An American at Hogwarts: Book Two

Chapter Sixty-One

A/N: This is a little bit lazy of me, but the Triwizard prize is officially 1800 Galleons for the sake of easier math. Sorry if this bothers anybody, but I'm not trying to get into the Sickles and Knuts.

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The next time I woke up, it was to a lot of loud, aggressive voices. It took me a second to be awake enough to process, but once I did, I was able to recognize the voice of the Minister of Magic arguing with McGonagall, both loud enough to be heard from outside the the Hospital Wing.

"...Regrettable, but all the same, Minerva-"

"You should never have brought it inside the castle!" McGonagall yelled back. "When Dumbledore finds out-"

On cue, the hospital doors flew open and Fudge swept in, Snape and McGonagall right behind him. Fudge marched straight through the room and up to Mrs. Weasley. Her back was to me, but I could tell she was ready to rip Fudge's head off. I slipped out of bed while she, Bill, Hermione, Ron, and even the dog were distracted, drifting a little closer to the commotion.

"Where's Dumbledore?" Fudge demanded.

"He's not here," Mrs. Weasley snapped back. "This is a hospital wing, Minister, don't you think you'd do better to-"

My heart swelled with love for Mrs. Weasley as she yelled at Cornelius Fudge. The doors to the hospital wing opened again before she could quite finish her sentence, but it still left me smiling. I drifted to stand behind Bill as Dumbledore approached, trying to make sure nobody saw me up and out of bed.

"What has happened?" Dumbledore asked, looking between Fudge and McGonagall. He seemed angry, which was pretty unusual for Dumbledore. "Why are you disturbing these people? Minerva, I'm surprised at you—I asked you to stand guard over Barty Crouch-"

"There is no need to stand guard over him anymore, Dumbledore!" McGonagall yelled, completely losing her head. "The Minister has seen to that!"

"When we told Mr. Fudge that we had caught the Death Eater responsible for tonight's events, he seemed to feel his personal safety was in question," said Snape, his voice quiet but still clearly disapproving of the Minister and his actions. It was bizarre to see him and McGonagall so united on something, so I knew it must be big. "He insisted on summoning a dementor to accompany him into the castle. He brought it up to the office where Barty Crouch-"

"I told him you would not agree, Dumbledore!" yelled McGonagall, unable to keep silent anymore. "I told him you would never allow dementors to set foot inside the castle, but-"

"My dear woman!" Fudge yelled back, cutting her off. He was red in the face, and almost as angry as McGonagall. "As Minister of Magic, it is my decision whether I wish to bring protection with me when interviewing possibly dangerous-"

McGonagall jumped back in, and she was much louder than Fudge. Her voice quickly overpowered his as she made herself heard.

"The moment that- that thing entered the room it swooped down on Crouch and... and..."

My eyebrows furrowed as I tried to process what she was saying. Crouch was our material witness in everything going on, and apparently... he'd just had his soul sucked out.

I forced down a shiver as McGonagall continued to struggle for words. Fudge jumped back in before she could find any.

"By all accounts, he is no loss!" yelled Fudge. "It seems he has been responsible for multiple deaths!"

"NO LOSS?" I yelled, unable to stop myself anymore. Everyone turned to look at me in shock and pain exploded in my side when I yelled, but I forced myself to ignore it. "How the hell can you say that? He was a material witness! Do you know anything about what it means to conduct an investigation? To interrogate a suspect? Is that all just completely meaningless to you wizards?"