Chapter 17

One of the strange things to come out of all the 'Echoes' business, thought Harry, was that Hopkins had remained the school's Headmaster until the end of the Summer Program. It was not the real Hopkins, of course, but rather the Echo version — the plan being for Honeywell to eventually take over once all the rumours had died down.

But in spite of everything that had happened, the biggest surprise of the summer didn't arrive until just a few minutes before the start of their Quidditch game. A loud rumbling, like an earthquake, had rang through the foyer of the Dartford castle — and Harry, Ron and Hermione — who were just heading out to the field — had sprinted over to see what was going on.

'Blimey…' a familiar voice was muttering, 'oh — sorry abou' that… I'm sure yeh can fix it, can't yeh…'

The house elf, Nima, was looking at the floor in disbelief; the tiles on the floor were all broken and smashed, and what Harry suspected had once been a very beautiful statue was now nothing more than a pile of brick dust.

'Honestly, though,' Hagrid went on. 'Yeh' can' be usin' Portkeys indoors… who's in charge around here? Where's the Headmaster, eh?'

'He is not seeing wizards just now,' said Nima primly. 'What is you wanting with us?' she questioned. 'What is your business?'

'Hagrid!' Hermione called out. 'What are you doing here?'

'Hermione — Ron?' said Hagrid. He then noticed Harry, and said, 'Yeh haven't started yet, have yeh?'

'Haven't started what?' Harry asked.

'The Quidditch game, o' course!' Hagrid replied. 'Figured I'd get here a bit earlier, but then something came up — had to deal with a bit of business for next year…' There was a mysterious twinkle in his eye.

'Anyway, Dumbledore'll be over in a jus' a minute,' said Hagrid. 'He won' be takin' no Portkey, though I'll tell yeh that...'

'Dumbledore's coming?' said Harry.

''Course he is!' said Hagrid heartily. 'You invited him, didn' yeh? We were just in the pumpkin patch, me and him, discussin' — well… as I said, somethin' fer next year… and a great snowy owl flew down an' dropped us a letter…'

'Hedwig?' said Harry in surprise.

'Here yeh go,' said Hagrid, handing him a bent and crumpled piece of parchment.

As Harry looked over the letter — which he had clearly never sent — he suddenly realised what had happened. 'This is it,' he said to Ron and Hermione. 'That man I saw in the owlery, well, it must've been Hopkins… and he was using Hedwig to send this to Hagrid!'

'But why would he do that?' Ron asked.

'I don't know…'

Hermione sighed. 'Well, isn't it obvious?' she said to them. 'Headmaster Hopkins invited Dumbledore to the game because he wanted to make his own Echo!' She shook her head in wonderment. 'With a copy of Dumbledore,' she explained, 'Hopkins could've done all sorts of things — he could've killed the real one, then have the Echo teach at Dartford instead… or maybe lock up Dumbledore in the Void — force him to teach Hopkins all his powerful magic…'

'Kill Dumbledore?' said Hagrid, bewildered.

'Iffy plan, I reckon, if you're trying to knock off the greatest wizard ever,' said Ron. 'Though you've got to admit, he's getting on these days… how old is he now, like, two-hundred and twenty-three?'

'Not quite yet, Mr Weasley,' said another familiar voice.

They all turned around at the same time to see a thin, old man with a long, silver beard; the man's eyes were twinkling behind his half-moon spectacles.

Ron looked horrified that Dumbledore had heard him, but Dumbledore just chuckled.

'I see that the three of you have taken part in some extracurricular learning this summer,' he said enthusiastically. 'I trust that you've managed to gain some valuable knowledge while you've been here?'

Harry, Ron and Hermione looked at each other.

'I suppose so,' said Harry 'Er — Professor — it's nice of you to come visit us, and everything, but someone else actually sent you that letter —'

'Ah, yes,' said Dumbledore keenly. 'You must be referring to David Hopkins, a former student of mine at Hogwarts. I believe that, until very recently, he was the headmaster of this school.'

'Well, yes, Professor,' said Harry. 'But —'

'It's all right, Harry,' said Dumbledore. 'I am aware of the events that transpired this summer.' He looked solemn. 'I happen to have some contacts over at the Welsh Ministry of Magic,' he explained, 'and I am very sorry indeed to hear what happened to Headmaster Hopkins.'

'Oh,' said Harry. 'Right.'

Dumbledore smiled. 'In any event,' he went on, 'it's now been a good few months since the final of the Quidditch Cup, so I am eager to head to the stands for today's "exhibition game". I'm sure that you and Mr Weasley will do Hogwarts proud.'