Harry and Merope to the Rescue - Chapter 30
Disclaimer:
I don't own the HP universe, unfortunately.
Time Skip:
Greyback was furious with the opening of Safe Haven and vowed to take his vengeance by infecting more people to become werewolves. The first target he had planned was the child that the Potters were rumored to have, if he could figure out where they lived so that he could be conveniently nearby during a full moon.
After weeks and weeks of trying to find the Potters, though, he finally decided that his retaliation would make just as much of a statement by positioning himself, and the remaining faithful members of his pack, to be in the middle of Godric's Hollow during the night of the full moon.
Harry was getting ready for bed when Moody sent a patronus message requesting backup in Godric's Hollow, that there were transformed werewolves on the loose and they were getting overwhelmed, so Harry immediately changed into his battle robes and apparated to Godric's Hollow to help. Harry arrived in the middle of chaos.
He took a split second to assess what was happening in front of him. Folks were running in all directions, screaming in fear. There were five huge werewolves leaping and lunging after everyone that was scattering, swiping their monstrous paws to knock as many people off their feet as they could in order to rip their necks open. It didn't appear as if they intended for there to be any survivors.
Harry screamed across the crowd, "Greyback!" The werewolf stopped at the sound of voice that held no fear and turned to look with narrowed eyes, blood mixed with drool leaking from his large muzzle. The members of the pack stopped when their alpha stopped and as one, turned with Greyback towards Harry and they all lunged at him at once.
The aurors and members of the terrified crowd watched in shock as all the werewolves were frozen in mid leap and dropped to the ground, as gravity made its presence known. Suddenly, each werewolf was bound in unbreakable bounds that were designed to tighten the more one struggled, in addition, Harry added some magic suppressing collars in order to make the werewolves more subdued. Greyback growled and snarled in anger as Harry approached.
Harry said, "Well, Greyback, I knew you were going to try something one of these days in retaliation for the retreat that I made for the peaceful werewolves, although I'm not quite sure what you thought to accomplish here. Any of those that you and your pack managed to turn into new werewolves tonight would still be welcome at Safe Haven, and now that you've been caught, you're likely to be executed by the Ministry." Harry shook his head and said sadly, yet firmly, "It's the werewolves like you that give other werewolves a bad reputation that causes the wizards to not want to treat werewolves fairly." Greyback just snarled angrily in answer.
Moody approached during Harry's speech to Greyback and clapped Harry on the back after he had finished speaking, "Potter, what you just did is nothing short of amazing, especially capturing them all at one time! You have our gratitude for coming to our aide."
Harry smiled at Moody and said, "You're welcome, I only wish something like this could have been prevented. Do you know how many were injured, turned, and/or killed?"
Moody shook his head and said, "My men are still working on sending the injured to St. Mungo's for treatment and determination of infection."
Harry nodded and asked, "Will you need help transporting the prisoners?"
Moody shook his head and said, "No, with the current laws on the books, if a werewolf is caught in the act of killing or attacking another human, whether it's on purpose or not, they are up for automatic execution. We have a cell at the Ministry that is designed for instances like these, they'll be dead the moment they are transported in by portkey."
Harry nodded and said, "I wish it didn't have to be that way, but at the same time it's good that laws like are put in place for these particular types of werewolves." Moody just grunted in agreement.
After one final handshake of thanks, Harry departed Godric's Hollow, leaving the rest of the cleanup to the aurors and other Ministry officials that were present.
Time Skip:
Barty Crouch, Sr., Head of the DMLE, was leaving Azkaban with his wife, having brought her to visit their son because it was her dying wish to see him before she passed, suddenly his wife collapsed just as they let the wards. And the ferryman immediately notified the aurors when he saw the polyjuice wear off to reveal Barty Crouch, Jr., laying there lifeless.
Aurors Moody, Shaklebolt, and Jones arrived while Crouch, Sr., was still staring at the body of his son in shock, it wasn't until Moody spoke that he was jarred out of his shock.
"What the hell are you doing with your son outside of Azkaban, Crouch?" asked Moody.
Crouch imitated that of a fish, as his mouth opened and closed without words, when he heard Moody's voice. Finally he said, in a voice choked with emotion, "I allowed my wife to convince me to get him out. It was her dying wish. She was dying and didn't have long to live and tricked me into promising to get him out before she died." Tears were running down his face. "He died the moment we left the wards. I don't understand."
"And your wife, where is she?" asked Moody.
Crouch bowed his head and swallowed around the tightness forming in his throat and said, "In the cell where my son was. She planned to remain as him under polyjuice until she passed on. She doesn't have very much longer to live."
Mood then directed Shacklebolt and Jones to go retrieve her from the prison cell, then turned his attention back to Crouch, Sr., who was once again staring at the body of his son. "I hope you understand that we're going to have to bring both you and your wife into custody for this." said Moody.
"My wife won't live through a trial." responded Crouch dully, giving no struggle as Moody put restraints on him.
Moody shrugged and said, "That may be, but you used your position in an attempt to help your convict son escape from Azkaban, and your wife acted as a willing accomplice. It's only a miracle that he died before you managed the escape. You know the laws as well as I do. With any luck, she'll die before she has to go back there, and maybe you'll convince the Wizengamot to be lenient with you." Crouch, Sr., didn't say anymore as they waited for Shacklebolt and Jones to return.
A few minutes later Shacklebolt and Jones returned, supporting Mrs. Crouch between them, who at the sign of her son lying dead screamed a devastated and heart wrenching, "No! My son! No, it can't be!" And somehow she found the strength to jerk herself free and collapse on top of Crouch, Jr., grasping his robes in her fists as she sobbed so hard that her body was shaking, occasionally she would pound the body with her fist as she grieved for the life of her only son.
After what felt like hours, her sobs finally eased up and Moody made a nonverbal command for Shacklebolt to take her into custody, leaving Jones in charge of transporting the body of Crouch, Jr.
When they arrived at the Ministry, the atrium was shocked into silence at the appearance of the Crouches, one of which appeared to be dead, being led by the three aurors. Whispers of shock started in earnest when it was noticed that the Crouches were being led in shackles. Crouch, Sr., bowed his head in shame as he and his wife were led to the holding cells.
Time Skip:
Since Crouch, Sr., had been caught attempting to smuggle his son out of Azkaban, Moody was promoted to the new head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, and so it fell to him to update Minister Bagnold on his findings regarding what little information he and his team had been able to piece together regarding the illegal imprisonment of Sirius Black in Azkaban.
While Dumbledore's actions had been called into question at Sirius Black's trial, he and his team had not been able to find any hard evidence against Dumbledore that would ensure a conviction. And considering Dumbledore was still so well connected, even if they did manage to arrest him and attempt to give him a trial, he had enough support on the Wizengamot that he would likely not be found guilty of anything.
When Moody shared Harry's findings regarding the nine missing purebloods, and the fact that he had been able to piece some of the bribery of Sirius' imprisonment on the shoulders of Lucius Malfoy, the Minister felt that that was good enough for the official report and that the matter of the false imprisonment of Sirius Black should be closed.
Moody had considered also bringing up the fact that the Boy-Who-Lived was missing, but ultimately decided against it after he had had time to ponder all the little things that Hadrian Potter had mentioned over time, such as the fact that he and his wife arrived in Britain responding to a distress call from their son, whose name also happened to be Harry Potter. He also remembered there had been evidence of no struggle where the child had seemingly been kept in the cupboard under the stairs, and that there was evidence of possibly two people in the home that were not hostile.
It also meant that Potter and his wife were probably the ones that were really responsible for getting rid of whoever had attacked those muggles, which were more than likely those nine missing purebloods. He had to hand it to him, though, the evidence he showed of his investigation had been very convincing, and he was positive he had been telling the truth about that locket that was found with the note.
All in all, he decided that even if his hunch wasn't correct, he wasn't much fussed about the missing purebloods, or how they really made it into that cave. And he thought the child was probably better off being away from those muggles. Besides, if he was correct, the Potters were the kid's family, there was no reason to try to take him back from them. So he decided it was safe to stop his investigations into the child's whereabouts and just let them be, and he wasn't going to make a big deal about those death eaters. Perhaps he would drop a hint to Potter one of these days, just to see how he reacts.
Author's Notes:
I may need a little help in remembering any other loose ends I need to tie up before the ending of this story (other than Voldemort, he's in limbo until the sub-series that I plan on), so either write it in the reviews or send me a message if there is something I've left without closure that has not been addressed yet. Thanks.