Chapter 14

"Hermione," Professor Dumbledore looked up from his desk where he sat writing on a piece of parchment. He smiled fondly at her, pausing with his current task of writing a letter and asked her, "Did you find what you were looking for using the vials for Myrtle's memories?"

"Yes, actually I did." He motioned for her to sit on the other side of his desk in a chair that actually walked over on its four wooden legs when he whistled at it. Hermione took a hesitant seat in the long back chair and continued, "I however have a question to ask you Professor or rather a favor, if I may?"

"Why yes Hermione, go on." His kind eyes twinkled with amusement as if he knew her request she wanted to make before she even voiced the words out loud.

"Well, it's about Myrtle," she paused before she said, "Am I correct in assuming you've already taken a look into her memory vials sir?"

"I have seen all three of them," he finished writing his letter and when Hermione's chair began to wiggle, she clutched onto the arm rests at her sides with surprised widened eyes.

Dumbledore noticed the small gasp she made and laughed lightly as he let his gaze fall to her seat, "Ah now, pay no attention to Augustus beneath you. I have given this particular chair a spell that allows for it to have certain characteristics leaning more toward the canine behavior."

"And you call your chair Augustus, professor?"

"Ah yes, only because the chair started wagging its back end after I gave it the spell and moved around the room as if it were an excited puppy ready to go out for a walk; I had to name him something," Dumbledore chuckled ruefully at himself.

Hermione noticed the startled look Dumbledore suddenly tossed her way when the chair she sat on suddenly lifted off the floor with an excited bounce. She glanced down at the few feet of empty space below her with wide eyes and held on as the chairs flexible legs continued to anxiously jump up and down keeping pace.

"Professor, may I have a different chair please? Maybe one that is perhaps-er-less excited?" Hermione started feeling dizzy as the chair jostled her around and she feared having to go to the infirmary after tumbling from her seat.

She saw the stern look Dumbledore gave her and almost shrank back until she saw that it was aimed more at the chair rather than at her. He commanded the chair with a power-commanding voice, "Down Augustus, down boy!"

To Hermione's relief the chair-like dog obeyed its master, but only partially as the chairs wooden legs skittered clumsily to the floor. Hermione quickly scrambled to a standing position as soon as she could manage to escape and Augustus's legs continued to move unsteadily across the floor in the small space of the office.

She stepped to the side of the chair and breathed a sigh of relief for standing on solid ground, but then during the moment when Dumbledore reached into his robes for his wand the long back chair made one last leap into the air before its wooden body burst into a dozen unexpected pieces scattering through the air.

"Flipendo!" Dumbledore had his wand already poised before Hermione could reach for hers and the jinx he shouted caused the scattered debris to fall backwards without harming her or the Professor. The mess hit the floor with a resounding thud and Hermione heard Dumbledore to the room at large. Even though it was rather an odd spell to cast on a piece of furniture Hermione felt bad about the fate of Dumbledore's chair.

"I'm sorry about Augustus."

"Ah, it's alright Hermione." Dumbledore shrugged his shoulders and glanced at the wooden mess on the floor with only a bit of regret when he said, "Not all spells are lasting ones."

He rubbed his face tiredly before he sat back in his seat and Hermione decided it was best to stand for the rest of her meeting with the Professor when he looked over at her and asked, "How may I help you Hermione, you were speaking about Myrtle weren't you now?"

"Yes," she paused for only a minute before she went on to explain her thoughts on the matter. "I saw the trial that went on between the Ministry of Magic and Myrtle."

"It was an injustice, disgraceful trial," Dumbledore said exactly what she would have said if she were to voice the words out loud.

"Is there anything we can do to help her Dumbledore?" Hermione felt the weight of Myrtle's sentence and said, "I wonder if she would like to leave Hogwarts if she had her freedom. Ending her sentence might be something worth looking into and I thought that if you had any connection to persuading the Ministry to let Myrtle's imprisonment end then maybe…"

Dumbledore finished Hermione's unspoken sentence and said, "All of the pain and challenging experiences she went through will be lighter for her to endure somehow?"

Hermione nodded with agreement and Dumbledore finished folding the letter he'd been writing and sealed it with the Hogwarts official stamp before calling for his owl. He gave Hermione a smile before he said, "I've already written a letter to the Ministry asking for her sentence to be revoked and sending them words of encouragement on Myrtle's behalf. We will hear word from them shortly though they will be the ones who make the final decision in the end; I have a feeling things will work out for Myrtle's greater good."

"I hope so Dumbledore, thank you." Before she left the office she took a moment to turn back to one of the most powerful wizards and asked, "Just curious, what kind of good things did you tell them about Myrtle?"

Dumbledore's expression was kind as he said, "I told them she was trusting, brave, and warm." His face became deadpan when he continued to say, "Then well you know of course Myrtle has been flooding all of the bathrooms excessively most recently. I wrote to them explaining only that she's always making certain our students have cleaner Lavatories, and this great service helps the students at Hogwarts remain healthy and then they are able to complete their classes and pass their exams with more success."

Hermione couldn't help it she chuckled out loud and said cheering completely for Dumbledore's side. "Way to go Professor! Now she'll be allowed to go free for good behavior; brilliant move."

Dumbledore smiled back at Hermione and nodded, "More points for thinking on the bright side of things. After all it wasn't holily untrue; the flooding of water mixed with all the soap in the Lavatories has helped to clean the nasty germs that magic spells can't cure and Myrtle did have some hand in that."

Hermione gave Dumbledore a doubtful shake of her head but she was smiling as she did so and she chuckled as she left his office. She couldn't entirely be certain but she thought she could hear the Professor's stout chuckle of amusement echo along the walls of the hall as she departed.