Chapter 1
Take This School and Shove It
Monday, 31st October, 1994; after dinner
The Great Hall, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
Harry Potter had watched as the Goblet of Fire had chosen Viktor Krum, famous Quidditch player, as Champion for Durmstrang; Fleur Delacour, a gorgeous blonde, as Champion for Beauxbatons; and Cedric Diggory, the Seeker for the Hufflepuff Quidditch team, as Champion for Hogwarts.
The Great Hall had been silent, except for Dumbledore's voice announcing Champions, whilst the Goblet had done its work; but now Harry Potter heard the murmurings of students in three different languages—and Dumbledore still was talking.
To Harry's right, Hermione asked, "Head back to the tower?"
"Not yet," Harry said. "I have a hunch."
"What?" said Ron, to Harry's left. "Mate, the show's ov—"
The Goblet spit out a fourth piece of parchment. Dumbledore stopped talking. Everyone stopped talking.
So everyone in the gigantic room heard Harry's murmured words: "Here it comes."
"HARRY POTTER!" Dumbledore yelled.
Harry was disappointed, but not shocked, to hear his name called, even though he had not submitted his name to the Goblet. As Harry took a deep, calming breath, he thought, Execute Emergency Plan Bollocks.
Only two people in the Great Hall knew for sure what had just happened: Barty Crouch, Jr, who had Polyjuiced himself to impersonate Alastor "Mad-Eye" Moody; and Albus Dumbledore.
The Elder Wand truly is a marvel, Dumbledore thought. Through an Elder-Wand Legilimency spell, Dumbledore had learnt about Tom Riddle's plot and about Barty's part in it (and about Harry Potter's unwilling part in the plot); then an Elder-Wand Confundo had Barty convinced that his Polyjuice-disguise had the headmaster completely fooled.
Dumbledore at the moment did not know Tom's full plot, because Barty at the moment did not know the whole plot. All Barty knew was that his assignment was to trick the Goblet of Fire into picking Harry Potter's name as a Champion, then to make sure Harry lived through the first two Tasks.
Dumbledore presumed that sometime during the Third Task, Tom planned to kill Harry.
Dumbledore was fine with this. The sooner that Harry Potter died, the sooner that the prophecy would be fulfilled—which meant the sooner that someone other than Harry could try to kill Tom without suffering fatal bad luck.
Someone other than Harry could try to kill Tom, such as, hypothetically speaking, Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore.
"The Defeater of Grindelwald and the Vanquisher of Voldemort"—such a title would have a nice ring to it, Dumbledore thought.
Meanwhile, elsewhere in the Great Hall
"Wicked, Harry!" said Ron. "How'd you put your name in?"
Hermione looked at the two boys to her left. To Harry's left, Ron's face showed the delight of the Weasley twins when they pulled off an "impossible" prank. Whilst Harry's face was trying to show no expression at all—but not quite succeeding.
Harry turned to Ron and said through gritted teeth, "I didn't put my name in, Ron."
Then Harry turned to face the headmaster. "Professor Dumbledore, I didn't submit my name. I refuse to be a part of this."
"Harry, my boy," the headmaster said, his eyes a-twinkle, "Your name is written on this parchment. I'm told your handwriting is distinctive—"
Hermione thought, "Barely legible," more like.
"—and the handwriting that I'm looking at is quite distinctive."
"Bloody hell, Harry," Ron murmured, "if you're going to cheat, be brave enough to admit it. Don't be a sodding coward."
Harry ignored Ron. "Professor Dumbledore, I repeat: I didn't submit my name, and I will not take part in this. Besides, have you forgotten that this tournament is for of-age wizards, and I am only fourteen?"
"Look, kid," Ludo Bagman said, "the Goblet spitting out your name creates a binding magical contract. Fourteen or forty, doesn't matter, you're in it now."
Harry said, "But I'm fourteen. Fourteen-year-olds can't sign contracts. If I went over to Gringotts and asked to borrow money, the goblins would say, 'We won't loan you money, because you're too young to sign the loan contract.' "
"Harry, my boy," the headmaster said, "you're keeping the other Champions waiting." Hermione saw the headmaster give Harry the I'm so disappointed in you look.
"Let me see if I have this straight," Harry growled. "I don't put my name in, somebody puts it in for me—but I still must be a Champion in this tournament. I'm too young to sign a written contract and my signing meaning anything, but I'm still stuck in this tournament."
"Potter," said Hermione's least favourite professor, "one hundred points from Gryffindor and detention with me tomorrow night, for lying."
"Lying, Snape?" Harry quickly pointed his wand at the ceiling. "I swear on my magic and my life that I did not put my name in the Goblet, I did not ask someone of-age to put my name in for me, and I do not know, and cannot guess, how my name was put in. May Magic judge my words."
Hermione gasped at Harry risking everything with such an Oath.
Meanwhile, Harry yelled, "EXPECTO PATRONUM!" A stag-shaped, glowing white form gushed out of Harry's wand and galloped about, overhead, for a few seconds before fading away.
Harry looked at the headmaster and said calmly, "I refuse to be a Champion, because I didn't put my name in."
"But you have to!" said Bagman. "You're under contract now—"
"Am I?" Harry asked, whilst staring at the headmaster.
"My boy," Professor Dumbledore replied, looking like the sad bearer of bad news, "there's nothing I can do."
Harry snorted. "You're the headmaster of this school, and the Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot, and the Supreme Mugwump of the International Confederation of Wizards, and my magical guardian. Self-appointed, I might add.—"
Hermione blinked, startled. The headmaster is Harry's self-appointed magical guardian? What does this mean?
Harry continued, "So don't tell me that you can't help me. It's not only a lie, but it's a stupid lie."
Everyone gasped.
"Another night of detention, Potter!" Professor Snape yelled. "And another hundred points from Gryffindor, for disrespect!"
Mr Bagman said, "Listen, kid, you're not hearing us. This is a magical contract you're in. You gotta participate in all three tasks of the Triwizard Tournament, or else you'll lose your magic."
Harry laughed scornfully. "Have you thick, gormless pillocksforgotten that I'm Muggle-raised? I didn't know I could do magic till my eleventh birthday!"
Hermione started to get a bad feeling about how this argument would end.
Harry looked at Ron. "What do you say now, Ron?"
Hermione saw that Ron's ears were apple-red as he replied, "You could've told me, your best mate, how to put my name in the Goblet too, but nooo. The Boy Who Lived doesn't want to risk somebody else getting the glory. You're a cheater, and now you're a liar too."
Hermione said, "Ron, how can you say such a thing? Harry gave an Oath, with a patronus right afterwards!"
"Just proves he's really, really good at lying," Ron snapped.
"Enough, Harry!" said the headmaster. "I insist that you join the other Champions."
Harry put his wand to his throat. "Sonorus." Then he looked at Mr Bagman. With magically-amplified voice, Harry asked, "When is the First Task, Mr Bagman? What date? What time?"
Both Bagman and the headmaster looked puzzled by Harry seemingly changing the subject, but Hermione felt frightened. Please, Harry, don't do what I think you're about to do.
Meanwhile, Bagman was saying, "The First Task is on 24th November. Early afternoon sometime."
Harry took a step forward and to his right, putting himself in front of Hermione, then he turned round to face Hermione. In the process, he turned his back on the headmaster. Harry took Hermione's hand, as his amplified voice said—
"Hermione, you are the only person in this wand-waving insane asylum whom I'll miss. Nobody else will I miss; and the lazy,envious, redhead slob I won't miss at all."
Then Harry looked at Ron. "In case you haven't figured it out, Weasley, you're no longer my friend, 'best' or otherwise. You remind me of Malfoy too much."
Then Harry turned back to Hermione, who now was silently weeping. Harry's amplified voice said, "If I lose my magic on 24th November, it won't be a problem. Surely there's someplace in Muggle Britain where I can live and can go to school."
Then Harry yelled, "FUCK YOU ALL."
"Harry, stop this grandstanding," the headmaster demanded.
Harry leant forward. "Goodbye, Hermione. I love you. Quietus."
Harry then kissed Hermione on the lips; but it was a brief, chaste kiss. Hermione wanted both to cry and to dance.
"Harry, please don't do this," Hermione whispered.
Harry patted the pocket of his robes and whispered back, "I've your parents' post address and their telephone number. We won't lose touch."
Harry leant back till he was standing straight again. He grabbed his wand with his free hand, snapped his wand in half, and tossed the two halves over his shoulders.
Then Harry walked out of the Great Hall and out of the castle.
Professor Snape said loudly, "Finally, we're rid of the brat."
Chapter 2
Earlier
Two months earlier: Friday, 2nd September 1994
The day after the start of term
The Hogwarts Quidditch pitch
Harry was flying his broom over the pitch, but his mind was not on his flying. Nor was Harry feeling any of the boundless joy that usually he felt when he flew on his broom.
Whilst Harry mindlessly flew over the Quidditch pitch, he was thinking hard.
In two months, Hogwarts will be hosting a Triwizard Tournament for students. The prizes, supposedly, are a thousand galleons plus eternal glory. But in the past, Hermione says, students have died in this tournament; indeed, there have been tournaments in which all three Champions have died.
None of my year-mates are worried even slightly—after all, the Triwizard Tournament supposedly is for "of age" wizards, whilst we fourth-years are all fourteen years old. But what if my "light-switch luck" gets flipped to "bad luck" again?
I'm probably worried over nothing. But if the "impossible" happens and the Goblet of Fire does spit out my name, I need a plan in place beforehand.
Three days later: Monday, 5th September 1994, in the afternoon
Harry's classes were over for the day, and none of the four house Quidditch teams had scheduled a practise this afternoon. So Harry was free to joy-ride on his broom over the Quidditch pitch. Right then, Harry was walking from Hogwarts Castle towards the Quidditch pitch, his broom carried over his shoulder. Neither Hermione nor Ron was with him.
But what Harry was about to do was not quite the same as what it seemed Harry was about to do. Harry was carrying out the beginning of a plan.
As Harry walked from the castle towards the pitch, he felt a momentary tingle. This meant that he had just passed out of the parenthesis-ward, and his name and the current time had just been listed in Dumbledore's office.
As a fourth-year, Harry did not know much about wards. Most of what he had learnt had come from talking to Hermione or from overhearing the Weasley twins.
Harry had picked up that Hogwarts Castle was protected on three sides by a three-quarter cylindrical ward-wall, whose base was shaped like the letter C; whilst the side of the castle that faced the Quidditch pitch was protected by a quarter-cylinder ward-wall whose base was shaped like a right-parenthesis. There were two feet of overlap between the C and the parenthesis, so that together, the wards formed an unbroken O-base of cylindrical protection around Hogwarts Castle.
But how the C-wall and the parenthesis-wall worked were quite different.
The parenthesis ward-wall did not signal to anyone inside the castle that the castle had friendly visitors; the "door-knocker" function was done only at the front gate, which was part of the Cward-wall. Since only the headmaster could Apparate or Portkey to inside the C-wall and the parenthesis-wall from outside, this meant that magical people without a day-to-day connexion to Hogwarts could enter the castle grounds only by travelling to outside the front gate and waiting for the Keeper of the Keys to open the gate.
Except at the front gate, the C ward-wall did not allow anyone except the headmaster to pass through from outside—it did not matter whether the would-be entrant was a student, a professor, a parent, a Ministry official, or an evil invader; it did not matter whether the would-be entrant tried to enter the castle grounds on foot, on horseback, by automobile, flying on a broomstick, or by Apparition or Portkey. To all would-be entrants, the C ward-wall acted like a fence (and if need be, like an electrified fence); whereas the parenthesis ward-wall allowed professors and students to freely enter the castle grounds when any of these people came from the Quidditch pitch. Whenever a student entered the castle grounds through the parenthesis ward-wall, the student's name and time of entry were written down on a list in the headmaster's office.
Either the C ward-wall or the parenthesis ward-wall allowed someone inside the wards to move out through the ward-wall on foot or by broom; but the name of the person leaving and the time of leaving both were recorded on a parchment in the headmaster's office.
Why did all this wards-stuff matter to Harry this afternoon? Because Harry wanted to visit Gringotts on the sly. Harry was not sure if Dobby could take Harry out of the castle; nor was Harry sure that, even if Dobby could elf-pop Harry out of the castle, that Dumbledore would not know immediately. To keep Harry's trip to Gringotts secret from the headmaster, it was best if Dobby did his elf-popping from the Quidditch pitch.
The way that the parenthesis ward-wall worked meant that Harry could not hide from the headmaster that Harry was going to, and would come from, the Quidditch pitch. All Harry could do was to hide his purpose for going to the Quidditch pitch. Hence the broom now on his shoulder.
Often in the past three years, Harry had done solitary broom-flying over the pitch; nobody at all would think twice about Harry carrying his broom to the pitch today.
Once Harry was on the pitch, he mounted his broom, then flew higher and higher off the ground, his path shaped like an upward corkscrew. Harry next zoomed almost straight down, so that any castle onlookers would think he was practising a Wronski Feint; but as soon as the spectator stands hid the castle from Harry's view, Harry slowed his descent and levelled out his flight. Harry's intention was not to practise the dangerous Wronski Feint today, but to make any bearded meddler who watched from the castle believe that this was Harry's purpose here and now.
Harry did this twice more—corkscrew up, then rocket straight down till he was hidden from view from the castle by the spectator stands—then Harry landed. He dismounted from his broom, shrunk the broom, then pocketed it.
"Dobby," Harry said.
Pop. "The Great Master Harry Potter Sir calls Dobby?"
Harry shook his head. "Dobby, how many times do I have to tell you? Just call me 'Harry,' all right? Now, would you take me to Gringotts, please?"
Two hours later, in Gringotts
Right now, the Boy Who Lived was the boy who was royally cheesed off.
His bad time had started when he had tried to talk to a teller. The teller had demanded Harry's vault key, which Harry had never owned. Harry had been forced to let his fingertip be sliced by a dagger, followed by the fingertip bleeding onto a parchment. The good news had been that the teller promptly had healed the dagger-cut; the bad news had been that getting one's finger cut and letting it bleed had hurt.
Then the teller had wanted to charge Harry a fifty-galleon penalty for not having his key. To avoid the penalty, Harry had asked Dobby to find the key (whilst Disillusioned) and to return the key to Harry. Ten seconds later, Dobby was standing next to Harry, holding out a bronze Gringotts key.
Molly Weasley, it had turned out, had been shopping in Diagon Alley at the same time Harry was being rebuked by the Gringotts teller; Harry's key had been in Molly's pocket till Dobby magically had pickpocketed it.
When Dobby had told Harry this, the teller, overhearing, had written something down on a parchment.
After Harry had shown his key to the teller, Harry had been brought before the Potter account representative. (The Potter family had their own account representative? This had been news to Harry.) The meeting with Axefrenzy, the account representative, had gotten off to a rocky start when Axefrenzy had demanded to know why Harry had "ignored" all owl-posts from Gringotts since his eleventh birthday.
The answer had turned out to be that Harry's owl-posts were subjected to a mail-redirect charm; Harry never received owl-post except for letters from Hedwig and letters from Hogwarts. Harry had never seen thirteen years of "thanks for saving us from You-Know-Who" fan mail, but likewise all account statements from Gringotts had been diverted away from Harry's eyes.
Then Axefrenzy had shown Harry what had been in those enquiries and account statements that Harry had never seen—and Harry had wanted to scream and to throw things.
Dumbledore had been taking money from Harry's trust vault for thirteen years. In addition, Molly had been taking money from Harry's vault for two years. Of the money that Dumbledore had taken from Harry, every month he had converted two hundred galleons to one thousand pounds and had sent the £1 000 to Vernon Dursley—not one penny of which had been spent for Harry's care.
But there had been one wee bit of good news: Besides a trust vault, Harry had a Potter family vault. This was good news because, whilst Harry could not access this vault till he was of age, Dumbledore and Molly had not been allowed to access this vault either.
Thirty minutes later
Harry had come to Gringotts to ask the bank to recommend a solicitor whom Harry could consult with, about the worst-case scenario of Harry becoming the fourth person in the Triwizard Tournament.
It turned out that Harry could not hire a solicitor, because he was not of age. But Gringotts could hire a solicitor, then bring the lawyer to the same room as Harry.
This was how Harry now was speaking with Ted Tonks, a Muggle-born law-wizard who was married to a cousin of Sirius's, and who was the father of a pink-haired woman who had been a quirky seventh-year Hufflepuff when Harry had been a firstie.
Harry's first words to Mr Tonks were, "When I came to Gringotts, I thought that the only reason to worry that I might be chosen for the Triwizard Tournament was Murphy's law. You know what that is, right?"
Mr Tonks smiled crookedly. "Anything that can go wrong will go wrong, at the worst possible moment."
Harry nodded. "But today I find out that Dumbledore has been stealing from my vault, so now I'm afraid he plans to kill me in the Tournament."
Mr Tonks held up a hand. "He can't be 'stealing' from your vault if he's your duly appointed legal guardian." Mr Tonks turned to Axefrenzy. "What do his parents' wills say?"
James' and Lily's wills were fetched from the Potter family vault. Five minutes later, Harry wanted to scream again and to throw things again. "Both their wills say I'm not, not, not to be put with the Dursleys! Both wills say that Sirius isn't the Secret Keeper, Peter Pettigrew is. There's a list of suitable guardians here, none of whom is Dumbledore—who is listed as a witness to both wills. Bloody fuck!"
Mr Tonks said, "Amelia Bones, the Director of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, needs to be told about this. But I recommend waiting till after 31st October, when the Goblet of Fire chooses Champions."
It took a minute for Harry to calm down; neither Axefrenzy nor Mr Tonks spoke during this time.
When Harry was calm enough, he asked, "Let's talk about why I came here today. If my name does come out of the Goblet of Fire, what can I do? Can I refuse and not suffer the penalty? Would an Oath work, swearing that I didn't put my name in?"
Mr Tonks said, "If Professor Dumbledore had integrity, what he'd say after he called four names would be 'Somebody made a mistake. We need to cancel this drawing and to hold another drawing, using only the three of-age names already drawn.' But then, if the headmaster had integrity, he wouldn't be stealing from Mr Potter's trust vault, would he? So I guess we go to Plan B."
Plan B, it turned out, involved Harry, should his name be drawn, giving a magical Oath, then pointing out that at age fourteen, he could not legally sign any written contract, so how could he be bound by a magical contract? If Harry was not immediately excused from the tournament, so Mr Tonks advised, then Harry should get as many Ministry of Magic officials as possible, especially Chief Warlock Dumbledore, to state explicitly that Harry still had to take part in a tournament for of-age wizards.
Horrified Harry said, "Why should I try for that? That's what I don'twant—a mob of adults, all telling me, 'You have to take part in this thing, and so what if the tournament might kill you?' "
Mr Tonks replied, "Here's how the magical contract works. If your name is drawn, even though it shouldn't have been drawn, you're obligated for all three tasks. If you don't participate in all three tasks, at first it seems that you lose your magic—"
"But that's not fair!" Harry said.
"True, but I'm telling you a way to mostly fix this. If you don't show up for the First Task, then Magic starts looking about for who's at fault. If you've already taken an Oath like I advise you to, then—"
Mr Tonks spoke for fifteen seconds more. His words made Harry grin.
Mr Tonks, Axefrenzy and Harry talked for another fifteen minutes. Amelia Bones's name was mentioned, as was Hermione's name, once or twice. Albus Dumbledore's name was mentioned many times.
Mr Tonks, Axefrenzy and Harry decided not to make any moves against Dumbledore until after the Goblet of Fire drawing on 31st October. Otherwise, the odds would go up of the headmaster doing something awful to Harry.
By similar logic, it was decided that any Gringotts statements to be sent to Harry between now and 31st October would be duplicated. One copy would be owl-posted—and this copy would be diverted into Dumbledore's hands, as usual. The other copy of Gringotts' monthly statements would be handed to Dobby, and Dobby would hand the copy directly to Harry. This way, Harry would be in the know, but Dumbledore would believe he had no reason to worry and so would not read the statements too closely.
After Harry finished talking to Axefrenzy and to Mr Tonks, Harry got Dobby to elf-pop him back to the Quidditch pitch. Nobody else was at the pitch now, just as nobody had been there when Harry had been elf-popped away.
Harry pulled his shrunken broom out of his pocket, unshrunk the broom, and flew on it for a few minutes. Then Harry dismounted, and carried his broom back to the castle, again over his shoulder.
If anyone in the castle had even noticed that Harry had been gone from the castle for several hours, he or she did not speak a word.
Twenty-six days later
Saturday, 1st October 1994
Gringotts owl-posted its monthly account statements to vault-holders.
Dumbledore received statements for his family vault, his fourteen personal vaults, the two Hogwarts vaults that he oversaw as headmaster; and (thanks to the mail-redirect charm on owl-post sent to Harry Potter) the account statement for Harry's trust vault—
Which Dumbledore binned, unread.
In so doing, Dumbledore missed the fact that on 5th September, Harry's trust vault had paid twenty-five galleons to a solicitor, which was an expense that neither Dumbledore nor Molly had authorised.
Monday, 31st October 1994, at Hogwarts
That afternoon, Harry was in the Owlery, attaching an envelope to each of Hedwig's legs.
The first envelope was addressed to Amelia Bones at the DMLE, and inside the envelope was a copy of Harry's father's will, his mother's will, and a note to Amelia Bones that informed Madam Bones that the headmaster had been a naughty boy; also, "Sirius Black is innocent."
The second letter was to Gringotts. "I live at Number 4, Privet Drive, Little Whinging, Surrey, a Muggle house that Albus Dumbledore has warded. Dumbledore claims that amongst the wards are 'blood wards that are powered by [my] mother's sacrifice,' and that these wards will absolutely stop Voldemort from entering the house. Please give me an unbiased report of what wards are there, how unusual they are, and how effective they are. If William Weasley does the check, make quite sure he can say nothing either to the Weasley family or to Dumbledore (who has close ties to the Weasley family)."
After Harry watched Hedwig fly away, he walked down to the Great Hall for dinner. The Goblet of Fire drawing was about an hour from now.
During dinner, Harry casually asked Hermione, "Would you write down your parents' post address and their telephone number, please?"
Hermione blinked. "No problem. But why do you want them?"
Harry made his voice sound casual. "So I can write you at home, or can ring you at home, during Christmas hols."
"Why not ask me in December?"
"There's lots of things I need to do in December, in and out of class. I might forget then, till too late."
Ron said, "Why would you want to write to Hermione during Christmas hols? All she'd write about would be homework and reading books. Her letters would be boring!"
Hermione glared at Ron. "So you think that Harry would think that letters about chess and the Chudley Cannons would be moreinteresting than my letters?"
"Sure. I'd read them."
Harry said, "Hermione? Parents' address and telephone number, please?"
"Honestly, Harry," Hermione replied with a huff. But two minutes later, Harry was handed a scrap of parchment with the requested information on it.
As Harry pocketed the parchment, he turned his head then, to look at Dumbledore at the High Table. Harry thought, Whatever you do tonight, thief, I'm ready for you. Are you ready for me?
Chapter 3
The Rest of Halloween, 1994
Monday, 31st October, 1994; after dinner
The Great Hall
Harry said, "I love you, Hermione." He gave Hermione a chaste kiss.
"Harry, please don't do this," she whispered.
Harry whispered back, "I've your parents' post address and their telephone number. We won't lose touch."
Then, still facing Hermione and still with his back to Dumbledore, Harry stood straight. He grabbed his wand with his free hand, snapped his wand in half, and tossed the two halves over his shoulders.
A half-second later, the wand-halves clattered on the floor.
Then Harry walked out of the Great Hall and out of the castle, whilst Hermione was frozen in shock.
Professor Snape said loudly, "Finally, we're rid of the brat."
Hermione ran out of the Great Hall at a full run. She had to catch up with Harry!
When Hermione ran outside, it took her a few seconds to get her bearings. As her eyes adjusted, she saw the moon, the stars—and a glowing lightball ahead. That lightball revealed Harry and a house-elf, who both stood ten feet ahead. Pop—Harry's student trunk appeared by his right hand.
It was cold outside, so Hermione conjured a cloak. Then she spoke the Lumos Charm, to create her own light.
Hermione called out, "Harry!" She rushed up to the boy who just had told her he loved her.
Hermione took a deep breath. "Harry, I love you too. Thought you ought to know."
Harry looked gobsmacked. "Are you sure?"
"Yes. I've known since we flew on Buckbeak together."
Harry rushed forward to seize her shoulders. Green eyes searched brown eyes for a second, then Harry's lips smashed down against hers.
The kiss was glorious. The kiss was everything that Hermione had ever dreamt of. Roughly two hundred Hogwarts girls were on the other side of those doors, plus Beauxbatons girls, plus Durmstrang girls, yet it was the bookworm whose first kiss—and her second kiss!—were with Harry-amazing-Potter. Hermione wanted to sing.
This kiss, Harry's and Hermione's second, was l-o-n-g.
It was the doors to the Entrance Hall opening that broke the kiss. A thirteen-year-old girl with long, blonde hair stepped out. When the girl walked close to the lightball, Hermione saw that the other girl wore Ravenclaw colours.
Hermione did not recognise the girl; by Harry's puzzled expression, he did not know her, either.
"Hello," Harry said to the blond Ravenclaw.
"Hello, Harry Potter and Hermione Granger, my name is Luna Lovegood," the blonde said in a dreamy voice. "Though almost everyone calls me 'Loony,' " she said, in the same dreamy voice. "I waited till after you finished your kiss to step outside." Still speaking with a dreamy voice, she added, "I hope someday that someone kisses me like that."
"Pleased to meet you, Luna Lovegood," said Harry. Harry and Luna shook hands.
"I came out here to tell you that I know you didn't cheat," Luna said.
"You know this—is it because you're a Seer?" Harry asked.
Hermione blurted, "You're a Seer? A real one?"
Luna said, "I am a Seer, yes, but that's not how I know you didn't cheat, Harry Potter. I've watched you for two years, and you always do the right thing—even when it costs you."
An awkward silence fell. Hermione broke the silence by asking Harry, "Where will you go now?"
"I can't tell you," Harry replied.
She smacked his arm. "You need to figure it out, Harry! It's already dark, and in a few hours, it'll be bedtime."
Harry sighed. "You misunderstand, Hermione. The twins think that Dumbledore reads students' minds, even though it's illegal." Hermione gasped; Luna nodded in agreement. Harry continued, "I don't dare tell you where I'm going, because otherwise Dumbles will pluck the info from your brain. Nothing good would come if he knew. Most likely he'd drag me back here and make me participate in the First Task—then I'd be obliged for the entire Tournament."
"You really think the headmaster would do that?" With every fibre of her being, Hermione wanted Harry's answer to be No.
"Yes," Luna answered.
Nodding, Harry replied, "He makes me live with the Dursleys, who are cruel to me, when I'm not in school. You saw what happened tonight—when my name was drawn and he said, 'There's nothing I can do,' was he truly lacking in options? I'm sure he had several options—but chose to do nothing. I think he has some sort of plan for me—a deadly plan."
Hermione gasped as a thought hit her. "An hour ago, when you asked me for my parents' contact information—you were planning this! You already had made a plan to leave school, if you needed to."
Harry nodded. "I, a fourteen-year-old boy, contingency-planned what I'd do if the Goblet of Fire called my name. Who but me even worries about such a thing? It was a mad plan I hoped I wouldn't need, a plan I didn't tell you or Ron about because then I'd sound like a nutter. Merlin, sometimes I hate being right."
Then Harry looked about. He said angrily, "Speaking of Ron, he isn't out here, is he? Nobody is out here, besides you two. Four hundred students in Hogwarts and a dozen professors, and you, Hermione, and you, Luna, are the only people who came outside to tell me goodbye."
Hermione shook her head hard. "I don't want to tell you goodbye."
Luna said to Hermione, "Go ahead and kiss him a third time. You know you want to."
Hermione did want to, so she kissed Harry again.
When they broke the kiss, Harry said, "You should go back inside, 'Mione and Luna. It's too cold for you here." Harry said this even though Hermione was wearing a conjured cloak whilst he was wearing only what he had worn in the Great Hall. Luna was not wearing extra clothing, but seemed unbothered by the cold.
A minute later, Hermione watched as Harry and Dobby the house-elf walked towards the Quidditch pitch. When they walked over a ward-stone, Harry took Dobby's hand, then pop—Harry, his school trunk and Dobby all disappeared.
One second later, in the Welsh countryside
In front of Harry, moonlight and starlight showed a manor house. A corner of the building was a ruin, but one ground-floor window showed a lit candle.
Dobby said, "Dobby has brought Harry Potter Sir just outside the ward-wall to Potter Manor. Dobby thinks that the wards will let the Great Harry Potter walk through, but Dobby cannot pass till the Great Harry Potter claims the house as owner."
Harry muttered, "This should be interesting, since I don't have a wand at the moment."
Harry raised his wandless right hand and said, "I, Harry James Potter, son of deceased James Charlus Potter and deceased Lily Marie Evans Potter, do claim Potter Manor as owner. So mote it be."
Had Harry been holding a wand, he would have seen an instant of bright light after Harry had spoken those words. Instead, Harry's right hand glowed for ten seconds, then the light faded.
Pop-p-p-pop. Four house-elves appeared nearby, all wearing House Potter livery instead of tea towels. The Head Elf, the oldest of the four, told Harry he was named Greyclay.
Harry looked at Dobby and said, "Tonight, at least, I'm going to be okay."
Meanwhile, in Hogwarts's Great Hall
As soon as Hermione (and Luna) stepped into the giant room, Professor Snape roared, "One hundred points from Gryffindor, Granger, for leaving without being dismissed! And detention with me, tomorrow night!"
Luna was standing two feet to Hermione's left, and surely was just as visible to Professor Snape as Hermione was, yet Professor Snape assigned Luna no punishment at all. Hermione was annoyed.
Hermione glanced about. Ten minutes ago, before Harry's untimely exit, the students had been gathering their things and preparing to leave the Great Hall. But now all student of all three schools still sat on their benches—and every head was facing Hermione.
Hermione straightened her back as she stared-down Professor Snape. "I challenge both the points-loss and the detention, professor. You are abusing your authority now, sir, just as you did with Harry! You are half the reason he left!"
Snape snapped, "Granger, that's another—"
Hermione turned her basilisk-stare to the headmaster. "Well?"
Even from so far away, Hermione could see Professor Dumbledore's eyes twinkling. "Miss Granger, Professor Sn—"
"As Deputy Headmistress," Professor McGonagall snapped, "I overrule the points-loss given to Gryffindor House just now, and the detention given to Miss Granger. I find, Professor Snape, that you had no good reason for what you just did."
The headmaster said, "Minerva, perhaps you and Severus should discuss this in my—"
"He left, Albus!" Professor McGonagall yelled. " 'The Boy Who Lived' is now the boy who left! Someone else ensured Harry Potter's name came out of the Goblet, you didn't lift a finger to help him, he yelled a quite vulgar obscenity, he snapped his own wand, then he left! Yet you continue the same dysfunctionality that angered him enough to leave!"
"Minerva," the headmaster said soothingly, "we'll get Harry back—before the end of the night, I'm sure, after he calms down."
Then the headmaster turned to look across the Great Hall at Hermione. "Miss Granger, where is Harry going tonight?"
Hermione replied loudly, "Harry didn't tell me. He thinks you're fond of mind-reading your students."
The Great Hall went tomb-quiet, except for Luna saying, "He's mind-reading me right now. My brain tickles."
Hermione's ex-friend Ron Weasley yelled, "Why bring Potter back? I'm glad he's gone."
"Mad-Eye" Moody said, "Albus, that boy needs to be brought back here, and it doesn't matter what children say."
An hour later, in Potter Manor
The first thing that the elves did, once Harry was inside the Potter manor house, was to serve him tea. A troubled adolescent Harry Potter might be, but he was also an Englishman.
The second thing that happened in Potter Manor was that Greyclay led Harry to the Ward Ledger, and explained how the Ward Ledger worked. The Ward Ledger contained a list of names, in three categories, of people other than Lord Potter who were allowed to enter Potter Manor.
Only "Relatives" could Portkey to, or could Apparate to, Potter Manor. Only "Friends" and "One-Time Visitors" could enter Potter Manor through the Floo fireplace. If someone's name was on none of the three lists, the Potter Manor wards treated him or her like an invader.
Harry noticed that Sirius Black was listed as a Relative. Harry crossed out every name on the Friends list except for "Remus Lupin" and "Amelia Bones"; Harry crossed out the name of "Albus Dumbledore" twice, with hard strokes. Then Harry wrote in as Friends, the names of Hermione Granger and Neville Longbottom.
(Harry wondered whom Amelia Bones once had dated, that she would be considered a Friend at Potter Manor.)
The third thing that happened at Potter Manor was that Greyclay led Harry to the box that held Potter-family wands. Harry found a good match with the wand of Haroldus Cyrus Potter—a holly wand eleven inches long, with its core being the heartstring of a Hungarian Horntail dragon.
The fourth thing that happened at Potter Manor was that Greyclay and the Potter house-elves gave Harry and Dobby a tour of the manor house. Seven rooms on four floors had suffered both spell-damage and weather-damage and were now uninhabitable, because a corner of the house and a corner of the roof had a hole in them. However, the rest of the manor house was usable. The master bedroom, with its high ceiling, was bigger in every dimension than was Number 4, Privet Drive.
Finally, Greyclay showed Harry the master wardstone—which was melted, as if it had been dipped into a volcano. Potter Manor now had no magical protection beyond what four house-elves could provide, until Harry brought in ward-specialists to replace the master wardstone.
Greyclay told Harry that, now that the four house-elves had Harry's magic to draw upon, the house-elves could put up an elfin-version Notice-Me-Not Charm and elfin wards on the house. Alas, the elfin protection would last only three days before the four house-elves would be magically exhausted. This meant that before those three days were up, Harry either had to get the goblins to repair and to charge the Potter Manor wards, or Harry had to leave Potter Manor for his own protection.
Meanwhile, at the Ossuary (Bones Manor)
Amelia Bones was not surprised when a school-owl brought a letter from Amelia's niece Susan. Amelia correctly predicted that Susan was writing with news about whom the Goblet of Fire had picked as Champion for Hogwarts in the Triwizard Tournament.
Amelia was quite surprised to unfold the parchment and to find a glass memory-phial that had been sticky-charmed to the parchment. What event has Susan witnessed that she wants me to watch her memory of the event?
Amelia smiled when she read that the Champion for Hogwarts was the Seeker for Hufflepuff's Quidditch team, Cedric Diggory. Susan had made it clear since she had been a Hufflepuff firstie that she fancied the handsome older boy.
But most of Susan's letter was not about Cedric Diggory, it was about Harry Potter.
At one place in her letter, Susan wrote—
.
When Harry's name was called, I thought, "WHAT? He's only fourteen, like me! He cheated somehow." And I heard 'Claws and other 'Puffs saying "He cheated!" like what I was thinking. You don't want to know what the Snakes were saying—their words would make Aurors blush.
But Harry didn't act like a successful cheater after the headmaster called his name. Instead, he got angry. The more he talked to Professor Dumbledore, the angrier he got. When you watch my memory, please notice that when Harry kissed Granger, he also was turning his back on the headmaster.
THEN, after Harry kissed Granger, he snapped his own wand! What wizard would be mad enough to think of doing this? Just the thought of being Muggle for the rest of my life terrifies me; I'd sooner face an Acromantula (because maybe I'd live through fighting that giant spider, and I'd still have my magic).
.
After reading Susan's letter, Amelia watched Susan's memory.
Partway through, Amelia wondered if the insistence of Dumbledore and Ludo Bagman that Harry Potter must take part in a Tournament of "of-age" wizards and witches, meant that Harry had been emancipated by Magic. And since Harry already was Heir Potter and the last of his line—Amelia chortled. Did Dumbledore have any idea of what maybe he had unleashed tonight?
After a minute more of pensieve-viewing, Amelia thought, Harry Potter not only declared that he didn't put his name in, he swore an Oath both on his magic and his life that he didn't put his name in. Then he showed he still had magic, not with a run-of-the-mill Lumos Charm, but with a fully corporeal stag patronus? This boy is already an amazing wizard, and Dumbledore angered him enough for Harry to throw away his magic? That long-bearded fool.
Seconds later, pensieve-Harry's words started Amelia thinking again: Dumbledore is Harry's self-appointed magical guardian? What does Harry mean by this?
Tomorrow, Amelia decided, when she was back at work in the DMLE, she was going to take a hard look at Albus Dumbledore. His platitudes and his multiple titles would not divert Amelia from getting answers.
Meanwhile, in the headmaster's office, HSOW&W
Wrinkly, the head Hogwarts house-elf, informed Dumbledore—with Professor Moody in the room, listening—that Dobby the free elfhad quit his job a few hours ago. Wrinkly said "free elf" in the same sneering tone that a human would say goat-sodomist. Wrinkly treated Dobby's quitting as routine, which was why Wrinkly only now was informing Dumbledore about Dobby.
But Dumbledore, unlike Wrinkly, knew of Dobby's devotion to Harry Potter; and Dumbledore rightly figured out that if Dobby could be located somewhere, there would Harry Potter be found also.
So the Hogwarts house-elves were sent out to search for Dobby. (Hogwarts magic stopped the Hogwarts elves from searching for Harry Potter, because Harry now was not a Hogwarts student, a potential Hogwarts student or the parent of a Hogwarts student).
Alas, by the time the Hogwarts house-elves started their search, Dobby's trail had grown cold. Also, if truth be told, the Hogwarts house-elves did not try hard to find Dobby, because they really did not want disgusting Dobby back amongst them. In short, the Hogwarts house-elves found neither Dobby nor Harry Potter.
Dumbledore felt panic. He did not notice that "Alastor Moody" looked thoughtful.
Vernon and Petunia Dursley were getting ready for bed when Albus Dumbledore walked into their bedroom.
Dumbledore asked the parental Dursleys, "Do you know where Harry Potter is now?"
"No," Vernon and Petunia replied. "Now leave."
(Actually, the Dursleys' reply was much louder than that, was spoken with many more words than that, and many of those words were profane.)
Meanwhile, in Hogwarts
Barty Crouch, Jr, whilst in his office in Hogwarts Castle and still Polyjuiced, summoned a Hogwarts house-elf, Betsy. Crouch handed Betsy a folded and wax-sealed sheet of parchment, then Crouch said to the house-elf, "Deliver this to Auror John Dawlish. Tell him that 'Mad-Eye' Moody is counting on him to carry out this important and secret assignment."
"Betsy will do this," the house-elf replied. Pop—she disappeared.
Now that nobody else could see, Barty Crouch, Jr grinned. John Dawlish had been the Auror who had arrested Crouch, long ago. Since that moment, Crouch had discovered two facts about John Dawlish. The first fact was that the Auror was a completely dislikable wizard; the second fact discovered was that John Dawlish was a moron.
Still, it was slightly possible that if Dawlish met in person with disguised Barty Crouch, Jr, the Auror might realise that something was amiss. This was why Crouch would communicate with Dawlish in writing, not by voice or in person.
Crouch was not sure whether Dawlish would succeed or not at his Dumbledore wants Harry Potter found! assignment. Crouch, in his note, had been forced to admit to Dawlish that Potter probably had disappeared into the Muggle world; and Dawlish, as a proud magical-raised wizard, would know nothing about the Muggle world.
Meanwhile, in the offices of the DMLE
John Dawlish sighed as he read the note from "Mad-Eye" Moody. Then Dawlish turned his thoughts to how he would find the brat-wizard, Harry Potter.
Dawlish being much less than Hermione-smart, it never occurred to Dawlish that "Mad-Eye" might be wrong about where Harry Potter might be at, and where Potter might not be at. Thus Dawlish did not think to visit Potter Manor or to visit any of the other magical Potter properties.
Chapter 4
The Next Day, Part 1
The next morning
At breakfast—Tuesday, 1st November, 1994
In the Great Hall of Hogwarts
In the middle of the Gryffindor table sat Hermione and the rest of the fourth-year Gryffindors—except for the most famous fourth-year Gryffindor. Harry Potter, contrary to the headmaster's prediction, was not back in the castle.
Somebody wanted to crow over this fact. Hermione heard an aristocratic drawl behind her: "Where's your boyfriend, mudblood?Not here, why is that? Oh, that's right, he ran off because Potter is a coward!"
Of all the reactions that Draco Malfoy and his bookends were expecting, it was not for "the brightest witch of her age" to break out in peals of laughter.
"God, Malfoy, have you always been this stupid, or did you slip in the shower this morning and hit your head? You never go anywhere without Crabbe and Goyle, they were with you when I met you on the firstie train, and you call anyone else a coward? Your behaviour screams 'I don't want to have to fight a Gryffindor one-on-one, because then I might get hurt.' "
Draco snarled, "You better watch what you say, mudblood. When my father hears about this—"
"—you hope he'll come here to the castle, then instead of having two people to hide behind, you'll have three. How about you ask your mother to come, too—that'll make four!"
The entire Great Hall laughed scornfully, and Hermione heard scattered applause.
As Draco stormed away, Hermione slid off the bench and yelled to his retreating back, "Why is it, Malfoy, when the headmaster called Harry's name and Harry refused to enter the Tournament, youdidn't speak up and volunteer to take Harry's place? Was it because you were too scared?"
Draco clenched his fists then, but he did not turn about or reply.
Minutes later, still at the Gryffindor table
Ron was yapping something about the Chudley Cannons when Neville said, "Shut up, Ron. Nobody wants to hear from you."
"What did you say, Squib?"
"You called Harry Potter a cheat and a liar. He left because of you. You're not Harry Potter's 'best mate' anymore, and you sure aren't mine, so be quiet. Also, you eat like a pig."
Most of the Gryffindors at breakfast clapped. Ron's ears turned red.
From the Gryffindor sixth-years came these words: "Gryffindor can forget—"
"—winning every game—"
"—during the next four years—"
"—all because of ickle Ronnikins."
Ginny Weasley, who was sitting amongst the third-years, glared at her youngest brother. "I want so bad to Bat-Bogey Hex you right now, even if it earns me detention."
Ron glared at the rest of the table. "Potter did cheat. You all saw it."
Padma Patil, at the Ravenclaw table, said loudly, "What I saw, Weasley, was Harry Potter taking an Oath on his magic and his lifethat he didn't cheat. Did you bother to notice that Harry didn't drop dead right then? Or notice that Harry cast the Sonorus Charm, right afterwards?"
Neville raised his voice, so that he could be heard by the entire Gryffindor table: "Raise your hand if you agree with Ron that Harry Potter is a cheater, a liar and a coward."
Ron's hand shot up quickly. Nobody else's hand went up; and the twins' hands stayed down.
Neville said, again loudly, "Now raise your hand if you think someone else made Harry's name come out of the Goblet."
Ron yanked his hand down, as Neville's hand and Hermione's hand both went up. Actually, every Gryffindor's hand went up except Ron's, and this included the twins raising their hands.
Hermione said lowly, "Neville, look behind you."
Neville turned around on his bench. Padma Patil, the blond-haired Ravenclaw, and many other Ravenclaws had their hands up. Amongst the Hufflepuffs with raised hands were Hannah Abbott, Susan Bones and Cedric Diggory.
At the Slytherin table, Daphne Greengrass had her hand up too. She snarled, "Not a word, Draco."
Many Beauxbatons and Durmstrang students had their hands raised. This included both Viktor Krum and Fleur Delacour.
Then Neville asked Gryffindors another question, loudly, but this time his voice cracked: "Who here believed Harry Potter, but this morning is ashamed that we didn't tell him we believed him?" With hunched shoulders, Neville added, "Hermione was brave, and the Ravenclaw girl was brave, but I didn't tell Harry how I felt, and now I'm ashamed of myself."
The Gryffindors' hands that had been raised, seconds before, had dropped during Neville's last speech. But when Neville raised his hand a second time, there was hesitation amongst the rest of the Gryffindors, then slowly everyone except for Ron and Hermione raised their hands. More than half the Gryffindors with raised hands had red, embarrassed faces.
Behind Neville, a girl's voice sounded from the Ravenclaw table: "Were you brave last night, Neville Longbottom? I can't say. But you are brave now."
An hour and a half later
The office of the Director of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement
Amelia Bones was unsurprised that she walked into her office and, within minutes, owls tried to deliver letters to her.
Amelia, however, was quite surprised when one of the postal owls was snowy white, and the Muggle envelope thus delivered was from Harry Potter—
—the same Harry Potter who, last night, had taken an Oath, had snapped his own wand then had walked out of Hogwarts.
The envelope of Harry Potter's letter was thick because, enclosed with his letter, were reduced-size copies of both his father's and his mother's will.
For whatever reason, Harry's letter did not mention his name coming out of the Goblet of Fire. But Harry's letter mentioned other things, all of which floored Amelia.
Harry's Muggle aunt was not supposed to be Harry's Muggle guardian—yet she was. Harry's aunt and her husband abused Harry—but nobody, Muggle or magical, took notice. Albus Dumbledore was not supposed to be Harry's magical guardian—yet he was. Amelia herself was third on the list of Harry's listed guardians (after Sirius Black and Alice Longbottom)—but this was the first time that Amelia had been told this. The Dursleys, Albus Dumbledore and Molly Weasley all had stolen from Harry's trust vault.
Sirius Black could not have killed Harry's parents—because he was Harry's sworn godfather and because Peter Pettigrew was the Secret Keeper; but Black had been thrown in Azkaban without a trial, and the Chief Warlock (Dumbledore) had never called for a trial.
(Amelia felt shame. All these things in the letter about Sirius Black, Amelia should have discovered thirteen years ago on her own. Amelia should not have needed a fourteen-year-old boy to point these facts out to her.)
What bothered Harry most, he wrote, was that not only was he abused, but his abuse went unnoticed and untreated—
.
Before Hogwarts, when I was going to Muggle primary school, I told two teachers about my relatives giving me a concussion, broken bones and scars. Nothing came of it. If any teacher noticed my abuses on her own without me pointing out those abuses, nothing was done.
Before Hogwarts, I figured that no adult did anything for me because no adult cared. But now I wonder if Dumbledore Obliviated my teachers and/or Compulsion-charmed them.
Then I came to Hogwarts. Here I learnt that Albus Dumbledore is the cruelest "kindly grandfather" on the planet, Severus Snape is a bitter hermit who is given a blank check to act cruel to children and the other professors are either blind or uncaring.
Poppy Pomfrey is a genuinely caring person and, as many times as I've been in the hospital wing, she must have noticed my malnutrition, wrongly healed bones and the scars on my body—but she has reported none of these things to the DMLE. I suspect that Dumbledore has mind-whammied Madame Pomfrey.
So I have to ask: Do I have to wait till I'm seventeen, then spend my own money (assuming that Dumbledore and Molly haven't looted my vaults empty by then) to organise my own medical treatment for my abuses, because until then my abusers can treat me however they want and nothing stops them?
.
The first thing that Amelia did after reading Harry's letter was to go to the Ministry's Department of Records. She found the wills of James Potter and Lily Potter—but both wills had been sealed by order of the Chief Warlock. And who was Chief Warlock at the time? Albus Dumbledore.
The next thing that Amelia did was to pay a visit to Gringotts. Eventually she was led to the Potter account manager, Axefrenzy. Amelia had an educational conversation with Axefrenzy, especially after Amelia mentioned that the Goblet of Fire had done the impossible and had spit out Harry Potter's name. Axefrenzy confirmed to Amelia that Harry's trust vault, number 687, had many withdrawals from it since 1981, exactly two withdrawals being by Harry himself.
Amelia, after talking to Axefrenzy, walked out of Gringotts. As soon as she walked down all of Gringotts's front steps, she Apparated to the front gate of Hogwarts.
Minutes later
As Amelia strode through Hogwarts Castle towards the hospital wing, she seemingly took no notice of the portraits that lined the walls of the corridor that she currently was hurrying through. But Amelia was quite aware of those portraits; she knew that these portraits would report her presence in the castle to Dumbledore. Amelia frowned.
When Amelia reached her destination and walked through the doors of the hospital wing, she found Madame Pomfrey talking to two red-faced Slytherin girls. Amelia judged the girls to be thirteen years old. Amelia recalled two conversations of her own with Madame Pomfrey, at about age thirteen, that had made young Amelia blush furiously.
Amelia sat down on the edge of a bed and waited till the blushing girls left. Amelia noted that all the beds in the hospital wing were empty. Over one bed, a brass plaque had been sticky-charmed to the wall: "Official recovery bed of Harry Potter."
Now that Amelia was alone with Madam Pomfrey, Amelia wasted no time: "During the many times you examined Harry Potter for school-related injuries, did you notice that he had other injuries that had been inflicted outside of school?"
"Yes, of course," Pomfrey answered.
"Injuries outside of school that were of a type, or were severe enough, to connote abuse?" Amelia pressed.
The Healer's face went blank. "Harry Potter is not abused when he is with his Muggle family. Harry Potter is unlucky and has many serious accidents outside of school."
Amelia thought, She's been Imperiused! Or at least compulsioned. Amelia Stunned the Healer.
Amelia levitated Pomfrey's unconscious body to the Saint Mungo's Emergency Floo that was next to Pomfrey's office. Amelia tapped her wand against the fireplace brick and said, "Saint Mungo's emergency! Authorisation: Amelia Bones, DMLE."
The Floo fireplace lit up green, and a man's face appeared. "Please state the nature of the medical emergency."
Amelia replied, "I am Amelia Bones, Director of the DMLE. I have here Poppy Pomfrey, whom I have Stunned. Two things. First, I want you to give her an OPCC&I scan. Results of that scan are to go only to me; I invoke Red Privacy." Which meant that not even the patient herself would be told the results of the scan, without Amelia's authorisation.
The man who was fire-calling Amelia replied, "You are Amelia Bones of the DMLE, patient is Poppy Pomfrey, OPCC&I scan, Red Privacy. Got it."
"Also, since Hogwarts has no Healer at the moment, I need you to send a replacement Healer till Poppy Pomfrey returns; I again invoke Red Privacy when the replacement Healer interacts with allHogwarts staff, including the headmaster."
Two minutes later, Poppy Pomfrey had been Flooed to Saint Mungo's, with the help of temporary-replacement Healer Andromeda Tonks. Healer Tonks strongly resembled Bellatrix Lestrange, Amelia noticed.
Even though nobody else was around, Healer Tonks lowered her voice when she asked Amelia, "If Healer Pomfrey was mind-spelled"—mind-spelling a Healer or Auror was highly illegal—"do you have a suspect?"
The hospital-wing doors opened, and Albus Dumbledore walked in. "Ah, Amelia, how delightful to see you again. Where's Poppy?"
Meanwhile, in Axefrenzy's office in Gringotts
Harry and Mr Tonks, the law-wizard, arrived at Axefrenzy's office at the same time.
The first thing that Harry did was to temporarily ignore Mr Tonks whilst Harry contracted with Axefrenzy to test and to replace the Potter Manor wardstones—there were eight wardstones in all. Harry wanted the goblins to put up new wards and a new Fidelius Charm on Potter Manor, with Harry as Secret Keeper.
Once the repair of Potter Manor's wardstones was contracted, the regular meeting could begin.
Harry told Mr Tonks that, just as he had feared, his name had come out of the Goblet.
Axefrenzy took a memory of the event and its aftermath, then Axefrenzy played the memory in the goblins' version of a pensieve.
When the showing of Harry's memory ended, Mr Tonks said, "I like how you implied that you intended to live in the Muggle world. If you were bluffing, great. If that's your true intention, also great. Living in the Muggle world will make it harder for Dumbledore to track you down, because magical-raised wizards know nothingabout the Muggle world."
Harry laughed. "True. I could pitch a tent on the other side of Charing Cross Road, and no magical-raised witch or wizard would ever find me."
Mr Tonks said to Harry, "I suggest you claim your Heir Potter ring now, and try to claim your Lord Potter ring now. Let's see if the Goblet has emancipated you."
Axefrenzy fetched both the Heir Potter and the Lord Potter ring-boxes, but held out the Lord Potter box first.
Harry hesitated. "What happens if I try to put the ring on, if I can't claim the Potter lordship for some reason?"
Mr Tonks answered, "The Lord Potter ring is oversized. When Lord Potter puts the ring on, it shrinks to fit his hand; if Heir Potter puts on the Lord Potter ring, the ring ignores him. Now if I try to put on the Lord Potter ring, something nasty happens."
Harry slipped the Lord Potter ring onto the third finger of his right hand. The ring shrank till it fit snugly on his finger; Potter-family knowledge flooded Harry's brain.
"Congratulations, Lord Potter," Axefrenzy said, as he waved his hand and both ring-boxes disappeared.
Light flashed, and a bronze vault key appeared on the desk, in front of Harry. "The key to the Potter family vault," Axefrenzy explained. Then the goblin grinned, showing teeth. "Included in the vault is the stock certificate for 75 percent of outstanding shares of Grunnings Drills, Limited."
Harry was smiling as he looked at the goblin and the law-wizard who were in the room with him. "Axefrenzy, now I have a new order for you: Attack."
Meanwhile, in the Hogwarts hospital wing
Albus Dumbledore had just walked into Hogwarts Castle's hospital wing. He briefly glanced at Healer Tonks, then his gaze went straight to Amelia. With twinkling eyes, he said, "Ah, Amelia, how delightful to see you again. Where's Poppy?"
"Not here," Amelia replied in a flat voice. She stared at Dumbledore with an unblinking stare.
Dumbledore said, "Amelia, this is my school. I insist that you tell me where Poppy is, and why she isn't here."
"No, I won't tell you. Red Privacy."
Dumbledore shot Amelia his I'm so disappointed in you look. "Let's you and I discuss this in my office."
"No."
Amelia said nothing else; instead, she continued to stare-down Dumbledore. A different mind than Amelia's brushed against her Occlumency shields. The touch was a testing probe, soft enough that most Occlumens would not even feel it.
You pompous fool, Amelia thought, and let Dumbledore pick up the thought from her mind. As Dumbledore's eyes widened, Amelia grabbed the headmaster's arm, then she slapped the small badger that was pinned to her robes.
"Tardis!" Amelia said, and both she and Dumbledore Portkeyed out of Hogwarts Castle.
An instant later, Amelia and Dumbledore arrived in a heavily runed magic-suppression room at the DMLE. An alarm sounded, just outside the room.
Amelia heard heavy footsteps run up to the only door in or out of the room, and this door was thrown open. Just outside the doorway stood two Aurors, who did not step through the doorway.
One Auror pointed his blue wand at Dumbledore. "Accio suspect's wands!" Two wands flew away from Dumbledore.
"NOOO!" the old man yelled.
Meanwhile, the other Auror had his own blue wand pointing at Dumbledore. "Accio suspect's Portkeys!" Three objects—one of which was hidden in Dumbledore's beard—detached themselves from the old man and flew towards the second Auror.
Amelia turned towards shocked-looking Dumbledore. In a flat voice, Amelia said, "Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, you are under arrest for attempting Legilimency on an Auror. You will be kept in a holding cell whilst the DMLE investigates other crimes you might have committed. As I judge you to be a flight risk, you shall be denied visitors other than your barrister. Anything you say from this moment onwards can be used against you if you are put on trial."
At Potter Manor
Harry summoned all four Potter house-elves, then handed the Potter family-vault key to Greyclay. Harry told them, "Repair the house to its former glory. Make the house like how it was before the attack. Do your repairs well, and spare no expense."
A half-hour later
Gringotts sent Albus Dumbledore a letter that said that both of the Hogwarts vaults he controlled, the Dumbledore family vault, and all fourteen of his personal vaults, were "frozen due to audit" because of "irregularities." The letter listed the numbers of the seventeen vaults affected.
Interestingly, Vault 687 was not mentioned as frozen; Dumbledore theoretically would be free to make withdrawals from Harry's trust vault if Dumbledore somehow could get hold of the key.
A half-hour later
Cornelius Fudge loved three things above all: apple pie with whipped cream on top, bribes of thousands of galleons, and being owed favours. Dumbledore owing Fudge a huge favour was too juicy an opportunity to pass up.
Fudge ordered Dumbledore released from his holding cell, in return for the headmaster making a pledge (not an Unbreakable Vow, please note, or even an Oath) that Dumbledore would appear in court if he was ordered to stand trial.
Amelia Bones did not mention to her boss that Dumbledore already had been heavily questioned using Veritaserum. The transcript made for interesting reading.
As soon as Dumbledore returned to Hogwarts, a Gringotts owl delivered to him the letter that told him that all of his vaults had been frozen. However, the goblin who had written the letter seemed unaware that Dumbledore had access to Harry's trust vault.
Immediately Dumbledore Floo-called Molly, to tell her that he needed Harry's vault-key now.
Molly told Dumbledore that she had lost the key somewhere in Diagon Alley, three weeks earlier.
Dumbledore decided to Apparate to Gringotts and to try and beguile a teller into making him a duplicate vault-687 key. Even though what he would be asking was against Gringotts rules, Dumbledore took it for granted that he soon would have the key in hand, because Dumbledore was a master of verbal tricks.
Minutes later, at a teller window in Gringotts
The teller snarled, "State your business, wizard."
Dumbledore smiled at him and said, "I need to get into Vault 687, but I don't have the key. I need a duplicate key made."
"Give me your finger for the blood-test ritual."
Dumbledore obeyed, but the teller, after making Dumbledore's finger bleed, forgot to heal the wound. Dumbledore was forced to heal the wound himself, using wandless magic.
The teller said, "The only account-holders for Vault 687 are James Potter, deceased; Lily Potter, deceased; and Harry Potter, age fourteen. You are not they, wizard Dumbledore."
"I'm Harry's magical guardian, and have been for thirteen years. Check the Special Instructions for Vault 687."
"Checking the Special Instructions takes time, and time is money. Do you have any valid parchmentwork to document your claim?"
"No, but—"
"Something with James Potter's signature or Lily Potter's signature on it?"
"No, but—"
"I cannot agree to your request. Gringotts policy—"
"Merlin!" Dumbledore snapped. "Just check the bloody Special Instructions! Is that too much to ask?"
"Very well, I shall check for any Special Instructions for Vault 687."
The teller then looked over to his left, at something that Dumbledore was blocked from reading.
Then the teller yelled, "Megkrob pu!"
Within seconds, other goblins dragged Dumbledore away from the teller window. As these other goblins were wearing armour and were holding weapons made of sharp, goblin-made steel, Dumbledore did not try to fight them off.
However, Dumbledore did try, even before he heard the goblins' charges, to demand that he be transferred to DMLE custody. Dumbledore was laughed at—and scornful goblin laughter is scary to hear.
Ten minutes later
Molly Weasley was arrested at the Burrow by four fierce-looking goblins, and charged with theft from Vault 687. She had received no warning before her arrest, either from Dumbledore or from her son Bill.
Five minutes later
In the Transfiguration classroom in Hogwarts
Minerva McGonagall was teaching fifth-year Transfiguration to Ravenclaws and Slytherins when she felt the Hogwarts wards shift to her control.
Minerva knew what this meant: that Albus either had just died or had just been sentenced to prison.
Minerva held her finger up to mean Wait, then said to the students, "I must step out of the classroom for a moment. Please sit quietly."
Once Minerva had shut the classroom door and was standing in the corridor, she summoned Wrinkly, the head Hogwarts house-elf. Minerva told Wrinkly, "Task the house-elves, portraits and ghosts to find Professor Dumbledore, if he's in the castle; or to find out where he might have gone, if he isn't in the castle."
About a half-hour later, after the students had left the classroom, Nearly Headless Nick phased through the classroom wall. He bowed to Minerva and said, "Professor McGonagall, the portraits tell me that Professor Dumbledore received a letter from Gringotts this morning. He read the letter, jammed it into the pocket of his robes, then Apparated away."
Minerva thanked Nick; he left. Minerva then realised that she needed more information, which only Gringotts knew.
For the first time since Minerva had been a brash seventh-year student, she tried to Apparate out of Hogwarts. To her utter shock, she succeeded, finding herself on the front steps of Gringotts.
Minutes later, within Gringotts, the Hogwarts account manager told Minerva that the school's two Gringotts vaults had been frozen yesterday; but now that Minerva was Headmistress, those two vaults would be released.
"By the way," Minerva was told, "one of the things that Prisoner Dumbledore did to anger us was that he paid the ghost, Cuthbert Binns, a salary, but then Prisoner Dumbledore diverted all of that salary to his own vaults."
The Great Hall of Hogwarts, at lunchtime
When Hermione walked into the Great Hall, nobody was sitting either in Professor McGonagall's high-backed chair at the High Table, or in the golden throne where only Professor Dumbledore dared sit. Hermione thought nothing of both chairs being empty.
Then Professor McGonagall walked in. Hermione thought nothing of the fact that the Scots woman had arrived but Dumbledore had not—for 99 percent of the meals that Hermione had eaten here during the last three years, all of the students and all of the other professors already had been seated when Professor Dumbledore finally had graced the Great Hall with his presence.
But this time, Professor McGonagall did not walk to her old chair; instead, she walked to the golden throne next to her chair. McGonagall transfigured the golden throne to be a duplicate of the deputy headmistress's chair; except that the transfigured throne had a white H at the top of the chair-back.
By now students had noticed Professor McGonagall's magicking, and Hermione heard murmuring throughout the room.
Professor McGonagall sat down then—not in the deputy headmistress's chair, but in the transfigured golden throne.
Professor Snape looked worried.
Two minutes later, Professor McGonagall stood up. "Before we eat, I have an announcement to make. Professor Dumbledore was caught stealing by the goblins, and has been sentenced to seventy-five years in the goblin mines." Translation: Dumbledore has been sentenced to death by exhaustion.
Professor McGonagall continued: "I am now acting headmaster."
Professor Snape stood up and said, "I resign as Potions teacher and Head of Slytherin, effective immediately."
Professor Snape had not taken two steps towards the doors that led to the dungeons, before cheers sounded that were loud enough to make Hermione's ears ring.
Ten minutes later, still in the Great Hall
Hermione was sitting at the Gryffindor table, eating, when she heard the normal sounds of many children talking behind her, quiet down. At the same time, Lavender gasped, "Hermione, look!"
Hermione turned about, and saw that owls were winging through the Great Hall. One owl, snowy white, was headed directly towards Hermione.
By the time that Hermione had thanked Hedwig with bacon, and had opened the flap on the Muggle envelope that Harry's letter was in, the Great Hall was silent.
Everyone—students and professors, first-years and seventh-years, Gryffindors and Slytherins, British students and foreign students—was looking at Hermione, waiting to hear what Harry's letter said. Even Draco was attentive (though he also was scowling).
The silence was so complete that Hermione did not need a Sonorus in order to read Harry's letter aloud and be heard—
.
First things first. I'm someplace warm, dry and safe, but I won't tell you where. What you don't know, you can't tell when someone with five names does a sneaky mind-read of you. One place I'm not is with my awful Muggle relatives—I'll sleep under the stars during a Scottish winter before I go back to those people again.
Right now, I think I still have my magic. But this is hard to tell when I don't have my holly-and-phoenix-feather wand anymore. Hedwig (my owl) and Dobby (my house-elf) are with me for now, so I couldgo to Gringotts and fetch some galleons, then I could go to Ollivander's wand shop and buy a replacement wand, but I haven't done these things. Why bother, when I might become a Muggle on the 24th? But listen, even if I'm still magical on the day after the First Task, I still might not bother buying a replacement wand. I'm really soured on the magical world, Hermione.
Tell Luna Lovegood "Thank you" for coming outside to tell me that she believed me. She's not in our House, she didn't have to do or to say anything, but she did, and it means a lot to me.
Did you know that it was harder for me to tell you "I love you" in the Great Hall, and to kiss you in the Great Hall, than for me to face the basilisk in the Chamber of Secrets? I fought the basilisk because nobody else could, but yesterday I was so scared that you would tell me, "Let's just be friends." But you let me tell you I love you, and you let me kiss you and now you're my girlfriend. This is bloody brilliant!
I love you, Hermione. I've loved you for over a year, since you were petrified, and I'll love you for eternity.
.
Throughout the Great Hall, Hermione heard girls sigh. Professor McGonagall wore a soft smile.
Ginny Weasley muttered, "Worthless bint, he's mine!"
The Beauxbatons Champion spoke into the otherwise-silence: "Ze leetle boy keeled a baseeleesk?"