Chương 54: 6/8
The Kissing of the wranglers stationed at Hogwarts was not mentioned in the entire paper, and would only be reported the day after, following the preliminary results of the report into the incident, as well as the few family members of the men coming forward.
The morning post delivery had been tremendous, just as they had been moving the tables back into place so the students could start their late breakfast. Nearly every student had received at least one piece of mail.
After Ron Weasley had received half a dozen from his distraught mother (and one from his mischievous twin brothers who had sent it from the Great Hall and included a number of very embarrassing adulations for their heroic and hurt 'widdle baby bwother'), Madam Pomfrey had banned any further such deliveries.
She was then in half a mind to ban visitors when Lucius Malfoy, using his Ministry credentials to bypass the blockade of Aurors preventing other such worried parents from rushing into the castle, barged into the Hospital Wing and made an ungodly ruckus about his son. It took her ten valuable minutes to explain Draco's condition and that there was nothing his money could buy that would hasten or ease the boy's recovery except some peace and quiet, which was entirely free.
She told him as such, as she had when he had been a student at the school and had made similar attempts to bribe her. Her exact words had been the same as then: "Mr Malfoy, put your purse away. I don't care what family you're from, don't make a fuss in my offices."
His reaction was mirrored as well: he shook with impotent rage and sat down.
By mid-afternoon, a semblance of order had been restored to the castle. The Aurors had all retreated to the Dungeons to watch over Black, sure an escape attempt was imminent.
The students able to, had been moved from the infirmary to the Great Hall, and those not able were recovering as expected and would be good to go the next day.
Gaara had still not been sighted despite multiple searches in the castle and through the grounds, and Dumbledore had called his staff off of the task knowing that the boy would be found only when he wished to be. He spent a good deal of time that day thinking about Gaara and what he meant.
He had taken the time to speak with Harry and his friends before they rejoined their schoolmates, to ask them to keep their peace rather than make a fuss about their involvement and Sirius' freedom. It would no doubt cause a panic and gather a lot of attention, but the Minister would discredit them with talk of mind magics before they could affect any change.
Worse yet, any political capital Harry might have in his name would forever be tarnished by the accusations and he would struggle to regain the public's trust.
Of course, Harry and Ronald wanted to go ahead and make their protest, or even try to break Sirius out themselves. Albus wished he had some daring plan of his own, but he couldn't imagine a way to free Sirius in just three days. Any legal manoeuvre would take a week, and any illegal ones would cost both his people and the aurors a number of lives.
All he could do was hope for a miracle and continue to beseech Fudge to see reason and delay this hasty action.
It pained him to let his precious students see his weakness in their time of dire need.
Severus had been released from Fudge's grasp and was recovering among his snakes in the Great Hall, scaring away all eager questions that might be asked of him or his 'heroic endeavours'. Albus hadn't even had to ask for the man's silence. Then again, Severus knew if he made the slightest mention of sympathy for Black, he would accused of conspiring with him and would be in Azkaban before his Order of Merlin had finished turning to ash.
Speaking of collusion… Remus…
Albus' erstwhile Defence Against the Dark Arts professor had finally recovered from his night's activities and resurfaced in his office, dressed and looking as haggard as expected. Albus wasn't entirely sure how Remus had gotten back into the castle, but he would concern himself with the Marauders ongoing secrets another time. First he had to give the grown man a telling off, and then thank him for providing their students with a role model.
He then heard some more of the story of Remus' conspiracy with Sirius, but Lupin refused to reveal anything about Gaara that Albus didn't already know. If he thought Remus knew anything of pertinence or significance, he might have pressed the issue further, but the headmaster had the impression that even to friends, Gaara was a mystery unto himself.
That said, he wouldn't mind speaking with Draco Malfoy when the boy awoke.
Eventually, with the students growing restless, they were released back into the castle but forbidden from entering the Dungeons, with wards and guards posted to stop the more curious from inevitably ignoring the rule. This restriction of course meant that Slytherin had been singled out to remain barred from returning to their House, and they were, as expected, very vocal about this infringement of their rights.
When the Golden Trio returned to the populace, they were bothered with questions even more than Professor Snape, but their reaction was uncannily similar, all three being very upset by their inability to speak out against the injustice and snarling at those who asked questions like 'Was Sirius Black crying when they took him away?' or 'Did you manage to curse him before Snape got there?' and worse.
Those around them simply assumed they were traumatised by the experience, or getting big heads because of their minor role in the capture.
By dinnertime, the excitement had dimmed, but certainly not disappeared. New stories were still flooding in, from Fudge sacking his Head of the Department of Magical Punishment and Sentencing for his bungling of the Hogwarts protection, to the scandalous refusal of the Ministry to allow parents to immediately retrieve their own children from the school. With the unrest not abating, and many of the older students arguing about or attempting to leave the castle at the beckoning of their parents, Dumbledore addressed the students again before dinner was served, to help clear up some of the day's events and the future of the school.
"Good evening. It has been a long day and I am sure I can speak for everyone when I say it has been a tiring one too, so I will not speak overlong and soon we can enjoy our dinners and get some rest. This morning, Sirius Black was captured in the grounds of our school by one of our professors as well as Ministry Aurors. At the same time, the dementors sent to guard you all from Mr Black ran amok and attacked the castle. You all saw them, a great many of you felt their terrible effects. They were repelled and will never return to this castle so long as I am Headmaster.
"Sirius Black is being held in our Dungeons until he can be transferred to the Ministry tomorrow, where he will stay until his…punishment is carried out. Tonight, you may all return to your dormitories except for Slytherin who will have to remain the Great Hall for the night.
"Your parents, as you will know, have been notified of what has happened and many have expressed a desire to collect you from school early. With your exams being complete, we will begin making arrangements for those whose parents who wish to collect their child early may do so after tomorrow. The rest will stay here and classes will return to normal.
"This year has presented us all with unforeseen dangers and challenges to overcome, but all of you have risen to these dangers in your own ways. It has been a challenging year for everyone, but in all the years this castle has housed children yearning to develop their potentials, I don't imagine there has been a single one that has felt any less than entirely too much for them to handle. It is natural to feel the pressures of current events as well as your own lives, but always remember that help from those around us can help us to overcome any obstacle.
"Now, I am famished and I hope you will all join me in raising a toast to our professors and students who heroically defended our castle this morning from the dreaded dementors. Cheers."
"Cheers!" The chorus rang out.
The Slytherins were a little put out that their House's contribution had not been mentioned since their Head had captured Sirius Black, and their… much loved transfer had defeated the dementors. Somehow.
The Hospital Wing that night had almost emptied, and those most affected by the dementors who were still forced to remain under Madam Pomfrey's care had been given special dispensation for their parents to visit them. The only ones yet to regain consciousness were Draco and a seventh-year Gryffindor who had been in the halls when the dementors first broke through. By the time the professors managed to get to him, his soul was almost eaten.
By Draco's bedside, Lucius was still set, sitting perfectly upright and trying to look like his son's state didn't bother him, even though he hadn't budged in four hours. Narcissa, while still retaining her poise, could not hide her concern as fully and was clutching her son's deathly pale hand and wishing she had paid more attention in her Potions and Healing classes instead of preparing for married life when she was at school, then she might be able to help Draco.
She had asked after Gaara, as an afterthought, but apparently he had run off, to everyone's dismay since he seemed to have been instrumental in protecting the school.
In her lament, praying to whatever she had left to believe in that her baby would be okay, she also considered how best she could raise the subject of taking Gaara in as a ward to her husband. Then again, with this latest display of power and ability to protect their heir, it wouldn't be too difficult to argue for Gaara's usefulness.
After dinner, Lupin called Harry, Ron and Hermione in to his office to discuss what had happened more fully and what their next plan was, but they were left with no further plans to rescue Sirius without incriminating themselves. Remus cried himself to sleep that night for the first time in years.
It hadn't been as long for Harry, but his hope of family being snatched away so abruptly was enough to send him back to his all too familiar emotional turmoil.
Sirius didn't wake up that night, and his dreams were as horrendous as they had been in Azkaban, the remnants of the dementors effects still working their way out of his system after his close brush with the swarm.
And in the Ministry of Magic, after an afternoon nap to keep him alert into the evening, Fudge was conferring with Morbidus on the results of his investigation.
"What do we know about him?"
"In a word Minister, nothing. He appeared out of nowhere, and there are no records of him or his entry into this country. The records I was able to procure from the school do not list a number of pertinent details, including his country of origin, family, or his surname. His relationship with the Malfoy family does not appear to mean that he follows their… interests, from what I have been told. His affiliations appear to be toward Muggle-equality rather than blood purity, but he is not an activist. Also, despite his Slytherin sorting, he spends the majority of his free time researching a number of esoteric magical subjects, though I was not able to obtain a list of his readings from the school librarian."
"Yes, yes, we know all of this already. What about his abilities? He killed hundreds of dementors single-handedly. What's to stop him from walking into the Ministry and killing all of us?!"
"For one, Minister, he does not have a record of starting fights in school. More importantly, his abilities, as predisposed as they are to combat, would not be insurmountable to our own combat forces. The Department of Mysteries have run a number of simulations and have reported that a number of spells would be effective against him should the need arise." Morbidus said. "Water magics, some more powerful fire spells. His sand does not seem to be magically resistant to elemental attacks, and enough force could theoretically break any shield he conjured."
"At least we can defend the heart of Magical Britain from a teenager." Fudge bitterly commented. "So where is he now?"
Morbidus looked away for a moment, unable to look Fudge in the eye when he reported one of the few failures in his work, "I am afraid we have had no luck in locating Gaara since he snuck away from his assigned guards. There have been no sightings and we believe he is no longer in the castle or on the grounds of Hogwarts. I have sent two of my men to watch Malfoy manor, but I doubt he would return there, especially as all of the Malfoys are still in the school at this present moment."
"Great. So we have a… whatever this boy is, wandering around Scotland. All the while, I'll be lucky to survive the week if the press have their way."
"We will continue our searching, Minister, and in the meantime we will move forward with Black's sentencing in two days and the public will see you as the hero who stopped You-Know-Who's top lieutenant from restarting the war."
"Yes, you're probably right. When all of this has quietened down, I'll have to find a way of distracting everyone from this debacle. Even if they can be persuaded to focus on Black now, in a couple of months, all they'll be able to talk about is the time I almost let their children have their souls sucked out. We will need something to keep their minds occupied until the reports and investigations have all been published." Fudge said, sitting back in his plush chair.
"I'm sure you will think of something, Minister." Morbidus rasped out, before turning on his heel and walking out the door.
OXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO
"Thank you all for coming today. I would like to begin by paying tribute to the brave men who gave their lives for the capture of Sirius Black three days ago. Their sacrifices were tragic but not in vain! Our investigation is still ongoing, but there have been suggestions that Sirius Black was behind the now-infamous Hogwarts Attack. Regardless, no matter what Black has done or how he tried to cover up his involvement, the important thing to remember is that those thirty men died for their Ministry and for our children."
"Minister Fudge, wasn't it thirty-four dementor wranglers?"
"Didn't their chief, Derek Sutherland argue against the assigning of that many dementors to Hogwarts?"
"No questions!" Fudge screamed into his microphone. "Please… no questions at this time." He took a deep breath, as if trying to bide time until he remembered his next line. "There are many questions still unsolved regarding the incident at Hogwarts: what part a known Werewolf played in the assault, the reports of potentially dark magic used to repel a fifth of the dementors, rumours of the Dark Mark being cast above the castle six times, and the presence of an as-of-yet unidentified dark creature conspiring with Black and the dementors."
"Minister, what do you have to say to rumours of an impeachment, pending the results of the inquiry?"
"Will you step down?"
"Who have you picked to replace you?"
"I said no questions!" Fudge yelled, watching as Aurors came to manhandle the reporters out of the atrium with satisfaction.
"Now… Today, I would also like to formally commend the efforts of Professor Severus Snape for his pivotal role in the capture of Sirius Black, working in conjunction with my men. Together, we were able to safely bring Black back into custody so that he can answer for his many crimes. Together, we have protected the children from this vile menace. Children like Harry Potter and his friends." Fudge waved his arm towards Harry, Ron and Hermione, the latter two thirds being further insulted by Fudge forgetting their names (after having witnessed his rehearsing back stage, trying fruitlessly to remember them.) Harry was just pissed about Sirius.
Snape was stood by them, disliking the company almost as much as the false adulation, staring forward into space. He had been warned indirectly by Fudge's men, sensing his reluctance to play along with the government sanctioned story, that his nefarious past was not forgotten and as much as a dirty look would not just revoke his Order of Merlin, but might see him take Black's place in prison.
Harry, Hermione and Ron had been given similar, if much less severe warnings. If they spoke up and interrupted the ceremony with 'teenage antics' or 'dissenting propaganda', they might need to spend some time in St Mungo's to see what spells Black had weaved into their delicate little minds.
Ron had wanted to come straight out and tell his parents, but both of them had not let him get in a word edgeways since they were allowed to see him earlier that afternoon. He had long sensed it, but now it was clear they would not accept a kind word said about the Potters' betrayer.
Hermione hadn't seen her parents, they weren't invited to the ceremony at the Ministry; and even if they had been invited, she wouldn't have wanted them to witness such a travesty.
Even if the Kissing was going to happen in a distant corner of the Ministry, this miscarriage of justice was odious no matter how far removed.
Dumbledore was seated behind the frontline of reporters. He was the only other professor to be invited and he hadn't even been there for the attack…
He was considering whether or not speaking up just before Cornelius finished his speech would cause enough unrest to prompt a stay of execution. The reporters would join the bandwagon, anything to expose a possible Ministy blunder. The gathered politicians and Hogwarts parents and governors would probably be split, but a fair few would most likely join too…
But Albus would lose whatever political standing he had left on the manoeuvre if he implemented it. Fudge would be ousted if Sirius were freed this way, but he would devote his remaining days in office to removing Dumbledore from any position he held outside of Hogwarts. And the other politicians, even those who agreed with him, would never trust him after playing such a trick on the Minister for Magic. He would lose all of his allies and influence, but Sirius might be saved…
More importantly, Harry would not lose faith in the adults around him. Really, there was no choice but to intervene when the children were looking up to them for guidance and an example to follow.
The only other student who had been extended an invite had been Draco Malfoy, at his father's insistence. It was an important event and Lucius was there as both a prominent politician and as a Hogwarts governor, Narcissa was there as his wife, and Draco was there as both his son and as a student of the attacked school.
Draco's invitation had also been because Narcissa was worried about his melancholy since he awoke, with the residual effects of the dementors still working their way out of his delicate system combined with his best friend (and rescuer) having disappeared. The mood depressing effects of the dementors had put him into something of a slump and she had forced her way into visiting every day, even after he had woken up.
He would be going home with them the next day, after he had packed up his and Gaara's things to be brought back to the manor.
Lucius' presence was entirely for the political capital, but for Narcissa it was a little more emotional. Like Bellatrix and Andromeda, she hadn't liked Sirius when they were young. He had always been impetuous and uncouth, even before he went to Hogwarts and became a blood-traitor. There had been talk of a marriage between them, for the usual purity reasons, but that quickly fell apart when it became clear that Sirius was not only against the match, but had no interest in their family's honour.
She had lost touch, then she had been married off to a Malfoy and Sirius had turned traitor and been banished. When he had been imprisoned as a servant of the Dark Lord, she had sent him a letter in the hopes that he had rejoined their side, but he had never replied. She suspected he had been framed, as did Lucius presumably.
Still, as much of a brat as he had been, she hated to see the last of her old family die (or worse).
"Within the hour, the villainous mass-murderer, Sirius Black will be taken from his cell and will be given the dementors Kiss according the sentence handed down. His body will then be taken back to Azkaban and buried in an unmarked grave, as per tradition. Following this press conference, there will be a small celebration to mark the end of this crisis and the safety of all involved."
He cleared his throat and looked to his left, away from the Golden Trio and Snape. A civil servant rushed to bring him a small decorative box, containing the Potions master's Order of Merlin, Second Class. It had been discussed, whether he might be deserving of a First Class, but with his history Fudge had declared Snape was lucky he wasn't being hexed.
He couldn't go around just giving the things away, now, could he?
The medal was nice, but it was still noticeably less pretty than the golden First Class ones were. Snape sneered at his luck. The heroics and sacrifices he had undergone for the sake of the Light should have warranted a medal or two years ago. Instead, now, he was being awarded a prize for something he did not do to a man who did not deserve it to be done.
He had spent yesterday trying to think up a way Potter (junior or senior) could be to blame for this travesty. He hadn't been able to draw up a convincing link between Potter and his current problem, but it had taken all of ten minutes after that to make a chain between Sirius Black's problems and him through…
"W-what are you doing here?" Fudge yelled, looking behind the cluster of seats and standing reporters to where Gaara was standing over a broken and bloody body.
The Aurors guarding their leader advanced, and those at the back of the hall, who had somehow let the little red-head and grown corpse past them, followed suit. The reporters all ignored their gobsmacked Minister to take dozen of pictures of the boy wearing a giant gourd on his back that could only be the mysterious transfer student who had played a role in defeating the out of control dementors.
"Slowly take out your wand with your thumb and forefinger and place it on the ground, now!" One of them shouted.
Gaara looked over to the one who had addressed him and followed the instruction without any hesitation. Pulling his wand out of his sleeve and dropping it onto the ground, Gaara looked around the room and saw Draco. He would have liked to wave, but he knew sudden moves would only provoke violence, and he was once again too tired to start unnecessary fights with Aurors.
He hadn't slept for three days and he had hardly stopped moving either. He deserved a bath.
"Get down, face down on the ground!" The same Auror commanded. "Now!"
Gaara looked at the floor. Polished marble and quite clean, barring the blood spreading from the body at his feet. Still…
Gaara shook his head. The cork of his gourd popped off and fell to floor, but the Aurors all tensed and another shouted this time, "Stop or we will stun you!"
The leader who had shouted everything else thus far piped up again, "Do not activate your weapon. Release the buckle and set it on the floor, then get down on the ground!"
Gaara looked at him, then took a pointed look at the floor, then up at the Aurors again and shook his head.
Draco was so relieved to see his friend was okay and had come back, but his relief was tinged with equal parts frustration at his dense friend's ignoring Auror commands, and hilarity at watching these grown men circle around Gaara unsure of what to do about a teenager who wouldn't listen to what they said.
Eventually the commander, judging by the corpse at Gaara's feet and his unwillingness to cooperate, decided to subtly signal the Auror in the back to stun Gaara. Then they could disarm him while he slept and get to the bottom of this.
Instead of the red magic hitting the back of the boys head and the incident being over, sand shot out of the gourd faster than they could see and blocked the spell, and the boy looked over his shoulder as if surprised it had happened.
The sand slowly shrunk back into his gourd and he dared not call it back out when these men looked ready to start a battle. Gaara slowly raised his hands above his head, hoping that would suffice since he had no intention of getting on the floor or entirely disarming himself.
Draco and the elder Malfoys watched this with mounting dread since Gaara now couldn't communicate and clearly had no intention of surrendering. Lucius kept one eye on Draco to make sure he didn't run out and do anything stupid or brave.
Dumbledore was slowly easing his way through the now standing crowd to handle this. Whatever Gaara had done, Albus wasn't about to let him get taken into custody when the Ministry were so clearly interested in the boy. Fudge was staying conspicuously quiet throughout this surprise interruption, which couldn't mean anything good.
Harry, Ron and Hermione wanted to intervene as well, if only to inform or remind the Aurors that Gaara couldn't speak, but Snape signalled for them to stay quiet. With Snape's attitude towards Gaara, that could just mean that he didn't want them saving him…
Other than Dumbledore's old-man-shuffling through the crowd, the atrium was motionless and quiet. The Aurors were just waiting for an excuse or an order.
And then the corpse at Gaara's feet groaned loudly.
Hushed whispers roared amongst the reporters and guests, and the Aurors started closing in on this very strange teenager, just about ready to take him down to retrieve the severely injured man at his feet.
"Stop."
The softly spoken word rang out for the Aurors to hear, but those stood by their seats or on the podium were too far away and mired in their own hushed conversations.
The second they had seen his lips move, the whispers died and they listened to what followed. The majority were simply curious as anyone would be, but those who had an acquaintance with Gaara edged forward to hear his voice for the very first time (or second, in Draco's case).
"This is Peter Pettigrew. He framed Sirius Black and has been hiding as a rat ever since. Sirius Black is innocent. You will release him."
"That's preposterous!" Fudge said. "Now-"
Gaara kicked the man on the floor so that he would roll over and chip in. There laid Peter Pettigrew, minus a finger he had cut off to escape, and a two other fingers that had been cut off more recently. The rest of his injuries would later be catalogued and would explain why he had been so quick to incriminate himself.
"It's true, I am Peter Pettigrew." The man sobbed, coughing at the end and spitting up a little bit of blood. Whatever had happened to this man between his escape and now surely hadn't been pretty. "I did it! I sold out James and Lily to the Dark Lord!"
The reporters had stayed at a respectful distance until now, but in light of a long dead hero coming back to life to exonerate a villainous criminal was too juicy to miss. They surged forward and the Aurors marking Gaara had to turn and become crowd controllers.
Fudge recovered his wits and spoke loudly into his microphone so people would stop ignoring him. "Well, that certainly is a bold statement to make, and once our Aurors have taken care of this man's wounds, they will take his statement and we can get to the bottom of everything."
Gaara had planned on this. The Minister would take Pettigrew to a back room, have him killed and disposed of, and then claim it had been a stranger off of the street and Gaara would be imprisoned for kidnapping.
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