Dumbledore entered the Great Hall in time to see Minerva conjure privacy screens around Madam Pomfrey, Severus Snape, and what he presumed was an injured student. Taking in the destruction around him, his gaze fell upon a trussed up, and stunned, Draco Malfoy.
He noticed Harry Potter hugging his girlfriend, Miss Granger, to him as they stared at the spectacle in front of them. Dumbledore knew that Harry was involved in this somehow. No one in the school was able to aggravate Mr. Malfoy to the extent that Harry could.
Walking over to the stunned form of Draco Malfoy, he peered intently down at the young man. He was so lost in thought that he almost missed Harry Potter stepping up to him. Turning his ancient gaze to the young Gryffindor, he asked, "What happened here, Mr. Potter?"
Harry looked up into the troubled blue eyes of the headmaster and pushed the memory of the encounter to the surface of his thoughts. Shielding the rest of his mind, Harry calmly said, "Take a peak, sir. I will push the memory to you."
Dumbledore was shocked; this was the first time that Harry acknowledged that he knew that he was a Master Legilimens. Carefully, he said, "Thank you, Mr. Potter." He slowly pushed out his mental probe towards the young man's mind. When he made the connection, Harry began feeding him the memory of the event.
After a few seconds, the memory ended, and Dumbledore found himself back in his own mind without realizing that he had been pushed out of Mr. Potters. Deciding to deal with that nugget of information later, he turned his focus to the events that transpired between Mr. Potter and Mr. Malfoy.
With a casual wave of his wand, Dumbledore summoned Draco's wand to him and placed it in his robe pocket. Looking at his Deputy Headmistress, he beckoned her over to them. When she arrived, his voice sounded tired but determined, "Minerva, please contact Amelia Bones and inform her that we have a situation that requires her presence." He paused a moment, then added, "Do not tell her who the culprit is until she is here. It is important that we take care of this before word gets to Lucius."
Minerva nodded once and headed off to make a floo call in the antechamber off the Great Hall.
Harry understood what Dumbledore was aiming for; Lucius Malfoy had Fudge in his back pocket and would do everything in his power to get his son off without facing charges. Quietly, Harry asked the headmaster, "Do you think that Draco deserves that second chance now, sir? That curse would have killed me had it connected. Instead, he very nearly killed a dozen students." Finished making his point, he walked away leaving a frustrated Albus Dumbledore behind pondering where Draco Malfoy had gone so wrong.
When Amelia stepped through the floo into Hogwarts, she knew that something terrible had happened. Looking up at her longtime friend, she asked, "How bad is it, Minerva?"
Minerva McGonagall pursed her lips in frustration and practically hissed, "It's very bad. Draco Malfoy very nearly killed a dozen students from his own house. Daphne Greengrass is the most seriously injured." Seeing Amelia's monocle fall out of her eye in shock, she pushed on, "Miss Greengrass is going to loose her right arm and she will have multiple scars adorning her body and face if she survives."
Madam Bones almost gasped when she heard the details from the Deputy Headmistress. Steeling herself for the worst, she put on a calm mask and said, "Please take me to the scene of the crime."
When they entered the Great Hall, the first thing that the Director of Magical Law Enforcement noticed was the partitions surrounding what she presumed to be Miss Greengrass and the school medi-witch. Spying Dumbledore standing in the middle of the hall next to an unconscious and bound Draco Malfoy, she made her way over to him.
Albus Dumbledore felt every one of his one hundred and fifty two years as he took in the situation. Draco Malfoy was about to be hauled off to the Ministry for his careless assault, Daphne Greengrass would be lucky if she survived, or unlucky depending upon how one looked at things, and Harry Potter had just cast some serious doubts upon one of Albus' oldest beliefs.
Releasing a sigh, Dumbledore turned to Madam Bones and said, "Thank you for coming so quickly." He withdrew Draco's wand from his pocket and presented it to her, "Here is Mr. Malfoy's wand. Mr. Potter witnessed the entire incident from a unique perspective. The curse Mr. Malfoy fired was meant for Mr. Potter but he dodged it and it struck the Slytherin House Table instead."
Amelia looked over at the destruction Draco Malfoy's spell had caused. She knew that the curse would have been fatal had it actually struck Mr. Potter. Not glancing away from the destruction, she said in a clipped tone, "Where is Mr. Potter now?" Adding the additional charge of attempted murder to the list would really help her case against the Malfoy heir. Because The-Boy-Who-Lived was the target, that would go a long way in seeing that Draco Malfoy stood trial.
Albus gestured to their left while saying, "He is with his friends over by the entrance. I have already spoken with him about what happened here. Do you wish to speak with him now or will you take a statement from him later?"
Madam Bones really wanted to speak with Harry Potter now but she knew that the longer she delayed in taking Mr. Malfoy into custody, the more likely it was that she would have to deal with Fudge and Lucius upon her return. Sighing, she said, "No, I will interview him later. I need to get Draco Malfoy to the Ministry and processed as quickly as possible. Your rendition of events is good enough for now."
Somberly, Dumbledore said, "Very well. I will inform Mr. Potter that you will be contacting him at his relative's house soon for an interview."
Amelia didn't let the shock show on her face at Dumbledore's statement. She knew that Mr. Potter no longer resided with his muggle relatives and that he had new guardians. She decided against correcting his assumption, but she would mention it when she was eventually able to speak to Mr. Potter. Too many things didn't add up around the young man and she was curious to see what was really going on, not what the press or Albus Dumbledore reported.
Stepping over to the unconscious Draco Malfoy, Amelia pulled out two pair of enchanted manacles that could only be taken off by an Auror. She slapped them on his wrists and ankles before vanishing the ropes and waking him up with a quick flick of her wrist.
Draco looked around in momentary confusion before the details of what he had done came rushing back to him. He blanched when he realized that he was cuffed and sitting on the ground in front of the head of the Auror Department. He almost shuddered when he saw the cold, calculating, look that she was giving him. Instead, his arrogance won out and he drawled, "When my father…"
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