Chapter eleven

Harry hurried towards the greenhouse, he just got inside as the class was beginning.

'Sorry I'm late Professor, I was in a meeting with Professor Dumbledore.'

'Yes, such good news. The rest of the school will hear about that at dinner. I believe fifty points to Gryffindor is in order.'

Harry smiled at his teacher before joining his friends, 'I'll explain after class.'

'Hearing that it's good news already tells us Harry,' Hermione smiled.

'Ah, but there is so much more.'

Ron and Hermione wondered how much more and what this news was. But as they were in class, they could not discuss it.

Harry, Hermione and Ron allowed the other students to hurry away while they walked slowly back to the castle. Harry explained who Mad-eye really was and how they captured Voldemort and Peter. They knew what that meant and both his friends hugged him making Harry laugh.

The three friends dropped off their school bags then hurried to the great hall. Most of the students knew something good happened, they just did not know what. They wondered if it was to do with the triwizard tournament.

The moment the students filled the great hall, Albus called for attention, once it fell silent he gestured towards Amelia.

'My name is madam Amelia Bones, I am the head of the department of magical law. Last night, a student went to one of your professors with information that could have been very dangerous to our world. The headmaster got his staff organised then he contacted me, then the aurors and I headed straight for Hogwarts. The man that you were introduced to, Alastor, Mad-eye Moody, was in fact a man using polyjuice potion, a man who everyone believed died in Azkaban. That man was a death eater named Barty Crouch junior.

'We questioned him using veritaserum, supplied by Professor Snape. He gave us some startling information. The man you all knew as Voldemort, Tom Riddle was his real name, he had used dark magic to return him to a body, not a full body, but he had plans to return completely. One of his plans was to have his servant, Crouch, use the triwizard tournament to capture a student. He planned to enter this student into the tournament then have said student taken to Voldemort and another servant, Peter Pettigrew who were perform a dark ritual. Now I know many of you believe Peter died by Sirius Black after the attack on the Potters. That is not true, but I will get back to that in a moment.

'Crouch planned to enter Harry Potter's name then using dark magic confund the goblet of fire, which selects the names, to have Mr. Potter as a fourth champion. Voldemort needed his biggest enemy, Harry Potter, the one who had already destroyed his body once before. All that changed last night when Harry Potter informed Professor Flitwick that Mad-eye Moody was using the potion. After a lot of plans, he was captured, along with Voldemort and Peter.

'We questioned Peter Pettigrew, we needed to find out where he has been all these years when the world, including his mother, believed he was murdered by Sirius Black. The truth is Peter Pettigrew became a death eater as a student, while pretending to be friends with Sirius Black, Remus Lupin and James Potter. Peter was the Potter's secret keeper, he allowed Voldemort into the Potter home that fateful night. Sirius Black went after Peter, he never expected his friend to betray them. Peter killed the muggles, blew apart the street, cut off his finger, then changed into his animagus form, a rat, then escaped, leaving Sirius Black surrounded by the dead.'

Amelia gestured towards what everyone believed was Harry Potter, the dog disappeared to leave Sirius Black standing beside his godson.

'Sirius Black is innocent, with the help of his godson, the truth was revealed. Thanks to the information we got from Harry Potter started the biggest investigation the ministry has ever seen. The ministry went into lockdown, a third of the people who worked inside the ministry in some capacity, were arrested, they were all death eaters, waiting to help their lord when they returned.

'There will be a big shake up at the ministry, at Hogwarts and the magical world. Every person will be questioned using veritaserum. I'm sure you all heard about the first war with Voldemort, many were believed to be under the imperius curse. It's true that some innocent people were, but the death eaters were not. We found out that to join Voldemort and take his mark, you had to do it willingly, then you torture and murder.'

Everyone jumped as around fifty people stepped into the great hall, those fifty people were aurors.

'I'm sure some of you realise what this means. Those death eaters that lied after the fall of Voldemort by saying they were under the imperius curse are now in Azkaban, serving a life sentence. There were some whose crimes were so severe that they were instantly kissed by the dementors. Three quarters of the Wizengamot were death eaters, so between the minister, myself, Professor Dumbledore and many others who had been questioned, we put forth a lot of new laws last night. First is every person, whether an eleven year old or the oldest person in our world, will be questioned using veritaserum, to find out if they support Voldemort, if they follow the ways of the dark forces and if they use dark magic,' Amelia gestured to Albus, he flicked his wand and the castle began to go into lock down.

'Even though we may find no person inside the castle who has the mark, many of the students in here just lost there parents or family members. As I said, some are locked up for life, some were kissed. From this moment on, ten aurors will be present at Hogwarts at all times. The portraits have been charmed to alert an auror or a teacher if any student decides to go after Harry Potter. I'm sure you realise that it was thanks to Mr Potter that our world is the safest it's been in more than thirty years. We know that some will want revenge, so we are taking precautions. Professor Dumbledore has worked in some very old wards to help keep all of you safe, not just Mr Potter.

'As of right now, Mr. Potter will have two aurors with him constantly, along with his godfather, until we finish our investigation. If any student believes they are in danger or they know of someone that could be in danger, I urge you to speak with an auror or a staff member right after dinner. If you have information about someone using the dark arts, again, take that information to an auror or teacher.

'Now because of this and how many people who were in positions of power were locked up, there will be many changes. Right now there is only one member of the school governors, and that is Gawain Robards, our head auror. We will begin working on new members in the next few days. There is one that many believe should be a member that will now take one of the positions, the headmaster. From this moment on, the head of this school will always be a member of the governors. Who else but the head would know what this school needs or wants. Well, there is others, like you students. I'm sure you all know that Headmaster Dumbledore is quite old, but still very active and still very powerful. Would he know what you young people would want or need, in some cases, yes he would, in others, he admits he would not.

'Mr Potter.'

'Yes ma'am.'

'We would like you to take up the thirteenth position as a member of the governors, as the student representative.'

'Holy shit,' Harry blurted out making many laugh, even the teachers laughed, 'Sorry ma'am.'

'Quite understandable Mr Potter. Now we know this came as shock, so you have time to think this over before giving your answer to Professor Dumbledore. Just so you and everyone else knows, the governors will be equal. What that means is, there will be equal numbers of pure-bloods, half-bloods and muggle-borns, the same with the Wizengamot. Many seats that are official empty due to no members left alive and had no heirs, will be voted on and given to people from the three blood status groups, to make sure it's fair and all are represented. I'm sure some of you know this, but until the arrests this morning, the seats on the Wizengamot were mainly held by purebloods, the half-bloods who held seats are linked to ancient and noble houses, like Mr Potter, who will take up his seat when he becomes of age. We feel that if everyone does not have a say, and equal rights as everyone else then our world could end. It will take time, but there will be a lot of changes some of you will like, and some of you will hate. But what we are doing now is working for every magical person in this country. There will be no more discrimination due to blood status. All of us are magical, all of us were born with the gift of magic, it's time all of us were treated the same, so all of us can make a better world, one that will see students still sitting here in another thousand years time.'

Amelia stepped back then three quarters of the students began to cheer and applause, the staff and aurors joined them. Half the Slytherin's were either sitting in shock, or they were scared. The ones that never wanted Voldemort and his death eaters to run the world thought these changes just might make a better world, for everyone.

Harry was being hugged and thanked by many, who still seemed to be in shock. Sirius was being welcomed by the Gryffindor's, the twins had pulled the marauder towards their friends so they would finally meet the person who was one of their heroes.

Hermione couldn't stop wiping tears from her face. She realised that in less than a day, their world has changed, but the changes will help people like her, muggle-borns. She stared at her friend who had helped bring all this about, and wondered, would he remain in the magical world now, or would he return to the non-magical world. With the changes that were already happening, she hoped he would stay.

Ron had been shocked at the news, he figured it was just about Pettigrew and Sirius. To hear Voldemort was captured, that the death eaters were all locked up, had him sitting with his mouth open. He might have been jealous of Harry at times, but this was not one of them. Harry had his godfather and helped change their world. He knew with these changes people like Malfoy could not get away with anything just because he had money. Ron realised this just might be what keeps his friend in the magical world.

Harry couldn't stop staring at the students who were cheering, some kept coming up to him, either hugging him or shaking his hand. After hearing everything that was said tonight, he thought maybe this world just might be worth sticking around, at least for now. He will still take his time, but now he had been offered a spot as a student representative with the governors, he just might be able to make it better for anyone raised in the muggle world. He could see himself still here by the time he was an adult, then he would see if the changes that were being made now would still be in effect.

The world was changing, it was time the magical world of Britain changed with it.

The end:

I wish to thank everyone for reading, and hope I can continue to bring interesting stories for the fans of fanfiction.