Chapter 18
Harry Is Judged
The next morning (Tuesday, 23rd July), 9:30 a.m.
Office of the Minister for Magic
Harry met briefly with Minister Scrimgeour. Harry gave the Minister a warning about what tomorrow's Daily Prophet would print.
Scrimgeour pledged, "All the Aurors you need, when you need them, they'll be there."
Then Scrimgeour casually asked, "What does Dumbledore think of your plan?"
Harry replied, "No idea. I don't speak with the headmaster now, unless I'm forced to."
Hearing this, Scrimgeour's eyebrows shot up.
A half-hour later: 10 a.m.
Just outside the Daily Prophet building, Diagon Alley
Harry, Daphne and Hermione were about to announce their betrothals, in the most public way possible. Since 5th July, Wizarding Britain had wondered who the future wife of Lord Black would be—today, the question would be answered.
As the three magical teenagers stood outside the building, Harry said to the girls, "You both look stylish in the 'Oi, we're betrothed!' dresses that I paid you to make—"
Daphne was wearing new, midnight-black dress-robes that matched her black hair. However, her shoulder-covers, shoes, bracelet, necklace and hair-net all were white. By an amazing coincidence, the colours of Daphne's House of Black betrothal ring also were midnight-black and snow-white.
Hermione was wearing a clay-grey, sleeveless summer dress. Her high-heeled shoes, wide belt and earrings all were black, as was the black silk scarf around Hermione's neck. Her outfit coordinated perfectly with the grey-and-black House of Potter betrothal ring that she wore.
Harry was wearing two betrothal rings, whose collective colours were black, white and clay-grey. Harry was deliberately underdressed in comparison to the girls: he wore black wool slacks and black socks, leather shoes and belt; a white dress shirt; and a grey satin tie—he looked quite Muggle.
"—and the second two outfits I commissioned," Harry continued, "the white outfits, are they finished, even though you won't be wearing them today?"
"Yes," Daphne answered, "my brand-new white dress-robes are ready to be pulled on anytime."
Hermione said to Harry, "I have my dress, which fits me well, and I have bought white jewellery. My only question is about the shoes. Do I wear low heels that I can stand in for a longer period of time, or do I wear shoes with higher heels that are dressy but painful?"
Harry answered instantly, "Go with the higher heels. One way or another, you won't be on your feet for long."
Then Harry looked at Daphne and grinned at Hermione. "I predict that a photo of the three of us, with Daphne in her white dress-robes, Hermione in her white dress and me in my top hat, will be in all future editions of Hogwarts: A History—"
Hermione actually squeaked. Now she was beaming.
"—so plan your dress-up accordingly. You'll want to look fabulouswhen you help me vanquish Voldy."
Then Harry turned towards the Daily Prophet building, as he squared his shoulders. "Come, ladies, let's talk to the press."
Minutes later, in the newsroom
"That's Harry Potter!" a voice said.
"Who are the girls with him?" a different voice asked.
"The bushy-haired one is Hermione Granger," a third voice said. "She and Potter are always together."
As the front-desk receptionist was leading the three teenagers through the newsroom to editor Barnabas Cuffe's office, Harry spotted Rita Skeeter at a desk, working. Actually, Rita was sitting at her desk and murmuring, whilst Rita's acid-green Quick-Quotes Quill scribbled.
Harry veered off to approach Skeeter's desk; Hermione followed. Daphne stopped walking and turned to watch the show. The receptionist likewise stopped walking, but she looked panicked.
The newsroom had gone dead silent.
Harry and Hermione walked up behind Rita in her chair and stopped. The couple stood there for several seconds, behind Rita, as silent as Dementors.
Rita stopped murmuring to her Quick-Quotes Quill. In a louder voice, she said, "You're standing too close. Back up."
Harry said innocently (and loudly), "But Rita, I thought you likedcloseness. During the Triwizard, you put yourself quite close to me, and you even grabbed me. Aren't I your friend?"
Hermione growled, "You better not grab him now, hack, because now Harry and I are betrothed."
Rita gasped, and whipped her head around. "You are? And isn't that Heiress Greengrass with you? Oh my, such a story! My dears—"
Harry interrupted: "Such a story, yes, which we'll tell to Barnabas Cuffe, in an exclusive. Or perhaps we'll talk to the Quibbler, in an exclusive. Either way, Rita, you are passed over, because the three of us want nothing to do with your lies and libels. 'Bye now."
Hermione pointed to what the green quill had written. "Do you know nothing about the Muggle world, Rita? There are two s's in brassiere."
As Harry and Hermione walked away from Rita Skeeter, other people in the newsroom applauded them.
Two minutes later, three teenagers, and one man in his forties, all were sitting in Barnabas Cuffe's office. Cuffe began the interview with—
"Lord Black-Potter, you are now the ruling Head of House for two Most Ancient and Noble houses. What are your political plans?"
Harry answered, "My immediate plans are to deal with Voldemort. There's a prophecy that says it's up to me to put him down like a rabid dog. Along with vanquishing Voldemort, I have two more years at Hogwarts. After school and after Voldemort, I'll get married—twice! Sometime in late 1998, I'll take up my Wizengamot seats. But that's later on—next month, I'll go to the Wizengamot to grant new proxies for my seats. Right now, Elphias Doge holds the proxy for my Potter seats and Albus Dumbledore holds proxy on my Black seats; but next month, this changes."
Cuffe asked one more political question, about the Light, Dark and Grey factions in the Wizengamot, which Harry dodged.
Then Cuffe asked, "How did the three of you meet? You're all in the same year."
Daphne laughed. "Harry and I didn't truly 'meet' till this summer—that is, we never had a conversation that wasn't about classes or homework till late June of this year. But Hermione Granger, her I remember well—I was behind her in queue for the Sorting Hat, when she started telling the boy next to her about the Great Hall's enchanted ceiling. Then she added, 'I read about it in Hogwarts: A History.'—"
Hermione shrieked, and covered her face with her hands. "Oh Merlin, I was hoping everyone would forget that! I was quite the know-it-all then."
Daphne grinned at Hermione, then said, "I thought to myself, 'What a pure swot! She's Ravenclaw for sure.' "
Harry squeezed both girls' hands. "Daphne, you were wrong about the 'Ravenclaw' part, but right about the 'swot' part. If Madame Pince would allow it, Hermione would dorm in the Hogwarts library."
Hermione nodded, grinning.
Then Harry looked at Cuffe. "The story of Hermione and me isn't exciting. Ron Weasley and I were in a compartment on the firstie train, then Hermione opened the door. Hermione said to Ron and me, 'A boy has lost his toad. Have you seen it?' Then Hermione introduced herself to Ron and me. Soon afterwards, she used the Reparo spell to fix the frames of my glasses."
Daphne said, "Hermione knew the Reparo spell before she'd ever seen Hogwarts?"
Hermione shrugged, blushing. "Every summer, I read ahead. I've done this since primary school."
Later
Daphne was saying to Cuffe, "...It's beautiful to see what Harry and Hermione have. A hundred years from now, there will be poems, and songs, and stories, and ... what are those Muggle picture-plays called?"
"Movies," Harry and Hermione said together.
"A hundred years from now, there will be movies made about the love those two share. My own relationship is nowhere so grand, because Harry and I are just beginning to know each other, but—I love him. I know what you're thinking—this sounds so Muggle-born, right? I know what readers are saying now: 'Heiress Greengrass, remember that you're a Pureblood.' But when I looked past what the Daily Prophet wrote about Harry"—Daphne glared at Cuffe—"what wizarding radio said, what Pureblood bigots in Slytherin said; and when I realised that Harry Potter is not The Boy Who Lived, I realised something else. Namely, Harry James Potter is a young man whom I like a lot. Whom I respect and admire too."
"I agree completely," Hermione said.
Harry blushed.
Two minutes later
Cuffe asked, "Hermione, why didn't you go to the Yule Ball with Harry?"
Daphne said, "Yes, Hermione, why didn't you?"
"Because Harry didn't ask me! When I told him that I was going with Viktor, Harry got a sad look, then he said, 'I should have spoken up sooner, right?' I said, 'Yes, you should have.' "
Cuffe then asked, "Harry, why didn't you ask Hermione to the Yule Ball? Why did you ask Parvati Patil instead?"
Harry said, "Because I'm ignorant about girls! By the time I worked out that I wanted to go to the Ball with Hermione before anyone else, I was too late. Then I panicked. I was afraid that I'd better ask somebody quick, else I wouldn't go with anyone."
Hermione said, "Erm, Harry? Just so we're clear, you're not saying that Parvati Patil was a bad date, she just, in your mind, came in a distant second to"—Hermione hissed in embarrassment—"me."
Harry, blushing, said, "Right. Parvati Patil is a gorgeous young witch, and someday she'll make some wizard a fine wife."
Daphne asked, "Did you ever consider Slytherin? I know for a fact that two girls in Slytherin would have said yes if you'd asked them. I was one of the two."
Harry stared. "Really? Wow. No, I figured you all were Pansy Parkinson wannabees."
"Oh, please." Daphne stuck her tongue out at Harry.
Later
Cuffe asked the trio, "How long will the betrothals be? Till after you sit your N.E.W.T.s, or will you marry later?"
Harry grinned. "So you're asking me, once I finish seventh year and have my N.E.W.T. scores in hand, ditto my two lovely betrotheds, do I plan to wait any longer to get married? What do you think?"
Hermione looked at Daphne, then both girls looked at Cuffe and grinned. Hermione said, "We girls don't want to wait to get married either. I can't speak for Daphne, but I will be tapping my foot and biting my lip during the marriage ritual."
Cuffe asked, "Have you set a wedding date or dates yet? Have you decided where the weddings will take place?"
"No!" Harry yelled. "Are you thick?"
"That's two years in the future," Daphne said.
"I've scribbled down a few ideas," Hermione said. The other two teenagers rolled their eyes.
Cuffe asked, "Are you going to have separate weddings, or will you marry both of your ladies at the same time?" Cuffe showed a small smile at Harry. "Will you subject yourself to every man's nightmare—having to remember two anniversaries?"
With no hesitation, Harry said, "Both weddings will be at the same time. Otherwise, one wedding would come first and one wedding second, right? And no matter what I said to the second wife, what she would hear would be, 'I'm more eager to marry her than I am to marry you.' Well, I have no plans to spend my second honeymoon sleeping on the couch."
Hermione said, "And this is exactly what would happen: Harry getting the second wife permanently brassed off at him. Harry is brilliant in many ways, but he is hardly a silver-tongued bloke who could talk himself out of insulting his second bride like that."
Daphne said, "But if for some reason we do have to have two weddings, Hermione and I shall decide the order by a round of Rock-Paper-Scissors." Noting Cuffe's puzzled look, Daphne explained, "It's a Muggle game. Because of Harry and Hermione, I'm becoming more Muggle every day."
Cuffe again: "Do you have a theme to your wedding—erm, weddings?"
All three teens rolled their eyes. Harry replied, "Again, Mr Cuffe, it'll be two years before we have to decide such things."
With an angelically innocent look, Daphne said, "Besides, Gryffindors never plan anything; they prefer to improvise on the fly. Slytherins plan; but the Slytherin here is outnumbered two to one."
Hermione said with exaggerated haughtiness, "Daphne dear, I plan things all the time. Five years ago, I caused a hatstall between Gryffindor and Ravenclaw."
Cuffe asked, "Will Albus Dumbledore be officiating the wedding or weddings?"
"Impossible," Daphne said, frowning.
"Impossible, I agree," Hermione said. "If Dumbledore married us, somehow the parchmentwork afterwards would say that Harry was married to Ginevra Weasley."
(Hearing Hermione's words, Daphne raised an eyebrow. Hermione mouthed, Later.)
Meanwhile, Harry was saying, "I would break Cornelius Fudge out of Azkaban, just so I could ask him to perform the marriage rituals for us, before I'd ask Dumbledore to marry us."
Cuffe's eyebrows shot up so high in surprise, they were almost up to his hairline.
Then Cuffe sighed. "Since it's two years till your wedding—or weddingzzz—there is no point in asking you about plans for your honeymoon. Or honeymoonzzz. Correct?"
"Correct," all three teens answered together.
"So of course, given your two magnificent mansions, you will have two separate households, but are there times when the three of you might stay together in one or other of your homes?"
"At Christmastime, maybe," Hermione replied, acting unaware of Cuffe's innuendo. "At Christmastime—"
"Yuletide," Daphne corrected.
"—Lady X might stay in the guest bedroom of Y house, along with the adorable X children," Hermione said.
Cuffe had to pause and to think-through Hermione's statement, since algebra was never taught to magicals except as part of the arithmancy elective.
"I think, you two," Daphne said, "what Mr Cuffe wants to ask in a roundabout way is, Will we be having threesomes?"
Harry said, "I would never, not in a million years, ask for such a thing. But by the same token, if both my wives walked up to me one day and said 'Let's do this,' I wouldn't think of refusing."
Hermione grinned at Daphne. "Oh, the sacrifices this man is willing to make, in order to keep his wives happy!"
Hermione then grinned at Cuffe. "Right now, I can't see such a thing happening. But if it ever does happen, Prophet readers won'tbe told even a hint by any of us three."
Harry leant forwards and murmured, "Make sure your unregistered beetle-animagus understands this."
Cuffe choked, then said, "One last question: Ladies, how do you really feel about sharing Mr Potter with another wife?"
Hermione gestured to Daphne: You first.
Daphne said, "A bit disappointed—this is not at all what I was raised to expect. But then, I never expected to be married to even half of 'the Boy Who Lived.' As for Hermione, I don't understand her at all, what with her being so bright and a Muggle-born besides, but she has good character. As opposed to Pureblood girls whose names I could mention, whom, if I found out that one of them would one day be my co-wife, I would rip up my betrothal contract during that same minute—even if doing this made me a squib."
Hermione said, "I feel pretty much the same way, except, erm—I'd pretty much picked up the idea that all Slytherins are evil, but nobody in the Greengrass family is evil, so maybe I'm wrong."
Daphne replied with a haughty voice (but also with a smile): "My family is not evil, we are strategic. Learn the difference, Granger."
Harry said, "In Gryffindor, I've heard 'They're all evil' said about Slytherin. But I didn't believe most of what I heard, for one simple reason: at first the Sorting Hat wanted to put me in Slytherin, and I know I'm not evil."
Hermione said, "I agree. You are suicidally daring, but you're not evil."
Five minutes later
Harry had just been asked who was "Fake Bellatrix," the woman who had shot to death both Fenrir Greyback and (the real) Bellatrix Lestrange.
Harry frowned at Barnabas Cuffe. "I won't tell you who Fake Bellatrix was. Furthermore, I won't say why I won't say."
Hermione said, "I was not Fake Bellatrix, contrary to rumour, but I know who she really was."
Daphne said, "I was not Fake Bellatrix either, and my feelings are hurt that I'm considered not worth starting a rumour about."
One minute later
Cuffe smiled at the three teenagers and said, "Those are all the questions I have for now. Thank you, Lord Black-Potter, Heiress Greengrass and Miss Granger, for talking with me."
Harry said, "I have two things I want to say at the end. First, I found out only a month ago that Albus Dumbledore put an owl-redirect on my mail, for as long as I've been 'the Boy Who Lived.' So if you've ever owled me a letter and you've wondered why I've never answered you, the answer is that I never read your letter. I'm sorry you were disappointed.
"Secondly, let me tell you some things you don't know about the impostor who calls himself 'Lord Voldemort.' The first thing you should know is that his real name is Tom Marvolo"—Harry spelled the name—"Riddle, born in 1926."
Harry explained: Tom Marvolo Riddle was the bastard son of a magically-weak witch, Merope Gaunt, who was the daughter of the Heir of Slytherin, Marvolo Gaunt. Merope was so ugly that nobody would marry her, except for the handsome Muggle man she love-potioned. When she let the love-potion lapse, the Muggle man, Tom Riddle, abandoned her. She gave birth to her son in Wool's Orphanage, then died in childbirth.
Harry concluded, "...Tom Marvolo Riddle is a literal bastard, a halfblood who puts on airs, whose parents were a Muggle and a female rapist. Now let me share with you something that the shade of Tom Riddle boasted about, three years ago."
Harry then wrote on a piece of parchment:
I AM LORD VOLDEMORT
"Close up the spaces, and what do you get?"
IAMLORDVOLDEMORT
"Rearrange the letters, and they become—"
TOMMARVOLORIDDLE
"Put spaces in, at the right places, and voilà—"
TOM MARVOLO RIDDLE
Cuffe stared at the parchment.
Harry said, "I now issue a challenge to the coward, 'Lord Voldemort,' also known as Tom Marvolo Riddle. He's a coward because he sends his Death Eaters out to face Aurors' angry wands, whilst he stays safe. But no more, Tommy, no more.
"I've faced you several times, Tommy, and I've won every time. The first time I beat you was when I was fifteen months old. The last time I will win against you will be the last day that I am fifteen yearsold: next week on 30th July.
"Tommy, I challenge you to a duel to the death, Tuesday one week from today, at high noon. The place will be the Hogwarts Quidditch pitch. I pledge to not only kill you, but to vanquish you. Show your noseless face and be vanquished by my hand, one week from now, or spend the rest of your miserable life shamed as the coward that you are."
Barnabas Cuffe now stared at Harry, looking utterly gobsmacked.
After the three teens left the Daily Prophet, Daphne kissed Harry on the lips, outdoors where anyone could see. Then Daphne said to Harry, "I'm quite impressed about the interview you gave in there. You acted like you've been giving press interviews for years."
Harry shrugged. "Since the day I boarded the Hogwarts Express as a firstie, I've wanted to be treated as 'just Harry.' " Hermione nodded. Harry continued, "In five years, 'just Harry' has never happened to me in the wizarding world. What elderly Harry's book-letter made me realise was that 'just Harry' won't happen in the future, either. I'm stuck with being famous, so I need to make the most of it."
7:06 that evening
Number 12 Grimmauld Place
Harry was talking to Minerva McGonagall, as he escorted her from the Floo Room to the dining room that was being used as the meeting-place for the Order of the Phoenix.
In the dining room, all of the Order members were already present (except for Dumbledore, Fletcher and Snape, the three who again had not been invited). Five Weasleys—Arthur, Molly, Bill, George and Fred—already were seated, as was Bill's girlfriend, Fleur Delacour. As had also happened a week ago, Hermione and Neville were seated on either side of Harry's empty chair. Tonks sat on Hermione's other side.
Just as had happened a week ago, whilst many chairs surrounded the dining table, there were more attendees than chairs, so some Order members were forced to stand.
As Harry and McGonagall walked into the dining room, Molly did not wait for Harry to take his seat (and for McGonagall to be offered a seat by Kingsley Shacklebolt). Molly picked up a parchment from the table and began to read aloud, even whilst Harry still was walking towards his chair—
Greetings from Albus Dumbledore, leader of the Order of the Phoenix, to members of the Order.
Confirmation code: Number 3, "frogs chocolate."
Harry Potter has told you about the prophecy that mentions him. I do not approve of his immature action, but what's done is done. He uses the prophecy as basis to claim that he should lead this organisation that dedicates itself to fighting Voldemort and his followers.
Harry is a good boy, mostly, despite my fears that he is turning Dark. But he lacks the years and the wisdom to lead you. In any case, it is to me, not to him, that you have given an oath of obedience.
I call upon your oath by giving you two orders: The first order is for all of you, except for Molly Weasley, to make owl-birdcalls when Molly says "Begin," and to stop when Molly says "Silence."
Molly lay down the parchment, gave Harry a contemptuous look, then said, "Begin."
Except for Harry, Hermione and Neville, and Molly and the twins, everyone in the room began making owl-sounds. McGonagall looked sick with embarrassment.
When it was clear that it was impossible for any Order member notto make owl-sounds, Molly said "Silence."
In the sudden silence, Molly again looked scornfully at Harry, picked up the parchment, and resumed reading—
Here is your second order from me. By your oath, I now command you: You are to do nothing that Harry tells you to do, until I approve Harry's ideas in person. Signed, Albus Dumbledore.
Harry scowled. I'm finally just days away from defeating Voldemort, with the help of the Order, and the conceited longbeard decides to come in now and trample on everything!
Meanwhile, Hermione was saying almost the same thing: "This is disgusting. Harry is on the verge of defeating Voldemort, but Mr Twinkle-Eyes wants to budge in and steal the glory."
Molly yelled, "Young lady, show respect to Albus Dumbledore! He is a great man!"
Harry said, "Is he? Besides forcing me to live with abusive relatives as a child, and stealing from my trust vault, Dumbledore is thick as a general. Need I remind you that Voldemort was days away from defeating the forces of Light until a fifteen-month-old toddler saved you all? But then, what else can anyone expect except to lose, when your great leader's orders are 'Stun them and rope them, but don't hurt them or kill them.' Hm?"
Elphias Doge taunted Harry: "It doesn't matter what you think, you disrespectful whelp! We are ordered not to obey you, until you put yourself under Albus's leadership."
Neville asked in a worried tone, "What will you do now, Harry?"
Harry replied, "What I'll do is to call upon a higher power—"
Harry yanked out his wand, and pointed it at the ceiling. "I call upon Magic itself to judge—"
Many people in the room gasped. Hermione painfully squeezed Harry's forearm.
"—whether Albus Dumbledore is, or I am, more suitable to own oaths of obedience by members of the Order of the Phoenix. Should I be judged less suitable, I will accept whatever punishment that Magic chooses to inflict on me for my cheekiness. So mote it be."
Light flashed in the dining room, brighter than the brightest Lumosthat Harry ever had made.
Dumbledore suddenly (and silently) appeared at the far end of the table, whilst sitting on his golden throne. For an instant, the old man looked startled because of his instant transportation, then he looked at Harry with twinkling eyes and a triumphant smile. "Harry, my—"
"Silence!" said two disembodied voices, a man and a woman speaking together. "Your worthiness as the leader of the Order of the Phoenix shall be judged now."
With these words, Harry froze; only his eyes could move. Dumbledore's face was frozen mid-word.
Harry's chair and Dumbledore's throne slowly rose above the table. Then Harry's view of the dining room mostly vanished, as purple sparkles rushed from right to left in front of his eyes.
Then Harry remembered things.
Harry remembered all the summers with the Dursleys after first year, when he was angry with one or more Dursleys and he wanted to fetch his wand and curse these people. Yet he never did.
Harry remembered a year ago when the two Dementors attacked him and Dudley in the park and, rather than only save himself from the Dementors, Harry also rescued helpless Dudley.
Harry remembered breakfast, a week and a half ago, when Harry chose to praise Dudley, after Dudley had offered help to Harry when Dumbledore had come to visit Privet Drive.
Harry remembered second year and all the times he was bothered and annoyed in the common room by firstie Colin Creevy, with Harry wanting to shout GET THE BLOODY HELL AWAY FROM ME! But Harry never actually spoke rudely to his overenthusiastic admirer.
Harry remembered all the times he fiercely wanted to curse Draco badly enough to put the blond boy in the hospital wing for weeks. But just as with Colin, Harry never gave in to such urges.
Harry remembered floating at the bottom of Black Lake, by magically asleep Gabrielle Delacour, waiting for Fleur Delacour to arrive and to rescue her sister. When it became clear that, for whatever reason, Fleur was not coming, Harry rescued both hostage-Ron and hostage-Gabrielle.
Harry remembered the fight with the mountain troll in the third-floor girls' loo, when Harry had attended Hogwarts for only two months. Harry risked his life to rescue a girl whom he mildly disliked at the time, simply because it would have been wrong to let her die.
Not quite two years after rescuing Hermione, Harry rescued Ginny Weasley from the shade of Tom Riddle, and saved the school from the basilisk that shade-Riddle commanded. Despite the danger to himself, Harry fought the basilisk and fought shade-Riddle, because Harry would not be able to forgive himself if he let Ginny die and let Voldemort return.
Then Harry remembered every minute of every meeting of Dumbledore's Army in the Room of Requirement, of Harry teaching DADA. Harry remembered how he taught the stupid children, the timid children, the magically-weak children and the youngest children, how to protect themselves from magical attacks.
Harry's involuntary recollections ended, and the moving purple sparkles in front of his eyes all vanished. But Harry still could not speak; and only his eyes could move.
His eyes saw that, across the dining room, a vortex of sparkling purple was hiding Dumbledore's head. Harry realised this made sense: Dumbledore was much older than Harry was, so Magic would have more of Dumbledore's memories to review.
Harry realised then that Magic had not reviewed all of his memories. His memories of time spent in class, in either Whinging Primary or at Hogwarts, had not been reviewed; his years spent with the Dursleys before he had gone to Hogwarts had not been reviewed.
Harry figured out then, what all his reviewed memories had in common: A moment when Harry had felt the urge to help, or the urge to harm, what had he decided to do afterwards? And was his decision based on what was right, or what was selfish or safe? The memories with Dumbledore's Army showed Harry's leadership (or perhaps the lack of it); when Hogwarts students in the Room of Requirement willingly obeyed Harry's orders, were their lives better afterwards?
Twenty minutes later
The purple-sparkles vortex that hid Dumbledore's face, suddenly vanished. The disembodied man's and woman's voices intoned, "Harry James Potter and Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, hear now your judgements!"
The voices said, "Potter, we find no selfishness in you, no evil. Whenever you have felt the urge to do good, you have done good—and done good effectively. Whenever you have felt the urge to do evil, you always have resisted the urge. Many times you have accomplished what had been thought impossible—and you have accomplished the supposed-impossible whilst keeping your conscience clear."
Harry still could not move or speak, so he was unable to say Thank you, Magic.
The voices said, "Dumbledore, you always have been secretive, and now it has corrupted you. You refused to share secrets, then you told yourself, 'I know things my advisors do not know, so I am free to ignore their counsel.' From there, it was only a small leap to you thinking, 'If I think I'm right, then truly I am right, no matter what I do.' To you, 'It's for the Greater Good' justifies anything and everything you do. You truly are unbothered by all the Order of the Phoenix members who have died because they trusted your orders. You truly were unbothered by using Order of the Phoenix members to keep Harry James Potter and Sirius Orion Black prisoner. Now you plot the death of Harry James Potter in such a way that he shall die and you shall regain your glory. Two years in a row, you endangered the schoolchildren who had been put in your care, in pursuit of some 'Greater Good' vile scheme of yours. In short, your soul is blighted with evil now, you foolishly believe in your own inerrancy, and you are inept as a leader."
Apparently, Dumbledore could not move or speak any more than Harry could, but now the headmaster's eyes were narrowed in anger.
The disembodied voices said, "Magic finds Harry James Potter to be more worthy of obedience oaths by the Order of the Phoenix, and so the subject of these oaths is transferred."
Light flashed in the room, and many people gasped.
The voices continued, "As punishment for the misdeeds that Magic has found, Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore shall lose 10 percent of his magical power, as well as his special wand, both being given to Harry James Potter. Finally, the bond between Dumbledore and his phoenix is severed."
Now Dumbledore's eyes looked panicked.
Meanwhile, Harry suddenly felt magically stronger. It felt almost as if Harry drank a Pepper-Up potion whilst he already were well rested.
Meanwhile, the voices said, "Albus Dumbledore, unworthy wizard, unworthy leader, begone!" Dumbledore and his golden throne both vanished from above the dining table; at the same time, Harry discovered he could move his face and body again.
Harry's chair slowly dropped till it was back on the floor. On the table, by Harry's right elbow, lay the Elder Wand. Harry pocketed the wand.
Meanwhile, the room was completely silent.
Harry said, "Order of the Phoenix members, I command you, by your oath of obedience, to sing me a song."
Harry cut off the singing after ten seconds. By then, Elphias Doge and Molly Weasley looked panicked.
Harry said calmly, "Molly, silently hand me the parchment that you were reading from."
When scowling Molly handed over Dumbledore's letter, Harry tore the letter in half, r-rip! Harry handed the two pieces to Hermione, who pulled out her wand and vanished the parchment-halves.
The room still was silent.
Harry looked at Fleur, and at everyone in the room who was older than Fleur was. Harry said, "The only time I will demand that you obey me is to keep an operation secret. Still, I'm 15.98 years old, and once again I'm the youngest person in this room. If you are disturbed by the idea of taking orders from me, I prefer that you resign from the Order right now. My house-elf, Kreacher, will walk you to the Floo Room."
Elphias Doge and Molly Weasley immediately resigned.
When Molly tried to browbeat Arthur Weasley into also resigning, he refused, saying, "Molly, your loyalty to the old thief is misplaced. I'm glad I'm free of him. Now go home and wait for me." The twins, Bill and Fleur all looked shocked, hearing Arthur talk to Molly this way.
After the two Dumbledore loyalists had left the townhouse, Harry asked, "Does anyone have any questions, before I start the meeting that I wanted to start thirty minutes ago?"
Neville asked, "Do those of us who are not members of this group, have to take oaths of obedience to you?"
"No. No oaths of obedience, no loyalty oaths. I'm fighting Voldemort here, not setting up a cult of personality. I have an idea for an operation quite soon that I will want the participants to take Unbreakable Vows for, but in general? Such oaths are not needed."
Hermione, Neville and the twins all looked relieved to hear this.
Harry now grinned a shark's grin as he looked around the room. "I've changed how we fight the Death Eaters. We don't show up after a long delay now, and we don't fight 'nice' anymore. If you've been reading the Daily Prophet within the last three days, or listening to wizarding radio, you've heard the question asked, 'Who is Fake Bellatrix?' Fake Bellatrix shot the real Bellatrix dead, and shot Fenrir Greyback dead. Well, I'm here to tell you that Fake Bellatrix is here in this room."
"Actually, Harry," said Tonks, "you got the order backwards. I killed Greyback first."
Everyone other than Tonks stared at her. McGonagall murmured something in Gaelic. Kingsley Shacklebolt said, "I knew it."
Harry said, "For you Order members, I invoke your oath of obedience: Discuss what you just learnt about Auror Tonks onlywith other people who now are in this room. Hermione, Neville, George and Fred, I cannot order you, but I strongly request that you don't share the secret about Tonks."
Hermione and Neville nodded. The twins pantomimed zipping their lips shut, and did not admit that they already knew Tonks's secret.
Harry said, "Two more announcements. Firstly, one week from today, 30th July at twelve noon, I'm challenging Voldemort to a duel at the Hogwarts Quidditch pitch—"
Pandaemonium.
When the noise had dropped a bit, Tonks said, "You challenged Moldyshorts? This is bloody brilliant."
"Yes I did," Harry replied. "Order of the Phoenix members, as for the duel, I won't invoke your obedience-oaths to order you to face Voldemort and his Death Eaters with me. I simply point out now that each of you joined the Order because you wanted to battle Tom Riddle and his minions; and in one week, you'll get your chance to do exactly this."
Harry was pleased to note that nobody in the dining room looked scared by what Harry just had said, whereas he spotted many bloodthirsty grins.
Harry said, "My second announcement is that I need four volunteers for a dangerous mission. A secret dangerous mission that you volunteers will have to take Unbreakable Vows for, to make sure that you don't chat about the mission, even years from now. I need four volunteers who are skilled with a broom, and who aren't frightened to fly high."
"How high?" asked Mad-Eye Moody.
"Much higher than a hundred feet off the ground," Harry replied.
Chapter 19
Duel Preparations, Part 1
Tuesday, 23rd July, seven days till the Duel
About 7:40 p.m.
Number 12, Grimmauld Place
Harry immediately was handed a problem. He had asked for four volunteers for the high-flying mission, but he got five—George and Fred Weasley, Bill Weasley, Fleur Delacour and Alastor Moody. Bill and his girlfriend promptly got into an argument about who should stay home.
Harry could understand Bill's feelings—if Hermione had volunteered to fly a broom for this mission, Harry would have flat-out refused to let her go—but Harry felt more comfortable with Fleur, after all they had gone through together. "Sorry, Bill," Harry said.
There still were people in the dining room. Harry said, "You four volunteers plus Hermione, I want you lot to stay here after everyone else leaves—"
Hermione's face turned white. "Do you plan for me to fly with them, Harry? I'm scared of heights!"
Harry said, "Relax, Hermione. I want you to be part of the mission, yes—but as the radio operator."
"Oh. Okay," Hermione said. Her relief was obvious.
The twins asked, "Just how high—"
"—will we be flying—"
"—on this secret mission?"
Harry, Hermione, Neville and Bill answered together, "High."
The four volunteers looked amazed.
Harry said, "In the meantime, Hermione, Neville and Professor McGonagall, please follow me to the kitchen."
In the kitchen of Number 12, Grimmauld Place
As soon as all four people were in the kitchen, Hermione shocked Harry when she threw her arms around him. "Honestly, Harry, what were you thinking?" sniffling Hermione asked. "When you asked Magic to judge you, how could you have done such a dangerous thing? You could have lost all your magic! What if Magic decided you were a greedy, immature prat for asking for a magical judgement?"
Harry hugged her and replied, "I called for Magic's judgement because I had to, Hermione. I was desperate—there was no other way to get back control of the Order. Also, I was sure I was holding better cards than Dumbledore was. And finally, if the worst happened and I lost my magic"—Harry shrugged—"it wouldn't bother me."
"Losing your magic wouldn't bother you?" McGonagall asked, shocked.
Harry looked the old woman in the eyes. "Only in that losing my magic would lead to my betrothal to Daphne ending. Otherwise? The magical world, I can take it or leave it, so long as I have Hermione and Daphne with me."
Hermione nodded.
Whilst Neville and Professor McGonagall digested Harry's words, Harry cast a spell to lock the kitchen door. Family magic meant that not even Voldemort or a team of goblins could open the kitchen door till Harry allowed it.
Harry pulled from his pocket the wand that Magic had given him, ten minutes ago. "Does everyone know what this is?"
"Dumbledore's wand," Hermione said.
"The wand that Magic awarded you, after judging both Professor Dumbledore and you," Neville said.
McGonagall looked thoughtful. "It is Professor Dumbledore's former wand, but I suspect it is more than this."
"You're right," Harry said. "This is the Elder Wand, A-K-A the Deathstick, A-K-A the Wand of Destiny."
Hermione and Neville gasped; McGonagall frowned.
Harry said. "The wand supposedly has a curse on it. I don't want the curse, and I have no interest in the extra magical power of this wand, so..."
Snap—Harry broke the Elder Wand in half, then let the two pieces drop to the tiled floor. Harry now pulled out his holly wand and—
"Incendio."
—burnt up the two pieces of old wood.
The other three people in the kitchen looked shocked.
McGonagall said, "I would like to believe that if the Elder Wand had been in my hands, I would have made the same choice. But I'm not sure this would be truth."
Neville said, "Once again you amaze us, Harry."
Harry looked at McGonagall and said, "Please make sure that the story of this is told at Hogwarts."
"Starting with the headmaster," Hermione said viciously.
Back in the Grimmauld Place dining room
After the twins, Alastor and Fleur (and Hermione) all took Unbreakable Vows to never discuss their secret flying mission without Harry's permission, Harry spelled out the mission—
On 29th July, which was the day before Harry's duel with Voldemort, the broom-flyers would be flying to Malfoy Manor, above its wards. The broom-flyers' mission would be "to ruin Moldyshorts's planning session."
"What is at ze Malfoi Manor?" Fleur asked. She gave the name its French pronunciation.
"Voldemort," Harry said. "Voldemort is living at Malfoy Manor."
Fleur snorted. "Lord Flight-from-ze-Death lives at ze-Bad-Faith Manor. Ha, 'ow appropos."
Fred said, "No kidding, Harrikins, we are going to attackVoldemort? We're not going to stand about with our thumbs up our arses and wait months and months for Voldy to attack us? Wow, Mr Longbeard definitely is not in charge here anymore."
After this, the people who had stayed after the Order of the Phoenix meeting all Flooed home (or in Hermione's case, was elf-popped home). Everyone went to bed.
Whilst all the people Harry knew, both good and evil, slept, the latest edition of the Daily Prophet was printed.
The latest edition featured Daphne Greengrass's thoughts about Harry Potter, Hermione Granger's thoughts about Harry Potter, and Harry Potter's thoughts about Daphne Greengrass, Hermione Granger—and Lord Voldemort.
Wednesday, 24th July, six days till the Duel
Early morning, in Scotland
Harry, Hermione, Neville and Daphne Flooed to the Three Broomsticks in Hogsmeade. Once all four had walked outside, Harry pulled out a big, and utterly blank, piece of parchment.
Daphne asked, "What's that for? Are you planning to write someone a letter now?"
Instead of Harry saying Yes or No, he touched the parchment with his wand and said, "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."
Daphne gasped when the blank parchment suddenly turned into a map of the school.
Harry, whilst consulting the map, led the other three into Broomstix, then into a storeroom in the back of the building. There Harry found a door that opened into a secret tunnel.
About thirty minutes later, Harry and the others were inside Hogwarts Castle.
Now Harry showed Daphne and Neville another use for the Marauder's Map: "Dumbledore is here, the other professors are here, Filch is here, Madame Pince is in this corner, and there are no students here now except us. My plan is to use the map to avoid our being seen between here and where we're going."
Daphne asked, "Where are we going?"
Harry said, "Here's my problem: I have six days to learn, and to be well practised at, magic I don't know now. Well, the Potter library will help with some of that, and the Black library also will help. But I need more knowledge; I need the knowledge that's here."
"Do we really need all the sneaking around?" Neville asked. "What's wrong with a professor finding us?"
Hermione asked, "Why use the Marauder's Map to prevent professors from seeing us, when as soon as we walk into the library, Madame Pince will see us?"
Harry said, "Because we're not going to the school library. Nor to the Ravenclaw Common Room library. And I'm trying to avoid any of the school portraits, as much as possible. Because what I don'twant is for anyone who is compelled to report to Dumbledore—"
As Harry was talking, the four teens turned a corner.
Floating in the corridor in front of Harry and his friends, and facing Harry and his friends, were the ghosts called Nearly-Headless Nick, the Fat Friar, the Bloody Baron, and the Grey Lady.
"—seeing us," Harry said, sighing.
Meanwhile, elsewhere in Hogwarts Castle
During breakfast in the Great Hall
Albus Dumbledore sat in his golden throne and sulked.
Being rebuked last night for his supposed moral failures in the presence of the Order of the Phoenix members was humiliating beyond words.
Worse, when Dumbledore had been Apparated by Magic back to his office in Hogwarts, he had discovered that Fawkes was gone.
Worst of all, last night: to have the Elder Wand taken from him and given to the boy? Unbearable!
But Dumbledore had devised several plans already, how to get the Elder Wand back from the boy. Dumbledore took it for granted that Harry Potter would bring the Elder Wand with him when he returned to school on 1st September; once Harry and the Wand were both back in the castle, then the only issue left to be decided would be how Dumbledore would justify the many detentions that Harry would be given, once Dumbledore had both possession of the Elder Wand and the allegiance of the Elder Wand.
Another frustrating thing for Dumbledore this morning was that he was blocked from information he craved.
Last night at the Order meeting, Harry had apparently announced some major operation in the future that had involved broom-flying at a hundred feet above the ground—but Dumbledore could not find out what Harry had said! Molly had no clue, Arthur and Kingsley did not know much, and Alastor said he had taken an Unbreakable Vow not to spill secrets about the operation. Also, Harry at the meeting had revealed who "Fake Bellatrix" was; Dumbledore was keen to know who the Order woman was so he would know whom to owl an "I'm so disappointed in you" message to. Alas, Dumbledore had been unable to uncover this secret as well. Ironically, the switched-over oath of obedience was the reason that Arthur, Kingsley and Alastor gave for refusing to answer Dumbledore's question about "Fake Bellatrix."
Most disturbing of all, Harry had made another announcement at the meeting; and Arthur, Kingsley and Alastor all admitted that they could tell Dumbledore the information—they were not blocked by oath or Vow—but they would not tell. All three said in essence, "You'll find out soon enough, Albus; and when you do, hopefully for once in your life, you won't meddle with what Harry is doing."
Dumbledore still was trying to guess what Harry's "You'll find out soon enough" plan might be, when an owl brought him a copy of this morning's Daily Prophet.
Ten minutes later, Dumbledore was thinking, Harry has challenged Tom to a duel? Here at Hogwarts? In six days? Has the boy gone insane?
But then Dumbledore had a thought that made him smile: If the duel kills the boy, this leaves the way clear for me to kill Voldemort myself, before the withering curse debilitates me and without a worry about any prophecy. Defeating both Grindelwald and Voldemort would cement my reputation as one of history's great wizards.
Dumbledore still was smiling when McGonagall leant over and murmured, "Last night, Harry snapped the Elder Wand"—the headmaster gasped—"then burnt the pieces to ash." This news changed Dumbledore's smile to a scowl.
Meanwhile, in Malfoy Manor
Even Dark Lords need to eat breakfast, and so Voldemort was at the moment in the Malfoy Manor dining room, sitting and eating at the head of the table.
The oval table was made of grey granite. The table was so big about, and so thick on top, that Lucius often boasted that the table was impossible for even a dozen Muggles to lift, much less carry; so the presence of the table in this room was proof of the family's magical power.
Voldemort had never cared about that. All Voldemort cared about was whether Nagini could slither across the table without breaking the table, when the Malfoy Manor dining room was used as a Death Eater meeting room.
Then this morning's Daily Prophet arrived. Within minutes, Voldemort had many more things to care about.
"Lucius," the Dark Lord said, "come here."
The blond man stood up and walked towards Voldemort, his face showing none of the fear that was in his mind.
When Lucius Malfoy was standing before Voldemort, the Dark Lord said, "I gave you a special book for safekeeping. It was supposed to stay here. Instead, you removed it, one thing led to another, and Potter learnt some of my secrets. Today"—Voldemort grabbed the newspaper one-handed, and shook the Daily Prophet at Malfoy—"some of my secrets are printed in this newspaper. Crucio!"
Five minutes later, Voldemort finally ended the Cruciatus Curse on Malfoy. As the blond man writhed on the floor, Voldemort raised his voice so that everyone in the dining room could hear him—
"The Potter boy has challenged me to a duel," Voldemort said with haughty amusement. He paused whilst the Death Eaters laughed scornfully. "This duel is to be six days from now, at the Hogwarts Quidditch Pitch, at noon. I'm sure Potter expects to face me alone, whilst his friends do nothing but watch from the spectator seats. I'm sure he expects Dumbledore, the Leader of the Light, likewise to watch the duel whilst otherwise doing nothing. I'm also sure Potter expects you lot to quietly, peacefully watch the duel from other spectator seats. I tell you, if the Potter boy believes these things, he is naïve. Come, people, we have six days to make plans."
Amidst the cheering, Voldemort looked at Snape and said, "Come, Severus, walk with me. I have questions."
In Hogwarts Castle
Harry and his three friends eyed the four House ghosts.
Harry said to the ghosts, "Should we feel honoured that we've attracted almost the full set of you? Only Peeves and Myrtle Warren aren't here."
(Daphne whispered to Hermione, "Harry knows Moaning Myrtle's real name?" Hermione shushed her.)
Nearly-Headless Nick smiled. "Harry, it's always good to see you! But we're puzzled what you, Mr Longbottom, Miss Granger and...?"
"Daphne Greengrass, Heiress Greengrass," Daphne said, dropping a curtsy.
"One from my House," the Bloody Baron said.
"Bravo, Harry," said Nick, beaming, "a Gryffindor betrothed to a Slytherin? The last time we saw this was ... your grandfather, Charlus Potter, I do believe. Good show, lad!"
"Nick," said the Grey Lady. "Why are they here now?"
"Right, right," said Nearly-Headless Nick. To the teens, he said, "The school is between terms, and all four of you left the castle for the summer. So why are you sneaking into the castle today?"
Harry grinned. "We aren't 'sneaking in,' we are making an unannounced untraditional entrance." Dropping the smile, Harry asked the ghosts, "How much do you know about the Dark Lord Voldemort, formerly"—Harry glared at the Bloody Baron—"Tom Marvolo Riddle of Slytherin House?"
The Bloody Baron said, "I know that he is a disgrace to Salazar's House. I know that he has taken suspicion of Muggle-borns, which is a good idea, and perverted it. He approves the wholesale murder of Muggle-borns and half-bloods, which is disgusting."
Hermione demanded, "Why is suspicion of Muggle-borns a good idea?"
"Because your loyalties are always uncertain. When you are pushed to your limit, Muggle-born girl, can even your closest Hogwarts friends be sure that you would choose the Wizarding world over the Muggle world?"
Hermione snapped, "And is this my fault? Choosing to live in the Muggle world would be, for me, like vowing that I would never again use my right hand. The only reason that I would consider such a thing, even for a second, is that the wizarding world continually makes me feel so unwelcome! If I ever do turn my back on all this, people like Draco Malfoy of Slytherin will be a big reason why!"
The Grey Lady cleared her throat.
Harry looked at the four ghosts and said, "I've challenged Tom Riddle to a duel in six days, at the Hogwarts Quidditch pitch. I've come to the castle to research offensive and defensive spells. I'm hoping that the Chamber of Secrets has a library of Parseltongue spells in it. If not"—Harry shrugged—"we'll go to the regular library till Dumbledore throws us out."
The Fat Friar asked, "If you're here for research, not vandalism, and the research is intended to help you defeat the Dark Lord Voldemort, why do you think the headmaster will throw you out?"
Harry said, "Because a prophecy has been made about Voldemort and me. I have 'the power to vanquish' Voldemort, but I'm not guaranteed to win. Dumbles wants to sabotage me so that I'll die, then he can waltz in, kill Riddle, and get the glory. I would bet my trust vault that if today we're forced to go to the regular Hogwarts library to do research, Dumbles will throw us out on some pretext."
Hermione said, "He's telling the truth about Professor Dumbledore sabotaging him. The headmaster made Harry grow up with Muggle relatives who hated magic. They beat Harry, starved him and insulted him."
Daphne gasped. "Merlin, Harry, is this true?"
Harry blushed. "Yeah."
The Grey Lady snarled, "Stopping someone from doing library research should be a crime."
The four ghosts looked at each other, engaging in a silent conversation. Nick held up a hand with its fingers splayed.
The Bloody Baron said to the teens, "We must report your presence to the headmaster, without delay. We choose to interpret this as 'without obvious delay.' We shall delay five minutes before we tell the headmaster that you are headed for the Chamber of Secrets. Make good use of your time."
"Thank you, Baron," Harry said, bowing. Then he yelled over his shoulder, "Follow me!" and took off running.
Meanwhile, whilst walking the corridors of Malfoy Manor
Voldemort asked Snape, "What is Potter thinking now? Why did he challenge me?"
Snape's face did not change, and his voice remained calm, but inwardly he was frightened. "I cannot say, my lord." When Snape was not Crucio'd then and there, he continued, "As many times as my godson provoked Potter, Potter never once started a fight against Draco. The brat is thinking new thoughts now."
"Is this duel Dumbledore's idea?"
"No. If anything, the headmaster is telling everyone in the castle that Potter is 'turning Dark.' Which actually means that the boy refuses Dumbledore's quote-unquote 'guidance.' "
Voldemort nodded. "What about Potter's parents? You knew them much better than you know the boy. If one of his parents had challenged me to a duel in 1981, what would they have been thinking?"
Snape told the Dark Lord what he wanted to hear: "If James Potter had challenged you, it would have been because Potter was brash, reckless. The thought that he might die would never have occurred to him."
Snape, no fool, did not speak the other half of his answer: If Lily Evans Potter had challenged you to a duel, it would have been because she had a plan. And Lord Voldemort, you wouldn't have enjoyed your life when Lily carried out her plan.
In Hogwarts Castle
All four teens were panting; they had just finished a sprint across the castle. They now were on the second floor, just outside a lavatory that had a big "OUT OF ORDER" sign on the door.
"You lot ready to go in?" Harry asked.
Neville asked, sounding horrified, "We're going into a girls' loo?
Daphne asked, sounding horrified, "We're going into Moaning Myrtle's loo?"
Opening the bathroom door, Harry said, "Gryffindors charge ahead." He walked inside.
Daphne started to say something; laughing Neville said, "Yes, Daphne, we already know."
Meanwhile, four teenagers had become five. A flirty teenage-girl ghost yelled, "HARRY, YOU'RE BACK!"
Chapter 20
Duel Preparations, Part 2
Wednesday, 24th July, six days till the Duel
Mid-morning, in Moaning Myrtle's lavatory
Hogwarts SOW&W
Harry saw Neville and Daphne, who were first-time visitors to this lavatory, looking about and frowning. Harry could understand their frowns.
Of the five toilet stalls in this lavatory, the door to the leftmost stall was hanging askew, by only one hinge. The lavatory floor was damp and mouldy. Of the seven porcelain sinks, three were chipped. The giant mirror that spanned all seven sinks was cracked. In short, this was not only a lavatory that was haunted, this was a lavatory that any visitor would expect to be haunted.
But in the meantime, ghost-Myrtle just had spoken to Harry. "Yes, Myrtle, I'm back," Harry replied cheerfully, "and I've brought friends."
"One of whom is handsome," said the fourteen-year-old, bespectacled ghost-girl, as she smiled warmly at Neville. "Since you're a friend of Harry's, I'll let you stay in my loo."
"Erm, thank you, Myrtle," Neville said, as he shot Harry a What do I say now? look.
Myrtle turned towards Daphne, and now the ghost's face was not friendly at all. "I don't know you, pretty girl. You've never been in my loo before, have you?"
"No, I haven't," Daphne said haughtily. "Allow me to introduce myself: I am Daphne Greengrass, Heiress Greengrass, a Slytherin."
Myrtle got haughty right back: "Are you afraid of one little ghost? Is this why you haven't come here before? I guess you Purebloods aren't brave, like Muggle-born girls." Myrtle shot a quick smile at Hermione, before again glaring at Daphne.
"Be nice, Myrtle," Harry said. "I'm betrothed to Daphne. Actually, I'm betrothed to Hermione too."
"What?" Myrtle wailed. "You're betrothed to two girls, neither of whom is me? How could you, Harry?"
Myrtle turned into a streak of green ectoplasm and flew away. Seconds later, Harry heard a splash-glurgg sound. Roughly thirty seconds after that, water covered the entire floor of the lavatory.
Harry shrugged and said, "Let's do what we came for. §Open§." Part of the wall by the snake-faucet sink disappeared, revealing a down-sloping tunnel.
(When Harry's scar had had its horcrux removed, twenty-five days ago, he had lost the ability to speak and to understand Parseltongue. But a sheet with a particular rune-sequence, which had been copied out of elderly Harry's book-letter, gave young Harry these Parseltongue abilities back, when he wore the sheet under his shirt with the runes facing out.)
Three minutes later, in the Chamber of Secrets
The sixty-foot-long basilisk had been dead three years. It no longer stank, but it looked disgusting.
The corpse of the evil snake was just skin and bones now, with an ugly sludge underneath the body.
Daphne was staring at the basilisk. In a stunned voice, she said, "Harry, you killed this. You killed this. When you were twelve."
Harry shrugged. "I didn't kill her barehanded—I had use of the Sword of Gryffindor."
"I stand corrected," Daphne said drily. Then she turned and rushed over to Harry. She grabbed the front of his shirt with both hands, pulled him forward, and kissed him for at least ten seconds.
When Daphne broke the kiss, she said, "Harry, thank you for saving everyone in the school. Including the wankers in Slytherin."
Harry said, "Erm, it was Hermione who figured out that a basilisk was doing the petrifications. I wouldn't have come down here if not for Hermione's clue."
Hearing this, Daphne turned to face Hermione—
—and curtsied.
Harry felt a pang of disappointment at not seeing a girl-on-girl kiss.
On the floor, a few feet away from the basilisk's head was a big black blotch. In the sudden silence after Daphne's long kiss, then not-kiss, Neville said, "Looks like someone kicked over an ink bottle during the fight."
Harry said, "An ink bottle didn't make that ink stain. The ink came out when I stabbed the Voldemort-possessed diary with a basilisk fang."
Hermione said, "And this is where the basilisk bit you? You almost died right here?"
"Yes," Harry said, "but then Fawkes the phoenix cried on my wound. This cancelled the poison, then I was fine."
Hermione looked at Daphne and said, "For future reference, whenever Harry says 'I'm fine,' it never means 'I'm in robust good health.' What it always means is, 'I'm technically alive now, but this might change soon.' "
"Understood," said Daphne. "I gather I'll be applying this knowledge in the future?"
Hermione laughed. "Yes, often in the future."
Meanwhile, in Myrtle's lavatory
Hogwarts headmaster Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore was frustrated. Correction: He was raging.
The House ghosts had told the headmaster that Harry and two Gryffindor friends and Daphne Greengrass of Slytherin all were headed here, to the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets. Myrtle the ghost had (clearly unwillingly) admitted to the headmaster that he had just missed Harry; Harry had, only minutes ago, opened and then had closed the tunnel entrance to the Chamber of Secrets, by Harry speaking Parseltongue.
Which Dumbledore could not speak. But on the other hand, Dumbledore was the headmaster. The castle's wards answered to him, and the ghosts and portraits obeyed him, so surely one tunnel entrance in one bloody lavatory would yield to Dumbledore's will.
That was the theory, anyway. In practise, when Dumbledore had commanded the snake-faucet tunnel entrance to "Open up," nothing had happened.
Dumbledore had tried every way he could think of, to command Open up! in English. He had even tried saying Please. He then had tried speaking in French, German and Latin. The tunnel entrance had remained closed.
Now Dumbledore tried a new tactic: pulling rank explicitly. Whilst ghost-Myrtle smirked with her arms crossed, Dumbledore yelled, "I am Headmaster Dumbledore. Hogwarts, I demand that you open this entrance to Slytherin's Chamber of Secrets!"
A female marble statue appeared, wearing robes that were coloured the four House colours and that displayed the Hogwarts crest. The statue-woman lowered her chin a bit to look down her nose at seated Dumbledore, then she spoke with an odd accent—
"Order refused. You do not have sufficient authority for this override operation. Opening criteria that were set by Founder Slytherin remain as requirements."
The statue-woman gave Dumbledore a disdainful sniff, then disappeared.
Dumbledore scowled. He would have spoken a long string of profanity, if not for the presence of the ghost-girl.
Back in the Chamber of Secrets
Harry faced the giant stone head of Salazar Slytherin and hissed. The head dropped its bearded jaw, revealing a tunnel beyond the sculpted mouth.
"Just out of curiosity," Daphne said, "what did you say?"
Harry rolled his eyes. "The passphrase, and I am not joking, is 'Speak to me, Slytherin, greatest of the Hogwarts Four.' "
Neville said, "Everyone knows that the true 'greatest of the Hogwarts Four' was Godric Gryffindor."
Daphne rolled her eyes.
Hermione said, "If that's the passphrase, this suggests one of three things: that A, Salazar Slytherin was the most conceited person ever to walk the Earth; B, Voldemort changed the passphrase; or C, Slytherin had a Weasley-twins sort of humour."
"To the third, please no," Daphne said. "This world does not need more humour like the Weasley twins'."
Harry pointed to stone-Slytherin's open mouth and the tunnel beyond it. "Shall we see what's on the other side?"
On the other side of the tunnel, so four Lumos lights revealed, was a big and empty room. The high ceiling, the floor, the back wall and the right-hand wall all were featureless flatness. The left-side wall had a door-sized cutout in it, but no door. The room reeked—
"What is that odour?" Hermione demanded to know.
"The basilisk," Harry said. "This is what the basilisk smelled like when I was fighting it."
Foom—Harry heard the sound of a fire magically starting in a fireplace. Now Harry could see through the door-sized cutout in the left-side wall, to a fire-lit room beyond the doorway.
Harry walked through the doorway into another room, and the other three teens followed. As soon as Harry entered the room, four wall sconces lit themselves, adding more light to the fireplace's light.
In this room, besides the fireplace and the wall sconces was a painting of a king cobra in grass, with the cobra's hood spread; a green-upholstered couch that was wide enough for three adults; a green-upholstered chair that was set so it faced the couch but also received fireplace light from the right rear; and a bookcase. Hermione, no surprise, made a beeline for the bookcase—
—and immediately huffed in frustration. "I can't read any of these!"
"What do you see?" Harry asked.
Hermione pulled a book off a shelf of the bookcase and flipped through it. "The front-cover text, the spine text and the text inside—it's all the letter s, in different sizes. The title of this book is Sssssssss sss Ssssss."
"May I see it? Harry asked. Hermione handed the book to him.
"I guess it's written in Parseltext," he said. "I can read it easily. The title, by the way, is Dementors and Demons."
Harry opened the book to a random page. After a pause, he said, "It says here that if you put someone who is affected by a Love or Lust potion near a Dementor, the two magics cancel each other out. The person doesn't get depressed by the Dementor, but the potion in him stops working. So if you want to stop a Love potion that is working on someone but you can't brew a purging potion for some reason, grab a Dementor."
Neville made a face. "I think in that case, I'd flip a sickle."
A little more exploration of the room revealed a door to a bedroom. In the bedroom was a large and posh canopy bed, but no more books.
When Harry returned to the sitting room, Neville said, "For a Founder's secret hideaway, this is disappointing. I've been in Professor Sprout's faculty quarters, and her bookcase is just as big as this one."
Harry stroked his chin and thought hard. "Maybe Salazar called it 'the Chamber of Secrets' for a reason."
Harry hurried out through the cut-out doorway and into the smelly "snake room." When Daphne, Hermione and Neville stood in that room too, Harry called out, "§Reveal hidden doors§."
On the left-side wall, nothing happened. But a door appeared on the back wall and a door appeared in the middle of the right-side wall.
It took a little trial-and-error, but Harry eventually discovered that the back-wall door opened when he said, "§Unlock this previously-hidden door§."
Beyond this door was a combination potions lab and ritual floor. Harry decided that whilst the room was well worth exploring, Harry would not bother doing so until after Voldemort and his minions were shut down. Harry let everyone glance in; then he shut the door, locked it and hid it.
The door on the right-side wall, it turned out, opened into a library that was half as big inside as the regular Hogwarts library, and (according to Daphne) was bigger than the Ravenclaw Common Room library.
When Hermione stepped through the door and saw Salazar Slytherin's hidden library, she started breathing hard—which made her cough and choke.
Every horizontal surface in the library—the floor, the tabletop, the chair seats, the tops of the chairs and the chair armrests—all were covered with a coating of grey dust that was thicker than Harry had ever imagined. Vertical surfaces—the green spines of books, the edges of wooden bookshelves—had a greyish tinge.
When Harry walked into the library, two things happened. The first was that grey dust on the floor swirled around his feet and legs. The second thing to happen was that he started coughing because of the thick dust.
Harry conjured four surgical breathing masks, and handed the masks out to the other teens. Neville and Daphne had to be shown how to don the masks.
Harry was just about to summon Dobby to come get rid of all the bloody dust when Hermione squeezed his forearm. "Harry, do you notice something? Something that is not here?"
When Harry shook his head, Hermione said, "Footprints! I see no footprints on the floor, and no handprints on the table. Now, would you say this is fifty years' worth of dust, or hundreds of years' worth of dust?"
"Hundreds and hundreds of years," Daphne said, her voice slightly distorted by her breathing mask. "Which means—"
Now Harry was grinning (though nobody else could tell, because of the mask that covered his face). He theatrically gestured from right to left, to claim all the books in the room. "This, ladies and gentleman, is another part of the 'power the Dark Lord knows not.' Dobby!"
Harry soon learnt that removing a thousand years of dust from a big room made a house-elf truly joyful. Dobby at the end was crying, he was so happy.
When Slytherin's library was dust-free, and Dobby was thanked and was gone, Harry looked at his friends and said, "Let's get to work."
Back in Myrtle's lavatory
Dumbledore thundered, "Hogwarts School, harken! I, Headmaster Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, demand that you immediately open this tunnel entrance to the Chamber of Secrets!"
Silence. Stillness.
Then Myrtle murmured, "What a blighter."
The tunnel entrance did not reply to Dumbledore's command; but it still did not open, either.
Dumbledore scowled, as he thought mean thoughts about both Salazar Slytherin and Harry Potter.
In Salazar Slytherin's hidden library
Laying in the centre of the big table was a slim book whose cover was Parseltext-titled §Read This First§.
Harry opened the book to the beginning of the text, and read for a minute. Then he said, "This is interesting."
Harry walked to the shelves, pulled five green-covered books off the same shelf, then carried the green-covered books to the table. "§Conjure translations§," Harry said, as he drew a reverse-D with the tip of his wand.
Instantly five blue-covered books appeared next to the five green-covered books. Harry slid the five blue-covered books to his three friends. "These books, you should be able to read."
Hermione smiled at Harry. "The translations are even in a modern serif font." Daphne and Neville agreed that they could read the other blue-covered books without difficulty.
Harry smiled at his friend Neville, and at his future wives. "Now you can help me with library research, even though you can't read Parseltext."
Ten minutes later
Neville found a sneaky offensive spell, §Slowly§. The victim moved slowly, spoke slowly and fell easily; and perceived everyone else as zipping about and talking too fast to understand. Even when the victim knew the cancelling spell, §Stop Slow§, it took the victim "to near the count of twenty" to speak those two Parseltongue words.
Thirty minutes later
Hermione lowered the blue-covered book she was holding and said, "Do you like zombie movies, Harry?"
Harry shrugged. "Don't know. Have never seen one."
"In this book, Jinxes, Hexes and Curses for the Vengeful, they describe the Living Decomposition Curse. It doesn't affect your internal organs till last, the book says, but your skin and muscles decay so that you look and smell like a rotting corpse. You go blind almost instantly."
Harry smiled. "Hm, a curse that makes a living person seem like a zombie. Whoever came up with this curse was using his brainsss."
Thirty minutes later
Harry laughed. "Oi, everyone, here are two interesting spells. Now watch this, §Gladius§."
Harry's eleven-inch, holly-wood wand turned into a steel, forearm-length sword. The sword was two inches wide, with no taper at all except at the tip; the centre of the sword was a half-inch thick. Harry ran his left index finger across the sword-edges; he discovered that the left and right edges were not fearsomely sharp.
"But notice," grinning Harry said, "it still works as a wand. Lumos."
The pointy tip of the sword-wand glowed brightly.
"Bloody brilliant," said Daphne.
Harry still was grinning. "Now watch this. Nox. §Finite gladium§. §Become rose§."
The gladius-sword turned back into Harry's holly wand, before shifting again to become a red rose with an eleven-inch stem. Harry then proved that the rose in his hand could cast spells almost as well as his holly wand could.
Meanwhile, in Myrtle's lavatory
Dumbledore had conjured a grand chair, and had seated himself by the snake-faucet sink. When Harry left the Chamber of Secrets, and walked up the tunnel and into the lavatory, Dumbledore would be waiting for him.
Dumbledore considered the problem of how to Obliviate all of Harry's today-gained knowledge, when he eventually would emerge from the tunnel with three friends with him. Such a task would be a challenge for Dumbledore, since he no longer had the use of the Elder Wand; plus, his Obliviating of Harry would have three witnesses.
Hours later: 6:20 p.m.
In the library of the Chamber of Secrets
The teens by now had looked through more than sixty green-covered books or their blue-covered translations.
All four teens had discovered spells that could be used in the upcoming duel: both offensive and defensive. They had made notes about each spell, plus the title of the blue-cover book that each spell was described in.
The four teens then shared their findings. Alas, nobody had found the Holy Grail of defensive spells: a spoken Parseltongue spell that would block all three Unforgivables. However, Hermione had found a supercharged Parseltongue version of Protego that lasted longer before attacks could destroy it. (Alas, §Protego§ also magically exhausted its caster much faster than did regular Protego.)
After everyone shared their findings, Harry copied the matching green-cover, Parseltext books, then the green duplicate-books were dropped into Hermione's beaded handbag.
Harry vanished the blue-cover translations and put the green-cover books that had come from shelves here, back on those shelves. (For respecting library books, Harry was given a kiss by Hermione.)
By now, everyone was hungry, so it was time to leave the Chamber of Secrets. But how could the four teens leave the Chamber, when surely Dumbledore was waiting to pounce?
Everyone left the library and entered the "snake room"; then Harry locked, then hid, the library door. The four teens walked out of the "snake room" tunnel and stepped out of stone-Slytherin's open mouth.
Now Harry was again in the main chamber, and he again saw the corpse of the slain basilisk. A thought occurred to him: This monster snake was a thousand years old when it died. How did it eat? Surely it ate more than whatever rats wandered in. There must be a way the basilisk could leave here to go hunt.
Then a way to solve this mystery occurred to Harry. "Greyclay," he called. Unlike Dobby and Winky, Greyclay had no connexion to Hogwarts at all; if the Hogwarts wards would let Greyclay enter the Chamber of Secrets, then Dumbledore would have nothing he could threaten Greyclay wi—
Pop. The Potter head house-elf asked Harry, "How can Greyclay serve Lord Black-Potter?"
Harry said, "The dead basilisk here, somehow it could leave the Chamber of Secrets to hunt. Find out how it left."
"Greyclay obeys Lord Black-Potter." Pop.
All the teens were silent whilst they waited for the house-elf to return. Ten seconds after the house-elf disappeared, he popped back.
"Lord Black-Potter," the house-elf said, "Greyclay found sneaky-sneaky tunnel that big evil snakey used."
"Walk us there, don't magically transport us just yet," Harry commanded.
From the Myrtle-lavatory tunnel and the gap in the caved-in ceiling, to Slytherin's stone head, was a wide stone walkway with statues of hissing snakes on either side. Harry had not noticed, three years ago—his mind had been busy with other thoughts at the time—but the hissing-snake statues were far enough apart from each other that the basilisk could have slithered between them.
Now Greyclay walked on the stone walkway towards the cave-in, but between the fourth and fifth snake-statues on the right side, Greyclay turned right. When Harry turned to follow Greyclay, he saw ahead a weakly-glowing hole in the Chamber's wall ahead. Greyclay led Harry right up to the hole in the wall; now Harry could smell fresh air. Harry saw that the hole was just big enough that he could stick his hand, up to his thumb, in the hole.
Greyclay said to Harry, "Lord Black-Potter must say the same snakey-words that brought Lord Black-Potter to big room, to open this tunnel."
"§Open§," Harry said. The tiny hole enlarged itself, till nothing blocked the four teens from entering a tall, wide tunnel beyond the wall. The tunnel was long as well—the glow of sunlight was far ahead.
Harry waited till his three friends had stepped into the tunnel, then spoke "§Close§" to return the configuration to having a stone wall at the end of the tunnel with a small hole in the wall.
Then Harry said, "Greyclay, please let us know when we're beyond the wards." Harry let Greyclay set the walking-pace, whilst Harry and the others followed the house-elf.
Maybe two minutes later, four teenaged humans and a house-elf were walking along the much-brighter tunnel. Greyclay said, "Lord Black-Potter, Greyclay now is beyond the wards. Step forwards and Lord Black-Potter will be beyond the wards too."
Harry stepped forwards—and felt like he received a static-electricity shock.
Seconds later, Harry, Hermione, Daphne and Neville all were outside the Hogwarts wards.
Meanwhile, in Myrtle's lavatory
Dumbledore suddenly leapt up from his chair. "No, not the basilisk tunnel! How did Harry find out about that?"
Ghost-Myrtle sneered, "Did my handsome Harry escape the castle without talking to you? Aww, poor ickle overreaching headmaster."
Back in the basilisk tunnel
Out of curiosity, Harry continued walking out of the tunnel. At the end of the tunnel was an iron grate, with the horizontal and vertical bars so close together than no creature bigger than a kitten could enter the tunnel. Outside the grate, Harry saw trees, nervous squirrels and a twenty-foot-diameter spider web between two trees.
"§Open§," Harry said. With a loud noise, the iron grate rose up out of sight.
"§Close§," Harry commanded. The grate noisily moved down again, to again block anyone who was outside from entering the tunnel.
"This last little part of the hike was for you, Hermione," Harry said. "I knew you'd be curious."
Hermione grinned at Harry and kissed him.
At Harry's command, Greyclay elf-popped the teens from the basilisk tunnel to Potter Manor.