CHAPTER 37: A Long Day At Hogsmeade (Aftermath)

The Three Broomsticks

5:55 p.m.

"Harry!" The black-haired boy Rufus recognised as Theodore Nott screamed as Potter crumpled into himself.

"Get a medic for both of them now!" Rufus screamed, motioning for two Aurors behind him to attend to Potter and the red-haired man, who seemed almost in death's embrace.

The Aurors rushed to them, and Rufus took the time to look around the room. Blood and gore was scattered all around the pub, most of it coming from the six brutalised corpses that could be found near the centre of the room. He instantly recognised Madam Rosmerta, her signature Russian violet robes drenched with blood from the large gash on her neck. The other five were all wearing black cloaks - the attackers, Rufus presumed - and they were by far the most abused and revolting corpses he had seen since the war.

Two decapitated men, one whose neck was completely burnt off, while the other one was exploded - the blast damage having also removed the upper half of the chest and shoulders from the corpse. Another one whose torso had been cut so deeply and thickly, his innards had spilled onto the ground besides some poor bastard who had his head cut off in half, with both halves of the brain bespattered on the floor. And far away from all of them was a fifth man, whose head had been completely decimated.

And in all the chaos were about two dozen students, most of them shell-shocked and heavily pale, but a few cries of sorrow could be heard. There were bodies he hadn't noticed before - students - not nearly as gory as the others, but leaving sorrow in their way as their friends and classmates wept for them. Nodding to nearby Aurors, he motioned for them to attend the students, forcing his own desolation out of his mind.

Indulging in his feelings would do nothing to impair the investigation.

With his Aurors attending the scene, victims, and witnesses, Rufus fixated his eyes on the boy who he'd met only a week ago. He was surrounded by two other students, Parkinson and Nott, who were arguing against Tonks and Scamander. Intrigued, he began walking towards them.

"Miss," Scamander tried impatiently. "It's for his own good, we need to check him over and confirm he's in perfect condition. And even if he didn't need it, he's a person of interest in this whole situation. We can't just let him go!"

"And you can't force him to get medical attention," Parkinson argued coolly. "Unless you're planning on arresting Harry without any evidence or plausible reason-"

"He was beating a half-dead man to death!"

"And there are about two dozen witnesses here to tell you that the so-called half-dead man was the attacker! He and the other five morons. If it hadn't been for Harry, people would've died."

"People did die, Miss Parkinson." Rufus pointed out gravely. "We have no intention of making any arrests before we have a clear sense of what happened in this building."

"Good."

"Unfortunately, Mister Potter is still a person of interest, one we'd like to interview-"

"You can interview him after he wakes up," the Nott boy stepped in beside Parkinson.

"And we do plan to. However, we will also provide him with medical aid."

"You can't force-"

"I'm well aware," Rufus pushed, his intrigue growing by the second as the two Slytherins were avidly trying to avoid him getting access to Potter. If he was as innocent as they claimed him to be, then they would be worried about whatever they would find in the medical report. "However, as Mister Potter is currently unconscious, he is not in a position to express his views on whether he would wish to attain medical attention or not. Henceforth, in order to avoid indulging into medical malpractice - the DMLE is forced to provide enough aid until Potter wakes up and is able to decline this help."

"I'm declining for him."

"You're not his guardian, Miss Parkinson, nor any family of his."

"Harry doesn't have any magical guardians," she kept pressing, more furiously with each time. "As a daughter of House Parkinson, I'll put him under the protection and magical guardianship of House Parkinson - at least until he wakes up."

Rufus raised an eyebrow at her. To put a half-blood, son of two Aurors - one of which was a Muggle-born - who both rejected Voldemort and the Death Eater ideals… there was definitely something she didn't want him knowing about Potter."

"An admirable sentiment, Miss Parkinson, and I can understand you wanting to protect your… friend. However, I'm afraid that's not how magical guardianship works, there's a due process to it - one which involves the Wizengamot - and the individual being adopted, even if it's only for magical guardianship, needs to be conscious for this process. With Potter being unconscious and his guardians being muggles, there is nothing you can really do."

Parkinson opened her mouth, before quickly shutting it and grabbing the Nott boy's arm. "Thank you, Chief Auror."

"You two are welcome to stay with him in the Auror medical wing while we interview the rest of the witnesses." Rufus said, keeping them isolated from a crowd and in relative privacy, they'd be more likely to lower their guard. He'd make sure to place some disillusioned Aurors inside and retain their wards - restricting any privacy charms they might try to cast. "We can leave you three for the end."

"Thank you, Chief Auror," Parkinson parroted before quickly escaping him, pulling the Nott boy with her.

"McLaggen," Rufus intercepted the Auror, placing a hand on his shoulder. "I want a full med scan on Potter, physical, magical - everything. If this kid was scratched by a cat when he was three-years-old, I want to know."

"Yes, sir."

"Good lad," patting his shoulder, he let the Auror go.

There was something about the Potter boy, and with him being heavily involved in this massive incident, and whatever he might find within Potter's medical scan, that should be enough information to make Amelia consider allowing him to investigate the boy. Regardless of Potter's apparent blamelessness in this attack, the boy was hiding secrets, and if there was something Rufus had always hated, it was mysteries.

He'd solve the mystery of Harry Potter, just as he would uncover what really happened today at the Three Broomsticks. However, both of those conundrums left his mind as he noticed the young Gryffindor girl who was practically stuck to Neville Longbottom's side staring at him. It was a calculating look, appraising him in a way that was slightly unnerving - especially given his plot against Potter. Had she heard something? Were she and Potter close?

Rufus blinked, and the girl was no longer looking at him. Instead, she was in deep conversation with Williamson - most likely being interviewed - leaving Rufus to wonder if he had merely imagined the whole situation.

"Sir," Tonks said shakily, her hair unusually brown. "There's something you need to see."

Laying on the floor, near where the red-haired man had been pummelled by Potter, was a blond girl with her throat slit savagely, her azure robes drenched in vivid red stains. It didn't take long for him to recognise the girl, and his heart stopped.

"I'll-" His voice cracked, and Rufus breathed in. "I'll inform Amelia."

DMLE Medical Wing, Room #4

7:30 p.m.

"This is a shit show!" He heard Pansy hiss for what felt like the hundred time in the past five minutes.

They had been waiting there for the past hour and a half, silence had ruled for most of the initial period, but as more time went on without any news from the outside or regarding Harry's condition, it had begun to wear on Pansy. While a person who mostly kept her cool, lack of information or control always sent her on edge - even if she didn't show it to the outside world.

Still, Theo hadn't managed to focus on any of it, he felt stuck back in the Three Broomsticks. He could still hear the bones crack, the blood splatter everywhere, the chilling screams from all of Harry's victims. Victims. It felt wrong calling them victims when they were the ones who attacked first when they were trying to kill Harry, when they actually killed a couple of his classmates when Harry began apparating around carelessly like a wild man in a daze - without showing any shred of humanity as he massacred them.

It was only after that he realised Harry had been holding back, focusing on a million other things other than just killing them quickly and efficiently. And that scared him. Not the immense raw power he witnessed, nor the impressive magical application of what are considered basic duelling spells as well as advanced knowledge shown by the expulso curse and his ability to apparate around so seamlessly - not even his reaction towards what Dolohov did.

After what he did to Susan… he couldn't blame Harry.

No, it was Harry's attitude that had him on edge. He had killed six people in the past eleven days, all of them who had deserved it to some extent, in his opinion. But it didn't change the fact that Harry hadn't even seemed the smallest bit affected by what he had done. He hadn't seen guilt or shame over the murders, not even a reaction to the brutal extent to which he carried them out. Just the opposite, looking into his eyes, he would be hard-pressed to say he could see anything behind that dull green eyes he adopted whenever he went into combat mode.

He would never forget the day he saw his first murder, that had been the day when he had realised he hadn't wanted what his father wished for him. The cruel torture his father inflicted on the man, using some of the most barbarous methods of torment, ones he wouldn't have even been capable of imagining before witnessing. But that hadn't been the worst part. Not even close.

Standing there, almost trembling, the man's eyes were pleading for help. Begging to interfere, to do something - whether it was killing him or stopping his father - he would never forget that look on his face.

"Come on," His father said jovially, as if offering him the fishing rod with a kind smile. "It's your turn now."

"I- Err… Dad…"

"It's okay," He smiled eagerly, walking towards him. "Mister Gudgeon just needs a small encouragement to help out dad with some business stuff."

"I'll do it!" The man cried. "I'll do it, just please!"

"And I really appreciate it," His father turned towards Mister Gudgeon, his words laced with geniality. "I'm just trying to make sure you understand so that we don't have to do this again. You wouldn't want that, would you?"

"I understand!" he sobbed. "Please, I understand, I swear. It won't happen again."

"Son," His father turned to him with a paternal smile, ignoring the pleading cries from the man behind him. "One day, soon, you're going to be a man yourself. Whether you decide to work with me or to create your own business, you're a Nott. More than that, you're my son. Our name was left drained and disgraced by your grandfather - and that's something I can't allow you to do. It is because of hard work and smart business that we have managed to rise once more, that we are only a few years away of being nominated again into the Wizengamot."

"But…" He turned to the man. "I…"

"Hard work, Theo," His father patted his shoulder with a bright smile. "Hard work, persistence, and skill is what's going to start your journey. And that's something you already have, I am so proud of you for the man you are growing to be. But more than that, you have to always stay hungry. Hard work will only get you so far, persistence will only help you avoid quitting, and skill will only put you on the same market as your competitors. But it will be your hunger that propels you to greatness! Doing what needs to be done, getting your hands dirty - most wizards think that below them, but it's precisely what forged the history of their houses and granted them all the wealth and power. Remember what I always say…"

"Dirty hands dig up gold." Theo said numbly.

"Exactly!" His father brightened immediately. "This is exactly that! Our deal with Mister Gudgeon will make us the biggest importer of wand core materials in all of Britain, we just need to make sure Mister Gudgeon refuses the Flint's offer and takes ours."

"But…"

"There's no other way, son." His father's face turned regretful for a second before it brightened again. "Here, I can show you how." Fishing out Theo's wand from his pocket, he placed it in Theo's hands and aimed it at the man. "Now, repeat after me, okay?" Theo nodded shakily. "Okay. One… two… three…"

"Theo!" Pansy voice drew him out of his memory, he looked at his surroundings bemusedly, before his eyes landed on Pansy's glaring face.

"What?" He snapped at her. "I get it, we're all fucked."

"What's with you?"

"What's with me?" Theo repeated with disbelief. "What's with me is that we just watched four of our classmates get slaughtered by… whatever the fuck those men were! And then we let Harry massacre those man without doing anything at all!"

"You're acting like they deserved to live."

"So they got what they deserved?"

"Yes!" She shouted. "Those morons weren't there to pick up a few butterbeers and have a nice laugh. They were there to kill Harry, to kill his friends - which, unless your idiotic brain has forgotten, includes you and me!"

"And that makes it okay for Harry to rip them all to shreds? It's okay if Harry is just as big of a monster as those idiots, so long as it doesn't affect us, right? You're sounding like a Death Eater."

"And you're sounding like an idealistic first-year Gryffindor!" Pansy scoffed. "Fuck, I knew you turned soft a couple of years ago, but I can't believe you're actually entertaining the idea that those fuckers deserved to live!"

"I'm not saying they deserved to live! I'm just not willing to turn a blind eye when someone I know is turning out to be just as much of a monster as the people he's trying to fight. Harry didn't give a shit as he ran through them like the fucking Hogwarts express! Not a shred of guilt or remorse!"

"Because they had just killed Susan, you daft twat!" Pansy looked like she wanted to tear her hair off.

"I get it," Theo replied through gritted teeth. "I fucking understand. But what's next? Is he going to kill whoever employed those idiots? Is he going to kill their friends and family just to get payback? Will he not care who he has to kill or torture to get what he wants? How long will that have to go for Harry to turn to be just like the bastard who tried to kill him today? Just like fucking Montague who-" His voice gave out. Thinking again of Harry's gruesome scar, an injury he had overlooked as he tormented and mocked the helpless kid he used to be.

"Harry's not going to turn all evil, you dumb idiot." Pansy said, her tone much calmer and agreeable than before.

"How do you know? Everyone starts somewhere, and with everything Harry's gone through, everything he could still go through. You keep treating him as if he's incapable of making mistakes, and others will follow after this. They'll praise him, thank him for saving them."

"And you're vilifying him, just like Blaise and all the others who won't even try to empathize with having a close friend murdered in front of him - because of him."

"I'm not trying to vilify him," Theo said quickly. "I'm not like that, it's just… someone has to keep him in check. You heard your… him today, he believes that Harry is… that he was…" He tried saying it, but it felt like something was blocking his words. "You know… and I can't help but agree with him. With what happened with Montague, both this year and in our first-year, and his apparent encounter with one of…" His mind blanked again, and Theo cursed under his breath. "Of those things he showed us. It all just feels like some sick, twisted trials imposed upon him. And there's still a bunch of shit we don't know about his life, fuck, now that I think about it, he's never told anyone shit of his life before Hogwarts or any other shit he went through in those first four years. Fuck, do you remember how much those bloody dementors affected him? Or all his study sessions with Moody - or, I guess Ares now, whoever the fuck he's supposed to be. I don't know… Harry's just too skilled, too powerful, and has been in so many fucked up positions for him not to be… you know."

"I…" Pansy paused. "I don't know what to think. My… he definitely believes it… I just… I don't know. Harry doesn't want to, he was terrified when he saw that… thing. I don't think I've ever seemed so spooked."

"Yeah, me neither." Theo turned to Harry. He was still sleeping, his eyebrows restless as they were scrunched together. "He may not want to do it… but I don't think he has much of a choice. First Halloween and now this. These are two encounters where he's defied… him - if we assume he had anything to do with this attack, which… he very well may have."

"Harry won't just suddenly change his mind because of… Susan."

"He'll be furious, dangerous, and he'll definitely vow revenge." Theo said with near dread. "You know how he is, Harry's the type of person to let a grudge wake him up from his death."

"But we don't even know if… he sent him. We don't even know if he's as bad as my… he says." She finished off defensively.

Theo stared off in the distance, heaving a heavy sigh. Trust was not something that a Slytherin could give away so easily, especially when it came to your views on the Dark Lord. Pansy was definitely someone who still believe in his mission, in his ideals - and even though they had grown what Theo considered a strong, unlikely friendship over the past two months… that card wasn't one he'd ever use… usually. But with his involvement with Harry, someone who's transparently anti-Dark Lord and anti-Death Eater, and her family also apparently in that camp, there was a small voice telling him to finally say it.

Ever since that day with his father, he had renounced all of his teachings, and had done his best to overcome the prejudices he had been taught with. He didn't want to be a Death Eater, he didn't want to inflict pain and torture on someone just to get an import licence or because he didn't agree with them. It had made him realise how despicable he had grown to be, something he had immediately tried changing. He didn't think himself as soft, he wasn't a good person like Longbottom or Granger, he wasn't inherently good, not after how he had been raised. He knew, deep down, he had the potential to be just as much of a monster as his father - which is why he constantly made sure he didn't go the same route he went.

But his defiance against the Dark Lord has always been one hidden, even from Blaise, who he still considered to be his closest friend, even if they had been having issues lately. He'd never voiced it, and he felt, if he didn't do it now… he never would.

Besides, if Pansy turned, they were all fucked anyway.

"I know you still chose to believe what your parents told you about… him, but your… he isn't wrong. You can still support a pure-blood agenda without condoning what he and the Death Eaters and any other bastard who rapes, murders, and kills just for fun does in the name of your mission. They are all the same, and they all need to be stopped - killed even. I know, I know, but I'm not being a hypocrite." He defended himself when Pansy raised an eyebrow at him. "I'm joining your… in whatever he's planning, I decided that since before we left for the Three Broomsticks, even if you and Harry don't. I just… I don't want to fight against… him only to have Harry turn into the next Dark Lord."

"You… you agree with them?" Pansy asked, almost cautiously.

"I do, and I know Harry does too. Even if the idiot thinks he's good at hiding it, he could never be a Death Eater or even silently support them. Harry will want revenge, and when he does, I'll be by his side… making sure he never crosses that line he can't come back from."

Pansy was silent, deep in thought, and when she didn't answer, Theo left her to her pondering. His change of view hadn't been exactly brisk, and for someone like Pansy who had always been more supportive of the Death Eaters and the pure-blood agenda than him, it would take a while for her to acclimate to the idea that she might have been supporting the wrong side. Still, he hoped she would eventually come to her senses. He hoped every Slytherin did.

"Never crosses that line," she eventually repeated, with a growing smile. "I thought that line was committing murder."

"Well, it's a bit too late for that," Theo deadpanned before smiling, despite himself. "We can't win this war with hugs and kisses. I know we'll have to kill, I know we'll probably have to do a lot more fucked up shit than what I'm comfortable with. But if I'm going to go through all that, I want to know it's for the right reason, and for the right cause. I don't want to end up like… like a Death Eater."

Pansy rolled her eyes at him. "At this point, I rather doubt you could even if you wanted to, Nott."

"I hope you're right," he replied seriously, right before he felt the bed he had been sitting on with Pansy shuffle.

Turning, he saw Harry shifting in his bed, his eyes scrunched close tightly as his movements became more erratic.

"Harry," he called out gently, moving to stand beside him before gently shaking his shoulder, trying to wake him up. "Harry." He turned to Pansy. "Go call a healer."

At that moment, Harry yelled - its sound filled with terror - before launching himself up, looking around the room wildly.

"Harry!" Pansy immediately moved towards the other side of him.

"You're fine," Theo reassured. "You're in the DMLE infirmary, but you're going to be fine. Harry."

"Where?" He looked bewildered. "What happened? Why are… Susan! Where's Susan!"

Theo felt his heart rise to his throat, he opened his mouth, but no words came out. He couldn't say it, and apparently Pansy couldn't either.

"Where is she!" Harry shouted, sounding more uneasy by the second. "Where… what…"

"I'm sorry, Harry," Theo managed to force out, and Harry's soul immediately cracked before his eyes.

The terror in his face quickly dissipated, and his eyes turned blank, all the emotion behind them suddenly gone. It was as if a dementor had sucked the soul out of him. He was retreating, going to a place where Theo couldn't help him anymore. He didn't know why he did it or what gave him the courage to actually do it, but he hugged Harry, making sure to not touch his upper-left back.

"I'm sorry, Harry." He repeated. "I'm so sorry."

Harry began to shudder in his embrace, but Theo only tightened it. He was crying, silently, but crying nonetheless. A moment passed, and he felt Pansy join them from the other side, though with much more hesitancy than what he had shown. He recalled back to that night after he had tortured the man with his father, how he had cried himself to sleep, how he had wished for someone to hold him, to be there for him. He had never had that, not when he had really needed it. He wouldn't wish that consuming loneliness on anyone, much less his friends.

Harry gradually began to cry louder, letting out sniffles and hitches of breath along the way. He wanted to say something, anything to alleviate the pain, but nothing would ever do that. So, he kept on holding him, as uncomfortable as their three-way hug was, he didn't consider leaving it for a second. The air around him began to thicken, and a powerful headache suddenly hit him like a flying owl. But before he could say anything, all the glass flasks in the room suddenly burst simultaneously, and then, the headache was gone.

The moment that happened, the dam broke, his cries turned into full sobs and wails as Theo and Pansy held him, providing as much comfort as they could to their grieving friend. Even as he knew, it wouldn't be even close to enough.

Madam Bones' Office

10:50 p.m.

He could hear Amelia's screams before he even opened the door.

"-bastard woke up two hours ago, and you haven't managed to get a single thing out of him!?"

"He won't talk…" Runcorn said meekly. "Maybe if we give him time to heal-"

"I don't give a rat's arse if this man is half-dead, you get him to talk, and you get him to talk now!"

"Yes, ma'am." Dawlish said respectfully, and Rufus took it as his cue to knock on the door.

"Come in."

Stepping inside, he had never seen Amelia so vivid. Her bloodshot eyes glared at the two cowering Aurors, her hair almost frizzling with energy. Her desk was in an unusual state of chaos, parchments upon parchments scrambled haphazardly, an ink holder dropped on the floor, staining the floor beneath it.

"Dismissed," he said firmly, and the two Aurors almost gave him a look of gratitude.

"What do you have for me, Rufus?" Amelia asked tiredly, sitting behind her desk once the door closed.

"We've managed to identify the other five men, all lowlifes from the East Anglia region with a criminal record. The other one… we don't really know anything about him."

"What do you mean you don't know anything about him?" Amelia asked with a dangerous tone.

"What I mean is that there is literally no way of identifying him. His fingerprints were burnt off completely, dental brought back thirty-two separate identity results, all from different deceased people from around the world - murdered. His clothing is foreign with no labels. Nothing in his pockets but childish drawings and anarchistic dissertation. Even his magical signature came back as tampered, unhealthy, and untraceable to its origins - whatever they may have been."

"Who the hell is this guy?" Amelia snapped.

"A ghost for all intents and purposes, we don't even know his name. But we do know he goes by an alias… Antonin Dolohov. Various witnesses heard him call himself that."

"Alias?"

"We don't believe that's his real name. After all the trouble he went through to hide his original identity, he wouldn't use his name again. We can't prove it, and as we can't find shit on him, we may as well just start calling him that."

"What else did you find out from the witness accounts?"

"It seems that the Parkinson girl and the Nott boy were telling the truth about Potter. Half the witnesses called him a hero, the other half a murdering maniac who deserved to be in a cell beside Dolohov. But they all confirmed that he was the target of a conspiracy to attack him, that he didn't launch the first spell, that he saved and protected various students - chief among them, Neville Longbottom himself - and that he only turned feral after…"

"Susan told me she was going on a date with him," Amelia said quietly. "She was so excited about it."

"I'm so sorry, Amelia," Rufus said sincerely.

"Don't even say it," she warned. "I'm not taking a temporary leave, I'm staying until I find the son of a bitch that's responsible for the murder of my niece."

"I wouldn't even think of asking that of you," Rufus said before continuing hesitantly. "What else did Susan tell you about Potter?"

"You aren't thinking of campaigning against him, are you?" Amelia asked suddenly. "After the witness statements, you can't still believe he's behind this somehow."

"As in him having orchestrated this as some sort of stunt?" Rufus asked. "Not at all. I don't even know what to think of the boy, I'm convinced he murdered Montague, but at the same time, what he did today, saving all those students and risking his own life by doing it instead of just focusing on attacking the others. I don't know… but Potter has been involved in the two dangerous and extremely violent attacks in the past two weeks. Something's going on with that boy, and I believe it's worth looking into it. We know virtually nothing about him, nothing about where he lives, his past, or anything."

"We don't know anything of the sort about any student other than Longbottom, Weasley, and the Granger girl."

"True, but none of them have been in a position similar to Potter - at this point, I dare say he's been involved in as much shit as Longbottom and his group… and there's also the results from his medical examination."

"Medical examination?" Amelia raised an eyebrow at him.

"I may have taken advantage of the situation. Nothing illegal or intrusive, I assure you, I just made sure he received an in-depth medical examination and… it came out with interesting results. We found traces of dark magic within the boy's body-"

"Didn't you tell me he was hit by a dark curse cast by… Dolohov?"

"Yes, but that wasn't the only source of dark magic. There's a larger, much older infestation of dark magic in his upper-left back, one identical to the one Graham Montague suffered in Halloween. A large, hideous scar with the shape of an M."

Amelia gasped. "You don't think?"

"I know. I think the Nott boy and the Parkinson girl knew as well…"

"This is still circumstantial evidence at best!" Amelia stated firmly, standing up. "The magical signature of the Davis' girl was found in the knife, and there's no way a court could be convinced it was Potter because of a scar he has. If anything, he could argue he's another victim as well. There's nothing connecting it to Potter, and… we already sent Davis to Azkaban." She finished off miserably. "Overturning a Wizengamot trial is near impossible, it's never happened before. And with the Potter boy being the last living descendant of the Potter family, a family that has a powerful seat in the Wizengamot… there's no way the others would convict him."

"I agree," Rufus nodded, avoiding Amelia's eyes. "There is no doubt in my mind that Potter killed Montague, whatever his reasons might have been, it doesn't matter. Potter did the murder, and Davis has been sentenced to twenty-five years in the maximum security of Azkaban. And because of the Wizengamot's backwards laws, we can't do anything about it… but we can stop it from happening again."

"You think Potter is going to do something like that again?"

"I stationed an Auror inside Potter's room with the Parkinson girl and the Nott boy - to protect them."

"Disillusioned?"

"And they had a… cryptic conversation," Rufus continued, ignoring Amelia's question. "The rookie I sent didn't catch a lot of what was happening, but he managed to pick out that there had been a confrontation between Harry and Montague, confirming our suspicions, as well as some other meeting they had earlier."

"A conspiracy?"

"It sounded like it, I'm not quite sure. Like I said, the conversation was extremely cryptic, but what I know for sure is that Harry Potter is hiding something. There's something going on with him, something happening inside that school, and with all the shit that has been going on ever since the Diggory kid was murdered. Attacks are beginning to happen again, disappearances, civil unrest, and Harry Potter has been found at the centre of the latest two large events in recent times."

"I agree," Amelia sighed. "When I heard Susan talking about him so… I didn't want to believe your suspicions. Didn't want to be the one to put Susan's… friend in Azkaban. She would have never forgiven me."

"I understand, but we have to start acting now. We're losing control of our country, and I'm sure whatever Potter is involved with, it's not the only conspiracy we have no clue about. But he's the way in, how we start finding out what the fuck is actually going on."

"Yes, Rufus," Amelia nodded heavily. "You have your investigation on the Potter boy."

"Thank you, Amelia."

"Make it small, just you, me, and two other Aurors you absolutely trust. And make them undergo the heaviest secrecy vows and oaths we have. There can't be any leaks to the rest of the department. If you're right about this, people within the Ministry could be involved in whatever is happening."

"Thank you, Amelia," Rufus said gratefully. "We'll get to the bottom of this, whatever this is."

That's it for this arc! Thank you all for reading!

The next arc will be titled United in Grief, and it'll follow Harry as he deals with his grief after losing Susan, as well as setting up some large plotlines for the Winter Break as well as the rest of the year in general.

By the time I'm posting this, I'm three chapters ahead. I'll post a new chapter every 7 - 10 days in FFN and AO3, if you want to learn how to get early access to them, join my discord server using the following link: discord . gg / jyPfbGqhJT

I'm also working on two fanfiction related surprises that should be revealed fairly soon! More info on that on discord as well!

As always, thank you for reading, favouriting, and commenting! I appreciate all of you! :)