Harry Potter
After the War
Chapter 9
"Mr. Potter!" the Ministry of Magic had taken a hit since Voldemort's rule and it was still being rebuilt but Harry was glad to see the grotesque statue had been taken down. Builders worked amongst busy Ministry workers and weaving among them, a small, bland looking man waving chaotically.
"Mr. Twycross, it's good to see you again." Harry said, reaching to shake the short man's hand.
"Please, call me Willkie. And you too, Miss Weasley. I'm glad to see you both here. It's been rather dull for me around the ministry. Not many wizards have been coming to get their licence and seeing as apparition lessons for Hogwarts was banned last year, let's just say it's good to be doing some real work." Willkie quickly shuffled through his handful of papers. "According to reports, Harry, you've done your fair share of illegal apparating last year and Ginny, your brother Percy has informed me you've been practising illegally as well." Ginny and Harry grinned at each other. They had as much regard for rules as a common criminal. "So, I'll make you a deal. Apparate successfully to my office on the sixth floor, and I'll grant you your licence without the test. Just remember the three D's."
Harry let go of Ginny's hand, "You want to go first?" she pecked him on the check, retrieved her wand and disapparated, a small popping acknowledging her disappearance.
Willkie inspected the ground around where she had stood, "It looks like a clean travel. I'll just check on her and then I'll come back for you, Harry." He disappeared, leaving Harry alone. A few witches and wizards stood nearby, pointing and whispering to each other.
"Come on, Willkie." Harry muttered. He dealt with this kind of attention better when he was with someone. A resounding crack echoed around him and Willkie Twycross reappeared, smiling.
"I'd say that was a definite pass for Miss. Weasley. Now you, Harry."
A tugging sensation pulled behind his navel and suddenly he was standing inside of a dimly lit office, covered with tartan and smelling faintly of clove cigarettes.
Willkie Twycross appeared, "Incredible! Apparating without a wand at your age! How very unusual." For a brief second Harry had forgotten most wizards use wands to apparate.
"I guess being on the run for the good part of a year has it perks." Harry said.
"Yes, yes, of course. Well, here are your licences. Without a doubt you both pass." He handed them each a small piece of paper with their details and a large pass symbol on it.
After confirming that Ron and Hermione would be arriving for their test in a few days, they returned to the entrance hall.
"I'll see you later, okay?" Harry said. Ginny agreed and left via the floo network. Harry on the other hand walked out of the ministry and arrived on an empty street corner. Tired of apparating for one day, Harry stuck out his hand and almost immediately, a purple triple decker bus arrived in front of him. A short dumpy witch appeared at the door and gave him a ticket. Harry settled onto one of the beds and gripped the railing tightly, preparing for the bumpy ride that was to follow.
Hogsmeade looked almost the same as Harry remembered it. Except that for the first time Harry could recall, there seemed to be a complete absence of snow. The other change was the total lack of Hogwarts students; instead, busy villagers went about their daily lives, moving from one shop to another. Harry joined the throng of people, moving past Honeydukes and Madam Puddifoot's Tea Shop, pausing briefly to look at the broomsticks on show in the window of Spintwitches, until he'd reached The Magic Neep. He turned and found himself surrounding by honeysuckle covered cottages, each with their own magical décor. One cottage was covered in Dittany, flammable vapours bursting from the plant as an elderly wizard sat close, wand ready to extinguish any surprise fires. The next held an impressive array of Gnomes, bouncing around the garden, looking for ways to get into the neighbour's yard where a young girl was playing with a Crup, occasionally pausing for it to chase one of its tails. Ducking to avoid three kids on brooms, Harry finally reached a small, pleasant looking house with flowers blooming around the door. He knocked twice and waited, watching the kids on brooms as they narrowly missed a rather tall wizard carrying supplies from J. Pippins Potions. The door opened to reveal a woman with long, greying black hair and piercing green eyes behind her spectacles.
"Potter, do please come in." McGonagall ushered him in.
"Professor, thanks for letting me do this"
McGonagall gestured to a chair which Harry took, "Under normal circumstances we would be doing this at the school but I've been informed the repairs won't be completed until the end of August. I suppose there won't be any 'normal circumstances' for a while now." She passed Harry a cup of tea which he took gratefully. "So, I'm sure you did your best to convey the situation but I think I need you to explain again in person."
"I've come across some memories and I need to use the pensieve to check some facts." McGonagall looked at him pointedly. "Okay, but I'm not supposed to have told anyone this. Draco Malfoy came to visit me on Monday night."
"Potter, you must be extremely careful in your next words. If you're about to tell me that you didn't call the aurors-"
"We didn't." McGonagall looked exasperated. "But we didn't need to. He came to Grimmauld Place and just stood outside. Kreacher said he'd been there every night, so I went to talk to him." McGonagall looked as if she wanted to smash her teacup over Harry's head. "If it makes you feel any better, Ginny stunned him."
A smile passed her lips, "Give Miss. Weasley my deepest congratulations." Harry grinned back.
Harry continued to explain in as best detail as he could, McGonagall listening intently to the story.
"So I believe him. And I promised I'd at least see what evidence he provided." Harry concluded.
McGonagall sat in silence before saying "Come with me." Harry put down his cup and followed her into a small study filled with animals and large scrolls. A picture of McGonagall and a handsome man in wedding attire sat on the desk. "My late husband, Elphinstone."
"I'm sorry."
"Harry, you more than most should realise the redundancy of the words." But she gave him a soft smile nevertheless. "Take as much time as you need and I expect you'll tell me what you see." She left and closed the door. Next to the smiling couple in the photo sat a silver bowl like item. The last time Harry had used the pensieve, it had been to discover Snape's feeling for Harry's mother and Dumbledore's plans for Harry to die. He shook those memories away and pulled the vial of Draco's out of his pocket. He slumped into the chair and rubbed his scar out of habit. A small black kitten hopped onto his lap and started purring. If anything, Harry didn't have to do this completely alone. He poured the silvery substance into the liquid within the pensieve and watched as it glowed. Taking a deep breath, Harry leant forward and pushed his head into the pensieve, immersing himself in the memories of Draco Malfoy.
A little over an hour later, Harry emerged from McGonagall's office. His head was pounding and he felt sick from watching Bellatrix repeatedly kill, torture and control people, but never Narcissa Malfoy. He told McGonagall as much and was incredibly grateful when she added some firewhisky to his next cup of tea.
"In my opinion, Potter, the Malfoys have lost all respect I may have had for any of them individually over the past few years. But you do owe Narcissa a life debt. I think you should repay it. A life in Azkaban in isn't a life for anyone, no matter how grey the situation seems. But to go to prison on false terms is unforgivable." Harry agreed, sullenly remembering Hagrid being taken by the minister in the middle of the night during his second year. "My advice is to speak to Miss. Granger. I'm sure she'll have a lot to say on the subject."
After thanking Professor McGonagall for her help, Harry left, stopping by Honeydukes to pick up Ginny a selection of her favourite sweets before disapparating back to the doorstep of No. 12 Grimmauld Place.