Chapter 8
Minerva Wakes Up

The next morning: Sunday, 13th August
Hogwarts Castle

As Albus ate breakfast, he was marking time till the owl-mail came. He was eager to discover whether Sirius had agreed to Albus's orders-phrased-as-suggestions about Harry. It was for the Greater Good that Harry be kept isolated and alone, in the company of adults (such as Vernon Dursley and Molly Weasley) who would keep Harry humble and intimidated.

Albus also was waiting for the mail-owls because he was mildly curious whether anything interesting had happened at the Ministry yesterday afternoon, after the five trials had ended. Albus had wanted to talk to Fudge afterwards, about getting his Chief Warlock and Supreme Mugwump posts back, now that Voldemort was known to be alive—but Albus had wanted to talk to Fudge alone. (Because it is unwise to Confundus someone in the presence of witnesses.) So as soon as Albus had spotted Fudge in the atrium and surrounded by reporters, Albus had found a Floo and had headed back to Hogwarts.

When this morning's mail-owls finally arrived, Albus received Sirius's letter and today's Daily Prophet at the same time. All of Albus's interest was on the letter; he absentmindedly paid the other owl for the newspaper without ever glancing at that newspaper.

No sooner had Albus paid off the Daily Prophet owl and the owl had flown away, but a third owl arrived. This owl brought an official DMLE letter, "from the desk of Director Amelia S. Bones."

As Albus opened Sirius's letter, Minerva said cheerfully, "Look, Pomona! Mr Potter and Miss Granger are kissing!"

Albus glanced up. Harry and Hermione, previously only good friends, now were seriously kissing on the front page of the Prophet. Albus recalled that Gellert had kissed Albus just as passionately, a long time ago.

Albus's attention returned to Sirius's letter. At the end of his reading, Albus wanted to snarl. No, Sirius wrote, he would not take the position of DADA teacher at Hogwarts; Albus still had his staffing problem there. Worse, Sirius got downright insulting about Albus's "suggestions" about caring for Harry during these last few weeks for summer. Sirius had written, "You clearly know nothing about the raising of children. How is it that you're still in charge of the teaching of children? Confundus is a charm easy to use on an idiot like Fudge, isn't it?"

Albus vanished Sirius's letter, then reluctantly opened the letter from Amelia. This letter told Albus that Amelia was aware that he needed to hire a DADA professor, and she offered a solution: She would loan him an experienced Auror to teach the class for one school year. "The good news for you, headmaster, is that you won't need to pay him/her at all. He or she still will be on the DMLE payroll."

Albus frowned. He had to agree that not needing to pay the DADA professor was a reason to accept Amelia's offer. On the other hand, Albus would not be this professor's ultimate authority, Aurors were sometimes less than awestruck when they had dealings with Albus, and Aurors certainly had quaint attitudes about Slytherin schoolboys engaging in immature but technically harmful behaviour.

Amelia, at the end of her letter, mentioned that she could not tolerate any Auror giving a magical oath that might conflict with his/her Auror oath. So Amelia had forbade all Aurors from joining the Order of the Phoenix; and any Aurors who were already members, Amelia had ordered to resign. Albus already was aware of part of Amelia's new policy—Hestia Jones, Kingsley Shacklebolt and Nymphadora Tonks already had sent Albus "I resign from the Order" letters.

Albus wanted to yell at Amelia. With Aurors now gone from the Order, never to return, well-meaning amateurs were all that the Order had left as members (except for Severus and Alastor), and well-meaning amateurs were all that Albus could hope to recruit for the Order in the future.

Albus set Amelia's letter aside. With every fibre of his being, he wanted to refuse Amelia's offer of a "free" Auror DADA teacher; but Albus feared that circumstances might force him to accept the offer.

With the two letters read, Albus picked up that day's Daily Prophet.

At the top of the front page, in huge type, was the banner headline "THIS WAS POTTER'S DAY!" Below this banner headline was the photograph that Minerva had drawn Pomona's attention to, of Miss Granger kissing Harry.

Underneath the huge banner headline were three regular-sized headlines. The first two headlines of the three were "Five Trials Held Yesterday, All about Potter," and "He's Off the Market." But it was the third below-banner headline that caught Albus's eye—

"Potter to Headmaster: Drop Dead."

Reading the headline's newspaper article, in which Potter said a hundred unflattering things about the Leader of the Light, Albus felt enraged by Harry's disloyalty. Harry even questioned Albus's worthiness as headmaster.

Albus resolved that when the boy returned to school, Albus not only would do nothing to stop punishments by Severus, Albus would encourage such punishments. (Not that Severus needed encouragement to make Harry suffer.)

Meanwhile, at the next seat to the right at the High Table

Minerva McGonagall, reading the same Prophet article, at first was shocked how disloyal Mr Potter was. He had no praise for Albus at all!

Then Minerva recalled Mr Potter's four years at Hogwarts—again and again being shoved into danger and crisis, none of it of his own making. Minerva realised how Mr Potter must see the school: a place where students must solve their own problems, and must even save themselves and each other from mortal threats. And why? Because the professors were indifferent to the students' plights, at best, and willfully would add to the students' problems, at worst.

After reading the newspaper article, and thinking about Mr Potter's life at Hogwarts, Minerva resolved not to be slavishly devoted to Albus anymore. Minerva also resolved to be a more hands-on Head of House for Gryffindor's most famous current student.

Meanwhile, at the Granger house in Crawley

The dentists and their daughter were hosting Harry, Sirius and Luna for breakfast.

After breakfast, Sirius would take Luna home. Then Sirius would take Harry and Hermione to the Daily Prophet offices (where they would drop off Rita Skeeter's Quick-Quotes Quill), then Sirius would take the soulbound couple to Number 12, Grimmauld Place. After a week there, Hermione would be returned to her parents' house, despite the expressed wishes of one long-bearded headmaster.

Now in the Granger kitchen, Emma said, "Luna, I'm afraid Dan and I don't know anything about you, despite sharing an adventure a fortnight ago. Please tell us about yourself."

Luna said, "I warn the other students about wrackspurt and nargle infestations, but some children don't like to hear those things. This year they stole my stuff and hit me, but Harry Potter saved me, then got all my stuff back. Harry Potter is the ultimate Gryffindor, quite chivalrous, even though the Hat wanted to put him in Slytherin."

Oh no, Hermione thought. Her parents were looking at Luna as though the dreamy-smiling blonde were crazy.

Dan asked, "What's a wrackspurt?"

Emma asked, "What's a nargle?"

Sirius said, "The Hat wanted to put Harry in Slytherin?"

Luna answered dreamily, "Wrackspurts are invisible creatures that fly in through a person's ears and cause fuzzy thinking. Our headmaster and our Potions professor both are infested with wrackspurts. Nargles like to live in mistletoe, and they like to steal things. Last year, nargles stole my shoes."

Harry said, "Actually, last year three Ravenclaw fifth-year bully girls took Luna's shoes. They also were hitting her, till I stopped them."

Hermione said, "You never told me about this. When was this?"

Harry shrugged. "Sometime between the First Task and the Yule Ball. I handled it by myself, so there was no need to tell you."

Hermione looked at her parents. "Have I told you that Harry hates to brag?"

Then Hermione said to her parents, "As for Luna, she's a Seer. You know what tea-leaves readers, palm readers and Tarot-card readers claim they can do, which is to see the future? Luna really can. Sometimes."

Luna giggled. "I'm pants at Divination though. Tea leaves are disgusting to touch; they're wet. I'd much rather do divination with Exploding Snap cards than Tarot cards, but then I keep getting distracted by all the loud bangs."

Hermione's parents were giving Luna an Is she crazy? look again, so Hermione asked Luna, "When Harry had to fight off the Dementors, you knew about this ahead of time, right?"

Luna nodded. "I did. I knew the day before, that Harry Potter would need all four of us. I timed my calling of the Knight Bus so that I'd come to this house at the right minute, so that we'd arrive at the playground in Dr Granger's Muggle carriage at the right minute."

Sirius said, "Hold on. When Dolores Umbridge was plotting to attack Harry with Dementors, you knew it?"

Luna smiled dreamily. "Actually, I knew Harry Potter needed me a month before that. On 1st July, as we were riding the Express back to London, I got a vision: Magical Britain soon will desperately need Harry Potter, and soon Harry Potter will desperately need me. When the train arrived, I told my father that I needed to stay in Britain this summer, so we cancelled our trip to Sweden."

Ten minutes later

Whilst everyone at the Granger house was eating breakfast, a strange owl pecked at the kitchen window. It turned out that the owl had brought a letter for Harry.

.

Dear Harry (Heir Potter),

Thank you for saying I was the prettiest girl at Hogwarts. Despite what you said in the newspaper, I don't hate you, not even close. But since there's no chance of Granger running off to Bulgaria and marrying Viktor Krum, not to mention the whole she's-your-soulmate thing, any relationship between you and me won't be happening.

But with that said, my father has remarked that you really impressed him on "the day of five trials," so he favours a marriage between your House and mine.

As for myself, I'd much rather marry you than, say, Sam Flint of House Flint. Still, I know that I, supposedly the girl with a face like a goddess, can't hold a candle to Granger in your eyes.

Sincerely,

Daphne Greengrass, Heiress Greengrass

.

Harry read the letter, then nervously passed the letter to Hermione, who read it aloud.

For several seconds the dentists were quiet. Then Dan asked angrily, "Do we have to worry about this pretty girl stealing Harry away and breaking our daughter's heart?" Dan glared at the boy being discussed.

Sirius said, "Actually, it's quite the opposite. It doesn't matter how beautiful this girl looks, Harry and Hermione being soulmates means the girl has no chance with Harry. Relax, Dan and Emma."

A half-hour later
At Number 12, Grimmauld Place, London

Sirius, Harry and Hermione arrived at a house that was quiet (except for shouting by Mrs Black's portrait at first).

Rushing to greet the new arrivals were the four youngest Weasley children, plus Remus Lupin.

Ron eyed Harry and Hermione and said, "I'm so glad you're here. Without you, this place is boring."

Harry looked at Remus and said tactfully, "I'm surprised to see you here today. I figured you'd be, you know, elsewhere."

Remus winced. "You heard about Sirius throwing me out, huh?"

Harry nodded.

Remus said, "Sirius pointed out something I didn't want to think about, by asking me, 'How many werewolf students has Dumbledore let into Hogwarts, after he let you in?' When I checked, I found out that the answer was none. The werewolf packs know this, but moron I went about Britain defending Dumbledore. When I realised I'd been played, I resigned from the Order of the Phoenix."

Sirius said, "Plus I told Moony that, even with him being a friend of Harry's parents, I wouldn't let him come near Harry if that oath of obedience to Dumbledore still was in play."

"Ahem," Ginny said. "So Harry—you and Hermione, hm?"

Harry grinned. "Yeah, she's my girlfriend now, she's my soulmate, magically she's my wife, she's brilliant and my life is brilliant. If Voldy would walk in the door now, I'd hug him, I'm so happy."

Harry had not noticed that Ron's ears had turned red. So Harry was caught by surprise when Ron yelled, "You're so selfish, Potter! You know I fancied Hermione!"

As Ron glared at Harry, the foyer was completely quiet; even Mrs Black kept silent.

After a pause, Harry said, "Ronald, in four years, you've done nothing when you were near Hermione except to argue with her, to insult her and to demean her. That is, when you weren't asking her to do your homework for you. Who was it who made her run crying into the loo, four years ago? Who made her cry at the Yule Ball last year? If this is what fancying Hermione means, then Malfoy must spend all his class time drawing little 'DM+HG' hearts in the margins of his textbooks."

Ginny stuck her chin out and said, "Mum says that you should marry a Pureblood girl from a Light family."

Hermione stared at Ginny and growled, "That could work, I suppose. Susan Bones is pretty enough, and she doesn't stare and drool when Harry talks to her." Ginny's face started to turn red like her brother's. Hermione added, "But too bad for Susan—and you too—but Harry already is magically married. To me."

Ron said, "But I'm a Pureblood, Hermione, whilst Potter's only a halfblood. You should be relieved that I want to marry you."

Harry said, "Christ on the cross, this is the reason that you Purebloods are so inbred. If Hermione were to marry you, Weasley—"

"Which," interrupted Hermione, "each second that passes, I'm becoming more and more glad that I won't."

"—if she, who's a Muggle-born, were to marry you, a Pureblood, you wouldn't be doing her a favour, she'd be doing you a favour, genetically speaking."

Just then, Ron's hair turned white-blond. Ginny gasped. At Ron's confused look, one of the twins helpfully conjured a hand mirror for him.

"Change my hair back!" Ron demanded.

A twin replied, "Nope, not happening. If you're—"

"—going to talk like Malfoy—," said the other twin.

"—then you should—"

"—look like him too."

Sirius and Remus both grinned in approval.

"So," said Harry, trying to change the subject, "does anyone else have any other news to share?"

A twin answered, "Mum made us clean this house—"

"—until Sirius tossed her out," said the other twin.

"Now we have tonnes of free time," said Twin A.

Twin B added, "We've never had free time, away from Hogwarts. We're freaked out."

Harry grinned. "And Sirius doesn't have a garden to de-gnome, so that's more free time for you lot. Any other news?"

Ginny said, "Mum went spare when she read today's paper. She says Harry should be ashamed of himself for all the bad things he said about the headmaster."

Hermione said hotly, "Actually, Harry didn't say enough bad things. What about this summer, when the so-called 'Leader of the Light' wanted Harry's family and so-called friends to leave him alone, isolated, to fester in the needless guilt he felt for Cedric Diggory's death? What kind of man says, 'Harry Potter saw a boy die and watched the killer of his parents be resurrected, so how about I cut him off from all his friends'? What's worse, Dumbledore, in order to persuade me to betray my best friend this summer, lied to me!"

Harry and Hermione exchanged a look. Then Hermione asked Sirius, "Would you take me home, please? I can't deal with even one week of listening to Pureblood entitlement. If I wanted that, I'd be asking you to drop me off at Malfoy Manor. Draco, at least, has table manners."

Still-Malfoy-blond Ron sputtered, even as the twins laughed.

Sirius frowned. "How about instead, I throw out the youngest two? This would leave just the twins and Arthur here."

Hermione asked, "Is Arthur still under that oath of obedience to Dumbledore?"

Sirius sighed. "Good point. So it looks like I must throw him out too." Sirius looked at the twins. "Sorry I have to give your father the boot, but protecting Harry is more important."

Ron yelled, "If you throw me out, if you throw Ginny and me out, Potter, you and I are through! Done! You hear me? We're not friends anymore!"

Harry said, "Don't let the Floo fire burn your arse when you step through, Weasley."

Ron yelled some more: "Do you understand me? Even if you come crawling back, don't expect me to take you back."

Harry and Hermione exchanged a look. Then Harry calmly said to Ron, "Somehow I'll cope."

Fifteen minutes later

Ron and Ginny had packed up their own stuff, and Sirius had packed up Arthur's stuff. Then two redhead children, and three redheads' personal effects, were flooed to the Burrow.

Ron's parting words to Harry were "You deserve to be an orphan."

After Ron and Ginny flooed away, this left behind in Grimmauld Place, two thirty-something pranksters, two redheaded twin pranksters, one couple of soulmates, one half-crazy and elderly house-elf, and one surly hippogriff.

Harry looked at Hermione and said, "Let's invite Luna over to visit with us." Hermione smiled, hearing this.

Then Harry looked at Sirius and said, "Erm, if this is okay with you." Sirius smiled, and gestured towards the Floo Fireplace to say Go for it.

As Harry and Hermione were walking towards the Floo Fireplace, the twins laughed. Said Twin A: "Wait till we tell our prat of a little brother—"

Said Twin B: "—that it took less than a minute—

Said the twins in chorus: "—for him to be replaced in the Golden Trio."

Five minutes later, at the Burrow

Three Weasleys—Molly, Ron and Ginny—were discussing this morning's Daily Prophet in the kitchen of the Weasley ancestral home.

"Muuum, do something!" Ginny whinged, as her finger poked photograph-Hermione in the eye. Photograph-Hermione was unbothered by Ginny's attack, and continued to kiss Photograph-Harry. The 5-second loop on the magical photograph turned Harry's and Hermione's impulsive kiss into an eternal snog.

"Yeah, Mum, do something!" agreed Ron. "That git always gets everything, and now he has Hermione, when he knew I fancied her!"

"Since when?" Ginny asked her brother. "You treat Hermione like rubbish."

"It doesn't matter," Ron replied. "I'm a Pureblood, whilst Potter is only a halfblood. The mudblood should marry me."

Molly said, "But she's already married—to Harry. Those two are soulmates—which means, magically married without ritual, vows or witnesses."

For several seconds, the three gingers were scowling and silent.

Then Molly said, "Unless..."

Ginny asked, " 'Unless' what?"

Molly was smiling—a little. "Albus is Harry's magical guardian. Albus maybe can work magic to annul Harry's marriage. But if he can't—the magic get strange when soulmates are involved—we'll ask Albus to threaten to expel both Harry and Hermione unless Harry divorces her. No way will Harry do nothing and let Hermione be expelled!"

Molly, Ron and Ginny all laughed evilly.

A half-hour later
At Hogwarts, in the headmaster's office

Molly had two brilliant ideas, Albus thought, about how to end Harry's very problematic marriage to that Muggle-born. And Harry's marriage to Miss Granger had to be ended, so that Harry would be free to marry Ginevra Weasley for the Greater Good.

Albus thought, Let's try Molly's simpler idea first. Albus pointed the Elder Wand at the ceiling and said gravely, "As the magical guardian of Harry James Potter, I annul his magical marriage to Hermione Jean Granger. So mote it be."

Albus expected to feel a brief heat in the handle of the Elder Wand. This did not happen. Albus expected the room to flash with light. This did not happen either.

There was, however, one result of Albus's otherwise-failed annulment spell: Fawkes sang a discordant song as the eternal bird glared at Albus in disgust.

Albus shrugged. He thought, This still leaves me one other way to try to annul Harry's marriage, after Harry and Hermione return to Hogwarts.

Later in the morning
Still in the headmaster's office

On Albus's desk, buried under other parchmentwork, was a letter dated yesterday from Barnabas Cuffe, the editor-in-chief of the Daily Prophet. In the letter, Cuffe included Harry's anti-Albus quotes from the press conference, and asked for a comment.

Albus wrote a short note—

"Harry has earned the right to his own opinions, but I am disappointed that he misunderstands both me and my purposes. But this is to be expected—the boy is only fifteen. When I was fifteen, I was immature too."

Meanwhile in Crawley

The entire Grimmauld Place crowd, minus Kreacher and Buckbeak, was in Hermione's house (with the Granger parents' permission). Hermione was passing out cold cola drinks, which the twins never had drunk before, and Hermione was about to play a videotape cassette of Jurassic Park—after she explained the differences between tyrannosauruses and dragons.

Luna sipped from her cup of cola, then said, "Harry? Hermione? By inviting me to spend time with you during these summer hols, you've changed our futures."

Harry said, "Changed good or changed bad?"

Luna replied, "I can't tell you. Seer smoke is blocking me from Seeing much."