章 301: What Really Happened?

"So there you have it," said Harry. "That's everything that happened."

Harry had just finished explaining what had transpired in the Little Hangleton graveyard: how Voldemort had created a new body for himself using the bones of his father, the flesh of his servant, and the blood of his enemy.

How Wormtail, Peter Pettigrew, had sacrificed his hand for his master, and how he had it replaced with a silver hand. Now, this last bit sounded vaguely familiar to her, but Oleandra couldn't quite remember when or where she'd heard about it.

At any rate, it felt rather unimportant compared to the confirmation that Voldemort was indeed back among the living.

Harry had also claimed to have always believed in Oleandra's survival; the reverse echo produced by the Priori Incantatem effect during his duel with Voldemort had also brought back the memory of Viviane, who had begged him not to abandon Oleandra's body to the Death Eaters.

"So, old Mad-Eye was a Death Eater all along?" said Oleandra, shifting uncomfortably in her seat. "That explains so much— I was about to reach the Cup, but someone Stunned me through a dozen hedges! And I'd wager he's the one who knocked me out in the Forbidden Forest!"

It was rather cramped in here; it turned out that Harry, along with Ginny and Neville, had also chosen to share Luna's compartment. And when you added in the three Greengrass girls, Tracey, Ron and Hermione, there wasn't much space left unoccupied— Oleandra herself was sandwiched between Neville and Ginny.

Oleandra eyed Neville's potted Mimbulus Mimbletonia warily; it was the kind of plant that would spray stinky sap everywhere at the smallest of stimuli.

"No, it wasn't the real one; he'd been replaced by a Death Eater: Barty Crouch Jr, remember?" Harry explained. "It turns out you really had seen him under his Invisibility Cloak at the World Cup Finals; he'd been worrying about that."

"But how did Pro- I mean, Mad-Eye Moody get done in so easily?" Oleandra sputtered. "When I faced him with, ah… Moony, two against one, we nearly lost…"

Hermione took over the explanation here.

"It happened right before the term started," she said. "Apparently, Moody's house was a veritable fortress, but even he couldn't have anticipated Pettigrew— Animagi are exceedingly rare, and he wasn't registered with the Ministry in the first place. Apparently, he penetrated Moody's house through the plumbing in his rat form and disarmed the security measures from the inside, allowing Crouch to sneak in."

"And even then, old Mad-Eye almost had 'em beat," Ron commented. "Even though they'd caught him by surprise. But by the time dad arrived to his rescue, they'd already replaced the real one…"

"I see…" said Oleandra.

But of course, Daphne had to cut in at this point, as Oleandra was steering the conversation away from what she wanted to hear.

"Who was the woman that came out of You-Know-Who's wand?" she asked curiously. "What does she have to do with you? How did you survive You-Know-Who's Killing Curse?"

"I s'pose you could call her my personal magic tutor," said Oleandra vaguely. "She sacrificed herself in my place, just like Harry's mum did for him. But the protection wasn't enough, as Harry can attest. It didn't reflect Voldemort's Killing Curse back onto him as much, and I didn't escape unscathed."

Daphne and Hermione seemed unconvinced; according to Harry, only four people had been present at that time: Harry himself, Oleandra, Wormtail and Voldemort. Where exactly had this mysterious woman come from? She certainly hadn't thrown herself in front of the beam meant for Oleandra; Harry would have seen it. Oleandra was still visibly withholding things from them…

"In that case, why don't you tell us about your so-called visions?" Daphne insisted. "You were right not to come home straightaway— our homes and our greenhouses were attacked by Werewolves. I barely managed to repel them, but…"

Startled, the Gryffindor trio looked at Oleandra. The scar, the visions… this all sounded awfully familiar, didn't it? Unconsciously, Ron and Hermione glanced at Harry's forehead.

"What about Mother and Father?" Oleandra quickly asked. "Are they OK?"

"Mother is fine…" said Daphne quietly. "But Father… Mother didn't tell me."

Oleandra's heart sank; she'd angered Voldemort by stealing the Philosopher's Stone right in front of his eyes, so long ago; this was her fault. And on her own, she might be able to run and hide, but her parents certainly couldn't — they ran a business, they were expected to be an active part of the magical community. They couldn't just up and leave like that.

Upon hearing Daphne's account, Harry suddenly felt like he had got off easy; his mother's sacrificial protection and Dumbledore's wards made it so Voldemort and his Death Eaters couldn't even approach his aunt and uncle's home. Other students weren't so lucky to benefit from such perfect defences…

Having to fight off a pair of Dementors felt about on par with being attacked by a pack of rabid Werewolves, though.

On her side, Oleandra was still feeling guilty about this whole situation. She supposed she should have known that Lord Voldemort would still be holding a grudge for her destruction of the Philosopher's Stone four years ago— and she herself had spoken the words prophesizing his return, even though she wasn't a Seer. Oleandra, Harry and Dumbledore had known Voldemort's return was imminent.

Through hindsight, Voldemort's revival plan seemed rather obvious, but at the time, how could she have possibly guessed the specifics of the plan? Even Dumbledore had failed to tell his good friend apart from the impostor. There were so many ways everything could have gone wrong for them; the entire plan hinged on Dumbledore not noticing!

At any rate, Oleandra had learned everything she'd wanted to know from Harry, so the Slytherin girls and Astoria returned to their own compartment, where they would at least have enough space to stretch their legs. Once they had made themselves comfortable, they shared what had occurred to them over the summer.

Of course, Oleandra kept the fact that she had joined the Order of the Round Table a secret; she was certain that her sisters and Tracey would disapprove. The Greengrasses were an ancient Wizarding family, so they were firmly situated on the side of the privileged— in other words, changing the status quo was not in their best interests.

Ironically, Oleandra's plan of restoring magic to the land would likely interest two other Wizarding families of the Sacred Twenty-Eight: the Malfoys and the Rosiers. Of the surviving Pure-Blooded noble families, four traced their roots directly from France: Greengrass, Rosier, Malfoy and Lestrange.

Oleandra's own Greengrass family managed a few Muggle businesses, which acted as a front for their greenhouses in more populated areas. For example, Oleandra's father managed the Royal Botanical Gardens in London, which secretly grew more benign magical plants out of the public's eye. Possible recruits included her sisters— but as stated previously, there was no reason for them to accept participating in such a plan.

The Rosiers had close historical ties to the Greengrasses, but a schism had formed between the two families during the first Wizarding War. They were greedy, vain and proud; but unfortunately, they had no children of Oleandra's age that currently attended Hogwarts, so there was nobody to recruit from their side.

The Malfoys had arrived in the British Isles during the Norman Conquests. Historically, they had served as court magicians to the Muggle monarchy. Malfoys loved luxury and power above all else, and at the time of its ratification, they had counted among those most opposed to the Statute of Secrecy— which was to be expected. If they could no longer serve kings and nobles with their magic, their influence over Muggle politics would inevitably dwindle away, and that's exactly what happened— though they still got to keep the immense riches they'd accumulated during their service to the Crown. There was no doubt that Oleandra's plans would interest and benefit them, but the only person Oleandra could possibly recruit from their family was Draco, and they weren't currently on speaking terms.

As for the Lestranges… there were only two members of this family left— three if you included Bellatrix— and they were all locked away in Azkaban. They hated Muggles with a passion, and Oleandra wanted nothing to do with them if she could help it.

Malfoys and Rosiers could be reasoned with, unlike the Lestrange madmen, as they all spoke a common language: that of money.