Harry. Everything made sense to Amelia now. It was Malfoy all the time! She realized then that the diary was the same book that he slipped into Ginny Weasley's books in the beginning. She could easily arrest him now. She had enough evidence! She jumped with joy at the thought.
With a jerk, she was pulled out of the memory and was back in the room in Three Broomsticks. She looked at the green eyed teen who was watching her expectantly. Amelia simply walked to the boy and pulled him into a tight hug. She felt him stiffen at the contact. But she didn't care. She hugged him as tightly as she could. She felt him awkwardly patting on her back. She pulled back after a few seconds and held his face in her both hands.
"You are the bravest person I've ever met." She said. "Your parents will be proud of you." She added in a whisper.
"Thank you." He said in a soft whisper. She let go of him and at back on her couch.
"Robards!" She yelled.
The door opened and the auror stepped inside. "Yes boss?"
"Go to the nearest apothecary and get me calming draught. I'll pay you later." Amelia said.
"Is everything okay mam?" He asked.
"Just go do what I said." She snapped at him. He nodded and left hurriedly.
The habitants of the room fell into a comfortable silence after that. The kids seemed to understand that she needed time to process what just happened and did not speak with her. Amelia appreciated the sentiment. After a few moments, Robards was back with the calming draught she asked.
"The calming draught mam." He said approaching her and placing the vial on her table.
"Pour it into the firewhiskey." Amelia ordered him. He nodded and complied her request.
Amelia buried her face in her hands and took a deep breathe. Her mind was not functioning properly. She couldn't even understand where to start thinking. First of all, Voldemort was alive, and Dumbledore already knew that. Speaking of the devil, she had a lot of things to discuss with the old wizard. What the hell of a school was the man running there? And she couldn't understand how none of this came out.
Any of the smallest things that happened in the memory is enough to cause the wizarding world's biggest scandal. Amelia knew she couldn't defame Dumbledore publicly. He was a huge figure and if the public knew everything that has happened, they'll completely lose faith in all of the ruling figures. Moreover, with Voldemort still alive, Dumbledore's presence was required.
Then there was the Acromantula colony that was living in the forbidden forest. Any kid can just stumble upon there by accident and will just become the meal for the giant spider. Amelia shuddered at the thought of her niece in that fate.
Amelia raised her head and looked at the young man in front of her. To even think that he went through everything she just saw was simply unbelievable.
She looked at the fourteen year old wizard again. "You should be given an Order of Merlin for that." Amelia said evenly. He looked surprised at the statement. But did not speak anything.
He observed his face keenly for a moment before asking. "Are there more memories?" She asked in a low voice.
"You haven't seen third year yet." Harry replied with a small smile.
"Just how much of hell you went through at Hogwarts?" Amelia ranted in frustration.
"This ones not that bad. I promise you." Harry said.
"Can I at lease know what this is about?" Amelia asked.
"Sirius Black." Harry said with an expressionless face. Amelia's breathe immediately hitched at that name. Hope rose in her heart before she ruthlessly squashed it.
She took another gulp of whiskey before speaking. "I'm ready." She said with a nod. Harry nodded back at her and removed the previous memories, before replacing them with new ones. Amelia sighed when she found out that these memories weren't as long as the previous ones.
"Ready." Harry said. Amelia took a deep breathe and put a finger into the pensive. The next moment, she found herself on the grounds of Hogwarts near Hagrid's hut. She saw Harry, Hermione and Ron walking towards the hut. It was quite late in the evening and was getting darker slowly.
She remembered the Hippogriff's case as the teens talked about it with Hagrid. Lucius Malfoy came barging into her office the next day his son was attacked and demanded that she should arrest Hagrid. She got so angry that day that she called the security to throw Lucius out of her office. However, the Malfoy lord left before she could humiliate him that day. She couldn't even understand why the man thought it was her department and why she should arrest Hagrid. She even try to make him lose the case. But with Fudge in his pocket, Lucius Malfoy was a tough man to defeat.
She came out of her memories and focused on the one that was playing in front of her.
The kid, Ron, found his lost rat there and the three of them went out after they saw Dumbledore, McNair and Fudge making their way.
That Cloak again! Amelia thought as the three kids hid themselves under the cloak. She has never seen an invisibility cloak like that. From the kids' description its smooth and silky in nature, which is exact opposite of the other invisibility cloaks. They are rough and bulky and most of them do not last as long as this cloak does. It won't be nice for her to ask if it was a family heir loom. So she decided to keep her curiosity in check.
She noticed Ron struggling with his pet. His rat jumped off him and ran away. The boy couldn't let his pet go away. So he came out of the cloak and ran after it. He grabbed his rat again and then a huge black dog suddenly appeared out of no where. Amelia's breathe hitched at the sight. She could recognize him in any form and she did recognize him now.
Her heart hammered in her ribcage as the human she knew in dog form dragged Ron into the shrieking shack.
Amelia watched as Harry and Hermione tried to enter the shack but with no avail. The whomping willow was not allowing them to. Another thing to remember, she noted about the removal of that tree. Any kid might walk there by accident and the tree would simply kill them. Finally the kids entered the shack and started walking forward.
Amelia followed the kids and went into a room along with them. While they turned to their friend, she turned to the other direction and froze immediately at the sight.
It was him. He was right there in flesh. But he was not like she remembered him. Gone was the handsome and the heartwarming smile she was used to. It was replaced by the look of pure hatred and malice. He was very skinny and bony and the rags he wore were flying around him. Amelia felt her vision getting blurry. A tear fell from left eye and she did not bother to wipe it.
"Oh Sirius." She whispered even if he couldn't hear. "What has happened to you?" She chocked out.
Her heart started becoming heavier and heavier every second as she watched the conversation between the kids and the man she loved. His constant insistence that someone there was going to die was making her heart bleed. Does that mean that everything about him was real? Was he truly a traitor?
She watched as Harry jumped and attacked her former fiancé. She was surprised by the amount of venom in him. Then again she realized that she'd react the same if she was in his shoes.
Amelia couldn't look at the scene. It was too heavy for her. She just closed her eyes and turned away.
"Expelliarmus!" Came a familiar voice. Her eyes snapped open to look at Remus Lupin. He looked very older than she remembered him, and he even had more scars.
Amelia watched as Remus helped Sirius to his legs and hugged him. She was confused. Why would Remus do that?
She stepped closer to the scene and listened to the conversation with rapt attention. Hope was slowly flaring inside her at the Remus was trying to defend Sirius and explain something to the kids. Amelia heard as Remus told the kids how James, Sirius and Peter became animagi. She heard that story hundreds of times. She sucked her breathe in, when Remus and Sirius revealed that Peter was alive and he was the real traitor. Of course, She thought. This makes more sense.
That's when Snape arrived on the scene and started messing up with things. She was really amazed when she saw Harry knocked out Snape with only and Expelliarmus. He was indeed very powerful, she thought.
"I knew it!" Amelia screamed when Peter was revealed. That's it! Her Sirius was innocent! She could prove it now. Her heart soared into clouds as she barely paid any attention to the things going in the memory. She came back to herself when everyone started making their way outside. Peter was bound and secured by Remus, while Harry and Sirius carried limping Ron. She wondered why this never came out. The feeling of dread came back to her as she realized something bad has happened, which prevented this news from coming out. She followed the gang with shaky legs her eyes never leaving Sirius's back.
All of them came out of the shrieking shack. Amelia went to listen Sirius and Harry talking. Her eyes got misty as she heard them talking about living together as a family. She swore to herself that moment that their talk was definitely going to become true and she also imagined herself as a part of it.
Suddenly hell the broke lose as Remus started transforming into werewolf. It was a fucking a full moon day! She realized this was what that destroyed everything. She saw Peter running away. But it wasn't the time to focus on him. There was a werewolf out of control there. Sirius transformed into padfoot and lunged towards Remus. But he was very weak. He couldn't keep up with Remus and Amelia shuddered as he growled at the kids after beating up Sirius.
Suddenly the werewolf found interest in something in the forest and ran away in that direction. Amelia watched as Harry ran after Sirius. She followed the teen and found her love beaten and battered at the edge of the lake. Amelia leaned beside Harry and Sirius.
She felt the dread in the pit of her stomach increasing. She couldn't help but shake of the feeling that something worse was going to happen. To her belief, something worse did happen. The dementors started coming.
No! She thought. Did the dementors kiss Sirius? No way! She thought. She prayed desperately that the dementors did not kiss Sirius. She shuddered as the dementors approached Harry and Sirius and started sucking out their happiness slowly. Tears were running down her cheeks as Amelia watched helplessly. She couldn't help but feel admired at Harry's attempts in fighting off the dementors. His patronus was very strong for a thirteen year old. She couldn't produce a patronus that strong even after months of training in auror academy. He still couldn't produce a corporeal one. But he was close and his shield was quite strong.
However, her admiration was short lived as Harry lost against dementors and fell down. She realized that Sirius was going to be kissed and knew that she couldn't watch it. She turned away from them and started sobbing. Suddenly bright silvery light came out of no where. She turned around with a gasp to look at a huge stag patronus at a distance.
Merlin's balls! That's James' patronus! She thought. The patronus was driving off the dementors from there. She immediately started sprinting towards the patronus. Since this was a memory, she could even walk over water. She ran towards the patronus as fast as her shaky legs would carry. But she wasn't fast enough as she felt the memory fading before she even reached half way.
The next moment, she found herself in Hogwarts infirmary. Her heart raced faster as Harry confirmed her suspicions about James' patronus. That's when Dumbledore came inside and dropped a bombshell. That Snape waved his version of story in minister's head and the minister was getting ready to get Sirius kissed. Amelia never hated the two men more than now.
What she couldn't understand was that why Dumbledore was behaving like a powerless person. Fudge would have listened if Dumbledore insisted. He was the chief warlock for Merlin's sake.
She gasped out loud when Hermione pulled out a time turner under her blouse. How the hell did she get one?! Amelia thought. That's when she understood Dumbledore's words. Apparently the old man suggested the teens to travel in time and save Sirius! Bloody hell! What the hell is he even thinking?! Amelia thought exasperated.
Hermione turned two times, which took the teens two hours back. Amelia watched as both the teens saved the hippogriff smoothly, without any incidents. These two can be great aurors in the future, she thought.
Finally they reached the lake where the patronus came from and sat there. Amelia was very curious herself and wanted to see who that patronus belonged to. She waited with the teens.
Amelia was way beyond shocked when she realized that it was Harry who produced that patronus. She couldn't even form any coherent thoughts around it. Forming a patronus that powerful, at the age of thirteen, was something she couldn't even imagine in her dreams. She watched as the teens freed Sirius and let him escape with the hippogriff and then reach back to the infirmary right in time.
Amelia was back in the room in three broomsticks inn. She collapsed onto the couch and just stared into space for a while. She noticed the forgotten firewhiskey on the table and took a full swing of it.
She spoke after a minutes of silence. "You gave a lot for me to think about." She said looking at Harry. "I'm sorry I can't talk about anything right now. My mind isn't functioning properly right now. I'll contact you in a day or two." Amelia said.
"I understand mam." Harry said. "I'll be waiting to hear from you. The only thing is that please don't send an owl to me directly. I suspect there might be some ward around my mail. I'll send you my owl Hedwig in a couple of days. She is quiet clever and she can't be intercepted that easily. Send your word with her." Harry said. Amelia nodded again.
She stood up along with Harry and Hermione. She approached Harry and wrapped him in a tight hug again. Harry awkwardly wrapped his arms around her. She let go of him and turned to hug a surprised looking Hermione.
"Take care you two." She said as she parted from Hermione.
"That was not exactly how I expected her to react." Harry said as both he and Hermione exited the room, they met Amelia.
"Me too." Hermione agreed with him.
"She behaved like... you know, like... She reacted very emotionally."
"Like she knew your parents and was friends with them." Hermione finished.
"Yes." Harry said.
"And her reaction at Sirius' memory shows that she shared something with him too." Hermione said.
"Yeah." Harry said.
Their conversation was halted as they both noticed the familiar looking water beetle, hovering towards them. Harry nodded at the beetle. He grabbed Hermione's hand and both of them went to one of the corner tables. The beetle disappeared after a couple of seconds.
The door to the pub opened and Rita Skeeter, now out of her beetle form, walked inside with her trademark sweet smile plastered on her face. Hermione wondered who had uglier smile between Skeeter and Umbridge.
"Definitely Umbridge." Harry replied.
"Hello Harry! It's nice to see you again." Skeeter said in a loud and overly sweet voice.
"Likewise Miss Skeeter." Harry replied with a tight smile.
"And this must be your lovely girlfriend." Rita turned to Hermione and offered her arm.
"Hermione Granger." Hermione said in a cold voice. She caught Rita's strong arm in a stronger grip, which made the reporter wince a little. Hermione did not forget the little stunt Rita tried to pull with Harry in broom closet.
"Why don't you sit down Rita?" Harry told her. The reporter did as she was told.
As soon as she sat down, Harry pulled out his wand and constructed a privacy bubble around them. Rita's eyes widened when she recognized the spell he did. It was highly advanced spell and she knew that it was not being taught at Hogwarts, yet alone in fourth year.
"Is the article ready?" Harry asked, without wasting any time.
Rita composed herself and nodded. She pulled out the article she wrote from her handbag. "I still can't believe that no one never noticed it." She said handing it over to Harry. Harry took the article from her and opened it. Hermione scooted closer towards him to read it.
"This is the best article I ever wrote in my life." Rita gushed. "I'll be the most popular journalist ever after this article gets published."
"Can you pause your dreaming for a couple of minutes? Let us read it first." Hermione snapped at Rita. The reporter scowled, but remained silent.
SIRIUS BLACK, HERO OR VILLAIN? The headline of the article read. Harry continued to read the article. To say he was impressed was an understatement. Rita did a fantastic job with this article. She dug deep into Sirius' life and wrote each and every fact that was in his favour. She even gathered statements from a couple of bigshots who knew James and Sirius personally. Harry rose an eyebrow at the mention of Slughorn too. That didn't surprise Harry though. Slughorn was a man who crawled behind popularity and he won't say no for having his name on newspaper.
And the slandering of Fudge, Bagnold and Crouch was only adding icing to the cake.
"I told you not to write about Dumbledore." Harry said.
"I know. I remember it well." Rita answered. "But it looks like that man had deeper hand than everyone else. I'd have dug more upon him. But I stopped there because you told me not to. I'll remove this passage, if you don't want it printed."
"Yes. Make sure there is as less as possible about Dumbledore. His time has not come yet." Harry said. Rita nodded.
Harry and Hermione continued to read the article. Both of them were surprised to read that Amelia has been trying to prove Sirius' innocence ever since she became DMLE head, but Fudge was always blocking her. They were even more surprised when they read that Amelia and Sirius had been in a relationship before his arrest.
"Is this true?!" Hermione asked, very much surprised.
"Hundred percent true." Rita said.
"That explains Amelia's reaction." Harry told Hermione mentally. She agreed with him.
Both of them finished reading and they were more than satisfied with the outcome of the article.
"I'm really impressed Rita. You gathered more evidences than we expected you to." Harry said. Rita smiled smugly at that.
"You can get it printed after you removed the passage about Dumbledore. Everything else is fine." Hermione said. But Rita was looking at Harry for his approval.
"Didn't you hear her?" Harry asked. Rita shook her head. "
Oh, well... Okay." Rita said to Hermione.
"Now I'm giving you another task." Harry said, giving the article back to Rita and leaning towards her with serious expression.
Rita folded the article and kept it in her bag. Then she too leaned towards the teens with a serious expression.
"I want you to spy on Severus Snape." Harry said. Rita stared at him to continue.
"How much do you know about him?" Harry asked.
"That he teaches potions at Hogwarts and he was friends with you mum." Rita said. Harry rose his eyebrow at the second part. But he did not comment.
"There is more to him that very less people know about." Harry said. "He was a death eater. However, during his trial, Dumbledore stepped in and said that Snape was his own spy." Rita looked surprised at the news.
"If it wasn't for him, Sirius Black would have been a free man last year itself." Harry continued.
"Really?" She asked. Harry nodded.
"I'm not going into details of that incident. So don't ask me anymore. You are not allowed to write something about that too. Understand?" Harry asked. Rita nodded.
"Now I want you to spy on our potions professor and gather as much as possible about him. Do not write anything about him until I say. Just gather information about him." Harry said. Rita nodded.
"Now here you have to be very careful. Severus Snape is a very paranoid man. You have to be very careful when you spy on him. You must be very alert and always check for any wards or traps around his classroom and quarters before entering. If he is too much secured that you can't penetrate his defenses, then just leave it. We'll think of another way. But do not get caught." Harry cautioned.
"Oh Harry, I've seen a lot of such people. He won't be much of a challenge for me." Rita waved it off.
"That's good. But Snape is not an ordinary wizard. It takes extraordinary talent for someone to reach the inner circle of both Dumbledore and Voldemort, and deceive one of them. And Snape was able to do that. So don't take my warning easily. If you succeed in this task, I promise you a good reward you." Harry said.
Rita's eyes gleamed at the mention of a reward. She nodded at him sharply.
"Also, send all the evidences you gathered on Sirius Black to Amelia Bones. She and I are working together now, and she might use the evidences you gathered." Harry said.
"What should I tell her if she asks why I'm sending those?" Rita asked.
"Tell her I told you to do so and you are working for me." Harry said.
"What?!" Rita exclaimed a little.
"Oh, you don't need to worry Rita. As I promised you, you won't land on any trouble. Just do what I say." Harry said.
"As if I have a choice." Rita grumbled.
"Ah... Don't be so sulky Rita. You and I both know that you are benefitting more than you expected from this agreement." Harry said. Rita grumbled something inaudible. But Harry let it slide.
"So," Rita started. "About the interview you promised me?" She asked.
"You want it now?" Harry asked. Rita nodded.
"What about the other champions?" Harry asked.
"I already took an interview with Krum and Diggory. I have an appointment later with Delacour. All these interviews will be on the paper tomorrow." She said. Harry let out a sigh before answering.
"Okay then." He said. "But let's first order some lunch. I'm starving here." He said and cancelled the privacy bubble. He called for the waiter to give the order.
Lunch was a quick affair and Harry gave Rita a brief interview after she promised again that she will print exactly as all the champions spoke and she won't twist words of anyone.
"Oh, and Rita?" Hermione called when the reporter was about to leave.
"Yes?" Skeeter turned to her to see the teenagers wand pointed at her.
"Perfecto totalus." Hermione said before Rita could react. Harry erected the privacy bubble again.
"Legilimens." Hermione whispered, her wand pointed between the reporter's eyes.
Hermione felt herself entering into the reporter's mind. She came to face her occlumency shield which looked quite strong. But Hermione's Legilimency swipe went through it like a hot knife through a paper. After all her legilimency skills were gifted from a god.
She quickly went to the centre of her memories and cast a spell on the interactions Skeeter had with herself and her soul mate. If at all, Skeeter gets caught, the memories of their deals and negotiations will immediately get wiped from her mind. Hermione knew that they could never trust Rita. So if she ever gets caught, Rita would definitely open her mouth about her interactions with Harry. While what they did wasn't illegal, their reputation will definitely suffer. They had to take precautions and keep their tracks clean. Before coming out of her mind, Hermione also checked if Skeeter had a habit of maintaining any journal or a diary. To their luck, she didn't have any such habit.
Hermione came out of her mind and nodded at Harry. She kept her wand pointed at the older witch and said, "Obliviate." She removed the memory of what happened in the end.
Harry quickly cast a finite as soon as Hermione obliviated her. Skeeter bid farewell to them and left the place, oblivious to the bind that was cast on her mind.
A/N: Please review your opinion. And if anyone's interested as a beta, PM me.
