Dumbledore's dream had become a nightmare. He could not move from the window seat because his blackened left arm was attached to the window and felt like it was on fire. The enormous serpent enclosed in glass moved about and stared out the window. Dumbledore saw the golden egg had returned to its original shape and was still attached to the window. Other treasures stuck to the window included Tom Riddle's diary, Slytherin's locket, Ravenclaw's diadem, and Hufflepuff's chalice.
His only thoughts were, 'Where is my wand? Any wand?'
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DMLE Arrests Guards (13 August 1996)Treacher who had brewed all the potions needed by Lord Black for the summer was charged with tracking the guards who appeared around Privet Drive. The elf documented the pattern of guards and the places they each used to stand. Dora Tonks had an afternoon and evening assignment with her replacement appearing at 8:00 PM each evening.
"How do we get them in trouble?" Harry asked his elves. "The ministry isn't paying attention to me because I am emancipated, and everyone saw 'Lord Who-do' at the ministry."
"Lord Who?" asked Breacher.
"No, Lord Do," Treacher replied.
"Who?" asked Preacher.
"No, Lord Who-do," replied Dobby.
"Stop!" laughed Harry as his elves attempted to entertain him.
Treacher, the elf who had tracked the presence of the guards said, "Auror Tonks always gets tired at end of her shift. Any elf can put her to sleep and stupefy her at same time. Then Mr Harry Potters send an elf to Director Missy Amelia Bones at Ministry about magical trespasser threatening the Statute of Secrecy in muggle town."
"She comes when she sees it is 'Harry Potter' who signs the letter. We time it just right for stupid Sturgis Padmore to arrive and Missy Bones knows it is bunch of wizards threatening secrecy."
With Harry's luck holding Treacher stupefied Tonks and then Dobby delivered the letter to the desk of Amelia Bones where it opened without prompting and announced that Harry Potter was being threatened by wizards and witches in his muggle neighbourhood.
Within five minutes, Amelia Bones appeared with three trusted Aurors and she recognized Harry though the boy had grown in the last year.
"Thank you for coming, Director Bones. I didn't know what to do when I discovered that there are wizards and witches hanging around my aunt's home. This witch comes every afternoon and there are signs of other witches and wizards being about…"
At just that moment, Sturgis Padmore apparated onto the street and when he saw Madam Bones present, he attempted to escape but splinched himself, leaving both legs behind. An Auror traced the man and went for him. Once returned to Surry, Padmore spilled his guts (figuratively) on the street babbling all the names of members of Dumbledore's Order of the Phoenix acting as the guards.
Bones stared at her once-promising Junior Auror and ordered her arrest and confinement in a ministry cell. Then she told one of her guards to take Padmore and his legs to Saint Mungos to have the limbs reattached.
"Can they really put his legs back on his body?" asked Harry. "We've never been taught about that at Hogwarts."
"It's covered in the seventh year when you learn about apparition," the director replied. Then she said, "Trespass is not a major crime, Mr Potter. What is the threat to the statute of secrecy here?"
"My aunt and uncle do not like magic. They are due home from holiday at any time and if they hit Padmore in the driveway or smelled the loud cologne Tonks wears, they would make a lot of noise for the neighbours to hear. And I am certain that there is not a separate set of laws for Aurors, Director. I'm sorry about this…Tonks is a distant cousin and that makes it worse for me."
"Very well, Mr Potter. She'll be processed and released tonight if her parents will come and pay the fine."
After the Auror left with Tonks, Harry lifted one hand to keep the director's attention before he said, "They'll come back tonight. Probably a bunch of them and try to carry me off to a 'safe house'. I don't want to go anywhere until my aunt returns and I can tell her where I am going."
Frowning but nodding her head in agreement, Bones said, "I'll be at the ministry until 11:00 PM. If they show up, send a Patronus or elf and I'll come back with a full load of Aurors. Dumbledore vanished for the month and his minions are causing more trouble than the Death Eaters."
Just as the sun was setting, very late in the day in August, there were the sounds of apparating wizards in front of No.4 Privet Drive. The locked door was opened with a spell and Remus Lupin, Alastor Moody and Arthur Weasley tumbled into the entry of the house, tripped up by a series of jinxes set on the doorway. Harry cast a strong stupefy spell to subdue the three wizards and sent Dobby to Madam Bones again.
The director arrested the three wizards for attempted muggle baiting and endangering the Statute of Secrecy. After she sent them to lockup, Harry thanked her profusely and she stared at him hard again but could not fault his complaint against the invaders.
Very late that night, Albus Dumbledore appeared at the door but hesitated before casting a spell to open the door. Bones had screamed at him for corrupting the Auror force, threatening the statute of secrecy, and acting more and more like a forgetful 'old wizard'.
Dumbledore took a deep breath and knocked loudly. From inside the house, he heard the voice of Vernon Dursley shouting, "Blast it! The clock is past two in the morning! Boy! Don't open that door or there'll be more freaks arrested tonight. Whoever's out there, come back tomorrow at a more appropriate hour! Not before ten!"
++**++ SCENE CHANGE
Privet Drive in Surry (14 August 1996)The following day, just before 10:00 AM, Albus Dumbledore appeared outside the wards that protected No.4 Privet Drive. With a very strong Notice-Me-Not charm on himself and his bright robes, the whiskered wizard walked the short distance to the front door and knocked twice.
"The wards feel particularly well charged this summer," he muttered as he waited for the door to be opened. In the doorway stood Harry Potter, somewhat taller than he had been a month ago and the boy – young man – appeared to have gained at least a stone in weight.
"Headmaster, how can I help you today?"
"Might I come in and speak with your aunt and uncle?"
"They are gone for the day," Harry replied and when Dumbledore attempted to read Harry's surface thoughts all he found was the imagery of a deserted island with a skeleton draped across a pirate's chest of treasure.
"Then, let me speak with you for a few minutes," the headmaster said.
"Come in but only for a short visit. And you will leave without causing me harm in my own opinion. Otherwise, the wards you brag about protecting the house will eat you for lunch,"
"Now Harry, that's very…"
"Albus, when you call me 'Harry' that's a sign that you do not respect me. Call me as Mr Potter like other students!"
Honestly surprised by the boy's arguments, Dumbledore asked, "Where is this confrontational spirit coming from?"
"Perhaps it's because I've spent six weeks playing house elf for my relatives without the benefit of magic. I'm tired. Now, what do you want?"
The headmaster shook his head in disappointment and sighed, "There are several good wizards and a witch in trouble because you had them arrested for trespass."
"You mean the lot that was hanging around my aunt's house?" asked Harry with feigned surprise on his face.
"Yes, they were all here to protect you," Dumbledore assured the boy.
"Nope. You said this place was safe with the wards."
"Well, yes."
Frowning, Harry explained, "I thought they were Death Eaters in Polyjuice and trying to get me to come outside the wards with them."
"The DMLE won't release them until you withdraw the complaint. Miss Tonks and Mr Weasley are likely to lose their jobs," Dumbledore continued. "They were here to make certain you stayed inside the safety of the wards."
Harry sighed and seemed to think about it for a minute. Then he replied, "Maybe it will do them all good to be locked like me. Then they'll understand how I feel."
"Harry, you must stay here, and they were around to protect you."
"Nope. Still not believing you."
Again, Dumbledore sighed and said, "What am I to do with you?"
"Nothing Albus. Until I am back at Hogwarts on 1 September, I am not your concern."
The headmaster argued, "But I am your magical guardian."
"You have said that a few times, but I've never seen that in writing anywhere. What did my parents say in their will?" said Harry to refute Dumbledore's claim.
"Those documents are sealed until you are seventeen."
"Then my aunt has full authority over me all summer. I think it is time for you to leave."
"Alright…" Dumbledore said, bending to the subtle compulsion spell that three elves cast on him when he stepped into the house.
"And if any more guards appear, they'll be sent to DMLE cells or worse. Call off your lapdogs, Albus."
"Harry, stop this nonsense!"
Staring directly into Dumbledore's eyes, Harry said, "No."
In the surface thoughts of the boy's mind was an image of the Gaunt ring. The headmaster paused before he asked, "Mr Potter what have you studied this summer?"
Grinning Harry replied, "I've read 'Hogwarts a History' and discovered more information about Tom Riddle. Did you know he claimed to be the Heir of Slytherin while he was a student? And his family name was Gaunt. They were some inbred squibs in that same village where Peter Pettigrew killed Cedric and stole my blood to build that golem Riddle inhabits."
"You found out a great deal of information just from reading…"
Harry pulled out another book titled 'My Years at Hogwarts' by a wizard named Ernest Whittle. He explained, "This guy writes about all the indiscretions of the students and staff at Hogwarts in the forties during the war with your old friend Grindelwald."
"Where did you get that book?" asked Dumbledore attempting to grab it out of Harry's hands. "It's banned in Britain!"
But the reflexes that made Harry such a good seeker, kept the book out of the headmaster's hands. Sneering Harry said, "Perhaps my mother had a copy in a trunk of her things left in the attic here. Perhaps the house was gifted to my aunt by my mother and father as a wedding present? There must be some kind of curse I can apply to the ungrateful muggles someday…maybe 1 August next year when I turn 17 the day before."
"If you bring that book to Hogwarts, I'll expel you!" Dumbledore said wagging a finger in Harry's face. Grinning, Harry placed the book back on the table.
"As I mentioned earlier, it is time for you to leave, Headmaster Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore," Harry said, motioning toward the door.
Though he did feel compelled to move toward the door, Dumbledore asked, "Harry…Mr Potter, since the tragic death of your godfather in June, the order of the Phoenix has not been able to access the safe house in London where we met. The members are in great danger from Death Eaters."
Snorting, Harry added, "And in being arrested for loitering around my aunt's house."
"Nonetheless, I must determine who inherited the property."
Looking distracted, Harry asked, "What does that have to do with me?"
"Sirius might have left you the property and you could allow the Order to continue meeting there."
"Left it to me? Did Sirius have a will?" asked Harry feigning confusion in his tone.
Not looking directly at the boy, Dumbledore replied, "Perhaps. I shall check with Gringotts."
At the door, Harry said, "I guess you can tell me after 1 September. Don't bother me again before then."
"Actually, there is a faster way," Albus replied and continued. "Call the house-elf to appear here. If he comes, then you are his master and you can tell him to open the house for the Order of the Phoenix to use again."
"What was that thing's name? I was only there for a week last year and spent all my time hiding from Ron, Hermione and Gin-Gin."
"The poor elf's name is Kreacher," Dumbledore reminded Harry in his most condescending tone.
"What kind of name is that for an elf?"
Nodding as if providing a wise response, Dumbledore said, "The Black family is quite strange."
Harry shrugged and called, "Kreacher! Come here Kreacher!"
There were no pops heard and the wizards were spared the insults of the surly house elf. Dumbledore said, "Well, that is certainly disappointing. I was certain Sirius left you something."
"I thought Sirius was disowned. How did he have anything to leave me after years in Azkaban?" asked Potter holding the door open.
"Don't worry about it, Harry," Dumbledore said as he walked out the front door.
"I won't Albus," Harry said as he closed and locked the door without a word of farewell.
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