Chapter 084
In his mind, Harry went through all the times it was Hagrid that interacted with him and could see what Dumbledore had done. It was clear to Harry that, over the last decade and a half at least, the old man had set Hagrid up to take the fall should his machinations ever come to light, which they had.
"Son... of... a... bitch!" he quietly exclaimed.
Turning to Hermione he asked, "Hermione, are you currently carrying on you parchment, ink and a quill? Please say yes."
Without even replying she simply reached into her robes and pulled out just that before handing it over to him.
Harry wasn't even surprised she had them.
He quickly cast a copying charm on the parchment to multiply the number of sheets she'd given him and set to writing.
Half listening in to the trial he was quickly jotting down notes. He was determined Hagrid wasn't going to get screwed over by Dumbledore, as the old man seemed determined to do to save his own skin.
He hated the wizarding public media. And, though he'd not listened to much of it, he wasn't too fond of the wizarding wireless either. Both seemed to think 'news' was the journalist picking and choosing what facts they wanted to report and then giving their own spin on what really happened; even if that spin meant the reader or listener was led to a false conclusion.
However, while he also thought Hagrid was even more dense and daft than the average witch or wizard, it did not mean he was going to let the gentle half-giant get roasted in either media as a result of Dumbledore's claims at his trial.
No; Harry was, for the first time ever, going to give a statement to the press. But, to ensure no journalist could claim they misheard him when... not if... they misquoted him or misattributed something said to him, he would be giving them that statement in writing.
Then, he would warn them if they tried such a stunt he would be quite willing to sue the arses off them. He hoped it would be enough to stop it in its tracks. If Rita Bloody Skeeter was there, he'd be telling her she could soon expect a visit from his 'legal team'.
As the trial progressed it more and more appeared Dumbledore would not be found guilty of the major ones, except for the multiple obliviation attempts on Harry.
Even the charms and curses placed on staff and students found were of magical signatures that did not quite match Dumbledore's. When an expert on magical signatures was sworn in and asked if it could still be Dumbledore who performed them, he replied, "It could be. But it would mean Mister Dumbledore would have to have cast them with a different wand than the one he carried."
Bones asked, "Is there any other way to tell?"
"Sorry, no."
"And, if we find that wand?" she pressed.
"Then, yes," replied the expert. "Definitely."
However, Harry knew damned well no one would be finding that wand. It wouldn't even take a Fidelius charm to hide it, even though a Fidelius charm was well within Dumbledore's capabilities - as demonstrated by him placing that charm on the Potter Cottage in 1981. He merely had to put it somewhere in a hidden cubbyhole. No magic needed. His Occlumency skills would block anyone trying to get the knowledge of its location from his mind.
One thing Harry did know, though, was that the wand had to be in Hogwarts, somewhere. And he further suspected it had to be somewhere near the Headmaster's office, if not within it.
If he had the opportunity he was going to track the damned thing down.
"What about Dumbledore's magical signature with magic cast wandlessly?" she asked.
"The magical signature of the charms is not a match with that, either."
Then Harry had the thought that the 'wand' that modified Dumbledore's signature might not be a wand at all. At least, not in the traditional sense. His study of wand-lore, trying to make sense of why he had a wand that matched Riddle's when they were two completely different people, allowed him to think of the problem in a lateral manner.
The 'wand' - or, rather, the magical foci used to focus one's magic and direct it - could actually be anything and any size. All that was needed was for the core to be some part of a magical creature capable of channelling the expressed magic; and the container, that which surrounded the core, to be of a non-magical organic material. He knew other materials capable of being made into wands included bone, shell, teeth or fangs, horn, tusk, hardened carapace or even stiffened animal hide as such examples. Plus, the organic container could only be lacquered and polished using organic non-magical material. The connection between hand and magical core had to be completely organic. Any non-organic material would interrupt the flow of magic.
As such, the magical foci could truly be of any size with only two true limitations: First, too large and the witch/wizard could not wield it; and second, too small and the witch/wizard would burn the core out in very short order.
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