Monday, May 8, 2023 9:00 AM
Harry sat up against the headboard of the hospital bed that he'd been moved to after he'd passed out three days earlier due to a combination of exhaustion, blood loss, and pain. He'd slept through the past two and a half days and had only been awake for a couple of hours now. That had still been more than enough time for him to learn that his injuries had been healed, the venom in his blood had been neutralized (though he didn't know if it had been the SAO Crystals and Potion that had done it or something Madam Pomfrey had done while he was asleep), and the Weasley family had been to visit both him (to thank him) and their children/siblings.
He also knew that the youngest Weasley had not yet woken up but that her injuries (which had been inflicted upon her through the bond that had bound her to the Soul Receptacle) had been treated. Harry was also pretty confident that her current condition was the result of Voldemort Jr. stealing her magic and life force to give himself a new body and not something that he'd done. She might just be an NPC in his mind but that didn't mean that he wanted to be responsible for her death. He also didn't want to think of the repercussions of failing his quest since he didn't know if that would reset the year or not and he certainly did not want to repeat that year.
Harry was just contemplating his chances of sneaking out of the Infirmary unnoticed when the doors of the Infirmary swung open and a group of loud wizards and witches trooped into the room. Leading the pack of adults was a cold man with long blonde hair, cruel eyes, and a familiar House Elf that was trying to finish polishing the man's shoes. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were there as well; the two redheads arguing with the blonde man quite determinedly. It only took Harry a two minutes to learn two things; the blonde man was Lucius Malfoy and the man was there to have little Ginny Weasley arrested and thrown into Azkaban as the one responsible for unleashing Slytherin's monster upon the school.
"Children from all four houses were attacked, regardless of blood heritage, and not even you can deny that it was your daughter that was caught red-handed unleashing the monster from within the Chamber of Secrets," Mr. Malfoy silkily pointed out in a smugly superior tone and Harry could clearly hear the satisfaction in his voice; something that bothered the pint-sized wizard.
Before either of the elder Weasleys could defend their daughter yet again, Harry spoke up, "That is a lie; Ginny Weasley was both the attacker's first and final victim."
"And how would you know, boy?" Mr. Malfoy demanded as he whipped around to glare in Harry's direction.
"You mean aside from the fact that I was the one who dragged her unconscious body out of the Chamber of Secrets? I know because I fought the one the responsible and I was the one that destroyed the ancient Basilisk that he'd been setting upon the students all year long. Miss Weasley was hovering near death when I'd found her; her magic and soul being devoured by Voldemort Junior so that he could leave the diary he'd been trapped inside."
All of the adults (bar Malfoy Sr.) flinched, jumped, gasped, or screamed upon hearing the dreaded Dark Lord's name and Harry rolled his eyes at the rather overdramatic reaction. Mr. Malfoy, on the other hand, had narrowed his eyes and pressed his lips together in anger and Harry filed the man's reaction in the back of his mind even as he lifted his chin a bit and dared the man to call him a liar.
"What proof do you have, young man?" a short pudgy man wearing a green hat and tie, whom Harry recognized as the Minister of Magic (Cornelius Fudge) from Pettigrew's trial, demanded as he frowned at Harry.
"What kind of proof are you looking for, Minister?" Harry asked in return as he lifted his right hand in preparation for opening his Inventory. "I have several Items taken from the dead Basilisk, a diary belonging to one T. M. Riddle aka Voldemort Junior, and the remains of the Soul Receptacle that held the memory of the teenage Voldemort that had been drawing on Miss Weasley's life force all year long. Of course, you could just ask Mr. Malfoy to explain what he knows about the Soul Receptacle since he was the one that orchestrated the entire affair in order to discredit the Weasley family."
"Now see here, boy, you can't just go around accusing well known and well respected members of society of things like that," Minister Fudge protested heatedly while Mr. Malfoy went white in fear before the tips of his ears turned red in anger and Harry knew he'd both hit on the truth and hit a nerve.
"Perhaps this is a conversation that would best take place in private," Dumbledore interjected smoothly as he arrived with another group of individuals in time to hear the last part of Harry's exchange with the Minister.
"No, I don't think so, Albus," the stately old woman with a broad square jaw, short gray hair, and thick eyebrows that had come in with the Headmaster insisted as she reached up and adjusted the monocle that she wore over her right eye as she flicked her gaze between Harry and Mr. Malfoy. Harry recognized the woman from Pettigrew's trial the previous year as well; she was Amelia Bones, Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement (DMLE), and a member of the Wizengamot. "I, for one, am very interested in what this young man has to say. I am also very interested in seeing each of the items he's mentioned."
.
.
.
.
đź‘€The novel is available in PDF, visit my Patreon stoređź‘€
🚬Patreon.com/BlackGoku222🚬