Chapter Nineteen
"Congratulations and Investigations"

Page Two

The enchanted ceiling revealed an unnaturally dark sky and menacingly monochromatic clouds dancing eerily above them.

Halfway down the Great Hall stood a mass of men, all clad in heavy black cloaks, each one standing perfectly still.

"Fudge," boomed Snape as they walked towards the group of men.

A few of the darkly dressed men shuffled, and soon a rather stout man in a hideously green pinstripe suit and a silver traveling cloak broke free of the mass; Cornelius Fudge, Minister of Magic.

"Good evening, Severus," he said cheerily. "Ah, you brought Mr. Potter, good, good. I trust you know why I'm here, Severus,"

Snape's jaw was clenched as he nodded a silent yes.

"Good, good," repeated Fudge, a fake smile on his face. "Let's get to it then, shall we?"

Snape stared blankly back at Fudge and Harry just stood there waiting for some sort of cue.

Fudge clapped his hands together and turned his gaze towards Harry.

"Well, Mr. Potter, I'd like you to answer some questions for me and then I'd like to take you back to the Slytherin dormitories to recreate what happened the night of the incident."

"You will make him do no such thing," growled Snape.

"I beg your pardon?" Fudge was, needless to say, rather taken aback.

"Potter's been through enough," insisted Snape firmly. "We don't need to go through all that mess again, drudging it all back up."

"But this is important ministry business," said Fudge as kindly and professionally as he could while still be firm.

"Ministry business my as-"

"No need to get crude about it," interrupted Fudge. "Fine, I won't insist on taking Harry back to the dungeons, but my team will ask him questions, alright?"

"Alright by me," croaked Snape.

Fudge led Harry to the group of men in the long black cloaks. In the center of the group there were two chairs, divided by a small wooden table. Fudge directed Harry to one of the chairs and he took the other. The ministry agents crowded in, surrounding Harry in a sea of black cloaks.

"Now, Harry," Fudge began, smiling across the table at Harry. "I need you to answer these questions in all honestly, okay?

"Okay," conceded Harry.

"Good, now why don't we start from the beginning."

Harry started with the walk back from Quidditch practice and proceeded to explain the entire night of events, omitting only the names of Sirius Black and Remus Lupin.

The agents in black stared down ominously upon Harry, listening intently to every word. They made Harry uneasy as he told his story, too many eyes looking at him all at once.

Just as Harry was wrapping up the story (just after the details about the run to Honeyduke's. He decided to leave out the bit about his dream) as if on cue, Hagrid burst through the doors catching everyone's attention.

"You wanted me, Professor Snape?" he called.

"Yes, Hagrid," said Snape, who had been standing behind Fudge. "The Minister and his team want to look around the Slytherin dormitories. I'd like you to take them if you don't mind." There was a funny tone to the way Snape said all that. If Snape had been known to wink, a mysterious wink would have fit in quite nicely after that statement.

"Yes, sir," said Hagrid in the same wink-worthy tone. "Only, I got things ter take care of, so if he wants me ter take him, we'll have ter go now."

"That's fine," said Fudge, getting to his feet. "Thank you, Hagrid. Come on, men, off we get."

Hagrid led Fudge and his men out of the Great Hall, shutting the doors promptly behind him.

Snape let out a sigh of relief then turned to Harry, who was still sitting at the small table.

"I thought he'd never quit. You need to get back to your common room before Fudge comes back at you with more questions."

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