36. The Parting Of Ways
Escape The Fate
Dumbledore stood up. He stared down at Barty Crouch for a moment with disgust on his face. Then he raised his wand once more and ropes flew out of it, ropes that twisted themselves around Barty Crouch, binding him tightly. He turned to Professor McGonagall.
"Minerva, could I ask you to stand guard here while I take Harry upstairs?"
"Of course," said Professor McGonagall. She looked slightly nauseous, as though she had just watched someone being sick. However, when she drew out her wand and pointed it at Barty Crouch, her hand was quite steady.
"Severus" - Dumbledore turned to Snape - "please go down into the grounds, find Cornelius Fudge, and bring him up to this corridor. He will undoubtedly want to question Crouch himself. Tell him I will be in the hospital wing in half an hour's time if he needs me."
Snape nodded silently and swept down the corridor and descended the stairs without a single word.
"Hold on..." Lillica, who also hadn't said a word in quite awhile, suddenly turned to Dumbledore. "'Stand guard'?" She repeated, staring hard at the headmaster, who gazed steadily back at her. "For Uncle Barty's son only, right?" She looked quickly from her mother, who was still sobbing quietly despite the comfort of the Patronus, and then back at Dumbledore. "Right?" She repeated.
"That is correct, Miss. Black, yes." Dumbledore nodded.
"Because, you can't punish Mum when all she was doing was protecting people like she always does," Lillica apparently hadn't heard what Dumbledore had said. "I mean, you can't start judging people when that Old Magic's involved, you know?"
"Lillica, he said it's fine." Teddy said quietly, and Lillica looked over at her.
"He said what now?"
Teddy repeated what she had just said.
The twins both looked over at Dumbledore.
"For your mother to have just done what she did," Dumbledore told them. "That is, to duel somebody with whom she is Bonded to via The Old Magic, shows a great amount of courage and determination to protect those around her. You should be proud of what she has done tonight."
"Professor Dumbledore..." Emma had finally looked up. Her eyes were red from crying, and a trickle of blood had started to harden on her forehead. She had bitten her lip so hard that it too was bleeding. She shook her head. "I don't...all I...if anyone deserves to be told that what they've done goes above and beyond...you should start with..." She looked over at Harry then.
Harry saw that Crouch's son was suddenly watching them.
Harry willed himself to look into his godmother's eyes, and saw nothing but a mixture of sadness, pain, understanding, and...love...
"I'm sorry...I'm so sorry that I didn't do my job properly...I didn't protect you. I couldn't shield you from any of it, I couldn't get there...I could only watch..." She whispered, and Harry felt a lump rising in his throat. "I know what happened to you in that graveyard, kid...I saw what they did to you, what they put you through..." Her voice cracked. "You are so strong, my godson, but..." She had started to bite at her lip again. "I swear that in a heartbeat I would go back in time and trade places with you...for me to be the one who was tied to that gravestone, and...for it to not have been you...Harry..."
Nothing in the world, not even his broken leg, could have stopped Harry from running to her then...
Harry walked between his godmother and Professor Dumbledore. A kind of numbness and a sense of complete unreality were upon him, but he did not care; he was even glad of it. He didn't want to have to think about anything that had happened since he had first touched the Triwizard Cup. He didn't want to have to examine the memories, fresh and sharp as photographs, which kept flashing across his mind. The fire and lightning spells merging in midair, representing their owners' anguish. Wormtail, slumped on the ground, cradling his stump of an arm. Voldemort, rising from the steaming cauldron. Cedric. . . dead . . .
Cedric, asking to be returned to his parents. . . .
"Professor," Harry mumbled, "where are Mr. and Mrs. Diggory?"
"They are with Professor Sprout," said Dumbledore. His voice, which had been so calm throughout the interrogation of Barty Crouch, shook very slightly for the first time. "She was Head of Cedric's house, and knew him best."
"He wanted to say thank you to you, Emma..." Harry told her.
She nodded once. "I know..." She whispered. She hadn't said much since telling Lovota and Ackerly to take Teddy and Lillica to the hospital wing. Brunilda and Apolline were currently now with their respective families. Emma's crying had ceased; she, too, seemed to be numb now, as well.
They had reached the stone gargoyle. Dumbledore gave the password, it sprang aside, and he and Harry went up the moving spiral staircase to the oak door. Dumbledore pushed it open. Sirius was standing there. His face was white and gaunt as it had been when he had escaped Azkaban. In one swift moment, he had crossed the room.
"Harry, are you all right? I knew it - I knew something like this - what happened?"
His hands shook as he helped Harry into a chair in front of the desk.
He then noticed Emma. "Em-!"
He was cut off when she threw her arms around him. "It was just like before!" Harry heard her say. "I could only watch...I couldn't stop it from happening! I couldn't stop them!"
Dumbledore closed the door to his office.
"What happened?" Sirius asked more urgently, still managing to hold onto Emma and keep an arm around Harry's shoulders at the same time.
Dumbledore began to tell Sirius everything Barty Crouch had said. Harry was only half listening. So tired every bone in his body was aching, he wanted nothing more than to sit here, undisturbed, for hours and hours, until he fell asleep and didn't have to think or feel anymore.
There was a soft rush of wings. Fawkes the phoenix had left his perch, flown across the office, and landed on Harry's knee.
"'Lo, Fawkes," said Harry quietly. He stroked the phoenix's beautiful scarlet-and-gold plumage. Fawkes blinked peacefully up at him. There was something comforting about his warm weight.
Dumbledore stopped talking. He sat down opposite Harry, behind his desk. He was looking at Harry, who avoided his eyes. Dumbledore was going to question him. He was going to make Harry relive everything. Why couldn't he ask Emma?
She had seen it...somehow...
"I need to know what happened after you touched the Portkey in the maze, and I need you to be the one who says it, Harry," said Dumbledore.
"We can leave that till morning, can't we, Dumbledore?" said Sirius harshly. "Let him have a sleep. Let him rest."
Harry felt a rush of gratitude toward Sirius, but Dumbledore took no notice of Sirius's words. He leaned forward toward Harry.
Very unwillingly, Harry raised his head and looked into those blue eyes.
"If I thought I could help you," Dumbledore said gently, "by putting you into an enchanted sleep and allowing you to postpone the moment when you would have to think about what has happened tonight, I would do it. But I know better. Numbing the pain for a while will make it worse when you finally feel it. Your godmother is right; you have gone above and beyond, and shown bravery beyond anything I could have expected of you. I ask you to demonstrate your courage one more time. I ask you to tell us what happened."
The phoenix let out one soft, quavering note. It shivered in the air, and Harry felt as though a drop of hot liquid had slipped down his throat into his stomach, warming him, and strengthening him.
He took a deep breath and began to tell them. As he spoke, visions of everything that had passed that night seemed to rise before his eyes; he saw the sparkling surface of the potion that had revived Voldemort; he saw the Death Eaters Apparating between the graves around them; he saw Cedric's body, lying on the ground beside the cup.
Once or twice, Sirius made a noise as though about to say something, his arm still tight around Harry's shoulder, but Dumbledore raised his hand to stop him, and Harry was glad of this, because it was easier to keep going now he had started. It was even a relief; he felt almost as though something poisonous were being extracted from him. It was costing him every bit of determination he had to keep talking, yet he sensed that once he had finished, he would feel better.
When Harry told of Wormtail piercing his arm with the dagger, however, Sirius let out a vehement exclamation and Dumbledore stood up so quickly that Harry started. Dumbledore walked around the desk and told Harry to stretch out his arm. Harry showed them both the place where his robes were torn and the cut beneath them. Emma still had her face buried in Sirius' shoulder. Harry didn't blame her.
"He said my blood would make him stronger than if he'd used someone else's," Harry told Dumbledore. "He said the protection my - my mother left in me - he'd have it too. And he was right - he could touch me without hurting himself, he touched my face."
For a fleeting instant, Harry thought he saw a gleam of something like triumph in Dumbledore's eyes. But next second. Harry was sure he had imagined it, for when Dumbledore had returned to his seat behind the desk, he looked as old and weary as Harry had ever seen him.
"Very well," he said, sitting down again. "Voldemort has overcome that particular barrier. Harry, continue, please."
Harry went on; he explained how Voldemort had emerged from the cauldron, and told them all he could remember of Voldemort's speech to the Death Eaters.
"He said that there was one that he couldn't sense anymore?" Sirius questioned him at one point.
"Padfoot, let him finish..." Emma scolded lightly. "You can go over the details with me later on." She added, as if this was the end of a discussion that the two of them had had before.
Then Harry told how Voldemort had untied him, returned his wand to him, and prepared to duel.
But when he reached the part where the golden beam of light had connected his and Voldemort's wands, he found his throat obstructed. He tried to keep talking, but the memories of what had come out of Voldemort's wand were flooding into his mind. He could see Cedric emerging, see the old man, Bertha Jorkins ... his father . . . his mother . . .
He was glad when Sirius broke the silence.
"The wands connected?" he said, looking from Harry to Emma, and then at Dumbledore. "Why?"
Harry looked up at Dumbledore again, on whose face there was an arrested look.
"Priori Incantatem," he muttered.
His eyes gazed into Harry's and it was almost as though an invisible beam of understanding shot between them.
"The Reverse Spell effect?" said Sirius sharply.
"Exactly," said Dumbledore. "Harry's wand and Voldemorts wand share cores. Each of them contains a feather from the tail of the same phoenix. This phoenix, in fact," he added, and he pointed at the scarlet-and-gold bird, perching peacefully on Harry's knee.
"My wand's feather came from Fawkes?" Harry said, amazed.
"Yes," said Dumbledore. "Mr. Ollivander wrote to tell me you had bought the second wand, the moment you left his shop four years ago."
"So what happens when a wand meets its brother?" said Sirius.
"They will not work properly against each other," said Dumbledore. "If, however, the owners of the wands force the wands to do battle ... a very rare effect will take place. Similar to the effect of two people who are Bonded duelling." He added, and Harry felt Emma shudder from beside him. "But, different. In this case, one of the wands will force the other to regurgitate spells it has performed - in reverse. The most recent first. . . and then those which preceded it. . . ."
He looked interrogatively at Harry, and Harry nodded.
"Which means," said Dumbledore slowly, his eyes upon Harry's face, "that some form of Cedric must have reappeared."
Harry nodded again.
"Diggory came back to life?" said Sirius sharply.
"No spell can reawaken the dead," said Dumbledore heavily. "All that would have happened is a kind of reverse echo. A shadow of the living Cedric would have emerged from the wand . . . am I correct, Harry?"
"He spoke to me," Harry said. He was suddenly shaking again. "The . . . the ghost Cedric, or whatever he was, spoke."
"An echo," said Dumbledore, "which retained Cedric's appearance and character. I am guessing other such forms appeared . . . less recent victims of Voldemort's wand..."
"An old man," Harry said, his throat still constricted. "Bertha Jorkins. And . . ."
He couldn't go on.
Emma had moved away from them, then, and was standing across the room. She was holding a picture in her shaking hands.
"You kept this?" She asked Dumbledore, who nodded.
Emma brought the picture back over to Harry and Sirius.
Harry at once recognised some of the people in the photograph, although a caption provided the names of the rest. His heart thudded painfully, as he looked over the faces;
James Potter and Lily Evans, arm-in-arm and both of them wearing badges with an 'H' on them; Peter Pettigrew (Harry couldn't even look at him without the wound on his arm hurting); Remus Lupin, who was standing on one side of Emma Pax - Sirius Black was standing on the other...there were two more familiar faces...Brunilda Danikavitch and Apolline Violetta...and, unfamiliar ones, too...Alice Fortescue, Ginevra Prewett, and Serilda Roans were all in Gryffindor and looked to be about the same age as the others; Nymphadora Tonks, who was in Hufflepuff, looked no older than eleven.
The Triwizard Cup gleamed on the table in front of them, and all of them were holding onto it and smiling big smiles.
"One second after that picture was taken," Emma said quietly. "We were whisked away to a place called the Caves Of Skops. There, Voldemort and his Death Eaters awaited us." Harry could only stare up at her. She wasn't looking at him, though; her eyes were now on Sirius, who was watching her, too. "That's why, tonight, Voldemort said that 'it had worked before, but something went wrong' that time..." She shook her head. "What went wrong was that someone had helped us, we got very lucky, and our friendship was strong enough to endure...at that stage. Even though I had…" She sighed. "Most of us made it back here...everybody was trying to figure out where we'd all gone..."
"...Most...?" Harry almost didn't want to hear it, but, he knew that he had to.
Emma began pointing with her finger. "Serilda Roans," she pointed to the tanned Gryffindor, whose robes were just a little bit too big for her. "Macnair killed her, almost as soon as we got there, he was waiting for us first...I doubt that Serilda even knew what had happened to us all, but, I know why it ended up being her first and I will never forget that...her boyfriend was Louis Bickley...he was killed by the Basalisk the previous year..." She moved her finger across to the next girl, whose wavy red hair made Harry instantly think of Mrs. Weasley. "Ginevra Prewett...it happened when she was duelling both of the Lestrange brothers, Rabastan and Rodolphus...Alice was injured and so it was just Ginevra against the two Death Eaters…I'll never know which one of them actually killed her, although I kind of liked Rabastan - not that my feelings matter - and Rodolphus had always seemed like the more aggressive of the two...like his fiancée turned wife...who murdered Nymphadora Tonks..." Emma's finger stopped next to the Hufflepuff first year. Her voice became soft. "Her family and Remus' were close friends...always had been...Tonks' first year at Hogwarts...she never stood a chance against Bellatrix...she was tortured before she was killed. That's Bellatrix's style."
Harry suddenly realised something. "Lestrange...wait...those people who were sent to Azkaban, along with Mr. Crouch's son..." It was all coming together now. The scene in the courtroom...what had happened to Emma... "The woman who put your name into the Goblet Of Fire...Sirius' cousin..."
Emma nodded. "I told her that, one day, she'd do something else that would place her life into my hands, and that she would know it..." Harry recalled Emma's words in the courtroom, and the look on the condemned woman's face. "I just wish that 'Timus hadn't been there at the time, Barty created that monster and he knew it..." She put her head in her hands. "I told him..." She whispered, her voice muffled. "Why couldn't he just...?"
Harry looked at the photograph again, and then noticed some writing on the back of it.
Friendship is the language that we all speak, our connection will never be broken...
Her voice still muffled by her hands, Emma said: "The last two echoes tonight said that our connection would never be broken...it was...Lily and James..."
Harry nodded.
Sirius's grip on Harry's shoulder was now so tight it was painful.
"The last murders the wand performed," said Dumbledore, nodding. He seemed to have understood how Emma's little story had helped both her and Harry. "In reverse order."
"More or less." Harry thought that he heard his godmother whisper; it was kind of hard to tell at the moment.
"More would have appeared, of course, had you maintained the connection." Dumbledore glanced at Emma, who seemed to sense this through her hands, and she nodded. "Very well, Harry, these echoes, these shadows . .. what did they do?"
Harry described how the figures that had emerged from the wand had prowled the edges of the golden web, how Voldemort had seemed to fear them, how the shadow of Harry's mother had told him what to do, how Cedric's had made its final request.
At this point. Harry found he could not continue. He looked around at Sirius and saw that he had embraced Emma, and the two of them were silent.
"How...did you see what was happening, Emma?" Harry wanted to know.
She said something that sounded like: 'Because those people aren't the only people that I have Bonds with, kid' but it was suddenly even harder to tell. Harry suspected that she might've been crying again. Her shoulders shook.
Harry suddenly became aware that Fawkes had left his knee. The phoenix had fluttered to the floor. It was resting its beautiful head against Harry's injured leg, and thick, pearly tears were falling from its eyes onto the wound left by the spider. The pain vanished. The skin mended. His leg was repaired.
Emma was saying something to Sirius, who nodded.
"Voldemort's snake, the same one from before? I'm glad that snake didn't bite him like it bit you, Ems...Repleh was probably hoping it'd kill you when it did...at least she took a good picture..." Sirius said absently, stroking Emma's hair. Harry didn't want to ask what had happened to Emma when she had faced Voldemort for the first time. She and Sirius seemed to be the only ones who understood what he had gone through...and, not just because Emma had seen it again through Harry's eyes...at least they'd had each other...Emma had dreaded something like this happening, she'd had no way of knowing that it would, and who would be doing it...she just hadn't wanted Harry to have to face it alone...
"I will say it again," said Dumbledore as the phoenix rose into the air and resettled itself upon the perch beside the door. "You have shown bravery beyond anything I could have expected of you tonight. Harry. You have shown bravery equal to those who died fighting Voldemort at the height of his powers. You have shouldered a grown wizard's burden and found yourself equal to it - and you have now given us all we have a right to expect. You will come with me to the hospital wing. I do not want you returning to the dormitory tonight. A Sleeping Potion, and some peace . . . "
"Professor Dumbledore, wait..." Emma said suddenly. They all looked at her. She was suddenly looking scared, although her face was still wet from crying. "In all reality, what is going to happen to me? My involvement with what happened with 'Timus...Barty was different, you know that...the rest of the Ministry doesn't always acknowledge The Old Magic…Barty always said that it never managed to hold up very well in court…and if anybody else that I work with gets ahold of this..."
"Then, we will just have to ensure that they do not." Dumbledore said firmly.
Emma stared at him. "But...but..." She narrowed her eyes slightly, although they were still wet with tears. "You do want to talk to me later, I can see it..." She sighed. "Of course. Just so long as it's not about 'Timus..."
"You have got to stop befriending these Slytherins, Ems..." Sirius shook his head.
"Just be glad that I handled 'Timus differently to my husband..." Emma shot back, and then she looked straight at Dumbledore. She didn't say anything, and neither did he, and Harry suspected that some kind of silent conversation was happening right now. Whatever mind-reading thing that his godmother had, Harry was sure that there were others who had it as well...
"I can understand your fears," Dumbledore said after awhile. "We will talk." He added. "For now, the hospital wing...Sirius, would you like to stay with them?"
Sirius nodded and stood up. He transformed back into the great black dog and walked with Harry, Emma, and Dumbledore out of the office, accompanying them down a flight of stairs to the hospital wing.
When Dumbledore pushed open the door. Harry saw Mrs. Weasley, Bill, Charlie, Lovota, Ackerly, Lillica, Ron, and Hermione grouped around a harassed-looking Madam Pomfrey. They appeared to be demanding to know where Harry and Emma were, and what had happened to Harry. All of them whipped around as Harry, Emma, Dumbledore, and the black dog entered, and Mrs. Weasley let out a kind of muffled scream.
"Harry! Oh Harry!"
She started to hurry toward him, but Dumbledore moved between them.
"Molly," he said, holding up a hand, "please listen to me for a moment. Harry has been through a terrible ordeal tonight. He has just had to relive it for me. What he needs now is sleep, and peace, and quiet. If he would like you all to stay with him," he added, looking around at Ron, Hermione, Charlie, and Bill too, "you may do so. But I do not want you questioning him until he is ready to answer, and certainly not this evening."
Mrs. Weasley nodded. She was very white. She rounded on Ron, Hermione, Charlie, and Bill as though they were being noisy, and hissed, "Did you hear? He needs quiet!"
Emma smiled briefly.
"Headmaster," said Madam Pomfrey, staring at the great black dog that was Sirius, "may I ask what - ?"
"This dog will be remaining with both Emma and Harry for a while," said Dumbledore simply. "I assure you, he is extremely well trained. Harry - I will wait while you get into bed."
Harry felt an inexpressible sense of gratitude to Dumbledore for asking the others not to question him. It wasn't as though he didn't want them there; but the thought of explaining it all over again, the idea of reliving it one more time, was more than he could stand.
"I will be back to see you as soon as I have met with Fudge, Harry," said Dumbledore. "I would like you to remain here tomorrow until I have spoken to the school. Emma, you may come and see me when you are ready to speak with me." She nodded, and he left.
Emma was speaking quietly to Lovota and Ackerly, as Lillica sat on a nearby bed looking at some papers.
As Madam Pomfrey led Harry to a nearby bed, he caught sight of the real Moody lying motionless in a bed at the far end of the room. His wooden leg and magical eye were lying on the bedside table.
"Is he okay?" Harry asked.
"He'll be fine, Emma has already asked me that eighteen times earlier on this evening," said Madam Pomfrey, giving Harry some pajamas and pulling screens around him. He took off his robes, pulled on the pajamas, and got into bed. Ron, Hermione, Bill, Mrs. Weasley, and the black dog came around the screen and settled themselves in chairs on either side of him. Ron and Hermione were looking at him almost cautiously, as though scared of him.
"I'm all right," he told them. "Just tired."
Mrs. Weasleys eyes filled with tears as she smoothed his bed-covers unnecessarily.
Charlie had gone over to Lovota, and they and Ackerly hung back.
"Lillica, where is your sister?" Harry heard Emma ask suddenly.
"I don't know, I'm trying to find her..." Lillica replied softly, and Sirius pricked up his ears. He trotted over to the other bed and put his paws up, watching Lillica go over the Marauders Map, as Emma swiftly left the room. "Elseleaf? Es-luff? Esleif?" Lillica tried to pronounce a name that she was seeing. "Who on Earth is that person, do they even go to our school?!"
Madam Pomfrey, who had bustled off to her office, returned holding a small bottle of some purple potion and a goblet.
"You'll need to drink all of this. Harry," she said, although she gave the huge black dog by Lillica's bed a disapproving look, and he immediately came back over to Harry. Madam Pomfrey rolled her eyes. "It's a potion for dreamless sleep."
Harry took the goblet and drank a few mouthfuls. He felt himself becoming drowsy at once. Everything around him became hazy; the lamps around the hospital wing seemed to be winking at him in a friendly way through the screen around his bed; his body felt as though it was sinking deeper into the warmth of the feather mattress. Before he could finish the potion, before he could say another word, his exhaustion had carried him off to sleep.
Harry woke up, so warm, so very sleepy, that he didn't open his eyes, wanting to drop off again. The room was still dimly lit; he was sure it was still nighttime and had a feeling that he couldn't have been asleep very long.
Then he heard whispering around him.
"They'll wake him if they don't shut up!"
"What are they shouting about? Nothing else can have happened, can it?"
Harry opened his eyes blearily. Someone had removed his glasses. He could see the fuzzy outlines of Mrs. Weasley and Bill close by. Mrs. Weasley was on her feet.
"That's Fudge's voice," she whispered. "And that's Minerva McGonagall's, isn't it? But what are they arguing about?"
Now Harry could hear them too: people shouting and running toward the hospital wing.
"But all the same, Minerva -" Cornelius Fudge was saying loudly.
"You should never have brought it inside the castle!" yelled Professor McGonagall. "Dumbledore is probably so furious -"
Harry heard the hospital doors burst open. Unnoticed by any of the people around his bed, all of whom were staring at the door as Bill pulled back the screens, Harry sat up and put his glasses back on.
Fudge came striding up the ward. Professors McGonagall and Snape were at his heels.
"Where's Dumbledore?" Fudge demanded of Mrs. Weasley.
"He's not here," said Mrs. Weasley angrily. "This is a hospital wing. Minister, don't you think you'd do better to -"
But the door opened, and Dumbledore came sweeping up the ward.
"What has happened?" said Dumbledore sharply, looking from Fudge to Professor McGonagall. "Why are you disturbing these people? Minerva, I'm surprised at you - I asked you to stand guard over Barty Crouch -"
"I have already gotten somebody to do that..." Fudge began, but Professor McGonagall cut him off.
"Why didn't you just ask the Dementor to watch over him?" She snapped. "If you were on top of things, rather than having to get somebody up here to ensure..."
"Excuse me?" Emma's voice came from the corner of the room, where she was standing by Lillica's bed (Lillica was sound asleep, clutching poor September like she was a blanket) with the Marauders Map in her hands. Her tone was unreadable as she said: "Minister, you brought a Dementor up to the castle? After I vehemently requested - no, begged - you to not do so?"
Fudge looked surprised to see her there. "Why yes, my dear, but why...?" His eyes were sweeping over her, taking in her red eyes and the bandage on her forehead. "You duelled that man?"
"I did." She replied flatly. "Where is the...?" She faltered.
"Yes...where is that Dementor now?" Dumbledore wanted to know. His tone was also unreadable, but his eyes were flashing.
Both McGonagall and Fudge stared at him.
"You don't know?" Fudge blinked.
"But...wasn't that your Patronus that got rid of the Dementor, Albus?" McGonagall asked quietly.
Dumbledore looked from McGonagall to Fudge, and then shook his head. "I am afraid that you are mistaken..." He began.
"I hardly believe that." Fudge said shortly.
Harry glanced at his godmother, remembering how she felt about Dementors. Her face had turned pale again, and her eyes were scanning the Marauders Map again, urgently checking for something...she glanced up at Harry once, very briefly, and Harry felt it - her fears, about what might have happened or might still happen...
"Minister, how dare you suggest that Albus Dumbledore or anyone for that matter would have done what they did for any sinister reason!" Harry realised that he hadn't been paying attention, and probably he should have been. He had never seen Professor McGonagall lose control like this. There were angry blotches of color in her cheeks, and her hands were balled into fists; she was trembling with fury.
"When we told Mr. Fudge that we had caught the Death Eater responsible for tonight's events," said Snape, in a low voice, "he seemed to feel his personal safety was in question. He insisted on summoning a dementor to accompany him into the castle, even against...Ms. Pax's wishes. He brought it up to the corridor where Barty Crouch -"
"I told him you would not agree, Dumbledore!" McGonagall fumed. "I told him you would never allow dementors to set foot inside the castle, but -"
"My dear woman!" roared Fudge, who likewise looked angrier than Harry had ever seen him, "as Minister of Magic, it is my decision whether I wish to bring protection with me when interviewing a possibly dangerous -"
"Can somebody please tell me what happened?!" Emma suddenly cried, and everybody turned to her. She was trembling. She had wiped the Marauders Map clean and placed it onto the bed, and now she stood facing them. "Please?!" She added, her voice trembling slightly.
"The moment that - that thing entered the room," McGonagall said "it swooped down on Crouch and - and -"
"Emma, breathe!" Lovota called from across the room just then, and Harry realised that his godmother had swayed slightly.
The big black dog that was Sirius rushed across the room then, placing himself against Emma's side to steady her.
Carmichael Ackerly faced the Minister Of Magic steadily. "Did that Dementor you brought with you perform the Dementor's Kiss and suck out Barty Crouch Jr.'s soul?" He asked, in a deadly calm voice. His eyes were burning, however, and Harry was suddenly reminded of the Veela at the Quidditch World Cup.
"By all accounts, it would have been no loss!" blustered Fudge, and Harry watched as Emma flinched back like she'd been slapped. "It seems he has been responsible for several deaths."
"So, then...it didn't...he's not...?" Emma whispered, more to herself than anything.
"It sounds as if you were not prepared to listen to his testimony, Cornelius," said Dumbledore. He was staring hard at Fudge, as though seeing him plainly for the first time. "The evidence about why he killed those people."
"Why he killed them? Well, that's no mystery, is it?" blustered Fudge. "He is a raving lunatic! From what Minerva and Severus have told me, he seems to have thought he was doing it all on You-Know-Who's instructions! If not for Emma being here then who knows what that madman would have done!"
Emma had swayed again, and Harry had the sudden urge to point this out. He was glad that Sirius was beside her.
"Lord Voldemort was giving him instructions, Cornelius," Dumbledore said . "Those peoples' deaths were mere by-products of a plan to restore Voldemort to full strength again. The plan succeeded. Voldemort has been restored to his body."
Fudge looked as though someone had just swung a heavy weight into his face. Dazed and blinking, he stared back at Dumbledore as if he couldn't quite believe what he had just heard. He began to sputter, still goggling at Dumbledore.
"You-Know-Who . . . returned? Preposterous. Come now, Dumbledore ..."
"As Minerva and Severus have doubtless told you," said Dumbledore, "we heard Barty Crouch confess. Under the influence of Veritaserum, he told us how he was smuggled out of Azkaban, and how Voldemort - learning of his continued existence from Bertha Jorkins - went to free him from his father and used him to capture Harry. The plan worked, I tell you. Crouch has helped Voldemort to return."
"See here, Dumbledore," said Fudge, and Harry was astonished to see a slight smile dawning on his face, "you - you can't seriously believe that You-Know-Who - back? Come now, come now . . . certainly, Crouch may believe himself to be acting upon You-Know-Who's orders - but to take the word of a lunatic like that, Dumbledore ..."
"Umm, Minister...?" Emma spoke up just then. She appeared to be slightly dazed.
"In a minute, my dear..."
"When Harry touched the Triwizard Cup tonight, he was transported straight to Voldemort," said Dumbledore steadily. "He witnessed Lord Voldemort's rebirth. I will explain it all to you if you will step up to my office."
"Perhaps I might be more inclined to do so, if you yourself would explain why you felt the need to interfere with Ministry business!" Fudge said suddenly. "That dementor..."
"I said that I didn't want one anywhere near here, Minister! I say it all the time!" Emma fairly yelled just then, and everyone looked at her. She lowered her voice. "Right, sorry. But...as for the Patronus...Dumbledore didn't do it." Emma went on. She stood there, with one hand on Sirius' neck, and the other one at the spot on the bed where Lillica's knees were underneath of the blanket. She looked very much like a protective mother, standing there like that. "Professor Dumbledore was speaking with me, just before you came up here...I came up here first," she explained. "However, there was less than five minutes between when I got here and you got here, Minister." She shook her head. "Certainly not enough time to...was it a fully formed Patronus?" She asked casually.
Fudge nodded impatiently. "Yes, yes, a Phoenix, clearly like the one..."
Emma's face froze. Her hand dropped from Sirius' neck, and the other one reached up to her throat. Sirius looked up at her quizzically.
Emma didn't say anything, but she looked across the room at something. Harry followed her gaze, and was surprised to find that she was looking at Snape.
Snape's eyes widened a fraction, and he turned and swept from the room in a second.
Fudge took no notice of this, and said: "Now, see here, Dumbledore..."
Dumbledore glanced around at Harry and saw that he was awake, but shook his head and said, "I am afraid I cannot permit you to question Harry tonight."
Fudge's curious smile lingered. He too glanced at Harry, then looked back at Dumbledore, and said, "You are - er - prepared to take Harry's word on this, are you, Dumbledore?"
There was a moment's silence, which was broken by Sirius growling. His hackles were raised, and he was baring his teeth at Fudge.
"Certainly, I believe Harry," said Dumbledore. His eyes were blazing now. "I heard Crouch's confession, and I heard Harry's account of what happened after he touched the Triwizard Cup; the two stories make sense, they explain everything that has happened since Bertha Jorkins disappeared last summer."
Why wasn't Dumbledore mentioning Emma's connection with Harry? Harry glanced across at his godmother, but she seemed preoccupied. Her face was pale again.
Fudge still had that strange smile on his face. Once again, he glanced at Harry before answering.
"You are prepared to believe that Lord Voldemort has returned, on the word of a lunatic murderer, and a boy who . . . well..."
Fudge shot Harry another look, and Harry suddenly understood.
"You've been reading Rita Skeeter, Mr. Fudge," he said quietly.
Ron, Hermione, Mrs. Weasley, Charlie, and Bill all jumped. None of them had realized that Harry was awake.
Fudge reddened slightly, but a defiant and obstinate look came over his face.
"And if I have?" He said, looking at Dumbledore. "If I have discovered that you've been keeping certain facts about the boy very quiet? A Parselmouth, eh?"
Emma coughed.
Fudge took no notice of her. "And having funny turns all over the place -"
"I assume that you are referring to the pains Harry has been experiencing in his scar?" Said Dumbledore coolly.
"You admit that he has been having these pains, then?" said Fudge quickly. "Headaches? Nightmares? Possibly - hallucinations?"
"Listen to me, Cornelius," said Dumbledore, taking a step toward Fudge. "Harry is as sane as you or I. That scar upon his forehead has not addled his brains. I believe it hurts him when Lord Voldemort is close by, or feeling particularly murderous."
Fudge had taken half a step back from Dumbledore, but he looked no less stubborn.
"You'll forgive me, Dumbledore, but I've never heard of a curse scar acting as an alarm bell before. ..."
"Look, I saw Voldemort come back!" Harry shouted. He tried to get out of bed again, but Mrs. Weasley forced him back. "I saw the Death Eaters! I can give you their names! Lucius Malfoy -"
A sudden movement caught Harry's eye - Lillica was awake, and she had been listening; she was shocked to hear the name, but not surprised.
"Malfoy was cleared!" said Fudge, visibly affronted. "A very old family - donations to excellent causes -"
"Macnair!" Harry continued, glancing very quickly at Emma before looking back at Fudge.
"Also cleared! Now working for the Ministry!"
"Avery - Nott - Crabbe - Goyle -"
"You are merely repeating the names of those who were acquitted of being Death Eaters thirteen years ago!" said Fudge angrily. "You could have found those names in old reports of the trials! For heaven's sake, Dumbledore - the boy was full of some crackpot story at the end of last year too - his tales are getting taller, and you're still swallowing them - the boy can talk to snakes. Dumbledore, and you still think he's trustworthy?"
Lillica opened her mouth to say something just then, but her mother held up her hand.
"You fool!" Professor McGonagall cried. "Cedric Diggory! Mr. Crouch! These deaths were not the random work of a lunatic!"
"I see no evidence to the contrary!" shouted Fudge, now matching her anger, his face purpling. "It seems to me that you are all determined to start a panic that will destabilize everything we have worked for these last thirteen years! Everything we have done with Emma to prevent things like this from occurring!"
Harry couldn't believe what he was hearing. He had always thought of Fudge as a kindly figure, a little blustering, a little pompous, but essentially good-natured. But now a short, angry wizard stood before him, refusing, point-blank, to accept the prospect of disruption in his comfortable and ordered world - to believe that Voldemort could have risen.
"Voldemort has returned," Dumbledore repeated. "If you accept that fact straightaway. Fudge, and take the necessary measures, we may still be able to save the situation. The first and most essential step is to remove Azkaban from the control of the dementors -"
"Preposterous!" shouted Fudge again. "Remove the dementors? I'd be kicked out of office for suggesting it! Half of us only feel safe in our beds at night because we know the dementors are standing guard at Azkaban!"
"The rest of us sleep less soundly in our beds, Cornelius, knowing that you have put Lord Voldemort's most dangerous supporters in the care of creatures who will join him the instant he asks them!" said Dumbledore. "They will not remain loyal to you, Fudge! Voldemort can offer them much more scope for their powers and their pleasures than you can! With the dementors behind him, and his old supporters returned to him, you will be hard-pressed to stop him regaining the sort of power he had thirteen years ago!"
Fudge was opening and closing his mouth as though no words could express his outrage.
"The second step you must take - and at once," Dumbledore pressed on, "is to send envoys to the giants."
"Envoys to the giants?" Fudge shrieked, finding his tongue again. "What madness is this?"
"Extend them the hand of friendship, now, before it is too late," said Dumbledore, "or Voldemort will persuade them, as he did before, that he alone among wizards will give them their rights and their freedom!"
"You - you cannot be serious!" Fudge gasped, shaking his head and retreating further from Dumbledore. "If the magical community got wind that I had approached the giants - people hate them, Dumbledore - end of my career -"
"You are blinded," said Dumbledore, his voice rising now, the aura of power around him palpable, his eyes blazing once more, "by the love of the office you hold, Cornelius! You place too much importance, and you always have done, on the so-called purity of blood! You fail to recognize that it matters not what someone is born, but what they grow to be! Your dementor has nearly just destroyed the last remaining member of a pure-blood family as old as any - and see what that man has chosen to make of his life! I tell you now - take the steps I have suggested, and you will be remembered, in office or out, as one of the bravest and greatest Ministers of Magic we have ever known. Fail to act - and history will remember you as the man who stepped aside and allowed Voldemort a second chance to destroy the world we have tried to rebuild!"
"Insane," whispered Fudge, still backing away. "Mad . . ."
"Minister," Emma said, in a quiet voice. "You said that you'd been working to prevent things from happening again...things like what happened eighteen years ago, for example..." She glanced at Mrs. Weasley, whose eyes were very bright.
"And, we have, my dear," Fudge said firmly, calming down only slightly. "We've quashed the allegations made against you and your..."
There was a slight distraction then, as the silvery form of a Patronus stepped into the room, cutting Fudge off completely. The wolf looked around for a moment, seemed to glare at both Fudge and Sirius for a bit, and then made eye contact with Emma, and said: "We need you."
Emma swept past Fudge so fast that she nearly knocked him over, but she paid no notice of him as she followed the wolf Patronus out of the hospital wing.
Sirius growled slightly, and then glanced at Lillica; Harry saw that she was suddenly looking very concerned. Her hand was at her chest, and she was staring at nothing.
And then there was silence. Madam Pomfrey was standing frozen at the foot of Harry's bed, her hands over her mouth. Mrs. Weasley was still standing over Harry, her hand on his shoulder to prevent him from rising. Bill, Ron, Charlie, and Hermione were staring at Fudge. Ackerly and Lovota exchanged a glance.
"If your determination to shut your eyes will carry you as far as this, Cornelius," said Dumbledore, as if the wolf Patronus had not just appeared and Emma had not just left, "we have reached a parting of the ways. You must act as you see fit. And I - I shall act as I see fit."
Dumbledore's voice carried no hint of a threat; it sounded like a mere statement, but Fudge bristled as though Dumbledore were advancing upon him with a wand.
"Now, see here, Dumbledore," he said, waving a threatening finger. "I've given you free rein, always. I've had a lot of respect for you. I might not have agreed with some of your decisions, but I've kept quiet. There aren't many who'd have let you hire werewolves," (Lovota coughed, somewhat angrily, and Charlie hurried over to her side, as Mrs. Weasley gave them a suspicious look), "or keep Hagrid, or decide what to teach your students without reference to the Ministry. But if you're going to work against me -"
"The only one against whom I intend to work," said Dumbledore, "is Lord Voldemort. If you are against him, then we remain, Cornelius, on the same side."
It seemed Fudge could think of no answer to this. He rocked backward and forward on his small feet for a moment and spun his bowler hat in his hands. Finally, he said, with a hint of a plea in his voice, "He can't be back, Dumbledore, he just can't be...think about her..."
Ackerly suddenly strode forward, past Lovota and Charlie, pulling up the left sleeve of his robes as he went. He stuck out his forearm and showed it to Fudge, who recoiled.
"If you care so much about ange, then look here," said Ackerly harshly, and Harry could almost see the wings of fire on his back. "There. The Dark Mark. The same for both Severus and myself! It is not as clear as it was an hour or so ago, when it burned noire, but you can still see it. Every Death Eater had the sign burned into him by the Dark Lord - by Voldemort. It was a means of distinguishing one another, and his means of summoning us to him. I was once in his inner circle, before I wished to leave which is when I found myself under the Imperius Curse, saved only by the ange - had she not then I would most certainly be dead! She looked into my eyes, saw the signs of the Imperius Curse! She saw past the mark that I had once accepted willingly. When Voldemort touched the Mark of any Death Eater, we were to Disapparate, and Apparate, instantly, at his side. This Mark has been growing clearer all year. Karkaroff's too. Why do you think Karkaroff fled tonight? All three of us felt the Mark burn. We all knew he had returned. Karkaroff fears the Voldemort's vengeance, as Severus and I discussed on numerous occasions. Karkaroff betrayed too many of his fellow Death Eaters to be sure of a welcome back into the fold."
Fudge stepped back from Ackerly too. He was shaking his head. He did not seem to have taken in a word Ackerly had said. He stared, apparently repelled by the ugly mark on the beautiful man's arm, then looked up at Dumbledore and whispered, "I don't know what you and your staff - former and current - are playing at, Dumbledore, but I have heard enough. I have no more to add. I will be in touch with you tomorrow, Dumbledore, to discuss the running of this school. Ms. Pax and I must return - and, will be returning - to the Ministry."
Lillica looked like she was about to say something but a small, gentle growl from Sirius stopped her.
Fudge had almost reached the door when he paused. He turned around, strode back down the dormitory, and stopped at Harry's bed.
"Your winnings," he said shortly, taking a large bag of gold out of his pocket and dropping it onto Harrys bedside table. "One thousand Galleons. There should have been a presentation ceremony, just like last time, but under the circumstances .. ."
He crammed his bowler hat onto his head and walked out of the room, slamming the door behind him. The moment he had disappeared, Dumbledore turned to look at the group around Harry's bed.
"There is work to be done," he said. "Molly... am I right in thinking that I can count on you and Arthur?"
"Of course you can," said Mrs. Weasley. She was white to the lips, but she looked resolute. "We know what Fudge is. It's Arthur's fondness for Muggles that has held him back at the Ministry all these years. Fudge thinks he lacks proper wizarding pride."
"Then I need to send a message to Arthur," said Dumbledore. "All those that we can persuade of the truth must be notified immediately, and he is well placed to contact those at the Ministry who are not as shortsighted as Cornelius."
"We'll go to Dad," said Bill, meaning himself and Charlie, standing up. "We'll go now."
"Excellent," said Dumbledore. "Tell him what has happened. Tell him I will be in direct contact with him shortly. He will need to be discreet, however. If Fudge thinks I am interfering at the Ministry - "
"Leave it to me," said Bill, as Charlie nodded.
Bill clapped a hand on Harry's shoulder and kissed his mother on the cheek; Charlie said a quick goodbye to Lovota (Mrs. Weasley's eyes seemed to bore holes into them as they kissed). The two brothers then pulled on their cloaks, and strode quickly from the room.
"Carmichael, Lovota," Dumbledore turned to them. They were both looking at him. "Head to Dorset - let the Scamanders know what is happening, and your family too, Lovota," she nodded.
"I'll be in touch, Albus," Ackerly said.
Harry looked from Ackerly to Lovota: "How did Emma know that you were under the Imperius Curse?" He asked Ackerly. "How did she know that Mr. Crouch was, too?"
"It's all in the eyes, Harry," Lovota said softly. "All in the eyes...I can't describe it. But, Emma says that it's like there's something right there, at the back of their eyes...only for a second, if you look hard enough, then, you can see it...something dark. Something sinister. It's very hard to see, even if you know the person very well. Like I said, I can't describe it..." She shook her head.
"Hopefully he never has to look for it." Ackerly said, putting a hand on her shoulder briefly, and that was when Harry noticed a very familiar ring gleaming on his right hand. It looked like Mr. Crouch's ring had found a new owner.
"Minerva," said Dumbledore, turning to Professor McGonagall, once Ackerly and Lovota had left, "I want to see Hagrid in my office as soon as possible. Also - if she will consent to come - Madame Maxime."
Professor McGonagall nodded and left without a word.
"Poppy," Dumbledore said to Madam Pomfrey, "would you be very kind and go down to the kitchens, where I think you will find a house-elf called Winky in considerable distress? Do what you can for her. I think Dobby will look after her for us."
"Very - very well," said Madam Pomfrey, looking startled, and she too left.
Almost no sooner had she left, when Snape returned, looking paler than usual.
"What happened?!" Lillica immediately got out of bed. "Something bad happened to my sister, didn't it?! Didn't it?!" She cried, just as there was a small crack, and a house elf appeared - Harry recognised it as the one that had been moving Emma's luggage the night that Mr. Crouch was attacked - but, he wasn't alone.
"Teddy!" Lillica was at her sister's side in an instant, and everyone was alarmed by how upset Teddy looked. "What happened?! Where are Mum and Dad?! What happened to Uncle Barty's son?! What?!"
Teddy didn't seem to be able to answer. She kept on shaking her head, and saying: "I...it's...I had no idea...they said she was from the Ministry...but couldn't let...Mum was..."
Lillica, realising that she wasn't getting any answers from her sister, turned to the house elf. "Kreacher...what's going on?"
The house elf named Kreacher was slightly larger than either Dobby or Winky. He wore a potato sack tied like a toga, and had a bulbous snout-like nose, bloodshot eyes, many folds of skin, and white hair growing out of his bat-like ears.
Harry noticed that September had raised herself up now, and appeared to be listening.
Hermione had gone rigid. So had Sirius.
"Kreacher has been told to ensure that Mistress Teddy and Mistress Lillica are to stay in the hospital wing for now," Kreacher said slowly. "Mistress Emma is speaking with the Minister over what has just occurred..."
"Which is what, exactly?" Lillica said, through gritted teeth.
Teddy looked up. "Kreacher..." She said. "It's okay...you can...go back to them...Mum and Dad said that you'd bring them both back here shortly, so...it's okay..." She repeated, looking around her as Lillica helped her to her feet.
"Of course, Mistress Teddy," Kreacher bowed his head to her. "Kreacher lives to serve the ancient and most noble house of Black." He added, before he vanished again.
Not a word was spoken after that - although, both Hermione and Ron tried to a few times - as Lillica helped Teddy into the bed opposite from Harry's.
"Are you sure that you're okay, Sis?" Lillica asked her.
Teddy nodded slowly. "Yes...we're not trying to..." She glanced over at Harry briefly.
"If you're referring to Rita Skeeter's article, then just don't." Lillica said firmly. "Harry doesn't mind if we steal attention from him, I'm sure."
Teddy just sighed.
Lillica looked at her. "Hey...what made you do it?" Teddy blinked up at her. "Save that guy?"
"I...really don't know." Teddy replied. "After all that stuff he's done...pretending to be our teacher, albeit a very good one...trying to kill our god brother, and..."
"Whatever the heck he's got going on with our Mum..." Lillica rolled her eyes, and then noticed that everybody was staring at her and her sister. "You see...what Fudge was saying...the Phoenix? The one that you guys mistook for Dumbledore's? That was Teddy's Patronus."
And, to almost everyone's amazement, Teddy nodded again. "Ever since I first saw Professor Dumbledore's Patronus, I was so inspired. When Lils and I and Harry got those anti-dementor lessons from Professor Lupin last year...I practiced it whenever I could, but tonight's the first time that I've ever seen it take on a proper form. I guess...that Phoenix is the form that my happiest memory takes because it gives me hope..." She explained in a small voice.
"An important thing, in these times..." Dumbledore agreed, nodding calmly.
"Mum and Dad will explain what just happened, Professor..." Teddy said. "I'm sorry that the Minister thought that you interfered."
"It is quite alright, Miss. Black." Dumbledore replied. "And, there is no need to apologise."
"It's okay, Sis," Lillica said to Teddy. "When I told...that imposter guy...how you and Harry killed Quirrell, he said 'like mother like daughters'. The real Mad-Eye Moody would have never said that. I should have known." She shook her head.
Teddy looked mortified.
Dumbledore waited until the twins were comfortable, before he spoke again.
"And now," he said, "on a similar note...it is time for two of our number to recognize each other for what they are. Sirius ... if you could resume your usual form."
The twins froze.
The great black dog looked up at Dumbledore, then, in an instant, turned back into a man.
Mrs. Weasley screamed and leapt back from the bed.
"Sirius Black!" She shrieked, pointing at him.
"Mum, shut up!" Ron yelled. "It's okay!"
Snape had not yelled or jumped backward, but the look on his face was one of mingled fury and horror.
"Him!" he snarled, staring at Sirius, whose face showed equal dislike. "What is he doing here?"
"He is here at my invitation," said Dumbledore, looking between them, "as are you, Severus. I trust you both. It is time for you to lay aside your old differences and trust each other."
Harry thought Dumbledore was asking for a near miracle. Sirius and Snape were eyeing each other with the utmost loathing.
"I will settle, in the short term," said Dumbledore, with a bite of impatience in his voice, "for a lack of open hostility. You will shake hands. You are on the same side now. Time is short, and unless the few of us who know the truth do not stand united, there is no hope for any us."
Very slowly - but still glaring at each other as though each wished the other nothing but ill - Sirius and Snape moved toward each other and shook hands. They let go extremely quickly.
"That will do to be going on with," said Dumbledore, stepping between them once more.
The twins, however, were staring in shock at Sirius. Slowly, very slowly, they turned to each other and said, in the exact same tone of voice: "What the heck...?"
Just then, there was a crack - Kreacher was back, and he had brought two people back with him this time.
Emma was one of them, and she immediately told Kreacher to please keep an eye out, and then went to Teddy's bedside, all without even looking at anybody. The man that she was with followed to Teddy's bedside more slowly. Harry only guessed that he was a man. He had on black robes with the hood pulled up, and none of them could see his face. So, why was Sirius staring at him like he'd seen a ghost?
This must be the twins' father, Mr. Black.
"'Timus is gone." Emma said, looking straight at Dumbledore. "The Minister's not here anymore, he just left as well. I've never seen him look more furious - it seems that the person from the Ministry that he hired has been a Death Eater all along, but I could've told him that."
"Who was it?" Dumbledore asked her urgently.
It was Teddy who answered, however. "Somebody named Eslaf Repleh..."
"What?!" Mrs. Weasley and Sirius both cried in unison. "How could Fudge not know that she was a Death Eater?!" Sirius added, looking at Emma who just shook her head.
"She had changed her looks just enough so that he wouldn't recognise her, and called herself Eve." Emma said in a low voice.
"But," Lillica was looking urgently at her Mother. "Is her name spelt … is it 'false', backwards?"
Emma glanced at her and then nodded. "Yes, Lillica, that was her. It's not your fault. I've never told you about this person, before." She traded a glance with the hooded man who was with her.
Lillica looked at him too, her expression suddenly troubled.
Teddy was biting at her lip.
Harry suddenly remembered what Sirius has said, about the person who had taken the photo all those years ago, right before Mrs. Weasley's sister had been killed...Repleh...she had probably known what was about to happen, had lulled them all into a false sense of security...she'd helped before, and, she'd helped now...living up to her name...Lillica had seen her on the map, but hadn't known...nobody had known...
"She took her dementor and her Selma with her, at least," Emma went on, placing a hand to the bandage on her forehead. "The Death Eater known as Eslaf Repleh is a master at what she does, she knows how to play the part … I'd been keeping an eye out for her, ever since Carmichael told me that he'd encountered her, but, she knows how to avoid me. God only knows ... all this time ... all this time, her and her Parsletongue – of course she would have recognised the diary, she would have needed it with her back then … which means that ... my God, it wasn't enough for her to play the part of being such a good Defence Against The Dark Arts teacher because she's such a good actor, and then we got stuck with Umbridge when I..." Her head snapped up, and she looked across at Dumbledore again. "Do NOT let that Umbridge woman come and teach here ever again, Professor Dumbledore!" She said suddenly.
Dumbledore nodded, his blue eyes piercing into her hazel ones - Harry suspected that there was yet another silent conversation going on here. Dumbledore then looked at the man, who hadn't spoken yet. "How did Repleh and Barty flee the school with a dementor and Selma, though?"
"Second Portkey," the man said, in a vaguely familiar voice. "We three," he indicated to himself, Emma, and Snape. "Caught up with them and then we confronted them about halfway out to the lake, but when they took our daughter hostage Ems told them to give Teddy back and for them to just go...gave them the chance they didn't deserve...or, that guy's third chance..." He added, and Harry recalled Barty Crouch's words...about how he hated Emma's husband.
"If only I'd remembered 'Timus' pocket watch..." Emma muttered. She shook her head again. "Oh, God, Reg, what are we gonna do...? Voldemort, he...he knows...he knows...and, 'Timus already hates you, and now because of tonight, when you stunned him..."
"Hey, we'll be okay, Ems..." The man reached across with his right arm - Harry noted the ring on his fourth finger - and pulled her into a one-armed-hug. "You know that, okay?" He appeared to look down at her - it was hard to tell with the hood. "Okay?"
She nodded. "O-okay..."
"No, it's not okay!" Lillica said suddenly, and they all looked at her. She was now standing up, with her hands on her hips all of a sudden, and her eyes were darting back and forth between the man who was her father and Sirius Black. "We couldn't tell before, when Sirius had just escaped from Azkaban, but now that you're standing here like this..."
"Dad looks a lot like Sirius Black..." Teddy said softly. She still seemed shaken from her near abduction experience. "He even sounds a bit like him. Plus...their last names...and..."
"That black spot on the family tree upstairs..." Lillica was trembling slightly. So was Teddy.
Emma and Sirius looked at each other. "You mean you never told them?" They asked each other in unison.
"When would I have found the time to do that?!" Sirius added. "Plus, it's not even about that — I mean, I barely even know them - unfortunately - they'd be much more receptive if you tell them – you've had fourteen years to tell them and you've been too — "
"I wouldn't, if I were you." Emma cut him off sternly, seemingly knowing what he was about to say, and he cringed. Emma then sighed. "You are right, though - I am." She glanced almost helplessly up at her husband.
"We'll do this together, Ems. Should've known they'd want some answers," the twins' father said casually, before taking his arm away from his wife's shoulders and reaching up to remove his hood. "We knew that this day would come..."
"Wait..." Emma said suddenly. She looked around. "You all saw my husband's wolf Patronus, correct?" They all nodded. "And, you all know what happens if a Dark Wizard tries to produce a Patronus?" Again, everyone nodded, except for Harry and Ron.
"Uh, what exactly does happen?" Ron wanted to know.
"Maggots come out of the wand and eat the would-be spellcaster alive, Ronald." Lillica said flatly and, as Ron looked horrified, she ignored him and instead looked up at her parents. "But...what does that have to do with...?"
She stopped talking all of a sudden, because four things happened.
One was that the hooded cloak was pulled down from her father's head, and it was plainly obvious for everyone there to see that he did look an awful lot like Sirius Black - it was also plain to see that his left arm was completely missing, from just below the shoulder and down.
Two, was that Mrs. Weasley jumped back, knocking into Harry's bedside table, and screamed: "Regulus Black!"
Three, was that Ron again yelled: "Mum, shut up! It's okay!" And, then he added: "I think..."
And, fourth, was that Sirius then seemed to recover, although it was almost impossible to read the look on his face as he said: "Well, well, well...if it isn't the little Death Eater who stole my girlfriend."
And, Regulus Black gave him back a look that was just as unreadable, as he said: "Former Death Eater, although I see some things never change, namely the jealousy. How's life after Azkaban...big brother?"
There was not a sound in the hospital wing for a few seconds, save for the hum of an insect from somewhere nearby.
The two Black brothers continued to glare at each other, and almost everybody stared in shock at either them or at Emma, who was looking at Harry.
And, Harry knew that him and the twins were wondering the exact same thing.
Emma smiled slightly. He got the feeling that she must have been mentally preparing herself for this exact moment for quite a long time, despite how scared she was. "Harry, do you remembering hearing Voldemort say that there was a complication with that plan, the last time there was a Triwizard Tournament? And, I told you that it was all because of one person?" Harry nodded. Emma motioned over to Regulus Black. "That was this guy. He saved us countless times that night. Unravelling everything that Voldemort was doing from the inside-out. Please meet Regulus Black - my husband, the girls' father, and...yes...Sirius Black's younger brother. He's also a former Death Eater, it's true, and he's one who risked a lot to do what he did - and, I mean he nearly died doing it." She added, as the twins looked positively horrified. She sighed then, noticing that Sirius and Regulus were now staring positively murderously at each other. "Maybe...we should wrap this up?" She suggested. "I'm sure that there's work to do." She added, somewhat briskly.
Harry just stared from her to Sirius to Regulus in amazement. He could hardly believe what he had just heard...on top of everything else that had happened...what more could happen?
"Can you not do that?" Sirius said unexpectedly, still glaring at his brother.
"Well, don't make it so easy." Regulus replied calmly. "Your mind's like an open book."
It seemed that Regulus Black could read minds as well.
"Both of you stop doing that!" Emma cried, throwing up her hands. "Can't you two just be nice to each other, if not for me then for them!" She gestured to the stunned-looking twins. "See, this is why I never attempted this before, even when you weren't in Azkaban!" She directed at Sirius, and then cast a desperate look at Dumbledore, who appeared unaffected by what was going on. "Okay, what do you need us to do? I take it that the Minister is not on our side in any of this? I could barely get a word out of him, but, his thoughts said it all - he's going to be an ostrich and bury his head in the sand. He's going to pretend that it's not happening simply because he doesn't want it to be true."
Harry suddenly remembered why they were all here.
Dumbledore sighed. "Fudge's attitude, though not unexpected, changes everything. So, I do have work for each of you. Sirius, I need you to set off at once. You are to alert Remus Lupin, Arabella Figg, Mundungus Fletcher - the old crowd. Lie low at Lupin's for a while; I will contact you there."
"But -" said Harry.
He wanted Sirius to stay. He did not want to have to say goodbye again so quickly.
"You'll see me very soon. Harry," said Sirius, turning to him. "I promise you. But I must do what I can, you understand, don't you?"
"Yeah," said Harry. "Yeah . . . of course I do."
"Emma," Dumbledore said to her. "Does Fudge wish for you to return with him to the Ministry?"
"He said that I may make my own way back, but yes...he expects me back there." She replied evenly. "Sooner rather than later." She added.
"I expected as much." Dumbledore told her. "Therefore, the matter which we discussed up in my office must be attended to immediately...I trust that you know what to do?"
Her eyes looked very bright all of a sudden, but she nodded calmly. "Tonight, then?" She questioned.
"Yes," Dumbledore replied. "Your family will be well taken care of, I give you my word."
"I understand," Emma turned to her daughters. "Now, you two..." She pursed her lips, as both twins were suddenly looking upset. "No, this is not because of what I've done...I have to do this because of what I haven't done. Tonight has just shown me, yet again, that I cannot rely on the Ministry to protect my family. That Dementor could have gotten either one of you...'Timus could have gotten either one of you...Repleh could have gotten either one of you...all of you," she added, glancing around. "Are incredibly important to me..."
"Except in regards to that guy." Sirius nodded towards Snape.
"He knows where he stands." Emma said coolly. "You don't mind if I come partway with you, Padfoot?"
Harry noticed that Sirius seemed to be trying not to grin smugly at his younger brother. "Wouldn't have it any other way, Whitefang...I'll wait for you outside, though..." He added.
She nodded. "I won't be too long."
Sirius grasped Harry's hand briefly then, nodded to Dumbledore, transformed again into the black dog, and ran the length of the room to the door, whose handle he turned with a paw. Then he was gone.
"Now, Teddy," Emma said quickly. "Keep September with you, don't let anything that Pansy Parkinson says get to you, if you make up with Draco Malfoy then please be very careful what you say around him, maybe wear your black headband with the green cross on it tomorrow, and don't forget to say goodbye to Winky before you go, okay?"
"Okay..." Teddy looked slightly dazed.
Emma turned to Lillica. "Now, Lillica, see if you can find Septimus sometime tomorrow...I think that he's probably in the kitchens so you can go and see Winky as well, you'll need to get someone to fix that run in your stockings unless you wanna try fixing it yourself, try not to get into too many fights with the Slytherins, don't forget to spend some time with Sisi - you too, Teddy...hmm...what else...?"
"Mum, when are we gonna see you again?!" Lillica exclaimed, at the same time that Teddy cried: "What do you have to do before you go back to the Ministry?!"
Emma's expression became unreadable. "I don't know, and...that's for me to discover when I get to where I'm going, I guess." She gave both of her daughters a hug each then, before leaning up to kiss her husband.
Regulus Black looked down at her. He was even about the same height as Sirius.
"If you need me..." He began.
"I will call," she said, touching the side of his face.
"And, I will be there." He promised.
Harry felt it - that same kind of electrical shock. He wondered just what The Old Magic was really all about.
"Maybe try reading about it, kiddo," Emma said, standing in front of Harry's bed now and reading his thoughts again. But, then she turned serious, and said: "It's going to get tough from here on out, Harry, but, remember..." And, he heard the words in his mind 'our connection will never be broken'. She then smiled. "I also saw that last spell that you used tonight, kiddo. Be very careful with that newfound power of yours."
And Harry, remembering the way that Emma's Flamma spell and Barty's Fulgur spell had collided in mid-air, nodded wordlessly.
"Take care of him, you guys," Emma then said to Mrs. Weasley, Ron, and Hermione. "As you always have done..." She added, with a grin. She then gave Hermione a rather significant look, and Hermione's eyes widened ever-so-slightly.
Emma then half-turned, and transformed into the pure white wolf.
Mrs. Weasley gasped, and jumped back again, knocking over the vase that was on Harry's bedside table.
Snape, too, looked shocked for a second, as the wolf stared up at him with her bright yellow eyes...Snape gripped his left forearm as Emma flicked her ears backwards and forewords, before she crossed the length of the room and disappeared out the door, her crescent tail the last thing that they saw before she, too, was gone.
Harry and the twins watched her go, before the twins turned wordlessly to their father, clearly demanding an explanation.
Ron had a different train of thought, however. "They...have a house elf..." He said to Harry. "Did you know that they have a house elf?" Harry shook his head. "Well, then...it's no wonder that they always ran off whenever Hermione brought out those badges of hers!"
Hermione have him a Look, but her mind was clearly on something else.
"Severus," said Dumbledore, turning to Snape, "you know what I must ask you to do. If you are ready . . . if you are prepared ..."
"I am," said Snape.
He looked slightly paler than usual once again, and his cold, black eyes glittered strangely.
"Then good luck," said Dumbledore, and he watched, with a trace of apprehension on his face, as Snape swept wordlessly after Emma.
It was several minutes before Dumbledore spoke again.
"I must go downstairs," he said finally. "I must see the Diggorys. Regulus, you are of course welcome to stay as long as you need to." Regulus nodded. "Harry - take the rest of your potion. I will see all of you later."
Harry slumped back against his pillows as Dumbledore disappeared. Hermione, Ron, and Mrs. Weasley were all looking at him. None of them spoke for a very long time. The only sounds were the hushed murmurs coming from the remaining Blacks, whom Harry still could not quite believe were all related to Sirius.
Harry kept on glancing at Regulus Black, who looked so much like Sirius that, if not for the fact that he knew what Sirius had looked like in the papers, he would have wondered how the connection had never been made by the twins before. Regulus Black had the same handsome features, black hair, and silver eyes as his older brother, although there was something decidedly...darker about him. Maybe because he was a former Death Eater? He had brewed that Polyjuice Potion to get Barty Crouch out of Azkaban, and also the one that had allowed Emma to become Whitni Fauci. Dumbledore seemed to trust him, though...but, what was this about Regulus stealing Emma from Sirius...?
"You've got to take the rest of your potion, Harry," Mrs. Weasley said at last. Her hand nudged the sack of gold on his bedside cabinet as she reached for the bottle and the goblet (which had not been knocked over before). "You have a good long sleep. Try and think about something else for a while . . . think about what you're going to buy with your winnings!"
"I don't want that gold," said Harry in an expressionless voice. "You have it. Anyone can have it. I shouldn't have won it. It should've been Cedric's."
The thing against which he had been fighting on and off ever since he had come out of the maze was threatening to overpower him. He could feel a burning, prickling feeling in the inner corners of his eyes. He blinked and stared up at the ceiling.
"It wasn't your fault, Harry," Mrs. Weasley whispered.
"I told him to take the cup with me," said Harry. "It's my fault...if he hadn't been holding onto the cup..."
Now the burning feeling was in his throat too. He wished Ron would look away.
Mrs. Weasley set the potion down on the bedside cabinet, bent down, and put her arms around Harry. It was like being hugged by Emma, but there was something else in this hug from Mrs. Weasley - forgiveness for him, even though she didn't have to give it. She knew what he was feeling right now, knew where all of this guilt was coming from, and...she didn't care about any of that. She just cared about him.
The full weight of everything he had seen that night seemed to fall in upon him as Mrs. Weasley held him to her. His mother's face, his father's voice, the sight of Cedric dead on the ground, the panic of knowing that Voldemort had been hunting Emma and killing all of those that stood in his way since 1975 but all that she cared about was everybody else...all started spinning in his head until he could hardly bear it, until he was screwing up his face against the howl of misery fighting to get out of him.
There was a loud slamming noise, and Mrs. Weasley and Harry broke apart. Hermione was standing by the window. She was holding something tight in her hand.
"Sorry," she whispered.
"Your potion, Harry," said Mrs. Weasley quickly, wiping her eyes on the back of her hand.
Harry drank it in one gulp. The effect was instantaneous. Heavy, irresistible waves of dreamless sleep broke over him; he fell back onto his pillows and thought no more.
