Harry Potter The Surprise

Amelia now quietly admitted to herself she was prepared to cut these two a load of slack, providing they didn't cross a certain line - that line being innocent people getting hurt. She'd stood back today and watched on as a ministry worker was basically questioned under torture. Harry's word that the curse only affected Death Eaters was enough to stay her hand, and see her await further revelations.

Those revelations were the reason Amelia was sitting here with a drink in her hand, or rather Fudge's response to them. She was faced with another reminder of just how corrupt their government was, Fudge wanted the whole 'Macnair is a Death Eater' and 'you can't accept the Dark Mark while under the imperius curse' buried under so much bureaucracy that those revelations would never see the light of day.

She could only guess at how Fudge was going to deal with the fact that Rita Skeeter was there, Amelia's guess though would be scarily accurate. It was well known their press was available to the highest bidder, and Lucius Malfoy had enough gold to see neither of those life changing points made it into the Daily Prophet.

Thankfully Fudge couldn't interfere with her own investigation into Macnair's life, though whether she was allowed to act on anything the investigation turned up would be an entirely different matter. If that investigation pointed her aurors in the direction of any of Fudge's financial supporters, Amelia already knew she would be blocked from proceeding.

Finishing her drink also saw Amelia reach a decision. Potter and Granger seemed determined to stir things up against the Death Eaters, Amelia would support them any way she could in that endeavour.

If that meant standing up to Fudge, Malfoy or even Dumbledore, then so be it. Their community needed taking by the scruff of the neck and given a right good shaking, these two teens actually appeared capable of doing that very thing. With her momentous decision made, Amelia headed off for an early night.

....

Neither Harry nor Hermione were sleeping, though they didn't made a sound while chatting to each other well into the night. Harry wasn't exactly truthful with Bones today. There was a shield spell Riddle had developed that would theoretically stop any curse.

He didn't feel too bad about not telling her however, since you still needed to be a parselmouth to cast it, and it also needed to have been cast at you by a Death Eater Voldermort had marked. The spell had also never been tested, with only one of his Death Eaters ever firing a spell at him.

'Harry, we knew that spell worked. That Death Eater who admitted warning his sister about an attack knew his life was over, he tried to take Riddle with him. That once was enough to discourage any other Death Eaters from ever trying it again. I thought my heart would burst when Macnair fired the killing curse at you."

'I understand, Hermione, and using that shield would be a last resort. It also drains the person who cast against you of their magic. That's why Riddle used to cast the cruciatus on as many of his followers. Yes he enjoys inflicting pain but that was a win-win situation for him.

Should someone retaliate, he would strip them of their magic while adding to his own power. If we're forced to face him, I want you to be as powerful as possible.'

This confused Hermione until Harry explained his thoughts. "When I use parseltongue, you understand what I'm saying. We both know that's the rings' doing but, and it's a big but, if we could get you casting a couple of spells in parseltongue you would be much safer.'

'I didn't think that was possible.'

'I don't know that it is, but we can at least try. The sinks in Myrtle's bathroom would be a good place to practice, and you don't get hit with a spell if you can't manage it. If you can get those sinks to open, I don't see any reason why you couldn't eventually then be able to cast the shield spell. Ginny managed it with the help of a parselmouth. Although this is certainly not possession, I'm still in your head to help.'

Hermione was always going to say yes to learning something new, they now just needed out of the infirmary to get some parseltongue practice. After tomorrow's Prophet, that might be easier. Since Dumbledore had already agreed a deal with Remus, the Headmaster might leave them alone for the last few days of term.

....

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