Time Bubble – 5 th August / Real time 1 st July 1995
Sirius smiled softly as Harry finished saying goodbye to his friends. He'd reconnected with Noshi's grandchildren once he'd gotten back on his feet and spending time with them had helped Harry's recovery. He could be normal with them; just another teenager.
Sirius was pleased that the six weeks they'd stayed at the Valley had helped Harry heal, not only from the physical injuries he'd sustained, but also from the emotional and mental trauma of the previous year.
Harry wasn't completely recovered though.
Physically, he still tired easily after spell-work, but he had regained the weight he'd lost and he looked fit and healthy. Emotionally, Harry was also still prone to mood swings and hours where he'd retreat again into silence. But there was a steel core inside of his son which had helped him survive for years and Harry had made strides in his therapy - enough that the clinic was supporting their decision to return to England and the aftermath of the war.
"Noshi." Sirius took the healer's outstretched hand and shook it warmly. "Thank you again."
Noshi shrugged away his gratitude. He let go of Sirius's hand. "I will not see you here again, my friend."
"You won't mind if I think that's a good thing, right?" Sirius asked, pleased at Noshi's words. He remembered all too well the previous year when Noshi had forewarned of their return to the Valley.
Harry stepped up beside Sirius and reached out to shake Noshi's hand. "Thank you, Noshi."
Noshi clasped his hand and hummed.
Sirius's heart sank.
Noshi let Harry go and smiled at him. "Your daughter will bring her husband here after a potions accident freezes his hand. She will be carrying their child."
Harry's face brightened with happiness. "I'm going to have a daughter?"
"Please tell me she isn't named Quaffle." Sirius begged.
They all laughed.
Sirius checked the time. "Come on. The portkey Amelia sent should activate in a few moments." He held out the shoe to Harry who grimaced and grasped it.
"Why can't they just use something normal?" grumbled Harry as they nodded a final farewell to the medical staff.
"A shoe is normal." Sirius pointed out.
The hook and swirl of the portkey travel prevented Harry from replying and a second later they stumbled into a landing in Amelia's office. Sirius managed to steady Harry with one hand and rebalance himself all at the same time.
Harry pulled a face. "I really hate portkey travel."
"Harry!" Remus pushed his chair back and bounded over to hug Harry.
Sirius smiled at a beaming Amelia. "Thank you for the shoe home."
Amelia rounded her desk and surprised him with a hug. "Welcome home, Sirius."
Remus finally let go of Harry and Sirius found himself released from Amelia's embrace and swept into Remus's. "Moony."
"Padfoot." Remus sounded like he was blinking back tears.
Sirius patted him carefully on the back. Remus's hold loosened and he stepped away, surreptitiously swiping at the corner of his eye.
"I'm just so glad to see you both." Remus said. "When you left…"
Sirius put an arm around Harry's shoulder. "It was tough but we got better."
Amelia waved at the chairs in front of her desk and the tea service she had set out. "Remus and I thought it might be a good idea to bring your up to speed before you ended up back in the thick of things."
Sirius nudged Harry into one chair, took one for himself and Remus slipped into the one that was left. "That's a good idea."
"How long has it been for you since the battle?" Amelia asked.
"Six weeks." Harry replied as Sirius had just taken a sip of his tea.
"You need to keep in mind for most people only seven days have passed." Remus cautioned.
Sirius frowned because he didn't think Harry needed the reminder. He nodded at Amelia. "Why don't you fill us in?"
And she began.
It was a long debrief. Harry was pale by the end of it and Sirius noticed white lines of tiredness and tension around his mouth and eyes when Amelia finally came to a halt and requested a fresh pot of tea.
Sirius waited until Harry's hand were wrapped around his tea, the warmth of it comforting his son. "What's on your mind, Harry?"
Harry's lips quirked sideways into an unhappy frown. "Mostly?" He shrugged – a distinctly teenage variation of studied disinterest. "I know there are bigger things to talk about but all I keep coming back to is Hannah."
"Understandable." Remus said soothingly. "She was a friend and she betrayed you; she broke her oath of fealty ten times over."
"She betrayed everyone." Harry corrected firmly. "I'm not even the person she betrayed the most." He looked over at the Director of the DMLE. "How's Sue?"
Amelia winced and sat back. "Pretty much as you expect her to be; angry, upset, struggling to understand what happened to Hannah."
"What exactly did happen to her and what's going to happen now?" asked Harry bluntly. "I mean, you kind of skimmed over that."
Sirius wasn't surprised when Amelia glanced in his direction for permission. Sirius gave it with a quick nod. Harry deserved to know the truth of why.
Amelia sighed heavily. "What happened was that Barty Crouch Junior groomed her."
"Groomed?" questioned Harry.
"It's a term used to describe how abusers approach and seduce their victims." Sirius explained crisply.
"Well, Crouch was classic in his grooming technique. To begin with, he courted her with love notes that flattered her; told her how important she was, how special, how pretty and grown-up she was for her age." Amelia said. "She had kept all of them and most of the early ones only have a compulsion charm to read them and keep them secret, nothing more. He used his elf to send her letters once Hannah started back at Hogwarts and so they began exchanging letters." She tapped the side of her cup. "His letters…I suspect that there is more truth in them than perhaps he even realised. His heartbreak at losing his first love certainly rings true. He coaxed her into telling him her secrets; convinced her that she was the only guardian of his secrets. He set up an intimacy between the two of them in their correspondence, effectively cutting her off from her parents and friends through creating this…this secret club between them."
"Which left her isolated." Remus added. "She came to view him as the only person who understood her; who truly knew her."
"Why didn't anyone notice?" Harry wondered.
Sirius reached across and squeezed his shoulder. "Because he was clever. And he had her pretending to be in love with Neville which distracted everyone."
Amelia nodded. "Susan said to me the other night that she wonders in hindsight how much of Hannah's love-struck comments which she assumed were about Neville were really about Crouch." She sat forward clasping her hands on top of her desk. "After Yule Hannah must have had second thoughts because then he potioned her for over a month with a suggestibility potion and the letters had stronger compulsion spells on them including one to fully believe the content." She sighed. "Eventually, he met her disguised as a Durmstrang student in late January and progressed their relationship further. We think they were secretly dating through most of this year. Susan's depression after the second task gave Hannah an excuse to pull away from Neville without suspicion, and a ready excuse for her changed behaviour when people did notice."
Harry gave a nod of understanding.
"Unfortunately, by the end of February it looks as though Crouch was confident enough in Hannah's feelings for him that he was no longer potioning or compelling her." Amelia said a touch bitterly. "Even now, she's utterly convinced Barty was a misunderstood, witty, intelligent man who was victimised by you, Sirius. She confessed she agreed to act as his agent in Hogwarts when he decided to in her words 'get rid of the traitorous elf who'd kept him prisoner' and break his cover in the school."
Sirius shook his head. Poor Leonard and Karen. The couple had to be distraught over what had happened to their daughter.
"They met in secret the night before the task and…and their relationship became sexual." Amelia continued brusquely. "She stated very firmly it was consensual but as she's fifteen and legally cannot consent, was thoroughly manipulated into it to boot, it's considered statutory rape. She still doesn't see that Crouch did anything wrong. She's fervent in her belief that she was the one to convince him to have sex; she was the seductress."
"It's not unusual for abusers to manipulate their victims into feeling that they are responsible for tempting them into inappropriate behaviour, or into believing the contact is about them being special and beautiful, even into believing they want it." Remus commented.
"That's awful." Harry stated bluntly.
"It is," Amelia agreed, "and unfortunately Hannah is so thoroughly entrenched in that mind-set that it may take many years for the damage Crouch has wrought to be undone."
"The mind healers could help her though, right?" asked Harry.
Amelia nodded slowly. "However it may be too late." She gestured across the desk. "Hannah was confirmed as mentally sound yesterday by the senior mind healer on her case. She is completely aware of right and wrong; she isn't legally considered insane or incompetent."
"So she'll face criminal charges." Sirius deduced immediately.
"Yes." Amelia pointed at a folder on the desk. "By her own admission, Hannah knowingly conspired to have Neville kidnapped at Yule. She opened up the vanishing cabinet and allowed vampires, mercenaries and Death Eaters into Hogwarts. She did so knowing that they intended harm to the students, teachers and tournament visitors. She conspired to commit murder and destruction in a terrorist act."
"I guess there are also charges pertaining to her attack on Susan." Remus murmured.
"And her attack on the Creevey brothers and Lavender Brown." Amelia confirmed.
Harry frowned. "What attack?"
"Hannah upon entering Hogwarts stunned the Creeveys and Susan." Amelia explained. "She imperiused the brothers to attack Miss Brown for no other reason than to keep them occupied and out of her own way. Luckily the Patil twins interrupted the attack before Miss Brown suffered anything more than bruises from being grabbed."
"Merlin." Harry muttered.
"All of that group were traumatised." Amelia confirmed. "And now she has been ruled as mentally competent, I can no longer refrain from formally charging her and arranging for her trial. I was holding off until the results from Saint Mungo's were known." She sighed heavily. "Unfortunately there is a very good chance she might be carrying the Crouch heir."
Harry blanched. "Seriously?"
Sirius had never felt less like drawing attention to the inherent joke about his name. He ignored it and focused on Amelia.
"They found a fertility potion in her system." Amelia said succinctly.
Sirius repressed the urge to sigh. "What do you intend?"
"She'll be remanded to a holding cell this afternoon, charged and her trial set for a date after we can verify whether she is pregnant or not." Amelia confirmed briskly. She gestured at the folder. "The Wizengamot may apply leniency to the sentencing given her age and that as the victim of Crouch, she was manipulated into performing the crimes and potentially does have a case for diminished responsibility. She'll end up in Azkaban either way especially now the Dementors are no longer a consideration."
Sirius frowned before he remembered how Remus had explained Hogwarts had killed the remaining Dementors as part of her defence; Cornelius had approached the goblins about a guard contract and it would be reviewed and hopefully approved in a special Wizengamot session. In the interim, a group of aurors and hit wizards were performing the duty of securing Azkaban.
"Of course, if she's pregnant, there will be arrangements made to ensure she receives care until the child is born." She continued. "Leonard and Karen will then need to make a decision on the care of the child." She looked at Sirius. "You could call Judgement on her; she took the fealty oath as Heir before Crouch got his hooks into her."
Sirius felt another pang of sympathy for the Abbotts. It was a mess. "Let's hope she isn't pregnant. I think we'll hold off on Judgement either way."
Harry gave a slow nod. "How much of this does everyone know?"
Amelia sighed. "Only the barest details; that she was seduced by Crouch and her known crimes. I've kept everything else under wraps to protect Leonard and Karen but some, if not all, of it will come out at trial." She picked up her tea. "I'm honestly not looking forward to explaining this to Susan."
Harry nodded. "Or Neville."
"I think they've been a good support for each other." Remus said. "I've noticed they tend to gravitate towards each other during meals at the Estate."
Sirius looked over at him in confusion.
Remus's cheeks went a touch red. "Ah, I guess I forgot to mention that the House of Black and its allies are currently in residence at the Black Estate? The healers thought it would be beneficial for us all to be together."
"Yes, you forgot to mention that." Sirius said dryly. He nudged Harry. "You still want to head home?" They had planned to go straight to Griffin House.
Harry bit his lip as he thought but he ended up shaking his head. "Let's go to the Estate. We should be there with everyone else."
"Is there anything else we need to know immediately?" asked Sirius, turning back to Amelia.
She shook her head. "I will need to interview you for your official statements at some point though."
Sirius reached into his robe and drew out two rolled-up parchments. "Our written statements. Let us know when you want to meet."
Amelia smiled at him. "Thank you, Sirius."
Sirius waited until Harry was on his feet before he moved them to the floo.
It was time to go home and begin rebuilding with their allies.