Harry and Alice

by mongodatroll

The mirror of Erised was keeping more trapped in it than a red rock, but Lilly's protection cut a deal with it during the battle with Quirrelmort. Now Alice is out, has vowed to assist Harry until he no longer needs her, and has spent nearly a hundred years in the magical world, looking out from her prison and finding ways to make all of her tricks work for real.

7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Giant Problems.

Albus was quickly becoming frantic. Things had not gone this far wrong since Grindlewald had drinks with that ridiculous little Austrian muggle with the stupid mustache and honeyed tongue. After the bank yesterday he had spent the entire day in the Wizengamot chambers trying to rally support for sanctions against the goblins. Unfortunately finding that the fearful attitude that he had fostered in magical Britain that allowed the likes of Voldemort to run roughshod over them and allowed him to maintain a stranglehold over power as the one to go to when things have gotten bad has created a people that want to debate everything that effects them directly into the ground before doing anything. Declaring other sentient creatures as dark and passing laws that were simply despicable in the name of wizarding safety was no problem. They would do that all day. But threaten their gold or their own comfort, and all of a sudden it needs to be talked to death by the most cautious and conservative people on the face of the planet. The fact that the bulk of the Wizengamot are old men that are not beholden to Albus in any way that Gringotts would recognize through accounts held only makes things worse. Aside from a very few that Albus has done favors for in the past in the form of small loans or that have offered him enticements to see something passed through the Wizengamot the only people that seem to be truly backing his motions are all pardoned Death Eaters! His most ardent supporter in this is none other than Lucius Malfoy, and if you had told Albus a week ago that they would be on the same side of a Wizengamot decision in this lifetime he would have laughed at you. Five long hours later, when the last of the Wizengamot members have left and Albus himself begins the walk towards the atrium, the fact that the closed session did not allow for news from the outside to reach the members begins to show.

Everybody knows. Everybody now knows that he is the reason for Gringotts doing this. Everybody knows that he was the one that squirreled away Harry Potter and seemingly everybody now knows why they never received any responses to their well wishes to the boy over the years. Gringotts has apparently spent the entire day interviewing people that were caught up in this, and if they can confirm a lack of collusion with himself or Voldemort, the people are being told all the details and offered compensation for their time to the tune of five thousand Galleons that based on what was discussed in session today, Albus is willing to bet were transferred straight from the Malfoy vaults. The looks he is getting are the same looks that he witnessed Grindlewald getting during the trial. The answer is clear. The boy must be found.

Unfortunately, this has not been easy. Today he stopped by the ministry briefly to speak with Cornelius Fudge and that pink horror he keeps as his secretary to ask assistance with the Gringotts matter from his offices, and has since spent the day looking for the boy so he can drag him into the bank and smooth this over.

But he can't find the boy. His tracking charms seem to have all fallen off. The Weasleys haven't seen him, but eat up two hours of Albus' time worrying over Harry and offering to assist. Albus declines however. Until he knows what is going on exactly, the fewer people the boy talks to the better. The Grangers, Hermione's family, haven't seen him and wouldn't be of any use even if Harry somehow did find their home as they are apparently leaving on vacation to the continent within the hour of his arrival. He spends the entire day checking every muggle business, hotel, park, bridge, shed, doghouse and outhouse within five miles of Harry's home and comes up with nothing. Finally, in desperation at the end of an exceptionally long and frustrating day he stops back by Privet drive and finds two things that cause his heart to stop for a few beats. Firstly, the muggle family he expected to meet are not in residence. But secondly and far more importantly, he has to search the house to find this out because the wards are down. In fact, the ward stones themselves are gone. Dug out of the ground as though someone was planing to use the spots they were in for fence posts.

By the time he makes it back to the ministry, most of the offices are closed and the people have gone home for the day. But he does catch something from the mind of some squib in maintenance as he prowls the halls looking for evidence of what seems to be destroying his world. An amusing anecdote. Delores Umbridge, attacked and left bleeding in the office of Amelia Bones. Enough of a mess to require mopping thoroughly the office and the halls all the way to the atrium until the portkey to St. Mungos. Apparently she was there meeting with Amelia, some young girl Albus doesn't recall having met, and just the way his luck is going today of course, Harry Potter. Harry Potter in the office of Amelia Bones. This will not go well.

Upon his return to the castle, defeated in all his attempts to find Harry, tired, hungry, frustrated, and annoyed as he had finally broken down and tried to get some assistance and cannot locate Alastor for the life of him, he finds out that the Ministry Summer Safety Inspection happened today while he was out. Hagrid has been arrested. A five man team of Aurors and members of the department of mysteries, two of the five becoming hurt in the third floor corridor. The mere fact that it was a five man team and included D.O.M. Personnel is by itself proof that Harry has been telling tales, the team is usually two Aurors of questionable skill who lounge around the great hall for lunch and dinner, essentially getting a day off with free meals.

In his office late into the night, Albus writes letters. He will need to call in favors to the point that he may actually owe some to stop what is happening, but stop it he shall. He is, after all, Albus Dumbledore. While Harry Potter, when all is said and done, is a child that was left with his last living family and had his mail redirected for safety reasons due to the fact that they were muggles.

Or at least, that is what the people will believe when he is done. Anything else, even the blood wards that they undoubtedly know about if they have the ward stones, can be justified by the fact that it was all set up during a time of war. A war that he had a hand in ending, and he may have to remind a few people of that.

The situation at Hogwarts will be a bit sticky, but he has one advantage there that can't be taken from him. In the end, and admittedly against all odds, nobody was seriously injured. In fact nobody was significantly hurt at all, and the records from the infirmary will back him up. A few flying injuries, and the standard lineup of Quidditch problems but aside from that it was an exceptionally boring year for Poppy, the mediwitch that runs the infirmary.

As for Gringotts? If this is how they wish to play then truly, he need not try to clear his name through the goblins. Indeed that may be impossible. But two can play the game of winning through a smear campaign, and frankly nobody likes the damn creatures anyway. Making people hate them will not be difficult. He doesn't have to be loved unconditionally, just trusted more than the greediest creatures known to wizard kind. How tough could that be to orchestrate?

HaA

Harry wakes up laying on his back with Alice curled into him using his arm as a pillow. It is light out, but obviously still quite early. Thinking about last night he can't help but smile. They wrapped up things at the ministry not long after Auror Lepenski left the office, and were cleaning out their room at the leaky cauldron soon after. At Director Bone's suggestion they chose to leave the mail redirect on him for a while longer. Mostly because with no trace on him and the redirect still active to stop the owls, he was effectively impossible for Dumbledore to locate barring his pet phoenix, but using that bird would tip his hand as he is the only one in Britain that has one. That annoying get out of jail free card showing up where Harry is would be enough to establish stalker behavior, and possibly enough evidence to shovel some truth serum down the old goats throat according to Madam Bones. Dropping a quick note to Gringotts to send any mail that was going to Harry Potter or Alice Liddell to be care of Amelia Bones, and why, is the last thing they do before leaving the Alley. Then they all went to Bones Manor where Harry and Alice were formally introduced to Susan Bones, Amelia's niece and an orphan of the first Voldemort conflict. A Hufflepuff and a somewhat shy but polite and quite friendly redhead that Harry easily recalls from school. They did not spend a lot of time together outside of class and meals, but in that place simply not having any reason to suspect somebody puts them a step or two above standard.. Before arriving, Amelia, Harry, and Alice had a brief discussion about Susan and it was decided that she would be told everything that they could because when the two of them slept in the same room she was going to know something was up anyway. While a bit startled to hear that Harry was already off the market, she takes the news well enough. Finding out about the situation at Hogwarts and what was actually in the third floor corridor made her turn as white as a sheet. Well, a freckled sheet anyway. After dinner the children talked for awhile and then Harry and Alice went to bed while Amelia spent the evening and deep into the night in her office occasionally getting reports via the floo located there.

He can't help but gently stroke Alice's coal black hair as he lays there. Alice smiles, though does not move.

"I know you are awake." Harry whispers softly.

"I know that you know. If what you were doing bothered me, I would tell you." She wiggles against him a little, and he uses the opportunity to move out from under her some in an effort to get circulation back into his arm.

Harry smiles. While he doesn't really understand all the ins and outs of this soul bond that they seem to have, the near unconditional acceptance that seems to come with it is most welcome.

"We need to get up love. It is going to be a busy day, and we will probably need to go in to the ministry with Madam Bones if we want to have any chance to get in without trouble."

"No." Is her only reply.

"No? What do you mean no?" His question sounds a little hurt, but mostly curious.

How she can respond under her breath while still giving the impression of a halfway disgusted monotone, he has no idea. But she has perfected it. "I mean no, I am far to happy right now snuggling my man to have any desire to scurry about getting prepared for another grueling day of dealing with stupidity and corruption that began before he was born and was seemingly designed to plague him to his grave. Ask me again in five minutes." With that she nuzzles into his neck and gives the slightest of kisses. Harry smiles. He can wait five minutes. For her, he can wait years if she asks him to. "Yes, Love. As you wish.

At breakfast, Amelia has a few things to say.

"Well, I don't think you are going to need to worry about dear Delores for awhile, Alice. My men found evidence that she was accepting bribes and further it looks like she was a collector of some questionable artifacts. Any one of them might have been ignored as a curiosity or family heirloom and a fine plus registering the items would have seen her clear. Most of them weren't really that bad. But sadly for her, the collection Mad-Eye found hidden behind a basement wall in her home was four times the legal limit to be considered to be trafficking in dark artifacts."

Harry considers this between bites of porridge and sausage. "Do you think she actually was selling them?"

Amelia puts down her notes from the day before and looks at him directly. "Honestly Harry, I doubt it. But that doesn't really matter. The law exists both to stop people from buying and selling black market dark artifacts and as an attempt to keep people from storing lots of them together like she was. Many of them do not react well to being stored in close proximity to each other, and the law exists for the safety of the populace. She broke it, now if I can possibly manage it she will pay the price. Thanks to the many pure blood families with representatives on the Wizengamot and their own little collections, the law only allows for a month per item over that limit to be spent in Azkaban. Assuming I can get a guilty verdict she is looking at a little over six years. Some of the items she had were just bizarre, too. Even if they were not restricted to solicitors and the ministry, who needs a box of sixteen blood quills? The woman makes no sense even in her hobbies."

Alice perks up a bit. "Blood quills? I have seen these before. Some seventy years ago, before I was brought into Hogwarts my prison spent some time in the office of a Mr Carrow. He would pull one out of a safe for the signing of important documents. Betrothal contracts, land purchases, the occasional highly expensive item or service. He also used it on a little book that he pulled out when he wished to add or remove someone to his home wards, which I thought was unusual."

Amelia's eyes widen a bit. "Interesting. The only reason to use a blood quill on a ward list is for an added layer of security, but the kind of wards that a book like that would respond to are considered illegal due to their lethality. May be nothing, seventy years is a long time. But I'll have someone inspect the Carrow property ward schemes when the current crisis is over. Just in case."

Alice looks a little surprised. "You would investigate them based on a seventy year old rumor from a child you barely know?"

Amelia laughs, though she doesn't seem to mean to cause offense. "Following up on rumor and attempting to derive fact from what you find there is half of what an Auror does. But in this case, you should also know that when you-know-who was rampaging the country in the seventies and early eighties, a few of the Carrows hopped on his bigoted little band wagon. Then when the dark lord was put down, they managed to slime their way out of prison sentences using bribes and favors. I am not particularly biased by race, blood purity, or nationality. But the ones that got away always crawl to the top of my lists."

Alice frowns slightly. "That is curious. Things must have gone quite wrong in their family. The Mr. Carrow that I watched from the mirror would never be mistaken for an overly kind man, but he seemed honest and took care of his family as best as he could. Though I admit I witnessed him deep in his cups more than was properly healthy, particularly after I had heard that his wife had passed away."

Amelia nods. "Before my time, though not by as much as I would like. I take it you two are going to be coming to the ministry today? I ask because by ten we should have Sirius Black in the ministry holding cells. Also, there are good odds that Hagrid will go before the committee today, so you may want to stop by Gringotts and get the coin."

Harry looks up from the sports page of the Prophet, having grinned slightly to see that the Cannons, the quidditch team that Ron favors, almost won a game. Then he glances at Amelia and his grin fades. "Why does Hagrid get a committee? I thought he was to go before the Wizengamot for trial?"

Amelia lowers her eyes somewhat. "I thought so too, but when they were booking him last night it came to light that he is a half giant, and some imbecile decided to write him in as a half breed dark creature. That changes his prospects, and not for the good. The good news is that the five thousand galleon clause will still work to keep him out of Azkaban or from being executed. Lots of the old pure blood families from the time when these laws were penned had employees or slaves of one sort or another that would qualify, particularly Veela, and they wanted a way to save them if needed. The bad news is that Hagrid already has a black mark on his record. Now that his heritage has been revealed if this one isn't cleared it is likely that he will be executed."

There is the sound of a gasp from the doorway and then Susan walks in. "No, Auntie Amelia you can't let them kill him! He is probably the nicest employee in the whole school, or at least is as nice as Flitwick and Sprout!"

Amelia looks at Harry. "This is the world you are entering, Harry. Where in the premier school in the nation, two of the four that are the kindest, most helpful, and most protective of the students are also the two that the ministry would see thrown in prison for what they are. Are you sure you don't want to just clean out your vault and move to Tahiti or something?"

Alice shakes her head in disgust. The obvious nature of Flitwick as some kind of halfbreed clears the first question, she then inquires: "Who might be the fourth, if I may ask?"

Shaking her head with a slight smile, Amelia responds. "Poppy Pomfrey. The school nurse. You will never find a more dedicated, kind, and competent healer. There are some specialists that can claim to know more about given ailments but after twenty five plus years of dealing with accidental magic, miscast spells, quidditch injuries, the occasional dark curse, and assisting the light during the last war there is very little she hasn't seen and nobody that I would prefer to have looking me over after any kind of accident."

At Harry's somewhat wry look, she allows a bit of a smile to peek through the concern for Hagrid. "I know Harry, I know. She is also quite strict and can peel flesh with her tongue. Wait until the first time that you have been hurt, are in pain, and wish to be left alone. Listen to what she does to see to it that you get that time, and feel pity for whatever buffoon thought that their visit to you was too important to wait. In any case, I assume that the two of you would like to come down to the ministry today?"

As Harry and Alice nod and finish their meal, she turns to Susan. "Since they will be there and you wouldn't be languishing in a corner all day alone, I will allow you to come to the office today if you like Susan. That is, unless you had other plans. Otherwise you are welcome to stay at the manor and study, the house elves would be more than happy to keep an eye on you and see to your needs as normal I am sure."

Susan looks at the group, and replies. "I can come to the ministry with you if you would like, but I had plans today to go down to Diagone with the Hannah Abbot and her mum, if that is alright Auntie Amelia."

Amelia nods. "That would be fine, Susan. Perhaps when it comes time we will take our lunch in the Leaky Cauldron again today. Let the Abbotts know. About noon I should think. No promises, however. To say that a hornets nest was kicked over yesterday wouldn't be doing it justice. I may not be able to get away."

With all that decided and the house elves left with the cleanup, they floo to the ministry to see what the new day brings.

HaA

What it brings is boredom, Harry muses as he and Alice sit together on a tiny loveseat that Madam Bones transfigured out of a chair in the corner of her office.

Getting to her office was a bit of a challenge, because even coming in as early as she was she was stopped no less than twenty times by people that wanted her assistance, mostly concerning the Gringotts matter. But when she reaches her office she settles in to drink tea and read reports for three hours, dealing with the occasional note or barking out a response to the odd Auror head being poked through her open door concerning a question of protocol or orders of the day. It is nearly eleven before they hear the recognizable thunk sound of Moody stumping his way towards the office. After entering he closes the door and throes up a few privacy wards. Nodding to Harry and Alice he slumps into the chair in front of her desk after turning it so he can see all three other people and the door without moving his head. Amelia sits and waits, as though this is a bit of a routine with them. When he pulls out a flask and takes a swig of something that causes smoke to escape his mouth in little rivulets for a few seconds, Amelia's eyes widen, but she chooses to ignore it otherwise. In the harsh light of the morning sun the many scars on his face and hands stand out in sharp contrast to his otherwise weathered skin, and the bright blue eye that is his namesake never stops searching.

"We got him out, Bones. He is in cell sixteen, not to far from that half toad harpy you had us stick in there last night. But if you are right about him being innocent, the ministry owes him more than an apology."

Amelia frowns. "That bad is it?"

Mad-Eye nods. "Aye, worse. Worse than you think I am guessing. Ten years surrounded by dementors might have been bad enough, but they locked him up in the same section as the Death Eater prisoners even with his arm being free of the mark. He just spent ten years dealing with dementors, yeah. But whether that was worse than having to hear all about you-know-who and his supposed second coming direct from the mouths of the lunatics that brought him to power the first time and helped kill all of his friends is anybody's guess. We were running late because we had to get him cleaned up before we could bring him off the island. The other inmates have been chucking their... waste... at him through the bars for the length of his stay. It is amazing he is still alive at all. While he was taking his first bath in a decade and we were scaring him up so clean clothes, I took a look in the wardens office. There are orders in that desk signed by Barty Crouch to ignore any and all talk from anybody in that wing and keep in house any unusual circumstances that arise, reporting only to him. Been that way for ten years thanks to that order. Amelia, just what the hell is going on here? If I can tell in less than a minute that he is no Death Eater based on just what I saw, then the guards had to have figured it out. This could have been investigated years ago if not for that order from Crouch."

Amelia's face reddens in anger to the point that Harry becomes concerned for her health.

"We are going to investigate it now. I assume you brought back a copy of that order?"

Moody looks a little embarrassed. "Sorry, Amelia. The damn thing was charmed against copying or leaving the island. Not sure what kind of charm exactly, but my guess is that if it triggers it'll burn it up or vanish it. The eye let me spot it, gave me an idea what it was about, but I didn't want to risk destroying the evidence. I am a tad ham handed when it comes to that kind of thing. You'll need to get somebody down there better than me at dealing with that finicky crap if you want your evidence here in the ministry."

Amelia thinks for a minute, then scrawls out a note. "Take this to Unspeakable Croaker and grab Lepenski to hand forge a copy of it before Croaker or whoever he sends with you tries to clean it up, in case the worst happens. Escort them back as soon as you can and then we are going to get the warrants put together and put dear Barty under the same microscope we put your toad harpy under yesterday. I don't know why he would be doing this to Black, but even if we assume Black is guilty of something and the man was somehow justified, I can't ignore this. Oh, and Moody? No matter what happens out there you make damn sure those twits working at Azkaban know that this particular order is rescinded, and bring the paperwork back with you."

Moody nods and stands up. "Aye Amelia, I'll see it done."

Amelia glances towards the door, obviously thinking about something. "Moody, is Black in any kind of shape to receive visitors? As an example that I don't want leaving this office, if his magically sworn godson wanted to see him, would he be in any kind of shape to deal with it?" Her eyes flicker towards Harry for a moment and Moody's good eyes follows hers, then widens in surprise.

"That explains why the only time I saw him smile today was when we were on the boat and I mentioned to Jakobs that I had seen you in the ministry, Mr. Potter." He turns back to Amelia. "Honestly, your guess is as good as mine. I know what his answer would be. But whether or not a nights rest might be better first I couldn't tell you. Personally, I would let him get a couple of decent meals and a night with a dreamless sleep potion in him before I would expect him to pass for human again. But I ain't a healer. So what do I know?" Then he leaves the office.

Once he leaves, Alice is the first to speak. "Madam Bones, would we be allowed to send Black a note to let him know we would be visiting him tomorrow if that was what we decided?"

At her nod, Alice turns to Harry. "I know you would like to see him today, and I know that he would probably like the same. But if what I have heard of dementors is accurate, I think a day of hope for something to come would do a lot to help him. One day of thinking of tomorrow like it was a good thing could make all the difference to him."

Amelia can't help but agree. "She has a point, Harry. I know that you don't know Moody, so let me explain that if he believes that your godfather is in bad shape, the man was probably barely alive. Either physically or mentally he was probably on the cusp when they got him out of there. He might need the day before we give him any more shocks, and I will clear him for the dreamless sleep potion as well. It is probably a very good idea."

Harry is annoyed, but finally finds that he can't drum up a reasonable argument against their plan.

"If that is what we have to do, I guess that is what we do. Can I have a quill and a bit of parchment?"

HaA

Lunch at the Cauldron is pleasant enough, though they are forced to keep it short as they need to stop by Gringotts for five thousand Galleons and get back to the ministry by one thirty to sit in on Hagrid's meeting with the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. Taking a seat between Madam Bones and Alice, they talk quietly while waiting for the session to start. When Hagrid is brought in, his arms are chained behind his back, his ankles are chained so close together that he can barely walk, and he has a hood over his head that hides his face. His shoulders are slumped, and his head hangs low as though he is expecting that this is merely a formality before he is killed. As there is no chair in the room that will support him, he is forced to kneel before the committee and the hood is ripped off of his head. The first thing he sees is the committee that will pass judgment, and the second thing is the headsman and his bloodstained block and ax, just off to the side. He looks around as the committee is starting their speech, and though he doesn't find what he was apparently looking for, his eyes lock on Harry and he turns to the committee that is about to pass judgment. "Hey now, can we clear the children out? They..." He looks at the block and headsman again, then drops his head. "They don't need ta see this."

Looking startled at being interrupted in their deliberations, the man at the table seems to ignore Hagrid's request. "Rubeus Hagrid. You are brought before us today as an unregistered dark creature that felt it in their best interests to disrupt ministry business. Do you have anything to say in your defense?"

Hagrid once again looks around the courtroom. Then, looking crushed, he turns to the man. "I was jus' doin' my job, yer honorableness. I was kinda hoping my employer would be here to defend me but he don't seem ta have gotten word."

The man at the table's expression shifts to looking as though someone has recently grated a lemon against his gums. "Yes, well, if he should feel unconcerned with your plight, then who am I to argue with such an illustrious recommendation."

With that the man on the committee raises a gavel, and Harry feels a sharp poke in his ribs. When Harry looks up, Amelia gooses him, causing him to stand up, saying "Ow!"

The man at the table stops and looks up. He is about to say something, then his face goes from one of disgust bordering on rage at being interrupted again, to one of caution as Amelia Bones clears her throat. "Harry Potter has something to say, Nigel. Do give him a moment, won't you?"

The man at the table, Nigel it would seem, stares with his eyes the size of jam lids at the boy that is walking toward the table. "Harry Potter. What would Harry Potter like to add to the proceedings?"

Harry stops in front of the table, digging into his robes for the pouch the goblins had sold him that afternoon, spelled to be able to hold and lighten a staggering amount of currency of any kind.

"Madam Bones told me that there was a law on the books that would make you have to strike this from the record and turn him loose if a five thousand Galleon fine was paid. I am here to pay that fine, so you can take your axeman and put him to work cutting trees or something. He won't have anything to do here today." With that, he starts pulling gold out of the pouch, counting as he goes.

The man sneers. "While that is true, Potter, it is dependent on this committee accepting the fine. Next time you have an opportunity to save a friend, perhaps you should consider acting as befits your station. Your gold is no good here today."

Harry stops. His face goes white. Has he just killed his friend over a crack about having the executioner in the room? He hears somebody from behind him stand. Then he hears Alice.

"Nigel, is it? Do you have a last name?"

The man looks past Harry at this annoying girl who has decided to intrude upon the proceedings. "Thornwood. Nigel Thornwood. Who the hell are you?"

Alice smiles. "Who I am is unimportant, Mr. Thornwood. Tell me, is yours an elected position or an appointed one?"

Thornwood looks confused, but answers. "Appointed. I have this position due to the Minister of Magic himself appointing me. What does that have to do with anything?"

Alice shakes her head slowly. "Nothing directly, Mr. Thornwood. Come along Harry, if we get to the Prophet soon we can have the story in tomorrows paper all about how the minister of magic appointed someone that clearly and for no discernible reason has decided that he hates and will not deal with the boy who lived. My guess is that he is a Death Eater or Voldemort sympathizer who escaped trial. We will have to let the paper know. It would be only right to do so.

The man's face becomes ashen. Harry tries to hide a grin as he begins to put his gold back in his pouch. "Wait, Mr. Potter. Perhaps I spoke hastily. A fine would be appropriate in this instance, I think."

Alice speaks again. "Mr. Thornwood, by chance does your committee set the amount of the fine?"

Thornwood again looks back at her. "Yes, but Mr. Potter is right, the standard is five thousand Galleons."

Alice raises an eyebrow. "If I may ask, where does the money go that is brought in by such a fine?"

Thornwood at this point is mostly looking confused. "The bulk of it goes to the department's discretionary funds. A small percentage goes to general ministry needs. Why does that matter?"

"Harry, I think that the fine today is ten Galleons. Otherwise I think we will spend the five thousand on advertising space in the Prophet to tell our story every day for the next year. Is that acceptable?"

Harry can't help but smile as he counts out ten and leaves them on the table. "Yes dear, I believe that will be fine. Did you have anything to add Mr. Thornwood?"

Placing his gavel back on the table and looking as though he would like to crawl in a hole, he responds. "N-no, I think that will be fine. Ten Galleons."

Harry pushes the ten gold across the table. "Thank you Mr. Thornwood. Would it be too much to ask if you would unchain my friend?"

Nigel motions to the man with the ax, but stops when Harry speaks up.

"No, sir. I would like you to do it. He scares me. But you and I, I feel that we are getting downright chummy now, don't you?"

Gulping, the man gets up and collects the key from the axeman, then unlocks Hagrid. Then Hagrid surges to his feet and steps towards Harry. Looming at his shocking eleven feet of height over the boy, and coincidentally Thornwood. Harry sees a yellow puddle start to spread from around the man.

"C'mon, Hagrid. Lets get out of here. Something smells."