Foreshadowing the Past

Chapter 35

"... when you have eliminated the impossible, that which remains, however improbable, must be the truth". - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Connor bit his lip and looked at Ivy, whose eyes were wide in her pale face, and then at Zack and Rachel on his other side, both of who were looking a bit green. Mr. Corwin rose to his feet, as did all of the adults, who promptly urged the children up as well. As soon as Mr. Corwin opened the door, Madam Bones entered, looking for all the world as though she had been up for hours. Her steely gray hair was perfectly arranged, and her robes neatly pressed, and her eyes bright and alert.

"Madam Bones!" Corwin greeted the Minister with a small bow before shaking her hand. He also nodded to another man in plain gray robes who followed the Minister into the room.

"Steadman," she greeted cordially. "What have we got here? I was informed that there was a break in at the Department of Mysteries."

"Yes, ma'am," he answered.

She looked around the room, and did not hide her surprise at finding it full of people. With a wave of her hand, she gestured that they should all resume their seats, and Connor gratefully sank back into his chair with shaky legs. He watched as she walked up to the hovering figure of Samantha Tillman and screwed a monocle into her eye to study the other woman carefully. The man in gray robes who had followed the Minster into the room blanched at the sight of the ex-Unspeakable, and he nodded to the Minister when she looked to him. Once satisfied with whatever it was she had been looking for, she let the monocle fall from her eye to dangle from a short gold chain that was pinned to her robes. Her eyes alighted on each of the people seated in turn, lingering on Harry for a moment, then on Connor, before moving her gaze on. She was silent for a moment, as if collecting her thoughts before she finally said, "All of these people, including Mr. Harry Potter, were caught breaking in to the Department of Mysteries?"

"Not exactly, Minister," Mr. Corwin replied, sounding only the slightest bit apprehensive at her disbelieving tone. "Just the youngsters. Mr. and Mrs. Potter, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, and Professor Lupin are all here because they discovered the children missing and came after them." He named all of the adults as if the Minster for Magic would not know who five of the most highly acclaimed Witches and Wizards of the war in which she herself had fought.

Connor breathed a silent sigh of relief, even as Madam Bones looked them all over in one more sweeping glance. It didn't sound like his parents, Rachel's Parents or the professor were going to get into trouble for being there. Any punishment that fell on him now would seem bearable, knowing that his parents were safe from prosecution. Now all he had to do was to convince Mr. Corwin and the Minister that he alone should be punished for everything that had happened.

"I see," the Minister said, looking hard at Connor in particular.

"And what were you children doing here in the middle of the night?" She asked them.

Connor didn't know if it was intuition on the Minister's part, or if he just had a particularly guilty look about him, but her eyes remained trained on him, taking little notice of his friends. "Please, Minister," he said shakily. "This is all my fault." He went on to explain once more the events that had led to this moment, and was grateful that no one interrupted as he spoke.

"Thank you, young man," Madam Bones said, after hearing the tale. "If you will all please wait here, Mr. Jamison and myself will need to take Mrs. Tillman to a private office to be revived and questioned."

Connor guessed that the man in gray robes whom she'd arrived with was Mr. Jamison. He wasn't an Auror, if his robes were anything to judge by, and he vaguely remembered the security wizard saying that an Unspeakable named Jamison had owled to say that his wife and son were sick and that he would not be in to work. It looked as though his family would have to suffer through their illness without him, if this was the same man - though he looked a bit ill now as well. He had hardly taken his eyes from the hovering witch since he had arrived, and now that the Minister had announced that it was time to question the unconscious woman, his expression hardened, and he nodded.

"Madam Bones," Connor turned to look at his father, who had spoken even as he surged to his feet. "I respectfully request to be present at the questioning of this suspect."

"I'm sorry, Harry," She answered, her expression softening. "I'm afraid I can't allow that. The Department of Mysteries is answerable only to the Minister, as you well know, and I have summoned the head of the Time Research team, here, to be present during questioning. I will also have two of my most trusted Aurors to assist. You are no longer an Auror, by your own choice, and therefore not privy to this information."

"But Minister," Harry argued, feeling that her use of his first name was a good sign, but stopped speaking when she held up her hand in denial.

"I'm sorry, but that is the law. I will, however, fill you in on as much that is allowable without compromising the Department of Mysteries' stringent information disclosure protocol."

Harry nodded reluctantly, and resumed his seat. A tall, dark skinned Auror that Connor recognized instantly as Kingsley Shacklebolt came into the room as if sensing the Minister's need, and levitated the unconscious woman out of the room. He remained impassive, though, and gave no sign that he even recognized any of them as he went about his assigned duty. The female Auror who had taken up a post beside Corwin's desk followed the Minister and Mr. Corwin out, followed by Mr. Jamison. The group was left alone, but for the guards that were once more standing stoically by the door

All they could do now was wait. It seemed that none of them wanted to speak, and whether it was because no one knew what to say, or because the guards might overhear, Connor wasn't sure. He had a million thoughts running through his head, but was afraid to voice any of them for fear of bringing his parent's wrath down on him for getting them all into this fix.

"Professor Lupin?" Quentin broke the silence that had fallen over all of them again.

"What is it, Quentin?" the professor's voice was gentle, and his eyes were tired.

"Are we going to be arrested?"

All of the children swiveled in their seats, eager to know, and at the same time, dreading the answer.

"Of course not." It was Ron's sharp voice that answered the question. "They don't arrest children. Especially not for something as trivial as trespassing."

"You don't know that, Ron," his wife said gently.

"I'd like to see them try!" Ron persisted. "Yeah, they broke the rules, but they also caught a potentially dangerous woman, who could have been doing Merlin knows what in there! What if they hadn't come here and gotten her? We could've all woken up tomorrow in a world where Voldemort actually won the war."

"Ron!" Ginny hissed at her brother. "That's enough!"

"Uncle Ron?" Connor asked, confusion written all over her face. What did he mean about waking up in a world where Voldemort won? His dad had beaten Voldemort years before Connor had even been born.

"The Time Room!" Rachel said suddenly, comprehension dawning. "She was trying to change the past!"

"That's certainly something we'll have to consider." Harry said grimly.

Connor looked at his father, not able to wrap his head around what everyone was talking about. I couldn't be true; it just couldn't. Wizards didn't go traveling through time, did they? He could think of dozens of reasons why it just wasn't possible. But what if it was? Samantha Tillman had been spotted before, though everyone had thought the fleeting look they'd gotten of her was a ghost. What if she had already made some changes that would lead to something terrible? Maybe she was going back in time in stages to change events that could...

"Connor," Professor Lupin broke him out of his increasingly disturbing thoughts. "You need to be completely honest and open with us right now."

"Honey," his mother said, smoothing his hair away from his face gently. "Did you have any dreams at all that you didn't tell us about? Was there anything at all that could tell us what Mrs. Tillman might have been doing here?"

"No, Mum," he said. Then he lifted his eyes to address them all before he added, "Honest."

"You're sure?" his father asked.

"Positive," he answered. "I wrote them all down; all of the dreams I had about any of this, I wrote down in the dream journal that Uncle Remus gave me for Christmas. I can show you when we get back to Hogwarts."

"Okay," his Mum said quietly. "We believe you."

"Connor," his dad said, his voice not quite steady. "I need to ask you about the other things you might have seen while you were trying to find Mrs. Tillman."

Connor nodded, feeling afraid at this strange show of emotion from his father. It was as if his dad was still worried about him, even though he was safe now.

"We saw all of the doors with stars on them, so we guessed that those were the ones that you had already checked. I want you to tell me exactly what you remember seeing."

His father's eyes were intense as Connor looked into them, but he told him about them all as best he could. Rachel and the others helped him out with small details here and there, and it wasn't until they came to the part about the room with the stage and the curtain that anyone reacted.

Connor was surprised when his father suddenly sat up straight and put his hands on his shoulders. "You didn't go in that room, did you?"

"No sir," Connor answered. "Well only a little." When he saw that the adults all looked stricken at this admission, he added, "We opened the door, and I stepped out and looked around. The room gave me the creeps, though, and I knew it wasn't the one we were looking for, so we went back to the round room and kept looking."

"Oh thank the Gods!" his dad said with a sigh of relief, falling back into his seat.

Connor looked to see his mother's eyes were a bit wet, and Aunt Hermione had her hand to her chest as if trying to calm her heart. Uncle Ron had a hand on Uncle Remus's shoulder, and Uncle Remus looked unbearably sad for a moment, before taking a deep breath and scrubbing his hands over his weary face.

"What...what's the matter?" Connor asked, not sure he really wanted to know the answer.

"That room," He father said quietly. "That's the room where Sirius died."

"Oh," Connor said. He felt stupid for saying it, but he couldn't find any words that seemed right to him.

"What's going to happen to us now?" Zack asked into the silence that had seemed to stretch for hours.

"I'm not sure," Professor Lupin said. "The Minster is obviously going to carefully question Mrs. Tillman and try to ascertain what sort of threat she poses. That will take precedence over any decision to be made on what to do with us."

"I meant when we get back to school," Zack said, sounding as though he had to force the words out, but was determined to know the worst.

"I really couldn't say," Professor Lupin said. "I'm sure that this is something that Professor McGonagall would want to address personally. On the one hand, you were doing what you felt was right, and on the other hand, you knowingly broke several rules in the process. You endangered yourselves, you hexed another student, and you left school grounds without permission."

"And, er," Connor added sheepishly. "I sort of druggedAndrewTillmanwithsleepingdraught, too."

"Would you care to repeat that?" the professor said with a raised eyebrow.

"Not really," Connor said. At a stern look from his mother though, Connor carefully enunciated each word. "I drugged Andrew Tillman with sleeping draught, too."

"Where did you get sleeping draught?" his Aunt Hermione asked incredulously.

"I made it in potions class yesterday," he answered, his face going red. "But I know that I made it right; it didn't hurt him or anything."

Professor Lupin had a hand over his mouth, and was looking determinedly in the other direction, so it was hard to gauge what he might be thinking. Connor tried not to look at his Uncle Ron, who was shaking with silent laughter, and getting glared at by Aunt Hermione. His mother looked very cross, and his father's expression was unreadable; he almost looked...proud?

"Why," Professor Lupin asked him in a strange strangled voice, "did you find it necessary to drug your roommate?"

"Remus!" Connor's mom sounded as if she were scolding the other man for something, but didn't say anything further.

"Well?" His Aunt Hermione prodded.

"For the same reason we hexed Victoria," Connor said, carefully not admitting to which one of them had done the actual hexing. "I dreamed that he was going to try to stop us from leaving, so we put him to sleep to try to prevent that from happening. The only problem was that instead of Andrew catching us, it was Victoria. It was weird, like because we changed what was supposed to happen, fate or whatever just shifted things around so that Tori took Andrew's place."

"Strange," his Aunt murmured, more to herself than to anyone else.

"How did you get Andrew to drink a sleeping draught?" Uncle Ron wanted to know, having gotten his mirth under control.

"I put it in our water pitcher in our room, and then all it took was a simple thirst charm when he wasn't looking. He's probably still sound asleep." Connor looked over at his Mum when she made an exasperated sound in her throat, and ducked his head. Now was definitely not the time to be sounding proud of his underhanded scheme. "Sorry."

Over the next hour, the adults had the children recount their story one more time, asking occasional questions, and making cryptic remarks to one another. Connor was beginning to feel the lack of sleep catching up with him, but knew that none of them would be getting any rest any time soon. His stomach rumbled loudly, reminding him that he had not really eaten anything substantial since the previous morning, and his Uncle Ron obligingly pulled a handful of chocolate frogs from his cloak pocket and offered it him.

"No thanks, Uncle Ron," Connor said, refusing the treat, not sure that his nervous stomach could handle it. "I don't think it would help right now."

Any further discussion was preempted by the arrival of one of the Aurors that had left with the Minister and Mr. Corwin earlier. She asked them all to follow her, as Minister Bones was ready to see them again. Connor's heart began to race again as they all stood and made their way back to the lift and up one floor to the offices of the Minister for Magic.

To their left and right were various offices and cubicles that looked as though numerous clerks and secretaries worked here during regular hours, but they were deserted now. They approached a large door that bore a brass plate signifying that this was the Minister's office, but the Auror turned right just before they reached it and lead them to an adjacent room. This room was large and airy, with huge windows along the wall that were flooded with cheerful sunlight. It took Connor a moment to remember that they were still under ground, and that the sun should not be so high in the sky, if it had even risen yet. He checked his watch to find that it was nearly five in the morning now, though it seemed like days since they had left Hogwarts.

"They're charmed," His father whispered to him when he saw them staring.

Connor nodded and looked around at the rest of the room. There was a huge wooden table in the center, with at least a two-dozen chairs surrounding it. At the head of the table, the Minster of Magic stood waiting for them to enter and gestured for them to be seated. Kingsley Shacklebolt stood beside her, and behind the chair in which sat a very shocked looking Samantha Tillman. Her hands rested on the table before her, and her eyes looked slightly glassy. Connor timidly walked along the row of chairs, but paused when only a few chairs away from Mrs. Tillman, who was seated on the other side of the table, and took a seat. They regarded one another, and Connor was curious as to why this woman didn't seem to be bound or anything. She just sat there with a puzzled look on her face as she stared at Connor, and then her eye shifted to Harry, and she gave a small moan and put a hand to her mouth.

"This can't be!" she said tearfully.

Madam Bones simply placed a hand on Mrs. Tillman's arm in a gesture that looked like comfort or support and waited until all of them were seated. It seemed that the Minister was waiting for something before she began to speak, and simply stood there. A few moments later, footsteps could be heard in the corridor, and four people came rushing through the door, looking extremely anxious.

Ivy and Quentin stood up and gasped as their parents appeared and rushed over their children. Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy then took their places on either side of their son, and the Longbottoms flanked their daughter. There were murmured questions and assurances that the children were unharmed before everything settled down once more.

The female Auror that had led them to this conference room took up a place by the door, and an uncertain silence seemed to fall over them all, except for an occasional whimper from the woman that Connor felt was responsible for all this mess. She was in obvious distress, but doing her best to master her emotions.

"I must say that I never would have thought to have a situation such as this on my hands," the Minister spoke at last.

Connor noticed that Mr. Jamison was not in the room, and wondered where he had gone. He looked around briefly at everyone at the table, but the Minister and the woman beside her held everyone else's attention. He noted that Quentin's father was extremely pale, and his mother had her arm around his shoulders protectively. Ivy's parents sat stiffly, as if they were students called into the Headmistress's office for some grave infraction of the rules. Connor looked back the Minister and watched, as she seemed to search to the right words to express her feelings on this matter.

"First, I will tell you that Mrs. Tillman has been questioned under the supervision of highly qualified personnel and under the influence of Veritaserum, which she agreed to freely," Madam Bones told them. "After much thought and consideration, I believe we now have a clear idea of what has happened, and now we must decide what is to be done about it."

The children all shifted uneasily in their seats.

"Madam Bones," Hermione asked respectfully. "We are not at all clear as to what has actually happened here tonight. Is there anything that you might tell us to help clarify matters?"

"Yes," Draco Malfoy added. "I'm afraid that we are at a disadvantage here. I was only informed that my son was involved in some sort of 'incident' at the Ministry, and that my presence was needed immediately."

Connor was glad that they had, in essence, asked what the heck was going on. If Mrs. Tillman had not been arrested, and she was sitting at this table with them, apparently very distressed, then something strange must have happened, to say the least. Since the Malfoys and the Longbottoms were completely in the dark about everything, perhaps more complete explanations would be given.

"Yes, indeed, Mrs. Weasley, Mr. Malfoy," Madam Bones replied. "Though it was a strange tale. It seems to go back to June of the year 1996, when Death Eaters gained entrance to the Ministry of Magic on an errand for Lord Voldemort."

"I..." Samantha Tillman spoke quietly, but gained everyone's attention with that single syllable. "I was working late that night," she said shakily. "In the Time Room. I was just putting my research notes and items away, when I heard the door open. I thought that Darius Jamison must have forgotten something and come back for it. He was new to the department, and very eager, but was always forgetting something, so I wasn't alarmed." She paused in her story to look again from Connor to Harry and back again, as if she couldn't believe her eyes. "I turned around to ask him what he'd left behind this time, and came face to face with a large group of Death Eaters. I think I must have frozen in panic; I didn't even go for my wand. There weren't supposed to be Death Eaters running around! The Minister has been... had been telling us for months that there wasn't any truth to the rumors about You-Know-Who being back."

At this point, a door behind the Minister that Connor had not noticed before opened slowly, and a pair House Elves entered, carrying a large tea tray. It took only moments for the efficient elves to pour out several cups and make sure that everyone was serves before departing, and Samantha Tillman seemed grateful for both the interruption, and for the tea. She sipped at her cup before setting in down, rattling into the saucer and continuing her tale.

"I'm afraid that's all I really remember," She said regretfully. "One of them shouted, 'stupefy,' and the next thing I knew, Harry Potter was standing in front of me, and one of his companions was shouting, 'stupefy' again; then I woke up to find Madam Bones and several others staring down at me."

"I don't follow you," Harry said with a furrowed brow. "This is the first time I've met you."

"Harry," the Minister said gently. "When Mrs. Tillman appeared, she saw young Connor, here, and believed him to be you. The resemblance is uncanny."

"Samantha Tillman," came a voice from the back of the room. "Was not stunned by the Death Eaters that night."

It seemed that Mr. Jamison had returned from wherever he had been, and was now approaching the head of the table. He whispered something to the Minister, and then turned back to face the group.

"When the Death Eaters cast the stunning spell at her," he continued. "It hit a time turner that she was holding at the time. After examining the piece that the younger Mr. Potter knocked from her hand earlier this morning, I think that we have determined why Samantha she been sighted repeatedly, yet fleetingly since her disappearance. You see, the spell damaged the time turner in her hand, and broke a hole in the glass of the lower globe of the hourglass. The crystals that escaped the globe activated the time turner, and Samantha vanished almost immediately. Whenever she reappeared, more of the crystals would spill out, and she would vanish again, basically stuck in limbo instead of being transported back in time as a fully functional time turner is supposed to do."

"How can we be certain that she hasn't been hiding out in the past?" Draco Malfoy asked suspiciously.

"Because her account of events was first told to us under the influence of veritaserum," Mr. Jamison replied. "The first words out of her mouth when she was revived were about Death Eaters in the Ministry, and, well, just look at her! She looks to be somewhere between forty or forty-five years old, when in fact, she should be sixty-four. That's because she is only between forty or forty-five. She simply stopped aging when she vanished."

"That would also explain why she thought that Connor was Harry," Ron added.

"I've lost twenty years of my life," Samantha Tillman said quietly. "I still can't believe it."

No one really knew what to say. Connor wondered if this woman's husband was still alive, or if he had remarried, or what her son or Andrew would do now. Surely they would be pleased.

"I should also add that the remains of the time turner indicated that this may well have been Mrs. Tillman's last appearance," Mr. Jamison said gravely. "There were only a few grains of the sand crystals left in the hourglass at all, and had young Mr. Potter not acted so quickly to remove it from her grasp, she may well have disappeared forever. We would never have known what became of her. She has her life back now, thanks to him."

"When I was attacked by Death Eaters," she said. "The return of You-Know-Who was just a terrible rumor that Cornelius Fudge told us to ignore. Harry Potter was just a little boy! Now he's sitting here in front of me with a son of his own, and Derrick tells me that not only was it true that You-Know-Who was really back at the time, but that all of Wizarding Britain fought a war, and Harry Potter defeated him. I have so many questions to ask! I don't even know where to start! What has become of my husband? My son? Where am I going to...?"

"It's okay, Samantha," Derrick Jamison stepped forward to calm her and took her hands in a gesture of comfort. "We'll get all of those questions answered. Come with me now, and we'll get you looked at by a healer and contact your family."

Connor watched as the time-displaced witch was led away, then looked at everyone else in the room, relieved to see that he wasn't the only one who was stunned by everything they had just heard. His Mum had tears in her eyes, and so did Aunt Hermione. Uncle Ron looked thoughtful as he sipped at his long forgotten tea, and his dad was staring into space, not really seeing anything or anyone in the room.

"Excuse me," Ivy's mother said timidly. "I understand a bit about Mrs. Tillman's reappearance, but it still doesn't tell me why Ivy and her friends are all here. How did they get here? What have they got to do with all of this?"

Connor was exceedingly glad that the Minister took matters into her own hands and that he didn't have to tell his story yet again. He sipped at his tea, and let his thoughts wander a bit in his fatigue while everyone's questions were answered. By the time that Madam Bones finished the tale, and all of the adults were brought up to speed, Connor's eyes were drooping, and he was finding it hard to focus on the conversation.

"So Mrs. Tillman was never sneaking in here to sabotage the Ministry?" Rachel asked, sounding way too alert for someone who had been awake for so long.

"Not at all," the Minister confirmed. "Though I can easily understand why you must have thought that was the case. Now we must figure out what is to be done about you children."

Connor felt as though someone had tossed a bucket of freezing water on him at these words, and everyone in the room sat up straighter and looked warily at the Minister.

"I must admit, Mr. Potter," she began, looking at Harry. "I have no idea how your son's talent really works, but it's obvious that it does work. I was very skeptical when I read about it in the Prophet, and dismissed it as so much nonsense and sensationalism."

"We have been careful with who we confided in over the years," Harry answered. "But Connor does have precognitive abilities that seem to be growing as he grows."

"You will need to take very great care to see that he receives as much education as possible in this area," the Minister said with a small smile. "And keep the vultures away."

"Yes," Harry replied. "We've had some experience in that area already."

"I'm sure you have," Madam Bones agreed. "Now for what to do with you. Normally breaking into the Ministry and trespassing into a highly classified and dangerous area," she looked meaningfully at the children at this part, "would require serious discipline."

"Excuse me, Madam Bones," Connor said quietly. He stood up as he interrupted her, and looked pleadingly at his parents as they tried to urge him back into his seat. "I have something I would like to say."

Everyone was quiet as the Minister nodded, indicating that Connor should speak his mind.

"When all of this started," Connor said, praying to the powers that be the he could choose the right words. "It all seemed like a bit of a game. It was a bit of a mystery that needed solving, and I guess that I used poor judgment in bring my friends in on it with me. I know that I probably should have told an adult or found a way to do this without involving them."

"What is it that you're trying to say, Connor?" the Minister asked kindly.

"What I'm trying to say, is that it was my fault that my friends ended up here tonight, and that they were always the ones who tried to talk me out of all of this and to tell an adult. I wouldn't listen to them, and so they came here tonight to try to protect me," Connor said as firmly as he could. "I would like to ask that whatever punishment you would give to them... that it be given to me instead. I'll take whatever punishment that you see fit to give for them."

His friends looked like they wanted to protest, but he glared at them in warning.

"Why?"

Madam Bones' question was a simple one, but it caught Connor off guard. He didn't need long to think about it, though, and answered. "Because I don't think that they should be punished for doing what they thought was the right thing. I made them come here, and I would hate to see them get into trouble for that."

"Connor," Madam Bones said. "I admire your desire to protect your friends, but I sincerely doubt that they needed to be forced to come to your aid. However, I happen to agree with you that none of you should be penalized for doing what you felt was right, at least in this particular instance. There are many extenuating circumstances involved in this case, and I believe they must be taken into account. There is no doubt in my mind that you saved a woman's life tonight, and that your intentions were only good and sincere. I feel sure that you never would have taken the measures, and broken the laws that you did, had you not felt that the need was dire."

Connor listened to the Minister talking, and could hardly believe his ears! Could she truly mean what it sounded like? Was she really going to let them go without serious punishment? "No ma'am," he answered her fervently. "Never."

"In that case, here is what I intend to do," she said. "I am going to ask each of you not to discuss the particulars of this matter with others outside of this group, and perhaps Minerva McGonagall. I have a feeling that the press will have a field day with the return of Mrs. Tillman, but you would probably be best served to simply restrict your reply to that of, 'no comment.' You may be questioned further at a later date, so that our security team can fix the serious breaches in security that allowed a group of children to penetrate the Ministry as far as they did. In exchange for agreeing to this, I will grant each of you a full pardon, with no charges filed. Is that acceptable to all of you?"

The children all nodded their heads furiously in amazement, and remained silent. Their parents and professor all sagged in relief, and thanked the Minister profusely. The sun had well and truly risen by the time the Minister led them personally to the Floo in her private office, as it was the only one at the Ministry that allowed access to the Headmistress's office at Hogwarts. Connor wondered if he would be forced to attend his classes today; he could barely keep his eyes open, and saw that the others were showing the same fatigue that he felt. A glance at the large clock on the wall over the Floo told Connor that Most of the students in the castle would be waking up by now, and he wondered if Victoria had already spread the word about the five of them sneaking out last night and not coming back yet.

They would all be traveling by Floo back to Hogwarts, where each of the students knew that their parents would want to have private words with them. Zack looked a bit lost, and Professor Lupin kept a hand on his shoulder, and Connor heard him say that they would have a long letter to write to Mr. and Mrs. Ellis when they returned to the castle. Zack looked miserable, but Connor was confident in the knowledge that the professor would work out a way to inform Zack's parents without scaring them to death, and forbidding him to return to school next year.

Professor Lupin urged the Longbottom Family to use the Floo first, and Connor watched Ivy's father and mother spin out of sight. Ivy stepped in and was about to throw down her pinch of Floo power, when Madam Bones had her final say.

"Just remember, children," she said with a hint of a smile. "You are not going to be punished by the Ministry. I have a feeling that the same will not hold true for Hogwarts once Minerva McGonagall has had her say in all of this. Good day to you."

With those less than comforting words, the Minster for Magic left Kingsley Shacklebolt to supervise their departure from her office, and exited the room.