Excerpts from on-scene depositions taken immediately after the attack on Peverell Hospital on the morning of March 7th, 1993. Recorded by TrueQuill(tm).

Igor Karkaroff (3 drops Vs) - "Right when we came in some Auror threw the Chalice and told us to take it and go, just not to hurt the patients. I killed him and continued with the assault. It was an obvious distraction. Aurors that well armed doesn't just give up right away, even in a hostage situation. No, Lockhart didn't tell me the Chalice was a fake before. Honestly, it's an insulting plan."

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Auror Alexander Williams (1 drop Vs) - "And then he went flying past me, casting Auror grade spells! I knew he'd been unconscious earlier, but that Malfoy boy was awake and fighting like a demon. Totally fearless. I can't understand it. No, I wasn't Confounded, I'm telling you..."

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Phillip Cerci (3 drops Vs) - "...well, we saw Malfoy's body on the way in, the Auror's probably dropped him in the initial attack. We took up a defensive position against the hallway to Hogwarts, there were professors behind us right away. No idea how they caught us. Adolphus said your backups were crossing the wards into Hogwarts, so we had to defend to give the others time to take the Chalice so it was busy. I was right next to Selwyn and Septavia got killed early in the cross fire, and damned if not a few minutes later Malfoy charges in, cusses out Selwyn. Actually cusses him out. Selwyn's killed for less, but the boy probably thought it was Igor and he's screaming about how we screwed up and searching for Septavia's wand, then he disappeared to help get the Stone, and several minutes later it came flying out, and I thought we'd done it..."

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Auror 'Mike' Li (1 drop Vs) - "...I thought we were dead when the Fiendfyre started. Backup instantly cut off and the walls were melting. I'd followed protocol, but after another minute we're out gunned, Bahry's dead, and I'm cut off from everyone else. Just me, a few patients, and the unconscious Malfoy. Someone, maybe Prabat, had moved the civilians away from the Fiendfyre. I thought I was dead. Ennervating Malfoy saved my life. "

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Igor Karkaroff (3 drop Vs) - "Why did we fail? We lost the element of surprise and our plan fell apart, and it was chaos. We almost pulled it off anyway. If he [Draco Malfoy] hadn't died, we might have..."

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Hermione Granger (1 drop Vs) - "Because he was Impieriused! I don't know who did it. A professor obviously, Hogwart's has wards. Draco wouldn't help them. I've heard the other Aurors, Draco fought against the attack."

Interrogator - How do you explain the fact that Draco went through the Thief's Downfall, which ends any Imperius and then did not raise the alarm and spent 10 minutes scouting the hospital.

Hermione Granger (1 drop Vs) - "I can't. I need to go find Harry. I've given my statement. Let go of me, this is important. (Shouting): Headmistress! ... I'll ... don't ... let go! Now!"

Interrogator - "[Redacted, incivility related]! (gasping) Stop her! Stop her!"

[End Transcript]

Harry Potter opened his eyes and stared blankly up at the ceiling. The dark world came into focus, the only light a fiery chicken-like head staring down at him. The phoenix crooned softly, wings spread wide as if to shield the boy below him from the flaws of the world dropping on him like rain.

"Fawkes," Harry croaked, "Where were you on the morning of March 7th?"

Fawkes looked at him, twisting his head quizzically from side to side, all the while singing.

"Good Morning, Mr. Potter." Harry glanced around. It was night time in the Hogwarts infirmary. He didn't see anyone else around, although several of the nearby beds were occupied. The closest was occupied by a rather large body, as far as Harry could tell. An adult, face hidden under blankets. Harry pulled himself up into a sitting position, and stared at the man sitting in a small wooden chair beside his bed.

"Professor Asimov, what day is it? Why are you here?"

"It's the morning of the thirteenth. Almost five in the morning. I was keeping your father company, but Madam Pomfrey slipped him something in his water to help him sleep. I suspect if he hadn't taken it they'd have done something more ... drastic. You aren't allowed non-family visitors, really, but they allowed me as a guest of your parents, since I'm mostly harmless."

Harry nodded. After a second ambush you didn't have to be Mad-Eye Moody to restrict access, and a squib professor was a safe bedside companion. Particularly if you had Fawkes to raise the alarm if he tried to smother you with a pillow. Harry noticed a folded newspaper sticking out from underneath Professor Asimov's chair. There was a glass of water on the bedside table and Harry drank it greedily.

"Can I read that, Professor?" Harry said, pointing to the newspaper.

"I had to sneak this in, you know. They don't want your parents to know anything and I think they're more than a touch worried about what you'll do when you see it." While he spoke Professor Asimov took the folded up newspaper and handed it over. "Still, now that I've talked to your Father I can guess that it was you who got me this job. And saved my life. The Headmistress wouldn't have had the faintest clue who I am, would she?"

Harry snatched the paper. "So, Dad talked your ear off, did he?"

"Well, he didn't have anyone else to talk to, but yes, he did. He said very flattering things, but of course he's a Professor - a real one - and I'm just an author who got rescued by magicians, so he could tell me some interesting stories..."

While Professor Asimov kept talking Harry scanned yesterday's copy of the Daily Prophet. There were editorials accusing him of being Voldemort. He'd expected that, Draco's plan had crystallized in his head the instant he'd seen the image of Fred and George's map projected for all of Slytherin House (and Narcissa Malfoy) to see. Surprisingly there were a number of more moderate editorials, saying that even if Harry Potter was a soul-copy, the fault rested with the government officials who 'aided and abetted him,' and had proven themselves untrustworthy because of their lack of due diligence. These editorials referred to the prior Daily Prophet's stunning expose on Harry Potter's influence on Hogwarts and the Ministry.

There were calls for investigations and further demands to open the Hall of Prophecy once and for all to resolve this.

Draco, or his accomplices, had set up a debate with two sides:

EITHER Harry Potter was Voldemort and should be killed OR Harry Potter probably wasn't actually Voldemort, but just to be safe should be kept well away from the halls of power, and anyone who had ever helped him should be stripped of all titles.

Draco framed the debate so that even actual innocence implies guilt, Harry's inner Slytherin whistled appreciatively. He's arguing that they should have known you were a risk and kept you at arms length. After a second Harry realized that both of his inner voices were assuming Draco was still alive, but the probability of that had ... well, not drastically increased. But gone up.

The attack had been well planned. Narcissa Malfoy had recognized the name Tom Riddle. Of course she shouldn't have trusted the information, said Ravenclaw.

But she was in a foul state of mind, no doubt, said Hufflepuff.

Most importantly, there were a bunch of witnesses who probably didn't even register what they'd seen, and almost certainly had not registered it's import. Perhaps someone had noted that the Maurader's Map displayed everyone's name right but Harry, but they'd probably been looking at Harry dying, or Vincent and Crabbe attacking Professor Slughorn, or later on at Narcissa raging. They probably saw the name Tom Riddle, but it didn't register. And in any case the map display was used for simulations. Why, it routinely generated lies.

It would never occur to an Auror to obliviate or memory charm the students, and the information needed to determine it was necessary wouldn't have made it up the chain. There were ways it could have been prevented, but Slughorn - as the attacker - could have countermeasures.

Judging from the Daily Prophet, he'd had them in place. There was a lengthy article on all that was publicly known about Tom Riddle, and comparing those facts with what was known about Harry Potter. There weren't many details of the attack. That made sense, the news of his attack came out in the prior edition. These were reaction pieces.

"What happened ... after I passed out?"

"Well, they arrested Horace of course. Put him in Gilderoy's cell, I'm told. Lady Malfoy smashed the place up pretty well, but they let her go."

"But she...," Harry started to say she attacked me. But he'd passed out, he didn't know what she'd done. It certainly looked like she was about to attack Harry. Or perhaps Xare or Hermione.

Professor Asimov looked down, abashed. "Augusta vouched for her. Threw a fit. Said that she'd have attacked you herself if she'd been there and seen what Narcissa saw."

Harry considered. A grieving widow, straight after her only son's funeral, just seeing compelling evidence that the butcher who murdered her son and her husband was alive. A crime, yes, but hardly pre-meditated. Assuming that she was actually surprised by the news. Any competent lawyer could keep Narcissa out of jail in a muggle court, at least pending the trial. Mix in wizard politics and it made sense that Amelia Bones released her, lacking a smoking gun. Which wouldn't exist if Narcissa were actually surprised, and certainly wouldn't if she wasn't.

Harry nodded, then folded the newspaper up and dropped it onto his sheets. There were no funeral announcements, and Professor Asimov hadn't said anything, but he needed to check.

"Did anyone die? When I was poisoned?"

"Thankfully not."

Harry spent several moments considering the latest attack on him. Coupled with the newspaper articles it had been revealing. Now Draco's motive was clear. Pieces started clicking into place, first slowly but with growing speed. Harry spent a few minutes thinking, and listening to Fawkes quiet song, before speaking again.

"You don't seem to have any problem with me," Harry said.

"We haven't talked much," Professor Asimov said. In fact, Harry had avoided talking to him, mostly to avoid acting like a starry eyed fan or stupid kid. But also because he didn't want to contaminate the lessons on Muggle Studies, or influence Professor Asimov's views on how to convert magical society to a more rational way of thinking.

So he'd stayed away.

"Draco spoke well of you, a few times. Talking to the other professors and the Headmistress was different. You ... bewilder them. But they're just witches and wizards, and I'm a Science Fiction author. I've seen boys like you for decades. Maybe not quite so smart. But hundreds of dreamers, the ones who just don't fit in. To your teachers, Harry Potter is a mystery. To me, well, I've run into him before. And just now, over the last day, I've spoken to your father, and the stories he tells me reminds me of a Richard Feynman."

"I remind you of Richard Feynman?" Harry asked, with unrestrained glee.

"Not in science, although I gather you are well advanced, but in the mindset, attacking problems from unexpected angles. Novel solutions. And, I must admit, your talent for self-promotion. You both leave a trail of amazing stories in your wake as a calling card. But yes, like Feynman. And then I started to think about what possible use you could have for an old writer such as myself, and the only thought I could come up with was that you wanted me as your library and viewed yourself as more Hari Seldon than Harry Potter. Am I right?"

"It sounds kind of arrogant when you put it that way," Harry grumbled.

"Oh, it is arrogant! But Seldon was striving to save the universe, and I see before me a small boy who read my book, and dreamed of saving the universe one day, and then found himself with just that option. How could I possibly think you are evil?"

They shared a laugh, but then Professor Asimov frowned. "But, several of my colleagues who are much more knowledgeable than I am do consider you evil, and at least one tried to murder you. And I can't quite figure out what Draco was planning, but he certainly felt that drastic measures were necessary for some reason, although he never told me why. Come to think of it, one of the first things he did was to warn me that I shouldn't mistake Hogwarts students for normal children, and that what I thought of as games were deadly serious. At the time I just humoured him."

"When was this?"

"The first day of classes."

Harry thought back to the train ride at the beginning of the year, how Draco had said he'd wanted an introduction to Professor Asimov. The sun had started to rise, and the first wisps of daylight streamed in through the window. Madam Pomfrey came by on her rounds and examined Harry for a few minutes, then declared that he still needed to rest. Harry asked her about the poison, but she just frowned and shushed him, said that his prognosis was fine, and told Professor Asimov in no uncertain terms that Harry was not to be pestered. Professor Asimov got up to leave, but as he was walking out he turned back, ignoring Madam Pomfrey's complaint.

"When you do figure this out, you'll explain it to me, won't you?" Professor Asimov's voice had the slightest hint of pleading.

"I promise. Soon. Once they release me, I need to do something, but then..."

Harry nodded as Madam Pomfrey shoved Professor Asimov out the door, while casting Somnium at the small boy with the lightning scar under her care.

8pm

Harry walked around the room, amazed at the differences. The walls were scorched and melted, and the floor wasn't flat - it warped up and down as you moved from the front to the back, as though the heat had caused the marble itself to start bubbling like pancake batter, and it had frozen in place when the heat had been removed. The walls weren't just scorched black, but purple and green and a few colours Harry didn't have words for. For a moment Harry ignored the people around him, enthralled in the power demonstrated by the damage. He ignored Hermione and Professor Asimov's questions, not even really hearing them at some level. Harry only woke up when he heard Amelia Bones quiet voice come through the door.

"And Minerva, I've got Ministers screaming at me, the Wizengamot is in a snit. Rumours of centaurs barricading themselves in caves to avoid having to look at the sky, Poland is demanding that we move the Chalice somewhere safe, Goblins are sending a delegation for some reason, and don't even get me started on the Americans, why the Salem Institute of Witches..." she stopped abruptly when she realized that the room had more than just Harry Potter.

"Mr. Potter," said Headmistress McGonagall, walking beside Madam Bones. "Ah, good evening, Professor Asimov. Miss Granger."

"Headmistress, Chief Warlock. I've got some answers, not everything but I know you're under considerable political pressure, so I thought I'd walk you through the main points. Then you can hold a press conference or call a special session of the Wizengamot, as you see fit."

Amelia Bones nodded, but there was a frown on her face. "I can hardly complain about the Girl-Who-Revived being here, she was a witness. And frankly people love her. But I protest Professor Asimov's presence. He's not even a wizard, and I don't see why he's here."

"Amaneunsis," Harry said automatically, then hastily explained "Not in the strict sense of being a note taker, more of in the literary sense that he's my ... living memory, if you will. Call him my conscience for this matter. He has an outsider's view, and is naturally sympathetic towards Lockhart and Slughorn, and Draco and Neville for that matter. Not to mention he has a good grasp on the general sweep of history, without being influenced by the specific history of Magical England, which I think might bias our decisions. We have to decide how we respond to the Daily Prophet's attacks, and I think he'll have good advice. Oh, and I promised him. Anyway, after this is done I'll go interview the Professor Slughorn, just to wrap up loose ends that don't affect the pressing political matters..."

"If you haven't interviewed him, how can you be sure your story is right," said the Headmistress, as she cocked her head inquisitively. Harry smiled at the question.

"A great question, Headmistress. I've interviewed some perpetrators and the surviving Aurors, and read the remaining transcripts of Mad-Eye's interrogations. I caught up on those I missed this morning. That includes Lockhart's interview under Veritaserum and Slughorn's initial statement after the attack. There are questions I need answered, but those statements of fact seem thorough. The timeline isn't complete, but I don't think the gaps matter. Well, not immediately. And Auror Li's interview carries particular weight. I just finished conducting a follow on. There's a lot going on, but it is just a battle. We do after action reports all the time."

"Alastor shouldn't be investigating right now," said Amelia Bones, but there was resignation in her voice. "I'd take over the investigation, but it would imply a lack of faith in Thicknesse. I do miss the simplicity of the DMLE. But Mad Eye should leave that to the Aurors and recover."

"If you wanted to control him, you shouldn't have let him retire. Actually, now that we have the ... Chalice, it seems to me that mandatory retirement should be revisited," Harry said, "But I digress. It's a simple plot, really, because the attempted heist was a feint."

"A feint?" said Madam Bones, her voice rising and shooting glances around the room. Hermione was nodding along, and Professor Asimov was just following the proceedings quietly. McGonagall's jaw had dropped slightly, but she quickly recovered and shut it tightly.

"Twenty dark wizards attack Hogwarts and Peverell and invest Merlin knows how many Galleons for a feint? I could understand the attack for the Chalice, it holds the key to life itself."

"Yes, and we grossly underestimated the probability of a serious brute force attack, which is what Mad-Eye is currently fixing, Madam Bones."

Harry pondered. We'd need a whole compound, not just a small annex. Harry remembered the old saying: Brute force attack failed? Needs more brute force.

"I'll admit," offered Amelia Bones, "that the timing of the second attack is suspicious, and may not just be a coincidence..."

"It's not unreasonable to look at Slughorn's attack as just taking advantage of the timing," Harry said. "And as far as the wizards in custody know, they aren't related. For them, the goal was the Chalice. And they would have gotten away with too, if it weren't for those meddling kids."

Harry smiled at the last one and Professor Asimov chuckled, but Hermione just shook her head so Harry sighed and continued. Explaining the joke never helped.

"No," Harry said, "the attackers were duped by their inside man, Draco Malfoy." Before anyone could interrupt he tossed the copy of the Daily Prophet on the floor.

"One of Lucius's old rules. Look at the results and see who profits. As a heist, this was a bust. But as a way of exposing me? Resounding success. This entire thing was an experiment and, judging from the editorials in today's paper, an ongoing experiment. But back up and consider, Madam Bones, how you reacted when you found out I defeated Voldemort and was Dumbledore's heir as a mere child. Then contemplate how you felt when you found out I was, in some ways, a copy of Voldemort's soul."

"I thought I took it well," she sniffed.

"Draco found all of that by the end of the first day of school, after suffering the trauma of losing his father. He's suspected me of being Voldemort for a while, I knew that, and struggled for a way to resolve it. It's a difficult problem, with no great solution ... I actually discussed this with Quirrel last year. Anyway, for Draco it wouldn't be enough to discover whether I was Voldemort. If he did that I'd kill him. I mean, if I was actually evil. Draco needed to neutralize me until the results of the experiment came in. And he wanted to ensure that if I was Voldemort." Here Harry trailed off for a second, before continuing, "that if I actually was Voldemort and killed Draco, it wouldn't help. Draco needed to expose me to a wide audience."

"The heist set pieces in place for his real experiment, a grand misdirection. I couldn't figure it out before the second attack, because I was working under the theory that Peverell was the target, which didn't make sense with the facts at hand. But with the new motive, everything makes sense. Now I'm revealed as Tom Riddle, which is Voldemort as far as Draco is concerned. And the Prophet has published the information that Voldemort was Tom Riddle. He's spread that information far and wide. Draco is trying to isolate me, and making sure that everyone with a grudge against Voldemort knows it."

"He couldn't bring himself to kill you before," Hermione muttered. "Because he might be wrong."

"Right."

"Draco survived?" said Professor Asimov.

"That's ... complicated. Maybe. I'm still checking. For now, consider 'Draco' to be a conspiracy, instead of a person. At least after the attack. This gets confusing. But before the attack, Draco - the real Draco - wanted to determine if I'm Voldemort. So, an experiment. He knew he wouldn't get many volunteers by saying 'Hey, do you want to hunt down another potential Voldemort?' Too much risk and not enough reward. But dangling the Chalice in front of greedy Wizards? Well, that recruited an army."

"I can hardly be accused of being a supporter of House Malfoy," said the Headmistress in her prim accent, "but I refuse to believe that Draco Malfoy would do something so ... evil."

"I agree, Draco had resolve but willfully endangering so many lives..." said Professor Asimov.

"I don't think he did," said Harry quietly. "But I have some facts you don't. First, I invited Draco at the beginning of the year to help me test the security, so he was well placed to judge how effective the attack would be. Second, Peverell would have been attacked in any case, I had even mentioned that there were groups of Dark Wizards already planning on attacking. Aurors were already in danger. Draco just shifted their timetable. And finally, by all accounts Draco tried to make the attack more subtle, less lethal."

"But they came through Hogwarts," countered Madam Bones, who had also read the transcripts. "What if they'd stumbled on a student...aah, the wards."

"Right. In the letters from their inside man, they were warned time and again about the Hogwarts wards. They couldn't hurt a student, they'd be limited to harmless spells until after they broke into Peverell. They just Somniumed anyone they stumbled across and hid the bodies. And they knew that only a Professor could Imperius or memory alter a student, so they wouldn't be tempted. Any attack on a student would mean discovery and failure. One letter rather credulously mentioned a legend that the very statues of Hogwarts would exact vengeance on outsiders who threatened a student. No, Draco's plan took measures to move risk away from the innocent."

"Not enough measures, apparently," said Professor Asimov. "Or did one of them simply forget?"

"Walk us through it," said Madam Bones, firmly.

Harry gestured to the room around them.

"The attack starts here. And ends here, I suppose. There's some speculation involved, and I've filled in a few gaps, but most of this is straight from the transcripts. A few details to iron out, but the broad strokes are right. So, on the afternoon of March 6th Draco lured me here and then ambushed me and smuggled me out of Hogwarts..."

"But there's no way out," said Hermione.

"Not anymore," Harry agreed. "This room ... has a power. I don't really understand it yet, but I suspect it's gone. Not much works after getting hit with Fiendfyre. Sometime after I got knocked out, Draco created a tunnel to Hogsmeade from here. Later they burned this room. Also part of their plan, to cover their tracks when they escaped. Anyway, after Draco stunned me ..."