11

Chapter 11: Fyre Talk

The atmosphere in the Great Hall was so quiet you could have heard a pixie fart, Neville thought somewhat uneasily to himself. Professor McGonagall, who to his slight surprise had returned from St Mungo's at some point during the night having made a remarkably fast recovery from the attack on her, had waited until breakfast was finished a few minutes ago. She'd then stood up and cleared her throat, calling for attention. Ron had grumbled a little under his breath when all the food vanished, but a moment later a few sandwiches appeared in front of him, Ginny, and Neville, which got some odd looks from their companions. Even as mouths opened to ask questions, McGonagall had raised her voice to silence the whispering that was running around the room.

The Slytherins had been behind a lot of it, many of them looking peevish about something or other, likely the abrupt vanishing of the horrible pink creature that had enabled them to get away with far too many things in the last few months. He assumed that most, if not all, of them didn't know the full story yet. Malfoy and her Inquisitorial Squad had known that Harry and Hermione had led her off somewhere, but they presumably hadn't realized what had subsequently happened to the woman. It had seemed likely that they were expecting her to return, though, and that she wasn't going to do so was probably what the Deputy Headmistress was about to announce, he'd thought.

Along with the fact that quite a lot of people would find themselves down a parent or two, which on the one hand he not been able to help feeling some sense of vindictive glee about, especially considering who those people had been and what they'd done, and on the other he'd found himself a little sympathetic. He was all too well aware of what it was like to lose your parents, even if his weren't technically dead… At least he now had the satisfaction of having seen those responsible die in front of him.

Malfoy, who he'd been looking directly across the tables at, had been glancing at some of his friends and Professor Snape alternately, the Potions master not meeting his eyes. This appeared to unnerve the blond boy and his expression had become rather odd. He'd seemed to be trying to pull off a haughty arrogant look, something he was quite good at most of the time, but hadn't quite been able to manage it.

When she'd got the room quieted down to the level she wanted, albeit with a few whisperers still barely audible around the hall which had several of the other professors giving the perpetrators the evil eye, she'd drawn herself erect and begun speaking. "Students, I'm afraid I have a number of grave announcements to make," she'd led with, glancing at the Slytherin table as she spoke, which caused the more perceptive ones to immediately look very worried. "Firstly, Professor Dolores Umbridge will not be returning to…"

The roar of happy satisfaction that had issued forth from more than three quarters of the throats present had made the wall hangings ripple and the windows shiver, cutting her off mid word. Neville had watched as she'd obviously sighed, but maintained a stern expression for a few seconds, before raising her hands. "Quietly, now," she'd called loudly. "Please contain yourselves, I'm nowhere near finished yet."

The room had slowly quietened down, although the whispers had reached a higher level. She'd glared most of the people responsible into submission one by one, while everyone else waited. Neville had been watching the Slytherins closely, interested in seeing how a lot of them looked even more worried but at the same time a number clearly were hiding, more or less successfully, distinct relief. Many of these were girls, which was both intriguing and somewhat unpleasant in the implications.

Daphne Greengrass had met his gaze directly, blinked a couple of times, then deliberately looked to the side at a couple of her friends, leaning closer to one to whisper something. Neville had spent a few seconds pondering what that might mean, then turned away to look back to McGonagall, who'd opened her mouth even as he did and spoken again.

"Thank you. As I was saying, Professor Umbridge will not be returning to Hogwarts. She has been arrested by the Aurors on a number of serious charges and will be facing at least one trial, so you're highly unlikely to see her again. Minister Fudge has reinstated Professor Dumbledore as Headmaster, but unfortunately he is extremely busy helping Director Bones investigate the… oddities… that have occurred here at Hogwarts since Miss Umbridge arrived. I am not yet sure when he will return to the school, but in the interim I am acting in his stead as Acting Headmistress. I have asked Professor Burbage to temporarily take on my duties as Head of Gryffindor House while this current situation lasts, and she has my thanks for accepting."

Everyone had looked at Professor Burbage, the Muggle Studies professor, who appeared mildly embarrassed by the attention but nodded acknowledgment.

"I expect all members of Gryffindor to extend to Professor Burbage the respect she is due in this position, and if I hear otherwise, there will be consequences," the older woman had added with a meaningful look at certain people whose surname rhymed with 'Peasley.' She'd then looked at the Slytherin table, before casting her eyes across the other two. "That goes for everyone else, also. I realized that Hogwarts has experienced an unpleasant time this year, but that is over. Minister Fudge has also rescinded all 'Educational Decrees' enacted by Miss Umbridge, effective immediately."

Neville had almost seen the sarcasm she'd used for those words, and like most of the other students had had trouble hiding a grin. It had been extremely apparent that McGonagall had no more love for the Umbridge creature than the rest of them. "Additionally all special privileges granted to specific students by her are canceled forthwith."

That had made several Slytherins look very annoyed, but they didn't dare say anything especially when Snape had glared at them like he'd been planning on using them for potion ingredients.

"To sum up, we will be removing anything Miss Umbridge was responsible for inflicting on Hogwarts in any way immediately. I expect every student to cooperate as we put the school back into the correct order, and I shall be very disappointed should anyone give me cause to believe they are attempting to interfere with this. I suggest that none of you wishes to disappoint me. I trust we can agree on that?" Gimlet eyes had scanned the entire hall, no one, not even the other Professors, daring to object. Neville had suddenly realized, and by the looks of it so had quite a few other people, that Professor McGonagall was in fact a rather scary woman when she got that expression on her face.

He'd come to the conclusion that she was very, very serious about what she was saying and woe betide anyone who did something foolish.

So the Slytherins were in trouble, then…

"By the time Professor Dumbledore returns Hogwarts will be restored to normal and everything will be running smoothly. That much I can promise you," she'd finished up after a long and uninterrupted silence.

Then she'd dropped the bombshell that had made every student in the entire room nearly stop breathing, except for him and his two co-adventurers.

Taking a deep breath of her own, she'd simply said, "The next announcement is somewhat more unusual. The Dark Lord Voldemort is dead. He and a number of his Death Eaters attacked the Ministry of Magic, and during the fight, all of the attackers were killed. None escaped."

Neville, until that point, had never properly understood the meaning of the phrase 'The silence was deafening.'

He did now. Because it really was, although he'd have had trouble explaining it to anyone who wasn't there.

Of course, when the silence was broken by the first shocked questions, it was very thoroughly broken indeed.

Neville, wincing slightly at the volume of the shouting, glanced at Ron and Ginny, who shrugged. All three of them looked as one over to the Slytherin table where Draco was sitting, his face blank and his eyes empty. He'd obviously worked out the truth even without McGonagall giving names.

Wondering what the end result of probably a third of the Slytherin students losing at least one parent to the abortive attack on the MoM would be, Neville sighed faintly, then turned back to the staff table and waited patiently for Professor McGonagall to restore order and continue with her announcements. And the whole time he was wondering where Harry and the two girls were, while slightly envying them the chance to not be here where it was going to get very strange, he suspected.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

Amelia winced slightly as her head throbbed again. She'd been up for close to forty hours by this point, thanks to idiot Dark Lords, Ministers, and Chief Warlocks, and the only thing keeping her upright was a somewhat worrying number of pepper-up potions, which she was going to pay the price for soon enough. Along with enough terrible Auror-grade coffee to drown a hippogriff. That was probably worse.

But while she was nominally functional it had left her with a vicious headache throbbing dully at the back of her head, and a feeling that she wanted to lock Albus Dumbledore and Cornelius Fudge in a small room then throw the key away and cover the door with about two feet of bricks, then climb into bed having left instructions that if anyone disturbed her for the next week she'd be laughing as she strangled them with their own intestines.

Unfortunately, being both a relatively sane person, and clearly the most rational one in the entirety of the Magical British Government, she couldn't indulge in that most precious and underappreciated resources of life, undisturbed sleep. No matter how much she wanted to.

At least not until she'd managed to put enough things in place to be reasonably certain that the country would still be intact when she woke up…

Richard Granger explaining in detail with significant venom why he felt that his daughter, and for that matter her friends, had been badly let down by Hogwarts and the people entrusted with their education and well-being wasn't actually helping with her headache either. Even though she fully agreed with essentially every point he'd, unfortunately loudly, raised since she'd arrived half an hour ago.

If she'd been on his side of the situation she'd have been at least as nasty about it, which was the only thing stopping her from being acerbic right back. As it was she'd just sat there and made notes, trying not to flinch too much when he got that little bit too loud.

It was fair to say she was feeling much more fragile than she enjoyed, and was cursing the name of quite a few individuals who should have known better.

Having Skitter sitting entirely motionlessly in the corner of the room watching them like some fell judging monster didn't actually make the whole thing any easier to handle either. Poor Collins was looking like he was on the verge of either passing out from stress or just bolting. She wasn't certain if it was the Grangers, Skitter, or the combination, but he clearly wasn't enjoying this any more than she was. She was just better at covering up her worry.

Hopefully…

Finally, though, she held up a hand, the other one pinching the bridge of her nose. "Enough. Please, Mr Granger, enough. You wouldn't believe how my head feels at the moment, and while I fully agree with everything you're saying, there's nothing I can do at this specific point in time to rectify these past issues no matter how much we would both like that." The man, thankfully, fell silent and breathed a touch heavily for a moment while his wife put her hand on his arm in a quiet gesture of calming. She'd been just as upset, but had mostly stayed out of the argument, merely adding a small amount of detail and the occasional cutting comment. The three Hogwarts students, Miss Granger, Mr Potter, and Miss Lovegood, had been sitting in a line on the sofa where Skitter was perched like a strange insectile gargoyle on one arm, listening with interest.

None of them appeared to find Skitter nearly as worrying as they should have done, which was one of the many weird things about this entire nightmare.

Miss Granger had been making notes the entire time, not looking away from her, with a gaze full of analytical curiosity that belied her age. Mr Potter and Miss Lovegood every now and then leaned closer to her, one on each side, either reading what she'd written or whispering very quietly to her. The overall effect was oddly unnerving, like she was being examined for a test.

She couldn't help wondering if she was passing whatever it was.

Mrs Granger inspected her, then nodded to herself, got up, and disappeared into the kitchen for a few moments. When she returned she was carrying a large glass of water and a handful of small bottles. "Do you have high blood pressure?" she queried, putting the water in front of Amelia. Puzzled, she shook her head. "Any allergies you know about?" Magicals didn't normally get much of those, although it happened enough she was aware of what the term meant, so she shook her head again. "Had any alcohol today?"

"Merlin, I wish I had a stiff drink right now," Amelia couldn't help saying, which got a snort of laughter from Mr Granger. "But no."

"All right, this should help." The other woman assembled a small collection of tablets from the bottles, then put them in front of her. "Take them with the water, drink all of it."

When Amelia gave her a look, she smiled. "I am a doctor, you realize. Dentists know quite a lot about pain management."

"Both how to remove it and how to create it," Skitter commented casually in an eerily emotionless manner which made Collins shiver visibly. Miss Lovegood looked amused. Mr Granger chuckled. Amelia sighed, but she was so tired and so regretting ever having accepted the job she had at the moment that she just mentally shrugged and picked up the pills, put all four of them into her mouth, and washed them down with the entire contents of the glass.

She was quite startled at how rapidly her headache seemed to ebb. It didn't subside entirely, but it was hugely reduced, and she closed her eyes and slowly sagged in relief. "Thank you," she said after a few seconds, the pain steadily fading towards bearable. "That worked remarkably well. What was it?"

"Ibuprofen, an anti-inflammatory, paracetamol, an analgesic, a low dose of codeine, a mild opioid, and a small amount of caffeine for the synergistic effect on the others. I don't want to try anything stronger without knowing your medical history, but those are generally safe." Mrs Granger fetched her another glass of water. "You also look dehydrated. I expect whatever you've been using too much of isn't helping." Amelia sipped the water, smiling ruefully. She had no idea what any of those muggle potions were but they definitely seemed to work wonders.

"Pepper up potions aren't recommended to be used more than a couple of times a day at most, and generally no more than three or four times a week," she admitted. "I may have overdone it."

"Excessive stimulant use is never a good idea and I doubt magical stimulants are any different," the other woman replied, looking at her with an evaluating gaze, then, appearing satisfied, sitting down again. "You mostly need sleep from what I can see."

"I know. But this whole insane situation that landed in my lap does rather preclude that for the moment because to be honest I can't trust anyone else to not balls it up even more than it already is," Amelia sighed, finishing the water and putting the glass down. She glanced at the teenagers, her eyes resting on Skitter for a moment, then looked back to the two adults. "I have found out things in the last fifteen or sixteen hours that should have never happened at all, and that they did happen and I had no inkling of it disturbs me more than I can express. The sheer number of problems with everything that's been revealed defies easy explanation, believe me."

"It absolutely appalls me," Mr Granger grumbled, the short break having apparently let the worst of his head of steam leak away and leaving him looking highly annoyed but no longer ready to strangle someone. She was grateful for the reprieve, overall, but she was also all too aware that he'd raised a lot of good points in his rant and she was going to have to try to assuage some of them or who knew what the outcome might be. "The magical government is clearly far more dysfunctional than I'd realized or Hermione told us. It makes the Conservatives look like positive paragons of both ability and ethics, which I assure you they are not." He sighed, glancing at the four teenagers, then back to her.

"Since one AM last night I have found out just how many times my daughter's life was put at risk in a place we entrusted her care to, often by the very same people who should have been making certain nothing of the sort happened. She's missed an entire term having been in the magical equivalent of a coma and yet not one person saw fit to bother to mention that minor issue to us, her parents. Students have died at Hogwarts, and apparently were being regularly tortured by a staff member, one imposed on the school by the head of your government. Lethally dangerous wildlife roams not only the local environment but the school itself! You run competitions that were banned by your own society for being too deadly over a century ago, lose another student as a result, and end up with the murderous bastard responsible somehow coming back to life to continue his reign of terror. And it was only the completely accidental intervention of someone from a literally different world who put a stop to that ending up being an utter disaster."

He leaned forward slightly, not looking away from her, his gaze intent and focused and his voice hard. "These are not events which fill me with confidence that magical society is even vaguely sensible, practical, safe, or in fact long for this world the way you've apparently been operating. How on earth the real government allows it to continue is beyond me."

Sitting back, he shook his head as she absorbed his words. On the whole she couldn't disagree with the points he'd mentioned. Because it was true.

"That's barely covering all the other problems we've been told about, not one of which makes me feel any of these children are safe at Hogwarts. Harry has, by his own account, been put into mortal danger every single year he's been attending the place, and by the sound of it the staff have at best been dismissive of his concerns, and at worst actively complicit in the problem. Hermione has nearly died more than once trying to help her friend survive, Luna has certainly been put at risk too, and from what they tell me their other friends also found themselves in peril no child in a civilized society should have to face. The Headmaster of the school appears on the face of it to be at least part of the problem, knowingly or otherwise, and I'd like to point out that hiring a hopefully ex-terrorist to teach the wizarding equivalent of chemistry seems to me to be one of the most bone-headed things I've ever heard of. Especially as he sounds like he hasn't got the faintest idea about either how to teach anything to begin with, or even the basics of laboratory safety."

No one said anything when his voice, now far more quiet but all the more biting for that, finally went silent.

Amelia rubbed her eyes tiredly, trying to come up with a rebuttal and failing completely. The man might not be part of her world, but he had pointed out the major issues with it very accurately indeed no matter how much she wished he hadn't. Every single thing he'd said was true and cause for concern. How it had been allowed to get to this point she couldn't work out, other than a combination of Fudge's weak if not entirely absent leadership, far too much influence from certain quarters linked to Voldemort, and possibly some sort of magical influence here and there. That last part was almost guaranteed, she feared, although she honestly didn't know who to blame for it or why.

It might even be entirely accidental, because such problems had occurred in the past, but it was going to be a devil of a task working everything out. Dumbledore was undoubtedly involved up to his bushy eyebrows although she still felt the man meant well. He just had an absolutely overwhelming urge to meddle. And of course he was a secretive sod who always seemed to think he knew best and didn't like telling anyone what he was up to for whatever reason. She had no idea how he kept all his plans straight in his own head, really. Amelia had the feeling he'd never in his life seen a problem that would best be mentioned to someone with actual expertise in the field and not thought, 'you know, I feel I could probably sort this out myself more effectively…'

She hoped it was just that. The alternatives were much less comforting to think about. And added to that was that fucking prophecy, which had obviously been taken far too much to heart by both Dumbledore and Riddle, the latter trying his best, apparently rather ineptly, to kill the Potter boy, and the former deciding it would be a wonderful idea to keep it entirely to himself and do… something… with the knowledge.

Amelia didn't know what he'd been planning. Yet. But she was definitely going to find out regardless of the old man's wishes. Sirius Black had also looked like he was just about ready to start pulling out fingernails while asking questions about his godson and Dumbledore's plans for the boy. Considering everything else that had happened to the man, she was going to have to make sure she kept them well apart until she got to the bottom of everything.

Just in case.

After a rather long and uncomfortable silence, she sighed faintly and met his eyes. "I don't quite know what to tell you, Mr Granger. You are, of course, correct. Nothing you mentioned should ever have been allowed to happen, and if it did happen the circumstances should have been thoroughly investigated and the perpetrators identified and dealt with. As I said, I had no idea either about any of this, which is one of the most aggravating aspects of the entire thing. I also don't know how I had no idea about any of it. That shouldn't have happened, no matter how incompetent those above me are at their jobs."

Collins made a small sound that was almost a snigger and very slowly she looked around at him, watching him pale a little. She turned back to the Grangers. "I will get to the bottom of everything you mentioned, and a lot more that you didn't, in due course and no matter who tries to get in the way. If they do try to interfere I can guarantee you they're not going to enjoy the experience, regardless of their position. This is very firmly a DMLE matter and our laws are solid enough that no one can stop me now that certain thresholds have been crossed, regardless of the attempts of certain now-deceased individuals attempting to rewrite them. Most likely because of exactly these issues, I suspect. Not that I can check as there's not very much left of most of them…"

She couldn't help glancing at Skitter, who merely bowed her head slightly as if to say you're welcome. Which wasn't entirely helpful but on balance Amelia certainly wasn't going to say that.

"But it's going to take time," she continued. "Collecting evidence, interviewing witnesses, researching documentation, all the issues facing me are not ones that even magic can make happen instantly. It helps, admittedly, but we still have a very large job in front of us."

"I understand, Director Bones," he replied, nodding. "But I trust you also understand that we feel rather strongly that Hogwarts is not currently a sufficiently safe institution for our daughter to attend? From what she's told us, this Umbridge person was running the place almost like a prison camp, complete with collaborators as prison guards. That is not how a school works normally I can assure you. Even with her gone, I've got no doubt it's going to take quite a while to settle back into something approaching normal for Hogwarts, and to be honest normal for Hogwarts still sounds appallingly hazardous in our terms." His wife nodded agreement.

"You can at least be certain that Dolores Umbridge is never going to be a problem again," Amelia growled. "I've got her locked up at the DMLE pending trial for more charges than you'd believe. She won't be escaping any of them, that much I can tell you without hesitation. She'll be lucky to see daylight for the next decade at least."

A muffled cheer came from the sofa, and all the adults looked over to see Harry with a hand over his mouth seeming embarrassed, and Luna and Hermione grinning at him. "Not a fan, I take it, Mr Potter?" she asked wryly.

"Not as such, no," he responded, his expression darkening, before he grinned too. "One down."

"Indeed. Far too many to go," she agreed, turning back to the Grangers. "Do you intend to withdraw your daughter from Hogwarts, bearing in mind what you've so clearly explained?"

Husband and wife looked at each other, appearing to have a silent conversation, then as one examined their daughter, who looked back, her face somewhat blank. They also peered at Harry and Luna, then Skitter. Eventually Jennifer Granger said, "Hermione would like to continue her schooling, I believe. However we do feel that it may well be safer for her to not return to Hogwarts for the remainder of the term, on the basis that as you said it will take some time to fix the egregious problems with the place. I doubt missing less than two weeks, especially as she's completed her exams, will cause too much trouble for her."

Amelia had half-expected the answer, which was perfectly reasonable and sensible. She'd been pondering a similar thing for her niece, but hadn't really had time to think about it enough yet. She was certainly going to pull Susan out of school a few days early to have a long talk with her to get her side of all this.

"I can't disagree with that," she nodded.

"Good." Mr Granger looked at the teenagers again for a moment, then returned his eyes to her. "We feel it would also be a good idea for Harry to do the same."

She raised her eyebrows, turning in her seat to inspect the boy and his friends, then looking thoughtfully at the Grangers. "That… is probably a reasonable idea, yes, but what does Mr Potter think about it?"

"I'm fine with it," Harry replied immediately.

Turning back to him, she asked, "What would your guardians think about it?"

His face twisted and Hermione put her hand on his, making him look down at it for a moment before he raised his eyes again. "They wouldn't care a jot one way or the other as long as I was out of the house for as long as possible," he said quietly, sounding tired.

She studied him. A rather unpleasant conclusion was growing in her mind. "By the sound of it you don't get along?" she guessed.

The sound he made was dismissive. "They hate me. They've told me that enough that I believe them. The only reason I went back to them was because Dumbledore told me I had to. Some sort of protection, he said. But they've never wanted me there. I was just dumped on them after my parents died."

Staring at him, Amelia felt yet another sinking sensation. It never ended, did it? The more she learned about so many things around her the more she wondered how the hell it had taken this long for everything to blow up in their faces. "Can you explain that a little more, Mr Potter?" she asked, making sure her automatic quill was working. "Because I can't help but feel this is something else I will need look into."

He didn't look happy about it, but after an encouraging squeeze of his hand by Hermione, and a small smile from Luna, he started talking in a quiet depressed voice, conveying a tale that made Amelia furious, the Grangers get worryingly blank-faced, which showed where Hermione had learned that, Luna to put her arms around him, and Skitter to radiate, somehow, a fury that was as cold as the depths of Antarctica. Even Collins rapidly gained an expression of deep disgust as the boy kept talking.

Oh yes. This was definitely something she was going to have a very intense talk with Dumbledore over. Mean well he might, but his ability to do well appeared highly suspect at best. If he'd had the faintest idea of what this boy had gone through and had allowed it to happen… Amelia gritted her teeth, but sat listening, while pondering just how many people she was going to have to do something unpleasant to before her task was done.

All of them, she suspected.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

Listening to Harry talk about his past in a monotone that was nearly as good as hers was, Taylor was glad in a distant part of herself that she was running her emotional shunt full bore right now. His story brought up far too many memories of her own bullying at school, and she was taking careful note of names and events just in case. Certain people might need a reminder that what they considered valid behavior was not acceptable.

And possibly a few hornets in uncomfortable places. Assuming she was feeling mellow at that particular point in time.

Director Bones was clearly livid but she remained professional, only keeping an eye on her weird automatic dictation magical Tinker-tech, which was kind of fun to watch but seemed in some senses to be completely ridiculous. Apparently these people had never heard of tape recorders. On the other hand it did at least give a nice hard copy, even if in a font that looked like Shakespeare had written it.

The thought amused her and she wondered what her mom would have thought of all this, the memory coming to mind of the pair of them happily reading alternate lines from entirely different works of the Bard to each other with all the theatricality they could bring to bear, while her dad nearly rolled on the floor laughing his ass off.

Shakespeare had been a randy old goat but he did have a way with words.

Harry's voice was going hoarse with the amount of talking he was doing and Jen Granger got up to fetch him a glass of water too. Taking it with thanks, he sipped from it, then resumed talking. It took over two and a half hours to go over what Taylor was fairly sure was only the highlights of his life, but that was more than enough to make it very apparent that someone had been fucking around pretty much the entire time in the background. There was no way all of that, or even a small fraction of it, could have been purely coincidental. Life didn't work that way, not even her life.

If it had been her world she'd have suspected either a Simurgh plot, a villainous Thinker, or possibly both. This one didn't have the first, thank fuck, and more or less didn't quite have the second, but considering that telepathy and mind control were a thing here, who knew what could be done if you put in a bit of effort? She herself could think of half a dozen different horrifying things you could achieve with that sort of power just off the top of her head, having read an awful lot of documentation on the abilities and limitations of the various magics involved at the Ministry.

The issue wasn't that it couldn't be done, it was that there were so many potential suspects and reasons it was almost impossible to pick one. And she suspected there was a lot more than just one hand pulling the strings here. The biggest two were the former Dark Lord, now Dark Ash, and Dumbledore himself, but it was very unlikely in her view to only be them involved. To get this amount of fuckery in play would probably require several parties all working at cross purposes, quite possibly without even meaning to.

Hermione had certainly concluded that Dumbledore was a likely source of much of the oddities surround Hogwarts itself, and her reasoning combined with all the other things they'd heard last night did seem plausible. On the other hand everything she'd learned about the man suggested he was one of those people who genuinely felt he was trying to do the right thing. From her own experience, that didn't always lead you down the nice path. At least in her case she was well aware of what she was. As her father had once told her in one of his darker humorous moods, if you can't do good, do bad well. She wasn't entirely certain he'd been serious, and she liked to think she wasn't actually doing bad as such, merely bad-ish, but it was something to consider.

She was certainly not even remotely close to the sort of person Tom Riddle had been, because if nothing else if she'd wanted to take over a tiny little world like this magical bizarro-land, she wouldn't have missed…

Glancing at the two girls sitting on either side of Harry, she felt the same was probably true of them. Hermione particularly gave her the impression of being someone it would be a spectacularly bad idea to really push hard enough she felt she needed to get creative in her response.

Taylor could respect that.

And Luna… Well, you'd probably die wondering what the fuck had happened and never manage to work it out. She suppressed a small smile at the thought. Luna glanced at her, somehow picking up on it, and smiled back.

When Harry finally ran down, seeming exhausted, the roll of parchment that had been filled was impressively long. Bones asked a few questions, he, Hermione, and occasionally Luna answering and giving more details, until finally, nearly four hours after she'd arrived the woman nodded and stopped her quill. Her face showed exhaustion even greater than Harry's, making Taylor feel a certain amount of sympathy for her as she was clearly running on fumes at this point. Even so she was very obviously not even remotely pleased with what she'd heard. Hermione's parents both radiated anger that was almost palpable too.

"Thank you, Mr Potter," Bones said, putting the roll of parchment away. "I appreciate how hard that must have been to talk about, and you have my word I will be investigating this as strongly as everything else I have to deal with. I may want to talk again at some point in the near future, both with you and with your friends."

Harry nodded, glancing at Hermione and Luna who did likewise. "I'm sure Ron and the others would be able to fill in some holes too," he offered. Apparently now that it was clear someone was finally paying attention to all the weirdness in his life and taking it seriously, he was going to take full advantage of that. Taylor couldn't blame him at all. By the sound of it he'd been let down by authority just as much if not more than she had been, and for longer. She knew exactly what that felt like…

"I will certainly want to talk to them too," Bones replied. She adjusted her monocle then checked the time on a small gold pocket watch she pulled out from somewhere. "However, unfortunately I have run out of time for the moment. The number of other tasks I still have to do before I can stop and fall over is horrifying." The woman chuckled rather grimly. "May I offer my apologies for how you were treated at that farce of a trial earlier this year, while I think about it? If I had realized just how… aberrant… the whole situation really was I would have done more at the time. Unfortunately my hands were tied due to procedure and tradition."

"And now?" Richard Granger asked, looking at her intently.

"Now?" She smiled without it reaching her eyes, which were impressively cold. "Now things have reached a point where I must step in, hang tradition and anyone complaining about it." Her chuckle was chilling. "It's procedure, you see."

He nodded agreeably, his own smile mirroring hers. "If you require any teeth pulled, do let us know, won't you?" he remarked in a rather evil manner. "I'm sure we could fit you into our schedule."

Collins shivered, apparently knowing enough about non-magical dentistry that the comment worried him. Taylor grinned to herself. Hermione's dad was great.

The best bit was she was pretty sure he meant it.

Bones looked blackly amused and nodded. "I will bear that in mind, Mr Granger."

"Call me Richard, Director Bones," he offered, holding out his hand. She shook it after a moment's thought. "I think we're probably on the same side overall despite my misgivings about your government."

"Amelia. And I share those misgivings."

She turned back to Harry and the rest of them. "What are your plans now, Mr Potter, other than not going back to Hogwarts for the remainder of the term? I assume you have no wish to return to your Aunt's house."

"Not if you paid me," he replied shortly, which made her smile a little. "I could go and stay with Sirius, but…" He glanced at Hermione, who shrugged. "Where he's living right now isn't ideal."

"We've already offered Harry the use of one of our spare rooms," Mrs Granger put in. "That offer is still open, if you want, Harry," she added, looking at him.

He turned to Hermione, both of them meeting the others eyes, then he smiled. "I would like to accept it, if it's not too much trouble," he replied, turning back.

"Of course it isn't," she assured him cheerfully.

Bones nodded, examining them for a moment. "That sounds like a good idea. Being out of the wizarding world will make it much harder for anyone who might want to cause trouble to find you, if nothing else. Which will make my job easier too, I have to admit."

"Don't worry, if anyone tries anything all you'll need is a vacuum cleaner," Taylor put in calmly, making the older woman twitch a little as if she'd forgotten she was there.

"Ah… yes, please don't do that unless you have no choice?" Bones said, wincing slightly. "I expect the Muggle authorities would be somewhat upset, and a non-lethal response would be much preferred regardless."

"Aren't you going to warn her about the statute?" Luna chipped in happily. Bones gave her a long look, then examined Taylor, before sighing.

"Would it actually help?" she asked somewhat rhetorically. "I can't help thinking that if an Obliviator comes within a mile of any of you we're going to suffer a severe shortage of them."

Taylor inclined her head a little, inwardly smirking.

"I assume you will also be staying here, Skitter?" the woman asked.

"She's more than welcome to," Richard Granger said.

Nodding gratefully, Taylor added, "I would be happy to. Thank you."

"It's my pleasure."

"Which means that at least I don't have to try to find someone who is willing to form a protection detail at least," Bones commented with a wry grin. "Which to be honest after last night would be a very difficult task. You… left an impression."

She reflected on her own words for a second or two, then added, "One that may need a generation or two to fade."

"Skitter is good at terrifying bad people," Luna chirped. Everyone looked at her.

"And everyone else," Collins muttered before he paled and tried to pretend he hadn't spoken. Taylor graciously didn't say anything but Bones fixed him with a glare that could have peeled paint.

"Don't worry, no one will cause trouble," Taylor assured her.

"Certainly not twice," Hermione added with a grin.

"Quite," Bones sighed. "Just try to stay as discreet as possible, if you can. It would help."

"We'll do what we can," Harry said, before he yawned. "Sorry," he mumbled when he closed his mouth. "I'm still tired from last night."

"That doesn't surprise me," Bones noted with a nod. She looked to Hermione's parents. "I will be in touch about my investigations, and when I need to talk to Mr Potter or Miss Granger again. I'll probably want a list of their friends too at some point but that can wait for now, I think." Reaching into her pocket, she pulled out a parchment envelope, weighing it in her hand reflectively for a moment, then turned to Taylor again. "The last item is this." She handed it over.

Taylor accepted it curiously, popping the wax seal with one finger, then opening the thing out flat. "What is it?" she asked even as she scanned the official looking document.

"A Gringott's bank draft for the reward on Voldemort, Bellatrix, Rodolphus and Rabastan Lestrange, and Antonin Dolohov. We're still working on identifying the rest of them but it's quite possible there will be further rewards. The Minister saw fit to agree to the sum originally set for the capture or death of marked Death Eaters during war years ago. After some persuasion…"

The number written on the bottom of the document was quite large, Taylor thought as she studied it. In real world money, quite a lot larger.

She wondered how she could get it in a form she could take home with her. That might need some careful consideration. But it certainly meant she wasn't short of funds for the moment. Which was going to be useful depending on how long she was stuck here.

It seemed likely that might be longer than she was entirely happy about, since it was pretty damn obvious that Dumbledore was going to be kind of busy for a while answering a lot of probably rather difficult questions Bones was going to be asking. It was annoying, and she might have to start looking into the problem herself soon, but one way or the other she'd get home. And have quite a story for her dad and her friends.

In the mean time she might as well enjoy herself, and having money would certainly help with that.

Curious, Luna hopped to her feet and peered at the document Taylor was holding. Her eyes widened. "Oh my. That is quite a lot of galleons," she said in a rather faint voice.

"The rewards were quite generous due to public panic at the time," Bones remarked dryly, smiling a little. "And have just been sitting there for years. I'm sure the Ministry would have preferred to reclaim them but the laws involved never seemed to get looked into after Voldemort vanished and all the trials occurred. Lost in the shuffle, I suspect. A lot of things had that happen to them at the time, as it was more than a little chaotic to put it mildly."

"Thank you," Taylor said, handing the document to Hermione who was also looking intrigued She and Harry stared at it, stunned.

"You're welcome. Thank you for both terrifying me to the depths of my soul and triggering something that should have been investigated years ago," Bones replied, somewhat sarcastically but with a small grin. "One day I may even forgive you for it."

Taylor chuckled, not at all offended as she was sure the woman was both genuinely pleased she got to fix a lot of serious problems and capable of doing so. She rather liked Amelia Bones from what she'd seen of her so far.

Bones checked the time again, then turned to her minion. "Come on, Collins, we have far too much to do yet," she announced.

"Try to get some sleep soon," Mrs Granger advised. Bones nodded tiredly.

"Believe me that's very, very high up my list of things I want to do," she admitted with a rueful laugh. "Unfortunately it's not likely to happen just yet."

Mrs Granger handed her a small bottle in which she'd put a few pills. "Here. Two doses of the four you had earlier. Don't take them less than three hours apart, and make sure you drink at least a pint of water each time. And for heaven's sake, get some sleep as soon as you can or you're going to have more to worry about than an incompetent government."

The woman accepted the bottle, nodded thanks, and tucked it away in a pocket. "I'll certainly try, and thank you," she replied. "Do you mind if we leave from here?"

"Not at all," Mr Granger said, looking interested.

With another nod, Bones moved to stand next to Collins who appeared relieved they were leaving. "Oh, one last thing, Miss Skitter?"

"Yes?" Taylor replied, curious.

"Try not to start a war with the goblins," Bones said, shaking her head. "I know you'd win, but the paperwork would be atrocious." A moment later both she and the Auror next to her had half-pivoted and vanished mid move with a sharp bang, the teleportation magic surprisingly loud compared to powers Taylor had read about.

Taylor allowed her fyre mask to dissipate, reducing her emotional shunt at the same time, and grinned. "The goblins?" she echoed. "Why would I start a war with the goblins?"

Luna started giggling helplessly while Harry and Hermione exchanged glances, then also began laughing. Richard and Jennifer shook their heads, watching the teenagers with amusement.

"I think a late lunch is called for, then we can work out the next move," Richard stated, getting up from his seat. "And we still need to talk to your father, Luna."

"Yes, I suppose we do," Luna, who was still giggling a little, said. "And we should visit Gringott's, because I very much want to see what happens." She grinned impishly at Taylor.

"What?" Taylor looked around at the others. "Why are you all still laughing?"

She might be stuck here for now, she thought as she sat down next to Luna and let the crazy little blonde lean on her, but at least she did seem to have found some friends and might even have helped fix some bizarre problems.

Not to mention that she still had riding spiders to acquire.