Chapter 179

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)==―

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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―"

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