Chapter 089

"Master Harry, Sir?" asked the excitable little elf. "What cans Dobby be doings for the Grea... I mean, Master Harry, Sir?"

Kindly, Harry replied, "Dobby; thank you very much, for moving both Hermione's and my things from Hogwarts to here. But, I need you to move my things from the floor above into this room and ensuite."

When the elf frowned, Harry was quick to say, "I've now decided I like this room better, because it has its own ensuite bathroom."

That perked the elf up and he eagerly replied, "Yes, Master Harry, Sir!"

A quick two seconds of popping away and popping back and all Harry's things were now in the room or ensuite, depending on the item.

Harry took a quick look around and said, "Good job, Dobby. Now, did you find any tracking charms or the like?"

"Yes, Master Harry, Sir! Dobby be findings many tracky charms and others on much of Master Harry's Miss Grangy's thingsies. Dobby stripped them all away likes Master Harry, sez."

"Were there any charms or the like you left on Miss Granger's things you thought should remain?" he asked.

"Onlys things like charms for... auto-updating... a book," then the little elf blushed and looked away. "There was potions in Miss Grangy's things but theys be still in bottles. Dobby not touch them."

Hermione gave a little 'Eep!" sound and bolted out of the room. Harry heard her through the door as she ran up the stairs. The female auror with them hurried after her, possibly thinking something was wrong.

"That's excellent, Dobby," said Harry, otherwise ignoring the 'rampaging hippogriff' sound of Hermione running up the stairs. "Very good job. How went the search of the property?"

Again the elf immediately perked up and replied, "Dobby be finding a wardy before goblin-folk and their wizards turnses up. It be an alert ward to see if a wizard or witch be on the property. Dobby also be finding a listening charm on... muggle thing with curly-cord. Dobby take that away, too!"

'Telephone,' he immediately thought. "Good job again, Dobby!"

Thinking about it, he realised he had nothing else for the elf to do for now, so chose his fall-back order. "In that case, you're free to find work for yourself or rest, as you need or desire."

With a short bow and a happy smile, the little elf popped away again.

"Wards?" asked the quiet of the two male aurors with a cocked eyebrow.

"Yes," replied Harry. "All legal as far as wizarding law applies. One is an intent-based ward for muggles that will... redirect the thoughts of muggles with ill-intent towards the occupants of this home to another property. That's the only one that actually applies to muggles. The second, layered a yard inside that, is an intent-based ward for wizards. If they approach with ill-intent it will immediately stun them as soon as they set foot on the property. There's another that is now keyed to Dumbledore's magical signature - please don't ask me to explain that one - that will immediately stun him, irrespective of his intent.

"For both of those Dobby has been instructed to transport the twits direct to the DMLE bullpen, where he is then to explain to any auror in the room why they were stunned and brought there. I can order him to deliver them to one of you, if you like, instead.

"No," the auror disagreed. "Have him leave them in place and alert one of us to the wizard or witch and we'll take it from there."

Harry gave a nod and continued. "The next ones are just a fire retardant, rather than fire-proofing ward, and an alert ward that informs me and Dobby if someone steps over the ward line. Of course, if they're here with ill-intent it will only alert us that they tried. If they make it to the front door and ring the bell we'll know they're here and have no intention of harming us. Plus, there's an inner ring of two that are the anti-portkey and anti-apparation wards."

"That's it?" asked the auror.

"As far as I'm aware, yes," nodded Harry. "I cannot see the goblins setting up any other wards without being paid for them. And none of them know who they set up the wards for; only my account manager."

Harry did not mention the ward that blocked the use of magic used in the home being detected by the Ministry. That was because it also interfered with 'The Trace' that tracked under-age magic use. But, unlike the Fidelius charm that did it as a side-effect, this one did it deliberately. He might now be exempt, but Hermione wasn't.

"Why the Dumbledore specific one?" pressed the auror.

"Because I have no doubt, whatsoever, that the old man is going to turn up here within the next day or two with the intent of trying to force me to return to Hogwarts," Harry emphatically replied.

"He's been ordered to stay away from you," frowned the auror.

Harry just laughed and adopted a Dumbledore tone of voice. "Ah! Harry-my-boy! I'm sure, once Amelia comes to her senses, she will completely understand why it was necessary for me to escort you back to Hogwarts. You are, after all, in danger when you're away from the protection of Hogwarts or your loving family's home."

That had the auror again cock his eyebrow. But, this time, he also smirked. In a droll voice, he said, "Nice impression."

Wryly, Harry smirked back and said, "With the amount of times that man has demanded I speak with him in private... read: Obliviate the shit out of me... I've come to develop quite the understanding of his inflections, intonations, manner of speech and the bullshit he spouts to get his own way."

That had the auror openly grin.

As they were about to head out and back downstairs, Harry held him back for a moment.

"Please don't tell Hermione or the Grangers anything about the wards. Especially, how much they cost," he begged.

"You had them erected without their permission?" he asked, again frowning.

"I shall talk to them about it, this evening," promised Harry. "Just not the cost. And I had it done early because I knew Dumbledore would be here before I could get their permission, then contract the goblins to get it done, and then actually have it done."

"Then, I won't press the issue," he said. "The law concerning permission was brought in to stop witches and wizards from stealing muggle properties. There's no intent on your behalf to do that here."

"No," replied Harry. "Thank you."

The auror just gave a simple nod back and they all headed back downstairs again.

_‗_

―==(oIo)==―

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As the teens with their auror escorts arrived at Hermione's home, Dumbledore was arriving at Hogwarts. As far as he knew, the school 'day' had just completed and dinner was not scheduled for an hour.

He had headed directly to the school as soon as he recovered his wand, spectacles, portkeys, money pouch and other effects that had been removed from him before he was first tossed into a holding cell. He was not prepared to wait any longer at the Ministry to discover new information before he departed, because a pack of journalists was hounding him as soon as he stepped out of the DMLE secure area.

As per his norm he flooed directly to his office, so he missed learning from anyone - staff, students or even the visiting schools - about the loss of a lot of his staff. The aurors had refused to inform him and he didn't want to come across in public not knowing what was going on concerning something he, as Headmaster, should be aware.

His first order of business was to immediately head to his private apartment to bathe and change. He'd been forced to wear the same robes for the past week and they were now both dirty and, he detected, reeked of unwashed man scent. He would be ordering the house elves not to bother cleaning them, just burn them.

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