Chapter 99

Harry was having a tough time keeping himself going.

The students were back from the holidays, teachers had started pushing the students real hard to prepare for the exams, and despite his near-impeccable scores in every class, he was no exception from that. If anything, they pushed him even harder than most others.

Flitwick, much to Harry's relief, had one day called him over and said with a smile, "The teachers push you because you're one of the strongest students this school has ever seen Mr. Potter. That being said, don't stress yourself too much. Just do your best. Your best is more than enough."

Harry had come to the conclusion soon after Quirrell had given his threat that bringing Hermione into the loop about the stone was a really bad decision. Not wanting to risk her life in any way, Harry decided that while he'd continue to keep an eye on the stone, he needed to get her out of this mess.

Which was why he was near the common room fire, sitting right across Hermione, who was eyeing at him with a curious look.

"So? What did you want to talk about? Did anything happen with the stone? With Quirrell?" she asked in a hushed tone.

"Yes" he'd rehearsed the lie a dozen times, and yet when it had come down to the moment of telling it, Harry wasn't feeling all that confident. Despite that, he shouldered on. "I sent a letter to the head of DMLE about it."

Her eyes widened. "Did you get any replies? Did anything happen?"

"Yeah," Harry said, pulling out the letter he'd faked out of his pocket and handed it to Hermione. His high Calligraphy skill and the welcome note he'd received from Amelia Bones back in the beginning of the year made it easy to write up a small fake reply. "She told us not to interfere anymore and that she'd handle it."

Lie Successful!

Harry felt horrible.

Hermione bounced in her seat with a happy smile. "Harry! That's great! We won't have to worry about the stone anymore! We can let the authorities handle it and just focus on our exams."

Ping!

Skill leveled up!

Lying, Lv- 6 (40%)

This is your ability to lie to people, the higher the level the better the lie and less chance of discovery!

30% chance of success, less based on how extreme the lie is.

Unfortunately, Harry thought in his head, it wasn't as simple as that. He'd looked up the school rulebook and cross-referenced it with Hogwarts a History, finding out that unless an actual criminal act was committed at the school, the handling of the case would fall into the hands of the headmaster.

He was caught in a legal deadzone and the only person who was stuck with him in this legal deadzone was a greasy headed manipulative man who Harry decidedly didn't trust.

In short, he was alone.

He pulled himself out of his thoughts and looked at Hermione, who'd pulled out a ruler and a piece of paper and had started planning out study times and library research schedules. If only he could afford to trust authorities as much as his bushy-haired friend did.

"…and with two more hours in the weekends at the library, we should easily have the entire course revised three times by the time the exam starts next month!"

"Sounds good Hermione," said Harry with a smile.

Suddenly, Terry's loud voice rang from behind them. "Hey Harry! Professor Flitwick's asking for you at the common room door!"

"Coming!" Harry yelled back before turning to Hermione. "I'll see you later alright?"

Hermione nodded and Harry walked over to the entrance of the common room and slipped out. Closing the door behind him, he turned to look at the tiny professor.

"Good morning Professor," He said with a smile, "How can I help you?"

"Yes yes Mr. Potter, good morning, good morning. Come along now. I'll explain what is going on along the way," Flitwick said before striding off down the Ravenclaw tower.

Harry jogged after him, curious about why he had been called by the professor who usually never bothered climbing the stairs up to the tower.

As they walked in the general direction of his office, Flitwick explained what was going on. "It's a bit of a delicate matter Mr. Potter, as Ministry matters often are," he said, "Nymphadora Tonks. That's the name of the trainee Auror who's going to be asking you some questions about what happened back in Halloween."

"Nymphadora Tonks is here?" Harry blurted out.

Flitwick raised an eyebrow. "You knew about her coming?"

"The minister was here to talk about my guardianship issues, and he mentioned that someone would be coming to take some statements…but that was months ago. Why would she be coming so late?" Harry said thinking back to how he'd seen the pink haired auror while getting the Dragon egg out of Hogwarts. She'd seen him in disguise, which was probably why she hadn't stayed that day.

"Ah well. Such is the efficiency of our Ministry," Flitwick said with a small grin. Harry smiled back.

"Is there anything I should know before I go in, Professor?" he asked.

"Do avoid telling her about you wanting to fight the troll yourself…might raise some red flags. Besides that, just be honest," Flitwick said while opening the door of his office to let Harry in. "And don't answer any questions other than those related to the incident. Nymphadora isn't the type of girl to do it, but I've known Aurors that slip information to the tabloids for an extra bit of gold. Let's avoid that."

With a nod and a smile, Harry stepped into the office and let Flitwick close the door from the outside.

Inside, sitting on a chair with a small desk beside her, on which a quill and a notepad lay, was the faintly familiar faced pink haired Auror. She looked up immediately upon hearing the door close.

"Wotcher Mr. Potter! I'm Tonks. Just Tonks mind you. Great to meet you." she said, shaking Harry's hand and gesturing for him to sit down on the unoccupied chair. "Sit sit. Just a minute and we can get all this finished up."

"Harry please. Pleasure's all mine." Harry looked curiously at the notepad she was holding as he spoke. "I'd be glad to put that troll stuff behind me."

Tonks jotted down a few things in the notepad before setting it back on the table, pulling out a wand and waving it at the quill, which sprung to life and jumped onto the notepad, ready to jot anything down at command. Harry Observed her in the meantime.

Nymphadora Tonks

Lv-19

HP-8000/8000

MP-2650/2650

Race-Witch

Str-14

Vit-19

Dex-9

Int-29

Wis-19

Luc-10

Nymphadora Tonks is a Trainee Auror and the daughter of Ted and Andromeda Tonks. Despite being a survivor of traumatic past events, she doesn't let that define her and tries to stay cheery and make the best of what she has. She is a metamorphmagus and can alter her appearance at will. She likes cute animals and hates her first name.

She doesn't know Harry but is glad he isn't a stuck up twit. She is feeling slightly bored at the moment.

Harry, having gained some serious respect for her, waved it away and focused on the bright pink haired girl.

"We've gotta talk all official for the dicta quill. Can you do that Harry?" Tonks asked. Harry nodded an affirmative.

"Interrogator, Trainee Auror Nymphadora Tonks. Subject, Harry James Potter. Witness. Case in consideration, Magical Creature, more specifically the presence of a Troglodytarum montus, in highly protected area, more specifically the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, on the 31st of October 1991. Mr. Potter do you acknowledge the stated facts as true and complete, to the best of your knowledge?" she said in a flat tone as the quill sprung into action and started jotting down whatever was being said.

"I do," Harry said. Tonks shot him a thumbs and with a grin before continuing in a professional voice.

"Would you concisely describe the events of what happened in the evening of thirty first of October 1991?"

"Due to the day of my parents' passing being on that day, I was in a bit of a sour mood. I had left the feast earlier than most and was making my way up to the Ravenclaw Tower when suddenly I saw the troll. I tried to run but was boxed in inside the girl's bathroom in the second floor. Due to the timely intervention of my friends who'd come after me to warn me of the troll, I was saved."

"Could you please, for the record, state all the spells you remember being used in the entire situation?"

"Well…there was a Spongifying spell and its counter, one levitating spell and one red sparks spell."

"Could you please describe the manner in which they were used?"

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