Harry Potter:Bonds of Hope

Chapter 13: The Aftermath

No one had left the room in the ten minutes since Lucius had been led from the room, and Death and Lady Magic disappeared. A tense silence was pulsing through the air, though, along with a distinct angry magic that everyone could sense was coming from Dumbledore.

Dumbledore stood, wand in hand and pointing to the side of the room. But just as he was about to cast a spell Severus stood with a powerful 'expelliarmus' aimed at the man that sent Dumbledore crashing hard into his chair and his wand flying towards Severus, who caught it almost numbly as Dumbledore stared at him in shock and anger.

"Severus, my boy, what are you doing?" Dumbledore says, trying to sound calm and yet failing miserably.

"Stopping you from hurting everyone in this room. Especially when I know that one of them is my soulmate, and at least one person in this room is pregnant. I can't have you hurting them," Severus said.

"I wasn't going to hurt them, Severus," Dumbledore said, almost as if he was speaking to a toddler.

"Perhaps that wasn't your purpose, no. Perhaps you were about to cast a room wide 'obliviate' to stop us remembering what has been revealed," Severus said with a raised eyebrow, "And given that you haven't been trained in such a thing, and therefore do not have a license to do so, you could have hurt everyone in this room, including yourself,"

"I just wanted you to forget the lies that have been spread today," Dumbledore said calmly.

"Hm, Headmaster, I do believe that spectral beings can't lie," Kingsley said, just as calmly, if not more so, "It is against their magic to lie. And given your reactions to it I have to assume it was, in fact, the truth, even if they did have the power to lie. Severus, I thank you for your quick actions, you are right to say that he doesn't have a license to cast an obliviation on us. And had you, Mr Dumbledore, cast it and any of us been hurt in the process, you would be in a lot more trouble than you already are. Especially if your spell had caused any of the pregnant persons in this room to miscarry,"

"I didn't know about anyone being pregnant," Dumbledore said sternly.

"Which is why you shouldn't have wanted to attempt to do such a thing. You don't know the medical statuses of anyone in this room. You also aren't trained in obliviation on this scale, and therefore, are more than likely not to do it safely. And will probably cause harm, especially with the amount of power you were going to be putting into it," Amelia said, her hand subtly covering her flat stomach under her robes, though no one noticed other than Kingsley, Harry and Severus since everyone else was staring at Dumbledore who was clearly trying to look for a way out that wouldn't be filled with people potentially trying to stop him.

"Well, I do believe that this is it for today's meeting," Dumbledore bangs the gavel, "Dismissed,"

And yet, no one moves, still too in shock, or too angry, or whatever else.

"I said dismissed," he sneered, shocking the people more and more, he huffed in annoyance, "Severus, my boy, may I have my wand back? You have no idea the power you wield with that thing and it is best it goes back into safe hands,"

"You aren't exactly safe, are you? You killed your own sister after all," Severus said.

"I didn't know that," the man snarled, banging his hand on the little table in front of him, startling everyone.

"And yet you knew you might have. You knew it was either you, your brother, or Grindelwald," Kingsley said fiercely, "Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, you are under arrest for murder, conspiracy to commit terrorism, accessory to child abuse, child neglect, attempt to obliviate without a license, child endangerment, and child abuse," everyone in the room gasped as a bright flash of golden light encased Dumbledore in a shield of sorts, putting some silver, runed cuffs on his wrists as the shield lifted him up in the air and dropped him to the floor in front of Kingsley, "You do not have to say anything. But it may harm your defence if you do not mention, when questioned, something you later rely on in court. Anything you do say may be given in evidence to the Wizengamot,"

Everyone watched on in shock as Kingsley called over two aurors who promptly levitated a struggling, bound Dumbledore out of the room and to a secure holding cell in Azkaban, as per Kingsley's request.

"N-now what?" a member of the Wizengamot asked with wide eyes.

"Now you all go home, or wherever else you need to be," Kingsley said calmly, "A new Chief Warlock will be arranged at a meeting that will be called soon. And a new Head of Hogwarts will be sorted out internally as soon as possible. The Department of Magical Law Enforcement will be working on gathering any and all evidence we can get on Mr Dumbledore, for anything we can, including but not limited to the crimes I listed. And we would be happy to accept help from anyone who wants to provide it, or if anyone has any evidence of anything, please do provide it," Kingsley said sternly, "But yes, that concludes today's meeting. Enjoy the rest of your day," Kingsley nodded and turned to Amelia with worried eyes as everyone started to silently file out of the room, except for Harry, Severus and the goblins with them.

As soon as everyone apart from the small group was gone Kingsley wrapped Amelia in his arms and she melted into him, her hand still on her belly protectively as Harry, Severus and the others walked over to them.

"Are you okay, Amelia?" Severus asked, concern in his eyes as he looked at the two.

"Yes, Severus. I am fine, thank you," Amelia smiled at him, "Just glad that today's trial is over,"

"Would you like Albus' wand?" Severus said, handing the wand over to Kingsley.

"We will need it for a thorough investigation into the magic he has cast with it, yes. But after we are done we shall give it back to you since you won it from him," Kingsley said, taking the wand gently with a nod of thanks.

"Oh, erm, okay," Severus said, shocked, and also a tad unsure.

"Oh, here is your invite to our bonding," Kingsley said cheerfully, pulling an envelope out of one of his robe pockets and passing it to Severus who accepted it with a nod, "The bonding is in a month, we wanted everything done quickly even before the baby. Neither of us are fans of long engagements," he winked, "Sorry for the late notice, but we hope you can come nonetheless,"

"I am sure we will be able to sort something out now that Albus isn't going to be at the school," Severus said.

"Indeed," Amelia nodded, "We had been able to book Susan out of school for a week or so with Minerva's help, but you two may have been difficult to get even the day off for with him around," she shook her head.

"Definitely," Harry scoffed, "I am so happy for you both," he grinned at the two, going forward and giving them a gentle, yet excited hug.

And when he pulled back after a few minutes of parental feeling love he saw shock in their eyes as they looked at him.

"What? Is there something on my face?" Harry said, confused as he turned to Severus and soon saw shock, and a brief second of confusion in his eyes, too.

"Harry, you're a metamorphmagus, remember?" Severus said gently, "Your powers hadn't kicked in yet, but I think they are starting to now. Your eyes are, well, they are currently a pale yellow. And your hair is a tad lighter also,"

"Oh, right," Harry said, confused as to how they were kicking in now. Though he supposed that he felt… lighter than he had in, well, ever really. Now that he, hopefully, didn't have to worry about Dumbledore, "How do I change them back? We can't go shopping in the muggle shops if my eyes are yellow, or if they keep changing,"

"Well, muggles have coloured contact lenses if we can't get them back to normal. Or we can find somewhere that sells sunglasses and say that you are sensitive to light," Severus said calmly, "But how about you close your eyes and think about how you want to look, whether that be your usual self, or something different but that won't raise eyebrows in the muggle world. Visualise it, focus on it, breathe through it,"

Harry nodded, closing his eyes and trying, almost desperately, to visualise himself, not really having the energy to think of looking like someone else at that moment. That was for another time. But he breathed deep breaths as he saw himself in his mind's eye, his green eyes, his messy black hair. He felt something wash over him, a tingle of magic, his own magic, and he felt different, but the way he usually did.

It was… weird.

But when he opened his eyes and Severus nodded at him he knew he had managed to become himself again.

"We should probably get going if we want to get some shopping done before we go back to Draco," Severus said gently.

"Right, yes," Harry said, nodding slightly as he looked back at Amelia and Kingsley, "Congratulations again. We'll get back to you soon about the bonding, and send you evidence and things against Dumbles,"

"Thank you, Harry," Amelia smiled at him lovingly, "You both take care of yourselves and the little one, alright. We'll be by to see you whenever we can,"

Harry nodded, beaming at the two, "See you soon,"

He grabbed Severus' hand gently and led the man to the door of the courtroom, the two goblins following along behind them.

"We will let you two go shopping on your own," King Ragnok said once they had made it to the atrium of the Ministry, "But, if you need to use the portkey we gave you, then you had better bloody use it, you hear me," he stared at them with dark, demanding, and yet also soft eyes.

"Of course," Harry nodded.

"Good," King Ragnok said before smiling at the two and floo'ing away with his warrior.

"Are you hungry or anything? Would you like to get some food before we go shopping?" Severus asked gently once the two of them had made it out of the Ministry and were walking the streets of Muggle London.

"Erm, yes please. Though I don't know anywhere good to eat," Harry said.

"Is there anything in particular you fancy?" Severus said.

"I don't know," Harry shrugged.

"Okay,"

Severus led him to an Italian muggle restaurant and they enjoyed a casual conversation over one of the best meals that Harry had ever had. And then they were in the shops, browsing the baby items and purchasing whatever they fancied, Harry practically gushing over how cute Draco would be in everything they found, and Severus truly smiling as they wandered around.

Their shopping trip took a good few hours, but by the end of it they had plenty of items ready and waiting for them in Draco's nursery in Severus' quarters, and back at the bank, too, courtesy of Dobby who met them in hidden alleyways to take their shopping wherever they wanted it to go.

There were clothes, books, toys, blankets, a mobile for his crib, and so much more.

And Harry loved every second of the trip. He also thought that Severus did, too.

As soon as they entered their room in the Bank Healer Greyclaw gently placed a sleeping Draco in Harry's arms and Harry sighed gratefully as he sank on to the bed and held his baby boy close to his still clothed chest.

"How was he? Was he okay?" Harry asked, concerned, although he smiled when Severus sat next to him and ran his long fingers through Draco's short locks.

"He was perfect," Healer Greyclaw grinned at them.

"Good," Harry nodded, not taking his eyes off his baby.

"How are you feeling? Are you okay? Both of you?" Healer Greyclaw said.

"I'm fine," Harry nodded.

"I'm okay, thank you," Severus whispered to her.

"Good. I will leave you to it, but if you need anything just let me know," Healer Greyclaw said.

"Thank you," Harry said.

"No problem, child," she said, and then she was gone, the door closing quietly behind her.

"Do you think we're safe now?" Harry whispered as his eyes filled with tears.

"I want to hope so," Severus whispered back, just as solemnly, "But the fool does have a lot of followers. Plus V-Voldemort is still out there, somewhere, trying to come back. We still need to be careful, but supposing the right person becomes Head of Hogwarts, the school should be safe for us now. Mostly,"

Harry nodded.

"And if not, if things are still dangerous for us, then we could always just leave the country. Get you enrolled in another school, or some tutors, and I can make potions to sell, do some experiments, or something. And we can stay away until things are sorted out here," Severus said.

"But we should bring our family with us. The twins, Neville, Luna, Susan, Amelia and Kingsley. Even some of the goblins if they want to and are able to come," Harry said softly.

"If we have to leave, then yes, we will take them with us," Severus nodded.

Harry nodded again, too, swallowing thickly.

"Can you pass me some of those crackers, please?" Harry whispered.

"Are you feeling nauseous again?" Severus asked, concerned, as he held out the packet of crackers to Harry, who took one and nibbled on it slowly.

"Mhm," Harry hummed.

"Would you like a bath? I can run you one with some healing salts or essential oils that may help with the queasiness," Severus offered kindly, "Or do you just want to get changed and get some sleep?"

"I think just some sleep for now," Harry said, "Maybe a bath in the morning. I'm too knackered at the moment,"

"Okay,"

Harry gently passed Draco to Severus and went to the bathroom to wash and change into his pyjama bottoms. Soon he was lying on his side on the bed, Draco next to him with Harry's hand resting on his chest. And it wasn't long before Severus joined them, his hand going on top of Harry's.

It didn't take long for Harry to fall asleep.