Harry moved to the front of the room. He looked at the headmaster and then at the restraint chairs. The Headmaster nodded and changed them into two more plush overstuffed chairs. Dumbledore was thinking about offering lemon drops; he could really use one right about now.
Hermione was on information overload. Her faith in Harry, however, had been vindicated. The rest of the student body could no longer look at him askance thinking he had cheated his way into the tournament. She followed him up to the other chair and sat down. She wasn't going to go anywhere until she knew everything and that Harry was alright.
McGonagall was looking positively miffed by the dangers that one of her cubs had been put through. That barmy old codger would learn what happened when he failed to protect one of her cubs.
Amelia looked very interested in seeing what Harry had to say. She had plans percolating in her head. So far tonight, she had found out about corruption by Barty Crouch Sr. (and how much had his assistant Percy Weasley known?); a cover-up by Cornelius Fudge (oh, she couldn't wait to present THAT to the Wizenmagot), harboring a fugitive by Harry Potter (not that that really mattered anymore, Sirius Black hadn't even been given a trial!), and a plan to resurrect Voldemort by supposed Order of Merlin holder Peter Pettigrew (THAT was going to go away).
Amos Diggory finally understood why his son had refused to badmouth Potter about the tournament. He really had nothing to do with entering. He was going to have to work hard to make up for the comments he had made to other Ministry workers about the boy. If he ever found out about those comments, he'd have to offer a formal apology to the Boy-Who-Lived and the political fallout wouldn't be pleasant.
Sirius was sitting in the back ecstatic over his Writ and Declaration. He was going to get custody of his godson. And then he was going to plan some pranks with Remus on Fudge, Snape, Dumbledore and anyone else involved in his illegal incarceration and the mistreatment of his pup that he could get a hold of.
Kingsley Shacklebolt was sitting waiting for the other shoe to drop. So far his department had come out looking like complete fools. Apparently, before he had been relieved by Dawlish, Barty Crouch Jr. had been found to have been holed up with his father for the last 10 years; Sirius Black had been in Azkaban for 12 years without a trial and had been running around as an animagus; Peter Pettigrew had been given a bogus award; and there was still more to go.
Nymphadora (Just call me Tonks) Tonks couldn't wait to contact her mother. Apparently her favorite cousin, Sirius Black, had been innocent all this time and now there was proof. Sirius was now in line to head the Black family and could reinstate them to the family name. She had always wondered what had transpired all those years ago. It had been one of the reasons she had become an Auror: to help her mother find information and closure after Sirius had been convicted. Hell, he wasn't even convicted apparently - just chucked into that hell hole.
Rita Skeeter was upset to find herself in a jar in Harry Potters robe. She wasn't that upset though. The information being talked about here was sure-fire front page news for a long time. And for some reason she had a front-row seat. The Boy-Who-Lived apparently had figured out her animagus form. She was surprised that he hadn't informed Amelia Bones yet. Maybe if she made a good enough deal, she wouldn't end up in Azkaban and paying a huge fine for being an unregistered animagus.
"Both myself and Cedric had found ourselves at the end having fought off an acromatula together. We decided to take the cup together when someone fired a Stupefy hex at Cedric. I returned fire toward the area it had come from. I then saw the severed leg of the acromatula that had come off in the fight with it. I decided to hastily collect the blood to ask Professor Snape if it had any uses in potions."
At this, Professor Snape looked at him with a weird expression. It took a person with good potion's instinct to automatically collect possible ingredients. There were a few antivenin potions that could use the blood of an acromatula. Well, there were some dark potions as well, but he didn't want to think about those.
"After I had transfigured a pouch to hold the blood and collected it, I placed it against my arm so that it wouldn't fall out of my pocket. I then moved back to Cedric and the Cup. As Cedric and I had agreed to take it together and Cedric was 2 feet from it, I decided to place his hand on the Cup at the same time that I did."
Amos Diggory was surprised. Such loyalty and fair play was a Hufflepuff trait, not a Gryffindor one. He would definitely have to work to counteract his comments at the Ministry now.
"All of a sudden, the Cup activated. I thought that maybe the Cup was set to take the winner to the judges' booth so I wasn't worried. But all of a sudden, I found that we were in a graveyard.
"I set Cedric down with the Cup and borrowed his wand in case something happened and I was attacked and disarmed."
Quick thinking was Amelia's thought. She thought that Harry should have revived Diggory, but all-in-all good thinking for a 14 year old boy.
"Shortly after I moved away, I was overcome by pain in my scar. This hadn't happened this heavily since I fought Voldemort in first year."
All around the room, everyone except the professors were shocked.
Amelia wondered why she hadn't heard about this before. Susan had mentioned Harry Potter having been in the hospital wing after a deranged teacher had attacked him, but NO ONE had EVER mentioned Voldemort. Fudge, who had been apprised of it, had felt that this information was unimportant as he had reportedly been driven off and there was no proof anyway. Amos Diggory was floored; no wonder this young man had been able to tie with his son for the TriWizard Cup. Sirius wondered why Remus hadn't told him about this and if he had even known -- someone was hiding details on this and he wanted to get to the bottom of it. Aurors Shacklebolt and Tonks were just awed.
"I fell to the ground and tried to push the pain out of my head. All of a sudden the pain stopped but I was too exhausted to react quickly."
Hermione looked at him and realized his scar had faded. "HARRY! Your scar! It's almost gone!"
Dumbledore looked shocked. He had detected the soul fragment many years ago that resided behind Harry's scar. Apparently, by a sheer force of will, the fragment had been expelled. This changed EVERYTHING if this were true. He'd have to examine the boy in the hospital wing soon. If this was the case, all of his plans would have to be changed and Harry would have to be apprised of the prophecy very soon. It wasn't a bad thing, but never would he have thought that a 14-year old boy could overcome such a thing so easily. The boy just might have a chance!
Harry knew that Dumbledore had seen the change in his scar. He hoped that this time the barmy headmaster would now be more forthcoming as his "go and get killed" plan would no longer work.
"Before I go further, can I just put the rest of the memory in Professor Dumbledore's pensieve and show everyone what happened and I can answer questions afterwards?"
Amelia consulted with Dumbledore and agreed.
Harry concentrated on the memory from the point that he had been found by Wormtail. He didn't really want to have to explain all of his actions before hand, especially Stupefying Cedric.
As the scene played out, he could hear breathes being held and violently expelled. He felt Hermione's grip on his arm tighten as Wormtail had stabbed him with the knife. The people around the room were in awe of what he had seen and his quick thinking in escaping with Wormtail as well as what he had noticed when he had returned. "Good situational awareness!" was Kingsley's Shacklebolt's comment.
When the memory had played out until they had passed into Hogwarts, everyone around the room looked at Harry with a bit of awe as he laid out the wands he had summoned in front of Amelia Bones.
"Mr. Potter, you said that the blood on your arm wasn't yours?" Amelia asked.
"Yeah, well that was where I had put the acromatula blood. I guess Wormtail never noticed when he tried to prick me with the dagger."
"Can we look at the resurrected form of Voldemort once more?"
Professor Dumbledore tapped the pensieve with his wand and the room once again looked at the resurrected form of Voldemort with morbid fascination.
Harry wondered if Voldemort would be able to get any of his followers back as Mutant Spiderman.
Dumbledore decided to dismiss Harry at this point. "Well, my boy. Well done! Even though Voldemort was resurrected, it was to an imperfect form. You should go off to the Hospital Wing for a checkup by Madame Pomfrey. Maybe Ms. Granger would like to accompany you. Here is a note to prevent any distractions from prefects and the caretaker," he added as he handed him a parchment slip.
Amelia looked at Harry with some thought. "Mr. Potter, we will be reviewing this and making plans. Before you leave, is there anything that you need?"
"Well, since my godfather has been freed, I'd like to be able to move in with him."
Dumbledore interrupted, "Well, we will discuss that among other things. I and Mr. Black will see you tomorrow morning after breakfast. If you are still in the Hospital Wing, we will talk there. Otherwise, please come to my office straight after breakfast at 9:00. Oh, and please keep tonight's events to yourself until after the announcements tomorrow at lunchtime."
Harry deliberately grabbed Hermione's hand as they made their way to Madam Pomfrey's House of Torture (he hated staying in the Hospital Wing).
Hermione looked at him and smiled, thankful for the contact. She had watched the scene play out with trepidation and was so relieved that Harry had made it out alive.
"Can we stop off somewhere before the Hospital Wing? I have something to do."
"Sure." Hermione was confused but allowed herself to be led to an empty classroom.
Harry set up a locking and silencing charm on the door and the windows and pulled out the jar with Rita Skeeter and handed it to her. "I remembered what you said before the task earlier and realized what you had realized. Say hello to Rita Skeeter. What do you say we talk to her?"
Hermione, who remembered having come to the realization earlier about how Rita had gotten all of her stories, looked at the bug with a sense of satisfaction.
"Rita. Say hello to my friend Hermione, the one who you made rumors about for the last several months. I'm thinking of giving you to her as a present. What do you think?"
Rita was terrified. She was in a tight predicament, and the way Hermione was looking at her things could be getting even worse. She was flying around madly in the jar hoping for escape.
"Now, Hermione, what should I do with her? Should I turn her over to Madam Bones as an unregistered animagus? I think she just mentioned that there were fines involved."
"Yes, Harry. Fines and a sentence in Azkaban for some months. It's an interesting possibility."
"Maybe we can come to an agreement though. What do you think?"
"Oh well, if you think so. Otherwise, I could to have her as a pet for the summer. The jar would fit well on my bookcase."
"Well, let's see what Rita has to say."
Harry set the jar down as Hermione pulled her wand. Harry unscrewed the cap and pointed his own wand at Rita. "If you come out and talk, I promise I won't hex you and turn you over to the DMLE willy-nilly."
Rita Skeeter flew out of the jar and even though she was tempted to try to escape, the wands pointing at her never lost track of her. She turned back to her human form. "What do you want?"
"Well, in exchange for not turning you over to Madam Bones, I want a witch's oath to not report anything untrue or damaging about myself, my friend Hermione, my godfather or Amelia Bones or her family." Harry already had plans to get Fudge sacked and if he threw his name behind Amelia, maybe he could get a fair minister elected.
Rita thought about this. "What about the others? Such as Dumbledore and Fudge?"
Hermione looked at Rita about to include Dumbledore, but Harry beat her to it. "Well, as long as you print the truth without slanting it, you can say whatever you like. This will be in effect until Voldemort is finally defeated once and for all." Hermione thought about this. Since Dumbledore hadn't done anything wrong, she thought this was sufficient. How little she knew.
"Well, that could take years. How am I supposed to be a reporter if I can't write what I want?"
"Well, I could sweeten the pot a little. How about I promise you two exclusive interviews in the next 12 months; one by September 1st of the next school year, and the next by the end of the next school year? And I will convince my godfather to give you an interview."
Rita looked excited. Sure she would have to be careful, but she would avoid Azkaban and with exclusive interviews from the Boy-Who-Lived and Sirius Black, her name would be a household word!
"Ok, I agree." She pulled out her wand carefully, mindful of the two wands that had her covered, and made the oath that Harry had specified. In exchange for exclusive interviews from Harry Potter and Sirius Black, she would not publish anything untrue or damaging about the Harry, Hermione, Sirius, Amelia Bones or any of their families. She would only publish things about the others involved that were true.
Harry nodded his head satisfied. "Well, since we know that you have an exclusive story that you witnessed tonight, I know you want to get to your office as quickly as possible. Just remember your oath. I will contact you later as to the interviews."
Rita changed into her beetle form and flew off once Harry opened the door. He pulled Hermione along toward the infirmary.
Hermione looked at Harry and wondered what had come over him. She was expecting him to be moody and annoyed but he was in complete control. "Harry, I want to thank you for what you did for me in there."
"Hermione, you never have to thank me for protecting you. After all this time, I think you should know that."
Hermione bowed her head and blushed as Harry grabbed her hand again.
"Hermione, if I move in with Sirius over the summer, I'd like your help in doing some things." Hermione looked excited at this. "I have to buy a new wardrobe that doesn't consist of my cousin's hand-me-downs, and I need to set up some things that I will need your advice on."
Hermione got very excited, although she was a little uncertain. Harry was asking her for help that had nothing to do with school work. She was a very good planner, but this was the first time that he had asked for help that had nothing to do with books. "Of course I will help you! But won't you be doing such thing with Sirius? And what about the Weasleys? I'm sure Mrs. Weasley would be better at picking out clothes -- she has 5 sons."
"Well, Sirius will probably be busy setting up things for a while before he is ready to have me move in. Sirius has been out of circulation and neither he nor Mrs. Weasley has any familiarity with muggle clothes. I'd like to look good for a girl I'm interested in."
Hermione was a little bit sad about this. She had harbored a secret crush on her best friend for a while, but she would do whatever it took to make sure he was happy.
"So I thought I would ask the girl I'm interested in to help me look good for her."
Hermione was gobsmacked. Harry was interested in her? A warm feeling exploded out of her stomach and she stared at him.
"Come on, Hermione! Say something! I'm dying here! Would you possibly be interested in being my girlfriend?" Harry looked at her with puppy-dog eyes.
"Really? You want to go out with ME? But what about those other girls that are always watching you. Most of them are very pretty, and I'm ...." Harry stopped her with a finger against her mouth.
"All of those other girls don't know a thing about me. Why would I be interested in them, when I'm interested in the most intelligent, beautiful girl I know, who has never abandoned me, even when everyone else had?"
Hermione was about to melt. No one had ever called her beautiful. Viktor had seemed interested in her, but they had decided to just be pen pals as she didn't see him as more than a friend and long-distance relationships were too hard, even with magic. Ron had always reacted jealous about any guy that looked at her, but she felt a little too much like he was trying to own her. She threw her arms around Harry and gave him the hardest hug she could. "Yes!" was all she could say as her thought processes ran away from her.
"Well, after I get checked out in the Hospital Wing and get cleaned up a bit so that I'm not quite so icky, would you give me the honor of giving me my first kiss ever?" It was all Hermione could do to not drag him into a broom closet and snog him senseless, icky clothes or not.
"Madam Pomfrey, can you excuse us for a moment?"
"Just a moment, Mr. Potter. You need your rest," Madam Pomfrey said with strictness.
Harry watched the nurse go to her office. He didn't see her peeking after she had gone inside. "Well, Ms. Granger, now that I have cleaned up a bit, I think you promised me something?" Harry said with a cheeky smile. Hermione nervously approached him and the two missed the small squeal from the background as they kissed with some passion.
A/N: Harry has set the stage to get closer to her over the summer. Next chapter will be what happens the next day. What will they tell the Weasleys? What announcement will be made? And how will Gred and Forge get the money for their joke shop?