Chapter 13
After dinner one night Harry received a note from Quirrell asking him to meet him in his quarters. They had been using Dobby to pass messages back and forth as that was the most secure method of communication. There were hundreds of house elves within Hogwarts and none of the staff would ever think twice about it even if they somehow managed to spot him. House elves were ridiculously good at going about their business unseen after all. Harry pulled out his version of the marauders map which Sirius had recreated for him. This version was in the form of an innocuous black notebook and was keyed only to Harry's magical signature. To anyone else it would appear to be nothing more than a school boy's notebook - full of class notes, doodles and the like. He checked the route to Quirrell's quarters and noticed that several teachers were currently wandering around the school. Instead of taking chances with his invisibility cloak he asked Dobby to pop him over to Quirrell's rooms directly. Less than a second later he found himself right in front of Quirrell surprising the former Dark Lord.
"Damn, don't do that. Don't you know it's considered rude to apparate directly into someones room. Not to mention, how did you do that anyway? You're not supposed to be able to apparate inside Hogwart's."
"It wasn't apparation. I had Dobby pop me over. They can't ward against elf travel or the elves would never be able to get anything done."
"Hmmm, can't believe I forgot about that. Most wizards wouldn't be caught dead letting an elf carry them to another place. Does make things a bit more secure, how convenient."
"What did you want anyway? Your message said you wanted to talk to me immediately."
"I believe I may have found a solution to our scar problem."
"Go on."
"As you know I have been approaching the problem as that of an interrupted, incomplete spell. This leads us to the inescapable conclusion that one simple way of dealing with it, is to simply complete the spell."
"Huh? But the only way to complete it would be for you to kill me. Isn't that right?"
"Yes, and that would obviously not be something we would want to do."
"Obviously, yes" said Harry in an extremely dry tone.
"Now as you know conventional methods of dispelling curses mostly involve a counter curse. However no one has ever developed a counter curse for the Killing curse simply because it is impossible to reverse death."
"Unless we use your horcrux method, of course."
"Please don't mention that again, it would be quite counter productive to our discussion."
"Sorry, anyway what about something like a Finite Incantatem? That's used for dispelling curses right. Why not give it a try?"
"Potter, please. Yes, Finite Incantatem is a general counter spell, but it cannot reverse everything. Please don't forget that this spell has been attached to you for the last decade. The amount of power required to dispel it would be massive. While I might be able to manage it, once again we run into the problem that it has never been done before. What if a Finite on it has some sort of side effect. It would do you no good if a finite on your scar would for example release enough energy to blow your skull open."
"We could try to recreate the interrupted Adava on something else, like a rat or something."
"I have tried, and I used mice for your information, but whatever protected you that night is impossible for me to duplicate. Trying to interrupt my own spell either results in the spell failing completely or killing the test subject."
"So what do we do? I assume you had some idea other than killing me to complete the spell."
"Yes, let me ask you a question Potter? Do you know why most wizards need to get up close and personal in a fight? Why don't we attack from a nice safe distance like the muggles do with their rifles and guns?"
"Don't most spells lose power the further you are from the target?"
"Yes, to some extent. However for a truly powerful wizard that is not a consideration. My killing curse could conceivably still be able to kill you even if I cast it from a mile away. However I would never even think about attempting an attack from that distance. Care to guess why?"
"Not really, no."
"Accuracy, Potter. I've seen your practice sessions with Mr. Black. One of the things he had you doing was dodging spells. So you know that spells have to be aimed at your opponent, correct?"
"Yes."
"Now, in the muggle world, you have hand guns as well as rifles. Have you ever thought about why rifles are used over hand guns? Hand guns are far more convenient to carry after all."
"Rifles are more powerful and more accurate."
"Precisely, the longer barrel of the rifle makes it far more accurate than a hand gun. The wand as a weapon is far closer to a small short barreled revolver than say a hunting rifle. It is impossible for the average wizard to hit a target further than 30 or 40 meters using a wand. Even with countless hours of target practice most wizards would be unable to hit anything that is further than a 100 meters."
"So the wand is useless for long range attacks."
"Not completely, a bombardment curse which would blow up a large area would still be a viable method of attack. However something like the killing curse is impossible to aim from a distance. During the Grindlewald war a lot of research went into this problem. There was talk of setting up a sort of magical sniper team. They researched ideas such as the use of longer wands to provide greater accuracy. This was not viable as the power requirements to use such a wand are beyond the average wizard. Eventually they came up with the Praemonstro spell. What this does is allow you to shift the target of the spell after it is cast. This was again of very limited use as the spell has to be cast instantly after the first spell. The power required to cast a killing curse is such that casting a second spell so quickly after is beyond the capabilities of most wizards. However the spell does work and if cast correctly will allow the caster to guide the original spell right to the target, if the target moves the caster can modify the original spell's trajectory to compensate. Line of sight is still required obviously."
"So, you want to cast this Praemonstro on my scar and shift the curse away from me, say to a mouse and then complete it?"
"Precisely. As this has been tested with the killing curse before, we do not need to worry about any side effects. I will simply attempt to shift the spell off of you."
"Wait, I thought you said the spell has to be cast instantly after the first."
"That is simply because in order to control the first spell, one must capture it with the Praemonstro before it has moved too far away. In our case, the spell is frozen upon your person so that is not a consideration."
"Okay, this sounds feasible, but I want Sirius's opinion before we do anything."
"Of course Mr. Potter, I shall send him all my research before we attempt this. There is also the consideration that Dumbledore might notice the difference in your scar and this might arouse his suspicions."
"You're right. So we shouldn't attempt this until we're ready to take on Dumbledore."
"Precisely, all the elements of our plan are not yet in place. I propose we attempt this right before we make our move against Dumbledore."
"Before? Not after?"
"Mr. Potter, one must always take the worst case scenario into account. If our plan against Dumbledore goes awry, there is the possibility that I might be injured or die. Therefore we should try this immediately before we make our move."
"Okay, sounds like a plan."
"Excellent, now why don't you get Dobby to help you back to your dorm? I'm sure you need your sleep."
"Goodnight Professor."
oo00oo
Harry had Dobby drop him off close to the entrance to his common room after checking his map to be certain that there was no one around to see him suddenly appear. As he entered through the portrait Ron spotted him and came bouncing up like an eager puppy.
"Hey Harry, want to play a game of chess mate? How about gobstones?"
"Hey. It's Ron, right? Sorry buddy, I promised to go over this week's homework with Hermione. Maybe some other time."
With that Harry swiftly walked away from a disappointed Ron. Luckily for him Hermione was still in the common room and he rushed to claim the empty place next to her.
"Harry, what was that about? We weren't scheduled to do homework today. I thought we were going to take the night off" asked Hermione who had overheard the entire conversation. Luckily she was speaking softly so Ron did not hear her.
"I know, just didn't want to be around that guy" whispered Harry.
"But why? Why did you brush Ron off like that? He seems so eager to be your friend."
"That's just it. You know how famous I am right? For someone to be so eager to be my friend just makes me suspicious. He obviously just wants to be friends with the Boy Who Lived. Not me, not Harry Potter - muggle raised first year student."
"Still, you could give him a chance."
Harry decided to put up a privacy charm before continuing. He put up a simple one that he could do wandlessly and silently so that no one would notice. This would prevent anyone from overhearing their conversation.
"I don't know Hermione, there's also the matter of his family. I'm not sure they're the right sort." "Hmm" thought Harry, "the right sort? Damn it I'm starting to sound like Malfoy."
"Why?"
"You know about the last war right?"
"Yes, but I never heard that the Weasley's were on Voldemort's side."
"No, they supported Dumbledore, but that's not the point. The thing is - Voldemort got the Purebloods support by playing on their fears of the muggleborns. They were calling for the extermination of all muggleborns and for greater power to the purebloods and all that rot."
"Yes, I know that."
"So, say you're a believer in that whole purebloods are better stuff. And your main problem is the increasing number of muggleborns, however you're too squeamish, or maybe just too moral, to support killing them off. What are your options?"
"I don't know. Don't inform them of the wizarding world. Don't let them attend Hogwarts."
"That's not viable because nearly all magical children have incidents of accidental magic. Leave them out there and untrained and how long will it be before the non magical goverments start realising that there's this whole bunch of people with unexplained abilities. How soon will it be before they start researching it? What if they manage to learn how to control it on their own? Even if you're crazy enough to start killing them off eventually someone is going to start looking into it, especially if it's a bunch of children getting murdered. No, in order for the Statute of Secrecy to remain unbroken, muggleborns have to be brought into the wizarding world."
"Okay, but I'm still not getting what that has to do with the Weasleys"
"Let's say you believe that purebloods are superior. You can't kill them off, you can't keep them untrained, and every year more and more muggleborns enter the wizarding world. You know if things continue the way they are, purebloods will soon be a minority and then what's going to happen to your cushy little pureblood existence, which depends upon you being on top of the wizarding heap. How do you prevent muggleborns from out numbering the purebloods?"
"The only option left seems to somehow increase the number of purebloods. And the only way you can do that is by having more..."
"By having more pureblood children. Exactly! And the Weasleys have SEVEN children. SEVEN!"
"Maybe their parents just wanted a large family."
"A large family is three or four kids Hermione. They don't have a family; they have an entire quidditch team, even though they clearly can't afford it."
"What makes you say that Harry? We don't know much about them. Why do you say they can't afford it?"
"Have a look at Weasley's wand sometime. It's chipped in places and it's got a bit of Unicorn hair poking out it. Your wand is the single most important piece of equipment you own Hermione, and it has to be matched to you. If a parent can't afford to get their child a proper wand, clearly they can't afford to properly raise that child. And lets not forget that in the wizarding world contraceptive potions are cheap, widely available and extremely safe to use as well. There are also none of those religious beliefs against contraception to prevent anyone from using them. So we have a family that has deliberately chosen to have more kids than they can afford. I don't know about you, but that just screams pureblood fanatics to me."
"But you've seen how he acts around Malfoy, he clearly hates Malfoy, and we know from the way that Malfoy talks that his father is also a pureblood fanatic."
"Yes, but they both have very opposing viewpoints. For Malfoy, Weasley's a blood traitor for not supporting the extermination of muddleborns. What do you think Weasley's view of Malfoy is? After all Malfoy's father is supposed to be extremely well off and yet he has only one child. To someone who's had seven kids - a pureblood wizard who's only got one? Why, that must make Malfoy Senior the worst kind of blood traitor in Weasley's opinion."
"Oh my god! That does make a certain kind of sense. Still, if Ron's father supported Dumbledore he can't be all bad."
"Still makes them a family of pureblood fanatics, just of a different sort than Voldemort's kind, and I don't want to become friendly with someone who might be looking down at me condescendingly just because my mother was a muggleborn. Even if he's all friendly on the surface who knows what he's really thinking. It's best to just avoid people like that."
oo00oo
The next Thursday found Dumbledore wondering what to do about Harry Potter. After the incident with Snape, he had decided it would be best to move up his timetable with regards to the boy. He needed to endear himself to the boy as soon as possible. If only he still had the invisibility cloak. He could have anonymously gifted it to the boy. No doubt the boy would have been eager to explore the castle after curfew. A tracking charm on the cloak would have allowed him to catch the boy out after hours. Letting him go without punishment would no doubt have cemented his kindly grandfather role with the boy. Unfortunately the cloak was now with Sirius Black who seemed to show no inclination to contact the boy, let alone give him his father's cloak. Shocking really, but what could you expect from a Black?
"Perhaps I should remind Sirius of his responsibilities as a godfather. A gentle reminder that he should think about giving the boy the cloak. No, Black could not be allowed to influence the boy. He must see me as his refuge from the muggles, not Black. I must find some other way to manipulate the boy" thought Dumbledore.
Just then Dumbledore noticed the group of first years getting their first flying lesson. He could see them bobbing up and down in the distance. Harry's mop of unruly black hair made him quite distinctive even at that distance.
"Hmm, the boy does seem quite comfortable on a broom, seems like a natural. Perhaps I should see if he is interested in playing Quidditch. Minerva was mentioning something about having to find a new seeker for the Gryffindor team. Perhaps waiving that rule about first years being allowed brooms might make the boy feel indebted to me. Pity I can't use Minerva to soften the way, not after the way she reacted over the Snape thing. I'll just have to talk to the boy myself. Hmmm." Dumbledore popped another lemon drop into his mouth before leaving his office.
oo00oo
Harry left his first flying lesson feeling quite pleased. He had not been expecting a repeat of the Remembrall incident, Draco was being astonishingly civil to both him and Hermione and so far had not antagonized any of the other Gryffindor students either, perhaps he thought that insulting their house mates would not endear himself to them. But apart from that this time around it seemed Neville's father had taught Neville how to fly years ago. Without Neville falling off his broom, not only had there been no repeat of the Remembrall incident it had also had the unexpected side effect of Hermione doing much better at flying. It seemed that watching a boy fall off a broom and break his arm had put her off flying in the previous time line. In this one she had done exceptionally well at her flying lesson and had seemed to enjoy herself immensely. As he entered the castle he found himself suddenly coming across Dumbledore who had been standing there clearly waiting for him.
"Oh Crap, What now?" thought Harry as he instantly reinforced his occlumency shields.
"Harry my boy. How are you doing?" asked the Headmaster, twinkling away and doing his best grandfather impression.
"I'm fine Headmaster, thank you for asking."
"Ahem, well I couldn't help but notice that you seemed quite skilled out there. Extraordinary really, especially as that was your first lesson."
"Thank you Headmaster, flying is a lot of fun."
"Excellent my boy, now tell me, did you know that the Gryffindor Quidditch team needs a new seeker? Perhaps you should think about playing for your house."
"I thought you needed your own broom to play and that first years aren't allowed to have brooms" said Harry putting on a puzzled face.
"Normally that would be true my boy, but exceptions can always be made. Especially for someone skilled enough to get on their house team."
"Really, wow, that's great news" said Harry. "NEVILLE, SEAMUS, DEAN - THE HEADMASTER SAYS WE CAN TRY OUT FOR QUIDDITCH AND GET OUR OWN BROOMS" yelled Harry as he waved to the other boys.
All the other boys including the Slytherins, who were still quite close by, came running up immediately, wide eyed, all looking extremely excited.
"Really Headmaster? We can try out for Quidditch?" cried Malfoy.
"Ahem…Uh…Of course, of course - there is, after all, no rule about not allowing first years to try out for Quidditch."
"And if we get on any team, we can get our own brooms. Isn't that great?" yelled Harry.
The other boys were extremely excited and showered the Headmaster with thanks before running off to find the Quidditch sign up sheets.
"What just happened?" thought a bemused Dumbledore. He turned around to find Madam Hooch glaring at him.
"Have you decided to replace me as flying instructor Headmaster?"
"No-No Madam Hooch I would never dream of replacing someone of your caliber."
"Then where do you get off telling the first years they are allowed to try out for Quidditch? I have yet to certify any of them as having the requisite skill. Does Madam Pomfrey not have enough patients?"
Dumbledore groaned silently to himself. This looked like it was going to be another long conversation.
oo00oo
"So you're going to tryout for Quidditch?" asked Hermione.
"Nope!"
"Then what was that all about?"
"That was the Headmaster trying to ingratiate himself with me by allowing me to tryout for Quidditch. I decided I didn't need anyone giving me special favors and so I forced him to give everyone the same chance by announcing it to everyone."
"Why was he trying to do that?"
"Hello, exceptionally famous boy here, remember."
"Yes, yes, not like I can forget. But why don't you want to tryout for Quidditch? None of the other boys can talk about anything else."
"Hmm, how best to explain this? I saw you reading that Quidditch book, so you're familiar with how it's played right?"
"Quidditch Through the Ages. Yes, I was looking for flying tips, but yes I did read the game rules as well."
"So you know about the bludgers?"
"Yes."
"Tell me - ever played Dodgeball?"
"A few times, back at my old school."
"How did it feel when you got hit by a ball?"
"Painful, especially if it hit my nose or face."
"Right and that was playing against people your own age. The Quidditch team is formed from students across all years. That naturally means that most of the players are older. So I want you to imagine playing Dodgeball against seventeen year olds. Have you seen the size of Marcus Flint? He's the captain of the Slytherin team and he's only a fifth year. Imagine someone even larger than him tossing a ball right at your face. And don't forget that bludgers are a lot harder than any ball used in dodgeball, not to mention the fact that this is all happening high up in the air. Now tell me again why I should be excited about playing Quidditch."
"Point taken" said a rather green looking Hermione. Unfortunately she had been blessed with an excellent imagination and the thought of a burly seventeen year old tossing a hard ball at her face made her feel quite ill.
"But then, what about the other boys? Won't they get hurt trying to play?"
"They might, but come on; I don't think any of them will manage to get selected. Most likely they're just going to have a great time trying out. No point in ruining their fun by pointing out how absurdly dangerous the game is."
"Yeah, I guess not."
"So, what would you like to do now? Want to go have tea with Hagrid? He's invited me over a couple of times."
"Okay."
Chapter 14
Ron Weasley was not a happy camper. He had tried time and again to make friends with Harry Potter but had been thwarted at every turn. Either the boy was not to be found or he was busy doing something with that annoying know-it-all girl. The other day, for the first time he had managed to get the boy alone and the boy had flat out refused to play. What kind of boy would rather do homework with A-A GIRL, then having fun? He had to be some sort of sissy. If only his mother wasn't so hell bent on making sure he got to know the boy. He had gotten yet another letter from her this morning asking him about his progress and the constant nagging was driving him up the wall. Why did he have to be the one forced to make friends with the sissy? Suddenly an idea bloomed in his mind and he swiftly grabbed a parchment and quill.
Hey Mum,
How are things at home? Just wanted to let you know that you can stop asking me to get chummy with Harry Potter. He and I spent ages playing chess yesterday and are now best mates. He'd probably love to try some of your pumpkin pie, so send me some.
Luv,
Ron.
Ron smirked as he looked over his letter. 'That should get her off my back" he thought before heading off to the owlery to send the letter. He was already daydreaming about the pie.
.oo00oo.
"Potter, all the elements of our plan are nearly in place. It's high time you made your decision regarding Snape."
Harry was once again in Quirrell's quarters, Sirius was also attending the meeting through one of the charmed mirrors which Harry had set up on a stand so that Sirius could see both of them.
"The thing is Professor, I absolutely detest the man and part of me really wants to say yes. I'm afraid that I'm letting that affect my judgment and I really don't want to condemn a man based purely on my personal feelings."
"What is the hold up? He was one of my inner circle and for that he deserves to die. Plain and simple. He has to pay for his crimes along with the rest of them."
"Unlike the others there are some mitigating circumstances with Snape."
"Really, are you talking about that cock and bull story about him being a spy for Dumbledore. You forget Potter, I knew - no, I know Snape. He was clearly the most intelligent of all my Death Eaters. Do you really think someone as brilliant as that would not have hedged his bets. He was the one who informed me of the prophecy after all. That alone would have given him enough reason to go to Dumbledore. He was simply protecting himself against the chance that the prophecy was in fact true."
"He's got a point Harry" interjected Sirius.
"I know, I know, but what if he truly repented? There is the slim chance of that."
"Really? If he had truly repented he would have some guilt about your parents deaths. Would he have treated you the way he did? Everyone has heard about your first Potions class. You do not treat an eleven year old child that way Potter."
"Pot calling Kettle. You put Weasley on the spot in your class. True, it was nowhere as vicious as Snape but you did embarrass the boy. Not that I'm complaining, as far as I'm concerned you can embarrass him whenever you want."
"And then I gave him points to make up for it. Did Snape do that with you? Was he trying to make a point or was he simply bent on humiliating you?"
"Yes, yes, I know. But how do we know for a fact that Snape wasn't truly trying to reform. He did ask you to spare my mother, right?"
"Is that what this is about? Yes, Potter, he did ask me to spare your mother, but that is ALL he did. He was one of the people I consulted when I was attempting to ascertain who the child of prophecy was. You know there were two choices - You and the Longbottom boy. If Snape truly wanted to protect your mother he could have attempted to convince me that the Longbottom boy was the one that the prophecy spoke off. Did he do that? No. For that matter, Mr. Black here was not in hiding at the time. He was in fact quite visible as he acted as bait. Snape could easily have warned him when I was close to finding you. Simply sending him an owl would have been enough. Did he do that? No. True, he hated Mr. Black, but if he had truly wanted to help your mother he would have looked past that and found a way to warn her. All he did was go to Dumbledore, pretend to be remorseful and agree to act as a spy. Those are the actions of someone looking out for themselves, nothing more than that. And lets not forget the fact that he was only too happy at the thought of your father being murdered."
"Still, as long as there is the slightest chance of him not truly being evil - I find it hard to condemn him to death."
"In that case, I vote we arrange for him to get arrested. At his trial, I will make the motion that he is be interrogated under Veritaserum. If we find that he does in fact deserve to die, why then - chances are that the Wizengamot will sentence him to die. Even if they don't, he will probably get sent to Azkaban. That's worse than death in my book" said Sirius.
"And what if he somehow manages to get off? He is a Potions Master and an expert Occlumens, there is the chance that he can beat Veritaserum" snarled Quirrell, "What will you do then?"
"Then-Then we track him down and kill him" said Sirius.
"I guess that's our best option" said Harry.
"Fine, but don't blame me if the man manages to escape" said Quirrell.
"We won't. I'll blame myself if that happens. Is that acceptable to you?" said Harry.
"Fine, it's decided then. We shall make sure he gets arrested. Then we shall see what happens at his trial."
"So where are we on the rest of the plan?" said Sirius.
"I have been ordered to procure a troll for the stones protection. Once that is in place we can implement the first part of the plan."
"How long will that take you?" said Sirius.
"It should be here by next week" said Quirrell.
"So, everything is more or less on track then. Excellent" said Harry.
.oo00oo.
Harry was sitting in the Gryffindor common room waving his wand at what used to be a matchbox. Now it was sporting rather more legs than nature would have found feasible. He was still wound up after his meeting with Sirius and Quirrell and he figured that concentrating on a little transfiguration might help him to relax.
"Hey Harry."
"What's up Hermione?"
"Well, I just found out that you were wrong about something."
"What would that be? Pray tell?" Harry said, a bit put off at the smugness in her voice but he decided to ignore it. The girl did love to parade her knowledge after all.
"Remember when we were talking about electronic items on the train and you said that electrical items can be made to work around magic. Well, have a look at this section in Hogwarts, A History, it clearly says that electronic items or electrical appliances don't work in Hogwarts due to the large amounts of magic in the air."
"Hermione, how many times do I have to tell you that you can't believe everything you read?"
"Aha, but I confirmed this. I spoke to some of the older muggleborn students and all of them say that their electronic stuff stops working after a while."
"So?"
"So that proves it, doesn't it?"
"Okay, lets start at the beginning, you said that electronic items stop working after a while. Now what type of items are these?" Harry frowned at his transfigured creation. It needed ... something. He jabbed his wand at it and added an eye.
"The student I spoke to said her Walkman shorted out after a couple of weeks."
"So we're talking about music players. Do you know when music players first started becoming truly portable."
"I'm not sure, but if I had to guess probably around the fifties or sixties."
"Right. What kind of music was getting popular around then?"
"Rock and Roll of course."
"Ever see any of those movies about the birth of rock and roll. One of the really common themes was about the reaction of the older generation to that type of music. There were a ton of people who claimed Rock and Roll was subversive and was going to corrupt the youth of the day. Remember Footloose? That came out in the eighties and it still had Rock music and dancing being banned in some town."
"Yes, but that was just a movie."
"True, but that doesn't change the fact that a lot of people did not approve of that type of music, and those were in the normal world. You've seen how wizards are, their culture is clearly far more conservative."
"I'm still not seeing what that has to do with electronic items."
"So, it's the sixties, portable cassette players are becoming popular and affordable, so obviously some muggleborn students would have started getting them to school. In fact that's probably the first type of electronic items that were brought to Hogwarts. Is that a fair assumption?"
"I guess."
"So what do you think the staffs reaction was the first time they walked into a common room and heard the Beatles singing It's been a Hard Day's Night. What do you think their reaction was to lines like - 'when I get home to you I find the things that you do will make me feel alright'. Especially because it sounds like they're singing 'when I get on top of you'."
"Ummm..."
"I would assume that the Headmaster of the time was quite horrified, and that was a reasonably, in fact - extremely tame song. So what would a dyed in the wool conservative wizard do in this type of situation?"
"He could have simply forbidden the use of music players or playing music in the common room."
"Oh please, Dumbledore talked about the list of forbidden items at the opening feast. Does anybody ever bother to read the list? I think not."
"So what do you think they did?"
"Modified the Hogwarts wards to fry any electronic item that is used within the school of course. He's not going to tell the students he's done that because if they knew that they might start looking for ways around it. Some sort of Faraday Cage would probably work quite well. So he simply tells the staff to tell any student that asks that electrical items don't work around magic. Purebloods wouldn't care and muggleborns can't practice magic at home so there's really no way they can test it. Not until they leave school at least, at which point they probably assume that it's just Hogwarts that had levels of magic high enough to affect electrical gadgets."
"Ungghhh, I'm getting a headache. Honestly Harry, you and your conspiracy theories are going to drive me crazy."
"Hermione, just because I have a theory regarding why muggle tech doesn't work in Hogwarts doesn't make it a conspiracy theory. And - if you're so sure I'm wrong, how do you explain Diagon Alley?"
"Huh?"
"Diagon Alley and the Ministry are both in London. That's one of the most densely populated areas in all of Britain. If magic really interferes with electronics then there should be a large zone around Charing Cross Road where muggle electronics would simply refuse to work. The Ministry is somewhere near Whitehall in Central London. Do you really think the muggles would not notice something like that?"
"But still, music being the reason that electronics don't work here. You have to admit that's a little far fetched."
"Well, Rock is only one reason for someone to prevent electronics from working here. For all I know, previous Headmasters simply didn't like any kind of Muggle Tech and didn't want any inside Hogwarts. That would explain why we're still forced to use parchment and quills too. Tradition is fine but quills? Really?"
"There's got to be a way to test this."
"If there is, I'm sure you'll figure it out."
Hermione blinked at the table in front of her, there seemed to be an eldritch monstrosity with hundreds of eyes staring at her. Harry was still jabbing his wand at it and each jab seemed to add a few more eyes to the creature.
"Harry, I think that it's got enough eyes - really."
"Should I add a few more tentacles then?"
"Only if you're planning on making me throw up. Why on earth are you making that thing anyway?"
"Just practicing."
"Practicing what? I don't think you're ever going to have to create something like this Harry, maybe you should just stick to matchsticks and needles for now."
"Nah, this is more fun. You should give it a try sometime."
"You are such a - such a BOY. Why can't you make something pretty?"
"Then I wouldn't be a boy, now would I Hermione?" snickered Harry, messing with Hermione's preconceptions of the wizarding world never failed to cheer him up.
Chapter 15
A few weeks later Harry was sneaking down an underground passage while wearing his invisibility cloak. It was a chilly Friday night and he found himself shivering both from the cold and in anticipation. He reached the end and entered very disordered, dusty room. Paper was peeling from the walls; there were stains all over the floor; every piece of furniture was broken as though somebody had smashed it. The windows were all boarded-up. He was in the Shrieking Shack where Sirius and Quirrell were waiting for him.
"Finally" exclaimed Sirius, "I thought you'd never get here."
"Sorry, Filch was creeping about and I had to take the long way around to avoid him."
"Anyway, things are all set up with the Goblins, late tomorrow evening they'll be sending a message to Fudge that they're raising the interest rates on all Ministry loans" said Sirius.
"Are we certain that this will draw Dumbledore away from Hogwarts?" asked Quirrell.
"Of course it will, the first thing that Fudge will do is panic and call an emergency meeting of the Wizengamot. Dumbledore has to show up for that" said Sirius.
"So how much did this cost us?" asked Harry.
"Surprisingly enough, it didn't cost us a knut. The Goblins were only too happy to stick it to the Ministry."
"Excellent" chorused Harry and Quirrell.
"So nothing left to do but wait for tomorrow night. I'll have to be at the Ministry as well, so are you absolutely certain you're up to handling things at Hogwarts on your own?" Sirius asked Quirrell.
"I am more than capable Mr. Black."
"And Harry? Promise me you're going to stick to the plan. You are going to be in your dorm, right?"
"Yes, Yes I promise. I still think I should be somewhere closer to the Professor though. Just in case something goes wrong."
"No, you will be safely ensconced in your dorm. There will be no further discussion on this" snapped Quirrell.
"Fine, fine" muttered Harry.
"Don't be like that Harry, you have an important part to play as well."
"Yeah, cause watching a map and keeping the Professor informed is so exciting, risky even. Why I don't know if my poor heart can take that much excitement" grumbled Harry, rolling his eyes at the over protective attitude of the two men.
"Do I have to make you take a wizards oath?" snapped Sirius.
"Nah, it's fine Sirius, I already promised didn't I?"
"Now since we are all here I think it's time we did something about that scar as we have discussed" said Quirrell. "Are you ready Harry?"
"As ready as I'll ever be I guess."
"Good. Now I will need you to be absolutely still while I do this so I'm going to have to immobilize you" said Quirrell. He then proceeded to transfigure a few pieces of broken down furniture into something that looked like a hospital bed. He also produced a cage that had a little white mouse in and set it down next to the bed.
Harry grimaced at the site of the mouse - "Do we really have to kill that?"
"Perhaps not, but it would be an indicator that the curse has been successfully transferred. Now if you would kindly get into the bed."
Harry climbed into the bed and Quirrell waved his wand at the bed again. Straps rose out of the bed and entwined themselves around Harry's limbs. The pillow swelled and rose around Harry's head holding it firmly in place.
"Is this really necessary?" said Sirius.
"I believe so. His scar already causes him pain whenever we are near. Removing it might be even more painful. If he flails around during the procedure it would be distracting and I cannot have that. All my focus must be on the removal of the curse." Quirrell then transfigured another piece of rubbish into a smooth stick padded with layers of cloth.
"Here Harry, put this in your mouth and bite down upon it, it will help with the pain" ordered Quirrell.
"Bite down on a stick! Is that the best you can do? Shouldn't we be giving him some pain relieving potions or something" said Sirius.
"I have those as well, unfortunately I cannot give them to him until after the procedure. We cannot have any other magic working upon him during this" said Quirrell.
"I see" said an extremely worried looking Sirius.
"Well, then if you're ready then we shall begin. Harry if at any point the pain gets too much to bear signal us by slapping your hand against the side of the bed. Is your hand free enough to do that?" Harry tapped his knuckles against the side of the bed. "Yes, that's good. All right then, let us give this our best shot."
Quirrel limbered up a bit, bouncing on his toes as if he was preparing for a fight then pointed his wand straight at Harry's head and said - "Praemonstro."
A blue beam of light shot from Quirrell's wand and hit Harry's head which immediately started glowing the sickly green of the killing curse. Harry convulsed upon the bed, his teeth clamping down upon the stick as waves of pain swept forth from his forehead. The green glow was slowly getting brighter and brighter and Quirrell was gritting his teeth and trembling from the effort when it coalesced suddenly into a bright green ball which slowly rose from Harry's forehead.
Tendrils of green were still leaching back into Harry but as Quirrell forced the ball to move away from Harry they snapped off one by one until there was nothing connecting the green ball with Harry. Harry went limp upon the bed as Quirrell swept his wand around to point at the mouse which let out a loud squeak as the green ball blasted into it. The mouse shuddered once and was still. Quirrell collapsed onto the floor of the shack, breathing heavily as if he had just run a marathon.
"Harry, Harry, are you okay? Speak to me" shouted Sirius as he rushed to the side of the bed.
Harry spat the stick out of his mouth. "Damn, that hurt" he whispered hoarsely. "Could you get me out of these straps?"
Quirrell flicked his wand at the bed and the straps dissolved into nothingness. He was still kneeling upon the floor.
"Help me up Black, that was... tiring. Here give Harry this" said Quirrell, as he handed a vial of potion to Sirius.
"Don't think I need it actually, the pain is already fading away. In fact - I'm starting to feel incredible, all the pain has gone" said an ecstatic Harry as he got off the bed.
"Let me have a look at it" said Quirrell as Sirius hauled him to his feet. He waved his wand at Harry's head. "Excellent, I can no longer sense any trace of my magic within you. It seems to have worked."
"Hmm, looks like your scar has faded a bit as well" said Sirius as he hurriedly inspected Harry. "Better keep your hair brushed over it. Don't want anyone to start wondering why it's no longer so prominent."
"Well, since you don't seem to need the pain relieving potion, I could probably do with it" said Quirrell, quickly proceeding to down the potion in one gulp.
"Aah, that's better. I could do with some Pepper-Up as well, but I think it would be better to get a goods night sleep. Harry could you please check your map, I think it would be best if we headed back to the castle. Black, I am too tired to do anything right now, so could you clean up the place and remove any traces of our being here?"
"Yes, I'll take care of it. Are you sure you're okay? You look incredibly worn out. Should we postpone tomorrow's plan?" said Sirius.
"No-No I will be right as rain by the morning. We will go forward as planned. Now if you don't mind I really must be going" said Quirrell.
Quirrell disappeared as he apparated away to make his way back to the castle from the Hogsmeade path.
"Do you think he'll be able to handle things tomorrow?" asked Sirius.
"I'm sure he will, as long as nothing unexpected occurs. I'll best be off now as well, it's getting late" said Harry
"Harry wait a minute, I need to talk to you about tomorrow" said Sirius.
"What about?"
"It's that idea you had about using the mirrors as well. I don't like it Harry. You were only supposed to use the map not... tomorrow is going to be... difficult. I know you want to be involved and you have every right to be but I'd really prefer it if you just went to bed early and left it to Quirrell. I don't want you to see what happens tomorrow. It-It's going to be... messy and-and bloody as all hell and... sod it all Harry - Can't you just leave it to us?"
"No Sirius, I need to see this through, I helped plan it and it would be cowardly is the word I guess for me not to see the results. Don't worry I can handle it. Now I really have to get going" said Harry as he checked his map and proceeded to hurry back down the underground passage.
oo00oo
It was late at night the next day and Harry was sitting on his bed with the curtains drawn. He had placed every single silencing and privacy charm he knew upon his bed. In addition he had placed a subtle sleeping charm upon each of his dorm-mates. Nothing short of a bucket of water would wake them now. In front of him was the Marauder's Map and several of the Charmed Mirrors. One was linked to matching mirrors carried by Sirius and Quirrell. It was not showing any images as both of them had placed them inside their robes, however Harry could clearly hear sounds coming through from the two mirrors. On the other end the two wizards were listening in through tiny enchanted spheres which had been shoved into their ear canals. Two other mirrors currently showed differing views of the Hogwarts grounds. Harry had gotten Dobby to place tiny mirrors in strategic positions around Hogwarts and they were busily transmitting away. Sirius was at the Ministry and he had already informed them that Fudge had called the emergency session of the Wizengamot, now Harry was anxiously watching the tiny dot labeled Dumbledore that was still in the Headmasters Office. He saw the tiny dot move towards the fireplace and suddenly disappear. A few minutes later a buzz sounded from Sirius's mirror signaling them that Dumbledore had reached the Ministry.
"Snape's still in the dungeon Professor, looks like he's sitting at his desk in the potions classroom."
Quirrell did not bother to reply, instead Harry saw Quirrell moving towards the potions classroom and step inside. He heard a thump over the mirror as Quirrell stunned Snape. A few seconds later the dot labeled Snape was following Quirrell out the door. Quirrell had wrapped him up in Harry's invisibility cloak and was now levitating him towards the Hogwarts entrance doors. Harry followed their progress through the halls of Hogwarts. Luckily no one else was around at the time so Quirrell made excellent time to the doors. He opened the door and levitated Snape out and laid him out in the grass before digging his wand into the dark mark on the man's arm. The mark flared and darkened into a vivid red tattoo as Lord Voldemort sent forth his call for his Death Eaters to join him.
Harry quickly zoomed out of the map until it showed the entirety of the Hogwarts grounds as well as some of the surrounding area. He expected that it would take a few minutes before the Death Eaters started showing up. Those were among the longest moments of Harry's life. The seconds ticked by with agonizing slowness. He was terrified that one of the other teachers would come across Quirrell standing at the entrance even though Quirrell had set up repelling wards that would divert anyone heading that way.
Then with a shocking suddenness dots started appearing just outside the Hogwarts gates. He zoomed in and saw the names of Avery, Malfoy, Macnair, Crabbe, Goyle, Nott, Amycus and Alecta Carrow, Yaxley and a few others he did not recognise appear. The dots started moving towards the gates. Harry held his breath, people always said that Hogwarts was the safest place in Britain. That its wards would keep out any enemy. He did not believe that they were currently configured to keep out Death Eaters as not only was Snape a member of the staff but Lucius Malfoy was on the Board of Governors and would have been keyed into the wards regardless. However there was always the slim chance that Dumbledore had tightened down the wards before leaving the castle and if that was the case they would have to change their plans. Quirrell would have to go to the gates to meet the Death Eaters and that was not as good a strategic position as where he was currently situated. The point became moot however as the dots continued to move through the gates onto the Hogwarts grounds completely unimpeded.
"We've got incoming at the gates Professor, Looks like Dumbledore didn't change the wards after all. Trust the old goat to be as incompetent as always" said Harry to Quirrell over the mirrors. Quirrell did not reply, he simply tapped his mirror once which caused it to buzz on Harry's end. Harry continued to watch on his map and soon he could see the Death Eaters on his surveillance mirrors as well. They were dressed up in their usual outfits with the black hoods and the snake like masks. Foolishly enough they were bunched up in a way that was almost perfect for Quirrell.
oo00oo
Lucious Malfoy was confused. For the first time in a decade he had felt his master's mark burn upon his arm. He had been ecstatic, finally after these many long dark years of pandering to fools like Cornelius Fudge - his master was back. Soon they would put all those muggle loving fools in their proper place - at the feet of the purebloods, serving their betters. He rushed to answer his summons and had been shocked to see that he had been called to Hogwarts. Hogwarts - The stronghold of Dumbledore. Why had Lord Voldemort called him here? Unfortunately the wards around Hogwarts prevented apparation so he and the others had been forced to materialise outside the Hogwarts grounds and were now rushing on foot to where their master should be. However they were now almost at the place and he still could not see his Master anywhere. Where was Lord Voldemort? There was only one person visible and it seemed to be that ineffectual fellow who used to teach Muggle-Studies. What was his name? Monk something, no-no not Monk but it was definitely something to do with some sort of rodent. Marmot? Beaver? No - Squirrel, that was that Squirrel fellow. Why was he here? Where was his master? He turned to his fellow Death Eaters and was about to order one of them to subdue that Squirrel fellow so that he could question him when out of the corner of his eye he suddenly saw a flash of light leap forth from the wand of the former teacher of Muggle-Studies. That was the last thing he ever saw.
oo00oo
On his map, Harry saw the group of dots denoting the Death Eaters suddenly bloom and expand. All the dots seemed to jump out from a central point. As Harry continued to look at the map his brain finally started filling in on what he was seeing. Quirrell had fired off an immensely powerful bombardment curse. This had landed right in the middle of the Death Eaters blowing them apart like so much confetti. As Harry looked at the map, dots were already fading out as the people they represented ceased to exist. He stared at his mirrors where he saw Quirrell standing tall, his body aglow with power as spell after spell burst forth from his wand. He had never seen anyone cast so many spells so quickly. Burst of light were flashing out of Quirrell's wand and where they landed, people were being torn apart. He saw an arm fly from Goyle's body as the rest of him was propelled in the opposite direction by a powerful reducto. It seemed longer but in reality barely any seconds had passed before it was all over. Harry blinked at the map, there was only one single Death Eater left alive on it. He switched to the mirrors where he saw that Quirrell was holding Nott under the imperius curse. Nott raised his arm and let loose with a barrage of reductor curses. They hit all around Quirrell, scorching and shattering the stone around the Hogwarts doors but none of them came even close to hitting the turbaned professor. Quirrell had Nott fire off a few more barrages before killing him with a single reductor to the chest. Quirrell then levitated Snape to lie amongst his former comrades. He placed Snape's wand in his hand then blasted it with a low powered reductor curse shattering the wand and a few of Snape's fingers. He then hit Snape with another curse of some sort to the head and shot off a few more low powered spells at Snape's clothes ripping and burning them so that it looked like Snape had been right there in the middle of the attack.
"Professor it looks like the noise has alerted the other teachers, you need to disable your repelling wards now before they arrive" said Harry as he spotted McGonagall and Flitwick leaving their quarters and start hurrying towards the main doors. Quirrell grunted in response and headed to the nearest floo dispelling his wards as he went. He would be alerting the DMLE at once.
Harry continued to stare at his map, he saw Quirrell enter the hospital wing and pause before its fireplaces. He was clearly using the floo to contact the DMLE. Soon he saw Aurors suddenly bubble forth in increasing numbers from the fireplace. It looked like half the DMLE had decided to pay Hogwarts a visit. Harry sat back on his bed, he was covered in cold sweat. He suddenly leapt up and rushed into the toilet where he spewed forth the contents of his stomach. Part of him wished he had never decided to use the mirrors, but he had needed to see the results. He could not be one of those people like Dumbledore who saw others as abstract pawns to be discarded at a whim. If he decided that someone had to die and he if he was the one who instigated a plan that led to a persons death, the least he could do was watch it as it happened
Chapter 16
TRANSCRIPT OF DMLE INTERVIEW OF QUIRINUS QUIRRELL
Investigators: Amelia Bones and Frank Longbottom
Place of Interview: Hospital Wing, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
Date: Oct 20th, 1991
Time: 7:00 AM
BONES: This is Amelia Bones conducting the interview with Professor Quirrell at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry regarding the events of the 19th of October 1991. Also present is Head Auror Frank Longbottom. Professor Quirrell, could you please state your name for the record?
QUIRRELL: My name is Quirinus Quirrell, I am currently the Professor for Defense Against the Dark Arts at Hogwarts. Before we begin, I feel I must apologise for not giving you my statement last night Madam Bones. Unfortunately after what happened I was in a bit of a state as you can imagine. I had to take a calming draught from Madam Pomfrey and that coupled with a slight case of magical exhaustion ... well Poppy tells me I passed out almost immediately.
BONES: That's quite all right Professor, I'm just glad to see you up and about today. I've had trained aurors collapse for much longer after a strenuous fight and from what I saw of the crime scene - that was quite a battle you had last night.
QUIRRELL: Yes, it was quite an eventful evening.
BONES: So to recap, last night you informed the DMLE that Hogwarts had been attacked by Death Eaters. When we arrived we found the corpses of several people and one stunned person. Could you take us through the sequence of events?
QUIRRELL: Well, I was just heading out the front doors of the castle when I saw a group of people dressed in Death Eater robes heading towards me.
LONGBOTTOM: Why were you leaving the castle grounds at such a late hour?
QUIRRELL: I was just going to have a walk before I went to bed.
LONGBOTTOM: Do you make it a habit to take these late night walks?
QUIRRELL: Yes, I occasionally feel the need for a cigarette and I do not like to smoke inside the castle.
LONGBOTTOM: Why not?
QUIRRELL: The smell tends to linger if I smoke inside my rooms and I do not like to do it anywhere else inside the castle in case a student might see me. It sets a bad example you know. So whenever I feel like a smoke I tend to do so outside where I am unlikely to be observed by any student.
LONGBOTTOM: I see, so you were headed out to smoke and you saw a group of Death Eaters. How did you know they were Death Eaters?
QUIRRELL: The robes and masks were a dead giveaway. I was too young to fight in the last war but I do remember how the Death Eaters looked like. We saw photos of them in the paper often enough. There is also the fact that they fired a reductor curse at me. Once they did that I had no choice but to retaliate in kind.
LONGBOTTOM: You could have attempted to stun them. Why did you choose to respond in a lethal manner?
QUIRRELL: Stun them? Surely you're joking Mr. Longbottom? Unfortunately I do not know any spell that can reliably stun a large group of people. If I had tried to stun them one by one, they would have definitely killed me. No, I had no choice. If they got past me the students inside the castle would have been at risk. As a teacher at this school I am responsible for ensuring my student's safety so I had to stop them from entering the castle. So I did the only thing I could, I fired a bombardment curse right at the center of the group. Luckily for me they were close together so most of them were taken out by that. The rest continued to fire curses at me but I managed to dodge them all as I finished the rest of them off with reductor curses.
BONES: Except for Snape?
QUIRRELL: Yes, he was with them but not dressed as a Death Eater. I did not know if he was a prisoner or working with them, so I threw a confundus charm at him, disarmed him with a low powered reducto to his hand and then stunned him.
LONGBOTTOM: Oh, he was with them all right. You might not know this Professor but Snape is a former Death Eater, just like all the rest of the scum we found littering the grounds last night. All of them - Malfoy, Yaxley, the Carrows - all of them had the Dark Mark on their arms. Unfortunately we could not question him last night. Your confundus charm seems to have been particularly strong. He was totally incoherent last night, didn't seem to know what was going on at all.
QUIRRELL: I see - that is rather unfortunate. I would have liked to know what he was doing with them. The man is a Professor at this school. For him to be involved in an attack upon the school, it is rather shocking.
BONES: Don't worry Professor, we will be questioning him again after he has recovered and we will get answers. So after you had dealt with the attackers what did you do?
QUIRRELL: I immediately rushed to the Hospital Wing which had the closest working floo. I contacted the DMLE and I believe you know the rest.
LONGBOTTOM: Professor, I must say that I find it hard to believe that you single-handedly defeated such a large group of Death Eaters. I doubt that many of the aurors that I know would have been able to do such a thing. How do you explain your unusual success?
QUIRRELL: Well for one I was in a slightly better strategic position than them. The doors of Hogwarts are slightly elevated over the drive and I used that to my advantage. As for the rest - I used to be the Muggle Studies professor, however since I had ambitions to take over the DADA position I took a sabbatical last year. I spent all of last year in intense training in Defense so that I would be able to adequately teach my students. I spent the entire year doing nothing but training and traveling around to gain experience. Obviously I was successful.
BONES: Yes, I would say you were. Did any of the attackers give any indication of why they were at the castle?
QUIRRELL: No, but if I had to guess they were probably after whatever Professor Dumbledore has hidden in the third floor corridor.
BONES: I'm sorry? What was that about the third floor corridor?
QUIRRELL: Are you joking Madam Bones? Surely you are aware that Professor Dumbledore has hidden an artifact of supposedly great value in the school?
BONES: No, I was not aware of that fact.
QUIRRELL: But I've sent six letters, four to the DMLE and two to the governors about the matter. I thought it was rather irresponsible of the DMLE to not investigate the matter but then I assumed that Professor Dumbledore must have obtained permission from the Ministry.
BONES: I am not aware of any letters. What exactly were you trying to inform us of?
QUIRRELL: Madam Bones, since the beginning of the school year the third floor corridor has been out of bounds. Professor Dumbledore has had something hidden there, supposedly because Hogwarts is the safest place for it. I have had severe reservations about his actions and I have sent several letters outlining my fears regarding the risk and danger to the students.
BONES: Risk? To the students?
QUIRRELL: Well I don't consider keeping a Cerberus in the school to be particularly safe. Nor do I think it prudent when the Headmaster of a school forces me to obtain a troll for additional protection. Hogwarts is supposed to be a school not a vault.
BONES: A Cerberus and a troll?
QUIRRELL: Those are just the ones I know of. The Headmaster had several of the teachers provide additional protections for whatever he has hidden. He forced me to obtain a troll and I believe he had Hagrid provide the Cerberus. I am not aware of what the other teachers have provided.
BONES: Frank, get another team down here. Have them start looking into the third floor corridor right away. You and I are going to go see Dumbledore and take him down to the Ministry for questioning. We have to get to the bottom of this. I can't believe the man, to keep a Cerberus in a school, in the same building as my niece.
LONGBOTTOM: And my son. How dare he put our children in danger. He'd better have a good answer for this Amelia. We need to investigate why we didn't receive Professor Quirrell's letters as well. Obviously someone has been tampering with the mail sent from this school.
BONES: I think that will be all we need from you Professor Quirrell, we will contact you if we need to ask any more questions about last night, thank you very much for your time. No doubt the Ministry will be issuing an official commendation for your actions in defense of this school but on a personal note I would like to thank you as well. My niece Susan is currently a first year and I thank you for keeping her safe last night.
QUIRRELL: Ah yes, Susan, she is an excellent student. Very attentive in class. So far she's gotten O's on nearly all her assignments. She needs to work on her grammar a bit but her knowledge of Defense is first rate. Your influence I assume. But there is no need to thank me Madam Bones, I was simply doing my duty.
LONGBOTTOM: What about Neville, how is he doing?
QUIRRELL: Neville is doing very well. An excellent work ethic from what I've seen. A mix of O's and E's on his assignments so far. He needs to work on his concentration and casting accuracy a bit but then nearly all the students do. He'll get there with some practice.
BONES: Well as much as we'd like to continue discussing how our children are doing in class, this is an official inquiry so we'd best save that for another time.
QUIRRELL: Of course Madam Bones, please feel free to contact me any time you want an update on your niece's progress. Of course that goes for you as well Mr. Longbottom.
BONES: End of interview with Professor Quirrell. Dicta Quill off.
Chapter 17
By the time Harry went down to breakfast, the great hall was already in an uproar, not one single member of the faculty was in sight and the place was swarming with aurors. Rumours were flying thick and fast. None of the students seemed to know exactly what had happened yet though some of the prevailing rumours were surprisingly accurate. The fact that Death Eaters had attacked and that some of them had been parents of Hogwarts students was being thrown around left and right but there were other rumours flying around as well. The strangest perhaps was that Dumbledore had gotten drunk and blown up the lawn while trying to create a fireworks display. According to that one he had then accidentally blown up the teachers who had come running out to see what had happened and now the entire staff was in St. Mungos. Harry snickered at the thought that some students actually believed that Dumbledore would do something so insane, but then half the school had always believed he was somewhat barmy. He remembered that even Percy, the boy who seemed to have a stick permanently stuck up his butt, had once described him as being a bit mad. He spotted Narcissa Malfoy standing near the entrance with an auror escort. He realised that she must be here to collect Draco and quickly checked his map to find Draco before heading towards the dungeons. He psyched himself up - This was a crucial moment for him and Draco. He had to be as convincing as possible or he was sure that ten years down the line he would find himself having to deal with Draco.
Harry caught up with a shell shocked Draco on his way out of the Dungeons with his trunk. Draco was a pale shadow of his usual self, with red rimmed puffy eyes.
"Are you leaving then Draco?" said Harry.
"Didn't you hear? My father was killed last night. He was murdered right here at Hogwarts while I was happily sleeping in my room."
"I heard, it's not like anyone is talking about anything else. The whole place is going crazy with the fact that Death Eaters attacked the school last night."
"My mother's pulling me out of Hogwarts, she doesn't want me to stay at the place my father was killed. Crabbe, Goyle and Nott may be leaving as well" whispered Draco in a monotone voice.
"God, I'm sorry to hear that Draco. I wanted to give you my condolences. I was very sorry to hear about your father."
"Why? Why would you care about him? A Death Eater. He attacked the school" sobbed Draco.
"Oh come on Draco, everyone knows your father was under the Imperius curse during the last war."
"What?"
"Yeah, obviously the Death Eaters needed more people for their attack so they put your father under the Imperius again."
"I-I don't know. Is that what you think happened?"
"Of course Draco, after all I'm sure your father loved you. Attacking the school would have put you in danger and your father - he would never have put you in danger. Right?"
"N-No he wouldn't have."
"Then that means he had to be under the Imperius. Obviously the Death Eaters had it in for him."
"But he-he supported them. He advocated the pureblood causes. Why would they..."
"Draco, come on, you can't think that way about your father. There's a big difference between being a supporter for the pureblood way of life and being a Death Eater. And don't forget the Imperius is a particularly nasty curse. Not only does it rob you of your free will, but even after it's lifted people make excuses for why they acted the way they did. I've heard that victims can rationalise away their actions as something they really wanted to do. They come up with all sorts of excuses as to why they acted the way they did. I read about a case where a wizard used the Imperius to make someone jump in a river and even after the curse was lifted the victim claimed that he just felt like a swim."
"So you're saying that whenever he went on about the mud... muggleborns he was..."
"Justifying his actions under the Imperius of course."
"I - I don't know what to say. I have to get going, my mothers waiting for me in the hall."
"That's okay Draco, just wanted to let you know that I'm here for you. If you ever want anything, even if it's only someone to talk to just owl me. Okay?"
"Yes, I'll do that."
"Let me know if you're going to visit Sirius during the Christmas break. He's your mothers cousin so you'll probably visit at some point, right? I could meet you then."
"I don't know, they've never been very close."
"Yeah but at times like these family should come together. I'm sure that you'll probably be seeing a lot more of him now." Harry knew Sirius would be seeing a lot of the Malfoys. After all, Lucius had changed his will after Sirius's little visit back in August. The new will designated Sirius Black in his capacity as head of the Black family and Narcissa's cousin to take over management of the Malfoy estate until the time he felt that Draco was ready to manage things himself. Unless Draco grew up without a single trace of pureblood prejudice it was highly unlikely that Sirius would ever turn over management of the Malfoy estates to him.
"Tell you what - if your Mother isn't comfortable coming over I'll have him bring me over for a visit. If that's okay with you of course" said Harry.
"Y-Yes I'd like that."
With that Harry dropped Draco off near the entrance and watched him head off with his mother. Part of him wondered why he was even bothering with Draco. His other memories of the boy were of someone he absolutely detested. On the other hand THIS Draco had not done anything so far. This Draco had been quite affable with him and a small part of him felt guilty that the boy had lost his father due to his actions. He wondered whether the seed he had planted within Draco would be enough to sway him away from his father's path. "Probably not" he thought, "Oh well, Sirius will be keeping an eye on him, and with Sirius acting as the main male influence in the boy's life there's no telling how Draco will turn out."
oo00oo
Harry shook himself from the melancholy mood that meeting Draco had put him in and headed back to the great hall to eat his breakfast. He grabbed a seat next to Hermione.
"Hey Hermione, did you hear about Dumbledore going insane and blowing up the faculty?"
"Honestly Harry, how can you believe that? Neville's Dad, the Auror, already made an announcement."
"He did? What did he say?"
"Death Eaters attacked the school last night but were defeated by a Professor, he didn't say who. All the staff has been taken to the ministry to help the aurors in their investigations."
"Really? Help them in their investigations huh. Isn't that usually a euphemism for when the police arrest you and work you over with rubber hoses?"
"I really don't think they'd be doing that Harry."
"Hmmm, I think I preferred the Dumbledore going batshit story. Made much more sense. I think I smell a cover-up."
"Urghhhh..."
"Okay Miss Smarty Pants you tell me why they would arrest all the professors if the school was really attacked by Death Eaters."
"They haven't been arrested" shrieked Hermione.
"Of course not, they're just 'helping the police with their inquiries'" Harry made air quotes around the phrase further infuriating Hermione. "Oh my god, will you look at that" he said pointing behind Hermione.
Hermione turned around to see a team of aurors levitating a sleeping three-headed THING down the corridor. Some of the aurors seemed to be bleeding from what looked like large bite marks.
"What on earth is that?" she screamed, getting up to get a better look.
"Looks like a giant dog, with three heads. That's kinda cool" said Harry. "Wonder what they're doing with it?"
"That thing was in the castle? What on earth was it doing here?"
"See, looks like the story of Dumbledore going batshit insane wasn't that far off. I mean if he had that kind of thing in a school full of kids..." said Harry.
A stunned Hermione could not come up with any kind of rebuttal as she saw the aurors carefully levitate the sleeping monster out the front doors of Hogwarts.
oo00oo
Kingsley Shacklebolt hurried up to where Frank Longbottom was sitting in the Great Hall.
"Got something to tell me Kingsley."
"Yes sir, checked out the owlery like you said. We found a a couple of very interesting things."
"Go on."
"It seems that theres a ward around the owlery that affects ever letter sent out from the school. All the owls were charmed as well."
"What does it do?"
"It seems to tag each letter sent out with a selective notice-me-not charm. Basically if any letter contains certain words or phrases like three headed dog, cerberus, third floor corridor, danger etcetera then the recipient will ignore those sentences totally."
"So if someone were to send a letter warning that the school children were in danger due to a three headed dog in the third floor corridor, then the letter will be totally ignored?"
"Yes, if the letter contains some other content then the reader will focus only on that, but if the letter only talked about the Cerberus or the third floor corridor then the entire letter would be ignored."
"Then the letter sorters at the ministry would probably have just binned the letter, thinking it's a blank letter."
"Yes."
"Could you determine who cast the ward."
"Unfortunately we could not isolate the magical signature."
"Damn, so we can't pin it on Dumbledore."
"Sorry Sir."
"Not your fault Kingsley, just dispel that ward and make sure all your findings are documented properly."
"Right away Sir" said Kingsley before hurrying off to do just that.
oo00oo
Severus Snape was in a great deal of pain. He could not understand what had happened, he had been in his classroom grading assignments and then the next thing he knew he was being woken up in the Hospital Wing surrounded by aurors. Every single nerve in his wand hand seemed to be on fire. The thrice damned aurors had not even let Poppy finish healing his hand before roughly dragging him to the Ministry and tossing him in a holding cell. His mind still did not seem to have recovered from whatever had happened and he found it incredibly difficult to string together a coherent thought or sentence. All he knew was that somehow he had been injured and had been arrested for being a Death Eater. Why would they arrest him NOW? It had been a decade since he had been a part of Voldemort's circle. Dumbledore had vouched for him. Why was he in a cell? He wished his mind would clear. He wished his damn hand would stop paining. Perhaps he should just sleep. Yes, sleep. No doubt some rest would help him heal. When he awoke this would all make sense. Dumbledore would come for him. Till then he would sleep.
oo00oo
Dumbledore was finding it exceedingly difficult to keep a hold of his kindly Grandfather persona. Amelia Bones and Frank Longbottom had insisted on dragging him to the ministry and had grilled him for an hour before leaving him to wait. Harping on about danger to the students. Couldn't they understand that he did what he had to do for the Greater Good. After all, what was more important - the safety of a few snot nosed brats or the well being of the entire wizarding world? He wished he could just hex the two of them to kingdom come and obliviate them of the events of last night. Unfortunately by the time he got back to Hogwarts there had been far too many aurors there to safely obliviate. Damn Quirrell, why did he have to inform the DMLE? The incompetent fool should have contacted him first. How dare he go to the DMLE? The first thing he was going to do when he was finished here was fire that turbaned fool and make sure that he would never be able to find another job. But first he would make him suffer. Yes, he would make that fool realise that no one comes in the way of Albus Dumbledore's plans. Certainly not someone like Quirrell. So he got lucky facing a couple of Death Eaters, he would soon learn the difference between scum like them and Albus Dumbledore. And when he was done with Quirrell he would turn his attention to Bones and Longbottom. How dare they presume to question him? He was Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot and Supreme Mugwump of the ICW. He would weather this little storm in a tea cup and then he would show them the full meaning of what it meant to trifle with him. Yes, Yes he would. He plastered a smile on his face and beamed at Amelia Bones who had just walked in.
"I trust that you have sorted out matters by now Amelia. If you have any more questions you can contact me at Hogwarts. Now I must insist on heading back to the school. There are matters there that require my attention urgently."
"Sorry Albus, I have to keep you here for just a little while longer. I've gotten the preliminary reports about the third floor corridor and I'm afraid you're going to have to answer some questions about them."
"But of course Amelia, what did you want to know?"
"Start with how you planned on keeping the students safe from the Cerberus? Didn't you think it was dangerous keeping a beast like that in a school full of children?"
"Come now Amelia, there was no danger. Do you really think I would endanger my students? All the students were warned on the first day of school to stay away from the third floor corridor."
"Was that the extent of your precautions? A simple warning to stay away."
"The students know better than to disregard my orders Amelia. What need was there for anything else?"
"I see" said a grim Amelia Bones, already deciding that this insanely reckless man was going to get the full force of the DMLE thrown at him. It would be a cold day in hell before Albus Dumbledore would ever set foot in Hogwarts again. Not while she had a single breath left in her body.
"Did you ever consider the fact that a student might get lost and stumble across the corridor by accident?"
"The door was locked Amelia."
"My aurors report that they could open it with a simple alohomora. That's a first year charm Albus. Hell it's such a simple charm that I learnt it before I even attended Hogwarts."
"Hagrid had to be able to visit Fluffy every day. To feed and care for him. We could not use stronger security measures on the door as he is unable to perform magic."
"I see, and why wasn't there a warning sign? After all if a student did get lost how were they to know that they were not supposed to open the door?"
"The students learn to find their way around Hogwarts soon enough Amelia, what are the chances that one would get lost."
"It has been a long time since you were a first year, hasn't it Albus? Unfortunately I remember only too well how easy it was to get lost back in First Year. I must have gotten lost dozens of times in the first few months at Hogwarts."
"That may have been something I overlooked. However no student has entered that corridor so I fail to see what the problem is."
Amelia had to restrain herself from grabbing a chair and battering the man sitting across her to death.
"Very well, Albus. Please wait, I'll be back in a minute or two."
With that Amelia Bones left the room. She returned a few minutes later with a stack of paperwork.
"Albus Dumbledore, I am officially informing you that there is to be a full hearing on this matter. Please sign these papers to acknowledge that you have received the notification."
"Is this really necessary Amelia? I believe I have sufficiently explained matters."
"I believe it is, if you believe that your explanations are sufficient then you have nothing to fear from a hearing. Kindly sign the papers."
"Very well Amelia." Dumbledore looked at the papers, signing the acknowledgment form for the hearing. Then he looked at the second set of papers and paused.
"What is this Amelia?"
"That is a restraining order. Until the hearing is concluded you are hereby banned from the Hogwarts grounds. You will be fitted with a Ministry tracking charm to enforce your compliance. At this time I must remind you that breaking the restraining order is punishable by six months in Azkaban. Interfering with a Ministry tracking charm or circumventing it in any way is punishable by a year in Azkaban. Kindly sign the paper to acknowledge that you have been informed of these facts."
Dumbledore's facade finally cracked a bit. He glowered angrily at Amelia.
"I don't believe this Amelia. How on earth do you justify this? I am the Headmaster of Hogwarts and you are treating me like a common criminal. How will I be able to carry out my duties if I am not able to enter the grounds?" shouted Dumbledore.
"Minerva can take over for you. In any case this is only until the hearing is concluded. I can do you a favour and schedule it within a week. Until then you will just have to stay away from Hogwarts. If you need to retrieve any personal items you may give a list to one of my aurors. They will fetch them for you."
Dumbledore signed the papers, shoved them back at Amelia and stalked from the room in a temper. He decided that Amelia Bones would go to the top of his list for payback. By the time he was done with her she would be swabbing toilets in the ministry. No, she wouldn't even be able to get a job swabbing toilets. He would ruin her. Yes, Yes he would. He would show her exactly what it meant to go against him.