professor of the year

[oncedriven]

"So it's just your word and no witnesses..."

The court begins to mutter. You say, barely not a shout, "I'm not lying!"

Fudge opens his mouth, but a voice from behind him - as dry as any you've ever heard - says, "Muggle testimony is admitted before this court from Muggles who have an existing dispensation permitting knowledge of the wizarding world, Minister. And while the boy's cousin may not be able to see the creatures, Muggles can feel the effects of their presence as surely as wizards can."

You look up - the speaker is an unfamiliar wizard behind and somewhat to the left of Fudge. It's difficult to tell his age; although his face is relatively young, somewhere in his early middle years, his hair is white enough to make Dumbledore's look dark. It adds a haunting quality to his face, especially when combined with his plain, pure black robes and the color of his eyes, which are far closer to yellow than brown.

Fudge turns on him, saying, "Yes, but it's certainly a very convenient story, isn't it? No doubt the boy has rehearsed it well - "

"You are attempting to deny the defense a key witness," the wizard replies, voice cold. "As though there weren't already enough irregularities in this case. At the very least, this hearing ought to be mistrialed and rescheduled for a time when the witness is available to give testimony..."

Your stomach sinks. There's no way Dudley Dursley would give testimony that would help you, if his parents could even be convinced to allow him to appear. And there's a better chance of them declaring Sirius innocent right now in front of you than there is of that ever happening.

Fudge looks like he's going to argue further, but fortunately, Dumbledore clears his throat and says, "We do, in fact, have a witness..."

----

"...All he and I can do now is to await your verdict."

You look downward, staring at your shoes, as the courtroom falls silent. Into that silence, the voice of the white haired wizard from earlier says, "I feel compelled to remind the court that the Patronus Charm has only one purpose - to repel Dementors. I would also like to remind the Court that young Mr. Potter has a publicly known history of strong negative reactions to the creatures. He is fifteen. Even if his life was not technically endangered by the creatures, it is not beyond belief that he should think it so - a situation which is also covered under clause seven. We are not in the habit of breaking wands over honest mistakes."

There is a slight murmur from the court at that. Fudge turns once again to the wizard and says, "Your point has been noted, Hades. The way you're going on, you may as well descend and take a seat for the defense yourself."

"If it would see you make the slightest effort to regulate the damned creatures, I would do so gladly," Hades (you're not sure if that's his first or last name) replies, far more sharply than any of his previous comments. "Call the vote, if you would, Madam Bones."

"If there are no further comments?" Amelia Bones says. Her voice seems somehow to echo even more than that of the two men. She seems to direct the words to Fudge, who gazes sullenly back at her. "Then, those in favor of clearing the accused of all charges?"

After the vote, just when you are beginning to feel the relief sink into your stomach, Dumbledore sweeps from the room without so much as a glance at you.

Comments

[oncedriven]

You put together the source of all the chaos when you see - or rather, See, for those who want to make the distinction - the children take off from the castle, flying south.

You curse under your breath, enchant a paper plane to Sprout, and tear off down the lawn in your own right. It's impossible to know for sure where they're going from here, but you'd bet London.

Essentially everything that matters happens in London, if it isn't here. If it isn't there, then you'll have to hope it's not some isolated patch of wilderness too far away for you to reach.

As it is, you only bother descending behind Hagrid's empty house before you throw yourself upon the aetherial currents - the anti-Apparition wards have no hold on you, but it wouldn't do to play that card before you have to, after all.

----

"Venat, I believe the children are up to some unfathomably stupid bout of heroism."

She may laugh, but at the very least, she believes you. You don't have to explain or even wait for her to be ready. Any holder of the seat of Azem is ready, a first responder to disaster in a way that most of your people never had a need for.

She takes your arm again. Aether prickles along her touch. It's almost familiar.

With Venat Side-Along, you snap to Remus Lupin.

[oncedriven]

Remus Lupin, clearly, has had better fucking nights. The man is the particular kind of wan that bespeaks of, in a normal person, post-illness. In his case, it's the moon; although the legal full moon was last night, the actual peak of it was somewhere around noon. You wonder if werewolves can get hit by the same moon twice. It's not something you've ever had to deal with.

He's clearly in the particular chaos of trying to ready himself for battle - his jacket is only halfway on when he snaps his wand in the direction of the sound of your Apparition. It remains pointed at you as he says, "What did you serve when you invited me to your home?"

"Greek takeout," you say, deliberately not moving. Venat's raised eyebrows are practically audible. Lupin's shoulders relax just a hair, as you add, "Put the damn wand down."

It dips, finally, and then he shoves it in his pocket. "I assume this isn't a social call."

"Hardly. I came to tell you to have your people prepared for some kind of nonsense from Voldemort's followers, but I see you're already aware."

A brisk nod, a grimace. "Snape actually came through for once; Harry got him a message about Si - " He stops, glances at Venat.

You say, "Anything you say to me can be safely said to my companion. Frankly, she's the better at keeping secrets."

"Flatterer," Venat says, amused, finally letting go of your arm.

You do not tell her where to stuff it, but it is a near thing. "Venat, Remus Lupin. Respectively, the only other person I know with knowledge of soul magicks and one of the functional guardians of Harry Potter. Now, you were saying about Black?"

"Harry believes Voldemort has him and is torturing him," Lupin says. He finally seems to remember the jacket he hadn't finished putting on, and yanks it over his shoulders.

"That would explain why the boy and most of his close friends took off for London as soon as they could escape Dolores Umbridge," you say. "Which is what I came to inform you of."

Lupin exhales hard through his mouth. "Where are they?"

"Right now? Somewhere in the sky over the middle of the country, on thestral-back. I'm guessing their destination is London."

"That would be in line with the message Snape passed on," Lupin says. He goes to pull on his shoes, and there Venat stops him by gently putting herself between him and the door.

"Forgive me," she says, "but you don't seem to be in any condition for battle."

"That doesn't matter," he says. "Harry's - There's been too many times I wasn't there for him."

"And he's forgiven you thus far," you say. "And he's just as aware of your condition as I am, so I'm sure he'll manage to forgive you this time, too."

"that's not what I'm worried about," Lupin says.

"We won't let anything happen to him," Venat asserts, in that particular way she has that makes everything she says sound like the utter truth. "That's why we came, isn't it, old friend?"

She looks to you, and you nod stiffly. "Get word out to your people," you say, "and then you can tell us exactly what we're going to be walking into."

Lupin finally gives up at that, probably because you gave him something to do instead of just standing around. He pulls his wand out of his pocket again, and calls out a spell - "Expecto Patronum."

Predictably, the silver mist takes the form of a wolf, one that's a little too skinny and long-limbed to really be a wolf. You give Venat a shrug as he tells the silver creature, "To Alastor Moody: Hades Solus busted my door down to tell me that Harry and the other missing students are headed south on thestrals. Presumably, they're headed for the Ministry. Solus and his companion, a white-haired woman, came prepared for battle. I know they're not members of the Order, but I'm sending them in my place."

When he's done speaking, the wolf bounds away, and Lupin goes through the motions of pulling off the jacket he just put on.

"The Ministry?" you ask, ready to be gone five minutes ago. "You're sure that's their destination?"

"You remember Arthur getting bitten by the snake at Christmas, right?" Lupin asks, and you nod. "Well, since I have no choice but to read you in..."