A/N: I do not own anything
A/N2: I would like to thank my Shade .of. Grey13 for taking some time off to read through the draft
TWENTY ONE
Ministry of Magic
London, England
The tension in the Ministry of Magic was palpable as the workers flooed in. For every five ministry workers who entered the ministry that morning, four of them had their eyes darting to and fro, searching for any threats.
Their reaction was understandable; after all, they had just finished reading the headlines of their newspaper, a headline that proclaimed that there had been a mass break-out in Azkaban prison just this morning.
In reaction to that, the Council – under the leadership of Sirius Black – had requested and had been authorized, to augment the security forces in the Ministry. As Sirius and Al did not want the majority of the magical world to know just how large an Army they had under their command, the Council had decided to hire a foreign private military company to provide them with their security.
The presence of these foreigners, instead of calming the nerves of the workers in the ministry, was actually detrimental as they eyed everyone that came into the Ministry of Magic with a disdainful eye and undisguised hostility.
Sirius was not only aware of this, he was the one who suggested it in the first place, though he did so without asking his fellow Council members. The former prisoner felt that they should strike fear into the hearts of the workers in the ministry as soon as possible so that their job would be accomplished easier.
He did not tell his fellow members of the Council – despite the fact that he was supposed to – because he knew that they would not agree. After reading the Daily Prophet this morning, however, Sirius was half-sure that the Council would agree should he broach that topic today.
With a sigh, however, Sirius decided against informing the others, if only to ensure that they would focus on the hearing that he had set for today.
Sirius stood from his chair, shuffling some papers that he had read just a few minute ago in regards to the career of the person that they are about to question. This would be the first time that the Council would actually question someone in relation to their charge, and Sirius could only hope that nothing would go wrong today.
Fearing that the escaped Death Eaters – and Voldemort – would make an appearance to disrupt the hearing, Sirius had decided to actually place his personal bodyguards around the chamber where they would be having their hearing.
"Sir" the senior aide that Sirius had procured for his position – a young witch from the Goblin liaison office – said as she peeked her head into his office, "they are ready for you".
"Thank you" Sirius replied, flashing a smile towards his aide, who blushed before ducking away from the notorious Sirius Black.
Sirius grabbed his coat – no one in the Council wore robes – before he made his way to the Chamber where they would be having today's hearing.
Turning to the corner that would take him to the chamber, Sirius saw young Percival Weasley arguing with one of the members of the Private Military Company that they had contracted. The junior secretary to the minister was animatedly trying to convince the guard that he was needed by the minister, but the Greek wizard guarding the chamber had forgotten that he was able to understand and speak English.
Biting back a smile, Sirius pushed past them – much to the irritation of Percy – and into the room where he saw more members of the PMC and his own bodyguards in addition to members of the press.
"Sirius" Amelia – seated to his right – greeted him as he took his seat. Sirius inclined his head towards her, returning her greeting, before he greeted the other members of the Council.
Turning towards the man who was seated before them – ironic since just a few months ago, he was the one doing the questioning in a high-profile case – Sirius greeted him a good morning pleasantly.
Cornelius Oswald Fudge amicably returned the greeting, even though deep inside, he was worried about what the hearing would reveal.
"Are we ready?" Sirius asked the room in general, there was a general nodding of heads, before he turned his attention back towards the Minister for Magic and asked, "Are you ready, Minister?"
Fudge nodded, and Sirius asked his first question, "Minister, for the record, please state your full name and position"
"Cornelius Oswald Fudge, Minister of Magic" he replied.
"For, Minister, minister for magic" Sirius corrected him, he pretended to scowl as he added, "The mandate to rule over anything in the British Isles resides in the Crown, hence, you are nothing more but a representative of the Queen of the United Kingdom"
Fudge nodded.
"Very well" Sirius said, "Let us formally begin the questioning" he turned towards Broderick Bode and said, "Broderick, you have the floor".
"Thank you Sirius" Bode replied, he turned his attention towards the Minister and began asking his questions. Since most of the Unspeakable's questions had something to do with the Minister's administration, there were very few quirks that came up. It would seem that despite everything else, Cornelius Fudge had a talent for administration.
Amos Diggory and Arthur Weasley both declined to examine the witness, leaving Amelia Bones and Sirius. Amelia came first, and she was merciless.
"Minister" the head of the DMLE began, "Why did you approve the budget cuts proposed by Lucius Malfoy in the spring of 1987, three months after you became Minister for Magic?"
"We did not think that there would be any danger from You-Know-Who and his followers by this time" Fudge replied.
Amelia nodded, but she was not finished, nor was she willing to let this go, "But why did you do this without asking for a second opinion?" she asked, her pleasant tone masking the venom in the question.
"I did not know that he was a Death Eater, Madam Bones" Fudge replied, "As such, I thought that he was an honest member of society, so I thought that his suggestion was sound, I now regret having ever listened to him".
Madam Bones continued questioning Fudge, each of her question had revealed a lot of oddities in Fudge's career, including a smoking gun that had everyone in the audience questioning how the Minister for Magic – whose annual salary was fifty thousand galleons – could afford a manor for himself that was worth fifteen million galleons?
"Minister," Amelia continued her grilling, "As soon as you've explained where you got the money to buy your manor, would you also please explain to us how you got your vacation villa in Nice, your vacation villa in Amalfi, and another one in Crete?".
Amelia was in surefire mode now as she did not even give the Minister a chance to defend himself, before she continued, "You can also explain to us where the contents of Vault 826, Vault 992, Vault 1123, and Vault 4256 came from, in addition to what appeared to be several financial inconsistencies from your office".
"Madam…" Fudge began
"Minister" Madam Bones cut him off, "You can also explain to us how thirty million galleons meant for my Aurors disappeared overnight. How fifteen million galleons meant for the Accidental Magical Reversal Squad was somehow labeled as funds for your office, and how eight million galleons that was meant for St. Mungo's ended up in the pockets of your Senior Undersecretary".
"Madam Umbridge" Fudge began, "did all of it".
"Then how was she able to retain her position as your senior undersecretary for close to a decade, Minister?" Amelia asked, "She had been your undersecretary since your days in the AMRS".
Fudge tried to make himself smaller, but ultimately failed as Madam Bones followed up with another question, "What is the extent of your involvement in the attempted murder of Harry James Potter earlier this year that your undersecretary had arranged for?"
By the time that Madam Bones was showing signs of stopping, Sirius had to announce that they would have to continue the hearing tomorrow since they had only scheduled it for only until before lunch.
"Why did you stop me?" Amelia asked Sirius after everyone in the chamber – save for the members of the Council and the bodyguards – were gone, she looked angry at Sirius and said, "He would now try to bury the evidences".
Sirius smiled, "And how would he do that?" he asked rhetorically, "We have all the certified true copies of all evidences stored in a vault at Gringotts and the Ministry, if the real ones start telling us a different story, then we would know that Fudge has done something, if that were the case, then we would have another reason to drag him".
Amelia – and the other members – nodded, conceding that Sirius was correct. Arthur, however, had something else bothering him, "Isn't this a little vindictive Sirius?" he asked, "Dumbledore had asked me to ask you where you intend to go with this".
Sirius smiled, "I'll be more than happy to tell you" he replied, inclining his head, "Anyone up for lunch? My treat?"
Everyone – Arthur excluded – begged off, which was exactly what Sirius and Al had hoped for. Sirius's suggestion that they 'go muggle' and eat something on the muggle side of London was also part of the plan.
As Arthur and Sirius walked towards muggle London, the sounds of the laughter of both men emanated from the halls of the Ministry. No one who saw them that afternoon was aware that that was the last time that they would see Arthur Weasley under the influence of a love potion – seeing that they did not even know that he was under the influence, well, they really would not be able to tell the difference.
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
Scotland
The Room of Requirement – otherwise known as the Come-and-Go room – was an amazing room. The user could find anything that he or she would ever need in the room, but only if the user would think about it.
Right now, that was where Harry and Hermione were sequestered. After hearing that Al had been attacked by no less than twenty Slytherin students, their personal bodyguards herded them into the room.
Fearful of another ambush – this time against their charges – the men decided not to bring their charges to the more secured camp, preferring instead to drag them to the seventh floor of the castle, push them inside, and then fortify the corridor that led to the room with overturned furniture, shrieking portraits, suits of armor, assault rifles and heavy machineguns.
Five minutes after they were virtually imprisoned in the room, the door opened yet again as Neville, Luna, Fred and George were also shoved inside the room, this time, by Al.
The battle wizard, however, decided not to say any word to them and left to coordinate – or what else he was supposed to do – his men.
"Right" Harry said as soon as everyone had settled down – Harry had to wish for a cushion on the wall behind him since he was sure of what Hermione would do after he told her what Al had said – "there is something that I want to tell all of you".
Everyone turned their attention towards Hermione, but she did not meet their eyes, instead, she was focused entirely on her husband. That was the only indication that everyone needed to know that whatever it was that Harry wanted to say, Hermione was not aware of it.
"Al and Intelligence have found the reason why Voldemort did not die that Halloween Night" Harry began, he looked at Hermione and added, "He created soul anchors, love".
"But…" Neville began, and then his protest died in his throat as he remembered who it was that they were talking about, "I see, well, it's not surprising since that is considered to be the darkest dark ritual in the world," he nodded as he added, "Riddle would have tried it if only to prove that he is a Dark Lord".
"Unless we destroy them, we can nuke Tom and he would still be alive" Harry said. Watching the frown on the face of his wife, Harry said, "No worries, though, Al assured me that every soul anchor has already been destroyed, if we kill him, this time, he will stay dead and the best part is anyone can do it."
Hermione nodded, and as Harry expected, she jumped to her feet and tackled him in thanks for finding a way to end Voldemort without actually risking his life, even if it was not him who did the research and even if Al had told Harry that Hermione had an equal part in it.
"Love" Harry said slowly pushing Hermione away to his arm's length, "there is something else" he looked directly at her eyes and said, "my scar was one of the soul anchors".
Hermione – and the rest of those who heard that – blinked, and then she looked at him, "But you said…." She began
Harry smiled at her and engulfed her in a hug once more, "I know" he replied, soothing her by running his hand up and down her back, "all have been destroyed"
"How?" Hermione asked. She was still in her husband's arms so she did not raise her voice, keeping it low intentionally so that only the two of them knew the secret.
"You kissed me" Harry stated.
"Of course I did, I did not see you complain before" Hermione replied, there was a slight tone of irritation in her voice that resulted from the fact that she did not think he answered her question.
Harry laughed; his right hand index finger touched the tip of her nose, slightly pressing against it, before he repeated what he had just said, "You kissed me"
Hermione frowned, "I know I did…" she paused, she looked at him with an incredulous expression and Harry nodded. She stared at him for a few seconds, and then she shrieked before she kissed her husband again.
"Love" Hermione said after she finished kissing her husband – she kissed him six times in as many minutes – "Love, dark rituals always have to have hatred in it somewhere, if you factor in love, then it reverses the entire equation" she bit her lower lip as she added, "I'll have to check my Arithmancy first, of course, but I think that that is the reason".
"Well, everyone knows how smart you are, Hermione" Neville said – reminding the couple that they were not alone in the room – before he pointed them to Fred and George, both of whom had cameras on their hands, "but I didn't think you would be handing blackmail material to these two that easily"
Harry smirked, "Everyone knows anyway, what's the point?" he asked rhetorically, he looked at the twins and said, "I would love a copy though"
"Anything for you Harry" the twins said at the same time.
"Now, we only need to…" Fred began
"…get out of here, so that we can…" George continued
"…develop the pictures" they said in unison.
Dungeons, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
Scotland
Severus Snape was packing his bags. He knew that there was no way that he could escape incarceration this time, those students who were stupid enough to be caught by Al York would sing when they were force-fed veritaserum, and the potions master was not willing to bet that Al York would take the age of the kids in consideration. The man hit them with stunners so powerful that even after two hours, none of them had woken up.
Snape knew that he had to get out of the castle. Fortunately, the camp that Al York and his muggle friends had set up was on the other side of the Whomping Willow. Snape planned on using that passageway to get to Hogsmeade where he could then apparate to the side of the Dark Lord.
A few hours of torture would be nothing compared to a minute in Azkaban, so Snape was prepared to incur the wrath of the Dark Lord for leaving Hogwarts without his permission.
Snape had already packed his bags and was about to disillusion them when the door to his office opened. Since the Headmaster was the only one who could do that, the potions master automatically assumed that it was Professor Dumbledore.
"I am sorry Headmaster" Snape said without looking at the intruder, "I have no choice but to leave, those brats would implicate me and I do not think York would be merciful"
"I am sorry to say that I am not merciful, Professor Snape" Al said, freezing Snape in his tracks, "And I am thankful that I am not Lemon-Drop"
Snape spun around, his wand at his hand, he pointed it to where he was sure Al would be standing, but when he looked, Al was not there. He spun around again, sure that the battle wizard had evaded his sight by following his turn, but the battle wizard was still nowhere in sight of the potions master.
"It is a shame" Al said, his voice seemingly coming out of everywhere, "that it had to end like this"
"Show yourself, you coward" Snape shouted at the top of his lungs, hoping to goad Al into showing himself and hoping to attract the attention of the portrait just outside his office.
"It is futile, Snape" Al replied, and then the battle wizard laughed, "You were a master occulumens, surely, you must know that you are now stuck in your own walls"
Snape blinked, he looked around and instantly noticed that Al was correct. This was exactly how Snape had built his walls, but he never felt the intrusion. He was sure that he was still in his office.
"Foolish" Al continued, "To think that you would be so gullible, so stupid, so vindictive that you threw away that which you desired the most when the going got tough because you would not look 'cool' to your other friends if you did not follow through".
Snape blinked, unbidden, the memories of what happened that afternoon after their OWL's came back to him. The master occulumens now knew that he was in trouble. Al was using his own memories against him, which went against the fundamentals of mind-reading. It should be the owner of the mind who should be controlling the images being shown to the intruder, not the other way around, yet, Al was doing exactly that.
"You refused to swim against the tide of bigotry that your house is famous for, Severus Snape" Al continued, "You decided that you would swim with them instead, and just because of a single word, you lost everything that you desired"
A scene from the wedding of James and Lily Potter came to the forefront.
"Yet" Al continued, this time, his voice was strangely softer, as if there was sadness laced in it, "You must have known that you never really stood a chance against James Potter. He was her soul-mate, she was his, and nothing, not even death, would have torn them apart"
"You know nothing!" Snape shouted.
"I understand what it meant Severus" Al shot back.
A new scene replaced the wedding of James and Lily Potter, this one, unfamiliar to Snape. He was standing on the flat deck of a ship, on the distance, he saw a couple kissing and he instantly recognized the soul bond forming between the two.
This scene was then replaced by another one, this time, it was dark, and there was rain. Snape found himself crouched on the ground with other men, on his hand, he was holding a long assault rifle which he instinctively somehow recognized as an FAL battle rifle.
"We are in deep shit" a voice behind Snape said, he turned around and saw another man approaching him. This person was also holding the same rifle as him, and Snape recognized him as the one who had been kissing that girl in the earlier image.
"The only way is forward Nicholas" Snape found himself saying.
The man called Nicholas agreed, "Forward is the only way" he agreed, he sighed and then said, "We would charge," he said, and everyone agreed, "we charge on my smoke"
Everyone nodded and the man called Nicholas threw a smoke grenade towards the kill zone. He waited until smoke obscured the target and then charged forward. Snape found himself following after, but then he aimed his rifle to the back of Nicholas's head and pulled the trigger.
The scene changed again, this time, it was morning again and Snape found himself staring at a door in the heart of London. He was carrying a bouquet of flowers on one hand and a briefcase on the other. He knocked twice on the door and a woman answered with a smile on her face.
Snape instantly recognized her as the woman who had been kissing the man called Nicholas, and when she saw him, the smile on her face was replaced by grief, "Francesca" Snape said in a low voice.
The woman called Francesca simply shook her head, refusing to hear anything that he wanted to say.
The scene changed again. This time, Snape found himself standing in freshly dug earth. Around him, he saw numerous white crosses driven into the earth, marking each and every grave. His attention was focused on the white cross in front of him, and the small marble rectangle upon the surface of which was engraved the name 'Victoria Francesca Graham'.
"I'm sorry" Snape said as he knelt before the freshly dug earth, "I'm sorry"
The scene changed and Snape found himself back in his office, this time, Al was standing in front of him, "I know" the battle wizard said in a soft voice, "what it felt like, what it feels like, to see the woman of your dreams taken by someone else, I know what it feels like to be the reason for her death" Al smiled – a sad smile – and continued, "I found it, therefore, ironic that you would want to kill me when the two of us could have understood each other better"
Without saying anything, Al turned around, "Why?" Snape asked.
Al paused and turned back towards him, "Victoria Francesca Graham was the woman that I convinced myself that I would love till the end of my days, and even now, there is some truth in that, but we were never meant to be, she found love – a soul bond – with a great man, but I was selfish, I wanted her for myself, and so," he again smiled his ironic smile, "I killed him, shot him in the back of his head as he was leading us on a brave charge against an enemy position against the Argentines during the Falklands Conflict" he shook his head, "his death caused Vicky to lose her own will to live, she refused to eat anything, she refused to drink anything, she damn right near refused to see anyone, she died two days after I delivered the news to her"
"Lily…" Snape began.
Al nodded, "Yes" he replied, "I was the cause of Vicky's death, they could have been great, they could still be alive today had it not been for my pettiness, had it not been for my jealousy."
"Why..?" he began.
"Because you are different from me in a very small way" Al replied, "You still have your chance to change your life, I've lost mine many years ago, you can still change, Severus" Al smiled before he started to fade, "And this time, this really is one last chance"
Al completely disappeared before Snape. As soon as the image of Al was gone, Snape blinked and then he fell in on himself. Two days later, Dumbledore discovered that his potions master and pet death eater was no longer within the castle, by that time, however, the disappearance of Severus Snape had become a minor issue as a much larger one had popped up.
Hospital Wing, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
Scotland
Draco Malfoy opened his eyes and he knew at once that he was on the Hospital Wing. Strangely, he remembered everything that had led to him waking up in this part of the castle.
'Escape' a voice from behind his head said. Draco found himself agreeing, for he knew that if he did not, he would be looking at Azkaban as his permanent address.
The heir to the Malfoy family found his limbs and other bodily functions in working condition –strange, you usually fell sluggish after getting hit by a stunner, he thought – and jumped out of his bed.
Strangely, the boy also found his wand close to him and he easily acquired it, along with a spare –just in case¸ the boy thought – before he ran to the fireplace.
At that point, an Auror that Malfoy recognized as Kingsley Shacklebolt entered the hospital wing. The dark Auror saw Malfoy and drew his wand, "Ministry Aurors…" Shack began, but he was stopped when he suddenly dropped to his knee after getting hit by a stunner from Malfoy.
The sound that was generated when Shack fell alerted his two other Aurors waiting outside the room. Both entered with their wands drawn, but were too late – their primary concern, after all, was their team leader – to stop Malfoy from jumping into the fireplace and disappearing.