As Dumbledore began to cower away, Moody stomped forward, grabbed him by a fistful of his regrowing hair and yanked back, causing Dumbledore's head to be tilted right back.
Then he reached forward with his other hand and pressed down on the old man's chin, forcing his mouth open as Dumbledore tried to struggle against him.
The Master Healer then reached forward and allowed five drops to enter the man's mouth, counting them out as she did so.
Moody held Dumbledore's mouth open for another ten seconds, to allow the Veritaserum to be absorbed before Dumbledore could try and spit out any remnants, before finally releasing him.
Pockridge then said, "I have now administered five drops of Veritaserum to Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, as ordered by Madam Director Amelia Bones of the DMLE. Mister Dumbledore had to be forced to take the serum."
As Moody stomped back to his 'place' next to the door, Bones and Pockridge watched as he tried to fight against the effects.
Pockridge said, "From witnessed evidence, Mister Dumbledore is attempting to fight against the effects of the Veritaserum."
After a further ten seconds the visible signs were there that the serum had taken effect.
Pockridge then said, "From witnessed evidence, Mister Dumbledore is now under the effects of Veritaserum."
Bones said, "Thank you, Master Healer Pockridge. As I have ordered Mister Dumbledore to be dosed with five drops of Veritaserum, please continue to monitor Mister Dumbledore's health as I question him."
"Yes, Director."
With everything now ready and Dumbledore suitably dosed, she began to ask the old man her pre-prepared list of questions.
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
At Hogwarts, students were just finishing up their breakfasts and the four Heads of House had just delivered their new class schedules when the owls began to arrive.
Mainly, the mail was not personal letters but small packages of items students had meant to bring with them and had forgotten to, or their parents had sent them because they should have taken them and had left them behind. Of course, there was also the dozens of copies of the Daily Prophet that many students had subscribed to, advertising bumph and catalogues from various wizarding retailers a few students had added their names to and other sundry mailings.
But, almost everyone was immediately alerted by seeing it for themselves or being alerted to it by their nearby table-mates to there being an old, wonkily-flying barn owl that had in its beak the tell-tale red of a Howler.
It was making its way to the Gryffindor table.
However, before it was able to complete its journey, a very accurately fired stunner from the Head Table impacted it, sending it dropping onto the Gryffindor table at the Head Table end.
The Professor they'd been introduced to the night before as the new Professor of DADA, Professor Murdstock, hurried around from the head table and approached the now stunned owl and its released but undelivered Howler. His action had many gasping in shock or making small exclamations of surprise; but, none interfered with him. Nor did any of the young first year Gryffindors at that end of the table touch either the bird or the Howler.
Once he reached the table he quickly deactivated the charms on the Howler parchment, turning it back to normal parchment, and picked it up. A quick check of the addressee and he looked down the table.
He called, "Which of you is Ron Weasley?"
Though Ron was slow to respond, the Professor noticed quite a few Gryff's towards the middle of the table look to a cringing red-headed boy.
Ron, seeing the Professor stare at him, replied, "Errr... that would be me, Professor."
The professor gave a firm nod and walked down the table before handing him the parchment. "Tell whoever sent that, that Howlers are now banned at Hogwarts. They're considered bullying and will be treated accordingly."
Accepting the now-letter, he embarrassedly replied, "Yes, Professor."
With a firm nod to the boy, the Professor walked back up the table, scooping a still stunned Errol up on the way.
Walking past the new CoMC Professor he gently placed the owl on the table clear of the man's food and said, "Deal with that, would you please, Oliver?"
After making sure the Professor had gone, even though there was a lot of students and some of the staff watching him, Ron opened the letter and read it. Of course, as it was a short note, it didn't take him long.
He slumped in his seat with a sigh of disappointment.
While he was reading, his twin brothers walked down and asked, "What did you do to annoy Mum?"
About to snap back at them in anger, he hesitated, noticed how many people were watching him, and said, "Let's go out into the Entrance Hall and I'll tell you." Then rose from his seat.
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
After alerting the aurors the two teens were headed for Pottermore, Harry hurried upstairs to change into casual wizarding robes.
Surprising him, when he hurried down the stairs it was to see Hermione had already beaten him down. However, she was dressed 'appropriately', as he asked her to be, in her own witches' robes.
"Ready?" he asked, coming down the last few stairs.
"Just waiting on you," she smirked.
"How'd you get up and down so fast?" he asked.
She gave a slight scowl and said, "Betsy had everything ready for me."
He immediately grinned back in amusement. While she wasn't as visible as Dobby around the house, Betsy still made the household aware she was around by the little things she'd do. One was 'assisting' both Hermione and Monica in getting prepared and ready for the day. That included readying their clothes, making sure their make up was at hand, things like that.
Less than five minutes later, the two teens with two aurors were in Pottermore, with Harry quickly heading to the hidden ward keystone to enter the two aurors into the ward book as Guests. Neither were with them when Harry and the Grangers first visited.
While there, he asked Willy about combat training and was told the duelling room allowed anyone to cast magic, including possibly lethal curses, without fear of the wards reacting negatively towards them. That was something he was relieved to hear, as he did not know how they'd accomplish any true training if anyone casting magic at him while duelling found themselves stunned and trussed up like a Christmas turkey due to a reaction by the wards.
Back upstairs in the welcoming parlour he alerted the aurors to the change of their status while at Pottermore.
Looking to Hermione, he asked, "Ready to do some training, Love?"
When she looked a little concerned, he said, "We'll use the training dummies, just to get comfortable with casting again."
Relieved, she smiled and nodded. Harry led her down to the basement.
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
Dumbledore was still coughing up honest answers to her questions after fifteen minutes, so Bones pressed on. She was determined not to give the man time to waffle too much, so he could delay enough to have the time limit run out. She figured out his strategy after the first question, when it took him almost a full minute to answer a question it should have only taken him less than five seconds.
Figuring that was his game, she was ready for it and reverted to asking closed questions - those that only required a 'Yes', 'No' or 'I don't know' to answer - before asking an open question if she wanted clarification.
.
.
.
.
🎉The novel is available in PDF with more than 400 chapters, visit us in our Ko-Fi store🎉
🎉ko-fi.com/sosukeaizen123🎉