Chapter 16: Snitch
The group was in Hogsmeade for a little break from all that training. As they were in the snowy little village, they arrived at the Three Broomsticks pub to get something warm to drink. Naruto ordered his group four tankards of butterbeer and as they waited for their drinks, they decided to talk about the recent events that happened. "Guys don't you think it's a bit strange…that the dementors that are looking for the ten death eaters that escaped Azkaban, aren't searching for them?" Naruto asked. "Yeah, I mean don't get me wrong, I loathe dementors as a whole, but somehow it's almost as if the dementors were slacking off," Harry stated. The group looked at some of the wanted posters and let's just say that those posters creeped them out, just from how they were moving.
"Also another thing guys, I have been getting this weird feeling lately," Naruto stated, as the others looked at him curiously. "What's wrong?" Hermione asked. "Well it's just that, I feel like there is a traitor amongst the D.A." Everybody was surprised, "Why do you believe so?" Harry asked. "My instincts are telling me that someone has been relaying information to Umbridge about our secret training sessions," Naruto stated. They thought about it, "Well I did notice that one of the members didn't seem to like Harry's teaching methods," Hermione stated. "Yeah I also remembered that one of the members wasn't also keen on hand to hand combat, despite it getting rather interesting," Ron also said. "But that leaves a question, who is the potential traitor?" Harry stated, as they all thought about it. Soon their butterbeer arrived and they all drank it, as they moved onto another topic.
Timeskip
It was a week before the Easter holiday and so far the secret training has been paying off. It was especially working wonders for Neville, as he had been more determined to get stronger, ever since he heard about the incident that happened at Azkaban, where one of his parents' tormentors escaped. After one of their training sessions, Neville was fixated on the mirror where notes and photos lay. Naruto and Harry go up to the boy and look at the specific photo he has been staring at. "Fourteen years ago…a Death Eater by the name of Bellatrix Lestrange…used the Cruciatus Curse on my parents. She tortured them for information…but they never gave in," he murmured. Ever since the mass breakout happened, it has taken a toll on Neville's mind. "I'm quite proud to be their son, but I'm not sure I'm ready for everyone to know just yet."
Naruto nods, "I understand mate, last year I lost my sensei who in a way I saw as a father to me. I also learned from my sensei about my real parents and from what he told me, they died sacrificing their lives to save me when I was just born." Naruto looks at Neville with a serious expression, "Look Neville I'm going to tell you the truth about myself and whatever you hear, promise me you won't think I'm lying." Neville nods and soon listens to Naruto as he begins to tell the boy his origins of how he was from another world and he even mentions the fox. Now Harry already knew since Naruto told him and the group the truth about his parents, but Neville was shocked by the boy's origins to the point where he knew the boy didn't lie from the look of his eyes as they tell the truth. "Listen Neville… you, me, and Harry we're going to make our parents proud. That's a promise," Naruto stated. Neville looked at the photo one last time and looked at the two and nodded. Soon the three fist bumped confirming that promise had been made as they all have something worth fighting for.
The next few days have passed and training has been going pretty good. Right now both Harry and Naruto are going to teach students the Patronus charm. "Alright now the key to conjuring Patronuses, is to make it a powerful memory, the happiest you can remember. Allow it to fill you up," Harry explained. Naruto demonstrates the charm, as a silvery nine tailed fox appears prancing around. "Huh, that's weird, my Patronus should be a regular fox," Naruto stated, as Harry wondered the same. "I think I know the reason why your Patronus changed," Hermione stated, as Naruto motioned for her to continue. "From what I read, instances have been known of the form of the Patronus transforming due to bereavement, falling in love or profound shifts in a person's character," she explained. Naruto thought about it and in a way it made sense, he may have lost his mentor last year, but he got himself a little sister, a new sensei who was in a way an older brother to him, and finally got to be with the one he loved from the bottom of his heart. Naruto nods at her, as Harry continues with the lesson plan. "A full-bodied Patronus is the most difficult to produce, but shield forms can also be equally useful against a variety of opponents," Harry explained.
Daphne summons her Patronus, and it was an adder snake. "Fantastic Daphne!" Harry complimented, as she managed to summon her Patronus on her first try. Cedric summons his Patronus and it was a badger, which made sense for him as it represented his house, along with how fierce and loyal badgers could be. Hermione summoned her Patronus and it was an otter and the otter swam around her. "Just remember, your Patronus can only protect you for as long as you stay focused." Soon everybody summoned their Patronuses, as these corporeal beasts surround them in a way that they feel at peace knowing that they are protected. "This is really advanced stuff you guys are learning, so on behalf of us we congratulate you for mastering it," Naruto stated, looking proud of his students as they all nodded at him and Harry.
Suddenly a bang was heard by everyone inside the room. The wall shuddered and the glass came clattering off, shattering upon impact with the ground. "Everybody get out of here, NOW!" Naruto ordered, as the students took a step back. "Harry!" Naruto said, as Harry nodded. Both took out their wands, ready to defend their students, as they all quickly left through one of the exits. "What about you two?!" Hermione asked, worried for the two's safety. "Don't worry about us, please just go QUICKLY!" Naruto ordered, as she reluctantly nodded and soon left. Soon the wall crumbled quickly, as someone fired a spell, but luckily Naruto used the armiger spell to protect him and Harry, as Harry fired an attack spell in retaliation. "Did you just attack teachers Mr. Potter?!" Umbridge said, appearing from the broken wall, as she looked rather pissed. "You were-"
"Simply defending ourselves and students from a dangerous mishap," Naruto said, as he got into a fighting stance. "Get them!" she uttered, turning purple in the face. Umbridge's inquisitorial squad rushed at both Naruto and Harry as they prepared to fight them. Naruto smirked as he used some smoke bombs to disorient the group of snakes who sided with Umbitch. As the smoke appeared, the inquisitorial squad was coughing from all the smoke, as both Naruto and Harry were picking them off one by one. Thanks to Naruto's training, Harry has been able to tolerate a smoke bomb, as he used some spells to take down some of the squad members. Naruto motions for Harry to get out and the two, managed to get out of the room quickly once the smoke dissipates. Umbridge looked for the two, but all she saw were a bunch of her members down for the count, as the smoke cleared. She turns to the remaining members, "Find them NOW!" she ordered, sounding hellbent like a demon.
Naruto and Harry were running to avoid detection. "Come on, we need to find the others quickly, before Umbridge and her band of snakes finds them," Naruto said. But before they could leave the hallway, the two suddenly fell down, as something was stuck on their ankles. They look to see that it was Malfoy, who was laughing at the two. "Trip Jinx, you two! Hey Professor, PROFESSOR! I've got em!" Umbridge came bustling around the far corner, breathless but wearing a delighted smile. "Excellent Draco, excellent, oh, very good — fifty points to Slytherin! I'll take it from here. . . . Stand up, Potter and Uzumaki!" They get up to their feet, as they both glare at the pair of snakes that are right in front of them. Umbridge grabs the two, as she turns to Draco. "You hop along and see if you can round up anymore of them, Draco," she said. "Tell the others to look in the library — anybody out of breath — check the bathrooms, Miss Parkinson can do the girls' ones — off you go — and you two," she added in her softest, most dangerous voice, as Malfoy walked away. "You two can come with me to the headmaster's office."
As they were walking to the stone gargoyle that was Dumbledore's office, a thought occurred to the two. They wondered how many of the students had got caught by the inquisitorial squad. They especially thought of their friends, but most importantly Naruto thought what if Hermione got caught and in a way it will be his fault for getting her expelled and potentially ruining her chance to get a good career. "Fizzing Whizbee," sang Umbridge, and the stone gargoyle jumped aside, the wall behind split open, and they ascended the moving stone staircase. They reached the polished door with the griffin knocker, but Umbridge did not bother to knock, she strode straight inside, still holding tight to both boys.
The office was full of people. Dumbledore was sitting behind his desk, his expression serene, the tips of his long fingers together. Professor McGonagall stood rigidly beside him, her face extremely tense. Cornelius Fudge, Minister of Magic, was rocking backward and forward on his toes beside the fire, apparently immensely pleased with the situation. Kingsley Shacklebolt and a tough-looking wizard Harry did not recognize with very short, wiry hair were positioned on either side of the door like guards, and the freckled, bespectacled form of Percy Weasley hovered excitedly beside the wall, a quill and a heavy scroll of parchment in his hands, apparently poised to take notes.
From how things might go, it's probably going to be pretty ugly. "Well, well, well, look who we have here?" Fudge sneered. Both Naruto and Harry gave Fudge the ugliest look possible. "These two were heading back to the Gryffindor Tower, when Malfoy cornered them," Umbridge stated, with a giddy expression, so much so that it disgusted the two. "Did he, did he?" said Fudge appreciatively. "I must remember to tell Lucius. Well, Potter and Uzumaki . . . I expect both of you to know why you are here?" Harry wanted to say yes, but Naruto gave Harry a look stating to not give in. The two shook their heads, as Fudge began to grill them questions regarding this whole scenario. The whole time, they were responding no to each question Fudge was asking, much to his anger and frustration. "I think, Minister," said Umbridge silkily from beside him, "we might make better progress if I fetch our informant."
"Yes, yes, do," said Fudge, nodding, and he glanced maliciously at Dumbledore as Umbridge left the room. "There's nothing like a good witness, is there, Dumbledore?" Dumbledore nods, even though he wasn't happy about it. There was a wait of several minutes, in which nobody looked at each other, then Harry heard the door open behind him. Umbridge moved past him into the room, gripping by the shoulder Cho's curly haired friend Marietta, who was hiding her face in her hands. "Wait…you?!" Naruto said in shock, as anger was bubbling inside him. "Don't be scared, dear, don't be frightened," said Professor Umbridge softly, patting her on the back, "it's quite alright, now. You have done the right thing. The minister is very pleased with you. He'll be telling your mother what a good girl you've been. Marietta's mother, Minister," she added, looking up at Fudge, "is Madam Edgecombe from the Department of Magical Transportation. Floo Network office — she's been helping us police the Hogwarts fires, you know."
Naruto couldn't believe it, even though he had this feeling there was a traitor, he was too late to find out who was going to betray them and now the traitor was there in front of him and it was one of his students. Fudge was being so jolly about this, until he was shocked. As Marietta raised her head, Fudge leapt backward in shock, nearly landing himself in the fire. He cursed and stamped on the hem of his cloak, which had started to smoke, and Marietta gave a wail and pulled the neck of her robes right up to her eyes, but not before the whole room had seen that her face was horribly disfigured by a series of close-set purple pustules that had spread across her nose and cheeks to form the word "SNEAK."
Naruto smirked, as he chuckled at Hermione's cleverness to put a jinx on the sign up sheet in case someone decided to be Fredo Corleone and rat on the group. 'Clever girl,' he thought, as he was watching the scene unfold. Umbridge was trying to get Marietta to talk, but she couldn't respond as she could only move her head around. Umbridge decided to explain everything to how she questioned her about the meetings until she got that hideous jinx on her face. They were trying to find a counter jinx for this problem, however they had no luck so they decided to continue on without the snitch's testimony. "You will remember, Minister, that I sent you a report back in October that Potter and Uzumaki had met a number of fellow students in the Hog's Head in Hogsmeade —"
"And what is your evidence for that?" cut in Professor McGonagall. "I have testimony from Willy Widdershins, Minerva, who happened to be in the bar at the time. He was heavily bandaged, it is true, but his hearing was quite unimpaired," said Umbridge smugly. "He heard every word Potter and Uzumaki said and hastened straight to the school to report to me —"
Both boys mentally cursed themselves for their foolishness as they played right into their trap. "The purpose of Potter and Uzumaki's meeting with these students," continued Professor Umbridge, "was to persuade them to join an illegal society, whose aim was to learn spells and curses the Ministry has decided are inappropriate for school-age —"
"I think you'll find you're wrong there, Dolores," said Dumbledore quietly, peering at her over the half-moon spectacles perched halfway down his crooked nose. Harry stared at him. He could not see how Dumbledore was going to talk them out of this one; if Willy Widdershins had indeed heard every word they said in the Hog's Head there was simply no escaping it. Fudge was calling it bullshit, just like how he responded to what Harry told them about Voldemort coming back to life and the dementors coming after him. Percy Weasley was laughing at that response, so much so that Naruto wanted to go up to that insufferable Weasley's face and deck him hard.
Dumbledore however countered that response with his very own response, which somehow stumped Percy, Fudge, and Umbridge. Now the interrogation continued of course, as Umbridge decided to present evidence of these meetings by showing the list of names for Dumbledore's Army. "See what they've named themselves?" said Fudge quietly. "Dumbledore's Army." Dumbledore reached out and took the piece of parchment from Fudge. He gazed at the heading scribbled by Hermione months before and for a moment seemed unable to speak. Then he looked up, smiling. Now this is just getting complicated, it's almost as if Dumbledore knew what was going to happen as he seems to have complete control of the situation at hand. He somehow decided to defend the two boys by saying that this is his army, not Potter and Uzumaki's army much to their shock. McGonagall and Kingsley looked at each other and somehow there was that look thinking what was Dumbledore's game.
"Wait you…were you the one who organized this?" Fudge asked, pointing his finger at Dumbledore, who nodded. "I did," said Dumbledore. "You recruited these students for — for your army?" Fudged asked, as he looked like he was seething. "Tonight was supposed to be the first meeting," said Dumbledore, nodding. "Merely to see whether they would be interested in joining me. I see now that it was a mistake to invite Miss Edgecombe, of course." Marietta nodded. Fudge looked from her to Dumbledore, his chest swelling. "Then you have been plotting against me!" he yelled. "That's right," said Dumbledore cheerfully. Ok this is where Naruto realized, Dumbledore really was the one controlling the playing field, to the point where he really could respect the old man for his genius thinking. "NO!" shouted Harry. Kingsley flashed a look of warning at him, McGonagall widened her eyes threateningly, but it had suddenly dawned upon Harry what Dumbledore was about to do, and he could not let it happen. "No — Professor Dumbledore!"
"Calm down Harry, just calm down alright," Naruto said, calming his friend, as he knew what Dumbledore was going to do. "Well, well, well — I came here tonight expecting to expel Potter and instead —"
"Instead you get to arrest me," said Dumbledore, smiling. "It's like losing a Knut and finding a Galleon, isn't it?" Fudge was getting all gleeful since he was going to arrest Dumbledore, but the moment was ruined when Dumbledore had this to say. "Ah," said Dumbledore gently, "yes. Yes, I thought we might hit that little snag." Fudge was confused, "Snag? What snag? I see no snag?"
"Oh but there is a snag. You seem to be laboring under the delusion that I'm going to…what was the phrase? Come quietly. Well I can tell you this…I have no intention of going to Azkaban." Umbridge was really furious, "Enough of this. Take him!" Dumbledore looked at the two boys and winked at them, as Naruto silently nodded. Soon Fawkes the Phoenix, came on time and managed to rescue Dumbledore, as they teleported somewhere else, evading capture. Kingsley smirked, "Woah. Well you may not like him, Minister. But you can't deny…Dumbledore's got style," he said, as Fudge just looked at him. Now Naruto's thoughts on the event were, 'Man, one day I really should do that.'
