Chapter 034

"I thought, if he heard me mention muggles and have Ginny mention Platform nine and three-quarters, it would attract him to us."

"And why didn't you cast a muggle Notice-Me-Not charm on yourself and the kids before you did that?" he pushed.

"I didn't think it would work!" she cried.

"It would have," he snapped back. "So, because Albus Bloody Dumbledore asked you to, you just decided to go ahead and breach the Statute of Secrecy, is that it?" he demanded.

"Albus said it would be alright and no harm would be done!" she wailed.

"He lied, you stupid woman!" he snapped. "No one, not even Albus Dumbledore, has the right to breach the Statute of Secrecy for something so inane as making it easy to have a little boy find them on a busy muggle train platform!"

He gave that a moment to sink in while his wife dropped into a kitchen chair and sobbed.

"It's not as if members of the Obliviation Squad could be brought in and fix it all up easy-peasy, either," he continued. "You were on a train station and trains are coming and going with great regularity. By the time Obliviators could get there to Obliviate everyone, hundreds would have already left either out the doors and away on foot, or in cars, buses or cabs, or on anywhere up to half a dozen different trains going in different directions. There is no possible way the Obliviators would have found them all!"

"That means, Molly, you are damned bloody lucky that nothing about you yelling about 'all these muggles', or having Ginny yelling about 'Platform nine and three-quarters', made it out into the wider muggle world. If it had you would now not have a clue as to your real identity as you would have had your wand snapped, your magic bound, been obliviated of all knowledge of the magical world and been tossed out into the streets of muggle London!

"You know this! It's one of the founding laws of our world! There are not that many crimes that are more heavily dealt with; and that includes the Unforgivables!

"If word had gotten out from that station into the muggle world because of your actions, the kids would now not have a mother, Ginny would have been sent to Muriel's because I wouldn't have been able to look after her and a host of other things I don't want to think about.

"You should consider yourself damned lucky the only punishment leveled against you is a hefty fine. A fine of such... volume... I'm going to have to approach as many family and friends as possible to accumulate enough money to pay it!"

"We don't take charity!" she wailed.

"Fine!" he glared back. "Then you'd best start showing me where everything is in this house for me to keep it clean and running. Because, if we don't seek help in paying your fine, we won't have enough. And that means... you are going to Azkaban for five years."

Molly burst into fresh wails and sobs. Arthur left her to it, not in the least interested at that time in providing her comfort.

"Next," he firmly said, "Tell me about the money that was being transferred from Lord Potter's vaults to one in your maiden name."

"I thought it was coming from Albus," she sobbed. "I had no idea it was coming from young Harry's vaults."

"You just got through telling me we don't accept charity," he said. "So, what was he paying you for?"

"He told me the money was from a scholarship fund specifically set up for pureblood families," she explained. "However, it had to go into a vault under my maiden name because House Weasley due to House Weasley's... status... was not eligible to receive the funds."

"uh-huh!" he said, not sounding convinced. "I thought you just got through telling me we don't accept charity."

"It's not charity, it's a scholarship," she immediately disagreed.

"It's not a scholarship, it's theft!" he yelled.

That had Molly sobbing again. Whether it was because she was truly sorry about what she'd done or because she was unhappy she'd been caught, Arthur did not know and also found himself not to care.

Not willing to belabour the point, Arthur dropped it and moved on. "The aurors have also ordered you... and, by extension, the rest of us Weasleys... not to have anything to do with Harry Potter, until further notice," he growled. "That means there will be no inviting him to stay with us, here; there will be no sending him Christmas or birthday presents; there will be no having the children do it for you; and, above all else but not limited to it, there will be no sending him any Howlers! Have I made myself perfectly clear to you, Molly Weasley?"

"Y-yes, Arthur," she sobbed.

"Now," he said much more calmly, "I have to go and write the children to let them know they are to stay away from Harry Potter, or else, for the foreseeable future. And that 'or else' will include being disowned from this family.

"We'll wait until he deigns to contact us! That is, of course, if he ever does."

_‗_

―==(oIo)==―

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The day was not a short one for Amelia. Though she often worked back, just to get all the parchmentwork that would pile up completed while the department was otherwise cleared down to a skeleton watch crew, this would be one day when she would have to work back and day-to-day parchmentwork wasn't going to get done.

The interrogations and interviews were held and completed. Those interviewed and not facing charges were released. Those interrogated and charged, but weren't considered flight risks, were conditionally released. But Dumbledore and Snape, due to the severity of the crimes they were facing, were taken down to the cells and incarcerated. So, too, were both Vernon and Petunia Dursley.

Once that was dealt with, aurors were sent out to confirm information the department had collected as a result of those interrogations and interviews. This would mean further interviews, but of people who would not necessarily be facing charges.

As they wanted to interview the rest of the staff of Hogwarts and there was quite a few of them, a small team of aurors went to the school with a couple of Dicta-quills. They then pulled each staff member not previously interviewed or interrogated aside and interviewed them as to what they knew of what Lord Potter had shared. Those interviews then led to a few more charges being filed against especially Dumbledore, McGonagall and Snape.

The new problem was the 'clamouring' of the media. Within hours of starting the interrogations and interviews the number of journalists all wanting to know the latest information began to build right outside the auror bullpen. Amelia had already had to detail two aurors off to ride shepherd on them to ensure they did not interfere in the work the rest of her aurors were madly working through. Just a little while ago, she had to detail yet another onto the task.

However, she was finally ready to deal with them.

Walking out to the bullpen, as soon as the journalists saw her they began yelling questions at her. Used to the effect, she calmly walked to her podium she had aurors set up for her earlier and waited until the noise died down again.

Those journalists experienced with dealing with her knew she would say nothing until the questions and shouting died off; and quickly let their younger and newer fellows know it.

Once the noise died off she began. "Good evening," she said. "At approximately ten a.m. this morning, Mister Harry Potter stepped into the arena of the first task of the Tri-Wizard Tournament at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. He was the fourth and final competitor to do so.

"It was expected he would simply complete the task, irrespective of how difficult it was, just as the competitors before him did. However, Lord Potter entered the arena with his own intentions in mind."

She then covered exactly what Harry did and how he did it. And then told them why.

Then she explained the actions she and her aurors took based on the information Harry had provided, together with who was taken into custody and who was, eventually, released.

And, finally, she told them the information relating to the charges and against whom they were filed was now subject to an information blackout 'to protect the reputations of both the witnesses and the accused'.

"Then what information can you tell us?" demanded one miffed reporter.

"I've just spent half an hour providing you that information," she snapped back. "Were you not listening?"

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