Harry wasn't certain what happened afterwards. People asked him question, he answered them. a medi-witch came over and cast a spell on his ear and then several more on the rest of him. After that, he found himself lying on a cot, an Auror standing at his side.

"Where am I?" He managed to get out. His mouth was dry, and the light was too bright. and when he turned his head, it felt like somebody was pounding a nail into his temples.

"You are in the hospital wing of Hogwarts, Mr Potter" the reply rumbled from the foot of his bed. Harry managed to turn his head enough to see that Professor Loew was sitting there, a folded newspaper on his lap. "Things are somewhat confused, but Ms. Delacour has also been brought in for medical attention, and her claim of having been assaulted by Cedric Diggeroy are making your claims of self defense plausible."

"Oh."

Before Harry could say anything further, Dumbledore swept in "Harry, my boy! How are you feeling?"

Harry eyed the Headmaster 'Voldemort said he was his enemy. I guess that means I can trust him.' "Not very good. What's going to happen to me? And.. And what about my wand?" 'If I don't have a wand, will I still be a wizard?'

"I am trying to square that away as we speak. But as it stands now, you will be released on your own recognizance until the trial. As to the wand, by ancient tradition, the wand that you took from Voldemort is now yours."

"Wait – what trial?" Harry panicked.

'Yes, trial. It should be an open and shut case of self defense, but a young man did die, so the law demands that the facts be heard in a court of law. Don't worry about it, my boy. I will see to everything." Dumbledore turned to the Auror, "Would it be ok if you waited outside the room, instead of at Harry's bedside? I think it would help calm the situation." The Auror looked speculatively at the elder wizard before nodding and stepping out the door. Professor Loew continued to sit quietly, watching the proceedings.

"Are you… Are you certain?" Harry lay back down 'I don't like this.'

"Yes. I just came back from St. Mungos - Krum has woken up, and he also claims to have been attacked by an assailant matching Cedric's descriptions. But I want to ask you about…"

"If Cedric was attacking all the other champions, why didn't you do something about it? Or some of the emergency wizards that were supposed to come help if something went wrong? Why didn't anybody do anything." Harry interrupted.

Dumbledore sighed, "Whoever set the cup up as a portkey sabotaged the maze. Soon after all the contestants entered, the scrying spells that were supposed to let the audience watch began to show random scenes. At first, nobody realized, it just looked like the maze, but then Professor Flitwick noticed that spells weren't tracking the champions like they were supposed to. When we realized something was dangerously wrong, we discovered that the maze had sealed itself off, and we had to force our way in. Without Pomona's skills, it would have taken us days. Whoever did this planned very well."

"I told you, It was Professor Moody!" Harry was annoyed. It was becoming clear that he couldn't even rely on Dumbledore. Those adults who weren't secretly evil were incompetent. Maybe the only person he could trust was himself.

"No, Harry." Dumbledore shook his head sadly, "we searched the defense professor's office, including the large multi-room trunk that he brought with him. Inside, we found Alistar Moody's body. He was tied up, and had just recently been murdered. Whoever you saw must have been impersonating him for the whole year, using a Polyjuce potion, most likely. Once they had no need of him, they killed him. Which brings me to what you saw in the graveyard. Are you certain that it was Voldemort?"

"Well, he certainly CLAIMED to be You-Know-Who, and he was surrounded by Death eaters."

"Harry, you can say his name. Calling him You-Know-Who just builds up the fear that he spreads."

"Fine. Voldemort. Are you Happy?"

"The reason I ask, is because there is a lot of resistance in some circles to accepting that Voldemort may have returned, and the more accurately I can speak, the more likely people are to listen. When people are already predisposed to doubt, one factual error can discredit your whole argument. To that end, I would like permission to examine your memory of the events."

"What? How?"

"I have a pensive, and we can pullout the memory of what happened, and then both of us can take a look."

Harry had heard of Pensives in passing, but they were expensive devices, so he had never seen on. "Ok. Lets do it."

A few minutes later, Dumbledor returned with a large stone bowl, which he placed on the end table.

"I know this will be unpleasant, but please concentrate on what happened at the graveyard so that I can pull forth the correct memory. Nod when you are ready for me to cast the spell."

Harry closed his eyes and sat still for a moment before nodding. Dumbledore touched his wand to Harry's temple and pulled forth a wispy bit of something. "Lets take a look at what we have."

Harry and Dumbledore both inserted their heads into the Pensive.

Immediately, they found themselves in the graveyard, facing the false Moody and a something sitting on his arm. Everything around was blurry, except for Moody. The action jumped from spot to spot, and the people were indistinct, often appearing as vague blobs.

"Professor, Why can't we see any details? Is something wrong with the spell?"

"No, I am sorry Harry, but the memory is this blurry because you are not a trained observer." Albus gave a sigh, "I had feared as much. We will have to do this the hard way. Come let us return."

After taking their heads out of the Pensive Dumbledore rubbed his head "this will not be easy. But at least I think I can get YOUR situation resolved by dinnertime. Then your friends can come visit you."

After Dumbledore left, Adam cleared his throat awkwardly "Death is never easy, Harry. My father raised me to protect people, yet over the centuries, I have failed more often than I have succeeded. It is often heart wrenching to see someone you know, if even casually, die. It does not matter if you are the cause of their death or not."

Harry sat silently for a long time, "Have you ever killed somebody who you were friends with?"

Adam sighed, "too often. In a life or death situation, mistakes kill. And I have made my share." He paused and looked down at his hands, "And sometimes, a person that you thought you knew, you did not know as well as you should have. Just because somebody betrays you does not make them a bad person. Maybe they decided that doing so was the only way to save themselves or their family. You can never know what went through Cedric's mind, Harry. Hating him will not help anything."

"Did I do right?" asked Harry in a faint voice.

"Yes." There was no hesitation in Adam's reply.

"Professor - about the trial thing - how serious is it going to be? Will it be as simple as Dumbledore thinks?"

"Most likely, yes. The evidence is overwhelming that Cedric was either a Dark wizard or under the Imperious. You will just have to come to court and answer a few questions."

"Could you come with me - I live with muggles, and they don't… they are going to be no help."

"Of course."

*Zero*Zero*

Dumbledore was as good as his word. The Auror guard was gone by dinnertime. But he was also wrong: nobody visited.

The following day was the leaving feast, and Madam Pomfrey cleared him to leave the infirmary. "Harry, you should go down to the great hall. You should spend some time with your friends. You won't see most of them all summer, after all," Harry continued to sit on his cot, his knees pulled up to his chest and his chin resting on them.

Madame Pomfrey looked up from filing some papers and opened her mouth to say something else when Harry managed, "I'll go down later. I'm not hungry." The medi-witch shrugged and walked out of the room.

A few moments later, the door opened again, and Luna crept in. "Hi."

Harry looked at her. She sat down on the bed next to him and wrapped her arms around him. "I'm sorry I didn't come earlier, but I know you don't want anybody to see me with you, so I was respecting your wishes."

Harry opened his mouth, and then closed it. He wasn't certain what to say.

"It will get better, but you need to find something to do. That's the way it was when my mother died. I spent the first few months just sitting in my room, under my blanket. It was horrible, but then Daddy got me interested in Zoology, and that helped."

"I didn't know your mother had died." Harry felt vaguely guilty.

Luna shrugged "I don't like to talk about it."

Harry pulled the younger girl into a hug, "Thanks." They sat together for hours. Neither one talked. Finally, as the afternoon rolled on, Luna stood up. "You should go pack - the Hogwarts express leaves in about an hour. Come on."

Harry stood up. "Yeah. I should do that" They walked hand in hand down to the Ravenclaw dorms. As he turned to go up to the boys' quarters, he turned back and grabbed Luna's hand and pulled her back. As she stopped, puzzled, he leaned over and kissed her gently on the lips. "Thanks."

END

The story will continue in Harry Potter: Metamorphosis. The first chapter should be up next week.

Hello all, thank you for reading my story.