February 7, 2004

Barrow, AK

It had been a couple days since Cho left. Harry couldn't say that he was happy to see her leave. He had definitely enjoyed the time that she had been there. Even though Harry didn't particularly care for Cho anymore, having someone around who knew Harry and knew what he had done for the world was nice.

Harry would never admit it to anyone but he hated the fact that no one knew where he was here in Alaska. He didn't want the publicity of the Boy Who Lived, The Chosen One or The Golden Trio. But, he wanted someone who really knew who Harry was. But while he was protecting the town from their nocturnal invaders, he didn't dare get to close to anyone.

The news that another wizard had moved into town just to train him to defeat someone that he had no interest in ever fighting was both interesting and disconcerting. He was curious to know how he knew that he was here. Like he had thought days before, Harry never hid who he was. It was possible that through the chain someone could have said the name and had be recognized for more than an incredibly generic name.

This morning, Harry was going back to work. Harry, after long years of studying and training as an Auror, didn't know how to not work. So, when he got to Barrow, he instantly signed up to join the crew of one of the fishing crews in the area. Despite the cold weather of the area, there were still thousands of fish in the nearby Bering Strait and Arctic Ocean. Harry would often be gone two or three days before returning home.

This week, they had been contracted by a scientific organization based out of Sioux Falls to collect a rare breed of Arctic jellyfish known as the Lion's mane jellyfish. Apparently, they were well known for their massive size and powerful sting. Either way, he was going to be gone out on the water for a couple of days. It would save him from having to spend all of his time thinking about his decision not to go home.

Cho's stab about Teddy was particularly hurtful. After his self-imposed exile, Harry had only managed to sneak a visit with him three times. Once, in a day Harry was very proud of, he snuck all the way back to Ireland to meet with them. Harry knew that, like Molly Weasley who he had heard was not in good condition, Andromeda was not healthy anymore. If she passed away, Harry was the only person Teddy had left. It hurt him to think that he may have to take him away from his home.

It scared him even more to think that he may have to return to be with him.

Harry had spent so little time paying attention that when he got to the docks, he didn't realize that his boss was yelling at him.

"Potter! Potter, get over here!"

Quickly, Harry rushed over to the portly old man so that he wouldn't have a nervous breakdown before they left port.

"What is it, chief?"

"Two things. First, we don't have the finances to pay everyone on this trip and as one of the newest employees, we have to leave you off this trip."

Damn. This had happened once before and it definitely killed his mood for the next few days.

"OK, boss. Now, what's the other thing?"

"These two young ladies were looking for you." his boss replied as he pointed off away from the shore. "They're over there."

Harry's eyes followed the man's stubby fingers. Suddenly, he caught a glimpse of who he was looking for. She was faced away from him, bundled in a hat and gloves with a thick black cloak covering her. However, for all that clothing, she let her bushy, ginger hair flow down her back. She appeared to be talking to Cho Chang.

Harry couldn't breath. All he could do was slowly walk back towards his house. Suddenly, he found himself at a bit of a run. That's when he heard her voice.

"Harry!" Hermione Granger yelled after him. "Harry, stop! Please!"

But, he wouldn't stop. Not until he was gone. He couldn't be around them anymore. Not only was he angry at her for her betrayal of him, but he was afraid for her life. He just wanted them all to live their lives free of the terrors that come with being friends with Harry Potter.

Harry ran all the way back to his house. Quickly, he deadbolted the door and started piling things in front of the door. Just as he realized how silly it was that he was trying to keep her out like a Muggle criminal, a voice spoke to him.

"Harry, calm down."

Just as Cho had surely felt days ago when Harry had caught her, that's exactly how he felt now. He slowly turned around to face Hermione Granger, member of The Committee of Inquires into The Events at Hogwarts on May 2, 1998 and The Battle Between Lord Voldemort and His Cohorts vs. Harry Potter, The Order of the Phoenix, Dumbledore's Army and Various Cohorts.

Instantly, Harry was transported back to that day, one year, two months, three weeks and one day after the Battle of Hogwarts, where the decision of that committee was made.

Harry sat in the courtroom, staring blindly at his feet, waiting for the decision to come. They had spent weeks interviewing and interrogating and interviewing again everyone who had anything to do with the Battle of Hogwarts. They had done their own investigation into the facts of the Battle of Hogwarts. Everyone knew that it wasn't going to be pretty.

Suddenly, Amos Diggory, chairman of the committee stood.

"Members of the Wizengamot, executive committee of the Ministry and gathered parties, it is with great sorrow that I make this report on behalf of my committee."

Amos Diggory, a man on the rise in the Ministry. However, in Harry's eyes, he was still angry at Harry over the death of his son, regardless of what he may say to the contrary.

"Mr. Diggory, let us hear your findings." Kingsley said from the main bench.

It was rare for Kingsley to be present at Wizengamot meetings. However, this one, the one determine the blame of the entire Second Wizarding War, was incredibly important.

"On May 2, 1998, Lord Voldemort and his Death Eaters attacked Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry. There, a great battle ensued. Among the Death Eaters and their allies, we collected 121 bodies in the aftermath. These Death Eaters attacked the school because Harry Potter was present at the school."

Instantly, the eyes of everyone in the room shifted to him.

"Why was Harry Potter present at the school? He had been on the run from the Dark Lord for nearly ten months at this time. In our investigation, it was discovered that Harry Potter knew of a dark secret. He knew that Lord Voldemort had created 7 Horcruxes. For those of you ill-acquainted with the Dark Arts, a Horcrux is an object used to collect a piece of one's own soul, forcibly separated from the rest by murder."

A visible shudder went across the whole room as Diggory explained what a Horcrux was. Harry hated that he had been forced to give up this detail. If not for this investigation, Harry would have taken that secret to the grave.

"Anyway, Harry had been taught the secrets of Lord Voldemort by none other than Albus Dumbledore. During Harry's sixth year, Potter and Dumbledore viewed the memories of numerous people in connection with the past of Lord Voldemort to discover that Lord Voldemort had, in fact, created these Horcruxes. Over the next year, Potter, Ronald Weasley and Hermione Granger chased these Horcruxes down and destroyed them one by one."

Harry knew where he was going with the story next. He didn't want to go there at all.

"However, something strange was happening to Harry. Harry could see into the mind of the Dark Lord, able to predict his actions and generally be one step ahead of him. This is why he went to Hogwarts. There was the last of the Horcruxes, Rowena Ravenclaw's lost diadem and Nagini, Lord Voldemort's pet snake. Potter managed to destroy the diadem. Then, Harry snuck to the Shrieking Shack to find the snake. While he was there, he witnesses the heroic death of Severus Snape. While he was living, many of us believed Severus Snape to be the Dark Lord's greatest ally. However, we learned from Mr. Potter himself that Snape was not this man. In this moment, Snape passed a collection of memories to Potter before his death."

Please stop. Please...just stop.

"Potter proceeded to the Headmaster's Office to view the memories. There, he learned that Severus Snape, due to an undying love for Potter's mother, Lily, had left Lord Voldemort years earlier to protect Harry in her memory. It was also during these memories that Harry learned that he had become a Horcrux himself when Lord Voldemort had attempted to kill him that fateful Halloween night."

No one in the room spoke. Harry wished he could disappear. He was tired of hearing this story and he was tired of telling it.

"So, Harry gave himself up. He walked out to the Forbidden Forest and was killed by Lord Voldemort. However, when Lord Voldemort was resurrected three years earlier, he apparently made one fatal mistake. He took Harry's blood as he own. As such, this gave Harry a connection to the living world that could not be broken. Therefore, Harry was brought back and was able to defeat the Dark Lord in battle."

Finally, the story was over and the room seemed to be getting restless. Harry knew what was next would define the impact of the war.

"Mr. Diggory, what party do you blame for the tragedies of the Second Wizarding War?" Kingsley asked.

"Minister Shacklebolt, it is this committee's belief that the responsibility lies with Lord Voldemort and Harry Potter."

They said it. Harry couldn't believe it. They were really going to try and blame some of the war on him. He was beside himself with anger.

"Lord Voldemort is obviously responsible because without his terror, none of the rest of these actions were needed." Diggory explained. "However, when it came to those we entrusted to defend us from the Dark Lord, Harry Potter is to blame for the unnecessary deaths. Mr. Potter knew of the Horcruxes months before the Battle of Hogwarts and yet chose to inform no one."

Diggory stopped his pacing and faced the court, armed with his words and ready to fire.

"Instead, he and two of his classmates went out into the world wasting countless hours simply hiding from the forces of evil while the rest of the the world suffered for it. Then, during the battle itself, Harry did not present himself as a fighter, someone there to defend others. Instead, he ran to find lost relics that he believed on the off chance could be used to destroy the Dark Lord."

The room seemed to have an incredibly strange vibe. Harry didn't think that many of the people in there actually wanted to blame him. However, Harry could see a number of people that seemed to be outraged by the lack of trust he showed in them.

"In the end, Mr. Potter trusted himself and two other teenagers with the fate of the world. The Ministry would have helped him if he had only asked."

With this, Amos Diggory took his seat. Kingsley spoke to those around him for a moment before speaking again.

"Hermione Granger, please rise."

Instantly, she stood and faced the Minister of Magic.

"Miss Granger, you went with Mr. Potter on his journey and you are a member of this committee. Do you agree with this finding?"

Suddenly, Hermione went white. Harry wasn't certain what was so difficult about the question. Obviously she couldn't believe that. Could she?

"Miss Granger?"

As she snapped out of her fog, Hermione answered.

"I believe that Harry Potter had the best interests of the wizarding world in mind when he chose the course of action that he did."

Quickly, a murmur went around the room as Hermione spoke. Harry smiled as he watched his best friend defend him. Job or not, she knew what was right.

"However..."

That was Hermione's voice.

"However, I do believe that there are certain things that could have been handled better in regard to how we searched for the Horcruxes."

Whereas before the room buzzed with life, now the room was dead silent. Harry couldn't believe what he had just heard. Did she just agree with the committee? She wouldn't blindly say yes, of course. However, it sounded to Harry that she agreed with them.

"What things could have been handled better?" Kingsley asked her.

"I believe that the Order of the Phoenix, while technically an illegal organization at the time, should have been involved more."

"For what purposes?"

"I think that they could have been used to search more while we were away." Hermione answered shortly.

Harry couldn't believe it. Even if that's how she felt, the fact that she had just ratted him out, in public and without warning, was insane. Harry's hands shook with anger. He couldn't even imagine that he would have heard that come out of her mouth.

"Mr. Potter." Kingsley said from his pedestal. "Would you like to defend yourself before the court reaches its judgement?"

Could he without exploding? Obviously, he wanted to defend himself. He just wasn't sure that he would handle himself well. Regardless, he stepped down from his seat and made his way to the floor. As he stepped down, he glared at Hermione, who simply stared at the floor below her.

"Everything you have heard from Amos Diggory is true." Harry started.

He didn't want people to get the wrong impression. Diggory had done the reporting in the most factual way he could. It was not the what he was here to dispute, it was the "why."

"Everything you heard from Mr. Diggory is absolutely fact." Harry repeated. "However, what he did not include was why I did what I did. I did what I did to protect you. Each and every person in this room and every witch or wizard in England was better off because of how I acted. Firstly, I had been instructed by Albus Dumbledore before his death to not divulge the information that was just shared with anyone other than Ron and Miss Granger." Harry said, although he couldn't help but growling Hermione's name a bit.

"I think that he chose this because he knew what The Order of the Phoenix knew. The Ministry, between active Death Eaters that still worked there and their Impurused victims, was slowly being overtaken. That's why, when Lord Voldemort chose to take over, it was so easy. He faced little to no resistance because he owned most of the people that would fight him."

Harry took a deep breath before he spoke again.

"I think that Albus Dumbledore knew that the Ministry would fall."

As he expected, a buzz circled the room. Harry held a hand up to silence the room and within seconds, he had their attention once more.

"As a result of this belief, Dumbledore instructed me to be as secretive as possible. No one knew what we were doing. The Weasley's, who we were staying with before we disappeared, had no clue what exactly we were doing. Dumbledore knew that if the Ministry fell, there would be some people who would talk to get better treatment from the new Ministry. He also knew that there would be some people, like Arthur Weasley, that would continue to work at the new Ministry, spying on them from within. However, if Arthur knew what we were doing, the odds of him being forced to speak after slipping up or revealing something he shouldn't have known increased greatly. If no one knew where we were, no one could be forced to testify about our whereabouts or what we were doing."

"Mr. Potter, do you really believe that hiding this search from the rest of us was in our best interest?"

"If Tom Riddle had discovered that we were searching for his Horcruxes, he would have gone directly to them and he would have moved them to new locations and we would have to start looking all over again. So, to answer your question simply, yes."

Kingsley began speaking to the people around him on the court. Suddenly, he looked down at Harry. The look on his face gave him away instantly. He thought that Harry was going to lose.

"Members of the court, remember this is not a criminal case. No one will go to Azkaban for this. We are simply deciding the reason why this war was fought the way it was and if there is a reason that it could have been better."

Harry slowly turned and walked back to his seat. He didn't need to see this from down there.

"Those who agree with the committee's decision and that blame for the war and its outcome be blamed on Thomas Marvolo Riddle aka Lord Voldemort and Harry James Potter, please mark the affirmative."

As Harry took his seat, he saw flashes of light shine all around the room. Suddenly, a number shined, floating in the middle of the room: 118.

"That is 118 votes in agreement. Those that disagree?"

Again, the lights flashed, although Harry very quickly noticed that there were less lights. Suddenly, the 118 that floated changed in a 43.

"43 votes against. Any abstentions?"

Three lights quickly flashed and Harry knew that he was done. He didn't even wait for the verdict. He slowly stood up and made his way to the door. As he walked, Kingsley spoke.

"As Minister of Magic and head of this tribunal, I agree with the court's decision. We find Thomas Marvolo Riddle and Harry James Potter guilty of..."

Harry didn't hear Kingsley finish as he walked out the door. At that point, he didn't care.

Back in the present, Harry could feel the blood pounding in his ears. He balled up his fist and clenched so hard that he was sure he was going to draw blood. It was taking everything he had not to attack her. And he wouldn't have used a wand to do it.

"Harry..." Hermione said cautiously.

"Granger, if you value your life, you get the hell out of my house." Harry roared.

Instantly, Hermione took a step back, obviously fearful of what her friend had become. Suddenly, Harry heard a small pop and turned to look in the living room where Cho Chang had just Apparated into his chair.

"Harry." Cho said with a nod.

"Cho, I believe I asked you not to tell anyone where I lived."

"I didn't." Cho replied innocently. "She followed me here."

"Did you tell her to follow you?" Harry replied accusingly.

"Possibly."

Harry turned and roughly started removing the objects that he had placed in front of the door. Within moments, the path was clear and Harry tore the door open.

"Out." Harry replied. "Both of you."

"Harry..."

Suddenly, Harry drew his wand and aimed in directly between Hermione's eyes.

"Go back to Ron, Granger. Get out of my house."

"Well, I can't go back to Ron right now actually." Hermione replied with an embarrassed look on her face.

"Why not?" Harry shot back.

"Well, things haven't been great with us over the last few months. I left about six months ago and haven't really been back. I thought things were working again. But, when I told Ron I was coming here to bring you back, he got very upset."

"He probably got upset because you went looking to bring the one person in his life who brought him the most misery."

Suddenly, the look on Hermione's face changed. Harry didn't like this look. It was one of sympathy and pity, two things that Harry definitely didn't need.

"How can you say that, Harry?" she asked softly.

"Let's see: Percy abandoning their family, his house burning to the ground, the whole Horcrux hunt, Fred's death, the fact that the whole war was my fault, the fact that I had to start borrowing money from you after they took all mine and to top it off, I've heard that Molly has dementia, probably as a result of the war." Harry bellowed at Hermione.

"How can you blame yourself for any of that?" Hermione asked in confusion.

At this point, both of them seemed to have forgotten that Cho was in the room. They were simply airing out six years of bad laundry. But, Cho knew what Harry's answer was going to be and it wouldn't be pretty.

"Because you fucking told me that it was all my fault!" Harry screamed. "The whole war was my fault! No one else had their name dragged through the papers like I did after that! I only was cornered for the whole war!"

"Harry, we blamed Lord Voldemort as well." Hermione replied, letting her voice rise a bit for the first time.

Harry's voice, however, seemed to keep rising.

"AS WELL? He should have received every bit of the blame! All of it! You know for a fact that I did everything I could to protect everyone! I gave myself up to die, Hermione! Do you remember that? Do you know what it's like to march, alone in the forest, knowing that the only thing ahead of you is death? No! You don't! You stood in that courtroom and you told them that I could have handled things differently!"

"You could have, Harry! We could have done things better!"

"You can always do things better!" Harry roared, continuing his tirade. "But, you stood in that courtroom and blamed me. You just said that we could have done things better. We. And yet you dare stand in that courtroom and blame me alone!"

"I was asked if I agreed with the statement that Amos had said." Hermione replied, still not allowing her voice to rise too high. "I said that I didn't entirely agree. However, I do think there were things we could have done better."

"Why didn't you tell me beforehand that this was how you felt?" Harry replied, almost pleading with her.

"Because we weren't allowed to talk about our feelings. As a member of that committee, I-"

"Fuck what the committee said or what you were or weren't allowed to do!" Harry shouted in a gleeful rage. "If you were going to hand me the wolves, the least you could have done was warn me."

"We couldn't talk abo-"

"Hermione, just get out." Harry replied, finally coming back to Earth.

"I had a job to do, Harry."

"I'm glad that you chose that job over me." Harry shot back coldly. "You were my best friend, Hermione. Ron may have been the person I hung out with more but without a doubt, you meant more to me than any person I had ever met."

"Harry..."

"I think I loved you, Hermione. No one had ever understood me like you did. You knew what it was like to be alone in a world that seemed foreign to you. You were always there for me and I did everything I could to be there for you."

At this point, tears streamed down Harry's face as he bared his soul to Hermione. He knew that he shouldn't do this, that she didn't deserve to know anymore but for some reason, he simply couldn't stop.

"Then, you chose your job over me. The one opportunity you had to stand up and publicly stand by my side and you gave me up."

Hermione, tears forming in her eyes, stepped forward and placed her hand on Harry's shoulder.

"Harry, if I had lied, they could have thrown me Azkaban." she replied softly.

Suddenly, the tears left Harry's eyes, replaced by a fiery rage.

"Hermione, I would have gotten the Kiss rather than give you up for a job." Harry spoke, so softly he could hardly be heard.

Then, Harry turned to the door and pulled it open again.

"If you don't leave now, I cannot promise your safety." Harry spoke plainly.

Hermione didn't seem to want to move. Then, she must have realized that Harry wasn't kidding because she slowly walked out the door. Harry turned to Cho.

"What the hell are you doing?"

"Staying." Cho replied defiantly.

"No." Harry replied firmly. "You are not."

"Fine." Cho replied as she stood and made her way to the door before suddenly turning around. "Hermione and I are renting rooms at the bar. We just want to give you an idea of what you're up against."

"I'm not up against anything."

Suddenly, just as Cho made her way to leave, Noah came running in the front door.

"Was that Hermione Granger?" he asked in a panic.

"Yes." Cho replied softly.

"Great." he answered, obviously not excited about her being here.

Harry thought it was strange that Noah would care whether or not Hermione was here. The fact that he cared and that he seemed upset by the fact that she was here was something that Harry couldn't help but think about.

"I'll get out of your hair." Cho spoke up as she walked towards the door. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"Fine." was Harry's short answer.

Once she was gone, Harry turned to Noah.

"Alright, Noah, you told me the other day that you trained this Jester. I want to know who she is and why the hell I should go back home to fight her."