Episode 6. Part 5

Episode 6. Part 5

***

- Harry, my sweet boy, I am so proud of you! - ranted happy as an elephant being washed by ten men with stiff, scrubbing dirt and vermin (which tickle horribly) brushes, Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore. - You have once again met Lord Voldemort, called Tom Riddle in your youth, and defeated him again! And what's more, you defeated the thousand-year-old Basilisk! Now you realize that you are special, that only you can defeat the Dark Lord, and therefore you must take care of your own safety...

- Headmaster, you're delirious! - Harry rolled his eyes in a picturesque way, playing to the audience, which were the portraits of Hogwarts principals. - For the hundredth time, I told you that I found Ginevra in that very crevice in the rocks, not far from the lake. As far as I remember, it's not forbidden to walk there. She must have been walking there when some unknown person pushed her," he tried to explain in a dignified manner, almost without lying. - As for Voldemort, I don't doubt he's dead," said the Boy Who Survived to Defeat the Childish One. - What makes you think a normal girl's diary is a threat? - The black-covered notebook slapped the table with a jingle. - What makes you think Ginevra was the one who was possessed? What makes you think she was the one who had been arranging the attacks? Bullshit! - Harry lied confidently. - I thought so, too, and I followed her. Both day and night. Yes, yes, don't look at me like that," he added, turning a little pink as he met the astonished look. Albus certainly didn't mean what he thought he meant, Potter. Still, the boy's zeal to leave no clues, and impossible to keep track of, amazed him. - So, nothing but strange tantrums, which, by the way, are common for girls at the beginning of puberty, I noticed. - Dumbledore frowned: Was he mistaken and had the boy really found the Weasley girl in the crevice? Had Ronald not realized that his sister was strange because of the diary? Hadn't he suspected that Lucius Malfoy had planted it on her at Florish and Blots, the morning the Locons were presenting their new book to readers and Arthur Weasley was buying textbooks for the children, and then nearly got into a fight with Draco's father? Didn't Ginevra make any attempts to write in her diary?

No, what nonsense! Weren't there attacks? There were! Here. Then why did Harry lie to him? Or was he?!

- No, seriously! - The boy went on, noticing the skepticism on the old man's face. - Voldemort?! Basilisk? I'm even curious as to what you smoke with that pipe of yours. - This he had already "overdone it," but not doing so would only have convinced the headmaster of the lie, because the boy would not be in his usual role. The wizards depicted in the pictures laughed...

- Harry, I'm the headmaster of Hogwarts, and I know exactly what goes on within its walls," the great wizard condescendingly explained to the child. - You're a hero, and we all are.

- In that case, I have to ask you again: you are the greatest wizard of our time, who knows perfectly well what goes on within the walls of his school, but where were you when Colin was attacked? Where were you when my friend Justin was petrified? Where?" Harold asked coldly, and then said, "You were gone. Basilisks, as far as I know from the school library, always kill with a look, no matter how you look into its eyes, with a straight look or through a reflection, because a killing look is magic, which does not depend on conventions. - Potter quoted the article in the textbook Granger had slipped him before he was petrified. - But none of the victims died. What was the point? Someone was attacking them. Someone who knew the petrification spell.

- And you have your suspicions? - Albus grinned, not thinking Harry would say anything sensible. The hope of the magical world and wouldn't have said, if not for the idea that popped into his head in time:

- Yes!" he almost jumped up and down in delight at his own genius. - As I recall, in a book Professor Locons boasted that his Egyptian petrification spell had saved a small village in Scotland from the Gargoyle. The Gargoyle is petrified," the boy whispered conspiratorially.

- I don't think Professor Locons is capable of..." And then it occurred to the head of the Wizengamot that this was the way to get rid of the annoying ZOTI teacher, who not only threatened to remain a professor next year, but also to get Potter expelled. Yes, it was a chance to reveal the truth to the world about the man. Besides, Loconce had been slipped to him by the Board of Trustees, and if he wrote off the attacks on Zlatopust, the Board would have no choice but to untie his hands. Dumbledore jerked closer to the student, anticipating the imminent reprisal against his adversary: "My boy, are you serious?! Can you remember which book he mentioned that in? - He was so caught up in the idea that he missed the point of the educational talk he was about to have with Potter. Harold smirked, killing two birds with one stone.

***

- Really? You said: "O great Godric, give me the strength to fight" - and a sword appeared in your hand?! - Dudley exclaimed, staring admiringly at the sword in his cousin's hands. He no longer risked taking it in his hands, because it kept slipping out and cutting... Mostly his hands. Threatening to cut them off.

He and Harold were sitting in stone armchairs around a stone table that they had discovered in one corner of the hall of the Chamber of Secrets, or should I say, the hall of Salazar Slytherin's underground mansion. Dudley had waited a long time to see it. First there had been preparation for the exams, then the exams themselves, then waiting for the results, then waiting for the victims of the attacks to wake up and then finally, two days before the end of the school year, he could finally wonder what had happened after all.

- Yes. And it seems he, like our backpacks, recognizes the master by blood," Harry Potter nodded, hiding Godric Gryffindor's own sword in its scabbard, and putting those in his backpack. - It's got some of mine on it, and now I can't get rid of it.

- You're not descendants of X-Hos-Jian, but you have the blood of one h-human in you. Otherwise, you couldn't look me in the eye," hissed the giant serpent, who sniffed around his cousins for a long time, his tongue hissing. - The X-hos-jain lineage was interrupted. You'll be my new X-hos-jay-jay-jay-jay-jay-jay. - Both boys twitched, but not so much from fear as from... a sense of their own helplessness before the giant snake.

- Ow!" hiccuped Dudley. Harry sighed:

- 'Take it easy, Dud. He won't hurt us, for the hundredth time. It's Sashi's. And he's a very wise conversationalist.

- So, instead of pointing your sword at the Basilisk, you stuck it in a weird diary, and then Tom exploded and Ginny woke up? - Dursle, hiding the shiver in his voice, clarified, and, receiving a nod of affirmation, continued: - You knocked her out, tweaked her memories, and then you fell from the beast's venom yourself...

- I am not a s-beast! - The serpent hissed indignantly, towering over the unhappy Dudley. He bravely tried to ignore the existence of a member of the class of reptiles, which at times frightened him so much :

- ... but remembered the Philosopher's Stone in time and healed himself by applying it to the wound. And then you talked to the beast..." Sashi wagged his tail, shattering one of the marble columns hidden in the shadows, forcing Dudley to treat himself with respect. - I mean, the great king of snakes who understands English, Sashi. He showed you the crevice that brought you, with Ginny on your scruff, to the surface not without the aid of magic. Did I miss anything?

- We have a sanctuary at Hogwarts now. And the sanctuary has Salazar's treasury and library with his writings, and the writings he studied. That's it now," Harold clarified the details, with a wave of his wand, without any verbal or non-verbal spells, restoring the column, to the approving hiss of the Basilisk. How he did it, he did not understand himself, but he had learned to control his desires, which made him withdrawn. His cousin sighed, looking at the triumphant smirk:

- I wish I'd gone with you...

***

- Fred, George, how good to see you! - Molly Weasley shrieked as the rushing four students stepped beyond the nine-and-three-quarter platform barrier and into the twins' arms before they could escape. - Come quickly, we have a celebratory dinner waiting for us at home.

- Dudlichek! - The bubbly thing swooped down on Dursle as well. - Forgive me! I've been looking for you, nephew. I looked for you as soon as I heard what had happened. Why did you run away from the orphanage? Why didn't you wait for me? - Marjorie Dursle was fussing, trying to grab her nephew's long-defunct cheeks. Next to these ladies, Albus Dumbledore grinned victoriously.

- Principal Dumbledore, what are you doing here! - Harold squinted and immediately exclaimed when he realized, "You're the one who found Marjorie Dursle!

- Harry, my boy, I wanted to surprise you and your cousin," the old man smiled innocently as he continued to play the good grandfather role. - You didn't want to burden strangers with your presence. But this distinguished lady is your cousin's own aunt. You wouldn't argue that Dudley should grow up with family, would you? I've spoken to this nice lady, and she's agreed to take you into her home, too. - Aunt Marge, whom Dudley had remembered more than once since his escape from the orphanage, and whom he had forgotten when he finally had an epiphany and realized what kind of person she was, nodded as she went along. The Boy Who Survived squinted: Imperio? A potion of submission? Confundus? Or a particularly large bribe?! The aunt didn't like anyone but her dogs and her brother; the cousins had no illusions about her. They knew that nothing but the aforementioned methods would have forced her to take in her two young homeless orphans.

But there seemed to be nowhere for them to go, at least without using violence or drawing the attention of the Muggles, who were already squinting. If they used magic in such a public place, they would be expelled from Hogwarts for using magic on minors, with aggravating circumstances: in front of Muggles. If they use force, they'll be quickly saddled with magic by adults who will get nothing for it. Especially if Dumbledore covers them with his position as Head of the Wizengamot. And then he would make sure that the cousins didn't escape. The Weasleys were expecting something similar, so breaking free from their mother's embrace, they quickly banded together and stood with their backs to Harry and Dudley.

Salvation came from whence one could not expect:

- What an interesting drama you are playing out, Headmaster Dumbledore, Mr. Potter, Mr. Dursle," Julius Nott, Theodore's father, applauded lazily from the barrier. - I apologize for the interruption, but I was just about to invite you, Harold, Dudley, and you, Fred, George, to visit my family manor. Theodore has told me a lot about new, unusual friends, and I'd like to get to know you better. My son is usually very bored in the summer, that's why I invite you," he suggested, with an affectation of superiority, but not over the children, but over the adults present. - I assure you, you will not squeeze us.

- Yes, guys, I'd be delighted! - Theo interjected himself, winking furtively at Harry and Dudley.

- Lord Nott, nice to see you again! - Harold bowed, more to annoy Molly and Albus than to do the honors of custom and politeness. - I'm afraid we have no choice but to accept your very timely offer.

- Very well, in that case, grab hold of this portkey," Nott drew a small steel hoop, no more than twenty centimeters in diameter, from under the hem of his cloak. - I assure you, Muggles will not notice anything. - Theodore, followed by his cousins and twins, grasped the hoop with relief. And before anyone attempted to stop them, they simultaneously uttered:

- I'm sorry, Aunt Marge, but you always preferred your dogs to your family.

- Sorry, Mom, we're not coming home.

And they disappeared into the blue vortex, leaving everyone with a nosebleed again...

End of Second Course.