Chapter 3: Power Explained
Previously
The portraits, who had turned away to give them this private moment, as well as shedding some tears, missed the fire flaming green, as did the two behind the desk wrapped up in each others hug. So when a familiar voice spoke, it scared the hell out of two of them.
"Well," drawled the voice, "isn't this lovely?"
Two heads cracked around while screaming the same thing, "SIRIUS!"
Now...
Harry felt his breath leave him as his heart, which had jumped to his throat, plummeted back into his stomach. The man standing there sounded like Sirius, but looked drastically diffrent. The man was looking very confused.
"Err- about what?" he asked
Harry shook his head too choked to say anything, mouth filling with bile at the amount of disappointment churning in his stomach. Dumbledore seemed to take no time to recover, his face as impassive as ever.
"My apologies, Mr. –
"Evans," The man replied throwing his chest out, "John Evans." And then a second later, "I always wanted to do that."
"Mr. Evans, then," Dumbledore nodded amicably not getting the joke, Harry however just stared hard at him, "You sounded like someone else we knew and it startled us a little."
"Sound?" Harry cut him off, his mind screaming at him that he wasn't who he seemed to be. He was a metamorphmagus, and Harry was right now learning everything there is to know about one. "You bloody well act like him!" he was so sure it was him, but Sirius wasn't a metamorph. Or at least if he was he was keeping it a secret.
"Harry..." Dumbledore said warningly, he was ignored, as Harry's mind raced trying to come up with a way of exposing him. 'Just to make sure' Harry thought to his conseince, 'and if it really is him, I'll kill him for real this time!' Then a lightbulb turned on.
Scowling at Dumbledore, he glared at the floor and thrust his hands in his pockets, convienently where his wand was.
A small flck unseen by Dumbledore or this 'John Evans' and a rat with a silver paw was running from under Dumbledore's desk and heading to the door as fast as it could.
There was a snarl from the man and suddenly a large black dog was in the room, chasing after the rat at full speed. The rat disappeared under the door, and the dog smashed headfirst into the door, where it stood there for a few seconds, a look of shock that did not belong on any dog plastered across his face.
Dumbledore was sitting there his twinkle back in full force while Harry stood there pure fury etched on his face. He knew it was him, but still a part of him did not want to get his hopes up. Now that he knew for sure, his anger, the hot white flames leaped up inside, consuming his rational thought.
The dog turned to look dazedly, and seemed to gulp when he saw Harry's face. A second later, Sirius Black was standing in place of the dog, a look of fear across his face.
Dumbledore decided that now was a good time to question Harry, and distract him from his anger. He knew he needed to be blunt in an effort to distract Harry, possibly put him on the defensive.
"Tell me Harry," he started, not surprised to see that while he was being heard he was ignored. "How were you able to survive the Killiing Curse that Voldemort hit you with."
The look of fear was washed away on Sirius' face ro be replaced with anger and worry, his voice was sharp. "What!?"
Harry's fury was overridden as he saw Sirius' face, 'Oh...crap! Stupid old man, had to let that out!' He shifted nervously wondering how he was going to calm him down when Sirius rushed over and engulfed him with a hug.
"Oh, my lord!" he kept saying over and over, clutching Harry close. Harry was shocked to feel that Sirius was shaking, and he realised that he was crying.
"Sirius, shh. C'mon now, it's ok Padfoot. I'm not dead." Harry repeated over and over trying to calm him down. It was a few minutes before Sirius managed to get his crying under control.
"I was so stupid, I figured the rest of the Order would save you, I used the time to sneak away and do some other things. If I was there you wouldn't have gotten hit with the Killing Curse, it's my fault!" Sirius berated himself, Harry had frozen.
"What do you mean you weren't there, I saw you!" Harry asked sharply, Dumbledore also was interested in the answer. Sirius however was now looking nervously at them, his feet shifting uncomfortably.
"Um... I don't know how to say this..." he took a deep breath, "Okay, that person who went to the Ministry was a low level Death Eater I had captured and polyjuiced, placing him under the Imperius Curse so that he would act like me, I figured since he isn't the best duelist he would die sometime and leave me to take up the identity of John Evans, something I was going to do while he impersonated me."
"Polyjuice only lasts an hour." Harry pointed out, "He would have been found out instantly."
Sirius smirked, "I modified it a bit and made it permanent. It really wasn't too hard." He added as he saw Harry's incredulous look.
"The reason why Polyjuice is so difficult is because it has to turn you back at a certain time, no one wants to become someone else for the rest of their lives, and you can't create a new look because the potion changes you into someone alive."
"So," Harry said, "you capture a death eater, force feed him Polyjuice turning him into a clone of yourself. Then you place him under the Imperius Curse, and when the shit hit the fan earlier you sent this clone while you went off somewhere else, effectively killing him."
Sirius was nodding happily and Harry sighed.
"Why were you doing this again?" he asked. He knew the answer, he was just having trouble wrapping his mind around it.
"With my new identity I can go out on the streets, visit during Quidditch, buy a house, assume custody of you, etcetra etcetra." Sirius said grinning like an idiot.
Harry got a pained look on his face as his eyes resumed the haunted look they had not a half-hour earlier. "Do you know what that did to me, watching you die?" he asked, his voice coming out scratchy as he swallowed the tears that were threatening to come out.
Sirius' happy face dissolved in an instant as he grabbed Harry into a massive bear hug. "I'm so sorry, kiddo." He said softly rubbing his back soothingly. "I didn't expect my clone to die so fast, and didn't have any time to warn you."
Dumbledore however was more interested in Sirius' appearance. "I am most curious on how you managed to change your looks, Sirius." He stated. Sirius sighed, he knew an order when he heard one.
"I am a metamorphmagus." He said guiltily looking down and avoiding Dumbledore's eyes. If he had, he would have seen Dumbledore's eyes widen as his eyebrows shot up. Since he didn't he missed being the only person aside from Harry to watch Dumbledore lose his composure. When he finally did look up, it was to see Dumbledore's face as impassive as ever.
"It is extremely rare for someone to be both a metamorph and an animagus, Sirius. What side affects are there?" he asked casually. It was the understatement of the century. No one had ever been, at least according to history, both an animagus and a metamorphmagus.
"Um...well, I can kinda changemyanimagusformintoanything" he said quickly.
Dumbledore smiled while Harry gasped increduosly, "You can change your form into anything!?"
"Well," Sirius ammended, "Not anything, I have to stick to a dog, but any type/color of a dog I can do." Here he smirked, "I specifically picked the Grim form so I could scare the hell out of people."
Harry laughed shaking his head, his godfather truly was a prankster. Dumbledore now satisfied was back on track.
"Now, Harry." He said turning to him, "The Killing Curse, what happened." Sirius also turned to look at him sharply and Harry shrugged.
"I dunno," he said uncaring, "it felt like I absorbed it."
Dumbledore pulled his beard and thought aloud, "Hmm... I guess that's possible but where would it go..."
"Go?" Sirius asked breaking Dumbledore from his thoughts, Dumbledore looked at him distractedly, as if he forgot he was there, before answering.
"Harry's body isn't strong enough to support a magical core bigger than what he already has, and if I'm not mistaken then his core was already brimming with energy when he was hit, leaving no room for the power to go anywhere without the core growing... I wonder..."
Quickly Dumbledore brought out his wand and gave a few waves around Harry, starting around his stomach, he quickly made his way up until he reached his head. Dumbledore frowned before waving a more complicated pattern all around Harry's head going in a circle and muttering under his breath in a language he couldn't understand yet.
His mind was working full time catalouging everything Dumbledore was doing, explaining to him what it was and how to do it in the future.
When Dumbledore was done, he made his way back to his seat nodding his head, "It seems," he said, "that the power from the Killing Curse went towards your mind, creating a second core almost as big as your first."
"But I thought you said his body couldn't handle a bigger core, a second core it could handle?" asked a very confused Sirius.
Dumbledore shook his head, "This core is not in his body, it is a mental core, one in his mind only. Tell me," he said turning to Harry, "have you noticed anything strange since being struck by the Killing Curse?"
"Let me see," Harry said sarcastically, "I'm now learning magic more advanced than whats Auror grade spells and can probably re-enact the duel you just had with old Voldie spell for spell, but other than that no I can't say I have."
Sirius was choking away as Dumbledore twinkled at him, "You learn about the magic and are able to copy it as you see it then, correct?"
Harry nodded but added, "Not just spells, any type of magic. I can now transform into a dog, thanks to Sirius here, as well as I gained the ability of a metamorph. I can travel the Floo network without needing
Floo Powder, and countless other things that are absolutely useless, like being able to create a Wizarding Portrait. And yes, I mastered Occlumencey and Legilimencey, although I have yet to sort through my memories." He finished enjoying the way Sirius was gaping as Dumbledore sat back a very satisfied look on him.
"Does this only work for magic you see currently, or would it work for your memories as well?" Dumbledore asked keenly.
Harry shrugged, "No clue. Like I said, I haven't got around to going through my memories. I can try one now if you want, give me a minute."
Harry sat back and closed his eyes, his mind clearing instantly as he checked his shields. Once he was satisified with them, he wondered what memory he should choose. He decided to pick one that, should this ability of his work, would prove very useful. Slowly he immersed himself in the memory.
FLASHBACK!!
The office was full of people. Dumbledore was sitting behind his desk, his expression serene, the tips of his long fingers together. Professor McGonagall stood rigidly beside him, her face extremely tense. Cornelius Fudge, Minister of Magic, was rocking backwards and forwards on his toes beside the fire, apparently immensely pleased with the situation; Kingsley Shacklebolt and a tough-looking wizard with very short wiry hair whom Harry did not recognize, were positioned on either side of the door like guards, and the freckled, bespectacled form of Percy Weasley hovered excitedly beside the wall, a quill and a heavy scroll of parchment in his hands, apparently poised to take notes.
The portraits of old headmasters and headmistresses were not shamming sleep tonight. All of them were alert and serious, watching what was happening below them. As Harry entered, a few flitted into neighboring frames and whispered urgently into their neighbor's ear.
Harry pulled himself free of Umbridge's grasp as the door swung shut behind them. Cornelius Fudge was glaring at him with a kind of vicious satisfaction on his face.
"Well," he said. "Well, well, well…"
Harry replied with the dirtiest look he could muster. His heart drummed madly inside him, but his brain was oddly cool and clear.
"He was heading back to Gryffindor Tower," said Umbridge. There was an indecent excitement in her voice, the same callous pleasure Harry had heard as she watched Professor Trelawney dissolving with misery in the Entrance Hall. "The Malfoy boy cornered him."
"Did he, did he?" said Fudge appreciatively. "I must remember to tell Lucius. Well, Potter…I expect you know why you are here?"
Harry fully intended to respond with a defiant 'yes': his mouth had opened and the word was half-formed when he caught sight of Dumbledore's face. Dumbledore was not looking directly at Harry – his eyes were fixed on a point just over his shoulder – but as Harry stared at him, he shook his head a fraction of an inch to each side. Harry changed direction mid-word.
"Ye — no."
"I beg your pardon?" said Fudge.
"No," said Harry, firmly.
"You don't know why you are here?"
"No, I don't," said Harry.
Fudge looked incredulously from Harry to Professor Umbridge. Harry took advantage of his momentary inattention to steal another quick look at Dumbledore, who gave the carpet the tiniest of nods and the shadow of a wink.
"So you have no idea," said Fudge, in a voice positively sagging with sarcasm, "why Professor Umbridge has brought you to this office? You are not aware that you have broken any school rules?"
"School rules?" said Harry. "No."
"Or Ministry Decrees?" amended Fudge angrily.
"Not that I'm aware of," said Harry blandly.
His heart was still hammering very fast. It was almost worth telling these lies to watch Fudges blood pressure rising, but he could not see how on earth he would get away with them; if somebody had tipped off Umbridge about the D.A. then he, the leader, might as well be packing his trunk right now.
"So, it's news to you, is it," said Fudge, his voice now thick with anger, "that an illegal student organization has been discovered within this school?"
"Yes, it is," said Harry, hoisting an unconvincing look of innocent surprise on to his face.
"I think, Minister," said Umbridge silkily from beside him, "we might make better progress if I fetch our informant."
"Yes, yes, do," said Fudge, nodding, and he glanced maliciously at Dumbledore as Umbridge left the room. "There's nothing like a good witness, is t here, Dumbledore?"
"Nothing at all, Cornelius," said Dumbledore gravely, inclining his head.
There was a wait of several minutes, in which nobody looked at each other, then Harry heard the door open behind him. Umbridge moved past him into the room, gripping by the shoulder Cho's curly-haired friend, Marietta, who was hiding her face in her hands.
"Don't be scared, dear, don't be frightened," said Professor Umbridge softly, patting her on the back, "it's quite all right, now. You have done the right thing. The Minister is very pleased with you. He'll be telling your mother what a good girl you've been.
"Marietta's mother, Minister," she added, looking up at Fudge, "is Madam Edgecombe from the Department of Magical Transportation, Floo Network office – she's been helping us police the Hogwarts fires, you know."
"Jolly good, jolly good!" said Fudge heartily. "Like mother, like daughter, eh? Well, come on, now, dear, look up, don't be shy, let's hear what you've got to – galloping gargoyles!"
As Marietta raised her head, Fudge leapt backwards in shock, nearly landing himself in the fire. He cursed, and stamped on the hem of his cloak which had started to smoke. Marietta gave a wail and pulled the neck of her robes right up to her eyes, but not before everyone had seen that her face was horribly disfigured by a series of close-set purple pustules that had spread across her nose and cheeks to form the word SNEAK.
"Never mind the spots now, dear," said Umbridge impatiently, "just take your robes away from your mouth and tell the Minister –"
But Marietta gave another muffled wail and shook her head frantically.
"Oh, very well, you silly girl, I'll tell him," snapped Umbridge. She hitched her sickly smile back on to her face and said, "Well, Minister, Miss Edgecombe here came to my office shortly after dinner this evening and told me she had something she wanted to tell me. She said that if I proceeded to a secret room on the seventh floor, sometimes known as the Room of Requirement, I would find out something to my advantage. I questioned her a little further and she admitted that there was to be some kind of meeting there. Unfortunately, at that point this hex," she waved impatiently at Marietta's concealed face, "came into operation and upon catching sight of her face in my mirror the girl became too distressed to tell me any more."
"Well, now," said Fudge, fixing Marietta with what he evidently imagined was a kind and fatherly look, "it is very brave of you, my dear, coming to tell Professor Umbridge. You did exactly the right thing. Now, will you tell me what happened at this meeting? What was its purpose? Who was there?"
But Marietta would not speak; she merely shook her head again, her eyes wide and fearful.
"Haven't we got a counter-jinx for this?" Fudge asked Umbridge impatiently, gesturing at Marietta's face. "So she can speak freely?"
"I have not yet managed to find one," Umbridge admitted grudgingly, and Harry felt a surge of pride in Hermione's jinxing ability. "But it doesn't matter if she won't speak, I can take up the story from here."
"You will remember, Minister, that I sent you a report back in October that Potter had met a number of fellow students in the Hog's Head in Hogsmeade –"
"And what is your evidence for that?" cut in Professor McGonagall.
"I have testimony from Willy Widdershins, Minerva, who happened to be in the bar at the time. He was heavily bandaged, it is true, but his hearing was quite unimpaired," said Umbridge smugly. "He heard every word Potter said and hastened straight to the school to report to me –"
"Oh, so that's why he wasn't prosecuted for setting up all those regurgitating toilets!" said Professor McGonagall, raising her eyebrows. "What an interesting insight into our justice system!"
"Blatant corruption!" roared the portrait of the corpulent, red-nosed wizard on the wall behind Dumbledore's desk. "The Ministry did not cut deals with petty criminals in my day, no sir, they did not!"
"Thank you, Fortescue, that will do," said Dumbledore softly.
"The purpose of Potter's meeting with these students," continued Professor Umbridge, "was to persuade them to join an illegal society, whose aim was to learn spells and curses the Ministry has decided are inappropriate for school-age –"
"I think you'll find you're wrong there, Dolores," said Dumbledore quietly, peering at her over the half-moon spectacles perched halfway down his crooked nose.
Harry stared at him. He could not see how Dumbledore was going to talk him out of this one; if Willy Widdershins had indeed heard every word he had said in the Hog's Head there was simply no escaping it.
"Oho!" said Fudge, bouncing up and down on the balls of his feet again. "Yes, do let's hear the latest cock-and-bull story designed to pull Potter out of trouble! Go on, then, Dumbledore, go on - Willy Widdershins was lying, was he? Or was it Potters identical twin in the Hog's Head that day? Or is there the usual simple explanation involving a reversal of time, a dead man coming back to life and a couple of invisible Dementors?"
Percy Weasley let out a hearty laugh.
"Oh, very good, Minister, very good!"
Harry could have kicked him. Then he saw, to his astonishment, that Dumbledore was smiling gently, too.
"Cornelius, I do not deny – and nor, I am sure, does Harry – that he was in the Hog's Head that day, nor that he was trying to recruit students to a Defense Against the Dark Arts group. I am merely pointing out that Dolores is quite wrong to suggest that such a group was, at that time, illegal. If you remember, the Ministry Decree banning all student societies was not put into effect until two days after Harry's Hogsmeade meeting, so he was not breaking any rules at all in the Hog's Head."
Percy looked as though he had been struck in the face by something very heavy. Fudge remained motionless in mid-bounce, his mouth hanging open.
Umbridge recovered first.
"That's all very fine, Headmaster," she said, smiling sweetly, "but we are now nearly six months on from the introduction of Educational Decree Number Twenty-four. If the first meeting was not illegal, all those that have happened since most certainly are."
"Well," said Dumbledore, surveying her with polite interest over the top of his interlocked fingers, "they certainly would be, if they had continued after the Decree came into effect. Do you have any evidence that any such meetings continued?"
As Dumbledore spoke, Harry heard a rustle behind him and rather thought Kingsley whispered something. He could have sworn, too, that he felt something brush against his side, a gentle something like a draught or bird wings, but looking down he saw nothing there.
"Evidence?" repeated Umbridge, with that horrible wide toad-like smile. "Have you not been listening, Dumbledore? Why do you think Miss Edgecombe is here?"
"Oh, can she tell us about six months' worth of meetings?" said Dumbledore, raising his eyebrows. "I was under the impression that she was merely reporting a meeting tonight."
"Miss Edgecombe," said Umbridge at once, "tell us how long these meetings have been going on, dear. You can simply nod or shake your head, I'm sure that won't make the spots worse. Have they been happening regularly over the last six months?"
Harry felt a horrible plummeting in his stomach. This was it, they had hit a dead end of solid evidence that not even Dumbledore would be able to shift aside.
"Just nod or shake your head, dear," Umbridge said coaxingly to Marietta, "come on, now, that won't re-activate the jinx."
Everyone in the room was gazing at the top of Marietta's face. Only her eyes were visible between the pulled-up robes and her curly fringe. Perhaps it was a trick of the firelight, but her eyes looked oddly blank. And then – to Harry's utter amazement – Marietta shook her head.
Umbridge looked quickly at Fudge, then back at Marietta.
"I don't think you understood the question, did you, dear? I'm asking whether you've been going to these meetings for the past six months? You have, haven't you?"
Again, Marietta shook her head.
"What do you mean by shaking your head, dear?" said Umbridge in a testy voice.
"I would have thought her meaning was quite clear," said Professor McGonagall harshly, "there have been no secret meetings for the past six months. Is that correct, Miss Edgecombe?"
Marietta nodded.
"But there was a meeting tonight!" said Umbridge furiously. "There was a meeting, Miss Edgecombe, you told me about it, in the Room of Requirement! And Potter was the leader, was he not, Potter organized it, Potter – why are you shaking your head, girl?"
"Well, usually when a person shakes their head," said McGonagall coldly, "they mean 'no'. So unless Miss Edgecombe is using a form of sign-language as yet unknown to humans –"
Professor Umbridge seized Marietta, pulled her round to face her and began shaking her very hard. A split second later Dumbledore was on his feet, his wand raised: Kingsley started forwards and Umbridge leapt back from Marietta, waving her hands in the air as though they had been burned.
"I cannot allow you to manhandle my students, Dolores," said Dumbledore and, for the first time, he looked angry.
"You want to calm yourself, Madam Umbridge," said Kingsley, in his deep, slow voice. "You don't want to get yourself into trouble, now."
"No," said Umbridge breathlessly, glancing up at the towering figure of Kingsley. "I mean, yes – you're right, Shacklebolt – I – I forgot myself."
Marietta was standing exactly where Umbridge had released her. She seemed neither perturbed by Umbridge's sudden attack, nor relieved by her release; she was still clutching her robe up to her oddly blank eyes and staring straight ahead of her.
A sudden suspicion, connected to Kingsley's whisper and the thing he had felt shoot past him, sprang into Harry's mind.
"Dolores," said Fudge, with the air of trying to settle something once and for all, "the meeting tonight – the one we know definitely happened –"
"Yes," said Umbridge, pulling herself together, "yes…well, Miss Edgecombe tipped me off and I proceeded at once to the seventh floor, accompanied by certain trustworthy students, so as to catch those in the meeting red-handed. It appears that they were forewarned of my arrival, however, because when we reached the seventh floor they were running in every direction. It does not matter, however. I have all their names here, Miss Parkinson ran into the Room of Requirement for me to see if they had left anything behind. We needed evidence and the room provided."
And to Harry's horror, she withdrew from her pocket the list of names that had been pinned upon the Room of Requirement's wall and handed it to Fudge.
"The moment I saw Potter's name on the list, I knew what we were dealing with," she said softly.
"Excellent," said Fudge, a smile spreading across his face, "excellent, Dolores. And…by thunder…"
He looked up at Dumbledore, who was still standing beside Marietta, his wand held loosely in his hand.
"See what they've named themselves?" said Fudge quietly. "Dumbledore's Army."
Dumbledore reached out and took the piece of parchment from Fudge. He gazed at the heading scribbled by Hermione months before and for a moment seemed unable to speak. Then he looked up, smiling.
"Well, the game is up," he said simply. "Would you like a written confession from me, Cornelius - or will a statement before these witnesses suffice?"
Harry saw McGonagall and Kingsley look at each other. There was fear in both faces. He did not understand what was going on, and nor, apparently, did Fudge.
"Statement?" said Fudge slowly. "What – I don't –?"
"Dumbledore's Army, Cornelius," said Dumbledore, still smiling as he waved the list of names before Fudge's face. "Not Potter's Army. Dumbledore's Army."
"But – but –"
Understanding blazed suddenly in Fudges face. He took a horrified step backwards, yelped, and jumped out of the fire again.
"You?" he whispered, stamping again on his smouldering cloak.
"That's right," said Dumbledore pleasantly.
"You organized this?"
"I did," said Dumbledore.
"You recruited these students for – for your army?"
"Tonight was supposed to be the first meeting," said Dumbledore, nodding. "Merely to see whether they would be interested in joining me. I see now that it was a mistake to invite Miss Edgecombe, of course."
Marietta nodded. Fudge looked from her to Dumbledore, his chest swelling.
"Then you have been plotting against me!" he yelled.
"That's right," said Dumbledore cheerfully.
"NO!" shouted Harry.
Kingsley flashed a look of warning at him, McGonagall widened her eyes threateningly, but it had suddenly dawned on Harry what Dumbledore was about to do, and he could not let it happen.
"No — Professor Dumbledore –!"
"Be quiet, Harry, or I am afraid you will have to leave my office," said Dumbledore calmly.
"Yes, shut up, Potter!" barked Fudge, who was still ogling Dumbledore with a kind of horrified delight. "Well, well, well – I came here tonight expecting to expel Potter and instead –"
"Instead you get to arrest me," said Dumbledore, smiling. "It's like losing a Knut and finding a Galleon, isn't it?"
"Weasley!" cried Fudge, now positively quivering with delight, "Weasley, have you written it all down, everything he's said, his confession, have you got it?"
"Yes, sir, I think so, sir!" said Percy eagerly, whose nose was splattered with ink from the speed of his note-taking.
"The bit about how he's been trying to build up an army against the Ministry, how he's been working to destabilize me?"
"Yes, sir, I've got it, yes!" said Percy, scanning his notes joyfully.
"Very well, then," said Fudge, now radiant with glee, "duplicate your notes, Weasley, and send a copy to the Daily Prophet at once. If we send a fast owl we should make the morning edition!"
Percy dashed from the room, slamming the door behind him, and Fudge turned back to Dumbledore.
"You will now be escorted back to the Ministry, where you will be formally charged, then sent to Azkaban to await trial!"
"Ah," said Dumbledore gently, "yes. Yes, I thought we might hit that little snag."
"Snag?" said Fudge, his voice still vibrating with joy. "I see no snag, Dumbledore!"
"Well," said Dumbledore apologetically, "I'm afraid I do."
"Oh, really?"
"Well – it's just that you seem to be laboring under the delusion that I am going to – what is the phrase? – come quietly. I am afraid I am not going to come quietly at all, Cornelius. I have absolutely no intention of being sent to Azkaban. I could break out, of course – but what a waste of time, and frankly, I can think of a whole host of things I would rather be doing."
Umbridge's face was growing steadily redder; she looked as though she was being filled with boiling water. Fudge stared at Dumbledore with a very silly expression on his face, as though he had just been stunned by a sudden blow and could not quite believe it had happened.
He made a small choking noise, then looked round at Kingsley and the man with short grey hair, who alone of everyone in the room had remained entirely silent so far. The latter gave Fudge a reassuring nod and moved forwards a little, away from the wall. Harry saw his hand drift, almost casually, towards his pocket.
"Don't be silly, Dawlish," said Dumbledore kindly. "I'm sure you are an excellent Auror – I seem to remember that you achieved 'Outstanding' in all your NEWT s — but if you attempt to — er — bring me in by force, I will have to hurt you."
The man called Dawlish blinked rather foolishly. He looked towards Fudge again, but this time seemed to be hoping for a clue as to what to do next.
"So," sneered Fudge, recovering himself, "you intend to take on Dawlish, Shacklebolt, Dolores and myself single-handed, do you, Dumbledore?"
"Merlin's beard, no," said Dumbledore, smiling, "not unless you are foolish enough to force me to."
"He will not be single-handed!" said Professor McGonagall loudly, plunging her hand inside her robes.
"Oh yes he will, Minerva!" said Dumbledore sharply. "Hogwarts needs you!"
"Enough of this rubbish!" said Fudge, pulling out his own wand. "Dawlish! Shacklebolt! Take him!"
A streak of silver light flashed around the room; there was a bang like a gunshot and the floor trembled; a hand grabbed the scruff of Harry's neck and forced him down on the floor as a second silver flash went off; several of the portraits yelled, Fawkes screeched and a cloud of dust filled the air. Coughing in the dust, Harry saw a dark figure fall to the ground with a crash in front of him; there was a shriek and a thud and somebody cried, "No!"; then there was the sound of breaking glass, frantically scuffling footsteps, a groan…and silence.
Harry struggled around to see who was half-strangling him and saw Professor McGonagall crouched beside him; she had forced both him and Marietta out of harm's way. Dust was still floating gently down through the air on to them. Panting slightly, Harry saw a very tall figure moving towards them.
"Are you all right?" Dumbledore asked.
"Yes!" said Professor McGonagall, getting up and dragging Harry and Marietta with her.
The dust was clearing. The wreckage of the office loomed into view: Dumbledore's desk had been overturned, all of the spindly tables had been knocked to the floor, their silver instruments in pieces. Fudge, Umbridge, Kingsley and Dawlish lay motionless on the floor. Fawkes the phoenix soared in wide circles above them, singing softly.
"Unfortunately, I had to hex Kingsley too, or it would have looked very suspicious," said Dumbledore in a low voice. "He was remarkably quick on the uptake, modifying Miss Edgecombe's memory like that while everyone was looking the other way – thank him, for me, won't you, Minerva?
"Now, they will all awake very soon and it will be best if they do not know that we had time to communicate – you must act as though no time has passed, as though they were merely knocked to the ground, they will not remember –"
"Where will you go, Dumbledore?" whispered Professor McGonagall. "Grimmauld Place?"
"Oh no," said Dumbledore, with a grim smile, "I am not leaving to go into hiding. Fudge will soon wish he'd never dislodged me from Hogwarts, I promise you."
"Professor Dumbledore…" Harry began.
He did not know what to say first: how sorry he was that he had started the D.A. in the first place and caused all this trouble, or how terrible he felt that Dumbledore was leaving to save him from expulsion? But Dumbledore cut him off before he could say another word.
"Listen to me, Harry," he said urgently. "You must study Occlumency as hard as you can, do you understand me? Do everything Professor Snape tells you and practice it particularly every night before sleeping so that you can close your mind to bad dreams – you will understand why soon enough, but you must promise me –"
The man called Dawlish was stirring. Dumbledore seized Harry's wrist.
"Remember – close your mind –"
But as Dumbledore's fingers closed over Harry's skin, a pain shot through the scar on his forehead and he felt again that terrible, snakelike longing to strike Dumbledore, to bite him, to hurt him –
"– you will understand," whispered Dumbledore.
Fawkes circled the office and swooped low over him. Dumbledore released Harry, raised his hand and grasped the phoenix's long golden tail. There was a flash of fire and the pair of them were gone.
END FLASHBACK
Harry pulled himself out of his memory and assimilated everything he had learned. The spells Dumbledore had used to take out the Ministry officials, were fairly easy if obscure, and he now knew them just like everything else.
The Memory Charm was another one added to his collection, and then finally the one thing he specifically choose that memory for, was the way Fawkes travels. Looking around at Dumbledore and Sirius who were looking at him impatiently, he gave a smirk before disappearing in a flash of fire, and reappearing on the other side of the office.
Turning to look at the two people in the office, he was rewarded with gobsmacked looks. He couldn't help it, he cracked up, releasing all the pent up emotions he had held, he collapsed and laughed. It wasn't long before the other two joined him, Sirius half crying as well.
A/N: Okay, third chappie is up, please let me know of any mistakes, next up Harry visits the hospital wing and Hagrid, before he has more conversations with Dumbledore. Harry will NOT be going back to the Dursleys for the summer, he will be taking a 'vacation' in other dimensions. He will be visiting multiple dimensions so any suggestions on what to make them are welcome, although I can't say all will be used. Happy Reading!!