Well, here we go again! Sorry for the delay – I really don't know what's happening to my time-keeping this year. I feel like it was the beginning of May like a fortnight ago and yet here we are, just about to finish September! Days don't seem to last as long anymore and there are whole weeks that have gone by without me noticing it. Remember kids, when your parents say that time goes by faster when you're older, they're bloody right!
Harry Potter: Junior Inquisitor
Chapter 29: Breaking Up Is Hard To Do
Another day had passed by. During that time The Ministry of Magic, specifically the Department of Magical Law Enforcement and the Department of Mysteries had been using its time wisely. When the various members of the Order of the Phoenix and the Hogwarts Staff had first been brought in following the debacle at Hogwarts Castle each one had been given the opportunity to explain of their own volition exactly why they had been involved.
With the exception of the three eldest Weasleys and Nymphadora Tonks, none of them had taken the chance.
Starting at five in the morning that day, the Ministry decided to force the matter through the use of veritaserum.
The results were horrifying and a damning indictment of a man whom the Wizarding World had respected and trusted for almost a century.
It was a little after nine in the evening when Cornelius Fudge entered the office of Amelia Bones to find the Head of the DMLE nursing a glass of scotch. While he did not always get on well with Amelia or see eye to eye with her, the Minister was able to recognise the warning signs.
"That bad?" he asked.
Amelia shook her head and replied "Worse. We managed to get them all to confess but… well, those are the confessions there. Moody's is on the top."
She pointed to one corner of her desk where a stack of parchments stood.
Cornelius lifted the topmost parchment and blanched. "One muggle boy killed and one other seriously maimed by Moody's enchanted trash cans?"
"Oh yes," said Amelia. "Dumbledore managed to cover the whole thing up and from then on, Moody was his man."
"When did this happen?" demanded the Minister.
"About twenty five years ago now. Of course this means that the best Death Eater catcher we had in the Auror Force should not have even been there."
"Are they all like this?"
"Pretty much. As far as we can tell Dumbledore's main recruitment method was to help people out of a tight spot and then hold it over them. He vouched for Severus Snape during the Death Eater trials and since then Snape has worked for him. A reporter caught Filius Flitwick in a compromising position with two hags and a swamp troll the night he fought his last duel on the Professional Duelling Circuit. Dumbledore covered it up, getting Flitwick on his side. Dumbledore paid for all seven of Arthur Weasley's kids to go to Hogwarts and the whole family has been singing his praises ever since. And you know the story of Miss Tonks."
Cornelius nodded as he continued to leaf through the stack of confessions, occasionally reading aloud the damning evidence. "Poppy Pomfrey – failed her final healers' examination and so is not qualified for the position she held within the school… Mundungus Fletcher – Dumbledore helped him out when he was arrested for an instance of Muggle Baiting that resulted in three muggles losing their buttocks to carnivorous toilet seats… Sturgis Podmore – broke the International Statute of Secrecy when he got into a brawl in a muggle bar and hexed five people to have bat wings where their ears should be… Amelia these are disgusting!"
"Read Shacklebolt's," she replied. "It's the cream of the crop!"
Cornelius flipped through until he found the confession of Kingsley Shacklebolt. "Joined the Order of the Phoenix after being approached by Alastor Moody, then, on Dumbledore's suggestion he purposefully misled the Ministerial investigation into the current whereabouts of Sirius Black. Since then Dumbledore has used this to keep Shacklebolt in line."
The Minister looked up at the Head of the DMLE. "But isn't Shacklebolt the one in charge of the search operations for Black?"
"He was," replied Amelia. "Clearly he knows where the man is but he's not telling. We think he must be someplace that is protected by the Fidelius Charm as even the use of veritaserum could not make Shacklebolt tell us the location."
Amelia set her glass aside and took out her monocle to clean it on a cloth, saying as she did so "As far as we can, while the majority of the Order behaved without being influenced by magic, a good number of them were coerced."
"That does not excuse their behaviour," said the Minister.
"No, but in some cases this may be grounds to show some small amount of leniency. Arthur and Molly, for a start, did not actually take part in the Hogwarts debacle, nor is there any evidence of outright criminal activity on their part. However, there is no escaping the fact that their eldest son, Bill, was involved. Flitwick broke no laws and his actions were out of a desire to protect his reputation. Snape, Moody and Fletcher, on the other hand, are criminals who got away with their crimes because Dumbledore pulled a few strings."
Cornelius nodded before asking "And what of Minerva McGonagall? What part did she play in all of this?"
Amelia sighed. "To be honest with you, Minister, I do not fully understand what exactly is going on with that woman. But whatever it is, it's not good. Croaker has already suggested that we send her to the mind healers at St Mungo's and I'm inclined to agree with the suggestion."
"Seems a bit extreme…"
"No, what's extreme is her loyalty to Dumbledore. No, scratch that; 'loyalty' doesn't do the situation justice. 'Blind faith' would be a better way to describe it. All it took for her to take part in the travesty of a few days ago was for Dumbledore to tell her that it was for the best. She accepted it without question."
Fudge was quiet for a few moments as he contemplated this news. Then he said "Now that you bring it up, I'm reminded of something old Ludo Bagman said to me last year. After Harry Potter's name was drawn from the Goblet of Fire I naturally called in both Ludo and Barty Crouch. Ludo mentioned a confrontation between the staff and the Ministry in the antechamber… what was it Minerva said now… something along the lines of 'Dumbledore believes that Mr Potter did not put his name into the Goblet, and that should be good enough for everybody.'"
"Yes, Harry said something along those lines to me during the summer." said Amelia. "He said that he was relieved to have her apparent support at the time, but looking back on it he found it a little disturbing.
"It is well known that Dumbledore and McGonagall have known each other for a long time and that he taught her everything she ever knew about Transfiguration, but that alone cannot explain her blind trust in the man."
"And you really think that sending her to be examined by the mind healers at St Mungo's is the best option?" asked the Minister.
"It's probably our only option," replied Amelia. "I mean, we can always just send her to Azkaban, but I think that we will all be better off with her at the hospital. Who knows what the healers may find. Potentially they could answer so many questions."
"Very well. Have her sent to St Mungo's. As for the rest I want air-tight cases built against them. We'll let the Wizengamot decide their fates."
A wave of the bird's wing was all that was needed to roast the rabbit meat, after which the ancient wizard set it down onto a conjured plate and sat back into his conjured armchair.
Fawkes trilled and tucked his head back under his wing as Albus Dumbledore began to consume his late dinner. In the limited amount of time that he and Fawkes had been living in the dilapidated old house that had once belonged to his parents, Dumbledore had done a rather marvellous job of cleaning the place up a bit.
Of course, unlike those children who had spent the summer at Grimmauld Place, Dumbledore was allowed to use magic to get the cleaning done and any repairs carried out. Every inch of the house had been "scourgify"-d clean and every chip, crack and hold had been "reparo"-d back into working order.
In fact, the old Dumbledore house was now the only house in Mould-on-the-Wold that was not worthy of the name.
As he filled his stomach, Dumbledore set his mind to planning. While it was true that just about everything that could have gone wrong had gone wrong, things were still salvageable. After all, no matter what the Ministry decided to do with the various members of the Order of the Phoenix, Dumbledore could always get them out of it. He might not have the ears of the Wizengamot anymore, or those of the Hogwarts Governors, but he did still have Fawkes.
Whether it was Hogwarts, the Ministry, St Mungo's or even Azkaban, there was nowhere that Fawkes could not travel to. Nor, for that matter, was there any way of preventing him from taking people into or out of any of these places with a burst of flame.
Dumbledore had already wondered on a time-scale for when he ought to carry out his rescue mission and was in two minds about it. The longer he left his followers/supporters in the hands of the Ministry, the more information could be extracted from them. However, leaving his followers to stew for a little while did have its upsides.
Leaving them all to the care of the Ministry would remind them all that there was no solace to be found there. The longer Dumbledore left them, the more grateful they would be when he eventually did come for them. Dumbledore knew that if he chose that course of action, then the best time to rescue them would be once they had been tried and sentenced by the Wizengamot.
He was as yet undecided as to which course he should take.
As to the matter of Harry Potter, that was salvageable as well. While he admittedly had no means to track the boy's current whereabouts, having left all of his tracking devices in his office at Hogwarts, Dumbledore knew that it was only a matter of time before the boy was back behind the walls of the castle, and once he was it was only a matter of time before Fawkes would succeed in finding him.
Harry Potter had a duty to perform. He was destined to be killed by Voldemort's wand and it was Albus Dumbledore's job to make sure that it happened.
It was for the greater good, after all.
"Well, Mr Potter, I'm very pleased to say that we appear to have successfully flushed every single potion out of your system," said the Healer as she looked over his chart. "In fact, so long as you are content to stay with the Abbott family so that Sarah can keep an eye on you and help with your memory-immersion program, I'm happy for you to leave the hospital this afternoon."
"Thank you," said Harry. "Sorry for being so difficult to deal with when I first got here."
"Think nothing of it, Mr Potter. Now, if you'll excuse me, I believe that you have a visitor so I'll leave you two to talk."
Harry sat up in his bed to see who this visitor was. The healer walked out through the door of the room and a few moments later a familiar face walked in.
Padma Patil stood in the doorway, clearly unsure of how to react. After all who do you act around a hospitalised friend whom you went on one date with, of which they have no memory?
Finally Harry broke the silence. "Hannah said she was going to contact you."
Padma nodded and stepped further into the room, holding up a small crystal phial as she did so. "I, uh, I brought you some memories to view."
Harry nodded and swung his legs out of the bed. Clad only in a pair of pyjamas, Harry made his way over to the pensieve, which stood on a table off to the far side of the room. Padma followed him and looked to him for instructions.
Using his wand, Harry gently extracted three long, silvery memories that he had been viewing before the healer had arrived and placed each of them into their own phials. After placing a stopper in the top of each phial and placing each phial into a small wooden rack, Harry turned back to Padma.
"Just pour them in gently."
Padma nodded and took the stopper out of the phial in her hands. Gently she poured the contents into the pensieve and, without another word, Harry took the plunge.
Despite his frequent forays into the memories of other people over recent days, Harry was still not used to the odd sensation caused by entering the pensieve. This sensation was only made more overwhelming by the fact that it the person most featured in these memories was himself, taking part in activities that he had absolutely no recollection of going through.
The first memory that Padma had given to him was of their confrontation with the Slytherins on the Hogwarts express. He had already been given a memory of how this confrontation ended, thanks to Hannah, but it was very useful to see it from the beginning.
Unfortunately there was still a gap to be filled in even after his viewing of Padma's memory, which ended with her escorting Daphne and Astoria Greengrass and Tracey Davis out of the compartment. From his own words Harry knew that he had spoken with both Malfoy and Parkinson, but exactly how much time had passed between Padma's exit and Hannah's arrival was something that he might never know.
After the confrontation with the Slytherins was a discussion that Harry and Padma had had regarding dealing with the Slytherin Head of House. Harry realised that he had spoken to Padma with relative ease, even joked with her. He could see how a date with her could have come about.
Unfortunately Padma eventually left and the memory ended, leaving another blank for Harry to try and fill in elsewhere. Trying to keep everything in some sort of order in his mind, Harry was reasonably sure that shortly after Padma's memory ended, he had gone to sit with Susan in her compartment, though again, he had no idea just how much time passed between the two events.
The next memory was of their meeting with Dumbledore, McGonagall, Snape and Flitwick in the Headmaster's office. It was certainly interesting to watch as he confronted Dumbledore and Snape over the actions of the Slytherins. Having Padma and Professor Umbridge there to help out certainly made the task easier.
Again the memory ended too early and Harry had no idea what had been said in the Headmaster's Office after Padma left it. They were currently waiting on Professor Umbridge being revived from a dosage of Draught of Living Death. Harry hoped that she would have plenty of memories to supply him with once she came around.
That memory was followed by his and Padma's encounter on the staircase down to the Great Hall. That Padma had been the one to ask him out surprised him a little at first, but then he realised that it probably did have to happen that way. There would have been no way that he'd have plucked up the courage for at least another three months had things been left up to him!
There then followed the memory of lunch with the Ravenclaws. He was pleased to see that he had gotten on well with all of them, just like he had when he had sat with Susan, Hannah and their year mates at the Hufflepuff table.
And then, of course, came the date, during which Harry surprised himself by not being quite as awkward as he had expected. In fact, he was very pleased to see, he and Padma had clearly had a very good time and their date clearly showed the promise of their having more in the future.
Unfortunately, just as the pair was walking back to the castle, with Harry fully expecting to witness himself and Padma end their night with a kiss, Dumbledore, McGonagall and Snape turned up.
After this there were not quite so many memories for Harry to view and he got the distinct impression that he and Padma had not yet managed to discuss having a second date. The closest that they had come was on that Saturday when they and a group of others had spent the afternoon together down by the lake. Harry had already seen this from Hannah's memories, but it was nice to watch it again. It was such a pleasant memory, though Harry watched it with a hint of sadness, knowing that just a few hours after this everything had gone right down the plan, all thanks Albus Dumbledore and the Order of the Phoenix!
Harry exited the pensieve to find Padma watching him with a worried look on her face.
"Well, our date certainly went well," he observed.
Quite suddenly Padma threw herself at him, wrapping her arms around his shoulders and burying her face into his neck.
"What's wrong?" asked Harry in alarm as he wrapped his arms around her waist.
"It's my dad, Harry. He's decided that Parvati and I are to continue our education at Pardleos School instead of Hogwarts."
Harry was puzzled for a moment and asked "I thought the school we were all going to is called Waxwings."
"Yes, that's the alternative that the Ministry arranged. My dad's decided to send us to a different school."
"Oh… Well, I'm sure we can visit each other…"
"Pardleos is in India, Harry."
"Oh… Well that sucks!"
Padma nodded into his shoulder and began to cry.
"Is there any way you can talk him out of this?" asked Harry.
"I've tried to, but he won't hear of it and neither will mum. There have been Patils in England for seven generations and until Parvati and I came along, they all went back to India to attend Pardleos. Our brother Sanjay already goes there, but dad thought it would be a good idea to send Parvati and I to Hogwarts. He's been less than happy with some things at Hogwarts and has been in two minds about sending us to Pardleos for a while. This latest mess just made the decision much easier for him."
Harry heaved a heavy sigh and asked "When do you leave"
"Tomorrow."
"Damn. So this is goodbye, then?"
She nodded and pulled back to look into his eyes.
"Write to me?" she asked.
"Of course."
A smile appeared on her face, the only time she had done so during the visit.
Then, catching Harry completely by surprise, she leaned in and kissed him.
Harry felt dazed. He hadn't expected to be kissed… his first kiss…
He didn't remember closing his eyes, but he assumed that he must have done because he was opening them again following the end of the kiss.
Padma had an odd look in her eyes, one that Harry found rather alluring. She bit her lip before saying "I should probably go…"
"Probably," agreed Harry.
She turned and walked towards the door. Just before leaving she looked back over her shoulder.
"Bye, Harry."
Harry swallowed nervously and replied "Bye, Pad."
She left.
Harry sighed again and sank down onto the end of his hospital bed, burying his face in his hands.
"Wow. That was some pretty heavy stuff."
Harry whirled around and saw that Hannah was lying on his bed.
"How long have you been there?" he demanded.
"On the bed? About ten minutes. In this room? I turned up with the Healer, remember?"
"And you didn't have the decency to leave?"
"Nope. I had a front row seat to a dramatic moment in your love life and I wasn't about to give it up."
"So you wanted to watch me break up with my girlfriend?"
"No. What I wanted was to watch as you and Padma snogged each other senseless. Her going to India was not something I was expecting.
Harry groaned and fell back, lying across the foot of the bed. "How lousy can a romantic relationship get? Seriously, I date a girl out on a first date and we get along great but now I can only remember it from her point of view. Then we kiss, my FIRST kiss by the way, and now she's being whisked off to India."
"It does sound like something out of one of those muggle romance novels Susan's so fond of," commented Hannah.
"You're not helping." said Harry.
"Ok," said Hannah as she sat up. She scooted down to the end of the bend and looked down at Harry. "Would it help if I pointed out that you are not the only one who is upset that Padma is leaving."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, there's Lisa Turpin and Su Li for a start. They've been best friends with Padma since first year. Then there's that Luna Lovegood girl. She gets bullied a lot, but Padma always did her best to stick up for her."
Harry thought for a few moments before saying "No. Your pointing that out does not make me feel better."
"Of course it doesn't," said Hannah. "I was just trying to make you realise that you're not going to be alone in missing Padma. I'll miss her –she was great to have patrol duty with. Then there's Parvati, we're losing her too. Think how lost Lavender is going to be without her best friend?"
"I'm sensing that you are trying to make a point here but I can't seem to find it."
Hannah rolled her eyes before explaining herself. "My point, Harry, is that we are going to lose people over this. After what Dumbledore and sycophants did we were always going to lose people. But the important thing is that those of us who remain must stick together. Our school, no, our world has been turned upside down by this. But so long as we stick together, we'll pull each other through it."
Harry nodded, but remained silent.
Seeing that she had gotten through to him, Hannah swung her legs off of the bed and stood up. "I'm going to contact mum. I know the Healer said for you to live with my family, but we're all living with the Bones' at the moment while we wait for better wards to be put around our home."
"Ok," said Harry, making himself sit up. "I'll start packing my stuff up."
Dear Miss Hermione Granger,
We are writing to invite you to attend the Waxwings School for Magic to continue your magical education until such a time that your usual school, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry is deemed fit to be re-opened.
Hogwarts students will be arriving at our school to begin their education on Wednesday 17th September; however as a Hogwarts prefect we request that you arrive on Monday 15th September in order to further aid the transition.
By no means are you required to attend, but if you wish to do so then please send a letter of confirmation by owl post at your earliest convenience so that we may send you a supply list and a copy of the school's syllabus.
We look forward to hearing from you,
Sincerely,
Professor Jennifer Winston, Headmistress, Waxwings School for Magic.
Hermione looked down at the parchment in her hands and felt resolve steeling itself within her. A new magical school meant a new chance, a chance that she was determined not to waste. She ran downstairs to discuss this development with her parents.
Pansy Parkinson was having similar thoughts about her letter. Her time at Hogwarts had always been about sucking up to Draco Malfoy and making sure that she was the queen bee in Slytherin house. Well, not this time. She was going to use this opportunity to reinvent herself and become a better person. If she didn't… well, she didn't like to imagine the consequences.
Up and down Wizarding Britain many other students were holding their letters, inviting them to attend Waxwings School for Magic. Many had already accepted the offer, some others had rejected it and still others were in two minds about the whole thing.
No matter what, though, Hogwarts was on a collision course with Waxwings, and only time would tell just how well each school would fare.
A/N: Five points to anyone who can work out where the name Pardleos comes from!
Kind of a sad chapter this time around. After what has happened in the last few chapters it was always likely that some people would be leaving. Don't worry too much though as this is not the end for Padma. There are several ways in which she could come back, though I'll be keeping that a secret for now!
Before anyone has a go at me for the back stories for why certain members of the Order obey Dumbledore, please take a moment to consider just why Remus Lupin does everything Dumbledore says. Now think of Rubeus Hagrid. Then Mundungus Fletcher. And now Severus Snape. Every one of them feels indebted to him in some way and that is why they are willing to do his bidding. Now you tell me that it's not possible that there are other Order members in the same boat, especially given some of their backgrounds (Mad-Eye Moody's in particular!)
Sorry that this chapter is shorter than normal, but I really thought that the stuff I had here would be longer. I've tried to make it longer, but it doesn't really work. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it.