A/N: thanks to everyone who reviewed!

lemondrop: last time when you wrote aaaaahhhh (with much more "a"s and "h"s), I couldn't read my reviews properly, because they were too long to fit into the screen – I guess it was caused by those too many "a"s and "h"s, so please, next time you review, don't write this long words!

Atalanta Zora: sorry, I didn't understand this sentence of yours: "what is with the 24 hour time?" What 24 hour??? Would you please explain it in a private mail? About the wedding you want so much: be patient, there will be one… or two… or three... You want Harry to be safe? Hey, Harry Potter cannot be safe until Voldemort is out there! Anyway, if I made sure he is safe, where would be the tension?

maybe baby: sorry, Molly won't visit Ginny, but they'll be sending owls to each other. And you'll get lots of Ron and Hermione, don't worry!

jennaration: sorry, no baby for Hermione in this story. Everyone cannot get pregnant – it would be really weird! (And you know, Hermione has more sense than to forget about using protection…)

PepsiCola: why are they always watching Cartoon Network? Well, I thought Dudley was the kind of guy who would watch it day in day out… And the reason why the police officer also watched it is that there are so many policemen-jokes in which policemen are really stupid – thus I thought they'd watch cartoons. (I don't know whether people in the UK and US also have lots of jokes about silly policemen, but we in Hungary do.)

joshs girl: I deliberately used the names from Disney's Aladdin – I love that movie, it used to be my fave movie when I was 12. I hope you don't mint that I borrowed Ali Ababwa and Abu a bit.

Waldomier: I did watch the Mummy movie, but quite a long time ago. Anyway, I don't intend to learn to speak Egyptian, learning English and German were enough for me, thanks :-)

hermione potter: in the footsteps of J.K. Rowling herself???? Oh, wow! Thanks!

Tai's Gurl: when am I gonna explain Dumbledore's behaviour? At the end of the story, of course! Way to go!

Zoozoonee: No, Lucius isn't dead. Yes, Gilderoy will find his friend, right in the next chapter.

2Coolio: is it starting to hurt? Oh… sorry… it will hurt a bit more before they get together again. (But they will, of course.)

anonymous: more about Ginny in chapter 20.

the coffee fiend: is there still a favourite's list on ffnet? I thought there wasn't one anymore. (And yes, Star Wars is really cool, but IMHO Harry Potter is cooler :-)

obi_ewan_maul_lover: Gilderoy was supposed to be annoying, so I'm glad that I managed to write him that way.

Rab: I promise he will.

anonomous: I promise to read your story as soon as I find time for it – nowadays I'm really busy with my studies – the exams are coming nearer and nearer…

Jam2dabeat: the same for you as for anonomous. Anyway, sorry that you don't like Harry being lost, but I needed to make him lost so I could send him to Egypt where he'll find out something that will be very important at the end of the story.

Yukito Forever: of course I haven't forgotten about Voldie! He's such a cool evil guy! Every real HP fic has to have some Voldemort stuff in it!

All right, enjoy and review!

Chapter 18

Dumbledore's shame

Ron, Hermione and Ginny were having breakfast at the Great Hall. Almost everyone had already left.

"I visited Hedwig before breakfast." Ginny said. "She is totally depressed… just like me." she added with a sigh.

"Sis…" Ron placed his hand on Ginny's shoulder, gently squeezing it.

"It's okay, Ron. I'll manage it somehow." she forced herself to smile.

"Well, at least Dumbledore and McGonagall have finally returned." Hermione interjected, to cheer Ron and Ginny up a bit. "Snape isn't headmaster anymore."

"Uh-huh." Ron nodded, swallowing a huge chunk of transparent cheese (one of the latest development of Bertie Bott's: cheese with so many holes in it, that it seems totally see-through.) "But Lupin hasn't come back. We'll have to put up with Snape at DADA for who knows how long."

"Don't even mention that." Ginny sighed. "He never forgets to remind me of my condition and keeps hinting that Harry might never come back for me."

"That bastard! He enjoys other people's misery!" Ron snapped.

"Yeah…" Hermione sipped a bit of pumpkin juice. "But he let me attend his classes again after I pleaded with him."

"Are you sure Snape was feeling well when he forgave you?" Ron raised an eyebrow. "He wouldn't do anything like that under normal circumstances, would he? He's such a… uh, I can't find words for it…" he fumed, turning to his sister. "No matter how much he hates Harry, he was still supposed to keep Harry's disappearance a secret!"

"A secret? I don't think so." They heard a mocking voice from behind.

"Beat it, Malfoy, you are taking my appetite!" Ron turned around.

"You won't feel like eating after you've read this." Draco threw him a newspaper, then left with the viciously chortling Crabbe and Goyle.

Ron unfolded the paper (with rather shaking hands), and all the three of them stared shocked at the headline:

THE BOY WHO GOT LOST - DUMBLEDORE'S BIG MISTAKE?

By Rita Skeeter

"Rita? Already bad." Hermione sighed. "I should have kept that woman in the bottle."

They continued to read.

After having chased us, journalists away from Hogwarts, Professor Dumbledore wrote a letter to the young Potter to return to the school. The boy, however, never turned up again. According to a trustworthy source of information - a student of Hogwarts - Harry Potter simply got lost.

"A student?" Hermione raised an eyebrow.

"Malfoy." Ron growled.

How could that happen - we might ask, rightly.

Nobody knows. However, no owls are capable of finding Potter. (We suspect that some kind of dark magic is involved.)

And what has Dumbledore done about the case?

Nothing.

What could make Harry run away and not return? Could he be hexed, or is he only too much of a coward to shoulder responsibility for his acts? Whatever the truth is, it seems that poor Ginny Weasley won't have a father for her illegitimate child.

Normally journalists have to remain impartial, and never tell their own opinion about the cases, but I feel that I have to share mine this time.

"What a surprise." Ron frowned. "Up till now we haven't read anything else from her but HER opinion."

Hermione and Ginny nodded.

I am in the firm belief that Potter's disappearance was due to the incompetent acting of Albus Dumbledore. Had he taken precautions, had he taken better care of his most famous student, - and first of all – had he not sent Harry away from Hogwarts, Harry would still be among us. But what else could we expect from someone who has the death of an innocent Muggle on his conscience?

The trio exchanged bewildered looks.

Yes, dear readers, the time has finally come to reveal the past of Dumbledore - a past by far not as white as his name.

Sixty years ago Professor Dumbledore, transfiguration teacher at Hogwarts, had a secret liaison with a married woman, called Arabella Figg. Mrs. Figg was a witch, living with a Muggle husband in the town of Cokeworth. Poor Ben Figg had no idea that his wife was cheating on him with the - in those days - quite young and rather good-looking Albus Dumbledore. Getting to know that he had actually married a witch was a shock enough for him, but the cruel perception of the truth - Arabella having an affair with a wizard behind his back - was simply too much for the unfortunate Muggle.

He chose to die.

We may be wondering whether Prof. Dumbledore has any idea of having been the cause of the death of Arabella's husband. Has Arabella kept it from him, not wanting her lover to have pangs of remorse or not wanting to risk Dumbledore's renown? We may never know – only one thing is sure: had the case been revealed back then, Dumbledore would never have been elected headmaster of Hogwarts.

After the incident, the young widow had to leave Cokeworth and moved to Little Winging, her current home. Some people swear to have heard some rumours about Arabella being pregnant (surely not with Ben Figg's child), but even if this had been true, no one seems to have heard about Mrs. Figg ever giving birth. Is there a secret child of Dumbledore's living somewhere?

That, precious readers, is likely to remain an unsolved riddle forever.

"I've been expecting something like this." Hermione spoke up.

"What? Dumbledore turning out to be a Don Juan?" Ron frowned.

"No." The girl shook her head. "Rita Skeeter's avenge."

"Do you think is was a revenge?" Ginny asked.

"Of course it was." Hermione replied matter-of-factly.

"You really should have kept her in that bottle forever." Ginny sighed. "Poor Dumbledore. This will be a scandal almost as great as the one about Harry and me."

Ron nodded his agreement. "But at least this time no journalists will be swarming around here. They must still get the creeps from the sheer thought of Hagrid's Martians."

"Hopefully, yes." Hermione said. "But knowing their usual uninhibited behaviour, poor Professor Dumbledore will soon wish to have been castrated before he'd met Arabella Figg."

"Castrated?" Ron snickered. "Ya know, when I got to know what Harry'd done to my little sister, I also felt sorry that I hadn't castrated him back when…"

"When?" Ginny raised her eyebrows.

"Well, ya know… when he had had the dream."

"The dream?" the girls asked in unison.

"Um, yeah, a long story, though…" Ron stood up to leave, but his sister and girlfriend grabbed him by the arm and pulled him back.

"Out with it! We're curious!" Ginny demanded.

Suddenly Professor McGonagall's magically magnified voice spoke up: "All students gather into the Great Hall!"

"What the heck?" Ron stood up, grateful to McGonagall for saving him from this awkward situation. In the next instant the Great Hall filled with students

Even if Ron had intended to tell the girls about Harry's dream, he wouldn't have been able to in such a cacophony.

He still vividly remembered it, though. It happened in fourth year, some time between the first and the second task. Ron, Dean and Seamus had already been wide-awake when Ron heard funny noises coming from behind the curtain of Harry's four-poster. He got curious and stepped closer. Now he managed to understand his best friend's mutterings: "Cho… oh, yes, Cho…"

Ron gingerly pulled back the curtain to see Harry tossing and turning in his sleep, a bulge clearly visible on the front of his pants. Ron smirked and let the curtain back, turning to the Thomas-Finnigan duo.

"Why are you wearing such an idiotic grin?" Seamus asked.

Ron let out a chuckle. "Harry's just become a MAN."

"What?" the two boys' faces lit up. "Really?"

"Bet your ass. I've just seen it." Ron replied.

"Who could he be dreaming about?" Dean wondered.

"Cho Chang, who else?" Ron answered.

"I thought he fancied Hermione." Seamus commented.

"Hermione? Nay." Ron suddenly turned red.

"Hey, what does that blush mean?" Dean smirked wickedly.

"I dreamt about Hermione." Ron admitted, his face already as red as his hair.

"You dreamt about her that way?" Seamus sneered.

Ron couldn't get a complexion rosier than that. "Yup."

"Wheeen?" the duo asked.

"Um, after the Yule ball." Ron couldn't help chuckling himself.

"That's self-explanatory." Dean nodded. "She did look bitchin that evening. Shame that she was with Krum."

"Yeah." Ron sighed. He still couldn't forgive Hermione for having gone with the Bulgarian seeker. He regarded it as a personal offend. "Okay, let's drop the topic. What about you two? Have you had the dream?"

Dean chortled idiotically. "Halloween night. About Fleur Delacour."

"Alicia, last year." Seamus added.

"What are you talking about?" came Neville's sleepy voice from the other end of the dorm.

"About girls we dreamed of." Dean replied. "Have you also dreamt of one, Neville?"

The stout boy slipped into his slippers, rubbing his eyes. "Yeah. Once… about Ginny." he yawned.

"What??? My sister?" Ron howled. A wonder that Harry didn't wake up. "How dare you?"

"Dare what?" Neville looked shocked by Ron's sudden outburst. "I only dreamed that she was wearing…"

"…nothing?" Seamus helped eagerly.

"Noooo." Neville shook his head. "Why would she wear nothing? She was wearing something dazzling white, as though it had been made of snowflakes, or something. And she had gems in her hair… sparkling like ice crystals. She looked wonderfully beautiful and extremely happy… her green eyes were shining with happiness."

"Green?" Ron furrowed his brow. "Ginny has brown eyes."

"In my dream she had green eyes." Neville shrugged. "I clearly remember. She was smiling, and… she was getting married, I guess."

"To you?" Ron raised an eyebrow.

"No." Neville sighed. "To Harry."

All the other three boys burst out laughing.

"Have I told something funny?" Neville asked, confused. The others kept chortling.

"Nothing, Neville, nothing." Dean replied. "C'mon, boys, let's get dressed and go down. Harry'll need some privacy when he wakes up." he winked.

"Yeah, for reaching the bathroom unnoticed…" Seamus added. "He surely won't let Dobby wash his pants today."

Now the three boys were in stitches, a bewildered Neville looking from one to the other, having no idea what could be so funny.

As the four boys left the dorm, Ron felt grateful that Harry didn't wake up from their laughter. But Harry marrying Ginny… seemed to be totally absurd to him – at that time.

Now, that he recalled this memory, it didn't seem so ridiculous anymore, only somewhat weird. He wasn't sure though, whether that wedding would ever take place, given the circumstances.

He was shaken out of his reveries when the headmaster entered the Great Hall.

"I'm sure he's summoned us to repudiate Rita's accusations." Hermione whispered.

"I don't know, Herm, he looks so… sullen." Ginny commented. "His look is as cold as ice… gives me the creeps."

Professor Dumbledore waved his hand to silence the students. The Great Hall became so quiet that even the buzzing of a fly could have been heard.

Ron glanced at Malfoy who was standing at the Slytherin table, wearing a smug, satisfied grin.

"I presume most of you have already read the Daily Prophet this morning." Dumbledore started, his voice hoarse and baleful. "If you have, then you already know about three news. Two of them need confirmation, one has to be refuted."

"Told you he couldn't have flirted with that woman." Ron heard Seamus whisper to Dean.

Dumbledore continued: "First of all, yes, Harry Potter is really lost."

A loud murmur ran down the hall.

"Potter lost?"

"Where's he?"

"What happened to him?"

"But he'll be back, won't he?"

"Is he dead?"

Dumbledore raised his wand, sending red sparks onto the ceiling. "May I continue? Thank you. So, as I've said, Harry got lost. No one knows, what happened to him, but the owls just cannot find him. Usually evil curses have such effects, but we can't be sure that this case has anything to do with them or not. Of course, our Rita Skeeter suspects curses everywhere, but I hope you know her enough not to trust everything she writes."

Many of the pupils nodded, even some bad words about Ms. Skeeter could be heard.

Ron looked at Draco again. The pale boy was still looking contented or even more than that: happy. Ron clenched his fists, stifling an urge to throttle Malfoy.

Dumbledore spoke up again: "So, Rita Skeeter was right that our Harry was missing, but blaming me for his disappearance is unacceptable and unjust. She had no reason to suppose that my, um, 'incompetence' was to be blamed. Her declaration that I've done nothing about the case is also absurd. Professor McGonagall, Professor Lupin and me had a good reason to leave the school for a while: we have contacted many of our wizard colleagues all over Great Britain and even in other countries, to look for Harry. We'll find him. Professor Lupin is actively working on the case."

The headmaster let out a sigh. "And now, to the other part of my speech. As you have read in the article, Ms. Skeeter accuses me of having contributed to the death of a certain Benjamin Figg. I deny it. Figg committed suicide. I'm truly sorry for that man, but don't feel responsible for his death. Everyone is responsible for his or her own acts, and if he chooses to kill himself, then it is his own responsibility. However, I will never deny having had romantic feelings for Arabella Figg."

"Does it man that you really have a child together?" a Rawenclaw yelled.

A grim smile appeared on Dumbledore's face. "No. Arabella wasn't capable of having babies. In my opinion this fact strongly contributed to Mr. Figg's suicide. As I heard, he had married her to have children. He was truly broken-down, when he got to know that his wife couldn't give him an heir." Dumbledore shook his head. "A weak man, he was."

"Did Rita Skeeter only make up this child-thing, then?" Ernie MacMillan asked.

"Very much so, Mr. MacMillan." Albus replied with a faint smile.

In Ron's opinion he looked extremely worn and full of sorrow. *He explained Skeeter's article, hasn't he? No one here thinks he is guilty. Why is he so sad then?*

Abruptly one of the doors of the Great Hall flung open, and Sirius Black burst in.

"Albus, enough is enough!" his eyes were sending fire-bolts at Dumbledore. "Would you explain why I had to get to know about my godson's disappearance from the newspaper? I thought you trusted me more than to keep this from me! I thought you regarded me as your friend! You should have notified me at once! This was your task as a headmaster!"

"A headmaster?" Dumbledore gave him a wistful smile. "I'm sorry, Sirius. I'm no headmaster anymore. Just received an owl from the Ministry of Magic. They accuse me of having been the cause of Harry's disappearance, since it was me who had sent him back to Privet Drive. And well… they might be right about this." Albus heaved a deep sigh. "They demand that I resign."

A/N2: there, you got a bit of Sirius! And now, review, please!!!