Where is he, Albus?" Fudge asked nervously.
The Minister had arrived shortly after the tournament had begun, wanting to be the one to gift the champions with the grand prize on behalf of the Ministry of Magic. Personally, he had been hoping for Harry Potter to win. Cedric Diggory would have been good, being part of a well-known British family, but Harry Potter winning would have been much, much better as the boy was an international celebrity. He could hardly imagine the publicity he'd get handing over a thousand galleons to none other than Harry James Potter, the boy who lived and youngest ever winner of the triwizard tournament.
Unfortunately, this was where his current problem came in, he had no idea where Harry Potter was.
A short while ago, a large gong sound had echoed throughout the arena, signalling that someone had just won the tournament. The other champions had all been collected; everyone apart from Harry Potter was there, leading Fudge and the judges to suspect that he was indeed the one who had actually won the tournament. But the problem was that Harry Potter wasn't there. According to Dumbledore, the portkey on the cup should have brought the winner of the tournament straight back here, yet he wasn't there. A few people had gone in and removed the obstacles in the maze while also getting rid of the entire maze itself. By the end of it all, all that was left to be seen was the pedestal where the cup was, except there was no cup there anymore.
"Yeah, Albus, where is he?!" Sirius growled in a way that was more like a wild dog than a person. The man hadn't been able to force himself to stay in the stands and was now currently with the judges, being held back by Andromeda and Ted while Tonks had quickly gone over to the champions to question if they had any ideas regarding where Harry was. "Where's my godson?!" Sirius demanded.
"Calm down, Sirius," Ted said, holding the furious man back.
"Nah, he's right. Where is he?" Andromeda said, glaring at Dumbledore while half-heartedly holding Sirius back.
"I must confess that I genuinely do not know," Dumbledore admitted honestly. "It's possible that the portkey malfunctioned, and young Harry may have ended up somewhere in Canada or perhaps Nigeria, one of those two most likely...though I did once mess up quite badly and ended up dropping Hagrid in Dagestan."
"Does I look to be in a gaming mood?!" Sirius snarled.
"I assure you, it's no joke; Hagrid still visits Dagestan occasionally," Dumbledore replied calmly. Sirius tried to lunge for Dumbledore but was stopped by Ted once more. "As for Harry, he should have been back here by now. The fact that he is not is quite honestly worrying for me, I think that perhaps I can summon Fawkes to -"
A loud noise, usually associated with the sound of portkeys, cut through the air, and every gaze in the arena snapped to where the sound had come from. Cheers and victorious roars filled the air for about half a minute or so before slowly being replaced by whispers, screams and cries as people suddenly realised exactly what they were looking at. Harry Potter, far dirtier than he had been when he entered the maze, stood there with the triwizard tournament cup by his feet, but what quickly drew their attention was the two bodies levitating alongside him. One was a woman with a very bloody torso, while the other was likely a man, but they weren't completely sure as the vast majority of his upper half was missing.
'Are you sure it was necessary to damage the death muncher's body even more? I had already removed his head?' Venom mentally asked.
'I know, but it'll look suspicious if a fight involving us ends with somebody's head being bit off,' Harry mentally replied. 'Now, if you'll excuse me for one sec,' Harry told him before looking up and speaking loudly. "Voldemorts is back!" He yelled as loud as he could. "He did this!" Harry pointed behind him to the the levitating bodies, which he released. "He's back!"
"He's not back!" Fudge hissed furiously.
'Motherfucker,' Venom growled from within Harry's head.
Harry found himself sitting on the side of a bed in the hospital wing, where Madam Pomfrey was currently looking him over, much to his annoyance. The woman was bad enough with regular injuries, but after hearing him claim he had fought one of the worst dark wizards in history, she examined him with twice her usual amount of vigor. Sirius and the Tonks family were also in the room; they all stood on his left, just a little behind Pomfrey, except for Tonks, who was sitting next to him on the bed. Meanwhile, Fleur was also here and sitting next to him on his right side, her hand gripping his own tightly. Fudge had actually gaped at her for a few moments when entering before Fleur put a lot of effort into dimming her allure. Fudge still ended up staring at her for another few seconds before he ended up in the argument he was currently having.
"Yeah, and I just announced to a stadium full of people that he was back for laughs, did I?" Harry asked sarcastically while staring at the red-faced politician who stood a short distance away from him. Standing next to him was Dumbledore, who was accompanied by Severus Bloody Snape, because of course he had to be here, and the final person in the room was Professor McGonagall. Harry turned to Madam Pomfrey, who had finally finished casting spells on him. "Am I good to go?" He asked her hopefully.
"You have a few bruises," She said thoughtfully before hitting him with a healing spell. "Apart from that, I feel that you are perfectly fine."
"Ha!" Fudge gestured to Pomfrey in a victorious manner, sounding as if he had just won some grand prize. "Well, that just proves my point, doesn't it? There is no way imaginable for a young boy of fourteen to not only find he who must not be named, duel him and walk away with nary a scratch."
"I've got at least three scratches, thank you," Harry said dryly. "And it is possible, actually. He just wasn't that tough."
"Wasn't that tough?!" Fudge repeated with disbelief. "A wizard so feared by the public at large that we still do not dare speak his name after he was publically announced as dead more than a decade ago is apparently back alive and 'wasn't that tough'? That is what you will have me believe?"
"Harry is no liar," Fleur said firmly, ignoring the fact that he had been hiding an alien in his body like all girlfriends should. "If he says this wizard is back, then I believe him."
"Same here." Sirius nodded strongly. "He has no reason to lie, not about something like that." He added, snapping Fudge back to attention as the man had ended up staring at Fleur again.
"The boy is obviously trying to gain more fame and popularity," Fudge said at once. "This is nothing more than an attention-seeking publicity stunt, obviously."
"I'll have you know, Minister Fudge, that nearly every member of the Hogwarts staff would be happy to officially state that Harry Potter has never once gone out of his way to seek attention," Professor McGonagall said, briefly shooting a dirty look at Snape before turning back to Fudge. "Besides, let us not forget that he is the boy who lived. He was already famous before he could even cast a spell. Children all over the world have heard his name, he's the last person who needs more attention."
"On that last point, we agree," Snape nodded, sneering in Harry's direction.
"Minister," Tonks spoke up while Harry sent Snape the finger. "If you'll recall, at the world cup when Barty Crouch was discovered, Harry didn't try to take any credit then."
"Minister," Dumbledore cut off any response that Fudge was about to produce. "We must look at the facts, the fact is that Harry Poottter entered the maze and reached the cup before anyone else did and wasn't instantly brought straight back as he was supposed to, meaning either the portkey was faulty - which I doubt as I made it myself and I am a rather skilled wizard if you'll forgive me a moment of boasting - or that it had been tampered with. The other fact that we can say for sure is that Harry Potter came back with two dead bodies and a claim that a dark wizard who claimed to be Voldemort is back." Dumbledore said, glancing at Harry for a moment before turning back to Fudge.
"Don't say his name!" Fudge screeched in an alarmed voice.
"We can't deny that there were two dead bodies that came with young Harry," Dumbledore said calmly. "One of which has been identified as Bertha Jorkins, who was nowhere near Hogwarts as far as any of us can tell, meaning we cannot deny that Harry Potter had been taken somewhere away from here."
"I'd heard that Bertha was missing," Tonks piped up. "I know a couple of aurors that had been assigned to try and find her."
"Bertha went missing all the time; that's hardly proof that she was suddenly a death eater," Fudge scoffed dismissively. "Besides, while I will not deny that things are looking a bit strange here, the tale the boy has come up with is poppycock. He who must not be named was a dangerous wizard, but there's no way he can come back from the dead."
"Ah, but did you ever find a body, Cornelius?" Dumbledore asked lightly. "I believe Alastor Moody has a saying that might be applicable here: 'It's never over until you find the body.' Now, admittedly, I am paraphrasing slightly as I'm not a fan of swearing."
"I can bloody name every fucking cunt that was there," Harry said at once. "That body with most of the upper half missing was called Nott."
"Nott? Wasn't he killed when he tried to kill Sirius? By the same guy that killed those Death Eaters at the World Cup ?" Tonks asked with a frown.
"Those were impersonators!" Fudge insisted and was promptly ignored.
"He had a younger brother," Sirius growled. "The head of the Nott house was killed in front of my eyes, and I thank whoever did it."
'You're welcome,' Venom said cordially from within Harry's head.
"So the brother of a guy who actively tried to murder my godfather," Harry snorted. 'If the younger one in my year fucks up then maybe you can complete the set,' He told Venom, half-joking. "And it wasn't just him, there was also Avery, Crabbe and Goyle."
"You're just listing the names of imperious victims from the last war!" Fudge accused. "Let me guess, you're going to say Lord Malfoy was there as well, yes?"
"Yep." Harry glared at Fudge. "Your old pal, Lucy, was right there and happy to laugh at my apparent demise. Voldemort ended up possessing that executioner dickhead you have at the Ministry, Macnair."
"I have never heard such rubbish in my life!" Fudge said hotly.
"Minister, I dare say that you are letting your emotions cloud your judgment here," Andromeda said in an unimpressed voice. "A concerned citizen of Magical Britain has come back from somewhere that he wasn't supposed to be and is making a claim, and yet here you are, dismissing everything. At the very least, it should be investigated by law enforcement or -"
"I'll thank you very much to not tell me - the Minister of Magic himself - how this is supposed to work!" Fudge cut her off. "Idecide how this works."
"Hey, don't talk to her like that," Tonks, Harry and Ted said at the same time, each with narrowed eyes and matching looks on their faces that said if he continued speaking to her disrespectfully, then he might end up without a tongue.
"You seriously expect me to stand here and believe that a man has come back from the dead and that such outstanding and civilised men who were victims of the last war had actually stood side by side next to that man?!" Fudge demanded. "I'll tell you now, young man, you're speaking absolute rubbish to put it politely."
"You don't need to bother being polite," Harry said in a low voice before he stood up, letting go of Fleur's hand and calmly walked over to Fudge and stared him right in the eye. "Because if this keeps up, then very soon I will lose what little inclination I have to stay polite, and you're not going to like that, Mr Fudge."
"Minister Fudge,"
"I don't give two shits if you're 'Janitor Fudge'!" Harry snapped at him. "All I know is that the bastard who murdered my mother and tried to do the same thing to me today is back and out there, and you're the only one in the way."
"Mr Potter, enough," Professor McGonagall said, placing a hand on his shoulder and gently pushing him back.
"Severus, if you will." Dumbledore said. Snape nodded to the headmaster before stepping forward and pulling up his left sleeve, revealing the same tattoo that all Death Eaters had, the dark mark. Fudge stepped back like he had smelt something horrible.
"The dark mark, the mark of the Dark Lord," Severus said softly, gesturing to the coal black mark on his arm. "It's gotten dark, darker than it has ever been in the last decade since his disappearance."
"Put that away!" Barked Fudge. "That's your game, is it?" He turned to Dumbledore. "Show me some tattoo? And then I'm supposed to kneel over backwards and do exactly as you all say? I'm supposed to unsettle the hard-earned peace that I've spent so much time creating for this country on the words of a teenager and because of a tattoo?"
"I am about sick and tired of..." Harry's angry shout trailed off as he stared at Fudge with a thoughtful look. "Alright." He said eventually, with a shrug.
"Alright?" Fudge repeated, staring at Harry along with everyone else.
"Do what you want," Harry shrugged in a casual manner. "I've done my duty, I told you all I know. What you do with that information is up to you. I'm washing my hands of this. Any fallout from this, good or bad, is all on you." Harry said, taking a step back.
"Ah, attempting to intimidate me now with vague threats, huh, boy?" Fudge said with a humourless laugh. "I've been in politics since before you had left your nappies."
"I assure you that when I make a threat, it'll not be vague," Harry said with a sharp smile. "No, I am not joking at all. You are free to do whatever you want, I'm not going to waste my time talking to a man in denial." Harry said before making his way back to the bed and sitting in the same spot between Tonks and Fleur. "Oh yeah, I'll have my prize money if you don't mind," He added casually. Fudge stared at him for a moment, along with everyone else, before angrily fishing out a small sack of gold and tossing it at Harry, who caught it easily with one hand.
"Enjoy your money, Potter," Fudge spat. "This is not over. I will not have you destroy this country's peace with fanatical and unrealistic tales of dead men, either of you," He added, whilst staring between Dumbledore and Harry. With one last glare, he turned and stormed out of the hospital wing.
"Minister," Dumbledore tried to call for him, but Fudge didn't stop and had left the room, leaving Dumbledore to let out a large sigh before he turned a disappointed look onto Harry. He opened his mouth to speak but was cut off by Sirius.
"That's a pretty short bag for a thousand galleons." Sirius noted, staring down at the bag in Harry's hand.
"There's an expansion charm; it's bigger on the inside," Fleur said absently. "Are you alright?" She asked Harry.
"I'm fine," Harry nodded.
"Are you sure?" Tonks asked, placing a hand on his shoulder. "I was worried about you; we all were scared something had happened." She said softly.
"I'm fine," Harry repeated, staring between the two of them. "Really, I am."
"Forgive the interruption, but I think there are things we need to discuss," Dumbledore cut in. "Harry, I must say that I am beyond pleased that you have made it back to us."
'We made it back for them,' Venom said. Harry could feel him gesturing to Sirius, Fleur and the Tonks family. 'Not you,' Venom said to Dumbledore in an irritated voice, not caring if the old man could hear or not.
"There are not many witches or wizards who can fight against Lord Voldemort and live to tell the tale, and even fewer who can defeat him as soundly as you claim to have done," Dumbledore said in a thoughtful tone. "But first, I'd like to know, what you were thinking just now? Minister Fudge's help would have been crucial for our war against Voldemort."
"We don't need his help," Harry said, and he meant it. He and Venom were clearly the only ones capable of doing what was needed to get rid of Voldemort, they would handle this themselves.