Amelia Bones appeared with the characteristic pop of Apparition and stepped down from the small platform used as a temporary Apparition target during large-scale missions. Looking round, she lifted a quizzical eyebrow at the line of warding stones arcing away from her in a gentle arc.
"Director." A voice said and Amelia nodded to the person who had addressed her.
"Scrimgeour. What's the situation?"
"The Unspeakables set up anti-Muggle wards around the affected area." Rufus said, nodding to a small group of robed figures, one of whom was waving a wand while others took notes. "The area's almost two and a half miles wide and the magic inside is apparently… screwy."
"…screwy?" Amelia repeated as they crossed the line of stones, the familiar tingle of wards shivering across her skin.
"The effect starts in a hundred paces or so, spells get harder to cast." Rufus explained as they walked down the long road. "By the time we're half a mile in, nothing magical seems to work. You can't use your wand, Portkeys fizzle out, you can't Apparate…"
Amelia stopped, staring at Rufus. "What? How?"
"We don't know." Rufus admitted. "But what we found in the middle…"
"Amelia!" A voice called from behind and Director Bones hid a sigh as she turned to face the new arrivals.
"Minister Fudge, Under-Secretary Umbridge." She said in greeting as the two officials half-jogged to join her. "May I ask what you are doing here?"
"We heard that there was a problem here and that someone had reported a dead giant." Fudge panted. "I had to see for myself, I thought the last giants were in Russia!"
"So did I." Bones agreed, sending Scrimgeour a dark glance for not informing her.
"It's messy up ahead." Rufus warned. "Blood, brains… it looks like the aftermath of one of His attacks… except over half the dead are dressed in Death Eater robes. We've already identified the three Lestranges… someone beat them to death with a blunt instrument."
Fudge paled and Amelia seized on his reaction.
"Minister, you are not trained for scenes like this. I'll gather the evidence and give you a report later."
"I… of course." Fudge agreed quickly. "I have so much important stuff waiting for me. Come Dolores, back to the office!"
"Yes Minister."
Amelia turned from the sight of the Minister and his toady waddling back to the Apparition point and resumed her journey towards the crime scene.
"Give me an overview." She commanded and Rufus pulled out a clipboard.
"So far, we have at five dead giants, all male. At least two dozen dead Death Eaters, we've identified most of the escapees from Azkaban including the Lestranges."
"All three of them?" Amelia asked and Rufus nodded. "The Longbottoms will be happy to hear that. Continue."
"We also found some corpses clad in Dementor robes."
Once again, Amelia slammed to a stop. "Corpses? Did they have eyes?"
Rufus blinked a couple of times in surprise. "Erm… no. Just patches of skin."
"Those are Dementors." Amelia shook her head in disbelief. "You don't have access to the Dark Files, but Dementors were the result of the Blood-Wizard Ekrizdis trying to make Inferi more dangerous by giving them the aility to use magic and the intelligence to use it. He succeeded, sort of, but didn't survive and we've been stuck with them ever since. For them to have been… How many?"
"Um, they kind of stopped counting after a hundred or so cloaks were found…"
"I want an exact count!" Bones snapped. "The Ministry keeps track of how many Dementors there are and if someone's wiped them out, we need to know if any of those monsters have survived!"
"Yes, Director!"
.
"By Merlin's staff…" Amelia breathed as she looked at the sight in front of her. The huge lawn in front of the partially-repaired Manor was covered in blood and unidentifiable bits of gore as well as the five giant corpses that had yet to be moved. To one side, rows of bodies were still being laid out, many of them in tattered clothes and furs.
"Death Eaters and their pet Werewolves." Alistair Moody growled as he stomped up to them, his trainee Nymphadora Tonks following him. "Greyback's there, as are the three Lestranges and Malfoy himself. He's most certainly dead, got half a magic-draining collar embedded in his skull. We can't tell much about what happened, but we found these."
Amelia accepted the broken fragments of wood and looked at them closely. "Holly and some sort of feather… Griffon?"
"Phoenix." Alistair corrected her. "Only one person has a wand of Holly and Phoenix feather."
"I know." Amelia looked up from the almost inoffensive bits of wand. "Harry Potter."
"There's more. We found Voldie's wand. It was on a corpse that we think was Voldie, but… there's lingering traces of magic on it."
"I thought magical things didn't work here?" Amelia queried and Alistair shrugged.
"Most things don't. But Tonks here can still shape-shift, Richards can still turn into an eagle and my eye still sees magic. It looks odd, like looking through fog, but I can still see magic and that body… traces of permanent transfiguration on the face. I've already sent the fingerprints to headquarters via Richards, so we should find out soon who he was before he changed his face."
The sound of wings interrupted him and he looked up as an eagle swooped down, back-winging to a halt just above the ground before expanding into a familiar auror, one with a gobsmacked expression on his face.
"Lockhart." He stated and Alistair spun to look at the corpse lying against the wall with its throat torn out.
"That's Lockhart? What the hell?"
"It makes sense…" Amelia mused. "His career was effectively over when he lost the duel against Potter, he would have been easy for Pettigrew to recruit. Speaking of…?"
"No sign of the rat and believe me, we've been looking." Alistair grumbled. "Without our normal spells to work with, it's almost impossible to work out what happened here. We may need to bring in some of the squibs who've gone into law enforcement if we want to get any more clues, we just aren't trained for situations like this."
"Scrimgeour, make a note." Amelia ordered. "Up the importance of non-magical investigation techniques."
"Yes, Director."
Amelia looked round. "So, how many of the escapees have we accounted for?"
"Five are still missing, probably ran off." Alistair said as he led her towards the throne standing almost incongruously on a small wooden platform. "We think the non-Death-Eaters are werewolves, those we've managed to identify are, at any rate. There are three vampires in the Manor, they've promised not to try to feed on anyone and simply want to return to their covens to spread word that Voldemort is no more. While I'd like to just stake them out in the sun, sending them back would be better in the long run as it would help keep the other bloodsuckers out."
"Good thinking." Amelia congratulated him.
"Thank my trainee. She was the one who suggested it."
"Animal tracks!" one of the aurors called. "Looks like a dog!"
"Sirius Black." Amelia half-whispered.
"Large cat track here!" Another Auror called and Amelia blinked.
"McGonogall was here?"
"Nope, it's a large pawprint. Too big for a house-cat, but too small for a lion."
"What the heck?" Amelia muttered to herself. "Richards, find out who on the Animagus Registry is a big cat and where they were for the last day!"
"Yes, Director!" Richards replied before he blurred back into his avian form.
.
.
"Lucius is dead!" Fudge gasped. "But… How?"
"A broken collar from a shattered set of magic-blocking manacles, fired at high speed into his forehead, straight through his Death Eater mask." Amelia explained, ignoring the gasps and muttered oaths from the (depleted) Wizengamot. "We retrieved the wand of He-who-must-not-be-named as well and had the last few spells analyzed. Multiple Cruciatus curses and what our researchers assure me is an interrupted killing curse. Madam Pomphrey had confirmed that Lord Potter is receiving treatment for Cruciatus exposure."
Amelia waited for the outcry to begin to subside before continuing.
"The person who used the wand of He-who-must-not-be-named had altered his features to resemble him, but we were able to identify him by his fingerprints. Gilderoy Lockhart."
This time, there was no outcry, only a shocked silence and Amelia forged on before they could recover.
"We have interrogated the survivors and they have confirmed that Lord Potter was tortured in front of them before a rescue mission, led by Dueling Master Filius Flitwick, forced them to flee. Gringotts Bank has released a statement declaring Professor Flitwick to be a Warrior of the Clans, meaning that even if anyone thinks that bringing charges against him is a good idea, he cannot be legally prosecuted for the deaths he caused while rescuing one under his protection. Not without sparking another Goblin Rebellion, that is."
This time, the silence was that of people too scared to speak out.
"We have also confirmed that the Dementors which defected to Lockhart's forces have almost all perished. We've currently accounted for all but five of them at this time."
"But… who will guard Azkaban now?" Fudge whined.
"The Aurors." Amelia shot back. "We are training new members even as we speak."
"And the dead?" Fudge queried.
"Notifications have been sent to their families."
.
.
Narcissa Malfoy flung the protective amulet against the wall and dropped into her chair, tears running down her face. The letter informing her of the death of her husband lay on the desk, crumpled and stained with teardrops.
"'Cissa?"
Andromeda paused in the doorway to Narcissa's quarters and Narcissa found herself in her sister's comforting arms.
"I'm here for you, sister." Andromeda crooned as Narcissa cried into her shoulder. "I'll always be here for you."
.
Draco Malfoy stared at the letter in his hands. After several long moments, he re-folded it and rose from his chair. Leaving his room, he made his way down the hall to the common room, then lightly tapped on his Head of House's office door.
"Enter!"
Draco opened the door and stepped through.
"Professor."
"Mr Malfoy." Snape returned, then he tilted his head slightly. "Or is it Lord Malfoy?"
"You know." Draco said almost accusingly and Snape motioned for him to sit on the chair opposite his desk.
"I am a Slytherin, it is expected that I know things." Snape said, then he frowned slightly. "And I must warn you not to seek vengeance for your father's death. If you must blame anyone for his demise, blame the Dark Lord."
"I will not seek vengeance." Draco said, knowing that Snape had nonetheless heard the unspoken for now. "But I must ask for advice. Potter is already a Lord. Would you suggest that I claim my Lordship too at this time?"
"No." Snape instantly replied. "Your mother will make a superior Regent for you and doing so will distract her from her loss as well as giving you an experienced representative who you can trust absolutely. Claiming your Lordship before you attain your NEWTs would be unwise."
Draco gave an almost unwilling nod. "I… have to agree. For now, I shall remain as Lord Apparent Malfoy."
"A wise decision." Snape agreed.
.
.
"Ah, Lord Potter!" Ollivander greeted Harry cheerfully as he entered. "I heard that once again, you have saved us from He-who-must-not-be-named…"
"You mean, Mouldyshorts?" Harry asked as he sat down on the chair and Ollivander paused.
"Probably, yes. I also heard that he broke your wand."
"Snapped it, yes." Harry confirmed.
"Well, let us see which of my Wands will choose you, now that you have grown a bit, shall we?" Ollivander scurried into the lines of shelves behind the counter. "Now, let us see… the old wand of Holly and Phoenix Feather… let's see… Oh! Yes indeed, these may do very well indeed."
.
"How did it go?" Filius asked as Harry exited Ollivander's shop, tucking his new wand into his wrist-holster.
Harry paused just long enough to look at Flitwick, who was clad in the armor of a Goblin Warrior, his axe slung across his back.
"Apple wood and Horned Serpent Horn, thirteen inches." He finally told the diminutive professor.
"My word, quite a combination!" Filius almost bounced with excitement. "Once you get used to it, we'll see how you do in duels again!"
"Yes, Uncle Fil." Harry smiled as they walked towards Harry's flat and the switching room that would return them to Hogwarts.