20. Filch?

"Which brings us to the second point." Director Bones looked over to Unspeakable Saul. "That is, as you can see, the evidence box holding Mr. Black's wand. Would you cast the Prior Incantato charm?"

Saul stepped over to the desk, untied the ribbon, and removed the wand in it. He took out his own wand and cast the spell. The first spell out of the wand was a quick burst of light. He said, "That is an apparition spell." The next spell came out. "That's a follow-the-appararition spell," he said. A third spell came out. "That is a search spell for someone." The three spells repeated about a dozen times before he stopped.

"So," Bones said slowly, "We can conclude that Mr. Black did not cast the explosion spell that killed twelve Muggles and Peter Pettigrew, can we not?" She looked at each person in the room, except Harry, and waited for their acknowledgement. "He is clearly innocent of the claim that he killed those individuals."

"He might have used a second wand!" objected Rufus.

"The evidence report says that he had only the one wand on him. The arrest report says no others were found in the vicinity, not even Peter Pettigrew's wand, which should have survived the explosion, if only in pieces. Given his condition on the arrival of Ministry personnel, it is highly doubtful he could manage to discard or hide a second wand."

"He was the secret-keeper for the Potters and led He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named to them!"

"What proof do you have that that is true?"

"Peter Pettigrew told the witnesses that Black was the secret keeper!"

"So, once again, we should accept the accusation of something as proof of fact? Plus, it now appears that Pettigrew must have killed those Muggles; why should we accept that his accusation that Sirius Black was the Secret Keeper was true? He is, after all, a Death Eater."

"That's impossible!" He paused. "There wasn't any evidence he was a Death Eater!"

She grinned nastily. "Mr. Potter has been good enough to provide a memory of his adventure in the Little Hangleton Graveyard. Being in the Tournament means he was declared an adult."

Harry raised an eyebrow at that declaration.

"Thus, his memory is presentable as evidence — I will have the Unspeakables examine it later for any alterations or signs it is manufactured. He saw Peter Pettigrew there, and the Wizard had the Dark Mark on his arm." She waved at the pensieve. "Take a look." She included the two Aurors in the order.

Harry accompanied them and again explained his actions.

A minute later, they were back, shaken at how close Riddle had come to returning to full power.

"Maybe it was someone else using Polyjuice," Rufus objected, again.

She frowned at the Wizard. "Polyjuice only works on living people, thus, if the person we saw was Polyjuiced, it means that Mr. Pettigrew is alive and that Sirius Black did not kill him, and so, by implication, none of the bystanders. Explain to me why Mr. Pettigrew didn't reveal himself as still being alive? He has been in the in England the entire time, in constant contact with the Wizarding world. With Mr. Black in Azkaban, he had no reason to remain hidden. . . Unless he is a Death Eater, and was the Secret Keeper, and feared that the other Death Eaters would think he had betrayed Riddle on that Halloween night thirteen years ago and would seek him out for revenge."

"Mr. Potter executed both the wand movements and the incantation perfectly" Saul said quietly. "The magic was the proper colour. There is no reason to assume the spell failed in any manner."

Rufus had nothing more to say.

"I shall call a press announcement for noon. In it I will review the evidence we have, and the conclusions we have made that Mr. Black is not a Death Eater, that he did not kill those Muggles, that he did not kill Peter Pettigrew, and that he was not the Secret Keeper for the Potters. As a result, the "Kiss on Sight" order is revoked, effective immediately, and he is no longer a person of interest to the Ministry. Mr Sirius Black is free to go about his business, undisturbed.

"Further, he was never charged with a crime within seven days of his arrest, as required by law, and he was never trialled within a year. Again, as required by law. Because he is not a Death Eater, the Special Order of Nineteen-Eighty-One, which allowed the immediate incarceration of captured Death Eaters and their indefinite incarceration before being charged does not apply.

"That means he has been illegally detained in Azkaban since November First, Nineteen-Eighty-one." She frowned. "Please remember that all the other Death Eaters in Azkaban were trialled — why wasn't he? Considering the known antipathy of Bartemius Crouch, Senior, towards the Black family, that is probably not an accident."

She paused. "Because of the Ministry's failure to follow their own procedures, and the law, he is pre-emptively declared innocent of any and all charges that might stem from the time period beginning at eleven-fifty-nine PM October Thirtieth, Nineteen-Eighty-one, the day before the Potters were attacked and killed, to eleven-fifty-nine PM November First, Nineteen-Eighty-one, when Sirius Black was in Ministry custody, with prejudice." She glanced at the others.

"Do we have a consensus?"

"It will look bad for the Ministry," Rufus warned.

"It will look bad for the previous administration in charge of the Ministry," Director Bones said, "not the current one, assuming Minister Fudge doesn't try to interfere." She raised her eyebrows at him. "Or are you suggesting that the Ministry keep a "Kiss-on-sight" order on a Wizard we KNOW is innocent just to maintain the image of the Ministry?"

"Of course not!" Rufus declared, ignoring that his very statement of concern for the Ministry's reputation proved him a liar.

Harry rolled his eyes.

"And if Minister Fudge does interfere? I will arrest him for attempted murder for maintaining a Kiss-on-Sight order on an innocent Wizard, and abuse of his position as Minister in trying to override the law."

The others stared at her.

"I expect you both to be with me at the podium."

They both nodded; Rufus, reluctantly.

She pushed a spot on her desk. "Sally? Send an alert to all the press outlets that I have an important announcement to make regarding Mr. Sirius Black, at noon today in the atrium."

She sat back and looked at Harry silently for a few moments. "What do you plan to do with Pettigrew?"

Harry looked at her quizzically. "What do you mean? I thought you were trying to trick me when you said hadn't found him and Riddle when you went to the graveyard!" He frowned. "You did find the giant snake, right? I assumed you did when no one came to talk to me Friday night saying they hadn't found the snake."

He frowned deeper. "I did think it unusual that no one came to see me about you finding Peter Pettigrew and Riddle, though, as well." He sighed sadly. "I guess my stupefy wasn't strong enough for a full-grown Wizard."

She stared at him, exasperated. "You don't seem too upset at us not finding him."

He shrugged. "Riddle has tried to kill me three out of the last four years, now, and failed each time. I'm sure he will try again next year." He sighed and shook his head. "It's almost a tradition between us, now."

Everyone stared at him.

He stared back. He was glad he looked like fourteen instead of the mental-nineteen he really was. Looking younger made it easier for them to believe he really didn't know where Riddle or Peter were.

"So," Bones said to him, staring at him intently, "You have no idea where Peter Pettigrew or Riddle are?"

He snorted. "Are you suggesting that I somehow smuggled them back to the Tournament or hid them in the cemetery someplace that your Aurors couldn't find?" He rolled his eyes. "I am only fourteen." He sighed and pulled out his wand. "I swear on my magic . . .,"

"Wait," Madam Bones said quickly.

"Stop," Rufus said at the same time, just as urgently.

Saul just watched.

Harry ignored them, ". . . that I did not hide either or both Peter Pettigrew or Tom Riddle in or out of the cemetery before taking the trophy portkey back to Hogwarts, nor did I remove either or both of them from the cemetery before returning to Hogwarts, nor did I smuggle either or both of them with me back to Hogwarts. So mote it be! Lumos!"

His wand lit up satisfactorily.

They stared at him; this time dumbstruck.

"Or are you suggesting that that I somehow knew the trophy would have a second portkey instruction on it that would take me to that graveyard to meet Riddle and Pettigrew, before the Third Task started, planned to trap him back, staged everything we just saw in the memory, and arranged for someone else to meet me there to take both Riddle and Pettigrew away after I picked up the trophy and activated the second portkey that was on it?"

They stared at him silently. The suggestion was clearly ludicrous. If he knew in advance that he was going to be kidnapped via portkey, he would have told the Headmaster and the Aurors before the Task even started. They would have immediately sent a team for Pettigrew and Voldemort!

He nodded in satisfaction. "Now, if I had to guess, I'd say Riddle and Pettigrew are somewhere close to the cemetery, perhaps that cottage beside it. Or maybe in the house up on the hill. Or perhaps the Riddle place." He sighed, "Heck, they could be anywhere in Great Britain, because Pettigrew can apparate. They could even be in the Chamber of Secrets under Hogwarts! Riddle certainly knows about it and how to get to it." He looked at them. "I won't swear I don't know where they are because if one of my guesses is right, well, who knows how magic will react in that circumstance?"

Saul gave him a long look, but slowly nodded.

Director Bones pursed her lips, but didn't say anything for several moments. Finally, she said, "Do you have anything else for us, today?"

He shook his head. "Not really. That's all."

She nodded once. "Then I thank you for the information you have provided to me, today."

"You're very welcome," he said. "It's refreshing to meet an adult who will actually listen to what I say." He started towards the door, but stopped. "Oh, by the way, would you like to see my confrontation with Professor Quirrell while he was possessed by Riddle? And my experiences in the Chamber of Secrets with Tom Riddle?"

Saul and Bones quickly said, "Yes!" together, almost before he had finished speaking.

It was a matter of only a moment to add those two memories to the pensieve.

He started the first just as the trio found the open door on the third floor on the right-hand side, and ended it after the Headmaster left his bedside in the Hospital Wing. He explained that they had thought it was Professor Snape because of his attitude.

He started the second as he and Ron ran into the deserted staffroom just before the announcement for all students to return to their dormitories came. He ended it with the Ron, Ginny, and himself leaving the Girl's Toilets on the second floor.

They were stunned at what they saw and learned, and gave him respectful looks at the end.

After they exited the memories, they thanked him again for his help. One of the Aurors escorted him to the atrium, and watched as he took the floo to the Three Broomsticks.

It was a bit tiresome to deal with, but easier than trying to explain how he had managed to get to London. They just assumed he had permission, and had used the floo to get there.

Once at the Three Broomsticks, he went outside, found an alley, and called for Dobby to take him into the Chamber of Secrets. In the Chamber, he called Kreacher and sent him to retrieve Sirius.

"So," Sirius said slowly, "A press conference at noon in the atrium?"

Harry raised his eyebrow. "You thinking of attending?"

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Of course he's thinking of attending!" She huffed. "Just take one of the one-hour Sexy Sweets, and keep a second in your pocket in case it runs longer or is late starting."

He nodded. "I think I will," he said firmly.

Harry shrugged. "Go ahead. We don't need you here, at the moment. You can start your continental tour tomorrow."

Sirius sighed. "Don't remind me. I'm not looking forward to it."

Hermione rolled her eyes. "The flight time is nine hours to New Delhi, you can leave in the morning, and return to London tomorrow night."

She paused and thought. "The flight to the colonies will also probably take two days, one to get there and the other to return." She looked over at Harry. "So, it can be all over before the weekend."

The other two nodded. Sirius was glum at the prospect of the extensive, non-stop travel.

Harry looked over at their two captives. The three of them had placed Riddle inside a crystal coffin, impervused, unbreakable, and password protected. Peter, they had left on the floor, where Kreacher was still venting his rage at Riddle lying to and then killing his beloved master.

If there was a spot on Peter's body that didn't have two bruises on top of each other, they would be surprised.

"Seeing the memory of the graveyard reminded me, I want to take a closer look at the Dark Mark."

He looked at the other two. "There were a lot of Death Eaters who got off scot-free because of bribery or simply not getting caught or noticed." He shook his head. "Like Malfoy's dad." He looked at Hermione. "And he's doing everything he can to accomplish Riddle's stated goals, and to make anyone not a Pure-blood be treated as a second- or third-class citizen."

He took a breath. "I think there's a way to punish those that have the Dark Mark." He glanced at Hermione. "We've read the sorts of things they did, they tortured and killed for the fun of it, taking delight in the pain they inflicted."

Sirius was nodding.

"So, they deserve anything we do to them," he said firmly.

Hermione looked uncertain. "But should we set ourselves up as judge, jury, and executioner?" She shook her head. "I'm not sure I can do that."

Harry shrugged. "Let's take a look at the Dark Mark. I could be wrong and this is all a moot point."

Sirius stood. "Got any of those candies, Hermione?"

Hermione pulled out her purse and rummaged in it a moment before pulling out a handful of candies. She looked at them, shrugged, then handed them to him. "These are half-hour candies, so pay close attention to the time!"

He nodded as he took the candies and headed over to his wardrobe for something more . . . unisex . . . to wear, and less Muggle.

Harry moved over the Peter. "Excuse me, Kreacher, but I want to look at his Dark Mark. Think you could take a break?"

Kreacher stopped kicking the wizard, looked up at the boy, scowled, and then popped away.

He cast a cushioning charm on the floor, then sat down, and pulled Peter's limp arm close to look at it. He pulled a parchment and never-run-out quill from his pocket, and started making notes on what he could see in the Dark Mark.

It was quite an interesting piece of magic. The longer he looked, the more details he could pick out. It used the Protean Charm to link to the other Dark Marks. There was a Set-and-Forget Charm that hooked up to the other spells in the Mark. It would keep one of the others going until either it was turned off or the one with the Mark came within a certain distance of the Mark issuing the command.

Another command was a pain curse that could slowly increase with time, with a spell tied to that one that was a "come-to-this Mark" message. Harry imagined he used that one to call his followers to him. The pain curse was when he wanted to tell them they should hurry. The increasing pain was to make sure they didn't dawdle on the way.

Another spell reported the location of the Mark targeted to the Mark issuing the query. Harry thought that meant that Riddle could not only locate a specific Mark, but learn its location and go there, or send someone there.

Finally, as he had suspected, there was a leeching spell. It operated a bit like the sappers he and Hermione had made, only it sent the magic to the person issuing the command to the Dark Mark — it didn't simply make that magic available to the other mark, it actually took it forcefully from the one with the Mark and sent it through the mark to the wand on the mark, and thence to the Wizard who was doing the calling. It was very ingenious, and very dark in its intent.

The first question was, did it actually increase the magic of the receiver? Was it like trying to fill a container? * That is, when you had a partially-empty container, did it fill it up and the excess either had to used immediately or was thrown away? Or, if the person was rested and had plenty of magic, did it actually increase the total amount of magic that person had, permanently, as-in, the container got bigger?

The second question was, what did it do to the victim? Did it permanently remove magic from them; reduce the amount of magic they had to use; or was it only temporary?

Harry suspected Tom would make his method of acquiring magic from Pure-bloods as hurtful and damaging as possible. The Professor had not been reluctant to tell them how Tom had been treated as a "muggle-born" in the house of the Pure! Tom had quickly developed a deep-seated hatred for the Pure-bloods . . . not that he ever showed them how much he hated them. He pretended to forgive them while plotting how he could humiliate them.

Finding out he was a descendant of Slytherin had fed his megalomania, and desire for revenge on everyone, Muggle or Magical. Muggles for how he had been despised and hated by them in the orphange; Half-bloods and Muggle-borns for how the other houses in Hogwarts acted towards the Slytherins, which he took as a personal affront on himself; and Pure-bloods for how they had treated him until he had cowed them.

Anyway, after that treatment, why should he care if he harmed them or their ability to use magic?

After reading the stories of how he punished his own followers quite severely for the merest of mistakes, or even just for being the bearer of bad news which they, themselves, had had nothing to do with. He rejoiced in causing pain to all those whom he considered as beneath him.

Why wouldn't he make the magic-transfer as painful and permanent as possible?

There was, of course, no easy way to test his theory. Only experimentation would answer that question.

Just from the little he had seen, though, he thought it a safe bet to assume the magic loss was permanent.

Normally, a Wizard couldn't absorb magic, he made his own. This spell, however, seemed to take the magic from someone with a Dark Mark and change it to be compatible with the wand that was issuing the command, which then fed that magic to the Wizard holding the wand. He had no idea how efficient that was, as it used some of the magic coming in to change the remaining magic to match the wizard's magic.

Which meant that if you took, say, ten percent of a Death Eater's magic, a portion of that would be used up in making it possible for you to absorb the magic. Harry thought it likely that the loss rate was probably fifty-percent or more. Still, it would be free magic to Riddle, so what did he care?

Because all of this was in parseltongue, it meant only Riddle could control the Dark Mark! At least, that's what Riddle had thought.

By the time he had finished examining the Mark, it was lunch, so he and Hermione had Dobby drop them off in an empty classroom, and then they went to the great Hall. For some reason, lunch was sparsely attended.

They had accidentally missed the excitement. Apparently, the Wizarding Wireless had publicized the upcoming announcement from the Ministry about Sirius earlier in the morning, and most of the students had stayed in their Common Rooms to listen.

The elves, of course, had set up lunches in the common rooms for those that hadn't gone to the Great Hall.

The Press conference had been just as Bones had said, it seemed, from what Ginny and Luna told them, later. She announced that Sirius Black was innocent and the reasons for that conclusion — interestingly, she left out Pettigrew still being alive and a Death Eater.

She concluded with, "The Wizengamot will have to meet to discuss and decide on adequate compensation for Mr. Black's illegal incarceration for the last thirteen years."

No mention of Minister Fudge was made in the broadcast.

All good news, as far as the two were concerned. They had warned Sirius to lay-low for a while, a week or two, maybe a month, for the word that he was innocent to spread. They didn't want someone to attack him under the mistaken impression that he was still a wanted Wizard with a "kill-on-sight" order on him.

Hopefully, he was using the gender-changing candies to watch the announcement in person.

In the meantime, he could visit Gringotts and have them publicly declare that he had assumed head of his family . . . of which he was the only survivor except for Andromeda, Narcissa and Bellatrix.

That is, if he didn't just decide to wander around in public as himself, today when the candies wore off. Fortunately, he had one of their automatic-protego rings they had made earlier in the year. It wouldn't last more than one or two spells, but it gave Sirius precious time to react to an ambush.

They spent the rest of the afternoon wandering the grounds and enjoying the good weather. They also discussed what to do with Peter and his Dark Mark.

"I really don't like the thought of acting as judge, jury, and punisher, Harry."

"Look, Lucius Malfoy tried to kill Ginny, and every Muggle-born in the castle, in Second Year, including you, with the diary. Then he tried to kill me at the end of the year. If you hadn't discovered the basilisk and used a mirror, you'd be dead, now. And if not for Dobby, so would I! That doesn't begin to count the terrible things he did in the war fourteen years ago! In fact, all the Death Eaters did horrendous things and killed without any thoughts on their victims! I think it is entirely fair that we decide their guilt — especially as the only jury that can judge the Death Eaters, the Wizengamot, is full of Death Eaters or their sympathizers! And the remainder are more than willing to take bribes to vote innocent for guilty Death Eaters!" He paused, "Besides, I think it's rather poetic justice to render them all as squibs, considering their opinions of them!" He sighed. "And there is the distinct possibility that I'm wrong and the magic we take will restore itself to them in time."

Nothing was said for a few minutes as they walked.

"Maybe we could try with Filch. He's a squib and has nothing to lose. If it works the way I think it does, he'll actually become a wizard!"

Hermione still shook her head.

He finally talked her into at least trying to see if they could make Filch into a Wizard.

But first, they wanted to run the Dark Mark and Harry's interpretation of its magic past The Professor. They headed to Room of Requirement an hour before dinner, and took Peter with them. After careful study, The Professor agreed with Harry's assessment. The Dark Mark should allow one Wizard to take another's magic as his own. "It appears to rupture the Wizard's pool of magic and drain his magical capacity while enhancing the recipient's."

Harry looked at Hermione. "Let's do a test, then. Tonight. We'll talk Filch into being our test subject. No magic in getting him to agree, though," he said, heading off any objection she might have as they headed for the Great Hall.

They hadn't seen Sirius since he had left for the Ministry and Gringotts, but Ratmort was missing from the Chamber when they had Dobby check at dinner. He must have decided to go to India after the Press conference.

.o\O/o.

Dumbledor was furious!

He would have missed the press conference called by Director Bones if one his associates hadn't flooed him the information less than an hour before the conference was to take place.

He had hurried to the Ministry in an attempt to head things off. Unfortunately, she was in a closed meeting with Minister Fudge when he arrived. Fudge had left the meeting more than a little unhappy. Dumbledore had mistakenly followed Fudge to get the details on the press conference.

"She's going to announce that Sirius Black is innocent! That the Ministry has no evidence that he committed any crimes thirteen years ago," Fudge said furiously once they were in his office.

"Is she now?" Dumbledore said. This would be a disaster for his plans.

"When I said he killed thirteen Muggles and Peter Pettigrew, she said 'His wand shows only apparition and location spells, he cast no explosive curses!'

"I said he must have had a second wand!" he threw his hands up dramatically, then scowled. "Then she said, 'Which you, as the listed arresting officer, should have found if he had any. Are you admitting you botched his arrest?'

"When I said he was He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named's right-hand man, she said 'Prove it! We had people saying Lucious Malfoy was one of the Inner Circle, but without proof, he was never charged! So, neither can we charge Black. Plus, unlike Mr. Malfoy, he doesn't have the Dark Mark on his arm!'

"'He was the Potters Secret Keeper!' I said.

"'And how do you know that? Can you prove it?' she said.

"Then she said if I could provide a single piece of evidence, not hearsay or rumour, about Black, she would call off the press conference." He sighed. "I . . . I can't.

"Then she said she was cancelling the Kiss-on-Sight order! Can you imagine!?" He sighed. "She said only the Wizengamot can issue a Kiss-on-Sight order, and that if Black were to be kissed, I . . . I . . . would be arrested for causing the death of an innocent Wizard, and would spend the rest of my life in Azkaban!" He turned and stared fearfully at Albus. "Me . . . me . . . the Minister for Magic! Arrested and sent to Azkaban!" He shuddered. "She said I might be the Minster for Magic, but I am not above the law! If I break the law I will be held accountable." He shuddered again.

Dumbledore tsked. "I'm sure you have nothing to worry about, Cornelius."

"But the man is a criminal!"

Dumbledore hated to do it, but he shook his head. "Now, Cornelius, you know people used to say the same thing about Mr. Malfoy the year after Voldemort . . ."

Fudge gasped dramatically and grabbed for his heart.

". . . disappeared. Now you say he's a fine upstanding citizen. I'm sure the same will happen with Mr. Black. The Black family is, after all, one of the oldest families in England, and the richest."

Fudge looked conflicted, but was slowly nodding.

"Well, thank you for your time, Cornelius," he said standing. "I think I would like to attend this press conference to hear what exactly Amelia has to say."

"Yes, yes," Fudge said.

Fudge was pacing worriedly behind his desk as Dumbledore left.

Apparently, there had been some behind the scene manoeuvring he had missed. If Sirius managed to get to the boy, he was sure the boy would convince the wizard to remove the him from the Dursleys.

Unfortunately, while he was the boy's Magical Guardian, the Wizengamot would fall over backwards trying to appease the newly exonerated Sirius. If Sirius asked for Guardianship, they would happily grant it, if only to prevent him from perceiving them as a political enemy and using his wealth to grind them down in revenge.

After the press conference he visited a few of his former students to see if there had been any unusual visitors. Two mentioned seeing Harry Potter in the Ministry, apparently on his way to the DMLE.

That brought up several problems. The boy must have used the passage to the Shrieking Shack, then flooed to the Ministry. The first question was, why hadn't his alert spells in the tunnels warned him? Second, why? While he had sent letters to Sirius, as far as Albus knew, the man hadn't come back to Hogwarts.

Yet, why else would he have visited the DMLE? His visit and Amelia's abrupt press conference on Sirius' was too much of a coincidence!

Third, why hadn't his tracking charms indicated the boy was off the grounds? They couldn't have worn off! On the other hand, he hadn't put trackers on everything the boy wore, it was possible he had missed a pants or robe. And it was possible someone had owl-ordered socks and new trainers as presents for the boy.

He had noticed the boy with new clothes, now that he thought about it.

He would have to be more thorough the next time he went through the boy's belongings.

He would have to check-in with Kingsley this evening to see if he knew the reason for Harry visiting the DMLE.

And if Sirius' illegal incarceration was the reason.

.o\O/o.

After dinner, Harry pulled out his new map to the castle and saw the Filch was on the second floor, on the lefthand side of the castle.

It wasn't much later that they found him putting a mop back in a broom-closet on the second floor. As they headed down the corridor towards him, they surreptitiously cast Portrait-freezing spells at each portrait they saw. "Mr. Filch," Harry said, "May we talk to you for a moment?"

He gave them a suspicious look as he closed the broom-closet door. "What about?"

"There's a project we need your help with," Harry said. "There is literally no one else in the school who can help us."

"Nor Hogsmeade, I suspect," Hermione muttered.

"First, may I cast a silencing spell so no one can listen it?"

He stared at the two of them with narrowed eyes.

"No casting spells in the halls!" he said firmly.

Harry pointed at a nearby door. "How about in that classroom, then?"

Filch hesitated.

"It will be worth your while, I promise," Harry said earnestly. "And I also promise that this isn't a trick in any way!"

Hermione nodded.

Filch stared a bit longer, then reluctantly nodded. He led the way to the classroom and they went inside.

Hermione looked at him. "I'm going to cast a silencing spell so no one can hear us, that's all!" she swirled her wand around the room while saying the incantation.

"First," Harry said to the suspicious man, "to prove we are serious about this, and that you can trust us, here's a map to the school," he held a copy of their map out to Filch. He had made it last night.

"Don't need a map," Filch said rudely.

"This one," Harry nodded at it, "shows everyone in the castle, in real time."

He doubtfully took the map and opened it.

"Say a location, and it will show it to you. The footprints are the people in the room, their names are above them. To zoom in, put your thumb and finger on the parchment and slowly spread them."

Looking from the parchment to Harry and back, still expecting a prank or trick, Filch said, "Great Hall." Then stared as the parchment drew a diagram of the Great Hall, and populated it with names above tiny footsteps.

His eyebrows shot up and he gave both Harry and Hermione a surprised look. He held the map in one hand, and slowly did as Harry had said, zooming in on one corner.

"To see us," Hermione said. "Simply say, me."

"Me." He studied it. "The Headmaster's office." A moment later, "Hallway C-three. Broom-closet D-four."

He looked back up at them, still suspicious. "What do you want?"

Harry and Hermione exchanged looks.

"We have an experiment we wish to run," Hermione said delicately, "but it requires someone who can't use a wand."

He stiffened in outrage. "Are you making fun of me?" he hissed.

"No!" Harry said quickly, "Not at all!"

Hermione said, "Absolutely not!"

He glanced at the map in his hand, then crossed his arms on his chest. "Explain," he ordered. "And it had better be good!"

"You have to promise not to tell anyone what we talk about in here."

"We promise it has nothing to do with the school or the students!" Hermione hastened to add. "Just that, if it does work, certain people in the Ministry will be very upset with us."

He frowned. "And what does the Headmaster say?"

"We haven't told him for reasons you will learn if you cooperate with us. If he knew, he would forbid us from even trying."

"You can call stop at any point and we'll stop!" Hermione added earnestly.

Harry pulled up his wand. "I swear on my life and magic that we are not tricking or pranking you, nor are we planning to! So mote it be!" He waited a second. "Lumos!" His wand lite brightly.

"In fact," Hermione said, "I think you will be immensely pleased no matter what the result is of our experiment."

Filch stared at them as they looked at him with hopeful expressions.

Finally, he sighed. "I'll probably regret this, but okay." He glanced at the map, then back at them. "This isn't going to stop working tomorrow, is it?" he said distrustfully, shaking the parchment.

"Absolutely not! It will work as well ten years from now as it just did now." Harry paused. "The twins have a map just like that, too, so if you try to catch them, don't be surprised if they notice you coming and try to escape." He paused again. "Plus, they told us that this map showed them secret passages that they didn't know, in addition to the ones they knew you didn't know. Like the one behind Gunhilda of Gorsemoor's statue, which leads into the Honeydukes cellar."

Filch gave him a hard look, frowned, then slowly nodded.

"Also, the map'll display the password on every passage, room, or space that is protected, as you walk by it."

Filch again nodded.

"I'm going to disillusion us," Harry said. "So none of the portraits can report having seen us together, alright? We'll still be able to see each other."

Two minutes later, they were in Myrtle's toilets. Myrtle, fortunately, wasn't in residence at the moment. In anticipation that Filch would be amendable, they had disabled Dumbledore's alerts. They would reset them when they finished for the day. Seconds later, they were on the stairs carrying them down.

As soon as they were on the steps and moving, Harry removed the disillusionments. Then he explained they would soon be in the Chamber of Secrets, of Salazar Slytherin fame. He also warned Filch that they might meet Sirius Black there, he had been using the Chamber as a hideout for months, now. That he had been cleared by the Ministry was wonderful, but he didn't quite yet want to go out into society until word of his innocence had spread a bit further.

He also told him what had happened in the graveyard after the Tournament.

After the shock of hearing that Harry had captured Voldemort wore off, he said, "You have Peter Pettigrew here? And he's a Death Eater?" He frowned. Then slowly nodded. "Yeah. I can see him doing that. He was always a follower. And a sneaky sort of bloke."

Harry nodded. "Yes, and it's his Dark Mark we want to investigate."

"Investigate, how?"

So, Harry explained about the Dark Mark being a method of leeching magic from a Wizard.

"Wait," he said starting to get excited, "Do you mean I might gain magic? Like, actually use a wand?"

"We can't promise anything, but we want to check it out. Nothing ventured, nothing gained." Harry paused. "At the very least, you can have the satisfaction of knowing that you're hurting a Death Eater by making him weaker!"

Soon enough, they arrived in the Chamber of Secrets. After giving Filch some time to admire it, they went over to the table with Peter on it, his arm and Dark Mark on display.

"Right," Harry said, "Hold the wand like so," and he carefully positioned Filch's hand around one of the wands from the Room. "You don't have to grip it like you're afraid it will jump up and run away, just as tight as you would hold a quill."

He lightly held Filch's wrist, and guided the wand tip to rest on the Dark Mark. He closed his eyes and tried to feel around in Filch for magic. There had to be something, or Filch could not have gotten his Dark Magic Detector wand to work. There was something there, but it was like the mere touch of the lightest breeze.

Harry took a breath. "If you feel any pain, any discomfort at all, pull the wand off the Mark. Do you know Lucius Malfoy?"

From the snarl on the man's face, Harry thought he did. "Imagine you are pulling his magic to you. Got it?"

Filch nodded.

Harry hissed the commands to the Dark Mark to find the one Filch was imagining, and then activated the leech magic.

The moment he felt something in the wand, he let go of Filch's wrist.

After a few minutes of standing like a statue, Filch grimaced and lifted the wand. "That felt . . . weird."

Harry leaned close to the wand. "Say lumos, and want the tip of the wand to light up. Remember, if you expect to fail, you will."

Filch looked at him suspiciously, then looked back at the wand. "Lumos!" he said firmly.

.o\O/o.

Author's Note: * While the words pool or core in relation to a Wizard's magic is never used in canon, it is implied. The official definition of a Squib is someone born into a wizarding family but without any magic powers. This meant they could not wield magic. However, Squibs differed from Muggles by being able to see and use creatures and artifacts that were hidden from the Muggles.

This means they had to have some magical abilities inherent in them or that would not be true.

Additionally:

In The Philosopher's Stone, Neville says his relatives ". . . thought I might not be magic enough to come . . ..", even though he had bounced when dropped out a window. (my underline.)

Plus:

In Prisoner of Azkaban, Remus Lupin says, ". . . Dementors are supposed to drain a wizard of his powers if he is left with them too long."

In Goblet of Fire, Harry was very drained of energy during Priori Incantatem and was barely able to hold onto his wand because the magic was so powerful.

All this implies Wizards have something to exhaust: a pool, or core. Squibs simply have a mostly empty one, or it's very tiny.

On the other hand, maybe they have Thaumic Pathways with a Central Antenna that absorbs magic from the surroundings. Using your pathways makes them, and the Antenna, grow larger and stronger. Overuse, like with a muscle, makes you tired. If the Antenna starts off with a poor performance or the pathways are somehow "blocked", you get squibs. This would also explain why some wizards and witches are naturally weaker than others.

Forcefully dragging magic from someone against their will somehow tears or ruptures the pool, or tears the Antenna and Pathways, destroying their ability to function properly.