Chapter Four – Fortescue's

Harry met the two witches outside Gringotts. He dropped off the paper that Whipcrack had asked him to look over with one of the counter goblins. Hannah had to pick up some papers from her family vault, and Susan wanted to get some galleons from her vault. She asked Harry, "Do you want to ride in the cart with me?"

Harry thought that riding in the little carts in the dark along a winding track with Susan sounded like a good idea. He smiled and said, "If you don't mind, I'd love to."

They went in one cart and Hannah went in a different one with another goblin. Their goblin led them to a cart and pointed to the seat in the back end. He directed, "Sit here, please." Harry helped Susan into the cart and sat next to her. The goblin stood at the other end facing forward. He said, "3210," and something in gobbledegook and the cart started. As the cart went along the winding turns and Susan was pressed against him from time to time, Harry decided that cart rides were a very enjoyable means of transportation. After a few minutes, the cart stopped and the goblin got out and said, "Key please."

Susan touched Harry's arm and asked, "Can you help me out?"

Harry got out and held his hand out for Susan to hold onto. She did, though it was obvious that she had no trouble getting out unassisted. Harry wasn't certain if he was supposed to go to her vault with her or glance inside to see what was there. Susan sensed his confusion and said, "Come with me Harry. It's only a bit of gold, not a state secret."

He walked with her to her vault and the goblin opened the door for her. It was a smaller vault than Harry's, closer in size to the Weasley vault, but there was a small pile of perhaps a thousand or so galleons inside it. Susan counted fifty out and placed them in her bag. When she was done, she announced, "I'm ready. Thank you."

They got back into the cart while the goblin resealed the vault door. Too soon they were back in the lobby. They both said, "Thank you," to the driver and waited a minute for Hannah.

… --- …

They walked through the Leaky Cauldron and out into muggle London, looking at the sights and sounds. On a whim, Harry bought them tickets for one of the open top double decker tour buses. They rode around the city, laughing, and just being teenagers on holiday. By one, they were hungry and found a pizza restaurant to eat at.

After they sat down and ordered, Hannah asked, "What do you think about Fudge getting sacked?"

Harry replied, "He caused me a lot of trouble last summer when I protected myself and my cousin against a couple of dementors. He gave Riddle a year's head start by ignoring the situation."

Hannah asked, "What do you mean, Harry? Who's Riddle?"

In a low voice Harry replied, "Voldemort's real name is Tom Riddle. He's about Hagrid's age. They were in school together. Riddle opened the Chamber of Secrets when he was a student and set a basilisk on another student. She died and Hagrid got expelled because Riddle pinned the blame on him. You know her as Moaning Myrtle. I was there, that night, when Peter Pettigrew helped get Voldemort's body back. Pettigrew murdered Cedric on Voldemort's order. We dueled and I was able to get away. When I got back with Cedric's body, I told Fudge and Dumbledore what had happened, and as many of the thirty Death Eaters' names as I could remember. Fudge blew the whole thing off as a lie, because he didn't want to hear it. There's no telling how many supporters he's been able to recruit in the last year or how many people he's had murdered because Fudge didn't bother to make plans to fight the Death Eaters or warn people that they were out attacking people again." Harry didn't feel the need to mention that Wormtail helped Voldemort get his body back by stealing his blood.

Susan flinched at his words realizing that the witches and wizards who worked for her Aunt would need to become part of the solution to a very large problem. She wondered how much of this her Aunt knew and what she was doing about it. She asked, "Harry, who knows about all of this?"

Not wanting to reveal information about the Order, Harry replied, "Us, a few students, Professor Dumbledore and whomever he chose to tell as well as Fudge and whomever he chose to tell. Oh, and all of the kids of the Death Eaters. Malfoy started bragging about it on the train ride home a year ago."

Susan and Hannah sat there in silence for a minute reflecting on his words. Harry was frustrated that he'd spoiled a fun time by being so serious. Fortunately their pizza came and in truth they were famished. Though very thin, Harry decided that Hannah could give Ron a run for his money with respect to eating. Susan obviously was aware of her friend's habit. Her eyes met Harry's and they each smiled at the shared thought.

Harry asked, "Susan, what classes are you planning on taking next term?"

She considered her answer for a moment and replied, "Herbology, Potions, Charms, Transfiguration and Arithmancy. Hannah, how about you?"

Hannah replied, "I'm going to take Arithmancy, Runes, Charms, Herbology and Transfiguration. What about you, Harry?"

In truth, he hadn't thought about it other than the brief conversation that he'd had with McGonagall that Umbitch had ruined. In reality, he'd probably do whatever Professor Dumbledore suggested. He replied, "I'm not certain. I guess I'll ask the Professor for his advice."

Hannah grumbled, "He never talks to me. I think he's said about ten words to me in five years."

Not wanting to get wrapped up in a discussion about Dumbledore, Harry asked, "What about defense?"

Susan looked at Hannah for a second who replied, "It's been kind of a joke. The professor in the first year went missing. Lockhart seemed to be spending most of his time bragging and trying to talk the seventh year witches out of their knickers. Professor Lupin seemed okay, but turned out to have a pretty serious disease. Professor Moody gave me a running case of the creeps. The bint that we had this last year was worse than worthless. Honestly Harry, the only good defense teacher we've had has been you." Susan nodded in agreement.

While Hannah's knowledge of some of the darker details was limited, Harry couldn't disagree with the essence of her statement. Susan said, "I heard a rumor that that man wasn't even Professor Moody."

Harry replied, "He wasn't. He was Barty Crouch Junior, a Death Eater. He'd kept Moody trapped in his own trunk all year so he could keep impersonating him. He made the portkey that took Cedric and me to the graveyard. He was a major embarrassment to Fudge, and he had him kissed by the dementors without being properly questioned by the Aurors."

Susan frowned for a moment and commented, "It's hard to say if he did that out of stupidity, a false sense of pride, or an intentional cover-up."

Harry continued, "After the tournament, Crouch took me back to his office to kill me. He started bragging about how he'd set up the portkey to get me to the graveyard as part of a plan to get Voldemort's body back. Just as he was going to try to kill me, Professor Dumbledore blew down the door to Crouch's office. Crouch was given Veritaserum and confessed to having set the plan up with Pettigrew, capturing the real Moody, tricking the cup into spitting out my name, murdering his father, and casting Imperius on Victor; all ultimately under Voldemort's orders. Fudge may have thought that I was an attention-seeking liar, but he had an escaped supposedly dead Death Eater in custody who had just confessed to aiding in a huge plan to get Voldemort back to power and the names of over a dozen Death Eaters. It's not like I made them up. Loads of people saw them at the world cup."

Susan replied, "It probably had a lot to do with his ties to Mr. Malfoy. Auntie might know better, but he may have helped get Fudge into office originally. Let's get back to Diagon Alley and look at books."

Harry paid for lunch and they walked out the door. Susan touched his arm and said, "Thanks Harry. I'll get us some ice cream when we get to Fortescue's."

Harry smiled and said, "My pleasure. Lead on." They were less than a mile from the Leaky Cauldron and decided to walk, rather than get back on the bus. Hannah and Susan were a step ahead, and Harry decided that following along with the two pretty witches was very easy on the eyes. They walked and talked as they went.

Hannah opened the door to the Leaky Cauldron and said, "Hi, Tom."

The old barkeeper looked up and smiled at her. "Good day, Miss Abbott. It's nice to see you." He nodded to Susan and Harry who had a slight smirk on his face. The three of them passed through the door out the back. Susan tapped the bricks and a few seconds later the archway had been opened. As they stepped through, it happened.

Harry heard the explosion halfway up the street. He looked up and the front of Fortescue's and the sidewalk tables had blown up. Bits of brick and glass started raining down on them. He heard the little phoenix cry out and a moment later she was diving down. Harry quickly took Susan and Hannah's hands in his and a moment later the three of them were in Harry's little room.

… --- …

"What happened?" asked Hannah who hadn't been paying attention.

"Harry's little phoenix saved us," said Susan, trembling.

Harry looked over to Hannah and noticed that she had been cut pretty badly on the neck and hadn't yet noticed. He grabbed a shirt that was on his bed and held it tightly to her neck. He said, "Susan, call your Aunt."

She stepped to the door, but it was locked. Harry whipped out his wand, but Susan had beat him and said, "Alohamora." All of the locks that Uncle Vernon had used snapped open.

Harry said, "The phone's down in the kitchen. Stun them if you have to."

Fortunately, no one else was home at the time. A minute later, Amelia Bones and a mediwitch were at the front door. Susan let them in and the found Harry holding a blood soaked rag over a barely conscious Hannah Abbott.

"What happened?" asked the mediwitch as she reached into her bag to get a blood restorative potion.

Susan said, "We were walking to Fortescue's when we heard an explosion. Harry's phoenix grabbed us and took us here. Hannah must have got hit by a piece of glass."

"Hold her head upright, Mr. Potter, like that. Keep the pressure on her neck. Good." She poured a pint of the clear liquid down Hannah's throat then another. Hannah started to gag and the mediwitch said, "Release the bandage." As Harry did, blood gushed from the cut, but the mediwitch had her wand out and rubbed it along the cut several times. Each time the wound became slightly smaller. After a minute, the bleeding had stopped.

The mediwitch said, "Hold her head up again, Mr. Potter." She took another bottle of blood restorative out and had Hannah drink half of it. Hannah's eyes drooped and the mediwitch said, "She'll need to sleep for half an hour. Please excuse us, Mr. Potter. I need to get her checked for any other injuries."

While the Mediwitch was working on Hannah, Amelia was glancing around Harry's room. She noticed the shabby furniture in the otherwise showroom home and the different take-away wrappers that were in the dustbin. She said, "Harry, let's go downstairs. Susan, maybe you can be of some help to Mediwitch Larson."

Harry took her to the kitchen and Amelia cast a cleaning charm on him. Within a minute his blood-soaked clothing looked as good as new and the bloody footprints on the floor were gone. "Thanks," he said. "Uncle Vernon would have bea…" He grew silent, confirming Amelia's suspicions. She'd heard rumors of Harry's abusive relatives, but hadn't had the occasion to directly intervene.

"What happened, Harry?"

He replied, "I'm not sure what to say. We had just stepped through the archway behind Tom's when we heard the explosion. I was a step behind Susan and Hannah. Hannah must have gotten hit with a piece of broken glass. I heard Freedom the phoenix coming to get me, I grabbed Susan and Hannah and we were fireflashed here. Hannah was bleeding pretty badly. I knew that you had a cellular telephone and I asked Susan to call you. She had to use a charm to unlock the door but you got here pretty quickly; so I hope that Hannah will be OK."

Amelia nodded for a moment and asked, "Why was your door locked?" Harry gave an embarrassed look and she helped him saying, "It was obvious that the door was locked from the outside. Is that the usual case?"

Harry replied, "My Uncle really doesn't want anything to do with me, so they always keep the door locked."

Barely containing her anger, Bones asked, "Do they know that you can leave the room?"

Harry replied, "No."

She asked, "So as far as your Uncle knows, you haven't used the loo or had any food or water for almost a week?"

Harry replied, "I s'pose."

"So how do you get out? It's fairly obvious what you've been eating. Harry you are aware that there are laws designed to protect, ch… young witches and wizards, right?"

Harry replied, "If there are, they don't seem to have done much good in my case." He pointed behind him and said, "This is where I spent the first ten years here."

Not exactly understanding him, she asked, "Where?"

Harry opened the latch on the stairway cupboard, pulled the string for the dim lightbulb, and said, "Here."

She stared in the cupboard for a moment and her heart sank when she saw the crib mattress on the floor. Somehow, she knew that he wasn't joking. If anything, she felt that he was understating the situation. She turned off the light and closed the door. She said, "Please wait here for a minute. I'm going to check on Hannah. I'll be right back." She couldn't remember the last time that she wanted to hurt another person so badly.

She returned a minute later with the mediwitch and said, "Harry, I'm going to get Becky Abbott. I'll be right back." She opened the back door and vanished.

Harry nodded and the Mediwitch asked, "Are you certain that you're not injured, Mr. Potter?"

Harry checked himself briefly and replied, "I'm fine."

She replied, "I wanted to tell you that the quick thinking on Susan's and your part saved your friend's life today. The glass had nicked an artery in her neck and it must have ruptured a few seconds later. Without your help, she would have bled out within a minute." Harry nodded trying to minimize her words but she said, "Your little phoenix tried to help when I was tending Hannah's other cuts, but she must be too young to have developed healing tears yet. I'm really not familiar with a phoenix's ability to flash travel a person. What does it feel like?"

Harry thought for a moment and replied, "A sudden puff of warm wind, I guess. It's over in a second."

Amelia and Becky Abbott arrived a minute later. The easygoing mum that Harry had met the day before, looked terrified. In a worried voice she asked, "Where's Hannah?"

"Upstairs the last door on the right," replied Harry.

She hurried up the stairs. A few minutes later, Susan called, "Harry, can you come up?"

He walked up the stairs and was shocked at what he saw. The wall by his bed was sprayed with blood. His blood-soaked shirt was on the floor. Hannah's shirt and shorts were on the floor. They were drenched with blood. She was sitting up on his bed by Susan, wearing one of his school uniform shirts and an old pair of sweatpants. She smiled weakly at him and said, "Thanks, Harry."

Not being very comfortable in these situations, he just said, "Hi, Hannah."

Mrs. Abbott started cleaning up the mess but Amelia said, "I'll take care of it, Becky. Will you be all right to take Hannah home?"

She replied, "I'm not sure." She looked at Harry and asked, "Harry do you suppose…?"

Harry immediately nodded and replied, "It's up to Freedom."

The little phoenix hopped on his shoulder and Harry said, "You both need to hold on. Becky and Hannah took his hand and in a flash of flame were gone.

When they had left, Amelia, asked, "Susan, are you sure you're all right?"

She nodded and held out her arms to be hugged, eyes glistening. "Auntie, I was so scared. It happened so quickly. One second we were walking along laughing and the next we were here and then we saw that Hannah was drenched in blood. Harry took control and saved her."

Amelia hugged her Niece for a minute and suggested, "Let's get his room cleaned up." Susan stood out of the way while Amelia drew her wand. She looked at the walls for a minute and cast a cleaning charm on all of them. She did the same with Hannah's clothing and the sheets on Harry's bed. Susan picked up her things and folded them.

"It's not much of a room," Susan noticed, sadly. Harry's bed and chest of drawers looked like Salvation Army cast-offs. "Smidgen has a nicer room than Harry." A little angrier she added, "The rest of the house looks fine." They walked down the steps to recheck the kitchen.

Just then a loud voice came from the front door. "Potter, what the hell do you think you're up to?" Seeing Susan at the bottom of the stairs, he demanded, "Get out of my house, you filthy freak, and take that worthless piece of shite Potter with you." He took another few steps towards her and made a threatening gesture.

"Stupefy." The angry man slumped to the carpet, where he decided to take a nap. Just then a woman at the door shrieked and Bones cast a quick Silencio and Petrificus Totalus spell in her direction.

Susan watched in amazement as her normally mild mannered Auntie levitated Vernon onto the sofa in their living room, did the same to Petunia; then cancelled the spells that she had previously place on them.

Wanting to conclude her business with the two as quickly as possible Amelia announced, "I will take Harry into my home as our guest for a few days. In the meantime, the two of you will settle down and carefully consider what prison would look like from the inside out after being convicted of violating a dozen child endangerment laws."

"Please allow me to assure you, Mr. Dursley, that should you ever choose to manhandle a child in my presence again you will have made the decision to draw your last breath as a living being. Is there any ambiguity in what I have discussed?" She looked directly at each of them as they shook their heads no. The fire in her eyes was evident.

"Good. Then with that settled, we will wait for Harry to return and then be on our way. Susan, perhaps you could finish tidying up Harry's room and pack his trunk for a few minutes until he gets back. In the meanwhile, I'll keep his Aunt and Uncle company."

… --- …

When Harry arrived back after getting Hannah and her mum safely back to their home, Freedom took him back to his room. He was surprised to see Susan sitting on his packed school trunk. He asked, "What's up?"

Susan replied, "Your Uncle came home and went off a bit. Auntie had a few words with him and he seemed to have calmed down. Anyway, we'd like you to stay with us for a while. She asked me to come up and get your things in order. I hope you don't mind?"

'Mind?' thought Harry, He replied, "It sounds brilliant. I'll just be a second." He looked around the little room. The closet was empty, as were the drawers. He pulled up the loose floorboard and took out the thick wad of banknotes and the sack of galleons."

Susan shook her head, and pointed out, "There are banks you know."

Harry smiled and said, "I know. I just withdrew this a few days ago for the summer. Let's go."

Susan replied, "OK, but the next time we go shopping, you're going to get rid of all of those horrible things they gave you to wear."

"Fine with me."

"One other thing," she gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. "Thanks for getting Hannah home safely."

Harry felt warm inside like he did when Freedom sang. He replied, "You're very welcome and thank you, Ms. Bones. We should probably go now. Hedwig, please meet us at Susan's." The beautiful owl hooted once and took off. They each took an end, and carried his trunk down the stairs. Harry saw his Aunt and Uncle sitting on the sofa facing Susan's Aunt who was sitting on a chair. He said, "We'll be going now. I'll be back home in a few days."

The Dursleys said nothing as the three of them held hands and Susan held Harry's trunk with her other hand. They looked on in shock as the little phoenix seemed to appear out of nowhere and landed on Harry's shoulder. In a flash, Freedom had spirited them away.

… --- …

After they left, Petunia spat, "Home? This was never his home. We were simply roped into giving him house space. I never want to see him again." Vernon turned on the telly to watch the beeb.

She didn't notice the blue crackle that originated in the cupboard under the stairs and quickly faded as it shimmered up the stairs.

… --- …

Back at Diagon Alley, Nick Straighthand was still trying to understand some of the details regarding the attack at Fortescue's. The proprietor and two customers had been killed, but two eyewitnesses insisted that they saw three kids walking toward the shop close enough so that they should have been badly injured by the exploding glass.

He looked over and saw Rita Skeeter interviewing one of the customers, and cringed as he considered what her story would look like. As he added their statements to his report he thought to himself, 'Welcome to office, Minister Scrimgeour.'

… --- …

Dumbledore returned to his office from Diagon Alley. There had been nothing to do to react to the attack. All-in-all he was relieved that the normally packed ice cream shop had been nearly empty, but was saddened at the loss of a good friend and the two little second years. It frustrated him to no end that, far too frequently, the victims in the war seemed to be innocent bystanders rather than participants.

He sat at the comfortable red chintz chair by the fireplace and picked up the box of broken instruments and began the arduous job of repairing the many sensors that he'd created over the years. As he scratched his crooked nose he resigned himself to the thought that at least he had an interesting project for the summer.

… --- …

Amelia Bones' home was unlike anything in Harry's experience. Set on eight acres of lightly wooded land in view of the Cambrian hills, the home in the Severn Valley was, by any stretch of the term, a peaceful British manor. Like many of the estates in Mid-Wales, it had been constructed some five hundred years ago. Not strictly a wizarding residence, Bones and her intended husband purchased it together early in Voldemort's first rise to power. Unfortunately Stephan McDonald was killed in an unfortunate hunting accident several weeks before the new couple were to be married.

It was styled as a man's home, with massive dark oak and brick everywhere. With five bedrooms, it had always too much house for Amelia and later Amelia and little Susan, but the location offered such a fantastic view that, with the help of their wonderful house elf, Smidgen, it had always been a comfortable home.

The defining feature of the home was the spacious country kitchen. Full of windows, it was light and airy with a large cooking and food prep area and a very comfortable oiled-wood table with six chairs. As the home had been purchased from a muggle, it had electrical service and an old style wall telephone.

The back garden was well tended. Smidgen easily did the work of a full time caretaker to keep the exterior in good condition and the grounds in proper order. At Susan's request, Amelia had added a swimming lap pool. Depending on the circumstances it was used for exercise or a small armada of floaties for use by Susan and her lifelong friend, Hannah.

They had been home schooled by Becky Abbott until they were seven. She and Amelia had been in agreement that it would be highly beneficial for both girls to learn something of the nonmagical world and the two had entered the third grade in the primary school in Folkestone together.

By then they were well-versed in the existence of the magical world and had demonstrated that they were trustworthy little girls. They kept the secrets of their magical world from their other classmates. For three years they went to primary school like any other child, learning reading, grammar, arithmetic, science and history. As such, they were probably better prepared than their pureblood classmates when it came to entering a structured learning environment like Hogwarts.

Not knowing that background, Harry was quite surprised when the three of them landed in the kitchen at Amelia's home. In truth, he was expecting something similar to the disarray of the burrow. Instead it was something of a cross between Grimmauld place and a regular home. There were elements of the magical menagerie of Diagon Alley, but if Harry had been worldlier, he would have seen the home as being similar to an old-style country club. Next to the kitchen was a comparatively small formal dining area, and a large family room. It was filled with bookcases, scores of photographs and at least a dozen wands hung on the wall, in glass cases with wooden frames. Each of the frames had a small brass plaque indicating who the owner of the wand had been.

"Welcome to our home, Harry," said Amelia. "Smidgen has made up a room for you. We want you to feel at home here."

"Grab an end Harry," said Susan referring to Harry's school trunk. "I'll show you to your room." They walked up the stairs and she showed Harry around. She said, "This is Auntie's room and this one is Smidgen's. The loo is here. We keep this one for Hannah, this one is mine and you can have this one here." Harry was amazed when he walked in. Expecting the smallest bedroom, it was three times the size of his room at Privet Drive. It had a large window, a desk with a table lamp, a comfortable sitting chair, closet and a queen size bed. Susan asked, "Will this be okay?"

Harry was speechless for a few moments and replied, "It's brilliant. Thank you."

"I'll let you be while you get your things organized. There are towels in the loo. If you need anything, let Auntie or I know. There's lots to eat and Smidgen will take care of almost everything."

… --- …

Still amazed at his success in being elected Minister, Rufus Scrimgeour knew that he was facing a mountain of challenges. Fudge had left the general wizarding population as unprepared for a large scale terrorist war as he could possibly imagine. The Aurors who he had managed until a week ago were chartered and trained to catch shoplifters, not killers. In muggle terms, they were policemen, not special operations soldiers.

While Amelia had a documented succession plan in place, he silently questioned her choice of placing Shacklebolt into the wizarding bodyguard slot of the PM office. He personally would have placed one of the equally capable hitwizards, like Wood in the government office and tapped Shack for the head Auror position.

Meanwhile Scrimgeour knew that he quickly needed to do several things – obtain additional funding for use to grow the Auror corps, demonstrate that the Aurors were doing something to make the wizarding world a safer place and finally obtain a big name supporter.

The wizarding ministry was funded by means of an end-user sales tax on all goods and services sold at wizarding shops. As the wizarding government didn't need to fund roads and education at Hogwarts was funded through endowments and student tuition, the only things that really needed funding were the bureaucrats, the aurors, St. Mungo's and the stipends paid to the Wizengamot members. As such, the shop tax, as it was known, had generally been sufficient. When there were special projects that needed funding, public donations had sufficed. In Fudge's case, Lucius Malfoy or several of the other pure blood families had stepped up and funded the high-visibility projects. Scrimgeour began to realize that Fudge might have simply succumbed to the sale of excessive influence from those contributors who invariably wanted something in return.

He would need many hundreds of thousands of additional galleons to fund a prolonged fight against the terrorists who called themselves Death Eaters, and the Ministry coffers were nearly empty due to poor budgeting from Fudge and a downturn in business.

Scrimgeour realized that in many witches and wizards eyes, he had more or less come out of nowhere, like a character introduced in one of the last chapters of a novel. As such, aside from a few of the MLE department heads and the Aurors, he had no known track record. Certainly he had no personal influence among everyday witches and wizards. The eleven Death Eaters captured or killed in the last week hadn't been stopped by the Ministry Aurors; they been apprehended by a bunch of school kids and an old man. Not in office a week, he had faced the reporters at the Daily Prophet photographed with the smoking remains of Fortescue's and the mediwitches in the background.

He needed a high visibility supporter to jump-start the many changes and obtain the funding to make them happen. He needed Harry Potter.

… --- …

Back in Blackpool, the man formerly known as Tom Riddle plotted his next moves. He wasn't going to win a war by blowing up ice cream shops. He'd just suffered a major defeat losing the best third of his followers. He needed to buy himself some time.

He realized that the loss of a puppet figurehead like Fudge could cause him major problems. A properly trained, well-funded, Auror corps could seriously impede his plans. He needed to quickly do two things – convince the dementors to join his side and disable the MLE department. To do that, he needed to assassinate Amelia Bones.

… --- …

"Mr. Crow," admonished McGonagall, "did you really find it necessary to kill off three people before page fifty? Why at an ice cream store of all places? It was one of my favorite shops."

'She did it first,' thought the old scribe defensively.

McGonagall wasn't finished. "At least you had the decency to save the Abbott girl, but you have set those muggles up for a horrible fate." The gray haired scribe had a twinkle in his eye that Dumbledore would have been jealous of. "And that last line…" But it was too late. The old scribe had ridden off on his steel horse, hoping that he would meet his fellow scribe Mike in search a pint at the still water pub.

… --- …