Harry Potter: Love's Second Chance

"He was only able to say he had come alone before the hand Voldemort had given him attacked and tried to kill him," Albus nodded toward the silver puddle on the floor. There were still blood, skin and muscle tissue next to it. "We were able to destroy it, but it appears something also caused Peter to lose his memories of what happened and why he was in the castle. I suspect some kind of magic used by Voldemort to conceal his intentions or possibly the trauma of having his hand rip itself off and try to kill him."

"Do you think there is further danger in the castle?" Amelia asked. "I can have my Aurors do a search if you want them to."

"I am confident that he was here alone, but my professors and I will conduct a sweep once you are gone," Dumbledore said. "I fear that an Auror presence may cause unfounded concern and panic amongst the students."

"Very well," Amelia replied. "We'll take our leave now."

"Remember that he is an animagus," Harry said. "Please make sure he is kept where a rat can't escape."

"Mr. Potter I will give you my personal word that this man will face justice," Madam Bones said. "If he were to escape, I doubt neither I nor Rufus would have a job the day after."

"Thank you."

It wasn't long before Harry and Hermione were on their way back to the Gryffindor tower.

"I can't believe it worked so well," Hermione said. "I hadn't thought about Peter saying something at his trial about the Diadem. Even that worked well. Now if someone finds a memory charm on him Dumbledore will presume it's his. It looks like Dumbledore is also going to tell us about the Horcruxes."

"Yes it does, but let's just hope he doesn't change his mind before tomorrow morning," Harry replied. "You do realize the best part don't you?"

"What?"

"We now have the Headmaster's permission to spend the rest of our time here at Hogwarts in the Room of Requirements," Harry said with a smirk. "I even think he'll understand by the size of the room if we eat and sleep in there."

Hermione stopped and looked at her husband. A smile crossed her face as she thought of their next week. "I just wished we could start tonight," She replied. "I love sleeping next to you."

"And I love being with you," Harry replied. They walked along quietly the rest of the way to the tower. It was well past curfew by then and the halls were empty except a ghost appearing now and again. As they neared the Gryffindor tower a beetle came zooming at them. Harry sighed. "Hello Rita," He said.

"Good evening Mr. Potter, Miss Granger," The newly rehired to the Daily Prophet reporter said after she changed from her animagus form. "I do believe I was promised an interview this morning. I've been working with Mr. Lovegood all day to arrange a special edition of the Quibbler just for this story. The man wanted to wait until he had some more information on some kind of animal; a crimmel or some ridiculous thing like that."

"Please do not insult Mr. Lovegood," Harry said sternly. "You'll find our cooperation will drop very quickly if you do so. Remember that his daughter is one of our best friends and also one who is a part of this story."

Rita cleared her throat and swallowed hard. "Yes, well, uh...of course."

"So how'd you convince him? To go ahead with the special edition I mean?"

"I arranged for the Daily Prophet to purchase your interview from earlier in the year," Rita explained. "He now has enough money to find as many creatures as he wants this summer."

"I presume you got a cut of it though didn't you?" Hermione asked.

"I did write the story," Rita answered nonplussed. "I only took thirty percent which I thought was more than fair. I'm also back working at the Prophet with a significant raise. Now about that interview?"

Harry looked at Hermione and they shrugged their shoulders at each other. They turned back to Skeeter. "Okay, let's get this over with," Harry said. "But I want Neville and Luna here as well. They're as much a part of this as we are. As I said this morning, I did not do this alone. We fought as a team."

"Yes of course, of course," Rita replied.

"I'll go get them," Hermione said. "They are very close," As soon as she was out of sight, she called Dobby and Winky and asked that they get their friends and bring them back there as quickly as they could. Less than five minutes later the three of them had rejoined Harry and Rita. Harry was busy telling Skeeter about the discovery of Pettigrew that evening. Her eyes gleamed as she thought about being the first person to break that story. She also knew that the trial of Peter Pettigrew would be an extravagant affair and she already planned to start working the editor first thing in the morning about her having exclusive Daily Prophet coverage of it.

The interview went quickly enough. Harry and Hermione kept a mental chat to insure they kept to the correct story that they had given the Minister and Madam Bones while Neville and Luna followed their leads in responding to questions. As they were about to conclude, Harry got an idea.

"What about giving Snape some difficulties?"

"How?"

....

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