The search for Pettigrew takes a turn.

LILY XX

"Impressive."

Amelia Bones was looking down at the Marauder's Map, unfolded on Dumbledore's desk, displaying the entirety of Hogwarts grounds, every nook and cranny of every floor of the castle and in the surrounding park, including a section of the Forbidden Forest. Most of the points were currently gathered in the Great Hall. Lily looked at three solitary points leaving it and heading for Dumbledore's office, led by Filius Flitwick followed by Gen and Aera Chang. In the office was also present Albus Dumbledore himself, along with Miranda Savage, Kingsley Shacklebolt and Nymphadora Tonks, who with Lily were the four Aurors and future Aurors working full time to find Wormtail. For now, the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement was looking at the Marauder's Map, which Remus left to them after he gave his deposition to Kingsley and was allowed to watch over the students.

"Very impressive, indeed," Madam Bones continued. "This map is so detailed, and it has so many charms and spells that get around all the magical defenses of this castle. Very impressive for underage students." She then looked straight to Dumbledore. "Why hasn't this map been given to the Ministry? It could have been useful to apprehend Pettigrew."

"We considered it was better to keep it at Hogwarts. Professors are already present and can intervene much quicker than any Auror can. Professor Lupin proved it today. As soon as he saw Pettigrew on the map, he took measures," Dumbledore replied on a kind but firm tone.

"Too bad you couldn't arrest him. We are lucky that no one died or was injured, considering Pettigrew's track record." She looked again at the map. "It seems that he's nowhere on the school grounds. Though he could still be nearby, in Hogsmeade, for example."

"There was no confirmed sighting of Peter Pettigrew since December, when he was last spotted on the Hogwarts Express," Kingsley stated. "If he is here in Hogsmeade, we will not find him. He must be hiding under his rat disguise again."

Indeed, for this was what Wormtail was. A rat. He never faced any enemy directly. Even back when he was a member of the Order of the Phoenix, he never took part directly in a battle or a duel. He would run away and escape whenever an enemy showed up. Lily and the others had never seen it as a problem or something reprehensible. Dumbledore himself told them more than once that it was better to run away and live to fight another day, rather than sacrificing yourself in a fight when you couldn't win. He said he wanted as few martyrs as possible, and Lily and everyone else in the Order always agreed. But today, Lily knew that Wormtail never escaped a dire situation because he wanted to live to keep fighting. He was just trying to save his own skin. How many times did he say he had to leave people behind to die, whether they were wizards or Muggles, and there was nothing he could do to save them? Perhaps he had been the one to slaughter them or he led the Death Eaters to them. Wormtail would never face an opponent directly. He would stab him in the back or run away when he was spotted. This sadly made him even more dangerous, for Lily couldn't tell when he would strike. No one could tell.

"He will show up again," Amelia Bones said on an unequivocal tone. "I think he's made it clear who he is after."

Lily's eyes crossed those of the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. However, the woman stared back to Dumbledore quite quickly. "Additional dispositions are required to protect the students and catch Pettigrew once and for all."

"I agree. However…" Dumbledore began as he looked down to the map, "I'm afraid this discussion will have to wait. You may come in, Filius," he added in a louder voice, targeting the door of his office with his wand, while making the Marauder's Map fold itself and turn into a worn out piece of paper.

The door opened by itself, and indeed Professor Flitwick was right behind it, his hand raised in a fist as if he was about to knock on the door. Dumbledore must have seen he just arrived on the map. Gen and his wife were right behind the Charms teacher.

"Thank you, Filius. You may go," Dumbledore said. "Mr Chang. Mrs Chang. Please, come and sit."

The small professor left after he let the couple walk in and the door closed behind him. Gen and his wife took place in two comfortable chairs in front of Dumbledore's desk. Amelia Bones was standing behind the same desk, while Kingsley, Miranda, Nymphadora and Lily surrounded the Asian couple from the other side.

"How can we be of help, Dumbledore?" Gen asked, shooting a glance to Lily at the same time, as if he was seeking help. His wife also looked at her, but with a much more hostile expression. Lily wasn't really sure what to think of them. She knew Gen well enough, after being in contact with him at the Ministry of Magic for two years, but she didn't know what to make of his wife who Lily just met, an Unspeakable who just happened to hide Wormtail into her bag when she was about to attend a Quidditch game where Harry would be playing. So of course, Lily had quite a lot of reservations towards Aera Chang.

Right now, Lily's greatest wish was to discover how this woman ended up bringing a mass murderer close to her son. However, despite the fact that Lily was directly and officially involved in the investigation, she was not an Auror yet. That, and the fact that Kingsley was the principal Auror in charge of the affair, it designated the black man as the one who would question Gen and his wife.

"Mr Chang. Mrs Chang. We have a few questions for you. Being employees of the Ministry of Magic, I'm sure you will not mind answering them and helping us with our investigation."

"Of course not," Gen answered.

"As long as it doesn't involve the revelation of classified information related to my work, I see no problem with that," his wife replied after a moment.

The couple told Kingsley what happened. Lily and Remus already explained how they noticed the presence of Wormtail on the Marauder's Map, right next to Aera Chang, and deduced he had to be hidden inside her bag. Then Lily went to Aera, asking for her to open her bag. She refused, and the flash of light happened right after. Lily was blinded just like everyone else, and Wormtail used the opportunity to escape. Remus failed to catch him up.

The story Gen and his wife told Kingsley was very similar to that of Lily, only they didn't say that Wormtail was in Aera's bag. When they were done answering Kingsley's questions, Miranda produced the bag in question, which had remained hidden behind Dumbledore's desk the whole time.

"Do you recognize this?" the Auror mentoring Lily asked them.

"Yes, it's my bag, of course," Aera Chang answered.

"Can you explain how Peter Pettigrew, the most wanted criminal in the British Wizarding World, ended up inside?"

"What are you talking about? This man was never in my bag. That's nonsense."

"Mrs Chang," Kingsley interrupted. "We know that Peter Pettigrew was in your bag. He was located right next to you before the flash of light happened that blinded everyone."

"Wait a minute, Kingsley," Gen then said. He was more composed than his wife, who was obviously outraged, while he seemed to not understand what was going on. "What you say is impossible. Aera has been working for the Department of Mysteries for over ten years. I have been the personal assistant of Rufus Scrimgeour over the last five years. You know us. We would never have brought a known criminal to Hogwarts. That's crazy."

"And yet, you did," Kingsley stated, his voice firm, though not totally unkind. "The professors of Hogwarts have ways to know who is on the grounds of Hogwarts and precisely where they are at any moment. Peter Pettigrew was spotted following you from the moment you walked through the portal. He followed you all the way until that flash of light. We believe he understood he was spotted, and that he used magic to create a blinding light that allowed him enough time to escape. Furthermore…" Kingsley looked at the bag. "Before Pettigrew was sent to Azkaban, before he escaped this place, experts at the Ministry of Magic took a sample of his fur when he was under his rat shape. We analyzed it. And it happens that you have exactly the same fur inside this bag."

He touched it with his finger while saying it. Gen and Aera seemed stunned, particularly Aera. Then Miranda Savage spoke.

"You threw an Extension Charm to this bag. It can carry almost ten times its apparent volume. There is more than enough space to hide and carry a rat without anyone noticing. So answer now. What was Peter Pettigrew doing with you?"

"Wait!" Aera said in an outburst. "This is serious? You really believe that I was carrying a mass murderer with me."

"We don't believe it, Mrs Chang. We know it."

"That's impossible! I carry this bag with me everywhere! I even bring it at work. There's no way someone could have hidden inside."

"Are you sure, Mrs Chang?" Everyone turned to Dumbledore who just spoke. "Is there any magical protection on this bag?"

"No, of course. There is nothing important within it. It's just filled with… It only contains objects with sentimental value."

"So, you never leave it aside? You always have it with you?"

"Yes!" the woman shouted. "Well, not always, of course. I cannot carry it with me all around at work. It is left in a secured location at the Ministry when I am there, with protective spells that are impossible to break. When I'm at home, it's the same thing. Our house is protected, due to the nature of my work. I carry it with me the rest of the time. And there is no way a known criminal might have gotten inside. I checked the content before we left for Hogwarts. There was no rat or human in it."

"He might have camouflaged himself," Kingsley offered as an explanation.

"No way! There are spells around our house that prevents people from entering it under any form of camouflage. And I emptied the bag completely yesterday. There is no way that a murderer could have made its way inside."

"Then in this case, Mrs Chang," Miranda Savage said on a hard tone, "I suggest you find an explanation as to why Peter Pettigrew was in your bag, because we know he was. We have proof."

"Well, your proofs must be false!"

"They are not!"

"Please, please. Calm down," Dumbledore said on a soothing tone. "Mr Chang. Mrs Chang. Somehow, the most searched criminal in the Wizarding World found his way inside Hogwarts through you. We are trying to find out how it happened. You say that he cannot have hidden in your bag while you were at your home. So… Is there a moment between when you arrived on the school grounds and when you left your home this morning when Pettigrew could have sneaked inside your bag? Could you have left it somewhere, even for an instant?"

"No. I have it with me all the time," Aera Chang replied. "There is no way someone could have hidden inside."

"Really no way?"

"No way."

While Aera denigrated all possibilities, Lily kept looking at her husband, who seemed a little uncomfortable all of a sudden.

"Gen, is there something you want to tell us?" Lily asked him.

All eyes were set on the assistant of Rufus Scrimgeour. It took some time before he dared to speak. "Well, after we left the house, we arrived at Hogsmeade a little in advance. So Aera and I went to the Three Broomsticks and drank a Butterbeer." He then looked at his wife. "Aera… Your bag… You laid it on the floor, didn't you? It wasn't on the counter, wasn't it?"

Aera's face looked confused for a moment, then her expression turned concerned. Lily rolled her eyes.

"Let me guess. While you were savoring your Butterbeer, I guess you spoke of the game your daughter was about to play. Did you discuss that she was going to play against my son? Or even against the team of Gryffindor?"

Neither Gen nor Aera dared to answer Lily's question. Though she didn't need an answer. Their facial expressions were saying everything she needed.

"We suspected Pettigrew to be hiding in Hogsmeade," Kingsley said. "He must have overheard you, and he seized the opportunity to sneak inside your bag. It was probably not difficult. You said it wasn't protected with magical spells."

A heavy silence fell as everyone looked at the couple. Gen finally broke it. "Professor Dumbledore… Madam Bones… We didn't… We had no idea…"

"We thank you for your help," Kingsley said. "We ask you to remain available for future questions. We might still need your help later."

Gen nodded. His wife also did after a while. After they left Dumbledore's office, Amelia Bones turned to Kingsley and Miranda. "What is your opinion? You think they are accomplices or victims?"

"I don't think Gen and his wife have something to do with that. I don't see their interest in doing so," Kingsley answered.

"Still, the facts are against them," Miranda declared. "When Harry Potter was assaulted in the Hogwarts Express, their daughter was the last person he spoke to before it happened. And now this. It might be a coincidence, but I would rather want to be sure they had no hand in both of these accidents."

Madam Bones nodded. "Very well. Investigate them. In the meantime, the forces of the Ministry will search Hogsmeade and its surroundings. Professor Dumbledore." She then turned to the Headmaster. "The current safety measures are clearly insufficient."

"I agree," the Headmaster replied. "But I will not allow Dementors on the school grounds, Amelia. And you will have no support from me if you want to position more around the school."

"I wasn't thinking about adding more Dementors, Dumbledore. It is clear that their usefulness is limited. They seem unable to detect Pettigrew."

Lily was glad that it was Amelia Bones who attended this meeting. If it had been Fudge, she suspected he would have tried to impose Dementors inside the castle itself. Luckily, the Minister of Magic was away, in France from what she understood.

"But I do have a request," Mrs Bones continued. "Would you allow the Ministry to position a team of Aurors inside the castle?"

Lily was taken aback. She didn't expect the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement to make such a request. Nymphadora looked surprised as well.

"If Pettigrew shows up again, I think it would be good to have wizards and witches who are actually trained to fight dark magic on site. With all the respect I have for your professors, they don't have their experience or their training to fight dark wizards."

Dumbledore seemed to think about it for a moment. "If they do not interfere with the daily activities of the school, I have nothing against it."

"They would need an office, a place where they could stay while in the castle, with a fireplace that would be linked to the Floo Network, so they can contact the Ministry quickly, and come and leave the school without being noticed. I would appreciate that no one knows they are here, not even the professors and the staff."

"That will be difficult if you want them to ensure the safety of my students," Dumbledore noted.

"Not if they have this." She pointed the Marauder's Map. "I would appreciate if you could give it to them. This way, they will be able to intervene quickly the next time Pettigrew will get inside the limits of the school grounds. But we need Pettigrew to be unaware of their presence. If the students or the staff were to be informed, this information could reach him."

"I will think about it," Dumbledore said at the end.

"Good."

"We need more safety measures," Miranda Savage said. "Having one or two Aurors on site may not be enough."

"Hogwarts will add more measures. I cannot tell you right away what will happen with the Quidditch season. I will have a discussion with the Heads of House later today, but if the games resume, we will not allow parents or people from the outside to attend them. At least, not for now."

As Dumbledore spoke, a part of Lily was outraged that she wouldn't be allowed to watch her son play. This was probably the part of her that was the closest to James. He would not have tolerated to be banned from watching his son play. At the same time, the mother in her understood completely why they were doing it for Harry's safety. Another part of her even thought it might be a good idea to simply cancel the rest of the Quidditch season.

"We might also revise our policy of letting students visit Hogsmeade during certain weekends."

The next hour was spent discussing other safety measures. Amelia announced to all the Aurors who were present in the Headmaster's office, including Lily, that they would take rounds in being present at Hogwarts. However, she also made very clear that they couldn't tell anybody about their presence. This meant that Lily would not be able to tell Harry that his mother was at Hogwarts. This lessened the small burst of excitement she felt when she was told she would spend time at Hogwarts. In addition to that, she was worried that this assignment might limit her time to prepare for the final exams that were coming in July, which would decide whether or not she would become an Auror.

They spent the rest of the day taking depositions from the people who witnessed the accident, but there wasn't much that people could say. Lily could not take the deposition of Harry or his friends, or even of Molly and Arthur who were also present at the game, due to her personal links with them. Instead, Lily interrogated a few parents, and even some students. Most of them didn't have much to say. The only interview she conducted that was worth noting was when she interrogated Gen's daughter, Cho.

When Lily walked into the Great Hall, her eyes automatically searched for Harry in the crowd of students, parents and teachers. She expected to find him with Ron and Hermione, possibly with the rest of his team, but instead when she located him, he was talking to a small girl with long black hair arranged into a ponytail, who wore Quidditch robes of the Ravenclaw team. Lily couldn't see her face from where she was, and anyway Harry spotted her very quickly, and almost ran towards her.

"Mom, are you alright?" he asked right away.

"I'm fine, Harry," she assured him. Before she could worry about her son's state though, Miranda Savage appeared next to her. "Mr Potter. My name is Miranda Savage. Auror for the Ministry of Magic. I need to talk with you."

Harry looked uncertain, but Lily told him with a head movement to go with her. "We will talk later," she told him.

She watched her son walking away with her mentor, then noticed that the girl he was talking to just a few moments ago was now standing and looking at Lily. She realized quite quickly that this was Gen's daughter. Even if Lily had not seen her earlier today, after Wormtail escaped, she would have guessed it from her physical appearance, clearly Asian, her similitudes with her father, and the Quidditch robes she wore, since Gen's daughter was the only girl on the Ravenclaw team.

"Mrs Evans. Are my parents fine?" she asked.

"They are." Lily had the strange impression to have seen this girl before, but she couldn't remember where. "Could you please follow me, Cho? I have a few questions to ask you."

Cho Chang was indeed on the list of people Lily had to interrogate. They left the Great Hall together and Lily found an empty classroom where they could discuss.

"It's good to see you again, Mrs Evans," the girl told her as she sat down on one of the many chairs in the classroom.

Lily frowned. "Have we met before?"

The girl looked confused as well now. "Ah, yes." Her traits softened quite quickly though. "But it was two years ago. At the end of the year. Harry was in the infirmary. It was after what happened with the Philosopher's Stone."

Lily's eyes widened. Yes, now she remembered. She had come across a young girl with obvious Asian looks who visited Harry at the time. She didn't know back then that she was Gen's daughter, but now she could see it was her. She grew up since the time, but it was definitely her.

"Oh, yes, I recall. Forgive me. But I need to ask you what you saw today."

The interview was relatively short. Cho told her what she saw, but it amounted to almost nothing. Before the flash of light, she had no idea that anything had gone wrong, and even now she struggled with the thought that her parents had been involved in bringing Peter Pettigrew inside Hogwarts.

"Is it really true?" Cho asked after she was done telling everything she knew to Lily. "Was Peter Pettigrew really here?"

"Yes," Lily confirmed. "And we found traces of him inside your mother's bag."

Cho looked distraught at this news. "But… That's impossible! My parents cannot have…"

"Look, Cho. We're still investigating. Personally, I don't think your parents brought this man in Hogwarts on purpose. He may have hidden in the bag without their knowledge. The investigation should clear them if I'm right. But I need to ask you something else. Do you remember what happened on the Hogwarts Express before the Christmas holidays?"

"Yes, of course. I was talking with Harry a few minutes before it happened. I didn't realize it back then, but this man… Maybe he wasn't far from me at this moment."

"That's why I need to ask you. Did you notice anything suspicious or out of the ordinary before the attack took place?"

"No. I was in the washroom. I left, and Harry was waiting to use them. We talked for maybe a minute or two. Then I headed back to my compartment with my friends. And a few minutes later, the train stopped."

"So there was nothing unusual that day?"

"No." The girl looked desperate. "Look, if I knew something, I would tell you, but… I don't know anything. There was really nothing wrong on the train that day, just like there was nothing wrong today."

Lily looked closely to Cho. She looked sincere, and truth be told she didn't think she was involved, no more than her father. Lily had a somewhat harder time to fully trust the girl's mother. However, Lily had trusted Wormtail a long time ago, and her family paid the price for this blind trust.

"Cho…" Lily tried to be careful. This was just a little girl after all. She was approximately the same age as Harry. "You and your parents found yourselves close to Harry twice when Peter Pettigrew tried to attack him. Do you have any knowledge of any link of any kind your family might have with this man?"

The girl didn't seem to understand first. "What do you mean?"

"For example, is it possible that your parents might have met him a long time ago? Even come across him in any particular situation?"

The girl was looking at Lily as if she couldn't believe what she was asking. "No. My parents never had anything to do with this… man."

"I'm not suggesting they might have been helping him, Cho. But your parents both work at the Ministry. Perhaps they could have been working on his case, even in an indirect way."

Cho now seemed like she was thinking hard. "No, I don't think so. But my parents don't talk much about their work. Especially my mother." No surprise there, considering Aera Chang was an Unspeakable. "You would need to ask them."

Lily nodded. The girl was probably right. She closed her notebook. "Okay. Thank you for your help, Cho. Sorry for bothering you and asking all these questions. I'm sure you are quite afraid with everything that just happened."

"Are my parents in trouble?"

"Look…" Lily carefully weighed her words. "I've known your father for some time now. I think the investigation will clear them. Still, I would advise you to be careful, Cho. Your family was nearby both times Peter Pettigrew made an attempt on Harry… I suggest you watch your back. You might be in danger as well."

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