Window into the Past

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"You are taking Harry's word for it?"

"Of course I am."

"You're taking the word of a lunatic and a boy who..." Fudge stopped himself. "You've been reading Rita Skeeter, Minister," Harry piped up.

I drew the curtain back a bit to look at him. "Well, you've been keeping certain facts about the boy a secret. A Parselmouth? And having funny turns?"

"You're referring to the pains Harry has been experiencing from his scar, it hurts him when Lord Voldemort is close by or feeling homicidal," Dumbledore explained to him.

"I saw him come back!" Harry yelled. "Death Eaters, I can give you their names, Lucius Malfoy..."

"Malfoy was cleared," Fudge retorted. "Macnair, Avery, Nott, Crabbe, Goyle," Harry began listing them off. "You're merely repeating the names who were accused of being Death Eaters thirteen years ago," Fudge told him. "First Sirius Black, now this? The boy is untrustworthy."

"You fool!" McGonagall shrieked. "Cedric Diggory! Mr Crouch! These deaths were not the work of a random lunatic."

I put my hand over my mouth and whimpered. Cedric?! He's dead?! But how? Why did Voldemort want him dead?!

"Tia..." I muttered. "He's dead?"

"I'm sorry," she murmured. My eyes began watering up and tears were slowly falling down my face.

"It seems that you're all determined to start a panic," Fudge assumed.

"Why in the bloody hell would they lie about this?!" I finally lost it and I let everyone know that I was awake and pissed off. "Voldemort is back! The Death Eaters that held me captive told me! I saw the Dark Mark on Dolohov's arm! It was jet black!"

"Listen to her Cornelius," Dumbledore told him. "I am not taking the word of a deluded fourteen year old girl!" Fudge exclaimed.

"I'm fifteen, by the way!" I growled at him, pissed beyond belief. "All you care about is your reputation with the Ministry! You value that more than the safety of the Wizarding World! He will get even stronger because you not believing Harry is basically stepping aside and letting Voldemort destroy the world that is still recovering from the damage he caused!"

"She's insane," Fudge pointed at me. "She is as sane as you or I," Dumbledore stood up for me. "But she is right."

"I've always given you a free rein, Albus, I might not have agreed with your decisions but I kept quiet, hiring werewolves.."

Tia was about to lunge at him but Dad held her back, shaking his head. "..keeping Hagrid or decide what you teach your students but if you're going to work against me.."

"I only intend to work against Lord Voldemort," Dumbledore told him. "If you are against him, we are on the same side."

"Minister, go to the Shrieking Shack..there's two of them tied up!" I pleaded with him but he wasn't listening to me.

"But he can't be," Fudge was still in denial. Snape rolled his eyes and stepped forward. He rolled up his sleeve, showing Fudge the Dark Mark. "There, not as clear as it was an hour ago, when it burnt black, but you can still see it. Every Death Eater had the sign burnt into them by the Dark Lord as a means of distinguishing each other and his means of summoning us. When he touches the Mark of any Death Eater, we were to Disapparate and Apparate, instantly by his side. It's why Karkaroff fled, he felt it burn, Jones saw the Dark Mark on another Death Eater and did it burn him?"

Snape and Fudge looked to me and all I did was nod. "I've heard enough," Fudge stated. "I will be in touch tomorrow."

He dropped a large bag on Harry's bed before he left. "Think I'm ready to talk now," I mumbled. "You don't have to," McGonagall told me. "It's okay, I'll talk," I muttered. "I just went to the bathroom and when I came out someone hit me in the head. I woke up, tied to a chair in the Shrieking Shack. Dolohov was there, there was another but I couldn't see his face, he had a mask on. They wanted to know how to open the locket, I wouldn't talk so they used the Cruciatus Curse on me..."

Dad's eyes filled with more tears and Tia gasped. Padfoot jumped onto my bed and nuzzled into me. "How did you escape, Joy?" Dumbledore asked me. "I used wandless magic, I didn't need a wand so I conjured flames from my hands to burn the ropes, the Death Eaters had gone downstairs as the Mark was hurting them. The fire burned me a bit," I pointed to my bandaged wrists. "They could smell the ropes burning so they came back up, I hit one of them over the head with a chair and I used the chair leg from that chair to knock out the other one, I took Dolohov's wand and I tied them up, then I ran but I was weak from the Cruciatus Curse so I used the chair leg as a walking stick."

"That was incredibly brave, Joy," Dumbledore praised me. Padfoot bumped his nose against my bandages and I winced a little.

Sorry

I gave him a sad smile, letting him know it was okay. I stroked his head. Harry got up and he, Ron and Hermione came to my bedside. Hermione latched herself to me, sobbing. "I'm so so sorry! I should have gone with you!"

"I'm okay, honestly," I told her. "It's not the first time this has happened and I have a feeling it won't be the last time."

"Joy, do you think they'll still be at the Shrieking Shack?" Dumbledore asked me. "Leave her, she needs rest," Dad grumbled but I answered the question anyway. "They might have gotten free but I have his wand."

Dumbledore picked up the black wand on my bedside table. Tia handed me back my own one, white aspen with a silvery string bound around it, ten and three quarter inches with a dragon-heartstring core. I looked at Harry.

Bill left to tell Mr Weasley what was going on and Madam Pomfrey left to find Winky. "It is time for two of our number to recognise each other for what they are."

Padfoot cocked his head.

What did he say?

"He was talking to you," I muttered to Sirius. "Be human again."

Oh right

Sirius hopped off my bed and turned back into his human form. Mrs Weasley screamed. "AAAAHH! SIRIUS BLACK!"

"Mum, it's okay, he's on our side," Ron told her. Snape had the look of upmost anger and hatred on his face. "What is he doing here?!"

"He is here at my request, as are you," Dumbledore said to Snape. "It is time for you to set aside your differences and trust each other."

"Good luck with that," Dad murmured under his breath, prompting him to get elbowed by Tia. "Shake hands, you're on the same side now."

They reluctantly shook hands but both wiped their hands in their robes with a look of disgust on their face.

"Sirius, I need you to set off and alert the Order, go to Arabella Figg and Mundungus Fletcher, lie low for the next day until Headquarters is ready."

"Don't go," Harry begged him. "You'll see me very soon, Harry, I promise," Sirius reassured him. He hugged Harry goodbye, kissed me on my head, hugged Dad and kissed Tia on the cheek.

"I don't want it," Harry spoke up a while after Sirius left. "The money, I don't want it. It should've been Cedric's."

I felt a pain in my chest once I heard his name. He was innocent in all this, he didn't deserve to die.

"It wasn't your fault," I piped up. "I told him to take the Cup with me," Harry explained to me.