CHAPTER 5
Once they had finished eating, Hermione looked round at the people gathered in the Room of Requirement, who were all sitting expectantly, and took a deep breath. "I'm sorry," she apologised. "No matter how hard the first three years were to talk about, it's only going to get worse now."
Seeing the young woman's distress and remembering that Hermione had said she was an unofficial member of the Weasley family, Molly moved over to sit next to her and give her some moral support.
"Thank you," Hermione whispered gratefully.
"So, fourth year," the brown-haired witch spoke up. "We begin again with Harry back at Privet Drive with the Dursleys and a strange dream he had."
Lady Hogwarts showed the dream and everyone recoiled. "That was Voldemort?" Frank Longbottom exclaimed in disgust.
"Was that just a nightmare or was it really a vision of Voldemort?" Moody asked at the same time skeptically.
Hermione nodded. "Yes, it was Riddle. After his encounter with Harry on Halloween 1981, his body was destroyed but he remained on this plane in spirit form. Pettigrew went to find his Master after he escaped at the end of our third year and somehow they managed to create a homunculous to house Riddle's spirit until he could regain a body. They were hiding out in the old Riddle Manor. It was his father's home, which was disused. The old man who was killed was the caretaker, who had been suspected by the Muggle police of murdering the Riddle family, although it was actually Riddle himself who was responsible for their deaths. Of course, Harry didn't have a clue where Riddle was, nor did he know that the dream was real. Harry was reluctant to bother Headmaster Dumbledore about a dream, so he wrote to Sirius instead. Much to Harry's dismay, Sirius promptly replied that he was returning to the UK from wherever he had escaped to. Harry tried to put him off but by the time his owl returned with the letter from Sirius, it was too late and Sirius was already back in Britain.
"Just after Harry had the dream he got a letter from the Weasleys inviting him to join them for the final of the Quidditch World Cup, which was being held in Britain, and no, Sirius, James—Lady Hogwarts will not be showing you the match nor will I tell you the results." Everyone laughed as the boys pouted and Hermione looked over to Arthur, who had moved to sit next to Molly, who was still beside Hermione. "You invited me to join you as well. Molly, you didn't come, but the rest of the family was all there. You had managed to get tickets for the top box for us all and sitting behind us in the box was a very frightened house elf, who was scared of heights, sitting beside an empty seat, which she said she was saving for her Master, Barty Crouch Senior. We all had our wands with us of course, and Harry's was sticking out his back pocket." Hermione sighed and looked across at Professor Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall. "Wouldn't it be a good idea to add a wand holster to the school uniform? Perhaps not as a compulsory item but as a recommended one? Very few students are aware they even exist, let alone purchase them, and it leaves our wands vulnerable. Either that or perhaps Madam Malkin should add special wand pockets to the robes she sells."
Before they could reply to her suggestion, Hermione turned again to Lady Hogwarts. "Would you please show the riot after the match, my Lady? Either from my perspective or from Harry's."
They all watched the incident in silence, the memory ending with Barty Crouch Senior dismissing his elf, Winky. "I assume that the elf was significant?" asked Andromeda Tonks quizzically.
"You mean, apart from the fact that this was my first encounter with a house elf and it made me into a strong proponent of elf rights?" Hermione grinned. Sobering, she explained, "It wasn't so much Winky herself who was important, rather the reason Mr Crouch dismissed her. We didn't find out what the reason really was until the end of the school year, though, and we didn't know it was important until then. In the meantime, everyone returned home safely the next morning. There were no casualties and even the Muggles were all right, if a bit dazed after having been Obliviated of something so major. As for who the Death Eaters were, I don't think that was ever established, although I would guess it was whoever of the inner circle was at the match. They all got scared when they saw the Dark Mark in the sky and ran off before they could be apprehended."
"You said that was the Crouch house elf… wasn't that Barty Crouch Junior we saw setting off the Dark Mark? Didn't you say he was in Azkaban?" asked Poppy diffidently.
"Yes, that was Barty Junior. I'll fill in the details about him later. In the meantime, Lady Hogwarts? Please could you show Professor Dumbledore's announcement at the Welcome Feast that year?" Hermione requested reluctantly. She really did not want to relive what would happen over the next few years but she knew that she had no choice: the story had to be told.
After everyone in the room had witnessed the announcement of the Triwizard Tournament, Hermione looked around carefully to gauge reactions. Some people, such as Lily and a few others, were looking puzzled and clearly did not know what the Tournament was. Others, such as Sirius, James, Remus, the Prewett twins and even Severus and Regulus were looking excited. The more mature and responsible people present, like Charlus and Dorea Potter, Augusta Longbottom, Amelia Bones, Minerva McGonagall, Pomona Sprout, Poppy Pomfrey, Filius Flitwick, and Molly and Arthur Weasley, were all looking either shocked, horrified or furious.
"Tell me this isn't bait for Riddle again!" roared Augusta Longbottom. "Albus, I swear…"
"Perhaps I should continue," Hermione interrupted, before they could all get sidetracked into berating Albus. "Headmaster, I realise that it was your older self who was responsible for all of this and that I can't really blame you for things that you haven't done yet—things that you won't do, if I have any say in the matter!—but I have a lot of anger over the events of my childhood and it's been building up inside me for a long time. It's hard to keep myself from snapping at you and I apologise for that." While Hermione felt that the censure was undoubtedly justified, she had to keep reminding herself that it was the older Albus Dumbledore who was responsible and that at this time, none of this had actually happened yet.
Dumbledore twinkled at her. "I dare say my older self deserves it. Feel free to snap at me in his place," he said expansively. "Perhaps it will help keep me from making similar mistakes in the future."
Hermione gave him a small smile and then briefly explained exactly what the Triwizard Tournament was to those who did not know. "There was an attempt to make it as safe as possible—as you heard, only students who were of age were permitted to enter themselves into the competition—so anything else that may have happened was not the Headmaster's fault. At least, not this time, anyway."
"What may have happened? Why do I think you really mean what did happen?" asked Filius Flitwick resignedly.
"Because you're the Head of the Clever House?" asked Hermione cheekily. As everyone laughed, she made a face. "I don't really like that designation," she ruminated. "Intelligence and wit isn't restricted solely to Ravenclaw. Nor is bravery and valour restricted to Gryffindor, cunning and ambition to Slytherin or loyalty and diligence to Hufflepuff. We all have characteristics of all the Houses in us. It just so happens that the Hat sorts us according to the aspects that are most dominant at the time of our sorting."
Hermione smothered a laugh as everyone looked at her with jaws hanging open, expressions of shock and incomprehension on all their faces. "Heresy, I know. But it's true nevertheless. There would never be any hatstalls otherwise! Consider this: Lily Evans and Severus Snape, not to mention myself when I was at school, were the cleverest students in our year—if not of our generation—and yet none of us were in Ravenclaw. If we have the aspect of only one House within us, all Muggleborns would be in Gryffindor, simply because of the courage it takes to enter this strange new world, and yet there are Muggleborns in almost every House. Heck, even Slytherin has had the occasion Muggleborn sorted into it. Additionally, to bring up another cliché, remember that not all Gryffindors are good and not all Slytherins are evil, otherwise Peter Pettigrew wouldn't have betrayed his friends to the death and Severus Snape wouldn't be one of the bravest and most honourable men I've ever met."
Perhaps predictably, Professor Flitwick, the Head of the House of the Clever was the first to recover his wits. "Well said indeed, Miss Pevensie. Indeed, we do all have traits of all the Houses within us."
Hermione smiled at the diminutive man in appreciation. "Before I discuss the tournament in any depth, I think you need to see our first Defence lesson that year and its immediate after effect."
"I was the Defence teacher?" exclaimed Alastor Moody after watching the memory. Hermione pretended not to hear the question, as she did not want to give too much away yet, and instead explained apologetically to Augusta, Frank and Alice, "Neville was obviously upset after witnessing the Cruciatus, given what happened to Frank and Alice. None of us knew at that point why Neville was so upset, though, because he didn't ever speak of his parents. When Harry found out, he wasn't sure—despite the Dursleys and everything he went through in their home—that Neville wasn't worse off than himself. Visiting his parents in St Mungos and seeing only shells, knowing that they didn't recognise him, was heartbreaking for Neville.
"Anyway, back to the Triwizard Tournament. Professor Dumbledore created an age line around the Goblet of Fire, which was surprisingly effective, given the many possible ways of circumventing it—although I suppose I shouldn't assume that it didn't occur to the Headmaster that younger students may try to levitate a piece of parchment with their name into the goblet or might simply ask an older student to put their name in for them." Albus twinkled at her in response and she winked at him. "I only saw the results of a couple of students trying to fool the age line by using an aging potion. It wasn't successful."
"What happened?" asked one of the Prewett twins eagerly.
"And what's the Goblet of Fire?" asked the other twin thoughtfully.
"The goblet is a magical artifact used to choose the champtions for each participating school," Hermione explained briefly.
"My Lady?" she asked. "Please could you show the ceremony where the Champions were selected?"
Lady Hogwarts complied but to Hermione's surprise, first showed Fred and George Weasley trying to cross the age line to enter their names into the goblet. Everyone laughed when they saw the boys being ejected from the protected area around the cup with impressive beards sprouting on their faces. Hermione smiled to herself. 'I always did think that the castle had a bit of a soft spot for mischievous rogues, like the Weasley and Prewett twins and the Marauders.'
However, the amusement soon turned to anger when Harry's name came out of the goblet and the younger boy, who looked small and undersized compared to the other Champions, was forced to compete.
"Who did it? Who put my son's name into that cup?" screeched Lily. "And why didn't you make sure it couldn't happen, Headmaster? Are you really that irresponsible?"
The red-head looked ready to attack the Headmaster. James held her back but looked soberly at Professor Dumbledore. "Lily makes a good point. Someone was clearly setting up Harry for his death and the possibilty of that happening should have been anticipated."
Hermione cleared her throat loudly and everyone looked at her in surprise. "While I do agree with you that Professor Dumbledore should have been more careful, my ire is directed at the Professor Dumbledore of my time. Don't forget, this hasn't actually happened yet. Harry won't even be born until 1980! There are a lot of things that Professor Dumbledore can do for the students now, such as improving the safety measures within the school and taking action against bullies, but everything I'm telling you about the future… I'm here to make sure none of that happens."
"So," Hermione continued, looking around the room again. "Really, only the third task of the tournament is significant so we don't actually need to see the first two tasks…" she paused for the expected protests. "However, there are aspects of the preparation for those tasks which perhaps you ought to see, so I guess you should see as much of the year as possible.
"First of all, I should probably explain that no one, apart from myself, believed that Harry hadn't put his name in the goblet himself. Most of Gryffindor were pleased to have a Gryffindor Champion, but that didn't stop them regarding him as some kind of cheat. Ron," Hermione looked apologetically at Molly and Arthur. "Ron suffered a little bit from being the youngest of six brothers. Ginny may have been the youngest child but she was the only girl, so she stood out in her own right, but for Ron, his brothers had done everything before him and, mostly, better than him. He found it very hard to get out from their shadow." Seeing the Weasley parents looking guilty, she hastened to reassure them. "I have some ideas about how to address that but there's plenty of time for us talk about it later."
Molly and Arthur nodded and Hermione continued. "I think that deep down Ron really did know that Harry didn't enter himself into the competition. The problem was that not only did Ron feel that he was in all his brothers' shadows, but he was also in his best friend's shadow, and this was just too much for him. Ron refused to believe Harry and barely spoke to him until after the first task, when he finally realised just how much danger Harry was in. At that point, most of the vitriol from the rest of the school against Harry faded too—I think that seeing what the Champions were facing brought things into perspective for the school at large—but until then, the entire school was against him. I don't know what the staff thought but none of the other students believed him when he said he hadn't put his name into the goblet."
"And yet, you did believe him?" asked Dorea Potter kindly.
Hermione nodded. "Harry didn't have many friends at Hogwarts. Oh, don't get me wrong, he got on well with most people, but very few managed to look past the legend of The Boy Who Lived. Apart from myself and Ron, I'd say that Fred, George and possibly also Neville were probably the only students who ever saw just Harry. Even Ginny at that time had a crush on The Boy Who Lived rather than Harry, although she was making a conscious effort to change that. So we were the only ones who knew him well and only Ron and I knew him well enough to know how much Harry hated the publicity. There is no way Harry would ever willingly have chosen to enter the tournament, even if he were old enough to compete. Ron was too upset to think straight or listen to reason at that point, so that left me as the only student in the school who believed Harry.
"And, again, the staff did nothing to help Harry. There was no announcement by Professor Dumbledore that he believed Harry; there was no effort, even from Professor McGonagall, to stop students wearing badges saying Potter Stinks; nor was he even given any assistance in dealing with a rather aggressive and trouble-making reporter named Rita Skeeter. Instead, Harry was just left to sink or swim on his own. Again. Headmistress Maxime and Headmaster Karkaroff both helped the Champions from their schools prepare for the task. I believe that Professor Sprout helped Cedric Diggory. But even though Harry was three years younger than any of the other Champions, I was the only person to help him. Well, sort of, anyway. Lady Hogwarts, please can you show the wand weighing ceremony and Rita's so-called interview with Harry and then what happened when Hagrid gave Harry a hint about the first task?"
They all watched Harry be dragged off into a closet by Rita and saw her Quick-Quotes Quill write what Rita wanted it to instead of what Harry actually said. They then watched Harry sneak out to visit Hagrid and realise that he had to face a dragon. Cries of horror and anger echoed around the room.
"That article caused even more problems for Harry as it opened up innumerable opportunities to make fun of him and, yet again, the staff did nothing to stop the taunts and the jeers. As for the dragon, I tried to help Harry as best I could, but we were two fourth years, both of us Muggle raised, and neither of us knew very much about dragons," explained Hermione sadly.
"Ron, Fred, George or Ginny might have been helpful, what with Charlie being a dragon tamer—they must have heard stories from their brother—but with none of them believing Harry, he didn't ask them. Mind you, I don't know if he would have even asked. Asking for help from anyone other than Ron or myself was still an alien concept to Harry. Anyway, at the same time as worrying about just surviving the task, Harry also worried about the other Champions. Unlike almost everyone else in Hogwarts at the time, Harry was a decent person with morals and ethics and an innate sense of right and wrong and fairness. Don't ask me how, given that he was brought up by Petunia and Vernon Dursley, but that was Harry. Despite the lack of support or assistance, he did something that I'm not sure any of the other Champions would have done for him at that point. Realising that Karkaroff and Madame Maxime would tell their Champions about the dragons and that Cedric was therefore the only one who didn't know, Harry told Cedric. My Lady, please would you show Harry's interview with our, er, Defence teacher after that?"
"I suggested going up against a dragon with only a broomstick?" asked Moody aghast.
"Harry was a superb flyer, so it was actually a good plan. I stayed up most of the night with Harry, helping him with the Summoning Charm, until he finally got it," replied Hermione tersely.
Lady Hogwarts then showed the first task, starting with the instructions to the Champions and the selection of their dragons from Harry's perspective. However, she showed the four Champions facing the dragons from Hermione's perspective. Everyone looked positively ill by the end of it. Molly managed a faint smile when she saw Ron make up with Harry but it was clear that it was only half-hearted.
"The egg held the clue to the next task. When it was opened it screeched and the Champions had to interpret the screeches to know what was coming next. This time, Cedric helped Harry and he told him to take a bath with the egg. He gave him the password to the prefects' bathroom and Harry snuck in with the egg. With the help of Moaning Myrtle, Harry eventually worked out that he had to listen to the egg underwater for the screeching to make sense. The clue went like this:
"Come seek us where our voices sound,
We cannot sing above the ground,
And while you're searching, ponder this;
We've taken what you'll sorely miss,
An hour long you'll have to look,
And recover what we took,
But past an hour—the prospect's black,
Too late, it's gone, it won't come back." ¹
"Essentially what it meant was that hostages would be taken and placed in the Mer village in the Black Lake for the Champions to rescue. The second task took place at the end of February. In December, there was a Yule Ball and the Champions had to open it with their dates. Viktor and Cedric's dates to the ball were their hostages for this task. Harry's experience at the ball was a bit disastrous, so his hostage was Ron rather than his date. Fleur's hostage was her nine year old sister."
"Ron?" asked James, amused. "Not you?"
Hermione blushed. "I was Viktor's hostage. Anyway, Cedric and Fleur used the Bubblehead Charm; Viktor made a partial transformation into a shark; and Harry, with the assistance of Dobby, who was now working at Hogwarts, used Gillyweed, which Dobby stole from Professor Snape's stores. Harry reached the hostages first but wasn't thinking straight and took seriously the line about past an hour—the prospect's black; too late, it's gone, it won't come back and waited to be sure that all the hostages were rescued. Fleur didn't manage to get past the Grindylows and Harry rescued Gabrielle as well as Ron. At the end of the first task, Harry and Viktor were tied for first place, followed by Cedric then Fleur. For the second task, Cedric was first back and so got the highest points for that task. Harry was last back but got the second highest score for showing moral fibre in wanting to make sure all the hostages were safe. Viktor was penalised for an incomplete transfiguration, although it makes perfect sense to me that he might have wanted to have his hands free. Fleur's score, of course, reflected the fact that she didn't complete the task. Harry and Cedric were tied for first place after that, followed by Viktor and, lastly, Fleur.
"During the course of the year, Sirius arrived back in Britain. He stayed in a cave outside Hogwarts, in his Animagus form, living on rats, except for when we had Hogsmeade weekends and could sneak him some real food. There wasn't much he could do physically or openly to help Harry but just knowing that Sirius was there helped Harry's morale enormously, even though he was terrified that Sirius would get caught.
"Rita Skeeter had been banned from the grounds but she still managed to write stories about the tournament, obviously with her own poisonous slant on them. Skeeter especially disliked me and worte a particularly nasty piece which resulted in my being overwhelmed with hate mail, some of it containing noxious substances, such as undiluted Bobotuber pus, but she also disliked Harry. He used to collapse, screaming in agony, whenever he received a vision from Riddle, and she started portraying him as insane because of that. I was determined to find out how Rita was getting her stories—they had enough truth in them to make it obvious she was either sneaking onto the grounds or had an inside source—and eventually worked it out at the end of the year.
"The third task was a maze filled with obstacles. The Champions had to find the cup or trophy at the centre of the maze and the one who did would win the tournament. The Champions in first place at the start of the task entered the maze first, with Fleur entering last. The Champions' families had been invited to watch the task but, of course, the Dursleys didn't come. They wouldn't have come even if they had been invited! Molly and Bill came instead. Harry was very grateful to see you; he didn't think he had any family who would be there for him," Hermione said, smiling at Molly. "Lady Hogwarts, please show the task and the aftermath, from Harry's point of view."
Hermione could not bear to watch. Even though she had not personally witnessed the events in the graveyard, she still knew exactly what happened. Hermoine put her feet up on the seat of her armchair and buried her face against her knees, as she tried to block out both the sights and the sounds of the projection. Molly, seeing how upset Hermione was, put her arm around the young woman and Hermione gratefully leaned into her motherly embrace, burying her face in the woman's shoulder. Everyone watched the task in an appalled silence that turned to horror as they watched Harry be transported to the graveyard. The casual killing of Cedric was sickening and Peter Pettigrew's part in resurrecting Riddle disgusted them all. It only got worse as they watched the duel in the graveyard, the Priori Incantatem showing the ghosts of Riddle's last victims, Harry taking Cedric's body back to Hogwarts, the discovery that Alastor Moody was really a Polyjuiced Barty Crouch Jr and his confession to Dumbledore.
Tears streaming down her cheeks, Hermione explained. "That was the start of the second war. Unfortunately, Minister Fudge refused to accept that Riddle was back, partly because of his relationship with Lucius Malfoy, partly because he had been reading Rita Skeeter and believed that Harry had mental problems, but mostly because he chose to stick his head in the sand like an ostrich and pretend that it wasn't happening. He had Barty Crouch Jr Kissed without even questioning him under Veritaserum, solely because he would otherwise have been forced to admit that Riddle was back. Harry was taken to the hospital wing after he told the story of what happened and Professor Snape returned to Riddle, as the Order's spy. Professor Dumbledore sent Remus and Sirius to start rounding up the Order of the Phoenix and Sirius stayed in Britain, moving into the Black family home in Grimmauld Place, which, apart from the house elf, Kreacher, was deserted as his parents and Regulus had all died by this time. Because of the superb protections on it, Sirius gave the house to the Order to use and Professor Dumbledore added to those protections by putting it under the Fidelius, with himself as Secret Keeper. Finally, Harry was sent back to the Dursleys for the summer, with no contact with anyone—Ron and I were forbidden from writing to him—and no sort of counselling or comfort after witnessing Cedric's death. After, as he believed, causing, Cedric's death. Harry felt so guilty for having suggested they share the victory, he had a very hard time of it that summer and, indeed, the following school year as well."
Hermione looked round the room. "Believe it or not, Lady Howarts and I have only shown you the most important parts of that year. There was actually quite a lot more that happened, which I'm not covering or we'd be here all year ourselves.
"To conclude that school year, Harry and Cedric jointly won the tournament but because Cedric was dead, Harry was awarded all the winnings but gave them to Fred and George. Bill was a cursebreaker, Charlie was a dragon-tamer and Percy worked for the Ministry. I'm afraid Percy was a bit of a pompous prat and rather ambitious and he spent a few years putting the Ministry ahead of his family, although he came right in the end. I think he backed himself into a corner and didn't know how to get out. Molly, you wanted Fred and George to follow Arthur and Percy into the Ministry but they didn't want that. They barely got any OWLs, not for lack of intelligence, but beause they didn't see the point as they didn't need the qualifications for their chosen career. They're very intelligent and I think they were actually quite bored in class, which contributed to their lack of interest. Much to your dismay, Molly, they wanted to open a joke shop. Harry gave them his Triwizard winnings to do that because he thought that the wizarding world would need something to help them laugh, given what they were facing."
Suddenly, Hermione blushed. "I managed to capture Rita while we were all sitting in the infirmary with Harry the night after the third task. She was an unregistered Animagus—a beetle to be precise—and that was how she managed to sneak onto the grounds and get all her stories without anyone noticing her. I found her sitting on the window-sill listening in to what was happening in the infirmary and I trapped her in a jar for several weeks before I let her go. I blackmailed her into keeping her poisonous quill to herself for a year."
"How very Slytherin of you, Miss Pevensie," Dumbledore commented, his eyes twinkling.
"My hold over her became useful later," Hermione acknowledged.
Seeing that everyone once again appeared shell-shocked, apart from Amelia Bones, Alastor Moody and Kingsley Shacklebolt, who were busily writing down the names of all the Death Eaters who had been identified in that graveyard, Hermione proposed that they break for the night. Hermione herself was trembling from witnessing all that again and from the knowledge that as horrific as the Triwizard Tournament had been, things were only going to get worse from this point on. Molly stayed with Hermione, trying to give her support. Arthur, at a signal from Molly, brought Hermione a glass of water, which she gratefully sipped.
"It's been a long day and things are only going to get darker and more intense as the story continues. I'm also sure you'll have plenty of questions. Perhaps we should break it up for tonight and convene again early tomorrow?" she suggested.
Professor Dumbledore nodded in agreement. "That sounds like a very good idea, Miss Pevensie. Perhaps we could all meet again in this room at nine o'clock tomorrow morning? It would be best if our guests all floo out, rather than exit through the castle. Minerva will escort you to my office to use the floo. If the Hogwarts students could just remain behind for a moment, however."
There were murmurs of agreement and a very subdued group of people began to stand up and make their farewells, while the students stayed in the room as requested. Filius and Pomona decided to remain too, since it was well past curfew. They would escort the students back to their dorms so they would not get into trouble. Sirius, James, Remus, Regulus, Severus, Lily, Frank and his girlfriend, Alice Wood², all clustered around the Headmaster.
"If anyone asks where you were today, Mr Snape and Mr Regulus Black, you have been helping brew potions for the hospital wing. The rest of you have been assisting Professor McGonagall and you have been forbidden to talk about what you were doing. Is that clearly understood?"
"Yes, sir," they all agreed.
Alice looked around and, seeing the discomfort on the faces of the three remaining Marauders, decided to ask the question that they could not bring themselves to ask. "What should we say if anyone asks us about Pettigrew, sir?"
Albus stroked his beard thoughtfully. "I recommend that you say he's been called away for a family emergency for now. I don't think we want to announce just yet that he's been arrested as a Death Eater."
"Perhaps, in that case, they should say he's ill or has an injury. Something that can't be cured easily," Hermione proposed.
Albus raised his eyebrows inquiringly and Hermione explained. "If he's unable to answer a summons, Riddle may get suspicious, especially if Pettigrew has supposedly left the school, from where it would be hard for him to sneak out, and has gone home, from where he would probably be able to leave easily."
"A very good point, Miss Pevensie. Now, what should we say is wrong with young Mr Pettigrew?"
"How about Spattergroit, sir? It would explain why he is in isolation and also why he won't be out of the infirmary in just a day or two," Hermione suggested with a grin.
"I assume there's a story behind that suggestion, too?" asked Amelia Bones with amusement. She and Alastor Moody had not yet left and now she explained why. "Talking of Pettigrew, we should take him into custody."
"Err, the Ministry is infiltrated with Death Eaters and sympathisers, Madam Bones. So is the DMLE. Perhaps it may be better to leave Pettigrew here. I'm sure Lady Hogwarts will allow you to interrogate him. I would suggest you do so under Veritaserum and there are a number of questions I would recommend you ask him," Hermione mused.
"Oh?" Amelia asked, raising an eyebrow imperiously.
"I'm sorry, Madam Bones. I'm not trying to tell you how to do your job but my experiences make me wary. I feel it's good to have a record of certain things," Hermione explained.
"I see. Well, what are your questions, Miss Pevensie?"
"Firstly, please ask what he had to do in order to receive his Dark Mark. Riddle doesn't accept just anyone into his ranks—they have to prove themselves to him. Secondly, ask what he has done in the service of his Master since then. Mind you, even if he hasn't committed any atrocities since then, what he did to be awarded the Mark would probably be enough to convict him. Thirdly, please ask if it's possible to be Imperiused into getting the Mark. After the first Voldemort war, a lot of Death Eaters escaped jail by claiming Imperius, and were never even questioned because they were such fine, upstanding citizens. Fine, upstanding, rich and generous citizens. Not that I'm accusing anyone of accepting bribes, of course," Hermione said blandly and Moody snorted in appreciation. "However, from what I understand, the Dark Mark uses a person's own magic to take hold and I'm given to understand that for that to happen successfully, the Mark has to be taken voluntarily. The Dark Mark would not take hold under the Imperius.
"Anyway," she continued. "Just in case any of them manage to escape what I've planned, though I don't think they will, it would be a good idea to clarify that point before they can buy their way out of jail. Finally, the most obvious question of all: a list of all those he knows to be Death Eaters or sympathisers; that way you'll be able to round them up before they have a chance to try and bribe their way out of trouble. Oh, it might also be worth asking if Pettigrew knows where Riddle is hiding but I doubt he will. The Dark Mark acts as a kind of portkey to take the Death Eaters to their Master when he summons them, so they don't actually need to know his location. It wouldn't hurt to ask, though."
Alastor Moody had been nodding in approval throughout Hermione's speech. "Have you ever thought of becoming an Auror, girlie? You've got good instincts there."
"Not so much instincts as hard-won experience, Auror Moody. I appreciate the compliment but I've done enough fighting. When this is all over, I'll be glad to leave chasing down bad guys to others."
With that, they all parted ways. Lady Hogwarts had promised to allow Amelia and Moody to interrogate Pettigrew once Hermione had finished her story, after having assured Dumbledore that the boy would be fed and housed humanely.
Back in her chambers, Hermione tumbled exhaustedly into bed and downed a Dreamless Sleep potion. That was something she only did rarely as she did not want to become addicted, however, she knew that after telling her story today, that after seeing those memories of Harry and Ron, she would undoubtedly have dreams and nightmares. She just could not face that tonight, not when she still had the worst of the story yet to tell.
.o.O.o.
The next morning, the same group of people had reconvened early in the Room of Requirement. Remembering how upset Hermione had been reliving her experiences the previous day, Molly made sure to sit next to the girl again, to support her as best she could.
"There's still a lot to tell and I'd like to get through it all today, if possible. There will be food and drink on the serving tables all day, so just go and take something when you need it, rather than waiting for formal breaks," Hermione warned before continuing her story.
"Professor Dumbledore had members of the Order of the Phoenix watching Harry the summer before fifth year to make sure he would be safe but he didn't actually tell Harry that. Harry might have felt better if he had known and might even have taken the opportunity to talk to them about what happened in that graveyard, especially if Remus was one of the relevant Order members. Unfortunately, not only did Professor Dumbledore not tell Harry, he also chose to trust Mundungus Fletcher," Hermione began.
"Dung?" exclaimed Moody in disbelief and Hermione grimaced in acknowledgement.
"I'm afraid so," she said. "My Lady, please would you show what happened the night Dung was supposed to be watching Harry?"
"Dementors? My son and nephew were attacked by Dementors?" Lily shrieked, before James shushed her to watch the rest of the evening play out.
"Harry was threated with expulsion for defending himself?" James asked blankly when the incident stopped playing.
Hermione nodded. "Harry was collected shortly after that incident and taken to Headquarters. He was absolutely furious, and rightly so. He'd been left alone to stew all summer after having watched Cedric be killed, he'd been attacked by Dementors, he'd been threated with expulsion and still no one would tell him anything. He blew up quite spectacularly with us when he arrived and basically spent most of that year being angry. Anyway, he had to attend a hearing… My Lady?"
"Harry was tried in front of the entire Wizengamot for underage magic?" asked Charlus Potter in disbelief, after watching the trial.
"The Minister absolutely refused to acknowledge that Riddle had returned. As Harry was saying otherwise, he therefore had to be discredited. The Daily Prophet, which was basically a Ministry mouthpiece rather than an actual newspaper, spent the entire summer publishing articles that portrayed Harry as an attention-seeking, deluded, deranged lunatic. Minister Fudge obviously thought that the members of the Wizengamot would all be convinced Harry was just an arrogant troublemaker and they would all convict him, thus removing the thorn from his side. Fudge didn't bargain on Director Bones being honest and just, nor on Professor Dumbledore's defence. Of course, Harry had acted in self-defence, which was a justifiable exception to the Decree for the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery. As for the charge of breaking the International Statute of Secrecy, Harry did magic in front of two people: Arabella Figg, who is a squib; and Dudley Dursley, who is the cousin Harry lived with and who therefore already knew about magic. The entire hearing was nonsense but wizards aren't exactly known for their logic," she said apologetically.
"Maia?" asked Molly. "Was that our Percy there? He seemed a bit…"
Hermione sighed internally. "Percy's a bit uptight compared to the rest of your children. He also spent about three years as a Ministry toady, sucking up to those who he thought could help him rise in the ranks. He was rather ambitious and a bit pompous, without much of a sense of humour. He tended to focus on trivia and minutiae and mindlessly obeying rules—probably the only Weasley I ever met who even knew what a rule was, much less followed it!—because he couldn't see the big picture. He broke off all contact with his family that summer, blindly following the Ministry rather than his family. He came all right in the end, though." Hermione noticed Arthur and Molly both suppressing grins at the idea that Weasleys did not understand the concept of rules; Fred and George had come by their sense of mischief honestly.
"Who was the toad?" asked one of the Prewett twins curiously.
'I really need to meet them properly and learn which is which,' thought Hermione, as she listened with half an ear to Molly reprimanding her brother.
"Fabian, really! I'm sure she's a delightful woman, despite her unfortunate looks."
Hermione snorted at the thought of the toad being a delightful woman. "That was Dolores Umbridge, Senior Undersecretary to the Minister. A witch of at best mediocre ability, who was fanatically loyal to Cornelius Fudge—well, actually anyone in power—and who detested all creatures, beasts, beings, half-breeds, Muggleborns... you get the idea. She wasn't a marked Death Eater but her sympathies certainly lay in that direction. She was responsible for some horrendously prejudicial and restrictive legislation. It was her rabid persecution of half-breeds that saw the introduction of anti-werewolf legislation, for example, that made it practially illegal for werewolves to get a job. Of course, if they had been able to obtain gainful employment, they would have been able to afford to buy Wolfsbane, they wouldn't be dangerous, and they wouldn't need to live like street rats under the leadership of Fenrir Greyback, all for lack of any other options. It was a vicious circle. And those were her better qualities."
"Why do I think that isn't the last we're going to see of her?" queried Andromeda Tonks, quizzically.
"Because you're a suspicious Slytherin?" replied Hermione with a grin, as Andromeda's eyes gleamed in appreciation at the quip. Hermione's smile faded. "Rightly so, I'm afraid. Dolores Umbridge was our Defence Professor that year and it was horrendous. Lady Hogwarts, please could you show the speech at the Welcoming Feast and the important points from both our first Defence lesson and Harry's first detention?"
"I didn't understand that," said a bored looking Sirius, after seeing Dolores Umbridge interrupt Professor Dumbledore's welcome to the school with her own speech.
"Isn't it obvious?" Hermione queried. "The Ministry was interfering at Hogwarts." With a nod to Lady Hogwarts, the Defence lesson and Harry's detenion played out for all to see. The silence afterwards was deafening. It appeared that even Lily was simply too appalled to rage.
"SHE USED A BLOOD QUILL ON MY GRANDSON?" Charlus Potter roared.
Hermione nodded. "This is where Professor Dumbledore's policy of keeping his cards close to his chest began to cause real problems," Hermione explained sadly. "Although the Headmaster came to support Harry at his trial, he didn't speak to Harry or even look at him. Harry was quite hurt by this as he had always felt that Professor Dumbledore was there for him, something which he felt about very few other adults. Headmaster, your older self continued that policy to the end of the school year, leaving Harry very hurt and confused. You actually had a good reason for it but, unfortunately, it caused more trouble than it was worth. If you had just told Harry the reason, he wouldn't have been so resentful of you for avoiding him. Even if you hadn't wanted to tell him the actual reason, if you had only told him you had a reason but couldn't explain what it was at that time and that you were very sorry about it, he wouldn't have felt so bad.
"Between Harry's habit of not asking adults for help—heck, he barely even used to ask Ron or myself for help—and his resentment over Professor Dumbledore keeping clear of him, he was stubbornly determined not to let Umbridge see she had got to him and he didn't tell anyone about the blood quill at first. The problem was, he had a solid week of detentions with Umbridge, all with that damn quill. Eventually, Harry confessed to Ron what she was doing to him and we tried to get Harry to tell someone—the Headmaster or Professor McGonagall—but he refused. Harry said that no one could help him and he wasn't far wrong. Umbridge continued giving him more detentions at every possible opportunity, until Harry was permanently scarred from that damn quill. Umbridge was given increasing amounts of authority by the Ministry—even being made Hogwarts High Inquisitor. As such, she had the power to fire staff, to overrule them on punishments, and to institute whatever new rules she wanted, no matter how restrictive or unjust. Umbridge made sure we didn't learn anything in Defence, she prohibited professors from talking to students unless it directly concerned their subjects, she fired Hagrid and Trelawney, she installed the Slytherin senior students as her Inquisitorial Squad, giving them the right to take points from other students... Hell, I can't even remember all her offences.
"Of course, we fought back as best we could. Ron and I persuaded Harry to start teaching us Defence, since his experiences had made him very good indeed at that subject. Most importantly, he was the only student who knew what it was like to face Riddle. We also invited a number of other students from Gryffindor, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw to join us. Unfortunately, Umbridge eventually found out about the DA—the Defence Association or Dumbledore's Army." The Headmaster looked rather taken aback but still quite flattered and Hermione explained. "Fudge was absolutely paranoid and had convinced himself that not only was Professor Dumbledore was after his job, but the Headmaster was trying to create his own private army, so we decided to call ourselves after Fudge's worst fear. That was Ginny's suggestion," Hemione said, with a smile to Molly and Arthur.
"We found somewhere secret to meet. This room, actually. Dobby, the house elf Harry had freed from the Malfoys, was working at Hogwarts and he told Harry about this room. It was perfect. We used fake galleons enchanted with a Protean Charm as a means of communication..."
"A Protean Charm?" Albus queried significantly and Hermione blushed.
"Yes, sir. You're quite right. I got the idea from the Dark Mark but installing it into a fake galleon is a lot different from burning it into someone's skin, nor does it tie anyone's magic permanently into the charmed galleon."
"Very well done, Miss Pevensie. That's very impressive for a fifth year. I can see why you want to apprentice in Charms," said Filius approvingly.
"Miss Pevensie, what do you mean about not tying anyone's magic permanently into the charmed galleon?" Severus asked quietly.
Hermione sighed. "I had hoped to cover this later but I'll explain now, at least in part. When someone takes the Dark Mark, Riddle links their magic to it, and by extension to himself—it's how he's able to use it to summon his followers."
"If Riddle's followers are linked to him through their Dark Mark, does that mean that if we kill Riddle, they will die too?" asked Severus, in the same quiet tone.
"That depends on how we kill him, Mr Snape." Hermione's bald statement met an uneasy silence, as people looked at each other uncomfortably, trying to work out what she meant by that.
"Don't worry," she reassured them. "What I have in mind will not damage our souls, nor should it affect anyone who is truly remorseful and repentant."
Not wanting to debate the issue further at this time, Hermione ruthlessly continued with her story, ignoring the continued uneasy looks from those who had not yet been faced with the reality of fighting Death Eaters and were still rather naïve as to what war entailed. Amelia Bones, Mad Eye Moody, the Prewett twins, Kingsley Shacklebolt and Charlus Potter all looked far more pragmatic and accepting, which did not surprise Hermione. So, too, did Dorea Potter and Augusta Longbottom, which matched Hermione's memory of Neville's grandmother from the Battle of Hogwarts. Dorea surprised Hermione for a moment, until the younger witch remembered that Dorea might be a Potter by marriage, but she had still been born and bred a Black.
"Eventually, one of the members of the DA betrayed us to Umbridge. I had made it so that anyone who betrayed us would regret it but I didn't make it so that no one could actually do so. I didn't know how, I'm afraid, though I think I would be able to work it out now. Dobby warned us in the middle of a DA meeting and we all managed to get away except Harry, however, Professor Dumbledore took the blame for the DA."
Lady Hogwarts displayed the confrontation in Dumbledore's office. There was plenty of laughter and cheering when Dumbledore attacked Umbridge and those who were with her. As for what Hermione did to Marietta Edgecombe for betraying them...
"I'm impressed," said a Prewett twin in awe, to the accompaniment of vigorous nods from Sirius and James.
"Even we wouldn't have done that," said Sirius incredulously.
Hermione snorted. "No, you would have done something juvenile and embarrassing, which would have been appropriate if all she had done was snitch about something inconsequential. We were at war, however, and the consequences to all of us were potentially far more severe. Especially those of us who were close to Harry or who were Muggleborn."
Suddenly, Hermione grinned evilly. "Umbridge was appointed Headmistress by the Minister after Professor Dumbledore left, but Hogwarts herself didn't accept her appointment and sealed the Headmaster's office against her. Umbridge had quite a tantrum about that! Of course, once Professor Dumbledore was ousted, the students no longer held back and began to make Umbridge's life as difficult as we possibly could. The staff did nothing to help her, saying they didn't have the authority. She couldn't even argue with that as she was the one who had taken the authority away from them." She glanced over at the Marauders and the Prewett twins. "I'm sure you're dying to know what we did to her but you'll have to ask Lady Hogwarts another time," she said and they pouted in disappointment.
"Fred and George were gearing up to opening their joke shop and a lot of their products were showcased in the rebellion against Umbridge, which might well have contributed to the later success of their shop. Umbridge had managed to have Harry, Fred and George all banned from Quidditch, supposedly for life, although Professor Dumbledore later reversed that decision. Umbridge had taken away their broomsticks and had them chained up somewhere—according to rumour, she actually had security trolls guarding the brooms. Lady Hogwarts, please would you show the twins' exit from Hogwarts?"
Lady Hogwarts showed them setting off their portable swamp and the confrontation with Umbridge, resulting in their grand exit. Once again, the pranksters in the room were loudly enthusiastic. Molly appeared angry with her sons but if you looked, you could see the smile that she was suppressing. Fred and George had inherited their mischievousness from the Prewett side of the family, after all. In contrast, Professor Flitwick was most impressed with their charmwork. "I'm going to look forward to teaching those two miscreants," he said.
Hermione continued her story. "The twins' escape was near the end of the year and I need to go back in time a bit to cover the more serious events of that year. Despite having spent time at Headquarters before school began, we didn't know what the Order was doing. We had managed to gather that they were guarding something, but we didn't know what it was or what the significance of it was. Of course, it was the prophecy. Riddle was keeping a low profile because he didn't know how he had been defeated when Harry was a baby nor did he know the full prophecy. Riddle was worried that the prophecy was very significant and would explain how Harry had defeated him previously.
"Riddle made a few attempts to get it by subterfuge. He or his Death Eaters Imperiused Sturgis Podmore, who was a member of the Order of the Phoenix, to steal it but Podmore was arrested and sentenced to six months in Azkaban. Then they tried to get Broderick Bode to get it for them, since he was an Unspeakable and would have access to the Hall of Prophecies. They didn't seem to know that only the people involved in the prophecy could take it and when they tried to Imperius Bode, he resisted, perhaps because he knew what the defences around the prophecy would do to him. Bode suffered spell damage that affected his mind and was later killed—surprisingly subtly—just when he began to recover. Bode was in the long term spell damage ward of St Mungo's and was sent a present of a potted plant, which turned out to be Devil's Snare disguised as a Flitterbloom. Anyway, just before Christmas, Harry had another of those important dreams. Lady Hogwarts, if you would?"
Lady Hogwarts showed them Harry's dream, him waking in a panic and rousing Gryffindor Tower; Professor McGonagall taking him to the Headmaster; Dumbledore sending Dilys Derwent's portrait to take action; and sending Harry and the Weasleys off to Grimmauld Place. Molly and Arthur looked very pale at the end and Hermione hastened to reassure them.
"Thanks to that dream, Arthur was found in time to save him. Nagini, Riddle's snake had been corrupted by Dark Magic and was highly venomous. With Professor Snape's secret help, an anti-venin was created and Arthur survived Nagini's attack with no side effects."
"Harry seems to have made a point of saving the lives of members of my family," Arthur commented shakily.
Hermione smiled at him. "Harry had a bit of a 'saving people' thing. He would have helped anyone he had seen in that vision but he was particularly close to your family, which made it all the more important to him. Harry became worried that he had somehow been possessed by Riddle but Ginny soon put him right on that, since she actually had been possessed by his diary and could tell him this wasn't the same thing at all. No one knew what the connection between Harry and Riddle really was, except for Professor Dumbledore and he didn't share that information. Instead he told Harry that he had to learn Occlumency and tasked Professor Snape with teaching him."
Hermione sighed again. 'I seem to be doing a lot of that lately,' she thought in amusement. "How anyone would have thought that would go well is beyond me," she said aloud. "Harry and Professor Snape hated each other with a passion and it was an unmitigated disaster. Unfortunately, Professors Snape and Dumbledore were the only Occlumens in the school and the Headmaster still wasn't speaking or talking to Harry. It might have been better if you had given me a book to read and told me to use that to teach Harry myself, Headmaster. I'm not going into details but it culminated in Professor Snape tossing Harry out and telling him not to come back.
"There were a number of issues preventing Harry from learning Occlumency. First of all, the Headmaster instructed Professor Snape to teach Harry as quickly as possible, so there was no time to ease him into it by first teaching him to meditate. Secondly, Professor Snape didn't know how to teach Occlumency. He was a natural Occlumens and had never needed to be taught himself, so between that and the need for Harry to learn quickly, his attempts to teach it were rather brutal. Thirdly, the connection between Harry and Riddle was unique and I'm not sure it would actually have made a difference. Fourthly, Harry's relationship with Professor Snape was such that the entire exercise was doomed to disaster, right from the start. Finally, Harry was angry and resentful and didn't particularly want to learn, especially when he didn't see the need. This goes back to the Headmaster keeping things close to his chest and not sharing."
Hermione turned to face Dumbledore. "Harry was dreaming of a door at the end of a corridor. Harry didn't realise Riddle was showing it to him deliberately and and so he wanted to see what was behind the door. Riddle used this to bait a trap for him and Harry fell for it. I know your older self didn't want to tell Harry the prophecy yet but you could have just explained that the prophecy existed and that you would tell him what it said when the time was right. If you had told Harry that only he or Riddle could get the record of the prophecy and that Riddle may try and trick Harry into going and getting it for him, since he couldn't go into the Ministry to get it himself, Harry might have been more wary.
"Anyway," continued Hermione, "although Riddle was laying low that year, he did act to break out the Death Eaters imprisoned in Azkaban. Ten of the most loyal and notorious Death Eaters, including the three Lestranges, Augustus Rookwood and Antonin Dolohov. Of course, the Ministry blamed Sirius for it, instead of accepting the truth that Riddle was back. That gave Neville the impetus he needed to work on his spell work and he became very good at Defence, thanks to Harry's tutoring, despite still battling with a wand that didn't work properly for him.
"In amongst everything else that was happening, I arranged for Harry to give an interview with Rita Skeeter on a Hogsmeade weekend, to be published in The Quibbler. It's an... unusual publication but the Ministry story left a lot of holes and people wanted answers. The proprietor's daugher, Luna Lovegood, was a Ravenclaw in the year below us and became a friend that year. Luna helped to arrange it all. Umbridge was furious and made it an offence to be caught in possession of The Quibbler, which, of course, only made everyone all the more determined to read it. By the end of the week, everyone in the school had read it. The junior Death Eaters in Slytherin weren't too happy, because Harry had named all their fathers. but there wasn't actually anything they could do about it, since they coldn't admit to having read the article."
There were several smirks at this, primarily from the Slytherins in the room—namely Dorea Potter, Andromeda Tonks, Severus Snape and Regulus Black—and the various pranksters.
"As always," said Hermione, "everything came to a head at the end of the year. Umbridge ousted Hagrid, taking a team of Aurors with her. I'm not sure if they were to eject him by force or if Umbridge was going to try and have him arrested on some trumped up charges. It took place in the middle of our Astronomy OWL so we saw it all. My Lady?"
Lady Hogwarts showed it from Hermione's perspective. Everyone felt the upset and horror of the students as Professor McGonagall was attacked. Hermione gave her favourite professor a small smile. "Madam Pomfrey sent you to St Mungos. You were back before the end of the year but with both yourself and the Headmaster gone, it meant that the only member of the Order left on staff was Professor Snape and he had a cover to maintain, so when Harry got another vision in the middle of our History of Magic OWL, we had no one to turn to, even if Harry had been inclined to go to Professor Snape for help. Lady Hogwarts, please could you show that day's events?"
Everyone watched in silence as they saw the image of Sirius being tortured at the Department of Mysteries, Harry trying to get hold of Sirius at Grimmauld Place, Kreacher telling Harry that Sirius wasn't there, Umbridge capturing Harry and his friends, Harry trying to give a message to Snape, Hermione deceiving Umbridge and leaving her to the mercy of the centaurs, and then the friends climbing onto the thestrals.
"Lady Hogwarts, please could you pause there?" Hermione asked. When the Spirit of the Castle did as requested, Hermione explained. "Professor Snape did in fact understand what Harry was saying and verified that Sirius was indeed at Grimmauld Place, but he couldn't find us to let us know that because we were already in the Forbidden Forest by the time he had spoken to Sirius. Professor Snape's relationship with Sirius was still rather fraught, I might add. Sirius was stuck in Grimmauld Place and couldn't leave due to the Kiss-on-Sight order, as there was still no proof he was innocent. Sirius hated Grimmauld Place and he hated Kreacher and he felt as much imprisoned there as he had in Azkaban. Sirius, due to his frustration with his situation, and Professor Snape, due to his understandable dislike of Sirius, fought every time they saw each other. As for Sirius' treatment of Kreacher... well, let's just say it was as bad in its own way as Lucius Malfoy's treatment of Dobby. At one point over Christmas, when Sirius was angry and frustrated and Kreacher annoyed him, he yelled at Kreacher to get out."
Hermione shook her head sadly. "What people don't realise is that elves have their own magic and intelligence. Firstly, as witnessed by Dobby, they can in fact disobey their Masters as long as they punish themselves afterwards. Secondly, being told to 'Get out!' had multiple interpretations. Kreacher desperately wanted to be owned by Bellatrix Lestrange rather than his 'blood traitor' Master and so when Sirius told him to get out, meaning get out of the room we were in at the time, Kreacher chose to interpret it as to get out of the house. Kreacher went to visit Bellatrix, who of course was delighted to have a conduit into the Order and instructed Kreacher to return and lie that night as to Sirius' whereabouts. Professor Snape managed to rouse the Order to come to our rescue and as for Kreacher, well, you'll need to wait for about another year and a half for that to be resolved."
With a nod from Hermione, Lady Hogwarts showed the Battle at the Department of Mysteries; the orb being smashed by Harry; Sirius dying; Dumbledore's fight with Riddle and Fudge's acknowledgement, finally, that Riddle was back. She also showed the confrontation with Dumbledore and Harry in Dumbledore's office and the explanations Harry was finally given, including Dumbledore's disclosure of the prophecy in its entirety.
Hermione turned to the Headmaster again and explained sadly. "Sirius' death was the fault of a number of people: Bellatrix obviously; Sirius himself for not taking the fight seriously; Harry for not practising Occlumency and for not remembering that Sirius had given him a communication mirror, which would have been a better way to try and contact him than the one open floo in the school, which just happened to be in Umbridge's office; and Professor Dumbledore, for not warning Harry that Voldmort might try and trick him into coming to the Department of Mysteries to get the prophecy. There was plenty of blame to go around but, Harry being Harry, he shouldered it all himself. He also blamed himself for the injuries the rest of us sustained during the fight, even though we had all insisted on accompanying him and I was injured only because I was foolish enough to silence Dolohov instead of stunning him.
"We all recovered from our injuries, though, and we learned a valuable lesson. Namely that stunning Death Eaters, that using school kid spells against Death Eaters, is pointless. I'm not advocating killing indiscriminately but in a fight, when you put someone down, you have to make sure they stay down. Instead, we were stunning them and the other Death Eaters were just coming along and Rennervating them again behind us. If you don't take your enemy completely out the fight, you're putting yourself at risk, you're putting your co-fighters at risk and you're putting the people you're trying to defend at risk."
Dumbledore looked as though he was about to protest but Amelia Bones, Moody, Kingsley Shacklebolt, the Prewett twins and Charlus Potter were all nodding in agreement. Hermione hastened to explain before Dumbledore could voice his objections. "I know that not everyone is capable of killing or injuring others. It's good to have scruples—we shouldn't take such an act lightly, nor should we kill if we can avoid it—but the kind of hesitation that particular scruple might cause could be fatal."
Then Hermione did something that took everyone by surprise. She whipped out her wand and cast a spell, stunning one of the Prewett brothers. As everyone exclaimed in shock, she addressed his twin and his sister. "I only stunned him. Try and Rennervate him."
Molly and Gideon did as instructed but, to their surprise, Fabian did not come round. Hermione let them struggle for a few minutes and then cast the counter charm. When Fabian was sitting back in his seat again, Hermione explained. "That was a spell I developed after the Battle of the Department of Mysteries. It took me a long time to create it as there's rather a lot of detail involved, but I managed eventually. It's essentially a super-powered stunner. It won't wear off by itself, like a regular stunner, nor can it be lifted by just anyone. I first designed it to be lifted only by the person who actually cast the stunner, but I was concerned about what that would mean for the person who had been stunned if something should happen to the original caster, so I modified it slightly. Now it can be lifted either by the original caster of the spell or by three people working in concert. You may have noticed that the spell and it's counter sounded like nonsense?" Everyone nodded and she continued her explanation.
"To keep the knowledge of this spell and its counter out of the hands of the Death Eaters, I also worked out how to put a modified Fidelius onto the spells, so that while the spells can be used by anyone who knows the secret, only the Secret Keepers (which were Harry, Ron and myself) can actually tell others the incantations for the spells. Any other person who hears the spells will only hear gibberish. The secret can't even be found through Legilimency, as it has to be given up voluntarily. At some point, I'll remove the Fidelius but for now, it's best to keep the spell under Fidelius so the Death Eaters can't use it or counter it."
There was a stunned silence. "That is brilliant," said Pomona Sprout in awe. "Filius, I don't know what Miss Pevensie will be capable of once she has completed her Mastery but I rather think she might well outclass you."
Filius was looking over the moon at the prospect of mentoring this extremely talented young woman through her Mastery, while Minerva was looking torn between pride and disappointment that, in this timeline, Hermione would not be regarded as a Gryffindor.
Hermione smiled, "Thank you, Professor Sprout," she said. "I'll teach everyone here the spell before we leave this room tonight and I'll also make Madam Bones and Professor Dumbledore additional Secret Keepers, as I trust them not to hand out the spell to everyone and anyone. However, Madam Bones should be very careful as the DMLE has been infiltrated by Death Eaters and Riddle sympethisers. I'm not sure I would even give the knowledge of this spell to Mr Crouch senior."
Amelia nodded in terse acknowledgement and Hermione carried on her story. "There isn't much more to say about Fifth Year. Harry didn't tell Ron or myself about the prophecy until later because he was still processing everything that had happened and he wasn't sure if he was allowed to tell anyone; the Death Eaters that were caught at the Ministry were sentenced to Azkaban; and Harry was shunted back off to the Dursleys, again without any sort of counselling or anyone to talk to about what had happened. At least he was allowed communication, though, as a group of Order members—Arthur, Mad-Eye, Remus and Tonks—all met him at Kings Cross on our way home from school and threatened Vernon Dursley into treating Harry well over the summer. Harry said later that the Dursleys completely ignored him, which suited him just fine."
"Err, when you say Tonks?" asked Ted with a smile.
"Your daughter, Nymphadora, became an Auror and a member of the Order. She absolutely hated her name, by the way. She used to get very annoyed with anyone who used it. She insisted on being called Tonks, although she allowed yourself, Madam Tonks and Remus to call her Dora."
"And just why did Remus get special treatment from my little cousin? Does she have a bit of a crush on Moony?" asked Sirius slyly, with a smirk at a blushing Remus
"You'll just have to wait and see, won't you?" replied Hermione, smirking in turn at Sirius' crestfallen expression, as he was denied the immediate opportunity to tease his friend.
.o.O.o.
¹ Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Chapter 25
² At the time of writing, we don't yet know Alice Longbottom's maiden name (I'm hoping it will appear on Pottermore eventually, together with more information about Hermione's parents) but when I saw that the actress who played her in the films is called Lisa Wood and we know that seems to be a wizarding name (as per Oliver Wood, Gryffindor Quidditch Captain), I couldn't resist using it, even though I prefer not to use the actors' names in my fanfics.