She looked around and said, "The dark lord and all thirteen Inner Circle members. And you defeated them all without a mark on you." "Yup," he cheekily grinned. "I really am... that fast. Didn't I just show you an example of that, out in the entrance hall?"
The two female aurors came down and alerted Bones that they needed to get a Healer for Narcissa Malfoy. And Harry suggested they simply levitate her downstairs and portkey her to Saint Mungo's from the entrance hall. Bones went with that. Now that the aurors were here, Harry even removed the need for the key to the outgoing anti-portkey ward.
After identifying the rest of the bodies, Harry then showed her the hidden area below the floor and suggested she come back at another time to properly scour the place from top to bottom. Again, she went with that.
When they were ready to leave with their four prisoner aurors, Harry stopped them.
"First, you should send a team and take down the rest of your aurors to check them for Polyjuice, glamours and the Dark Mark. You don't want word to get out, just yet, that Riddle and his Inner Circle are dead," he explained. "You have a perfect opportunity here, Minister Bones. You have a day or two, at most, to 'clean house' before the story that Riddle and his main masked minions are dead before people start screaming 'I was Imperiused'. I suggest you make use of it."
She looked at him in surprise and said, "What an excellent idea!"
"Oh," he said. "And, once you've cleaned house in the Auror department, can you then send a team of combat aurors to the front gate here to round up the Death Eaters trying to get in? Plus, wait for any more to turn up and bag them too?"
"I can do that," she said.
"And, if Dumbledore shows up, bag him too, would you? You know damned well the man is going to want to come in here and see for himself. You can tell him, from me, he can go fuck himself.
"I have cast Prædātum on this manor. It now, effectively, belongs to me. And Dumbledore is not welcome... no matter what he tries to say or claim."
Surprised, she said, "You've claimed this property under the auspices of Spoils of War?"
"Yup."
"There are going to be many who won't like to learn that," she warned.
"I just killed their dark lord for them," he returned. "I should care... why?"
She gave a snort of amusement and quietly said, "Point taken."
After making her another portkey, this time a permanent one, that would allow her people to get back in through the wards and handing it to her, he said, "Well, I need to go. I have people worried about me and need to go let them yell at me for a while."
"Before you do..." she said. "How will I contact you? I've tried, in the past..."
"Contact Miss Luna Lovegood," he returned. "She can contact me quite quickly. She's one smart witch, that girl."
She gave a nod and said, "If I can cast it before the story breaks, I want to talk to you again. You realise you've just earned an Order of Merlin, First Class, don't you?"
"Meh!" he shrugged. "If it makes you happy I accept one, I maydo so. I just trust you to make sure no one tries to shove my arse in Azkaban for killing so many... fine and upstanding citizens, if you get my drift."
"They wouldn't bloody dare!" she scowled.
"Wanna bet?" he grinned back. "Dumbledore will be leading the charge. You'll see." She just shook her head and seemed to come up with an idea. "Those cells, downstairs..."
Harry grinned and fished the key ring out of his pocket before handing it to her. "Seems like poetic justice to store your prisoners in them while you clean house."
She smirked back and said, "My thoughts, exactly."
"You're welcome to them," he said. "Anywho! I really need to shoot through. You have the run of the place, with my blessings."
Without waiting for her to respond, he suddenly apparated away.
Appearing in the apparation point in Diagon Alley, Harry was quickly through the arch and into the Leaky. Then went directly to the floo and flooed to Grimmauld.
Stepping out, he sang, "Honey! I'm ho-ome!" Already in the room Sirius spun and barked, "Where, the bloody hell, have you been?"
Luna was already off the couch and hurried over to him to wrap him in a tight hug. She'd not said a word.
"Killing dark lords and answering questions of Minister Bones and the aurors," he replied, hugging Luna.
"It's true?" asked a shocked Sirius. "He's dead?"
"Yup," replied Harry. "So's Lucy Malfoy, 'Ferret' Draco, 'Snivelly' Snape and others I didn't recognise. However―"
"Wait!" exclaimed Sirius. "Snivellus is dead?"
"Yup!" he replied. "He was, apparently, still one of Riddle's latest Inner Circle."
Sirius nodded and began to relax a little. "Remus is going to be very pleased to hear that. That he's dead, I mean." "I understood what you meant," he replied. "However, I've convinced Madam Bones to keep the fact that Riddle and his so-called Inner Circle is dead under wraps until she can clean up. So... there's no going out and about and letting people know, alright?"
"Didn't plan to!" said Sirius.
"Neither did I," said Luna. "Then again, people tend not to believe me, anyway."
Harry sadly nodded back. He well remembered people rarely, if ever, accepted that what Luna told them was the truth.
"Oh!" he said, suddenly remembering. "I claimed the so-called Malfoy Manor, as Heir Black, under the auspices of Spoils of War for the House of Black. It's now yours."
"Yes, Dobby― Wait. How were you able to tell― You knew the Secret, right?" said Sirius. "Yes. I was shown a slip of parchment with the Secret written on it before Malfoy took me there," he replied. "Why?"
"If the Secret Keeper was He-Who or one of his Inner Circle... and you've killed them all... that means you're now a Secret Keeper to the Fidelius," explained Sirius. "That's why you could mention Malfoy Manor."
Surprised, Harry said, "I didn't know that. Hunh!"
"Oh, yes!" he said. "As far as anyone is to know, I did not go there willingly. I was kidnapped and taken there against my will."
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