kbinnz - Harry's New Home

Bones scanned the room and realized the truth of his words. Anyone who might want to deny what had just happened тАУ whether former Death Eaters, Minister Fudge, or the Pettigrew family тАУ would be wholly unable to do so. The families represented in this room were the power elite on both sides of the last war, and just about the only thing that would cause them to close ranks and form an alliance would be a threat to their children. No one would be foolish enough to challenge what had just happened if doing so would bring down upon them the wrath of Malfoy and Weasley alike. Pettigrew's deception (and therefore Black's innocence) would be instantly accepted.

But something was wrong. Amelia Bones hadn't become the head of the MLE without having an excellent instinct, and something told her there was more here than met the eye. It was all just a little too neat.

She turned speculatively to Remus. "Hmmm. Mr Lupin, wasn't it fortuitous that you were here and could positively identify the fugitive? Why are you here just now? Aren't you supposed to be in Italy?"

Remus returned her gaze calmly. "I came to pick up an urgently needed potion from Professor Snape. I knew he'd be in class at this time, and it seemed sensible to come in and let him know I was here."

Bones pursed her lips skeptically. "Oh, really? Professor Snape hardly seems the type to welcome an interruption to his class. What potion is so urgent he would permit such an intrusion?"

Snape's calm, faintly contemptuous expression didn't change, but internally his heart sank. They hadn't planned for this level of scrutiny of Remus' presence.

At least Lupin had managed to emerge from under the Invisibility Cloak during the worst of the chaos, so no one had realized he had been in the room all along - hiding beneath the Cloak and behind the tall supply cupboard, ready to blast the rat should Snape's plan go awry. The Cloak - which Dumbledore had given to Snape when the Potion Master had taken over Harry's guardianship - was now tucked away in the pocket of Lupin's robe and would hopefully stay there until Snape could reclaim it and place it back in secure storage. Oh, Albus had made some mad suggestion about giving the Cloak to Harry for Christmas - as if a mischief-prone 11 year old really needed an Invisibility Cloak! - but Snape had dismissed that notion with the contempt it deserved. Still, if Bones' questioning rattled Lupin, he might give something away...

He needn't have worried. Remus tilted his chin up and gave Bones a challenging stare even as he calmly answered, "Wolfsbane."

There was an audible gasp, followed by excited whispers, as the students reacted to this revelation. Remus' expression didn't alter, but a tinge of red crept up his neck.

Bones had the grace to look embarrassed. "I beg your pardon," she said, genuinely apologetic. Then she turned to the children and cleared her throat for their attention. "As you have heard, Mr Lupin suffers from the condition of lycanthropy, however this in no way reflects negatively upon him. He has registered with the Ministry and as you have heard, takes great care to have a monthly supply of Wolfsbane. You should accord him the same courtesy that you would any other wizard. Don't you agree, Headmaster?"

"Absolutely," Dumbledore said firmly.

"An' he's like my godfather too, so you better not be rude to him," Harry added pugnaciously, sending a glare towards Pansy Parkinson. He'd heard some whispered comment about "Dark creatures" from her direction, and at his belligerent look, she sniffed and tossed her hair.

Remus looked surprised and pleased at these unexpected endorsements, while Snape fought down his nausea before returning to the attack. "May I have my classroom back now, Madame, or are you too busy asking foolish and embarrassing questions to mop up your evidence and leave? Perhaps there are a few more miscarriages of justice that my class and I can help clear up for you?"

The students giggled. Oooh, that was their professor, all right! He was snarky with everyone. They felt rather proud of Snape. Getting a tongue-lashing from the man was practically a Hogwarts rite of passage, and they didn't need to feel too badly about it if even Madame Bones came out the worse after an encounter with him!

Unfortunately, Bones was no fool, and unlike Fudge, she was not easily driven away by a few snide remarks. "I'm struck by the fact it's rather convenient that Pettigrew was killed by a potion before he could be interrogated properly."

Snape quirked an eyebrow at her, even as he mentally damned the inconveniently persistent witch. "Are you seriously suggesting that Longbottom, rather than producing the assigned potion, deliberately crafted a weaponized version of a Potion-Master-level brew?"

Before the words were out of his mouth, the entire room of students тАУ including Neville тАУ burst into laughter. Even Dumbledore masked a chuckle behind a politely raised hand.

Bones and her Aurors didn't join in the general hilarity, Bones because she was still analyzing the situation, and the men because they were still leery of their boss' mood. Besides, Bones' intuition had been proven right too often in the past, even in cases that had appeared more open-and-shut than this one.

"You could have crafted it," Bones suggested, once the giggles had died down. "You're a Potion Master. You could have switched the boy's potion or adulterated it in some way so as to convert it to a deadly poison."

"I see," Snape sneered. "And I'm supposed to have engaged in this sleight of hand under the magical eye of Auror Moody? Presumably he didn't notice because he was off daydreaming? Or perhaps he is so fond of me he felt he could relax his 'constant vigilance' while in my classroom?" he inquired sarcastically.

"Then what is your explanation for these events?"

"As I am not on your payroll, Madame, I see no need to offer an explanation," Snape retorted coldly. "However, I would point out that it is well known that students enjoy pranking each other by slipping things into each other's potions. That said, I cannot imagine you would seriously propose to interrogate every student in this room."

Draco, watching this exchange as closely as the rest of the class, reacted to this challenge predictably. "My father would never permit such a thing!" he announced arrogantly, every inch the Malfoy scion.

"Nor mine!" Pansy agreed shrilly.

"I don't think my parents would want me to be interrogated!" Parvati Patil exclaimed in alarm, prompting Lavender Brown to loudly agree.

As Slytherins and Gryffindors alike began chiming in, Bones realized it would be political suicide to push the matter further тАУ and unlikely to prove anything useful anyway. She glanced over to Moody, silently querying whether he had seen Snape do anything.

The grizzled old Auror shook his head and, knowing the man's hatred for Snape, she accepted that and decided to back off gracefully. After all, it wasn't as if she was upset at the outcome. One more dead Death Eater тАУ and the betrayer of the Potters to boot тАУ was something to be celebrated, and with that idiot Fudge in office, not to mention Voldemort hanging around Merlin knew where, she would just as soon have the rat animagus safely dead.

Still, the proprieties had to be observed, especially with a reporter documenting the whole thing and the scandal of Sirius Black making everyone all too aware of what could happen when fair trials weren't provided. "It would seem to have been an accident," she declared. "Making that grab for the Potter boy proved his undoing тАУ there's some poetic justice in that, I suppose." She glanced over at Harry. "You all right there, young man?"

"Yes, Madame Bones," Harry said politely, but she could see that several of the children, including one of Arthur Weasley's lot and Augusta Longbottom's grandson, had moved to flank him protectively.