Chapter Text
Update #11
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January 28, 1996
Dine Center for Shamanism and Sorcery
Fourth Mesa, Navajo Reservation, Arizona
United States of America
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DINE CENTER FOR SHAMANISM AND SORCERY
STATUTE OF SECRECY VIOLATION REPORT
Case File: US-SW-003266
Obliviation Agent: Alexander Strong Bear Parkman
Date Opened: 1/17/96
Risk Level: Critical
LATEST UPDATE -- 1/28/1996 1958 MST
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We have just received an urgent report from Strong Bear. This breach has just come much more serious. It appears that although he successfully managed to track down the two extra copies of the incriminating footage and destroy them, one of them managed to last long enough to generate a much more dangerous leak.
The footage showing Potter, Moody, and Lupin was used as part of a commercial for Blast Cola. It was shown during Super Bowl XXX. Strong Bear claims he saw the ad air live on the TV monitors in the stadium.
For those of you unfamiliar with Muggle sports, the Super Bowl is the championship match for the American National Football League. This event is watched all over the United States and quite possibly beyond. Current estimates for the number of people who are watching the game range from 70 million to 100 million. In the Wizarding world, it would be the equivalent of someone launching an ad during the finals of the Quodpot Playoffs. Everyone in North America going to see it.
Strong Bear reports that Mr. Stern (see the previous report) realized what had happened and was genuinely surprised and sorry for what had transpired -- the filming had been entirely accidental. Stern appears to have been doing what he could to plug the leak on his end, going so far as to refer to the Wizarding world as a "secret society" without giving any details. Several other Blast executives seemed to be under the impression that the aforementioned society was the FBI or the CIA, which is good to know.
The Obliviator reports that he was able to modify the memories of virtually everyone in the stadium, including Stern and the rest of the Blast Soft Drink Corporation executives. He had to Apparate in and out of various luxury boxes and places in the concourse, a difficult task, but he was up to it. Strong Bear estimates that at least 95% of the people who were in the stadium now believe that the image which flew by the boat in London was an exotic bird which happened to fly by during the shoot.
This does not plug the breach entirely, however. Not by a long shot. A man named Isaac Sanders, a co-worker of Stern, is still convinced that the anomaly was a witch. He was not at the game, so he was not Obliviated. There were likely reporters from ESPN, NBC, and other networks recording the game. Although the human operators themselves were Obliviated, their films very likely picked up the glow of the Obliviation cone and/or the monitors showing the commercial. The Obliviate spell does not work on inanimate objects, and professional TV reporters likely have film of high enough quality that an outsider would be able to use it to identify the "bird" as a wizard. The TV reporters would inevitably report on the disappearance of their films as a sign of a conspiracy -- after all, shock sells.
In order to modify the reporters' film, Strong Bear would have had to cast an Accio to summon all of the films to him. This spell would have either destroyed the films or at the very least would have caused them to start flying through the air. Both of those possibilities would have raised suspicion and triggered an investigation, so he was unable to do either.
These issues pale before the main issue, which is getting everyone who watched the game. Stern himself tried to warn us about this complication just before he was Obliviated. Judging from what he has seen, he estimates than 1% of the viewers will be able to identify the object as a wizard. In order to do so, they would have to be recording the commercials on some VCR or other device (20%), be curious about the anomaly (50%), have wherewithal to try to review which was seen on their VCR at 24 or 30 frames per second (50%) and find some way to process the film to improve contrast and visibility (20%). The procedure seems to be very similar to that used by Professor McArthur when he was able to conclusively identify the anomaly as a boy on a broomstick.
1% does not sound like a large number of people. However, that can be one million people, spread out all over the United States. It will take time for the Obliviators to get to them all, during which the suspects will inevitably start gossiping to other people and showing them the wizards on the video. There is a distinct possibility that this will not be able to be contained without federal support -- or possibly international support.
RECOMMENDATIONS
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The first thing we have to do is make sure this doesn't leave the United States. The Wizarding community is fortunate in that American football is not very popular outside the United States, so if we are on our toes we may limit the violation to one country. To this end, here is what Strong Bear recommends.
1. Make sure nothing gets on the Internet. If it gets on the Internet it is going to go international and nothing will be able to stop it. This can be accomplished by a virus on the Internet tagged to the words "wizard" and "Super Bowl".
[Great idea, dude. Now how do you handle typos like SPUER BOWL and alternate languages like COPA DE SUPER?]
2. Send all Wizarding communities in the United States into lockdown for their own safety. If word does leak out, the Muggles may attack, or be too curious, about our community.
3. Start monitoring all telephone lines in the United States, especially those in large cities like Los Angeles, New York, and Chicago. The site of the Super Bowl (the Phoenix metropolitan area) and the cities represented by the two teams (Pittsburgh and Dallas) must also be monitored. Have teams of Obliviators ready to step in and interrogate anyone involved in a conversation.
4. Escalate this incident to Critical Risk and inform the Secretary of Magic in Greenwich. The Secretary of Magic may want to consider warning President Clinton.
5. Inspect all international mail. We cannot allow any information -- or worse, tapes -- of this incident to spread outside the US.
6. Tell all wizards and institutions to review their plans in case the Statute of Secrecy is breached. Strong Bear fears that there's at least a 30% chance that Statute of Secrecy will be permanently compromised by this incident. If the video gets onto the Internet, the risk of a permanent breach rises to about 60% as all a hacker needs is Photoshop and a keen eye. If film itself makes it out of the US, the risk goes up to 90% or higher, high enough that we may seriously consider speaking before the United Nations.
7. Keep an eye on Voldemort and Sirius Black. They may take advantage of the manpower diverted to plugging the breach to commit atrocities against Muggles or Muggle-borns.
More information will come in as it becomes available.
To becontinued...
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Update #12
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January 28, 1996
Sanders Household
Prescott, Arizona
United States of America
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Melissa Sanders screamed into her husband's study. "Izzy, hurry up! Your commercial is coming on! I can't believe you aren't watching!"
Isaac Sanders shook his head. "I've got stuff to think about right now, Melissa. I know what the commercial's going to show. I'll be by in a little while. Tell me if you see anything strange in the final production, however -- we're concerned something may have gone wrong and we're hoping most people won't notice it."
"All right, Izzy. We'll tell you."
Sanders had a lot on his mind. It was fairly obvious that the witches' secrecy would be compromised by the airing of the commercial. Everything would depend on how many of the viewers would be intrigued enough by the object flying past the boat in London to consider taking a closer look.
He and Stern were both convinced that they had to do something to help the witches in case their society was exposed. Both of them had agreed not to divulge any more information than was absolutely necessary. They had also agreed to stick to the party line: the anomaly was an exotic bird that had escaped from the zoo, at least as far as the people could tell on the set.
He wondered how Stern was reacting to the airing of the commercial. As a high-ranking Stern executive (and producer of the commercial), he had been invited to join the rest of the Blast brass in the luxury box to watch the game. Stern had told him that he'd be paying attention to the reactions of the people in the stands. If everything went as he had hoped, no one would notice the anomaly or, if anyone did, pass it off as a bird or a plane. Stern had agreed to call him during halftime and compare notes.
Thirty seconds went by, and the commercial had finished. He could hear the television in the living room switching to an ad for Pepsi. He took a deep breath. Was he worrying in vain?
His wife's voice floated in through the doorway. "Good job, Izzy! Well done! It's not the best commercial, but it's not the worst either. You're going to get a lot of business out of this, I suspest. Even an awful commercial will have an impact when a hundred million people are watching it."
Don't remind me, Sanders thought. Aloud, he asked. "I hope so. I take it everything looked OK to you? You didn't notice anything wrong?"
"Not that I can tell, Izzy. The shots from the various countries were impressive. What was the thing that flew past the camera in London supposed to represent?"
Damn, Sanders thought. Aloud: "I think it was a bird -- some exotic waterfowl, maybe a swan or a goose. We couldn't tell the species because it didn't stay illuminated long enough for us to find out. The presence of the bird was sheer coincidence. We left it in because it would represent the problems flying away when people drank Blast."
"Nice touch, Izzy. I don't see any problems. The only thing I'd have changed is add a few sound bites here and there, sort of like what Budweiser and Coke tend to do. It should suffice, however. It will be a credit to your company."
"Thanks, Melissa. Let's hope your predictions are right on. What's the score? Maybe I'll come in for the second half if things work out the way we hope."
"It's 13-7 Cowboys, late in the second quarter. Do you know who's doing the halftime show? Did they tell you when you submitted the commercial?"
"Not really. We'll find out soon enough, I guess."
With that, Melissa ended the conversation and switched back to watching the game. The results had been more or less as he had expected. Assuming Melissa represented a typical American viewer, people had liked the commercial, which was good for him and for Blast. The fans would notice the anomaly in London, but they would be easy to convince that it was something mundane like a bird. This would reduce the number of potential people aware of the wizards' world a great deal.
The question was: would it reduce it to zero? Everything would depend on that.
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Half an hour later, the halftime show was in full swing. There were the typical music acts and over-the-top choreographed dancers. What was unusual, however, was the fact that Stern hadn't called him back.
Stern was usually very good with phone calls. He was prompt as well. If he had agreed to call someone at a certain time, you could count on the call arriving within five minutes of the scheduled time. It was most unlike Stern to be twenty minutes -- or more -- late for a call.
Had something happened to him? Desperate, he called Stern's cell phone. The phone rang a couple of times. Finally, someone picked up.
"Stern!"
Sanders breathed a sigh of relief. "Dave, is that you?"
"Izzy? What's going on? You watching the game?"
"I was a bit preoccupied, but I'll probably get to it later on. You were supposed to call me shortly after halftime began, Dave. What happened? You usually aren't late with phone calls."
There was a pause. "I was supposed to call you?"
"Yup, Dave. Did you forget?"
"I must have, Izzy. I apologize. What do you want to talk about?"
"How did people react to the commercial? Did they notice anything unusual about it?"
"Not that I can tell, Izzy. Most people liked it."
"That's good to hear, Dave. Is our secret still safe?"
The next two words sent shivers down Sanders's spine. "Secret? What secret?"
Carefully, in case the line was tapped: "The thing flying past the boat in London during the commercial. You do remember that?"
"I do indeed, Izzy. What's so secret about it? A bird is a bird. I don't know what species it was. Did you know what species it was? Why would that be secret?"
Sanders didn't like the sound of this at all. He thought for a second and asked a question. "Dave, what happened? Were you Obliviated?"
Stern paused on the other end. "Obliviated? What does that mean? I thought I was a smart person, but I must admit I've never heard that word before in my life."
Sanders swore to himself once more. This supported his theory. Aloud: "Obliviation is the process of having one's memories erased. A certain group we are familiar with has been erasing memories to maintain its privacy and integrity."
Stern laughed. "You know people who can erase people's memories? Who are you talking about? Vulcans? The FBI? Some nutty shrink or mad scientist who wants to make money off an Alzheimer's epidemic?"
Sanders thought a homonym would help. "You know which group I'm talking about, Dave. You know which."
"Actually, Dave, I don't. I can tell you it's not a group of witches either, if that's what you're thinking from the use of the homonym. If you think there are witches running around, you've probably been drinking too much beer or spent too much time watching Wizard of Oz. What have you got down there? Amstel? Bud? Save some for me when I get back, OK?"
This basically confirmed Sanders's worst fears. Stern had clearly been Obliviated, and Sanders himself was probably not far behind. He hoped the witches knew what they were doing: Obliviating everyone who was willing to help them adapt to their new circumstances didn't seem to be a very good idea. Now that the commercial had been aired, it was only a matter of time until the world found out about the witches, for good or for ill.
Resigned, Sanders forced a laugh and finished the conversation. "I must be the one who's confused, Dave. I apologize. I'll see you tomorrow, all right? And I'll bring the beer."
Stern laughed. "Good idea. We'll get drunk and think about what we'll do with all the money we'll make off this commercial. Stern out."
Sanders hung up the phone and stared into space in shock. A few doors away, in the living room, the third quarter was about to start. Melissa was calling him into the room to get him to watch the game.
A few beers didn't seem like a bad idea at this point...
To be continued...
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Update #13
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January 28, 1996
Alpha Chi Gamma Fraternity [which does not exist -- I'd know, I'm MIT '94]
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Cambridge, Massachusetts
United States of America
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Harold Francis Chu grinned as he looked at the grid. Almost half of the men in his house had participated in the Super Bowl pool. One of the walls in the had covered with a 10x10 grid of squares, where each brother could spend $5 to put his name in a square. Multiple entries were permitted, so someone could spend $10 to take two squares. Once all 100 squares had been filled in, the rows and columns were marked with random permutations of the numbers 0 through 9.
The contest was simple. The last digit of the Steelers' final score marked out a column, and the last digit of the Cowboys' final score indicated a row. The man whose name appeared at the intersection of these two blocks of squares won the $500 prize.
Harold's two squares had worked out to be Dallas 4, Pittsburgh 4 and Dallas 3, Pittsburgh 7. The first square probably wouldn't work out all that well: after all, the game couldn't end 14-14 or 24-24. On the other hand, 3-7 was much more reasonable: 13-7, 7-3, and so forth were not uncommon football scores.
Regardless of who won, the pool, however, Harold would come out ahead. He was a hot-shot computer geek who owned programs which would allow people to convert film to digitized images. Once the game was over, he'd digitize the film and put it on his Web site. He found the Internet amazing, with the entire world at his fingertips. Most elite universities had Web access, as did a few big companies.
About two-thirds of MIT consisted of men. A 2:1 ratio of men to women made it difficult for guys to get dates. Harold's roommate had managed to pick up a girl, much to Harold's envy. When Harold asked him for help, the roommate had told him that he needed to try to think of ways which would make him different from all the other guys. Something which would make him appeal more to girls.
Most of the girls Harold knew weren't as interested in sports as the guys. However, they were interested in humor, technology, and to some extent pop culture. The Super Bowl would be a perfect excuse for him to attract women: he'd be showing off his computer know-how and would be using his skills to provide material which would allow the women to review the always-noteworthy TV commercials which accompanied the game.
Harold had offered to record the game so that the men of his fraternity would be able to watch it at a later date. There were a couple of guys from Dallas and one from Pittsburgh, and they'd been REALLY happy that the game was going to be recorded. Little did the guys know that he'd be taking advantage of the recording to help bolster his credentials as a dateable geek. And if the recording didn't serve him well at MIT...well, he always had Wellesley and Harvard.
He knew he'd find a girl at some point. The Athena computer system required that the students master UNIX. That was UNIX. Not EUNUCHS. For the time being, however, all he could do is record the game and hope for the best.
He pressed RECORD, settled back into the chair, and began watching the game with the rest of his house.
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Sixty minutes of football later, the final score was 27-17 Dallas. Eric Muencher, who had filled in the winning square, started whooping it up as soon as the final whistle had sounded. One of the few men over 21, he offered to buy all 21+ students drinks at the Muddy Charles Pub. This set many of the seniors to cheering.
Harold took the videotape out of the VCR while everyone else was distracted. This would give him the chance to digitize the film before anyone else found out. Once he was done, he'd put the videotape back in the videocassette rack so no one would miss it. This was his chance, he thought. He'd better not miss it.
He would have been horrified to know that three of his brothers were all thinking the same thing.
To be continued...
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Update #14
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January 29, 1996
United States Department of Magic
Greenwich, Massachusetts
United States of America
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***URGENT***
STATUTE OF SECRECY POTENTIALLY COMPROMISED
FOR MOST UNITED STATES WIZARD COMMUNITIES
FOOTAGE OF WIZARDS IN FLIGHT ON BROOMSTICKS ACCIDENTALLY RECORDED DURING SUPER BOWL AD
It is the somber duty of the United States Department of Magic to report that a potentially serious breach of the Statute of Secrecy has just taken place. Blast Soft Drink Corporation, of Tempe, appears to have accidentally recorded footage of British wizards flying over London during the production of their recent Super Bowl advertisement. The clip with the wizards appears to have survived the editing process and made it into the final version of the commercial, which aired at approximately 2130 EST/1930 MST.
The violation appears midway through the commercial, at about the 19 second mark. It occurs when the actors are enjoying Blast Cola in London. Shortly after "Jake" -- the male star -- starts touting his product on the cruise liner, an object flies directly behind him from the vantage point of the camera. The object is poorly illuminated, lit only by the boat's running lights. However, additional processing of the film will show that it is in fact a teenage boy flying on a broomstick.
Due to the fact that the wizard in question is underage and well-known, the British Ministry of Magic is not releasing his name. However, it should be noted that the boy had actually been concerned that the Muggles might see him and had asked an exceptionally skilled adult wizard -- an Auror, in fact -- if the man was dealing with the problem. The Auror, having misunderstood the unspoken request, had thought that the boy had asked a completely different question and had nodded. As a result of this confusion, the Blast Cola employees were left with their memories and footage intact.
Most of the Blast employees originally thought that the object in question was a bird. However, two of them, curious about the bird's species, did additional processing and determined that it was a boy on a broomstick. They did not believe it at first. However, one of them had the misfortune to be speaking with someone on the telephone when the person on the other end was Obliviated. This left the employee with knowledge both of the Wizarding community AND of the fact that Muggles could be Obliviated.
To their credit, these employees realized that they had stumbled across something they should not have known and did what they could to prevent the news from spreading, using vague words like "secret society". In fact, when confronted by an Obliviator, one of them told the agent that he would be more than willing to help our community adjust to a new way of life in case the secret was leaked to the point where it became common knowledge in the Muggle world.
The Obliviators went to work trying to repair the damage. As of this report, they had gotten all of the witnesses save one, who will likely be visited by an agent within 24 hours. Unfortunately, the Obliviators were unable to keep up with modern communication technology and found out about the advertisement too late to prevent it from being shown during the Super Bowl.
The Department of Magic would like to remind the Wizarding community of two things. First, the odds of any one individual mistakening the object for a wizard (as compared to a bird, the most likely explanation and the one being propagated by the Obliviators) are relatively low, maybe 1%. Unfortunately, there is a second issue: the sheer number of fans who watched the Super Bowl and saw the commrecial. The Obliviator is estimating that up to a million people will realize that the object in question was a boy on a broomstick. These million people will be spread out, more or less randomly, all over the United States.
This is the first major Statute of Secrecy leak in over a hundred years. More importantly, however, it is the first major leak in the era of television, telephones, and computers. These new technologies will make containment much more difficult. Although the Obliviator himself is working long and hard on this case -- among other things, by Obliviating the vast majority of the spectators at the Super Bowl itself -- he has raised the distinct possibility that it may not be possible to prevent the leak from spreading out of control. The issue is no longer whether we can prevent it: it is how well we can limit the damage. If we are lucky, we may be able to limit it to certain cities or to the United States as a whole. The alternative is too horrible to consider.
For those of you who want more information, the case ID number is US-SW-003266.
What it means to ordinary men and women of the American Wizarding community:
1. Review your contingency plans in case the Statute of Secrecy is permanently breached. If you do not have plans for this, develop some as soon as you can.
2. Make all sensitive areas and sanctuaries Unplottable for Muggles. Muggles will not be able to enter these safe houses even if they do learn that the Wizarding world exists.
3. Although you may be somewhat afraid of the Muggle world, do not assume that the Muggles are malicious. Most Muggles are well-meaning, conscientious individuals, just like you. They are far more likely to help people than hurt them. Be nice to them and they will likely be nice to you. You should still not use magic in their presence, however, as the magic may scare them or surprise them. And it will confirm your existence to the Muggle world, spreading the leak further.
4. For those of you familiar with modern technology, be advised that there will be computer viruses combating all files mentioning the Super Bowl. No files concerning the Super Bowl will be able to be posted to the Internet. The reason is obvious: the Internet is visible worldwide, not just to the United States. If the leak does get out of hand, we do not want it spreading outside the United States.
5. Do not discuss the Super Bowl or any magical subject over the telephone or email.
6. Do not usage familiars such as owls to deliver messages unless the animals will be behaving in a way normal for their species.
7. If you need to travel from place to place, use Muggle transportation methods or Apparation. Do not fly broomsticks. If you are too young to receive an Apparation license, ask your parents to transport you using Side-Along Apparation. Whenever possible, Apparate into unpopulated areas or under cover of darkness.
8. If you see any evidence that the Muggles are aware of the Wizarding world, do not confront them. Contact your town's local authorities and they will get in touch with an Obliviator or other trained professional.
9. Keep an eye on any Muggle outside the American Southwest who is drinking Blast Cola. This indicates that someone has paid attention to the advertisement and has bought the product; Blast had very few sales outside the Southwest before the Super Bowl. Ask them how they heard about Blast and steer them towards the commercial. If they don't mention the anomaly in London, fine. If they do, however, try to convince them it was a bird. Odds are that they will believe you. However, if they have evidence to the contrary, contact your local town authorities.
10. If you're unsure what to do, are scared, biased, or do not know how interact with Muggles, stay away from the Muggles.
11. Wear Muggle dress whenever you are in public. Your town authorities will instruct you on your area's customs.
Rest assured that the Department of Magic is working extra hours to deal with this incident. More information will be provided as soon as it comes in.
The Wizarding community has dealt with several issues like this over the years. We have experience and we have the people. We at the Department of Magic believe that we will be able to resolve this incident without serious problems.
***END MESSAGE***
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Update #15
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January 29, 1996
Potions Classroom
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
Great Britain
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Harry Potter suspected that the only person who liked double Potions was the instructor, primarily because said instructor took special pleasure in tormenting students who were not from Slytherin.
Right now, the instructor was staring down his prominent, aquiline nose at the green fluid which had materialized in Harry's cauldron. Harry braced himself for the inevitable critique.
Severus Snape glared at him. "Potter, what is this?"
Harry cringed but managed to keep a straight face. "It was my attempt at a Shrinking Potion, Professor. I think something went wrong, but I'm not sure what."
"OBVIOUSLY something went wrong, Potter. Either that, or it's obvious that you don't know how to identify your colors. I specifically said that the potion was supposed to be yellow. Does this look yellow to you?"
He dipped a flask into Harry's cauldron, filled it with the green fluid, and showed it to the rest of the class. Hermione rolled her eyes. He could hear Draco Malfoy snicker on the other side of the room.
Harry sighed. "No, sir. I'll do better next time."
"I suspect you will, Potter. After all, you couldn't do any worse. Five points from Gryffindor."
The crowd grumbled as Snape Vanished the flask and headed to the front of the class again. Harry couldn't imagine the day getting any worse.
Snape was about to resume the lecture when Professor McGonagall's voice broke into the room. "Excuse me, Professor Snape, but may I speak with Potter for a few minutes?"
Snape hesitated a moment. Harry could imagine the gears churning in the Potion master's mind as the man tried to think of an appropriately biting rejoinder. Eventually, Snape shrugged and nodded. Breathing a sigh of relief, he got up and followed Professor McGonagall out of the room.
The woman looked extremely troubled. Had Voldemort done something nasty? He'd never seen her this nervous before. Harry needed to know more.
"Professor, what's going on? Has something happened?"
McGonagall nodded. "I'm afraid so, Mr. Potter. Something very serious. Dumbledore would like to see you."
It had to be Voldemort, Harry thought. On second thought, however, he changed his mind. Had it been Voldemort, Professor McGonagall would have told everyone. Could the Ministry have caught Sirius Black? That was the only other option he could think of.
He followed in silence as Professor McGonagall led him over to the headmaster's tower and opened the door for him. Harry stepped into the tower and allowed the spiral staircase to carry him up.
Dumbledore's study was packed. At least half of the Order of the Phoenix was there, as was Cornelius Fudge, the Minister of Magic. Harry recognized the Minister from Harry's ordeal last fall. Long faces filled the room.
Clearly, something terrible had happened. He couldn't tell if it involved Voldemort or his recent trial at the Ministry of Magic. He'd find out soon enough, however. McGonagall put her hand on his shoulder for reassurance and ushered him into the room.
Dumbledore seemed to have aged. His hair appeared to have gotten whiter, and the old body looked much more frail. It looked as if he hadn't slept for days.
Harry turned to Dumbledore. "You asked to see me, Professor? What's wrong?"
Dumbledore sighed and tried to cheer himself up. "Good morning, Harry. Please, be seated. Some butterbeer?"
Harry shook his head. "No thanks, sir. Right now, judging from my latest lesson with Snape, no liquids appear to be agreeing with me."
"Fine."
Dumbledore then turned very serious and looked at Harry. "Harry, a very serious incident has taken place in the United States. We have reason to believe that the Statute of Secrecy has been breached, possibly irreparably."
Harry didn't like this at all. Had someone seen him cast the Patronus at the dementor which had been attacking Dudley? He didn't think so. Besides, how would his use of magic in Little Whinging have caused the Statute of Secrecy to be breached in a country thousands of miles away?
He needed to know more. "The Statute of Secrecy? Breached? How so?"
Minister Fudge answered this question. "Six months ago, after the dementor attack in Little Whinging, members of the Order of the Phoenix flew you to our safe house on Grimmauld Place. Do you remember that, Harry?"
All too well, Harry thought. "Yes, Minister."
"I'd like you to think back to that experience, Harry. Do you remember flying down the Thames and passing a boat along the way?"
"Yes, Minister."
Dumbledore stared hard at him. "Harry, now this is important. Did you see unusual activity on the boat?"
Harry had a suspicion where this was going. NOW they were asking him? "Yes, Minister. I believe I saw some people filming a movie from a location near the back of the boat. I remember thinking that was odd at the time, flying so close to Muggles, but I had assumed that some of the people accompanying me were Obliviating the Muggles along the way. I looked at Professor Lupin for confirmation, and he nodded yes."
Professor Lupin stared at him. "Damn! I remember you looking at me. I thought you were asking me if we were hiding you from Voldemort! That's why I nodded! You thought that I was checking to see if the Muggles were being Obliviated?"
Harry turned to Lupin. "Yes, Professor. Once you nodded to me, I figured the issue had been dealt with so I didn't think much more about it. Who did the Obliviation?"
Lupin turned to Moody. "I thought you were doing it, Alastair."
Moody shook his head. "I was too busy thinking about our escape to deal with it. I figured someone else did!"
Harry turned to Moody. "Who did, Professor?"
There was a long silence, broken finally by Dumbledore. "No one, Harry. No one Obliviated the film crew. We were so busy dealing with you and the dementors that we completely forgot about Obliviating everyone."
Harry nodded. "I see. Can you track down who it was and Obliviate them now?"
Minister Fudge responded once more. "We did. Unfortunately, we did so too late. The footage filmed on the boat was made into an advertisement seen during a very popular American sporting event. It was likely seen by millions of Americans. The Obliviator in charge of the case isn't sure he'll be able to keep this under wrap much longer, and he's starting to take more and more drastic measures."
The Minister paused. "It appears, Harry, that you're going to be pretty popular in the United States. Particularly given your ability to fly a broomstick."
Harry stared at the Minister in horror. He knew how aunt and uncle reacted to wizards. If the rest of the Muggle world was like that, the wizarding community was in deep trouble.
He turned to Dumbledore. "That's terrible, sir. What are we going to do?"
Dumbledore shook his head slowly. "I don't know, Harry. I honestly don't know."
To be continued...