Since they were trapped in bed rest for the week both Harry and Severus were stuck wearing whatever the house elves managed to scrounge up, alter, or make. This resulted in more than one incident where Voldemort took his own clothes and charmed them to fit. He was secretly smug about them wearing his clothes even if he was eventually going to buy them actual new wardrobes. They spent their days talking or tutoring Harry on theory and History, discovering that he was intelligent but unwilling to show his true competency except in Defense, while allowing non-dangerous sabotage in potions to succeed. The indignant look that Severus took on when he found out that not only had Harry's work been sabotaged since the beginning of first year but that he had been successfully salvaging them had both of them snickering as they cuddled.
The fallout to Rita's article was spectacular, especially since Dumbledore's things and the memories of his memorable arrival in the atrium disappeared from everyone. Except for Rita Skeeter, her article, and the log of the magical signature reader that was nearly impossible to tamper with at the nearby security desk there was no sign that the old man had ever been there. This prompted a request from Madam Bones, who was shocked to first read about the incident in the paper, for a copy of Rita's memories along with the suggestion that the reporter make herself scarce at an Auror hideaway for a few months. Rita quickly agreed and they secretly agreed to leave a back up copy of the memories in the care of the goblins as a precaution.
The goblins, upon receiving the memories and being told what they contained, went into a flurry of activity. More than one Gringotts employee inquired as to the price of viewing the memories or obtaining a copy. This response had the two witches exchanging looks while wondering what the devil was going on. Rita, ever the opportunist, told them 5 galleons per person for one viewing straight through or 3 limited favors for unrestricted access and a copy protected personal copy. They were apparently outraged at the thought of bargaining favors which could compromise the bank until Rita reminded them of the limited part. She pointed out that unless she used all three at once and it was certified by a higher level bank manager as a valid transaction they couldn't be used for anything Gringotts related. The deal was quickly struck with that clarification and the terms written down in ink so that neither side could be accused of misunderstanding.
Dumbledore had the unwelcome surprise of receiving any number of Howlers, cursed mail, and a distinct lack of sympathy to contend with while he attempted to conduct what he perceived as urgent business. He had re-entered the Ministry around lunch time the next day, confident in the belief that as the Defeater of Grindelwald and Chief Warlock he couldn't be touched, despite the embarrassing revelation that he'd missed Skeeter when wiping memories. It had been ridiculously easy for Mundungus to get the Dursley's signature for the adoption paperwork the speed of which pleased him to no end. He was certain that there would be no obstacles in adopting his prize weapon, though it wouldn't do to change his name before he was sent to a special training camp for the remainder of the summer in Ireland.
"Chief Warlock," The security wizard greeted guardedly as he recorded the statistics on the man's wand.
"Edward, how are you on this fine morning?" Dumbledore asked cheerily, noting the cold reception.
"Busy," Edward said shortly before handing back the wand and supposedly turning back to his game of hang man after dashing off a memo that quickly flew on its way. Dumbledore just chalked it up to the man's love life and headed for the Department of Family Affairs with his completed paperwork.
"Dumbledore," The clerk greeted him as he entered the section allocated to the DFA. "Here to file something for one of your students?"
"Yes, unfortunately he couldn't be here today so I offered to let him view the memory later," Dumbledore said cheerfully, seeing the momentary flash of envy at the reminder of his personal pensive, an expensive piece of magic. Of course no one knew that it had been loaned to him by the Potters before their deaths and was rightfully Harry's.
The clerk nodded in understanding and accepted the paperwork, glancing over it for spelling issues that might foul up the magic before neatly filing it in the magic folder. The enchanted folder was designed to check through all of the documents and archives for both correctness and validity of the paperwork before accepting and correctly filing it all, leaving only the certificate of acceptance behind. It was only supposed to be used on rush jobs, emergency checks, or when dealing with the family that held either a Lordship or a seat on the Wizengamot in part because of the magical cost for using it. The clerk would be downing a pepper up simply to get through lunch after this. There was a pinging sound twenty minutes later that sounded slightly sour making the clerk frown as he checked the folder. The paperwork he'd put in the magical artifact less than thirty minutes before had all been marked rejected and there was a receipt listing all of the reasons why.
"Huh, it looks like Mr. Potter isn't eligible for adoption," The clerk said with a frown. "I suppose that makes sense or he would have been adopted within a week of his parents death."
The look on Dumbledore's face was not only priceless it had the clerk diving underneath his desk, instinctively casting as many shields and protections as he could manage. The display of anger based accidental magic was spectacular as Dumbledore's magic ripped through the entire department, shredding paperwork, files, cubical, and walls into nothing more than splinters. The fact that it also ripped through the department next door was almost inconsequential as he stalked away before quickly leaving the Ministry in search of one Harry James Potter.
"He didn't even want to see what the receipt said," The clerk said to the air in disbelief before moving his thumb and noticing something he'd missed. "Oh, he's already been adopted and came into a creature inheritance. No wonder he wasn't eligible for this type of adoption, it didn't have his signature on it or his parent's. Oh well, he'll figure it out eventually."
Less than five minutes later Arthur Weasley received a very polite memo about the adoption attempt resulting in his decision to make an early day of it and suddenly grateful, despite the worry, that they technically didn't know where Harry was. He knew that the twins had tagged their youngest sable haired brother with some type of tracking prank and that the clock had yet to say he was in any danger. The magic had changed the clock when Harry was added and while it still contained the original locations of GARDEN, SCHOOL, HOME, WORK, HOSPITAL, PRISON, LOST, QUIDDITCH, TRAVELING, MORTAL PERIL and a number of others DENTIST had disappeared. Much to the twins consternation and Molly's delight SCHEMING had appeared instead alongside TROUBLE which was right next to MORTAL PERIL. Harry's name had firmly stayed on LOST without even a twitch towards MORTAL PERIL, reassuring the family that he wasn't in danger or in need of help.