Whodunit
The Daily Prophet's reaction came quicker than anyone had expected. The next morning, while the Hogwarts students were having their breakfast in the Great Hall and the post owls came rushing in, the newspaper's subscribers once again found themselves surrounded by curious schoolmates:
"TERROR AT HOGWARTS!
Four attacks on students with a non-magical background within a few days. One victim medically treated after Stunning Spell.
As has only now become known, there has been a series of attacks at Hogwarts in the last few days, which have so far been withheld from the public. All victims are students of non-magical descent. Most recently, a student was hit and injured by an ambush Stunning Spell last night.
The main suspects are several Slytherin students who have been proven to have cast a Stunning Spell. Among the suspects are Roy MacAllister, Julian Lestrange and Ares Macnair, who are considered to be Neo Death Eaters, as well as Albus Potter, the son of Harry Potter, recently removed Head of Auror Department. No further information was available at the time of going to press."
Roy looked around and noted with relief that the students of the other houses, even the Gryffindors, were shaking their heads in disbelief and even amusement. While the Daily Prophet had unleashed a storm of hatred with its reporting one month ago, this time word had spread immediately that Barclay, an Auror and Gryffindor, believed the Incorruptibles to be innocent. Besides, no one had forgotten how they had dealt with Bernie's case.
Roy saw that Albus was still staring stunned at the article, walked over to him and said: "Never mind. Anyone who is not slandered in this paper is living wrong!"
Albus looked up. "Thank you. But what worries me most is that they are dragging my dad into it."
"Yes," Roy mused, "that's interesting, indeed ..."
He couldn't pursue the idea because someone tapped him on the shoulder from behind. It was his Gryffindor colleague Ethelbert.
"Well, Mr Neo Death Eater?" he chaffed. Both laughed. Roy saw that Victoire had also joined them and that the Prefects of the other houses were coming over.
"I just want to make clear," Victoire said hastily, "that James didn't do it, nor did I, and I don't think it was anyone else from our house."
Roy bit back a grin. The fact that the Gryffindors were now more suspicious than the Slytherins was an absurdity that James had brought upon his house.
"No one is assuming that, Weasley," he said, slightly patronisingly, "but since they have not been caught, we've got another problem, namely ..."
"... to protect the Muggle-borns," Victoire added promptly.
The rest of the Prefects, who were now complete, nodded.
"We can't do much more," Roy said, "than to ensure that every Muggle-born student is always accompanied by two or three peers, who should look behind themselves from time to time. I suppose that the Headmistress will give instructions over the day anyway. Otherwise," he shrugged, "all we can do is to keep our eyes open and wait to see if Barclay finds out anything."
The Prefects left. "Albus?" asked Roy.
"I've overheard, we won't leave Bernie alone again, I promise!"
Roy bent down to him and said quietly so that no one else could hear: "Above all, you have to look after him. Of all the first-years, you are now the best trained, thanks to DA."
Albus smiled flattered. "OK!"
When Roy returned to his seat, Patricia was waiting for him, ignoring Arabella's suspicious glances.
"Anything else?" asked Roy businesslike.
"And who will look after you?" asked Patricia. "You're Muggle-born, too."
"They won't touch me, the Daily Prophet is still in need of me as a Neo Death Eater and devil-in-chief."
"Stop making silly jokes," Patricia said quietly and sadly, "I'm worried about you."
Roy was a little embarrassed. Since their last private conversation, they had avoided each other as far as possible and had only talked about school matters, and even that only when they couldn't avoid it. Though really intelligent in any other respects, in emotional matters he actually was the idiot Julian said he was. It therefore took him a moment to realise that Patricia was telling him that they were still friends, despite what had happened. When the penny finally dropped, he smiled at her and said:
"You're right, thank you. I'll make sure of it." They nodded to each other and Roy sat down. "So, you may have heard ..."
"You spoke very low, and I'm not eavesdropping on a tête-à-tête," Arabella interjected sarcastically, while looking grimly at Patricia who was heading to the door of the Great Hall.
Roy waited until she had turned back to him and looked into her eyes for a moment longer than necessary. "I am of Muggle descent and therefore need a babysitter. Will you do that, Arrie?"
Arabella turned pink, but then raised her nose and said coolly and emphatically condescendingly: "I don't know if you deserve it, but all right, if you insist ..."
The faked coolness did not prevent her from flushing even more when Roy gave her – and did so for the first time – the kind of glance he had so far reserved for Patricia.
Albus was about to walk past them with Scorpius and Bernie when Roy twitched at his robe: "Back in our room tonight at seven," said he so quietly that Bernie and Scorpius couldn't hear. "Please ask your dad by owl to come, if possible. Otherwise, proceed as usual, and be particularly careful making sure that the coast is clear."
"I'll send one to my parents anyway," Albus murmured back, "otherwise they might think I've been caught." He went on with the other two.
"Are you really one of the Incorruptibles now?" asked Scorpius.
Albus sighed. "Actually, it's not supposed to be on the big news, but thanks to the Daily Prophet, it's known anyway, so yes I am."
"Cool! And you are really practising Stunning Spells?"
"Among other things. We are practising virtually anything that has anything to do with self-defence. But please don't talk to anyone about it."
"Of course we don't," chorused Scorpius and Bernard.
"But I'd like to join you," Scorpius added.
Albus hesitated. Roy had mentioned before that the group needed fresh members, because apart from Orpheus, they were all in their next to last year at Hogwarts, Ares even in his last. In theory, Scorpius was a first-class candidate: He was clever, discreet, a reliable friend and – unfortunately, given Hermione's policies, one had to think of something like this – could use his family's excellent contacts. On the other hand, Albus couldn't and didn't want to involve him in Roy's and Harry's plot of a coup d'état, and the others wouldn't have allowed him to do so.
"I'd like you to join," he said truthfully, "and I'm sure the others would too, but it's not going to happen this year, I joint them myself rather by chance. Next year it will be different." If everything goes well, he thought.
"Why next year?" grumbled Scorpius.
Albus stopped. "Really, it's impossible," he said in a low voice. "Please just trust me and don't insist."
Scorpius gave him a long and thoughtful glance.
"OK," said he finally.
That evening, Harry Apparated in the secret room with Ginny, who had brought her broom, as she wanted to continue decorating the hiding place for Hermione together with Albus. Both of them hugged their son briefly, then let him describe the events of the previous evening in great detail.
"The Daily Prophet's reaction is rather strange," Ginny finally said. "The first point is that in their morning edition they issued information about the charges against you, although these charges did not exist before ten o'clock in the evening. To make it into the paper, the news had to reach their office by midnight at the latest, which is their deadline, but actually earlier. It cannot have been brought by an owl."
Harry continued her thought. "Someone must have apparated there directly, or used a Patronus or an enchanted mirror. Only few can conjure a Patronus, magic mirrors are very rare, so direct Apparating is the most probable way. – Who knew that you were suspect?"
"All the Slytherins and all the teachers, no one else," answered Arabella for the others.
"At least it is comforting," said Ginny, "that no Gryffindors have their fingers in the pie. The Slytherins couldn't have done it either. So what's left is one of the teachers ..."
"Whoever did it," Roy said, "must have an interest in supporting Hermione's campaign against Hogwarts, McGonagall, and us, that's to say, it's probably one of her most ardent supporters or someone she sent here. Among the teachers, I am thinking of three: Barclay and Richardson because they were sent to Hogwarts by the Ministry, and Longbottom because he's a supporter of Hermione. I would rule out Longbottom because he was present all the time, so he couldn't have Disapparated, and with the best will in the world I can't imagine him being able to conjure a Patronus ..."
"Don't underestimate Neville," Harry interjected, "he is capable of far more than people would give him credit for. Nevertheless, it wasn't him. He wouldn't feed the press with Hogwarts internals, and certainly not in order to get students into trouble."
They all nodded. Longbottom's fairness and decency, even towards the Slytherins, were indeed beyond all doubt.
"And Barclay?" continued Harry doubtfully. "If he had wanted to blame you, he could have done so. Your alibis are soft alibis that you gave each other. He believed you because it was plausible and he has the instinct of an experienced investigator. But the pure evidence would have been sufficient to arrest you. If he had wanted to harm you, you would be in Azkaban by now."
"So who's left is Richardson," said Roy. "Interestingly, she disappeared at some point during the evening. I didn't pay attention to it, but it must have been after all the wands had been checked, that is, around eleven. She did not return until around midnight. She said she had gone for a walk. So she had the opportunity, and she had several motives at once: She's been sent by the Ministry, supports Hermione and doesn't like us ..."
"She does like me," Albus interrupted him.
"Right," said Roy. "And that's why it's so strange that she must have told them your name too. She could have kept it to herself."
"But honestly, Roy ..." Albus shook his head. "Do you really believe this nice, soft-hearted woman is such a dirty plotter?"
"Particularly," Orpheus mused, "as there are reasons to believe that the person who informed the press is the same person who cast the Stunning Spell. And by no stretch of the imagination do I believe Richardson could do that. She's not violent at all, and she's more Muggle-friendly than anyone I ever met."
"The informer and the attacker may or may not be identical," Roy objected. "As an informer, Richardson is the prime suspect, and when I think about it, it's not that odd that she revealed Albus' name. She's not harming you, Albus, she's harming Harry, and that's probably what the Minister wants, otherwise the Daily Prophet would have swept the information under the carpet."
"The irony is," Harry now remarked, "that Hermione is actually right with her paranoia. She cannot know that I am up to something against her, but she's still assuming I am, and she takes the first opportunity to harm me. The Daily Prophet wouldn't have dared to mention my name in this context without her backing. In addition, there have been several attempts in the last few days to break through the protective spells we've placed on our house, and these attempts have been quite sophisticated. I suppose Cesar, and that is Hermione, is behind it."
"And now that it is known that your son is one of us, she will suspect that there is a link between you and us, and again she is right in her paranoia," Ares said. "She will probably come up with something to get rid of all of us if possible. We shouldn't wait much longer with our plan. I know everyone should only know just as much as they need to know, but: Roy, is it still January?"
Roy nodded. "As far as I'm concerned, yes, it is. There are still a few issues to be resolved, but they are unlikely to disrupt the schedule. I probably can't speed it up, though."
"From my side, too, it will be January," Harry confirmed.
"Well, that's a good two months away. Damn long when you are targeted by the Ministry," Ares said gloomily. "The more so as we have to bear in mind that she has one, or probably two, agents at Hogwarts: Richardson and the one who stunned Bancroft."
"Probably an MSO agent," Harry said, "capable of getting in and out of Hogwarts undetected."
"What could be her next move," Roy asked, "if we assume she wants to take us all out?"
"Probably a new, even more violent attack," Harry said, "which will give her the opportunity to oust McGonagall and which, if possible, she will blame on you. Since we can't get ahead of her with our plan, we have to foil hers."
Harry looked at his watch. "McGonagall asked me to join her meeting with Barclay, maybe then we'll have a better idea of what's to be done. See you tomorrow evening for DA lesson as usual."