Chapter- 22 : Desperation Part - 4

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"Madam Bones will see you now," the fair-haired assistant informed Harry in the small waiting room near the Auror offices. He stood up and nervously fiddled with the silver badge the visitors desk had supplied him with. He'd tried to say as little as possible and as such the badge simply read, 'meeting'.

His first impression of the Head of the DMLE was that she was both fierce and bloody stubborn. The fifty year old woman had a satisfied smirk on her face of someone who had gone into battle and emerged, if not victorious, than at least not worse than the other guy. The Prophet had understated her injuries, judging by how she winced and gripped her side when she got to her feet and held out her right arm to shake his hand before realising that it was bandaged and hastily withdrawing it.

"Very nice to meet you, Mr. White, and thank you for sending that letter. Being prepared likely saved my life and that of my guards."

Harry flushed and averted his gaze as he took a seat, as always uncomfortable with praise. "I'm glad you're all right. You are okay, right?" He gestured to her arm. "The Prophet barely mentioned your injuries."

Her smirk turned wider. "When an older woman lands a hit on a dangerous Dark Lord it's important to make it look like she didn't get off any worse than he did."

Harry gaped at her. "You actually got him?"

She grinned viciously. "Broke his arm and pierced his shoulder." She quickly sobered, though. "Of course he'll be healed up by now and angry as hell."

Harry shuddered. "Hopefully he'll take it out on his minions."

"We can always hope." She nodded briskly. "Now, in your letter you mentioned you wanted to speak with me and you'll understand if I have a great many questions myself."

Harry smiled wryly. "I will tell you how I knew what was going to happen, but before I do I'm going to ask for your discretion."

She stared at him. It made him feel very uncomfortable and he fidgeted in his seat but didn't change his mind. He would not be used as a research subject by the Ministry because she couldn't keep her trap shut.

"I will uphold the law, Mr. White, regardless of how often you save my life," she said finally. "You have my gratitude, but I'll not sweep any crimes under the rug."

"Oh no, that's not what I meant," he said hastily. "I'm reporting others for their actions, however, I'd like it if you could not shout the details of my... situation from the rooftops."

She raised a single eyebrow. "Provided the law is on your side that seems reasonable."

Harry slumped in relief. "Thank you."

He took a deep breath and started his story. "A little over two weeks ago Trelawney outed that prophecy to the Prophet and Dumbledore panicked. Somehow, he got his hands on a ritual to summon someone from another dimension and he and his entire Order decided to go fishing between worlds." He growled and his eyes flashed. "I was eating dinner when a vortex appeared almost killing everyone there, including my one year old godson."

Harry recounted waking up with scars all over his body and the meeting with the Order after.

"I want them arrested for kidnapping, torture and anything else you can throw at them," he snarled, breathing heavily. "I want to bleed them dry of any gold they have until they are nothing but paupers and then I want the lot of them in Azkaban in the deepest dankest hole in that pit."

Madam Bones watched him rant and rave with no reaction barring the tightening of her lips into a white line. When he finished she busied herself with polishing the monocle that hung from a thin gold chain from her lapel.

"I see," she murmured. "Unique though your case is, crime is typically the purview of the Auror Office..." She trailed off as she seemed to come to a realisation. "Ah. Some of Dumbledore's lot work there, I imagine."

Harry laughed mirthlessly. "Jones and Shacklebolt intercepted my owl or barged in on the investigation and concluded that there was 'no evidence of any crime'." He mimed making quotes with his fingers.

"Bastards," he spat before showing a bloodthirsty grin at his own resourcefulness. "So I went over their heads."

"I see," she said again, before straightening. "Unfortunately I am unsure as to the specific legalities surrounding your case. I have never handled a case with dimensional travel and I don't know what laws apply specifically."

Harry scowled as he tightly gripped the edge of his seat with both hands. "Why does it matter? Kidnapping is kidnapping no matter where I lived before. They took me from my home in a way that prevents me from going back. Just arrest the lot of them already."

She huffed impatiently. "Unless they argue that you weren't born on this world and thus you aren't a wizard or even human and as such our laws don't apply to you." She shrugged. "It's what I would argue as defence counsel and so far I can't think of an appropriate counter."

Harry shot to his feet so fast his chair scooted backwards and crashed against the wall. "They're going to get away with this? You're just going to-"

"Sit. Down," Madam Bones bit out, glaring at him.

Despite his anger Harry instinctively cowered a little before her and turned away to upright his chair again. Merlin but the woman was frightening when she was riled.

"I will not let them do anything," she said icily. "Their actions are morally reprehensible and for that I will throw the book at them. However, I must work within the bounds of the law. On top of that, the Minister may well override a shoddy trial depending on who bribed him this day of the week and Dumbledore is quite capable of manoeuvring the Wizengamot on his own."

Harry deflated and slumped in his chair. "How then?"

"Firstly, I will research dimensional travel to see if there is a precedent or if there are laws that I'm simply not familiar with. However, even if there aren't, there are many ways to approach a problem." She held up a finger when he was about to interrupt. "For instance, a large category of rituals are banned. Do you know which one they used, what sacrifices they made, details?"

Harry shook his head. "Whatever their source, there were no books in Hogwarts with specifics and when I arrived I was not in any condition to observe what they were doing."

She pursed her lips. "Their sources will be well hidden by now, I'm sure. Well, according to Poppy Pomfrey your scarring was caused by Dark magic, so we can fine them for that, at least."

Harry waited for her to continue and eyed her incredulously when she didn't. "Fine them? Fine them!?" he yelled. "That's not good enough!"

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If you're eager to delve deeper into the story, consider joining my Patreon for exclusive content and early access to new chapters

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