Chapter 34: Denouement Part 1
King Ragnok, leader of the Goblin Nation within Gringotts sat behind his desk of black marble, looking over the latest findings from the Gringotts Security Division. It seemed that they had located the Goblin who, against the orders of his superiors, and against the expressed wishes their client, one Harry James Potter, had taken it upon himself to continue to deliver information on the Potter accounts to Albus Dumbledore.
Greevil had pleaded guilty to his crimes and the Goblin Court was prepared to sentence him to thirty years' hard labour in the mines. But before that could happen, Mr Potter's opinion would have to be sought on the matter. If the stories about the boy were true, it was doubtful that Mr Potter would request a harsher punishment, but it was not unknown for a Wizard to demand the death of a Goblin in cases such as these.
Thankfully this sort of thing didn't happen too often.
Suddenly there was a knock at the door and, following Ragnok's call of "Enter!" an official looking Goblin by the name of Kraguk entered.
"Your majesty," began Kraguk with a deep bow towards his king "I have just returned from the Lestrange family vault. We believe that we have located one of the items that Cyrus Greengrass warned us about."
Ragnok set his quill down, a frown marring his face as he considered this.
"This is ill news, Kraguk. That such an item could be hidden within Gringotts… We will have to organise a bank wide search for any similar artefacts. But now is not the time. I will contact Greengrass and Croaker. They will want to confirm what we have found before that abomination can be destroyed."
Two emerald green eyes followed the path of the faintly glowing wand tip as the healer moved it up and down and side to side. After a few moments the healer nodded thoughtfully and scribbled a note on the chart in his hand.
"Well," he said at last "there appears to be no lasting damage as far as I can tell. Just rest that ankle of yours and the sprain will soon heal thanks to the potion I have already given you."
"Thank you," replied Harry before asking "Did you get the report back from the mind healers yet?"
"Indeed I have," answered Healer Tofty. "And the good news is that there is absolutely no evidence that Dumbledore managed to block off any more of your memories."
"Well that's a relief," stated Harry.
"Indeed," said Healer Tofty. "In addition, there appears to have been a slight weakening in the blocks already placed in your mind. Two more mind healers will be coming in sometime tomorrow morning in order to confirm what we suspect. If we are right then it is entirely possible that we will be able to undo the obliviations in time, though doing so may well require specialist healers."
"Really?" asked Harry, unable to keep the eagerness out of his voice. "I'll get my memories back."
"It certainly looks that way, but try not to get your hopes up too much until you have been looked over again tomorrow morning. Only then will we know for sure. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go and check on a witch with the spout of a tea pot growing from where her nose should be."
Harry thanked the healer as he left the room. Of course, the healer's exit provided the signal to the group gathered outside that Harry was now free to receive visitors. Within moments of Healer Tofty leaving, they had all piled into the room and gathered around his bed.
Hannah and Sarah quickly sat in the seats closest to him on the right side of his bed while Sirius went and sat in the seat to the left, with Remus deciding to stand just behind him, near the window while Susan and Amelia were closer to the door.
"So how long was I missing for in the end?" asked Harry.
"Not even a full hour," replied Sirius. "But you still had us really worried."
"Are you sure you feel okay?" asked Sarah.
"I'm fine," replied Harry. "Apart from a bit of a headache that is. Hey, what happened with The Order?"
"Unfortunately Dumbledore was able to get away again," replied Amelia. "As far as we could tell, he used an international portkey to escape to Germany with about half of those he kidnapped from the courtroom. We sent a team after them but by the time they got there the safe house that had been set up for their arrival had been abandoned."
"Damn," muttered Harry. "Who did he manage to keep with him in the end?"
"Alastor Moody, Minerva McGonagall, Poppy Pomfrey, Elphias Doge, Dedalus Diggle and Mundungus Fletcher," said Amelia. "Everyone else is back in custody."
Harry was silent for a few moments, playing something over in his mind before he finally said "Some of them tried to help me. Snape's the one who hit me with the cruciatus curse. Shacklebolt tackled him to the ground and broke his nose. Then Flitwick, Sprout, Podmore and Vance tried arguing with Dumbledore, telling him he needed to stop. He refused to listen."
Amelia sighed and nodded before replying "Yes, they informed me of that during our questioning session. I was waiting on you to confirm it. The Wizengamot will be taking this into consideration when we cast the final verdicts tomorrow."
"Will I be alright to go and see that?" asked Harry. "I know that the healer said I need to rest, but I really want to see that bastard Snape get what's coming to him."
For a few moments no one offered up a reply, and then Remus broke the silence. "I'm afraid, Harry, that good old Severus Snape will not be receiving a trial."
"What?" demanded Harry, "Why not?"
"He died, Harry. When that house elf, Dobby, was it?" at Harry's nod Remus continued "When Dobby forced Snape and Moody away from you, Snape collided rather hard with the stone fireplace."
"He was still alive when we brought him into the hospital," added Amelia. "But he was bleeding quite badly. He didn't make it."
Harry wasn't sure what to make of this news. On the one hand he was happy, elated even that Snape would not be around anymore, never again to do the bidding of either Dumbledore or Voldemort, or to traumatise students entrusted into his care. But on the other hand, it felt oddly like Snape had escaped justice. He had avoided hearing the Wizengamot's judgement against him. He had avoided getting sent to languish in Azkaban.
Although Snape had died, he had avoided being told in advance that he would. He had avoided having to spend hours, maybe even days, dreading what was to come. He had avoided being marched off to his fate.
He had avoided having to suffer for what he had done, and Harry wasn't sure how to feel about that.
Finally he asked "Will Dobby be punished?"
"Absolutely not," replied Amelia. "He was asked to go and defend someone, which he did. That that someone is also a student of Hogwarts and Dobby is employed at Hogwarts only further protects him from retribution."
"Well, that's good," said Harry, feeling relieved. Then another thought occurred to him and he asked "What happened to Fawkes?"
"It turns out that the illustrious Albus Dumbledore had been pulling a trick there too," said Sirius.
At Harry's puzzled look Amelia explained "In truth, Fawkes was an augurey, a very different kind of magical bird. Its appearance as a phoenix is the result of decades' worth of work in the fields of transfiguration, runes, charms and possibly even potions. Your magical outburst which appears to have unlocked your memories also tore apart every enchantment the bird was subjected to. It's being examined by a magi-zoologist as we speak."
Gently, Newt Scamander lifted up the bird's left wing and ran his wand along the underside, the tip of the wand glowing brightly. A moment later he stowed away the wand and took out a tatty, leather tape measure and began measuring the length of the bones in the wing.
"Humerus bone is eight point two inches. Ulna is nine point one inches; radius is eight point seven inches."
Beside him his wife Porpentina used a quill to note down the measurements as he read them off, followed by the other wing, the bones in the legs and the length of the head and beak.
Finally he tucked the tape measure away and noted "Total span from wingtip to wingtip is seven feet and nine point two inches. Gentlemen, this is indeed an augurey."
"We had gathered that much," replied Rufus Scrimgeour, who was watching proceedings along with John Dawlish. "What we were hoping was that you could tell us how Albus Dumbledore managed to make it look like a phoenix."
Newt gave a shrug of his shoulders and replied "As to that I can only speculate, same as you. There are traces of what was done still on the bird, including rune marking on the skin. However I am no expert in those areas. If you want to find out how Dumbledore did what he did, I would suggest consulting with experts in the fields of transfiguration, charms, rune craft and possibly potions."
"I must warn you though; if you wish to find out anything you will have to keep it under the stasis charms you have already placed upon it. The true lifespan of an augurey is usually ten years, though they can sometimes go to twelve. The bird that we have here is closer to five times that age. Remove the stasis charms and its feathers will probably fall out and it'll die before the day is through."
"We've had reports," said Dawlish "Of this bird crying tears with the ability to heal."
"Yes, there are a few runes around the eyes," said Newt. "It's likely such 'tears' were leaked from them."
"But it doesn't make sense," said Scrimgeour. "The tears are known to have neutralised basilisk venom in a bite victim."
Newt looked positively intrigued by that. "Really? Well, I should like to meet the person who survived a basilisk bite. But yes, phoenix tears would have the ability to neutralise such a venom and heal the bite wound. Of course, Dumbledore would have had to procure those tears from somewhere and I am afraid that there is a bit of a black market for such things. I believe Dumbledore had at least one operative working in the seedy underside of society, if the facts reported in the Daily Prophet are correct of course."
Dawlish nodded. "Yeah. Mundungus Fletcher. He was Dumbledore's go-between, fetching dodgy potions ingredients and the like."
"Well, there's your answer then," said Newt. "Of course, phoenix tears aren't the only thing that could have healed the venom. As I recall it, Dumbledore once spent a considerable amount of time working with a certain Mr Nicolas Flamel in the field of alchemy. Flamel created a philosopher's stone, from which can be extracted the so called elixir of life.
"Assuming Dumbledore had access to either the stone or a supply of the elixir, the bird could actually have been producing that through the runes. While it would not neutralise the poison, it would actually prevent any damage from being done, heal the bite mark and leave the bitten party feeling perfectly healthy, leaving plenty of time for the correct antidote to be brewed and administered."
"That's a good theory," admitted Scrimgeour. "The only problem is that we have searched Dumbledore's office and quarters at Hogwarts from top to bottom following his arrest. We've also searched the his former office at the Ministry from when he was the Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot, and the office he was provided as Supreme Mugwump at the headquarters of the International Confederation of Wizards. We found no sign of the philosopher's stone, nor have Gringotts reported it in any of their searches of every vault Dumbledore ever had access too."
"According to reports, the only stone known to exist in recent times was destroyed a few years ago," commented Dawlish.
At that, Newt and Porpentina exchanged looks, the kind of looks that could only come from spending decades together.
"You doubt the claim?" stated Scrimgeour.
"I have no doubt that Albus Dumbledore told everyone who would listen that the stone had been destroyed," replied Newt, slowly.
"And it's likely that Nicolas and Perenelle Flamel died believing it to be true," added Porpentina.
"But you think it is likely that Dumbledore lied to them?" pressed Scrimgeour.
"Albus Dumbledore lied as often as he could in order to ensure things went his way," said Porpentina. "I certainly would not put it past the man to lie to his old colleague in order to keep the philosopher's stone for his own."
Scrimgeour nodded thoughtfully before turning his attention back to Newt and asking "Mr Scamander, perhaps you could tell me exactly what you relationship with Albus Dumbledore is, or was."
Newt sighed and drew his wand. With one flick he conjured up a comfortable looking armchair for his wife and then another for himself. As the he and his wife sat, he gestured that the two aurors do the same.
Scrimgeour and Dawlish each conjured their own seats and sat down to listen.
"At one time," began Newt "I considered Albus Dumbledore a friend. An ally. A confidant. When I first started Hogwarts, Dumbledore had not been there long, about five or six years. He taught transfiguration then and, though I was a Hufflepuff and he usually had more to do with the Gryffindors, he seemed to take an interest in me. I wasn't particularly good at transfiguration, but when the time came that I could take part in Care of Magical Creatures, he really encouraged me. He told me he saw great potential in me, that he thought I would make a great magi zoologist one day
"Then one day near the end of my sixth year, we all got outside for our lesson, only to be informed by Professor Brown that Professor Turpin was ill and that we were to take our books out and spend the lesson studying. That is when I made my mistake.
"We had been told by Professor Turpin in the previous lesson that we were going to be studying the Graphorn and I knew that Professor Turpin had had a live one brought in for us all to see. I was so sure that I knew what I was doing when I led the class over to that paddock, but because of that, Archibald Dearborn couldn't walk for the next three months. It was only the timely return of Professor Brown that prevented the Graphorn from killing Archie outright.
"Obviously I was expelled. I mean, really, how could I not have been? But Dumbledore was against it. I remember him marching into the meeting Professor Dippet was having with myself and my parents, arguing vehemently against my expulsion."
Newt paused for a moment, looking down at the floor before continuing "I was so grateful at the time to have someone on my side that I didn't even question his actions. Looking back though, in light of what has been revealed lately, it seems that I was lined up to be the first of his collection. "
"Yes," said Scrimgeour. "That does sound rather like some of the tales we had heard from the various members of The Order of the Phoenix. Did he ever ask you to join up?"
"Oh he tried," answered Newt. "But by then the bridges between us had been well and truly burnt?"
"How so?" queried Dawlish.
At that Porpentina gave a light laugh and said "Well, I suppose it all started with me. Or rather, it started with Newt's decision to marry me. Albus Dumbledore never exactly approved of me."
"Why?" pressed Scrimgeour. "Our records show that Albus' mother Kendra was an American, so I fail to see how he could object to a friend marrying an American witch."
Porpentina smiled and quipped "Ah, but it isn't the 'American' part that he had trouble with."
After allowing the two Aurors a few moments to let her statement sink in, she continued "Yes, dear Newton here goes all through Hogwarts and more than a decade after, chasing after magical beasts seemingly without any interest whatsoever in the females of his own species. Then he ventures off to New York for a couple of months and then comes back with me on his arm. Poor old Albus was most disappointed. Though admittedly, that was only the start of the breakdown of their friendship."
"What put an end to it?" inquired Dawlish, who wasn't entirely comfortable with the subject just discussed.
"Dumbledore and his publishing of the Twelve Uses for Dragon's Blood," said Newt. "I begged him not to do it. I pleaded with him. But Albus Dumbledore does what he wants with little to no regard for anyone else. 'It's for the Greater Good' he said in that insistent way of his.
"If all twelve uses were medicinal then I could understand, but only half of them are. I mean, really! Why bother advertising the fact that dragon's blood makes a good oven cleaner when a scourgify spell does the job just as well?"
"Within a year there was a massive black market in dragon blood and now, forty years later, two species, the Catalonian Fireball and the Portuguese Long-Snout are extinct while the other ten are confined to what the International Confederation of Wizards like to insist are called 'reserves' when we all know they are actually 'farms'."
"Dumbledore likes to preach about how wizards should treat our fellow magical creatures with the care and respect they deserve, but ultimately he is just as thoughtless as most."
With a flick of a wand the small golden cup floated up into the air and began to rotate. At the right angle, the image of a badger could be seen.
"What do you think?" asked Cyrus Greengrass.
Next to him Saul Croaker gave a nod. "Oh, yes. It's a horcrux alright."
"Can you be sure that it's his?" asked King Ragnok from his seat on the opposite side of his black marble desk.
"According to our investigations, a cup like this is one of the items that was reported missing by the Smith family shortly after the death of Hepzibah Smith. Assuming that the Smith family's claim of being directly descended from Helga Hufflepuff is true…"
"It is," confirmed Ragnok.
"Then it seems that we can confirm that Tom Riddle did indeed steal this from her," finished Cyrus. "It is unlikely that he would have given it to someone else, therefore it is safe to assume that the fragment of soul contained within belongs to him."
"Have you a way to destroy it?" asked Ragnok.
"Fiendfyre will do it," answered Croaker. "However, that is not an easy spell to contain once it has started."
Ragnok thought for a moment before getting out of his seat and walking around his desk.
"Come," he said. "We will take it down to one of our empty high security vaults. They are designed to survive a great deal of damage. If they won't contain the flames until they run out of things to burn, nothing will."
Harry looked up in surprise when the tawny owl swooped in through the open door of his hospital room. He watched with interest as it swooped around the room and came to land on his bedside table, between the fruit bowl and the book on occlumency that he had been reading.
Everyone else had left the room. Hannah and Susan had gone to raid the canteen. Amelia had returned to the Ministry. Sarah was off talking to a couple of healers. Sirius had said something about having some important business at Gringotts to take care of and Remus had volunteered to go with him.
The tawny owl held out its leg, presenting Harry with a small envelope, and then looked up at him expectantly. Harry took the envelope and opened it as the owl spread its wings and took off again.
Harry watched as the owl flew back out through the door before taking a piece of parchment out of the envelope and unfolding it to read the words written on it.
Dear Harry,
I hope that this letter finds you well. As you may know, in light of recent events, my father has decided to send me to attend school in China rather than remain in Britain with my family. I'm writing this in my new dorm room and will have to send it to my mother and then hope that she will send it on to you, so I don't even know if this will ever get to you.
I don't know if anybody told you, but the Ministry did manage to confirm that I was regularly being given a rather heavy dosage of lust potion during the short time since the start of the new school year. They believe that the first dose was somehow slipped to me on the Hogwarts Express, though no one can confirm this.
I believe that I have you to thank for bringing my condition to the attention of the right people. The potion was indeed keyed to you, which explains why I was all over you outside the prefects' compartment and the carriage ride up to the castle.
I also want to thank you for not taking advantage of the situation. I know that you are a well-mannered wizard, but there aren't many boys your age that would have shown the restraint that you did. I shudder to think what would have happened had the potion been keyed to someone like Theodore Nott in your year or Cormac McLaggen or Graham Montague in mine. Or, Merlin forbid, that Cassius Warrington in the year above mine.
And lastly, I want to thank you for something else. I don't know if anyone else has thanked you for it, but I know that I haven't so I will do it now. Thank you for bringing Cedric back at the end of last term. I believe what you said happened at the end of the Third Task and I understand that it must have been a huge risk for you to try and bring Cedric back with you, but, ever selfless, you did. And I sincerely thank you for it. I would have hated for him to have been left in what must surely have been a terrible place.
Well, I had better be going now. It's getting late here and I have my first day of classes tomorrow. If you want to keep in touch, my address is on the back of this piece of parchment.
Thank you again, Harry. I hope that we will be able to see each other again one day.
Yours in friendship
Cho.
With a tear building in his right eye and threatening to fall, Harry blew out a breath and muttered "Damn! I was not prepared for that!"
"Prepared for what?" asked Hannah, causing Harry to look up to see that she and Susan had just walked back into the room, arms laden with cakes, cookies and a bunch of bananas that they had gotten from the visitors' tea room on the top floor of the hospital.
"Uh, I got a letter from Cho Chang," answered Harry, holding up the letter in question.
"Oh cool," said Hannah. "Let's see!"
She snatched the letter out of Harry's hand before he could even begin to contemplate refusing and glanced over it before letting out a low whistle.
"Blimey, Harry. You sure know how to catch the eye of these foreign witches don't you?"
"Very funny," retorted Harry, snatching the letter back as Susan giggled.
He tried glaring at the two witches, but the effect was somewhat ruined by the red flush to his cheeks and the moisture build up in his eye.
"Ah, don't worry Harry," said Hannah, keeping up her teasing tone as she threw one arm around his shoulders in a hug. "One day you will meet a nice girl who will decide to stay with you rather than retreat to Asia."
Without breaking his less than threatening glare at the blonde girl Harry asked "Susan, you know the rule that says boys can't hex girls?"
"Yup," the redhead replied.
"Are exceptions made for when the girl in question is being very mean to the boy?"
"Nope." responded Susan.
"Damn…" muttered Harry. "Are you sure? Even if it's not too serious? I'm thinking like a pimples hex or something."
Susan tapped her chin thoughtfully before answering "Well, there isn't really a rule that says boys can't hex girls; it's just a matter of good manners. But seeing as we are outside of school you could technically still get into trouble for using magic while underage."
"Damn…" muttered Harry again as Susan and Hannah giggled.
"Keep it up and I'll give you a strike, Prefect Abbott."
Hannah pouted "Come on Harry. That's just mean. You know that with Padma gone I'm your favourite prefect."
"Oh, I don't know about that," retorted Harry, seizing on the opportunity to get in a little teasing of his own. "Pansy Parkinson's not so bad now that she's growing into that nose of hers."
Hannah gasped in shock and then slapped Harry on the arm. "Don't you dare ever compare me unfavourably to that pug faced cow again, Harry Potter!"
Harry was laughing as Hannah attempted to whack him again. "Okay, okay. Fine. You're better than Pansy, okay?"
Hannah straightened herself up and crossed her arms. "That's better."
A grin tugged at the corners of Harry's mouth and he couldn't resist adding "But I will point out that I did recently have to replace Draco Malfoy with one Daphne Greengrass and, I mean, have you seen those legs she's got?"
Hannah glared at him but quickly turned it onto her best friend when Susan commented "He has kind of got you there, Han. That girl's got the kind of legs that go on and on forever."
"Yeah," agreed Harry. "Well, not forever, obviously. They do end. In fact they come off of the ground and up and up and up until they are replaced by what has to be the loveliest bottom I've ever seen - OUCH!"
Harry's monologue about the finer things regarding Daphne Greengrass came to an end when Hannah punched him in the shoulder.
"Oh, come on Hannah," he protested. "I'm just messing with you. You've clearly got your own thing going. I mean come on; Neville obviously likes what he sees when he looks at you."
"Damn right he does," confirmed Hannah. "Which is why I don't want you making comments like that about Daphne bloody Greengrass or anyone else for that matter. Especially not when Neville is around. I can't have him realising that there are other girls out there before I'm ready to make him mine."
"When are you going to make him yours?" teased Susan.
"About the same time you make Eddie Carmichael yours," retorted Hannah.
Susan blushed but replied "Yeah, well, I have an obstacle to get over in that Eddie already has a girlfriend. What's your excuse?"
Clearly getting flustered now, Hannah floundered for a moment as she searched for a retort, before finally settling on "It's tradition for the boy to ask out the girl."
"Who gives a crap about tradition?" responded Susan. "I say you should be a modern, empowered woman who goes after the man she wants. That's what Padma did with Harry."
He wasn't quite sure, but for some reason Harry felt like his masculinity had just been called into question, prompting him to feel the need to remark "Technically Padma just asked if I wanted to hang out with her. I'm the one who turned it into an actual date."
Neither girl said anything in reply, but both of them did give him a look that quite plainly said "Oh, do be quiet you silly boy."
Three goblin warriors slammed the vault door shut with a heavy clang and the guard sealed it even as the flames within roared with intensity.
The four goblins then stepped back to stand beside their king and the two wizards.
All waited with bated breath and grew anxious as the door began to glow with a pale orange light.
The two wizards raised their wands instinctively, but the glow faded and the roaring sound of flames within grew fainter and fainter until they were drowned out by a terrifying scream that was abruptly cut off moments after it started.
A minute passed.
Two.
The wizards exchanged looks and nodded to the Goblin King.
Ragnok gestured to the guard who approached the door and unlocked it. The three warriors raised their shields as the heavy door swung open, but nothing happened.
The flames had burnt themselves out, and all that was left of the cup of Helga Hufflepuff was a small, charred patch on the floor of the vault. Not even a glimmer of gold remained.
Another of Lord Voldemort's horcruxes had been destroyed.
Harry's lunch with Hannah and Susan was interrupted by a knock at the door, prompting Harry to look around just as Sirius poked his head through the door.
"Harry," the man said, jovially. "You got a few minutes? I've got a couple of people out here who would like to talk to you."
"Uh, yeah, sure." replied Harry.
Sirius pushed the door open more and gestured to someone outside. A moment later, Ron and Hermione walked into the room, both looking a little unsure of themselves.
"Alright mate?" began Ron.
"Yeah, not bad," replied Harry, who was distracted a moment later when he felt his mattress suddenly rise a little bit. Looking around he saw that both Hannah and Susan had gotten off of the bed and were retreating to the opposite corner of the room, presumably to give Harry a little space to talk with the newcomers.
Turning back to the duo, Harry searched for a way to get some kind of conversation going.
Finally he settled on "So, Hermione, I believe I have you to thank for sending Dobby after me."
Hermione nodded her head, but seemingly could not bring herself to look up at him. Harry had never known her to be so quiet.
"Well, Dobby arrived at just the right time. Dumbledore was about to take be off somewhere else. If Dobby hadn't turned up when he did, I could be in a completely different country by-"
"I'm sorry!" Hermione blurted out suddenly.
"Wha-?" Harry asked.
"I'm sorry. I should never have listened to Dumbledore. I thought he had your best interests at heart but clearly he didn't. I'm so, so sorry." Hermione said all this in a rush, almost as one word.
"Yeah, mate," added Ron. "We didn't what he was up to. I mean, he's Dumbledore, you know?"
Harry sighed and nodded.
He did know.
He didn't like to admit it, but there was a time when Harry himself would have done a lot of things without thinking, simply because Dumbledore had asked him to. In fact, if he thought about it, there were a lot of things he had not done, simply because of his misplaced faith in Dumbledore – most notable, not questioning things at Hogwarts; not questioning the supposed safety of the castle despite a plethora of evidence against such a statement, not calling out certain members of staff on their biased behaviour or their downright incompetence…
But he's Dumbledore… How many times had Harry reassured himself over the last few years by repeating that assertion in his mind?
Harry wondered what would have happened had he never begun to question things. Why, he might have ended up walking alone and unarmed to a death at Voldemort's hand based on one of Dumbledore's half-baked theories.
He took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes wearily before placing them back on his face and saying "Look guys, I've been doing some thinking. Ron, do you remember what Dumbledore told your parents just after we rescued Ginny from the Chamber of Secrets?"
Ron shook his head.
Harry continued "He said 'There will be no punishment. Older and wiser wizards than she have been hoodwinked by Lord Voldemort.' And given what has come to light through recent events, I think that it is fair to say that a similar statement can easily be applied to you two; clearly, older and wiser wizards than the two of you were hoodwinked by Albus Dumbledore. People from all walks of life, whether they work in the Ministry, in Hogwarts, in Gringotts, in a shop in Diagon Alley, or are a stay at home parent, fell for the myth, the legend that Dumbledore spent decades propagating for himself."
There was a pause before Hermione looked up and asked "So, you're not mad at us anymore?"
Harry gave a wry smile and replied "No. I'm not mad anymore."
A moment later, he was flat on his back, a sobbing Hermione crying into his shoulder.
Ron cleared his throat awkwardly and said "Thanks mate. Glad we can be friends again."
Harry grinned at the red head as he reached for the box of tissues that sat on his bedside table. Hermione took them gratefully as she got off at him and began dabbing at her eyes with one of the tissues.
"So," said Harry, looking to change the subject a little "Are you two going to be joining those going to Waxwings?"
Hermione nodded and said "Yes. It'll be really interesting to see what it's like there after four years of Hogwarts. I hope the library is good."
"Never mind the library," said Ron. "I wanna see what their Quidditch Pitch is like. Did you know that their teams play in at least one match every month rather than once a term like Hogwarts?"
"No kidding," said Harry. "What about your prefect's positions? I'm supposed to be helping everyone settle in and I'm really going to need the prefects' help on that."
"Of course, Harry," said Hermione, emphatically. "Any help you need, I'll be right there."
Ron, meanwhile, shuffled awkwardly as Hermione answered before saying "Actually, Harry, I wanted to talk about that. See, I don't really think that this prefect thing is for me. I mean, I know that for some people it's great and they get a real kick out of it, but it takes up so much time and I don't feel like you really get anything back for it. Plus, when we get to Waxwings I really want to get on one of their Quidditch teams and I know I'll have to practice a lot just to get onto the team, and once I do get on the team I'll need to practice a lot so I can stay on the team… you understand right, mate?"
Harry grinned and nodded. "Yeah, Ron, I get it. I really do. If you want to make it as a Quidditch player, then you're going to have to commit to it. And it that means stopping being a prefect, then so be it."
Ron returned the grin "Thanks mate."
Harry turned to Hermione, who was now sitting on his right. "Ok Hermione, first thing I need your help with; new prefects. Most of our former professors are not in eligible to appoint anyone as a prefect, while Professor Umbridge has not been there long enough to form an accurate opinion of most of the students."
He turned towards the corner of the room where Hannah and Susan were sitting quietly. "Hannah, I'm going to need your help with this too."
"Sure," she replied, getting up and joining them.
"Ah… I'll just head home," said Susan. "Let you get on with your work." Left unsaid was "before you rope me in as well!"
"Yeah, I'm gonna head home too," said Ron, following Susan out the room.
"I'd better make sure that he gets home safe," said Sirius, getting up from his armchair. "His mother will lynch me if he somehow gets lost in the floo network or something."
Harry, Hermione and Hannah called "goodbye" after them as Harry took a piece of parchment and a quill off of his bedside table and began making notes.
"Right," Harry began, "So far the only replacements came when I had to kick out Malfoy. A review by Professor Sinistra eliminated all the other fifth year boys so instead the role was taken by Daphne Greengrass. Following this latest fiasco, Cho Chang has been sent by her parents to a school in China and Padma Patil is now attending a school in India. With Ron resigning, we now have three prefect positions to fill."
"Have you heard from any of the other prefects?" asked Hermione. "I know that there are some parents who were making alternative arrangements to Waxwings for their children. A prefect could easily be lost in the shuffle."
"Damn, you're right," said Harry, before reaching for his bedside table once again and taking more parchment in hand. "So, here's what we're gonna do. I'm going to write to all the students who held prefect positions before everything went to hell. If they're coming to Waxwings then great, if not, I'll wish them well and ask that they return their badge so that other arrangements can be made for the position. While I'm doing that, I need you two to draw up a list of potential candidates for Ron, Padma and Cho's positions and try and work out who would be best. For Padma's spot I was sort of thinking Lisa Turpin, and then maybe Neville for Ron's spot, but I'll leave it up to you. I never really got to know Cho's dorm mates, so I don't know who to suggest there."
"I don't know those girls too well," said Hermione. "But I would like to offer a veto for Marietta Edgecombe. She has a bit of a reputation for being a bully."
"I second that," agreed Hannah. "But Harry, are you sure you should be worrying about this right now? The healer said you need rest."
"I need to rest my ankle, Hannah," replied Harry. "My hands still work fine. Besides, doing this will help take my mind off of the ache.
"Fine, just don't overdo it. That'll only get mum annoyed."
Hermione frowned and asked "Why would your mum get annoyed about that?"
"Because she's my Godmother and has decided to make up for the fact that she hasn't been able to raise me for the last thirteen years like my mother wanted her to." explained Harry.
"Oh, that's right," said Hermione. "They mentioned that during the trials didn't they? There was just so much information being thrown around, it didn't all sink in even with me. It must be nice having one of your mother's friends around."
"It is," answered Harry. "It's gonna be great living with her from now on."
Hermione seemed to pause just for a moment before asking for clarification "You're going to be living with the Abbotts?"
"Yeah. Why wouldn't I?"
Hermione bit her lip before answering "Does Sirius know?"
"Oh shite!" groaned Harry. "How the hell am I gonna tell him?"
Hannah glanced up at the door and said "I'm guessing that you're not gonna have to."
Harry looked around and saw that Sirius was standing in the doorway, having returned from making sure that Ron got home safely.
He groaned and buried his face in his hands, wondering how best to deal with this situation.
A/N: A denouement? Er, yes. Don't worry, the story is not over. Far from it, in fact.
The simple fact is that, with this story having gone on for so long, and likely to continue for a long time yet, I have taken the decision to break it up into separate novels.
It is likely that this one, which is the first book of the series (I say series, I don't really know how many there will be, so the second could also be the last) may get renamed. Despite the title, Harry was only ever a Student Advisor and never got around to actually becoming the Junior Inquisitor suggested by the title. So I may rename this one the "Student Advisor" Book and then the next the "Junior Inquisitor" book and then refer to it as the "Junior Inquisitor Series" – but that's not set in stone.
There is also another reason for my breaking the story into parts. As I am sure many of you have become aware, updates for this story have become rather few and far between over the last year and a half. This is due in no small part to the fact that I am attending a college course (which I'm sure I have mentioned several times) – the workload isn't all that huge, but the problem is that once I spend several hours writing answers for questions based on health and safety in the workplace, sports turf drainage and irrigation techniques and how to control pests and diseases in plants, the absolute last thing I want to do is sit down and write a story, no matter how much a love doing it.
Anyway, the point is that the last day of lessons for the course is in about two weeks. From then on I have until October to get everything done (that means gathering evidence of practical knowledge at work, writing candidate reports and filling out all the assigned question sheets, handing it all in to be marked, getting it back from the instructors so as to identify any areas where I am not yet competent, improve my understanding where needed and hand it all back) – basically I've got a lot of written work to do over the summer.
Anyway, this really means that I won't have a huge amount of time to focus on a large-scale story like this one. That doesn't mean I will be giving up writing for that period of time. I still enjoy the process, but I have to prioritise, so any writing done will likely be one-shots until such a time that I can devote the time and attention that this story deserves.
If I can get on with the next book earlier, I will, if not then it will have to be October. Sorry if that annoys everyone, but work beats hobby. And this is a hobby, no matter what certain reviewers may think – demand updates all you want, if I don't have the time or energy, I won't be writing.
Got a little off topic there…
I decided to end with a denouement of sorts, just to round off certain threads of the story and make sure that all of you know where things stand right now. However, the chapter was getting so long that I have decided to break it into two parts. Part 2 should be up by Monday.
As a side note, I know that there will be some of you who are pissed that Harry has accepted Ron and Hermione's apologies. All I can say is that it isn't just me being cheap with it. It has sort of become essential for Harry to do so. It's like Harry says – people from all walks of life, from the highest to the lowest, including Harry himself, have all at some time or another fallen into the trap of Dumbledore's web of lies and manipulations - it would be wrong for Harry to be friendly with Sirius and Remus while rejecting Ron and Hermione.
Anyway, I do have some story lines planned for the pair, ones that I hope you will enjoy. Getting them on Harry's side will allow those story lines to progress (as well as a smaller side story for some of the other Weasleys which will be linked to improvements at Hogwarts) – Anyway, that's all to come in book two.
The last chapter should round off a couple more threads, including the sentencing part of The Order Trials, Harry and Sirius discussing Harry's living arrangements, a check in with Voldemort, a check in with Dumbledore, Harry getting back the last of the possessions Dumbledore kept from him and, at long last, addressing the issue of the students who were abandoned by their Death Eater parents (yes, Vincent Crabbe, Gregory Goyle, Theodore Nott and others are still stuck in limbo at the Ministry)
So that's it. Any questions, feel free to ask. And look out for Denouement Part 2 coming very, very soon!