Memory... which will not be word for word except for dialogue
Harry Potter does not belong to me, sadly.
Amelia read the memo with a frown.
An emergency meeting? What did Cornelius want to complain about now?
Checking the time, she decided that it would be safest to reschedule the Potter boys hearing for the next day. Who knew how long the meeting would run.
She wrote up the 'change in date and time' notification and sent it off to be owled, trusting that her people would do their job, and then she went to the meeting.
She was the last to arrive, annoyed and confused about the location. Why were they using Courtroom Ten? Her annoyance only grew when Cornelius insisted that they wait for one more person, and soon changed to suspicion when instead of becoming annoyed as the last person failed to arrive for at least fifteen minutes, Cornelius and Delores became more and more gleeful.
When Harry Potter pushed open the door, out of breath and sweaty from running, her suspicion turned to dread and then rage as she realized what was happening here.
"You're late!" Cornelius barked, barely hiding his glee.
Amelia looked to her allies, and they nodded their understanding and agreement.
This was the final straw.
Launching a smear campaign against a teenager was one thing. Ignoring her reports of the investigation into the Diggory boys death was one thing. (The magical signature was on file as a Death Eater, one they never caught or identified during the war). Then insinuating in that smear campaign that the Potter boy was the one to instead kill Diggory was something else entirely. Even kicking Dumbledore out of office and going over the Wizengamot's heads was one thing.
As the Minister he had that right if he could provide sufficient proof that the Chief Warlock was neglecting his duties, and he had. Even if some of his proof was a bit of a stretch.
But this... highjacking the system, bringing the Wizengamot here on false pretenses... Upgrading a simple matter of underage magic usage to a full criminal trial from a simple hearing... And it was clear he had not given the defendant ample notice of the time or location change.
And that the defendant was the same teenager he was running the smear campaign against...
"I didn't know about-" Potter started to defend himself against the accusation of being late.
"A notification was sent to your place of residence, it is not our fault." Cornelius dismissed Potter's attempt with barely concealed contempt. "Now that the defendant is here, finally-" He shot Potter a reproachful glare that barely masked his glee.
That's when Amelia stepped in, not willing to let this farce continue. "Cornelius." That one word was like a whip cracking through the room. "I want to know why I never received notification that the simple hearing in my office was being upgraded to a full criminal trial. Or that the time and location had changed. Or why the notification I received about this meeting said nothing about a trial, and instead listed this as an emergency meeting." She said, standing and glaring at the Minister.
Potter looked at her, shocked and somewhat relieved at her intervention.
Cornelius blustered, not having expected anybody to call him out on his actions.
He was the Minister for Magic!
A few of the Wizengamot nodded along in agreement with Amelia.
"Now see here, Amelia. Are you questioning-" Delores started to simper.
"Shut up!" Amelia snapped at her, in no mood to be polite about it. "The ones in charge are talking." Delores Umbridge reared back as if slapped, face reddening while others tried to hold back their snickers.
Somebody put a silencing spell over her before she could start going on a tirade.
"Well?" Amelia rounded on Cornelius again, pleased with herself for defanging the toad, even if she would have to hear about it later. Probably. Most likely.
"I do not have to-" Cornelius started to say, face turning red.
"Oh, yes you do." Daniel Greengrass stood up. "I, for one, do not appreciate being summoned here under false pretenses to further your pathetic vendetta against a teenager." He declared with a glare. "Now sit down, and do not speak. We will deal with you later." He turned to Amelia. "While we are here, you may as well get the hearing over with, and then we can deal with this gross manipulation and disregard of the system that has been in place for centuries."
Amelia nodded her agreement, and turned to the quiet, unsure teenager standing in front of them, still by the doors. He hadn't come any further into the room since Amelia started yelling at the Minister. "Mr. Potter, I am Madam Amelia Bones, the Director of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. Did you come with anybody today? Would you like them in the room?" She asked, stepping down onto the floor and conjuring a table and chairs.
"I'm with Mr. Weasley..." Harry said, motioning behind him uncertainly. In the corner he saw Percy start and frown before acting as though his father was never mentioned.
"Let him in." She glared at Fudge, knowing the man was going to make the teen go through a full criminal trial alone.
Harry scurried to the door and poked his head out. A moment later, Arthur slipped in, concerned. That concern quickly turned to rage when he saw who exactly was in the room and worked out what must have been about to happen. Amelia shuddered at the look in the usually laid-back father of seven's eyes. Arthur said nothing, though, visibly biting his tongue.
"Sit." Amelia invited as she took a seat and summoned the relevant file, glancing over it briefly before focusing on Potter. "Alright, on August 2nd, you were recorded to have cast the Patronus Charm in the middle of the street, in full view of a Muggle." She started. "Is this correct?" She asked, looking at him sternly. One thing that bothered her about that was the lack of any kind of report of an Obliviator being sent out. Or the Muggle's name.
"Well, yes, but only because of the Dementors. And my cousin knows about magic." Harry hurried to say, not wanting to get into trouble because of the Statute on top of everything else.
She blinked, well, that certainly explained why nobody was sent to take the Muggle's memories despite Fudge making such a big deal about this case. But there was no mention of that in this file. She was going to have to have a serious talk with somebody, because such relevant information should be left out of case reports like that. "Your cousin's name?" She asked, ready to add it to the file. She felt more then she heard, the silencing spell go up behind her, likely to keep Cornelius quiet.
"Dudley Dursley." Harry said.
"Very well... you said there were Dementors?" She asked, concerned.
"Two of them. I had to defend myself, they were coming right at us!" Harry exclaimed, desperate for her to believe him.
"Now why would two Dementors be in... Little Whinging?" She asked, scoffing slightly after double-checking which town he lived in.
"I don't know. You're in charge of the police, isn't that your job to find out?" Harry asked, slightly defensive. She... had nothing to say to that. "All I know is if I had not defended myself and my cousin, we would have both been kissed. And then I'm getting a notice informing me that I've been expelled, and that somebody is going to be there soon to snap my wand!" Harry said.
She paused, shocked at what she just heard. "Nobody came out to investigate anything, nobody came to speak with you?" Using the Patronus... somebody should have gone out, if only to do a sweep of the area and make sure that nobody else saw anything.
"No." Harry said simply.
"Very well... Would you be willing to provide a memory of the event in question just to corroborate your statement?" Amelia asked. It would also provide proof for Fudge and his cronies that no, Harry Potter was not lying about this.
Harry shot an uncertain look at Arthur, who nodded his agreement with Amelia, and even leaned over to whisper in the boys ear.
Before anything could be said, though, Albus Dumbledore swept into the room, proclaiming himself as the witness for the defense. Amelia stared at him, shocked.
"Albus Dumbledore, this meeting was supposed to have started well over twenty minutes ago. Not only that, but I am fairly certain that Cornelius' plan was for Mr. Potter to go through this alone. How did you hear about this?" She asked, narrowing her eyes.
"I only just heard about this, I was coming to help young Harry with his hearing." Albus said, eyes flickering around the room briefly in confusion before he hid it.
"A little late."
"Well, by happy chance, I happened to arrive two hours earlier, and I just-"
"If you arrived two hours ago, then why have you only just now arrived here?" Amelia asked sharply, realizing what he was up to. He was going to swoop in at seemingly the last second and save the day, earning himself gratitude and possibly more devotion from the teenager in front of her. If he and Cornelius weren't currently in a power struggle, she would think that they concocted this whole scheme together.
"Your presence is not needed, sit." She pointed at the benches off to the side sternly, and did not move or say another word until he went. Once he finally sat, reluctantly and petulantly, she called for a projector Pensieve so that everyone in the room could witness and corroborate. Arthur leaned over to whisper in Potter's ear again, and the teen nodded, looking thoughtful.
Amelia got the idea that they were going to witness more then just the alleged Dementor attack this morning. After coaching the boy through removing his memories, ignoring the protests of the old man sitting off to the side, she watched in amusement as four memory strands were deposited into the bowl.
"Shut your mouth and sit down." She finally snapped at Dumbledore. "You are not part of these proceedings. So either be quiet, or get out." She was tired of him trying to derail her meeting.
Albus gave her a calculating look, but slowly sat down.
"What is the date of the first memory?" She asked Harry, just to be sure of the timeline of things and for the record.
"June 6th." Harry said after a moment, not really needing to think about the date. That was the day he both got his godfather back, and lost him again, after all.
Behind them, on the benches, there was a strangled sound before Amelia felt another silencing charm connect with somebody, presumably the Minister. She was curious about that date, though.
She heard the gasps and murmurs behind her when the image being shown through the Pensieve was Sirius Black, Harry Potter, a Weasley boy, and a bushy haired young girl. A man she knew to be Remus Lupin was lying, tied up, while Severus Snape was unconscious in the background.
"This is about halfway through the confrontation." Potter said, eyeing the scene in interest. A thought briefly crossed Amelia's mind that the teen would never have seen anything like this before.
Amelia started the memory, and they all watched as Black untied Lupin and helped him up.
"Thank you, Harry." He said.
"I'm still not saying I believe you," Harry said.
Amelia privately thought 'smart boy'.
"Then it's time we offered you some proof," said Lupin. "You, boy- give me Peter, please. Now."
Amelia stopped the memory. "Peter? Who is Peter?" She asked.
"Peter Pettigrew." Potter said, glaring back at Fudge. The crowd burst into chatter of disbelief.
"Lies!" Fudge burst out. "I've had enough of this, stop those memories now, this is nothing more than-" He was hit with another silencing charm.
"The next outburst, the person in question will be removed from the room." She frowned at the group. She started the memory again.
Ron clutched Scabbers close to his chest protectively. "Come off it," he said. "Are you trying to say he broke out of Azkaban just to get his hands on Scabbers? I mean..." He looked at his two friends, clearly wanting their support, "Okay, say Pettigrew could turn into a rat- there are millions of rats- how's he supposed to know which one he's after if he was locked up in Azkaban?"
"You know, Sirius, that's a fair question," Lupin said, turning to his old school friend and frowning. "How did you find out where he was?"
Black reached into his robes and took out a piece of paper, which he smoothed out and held it out to reveal it to be a newspaper article.
Amelia stopped the memory again so she could study the article. "That's the article of you winning that Daily Prophet drawing." She said, glancing at Arthur in question. Arthur glanced over and nodded.
He'd thought that Scabbers was eaten by Crookshanks much earlier in the year, but here he was, alive. He also knew that Pettigrew was revealed to be alive at the end of this school year from talking to Sirius, but he'd never heard about any of what they were witnessing in these memories.
"How did you get this?" Lupin asked Black.
"Fudge," said Black. "When he came to inspect Azkaban year, he gave me his paper.-
More then one person turned to glare at Fudge. "Well, now we know what gave him the motivation to escape." Amelia muttered with a glare while Fudge shrank back in his seat.
And there was Peter, on the front page... on this boy's shoulder... I knew him at once... how many times had I seen him transform? And the caption said the boy would be going back to Hogwarts... to where Harry was."
Amelia had long since gotten a new parchment out and was taking notes on everything she was seeing and hearing. Even if this was all the rambling of a crazy man, this was valuable information. And Black had been heard muttering 'he's at Hogwarts' before he actually broke out. And the insinuations that Pettigrew was an Animagus...
She had a feeling that this one memory was going to fill many of the holes in Sirius Black's casefile.
"My god," Lupin said softly, studying the picture in the paper before he glanced at the rat in the youngest Weasley's hands. "His front paw..."
"What about it?" Ron asked, defiant.
"He's got a toe missing," said Black simply.
Amelia sucked in a breath when she realized the rat was missing a toe on the same paw that Pettigrew had cut off his finger. "Oh, that's clever." She whispered to herself, scribbling everything down.
"Of course," Lupin breathed as he worked things out in his head. "So simple... so brilliant... he cut it off himself?"
"Just before he transformed," said Black. "When I cornered him, he yelled for the whole street to hear that I'd betrayed Lily and James. Then, before I could curse him, he blew apart the street with the wand behind his back, killed everyone within twenty feet of himself- and sped down into the sewer with the other rats..."
"This is ridiculous." Amelia heard behind her, but it was quiet enough that she didn't call attention to it.
"His brains were scrambled by Azkaban." Somebody else muttered.
"Didn't you ever hear, Ron?" Lupin asked his student. "The biggest bit of Peter they found was his finger."
The memory skipped to later in the night, skipping most of the conversation.
"Harry," Lupin said quickly. "Don't you see? All this time we've thought Sirius betrayed your parents, and Peter tracked him down- but it was the other way around, don't you see? Peter betrayed your mother and father- Sirius tracked Peter down-"
"THAT'S NOT TRUE!" Harry yelled. "HE WAS THEIR SECRET-KEEPER! HE SAID SO BEFORE YOU TURNED UP. HE SAID HE KILLED THEM!" He was pointing at Black, who shook his head slowly; his eyes were bright.
Those who had known Lily muttered in fear, remembering her temper well.
"Harry... I as good as killed them," he croaked. "I persuaded Lily and James to change to Peter at the last moment, persuaded them to use him as Secret Keeper instead of me... I'm to blame, I know it... The night they died, I'd arranged to check on Peter, make sure he was still safe, but when I arrived at his hiding place, he'd gone. Yet there was no sign of a struggle. It didn't feel right. I was scared. I set out for your parents' house right away. And when I saw their house, destroyed, and their bodies... I realized what Peter must've done... what I'd done..." His voice broke.
Even those who thought Azkaban had scrambled his brains and he was clearly delusional could not deny the emotion in the escapee's voice.
"Enough of this," said Lupin, voice like steel. "There's one certain way to prove what really happened. Ron, give me that rat."
"What are you going to do with him if I give him to you?" Ron asked tensely.
"Force him to show himself. If he really is a rat, it won't hurt him."
Ron hesitated. Then, finally, he slowly held out his rat to Lupin. Scabbers began squeaking frantically, twisting and turning, desperate to escape.
That, more then anything else, told Amelia that that rat was an Animagus. No real rat would be so desperate to get away like that, as if they knew what was happening...
"Ready, Sirius?" asked Lupin.
Black had already retrieved Snape's wand, approaching Lupin and pointing the wand at the rat, eyes burning.
"Together?" He asked quietly, a strange note in his voice.
"I think so. On the count of three. One- two- THREE!"
A flash of blue-white light erupted; the rat was frozen in midair for a moment before he fell and hit the floor. With another flash of light, the rat turned into a man.
Amelia shook her head, freezing the memory. "I recognize him. Peter Pettigrew. So he is alive." His appearance was more rat-like than she remembered him, but if he'd truly been in his Animagus form for twelve years straight, that was to be expected.
The Wizengamot was murmuring behind her in shock.
"No, no. That's not, that's not possible. I'm sure there is a good explanation-" Fudge was muttering to himself, shaking his head at the sight.
Peter looked around at them all, breathing fast and shallow. His eyes darted towards the door and back again, clearly searching for an opportunity to escape.
"Well, hello, Peter," Lupin said pleasantly. "Long time, no see."
Amelia wondered if she was the only one to detect the hardness behind his pleasant tone.
The memory skipped again.
"You knew Sirius was going to break out of Azkaban? When nobody has ever done it before?"
"He's got dark powers the rest of us can only dream of!" Pettigrew shouted. "How else did he get out of there? I suppose He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named taught him a few tricks!"
Sirius' laughter startled everyone in the room, not having expected it.
"Voldemort teach me tricks?" His derisive tone clear. Pettigrew flinched as though whipped.
Everyone else winced, gasped, or shrieked at the name. Potter rolled his eyes at all of them, clearly not pleased.
Although the tone in his voice made everyone start to truly doubt that Sirius Black was ever a Death Eater.
The memory skipped again. Potter grimaced when Amelia paused the memory and looked at him in question. "They were just arguing about who really did it for a while, Pettigrew kept trying to pin the blame on Sirius for a bit, until he finally cracked."
"If you don't mind me asking, how- how did you get out of Azkaban, if you didn't use Dark Magic?" Hermione asked.
"Thank you!" Pettigrew gasped, frantically nodding in agreement with her. "Exactly! Precisely what I-"
Lupin silenced him with a Look. Black frowned at Hermione, but in a thoughtful way, not as though he were annoyed.
"I don't know how I did it," he said slowly, pondering his answer. "I think the only reason I never lost my mind is that I knew I was innocent. That wasn't a happy thought, so the dementors couldn't suck it out of me... but it kept me sane and knowing who I am... helped me keep my powers... so when it all became... too much... I could transform in my cell... become a dog. Dementors can't see, you know... They feel their way toward people by feeding off their emotions... they could tell that my feelings were less- less human, less complex when I was a dog... but they thought, of course, that I was losing my mind like everyone else in there, so it didn't trouble them. But I was weak, very weak, and I had no hope of driving them away from me without a wand...
Amelia was in shock and made a mental note to send somebody to test all of the current Azkaban inmates for being Animagi that they didn't already know about, and to make testing for the ability standard during the booking process.
"But then I saw Peter in that picture... I realized he was at Hogwarts with Harry... perfectly positioned to act, if one hint reached his ears that the Dark Side was gathering strength again... ready to strike at the moment he could be sure of allies... and to deliver the last Potter to them. If he gave them Harry, who'd dare say he'd betrayed Lord Voldemort? He'd be welcomed back with honors... So you see, I had to do something. I was the only one who knew Peter was still alive..."
A sudden voice cut through the memory, everyone recognized it as Arthur's. "The guards say he's been talking in his sleep... always the same words... 'He's at Hogwarts'."
"It was as if someone had lit a fire in my head, and the dementors couldn't destroy it... It wasn't a happy feeling... it was an obsession... but it gave me strength, it cleared my mind. So, one night when they opened my door to bring food, I slipped past them as a dog... it's so much harder for them to sense animal emotions that they were confused... I was thin, very thin... thin enough to slip through the bars... I swam as a dog back to the mainland... I journeyed north and slipped into the Hogwarts grounds as a dog. I've been living in the forest ever since, except when I came to watch the Quidditch, of course. You fly as well as your father did, Harry..."
There was absolutely no denying the devotion Sirius Black held towards Harry Potter, the son of his best friends.
"Merlin. He swam all that way..." Amelia murmured. When she noticed Potter's confused look, she explained. "Azkaban prison is on an island, fifteen miles off the coast of Scotland, in the North Sea. At the time of year he escaped, the water wouldn't have been too cold, however... given his physical condition from the years in Azkaban... For him to have survived the swim at all." She shook her head again, amazed.
Harry was amazed, and glanced at Arthur, who was grim.
"Believe me, believe me, Harry. I never betrayed James and Lily. I would have died before I betrayed them." After a moment, Harry nodded, clearly having decided to believe him.
Pettigrew let out a wail and shuffled forward on his knees, groveling. "Sirius- it's me... it's Peter... your friend... you wouldn't..."
Black kicked out.
"There's enough filth on my robes without you touching them." Black said dryly, with a hint of hatred in his voice.
That got a few reluctant laughs out of the crowd.
The memory skipped again. "He was groveling for his life... he tried to appeal to me, Ron, and Hermione."
"You sold Lily and James to Voldemort," Black was shaking. "Do you deny it?" He demanded.
Pettigrew burst into tears. "Sirius, Sirius, what could I have done? The Dark Lord... you have no idea... he has weapons you can't imagine... I was scared, Sirius, I was never brave like you and Remus and James. I never meant it to happen... He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named forced me-"
"DON'T LIE! YOU'D BEEN PASSING INFORMATION TO HIM FOR A YEAR BEFORE LILY AND JAMES DIED! YOU WERE HIS SPY!"
"He- he was taking over everywhere!" Pettigrew gasped. "Wh- what was there to be gained by refusing him?"
The memory ended.
"What happened to Peter Pettigrew after that night?" Amelia asked quietly.
"He escaped. We told Fudge everything we knew, or at least tried to. He claimed we must have been confounded, dismissed all our claims, and arranged to have Sirius Kissed that night. We uh- we barely helped him escape." Potter was clearly holding something about that night back, but she didn't press it.
"Is that so?" Amelia muttered, turning to glare at Cornelius. "And you didn't think that I, the Head of the DMLE needed to know that the most notorious mass-murderer and escaped prisoner had been captured? You knew full well I wanted to question him about how he escaped." She yelled, enraged.
"I- he- he's a dangerous criminal!" Fudge defended himself.
Amelia growled. "I will deal with you later." She glared before turning back to the Pensieve.
The Trio of students and Sirius Black were shown in a cave, Black crouched on the ground gnawing desperately at a chicken leg, already reaching to pull another out of a bag beside him. In the back of the cave, a Hippogriff was chewing on some bones that Black had clearly already finished with.
"D'you know Crouch, then?" Harry asked, clearly in the middle of the conversation.
"When is this meeting?" Amelia asked the Boy-Who-Lived.
"Uh, the first Hogsmeade trip after the second task." Potter said.
"Oh, I know Crouch, alright." He said quietly and darkly. "He was the one who gave the order for me to be sent to Azkaban- without a trial."
The room burst into outraged chatter and protests.
"Without a trial!" Was the loudest protest. If a Black could be sent to Azkaban without trial, then how safe were the rest of them?
"Let's continue!" Amelia said after a few minutes, studying the swirling memory in her hand, having a feeling that she knew what this next one would show.
The next memory started when Harry Potter and Cedric Diggory landed in a graveyard. For a few moments, they looked around, clearly confused about what was happening. Cedric asked Harry if anybody had mentioned being port-keyed somewhere else to him. After a few moments they agreed it would be best to be armed. Without warning, Harry informed Cedric that somebody was coming, and it wasn't long before footsteps were heard.
"What alerted you that there was somebody else there?" Amelia asked the teen curiously.
"It felt like I was being watched." Harry said after a moment. "Believe me, I know what that feels like." He muttered sourly.
A few of the Wizengamot glanced at each other warily. They knew what they were about to see, they could only hope that the boy had not included any of the names he heard that night, but they honestly weren't holding out hope.
The figure that appeared was short, wearing a hood, and carrying something. The object looked like-
"Is that a- baby?" Amelia asked after a minute, studying the object carefully.
"Not exactly." Harry glared at the figure in his memory. After a moment, he turned and walked away, closing his eyes. He didn't want to see this again.
After a few moments, the figure stopped and stared at the two teens until Harry suddenly doubled over, screaming in pain and clutching desperately at his scar. His wand clattered to the ground moments before he fell over.
"Kill the spare." A high, cold voice said.
The Wizengamot gasped and cried out, realizing what they were about to see. Fudge was quickly silenced again, along with Umbridge. They didn't want him interrupting them again.
A second voice screeched, "Avada Kedavra!"
A few of the Wizengamot shrieked in shock at the green light that filled the Pensieve image of the memory.
"That was Peter Pettigrew's voice." Amelia said quietly, having listened intently.
The image was of Cedric Diggory, dead on the ground. Before anything else could happen, Harry was grabbed and pulled to his feet before being dragged towards a headstone. Harry's gaze fixed on the name moments before he was slammed into it and tied to it with thick ropes, reading TOM RIDDLE on it.
It wasn't until the cloaked man hit Harry to make him stop struggling that his missing finger was seen.
"You!" Harry gasped.
"Peter Pettigrew." Daniel Greengrass said grimly. "Peter Pettigrew killed Cedric Diggory." They were all thinking about the smear campaign where Fudge was not-so-subtly implying that Harry Potter was the one to kill the boy.
Pettigrew didn't say anything, though. He focused on checking the ropes before stuffing a bit of cloth in Harry's mouth and walking away, noises revealed that he was doing something, but it was out of Harry's view. Harry glanced around a bit to find him, only seeing Cedric lying some distance away with the Cup just out of sight behind him. Suddenly, Harry looked down.
The Wizengamot gasped at the sight of the giant snake in the grass.
"That looks like Nagini." A neutral Lord said slowly, swallowing. That snake was almost as famous as her master.
"He is not back!" Fudge snapped at them. Somebody silenced him again without ceremony.
Pettigrew came back into view, dragging a heavy stone cauldron across the ground, stopping near the gravestone Harry was tied to. As Pettigrew lit a fire underneath it, the snake could be heard slithering away. It wasn't long before the liquid inside the cauldron was spitting out sparks of fire.
Amelia paused it again and glanced at a few of the Lords in the room that she knew to be experts in dark rituals, especially the one that she was fairly certain was an Unspeakable. "Well?" She asked.
"It's nothing good." One of them warned her. "I can only think of some of the darkest rituals that would have that reaction from the potion reagents being heated up..." He trailed off, his colleague nodding in agreement.
"Hurry!" The voice that commanded Cedric's death sounded again, and Pettigrew went to the baby on the ground.
"It is ready, Master."
"Now..."
Pettigrew finally unwrapped the baby, revealing that it was no baby, or at least... if it had been once, it wasn't anymore. It was the snakelike, gleaming red eyes that gave away what it was.
"Voldemort." Amelia breathed.
"No... no, that's not possible. It's not him. It can't be-" Fudge was sputtering behind them, sounding absolutely terrified. He'd never seen anything like this before, and he didn't want to admit that something this dark could exist in his perfectly safe little world.
Pettigrew lowered the thing into the cauldron, and Harry's thoughts echoed, Let it drown... please, let it drown...
Pettigrew started the ritual, though. Bone of the father, unknowingly given, you will renew your son! The ground underneath Harry's feet broke apart and a cloud of dust sailed from the coffin underneath the surface and into the potion. After sending more sparks out, the potion turned a poisonous looking blue.
"Of all the rituals... He is truly mad!"
"What?" Amelia demanded of the Lord, stopping the memory again. She took note of several pinched looks and dismissed it until later.
"This ritual... it is perhaps labeled as one of the darkest of forbidden rituals. In addition to bone of the father, although that could be widely interpreted as any bone belonging to an ancestor, and would really work best if the 'father' was a wizard... Riddle is not a name I recognize, though, so is clearly not a wizarding name... it calls for flesh of the servant and blood of an enemy to finish the ritual. However, the potion used is made with heart of a Unicorn, the body parts of an unborn child, the blood of a newborn, and the ritual sacrifice of an untouched young girl. All symbols of purity of innocence. It is a ritual of rebirth of sorts, but it's not meant to be used this way, and it can be frightfully easy to get wrong. It will not fail, so to speak... however..." He trailed off.
Most of the Wizengamot looked ill, and Amelia quietly restarted the ritual. Those that looked pinched were whispering among themselves ever since it was pointed out that Riddle was not a wizarding name.
Flesh- of the servant- w-willingly given- you will- revive- your master.
Pettigrew stretched out his hand, and the view quickly disappeared as Harry realized what was about to happen, and closed his eyes with a gasp. That didn't stop the scream Pettigrew let out from penetrating his ears, though, or the splash as something was dropped into the cauldron a few moments later. The potion turned red, visible through Harry's eyelids. Pettigrew let out an agonized moan, but continued with the ritual. Harry's eyes flew open to reveal Pettigrew standing right in front of him, knife in one hand, missing the other entirely.
"Fool. He didn't need to give his entire hand, that may have actually adversely affected the recipient of the ritual..." The Unspeakable spat in disgust at the carelessness.
"Affected how?" Potter asked, watching him with interest.
"His magic may be weakened slightly, for starters, I do not recall Pettigrew as ever being described as particularly powerful... but that may not actually be a problem if you're the enemy he chose to use... you are quite a powerful young man. There might be other issues that crop up from time to time, but we have no way of knowing without observation and study. His mind will certainly be shattered a fair bit from the ritual being messed up like this." The other one said, shaking his head and looking thoughtful.
B-blood of the enemy... forcibly taken... you will... resurrect your foe.
Harry struggled, but the ropes were too tight, and a moment later the knife was poked into his right arm, causing him to start bleeding heavily. A glass vial was held to the wound and filled with blood, this was quickly added to the cauldron. The potion inside turned a bright white after a moment.
The sparks started flying again, blindingly bright. For a few moments, nothing else happened.
Harry's thoughts sounded again, Let it have drowned... let it have gone wrong...
The sparks stopped flying, and instead a thick steam enveloped the area. It's gone wrong... it's drowned... please... please let it be dead...
But the fog of steam started to thin, revealing a tall, naked man rising out of the cauldron. "Robe me." Said the cold voice from before. Pettigrew heaved himself up, still sobbing and holding the stump of his arm, but managed to pull a robe over the man's head one handed.
Harry fixed on the man's face, horrified.
"Voldemort." Amelia said grimly, studying the face in the Pensieve.
The rest of the Wizengamot were too horrified to say anything, while the supporters and marked followers in the room were too concerned with the implications of the 'father' that was used to be too satisfied with the reactions their Lord was garnering without even being in the room.
The scene switched again, showing Pettigrew kneeling beside Voldemort, thanking him for something, but Voldemort grabbed his other arm instead, and studied the mark on it. The Dark Mark.
"It is back. They will all have noticed it... and now, we shall see... now we shall know..." He pressed his finger to it, and Pettigrew howled in fresh pain, to which Voldemort looked cruelly satisfied by. "How many will be brave enough to return when they feel it? And how many will be foolish enough to stay away?" He asked himself, looking around the graveyard as they waited. He started pacing, but after a few minutes he turned to look at Harry. "You stand, Harry Potter, upon the remains of my late father. A Muggle and a fool..."
"A Muggle! The monster who spouts the Pureblood Supremacy dogma, a Muggleborn himself..." Amelia scoffed slightly, shaking her head.
"Half-blood, actually." Harry corrected. "He said his mother was a witch who lived in the village, his father grew up in that manor on the hill." He pointed at the manor visible in the background of his memories.
"Considering the rhetoric he spouts, that's not much better." Amelia sighed, and continued the memories. Everyone else was still too horrified or transfixed to say and do anything.
The scene switched again, the graveyard was now full of wizards wearing familiar looking cloaks and masks. Voldemort was talking, had clearly been talking for a while now based on the unease with which the wizards stood.
"It is a disappointment to me... I confess myself disappointed..."
One of them flung himself forward suddenly, breaking the circle and collapsing at his master's feet. "Master! Master, forgive me! Forgive us all!"
Voldemort laughed, and raised his wand. "Crucio!" The wizard's shrieks filled the air as he writhed and gasped in pain.
"Get up, Avery.
Amelia was scribbling rapidly, pointing at the man in question without looking up. "Arrest him!" She barked to Arthur and the lone Auror standing in the corner.
Avery glanced at his fellows in slight panic before making a break for the doors. Harry cast a tripping jinx before he could far, though, making him fall down the remaining two steps. The Auror and Arthur pounced on him, having him cuffed in a matter of moments.
"Now, my boy, was that really necessary, you could have-" Albus started to rebuke Harry for his actions.
"Yes, it was." Potter glared at the Headmaster before turning back to the screen.
Stand up. You ask for forgiveness? I do not forgive. I do not forget. Thirteen long years... I want thirteen years' repayment before I forgive you. Wormtail here has paid some of his debt already, have you not, Wormtail?"
The scene skipped again, now showing Pettigrew standing in the circle, a new silver hand replacing the flesh hand that he'd given to the ritual. Voldemort approached the man standing next to him. "Lucius, my slippery friend...
Fudge made a sound of protest, but one warning look from Amelia was enough to shut him up. She was already writing up an arrest order, as well as a search warrant for Malfoy Manor. Pity Lucius couldn't be here today, despite the emergency session. Instead, he appointed one of his lackey's as a proxy for him.
I am told you have not renounced the old ways, though to the world you present a respectable face. You are still ready to take the lead in a spot of Muggle-torture, I believe? Yet you never tried to find me, Lucius... Your exploits at the Quidditch World Cup were fun, I daresay... But might not your energies have been better directed toward finding and aiding your master?"
"My Lord, I was constantly on the alert," Lucius Malfoy's voice sounded, and the scene changed again. Voldemort was standing in front of an empty space in the circle, talking seemingly to himself. "When Azkaban is broken open, the Lestranges will be honored beyond their dreams. The Dementors will join us... they are our natural allies... we will recall the banished giants... I shall have all my devoted servants returned to me, and an army of creatures whom all fear..."
There were many gasps and exclamations of fear at that proclamation, making Amelia narrow her eyes.
She made a note to check on that situation and make sure that it couldn't happen. That also answered a question about how a Dementor could have been at Potter's residence, although she had no idea if they would have joined him again yet or not.
He moved on, speaking with some of his followers. "Macnair... destroying dangerous beasts for the Ministry of Magic now, Wormtail tells me? You shall have better victims than that soon, Macnair. Lord Voldemort will provide..."
"Thank you, Master... thank you..."
"And here- we have Crabbe... you will do better this time, will you now, Crabbe? And you, Goyle?"
They bowed clumsily. "Yes Master..." "We will, Master..."
"The same goes for you, Nott," Voldemort quietly told the next figure in the circle.
Several Silencing charms went zooming across the room as those that her allies knew would open their mouths and spouting unwanted opinions started making noise like they were going to protest.
Amelia was seething at the few names they heard, and behind her she could hear Nott snarl before yelping, followed by a thud as he was taken down. A quick glance behind her showed him to be trussed up in ropes, several of his fellow Wizengamot members standing over him, victoriously. She raised an eyebrow as they floated him toward the wall where Avery was under guard still. The arrest warrants for Crabbe, Goyle, and Macnair were quickly drawn up, and all four warrants were quickly sent straight to her Aurors. She made sure they went to somebody she trusted implicitly and could not be intercepted.
"We will deal with all these issues later, after this hearing is over." She declared, wanting to get back to the reason they were here so that she could send Mr. Potter on his way so she could properly yell at the appropriate persons without the teenager present.
"This last one is the alleged Dementor attack, correct?" She asked Potter warily. The defiance sprang back into his eyes at the word 'alleged', but he didn't say anything, merely nodded his head. She sighed. "Right." And dumped the last memory into the Pensieve, starting it.
The only light they could see came from a distant street lamp, not even the stars were visible. It was as if they'd been turned off.
A voice sounded near Harry, obviously terrified. "w-what are you d-doing? St-stop it!"
"I'm not doing anything! Shut up and don't move!"
"I c-can't see! I've g-gone blind! I-"
"I said shut up!"
After a few more moments of Harry trying to see through the darkness, Dudley spoke again. "I'll t-tell dad! W-where are you? What are you d-do-"
"Will you shut up? I'm trying to lis-" Harry cut himself off as hoarse rattling sound was heard.
"Dementors." Amelia said grimly, recognizing that sound even if nothing could be seen in the memory.
"C-cut it out- Stop doing it! I'll h-hit you, I swear I will!"
"Dudley, shut-" Harry suddenly went flying as the sound of a fist making contact with his face was heard. A few seconds after the pavement became visible, his wand was heard clattering to the ground. "You moron, Dudley!" Harry yelled, obviously angry. Dudley was heard blundering his way through the darkness, running into the fence. "DUDLEY, COME BACK! YOU'RE RUNNING RIGHT AT IT!" There was a squeal, and all sounds of Dudley moving stopped. "DUDLEY, KEEP YOUR MOUTH SHUT! WHATEVER YOU DO, KEEP YOUR MOUTH SHUT! Wand!" Harry muttered. "Where's- wand- come on- Lumos!"
To everybodies shock, the wand tip lit up a few feet from Harry's hand, momentarily blinding the boy in question. Then memory-Harry got to his feet and turned around, gliding straight at him was a Dementor.
Amelia stopped the memory there. "I think that's all I need from you." She said softly.
"There was a second one. While one was coming for me, the second one was in the process of Kissing my cousin. If he hadn't listened to me for once and covered his mouth, he probably would have already been Kissed by the time I dealt with the first one." Harry informed her grimly, knowing that she'd seen enough and wasn't going to keep playing the memory to see exactly what he was describing.
She sighed. "I will look into the matter, you have my word. If they have joined the Dark Lord or not yet... I do not know. If they were sent by somebody in the Ministry, well... the fact that somebody here will use those creatures as personal weapons is..." She shuddered at the implications. After a moment, she spoke again. "Mr. Potter, you are cleared of all wrong-doing. Please accept my deepest apologies on behalf of the Ministry for the treatment you have endured." She said formally. "You are free to go." She nodded to Arthur to take him out.
"Not you, Albus Dumbledore! You will stay right there." She commanded when she saw the Headmaster about to follow the teen out of the room.
"Now, Amelia, I have-"
"Consider your busy schedule cleared." She warned, eyes narrowing at him. It was his favorite method of deflection when it came to dealing with her, claiming to be terribly busy and could they talk some other time? That 'other time' never seemed to happen, though. Sometimes she was able to corner him, anyway. She wasn't always so lucky, though. This was one of the times she could count herself lucky, since after Arthur and Potter left, she could seal the room, ensuring that nobody could escape.
Before another word could be said, Daniel Greengrass stood. "I call a vote of no confidence for Cornelius Fudge, on account of the actions he has taken and the vendetta he has led over the past several weeks. He has proven himself to be incapable of being a strong leader over the years, and we will need a strong leader in the coming days." He said firmly.
"Motion carried, do we have a second?" Amelia drawled, pleased.
"Second!" At least four people called out.
Cornelius could only sit there in shock as his career went up in flames before his eyes.
Less than ten minutes later, Amelia had been elected as the interim Minister, a task she took to grimly.
She never wanted to be Minister, much less a war-time Minister. But she was going to do whatever she could to minimize losses and see the criminals behind bars for the war they were about to bring on her people. And unlike a certain old man, she wasn't going to rely on an untrained teenager to fight her battles for her.