HPWW171-180

Chapter 171

As for Dumbledore, the moment Fawkes brutally

severed the bond it knocked the old man

unconscious. The flash of the heat combusting and

expanding the closest air around the bird, knocked

the now unconscious man forward over the desk,

bending at the waist; before the weight of his legs and

hips, almost hanging off the side of the desk, dragged

him slowly back until he collapsed in a heap behind.

The house elf that was standing invisibly in the corner

over near the door leading back out into the

classroom and watching all this unfold was instantly,

though temporarily, blinded by the bright light and

drying of his corneas and had to call for help over the

bond to other elves to come help him. He was lucky

he wasn't standing closer at the time. His blindness

might have become permanent.

Once the elves collected their injured compatriot and

rushed him off for treatment from healers of their own

kind, one returned to take note of what happened.

Knowing the new Headmistress would not want

anything touched, he gave a nod to himself and elfpopped to her office.

_‗_

―==(oIo)==―

ˇ

Marchbanks had only just returned to her own office -

she had about the same distance as Dumbledore to

travel, but she was about two thirds slower due to her

need to use a cane, much shorter legs, and less spry

nature - a house elf popped in.

"Yes?" she asked it.

"Lady Headmistress," it replied. "Bevvy must be

tellings you old Perfesser Whiskers is... un-con-shus.

Cocking an eyebrow at the elf, she asked, "And, do

you know how that happened?"

"Yes, Lady Headmistress," it replied with much

sadness. "Firebirdy Fawksie did breaks his bond with

Perfesser Whiskers. It be sad."

With both eyebrows now raised in surprise, she

exclaimed, "Well, well! Old Fawkes finally had enough,

did he? Well, it's about damned time!"

Looking back at the elf she said, "I do not want the

room touched until I get down there and confirm

things for myself. Am I clear?"

"Yes, Lady Headmistress," it replied. "All elveses

know not to touch Perfesser Whiskerses office."

"Thank you. You have done well in letting me know

immediately. You may go," she said, giving a little

'shoo' gesture with her cane tip.

As the elf popped away, she gave a little cackle to

herself, turned around and exited the office again. She

knew she need not hurry. After the severing of such a

bond the old fool was going to be unconscious for

hours, at least. Then, be bedridden for at least a day.

As the door closed behind her, the portrait of

Headmaster Black laughed; loudly and gleefully.

From nearby, the portrait of Headmistress Mole

scolded, "Really, Phinneas."

That had the other portraits begin discussing this new

development.

_‗_

―==(oIo)==―

ˇ

Harry had run upstairs to bring his mirror down with

him and sat at the table with it in the dinette alongside

where Hermione remained waiting for him.

"Now that you're officially part of the House of Black,

plus my betrothed, it now means you're allowed to

know more of what I'm up to," he said by way of

explanation for why he was making the call in front of

her.

"I didn't know that would happen," she frowned.

"You weren't told because... let's face it... you're

addicted to learning new information," he replied. "I

didn't want the idea that you would learn about what

I'm up to to be an influence on your decision. That

would be me, playing on your desires. And that would

have been manipulative."

"Hmmm..." she said, smirking at him a little. "And

scaring Hell out of me about how a magical guardian

could effectively 'sell' me, didn't?"

"That was not my call," he firmly replied with a frown.

"I wanted you to make the decision on your own,

decide you'd go through with it, go through with it,

then we'd tell you. But your Dad didn't want to leave

anything to chance."

"He was protecting me," she quietly said.

"I know," he said. "But, I still thought it was unfair."

She was a few long moments of deep in thought

before she said, "He currently knows me better than

you, Harry."

"I know," he replied. "But―"

"Harry," she said, getting him to focus on her more

fully from where he had slightly looked away out the

window. "He was right."

"Hermione," he said just as seriously back. "The scare

would have only meant you had Sirius as your new

magical guardian. It did not mean you needed to enter

into the Betrothal Agreement."

She frowned and again thought for a few moments

before she shook her head. "No. I've had all night to

think about it, now. I even dreamed of it. I'd have

delayed it with the excuse I needed more time. Then

delayed, delayed and delayed more.

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Chapter 172

"By the time I finally decided to go through with it, it

might have been too late. We don't know how long it's

going to be until the new Headmistress picks a new

Head of House for Gryffindor. And the new Head of

House would probably already be in place, by then.

And then might not have been agreeable to release

magical guardianship of me to Sirius. It was too big a

risk.

"Now that it's been done, I'm kind of relieved I don't

have to worry about it any more. You know what I'm

like when I've got a big decision to make. I

procrastinate until I've worried the matter to the bone.

Getting it done last night means I'll not be worrying

about it."

"Just remember," he said. "Don't say them now

because it will activate that clause; but, all you need

to do is say that line to me and the Agreement is

terminated and voided on the spot."

"I know," she softly smiled. "Who's idea was that,

anyway?"

"The wording of the clause was Ted's," he replied.

"But, I was insistent on it, or some other form of it,

being included. Your father was very relieved when he

heard me demand that.

"I respect his protectiveness of you, you know? He

seems to have found the perfect balance between

being this knight, who stands before you ready to

defend you against all ill-intentioned comers, while

also letting you go off and find your own way.

"I hope I'll be half as good as he is at the role of being

a father when it comes my time to be one."

That earned him a long, gentle lips-to-lips kiss.

With her eyes sparkling a little she gave her throat a

little clear, nodded with her chin to the mirror and

softly said, "Call your godfather."

With a quick change of posture on his part, she

watched him change from sweet and loveable Harry

into the powerful, young man she knew him now to be

and then give a firm nod. She liked it.

"Padfoot."

_‗_

―==(oIo)==―

ˇ

Marchbanks was in the process of trying to unravel

the security and privacy charms Dumbledore had on

his office door when she suddenly stopped and

sighed. 'Idiot,' she thought of herself.

"Hogwarts," she firmly called. "As Headmistress and

for medical emergency purposes, I need immediate

access to the office of the Professor of

Transfigurations. Please remove all security charms

and the like from the door."

She almost felt the magic take effect.

Giving herself a firm nod, she stepped forward and

twisted the door handle. And the door opened

inwards.

"Tch!" she clucked.

Stepping inside she took a moment to look about and

saw the damage caused by the forced severing of the

bond. Looking directly at the golden perch the

phoenix had sat upon as she continued into the room,

she thought, 'That must have been very hot to have

done that.'

Reviewing her memories of what she'd read of other

severed phoenix bonds, she realised she was seeing

pretty much exactly what was described.

'Yep,' she thought. 'Severed bond.'

As she closed the distance between her and the desk,

ever mindful of where she placed the tip of her cane

lest it catch a crack of loose stone or something, she

saw the half-crumpled sheet of parchment. And

immediately recognised the writing upon it. 'Lord

Potter,' she thought.

Drawing her wand, she summoned it up to her hand,

took a closer look at it to confirm it was Lord Potter's

handwriting and slipped it into her pocket.

Once she reached the desk, she rounded it and saw

the results of the searing flash upon the desk, chair

and parchments. And that's where she found the old

fool.

He was almost folded in half and, with the burn

damage on the back of his robes and hair, appeared

as if he'd stood too close to a fire with his back to it.

Seeing how close he must've been standing to the

bird when Fawkes severed the bond, she knew he

was.

"Idiot," she muttered. "Was it you receiving a letter

from the young Lord that had you do something that

caused Fawkes to sever the bond, Albus?"

She knew she wasn't going to receive an answer to

that question until the next day, at least.

"May I have an elf, please!" she called.

"Yes, Lady Headmistress?" the elf immediately asked

when it popped in.

Tapping Dumbledore's prone and half-folded form

with her cane tip, she ordered it, "Take this old twit to

the Infirmary and inform our medi-wizard that he was

standing too close to the site where his phoenix

severed its bond with him, would you?"

"Yes, Lady Headmistress," the elf bobbed.

Two flashes of white light later, one where the elf

stood and one where Dumbledore lay, and the room

was empty of anyone but her.

Giving the room another once-over she then gave a

huff and made her way back out the door again. She

shut it closed behind herself but didn't bother with

locking it or re-warding it.

Then made her way back to her office. Step tap-step.

Step tap-step.

_‗_

―==(oIo)==―

ˇ

Once Harry had spoken to Sirius about what he'd

planned regarding his 'problem' with Augusta

Longbottom, his godfather asked to speak with 'the

newest member of the House of Black'.

Hermione had voiced her reservations about Harry's

plans but knew not to interfere.

Finishing up the call, Sirius told her, "Just remember;

you can ask to borrow the mirror off Harry at any time

and talk to me. If you don't want him listening in, just

tell him. He'll understand."

After she glanced at Harry, who nodded back, she

turned back to the mirror and said, "I will and he

does."

"Good," replied her new magical guardian. "Mirror

off!"

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Chapter 173

With the call now terminated she said, "You play for

keeps in the Noble and Most Ancient Houses."

"Yes," he agreed.

"Do you think she'll find out?" she hesitantly asked.

"I plan on her doing so," he replied.

"You don't think you'll get in trouble for it?"

"I will, to some degree," he replied. "However, as this

is business of the Potter-Longbottom Alliance, no one

but the other alliance members are going to do much

of anything about it. Even then, only the Longbottom

matriarch can do anything.

"They may wail and gnash their teeth about it; but, in

the end, they can't do a thing to stop me - even her.

The charter of the alliance has me permitted to do

this.

"Besides, if I'm right... and I'm pretty sure I am... it's

going to neuter her power on the spot."

"And Neville's going to think you're the next coming

of Merlin," she added.

"Not at first, no," he said. "But, he'll forgive me later...

I hope."

_‗_

―==(oIo)==―

ˇ

Back in her office yet again, Marchbanks carefully

made her way to her desk and sat behind it. She

popped her cane into the little bracket she'd already

permanently transfigured from a broken quill and

affixed to the edge of her desk that was made to hold

it in place.

Pulling the half-crumpled sheet of parchment she'd

picked up off the floor in Dumbledore's office, she laid

it on the desk and cast a charm on it that removed all

wrinkles and fold marks. It even removed its 'rolled-up

state' memory.

With it perfectly flat she carefully read it. And, as she

read, she began to, at first, chuckle. Then she began

to lightly laugh. Finally, she was cackling away.

'The young Lord Potter is proving to be both a font of

information and a very amiable young man. But, his

humour is just delicious.'

He certainly made her day interesting.

_‗_

―==(oIo)==―

ˇ

It took making the mirror call to Sirius for Harry to

fully accept the idea that he and Hermione were

betrothed. Before then, it had been just a concept to

him - a mind exercise. Now, it had become more real.

He turned to her and asked, "How well have you gone

over the copy of the Agreement Ted left for you?"

"I've read it through a couple of times, now," she

replied. "I've also taken notes. However, I'm not ready

to discuss it through, yet."

"That's fine," he shrugged. "We don't have to go over

it at all, if you don't want to."

Yeah... umm... listen," she stammered a little. "That

clause about us, you know, progressing a sexual

relationship..."

"Yes?" he asked.

"I know what I said right after the meeting, just after

Sirius and Ted left," she replied. "But, at some stage, I

would consider the idea of progressing. Just... not to

the point I'll become pregnant, alright?"

"That's fine," he replied, blushing away. "We already

kiss. Each stage will come as it comes."

Before things could get uncomfortable again, even

though he appreciated the way she got them through

the previous day's uncomfortableness, he changed

the subject.

"I promised I'd also teach you more about the matters

relating to the alliance," he said. "For this, you need to

understand that this can never be discussed where

anyone can overhear it."

When she gave a nod back he called Dobby.

"Yes, Master Harry?"

"Can you go and collect my folio of the documents

relating to the Potter-Longbottom Alliance, please?"

"Yes, Master Harry; right away."

Before either teen could say anything, the little elf

popped the folio onto the tabletop in front of him. It

was a little thick, measuring about an inch deep as it

lay flat on the table. It was also about fourteen inches

tall and eleven wide

The folio appeared made of hardened leather tied with

a red ribbon and had the words Potter-Longbottom

Alliance in gold embossed lettering where you'd

expect it to be for it to be a title.

Undoing the bow that held the ribbon knotted closed,

Harry stripped it away before opening the 'cover'.

When Hermione pulled parchment and quill over to

take notes he firmly said, "No, Hermione. I'm sorry,

but you can't take notes about any of this. If you did,

those notes would have to be included in this folio

when I tied it shut again. Therefore, it's kinda

pointless."

She gave a grimace back, but nodded.

"Now, you're getting to see this because of the

betrothal," he explained. "But, it has an odd sort of

spell involved on it that is a powerful privacy charm

related to the House of Potter. Magic, as does the

House of Potter magic, currently sees you as the Lady

Presumptive of the Noble and Most Ancient House of

Potter. That's why you can currently see what's

written here," he indicated.

Hermione looked at the top sheet and could, indeed,

read it, "Potter-Longbottom Alliance Charter," she

muttered.

He smiled back and said, "Exactly. Now, you were

concerned about how I could get in trouble for what

I've asked Sirius to do some research on..."

He flicked through the document until he hit on the

section he wanted. A quick peruse through it and he

found what he was looking for.

He slid it across so she could properly read it and

said, "Read that. Not out loud, please."

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Chapter 174

As she read through it her eyes widened in surprise.

"That's―"

"That's what grants me the authority to do what I'm

going to do," he said. "It's also what granted her the

authority to get me out of Dumbledore's grasp - and

she flat-out refused to do it. That's why I have no

qualms about doing what I'm going to do.

"Besides, if I'm right, it's definitely the right thing to

do for Neville. I just hope Andi or Sirius can find the

right one. If she or he does, then my chances of

accomplishing this will be almost guaranteed."

For the next few hours Harry stepped Hermione

through the alliance and the role, as a Betrothed to the

Lord of one of the two founding Houses, she had to

play.

"But, the House of Potter is not part of the Black

Alliance," he explained. "As current Heir Tertiary I

know a little about it. But, most of what I knew was

stripped from my mind by a similar privacy charm

when Sirius named cousin Andi as Heir Presumptive

and, again, when he named Dora as Heir Secondary

not long afterwards.

"As a magical guardian to the Lord you're probably

allowed to know an even smaller amount than I. But, I

can't tell you; that's Sirius's job and you're going to

have to speak to him about it. There's that privacy

charm again. Understand?"

"Yes," she nodded. "It makes a lot of sense."

_‗_

―==(oIo)==―

ˇ

After a break for lunch the two teens were trying to

work out what to do next when a house elf popped in

carrying a package.

Holding it out to Harry, he said, "This bees for you,

Sir."

Indicating the dinette, Harry said, "You can put it on

the table, thank you."

With a snap of its fingers of its other hand the little

unknown elf popped the package right to where Harry

wanted it.

"Don't touch it until I've scanned it all, Hermione," he

told his betrothed.

"I won't," she agreed.

"Thank you," Harry told the elf after he turned his

attention back to it. "Who are you and whose elf are

you, anyway?"

"Benny be Benny," replied the elf. "Benny be proud to

be servings House Tonksy."

"Very well," replied Harry. "Thank you for your

service. You may go."

And the little elf disappeared with yet another snap of

its fingers and flash of white light.

Harry cast what detection charms he knew over the

package, with every one of them coming up clean. He

was now aware the package did not contain a mindaltering charm or portkey component. It also didn't

contain a poison or was dosed with an illicit potion.

As the house elf couldn't lie to him and it didn't

appear to have been tricked by anyone else to give

him the package, he used his wand to charm it open

and slide the contents out.

They were, as expected, documents. The top one he

immediately saw was written in Ted's hand.

Picking it up he read through it.

"It's from Ted," he muttered.

After all the usual falderal, the section of the body that

was most important said...

~ # ~

Included are the details of the records held by the

Ministry relating to the items you asked your

godfather to research for you. A task he gave me to

do.

I've also included the details from off the items from

where you said they would likely be located on each

device.

Further, I have included the same material on a fourth,

similar, item.

~ # ~

After verifying the signature as Ted's, Harry knew the

risk now associated with the documentation was so

slim as to be virtually non-existent.

He quickly started to sort the information out. As he

did he said, "Alright, Hermione. You can help me sort

this lot out, if you like."

"What is all this?" she asked.

"Evidence to present in Sirius's case if the aurors

press forward with charging him regarding his

motorcycle," he replied.

"Oh, that," she said, understanding, before taking a

closer look at the documentation she was sorting

through. When she quickly realised what she was

looking at she asked, "Wait... Is this about what I think

it's about?" And tapped the document she was

holding.

"Yep," he grinned.

"And there's a law against doing this?" she asked.

"Yep," he again replied.

"Well, it's no wonder you're confident you'll win the

case!" she declared.

"Uh-hmm," he replied. " I now need you to pair the

Ministry documents with the information Ted's

managed to dig up on each. That way each is one

section."

"From that, I need to make some telephone calls."

As the afternoon wore on, Harry used the White Pages

telephone book to hunt down who he needed to talk

to. He sat on a stool he'd pulled out from under the

dinette side of the breakfast counter and 'let his

fingers do the walking' while Hermione shuttled

documents back and forth from the counter to the

dinette table.

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Chapter 175

Working in reverse chronological order he already had

the information on the first item before moving onto

the second. He also received an earful from the PR

woman at the manufacturing company, who wanted to

know who was trying to set her up for a prank.

When Harry finally convinced her he was 'writing a

book' on the history of that type of item, the woman

began to tell him enough information that proved to

Harry that the folks in the 'Obliviator Headquarters'

office at the Ministry were... just like every other witch

or wizard... daft morons.

Moving onto the next one took a bit more work as the

company that manufactured the item had long since

gone out of business. However, he was able to track

down an enthusiast of the history of the devices who

related to him a not-so-dissimilar tale to the previous

woman.

Harry thanked the man and hung up.

When Hermione read what he wrote, she

disbelievingly exclaimed, "You're kidding!"

"Nope."

"That's... that's..." she tried.

"Yep."

The next item - the one Ted added - was going to be,

in some ways, risky. He needed information from a

huge government department that was currently going

through privatisation of its main asset.

However, the frazzled public servant on the other end

of the phone call couldn't have cared less Harry was

asking the questions he was, but gave him a similarly

weird story to the first two.

Hermione shook her head in disbelief of what she'd

read from his notes and said, "When you go public

with this, people in the Ministry are going to get fired,

arrested, charged, gaoled, fined or any combination of

those!"

"Not my problem," he replied. "I'm not the one who

wrote the laws. I'm not the one who blatantly and

outrageously defied them. I'm just the new uninvested

Lord who is going to be defending my godfather, the

newest uninvested Lord, from a stupid law."

"I don't think it's stupid, so much," Hermione

disagreed. "Just... so poorly written as for it to be

impossible not to breach."

The final item was the biggest of them all. Harry also

had to ring another muggle government department to

find out the history of it. However, this time he would

have to go into their offices and pay a fee to collect

any records on it held there.

He took down the details he needed and where to go

to collect the information and would be sending that

back to Ted to organise. Either that or the aurors

would need to be prepared for a day trip into muggle

London. And he didn't want to do that as it would tipoff the aurors what he was up to.

Hermione had told him that she'd been told the

previous day that the aurors on their detail were not

permitted to speak about what Harry or the Grangers

were up to with anyone else not already on the detail.

But, surely, one of them would let something slip out

at the wrong moment.

_‗_

―==(oIo)==―

ˇ

Later that afternoon and at Hogwarts, about an hour

after Harry finished making his calls just in time for

when most government office workers think about

heading home for the day, Dumbledore finally woke up

in the Infirmary.

As soon as he saw the ceiling and smelled the scent

of the wing he knew exactly where he was. But he also

smelt the scent of burnt hair over the top of it.

Looking down at his beard, all seemed in order; so he

couldn't figure it out.

He'd no sooner woken up and was sitting up when the

new medi-wizard walked in from his office and he felt

a light waft of breeze on the back of his neck.

"Good afternoon, Professor Dumbledore," he said.

"What day is it?" Dumbledore immediately demanded,

reaching around to the back of his neck.

Shocked at what he felt he cried, "My hair!"

"Yes, it is!" the Robinson returned. "And I'm feeling

pretty chipper; thank you for asking. As for―"

"Don't be flippant and answer the bloody question!"

snapped the old man.

"Well, if you must know it's about fourteen hours

before you're free to go on Thursday morning;

tomorrow morning. And, as I was saying, as for your

hair, it appears your now ex-phoenix did it to you with

a great flash of heat. It's that, we suspect, which burnt

the back of your hair off, singed the back of your

robes, charred your office desk chair, and a few other

things.

Spotting his wand on the bedside table he picked it up

and cast a quick Tempus charm.

4.30pm

With a grunt of annoyance he realised he'd been out

for about eight hours.

"Why wasn't I enervated?" he demanded.

"You were unconscious because your now ex-familiar

decided to sever the familiar bond with you," replied

Robinson. "We do not enervate people who have been

knocked unconscious because of a severed bond. It's

unsafe.

"Instead, we allow them to wake naturally - which is

what happened with you.

"Now, since you've naturally woken and had your

questions answered, I'm afraid you need to lie back

down. I need to monitor you for the first twenty four

hours of the severed familiar bond to make sure of the

stability of your health."

"Go to Hell!" snapped the old man. Then he hopped

off the bed and stormed from the room.

'Does that man not know of any other mode of

travelling by foot other than storming about the

place?' thought the medi-wizard. 'Cranky old bastard.'

Returning to his office, the medi-wizard made an

internal floo-call to the Headmistress.

As it connected, she asked, "Yes?"

"Dumbledore just woke and, as I told you he would, he

treated me appallingly and stormed out," he replied.

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Chapter 176

"Very well," she said. "Ready his bed for him again

and, in a few moments, he'll be returned to it by a

house elf. As soon as he arrives, secure him to it and

tell him I'll be along shortly to speak with him."

"Yes, Headmistress," Robinson replied.

Pulling his head out of the flames and allowing the

call to disconnect, the medi-wizard walked back out

into the Infirmary, stood at the foot of the bed

Dumbledore had so recently vacated, readied his

wand to cast and waited.

About five to six seconds later there was a flash of

white light and Dumbledore was back and flat on his

back on the bed.

Almost before the old man had any idea he had been

popped back to the Infirmary by a house elf, he was

already securely tied to the bed with an Incarcerous

charm. His wand was summoned out of his hand a

bare moment later.

"What...?" asked a very surprised Dumbledore. A

moment earlier he was 'walking' towards the grand

staircase to climb up to the floor of his office.

"Welcome back, Professor," said Robinson.

"Wh-what is the meaning of this?" Dumbledore

spluttered. As soon as he tried to move to hop back

off the bed he realised he was tied down. "Damn it!

Release me at once! Do you not know who I am?"

"You are Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore,

apparently," replied the calm medi-wizard. "A

significantly disgraced former Headmaster of this

school and now a simple tenured Professor. You are

also my patient and, until I or Headmistress

Marchbanks says otherwise, you will remain my

patient.

"Besides, the Headmistress is coming here to talk to

you about your behaviour of late. Each time you are

here you are offending me with both your curtness

and tone. You have been and are being quite rude.

"Now you are going to lie there, shut up and wait for

the Headmistress to arrive or I will be forced to gag

you by way of a silencing charm over your bed."

"Now, see he―" was as far as Dumbledore got before

the threatened silencing charm was placed.

When Marchbanks walked in about five minutes later,

it was to see Robinson checking his stocks of potions

in the wheeled portable potions cabinet while

Dumbledore was trying to rant through a silencing

charm.

She had to smirk to herself at the sight.

Toddling up to the side of the bed she stood there

until Dumbledore shut up and glared at her. Then she

removed the charm.

As soon as she did, Dumbledore yelled, "How dare―"

And received, for his troubles, the cast of the Filthy

Mouth charm on him. A charm perfected by some

parent well over a century earlier for washing a child's

mouth out with soap if the parent deemed the child

deserved it.

She immediately recalled the time, back when

Dumbledore was a child and she babysat him, his

sister and baby brother, she used it on him when he'd

back-chatted her.

He almost instantly began spitting soap suds and

liquid soap out of his mouth and spluttering as he

cleared it away.

With soap suds still 'decorating his beard and

moustache around his mouth he stared at her in

shock.

"Remember the last time I cast that charm on you,

Albus?" she asked. "What did I tell you back then?"

When Dumbledore scowled and refused to answer,

she threateningly raised her wand.

"Don't ever back-chat you again, or I can expect

another dose," he hurriedly replied.

"Exactly," she said. "That was almost a century ago,

but I keep my word, Albus."

When he refused to look at her any more, scowled and

turned away she chose to ignore his behaviour. As

long as he wasn't trying to speak when she was

speaking, or just interrupt her, she was happy with

that.

"Now, Albus," she firmly said. "I have made it a

condition of employment here that, regarding the

nature of the health of the staff, the staff are to obey,

without complaint, the orders and directions of the

medi-staff. I made sure you knew this when you

returned to the castle from your most recent stay in

the holding cells of the DMLE.

"It seems I've had to come down and remind you of

that. That is not something I will countenance without

issuing punishment. If you do it again I'm going to

dock your pay a fine. If you do it too often you will

reach the point with me I'll know I can successfully

take the matter to the School Board to have you fired;

tenure or not.

"Now you can, of course, get out of that bed," she

continued. When he looked ready to accept she went

on to shoot him down. "All you have to say is, 'I quit

my tenure as a member of staff at Hogwarts, effective

immediately'. As you won't be a member of my staff,

neither I nor medi-wizard Robinson can order you to

remain a-bed in this Infirmary.

"However, unless you state that, you will follow the

directions of medi-wizard Robinson as if they were an

order from Hecate herself. Have I made myself

perfectly clear to you this time, Albus?"

Dumbledore looked for any possible way he could get

around the directions she gave him and could find

none. She'd even given him a way to get off this

infernal bed, but it would mean he'd also be

immediately tossed from the castle. And he needed to

be here.

"Yes," he all-but snarled.

Good," she replied. "Further, if I hear any further

complaints from medi-wizard Robinson that you've

been rude to him, as well as writing down that

infraction to add to my list I'm compiling for reasons

to fire you for the Board, I'll yet again dock your pay.

Have I yet again made myself perfectly clear to you,

Albus?"

"Yes," he more clearly stated.

"Your current orders from medi-wizard Robinson

relating to your health is for you to remain in this bed

until, I believe, about breakfast time tomorrow

morning. Follow them!"

With a swish of her wand she vanished the ropes.

When the old man didn't try to rise but, instead, folded

his arms and practically pouted, she made a short

little 'hmm' sound, turned about and walked back out

of the room.

Dumbledore remained on the bed smelling of burnt

hair, crisped robes and sulking.

_‗_

―==(oIo)==―

Closing out another day, Scimitar received his next

report from the watchers.

"Well, well!" he told the others. "The young knight has

entered into a Betrothal Agreement with the

Bookworm. And a report from Hogwarts has it that the

phoenix severed its bond with White Beard."

"White Beard no longer has access to phoenixtravel?" asked one. "Thank Merlin for that!"

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

---------------

Chapter 177

"Yeah," replied Scimitar. "That's news the 'big-wigs'

are going to be right pleased about. It means ongoing

research into blocking that form of magical travel can

be scaled back for the time being. Thoughts on the

BA?"

"It's a brilliant move," said their strategist. "It means

the young knight's managed to turn the Bookworm

pawn into a queen. It further protects him from her

being used against him."

"Agreed."

_‗_

―==(oIo)==―

ˇ

While Dumbledore thought he was putting up and

projecting a good image for the student body, he was

accomplishing anything but.

In the Slytherin common room the few remaining

students, mainly first and second years who couldn't

go home because their parent or parents were away

overseas or similar, were paying attention. To outward

appearance they were disinterested or just mildly

amused. In reality they were approaching the point

they were cheering Potter on.

They knew who was responsible for everything that

was befalling Dumbledore. And they were in both

surprise and awe at the Slytherin-like strategy and

style the Potter Lord was employing to deal with the

old man. But, now finding out from a senior year that

the old man's phoenix had severed its bond with him

over something Potter did to him? That was both

information gold and left them all fearful Potter would

turn his ire upon them next.

While the Slytherins were employing their cunning

and sneakiness to acquire the information, the

Hufflepuffs were gaining it through a different kind of

sneakiness. They simply turned 'puppy dog' eyes on

their targets of choice, made themselves look pitiful

and harmless and said please - the evil little bastards.

Their usual targets being the Ravenclaws or the staff.

When they found out what the old man had done to a

lot of people, including their very own Pomona Sprout

and Poppy Pomfrey, the loyalty of the badger brought

forth its fierceness at an attack upon their own.

Dumbledore now represented a clear threat to the

Cete and needed to be dealt with before any other

badger fell before him. Cedric Diggory managed to

rally the Cete sufficiently to have those 'forced' to

remain at the castle work together to gather

information. 'Know Thy Enemy!' they now declared.

And were, as one, cheering Potter on.

The Ravenclaws were simply so inquisitive and so

embarrassed over the 'Lovegood Scandal', that they

needed to do something to lift their image among the

other Houses. No longer was Hufflepuff seen as the

worst House to be in by the others but Hufflepuff;

theirs was. So they began a campaign to lift the image

of their House by offering assistance to the staff at

every opportunity available to them.

Plus, the Ravenclaws were often approaching the

remaining staff seeking something to study or read.

And through contact with the staff, were asking for

various pieces of information, here and there. The

'Claws weren't being subtle about it like the Slytherins

either. They didn't believe in subtlety. That information

was brought back to the Nest and collated. The image

it was painting of Dumbledore had them all cheering

Potter on.

In Gryffindor, the remaining members had fractured

into three factions too small to be effective in any way.

The first were those who at first hated Harry Potter for

getting their Head of House and Headmaster arrested;

then embarrassed when they found out what the two

had done (or should have done and didn't) to him,

others, or the school in general; then angered with

both, but mainly Dumbledore, for making them believe

in him when he never truly earned it. The second

agreed with the first, but that didn't stop them from

hating Harry Potter for bringing it all to light; while the

first wanted to apologise to him. The third were those

who always and still supported Harry Potter as they

'knew' he couldn't possibly have done anything

wrong; and were now smirking at the other two in

'justified arrogance'. The third group also consisted of

the small 'fanboy' and 'fangirl' contingent, of which

Harry was aware and hated with a passion.

However, irrespective of all of the above about their

fractured House, all three were united in one goal;

Albus Dumbledore must be taken down. He was a

remaining embarrassment to the House. To that end

those capable of sneakiness used that ability, those

capable of using their wiles used that, those capable

of brashness used that and they all gathered

information of their own.

It effectively meant that there was not one person in

the school who was fooled by Dumbledore's 'public'

behaviour and the false bonhomie and elder

statesmanship he still tried to project. And, by that

evening, everyone knew Fawkes had severed his bond

to the old man and, likely, why.

Many owls were sent out to family and other contacts

that day and evening. One even winged its way to

Harry.

_‗_

―==(oIo)==―

ˇ

That evening at the Grangers was a quiet one and

much welcomed by the residents. They all even

managed to be in bed early.

Down in the servants' quarters, which the 'residents'

rarely thought about now due to the magics employed

on that part of the house to somewhat mask it, the

third auror of the rotating detail was checking the

ward monitors and alerts for any tampering - there

was none.

The Grangers might have been horrified and deeply

embarrassed at the sheer amount of remote magical

monitoring that was going on but, to the aurors, what

they didn't know about wouldn't embarrass them.

Their task was to keep Potter and his now betrothed

safe. However, there were no sight or sound monitors

on the master suite or either Hermione's or Harry's.

The only ones in any of the three suites were monitors

to detect if there appeared anybeing or anyone

besides them.

While the aurors on the protection detail wouldn't

speak about personal details of Potter and the

Grangers, things like Potter and the Granger girl

entering into a Betrothal Agreement was not just a

personal issue, but a security issue as well. That

information was passed up the chain and modified

orders came back down. Potter was still 'The

Protectee', but had now been joined by Hermione

Granger as 'The 2nd Protectee'. The teams

immediately and accordingly adjusted.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

---------------

Chapter 178

Because of the early night in the Granger household,

even Hermione was down for breakfast with her folks

that Thursday morning.

"Good morning, Princess," said her father, surprised

to see her there. "Have a good sleep?"

"Yes, thank you," she was quick to reply. "I slept like a

log."

Harry, as had now become his norm this past week

and a half and everyone was used to it, had loaded

himself up a large plate full of carbohydrates and

protein and was quickly 'getting it into him'. As such,

he was often quiet during almost the entirety of meal

times now, as he wouldn't ever consider speaking

with his mouth full.

Therefore, it was a good fifteen to twenty seconds

before he swallowed what was in his mouth and gave

her his own greetings. "Good morning, Hermione," he

said.

As she'd chosen to sit next to him, she smiled, leaned

over, kissed him on the cheek and replied, "Good

morning, Harry. What's the plan for today?"

Her father only gave a slight frown at her actions but

didn't say a thing. She'd come up with what she

thought was a workable strategy and was employing

an old metaphorical anecdote on him. She was using

the 'Frog in the Pot' trick; slowly increasing the

amount of public affection she was showing Harry and

hoping he would sometimes return, to inure her father

to seeing it.

Her mother had agreed with her it was a sensible

strategy, but not to push it forward too fast.

Harry gave a shrug and replied, "I want to see if

anything comes from Ted regarding documents I

asked him to collect for me from the goblins regarding

House business. I should be receiving them today. As

Lady Presumptive for the Noble and Most Ancient

House of Potter, you're allowed to know the gist of

them, at least."

"Another thing covered by those family secrecy

charms?" she asked.

"Pardon?" asked Wendell. "Lady Presumptive? Family

secrecy charms?"

"Yep," replied Harry. "Part of the nature of the

Betrothal Agreement means Hermione is now my

spouse presumptive. As my House is a Noble one and

I'm the Lord of it, that makes her the Lady

Presumptive. As my House is also a Most Ancient one,

that makes her, in total, titled the Lady Presumptive of

the Noble and Most Ancient House of Potter.

"Formally, she is now known in the wizarding world

as, Lady Presumptive Hermione Jean Granger of the

Noble and Most Ancient House of Black and the Noble

and Most Ancient House of Potter - or, is that the other

way 'round?"

He shrugged and added, "I'll have to ask Sirius which

way 'round those are supposed to go, but I think I'm

right."

"Jeez-us!" Wendell quietly but vehemently uttered.

"As for family secrecy charms, there are matters

known as family secrets," continued Harry. "To

protect them, there are certain magics used to keep

them secret. With magic accepting the Betrothal

Agreement, Hermione can now see and remain aware

of some of those related to the House of Potter. That

Sirius is now her magical guardian means she can

also now see and remain aware of some that are

related to the House of Black."

"And if the Agreement is cancelled?" asked Monica.

"Then the information she will learn that are Potter

family secrets she will forget," he replied. "The same

for Black family secrets if the magical guardianship is

cancelled. She will remember she once knew them,

but won't remember what they actually are."

_‗_

―==(oIo)==―

ˇ

When the Daily Prophets were delivered, Harry shared

his with Hermione.

One of the first stories they saw and read related to

Dumbledore losing his bond with Fawkes.

"Oh, my!" exclaimed Hermione. "Apparently, it

happened just after breakfast, yesterday. I wonder

what happened for Fawkes to finally do it."

Harry thought he knew and grinned. "I think I know."

"Well?" she asked. "Are you going to share?"

"My response to his portkey-letter attempt to kidnap

me would have arrived in that morning's mail bomb,"

he replied.

Hermione's eyes widened in surprise and she asked,

"You think he read it, did something that finally had

Fawkes decide he'd had enough and Fawkes severed

the bond?"

"Yep!" he happily replied.

Hermione let loose with her clear tinkling laughter.

"Oh! That's just precious!" And laughed out loud

again.

"Care to share?" asked Wendell, amused. "What

letter?"

Hermione thought, 'Mum must not have told Daddy

about it.'

"I managed to get a-hold of a copy of the letter

Dumbledore sent me that was that portkey," explained

Harry. "In it, the old fool wrote about how he still

considered me his friend, I was being disrespectful, I

was placing you folks at risk by being here, I was

placing myself at risk by being here, things like that. It

was a letter sent with the intention to send me on a

massive guilt trip and go running back to the safety of

the castle, begging forgiveness.

"What Dumbledore has forgotten is that the 'Harry' he

thought he knew was that persona I'd created as a

façade to fool him. The real 'Harry' doesn't fall for

those shallow tricks."

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

---------------

Chapter 179

Hermione took over. "So, Harry wrote Professor Dumbledore a

reply. In it he used Dumbledore's same tricks; and even some

of the same language, including the condescension. But, Harry

took it right over the top, just to demonstrate back he knew

what Dumbledore was doing and was trying.

"When Sirius came over a little while later to make sure Harry

was okay after the kidnapping attempt, Harry'd only just

finished the final draft. Sirius read it and, by the time he'd

finished reading it, he was laughing so hard he couldn't stand

up. Harry had to get Dobby to get him a Calming draught."

Harry grinned and said, "Sirius declared it perfect, not to

change a thing and said he'd send it using his new owl, Sable,

to deliver it; so Dumbledore wouldn't recognise Hedwig."

"That letter would have arrived yesterday morning."

"Keep a copy of it?" asked a grinning Wendell.

"No, but if I know Sirius," replied Harry. "He's definitely kept a

copy of it. Ask him for a copy of it when next you see him."

"Oh, I'll definitely be doing that," chuckled Wendell.

_‗_

―==(oIo)==―

ˇ

As he expected, Harry received correspondence from Ted,

alright. However, it was a great deal more than just a simple

letter.

It was a letter that arrived as a covering letter for a shrunken

package. The aurors had unshrunk the package in their work

of ensuring there were no harmful hexes, charms, potionlacing or anything like that going on. And brought him the

whole lot.

The auror carrying it placed the stack on the end of the table

away from where they were sitting and quietly said, "A

package arrived from you, Lord Potter. It is believed to be from

Law-wizard Tonks." Then quietly left again.

Wendell gave a low whistle at the size of the stack, turned to

look at Harry and said, "I don't envy you."

Harry shrugged and said, "Almost the entirety of that, I

suspect, is going to be just archived House business material I

need to be aware of. It's when all the financial portfolio stuff

arrives that I know I'm going to quickly develop quill cramp

and a headache.

"The accounts have been in stasis for far too long. So there's

going to be a lot of work to bring the financials back up to

something I'd be comfortable with. However, the goblins are

taking care of most of that and I'll just need to sign off on it for

it to be done."

Aren't you going to look at it?" asked Hermione.

"It can stay there until after breakfast," he replied with a

shrug.

Another letter, handed up by one of the aurors who'd first

checked it out, was from one of the Gryffindor students who'd

remained at the castle. It was from young Colin Creevey.

In it, Creevey confirmed Fawkes had severed the bond with

Dumbledore and that Dumbledore was laid up in the

Infirmary.

_‗_

―==(oIo)==―

ˇ

Dumbledore was finally released by Robinson just before the

start of breakfast.

"I'm giving you an 'early mark' because you've behaved

yourself," the man had said. "You should have enough time to

go and bathe and change first. You still smell of burnt hair and

scorched clothes."

Dumbledore gave a grunt and muttered, "Thank you." Before

quickly rising and hurrying out.

The reason for the early mark was because Robinson wanted

to join his fellow staff members for breakfast, instead of

watching the old man continually glaring at him. And the

house elves could strip the bed and clear the air while the

wing was empty.

The enforced 'convalescence' had given Dumbledore time to

mentally go over plans of what to do next, though. And he'd

made good use of the time.

Straight after breakfast he'd be contacting that pompous twit,

Barnabus Cuffe. He was sure the man would want to know

that Harry Potter had refused to attend the traditional TriWizard Tournament Yule Ball at Hogwarts.

Young Harry's assassination of his character was almost

complete - but, not quite. And Harry was not the only one

who could use the media and its power to his advantage.

_‗_

―==(oIo)==―

ˇ

After Wendell and Monica left for the day, the two teens

returned to the dinette. However, before Harry could sit

down, Hermione grabbed him, spun him to face her and

landed a powerful kiss on his lips while she quickly relocated

her hands. One, she wrapped around his lower back; the

other, she used to hold his head in place by the back of his

skull.

As sheer pleasure flowed through Harry, following on the

heels of the shock he experienced when she first suddenly

grabbed him, he found himself holding her in a similar fashion

and kissing just as hard back.

When she opened her mouth a little and licked his lips it

shocked him enough he almost broke the kiss. But, upon

opening his own mouth, he understood what she was trying

to do. And the pair stood like that for what felt both like a

bare fraction of time and an eternity.

When they finally separated, he whispered, "Wow."

"Yeah," she whispered back.

"What brought that on?" he asked.

"Well, seeing as you're now my betrothed... or, I'm yours... I

wanted to properly kiss you to see if it was something I could

come to like doing."

"And, was it?" he asked.

She grinned and replied, "Definitely."

He grinned back.

They needed to get to work, so he leaned in and gave her

another quick kiss before he pulled back and said, "I think

parchmentwork awaits. Shall we get to it?"

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

---------------

Chapter 180

She smiled and released him, then sat down as he slid

the pile of documents across the tabletop to be

between them and away enough they could both

reach it and pull documents forward off the top to go

through it all a piece at a time.

First up was a summary of what was contained.

"Alright," he sighed. "Ted's put the property

documents on top. It's what I asked him to focus

upon."

As Harry pulled each down and went through them,

Hermione quickly rose and raced upstairs to collect

her parchment, inks and quill from her room.

By the time she returned he had a mental list of the

first five properties and had the thin stacks of each

laid sideways on top of the one before.

When she plonked back down next to him he

indicated the modified stack and said, "Well, looks

like I won't need to buy a home for myself."

As Hermione wrote and Harry read, even out loud at

times, he discovered that Potter manor, 'Pottermore',

still stood. Dumbledore had intimated it had been

destroyed the one time he asked if he owned a 'big

home' like other Ancient Houses.

Thinking back over that conversation he realised the

old man had not actually said the manor had been

destroyed, only that it had been attacked. Then said

the Death Eaters tended to burn such properties to the

ground to deny it to the descendants.

He also made no mention that Harry owned quite a

few other residential properties, either. Probably

because Harry asked if he owned a big home and not

other residences.

'Bastard,' he thought. 'A clear example of how to tell a

lie while telling the truth.'

Once they'd gone through the stack of records

relating to properties, the two stopped.

Harry actually owned quite a few with nearly all of

them currently rented out.

Of the one's not rented and specifically marked never

to be leased or rented out, there were three.

They were Pottermore in Merlin's Bridge,

Pembrokeshire, Wales; Lily's Retreat in a town called

Cokeworth, Warwickshire, England; and the Potter

Cottage in Godric's Hollow.

The accompanying note from Ted informed him the

man was already making plans to find out just what

the hell the Ministry thought it was doing by claiming

Potter Cottage as a national wizarding monument.

"Cokeworth ring any bells with you, Hermione?" he

asked. "I thought that'd be a purely muggle town,

considering it's a heavy industrial area in that part of

England."

"Not Cokeworth, no," she replied. "But Warwickshire

also includes the town of Stratford-upon-Avon... and

that's the birthplace of William Shakespeare."

"Hmmm..." he muttered. "There's something about the

name of that town that's jigging my memory a bit, but

not enough for it to come to the surface."

"Perhaps it has something to do with your mother,"

she suggested. "After all, the name of the property is

'Lily's Retreat'."

"Could be..." he muttered. Then gave a shrug and

said, "No matter. It's not important for now. I'll let the

matter percolate through my subconscious and see if

it takes a bite."

"On to what next?" she asked.

"The rentals and leases," he replied. "I want to go

through them and see what's there. I want that stuff all

listed out because I want to compare the properties to

the incomes for the Potter accounts. "

As Harry put the information on Pottermore separate,

the two teens moved onto the rental properties.

_‗_

―==(oIo)==―

ˇ

After yet another long shower, Dumbledore had to

then resort to trimming what was left of his long hair

on his head right back to a very short cut. The house

elf he'd called had brought him another, who had

professed - confessed, really - knowledge of cutting

hair.

However, he was definitely not willing to lose his

beard and was thankful the flash of extreme heat had

not damaged it in anyway, though it did frizzle a few

stray hairs out wide and near his left ear; which was

also singed a little.

Properly trimmed he was able to attend the Great Hall

for the latter half of breakfast. And, yes, he heard the

sniggers coming from some of the students towards

his new haircut. At least he was able to cover most of

it with one of his large hats.

The robe he was wearing when it happened, however,

was yet another victim to what had befallen him of

late. That now made four sets destroyed - intolerable.

'I'll have to go see Mister Twillfit as soon as I can,' he

thought. 'I need to think about replacing some of my

wardrobe.'

'Actually, that would be sufficient reason for me to

need to leave the school for a time,' he smirked.

'Griselda cannot deny me the opportunity to replenish

clothing I have recently lost.'

Following breakfast he returned to his office and

transferred his thoughts regarding using the Daily

Prophet onto parchment. Once done, he looked upon

his handiwork and smiled.

'This should do it,' he thought. 'Now to contact young

Barnabus."

With his sheet of parchment in hand he turned to the

floo. He might not be able to leave the school, as it

was during school hours, but that didn't stop him

from making floo-calls. He made his floo call to the

offices of the Daily Prophet. 'And with school not even

running it's clear Griselda is just using it to keep me

contained. Who does she think she is dealing with? A

little Firstie?' he thought.

It took him about twenty minutes, but he was finally

put through to Cuffe. However, Skeeter was also there

and she was waiting with her Quik-quotes quill at the

ready. The expression on her face of eagerness was a

little off-putting.

Clearly, he'd been given the run-around for a few

minutes until Cuffe could have his prize journalist on

hand to 'take notes'.

"Good morning, Barnabus," he pleasantly greeted the

man. Not even waiting for a greeting in return he said,

"Miss Terri Teaske, please wait outside. And no

listening charms or, should I say, bugs. That would be

rude."

Giving a jump in surprise Skeeter's - Teaske's -

hungry grin instantly changed to shock. She'd

forgotten Dumbledore would know her true identity.

The fact he'd greeted her by it, when he'd not done

that in almost two decades, sent a message of

warning she well understood. Then the mention of

listening 'bugs' was also a warning that did not pass

notice either.

Not even looking at her boss, Skeeter/Teaske

snatched her Quik-quotes quill out of the air, stuffed it

in her overly large handbag and hurried from the

room. Cuffe was on his own, after all.

"Dumbledore!" snarled Cuffe. "How dare you!"

"How dare I what, Barnabus?" he pleasantly asked

back. "I merely wished you a good morning and asked

Miss Teaske to wait outside while we conversed. Of

course, as a journalist of Miss Teaske's... ability, I did

not want to impugn her journalistic integrity by having

her forced to keep silent about what confidential

matters I wish to discuss with you. Her waiting

outside while we spoke saves her that conflict."

Grumbling under his breath Cuffe demanded, "Well?

What do you want?"

"I wanted to pass on some rather disappointing

information regarding matters of importance to our

society," replied Dumbledore. "All in confidence, of

course."

"Yes, yes," snarked Cuffe. "Get on with it, then."

"Well, being only referred to now as a mere professor

of a school, not necessarily any particular school as it

really doesn't matter, does it?" he asked. "But, as a

professor, I find myself quite disappointed our

illustrious school, the crowning jewel of wizarding

Britain's education system, will not be putting in a

good showing when the Yule Ball is held here... there,

that is... on the night of Christmas.

"When even Harry Potter has decided he won't be

attending, what sort of message does that say to our

visitors from overseas? Very few of the students―"