Chapter 57 - Prophet Aftermath - I

The students did not have much time to discuss the allegations in the prophet as they had to make their way towards their morning classes. They were dissatisfied with the lack of response by the professors. The professors just stood up and left the room after their breakfast.

I had History of magic in the morning so me and my Ravenclaw year mates continued to discuss the revelations in the prophet in the class. I participated in the discussion a few times but my attention was elsewhere.

While everyone was discussing the allegations, I was looking at a small mirror in my hands. I had successfully replicated the communication mirror that Sirius Black had gifted Harry during his fifth year. This invention made me appreciate the brilliance of marauders more. The marauders may be unruly pranksters but no one can deny that they were genius inventors with their crazy prank ideas and inventions like the marauder map and the communication mirror.

Sherry had already placed the twin of the mirror in my hand, inside the Headmaster's office. The mirror had been made invisible so it would not be found by anyone. Now I could monitor the Headmaster and watch his reactions whenever events like these happened.

The mirror was designed in such a way that only the person holding the mirror could hear what was happening on the other side. This way I could watch everything without worrying about anyone hearing anything and asking questions.

<Mirror View>

Dumbledore was sitting in his office while McGonagall and Snape stood on the other side of his table. McGonagall was angry.

McGonagall "Hagrid took the children into the Forbidden Forest to hunt a dangerous creature? Why am I hearing about this for the first time in the prophet? How dare he do that? Because of him I am being accused of being a death eater."

Dumbledore "I don't know why he did that. I had asked him to investigate the increasing number of attacks on unicorns a few days back but I had no idea that he would take the children with him to investigate."

Snape "Don't blame Hagrid. You being compared to a death eater was mainly due to the harsh punishment. 50 points each and detention. Even I do not take that many points at once from the dunderheads."

McGonagall "They deserved it. Fooling a student into believing they had a Dragon and making him violate curfew to report that to me. This led to four students violating the curfew during these dangerous times."

Dumbledore "It was not a made up story, Minerva. Harry did have a dragon with him that night. Hagrid somehow got his hands on a Dragon egg and decided to raise it in his hut. Harry and his friends were saving Hagrid from a sentence in Azkaban by smuggling the dragon out of Hogwarts with the help of Charlie Weasley who works at a dragon reserve. Mr. Malfoy was spying on them and decided to report this to you in the hope that you will expel them."

Snape "Draco did tell me the all the details. I decided to leave the incident alone since more investigation into it would have led to the dunderheads and the oaf spending rest of their lives in Azkaban. Gryffindors and their lack of intelligence. They should have come to us with the information and we would have helped the oaf. It would have avoided all this drama."

McGonagall "Then why did they not tell me the reason? I would not have been that harsh if they had explained the details to me. They must hate me now. The loss of points made them a pariah in the Gryffindor house and I decided to not do anything to help them due to my anger."

Dumbledore "You are getting angry a lot these days. In your anger you must have not allowed them to explain things to you. Don't worry you can earn back their trust back in time and they will forgive you. We will talk abot this later. We have guests."

The Fireplace in the office lit up and a face could be seen in the embers. The face spoke "Dumbledore open the Floo. Some people and I would like to come through to discuss the things said revealed in today's Prophet."

Dumbledore sighed and opened the Floo conection in the fireplace "Ok Cornelius. You can come through now."

The floo flamed and many people came through it. The people were Cornelius Fudge, Lucius Malfoy, Amelia Bones, Augusta Longbottom and two other people in Auror uniform.

Dumbledore "This quite a party. What can I do for you?"

Malfoy "Cut the act Dumbledore and tell us whether the things written in today's paper are true or not?"

Dumbledore "Unfortunately, the incidents described are true. But the allegations against the professors are false. Rita cannot write an article without trying to destroy someone's good image."

Amelia "Why was my department not notified, Headmaster? It the DMLE's job to investigate incidents like the troll inside the school."

Dumbledore "I thought it was not necessary since we have a lot of qualified professors at Hogwarts capable of finding and capturing the culprit. I did not want to increase the work load of your department just for the small incident."

Amelia "You did not have the right to make that decision Dumbledore. It was not a small incident and I should have been informed. If your professors are more capable than my aurors, tell me did you find the culprit?"

Dumbledore "Unfortunately not. I did find that the ward blocking creatures like the troll from entry into Hogwarts was malfunctioning and repaired it. So incident like the troll will never happen again."

Amelia "Then you should have called the auror department. We will not rest until we find the culprit. Minister, I would like your permission to investigate the incidents that took place at Hogwarts."

Dumbledore "It is not needed Amelia. I have everything under control."

Fudge "Permission granted Madam Bones. No Dumbledore I cannot deny this request. Many ministry employees have come to me to and asked me to find the culprit. They have threatened to remove their children from Hogwarts if nothing is done."

Amelia "Thank you minister." she then turned towards the two aurors and continued "You both go around the school and start the investigation. You can call for more aurors if required. I will join you after this meeting."

The Aurors nodded and left the office.

Malfoy "Moving on. I would like to know the identity of the professor who ȧssigned my son detention inside the Forbidden Forest to investigate the attacks on unicorns?"

McGonagall "It was me but I only planned for them to serve their detention with Hagrid. I did not know anything about the unicorns or Hagrid's plans to take them with him into the forest."

Madam Longbottom "You ȧssigned 11 year olds detention with Hagrid at midnight which is well past their sleeping time. This itself was wrong. Don't push all the blame towards Hagrid. We will discuss the punishments later. I will wait for the results of the DMLE investigation before O call a Governors meeting to decide the punishments. First I would like to meet my grandson and see if he is fine."

Malfoy "I would like to see my son too. If I find that he was hurt yesterday, I will make sure that the you will get severely punishment by the board."

After that both Malfoy and Longbottom left the office with McGonagall and Snape.

Cornelius "What is going on Dumbledore? Is it true that Harry Potter was cursed by You Know Who? Many people have asked me this question today."

Dumbledore "No. That is just Rita making things up."

Amelia "If anymore dangerous incidents happen around him, many people will start believing it. I am considering transferring Susan to France. I can't risk anything happening to her."

Dumbledore "Don't worry. All these are coincidences. Another thing like this will not happen at Hogwarts."

<Mirror View End>

The class was over so I stopped watching. Next class was Herbology so I will not be able to continue watching the drama.

On my way to the dungeons, I saw one of the aurors going around asking questions. I needed them to investigate the third floor corridor before Dumbledore decides remove all the traps so I confounded a random girl to go talk to the Auror.

Girl "Hello Mister. Are you an Auror?"

Auror "Yes Miss. I am an Auror."

Girl "Are you here to investigate the third floor corridor?"

Auror "I came to investigate the troll incident. Why? What is wrong with the third floor corridor?"

Girl "During the Opening feast of this year, Headmaster Dumbledore warned us to not go there. He told us that we would die painfully if we go there."

Auror "Thank you for informing me about this. I will take care care of the threat."

Then the auror rushed towards his partner who was nearby. The talked amongst themselves and then made their way towards the third floor corridor. I smiled at this and them removed the traces of Confundus Charm from the girl. She would remember this incident but will think that she did all this herself and no outside force was involved.

I was sad that I will not be able to watch the reactions of Madam Bones and others after hearing about the Cerberus. I will have to add a record feature to the mirror soon. I don't want to miss reactions like this in the future.