Chapter 8
What are the Unspeakables Plotting?
Six days later
Wednesday, 9th November, 1994
Fifteen days till the First Task
Knockturn Alley
Harry Potter was in Knockturn Alley because his escaped-criminal godfather, Sirius Black, wanted a bottle of firewhisky for their family celebration tomorrow.
The Potter house-elves plus Dobby had underestimated how long it would take to repair Potter Manor. Instead of finishing on 8th November as estimated, the house-elves would finish all the repairs to Potter Manor's roof, walls and interior tomorrow, 10th November.
Tomorrow the head goblin warder, Deathbite, would magically travel to Potter Manor, he and Harry would do five minutes of some kind of work together with the new master wardstone, then Potter Manor would have a Fidelius Charm and wards again—for the first time in fifteen years.
Tomorrow Harry would permanently remove into Potter Manor; tomorrow Harry would make Potter Manor his home for the rest of his life. Also tomorrow, Sirius would remove into Potter Manor with Harry, till Sirius cleared his name.
Sirius actually was more excited about tomorrow than Harry was. Harry had never seen Potter Manor until Halloween night; he was certain that he had never been in Potter Manor as a baby. Sirius, on the other hand, had spent some of his Christmas hols and summer hols as a Hogwarts student at Potter Manor; Charlus and Dorea Potter had all but adopted Sirius as James' full brother and their own son. Sirius had brought "Amy, the finest bird at Hogwarts" to Potter Manor, he told Harry, and everyone concerned had treated the visits with the gravitas of Amy meeting her boyfriend's true family.
To Harry today, honestly it was a coin-flip whether he would prefer to spend tomorrow night in the blue-and-silver bedroom in Dumbledore House or in the master bedroom at Potter Manor; such was not so with Sirius. Sirius would "a hundred times prefer to sleep in Potter Manor, even in a broom closet, to staying in the grandest bedroom in" the Black ancestral house, which apparently was somewhere in London.
Sirius wanted a bottle of firewhisky for tomorrow. But Sirius officially was still a mass-murderer and escaped convict, so he risked arrest if he tried to buy the bottle of firewhisky himself. Thus it fell to Harry, a fourteen-year-old boy under a glamour, to purchase the amber liquid.
A wizard or witch could glamour his or her own face and body, but he or she could not glamour a wand (his or her own wand, or someone else's).
So in theory, to prevent underage drinking, magical liquor stores were supposed to perform two checks on each customer's wand: 1) check for the Trace; and 2) check whether the customer's true name, as identified by a blood test, matched the name associated with the wand being presented.
But magicals rightly worried about their blood being taken by other magicals, so this part of the law was allowed to be ignored. Only the Trace-check remained, as a way to stop Hogwarts-age magicals from buying liquor.
Now glamoured Harry put the firewhisky and the required seven galleons on the counter, drew his wand, and the liquor-store clerk checked the wand. As Harry expected, the clerk found no Trace on the wand that Harry held up—mainly because it had been over two hundred years since Haroldus Cyrus Potter had been under seventeen.
A little later
Harry's glamour was that of a man in his twenties with chocolate-brown eyes, a brown, curly chin-beard and bushy brown hair—what Hermione's older brother might have looked like. The disguise was good enough that the liquor-store clerk had given no more than a glance to the youth who was in fact the Boy Who Lived.
Knockturn Alley was uncrowded now, because most evil magical adults were at work at the moment, and all evil magical children were in school. Harry decided to see if Diagon Alley was just as uncrowded—some window shopping would be fun.
Harry was thinking about what flavour of ice cream to buy when he walked out of Knockturn Alley, into Diagon Alley.
An instant later
"Homorphus!" a wizard's voice yelled. Harry, caught by surprise, failed to dodge the spell that was fired at him.
The spell hit. Harry felt his Hermione's-big-brother glamour drop; Harry stood revealed as the fourteen-year-old Boy Who Lived.
Harry yanked Haroldus Potter's wand from his forearm-holster, in case his attacker was a Death Eater, as Harry looked about. The source of the Homorphus spell was a tough-looking Auror with short, wiry hair, who was standing in Diagon Alley with his feet shoulder-width apart.
"HARRY POTTER!" the Auror yelled. "Return to Hogwarts right now, or face arrest!"
"Arrest for what?" Harry yelled back. "I haven't done anything!"
"Arrest for truancy. Unless you let me escort you back to Hogwarts right now."
"Not happening, Auror. There's a murder plot back at Hogwarts that is hoping some lackey will drag me back there."
"You're under arrest for truancy, Harry Potter. Will you"—the Auror shot a red Stunner at Harry—"come quietly?"
As Harry dodged the Stunner, he yelled back, "What are you doing? Somebody is trying—"
The Auror shot another red Stunner at Harry.
"—to kill me at Hogwarts!"
The Auror replied, "I don't"—he shot another Stunner—"believe you."
Oh, shit! Harry thought. In sidestepping the Auror's next-to-last Stun spell, Harry had put himself directly in the path of the Auror's last Stun spell. Harry was one second away from being Stunned—and presumably being arrested, immediately afterwards.
"Dobby!" Harry yelled.
Then the Stun spell hit, and Harry's world went black.
Harry awoke in the blue-and-silver bedroom of Dumbledore House. Harry discovered that he was lying atop the bed, fully clothed, with the undamaged bottle of firewhisky set on a side table. Dobby was standing on the bed and was looking down at Harry from his three-foot height.
Dobby said, "Dobby did not hurt the nasty law man. Dobby wanted to hurt the law man, but did not. Did Dobby do right?"
Harry grinned. "Yes, Dobby, you did right." Dobby's green-tinged face turned greener. Harry added, "Though if I'm honest, I want to hurt the law man too, but I won't."
Harry, frustrated, slapped the bed. "God save me from idiots with badges and blue wands!"
Auror John Dawlish likewise was frustrated. "Mad-Eye" Moody himself had tasked Dawlish with apprehending Harry Potter and with bringing the boy back to Hogwarts. But the boy had escaped Dawlish, without ever firing his own wand.
Outsmarted by a fourteen-year-old boy! Dawlish snarled in his head. Well, the next time Dawlish ran into the brat, Dawlish would not go so easy on him.
Two days later
Friday, 11th November, 1994, 8 a.m.
Thirteen days till the First Task
Azkaban Prison
Augustus Rookwood, a convicted Death Eater and former Unspeakable in the Department of Mysteries, was Avada Kedavra'd in his cell.
There were no witnesses. The Aurors never figured out how the murder had happened, much less who had done it.
The Aurors would never learn this, but the murderous wand originally had belonged to Solomon Croaker (died 1921).
An hour later, at Potter Manor
Sirius received an odd owl-message from the Department of Mysteries—
At the Black ancestral home in London was an item of the darkest magic that was connected to You-Know-Who. Would Sirius, Lord Black (Presumptive), please open up the house and give permission for the evil item to be removed by Unspeakables?
This message was how Sirius learnt that 1) Arcturus, Lord Black, had not disinherited Sirius as Walburga Black always had threatened, but 2) instead had named Sirius to be Heir Black, then 3) had died.
After receiving the owl-message, Sirius and Harry made an elf-popdash to Gringotts. Sirius and Harry heard the reading of Arcturus Black's will; and Sirius, still in shock, claimed the Lord Black ring. Then it was Harry who went into shock when Sirius named Harry, Lord Potter, to also be Heir Black.
Harry asked, "Not that I'm complaining, but—why me?"
Sirius scowled. "Because if I'd died after my grandfather had died but before I'd named an Heir, the next Lord Black would have been Narcissa's boy. Just imagine the disaster of Draco Malfoy, the future Lord Malfoy, also being Lord Black."
Harry made a face as if he had been obliged to drink ten nasty-tasting potions, one after the other.
On the steps of Gringotts, Sirius summoned a house-elf named Kreacher. To Harry, Kreacher was the dictionary definition of a "bad elf": surly, and openly insulting his master Sirius with a Draco-written blood-purity script. Worse, when Sirius ordered the elf, "Take us to outside Grimmauld Place," it was a full five seconds before Kreacher snapped his fingers in obedience.
Sirius and Harry were elf-popped to the kerb of a street in London; across the street was a row of townhouses. Grinning Sirius asked Harry, "Notice something odd about the house-numbering?"
Once Sirius asked the question, it didn't take Harry long to spot the oddity: "The numbering is fine till Number 11, then it skips to 13."
Sirius said, "Good eye. Listen carefully, Harry: The Black-family ancestral home is at Number 12, Grimmauld Place."
Harry watched in amazement as Number 11 and Number 13 moved apart from each other, and another townhouse formed between them. Alas, the paint on Number 12 was much more faded than was the paint on Number 11 and Number 13.
If Harry found the outside of Number 12, Grimmauld Place to be disappointing, he found the inside of the place to be out-and-out disgusting. Of course, Harry's bad attitude perhaps was because no sooner had he stepped into the house, a painting of Sirius's mother started to insult both Harry and Sirius—loudly.
Sirius tried to vanish the painting—even as Lord Black, he had no luck. Sirius managed only to silence the painting.
Sirius summoned Kreacher. "Kreacher, get rid of that painting!" Sirius thundered.
"I'm so sorry, blood-traitor master," Kreacher said, not bothering to hide his smirk. "The painting is attached to the wall with a permanent sticking charm. I regret that I cannot fulfill your command."
Harry and unhappy Sirius then explored the rest of the townhouse—and Sirius became even unhappier—
Dust was everywhere. The place had enough cobwebs to make an Acromantula envious. The cold-box in the kitchen had a bad smell. Doxies were in the curtains, and a boggart was wandering the second floor. Harry wondered, How could Kreacher let things get this bad?
Sirius was thinking something similar; he spoke a long, angry denunciation of Kreacher. Apparently Sirius and Kreacher had hated each other since before Sirius's Hogwarts years.
Harry said, "I think I have a solution. Call Kreacher."
Five elf-less seconds passed after Sirius called for Kreacher, then Kreacher finally elf-popped into the room. Kreacher's next words were, "Blood-traitor disgrace-to-family master interrupts Kreacher's work?"
" 'Work?' Sirius snarled. "You've done nothing but sit on your arse since my grandfather died!"
Harry held up a hand, in order to silence Sirius. "Dobby, Greyclay, Beekeeper, come here, please." P-p-pop.
Harry said to the three newly arrived house-elves, "Dobby, Greyclay, Beekeeper, this is Kreacher; he's in charge of keeping this place clean. You three, take five minutes to look about, then rejoin me."
Five minutes later, Dobby, Greyclay and Beekeeper again were standing in front of Harry. Kreacher no longer looked smug; the ancient house-elf instead looked frightened to death. Perhaps because all three Harry-summoned house-elves were shooting Kreacher murderous looks.
Harry said to Greyclay, "Please summon the rest of the Potter Manor elves; they'll want to be part of this." P-p-pop. Now Kreacher was outnumbered, six to one, by Harry-summoned house-elves.
Harry had learnt by then that the house-elves had no interest in being paid money; but if Harry injected magic into a house-elf the same as he might inject magic into a wardstone, his house-elves thought this to be a brilliant reward. So Harry offered a magic-injection hug to the house-elf who removed Walburga Black's portrait from the wall. The portrait was off the wall ten minutes later, and a Potter Manor house-elf named Glaze grinned as she received Harry's reward.
Once the Walburga Black portrait was off the wall, Harry expected Sirius to vanish it. Instead, Sirius tossed the silenced portrait into the Floo fireplace and watched it burn.
Harry's elves, during their cleanup, found a Salazar Slytherin-made locket with a piece of Voldemort's soul attached. A quick owl-message exchange between Sirius and the Department of Mysteries determined that this locket was "the item of the darkest magic that was connected to You-Know-Who" that the DOM was interested in. Greyclay, whilst wearing dragonhide gloves, delivered the locket to the Department of Mysteries.
Harry had realised that the Grimmauld Place townhouse was filthy. He did not realise how filthy the place was until he discovered that it took seven house-elves—Harry's six house-elves had shamed Kreacher into working—two entire hours to clean the townhouse from top to bottom, and to clean and paint the townhouse's exterior.
Sometime during these two hours of house-elf cleaning, so Sirius told Harry, a disgusting display of house-elf heads disappeared. The display of house-elf heads had been in the townhouse for as long as Sirius could remember.
When Grimmauld Place was sparkling clean, Greyclay and Beekeeper elf-popped to either side of startled Kreacher, and they each grabbed one of the old house-elf's arms. Greyclay said, "Greyclay and Beekeeper need to talk to bad elf Kreacher about neglect of duties." Then—pop!—all three house-elves disappeared.
Ten minutes later, Greyclay and Beekeeper asked Sirius to bond with a free teenager-elf named Folly. Surprised Sirius made the bond.
Kreacher never was seen again, and did not respond to Sirius's calls.
Ten minutes later, another owl-message from the Department of Mysteries asked whether Sirius, as Lord Black, would give permission for Unspeakables to enter the Gringotts vault of Bellatrix Lestrange. It seemed that another "item" was in Bellatrix's vault.
Sirius wrote out the requested permission; but then he added a sentence: "I, Lord Black, was not aware that Bellatrix's vault had a horcruxed item till just now, when the Department of Mysteries so informed me."
Sirius explained to Harry: "It's against Gringotts rules to store a 'dangerous' item in a vault. Bellatrix maybe will get her entire vault seized if there's a horcruxed thing in her vault. I'm fine with this—every galleon that Bella can't spend is a galleon that You-Know-Who can't be given, when/if he comes back. But I sure as hell don't want the goblins seizing my vaults—which they would, if they thought that Lord Black had known about the horcrux but had let Bella slide."
The same day, in Hogwarts SOW&W
In contrast to all the rigmarole that was involved in destroying the horcruxes at Grimmauld Place and in Bellatrix Lestrange's Gringotts vault, the horcrux-removal for Hogwarts was simple.
The Department of Mysteries sent Headmistress McGonagall an owl-message that said, "In Hogwarts is another item that is a horcrux of You-Know-Who. May we remove it?"
McGonagall gave permission, and two Unspeakables Flooed in; one of them was wearing dragonhide gloves, whilst the other was carrying a lead box.
The two Unspeakables went up to the seventh floor—then disappeared. Half an hour later, the two Unspeakables returned to McGonagall's office, spoke briefly with the headmistress, then Flooed away. The one Unspeakable with the dragonhide gloves had removed them, but the other Unspeakable still was carrying the lead box, whilst acting as though he was doing something important.
That afternoon, in Potter Manor
Another owl-message from the Department of Mysteries told Harry that there was a prophecy about him in the Hall of Prophecies; Harry was invited to hear the prophecy for himself.
Harry went to the Hall of Prophecies minutes later; he took Sirius with him. The Director of the Department of Mysteries, Saul Croaker, personally escorted Harry and Sirius to the relevant prophecy orb.
Harry was not surprised when he heard the prophecy. He and Sirius quickly figured out that Voldemort already knew some of the prophecy, judging by the Dark Lord's actions.
But why take chances? Harry held the prophecy orb high above his head and "accidentally" dropped it, shattering the glass sphere.
Unspeakable Croaker did not rebuke Harry for destroying the prophecy; instead, he nodded. Then he said to Harry, "The reason I invited you to hear the prophecy, relates to the Dark Lord's horcruxes. When your name came out of the Goblet of Fire, the Dark Lord had six active horcruxes; now he has only two, and those two are geographically close to each other."
Then Croaker added casually, "One of the horcruxes is quite close to the Dark Lord Voldemort."
Sirius said, "You-Know-Who is alive?"
Harry said, "You know where Voldemort is? Why haven't you killed him?"
Croaker looked at Harry and said, "Ah, now we come to the realreason I asked you to come here."
Croaker, Harry and Sirius talked for another fifteen minutes.
Twelve days later
Wednesday, 23rd November, 1994, 9 a.m.
Twenty-nine hours till the First Task
Office of the Director of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement
Amelia Bones was surprised when again the unforgettable snowy owl flew to her with a letter. Harry Potter again had written to the Director of the DMLE—
"Tomorrow my name shall be called in the Triwizard Tournament, to go out and battle a dragon. (Don't tell anyone about the dragon—this part of the First Task is supposed to be a secret.) Anyway, my plans tomorrow are the same as they were on the night my name was announced: When they call my name tomorrow, I will undeniably forfeit."
Harry had more to say, of course. One sentence that Harry wrote, had Amelia staring at the boy's written words with her heart racing.
Originally Amelia had assigned only John Dawlish and a few other Aurors to be in the spectator stands tomorrow; and honestly, those few Aurors were assigned there only to soothe the egos of Minister Fudge and the other dignitaries.
But now those plans were scrapped. Amelia began making new plans and was writing new Auror assignments. Also, Amelia began planning what she would wear to the First Task tomor—
Amelia's plans were scrapped again when Saul Croaker walked into Amelia's office and told her things, about which she had been completely unaware.
When Croaker finished speaking, Amelia asked, "Harry Potter must be in the middle of this mad mission?"
"Yes," Croaker replied.
Amelia said, "I don't know about him, but if it were me, I'd rather battle the big dragon."
11½ hours later
Wednesday, 23rd November, 1994, 8:30 p.m.
17½ hours till the First Task
Gringotts UK's iron-mine prisoner-miner barracks
Prisoner Dumbledore smiled at Harry as if he were still headmaster and Harry were still a firstie. "Harry, my boy—"
Harry said coolly, "Prisoner Dumbledore, let's skip the small talk. What do you wish to tell me?"
Dumbledore gestured to the eavesdroppers—three goblin guards, who each was carrying a sharp axe and was standing only a few feet away; and ten prisoner-miners, who each was sitting on his or her slim bed. Dumbledore said, "Before we begin, I must insist that you use your clout with the goblins to give the two of us privacy. What I have to say would be dangerous if heard by the wrong ears."
Harry, hearing Dumbledore's words, laughed, quite scornfully.
Then Harry said, "I have no idea how much clout I have with the goblins, but I'm not putting my clout to the test. Whatever you have to tell me, tell me in front of these three goblins and your thief friends in this barracks, or I leave now."
Molly Weasley glared at Harry when he called her one of Dumbledore's "thief friends." Harry gave her an I don't care if you're angry smile.
Meanwhile, Dumbledore was giving Harry his I'm so disappointed in you look. "Harry, don't be a child! What I'm about to tell you is a dangerous secret, and I must insist that you do your part to keep it a secret. Starting with, ensure no one else can overhear when I tell you the secret. Have the guards give you and me privacy."
"Nope. Not happening."
"Harry, I must insist—"
"You're pushing for me to be alone with you? First of all, that's a privilege that prisoners here are never given, Prisoner Dumbledore. Secondly, I won't put myself alone with you unless I were feeling suicidal, which I most definitely am not."
Harry looked at Molly and added, "My girlfriend Hermione and I are quite close, and I have much to live for."
Dumbledore yelled, "Then put up a Silencing Charm, so nobody but you can hear what I'm about to say!"
"Answer's still no."
"Why not?" Dumbledore demanded, in a You'd best have a top-notch explanation, young man, or you're getting detention tone of voice.
But Harry was not in the mood to play misbehaving student in the headmaster's office. Instead, Harry glared at Prisoner Dumbledore and answered—
"Because keeping secrets is a power play with you. How do I know this? Because everything is a power play with you. Sending Riddle back to Wool's Orphanage when he hated it there, and sending me back to the Dursleys—both were power plays. Your quote-unquote reasons at the time don't matter now, because they were lies. Whyyou sent us back was to impress on two orphan boys, 'Look how powerful I am! I can make you miserable, and you have to take it.' "
"Harry—"
"But the power plays stop now, Prisoner Dumbledore. Whatever you have to tell me today, you'll say in front of the other thieves and the goblin guards. And if the worst happens, if the thieves or the goblins chatter, it's still your fault, because you didn't tell me these 'secrets' in private, months or years ago, when I still trusted you!"
Soon Dumbledore convinced himself to share his "dangerous secrets" with Harry (and with the goblin guards, and with the other prisoner-miners). Harry was unimpressed.
Harry rolled his eyes as he thought, Tommy made six horcruxes intentionally. I destroyed one. The Unspeakables found three more and destroyed them. The Unspeakables showed me on a map where the other two horcruxes are. I like the Unspeakables—they do their job like they're supposed to, and dealing with them is simple and clear-cut. But Mr "Leader of the Light" knows little about horcruxes, and insists I play his silly games before he'll share what little he knows. Pathetic.
Aloud, Harry said to Dumbledore, "So after all the song and dance, the truth is, you don't know how many horcruxes Voldemort made."
"Shhh!"
"How many horcruxes have you sought out and found?"
"Harry, the demands on my time—"
"So zero horcruxes found by you. Got it."
Silence.
"Can you tell me what the horcruxes look like?"
Silence.
Harry repeated, "Do you know what the horcruxes look like? Yes or no."
Dumbledore said lowly, "No. I don't know what the horcruxes look like."
"Or where they are?"
Dumbledore said, "Harry, my boy, I know where one of the horcruxes is. I am so sorry." He looked meaningfully at Harry's bangs-covered forehead.
Harry used his hand as a comb, to move his bangs up and back. "Your information is out of date," he said. "Hermione says the scar barely can be seen now."
Dumbledore stared, shocked, at Harry's forehead. "Harry, why did you remove the horcrux from your scar?"
Harry snapped, "A better question to ask is, 'Why should I listen to anyone who tells me to keep it in?' Congratulations, you've just tripled my distrust of you. I'm gone, 'Leader of the Light.' "
Harry made eye-contact with the goblin guards, then jerked his thumb in the general direction of the mine elevator. Dumbledore was left sputtering as Harry and the three goblins hurried out of the prisoner-miners barracks.
The next morning
Thursday, 24th November, 1994, 8 a.m.
Six hours till the First Task
The Great Hall of Hogwarts
Two minutes after Hermione was owl-posted a letter from Harry, Hermione stood up and Sonorus-amplified her voice. Hermione did not read aloud the "I love you" part of Harry's letter (which went on for a full page), but she did read aloud, to the entire Great Hall, the part of Harry's letter that he had asked her to read aloud—
.
If you're a Gryffindor, don't cheer me on tomorrow—I won't be there. Cheer on Cedric Diggory, the true Hogwarts champion. If my would-be murderer is listening, tell him that I still plan not to walk into his trap.
You people listening probably don't remember this, but when my name came out of the Goblet, I several times stated that I didn't put my name in as a possible Champion, and I also gave an Oath. Here is the Oath: "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." A law-wizard I talked to, says the effects of that Oath are more than merely proving I didn't lie about the Goblet. Anyway, tomorrow should be exciting! If worst comes to worst and I lose my magic—well, Hermione still loves me, and losing my magic is mere inconvenience. But I don't think, and the law-wizard doesn't think, that I losing my magic is what will happen. Instead, I think some people will be hit with big surprises tomorrow!
As Hermione Granger read Harry's letter aloud, all eyes were on her. Nobody was looking at the High Table, and nobody was looking at the Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher at the High Table.
So nobody noticed that the man whom everyone believed was Alastor "Mad-Eye" Moody, was scowling.
Thursday, 24th November, 1994, 2 p.m.
In the Forbidden Forest, near HSOW&W
The First Task of the Triwizard Tournament
Cedric Diggory was the first Champion to face a nesting mother dragon and to try to steal a fake, golden egg out of the dragon's nest. He used a Transfiguration trick (he changed a rock into a dog). He retrieved the golden egg, but the mother Swedish Short-Snout burnt his face.
Fleur Delacour, the second Champion, faced a Common Welsh Green dragon. Fleur charmed the dragon to sleep; but the sleeping dragon set Fleur's skirt afire. Fleur put out the fire and retrieved her egg.
Viktor Krum cast a blinding curse on his Chinese Fireball dragon. Viktor was not injured, nor was his clothing burnt, and Viktor also claimed his golden egg. However, Viktor lost points when the dragon stumbled about and smashed half of the genuine dragon eggs.
Then the Chinese Fireball and her (remaining) eggs were removed from the arena. The dragon-wranglers brought in the largest dragon eggs that Hermione had seen today, then the fake golden egg was placed amongst the genuine dragon eggs. Finally, the fourth dragon was brought in, asleep.
Hermione saw that this dragon was the biggest of the four, and this dragon had the most fearsome body armour of the four. "Merlin, that's a Hungarian Horntail!" Hermione heard someone exclaim.
The fourth dragon was awakened. Then Ludo Bagman's amplified voice called out: "Our fourth champion: Harry Potter!"
Hermione held her breath.
Chapter 9
Magic is Lost
Thursday, 24th November, 1994, 2 p.m.
In the Forbidden Forest, near HSOW&W
The First Task of the Triwizard Tournament
The spectators watched the Hungarian Horntail dragon, the genuine dragon eggs, and the fake golden egg all be brought into the arena. Whilst the spectators watched the preparations that were being made for the First Task of the fourth Champion, Amelia Bones watched the spectators.
Around the transfigured arena were the judges' stand, the VIP seating, and the regular spectator-seating that was marked off by schools and by Hogwarts Houses. Of course Minister Cornelius Fudge sat in the VIP seating; on his right was Lucius Malfoy; on Fudge's left was the Pink Toad (a.k.a. Senior Undersecretary Dolores Umbridge).
Oddly, whilst Lucius Malfoy was sitting next to Fudge, NarcissaMalfoy was sitting amongst the Slytherin spectators. Narcissa was talking with Opal Greengrass, whilst Narcissa pointedly ignored Peter and Pansy Parkinson. Severus Snape also was sitting amongst the Slytherins—but he sat in the top row in the back, by the stairs, making it quite clear that he did not want company.
A Gryffindor boy who had both a camera and way too much energy, was taking pictures of everybody and everything.
In the Hufflepuff section, Hannah Abbott and Amelia's niece Susan energetically waved to Amelia as they both smiled. Amelia only nodded, instead of waving back, because she was on duty.
Watching over the crowd of spectators, VIPs and judges were ten Aurors, amongst whom were Shacklebolt, Dawlish, Tonks, and retired Master Auror "Mad-Eye" Moody. Oddly to Amelia, in the audience was a hooded Unspeakable, who was standing close to the announcer, Ludo Bagman.
Amelia was not dressed like an Auror; she was wearing dress robes. Still, she had her "Director of the DMLE" badge pinned to those dress robes, and Amelia held in her hand the blue wand that she had been issued when she had graduated from the Auror Academy.
Hopefully without being obvious about it, Amelia looked everywhere amongst the spectators for Harry Potter and Sirius Black. She did not see them.
Meanwhile in the arena, a redheaded dragon-wrangler hit the dragon with an overpowered Rennervate spell, then the dragon-wrangler looked up at the judges' stand and made a thumb-up gesture. The dragon-wranglers all hurried out of the arena.
Ludo Bagman's amplified voice called out: "Our fourth champion: Harry Potter!"
The spectators instantly went silent. Amelia was the only person not to turn her eyes to the Champions' tent.
Silence.
Seconds passed.
Amelia heard scornful laughter from some Slytherin spectators, though neither Narcissa nor Opal were laughing.
Pop. Amelia recognised the sound of elf-travel, but could not tell from where the sound had come.
"Harry Potter, are you here?" Ludo Bagman asked.
"Yes, but I refuse to take part!" a boy's voice yelled, from the top (rear) of the Gryffindor stands.
Amelia heard gasps from every section of spectators.
"Harry!" bushy-haired Miss Granger shouted in the Gryffindor section, as the girl stood up. She began to move sideways, towards the stairs.
"Potter, you are under arrest!" someone yelled. Amelia spun around and identified Harry Potter's would-be arrestor as John Dawlish.
Amelia saw a flash of red. "Mad-Eye" Moody had just fired a voiceless Stun spell at Harry Potter!
Amelia wondered, What in the hell is going on?
As Amelia ran up the stairs to protect Harry Potter, she yelled, "Dawlish, stand down! 'Mad-Eye,' stand down!"
At Amelia's voice, Dawlish stopped moving on the stairs. Miss Granger shoved Dawlish aside, into some Ravenclaw students, and continued to race up the stairs. Amelia herself continued to race up those same stairs, but Amelia had a farther climb to make.
"Mad-Eye" still was trying to Stun Harry Potter. Why?
Amelia heard the distorted voice of the Unspeakable say to Bagman, "Declare that Potter is in forfeit. Make it official."
"No-o-o!" Bagman said. Amelia had heard the rumours about Ludo Bagman having a gambling addiction, and Amelia figured that Bagman stood to lose big money if he declared Potter in forfeit.
By now, Amelia, Miss Granger and a house-elf were shielding Harry Potter and a giant black dog from Mad-Eye's Stun-spells. Amelia and Miss Granger also were shooting Stunners back at "Mad-Eye," but he kept dodging those Stunners. The strange thing was, the wooden-legged retired Auror was yelling, "Potter, if you won't come down to the arena on your own, I'll put you in the arena!"—whilst the old man continued to fire Stun-spells at Harry.
Ninety-nine percent of Amelia's attention was on blocking Mad-Eye's spells. But a little part of Amelia's brain noticed that a brown rat was lying on the ground in front of the Gryffindor section of the spectator stands, out in the open, and the brown rat was watching the spells-fight between Mad-Eye and Harry's defenders. Amelia realised, That's quite unusual behaviour for a rat, but Amelia could not take time to dwell on the thought.
The Unspeakable said to Bagman, "Harry Potter is in forfeit. Say it!"
Seconds passed, then Ludo Bagman said in a flat voice, "Harry Potter, your time is up. You have forfeited the First Task."
An instant later, the screaming started.
Amelia saw "Mad-Eye" drop his wand and fall down. He began screaming and thrashing about.
Dolores Umbridge, Lucius Malfoy and Igor Karkaroff began screaming too. In the Slytherin section, Peter Parkinson and Severus Snape also were screaming.
On the field, the brown rat was twisting, rolling about—and growing?
Mad-Eye's writhing, screaming body expelled both his magical eye and his wooden leg. The missing part of his leg grew out. His face filled-in both his missing eye and the missing part of his nose. Mad-Eye's head grew hair, his scars disappeared, and his screaming face turned younger.
Meanwhile, the brown rat had turned into a chubby (and screaming) man.
"Pettigrew!" Harry snarled, behind Amelia.
The big dog growled.
A minute later
Cedric, Fleur, Viktor and Madam Pomfrey all had come out of the medical tent and were staring at the spectators in wonder.
The screamers had quit screaming. They also had quit transforming, thrashing and breathing.
Meanwhile, in Azkaban Prison
All the Death Eater prisoners were dead. Bellatrix Lestrange had died not in battle, but alone behind bars, screaming whilst Dementors in the corridor looked at each other in confusion.
Meanwhile, back in the spectator stands for the First Task
The Unspeakable walked up to the terrified Minister of Magic, who was sitting between two corpses. "What happened?" Fudge asked, in a frightened voice.
"What do you think happened?" the Unspeakable sarcastically replied. He/she pointed his/her wand at Umbridge's left arm. "Diffindo." The Unspeakable shucked off the pink-cardigan sleeve, leaving the corpse's left arm bare.
"Isn't this a surprise," the Unspeakable said, loudly enough for all to hear. "The Pink Toad has the Dark Mark."
Seconds later, the Unspeakable had similarly denuded dead Lucius Malfoy's left arm. Malfoy also had died with the Dark Mark on his left forearm—this, too, the Unspeakable announced to the crowd, and just as loudly.
"He's not a real Death Eater," Fudge blustered. "Malfoy was Imperiused."
"Oh, really?" the Unspeakable said. "If someone could be Imperiused into taking the Dark Mark, wouldn't you have it?"
Fudge was trying to stammer out a reply when the Gryffindor boy with the camera ran up and snapped a photo—of Fudge sitting between two Dark Mark-marked corpses.
Meanwhile, in the back of the Gryffindor section of spectators
Amelia saw Miss Granger swat Harry's arm. "Harry, what are you doing here? It was dangerous for you to come here!"
Harry said, "I haven't seen you in 3½ weeks, 'Mione. I've missedyou."
The two teenagers lunged towards each other, then snogged, as if the Director of the DMLE wasn't standing two feet away. The big black dog wagged its tail.
When the teens finally broke the kiss, Amelia made a show of looking at the dog, then looking at Harry. "When I was a seventh-year 'Puff, I dated a sixth-year Gryffindor who was a confirmed prankster. Anyway, he used to own a big black dog that looked just like this dog. The odd thing was, I never saw my boyfriend and the dog in the same place at the same time. Merlin, I miss him."
Harry asked, "You miss your boyfriend?"
"No, I miss the dog," replied Amelia. She looked at the dog and said, grinning, "My boyfriend never could be serious."
The dog licked Amelia's hand, as Harry groaned. Miss Granger shot Harry a puzzled look: Why are you groaning?
The Unspeakable walked up to the small group. In its maybe-male, maybe-female voice, the Unspeakable asked Harry, "Lord Potter, do you still have your magic?"
Harry laughed. "I don't know. Shall we find out?"
One second later
Hermione's jaw dropped when Harry drew a wand. Hermione blurted out, "How do you have a wand? You snapped your wand in the Great Hall—I saw the pieces hit the floor!"
Harry grinned mischievously. "I snapped my Harry James Potterwand, yes. This wand belonged to Haroldus Cyrus Potter, my great-times-ten grandfather."
"Is that even legal?" Hermione asked.
Both Madam Bones and the Unspeakable replied, "Yes."
Then the Unspeakable prompted, "Lord Potter, your magic? We have a schedule to keep."
Hermione said, "Lord Potter?"
"Ahem," said the Unspeakable.
Harry grinned at Hermione. "What's that Muggle saying? 'Go big or go home.' Expecto Patronum!"
The stag-patronus was fully corporeal as it galloped over the heads of the Gryffindors. The Gryffindors clapped; the Weasley twins stood up and clapped. Over outside the medical tent, Madam Pomfrey and the three true Champions also were applauding Harry's stag-patronus.
Seeing Harry's superb patronus, the Slytherins sulked.
The Unspeakable said to Harry, "That was brilliant. Are you ready to go?"
"Go?" said Hermione. "Go where?"
Harry shrugged. "To go kill Voldemort. If he isn't already dead, he's magicless—now is as good a time as any to put him down."
"Oh, Harry, why do you have to kill him?"
He shrugged. "Because there's a prophecy, which says only I can kill him. Otherwise, I'd leave the work to Madam Bones and her excellent Aurors. Well, except for the bloke who keeps trying to arrest me—he isn't excellent at all."
The Unspeakable grabbed Harry's arm, loosely, and said, "Shall we go?"
Madam Bones said, "You go on, I'll keep an eye on 'Snuffles.' Even though he looks like the sort of dog that'll hump my leg."
The dog barked.
Harry said, "If Snuffles does this, neuter him."
The dog whined.
"Thanks for watching 'Snuffles,' Amy," Harry said to Madam Bones. Hermione huffed.
"Now?" the Unspeakable asked.
Harry said, "We can't leave yet, we need proof that Voldy is dead after we kill him. Colin Creevy, you and your camera get up here!"
Later
In the Gaunt shack, the Unspeakables found and destroyed a horcrux that looked like a ring. In the process of neutralising this horcrux, one Unspeakable caught a Withering Curse, and would die in a few months' time. To Harry's (and Colin's) amazement, the Unspeakables considered this to be "acceptable losses" if it would stop Voldemort.
At Riddle Manor, one Unspeakable was killed by venom in the process of killing a giant snake that also was a horcrux. Again, the Unspeakables shrugged off the death of one of their own as "acceptable losses."
Voldemort—so the Unspeakables, Harry and Colin discovered—was in the same room as the big snake. Voldemort was trying (and failing) to kill the Unspeakables, Harry and Colin, whilst the Unspeakables were trying to kill the big snake.
It turned out that the snake was a hundred times more dangerous than the demagicked Dark Lord.
Voldemort's first response to the Unspeakables, to Harry and to Colin, when they stepped into his room, was to point his yew-and-phoenix-feather wand at Harry and to yell, "Avada Kedavra!"
Nothing happened.
Crucio, Diffindo, Reducto, Bombarda—no matter what spells Voldemort cast, nothing happened.
Harry disarmed Voldemort of his wand, did Lumos/Nox to show Voldemort that the wand itself worked fine, then Harry snapped Voldy's wand in half and tossed the pieces away.
By then the Unspeakables had killed the big snake, and Harry considered Voldemort to be no longer dangerous, so Harry walked up to the Dark Lord. The others followed.
When Muggle-raised Harry and Muggle-born Colin first saw the homunculus of Voldemort, they both spoke the same words: "Ugh, look at the zombie baby!"
Voldemort was not zombie-stupid, however—for all the good it did him. He had the mind of an adult, but the frailty of a toddler—and Voldemort had no magic.
Harry walked close to Babymort, held out his hand to the side, and said, "Come to me, Sword of Gryffindor."
Harry, to be honest, was not sure the trick would work. But it did.
Babymort, eyeing the sword, blustered, "You cannot kill me. I will come back, as I have come back before. Then those you love will suffer and die; the mudblood is first on my list."
Harry replied, "You'll come back again, really? Tommy, hasn't anyone told you?"
In a voice of dread, Babymort asked, "Hasn't anyone told me what?"
Harry looked expectantly at the Unspeakables. One Unspeakable told Babymort, "The diary, the cup, the diadem, the locket, the ring and your big snake friend—they're all au revoir."
Babymort's face went white.
"Which means," Harry said, "you no longer have a Plan B. You're stuck, and without magic, in the body of a fifteen-month-old baby." Then Harry's voice turned cold and creepy: "But don't worry, Tommy Riddle. Who would want to kill a fifteen-month-old baby?"
Harry waited a few seconds, long enough for Babymort's face to show an expression of Oh shit, I'm doomed—
Then Harry used both hands to drive the Sword of Gryffindor into the tiny chest.
Harry saw no green wraith come out of the body; Harry heard no supernatural screaming. Instead, Babymort gasped, then went still.
Once Babymort was dead, Harry kept both hands on the killing sword, long enough for Colin to snap several pictures.
Harry's plan was that when Colin's photographs were printed in the Daily Prophet, the Dark Lord would not only be dead, he would be vanquished.
Chapter 10
(Mostly) Happily Ever After
Thursday, 24th November, 1994, dinnertime
By dinnertime, Hogwarts's fake DADA teacher had been identified as (the now twice-dead) Barty Crouch, Jr, and the Weasley twins had found the real Alastor Moody. With the crisis over, and with Harry vindicated, Harry returned to school.
Headmistress McGonagall gave a short speech telling the students that "Harry Potter absolutely did not put his own name into the Goblet of Fire—vanish that thought from your mind. Barty Crouch, Junior put Mr Potter's name in." Hermione suggested that Harry demonstrate with Expecto Patronum that he had not lost his magic after forfeiting the task; the Great Hall applauded his corporeal stag-patronus.
Harry made a point to walk up to, and then to shake hands with, Cedric, Fleur and Viktor; then Harry laughingly yelled, "I'm officially retired from the Triwizard Tournament!"
Harry then sat down to eat—or tried to. Daphne, Tracey, Millicent, Vincent and Gregory from Slytherin, Susan and Hannah from Hufflepuff, Luna from Ravenclaw, and half of Gryffindor came up to Harry and welcomed him back.
This brouhaha was nothing, of course, compared to the next morning, when the Daily Prophet reported that Harry Potter had killed the Dark Lord—for the second time!
During the First-Task Massacre, Voldemort lost his magic; then the Protean Charm in the Dark Mark sucked both the magic and the life-force out of every Death Eater in Wizarding Britain. Some of the Death Eaters had put a glamour on their left forearms, to hide their Dark Mark—but when they lost their magic, their glamours failed. Every Death Eater, whether he or she was a quill-pusher in the Ministry of Magic or was a strutting Head of House in the Wizengamot, died being revealed as a Death Eater.
After the First-Task Massacre, the Ministry of Magic had manydead bodies to haul away, which showed the Dark Mark on every left forearm.
Cornelius Fudge, so people decided, either was so clueless as to be unaware of the complete Death Eater infiltration of the government, or was so selfish as to allow it, so long as his vaults were filled.
In any case, Cornelius Fudge was out as Minister of Magic, and Cyrus Greengrass was in, two days after the First-Task Massacre.
For some of the Pureblood houses, the First-Task Massacre was a mere inconvenience. Instead of the fathers of Gregory Goyle, Vincent Crabbe and Pansy Parkinson ruling as Lords of their respective Houses, now each heir(ess)'s mother assumed the title of Regent till the heir(ess) turned seventeen.
But for House Malfoy, the Massacre was a disaster: All the Purebloods who could have claimed Lucius Malfoy's title, because they were closely related to him, died at the same time that Lucius Malfoy died. Eventually Narcissa Malfoy was named Malfoy Regent, and the Malfoy Heiress ring was passed to the fifteen-year-old great-great-granddaughter of Ramses Malfoy: Hermione Jean Dagworth-Granger-Malfoy. Needless to say, the first conversation between Narcissa and Hermione was awkward.
(The first conversation between Narcissa and the Doctors Granger was even more awkward.)
The day after Cyrus Greengrass became Minister of Magic, Sirius Black was put on trial, charged with the offences that he had been sent to Azkaban for (minus the murder of Peter Pettigrew, plus the charge of being an unregistered animagus). Sirius was acquitted on all charges except for the animagus charge, and fined fifty galleons. Sirius Black then was awarded G143 000 in restitution. The "Kiss on sight" order against Sirius had been dropped when Greengrass had become Minister, after persuasion by Amelia Bones.
The next day
Friday, 25th November, 1994
The day after Harry returned to Hogwarts, he sent Prisoner Dumbledore a letter. Besides a torn-out front page from the Daily Prophet—which included a photograph of Harry, the Sword of Gryffindor and Babymort's corpse—Harry included a note.
"Headmistress McGonagall, unlike you, did not hoard Tom Riddle's diary. Instead, she turned the diary over to the Unspeakables on 1st November. By 24th November, the Unspeakables had destroyed all six horcruxes and had led me straight to magicless Tom Riddle. Note that in the newspaper, I, now dubbed 'The Boy Who Outsmarted Voldemort,' had much public praise for the Unspeakables, whilst you were not mentioned at all. The reason you were unmentioned is simple: The Unspeakables helped me; you did nothing but hinder me. Also, note that the Dark Lord is dead, but I didn't need to sacrifice my life for the supposed Greater Good, in order for Tom's death to happen. I am so glad you are out of my life!"
Six days later
Thursday, 1st December, 1994, afternoon
Hogwarts Library
Viktor Krum walked up to Hermione and said, "I have request. Please, you help? Is about Yule Ball."
Hermione was displeased, and she let a frown show. "I'm not going to the Yule Ball. I'm returning home for the Christmas holidays. If I were attending the Yule Ball, it would be with Harry Potter. Sorry."
Viktor said, "No, not you understand. I'm sorry, not my English is good. You with the Harry Potter—I know, whole school know. But I have the problem. The girls, they look to me, and they see the"—Viktor flexed both biceps, and deepened his voice—"famous Viktor Krum." Back in his regular voice, he said, "The girls do not see I, the Viktor Krum who plays on my dog. You see the Harry Potter, not 'The Boy Is Living.' Please, you help I find the Hogwarts girl for the Yule Ball, who not sees the"—Viktor flexed both biceps again.
Hermione nodded. "Ah, I understand. You don't want to go to the Yule Ball with a fangirl." Hermione explained the term.
Viktor nodded, looking relieved. "Yes, you understand. No fangirl!"
Hermione thought, Scratch Ginny Weasley, then.
Hermione said, "Dobby!"
Pop. Harry's house-elf Dobby appeared, just as eager to serve "Miss Miney" as to serve Harry.
Hermione wrote two identical notes, which she asked Dobby to deliver to Susan Bones and to Daphne Greengrass: "Come to the library as quickly as you can get here. I have someone I want you to meet. —Hermione."
Both Susan and Daphne arrived at the library within ten minutes. Both girls arrived looking quite curious.
Hermione made the introductions. Then Viktor, Daphne and Susan walked out of the library together.
3½ weeks later
Sunday, 25th December, 1994
At the Granger house
Two years out of three, on Christmas Day, Dan and Emma Granger hosted their relatives at their home for dinner. This year, Emma let it slip that not only would Hermione be home, but so would Hermione's much-mentioned, never-met friend Harry.
This year, the dentists' relatives discovered that the Grangers' Christmas gathering had two minor mysteries with it.
The first minor mystery was why Dan Granger had done something different this year. He had hired/rented a wooden dance floor for the sitting room, and he had hired a uni student to play compact-disk tracks. Except when Harry and Hermione were eating family dinner, those two teens spent all evening dancing.
The other mystery this year was Hermione's strange ring. Her last name started with a G, and Harry's last name started with a P, so why was Hermione wearing a ring with an M on it?
However, one of Hermione's relatives solved both mysteries—in a surprising way. After dinner, and before the teens resumed their dancing, Hermione's Granny Connie led the teens, plus Connie's daughter Emma, into an empty bedroom.
Granny Connie tapped Hermione's Heiress Malfoy ring. "Since I was little, my father's name has been Stephen Moffitt. But when he was your age, his name was"—Granny Connie's voice dropped to a whisper—"Stefanus Malfoy."
Harry, Hermione and Emma all stared at the old woman in surprise.
Granny Connie said to Hermione, "My grandfather, Ramses Malfoy, attended the same boarding school in Scotland that you two are going to, am I right?"
Hermione nodded, too shocked to speak.
Granny Connie said, "I've wondered since I was a tiny child, what having magic is like."
Harry and Hermione shared a glance. Hermione answered, "Doing magic is wonderful. But many magical people are berks."
Granny Connie laughed, then she looked at Harry. "Considering everything that's happened to you in the last two months, I certainly understand why you didn't want to stay at school for the Yule Ball." Harry and Hermione shared surprised looks again.
Then Granny Connie looked at Hermione. "And if Harry won't stay for the Yule Ball, no way do you stay."
"You are so right," Hermione agreed. "Harry and I recently spent twenty-four days apart, and it almost killed me. I won't do it again."
Harry said to Granny Connie, "Ma'am, even though you and I just have met, I wish to invite you to join the Grangers with me at Potter Manor tomorrow, Boxing Day. Not only will it mean you eat a big meal that you didn't have to cook, not only will it mean you spend more time with your daughter and granddaughter, but you will get to see Hermione do magic. She's really amazing with the spells she knows."
Hermione smiled at Granny Connie and said, "Also, you can see Harry fly on a broom. Honestly, he's in a class by himself."
Harry said, "You'll also get to meet my godfather, Sirius Black." Granny Connie's eyes widened; she recognised the name. Harry continued, "Sirius is a right nutter, but in a good way. His girlfriend Amelia will be there too—Amelia is the head of the magical police—along with Amelia's niece Susan."
Hermione said to her grandmother, "Susan will have tales of the Yule Ball to share. Right now she's at the Ball with Viktor Krum."
Two days later
Tuesday, 27th December, 1994
Potter Manor
Yesterday, Harry had hosted Hermione, her parents and her grandmother for Boxing Day dinner. That gathering had been intended to be fun and relaxing; but today's meeting was intended to be serious.
Now sitting around the big table in Potter Manor's dining room were Hermione Granger, Sirius Black, Narcissa Malfoy, Andromeda Tonks, Ted Tonks and Nymphadora Tonks. Harry was sitting at the head of the table.
Harry said, "There are two things the seven of us need to discuss. The first purpose of this gathering is for Miss Granger to better learn how to be Lady Malfoy. The second purpose is to reconcile Narcissa with Andromeda, who are estranged."
Five faces looked back at Harry with patient expressions; Narcissa Malfoy's face showed a plastic smile.
Harry continued, "Each of you knows all the others here, at least a bit, but I'm going to ignore this fact and introduce everyone. First person to be introduced: me, Harry Potter. I've been Heir Potter since 31st October, 1981—you all know that story. Then on Halloween of this year, the Goblet of Fire spit out my name, even though I'm only fourteen, and a mob of adults with important job titles all told me that I had to take part in the Triwizard Tournament. What they didn't realise was that, by insisting I had to take part in a Tournament of adult wizards and witches, they made me become magically an adult. Well, Heir Potter plus emancipation equals Lord Potter."
Sirius slapped Harry on the back. "So now you're a grand chap, a Lord Head of House, at age fourteen. Brilliant."
Harry smirked, then said, "On my right is Sirius Black. He's my godfather, and he's the person I ask when I have a question about the Pureblood world." Harry glanced at Narcissa.
Harry continued, "Sirius also is Head of House Black, and all of us except for Hermione and Ted are part of the Black family by blood. Dorea Black was my grandmother. At the moment, I'm Heir Black, but that doesn't mean much."
"How can you say this?" Narcissa challenged. "To be the future Lord Black is an important title in our world."
Harry gave Narcissa a lopsided grin. "Because Sirius here is talking about betrothal to Amelia Bones. I expect a mob of little Blacks running about, in the years to come."
Narcissa nodded in understanding; Harry continued—
"On my left is Hermione Granger. She's a Muggle-born. She's a genius—she's a sure bet to be Head Girl in our seventh year. She annoys some Purebloods in our year"—Harry glanced at Narcissa—"because she does better in the classroom than all the Purebloods do. Hermione is my girlfriend—I haven't asked her to marry me yet, but be sure that in a few years, I will."
Hermione grinned at Harry and said, "When you ask me to marry you, be sure I'll say yes!"
Harry grinned back at Hermione, then turned his head to again address the entire table. "Hermione is Heiress Dagworth-Granger by lineage, and is also Heiress Malfoy, because everyone who was more directly related to the late Lucius Malfoy also died in the First-Task Massacre."
Tonks grinned at her Aunt Narcissa and whistled. "I'll bet lots of Purebloods went spare when they learnt that Harry Potter's Muggle-born girlfriend is the future Lady Malfoy."
Hermione answered, "Actually, the Purebloods aren't too pleased about me being the future Lady Dagworth-Granger either. They'd much prefer that Magic had given Pansy Parkinson the Dagworth-Granger Heiress ring. C'est la vie."
Harry said, "Hermione will become Head of two Houses, twenty-one months from now. Hermione and Narcissa are putting their heads together so that Hermione will learn what she needs to know, in what little time she has."
Narcissa chose her words carefully: "Whilst teaching Miss Granger, I have come across fewer problems than I expected. The information I present is new to Miss Granger, but she shows a zeal to learn it."
Harry laughed. "That's nothing new!"
Then Harry got serious again. "Okay, finishing up. Narcissa Black Malfoy is a Black daughter, and is the mother of Draco Malfoy and the widow of Lucius Malfoy—both of whom are well known to Hermione and me. Narcissa is Regent Malfoy, till Hermione comes of age."
Narcissa gave Harry a stately nod. "Lord Potter, I have a question for you, but I shall wait till you've finished all the introductions first."
Harry nodded to Narcissa, then turned to look at Ted Tonks. "Ted Tonks is, like Hermione, a Muggle-born. Ted also is my law-wizard. It was Ted's advice to give an Oath that I had not put my name in, not merely to say those words aloud. Ted, Hermione and I think that this Oath is the main reason that Voldemort, not I, lost all magic when I forfeited the First Task. Also, Ted advised me to absolutely not participate in any Task. This is why I skived off the Yule Ball two days ago, on the off-chance that Magic would consider attending the Yule Ball to be participating in a Task."
Now Harry's eyes went to the woman who was holding hands with Ted Tonks. "Andromeda Black Tonks, I don't know much about you, except that you're a Healer at Saint Mungo's; and you were in Slytherin but you married a Muggle-born. This has to be one of the most courageous things I've ever heard of, for a Slytherin."
Harry caught Andromeda and Narcissa exchanging looks.
Meanwhile, Sirius was saying, "Andi got kicked out of the Black family for marrying Ted. But I fixed that."
Now grinning Harry looked at his metamorphmagus cousin. "She-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named—cough—Nymphadora—cough—Tonks is here for no particular reason, but I invited her because she's one of my favourite people, who also happens to be a cousin of mine."
Tonks's face now was just as pink as her hair. "Hermione, do me a favour and kiss him on the cheek, would you please?" Then Tonks snarled, "After you slap him on the arm for calling me that name!"
As Hermione dutifully slapped Harry's arm and kissed his cheek, Harry looked at Narcissa and asked, "You had something you wanted to say to me?"
Narcissa looked nervous as she said, "I ask this not because I wish to start an argument, but so I better can teach Miss Granger: What do you think of Lucius and Draco?"
Tonks whistled. Harry and Hermione shared a look, as Harry rubbed the back of his head.
Harry thought, Gryffindors charge ahead. "Lucius and Draco Malfoy were both angry, hateful, snobbish people. Both were bullies. Lucius was a cheater; Draco was a coward. By the time I was Sorted, I'd had two encounters with Draco and I'd decided that I quite disliked him; then I'd watched as the Sorting Hat took one second to decide that Draco was a Slytherin. The Hat wanted to put me in Slytherin, but because of Draco, I told the Hat, 'Not Slytherin, not Slytherin!' Thankfully, the Hat then put me in the same House as Hermione."
Tonks whistled again. "Wow, I knew Cousin Draco was a wanker. But you changed your Sorting because of him?"
"I did." Then Harry's eyes bored into Narcissa's. "But this idea that cowardly Draco and cheating Lucius are somehow better people than Hermione in any way, just because their family was magical for however-many generations, whilst Hermione is the first magical in her family in four generations? The very idea is mad, mad, mad. My big problem with the wizarding world is that so many of you believe this ridiculous idea."
Narcissa went statue-still for ten seconds. Then she said stiffly, "I see. Thank you for answering honestly."
Narcissa took a deep, calming breath and looked at Ted Tonks. "Lord Potter said, minutes ago, that we are gathered here to educate Miss Granger how better to be Lady Malfoy; and to reconcile my sister and me. Now, I have two questions for you, Mr Tonks, and I believe my asking you these questions, and your answering, will accomplish both purposes—
"What is it like to be a Muggle-born? How is your life different than being a Black daughter?"
Not quite two months later
Thursday, 24th February, 1995
The Second Task
Harry and Hermione sat in the stands and watched the three Champions carry out the Task. Also watching, whilst sitting in the cold wind: Cho Chang, Susan Bones and Fleur Delacour's eight-year-old sister Gabrielle.
The three Champions were charged with each "rescuing" a mannequin that looked just like someone they loved—or at least, like someone with whom they had gone to the Yule Ball.
Fleur was injured by grindylows, and so was not able to "rescue" her sister's mannequin. But since Gabrielle was never in danger, Fleur was merely annoyed by her failure, not frantic.
Harry, in the Gryffindor spectator stands, leant over and murmured to Hermione, "I wonder if it would have been mannequins that the Champions had to rescue, if Dumbledore still were headmaster."
Four months later
Friday, 24th June, 1995
The Third Task
None of the three Champions were Imperiused. None of the three Champions needed to fire red sparks as an emergency signal. Cedric Diggory was not first to the Cup (that honour went to Viktor Krum), but Cedric did not die hearing the words "Kill the spare" either.
Fifteen days later
Saturday, 8th July, 1995, 1 p.m.
One week after end-of-term for Harry, Hermione and Susan
Sirius Black married Amelia Bones in the Ministry of Magic's Large Meeting Room.
The wedding invitations that had been sent out, showed the "Jolly Roger" reversed: a grinning black skull above crossed blackfemurs, on a white background; the text underneath said "THE BLACK-BONES WEDDING."
After Sirius and Amelia spoke their wedding vows, Harry, Hermione, Remus and Susan jointly conjured a huge, floating, fireworks-shooting sign that said "Kiss on sight."
2½ months later
Monday, 25th September, 1995, around midnight
In a small flat in Surrey Public Flats Complex 17
Dudley woke up from a nightmare—a nightmare about his cousin Harry.
In the dream, Dudley aged fifteen, Piers, and the rest of Dudley's old gang chased fifteen-year-old Harry into the park near Dudley's house. The gang's intention was to beat up Harry. But then Harry turned to face the bigger boys. Dream-Harry didn't look scared, he didn't look defiant—instead, Harry wore a cruel smile.
Harry pulled out his wand—Piers made a mocking comment about "fighting with a chopstick"—and pointed his wand to the side. Pop. A big, transparent-purple box appeared on the grass; then pop!—teenage boys appeared inside the box. These arriving teen boys were holding wands like Harry's, and they were dressed like the long-bearded headmaster at Harry's school. Now the purple box disappeared. Dudley and his friends already were outnumbered, by Harry and the wizard-boys, but then the witches showed up. Teenage girls who all wore pointy hats, flew into the park on straw broomsticks, and these girls landed between the wizard-boys and Harry.
Harry still was smiling cruelly and still was holding his wand. "Friends," he said to the wizard-boys and to the witches, "this is my cousin and his mates. They like to hurt people who can't hurt them back."
A teen witch with blue hair and bright-purple eyes (and brilliant boobies) cackled, whilst she floated on her broomstick. Looking at Dudley, she said, "Isn't this amazing. I also like to hurt people who can't hurt me back."
So saying, the witch thrust her free hand (the hand that wasn't gripping her broomstick) at Dudley. Suddenly Dudley felt like he was being punched all over his body by dozens of invisible fists.
"Any limits on what we do?" a wizard-boy asked Harry.
Harry's cruel smile got bigger. "The other boys deserve pain"—suddenly Piers and the rest of Dudley's gang were screaming. "But my fat whale of a cousin deserves to die."
Then all the wizard-boys pointed their wands at Dudley, whilst all the witches each thrust out a hand towards Dudley. "Die!" they all yelled.
That's when Dudley woke up, his heart racing.
Dudley now was a student at Stonewall High. His first day there, bigger kids had shoved his head in a toilet. The bullying by bigger boys continued after the first day; half the students at Stonewall now called Dudley "Fat Boy." Stonewall's teachers—who all looked at Dudley with disgust—did nothing to stop Dudley's pain and shaming. A teacher at Stonewall hinted that the teachers at Smeltings were relieved that Dudley was gone.
At Stonewall, Dudley had tried to act like a bully himself, but this had not worked out. When a swotty boy in one of Dudley's classes had taunted him—"You're really a pillock sort, aren't you, Fat Boy?"—Dudley had moved up close to the thinner boy and had made threats. But instead of being scared of Dudley, the other boy had laughed in Dudley's face. "Go ahead, Fat Boy, hit me. Then you'll join your dad in prison!"
Here was another reason that in Stonewall, life for Dudley was bugger-all. At Smeltings, everyone had known that Dudley was the boy whose father played golf with the Smeltings headmaster; at Stonewall, Dudley was known as the boy whose father had been sent to prison for twenty years, for £156 000 in tax crimes.
Besides sending Dudley's dad to prison, the Crown had seized everything the Dursleys owned—the car, the house on Privet Drive and the money in savings. Now Mum worked as an assistant in a florist shop; the only way she could make ends meet was because now mother and son lived in a council flat (the neighbours were noisy).
But as bad as things now were for Dudley and his mum, at least they were not much worse. Because Vernon Dursley had "taken his medicine," Harry had kept his promise: None of the Dursleys would go to the magical prison and be exposed to Dementors, every minute of every day. Dudley's relief at knowing this was huge. Azkaban, the magical prison, sounded to Dudley like a real-life horror that was much worse than anything he had ever seen in a film at the cinema.
Almost three years later
Thursday, 2nd July 1998
In a tunnel of the iron mine beneath Gringotts UK
Harry never used his power to order Dumbledore's execution; Harry never sent Gringotts a message to "Axe the wanker's neck."
But what a goblin-steel axe did not do, starvation and exhaustion achieved. Skeleton-thin Dumbledore died in a tunnel of the iron mine, with a miner's pick in his hands and a cold-torch sticky-charmed to his forehead. The goblins immediately vanished Dumbledore's corpse.
Gringotts did not notify Hogwarts or the Daily Prophet of Albus Dumbledore's passing. For Aberforth Dumbledore, Gringotts added a brief written message to his monthly account statement.
Nine days later
Saturday, 11th July 1998
About two weeks after Harry, Hermione and their year-mates sat their NEWTs and finished their seventh year, Harry and Hermione got married—twice.
The first wedding was at Hogwarts, where many weddings had taken place in the past thousand years; but nobody had ever been married exactly where seventeen-year-old Harry and eighteen-year-old Hermione held their wedding: in a girl's lavatory.
Marrying in a girl's loo at Hogwarts? The Purebloods (those who had survived the First-Task Massacre) were scandalised.
Surprisingly, Dowager Narcissa Malfoy defended Lady Hermione Dagworth-Granger-Malfoy's unusual choice of a wedding location. "Harry and Hermione, plus the cast-out Weasley boy, only two months into their first year, battled and defeated a mountain troll in the same bathroom they will be wedded in. Harry and Hermione weren't friends before the troll, but they were friends afterwards. Anyone can get married in the Great Hall, or in a House common room; but for those two, the troll bathroom actually is a more romantic place."
All three Triwizard Tournament Champions were invited to the wedding, and all three Champions attended.
The nonmagical wedding was held at Saint George Church of England in Crawley. A cousin of Hermione's was the Maid of Honour; Daphne, Lavender, Luna, Parvati and Susan were bridesmaids.
Alas, Rigel Black, the two-year-old son of Sirius and Amelia, was too young to be the ring bearer.
At the wedding breakfast (wedding reception) in the Grangers' back garden, a snowy owl swooped down to land on the groom's shoulder, and used its beak to pluck a water beetle out of the bride's hair. Two quick bites and the water beetle was history; then the snowy owl flew away. All the wedding guests talked about the snowy owl; no person—including Harry and Hermione—asked what a water beetle was doing in the bride's hair.
A week later, the Daily Prophet reported that Rita Skeeter was missing, presumed dead.
Meanwhile, Harry and Hermione spent their honeymoon at the "Dumbledore holiday house" in Ibiza. The first two days that the bride and groom were in the house, the Mediterranean weather outside was nearly nonstop rain—the newlyweds never noticed.
The End