Harry sat back with a smile on his face. True to her word Rita had done a lot of research. She started with the basilisk attacks at the school last year, then continued on to expose Tom Riddle as the summoner of the beast the first time. From there she chained the travesty of justice, Hagrid being charged with the crime without any real proof and transitioned it into current events. She had published a copy of the contract Sirius and the Potters had signed at Harry's birth. It didn't take long for her to discover that there hadn't been any trial. Each article came out at the first of the week. This provided time for the public to discuss the issues and do their own digging before she pushed on. She sent a copy to Harry before it was released.
Rita had exposed the multiple mishandling of justice. She had even turned her attention to the missing Wormtail without any prompting. Sirius escaping was starting to look less like a crime and more of a wrongfully imprisoned man trying to regain his freedom. The fact that Sirius was the Head of a Noble and Ancient House helped spur people into action.
Unfortunately, the dementors were still scheduled to be stationed at Hogwarts. The public outcry about the basilisk attack and the other dangers at the school that shortly came to light actually helped solidify the order. Harry had hoped that they would have simply increased security by stationing a couple of Auror, but apparently, that was expecting too much. Luckily, the Kiss on Sight order on Sirius had been recalled. Now there was a kindly worded request for him to contact them for further investigations.
Fudge and his people were scrambling. During all this the Minister found himself without his greatest ally. The Malfoy family had vanished. Their manor was stripped clean, even the wards had been removed. It was almost like no one had ever lived there in the first place. When Fudge sent someone to investigate the place hadn't been touched in over a month, which, was right about the time that Harry had met with Lucius at the start of summer break. Really, that was a footnote in the chaos that was unfolding.
This year was shaping up to be something completely different than he had expected. There was no telling what Wormtail would do. The one thing Harry knew for sure was that he still needed a way to deal with the dementors. They were something tangible to focus on for now. Everything else would just have to come as it may.
Harry had taken to leaving copies of the paper out for Sirius to read. He suspected his godfather swapped over to his human form when the house was asleep. From the way Dobby acted around Rook, it was almost certain the house elf had encountered Sirius but couldn't say anything. Technically, Dobby also worked for Sirius since Harry was Heir Black. Harry had noticed a couple tumblers of fire whiskey set out after Vernon had gone to bed.
The Weasleys were due back in the next few days. Last time around he had been at Diagon Alley by now. Aunt Marge hadn't visited which left Harry on the backfoot. Mrs. Weasley almost certainly would want to drag him along for school shopping. He had already completed all of it, plus he needed to distance himself from the family.
He didn't trust himself around them. Finding out Molly and Ginny had been dosing him with Love Potions angered him on a level he could not properly explain. He had kept busy, not allowing himself to dwell on things. Thinking about Ginny led to thinking about Hermione, which then turned to all the lies he had thought were truth. How often did they alter his memory? When did they start? When did Hermione get in on it? It would make sense that she would be the brains of the operation.
Harry had been focusing on Voldemort, the horcrux trail, and the dementors. Those were tangible problems. He needed to kill Nagini, destroy the ring, and finally the necklace. Nagini being the most challenging. After that he could kill Voldemort. Once that was done, he would start on taking apart the Death Eaters. Before all that he needed to come up with a way to kill the dementors.
Dealing with Hermione, Dumbledore, and the Weasleys were the hard part. Never once had he suspected Hermione to betray him on such a level. They had multiple children together and he couldn't even remember a moment they spent in each other's arms. That thought hurt him more than he expected. In some twisted way did she love him? Was that what started it all? Her loving him, but not being able to have him.
It was too much to think about.
The Weasleys were, in theory, easier to deal with. He would simply allow them to drift away. Ron would throw a fit about something and all he had to do was let him stew. Harry would avoid Ginny, perhaps even push her toward another. Fred and George were the hardest part of that puzzle. As much as he hated to admit it, he didn't spend near as much time with George after the war. If nothing else, they were the brothers he never had. Being around George was too painful.
Dumbledore. Just the thought of the man made his teeth clench. He was of two-minds on how to deal with the bastard. One, he could let Dumbledore kill himself with the ring again. There had to be a way to remove the horcrux while keeping the curse intact. The other option was simply to kill the old man. Problem being that Harry wasn't powerful enough to take the man on in a fight just yet. He would also need Dumbledore around until he finished off Riddle.
Harry was brought out of his thoughts by a wet nose brushing against his hand. He looked down to see the worried gaze of Sirius/Rook staring at him.
"I'm ok." Harry scratched his godfather behind the ears. "Just trying to solve a problem."
The dog let out a string of vocalization.
"Talk it out with you?" Harry asked.
Sirius barked.
"Fine." Harry turned to face the dog. "The dementors. Given my luck, they are going to come after me. Trouble finds me." He tapped his chin. "There's a spell, Expecto Patronum, that can chase them off. It takes a lot of power, and I don't know if it would keep them away from me more than a few moments."
Sirius chuffed.
"Plus, it's not just me they are going to go after." Harry continued. "I need something that can hurt them. Something that could even kill them."
Sirius sat up. His jaw worked but no sound came out.
"Yeah." Harry flopped back onto his bed. "It's not an easy task."
Sirius hopped up onto the bed. The dog settled in beside him. Harry absently began to pet him.
"The Patronus spell requires the caster to call on their happiest memories." Harry continued. "It fights off the dread and hopelessness. If I keep on that train of thought, I need something that harnesses that happiness and turns it into a weapon." He rubbed the bridge on his nose. "An English to Latin dictionary would help. I can find the words to focus my intent."
Harry sat up. "What do you say? Up for taking a trip to town?"
Sirius/Rook hopped onto the floor. His tail wagged quickly.
"It's a nice day." Harry looked out the window. "Let's walk."