Getaway Car

The Aftermath.

"(Y/n)," Madam Bones said as she packed up her suitcase, "go see your friend and come find me after your lunch break."

"Really?" (Y/n) blinked.

"Yes. Now hurry before someone else drags you into something," Madam Bones said.
With her journal in hand, (Y/n) flew down the steps and up to Harry, bumping his shoulder and drawing him out of his thoughts.

"Hey," Harry greeted.

"Hey. I've got the next hour or so off," (Y/n) smiled. Harry beamed.
They took the last few steps at a run, wrenched open the door, and almost collided with Arthur, who was standing right outside, looking pale and apprehensive.

"Dumbledore didn't say—"

"Cleared," Harry said, pulling the door closed behind him, "of all charges!"

Beaming, Arthur seized Harry by the shoulders.
"Harry, that's wonderful! Well, of course, they couldn't have found you guilty, not on the evidence, but even so, I can't pretend I wasn't—"
But Arthur broke off due to the courtroom door opening again. The Wizengamot were filing out.
"Merlin's beard," said Arthur wonderingly, pulling Harry and (Y/n) aside to let them pass, "you were tried by the full court?"

"I think so," said Harry quietly.
One or two of the passing wizards nodded to Harry as they passed and a few, including Madam Bones, greeted Arthur or (Y/n), but most averted their eyes. Cornelius Fudge and the toad-like witch were almost the last to leave the dungeon. Fudge acted as though Arthur and Harry were part of the wall and nodded politely at (Y/n), but again, the witch looked almost appraisingly at Harry as she passed. Last of all to pass was Percy. like Fudge, he completely ignored his father and Harry and only nodded at (Y/n); he marched past clutching a large roll of parchment and a handful of spare quills, his back rigid and his nose in the air. The lines around Arthur's mouth tightened slightly, but other than this he gave no sign that he had noticed his third son.

"I'm going to take you straight back so you can tell the others the good news," he said, beckoning Harry forward as Percy's heels disappeared up the stairs to the ninth level. "I'll drop you off on the way to that toilet in Bethnal Green. Come on..."

Harry yelped as (Y/n) hopped onto his back, tightly hugging him around the chest. Beaming, he held her legs up and followed Arthur as (Y/n) rested her chin on his shoulder.
"So what will you have to do about the toilet?" Harry asked, grinning. Everything seemed five times funnier than usual. It was starting to sink in: He was cleared, he was going back to Hogwarts.

"Oh, it's a simple enough anti-jinx," said Arthur as they mounted the stairs, "but it's not so much having to repair the damage, it's more the attitude behind the vandalism, Harry. Muggle-baiting might strike some wizards as funny, but it's an expression of something much deeper and nastier, and I for one—"
Arthur broke off in mid-sentence. They had just reached the ninth-level corridor, and Cornelius Fudge was standing a few feet away from them, talking quietly to a tall man with sleek blond hair and a pointed, pale face.
The second man turned at the sound of their footsteps. He too broke off in mid-conversation, his cold grey eyes narrowed and fixed upon Harry's face.

"Well, well, well... Patronus Potter," said Lucius Malfoy coolly.
(Y/n) heard Harry's breath come to a stop. She remembered Harry's retelling of that night very well and knew just where his mind was. (Y/n) turned her head, nudging Harry's head with her own.
"The Minister was just telling me about your lucky escape, Potter," drawled Mr. Malfoy. "Quite astonishing, the way you continue to wriggle out of very tight holes... Snakelike, in fact."

"Yeah," said Harry, "yeah, I'm good at escaping..."
Lucius Malfoy raised his eyes to Arthur's face.

"And Arthur Weasley here! What are you doing here, Arthur?"