Harry Potter and the Prince of Slytherin

Chapter 23: Hogsmeade (pt 4)

From the Daily Prophet – Special Edition

THE DEATH EATER MENACE – DAY 91

SIRIUS BLACK LEADS WEREWOLVES AND
DEATH EATERS IN ASSAULT ON HOGSMEADE!

SIX DEAD! DOZENS INJURED!

BOY-WHO-LIVED AND MINISTER OF MAGIC BOTH
NARROWLY ESCAPE ASSASSINATION!

SPECIAL EYEWITNESS REPORT BY RITA SKEETER ON PAGE 2.

A Conference Room at the Ministry of Magic
31 October 1993
6:00 p.m.

Cornelius Fudge snorted at the newspaper headline. Trust the Daily Prophet to move with lightning speed just when he wanted them to take the day off. He had left the Three Broomsticks by floo not ten minutes before the start of the attack, but there was never a moment he'd been in any real danger. Still, he supposed it wouldn't hurt to have the public concerned for his safety. Every little bit of goodwill helped.

In the debriefing room with him were Chief Auror James Potter and his senior staff, DMLE Director Amelia Bones and her senior staff, Senior Undersecretary Dolores Umbridge ... and an incredibly nondescript man in incredibly nondescript robes who sat in the corner taking notes on behalf of the Unspeakables. Technically, this meeting was outside Umbridge's official portfolio, but the woman had proven herself quite indispensable to Fudge since the Death Eater crisis began, and, particularly relevant to the immediate circumstances, she seemed to have an encyclopedic knowledge about werewolves.

"Alright, let's get on with it," Fudge said. "I'd like to start with your report, James. I know you're eager to get back to Hogwarts and check on your son. If it's possible to finish up early with your business, I'm not averse to you sneaking out before the end of the meeting."

"I appreciate that, Minister," James replied tersely. "But if it's all the same, I'll stay here as long as needed. Lily will be contacting me by Patronus if there's any change in Harry's condition."

With that, Potter opened up the folder in front of him and quickly summarized the information on the Hogsmeade attack that had been collected so far.

"The attack commenced shortly after noon. It was a three-pronged attack. The largest group consisted of eleven individuals wearing homemade Death Eater-styled attire who attacked and destroyed the Hogsmeade Post Office with Blasting Curses. Out of that group, three were killed, but the rest escaped. None of the dead were identified as having been affiliated with You-Know-Who during the last war, though they all had prior criminal records. They appear to have been recruited specifically for this attack. More importantly, we got their leader, a man Polyjuiced to look like Sirius Black but who was actually revealed to be Janos Skorzeny, a Polish werewolf who belongs to Fenrir Greyback's pack. In addition to this incident, Skorzeny's wanted in several European jurisdictions for dozens of counts of murder, terrorism, and insurrection. At the moment, we're keeping him on ice in a DMLE detention cell until we're ready to begin interrogation. I don't know how much we'll get from him since werewolves are resistant to Veritaserum and Legilimency, but it's worth a shot."

"Do we know why Skorzeny was Polyjuiced to look like Black?" asked Director Bones. "And a young Sirius Black at that?"

"Not yet. Our current working theory is that Black is still recuperating from Azkaban and is too weak to engage in public activities, so the people who freed him are using Polyjuice to cause confusion and panic among the wizarding populace. We have no idea why the fake Sirius Black looked so young. Perhaps a defect in the Polyjuice Potion."