A Tragic Second Year

When one individual panics in the spring of 1992, he triggers a cascade of changes to the events of Harry Potter's second year. The results are tragic for Magical Britain.

DISCLAIMER! This Harry Potter story was written for fun. All rights belong to the wonderful lady (JK Rowling) who gave the world Harry Potter to read and enjoy.

~~~*** CHANGE SCENE

Leaving the history classroom, the second year Gryffindor boys debated their next destination. After only a moment, Ron Weasley announced, "Well, I'm going to the Great Hall for lunch."

He walked away while explaining, "Hermione is a statue! She doesn't know that you're there."

"You don't know that Ron," Harry argued. "She might hear every word we say."

Seamus and Dean debated for a moment, but the Irish boy went with Ron to eat a large lunch, while the muggleborn wizard decided to go with Harry and Neville to visit Hermione.

"Magical people are the same as regular people," Dean said. When Longbottom asked what the other wizard meant, Thomas replied, "Some are berks and others are nice."

Neville grimaced and said, "Yeah…uh, yes. You are correct."

"Been hanging around the muddies too much there Nev; you're picking up our slang," Harry said as the trio reached the infirmary.

~~~***~~~ CHANGE SCENE

Great Hall at Lunch

Professor Snape discussed the growing Mandrakes with Professor Sprout. They would be mature after another full moon, and he could brew the restorative potion to restore the petrified students.

'Dumbledore's prejudice against the muggleborn is revealed in plain sight but no one will call him on it,' Severus observed. 'A few galleons from his purse to purchase mature mandrakes, and the students would be restored. But I suppose they might tell their secrets to everyone and ruin whatever his plan is for this school year.'

'Sprout can grow grass on bare rock,' Snape admitted as the witch hurried from the Great Hall to harvest herbs in the greenhouse for the potion to be brewed this afternoon.

Professor Sybill Trelawney sat quietly at her regular place at the table with tears streaming down her face. As usual, none of the other professors interacted with the seer; she had seen and accepted her fate. Her only thoughts were for the children.

Headmaster Dumbledore watched everyone and eavesdropped on multiple conversations at once. Minerva McGonagall surveyed the Gryffindor table – only Ron and Seamus from the second-year boys were present. Both Weasley twins and older brother Percy were missing – Fred and George were plotting mischief no doubt.

'Where is Percy?' she wondered briefly. Glancing toward the other staff, her gaze settled on Professor Flitwick, Head of Ravenclaw, and her mind made the connection between the absence of her prefect and visiting hours in the infirmary.

'No doubt, Young Percy is visiting petrified Ravenclaw Penelope Clearwater. Poppy reports that there are faithful visitors for each of the petrified students; Harry Potter visits Colin Creevey and Hermione Granger, Susan Bones and Hannah Abbot visit Justin Finch-Fletchley, while Percy visits Penny.'

'They'll be here with time to eat,' she decided. 'Poppy won't let Potter go without a meal.'

McGonagall searched her house table again – the youngest Weasley was also missing. 'Miss Weasley hasn't settled in at all this year.'

She noticed Pomona departing for the greenhouses after speaking to Severus and then the Hufflepuff prefects. Silently, Minerva admitted, 'Hufflepuff runs smoothly.'

~~~***~~~ CHANGE SCENE

Tom Riddle Panics

The spirit of young Tom Riddle tightened his grip on the mind and magical core of the girl. A few days before, she'd managed to throw the diary away and he'd spent a day in the company of Harry Potter – a young wizard who terrified Tom – Potter was a powerful wizard who could resist his alure. When the young witch stole back the diary from the boy's trunk and Tom reasserted his control over the girl.

'I must move now,' Tom decided. 'She'll continue to resist me and tell someone.'

He glanced at the mirror in the girl's bathroom – the eyes of the young witch were haunted. Smirking, a piece of fourteen-year-old Tom Riddle's soul thought, 'Yes, haunted by the greatest wizard in a thousand years.'

Turning toward the sink with the snake motif, Ginny Weasley's mouth opened but Tom's voice hissed, [Open.]

The next moment, the 11-year-old girl's body levitated down the shaft to the Chamber of Secrets.

~~~*** Change Scene

Massacre and Battle

Lunch was boisterous and full of conversations about classes, clothes, the look of a young witch, a grumpy professor, or the things a certain boy whispered the previous evening.

'My castle is peaceful and…' Dumbledore thought just as a giant creature burst through the double doors. The monster didn't roar but the voices of the children rose in a horrible scream. The gaze of the giant serpent killed several students at end of Gryffindor and Hufflepuff tables, but it didn't pause to feed. Once everyone was dead, it would gorge, sleep and then gorge on the dead again.

Dumbledore panicked. In the seconds before he vanished in a portkey, he wondered, 'Slytherin's monster loose today? Why is the beast here now?'

Terrified and lost in the screams of others around him, Ron Weasley was petrified and didn't know what to do. But then he saw his sister near the monster – too near to be safe. Without thinking about his own safety, Ron leapt to pull Ginny to safety when the gaze of the basilisk killed him in mid-step.

Tom Riddle's spirit possessed the young witch, and he didn't pay any attention to the brother of his host. Therefore, the momentum of Ron's body crashed into Ginevra and knocked her down. The girl's head struck the edge of the Hufflepuff table and cracked open. As the witch died, the spirit of teenage Tom found himself painfully expelled and thrown back into his diary prison.

And as Ron's body fell, the basilisk gazed upon the rat scrambling desperately to escape from a robe pocket. The deadly gaze killed the Animagus, and the wizard's magic was released back into the world causing the rat to transform out of the Animagus magical form, restoring Peter Pettigrew to his human body.

From the staff table, Severus Snape furiously threw overpowered spells at the basilisk; he aimed each bombard at the snake-like head to destroy the eyes. Minerva McGonagall was petrified for a few seconds but seeing the children crying and dying around the Great Hall, the witch morphed her fear into anger. An expert at transfiguration, the witch transfigured the dishes and cutlery along the table into steel spears that she banished at the monster with every jewel of power in her core.

Sybill Trelawney stood and threw up her arms, shouting to capture the attention of the basilisk. When it turned the deadly gaze upon the witch and killed her, Snape was able to target and hit one eye. Now, the basilisk was half-blind.

Missing its left eye, the basilisk's head swept around so the right eye swept across the Ravenclaw and Slytherin tables. Among the children who died in those moments were Cho Chang and Draco Malfoy. Angry, the basilisk slid the rest of its body into the Great Hall. This left the door unblocked and allowed a few students to escape.

Now the basilisk turned its attention to Severus Snape and killed him with a glance. The beast loomed over the space between the Slytherin and Ravenclaw tables and hissed loudly.

Knowing she was about to die but determined to strike at the monster, Minerva McGonagall transfigured the staff table into a giant steel spear that was twenty feet long.

"Hagrid! Take the spear!" she ordered. "Flitwick, Silvestri, help me lift Hagrid so he can thrust the spear into the beast!"

Uniting her magic with Flitwick and Silvestri, McGonagall levitated the magic-resistant half-giant Rubeus Hagrid high toward the magical ceiling with the spear in his hands. The basilisk turned toward the professors and killed the two witches with a glance. However, the basilisk missed Hagrid hanging in the air.

"Hogwarts Forever!" cried the half-giant as he dropped from the ceiling on the beast. Hearing the voice, the eye looked up and the gaze killed Hagrid. But the half-giant had kept his eyes open to guide the spear and in death, his hands hung onto the spear and put his weight into the thrust of the spear into the basilisk's head to destroy the brain.

In its death throes, the large body thrashed and rolled around the Great Hall. All four house tables were destroyed, and bodies were smashed and thrown about the hall.

~~~*** Change SCENE

The Infirmary

Standing beside the bed where Hermione's petrified body lay, Harry glanced around suddenly as he heard a distance voice. Dean and Neville were telling the petrified Colin about a class in charms where they'd made clay pots dance across the desks.

"It was great when Neville's mumbling-something-plant dance in its pot," Dean told the younger wizard.

Neville wasn't paying attention to Dean Thomas. He was watching Harry who had turned pale, gripped his wand, and turned toward the door of the infirmary.

"Madam Pomphrey!" Harry called out. "Madam Pomphrey!"

The matron came out of her office but rather than asking what was wrong, the witch staggered. Close by, Percy grabbed her arm and with Harry's help, aided the woman into a chair.

"The wards…the wards just fell on my shoulders," she muttered.

"There's…something just shouted about killing everyone in the Great Hall," Harry said. "I heard a voice shouting about battle and feasting on bodies."

"What are you talking about, Potter?" demanded Percy, raising his wand toward the younger wizard.

Poppy grabbed Percy's arm and said, "Mr Weasley, something has happened in the Great Hall. I fear a lot of people are hurt or worse. The castle has moved the wards to me and until we know more, I hold the wards."

The matron's instincts to care for the wounded and injured took control and she called for elves to help her. She turned to Percy and said, "Mr Weasley, get on the floo. I authorize you to call the DMLE and use the phrase 'catastrophic attack.' I want every Auror here. They are to apparate to the gate which will open for them."

"Then call Saint Mungo's casualty floo, use the same phrase and demand that every healer come through the floo. I have a mass casualties at Hogwarts."

"But my family…"

Poppy insisted, "Floo first! I need you…Hogwarts needs you! Get help for the injured first!

"Come on Percy," Harry said. "You can do this! Then we'll find Ron and Ginny."

~~~*** Change SCENE

Blaring Sirens

The DMLE offices resembled an ant hill that someone had carelessly kicked over. Aurors scrambled for their pouches of shrunken supplies before queuing in the department Apparition spot to head for Hogwarts. Others used the floo to travel to the Three Broomsticks in Hogsmeade, unshrink their utility broom and fly the short distance to Hogwarts.

Then the first Patronus bearing a message returned to the ministry. The voice of Alastor Moody was heard shouting, "Level 5 Attack! All wands to Hogwarts! All wands to Hogwarts!"

Director Bones took a firm grip of her wand and heart. Her only living family member was a student at Hogwarts. She opened a drawer in her desk and ran the tip of her wand down the line of runes to activate emergency conditions.

The goblins were advised of a catastrophe that required them to close the bank to every transaction but small withdrawals or deposits. Elves were forbidden to enter the bank effective immediately (to remove wealth from vaults).

The minister was advised of the declaration of martial law for the next 48 hours before he was locked into his office or home until the Director of the DMLE released him. The reason for sealing the minister away was to protect him because his Auror guards were withdrawn to deal with the catastrophe.

After two days, the director would present information regarding the catastrophe to the minister and Wizengamot.

The warden at Azkaban was ordered to seal the Dementors within their underground den, seal the doors of every prison cell, and magically seal every other window in the prison before reporting to the ministry with his full staff of Aurors via Apparition for further orders.

The Department of Mysteries was conscripted to assist and every Unspeakable was at her command. Stepping from her office, Unspeakable #23 appeared and she said, "Hogwarts, now!"

They hurried to the apparition point and departed.

~~~*** CHANGE SCENE

Rumours and Panic

The witches passing through the Atrium noticed the Aurors running to the floos and vanishing in the green flames with their kits and battle armour. None of the wizards or witches in red robes said a word but the look on their faces created a great deal of worry.

Wizards in the Gringotts liaison offices heard that the bank had closed except for minor transactions. More Aurors had appeared outside the bank to handle any angry crowds.

Arthur Weasley heard the word 'Hogwarts' and understood that something terrible must have occurred to suck every Auror out London. When he recognized the face of the Warden from Azkaban with his Aurors in the ministry hallways, he felt his heart clinch – a catastrophe of some sort had occurred.

"My children!" was his only thought as he pushed his way to the front of the queue for a floo. "Must get to Hogwarts!"

~~~*** Change Scene

Venture Out of the Infirmary

After seventeen healers came through the floo and waited at the doors, Percy said, "I'm going to the Great Hall."

Madam Pomphrey nodded and ordered a dozen house elves to check the hallways from her domain to the Great Hall. The healers were confused for only a moment that the matron was in charge of the castle, but the wards answered to Poppy, so they prepared for triage and evacuation.

The crowd of adults and teenagers hurried through the castle – there was an eerie silence most of the way before they approached the entry hall where twenty-three Aurors attempted to deal with hysterical and wounded children.

Seven healers began treating the wounded and hysterical children. They would all be transported to Saint Mungo's for treatment in a calm, safe environment. Ten healers hurried into the Great Hall – more than one exclaimed aloud when they say the carcass of the Basilisk pinned to the stone wall underneath the Slytherin House banner by a large steel spear still in the hands of the dead half-giant.

"No one move anything…anyone dead. Only move the living!" growled Moody. He then ordered two Aurors to view everything in the room without touching anything.

"Your memory will be used to verify our findings! Look everywhere at everything!" he commanded. Other Aurors and the healers searched with spells for signs of life – finding very few.

"Here!" called out one Auror, helping the healers pull a young girl out from under the ruins of the Ravenclaw table. Her name was Luna Lovegood, and she was levitated out to the healers. Another survivor was Astoria Greengrass, who had been protected by the bodies of her sister, Daphne and her best friend, Tracy Davis. The younger Greengrass sister was in shock and the Aurors made certain the eleven-year-old girl could not see the scene in the Great Hall.

Under a mass of children's bodies between the Hufflepuff and Gryffindor tables, the Aurors found an injured, but breathing Cedric Diggory.

And among the ruins and bodies on the platform where the staff table had stood, the Aurors found the unconscious Filius Flitwick.

Alastor Moody stared at the bodies of two of Arthur Weasley's children – the youngest boy and their only daughter. He glanced around the Great Hall and counted death and grief everywhere. Then he noticed that none of the dead were dressed in the outlandish robes. Albus Dumbledore was missing.

'Where's his corpse?' wondered Alastor.

Stepping back into the Entry Hall he turned toward the main door as Amelia Bones marched in with Unspeakables flanking her. He assigned three of the most senior Aurors with substantial magical reserves to man the door. He ordered, "No civilian is allowed to enter the castle. And no one leaves!"

Behind him, he heard the first wail of grief – Percy Weasley had slipped into the Great Hall and found the bodies of his brother and sister. The Potter boy stood behind Percy, tears streaming down his face, as he held the older boy's shoulders while he tried to rouse Ron and Ginny from their places on the floor.

"Please wake up, Ronnie!" Percy begged. "Baby Gin, don't lie there! Get up…Mum will fuss we got our robes dirty. Please Ginny…don't be dead."

Healers approached with calming potions, but Moody waved them back from the grieving boys. He warned, "Their accidental magic will throw you against the walls. Leave the boys alone for a few minutes. They must grieve."

He turned to the Aurors who were supposed to guard the doors, and growled, "If another one slips in, I'll castrate you with a rusty muggle knife!"

Twenty-two children had been found still living when the last survivor, Millicent Balustrade, was located underneath the collapsed tabletop of the Slytherin house. The second-year witch had burst organs and broken bones. The Aurors rushed her on a stretcher out the door with two healers casting stasis spells on her before they apparated to Saint Mungo's with the patient.

~~~*** CHANGE SCENE

Reunions and Sad News

Arthur Weasley finally reached the floo and used a pinch of floo powder to travel to the Three Broomsticks in Hogsmeade. Falling on the floor because of the crowds using the floo network and the full tavern, Arthur rose from the floor, and hurried out the door. There he found his twins, George and Fred, looking worried.

"Boys!" Arthur said running forward and grabbing them both in a hug.

"Dad! What's happening?" asked Fred.

Mr Weasley kept them in a hug as he replied, "I don't know but I'm glad to see you…wait, why are you in Hogsmeade on a Thursday afternoon?"

He shook them and ordered, "Tell me and don't leave out any detail! Not this time!"

Chastised, George confessed, "We needed some Honeydukes for a new joke we're perfecting."

"Yes, we call it chicken cluckers," admitted Fred. "The person eating a piece turns into a chicken for three minutes.

"A giant, human-sized chicken!"

"They cluck and are covered by feathers. Wizards crow at least once."

"We thought about making witches lay an egg but the magic for that is too complicated," George explained.

'Thank Merlin,' Arthur thought.

"We used a secret passageway from Hogwarts into the basement of Honeydukes but then it was closed by the wards when we were ready to return," continued George. "We were going to walk back before our next class."

"But there are people everywhere – Aurors all along the road back," Fred concluded.

"Something happened at the school," Arthur explained. "I came to look for you and your siblings."

"Then let's go find them," said George. Arthur could always tell his boys apart despite their antics because Fred had fewer freckles on his cheeks.

The gate to Hogwarts stood open – something none of the Weasleys could ever remember seeing. And there were three Aurors standing guard at the front door who would not allow them entry. Through the front door, they could hear someone wailing and then Arthur saw his older son, Percy being led from the Great Hall by Harry Potter.

Both boys were crying piteously, and Arthur cried out, "Percy! Harry!"

"Dad!" shouted Percy who dashed across the entry way with Potter just behind him. The three guards threw up shields, but nothing could stop the Weasley family magic (with an assist from the Boy-Who-Lived) to burst through their magic and reunite the child with his father.

Grousing, Alastor Moody closed the door into the Great Hall, sealed it with an Auror grade charm, and directed a team to move the Weasleys and Potter to the infirmary.

When Arthur heard the news that Ron and Ginny were dead, he staggered but didn't collapse – he had to stay strong for Percy, Fred, and George.

Amelia Bones, Director of the DMLE, appeared at Arthur's side and cajoled the four Weasleys to walk to the infirmary with Potter in their midst. Once inside the infirmary and seated on a conjured couch, a healer did get each wizard to drink half of a calming potion. This was enough to help them control their grief but not supress it.

Madam Bones cried with relief when she found her niece among the living in the infirmary. Her hard exterior had threatened to crack when Susie wasn't among the survivors and here, she found the girl alive with a few other children.

'So many won't have this happy ending,' Amelia thought. 'I'll give them answers if I can't give them back their child.'

Susan had heard the healers speaking about dead students and professors, and a monster. Then, her aunt appeared and once the young witch grabbed hold, Susan decided she would never release her grip on her aunt's left hand.

~~~*** CHANGE SCENE

Evil Magics

The Unspeakables were busy at Hogwarts. For the first time in almost fifty years, these researching wizards and witches had access to the thousand-year-old castle and its powerful magics. The famous wards that blocked their magic since Albus Dumbledore had become headmaster, now welcomed them.

Three Unspeakables were in the Great Hall studying the carcass of the Basilisk when #45 detected more evil magic. Not 'dark' magic, but 'evil' magic – forbidden and dangerous magic. A Patronus went to #23 who walked through the closed door to begin accessing the source(s) of the evil magic.

#23 walked back through the door and asked Alastor Moody, "Do you have enough photos of the creature?"

"I'm sure we do…why?"

"There is more magic – evil magic – present in the Great Hall and we want to move the carcass out of the hall."

"Where to? Who's got a place big enough to handle that monster?" Moody asked.

Understanding the coming argument, #23 replied, "Gringotts."

The veteran Auror scowled and said, "Goblins? You can't trust them to deal with you honestly."

"The Department of Mysteries takes responsibility for the carcass," replied #23. "We will ensure that the vaults for Hogwarts receive the full value of the carcass when it is cut up and sold."

"By the goblins," spit Moody.

The Unspeakable decided to fight dirty. "Moody, this is an emergency and you're debating like this is classroom exercise! Help or go sit down and let me deal with this catastrophe!"

Then #23 asked, "And are you interested in dealing with the poisons in the creature's carcass? A basilisk is pure magic – there is no magical core – it is just poisonous magic. Deep under the earth…"

Waving his hand, Moody conceded the argument. His prejudices against the goblins were not appropriate in the situation today.

In a short amount of time, the Aurors at the front door admitted three goblins at the same time Madam Pomphrey hurried into the entry hall. Her usually white robes were stained with blood and her eyes were haunted by what she'd already seen in the infirmary – broken bodies and children in pain.

"The wards told me you needed a portkey made," she informed #23 and Auror Moody.

Leading the way into the Great Hall, Moody then stood to the side and allowed the goblins to quickly survey the carcass. With great care, they levitated Hagrid's corpse to one side and lay him on his back. The giant spear that pierced the basilisk's head was levitated out and laid across the warrior's chest like any dead goblin with his weapon.

Poppy stood with tears streaming down her face and for a moment, she buried her hands into her hands to sob. But then she took a deep breath and said, "They killed Slytherin's Monster! The wards tell me that the staff sacrificed themselves to save the children. Only a few survived but it was the professors who fought and killed it."

"Severus Snape, Minerva McGonagall, Aurora Sinistra, Sybill Trelawney died to kill the monster. Only Filius Flitwick survived because he was short and was knocked behind the bodies of the others. His story will tell you much of what happened. His memory will be sharp and clear," she insisted.

The leader of the goblins offered the witch a large red quill, a symbol of loss inside Gringotts. "Good witch, if you will make us the portkey, we shall transport the basilisk carcass out of the castle."

With her wand and access the wards of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Pomphrey made a portkey to leap through the same wards. The goblins took the portkey then disappeared with the carcass. The Great Hall remained filled with bodies of staff and children, but the Unspeakables were able to locate and begin their examination of the evil magic that remained inside the castle.

~~~*** CHANGE SCENE

Walking from the Great Hall while not looking at another body, Poppy stopped outside the doors and motioned for Alastor Moody to step closer. Unspeakable 23 joined them and Pomphrey explained, "When the beast burst into the Great Hall, Albus Dumbledore was present and seated on his throne. But he ran away – Dumbledore ran away rather than fight. As headmaster, he could make portkeys that worked inside the castle. The wards have shown me the headmaster carried one on his person to move from anywhere in the castle to his office."

Moody was shocked and asked, "Albus ran away? He deserted the children to the monster?"

With new tears, Poppy nodded and said, "When he landed in his office, Hogwarts stripped him of his position as headmaster and gave me control of the wards. She has confined him to the tower where he made his office. He can't use the floo, open the doors or windows, apparate or portkey away. She intends to keep him prisoner until she decides what to do with him."

"I'll tell Amelia," Moody said. "She needs to include that information in her report."

Hearing an unspoken communication, #23 turned back toward the hall and said, "Merlin! Moody get Bones to return here. She's going to want to see and hear this!"

The Unspeakable ran through the stone wall again. Poppy said, "Albus always said the Department of Mysteries was dangerous and full of dark wizards. But today, I doubt everything that wizard ever said."

Alastor nodded and resolved to make certain Albus didn't escape when he was eventually released by the castle while Poppy hurried back to the infirmary. None of the children who survived remained in the castle. Everyone had been transported to Saint Mungo's via the floo or portkeys she'd made. The parents of the survivors were being called to Saint Mungo's where calming potions were in short supply.

~~~*** CHANGE SCENE

An Unspeakable had cursed aloud when he/she had discovered the petrified students lying in beds in the infirmary. The Unspeakable muttered, "We could have sourced mandrakes from a thousand potion shops around the world and freed these children from their prisons in just a day or two!"

~~~*** CHANGE SCENE

The final victim of the basilisk was found by the elves just about that time. Professor Pomona Sprout had been smashed against the stone walls of a hallway by the large serpent rushing by on its way to the Great Hall. Her arms and legs were crushed, and Pomona had fallen into a dark alcove.

The elves rushed the friendly Professor Plants to the infirmary where Poppy watched the last three healers still in the castle set to work to stabilise the witch and prepare her for transport to Saint Mungo's. The hospital would treat everyone – muggleborn, half-blood, and pureblood – equally during this crisis or Poppy Pomphrey would declare their oaths broken.

~~~*** CHANGE SCENE

Crime Scene

Aurors identified the bodies of the dead children found in the debris of the Great Hall. The bodies were laid in neat rows on the staff platform where the bodies of the professors lay. Each body was treated with great gentleness and respect, covered by a white sheet provided by the house elves.

The Aurors left the large body of Rubeus Hagrid where the goblins had levitated it with the spear laid across the half-giant's chest.

The double door opened to allow Director Bones and Auror Moody to enter the hall for the second time. The witch paused for a second – with the carcass gone, the damage of the Great Hall appeared even more impossible – tables smashed, the growing number of sheet-covered bodies at the front of the hall, and the blood stains on the wood and stone.

Unspeakable #23 directed Bones and Moody's attention to the end of what had been the Gryffindor table. There the Director and Auror saw the corpse of a strange looking wizard – the man's face was almost rat like.

"This is the body of Peter Pettigrew. He was alive until the basilisk gazed into his eyes and killed him," the Unspeakable announced.

"Pettigrew? But Black killed him eleven years ago!" Moody insisted.

"No, he died less than three hours ago," argued #23. Then he lifted Pettigrew's arm and revealed the Dark Lord's tattoo on the dead man's left arm.

The hero was a terrorist – how was that possible? Why hadn't anyone asked questions at Black's trial? Then Director Bones staggered as an obliviated memory returned to her. She cursed fluently in three languages – English, Goblin, and German.

"That wanker! That lemon-whiskered wanker!" she finally explained. "He obliviated me when I asked for his help to get a trial for Sirius Black!"

"Moody check me for the Imperious curse," she ordered.

The Auror waved his wand but reported there was no sign of the Unforgivable curse.

"Black never got a trial! Merlin's dirty socks, Sirius was never even questioned!" Director Bones raged. She took a moment to collect herself before she commanded, "Alastor, who is your best second in command here…your pick to hold the fort?"

"That'd be Rufus Scrimgeour and then Kingsley Shacklebolt," Moody replied.

"Both are good men. Put Shacklebolt in charge here," she ordered. "Take Scrimgeour with you to the ministry and arrest Bartemius Crouch, Sr. If he's gone home, call him on the floo to return to help with the situation here at Hogwarts. When you get your wand on him, arrest him and put him in the securest cell we have until I can question him about Black and Dumbledore."

"Have Scrimgeour go with the Warden back to Azkaban and bring Sirius Black to Saint Mungo's for treatment. Explain that the man may be completely innocent, and we must treat him with kid gloves. His grandfather will sue the ministry and put us out of business when that mess is revealed."

Unspeakable 23 interrupted them and pointed at a dust covered book and several feet further away, a strange, white wand. He said, "We believe these objects of Evil Magic were brought into the Great Hall by Peter Pettigrew. The wand is the one carried by the terrorist Tom Riddle who called himself Lord Voldie-stuff."

Unspeakable 23 hesitated for a moment before he continued, "We're afraid the book is a soul jar – something the Egyptians invented in their quest for immortality. It may contain – we think it contains a portion of Tom Riddle's soul."

Now Moody cursed in three languages – English, Gaelic, and Welsh.

"How are these things here in Hogwarts without Dumbledore knowing?" Amelia asked of the two wizards. "Did he allow the wards to deteriorate so badly that they didn't register these…these things here in 'his' castle?"

Moody snarled, "When Hogwarts releases him from his cell, we'll ask him."

With a single look, Amelia Bones was informed by the two wizards about Poppy's earlier explanation – Albus Dumbledore used a portkey to escape the Great Hall rather than fight the basilisk. The castle had stripped him of his position as headmaster and locked him in his office.

Bones sent Moody and Scrimgeour on their way. She called Shacklebolt to her side from the front door and grilled him for a moment. When his answers regarding the headmaster – former headmaster – were unsatisfactory, she ordered him to guard the gate in front of the castle and took command of the Aurors inside the castle herself.

'Well, that settles who gets the promotion to Lead Auror when Moody retires next year,' she decided.

~~~*** CHANGE SCENE