In this chapter, I refer to, but do not name, two Parseltongue spells from my story "The Snorkackic Trio"—

§Goldkeh§—removes all magic from a magical object or person.

§Kedavrub Protego§—a shield-spell that reflects every attack-spell back to the spellcaster, including the Killing Curse. Alas, this spell is so magically draining to anyone with less than mage-level magical power, that the §Kedavrub Protego§'s spellcaster is magically exhausted almost immediately, so is defenceless against follow-up attacks.

Fortunately for Harry when casting §Kedavrub Protego§, he has mage-level magic.

For readers for whom English is not their native language: "He was stumped." is a pun. However, the sentence still makes sense if you miss the pun and take the sentence simply to mean "He had no ideas."

Chapter 13
Harry versus Albus

Still Friday, 8th November 1996
Two months into Harry's sixth year
Just outside Azkaban Prison

A cold wind hit Albus's face. Albus did not mind this, because sunlight also was hitting Albus's face—the first sunlight he had experienced in five years.

Two prison-guard Aurors walked Albus from the stone building to the boat dock. Aurors hated prison-guard duty and they hated the prisoners, so neither Auror spoke to Albus.

Albus got a surprise when he was walked to the boat dock. Albus said, in a voice that was raspy from disuse, "Saul? Nymphadora? You two are my escorts?"

The young Auror who was standing next to Saul Croaker said—as her hair turned bright red—"Address me as 'Auror First Class Tonks,' Albus. Now shut up and let's get in the bloody boat. It's cold out here."

Nymphadora climbed down the ladder first. Once she was in the boat, she walked unsteadily to the pointy end of the boat, turned, drew her wand and pointed it at Albus, who still was standing on the dock. "Your turn, old man."

Oddly, so Albus saw, even after Nymphadora had sat down in the pointy end of the boat, the boat still rocked and moved a bit.

Albus descended the ladder and stepped into the rocking boat; Nymphadora ordered him, "Move to the middle."

Saul was the last to enter the boat; he sat down in the rear end of the boat.

The boat contained just the three of them, Albus noticed; nobody was driving the boat.

Nymphadora pointed her wand down at the boat, spoke words that were too quiet for Albus to hear, then the boat left the Azkaban boat dock. Immediately the boat turned half-left, then moved forwards in a straight course.

"So, Mister Dumbledore," Saul said in a taunting voice, "did you enjoy the last five years?"

Albus shot Saul his disappointed-grandfather look. "What do you think? Dementors constantly, no mail and no newspapers."

Nymphadora shrugged. "No prisoners at Azkaban get mail. If you didn't like the policy, you should have changed it when you were Chief Warlock."

Saul said, "Minister Bones specifically ordered that you never get a newspaper, not even second-hand. She was quoted as saying, 'That man loved to keep everyone else ignorant, so it's only fair that he be kept ignorant.' I think she realised it's harder for you to scheme if you don't know what is happening."

"What has been happening?" Albus demanded. "Tell me."

Saul said, "Let's see. Hogwarts has new people, new classes, and they come down hard on bullying. Seventh-years who were caught bullying have been expelled. No second chances there now."

"No, that is horrid! How can they be turned back to the light if they are expelled?"

Nymphadora snapped, "How can the lower-years feel safe if punishment for bullies never goes beyond writing lines, hm? You were in charge of a school, you bloody pillock, not a church."

Saul grinned. "When Hogwarts upgraded their wards—which basically were worthless when you were headmaster—the animagus-ward caught Rita Skeeter. She spent a year in the low-security wing of yonder stone hotel, then she wrote a book."

Grinning Saul pulled a tiny book from his pocket, enlarged it with his red wand, then handed the book to Albus. "I bought this copy just so I can watch your face when you see the cover."

The book was The Life and Lies of Albus Dumbledore: Biography of a Deceiver by Rita Skeeter, research by H J Granger.

Albus opened the book to a random page—

"When Dumbledore was a sixth-year Gryffindor in 1898, he checked out from the library Mind-Manipulation Magics. He never returned the book to the library. In 1991, when Minerva McGonagall became acting headmistress, she found the book in a draw in the headmaster's desk. It's obvious to me, dear reader, how Dumbledore made use of the book."

Albus slammed the book shut, then tossed Skeeter's book over the side.

Saul said cheerfully, "Wizarding Britain considers you a disgrace, Dumbledore. Nobody calls you 'the Leader of the Light' anymore. Now they think of you more like Gilderoy Lockhart with a beard."

Then Saul said, "I also brought this to show you." Saul pulled from his pocket a prophecy-sphere.

The frozen smoke inside the round glass of the prophecy-sphere was dark; Albus understood what this meant.

Saul said, "The reason I came on this boat ride today, Dumbledore, is to give you a message: Voldemort is dead, so the prophecy is fulfilled. Leave Harry Potter the bloody hell alone!"

"Saul my boy, I am afraid I cannot do that—even if the prophecy is fulfilled, which I doubt."

One second later

Nymphadora asked, "What prophecy are you talking about, Director?"

Albus turned to her and replied, "Nymphadora my dear, I am afraid you are not yet old enough and mature enough—"

From behind Albus came Sybill's voice: "The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches ... born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies ... and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not ... and either must die at the hand of the other, for neither can live while the other survives ... the one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies..."

Then Saul explained to Nymphadora, "The Dark Lord was Voldemort, the 'one with the power to vanquish' him is Harry Potter and the prophecy was fulfilled in November 1991, four days after Dumbledore here went to prison."

Albus said, "Voldemort has tricked you, Saul. He still lives; and the only way he can die is if Harry sacrifices himself."

"Nonsense," Saul stated. "Because you can't fool a prophecy-sphere, number one. Also because I myself saw Voldemort die, number two. It's also nonsense because I saw Harry kill Voldemort when the rest of us Unspeakables couldn't, number three. Number four, the horcrux—"

"Saul! Be silent!"

"—in Harry's scar was removed by the goblins, so there's no need for Harry to sacrifice himself for anyone or anything."

"So you claim. I do not believe it."

"Merlin, Albus, are you even slightly capable of even thinking the words 'I might be wrong'? Harry doesn't need to 'nobly sacrifice himself,' because the horcrux in Harry's scar was destroyed by the goblins; and because Voldemort is dead, dead, dead. The only person saying 'Harry needs to die' is you!"

Albus paused to think. Then he asked, "Did Harry stun Voldemort, so the Dark Lord would not suffer when he died? Or did Harry go straight to killing him?"

"What do you think, Dumbledore? The wanker killed Potter's parents. Do you think Harry would bother with a Stunning spell, or some other painless option? No, the Dark Lord died screaming, then to make sure the blighter was dead, Harry turned the Dark Lord's entire body to grey ash."

Albus shook his head. "Harry Potter truly has killed? And violated a corpse? He is turning Dark, or has already turned Dark. It would be so easy for him to become the next Dark Lord."

"Aren't you listening? Harry isn't a Dark Lord in the making, he's a hero! He has friends. Voldemort never had friends."

"Tom at Hogwarts was charming. He recruited minions whom he lulled into believing that they were his friends."

Saul threw up his hands. "Merlin, Dumbledore, how do I convince you to leave Harry alone?"

"You cannot, Saul. Even if today Harry is the hero you claim he is, it is such an easy step for him to become a Dark Lord. As soon as he loses his magical bindings, he will have power. Living with Lily's sister has given Harry rage. He becoming a Dark Lord is only a matter of time, do you not see it? Do you not also see, Harry as a Dark Lord would be disastrous for Wizarding Britain?"

Albus turned his head to the side, seemingly watching water flow past the boat. As he watched the water, he murmured, hopefully too lowly for Saul or Nymphadora to hear—

"So for the Greater Good, I must kill Harry Potter soon, whilst I still can, even if he still is a 'hero' to the rest of you when he dies."

Later during the boat ride

Albus asked Croaker, "My special wand, did you turn it over to the DMLE, or do you still have it?"

Croaker shrugged. "We never turned it over to the DMLE. But neither do we have it. After I took it from you, we put it in a miscellaneous-experiment room. But by the next day, it had disappeared; and I found a note on my desk that said, 'We took it and gave it to someone we trust and you trust. Signed, the Three Fates.' "

"Do you have an idea to whom the Elder Wand was given?"

"Yes," Saul said. Then rather than say more, Saul cruelly grinned at Albus.

But Saul had told Albus enough to answer the question. Harry has my Elder Wand.

After the boat ride

As soon as Nymphadora, Saul and Albus were back in the Ministry building, Saul Apparated away after telling Albus, "Leave Harry Potter alone! I mean it."

Nymphadora took Albus to the Prisoner Property room within the DMLE, where Albus was given back what he had been wearing and carrying at the time of his arrest five years ago: his rainbow-coloured robes, his magical glasses, three Portkeys, the wand that Merrick Ollivander had sold Albus in 1892 and a second wand, which had originally belonged to a now-dead Muggle-born orphan.

Albus scowled, angry that his third wand, the Elder Wand, was gone. Albus would get the Elder Wand back—by fine dueling, hopefully; but since dueling probably would not work, by trickery.

What nobody except Albus knew was that, until Albus had looted the Elder Wand from Gellert Grindelwald, Albus had been only a mediocre duellist. His entire reputation of being a wizard of power who knew many obscure spells—this was all due to the Elder Wand. If Albus dueled the current Master of the Elder Wand, all this magical power and all this knowledge would work against Albus instead of for him.

This left only trickery as a way to get the Elder Wand. Fortunately, Albus had had decades to hone his image as a good, caring and wise wizard, and to perfect his half-truths and deceptions. Minerva McGonagall, Remus Lupin, Severus Snape, Molly Weasley, Arthur Weasley, Daedalus Diggle and Elphias Doge all did what Albus wanted—and this was first achieved only by talking. (The mind-magics came later.)

If the current Master of the Elder Wand was Harry Potter, Albus was sure that once they met, Albus would trick the Elder Wand out of Harry's hands within minutes.

Albus changed into his rainbow robes, then sticking-charmed his three Portkeys to those robes. Then Albus touched the tip of his wand to the Portkey that would take him to the headmaster's office at Hogwarts.

Albus's plan was to ask the headmistress (McGonagall) to call Harry out of class; once Harry was in the headmistress's office, Albus would pull his "disappointed grandfather" act and would order Harry to surrender the Elder Wand.

(Once Albus had the Elder Wand back in his hand, he would send Harry back to class—after a bit of mind-rewriting—then Albus would Confundus Minerva into resigning her Headmistress position and transferring the position back to Albus.)

But when Albus activated his headmaster-office Portkey—

BAM!

—Albus felt like a muscular giant had thrown him against one of Hogwarts's stone walls.

One second later

Albus was lying on grass in sunshine, and he hurt.

When he stood up, he discovered that he was outside the Hogwarts main gate. Normally for a visitor to Hogwarts, he would have to lay a hand on the magicked metal plate on the gate in order to call Hagrid, otherwise nobody would know he was here and nobody would let him in.

But Albus did not need to call for Hagrid today, to let people know the former Hogwarts headmaster was here. Just inside the gates were a group of adults, whilst beside them stood a group of robed students who Albus judged were sixth-years.

The adults and students on the Hogwarts grounds were already in place and all were looking at Albus, as if they were expecting him. Albus wondered, How can this be?

Front and centre in the mob of adults were two sitting adults (Pomona Sprout and a man whom Albus did not recognise), whilst the other adults were standing. Amongst the standing adults were Minerva, Filius, Sirius, Alastor and Andromeda; some of the other adults, Albus did not recognise. If the adults are Hogwarts professors, Albus wondered, why is Severus not amongst them?

Sirius was eating something that was served in a small paper bag. When Sirius was not chewing, he was smirking at Albus.

Albus could not at first guess why sixteen-year-old students would be standing nearby—until he did the maths, and realised that these students must be Harry's yearmates. The bushy-haired girl was Granger, with something on the right sleeve of her robes. Albus could not recall her first name, or what was on her right sleeve. In the mob of students, Albus saw Granger and three other Gryffindors, three Hufflepuffs and four Slytherins; along with a blond-haired Ravenclaw girl whom Albus did not recognise.

Oddly, neither Ronald nor Ginevra Weasley was a part of Harry's group of friends. This was especially odd, since Harry was betrothed to Miss Weasley. Also odd: neither was Draco Malfoy present amongst Harry's friends. Surely Mr Malfoy had returned to the light by now and Harry had forgiven him his misdeeds.

Meanwhile, the stranger-man who was sitting next to Pomona—Why is he sitting, Albus wondered, instead of offering his seat to Minerva?—asked, "You are Albus Dumbledore, the released prisoner?" The man spoke with an American accent.

Albus did not even look at the American man. "I was imprisoned due to a misunderstanding. Minerva, let me in—it's urgent I talk to Harry."

Glaring Minerva yelled, "Albus, you believe I'm the headmistress here? Thanks to you, I'm not! The Board of Governors decided I was too close to you, so they stripped me of my acting-headmistress position and my deputy-headmistress position, and I already had hired Sirius to be Gryffindor Head of House. So now I'm the Transfiguration professor only—and the only reason the Board let me keep that post is because I'm clearly good at it, so they overlooked your taint!"

Albus turned to look at the only witch who was sitting down. "Who is the Head of Hogwarts? You, Pomona?"

The American man asked Pomona loudly, "Does he always address everyone he knows with familiarity?"

Pomona answered him, "He does. Hope that Albus never meets Her Majesty—the results would not be pretty."

The American man looked at Albus and said, "Professor Sprout is deputy headmistress. I am Headmaster Kellner, and I say: You may not enter. I warn you, the wards have been upgraded since you were here ruining the school."

As usual, when Albus did not like hearing something, he ignored it. "I insist you let me in, so I can talk to Harry Potter. It is urgent I talk to Harry."

Granger said, "Harry isn't with us, as you can plainly see through your magical spy-glasses."

Albus said, "Then where in the castle is he?"

Granger said, grinning impudently at Albus, "He wasn't in the Great Hall or in the Gryffindor common room an hour ago. Nev?"

"Probably not in the greenhouses, but I could be wrong," said a surprisingly confident-looking Neville Longbottom. "Hannah? Susan? Justin?"

Albus was alarmed. Susan Bones? Amelia Bones's niece is here? I need to be careful!

A girl whose yellow robes were matched by yellow hair replied, "No, Harry wasn't been in the 'Puff common room when I was there today. But later, who knows? Blaise? Daphne?"

A dark-skinned Slytherin boy grinned at Albus. "Harry probably isn't in our common room now; but he told me once that he likes our decor."

A beautiful Slytherin girl with black hair said, "If Harry isn't in the Great Hall, he's maybe busy in a restroom stall; or sitting, freezing, on a wall. Maybe Harry is in Potions lab, learning how to cook. Maybe he's in the library, reading an old, old book. Maybe Slyth'rin's Chamber, the dark place we were took. But you hurt Harry, so don't you ask me to look."

Albus snapped, "You children are taking the mickey out of me! Your answers do not tell me where Harry is."

Minerva said, "It's annoying, isn't it, Albus, to be given 'answers' that contain no useful information? Now you know what the rest of us suffered through."

The blond-haired Ravenclaw said dreamily, "Where is Harry Potter? He is right where he needs to be at this moment. In one minute, Albus Percival Dumbledore, you'll find out where Harry is."

Headmaster Kellner said, "Let me repeat, Dumbledore: I refuse to let you enter Hogwarts. The wards will hurt you if you try to sneak into Hogwarts. Mr Potter's friends refuse to tell you where Harry is. You have no reason to stay here any longer; so leave, sir."

"I will not! The girl over there said that I will learn where Harry is in one minute."

Albus heard what sounded like a snake-hiss, close to his right. Then a teenaged boy's voice said, "Good news for you, has-been: The minute is up."

Even as Albus was rushing to spin a quarter-turn and to draw his old wand, Harry Potter was leaping back away, with his own wand already drawn and pointing at Albus.

And not just any wand! Albus put on his "disappointed grandfather" face and said, "Harry, you have my wand. I insist you give it back."

"The Elder Wand is yours, has-been? Like my family Invisibility Cloak is yours? Like the gold in my trust vault is yours? If you think I'm handing the Elder Wand over to you, you're mad or stupid."

Then Harry's face turned sly. "But you're right to feel concern, has-been. This wand gives me an unfair advantage. So let's make the fight sporting."

So saying, Harry took an end of the Elder Wand in each hand and snapped the wand in two.

Crack!

The two pieces of the centuries-old wand fell to the ground.

By the time Albus got over his shock, Harry had rushed to draw a boring, ordinary holly-wood wand, which again was pointed at Albus.

A puff of wind momentarily blew Harry's bangs back, which showed his forehead. Albus choked.

Albus asked, "Harry, how have you glamoured your scar? Glamours normally don't work on cursed wounds."

"You talking about the horcrux in my scar? Amelia Bones told the goblins to take it out five years ago. I have to wonder, has-been, why did you never get it removed?" Harry sneered, "After all, you had hold of my Gringotts key."

"Harry my boy—"

"Do you remember these words, has-been? Words you spoke less than an hour ago? 'So for the Greater Good, I must kill Harry Potter soon, whilst I still can, even if he still is a "hero" to the rest of you when he dies.' You want to kill me? Here I am."

Albus heard the professors and Harry's friends all gasp.

Albus needed information. "Harry, how do you know I spoke those words? Did Saul tell you? Did Nymphadora?"

Only too late did the thought occur to Albus: Minerva is listening; I should have denied saying that. Bollocks!

Harry didn't answer; instead, he hissed. As Albus blinked in shock, an orange spell shot approximately towards him. Albus suspected that the miss was deliberate.

"Parsel magic, Harry? You have fallen to the Dark!"

Harry laughed scornfully. "If so, then my mum got there first. The one-time 'Gryffindor princess' spoke to a snake-painting as a sixth-year."

Albus was shocked to hear this—how had the portraits in the castle not reported this event to Albus when it had happened?

Nobody now in the audience of professors and sixth-years sounded surprised that Harry was a Parselmouth who had a Parselmouth mother. Which meant that Albus could not manipulate Harry by using shame or guilt; unlike Remus Lupin and Severus Snape, whom Albus always could lead around by the nose.

Harry hissed again, and his wand fired the orange spell again—in a more on-target direction than the first spell. Albus had to twist his body to the side for the second Parseltongue spell to miss.

Now Harry's wand was pointed at Albus's chest, and the boy had one eyebrow raised. Meaning: My next spell won't miss.

Harry grinned at Albus and said, "You know what Professor Moody always says to me? Other than 'Constant vigilance'? Never mind, Professor Moody says you haven't listened to him in decades. But he gives great advice. Like..."

Harry hissed, and an aqua-coloured spell flew towards Albus. Quickly Albus threw up a shield, with much magical power, to stop the unknown threat. Zzap. Harry immediately launched the aqua-coloured spell again, which hit Albus's shield again. Zzap. In retaliation, Albus fired off an Depulso Extremni, intending to knock Harry back forty feet.

Before Albus's spell reached Harry, the boy hissed up a shield—except the shield was transparent blue, which Albus never had seen before. Albus's Depulso hit the blue shield—blurp—but instead of the blue shield absorbing Albus's spell as expected, the blue shield bounced the Depulso back to Albus.

Albus's own shield had to work to absorb the Depulso spell that he himself had cast, plus Albus's shield also had to block Harry's third aqua-coloured spell (which Harry sent right after his shield reflected the Depulso).

Albus tried every spell he could think of (except for Dark spells and Unforgivables) against Harry. When Albus cast this variety of spells, he hoped that one of the new spells would penetrate the blue shield or would weaken the blue shield. Alas, Albus saw no sign that the blue shield was about to collapse; worse, Albus was forced to dodge his own ever-more dangerous spells when they were reflected back.

Meanwhile, Harry was casting orange and aqua spells at Albus, which Albus had to powerfully shield against if he could not dodge them.

The boy looked calm and unworried. Albus doubted his "Do I look worried?" air was fake.

Because Albus had to put up a powerful magical shield again and again, and because he was casting powerful offensive spells (all of which were wasted), his magical core was beginning to ache, and he felt lightheaded. This was worrying.

"Wasserkugel," Albus murmured as he cast. Enclosing Harry in a floating globe of water probably would not drown the boy, but it would finally put Harry on the back foot so that Albus could go on the offensive.

But that damnable blue shield reflected the globe of water back, so that it was Albus who was in danger of drowning. "Nichts!" Albus yelled as he fearfully cast the counterspell. The oncoming globe of water vanished before it reached Albus.

Albus said, "Harry my boy, using a shield-spell that reflects all my spells back to me is unfair."

The green-eyed boy replied, "You put me with the Dursleys. You deserve unfair." So saying, Harry shot another orange-coloured spell at Albus—then another, then another, angled so that Albus would need to be a sprinter or a house-elf to dodge them all.

Zzap, zzap. Albus's powerful shield held, but just barely. Soon he would be at Harry's mercy—and the boy's words about the Dursleys told Albus that he could expect no mercy.

Albus risked casting the Disarming Charm at Harry, hoping that the result would not be Albus suffering his own wand snatched from his grip. Zzap—the blue shield did not reflect Albus's Expelliarmus—this was the good news. The bad news? Harry still had his holly wand.

Harry said, "I've suspected for a while, has-been, that all of your fame as a powerful wizard was because you had the Elder Wand as a magic-booster. Now, without it? Truly, you're pathetic. Any of my sixth-year friends over there would make me work harder to win, because Professor Moody has been riding all our arses for the last five years."

So saying, Harry cast two pairs of orange spells at Albus, who now was too winded to dodge them all. One orange spell (from the first pair) made Albus's shield collapse. The second orange spell (from the second pair) hit now-unprotected Albus, and Albus—

"Hee-hee, hee-hee-hee, hee-hee..."

—laughed uncontrollably till the spell wore off. Then Albus snapped, "Harry my boy, you have been shooting a Tickling Charm at me?"

"A Parseltongue Tickling Charm, alternating with a Parseltongue Leg-Locker Curse. But since you didn't recognise the spell-colours, you had to shield as though I were shooting Bombardas. This used up your magic faster. Thank Professor Moody for the idea, the next time you talk to him. Anyway, it looks to me like you're now defenceless."

Then Harry grinned cruelly—

"Acer Dorsus! Acer Dorsus! Acer Dorsus!" Harry cast three plain (non-Parseltongue) Stinging Hexes at Albus. Albus tried to sidestep them. Two hexes missed, one hex hit, and that one Stinging Hex hurt.

Harry said, "Anyway, let's discuss your surrender. Otherwise, you're defenceless and I'm angry at you."

Albus was silent for a time before he asked, "What are your terms?"

Harry replied, "You swear an Oath on your magic, the following—"

Harry pulled a half-foot of parchment from a pocket, then read aloud, "One, you'll never send me a message by owl or by phoenix. Two, you'll avoid Hogwarts and Hogsmeade for the next two years. Three, you'll avoid any place where you know I'm at for as long as you know I'm there. Four, if you discover you've unknowingly come to the same place I'm at, you'll magically leave that place within five seconds. Five, you'll never attempt to kill me or to induce someone else to kill me."

"Harry my boy, you must be reasonable. My brother's pub is in Hogsmeade."

"But everyone knows the two of you aren't close. In any case, you still can owl him, and you two can still meet up at Dumbledore Manor."

"Its correct name is Dumbledore House. Harry, how about, instead of your unreasonable Oath—"

"Acer Dorsus! Acer Dorsus!" Harry incanted.

Now Albus was hit by two more Stinging Hexes. Oww! Each of these new, more powerful Stinging Hexes would leave a welt, Albus was sure.

Harry growled, "I'm waiting on your Oath, has-been, or else."

Albus was desperate. He no longer had magic enough to erect a powerful shield, but he still could cast spells that were less magically draining.

Desperate Albus decided to take a hostage, for the Greater Good.

Abruptly Albus turned to face the group of sixth-years who were Harry's friends. He pointed his wand and cast, "Accio Miss Granger."

With a startled cry, Miss Granger flew towards Albus.

The stone wall on either side of the front gate was only four feet tall. The wall mainly served as a message to Muggles: Intruder, beyond this wall is land that belongs to someone who is not you.

Albus intended for Miss Granger to rise up high enough to miss the low wall; but with Albus's depleted magic, he was not able to give the girl enough lift.

The lower third of Miss Granger's moving body smashed into the wall at high speed.

Cr-cr-crack!

When Miss Granger fell onto the grass next to Albus, she was screaming; and her legs and feet below her uniform skirt were a ruin. With the girl now only a few feet away from Albus, the "Potter protectée" crest on the right sleeve of her robes could not be missed.

Albus realised he had made a disastrous mistake.

The professors were chattering about what to do now—whilst talking about Albus as if he were a rabid beast—but Albus was not worried about any of them except Kellner.

Panic-filled Albus looked in Harry's direction, to see the boy's reaction. But Albus could not see Harry at all.

Albus felt fear of death. Where is Harry? I cannot see him, even with my enchanted glasses. Did he silently Apparate away? Is he hiding under his father's Invisibility Cloak, after he removed the detection-charms I put on the Cloak? Did Harry cast some Parseltongue spell that makes him invisible, silent and scentless? WHERE IS HE? Is he angry enough to kill me?

A second later, Albus's wand was yanked out of his hand and flew away to land on the grass. Albus heard a hiss close behind him, then suddenly all his voluntary muscles decided to remain where they were. Harry had turned Albus into a living mannequin.

Albus's involuntary muscles worked just fine; Albus pissed his robes. He figured he had less than a minute to live.

Hiss. Harry suddenly appeared in front of the unmoving Albus. "You dishonourable, despicable, immoral—bugger, I need Hermione to give me the words to describe you!"

Harry then ran his hands all over Albus's body in a quick and businesslike way. The boy yanked Albus's other wand out of his pocket and flung it away. Albus was defenceless.

Meanwhile, Harry was looking towards the professors. "Please take Hermione to the hospital wing now. She's in agony because of this goat-fucker."

A stretcher was conjured or transfigured, then still-screaming Miss Granger was laid on it. Albus heard Sirius say to Minerva (over Hermione's screams), "Will you stay with Hermione in the hospital wing? Yes, I'm Hermione's Head of House, but I truly think Harry will kill the fool if I'm not here."

The American headmaster-usurper created a Portkey, which was laid on Miss Granger, then Minerva touched the Portkey. The stretcher, the injured girl and Minerva all disappeared.

Sirius said, "Harry, before you act further, there are things you need to know."

"Like what?" Harry's tone said, Don't even try to talk me out of hurting this monster.

Sirius spoke calmly: "I'm your guardian, so if Dumbledore had hurt you, I could deal with him. But you're the Potter Head of House, though underage, and Hermione is your protectée; the tosser's punishment is for you to decide. I'd advise you not to kill Dumbles, mainly because I think ending his life would lessen Hermione's admiration for you."

Harry turned to look at Albus. "I haven't forgotten that you intend to kill me. Since clearly you have no scruples, which means there is nothing you won't do, then the only limit on your actions is what you can't do. So be it."

Diffindo-Incendio—Harry cut off Albus's wand-hand (right hand) completely, an inch above the wrist; then Harry cauterised the cut. Albus wanted to scream, both from the physical agony and from the knowledge that the hand could not be reattached. But alas, Albus's paralysis stopped him from screaming.

Harry looked in Albus's eyes and said, "But you might teach yourself how to cast with your off-hand—meaning that Hermione and I and our future children still are in danger from you. I won't let you endanger us."

Diffindo-Incendio—this time, Albus lost his left hand as well. How could he live without hands? He was stumped.

"Admirable restraint, pup," Sirius said to Harry.

Then Harry said to Albus, "Now, I admit I'm not worried about you holding a wand in your teeth and attacking me this way. Still, so long as you have a magical core, you're a potential danger to the Potter family." Then Harry's face showed anger: "Back in 1981, you put core-blocks on me and on Neville, so obviously you have no qualms about limiting another wizard's magical power. But now I won't merely limit your magical power."

Harry backed up about fifteen or twenty feet away, with his wand pointed at Albus the entire time. Then Harry said, in Albus's own sad-grandfather tones, "Albus my boy, what I do now, I do for the Greater Good."

Harry hissed. A white ball grew out of Harry's wand and flew towards Albus; as the ball came closer, it grew bigger. Halfway between Harry and Albus, the white ball turned black. The black ball kept moving towards Albus and kept growing.

Then the black ball hit Albus in the chest. Sluuurp! Albus felt himself losing magic quickly enough to make him dizzy.

Harry said, "Since you're already magically exhausted, has-been, this won't take long."

Now Albus saw that there was a magical cable running between the black ball and Harry's wand. The Albus-half of the cable was black; the Harry-half of the cable was white. After a minute of magic-draining that Albus could not stop, the black ball and the black/white cable both vanished.

Harry hissed, and Albus could move again.

"Look at Hogwarts, has-been," Harry said.

Albus turned round to look at the castle. He saw only the ruins that Muggles saw. I am a Muggle now! Albus felt despair as awful as when he had watched Ariana die.

Harry said, "For you, who is now magicless, time is short. I suggest you make out a will—and hope that nobody seals your will after you die. You really should have made the Oath I asked for, then left here and never seen me again—but nooo, you still think you know better than us mere mortals."

The next day (Saturday, 9th November 1996)
In the Hogwarts hospital wing

Hermione's bones still were regrowing, so she was still Madam Pomfrey's "guest." After breakfast, all of Harry's and Hermione's friends were visiting the injured girl.

Justin said to Harry, "I was amazed by the spells you cast against Dumbledore—I've never seen spells like those before. Where did you dig them up?"

Harry replied, "Back in September, I walked into Slytherin's Library with two Seers—Lavender and Luna—and with research-marvel Hermione. The Seers found the books, even though the books all were in Parseltext, so neither witch had any idea about what the book actually said that she was handing me. I conjured English-language translations of the books that L&L pulled from the shelves, then Hermione found amazing spells in the conjured translations. With the help of those three witches, it was amazing what spells we found!"

Hermione and Lavender blushed, and Luna kissed Harry on the cheek.

Meanwhile, Blaise, Daphne, Tracey and Millicent high-fived each other because their Founder had invented (or at least had recorded) the spells that Harry had used yesterday.

Harry then said, "Lavender and Luna also Saw Dumbledore showing up outside the gate yesterday. They predicted down to the minute when the has-been would arrive. It was Sirius's idea to gather everyone just inside the gate to watch the show. With Dumbledore involved, Sirius was sure that whatever happened afterwards would be a circus."

Tracey Davis asked, "Do you regret turning Dumbledore into a Squib?"

Harry replied, "Correction: I turned him into a Muggle. My choices were doing that, or I Avada-ing him."

Everyone except Hermione stared open-mouthed at Harry.

He explained, "Normally I don't hate people—I didn't even hate Snape. But when Dumbledore made Hermione scream, I wanted the bearded blighter dead."