Thank you for all the reviews/responses to the previous chapter!
And here's Rita's article.
Interlude: Minister Illegally Kidnaps Child
The Daily Prophet
September 1st, 1994
MINISTER ILLEGALLY KIDNAPS CHILD
Brother of Boy-Who-Lived Abducted By Minister Fudge
By: Rita Skeeter
At approximately 1:30 in the afternoon yesterday, a pair of wizards working for Minister of Magic Cornelius Fudge abducted Harry Potter, 14, the elder twin brother of the Boy-Who-Lived, from the grounds of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
"They called themselves Hounds," said Potter. "They'd even named themselves after dogs. Grim was one, and Crup was the other."
He said that he'd been afraid when this reporter caught up with him yesterday.
"I didn't recognize either one of them," said the teen, who celebrated his birthday and his brother's only a month before his abduction. "But I think I could point them out again if I had to."
Potter described being brought to a blank interrogation room, where the Hounds explained their purpose to him. Essentially, it appears that the Minister of Magic has been granting the authority of a secret police to these Hounds, and that they are authorized to hunt down Dark wizards who have broken the new laws calling for Dark wizard registration.
As was widely reported last year by this very newspaper, Harry Potter is in possession of the rare Dark talent Parseltongue, which he used yesterday in Knockturn Alley to contain a quiver of deadly South African hive cobras.
"I'd had to register myself as a Parselmouth a few days before," explains Potter. The registration included a requirement that he stop using Parseltongue. Potter refused to sign this form on the grounds that it did not grant him equality under the law—no other registration requires that the Dark wizard in question stop using his or her talent—and left the Ministry.
It seems that the abduction was motivated by Potter's use of Parseltongue in Knockturn Alley.
"I spoke with the Minister," said Potter. "He told me that my situation was different because I might become a Dark Lord. I asked him why, and he said that because I'm a Parselmouth, I'm linked to You-Know-Who. Then he told me that he would give me a chance to prove my loyalty to the government of wizarding Britain."
Potter said that he was eager to take the chance, as he was bewildered and hurt by the Minister's accusations.
"I mean, I know that people are afraid of me because I'm a Parselmouth," said the fourteen-year-old, who is currently under the legal guardianship of Professor Severus Snape, who was not permitted to accompany him to the Ministry. "I just didn't expect that it would take any form this extreme. I thought I'd have a chance to go on trial in front of the whole wizarding world and answer the accusations against me fairly. I trust the Wizengamot. I'm sure they would come to the right decision."
The "test," described by Potter as Minister Fudge's replacement for Azkaban now that no Dementors attend the island, was a large silver sphere with holes in it, sitting on a tripod about three feet off the floor.
"Madam Umbridge told me that I would just have to put my hands on the sphere, and I would be given the chance to show my loyalty," said Potter. Madam Dolores Umbridge is the Special Assistant to Minister Fudge, who has overseen many of the new Dark wizard registration laws.
When Potter put his hands on the sphere, nothing happened at first. He said he could feel magic moving through him and binding his fingers in place, but as long as nothing hurt him, he trusted Minister Fudge and Madam Umbridge to do right by him.
"I knew I'd been brought there without my guardian, and rather suddenly, but I just couldn't believe they would really hurt me," he said.
The sphere, however, apparently tried to drain Potter of his magic. As Harry Potter is currently the most powerful young wizard at Hogwarts—second only to the great Albus Dumbledore, if we may take his explosion of magic on the Quidditch Pitch last November as sufficient testimony—this was quite painful for him.
"I drove the sphere's magic off and broke the sphere in so doing," said Potter. "That wasn't my intention. I think I frightened the Minister and Madam Umbridge with that, if they weren't already frightened before."
The Hounds tried to attack Potter at this point, but he says that he imprisoned them with Petrificus Totalus. "I didn't want to hurt them," he explains.
Minister Fudge stood in front of Potter, and Madam Umbridge behind. At this point, Madam Umbridge cast what was later identified, from the wound on Potter's back, as the Lamina Alba hex, last made famous when Bartemius Crouch authorized the Aurors to use it on Dark wizards during the War with You-Know-Who.
"I didn't know what it was," Potter admitted. "I just knew that it hurt like a small, concentrated dose of Cruciatus." Potter has experienced the Unforgivable Curse several times now, mostly at the hands of the Death Eaters who escaped from Azkaban in March and have so far eluded the Ministry's Aurors.
The sudden pain and the fear and anger that Potter himself was feeling inspired him with a desire to strike back. He turned and loosed some of his magic in the form of a snake at Madam Umbridge. "Since I'm a Parselmouth, the snake form just seems to come naturally to me," he said.
The snake paralyzed Madam Umbridge with several cold bites, while a second snake kept Minister Fudge from interfering.
"It was over in five minutes," said Potter. "Then I reversed the damage. Madam Umbridge can walk again. I would be sorry if she couldn't. I don't know why I did that. I was on overload, I think. I'd gone through an abduction, an interrogation, and the sphere in one day. I'm sorry." He shuddered when he spoke with this reporter. "And then I'd had to confront being called a Dark Lord. But that's no excuse for acting like one."
Potter was later rescued by the Head of the Auror Office, Rufus Scrimgeour, and the arrival of his guardian, Professor Severus Snape.
Potter said that he didn't particularly want the attention that he knew would follow from this article, but that he felt a duty, however reluctant, to inform the wizarding world of the truth.
"I just don't think that one boy can handle this alone," he told the Prophet. "I might be magically powerful, but there's a lot I don't know, and I don't trust myself to make the best decision, so I should submit to the judgment of my elders. The public should know, so they can make up their own minds."
Sources that asked to remain anonymous have confirmed many parts of Potter's story, including the removal of a large silver sphere that can drain magic and matches Potter's description of the device used on him from the estates of Starrise, a powerful Light wizarding family, several weeks ago, and Potter's abduction by two former Aurors, Gamaliel Gorgon and Falstaff Morologus, who were sacked for gross negligence of their duties.
Minister Fudge and Madam Umbridge have so far been unavailable for comment.
"I hope they speak up soon," said Potter. "I would love to know their justifications for what they did.
"I just hope they have a reason good enough to justify abducting a fourteen-year-old from his guardian. But I'm sure they do. After all, Minister Fudge is the Minister of Magic, and ultimately accountable to the whole of wizarding Britain, not just one young wizard."