Chapter 20

"More toast anyone?"

Like any parent, Molly Weasley enjoyed stuffing food into her children, and there were five of them having breakfast in the kitchen of 12 Grimmauld Place. The presence of Hermione and Harry could not quite make up for the missing Charlie and Percy, but Mrs. Weasley was delighted to have them all the same. The kitchen would not accommodate everyone, and so breakfast that morning was in shifts, the last one being the Weasley family and the friends of their children. One chair had remained empty during breakfast, but no one had taken any notice. That is, until another guest appeared at the door.

"I thought I smelled bacon. I'm starving!" said Imogen, surmising correctly that the empty place was intended for her.

Bill looked at the newcomer. The girl reminded him greatly of Fleur, causing him to feel both attraction and guilt at the same time. He stared down at his plate in confusion. Fred and George stood when she entered the room, shocking their mother with their good manners.

"Imogen!" shouted Hermione in greeting. She introduced her friend to her mother and Bill.

"So you're the one who warned us about what was coming at the Ministry!" exclaimed Mrs. Weasley, giving the surprised girl a big hug. "If it hadn't been for you, my dear Arthur might not have made it to St. Mungo's!" Mrs. Weasley brushed away a tear as she began to put a plate of food together for Imogen.

"What happened to Mr. Weasley, if I may ask? Why did he come to any harm at all, if he had my warning?"

Everyone began to speak at once, but Mrs. Weasley hushed them all and told Bill to explain.

"My dad decided he'd take his turn at the Ministry despite the warning. He was scheduled, and there was no reason why someone should take his place. To be in the safe side, the Order had reinforcements there, and good people, too: Shacklebolt and Tonks.

"But it wasn't a snake that tried to break in - it was at least five death eaters. We're not sure of the precise number. There was a brief fight, and two of the death eaters were killed outright, a third wounded and captured. My father was badly injured by a curse, and lost a lot of blood. The healers told us that he was almost desanguinated by the time he reached St. Mungo's - another few minutes, and he would not have made it."

"I'm sorry," said Imogen. There was little she could say. At least her warning hadn't been useless, for Mr. Weasley alone would have fared poorly against five or more opponents in the depths of the Ministry.

"What time did you get in?" asked Hermione.

"I'm not sure - around one or two in the morning, I think."

"Professor McGonagall said you were to come tomorrow. Why come in the middle of the night? Were you lonely at Hogwarts?"

"I didn't want for company," said Imogen, her wry smile a dead giveaway that there was a story to be told. Pressed for details, Imogen was happy to supply them, for Dumbledore had explained to Imogen that there was no need for her to keep secret what had happened in the dormitory. Imogen launched into the story with gusto, and was surprised that the fear she'd felt the night before was absent as she narrated the event. She felt excitement as she re-lived the incident, but the heart-stopping terror was gone. The others listened with rapt attention, no one uttering a sound as the story unfolded.

"So then Madam Pomfrey came back down. Professor Dumbledore asked her whether it was safe to move the woman who attacked me, and Madam Pomfrey said that she was dead!"

Mrs. Weasley gasped in horror. Fred and George applauded, and Hermione and Ginny wore looks of grim satisfaction. Bill looked at Imogen with respect now - the girl had handled herself rather well for someone who only a few months earlier knew no magic at all.

"So who was the woman?" asked Harry. "What death eater could possibly have gotten past Hogwart's defences?"

"You'll never guess," said Imogen. "It was no death eater, at least I don't think she was one. It was an animagus - Filch's mother, also known as Mrs. Norris." Imogen was very satisfied with the shocked gasps all around the table.

"But you suspected something about Mrs. Norris - you were going to tell me something about her at lunch on Friday!" exclaimed Hermione.

"Yes," said Imogen. "And you were the one who helped me figure it out by lending me your copy of a history book." Imogen went on to explain about the photograph she'd seen in 'Hogwarts: A History', and the conclusion she'd drawn. Then she continued.

"I knew Mrs. Norris had it in for me when I'd figured out her secret. It was her or me. She was following me everywhere, waiting for her chance. I knew she was up to no good. That's why I blasted her with the stunning spell a couple of times before she broke into my room. And it was the stunning spell that got her in the end. Madam Pomfrey says the woman died from either a skull fracture or internal bleeding from injuries she suffered when she fell."

It had been a long time since Madam Pomfrey had last been in the headmaster's office. Usually Professor Dumbledore came to the infirmary when he needed to speak to her, almost invariably because a student had suffered an injury of some kind. But the headmaster was busy, and had asked the healer to drop by once she'd determined the cause of death of Imogen's victim.

Dumbledore had not bothered to tell Madam Pomfrey the password, and so she wasted a few minutes at the bottom of the staircase, reciting the names of various sweets until she named one that worked. Dumbledore was very careless with the password, for he had no need of more serious security measures. If anyone with truly evil intent guessed the correct candy password, far more difficult and possibly fatal obstacles were waiting for him. But Madam Pomfrey, long a fixture at the school, went up the stairs without hinderance and knocked on the door, entering at the headmaster's invitation.

"I hope you've been able to identify the cause of death," said Dumbledore. "I would hate to simply drop off the corpse at the Ministry without a detailed explanation. But on the other hand..."

Like many magical folk, Madam Pomfrey was uncomfortable with the headmaster's strange sense of humour, and was often unsure about whether he was joking or in earnest. After so many years at Hogwarts, she'd learned not to rise to the bait, and treated the headmaster's comment as an aside that required no response. She was eager to give her report, for as a school healer she but rarely undertook an autopsy. She performed a few each year at St. Mungo's during the summer to keep her hand in, and now she was very glad she did.

A few hours earlier, the body of Filch's mother had been on the table before her and already partially dissected. Raising her wand, the healer pronounced the cutting charm, and with three quick, sure strokes of her wand opened up the torso using the classic Y-shaped incision. Earlier she had peeled back the scalp and opened the victim's skull, satisfying herself that the head injury had not been severe enough to cause anything more than a bump and a headache.

The healer found the victim's abdominal cavity was filled with blood. Deftly Madam Pomfrey began to remove the body's organs, examining each for injury. The kidneys, stomach and liver all appeared normal, and after weighing each, she placed them in jars. The moment her wandwork lifted the spleen into the air, the organ separated into pieces and fell back into the cavity left by the other, now missing organs. She reached into the body and retrieved the mess with her hands, examining the pieces carefully.

It would be accurate to say that the spleen was ruptured, but an understatement. The organ had practically exploded inside the woman's body, the splenic artery and vein ripping open and spilling blood into the victim's abdomen. But this injury, however painful it would have been, did not account for the great speed with which the victim had been overcome, and Madam Pomfrey turned to the corpse and investigated further.

Following what she assumed to be the path of the force generated by the stunning spell, she ascertained that the abdominal aorta too had affected - severed, in fact. Such a severe injury was not survivable unless the victim were already in hospital with a healer present who knew her business, for the internal bleeding from such an injury was massive.

Madam Pomfrey gave the headmaster a succinct account of the injuries suffered by Filch's mother. Dumbledore had known the healer for decades and had the greatest respect for her skill. The questions he asked were not an indication of any doubt on his part about her opinion, but rather to make sure that he understood the implications of what she was saying.

"So it was the spell that killed, and not the fall that followed."

"Precisely," replied the healer.

"How often does the stunning spell result in a fatality?"

"Rarely. Very rarely. All the cases I know of where death occurred involved the elderly or the infirm - instances where the victim had a pre-existing heart condition. Either that, or the odd case where the victim fell and suffered a head injury - the same kind of thing we see with the petrificus curse on occasion."

"But surely there must be other examples where the stunning spell has killed someone outright by inflicting the kind of damage we saw here - this can't be the only time this has happened. Not that I put my opinion before yours, of course - this is your area of expertise, not mine."

Madam Pomfrey thought for a moment, and then suddenly hit upon a possible explanation.

"I know of no similar case. I think what happened last night is unique because the circumstances are unique. Yes, Imogen is an able student, but she is not the most formidable of her year, as far as I know. I think what happened was as much a product of Imogen's ignorance and weakness as her knowledge and talent. A more experienced witch, confronted by an assailant in the middle of the night, would probably have struck out with the killing curse. Someone of an older generation, familiar with and fearful of the evil of which death eaters are capable, would have taken no chances trying to restrain a nocturnal attacker with a lesser, non-lethal spell. In Imogen's situation, I would have killed the witch on the spot with the Avada Kedavra spell.

"But Imogen doubtless does not yet know the killing curse, whereas obviously she is very familiar with the stunning spell. With her limited repertoire of defensive magic, she chose to use a familiar and reliable weapon. And into that curse she focused all the terror and rage and hate she must have felt, and the result was a stunning spell of exceptional violence."

Dumbldore nodded in agreement. "I do not doubt that the Ministry will come to a similar conclusion. Mind you, I do not think they will be asking too many questions, given the circumstances."

Madam Pomfrey understood the headmaster's meaning, for everyone knew that wizards and witches were entitled to use lethal force if their home were broken into at night. That had been the law since ancient times. Doubtless the Ministry would have to satisfy itself of the basic facts, but once it was established that a witch had broken into a teenage girl's room, the Ministry would not inquire into the details of how the attacker met her death.

There was a knock at the door.

"Thank you, Madam Pomfrey. That will be Mr. Filch," said Dumbledore. "Please let him in on your way out."

Imogen had intended to spend every waking moment studying, but her plans immediately went awry after breakfast. She was delighted to allow Harry, Ron and Hermione to give her a tour of the old house, for aside from the fact that she wanted to see the place, she found that even after a short separation, she missed them very keenly and preferred their company to that of a textbook. After examining the remote corners of the home, and experiencing the pleasure of being screamed at in the front hall by the painting of the home's former mistress ( "Filthy girl even less than a muggle-born mudblood! Not even born a witch!"), she found herself back in the kitchen with her friends, a pot of coffee and snacks, discussing the Asturias potion. Ron was beside himself at not having attended the lesson on how to make the potion.

"It's the one Potions lesson I regret missing! Harry, if I could learn how to make that potion, I'd never need to borrow your cloak again! Just think of the fun!" Ron was enraptured by the endless mischief made possible by the potion.

"I could tell you how to make it," said Imogen. "But it's really, really difficult. Only Neville managed it, and like I said, if you get it wrong and don't realize it, the potion will kill you. That reminds me - Neville will be really annoyed that his potion is gone - he was so proud of it. Mind you, it saved my life, so maybe he won't mind too much."

"No kidding," said Harry, causing Ron and Hermione to laugh. They'd all noticed the looks Neville gave Imogen, and knew that their friend would be delighted to know that a potion he'd made had saved the object of his affection.

"Imogen," said Harry, "Hermione's already told us about the discussion you had with her in Hagrid's hut. We were all too hard on you, and like her, I'm sorry. Now that I've said that, do you mind if I ask you about what else is coming up?"

"Yeah," added Ron. "Is there anything really nasty waiting for us? A stubbed toe, perhaps, or a meal not properly cooked? Anything at all?"

Imogen thought for a moment, and then decided to give the news straight up.

"Before the end of term, if things haven't changed, then you, Harry, will be fighting one-on-one with Voldemort yet again. Your godfather will die at the hand of Bellatrix Lestrange. Voldemort will escape you, and the following year, Dumbledore will die. Despite this, the death eaters will be defeated, and you will have the satisfaction of personally killing the wizard who murdered your parents. But all of this will come to naught, for Voldemort's heir will be untouched."

Harry, Ron and Hermione were devastated by the news, and expressions of disbelief immediately followed. Who could possibly kill Dumbledore? And surely things could be changed to save Sirius.

"Dumbledore won't be killed, at least not in a fight. In a year's time he will become cursed - fatally cursed - and rather than allow himself to die of it, he will order one of the members of the Order to kill him. I can explain all this later, but you have to understand something. I know it's hard to believe, but the real problem is not Voldemort, dangerous though he is. It's his heir. And I've already started events in motion to defeat him even before Voldemort is dealt with."