HPWW171-180
Chapter 171
As for Dumbledore, the moment Fawkes brutally
severed the bond it knocked the old man
unconscious. The flash of the heat combusting and
expanding the closest air around the bird, knocked
the now unconscious man forward over the desk,
bending at the waist; before the weight of his legs and
hips, almost hanging off the side of the desk, dragged
him slowly back until he collapsed in a heap behind.
The house elf that was standing invisibly in the corner
over near the door leading back out into the
classroom and watching all this unfold was instantly,
though temporarily, blinded by the bright light and
drying of his corneas and had to call for help over the
bond to other elves to come help him. He was lucky
he wasn't standing closer at the time. His blindness
might have become permanent.
Once the elves collected their injured compatriot and
rushed him off for treatment from healers of their own
kind, one returned to take note of what happened.
Knowing the new Headmistress would not want
anything touched, he gave a nod to himself and elfpopped to her office.
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
Marchbanks had only just returned to her own office -
she had about the same distance as Dumbledore to
travel, but she was about two thirds slower due to her
need to use a cane, much shorter legs, and less spry
nature - a house elf popped in.
"Yes?" she asked it.
"Lady Headmistress," it replied. "Bevvy must be
tellings you old Perfesser Whiskers is... un-con-shus.
Cocking an eyebrow at the elf, she asked, "And, do
you know how that happened?"
"Yes, Lady Headmistress," it replied with much
sadness. "Firebirdy Fawksie did breaks his bond with
Perfesser Whiskers. It be sad."
With both eyebrows now raised in surprise, she
exclaimed, "Well, well! Old Fawkes finally had enough,
did he? Well, it's about damned time!"
Looking back at the elf she said, "I do not want the
room touched until I get down there and confirm
things for myself. Am I clear?"
"Yes, Lady Headmistress," it replied. "All elveses
know not to touch Perfesser Whiskerses office."
"Thank you. You have done well in letting me know
immediately. You may go," she said, giving a little
'shoo' gesture with her cane tip.
As the elf popped away, she gave a little cackle to
herself, turned around and exited the office again. She
knew she need not hurry. After the severing of such a
bond the old fool was going to be unconscious for
hours, at least. Then, be bedridden for at least a day.
As the door closed behind her, the portrait of
Headmaster Black laughed; loudly and gleefully.
From nearby, the portrait of Headmistress Mole
scolded, "Really, Phinneas."
That had the other portraits begin discussing this new
development.
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
Harry had run upstairs to bring his mirror down with
him and sat at the table with it in the dinette alongside
where Hermione remained waiting for him.
"Now that you're officially part of the House of Black,
plus my betrothed, it now means you're allowed to
know more of what I'm up to," he said by way of
explanation for why he was making the call in front of
her.
"I didn't know that would happen," she frowned.
"You weren't told because... let's face it... you're
addicted to learning new information," he replied. "I
didn't want the idea that you would learn about what
I'm up to to be an influence on your decision. That
would be me, playing on your desires. And that would
have been manipulative."
"Hmmm..." she said, smirking at him a little. "And
scaring Hell out of me about how a magical guardian
could effectively 'sell' me, didn't?"
"That was not my call," he firmly replied with a frown.
"I wanted you to make the decision on your own,
decide you'd go through with it, go through with it,
then we'd tell you. But your Dad didn't want to leave
anything to chance."
"He was protecting me," she quietly said.
"I know," he said. "But, I still thought it was unfair."
She was a few long moments of deep in thought
before she said, "He currently knows me better than
you, Harry."
"I know," he replied. "But―"
"Harry," she said, getting him to focus on her more
fully from where he had slightly looked away out the
window. "He was right."
"Hermione," he said just as seriously back. "The scare
would have only meant you had Sirius as your new
magical guardian. It did not mean you needed to enter
into the Betrothal Agreement."
She frowned and again thought for a few moments
before she shook her head. "No. I've had all night to
think about it, now. I even dreamed of it. I'd have
delayed it with the excuse I needed more time. Then
delayed, delayed and delayed more.
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Chapter 172
"By the time I finally decided to go through with it, it
might have been too late. We don't know how long it's
going to be until the new Headmistress picks a new
Head of House for Gryffindor. And the new Head of
House would probably already be in place, by then.
And then might not have been agreeable to release
magical guardianship of me to Sirius. It was too big a
risk.
"Now that it's been done, I'm kind of relieved I don't
have to worry about it any more. You know what I'm
like when I've got a big decision to make. I
procrastinate until I've worried the matter to the bone.
Getting it done last night means I'll not be worrying
about it."
"Just remember," he said. "Don't say them now
because it will activate that clause; but, all you need
to do is say that line to me and the Agreement is
terminated and voided on the spot."
"I know," she softly smiled. "Who's idea was that,
anyway?"
"The wording of the clause was Ted's," he replied.
"But, I was insistent on it, or some other form of it,
being included. Your father was very relieved when he
heard me demand that.
"I respect his protectiveness of you, you know? He
seems to have found the perfect balance between
being this knight, who stands before you ready to
defend you against all ill-intentioned comers, while
also letting you go off and find your own way.
"I hope I'll be half as good as he is at the role of being
a father when it comes my time to be one."
That earned him a long, gentle lips-to-lips kiss.
With her eyes sparkling a little she gave her throat a
little clear, nodded with her chin to the mirror and
softly said, "Call your godfather."
With a quick change of posture on his part, she
watched him change from sweet and loveable Harry
into the powerful, young man she knew him now to be
and then give a firm nod. She liked it.
"Padfoot."
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
Marchbanks was in the process of trying to unravel
the security and privacy charms Dumbledore had on
his office door when she suddenly stopped and
sighed. 'Idiot,' she thought of herself.
"Hogwarts," she firmly called. "As Headmistress and
for medical emergency purposes, I need immediate
access to the office of the Professor of
Transfigurations. Please remove all security charms
and the like from the door."
She almost felt the magic take effect.
Giving herself a firm nod, she stepped forward and
twisted the door handle. And the door opened
inwards.
"Tch!" she clucked.
Stepping inside she took a moment to look about and
saw the damage caused by the forced severing of the
bond. Looking directly at the golden perch the
phoenix had sat upon as she continued into the room,
she thought, 'That must have been very hot to have
done that.'
Reviewing her memories of what she'd read of other
severed phoenix bonds, she realised she was seeing
pretty much exactly what was described.
'Yep,' she thought. 'Severed bond.'
As she closed the distance between her and the desk,
ever mindful of where she placed the tip of her cane
lest it catch a crack of loose stone or something, she
saw the half-crumpled sheet of parchment. And
immediately recognised the writing upon it. 'Lord
Potter,' she thought.
Drawing her wand, she summoned it up to her hand,
took a closer look at it to confirm it was Lord Potter's
handwriting and slipped it into her pocket.
Once she reached the desk, she rounded it and saw
the results of the searing flash upon the desk, chair
and parchments. And that's where she found the old
fool.
He was almost folded in half and, with the burn
damage on the back of his robes and hair, appeared
as if he'd stood too close to a fire with his back to it.
Seeing how close he must've been standing to the
bird when Fawkes severed the bond, she knew he
was.
"Idiot," she muttered. "Was it you receiving a letter
from the young Lord that had you do something that
caused Fawkes to sever the bond, Albus?"
She knew she wasn't going to receive an answer to
that question until the next day, at least.
"May I have an elf, please!" she called.
"Yes, Lady Headmistress?" the elf immediately asked
when it popped in.
Tapping Dumbledore's prone and half-folded form
with her cane tip, she ordered it, "Take this old twit to
the Infirmary and inform our medi-wizard that he was
standing too close to the site where his phoenix
severed its bond with him, would you?"
"Yes, Lady Headmistress," the elf bobbed.
Two flashes of white light later, one where the elf
stood and one where Dumbledore lay, and the room
was empty of anyone but her.
Giving the room another once-over she then gave a
huff and made her way back out the door again. She
shut it closed behind herself but didn't bother with
locking it or re-warding it.
Then made her way back to her office. Step tap-step.
Step tap-step.
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
Once Harry had spoken to Sirius about what he'd
planned regarding his 'problem' with Augusta
Longbottom, his godfather asked to speak with 'the
newest member of the House of Black'.
Hermione had voiced her reservations about Harry's
plans but knew not to interfere.
Finishing up the call, Sirius told her, "Just remember;
you can ask to borrow the mirror off Harry at any time
and talk to me. If you don't want him listening in, just
tell him. He'll understand."
After she glanced at Harry, who nodded back, she
turned back to the mirror and said, "I will and he
does."
"Good," replied her new magical guardian. "Mirror
off!"
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Chapter 173
With the call now terminated she said, "You play for
keeps in the Noble and Most Ancient Houses."
"Yes," he agreed.
"Do you think she'll find out?" she hesitantly asked.
"I plan on her doing so," he replied.
"You don't think you'll get in trouble for it?"
"I will, to some degree," he replied. "However, as this
is business of the Potter-Longbottom Alliance, no one
but the other alliance members are going to do much
of anything about it. Even then, only the Longbottom
matriarch can do anything.
"They may wail and gnash their teeth about it; but, in
the end, they can't do a thing to stop me - even her.
The charter of the alliance has me permitted to do
this.
"Besides, if I'm right... and I'm pretty sure I am... it's
going to neuter her power on the spot."
"And Neville's going to think you're the next coming
of Merlin," she added.
"Not at first, no," he said. "But, he'll forgive me later...
I hope."
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
Back in her office yet again, Marchbanks carefully
made her way to her desk and sat behind it. She
popped her cane into the little bracket she'd already
permanently transfigured from a broken quill and
affixed to the edge of her desk that was made to hold
it in place.
Pulling the half-crumpled sheet of parchment she'd
picked up off the floor in Dumbledore's office, she laid
it on the desk and cast a charm on it that removed all
wrinkles and fold marks. It even removed its 'rolled-up
state' memory.
With it perfectly flat she carefully read it. And, as she
read, she began to, at first, chuckle. Then she began
to lightly laugh. Finally, she was cackling away.
'The young Lord Potter is proving to be both a font of
information and a very amiable young man. But, his
humour is just delicious.'
He certainly made her day interesting.
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
It took making the mirror call to Sirius for Harry to
fully accept the idea that he and Hermione were
betrothed. Before then, it had been just a concept to
him - a mind exercise. Now, it had become more real.
He turned to her and asked, "How well have you gone
over the copy of the Agreement Ted left for you?"
"I've read it through a couple of times, now," she
replied. "I've also taken notes. However, I'm not ready
to discuss it through, yet."
"That's fine," he shrugged. "We don't have to go over
it at all, if you don't want to."
Yeah... umm... listen," she stammered a little. "That
clause about us, you know, progressing a sexual
relationship..."
"Yes?" he asked.
"I know what I said right after the meeting, just after
Sirius and Ted left," she replied. "But, at some stage, I
would consider the idea of progressing. Just... not to
the point I'll become pregnant, alright?"
"That's fine," he replied, blushing away. "We already
kiss. Each stage will come as it comes."
Before things could get uncomfortable again, even
though he appreciated the way she got them through
the previous day's uncomfortableness, he changed
the subject.
"I promised I'd also teach you more about the matters
relating to the alliance," he said. "For this, you need to
understand that this can never be discussed where
anyone can overhear it."
When she gave a nod back he called Dobby.
"Yes, Master Harry?"
"Can you go and collect my folio of the documents
relating to the Potter-Longbottom Alliance, please?"
"Yes, Master Harry; right away."
Before either teen could say anything, the little elf
popped the folio onto the tabletop in front of him. It
was a little thick, measuring about an inch deep as it
lay flat on the table. It was also about fourteen inches
tall and eleven wide
The folio appeared made of hardened leather tied with
a red ribbon and had the words Potter-Longbottom
Alliance in gold embossed lettering where you'd
expect it to be for it to be a title.
Undoing the bow that held the ribbon knotted closed,
Harry stripped it away before opening the 'cover'.
When Hermione pulled parchment and quill over to
take notes he firmly said, "No, Hermione. I'm sorry,
but you can't take notes about any of this. If you did,
those notes would have to be included in this folio
when I tied it shut again. Therefore, it's kinda
pointless."
She gave a grimace back, but nodded.
"Now, you're getting to see this because of the
betrothal," he explained. "But, it has an odd sort of
spell involved on it that is a powerful privacy charm
related to the House of Potter. Magic, as does the
House of Potter magic, currently sees you as the Lady
Presumptive of the Noble and Most Ancient House of
Potter. That's why you can currently see what's
written here," he indicated.
Hermione looked at the top sheet and could, indeed,
read it, "Potter-Longbottom Alliance Charter," she
muttered.
He smiled back and said, "Exactly. Now, you were
concerned about how I could get in trouble for what
I've asked Sirius to do some research on..."
He flicked through the document until he hit on the
section he wanted. A quick peruse through it and he
found what he was looking for.
He slid it across so she could properly read it and
said, "Read that. Not out loud, please."
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Chapter 174
As she read through it her eyes widened in surprise.
"That's―"
"That's what grants me the authority to do what I'm
going to do," he said. "It's also what granted her the
authority to get me out of Dumbledore's grasp - and
she flat-out refused to do it. That's why I have no
qualms about doing what I'm going to do.
"Besides, if I'm right, it's definitely the right thing to
do for Neville. I just hope Andi or Sirius can find the
right one. If she or he does, then my chances of
accomplishing this will be almost guaranteed."
For the next few hours Harry stepped Hermione
through the alliance and the role, as a Betrothed to the
Lord of one of the two founding Houses, she had to
play.
"But, the House of Potter is not part of the Black
Alliance," he explained. "As current Heir Tertiary I
know a little about it. But, most of what I knew was
stripped from my mind by a similar privacy charm
when Sirius named cousin Andi as Heir Presumptive
and, again, when he named Dora as Heir Secondary
not long afterwards.
"As a magical guardian to the Lord you're probably
allowed to know an even smaller amount than I. But, I
can't tell you; that's Sirius's job and you're going to
have to speak to him about it. There's that privacy
charm again. Understand?"
"Yes," she nodded. "It makes a lot of sense."
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
After a break for lunch the two teens were trying to
work out what to do next when a house elf popped in
carrying a package.
Holding it out to Harry, he said, "This bees for you,
Sir."
Indicating the dinette, Harry said, "You can put it on
the table, thank you."
With a snap of its fingers of its other hand the little
unknown elf popped the package right to where Harry
wanted it.
"Don't touch it until I've scanned it all, Hermione," he
told his betrothed.
"I won't," she agreed.
"Thank you," Harry told the elf after he turned his
attention back to it. "Who are you and whose elf are
you, anyway?"
"Benny be Benny," replied the elf. "Benny be proud to
be servings House Tonksy."
"Very well," replied Harry. "Thank you for your
service. You may go."
And the little elf disappeared with yet another snap of
its fingers and flash of white light.
Harry cast what detection charms he knew over the
package, with every one of them coming up clean. He
was now aware the package did not contain a mindaltering charm or portkey component. It also didn't
contain a poison or was dosed with an illicit potion.
As the house elf couldn't lie to him and it didn't
appear to have been tricked by anyone else to give
him the package, he used his wand to charm it open
and slide the contents out.
They were, as expected, documents. The top one he
immediately saw was written in Ted's hand.
Picking it up he read through it.
"It's from Ted," he muttered.
After all the usual falderal, the section of the body that
was most important said...
~ # ~
Included are the details of the records held by the
Ministry relating to the items you asked your
godfather to research for you. A task he gave me to
do.
I've also included the details from off the items from
where you said they would likely be located on each
device.
Further, I have included the same material on a fourth,
similar, item.
~ # ~
After verifying the signature as Ted's, Harry knew the
risk now associated with the documentation was so
slim as to be virtually non-existent.
He quickly started to sort the information out. As he
did he said, "Alright, Hermione. You can help me sort
this lot out, if you like."
"What is all this?" she asked.
"Evidence to present in Sirius's case if the aurors
press forward with charging him regarding his
motorcycle," he replied.
"Oh, that," she said, understanding, before taking a
closer look at the documentation she was sorting
through. When she quickly realised what she was
looking at she asked, "Wait... Is this about what I think
it's about?" And tapped the document she was
holding.
"Yep," he grinned.
"And there's a law against doing this?" she asked.
"Yep," he again replied.
"Well, it's no wonder you're confident you'll win the
case!" she declared.
"Uh-hmm," he replied. " I now need you to pair the
Ministry documents with the information Ted's
managed to dig up on each. That way each is one
section."
"From that, I need to make some telephone calls."
As the afternoon wore on, Harry used the White Pages
telephone book to hunt down who he needed to talk
to. He sat on a stool he'd pulled out from under the
dinette side of the breakfast counter and 'let his
fingers do the walking' while Hermione shuttled
documents back and forth from the counter to the
dinette table.
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Chapter 175
Working in reverse chronological order he already had
the information on the first item before moving onto
the second. He also received an earful from the PR
woman at the manufacturing company, who wanted to
know who was trying to set her up for a prank.
When Harry finally convinced her he was 'writing a
book' on the history of that type of item, the woman
began to tell him enough information that proved to
Harry that the folks in the 'Obliviator Headquarters'
office at the Ministry were... just like every other witch
or wizard... daft morons.
Moving onto the next one took a bit more work as the
company that manufactured the item had long since
gone out of business. However, he was able to track
down an enthusiast of the history of the devices who
related to him a not-so-dissimilar tale to the previous
woman.
Harry thanked the man and hung up.
When Hermione read what he wrote, she
disbelievingly exclaimed, "You're kidding!"
"Nope."
"That's... that's..." she tried.
"Yep."
The next item - the one Ted added - was going to be,
in some ways, risky. He needed information from a
huge government department that was currently going
through privatisation of its main asset.
However, the frazzled public servant on the other end
of the phone call couldn't have cared less Harry was
asking the questions he was, but gave him a similarly
weird story to the first two.
Hermione shook her head in disbelief of what she'd
read from his notes and said, "When you go public
with this, people in the Ministry are going to get fired,
arrested, charged, gaoled, fined or any combination of
those!"
"Not my problem," he replied. "I'm not the one who
wrote the laws. I'm not the one who blatantly and
outrageously defied them. I'm just the new uninvested
Lord who is going to be defending my godfather, the
newest uninvested Lord, from a stupid law."
"I don't think it's stupid, so much," Hermione
disagreed. "Just... so poorly written as for it to be
impossible not to breach."
The final item was the biggest of them all. Harry also
had to ring another muggle government department to
find out the history of it. However, this time he would
have to go into their offices and pay a fee to collect
any records on it held there.
He took down the details he needed and where to go
to collect the information and would be sending that
back to Ted to organise. Either that or the aurors
would need to be prepared for a day trip into muggle
London. And he didn't want to do that as it would tipoff the aurors what he was up to.
Hermione had told him that she'd been told the
previous day that the aurors on their detail were not
permitted to speak about what Harry or the Grangers
were up to with anyone else not already on the detail.
But, surely, one of them would let something slip out
at the wrong moment.
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
Later that afternoon and at Hogwarts, about an hour
after Harry finished making his calls just in time for
when most government office workers think about
heading home for the day, Dumbledore finally woke up
in the Infirmary.
As soon as he saw the ceiling and smelled the scent
of the wing he knew exactly where he was. But he also
smelt the scent of burnt hair over the top of it.
Looking down at his beard, all seemed in order; so he
couldn't figure it out.
He'd no sooner woken up and was sitting up when the
new medi-wizard walked in from his office and he felt
a light waft of breeze on the back of his neck.
"Good afternoon, Professor Dumbledore," he said.
"What day is it?" Dumbledore immediately demanded,
reaching around to the back of his neck.
Shocked at what he felt he cried, "My hair!"
"Yes, it is!" the Robinson returned. "And I'm feeling
pretty chipper; thank you for asking. As for―"
"Don't be flippant and answer the bloody question!"
snapped the old man.
"Well, if you must know it's about fourteen hours
before you're free to go on Thursday morning;
tomorrow morning. And, as I was saying, as for your
hair, it appears your now ex-phoenix did it to you with
a great flash of heat. It's that, we suspect, which burnt
the back of your hair off, singed the back of your
robes, charred your office desk chair, and a few other
things.
Spotting his wand on the bedside table he picked it up
and cast a quick Tempus charm.
4.30pm
With a grunt of annoyance he realised he'd been out
for about eight hours.
"Why wasn't I enervated?" he demanded.
"You were unconscious because your now ex-familiar
decided to sever the familiar bond with you," replied
Robinson. "We do not enervate people who have been
knocked unconscious because of a severed bond. It's
unsafe.
"Instead, we allow them to wake naturally - which is
what happened with you.
"Now, since you've naturally woken and had your
questions answered, I'm afraid you need to lie back
down. I need to monitor you for the first twenty four
hours of the severed familiar bond to make sure of the
stability of your health."
"Go to Hell!" snapped the old man. Then he hopped
off the bed and stormed from the room.
'Does that man not know of any other mode of
travelling by foot other than storming about the
place?' thought the medi-wizard. 'Cranky old bastard.'
Returning to his office, the medi-wizard made an
internal floo-call to the Headmistress.
As it connected, she asked, "Yes?"
"Dumbledore just woke and, as I told you he would, he
treated me appallingly and stormed out," he replied.
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Chapter 176
"Very well," she said. "Ready his bed for him again
and, in a few moments, he'll be returned to it by a
house elf. As soon as he arrives, secure him to it and
tell him I'll be along shortly to speak with him."
"Yes, Headmistress," Robinson replied.
Pulling his head out of the flames and allowing the
call to disconnect, the medi-wizard walked back out
into the Infirmary, stood at the foot of the bed
Dumbledore had so recently vacated, readied his
wand to cast and waited.
About five to six seconds later there was a flash of
white light and Dumbledore was back and flat on his
back on the bed.
Almost before the old man had any idea he had been
popped back to the Infirmary by a house elf, he was
already securely tied to the bed with an Incarcerous
charm. His wand was summoned out of his hand a
bare moment later.
"What...?" asked a very surprised Dumbledore. A
moment earlier he was 'walking' towards the grand
staircase to climb up to the floor of his office.
"Welcome back, Professor," said Robinson.
"Wh-what is the meaning of this?" Dumbledore
spluttered. As soon as he tried to move to hop back
off the bed he realised he was tied down. "Damn it!
Release me at once! Do you not know who I am?"
"You are Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore,
apparently," replied the calm medi-wizard. "A
significantly disgraced former Headmaster of this
school and now a simple tenured Professor. You are
also my patient and, until I or Headmistress
Marchbanks says otherwise, you will remain my
patient.
"Besides, the Headmistress is coming here to talk to
you about your behaviour of late. Each time you are
here you are offending me with both your curtness
and tone. You have been and are being quite rude.
"Now you are going to lie there, shut up and wait for
the Headmistress to arrive or I will be forced to gag
you by way of a silencing charm over your bed."
"Now, see he―" was as far as Dumbledore got before
the threatened silencing charm was placed.
When Marchbanks walked in about five minutes later,
it was to see Robinson checking his stocks of potions
in the wheeled portable potions cabinet while
Dumbledore was trying to rant through a silencing
charm.
She had to smirk to herself at the sight.
Toddling up to the side of the bed she stood there
until Dumbledore shut up and glared at her. Then she
removed the charm.
As soon as she did, Dumbledore yelled, "How dare―"
And received, for his troubles, the cast of the Filthy
Mouth charm on him. A charm perfected by some
parent well over a century earlier for washing a child's
mouth out with soap if the parent deemed the child
deserved it.
She immediately recalled the time, back when
Dumbledore was a child and she babysat him, his
sister and baby brother, she used it on him when he'd
back-chatted her.
He almost instantly began spitting soap suds and
liquid soap out of his mouth and spluttering as he
cleared it away.
With soap suds still 'decorating his beard and
moustache around his mouth he stared at her in
shock.
"Remember the last time I cast that charm on you,
Albus?" she asked. "What did I tell you back then?"
When Dumbledore scowled and refused to answer,
she threateningly raised her wand.
"Don't ever back-chat you again, or I can expect
another dose," he hurriedly replied.
"Exactly," she said. "That was almost a century ago,
but I keep my word, Albus."
When he refused to look at her any more, scowled and
turned away she chose to ignore his behaviour. As
long as he wasn't trying to speak when she was
speaking, or just interrupt her, she was happy with
that.
"Now, Albus," she firmly said. "I have made it a
condition of employment here that, regarding the
nature of the health of the staff, the staff are to obey,
without complaint, the orders and directions of the
medi-staff. I made sure you knew this when you
returned to the castle from your most recent stay in
the holding cells of the DMLE.
"It seems I've had to come down and remind you of
that. That is not something I will countenance without
issuing punishment. If you do it again I'm going to
dock your pay a fine. If you do it too often you will
reach the point with me I'll know I can successfully
take the matter to the School Board to have you fired;
tenure or not.
"Now you can, of course, get out of that bed," she
continued. When he looked ready to accept she went
on to shoot him down. "All you have to say is, 'I quit
my tenure as a member of staff at Hogwarts, effective
immediately'. As you won't be a member of my staff,
neither I nor medi-wizard Robinson can order you to
remain a-bed in this Infirmary.
"However, unless you state that, you will follow the
directions of medi-wizard Robinson as if they were an
order from Hecate herself. Have I made myself
perfectly clear to you this time, Albus?"
Dumbledore looked for any possible way he could get
around the directions she gave him and could find
none. She'd even given him a way to get off this
infernal bed, but it would mean he'd also be
immediately tossed from the castle. And he needed to
be here.
"Yes," he all-but snarled.
Good," she replied. "Further, if I hear any further
complaints from medi-wizard Robinson that you've
been rude to him, as well as writing down that
infraction to add to my list I'm compiling for reasons
to fire you for the Board, I'll yet again dock your pay.
Have I yet again made myself perfectly clear to you,
Albus?"
"Yes," he more clearly stated.
"Your current orders from medi-wizard Robinson
relating to your health is for you to remain in this bed
until, I believe, about breakfast time tomorrow
morning. Follow them!"
With a swish of her wand she vanished the ropes.
When the old man didn't try to rise but, instead, folded
his arms and practically pouted, she made a short
little 'hmm' sound, turned about and walked back out
of the room.
Dumbledore remained on the bed smelling of burnt
hair, crisped robes and sulking.
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
Closing out another day, Scimitar received his next
report from the watchers.
"Well, well!" he told the others. "The young knight has
entered into a Betrothal Agreement with the
Bookworm. And a report from Hogwarts has it that the
phoenix severed its bond with White Beard."
"White Beard no longer has access to phoenixtravel?" asked one. "Thank Merlin for that!"
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------------
Chapter 177
"Yeah," replied Scimitar. "That's news the 'big-wigs'
are going to be right pleased about. It means ongoing
research into blocking that form of magical travel can
be scaled back for the time being. Thoughts on the
BA?"
"It's a brilliant move," said their strategist. "It means
the young knight's managed to turn the Bookworm
pawn into a queen. It further protects him from her
being used against him."
"Agreed."
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
While Dumbledore thought he was putting up and
projecting a good image for the student body, he was
accomplishing anything but.
In the Slytherin common room the few remaining
students, mainly first and second years who couldn't
go home because their parent or parents were away
overseas or similar, were paying attention. To outward
appearance they were disinterested or just mildly
amused. In reality they were approaching the point
they were cheering Potter on.
They knew who was responsible for everything that
was befalling Dumbledore. And they were in both
surprise and awe at the Slytherin-like strategy and
style the Potter Lord was employing to deal with the
old man. But, now finding out from a senior year that
the old man's phoenix had severed its bond with him
over something Potter did to him? That was both
information gold and left them all fearful Potter would
turn his ire upon them next.
While the Slytherins were employing their cunning
and sneakiness to acquire the information, the
Hufflepuffs were gaining it through a different kind of
sneakiness. They simply turned 'puppy dog' eyes on
their targets of choice, made themselves look pitiful
and harmless and said please - the evil little bastards.
Their usual targets being the Ravenclaws or the staff.
When they found out what the old man had done to a
lot of people, including their very own Pomona Sprout
and Poppy Pomfrey, the loyalty of the badger brought
forth its fierceness at an attack upon their own.
Dumbledore now represented a clear threat to the
Cete and needed to be dealt with before any other
badger fell before him. Cedric Diggory managed to
rally the Cete sufficiently to have those 'forced' to
remain at the castle work together to gather
information. 'Know Thy Enemy!' they now declared.
And were, as one, cheering Potter on.
The Ravenclaws were simply so inquisitive and so
embarrassed over the 'Lovegood Scandal', that they
needed to do something to lift their image among the
other Houses. No longer was Hufflepuff seen as the
worst House to be in by the others but Hufflepuff;
theirs was. So they began a campaign to lift the image
of their House by offering assistance to the staff at
every opportunity available to them.
Plus, the Ravenclaws were often approaching the
remaining staff seeking something to study or read.
And through contact with the staff, were asking for
various pieces of information, here and there. The
'Claws weren't being subtle about it like the Slytherins
either. They didn't believe in subtlety. That information
was brought back to the Nest and collated. The image
it was painting of Dumbledore had them all cheering
Potter on.
In Gryffindor, the remaining members had fractured
into three factions too small to be effective in any way.
The first were those who at first hated Harry Potter for
getting their Head of House and Headmaster arrested;
then embarrassed when they found out what the two
had done (or should have done and didn't) to him,
others, or the school in general; then angered with
both, but mainly Dumbledore, for making them believe
in him when he never truly earned it. The second
agreed with the first, but that didn't stop them from
hating Harry Potter for bringing it all to light; while the
first wanted to apologise to him. The third were those
who always and still supported Harry Potter as they
'knew' he couldn't possibly have done anything
wrong; and were now smirking at the other two in
'justified arrogance'. The third group also consisted of
the small 'fanboy' and 'fangirl' contingent, of which
Harry was aware and hated with a passion.
However, irrespective of all of the above about their
fractured House, all three were united in one goal;
Albus Dumbledore must be taken down. He was a
remaining embarrassment to the House. To that end
those capable of sneakiness used that ability, those
capable of using their wiles used that, those capable
of brashness used that and they all gathered
information of their own.
It effectively meant that there was not one person in
the school who was fooled by Dumbledore's 'public'
behaviour and the false bonhomie and elder
statesmanship he still tried to project. And, by that
evening, everyone knew Fawkes had severed his bond
to the old man and, likely, why.
Many owls were sent out to family and other contacts
that day and evening. One even winged its way to
Harry.
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
That evening at the Grangers was a quiet one and
much welcomed by the residents. They all even
managed to be in bed early.
Down in the servants' quarters, which the 'residents'
rarely thought about now due to the magics employed
on that part of the house to somewhat mask it, the
third auror of the rotating detail was checking the
ward monitors and alerts for any tampering - there
was none.
The Grangers might have been horrified and deeply
embarrassed at the sheer amount of remote magical
monitoring that was going on but, to the aurors, what
they didn't know about wouldn't embarrass them.
Their task was to keep Potter and his now betrothed
safe. However, there were no sight or sound monitors
on the master suite or either Hermione's or Harry's.
The only ones in any of the three suites were monitors
to detect if there appeared anybeing or anyone
besides them.
While the aurors on the protection detail wouldn't
speak about personal details of Potter and the
Grangers, things like Potter and the Granger girl
entering into a Betrothal Agreement was not just a
personal issue, but a security issue as well. That
information was passed up the chain and modified
orders came back down. Potter was still 'The
Protectee', but had now been joined by Hermione
Granger as 'The 2nd Protectee'. The teams
immediately and accordingly adjusted.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------------
Chapter 178
Because of the early night in the Granger household,
even Hermione was down for breakfast with her folks
that Thursday morning.
"Good morning, Princess," said her father, surprised
to see her there. "Have a good sleep?"
"Yes, thank you," she was quick to reply. "I slept like a
log."
Harry, as had now become his norm this past week
and a half and everyone was used to it, had loaded
himself up a large plate full of carbohydrates and
protein and was quickly 'getting it into him'. As such,
he was often quiet during almost the entirety of meal
times now, as he wouldn't ever consider speaking
with his mouth full.
Therefore, it was a good fifteen to twenty seconds
before he swallowed what was in his mouth and gave
her his own greetings. "Good morning, Hermione," he
said.
As she'd chosen to sit next to him, she smiled, leaned
over, kissed him on the cheek and replied, "Good
morning, Harry. What's the plan for today?"
Her father only gave a slight frown at her actions but
didn't say a thing. She'd come up with what she
thought was a workable strategy and was employing
an old metaphorical anecdote on him. She was using
the 'Frog in the Pot' trick; slowly increasing the
amount of public affection she was showing Harry and
hoping he would sometimes return, to inure her father
to seeing it.
Her mother had agreed with her it was a sensible
strategy, but not to push it forward too fast.
Harry gave a shrug and replied, "I want to see if
anything comes from Ted regarding documents I
asked him to collect for me from the goblins regarding
House business. I should be receiving them today. As
Lady Presumptive for the Noble and Most Ancient
House of Potter, you're allowed to know the gist of
them, at least."
"Another thing covered by those family secrecy
charms?" she asked.
"Pardon?" asked Wendell. "Lady Presumptive? Family
secrecy charms?"
"Yep," replied Harry. "Part of the nature of the
Betrothal Agreement means Hermione is now my
spouse presumptive. As my House is a Noble one and
I'm the Lord of it, that makes her the Lady
Presumptive. As my House is also a Most Ancient one,
that makes her, in total, titled the Lady Presumptive of
the Noble and Most Ancient House of Potter.
"Formally, she is now known in the wizarding world
as, Lady Presumptive Hermione Jean Granger of the
Noble and Most Ancient House of Black and the Noble
and Most Ancient House of Potter - or, is that the other
way 'round?"
He shrugged and added, "I'll have to ask Sirius which
way 'round those are supposed to go, but I think I'm
right."
"Jeez-us!" Wendell quietly but vehemently uttered.
"As for family secrecy charms, there are matters
known as family secrets," continued Harry. "To
protect them, there are certain magics used to keep
them secret. With magic accepting the Betrothal
Agreement, Hermione can now see and remain aware
of some of those related to the House of Potter. That
Sirius is now her magical guardian means she can
also now see and remain aware of some that are
related to the House of Black."
"And if the Agreement is cancelled?" asked Monica.
"Then the information she will learn that are Potter
family secrets she will forget," he replied. "The same
for Black family secrets if the magical guardianship is
cancelled. She will remember she once knew them,
but won't remember what they actually are."
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
When the Daily Prophets were delivered, Harry shared
his with Hermione.
One of the first stories they saw and read related to
Dumbledore losing his bond with Fawkes.
"Oh, my!" exclaimed Hermione. "Apparently, it
happened just after breakfast, yesterday. I wonder
what happened for Fawkes to finally do it."
Harry thought he knew and grinned. "I think I know."
"Well?" she asked. "Are you going to share?"
"My response to his portkey-letter attempt to kidnap
me would have arrived in that morning's mail bomb,"
he replied.
Hermione's eyes widened in surprise and she asked,
"You think he read it, did something that finally had
Fawkes decide he'd had enough and Fawkes severed
the bond?"
"Yep!" he happily replied.
Hermione let loose with her clear tinkling laughter.
"Oh! That's just precious!" And laughed out loud
again.
"Care to share?" asked Wendell, amused. "What
letter?"
Hermione thought, 'Mum must not have told Daddy
about it.'
"I managed to get a-hold of a copy of the letter
Dumbledore sent me that was that portkey," explained
Harry. "In it, the old fool wrote about how he still
considered me his friend, I was being disrespectful, I
was placing you folks at risk by being here, I was
placing myself at risk by being here, things like that. It
was a letter sent with the intention to send me on a
massive guilt trip and go running back to the safety of
the castle, begging forgiveness.
"What Dumbledore has forgotten is that the 'Harry' he
thought he knew was that persona I'd created as a
façade to fool him. The real 'Harry' doesn't fall for
those shallow tricks."
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------------
Chapter 179
Hermione took over. "So, Harry wrote Professor Dumbledore a
reply. In it he used Dumbledore's same tricks; and even some
of the same language, including the condescension. But, Harry
took it right over the top, just to demonstrate back he knew
what Dumbledore was doing and was trying.
"When Sirius came over a little while later to make sure Harry
was okay after the kidnapping attempt, Harry'd only just
finished the final draft. Sirius read it and, by the time he'd
finished reading it, he was laughing so hard he couldn't stand
up. Harry had to get Dobby to get him a Calming draught."
Harry grinned and said, "Sirius declared it perfect, not to
change a thing and said he'd send it using his new owl, Sable,
to deliver it; so Dumbledore wouldn't recognise Hedwig."
"That letter would have arrived yesterday morning."
"Keep a copy of it?" asked a grinning Wendell.
"No, but if I know Sirius," replied Harry. "He's definitely kept a
copy of it. Ask him for a copy of it when next you see him."
"Oh, I'll definitely be doing that," chuckled Wendell.
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
As he expected, Harry received correspondence from Ted,
alright. However, it was a great deal more than just a simple
letter.
It was a letter that arrived as a covering letter for a shrunken
package. The aurors had unshrunk the package in their work
of ensuring there were no harmful hexes, charms, potionlacing or anything like that going on. And brought him the
whole lot.
The auror carrying it placed the stack on the end of the table
away from where they were sitting and quietly said, "A
package arrived from you, Lord Potter. It is believed to be from
Law-wizard Tonks." Then quietly left again.
Wendell gave a low whistle at the size of the stack, turned to
look at Harry and said, "I don't envy you."
Harry shrugged and said, "Almost the entirety of that, I
suspect, is going to be just archived House business material I
need to be aware of. It's when all the financial portfolio stuff
arrives that I know I'm going to quickly develop quill cramp
and a headache.
"The accounts have been in stasis for far too long. So there's
going to be a lot of work to bring the financials back up to
something I'd be comfortable with. However, the goblins are
taking care of most of that and I'll just need to sign off on it for
it to be done."
Aren't you going to look at it?" asked Hermione.
"It can stay there until after breakfast," he replied with a
shrug.
Another letter, handed up by one of the aurors who'd first
checked it out, was from one of the Gryffindor students who'd
remained at the castle. It was from young Colin Creevey.
In it, Creevey confirmed Fawkes had severed the bond with
Dumbledore and that Dumbledore was laid up in the
Infirmary.
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
Dumbledore was finally released by Robinson just before the
start of breakfast.
"I'm giving you an 'early mark' because you've behaved
yourself," the man had said. "You should have enough time to
go and bathe and change first. You still smell of burnt hair and
scorched clothes."
Dumbledore gave a grunt and muttered, "Thank you." Before
quickly rising and hurrying out.
The reason for the early mark was because Robinson wanted
to join his fellow staff members for breakfast, instead of
watching the old man continually glaring at him. And the
house elves could strip the bed and clear the air while the
wing was empty.
The enforced 'convalescence' had given Dumbledore time to
mentally go over plans of what to do next, though. And he'd
made good use of the time.
Straight after breakfast he'd be contacting that pompous twit,
Barnabus Cuffe. He was sure the man would want to know
that Harry Potter had refused to attend the traditional TriWizard Tournament Yule Ball at Hogwarts.
Young Harry's assassination of his character was almost
complete - but, not quite. And Harry was not the only one
who could use the media and its power to his advantage.
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
After Wendell and Monica left for the day, the two teens
returned to the dinette. However, before Harry could sit
down, Hermione grabbed him, spun him to face her and
landed a powerful kiss on his lips while she quickly relocated
her hands. One, she wrapped around his lower back; the
other, she used to hold his head in place by the back of his
skull.
As sheer pleasure flowed through Harry, following on the
heels of the shock he experienced when she first suddenly
grabbed him, he found himself holding her in a similar fashion
and kissing just as hard back.
When she opened her mouth a little and licked his lips it
shocked him enough he almost broke the kiss. But, upon
opening his own mouth, he understood what she was trying
to do. And the pair stood like that for what felt both like a
bare fraction of time and an eternity.
When they finally separated, he whispered, "Wow."
"Yeah," she whispered back.
"What brought that on?" he asked.
"Well, seeing as you're now my betrothed... or, I'm yours... I
wanted to properly kiss you to see if it was something I could
come to like doing."
"And, was it?" he asked.
She grinned and replied, "Definitely."
He grinned back.
They needed to get to work, so he leaned in and gave her
another quick kiss before he pulled back and said, "I think
parchmentwork awaits. Shall we get to it?"
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------------
Chapter 180
She smiled and released him, then sat down as he slid
the pile of documents across the tabletop to be
between them and away enough they could both
reach it and pull documents forward off the top to go
through it all a piece at a time.
First up was a summary of what was contained.
"Alright," he sighed. "Ted's put the property
documents on top. It's what I asked him to focus
upon."
As Harry pulled each down and went through them,
Hermione quickly rose and raced upstairs to collect
her parchment, inks and quill from her room.
By the time she returned he had a mental list of the
first five properties and had the thin stacks of each
laid sideways on top of the one before.
When she plonked back down next to him he
indicated the modified stack and said, "Well, looks
like I won't need to buy a home for myself."
As Hermione wrote and Harry read, even out loud at
times, he discovered that Potter manor, 'Pottermore',
still stood. Dumbledore had intimated it had been
destroyed the one time he asked if he owned a 'big
home' like other Ancient Houses.
Thinking back over that conversation he realised the
old man had not actually said the manor had been
destroyed, only that it had been attacked. Then said
the Death Eaters tended to burn such properties to the
ground to deny it to the descendants.
He also made no mention that Harry owned quite a
few other residential properties, either. Probably
because Harry asked if he owned a big home and not
other residences.
'Bastard,' he thought. 'A clear example of how to tell a
lie while telling the truth.'
Once they'd gone through the stack of records
relating to properties, the two stopped.
Harry actually owned quite a few with nearly all of
them currently rented out.
Of the one's not rented and specifically marked never
to be leased or rented out, there were three.
They were Pottermore in Merlin's Bridge,
Pembrokeshire, Wales; Lily's Retreat in a town called
Cokeworth, Warwickshire, England; and the Potter
Cottage in Godric's Hollow.
The accompanying note from Ted informed him the
man was already making plans to find out just what
the hell the Ministry thought it was doing by claiming
Potter Cottage as a national wizarding monument.
"Cokeworth ring any bells with you, Hermione?" he
asked. "I thought that'd be a purely muggle town,
considering it's a heavy industrial area in that part of
England."
"Not Cokeworth, no," she replied. "But Warwickshire
also includes the town of Stratford-upon-Avon... and
that's the birthplace of William Shakespeare."
"Hmmm..." he muttered. "There's something about the
name of that town that's jigging my memory a bit, but
not enough for it to come to the surface."
"Perhaps it has something to do with your mother,"
she suggested. "After all, the name of the property is
'Lily's Retreat'."
"Could be..." he muttered. Then gave a shrug and
said, "No matter. It's not important for now. I'll let the
matter percolate through my subconscious and see if
it takes a bite."
"On to what next?" she asked.
"The rentals and leases," he replied. "I want to go
through them and see what's there. I want that stuff all
listed out because I want to compare the properties to
the incomes for the Potter accounts. "
As Harry put the information on Pottermore separate,
the two teens moved onto the rental properties.
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
After yet another long shower, Dumbledore had to
then resort to trimming what was left of his long hair
on his head right back to a very short cut. The house
elf he'd called had brought him another, who had
professed - confessed, really - knowledge of cutting
hair.
However, he was definitely not willing to lose his
beard and was thankful the flash of extreme heat had
not damaged it in anyway, though it did frizzle a few
stray hairs out wide and near his left ear; which was
also singed a little.
Properly trimmed he was able to attend the Great Hall
for the latter half of breakfast. And, yes, he heard the
sniggers coming from some of the students towards
his new haircut. At least he was able to cover most of
it with one of his large hats.
The robe he was wearing when it happened, however,
was yet another victim to what had befallen him of
late. That now made four sets destroyed - intolerable.
'I'll have to go see Mister Twillfit as soon as I can,' he
thought. 'I need to think about replacing some of my
wardrobe.'
'Actually, that would be sufficient reason for me to
need to leave the school for a time,' he smirked.
'Griselda cannot deny me the opportunity to replenish
clothing I have recently lost.'
Following breakfast he returned to his office and
transferred his thoughts regarding using the Daily
Prophet onto parchment. Once done, he looked upon
his handiwork and smiled.
'This should do it,' he thought. 'Now to contact young
Barnabus."
With his sheet of parchment in hand he turned to the
floo. He might not be able to leave the school, as it
was during school hours, but that didn't stop him
from making floo-calls. He made his floo call to the
offices of the Daily Prophet. 'And with school not even
running it's clear Griselda is just using it to keep me
contained. Who does she think she is dealing with? A
little Firstie?' he thought.
It took him about twenty minutes, but he was finally
put through to Cuffe. However, Skeeter was also there
and she was waiting with her Quik-quotes quill at the
ready. The expression on her face of eagerness was a
little off-putting.
Clearly, he'd been given the run-around for a few
minutes until Cuffe could have his prize journalist on
hand to 'take notes'.
"Good morning, Barnabus," he pleasantly greeted the
man. Not even waiting for a greeting in return he said,
"Miss Terri Teaske, please wait outside. And no
listening charms or, should I say, bugs. That would be
rude."
Giving a jump in surprise Skeeter's - Teaske's -
hungry grin instantly changed to shock. She'd
forgotten Dumbledore would know her true identity.
The fact he'd greeted her by it, when he'd not done
that in almost two decades, sent a message of
warning she well understood. Then the mention of
listening 'bugs' was also a warning that did not pass
notice either.
Not even looking at her boss, Skeeter/Teaske
snatched her Quik-quotes quill out of the air, stuffed it
in her overly large handbag and hurried from the
room. Cuffe was on his own, after all.
"Dumbledore!" snarled Cuffe. "How dare you!"
"How dare I what, Barnabus?" he pleasantly asked
back. "I merely wished you a good morning and asked
Miss Teaske to wait outside while we conversed. Of
course, as a journalist of Miss Teaske's... ability, I did
not want to impugn her journalistic integrity by having
her forced to keep silent about what confidential
matters I wish to discuss with you. Her waiting
outside while we spoke saves her that conflict."
Grumbling under his breath Cuffe demanded, "Well?
What do you want?"
"I wanted to pass on some rather disappointing
information regarding matters of importance to our
society," replied Dumbledore. "All in confidence, of
course."
"Yes, yes," snarked Cuffe. "Get on with it, then."
"Well, being only referred to now as a mere professor
of a school, not necessarily any particular school as it
really doesn't matter, does it?" he asked. "But, as a
professor, I find myself quite disappointed our
illustrious school, the crowning jewel of wizarding
Britain's education system, will not be putting in a
good showing when the Yule Ball is held here... there,
that is... on the night of Christmas.
"When even Harry Potter has decided he won't be
attending, what sort of message does that say to our
visitors from overseas? Very few of the students―"