Disclaimer: Nothing is mine; everything is J K Rowling's.
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Chapter 57
'Where are your clothes?' The portrait remarked, suppressing its laughter to an entertained smile.
'They had an accident,' Harry replied ambiguously. He did not want to explain exactly what kind of accident to his ancestor, the memory of Fleur's hands burning through his clothes and hers was private, very private.
'Why didn't you conjure or transfigure something?' Salazar asked, continuing to press the subject with the same soft, amused smirk.
'I did in the morning, but it's easy to change here when I'm apparating back anyway,' Harry shrugged, pulling on a fresh set of school robes.
'You might want to take a look at your neck,' Slytherin sniggered, revealing his agenda at last. 'Had a close run in with a toothless vampire, did you?'
Harry flushed red and used Sirius' mirror to check. Now that the founder had so delicately reminded him he did remember Fleur's lips and teeth on his neck and shoulder on several separate occasions.
A vivid crimson mark, dulling to purple at its centre, sat proudly under his jaw line, while a scatter of similar, smaller ones trailed along his collarbone underneath. Harry stared at them, torn between scowling and smiling. He liked the marks, enjoyed the visible proof that he was hers, but it was rather too visible to everyone else as well.
Fleur had to have seen it in the morning, when they were talking, but she hadn't said a word about them to him. Not that that particularly surprised him, she would enjoy knowing that she'd left her mark on him to show the world he belonged to her.
He raised the tip of his wand to his neck, the incantation to remove and heal minor injuries on the tip of his tongue, but he couldn't quite bring himself to do it.
He conjured himself a scarf instead, wrapping it gently around his neck to conceal the bite mark while Salazar laughed uproariously at his decision to keep them behind him.
'That does explain why you didn't come back to speak to me,' he smirked, still eyeing Harry's neck. 'Do Fleur's parents know what you've deflowered their daughter?'
Harry smiled a little at the play on words, but his amusement vanished with a groan upon realising that the marks must have been visible the entire time this morning, including when he had thanked Fleur's parents for letting him stay.
At least Gabrielle wasn't there, he consoled himself.
'I'll take that as a yes,' Salazar smirked.
'It isn't funny,' Harry grumbled. 'How I am I supposed to look either of them in the eye now? They'd only just started to accept me.'
'I'm sure that you'll manage,' the painting commented, still amused. 'Now what did you learn from Gringotts?'
'The fortune of my family was mostly spent in the war with Voldemort by my father,' Harry said bluntly. 'The vaults that I might have been able to claim from connected families do not exist, save for one under your name, but I received the impression it is a meagre amount.'
'Were there any alliances, agreements or such?' Slytherin asked. 'Gold can be earned, stolen or won. Your word is more important. It can often only be kept.'
'None that are still binding,' Harry smiled.
'That is good,' Salazar smiled, petting his serpent in good humour. 'You are free to carve out your own path.'
'Once Voldemort is dead,' Harry reminded him.
'Well, yes,' the founder agreed. 'There's no avoiding that, but you have come so far from the weak, thin child who first came into my study and couldn't even recognise his most famous ancestor.'
'I'm still not strong enough,' Harry disagreed.
Salazar laughed. 'You are powerful, you are driven, you are fast, you are cunning and you are ruthless when it is required. In two years you have transitioned from a child to a wizard that any opponent would have to take seriously to survive. You have another two years before your magic reaches its peak, Voldemort will not wait, but he will underestimate you, and when he does you will be there to bring his delusions crumbling down around him.'
'You're very confident,' Harry remarked, not half so sure of his victory as the founder seemed to be.
'You underestimate yourself as much as your enemies, Harry,' he said proudly. 'There is no reliable scale by which to compare wizards and witches, but I can assure you that there are few who are as talented in so many different branches of magic as you are.' He pulled a vaguely amused expression at Harry's disbelief.
A silence fell over the study as Harry extricated the Marauder's Map from under his cloak, and studied it briefly, searching for one particular name.
'Fudge will be desperate now,' Harry murmured aloud, still scrutinising the map. 'He'll act as soon as he can if he thinks it might save him from having to resign.'
'Fudge?' Salazar looked every bit as mystified as Gabrielle had when he'd explained that Fudge was a person, and that Britain's Ministry was not run by animated confectionery. Not that you'd be able to tell the difference in some places.
'The Minister for Magic, he's clinging to power by a thread, but determined not to let go at any cost from what I know of him. The moment Umbridge gives him hope of a lifeline he will seize the rope with both hands.'
'You intend to hang him with it?' Slytherin inquired.
'I do not care what happens to Fudge,' Harry shrugged. 'His desperation makes it the perfect moment for me to act, and the chaos of his dismissal will cover the few traces I leave. Nobody will be looking very hard for an unpopular former undersecretary when Voldemort has just returned and war looms.'
He finally spotted the name he was searching for, the girl was walking towards the Owlery. Harry would be hard-pressed to catch her if she didn't dally, but he couldn't have chosen a better place to come across Marietta Edgecombe if he tried.
'I'm leaving,' he decided, tucking the map into his robes, and turning on his heel to sprint up to Myrtle's bathroom.
'Clearly,' Salazar replied distantly and dryly.
Harry cast every charm he knew that would conceal him, as he ran up the stairs to the entrance, hissing at it to open. Silencing spells to hide the sound of his footsteps, the Disillusionment Charm to render him invisible, and a weak compulsion to encourage students to step away from him and clear his way.
He banished the water on the floor across the bathroom with a flick of his wand as he hurtled across the floor and into the corridor. Harry didn't need to be leaving disembodied footprints behind him.
The Owlery was a good ten minute walk from the chamber, but Harry hoped he could run it in just a couple. Marietta had been about a minute away from the tower when he had found her, so he should make it in time if he hurried.
Sprinting along the corridor, he chose to slide down the rail of the stairs rather than run and risk falling into a trick step in his haste, but the stairs shifted away from where he needed to go. Cursing under his breath he cast a Cushioning Charm on the steps below and jumped.
The impact jarred his knees painfully, and he winced as pain lanced up from the bottom of his feet, but he had made it onto the stairs he needed to be on and ran on regardless of the discomfort.
Classrooms flashed by. Ancient Runes passed in a blur, the Advanced Arithmancy class he intended to go to next year went past in single snatch of Professor Vector's strict voice, then he was past Trelawney's lair and gasping by the entrance to the Owlery.
In the moments he needed to catch his breath in the empty corridor he dispelled his disillusionment to check the Marauders Map for nearby names.
We're the only two.
He reapplied his invisibility, just in case someone checked Marietta's memories or attempted to use legilimency on her.
The red-haired Ravenclaw was humming to herself as she watched her owl fly from the window, probably to her mother in the Ministry if what he had overheard about her from Cedric and Neville was true.
Stepping close behind her he flicked his wand into his palm and pointed it at the back of Marietta's head.
'Imperio,' he whispered, even though the silencing charms prevented her from hearing him.
She stopped humming immediately, absorbing the desires he had focused on while casting the charm, and freezing upright.
Harry watched curiously as she smiled to herself, relaxed and then turned to leave the tower. He couldn't tell whether she was under the influence of his spell or not, so he followed her at a distance.
Her route led straight to Umbridge's office and Harry turned away with faint smile. The first of his dominoes was falling, now he just had to get back to Gryffindor Tower in time for the Pink Professor to come and round up those she deemed ringleaders after she found the list.
He ended all the spells he had cast upon himself, sneaking around was the last thing he needed to do now.
Harry wandered swiftly back towards the common room, trying to ignore the excitement that was growing within him. He'd been waiting so long for this to happen, and now it would finally begin.
Fleur had advised him to be patient, after berating him for not mentioning anything during the last week and a half while she had had exams. It hadn't felt fair to distract her from something so important to her. This was Harry's plan, she didn't need to be worrying about it while taking the most important tests of her life.
She had at least promised to not try and accompany him to the Department of Mysteries. The last thing he needed was her getting caught or hurt in Britain where she would be vulnerable to the bigotry of their society.
He smiled at the Fat Lady, cheerfully announcing the pass phrase and ducking through the passageway.
The study tables were full, and Harry spied Neville, Ron and Seamus labouring at one, all pestering Hermione for her assistance.
Harry chose to sit with Katie, Alicia and Angelina instead, just to make a statement about how he felt over them forcing Katie to avoid him. Their identical boyfriends were also present, but when Harry sat down they nodded at him stiffly rather than greet him as warmly as they had used to.
'Hi, Katie,' Harry smiled, squishing in next to her so they were pressed together from knee to shoulder. 'That doesn't look very interesting,' he commented, glancing at her transfiguration essay.
'It isn't,' she agreed, perking up at his arrival much to the irritation of Angelina and Alicia who sighed and shook their heads. 'Hush you two,' Katie remonstrated. 'You're leaving at the end of this year, and Harry will be my closest friend.'
'Am I not already your closest friend?' Harry asked, wiping away imaginary tears.
'No,' Katie beamed, patting him on the cheek. 'You're not cute or female enough.'
'Well that seems sexist,' Harry remarked. 'Do you want help?'
'With NEWT level transfiguration,' Alicia smirked, 'that's sweet of you Harry, but Katie's one of the best in our year.'
Concentrating very hard Harry flicked his wand out and conjured a black butterfly out of the air, sending it to flutter around the heads of the three girls. Angelina and Alicia looked shocked, but Katie just eyed the insect warily.
'Sure?' Harry grinned, directing the butterfly to land on Katie's face with his wand.
'Get it off, Harry,' she growled, swiping at it until it burst into a wisp of black smoke. 'Did you conjure that from the air?' Katie asked, once she was sure the offending insect was definitely dead and gone.
'Yes,' Harry answered with a touch of pride. 'Figured out how last year.'
'I remember,' Katie scowled, 'you showered the table in them at lunch. They couldn't fly properly.'
'That was then,' Harry smiled. He conjured another pair wordlessly, summoning the full swarm non-verbally was still beyond him, but he could manage a small scatter. 'What shall I turn them into?'
'Earrings,' Angelina suggested.
'A boyfriend for Katie,' Alicia joked pointedly, earning an angry look from Katie.
Harry briefly considered listening to Angelina's sensible, non-provocative idea, then decided that Alicia probably deserved something for being cruel to his friend and turned them both into large spiders that just happened to fall onto the girl's lap.
Ron swore loudly from the other side of the room and Alicia shrieked, brushing them off and leaping out of her seat, which Katie promptly stole half of.
He laughed, then transfigured them into a pair of glass earrings in the shape of broomsticks. 'They'll vanish in a few hours,' he told Angelina, who had picked them up to admire them, 'but until then they're yours.'
'Will you turn them into spiders if I put them on? She asked, as Alicia squished back in where she had been sitting.
'Not as long as you don't try and do anything Katie doesn't want you to,' Harry answered amicably.
Angelina regarded him warily for a moment, then put them on, and Harry returned his wand to his sleeve.
'They look nice,' Alicia decided hesitantly. 'Would you make me a pair?'
Harry favoured her with a smile, knowing what she really meant, and flicked his wand back out to conjure a second and third pair into existence.
'Now you can all have matching quidditch earrings for a few hours,' he grinned. 'The magic will probably wear off before the novelty does.'
Katie looked up from her essay, which had grown by at least an inch in the last few minutes, to inspect her pair. She poked them around on her palm with the tip of her wand.
'These are really good,' she congratulated him. 'I guess you might be able to help me after all.'
Harry's I told you so moment was curtailed by the distinctively irritating cough of Professor Umbridge and the hush that fell over the common room in its wake.
The Pink Professor was smiling gleefully, flanked by two wizards Harry didn't recognise but knew to be Ministry aurors from their badges. He knew instantly that his plan had worked, because, clutched with triumphant possessiveness in one pale, stubby-fingered hand, was the list he led her to find.
'Mr Potter, Mr Longbottom, Miss Granger and Mr Weasley,' she simpered victoriously, 'you will all be accompanying me to the Headmaster's Office.'
'What for?' Ron called loudly.
'We will be discussing your expulsion,' Umbridge answered sweetly, and a murmur of discontent rippled around the room.
Harry stood up, patting Katie reassuringly on the cheek in payback for her earlier gesture. 'I suppose we'd better go and find out what this is actually about,' he shrugged. He cast a warning glance at the other's as he turned around, trying to convince Ron to stay quiet before he gave anything away.
The aurors said nothing, but stepped out to walk on either side of the group as Umbridge gleefully clicked her luridly pink heels way down the stairs towards the Headmaster's Office.
The others had either taken his warning to heart or realised it was best not to say anything, because the journey remained silent until they reached the already open entranceway.
'Wait here,' Umbridge instructed, disappearing up the stairs with their escort.
'Don't say anything,' Harry ordered the instant she was out of sight.
'She has the list,' Neville fretted.
'Someone must have betrayed us,' Ron decided, and Neville's eyes caught ablaze in anger. 'We'll soon see who it was, Hermione's jinx will make it pretty clear.' The girl in question remained unusually quiet.
'The list isn't dated,' Harry told them, 'at the moment there's no proof we've done anything except sign up the day before joining became illegal.'
Ron's mouth gaped in surprise, then clapped shut and spread into a relieved grin. 'Clever,' he admitted grudgingly.
'It might not be enough,' Neville warned, still enraged that one of their friends had betrayed them. 'There are aurors here, it must be more serious than just an illegal club.'
You don't know how right you are, Nev, Harry thought, ignoring the slight upwelling of guilt at being the responsible party.
He could keep Neville and Katie from trouble by declaring no meetings had taken place since the sheet was signed. The name of the group would condemn Dumbledore either way. Everything now hung on the headmaster's reaction.
The excitement climbed another notch inside him.
'Come up,' Umbridge ordered, no longer accompanied by her two aurors.
Dutifully the four of them followed her up the spiral staircase, Hermione looked pale, especially with the rings under her eyes, and was biting her lip nervously. Ron looked faintly determined and Neville still looked furious.
Harry hadn't been to the Headmaster's Office since the end of last year, but it had hardly changed. The silver instruments still spun, twirled and swirled on the shelves, and Fawkes still perched over the desk, Harry was fairly sure the bird was eyeing the bowl of lemon drops.
'The Minister will be here shortly,' he heard Umbridge breathe in her most girlish voice yet, 'to pass sentence on these miscreants and expel them from this institution for good.'
'I'm here, Dolores,' Fudge announced, fidgeting in front of Dumbledore's impassive stare.
'I'm afraid,' the headmaster remarked softly, standing up from his seat, 'that you have me at a loss Cornelius.'
'Oh I'm sure I do, Dumbledore,' Fudge crowed. 'We'll deal with Potter and his co-conspirators after we get to the heart of the matter.'
'Of course, Minister,' Umbridge simpered. 'At the suggestion of one of Hogwarts' more conscientious students I discovered this.' She proffered the piece of paper to Fudge who accepted it timidly. 'I have been aware of this group for sometime, but I did not even begin to suspect what we were truly dealing with.'
'Dumbledore's Army?' Fudge gasped, paling and glancing from the list, to Harry, to Dumbledore and back again. The headmaster's expression remained unreadable.
'Exactly, Minister,' Umbridge pulled a sickly smile across her flabby features. 'It's obvious what has been happening here, Potter and his friends have been recruiting to assist Albus Dumbledore in subverting the minds of young witches and wizards. He's been filing their heads with his nonsense and lies while he schemes to steal your seat.'
Fudge was rendered speechless, and Harry rather suspected that it had not been obvious at all to the Minister. For the first time he was quite grateful to Umbridge. His plan had nearly crumbled under the Minister's obtuseness.
'Well,' he breathed, spinning his hat in his hands, 'well. You four will have to be expelled for your part in running a clearly illegal organisation.'
'Illegal?' Dumbledore interjected calmly before Harry could, shooting him a warning glance. 'This list is dated from before the relevant educational decree was passed, it's existence is not proof of anything at all.'
How he had managed to read it upside down at such a distance confused Harry until he realised that Dumbledore was maintaining eye contact with the Minister.
How clever, Harry admired.
'I suppose that hardly matters,' Fudge dismissed, dropping the list, 'your crimes are far worse, Dumbledore.'
Umbridge spared no seconds in retrieving her precious proof, tucking inside her cardigan possessively. Harry smothered a smile, clearly the command he had conveyed to Marietta to imply that the list was much more important than it seemed had come across perfectly.
'My crimes,' Dumbledore mused evenly, as if their existence remained a complete and utter mystery to him.
'You've been plotting against me,' Fudge cried. 'Raising an army to overthrow the Ministry by manipulating The-Boy-Who-Lived and your students.' Harry blinked, he seemed to have gone from criminal to victim in the span of a few sentences.
'Indeed I have,' Dumbledore agreed pleasantly. Harry tried his hardest to look as horrified as the other three, but he was sure that the expression hadn't convincingly materialised on his face.
'That's a confession,' Fudge blustered. 'You will be taken into custody, formally charged and then sent to Azkaban to await a trail.'
Well, Harry mused, that's more than Sirius got.
'That sounds awfully tedious, Cornelius,' Dumbledore said gently, 'I can think of a very long list of things that I would rather spend my time doing. Are you sure you want to insist on this foolishness?'
Fudge sputtered in surprise. Apparently there had been several leaps of assumption made between the Headmaster's Office and Azkaban, one of which being Dumbledore's acquiescence. Harry didn't care either way. Albus Dumbledore would not be headmaster of Hogwarts whether he was taken to the Ministry and charged or whether he chose to flee. The first of his dominoes had fallen successfully.
'Dawlish,' Umbridge snapped, her smile gone, and a horrible, angry, crimson flush rising steadily up her neck. The colour clashed nastily with her cardigan.
One of the aurors, an average looking mad in a grey coat, shifted casually, his hand drifting innocently towards his chest.
'Don't be silly, Dawlish,' the headmaster smiled kindly. 'I remember you being an excellent student and I'm sure you are a fabulous auror, but if you do something foolish I will not feel responsible for the consequences.'
'Do you intend to duel the Minister, myself and two aurors?' Umbridge demanded shrilly.
'Only if you are insistent upon continuing with this madness,' Dumbledore responded, his tone hardening for the first time.
'We're not intimidated,' Umbridge responded. Fudge was noticeably silent.
The grey-coated auror's hand shifted another inch and suddenly Dumbledore's wand was in the air, a succession of blinding flashes filling the room, blinding everyone.
Harry glimpsed Dawlish go flying backwards, even as Umbridge and Fudge crumpled either side of him. He suppressed the instinct to draw his own wand, listening intently for any sounds as he struggled to blink the spots from his vision.
There was a crash, the sound of shattering glass, then silence and Harry was treated to the sight of the four Ministry officials spread across the floor. A trickle of blood crept down the forehead of the auror whose name Harry did not know. The shelves behind Dumbledore had been destroyed, the delicate silver instruments strewn in pieces across the floor.
Fawkes trilled regretfully, and Dumbledore tucked away his pale wand, frowning at the destruction of his office.
'They will be awake soon,' he said evenly, as if the events that had taken place were no more than a slight disagreement.
'Will you go back to the headquarters?' Ron blurted.
Grimmauld Place, Harry realised.
He hoped not, Dumbledore's presence there would set him back again, he'd have to find a new way into the Department of Mysteries and Sirius might not be able to keep the secret from the headmaster if he was around to use legilimency.
'No.' Dumbledore shook his head and Harry breathed a quiet sigh of relief. 'I will use this chance to get a breath of fresh air from the school grounds. I might go visit the countryside, or perhaps catch some sea air.'
'What do we do?' Hermione asked quietly.
'You stay here, Miss Granger,' Dumbledore instructed firmly. 'Even if I am not headmaster the castle's wards make it one of the safest places in Britain. Besides,' he added, absently stepping over Fudge's outstretched form, 'I have little doubt that I will return to being headmaster soon enough.'
'Harry.' Dumbledore turned to look directly at him, his bright, electric blue eyes fixed on Harry's own. He felt the connection form between their minds, faint, but evident, and swiftly cleared every thought from his head. 'You have made good progress,' Dumbledore nodded gently. 'Continue practising please, it is more important than you can imagine.'
Fawkes gave another trilling sound, then leapt from his perch into the air, clasping Dumbledore's left hand in his talons.
'One moment, Fawkes,' the former headmaster said, even as Dawlish began to stir. He extended his free hand to retrieve the bowl of lemon drops on his desk, winking gently at the four of them. The phoenix warbled with amusement, then they both vanished in a flash of red fire that seared at Harry's unprepared eyes.
The four of them stood there helplessly, waiting for the Minister and his aurors to come around. At this point Harry no longer cared what happened. He was not going to be expelled, not yet, and Dumbledore was gone, driven from the school by a single piece of paper. Harry rather felt he'd done a better job than Tom Riddle had. He remained unsuspected, and he hadn't had to possess or petrify a single student either.
'Where is he,' Dawlish yelled, staggering to his feet. 'Proudfoot.' He shook his partners arm until the wizard rose to his feet, drawing his wand.
'He can't have apparated,' Proudfoot replied groggily, 'check the stairs.'
Dawlish was gone immediately, wand in hand, but Proudfoot remained behind to help Fudge to his feet and retrieve his hat. Umbridge was left to dust herself down.
'Return these children to their dormitory, Dolores,' Fudge instructed. 'We will discuss the situation at length in your office when you return.'
'I'm sure they can make their own way back, Minister,' Umbridge simpered.
'Very well then,' Fudge blustered, making condescending shooing gestures, 'off to bed with you four. Let this be a lesson that not all figures of authority are correct and to be blindly believed in like we did in Dumbledore. I used to listen to his advice all the time,' Fudge continued shaking his head, 'sometimes you simply shouldn't trust them, no matter how innocent they might appear.'
They began to make their way towards the door, but Fudge reached out and caught Harry's arm. 'I'm sorry about all that nonsense in the Prophet, my boy,' he apologised, fixing a smile on his face. 'Dolores has mentioned that you've not corroborated any of Dumbledore's absurd claims, but the papers tend to get carried away. Rita Skeeter made up all sorts of rubbish, it cost my friends their careers in some cases.'
'Thank you, Minister,' Harry answered politely, trying very hard not to laugh at the man's pathetic attempt to gain from what little glamour The-Boy-Who-Lived might still be able to offer him. 'I'll take your lesson to heart,' he added, smiling with poisonous innocence.
AN: Please read and review, thanks to everyone who has. This chapter is pretty close to canon, so nothing too exciting here I'm afraid.
