"Believe me, Edward," said Amelia "we've already added it to the list of charges against Dumbledore. His crimes against The Noble and Ancient House of Potter alone could see him getting at minimum a lifetime sentence to the high security wing of Azkaban. Add in everything else he has done and he'll be lucky to escape a death sentence."
"I doubt that'll bother him too much," said Harry, not looking up from his mother's journal "He's prattled on several times to me about how "death is nothing but the next great adventure.""
"Sounds almost as if he was trying to convince you of that fact," observed Susan.
"With all that you guys have helped me remember these past few days, I'm inclined to agree…" muttered Harry before saying in a more excited tone "Aha! Here we are: The Wiggenweld Potion."
He set the book on the table and Read through the page of notes. "She says to add a pint and a half of Horklump juice instead of just a pint and to grind the Lionfish spines and Chizpurfle fangs into powder before adding either of them. Oh, and add two sprigs of mint instead of just the one."
"Can you write me out a copy of that Harry?" asked Sarah. "I've got an appointment this evening for a check-up. I can drop it over to the Healers looking after Umbridge them."
"Sure," agreed Harry before turning back to Amelia. "Have you heard anything more about the other students? The Patil twins are being sent to a school in India instead of going to Waxwings and waiting for Hogwarts to reopen."
"I haven't seen Griselda Marchbanks since early on this morning. However she already mentioned that the Changs are sending their daughter to study in one of the schools in China. Evidently her interest in you during your one week at Hogwarts this year was mostly down to a potion."
"Mostly?" asked Hannah in confusion.
"It magnified something that was already there," explained Amelia. "She already fancied Harry on some level, the potion she was under magnified that tenfold and lowered her inhibitions slightly."
"That explains her bold move on the train at the start of term…" observed Hannah.
Harry frowned and commented "I don't think I've seen that event yet."
"I'll share it later," said Hannah, who was grinning like a Cheshire cat "It's a good one, believe me."
As Hannah and Susan began giggling Harry shook his head and decided to ignore them. Turning back to Amelia he asked "Why would someone give Cho such a potion."
"To keep you occupied," supplied Amelia. "We've already questioned Snape on this matter. Dumbledore wanted you as distracted as possible this year. The lady who pushed the snack trolley on the train was placed under a compulsion charm and given a small phial of the potion. The moment Cho ordered something the witch discreetly laced with the potion. Evidently Miss Chang either has a significant amount of willpower or Snape brewed the potion incorrectly as it did not work as well as it should. According to Snape, Dumbledore was most upset when you arranged a date with Miss Patil instead of Miss Chang."
"Bastards," muttered Harry. "What about any other students?"
"Well, now that you mention it, there is a rather curious issue," began Amelia. "It seems that a number of students returned from Hogwarts only to find their families missing. Most of those students are now at the Ministry waiting for new homes to be sourced. Pansy Parkinson was invited to stay with the Greengrass family and the Nott boy went to stay with the Zabinis but there are at least a two dozen more that are still without homes to go to. Most interestingly, they all are members of families who you named as Death Eaters following the Third Task of the Tri Wizard Tournament."
Edward frowned and said "So you finally get your hands on dear old Severus and two dozen families just up and leave? Seems a bit suspicious doesn't it?"
"There are more than just two dozen," said Amelia. "The Malfoys are completely unaccounted for, including their son. Yaxley has no children but he too has disappeared. It seems our arrest of Snape as scared his old friends."
"What about Voldemort?" asked Harry, "Am I going to need to come clean and tell the truth about that?"
"Not now," answered Amelia. "While I'm reasonably sure that Cornelius will believe you if you reveal the truth now, if you change your story on that matter now you will seriously discredit yourself when The Order members are put on trial. We can still make preparations to combat Voldemort without discrediting you. The fact that Malfoy and the others have done a runner on us can be used to secure the DMLE more funding. Dumbledore being on the loose as well only adds to the practicality of me making such a request. We have people keeping an eye out for Death Eaters and Cyrus Greengrass and the Unspeakables are still working on Voldemort's Horcruxes. We do not know where Voldemort and his Death Eaters have gone so we cannot pursue them. We can, however, make sure that we are ready to fight them with everything we have should they ever make a return."
Harry gave a nod of understanding. He knew that he was not meant to have left that graveyard in Little Hangleton the night that Lord Voldemort was reborn. His escape had completely wrong-footed The Dark Lord, who was now remaining as quiet as possible so as to not draw attention. That the Ministry would be using that time to better prepare itself for the eventual confrontation was more than Harry could have hoped for. That Malfoy and his ilk had been driven into hiding and therefore could not use their wealth and influence to sway the Ministry's standing to something more to their favour was just an added bonus.
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