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Chapter 19

Late into the Night, as Narcissa Black sat in the library reading a rather interesting text on the application of cheering charms on comatose patients, Lucius suddenly burst through the doors as he shouted for her.

"Narcissa! Narcissa!" and the panic in his voice pushed up old memories from very bad times as the book fell from her hands, and she turned around to see him running towards her.

"There you are..."

"What happened?" she asked as she saw how pale he had become.

"That Rat!" he screamed.

"Pettigrew has ratted me out!" and her heart dropped as she heard those words, and for many years, she had not feared this thing. But it was happening again.

"The Aurors are about to raid this place! I must..."

"But Cornelius..." she tried to argue, but he shook his head.

"NO! Pettigrew confessed to Bones," and she knew what that meant.

"He told her about that," Lucius added a bit shakily as he held her arms, and she knew exactly what it was.

"She will not let this go! I must leave! I have had the Gold, and the valuables moved to your vault! The Aurors will be here soon," he said shakily as she nodded.

"But where will you go?" she asked.

"It is best if you do not know...."

0000

AMELIA BONES

Amelia still remembered the day the Aurors had come to their House. She had just gotten out of Hogwarts then and was preparing for the Auror Academy exam as she hoped to join the fight against the duplicitous and evil Dark lord who was hell-bent on destroying their society.

Her family had been warned by his followers many times to stay out of his path, but the Bones had always stood for what was right, and they would decide to do the same even then. Her brother was part of the force, and Edgar had quickly risen to become an Auror captain.

But he was more just an Auror captain. He was a leader, a beacon of hope for those in the DMLE during dark times when you could hardly trust the man next to you. Edgar had been a beacon of hope, a symbol of stability and justice, as the Bones family had been for centuries.

And the Dark Lord wished to remove all such symbols of power, justice, and stability, for darkness and evil thrived in chaos. His actions were obvious.

The man had systemically targeted all those people, slowly taking them out one by one. Those he could align to his cause, he did. For those who refused to bow down to him, he slaughtered them whole, killing entire families.

He had done it to the McKinnons and had tried to do the same for the Potters, the Bones, the Whites, the Browns, and so forth. Many went into hiding, others muzzled their antagonism, but not Edgar.

Her brother chose to fight, and then he was killed for it. Both him and his lady wife, and all that remained of them both was their daughter of a few months, Susan whose care now fell to her hands.

In one night, the Bones family had been reduced to but two people as the Death Eaters raided, the place where Edgar and her had hidden their parents. Those monsters attacked the safe house, and her brother and his wife had rushed to try and save them but they were too late and too few.

The Death Eaters had been prepared for their arrival, and Edgar and his wife walked into a trap that got them all killed.

For many years, she wondered how the Death Eaters learned of the safe House, until one day she found her brother's diary and learned of the Secret Society that he had joined, one made by Albus Dumbledore—The Order of the Phoenix.

And those were the only people apart from herself who knew of the safe house, the details given to them so that they could use the place in case of am emergency. Egar had trusted them all, and that trust had got him and his wife killed. It had gotten their parents killed.

For years, she had spent blaming Sirius Black for their murder, believing him to be the traitor who had betrayed her brother, and it eased her heart to see him rotting in Azkaban. They had been together for a few years at Hogwarts, and she had been somewhat fond of the Black, and his group of friends and could not imagine that the jolly boy who was hers and Edgar's junior would turn out to be a traitor.

But she had been wrong.

"This is preposterous, Amelia!" the Minister raged in her office, and she had expected this to happen.

"To accuse a valued member of our society with such heinous crimes! Have you lost your wits!" Cornelius screamed, and she loathed the man more than she ever had in that moment as she saw him defending her brother's murderer.

"Lucius Malfoy is...."

"A Death Eater," she cut in forcefully as she refused to back down.

Amelia had joined the DMLE for one purpose only, to bring the Death Eaters to justice. She had slogged away, slowly rising through the ranks and had become numb because of the rot and corruption.

She had seen many of those criminals walk away, because of money and influence and she could do nothing for she found her hands tied. Anytime she would try and go after one of these criminals, the entire ministry would turn against her, forcing her to quiet down.

They had tried to raid Malfoy Manor many a time, aware of the banned and illegal objects hidden there, but the man was alerted to the raid, just as he had been to the many she had done to catch him before.

Lucius Malfoy was important. He was the richest and most influential of the Death Eaters roaming free, and the man had the Minister's ear, so it was almost impossible to put him on trial.

"A Death Eater?" the Minister fumbled his words, gawking at him as if it were an appalling statement, when it was not.

For every person in this building knew the truth of what Lucius Malfoy was.

"Preposterous! Those allegations were quashed many years ago," Fudge defended the man like a lap dog, and she was taking a massive gamble here, putting her life's work in jeoprady.

But this was the least she could do for her brother. Her parents. And for Susan.

"And now I have new evidence to the contrary," and with that she reached for the signed confession on her table and thrust in the badling man's face as Cornelius frowned.

"This is the signed confession from Peter Pettigrew before the man was murdered," and she had an idea just who it was that had done the deed, because she was certain that the Death Eater's who had gotten away all knew of Pettigrew's nature.

And knew very well that the second the plump man was pushed, he would spill their secrets just to save his own skin, and so they had no choice but to gut the man

"It incriminated, Lucius Malfoy and Senior Crabbe and Goyle in the murder of Edgar Bones, and his family," and Corelius's face paled as, she showed him the confession.

"But. This," and the man began to stutter as Amelia raised a brow.

"This! You raided his home because of this! These are nothing but lies of a coward!" Cornelius continued, as he put it down but the man was shook.

"The case was closed years ago! Years ago, they caught the one who killed them all, you must check the files..." he said to her as she raised a brow.

"I did," and she had spent an entire night pouring over them, only to find a very familiar name in those files.

"Sirius Black was held responsible for those murders," but now they all knew that the man was innocent.

"Black! It must be him! This is his doing!" Cornelius continued, but she shook her head.

"Black had no part in them. Peter Pettigrew told his colleagues about the safe House where my brother had hidden our parents, and Peter Pettigrew has confessed here that he told this piece of information to the Dark Lord who ordered the attack." The man was pale at the mention of the Dark Lord.

"An attack which was led by Lucius Malfoy," and she would not let it go. Not matter what.

"Lies! All of it are lies!" Corenlius balked at her shaking his head.

"Lucius has assu..."

"Paid you," and she was finally done with this as she labelled her accusations against the man whose eyes grew wide, wile his faced flushed.

"You dare accuse me of this nonsense! I am the Minister of Magic. I will not have my honor slandered like this," he shouted at her, his voice thundering inside her small office.

"You will close this inquiry, and shut down this campaign against an honest wizard or I will have you fired!" he threatened her job, and that could have worked but Amelia cared not.

"You cannot do that," she said as she began to straighten up the books onto the table, ignoring the flushed Minister.

"What! I am the Minister, I can do anything!" he thundered and Fudge had always had a fickle mind. The man had only become the Minister because of his slimy and corrupt nature, which did not threaten the status quo, but she would not let anything stand in her way.

"After the Dementor attack, as the Head of the DMLE, I began an internal investigation over the entire matter," and it was one of those legal loopholes that a man like Fudge would never know of.

But she did. It was one of the first things she had done when she had become the head of the DMLE.

"Until that investigation is completed, not even the Minister can fire me," though there was a time limit on that. One that would buy her a year.

"Impossible, I am the Minister..."

"That is unless you can show a simple Majority in the Winzengamont," and such a thing would be neigh impossible with the help of his blonde benefactor and his friends.

"No! Amelia, I refuse to believe this! There will be consequences for this!" he threatened her as she shrugged.

"It is the Law Minister, and even you must follow it," and it gave her some satisfaction to see him shut up as he had no retort.

"So, I believe it would be best if you leave my office for now," she said flicking her wand to open the door as his lips thinned.

The man picked up his bowler hat and clutched it tightly in his hands as he stared into her eyes.

"This is not over," and she knew that as well, even without his warning, as he stormed out of her office, leaving her alone, but only for a short while.

"Come in," she said when she heard a knock on her door and looked up to see one of her captains entering her office.

"Kingsley, what brings you here?" she asked, and he was one of the more competent men in the office, one who she could trust.

Even now, she knew that half the men in her office were either paid off or held sympathies for He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named's ideologies, and she had hoped that time would change things for the better.

Well, not anymore.

"You have caused quite a ruckus, Madam," he began with a smile as Amelia raised a brow.

"I had become quite bored," she replied with a chuckle as he sat down on the seat opposite to her.

"Still, the Minister will not make it easy for you. He will try and call for a vote in the Wizengamont," and she knew that, but she had friends of her own at court.

"And I plan to bring a vote against him," and Shacklebolt's eyes widened at her declaration.

"You plan to replace him as Minister," he gasped and she had always wanted to do so, but had always been dispelled because she knew that as long as Lucius Malfoy roamed free, and was there to buy the votes for Corenlius none would be able to defeat him.

But now, Lucius Malfoy was gone.

"Without Lucius Malfoy, there is a possibility that I can defeat Fudge and his cronies," it would be hard. Very hard.

But not impossible. And Amelia Bones always liked doing the impossible.

"The man will not make it easy," Shacklebolt added, and she shrugged.

"We just need to be smart about this. Fudge cannot fire for me a year, and in that time, I need to gather all the votes I and call for a no confidence motion against him," and Shacklebolt nodded.

"But Lucius Malfoy is gone, his Gold is not," Shacklebolt added, and though she loathed to admit it, Gold was rather necessary to win such things.

"Then I need to find some Gold of my own..."

"But how?" he asked, and Amelia took out today's picture and showed him the front page, where a picture of Sirius Black was printed.

"Through this...."

0000

In the Shrieking Shack a dog sat hidden in the shadows, as the night fell and around it lay a dozen pieces of paper all crumpled up, along with emptied dishes filled with porridge, before suddenly a raven flew through the window, and dropped another peiece of paper in the room.

CAW. CAW.

The dog watched the animal, fly in as it circled the room before vanishing into the night just as quickly as it had come.

And once it was gone, it stepped out of the shadow, but not as a dog.

But as a man, as Sirius Black slowly reached for another letter from his anonymous helper. He hungrily skimmed through the details and realized that a date for his trial had been set and that a barrister named Ted Tonks would be representing him.

"Ted," he whispered as he repeated the name, finding it familiar before the realization dawned on him about who it was.

"That Ted!" he gasped, but he continued reading. He was being commanded to write a letter to the man and had been provided with paper and a pen for it.

He walked forward and reached the window. As he gazed at the night skies, he saw nothing but clear starry skies and the castle of Hogwarts standing tall in the distance, its beauty no longer marred by the hoards of Dementors that once circled it day and night in his search.

"Just who are you...."