Paid In Blood - Revised

Chapter 15

Having nearly seventy years of experience with the law? Quite valuable.

Having the support of the Slytherin Triumvirate, the entirety of Slytherin house, and an angry pureblood girlfriend who happens to be the heiress of an old family? Priceless.

Those were Harry Potter's thoughts as he listened to his self-appointed representatives, no less than the Slytherin Triumvirate themselves, as they addressed the Aurors who had come to Hogwarts. The three young adults were already well versed in the law, as each of them had been groomed from a young age to eventually take over their family businesses.

Ursula left the Aurors to the other three and decided to check on Daphne. After verifying that she was physically unharmed, she joined her unofficial master Madam Pomfrey to help her with the Weasley girl. Ursula wasn't thrilled with the idea of helping the little bitch, however, she knew that if she wanted to be a healer, she had to learn to treat everyone without bias.

Aurors were trained to deal with the worst sorts of criminals, yet the four who responded to the incident at Hogwarts couldn't help but feel somewhat intimidated. That may, of course, have been due to the gigantic snake protectively coiled around two of the subjects of their investigation, Harry Potter and Daphne Greengrass. It also may have been the hostile looks directed at them from the dozens of Slytherins gathered around, or the suspicious glares coming from several other observers, including the entire Durmstrang delegation.

"It is clearly a dark magical artefact. What else could it be, it's a giant snake?" one of the Aurors intelligently pointed out, to the groans of the Slytherin students and even some of the adults.

"And how exactly did you ever become an Auror?" Eliza retorted. "Contrary to popular belief, dark magical artefacts aren't illegal, unless they are used to commit a crime, such as murder. What we have here is an unusual protection charm, and the fact that it's a snake has nothing to do with it being Light or Dark."

Both Brian and Alistair nodded from either side of her.

No matter what anyone's opinion was on the incident, the law was on the young lord's side. Priori Incantato was performed on Weaselette's wand, revealing an obscure curse that seemed to cause green, pus-filled boils all over the target's body. The curse would have caused severe pain but was not considered lethal, so Dumbledore attempted to claim that no further investigation was necessary. To his disappointment, most of those present in the Great Hall disagreed with him, including the Aurors.

The arguments presented by the Triumvirate and Daphne were clear, concise, and definitive. Daphne's enchanted necklace was defensive in nature and only responded because she was attacked, and Harry was able to rebuff accusations of dark magic by using the family magic defence. As for the other two Weasleys, they had attacked Harry first, in front of many witnesses, and he was well within his rights to defend himself.

When all was said and done, Harry and Daphne were cleared of any wrongdoing, but the Weasleys were potentially facing charges. First, the three of them had to be taken to St. Mungo's for treatment. Madam Pomfrey had done enough to ensure Ginny's survival, but she didn't have the resources on hand to do much else. Percy was still unconscious with a burn mark on his chest and robes, and the pain of Ron's broken bones was so severe that they stunned him until he could be treated. Once they had been healed, all three redheads would be submitted for interrogation, with their parents present, in the case of the younger two.

Once the Aurors had cleared out and the Weasleys had been sent to St. Mungo's, the students started leaving the Great Hall in groups. The mood in the hall had become fairly grim by that point. The Weird Sisters had long since packed up and left, and nobody was in the mood to dance anymore anyway.