Hey everyone,
So because the last chapter was so short, I am going to combine two plot points into one chapter just to make sure this chapter becomes longer. That does mean that this story might end even sooner than I thought/expected, but I am not against this fact as it will give me more time to focus on other stuff such as new stories and the like.
Hope you like,

Venquine1990


Chapter 17
Two Meetings

5th of January 1996
Hogwarts, Board Room
Dumbledore's POV

The year has started out quite rough. Students were supposed to return last Tuesday, but because of all that has happened, both the trials and the unexpected death of the Minister and the fast way Madam Bones actually managed to react to that, the adults all agreed to wait until the end of next weekend, or so they think.
Now I am meeting with them, a specialist of St. Mungo's, Madam Bones and a member of the Wizengamot who has always been the Leader of the Neutral faction of the Wizengamot and never picked a side, whether it was mine, the Minister's or Voldemort. And just the sight of the specialist has a lot of parents worried.

"Thank you all for coming. I know you have told your kids that they will be returning to Hogwarts this weekend and that some of you have probably already told them to start packing. Unfortunately, this cannot happen." A lot of those in the room look shocked and one of them, who did believe me these past months, says:
"But – you were right. He – he's back. He's back and he killed Fudge! He killed Fudge to prove that you were right this whole time." I nod at the man, grateful for his undying support, which he's been showing me since he was a Fourth Year Ravenclaw, and say: "That is true, Jackson, but it is not the reason I can't bring the students to Hogwarts.
You've probably all heard about the trial against Dolores Umbridge. Unfortunately, while he did not side with her, did Fudge decide to try and keep some of her actual crimes under wraps. He instead entrusted me with making sure it would become knowledge, but not public knowledge. Just knowledge to those who deserved to know."

At this I turn to Lucius Malfoy, who had strutted into the room as if he expected to be reinstated as a member of the Board of Governors, but who is now glaring and grumbling, proving he is still very salty and angry about the fact that his son became a victim of the woman he thought was on his and the late Minister's side.
I turn away from the man and say: "I truly do not like having to admit this and will take full responsibility for not spotting this or even suspecting the chance that this would happen, but – it would seem that Dolores has put some kind of spell, charm, curse or hex – on almost all of your kids." This shocks everyone in the room.
"It is, unfortunately true." Lucius says and this utterly silences the room instantly as some parents had indeed risen up, ready to chew me out or even call me a liar once more and those that wanted to do this turn to the man who says: "I was at the trial when she admitted this and have already had my son examined. He was indeed cursed, badly."
And while I have never cared for young Draco as much as I have for others, do I still worry for the boy and wonder what he could have been hit with and Lucius says: "He was under a severe Submissive-inducing spell as well as a Confundus to make him believe that everything Dolores did was for the betterment of Slytherin, even if she hurt them."

And yet again, just like at the trial, do I wonder if there is no end to the woman's horrible behavior and beliefs and I can tell everyone agrees with me as they look at the man with various levels of horror and even care coming from a few of them. The Specialist then steps forward and draws everyone's attention to him as he says:
"Now that you have all been made aware of this situation, you will understand why the Headmaster is unable to open Hogwarts back up for the students, considering they first need to be tested for spellwork before they can go back to focusing on their studies. However, there is more to all this and it's just as unpleasant.
Before I came here to join you all for this meeting, I got a record of the trial for me to read and in this I read both student names as well as teacher names. I have already tested several of the names that were mentioned and Minerva, Filius, Pomona, Charity, Sybill and even Filch, who supported her, have all been tested positive with spell work."

The parents all look horrified at this and the Healer sighs as he says: "Now, the Hogwarts funds do make it so that I can easily offer treatment to all of them without either Hogwarts or St. Mungo's to go into the red or get into financial issues. Unfortunately, the same does not count for all of the students as there are just too many.
I had my daughter, who works for Gringotts, do a bit of calculations and I will only be able to offer treatment to 37% of the students before Hogwarts goes broke and only 63% before both Hogwarts and St. Mungo's go broke. Therefore, Gringotts, St. Mungo's and Hogwarts have come to an agreement that will require your aid.
As we speak, there are contracts being send to each of your professions, allowing you to go on an extended leave for the period it will take for your kids to heal – yes, Gringotts is willing to provide these funds – if in return, you, the parents, will be willing to help either myself and my partners or take over for the teachers."

The parents look shocked and Amelia asks: "So we will be paid – for doing a job that is not our usual profession?" I nod and say: "Yes, and Mss. Retret has shown me her calculations as well as the only other option we could have had. If this option isn't accepted, each parent will have to pay 10 Galleons – for each child treated."
And instantly Molly and Arthur gasp and whimper, drawing many gazes to them, a lot of them filled with pity and understanding as almost everyone knows that there is no chance for either of them to be able to pay this amount, especially for four of their kids. And yet, this news has a positive effect as Amos stands up and says:

"We will be happy to help either St. Mungo's or Hogwarts in their time of need. And yes, I know that – that Cedric is – is gone, but – but if he was still here, he would have been in his final year and he might have been one of that woman's victims, especially because, apparently, he and Harry were becoming friends before –."
But at this a man sitting near him snaps: "But Amos, that Potter brat killed your son! I –!" Yet before I can protest this, does Amos turn on the man and shout: "FOR THE LOVE OF MERLIN, BERNARD! That is the whole reason I haven't been answering your letters or visiting you or your wife these last few months!
I KNOW that Potter wasn't responsible. For merlin's sake, I met with the kid the day after and he told me the whole story. The only way anyone could blame that kid is for the fact that he convinced Cedric to take the Cup together. But everything that happened after that was because Cedric wasn't paying attention and because they were kidnapped!
KIDNAPPED! Do you understand the concept of that, Bernard? It means that someone else, an outsider, an outside force, someone who wants to hurt them, took them against – THEIR – WILL! Potter was not responsible for my son being killed, his killer is responsible for my son being killed. That's why he's called the killer!

And for those of you wondering, YES! This is why my wife and I have been in social exile for the last half a year. Because neither of us could stand hearing what was being said about the boy who allowed us to burry our son. And yes, we did, at first, try to object to this, but you were all treating our words as if they were but air.
Oh, those poor souls, they are grieving so much, they don't know right from wrong. Oh, those poor souls, they're so confused due to their loss of their son. Oh those – you catch my drift. So yeah, we left you lot to rot. Do we now regret it? I do and I'm sure my wife will too. Do I wish we had worked harder to support Potter?"
At this the man turns to me, but I say: "Harry never expected either you or Clarisse to do so, Amos, but I am sure he will very much appreciate your words.""Thank you, Albus, but I know Clarisse and I know she will force me onto the couch for a month if I don't go ahead and fix that witch's mistake. Consider me your new DADA teacher."
At this I nod, happy that this horrible turn of events actually helped this wonderful man to come back out of exile and say: "Thank you, that will make things much easier, even if Hogwarts can't teach anyone until the students have been healed." Yet the man shrugs at this and this proves that he doesn't care, he just wants to help.

My smile widens and I turn to the parents as a whole as I say: "Now then, now that you are aware of all this, please return home and inform your kids. You will receive a letter from either Hogwarts, asking you if you'd take over a certain position, or St. Mungo's, telling you that you can send your kid in for a test and healing, within the next week."
The parents all nod and they all leave, some of them actually discussing the chance that Purebloods will be helped before the Half-bloods or Muggleborns and I even hear some of them whispering that Mudbloods don't deserve to be healed anyway. Yet what some of these people don't know, is that their kids aren't home right now.

At The Same Time
At the ROR
Harry's POV

I managed to get everyone from the DA to return to our training room, while my sister actually keeps Granger busy by showing her around Potter Library for the next few hours. And while I really wish that I didn't have to ask this of Lily, that I could just take Hermione along, do I know that will just create conflict I don't want.
The others have all come in and quite a few have made comments on my new outfits. Cho even looked me over and giggled, but the knowledge that I am now just a few exercises and transformations away from becoming an immortal being has done a real number on my crush on her, or even the thought of having any relationship in general.

By now everyone is here and a lot of them have already noticed that Hermione isn't here. What they also noticed is that I got rid of all of the self-defense and practice stuff and just left the pillows, beanbags and other soft seats for them to take a seat on. They have all done so and I am now standing in front of them all.
"Thank you all for coming. I know your parents are thinking you are home – or at least for most of you –." At this I turn to the Weasleys, who just smirk at me, to the shock of everyone, but I say: "So I will keep this short. This does have to do with what is going on at the meeting between your parents and guardians and Dumbledore."
"What do you know about that?" Smith asks and I answer: "I know, because Dumbledore, over summer, brought new life into his old group of fighters known as the Order of the Phoenix and my godfather, who has been freed late last year, is a member who keeps me in the know. Same for Ron, Fred, George and Ginny."

The lad looks angered at the fact that I actually had an answer and I say: "You might not like this, but – the club was never a secret." This shocks everyone and instantly, to Ginny's shock, Michael Corner snaps: "Okay, who was it? Who betrayed us?" But I glare at him and snap: "No one betrayed anyone, Michael, let me explain!
The Order knows that Voldemort is back and has been preparing for this since summer. But they feared for my life seeing Voldemort's chance to remain in the dark and Fudge being his dorky self – may he rest in peace – so they had people constantly following me. One of them was there when we met in the Hogs Head."
The boy looks shocked and then embarrassed, yet his words have struck a cord and I growl: "Listen to me, Michael. Betrayal is what made me an orphan, what left my godfather in Azkaban where he didn't belong. If you want to accuse someone of betrayal, make sure you have all of the facts and that you question them before you accuse them.
If there is one topic you can't just randomly accuse people of around me, it's being a traitor or betraying others, especially people I care about and trust. I'm not saying I trust everyone, Merlin knows I have trust issues, but this is just not a topic I take lightly, especially not if someone does it out of instinct instead of proper thought."

The lad knows, but I know that I am not the only one who will have words with him about this. Yet I don't care for this and just focus on what is going on. Or so I want to, but then Cho asks: "Wait, where is Hermione?" And my friends and I grimace as I say: "She's not coming. She doesn't even know there is a meeting going on."
"You kicked her out? About time! All those times she shrunk the room so much was starting to get on my nerves. And I'm not even claustrophobic like you are." Antony Goldstein says and I groan: "How? How is it someone who only recently became an acquaintance sees what my best friend of four and a half years doesn't?"
"Granger didn't even know that you're claustrophobic? How is that possible? You always escape small hallways like the devil is chasing you, you never sit somewhere that is badly cluttered and you seek out large open spaces like it's your life goal. How did she never notice any of that?" I shake my head and say:
"She probably just thought it was what made me – well, me." The boy shakes his head at this and says: "That's just wrong." To which I shrug and say: "It doesn't matter. Though there is something that you have in common with her – and with a large portion of the rest of the school even." Everyone gets intrigued by this and I say:

"As you probably know, both my Godfather and that witch Umbridge were trialed a few days ago. My godfather was declared innocent, Umbridge has been sentenced for her crimes. But while the Prophet only told you guys about her crimes against me, did she actually commit crimes against all of Hogwarts, students and teachers."
The DA all looks concerned and shocked and I nod as I say: "Even Malfoy was one of her victims. We all, according to her trial record, were cursed by her through some kind of method and most of that spellwork is actually against the law, even if she saw herself as above the law and therefore thought she could do so regardless.
Now I don't know who she did and didn't curse when it comes to all of you as only a few of you were mentioned when the Head Judge questioned her, but me and most of my friends were tested positive. You and your parents will probably soon receive a note, summoning you to visit St. Mungo's to be tested for this yourself.

Because of this, Hogwarts won't open for a while, though this is also because Umbridge actually admitted to having done the same to the teachers, even three of our Heads of House and even Filch wasn't safe. However, even when Hogwarts does open again, there is one thing that won't come back to it and that's the DA."
"WHAT! BUT WHY?" Almost everyone in the group shouts and Ron is the one to give them the answer: "Because of us." Everyone turns to him and he turns a little red, but goes on: "Hermione and I talked Harry into starting all of this and even then, neither of us were being honest with him. We worded it wrongly when we asked him to do this."

I nod at this and say: "When I came into the Hogs Head, I thought I'd see the Weasleys, Neville and maybe Luna, Lee and the Chasers. I had no idea all of you had been approached and Hermione never warned me about it – or have the genius to realize that some of you didn't even come for this, you came to get answers I just couldn't provide.
And ever since, things haven't gotten better. Several times she would, as mentioned, shrink the room to a point we couldn't even actually function, she would interrupt me and bring in her own ideas just when I would get into my role as your tutor and a few times she even copied my handwriting and made her own lesson plans.
I did all this to do her a favor, because she was getting so sick and tired of Umbridge and made me believe she believed in my skill, believed in the things I have survived. I wanted to do her a favor and she played me as if she thought me nothing but a puppet on strings with her holding the handles, just to give you all an impression.
I confronted her about this over the break and she has yet to apologize. If anything, she has been treating me as if I am the one in the wrong. Needless to say, I am done with her and I am done with all of this. But, that doesn't mean I want to leave you all defenseless. It just means I am taking over this meeting and giving this group a new cause."

Everyone nods at this, anger at Hermione and pride and respect for me showing on their faces and I say: "Angelina, Alicia, Fred, George, Lee. You are the new teachers of the DA. However, you will, if you're agreeable, following a lesson plan that I will create. You can still twist it to your own style, just follow my plans."
The whole group of five nods and I turn to the DA as a whole as I say: "So far, we have been practicing on restudying the spells we should have been able to do at this point in time, but never learned due to the curse on the DADA position. But with Voldemort now out in the open, time to continue that practice is over.
I am going to write down what I have survived these last four years and how I survived it. I am going to put down the forms of magic and self-defense I used for this and have these five teach you the same stuff. I will stay here and help where I can and I will also further practice this myself, so I can be assured of my own skill as well.
However, if one of them feels I could have had a better chance surviving these events if I did things differently or if they think you will be able to survive similar events doing something different, I will listen to them and I will expect you to do the same. I am just the lesson plan man, they are the teachers from now on.

And if this group manages to keep going until next year, I will put this same responsibility with those that are now Sixth years. Is that all clear with everyone?" Everyone nods, excited and intrigued looks on everyone's faces, but then I say: "Don't expect the Third Task to be described anytime soon. I still have nightmares of that, I need to heal first.
I do think there is a chance that it will be covered sometime this year – or whenever the year restarts – but I can't say when. I hope you can respect that.""You can promise that we will find out, in full detail, what happened to Cedric?" Smith sneers and this time I am just done and glare at him, rising to my full height as I snap:
"If you want to share in my nightmares, lose your perfect complexion and constantly feel haunted by guilt, then yes. I can promise you will get your wish, Smith. You will get all the details you want, to the finest of them, even. If that's not what you want, then stop asking for things I just said I can't handle or deliver just yet!"
By now everyone is glaring at the lad and Justin asks: "Can you please stop being such an embarrassment to our House, Smith? Honestly?" I sigh and take a deep breath as I say: "Now you're all up to speed. Know that you can expect your letter sometime soon and that I will have someone working on the Galleons.
Once you come back, we will divide the DA into groups, depending on who works best with who. Fred and George work well with me, but they're easily tempted to tease Ron, so he'll be working with either Lee or one of the girls. Therefore, once the school year restarts, don't look strange when some of you get burning Galleons and others don't.

All clear? Good, then enjoy the rest of your holiday and know that expenses for your treatment, if you do come out positive on the testing, is currently being covered by Dumbledore and your parents. Also, the Head Judge did question Umbridge quite thoroughly and her answers are listed at the list next to the door. Take a peak if you're curious.
See you when school starts." At this murmurs break out and the whole DA moves over to the door, groups of them converging around the document that is posted against the wall next to the door. Some of them scream when they see that they were listed and that the woman answered positive, others move to comfort those that did.

And slowly but surely the room clears out until it's just me and the Weasleys. We all share a grimace and Ron says: "That went better than expected.""I'm going to have words with Michael when we meet again, that's for sure." Ginny snaps and I say: "Don't forget that he wasn't mentioned in the trial. He might be cursed to be like that."
The girl nods and says: "I'll wait till I hear the results then. But what does that say about Hermione?" At which I sigh and shrug as I say: "She's not going to be happy with us anyway. I'm just glad that Lily was studying to be a Healer before she had me. Maybe she can send a starter diagnosis to St. Mungo's before Hermione gets invited."
The others nod and Ron asks: "What about – you know?" And I turn around as I say: "That ball is entirely in her court now. I wish I could say I don't care, but – part of me does. I just don't feel like listening to that part anymore. After all, I left out one reason to Michael why I don't like people accusing others of betrayal."
And while I have my back to them, do I know that they are all nodding in understanding before we all move over to the door, where a special Port Key, provided by Sirius, was hidden behind a charm. And while I feel glad that I am at least over this part of my trauma and take the Port Key back to Potter Manor, do I still grimace at my own thoughts.


Merlin curse you, Hermione,
So the upcoming chapter will cover the whole "students being called in for testing and diagnosis" but I am not going to make an entire chapter out of it. Just going to time jump to either the end of January or February, give a summary of what was found and then focus on the other important topic, Harry's training.
So yeah, we only have Harry's training as a Guardian and the two chapters describing the Final Battle between Voldemort, Pitch, the Guardians and Harry to go. Three chapters left, plus a potential epilogue. I'd say this story is going to come to an end sometime between October and the end of the year.
Speaking of which, there is one thing I want you all to know. Once this story ends, I am not going to let Chaos and Death follow it. Neither will The Moving of the Light be followed by its Sequel. Instead, I am going to focus on ALL OF THE errors and mistakes that are in some of my stories, such as Destiny's Saying and To Read and To View.
That last one is DEFINITELY in need of some revision, but that won't happen until KH III comes out. Like I said, I might base the final battle in TR&TV on the canon one in KH III depending on how it turns out. If characters that are alive in my story are dead at the end of KH III, I will create my own little Final Battle scene.
If not, we'll see,

Venquine1990