Choices and Consequences

Batsnumbereleven

Story Summary:
Harry's heading back to Privet Drive for the summer after his fifth year. He's tired of being angry with the world, and now it's time for him to change his attitude. He might have lost Sirius, and have had the prophecy thrust upon him, but there are still people who want to help him, and who understand the burden he carries. He has to take responsibility for his life and find a way to defeat Voldemort. (Mild H/G)

Chapter 37 - 37

Chapter Summary:
The aftermath of the Dementor attack on Hogsmeade - what does the Prophet have to say about it, and how does Dumbledore justify his stance?
Posted:
02/17/2009
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543


Harry found a twinge of anxiety rippling through his stomach the next morning as he was running through his exercises. It was interesting to anticipate the reactions there would be around the Great Hall this morning following the Dementor attack, even before any of the other news filtered through from the morning's Daily Prophet.

When he and Ginny had arrived back in the common room the previous evening, they had been besieged with questions from their Housemates about the Dementors. Several of those Gryffindors that Harry knew less well and didn't form part of the DA approached him straightaway and asked where he had learned to conjure a Patronus that had driven them off.

Katie, Ron, Neville and Hermione looked a little haggard - they had apparently been fielding questions from the younger years for quite a while - so Harry and Ginny sat in and took some of the load off their shoulders.

It was a bit of a surprise to Harry that not everyone agreed with his assessment of the cowardice of the people in Hogsmeade.

"It isn't something that people get taught," one of the seventh years told him. "We haven't learned about it in any of our classes."

To Ron's complete agreement, Harry was quite scathing about the lack of protection that the villagers had. Despite the Ministry's acknowledgement that Voldemort had returned, there was still no attempt to provide people with any training, and the residents of Hogsmeade had hidden themselves away rather than assist their neighbours, or had run for the hills.

Hermione recalled several examples of tragedies that had occurred where more people had died from the stampede away from a perceived danger than from the actual threat itself.

Eventually the questions died away, and the Gryffindors moved into their normal groups where they quietly discussed the horror among themselves. Katie rubbed her eyes and yawned, heading upstairs to bed to recover from her heroic effort.

Meanwhile, Ron had launched into an explanation of what had happened after they had left Harry and Ginny with Dumbledore in Madam Puddifoot's tea shop.

"We were all herded into the Hospital Wing - you could barely move for students - and those who had run away without much exposure to the Dementors were sorted through, issued with chocolate and despatched back to their common rooms with instructions to go to bed, even though it was quite early."

"Madam Pomfrey was really annoyed," Neville interjected. "She kept muttering about safety precautions and Dementors and the Ministry's incompetence."

"She made the rest of us stick around though," Ron continued. "Katie, Hermione, Neville, Luna and me were packed into her little office where she gave us all a thorough going over with her wand - I think she thought we were going to pass out on her," he chuckled.

"Then she force fed us one of those big bars of Honeydukes' chocolate each. I don't think I've even eaten so much at once."

Ginny gave a disbelieving snort but let Ron carry on with his story.

"Then after about another half-hour, Dumbledore came in and asked us to go through what had happened, which took a while. He seemed a bit surprised that you two weren't there too."

"We got waylaid," Ginny understated, looking around the room to see who was within earshot. Not seeing anyone particularly close, she lowered her voice and explained their encounter with the Death Eaters, though she left out the subsequent interrogation of Pettigrew and the other captured man.

The expressions on Ron, Hermione and Neville's faces shifted from incredulity to satisfaction, to sympathy, and then to grim determination as Ginny explained what they had been up to.

"Blimey!" Neville exclaimed when she'd completed her narration. "I thought one adventure today was more than enough!"

"Welcome to my life," Harry noted wearily.

"Are you okay? How are you feeling?" Hermione asked quietly, with particular concern for Ginny. "You killed that Death Eater?"

She nodded, and although she had begun to accept that it was part of being targeted, she still had something of a sad expression. Hermione scrutinised her carefully for a moment, then led her up the stairs to the girls' dormitories.

Ron and Neville had been interested in Pettigrew's capture and in speculating what it might lead to if he confessed. Harry had to subdue their enthusiasm whilst they were in the common room. There was plenty of information that he wouldn't want others to overhear even if he was happy for the five of them that had gone to the Ministry with him to know what was really going on.

So, as Harry went through the motions of his morning exercises, he could still feel a bone-weariness from the previous day. Unlike the others that had returned from Hogsmeade as heroes, he and Ginny hadn't been treated by Madam Pomfrey and he still had a few small wounds from their battle that hurt a bit, especially his shoulder, which had borne the brunt of two cutting hexes.

With the exertions of the previous day, he cut his exercises short for once, and thought about the repercussions. He was even more annoyed with Dumbledore and his interfering than he had been before the holidays. It seemed as though he'd retreated to a point where all he was concerned about was Hogwarts, and even that was becoming a little dubious.

Pettigrew's capture and confession would raise interesting questions, Harry reckoned. Some of them had already been aired in the press during the summer to a certain degree, but a lot would depend on how well Gaarder and his cohorts could persuade their contacts.

Yet, what was likely to affect the school most though was the reaction of students, parents and staff to the Kissing of four Hogwarts students. The friends and families of the three Ravenclaws and one Slytherin would be in mourning, and surely there would be recriminations flying, whether at the Ministry, at the Hogsmeade residents, or at Dumbledore for allowing the students out.

In the furore, Harry wondered whether the news about Pettigrew might not make much impact, but all-in-all, at least it meant he could rest a little more easily.

On the positive side though, there were numerous good things that had come out of yesterday. He'd finally confirmed his feeling that Lucius Malfoy was out and about in the world, and that Draco was leaning towards the Death Eaters. He and Ginny had bested eight Death Eaters and sent them scurrying for safety. Ginny's ability to defend herself had been proven, which Harry was most relieved about - she had shown she was as capable as anyone he knew, and that would help him a lot in future since it meant he would have to spend less attention ensuring her safety.

He held off deciding whether Karkaroff's return to oppose Voldemort was a good thing or not, but the capture of Pettigrew certainly was, even if Dumbledore didn't like the results, and this morning Harry felt that the formation of a group to actively fight against the dark forces could only prove positive, especially with Gaarder and Moody leading it.

He finished his musings as he showered, then headed down to the Great Hall for some breakfast before the sun lifted it's sleepy winter head above the horizon to light this particular hemisphere.

To his surprise, Hermione and Ginny were already eating, though there were few others scattered around the hall at such an early hour. Hermione had her face buried in this morning's edition of the Daily Prophet, and was quietly reading sections out to Ginny between mouthfuls of toast.

"You're up early," he noted, taking a seat next to Ginny and kissing the top of her head as he sat down.

Hermione lifted the newspaper up, indicating that she was up at this time to get a head start on the news. After a moment's thought, she closed it and handed it to Harry to read for himself, then devoted her attention to a place of poached eggs and sausages that appeared before her.

"You read it for now," she suggested.

Harry turned the front page around towards him, and looked across at Ginny. She shrugged her shoulders and he set the paper down between them so they could read it together.

"DEMENTOR ATTACK ON HOGSMEADE!" was the main headline, and since there weren't any photos of the Dementors attacking, Minister Fudge had managed to get himself pictured on the front page once again, this time looking rather flustered at the media attention, and with the caption beneath reading "Ministry decry 'alarmist reports'."

As he read through the article Harry raised an eyebrow at the comments attributed to the Minister's office. For once, the Minister wasn't quoted himself, which suggested that either this wasn't the official line, or he was hiding behind his junior officials.

"They don't believe it?" he asked.

"The Ministry? I don't think they've made their mind up yet," Hermione guessed. "The rest of the story is pretty accurate though."

Harry scanned down the remainder of the front page and agreed with Hermione's assessment.

"They don't mention who drove the Dementors off," Ginny pointed out as they got to the bottom of the page.

"Yeah, but that's a good thing," Harry noted. At Ginny's confused expression, he explained further. "If they knew it was 'Harry Potter and friends' it would all be about me."

"And that's not a good thing?" Hermione asked rhetorically.

Harry mock-glared at her for a moment.

"Better that it's just attributed to 'a group of Hogwarts students.'" he said. "At least it doesn't provide names that would just get targeted."

He frowned.

"I don't know where they got the information from though."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, anyone who saw what happened would have recognised me, wouldn't they? And most of the Dementors were driven off from behind the Three Broomsticks and Madam Puddifoot's, right?"

Ginny nodded.

"So who saw that? And who edited it to make sure we weren't mentioned by name? Whoever it was, I owe them a butterbeer!"

The two girls chuckled at Harry's response, but stopped when they noticed his bleak expression. He turned his attention back to the newspaper, and was reading about the four students that had been Kissed by the Dementors.

"They don't get much of a mention, do they?"

"Who's that, Harry?" Ginny asked.

"The four that were Kissed. The Prophet doesn't even mention their names. You'd've thought there would be more about them."

"Maybe Dumbledore didn't give out any details of who they were," Hermione suggested, looking up from her plate. "If you were their parents, you wouldn't want to find out about it through the newspaper, would you? There'll be enough Howlers winging their way to the Headmaster this morning even from parents of children who weren't involved, wanting to pull them out of school."

As Hermione mentioned Dumbledore's name, he strode into the Great Hall through the teachers' entrance and paused, scanning the Hall. He spotted Harry already in his seat and made his way across to the Gryffindor table.

"Good morning all," he began. "Are you not sitting with the first years this morning?"

"None of them are down this early," Hermione pointed out, indicating the empty table at the front of the hall with a nod of her head.

"Ah! I see!" Dumbledore nodded in understanding. "Harry, could you join me in my office after breakfast, please. I'll let Professor Snape know that you might be late to his lesson."

Without waiting for Harry to reply, the Headmaster whirled around and strode back down the Hall, taking his normal place at the centre of the teachers' table.

Ginny placed a hand on Harry's leg under the table and willed him to maintain his composure.

"It's okay, Harry. Don't get upset with him," she told him sympathetically. "Even if he winds you up, try and remember that he thinks what he's doing is best."

Harry muttered something about the road to hell, but covered Ginny's hand with his own, and kissed her cheek gently.

"I'll try," he promised. "Now, what else has the Prophet got to say?"

As he'd already noted, there was very little in the way of detail about the fate of the four youngsters who had been Kissed by the Dementors. The remainder of the story and the editorial concentrated on how the threat could be lessened and called upon the Ministry to find a way to destroy the Dementors and rid Britain of them permanently.

Ginny snorted as she read that particular part of the editorial.

"They make it sound so easy," she scoffed. "As though the Ministry could just destroy them by edict."

"That's the nature of newspapers though," Hermione pointed out. "They don't exist to solve the world's problems, just to point out what they are, and to direct public opinion."

"That's rather cynical, Hermione," Harry protested.

"Is it?" she responded. "Look how easily led the wizarding world is. You're a hero, no you're an idiot, oh look you're a hero again. Most witches and wizards take what they read in the Prophet and Witch Weekly as the gospel truth."

"Aww c'mon. They're not that bad."

Hermione sighed. "They are that bad. Even Mrs Weasley believed what the press wrote about you, remember?"

"Besides, Harry," Ginny interjected, "it was only yesterday that you were ranting about how the wizarding world needs to unite and stick up for itself as a group rather than relying on individuals. Well, right now everybody relies on the press to form their opinions, rather than taking any personal interest in the problems around them."

Harry made a face. He was starting to think he was being out-argued by the two girls, which didn't bode well. He wasn't reassured by the thoughtfully speculative look that came over Hermione's face, either.

"What is it?" he asked.

"Oh, nothing!"

He eyed her disbelievingly, but returned to reading the newspaper without any further comment.

It seemed that Professor Gaarder's visit to the Prophet hadn't occurred in time for a full story to be printed, but there was a brief mention at the end of the main story about the Dementors that a suspected Death Eater had been apprehended at the site of the attacks, and that investigations were taking place into the suspect's controlling of the creatures.

It also mentioned that the identity of the Death Eater would be a big surprise to the wizarding community, but the Prophet reported that Ministry officials would only confirm that a suspect had been taken into custody. The paper promised more news and detail of the Death Eater's identity in later editions.

Once he'd read enough to know that the Prophet was at least reporting what appeared to be the truth for once, Harry grabbed a couple of slices of toast, buttered them, and pushed himself up from the table.

"I'll have to catch up with you in Potions," he told Hermione, and kissed Ginny briefly on the lips before heading up through the castle to the Headmaster's office, munching on his toast as he walked.

"Come in, Harry. Please sit down," Dumbledore requested as Harry appeared at the open door. He waved his hand at the seats opposite his desk and continued scrawling away at a parchment on his desk.

Harry took a seat and patiently waited for the Headmaster to speak. He finished off his writing with a flourish, blew gently on the parchment to dry the ink, then set it to one side and studied Harry intently.

"Harry, I'm sure you realise that my primary concern, as Headmaster of Hogwarts, is for the safety of the students," he said finally. "There are many times when I have wished that I could influence our Government to behave in a manner more beneficial to society as a whole, but as one individual it isn't within my power to do so."

Harry wondered where the Headmaster was going with his line of thought. Despite his protestations, Harry was pretty sure that if he felt the conditions warranted it, Dumbledore probably could influence the Ministry. Yet he had done little to make Minister Fudge understand what had happened during the Third Task of the Tri-wizard Tournament, nor had he prevented Fudge from disposing of the evidence by having Barty Crouch Junior Kissed.

"A such, I can't help what people do when they are attacked by Lord Voldemort's forces," Dumbledore continued, "whether they fight or turn and run, or barricade themselves inside their homes. I have limited resources to protect the people I feel need protecting most. At the moment they are concentrated on Miss Granger's parents, The Burrow, Mister Lovegood and Mrs Longbottom since, as you rightly identified, they are more likely than most to be at risk of attack."

He stopped for a moment and steepled his fingers in front of him, his eyes lacking their usual sparkle.

"But I cannot help but wonder if these resources should be utilised elsewhere, for other purposes. I should be focusing on protecting my students, and that, most of all, is what worries me about the attack yesterday: the people who stood up and fought off the Dementors were those who should be protected."

"But that's exactly my point, sir!" Harry exclaimed. "We shouldn't have to rely on the students to fight back!"

Dumbledore studied him carefully once again, resting his chin on the fingertips in front of him.

"The problem, Harry, is that I cannot allow my students to be placed in such danger. They should not have fought back against the Dementors, they should have run away and saved themselves. What would have I told their parents had their Patroni not worked and they too had been Kissed?"

Harry couldn't believe what he was hearing. Dumbledore was the last person he expected to be telling him that he should run away from a conflict rather than try to overcome it.

"They would have died as heroes, but what comfort would that be to their relatives?" the Headmaster asked rhetorically.

"You're not serious!" Harry half-shouted. "If we hadn't driven them off, Dementors would still be terrorising Hogsmeade now, or it would have become a ghost town as everyone fled! Is that what you want?"

Dumbledore sighed wearily.

"It's not what I want that matters. I have a responsibility to ensure the safety of my students-" he began, but Harry cut him off, outraged.

"Safety? Professor, this whole castle is one huge minefield. I've been in danger ever since I arrived!"

Harry felt a strange tugging at his mind as he uttered these words, but it seemed to be coming from the room around him rather than from the Headmaster, and was a totally different feeling to being probed with Legilimency, making him wonder what the sensation was caused by. It eased off though as Dumbledore responded to Harry's outburst.

"Parents know the dangers that the castle brings, Harry-"

"They knew about the basilisk in the Chamber of Secrets? The 'secret' Tri-wizard Tournament? The Defence Against the Dark Arts teachers?"

"Those were exceptional circumstances," Dumbledore pointed out defensively.

"Every year?"

"I think you overstate the matter. Anyway," the Headmaster pressed on, overriding Harry's reply as he attempted to decry the school's safety record, "my point is that I cannot allow students to put themselves in harm's way on occasions such as those we witnessed yesterday.

"I had intended to bring you here to explain my actions yesterday, and to try and give you some perspective on why the magical community does not act like a community when faced with danger, but I fear that I have other things to ask you."

Harry stifled a low growl at Dumbledore's continued indifference to the fate of those affected by the Dementor attacks and his unwillingness to provide any leadership.

"I believe that when I left you and Miss Weasley in Hogsmeade yesterday, I asked you to head straight back to school," Dumbledore continued. "I gather that you were accosted en-route. Perhaps you could share your experience with me?"

Harry went over the events of the previous day, editing as he had discussed with Moody to give the impression he wasn't aware who the captured Death Eater had been. Dumbledore eyed him a little sceptically as he talked, but when he mentioned that Gaarder had dealt with the captive, he seemed keen to rush Harry back out of the office.

"I understand, Harry. You did well," he told him. "Now if you would excuse me, I have a meeting with the Governors to try and head off the undoubted number of angry parents wanting to withdraw their children from the school. Please return to your lessons.

"Oh! One last thing," the Headmaster added as he stood up. "I don't want you running off and getting yourself into more trouble. Please concentrate on your studies and your lessons with Mister Christopher and Professor Gaarder - they will serve you well."

Harry tried to suppress his frustration at Dumbledore's attitude. He wanted to rant at him for his lack of action, for ignoring Harry's warnings that Lucius Malfoy was at large, and for encouraging his wish to actually learn to defend himself so that he would be able to face Voldemort when the time came, yet now expect him to do nothing when his friends and neighbours were attacked.

Dumbledore stepped around his desk and guided Harry towards the door, almost forcefully.

"Yes, yes," he muttered, more or less to himself. "You must keep working on your Occlumency. We don't want a repeat of how ill you found yourself this last Christmas."

Harry was about to object that his Occlumency had little to do with his illness, and that he'd been poisoned by someone, but his words fell on solid oak, because the Headmaster had closed the door behind him and left him standing at the top of the spiral staircase on his own.

He closed his eyes and let out a deep sigh. He'd thought that when Dumbledore had agreed to provide training for him he'd be encouraged to use what he'd learned, to help others defend themselves from attack and, when necessary, to fight back against the Death Eaters. The attack they had foiled at the Grangers' house back in July had seemed to confirm that. But now it seemed as though the Headmaster was trying to dissuade the students from getting involved.

He allowed the moving staircase to deposit him back in the corridor and considered his next move. There was no point trying to contact Gaarder for advice, since Harry was sure that right now Dumbledore was doing everything in his power to find out exactly what had gone on after Pettigrew had been captured, and was already in touch with the Danish former Auror.

He knew also that John Christopher was away from the castle for a couple of days, staying out of the limelight while the investigation into the attack on Hogsmeade was conducted and Pettigrew's dealt with, and working in the background with some of the Aurors known to be sympathetic to Harry to ensure that the full story was learned, and that Pettigrew didn't end up getting 'mislaid' in the same way as Lucius Malfoy had.

Admittedly, there was still a hurdle to overcome, since the Minister was even keener now to ensure he was on hand for any trials before the Wizengamot, and a capture of this magnitude would have consequences that reverberated around the magical community - after all, almost everyone still believed that Pettigrew was already dead, murdered by Sirius Black, and it would take a while to get the truth through to the general public. The plan was for John to do his best there though when he had the spare time.

That just left Moody. Harry wasn't really in the mood for the gruff Auror after his confrontation with Dumbledore, but the alternative was to head down to the dungeons for his Potions lesson, and he didn't want to antagonise Snape by arriving part-way through his lesson either. He shrugged and headed for the seventh floor and the Room of Requirement. He needed to burn off some of the frustration after talking to Dumbledore, and a duelling session with Moody was just the tonic.

---

The next few days brought a flurry of revelations from the Daily Prophet, and a few parents appeared at Hogwarts to take their children home. None were friends of Harry, but it seemed strange nonetheless.

Following on from the Dementor attack on Hogsmeade, the paper ran a heavily hyped interview with Gaarder, which provided some details of the attack on the village and the attempted abduction of two Hogwarts students as they made their way back to the castle.

Once again, Harry was relieved that his name had been left out of the story, since it would no doubt have overwhelmed the information that Gaarder was trying to get across.

Gaarder included the capture of Peter Pettigrew in his interview, but the Prophet largely glossed over it, suggesting that they were still waiting for confirmation from the Ministry of his identity.

This didn't help Harry's temper, and he didn't linger over breakfast that morning - he scanned down the article, then stormed off out of the Great Hall. Ginny eventually found him near the lake, pacing up and down along the shore in frustration, and it took her quite a while to soothe him.

"I just don't understand them!" he complained. "They write sensationalised stories, then as soon as we provide them with a true one that's as sensational as anything they've ever printed, they ignore it!"

"At least they aren't still printing Ministry lies about you though," Ginny reassured him and pulled him to sit down with her on a nearby bench. "Maybe for once they're actually going to investigate the claims before printing anything."

Harry grumbled at her impeccable logic. He knew that he needed to be patient and wait for the scenario to play itself out. Now that both the press and trusted sources within the Ministry were aware of Pettigrew's capture, it surely wouldn't be too long before the story got the attention it deserved.

"Besides," she added, addressing a concern that Harry hadn't realised was still bugging him, "it doesn't matter if we have to wait a few more days until Sirius's name is finally cleared. Too many people know now to keep the information suppressed."

Harry looked up at her a little surprised at the comment. "I know," he said grimly, "but it's about time people realised that they've been lied to for fifteen years."

He sighed heavily. "I'm not sure what I'm most frustrated about," he admitted grimly, pausing to link arms with Ginny. They stood and he drew her further away from the castle.

"Dumbledore's odd attitude," he continued, " the magical community's selfishness, the Prophet suddenly acquiring a conscience, or the Ministry's stupidity."

"They're all linked, Mister Potter," came a voice from behind them.

Harry span round to see Professor Gaarder standing behind them with an expression of curiosity on his face.

"I wondered what had you so very riled this morning," he noted, "but I see it's more than just the musings of an angry teenager. The malaise of the magical community spreads insidiously, and affects more than you might imagine.

He ushered them back to the nearby bench and sat down.

"Let's start with the Ministry. The main reason the Ministry doesn't act to bring the wizarding community together is mostly because they can't afford it," he explained to Harry. "There's no tax on wizarding income, so institutions like the Ministry and St Mungos rely entirely on philanthropic donations from the rich."

Harry remembered how sycophantic Minister Fudge had always seemed to be towards Lucius Malfoy, and concluded that the Malfoys must spend a lot of money on obtaining favours from the Ministry.

"That means that they don't have money to spend on public services like Governments in the Muggle world, and indeed in some magical communities abroad," Gaarder informed him. "Their only real priorities for a society so sparsely spread are law enforcement and the protection of property rights."

"Is that why all the Ministry departments seem to be about making and enforcing laws?" Harry asked.

"Partly," Gaarder agreed. "They have a few additional departments, such as the Centaur Liaison Office, and the Department for Magical Sports and Games, but the vast majority of the Ministry's work is law-related.

"Your father's office is a good example of that," he added , turning to Ginny. "His job involves the protection of non-magical people from mischievous or malicious wizards, just as much as many of the other departments."

Harry nodded at this explanation, understanding starting to dawn.

"So the magical community doesn't act very much like a community, then, does it?"

"In many ways it doesn't," Gaarder noted. "Even an all-magical village like Hogsmeade relies very much on individuals to protect it, and although they look out for each other when times are good, they are selfish by default.

Have you never wondered why Hogsmeade is the only all-magical village in Britain?"

Harry shook his head.

"It's simple economics. The presence of the school makes it viable for a community to exist nearby, providing goods and services for the students and teachers. Hogsmeade is home to the few magical farms simply because they can be run profitably with such a large demand for food coming from Hogwarts.

"Everywhere else in Britain, the food that you eat, the fibres that go into the clothes you wear, the plastics and metals that are used, even some of the more mundane potions ingredients you use, all of them are produced by Muggles. There just aren't enough magical folk to make setting up an agricultural, manufacturing or industrial base profitable."

Harry started to chuckle.

"What's so funny?" Ginny asked him.

"Imagine Malfoy's face, if we told him."

"I'm sure he already knows, Mister Potter. Even the most fanatical Pureblood supremacist is aware that they are reliant on Muggles," Gaarder pointed out. "They largely choose to ignore it though. After all, even Voldemort and his Death Eaters have no intention of wiping out the Muggle population - just those that show any magical talent."

"Isn't that something of a mistake?" Harry asked.

"Why?"

"In-breeding is supposed to be bad for the strength of the line, isn't it?" he suggested. "I'm sure Mrs Figg mentioned something about it," he added tentatively, with a hazy memory of one of his baby-sitter's natterings emerging.

Gaarder eyed him carefully.

"I see you're starting to understand. Yes indeed, if the traditional wizarding families continue to maintain their insistence on purity of blood, then they will eventually die out.

"As it is, there are a number of families who are already in danger, and they are showing signs of genetic weakness - look at the Malfoys and Flints for example: neither has managed to produce more than two children in a generation in the last hundred years, so they don't have a sustainable replacement rate."

Harry's eyes started to glaze over a little as Gaarder began an explanation of population and replacement, but he began to understand the basics of it. The emphasis on blood purity made little sense in that perspective, and effectively they were breeding themselves out of existence. Continual inter-marriage reduced fertility, and small numbers of children meant that the family name would eventually disappear.

He shook his head to clear it, and suddenly realised that Gaarder was still speaking.

"-it would only take a tragic accident for the Malfoy name to disappear - Draco is the last of the name, and with he and his father both working for Voldemort, their future is hardly secure."

"Good job we Weasleys are so prolific then," Ginny interjected with a giggle. "Got to make up for all those Malfoys that have died from stupidity down the years!"

"If I remember my family histories well enough," Gaarder told her with an odd grin, "the Weasley name shouldn't be in much danger. Not only are you .. prolific ... as you put it, there are plenty of Muggle and Muggleborns in your family tree at various points, just not in recent generations. Seems like someone's been applying the right sort of compost to your family tree," he joked.

Harry blinked. Gaarder didn't joke.

Assuming a more normal, sincere expression, he wished them a good day, noting that he expected to see Harry later on.

Harry just shook his head, his thoughts returning to the lack of response from the Daily Prophet.

He didn't have to worry too long about it though. Information started leaking from the Ministry in dribs and drabs, and eventually the Prophet had enough information to publish the 'astonishing expose' of Peter Pettigrew's deception that Harry had expected.

John Christopher, Moody and Gaarder largely dealt with the press on Harry's behalf, and helped him come up with some suitable quotes for the reporter when Dumbledore finally allowed him into the school. Much to Harry's relief, the Prophet hadn't sent Rita Skeeter to interview him, and he only spent about twenty minutes with their representative.

"SHAME!" roared the headline the next day. The article focused on Pettigrew's framing of Sirius and on his responsibility as Secret Keeper for the Potters. A side-bar covered Harry's view, and put across his relief that his parents' betrayer had finally been properly identified. "Potter lauds MLE action" headed the piece, noting that Harry was pleased that the Ministry had finally taken action to deal with the perpetrator.

For once, the Prophet didn't over-egg Harry's role, and he assumed that John and the others had pushed for a more objective view to be taken. Instead, there was considerable criticism levelled at the Ministry for the mistakes of the past, and the editorial pled for a full review of the judicial system to prevent such a miscarriage of justice in the future.

His peace of mind was also helped by the sole quote from Minister Fudge, who publicly rescinded the search for Sirius and proclaimed a pardon for his alleged crimes. The Minister apparently wouldn't answer any other questions at the Press Conference, which didn't surprise Harry, but he couldn't really blame the man for trying to avoid a public haranguing.

He closed his eyed and leaned back in his chair with a faint smile on his face, finally seeing justice done, even if it was a decade and a half too late.