Chapter 330: 19
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Oof.
We're on the ground.
Alright, spot checks.
The four of us have been transported along with the goblet and the stone pedestal and about a four-square meter sized block underneath it. We're all sprawled on the ground because the trip was not exactly pleasant, and the stone block and pedestal have been shattered by the traveling experience.
Ok…weapons check.
Wand? Still strapped to arm, doesn't feel like it broke.
Gun…the gun's nowhere to be seen. Wait, no, there it is. It's about ten feet away from my right arm.
Body…pretty fine, if a little winded.
…Alright, anything else?
The sky's full of stars and there's not a cloud in sight, so visibility's about as good as we're going to get without resorting to using lights. Good for us since we can shoot, but also bad for us since we're likely not nearly as adapted to the darkness as Wormtail is.
…Ok, first-er-second order of business: Present ourselves as small of a target as possible.
As we spend the time assessing the situation, the other three have already begun to stand up. The previous tallying process took about six seconds.
"Freeze." I hiss, and the three of them freeze. "Down on the ground, no loud noises."
Harry and Cedric follow the order without question. Hermione hesitates.
"What's going on?" Cedric hisses back as I flip onto my stomach. "Isn't this just another part of the triwizard?"
You'd think so, but first and foremost. "Hermione, on the ground." I demand.
She does as she's told, but she's still confused as all hell.
"Ash, what's going on?" Harry repeats Cedric's question in a low hiss.
"No idea." I crawl forward to get my gun. "But even if this is a part of the tournament, remember that our first task literally involved dragons."
The three of them stop to ponder that, yes, their deaths were actually very possible at that point. They get a little more focused.
Ok, now that that's settled…we need cover. "Over there." I hiss and gesture with the AK towards a set of fairly sizable gravestones. "Keep low and move."
We rise into a crouching position and hurriedly move to the gravestones.
"Watch out for anything that moves." I order as soon as we set up behind the statues. "Hermy, watch our backs. Harry, the left, Ceds, the right." Deep breathes. "Also, Ceds? If you have a spell that works in low light, now would be the time."
"I don't think I know something like that." Cedric mutters. "But we've got good eyes." Yay for Seekers.
"Ash, what's happening right now?" Hermione finally speaks up. She's currently leaning against a gravestone and is looking behind us (per our orders, kinda, sorta) but it's obvious that the sudden change in scenery is doing a number on her morale. Case in point: she's slightly hyperventilating.
"I don't know." I repeat in as soothing a voice as I can while whispering. "But I do know we're not going to take whatever's happening lying down. Deep breaths, Hermy."
Hermione takes three shaky, quivering deep breaths. It says a lot that she's not even annoyed at the nickname.
Harry and Cedric went through the obstacle course a lot, so they're a lot more ready for this. Also they get homing flying balls sent their way on a worryingly often basis, so that probably helps with their stress management skills.
We sit in silence and watch for a full minute and pick up nothing.
"Maybe we're overreacting." Harry mutters, getting comfortable.
I can't have him too comfortable. "Maybe, but until we see Dumbledore everything's fair game."
Why Dumbledore specifically?
Fastest way to get my point across.
"I see someone." Cedric suddenly says. "My left, your right, Ash."
His left…so it's in the middle. "Heads down, wands out, stay hidden." I hiss and ready the AK.
The three of them retreat slightly so they're more covered.
Let's see…I see a small figure, holding onto something.
Bets?
None.
Pah. Hmm…Voldemort can read minds, no?
Welp. "Alright, here's the plan."
…
[3rd Person Camera]
…
Pettigrew walks up to the broken stone pedestal with worry. He had (rightfully so) taken a careful approach towards his would-be targets as a precautionary measure against that maniacal 'Ash' kid, and now there was not a person to be found anywhere.
"T-they're definitely hiding somewhere." He mutters, both to himself and to the little wrapped bundle of evil being held in his arms. "H-Harry Potter is much too curious to simply run."
"Be alert, Wormtail." The bundle rasps. "There is one with an immense lust for violence beyond those gravestones." A small disturbance in the bundle points Peter to a set of gravestones some distance before him. He couldn't see exactly what the bundle was talking about, but for a brief moment he thought he saw something glint against the moonlight.
Quick as a flash, Peter levels his wand against the gravestones.
No response.
Peter then fires a blasting hex at one of the gravestones.
…
[1st Person Camera]
…
He's shooting at us he's shooting at us
Fuck fuck fuck fuck "NOW!"
The three of them all point their wand at (Probably) Pettigrew and go "Lumos Maxima!" As I take cover.
Pettigrew's blasting hex hits the gravestones and shatters them, scattering debris into us just as the three blasts of light go off in the other direction.
AAAAAAAAAAAAA
I can see it and I even have my eyes closed. Can't imagine how bad he's getting it.
We can hear Peter screaming his heart out. We don't hear the 'thump' of him dropping the baby as he tries to rub the pain from his eyes.
Good. Feels bad, but good.
"Drop!"
The three of them end their spells, and we get into firing position.
Hooooo I see stars, but I also see a dude flailing around. No baby in sight. Arming. Waiting for my eyes to clear.
We level our AK at Peter.
Sighted. "Run from this, you little shit."
Three rounds rapid, three times fast, switch clip when empty, repeat until done.
…
As this happens, the three kids have taken cover and are squeezing their eyes shut and covering their ears. It's quite loud.
…
Whew.
Pettigrew's down.
We put about ninety rounds downrange with at least half being hits.
Ok…now what?
Um…
I need to stop the resurrection if possible, and I think I just did that. I also need to get all of these guys home safe, so I need to do that.
I…I should go check the body. First things first…yeah.
"Stay put, watch my back." I mutter, and gingerly hop over what's left of my cover.
The kids are too stunned, can't blame them, so they stay put.
Maybe I shouldn't have shot Peter's nonmoving body so many times.
Didn't seem to stop you from doing it.
He was resisting. Let's see here…
We carefully approach the inert Pettigrew with our gun still aimed at him.
Peter's lying facing the sky…judging by the dark streaks running down his body and the holes in his clothing I think he's dead.
At point blank range we put another bullet in his head.
Just to be sure. So where's the baby?
…Ah ha.
We take aim at it and fire without a second thought.
On the local scope, it feels like I'm just shooting a baby. On the greater scope, I'm ending the greatest threat to the Wizarding Community in fifteen years.
"Was that necessary?" Hermione asks shakily. "Did you really need to…shoot him?"
"Yes." Hoo my voice is shaky. "Yes, it was." I gulp. "The sooner Pettigrew gets taken out of the picture, the better." I say firmly.
To convince ourselves, mostly.
Crossing the line into straight murder is not mentally easy. Thankfully.
"Pettigrew?" Cedric sounds like he doesn't quite know what's going on. "You…just did that…to somebody you know?" Also yeah firearms might be a little hard to come by in Britain. Ancient USSR surplus even more so.
"I shot two people." I correct him firmly, and to reassure myself that I am in fact doing the right thing. "I have just shot and killed Peter Pettigrew, and Voldemort."
Cue gasps from the peanut gallery (except Harry).
"So that little bundle is Voldemort." Harry muses. "Why am I not surprised?"
Hermione frowns. "This seems…wrong." She says slowly.
"You're right. It is wrong." I agree. "Which is why it's better that we do it than to have it done to us."
Is she convinced?
Not even close.
…
So what do I do now? I've just killed Pettigrew and babymort, and the other three are in agreement that we have done what we think we did.
What?
Unless Pettigrew pulled a fast one on us, I'm reasonably certain that the corpse lying here is the small man it appears to be, rather than some poor sap enchanted to look like him.
…Well, we can always drag it home to check, so let's do that.
We grab onto Peter's corpse with our free hand.
Plus, we can use this as evidence to get Sirius cleared.
"What are you doing?" Cedric asks nervously.
"Taking this home for confirmation." Is my answer. "I'm fairly certain I've killed the Death Eater known as Peter Pettigrew, but until I get it checked by someone who knows more than me I won't take my chances."
"So…how do you think we'll get back to Hogwarts?" Hermione asks, clearly interested in steering this conversation away from the bleeding corpse. The bleeding's stopping though, so that's good. Might just be because he's running out of blood.
But um…yeah. like Hermy said, how do we get home?
We all stare at the Triwizard cup and the destroyed stone pedestal/ex-portkey.
…Well, the Triwizard cup is supposed to teleport you back, right? If memory serves, the cup itself is a portkey to the outside of the arena, rather than…what, a double portkey?
So we can leave if we touch it, I think.
But if we do it, there's a chance that we will never see Tom come back to life.
There are…other, ways to check, and to be honest I'm not a big fan of Tom anyway. "Ok, everybody link arms."
Though confused, the kids do as they are told.
Nice. "Ok, Harry, summon the cup to you."
He, with great confusion (especially at the part where we have our grubby mitts on a dead body), summons the cup.
YANK
We get yanked by the cup back to the School grounds.
Oh thank god I wasn't sure what the hell I was gonna do if it didn't work.
We were gone for a grand total of maybe five minutes.
The crowds around us cheer wildly upon seeing the four finishers, and then it dies off because, y'know, the dead body.
We kind of sit around, dazed, until someone with power shows up.
It's Moody.
…Well.
"I believe you lot have some explaining to do here." Moody growls and reaches for Harry. "Come on."
We don't see it, but Moody's Magical Eye is unwaveringly fixed upon us, behind his head.
Yeah no, you're not doing that.
We get up and level the gun at him.
…and the gun is gone from my hand.
Moody turned and disarmed us so fast there was no time to respond. Cue gasps from the crowd.
By reflex, we hit him with a Sucker Punch. The blow to the wrist jerks his arm and points his wand at the sky for a good three seconds.
And here I thought he'd just drop it.
We snap our fingers, and the AK returns to our hand via the summoning charm before he could return his wand to ready position.
Now I have initiative. "Drop your wand, 'Professor'." I put special emphasis on the title.
The crowd is now silent.
"What is going on here?!" McGonagall demands as soon as she's within ten steps of kicking my ass. She's with all of the other Professors too, so that's a definite plus.
"Professor Moody has tried to remove Harry Potter from my line of sight through the use of force." I reply matter-of-factly…except adrenaline's making my voice shake. "That can mean nothing good." Also I'm legit scared of McGonagall beating my ass, so that's also a factor.
"Th-he's a professor, Ash!" McGonagall snaps. "Explain yourself this instant!"
Good. "The pedestal holding the Triwizard Cup was rigged as a portkey. Upon touch, it transported us to an unknown graveyard, where I engaged and dispatched a hostile threat before taking the cup itself back." I say as professionally as I can manage. "The downed bandit is over there." I jerk my head to the dead Pettigrew without moving my aim.
"D-you killed a person?!" McGonagall is…either livid, or terrified, or both. She has her wand in my direction now, so…yeah, bad.
Dumbledore quickly moves over to the dead person, observes it, and then makes a noise of polite confusion. "Well…I suppose this raises more questions." He says conversationally. "Minerva, do you recognize this man?"
McGonagall, now extremely confused, moves over to see the dead person. She then clutches her heart and gasps, so I assume it's good. "It's Peter!" She breathes. "Pettigrew! But he's dead!"
Erm…well…yes. "I shot him, so I would imagine he's dead, yeah." I say because ADRENALINE YEEAH please don't beat my ass
"I believe a proper explanation will be needed." Dumbledore takes command. "Harry, lead your friends to my office. Do you have any requests for witnesses, Ash?"
…the way he said that second part makes me think he knows I'm up to something. "If possible, all Professors and the Headmasters of other schools. If not, at least Professor Snape."
"Why don't you just call the Minister of Magic while you're at it?" McGonagall sighs.
Huh. "That's actually not a bad idea." I nod.
McGonagall makes a 'why me' gesture.
We're hurriedly escorted off the grounds while the crowd is in utter confusion at the bullet-ridden corpse. Since it's not Cedric, there isn't nearly as much panic…just curiosity. That said, it's obvious something bad is going on, so some onlookers like Cedric's father have jumped down and forced their way into the entourage.
Despite his rather casual gait, Dumbledore has his wand pointed at Moody, noticed by none but McGonagall.
As we walk towards Dumbledore's office, all of the professors that were in attendance peel off to grab the people I called for. Slightly regret it, not gonna lie.
By the time we reach the office staircase, it's basically just the kids and me.
"We are in so much trouble." Hermione buries her face into her hands. "Ash, why do you do things like this?"
"We'll be fine." I reassure her with entirely way too much levity. "Well, we won't be fine in a while, but we'll be fine." I may be in a state of denial.
Cedric chuckles nervously. "You're not exactly filling me with confidence. Are they going to expel us?"
Hmm. "If they do it'll probably just be me." I mean… "I'm the only one who did anything, after all."
We all fall silent.
My silence feels a little more…alone. Makes sense.
…
The rest of the teachers arrive along with Fudge and some dude I don't recognize…and Pettigrew's corpse, wrapped in cloth and likely magically treated.
I can see that Snape's unconsciously touching his arm, being in the back of the pack and all.
Snape stops almost instantly after we had that thought.
"Who is that?" Harry asks instantly of the stranger.
"Barty Crouch Junior." Dumbledore replies conversationally. He has Crouch Jr bound by iron chains and Fawkes the Phoenix is perched on Junior's head. "Apparently he was posing as Professor Mad-Eye."
The way that Dumbledore delivered the news kind of took the wind out of that reveal. I can see that the other teachers are still reeling from this new information. Can't help but wonder just how long did it take for Dumbledore to handle the situation after he left the group.
Still, I really shouldn't know who he is. "I think I would be more surprised if I knew who he was." I say, speaking for everyone but Harry (he at least looked surprised). "Is this everyone?"
"Yes, it would seem so." Fudge says in obvious irritation. "Get on with it."
The reveal of Crouch Jr is probably not…oh, right. Fudge's too worried about his public image, so having everyone see Crouch Junior out in the open instead of sitting in Azkaban is likely shattering his reputation to ribbons.
We quickly explain what we saw and what we did at the Graveyard.
The important part, Voldemort's resurrection, was never mentioned, because we prevented it from happening…however… "Professor Snape, if you could show us your Mark."
Snape scowls at us.
"Professor Snape is no longer a Death Eater, Ash." Dumbledore reminds me gently, but sternly.
"I know." I nod. "But that mark doesn't go away, and it's very useful right now."
Snape sneers. "You're far too troublesome for your own good." He rolls back his sleeve.
The Dark Mark, with the snake in the skull, is black as all hell.
"Well, shit." I say…because while I did expect it, a part of me really hoped that hosing down Pettigrew would have put the kibosh on that plotline for a few decades. "I think the shine of the mark is a good indicator that our dear friend Voldefuck has returned."
Still, what kind of power was being used to resurrect them...FUCK!
"GOD DAMMIT the babymort." I barely manage to turn it into a lower growl.
"Language, young man." Flitwick chides…with a bit of a titter.
Snape rolls down his sleeve again and Veritaserums Barty Junior, so we get the exposition that he was supposed to ensure that Harry made it to the Graveyard ok.
"I regret not disposing of the little package." I snarl. "Oversight of oversights on that one." I really should have taken babymort with me. Shit.
How did I miss that? How could I possibly have managed to miss that? Ugh.
Anyways, Junior doesn't know how the resurrection would have occurred if Harry returned before the mark started to burn.
I have some ideas. Fucking loose ends, no?
Anyway, Dumbledore tells everyone to prepare for Voldemort's return, and understandably Fudge is livid at the entire idea.
"I refuse to believe this." Fudge says. To be honest, this is one of the reasons why the baby slipped my mind, the other being 'let's use the dead Pettigrew to get Sirius a pardon.'"
By this point, the rest of the teacher has been excused per Dumbledore's orders, mostly to ensure that the student body avoids spreading rumors after seeing the corpse.
So the room is just Dunny, Fudge, and four kids…and a dead Peter. And Junior, I guess, but dude's out.
"We know what we saw." Cedric insists, despite not really seeing anything.
"Lies." Fudge says quickly. "All lies."
Dunny gives me a twinkling glance…well sure pass the fucking buck to me why don't you
"Prime Minister Fudge." I say formally.
Fucking hell that actually caught his attention. Oh well, makes the next part easier. "The reality of the matter is that Voldemort has returned, and that is a fact that should not be ignored." I continue to be formal and pomp and high-class.
He starts shaking his head.
Let's get our point across before he stops listening again. "That said, it's not like we can't spin this whole thing in our favor. There's an opportunity here for greatness, Minister."
He stops shaking his head.
Muggle news, bitches! "While it's within the Ministry's best interest to prepare for an eventual battle with Voldemort, it is comparatively less urgent that we reveal all of the information on hand."
Soft gasp from behind us. Hermy does not approve. Likely Harry does not approve. Cedric gives a soft "what?!" so he probably doesn't approve.
Fudge is listening, but is pretending not to.
Either way. "I assume you're familiar with the muggle concept of 'spin', yes?" No answer, so…no? "Ok then, here's what you do. Reveal the existence of this dead Peter Pettigrew, and lay the blame entirely on him."
"That's not fair!" Hermy blurts out.
Ignore her. "He has a Dark Mark too." I point to the mark on Peter's arm. "So this will be exceedingly convenient."
"Then what?" Fudge says sulkily…but his body language is far from antagonistic.
"Then, claim that some Death Eater remnants are in the business of attempting to build a fake leader…a fake you-know-who, as it were."
"He's not a fake though." Harry mutters.
Ignore him. "After that, declare to the world your ministry's whole-hearted efforts to stamp out the remnants of this shady business, and call for unity among the magical population…and start researching ways to counteract an Imperius curse."
"And you think this will work." Fudge is coming around to the idea, because he (probably) can't see an immediate way for this to backfire.
"Our goal is to stomp Voldemort from existence." I remind him (with tons of butter). "You are too important to the cause for us to allow your removal on the grounds of idle chatter." And now I remember that there are magical paintings listening in on our conversation. "Only those within this room understand that Voldemort's return is real, and honestly there will be other people for whom this is real as well. However, as an official statement, you should treat this as A Threat from the unsavory elements from society rather than The Greatest Threat…no point creating panic."
"But…what about the Malfoys?" He says in a surprisingly caring tone. So…they're a part of his financial backing?
Hmm.
Ok. "If the question comes up, just say that unless there is solid evidence, Lucius Malfoy should be considered an upstanding member of society." I shrug…because let's face it, it's pretty much true. The man's a bit of a dumbass but he does put his family first. "Again, call for solidarity, call for unity. If the Malfoys show signs of falling back in line with Voldemort, then change your story and say they're under investigation. Money can be earned in many ways, but reputation is difficult to fix once compromised. Knowing when to use men like Lucius and when to abandon them is an integral part of good leadership." If I bullshit any harder I think I'll turn into a literal bull.
Though we're having the desired effect, since Fudge seems to be calming down.
Time to land the finishing blow. "Sir, we're not here to attack the ministry or to attack you. Like you, all we want is for everything to go nicely, and Voldemort's in the way of that. If you play your cards right, you can be the man who permanently ended the greatest threat to the wizarding world." Sorry Harry. "You just have to be smart about what to reveal and when to reveal it."
Pointed silence.
"Ye…yes. You're right." Fudge nods quickly. "I am the Minister of Magic, I have an obligation to attend to this problem as befitting my station." He says…trying to convince himself. "Albus, you have a very talented child here." He adds after his hat (the bowler hat, right?) gets spun in his hands for like twenty times..
I remember being called a weirdo not that long ago.
"He's quite special." Dumbledore laughs…though I think this is the first time I've seen him fake his laugh. "But I do agree with him in spirit. What we need most is trust, and you can certainly give that impression to the people."
The stealth insult soars high over Fudge's head, never to be seen again. "Right. Well, I have my obligations, so I will be going." He says formally and moves towards the door.
Before I forget. "Ah, one last thing."
Fudge stops in his tracks immediately.
"Upon revealing the existence of Pettigrew, you will be asked about Sirius Black." I say. "Call it an act of misplaced justice based on grief and hand him a pardon. It is the fastest way to mitigate future problems."
"I will do that." Fudge says confidently, and strides out the door.
Upon his leaving, we shake our head.
…he's an impressively simple man. I guess I really shouldn't judge, but he's incredibly easy to read for a career politician.
…The kids aren't too happy with this outcome, I see? I can see Harry and Cedric glaring at me.
Dumbledore ushers the kids out of the room with the help of a returning McGonagall.
"Ash." Dunny says to me when we're alone. "Did you mean what you said to Cornelius?"
"In a way." I nod. "I don't like having to deceive, but we have bigger fish to fry than political squabbling. The sooner we can get Fudge to act like the leader of the community he is, the better."
Dumbledore sounds quite amused. "You seem to have a rather low opinion of him." Though I get the feeling he's playing a part.
"I…" Well, I've already played my hand, so no point pretending to be some enthusiastic teen. "I can understand Fudge's character, in that he's very concerned about maintaining a status quo for arguably the right reasons…but if we don't nudge him then he's leaving way too much to chance."
"Therefore you gave him such pointed advice."
Hmm. "I'm ok with him taking the credit if it means we're more prepared in the end, if that's what you're implying." I can't tell if that's what he's implying.
"I see." Dumbledore has a benign…if somewhat strange, smile on his face. "You're rather like me in my youth. Very assured of his own convictions."
"Thank you?" I frown. "I like to believe I'm doing what I can for everyone, though."
With that, Dumbledore dismisses us.
As we, per his instructions, head back to the Gryffindor Common room, we go halfway before
Ah shit I fucked up.
That. What's the fuck up?
I didn't act confused enough at Dumbledore's last remark.
Ooo…kay?
As a man who can read body language, I'm pretty damn sure Dumbledore now knows we have some information on his past. As in, the past that's not exactly accepted public knowledge.
Oopsy fucking daisies. Ugh.
…well, what's done is done. Let's wrap up.
Year five's gonna be interesting.
…
[Wrap Up]
[Barty Crouch Junior]
So he's the one behind the mark at the World Cup, fanatical loyalist and a bit of an asshole, yadda yadda…nothing too out of the ordinary here. The most important note is that his description of his missions leaves the identity of his taskmaster very ambiguous. Considering the current situation this is not really relevant, but it is worth thinking about.
He's going to get Dementored to death. I would rather not push my luck with trying to circumvent that in any way, so…yeah. He dead.
…
[Fudge]
I like to think I had some kind of effect on him, since he seems to be taking the returned Voldemort issue seriously. That said, while I may have made my point with as much maturity and I could muster, the fact remains that I have an actual reputation of being batshit insane, rather than canonical Harry's faked one.
Hopefully this goes well?
…
[Bagman]
Bagman bet that Harry would win. What an idiot.
He also never fell for the Nigerian prince scam, which was kind of sad.
Either way, the dude owes people money and is on the run. No big news there.
…
[Rita]
She was caught by Hermy some time after our meeting with Dumbledore in her bug form. Now she's chilling a jar or something.
I'm not entirely sure why she can't just transform back? I feel like the explosive force of her being would probably render the jar useless…unless that's a part already covered by the book that I've forgotten.
And we're not asking because…
I don't want to give Skeeter ideas. Either way, if she transforms back she'll either break free or we'll have the most macabre jar on our hands.
…Also wouldn't the ministry just overlook Rita's whole animagus shtick anyway? Since they control the press in the first place and she's not all that good at this whole objective journalism thing.
Hmm. Regardless, Rita's promised to not do stupid things to Hermy. It reeks of condescending bullshit to me, but I'll make an effort to believe that Skeeter has morals.
…
[Voldemort]
We don't really know anything at this point, and frankly it's far too early to tell what kind of fallout we're going to be dealing with.
I'm pretty sure ghostmort somehow resurrected the main body, or else became the main body, but I can't extrapolate any more than that, and I'm not stupid enough to believe that I'll be able to find out without turning it into a major battle.
So this info will have to wait.
…
[Sirius Black]
He gets a pardon. Fudge faltered a bit when he realized that he himself would be implicated in the false trial, but he was at least mentally adroit enough to spin it as "we were all kinda fucked in the head" rather than a gross mistrial.
He then took a sideswipe at Dumbledore ("if he cared about the freedom of an innocent man then he should have stepped in"), which is a touch hypocritical…but then again Fudge wasn't on the good guy's side at the time, so eh.
Having Pettigrew's body really helped.
…Though all of this just makes me wonder about how much faith the English Wizarding Community has in their judiciary body in the first place. You'd think that the existence of the Imperius Curse and no real way to block it would already shatter the faith in the ministry to tatters, but hey, not my problem.
…
[Us]
So…we saved Cedric, spent literally the least amount of time we could in the graveyard, cleared Sirius's name, and murdered Pettigrew in cold blood.
Job well done.
We are now ostracized by basically the entire school.
I don't blame them. There was a fair amount of time to think about what happened between the end of the Triwizard and going home, and Cedric, Harry, and Hermy were all being pelted with questions about what happened, so on, so forth.
We retired to our base to avoid these kinds of questions.
Eventually a lot of them pieced together a pretty worrying narrative. In a nutshell, a fifteen year old who formulated a pretty effective kill plan while supposedly dazed and confused…is likely not who or what he says he is.
More importantly, that person is likely very dangerous if he had no problems with actually killing someone, rather than going with the more realistic (contextually speaking) method of stunning.
To put it plainly, I'm pretty sure I'm now being shunned.
…ok, the self-imposed exile probably isn't helping, but I think I can read glances well enough to know that people have realized that the psychopathic loose cannon's shenanigans aren't just fun shenanigans.
…
[Harry Potter]
Harry came out pretty well. There's a threat out there and he's at least physically prepared for it. Since we all technically won at the same time, the winnings were split four-ways (we gave him our share for the next part) and he gave what he got to Fred and George as an investment fund.
And since Sirius Black is now officially a free man, Harry was allowed to stay with him. The fact that I helped clean Sirius up so he looks like a godfather instead of a drunken uncle probably helped with that image.
Either way, we're done with book four!
Just like that?
To be honest a lot of things that's going to happen is very much 'fallout of what we did', and that's not something we'll be able to discern in just a few days.
So yeah, show's over, school's out.
.
.
.
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