Chapter 12

It was the first Saturday of the new term and the Great Hall was packed. The first formal review had happened the night before and several actions had been appealed, leading the committee to send notice. While it would not necessarily be a weekly occurrence, everyone was invited to watch the first set of investigations to show publicly how they worked.

The first was a case between a Ravenclaw Prefect and a fourth year Hufflepuff. Allegedly, the Ravenclaw issued a punishment for harassment and bullying while the Hufflepuff claimed it was a harmless prank and he shouldn't have been punished for it. The situation had devolved into a near shouting match as the two involved were arguing vociferously over what exactly happened.

"Enough!" Minerva spoke in a hard tone, instantly silencing the pair. She seemed to gather herself for a moment, almost savoring the calm before she continued in a calmer tone. "It occurs to me that we have ignored a valuable resource in this investigation. We have two sides, each seemingly opposed in nature, but we have yet to hear from the third person involved in this incident. Miss Baker, could you please come forward?"

Mumbling spread through the hall as a mousy haired young second year made her way forward, seemingly nervous to be called up before everyone in the hall. She seemed to find her toes extremely interesting and when she did speak, everyone had to strain to hear her.

"Y-yes, Headmistress?"

"While both seem to agree with what happened, these two seem to believe it was either innocent or malicious. How do you feel about it?"

"I...I...I…" the girl tried to speak, but seemed to spend most of her energy looking back and forth between her fellow year group badgers and the older boy who had perpetrated the so-called prank.

"There now," the cool soothing voice came from the female armored figure, who had stepped forward from her observation post and knelt beside the distraught girl. "It's okay, nothing bad will happen, I promise. Just tell us if you thought it was funny or if you didn't like it."

"I… I didn't like it, ma'am," the girl stammered in a whisper. Her voice was clearly heard by all as Hermione had silently erected a Sonorus charm around them. "I told him I didn't like it, but he said it was to toughen me up, make me stronger. He also told me that… that snitches get stitches…"

"Are you the only one he's done this to?"

"No," she shook her head quickly. "I know he told Susy too. And I saw him talking to a couple of the boys too, leaning over them like he did to me."

"SIT, Mr Cooper." The hard tone brought all attention back to the boy who had been accused of bullying. He had taken half a step forward, towards the young girl who was now hiding behind Hermione. The iron hand that drew him down into his chair belonged to the other armored figure, even without being able to see his face the boy knew better than to trifle with the man.

"Puritatum Cordis." Harry cast the circle of truth, and the runes glowed around the young man. "Mr Cooper, you are now under the effects of a truth compelling area of effect. You will answer the questions fully and truthfully. You will find you cannot even think untruths while under this effect. This has been allowed by the contracts your parents signed when they enrolled you in Hogwarts."

"Mr Cooper, please tell me why you felt the need to bully young Miss Baker."

"The filthy mudblood doesn't know her place. She needs to learn proper obedience to her betters." The calm manner in which the boy espoused the unpalatable sentiments was almost worse than when they were screamed at the top of one's lungs.

"I see. And if she did not, as you call it, show proper obedience?" McGonagall's icy tone caused everyone to shiver, even those not targeted by it.

"I don't know, probably curse her a bit, maybe rough her up. She's cute enough, maybe in a few years I'd let her know the touch of a real wizard." The cruelty could be heard even in the mellowing effects of the circle.

"Are you a Death Eater?" The question was unexpected, as it came from Harry and not McGonagall.

"I have not yet been blessed with my Lord's mark, but I am loyal."

The silence that followed was only deepened when the boy, and the chair he had been sitting in, disappeared in a flash of light. The quiet as the boy who had declared himself a terrorist vanished was intense, but like all things it could not last.

"I apologize, Headmistress," Harry said evenly. "It seems we missed a few of the truly bad apples. We shall endeavor to ensure there are no more."

"Then why don't you start with Malfoy?" Heads turned and everyone stared at the redheaded Gryffindor currently standing on the bench. "He's a slimy snake and they're all evil! Get rid of them all, I say."

"Mr Weasley," Hermione walked towards their old friend, fighting the repulsion they felt when they thought of what he had become. What he had done. "Do you wish to file a grievance against Draco Malfoy?"

"Hell yes I do, he shouldn't be here, much less as a prefect," Ron snarled, and Hermione smiled even wider in her cowl.

"Very well, Mr Weasley, Mr Malfoy, please come to the front," Harry called, pulling two more chairs into the still lit circle of truth.

Ron swaggered forward, the image of a courageous Gryffindor in his mind. He was doing it, he would rid the school of the slimy snakes and Malfoy would be first. Malfoy, on the other hand, walked calmly with an inner peace. He had no idea what would happen, but the last few years had taught him to accept things as they were, not as he wished them to be.

"Mr Weasley, as you are the accuser, please state your case," Harry spoke evenly while mentally shaking his head. It was just like Ron to charge in without any information or proof.

"Draco Malfoy is a dirty snake, he is evil and lies, cheats, and bullies his way around the school. He led the Inquisitorial Squad and sent so many people to detention to be tortured that no one knows the total."

"I see. Mr Malfoy?" Hermione turned to face the blonde.

"I believe this circle is supposed to force the truth to be spoken, correct?" his superior drawl was much diminished as Hermione nodded in confirmation.

"Well then," Draco took two steps to the side, and placed himself in the circle. Gasps echoed through the hall as he voluntarily placed himself in the effect of the truth compulsion. His features seemed intrigued, then became peaceful as the effects fully settled on him.

"I, Draco Malfoy, do not deny that I was once an entitled prick, throwing my name and my father's power around like a whip. However, after my fourth year, I saw things that turned my world view upside down. When I returned home after the disappearance of Cedric Diggory, I found we had a house guest: The Dark Lord known as Voldemort." Everyone but Harry and Hermione flinched at the name. Oddly enough, Malfoy seemed unaffected by it. "I saw my father, who had taught me never to bow to anyone, to never give service to another for we were purebloods, bow and kiss his robe. This caused me to question things, like why he was doing what he told me never to do. I watched, I listened, and I learned. I watched my father get tortured in his own home, just for delivering news that displeased the Dark Lord. I listened to his minions plan and plot torture, not of muggleborns or similar so-called unsavory sorts, but of purebloods that did not bend a knee to him. And from this I learned that everything I thought I knew, everything I had been taught about my place in this world was a lie.

"When Madam Umbridge came to Hogwarts and took over, I played my part, a good little pureblood. I knew I had to, or I would be the one being punished. When I saw the end results, what she and her cronies were doing to those she found unsavory or troublemakers, I knew I had to do something. You will find, if you have records, that I tried to mainly take points rather than give detentions if I could. Those that were true troublemakers, those that tried to abuse situations or harm others I would assign detention to, but if it was something innocent or just espousing the truth rather than Ministry propaganda, I would lord it up and take excessive points."

"And later, when the resistance started to grow?" Hermione led him, asking the question that would lead to further exoneration.

"When Longbottom and Lovegood started their defense tutoring, and later when they began to smuggle supplies in or people marked for 'extra education' out, I tried to get them the information on patrol times and routes. I sent them information on which elves could be trusted, and which served Umbridge. They never knew who I was, for I knew they would never believe me, but they would know me by my chosen alias: Snitch."

"Snitch?" Harry asked, surprised.

"You're Snitch?" The question came not from the head table but from the Gryffindor table.

"Yes"

"Mr Longbottom, please join us," Harry called, smiling at the courage Neville had found in his absence. It was good for him.

"Yes, sir," Neville looked abashed as he joined them.

"Tell us about Snitch."

"Only me or Luna ever received anything from him, but every bit of information he gave us was verified and we never found anything that was false. That information saved a lot of lives and foiled several 'surprise' inspections trying to catch illicit activities."

"It's true," a blonde in Ravenclaw colors spoke up, standing on her bench to be seen. "We would have been a lot less effective had we not had Snitch."

"I don't care, he's a bloody snake and needs to go!" Ron raged,

"Mr Weasley, is there no room for change in a person? No ability to move beyond one's actions and find you were wrong?" Hermione asked, sad that her one time friend had fallen so far.

"Of course not, not for someone like him."

"And what of yourself?"

"Huh?"

"What about you, your actions? Are you true?" Harry challenged, leaning towards their one time friend.

"Of course I am, I'm a Gryffindor."

"Then prove it," Harry pulled Ron over, into the circle next to Draco, and Ron struggled as the effects washed over him.

"What are you doing?" his indignant rage ebbed as he spoke, until it was calm and even.

"Ronald Billius Weasley, you accuse Draco Malfoy of being unable to change his mind. Have you not done this yourself? Have you not changed from a loyal friend to seeking glory for yourself once your friends were gone?" Hermione spoke softly, evenly, yet every person in the hall heard her.

"They are gone, there is no reason to let that fame go to waste," Ron said, almost prideful.

"And did you hold to those acts, take them into yourself and act as your friends would have when Umbridge began her reign of terror? Or did you turn your coat, toe the line and rat out anybody you could to get the rewards?"

"She was in charge, of course I followed her instructions," Ron said evenly. "She was right after all."

"And how was that different from what Draco did?"

"He's Slytherin, he's evil."

"So actions don't matter, just where you are sorted?" Harry ranted. "What about Peter Pettigrew? He was a Gryffindor, does that make him a saint? Does that mean his betrayal of James and Lily Potter was just? Does that mean his allegiance to Voldemort is the right thing?"

"I…"

"What about before, when you had your friends and basked in the shadow of Harry Potter? Were your actions then right just because you all were Gryffindors? When you would hex any in the green and silver, even those who had just been sorted?"

"You don't know what it's like, you have no idea!" Ron challenged, looking at the hooded pair angrily. "They were snakes, they are EVIL!"

"I don't know huh?" the calm, sad response caught everyone's attention, and everyone saw the barely perceptible nod from his companion. "I don't know what it is like to be ridiculed for something I had no control over? I don't know about the pressures of expectation? To be attacked just because I was sorted into one house instead of another? I've never experienced an entire school turn on me due to a rumor or the actions of others? You really think that?"

"Of course, look at you, all high and mighty. You have no idea what it's like to want for anything, I bet," Ron was vicious, and it saddened Harry as his former friend was still under the effects of the circle.

"You really think that, don't you?" Harry spoke softly, turning to face the red head. "Well, let's see what you think of me now."

He pulled back his hood, revealing himself to the entire school. Hermione did the same, their faces plain as they faced their former friend.

"H-H-Harry?" Ron looked at Hermione. "Hermione?"

"Yes Ron, it's us. The ones who were once your friends, that you betrayed through word and deed. Do you still say I don't know what it's like? After the stone? After the chamber and the shack? After what happened to Sirius? We have been gone a long while, but the time has changed you. The boy we knew would fight against the oppression by those who were evil, not join them. He would have honored his friends' memory, not derided them and stolen their accomplishments for himself. He could have been the leader the students needed, not their persecutor," Hermione stated evenly.

"When you betrayed us, it hurt, but when you betrayed them," Harry waved at the students. "You broke our hearts. We knew you had your faults, Lord knows we both do, but you willingly and gladly sent children to get tortured. And there is no forgiving that."

"You may think you did what was right, but it was what was easy. Draco Malfoy, however, chose to do the right thing. He was in an untenable position, and still acted to protect those he could."

"It should say something, Ron, that I would trust the man the boy I used to hate and want to hex into oblivion became, rather than the boy who was my friend yet refused to grow up and accept responsibility for his own actions." Harry turned his back to Ron.

"You bloody traitor!" Ron rose, yelling as he raised his wand.

It never cleared his pocket. Before he had fully decided what he was going to do, before he had even finished standing, he was defeated. It wasn't a blast of eldritch power from Harry, nor Hermione's sword that stopped him, but a simple stunning spell. Draco Malfoy, who had been sitting patiently, waiting for more questions, pulled his wand out and stunned Ron before he could fully rise.

"Professor?" Harry turned to McGonagall, who nodded slowly. She rose, her wand retrieving Ron's from the floor as she sat him back in the chair he had just vacated. Ropes bound him and a quick Enervate saw him regain consciousness.

"See, bloody traitors, hexing a man in the back!" he snarled, looking accusingly at Hermione.

"Was that not what you were about to do, Mr Weasely?" McGonagall asked calmly, too calmly. Everyone noticed it and realized that the venerable old Scotswoman was royally and truly pissed. "It pains me to do this, more for your family's sake than your own, but here it goes.

"Ronald Bilius Weasley, it is the finding of the Headmistress of Hogwarts that your actions have been in poor standing, to the point where you have become a danger to the students around you. As such, you are hereby expelled from this institution. Due to your abysmal OWLs scores, and lacking the requisite three OWLs to retain your wand rights, your magic will be bound and your wand snapped. You will have twenty-four hours for your parents to make arrangements."

"So you say, so must it be, so is the will of Hogwarts," Harry and Hermione intoned in perfect harmony.

"You can't do this, I'm a pureblood, I can't have my magic bound!" Ron struggled against his bindings, fighting for freedom.

"There is no differentiation between the blood statuses, the law is for everyone. And before you argue more, you signed the agreement that you had read and understood the rules of Hogwarts. While you are to be commended for your swiftness in returning it, the fact that the books hadn't been fully passed out before you handed it in tells me you didn't read them. Had you done so, you would have noted that there was in fact an amnesty agreement for those who confessed all their past transgressions, whether they were the day before or seven years ago. Those crimes not confessed to, if persecuted, would see the full effect of the rules brought against them."

"Then I'll claim the amnesty, I'll tell you anything," the pleading was getting pathetic.

"You wrote nothing on your agreement, thus you cannot claim amnesty for these acts," McGonagall shook her head. "We warned you, we warned everyone of what would happen. You reap what you sow, Mr Weasely."

"Is it really you?"

Harry looked up at the small group who had approached them after the last of the reviews were completed. Ron had been taken away, Draco had returned not to Slytherin but to sit beside Ginny Weasley, and the day had continued. The last case had been reviewed, thankfully none of the rest had been nearly as exciting as the first two, and everyone was departing to enjoy the rest of their day.

"Yes, it is me, and yet, it's not too," Harry spoke in a way that reminded everyone present of Luna. "I am Harry Potter, I was the boy you once called friend. But I'm also changed. While we were gone, we changed a lot. Where once I was a scrawny little boy lost in a new world, charging unknowingly at anything that I felt was right, I'm not that boy anymore."

"Can you tell us what happened to you?" Draco asked cautiously from his place beside Ginny.

"We were sent... elsewhere when the goblet took us. The Goblet was… old, intelligent, and it sent us where we needed to be. Once there we met our patrons, the Lord and Lady of Magic. They took us in, trained us, taught us so much more about magic and life than we even thought possible."

"You mean you really..."

"Yeah, it was longer for us than you. Time is more… fluid there," Hermione explained. "And it wasn't all work and no play. We found much beauty there, and also a lot of darkness."

"Why would there be evil there, in their place?" Neville asked.

"Look around you in the Hall, is it light or is it dark?" Harry asked, and the others looked around confused.

"It's light."

"No."

"It doesn't look dark, I can see, therefore it is light," Ginny argued.

"Look again, over in the corner, in the nook to the antechamber, under the tables. There is darkness all around us. It is not light, it is not dark, it is both," Harry smiled at them. "That is the way of all things, a balance. You cannot have one without the other. And being light does not make you right and those who are dark, wrong. This is beyond such simple concepts as that. Look at the students around you. Would you have called Draco light a week ago? Or Ron dark?"

Heads shook and eyes gazed back in contemplation.

"Every person has the potential to be either, or both. We no longer see many things as truly light or dark, good or evil. They are shades of grey, or colors of the rainbow. The world is about the differences, no absolutes." Harry saw them nodding, considering what had been said. He also saw Ginny about to speak but Luna cut her off.

"Ginny, you need to think long and hard before you say that," The ethereal blond said evenly, not even looking at the redhead. "You are at a crossroads, you can pursue a fantasy and find only heartache and misery, or you can see what is beside you and learn true love and happiness."

Harry and Hermione looked at the flighty Ravenclaw, and understanding dawned on their faces.

"You're-"

"Yes," Luna cut them off. "But I try to ignore them, it's better to experience life than see it."

"Wisdom beyond your years," Hermione agreed, smiling at the girl. "We will be around, you are welcome to talk to us."

"Aren't you worried about anyone telling others who you are?" Draco asked in curiosity, hugging Ginny - who seemed to have retreated into herself - to his side.

"Try writing my name. Better yet, write to your gran, telling her about me," Harry smirked, conjuring a quill and parchment.

Neville tried, seven times he tried to write Harry's name, yet couldn't. Every time it was someone else's name that he wrote. Each tried to write it, each failed. Then Harry had them try to tell each other who they were. None could.

"It's a variant of the Fidelius. It's not as strict as that one is, and it's purely intent based for us. We let you know, so you know, but can't tell anyone we don't want to know. Even once they know, they can't tell anyone we don't want to know." Hermione looked at Luna. "Luna, you may tell Neville who we are."

"Neville, Harry Potter is Zir's champion. Hermione G-G-" The girl looked at Hermione, then her eyes flew open in shock. "Hermione Potter is Hekate's Hand."

"Potter?" Ginny asked in shock.

"To you, we were gone for about two years. To us it was closer to seven," Harry explained. "We think. It's really hard to have a concept like time in a place where what feels like five days to you could be five seconds in this world, or five months."

"So what happens now?" Draco asked.

"Now, you go about the task of learning about your magic," Hermione smiled, reaching out and grabbing Harry's hand. "We have some other tasks to take care of, and a Dark Lord and his stain to deal with. The war with Voldemort is outside these walls, you don't need to worry about that. One way or another, it will be over by the time you go home for the summer."

"Well, at least you're back," Neville smiled, patting Harry's shoulder. His smile, however, faded as he saw the look pass between the couple. "What?"

"We are here for now," Hermione explained, her hand resting on her husband's shoulder, "But once Riddle has been defeated, and a few other tasks done, we will move on. There are many things we have to do as their representatives in this world, and we will not linger once our tasks are done."

"You, you're going to leave us again?" Ginny looked almost afraid.

"In a way, yes, but not really. While we are burdened with divine purpose, we are still us. We have tasks all over the world, to restore Magic and her blessings, as well as to punish those who abuse it, but eventually we will get the magic of the world back in order, let things settle. Once that happens, who knows, we may return and start our family."