Harry sat in the Room of Requirement and mourned.
Sirius Black had died at the hand of Bellatrix Lestrange, just as he had in the past. The Death Eaters had somehow discovered the house, brought down the weakened blood wards, and done their worst.
Harry hoped against hope that Sirius had died quickly and hadn't simply been left to burn to death. He felt overwhelmed by his failure to save his godfather.
Harry's tears dripped onto the notice from Gringotts that he was now Lord Black. He stared at the Head of House ring for a long moment, then slid it onto his finger.
A thought occurred to him: he drew his wand and disowned Narcissa and Draco Malfoy, feeling a sense of fulfillment as the Black magic worked for him.
He realized that left him as the sole remaining member of the House of Black, unless he chose to reinstate the Tonks family. He remembered Auror Tonks, and decided he would do nothing; she'd never lifted a finger to help him against the Dursleys, the entire time she'd spent patrolling Little Whinging. He'd felt an instinctive dislike for both her and Dawlish.
Thus died any intention Harry had held of ever becoming an auror himself.
"Let me get this straight, Potter." Harry took note of the way Daphne called him Potter instead of Harry, and his heart sank. He had decided to confide in her about his time-travel adventure, feeling she had the right to know the man she'd chosen as her boyfriend. But he was nervous about how she would take the news.
"You fought a dark lord, won by sheer luck, and came back to do it all over?"
"I wanted to save some of the people lost in the war," Harry admitted painfully. "I lost Sirius anyway. I think maybe I came back for nothing!"
Now she was angry. "Nothing? Nothing? Is that all I am to you?"
"I didn't mean it like that!" He said desperately. "Being with you made everything so much better!"
Her expression softened. "Good, don't forget that. Now, it was…technically…foolish of you to come back to fight once more. On the other hand, if you hadn't, you'd be with the Weaselette instead of me, and that is unthinkable!"
Daphne nodded emphatically. "So what we must do is get rid of You-Know-Who, faster than you did before. That should save some people. You know the horcruxes now, so it's not like we're stumbling around blindly."
"But, what if we can't save anyone? What if everyone who died before is fated to die this time?" Harry knew he sounded hopeless. "I couldn't save my godfather!"
"I don't believe in fate," Daphne declared. "It's all mere chance. Turn right instead of left one day, and your life changes. Your godfather died because he got caught up in a death eater attack…and that was a matter of chance!"
Harry's morose mood lifted. "You're right…we did manage to warn Dumbledore!"
"And there will be others," concluded Daphne. "People will still die, Harry, and you have to accept that. Get over thinking it's your fault!"
"I'll try." He gave her a weak smile.
"This may actually be a good thing," Daphne pondered. "At least you came back minus that horcrux, and with your memories intact. This time we should be able to take him out for good. Maybe there won't even have to be a Battle of Hogwarts!"
Harry was summoned to the Headmaster's office once more, to be interrogated by Tonks and Dawlish.
"I already told you what I know," he said firmly.
"You were the last person to see Dolores Umbridge alive," Tonks snapped. "We have permission to question you under veritaserum."
Harry raised an eyebrow. "Whose permission?"
"Minister Fudge," growled Dawlish.
"What does Madam Bones have to say? I thought she was in charge?"
"This is the disappearance of an important Ministry official! That overrides everything else." Tonks was insistent.
"Surely you will agree, Harry?" Dumbledore inserted himself into the debate.
"Of course," Harry said blandly. "Provided you restrict your questions to Umbridge. I have no wish for the Ministry to learn all about my private life."
"That seems a reasonable condition, " Dumbledore agreed.
Harry submitted calmly. He had discovered recently that veritaserum worked in much the same way as the Imperius curse, and was confident he could override it.
"Did you kill Dolores Umbridge?" Luckily, Dawlish undertook the interrogation.
"No," Harry answered. It was true, the hippogriff did.
"Do you know where she is?"
"No." Probably in one of Hagrid's compost heaps, but that was just surmise on Harry's part.
Tonks took over. "When did you last see her?"
"At my detention." After that, she'd been a ferret.
"What do you think happened to her?" This was exceeding her brief, Harry decided.
"Not up to me to speculate." Harry pretended to rouse from the effects of the potion, to find two frustrated aurors and an interested Headmaster.
"Harry." Dumbledore leaned forward. "Is there anything you can think of, that might help these aurors?"
"I've already submitted to interrogation…twice! I've taken veritaserum. What more can I do? May I go now?"
"You may." Dumbledore nodded.
"For all the help you've been," Tonks said snidely.
"Harry!" Hermione pounced the instant he returned to the tower. "What did those aurors want this time?"
"They are still searching for Umbridge," he answered easily.
She searched his face. "You don't know where she is, do you?"
"Give it a rest! I just went through all that with the aurors." He allowed a little annoyance to register.
"Sorry," she apologized. "I just don't want you to get in trouble!"
"I won't," promised Harry. "I submitted to veritaserum."
"They had no right to do that," Neville said angrily.
"Yeah!" Ron's face turned crimson with rage. "You'd think they suspected you of murdering Umbitch!"
"They probably do," Harry admitted. "I was the last person to see her in the castle, as far as they know."
"Maybe we ought to do our own investigation," suggested Hermione.
"What could we discover that a team of aurors couldn't?" Neville inquired.
"Besides," Harry played his trump card, "we have enough to do, preparing for exams! You realize we have no teacher at all now?"
Hermione was immediately distracted. "Oh, you're right. We need to focus!"
"Yeah, I was thinking ….Hermione, why don't you research some of the spells we might need? That have been tested for in other years?"
"I already have!" Hermione waved a list in triumph. "You know I'll help, Harry," promised his friend, all thoughts of Umbridge overridden by more pressing concerns. "I'll do the theory, and you do the practical."
Harry nodded. "Problem solved."