An Old Man Returns – Dumbledore Unleashed

"What do you think will happen to Professor Dumbledore?" asked Harry.

"Well" Hannah's mother said, "He has been through so much that he might have to retire from everything"

"Does he even know what happened?" asked Hannah.

"The last clear memory he has is that of the welcoming feast" Jennifer replied. "Luckily, he's getting the best treatment that everyone can give him, and he's very powerful anyway… You never know – he might be back after the holidays"

"Well I'm just glad to be spending it with my friends" Susan said as she sipped hot chocolate.

"Well I'm off to sort dinner out" Jennifer announced. "You three try to stay out of trouble for an hour" and she left for the kitchen.

"You know" Harry said slowly, "I rather like having friends"

"And we like having you as a friend" Hannah and Susan said in unison.

"Its like finding the missing piece of a jigsaw puzzle after trying hard to find it" Hannah said.

"Not that hard" Susan smiled, "I'd use a summoning charm"

"Idiot" Harry giggled. "I still can't believe how lucky I am to have such friends as you"

"I think we're the lucky ones" Hannah said. "Okay, we're actually married, but aren't you supposed to get married to your best friends anyway?"

"Of course" Susan replied.

"We've got a bond that will help us to be the best that we can. I've only known you for a little while, Harry, but I can honestly say that I can't think of anybody that I would rather grow really old and wrinkly with then you and Susan"

"Really?" Harry whispered. He was still getting used to the fact he had friends, wives he supposed he should say, and that he could eat as much as he wanted and do what he wished without being abused for it.

"GROUP HUG!" the girls cried and launched themselves onto him.

#

The trio boarded the Hogwarts Express after the holidays and found an empty compartment to sit in well before it was due to leave. Suspecting that Malfoy and his goons would try to provoke them, Harry had, with Susan's help, asked Madam Bones for an Auror guard in case of any trouble. There was also the fact that whoever had attacked him might we'll go for an attack directly on his person.

"Do you want anything off the trolley, dears?" the same witch as had been on their first ride back in September asked them.

"Pumpkin Pasties, three teas and a load of sandwiches, please"

"That will be five Sickles" and the trio handed over the money. Once the witch had left, Harry sipped his tea and signed in contentment. His status as Lord Potter was well known by now, and some pupils had tried to sit in their compartment in order to have their families appear to be associated with his. Luckily, due to a request to both Gringotts and the Department of Records, his marriage had been kept a secret – though one reporter had been arrested for trying to get in to find out.

"Wonder if Professor Dumbledore will be back at the school" mused Susan.

"He might be, but then he was still under the weather when they let him out of the hospital" replied Harry.

"We'll find out I suppose" Hannah said. "Personally, I would like a quiet rest of the year. The bigger question is if we can win the Quidditch cup"

"I still say that like dangerous" Harry reminded her.

"Well I can see why you would say that because you've never grown up watching it" Hannah said.

"I like watching it, I just think that they could do a safety spell or something... I mean what if someone falls off and breaks their neck?"

"Nobody has done that in years – but I see your point" Hannah said to him.

"Excuse me" their Aurora guard had opened the door to the compartment. "This girl says you know her" and they looked to see a pug nosed girl sticking her head around the edge of the door.

"Never seen her before" Harry said.

"But we're supposed to know each other by now" the girl said, "Because I've been betrothed to you"

"Betrothed?" Harry narrowed his eyes at the girl.

"Daddy decided to marry me to you out of concern for your safety... Madam Umbridge was quite happy to preside over it even if you weren't there"

"And who gave permission for Harry to be betrothed?" asked Susan.

"Madam Umbridge – she's his magical guardian"

"Well Harry is not betrothed to anybody" Susan said.

"And how would you know?" asked the girl.

"Because we're Lord Potter's personal assistants" Hannah said quickly.

"BUT WE WERE PROMISED THE POTTER FORTUNE!" the girl shouted before the Auror opened the door.

"Is everything alright in here?" he asked.

"This girl claims we are betrothed and her family gets all my money!" Harry told him.

"I assume this is not the case" he asked.

"What do you think?" Susan glared.

"But I'm Pansy Parkinson... I'm supposed to marry him so I can give him a son and then we get some of his money"

"And you say you have a betrothal contract?"

"Here" Pansy fished around in her robe pockets before pulling out a folded sheet of parchment and handing it to the Auror.

"This appears to be genuine" he announced after a moment of hitting it with spells.

"Now those... those... those hussies have to go so I can spend time with my boyfriend"

"Excuse me, Auror, but what date was that signed?" Harry asked.

"November the eleventh"

"Well that proves it's not legal based on events you know about" Hannah folded her arms over her chest and looked smug.

"I'm sorry, little Miss, but I can not do anything about this based on prior knowledge" and Pansy huffed and stormed away claiming she was going to get Harry one way or the other.

"I don't want you to go with her" Susan said defensively.

"I'm not going anywhere because why would I want to be married to anybody else apart from you?" he asked them in confusion.

# # # # #

Dumbledore was, to their surprise, at the feast but said nothing apart from explaining what had really happened at the start of the last term and to welcome them all back from the Christmas holidays. It was clear that despite all of the treatment he had received, the almost endless torture and dangerous potions had taken their toll as he looked fit to drop dead.

"I kind of feel sorry for him because people thought he was being mean when he wasn't doing it" Susan said.

"Including us" Harry reminded her. "Maybe we could go and see him" he added.

"Yeah, I guess he doesn't have many friends at his age" Hannah said. "I know he has a brother who lives in Hogsmeade and he used to have a sister but she died under really strange circumstances"

"What do you mean?"

"Well…" Hannah took another bite of her Chicken Kiev, "Nobody knows what really happened, but Mummy once told me there was a big fight and she got into the middle of it somehow"

"That's sad" Susan nodded.

"Maybe we could go to the village shops and buy him a present" Harry said.

"But we're not allowed to go on the visits before our Third Year" Hannah said.

"But we can as Harry's wives" Susan said to her. "The Caretaker is supposed to make sure that only those that have permission from their families or Head of House can go. Harry is the head of his own family and, as his wives, he can sign a permission slip for us! Besides, we can go whenever we like"

"Cool" Hannah said.

"I vote during Potions" Harry giggled. For the rest of the meal, the trio talked amongst their friends about what they had done over the holiday period. Most of them politely ignored the fact that he had put on a bit of weight during the time away too…

"Mr Potter, I could not help but overhear that you plan to miss your lessons tomorrow" an oily voice spoke from behind Harry and the trio turned to look and saw Snape standing over them. "Twenty points from each of you" he added.

"Why?" asked Harry.

"Because you are going to break the rules by leaving the school without permission"

"Harry can leave whenever he likes" Susan said. "He is an adult in the eyes of the law"

"That may be so" Snape conceded, "But you two may not"

"Harry speaks for us" Hannah told him. She finished her dinner, got up and walked over to have a few words with Professor Sprout. They came back over with their Head of House wearing a tired and grim expression.

"Hannah tells me you just took points and awarded a detention to the three of them for planning to leave in the middle of tomorrow afternoon"

"Indeed"

"Apart from the fact they can do so if they wish, and the fact they have permission from Albus, the question is how did you manage to overhear them from your place at the staff table? Did you put a listening charm on them?" Sprout folded her arms and stared down the Potions Master.

"I have free reign where it comes to the safety of students" Snape replied.

"Perhaps that may have been so in the past, Severus, but that is not the way now…" an extremely tired voice spoke. "As of now, you are on probation. If I hear anything of a serious nature against you, I shall have to ask for your resignation with immediate effect" Dumbledore had managed to make the trip over without a problem of being heard or noticed.

"But Headmaster, the brat was planning…"

"To exercise his rights as a emancipated child along with his closest friends who have my permission to do so. Now, go to your quarters and remain there, barring an emergency, until tomorrow morning" Dumbledore gestured to the doors and Snape sneered, nodded sharply and left the hall. "Mr Potter, Miss Bones, Miss Abbott… Please do not abuse this privilege that you have – I am a very old man and, if it comes to it, I may not be able to defend you in a court should Professor Snape choose to do so"

"Why would he take me to court?" asked Harry.

"Professor Snape is, I am sorry to say, a very petty man. I realise that I should have done something about him years ago, but I had a lot of other things to do at the time" and Dumbledore closed his eyes for a moment and sighed. "Rest assured that he will not be a problem at the end of the year. Now, finish your meals and go and do whatever it is you young ones do nowadays" and he walked off.

"I'll be surprised if he lives much longer than the school year" Sprout said softly.

"I feel sorry for him" Harry said. "People still do not trust him, even after all the help he has been given – none of what happened was his fault"

"The public are a fickle thing, Mr Potter, and you can be a hero one day and a terrorist the next" Sprout shook her head sadly. "When he dies, it will be the end of an era. Now, do you really plan to leave the school tomorrow?"

"Yes" Susan said. "Harry got a letter saying that the audit of his accounts has finally been completed and they need to talk to him because they've found some stuff"

"I presume you are claiming spousal rights to go with Mr Potter" she said to them quietly.

"I need them both to help me deal with the Goblins, though they've been nice to me so far" Harry shrugged.

"Well all I ask is that you are back before the curfew. If you can not be, at least send a note so we know where you are"

"Yes, Professor" the trio said in unison. Sprout just chuckled to herself before walking back to the staff table.

#

After they had taken out some text books for Harry to go over in his extra lessons to get his reading up to normal, the trio went to their room which felt like a second house – flicking their little tea maker on and setting it to brew.

"I wonder what the Goblins will want with you" said Susan as she unzipped her skirt and let it pool around her feet before stepping out and into her pyjama bottoms.

"I don't know, but they could have dealt with it yesterday when we were actually there!" Harry laughed as Hannah, trying to remove her skirt, tumbled backwards and ended up with her legs in the air on her bed.

"Not funny" she grumbled as she stood. Her hair was all over the place and she gave a half hearted puff of air to get some of it out of her face before she ended up laughing and setting herself to rights. For his part, Harry checked that the few sweets he had stored in the space left by the loose stone under his bed remained – a habit that the girls tried hard not to call him on. Once they were all dressed for bed, they sat in them sipping their cups of tea.

"You know" Harry said, "We could visit your Aunt and see if Mr Shacklebolt is there" he added.

"Maybe we could take her lunch" Hannah said.

"That would be nice" said Susan as she finished her tea. "You saw how cranky she can get at times if she doesn't eat"

"Last time that happened, she said some very odd words – I wonder what a 'Fucker' actually is" Harry said.

# # # # #

"That went well" Harry said as he dusted himself off from force of habit. He'd had trouble when first using the Floo system, but now he was using it like it had been a part of his life all the time.

"Yep" said Susan cheerfully. "We've got a little time left before we see the Goblins..."

"Lets surprise them by turning up early" Hannah giggled. Harry and Susan laughed and they held hands as they skipped up Diagon Alley towards the Bank. Once inside, a Goblin was waiting for them and the trio were led into a very posh looking office.

"Hi Mr Griphook" they chanted together.

"Hello" he replied.

"You look cool, Mr Griphook" Hannah said. "I wish I had a suit like that"

"I could always have one made for you"

"And me" Susan chimed in.

"And… And me!" Harry declared soon after. Griphook, for his part, simply blinked before coughing slightly and getting down to business.

"I am sure something can be arranged for later on. Now, a complete inventory of all of your Assets and Accounts has finally been made. Would you like me to go through it all or a shortened version with you taking the full report away with you?"

"Short" Harry said. "I can go through it all later"

"As you wish… There has been a considerable drain on your funds by Albus Dumbledore, though we know now this was not of his own free will. However, a family by the name of Weasley have been taking large sums of money"

"How much?" asked Harry.

"Around seven and a half million Galleons" Griphook looked up from his papers. "On each occasion, they were taken by somebody holding supposed authority regarding your care. Gringotts regrets this has happened and will compensate you for what was an oversight on our part"

"What can you get back from the Weasleys? If their son is anything to go by, they are really rude people" Harry said.

"Well they claim to have very little, but we can do a full audit of their accounts with us" Griphook said. "We might be able to get something off them, but there are certain laws that we have to follow even so"

"Such as?" asked Harry.

"You can't the tools of a person's trade, not anything connected with that trade such as part or ingredients, you can only take their house if it is owned by them, you can not take anything that's is rented from others or a company such as houses, equipment or tools of a trade" Griphook recited from memory, and the trio got the impression that he had been doing that for a while.

"Well…" Harry was going to say something before Hannah and Susan both leant in and whispered something to him. "Find out what they've done – maybe not all of the family was taking money so it would be unfair to take money off them" he said when they pulled away from him. "We can see you another time if you send us a letter or you could meet us for lunch at Hogsmeade" he added.

"I would be most delighted by your offer" Griphook said. "As for your own situation, is there anything that I could do to help you more?"

"Yes, do you know how my houses look?" Harry asked him.

"Your family house was taken by the Ministry and turned into a war memorial for your parents" Griphook looked through his papers and files. "I don't see any formal transference of ownership, so we might be able to do something about that… As for the others, I would have to have a team go through them. Normally, Harry, this would be at some cost to you – however, on this occasion, we will do it for free"

"That must be all… Can we go for lunch?" Harry asked.

"Of course, but I thought you three might like to visit our Goblin tailors so you can all get suits like ours made" and Griphook allowed himself a smile as he saw the trio light up with expressions of delight as he called for another Goblin to take them to be fully fitted out. It was days like these that he actually enjoyed working with small humans such as the ones in front of him.

#

The trio got some strange looks as they walked into the Ministry wearing both massive grins and suits made in the Goblin style – complete with polished black shoes and fitted waistcoats with pocket watches on a golden chain. They all had had fun during the measuring process with the trio all electing to get them in a matching charcoal grey with black waistcoats. They'd even, seeing as how it was all being paid for by Gringotts, got themselves Epsom Racing Trilby hats. Once inside the lift, they went down to the DMLE area before strolling along the corridors until they came to Madam Bones's office.

"Can I help you?" asked her secretary.

"Three emissaries from the Goblin Nation bringing and important package to Madam Bones" Hannah said.

"Oh…? What is it?" she asked.

"Her lunch" replied Harry with a grin.

"I'll see if she will see you" the older witch replied. "Madam Bones, three emissaries from the Goblin Nation bringing you an important package"

"Send them in" a tiny voice from the box on the desk said. The secretary gestured to the door and the trio opened it and went in.

"Susan!" Madam Bones looked up from her paperwork to see her niece and two best friends walk in wearing suits like the Goblins would make. "I see you really went to town with the Goblins with their attempts to make this up to you, Harry" she said.

"I like the suits they wear, so I asked for one" he replied, "And Susan and Hannah wanted the exact same"

"I think you may have outplayed the Goblins at their own game, you three" Madam Bones shook her head. "Now, what is this package you bring for me?"

"Lunch" they said at the same time as Susan put a paper bag on her Aunt's desk. "We figured you'd be late for it or forget about it completely"

"Thank you" she smiled. She had, in honesty, forgotten about lunch and counted herself lucky that she had such a caring niece and two good friends of hers. "Do you have to go back to Hogwarts right away, or would you like to have lunch here?" she asked them.

"Mr Potter thinks it would be most agreeable" Harry said.

"Miss Bones agrees with that" Susan added.

"Miss Abbott would be delighted to see said lunch" Hannah added – the three of them trying to sound grown up. Susan's Aunt simply laughed before getting her secretary to order three plates of sandwiches from the Auror Canteen with two bottles of Pumpkin Juice and a bottle of some other juice if they had it as Harry still had a dislike for Pumpkin Juice.

#

"And just where do you three think you are going dressed like that?" asked a cold voice. The trio turned to see Snape standing behind them in the main doors to the castle.

"Hufflepuff, Professor"

"And without wearing school uniform during school hours? I think that will be thirty points…"

"Thirty points awarded to Hufflepuff House for promoting better relations with Goblins" McGonagall said.

"But, Minerva, they are out without permission from a member of staff" Snape sneered.

"Severus, not only did they have permission from their Head of House but Mr Potter is the Head of his family and so can leave whenever he likes"

"That might be very well for him, but that doesn't hold for Miss Bones or Miss Abbott"

"Did you not just hear what I said, Severus?" McGonagall asked. "The girls had permission from Pomona"

"Minerva, it would not be wise to contradict me in front of the pupils… Besides, they most likely confounded Sprout" and he started to withdraw his wand.

"Expelliarmus!" Harry had already taken out his wand and, with the help of the other two, relieve Snape of his wand and made the Professor stumbled.

"You insufferable little brat!" Snape seemed to have lost his mind as he lurched forward and grabbed Harry by the throat and started to throttle him.

"STUPIFY!" two beams of magic hit Snape from the wands of Hannah and Susan – hitting Snape in the side and knocking him out like a light.

"I see that I have arrived much too late" Dumbledore said as he walked down the grand staircase. "I've had one of the elves follow him" he added in explanation. "I sensed that he may try something like this, but I should have been here… Well, Mr Potter, are you alright?"

"My throat hurts" he croaked.

"Well I am sure that your wives would be kind enough to help you to the hospital wing. Minerva, would you mind fetching somebody from the DMLE to interview these three and to come and collect Severus? I am afraid that he has outlasted his employment here" Dumbledore walked over and, to the surprise of McGonagall, Harry, Susan, Hannah and a few other pupils that had been wondering through, the Headmaster kicked him in the side. "You're sacked", bound him in rope and floated him off in front of him.

A/N:

Hope you enjoyed this chapter… I may do a little bit of a time jump in order to get to the time period of the Stone.

This chapter did include a somewhat detailed attack on locations in London – but after the other day, I decided to re-write it hence why there is a short piece of them taking lunch to Madam Bones.

Anyway, as always, please send your reviews and thoughts in the normal manner – I will try to answer as many reviews and questions as possible.

Regards

Pixel