Forging Alliances (I) [Chapter 186]

“Technically, he never died in the first place. He was smuggled out of Azkaban by his father at the behest of his dear wife who took her son’s place. She was the one who died in Azkaban and she is the one who is currently buried in the Azkaban graveyard” Harry explained drily and when he finally finished speaking, Augusta looked practically apoplectic while the others simply looked confused.

“What did you do to him?” Augusta asked, but she didn’t withdraw her dagger.

“I fed him cursed unicorn blood and then he lost his Magic thanks to the Goblet of Fire when he failed to show up during the first task” Harry explained proudly. Everyone except for Augusta and Amelia looked horrified by his actions, and instead of looking horrified, Amelia simply looked disturbed while Augusta simply looked over at Barty Crouch Jr. before nodding her head in satisfaction.

“Fitting” Augusta muttered before she finally withdrew her dagger from Gawain’s throat, who sighed in relief while rubbing his hand over his throat. “You are handing him over to me and I am fit to do whatever I want with him?” The ancient woman asked without giving away any of her emotions and after getting a nod from Harry, she finally smiled. “Such a thoughtful gift you have given me” The woman admitted before she picked up the handbag from the ground.

“I am sorry, but we cannot allow that” Gawain protested before carefully taking a step back, not wanting to have a dagger at his throat. Augusta whirled around and glared at him hatefully while Gawain seemed to glance toward Connie and Tonks, who seemed to be getting ready for a fight before he turned toward Saul, who simply raised his hands in the air. Saul was not a fighter in the first place and there was no way in hell that he was going to try and fight someone like Harry.

“You are going to deny me my revenge?” Augusta asked coldly as she glared at Gawain, Connie, and Tonks before she finally turned toward Amelia. “We were supposed to be allies, weren’t we?” Augusta asked with a frown when she noticed the look on Amelia’s face.

“Yes, we are. That is why I am going to push for the harshest punishment possible” Amelia declared before she also pulled out her Wand, but didn’t raise it as she didn’t want to point her Wand at an ally. “Don’t fight this, Augusta. I know what he did, but as the Head of the DMLE, I cannot allow you to kill him. He will pay for his crimes, I promise you that” Amelia tried to placate the clearly apoplectic woman.

Meanwhile, Harry scoffed at her passionate words. “Avery should have been sentenced for life, don’t make promises you can’t keep” Harry pointed out with an amused look on his face, pouring more fuel to the fire.

Augusta hatefully glared at Amelia. “Don’t give me that bullshite, Amelia! He was sentenced to Azkaban for life for what he did to my son and my daughter-in-law, but here he is… Freed by his own father, who once held your position!” Augusta snarled hatefully and Amelia already knew that her alliance wasn’t going to last… It was a massive blow to her group, but she simply couldn’t allow Augusta to kill the man.

“Then we are at an impasse, Augusta” Amelia declared with a hard look on her face before Harry once again interrupted with a cough.

Everyone turned toward Harry. “I think all of you might be forgetting something very important. He is my gift to Dowager Longbottom, so what makes you think I am going to let you people take him?” Harry asked curiously before he stepped forward and started to release his Magic, making everyone around him flinch back in shock. “Dowager Longbottom, these people don’t seem to appreciate your alliance” Harry said as he turned toward Augusta.

“Yes, yes… I believe you are right” Augusta admitted with a nod of her head.

“Augusta, don’t do this. Don’t join him or you will be branded as a criminal too” Amelia tried to reach out to Augusta.

“Oh please! You won’t be able to prove anything” Augusta scoffed and before any of her former allies could react, she flicked her Wand toward Barty Crouch Jr. and his head rolled off from his shoulders. Harry smiled and raised a barrier around Augusta to protect the old woman from the Stunning Charms cast by her former allies in outrage… The Stunning Charm harmlessly splashed against his barrier.

“You can’t kill someone who is already dead, and Barty Crouch Jr. is already dead as long as the Ministry is considered” Harry explained with a shrug. Amelia and the other Aurors turned toward him to hatefully glare at him. Harry couldn’t understand why they were so angry with him… After all, he was stating facts. “Even if you take his body to the Ministry, that coward of a Minister will have the body disposed and then he will shove everything under the rug” Harry explained as a matter of factly.

“I will join you, but I want the others too” Augusta declared as she walked up to Harry. To be honest, Harry didn’t have any personal vendetta against Lestranges, so he didn’t mind if Augusta killed them. As long as they were dead, he wasn’t going to complain.

“Sure” Harry agreed with her demand.

“You know you are not going to get away with this. I am not going to let you” Amelia promised with a growl. “The Ministry is going to come after you hard and you being the chosen one is not going to save you” Amelia added coldly and Harry simply smiled at her.

“You don’t even know where I am staying” Harry pointed out with an amused grin, making Amelia and the others frown before all of a sudden they realized they had no idea where Harry was staying. Amelia knew that she had sent her Aurors to look for Severus Snape, but she couldn’t remember where she sent them and Saul was the first one to realize what was happening.

“The Fidelius Charm. You have used a Fidelius Charm” Saul exclaimed excitedly. Even the Unspeakables didn’t know everything about the Fidelius Charm, so obviously he was interested.

“Bingo!” Harry clapped his hands with a gleeful look on his face. “Oh well, look at the time… I should get going” Harry exclaimed dramatically before he extended his hand toward Augusta. The woman accepted his hand and moments later, the two of them were gone with a soft pop, leaving the others to deal with the aftermath.

“What the hell are we going to do Amelia?” Gawain asked as he plopped down on the grass.

Amelia looked at the body of Barty Crouch Jr. before shaking her head… “I don’t know. This was a huge blow to us” Amelia sighed.

Meanwhile, Tonks was practically having an existential crisis… Yes, she was disturbed by the actions of Harry, but right now, that was the least of her concerns… Her mom and dad were with Harry and she was staying with them, but now she didn’t even know where they were staying anymore. Right now, she was feeling like a stray cat who had been tossed out into the streets… She had to work really hard to keep the tears from falling out of her eyes…

<Line Break>

~~DMLE Headquarters, Ministry of Magic~~

“I see… Thank you for telling me, young man” Albus smiled grimly at the young Auror. The Auror was a member of the team sent to investigate the Malfoy Manor and after listening to everything the young man had to tell him, Albus almost snapped, but he was not an amateur… He knew how to keep his bearings and no matter how angry he felt, it would be wrong to take it out of the man in front of him.

“It is alright, Headmaster. I may not like Severus Snape…” The Auror said, looking somewhat uncomfortable “...but I know he is important to you. He helped us out a lot during the last War and he does not deserve such treatment” The Auror added before looking down at his feet in shame. “I-I believed Harry Potter was going to be the next you… but I was wrong” The man sighed in defeat.

‘You are not the only one who believed that’ Albus winced internally. He always wanted to pass over his torch to Harry until the day he killed the Dursleys, but it was no longer an option for him. Harry had been corrupted way too much to trust him with the future of the Wizarding World… In fact, he wasn’t sure if he could trust Harry to defeat Voldemort and not take his place.

Albus sighed and placed his hand on the Auror’s shoulder, trying to comfort him. “It is alright… Now, if you don’t mind, can I have the memory?” Albus asked. He had heard everything from the Auror, and even though he knew Harry was really strong, he never expected the boy to be able to beat both Rufus and Alastor with extreme ease. He needed to see it for himself. It wasn’t like he didn’t trust the young man, but sometimes, they needed to see something with their own eyes to believe it.

“Of course, Headmaster” The young Auror immediately agreed, which made Albus smile at the young man. “Ah… How do I do that?” Moments later, the man asked with an unsure look on his face.

With a grandfatherly smile on his face, Albus started to tell him how to extract the memory from his mind while he made up his mind to reestablish the Order. He had been planning to reestablish the Order for quite some time, but every time, one thing or another came up, but now he was determined to gather the Order as he needed to save Severus at any costs…