"What. The. Hell. Happened!?"
For all her decades of teaching and experience Dumbledore knew when to wince at the sheer rage contained in those four words. The elderly witch didn't blame the younger in the least bit. In less than six months her one daughter had been petrified and Harry was confined to the medical ward twice with life-or-death injuries.
If the situation had been reversed, she would likely be throwing curses. Thus, it was either a testament to the unending patience of Lily Potter, or that somewhere deep down she still held an inkling of respect enough to hold back.
"You've heard about the attack on the Express." It wasn't a question, and the redhead gritted her teeth while nodding. James, on the other hand looked closer to throwing up. "Harry intervened, placing himself in harm's way to ensure that the other children remained safe."
The growl deepened "He shouldn't have had to do so in the first place!"
Dumbledore quickly nodded, "I agree with you Lily, and we are doing our best to figure this out."
"Figure what out?" the man inquired, placing a calming hand over his wife's to try and ease her obvious tension.
"They don't think the attack was random." A fourth voice interrupted, drawing attention to the, up until that moment, silent and clearly apologetic Grace Riddle. "The Aurors are investigating, but if they have found anything they aren't sharing. I don't know how up to date you two are in politics but there is a piece of anti-werewolf legislation in debate right now, calling for full registrations and mandatory medical and psychological assessments."
Augustina picked up the conversation, "More than a few of our students are related to those in the Wizengamot. It would not be a stretch to assume this was a retaliatory attack."
The two parents slumped down into a pair of chairs, before the redhead sent a heated glare at the Defense Professor, opening her mouth only to be interrupted at the last possible second. "I know, I'm not sure whether to be furious at myself or not right now. On one hand what I taught Harry probably saved his life and the lives of several other students, on the other it is the reason he's still unconscious and might have led him to getting involved in the first place. I assure you; it will be keeping me awake for the next few days at least."
"Was…" Lily trailed off for a moment before gathering her courage, and pushing aside the fears of how she would be answered, to finish her question, "was Harry… assaulted?"
It didn't need to be stated what she meant, and Dumbledore was quick to shake her head, "No, nothing of the sort occurred."
It earned sighs of relief from both parents. Even with their limited knowledge of such creatures they knew in their transformed states that Lycans were more instinctive than a human would be. Hunger and lust were two of the prevailing wants, yet another reason society was so wary of them.
Silence fell for a few moments before the Headmistress let out a sigh, "Loathe as I am to ask him, I wonder if Harry could shed any light on the situation, when he awakens, I mean. If he knows what is happening perhaps, we could slip an anonymous tip or two to the Aurors.
"I'm not sure he knows this time." James replied, earning all the attention, "We talked… during the summer I mean, and I tried to guide him towards anything that might be awaiting us this year, you know just in case. He mentioned Azkaban and escapees."
"What in the world would have… It was Sirius, wasn't it?"
The man smiled for the first time since hearing the news, "Of course it was. But there shouldn't be anything like that this time around. We don't have any enemies, especially no one who would be in prison or have connections to Lycans."
Silence fell onto the room, before Riddle shook her head in disgust. "I suppose that does clear up one mystery…" The others turned towards her before she gave a sad smile, "Why else would he have learned the Patronus in his third year if not to deal with Dementors?"
****
Harry let out a groan as he awakened, chills still traveling through his body despite the multiple blankets that were piled on him. There was movement nearby, and even without his glasses he knew who sat at the side of his bed.
"Is everyone okay?"
There was a sigh, luckily not a 'worse than you think' type but more of a 'we knew you would ask that, but this still isn't okay'. "Yes, Harry, other than some minor cuts and bruises everyone else is just fine. You on the other hand almost died."
He flinched before muttering out an apology.
James Potter removed his glasses before wearily rubbing at the bridge of his nose, "We… understand Harry, why you made your decision. We know you can't just stand by and let others suffer we just…"
The older man trailed off and his wife quickly picked up the conversation, "Wish you could have done so without hurting yourself in the process."
"To be fair, I wasn't planning on it being that bad either."
Both smiled sympathetically, "Regardless, we have spoken to both Dumbledore and your Head of House. You are to take it easy, for the next few weeks. Students will remain on Hogwarts grounds, behind the safety of the wards, until the situation has been resolved."
"Situation?" He knew it had been bad, obviously, but figured it was some sort of fluke, much like the Dementor attack his own third year had been.
The two exchanged a glance and the man answered, "They don't believe this was a random attack. Whether there was a specific target or just the daughters and sons of the Wizengamot in general no one is sure. What weare sure of however is that Hogwarts is safe and there is no reason for you to be leaving the premise to go looking for trouble."
Harry frowned but nodded regardless. He had heard similar promises before and they turned out to be false which just meant he would wait and see how the year faired. If his own history was any indication, then the school wasn't as secure as everyone thought it might be.
"There is also the small issue of how public this event was. During your last two years the staff was able to hide or at least downplay your involvement. This time, however, there were too many witnesses and with you being in recovery for so long…" Lily trailed off, earning a frown from the boy.
James chose to pick up where she left off, "Let's just say you are going to be very popular this year, both with the students and their parents."
The redhead frowned before crossing her arms in annoyance, "We will deal with most of it, but there are likely to be some more formal contracts and requests coming from the families of those you protected."
"Like we said, it's nothing to worry about Harry," James said, "just focus on your recovery and studies. We will handle the rest."
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