Disclaimer: Nothing is mine; everything is J K Rowling's.
So I meant to post this a lot earlier, but it slipped my mind, sorry for the extra wait everyone!
Chapter 47
'You want to do it now?' Salazar didn't seem convinced it was a good idea. 'It's the morning.'
'How long will it take?' Harry asked, picking the canvas off the wall and carrying it out across the bridge into the main chamber.
The portrait leant its head to one side, thoughtfully stroking the head of his companion. 'Around an hour,' Slytherin decided eventually, 'depending on how quickly you manage to create the patterns of the ritual.'
'Just enough time before lunch,' Harry grinned, slightly nervous.
'You'll tired for the rest of the day,' the founder warned, 'and I don't mean the occasional yawn. You'll be fighting to keep your eyes open every second of it.'
'I've only really got one piece of magic I need to perform later today,' Harry shrugged. 'I'll venture to the hospital wing for a potion or two to keep me on my feet.'
'Well if you've made your mind up I can hardly stop you,' the portrait snarked. Harry propped it up against the usual effigy that doubled as Salazar's support and pulled out the book.
'What do I want?' He asked, flicking through the first few pages. 'I'm assuming something in patterns of seven, it is the magically strongest number.'
'Three concentric stars,' Slytherin confirmed, 'large enough for you to stand in, and unbroken.'
'I'll have to draw them in blood, won't I,' Harry realised.
'Yes,' the founder nodded seriously, 'and you'll have to do it quickly, the ritual needs the blood to be fresh, its effect fades once it has begun to congeal.'
'Perfect,' Harry commented dryly. 'I'll prepare the Wormwood, Bayberry and unicorn horn first, then.'
'Remember that you want the leaves to be cut fine, and well mixed,' Salazar instructed from his spot on the floor.
'I remember,' Harry replied lightly. 'Can I use magic? They're going to be covered in my blood regardless.'
'Magic will be fine,' Slytherin agreed.
Harry slipped his wand from his sleeve, casting the cutting curse at the ankle high pile of leaves over and over again until they had been reduced to tiny flecks of green.
'That's more than adequate,' Salazar told him. 'You'll want unicorn horn at every inner point of the smallest star, and the plants at every outer one.'
'So I just have to draw it all,' Harry realised, re-arranging the items with a flick of his wand.
He raised his wand and began to sketch all the relevant patterns and runes into the floor around him in burning, purple flames, correcting his design whenever Slytherin tutted and called out a mistake.
The three symmetrical, seven-pointed stars blazed especially bright when Harry carefully placed the unicorn horn and mixture of Bayberry and Wormwood leaves in their respective places. A circles of forty-nine runes surrounded the stars and, unlike the last two times, he understood their meanings and significance within the ritual. A description of his intent written in glyphs around him.
'That's as close to perfect as you'll be able to make it,' Salazar decided, looking approvingly over the patterns surrounding Harry. 'Now you just need to go over the stars with blood.'
He makes it sound so simple.
The stars were half a metre along each face; it was going to be quite a lot of blood. His toes curled uncomfortably, but he bared his wrist all the same and pressed the tip of his wand to it.
Harry gently drew the tip of his wand across the smooth skin, watching as it parted, stinging and burning as the trickle of crimson thickened into a stream and began to drip down onto the point of the first star.
He was pale and shaking by the time he managed to finish the final star, but an unbroken line of his blood, as thick as his thumb ran along every face of the shape.
'I'm ready,' he told the portrait, conjuring a rope to tie around his forearm.
'You should take off your glasses, then,' Salazar remarked. 'You shouldn't be needing those again.'
'Will I black out like last time?' Harry asked, stepping into the centre of the pattern, blinking at the blurry runes around him. He could only just make out those for blood or essence, body, sight and sacrifice at the top of the circle.
'No,' the founder shook his head, mirrored by his snake, 'it will hurt, though.'
'Everything seems to hurt,' Harry commented.
The runes were beginning to pulse, glowing a brighter purple, and the three stars shone a deep, brilliant crimson, even as the small piles of leaves hissed and burst into clouds of thick white smoke.
It stung violently at his eyes and Harry blinked furiously, trying to keep them open, but he swiftly pressed them tightly closed when the seven inner points of the stars flared a blinding white. Even closed his eyes still burnt, and it quickly became clear that it wasn't the smoke that was affecting them.
A tingle of something cold wrapped itself around his feet, curling and climbing up his calves. It moved quickly, numbing his muscles as it spread across his stomach and chest from his legs. He felt like he was slowly being submerged in cold water.
Harry instinctively took a deep breath, choking slightly on the smoke, when the cold reached his lips, then it was across his face and the sensation in his eyes intensified a thousand times over.
He flinched, pressing his hands desperately into his brow, but it did nothing to alleviate the sensation. His eyes continued to burn and tingle unbearably, and the brilliant light of the ritual shone through his eyelids.
Abruptly the light vanished, and the stinging in his eyes went with it, but the cold grew stronger than before, freezing him to the spot, so he couldn't even open his eyes. Harry felt it draining away his strength, stealing his magic from him as his sacrifice to keep the effects of the ritual was finally taken.
The cold vanished, and Harry opened his eyes. The blurriness was gone, he could see every detail of the runes he'd inscribed around him, and take in every aspect of the blackened, bloody leaves and horn fragments about him.
'Did it work?' Salazar asked. Harry nodded, but the sharp motion of his head made him feel dizzy and nauseous, so he sat down heavily on the floor.
'Regretting not doing it in the evening?' Slytherin asked snidely.
'No,' Harry disagreed. 'I'm really very hungry. If I could muster the energy to get to the Great Hall for lunch I'd say I timed it perfectly.'
'The dizziness will pass,' Salazar told him. 'Go to the hospital wing before eating, then get some energy back and try do as little as possible for the rest of the day.'
'That last bit sounds like a good idea,' Harry smiled faintly.
'Then go,' the founder ordered. He looked around him irritatedly. 'You can leave me here for now, if you tried putting me back we'd probably both end up in the pool.'
Harry slowly dragged himself to his feet, eyeing the remnants of his ritual. He'd have to get rid of that when he next came back here. The runes would fade in their own time, even if he didn't magically remove them, but the rest would need vanishing.
It felt like an awfully long way across the chamber to the stairs, and even further up those dusty steps into Myrtle's bathroom where he paused to check his appearance. He didn't have the energy to disillusion himself.
The mirror showed him pale, shivering and sweating, with a blood-soaked left sleeve and no glasses. His eyes were ever so slightly brighter than before, an unnatural gleam of magic hovered there and he grinned.
A complete success.
Harry rinsed his face in one of the few sinks that did work, and dried it on his other sleeve. Madam Pomfrey would heal his wrist, and know which potions he should take to help him recover. He was willing to bet that a blood-replenishing one would be among them.
Myrtle was absent from her toilet, likely off spying on the Prefect's Bathroom again, so Harry carefully snuck out into the corridor and made his way down towards the hospital wing.
'What have you done to yourself now, Mr Potter?' Madam Pomfrey sighed, when he lifted through the doors of the infirmary. Harry had no doubt that his attempts to revert his appearance had been undone by the journey here. He'd been seating horribly and he could feel himself shaking like a leaf.
'I think I've lost quite a bit of blood,' he murmured.
The nurse dropped the blankets she was folding and swept over to guide him to the edge of a bed.
'Where are you injured?' She snapped, running her wand over him. 'And how did this happen? You're covered in magical residue.' Harry struggled for an excuse, but nothing presented itself, so he extended his left arm instead.
Madam Pomfrey hissed in displeasure, undoing his makeshift tourniquet which swiftly dissipated into the air. The cut welled up anew, swelling crimson. Withdrawing her wand from Harry's forehead she pressed its tip lightly against the edge of the cut.
'This was created by magic, Mr Potter,' she frowned, 'if you aren't going to tell me how this came about then I can only assume the worst and deduce you have been duelling in the corridors somewhere.'
Not even close.
The nurse sniffed when Harry didn't reply and drew her wand along the length of the cut, watching critically as it closed.
'That did not heal easily,' she muttered. 'What dangerous magic have the students been learning now. Albus needs to take a firmer stance on things like this.' Madam Pomfrey slipped her wand away, and moved over to one of the cupboards of potions. 'You'll need several of these,' she pulled a rack of vials full of a dark red potion out, 'you've lost almost a litre of blood.'
'Filch would be furious if he had to clean it up,' Harry smiled, feeling a little better now the throbbing in his arm was gone, and he was stationary again.
'You'll need these as well,' the nurse ordered sternly, depositing the first rack of vials on the bed next to him and then adding two more. 'One for the pain, and one to help replenish the energy you've lost. It looks like you're about to collapse.'
She looked back at him, pointing a finger at the potions. 'Why aren't you drinking?'
Harry reached for the first of the red potions and gulped it down, hoping it would leave him feeling a lot less fragile than he did.
He ended up just feeling very full of liquid and slightly less shivery.
'If I tell you to stay here, will you actually do it, Mr Potter?' Madam Pomfrey asked, slightly more kindly than normal.
Harry pretended to think about it, the grinned as cheekily as he could. 'No,' he decided.
I didn't think so,' the nurse sighed, levitating the vials off the bed and out of the way. 'Off you go then, and make sure you eat something before lunch ends. You're excused from anything strenuous, magical or otherwise, until the end of the week, and I will be talking to your teachers to make sure that they know.'
'Yes, Madam Pomfrey,' Harry agreed, wisely choosing not to argue. Any magic he needed to perform wasn't going to be cast in class.
He swung himself off the bed, stomach sloshing, and onto his feet. There was a slight spell of dizziness, but nothing more. His shivering had stopped, and a glance in the window reassured him that much of his colour had returned.
Harry still looked quite awful, but it was a great improvement on how he'd appeared when he staggered into the hospital wing.
Lunch was almost over when he arrived in the Great Hall, but he found Neville talking with Cedric Diggory at the end of the Gryffindor table and collapsed into the seat next to him.
'You look terrible,' Diggory commented, looking mildly concerned.
'I had a run in with Madam Pomfrey,' Harry smiled, helping himself to as much food as was within reach. He was ravenous after the ritual.
'Did she order you to eat?' Cedric asked, watching with some amusement as Harry consumed enough mashed potato to make a small mountain.
'She might have done,' Harry admitted, swallowing his mouthful.
'Have you heard about the most recent decree?' Neville asked.
'No,' Harry raised an eyebrow at his friend and glanced around for a copy of the paper. They were all a little bit of reach, and he'd rather not summon them in his state.
'There's some law about teacher's not being able to discuss anything with students that isn't about their subject,' Neville told him seriously.
'It's because of the breakout from Azkaban,' Cedric snorted. 'My father says there's no evidence that Sirius Black is even in the country, but Fudge doesn't want anything to contradict the Ministry's version of events.'
'Does it apply to Umbridge?' Harry inquired hopefully.
'I doubt it,' Neville shook his head angrily. 'Not much is going to keep her from spewing nonsense every lesson we have to endure. I almost miss copying out of the book.'
'A shame,' Harry responded wryly.
'I need to be going,' Neville said suddenly. 'You promised to come to this one, Harry,' he reminded firmly.
'I'm coming,' Harry acquiesced, glancing at Cedric.
'I'm coming too,' the Hufflepuff grinned, 'Neville wanted an assistant who'd actually teach someone, but I'll wait for Harry to finish.'
Neville nodded and swung himself out of the bench. 'You were right about the wand,' he said, pausing before he left. 'It's not made a huge difference, but the trembling stopped and I don't have to force myself so hard to get the same effects, so thanks, I'm glad I listened.' He held his hand up, displaying very faint red marks where Harry's wand had burnt him. 'Not so glad about these though,' he joked as he left.
'There was something wrong with his wand?' Cedric asked.
'He was using his father's wand,' Harry replied casually, glossing over the reasons behind Neville's choice. 'It wasn't the best match he could have had.'
'Quite a lot of wizards and witches do that,' Diggory told him.
'So why are you coming to our little group?' Harry asked, between forkfuls of sausage and potato.
'I'm not fond of Umbridge,' Cedric answered, 'she's destroying your chances of passing exams and getting good jobs later on. The Ministry is spouting nonsense, there's something wrong with the version of events they keep saying. I just know it isn't true,' he shook his head, frowning slightly. 'Do you ever have that feeling you've forgotten something important?'
'All the time,' Harry grinned.
The charm is failing already.
Hermione was already undoing his work with her incessant digging to uncover what happened. He ground his teeth slightly, annoyed by how selfish she was being in her ignorance.
'I talked to the girl in your house who went with Krum to the Yule Ball, she isn't convinced either.'
'Hermione,' Harry nodded. 'I'm not surprised.'
'I'm wanted to ask you about what happened,' Cedric confessed. 'I remember you stunning me, but that's it.'
'Did Hermione not tell you what I told her?' Harry asked.
'She did,' he responded hesitantly, 'but I know you had a falling out with most of your housemates, and I thought you might know a bit more.'
'I do,' Harry told him bluntly, getting up from the bench. 'I know exactly what happened, Cedric, but I don't think you want to.'
'Would you tell me anyway?' He asked. 'I'm afraid that I might have had something to do with what happened.'
Harry scrutinised him carefully as they walked towards the stairs. The memory charm he'd cast was already giving way, it was probably best to give him the true version of events before Hermione managed to create another version for him to believe.
'You did,' Harry told him sympathetically. 'Bagman only cast one curse at any of us, the Imperius Curse, and he cast it at you.' Cedric paled white, and shook his head in horror. 'I warned you,' Harry said gently.
'You did more than warn me, didn't you?' He realised. 'Bagman would have never been caught if I'd been culpable. You obliviated me to undo the Imperius Curse, it wouldn't work if I didn't know the commands I'd been given, then you stunned me and snapped my wand so I couldn't be blamed.'
'Sorry,' Harry apologised, 'it was the only thing I could do, Krum was already dead and Fleur was unconscious.'
'Don't be sorry,' Cedric told him, his voice thick with emotion. 'I owe you a debt I can't repay. If you hadn't done that I might be in Azkaban, my parents would have been heartbroken, and I would be worse than dead.'
'Best not to tell Hermione,' Harry suggested. 'If you're still acting like you don't remember then nobody attracts any suspicion. I'm not going to get in trouble for what I did.' The Hufflepuff prefect nodded gratefully. It wasn't true, it wouldn't make any difference now Diggory knew, but Harry didn't think Hermione deserved to find out so quickly, not after single-mindedly pursuing what she wanted without a care for anyone else.
They climbed the stairs to the seventh floor in silence, Cedric seemed to be taking it all in, his fists clenched and his jaw tight. Harry hoped he didn't torment himself too much, Riddle was the one who was really responsible.
A group of about twenty five students had gathered around Neville by the tapestry. Harry recognised the faces of most of those who'd come to the meeting in the Hog's Head. Cedric was immediately accosted by Hermione, who wanted him to sign her list straight away. Neville, meanwhile, was pacing in the corridor, waiting for the doorway to the Room of Requirement to form.
Eventually it did, the unspectacular wooden door flowing from the stone to excited whispers, and Neville ushered everyone inside.
'Welcome to the first session of Dumbledore's Army,' Hermione announced. 'I'm glad that everybody came, even though this group is now technically illicit courtesy of Umbridge.' There were a few small smiles.
'What is this place?' Katie asked him, appearing next to him in her usual state of disarray.
'The Room of Requirement,' Harry replied quietly. 'It's quite handy.'
Not that anyone here but me knows more than a couple of its secrets.
Harry had mastered how to use this room, he knew its intricacies far better than any other he knew of, and had no intention of sharing them. As far as the DA members would know, the room gave the person who opened it what they wanted.
'It's awesome,' Katie beamed, then she tugged his sleeve and laughed quietly. 'I think Neville's going to make a speech.' Harry followed her line of sight and caught sight of Neville fumbling with a piece of parchment and looking distinctly nervous.
'This should be good,' Harry grinned. 'He's still quite shy around people he doesn't know well. It's a bit strange actually, he's worse with them than he is with complete strangers.'
'So,' Neville paused anxiously, 'like Hermione said, welcome to the first meeting and the place where we'll be practicing for all the future sessions.'
'What are we doing today?' Smith interrupted.
'We'll be testing the Shield Charm and the Disarming Charm,' Neville's eyes glinted, he didn't like being spoken across, not after having to suffer it for the last four years. 'Split into pairs, one can shield and the other can try and disarm. Smith can go first with me, to demonstrate.'
The other members backed away from the Hufflepuff student as Neville pulled his new wand out of his robes.
'Ready, Smith?' Neville asked.
'I can't cast the Shield Charm,' Zacharias Smith shrugged, leaving his wand in his pocket.
Neville's jelly-legs jinx hit him squarely in the face and he collapsed on the floor, swearing profusely amid everyone's laughter.
'What the hell was that for, Longbottom?' He spat.
'If you're going to come here and ask for my help, Smith,' Neville began coolly, 'then you should be polite and not interrupt. I'll undo the jinx once you've apologised.'
'Fine,' the Hufflepuff said angrily. 'I apologise for interrupting. Happy?'
'If I'm not,' Neville performed the counter to the jinx, 'you'll find out soon enough.' Smith pushed himself off the floor and slunk back into the group.
'Right,' Neville continued, still holding his wand, 'the Shield Charm is about intent to protect, if your focus is strong enough it can be an effective barrier against most spells.'
'What ones isn't in effective against?' Terry Boot asked curiously.
'Ones powerful enough to break through your shield of magic, or ones with potent enough intent to simply pass through it,' Neville answered. 'The Unforgivables require such strong intent to successfully cast that no Shield Charm can deflect them.'
'So dodge those ones,' Ron added, grinning.
'Or you'll end up with a really big scar on your face,' Katie finished in a whisper next to him. Harry ignored her.
'Split up into pairs,' Neville instructed, 'fortunately there's an even number of us, so nobody will be left out.'
The group separated into pairs that drifted away across the room that subtly expanded out give them the necessary space. Harry sat down on the floor and gave Katie, who seemed to have volunteered herself as his partner a bright smile. The other students had been kind enough to leave the two of them twice as much space as necessary, just in case he started cursing anyone nearby.
'Get up, Harry,' Katie ordered. 'I want to practise too.'
'Madam Pomfrey forbade me from doing anything strenuous,' Harry informed her gravely. 'I'm afraid I have to sit here and watch.'
'I'll hex you on the floor just as happily as if you were standing,' Katie warned cheerfully.
'You wouldn't assault someone who's ill, would you?'
Katie inspected him critically, taking in his slight pallor and the shadows under his eyes.
'I suppose you do look moderately awful,' she decided, sitting next to him on the floor. 'What's wrong with you? Is it contagious?'
'It's definitely not catchable,' Harry smiled. 'I could just do with a few quiet days to recover.'
'I can probably skip one session of practise,' Katie smiled, watching the other groups. 'I suspect they'll need more than one meeting to get the hang of this spell.'
She wasn't wrong. The majority of the younger students were managing to produce slight shimmers or patchy shields. The only one who seemed to get the hang of it in less than a handful of tries was the blonde Ravenclaw paired with Ginny. Her shield was an odd, grey-tinted shade of silver that seemed almost nebulous, but it definitely worked, since the youngest Weasley was not having the slightest success in penetrating it.
'Not going to practise, Harry?' Neville asked, 'even Cedric's practising with the older students.'
'They're trying to shorten the time it takes for them to cast the shield,' Harry told him, 'and Diggory's attempting to do it wordlessly.'
'Can you do that?' Katie asked.
'Yes,' Harry nodded. 'Although I'm not yet able to cast it as strongly wordlessly as I am with incantation.'
'Want to practise with me then,' Neville offered, sticking a hand out towards Katie, 'since your partner seems unwilling.'
'That's alright, Nev,' Katie beamed. 'It's quite comfy here, and I'm fairly good at casting them already.'
'You need to keep an eye on them,' Harry grinned, inclining his head in the direction of the Twins, who had stopped attempting to shield and disarm and were busy casting tripping jinxes at Ron.
'Fred, George,' Neville called, trying not to laugh as Ron stumbled and bounced off Hermione's shield to land face first on the floor. 'Leave him be while he's practising.' Ron rose from the stone, nursing a red mark on his forehead and glaring at his elder siblings.
'Sorry, Ronniekins,' they sniggered, returning to trying to wordlessly cast the charm like Cedric was.
After a while the pairs switched, and there was a clatter of wands on stone as the first few attempts to cast the Shield Charm failed.
'So why are you here of you aren't going to take part or teach?' Katie asked.
'I wanted to see how good everyone is,' Harry answered honestly, 'and I will teach them the Patronus Charm eventually.'
'Making sure you're still far beyond them?' Katie asked, laughing at the slightly contemptuous face he had pulled after watching Zacharias Smith only manage to shield his back and promptly get disarmed for a fifth straight time.
'He's not very good is he,' she remarked.
'Maybe he's only planning on running away like Umbridge insists so he only wants to protect his back,' Harry suggested, as Smith's wand bounced across the floor to land next to Katie's foot.
'I am not,' Smith scowled, retrieving his wand.
'You're not going to last very long in a duel, then,' Harry smirked.
The Hufflepuff seemed to consider responding, but wisely thought better of it, and stalked off. Even in Harry's state he could wipe the floor with someone like Smith.
'I think that's enough for one meeting,' Neville announced loudly after about half an hour. Smith had finally managed to produce a charm that covered his entire body, even if it was still too weak to deflect him from more than the weakest spells.
'Keep an eye on your badges for the time of the next meeting,' Hermione added, 'we'll try to organise them around things like quidditch.'
The other students gradually dispersed in the direction of their common rooms. Harry followed Katie out, then excused himself, pretending to head towards the hospital wing before disillusioning himself and doubling back.
'You think we should hide the list in there?' Hermione asked Neville, looking thoughtfully at the wall where the Room of Requirement would form.
'Yeah,' Neville nodded confidently. 'Not much chance of anyone finding it, someone in the group might guess that's where we've put it, but I don't expect anyone else too.'
Hermione considered it for a while then turned and opened the door to the room. Harry cast a second charm, to muffle the noise of his footsteps, and slipped through the door after them. He nearly walked into Neville's back, as he and Hermione stared around them in wonder.
Harry didn't blame them, the Room of Hidden Things was quite spectacular. He suspected that it was from here that the room procured everything it provided that could be removed. There were towers of furniture, mountains of books, which Hermione was eyeing covetously, bottles, wands, and vast quantities of every item ever banned from Hogwarts.
'We need to put it somewhere we will be able to find it,' Hermione said, still slightly enraptured by the room.
They strode a few paces into the room, standing next to the large bust of a particularly ugly looking warlock.
'He'll do as a landmark,' Neville grinned, 'we won't be able to forget that face.' Hermione laughed, and placed the list underneath the bust. She drew out her wand and cast a couple of spells, ones that Harry couldn't recognise from the wand motions alone.
'A anti-summoning enchantment,' she explained to Neville, 'just in case anyone finds out it''s in here and tried to find it.'
Smart.
Harry himself would not have been able to find it without considerable luck if he hadn't followed them in.
Carefully he crept up alongside and past them, crouching down in a small gap across from the bust next to a tarnished, silver circlet and a small collection of dusty bottles of fire whiskey. He still had to lean precariously back out of their way when they left, putting a hand on the floor next to the sapphire adorned tiara to balance himself.
The door closed with a dull thud, and he dispelled the disillusionment with a sigh of relief.
'Accio ink, accio quill,' he murmured, sure that somewhere within the room he would find something passable to write with, and pulled the list out from under the bust.
Unscrewing the lid of his newly acquired bottle of ink he began to cast the charms that Fleur had cast in from of him, wincing each time he finished one and felt it take its toll.
Selecting the least broken quill of those he had summoned, he blew off the dust and began to draw, watching as the ink faded from the page.
It was a simple drawing, a circle, labelled with runes for creature, keeper and home, then a meandering trail that led from it to a final rune, Ehwaz, the Futhark representation of advancement and progress. Ambiguous enough to allow him to later twist its meaning however he needed to entice Umbridge into following it.
Harry smiled in satisfaction as the ink faded from sight. The route led past Hagrid's hut and out into the forest. It was a path he wasn't ever likely to forget taking, and the last time he ever trusted Hagrid's directions.
Follow the spiders, he smirked.
Casting a handful of new charms on the reverse of the list to prevent any of the enchantments he had added being easily noticed or altered, he pondered briefly the best way to lead Umbridge to the list and whether he should further tamper with it. He couldn't remove the anti-summoning charm on the off chance that those who were on the list of names were questioned, and he couldn't take off his own name without all but confessing his guilt.
Umbridge would need to be able to find it, make use of it, then later discover the map he'd left for her. Which meant she needed to know where she was looking when entering the room.
Harry picked up the circlet, giving it a curious stare when it chittered at him softly, and then placed it on the bust of the warlock. It made a memorable landmark now, one that he could easily feed back to the Pink Professor.
Marietta Edgecombe could easily be induced let slip the landmark and location of the room to Umbridge. She would find the list and Dumbledore would be out of the way, then Harry could find some way for her to discover the map on the reverse and its activation phrase to get rid of Umbridge as well. It was simply a matter of timing.
He pressed the tip of his wand against the parchment, wracking his brain for a suitable activation phrase, one that Dumbledore might conceivably have chosen.
Of course, he realised, what could be more appropriate for a man who would sacrifice a child to save a country.
'For the Greater Good,' he whispered, smiling at the delightful irony and watching the parchment darken to reveal the map before tucking it back under the bust.
AN: Please read and keep on reviewing, thanks to everyone who does.
