The Truth at Last
The Truth At Last
written by Bathilda Bagshot
As the ten-year anniversary of the Longbottom tragedy approaches, Bathilda Bagshot interviews ex Order of the Phoenix members Emmaline Vance and Edward “Ted” Tonks on the true happenings of the end of the war against He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named.
Bagshot: Miss Vance, would you please recount the events of the 31st of October 1981? It was you who first arrived at the scene of the crime, after all.
Vance: Alastor – Moody, that is – and I were on night watch down in the Bath safehouse when we saw the dark mark. Alice and – sorry, I know it’s been ten years, but – Alice and Frank weren’t living all that far away at the time so we headed out straight away. The front door was open and – and we found Frank first. I had to step over his legs to get into the hallway – he didn’t even have his wand on him. Then, Alice – we found her on the stairs, dressed in a mockery of a witch’s robe – it was Halloween, you see – and she looked so peaceful I had to tilt her head to the side to see if she was really gone.
That was the thing about it all, you know – and I’m sure Alastor would say the same – there was no blood, no rubble, nothing you’d expect to see at the scene of a Massacre.
Tonks: It’s true – when we found the McKinnons you could hardly tell the brothers from the sisters. Lestrange work, you see. They always took pleasure in the kill. Even when the rest of us arrived to take the Longbottoms away – well if they hadn’t been so cold, I might’ve thought they were asleep.
Vance: It was just so quiet – so quiet. Even Alastor was pale as snow, and that man has a hell of a reputation. No, they could have been statues, really. I even – I even thought it could have been a petrification spell – but, but it was too quiet.
Bagshot: And that was when little Neville was found?
Vance: Aye – yes. Yes. Little Neville Longbottom, who’d only turned one that July. I’d been to his birthday party, you know. He and the Potters’ daughter had theirs together. But – yes. I had to send Alastor up, for when we realized how quiet it was, I couldn’t bring myself to look first. And even he – even Alastor Moody who’s killed enough of those deatheaters to lose count – could barely do it. He was the one to go upstairs.
Little Neville, who’d only turned one in July, was cold and pale in his crib, a toy wand clutched between his icy little fingers – and I – oh I -
Bagshot:Thank you, Miss Vance. The death of the Longbottom family, as tragic as it was, was also the catalyst to the end of the war. Mr Tonks, can you tell us about the shift in the Order of the Phoenix following the massacre of the Longbottom family?
Tonks: Our number tripled – many of the neutral witches and wizards remaining joined our side. Allies, including my wife and I, became active participants. The ministry, the ministry couldn’t pass the death of such a high-profile family – one with an infant at that – off as an isolated terrorist incident. And the Order itself – well, all hope of a moral conduct was surrendered in favour of survival.
Emmy and Alastor, they –
Vance: - we found Avery and Nott Jr. that very night. Four hours after we found Frank and Alice the death eaters that killed them were dead in the atrium of the Ministry of Magic. Dumbledore didn’t like it of course, but what were we to do. They killed them – murdered Frank and Alice! Augusta – Frank’s mother – she found Evan Rosier the next morning and he joined his death eater friends down in the morgue. He wasn’t all that pretty once she was done with him either.
Bagshot: The DMLE joined forces with the Order, above the books that is?
Vance: Aye, originally Moody and I were doing what we could on the side. Some of us – Potter, Black, Podmore – we were playing both fields or quitting the ministry but things changed that winter. The Auror department gained clearance to openly capture and try known or suspected deatheaters. Minerva McGonagall had Rookwood, Crouch Jr. and both the Yaxleys in Azkaban before the end of the week.
By December, Sirius Black and James Potter had Bellatrix Lestrange and both the Lestrange brothers in jail. Their best friend – Peter – it turned out he was a rat, you know?
Bagshot:The death of Peter Pettigrew was a rather large deal at the time. Sirius Black almost ended up in Azkaban himself, did he not?
Vance: I don’t want to say too much – Sirius is a friend, after all. But during the post humous trial it was proven that Peter had been behind the deaths of the McKinnons, my fiancée Gideon Prewett and his brother Fabian – and even the Longbottoms. Rumour had it that he was going to sell out James and Lily Potter and their daughter next. What Sirius did – he wouldn’t have deserved Azkaban for it, no matter what it cost. As I said, I’d rather not go into it too much.
Tonks: Pettigrew’s betrayal cost us many a life. He’d have known of You-Know-Who’s plans all along. Dorcas Meadowes died in single combat against the Dark Lord himself; we still haven’t found Caradoc Dearborn’s body; most of the Bones family was ambushed in their family home.
Bagshot: Everyone has heard all about the events of the last night of 1981 but at the time no one had expected it all to end as it had; but Mr. Tonks – your wife walked through those very gates at Malfoy Manor in the middle of a raging war in a raging winter. Could you tell our readers exactly what happened, once and for all?
Tonks: Yes, Andromeda apologizes for not being here today but she doesn’t do all that well with leaving the house now. Let me see – well, no, I suppose it didn’t end as we all thought it would. I’d always hope for Dumbledore to finally defeat the Dark Lord who just couldn’t be killed – or Alastor or some other high ranking Auror with a high kill count. And yet, in the end, my beautiful wife Andromeda and her sister Narcissa planned it all themselves.
The Dark Lord had been staying in Malfoy manor, you see. Lucius Malfoy had grown half mad with fear and the Malfoy heir, my nephew I suppose, was only a year and half old. Narcissa dropped the fidelius charm and gave the signal for the other to swarm the manor.
Bagshot: Narcissa, Andromeda and Regulus Black; Severus Snape; Lily Evans Potter – these were the five that stormed the Dark Lord’s safehouse?
Tonks: We’d all thought Regulus to be dead – and he looked in when he showed up to our house on a summer night in 1980. We were nervous at first, having him around the house with Dora for all that time, and he wouldn’t tell us much either. Then, one day in 1981, he and Andromeda left for Albania. Next time I saw my wife was on New Year’s Day of 1982.
As far as I know, Snape had been a spy all along – him and Lily were friends in school. He approached Narcissa during their meetings as Godfather of her son. Lily didn’t even tell James where she was going – she just went.
It took all five witches and wizards to finally bring the Dark Lord to his knees – and it didn’t come without a cost. Andromeda lost her right eye in the battle. She was scared to show Dora her face for weeks – of course our little girl didn’t care at all. She’s finished Hogwarts now – oh, how time flies. Lucius was sent to Azkaban for his crimes, but Narcissa and Draco were allowed to stay at Malfoy Manor and to keep their wealth and titles. Lucius is to be let out in around five years, I’d say.
I haven’t heard much of Regulus Black since the war. He lives with his brother is all I know. Of course, Severus Snape was killed almost instantly. They say he saved Lily Evans from the killing curse – though she didn’t fare much better. Lily fled Wiltshire before the Blacks had even put the Dark Lord in chains and she hadn’t been seen since.
Bagshot:Voldemort, the wizard who could not be killed, is still being held in Nurmengard. Only a few floors away from Grindelwald himself, if the rumours were to be believed.
Vance: Aye, he’s still there. There’s not much need for guards there – escape is impossible and the magical core is depleted enough over the years to render a wizard incapable of escape. There’s no chance of his return. Albus Dumbledore checked the wards and enchantments himself. My only hope is that Voldemort and Grindelwald might drive each other mad inside that hellhole until one of them ends up strangling the other –
Bagshot: Thank you, Miss Vance! That concludes our interview for today. And Mr Tonks, thank you for your time. What you have both done for the Wizarding world is truly incredible.
Tune in next week for: James Potter – a voyage through North Africa; A Witch’s Guide to Magical London; Severus Snape and the Truth Behind Wizarding Espionage