Champions

The horrible Truth

Contrary to the powerful appearance she gave off in the Great Hall, Amelia Bones turned out to be a very personable woman. Her stern edge was not unlike Professor McGonagall's, it just wasn't as severe unless she wanted it to be. While the interview was long and involved, it was more of a meeting of the minds than anything else.

While Harry was surprised that the arrest had taken place so soon after disclosing the problem to Sebastian, he soon learned that there was a very good reason for it. Sebastian's first action was to take the memories to Amelia for her viewing displeasure, and she was truly steamed by what she saw. She immediately assembled a team of Aurors to investigate – only to discover that it wasn't strictly necessary.

Many of the younger members of the department had also once been students of Severus Snape, and were witnesses in and of themselves.

The assigned Aurors had then canvassed the Department of Magical Law Enforcement – and indeed the rest of the Ministry – in the space of two days, gathering names and memories as they went. It wasn't a long process, and when combined with what the twins gathered over the Hogsmeade weekend, having an arrest warrant issued was a slam dunk. They never even had to look to the general populace.

Harry was surprised by this, but he really shouldn't have been. It was quite simple when he thought about it: Snape had essentially been digging his own grave, makings consummate enemies of three quarters of British magical society during their young and impressionable years. Nobody was going to miss the chance to pay him back for all the abuse; Harry was merely the pebble that started the landslide.

Though the atmosphere was much more pleasant after the Headmaster left, Harry still greatly appreciated Fleur's presence. She stayed close to him the entire time, and defused his bouts of temper with surprising ease. Apart from that, she just listened silently, having recognized that the interview had little to do with her.

The meeting ended just before lunch, and the mood in the castle was jovial, to say the least. While most Slytherins were sullen and angry, as could be expected, the rest of the school was positively buoyant. The students universally celebrated the fact that they would not have Potions with Snape for the foreseeable future – if ever again – and it was infectious.

Of course, the incident also had other repercussions that were much less pleasant.

For one, the rumor mill no longer needed to spread Harry's status as Fleur's boyfriend, and everywhere he went, people were talking about it. He could not escape the giggling girls – or the scowling ones – and it was truly irritating. He imagined that Fleur was probably having much the same problem with the boys, not that that was different from any other day.

Hermione was a godsend, constantly deflecting questions and comments. Lavender and Parvati were the worst offenders: they badly wanted gossip fodder, and Harry was disinclined to give it to them. In the end, Hermione had to threaten to have a prefect deduct points to get them to leave him alone.

The real downturn, however, was when Fleur held him back as they were leaving the Great Hall that evening.

She was unusually quiet during dinner, and did not participate in the conversation. For most of the meal she stared off into space, her distant gaze on nothing in particular. Occasionally Harry would catch calculating looks from her, but he didn't think it anything bad – it was more like she was puzzled by something, and he could admit that he was a bit curious.

Then, as they were walking through the Entrance Hall, she gently dragged him to a halt and signaled for Hermione to go on without them. Of course, Ron was a bit more thickheaded about it and had to be dragged away, but that was no great surprise. The twins had long since vanished to their next troublemaking endeavor, and Neville was stuck to Hermione like glue, so they were no trouble.