…Chamber of Secrets, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
Harry Potter in his Lamia form, Dasius, slithered in to the chamber of secrets with three seemingly dead or unconscious humans floating behind them and carrying an ornate staff. The large basilisk watched its master as it threw the bodies into a corner and moved in front of it. It was clear to the large snake that the humans were still alive and it wondered if Master intended them as a meal. While murdering the unworthy was enjoyable, the Basilisk did not like the taste of humans and did not relish digesting them.
Luckily the Master did not intend them as a meal but instead, they were taken to sew panic within the castle. The Basilisk felt its excitement growing as Master revealed that the time had come to truly cleanse the castle. The attacks during the year had caused the humans to lose faith in the headmaster and he had been removed. The large snake was pleased that the plan had gone well because even it could tell that the powerful mage might have made their coming victory more difficult.
With the headmaster gone, the Basilisk was sure that it could kill all the unworthy within the castle with no trouble. Then the Master said something unbelievable. The large creature looked over at Dasius as he said he would travel through the school in its mouth. The snake simply answered "Yess Masster" while internally amused at Dasius' folly. His prey was going to voluntarily move within his jaws. That the lamia thought it so loyal amused the King of Snakes. Once it killed this "master", the snake planned to continue the mission and cleanse the school of all the unworthy.
The snake opened its jaws to allow the fool to enter its mouth and waited for him to cross into its mouth. Sinister pleasure at what it was about to do was the last thought the Basilisk ever had before it died. Its death was quick and painless and designed to save as much of its body for harvesting as possible. Harry moved away to look at his handiwork.
His staff had extended in both directions going through the snake and pinning the creatures lower jaw to the stone floor and at the same time extended up into its brain. There was a reinforced ledge on either end to prevent the jaw from closing on Harry, just in case the snake had enough time or reflex to snap its mouth close and Harry had made the move while most of the body was still in the inner chamber to prevent any thrashing from hurting him or his friends.
Harry was most impressed with the tip off the staff, designed by Luna that once inside the brain broke off and acted as a portkey. Less than a second after piercing it, the large snakes brain appeared in the center of the chamber and the creature was dead. It had worked better than expected and the snake had not even had time to stiffen its muscles in alarm.
Harry went over to his friends and revived them. Ron, Lavender and Ginny looked at the massive creature and stared in wonder for a moment before turning to the brain and then to Harry. After a moment to appreciate the scale of what had been done, smiles blossomed on everyone's faces. Ginny leapt into Harry's arms and kissed him. He was still in his Lamia form and the passion of their kiss quickly escalated.
Ron turned from his sister and best friend and pulled Lavender over toward the snake. He started casting spells on the walls to simulate the battle they intended to report happened. Lavender settled in next to him and mock pouted. "I thought you were bringing me over here to give me some of what your sister was getting." She felt her piercing vibrate before Ron said "Don't worry we'll have our fun before we leave" She knew Ron had override power over Hermione's piercing but didn't know he could control hers as well. It gave her a thrill but she promised herself to have a serious conversation with Professor McGonagall about keeping secrets.
The quick bout of passion that overcame the four teens ate up more time than they expected but did serve to give them all a more disheveled appearance. With some low powered stinging and blasting hexes, they all looked properly bruised and ready to deliver the story about what happened in the chamber. The last thing to do was destroy the item that had started the entire series of events.
Harry, who had returned to his human form, pulled out a small silk bag and removed a black book from it. They had just laid it on the floor of the chamber when Fawkes appeared carrying the sorting hat. The four teens spun and pointed their wands at small roar of fire that signaled the Phoenix's arrival. The two groups looked at each other for a moment before the Phoenix let out a warbling cry.
The sound was not unpleasant but it was an odd sound that seemed out of place coming from such a majestic creature. It was the hat that spoke to end the confusion. "She's laughing" it said, the hat's own amusement showing. Harry conjured and stand and a perch and Fawkes deposited the hat on the stand while landing elegantly on the perch.
Ginny and Lavender immediately approached the bird to tell it how beautiful it was and Harry and Ron could tell that the large bird was loving the attention. "I guess all girls are the same Ron whispered" Harry was about to nod in agreement when he noticed all three girls staring at them with baleful looks. Harry stepped away from Ron who shot him a betrayed look.
The two human girls just tuned back to the phoenix and continued to stroke her feathers and coo at her. The boys looked to the hat, who had started to chuckle, and decided that it was at least male and moved to stand with it. The hat introduced himself as Leopold and then pointed out that the group had been missing for 2 hours at this point and the boys smiled at each other since at least an hour of that had been "playtime".
Leopold recognized the look but didn't comprehend what it applied to but decided to move on. Leopold explained that Albus lead everyone that was not part of the search for them, back to his office. Shortly after, Amelia Bones had arrived to announce that the minister and Lord Malfoy had been arrested. Harry was pleased that the woman had gotten Lucius in connection to the cursed book that was still sitting in the middle of the chamber.
Currently the school had almost half the Auror force searching the castle and in addition to Sirius, Remus and Minerva; Osirus and the Weasley's were now in the headmaster's office. Augusta was present as well as a representative to the school Board of Governors. Ron nodded along with the explanation. He looked to his companions and realized that everything had worked perfectly.
The problem was the Phoenix and the hat. They did not know what happened but it was clear there would be discrepancies between the story they wanted to tell and what was obvious in the chamber. They still looked like they had been in a battle but none of the flourishes would seem likely with them standing around as they were. It was Leopold who spoke up again in the stretching silence. "When the dark object appeared in the wards, Fawkes and I decided that you might need help. Despite what the headmaster might want to believe we are both bonded to the school and not to him."
Fawkes chirped and then focused and intense gaze on Harry. "Fawkes says it is obvious that you have a plan that our presence has interrupted. As long as that plan does not put the school at danger, we will not interfere with it." The four teenagers stiffened at the words before relaxing. Perhaps they could still go on. Leopold continued. "Do you know how evil that thing is?" it said while motioning toward the Black book on the ground. "It is covered in so much Dark magic that we felt it through the wards that have hidden this place from Fawkes for a millennia."
Harry knew it was a dark object of immense power but that news gave him pause. Leopold looked at him, then Fawkes and then to the dead Snake. Fawkes nodded and Leopold said "Put me on." Harry was not sure what was going on but it was clear something momentous was occurring. He placed Leopold on his head and after a moment Leopold seemed to come to a decision and he felt something land on his head.
Harry removed Leopold and when he looked inside it saw a silver handle. He grabbed it and pulled and found himself in possession of a hand-and-half sword. The pommel had a ruby set in it and two additional rubies set on either of the sword where the pommel met the cross guard. The blade had a groove on either side of it and Harry and his friends became aware of what they were holding when they read the word "GRIFYNDOR" etched within each groove up the length of the blade.
The four of them stood in awe of the obviously magical blade. The legend of Gryffindor's sword was well known within magical communities and it had been thought lost since the time of the founders. I pleasant trill brought the children's attention back to the Fawkes and the Leopold. "The founders, before their death, gave many gifts to the castle. They also called in every favor they had to make sure that the castle had the greatest magics available to it." Leopold turned toward Harry and he nodded in acknowledgement of his family's ward contribution.
Leopold continued "This sword was the first of such bequests. It was forged by the goblins in dragon fire and imbued with magic by the Fairies…" Everyone looked at each other. Luna had long talked about the hidden fairy colonies. "…then it was bonded to the castle using the familial magics of all four of the Prima Potentia Magicae families. With this sword you will be able to destroy the evil in that book and perhaps add to its legend." Harry looked from the sword to Leopold and asked "What do you mean?"
Leopold said "The fairy magic did not give the sword any power, it gave the sword ability. The sword can absorb abilities of any substance or potion that it is coated with. If you were to dip the sword in the snakes venom sacks, you would have a weapon that could destroy the darkness and that would kill anyone with a single graze.
Harry looked at the castle guardians, as he had now started to think of them and decided to trust a hunch. Would it be true that you can keep secrets from the headmaster if it meant protecting the school? Leopold acknowledged that was true and shared stories of Fawkes using that freedom to thwart the headmaster at times. He looked to his friends before saying "I am an animorphmagus". Fawkes' and Leopold's reactions showed they knew what that meant and Harry wondered "What would happen if I put the sword in my blood.
Fawkes stared at Harry with an intensity that made him feel small and insignificant. He felt as if he was being judged. He wasn't sure if he had passed but eventually the Phoenix looked away from him and then warbled at Leopold. Leopold agreed that doing that would grant the sword great power but neither of them knew what power.
After being judged by Fawkes, Harry no longer felt comfortable asking for the Phoenix's blood to add to his magical creature abilities. Also something about the animal made him feel that there was more to Fawkes than simply another magical creatures. Fawkes seemed satisfied with him as if the majestic bird knew what he was thinking.
The Pheonix sang again and Harry felt energized. "Fawkes says to conjure a glass vial". Harry quickly conjured a vial and saw that fluid was forming at the birds eyes. He stepped forward and captured some before at Fawkes's urging, drinking it. He only had a moment before he felt a rush of intense power. It only lasted a second but Harry felt as if he had run two marathons back to back and collapsed to his knees.
Ron reached him first followed quickly by Lavender and Ginny. But Harry was able to regain his feet. He would have to test himself because he had never had a reaction to ingesting blood. He looked at Fawkes who seemed extremely proud of himself and wondered if the bird knew more than he was telling. Deciding that they need to hurry things along Harry cut his palm and held it over the blade allowing his blood to collect in the groove.
The Blood glowed and vanished so he did the same on the other side. The ruby on the pommel glowed brightly before it settled again. Harry moved over to the still dormant book and poked the book with the tip of the sword. Nothing happened. Harry knew the sword had accepted his blood and wondered how he could get the sword to use the Basilisk venom from his Basilisk form. The metal seemed to reform itself in his hand and when it was done he was holding a dagger with a snakehead pommel with red eyes and the blade was green.
He moved to the book and poked it and the book gave out a pained moan. The sound made his skin crawl and deciding that playing around was unwise, stabbed the book. A louder wale was heard and the book started to spurt black ink like blood from the wound Harry made. Harry smiled. All that was left now was the ring and he now had a handy tool to destroy it when the time came. Harry felt the gaze of the Phoenix again and shivered under it intensity, again. Fawkes nodded before grabbing Leopold and vanishing in a burst of fire.
Harry and his friends looked at each other and shrugged. Harry went and deactivated the post holding up the Basilisks head jumping back to avoid being crushed as it fell. The group then grabbed the now "dead" book before moving back out through the Chamber tunnels. It was time for the next phase. The group talked about the minor changes Harry would make to the story to incorporate Fawkes, Leopold and the sword, of course leaving out the use of his blood.
Harry also talked about the addition he wanted to make with Ginny and Lockhart so that she could get some hero points as well. Ron's agreement meant a lot Ginny and she hugged her brother tight before giving Harry a kiss for the idea. Lavender rewarded Ron as well for being a good brother. Walking back to the stairs Harry played with the sword, thinking of each of the magical creatures he had absorbed to see what the sword would become. His favorite was the ebony bow that shot fire arrows that he got when he thought of Lavender's nightmare.
They discovered that the stairs could move when they arrived at the entrance and with the still unconscious Professor Lockhart behind them, they rose out of the Chamber of Secrets. After closing the entrance the four teens plus floating professor made their way to the Headmaster's office.
They remained in character the whole way, appearing to any who might be watching to be a group of tired kids accompanying a partially hysterical young girl. They would even drop Lockhart every so often to make themselves seem magically exhausted.
It was a prudent move as half way to the headmaster's office they were met by a large group of adults. Sirius, Remus, Osirus, Septima and Minerva were there from his circle plus the remainder of the core teaching staff, a squad of Lycans and Amelia Bones with what looked like a squad of Aurors. Lastly was Molly and Author Weasley with their oldest son, Bill.
It was obvious that Albus was about to start the questioning in the hallway but he was overruled quickly by Poppy Pomphrey, Minerva, Molly Weasley and Amelia. The four women nodded at each other before taking charge and hustling the kids to the medical wing.
Their acting was probably too good because after three steps they felt themselves floating and after a quick check while moving all of them got hit with sleeping spells. The last thing Harry saw was Sirius' smirking face.
…Hospital Wing, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
When Harry awoke, it was obviously the next day and despite his bruises and injuries being applied purposefully it was still nice to have them healed. He did an internal check of himself and was surprised to find his already peak physical condition slightly enhanced. It was difficult to think of himself as better than the better he was but that was indeed the case and he had no doubt that was due to Fawkes' blood.
He found a greater surprise when he entered his mind and found it even more glamorous and pristine as well. The only comparison he could think of was to say if his mind was once a king's palace it was now closer to what would imagine of the mythical pantheons of Greece or Rome. What was more amazing was that Swanhild and Gwilym were also more majestic. Swanhild was gold and Gwilym a vibrant Gryffindor red. Something told him that they had been magically enhanced as well.
He came from his internal musings to find Madam Pomfrey conducting a physical exam of him. What was interesting was that she seemed absolutely happy and at peace as she waved her wand. She seemed especially cheery and he checked himself again and discovered that he had a new aura that he was projecting.
His sexual aura was suppressed as usual but now he had a new one and he figured it was similar to the magic in Phoenix song. He would have to take time to explore his Phoenix abilities during the summer, he had a suspicion that an animorphmagus plus Phoenix blood was a special combination.
He looked over and saw that Lavender and Ron where in beds on both sides of him and based on the twitching of their lips it was clear they were only pretending to sleep as Madam Pomfrey fussed over him. He wondered if his new aura was affecting his friends but could not determine if they were just amused with the situation or being affected by him.
The warm atmosphere was interrupted when the hospital wing was invaded by the same crowd that had met him in the hall plus all his and Ron's girls and Neville, his girls and his grandmother. It was clear that all the children were trying to at least pretend they had no clue what was happening with the adults and equally clear that the adults seemed on the verge a casting spells at one another. The rest was definitely helpful for him as he noticed that Snape was not present and his memory told him the man was not there the previous night either.
He caught Sirius's eye and the man winked at him. That suggested to Harry that the plan was still developing as expected, but with some unrelated mischief. His tale had taken some odd turns, something he communicated with his own facial expression, but he was glad that everything was unfolding as planned and happy to see Sirius perk up in excitement about Harry's news.
It was quickly apparent that there was some form of jurisdictional fight going on between Amelia Bones and Albus Dumbledore. The fact that his position was basically being ignored seemed to be the source of the rising tension and magic in the air. Albus Dumbledore seem to think his authority as the headmaster of the school extended into some sort of quazi-lord of the Hogwarts castle and not subject to ministry law.
Harry thought it was hilarious that at the same time her voice was conciliatory and understanding Director Bones was setting up to interview witnesses. She had set up what Harry knew was a mobile Auror office. It was clear the Headmaster recognized it as well and was about to lose his temper that she would be so presumptuous in his school.
Harry knew that the man wanted to be able to control the information that got out and wanted to be able to interview Harry first. In fact, Harry thought the headmaster would prefer to be the only one to hear his story. With Tom Riddles memories still floating around his head and his own ever-sharpening intellect it was clear that the headmaster was to be treated as at least a political enemy.
Deciding to be a bit precocious, he said "Director Bones, I think it is obvious that the headmaster is uncomfortable with you conducting official DMLE business in a school meant for children. And I think it is a little rude to ignore his concerns even if you think them old fashioned." Despite the rebuke seemingly being aimed at her, his words caused a smirk to form on her face and Albus Dumbledore was frowning.
The frown deepened when Harry continued "Perhaps its best if I and my fellows return to Potter Castle and we can conduct your interview there." Amelia accepted the offer and even offered a sincere apology to the headmaster for disrupting his school and turned to start to reassemble her portable Auror office. Harry could tell the minute the headmaster realized that unless the interview was carried out here, he would get no information and not just be forced to share it.
"No, No, No, Director Bones…" the older wizard stated "Mr. Potter is incorrect, I have no issue with you conducting your interview here; I just thought that Mr. Potter would prefer to share his story with one person as opposed to a crowd." He looked to Harry's face and Harry was not sure what expression he had but it caused the man to quickly add "but that does not seem to be the case, so please Harry, if you will"
Harry did not know why he was so openly challenging the headmaster but he could not help himself and said "Please Professor Dumbledore, I don't think it is appropriate for you to use my first name like that. I am a future Lord and we wouldn't want to give witnesses any ideas of impropriety." Harry could see the anger blossom on the headmaster's face but also saw when he noticed Madam Longbottom looking at him with a frown. Using proper titles was practically a religion in England and the headmaster was already treading water with the group so he simple said "My apologies Mr. Potter"
The "Mr." was stressed a little too much and though Harry could have taken offence he chose not to. He smiled at the Madam Longbottom's approving nod. Harry was not going to turn down a bit of mothering every now and then. It felt good. Amelia took command of the conversation and announced she was ready to hear his story of what happened.
Harry started his story where Daphne had. He told them that with the attack on Hermione, he realized that his house was under attack. He declared his House on lock down, sent off a message to Osirus, telling him to send reinforcements and also to inform the Lady Longbottom, then sent a message to Neville.
Director Bones interrupted his telling to ask how and why sent off the message and why to House Longbottom as well. Harry responded "by house elf". Amelia nodded and allowed him to continue. With the returning health of most of the light sided family's house elves, the creatures could be trusted with such things.
As to why Harry explained that Neville had been the first to make him aware that their families might be under attack and it was his duty to repay the gesture. "Just because my House was the first to be attacked, did not mean it was the last". Albus frowned that no one seemed inclined to mention that no effort was made to contact House Nott.
Albus thought such thoughtlessness was the path to the dark. No one else shared his belief. Longbottom and Potter have been in a "good will" alliance for over a year already while house Nott had been almost antagonistic to both Houses. No one, including Theodore Nott, would expect the Heir Potter to give them such a warning for free and it was impolite to force someone to owe you a favor.
Harry continued to tell them that in the middle of their walk back to the Gryffindor common room, Ginny Weasley grabbed her head and screamed. "When I went to check on her she tried to curse me. Then she sent a blasting curse at her drake before running off and I gave chase" It was Albus that interrupted to ask why they were not headed to the Slytherin Common room to drop off Daphne and Tracey.
Everyone looked at the man like he was insane but it was Harry that answered. "Sir, Daphne and Tracey are made welcome in Gryffindor tower by the entire house and even if they weren't, they are members of my family and as you should know familial duty is much more important than house loyalty, especially in an emergency." He did not even wait for an answer to continue his story.
"As is their duty [pointed stare toward Professor Dumbledore], Ron and Lavender followed me in my chase after Ginny. I was not sure how it was done, but I was sure that Ginny was to be the next victim of the attack on my family. The fact that she was easily outpacing us convinced me that magic was involved. And it was a magic I was sure Ginny did not know."
At this point Harry could see that he had everyone's attention. Mrs. Weasley had moved to Ginny's bed but was in ear shot and Harry could tell she was listening by the stiffening of her shoulders. Mr. Weasley and Bill seemed stuck in a rigid stance with deep frowns on their faces. Harry was impressed as they all were "read in" on what was happening.
Harry continued "The three of us came up to a wall where we found the note written in what looked like blood." Harry took a moment to compose himself as he acted disturbed about the memory. "We were there for about five minutes when everyone else caught up with us. I was about to chastise them for following when Tracey read the note, screamed and started to cry." The girl in question blushed but was wrapped in a brotherly hug by Bill which calmed her.
Harry continued the story saying that they heard a voice promising to "Rip, Tear and Kill" and it was Daphne who realized it was parseltongue and they were understanding it through their charmed jewelry. All the girls nodded in confirmation that they had heard the voice, but it was Luna that supplied that it wasn't as nice sounding as when Harry spoke it.
Harry saw the frown on the headmaster's face and wondered if it was because Daphne was a Slytherin, because Parseltongue had lost practically all it's dark connotations in less than six months or because the reason for that was the fact that Amazon Inc. had turned Parseltongue into a sex toy and Daphne saying she had the jewelry was a not very veiled admission of what they were doing.
Harry then said he ordered the girls to stay there and all the Drakes to guard them before leaving to chase the snake. Director Bones asked why he had the girls stay and not go back to the dorm. Harry answered that where they were was a frequently patrolled area, which is likely why the note was left there, and he thought it safer to bunker down than move and be ambushed. Amelia would have moved them to a classroom but the thought process was valid.
Harry told them about his discovery of the chamber of secrets in a girl's bathroom on the second floor and the decision to go down. He admitted he should have called a house elf to send a message but that he an Ron were overly concerned about Ginny and ignored Lavender's call for them to stop and think a moment. Albus smiled at this point. He thought he had discovered that Harry was a typical impetuous boy and filed it away for later planning.
From there the action picked up quickly. They discovered that Ginny had been possessed by a cursed diary. The diary used Ginny's body to open the chamber of secrets and release a thousand year old basilisk. The spirit of the diary claimed to be Voldemort. Harry watched as shock and denial ran through the crowd. It seemed just as genuine from those who knew truth as it did from those not in the know. He considered his story telling skills good when he noticed Director Bones had stopped writing and was just listening.
"The spirit claiming to be Voldemort…" Harry said, impressed that this group once again did not react to the name "…claimed that he found the dormant Basilisk when he was a student and used it to kill a student. But put it back to sleep when he discovered they were considering closing the school." Harry saw Madam Bones go back to writing with a nod as if confirming something to herself.
"After bragging about absorbing Ginny's life force, the Basilisks was ordered to try and kill us." Harry then launched into a harrowing tale of bravery, guile and cunning. He, Ron and Lavender putting all of their combined training to work, all while the creature possessing Ginny laughed. Harry explained that it was clear to them that they were losing when Fawkes appeared.
As Harry reached this moment in the story, Fawkes arrived in the hospital in a burst of flames as if to confirm Harry's telling. Albus was shocked as he did not know Fawkes could act so independently of the headmaster of the school and became worried about what else he might not know about the immortal creature. Fawkes landed on Harry's headboard and Harry thanked the bird before continuing. He explained that Fawkes had brought the hat and dropped it on his head. "And that is when I found this" Harry explained holding up his hand and calling the Sword of Gryffindor.
Everyone could feel the magic pulsing off the weapon and with the confirming trill from Fawkes everyone believed that it was the true sword of Gryffindor. Armed with a weapon of such power, Harry told of his ability to change the tide of the battle but it wasn't until Ron was knocked over that he was able to act. "The creature opened its mouth to swallow Ron and I jumped in the way and when I was in the mouth of the great snake I stuck the sword up through its mouth and into its brain.
The girls actually cheered. With the Basilisk dead it was Ron who engaged with the still possessed Ginny. Ron who had "woken up" when the story started took over. He described how he tried not to hurt Ginny while fighting her and it seemed like she was fighting back because her movements became jerky. He sheepishly admitting accidently knocking the diary away from her but that when he saw her reaction to the book flying away he yelled for Harry to destroy the book.
Harry picked the story back up "So, I stabbed it with my new sword. It started bleeding. It was the color of ink but it looked like blood and then Ginny screamed and collapsed and Ron caught her." Molly ran over to her son and hugged him tight. She knew it was all a fabrication but she never passed up the opportunity to show her children she loved them. The incident years ago with Ron running away had shown her that it was important to just give love freely to her children. And even if this story was not true she was proud of how he was growing up.
Harry was the next recipient of the Weasley matriarch's affection. She had apologized the first time she had done it recognizing that it wasn't appropriate since he was their future Lord. He had told her, blushing, that he was sure his mother would appreciate a fellow mother, mothering him a bit. Molly had taken his words to heart and always would reassure him while hugging him that his own mother would be proud of him.
It was only Amelia Bones and her professionalism that reminded everyone the story wasn't over as she motioned to Gilderoy Lockhart. Harry pointed to a blushing Ginny and said "ask the warrior princess." Everyone turned to the girl and her blush deepened. Ginny was likely the best liar of the entire Potter group after being trained from birth, practically, by her brothers.
In an embarrassed voice she told how Gilderoy Lockhart had confronted them when they left the inner chamber. With Harry, Ron and Lavender interrupting to fill in parts Ginny tried to rush through, they explained that the man admitted to stealing all of the stories for his books and that it wasn't the first time he had been a witness to amazing events.
"He said he was going to obliviate us and something snapped in me. I was so mad that someone else wanted to mess with my head and then he cast at us and, and…something happened" Ginny finished lamely after working herself up. Harry had used his magic fingers to cause her hair to start to float on an invisible wind to add to the picture of accidental magic they were painting. Sirius caught him and gave him an impressed smile. Harry would cherish that look for a long time.
Madam Pomfrey got the girl calmed down and with a worried look at his sister Ron concluded the story "…it reflected back and hit him. He couldn't remember much and was starting to panic so we stunned him and floated him back with us" After asking some clarifying questions an asking if they brought the book back with them as well (they did and gave it to her), the Director of the DMLE closed up her portable office, with the book inside, and placed some kind of seal on the now small package.
She thanked all of them and told them that if she had any more questions she would come to them personally. Osirus asked if she was putting a gag on the story and much the Albus' increasing anger, she said no. Only the part about Lockhart as that required more investigation. All the children nodded in agreement. She then told them to keep their eyes on the papers because a lot more happened that night. With that bit of mystery left hanging, she gave Susan a quick hug and left.
Albus Dumbledore was beyond livid. He was seething with anger. Nothing he had intended had happened and to add insult to injury, the bitch Bones had left with the only clue to what had happened. What was worse was that if the description of what happened was accurate, he had a pretty good idea what that cursed item was and he needed to cleanse it before the fools in the Department of Mysteries could look at it and possibly find out what it was.
"Mr. Potter" the headmaster began, not forgetting the rebuke he had been forced to endure earlier, "I will be taking the sword of Gryffindor, now" It was clear to everyone in the room that they were now speaking to Albus Dumbledore, powerful wizard as the grandfather persona he wore near constantly had slipped. Harry knew the man was likely angry that he had not gotten his way with Director Bones and decided to allow him the small victory. He had called the sword from where he had left it and was sure he could call it from where ever the headmaster tried to hide it.
Osirus drew his wand and conjured a scabbard and Harry sheathed the sword before handing it over to the headmaster. The man turned to exit the hospital wing when the doors opened and two of the Lycans that were infesting his school walked in with Severus Snape floating unconscious behind them. Albus saw red and tried to draw the sword to cut the creatures down but the sword would not pull from the sheath.
Albus' failed attempt and his surprise went unnoticed but it was enough time for the Lycans to report that the potions professor had attacked them. And even after they tried to explain who they were, the man had shot silver darts at them. "I don't think he knew we could do magic or that silver isn't fatal to Lycans like it was to werewolves. So we stunned him and brought him here"