ᵇᵃⁿᵏⁱⁿᵍ ᵒⁿ ʰᵉʳ ; ʰᵃʳᵐⁱᵒⁿᵉ

Chapter Eleven

Chapter 11

When Emma saw a bedraggled and exhausted Amelia Bones standing at her door first thing the next morning, she had the witch sitting with them at the breakfast table before any questions were asked. Amelia attempted to protest about not going to too much trouble on her account but Dobby had fresh coffee and a full English breakfast in front of her before she could really hit her stride. They all wanted to know if the plans for today were changed though no one asked as Amelia demolished the plate of food in front of her. It was blatently obvious she had been up all night and Tonks was already trying to figure out just what the hell had gone on at the ministry

The breakfast had given Amelia a boost so, as she sipped her second cup of excellent coffee, she got down to the reason why she was here. "We are going to have to hold our meeting over until tomorrow, the last twenty four hours have caused more eruptions inside the ministry than at any time since a certain Halloween over a decade ago when Harry got that scar. It would appear all the same players from that terrible night were involved again yesterday."

Another sip of coffee helped Amelia put her thoughts in order for how she wanted to play this. "The wizard everyone thought was Alistor Moody turned out to be Barty Crouch Jr on pollyjuice potion, the real Moody was locked in his own multi-compartmental trunk. Barty was the one who put Harry's name in the goblet, he was also the person who lost his magic when Harry refused to compete in the second task. Our legal experts all agree that the goblet may have been confounded to spit out Harry's name but still recognised the magic of the person who put that name into the goblet in the first place. When Harry didn't compete, it considered that part of the magical contract to be with Barty. I know it sounds weird but so is confounding an ancient magical artefact. To our knowledge it had never been done before."

She was getting nods from everyone at the breakfast table, they'd all surmised it would be something along those lines beforehand and weren't too concerned about the legalities of the situation. Harry still had his magic and that was all that mattered. This next bit though was sure to throw them. "The fake Moody was working for his master, Voldemort, with the sole intention of serving Harry up on a plate. Voldemort planned to use Harry's blood and his dead father's bones in a dark ritual which would have given him a new body. Unfortunately for us, there was a wizarding wireless in the house they were hiding in. By the time we pumped the information out of Barty Jr, they had run for the hills."

Harry's disapointment at this news was there for everyone to see, Amelia though had some good news for him. "They may have escaped but they had to leave everything behind, including Barty Crouch Sr and pages of notes on the ritual painstakingly copied in Pettigrew's own handwriting. These notes, combined with both Barty's confirming they'd seen Pettigrew serving Voldemort is more than enough evidence to grant Sirius Black a trial. Should you be able to contact him, please bring him into the ministry with you tomorrow at ten a.m. You have my personal guarantee he will be unharmed and given a fair hearing."

Harry's mood had done a swift one eighty and he now appeared ready to hug this wonderful woman. "Madam Bones, you have my personal guarantee he will be there."

"We will deal with the Sirius issue first, then your godfather will be able to be at your side for the rest of it. Mr and Mrs Granger, I would like to extend the same invitation to you both." If things went as bad as Amelia expected tomorrow, Harry would need all the support he could get.

Emma was picking up on some of this, Amelia being too tired to maintain her stoic demeanour that usually gave nothing away. "What aren't you telling us Madam Bones?"

Amelia held her hands up in defeat and decided honesty was the best policy. "I am not deliberately withholding information, we won't have that information until Harry comes to the ministry to discover what this prophecy says. My gut instincts are telling me that none of us will like what we hear. This prophecy was actually made to Dumbledore so he obviously knows what it contains. This would appear to be his justification for the way Harry has been treated. The old fool kept every bit of information to himself, believing no one else could possibly understand it. It is my intention to, where I possibly can, do the complete opposite."