Harry could see Amelia's temper was about to erupt at the Headmaster. He quickly grabbed a quill and parchment from the Minister's desk and jotted a note.
"He doesn't know he misplaced the Pensieve. We can give it to you later."
He quickly handed the note to Madam Bones who glanced down at it. She looked at Harry and Hermione and almost smiled at them. She then glared at the Headmaster. "We will discuss this later Albus, as for now I need to go deal with my Aurors about arresting Lucius Malfoy and the questioning of Sirius Black."
"When shall I attend the questioning?" Dumbledore asked.
"Your presence is neither requested NOR required," Amelia replied coolly. She looked at Harry. "What do you need to get Mr. Black here?"
"Harry, you need to return to the school," Dumbledore replied in his best grandfatherly voice. "You don't realize how great the danger is for you."
Harry ignored the Headmaster and spoke to Madam Bones. "If I could have an Auror to escort Hermione and me; maybe Nymphadora Tonks? I know she's Sirius' cousin."
"I'll be glad to escort you Harry," Dumbledore said.
Harry was almost tempted to take the Headmaster up on the offer just to see what he would say, but then he remembered he would need to speak to Sirius and doubted he could do it privately with Dumbledore around. "No thank you Headmaster," Harry replied.
"I will escort you to find Auror Tonks," Amelia Bones said. "She might be confused about the orders."
"I will start arranging the press conference," Minister Fudge said. He saw the young blonde girl and said. "Miss Lovegood, maybe you'd like to invite your father? He's been ignoring our attempts at recent communications." Of course he didn't mention those 'recent communications' consisted of threats against the publication if it continued to support Harry Potter.
"Oh Daddy would love to come," Luna replied happily, "if he isn't out looking for the yellow-eyed crimzelle. He had a lead on one last week."
"Um...yes," Fudge replied uncertainly. "Come with me and you can try to find him."
Neville followed Luna and Fudge out of the office, while Amelia escorted Harry and Hermione. Albus Dumbledore stood alone in the Minister's office trying to figure out how to get back in control of what was happening. With the appearance of Lord Voldemort he had expected the Minister and everyone else to come running to him for guidance. He sat down in one of the chairs and at that time he noticed the two blue orbs on the desk.
"One of these must be the prophecy," He thought as he put both in his pocket. He considered going to Grimmauld place to try to talk to Harry again, but knew he needed to have Harry alone to persuade him of the proper course of action.
It didn't take long before Tonks was found. Her pink hair was readily seen amongst the team of Aurors guarding the floos as workers came and left. She was confused and surprised when Amelia informed her that she was to escort Harry and Hermione to a location to bring in Sirius Black for questioning.
Once Amelia had walked away, Tonks rounded on the two teens. "What's going on Harry? What's this about Sirius?"
"Trying to get him cleared," Harry replied. "As you can imagine the Minister is going to look foolish because of this, so I'm offering my support if he clears Sirius."
"And he went for it?" Tonks replied.
"Well once we pointed out that Sirius hadn't been tried or convicted and promised Sirius would support him as well, yeah he went for it."
A short time later they were entering Grimmauld Place and Sirius was sitting at the table drinking a cup of tea with a smile on his face. He rose to his feet and greeted Harry and Hermione as if he hadn't been expecting them.
"Looks like you did well tonight Harry. When Snape told us you were planning on coming to London because you thought I had been captured..."
"He fooled me, but fortunately it worked out," Harry said as he turned to the Metamorphmagus. "Tonks, can we speak to Sirius alone to let him know what's going on."
"Sure," The pink haired witch replied.
When she had left the room, Hermione quickly put up the muffliato charm and they settled down to the table.
"Glad to see you made it out," Harry said.
Sirius shrugged. "I wished I could have seen you and Voldemort. I was tempted to come upstairs as Padfoot and watch, but knew it wasn't worth the risk. When I yelled I was following Malfoy, I ducked behind one of the darkness area and called Kreacher. He took me to a side street and it was no problem after that. I better see those memories...now how did it go?"
"A few hiccups," Harry replied, "but we got eight of them and Fudge and Bones are buying the story. You are to come in for questioning and a press conference afterwards. As long as you're willing to support the Ministry and pass questioning by Amelia Bones, you're going to be a free man."
"Did we hear anything about Peter?"
"Haven't had a chance to speak to Dobby yet," Harry replied.
"You keep Tonks busy," Hermione said. "I'll go talk to Dobby and get the Pensieve," She was gone for thirty minutes, but when she returned she had a smile on her face.
"I spoke with Dobby. Voldemort is not currently at the Malfoy residence," She said. "But Peter was."
"Was?" Sirius asked. "Where is he now?"
"Unconscious in a cupboard in the kitchens of Hogwarts," Hermione replied with a chuckle. "Winky is currently standing over him with pot in hand. I brought him around and modified his memory. He now thinks Voldemort had sent him on a mission to Hogwarts and he was captured there. If Fudge reneges on his deal, we can produce him fairly quickly, otherwise we'll figure out what to do with him later."
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