Disclaimer: All characters belong to J. K. Rowling. I am only borrowing her characters to make Harry live a better life.
After hearing about the success of the mission, the adults in the antechamber decided to continue the rest of the discussion the next day as it was late and sent Harry and company to find sleeping bags for themselves after giving Harry and the other Champions the instructions for the First Task, of course.
The new day dawned bright and Harry woke up feeling confused about why he was feeling so good. Then, remembering everything that happened last night, a big smile lit his face.
The students were still confined to the Great Hall and so was the Minister because of his close friendship with Lucius Malfoy. His wand had been temporarily confiscated. They didn't want him alerting his close confidant even if his eyes seemed to have been opened and he had promised full support.
Magical expansion charms were liberally used to turn the space within the Great Hall into classrooms with Silencing spells cast to ensure no disturbance.
Amelia had not had much sleep. The first thing she did on returning to the Ministry in the morning was to cancel the Kiss on Sight order against Sirius Black that was still in effect.
Somehow, some way, Fudge's sidekick, Dolores Umbridge came to know about it. Both Fudge and Umbridge had been encouraged into a hardline position about the Black case by Lucius Malfoy claiming that his son was the Black heir and a promise of a share of the Black fortune had till now served as a nice enticement.
Amelia very much hated She Who Wears Pink And Looks Like A Toad.
Amelia gave her a gist of what happened last night without letting her know the confidential information and when Umbridge looked ready to blow her top, she expertly deflated her, saying that Cornelius himself had given the orders.
Umbridge still didn't believe it and tried to stop her. All this on top of what she heard last night, made Amelia snap.
"Aurors, arrest, this….vile woman for being a hindrance to the DMLE and take her to the Interrogation Cell Five. Have Senior Auror Kingsley, and the trainee Auror Tonks sent in to dose her and interrogate her," said Amelia curtly.
"You can't do this," cried Umbridge.
"I have done this and I will have you leaking all your darkest secrets to us in no time. You won't get the plea bargain that I gave Fudge. Jail Sweet Jail, Dolores." said Amelia with an evil smirk and then nodded at the Aurors who had already handcuffed her.
Once Umbridge was led out, she called for Arthur Weasley and Croaker and briefed Arthur on the entirety of what had happened. He was left feeling pale and asked for something strong to drink.
Amelia called her elf to bring her favorite, Indian spiced tea, or Masala Chaay as her Indian friends called it, but then added a dash of Ogden's Old Firewhisky to the same.
Taking a fortifying sip of the aromatic brew, Arthur asked, "Now what?"
"Now? We need a strong excuse to bring all the supposedly Imperiused Death Eaters together and have them spill out the truth in a way that doesn't threaten others' safety once they realize that they have blabbed," said Amelia while taking a sip of her own.
Arthur mulled over it, taking another sip of the really tasty tea (he would have to ask Amelia about procuring some for him, Molly would love it).
"Instead of involving innocent people to not arouse suspicion, I suggest, an invitation cum portkey from Cornelius on a high-quality parchment to all these Death Eaters to his home for either breakfast, lunch, or dinner. The portkeys will be set for different times and locations within the Minister's house. Cornelius himself won't be there but Aurors, Hit Wizards, and possibly Unspeakables Polyjuiced as him?" asked Arthur looking at Croaker towards the end.
"Brilliant plan, Arthur," exclaimed Amelia and looked at Croaker herself.
"Brilliant indeed but an anti-Veritaserum potion might keep the disguised interrogator from getting the truth out of the paranoid or cautious ones. The MI6 though have truth serums that won't be blocked by the same," said Croaker looking back at Amelia who nodded.
"MI6?" asked a puzzled Arthur.
"They are the intelligence wing of the Muggle government. Very clever folks. Our Magical Intelligence-7 or MI7 is based on their way of operating actually though the purebloods don't know it." said Croaker smiling slightly.
"The Muggles have an intelligence wing!" asked Arthur shocked.
Sighing exasperatedly, Croaker then sharply said, "Arthur, your world has been spark plugs, rubber ducks, and electricity. Come out of it! People claim that you are the Ministry's expert on all things Muggle because you head the Misuse of Muggle Artefacts Office, and yet you can't even spell 'electricity' which you call 'ekeltricity'. The Muggle world, Arthur, is much bigger, more modern, and more developed than what you have been led to believe by an outdated curriculum. If you ignore the magic that they lack, then they are actually way more developed than us. They can instantly send messages to each other, for example, while we rely on owls, messenger patronuses, uncomfortable floo-calls, or in the case of the Ministry, the inter-departmental memos. Don't treat them like amusing pets. But this is all for later. Although, I do think Miss Granger and Mister Potter would welcome you into their discussion which will be an eye-opening experience for you. I am sure the discussion is going to resume soon. Now, let's get back to this Death Eater matter!"
Arthur turned red slightly at being given such a talking-to.
The three then spent an hour fine-tuning the plan as there were some Death Eaters like Macnair, not highly placed enough that they should warrant such an invitation. It would give rise to suspicion.
Once the pesky little details were ironed out, Croaker left to meet the Head of a special MI6 division that comprised of Muggle-borns, Squibs, and those Muggles who were in the know due to being family to the Muggle-borns or half-bloods. It had been formed by one of the previous Muggle Prime Ministers to keep an eye on the happenings of the Magical World. Arthur was surprised to learn about this as only those magically sworn in were privy to it. Arthur too had to take the oath never to talk about it without permission.
This operation too was executed flawlessly. It had been named Mission Cleansing and the participants had been carefully chosen. Under the influence of the Muggle truth serums, those who were discovered to have lied about being Imperiused and showed no remorse for the crimes they had committed, were quietly shipped off to Azkaban to be publicly tried later. They had also been asked whether Voldemort had entrusted them with something for safekeeping, like the diary. The answers to that question were negative.
Amelia had meanwhile, with Croaker's help, retired the Azkaban Warden and replaced him with one of the middle-aged Muggle-borns who had gone to one of the American magical schools and then later joined MI6's special branch. He had come highly recommended from MI6 as he was also a Master Occlumens. Being a Master Occlumens added another mental layer of protection in addition to the Rune pendant which everyone guarding Azkaban had to wear to ward off the effects of Dementors.
Amelia also sent some of her Aurors to the already incarcerated Death Eaters to question them under Veritaserum. Here, they hit jackpot. Under its effects, Bellatrix Lestrange told them that she was given an ornate two-handled cup for safekeeping by her master and which she had stored in the Lestranges' vault at Gringotts.
Upon hearing this, she immediately dispatched Dirk Cresswell of the Goblin Liaison Office along with Croaker's deputy, Broderick Bode to the bank. To say that the Goblins were upset would be the understatement of the century. After finding and destroying the abomination in the Ministry wizards' presence, they launched a bank-wide audit to discover any more such dark items, if possible.
Meanwhile, she sent a letter to Harry with her elf to ask him to let his Godfather know about Pettigrew's capture and that if he would appear at Hogwarts, and allow himself to be interrogated under Veritaserum there, he could become a free man that day itself.
Harry was ecstatic. He was going to owl Sirius but then remembering the Messenger Patronus last night and Dumbledore's instructions, he decided to try it. Everyone was awed when the Stag Patronus came out and went right through the temporary classroom wall in the Great Hall. After he had sent off his Patronus, he quickly approached Prof. McGonagall and informed her.
He also spoke briefly with Prof. Snape who only promised that he would not start anything with Black.
Soon, at lunchtime, a black dog appeared along with Prof. Lupin at the entrance to the Great Hall, and Harry, screaming "Padfoot", soon had his arms wrapped around the dog's neck. He then sent a messenger Patronus to Madam Bones who promptly appeared in the Great Hall with her guard and a Mediwizard. She had been given a two-way portkey by the Headmaster the last night.
At Harry's urging, Sirius transformed leaving the people around in awe of him. The reaction of a certain pair of redheads though was different. They were star-struck at being in the presence of two of the Marauders whom they considered their heroes.
Soon, Sirius was interrogated and proven to be innocent. Harry and his friends gave a loud cheer but the fact that the twins cheered even more loudly and were dancing together confused Sirius. Harry's friends and Remus had a knowing smile on their faces though. Then, both Sirius and Remus were brought up to speed on what had happened last night. Sirius immediately not only claimed the guardianship of his godson but also asked that the Dursleys be charged with child neglect, abuse, and endangerment. Also, he asked Amelia to charge Dumbledore with child endangerment and neglect and Snape to be put on probation for bullying of students and showing favoritism which he knew had resulted in the lowest Potions scores since he joined as a teacher.
Dumbledore still thought that things could not have been as bad as Sirius thought regarding the Dursleys and also was defensive about Snape. When he said so, Sirius pleaded with Harry to show them memories from his life at the Dursleys and of his classes with Snape too. Sirius had learned certain things from Remus who had been the DADA teacher the previous year.
Snape was already looking ashamed.
Harry was reluctant to show memories related to Dursleys where others might eavesdrop. So, they once more returned to the antechamber where Amelia quickly set up the privacy wards and unshrunk her Pensieve. Snape was also asked to step in.
Harry put several memories in it, and then Amelia tapped the runes.
The result was not pretty. Both Snape and Dumbledore were overcome by an immense amount of shame, guilt, and shock, the former because of his treatment of his best friend's son whom he always assumed to have lived a spoilt and pampered life, and the latter, because, his decisions had resulted in the boy going through Hell. Remus looked like he would not need to transform to rip them both apart. Prof. McGonagall seemed all set to lend him a hand as well.
Amelia was also all set to agree to Sirius's wishes, incensed as she was after seeing the memories and that was when Harry spoke.
"I would rather have the syllabus of Muggle Studies and the conditions here improved and the eyes of the Purebloods opened regarding the Muggle world and the Muggle-born rather than have the Headmaster sent to Azkaban. Because imprisoning him would achieve nothing, instead making it harder for us to bring the changes that we want to see because he has been known to champion Muggle-born and Squib rights."
Dumbledore was surprised that he was still being given a chance to atone after the life he put Harry through.
"What changes, Harry?" asked Sirius.
Prof. McGonagall told him about the discussion related to Muggle Studies and related topic which had been left out earlier.
Amelia was then quick to suggest putting both Dumbledore and Snape on probation and Sirius agreed, saying that he would also take the Black seat on the Board of Governors to keep an eye and the seat on the Wizengamot to help things along.
Then, with the promise of resuming their last night's discussions related to Muggle culture in the evening, Harry was sent off to his remaining classes.
As soon as he left, and the privacy wards were re-established, Prof. McGonagall coldly ripped into Snape and Dumbledore, which was far worse than being shouted at, by her.
Seeing the memories and being called monsters for Snape's maliciousness towards Harry due to his petty schooltime grudge against James Potter, and Dumbledore's neglect in Harry's upbringing left both feeling quite hollow and questioning themselves, 'When had they become so abhorrent?'
That's all for this one, folks. Hope you like it. Hopefully, see you soon with the next chapter!