Peter Pettigrew lay limp on the floor, the light fading from Harry's eyes.
In his gaze the boy's silhouette blurred into the memory of another.
A figure so radiant it nearly blinded him.
Amanda quietly switched off the camera and turned her unblinking eyes toward Professor McGonagall and Headmaster Dumbledore.
"The footage is saved. Headmaster Dumbledore, Professor McGonagall, you can summon the Ministry now."
The matter of Peter Pettigrew and Sirius Black couldn't rest on their word alone; the Ministry was still the official authority of the British Wizarding World.
Nothing else mattered if they didn't revoke Sirius Black's wanted notice.
"I'll fetch Fudge. Minerva, Severus, the room is yours," Dumbledore said.
He nodded to Professor McGonagall and Professor Snape, stepped out of the boys' Dormitory, and entered the Gryffindor Common Room.
From his pocket he took a pinch of floo powder, tossed it into the blazing hearth, and strode into the emerald flames.
"Will the Ministry honestly admit the truth?"
Hermione murmured to Amanda, eyes on the Dormitory door.
"They won't want to," Amanda replied coolly, "especially Fudge."
"Admitting they tried the wrong man would damage the Ministry's authority, and Fudge, of all people, clings to that prestige. He'll resist."
"But the evidence is recorded," she added, lifting the camera.
"And we have plenty of witnesses." Her gaze swept the gathered Little Lions.
"Fudge can't refuse, whether he likes it or not."
"And unless he's a fool he won't openly turn on me—or on Headmaster Dumbledore."
She had already shown her strength when she warned him; Dumbledore's was beyond question.
Compared with the fleeting power that could change hands overnight, she and the headmaster held the real weapons.
If the Minister for Magic still possessed a shred of sense, he would not tear the last veil between them.
Because if it came to open war, she didn't know what Dumbledore would do.
But she herself would strike without hesitation. A Minister so blind to the bigger picture deserved to be replaced.
Handing the office to Hermione, still a Hogwarts student, sounded like the stuff of legend.
A faint smile tugged at Amanda's lips at the thought.
Beside her, Hermione's heart skipped at that small, sweet curve.
Would she taste as sweet as she smiled?
Before long Dumbledore returned, three figures trailing him into the Gryffindor Dormitory.
Behind him came Fudge, the Head of the Auror Office, and the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement.
Clearly roused from sleep, all three wore nightshirts; there had been no time to dress.
"Merlin's woolly socks—it really is Black!"
The Auror chief's hand flew to his wand at the sight of Sirius seated on Harry's bed.
"Easy, Robards," Dumbledore cautioned, pressing his arm. "Look there."
He pointed to the trembling wretch crouched on the floor.
Robards' wand swung toward the cringing figure.
"Peter Pettigrew—alive?"
His brow knitted; Barty Crouch Sr.'s face darkened.
Yet neither looked half as sick as Fudge.
Seeing Pettigrew alive was like hearing his own resignation read aloud.
Where the others might wonder how he had survived and whether the old case was flawed,
Fudge's only thought was how the revelation would bruise the Ministry's reputation—and his own.
"As you see," Dumbledore said gently, "our presumed victim and hero, Peter Pettigrew, lives."
"From his lips and Mr. Black's we have heard a very different story from the original investigation."
"I must confess: we were wrong. It was not Sirius Black who betrayed The Potters, but Peter Pettigrew."
"I—I can't accept that, Albus," Fudge stammered, mopping sweat. "The Ministry's inquiry proved Black guilty!"
The surrounding Little Lions gaped, as though seeing the Minister's hypocrisy for the first time.
Beside them, Professors McGonagall and Snape rolled their eyes in practiced unison.
"We used Veritaserum!" a Young Wizard shouted.
"And Amanda filmed everything—no one can deny it!"
"We're all witnesses!"
"Now, children, please—" Fudge raised placating hands.
He marveled: were students nowadays so bold?
Openly defying the Minister for Magic—didn't they fear being blacklisted from Ministry jobs?
"I am the Minister for Magic; I do not wrong the innocent. Trust the Ministry to uncover the truth, not your school."
The Little Lions erupted. Was he calling them—and Professors Dumbledore, McGonagall, and Snape—liars?
McGonagall and Snape stepped forward, ready to shield the students; the youngsters still had families and futures.
Who knew how petty Fudge could be?
But Amanda moved faster. "Minister Fudge, here is my recording and the witnesses. The Ministry need only examine them."
But now that you've seen Peter Pettigrew with your own eyes, you still refuse to reopen the investigation—I don't understand.
It's not that I don't want to reopen it; what you did was illegal, don't you understand?
Fudge shrank back at the sight of Amanda, clearly remembering the moment she'd lifted him by the throat with magic.
Still, he kept shouting defiantly, determined not to let the case be overturned in the slightest.
Anything that might damage the Ministry's reputation or threaten his position was something he refused to touch.
Veritaserum can only be used by the Ministry of Magic, and Muggle recordings can't be admitted as evidence!
I don't believe you've read Ministry law carefully, Miss Amanda.
Amanda blinked, her expression flat and cold. 'Of course I have, Mr. Minister.'
'But you should notice that Ministry law doesn't forbid Hogwarts staff from using Veritaserum inside Hogwarts—there aren't even any regulations about the school.'
'So, strictly speaking, neither we nor the Professors have broken any Ministry laws. Am I correct, Director Crouch?'
Amanda turned to Crouch beside Fudge; the man, always at odds with the Minister, smiled faintly and nodded.
'Certainly, Miss Amanda—the Ministry has no regulations concerning Hogwarts.'
'I must emphasize that the Ministry holds the utmost respect for Hogwarts, the only magical school within the British Wizarding World, and will never interfere in its internal affairs.'
Anything that could strike at Fudge, he was willing to do.
If the Young Wizards' and Amanda's words had merely angered Fudge, Crouch's comments enraged him completely.
He glared at Crouch, eyes practically spitting fire.
They were all Ministry officials; if this blew up, how could Regulus Black's exoneration benefit him?
When people called the Ministry incompetent, did they ever single out Crouch as an exception?
'As for Muggle recordings being inadmissible,' Amanda said, a confident, mechanical smile rising, 'tomorrow morning the Ministry will hastily pass a law allowing them as evidence.'
'Don't worry, Minister; I'll pave every road for you—just walk it.'
'Or,' Amanda's gaze swept the three men, 'do you gentlemen not want the truth uncovered and the real culprit punished?'
Fudge's mouth opened and closed in frustration, but under everyone's gaze he couldn't voice an objection.
Amanda had cornered him; any further refusal would brand him as someone who feared the truth and shunned justice.
If he meant to stop this, he'd have to pin the blame on Hogwarts, on Dumbledore—not on himself.
Left speechless, Fudge was answered by solemn nods from Robards and Crouch beside him.
'Rest assured, Miss Amanda, Headmaster Dumbledore, Professors, and Young Wizards—we will investigate the entire case as quickly as possible.'
'We will do our utmost to review it at the fastest speed, clearing the innocent and punishing the guilty.'
'A wise decision.'
Amanda's smile unchanged, she stepped back to Hermione's side.
Hermione openly gave her a thumbs-up in front of everyone.
'Brilliant!' she thought, especially when Amanda left Fudge speechless—so heroic!
'Very well, Dumbledore,' Fudge said, deflated, shoulders sagging. 'We'll reopen the investigation. If you have no objection, we need to take Black and—Pettigrew with us now.'
Headmaster Dumbledore inclined his head. 'Of course, Cornelius. But when the Ministry holds its hearing, I trust we shall see Sirius and Peter whole in body and soul?'
'Of course! Dumbledore, you don't think I would—'
Fudge barked, frantic as a dog whose tail had been trodden on.
Amanda narrowed her eyes, rapidly analyzing Fudge's character and micro-expressions.
Judging from how he'd argued in front of everyone, resisting a reopening until the last moment.
He was indeed a bit dimmer than she'd estimated, and even more obsessed with holding onto power.
His flustered, guilty expression gave her reason to suspect he intended some covert act to break the chain of evidence.
Or even—ensure the chain never formed.
But what method? Killing Sirius Black or killing Peter Pettigrew?
No—she had physical evidence; either murder would likely bring bad press upon him and the Ministry.
Given how much he valued authority and prestige, he surely wouldn't risk it.
Then... what would he use?
As she pondered, an idea surfaced; her gaze drifted to the window.
Outside, the sky was overcast, thick frost coating the panes—clearly the Dementors' influence.
If it were the Dementors... Amanda blinked mechanically. Fudge could claim Sirius had broken into Hogwarts to kill Harry Potter, terrifying Gryffindor students out of their wits.
Fortunately, the somehow-still-alive Peter Pettigrew had arrived in time to stop him and protect the students, only to be injured by Sirius and left mentally impaired.
As for why Peter had survived yet stayed hidden—simple: say he'd done it for his old friend's son.
So he'd lain low all these years, secretly safeguarding Harry.
Next, the Dementors had arrived and subdued the deranged Peter, while Headmaster Dumbledore and the Professors...
They could claim the Young Wizards had been traumatized, letting Dumbledore fabricate a lie the children memorized to cover Hogwarts' mistake.
That would even explain why all the traumatized students told the same story. The plan was vile, but for Fudge... entirely possible.
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