Minerva Takes Charge

Harry silently let her know to join them but waved his hand as well in her direction. Amelia, Harry, Hermione and Professors Flitwick and Snape entered the room. While they were waiting for the Veritaserum to arrive they went over the questions that were to be asked. Another Auror disappeared into the castle and reappeared a few minutes later carrying a small box he'd found in Umbridge's desk. When opened, it contained the Blood quill in question. Finally the Auror who went to request the Veritaserum returned after meeting the delivery person at the gates of Hogwarts.

Hermione pulled Harry aside and explained the last thing she wanted to do. She quickly wrote something on a parchment and had Harry sign it.

The Veritaserum was administered and Amelia started the questioning.

"Is your name Harry Potter?"

"Yes."

"Did you serve detentions with Dolores Umbridge?"

"Yes."

The questioning continued implicating Umbridge in the torture by Blood Quill that had occurred. Harry also had requested to be questioned on whether he had ever brewed or purchased a love potion. Since it had been Dobby who actually had given the potions to Slytherins, Harry was able to answer the question on whether he gave a love potion to anyone truthfully.

Finally Amelia said. "That ends the questioning. I'll administer the antidote now."

"Wait," Hermione said. She handed the parchment that Harry had signed to Madam Bones. "He authorized these questions as well."

Amelia took the parchment and her eyebrows shot up as she read the questions. She looked at Hermione. "He knows?"

"He discovered who since his trial."

"This shall be interesting," Amelia said as she turned back to Harry. "Mr. Potter, did you authorize two additional questions to be asked that were in the possession of your friend?"

"Yes."

"Very well," Amelia looked down and read the first question. "Do you know who was responsible for the Dementor attack that led to your trial last summer?"

"Yes."

Amelia rushed to ask the last question though she already had a pretty good guess what the answer was going to be. "Who was it?"

"Dolores Jane Umbridge."

Everyone in the room started speaking at once. Professor Flitwick remembering his duty as Advocate as several things being said were close to questions quickly cast a silencing charm around Harry's chair before turning to the Head of the DMLE. "Madam Bones, I think you need to administer the antidote now before questions are asked that Mr. Potter has not agreed to answer."

"Yes of course," Amelia replied and administered the antidote. As she waited for the potion to flush the Veritaserum out of Harry's system, she gave an order to the Auror who had brought the Veritaserum. "Mr. Campbell, arrest Dolores Umbridge this instant. Based on this testimony which," She looked at everyone in the room, "I will need all of you to verify you witnessed, she will need to be questioned in front of the Wizengamot. While what she was accused of doing to students was horrendous, we are now talking about attempted murder of a student."

The Auror left the room immediately with his wand out of his holster.

"Ma'am," Hermione said quietly. "I think she tried to kill Harry because of the disagreement between the Minister and him. Have there been any other political rivals Fudge might have had that have disappeared or died of accidents since she became part of his administration?"

"Corrigan?" Another of the Aurors exclaimed.

At the questioning look by Hermione, Amelia explained. "Matthew Corrigan was the head of the DMLE before me. He was considering running against Cornelius in the last election when Minister Bagnold retired. He was extremely popular and most likely would have won. In July that year, he was investigating the possibility of Wizarding influence in the London Stock exchange when an explosion occurred killing him. The muggles blamed the IRA who gladly accepted responsibility but there appeared to have been a magical signature to the explosion. Erumpent horn fluid to be exact. Of course we investigated, but never got any serious leads."

"So you think she might…" Hermione began.

"I refuse to speculate." Amelia replied determinedly. "It will be a question given to her during her questioning, but until an answer is given, I will not form an opinion one way or another."

"I think we need to get to our Transfiguration testing," Harry said as recovered from the influence of the truth serum.

Beginning of Transfiguration testing was delayed as the most despised Professor in the history of Hogwarts was arrested and led away. Peeves, still following the orders given to him by the Weasley twins pelted her with water balloons filled with bright colored dyes that left Umbridge looking like a tie dyed clown as she left the castle. Lee Jordan let loose the entire box of 'supplies' Fred and George and sent him in celebration.

Outside of making sure the fireworks did not interfere with the OWL testing, the remaining professors allowed the celebration to occur for many hours before corralling the fireworks with very little effort. Flitwick removed the swamp that took up the east wing of the fifth floor in just a few seconds, though he left a small portion under a window in tribute to the Weasley twins. Many students after that day would stick their feet in the mud and track it down the hallways to the annoyance of Filch. Shoe cleaning spells prevented the caretaker from finding out who was doing it.

Transfiguration exams went extremely well for Harry and Hermione. Again they both finished ahead of the time limit. Neville didn't quite finish within the time, but after they had left the room, he let them know he felt he had done reasonably well. They also passed the practical exams easily.

McGonagall as Deputy Headmaster stepped into the role of Headmistress. Unfortunately she could not overturn the Educational Decrees without official Ministry support. To no one's surprise, she easily accessed the Headmaster's office when she attempted to do so.

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