Chapter twelve

As soon as Harry entered the office, he was in Sirius' arms. His godfather was hugging him and all Harry could do was hug him back. He still remembered how he felt when he saw Sirius die at the department of mysteries. It took a lot of plans, but Sirius finally is free but more importantly, he's alive.

When Sirius finally released him, Harry saw that apart from Dumbledore, Madam Bones was also in the office along with McGonagall.

'Take a seat Harry,' Albus said kindly.

Harry sat beside his godfather, 'When I read the paper, I felt like shouting,' he smiled up at his godfather.

'I know what you mean pup. I got a patronus message at Crescent Fields from Madam Bones. We met, then instantly told me about Peter and how he revealed the truth about what happened.'

'Yeah, I just read about it. So he's in Azkaban?' Harry gazed up at Madam Bones.

'He is, and he was placed in the cell that Sirius had. We made sure he knew whose cell he was in.'

Harry grinned, 'Thank you Ma'am.'

'I was just doing my job Mr Potter. Now onto why you were asked here this morning. We received an anonymous letter that told us there was a murderer in the graveyard at Little Hangleton. After making sure Peter was secured in one of the ministry holding cells we investigated what else was written in the letter,' Amelia nodded to Sirius.

'There was a house close by, an old rundown muggle home. That's where Peter had been staying, with Voldemort.'

'So he did join his master, like the prophecy said.'

'Indeed he did Harry,' Albus said, 'Peter helped Voldemort get a partial body and they were ready to perform a dark ritual which would restore Voldemort to his former self.'

'So he's back?' Harry asked nervously. He had to keep up his act so he made sure to sound nervous.

'No, whoever sent us this letter allowed us to find him before he returned. Right now, the small homunculus is with the unspeakables. They are going to make sure he will die when they send him through the death veil in the department of mysteries. He is secure and only a few people know he is there. By this time tomorrow he will be gone, for good.'

'That's great news. But I don't get why I'm being told.'

'Because they planned to use you in the dark ritual Harry. The person you thought was Mad-eye Moody was actually a death eater, Barty Crouch Junior. He was going to enter you into the triwizard tournament then make sure you won. The goblet of fire which would be used in the final task was going to be turned into a port key. The moment you touched it declaring you the winner would have taken you to the graveyard where your blood would be taken. Were not going into details about the ritual, but we decided you should know that this was all planned, which would eventually see you killed and Voldemort return. That vision you had before the world cup, that was them talking about making sure they got hold of you.'

'So if these plans worked I would have ended up facing a dragon?' Harry squeaked, again making sure he acted scared.

'How did you know the first task was a dragon Mr Potter?' Minerva asked.

'Oh, I worked it out when Ron told me Charlie was hanging around for a while. See, Ron said Bill and Charlie always take their holidays together. But after the quidditch world cup, Bill returned to Egypt, Charlie stayed. Hermione and I researched the tournament to see what the champions would face in their tasks, and one thing they all had was a dangerous magical creature for the first task. I sort of put two and two together. I wasn't positive but it made sense.'

'Very astute Harry, and correct. Have you told anyone what you figured out?' Albus asked.

'No, I knew they weren't supposed to know. I don't get that. They could be at least given a small clue so they can study up on ways to get past a dangerous animal. Um, sir, was it this Crouch who murdered Snape?'

'We believe so, but we are unable to question Barty using veritaserum.'

'Barty Junior was kept under the imperius curse for years, by his father. That affected him so much that he can't be questioned using the truth potion.'

'We would like you to keep all this information to yourself Harry. No one needs to know how close it came to having Voldemort return. Everyone believes you vanquished him that night. If people heard that he could have returned, they could believe we will never be free of him even though he is about to be sent through the death veil,' Albus said.

'I won't tell anyone, I promise. Um, if I end up married to Megan, which I hope I do, I will have to tell her. I don't believe a marriage couple should keep secrets from each other.'

'That would be fine Mr Potter. By then all this will be well and truly behind us. We just believed you had the right to know since they planned to kidnap you then kill you. As the headmaster has told you before, there is always danger, especially from those who support Voldemort. You know to be cautious. But the moment the unspeakables send him through the veil any death eater out there will understand what is happening. The dark mark right now has been becoming darker. The moment he is sent through the veil it will disappear. We just thought you should know in case some decide to retaliate. We don't believe they will but it's always best to be warned.'

'I'll keep my eyes open Ma'am.'

'Now before you return to your friends Harry. I need to ask, when was the last time you saw Mr Malfoy and Miss Astoria Greengrass?'

'Strange you should ask sir. I was sitting at the Hufflepuff table with Megan having breakfast when Susan Bones mentioned that Malfoy wasn't at the Slytherin table nor was he there when the champions were selected. Susan's very observant, she noticed he wasn't there last night when most of us were excited about who the champions were going to be. But I saw Malfoy when Megan and I walked down to Hogsmeade. That was the last time I saw him, but to be honest, I try not to think about him if I can't help it. Malfoy was walking with his two body guards along with the younger Greengrass girl. I only know Astoria Greengrass as I've heard others mentioned her. I know of Daphne since she's in most of my classes.'

'Yes, I raised Susan so she learned from an early age to listen and observe. So that was the last time you saw Mr Malfoy?'

'Yes Ma'am, Megan I wanted to be alone for a while so the moment we got there we headed for the shrieking shack.'

'One last thing before you go Harry,' Albus gestured to Sirius.

'Since I was named by your parent's to be your guardian if anything happened to them, I was able to make sure I'm still legally your guardian. I am, so we get to live together at Crescent fields.'

'That's wonderful,' Harry jumped up and hugged his godfather, 'I finally get rid of those muggles.'

'Mr Potter,' Minerva said sounding like her stern self.

'Sorry Professor, but they were terrible people.'

'They are your family Harry,' Albus said.

'No, sir, they're not. I might be related to them but they are not my family. Family don't treat each other like how they treated me. I was there slave and punching bag. I said to Ron and Hermione, if they were magical, they'd be death eaters. To be honest, when Hagrid first took me to Diagon alley, I wanted to find some curses to use on them, hopefully painful ones. Then I realised it would make me like them. I was just looking forward to leaving that hell hole for good, now I am, but sooner than I hoped,' Harry smiled at Sirius who looked murderous, 'No Sirius, don't go doing anything stupid. I don't have to see them again, and I'm going to make sure they know just how rich I am. If they would have treated me like family, than I would have given them a better life. Now they will realise what they lost. So does that mean we can have Christmas together?'

'It does pup and it's going to be a Marauders Christmas.'

'So Moony will be with us?'

'Yep, so Moony, Padfoot and Prongslet will be celebrating together.'

'And Megan. Her aunt is going away and we planned to stay here for Christmas. But she'll fit right in with the Marauder's.'

'Then make sure she has permission from her aunt Mr Potter or she will have to remain at Hogwarts,' Minerva said.

'Yes Professor, I'll tell her when I go meet up with her in the library.'

'Why don't you walk your godson out Mr Black? I'm sure you would both like some time together.'

'Yes, we would. Come on pup, let's go find that cute girlfriend of yours,' Sirius looked at Amelia but he made sure she knew that he wanted the Dursley's taken care of, one way or another. Sirius wasn't going to do anything reckless, hopefully Amelia will be able to do someone legally to make those people pay for ever hurting his godson.