"One thing, professor," Harry interrupted. "This information is not to be shared with anyone without my or Sirius's agreement." Albus frowned at that. He knew Harry would be particularly resistant to allowing Severus this information. Albus knew off the continued animosity between the Potter heir and the potion master, but Severus was also one of THE most gifted potions and Dark Arts researchers he'd ever met. His input would be invaluable in any such effort in determining just what had happened to Harry when the werewolf attacked. He had to get Harry to understand this was more important than personal relationships.
"Harry, please understand the contribution Professor Snape could make in this situation. He is…"
"No, professor," Harry interrupted. "Severus Snape is a bully no matter what other abilities he has. If he learns of my status he'll let it slip like he did with Remus. Or it will be snide remarks in class where I can't respond without getting detentions for 'being disrespectful to a teacher'." Harry leaned forward in his chair to glare at the Headmaster.
"I swear if I hear one word from that man on this topic, I'll turn into the Beast, rip off his arm and shove it up his arse sideways!" The Marauders and the other students snickered at this except for Ms Granger. Her gasped admonishment of "Harry, language!" was barely heard by the shocked elder wizard.
"Harry, be reasonable!" Albus implored. "Whether I tell him or not, Professor Snape is sure to hear some version of what happened from his contacts amongst the Death Eaters."
"He has a point, Harry," Daphne Greengrass admitted. "I wouldn't be surprised if Malfoy didn't already have a letter from his Mummy on it."
"But that's no reason to give the greasy git the inside information," Ron countered his girlfriend. "He'd probably trade it off to get in better with 'em anyhow."
"What Ron said," Ernie contributed, "but with proper grammar."
"The Death Eaters know something happened and attacked them, but now what," Padma added. "Logically, solid, factual information leaked to them could allow them to find a way to hurt Harry. As it stands they are left with the standard werewolf weaknesses to work with at this point."
Albus realized he would not win on this point. It pained him when people couldn't set aside their personal differences for the Greater Good. He wasn't blind to Severus's personality shortfalls but the man was a researcher of the first order and a highly capable wizard. Maybe it was for the best to let this topic lie and come back to it at another point when tempers were not so high.
"Very well," the Headmaster conceded. "I shall not share Mr Potter's condition without your permission. Now, shall we discuss what to share with the Ministry?"
....
In the end, the story they gave the Ministry was based on the Lovegood family motto. "If you can't lead them with logic, baffle them with bullshit."
Harry provided a memory of his abduction to an audience that included Minister Fudge, Madam Bones, some senior Aurors, a couple of Unspeakables in their cloaks, the Hogwarts senior staff, and an odd toad-like lady in hideous pink robes. The memory ran from when 'Finch' approached him until the start of the fight in the graveyard. He ended the memory just when the Death Eater interfered with the 'duel' between Harry and Voldemort. This lead the viewers to believe that he'd then been knocked out. The memory resumed with a human Harry approaching the village and being found by Gippy the House-Elf.
After the memory was over, Madam Bones said, "With the help of Gippy the House-Elf, I sent a mixed squad of Aurors and Unspeakables to the location in question. There were signs of a fight that matched what was seen in this memory. However, there were also signs that some attempt had been made to sanitize the crime scene. We found curse burns on the grounds, a significant amount of blood, and a few dropped wands. No bodies were found." Hearing that, Harry was glad he'd left rather than to try to finish off the wounded Death Eaters. He'd been in no condition to fight a prepared opponent at that point.
An Unspeakable stepped forward. "The Unspeakables found the area used in the memory ritual to have shown the signs expected in such a powerful necromantic ritual. Additionally, Gringotts has already submitted the notice of the extinction of the Noble House of Nott."
"And what was it that murdered those men?" the pink toad lady demanded. "It had to be some kind of Dark Creature to do that to wizards!" Harry supressed his desire to ask how a creature that killed Dark Wizards was a Dark Creature.
"Those wizards were Death Eaters!" Susan's aunt retorted. "Their dragon dung stories of being under the Imperious Curse are so much fairy dust after seeing the respond to his summons after all this time! Either that or they have the weakest will in the history of magic!" Harry wanted to cheer her on.
"I believe we are done with Mr Potter for now?" Dumbledore asked in a tone that indicated it wasn't really a question.
"What? Oh, yes. Thank you Mr Potter for your part in helping this investigation," Madam Bones said giving Harry a dismissive wave. Fudge was too busy trying to spin this in his head to even notice.
Harry gave the witch a short nod of thanks and left the room. Waiting outside were the Marauders and his friends.
"They're running scared," Harry announced. "I don't think I managed to kill Tom so it's only a matter of time before he comes back. We need to be ready."
.....
War Drums
The last few days of the school year passed in a haze for most of the students at Hogwarts. The Durmstrang and Beauxbatons students left to much fanfare. Tournament Champion Fleur Delacour made a gracious departure speech that no one seeing her arrival would have expected her to make. She, along with Victor Krum and the other Champions made a point of publicly thanking Harry as their 'host'. Once the foreign schools had left, the Hogwarts students made their own preparations to depart the next morning via the Express. But in all of the House dorms the speculation continued on what happened the night of the Tournament.
.....
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