244 Chapter 241
It took Harry a second to realize that the deflated football was actually an infant him.
The next three were of him with his mum, with him looking a bit bigger and plumper each time. The one after that was of him on his dad's shoulders, and the last one was a magical picture of him riding a toy broom at full speed right into his dad's gut. The cameraman, presumably his mum, had managed to catch the exact moment he had made an impact, and the comedically scrunched up expression on his dad's face was caught in all his glory.
Harry picked up the photographs and stuffed them into his pocket before he looked back to the file and hesitated. He'd found the pictures he had been looking for. He could just close the file and leave now. There was no reason to bring back bad memories. No reason to look further in.
And yet, as much as he wished to forever live in the beautiful lie of an illusion he'd crafted of his parents' lives, their death was the painful truth. So he turned the page, and there they were. On one side was a picture of his dad, slumped lifelessly against a drawer, and on the other was his mum. She looked more peaceful, her red hair flaring gently around her almost as if she was lost in a gentle sleep, just waiting to be shaken awake.
Neither of the pictures moved.
Harry turned the page over, not wanting to look at the pictures anymore. Whereas the thoughts and memories of his parents' lives kept him warm every single day, he found no comfort in death.
The next three pages contained a short statement from the Wizengamot and lots of cut-out articles whose headlines triumphantly declared Voldemort's vanquish, each presenting their own slightly different version of what had gone on in that fateful night. One article that smelt more like propaganda than anything else spoke of how Harry, born with true magic's blessing, was able to reject Voldemort's spells. Another one spoke of how Lily Potter dabbled in dark magic, using fire to fight fire. As the dates on the articles grew, the tabloids eventually reached the same conclusion about Harry somehow reflecting the Killing Curse.
The very last page contained three handwritten notes.
The first one was about Harry.
Harry James Potter has been placed with his closest blood relatives as per the Wilkinson's Custodian Act of 1674.
The second one was, much to his surprise, the Department of Mysteries.
Investigation by the Dept. of Mysteries into the reasons behind the survival of Harry Potter have been put to a stop by executive orders from the Ministry seconded by a Wizengamot vote.
But the third one was the most unsettling one.
RELATED TRIAL: Sirius Black and Peter Pettigrew were known to be close family friends to the Potters, and his case is related heavily to this one. Trainee Aurors studying this case are recommended to look for Protected File #C34 and peruse it to gain a more complete picture of the story.
Harry closed the file with an uncomfortable feeling between anger and morbid curiosity. So Sirius Black had remained friends with his father after Hogwarts, but had betrayed them and turned for the other side? There had to be more to this. What had happened?
Putting the file back into its place in the shelf, Harry scoured the section of the shelf, looking through as many case files as he could in his search for anything that had C34 written on it. It was a few minutes before he found it in the bottommost section of the shelf, a thin little file lodged behind a fat file on a case about whether wearing underwear beneath your robes should be compulsory or not.
Deciding to not look into that particular case, Harry reached out to pull out the C34 file, only to have his hand bounce off.
'That must be what it means by it being a Protected File. It's warded,' Harry realized, before immediately activating Runic Burnout.
Runic Burnout Lv-6 (21%)
A precise sucking of magic from a ward by using it to refill one's own core. It starts causing damage to HP when magic continues to be sucked after the MP is full. A common way to get around it is to use up mana as fast as it comes in.
Do you wish to use it on: Advanced Locking Ward?
YES/NO
Harry burned a small flame in his hand to keep the mana flowing and pressed yes. A small burst of mana washed his senses, and Harry knew that the ward was gone.
He quickly pulled the file open and started looking at what was in there.
The first page was a yellow page with a warning on it.
WARNING!
This file is marked as restricted by the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. If you are a civilian and have encountered this file, please return it to the nearest Ministry official immediately.
Harry didn't even think before turning the page, and thus was completely caught off guard by a large picture of a finger with a bloody stump on the next page.
File #C34 was very lucky that Harry hadn't eaten a large breakfast that morning.
Quickly turning the picture away, Harry read through the DMLE report on the next page.
DMLE REPORT: FINAL
Sirius Black was arrested on 1 November 1981 after he was found laughing madly surrounded by 12 dead muggles and 1 dead wizard named Peter Pettigrew. What follows is the clearest possible recounting of the events leading up to that.
James and Lily Potter were hiding from You-Know-Who using a powerful concealment charm called the Fidelius. The Potters chose Sirius Black, a close friend, as their Secret-keeper. Barely a week later, he betrayed the Secret to You-Know-Who.
It is speculated that Black was tired of his double-agent role, and was ready to declare his open support for You-Know-Who. However, due to infant Harry Potter mysteriously vanquishing his master, Black was left with no choice but to run.
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