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Harry Potter and all of its characters belong to J.K Rowling.
I own nothing but the original characters I make.
"Dialogue"
'Thoughts'
$Parseltongue$
Chapter 71: Conversations at the infirmary
Amelia Bones and Minister Fudge, who had arrived at the last moment, were currently in the Headmaster's office, listening to the entire recount of events related to the Dark Lord since the previous year.
Dumbledore told them the whole story since Goyle junior being possessed by Voldemort using a dark artifact, to all of Snape's meetings with the Dark Lord.
Both Amelia and the Minister were left flabbergasted, but she was the first one to speak.
"So…You lied to me when you said, 'I don't know where that basilisk came from or who set it free. And you kept all of this for yourself for an entire year!" Amelia said, looking very angry.
"Amelia, you have to understand tha-"
"No!" Fudge interrupted loudly while slamming his fist on the desk.
"I will not have more of this nonsense!. You-Know-Who is dead!". The Minister's face looked red like a tomato.
Dumbledore sighed. He already knew the Minister was going to react like that, and that was part of the reason He decided to not say anything.
"Cornelius, you have to accept the facts," Dumbledore said calmly.
"What facts?. Yes, we have caught a few idiots dressed as death eaters. That doesn't mean HE is back. " Fudge said.
"What about the dementors?, Minister," Amelia asked.
Fudge threw her a glare that said 'What about them?.'
"The Ministry is supposed to have control of them. But that is obviously not the case anymore. We know that You-Know-Who was able to communicate with them in ways that we aren't capable and turn them to His side."
Fudge was already going to explode into a rant when Amelia stopped Him by raising her hand, indicating that She was not done.
"But. Even if You do not want to believe that He is back. Here are some facts that cannot be denied. One, we have many witnesses saying that they saw at least a dozen people dressed in death eater garbs."
Amelia raised two fingers to indicate a count.
"Two, the anti-apparition ward must have been raised and maintained by another group from the outside of Hogsmeade."
She raised another finger.
"Three, someone managed to shut down the floo network. Which means they have at least one person in a high position in the Department of Floo transportation."
A fourth finger.
"Four, they have someone that can control dementors. Unless You want to claim that the attack on Hogsmeade was ordered by the Ministry."
Fudge quickly shaded his head fiercely.
"So, in conclusion, we have a big group, of over a dozen wizards, very likely from powerful pureblood families that decided to launch an attack against innocent civilians. Whatever You believe that the Dark lord is back or not is irrelevant. Do You want to be remembered as the Minister that did nothing as Magical Britain citizens were under attack?"
Fudge's face went a bit paler while Dumbledore gave Amelia a nod of approval.
"Fine…what do you suggest?" The Minister finally said, sounding defeated.
They then heard a knock on the door from downstairs.
Dumbledore opened the entrance and a young Auror came in.
"Ah, Nymphadora. Is good to see you again." Dumbledore smiled.
Tonks's hair turned a bit redder.
"Please Headmaster, call me Tonks. "
"Do you have something important to report?" Amelia asked.
Tonks righted her posture quickly and looked at her superior.
"Yes, mam. Your niece and her friend have just woken up. You asked me to inform you when that happens." Tonks said.
"Do you mind if I come along? I have some questions too." Dumbledore asked.
Amelia nodded and they all left for the infirmary.
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When they entered the room, they found Susan and Hannah sitting in bed, eating chocolate. Madam Pomfrey was next to them.
"Susan!" Amelia started to walk faster toward her niece.
"Aunty!" Susan tried to get out of bed but was promptly stopped by Madam Pomfrey.
"Stay right there, You need to rest!" She said with a frown.
Amelia reached her bed and gave Susan a hug.
"You gave me quite the scare Susan!"
She then turned to Hannah.
"Hannah, I'm glad you are fine too. We already called your father, He should be here soon."
Hannah nodded and smiled, looking forward to seeing her dad.
Amelia looked at Madam Pomfrey for a moment and this one understood.
"They are both perfectly fine. They just suffered the side effects of being in close proximity to a dementor. Nothing that a bit of chocolate can't fix. But, they do need to rest. So keep this conversation brief."
They all nodded to the nurse and she left.
"Miss Bones. Can you tell us your version of the events?" Dumbledore asked with a spark in his eyes.
"Just tell us whatever you remember honey, take your time," Amelia added.
Susan looked at Hannah before starting to speak.
"Well, we went to Hogsmeade early in the morning to buy a new hair brush for Hannah. When we were going through an alley we were attacked by two masked men."
Susan took a moment to think about what she was going to say. She knew that Harry and Luna were not supposed to be there. Also, Harry had to kill one of those men to protect her and Hannah, so she didn't want to get him in trouble.
"When we woke up…we were tied down by ropes and put some silencing spell on us."
Amelia's face was getting red with anger. "How dare they!"
Susan continued. "Then someone came to our rescue."
"What did he look like?" Dumbledore asked, looking very interested in this part of the story.
Susan looked up and started to think.
"mmm., I don't know, that person was wearing a dark tunic that covered his face. He attacked the two masked men and saved us. Afterward, He left, and we were attacked by those dementors. That's all I remember."
"You didn't see who attacked the dementors?. Or anything else."
Susan shook her head. "Sorry"
Dumbledore felt that Susan was hiding something so He tried to make a surface read of her thoughts but he was not able to feel anything.
'That girl had some mental protection. I could break it if I push harder, but that may call too much attention.' He thought.
What Dumbledore didn't know was that, during the second year, Lorry bought christmas presents for Susan, Hannah and Luna. The gold pendants that Lorry bought were enchanted with strong mental protections, those enchant were very popular among pureblood children that were expected to protect the family secrets. So when Lorry went to buy some expensive gift for the three girls, thats what the vendor recommended.
"Are you sure there was only one man?" Dumbledore asked.
Susan looked surprised at the question. "Yes?. I mean, I only saw one."
"What makes you think there was more than one?" Amelia asked.
"A Formation was used to deal with the dementors. A group of wizards is required to use one of those." Dumbledore answered while pondering the situation.
'There must have been more people, but those girls only saw one before passing out.' The headmaster thought.
"A Formation? is that what the light that everyone talked about was? That's some old and bizarre magic. When I was a rookie auror, I participate in the raid against the last cabal of witches in Britain. They had a cave on the coast of Ireland protected by a Formation. Took us three days to take it down." Amelia explained.
"So, we have a group of vigilantes using ancient magic too? great…" Fudge mumbled.
"Well let you rest. If you remember something else, or if you need anything, give me a call." Amelia said to the two girls before leaving.
Susan and Hannah exchanged a look and they both nodded in agreement.