Chapter 29
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
June 25, 12:44 A.M.
Once the Team arrived back at Hogwarts they were immediately swarmed by teachers, students, and Ministry workers all asking if they and Harry were all right.
After handing Harry over to Ms. McGonagall, who said she'd take him to the Hospital Wing, the Team had to answer questions for the Ministry wizards and Fudge about what they knew about what had happened that night.
Finally the four Team members who had been able to get through the barrier were escorted up to the Hospital Wing as well to make sure they were okay. When they got there they passed Kid Flash's family, and the Hermione and Wally doppelgangers. They were waiting outside the Hospital Wing doors to be let in to see Harry.
Dumbledore and Sirius were inside the Hospital Wing, talking to Harry about what happened to him, and Madame Pomfrey was in the back getting a potion to calm Harry's nerves. Apparently Voldemort had brought himself back to life using 'the flesh of a servant (Pettigrew), the bone of the father (as in Voldemort's father), and the blood of an enemy (Harry)'. He had then summoned all of his followers who were still out of prison and told them how he'd arranged the whole charade with fake Moody and the Tournament. Bertha Jorkins, the witch who'd gone missing was dead, after being forced to tell him about the tournament and fake Moody's real identity still being alive. As it turns out Mr. Crouch's son, who he had arrested had been broken out of Azkaban and kept hidden in his own home for years until Bertha Jorkins accidentally found out and had been spelled into silence. After revealing his grand scheme, Voldemort had challenged Harry to a duel. That was where the Team had come in and knew the rest from there.
Sirius and Dumbledore both listened to Harry's tale with rapt attention, Sirius often letting out gasps and sounds when Harry got to some of the more gruesome parts.
When he got to the part about the light cage, Sirius started and asked, "The wands connected? Why?"
Dumbledore replied that it might have been because their wands shared similarities. Their two wands both had cores made of tail feathers that had come from the same phoenix. And that the connection had made Voldemort's wand regurgitate the last few spells it had cast, creating shadowy echoes of all the people who Voldemort had last killed, including Harry's parents.
'Guess I now know what those floating things were,' thought Kid Flash when he heard that.
The shadows had informed Harry of the heroes presence and had held Voldemort back so he could reach them. After that came the fight they'd been in, ending with the arrival of the magic using Leaguers and the Aurors.
After Harry finished the two adults seemed to just notice the Aqualad, Kid Flash, Zatanna and Jinx's presence. Just then Madame Pomfrey bustled in with the sleeping potion she had been getting for Harry. As she set about giving it to him Dumbledore let in Kid Flash's family and the doppelgangers.
Aunt Molly had tried to rush over to Harry, but Dumbledore calmed her down telling her that Harry needed sleep, but that she and the rest could stay with him. All the real people agreed, but the doppelgangers made excuses to leave, as Zatanna's spell that created them was going to wink out soon.
Dumbledore excused himself to go talk to Fudge. Harry took his sleeping potion and fell asleep on one of the hospital beds.
Once he was situated, Madame Pomfrey turned her attention to the four heroes in the room. After she was sure they were okay, and huffed when they refused sleep, they exited the Hospital Wing.
Kid Flash and Jinx quickly did a costume change and went back to join Wally's family in the Hospital Wing. Aqualad and Zatanna continued back to join the rest of the Team, and help figure out their next move.
A few hours later Fudge arrived looking preoccupied and wanting to talk to Harry. When he heard that Harry was asleep, he agreed to come back later. Before leaving he left he placed a sack of gold next to Harry's bed.
"What's that for?" asked Ron when he saw it.
"Ah, well," said Fudge with a grim smile. "Booby trapped or not, Harry was the first person to touch the Triwizard Cup, thus making him the winner. Young Cedric Diggory came in second, and Kid Flash in third." He then spared another glance at Harry's sleeping form. "Did he happen to mention any names of the Death Eaters that were present at the You-Know-Who's rising? I have seen some of the Death Eaters that were captured after he was rescued. All of them people who had been cleared of charges, and if they slipped by, then who else did?"
"I'm sure he'll give his testimony about that when he wakes up," said Sirius, making sure to emphasize the fact that Harry was trying to sleep.
Fudge nodded awkwardly and left.
Suddenly there was a loud slamming noise. Everyone in the room jumped, and turned to see Hermione standing by the window with something clenched in her fist. "Sorry," she muttered, when she saw everyone looking at her.
Harry stirred in his sleep, but didn't awaken.
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Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
June 25, 10:12 A.M.
The next morning after Harry awoke, the Diggorys arrived to see him. When Harry saw Cedric he had promptly apologized to him. Apparently it had been Harry's idea for them both to take the Cup at the same time, as it would still be a Hogwarts win. The idea that he had nearly put Cedric in danger horrified him.
Cedric waved off his apologies, and said he almost wished he had taken the Cup, that way Harry wouldn't have had to face his ordeal alone.
Harry tried to split the winning gold with him, since technically they did tie, but Cedric refused.
After Harry was dismissed from the Hospital Wing, Ministry Aurors interrogated him for hours about what happened in the graveyard. It turns out he did hear the names of some of the Death Eaters who had gotten away, and his information helped lead to their arrest.
The League had agreed to put finding Voldemort high on their priority list, but so far he had been able to elude them. Not even Batman had been able to find him… so far. One thing that the League had found worrying was the absence of Klarion the Witch Boy from the events at the graveyard.
Dumbledore on the other hand seemed to be keeping busy. Wally had overheard him giving cryptic instructions to certain individuals, and between Wally and the Golden Trio, they had deduced Dumbledore was sending Hagrid to make a deal with the Giants.
Wally was able to snag permission to keep coming back to Hogwarts as himself for the last few days before the end of term. He still came on Hogwarts duty with the rest of the Team (Batman's paranoia insisted they still stalk Harry till the end of term).
As Wally he was finally able to visit Hagrid again as a friend. He quickly reassured Hagrid that he didn't think any different of him now that he knew he was half giant, making Hagrid beam.
The End of the Year feast was more solemn then the last one Kid Flash had been to. Normally the house who had won the most points would have their colors decorate the Great Hall, but this time the hall was decorated with the colors of all three competing school, as well as red, white, and blue to symbolize the Justice League. Superman and Batman had both come to be the League representative for this occasion, and were deep in discussion with Dumbledore at the head table while dinner went on. The entire Team sat in their usual spot at the Gryffindor table as they ate, even Jinx (as Zatanna had once again made doppelgangers to fill in for her and Kid Flash).
When dinner was over, Dumbledore stood up to give his goodbye speech. "The end of another year. The Triwizard Tournament's aim was to further and promote magical, and nonmagical understanding. In light of what has happened- of Lord Voldemort's return- such ties are more important then ever before. Every guest in this Hall will be welcomed back at anytime, should they wish to come. I say to you all, once again- in light of Lord Voldemort's return, we are only as strong as we are united, as weak as we are divided. Lord Voldemort's gift for spreading discord and enmity is very great. We can fight it only by showing an equally strong bond of friendship and trust. Differences of habit, language, and even species, are nothing at all if our aims are identical and our hearts are open."
Robin leaned over to Kid Flash. "I wonder if Superman and Dumbledore take the same speech making class."
Kid Flash bit back a snicker. Robin was right, as serious as this speech was, it still sounded like something Superman would also say.
"It is my belief," Dumbledore continued, "and never have I so hoped that I am mistaken- that we are all facing dark and difficult times. Some of you in this Hall have already suffered directly at the hands of Lord Voldemort. Many of you have had your families have been torn asunder. But remember, if the time should come when you have to make a choice between what is right, and what is easy, remember that there are people who can help you, even in the darkest times."
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Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
June 28, 9:34 A.M.
Wally had decided to ride the Hogwarts express with the others. Since the Team had avoided mingling much with the student body, they had all said their goodbyes after the End of the Year Feast rather than this morning.
He was currently waiting with the Golden Trio for the carriages to take them to the train.
"'Arry!"
They all turned to look and see Fleur coming towards them to say goodbye.
"We will see each uzzer again, I 'ope," she said shaking Harry's hand. "I am 'oping to get a job 'ere to improve my Eenglish."
"It's very good already," said Ron in a dreamy voice, making Hermione scowl.
She smiled at him, then turned to Wally. "I 'eard you say you are from ze same town az Keed Flash?" she asked. When Wally nodded in reply she continued, "If you see 'im, tell 'im I am still grateful for 'im saving me, and I 'ope to return the favor someday."
Wally gave her a grin. "I'll be sure to pass it along."
She beamed before turning back to Harry. "Goodbye 'Arry. It az been a pleasure meeting you!" she said before returning to the rest of her classmates.
"Wonder how the Durmstrang students are getting back," said Ron, once she was gone. "D'you reckon they can steer that ship without Karkaroff?"
Karkaroff had fled the night of Voldemort's return. He was considered a traitor among them for giving names when he had been arrested before, and knew Voldemort and his Death Eaters would be coming after him in retaliation.
"Karkaroff did not steer," said a gruff voice behind them. "He stayed in his cabin and let us do the vork."
They turned and saw that Krum had come to say goodbye to Hermione. "Could I have a vord?" he asked her.
"Oh… yes… all right," said Hermione, turning red, and making Ron scowl as they stepped away.
When they came back, Krum shook Harry's hand and said, "It was nice to meet you as vell, Harry. I hope to one day play Quidditch against you."
Harry smiled and said, "It would be a pleasure."
Krum then turned to Wally. "Could you pass along a message to Kid Flash for me as vell?" he asked.
"I can try," said Wally.
"Tell him that I thank him for his help in the maze, and that I am glad he vas able to catch that madman."
"Sure thing," said Wally.
As Krum left to go back to the ship, Ron suddenly burst out. "Can I have your autograph?"
Krum was surprised at this, but still signed Ron's parchment as the carriages drawn by weird but cool snake horse things came to pick them up.
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The four of them had a compartment to themselves as they rode the train back to London. Harry was once again in a grumpy mood. Sirius had been able to gain custody over Harry on the condition that Harry return to his Aunt and Uncles house for at least a month every summer before going to live with him.
His mood didn't really improve when Cedric stuck his head in their compartment to tell Harry goodbye. Probably because he had the Ravenclaw girl that Harry was crushing on with him at the time.
After a while Hermione pulled out a paper to see what the Ministry was saying about Voldemort.
When Harry made the snide remark that the Prophet was probably going to bring Rita Skeeter off of vacation for this, Hermione got a Cheshire Cat grin on her face.
"Oh, I think Rita will be taking that vacation for a long time," she said with a large grin. "In fact, Rita Skeeter isn't going to be writing anything at all for a while. Not unless she wants me to spill the beans on her."
"What are you talking about?" asked Ron, voicing what the other two boys were wondering.
"I found out how she was listening in on private conversations when she wasn't supposed to be coming onto the grounds," she said excitedly, like she had been dying to share this with them.
"How was she doing it?" asked Harry.
"How did you find out?" asked Ron.
"Don't keep us in suspense," said Wally.
"Well it was really you who gave me the idea, Harry," she said cheerfully. At Harry's confused expression she grinned and explained. "Bugging."
"But you said they didn't work-"
"Oh not electronic bugs, unless of course they were provided by the League, which I doubt. No you see… Rita Skeeter-" said Hermione excitedly as she reached into her bag. "- is an unregistered Animagus. She can turn-" Hermione pulled a jar out of her bag, "-into a beetle."
"You're kidding," gaped Ron as he stared into the jar at the fat beetle inside it. "You haven't… she's not…"
"Oh yes she is," said Hermione proudly.
Ron was still wrapping his head around it, but Wally grinned, "Whoa."
Hermione then explained that she had caught the beetle on the Hospital Wing windowsill. Rita was probably looking for a new juicy story to get her job back, but hadn't counted on Hermione having figured her out. This caused Harry to remember there was a beetle on a statue when Hagrid was talking about his mother before the article about him came out. Hermione also pointed out that there had been a beetle in her hair after the second task when Krum had the conversation with her, which was printed in the love triangle article of Skeeter's.
Hermione looked into the jar with a smug grin. "I've told her I'll let her out once we're back in London. I've put an Unbreakable Charm on the jar, you see, so she can't transform. And I've told her that if she wants her secret to remain that way, she'll stop writing horrid stories about people and stick to the facts from now on."
As Hermione put the jar away the compartment door slid open.
"Very clever, Granger," said Blondie, as he and his cronies stepped inside the compartment.
"So," he continued, seeming unperturbed that Wally was there. "You caught some pathetic reporter, and Potter's Dumbledore's favorite boy again. Big Deal."
He glared at all of them. "You picked the loosing side Potter!" he spat. "I warned you! I told you you ought to choose your company more carefully, remember? But now it's too late, and you'll pay for getting my father arrested. Now that the Dark Lord is back, Mudbloods and Muggle-lovers will be the first to go. Well, actually second, you'll be firs-"
There was a loud banging sound, like one of Trickster's firecrackers. When the smoke cleared, Wally lowered his wand when he saw that Blondie and his goons were unconscious on the floor, looking like a mess from a jumble of jinxes (with the possibility of accidental magic thrown in by either Hermione or Wally).
He could see that Hermione, Ron, and Harry were also on their feet with their wands raised, but the four of them weren't the only ones who had fired spells.
Fred and George had seen the three and had figure they were up to no good. They made sure that they stepped on the unconscious jerks as they entered through the compartment door. After dragging said jerks out into the hallway, Fred and George joined hem in their compartment for a few games of Exploding Snap.
After the fifth round Harry asked, "Are you going to tell us, then? Who you were blackmailing?"
"What?" asked Wally. He'd been left out of the loop about that.
"Oh," grumbled George (maybe). "That."
"It doesn't matter," said Fred (possibly). "It wasn't anything important. Not now, anyway."
"We've given up," said George (could be) with a shrug.
The other four kept hounding the twins until they caved. "All right, all right, if you really want to know… it was Ludo Bagman," said Fred (ish)
"Bagman?" asked Harry sharply. "Are you saying he was involved in-"
The twins quickly assured Harry that Bagman wasn't part of the attempt on his life. No, Bagman had cheated them out of their winnings at the World Cup. He had given them Leprechaun Gold, which had vanished by the next morning. They had tried to get their winnings from him, but Bagman kept avoiding them, and refused to give them their money back when they asked. It turns out he had bet all his money to some goblins that Harry would win the Tournament, that was why he kept trying to help Harry throughout the Tournament. But the Goblins refused to acknowledge that Harry had completely won, and that he tied with Cedric at the end, but only Harry touched the Cup due to Kid Flash's interference. Bagman had to run for it to get away from them.
When the train pulled up at Kings Cross Station, they all started to disembark, however Harry hung back to talk to Fred and George. Curious, Wally listened in to what it was about. When he realized that Harry was using his Tournament prize money to invest in Fred and George's joke shop, he grinned and left them to their negotiations.
He waited to say goodbye to the Golden Trio before leaving to get to the London Zeta Tube. He was almost late for Team training, and from the look of things as far as the future goes, he was going to need to be prepared for anything.
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A/N And that's the end of this. And now that this is over, I'm going to take a step back from this story line for a couple reasons. Reason one is since Voldemort can't hide he was back this time what happens in the fifth book will probably be more like what happened in the sixth book reaction wise, and I may have to write out Umbridge entirely or at least change her reason for being there. The second reason is that they finally started showing new episodes of Young Justice Invasion, which confirmed that Jason Todd was Robin at some point before Tim Drake, as well as several other key factors to what I was still in the dark about. Because of all that to write a third fic in this series will take a lot of ideas, and with my waning interest, and college work, I just don't have the ideas it takes to write that right now. That's not to say I'll never have them. I do want to do more in this series, but for the moment it's not happening until I get my inspiration back. When that happens I'll post an epilogue on this story to let you all know. I thank everyone who has been sticking with me since Wally's Secret, and those who've joined in along the way. You've all been a huge help in doing this, especially if you gave me mission ideas.
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