Chapter Nineteen: Rita Skeeter to the Rescue!

Sirius had not slept well all night. He had tossed and turned and been troubled by dreams which he could not quite remember when he woke up - but left him feeling unnerved. When the early morning sunshine streamed through the window and struck him directly in the face, he decided to cut his losses, get up and go and wait for Remus to come back inside.

He got dressed as hurriedly and silently as he could, not wanting to disturb James and Peter (when they were asleep was the only time they weren't shooting venomous glances at him, or saying rude things - it almost felt like they were friends again as long as the other two boys remained unconscious). Then he left the dorm, clambered out of the portrait hole and made his lonely way down towards the marble staircase.

He was surprised when he reached the entrance hall, to find the oak doors swinging open and Remus coming inside already. He had expected to have to wait at least an hour. He was even more surprised when the person who followed him inside was Professor McGonagall and not Madam Pomfrey. But he jumped down the last of the stairs and ran towards them, grinning. 'Remus - how was it? Are you feeling better now? Shall I come with you to the Hospital Wing?'

He pulled up short when he saw their faces - the grim expression of McGonagall, while Remus was pale, and seemed to be trying not to cry.

The grin on Sirius's face faltered. 'What's wrong?'

'You should still be in bed, Black,' McGonagall said.

'I wanted to see Remus. What's happening?'

'Go back to the common room.'

'Remus?'

Remus had been staring miserably down at his shoes, but he looked up then - met Sirius's eyes for just a moment - and Sirius felt his heart still in his chest as he understood. 'There's been another attack. In Hogsmeade.' It wasn't a question - he knew it with certainty.

Remus looked back down at his shoes.

'Go back to your common room, Black. There is nothing you can do.'

'But Professor - what's going to happen to him? They're not going to kick him out? They won't arrest him? I won't let them.'

'For Merlin's sake, Black,' and there was more than a touch of asperity to her voice. 'You are a thirteen year old boy. The Minister for Magic, herself, is involved. You cannot stop what is about to happen. We all must put our trust in Dumbledore, that he can see Remus is not treated too harshly. But there is nothing you can do to help - so shoo. We need to see Dumbledore now.' And she took hold of Remus's shoulder and swept him past Sirius and up the marble stairs.

'Remus!' Sirius called after him. Remus glanced back - one fleeting, frightened look over his shoulder. Their eyes met for a moment, they stared at each other hopelessly, and then Remus turned and allowed himself to be led away.

Sirius stood stock still, staring after him until he was out of sight. And then a look of grim determination settled on his face and he raced back up the stairs, heading to Gryffindor Tower.

…

Remus was taken back to the tower at the far side of the castle. Once again they stopped in front of the smooth stretch of wall and McGonagall gave the password to the gargoyle. "Rhubarb and custard". It hopped to the side, the wall slid back and the pair of them stepped onto the moving staircase.

Last time he had been here, Remus had not thought it would be possible to feel any worse than he had in that moment. Right now, he was finding out just how wrong he had been. His knees trembled beneath him, as if he was still under the influence of Petra's jelly legs jinx, and he honestly did not think he would be able to keep standing if it was not for McGonagall holding him up.

When they reached the top of the staircase, they found the same squat, toad-like witch from before lingering outside the door. Apparently Dumbledore was still banishing her from his office. Although this time, when she looked at him, although her eyes were as frightened and disgusted as ever - there was gloating smirk on her froggy lips. And Remus knew: Dumbledore might not be letting her inside - but it was only a matter of time before he, Remus, was handed over to her - and the Ministry.

Today, McGonagall did not even bother to look at the little toad witch, never mind acknowledging her existence with a nod. And Remus understood that McGonagall knew he was done for as well - and was almost as frightened and upset as he was.

She knocked on the door, then pushed it open and ushered him inside. Dumbledore was behind his desk, same as last time. The Minister was standing there - looking just as angry as before. But this time Lyall Lupin was in the office as well - and if the Minister looked angry, it was nothing compared to the expression on his father's face.

'Dad!' Remus cried out when he saw him, unable to stop himself. Lyall turned to him - and held his arms out. His face softened for a moment. Remus ran to him, and Lyall placed a comforting arm around his shoulders.

McGonagall nodded to Mr. Lupin and Dumbledore, gave the Minister a disgusted look, and then left the office, closing the door behind her.

Once they were alone, the Minister began to speak. 'I told you what would happen, Dumbledore. I warned you. You said the boy - the wolf - wasn't dangerous. And now look where we are.'

'We have another body. We have no more proof than last time that Remus is in any way to blame.' His blue eyes were blazing behind his spectacles - and Remus thought he would not like it if Dumbledore ever looked at him with that cold fury in his eyes. But the Minister stood her ground.

'Unless you can prove the existence of another werewolf in the area - that's all the proof I need.'

'Dumbledore - you said you had a witness that the Shack was still occupied, that Remus was heard inside, after the body had been found?' Lyall said, his voice shook as he spoke - whether with fear or anger, Remus did not know.

'I do indeed. A witness whose word I would trust on my life.'

The Minister snorted. 'That old barman.'

'Yes - that old barman. He is … much more than people ever realise. Much more worthy and admirable than people know. And if he says he heard Remus in the Shrieking Shack - then that is the truth.'

'He doesn't get his head out of his goats long enough to know what he heard. It was probably them bleating.'

'I do not believe the bleat of a goat and the howl of a wolf sound remotely similar, Minister - and certainly not to an expert in either.'

'Minister,' Mr. Lupin said, and his voice still shook. 'Remus is all I have. I will not let you take him away when he has done nothing wrong. His mother would never forgive me. Please do not ruin his life. He is only a boy…'

But she snorted in derision. 'Only a boy? Look at him, Lyall - he's as tall as you are. Transformed, he will be every bit as dangerous as the rest of them. And he has killed now - twice. For that he must be punished.'

'Minister,' Dumbledore's voice was dangerous. 'He cannot be punished without proof. Proof beyond doubt. If you take this to trial - you will not win. You will be the Minister for Magic who used a 13 year old child as a scapegoat, who tried to bolster your own position by locking away an innocent boy. If you put him in front of the wizengamot, if you expose him to public scorn that way - it will backfire on you most terribly.'

But she only bristled with indignation. 'You cannot frighten me, Dumbledore. And you cannot prove this is not the wolf behind these two killings.'

…

Sirius had run all the way back to Gryffindor Tower without stopping to draw breath; he had hurtled through the portrait hole, leaped across the common room and raced up the stairs. He came crashing through the dormitory door, picked up his pillow and hurled it as hard as could at James' sleeping form. 'Wake up. James - you need to wake up, right now.' He grabbed hold of him and started to shake him.

James groaned - and opened one bleary eye. 'Piss off, Black.'

'James - wake up! It's Remus. There's been another attack. The Minister is here - you have to wake up.'

'What?' He was awake in an instant and tumbling out of bed. 'What's happened?' He ripped off his pajama shirt and grabbed his robes - all thought of anything else, any split in the group, driven from his mind by this threat to one of their number.

'I don't know - I just know there was another body, and McGonagall has taken Remus to Dumbledore and the Minister is here to arrest him and we have to save him! I told him we'd sort this, I told him not to worry - we should never have stopped watching that tree.'

'But the attacks stopped. Grab Pete.' He tied up his shoes and Sirius ran to Peter's bed and started violently shaking him awake as well.

'How long do you think we have?' James asked, once they were both dressed. He looked at his watch. 'How long since Remus was taken away?'

'Ten minutes? I'm not sure - I don't know how long Dumbledore can stall the Minister. I don't know what we need to do.' Sirius was pacing up and down. He kept pushing his hair back with frantic impatience and it stuck up all over, making him look more like James than his usual elegant, well groomed self.

'How come there was an attack?' Peter asked. 'I thought they stopped two months ago.'

Sirius frowned. Something clicked in his brain - but he didn't know what.

'Dunno,' James shrugged. 'They must have decided to start up again for some reason.'

Sirius frowned deeper.

'I wonder what had happened to the body.'

'God, Pete - what's wrong with you?' James sounded disgusted. 'It was mauled - what more do we need to know?'

'I just - sorry - but … I drew that picture. It was pretty graphic. Rita made me get all the details. And I was wondering if it was the same as last time - or like the last Taunton attack.'

Sirius came to a stop. 'What do you mean?' His voice came out like a bark. It made Peter quail a bit, and the furious glare on Sirius's face wasn't helping. But he took a deep breath and stood his ground.

'The last attack in Taunton, back in March. It wasn't like the others. The face mustn't have been mauled - because the newspaper said what the victim's expression was like. And it didn't have that mark on its neck.'

'Mark?' Sirius demanded.

Peter nodded. 'Yes - the sidewards eight. For the eight victims. Only now, after last night, there are nine.'

'You remember all this just from drawing that picture?' James asked him.

Peter shuddered. 'Rita made me draw it over and over until I got it just right. Thank God she didn't make me enchant it so it could move.'

'I need to see this article,' Sirius said.

'It was from months ago.'

'Yes, but - come on.' He tore down the stairs, the other two boys clattering after him, and found where he had left his school bag dumped in his favourite chair. 'Come on come on come on,' he muttered feverishly to himself as he rooted through his bag, throwing things out over his shoulder. James and Peter stared in surprise as ink pots and text books and quills and old scraps of parchment went sailing across the room.

'What are you -'

'Aha!' Sirius was triumphantly pulling out a very crumpled copy of Rita Skeeter's School News Scoops. He opened it up and smoothed it out. 'I knew I had it. I took it off Remus and shoved it in my bag so he wouldn't read it, right after it was published - so it wouldn't upset him. And I never empty my bag so…'

'Thanks to you being disgusting - it's still there,' James finished up.

'Yes.' They all pored over the article, wrinkling their noses at the vivid depiction of the mauled body. 'How could you draw that, Pete?'

'Rita made me - you know I'm useless at saying "no" to people who frighten me. And she's so tall and glowery.' (He didn't add - "just like you, Sirius" - but he thought it.)

'And the latest Taunton attack was definitely different to this one?' He shook the picture under Peter's nose.

Peter nodded. 'Yes, but it doesn't make sense…'

'Unless it was a different werewolf,' James suggested slowly. 'Maybe - I mean maybe it was just a coincidence - bad timing. That a werewolf lost control when it did and killed someone, and it had nothing to do with any of the others. But we were so used to a killing a month at that point, that we all just assumed…'

'But there were eight attacks!' Peter protested. 'The mark of eight on their necks…'

'But you said the last one wasn't marked. Maybe it wasn't an eight maybe it was something else.'

'What?'

Sirius was still staring down at the article, listening to the others argue, scanning over all the information. His brow furrowed. Something clicked in his brain again - but he still didn't know … couldn't quite reach it…

'I don't know,' James was saying. 'But that would mean there weren't eight attacks first time around - only seven. And then the werewolf took a three month break and started up again last night.'

Sirius's brain clicked again - and whirred - and ticked over and then …'I've got it!' He snatched up the newsletter and began to run for the portrait hole. 'Come on.'

'Where are we going?'

'Library!'

They jumped down into the hallway and thundered off down the corridors. 'What's going on?' James panted.

'No time - explain later - run now.'

They hared down the staircases - jumping entire flights at a time and landing on the floor with a crash before staggering off again at top speed. They rounded the corner of the Charms corridor and bumped straight into Peeves - who was busy writing rude words on the wall.

'Why, it's Potty Wee Potter and Barking Mad Black,' he cried out when he saw them. Sirius just thumped him hard in the face, without breaking stride, and ran on. Peeves cursed and swore and flew away, holding his stinging nose.

They hurtled past the trophy room, ripped open a tapestry to take one of their secret shortcuts and then came out right by the library.

Sirius took out his wand, pointed it at the door and blasted it out of the way. Inside, Madam Pince gave a startled squawk - which turned into one of outrage as she saw the three boys run in. 'What are you -'

But Sirius just shoved her out of the way, sending her crashing into the stacks.

'Sorry,' James called back to her, as they sped their way through the bookshelves. 'You know you could have just opened that door…'

'No time - in here.' He led them into the Restricted Section, right the way up to the H shelves. 'Come on come on come on,' he muttered under his breath. And then: 'yes! Here!' He pulled out the large, leatherbound, bloodstained copy of The Hideous Hexes of Herpo the Foul and took it to a table, where he began to leaf through the pages at top speed.

He found the page he had read back at Christmastime - The Path To Immortality . 'Yes - here it is - read this,' he banged his hand down impatiently on the pertinent passage, and the other two boys peered down and began to read. Their brows furrowed and they looked increasingly mystified … and more than a little disgusted.

'Don't you see?' Sirius said to them, as they didn't seem to be figuring things out as fast as he was. And he didn't have time for slow learners - every second mattered and Remus was counting on him. He couldn't hide the bite of frustration in his voice that he had to spell it out for them. 'It isn't a werewolf at all behind the attacks. Think about it - for the Minister to be here by sunrise, they must have found that body in the middle of the night. Last night was a lunar eclipse. The werewolves wouldn't even have transformed until the moon had passed completely through the earth's shadow. They transformed later than normal. Last night's victim was killed while Remus was still human.'

He compared the school newsletter to the passage in the book. 'It all fits, it's perfect. Come on - we need to go to Dumbledore and tell him. Remus is innocent and we can prove it.' He could feel the blood thrumming through his veins, the adrenaline was practically making him vibrate.

'But where's Dumbledore's office?' James asked him. James was red in the face, and breathing every bit as hard as Sirius was.

Sirius stared at him. 'I …don't know. Come on, Big Macca, then - we'll get her to take us. Let's go!' and he snatched up the book and the newspaper and raced away again.

…

Inside Dumbledore's office, things had descended into near chaos. The Minister's face was screwed up in rage and she was yelling at Lyall, who was looking no less angry and yelling right back. Mr. Lupin was always so pleasant and mild-mannered and calm, Remus had never seen him like this - never seen him lose control like this. But he suddenly understood where his own unexpected outburst in jinxing James had come from.

Apparently Lupin tempers were slow to rouse, but once awoken they were every bit as explosive and violent as Black ones.

'You're pathetic!' Mr. Lupin roared at her. 'You and your whole stinking Ministry. Your laws are bad enough as they are, cruel enough as they are - driving werewolves right to the margins and then punishing them for how they must behave to survive. But to try and pin this monstrosity on a child…'

'He is not a child when he is transformed!' she screamed back. 'He is as much a fully fledged monster as the rest of them. Just as dangerous, as blood thirsty.'

'But he is separated from humans. He has never harmed anyone. He was put into his safehouse last night by a member of staff and found there this morning. Aberforth heard him in there overnight, after the body was found. He could not get back into the Shrieking Shack in his wolfish form. We can prove he never left. You are persecuting an innocent child - and I will not let you do this to my son .'

'This is no time for sentiment,' she snapped.

'Is that what you would say if it was your own children on the cusp of a lifetime in Azkaban for a crime they did not commit?'

'My children are not animals!'

Mr. Lupin actually roared in rage - and pulled out his wand.

'Dad - no!' As terrified as he was, Remus did not think hexing the Minister for Magic was the best way out of the situation.

'I think the time has come to call for some calm,' Dumbledore said gravely. Though his eyes were still blazing, and he seemed to radiate a power that made them all go quiet for a moment. 'Nothing will be achieved - nothing can be decided - while things are so heated. As I have told you before, Eugenia, Remus is under my protection and has my full confidence - and I will not stand by and watch him be taken away, his life ruined and his condition exposed without all the proprieties being observed.'

'I have changed the laws, Dumbledore -'

'So you can break them at will, rather as any common thug would.' She flushed in anger but didn't say anything, and Dumbledore continued. 'Yes, Minister, I have read the papers - we all know what you have planned for young Mr. Lupin. But I am the Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot - and it is in my happy power to grant a trial wherever I think it appropriate. If you arrest Remus now, then I will call him a trial. I will bring forth Madam Pomfrey and Professor McGonagall and my own brother to testify that Remus was kept safe and separate last night. I will point out that there have been eight other attacks, seven of which happened far from here and for which Remus cannot even be suspected, let alone blamed. In short - I will make a fool of you, Eugenia. And our whole world will see how desperate you are, that you do not know what you are doing, and the cruel lengths you will go to to hide that. It will ruin you.'

Her eyes flashed dangerously. 'People will not listen to you, Dumbledore. Parents will be angry that you let this monster into school with their own children…'

Lyall roared again, but she ignored him. 'People want an end to these attacks. They want to see punishment - and they will be glad to see it meted out. No one out there will care that the animal tearing these poor people apart is only thirteen. They will think it is you that is the fool, Dumbledore - the bleeding heart that endangered innocent children in a misguided attempt to be kind to a dark creature unworthy of that kindness. They will say you are getting senile - and they will sleep better in their beds knowing the boy is in Azkaban.'

'Until the next month,' Dumbledore said - and his voice, unlike the Minister's, was still quite calm. 'When there is another attack. Unless you want to tell the community that Azkaban is not safe - and that Remus is not only capable of escaping his safehouse but escaping the dementors - they will realise his innocence at the next full moon.'

'There will not be another attack.'

'It is folly to presume as much. There have been nine - and Remus has committed none of them.'

'The community will not need to know.'

'You think you can hide this? You think you can keep Mable Grable quiet?'

'Mable Grable will do as she is told.'

'Perhaps. Though I doubt Rita Skeeter will.'

The Minister's nostrils flared. 'Who - in Merlin's name - is Rita Skeeter ?'

And Dumbledore actually smiled. 'The biggest headache I've had all year. And your worst nightmare - heading to The Daily Prophet as soon as the school year is over. You have as much as admitted corruption here in this room, Eugenia. And I will see to it that Miss Skeeter holds you accountable. You cannot hide this, you cannot make this go away and if you have a shred of compassion or decency in your soul you cannot pin the blame for all of this on an innocent child. This needs to be got to the bottom of - there is no easy fix. I assure you, an attempt to create one will end your political career.'

Minister Jenkins had gone pale. 'I need to be seen to be doing something, Dumbledore. You can see how it is. Now there is a choice - I can take the boy with me, under arrest - or you can agree to expel him, we will snap his wand in half and he will never return to the school - never darken the wizarding world again… which is it to be?'

Remus held his breath. His heart was banging violently against his ribcage and he wanted to scream or run away or burst into tears or … something. He didn't know what, he just didn't want to be here, doing nothing, and waiting for the axe to fall. He stared at Dumbledore, who looked immeasurably sad. The seconds ticked by. The silence lengthened.

Dumbledore sighed, his shoulders seemed to slump in defeat and it looked like he was about to deliver his verdict…

And then suddenly the door burst open with a loud bang and Sirius came striding through, waving a newspaper in the air. His eyes were shining and his breathing was hard. 'Remus is innocent! I can prove it!' he cried.

Remus would have thought he was dreaming - that he had fallen into some hysterical fantasy where suddenly Sirius was there to save the day, except everyone else seemed to be able to see and hear him too. The Minister was staring at him utterly agog. Even Dumbledore looked like things had taken a surprising turn of events.

James, Peter and Professor McGonagall all followed behind Sirius. They all looked vaguely embarrassed to be storming into the headmaster's office and squaring up to the Minister for Magic, but Sirius seemed utterly unperturbed - and he just slammed the large book and the school newsletter he was holding down on the desk and turned them so Dumbledore could see.

'I read this at Christmas - about a dark wizard called Herpo the Foul who used to drink blood in order to extend his own life span - like a vampire,' Sirius said.

Dumbledore's head was bent over the book - his eyes were darting quickly across the page and a very deep frown line had appeared right between his eyebrows.

'What has this got to do with anything?' the Minister snapped. 'How is this supposed to prove the wolf is not guilty?'

Sirius stared at her - his eyes were almost as angry as Lyall's, and he looked very much like he was having to hold himself back from spitting at her again. 'It's the ritual that is used,' he told her. 'Always the same - listen: First, he would mark the throat of a victim with the symbol of ouroboros - the snake which eats its own tail, a symbol of eternity… The Blood would drain from the wound and Herpo would drink it. Then he would steal his victim's dying breath, sucking it from their mouth - as a dementor sucks out a soul - and then he would carve open their chest and devour their heart… Then compare it to what Rita wrote in her newsletter. The mark on their necks - it isn't an eight at all. It's an ouroboros. There's never any blood - even though there should be loads from a werewolf attack - because the wizard doing this is drinking it! The victim's faces are mauled - to hide that he sucked their last breath out - and their insides are all torn out to hide that he is eating their hearts! He's mutilating the bodies after they're dead to make it look like a werewolf attack - that's why he only does it on the full moon. But it isn't a werewolf at all - it's a person, a person doing dark magic!'

But the Minister did not yet look convinced. 'This is outrageous - Dumbledore, that you are letting children crash their way into a private meeting, on a serious matter, and put forward these ludicrous theories. This book says Herpo the Foul killed seven and then waited for three months. But there were eight attacks and a break of only two. What do you say to that, Mr. Black?'

'I say the attack in March wasn't related! That was a real werewolf attack. But it wasn't Remus - he was here, not in Somerset. It didn't fit the pattern at all. There was blood - the face wasn't mauled, and the arms were scratched to ribbons. The body had been through normal rigor mortis.'

'So?'

'So - read the newsletter you dosy co-'

'Black!' McGonagall barked at him.

'Sorry - read it, Minister. Rita says that the limbs weren't marked at all. The only bit not mauled. But … Professor…' He turned to Dumbledore for help. 'If you were getting attacked by a werewolf wouldn't you…?' He raised his arms to protect his face, miming getting attacked - while everyone watched on, and Remus thought he might just faint. He only had the vaguest understanding of what was going on… and still wasn't a hundred percent sure he was not having a lucid daydream brought on by hysteria. Maybe he was already in Azkaban and this was some weird protective measure his brain was taking…

But Sirius - whether only in his head or not - was still talking. 'That would be the first thing anyone would do,' he said. 'Anyone mauled by a werewolf would have bites and scratches all over their arms. But the seven victims don't. And they were unusually stiff even days after death. Don't you all see?' He stared around at them like it was painfully obvious. 'They had the body binding curse put on them by the wizard, to keep them still while he killed them. And then, once they were dead - James - it was like with Snivellus at Christmas. The curse didn't wear off properly because there was no brain activity. But the eighth victim did have cuts on his arms and didn't stay stiff. He wasn't cursed. He doesn't fit the pattern at all. There were only seven victims - until last night, when the cycle started again. Professor Dumbledore, sir - you have to believe me. Remus hasn't done this. This is the work of a dark wizard.'

A ringing silence followed this pronouncement … and Sirius flushed, as if suddenly becoming aware that he had charged headlong into the Headmaster's office and started yelling at both him and the Minister for Magic. But then he stiffened his shoulders and his expression became defiant. 'I know I'm right. Remus didn't do it.'

Dumbledore steepled his fingers and leaned back in his chair, looking very grave. 'Minister, I do believe that young Mr. Black may be onto something here. That this … possibility is worthy of investigation.'

'Come off it, Dumbledore,' she said rather weakly. 'Black is … well, everyone knows he is not what his family hoped he would be. He has a vicious temper - I have seen it. And now he is a fantasist rallying around a werewolf.'

'He has produced more evidence in the past ten minutes than you have in the past ten months, Minister. It is not Mr. Black who deserves to wear the mantle of "fantasist".'

Jenkins flushed. 'Mere coincidence…'

'Yet you will not accept Remus's proximity to the crimes in Hogsmeade as a coincidence. You use that only when it suits you. That is not how a leader should lead.'

She flushed even deeper. 'People want results.'

'People want the right result. You can arrest Remus today - take him to Azkaban…' Remus paled, though Dumbledore gave him a brief smile. 'And next month there will be another attack. And the month after that. Following this pattern, if Mr. Black's book is anything to go by, there will be a further 41 deaths over the course of the next few years … and Remus cannot be scapegoated if he is imprisoned. You will have to answer for the deaths you did not stop. For the fact that you did not properly investigate - but instead threw a child to the dementors. Put Remus in prison, people will still want results - and you will be no closer to delivering.'

He leaned forward suddenly, and fixed the Minister with a keen gaze. 'Take action now, Eugenia.' His voice was urgent. 'Heed the warning, read the signs - in the papers and in our skies. That meteor shower was not random, nor are the disappearances. There is darkness coming - and that darkness is not a thirteen year old boy. We have a chance now to put a stop to this, to get a handle on it before it goes too far. But if you take the easy way out, the quick fix which fixes nothing - you condemn us all to that darkness.'

The Minister had grown pale now. 'But Dumbledore - what you're suggesting… It is truly monstrous. That an animal could commit such savagery is bad enough … but a man? A human with a soul is responsible for this slaughter? Who? Who could possibly be behind such evil?'

The look Dumbledore gave her was almost pitying. 'I have been telling you of my misgivings for some time now, Minister. I have told you before of the concerns - grave concerns - I have over the activities of one of my former pupils.'

'You can't mean…?'

But Dumbledore nodded. 'Eugenia, I am convinced that these killings are the work of none other than the man who now goes by the name of "Lord Voldemort" .'