Beginning in 1940, a series of comedy films was made, with "The Road to" in each title. The films starred comedian Bob Hope and singer Bing Crosby. A running gag in the film series was how the two captured rascals escaped a place that was guarded by two men who were each taller and stronger than Bob and Bing were. Bob and Bing each stood in front of a guard and played "Patty Cake, Patty Cake, Baker's Man," a two-child clapping game. But at some point, with no warning at all, Bob and Bing each spun a quarter-turn and slugged the guard beside him. The two guards, both caught by surprise, were swiftly knocked out. In this chapter, I make reference to this 1940s running gag.

Chapter 6
Dirty Secrets are Revealed

Still Friday, 1st November, 5:01 p.m
Still in the Great Hall

Harry and Hermione were escorted by Unspeakable Twenty-Two to the first-years' section of the Gryffindor table, whilst Madam Bones yelled words of challenge, then strode up to where Dumbledore and McGonagall were sitting.

All the first-year Gryffindor girls wanted to talk to Hermione about the book she had brought in, Dark Wizard with a Bright Smile. The girls' eyebrows shot up when Hermione told them that it was Harry who had bought her the book.

Harry blushed.

Lavender opened the book to a random page and began reading aloud. Harry blushed more, because of what he heard. Blimey, he, Harry Potter, had bought Hermione such a book?

Blushing Harry looked at Neville Longbottom, who was eating by himself, and said, "Neville, please help, I'm surrounded! Come sit with us." So Neville changed places to sit as part of the Harry-Hermione-Lavender-Parvati group.

If Neville wondered why he was invited to be part of Harry's new group but Ron Weasley was not invited, Neville did not speak up to ask.

Unspeakable Twenty-Two, meanwhile, was standing behind Hermione, between the Gryffindor table and the wall. Now he/she turned to face the front wall (beyond the High Table), pulled the goblin memory-recording crystal from a pocket, drew his/her red wand and bespelled the crystal.

Harry remembered that the goblin memory-recording crystal contained the piece of Voldemort's soul that had been in Harry's scar.

Above the now-bespelled handheld crystal, a sparkly red ball appeared. The floating sparkly red ball was a half-foot in diameter. Dividing the surface of the sphere into left and right equal halves was a white circle.

Unspeakable Twenty-Two immediately hit the memory-crystal with another spell. Now the sparkly ball turned a deep purple; and the white circle rotated so that it divided the sparkly purple ball into a towards-the-Unspeakable half and an away-from-the-Unspeakable half.

Almost instantly, Unspeakable Twenty-Two bespelled the memory-crystal a third time. The sparkles turned yellow-green, and the white circle rotated to now equally divide the ball into upper and lower halves.

The Unspeakable immediately bespelled the goblin crystal a fourth time. But now the sphere-dividing circle was not white, it was black. The highest part of the black circle was towards Unspeakable-Twenty-Two, above the sparkly ball's horizontal centre and to the right, whilst the bottommost part of the circle was below the horizontal centre, away from the Unspeakable and to the left. As for the sparkly ball, its colour now was yellow-orange.

The Unspeakable's head reared back then, clearly surprised. He/she paused for five seconds, then walked to the middle of the Great Hall, standing in the aisle between the Hufflepuff fifth-years and the Ravenclaw fifth-years.

The Unspeakable cast another spell on the memory-crystal. The sparkly ball's black circle now was positioned differently, and the sparkly ball now was orange-red.

Over at the Gryffindor table, Harry asked, "Hermione, what is Unspeakable Twenty-Two up to?"

Not only did the lower-years half of the Gryffindor table quiet down to hear Hermione's reply, but the first- and second-year Ravenclaws also went silent.

Hermione replied, "I don't know. But if I had to guess, the Unspeakable is measuring something, but is encrypting the data so that only he or she knows what the data is."

Meanwhile, the Unspeakable walked over to stand at the foot of the Slytherin table, which was where the Slytherin first-years sat and which was at the far end of the Great Hall from the High Table. The sparkly ball turned yellow-orange again.

No student could hear what Director Bones was saying to the headmaster and was saying to Professor McGonagall—but the students could see the Director of the DMLE clearly enough. Students gasped when Madam Bones suddenly drew her wand.

The Great Hall by now was silent enough that the voice of a Hufflepuff first-year wizard could be heard clearly: "Susan, is your auntie about to arrest the headmaster?"

The voice of Susan Bones replied, "Not her. Not now. The first thing they teach you in the Auror Academy is that you never make an arrest by yourself. Always you wait for backup before arresting anyone."

"What if this means the dark wizard escapes?"

"You let him go. It's better that a criminal escape arrest today than your widow gets paid the 'stupidity pension' because one Auror by himself decided to go all Gryffindor."

"Oi!" said Fred and George Weasley, in chorus.

A young Hufflepuff witch's voice said, "Maybe she's threatening the headmaster—'persuading' him to answer her questions."

"No," Susan said, "Aurors don't threaten. If the person whom the Auror is talking to, hasn't drawn his wand, the Auror keeps his or her own wand stowed. If an Auror draws his or her blue wand, it's because the Auror expects to immediately cast defensive spells."

"Not offensive spells?"

"Those come later, if at all."

A young male voice asked, "So why do you think your aunt drew her wand?"

Susan answered, "To touch her wand-tip to her badge, to call for Aurors to come to Hogwarts. You watch—the more Aurors who come here in five minutes, the more serious the situation."

Meanwhile, the Unspeakable had walked to the far right side of the High Table; he/she was standing close to Professor Sinistra but did not speak to her. After a cast spell, the sparkly ball turned blue; and the black circle was tilted right-up and left-down from the horizontal.

The Unspeakable then walked to the left side of the High Table, where Hagrid and Professors Quirrell and Snape were sitting. (The Unspeakable did not speak to those three, and only Hagrid tried to speak to the Unspeakable.) The memory-crystal was bespelled again, which turned the sparkly ball green.

The Unspeakable cast another spell then, and the sparkly ball disappeared; the Unspeakable then stowed his/her red wand up his/her left sleeve and pocketed the memory-crystal. The Unspeakable then rushed out of the Great Hall, not speaking to anyone.

Five minutes later

Eight men and women walked into the Great Hall. Six of the eight were wearing red robes; two of the eight were wearing pea-green robes and multi-pouch utility belts.

Harry asked, "Who are those people?"

Fred or George answered, "Red robes means they're Aurors—magical police."

A second-year Gryffindor girl said, "The two who are wearing pea-green robes are with the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. They catch everything from winged rats to fire-breathing dragons."

Up at the Head Table, Dumbledore could be heard clearly: "Amelia, I refuse to let any Ministry people enter my castle without my permission. What is up on the third floor poses no danger to any child unless he or she is foolish."

"Oi!" the Weasley twins said in chorus.

Madam Bones said, "This is a criminal matter, headmaster, which means you may not interfere. If you try, I'll arrest you for interfering with a criminal investigation."

Then Madam Bones turned her back on the headmaster and Professor McGonagall. Madam Bones ordered, "Senior Auror Grenwick—up here, please."

When the oldest male Auror had walked up close to Madam Bones, she said to him, "On the third-floor corridor, right-hand side, is a locked door. Behind this door are a series of dangers and challenges. The first challenge is a three-headed dog that is standing on a trapdoor. The dog is big enough to be dangerous. You Aurors and the two DRCMC people are to remove whatever hazards you find, starting with the dog. Let me know if you need more people."

The man agreed.

Madam Bones added, "Senior Auror Grenwick, pay close attention so that"—she flicked her head up for a moment, to mean Dumbledore who was now behind her—"you can write a competent report." Also so that you can record good pensieve memories for trial if I arrest the bearded clown behind me, Madam Bones chose not to add.

Five minutes later

Harry saw an Auror run into the Great Hall and run up to Professor Sprout. The Auror spoke with her briefly, then ran out of the Great Hall.

Seconds after the Auror ran out, the north-side double doors opened again. Two pea-green magicals walked in, floating the three-headed dog ahead of them. The canine was much smaller now than when Harry, Ron, Hermione and Neville had seen it a month or so ago; the beast now was about the size of a three-headed Doberman.

As soon as the two pea-green-robed humans and the dog entered the Great Hall, Hagrid stood up and ran over to try to block their path. "Please don't do nothin' to Fluffy! He wouldn't hurt a fly!"

The two DRCMC workers did not argue with Hagrid; instead, they floated "Fluffy" round Hagrid and continued their walk through the Great Hall to the doors that led outside.

Harry heard the voices of the Weasley twins, plus about a dozen other voices in the Great Hall, say words like "In that third-floor room, the dog was three times as big!"

A bit later, still during dinner

Albus was in a right snit.

On Amelia's orders, the Aurors and "animal-catchers" were dismantling all the traps and tests that Albus had arm-twisted his professors to invent, in order to trap Voldemort and to test Harry. To Albus's frustration, there was not one thing he could do to stop these people—whenever he tried to assert his authority as headmaster, Amelia and the Aurors all ignored him.

Now Aurors were floating giant stone chess-pieces through the Great Hall. The students, particularly the younger years, reacted fearfully. Somebody said, "Imagine playing real-life Wizard's Chess against them!"

Whilst stone pawns that were as big as full-grown wizards were being floated through the Great Hall, the mail-owls arrived.

Albus received an owl-letter from Gringotts. He could not guess why Gringotts would want to write him.

.

1st November 1991

To Albus Percival Dumbledore:

I am Axefrenzy, now the account manager for the Ancient and Noble House of Potter. Bronzedagger no longer is part of the Gringotts organisation.

Today the wills of James Charlus Potter and Lily Marie Potter née Evans were read privately by their main heir, Harry James Potter. As a result, changes have been made to how Gringotts does business with the minor Mr Potter, and how you may do business as the Wizarding Britain magical guardian for the minor Mr Potter.

To remind you, Gringotts is sovereign by treaty, and Wizengamot law has no power within Gringotts. Gringotts, using its authority under treaty, has declared Amelia Susan Bones to be Mr Potter's legal guardian within Gringotts.

This letter is written to inform you of the consequences of our declaration.

The key to Mr Potter's trust vault, which is vault 687, has been called back, and a new key made. This new key has been given to Mr Potter.

Gringotts shall not honour this key if you present it. Gringotts shall not honour the key if the minor Mr Potter presents it but you are anywhere on Gringotts property; Gringotts shall presume illegal coercion.

You and Madam Bones are equal as Mr Potter's guardians. For instance you, as Mr Potter's legal guardian in Wizarding Britain, may make an agreement with a publisher in Wizarding Britain to write and to publish a book about Harry Potter, and Madam Bones cannot cancel this agreement that you make. However, if you make an otherwise legal agreement that obligates Mr Potter's trust vault, Gringotts permits Madam Bones to refuse payment. (Should she refuse payment, you either must cancel the agreement, or must make the payment from your own vaults, not from vault 687.)

If you, as Mr Potter's legal guardian in Wizarding Britain, make an agreement that earns money for the minor Mr Potter, the agreement must state that the coinage must be paid into vault 687. If instead the coinage is paid into a vault that you may access but Mr Potter may not, Gringotts shall consider this to be theft. This applies whether Mr Potter is a minor at the time of payment or has reached his majority.

Madam Bones, acting as Mr Potter's legal guardian within Gringotts, has ordered an audit of vault 687 from the date of 31st October 1991. If the auditors have any questions about any individual coinage-transfer, you shall be required to provide receipts and a detailed explanation.

Account Manager, the Noble and Ancient House of Potter

Axefrenzy

.

Shit! Albus thought, when he read the letter.

Albus was angry now. He jammed the Gringotts letter in his pocket and snapped an order to Minerva to summon Harry and Miss Granger for a conversation. Minerva, just as Albus expected, hurried to obey.

A minute later

Harry and Hermione walked up to the High Table, in front of McGonagall's chair and Dumbledore's golden throne, and looked at the two old professors expectantly. McGonagall already was retaking her seat, whilst the headmaster had left his posh chair and was heading to the double doors that led to the stairs to his office.

From the Slytherin table, Draco was clearly heard sing-songing: "Scarhead and the Know-It-All are in trou-ble."

Harry asked loudly, "Headmaster, why have you summoned Hermione and me, when we've done nothing wrong?"

It was McGonagall who replied: "That question is for the headmaster to answer, and he's waiting for you in his office." She made a shooing motion with her hand. "Go on."

But Dumbledore in fact had not walked to his office; he had stopped just before the double doors. "Harry my boy, I am not in the habit of justifying my actions to schoolchildren. Now come."

Harry said, "Headmaster, today I learnt that you've illegally meddled with my parents' wills. Why should I be alone with a criminal?"

Hermione said, "This afternoon the Unspeakables tried to talk with me, and you illegally tried to listen in on our conversation. I don't wish to be alone with a criminal either."

Professor Flitwick said, "Albus, you put a Cerberus in this school, with only a Colloportus charm keeping schoolchildren safe from that creature. I don't know if this was illegal, but it was bad judgement."

Dumbledore walked back to his golden throne; but he did not sit down in it. Instead, he stood at the High Table, both hands lying flat on the white tablecloth, and loomed over the two Gryffindor first-years. "Miss Granger, Harry, I am not accustomed to being questioned, and I am not accustomed to being disobeyed. Now follow me to my office!"

Hermione took a deep breath and said, "Does what you want to discuss with us relate to academics, professor? Do you want to discuss classes, or professors, or other students? Because subjects outside of these three things are not your prerogative to ask us."

Hermione's voice was trembling now, but still she defied the headmaster. Harry admired her for this.

Dumbledore thundered, "Miss Granger, you heard a prophecy in my castle. I am entitled to know what you heard. Harry, you evidently went to Gringotts today without my permission—without even asking my permission!"

Harry said, "I was escorted to Gringotts by Unspeakable Twenty-Two and by Amelia Bones, who is the head of the DMLE. I think, sir, if it were illegal for me to go to Gringotts, she wouldn't have taken me there. But speaking of 'illegal,' at Gringotts, I found out that you buggered my parents' wills—which said flat-out, 'Don't put Harry with Petunia and Vernon Dursley!' "

McGonagall gasped. "Albus, you never mentioned that their wills—"

"Minerva, what I did was for the Greater Good. There are steps I must take, regardless of the laws, to protect Wizarding Britain. Putting Harry with the Dursleys is one of those steps."

Hermione said, "Harry was beaten at his Muggle relatives' house, and starved! I barely know him, and even I can see these abuses." As Harry blushed red, Hermione glared at all the professors at the table. "Did the headmaster order you all to be blind?"

Dumbledore ordered, "Miss Granger, you heard a prophecy, two days ago. Tell me what it said!"

Harry said, "I heard a prophecy too. But I'm not telling it to anybody, except for the evil bloke I vanquish."

Harry noticed that now both Snape and Quirrell were watching him attentively. Dumbledore was scowling.

Meanwhile, the headmaster had demanded that Hermione reveal her prophecy. Now Hermione replied, "My knickers right now are white cotton."

McGonagall looked confused. "Why are you revealing something so personal, Miss Granger?"

Hermione glared at Dumbledore. "The headmaster just asked me a question that he has no right to know the answer to, just because what he asked about, happened in 'his' castle. If he's allowed to ask an invasive question like that, then I'll save him time and answer his next invasive question before he asks it. To answer his third invasive question: No, I've never kissed a boy." Hermione gave Harry a sidelong look.

Dumbledore said, "For defying me, each of you will serve a week's detention with Professor McGonagall, beginning at seven o'clock this evening."

Harry said, "No. Now you're just bullying us, Albus my boy. Professor McGonagall, don't expect to see us tonight."

McGonagall said, "Mr Potter, it is unwise to defy the headmaster."

"And what if he asks you the colour of your knickers?"

McGonagall looked unsure what to say.

Dumbledore said, "Harry, Miss Granger, if you defy me, you risk expulsion."

"Yes!" said Snape, at the other end of the High Table.

Hermione smiled sweetly. "I'm sure Manchester Magical Academy would be glad to have us both." Dumbledore stared at the bushy-haired girl.

Professor Flitwick said, "How about one week's detention for them both, but served with me, not with Minerva?"

McGonagall asked coldly, "You don't think I'm capable of supervising a detention, Filius?"

Flitwick snapped, "Minerva, I heard Lily often rant about what a rotten human being her sister Petunia was. I'm sure James bent your ear just as much. Now in fairness, you didn't know that Mr Potter being placed with Petunia went against Lily's will and James' will, but you did know that such a thing could do Harry no good. Yet you timidly went along with it, because this was Albus's idea, instead of you putting your wand in his face back in 1981. If the headmaster ordered you to spend two hours every night, for the next seven nights, giving Mr Potter and Miss Granger the Cruciatus Curse—yada-yada, 'Greater Good'—would you say no?"

Harry did not know what the Cruciatus Curse was; but behind him, the deeper-voiced half of the student body gasped.

Harry asked Hermione, "If Dumbledore expels us, you really think we could get into that other school?"

Hermione said, "Harry, you're the Boy Who Lived. If you're no longer in Hogwarts, not only would MMA want you, but magical schools in the States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand would be thrilled to have you." She grinned. "Especially after word gets out that you killed a twelve-foot mountain troll."

Dumbledore said, "Harry my boy, your parents would want you to stay at Hogwarts."

Harry snapped, "My parents wanted for me not to be sent to the Dursleys—they wanted this so badly they stated it in writing. Writing which you ignored. So don't you dare try to tell me what my parents would want, because you clearly don't care what they want." Then Harry's voice turned hard: "One night of detention, with Professor Flitwick, or expel us both."

Dumbledore asked condescendingly, "Miss Granger, what do you say after Harry's foolish—?"

Harry held his breath, because he was a bit worried, but trying not to show it. Dumbledore was asking the witch who had once said that being killed was better than being expelled, to choose between undeserved detentions and expulsion.

Hermione took a deep breath. "I agree with Harry. This school doesn't want Muggle-borns here, so this Muggle-born is willing to leave."

Dumbledore snarled, "Very well. Filius, don't coddle them during tonight's detention, do you understand? Now you two, back to your seats, both of you!"

As Harry and Hermione walked past the Weasley twins, each ginger-haired boy held a hand up for a high-five.

Albus was furious at being publicly humiliated. He also was frustrated. Had he been able to lure the children into his office, he could have used the Elder Wand to read their memories, then to Obliviate them and to Confundus them as the Greater Good required. But with the children and him all in the Great Hall, he did not dare draw his wand.

Albus's only option, in order to learn what the children had experienced, was to use passive Legilimency on them. Albus, whilst trying this, had bumped up against two solid walls. From this double failure, Albus figured that Harry now was wearing his Heir Potter ring; and figured that Miss Granger, whose sleeve now declared her to be Harry's protectée, was wearing some kind of mind-magic-blocking enchanted jewellery.

Bloody hell!

7:16 p.m, in the Charms classroom
Part of Harry's and Hermione's detention

Professor Flitwick assigned Harry and Hermione to rearrange the books on a shelf—by colour. Black, then brown, purple, blue, green, yellow, orange, red, then white. The books had to be moved by using Wingardium Leviosa, not by hand.

This task took the full two hours of detention, and completing the task took both children's efforts. The Gryffindor children often had to stop and rest, because a book is much heavier than a feather.

In the meantime, Professor Flitwick talked about Harry's parents—

"Mr Potter, your mother Lily was a striking girl. Red hair, but not Weasley red—it was darker, more like Miss Bones's colour. Her eyes were bright green, the same colour as yours. And smart—Miss Granger, you remind me of Lily Evans. Lily wanted to know everything."

Harry chuckled. "Just like you, Hermione." Hermione slapped his arm.

Harry asked Professor Flitwick, "What about my father? What was he like?"

The little professor paused before speaking; and then, he spoke slowly and carefully. "For their first five and a half years here, your mother loathed your father—with good reason. I myself didn't like your father until his last year here. Before then, he combined the worst parts of Draco Malfoy and the Weasley twins. He and his three friends were cruel to Lily's Slytherin friend, Severus Snape."

Harry choked. "Snape was friends with my mother? Was she blind?"

Flitwick again chose his words: "Young Mr Snape was never an easy boy to like—he was not like Hannah Abbott, or that third-year Hufflepuff, Cedric Diggory. But your mother brought out the best in young Mr Snape. Alas, your father brought out the worst in Mr Snape. After your mother ended her friendship with Severus Snape, at the end of their fifth year, he stepped onto a dark path. But at the same time, the end of fifth year, your father reformed. In seventh year, your parents began dating; they married within a week of sitting their NEWTs."

Harry asked, "You don't know what happened between my mother and Snape at the end of fifth year? You don't know what ended their friendship?"

"No, but her friendship with Mr Snape definitely died. In sixth and seventh year, Lily spoke of him with the same scorn that before, she had spoken of James Potter."

Harry made a decision then—a decision that he did not reveal to Professor Flitwick, but tomorrow he would tell his decision to Hermione.

Whilst Harry and Hermione were in the Charms classroom serving detention, Fay Dunbar was sitting in the Gryffindor common room, blushing and smiling. Hermione had loaned Fay her new copy of Dark Wizard with a Bright Smile, and Fay was enjoying reading it.

However, Fay did not always understand what she was reading. Why did a witch need to take her robes off in order to hug a wizard? Why would a wizard try to hug two witches at the same time?

That night, in Minerva McGonagall's suite

The deputy headmistress tried to sleep, but she could not. The angry words that Filius Flitwick had spoken to her at dinner, kept running through her mind—

"...Now in fairness, you didn't know that Mr Potter being placed with Petunia went against Lily's will and James' will, but you did know that such a thing could do Harry no good. Yet you timidly went along with it, because this was Albus's idea, instead of you putting your wand in his face back in 1981. If the headmaster ordered you to spend two hours every night, for the next seven nights, giving Mr Potter and Miss Granger the Cruciatus Curse—yada-yada, 'Greater Good'—would you say no?"

She wanted to say But Albus would never say anything like this! But could she truthfully say those words? She had stood right next to Albus when he had done misdeeds that had deeply offended her Presbyterian values, all whilst painting over the moral ugliness with the pompous words "It's for the Greater Good." Albus Dumbledore truly was not so "light" as people believed.

Was Minerva willing to bet her vaults that Albus would never, ever order her to Crucio Mr Potter and the completely innocent Muggle-born, Miss Granger? Minerva realised that she would be a fool to make such a bet.

What disturbed Minerva even more was that she realised: Filius is right to scorn me. Oh, Minerva had never cast the Cruciatus on any child, much less by Albus's order. But Albus had left Harry Potter with Vernon and Petunia Dursley, and Minerva had known what horrors awaited the child, yet she had done nothing. Minerva had not contacted Wizard Child Services, she had not contacted the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, she had done nothing. Morally, it was as though she had spent the next ten years starving Harry, and she had given him ten years' worth of scars and broken bones.

The guilt crushed her.

Minerva was able to fall asleep only after she resolved: No more shall I be an accomplice to hurting a child.

The next morning (Saturday, 2nd November) at breakfast time
In the Great Hall

When Harry, Hermione, Lavender, Parvati and Neville walked into the Great Hall (Ron was still in bed), the firsties discovered that three pairs of Unspeakables were in the Great Hall.

The Unspeakable-pairs were each running some sort of strange experiment that involved building, then collapsing, a floating three-dimensional, four-sided figure by using four floating rune stones. Each time the Unspeakable-pair collapsed their floating figure, they walked to a different part of the Great Hall before setting up their experiment again.

Harry barely noticed when Professor Quirrell took a seat at the High Table. Harry's attention was much more on Dumbledore and on Professor Flitwick. Dumbledore asked the little professor a question (which Harry could not hear), and Professor Flitwick gave an answer (which Harry likewise could not hear), but Flitwick looked annoyed as he spoke.

Five minutes later, all three Unspeakable-pairs were at different places in the Great Hall. It was surely coincidence that all three pairs were in the High Table half of the room, and that one pair of Unspeakables was standing directly in front of Professor Quirrell's part of the High Table.

Quirrell was sitting to Unspeakable Seventeen's left, but Unspeakable Seventeen was not facing Quirrell, he/she was facing Unspeakable Forty-Eight in front of him/her. A clump of four rune stones floated between the two Unspeakables.

Using their red wands, the two Unspeakables floated the four rune stones up, left, right, forwards and backwards, until the four floating stones suggested the vertices of an equilateral tetrahedron.

Unspeakable Seventeen pointed his/her wand at the rune stone that was on the bottom of the tetrahedron and to the left. "Pattius," he/she said.

Unspeakable Seventeen now pointed his/her wand to the rune stone that was on the bottom and nearer-right. "Caecus," he/she said.

Unspeakable Forty-Eight pointed his/her wand to the rune stone that was floating above the other three. "Pattius," he/she said.

Unspeakable Forty-Eight then pointed his/her wand to the rune stone that was on the bottom and nearest to him/her. "Caecus," he/she said.

Each pair of floating rune stones now was joined by a glowing purple line. Within the space described by the four purple lines and by the four rune-stone vertices, a green mist formed.

Unspeakable Seventeen zapped the mist with red-wand magic as he/she said, "Bae-korr."

Unspeakable Forty-Eight then magicked the green mist, as he/she said, "Sumann."

Abruptly Unspeakable Seventeen spun a quarter-turn left, whilst Unspeakable Forty-Eight spun a quarter-turn right. Each Unspeakable simultaneously hit Professor Quirrell, at point-blank range, with a wordless Stunning spell.

Harry and everyone else in the Great Hall gasped when two Unspeakables abruptly hit Quirrell with red spells.

Beside Harry, Hermione muttered, "No incantation. I'm envious."

Suddenly two other Unspeakables were standing in front of Dumbledore, pointing their wands at his chest. "DO NOT INTERFERE, HEADMASTER," they yelled.

The remaining pair of Unspeakables ran behind the High Table till they were standing behind Quirrell's chair.

The four Unspeakables who were near Quirrell, by working together, raised the turban-wearing, Stunned professor up from his chair, floated him over the table, and lowered him to the floor that was between the High Table and the four House tables. (At this point, Harry could no longer see Quirrell from where he was sitting.)

"He needs to be on his stomach," an Unspeakable said. Harry presumed that Quirrell then was magically flipped over.

The two Unspeakables who had stood behind Quirrell each pulled something from his/her pocket and magically enlarged the object. To Harry, the two objects looked like matching handcuffs, except each handcuff had writing on it.

One of the Unspeakables turned to face the Hufflepuff table. "Miss Susan Bones, please come forwards. I want you to witness this."

Dumbledore (who still had two wands pointed at him) said, "Miss Bones, remain in your seat. What you might see would be deeply disturbing to you."

Susan ignored the headmaster's words, and came forwards, to stand in the aisle between the Hufflepuff seventh-years and the Slytherin seventh-years.

Seconds later, Susan blurted, "You're putting magic-suppression handcuffs on his wrists and round his elbows? Why?"

"Let me remove his turban," an Unspeakable answered, "and you'll have your answer."

"NO!" yelled Dumbledore. "I forbid it!"

Seconds later, Harry heard Susan scream, but could not see what she was screaming about. Then Susan yelled, "That horrid face on the back of Quirrell's head, whose face is that?"

"It's the Dark Lord's face," an Unspeakable answered.

Hundreds of children screamed.

Then this same Unspeakable turned to face Dumbledore. "You not only let the Dark Lord into the same castle as young children, you let the Dark Lord teach the young children. What were you thinking, sirrah?"

A different Unspeakable said to Susan, "Please use your necklace to tell Director Bones that the Unspeakables are taking the Dark Lord to one of our miscellaneous-experiment rooms. Also inform her that nobody who is not an Unspeakable may see the Dark Lord."

The three pairs of Unspeakables summoned their tetrahedrons from where the tetrahedrons had remained floating in midair, turned each tetrahedron back into four loose rune stones, pocketed the rune stones, and floated Quirrell out of the Great Hall.

Susan Bones, meanwhile, had laid a hand on the front of her robes, a few inches below her throat, and was talking to someone whom Harry could not see.

Susan's words, though not spoken loudly, could be heard where Harry was sitting, because nobody else in the Great Hall was saying a word. Probably everyone else in the Great Hall felt as deeply shocked as Harry himself was feeling.

Dumbledore glared at everyone in the Great Hall, both professors and students, then he strode towards the double doors that would take him to his office.

Meanwhile, over at the Department of Magical Law Enforcement
In the holding-cells area

The prisoner in Holding Cell 2 was in awful shape. He needed a haircut, he needed a shave, he needed a bath and he needed fattening foods.

The prisoner looked through the bars and through the ward-shimmer at his visitor: Amelia Bones, Director of the DMLE.

"Amy," the prisoner said in a flat tone. The name was an affectionate one, but the prisoner spoke the name with no affection at all.

"Hello, Sirius," Amelia said nervously.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: What was Unspeakable Twenty-Two doing with the sparkly ball and its black circle? He/she was checking for the presence of a nearby Voldemort soul-piece. Unspeakable Twenty-Two only halfway expected to find even one soul-piece anywhere in the castle; he/she was shocked to find a soul-piece not only in the castle but close by, in the Great Hall.

The sparkly ball's black circle pointed to that nearest soul-piece, without it being obvious; the sparkly ball's colour told how close the sparkly ball was to the nearest soul-piece, without it being obvious. Unspeakable Twenty-Two's first measurement, after three spell-castings that had been intended for calibration, told Unspeakable Twenty-Two that Voldemort was possessing either Snape or Quirrell.

Unspeakable Twenty-Two took four more measurements; though the measurement taken at the foot of the Slytherin table, and the measurement taken by Professor Sinistra's end of the High Table, both were intended as misdirection for anyone watching. The last measurement taken, when Unspeakable Twenty-Two was standing close to Hagrid, Quirrell and Snape, told the Unspeakable that Voldemort was possessing Quirrell.

As soon as Unspeakable Twenty-Two knew for sure that Voldemort was possessing Quirrell, the Unspeakable rushed out of the Great Hall and back to the Department of Mysteries, to give Croaker an immediate report.

The magic of the sparkly ball and the black circle located the nearest Voldemort soul-piece; Unspeakable Twenty-Two had no idea (yet) that Hogwarts Castle also contained another Voldemort soul-piece: the Diadem of Rowena Ravenclaw.