Chapter 11

On Tuesday morning Harry woke up with a belly full of dread and anticipation. As he lay in his bed, staring up at the blue curtains overhead, he wondered what would happen that day. If anything would happen at all.

Worst case scenario, no one showed up and every single person of authority in the wizarding world decided to ignore charges of sexual assault at their prized boarding school. Harry frowned while imagining this happening. Mulciber would still be punished, of course. His days were numbered and until his horrifying death he would be unable to get it up again and thus have a much harder time getting his rocks off with unwilling girls.

Best case scenario, everyone showed up, took statements and immediately arrested Mulciber and he'd be convicted to life in Azkaban before the week was over. Harry snorted in faint amusement. Yeah, that was a whole pile of wishful thinking, Harry knew that all too well. He'd seen how unfair the justice system was up close more than once during his previous life.

What probably would happen was that a single Auror, someone close to retirement perhaps, would show up, thinking he was there to expose some distasteful prank someone tried to pull by making false accusations against a fellow student. Thanks to the Cassandra Curse, however, Mulciber would sing as if his life depended on it and the Auror would have a full confession in his hands before the day was over. Thanks to the political power of the Mulciber family, they'd probably be able to keep dear Konrad out of Azkaban but he'd most certainly be expelled from Hogwarts. From there on he'd be stuck at home because most of polite society would shun him, not wanting to associate publicly with someone of such ill repute. And then he'd lose his mind and die a slow death.

Harry sighed and pushed the covers back. It was truly the best he could hope for, and he was satisfied with that result. He really was. And yet it did feel as though it wasn't public and brutal enough. Some part of Harry wanted Mulciber to pay in the most humiliating and public way one could think of. But Harry had worked for the Ministry and he knew what one realistically could expect of their kind of justice, so he resigned himself to a more subdued outcome.

Myrtle gave Harry a few very curious looks as they left Ravenclaw Tower and made their way down to the Great Hall for breakfast.

"How long?" Myrtle whispered, after she'd seemingly gathered enough courage to voice whatever was on her mind.

"What?" Harry asked, adjusting the strap of his bookbag over his shoulder. Harry was very pleased to note that Mrs Ashford's charm had worked miracles and his tights felt like second skin instead of a chafing torture device.

"How long have you and Tom Riddle been…you know," Myrtle whispered, cheeks flushing a blotchy shade of red.

Harry stopped walking halfway through the Entrance Hall and stared at his new friend while his mouth sank open. "I am absolutely not… you know… with Tom Riddle," Harry replied in a harsh whisper, horrified when his own cheeks flushed at the very thought of him and Riddle together. Yes, Tom was handsome and clever and charming and all that rot, but Harry was not going to hook up with his former enemy. That way lay absolute madness.

"But…but you're suddenly very friendly with him," Myrtle said, sounding genuinely flummoxed as she stared at Harry with wide eyes, her thick glasses unable to hide her surprise. "And you disappeared together yesterday."

Harry sighed and rubbed a hand across his face. "I met him by chance during the summer while he was working in a second-hand bookstore. And we'll have to spend plenty of time together this year because we're working on that Runes project together."

"Ah." Myrtle wrinkled her forehead in thought and then gave a tentative nod. "So he's still single?" This was said with a surprisingly hopeful note in her voice.

"Myrtle, he's your cousin," Harry replied in a disbelieving tone.

"Very distantly," Myrtle said quickly and she hurried to catch up with Harry as he marched inside the Great Hall, done with the subject of Tom fucking Riddle.

There was no news about the sexual assault accusations in the Daily Prophet, but that made sense since Harry hadn't sent off his letters until late the previous night. During the summer Harry had gotten himself a subscription to the Daily Prophet and he was grateful for that now since he could bury his face in the paper and ignore Myrtle and her ridiculous ideas. Not to mention Tom himself, who was giving her several weird looks from the Slytherin table, Harry saw from the corner of his eyes.

Ruby Baird had written another article about the ancestor potion, including a short interview with Fleamont about how popular the potion proved to be. She also talked to a handful of muggleborns about their results and the whole article read much like a fluff piece about long lost family and the need for muggleborns to fit into the magical world and how having familial bonds helped to accomplish that.

A few pages further Harry came across an anonymous opinion piece written by 'The Defender of True Wizards' about the kind of damage these arrogant muggleborns were doing to their world by claiming they were related to some of the most ancient pureblood families. Harry rolled his eyes numerous times as he read through the article. Of course there would be opposition from the pureblood extremists. It was to be expected. Harry hoped that the popularity of the potion, which Fleamont was ready to start selling in mainland Europe as well, would soon drown out most of those discriminatory voices, but he was also realistic enough to realize the purebloods were probably not going to take these new developments lying down.

Well, nothing that Harry could do about it now.

They had double Herbology with the Gryffindors, and Harry teamed up Myrtle, Annabel and Lukas to plant the bulbs of Hammering Hyacinths in many colourful pots. Their flowers, once they bloomed, contained small but rock hard cores they could use to defend themselves. Those cores were prized in potions so they had plenty of bulbs to get ready for blooming next spring.

Their professor, a tiny witch named Paula Fields who made Harry seem tall, walked around the classroom and offered everyone words of encouragement and gentle critique. After they left the greenhouse, Harry spotted a lone figure entering the castle. He only saw a glimpse of them from a fair distance away but Harry was sure they'd been wearing red Auror robes under their black cloak.

The Auror was here.

Good. Very good.

Harry chatted with Myrtle about the upcoming OWLs and tried to act as naturally as possible while they sat down for lunch. The only thing of note was that Mulciber, Slughorn and Dumbledore were all missing during lunch. Also, Tom kept shooting him those weird looks again. Harry had no idea what the man wanted with him, but since they had double Arithmancy after lunch Harry was sure Tom would say whatever he needed to say as soon as he could.

Harry was right. Again, Tom slid into the empty seat beside Harry at once, but this time he cast a few privacy charms around their desks while everyone was still finding their seats.

"Which curse did you use on Konrad?" Tom all but demanded while he stared at Harry with narrowed eyes.

"That's classified," Harry said in his sternest voice, though he couldn't hold back a small, amused smile as he busied himself with getting his book out of his bag.

Tom snorted and leaned even closer, his arm brushing against Harry's while his face was inches away. Harry imagined all the gossip that act alone would provoke. Male students usually didn't get up in the personal spaces of female students like that, at least not after a certain age.

"Konrad kept confessing to everything and anything all night long, yet he had no idea he was doing so. I'm not familiar with any spell or potion with such a strong effect. So, what sort of magic did you use?" Tom asked again, even more urgently this time, almost tripping over his words.

Harry finally glanced at him, face a stony mask. "Remember I told you my aunt is an Unspeakable?"

"Ah." Tom sat back a little and gave Harry a knowing look. "So that is the kind of magic they study there?"

Harry gave a careless shrug in response. Let Tom draw his own conclusions. When telling lies, Harry had learned over the years, it was best to say as little as possible while the other party filled in the blanks by themselves so whatever story they were hearing made sense in their own minds.

Their professor, Rosemary Driscoll, who was also Harry's Head of House, entered the classroom and everyone settled down. Tom cancelled the privacy charms with a discreet wave of his wand. Harry noted that he didn't utter a sound. It seemed that Tom had also already mastered the art of casting non-verbal magic, not that this surprised Harry.

Driscoll lectured them for a good half hour on everything they could expect for their upcoming OWLs and just as she told everyone to open their books to chapter one, the classroom door opened and the headmaster walked in.

Armando Dippet was an old man, slightly stooped, but his eyes were bright and still full of life. His usually smiling face was a mask of worry and regret, however.

"Would Harriet Hubble and Myrtle Warren please come with me? Pack your bags, girls, I doubt you'll make it back to class this afternoon."

Immediate whispers broke out all around them as Harry quickly put his book in his bag while avoiding Tom's inquisitive gaze. He'd expected a summons for himself, but he was genuinely surprised that Myrtle had been summoned as well. Had Mulciber assaulted Myrtle? Harry hadn't noticed anything about Myrtle's behaviour that suggested such a thing. Myrtle had indicated she knew Mulciber was bad news, but that was about it.

While they followed Dippet through the empty hallways, Harry was tempted to ask Myrtle but he couldn't give away that he knew what this summoning was even about. Dippet refused to answer any of their questions and simply told them to follow him as he led them to the first floor. He dropped Harry off at one door and then gestured Myrtle towards another one.

Harry entered the classroom and the first thing he saw was Charlus Potter in his red Auror robes, standing against the wall behind the teacher's desk, his face carefully blank. At the teacher's desk sat a female Auror, around Charlus' age, who gave Harry an encouraging smile.

"Miss Hubble, please take a seat," the female Auror said, waiving to one of the student desks. "We'd like to ask you a few questions."

"What's going on?" Harry asked, looking pointedly at Charlus Potter, but he ignored her question while his face gave nothing away. "Am I in trouble?"

"No, not at all. My name is Auror Beth Cox, and I'd like to ask you a few questions about Konrad Mulciber."

Harry didn't have to fake the dread that ran through his entire body. He felt the blood drain from his face as he sat down and stared at the desk, avoiding looking at the two Aurors. "I'll tell you, but only you, Auror Cox."

Auror Cox turned around and shared a few significant looks with Charlus Potter, who finally sighed and left the room, closing the door behind himself quietly. Harry did feel better talking to a female Auror he didn't personally know instead of a man who was for all intents and purposes distant family.

While offering Harry a sympathetic smile, Auror Cox tapped on a nearby quill to activate it so it would write down every word that was said from then on. "This is Auror Beth Cox interviewing Harriet Hubble, fifth-year Hogwarts student, in the case of Konrad Mulciber. Today is Tuesday, September 2nd, 1942 at 2 in the afternoon and we're at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry."

Harry was familiar with interview protocols, so he sat back in his chair and waited patiently until Auror Cox had everything ready, though he couldn't help tapping his fingers against the desk in a nervous gesture. He knew this had to be done, no matter how distasteful Harry found the idea of having to recount the rape of Harriet Hubble in detail.

"Harriet," Auror Cox said with an encouraging smile. "Has Konrad Mulciber ever hurt you?"

Harry nodded, eyes still fixed on the grainy surface of the desk. "Yes," he whispered and over the next hour, Auror Cox coaxed him to tell the whole story about how Mulciber hurt her exactly. Much to Harry's surprise, he couldn't hold back the tears while he was recounting how Mulciber had threatened Harriet's muggle family to keep her quiet. This hadn't happened to Harry himself, not really, but he had Harriet's memories, and he couldn't stop feeling her fear and pain while he recounted the events.

"Thank you," Auror Cox whispered while Harry was done with the worst of the story. "You're very brave to tell me all this."

Harry nodded in thanks, running a hand across his face to make sure any traces of his previous tears were gone. It was absurd, really, that recounting the horrible things that had happened to someone else had made him so unexpectedly emotional. Harry was a battle hardened Auror, for Merlin's sake. He'd seen much worse over the years. And yet speaking up for the crimes that had been committed against Harriet Hubble proved too much for him from an emotional standpoint. Harry mused that it probably had something to do with the injustice of it all. Harriet Hubble was dead, gone from this world by her own hand, because a scumbag like Mulciber hurt her more than she could bear. No matter that Harry was seeing to it that Mulciber would pay for his crimes. No amount of criminal justice would bring her back and that rankled Harry and his heightened sense of fairness and his craving for justice.

"Why didn't you talk to someone about this after it happened?" Auror Cox asked, not unkindly.

Harry gave her an incredulous look and sat back in his chair, crossing his arms loosely over his chest. "What's the protocol when it comes to interview minors, Auror Cox?"

Auror Cox blinked in surprise, apparently not having expected Harry to start questioning her. "Well, usually we ensure the parents of the minor child are present – "

Harry waved a hand around the room as if to ask where his parents were.

Auror Cox gave a nod of understanding. "The exception to that is muggleborns, since it is generally assumed their muggle parents are not familiar enough with the wizarding world to properly represent their children."

Harry's smile was sharp and cutting as he stared at Auror Cox. "Exactly. Magical law enforcement uses two different standards, one for purebloods and one for muggleborns. Now why should any muggleborn student expect magical justice to be any different?"

After a few moments of thoughtful silence, Auror Cox offered Harry a nod of understanding. "I realize that it can be more challenging to seek assistance for a muggleborn student."

There was a knock on the door before Harry could react, and Auror Cox called out for their visitor to enter. Charlus Potter opened the door and stepped through it with Dippet and Dumbledore on his heels.

Ugh. Harry really didn't want to deal with Dumbledore right at that moment. That man had done more than enough to ruin Harry's life the first time around.

"We're finished with the interview. Miss Hubble confirmed the accusations levelled against Konrad Mulciber," Auror Cox informed Charlus Potter.

Charlus briefly closed his eyes before he gave Harry a look full of regret and a lingering sense of fury. Harry imagined the man would like nothing more than to spend about ten minutes alone with Mulciber right about now, to avenge his own bloodline that had been harmed.

"Are you certain?" Dumbledore asked, much to everyone's obvious surprise. Dumbledore stepped up to Harry and stared down at him over his glasses. "Are you sure it was Konrad Mulciber and not Tom Riddle?"

"Professor Dumbledore," Charlus admonished with a snarl. "Miss Hubble has given her testimony. This is not the moment to question it."

"I am not questioning her, I assure you," Dumbledore said when he was, in fact, doing that very thing. "I am merely aware that most things that happen in Slytherin house, happen because Tom Riddle wants it to."

"Tom had nothing to do with this," Harry said through gritted teeth, anger coiling hotly in his belly. "He's my friend and he's never hurt me." That was stretching the truth a little for sure, considering their past, but Harry was genuinely taken aback by Dumbledore's insistence on seeing only bad things when it came to Tom.

Yes, once upon a time Tom had made some terrible decisions and that had resulted in many lives lost over the decades to come. But nowadays it was obvious for anyone to see that Tom was making better choices, was steering his life in an entirely new direction.

And yet Dumbledore insisted it had to be Tom Riddle who had done these unspeakable things, instead of the monster who was actually responsible for these crimes.

"Are we done here?" Harry asked, shoving his chair back before Dumbledore could make more baseless accusations.

"Yes, thank you, Miss Hubble," Auror Cox said, and without looking at anyone Harry hurried out of the room.

He was surprised to see Myrtle standing near another Auror in the hallway. Myrtle was drying her eyes with a handkerchief while the Auror, an older woman with short, grey hair, had a comforting hand placed on Myrtle's shoulder.

"Harriet," Myrtle said with a small hiccup, her eyes bloodshot behind her glasses.

"Myrtle," Harry said, still incredibly curious how Myrtle was involved in all this. "I hadn't realized Mulciber had hurt you, too." Harry was nothing if not a Gryffindor. He would forever barge ahead if he wanted something, like answers to his questions, no matter how delicate the situation was.

Myrtle hiccupped again. "Right before the holidays, he pushed me against a wall, shoved his hand between my legs and felt me up and promised he'd do worse this schoolyear."

At once Harry saw what had happened once upon a life. Why Myrtle had ended up spending so much time in the toilet crying in her fifth year, to the point that she'd been there when Tom had released the basilisk and she'd ended up killed by it.

Mulciber had made Myrtle one of his victims during fifth year. He'd raped her, perhaps even repeatedly, and Myrtle had been alone and friendless, bullied by her roommates, and she'd perhaps thought Mulciber wouldn't follow her if she spent all of her time hiding in the girls' loo.

Harry briefly closed his eyes as he suddenly was filled with sympathy for the wailing ghost he'd known in his previous life, not to mention a deep sense of shame as he remembered how he and Ron had made fun of her so often, coming up with ridiculous reasons why she loved crying so much.

Now Harry knew, and he was once again filled with a certain sense of satisfaction that he'd been able to change something about the future that would make Myrtle's life better.

"I'm glad he didn't get to you yet," Harry whispered while Myrtle stared at him with wide eyes.

"Did he…" Myrtle seemed unsure how to continue and she twisted the damp handkerchief between her fingers as she looked at Harry, her eyes filling with tears again.

Harry gave a single, sharp nod. "Once. Before the holidays."

"I'm so sorry," Myrtle wailed and instantly threw herself into Harry's arms.

Harry held her awkwardly, patting her on the back a few times while Myrtle cried into his shoulder. "There, there, it's fine. I mean, of course it's not fine, but I'm fine now. I'll be fine, at any rate. Mulciber will be punished for this, I promise."

Myrtle needed a few long minutes to collect herself, but Harry didn't mind because his thoughts kept going back to that crying ghost he'd once known and who'd been failed by Hogwarts just like so many other students. Riddle may have killed her, but no one of the staff had wondered why a girl had spent all her time in a bathroom, hiding and crying, during an entire schoolyear.

"Come on, let's go to the Great Hall. I'm sure classes are finished anyway," Harry murmured when Myrtle finally pulled back.

Unfortunately they didn't make it very far before Dumbledore, Dippet and Charlus caught up with them. Harry increased his speed at once, trying to make a quick escape while Myrtle hurried at his side to keep up with him. But Dumbledore seemed determined to talk to him again and also kept up, their shoes all clacking against the stone floors at an increasing pace.

"Miss Hubble," Dumbledore said, and when Harry studiously ignored him, he called again, "Miss Hubble, a moment of your time, if you please."

They reached the Entrance Hall, where several students were lingering while others hurried inside the Great Hall for a hot cup of tea and some biscuits after classes had finished. Harry finally stopped walking and whipped around, glaring up at Dumbledore.

"Yes, Professor?" Harry said in his frostiest tone.

Dumbledore politely ignored Harry's obvious hostility. "I merely wanted to express how sorry I am for your troubles, Miss Hubble," Dumbledore said, his expression suitably saddened. "I wish you'd come to me or one of my colleagues before any Aurors had to get involved."

Harry stared at his old mentor in complete disbelief, the hot anger that had been coiling in his abdomen finally spilling over. "Don't pretend you care," Harry snarled with much more force than was necessary.

"Pardon me?" Dumbledore looked at Harry with wide eyes full of genuine shock, as though this was the first time a student had ever addressed him in such an accusatory tone of voice. Who knew? It might very well be the case.

"Don't pretend you care about any of us muggleborn students," Harry continued, on a roll now that he was voicing so many of the grievances he'd developed when it came to his beloved Hogwarts. "We all know what happened to Ellen Mueller!"

Harry's voice rang around the Entrance Hall in the dead silence that had fallen around them. Students stopped walking and stared at the display before them, faces pale with shock at hearing that name spoken out loud. Everyone knew what had happened to Ellen Mueller, but no one ever spoke about her in public.

Well, Harry figured, it was about time someone did.

"Miss Hubble, what happened to Miss Mueller was a tragedy, but I do not see what it has to do with your situation," Dumbledore said, glancing around the hall, taking in all the students who were watching them openly.

Harry spotted Tom walking up, since he was difficult to miss thanks to his height. Tom gave her a questioning look, but Harry ignored him. "I assure you, Ellen Mueller has more in common with me than you might believe. Gawain Macmillan repeatedly raped her and no one here cared a damn about her. No one on the staff was willing to do a single thing to save her, so the only way out she could see was to hang herself in a broom closet. That is, if Gawain wasn't the one to hang her in the first place."

Dead silence. Dumbledore's face had turned ashen while he stared at Harry, his mouth opened.

Harry glared at Dumbledore, eyes full of righteous fury. "And you couldn't even be bothered to involve the authorities because Ellen was just another muggleborn. Instead, you covered it all up!"

At once every person there started whispering and talking and shouting and Ellen Mueller's name was on everyone's lips and tongues and Harry felt a warm rush of satisfaction that people were finally acknowledging her horrible fate out in the open.

"Excuse me," Charlus Potter said, as he stepped up to Harry and Dumbledore, a dark frown on his face. "Is any of this true, Harriet?" He turned to Dumbledore. "Professor, did you seriously cover up a crime here at Hogwarts?"

Oh crap. Harry swallowed against a sudden bout of nerves. He'd completely forgotten that his Auror relative was listening to his speech as well.