Chapter 26: Aftermath

Ten minutes. That was how long the fight took. It wasn't enough for reinforcement to arrive, neither from school, or from Kaiser's private forces. Though they arrived afterwards to help put down the Fiendfyre, there was no sign of Death Eaters, unless you count the dead bodies left behind reduced to mere ashes.

They arrived in a safe house, where they were administrated first-aids. Kaiser turned around to see everyone's sick expressions. They have just witnessed gory deaths, and experienced the most traumatizing experience in their life so far, being so close to death. Sirius was consoling the trio; he had participated in a war before, so such scenes were probably nothing new to him, not to mention his career as an Auror.

They just had first hand experience on how cruel the world can be. They were completely useless in a real fight, against full fledged wizards, with real combat experience.

Hermione was crying both from her injury, and from everything she felt through the fight, while Daphne stood in a corner, shivering from exhaustion and from the earlier events. She was on the verge of crying as well. Trembling of the cold weather, she stood there watching the ceiling above her weak looking figure wondering about what has just happened. Until suddenly, Kaiser approached her and stood next to her.

Silence filled the air around them but it spoke thousands of words. He nervously curled his hands around her, guilt filling his heart for dragging her into such a situation. She tried to stay strong but her tears failed her, running down silently like an angry stream.

After they calmed down for a bit, Kaiser turned to everybody and said: "We need to go back to Hogwarts. My friends here will Apparate us to Hogsmeade village, then we'll make our way to Hogwarts from there." He then turned to Sirius. "This place is under a Fidelius. It's the safest place for you. My friends will also discuss with you a plan to get you out of this situation. Is that alright with you?"

Sirius looked pensive for at that, weighing down his options. Should he trust this stranger? He did save their lives, twice.

"You should stay, Sirius. I trust Kaiser would do nothing to harm you." Harry encouraged. After moments of silence, Sirius agreed to his offer, though he was a bit skeptical. Five masked individuals approached each one of them, to Apparate them to Hogsmeade. The masks were necessary, because right now, especially after their latest announcement, anyone working under Karl and Kaiser were in danger of being targeted. They weren't taking any risks.

Once they arrived, they were greeted by a squadron of Aurors, and an angry and worried professor McGonagall, who wanted to do nothing more but yell at them if not for their injuries. They were carried immediately to the infirmary for treatment.

They all showed signs of magical exhaustion (though the most severe was Kaiser himself), with scratches and bruises all over their bodies. Ronald Weasley had a fractured ankle, while Hermione suffered from a broken thigh bone.

Madam Pomfrey never ceased to reprimand them for their recklessness while treating them, venturing to the forbidden forest in the evening, even though the name should be enough of a clue.

Kaiser an Daphne had acted as the front line for the group, thanks to their protective gear. Their Dragon Hide clothes absorbed several spells, and protective enchanted items activated their shields several times as well. Though several enchantments broke down.

"What were you thinking! You could have died! A mass murderer is on the run, and you decide to go to the forbidden forest of all the places!" Madam Pomfrey lectured them angrily. "You'll stay here for a week until I make sure nothing is wrong with you." she said with a tone of finality, leaving no room for arguments. But that did not suit Kaiser very well. There was no way in hell he'd be sleeping in such an unprotected environment, where the headmaster himself was untrustworthy, but Madam Pomfrey did not need to know that.

The mediwitch proceeded to kick the aurors out, telling them to come back in the morning for questioning. The mediwitch was so protective of her patient, if a god interfered with them, she'd most likely kick him too.

Kaiser could finally think about what happened that day. He originally planned to deal with the transforming Remus, extract Sirius using a portkey, and be done with it. But, for some reason, it all went south after they dealt with the werewolf. The presence of Death Eaters was not expected. They had no reason to be there.

Pettigrew disappeared the night Sirius was arrested, and stayed as a rat with the Weasleys. He had no way to contact the other Death Eaters, not that they would help him either way. He was useless as far as they were concerned. Which means, Pettigrew was not the reason.

The Death Eater were perhaps searching for Sirius? Malfoy had every reason to eliminate him, as it would instantly double his political and economic power when he completely controls the Black Family. But, again, he had no reason to guess he'd be there. Fiendfyre was used during that fight. It was a very dark spell, only available to prominent dark families. Which means a higher up among the Death Eaters was present, someone in an important position in the Wizarding world. Which means, that wasn't a search party. Someone of that standing would never concern himself with searching endlessly a dark forest in the middle of the night.

They could be there for another reason, and the fact that they met them was merely a coincidence, but it was less likely. It was an organized ambush. Which only leaves one reasonable possibility.

Kaiser turned to the trio after the medi-witch left them: "This is going to seem insensible of me, but I have to know. Did you tell anyone about our little adventure?"

"Of course not! Why would we tell anyone we were about to break the rules?" Hermione answered without missing a beat.

"Yeah, she's right." Harry said. Ron kept silent.

"Who did you tell, Ron?" Kaiser already knew it had to be him.

"I-I-I didn't tell anyone." Ron said in the most untrustworthy way possible, guilt seeping through his voice.

"I'm not blaming you, Ron. (It was my bad for not accounting the possibility of you being an idiot. He added internally.) I just need to know who did you speak to." Ron's eyes met Kaiser's, and a silent Legilimency probe made its way to him.

Kaiser was seeing scenes of Ron boasting to someone about how they'd venture in the forbidden forest, and Kaiser would be tagging alone. It happened multiple times, in multiple locations. Gryffindor common room, Great Hall, after class… Which reduced the people that might have reported the information to… every fucking person in Hogwarts.

"I-I-I might have told Seamus…" he said hesitantly, but Kaiser didn't care anymore, and concentrated on meditating. Ron was definitely the most unreliable person he'd seen so far. He was a teenager, of course, and he never had to be careful of what to say. But still, if not for Kaiser, Harry Potter had more than enough enemies. Should the Death Eaters have a clear opportunity to dispose of him, they wouldn't miss it, would they? Ron doesn't realize that he started a war, merely by boasting to his friends.

The Death Eaters would never directly attack Kaiser like that, but this opportunity was too much for them to miss. Their original plan was: Get in the forest stealthily, ambush Kaiser and his company, dispose of the body, leave the premises. That way, the murder, if there were any traces left, could never be traced back to them, and the Dark Faction wouldn't acquire the ire of the Neutral faction.

Now, they created a Vendetta. They didn't even succeed in killing their target, and lost three of their own instead. That wouldn't be enough compensation for the Neutral Faction, that invested heavy money on Kaiser. They could certainly claim that their target was Harry Potter, and Kaiser being there was merely an unfortunate coincidence, but that still wouldn't be enough compensation.

Kaiser wouldn't blame Ron, as he himself did not foresee this. He usually took as little risks as possible, and if he foresaw this, he would've called in a team of trained wizards to protect him. He was lucky that they survived. That's right. It was nothing more than luck.

Why did the Magical beasts attack the Death Eaters? That was abnormal. Magical beasts, unless they were territorial, would never attack a dangerous individual, especially after he kills one of theirs. Wolves? Acrumantulas? None of those were territorial beasts, and yet they jumped crazily at the Death Eaters.

What would have made them change their behavior so much?

It was then that he remembered what Luna said in the beginning of the year.

"Don't you feel the forbidden forest has changed?"

"I feel they're more agitated and aggressive than they should be."

'So that's the reason, huh…' Indeed. Something seems fundamentally different about the forbidden forest. What prompted such a change? He wasn't knowledgeable about magical creatures. In fact, he rarely read anything about them, only when he had to interact with them, like the case of Dementors. Maybe he'd have to ask an expert.

"… They portkeyed away, and Sirius disapparated." Snape was reporting what happened to the Head of the DMLE: Amelia Bones, Head Auror: Rufus Scrimgeour, Minister of Magic: Cornelius Fudge, the headmaster and his deputy, and the head of the Ravenclaw House, Filius Flitwick.

"What were the Death Eaters doing there of all the places?" asked a puzzled McGonagall. It didn't make any sense to meet Death Eaters in the middle of nowhere.

"I believe I can answer that." the headmaster said with his trademark grandfatherly attitude. "There have been… rumors spreading about a group of five students venturing to the forbidden forest…" Seeing the angry grimaces forming on their faces, he continued. "I myself have only heard about this moments ago."

The headmaster was a smart man, and could connect the dots. He also knew it made no sense for Death Eaters to be present there, so he asked the ghosts, portraits and every source of information he had about the only possibility. And sure enough, it came out positive.

"Then it would make sense." Amelia nodded.

"Forgive me for saying this, but your story is absurd. The Death Eaters have been disbanded since the death of You-Know-Who. They are probably a group of fanatics trying to make a name for themselves." the minister, Fudge waved off the idea of death eaters. Death eater activity was bad for the peace he's spent so much time cultivating. "I suspect it's the work of Sirius Black. He's trying to have us drop our guard. It's unmistakable he betrayed the Potters and killed Pettigrew. The man you saw was probably an impostor, professor Snape. You're a potion master, you must know that it's quite possible to change one's appearance easily."

Amelia, Rufus and Dumbledore said nothing; they knew it was pointless anyway, and it was not in their interest to have him free: they couldn't do anything for him as no one would support them in the Wizengamot in such pointless endeavor. McGonagall and Flitwick, on the other hand, were outraged. Snape couldn't mistake Pettigrew appearance, and it was a pointless endeavor for Sirius to have them drop their guards. If he was truly a death eater, he would've just killed Harry Potter, not made friends with them.

Besides, they were severely outnumbered. Had he not helped them, they would've certainly died. Reason pointed to him being innocent, yet for some reason, this oaf was saying he was not. They felt blind for not having seen this a long time ago. Sirius and James were like brothers, weren't they? How could they have believed Sirius would betray them.

But they were smart enough to understand that, whatever they would say wouldn't benefit anyone, and only create more problems. They were disappointed to see the headmaster, the only man who could change the situation, keep silent.