Fudge was quiet for a few moments as he contemplated this news. Then he said "Now that you bring it up, I'm reminded of something old Ludo Bagman said to me last year. After Harry Potter's name was drawn from the Goblet of Fire I naturally called in both Ludo and Barty Crouch. Ludo mentioned a confrontation between the staff and the Ministry in the antechamber… what was it Minerva said now… something along the lines of 'Dumbledore believes that Mr Potter did not put his name into the Goblet, and that should be good enough for everybody.'"
"Yes, Harry said something along those lines to me during the summer." said Amelia. "He said that he was relieved to have her apparent support at the time, but looking back on it he found it a little disturbing.
"It is well known that Dumbledore and McGonagall have known each other for a long time and that he taught her everything she ever knew about Transfiguration, but that alone cannot explain her blind trust in the man."
"And you really think that sending her to be examined by the mind healers at St Mungo's is the best option?" asked the Minister.
"It's probably our only option," replied Amelia. "I mean, we can always just send her to Azkaban, but I think that we will all be better off with her at the hospital. Who knows what the healers may find. Potentially they could answer so many questions."
"Very well. Have her sent to St Mungo's. As for the rest I want air-tight cases built against them. We'll let the Wizengamot decide their fates."
A wave of the bird's wing was all that was needed to roast the rabbit meat, after which the ancient wizard set it down onto a conjured plate and sat back into his conjured armchair.
Fawkes trilled and tucked his head back under his wing as Albus Dumbledore began to consume his late dinner. In the limited amount of time that he and Fawkes had been living in the dilapidated old house that had once belonged to his parents, Dumbledore had done a rather marvellous job of cleaning the place up a bit.
Of course, unlike those children who had spent the summer at Grimmauld Place, Dumbledore was allowed to use magic to get the cleaning done and any repairs carried out. Every inch of the house had been "scourgify"-d clean and every chip, crack and hold had been "reparo"-d back into working order.
In fact, the old Dumbledore house was now the only house in Mould-on-the-Wold that was not worthy of the name.
As he filled his stomach, Dumbledore set his mind to planning. While it was true that just about everything that could have gone wrong had gone wrong, things were still salvageable. After all, no matter what the Ministry decided to do with the various members of the Order of the Phoenix, Dumbledore could always get them out of it. He might not have the ears of the Wizengamot anymore, or those of the Hogwarts Governors, but he did still have Fawkes.
Whether it was Hogwarts, the Ministry, St Mungo's or even Azkaban, there was nowhere that Fawkes could not travel to. Nor, for that matter, was there any way of preventing him from taking people into or out of any of these places with a burst of flame.
Dumbledore had already wondered on a time-scale for when he ought to carry out his rescue mission and was in two minds about it. The longer he left his followers/supporters in the hands of the Ministry, the more information could be extracted from them. However, leaving his followers to stew for a little while did have its upsides.
Leaving them all to the care of the Ministry would remind them all that there was no solace to be found there. The longer Dumbledore left them, the more grateful they would be when he eventually did come for them. Dumbledore knew that if he chose that course of action, then the best time to rescue them would be once they had been tried and sentenced by the Wizengamot.
He was as yet undecided as to which course he should take.
As to the matter of Harry Potter, that was salvageable as well. While he admittedly had no means to track the boy's current whereabouts, having left all of his tracking devices in his office at Hogwarts, Dumbledore knew that it was only a matter of time before the boy was back behind the walls of the castle, and once he was it was only a matter of time before Fawkes would succeed in finding him.
Harry Potter had a duty to perform. He was destined to be killed by Voldemort's wand and it was Albus Dumbledore's job to make sure that it happened.
It was for the greater good, after all.
"Well, Mr Potter, I'm very pleased to say that we appear to have successfully flushed every single potion out of your system," said the Healer as she looked over his chart. "In fact, so long as you are content to stay with the Abbott family so that Sarah can keep an eye on you and help with your memory-immersion program, I'm happy for you to leave the hospital this afternoon."
"Thank you," said Harry. "Sorry for being so difficult to deal with when I first got here."
"Think nothing of it, Mr Potter. Now, if you'll excuse me, I believe that you have a visitor so I'll leave you two to talk."
Harry sat up in his bed to see who this visitor was. The healer walked out through the door of the room and a few moments later a familiar face walked in.
Padma Patil stood in the doorway, clearly unsure of how to react. After all who do you act around a hospitalised friend whom you went on one date with, of which they have no memory?
Finally Harry broke the silence. "Hannah said she was going to contact you."
Padma nodded and stepped further into the room, holding up a small crystal phial as she did so. "I, uh, I brought you some memories to view."
Harry nodded and swung his legs out of the bed. Clad only in a pair of pyjamas, Harry made his way over to the pensieve, which stood on a table off to the far side of the room. Padma followed him and looked to him for instructions.
Using his wand, Harry gently extracted three long, silvery memories that he had been viewing before the healer had arrived and placed each of them into their own phials. After placing a stopper in the top of each phial and placing each phial into a small wooden rack, Harry turned back to Padma.
"Just pour them in gently."
Padma nodded and took the stopper out of the phial in her hands. Gently she poured the contents into the pensieve and, without another word, Harry took the plunge.
.....
Can't wait to read more exciting chapters then what are you waiting for Join my p*atreon right now.
Get 60+ Premium chapters.
Link: p*atreon.com/Earthly_Writer (Remove the *)
2 Chapters for all free members.