Reviewers of the previous chapter (Chapter 14) commented that it was their understanding that a wards-wall in canon had a hemispherical (dome) shape. Perhaps they're right; I simply don't recall that book-canon specified a shape. As for movie-canon, several readers told me that Hogwarts's wards-wall is dome-shaped—but again, I don't recall this from any movie.

In any case, I'm keeping my wards-wall cylindrical in shape for the manor houses of the wealthier families, because 1) this shape creates more drama (After Harry kills Voldy, will the DMLE arrest Harry because he has used the secret information that was hidden by "Code FW"? Will the Obliviators Obliviate him?) 2) Harry outsmarts the cylindrical wards-wall in Chapter 14 by being brave and clever. The stories that have been remembered for centuries, such as the story of Perseus and Medusa, are remembered not because of any plot gimmick, but because the hero was brave and clever.

I want to explain why Harry was the first to discover the height of a wards-wall. In Chapter 14, I calculated that Harry rose to a height of 950 feet above the ground. To give perspective, it looks to me as though in the movies, the highest part of Hogwarts's Quidditch pitch, the seats-towers, is only about 50 to 100 feet above the ground. In the movies, Hogwarts SOW&W looks like it is 300 or 400 feet tall. Enemies on broomsticks might attack Hogwarts by approaching from above—meaning, approaching at a height above 400 feet—but would any attacker think, Let's approach at a height of 960 feet and see what happens? I can't imagine this.

Chapter 15 was originally posted 19th January 2020; Chapter 15 was taken down and reposted on 22nd January 2020. The reason: The first time, your pillock author forgot to write up Dolores Umbridge's trial and its aftermath.

Chapter 15
Girls in White Dresses

Still Thursday, 18th July
Potter Manor

Harry announced that he had more work for Bill to do than today's experiment; at least one of Bill's tasks could not be begun until after Hermione had crafted her Height In Digits charm and Harry had translated the charm into Parseltongue. Even on days when Bill would be idle all day, he would remain on call at the rate of forty galleons (and a knut) per day. Once Harry announced all this, Bill said goodbye to the teens and Apparated home.

As soon as Bill left, Harry asked Greyclay to bring him the pleats-folded letter and the book-letter, both from the future. After receiving a nod from Daphne, Harry handed to Neville the copy of the letter that elderly Daphne had written. Within seconds of beginning the letter, Neville gasped.

When Neville finally finished reading, he looked shocked.

With a finger, Harry tapped the cover of the book-letter, but he did not open the book. "This was sent to me by my future self, via Daphne. As much as I trust Daphne, Hermione and you, Nev, nobody but me will see inside this book for at least twenty years. In twenty years' time, I figure the two histories will be so different that elderly Harry's information won't be useful to anyone else who reads this book."

Neville nodded, still looking stunned.

"One thing I was told about the other future, Nev, that you'll want to know. Not quite two years from now, Voldy makes a major assault on Hogwarts, with Death Eaters, werewolves, vampires, giant spiders, trolls, and giants—it's nasty. Many good people die, though not the four of us plus Bill—all five of us defend Hogwarts and live to tell the tale. But during this battle, Voldy brings his big snake with him, named Nagini. That creature is frightening to look at. Anyway, during the battle, somehow the Sword of Gryffindor appears in your hand. When this happens, you, Nev, run over to the big snake and, without hesitation, behead it with Godric's sword. Not only does this prevent future deaths by Nagini, but this helps to defeat Voldy. Your other, older self is a hero, Nev."

Neville looked stunned. Hermione looked stunned as well. Daphne's mouth hung open.

Neville asked, "What happens to me? The other me. You say I live?"

Harry smiled. "You do. Eventually you marry Hannah Abbott. Sometime after this, you become the Herbology professor, and the grandfather of Holly Longbottom, a future potions mistress."

Neville looked down. "I must be honest with you lot, sometimes I've wondered if my being sorted into Gryffindor was a mistake." Then Neville's chin came up, he pulled his shoulders back, and his back straightened. "The other Neville was brave; this Neville will be brave too. You can count on me, Harry."

Daphne walked up to Neville and said solemnly, "Heir Longbottom, every bad thing I ever have said or thought about you, I now apologise for."

Solemnly, Neville said, "Apology accepted, Heiress Greengrass."

Harry also made a copy of "future Hermione's mind-magic-protection rune sheet," gave it to Neville, and explained how to use it: "...If someone tries to use Legilimency on you, you'll hear two little bells ring, one bell by each ear."

"Does it work?" Neville asked, as he looked at Hermione in amazement.

Harry said, "Judging by Dumbledore's frustrated facial expressions, oh yes, it works."

Hermione grinned.

At this point, Neville and Daphne made their goodbyes; Daphne said goodbye to Harry with a kiss on the lips.

After tea, Hermione vanished into the Potter Library, where she set about inventing the Height In Digits charm. Harry had no idea what was involved in inventing a charm, so he had no guess how long it would take. The start of the next Hogwarts term was in roughly six weeks; Harry hoped that Hermione would finish the Height charm by then.

That evening, in Greengrass Manor

During tea time, when the family was gathered together, Daphne asked her father, "How are the betrothal negotiations with Harry coming along? Are they done?"

Astoria grinned. "Ooh, somebody is in a hurry to wear a betrothal ring!"

Cyrus Greengrass answered Daphne's question: "Almost done—another few days, I think."

Daphne asked, "Have problems come up? Snags, with him or with you?"

"No, young Harry Potter has not threatened to walk away even once." Lowering his voice, Cyrus added, "The lad has no idea at all how to be a cutthroat negotiator, even with his solicitors coaching him." Now speaking at normal volume, Cyrus said, "His contract terms all have been reasonable, so I have made no threats to walk away."

"So what's the hold-up? Why is this thing taking so long?"

"The 'hold-up' is that whenever I owl a letter to his solicitor, it takes a while before I am owled a reply. I suspect that young Harry Potter, never before having negotiated anything as consequential as a betrothal contract, is consulting with many magicals who are older and wiser than he, before the lad authorises his solicitor to reply to me."

"So when I board the red train on the first of September, I can announce my betrothal?"

"Oh, the situation is much better than that. Except for one minor issue that is yet to be decided, your betrothal contract has been finalised, and awaits only being calligraphy-quilled and being signed by young Lord Black and myself."

Opal Greengrass said to her elder daughter, "I am truly surprised that you have no second thoughts about marrying Harry Potter."

Daphne beamed. "On the contrary. Yesterday Harry did something amazing, and I decided that being married to him was going to be an adventure. Besides the fact that he's such a good man."

Astoria asked, "What did Harry do yesterday that was so amazing?"

"I can't tell you," Daphne replied. "He made everyone there take an Unbreakable Vow."

Nobody in the family was foolish enough to ask An Unbreakable Vow about what? But after some seconds of stunned silence by the entire family, Daphne's mother asked, "Are you all right with this?"

Daphne grinned like the Ice Princess's happy twin. "I am definitely all right with this. Listen, the next Hogwarts term starts on the first of September, and I predict that by then, you will have heard an astounding rumour, which Harry Potter will be the cause of. Harry Potter is an amazing person, and I am so pleased that one day I will marry him!"

Then Daphne looked at Cyrus Greengrass and requested, "Father, after the meal, may I speak to you privately?"

A half-hour later

Daphne was meeting with her father Cyrus in his study.

Daphne was determined not to show it, but she was nervous. She was maybe only minutes away from her father threatening to disown her.

Daphne took a calming breath and said, "Father, you remember that Harry received a 73-page letter from his older self, and Harry is trying to prevent bad future events from happening?"

When Cyrus nodded, Daphne continued, "Today Harry mentioned a 'Battle of Hogwarts' that happens two years from now, in that other history. Voldy, leading a big army, attacks the school."

Cyrus looked confused. "This is amazing, to be told about an alternate history, but why are you telling me this?"

"Because today Harry mentioned that, amongst the people defending Hogwarts, was I, two years older. Which shocked me to hear. Traditionally, Greengrasses are neutral—but older-I wasn't sitting on a hilltop, watching the battle, older-I was in the thick of it."

"Thankfully, not as a Death Eater."

"Father? Erm..." Here goes.

"Yes, Daphne?"

"I won't be surprised if, sometime before the first of September of this year, Harry attacks Voldemort—"

"Attacks Voldemort?" Cyrus repeated, his eyes wide. "Merlin."

"—but it probably won't happen till after Harry and I have announced our betrothal. And if so, erm..."

Cyrus said, "When Harry faces the Dark Lord, you intend to stand at Harry's side, instead of watching from a hilltop."

Huh? He looks calm. Why isn't he yelling at me? "Yes, I intend to fight alongside Harry. But my stance will hurt this family. Dark families will be less willing to trade with the Greengrasses, who no longer will be seen as Grey."

"True. And perhaps you expect me, as Lord of House Greengrass, to order you to be elsewhere on that day? Lest I disown you?"

Gulp.

Cyrus smiled at Daphne. "But as your father, such an order would be selfish of me. Because I'm sure that Miss Granger will be standing next to Harry when the day comes to fight the Dark Lord, hm?"

Daphne nodded, confused. Why is he mentioning Hermione?

Cyrus continued, "But if you aren't there with the two of them, when Harry faces the Dark Lord, you shall be labelled a coward, and this slander will follow you all your life."

Cyrus laid a hand on Daphne's shoulder—which was the Pureblood equivalent of hugging Daphne. The gesture was completely not what Daphne had been expecting. "When—not if—you face the Dark Lord's minions whilst you're shoulder-to-shoulder with Harry Potter, I'll be more worried about some thug avada-ing you than I'll worry about Malfoy and Flint boycotting me. But on that day, I'll also be feeling proud of how brave my daughter has become."

Daphne threw her arms around her father and hugged him fiercely. She felt such a sense of relief.

9 p.m., in Potter Manor's library

Harry found Hermione in the library and said to her, "I'm going to bed. I have to be at the Ministry in the morning for the Pink Toad's trial."

Hermione marked her place with a bookmark, then closed the book she was reading. She asked, "Would you like me to come with you?"

With relief, Harry said, "I'd like it quite a bit."

Hermione stacked a Muggle spiral notebook and pen on top of the bookmarked book. Now Hermione stood up and—after smirking at the portrait of James and Lily Potter in the library—snogged Harry like she meant it.

After Harry and Hermione exchanged a few more words, Hermione walked out of the library, putting extra sway in her hips, as she headed towards the guest bedroom.

The next day (Friday, 19th July), 8:58 a.m.
The Wizengamot chamber
The Ministry of Magic

Harry and Hermione were sitting in the visitors' gallery because Harry, whilst twice a Lord, had not yet taken his seat in the Wizengamot. (Nor did Harry plan to claim his seat for a while yet.)

All but one of the chairs that had been reserved for seat-holders had someone sitting in it; Augusta Longbottom, Arthur Weasley, Cyrus Greengrass and Lucius Malfoy all were present.

Harry and Hermione were sitting in the section of the visitors' gallery that was reserved for trial witnesses; otherwise it was doubtful that they could have found a seat—both the regular visitors' gallery and the press box were packed.

At 9:00, Dumbledore walked into the chamber and took his place as Chief Warlock. He looked over at Harry with his "disappointed grandfather" look. After two seconds of this, Harry ignored the man for the rest of his time there.

Dumbledore made announcements, then conducted Wizengamot business that Harry paid no attention to. At 9:03, sonorus-amplified Dumbledore called out, "Bring out the prisoners!"

The prisoners turned out to be Umbridge, as Harry had known, but also Cornelius Fudge.

Fudge came out quiet (and looking nervous), but Umbridge was yelling at her Auror escort, "I demand you release me at once! I am the Senior Undersecretary, and I will have your jobs for this!"

"No, Dolores," Minister for Magic Rufus Scrimgeour said loudly. "You were the Senior Undersecretary. I sacked you when you were arrested, remember?"

The Toad scowled.

Then Minister of Magic Rufus Scrimgeour acted as prosecutor in the trial of the two defendants: "Dolores Jane Umbridge, you are accused of two counts of murder of a pureblood, namely Denise Slughorn and Paul Macmillan; two counts of murder of a halfblood, namely Nigel Jones and Leona Prewett; one count of attempted murder of a halfblood, namely Harry James Potter; one count of injury to a halfblood without provocation, namely John Longbottom; and thirteen counts of using a restricted item on magical children, namely a Blood Quill. Cornelius Oscar Fudge, you are accused of being an accessory after the fact to the attempted murder of Harry James Potter by Dolores Umbridge; and for abuse of office, namely putting Harry James Potter on trial in front of the Wizengamot for underage use of magic and for using magic in the presence of a Muggle, when the facts pointed to his innocence. How do you plead?"

"Not guilty," Fudge said.

"I've committed no crimes," the Toad said. "But if I did, I had good reasons!"

Harry watched the trials closely and, when his memories were played in the projection pensieve, was called upon to give a Wizard's Oath that his memories were true and unaltered.

Hermione was less involved in the proceedings—sometimes she watched the trials, sometimes she wrote in her spiral notebook, sometimes she consulted the thick book that she had brought from the Potter Library, and sometimes Hermione stared into space.

Meanwhile, it turned out that Dolores had been a naughty girl. Since even Harry knew that the Ministry always promoted purebloods over halfbloods, how had Dolores Umbridge, a halfblood, risen to the top? By amazingly good luck: The person most likely to be given the promotion that Dolores coveted, would lose his job or would die due to "an unfortunate accident." Except that, when the DMLE took a hard second look, each "accident" was not accidental at all. As for the torture with the Blood Quills, trial testimony revealed that all of the Pink Toad's child victims at Hogwarts, except for Harry Potter, had been first- and second-year Muggle-borns.

Was Cornelius Fudge an accessory to Harry Potter's attempted murder? The prosecution could not prove that he had done anything else beforehand than to echo the words of King Henry the Second ("Is there no one who can rid me of this troublesome priest?") After Harry's Dementor attack, Fudge had collected the Dementor paperwork that Umbridge had filled out (but Fudge had not destroyed the paperwork). Fudge had maybe made threats to Amelia Bones and the DMLE; but since Amelia Bones now was dead, Fudge's threats of a year ago could not be confirmed. However, Harry being tried before the Wizengamot for underage use of magic and for using magic in the presence of a Muggle, when Fudge knew that the charges were baseless—that injustice was well documented, and the responsibility for the kangaroo court fell all on Fudge.

Scrimgeour called for the verdicts on Fudge first. For the crime of being an accessory to the attempted murder of a halfblood, most of the Wizengamot seat-holders (including Arthur Weasley, Augusta Longbottom and Cyrus Greengrass) voted "Not Guilty." For the crime of abuse of office, most of the Wizengamot voted "Guilty"—except that Lucius Malfoy and six other seat-holders voted "Not Guilty."

Dolores Jane Umbridge was found guilty on all counts, by a vote of the majority of the Wizengamot—except that for each charge, Lucius Malfoy and his six best mates in the Wizengamot voted "Not Guilty."

Cornelius Fudge was sentenced to five years in Azkaban.

For Dolores Umbridge, there was no question that her sentence would be death—but death by the Veil or death by being Kissed?

Chief Warlock Dumbledore, with eyes a-twinkle, turned to the visitors' gallery and said, "One of Miss Umbridge's victims is in this room now: Harry Potter. Harry, won't you show that you are the bigger man and ask the Wizengamot to forgive Miss Umbridge's misdeeds?" Seeing Harry's scowl, Dumbledore amended his words: "Or can you at least be generous enough to ask the Wizengamot to give Miss Umbridge a less than deadly sentence?"

As Harry stood up, he thought, Be firm with underminers. Aloud, he said, "Headmas—Chief Warlock, another of the Pink Toad's victims is named Longbottom. I'm curious why you haven't asked Regent Longbottom if she forgives Umbridge and will accept a mere slap on the hand as Umbridge's punishment."

Before either Dumbledore or Neville's Gran replied, Harry continued, "What you call forgiveness, Chief Warlock, I call permissiveness. I have discovered that misplaced forgiveness does not cause less crime in a society, it causes more. At Hogwarts, one brat there attacks me repeatedly—because he knows he never will be punished for his misdeeds." Harry looked into Lucius Malfoy's eyes and continued, "I see no way that these attacks will stop, short of me killing the brat or him killing me; I expect the Hogwarts faculty to keep being useless at protecting me." Then Harry turned back to Dumbledore. "If the brat did kill me, would you stand where you're standing now, Chief Warlock, and embarrass my friend Hermione here if she would refuse to forgive my killer?"

Harry sat down then. The chamber was completely silent—

—until Lucius Malfoy raised his wand and was recognised. "I do not expect Harry Potter to call for forgiving anyone for anything. Especially after I witnessed Harry Potter cast the Cruciatus Curse at someone."

Everyone was talking then—but Minister Scrimgeour talked loudest: "Lord Black-Potter, is this true? Did you really do such a vile thing?"

Harry stood up again. "It happened on 18th June, in the Department of Mysteries, right after Bellatrix Lestrange killed Sirius Black, my godfather. I pointed my wand at Bellatrix and I said 'Crucio,' but nothing happened. Bellatrix laughed at me then, saying, 'You have to mean it, boy.' She escaped before I could decide to speak the spell again.' "

Harry then bowed his head. "I shall accept whatever punishment is due me."

Lucius said, "I demand that Harry Potter be arrested and tried right now, for casting an Unforgivable."

"No, Lord Malfoy," Scrimgeour said, "Harry Potter attempted to cast an Unforgivable, but did not succeed. Attempting an Unforgivable is not a crime."

Scrimgeour's ruling ended the excitement in the Wizengamot chamber, except for Umbridge's actual sentence and execution. The Pink Toad was sentenced to be Kissed.

Harry and Hermione left the visitors' gallery before Umbridge's sentence was carried out.

A minute later
In the Atrium of the Ministry of Magic

Rita Skeeter tried to grab Harry and pull him off to the side for a "private interview." Harry yanked his arm away, saying loudly, "Don't bug us, Rita."

Rita's face turned white. Perhaps because there were many other reporters within earshot, if Harry or Hermione decided to reveal that Rita was an unregistered beetle animagus?

Rita stammered, "But Harry my dear, the public wants to hear your side of today's events, in your own words."

Hermione snorted. "In his own words? Are you sure they'd be his?"

Then Hermione shifted into a shrill voice: "The vicious gossip wracked her gormless brain, twisting her once-plain face that now showed the ravages of time, as she consciencelessly crafted another cockamamie libel against Harry Potter, the one public figure who never has hurt the public."

By now, all the other reporters were laughing. Rita slinked away.

What followed was a brief press conference—

Reporter 1: "Are you satisfied with the punishment that Dolores Umbridge received for trying to murder you?"

Harry: "I was surprised, but not shocked, to learn that she had murdered people, besides torturing me and attempting to kill me by Dementor's Kiss. So for what she did, nobody but Albus Dumbledore would argue that she was punished too harshly."

Harry rolled his eyes then.

Reporter 2: "What is the situation between you and Headmaster Dumbledore? Everyone believes that you admire him. Not so?"

Harry: "I did admire Dumbledore, until I learned a few weeks ago that A, he illegally appointed himself my magical guardian, back in 1981; B, as my supposed magical guardian, he has looted thousands of galleons from my trust vault with no justification; and C, the day after Voldemort murdered both my parents, Dumbledore gave me over to the quote-unquote care of my mother's Muggle sister and her husband, even though both my mother's will and my father's will stated that Petunia and Vernon Dursley were not to get guardianship of me in any way, shape or form. There's a lot more I could tell you, D through Z, but I'll stop with this: I do not now trust Albus Dumbledore at all."

Reporter 3: "Are you close to announcing who will be the future Lady Black? Or is Miss Granger the future Lady Black-Potter?"

Harry grinned and said, "Hermione, you want to take this?"

Hermione said, "Harry is close to announcing whom he will betroth besides me. Here's a hint: She's not a Gryffindor."

Reporter 4: "So Susan Bones then?"

Harry and Hermione both grinned but did not reply.

About 11:30 a.m.
Potter Manor

Fifteen minutes after Harry and Hermione had flooed back to Potter Manor, Hermione walked up to Harry, looking proud of herself. "I did it."

Hermione drew her wand, then said "Height in digits," as she made a wand-movement that Harry had not seen before.

A voice like a male BBC presenter said, "Four."

Hermione bent at the waist, and lowered the wand to the floor. "Three ... two ... one ... nothing," the unseen BBC presenter said.

Hermione resumed her normal posture, with her wand held normally. "Four," the presenter said again.

"Let's climb some stairs," Hermione said.

Minutes later, Harry and Hermione, both panting, had reached the top floor of Potter Manor. When Hermione laid her wand-hand on the waist-high railing, the unseen BBC presenter said, "Five-one."

"Height, silence," Hermione said, then moved her wand higher and lower. The BBC presenter did not speak.

Harry said to Hermione, "I was worried whether you could complete the spell in six weeks. You did it in one day. Once again you amaze me, Hermione."

Harry then put his mouth where his flattery was, and snogged Hermione mightily.

Soon afterwards, Hermione taught Harry the tricky wand-movement for the Height In Digits charm, then he tried to cast the charm himself. For Harry, the wand's height of "five-two" was announced by the same invisible BBC-presenter voice as when Hermione had cast the spell.

Ten minutes later, after both teens had walked down the stairs to the ground floor, Hermione gave Harry a five-foot-long parchment that represented the "bones" of the charm. Hermione explained—

If a charm's name could be compared to the name of a recipe, the bones of the charm could be compared to the text of the recipe. If a charm's name could be compared to a computer program's name, the bones of the charm compared to the program's source code. Since it was Hermione who had written the bones for the Height In Digits charm, Harry knew it would take him a while to translate Hermione's words into Parseltongue—Hermione never practised brevity whenever she picked up a quill.

Among the 73 pages in elderly Harry's book-letter, he had written a tutorial for translating spells into Parseltongue, and a Parseltongue-English dictionary. Young Harry went into his bedroom, shut the door, pulled out the book-letter, and began translating Hermione's words.

Harry finished the Parseltongue translation about 7 p.m. that same day. In Britain in July, at 7 p.m. he had several hours of sunlight left.

The wooden box on Potter Manor's Quidditch pitch still was "warded" by the invisible, inflatable cylinder. Harry, by using his broom, his Parseltongue "See Wards" spell, and his Parseltongue-version "Height In Digits" charm, was able to discover that the height of the invisible, inflatable cylinder was §nine-five-one§ (951 feet).

Then Harry got curious, what the height of the permanent cylindrical wards for Potter Manor were. It turned out that they weren't as energised as the wooden box's wards—Potter Manor's wards went up only 905 feet high.

By sunset, Harry was back in Potter Manor, floo-calling Bill to come by the next morning to do more experiments.

After Harry floo-called Bill, Hermione wanted Dobby to elf-pop her back to the Granger house. Just before Hermione left, she said to Harry, "You're not even sixteen years old, yet you know the most valuable secret in Wizarding Britain: where protective wards don't protect."

Harry nodded. "It's a big responsibility."

The next morning (Saturday, 20th July)

Hermione, Daphne, Neville and Bill had returned to Potter Manor. Those four plus Harry were in the kitchen, drinking tea, when—

Pop. Dobby appeared in the kitchen, next to Harry. Dobby had a Gringotts key poking out of the sock on his right foot; in one hand he was holding a fat sack of coins; in the other hand he was holding a thick stack of pound-sterling notes. Harry took the three things from Dobby and thanked the house-elf, who popped away.

Harry pocketed the Gringotts key, then put the coins-sack and the stack of notes on the table in front of him. He looked at Daphne and Hermione. "Ladies, if you knew beforehand that I would battle Voldy at a certain place and a certain time, would you stand with me then, or would you seek safe shelter?"

"Pfft," Hermione said, "do you need to ask?"

"Stand with you," Daphne said.

Hearing Daphne's words, Neville's eyebrows shot up.

Bill said, "This is ... quite Gryffindor of you, Heiress Greengrass."

Daphne gave Bill a crooked smile. "You intended that as a compliment, so thank you."

Harry slid the bag of coins across the kitchen table to Daphne, then walked over and placed the pound-notes on the table in front of Hermione.

The kitchen was silent; two young men and two young women stared at Harry in open curiosity.

Harry said, "I need only send one letter to my solicitor to pass on to Lord Greengrass, and another letter to my solicitor to pass on to Professor McGonagall, and my betrothals will be negotiated, except for the signatures. Daphne and Hermione, I want to announce my betrothals at the Daily Prophet office in person, a few days from now—and I want both of you there with me. Expect to be photographed."

Daphne asked, "And the money is for what, exactly?"

Harry said, "In your sack, Daphne, are a hundred galleons. Hermione has five hundred pounds, the Muggle equivalent. When we walk into the Prophet offices, be wearing new robes or a new dress, new shoes and new jewellery. Maybe put up your hair. Figure that whatever photo or photos the Prophet prints will be reprinted in Witch Weekly and Teen Witch Weekly, so don't give their readers any cause to snicker at you."

Hermione said, "You want me dressed up Muggle, Harry? A summer dress, with stockings and heels? Not dress robes like what Daphne will be wearing? Or for this kind of money, maybe I should wear an evening gown instead?"

Harry slapped his forehead. "I'm sorry, I wasn't clear. Half of the money I gave you is to go towards what you wear to the Daily Prophet offices. The other half of the money is for you each to have a second brand-new head-to-toe outfit, which I also want ready to wear when we three visit the Prophet."

Bill looked confused. "Your two betrothed will be changing clothes when the Prophet snaps their photos? Why do this?"

Harry wanted to slap his forehead again. "No, Daphne and Hermione won't wear their second outfits till later, but I want all the dressmaking done earlier. And as for how I want Daphne's second set of robes, and Hermione's second dress or gown to look, I have firm ideas in mind..."

A minute later, Daphne and Hermione exchanged glances. Daphne asked, "Will two days be enough, if we pay extra for rush service?"

Hermione said, "Muggles will need longer. Three days?"

Harry said, "Let's plan on our drop-in visit to the Daily Prophet offices to be Wednesday afternoon, the 24th. Each of you have both outfits ready by then."

Daphne and Hermione exchanged glances again. Hermione said, "Erm, Harry? The second dress you want made for me, the white dress. And the white dress robes for Daphne—are these to be our wedding clothes? I thought we weren't marrying till after seventh year."

This time, Harry did slap his forehead again. "No, they're not for your weddings. But your specially-commissioned white clothing will be for a special occasion—a day that neither of you shall ever forget."

Then Harry looked at Daphne. "You advised me that, as the Boy Who Lived, to plan other people's impressions of me whenever I'm in public. Also, you said, 'Be theatrical.' Now I'm taking your advice."

Hermione looked at Daphne with a puzzled expression. Daphne shrugged, looking just as puzzled.

Hermione and Daphne each kissed Harry on the lips, then left Potter Manor—they each had dressmakers to visit. This left only Neville and Bill as Harry's visitors.

Soon afterwards, the three young men walked out to the Quidditch pitch, to do more experiments with wards, using the wooden box and the wardstones that Bill had brought yesterday.

Yesterday, Harry was told, Bill had configured the wards in a "mother-daughter" arrangement: seven "daughter" wardstones in a circle that formed the base of the invisible, inflatable cylinder; and a "mother" wardstone in the centre that sent commands to the other seven wardstones. Harry had not noticed the "mother" wardstone yesterday because the wooden box had covered it up.

Today, Bill dropped the wards on the wooden box and set the seven outer wardstones aside. By using the remaining wardstone that still lay under the wooden box, Bill set up new wards and a new Fidelius charm that were shaped like a dome.

With a new Fidelius charm on the wooden box, instantly Harry forgot where the box had been before.

Bill confided the Secret of the wooden box's exact location to Neville (but not to Harry), then Harry climbed on his broom and tried to sleuth out the wooden box's location.

Harry failed utterly. Every square inch of the Quidditch pitch looked like it should; nowhere did Harry spot any dome-shaped distortion.

Then Harry and Neville tried, working together, to guide Harry so that he was hovering above the dome he could not see. This turned out to be a harder task than expected—Neville would suddenly start coughing and choking in the middle of a sentence. But eventually Neville assured Harry that he was above the wooden box.

Harry fired a Colour-Change Charm straight down.

All of Harry—his hair, his skin and his clothing—promptly turned purple. Harry's broom also was purple. The wooden box, Neville informed purple Harry, was unchanged.

When Harry and his broom had regained the colours that Nature intended, and Harry had climbed off his broom, the three young men talked.

Harry said, "If Malfoy Manor has dome-shaped wards, there's no point to me flying high. Flying high or flying low, I can't outsmart the Fidelius and I can't avoid the nasty wards, when those wards are dome-shaped."

Bill shook his head. Bill told Harry the Secret, so that Harry could see the wooden box, then Bill muttered a Gobbledygook spell so that the dome-shaped ward-wall was semitransparent blue. Bill said, "Notice how the wall passes closer to the corners of the top of the box? Same with a building—the ward-wall passes close to the corners of the roof. This gives attackers on brooms an obvious place to attack. If the attackers on brooms can punch through the dome, then can punch through the roof, the attackers hold the advantage when fighting inside the house."

"Dammit!" Harry said. "If cylindrical wards have a weakness against high-flying attackers, and dome-shaped wards can be taken out by low-flying attackers, how do I defend Potter Manor?"

"Why not use both?" Neville asked. "Put a dome over Potter Manor, then put a cylinder around the dome."

Bill took the seven wardstones that he had set aside, and placed them in a circle just outside the dome.

Then Bill took down the dome-shaped wards. Bill magically connected the eight wardstones in a "mother-daughter" configuration, but gave no power to those wards.

Bill had to Apparate away then, to fetch a ninth wardstone. After Bill returned, this ninth wardstone was placed on the ground so that it almost touched the "mother" wardstone. One minute later, the wooden box was double-shapes warded.

Harry got back onto his broom. He repeated his trick from yesterday, of rising on his broomstick and of feeling for the inflatable cylinder, till he could not feel the cylinder anymore. Harry then repeated his trick from yesterday, of rotating his broom then flying forward, till he suspected that he was inside the cylinder and was hovering over the wooden box.

But unlike yesterday, today Harry could not outsmart the Fidelius charm. The wooden box stayed invisible to Harry, no matter where he went on his broom or what he did.

Harry gave up then, with a smile. When he was back on the ground, he told Bill and Neville, "Lesson learned: I can outsmart the Fidelius charm on cylindrical wards, but not on double-shape wards."

Then Harry, grinning, looked at Bill: "One last thing I need for you to do, before I send you back to Gringotts: Upgrade Potter Manor's wards so that Lucius and Draco Malfoy can't do to me what I plan to do to them!"