DISCLAIMER:
See
A/N: Just in case any
of you are
wondering now, this chapter title has nothing to do with the awesome
story by
Dauphin, which is like the original “Harry in Slytherin” story.
Also, the quote below
by
Michiavelli is paraphrased to how I know it as.
CHAPTER 40: LET HISTORY REPEAT ITSELF
Mihi laborandum est ne praemia perfidiae habeant. I must take great pains that they do not get a reward for their treachery. –Livy, ab Urbe Condita (30.31.3)
“You seem somewhat familiar.
Have I threatened you before?” –Jack Sparrow, Pirates
of the
“Those who fail to learn the lessons of history are doomed to repeat it.” –Michiavelli
It was a bright
morning on Monday,
April 20, with rich blue skies and scudding fluffy clouds. (1)
While it may have looked beautiful at first sight, it would end
up being one of the worst days of Harry's life.
"Good morning, Gin," he thought-spoke to her.
"'Morning, Harry," she sleepily replied.
On the way down to the kitchens (he had his trunk with him, so he could
stock
up), he met up with Peeves.
After ducking into a corner, Peeves became Benjamin and said, "Good
news,
Harry. Last night, I was zipping all over the world to recruit other
poltergeists for the cause. Dumbledore's orders."
Harry raised an eyebrow and grinned. "This should be amusing."
"Yes indeed." Changing back to Peeves, he bounced out towards the
classrooms in the dungeons. Harry resumed his trek towards the
kitchens, and
after restocking his trunk with food, he went back to his dorm room.
For some
reason, he didn't feel like doing things the normal way today.
If only he did, or maybe he had taken a different route to and from the
kitchens, he would have heard the events that would rapidly send his
life
downhill.
~*~*~*~
McGonagall was doing some work at her desk before going down to
breakfast when
Katie Bell burst in, clutching the stitch in her chest for breath.
"Professor," he gasped out, "Something – terrible's –
happened..."
McGonagall stood up right away, wand ready. "Show me, Miss Bell."
Nodding, Katie led her to Moaning Myrtle's bathroom, one floor below.
The sight
that greeted the Transfiguration professor was one that she would never
forget.
"Merciful Heavens!" she exclaimed. There was blood all over the
floor, littered with ripped robes, a dilapidated hat, among a few other
accessories. A couple of the stalls were damaged as though by a
struggle. The
entrance to the Chamber of Secrets was wide open, with the following
message
written overheard in blood: IT'S OPEN YET AGAIN. BE VERY AFRAID.
"Minerva?" asked a voice from behind her. "What's the
matter?" It was Dumbledore. The Headmaster immediately frowned at the
sight and went rather white.
"I checked already," Katie said, after quickly regaining his breath,
"No one's in any of the stalls. I didn't go down the pipe, either,
since I
didn't know what to do. I noticed the blood dripping outside from
beyond the
door-" Katie pointed to it "-and I took a look."
"Minerva, call the Aurors," Dumbledore said. Minerva nodded curtly and
left while Katie stood there, waiting for more.
A few minutes later, the Aurors came and surveyed the scene. After
using spells
to detect magic, one of them had determined that strangely, no magic
had been
used whatsoever in the assault, probably for the person to cover his or
her
tracks. They sampled the blood and took a look at the witch's hat,
which was
Judy Arnold's. While all of this was being photographed for evidence, a
pair of
Aurors carefully slid down the pipe leading to the Chamber of Secrets.
The
trail of blood continued until it got smaller and eventually
disappeared. There
were traces of a Portkey leading out of there, meaning that the body
could be
elsewhere.
Dumbledore called for the students to return to their dormitories as
soon as possible,
and everyone passed, wondering what had happened. After the sound of
worried
footsteps and voices passed, one Auror came forward with the hat, which
had
somehow avoided being splattered in blood. "Headmaster," he said
urgently, "I just scanned this blood; it all belongs to Miss Judy
Arnold
of Gryffindor, as does the hat. One problem, sir: There's more blood
here than
a girl of her age can lose and still be alive."
There was silence as the Aurors all gathered, including those from the
pipe, as
the implications sunk in. "Does that mean she's dead?"
Dumbledore thought this over. "Miss Arnold was never one for Potions. I
don't think it could have been faked with a Blood Replenishing Potion,
and even
if that were the case, it would show up in the blood." He bowed his
head.
"Something tells me this scene of the crime has been staged. Something
doesn't fit, I just know it."
Percy Weasley, who had been working with this group of Aurors, suddenly
let out
an exclamation of shock and surprise. "Guess what I just found," he
declared with relish, picking up a wild strand of black hair.
~*~*~*~
As everyone rushed back into the Slytherin common room to see what the
commotion was, Harry looked alarmed; he had rushed back because he
heard
something about a crisis with the Chamber of Secrets, and decided it
would be
best to seek his guardian in this situation. Eventually, the story came
through
as Professor Snape walked in.
"There was a struggle in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom, where the entrance
to
the Chamber of Secrets is. It would appear as though Miss Judy Arnold
of
Gryffindor was murdered there. There's so much blood all over that
place, it's
unlikely she could have survived."
There was more gasping and muttering, when Snape continued, "The
Chamber
of Secrets was also opened again, and the trail of blood leads down
there and
vanishes."
Almost everyone looked worried now. Finally, Harry spoke up. "Well, I
certainly didn't do it. But Riddle's diary was destroyed. Unless he
made a
second one, or..." his voice trailed off as he went over the
possibilities
in his head. "Well, there could be other Dark objects that could
somehow
use Parseltongue, and not just the diary."
"There definitely are other objects like that in existence,"
Draco-as-Roy confirmed.
"Obviously, Mr. Potter and Mr. Serpenfils," Snape said slowly,
"The whole scene could be staged. The Headmaster has even managed to
procure his own photos of the scene of the crime. We may be able to
examine
this later."
"Or you all let us do our business without a fight," declared a voice
as the entrance to the Slytherin common room opened again. Percy
Weasley strode
in, flanked by a few Aurors.
"What's going on here, Mr. Weasley?" Snape growled, going for his
wand. The Slytherins took heart at the sight of their Head defending
his
students.
"Why don't you tell us?" Percy challenged him mockingly. "It's
obvious that somebody in this room
has something to do with it."
"Ah yes," Snape drawled. "The whole 'Slytherins are evil'
theory. If I recall correctly, your pet rat, Pettigrew, was a
Gryffindor, and
yet that didn't stop him from helping to bring on this Second War."
This
caused a few Slytherins to chuckle.
Percy twitched uncomfortably at the sight of his old Potions professor,
especially as Snape was giving him one of the meanest glares anyone
could
remember.
Percy broke off eye contact and found Harry, standing next to Neville
and
Blaise. "Mr. Potter," Percy said, walking up to him. "It's been
a while."
"What do you want?" Harry asked him, trying to stare Percy down.
Percy felt a tiny jolt at being the target of those poisonous green
eyes, but
quickly shrugged it off.
"Guess what I found?" Percy said smugly. "Somebody's hair found
at the scene of the crime. One of your
hairs, Mr. Potter."
Harry shrugged it off as a few people gasped. "And did it occur to you
at
any point in that sponge of yours you call a brain that maybe it could
have
been planted?"
"Watch who you're talking to," Percy snarled.
"I could say the same to you, you power-mad lunatic," Harry said
evenly.
The Slytherins slowly backed up, almost sensing the power and tension
between
them.
The Aurors made to advance, but Percy told them with a motion of his
arm to
stand down. Percy started to pace around Harry, as though trying to put
the
younger wizard on edge. "Strange how you always end up being at the
center
of all these problems," Percy commented, apparently trying to savor his
supposed moment of victory.
"You try having Voldemort on your trail for your entire life," Harry
replied. "You'd last nowhere as long as me."
Percy laughed without mirth. "I'm one of the most important people in
the
Ministry, and I don't see anyone trying to kill me."
"Then he's obviously using you or waiting to strike," Harry warned
him. "Do you really have no common sense whatsoever? Are your memory
and
your sight really that selective, erasing any unpleasant things that
you don't
want to acknowledge? Percy, you might be academically intelligent, but
when it
comes to common sense and working with other people, you don't know
what the
hell you're doing."
Percy stopped and glared at Harry. Harry saw Draco slowly walking to
the
Slytherin dormitories behind everyone's back; no one saw him, because
everyone's sight was transfixed on the verbal conflict in front of
them. Just
then, his attention was drawn back to what Percy was saying: "At least
I'm
smart enough to know the position I'm in. I'm the one leading this
investigation, and you, Potter, are under arrest."
The Auror's wands shot up to Stun him just as Harry became a phoenix.
Everyone
ducked at the same moment the Stunners rebounded and shot into the
ceiling as
Harry made to fire-travel out, when suddenly, he felt a surge of power
shoot
through his body, weakening him. With a high- pitched screech of pain,
he fell
back down to the floor, sprawled out as a human again.
Percy towered over him, the tip of his wand pointing at Harry and
glowing.
"Nice try, Potter," he said smugly. "No phoenix, no lion, no
fire elementalist abilities, and any bonds you might have had with
other people
have just been negated."
Harry felt another surge of panic, and he knew Snape felt it too; now
his
connection with Ginny had just been severed!
"No more tricks, no more attempts to escape," Percy said, victory
blooming fanatically in his eyes. "Just you, in a miserable little jail
cell for the rest of your life."
"What?" Harry shot back. "No trial? I'm sure your beloved boss
Crouch was acting like this when he sent Sirius to Azkaban without a
trial."
For the first time that morning, it was Percy's turn to look confused.
Harry
laughed victoriously as he gingerly got himself back up. "You knew,
didn't
you?" he asked mockingly. "Honorable, powerful Barty Crouch Sr.
didn't even give Sirius a trial. Ironic, isn't it? He sends my innocent
godfather to prison without a trial, and yet he gives his own guilty
son a
trial, only to break him out of Azkaban a year later. Is this really
the kind
of man you idolize, Percy? Well, as far as I'm concerned, you're as
corrupt,
greedy, vile, hell-bent, and power-hungry as Crouch was."
Those words struck home as Percy's eyes widened in outrage and his fist
went
flying at Harry's face. Harry blocked it and twisted the redhead's arm
aside,
and sent Percy tumbling to the floor with a sweep of his foot.
An Auror leapt at Harry and pinned him to the floor, confiscating his
wand.
"Not your day, Potter," he hissed. Another Auror dragged Harry up and
put enchanted handcuffs on him.
Percy rubbed his side, but looking triumphant all the same. "Nice try,
Potter, but not good enough."
Harry shook his head with disgust. "Percy, are you really this stupid
as
to let history repeat itself?" (2)
Percy's triumphant smirked vanished in an instant. "I know what I'm
doing."
"I'm sure you said the same thing when you turned your back on your
family
last year."
Percy could almost be heard growling. "Take him away," he spat to the
Aurors, who marched Harry towards the door.
Snape intervened. "Why not use Veritaserum?" he challenged them.
"That's what it's for."
One of the Aurors scoffed. "And you probably altered it!"
"Veritaserum can't be tampered with," Snape told him, his dark glare
set at record levels.
"It doesn't matter, because he's under arrest anyway," Percy said
impatiently, obviously wanting to do this.
Just then, Mark Evans' voice came from the back of the room: "It's bad
luck to attack Harry Potter."
Harry smirked a little at Percy as the redhead sneered at the direction
in
which the voice came.
"Take him already," Percy said curtly to the Aurors. With a Portkey,
Harry vanished along with them. The last thing that Snape saw on
Harry's face
was an expression, which basically said, "Please
come get me as soon as you can."
~*~*~*~
Dumbledore sighed in his office. Harry was being taken away by Aurors.
At least
the Ministry didn't use dementors to guard prisoners, mainly since
there
weren't any left to control. Part of that was because of Voldemort's
control
over them, and part of it was because Harry had already destroyed quite
a
handful of them.
The headmaster paled when he remembered the reactions of his
colleagues.
McGonagall, Hagrid, and Lupin in particular were having conflicting
issues: On
one hand, they believed in Harry and knew he wouldn’t do such a thing;
on the
other hand, the evidence looked too strong to turn away, and the fact
it played
on their memories with treacherous former students such as Tom Riddle
and Peter
Pettigrew.
And then there was the reaction of the Minister himself. Dumbledore
knew that
Amos Diggory was a fair, honest, and decent man, although the incident
played
upon his memories with the death of his son, Cedric.
Finally, there was the fact that Harry was the only one who could kill
Voldemort. Well, sooner or later, Dumbledore would have to find a way
to get
Harry out and vanquish Voldemort forever.
Dumbledore tried not
to worry, for
a few good reasons. First of all, there
were no dementors, a plus for Harry.
Next, he was only arrested,
and not convicted, so there was still
a chance to prove his innocence, once a date for a trial was set.
~*~*~*~
Rumors raced through the Gryffindor common room as Ginny felt nervous.
She
couldn't get in contact with Harry at all; was the connection somehow
severed?
Just then, McGonagall came in, looking very old all of a sudden. In
Ginny's
opinion, that was saying a lot, since everyone knew that McGongall was
about
seventy, when at her best, she looked she was in her forties.
"Classes are cancelled today, in order to conduct a memorial service
for
Miss Arnold." She paused as sobbing was heard from Katie Bell, who was
deeply disturbed by the fact that she would never see one of her
friends ever
again (she was also troubled by having discovered the murder scene to
begin
with).
"Did they find out who did it?" one student asked.
McGonagall didn't want to say it; saying it would make it irreversible.
"I know who did it," said a familiar voice from behind her. Percy
Weasley climbed in, looked pained yet triumphant. "Harry bloody Potter
killed her. He's now on his way to new Azkaban for the rest of his
life."
The “Harry-hating” students’ faces lit up as speculations began to
circulate.
Ginny looked upset, while Ron and Hermione looked ready to pounce on
Percy.
“What about a trial?”
Hermione
challenged him.
“We don’t need one,”
Percy said,
looking smug and waving it off. “We have
enough evidence.”
“What if you
were framed, Percy?” Ron spat.
“Wouldn’t you want a fair chance to defend yourself?”
"Just like Potter said himself," Percy gloated, "Dark wizards
don't belong in Slytherin, because they don't belong in Hogwarts at
all."
“Neither do you!” Ron
yelled,
pointing his finger in Percy’s face.
“One way or another, you’ve done nothing to but tear apart our
family
and vilify Harry ever since you’ve left this school!
The only thing stopping Mum and Dad from
disowning you is the fact they want to forgive you so damn badly!”
“Don’t even say that,”
Percy said
in a quiet tone. “I’m your brother,
unlike Potter-”
That was the final
straw; even Hermione’s
pleading for nonviolence did nothing to stop Ron’s temper.
With a roar of fury that would have scared
most of Hagrid’s more monstrous pets, Ron lunged at Percy, trying to
choke him
and make him shut up, along with spluttering some obscenities that made
not a
few other people blush.
With a wail of horror and a scream at Percy for him to shut up, Ginny
fled up
the stairs and back to her dormitory.
As Ginny moaned into her pillow in her room, she realized something.
There
weren't any dementors left under Ministry control.
But that didn't mean she would simply let Harry stay in there; he would
do the
same thing for her, and come after her as soon as possible. She would
find some
way to prove how wrong everyone was.
And woe betide anyone who dare get in her way.
Back down in the
common room,
Percy said almost like scolding in a pompous tone, “Look, Ron, you made
Ginny
upset…”
A moment later,
Percy’s glasses
were on the floor because Ron’s fist had replaced them on his face. Ron was trying to pummel Percy, ranting about
how he had it in for Harry and couldn’t leave him alone, how he was
such a jerk
who only thought of himself, how he was ruining the entire family… in
the end,
Hermione, Neville, Dean and Seamus had to drag Ron off before he
seriously hurt
Percy to the point of seeing Madam Pomfrey.
~*~*~*~
By lunchtime, news had raced through the entire school. If people
weren't so
busy discussing this turn of events, they would have noticed one person
missing
from the crowd: Roy Serpenfils.
Draco had retrieved Harry's trunk by sneaking into his Gryffindor
dormitory (an
unbelievably easy task, as all the Gryffindors were back in the common
room),
and took it back to
"Indeed," Draco agreed. He then disappeared, and a moment alter,
returned with Ardeavis and Nemorphus, who were also disgusted at the
situation.
"Will both of you help me?" he asked them (which he said in
Parseltongue, because he was facing the Runespoor when he said it).
"Damn right we will!" all three heads declared in unison. (3)
"Naturally," Ardeavis said with a chirp.
Draco returned to his dormitory after that. He then sought out Snape in
the
Great Hall, who wasn't eating because he was so disgusted.
"I can tell that Harry's innocent," he muttered. "Send messages
to Ginny, Cho, Luna, and Susan, while I'll talk to Blaise, Neville,
Tracey,
Pansy, Nora, Daphne and Mark; we should meet later in your office to
figure out
how to prove his innocence."
Snape nodded wordlessly, and with that, Draco went to the Slytherin
table to
find his aforementioned classmates.
~*~*~*~
A special memorial service replaced afternoon classes, as people
attended to
hear about Judy Arnold. Katie cried with her friends trying to comfort
her,
while the “Harry-haters” tried to do a good job at looking like the
victims.
Within an hour, reporters printed a special edition for the Daily
Prophet about
the news of Harry being responsible for
Back in the castle after the service, the “Harry-haters” had a sort of
celebration over Harry's arrest, held in one of the courtyards. Dolls
of him
were hung and burned and butterbeers were passed around, but that all
came to
halt when a furious Ron fired several Bat Bogey Hexes at them before
Hermione
could soothe him. (4)
And the whole time, Ginny was in her dormitory, huddled on her bed with
Silencing Charms all over the place, muttering to herself, "Harry's
innocent, Harry's innocent, Harry's innocent..."
~*~*~*~
Harry, in the meantime, was taken to some dank, underground place that
resembled a bunker. After being marched down two flights of stairs,
they were
at what looked like the bottommost level of the complex.
'Why are there no other prisoners on this level?' Harry wondered, just
as he
was being led to a cell around a corner and at the end of the hall.
Something
about this particular cell gave the impression that it wasn't supposed
to be
like the rest.
As one Auror magically unlocked and opened the door, Harry was roughly
tossed
in. The room was damp and bare, except for a ragged curtain in a corner
with a
toilet behind it in one corner and an uncomfortable- looking bed in
another.
There were only a few torches, which gave light to the room.
As the door shut behind him, Harry felt his gloom deepen. He was stuck
with no
way out. He only hoped that someone would help him out soon.
Standing in the center was a familiar-looking man. Silvery hair and
glasses
crowned his facial features.
"Long time, no see, Mr. Potter," he drawled in a very Malfoy-ish way.
"Why do you seem so familiar?" Harry asked suspiciously.
"Because I'm Joseph Cornwall, so-called Scribe to the Ministry of
Magic," he gloated. (5)
Harry's jaw dropped. “You?”
"And I suppose you hate me because you work for Voldemort, right?" he
asked in an exasperated tone.
"Right in one, Mr. Potter," he smirked. "I also happen to be an
old friend of Ms. Umbridge. I also don't appreciate how you bring such
shame to
the Ministry."
"Hmph," Harry scoffed. "Not my fault that a lot of your
colleagues are power-hungry bureaucrats who don't want to do actual
work, like they’re supposed to."
"Sirius was innocent, you idiot!" Harry hissed, waving his fist.
What was this guy playing at? Harry thought, his curiosity gnawing at
him now.
"As I'm sure you're aware, Potter,"
"So, like Fudge, he didn't want to do any work?" Harry snarled, about
ready to rip this man apart with his bare hands.
"You're missing the big picture, Potter,"
"You sick, totalitarian loony," Harry said disgustingly. "Once
I'm out of here, you're in deep-"
"I don't think so,"
"Time will tell, and be careful,
Harry buckled from the unthinkable pain, and was soon on all fours,
trying to
keep himself up. After
"Can't handle it?"
"Fuck you," Harry muttered.
"Death Eaters?" Harry mocked him, not trying to give this man credit
at weakening him.
"Good guess, but that's not it. They don't need masks... not much to
hide..."
As
~*~*~*~
Later at 8:00, Snape met with several students in his office, mostly
his own
sixth-year Slytherins. The others were Ginny, Neville, Cho, Luna, and
Susan.
The only student who wasn't a sixth- or seventh-year was Mark Evans.
"Good evening," Snape drawled, securing his office against all forms
of intruders and eavesdroppers. "As you are all obviously well aware,
Mr.
Potter was framed for the murder of Judy Arnold. We are here to prove
his
innocence, based on photographic evidence I have managed to acquire."
As he took out the photos from an envelope, Mark looked them over. With
each
picture he flipped through, his smirk broadened.
"What is it?" Ginny asked. Mark looked up at her with a smile and
said, "I just realized something. But in order to show you, we need to
recreate the scene of the crime."
"I know where," Snape said. "Come with me."
Ten minutes later, they were in the Room of Requirement, which had set
itself
up to recreate the girls' bathroom where the entrance to the Chamber of
Secrets
was.
"All of this looks relatively easy to recreate," Mark said. "The
Aurors said that no magic had been used, probably for the culprit to
cover his
or her trail, but being one of the few half-bloods in Slytherin, I know
plenty of things about Muggle forensics,
which the Aurors probably don't know much about..."
Fifteen minutes later, all of the students were able to recreate the
scene in
the bathroom, based on the photos provided.
"Just as I thought," Mark said smugly. "There's still the issue
of the amount of blood, which if Judy Arnold really did
lose, would have caused her to go into irreversible shock and
die..."
"There must have been another way of doing it," Ginny said flatly,
stating the obvious. "I don't care how much I have to think or work or
strive, so long as I prove them all wrong."
While she was saying that, Snape saw a glint in her eye. Being the Head
of
Slytherin House, Snape had seen that glint at least once in the eyes of
every
student he'd ever had. It was look of determination, the kind which
nothing on
this planet could stop. Snape could see that Ginny would have made for
an
interesting Slytherin, because that glint seemed to glow brighter than
her
hair. All in all, Snape couldn't help but feel a small amount of
respect for
this hell bent witch. She would be a great asset in the struggles to
come.
It was getting late, and everyone agreed that they would all work on
it. The
last to leave were Snape and Mark, as the professor praised his son for
his
intuitive thinking.
~*~*~*~
Harry was barely in Azkaban for a few hours, and he never felt worse in
his
life. He was constantly cold, but he doubted that every last spark of
his
abilities as a fire elementalist could have warmed him up right about
now; this
was a different kind of cold, one of psychological pain.
This was almost comparable to the Cruciatus Curse; he kept reliving the
deaths
of his parents, Cedric, and Sirius, as well as the torture and pain and
suffering his friends had gone through in the past.
It never stopped; Harry kept chanting to himself, "I'm innocent, I'm
innocent, I'm innocent." He doubted that even Sirius ever went through
his
kind of trauma during his stay in the original Azkaban.
"Mom, Dad, Cedric, Sirius, anyone," he pleaded quietly, "Please
help me... please..."
Suddenly, new visions clouded his mind; he was watching a village being
attacked by Death Eaters. Voldemort was behind them, laughing and
firing the
Dark Mark into the sky.
After a minute or so, Harry realized that he wasn't in danger of being
possessed again, although he was watching the scene from the sidelines
instead
of from behind Voldemort's eyes.
Harry felt every curse cast, especially the Unforgivable Curses. When
all was
done (and what Harry had seen was enough to make him violently sick, if
he
wasn't already), he knew this was only the beginning, and certainly not
the
end.
It also cut at Harry in a different way, because he hated it when
people were
in trouble like this and he was unable to do anything about it.
He could only hope that this would all end soon, one way or another.
~*~*~*~
It had been exactly a week since Harry had been taken away, and Ginny
was
working hard to try and clear her boyfriend's name as she was for her
O.W.L.s,
if not harder. She worked like a maniac at both, trying to end this
whole
disaster as soon as possible.
The school was practically in turmoil, while Harry’s supporters and
haters
constantly locked horns with each other, leaving the staff and the
prefects
busy every now and then. The Slytherins
also got unjustly blamed one way or another, as events were
misconstrued, but
Harry’s closest friends (even Ron), worked hard to stop that as much as
possible.
The Weasley family itself was also in turmoil; Ginny, Ron, the twins
and their
parents (along with Hermione) sent constant petitions practically every
day to
make sure Harry got a fair trial to clear this all up already, but
somehow they
were all turned down. The younger
Weasleys immediately expected Percy; one day at work, the twins found
their way
into the Ministry of Magic, interrogating Percy with the threat of
using their
brought-along pranks if they had to.
After several tense moments of drilling and grilling, it became
quite
clear that Percy had nothing to do with the absence of a trial
(although it was
as plain as day that Percy didn’t mind Harry in Azkaban.)
Deciding to be good sports, they didn’t use
their pranks to interrogate Percy, but left a
The whole time back at Hogwarts, Snape and the group of students
determined to
clear Harry's name (who dubbed themselves as "the investigative
group"), worked feverishly to bring an end to all this madness. Ginny suggested letting Ron and Hermione in
on it, but Snape refused, surprisingly, out of concern for them, since
they
were burdened with maintaining the peace and worried about him.
the meantime, attacks had increased a little, and more casualties were
mounting. Part of the problem was that a lot of people were demoralized
by the
so-called "atrocities" of Harry Potter. Some people had even taken to
calling him "The creature of the Dark Lord."
From his cell in new Azkaban, Harry could see every attack, and feel
every last
ounce of magical pain. He saw everything, and his despair only
increased his
psychological pain. Within a week, he was already much worse off than
his
godfather had ever been during his twelve-year incarceration in the
original
wizarding prison. He had lost a lot of weight, his muscles were weak,
and the
cold brought on by the constant presence of dementors never went
away... (7)
~*~*~*~
It had now been eleven days since Harry had been taken away (and yes,
Ginny
kept count), and she was still working feverishly, trying to solve how
all that
blood could have gotten there with Lavender still being alive.
So, as Ginny was finishing her homework, Katie sat down next to her, on
a break
from studying for her N.E.W.Ts. "Working hard, Gin?" he asked.
Ginny nodded, just as she finished her Transfiguration homework before
moving
onto Charms. "Yeah, I'm alright."
"Listen, you think you could use something to drink right about now?"
Katie was being friendly, mainly because she could use some social
interaction
after Judy's "death."
Ginny shrugged. "Sure, I suppose."
"I have juice, not just butterbeer," Katie said, leading Ginny to the
seventh-year girls' dormitory. "I heard that Judy had some special
compartment in her trunk to keep stuff cooled. Any liquid would be kept
at just
the right conditions."
Just then, Ginny stopped dead in her tracks. Katie noticed the absence
of
Ginny's footsteps behind her. "What's the matter, Gin?"
Much to Katie's surprise, Ginny had a small, victorious smile on her
face.
"Thank you very much, Katie," she said with a grin. After trapping
Katie in a bone crushing hug, she bounded back down the stairs and out
the
tower, leaving the older girl blinking in confusion.
~*~*~*~
The rest of "the investigative group" was just gathering with help
from Peeves and Dobby when Ginny burst in. "I figured it out, I figured
it
out..." he gasped.
After seeing the blank looks on their faces, Ginny explained what Katie
had said.
"So," Ginny concluded, "We need to find one more thing..."
"The sooner, the better," Snape agreed.
At that point, Snape explained to them about Harry's relations to
Peeves and
himself, feeling that it was important. Everyone had varying degrees of
surprise
plastered on their faces, but they were all eager to meet Benjamin,
especially
since he wasn't causing chaos at the moment.
"I know every last route throughout this castle," Benjamin explained,
"Including a few things the Marauders never found and put on their Map.
It's unlikely that the culprit would hide anything in those, especially
while
not knowing about them, but I have another idea. I've been hearing from
Hagrid
how there's been someone lurking through the
As he allowed everyone else to digest this information, Peeves outlined
his
plan. "I'll go search with the forbidden forest. Ginny, Draco, Cho,
Daphne, come with me, since you can all fly on your broomsticks.
Neville,
Dobby, you should come with us but stay on the ground, just to make
sure we
find what we're looking for. Mark, get together all the evidence we've
collected. Professor, see if you can acquire Miss Brown's trunk and her
wand.
Luna, contact your father and tell him to be alert for any incoming
developments about this. The rest of you, sit tight until we've found
what
we're looking for." All of them agreed, and they all went to do what
they
had to.
~*~*~*~
It was sunset as a ghost lead four people on broomsticks out over the
Ginny, Draco, Cho and Daphne all formed a tight perimeter in the air
while
Peeves swooped in to take a look around. Between the poltergeist's
mobility and
the house elf's magic, they were able to comb most of the forest
relatively
quickly.
Neville was walking through when someone suddenly said, "Halt! Who goes
there?"
Neville turned to see a black centaur coming out of the woods, his bow
and
arrow ready to fire an arrow.
"My name is Neville Longbottom," the round-faced boy bravely said.
"I am here with my friends, who are on their broomsticks-" he pointed
up to them "-because we are looking for something we need."
"What would that be?" the centaur questioned him.
"Evidence to prove the innocence of our friend, Harry Potter,"
Neville said calmly, looking the centaur straight in the eye.
The centaur lowered his weapons and said, "I am Bane, and I have met
your
friend before. You may venture through our woods, although do not harm
our kind
or destroy our home."
"Of course not, sir," Neville said humbly. Neville walked past,
looking for the culprit.
Suddenly, there was a rushing sound and a jet of green light going at
Ginny.
With a scream of fright, she flew aside and narrowly dodged it, and as
a
result, her broom got caught in the branches. Ginny quickly jumped off
and
landed on the forest floor as a tiger, searching for her pray.
Just then, she heard her pray running further into the forest; without
hesitation, Ginny lunged after her target.
Neville was also running after their quarry whilst darting behind
trees.
Suddenly, a jet of green light shot at him, which he avoided by leaping
off to
the side. Getting himself together, he then leapt out from behind the
tree and
roared, "STUPEFY!"
A massive jet of red light flew at the target, narrowly missing it, and
so his
quarry continued to run. Just as Neville was trying to figure out what
to do,
Ginny transformed back, and still running on foot, told him, "It's
alright, I'll catch the bugger!"
A few moments later, Ginny had to move aside to avoid another Killing
Curse. As
soon as it passed, she swung around and shouted, "Spiculae
Argentae!"
A swarm of silver darts flew at the target, and with a shriek of pain,
their
enemy bolted away. However, a dart was stuck to a tree, and hanging
from it was
a braid of black hair.
"A-ha," Ginny said with
relish, pocketing it for evidence and continuing the chase.
Up in the air, the three remaining flyers saw the action through the
branches
below, and after determining the path it was going in, shouted to their
friends
on the ground where the enemy was trying to go.
Meanwhile, Ginny was running faster and faster, her hearting pounding
as she
closed in on the black-robed figure in front of her. With surprise, the
figure
whipped around and shouted, "ARIETO!"
Ginny was thrown backwards into a tree, groaning as she slumped to the
forest
floor, her back aching from all the pain.
With an evil laugh, the figure turned around and continued to get away…
…Only to run into a massive brown bear, growling and snarling at his
prey.
~*~*~*~
All night, "the investigative group" questioned their enemy
tirelessly, getting all the information they needed. The culprit would
be left
in a dungeon overnight, which Snape had turned into a sort of prison
cell.
The next morning, twelve days since Harry was arrested and taken away,
Snape
made an announcement in the Great Hall. "Students and staff, as you all
know, Miss Judy Arnold was murdered two weeks ago. However, after going
over
the evidence myself, I have discovered that there was someone else
involved in
this, and that Mr. Potter may not have been involved at all, which is
about
time, since someone in the Ministry doesn’t want him to have a trial at
all.
Anyone who wants to learn the identity of this other perpetrator should
be here
in the Great Hall, shortly before dinner. That is all."
As Snape sat back down and muttering spread through the entire hall, he
got
curious looks from his colleagues. "You heard my announcement," he
said simply.
And so the rest of the staff kept quiet, although that didn't make
their
curiosity die down in the slightest.
~*~*~*~
Harry was in possibly the worst state of his life. Twelve days he had
been in
here, and even Sirius hadn't gone through this kind of hell for twelve
years.
It made
He was physically drained, and the only thing that kept him going was
his
mantra: "I'm innocent, I'm innocent, I'm innocent..."
'Ginny,' he thought desperately, 'please come soon...'
~*~*~*~
The Great Hall was packed with people, eager to see what sort of
"nonsense" that Snape would try and prove to them. The higher-ranking
Ministry officials were there, including Diggory and
Everything quieted down as Snape walked out from a side door, marching
out a
cloaked figure in black with restraints on his wrists and ankles. As
Snape lead
the culprit up to the press, Ginny got up from her seat and walked over
to her
Potions professor.
"Ginny?" Ron inquired, looking confused. "What are you
doing?"
Ginny gave a small
smile and a
wink. “Trust me,” she
mouthed, and that was enough for her brother and
his girlfriend.
Ginny the murmurs from all over the hall as she stepped forward. Every
member
of the staff ad anticipating looks, save one: Dumbledore. He had a
dawning look
of comprehension on his face as Ginny strode over to Snape and the
cloaked
perpetrator.
At that point,
"Ladies and gentlemen," Ginny said aloud, addressing the Ministry in
particular, "Twelve days ago, you arrested Harry Potter for the murder
of
Judy Arnold. Once again, just like with Sirius Black, who you all now
seem to
love so much, you made a stupid mistake and arrested the wrong person.
You let
history repeat itself." Allowing everyone to look angry or offended,
she
smirked in a distinctly Slytherin way.
Finally, at long last, they would all see just what idiots they were
being.
"Last night," she continued, trying to ignore the looks of
indignation from Percy and his other anti-Harry colleagues, "With the
help
of several other students who knew that Harry could or would do no such
thing,
I managed to catch this renegade in the Forbidden Forest, where this
idiot's
been hiding out. Of course, Neville Longbottom added the finishing
touch when
our culprit here ran smack into him. His parents, of course, were
Aurors who
went after Dark wizards like our idiot here; I daresay they'd be proud
of him
right now."
Neville stood up from the Gryffindor table and smiled a little,
allowing a few
photos to be taken. Personally, he felt the praise was a bit too much,
but at
least it was much better than the trouble he had been getting for
simply
believing in Harry. As he sat back down,
Ron and Hermione made to thank him and ask him about what happened,
except
Ginny was already continuing by this point.
Finally, Ginny got around to revealing the identity of this person.
"Witches and wizards, may I present Judy Arnold's true
murderer..."
She ripped off the hood and allowed everyone to see the face they were
least
expected, as the hall exploded with noise upon this unthinkable twist
of
events. (8)
(End of Chapter 40.)
A/N: Actually, this is meant as more of a way so you could piece it all together yourselves.
Also, regarding Myrtle’s departure: Without her around, it made it easier to frame Harry without any witnesses, living or otherwise.
(1) I noticed something in PoA: Buckbeak’s appeal is April 20, and the date of his execution (from which he escapes, of course), is June 6. Coincidentally, those days are Hitler’s birthday and D-Day respectively. Anyone else ever notice this?
In short, April 20 just seemed like an ideal day for something to go wrong.
(2) Hence, the title of this chapter.
(3) Do you guys like how Nemorphus and Ardeavis act?
(4) Believe me, the “Harry-haters” will be in deeper trouble later…
(5) So, how many of you figured this out?
(6) I don’t remember where I got this idea, but I thought it sounded nicely dramatic, so I decided to go for it. Besides, I dislike Crouch anyway.
(7) I’m not too good with writing about the effects of dementors on their human victims; you know what I mean though, right?
(8) Haha, evil
cliffie! I’m sorry, but I honestly
couldn’t resist…