Chương 53: Chapter 53
Since the first day of school, Peter Pettigrew had been kept unconscious and tended to just enough to keep him alive. This was so he wouldn't have any memories that could be used to track his kidnappers, yet could still clear Sirius' name.
Of course, Harry needed to wipe a week's worth of memories from the Rat's mind to keep his involvement a secret. Couldn't have the Rat's last memory of being in the same train compartment as Harry Potter!
All that was left was to have hand Pettigrew over to the Aurors and start the chain reaction that would force Dumbledore to rush to the Ministry and do damage control. The only problem was that Dumbledore was not the only person that wanted to keep Sirius Black in the hell hole that was known as Azkaban.
Lucius Malfoy had a vested interest in making sure Sirius never saw the light of day. With him out of the way, Draco would be next in line to inherit the Black estate. If there was ever a chance of Black's name being cleared, Malfoy might take drastic measures to ensure his plans succeed.
For this reason, Harry had chosen Rita Skeeter to be the one to 'capture' Peter Pettigrew and release her story the same day she hands him to the Aurors. The publicity would have the best chance of keeping Sirius alive or risk having the whole wizarding community looking very closely at his death.
Although having Rita hand over Pettigrew would have some problems of its own, like how she found him, when she captured him, why didn't she immediately hand him over? There were too many inconsistencies that would make Dumbledore very suspicious.
As such, Harry could only implant some false memories in Peter's mind of going to live at the Potter's house in Godric's Hollow rather than keep being Ron's pet and meet Harry Potter, the boy whose parents he betrayed. It was a rather weak excuse, and would not stand up to a master of Legilimency, but it was all he could do and had to hope for the best.
Considering how the Ministry of Magic was so inept at handling trials, it should work out fine as long as Dumbles didn't scan his mind. With a mention in Rita's article to look at those wanting to visit Pettigrew alone, the threat of negative press will hopefully be enough to stop Dumbledore from looking too closely.
Still, it was a pretty weak plan that could backfire spectacularly, but Harry didn't have much to work with. He already had Dumbledore breathing down his neck, and there was no way the old goat wouldn't hunt him down during the holidays.
It wasn't as if Harry was scared of Dumbles, it was just easier to put off confronting him for now. There was no question that the Dark Lord was a serious threat, but an army of ants could take down an elephant.
And Harry had an army of magical ninjas! Coupled with an unexpected ambush and Dumbledore would fall as quickly as anyone outnumbered inevitably did. The only reason he didn't do it was tweaking the Dark Lord's nose and watching the results was much more satisfying. There needed to be something to challenge him in this world!
So the only plausible strategy to safely move forward without revealing his skill or resources was to misdirect Dumble's attention. Harry was suddenly thankful he had not yet ordered Skeeter to release the 'Life-threatening Third Floor' story.
She could release it just as Sirius investigation was coming to a head so it would give Dumbledore's political enemies something to attack him with, and further help to divide the Dark Lord's attention. He was a man that loved to play the long game, Harry could only hope this time was no different.
Hopefully, the knowledge that Harry Potter must inevitably return to Hogwarts under his control, Albus the muggle-hater would probably choose to focus his efforts on keeping his job and 'managing' Sirius.
With the plan outlined, Harry got to work and set it in motion. Boppy appeared with the Rat to be mind-wiped and have new memories added. Peter would end up thinking he was extremely clever with concealing his tracks by substituting a modified rat to take his place. He then would scurry off to live in the last place people would think to look for him, Godric's Hollow.
Harry then listed out critical points for Rita Skeeter to write an article with. Skeeter had the perfect excuse to be snooping at the place where the legend of the Boy-Who-Lived began since she had personally stated she would get to the bottom of who was responsible for Harry Potter's terrible childhood.
Rita would claim to have seen Peter entering the cottage that had been preserved in its ruined state as a monument to the Potters and would use his trespass as justification for stunning the filthy vagabond.
She would then identify the scabrous creeper as Peter Pettigrew, the man awarded the Order of Merlin, First Class for his confrontation with Sirius Black. This would kick start her investigation into Sirius Black and find out he was Harry's Godfather and be the basis of her story and a Government conspiracy to control Harry Potter.
The delay in handing over Peter could be explained by her not trusting the Aurors. They did, after all, put an innocent man behind bars for ten years, a Lord at that!
Harry couldn't wait to read it, even though he had been the one to list the salient points of the future article. But he was more excited to read it in the Great Hall and see the reactions of all the students, not to mention the teachers!
Three days before school broke for holidays, breakfast in the Great Hall of Hogwarts was interrupted by the mass invasion of feathered mail carriers. Lilith was no exception as her glorious white form glided to a stop before him and hooted for his attention.
The poor owl had been a bit neglected by Harry since he had so much on his plate. But he still visited her occasionally to praise her for becoming a school legend as the 'White Demon Owl' for attacking any that got too close. Her reward had been copious amounts of delicious bacon.
"Good girl." Harry praised while she preened as he pets her after removing her burden.
"Hoot-Hoot!"
"Of course you deserve some bacon. Here you are." Harry agreed.
Though he could not directly interpret Lilith's hooting, he could usually understand what she wanted to say.
"How can you dare to get close to that monster?" Questioned Cho Chang, as both she and everyone near Harry noticeably moved further away from the bird tearing into the bowl of bacon Harry had given her.
"Lilith is a darling, aren't you girl," he said as he stroked her soft white feathers. "She just doesn't like noisy children."
Before anyone could contradict this statement, a gasp ran through the Hall as people had finally seen the headlines of the Daily Prophet.
"Sirius Black Innocent! Government Conspiracy to Appropriate Noble and Most Ancient House of Black!"
"Peter Pettigrew Alive and a Marked Death Eater!"
"Godfather of Boy-Who-Lived Convicted Without a Trial!"
'Holy shit!' Harry thought, 'Rita had gone a bit overboard with the headlines!'
Maybe Boppy's enthusiasm had been contagious as Rita had taken to her orders with a fervour usually only seen in fanatical house-elves. Still, it would accomplish what he wanted, and by the outcry from everyone in the Hall, this was causing quite the stir.
Harry had covertly glanced at the teacher's table and was rewarded with the sight of McGonagall gasping in shock with her hand covering her mouth. Dumbledore's grandfatherly act was still in full force, but the intense way he was reading this morning's paper belied his true feelings about the headlines.
Not only would this cause Dumbledore to do some immediate damage control, but it also opened the door for much more chaos in the wizarding world. Dumbledore would cop some of the blame for Sirius' wrongful imprisonment as he was the Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot, but the more severe damage to his reputation would be to his Order of vigilantes.
In canon, Dumbledore had masterfully turned Sirius into an ally and hosted the Order of the Phoenix at his house. Although his loyal members might be upset with him for letting a faithful member go to Azkaban, having Sirius, the aggrieved party, on his side would negate any fallout.
It was a political masterstroke, and since Sirius was just happy to be away from Dementors and see Harry, Dumbledore had even used him as a pawn to further manipulate Harry Potter. When even your long lost Dog Father tells you to spend your holidays at the Dursleys, you don't have much choice!
This time, however, Dumbledore will not have Sirius to cover up his blunder as Harry had already very specifically outlined Rita Skeeter's future actions in his last set of orders. By the overzealous way she wrote today's three different articles, he was sure she would do what was needed.
As a renowned ladies man, how could Sirius not listen to the now beautiful reporter responsible for helping his godson and freeing him? Harry planned for Rita to use the 'Hairy Lasso' to keep the Dog under control until he could meet with the man.
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