Harry Potter and the Prince of Slytherin

Chapter 27: Dreamscapes, Memories and Nightmares (pt 2)

18 December 1993
The Three Broomsticks
2:30 p.m.

After viewing the memory of the Battle of Diagon Alley, Harry Potter found the subsequent memories to be far less wrenching. Indeed, they were almost anticlimactic outside of the morbid aspect of watching several good people be murdered. When Harry asked about it, Moody admitted that he wanted to get the most violent and disturbing memory out of the way first. The Burke memory was the one with the most collateral damage and more importantly the only one with such atrocities as a rain of cobras or exploding eyeballs. The next few memories mainly featured Voldemort rather causally striking people down with a second or third Killing Curse after the victims had been lucky enough to dodge the first one or two. Harry noted that Moody's statistics seemed to hold true – feinting right and then dodging left worked slightly more often than other tactics, if only for a few seconds. Compared to Burke, none of the duelists in those other memories came close to even inconveniencing Voldemort, though several, by their sacrifices, allowed others to escape the Dark Lord's wrath.

At around 2:30, Moody called for a break. The last memory he'd planned to show that day would be the duel between Voldemort and James Potter which (luckily for Harry's father) quickly turned into a duel between Voldemort and Albus Dumbledore, the only person to have decisively beaten Voldemort one-on-one. But extended Pensieve review was mentally draining, and Moody wanted Harry to be clear-headed for this last duel, so he told Harry to nip down invisibly to the loo on the first floor and freshen up while he picked up a couple of sandwiches from Madam Rosmerta.

Once downstairs, Harry was careful to avoid bumping into the few customers around, but he was surprised to see Minister Fudge sharing a table with Profs. McGonagall, Flitwick and Hagrid, and they soon invited Rosmerta to join them. Curious, Harry crept closer to listen in on the conversation which was initially about how the Dementors were negatively affecting the local economy before veering off into lurid discussions about the Azkaban escape and the many supposed sins of "the traitor Sirius Black," who Fudge seemed to think was by far the most dangerous of the escapees.

"Obviously, Black was tired of his double-agent role," the Minister said. "He was ready to declare his support openly for You-Know-Who, and he seems to have planned to become the Potters' Secret Keeper just to help bring about their deaths. But as we all know, You-Know-Who met his downfall in little Jim Potter. Powers gone, horribly weakened, he fled. And this left Black in a very nasty position indeed. His master fallen at the very moment when he, Black, had shown his true colors as a traitor. He had no choice but to run for it." [AN 2]

Harry rolled his invisible eyes, annoyed at the Minister's credulity. Of course, in Fudge's defense, Sirius Black had obligingly given a very thorough confession at his trial. The boy frowned. He'd read over the trial transcript several times, and they certainly seemed convincing to him. But there was still something there. Something he was missing. Harry shook his head. It would come to him, he was sure of it. Across the room, Moody had just collected his late lunch and was heading back up the stairs to his room.

"But what do you think Black and the other escaped Death Eaters have broken out to do?" said Madam Rosmerta. "Good gracious, Minister, they aren't trying to rejoin You-Know-Who, are they?"

"I dare say that is the eventual plan," said Fudge evasively. "But we hope to catch Black and the others long before that. I must say, You-Know-Who alone and friendless is one thing ... but give him back his most devoted servants, and I shudder to think how quickly he'll rise again ...."

Having heard enough, Harry made his way to the loo, his thoughts turning rapidly. While he appreciated the memories and insights that Alastor Moody was providing, the boy suddenly wanted to return to his room and study the Black trial transcript once more in hopes that the answers would reveal themselves. When those revelations finally came later that evening, even Harry would be surprised by their source.