DISCLAIMER! This Harry Potter story was written for fun. All rights belong to the wonderful lady (JK Rowling) who gave the world Harry Potter to read and enjoy. Looking forward to the next movie! Yeah, fanfiction is a great place to stretch your imagination and enjoy someone else's creativity!
Chapter 12: After Shocks of the Third Task. Evening of 24 June 1995"Mademoiselle Delacour, what happened to you?" asked Madame Maxime. The formidable half-giant headmistress kept her wand in her hand and kept her eyes on Albus Dumbledore, Cornelius Fudge, and the British Aurors.
Amelia Bones directed everyone, "Wands down! Merlin-be-damned! Everyone! Lower your wand!"
"Now, Amelia, there's no need to be rude to our guests," Albus said. "If they're more comfortable holding their wands in such an aggressive pose, we should…"
"They're all aiming their wands at you, headmaster!" Amelia declared. (While this was not totally true, Director Bones bent the facts to her benefit since every other politician in Britain did).
Fleur pointed toward the wizard under her foot and said, "This miserable British rat-faced wizard is named Peter Pettigrew."
There were screams and shouts, denials and declarations of the wizard being dead for thirteen years before the champion continued, "He made me a prisoner while he performed a resurrection ritual for your Lord Flees-From-Death."
Again, the screams, shouts, and loud denials, especially from Cornelius Fudge, the Minister for Magic. Albus Dumbledore kept his expression sombre, but everyone could see the twinkle in the wizard's eyes had returned after being absent for several weeks.
"This rat-wizard stole my blood to use in the ritual," Fleur declared and unleashed a storm of curses from her parents, the French government officials, and the French Aurors.
Amelia held her Aurors back while the Blue robed Aurors rushed closer for a quick interview and then a half dozen of them departed using the portkey on the substitute goblet. Madame Delacour's wand passed over her daughter several times, and a health report was generated on a sheet of parchment. Monsieur Delacour joined Madam Maxime with his wand pointed at the headmaster, a trembling British Minister for Magic, and other British officials. The stadium was largely silent, everyone straining to hear the conversation on the judges' stand.
"Perhaps Miss Delacour will tell us what happened," Dumbledore suggested while a French Auror took custody of Peter Pettigrew.
When the French Auror placed handcuffs on the wizard (while also cauterizing the arm where the hand had been amputated), Cornelius Fudge asserted himself and declared, "Here now, that wizard is a hero! You can't do that!"
Without another word, a second Auror in blue robes joined the first and they vanished with the prisoner.
"Come back with our prisoner…er…hero!" ordered Cornelius, while Amelia shook her head, and Dumbledore cast a wordless silencing spell on the minister.
'That used to be so easy to do,' Dumbledore complained to himself. 'Now, I'm winded just shutting that man down for ten minutes.'
The headmaster said, "Miss Delacour, I apologise for Minister Fudge's outburst. Please continue."
The champion of the Tri-Wizard Tournament explained, "It was in a cemetery, and that wizard had a homunculus of some wizard's spirit that gave orders to conduct the ritual. The rat-face used the bone of some dead man bone. Then he cut off his own hand as the spirit's servant before he stabbed my arm to take my blood and threw it into the giant cauldron. Finally, rat-face dropped the homunculus into the cauldron and called for his dark lord to rise again."
"What happened?" begged Dumbledore.
There was a loud POP, as two blue-robed Aurors returned. One shouted, "British come! Vite! Vite!"
Bones and two Aurors ran forward as the two Aurors popped away with the trio of three British Aurors. Remus Lupin kept his wand in his hand with a shield ready to cast around the children seated with Harry and Padfoot.
"I hope the Aurors are okay," Harry muttered while he also hoped the Dark Lord was dead.
Fleur took a deep breath and said, "A creature rose from the cauldron! Rat-face tried to bring back a wizard, but they used the blood of a witch with Veela blood. Your Lord Flees-From-Death came back with bright yellow chicken feet, feathers along both arms, a top knot of feathers, and down-covered bottom."
Dumbledore looked puzzled, many people in the crowd snickered hearing the description of the dark lord's faulty resurrection, and Cornelius Fudge had a moment of inspiration. He cleared his throat before he declared, "Well, I think I understand what's happened here. Miss Dellarora is a hysterical female, probably under influence of a potion to deal with her monthly visitor. The Dark Lord cannot come back, and this witch is just an insane Frenchwoman."
Fudge took one step closer, pulled a bag of galleons from an expanded pocket in his robes and said, "Here, take your thousand galleons. Now go buy some cheese and wine to deal with your headache."
Thinking the young witch would disappear and allow wizards to deal with the situation, Cornelius turned his back on Fleur Delacour and began to walk away. In the crowd, several British witches counselled their husbands that this was an error on the minister's part. But most of the wizards dismissed the warning from their wives reminding them, "She's a creature…not even a full witch. She doesn't matter."
Everyone in the stadium heard the shriek of outrage from Mademoiselle Delacour and everyone saw the series of fireballs thrown from her palms to blast Cornelius Fudge into the air and scatter the British Aurors in fourteen different directions (many vertically and out in a blossom arrangement like a fireworks display).
Madame Maxime and the Delacour family pushed their way through the crowd to make their way to the Beauxbatons pumpkin carriage. With the Abraxan horses quickly harnessed, the pumpkin rose in the air and then disappeared.
Amelia Bones and all the Aurors returned almost an hour later when most of the spectators had dispersed. The scent of burned grass and expensive robes hung in the air making the Director of the DMLE uneasy. The disappearance of all the French officials, Aurors and the Delacour family was also worrisome. The French Aurors respectfully declined to accompany Bones and her Aurors back to London and they agreed the body of the wizard they'd recovered at the sight of the resurrection could remain in the custody of the DMLE.
The French Aurors hurried beyond the wards of Hogwarts and vanished as they began a series of portkey and apparition movements to reach Ireland that night. Only after sunrise the next day would they travel to the southern coast of Ireland and apparate to Brittiany, to avoid landing in any territory that might belong to Magical Britain.
DATE: Monday 26 June 1995The next morning, another set of headlines in France detailed the evidence found at the site of the resurrection ritual. The two Aurors who took Bones to the site of the ritual shared their memories and with the memory photographs from Miss Delacour documented the arrival of the wizard now identified as Barty Crouch, Jr. who battled Dark Lord Coq (as dubbed by the French newspapers for his tendency to crow while speaking). Crouch died as a result of the duel with the chicken wizard and his body had been left behind by the homunculus when it fled the scene.
Copies of the French newspapers for the last two days were handed out in London, driving Cornelius Fudge into a frenzy. When Amelia Bones refused to issue the international warrant to arrest Miss Flower Dellarora of France, Fudge fired her. Then the minister promoted Rufus Scrimgeour to the position of Director of the DMLE and the wizard did issue the warrant. The new director forwarded the document to the Department for Magic in Paris and to the ICW.
Amelia Bones, her niece and the Abbot family left Britain for an extended vacation in America that morning. At the same time, Albus Dumbledore was trying desperately to calm matters between France and Britain, but he was rebuffed by Cornelius and all foreign officials. The British minister for Magic met with his new director of the DMLE to plan a foray into France to capture the dangerous Miss Flower Dellarora. While they met in the minister's office, official documents arrived in London that the Magical Government of France had declared war on Magical Britain.
All British magical nationals in the magical areas of France had to register immediately with the government. British portkeys and floos were interrupted, travellers were detained, and merchandise was seized. The surrounding nations of Ireland, Belgium, Netherlands, Germany, and Italy expressed sympathy for French wizards and closed their borders as well. (The interdiction is only for magical travel and trade. It didn't apply to muggle transportation or business. But wizards (and goblins) in Britain don't do business with muggles.
In less than an hour, Magical Britain was isolated from the rest of the magical world.
DATE: Harry's Summer: Morning 25 June 1995The last morning at Hogwarts before boarding the Hogwarts Express to travel to London and disperse to begin their summer holiday, the students gathered in the Great Hall for breakfast. Their packed trunks would wait in their dormitories for them to collect and carry to the train.
While the other students were allowed to eat in peace, McGonagall collected Harry Potter from the Gryffindor table and brought him to the front of the Great Hall. In a partially effective privacy bubble (the headmaster's power was certainly noticeably failing this June), Dumbledore instructed Harry that he had to return to the house at No.4 Privet Drive for the summer.
"The Dark Lord has returned, and he'll be hunting you for certain! Only behind the wards around your aunt's home will you be safe this summer."
Harry frowned but didn't argue so Dumbledore repeated himself, "You will go back to your relatives in Surry!"
Continuing to frown Harry grumbled, "Okay. But leave me alone! If I see any strange wizards or witches hanging around, I'll call the DMLE and get 'em arrested for muggle baiting."
Pleased to have finally won an argument with someone, Dumbledore smiled and said, "I agree"
However, both the old wizard and the teenage wizard knew the headmaster's promise was worthless. Dumbledore already planned for members of the Order of the Phoenix to guard the house to ensure that none of the Death Eaters showed up as well as keeping Harry confined for the entire summer.
Harry trusted that Uncle Moony had a plan ready to hide the neighbourhood from the stupid magical people who followed Dumbledore. The breakfast ended soon after and the students ran to their dormitories for their trunks before heading toward the train.
"Dobby!" Harry called out when he was alone in a hallway.
The elf appeared and handed Harry his shrunken trunk to carry to the train.
"Uh, thanks Dobby. What did you do with the computers and printers?" Harry asked. "Where are Pinemeddle, Flower and Oakleaf?"
"They's be working for Missy Hoggiewarts today and every day this summer. Theys gots to teach elves how to use Mr Harry Potters magic mirror to copy books and scrolls and letters and journals from Merlin and founders into computers this summer."
"So Hogwarts is keeping the computers?" asked Harry.
Dobby nodded and added, "Theys be her computers now and Dobby think that Pinemeddle, Flower, and Oakleaf likes being her Computer Elves."
The trip from Scotland to London took the same number of hours as always but Harry found that the time flew passed with his friends visiting and his opponents avoiding him. The Weasleys appeared to have settled in a different part of the train from the compartments where the students from the study group gathered. There was an exchange of muggle postal addresses, and suggestions of books to read over the holiday after having some fun each day. Harry noticed that Hermione was very quiet but pleasant with everyone though she offered a few valuable ideas for summer study.
'Hermione is an excellent Slytherin, Ravenclaw, or Gryffindor. It's just the Hufflepuff part she's missing,' Harry decided. 'Maybe we can help each other with that next year.'
Afternoon 25 June 1995, Dursley Polyjuice PantsAt King's Cross Station, Harry said goodbye to his friends and went in search of 'Uncle Vernon'. There were several strange-looking wizards hanging around the train station – one young witch with pink hair Harry recognized from the Daily Prophet, and a wizard who might be the real Alastor Moody. Harry thought about asking the man if he was 'real' but decided to not kick a sleeping dragon.
Outside the portal, the Creevey parents walked away with their sons and the Grangers hurried out with Hermione. Then Harry saw Uncle Vernon waiting with a black poodle in his arms.
'A poodle? Did Padfoot turn into a poodle this week?' wondered Harry. The dog wiggled in the man's arms and insisted on going to the teenager. Once the teen lifted the dog off the ground, Padfoot proceeded to lick Harry's face nonstop for almost two minutes.
"Someone is very glad to see you, nephew," Vernon snickered as he carried Hedwig in her cage and Harry's bookbag with the shrunken trunk. Harry had to keep both hands on Padfoot to hold the dog firmly. Then the teenager felt the dog grow tense; looking around Harry saw the witch with pink hair had followed them out of the station. The poodle growled and snapped at the witch when she stepped closer.
"Back off witch," Harry growled, imitating the sounds the poodle made. Glancing at the dog he added, "He's been trained to sniff out witches and wizards. Pass along the word that the dog bites and you can't hide under an invisibility cloak either."
"Harry, get in the car!" Uncle Vernon gruffly ordered.
"Wait, Harry! You have to be careful! The Dark Lord returned, and Death Eaters will be looking for you. You must stay inside with your aunt and uncle this summer."
Rolling his eyes and not trying to hide his exasperation with the magical folk, Harry asked, "Who are you?"
The witch replied, "Dora Tonks."
Harry sneered, "That's right. I've seen your picture in the Daily Prophet. You're an Auror, aren't you?"
"Uh, yeah…"
"Great. Do you remember what the Champion of the Tri-Wizard Tournament said? Only one fellow showed up and he refused to bow down to the dark lord who looked like a large bird. She brought back Peter Pettigrew so it's just Lord Dark Chicken who can't get through the wards."
Harry continued, "There aren't any death eaters left. Now, I know your name and I'm going to send a complaint of harassment to Madam Bones and Mr Scrimgeour at the DMLE. And if my uncle's dog takes a bite out of a wizard sneaking around – or a witch – I'll bring the whole of the DMLE and the Daily Prophet down on their head!"
"You wouldn't? Dumbledore said…" Tonks protested. "He said the witch from France was confused."
"Nope, Fleur is a level-headed, powerful witch, and Madam Bones believed her. And I bet Madam Bones will be really interested to hear what you're doing in your off-hours. Stalking a teenage boy will look bad on your CV."
Shaking his head, Harry said, "Uncle Vernon always gets angry when the freaks come around Surry."
The pink-haired witch hurried back through the portal, and Harry imagined she was on her way to Hogwarts to speak to Dumbledore. Once they were in the car, Remus seemed to make random turns and drove about London for a time, to make certain they were not being followed.
"We have tickets for Paris in about a couple hours. Let's get something to eat before our train leaves," Vernon informed his nephew.
Stuttering, Harry asked, "What about the car?"
"I'll shrink it down in the car park and carry it in my luggage."
In the restaurant parking, Harry and Remus asked Hedwig if she wanted to fly to the continent or if she wanted to ride in her cage. The owl indicated she wished to fly so Harry immediately released her.
"We'll be heading for Zurich, Hedwig," Remus told the owl who hooted and flew away.
"What'll happen at Privet Drive when I don't show up?"
Remus grinned and Padfoot barked as he climbed into the carry sack he'd sit in while Remus and Harry ate at the outdoor restaurant.
"There's a devoted house-elf already there who can glamour himself to appear to be Harry Potter or Padfoot. Anytime a member of the Order of the Phoenix shows up, they'll either see you working in the yard or washing windows. And sometimes, the poodle will appear to bite them. He'll pull off the invisibility cloaks and disappear with them too quickly. The cloaks the order uses are usually borrowed from the DMLE so that'll be more problems for Dumbledore."
"Why are we going to Zurich? How are we travelling?"
"But we're going muggle, all the way to Switzerland. The ICW, goblins and dwarves want to meet with us about printers, printers, magic mirror glass, and spells."
"Is Madam Pence coming too?"
"Yes. She left earlier today to have an afternoon and then tomorrow morning at a spa before meeting us for lunch tomorrow."
Harry decided to wait to explain the latest developments with Hogwarts using the computers once Remus and Madam Pence were in the same room. Reaching over to rub Padfoot's head, he asked, "How long is the poodle going to be with us?"
"Padfoot seems to prefer the form of the miniature poodle. I think it's because his races for the ball take a little longer as a poodle than in Grim form."
The voice of invisible Dobby added, "Padfoot poodles eats fewer rubber balls and carries less fleas too!"
Padfoot growled and Harry imagined the dog knew exactly where Dobby sat or stood while the two wizards ate and slipped treats to the dog. After eating, they took the car to a covered car park at the St Pancras International Railway Station. There Remus shrank the vehicle down to toy size and slipped it into his luggage. They found the proper platform and just after 3:00 PM, their train left London for Paris via the new chunnel under the English Channel. There were no problems at Calais, and they transferred to another train in Paris for the overnight trip to Zurich.
DATE: Morning 25 June 1995The giant winged horses flew through the night pulling the Beauxbatons' carriage the length of Britain and then across the Channel. Just after dawn, the carriage landed in a field outside Calais. There the Delacour family and Madame Olympe Maxime met with officials from the French Magical Government. The rat-wizard had been secreted inside the Beauxbatons pumpkin by the Aurors, and once in France, they pumped the wizard full of veritaserum and got a confession of stealing blood from a French witch, helping to kidnap her, and then using her blood in an illegal resurrection ritual.
From Mademoiselle Delacour's memory, pictures of the ritual, and the homunculus that rose from the cauldron were gathered and printed in special editions of the afternoon papers across France and the rest of Magical Europe. Also printed were the comments of Cornelius Fudge insulting a French witch and dismissing her testimony.
In London, the British Ministry for Magic issued a statement that after winning the Tri-Wizard Tournament, Miss Dellarora assaulted the Minister for Magic. Cornelius Fudge demanded that the French Aurors arrest the harlot and turn her over to his government for trial. That same morning, the students left Hogwarts to return to their families for the summer.
The Daily Prophet covered the conclusion of the Tri-Wizard Tournament and included all of Minister Fudge's comments as well as photos of Miss Delacour and her prisoner up to and including the onslaught of fireballs. The final photograph in the paper that morning showed the pumpkin carriage disappearing in the night sky.
DATE: 25 June 1995 The Dark Lord's ProblemTom Riddle was alone. In a rare moment of lucidity, he realized that he'd always been alone, first in the orphanage, and then at Hogwarts. No one ever truly befriended him – once the purebloods were shackled to him by his tremendous power, they were followers but never friends. Now they were all dead or they'd found some way to ignore his summons.
Barty Crouch, Jr., his most devoted follower in a new generation of Death Eaters had turned against him! Called him a monster – the antithesis of a pureblood wizard with the blood of a creature in his veins. There'd been no way to subdue the wizard who dared to cast the Cruciatus curse on Lord Voldemort, and the organ exploding charm had worked exactly as described. Upon impact, the curse threw Barty back onto a monument in the cemetery with his stomach, intestines, liver, heart, and lungs all exploding from his chest and abdomen. The light had faded before Voldemort could come close to curse Barty's soul.
In the silence of the cemetery, Lord Voldemort realized that the witch had fled taking Peter, he was alone except for his familiar. Pettigrew had been a clumsy tool, but he'd worked faithfully and provided food and potions for the baby. Nagini could hunt for herself, but she could not provide food for the Dark Lord. Or potions! He needed potions to heal the cuts and curses that landed on him in the duel with Barty. Summoning Nagini who was reluctant to serve a bird, Lord Voldemort apparated from the cemetery in Little Hangleton headed south.
"I must collect my Horcruxes and find someone to perform the ritual again…different with a Horcrux or two to restore me to my human form and my true power!" he explained to the snake when they stopped. She glanced backwards and he understood the question. "We had to leave. Aurors will come sooner than later with the witch getting away with Pettigrew. And I can't use any of my father's bones again. That only works once."
DATE: 26 June 1995At the cave on a small island just off the coast, Dark Lord Bird left his familiar on the narrow beach and summoned the boat from the cave. He crossed the narrow strip of water and floated into the darkness. Summoning light, at the small island, he conjured a dog to drink the potion. After it lapped up the nightmare potion, the conjured animal snarled and bit Dark Lord Bird in the arm. Voldemort banished the beast and tried to heal his arm – another wound that refused to heal completely. The use of so much magic forced the homunculus to sleep for a time.
Deserted by the wizard and left on the sand at the bottom of a cliff, Nagini sought the heat of the sands on a hot beach. The giant snake stretched out just before a large wave swept across and bashed her on the rocks. Struggling to escape the ocean water and dealing with the pain of several broken ribs, the snake lifted her head. Her tongue could taste grass above the beach, and she sought a path up from the beach. But the sand slipping into her scales irritated her and she could not cling to the sides of the rocks for even a second to move up. The salt and sand irritated her eyes and tongue. Nagini fell back onto the rocks to be bashed about by the rising tide. Without any success with climbing, the snake attempted to escape by swimming through the ocean, but the waves and tide pull her under. Nagini drowned and the residue of the dark lord's soul left inside her faded away. The strong current pulled the carcass out to sea where sharks tore it apart.
When he woke in the cave where the infirni waited under the water, Dark Lord Voldemort discovered the tide had turned and soon he would be trapped inside the cave for hours. Grabbing the locket from the basin, he hurried across the water and out of the cave. The incoming tide made the short boat ride uncomfortable. Once again on the shore, the Dark Lord discovered his familiar was gone – there was no trace of the giant snake, and the waves covered the whole of the beach where he'd left her. Expending considerable energy, he levitated himself to the land above the beach and found no sign of her. Scrying for her revealed nothing as did a 'point me' spell that simply left his wand sitting still.
The loss of his new familiar bothered Lord Voldemort because he'd left a piece of his soul in her body when he left to inhabit the infant homunculus. Worse still, when he pulled the locket from a pocket in his robes, he discovered it was not Slytherin's locket and not his Horcrux. A note from Regulus Black taunted the dark lord who cursed the air before hurrying away.
DATE: 27 June 1995Because his power had never fully returned, the Dark Lord Coq was forced to apparate with short jumps while remaining invisible from the south of England to his mother's home at Little Hangleton. Among the ruins of the Gaunt family home, he recovered the family ring that he slipped into a pocket. He found a nearby farmer's orchard and gorged on early apples. That night he climbed into a tree as soon as the sunset and slept until dawn.
DATE: 28 June 1995Residents in Little Hangleton awoke the next morning to the raucous and awfully loud crows of some deranged rooster. Three different farmers thought the disturber of the peace was in their henhouses and three roosters went into the stewing pots later that morning. Lord Voldemort practically flew away from the town when he realized he had been trying to sing with the birds when dawn came.
'I have got to gather at least Horcruxes and perform another resurrection ceremony! I'll go insane if I keep crowing!' he confessed to himself. 'At Hogwarts, I can recover the diadem and with the ring, I can use any wizard as a host to correct this problem! I know it will work.'
That day, he made slow progress and nightfall found him among the ruins of Hadrian's Wall, the Roman construction that marked the border between Roman England and the barbarian Picts of the north. In a hollow where a watchtower once stood, the Dark Lord perched for the night. He'd found nothing to eat that whole day.
DATE: 29 June 1995In the morning, Dark Lord Voldemort was distracted by hunger pains in his stomach. The apples from two days before were long gone. Weak from hunger, Dark Lord Coq succumbed to his own curse that was filled with false promises and slipped the Gaunt Family ring on his finger.
The withering curse was particularly effective against the magically constructed body and as the two pieces of Tom Riddle's soul competed for domination, the body fell apart. The two pieces of his tattered soul continued to fight and called out for the other pieces to join them. The diadem in Hogwarts fell apart as the soul piece fled. Slytherin's locket and Hufflepuff's cup each melted away as their captive pieces of Riddle's soul vanished. And in distant Zurich, Dobby woke Remus Lupin to come and see Mr Harry Potter whose scar had erupted with black blood and smoke while the young wizard sat at early breakfast.
The explosive use of magic in the national park that included Hadrian's Wall was ignored by the Ministry for Magic. The equipment appeared to be functioning properly, but the Aurors and office workers fled their offices because they were under attack by an army of ICW soldiers, French Aurors, and a few Muggle-born members of Her Majesty's Armed Forces. The Department of Mysteries had been sealed off just before there were a series of muffled explosions. None of the Unspeakables came to aid in defence of the ministry. Director Scrimgeour and the last Aurors fought a rear-guard while Minister Fudge and Undersecretary Diggory escaped into the sewers under London.
The Ministry for Magic fell as the last remnants of Tom Riddle's soul dissipated among the ruins of Roman ambitions.
End of Chapter
Only Two More Chapters in this Story
