Interview with Director Potter by Inquisitor
Summary: 20 years after the Battle of Hogwarts, the Director of Magical Law Enforcement, Harry Potter, reflects on the past, the present, and the future in this exclusive interview.
Rating: PG-13
Categories: Post-DH/AB
Characters: None
Genres: None
Warnings: None
Challenges: None
Series: None
Published: 2018.05.05
Updated: 2018.05.05
Interview with Director Potter by Inquisitor
Chapter 1: Chapter 1
Author's Notes: Exclusive Interview with the Director of Department of Magical Law Enforcement (DMLE), Mr Harry Potter on the 20th Anniversary of Battle of Hogwarts
Participants are the Senior Correspondent of The Daily Prophet Julia Kimberly Rawlings (JKR) and the Director of DMLE Mr. Harry James Potter (HJP).
JKR: Congratulations on your most recent promotion, Director Potter, and of course Madame Granger’s election to the Minister. The last 20 years have been a huge success, and I must say almost unprecedented during the history of Magical Britain.
HJP: Thank you.
JKR: Now to my first question - despite your great victory and successes after the War, our society, especially you and your family, paid a very heavy price. In hindsight, what were some of the things that could have been done better?
HJP: As you know, we had already organized several truth finding commissions after the War to identify the mistakes and inadequacies of Magical Britain’s response to this threat, and how we could improve in the future. The findings of these commissions are all available to the public. In short, the Ministry failed to effectively counter Voldemort’s campaign. For example, its law enforcement staff was operating under completely outdated investigative techniques, they did things that would be ridiculed even by Muggles from the early 1900s. Of course, the Wizengamot was heavily infiltrated by Voldemort sympathizers and they did everything they could to sabotage DMLE operations. Again, details can all be found in publications by our truth finding commissions.
JKR: I’m aware of this fact. But I’m very interested in learning what shortcomings you find particularly jarring.
HJP: Well, let’s begin with Veritaserum, it’s a wonderful tool, it’s not perfect, but if you combine it with the right questions and evidences, you will be able to crack basically any case. And of course, it greatly cuts down on the chance of punishing someone innocent. Our record of the last twenty years speaks for itself.
HJP: In the old, the Wizengamot based its rejection of Veritaserum on mainly three reasons. The first one was that the defendant might be able to close his throat with wandless magic. We are still laughing hard whenever that excuse was mentioned in our department. Did they think people were that stupid? One Finite Incantatum will end it, and someone in our custody wouldn't have the luxury to perform that wandless feat anyway.
HJP: A very accomplished Occlumens could of course resist Veritaserum to a certain degree. But we have means, and I mean not torture or anything illegal, to reduce that person’s Occlumency defense significantly. On the other hand, such Occlumens are exceedingly rare, while the vast majority of criminals have little to no Occlumency skill at all.
HJP: The last reason was memory charms. It’s a valid one I must say. But again, confessions and human witnesses face the same problem. Memory charms are now the first thing we look for when we interrogate or interview any suspects and human witnesses. Both our department and the Department of Mysteries (DoM) have tools, excellent tools, to identify and reverse most memory charms, including results of Obliviations. Basically, the most important reason for the old Wizengamot to reject Veritaserum was to cover up the dirt of their ‘esteemed members of the society’.
JKR: That’s very enlightening and frightening at same time. I couldn’t imagine how many guilty escaped justice and how many innocents were falsely convicted.
HJP: Or not being convicted at all, but simply thrown into Azkaban to be tortured by Dementors, like my godfather. Or Morfin Gaunt, being framed and memory charmed by Voldemort, languished there for more than 20 years before dying. He at least got a conviction, although based on faulty confession from a memory charm. Again, that case underscored the importance and urgency to check for them in all our investigations.
HJP: Speaking of my godfather’s case, it exposed the utter incompetence and malice of the old Ministry. Well, let’s suppose Sirius Black was a highly ranked Death Eater and a traitor. Shouldn’t they investigate him thoroughly about his contacts, his hideouts, his resources, and whatever Voldemort’s plans he knew? Shouldn’t they ask him how he deceived everyone, most importantly his best friend James Potter? The Ministry did none of that, but just threw him into Azkaban and forgot about him. They never held a trial either.
JKR: And Professor Dumbledore was never involved in his case?
HJP: We did look into this matter after I became Head Auror. But records were far few and in between. Former Director Crouch merely sent Sirius’ confession and some statements from Aurors to him. Remember, Professor Dumbledore only became the Chief Warlock in 1990 when Fudge was elected Minister. So he wasn’t able to force a trial back then. When I asked his portrait at Hogwarts, it replied that it was too painful for him to confront Sirius personally. When pressed further, his portrait replied that Sirius did indeed exhibit suspicious behaviors during the months leading up to my parent’s deaths. Not having the courage to force Sirius’ trial was one of the biggest regrets of his life. But that’s beyond the scope of this interview.
JKR: I’m sorry to have awakened this rather painful topic. Were there more things that could have been done better?
HJP: I mentioned before that if they had really believed Sirius was a high ranking Death Eater, they should have investigated him thoroughly. They repeated the same mistake or rather shortcoming with the Lestranges. Beside accepting their confessions and sending them to Azkaban, nothing else was done to investigate them any further. No full exposure of their other crimes and atrocities, no investigation into what they knew about Voldemort’s organization, and no compensation of their victims. Crouch failed the most basic law enforcement procedure.
JKR: With such an incompetent Ministry, the burden fell on Professor Dumbledore, the Order, the DA, and you to finally stop him. You mentioned improved investigative procedures, Veritaserum, and memory charm checking among other measures taken by the Ministry. What are some other important steps taken by the new Ministry to prevent such a monster from ever taking over our country again?
HJP: Oh, this is going to be a long list. Voldemort was a very special case in that he ritually mutilated his own soul multiple times. As a consequence, he didn’t have any conscience and was capable of anything. Luckily for us, he used magical artifacts for his Horcruxes and hid them in locations important to him. What would happen if he made a small compromise with 5 artifacts and 1 ordinary item? Would we ever find it if he threw just one of the items into the bottom of the Atlantic or Pacific?
JKR: Oh my god, that would be horrible!
HJP: Well, we are perfectly aware that we might not be so lucky with the next Dark Lord. Therefore, we have developed means that can destroy Horcrux powered individuals without the need to find any of their Horcruxes. And this is a warning to all Dark Lord wannabes who think making Horcruxes is a good idea. It’s a terrible deal, it forces you making foolish decisions, and when you are eventually killed, your fate will be magnitudes worse than the Dementor’s kiss. Of course, we can very easily kill you if we know you have a Horcrux!
JKR: I’m sleeping better, now that I know you have countermeasures against this kind of Dark Lords. This is new information though. Has this countermeasure been developed just recently?
HJP: That’s classified information. The only thing I can say is that we are 100% certain it works.
HJP: As for more important measures we have taken to protect Magical Britain, many are visible to the public and have been in use for decades. The Imperius Curse, which was a prefered spell of Death Eaters and gave us so many problems, has its potency greatly reduced by the introduction of ‘Mind’s Protector’. It’s still a little too expensive, but Weasley Wizarding Wheezes will soon be rolling out a much cheaper model, and Ministry’s subsidy will continue to support this new model. By the way, I’m very proud of what Ron and George have accomplished here, very proud and relieved. The Imperius Curse is in my opinion the most dangerous of the three Unforgivables, by far. Thief’s Downfall is way too expensive and immobile to be used widely.
JKR: Yes, they deserve another Order of Merlin for this wonderful invention (Both laugh). Is it possible to add more protections against mind affecting spells or potions?
HJP: You have to ask Ron or George.
JKR: Any other measures you think are important?
HJP: It’s not so much a measure, but policies. The fundamental cause of the two Blood Wars was the misguided belief in blood purity, and some people’s belief that being born to certain families gives them the right to abuse, enslave, oppress, and murder those whom they consider less.
HJP: Every evidence and research we have conducted since the end of the War, and some even before the war, have arrived at the conclusion that blood purity had a catastrophic effect on the magical and mental health of Wizarding Britain. Just look at the Gaunts, they were Slytherin’s direct descendants and some of the most extreme blood purists. By the time Voldemort’s mother came around, they were already magically, mentally, and physically degenerated. Voldemort’s mother was supposed to be almost squib like, but once she raped that Muggle Tom Riddle with a love potion, suddenly the most powerful wizard in centuries was born. Nothing could be more ironic than that.
HJP: Now let’s look at families who have intermarried with Muggleborns or even Muggles, we mostly see decent, strong wizards and witches with numerous descendants. Professor Dumbledore’s mother Kendra was a Muggleborn, Professor Snape had a Muggle father, my mother was Muggleborn, and the Minister is a Muggleborn. They are just some of the people close to me, you will find a lot more convincing statistics in our published research.
HJP: For the last twenty years, we have been fighting very hard against this misguided and murderous ideology. We have made great progress so far, but we cannot let our guard down, and we shall remain on constant vigilance. Although they are now a tiny minority in Magical Britain, some will no doubt keep trying to cause troubles.
HJP: Another major policy or initiative is our DA Volunteer Network. It started back during that Year, when Hogwarts was under Death Eater occupation and DA members started helping each other beyond defense training. During the year after the War, Hogwarts students continued to help and support each other under Hermione, Ginny, and Luna’s leadership. It was Luna who then proposed to formally create a self-help, self-support organization, and the DA Volunteer Network was born. I believe you are part of the Network too?
JKR: Yes, and my life has improved so much more since I joined it, and I made so many new friends. The Knowledge Repository has been particularly helpful in finding all kinds of useful information and spells. And it comes so handy with the MirrorPhone. That’s just an utterly brilliant idea! How did Minister Granger come up with something like that?
HJP: Actually, the concept came from a Muggle invention called the Internet. The Muggles have millions, no, billions of computers connected together in order to share information and knowledge. They are all indexed and can be searched. Hermione had complained for a long time that Hogwarts Library missed a catalog, an index system. So during her last year at Hogwarts, she began this project with Professor Flitwick and a few other students. The idea of using advanced Protean Charm to communicate with the Repository came later. It took her several years to get it right. At first, members were writing commands on parchments, now it’s all MirrorPhone. But I personally prefer parchments.
JKR: Very interesting, I didn’t know this history. How many members does the Network have now?
HJP: Roughly three thousand, 15% of our total population.
JKR: I thought it’s more. Why wouldn’t more join it? People helping each other, making friends, and learning together, that all seems to great. I don’t understand?
HJP: I think it’s mostly their reservation against signing the magically binding membership contract. Although the contract doesn’t force any member to actively do anything, it does carry hefty penalties against betrayals and other transgressions within the Network. So that might scare quite a few people off, and I can understand that. Some are just categorically against us, for various reasons. Blood purists of course will never join. By the way, Draco Malfoy and his wife are in, but his parents are not. He has contributed quite a bit to the Knowledge Repository. Malfoy Library has some really great books.
JKR: Speaking of Mr Malfoy, I believe you are now on cordial terms with him?
HJP: Yes. He has done a lot to amend his past mistakes, and his son is best friend with my son Albus.
JKR: Really? So he has indeed come around. I still remember that their pardons caused huge uproars shortly after the War. Did you also agree with that decision?
HJP: Narcissa lied in Voldemort’s face and saved my life, and her lie led Voldemort and his Death Eaters into a death trap. I owe her that. Draco had committed his share of crimes, but under extreme duress. During the next Year, despite as the Head Boy and the head of the Inquisitorial Squad, he never volunteered or willingly tortured his fellow students. When under pressure, he would cast a stomach cramp spell that sounded like Cruciatus. Neville and Ginny spoke out for him repeatedly during the Trials, and they didn’t like him in the slightest.
HJP: Lucius, on the other hand, was a very different matter. He was a Blood Purist through and through, and he remained one to this day. He had badly corrupted Draco back then, and he nearly committed mass murder by planting one of Voldemort’s Horcruxes on Ginny, so I was very much against his pardon. However, Kingsley was adamant in his decision, and explained that our position was too weak to push too many of our less resolute enemies into a corner. He prefered a ‘divide-and-conquer’ strategy against Voldemort remnants, and for that he needed to pardon Lucius Malfoy.
JKR: So you agreed to go along with Kingsley. Do you think the Trials were too lenient or too harsh?
HJP: I say the Trials were mostly just. Maybe too lenient in a few cases, and too harsh in a few others. It was definitely too lenient in Lucius Malfoy’s case. But Kingsley had done almost everything right up to that point, I had every reason to trust him. Now after twenty years, the results more or less justified his decisions. We have brought every marked Death Eater, most Snatchers, their Ministry minions, their Wizengamot lackeys, and their hidden supporters to justice. Even that bookshop owner who snitched Muggleborns to the Death Eaters got life. We have been quite thorough in this regard. Some justice came late, but they were all eventually served.
JKR: Do you think that some still escaped justice despite your best effort? I’m not talking about Lucius Malfoy here.
HJP: Absolutely, Voldemort recruited aggressively after Easter 1998. Many foreigners joined too. Majority of them were killed or captured at the Battle of Hogwarts. We caught more of them from countries that are working with us. But some indeed escaped into places that are not on friendly terms with us.
JKR: Are you concerned that these escaped Death Eaters would return to cause havocs?
HJP: I doubt it. At least they haven’t caused us more troubles during the past twenty years. Our focus is still on Voldemort remnants within our country.
JKR: Do you know who they are, and if you do, why can’t you take any preemptive actions?
HJP: We have a very good idea about most of them, and we will take actions if we have good evidence they are trying something. The greatest danger, however, comes from the unknown, from a direction we are not expecting.
JKR: What are some of the biggest threats you are seeing at moment?
HJP: That’s actually a tough question. As I said before, the biggest threat is the one we are not expecting. There are also events that could mean the end of the world, but have very low chance of happening in my lifetime, or even in thousand years. We are not going to waste our resources preparing for those kinds of things. However, the one thing that scares me and can really happen in my lifetime, or my children’s, is a disorderly collapse of the Statute of Secrecy.
JKR: But you have so much success enforcing it so far. When their so called smartphones came out, lots of us worried about the Statute ending, but the Ministries worldwide managed it just fine. Now Muggles won’t even believe it’s magic if some wizards flash their wands in front of them!
HJP: Well, we have survived that one just fine, haven’t we? A little disinformation campaign really works wonder sometimes. (laughs) No, I’m not worried about any individual Muggle devices. Although smartphones presented a serious threat back then, it’s still a simple device that’s easily understood and countered. What I’m worried about is their general pace of their technology advances. We are already stretched in understanding their current capabilities and coming up with countermeasures. But we have little idea about what crazy things they are currently developing and what things constitute as true threats. We need more and more people working on that.
JKR: More and more people, does that mean you need ever increasing number of people in Department of Muggle Affairs?
HJP: Not only in Muggle Affairs, but also in my department and in DoM. Director Finch-Fletchley has been doing a marvelous job so far, and his father’s standing with the Muggle government really has helped us. But many other countries are not nearly as capable as ours, and if the Statute indeed breaks, it will not happen here in Britain first. The time for simply Obliviating some Muggles is long over. We have to spread disinformation in their electronic media, hack their electronic records, work with or force their governments to assist us in the effort. A good thing now is that there are also an ever increasing number of Muggles who like to work with us.
JKR: Can you tell how many Muggles are working with the Ministry?
HJP: I won’t give you an exact number, but I can say these Muggles work primarily in governments, businesses, and media. We need their cooperation in enforcing the Statute, and we offer them both benefits and threats.
JKR: Benefits such as?
HJP: Magical protection of their homes and workplaces, magical household assistance like House-Elves for Hire, and very attractive for Muggles, magical healthcare. Muggles dental care is generally a horror business (the Minister will understand), and they are very afraid of dentists. There’s one bloke who is willing to work with us for free, as long as we provide him with free magical dental care. Most of them are happy with the current arrangement, and only in a few instances are threats and Obliviations needed.
JKR: That’s comforting to know. How many Muggles do you think still want us dead? I mean things should have gotten a lot better in recent decades.
HJP: Britain and much of Europe have gotten a lot lot more tolerant of supernatural (that’s what they would call magic) forces over the last hundred ears. But a significant minority, I would say 10-20%, still see us as forces of the devil and want us dead. Other more religious countries, such as in Arabia, Egypt, and parts of America, are far more hostile to us. If the Statute collapses overnight, it will be a total disaster.
JKR: And you think that could happen with your lifetime?
HJP: Yes. And the Minister shares the same opinion.
JKR: Does the Minister have a plan? Anything you can share with the public?
HJP: Hermione always has a plan (laughs). For example, we can build underground, self-sustaining Wizarding enclaves in very remote parts of the Earth. That could buy us another century or more, according to our seers in DoM.
JKR: That’s a rather depressing outcome.
HJP: It is, and I hate to hide out in a hole like this. Fortunately, this is our Plan C, and I’m pleased to inform that we have much better contingency plans. But they are not available to the public, yet.
JKR: Good to know, any chance the Statute comes crashing down before any of your plans has been realized?
HJP: As things stand now, it’s very, very unlikely to happen in Britain. I can’t say the same for other countries though. But should the Statute collapse before any of our long term solutions has been implemented, we do have plans ready. The Ministry has been working on them for some time, and we hope to roll out to the general public in a few months.
JKR: Really? What are the details?
HJP: You will see them when they are ready. We don’t like announcing details to the public before we feel ready.
JKR: Besides a sudden collapse of the Statute, what other threats keep you up at night?
HJP: It’s not keeping me up at night, it’s a serious issue I think needs to be addressed at and actively worked on. We have so far a good plan and we are going to execute it.
HJP: Radical and violent blood purists remain a key threat. The ‘Skeeter Conspiracy’ from 2014 should vividly serve as a reminder that these people kept trying to drive our society apart and impose their reign of terror. They thought they could set up my wife, but they greatly underestimated our popular support, our resolve, and our capabilities. Not only did we bust multiple conspirator cells, but also caught several well hidden (Voldemort) supporters, like your former boss Barnabas Cuffe.
JKR: Yes, it was terrifying how well he had maintained a facade of civility and harmlessness. To have such a monster as my boss for so many years and not realizing it...
HJP: It’s over now. My wife didn’t figure him out either. There is no need to be that hard on yourself, Julia.
JKR: Thank you, Director Potter. I’d like to ask some more personal questions. Some might be even painful for you, so if you don’t want to answer, just say no.
HJP: Ask away, I’m a Gryffindor. (Laughs)
JKR: When you went on that Horcrux hunting mission, did you really break up with your then girlfriend Ginny?
HJP: Yes, although it looks stupid, very very stupid from today’s point of view, I had my reasons back then. First of all, Hogwarts was in Professor McGonagall’s able hands, the Ministry had not yet fallen, I didn’t have the faintest idea how long the hunt would last, and honestly, I didn’t think I would survive my fight with Voldemort. I didn’t want to shackle her future to me. Besides, Ron was going with me, I just couldn’t take two of Molly’s children with me. I couldn’t do that to her.
JKR: Was your wife upset?
HJP: She was upset, very upset, and heart broken. But she understood me perfectly, she always understands me, sometimes even better than myself.
JKR: Was that a wise decision though, even if your reasons were good?
HJP: It was a colossally stupid decision. My breakup with her would absolutely not have protected her, if Professor Snape had not covered for her. When the Ministry fell on that night and they raided the wedding (of Bill and Fleur Weasley’s), I for once thanked the Ministry’s incompetence and bureaucratic rules in that they didn’t bring any Veritaserum along. Instead, they relied on intimidations and Snape’s Legilimency. We didn’t know what Snape reported to Voldemort later, but Voldemort definitely dropped using Ginny as a leverage against me.
JKR: That was a very close call. Has it ever been explained why Voldemort didn’t move fully against the Weasleys and others who had opposed him before?
HJP: This is in fact an open secret. Our interrogations of the surviving Death Eaters, especially Yaxley and Avery, confirmed that Voldemort wanted to take over Magical Britain as intact as possible. There was of course Death Eaters, notably the Lestranges, who wanted to torture all their enemies to death, but there was also a pragmatic faction headed by Yaxley and Snape who vouched for diplomacy and observation first. Weasleys, with their seven magical children, could be huge assets to Voldemort’s cause if he turned them. He thought by showing some mercy and even appeasement, he could sway those dissident Pureblood families to his cause.
HJP: As long as they did not collaborate with me and openly opposed him, Voldemort was fine with keeping them under observation and Ginny as a hostage at Hogwarts. We believe Professor Snape did influence Voldemort in pursuing this more pragmatic policy at first.
JKR: Did Professor Snape really protect students from the Carrows as well as he could?
HJP: He more or less managed to keep the Carrows under control until Easter 1998, when Weasleys’ involvement with me was discovered and they went into hiding. Even then, he had to bail out Ginny and other DA members from several tight spots, obvious in the aftermath of course. His actions at Hogwarts greatly encouraged DA’s growth, but prevented them from being seriously hurt at same time. Without the DA and general students’ support, we couldn’t have won the Battle of Hogwarts. Professor Snape’s effort during that year was decisive in saving Ginny and helping us win.
JKR: So you have gone as far as naming your second child after him…
HJP: Many hated that, and I can understand. He was a terrible teacher, he was a total jerk and bully. But I and Ginny owed him our lives, and Neville forgave him too despite being bullied the most by him. At his funeral, hardly anyone appeared, I, Ginny, Ron, Hermione, Neville, and another Ravenclaw were the only ones present. No staff or other Order members appeared. Some couldn’t make it, but most didn’t want to attend. He deserved better.
JKR: Are you too forgiving?
HJP: I don’t think so. But I’m very forgiving to those who fought on my side and risked their lives, even though they may have flaws and we disagree on many issues. The one time I was too forgiving happened during our run. We already had Dolohov and Rowle down, but I didn’t quite have the heart to kill them there. They went on to torture and murder at least a dozen Muggleborns and an unknown number of Muggles, and Doholov killed Remus in the Battle. Professor Dumbledore has always emphasized that “we should do what is right and not what is easy”. I took the easy way out that night, and many innocents suffered and died because of my misplaced mercy. After the Battle, we sworn never to make the same mistake again, and we have been very successful ever since.
JKR: Did you and your wife get back together immediately after the Battle?
HJP: Yes, right after I woke up from my eighteen hours slumber.
JKR: That’s so adorable! But then you decide to go work at the Ministry, while she returns to Hogwarts. It means another year of separation for you two!
HJP: It wasn’t easy, but circumstances required my presence in the Ministry. It was in total shambles. It was disgraced beyond recognition after being overthrown twice within a period of ten months. The people were furious and outraged after hearing what happened to the children at Hogwarts and to Muggleborns. Within a few days of the Battle, they were marching on the Ministry and Wizengamot, led by none other than Molly and Augusta Longbottom.
HJP: Kingsley came to me and explained the situation. If the mob had stormed the Ministry, it would have completely collapsed. ICW might have assumed Britain would no longer be able to enforce the Statute of Secrecy, which would had led to an intervention. We - Kingsley, the DA, and the Order - would have been held responsible, and Voldemort remnants could have potentially returned to power. That was a situation we absolutely wanted to avoid. So I called up the DA and used the emergency Floo at Hogwarts to arrive in the Minister’s Office. We openly appealed to the crowd and eventually worked out an agreement.
JKR: The agreement that led to the full reorganization of the Ministry and the Wizengamot?
HJP: Yes, that one.
JKR: How comes you didn’t know Mrs Weasley was at head of such a big movement?
HJP: I was completely exhausted after the Battle and spent all my time with Ginny, Ron, and Hermione. I thought I had done my job and Kingsley would take it from there. I failed to notice how incensed Molly really was by Fred’s death and Ginny’s suffering. When someone asked her to lead the people, she immediately joined without telling us.
HJP: To be honest with you, I was just as incensed as her. If they had called me instead of Molly, it would have been me who joined. But on that day, it was Molly who answered that Floo call.
JKR: Wow, that was a close call. If you had led that mob and sacked the Ministry, things would have gotten indeed completely out of control.
HJP: Not necessarily, Kingsley pretty much agreed to most of their demands. If I had been leading them and Kingsley made the same offers, the result would have most likely be the same. Anyway, at that juncture, I knew we (the DA) had to take over the DMLE. We had to follow up on our hard won victory. We would no longer rely on others to decide our fate, and we would forge our own destiny.
JKR: Why would Minister Granger go back to school then?
HJP: She wanted to complete her education, and that’s a priority for Hermione, under all circumstances. At Hogwarts, she, Ginny, and Luna organized and helped fellow students. With half of the staff either dead or incapacitated, she took over the Muggle Studies position for that year. It has remained a mandatory subject until today. It’s ironically the only rule from Voldemort’s reign of terror that we have kept. And she worked on that Hogwarts Library project, which later led to the Knowledge Repository.
JKR: Oh, I forgot about that. Silly of me! How did rest of that year go?
HJP: Difficult. Apart from the Trials, learning the new job, catching Death Eaters, and rebuilding the country, I had to learn politics. Thankfully, Kingsley and Arthur were there to guide me. Some of the retired Aurors, who had never collaborated with the Voldemort Ministry, also returned to the lineup. They acted mostly as our instructors, although they still took the lead on dangerous missions.
JKR: Were there any Aurors from the Voldemort Ministry left in the new Ministry?
HJP: Not a single one remained. The Aurors suffered grievous losses during the First War, and their numbers were barely replenished during the Interwar Period. When the Battle of Hogwarts began, Dawlish had already been put in St Mungos by Augusta (Longbottom), and Voldemort drafted remaining ones into the Battle, where all of them were either killed or captured. The public took a very dim view of those who collaborated with Voldemort, especially Aurors who were sworn to fight dark wizards. Kingsley himself wanted a complete fresh start.
JKR: Now looking back, that was indeed a great move. Despite your youths, you and your friends have done actually a lot better than those veteran Aurors during the First War.
HJP: Well, the reconstituted Wizengamot helped greatly by granting us significant emergency powers, and Kingsley cut down lots of bureaucratic restrictions for the Auror office. In addition, working with fully trusted friends made us very committed and effective.
JKR: Are there more difficulties beside those you mentioned before?
HJP: Yes, being separated from Ginny, and Hermione. Although we could visit them on a bi-weekly basis, I still felt very lonely, sometimes lost. Fortunately, Ron was with me. Neville, Dean, and Seamus were also there. They helped me a great deal, and that was the time I became a lot more sociable. As the year progressed, things started getting better.
JKR: Did you often take part in dangerous missions during your first year?
HJP: Not really, since most inner circle Death Eaters were killed or captured at the Battle. The sole exception was Rudolphus Lestrange, whom we didn’t get until almost two years after. Although the Ministry regained the control of Dementors after Voldemort’s fall, we knew better than to trust them ever again. Instead of locking these Death Eaters back into that revolving door facility called Azkaban, we dosed them with Draught of Living Death and locked them into prisons hidden by the Fidelius Charm. We did lots of guard duties transporting those captives between their prisons and interrogations or trials. We usually participated in interrogations, learning what questions to ask, how to break their resistance without resorting to torture or illegal means, how to spot memory charms, and how to best utilize Veritaserum. Then we followed up on those interrogations, and so forth.
HJP: There were a few times in which we got into spell fights unexpectedly, and Ron at least saved my ass twice. He had been a great fun partner. I’m still missing him today, although I think him working at the shop is better for us overall. I’m very excited about his next invention.
JKR: Speaking of Mr Ron Weasley, why did he leave if you two made such a great team?
HJP: The main reason was George. He was not doing well after Fred, and all of us agreed that Ron could help him the most. By that time, the last major Death Eater Rudolphus Lestrange had already been killed, and no serious attacks had happened over a year. New recruits were steadily replenishing our Auror ranks, so we thought it was a good time for Ron to move on. Neville also left for Hogwarts around the same time.
JKR: What happened to Dementors eventually?
HJP: Immediately following the War, we had no capacity to remove them, so we kept them at Azkaban where members of the Muggleborn Registration Commission were locked up (Death Eaters and Snatchers were imprisoned in more secret and secure locations). We finally found a way to get rid of them in 2002, and we did get rid most of them. But we still keep a dozen for training and research purposes. Azkaban is now Dementors free, and its defenses have been significantly upgraded over the years.
JKR: Coming back to your first year, what else stood out?
HJP: I had to turn back many suitors (laughs), but I won’t go into details here. I believe we have time for three more questions.
JKR: I actually have this idea. I’d like to write a biography of yours, in some changed form, and release it as a fantasy book in Muggle world. What do you think?
HJP: Why? What purpose does it serve?
JKR: It could serve as a test. I’d like to see how Muggles react to our magic. Maybe it will sell enough copies to make us some money?
HJP: Sounds interesting, but I need to think about it first, and I want to read the first draft. One more question?
JKR: I read the other day that Muggles want to send someone to Mars within a few years. Is that possible at all? Could they have come that far already? I also heard some rumors that some Wizards are working with that Elon Musk person on this. Do you know anything about it? Wouldn’t it be cool if we can have our own world? Then we don’t have to hide ourselves anymore!
HJP: Wow, that’s five more questions? Well, I don’t know anything about this matter so I have no comment. But I can tell you Americans went to the Moon almost fifty years ago. Anyway, it was my very pleasure talking with you.
JKR: Thanks you so much for this interview, Director Potter.
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