Author's Note: Sorry that it's been a while since I updated. Real life interfered, plus the fact that I was on Pottermore for a good portion of my free time. I also realized that I accidentally wrote down "Ivanov" instead of "Petrov" for Alex's adoptive maternal family. I have gone back to the last two chapters and corrected the mistake. Most of the stuff about Lockhart in this chapter is taken from his profile page on Pottermore and the Harry Potter wiki.
The rest of the school year passed by fairly uneventfully. During the investigation/questioning of Lucius Malfoy, the Dark Mark, though quite faint, was discovered on his arm. However, he still insisted that he had been under the Imperius Curse (the excuse he had used when he had been arrested during the war against Voldemore), which was the reason he had been Marked. However, Auror Alastor Moody (who had been a mentor to Daniel Rosenberg) hadn't believed this at all, and had managed to wrangle permission to use Veritserum on Mr. Malfoy.
After a lengthy questioning session under Veritserum, it became quite clear that Lucius Malfoy was a Death Eater, not under the Imperius Curse as he had claimed, and had willingly participated in several attacks and other missions that Voldemort had ordered. His reasons for joining had been less about targeting Muggleborns and Muggles (though he despised them and had no problem with hurting them) and more for the power he believed he would gain for his family. His only redeeming quality was that he did care about his family, and asked what would happen to his wife and son.
Since Narcissa and Draco had little to nothing to do with his previous activities, they were spared the consequences, except obviously for a loss in status. Lucius, however, was put on trial, found guilty of being a Death Eater and the crimes he had committed while being one, as well as using the Dark Lord's diary in a plot to hurt Hogwarts, and sentenced to twenty-five years in Azkaban. Many articles in the Daily Prophet focused on this scandal, especially the ones written by Rita Skeeter, whose tone in her articles seemed to delight in reporting about the Malfoy family's downfall.
As Lucius had named Mr. Crabbe, Mr. Goyle, Mr. Nott, Alecto and Amycus Carrow, and Walden MacNair (who was working as an executioner for the Ministry) as fellow Death Eaters, they were taken in for questioning as well. Trials were pending for them, and Minister Fudge released a statement saying that he was shocked that someone he thought of as being a good supporter turned out to be so horrible and that he was quite happy to clean house, since Minister Millicent Bagnold's term of office had missed catching them.
Draco Malfoy was furious after everything came out, but apparently had been warned by his parents to keep silent and not make matters worse, for he merely glared at the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw quintets whenever he saw them, but didn't actually say or do anything to them. Meanwhile, Sirius Black was kind enough to offer his cousin Narcissa his protection, since he was now Head of the Black family, but on the condition that she and her son behaved themselves. Vincent Crabbe, Gregory Goyle, and Theodore Nott were also upset, since their fathers were being questioned, especially the latter, since if his father got sent to Azkaban, he'd end up being a ward of the Ministry (his mother apparently was dead and he had no close relatives).
Dobby settled in well with the Romanov-Petrov clan, with a work schedule planned out based on whichever couple was holding dinner that day. On the weekends, he either tended the storeroom at Petrov's Potions or was lent out to help Sirius with the cleaning of his family's house at Grimmauld Place. Kreacher, the family elf, had not done much to keep up the house since the death of Walburga Black, and he and Sirius had a mutual loathing of each other. Kreacher saw Sirius as a blood traitor and disappointment to the family, and Sirius in turn saw the elf as a nuisance and reminder of his unpleasant childhood. He much rather preferred Dobby, whom he saw as amusing and nice, and was very nice to the house-elf.
Meanwhile, Gilderoy Lockhart suffered an accident, which meant he would not be returning the following year to continue teaching. The second-year Gryffindors, wondering why he had done great things in his books, but couldn't seem to demonstrate in class, starting questioning him, under Hermione's leadership. After finding a number of discrepancies, he had lost his head and admitted that he had taken credit for other people's deeds, Obliviating them after interviewing them. He had then taken out his wand to start wiping the memories of the class.
The students had immediately taken out their wands to defend themselves. Before any of them could actually cast a spell, Lockhart had shouted, "Obliviate!" However, in his haste, he had pointed his wand at himself without realizing it, and ended up erasing his own memory. Seamus had rushed off to fetch Professor McGonagall and explained what happened. Her lips thinned, and she said angrily, "I can't believe that he would try to erase the memories of a classful of students! But I should have expected that he would do something like that to gain fame. I had thought it odd that he went on to do such great deeds when his later years at Hogwarts weren't that promising."
She had then escorted Lockhart to the Hospital Wing, and at dinner that evening, Professor Dumbledore announced that Lockhart was now at St. Mungo's in order to try to recover his memories. By this time, the entire school knew what had happened in the class, thanks to several of the students telling others and Professor McGonagall neglecting to tell them to keep it secret. There were numerous cheers and applause at the news (including some from the staff), and for the exams that followed the week after, Professor Dumbledore and some of the other teachers took turns administering the Defense Against Dark Arts exams.
When the school term ended, Alex and Beth asked Remus and Sirius what Professor McGonagall had meant, since they figured the two adults would have gone to Hogwarts at around the same time as Lockhart. Sirius made a face. "I should have expected Lockhart to turn out like that. He was a few years behind us Marauders, and somehow got sorted into Ravenclaw. With his ambition, I would have thought Slytherin would be the better choice."
"Well, he did have the brains, at least in the beginning," Remus pointed out. "He was one of the top students in first and second year. In third year I heard that he started taking shortcuts and only did things if he was going to be the best at it. And he sought ways to be noticed at school. He even asked us if he could be part of the Marauders. James told him that 'annoying firsties weren't welcome' and it was a Gryffindor group, anyway."
"I guess. But I don't know how it happened, but he showed up at Hogwarts thinking that he was really special and deserved lots of attention. Maybe his parents spoiled him or something like that. I did hear that he was a halfblood and had two sisters that were Squibs, so his parents could have lavished attention on him for being magical. Anyway, he went around telling anyone that would listen that he was going to create a Philosopher's Stone by the time he graduated, become the captain of the English National Team and win the Quidditch World Cup, and then go on to be the youngest British Minister of Magic."
Remus made a face. "That got annoying really quickly. And in our seventh year, he sent himself a whole bunch of valentines. I don't remember how many, but I know it was over five hundred. Breakfast had to be cancelled because of the mess all the owls made. And he magically carved his name in huge letters on the Quidditch pitch. James threw a fit when he saw that, since he was Quidditch captain and the Gryffindor team was the one to first see it, when they went out for practice. Madam Hooch and Professor McGonagall yelled at Lockhart for that and Professor Flitwick gave him a week of detentions."
"I remember," Sirius said with a laugh. "James was practically frothing at the mouth and kept sputtering about all the things he wanted to do to Lockhart. He even asked me to a hit a bludger at him at the next Quidditch match, since I was a Beater."
Stephan added, "Thank Merlin I only had to deal with him the one year, since I was in seventh-year when he started. But he was really annoying. Since I was one of the Ravenclaw prefects, he asked me to get him a meeting with Professor Dumbledore. Lockhart wanted to get a school newsletter started, which I suspect was only so he could see his name and picture in print. I told him Dumbledore was really busy and had other things to worry about besides a school newsletter, but Lockhart kept pestering me and the other Ravenclaw prefects until we set up a meeting to shut him up. Dumbledore turned down his request, but he said it was only because there wasn't enough money in the Hogwarts budget to run a newsletter."
"A school newsletter still got set up," Ana pointed out. "Since Lockhart was a promising student at the time, Professor Slughorn convinced a couple of the teachers to join him in donating a few Galleons to run a newsletter. How long did it last, Sirius and Remus?"
"Only for two years," Sirius replied. "By our seventh-year, Lockhart had started focusing on only being the best and taking shortcuts, and didn't look like he would be the type to do favors for those that helped him in life. He fell out of favor with Professor Slughorn, who ended the newsletter, and got kicked out of the Slug Club."
Hermione came by for a week in the middle of July, where Grandpa Vladek tested her on her Occulemency shields and helped her strengthen them. Her mental shields actually didn't need much strengthening, apparently due to her logical and well-organized mind being suited for Occulemency. The rest of the time, she spent with the rest of the Gryffindor quintet, who taught her some more things about the Romani when they weren't having fun. Beth and Alex's parents also gave her some more lessons on wandless magic in the evenings. Hermione enjoyed this immensely, and would have liked to visit longer, but her parents were taking her on holiday in France for the last week of July and the first two weeks in August. She did make arrangements to meet her friends in Diagon Alley for school supplies at the end of August.
Right after Hermione left with her parents for their holiday in France, Mr. Weasley won the Daily Prophet Grand Prize Galleon Draw, receiving seven hundred Galleons. He and Mrs. Weasley set aside a portion to pay for their children's school supplies, but the bulk of it (as Mr. Weasley said when he was interviewed about it) they decided to spend on a summer holiday in Egypt, where Bill was working as a cursebreaker for Gringotts.
"Lucky you, Ron," Alex grumbled when he heard about this. "You get to visit Egypt, which is very fascinating and cool, and it's the place where the first witches and wizards were first reported. And you also get to see your brother again."
Ron looked a bit uncomfortable. "I wasn't expecting Dad to win the Galleon Draw, Alex, or that he and Mum decided to visit Egypt."
"I understand," said Alex. "I just wish I could go somewhere on holiday, and not on the camping trip that our clan goes on every summer so we kids can get an idea of what life was like for the Romani when they were traveling around in vardos. I think after going on the camping trips every summer since my adoption has given me a pretty good idea of the nomadic life that Roma had. Even Hermione gets to go on holiday to another country, and France has an interesting culture and history, both Muggle and magical, and great food. Except maybe for escargot."
Ron made a face at the idea of eating snails and said, "Well, maybe your family will go on a holiday other than the yearly camping trip, Alex."
"I can always ask Mum and Dad about it," added Beth.
Alex opened his mouth to reply, but before he could do so, Sirius and Ana came in the living room. "Beth and Alex, you two had better start packing tonight," Ana said with a smile. "Preferably clothes suitable for a hot desert climate."
"What are you talking about, Mum?" Beth asked, looking confused.
"Well, the adults in the clan had a discussion after Arthur and Molly, that is Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, said they were planning on taking the family to Egypt," Ana answered. "There's really not much point in going on the yearly camping trip when our offspring should have pretty good understanding of the Romani nomadic life by now. Also, we thought that experiencing other countries and cultures is a great idea. So the two of you, your cousins, Luna, and Neville will be visiting Egypt with the Weasleys. The Rosenbergs might be going as well, if Mrs. Rosenberg says yes to the idea. She was thinking about it when we asked her this morning and said she would give us an answer tonight via Jonas and Esther's connected journals."
"Really?" asked Alex excitedly. "I was just wishing that we could go on a holiday other than the yearly camping trip."
Ana nodded and Sirius said, "I'm going to be coming along to help chaperon, as well as your parents and Mr. Lovegood. I tried to get Remus to join us, but he pointed out that the full moon was on the second of August, during the trip."
"What about the rest of the family?" asked Beth. "Why aren't they coming?"
"Well, my parents didn't particularly want to visit Egypt," replied Ana. "And Granny Ilsa can't afford to keep the potions store closed for a month anyway. As for your other set of grandparents, they really don't like hot or desert climates. Your Uncle Tobias and Aunt Maria couldn't take a month off from work. A fortnight, yes, but the Auror Department can't spare them both for longer than that. As for your Aunt Sarah and Uncle Niko, their wedding anniversary is coming up and they decided they wanted to go to Ireland, where they spent their honeymoon."
"Oh," said Beth in understanding and then Ana and Sirius left the room. Beth, Alex, and Ron started talking about how they thought the Egypt trip would turn out, joined by Neville an hour later, who was very surprised that his grandmother had decided to let him go on the holiday.
"Well, your father was good friends with Uncle Niko," Beth pointed out. "And Grandmum Lise is friends with your grandmother."
"True," Neville acknowledged. "I guess Gran would be willing to let me go in that case, especially since all my friends except Hermione are going too."
He and Ron Flooed back to their respective homes at five thirty for dinner. The clan met at Grandmum Lise and Granddad Eli's that night for dinner. The cousins were very excited to be visiting Egypt with the Weasleys, and Mrs. Rosenberg had given permission for her children to go on the trip. Uncle Tobias was going to have the Rosenberg fireplace connected to the Floo Network for an hour tomorrow so that he could pick the three preteens up, and then they would join the others at the Ministry of Magic to catch the International Portkey to Egypt.