Lily Potter had a lot to be thankful for. She had a promising career, a husband who loved her unconditionally, and two talented children. Right now, however, she was most grateful to simply be alive.

  The consequences of the terrifying events this morning had reverberated all through Hogwarts. Students were distraught and confused, while they huddled fearfully in their dormitories. Various staff members were busy running around to make sure that the castle would not come crumbling down on their heads. And the house elves were put to work fixing the, frankly, indescribable amount of destruction all over the school’s facilities and grounds.

  Never, in all of the institution’s illustrious history, has Hogwarts come so close to being destroyed. The implications of the whole sordid affair are made even worse by the fact that everything happened while Dumbledore was present.

  The redhead knew in her mind that the headmaster did absolutely everything he could, given the circumstances. But she couldn’t prevent the fear of morbid possibilities from taking root in her heart.

  She was standing right beside him when the initial strike occurred and still almost died. Thoughts of how her family would have coped in the event of her death kept running through her mind.

  “Darling?”

  Lily was brought out of her macabre contemplations by the voice of her husband. She gave James a forced smile, hoping that it was enough to reassure him, even while knowing that it wasn’t.

  Aurors and ministry officials swarmed the castle a few hours after the battle concluded. Naturally, James and Sirius were present. After seeing that his wife was unharmed, save for a concussion that has since been treated, he proceeded to ask her for answers she couldn’t provide.

  Minnie passed down instructions from the headmaster for all staff members to hold their testimonies until the meeting that was about to occur. James was frustrated, which was to be expected but eventually agreed to wait. In the meantime, she had him check on their children and assure them of her safety.

  From the grumblings of the other ministry and law enforcement personnel, they shared her husband’s incredulity at being stonewalled. Had this been a non-magical government inquiry, threats of arrests would have immediately been made.

  Unfortunately for them, Hogwarts was Albus Dumbledore’s domain. And it was made clear from the moment the headmaster met the Minister for Magic and his toadies that he was in no mood to humor their posturings.

  The ancient sorcerer almost never exerted his magical presence to get his way. This made the overbearing pressure that accompanied his request for patience even more effective at cowing the puffed-up officials.

  That was two hours ago. At present, she and James were sitting in a corner of the crowded Great Hall, waiting for Dumbledore to arrive. Sirius was speaking with the Department of Magical Law Enforcement head at the Hufflepuff table.

  “Can I get you anything?” her husband asked, concern written all over his bespectacled face.

  He was currently holding her hand, the physical contact providing a sense of safety. Lily shook her head.

  “I’m fine James. Poppy hasn’t lost her touch. You know better than anyone how good she is at her job.”

  This caused James to frown.

  “I’m still confused about that, by the way. I saw what’s left of the Hospital Wing. Unless there was an emergency elsewhere in the castle, Poppy would have been in there. How on earth did she get out of that without so much as a scratch?”

  Pain lanced through Lily’s chest. James still had no idea that the cause of today’s incident might be some version of their son. She could not bring herself to tell him, so decided to focus on the other mystery instead.

  “Professor Dumbledore will probably include that tidbit in his explanations. I’m still unclear on the details, myself.”

  To say that she was shocked to find a living and intact Madame Pomfrey tending to her after the explosion would be an understatement. Naturally, she asked how the healer managed to survive and the answer left her even more confounded than before.

  A commotion from the back of the Great Hall caught their attention and she saw the headmaster, Minerva, Pomona, Severus, and Filius come in from the side entrance. They then proceeded to take their seats on the head table. Lily herself should have been up there, but she deferred, not wanting official attention.

  “Thank you for your patience,” Dumbledore said in the silence that followed his arrival. “We will now provide a brief summary of the events that occurred this morning, with select points left out in the interest of informational security. I ask that you hold your questions until the end to avoid interruptions.”

  Stolen novel; please report.

  In response to this announcement, the headmaster was bombarded with outraged objections from the gathered audience.

  “This is preposterous, Dumbledore!”

  “You can’t possibly expect us to keep silent about this!”

  “Hogwarts was attacked on your watch!”

  “We need answers!”

  “How could you let our children be in danger!”

  The aged wizard maintained a serene facade as he allowed the flow of caustic sentiments to keep going for a few moments. When it was clear that he was unaffected by their shouting, the silence gradually returned. Once he was satisfied that they had settled down, Dumbledore continued speaking.

  “I understand how irregular these proceedings must seem to most of you. However, I must stress that the details involved in this incident are, themselves, quite irregular. Much of the information we have managed to gain cannot be allowed to fall into the wrong hands lest we invite catastrophe. I speak no exaggerations when I say that failure to contain the truth of today’s incident could lead to the rise of another Dark Lord. One that could very well surpass Lord Voldemort in power.”

  Everyone aside from those with direct knowledge of this morning’s disaster was thunderstruck. Both at the mention of the name few would dare utter and the possibility of dealing with another, even more unstoppable monster.

  Lily understood their trepidation all too well. The last century saw two Dark Lords appear and both times, countless bodies were left in the wake of their depraved campaigns. Many of her friends lost their lives at the end of Voldemort’s wand and those of his followers.

  And it almost happened again.

  “What exactly are you saying here, Albus?” DMLE head Amelia Bones finally asked.

  “You heard me correctly, Amelia,” Dumbledore responded with a commiserating smile. “You are all aware that I have personally dealt with two dark wizards who possessed extraordinary magical strength before. The wounds left by the last one are still felt to this day. As such, you can trust me when I say that the wizard we confronted early this morning would have put them both to shame.”

  “Well, who the bloody hell is it?” the Minister for Magic shouted impatiently.

  “I’m afraid I cannot answer that, at the moment, Cornelius,” he replied, much to Fudge’s consternation. “For now, we will continue with presenting our summary. At the end of this meeting, I request that Amelia stay behind for further discussions.”

  “Now, see here!” the portly man jumped to his feet and blustered. “I’m the Minister for Magic! You can’t just keep information from me, especially not after telling us that we might end up with another You-Know-Who!”

  Finally losing patience, Dumbledore pierced Fudge with a penetrating stare that made him gulp. Few could ever boast of being subjected to this rare phenomenon and now the minister can say he is one of them.

  “If Amelia, at the end of our conversation, decides to share what she learns, that will be her prerogative. Until then, sit down, Cornelius.”

  There was nothing quite like witnessing the legendary wizard lecturing an elected official like they were still a fledgling student. Looking to all the world like a chastised firstie, Fudge sat back down. Some distance behind him, Lily could see Amelia struggling to hide a smirk.

  Sirius, on the other hand, did not bother to hide his wide grin.

  “If there are no other interruptions,” Dumbledore said with a tone conveying that there had better not be, “we can begin. Right before sunrise, a representative from the local centaur herd made contact with the school. The reason involved the discovery of an unconscious child in the Forbidden Forest. Upon retrieval, he was brought into the Hospital Wing for treatment and placed in the capable hands of the school’s healer, Poppy Pomfrey.

  “Her initial examinations yielded anomalous results. The specifics of which will not be disclosed, at this time. However, it was determined that the patient was in no immediate danger. Furthermore, with the exception of the clothes he wore upon arrival, there were no other possessions on his person. Investigating the site of his discovery yielded no additional information.

  “Concluding that there were no obvious sources of danger to him or the school, I elected to leave the patient in Madame Pomfrey’s care. I then proceeded to call on Deputy Headmistress, Minerva McGonagall, Potions professor, Severus Snape, and Junior Charms professor, Lily Potter to discuss the development in my office. It was during this discussion that we received word from Madame Pomfrey of the boy’s return to consciousness.

  “Upon our arrival, the patient reacted violently with no reason given, resulting in considerable damage to the Hospital Wing and many areas of the school. Working in concert with certain staff members, we finally managed to subdue him near the borders of the Forbidden Forest. He was then bound and brought to the castle’s dungeons where he is currently contained in a cell with magic-nullifying fields.

  “That is the end of this summary. Any questions?”

  All-in-all, it was an extremely brief report of events that contained no falsehood, but also gave nothing crucial away. The audience was still processing the revelation, but Lily could already see a few in the crowd who noticed Dumbledore leaving several pertinent details out. Most prominent among them were James, Sirius, and Amelia.

  Fudge and his lickspittles were simply dumbstruck. It wasn’t every day that you hear about someone who required multiple Hogwarts professors to deal with. Let alone a wizard who, by what the headmaster saw fit to share, was not even an adult yet.

  He quickly got over this, though, and Lily was almost impressed by how quickly he gathered steam.

  “That’s it?! That’s all you can tell us? No name, no age, no anything! What are we supposed to do about this when you refuse to give us actionable information, Dumbledore?”

  Before the headmaster could respond, though, a sound was made that sent Lily’s stomach roiling. A fake cough, accompanied by a sickeningly syrupy voice that she had heard only once and hoped never to subject her ears to again.

  “Hem hem, perhaps Albus Dumbledore is implying that he doesn’t trust the ministry? But that surely couldn’t be! After all, only criminals and those with something to hide would withhold crucial information from their duly elected leaders. You wouldn’t happen to be either of those, would you, Mr. Dumbledore?”

  Dolores Umbridge, Fudge’s attack toad, sat by her beloved minister’s side. This was a person whom even Lily’s near-infinite capacity to give the benefit of the doubt could not accommodate. At their first meeting, during one of the few functions that she and James attended, the absolute bitch did her level best to challenge the redhead’s stance against using dark magic.

  Oh, she no doubt believed herself quite subtle in delivering disparaging comments that focused on Lily’s background and its impact on House Potter’s future. Had James intervened any later with an excuse to leave, the Charms mistress would have reduced the disgusting woman into a stain on the floor for going after her children.

  Hearing her now, it was clear that she had not gotten any better. As savvy as a rampaging troll in a glass factory, with all the finesse of a rock.

  Lily did not know what she expected to accomplish with her accusations of Dumbledore. But she would not be getting her way.

  “If the ministry has any complaints about my handling of the situation, they can always begin an inquiry with the Wizengamot,” Dumbledore calmly declared before adding, “But make no mistake. Should this action be taken with nothing less than the purest of intentions, then I will do everything in my power to expose all those involved to the light.”

  Fudge, Umbridge, and their cohorts could only gape at the sorcerer. One of the biggest benefits of rarely making threats… When one is made, it is taken seriously.

  “Are there any other questions?”

  None came about.

  “Then I move to close this briefing and bid you all a good day. Amelia, would you be amenable to accompanying us?”

  Bones nodded and rose out of her seat.

  “Lead the way, headmaster.”

  “Good. James, Sirius, Alastor - you may come, as well.”

  At that, everyone invited followed the Hogwarts staff, leaving the rest to glare impotently at their retreating figures.