The Half Blood Prince Revealed

Summary :

Harry's summer before sixth year is no different from the others. Around every corner surprises, good and bad, and adventure of all kind await. And it looks like the gods have finally granted Harry a possibility for a nicer life. What will this mean for his 6th year at Hogwarts ?

General Disclaimer :

I am just playing in the sand of JKRowling's literary produced beach and am attempting to build my own sandcastle for others to enjoy.

38 : Routine ? Yeah, right !

As Harry walked the short distance to the Headmaster's office he was hoping that with this trial he would get a better answer as to why Pettigrew had betrayed his friends but he feared that answer at the same time. From his conversations earlier in the summer with Sirius and Remus however he had learned that even having the answers didn't take away the pain, and no matter what or why, his parents were gone forever.

As soon as he'd made it up the revolving stairs and the door at the top was opened he realised he'd not be the only one to view the proceedings, as inside the office were Professor Flitwick and his own head of House, Professor McGonagall. Harry surmised from the look on their faces that both professors were equally as surprised to see him appear.

"Welcome Harry, how was your first DA meeting ?"

"A bit crowded at first, but it worked out well with both Neville and Ron's help."

"Excellent, Harry, why don't you come by for tea tomorrow and talk to me about it in some more detail ?"

"Thank you, sir, I will."

"Now you are all here, let's get this started and by the way, Harry, when your letter appears on stage, pay a bit more attention to Minister Fudge, will you. You don't want to miss it. Filius, Minerva, you too. You'll enjoy it."

They ended up in the large courtroom number ten, or one very much like it, by the looks of things, and this time all the seats available were taken by plum-colour-robed individuals.

The first fifteen or so minutes were pretty boring, as Madame Bones, explained to those gathered, what the procedure would be and whom they were about to take to trial.

When Peter finally arrived in the room, Harry was almost sorry for him, as he was a blubbering mess, his desolation clearly getting the better of him now he was away from the new prison. The long list of crimes he'd committed, and Harry noticed that quite a few of the Wizengamot members were surprised at the sheer number of details that were given, finally dealt with, once again one member doubted that this was indeed who they claimed him to be. So first off, Madame Bones herself cast the spell that made it visible to all that this was indeed Peter Pettigrew, aka Wormtail, aka Scabbers. She then brought up Harry's letter as first item on the official agenda.

The specialist was sent for and in shuffled a small stooped man. Harry saw the many wrinkles in his face and the white whiskers of his beard and at first impression thought the man might die at any moment. But once he was seated, he straightened up and looked around regally and his icy blue eyes seemed to take it all in.

Next it was Paul who was called in as Harry's representative. He made his way to the older man already seated and handed over Harry's dad's letter for inspection, verification and especially authentication and then retreated to the stands to await the outcome.

The specialist, Harry had missed his name, took the letter and cast a spell that caused a white fog to appear around the hand that held the letter, enveloping both in it. Obviously he saw things in that fog, and Harry was reminded a little of Professor Trelawney and her crystal balls, because he said in a far louder and more booming voice than was to be expected from such a fragile-looking man:

"I am the sixth person to touch this letter since it was created between 175 and 185 months ago. Two people - one male and one female - have handled the letter at the time of its creation. The male is the writer of the letter.

Three males have come in contact with the letter in the last eight or nine weeks, the youngest of the three clearly the son of the two people who were there when the letter was created, and the target of the 'loving spell' that was triggered upon his first contact.

There is, as I mentioned just now, the residue of a little loving charm cast by the female, and activated some eight or nine weeks ago, and there is some fancy transfiguration work done to it by the male and some more protective charms by both the male and female. These last spells and incantations are still active."

Harry was both impressed by the sheer number of details the man was able to come up with but also appalled at the idea there may have been bad spells attached to the letter.

The fog had now dissolved and the man took a few steadying breaths before handing the letter to the court clerk who transported the letter carefully from the man to Madame Bones.

Madame Bones accepted the letter from the young clerk and after a quick glance deposited it on her desk and then spoke to the Assembly. "Mr Watkins has kindly agreed for me to read the entire letter and for your information the transfiguration on the letter is there to hide information young Mr Potter will only get to see upon his majority on his 17th birthday."

It was at this time that Harry noticed Fudge gesticulating to the clerk. Once the latter too had noticed, it became clear that Fudge wanted to see the letter and the clerk readily obeyed the summoning.

The idea that Fudge would be reading this so very personal letter was upsetting enough for him, but when he noticed that he even got out his wand and started flinging spells at it, Harry was seeing red. Literally! It seemed that Fudge was about to get his come-uppance as in the blink of an eye the letter had turned red and gave off a whiff of smoke. Just as sudden the whole assembly was clearly made aware of the situation.

"HOW DARE YOU! YOU ARE NOT MY SON. STOP THAT NOW. YOU HAVE NO BUSINESS TRYING TO READ THIS LETTER LET ALONE TRYING TO GET THE POTTER PASSWORD."

Fudge at this stage tried to reason with the voice and started saying "But I'm …", but the woman didn't give him a chance as she continued :

"I DON'T CARE WHO YOU ARE! THIS IS NOT YOUR LETTER ! WAIT UNTILL MY HUSBAND HEARS ABOUT THIS! YOU'LL BE SORRY YOU TOUCHED MY SON'S LETTER."

Harry was reminded of the howler Mrs Weasley had sent at the beginning of second year as the female voice shouted out her indignation to the deserving minister of magic. And the husband obviously had heard about the minister's wrong-doing. Fudge looked alright one minute and the next he erupted with spots – bright green ones, and yellow, pink, purple and blue and any other shade you could imagine. Upon seeing all the spots on his hands, Fudge dropped the still red letter and, just like a howler, it burst into flames and disappeared in a huff.

Silence reigned for a few seconds only as muffled noises were heard from all over the room. Too many people were trying to hold in their laughter however and their efforts soon proved in vain as most of them burst out laughing aloud.

"Twenty points to Gryffindor" Harry heard his Charms teacher say, but he himself was starting to panic when there was no sign left of the letter. But the moment the notion that he may have lost his letter for ever entered his head he felt the now familiar wash of warmth spread and he relaxed immediately. After all, his parents and Sirius were signalling him for sure that all was well with it. Looking out for his letter however, made him miss seeing the look of understanding suddenly appearing on Professor McGonagall's face. She came to stand next to him and said:

"All is not lost, Harry, just wait and see !"

He turned toward her with the relief visible in his eyes, as she continued.

"Just before you entered the office the headmaster gave me the cryptic message "Tell him all is not lost, just wait and see." Of course, you know how frustrating he can be so when I asked whom to tell and when, he just smiled and said "You'll know the right one when it's time"".

He surprised her by saying : "Thank you, professor, but I already have confirmation that the letter will be well."

In the mean time, Madame Bones, who'd taken in the situation, was doing her best to calm down the crowd, at the same time as trying to stay calm herself, what with the destruction of that letter and the clear misuse of power by the current minister and all the possible ramifications of such a stupid act.

Harry, a lot more relaxed now, divided time looking at the still heavily spotted Fudge and Paul, who was quickly scribbling a note. Once finished the man whispered a word and next thing the entire Wizengamot was stunned speechless when Lily flashed into existence right before Paul, grabbed his note, and just as quickly flashed away again.

Pandemonium broke loose at this point and Harry was surprised to see how these so called pillars of society were behaving. Madame Bones tried to restore some semblance of order but gave up on her efforts when she realised no one heard her speak in the first place.

It was minutes later and with Lily's reappearance on Paul's shoulder that things finally quieted down once again, the Wizengamot members now fully concentrating on things to happen. Paul quickly scanned the note the phoenix had delivered and visibly relaxed as he did so, in part also helped by the cheerful phoenix song Lily treated him to.

Madame Bones took the opportunity to steer the proceedings back to good order and, in a normal voice, asked Paul for the meaning of his behaviour.

"Madame Bones, my apologies for this breach of conduct, but I was worried about my client's treasured letter. Minister Fudge's clear lack of respect for Mr Potter's property caused its apparent destruction just now, as some of you might have noticed, and my only hope lay in the protective spells that Mr Barnaby said had been applied to the letter by Mr and Mrs Potter."

"You received an answer to your enquiry ?"

"Yes, Madame Bones, I asked Mr Potter's Account Manager at Gringotts to check the Potter Family vault and mere minutes ago an automatic deposit has been made. We cannot be sure until Mr Potter receives permission to revisit his family vault and can verify in person however."

"Very well, Mr Watkins, you'll keep the court informed of that outcome ?"

"Of course, Madame Bones, I will see to this as a matter of some urgency."

Madame Bones, clearly back in charge of the proceedings then continued to give Fudge the reprimanding he was more than due for and the result was that he was banned from handling any pieces of evidence in any and all future cases. He left the court room under the pretence having his multi-coloured spots looked at, but Harry thought he just took them as an excuse to save face somewhat.

The remainder of the case was a bit of a disappointment for Harry. As he'd half expected and half feared he didn't learn much that was new, other than that Remus had been correct in his assumption earlier in the summer that Peter, once leaving school, had missed the guiding force of his friends and mother, and had been taken in by the superficial flattering from some of the senior death eaters.

He earned himself quite some standing within death eater ranks when he'd been able to come up with lots of additional information regarding upcoming raids and other auror actions. With aurors in the death eater ranks that could corroborate the basics, he was soon looked upon as a prime spy, a role he'd more than willingly played out, and somehow he'd never revealed his animagus knowledge or form. And whereas he admitted to protect his friends in what little way he could in the beginning of his 'career' as a death eater, by the time he was made their secret keeper he had had no reservations nor regrets anymore to hand them over to Voldemort.

When it was clear it was the end of Peter's trial Harry expected to be ejected from the pensieve only to hear Madame Bones talk about a short break before starting on the next case. A smooth transition from one memory to another later and Harry found himself in the same courtroom with nearly all the people of just before in the same places only in the prisoner's seat sat a near unrecognisable Deloris Umbridge.

Unkempt and in seriously creased though clean looking robes she sat, not even bothering to wipe her face or nose, even though she was crying profusely.

Madame Bones was explaining the case and Harry started listening with more interest as soon as he heard his name mentioned.

"It wasn't until several of the other witnesses also stated that amongst others Mr Potter was often serving detention with Madame Umbridge, that we actually examined the Hogwarts Detention Logbook that did not mention these detentions. As I stated before, the actual allegations sometimes did and most often did not correspond with said logbook.

Initial checks did not show any tampering, but we asked a Gringotts employee, more specifically a curse breaker, to have a look and he, just last Friday, was able to identify and remove the many spells put upon it. The logbook ended up displaying a staggering amount of detentions for last year and we would therefore like to postpone this session to allow us to question all the students who had detentions with Madame Umbridge. If our first impressions are correct the mind healers of St Mungo might have to be involved in some of the cases to make sure these students receive proper help."

"But why didn't the students complain about these detentions, if they were so bad ?" asked one of the Wizengamot members, slightly baffled by the notion.

"There is on the one hand the mild to strong compulsory effect that the user of a Blood Quill will keep its use a secret, but also, the students quickly noticed that even the teachers weren't safe from Madame Umbridge's wiles, as demonstrated by numerous decrees, inspections and ultimately, the dismissal of several teachers and the headmaster himself. The students didn't want to be the cause for more trouble for their teachers."

A stunned silence fell after this last statement and when Madame Bones called for the postponement of the case once more a unanimous "yes" was voted.

This time Harry was indeed ejected from the pensieve and after agreeing with the three professors that Fudge's punishment was well deserved and brilliantly meted out, the confirmation that Harry would join Dumbledore for tea after his Arithmancy class the next day both he and Professor McGonagall made their way back to Gryffindor Tower.

Twice did Harry have to give an account of what had happened : once for his friends who'd stayed up to hear all about it, and once again when Harry met up with Sirius and Remus in his dreams that night.

As Harry had already figured Sirius did confirm that the letter had made it back to his vault. It was the only thing that came out halfway serious though as Sirius was howling with laughter when Harry told them about Fudge's incident with the letter.

On Tuesday morning rain was pouring down. A lot of the owls were drenched when they came to deliver the morning mail. The paper however had survived the downpour, much to Minister Fudge's regret most likely, as the headline and matching picture did not bode well for him.

Showing his true colours ?

By R.E. Porter

This morning the first of the Death Eater trials took place in the courtrooms of the Ministry of Magic.

Much to our surprise Minister Fudge emerged from the courtroom shortly after the start of the trial and he was not looking too good, as seen in the pictures.

The official statement and trial summary brought no explanation for his appearance and it wasn't until I was reading through the Court Room Comments that we learned of the less-than-honourable ways of our Minister.

When early on in the trial a letter was entered as evidence, our Minister managed to get a hold of it. Although unusual this did not pose the problem. Concealed behind some kind of shield the letter contained private information that was irrelevant to the case.

Minister Fudge however tried to get the letter to reveal its secret, but he had not counted on the protective charms cast upon it. The letter turned into a howler and the protection activated, giving the Minister his colourful looks. The letter however disappeared and may well have been destroyed.

The least of accusations he will be looking at is tampering with evidence and most likely he will be monitored more diligently in his dealings with paperwork. One could after all ask the question just how much liberty the Minister has taken with important and confidential information in the past.

As for the result of the first Death Eater trial against Peter Pettigrew please see the transcript of the Summary of the Wizengamot hearing in the article below. The second trial of the day against Deloris Umbridge, former Ministry employee, was suspended after a short session. The DMLE had just last Friday come across a vast amount of additional material that still needed to be verified.

The next Death Eater trial against Augustus Rookwood is scheduled to start at 9:00 this coming Wednesday.

Although most students commented on and laughed with the picture of Fudge not many comments were made on the trial of Peter Pettigrew as most of the information was a repeat of the data given during the summer holiday. Classes went ahead as usual and it didn't seem that long before Harry made his way back to the Headmaster's office for tea.

The tea tray was laden with goodies and both the headmaster and he had served themselves when Professor Dumbledore surprised him by handing over a letter to read from Madame Bones requesting the headmaster to allow Harry to leave school to check up on his father's letter at his earliest convenience.

"The Wizengamut want to know about the letter as soon as possible as its destruction will cause a lot of trouble for Minister Fudge. Most members of the Wizengamut have realised that he's more of a hindrance than help and want him out of office and put to trial as well!

I believe they'll expect you to be allowed to go this weekend, but would you mind going today ? I think it will be less of a risk to go soon."

Harry nodded his consent as Professor Dumbledore continued and picked up a silver spoon from his desk and handed it over to him.

"I've contacted Remus and Moody, who will meet up with you in the Leaky Cauldron at 16:45. I also have this emergency portkey that will deliver you straight back here when you say Prongs should you need it. Otherwise you can use my fireplace to floo in and out.

Did you have any questions regarding anything you've seen last evening ?"

"As a matter of fact I have. What was all the commotion about when Lily appeared ? Surely they've seen Fawkes before this ?"

"Actually, the appearance of a phoenix is not that common an occurrence, Harry, but what really caused the extreme reactions was the fact that Mr Watkins, a well enough known werewolf, was able to call for one. In their eyes werewolf equals dark creature, and as you know phoenixes would be considered the exact opposite. This will make some people think twice the next time they meet up with a werewolf. What with the support Remus got from his students this summer, and now Lily's appearance, if not all, a lot more people will start to look at the person and his deeds, then at the tag "werewolf". True changes don't happen overnight but it's small things that can set in motion a true avalanche. "

In the silence that followed the headmaster's statement Harry heard a small tinkling bell that seemed to bring the headmaster out of a reverie as he started talking again.

"That was my clock saying it's time for you to go and meet Remus and Moody. Have a safe trip, Harry and give my regards to Remus."

Harry made it over to the Leaky Cauldron without mishaps and was greeted there by both Remus and Paul, with a quiet hello too from an ever invisible Moody. Griphook was waiting for them once they'd made it over to Gringotts and Harry's trip down to the family vault was as uneventful as could be. After a quick check-up of the letter Harry returned to the ground level floor of the bank and followed Griphook to a private meeting room where the three wizards discussed their options.

Much to Harry's surprise the letter had changed in that an added PS had appeared at the bottom.

"PS Harry, on 16 September 1996 someone tried to get the Potter password. Don't panic, of course they didn't succeed, your mother and I made sure of that. And if you are wondering who the culprit was, just check the newspaper of the time – who ever did it will surely have made the headlines! If on the other hand you are aware of what happened you might be pleased to know the effects of the protection hex will last for about a week, but only as long as they don't try to remove the effects. Each and any attempt to remove them will result in longer or worse conditions or a combination of both. Your mother made me at least limit the duration, so after one month the spots will gradually disappear. Or, if you want, but only you, can cast a simple "finite incantatem maxima" to stop the show immediately."

Remus had had a good laugh at Fudge's misfortune, knowing how the minister would have had all and sundry try to get rid of the spots once he himself did not succeed. Paul, after chuckling along at first, became all business again, and suggested asking Madame Bones for advice what with the possibilities of discrediting Fudge even more.

Madame Bones, once brought up to speed regarding the slightly altered letter, agreed with Paul that they could use the "not the same letter anymore" as a good tool in a trial against Fudge.

Harry returned to Hogwarts and tackled his ever growing amount of work. It looked more and more like the best advise he'd been given with regard to his NEWT years would have to be "Work regularly so you can keep up".

The quidditch team meeting only lasted about an hour, with Ron starting out with the agreement to have Quidditch practice on Tuesday evenings and Saturday afternoons and he continued by explaining Harry's role as main Seeker, but the circumstances leading to him not attending the week-day sessions. And, almost as if in an afterthought Ron came with the news of the entire team, reserve and all, having brand new top of the art brooms and Harry laughed at the stunned faces of all those not in the know yet. The remaining time of the meeting had predictably been about those new brooms and a few of the players had wanted to go out to practice that instant, even when Ron pointed out it was raining cats and dogs outside.

Wednesday evening's first Junior DA session went very well. Harry had spoken to Susan Bones and Hannah Abbott, who were that evening's assistants, beforehand about what had happened in the Teen DA session. But this younger group was eager to learn and were surprisingly disciplined in following instructions. Harry's further fears that the experience-gap between the second and third years would be too big, were quickly gone when he found that at this age the year of non-practical classes had done little for the students to keep their earlier practical knowledge.

From an old school book from the Black library that Mr Black had pointed out Harry had come up with a fun and practical method of teaching the different wand movements. As the book had mentioned performing just the movements correctly resulted in the wand spouting all kinds of forms, like sparks or stars or a trailing ribbon of any colour. It wasn't exactly Defence Against the Dark Arts, but it was good practice for Transfiguration and Charms too and Harry was convinced this wasn't a waste of time and would prove useful in later sessions.

The students had had fun as Harry had explained that with a little practice and in combination with the correct word these sparks and stars and ribbons became visible on clothing and skin if they hit you. It was therefore a sweaty, loud, cheerful and colourful group that left the DA room at the end of their first session. On the landing of the fifth floor Main stairs the whole group split up, Hufflepuffs and Slytherins to continue lower still to their respective dormitories, the Gryffindors and Ravenclaws making their way back up through the east or west wing stairs, with wishes for good nights and sweet dreams from one group to the other.

Thursday brought the usual mix of classes for Harry and the free mornings for Ron and Neville. Breakfast brought news from the second trial with once again a long list of crimes committed by Rookwood and the same sentence of "Life in Hell Prison" as Pettigrew had received.

By lunch time Hermione started to look decidedly grumpy and it only got worse as the afternoon progressed. From his Care of Magical Creatures Class with Hagrid Harry sent Hedwig with an invitation to tea with the half giant, and it was only upon her arrival that Hermione realised they'd organised her a birthday party with her parents attending.

A large birthday cake took pride of place in the corner of the room, well out of harm's way and it was surrounded by a pile of presents. Not surprisingly a large number of the presents turned out to be books.

One of them was a book gifted by Mr Black, the start of the magical matriarchal family Granger. As the note explained it was a very old tradition that did not look upon the men of the family for hereditary purposes but towards the women. Hermione would surely be the first in a long line of clever and lovely women to grace whatever families they married into. When she opened up the book however the pages were empty. From his talks with Mr Black Harry recalled that in the wizarding world the exact time of birth did play a large role for certain things, so he suggested that maybe her actual birth-time was still to come, a fact her mother confirmed.

It was several packages later, with books, fancy writing supplies or vouchers for the more popular shops in Hogsmeade that Harry's gift came into view. From the smallish package came a smooth piece of wood, not pale like Harry's trunket was, but the deep rich reddish brown of mahogany wood. With a very innocent face Harry said "You were so enamoured of Ginny's Teen Witch Special that I figured you'd like one too.", knowing full well she had liked it as a perfect present for the younger witch, but in no way wanted one herself. For those who knew her well Hermione's face showed her disappointment at the news. She did go through the motions in visiting the three compartments. The first one was the standard simple trunk to store all kinds of loose things, the second compartment turned out to be a medium sized walk in clothes cupboard, that left Hermione slightly more cheered.

The third compartment was what made the trunk bespoke for Hermione, rather than the Teen Witch Special for Ginny. It was a modest sized study cum library with a simple desk on one side and two easy chairs in the other corner. There was room on two walls for pictures or paintings, and the two other walls had floor to ceiling tapestries, depicting two very different scenes. All the other wallspace was taken up by bookcases and all but two of them were empty. Hermione took no time in exploring the titles available. She seemed to have recognised several and turned to Harry with a question about to be asked and Harry quickly explained.

"You all know how thick I can sometimes be about things so it wasn't until this summer that I figured that I did not have to wait to have a family of my own until I'm married and we are hopefully blessed with kids. This past summer made me realise I've had an ever growing family since I entered the wizarding world and that you, Hermione, are really as close as or even closer than any sister I could wish for …"

Harry couldn't finish as Hermione had him nearly bowled over in her rush to thank him and it was amidst the ensuing laughter that Harry took the opportunity to whisper in her ear that more detailed explanations could wait for the weekend when more discretion was possible.

A few more smaller presents followed and then she was handed the very last present by her mother. From the box came a long strand of pearls and Hermione was more than touched as she recognised them as her grandmother's. As Hermione hugged her mother something fiercely it was her father who explained to those around that the pearls were a family heirloom having been passed on from mother to eldest daughter for several generations. They had lost track of exactly when the tradition had started but they were sure that Hermione was at least the seventh to receive them.

There was a lot of talk and cake eating before the party split up and the group did not do justice to the usual wonderful Hogwarts dinner that evening. Hermione's spirits however had completely lifted and they spent the remainder of the evening just chatting and playing all sorts of games with any of their fellow Gryffindors.

Friday morning however brought the return to routine, reading and learning for Harry, especially now that his Friday evenings and Saturday afternoons too would be taken by the Senior DA sessions and Quidditch trainings.

Senior DA was as good as it had been the previous year. Harry started the session off with the four assistants of the week giving their feedback to the group, so those in line for the following week knew more or less what to expect. The Patronus was next on the agenda, and although a few more had managed to now make a fully corporeal Patronus, many were still frustrated at their lack of result, so Harry started on the messenger spell, which would surely boost their confidence, seeing their Patronus, however small, for the first time. Much giggling and blushing followed, as the messages carried a lot more information than expected, a common mistake in the early days. At the end of the session Harry reminded them not to use the spell during classes, but to keep practicing and finding themselves practice partners.

Quidditch was a delight. The first fifteen minutes or so the team had fun just flying about and testing out their new brooms. After this warming up, Ron explained his plans for this first training. During his free Thursday morning Ron had already practiced with the reserve keeper, the gangly third year Ben Weatherstaff. Katie and Ginny, the two remaining members of last year's team would be practicing with the chasers with Ben guarding the hoops. Ron worked with the beaters, having them pass the bludgers between them. This left Harry with the two Seekers whom he made play 'follow the leader' with him acting very much like a snitch on the run to start off their session. They ended the session by playing two short games of Quidditch. The first was totally unprepared for, with Ron taking notes and Harry taking his place as Keeper in the game. The second already went a lot better as Ron had taken the short break in between the games to point out what some of the players were doing wrong or where they could improve their game. All in all the team was very excited about their first full training.

By the time Harry was ready for bed on Sunday evening he truly hoped that the following days would become a bit more routine. Just three weeks into the school year and already he felt like he'd been back a full semester.

Author's Note :

Hello everybody,

Just over two years it's been. I'm sure you'd long given up on me and this story. Hope you enjoy the new chapter. Please let me know what you think. I will continue with the story, but I'm not going to sugar coat it either … I will most likely be a long time before I'm able to finish it (not to mention the sequel for Harry's 7th year !).

Thanks by the way to all of you anonymous readers who took the time to read my story and find it enjoyable enough to recommend it to others, put it on your update alert list or fav story list or even mark me as your fav writer. Those notices gave me a much needed morale boost.

cheers

kadedeetje