Then it was Harry's turn to be interrogated. And it was an interrogation. There was no other word for it as he was asked the same questions over and over again with slightly different wording to see if he would in any manner change his answers at all. Unlike Hermione though, Harry did make it a point to mention the only reason any of them had been outside the Castle that evening was due to her nagging. Funnily enough even Ronald, who had yet to take his sleep aide had confirmed that statement. Of course, there were the by now expected accusations of blame and the lecture on responsibility and not behaving as a spoilt brat since he'd been told he wasn't supposed to be outside the safety and security of the Castle. Especially after dark. It was strongly implied he had endangered his friends because he was selfishly feeling confined and wanted to rebel. Thanks to Hermione none of his interrogators had listened to him at all.
But Harry felt no guilt for anything that had happened that night. He knew it hadn't been his idea to leave the Castle. Hermione had browbeat him into it, pointing out that Hagrid was supposed to be his friend. One of his only friends. And since something bad was occurring that night involving Hagrid, it was his duty to be with him when he could regardless of his own personal safety. Because that's what friends did. He said as much which was confirmed by her flush of embarrassed anger. Not that it did him any good. None of his accusers so much as twitched a brow in her direction. Instead, Dumbledore had frowned at him with a disappointed air and made a non-committal comment about not trying to shift blame where it didn't belong.
He admitted to following Ron into the rooms under the Whomping Willow to prevent injury from befalling either of his two friends. And he admitted to forcing Ron to allow Professor Lupin and Sirius to use the anti-animagus spell on the rat which had prompted a lecture on respecting and protecting the belongings of others wherever and whenever he had the opportunity to do so. That his intention had been to settle the matter once and for all was lost in the ensuing lecture about property ownership and the duty of friendship. He admitted to hitting Professor Snape with an Expelliarmus spell to disarm him though he insisted he hadn't meant to hurt or knock him out. All he wanted to do was lower the animosity in the room and get the Professor to take in the full situation since he clearly hadn't yet realized there was a supposedly dead man standing there very much alive in the room. Then the Professor could make the decisions.
Madam Pomfrey made the Ministry representative and Dumbledore both leave him alone after twenty minutes of their constant and repetitive questioning. She force fed him a very powerful sleep aid that, unknown to Harry, Severus made specifically for her to give him. She knew well of his trouble with sleeping and his built-up resistance to most the sleep aids on the market. So she had enlisted Severus to make her a better aid for him. Nor had she missed the dead quality of Harry's voice as he told the story from his point of view. A story that hadn't wavered a bit no matter what his interrogators said to try and force it to change. The child needed rest and she was determined to see that he got some.
Snape had raised a brow when he saw which potion she intended to give Potter but she had refused to satisfy his curiosity so long as the others were in the room. Like everyone else in the school, she was well aware of his dislike of everything Potter and how anything the man could hold against him, he gladly taunted the boy with repeatedly. And yet, she was also aware of just how many times Snape had saved the boy's life and fought with Dumbledore over the risks he encouraged the child to take with his personal safety.
Morning light brought the news that all three of the Marauders were dead or as good as dead now. Supposedly their bodies were found tangled together on the shores of Black Lake where apparently they had stood together one last time to fight a common foe but that foe had apparently been stronger than they were. But Harry knew for a fact Remus Lupin was not dead. He had after all, heard him reporting the events of the confrontation between Harry and Sirius. And he couldn't have done that if he had died on the shores of the lake. Not unless he'd come back as a ghost. Which unlike Colin who often kept Harry company in his room when no one was speaking to him, he hadn't.
At the time Harry had believed both Sirius and Peter most likely were dead simply because they had become a liability to Dumbledore now and he had no proof to the contrary. Later he would discover Peter wasn't dead any more than Lupin was. And that would make him wonder about Sirius. After all, if Dumbledore was the source of the rumor, which in this case for Harry he was, it was almost guaranteed to be at least partially untrue. He'd come into the infirmary to personally give Harry the news that his Godfather whom he'd just met the night before was as good as dead along with his two friends, Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew. He spun some tripe about how all the Marauders were now together again in Heaven where they'd be watching over him hoping he'd do the right thing when he came to times in his life where choices had to be made and take his rightful blame when he made the wrong choices.
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