Epilogue
Justin could not tell what was happening with the duel; there were so many spells fired on both sides that he could not tell who was using what or who was winning. He felt that he was unrestrained at one point, though, and he started to smell fire. Instinctively running for it, he threw a window open in the direction from where he had felt a draft and threw himself out of it. While it was far from ideal to try to get away while blind, he was not going to think he would have another chance. He knew he was in some kind of populated area, because he heard voices, and he practically threw himself into the arms of a passerby and started to explain himself. It was a whirlwind of sensations that he could not exactly place until he found himself sitting in a chair with a bunch of voices around him. At some point, he realized they were not speaking English, which was not exactly a lucky break, since he knew no other languages, to his moderate chagrin. Unfortunately for him, though, the language did not even sound like one of the ones he had the opportunity to learn.
"Excuse me, does anyone speak English?" he asked. There was no positive response. He was confused and in their captivity for a few hours before he finally heard Harry's voice again, which he knew could be a trick, but it seemed unlikely, since they were surrounded by witnesses. Most likely, Brook would try to get him to come along a little ways and then get apparated out, so he would instead ask for floo powder to get to the Ministry, and if his visitor would not give him that, then he would deny knowing him.
"Justin; we thought you were dead or something. I'm sorry I sent you out on your own; we just didn't have anyone else."
"It's Ludo Bagman," he said. "He's been behind this the whole time."
"I'm not surprised. Not after all this- it seems like nothing can surprise me now."
"They told me that Marietta was disappeared by a special spell. She could be anywhere right now, but most likely we're not going to find her."
"I'm not worried about her. We'll just put out a bolo for a girl with SNEAK on her forehead. It won't take long before she turns up. We'll find a way to trap the boss and then we'll have most of them under control."
"Okay, just be aware that technically, Zacharias helped me escape," he said. "I know you don't decide how people get sentenced, but if you could put in a word, I'm sure that someone would-"
"You'll have to put that word in yourself," Harry said, sighing. "We'll never get out of court over this."
"Can you restore my sight? I don't have a clue where I am."
"I'll have to get you to a Healer at St Mungo's. They might know how to do that, but I really wouldn't know. I've never brought someone in for that before."
"Okay, well, can I have some floo powder? I'm afraid that if I just..."
"This is a muggle hospital," he said. "Well, that or something close to that. I've never been to this part of the world. I came here in response to a possible Statute of Secrecy issue; I had a hunch that it was you."
"Oh, I hope I didn't cause too much trouble," he said. It was starting to seem like he had no choice but to trust the voice that was with him, because nothing else was going to get him closer to a solution to the problem. Even if someone else came by and testified that Harry was real, he would still have to trust it was not Bagman in disguise or something. The hero always showed up at the end, anyway.
Going again through the sensation of apparating, he was grateful to be out of it again.
"Is that Justin?" It was Ginny's voice. He had not heard from her in a while.
"Yes," Harry said. "I'm trying to take him back to work and I can't apparate straight there. The Oblivators are still hard at work."
"Of course. I can't help but think I should invite him to have a cup of tea," she said, clearly begrudgingly. She was not exactly mean or inhospitable, but she did not like the idea of someone showing up out of nowhere and did not like the idea of housewarming.
"It's no trouble," Justin said. "Let's just get to business. We need to get to St Mungos, remember?"
"That's something I forgot to mention," the Auror said. "We need you to make a statement before we take you there. If they find out that you'd been blinded, they might not accept that you saw anyone. It would be hard for us to prove when exactly they used a blindness hex on you."
"I can't just pretend to be able to see if that's what you're suggesting. Even those muggles at the hospital probably did basic tests like waving a hand in front of my face and would have realized that-"
"They'll be obliviated."
"Well, think about it this way. What happens if they all believe us, and then, down the road, Brook testifies that she blinded me."
"If she tells the truth about when she did it, then you'll have already seen Bagman. That's what happened, right? He must have been the one who found you at the artificer's place, because he would have concealed that detail from the others. Oh, and we got a report that Gemma Farley's been arrested. The Prophet is calling it ridiculous and the higher ups are putting pressure on us, but we already have her talking. Bane and Kettleburn have been transferred to protective custody elsewhere; they're under guard by a handful of Aurors I personally cleared."
"That's good," he said, breathing a sigh of relief. "Let's go through the floo- I'll do my best to give you that statement without making it obvious."
"I'll be right by your side the whole time."
They went through the floo, and sure enough, they were in the Atrium again. All around him, he could hear cameras flashing. Reporters had countless questions for Auror Potter, but all he said was that he finally had the witness he needed to unmask the criminal mastermind. Before anyone could stop him, Justin called out that it was Ludo Bagman, and that seemed to surprise them enough to halt their approach. They made it to the elevator.
"Well, that has a chance of working," Harry said. "The only problem is that they might have another boss waiting to take his place if he goes down."
"No, I don't think they do," he said, thinking about it. "Even if they did, we'd know. Bagman would have kept an eye on anyone gunning for his position."
The elevator dinged and they both stepped out. An Auror announced that he was being recorded for official purposes and he started telling the story. He made it sound more like his idea to go to the artificer and get him to talk to the authorities, rather than something that was being outsourced to him. When asked why he was not in protective custody, he said he simply borrowed some floo powder when no one was looking, acting like he was going home.
There were more questions and he hoped that he did not make his case worse by thinking a moment before answering them. He knew that he should avoid looking like he had been coached, and Harry had not, in fact, given him any instructions on how to answer, but it was getting a bit concerning, just going and going with no feedback. It was hard to just stare straight ahead as if he had a thousand-yard stare, but he could not look around at everyone who was there. Eventually the questions stopped and he was escorted to another room.
"Well?" he asked. "Did I do okay?"
"It's all downhill from here, probably," Harry said, taking a breath. "We still need to bring Marietta in, but that's after Bagman. This should be enough to get a warrant for his arrest. Once the entire country knows what's going on, there's nothing they can accomplish with a few memory charms and whatever else. Not even the witness disappearing hex will save them now."
"They implied that they could keep using it, but they were stopped by the fact that if they used it too much, the authorities would realize they had it and-"
"We've known they have it for decades. We just didn't want them to realize that we know, because we don't have a counter for it." He sighed. "What we really need is someone who can use the hex. We'll have to be careful going forward."
"This is going to sound like a selfish question, but when can I go home? When am I done with this?"
"Not sure." He sighed. "The department's been downsized since the war ended. It's the same thing that happened to Crouch back in his day, getting sidelined because they'd rather not think about what all they had him do. They're willing to let me keep the job- haven't said anything about moving me or even that they want to, but they're cutting off my arms and legs; I don't have nearly the amount of power you would normally think." He sighed. "I'm going to have to call in Ron and Hermione."
"What are they doing these days?"
"Ron's something like a media handler. He's funny and relatable and has a persona that he uses for the cameras. Technically he's a retired Auror, but I bring him in whenever something like this happens. Hermione's in the Wizengamot."
"Already?"
"Is it any easier to believe I'm Head Auror?"
"I mean... well, now that you've said that you don't have that much power..."
"She told me that she expected to debate with people and propose the best legislation, proving the effectiveness of her ideology by the results of the policy that it inspires. As it turns out, she's found that it's much easier to rise through the ranks by gossiping and blackmailing. You wouldn't believe the kind of shameless insider trading, embezzlement, and whatever else that goes on. The affairs are just the only thing that ever makes the news."
"Do people ever try to start anything with her?"
"No. No, they've realized there's no point. Everyone loves Ron and they've realized they can never get proof of something that never happened. They're also up to their necks in evidence against them, so if they ever want to directly start anything with her, they're deep under water. They might have had a chance if they ganged up on her from the very beginning, but they didn't, so they have to live with those consequences."
"Maybe since that was right after the war, they felt like they couldn't do anything to her anyway?"
"It's possible. Ron technically doesn't have a job here at all, so he's got nothing to lose, but it's not like it's a secret that he and Hermione are married." He sighed. "It's a shame people keep telling her that she could do better, because she always replies that she literally could not."
"I never thought about that," Justin said. "I always thought it was unfair to tell someone 'you could do better' because it implies that you have to choose someone who elevates your status in some way, instead of someone you like the most." He frowned and then suddenly thought that it was almost weird to be making expressions when he could not see, but apparently people who had always been blind would make expressions.
"Well, I suppose it's imposing some amount of... influence on how you get married, but you get to decide how you respond to that." It did not seem Harry was similarly interested in the hows and whys of society. "In any event, we can take you to protective custody."
Things went as could be expected. He felt thoroughly like a side character again, and he told that a Healer that had been invited as a personal favor, something that would not be recorded anywhere, hopefully. The procedure to restore his sight took a while, but he hardly minded; he hardly had anywhere to go. He blinked.
"Draco Malfoy?"
"Surprised, mudblood? Tell me everything that happened to my father-"
"I'm certain that's not the point of all this," he said, interrupting. "They'll get their due when the court decides it."
"Useless," he dismissed, dismissing then himself and leaving. He only needed to hear his own name to confirm that the treatment had been effective. Harry returned to the safehouse before long, giving an update on how the case was progressing.
"I was expecting an old friend."
"He does good work. I don't care about all that rubbish back in school. I really don't even think about it. I know that I can count on him for anything that I don't want written up, because he's got more than enough on his record that I could bring up. He didn't have a leg to stand on in his trial; they just forgave him as a personal favor to me for his 'efforts during the war'. It's all dependent on my word."
"That's... I mean, I suppose I can't argue. He did participate in a plot to kill Dumbledore... though I suppose it's only in a memory that it was revealed that he knew about the assassination plot the whole time... in a way, you could actually say he manipulated the young man through Snape, who was working for him." He frowned. "You never told me what happened that night. You never told anyone."
"Malfoy, he... he stood there with his wand out for five minutes or so. I think that planning an assassination and carrying it out, personally, ended up being more different than he would have expected." Harry shook his head. "He was a bully or maybe something like a rival, but nothing more than that; I'm not praising his character at all by saying that he didn't want a war, or to fight in one. No one does. It made me think of the kind of spoiled brat I would have become if I had been raised by a wizarding family."
"Oh, don't say that about-"
"I mean, maybe, I don't know, and we'll never know, but I don't think I would have been so motivated to do things myself if I had any reason to trust adults to handle things. Dumbledore stuck me with the dumbest and least caring people on the planet for good reason. He knew the whole time that I was going to have to kill Voldemort, and he knew that any other kid would have tried to get out of it. Any other kid would have blamed anyone else, and sure, I could blame other people for some things, but even if I blamed them, it wouldn't change that I would have to fight. I don't think there's any amount of good upbringing you can do that would have raised me to be responsible enough to handle it on pure duty."
"That's a theory," Justin said, thinking about it- he did not know all that much about Harry's childhood, but he did know that he had never said anything about it. He did not seem resentful, but then, he was not resentful about anything. That was why the club fundamentally did not make any sense, not if he had been at the center of the moral universe. "I don't think I agree with it, but I suppose I don't need to. It's all behind us now."
"That's the attitude that I like to have with these sorts of things. It's in the past, and it doesn't matter anymore."
"I'm sure you have to leave again," he said after a moment of thought, getting up to get a book. Reading was quite possibly the biggest thing he missed, not being able to see. It was such a basic skill for getting by, even in the magical world, where it was common to have things sung to you by enchanted objects. He was grateful to be able to just disconnect and read a book on pointless legalese, quite certain that none of it would come up in any of the trials to come.
When night fell, he was happy that the safehouse had a bed and he was at last allowed to go without a sleepless night, that was to say, sleep. It had been a rough few days or weeks; he found it hard to keep track and being entirely honest, he did not really care. He barely knew how long it was before he woke up, but he certainly felt well-rested. It was a lot better than any night he had while working for the club.
"It's a fitting end for a side character," he said the moment after he finished a cup of breakfast tea. Being included in those who lived happily ever after was perfectly fine for him; he did not especially need to have his own wedding plans mentioned. "I just wish we could have the denouement go on a little bit more quickly. I would have hoped for a time skip to an epilogue, not that I would know, of course." He frowned as he went over to the sitting room. "Then again, this is the kind of thing I would be doing during a skip."
Without anyone around to discuss his situation, he only read until Harry showed up again, explaining what had happened. Apparently, none of the witnesses were disappeared and all the evidence was in order. The publications and politicians had almost entirely changed their tune about the club's existence, and many had shifted to damage control; those who had decried it were insisting that the lack of clear evidence and communication were to blame for why the story had not been believed. The public, so far, seemed to be accepting the excuse; had it not been thoroughly proven, they would have thought such a thing was ridiculous. Apparently, Ron had been selected to give a public speech about revenge, one he termed long overdue.
"Has he already given it?"
"I'm sorry?"
"Well, I was hoping I could listen to the speech."
"On the wireless, if you must." Harry paused. "I mean, I suppose it's an important thing to address, and maybe I thought it was obvious, but evidently not everyone did if we're having this problem. I don't feel the need to listen to a speech that he's prepared to the public; I doubt he'd even look for me in the crowd."
Ordinarily, Justin would have erred on the side of caution in disagreeing, saying that friends always appreciated the support, even if they had not asked for it, but with the two of them, he could see it. They had a genuine friendship that needed no explaining or reinforcement, and that was what he wished he could have with someone instead of the stilted politeness he currently enjoyed. A thought crossed his mind.
"I know I said this, but-"
"We can't get Zacharias out of trouble. His actions, in your own words, don't even represent a change of heart. It's more like he just screwed everything up for his team."
"I suppose so. I just want some amount of clemency to be extended in his case." He took a breath, lowering the book. "He seemed to believe it was impossible to escape the grip of the organization. In that way, he wasn't any worse than some of the others. Kettleburn talked, but only after we convinced him that it was all over, and that his testimony wouldn't be the turning point that it was. They might not have been under the Imperius, but it's hard to resist these kinds of things. It's hard to oppose everyone else by yourself, and it's easy to get sucked into a system where you can't get out. I'm not trying to say that they're complete victims, but the focus of the punishment should be on the one controlling them all."
"I really can't even speak to that. The policy for criminal justice isn't decided by the Auror department. We were actually only involved with this, rather than leaving it to the Hit Wizards, because we had some reason to suspect that powerful, possibly dark magic was involved. I can only tell the court what happened, and the court will decide the punishment. I can almost guarantee that the Kiss will be reserved for Bagman, though; that's how you want to do it when you're taking down a powerful criminal organization. The rest isn't up to me. I would have to fudge my own testimony to have any influence over that."
"I see. Do you have any idea if Dean Thomas was involved, or if that was just a completely false identity?"
"We got him on a fire call a while ago, actually. It turns out he's had an alibi the whole time; he's been working in Russia as a diplomat of some sort. They haven't let him leave once in the past three months; he's been a translator and a recorder for some intense negotiations. There hasn't even been any contact with the outside."
"Oh, so Zacharias must have picked him because he knew that, or he just knew that he dropped off the map and if he didn't know where to find him, then anyone else would at least take a while." He thought for a moment. "There was also the fact that we were acquaintances in Hogwarts. If you saw me somewhere, I guess you wouldn't be surprised to see him."
"Well, if you're wondering about the rest of your memories, I'm pretty sure they're mostly accurate, based on what you've told us, as crazy as that sounds. As the investigation's been tying up loose ends, we're finding out that some of the things that seemed completely ridiculous were true. Some of the people who worked for the club came forward voluntarily rather than getting hunted down. I'm betting their boss had leads on all of them and would have been able to find them if they ever disappeared."
"I... well, that's a relief. I thought I would be the only one."
"Technically, if you were, then you would be all that more instrumental in the case, and we would have to be even more lenient with you. Who knows, we might even have to have a parade."
"I wouldn't have wanted that," he said on instinct. "I'm not like... sorry."
"Probably not that many people would," Harry estimated. "Everyone likes to be recognized, though. It doesn't really matter how important you see yourself being in your own story."
"Yeah," he said, watching as his former friend turned to leave again. He was a busy man, after all. "I suppose that's true."