Hey everyone,
This chapter might just be another two-parter – I know, the third in a row, sorry not sorry. I am going to make the start be in Daily Prophet form and discuss the revelation about Voldemort, his death and the Atrium as well as an article about Lucius and what he has gone through and what he plans from now on and an article about Percy's arrest and disownment. After that, I am going to make a time-jump to a week after chapter 38 and this part will be solely about
Percy,

Venquine1990


Chapter 39
Written Results

15th of December 1995
Radiant Garden
Poppy's POV

The meeting that I went to this morning really wasn't pleasant, yet I was glad that Gerard was there and that, before anything else, Percy at least got a taste of what real life and actual suffering looks like. Yet at the same time, the lad proved how unreliable he was and that Molly had always been in the right to try and protect him as he was mentally a lot weaker than any of us had expected. And while I had spotted the signs, I hadn't expected Percival to try and attempt murder.
I hadn't told Molly or Arthur about this upon Pepper, William and I returning to the Garden and just told them that I would work together with Gerard to keep an eye on things and that I would return once I had some news on the aftereffects of yesterday's epic event. And now, while only a small part of me hopes that William has taken his family aside to tell them about the charges, I am heading back with the results I promised.
Though they are the written definition of the saying a blessing in disguise as they are part of the Evening Prophet's Headlines. This makes me wish I had just been open and honest with the parents before I left, but at the same time I feel grateful that Fudge, obviously having gained a great deal of respect for William over the course of this morning's meeting, made sure that the writer of the headlines was someone honest and direct and not someone like Rita Skeeter.

This had been something I had feared greatly until I had seen the names underneath the headline titles and yet still it does little to settle my troubled heart. I had used the Corridor to quickly scan over both articles, the one about the discovery in the Atrium this morning and about Percy's arrest. I had also spotted a third one that had surprised me as it was dedicated to the way that Dumbledore and Lucius would work together to bring all sane Death Eaters to justice.
I had been greatly shocked to find a small section of this article dedicated to Lucius' side of the war and while I have no doubt that some will not take kindly to this, I also believe that all of the written vows that Lucius never struck a wizard down while serving Voldemort might ease some of the upcoming tension. Still, as I continue walking towards where I spot all of the Weasleys seated at an enlarged picnic table, I know one thing; missing that headline title is impossible.

Astonishment and Arrests – Part 01
By Tristan Treft

Dear readers, the 15th of December 1995 is going to be a day that will be remembered for years to come. Early this morning, upon entering the Atrium of the Ministry for Magic in London, dozens of witches and wizards, both workers and visitors, got a shock to their system. They would enter Atrium either through the Floo, various Apparation points situated on both sides of the Atrium or the telephone booth-elevator and would head over to the check-in station at the end, only for all of them to stop in shock, horror, fright, disbelief or other emotions at the sight of the Statue of Wizarding Unity situated to the right of the station.
This because, as I'm sure most of you are already aware, the statue had something of immensely shocking proportions "added" to it. I am talking about a body that was hanging from the wand of the golden Wizard's statue. Now a body by itself is already quite shocking and would make any normal wizard think of alerting the DMLE and reporting a murder. But in the case of this body, I do not believe any sane witch or wizard would desire this.

Ladies and gentlemen of Wizarding England, for those of you who have not yet heard this through the Wizarding Grapevine, let me be the first to state this. Lord Voldemort, whose true name is apparently Tom Marvolo Riddle, is DEAD! Now I know that the Ministry for Magic has been claiming this for months, but I also managed to speak with Minister Fudge after the discovery of this body was made and he had this to say:
"I deeply regret my actions of the last few months. The Tri-Wizard Tournament was to be my pride and joy and, I admit, I blamed its faults and problems on young Harry James Potter instead of trying to help Albus Dumbledore find out who was really responsible. So when said Potter came out and tried to tell everyone that You-Know – oh bugger all – that Lord Voldemort was back, I got overcome by my emotions. By my anger at how his presence has been causing problems, by my shock at seeing him return with the dead body of the late Cedric Diggory and by my fear of what the boy's words could mean for our nation if proven true.
I will not deny this, I did NOT want for Potter to be right and decided to use my title to prove him wrong. I regret this and understand why, after the attacks that were made on his person, the boy decided to leave this world for the homeworld of his soul mate. I also want to make it clear that I do not believe, nor expect, Mr. Potter, his mate or his friends to ever forgive me for what I have put them through these past few months."

There you have it, people. Minister Fudge has admitted to us all that he has denied the return of a horrible and murderous wizard out of nothing but fear. And while I can honestly say that every single reporter who has helped the Minister in this endeavor, if they knew this story, is just as guilty as the man himself, can I also understand why he would succumb to such a fear as that is the main source of power Lord Voldemort had during those horrible eleven years he reigned war against us and our nation. But when I asked the Minister what, in the end, put an end to Lord Voldemort, he had this to say:
"Because I didn't want to believe Voldemort's return to be true, I was left out of the loop of how he was defeated. However, I did have a meeting with two of the people responsible for this happy occurrence and one of them is waiting for you in the room next door." And so I left the man's office for the office on the right and there I came across one of the many people who had, earlier this morning been standing underneath the statue and the body.

One of the Unspeakables of the Department of Mysteries welcomed me to the office, actually with his hood off and showing off his face. The man appeared to be in his mid to late forties, had laughing lines all over his face, yet the wisdom and power shining in his eyes proved exactly why he was a member of this elusive and secretive department. "Greetings, Mr. Treft. Please take a seat. We have much to discuss. Also, once you are done, please return to the Minister's office. He will have another story for you that the public deserves to hear.
Needless to say, my readers, this drew my attention. I took my seat and just let the man talk: "I am Gerard, also known as Number 7 when it comes to the operation we undertook the other day in Hogsmeade village. I presume that you have already seen the picture shown on the large banner next to the statue, so I'm just going to give a summarized description. Please quote what I have to say on your paper."
I gave the man a nod to indicate that I was already doing so and a friendly smile was my reward before the man started: "This story starts, as I'm sure you won't be surprised to hear, with Lord Voldemort's last target, Harry Potter. Upon the day of him getting pregnant, he had an argument with Albus Dumbledore. Albus Dumbledore, in turn, was someone who, along with Mr. Potter, was the subject of something within our very Department. I will not disclose what, it is no longer of importance. However, because they were both targets and because of their spat, a very rare rule within the Department went into effect.
If the target of any blank becomes negatively affected by the one who has heard said blank and then gets saved by anyone related to those working with blank, the Unspeakable that works with blank and is related to the savior is allowed to share whatever information he or she desires as long as it fulfills said blank in benefit of the saved target. Now I am sure that you and most of your readers will be able to fill in all those blanks, but I must ask you to remember my earlier words of it no longer being of importance." I had indeed figured it out, but decided for the sake of the story, to keep my beliefs to myself.
"Now as I said, this spat between Dumbledore and Potter activated said rule and so, when my goddaughter, Pepper Pomfrey and I offered our services to Mr. Potter, he instantly took them. He made a vow with my goddaughter that also involved the rest of the Department and since then we have been working around the clock to do what you saw realized in the Atrium." I certainly understood this, but when I asked why it had taken several months, the man answered:
"Because we first had to make sure that, unlike that faithful Halloween so long ago, if we took him out, he would STAY dead. And unfortunately Voldemort had hidden what enabled that for him quite, quite well. We really, truly wanted to end him on Halloween, as a way to bring honor to the sacrifice of Lily and James Potter, but unfortunately he would have survived if we did so. We did not want to take that risk, the consequences, according to our research, were not worth it." And the dark tone his voice took at him saying this made a shiver run down my spine. I gave a nod of understanding and the man continued:

"Now, as for what you are able to see on that picture. First note that Lord Voldemort had plans. Plans that would cause fear, pain and, if worst came to worst, even death to the students of Hogwarts. He had been, slowly but surely, making his Death Eaters infiltrate the houses, homes and stores of Hogsmeade Village and they were to ambush the students on the upcoming Hogsmeade weekend." Instantly fear gripped my heart as I have a younger sister who is in her Sixth at Hogwarts, yet Gerard reminded me of what I saw in the Atrium and I let out a sigh of relief and thanked the man for what he had done.
A smile was my answer and Gerard continued. "However, it was through the Death Eaters, or better said one very specific one, that we managed to get this done. You see, before this Death Eater joined us, we had a success chance of 123% which rose to 139 when he joined us.""Wait, you're talking of Lucius Malfoy, aren't you? I saw him standing under the statue with other Unspeakables." I exclaimed and Gerard nodded and said:
"Correct, and I'm sure you're wondering what we could have done to make someone like Lucius Malfoy of all people change to our side. Well, to be honest, Voldemort did it to himself. You see, he fears Death and distrusts others so much, he grew the belief that, if he were ever to fall, it would probably be through his Death Eaters betraying him, so he decided to put a little curse into the Dark Marks with which he marked his Death Eaters. Only, when we informed Lucius of this, he considered it Voldemort betraying him and when we offered to remove the curse, he returned the favor and offered his own services."

This truly amazes me, but it also explains the man's presence underneath the statue. "And yesterday it all went down. First my goddaughter pretended to have been captured by Lucius, so he could lure Voldemort to his home and with that separate him from our last hurdle and once that was done, Lucius made sure that Voldemort arrived in Hogsmeade. There my fellow Unspeakables, the Order of the Phoenix and I and the other Death Eaters of whom we had removed the curse from their Marks awaited him to encase him in the harness you saw on the picture.
We contained him within it, used the red metal to make sure that he wouldn't be able to use wandless magic as the Order had disarmed him upon his arrival and then the Order and the curse-free Death Eaters contained the rest of the Death Eaters. After that, it was simply a matter of waiting for my goddaughter to do her part, taking out the last hurdle and then it was time for some poetic justice in form of an iconic death."
And at this point I no longer needed any more explanation. The Unspeakables had used Thunder and electricity, because of the lightning bolt scar on Harry Potter's brow, which was all the poor boy had left off the night that he lost his parents to Lord Voldemort. And while, from the picture, it was obvious that Lord Voldemort had actually survived the first strike, it was also obvious that he didn't survive the way the Unspeakables turned the electricity of the thunder into a second attack, especially with how the Order helped them in this second strike.

Yes, Ladies and gentlemen, Lord Voldemort is dead and personally I spotted another bit of info that makes al of this even more poetic. "You know, Halloween ended with a baby surviving Lord Voldemort, but this time it's a baby that brought out Lord Voldemort's demise." And Gerard actually looked shocked upon me saying this, but then he smiled and nodded in agreement before reminding me of the Minister wanting to see me. And that, my fellow witches and wizards, is a tale in and of itself. Read part 02 for more information.

Astonishment and Arrests – Part 02
Written by Tristan Treft

I returned to the Minister's office and noticed that a mixed look of disappointment, relief, guilt, glee and reluctance was on his face. Wondering how one man could have so many emotions going through him at the same time, I took a tentative seat at his office. "You have recorded what Unspeakable Gerard was willing to share about Lord Voldemort's defeat, correct? Good. Please listen as what I have to tell you next is both a pleasant and not pleasant story. It is pleasant for the majority of a certain family, but – I just know that there are members among that family who will not see it this way."
This really confused me as I could hardly understand how any family could be struck with something bad now that Lord Voldemort had died, but then guilt overcame me as that was exactly what happened to Harry Potter and Sirius Black at the end of the last war. "I'm not going to lie or try and talk around the problem, I'm just going to tell it to you straight. Percival Ignatius has been disowned from the Weasley family – as well as arrested for attempt of murder on an Auror." And instantly, even after everything I had already heard, my mouth dropped.
"This morning I had a meeting at the Burrow with the eldest son of the Weasley family, William, Unspeakable Gerard, the Auror in question and young Percival, who out of honor to the rest of the family I will simply call by his first name as I know how hard it is for a family like that to have to disown one of their own. It was a meeting where Gerard and William wished to explain the story you just heard to both Percival and myself and where William hoped that he could talk to his brother and get him back on the right path. Just too bad that, unbeknownst to us all, it was already too late for that."

The man looked down as he said this, a look of personal guilt on his face and I remembered that Percival had been his assistant until some point in September when it was discovered that Dolores Umbridge had tried to use him as a scapegoat for buying Dark Items in Knockturn Alley that she had then used at Hogwarts. The boy had escaped being arrested as it was obvious that he had just been a scapegoat, yet he had also been put on paid leave, due to Fudge finding out about his misbehavior towards other members of the Ministry.
"I'm not going to elaborate on the meeting that took place, just know that the Unspeakable was the one to tell me about Lord Voldemort, that he told me about why Madam Bones arrested Severus Snape and then handed the arrest over to the Unspeakables and that he helped William trying to give Percival a second chance. And personally, I think Percival more of an young fool for not taking that chance than for him trying to kill an Auror when around both an Unspeakable and a Curse Breaker.
However, attempt of murder is an automatic disownment with the Weasley family and so Percival has now been sent to Azkaban under the title of No-Name. There was a chance that the boy would take on his mother's name, the Prewett name, but Percival actually denied himself this chance upon his trial earlier this morning. He also continued the spiel that he ran with earlier this year, claiming that as my Assistant he was "above the law".
Now I won't say that I don't feel guilty about this as I do feel like I played a part in him growing to think like that, but I just couldn't let him walk free with an act or an attitude like that. So unfortunately I have to report that Percival Ignatius has become the first criminal of this "war" to be sent to prison for life. And while the Death Eaters that didn't get their curse removed but that did try to cause havoc at Hogsmeade will be send to the Veil, will there be specific and personalized punishments be decided for the Death Eaters that did get their curses removed."
"Wait, punishments?""Yes, Lucius has gotten all of these other Death Eaters to agree to accept a reduced, personalized and very specific punishment for the crimes they committed against our community back in the Seventies. More information will be made available once those punishments have been decided. Though I do want to reassure all the wives and children of these same Death Eaters, Azkaban will not be part of the punishment. They might have to do social work, pay the families they hurt, stuff like that, but they will not be send to prison, simply because I feel that a personal punishment is better than prison time. More in kind with the poetic justice that Lord Voldemort suffered the other day."

And with that Bill finishes reading the two articles, the others having joined us upon spotting him having taken the paper from me. And just like Fudge, there are mixed emotions going all over the now two tables that are set in the plaza. Though elation and relief over Voldemort's defeat and the fact that this is now confirmed news back in England do still seem to be the main emotions and I just can't help but turn to Harry as I ask:
"Harry dear, where were you and Lea the other day?" The boy turns a little red and Lea lovingly pulls him closer as he says: "We decided to celebrate Voldemort's end our own little special way, Poppy. We shared our first kiss after hearing the news from Remus." Instantly a huge grin adorns my face and Harry makes me laugh as he says: "And to be honest, we've kind of been making up for lost time since." And he and Lea prove this by pulling each other closer and sharing another kiss.
And just like so many other times when the two are together, I can almost see the soul bond shining around the two like an aura all over again. "I got to admit, that Treft guy is a really good reporter. It almost felt like I was the one interviewing Fudge and Gerard. And it didn't even feel like an interview, more like just a couple of conversations or something." Hermione mutters as she looks at the Daily Prophet, of which the front is compromised of the two articles and a huge picture of the Ministerial Atrium and Voldemort's body. And we all agree with her.

A week later
22nd of December

Remus and I have been moving between England and Radiant Garden for the past few days, Remus being in England on Monday, me on Tuesday, Remus on Wednesday and so on. Yet we also both went back to England for the Hogsmeade weekend to chaperone the Chaser Girls as they were picked as the "English Santa's." This was something Harry came up with as a way to make sure the English among us could still buy gifts in stores they were used to.
And our chaperoning had definitely been needed as almost everyone in Gryffindor, Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff had tried to hound them for questions about Poppy, Pepper, the Unspeakables, Harry and Lea. We had put a stop to this and Remus had firmly told them all: "Every update that Harry and his friends wish to share with this world go through the Order of the Phoenix. So unless Professor Dumbledore or McGonagall has something to tell you, just know that Harry and his friends are doing fine and leave it at that.
Otherwise, you will just further drive your fellow students away. Now please just enjoy the weekend and let Mss. Johnson and her friends do the same." And while there were a scarce few who didn't like being talked down to like this, the fact that Voldemort was gone and that we were all safe, in the end, made even these rare few just decide to follow his advice. But now, even though I'm supposed to be at Hogwarts for the rest of the day, do I feel my real place is here in the Garden. Though at the same time I really wish I didn't have such a negative reason for this.

"Poppy! What are you doing here? What's going on? Did Gerard decide to start working at Hogwarts early or something?" Arthur asks as he is the first to spot me entering the courtyard near the alley where everyone is living. And the fact that it's a Weasley who is the first to spot me just makes me feel even worse as I mutter: "Percy has been released from Azkaban.""WHAT!""Why? What happened?" Remus asks astonished and I answer:
"The Dementors happened. Apparently Percy's mind had already quite snapped when he attacked Silkins and the large amounts of exposure that he got to those beasts just did the rest. He has been checked over and while he can still eat, sleep, breathe and drink, talking and cohesive thought seem no longer an option. So the Ministry removed him from Azkaban and brought him to a special kind of closed ward where they keep people like him."
"Wait, is he –?" Neville asks horrified, but I smile at him and shake my head as I say: "No, Neville, he isn't. I thought the same when I heard this, but Amelia assured me that this is not the case. Apparently there is another Closed Ward set on the shores of England close to where Azkaban prison is located that is specifically for prisoners whose minds have snapped while on the prison." The boy nods, a look of intense relief on his face.

I turn from him to Arthur and sigh as I say: "Before I left for the Garden, Amelia asked me to ask you something. She knows that Percy is disowned, but relatives are always asked this question once a prisoner is sent to this Ward. Percy can either spend the rest of his sentence in the ward or take a Draught of Living Death. If he does, his body will give out as his brain, which has already snapped, will no longer send any signals to keep it alive." And just like I expected Arthur looks quite pained as he hears this before he says:
"Please tell her that I just want this chapter of my life to be put behind me as quickly as possible. If Percy is in a state where, with his mind snapped, he won't last much longer, he can stay that way. If not, have her apply the Draught. I really don't care, not anymore." Yet while he says this, I can easily see that the man isn't entirely truthful about this. Still I don't comment as I can definitely understand why the man would try to lie to me – and to himself.

I turn to Harry instead as we discussed the day he wants to visit the Hollow the last time I was here and ask: "Are you still sure you want to go on New Year's Eve, Harry?" The boy nods and says: "I do. I want to start the new year and future by saying goodbye to the past. I know I'll probably get another chance once Gerard is finished, but – I feel I need to do this, at least before my baby makes his or her entrance into the world."
Yet at this I notice him sharing a quick grin with Lea as well as Damian, which really amuses me. this because, a few days ago I took the initiative to check on the gender and hadn't noticed Damian peaking over my shoulder. Yet Harry had actually guilt-tripped his older brother into keeping his mouth shut, much to Sirius' chagrin as he had afterwards tried to get his son to reveal the secret, yet his son had firmly refused to do so. "Bro code, dad. No can do." Had been his final words.
Lea's smile turns into a smirk and he says: "And besides, I got something planned for my love and I for the day just before you guys leave for the Hollow. Something that, I'm sure, will make the whole trip a lot easier to handle emotionally. And no, I'm not telling anyone anymore, just keep it memorized that I got it covered.""You and Harry are meant for each other alright. You're both bloody annoying with your secrets and surprises." Ron grumbles, at which everyone laughs.


WOW! This chapter was HARD!
Still, I am quite happy that I have it behind me. And while I do still have a few hardships, shocks and surprises planned for Harry and his family and friends, I also know that most of them will have much better aftereffects for the lot of them. The only hardship I am slightly look up against at this moment is the whole trip to Godric's Hollow, but that's why I'm so glad that it's still a few chapters away as Lea's surprise comes first.
Have fun,

Venquine1990