Chapter 46 An Old Man's Folly

Dumbledore's POV

Dumbledore sat fuming, looking at the spot Harry and Sirius had just disappeared from. He had never been so dismissed before, not even since Harry had lost his memory. Ever since that child was brought back to the castle it was one rebut after another, but this was the worst, and he wasn't sure how he should handle it. Perhaps, if he got the one horcrux that he knew of, and showed to the boy, maybe then Harry would cooperate. With that thought in mind, he quickly Disapparated to Little Hangleton. Making his way down the dark path to the Gaunt Shack, which looked like a strong wind could blow it down at any second. He stood and studied the wards. They were formidable, but nothing he couldn't handle with a bit of cunning, or failing that, brute strength.

He drew the Elder Wand and started dismantling the wards. One after the other, they fell to his casting. The closer he got to the house, the more cautious he became. Inch by inch, foot by foot, he gained ground, until he was at the front door, which had a parseltongue password. He grimaced at the snake nailed to the door. The Gaunts were a nasty family, that should have all been put in Azkaban before the daughter had created one Tom Marvolo Riddle. From the memories he had viewed, none of them were redeemable. Not even Merope, sad though her story was. The things she did to her abusive family were not something that Dumbledore thought anyone should do, especially family. Then she potioned that poor man into falling in love with her. No, not even she could have been saved.

Gathering up his Gryffindor courage, he blasted the wall next to the door, negating the password. The inside was just as dismal as the out. The dust and dirt covered everything, the air was dry and stale, and the furniture was rotting with a dry musky smell, much like that of a disused classroom in the castle. There were slithering tracks on the floor, letting the old man know that there was, or had been, a snake in the house. He created a ball of light and pushed it magically into the room, casting the shadows away. He looked around and didn't see a serpent, so he carefully took a step into the house. One step at a time, never letting his guard down, he made his way to where he could feel the evil coming from. It was so thick he could almost taste it.

Casting a detection charms and following his finding to the middle of the room, he found the spot where there seemed to be fresh snake tracks. They were in a circle, like the snake had slithered there, numerous times. Perhaps, it was guarding that spot. He tapped his spectacles to see if there was anything alive in the shack. Instead of body heat, they could find heart beats. There in the corner was a coiled up, disillusioned snake. It looked to be ready to strike at any moment. A quick trapping charm, which would fade in a few hours, and the snake was in a cage. No need to kill the poor thing.

He was now free to see what lay under the floor. Carefully he lifted the loose boards up and peered into the dark hole. A Lumos, and he could now see a box. It was a small red velvet ring box, laying there so innocently. Not one to be fooled by looks, Dumbledore lifted the box magically and placed it on the floor. Casting a few more charms to see what dangers it held, he noted that there were a few deadly curses on the container itself. Conjuring a bag, he levitated the box into the opening and pocketed the whole thing. He'd look at it later. Right now, he wanted to leave, since he was sure Tom was nearby. With a 'crack' he was gone.

Harry's POV

Harry took him and his godfather to The Three Broomsticks. They arrived in a puff of smoke in the alley next to the building. With a causal air, they stepped out and went into the inn. "Well, at least now I know what he wanted. I still can't believe that he thought by telling me these things that I would suddenly cooperate," Harry said as they grabbed seats at the bar. He put of a ward for eavesdroppers and settled down.

"That's Dumbledore for you. He has always had an air of self-importance. He is too used to everyone doing what he asks that it confuses him when they don't," Sirius said, flagging down Madam Rosmerta. He mouthed their order, and she gave them a nod and continued to serve the person in front of her.

"Still, him and McGonagall need to realize that they have not earned a bit of respect from me. Both of them have violated me in one form or another. The old man, my mind, and the old woman, my freedom," the teen groused, putting his head on his folded arms. He was so tired. He thought coming to Hogsmeade would wind him down, but the bastard had to ruin that. He gave a great sigh and sat back up. He was going to have a good time, and not let that arsehole destroy his night.

"So, do you really think Peter is going to die?" Sirius asked with glee. Nothing would give him greater pleasure than knowing his traitor ex-friend would be laying dead on the ground. He hoped that Peter's last thought were on how wrong he was to choose the side that he did. And that he deeply regretted turning his back on his friends. Padfoot hoped that Prongs and Lily were waiting for that backstabbing bastard. They'd give him hell, if he didn't head there first.

"Yeah, he was bleeding pretty badly. I don't know if… Tom can stop it in the form he's in," a smiling Harry answered. He figured he'd use the man's real name, so people wouldn't freak out. He wanted to enjoy his time here and not cause a riot, or whatever rot that name would induce.

"Well, here's to hoping," the dogman replied as he lifted the firewhiskey that Rosmerta had just set in front of him and clicking it to Harry's butterbeer. He took a drink and gave her a nod. She smiled and went to wait on someone else. It was a busy night here.

"I'll tell Bones tomorrow when I see her. Maybe, they can find the body and prove once and for all that you're innocent," the teen said with a hopeful look. While he liked hanging out with the younger looking Sirius, he was sure the man wanted his life back. He knew that he wanted to remember and then go on with life— whole. The burst of memories he had been getting made him ever hopeful.

"Don't worry about it, I think I'll just open another vault and call the Black line dead. Though, that means I have to magically take a new name. Any suggestions?" Sirius asked, taking another sip of his drink. He had thought long and hard about it. And the Black name was too dark to try and turn. If he died, then Malfoy and his ilk would get everything. If he killed the name, then they would get nothing. He would, of course, put aside some money for Andromeda and her family, the rest could suffer for all he cared.

"How about McCarthy? It sounds nothing like Black," Harry suggested, pulling a name out of nowhere.

"Like the non-magical singer. No thanks, I need a wizarding sounding name," was the reply.

"Ummm, okay, wizarding. How about Jenkins?"

"Hmmm, that sounds close, like hijinks. Could be. Anything else?"

Harry giggled as a name popped into his head. "Holegend Dumblewhite?" he asked, watching to see the other man's reaction.

Sirius spit his drink across the bar. "You're joking, right? That's not even a proper name," he all but snapped. "Get serious, would you?"

"I can't you, that's you. All joking aside, are you going to change your first name? It's kinda recognizable."

"I don't know, I really like my first name. But, you're right it's a pretty rare name. Maybe keep it as my middle name?" Sirius said deep in thought. He hadn't really thought about his first name. He liked it too much to just get rid of it.

"You know, I think we're thinking too hard on this. Go simple, like Sirius Reggie Grey," was the final suggestion.

"Why did you pick Reggie?" the glamored man asked.

"Don't know, it just sounds right," the teen shrugged.

"Yeah, I could do that, or Reggie Sirius Grey. That'll work too," Sirius said, thinking about his younger brother. The time spent in Azkaban had laid to rest the hate he had for the dead man. He understood the peer pressure that Regulus had faced. The poor man had been faced with it from all sides. His mum, his dad, his extend family, his friends in school, and finally the Dark Lord. Regulus didn't stand a chance. Still, he'd have to think on it whether or not to take that name.

"Anyway, let's drop this for now, and see if we can't just relax and have a good night," Harry said, seeing how melancholy his godfather was getting. He had no idea why that name put that look on Sirius' face, but was sure he would tell him when he wanted. Until then, they could just chill and talk about girls or something.

So that's what they did for the rest of the night, Sirius talking about his latest conquest and Harry going over his feeling for his two female friends.

Amelia's POV

The next morning Madam Bones arrived at her office bright and early. She needed to find out what happened to Cornelius and Dolores. They had both been missing since the Potter boy's kidnapping. She was sure it was them, all evidence pointed that way. She wasn't sure how, but they were guilty, and they needed to pay for it. Taking all the witnesses reports and going over them one more time did nothing to find out where they were. She would have to search the office again, even if she had to rap on every wall in the room to see if there were more secret passages. But, she didn't have the time at the moment. She had too much to do today, and she didn't trust this to anyone else that wasn't going to busy for the next couple of days. She really wished Mad-eye were healthy, even though he was friends with Dumbledore, he's first priority had always been the safety of the public. Alas, he was still recovering, albeit mentally from his kidnapping. The poor man was more paranoid then ever and hadn't left his house since he went home. He wouldn't even take firecalls without a password.

She put it to the folder to the side and called the team she had organized to hunt the horcruxes. Pushing a rune on her desk, "Debra, call Andger, Wallatter, and Sullivanspell to my office, please." It had taken the better part of the day and night to come up with people that had no relation to Dumbledore, Fudge, or Malfoy. The whole department seemed riddled with those that had their loyalty to someone other than Wizarding Britain.

Two men and one woman entered the door. She waved the woman to close it. Putting her finger to her lip, she cast the spell to make sure there were no listening charms on her office. Something she was doing everyday now. Seeing none there and throwing up some wards, she waved them to the chairs in front of her desk. "I have called you here for a very important assignment," she started.

"Why us?" the female, Sullivanspell, asked. "We're just rookies."

"Yes, but none of you have outside affiliations," Bones stated. "What I have to tell you is top secret. No one, and I mean no one, is to know about it. I need your sworn oath that anything discussed in here, remains in here." She looked all of them dead in the eye to show just how serious she was.

"Is it a suicide assignment? Because I have a wife and two kids," Wallatter said with a bit of trepidation. He was a patriot, but he was not ready to die for anyone just yet.

"While it is dangerous, no, it is not one you will not come back from. If you keep your head," she reassured them. They all nodded, relaxed and gave their oaths. Bones got up, opened her safe, pulled out the rubber ball and placed it on the desk. "This is a horcrux, which means there's a piece of You-Know-Who's soul in there. As long as this remains, he will not die. I would destroy it, but we may need it to make sure there are no more. Your assignment is to find all of these vile things and report back to me. Once we've found them all, we will hire a curse breaker to rid us of them, or hand them to the DoM. To my knowledge, which I admit is limited, there were seven, one had been destroyed. There's this one, making five to find."

"How will we find them? There is very little known about He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named," Andger asked, ready to get started. Being a muggleborn, he was all for eliminating the world of that man.

"Ah, I have recently been told that his birthname is Tom Marvolo Riddle. He's a half-blood born to a muggle father, so that's where you will start," Bones said with a smirk. Lupin had told her right before Potter had been kidnapped. He had learned it from Potter, who in turned was reminded of that fact by the Granger girl.

"You-Know-Who is a half-blood!?" came the disbelieving voices of the three Aurors.

"Yes, so see if you can find out where his father came from, that might give you clues on his life," was the firm response. Lupin had only told her the muggle's name, she had no clue as to who the mother was, only that she was a witch. She gave them their assignments and then sent them to get started. Potter would be here any minute and she needed to get her files in order.

A short time later the boy in question was shown into her office with another young man. "Mr. Potter, please, take a seat and introduce me to your friend," she all but demanded, not liking that the kid had brought someone else in.

"Sure thing," Harry said, taking a chair. "This is my godfather, Sirius Black." He waved to the man taking the chair next to him.

"Mr. Potter, this is no time for your games. I know what Black looks like and this is not him," she said, waving her wand to dispel the glamor and then to check for Polyjuice when that didn't work.

"I assure you, Madam, I am Sirius Black. This is something Harry did to me, so I can walk the streets," Sirius stated with a smirk.

"Impressive," she complimented, she had never seen such a fine piece of magic. Not even her strongest spell dispersed the charm.

"Yeah, he's one of a kind," Black said proudly, clapping the unembarrassed boy on the shoulder.

"I do what I can," Potter said smugly.

"Back to the matter at hand, I got your note, but I need to make sure it covered everything. So, can you let me view your memory of the incident?" she asked, hoping to get something that would nail the missing Minister.

"Tell me how it's done first," the dark-haired teen stated firmly.

"Just think of the time it happened, and I'll copy the memory by putting my wand to your head and pulling it out," she explained as succinctly as she could.

"So, you're not taking my memory, just copying it?" He knew his friends had reassured him last night, but it never hurts to get confirmation.

"Yes."

Harry shrugged, looked at his godfather, who also shrugged. "Okay," he said, sending a mental warning to prepare the memories he wanted to give her. He had Data tie the two together, so they would come out in one go. "There's two that you should see, one with Fudge, and the other with Voldemort. I've put them together, so you can take them at one go," he informed her.

"Very well," she said, wondering how he did that. "Think of what you want me to know," she instructed as she put her wand to his temple. "Got it?" she asked. He nodded. "I'm going to pull them out now." And then did just that. She then put them into the waiting pensieve, and dove right in.

The two men just arched their brows and waited, passing the time wondering what the rest of the group was doing.

Neville's POV

Neville had had a hard night. He was just too worried about his friend, even though he knew he was with his godfather, there were just too many things that could happen. Last night they didn't even talk about it. They just silently went to bed to mull over what it meant to not have Harry in the castle. Deciding there was little he could do about it right now, he got out of bed and readied for the day. As he reached the bottom of the stairs, he saw Hermione and the twins in a huddle. It looked like they were planning something mischievous. Neville was surprised to see Hermione scheming, she was usually more rule abiding. "Hey, guys, what are you talking about?" he asked as he sat near them.

"Well, we were discussing the Ball. I figured it might be a great prank on Professor McGonagall if the twins took either me or Luna. That way one of us is taking two dates," she said with a cat like grin.

"Yeah, to get around the rule, which I don't believe is a rule, one of us will go stag," Fred said, looking at his brother, who nodded.

"But, we'll all dance at the same time. Switching off who dances mid-step. So, if I start then during the twirl I'd hand her off to Fred," George said, nodding to Hermione.

"We were just deciding on who they would take. I'd like to go with them, but we should ask Luna first."

"That's a great idea, I'll take the one not asked," Neville said, grinning broadly.

Just then a depressed looking Colin came down the stairs. He looked like he had been crying.

"Oh, Colin, what's the matter?" Hermione asked, going to the young boy and putting an arm on his shoulders. She guided him to the group and sat him down in a chair. She then returned to the couch.

"They're going to kick me out of the Club for making it so Harry had to leave," the boy sniffed, wiping his nose on his robe sleeve.

"Um, what club?" she asked with a bit nervousness.

"The Harry Potter Fan Club," he answered despondently. "I'm the president, but they can still vote me out. And after last night they have a reason too," he all but wailed.

"Umm, Colin, who's part of this club?" Fred asked, fearful that his sister would have joined.

"Well, there's actually quite a few people from all Houses, but I can't tell you their names. We were sworn to secrecy," he answered, drying his eyes. "Why, did you want to join? Because, that would be awesome," he gushed, thinking if he could get Harry's friends to be part of the club them might not boot him.

"That would be a no. While, I like Harry, I'm not a 'fan'," Fred answered, and all Harry's friends nodded in agreement.

"Oh," was all Colin said as he slumped his shoulders, got off the chair and wandered off, trying to think of a way he could retain his precious position.

"He's a bit creepy," Neville stated as he watched the depressed boy go.

"Yeah," came the voices of the others.

"Anyway, let's go find Luna and tell her the plan," he suggested, heading towards the door.

They met up with her and were unsurprised that she already knew the plan and stated that she would be going with Neville. The group laughed and cheered up at the thought of pissing off the teachers, especially McGonagall.

Harry's POV

Bones came out of the pensieve, pensive. She had viewed the memories and hoped that they would lead her to those she sought. But, there was little she could do with them. Sure, they showed that Voldemort was indeed still among the… well, not living, but he was still around. "I'm sorry that you had such a thing a happen to you," she said to the boy waiting.

Harry shrugged, "From what I've been told, this is normal for me," he said.

"Still, if we ever find Fudge then you can press charges. As of right now, he has disappeared," she stated with a grimace. It was a thorn in her side to not know where the stupid man had gotten off to.

"I already have my lawyer working on it," the boy confessed.

"I would really like to know where those secret passages are," she mussed, thinking that it would be a boon to have that knowledge.

"Hey, Sirius, do you remember how to make the map?" Harry asked turning to his godfather.

"Sure, it really wasn't that hard once we got the logistics down," the man answered with a shrug.

"We should make one up for here," Harry suggested, waving his hand over his head to indicate the building.

"The problem with that is, you have to know where your going, or have at least been there once," came the disappointing answer.

"How about you make the map, and I'll fill in the details?" was the rejoinder.

"Can't hurt to try." And with that the glamored man took a sheet of parchment from Bones' desk and started waving his wand over it.

"What is this map you two are speaking of?" she asked, watching the older man create… something.

"It'll show you everyone in the building and all the rooms and hidden passages. Don't worry I'll make sure that only the head of this department can use it. To everyone else it will be a written report on cauldron bottoms," Harry said as he too watched Sirius. When the man was done, he took the map and concentrated. He poured his magic into the parchment with the intent that it covered the whole building. Line after line started to form as names popped up over tiny footprints. Then he thought the hidden places to be colored blue, so she'd know where to look. He made sure to add the security measure, and when it was completed, he handed it to Bones. "There you go, that should help," he said with a smirk.

She goggled at the map in her hand, it even showed the Department of Mysteries. There were even passwords over locked doorways. "This is incredible," she gushed, since this would make her job much easier.

"No, problem," both men stated.

"Well, if you two don't have anything to tell me then I must get back to work," she said, still staring at the map.

"I'm good," Harry said, getting out of his seat.

"Me too," stated Sirius as he too got up. "Let me know when you find anything out, would you?" he added, noting her distracted air.

"Of course," she said, waving them away.

With that the two men left the office and made their way to the atrium. "So, now what?" Harry asked, knowing that his friends were in class.

"Let's go to my parent old house, Grimmuald Place," Sirius suggested, gaining a nod from his godson.

"Sure, what could it hurt?"