Chapter Text
Rita was enjoying herself, the articles she was writing were truthful, hard-hitting news articles, not her usual twisted gossip articles. She did add her own twist, it was a requirement she gladly enjoyed. She also spent a fair amount of time in Diagon Alley and could hear and see the changes toward Dumbledore and his pawns, including Fudge and Umbridge who were arrested yesterday. They were sharing the cells on either side of Dumbledore. The trials were going to be starting tomorrow. She was looking forward to writing those articles.
She had front row seats for that. Harry, Lucius, Tom, and Severus watched from the upper floor as Madam Bones arrested the pair coming into work that very morning. She had been standing right next to Lucius when the cuffs were locked on Fudge's hands. "Couldn't happen to a better pair of idiots," Harry stated.
Rita had interviewed Ollivander, Tonks, Hermione Granger, Minerva McGonagall, and a variety of others, including members of the Weasley family. Each interview had made the front page, and since they were spaced out over the course of a few weeks, it enabled Harry with his friends to get things under control. The people responded first with panic when they heard Dumbledore was arrested, fear when they heard about their magical signature, loathing when they learned the truth, and compassion for their fellow wizards and witches who were affected by what Dumbledore and people in his Order did.
Rita spent a few days following around Madam Bones as she worked miracles in delaying the goblins from demanding custody of Dumbledore. Madam Bones promised after Dumbledore was found guilty in Wizengamot, they would turn Dumbledore over to the goblins. He would be serving whatever sentence the goblins decided on first, followed by a return to the Ministry to serve whatever was decided on by the Wizengamot. Madam Bones delayed Fudge in his attempt for a trial or receiving a grant of release that would allow Dumbledore to escape.
Rita met with the children in Knockturn Alley who had been denied their education, showing a softer and caring side to those who lived there. The article generated an increase in donations to which Minerva was thankful for as the regular Hogwarts accounts were under an audit and she wasn't sure how to provide an education for the children.
Rita mentioned how the staff was willing to work for free and provided a list of classes that would be returning. That article resulted in numerous applications to the Board of Governors. Lucius had commented to Rita how well the classes were received and the vast number of experienced Professor willing to work for free until the audit was completed.
However, Rita was most proud of her work that was selling so well that the Daily Prophet was in the third printing of the day. She looked down at the headline with pride. She knew the story on page two was going to be moved to tomorrow's headlines. She would have to remember to send Harry a nice thank you gift.
DUMBLEDORE FOUND GUILTY
By Rita Skeeter
As many of you have been reading over the last few weeks about the variety of criminal acts by former Headmaster Albus Dumbledore, I can safely say justice has been served. The Wizengamot has found him guilty of over 16,292 counts of magical tampering, 229 accounts of child abuse and neglect, 45 counts of embezzlement, 592 accounts of tampering with magical records, and 3 accounts of using dark artifacts, including one that generated false prophecies.
The true accounting of his crimes will never be known, as many who were affected by his earlier actions have passed away, some in the Wars, some of old age, some from work-related injuries which could be from using a wand that didn't match their core.
The goblins are still processing the audits on the vaults of Hogwarts, tracing the funds and returning them to the correct accounts. They do fear funds will be missing as former Headmaster Dumbledore's accounts were in arrears.
Rita turned to page two.
PUNISHMENT: Does it fit the crime?
by Rita Skeeter
Many decided on the punishment of Albus Dumbledore today. It was an agreement reached by the Goblin Nation and Wizengamot. There was a lot of negotiation in determining the punishment. The Goblin Treaties had to be consulted, as well as our own laws, old laws were discussed as well as new laws. It made for a rough few hours for the Wizengamot and the Goblin representative. Not to mention us in the gallery waiting for the results.
The final decision was reached and everyone left elated by the decision as everyone achieved what they desired, justice.
The sentence is simple, yet complex. I know, sounds confusing but I tell you, my readers, you are going to enjoy this. Everyone, including us in the gallery, was extremely surprised by how creative and fully justified the sentence was.
The full sentence starts with Professor Severus Snape providing the Goblin Nation with a special potion. This potion was an old de-aging potion. Now the reason it fell out of favor was that it didn't de-age a person in physical appearance, just in their magic. Yes, that is right, magic. It will allow Albus Dumbledore's magic to be seen as that of a child, enabling him to slow down his aging, yet prevent him from accessing it freely.
To prevent any accidental magic that would be displayed by a youthful core, there will be magical suppressor bands bound on each wrist. The bands will have special runes added to them to also prevent aging.
Albus Dumbledore was sentenced to serve one hundred years in the mines of the Goblin Nation or longer if he doesn't meet the debt he owes the Nation. If he meets the debt before the one hundred years, any funds will be donated to the Hogwarts Scholarship Fund.
The mines are far below ground, where there are numerous dragons, boggart, and other guardians that protect their mining business as well as the vaults.
After the debt has been paid in full, he is to serve twenty years of his life in Azkaban, followed by receiving the Kiss. Now I should state if he fails to make it that long, there will be no fines on the Dumbledore name, as he has no children.
She grinned as she closed the paper. She was looking forward to seeing what else they would provide her with. She hoped she would be able to write about their bonding.
"Harry?" Tom entered Harry's study. He could see Severus was clipping Rita's articles. The man had a nice collection of them now.
"He's gone to get a book from the upstairs library. The items from Dumbledore's vaults arrived this morning. Dobby, Kreacher, and Winky are putting them away." Severus gave Tom a smile as the man kissed him on the top of his head.
"Good. I was going to ask Harry where he wanted to go for our honeymoon. Do you have any suggestions?"
"I am fine as long as we can pick up some of the local potion ingredients, oh and no beach. I hate sand." Severus commented. He hated that sand got into everything.
"So Atlantis is out." Tom said.
"Yes, besides that is where everyone goes." Harry said as he entered the room. "Severus, I had Kreacher put the new potion books in your lab."
"Thank you. Where do you want to go?" Severus asked.
"I was actually thinking of hiding here. Telling everyone we are going away, close the floo, block the owls and spend the week or so just enjoying our time together."
"So no shopping, no tourist traps, no sand, and no strange beds. I like it." Severus told them.
"I wouldn't mind staying in place for a while." Tom admitted. "It will be nice to just kick back and enjoy ourselves."
"You know we will need it after Narcissa gets finished arranging everything." Harry told them. "She sent over another list."
"I saw. I passed it over to Lucius, told him to deal with her." Tom sat down next to Severus and looked at his scrapbook of articles.
"There are going to be more. We have a lot more work to do." Harry joined them on the couch.
"Yes, but we are together, who knew when he did that spell it would work out so well." Harry smiled, at Severus' words, as he knew they had a lot more work to do.
The buildings with the flats that needed to be bought and repaired, the changes to Knockturn Alley, Hogwarts, and the Board, so many things that Dumbledore messed up that they were working on fixing. He gave Tom a look over Severus' head. Severus was protected and that was the most important thing to them.
"Minerva wanted to know if we wanted to teach at Hogwarts next year. I told her I would let you know." Severus commented. "She said you could have your pick of positions Tom."