Previously:
The girls got Harry calmed down and partly out the door when he stopped and turned again. "Don't forget Padfoot." Said Harry.
"I won't Harry, I won't, stop worrying!" Yelled Sirius, laughing as the girls drug Harry out the door.
Professor McGonagall led the three students through the castle as the other two professors led Madam Maxine to the front doors. "What did you mean when you told Mr. Black not to forget Mr., I'm sorry Lord Potter?" Asked McGonagall.
"Mr. Potter, or even Harry is fine Professor." Replied Harry. "That Lord crap is just to irritate Dumbledore and Snape. The girls would kill me if I started to get a big head." He failed to duck as said girls both smacked him upside the head and said. "Language Harry!" Chuckling Harry continued. "Sirius and Madam Bones are to make sure that Dumbledore doesn't contact Molly Weasley before tomorrow. As a matter of fact Professor we would like you to be with us when we meet the Weasley's tomorrow. Sirius and Madam Bones will be there as well."
"What exactly is happening tomorrow?" Asked McGonagall with a frown.
Harry and Hermione shared a glance while Fleur elegantly shrugged one shoulder. While she knew the basics she didn't know the Weasley's personally.
"Well," began Hermione "we know that the contract that was eluded to earlier was set up by Dumbledore and Molly. We've talked with Bill, through the goblins, and he didn't know anything about it. He believes his father and most of his brothers are also clueless to what Molly was doing. However, he is not as sure about Ron and Ginny. The reason that we want Madam Bones there is because of a comment Mrs. Weasley made. She joked about giving Mr. Weasley a love potion back when they first got together. The look on Ginny's face makes us worry she may try the same thing with Harry. She has always been obsessed with Harry, and when she finds out she can never have him, let's just say we are worried about what she may do."
Professor McGonagall's face cycled between shocked to pensive and back again. After a moment she nodded. "Yes I will be there. I want to know if I need to watch out for anything."
At that comment Hermione got a strange look on her face. "Professor may I ask you something?" Hermione questioned.
"Of course you can." Replied McGonagall.
"Do you remember back in our first year when something was killing the Unicorns in the forbidden forest?" Hermione asked.
"Why yes. Why do you ask?" McGonagall answered surprised at the question.
"Why did you assign our detention in the Forbidden Forest with only Hagrid as protection?" Hermione asked. This question had been bothering her for years now.
McGonagall came to a complete stop. "I assure you I did no such thing Ms. Granger!"
Harry decided to overlook the Ms. Granger comment and get to the heart of the matter. "I'm afraid you did Professor. That was Voldemort's second attempt on my life. If it wasn't for a Centaur I might not be here right now." Harry shot back. More than a little upset that the Professor thought they were lying.
"I didn't mean to imply you were lying." Replied McGonagall. Unconsciously soothing Harry's ruffled feathers. "Hagrid was told to have all of you work around his hut and the stables cleaning up. I would never send students into the forest, especially at night!" McGonagall was almost in tears at the thought of placing students, especially her cub's, in danger.
"The question now becomes did someone change Hagrid's orders, or did someone force you to give different orders and then forget them." Hermione said.
"What do you mean?" Asked Fleur. Her two mate's hadn't mentioned this before.
"Well" started Harry "in DADA Professor Moody has just gone over the Unforgivable's. I was the only one able to throw off the Imperious curse. It's supposed to be very hard to fight that curse. That is how someone could have forced the Professor here to give different orders to Hagrid."
That was as far as he got in his explanation as Mount McGonagall blew up. Her brogue which had faded from earlier was now back in full force. The only part they could really understand was "I can't believe that he would use that curse on a child. What was Albus thinking, allowing that." Everything after that was in Gaelic and Harry thought it was probably better that they couldn't understand what was being said. The Professor was slowly quieting as she ran out of breath and Harry just decided to continue on with his explanation as if the Professor hadn't said anything.
"In our second year that flop, Lockhart, proved that just about anyone can cast a memory charm." Harry's scowl as he said that was easy to decipher. He was no doubt reliving the rest of that fateful day. The unconscious rubbing of his arm, where the King of Snakes had bit him lent evidence to that fact.
Harry snapped out of his memories as Hermione took in a sharp breath. At his look she gave her head a small shake and turned back to the Professor. "Professor I have a question about second year as well, but I think we should get to our rooms first. If I'm right."
"Which you always are." Harry piped in.
"If I'm right" Hermione continued, absently smacking Harry in the arm "then things are even worse than I thought."
At this both Harry and Fleur gave her hard looks. They already thought things were bad enough. They had extra knowledge, thanks to Sirius, to handle most things true. But if Hermione thought things were worse they were both worried that knowledge wouldn't be enough. For one thing Hermione was rarely wrong, for another they both thought things were pretty well bad enough.
Fleur was the one to voice their question. "What do you mean worse?"
Hermione's response of "If I'm right then everything just got FUBAR'd." made both Fleur and McGonagall blink in confusion while Harry paled and actually swayed on his feet.
Fleur grabbed Harry to keep him from falling and asked him what was wrong.
"There are two things wrong with what Hermione said." He replied, still very pale. "The first thing is that FUBAR is an acronym, and the first word of that acronym would get me smacked upside the head with Hermione shouting "Harry Language!" at the top of her lungs." Fleur started to smile before she noticed that neither Harry nor Hermione were smiling at all.
"And the second thing?" Fleur timidly asked.
Harry grimaced and replied "The acronym translates to "Fucked Up Beyond All Recognition". We thought we had a handle on things, but if Hermione thinks that things are about to go FUBAR then I'm scared shitless." Though neither said anything both Fleur and McGonagall noticed that Hermione made no effort to correct his language. This made both of them shiver in fear.
McGonagall decided to move things along. "Let us get to your rooms so you may ask your question. You can also let me know if there is anything else I should know about." With this she turned and led them further down the hallway in the direction of the guest quarters.
Meanwhile Ron was currently working himself into a not so quiet rage in front of the Gryffindor common room fireplace. He was seething that once again his so-called best mate was once again in the spotlight. While he, Ron Weasley, had nothing. It didn't matter that he knew he could never compete with students three years older than him. It didn't matter that people had died in this tournament before. What mattered was that Harry was once again the center of attention. To make matters worse he wasn't even here to yell at. No he had disappeared somewhere and he had taken Hermione with him. That was something else that had been bothering him. He had seen the way that Harry and Hermione had been acting since they had gotten to the Burrow just before the World Cup. The speaking without words, the glances when they thought no-one was looking, always sitting close together. Hermione was his girl, it didn't matter that they always fought. It didn't even matter that she had shown no interest in him. It didn't matter that he had just started to like girls in that way. All that mattered was that he, Ron Weasley, was going to have something he wanted, first. Not a hand me down, not after she went out with someone else. He would be her first and she would be his.
Besides his mum kept saying that Harry and Ginny were going to be together. That meant, in his small mind, that Hermione was his for the taking. "I guess that I'm just going to have to show him that having a scar on his head doesn't mean that Harry Potter get's whatever he wants." The red head didn't even realize that he was speaking out loud. Nor did he realize that someone else was waiting up for Harry. Someone else who wanted to talk to him. This person, however, wanted to let Harry know that they were there to support him. That any help they could give, they would. That for three years they had watched as things seemed to happen to Harry that shouldn't have. This person wasn't sure how the things that happened to Harry were kept quiet. All they did know was that at the least Dumbledore would have been sacked, and at the worst Hogwarts closed, if the public ever knew how much danger their children had been in. It looked like once more a Potter was heading into danger, it was time to take his place at his friends side. Just as their families always had. This time it would be Potter and Longbottom, as it had been for several generations. In times gone past the names had been different and he was sure that Harry had no clue. Too much had been kept from him for some reason unknown. It was time to share not only his knowledge of the past but the strength's he had kept hidden these past few years. The wheel's of time and fate had turned into alignment once again. It was time to remind the world who, those of the dark, truly feared. And that while the light may be diminished it could never be extinguished.
Back in the headmasters office things had gone from bad, to worse. At least for the Headmaster himself. The Sirius Black that was joking with Harry Potter as he left was replaced by one, well one that was much more serious. As the door closed he turned to Dumbledore and in a no-nonsense tone of voice said "Before we continue Dumbledore, you will give two oath's. The first one is that you will not contact, or have anyone contact any of the Weasleys until after the meeting they have with Harry tomorrow. The second oath will be to keep everything you have learned and will learn here tonight secret until it become common knowledge."
Dumbledore leapt to his feet and began shouting furiously. What he said no-one knew as Sirius had silenced him before he even got started. When he finally noticed that he was actually being heard he began searching frantically for his wand.
In an almost bored tone, Sirius spoke again. "Albus, Albus, Albus. First of all Harry has the wand you were using. Notice I didn't say your wand, as we both know it wasn't yours. Second of all I would have stunned you long before you got your true wand out of your desk. Yes I know where it is. The portraits here are rather chatty if you are wondering how I knew." There was no need for Dumbledore to know why they were so chatty. "And last but not least it's either swear the oath's or you will be dead before morning." At that Dumbledore paled and Madam Bones looked at him sharply. This was the first she had heard about killing him.
At her look Sirius smiled. "Did you know that even as the competitors of the Tournament are bound to compete. The Headmasters are bound as well. It's one of the few times a sitting Headmaster cannot be removed." The casual way he spoke, led everyone to believe he was telling the truth. "However" Sirius continued "if the Headmaster was removed, then he would forfeit either his magic or his life." At this Dumbledore sat back down looking relieved.
"But if he can't be removed, then, well how can he be removed?" Asked Bones, sounding very confused. It had sounded to her that Sirius had just said that Dumbledore could be removed, yet couldn't be.
"There are actually two way's." Said Sirius. "The first is that a majority of the Founders Heirs can remove any sitting Headmaster at anytime." Not wanting them to think about that too long, Sirius continued. "The other, and the one that I'm thinking of is if the sitting Headmaster were to lose their magic." The dumbfounded looks on the other two's faces made him add "You know, become a squib."
Seeing Dumbledore's mouth opening and closing Sirius waved his wand cancelling the silencing spell. For a moment he thought that he failed to remove the spell as Dumbledore's mouth was still opening and closing but still no sound was coming out. Then he realized the old man was in shock, at that point Sirius started laughing uproariously. Once he calmed down, Madam Bones spoke again.
"How would Dumbledore become a squib? Everyone knows how powerful he is and no-one knows of a way to remove someone's magic." She said, once again sounding confused.
Dumbledore was nodding his head up and down in agreement as it seemed the power of speech still eluded him. Sirius' next comment would keep Dumbledore's power of speech gone for a time to come.
"That's not quite true." Sirius began. "It is true that no-one knows how to forcibly remove someone's magic. Harry however is going to squib Dumbledore sometime in the near future. He just hasn't decided when to do it yet." Sirius only gave them a few moments to digest that statement before he continued. "You see among the multitude of mistakes that Dumbledore made, he made at least one huge one that we know of. Since he was the executor of the Potter's will, Dumbledore was magically bound to see that the will was carried out to the best of his ability. However, Dumbledore didn't even attempt that. It didn't fit into his plans for Harry. If the will would have been read, I'd never would have ended up in Azkaban, as the will stated who the secret keeper was. If the will had been read, Harry would have never ended up at the Dursley's. If the will had been read, Remus would never had struggled so hard to survive." At that Sirius noticed that Dumbledore's eye's lit up, then quickly dimmed. Sirius filed that information away for later and continued. "There are several other things that would have changed, but these are the ones that Harry finds the most unforgivable. Those are the ones that made Harry decide that he was going to squib Dumbledore. The only reason that he hasn't done so yet was because Hermione was holding him back. She thought that there was still some good in the old man."
At this Dumbledore began to breath a little easier. It seemed that Ms. Granger was still on his side. That along with Remus still giving Dumbledore his allegiance over his friends meant that he still had a chance to get out of this. All he had to do was talk to Remus and control Ms. Granger so that they could convince Harry. Sirius' next comments shot those thoughts right out of the water.
"After tonight" Sirius continued "Hermione will probably push for Harry to do it now." Watching the light fade from Dumbledore's eye's filled him with joy. The old man had a lot to pay for and it was time the bill was paid. "She now realizes what the rest of us already know; that the Greater Good the old goat is always bleating about is actually the greater good of one Albus Dumbledore. Since Dumbledore doesn't care for anyone but himself, Hermione is not going to care for him. Even more so since the old man hurt Harry, she is even more protective of him than I am." After a short pause Sirius spoke to Dumbledore directly. "Albus go ahead and grab your wand, it's time to make your oaths. And don't be stupid and try anything, we have a system set up and if certain things don't happen at certain points Harry WILL squib you before asking any other questions. While he doesn't respect you as a person anymore, he does respect your power and you more Slytherin ability to wiggle your way out of things like a snake. He also say's you have the most amazing ability to talk for a long time without actually saying anything, but that isn't really relevant at this point."
Albus slowly reached into his desk drawer for his first wand. He was thinking furiously the whole time he made his oaths. He knew he could find away out of this if he had enough time to think. Little did he know that he could have all the time in the world and he would never get out of this.
As McGonagall gave the password to the portrait guarding the guest suite, several things happened that would have far and long reaching consequences.
Harry looked up as something bumped into his head. Seeing a bird made of parchment, he started to reach for it when Fleur grabbed his arm. At his confused look she said, "Let me check it for curses first." Waving her wand, while muttering softly she frowned, then continued. "The only thing I can find is the animation charm and some kind of identification magic. Though I'm not sure what it actually is."
All three of the young students looked even more confused at that, when Professor McGonagall started speaking. "That is old magic tied to a Lords ring when it is used to seal a document or letter. May I see the seal?" At Harry's nod she grabbed the still floating parchment. At her touch the bird turned into a scroll with and imprinted wax seal. Upon seeing the seal but of the Professors eyebrows shot up in surprise. Not waiting for any of the students to ask she turned to the waiting trio. "I'm surprised because the seal indicated that the parchment is from Lord Longbottom. As Neville's parents are both permanently hospitalized it must be from Neville himself. I'm just surprised that his grandmother, Augusta, would emancipate him to enable him to take his Lordship early."
All four of them were startled when a voice spoke from the shadows. "His grandmother emancipated him at the end of the last school year. When she learned of everything that happened at Hogwarts last year, and some of the details from the year's before, she felt it would be best for my Neville to be able to learn more over the summer. Not to mention the protection that being a Lord would provide him." As she finished speaking a young blonde girl with large blue-grey eyes stepped out of the darkness. However the most startling thing about the young woman was that she wasn't wearing a stitch of clothing.
AN: Sorry that this one took so long to get out. I actually have the next 7 or so chapters written, however they are handwritten meaning I still have to type them up. And that is where the problem lies. I suffer from severe back and neck problems and sitting and typing makes things worse so I end up typing on day's that I'm feeling well enough. Cheer's everyone.
