LoDK
The Legacy of the Dark Knight Saga
Jamie Prosser and the Fourth Champion
Chapter 3: Truth and Consequences
Disclaimer: This is solely a not-for-profit fan activity, and does not intend to infringe on copyrights held by Time Warner, DC Comics, Bloomsbury et al, and JK Rowling. Any characters original to this work remain the property of the author.
A/N: This story diverges significantly from accepted canon for theHarry Potter series from the outset, as in addition to the crossover elements, there are several deviations from the books, two of which is touched upon in this chapter, and others that will be covered where they fit into the narrative. The timeline of the DC Comics elements borrows heavily from Young Justice (2011), but adds elements and characters from the comics, and relocates the series to the late Sixties and early Seventies rather than the 'New Tens' as screened, and therefore includes several 'legacy' and original characters on the DC side.
Ministry of Magic,
London SW1
2nd August, 0830 BST.
What the… thought Ginny as she drifted back into consciousness the next morning. Then, she felt the cold stone underneath her and everything that happened the day before came flooding back. "Those bast…" she began, but cut herself off when she spotted a familiar face crouched next to her stone shelf 'bed'.
"Don't stop on my account," said Tonks with a grin. "I've said worse."
"What are you doing here?" asked Ginny. "I thought I was stuck in here 'till Monday?"
"Harry managed to get hold of Madam Bones, she's agreed to come in specially to investigate the situation," said Tonks, rummaging in her bag, and removing some sandwiches which she handed to Ginny. "You should be fine, Cedric agrees that that Veela was well out of line."
"I thought I heard something about her father being some sort of bigwig in France?" asked Ginny as she took a big bite out of a sausage and egg sandwich.
Tonks nodded, "Pierre Delaforêt, he's the Senior Mugwump for the French seats on the International Confederation of Wizards."
Ginny groaned, that was all she needed…
"That's probably the main - maybe even the only - reason those two meatheads even bothered to bring you in at all." Tonks added. "Although, I've been asking around and your dad's not too popular at the moment either. Something about his work ethic making the Patrol look bad."
"That's not exactly reassuring, Tonks," Ginny complained. "They found that wand I picked up at Svalbard."
"Why didn't you hand it in?" asked Tonks.
Ginny shrugged, "I only cast that one Bat Bogey Hex at that Zuiverheider after he tried to kill me and Harry and I took him down and chucked it in a drawer in my room and forgot about it."
Tonks frowned, "So, you didn't have it on you when they brought you in?"
Ginny shook her head. "I haven't even looked at the thing in three months, Sweets' partner-"
"Andrew Thurkell," supplied Tonks. "Came into the Patrol about the same time I joined the Aurors, more of a sidekick or a flunky than a partner really."
"Yeah, him," agreed Ginny. "He must have gone into the Burrow and nabbed it from my old room."
Tonks pondered this. "That's odd… Arthur didn't mention anything about being told about a search…"
"Doesn't surprise me," said Ginny darkly. "Dad was up in the paddock when they jumped me and dragged me off."
"I think I need to check a couple of things…" said Tonks, rising to her feet. She opened her bag again and removed a bundle of clothing. "Here, Molly thought you might like some fresh clothes."
"Thanks," said Ginny, taking them gratefully.
"I'll be back in about twenty minutes to take you to Madam Bones."
"I'll be ready," Ginny assured her.
As promised, Ginny was cleaned up and dressed and waiting at the door when Tonks returned twenty minutes later. "Ready?" Tonks asked.
"As I'll ever be," Ginny replied. "Anything I should know?" she asked as they walked up the corridor towards the Hit Wizard bullpen.
Tonks nodded. "Cedric is fetching the files on Pius' investigation. She also knows how rough Sweets and Thurkell were when they brought you in, so she's not exactly fond of them or Sprake at the moment either."
"That doesn't exactly harm my case," Ginny noted. "Any word on the wand?"
Tonks made a face. "That doesn't exactly work in your favour," Tonks suggested. "I've owled Ollivander to come in and check it out. Hopefully he can prove it wasn't yours."
Ginny wasn't overly hopeful, she'd only ever had a second-hand wand, so she and Ollivander had never met. However, her mood improved slightly when she and Tonks entered Madam Bones' office and found that she wasn't alone.
Her father and Kathryn were also present.
"Have a seat, Miss Weasley," said Madam Bones. "I don't like some of what I'm hearing about this case, so I'd like to hear your side of the story before we go any further."
Given her experiences with the Department over the last twelve hours, Ginny thought that was an oddly reasonable idea. "I'm willing to cooperate, Madam Bones."
"Excellent, that will make things a lot easier," said Madam Bones, "So you understand why you are here?"
"More or less… It's because I hexed that Veela…" she paused.
"Igraine Delaforêt," supplied Tonks.
"Yeah, her," agreed Ginny.
"Why did you do that?" asked Madam Bones.
"We were at my brother Bill's wedding at the Burrow. I saw her scowling at Xeno Lovegood, then she transformed, threw a fireball at him…"
"According to Auror Trainee Diggory, Mr Potter was able to shield Mr Lovegood from the fireball?" said Madam Bones.
Ginny nodded. "Using an expandable shield hidden in a bracelet, not a spell," she insisted.
Madam Bones checked her notes, and then nodded. "That agrees with the statement from Mr Lovegood and Trainee Diggory's notes." Madam Bones confirmed. "What happened next?"
"I told her to stop…" said Ginny. "She claimed that Mr Lovegood was a 'murderer', and she would have her revenge."
Ginny glanced at Madam Bones, who looked like she was expecting this.
"I told her that even if it was true – and I don't think that it is – that we were in the middle of the wedding so she needed to calm down, or I was going to put her down."
Ginny glanced over the three adults in front of her. Her father looked a little surprised at this, but otherwise okay, Kathryn was smiling slightly, apparently satisfied with her response. Madam Bones appeared unsurprised, but neutral.
"What then?"
"Then she turned around to face Mr Lovegood again," replied Ginny. "So, I hexed her."
"What hex?"
"'Pagameno'," said Ginny. "A wandless variation of the Freezing Charm."
Madam Bones turned to her mentor, "Professor?"
"A good choice against a firecaster," Kathryn replied. "I might have done the same thing."
"Dangerous?"
"A single spell?"
Madam Bones nodded.
"Not really, chilblains are common… perhaps a touch of frostbite," Kathryn told her. "But it's definitely a non-lethal."
Madam Bones seemed pleased at that, and made a couple of notes. "Why didn't you let someone else handle it? Mr Lovegood himself for instance?"
Ginny frowned, "She was throwing around fireballs and pretty accurately too, Mr Lovegood didn't react quick enough and I thought someone might get hurt if she wasn't stopped quickly."
Her mentor made a noise at this point.
Madam Bones glanced in her direction, "Professor?"
"Clause Seven of the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery allows for the use of magic in life-threatening circumstances."
"I agree," said Madam Bones, then turned back to Ginny. "While your action were not ideal, I agree that they were justified and reasonable so I'm withdrawing Mlle Delaforêt's magical assault complaint and the underage magic charge." Then she shuffled around the parchments on the desk. "That leaves the wand charge. According to Auror Tonks, you claim that you didn't use the wand and it was removed from your room at the Burrow. Do you have anything to add about that?"
"No, ma'am."
Madam Bones turned to Tonks, "Auror Tonks, please Floo Ollivander's and find out if he has finished his analysis."
"I'm on it," said Tonks and crossed to the fireplace. "Ollivander's!"
Moments later, an elderly long-haired man's head appeared in the fireplace, "Good morning Madam Bones."
"Good morning, Mr Ollivander. Do you have anything for me?"
"The wand is Italian Maple. Fourteen inches, inflexible, with a Griffin feather core. It has been in use for twenty-two years."
"One of yours?"
"Definitely not," replied Ollivander, emphatically. "I only use dragon heartstring, unicorn hair and phoenix feathers in my wands."
"Do you know any wandmakers that use griffin feathers?"
Ollivander nodded, "Madam Anciano at Baguettes d'Aniciano on Le Rue du Magie uses griffin feather, as does Kyrios Khéreliás on Odos Mageía."
Ginny's mentor spoke up at this point, "Mr Ollivander, you say that the wand has been in use for twenty-two years?"
"Yes, I certain of that."
"Can you tell whether the wand has changed allegiance?"
Ollivander brightened at this, "Of course, as a wandmaker I have to be aware of that anytime I handle a wand."
"Has it?"
"No, it's still bonded to the original owner."
"Is there any possibility that it changed allegiance to Miss Weasley here?" asked her mentor pointing towards her.
Ollivander looked slightly offended at the question. "There are some small indications that someone else may have handled at some point, perhaps Miss Weasley, but other than that no."
"Can you tell if has been used recently?"
"Not within the last few hours certainly," replied Ollivander. "Several weeks ago, at least."
"End of April?" suggested Kathryn.
"That would be consistent," agreed Ollivander.
Kathryn turned to Madam Bones, "Madam Bones, given that Clause Two requires use not mere possession of a wand, I would suggest that this proves that the charge is without basis and should be withdrawn."
Madam Bones nodded, "I agree." Then she turned back to Ginny. "Miss Weasley, I apologise on behalf of my department for your inconvenience, and you are free to go. I will be looking into the circumstances of your arrest as it would appear to have been unjustified and inappropriate. I will let you know by the end of the week what I've decided."
"Thank you, Madam Bones," said Ginny, rising out of her chair.
"Tonks, can you walk her out?"
"Of course, Madam Bones," replied Tonks and ushered her out of the office.
The Burrow,
Ottery St Catchpole
5th August, 1000 BST
"Ginny, an owl has come from the Ministry!" yelled her mother from the kitchen.
"Coming, Mum!" replied Ginny and turned her broom towards the ground, with Ron not far behind.
Moments later, she was sitting at the table and had the letter in her hand, she quickly opened it and scanned the short missive.
Dear Miss Weasley,
We have completed our investigations regarding your offences under the Code of Wand Use and the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery, and the magical assault on French national, Igraine Delaforêt, on the first of this month, at the Burrow in Ottery St Catchpole.
Upon further investigation, your arrest for these charges was not warranted and no further disciplinary action will be taken against you for the above actions and the Ministry apologises for any inconvenience or distress that was caused by the precipitous actions of Hit Wizards Zebulon Sweets and Andrew Thurkell. Both Hit Wizards have been dismissed from the Magical Law Enforcement Patrol, and the statuses of Desk Witch Honoria Sprake and Interrogator Pius Thicknesse are under review.
Yours Sincerely,
Xandra Cross
Senior Assistant to the Department Head,
Department of Magical Law Enforcement.
Ginny looked up again.
By this time, she and her mother had been joined in the kitchen by Ron and Hermione.
"Well?" asked her mother, she was trying to hide her nervousness but Ginny could tell.
"I got off," Ginny replied. "And the two thugs that hauled me in…"
"Ginny!"
Ginny glared at her friend, "Hermione, they threw me through a door, letting me fall on the floor, then kicked me so hard in the ribs they broke two. What would you call them?"
Hermione had the good grace to look contrite at that, "Well, obviously, that was wrong… but they are Ministry officials and they should be treated with respect."
"Not anymore," said Ginny scornfully. "Madam Bones fired them."
"Yes!" cried Ron. "That'll teach them!"
Ginny snorted. She admired her brother's optimism, but in her experience that type rarely changed…
A/N: That wraps up the penultimate chapter of Ginny Weasley and the Squire of Wordenshire. However, I am pleased to announce that the sequel, Jamie Prosser and the Fourth Champion, is currently in the planning stages and I will start writing it later this year.