Disclaimer:

All characters in the story are the property of J. K. Rowling and Bloomsbury Books, with the exception of Eleanora Sterling and a few supporting characters, who are my own creations. This story is created purely for the entertainment of myself and other like-minded readers and no copyright infringement is intended.

By mentioning J.K. Rowling in this story I do not intend to present her as a fictional character or to imply that the Harry Potter books are not her own 100% original works.

Any opinions, political or otherwise, on world events, personages or governments expressed in these pages, are the opinions of the characters speaking them and not necessarily those of the author.

Chapter 19: The Wrath of a Headmaster

Without pausing to wipe the remains of his lunch from his robes, Albus Dumbledore rose from the head table and left the Great Hall in such a hurry that Poppy Pomfrey was left starting at his retreating back with shock and dismay. Never had she witnessed such an outburst of temper from the elderly wizard. Surely he must have been able to read more into that letter than she had. She felt terrible that whatever Nora had told her in confidence had gotten away from her, in spite of her best intentions. Worse, she now had the feeling that something was somehow dreadfully wrong, but she had no idea what it was.

* * *

Albus entered his inner office and sat down. Pinching the bridge of his nose with a thumb and forefinger he pondered what to do next. He had had a fear that Snape would not be content to stay quietly where he was... now it appeared that being exiled in another dimension had not prevented him from plotting to return to the battle zone. Having Lupin posted in the Mundane dimension suddenly did not seem to be such a wonderful idea, as no doubt Snape was using him as a contact. It was confirmed from Nora's letter that he wanted to return to Britain. And there was only one reason Albus could think of for his wanting to do that.

He needed to communicate with Lupin, as he was most likely, if anyone was, to have an inkling of what Severus was planning. But with no direct way to communicate with the Mundane Dimension, he would be forced to pass a message on through someone else in Magical London. Without Welkin of Weatherby to rely on, that someone would have to be his currently most trusted contact in the Ministry, Hermione Granger. He knew that Lupin checked in with the Ministry on a regular basis, but would he necessarily contact Hermione unless he had a reason to? Or would he be forced to tell her about the Mundane dimension, so that she could carry the message to him?

He decided it would be best to wait until Lupin visited the Ministry. Hermione would have to be instructed to keep an eye peeled for his arrival and intercept him if possible.

He first composed a note to Lupin:

Remus:

I have had word that Mr. Snape is planning to return home against my express wishes. Has he perhaps communicated anything of his intentions to you?
Any, and I do mean ANY, information which you might have on this subject will be most appreciated.
Do be cognizant that I will be MOST displeased, with the onset of the school year so fast upon us, if I am required to come down to London in person.
 
- Albus Dumbledore.

This message was sealed and marked "Private".

Next he composed a covering letter to Hermione:

My dear Miss Granger:

It is imperative that you pass along the enclosed to Remus Lupin at your earliest opportunity. He may visit the Ministry offices any time in the next few days. Do take care to look out for his arrival.
Be sure to complete this assignment personally: the enclosed is extremely confidential and should not be trusted to a Ministry clerk to pass along.

- Albus Dumbledore

Dumbledore then summoned his personal owl and instructed her to carry the message to Hermione's personal living quarters in Magical London. It would be there by the time she had returned home from work.

* * *

Remus saw Hermione waiting on the sidewalk for him outside the Muggle café where he had met her only a couple of days previously. He smiled broadly at the young lady. Even at the age of twenty-two she still had a certain schoolgirl charm, with her crisply pleated skirt and white blouse, but her face was creased with concern. Remus gave her a questioning glance. She indicated it would be better to wait until they were seated. He got them some coffee and joined her in a booth.

"First of all, my search didn't turn up anything on Plotkin. But Mr. Devani and his family have gone back to India to stay with his wife's parents. I have an address in Jaipur," she said, pushing a scrap of paper at him.

"Good, thanks, I'll look into that," Remus replied, knowing that he would probably do no such thing. "I'll also need you to look up someone else for me. See if you can find any information about a witch named Morgan LaFay."

"The historical one?" Hermione asked, wrinkling her nose.

"No, someone of our generation who goes about by that name. It might not even be her real name. I think she spells it with two 'a's'."

"Right, I'll see what I can find out. But I have to tell you right away, that I had a message from Dumbledore yesterday, which I'm supposed to pass on to you. There's definitely something about the tone of this I don't like."

Remus was puzzled. "What do you mean?"

"Well, I can read things sometimes from letters and notes. Well, naturally I can read them, but it's more than that… I can tell just by holding it what the person was feeling at the time they wrote the message. I don't even have to look at it… it's like it just comes off the paper."

Not so unusual an ability for a seer, Remus thought, but he did not recall that she had exhibited this particular talent in her school days. "All right then, what are you reading from this?"

Hermione answered with a direct gaze, as though gauging his reaction. "From his note to me: friendship, warmth, concern, but some anger. The anger is not directed towards me, though. From his note to you, which naturally I have not read, I am sensing extreme anger. Some of it's directed towards you. Most of it is directed towards Professor Snape."

"Oh dear." Lupin sighed. "I suppose I'd better read it right away, then." He opened the sealed message and read silently. "Damn," he muttered under his breath.

Hermione had not taken her eyes off him. "I'm guessing that this has something to do with what you asked me to do for you, and that Professor Dumbledore really doesn't know anything about it." It was plain she was disappointed in him for lying to her.

Remus answered her unwavering gaze with guilt in his eyes. "It's true that Dumbledore doesn't know that I asked you to help me look up those two wizards. I'm sorry I didn't tell you the whole truth."

"Then if you expect me to keep on helping you, you'd better come clean," she replied crisply. "It sounds like you're in enough hot water already, even if I don't tell him what you asked me to do. And I won't, but only if you let me in on this!"

He sensed her excitement and was amused at her thirst for intrigue. "It looks like I may have to come clean to Dumbledore in any event, so I suppose there's no harm in filling you in. But you have to swear it will go no farther."

Hermione made a locking gesture next to her faintly smiling lips, but her eyes shone with mischief.  

"All right… you do know that Snape has gone into hiding. He is very far away, in fact, but I can't say where. He has been in touch with me and he wants to come home. He's working on a plan to defeat Voldemort and he's looking for recruits to help him carry it out. He knows that Dumbledore would disapprove heartily, so naturally, he's been told nothing about it, against my better instincts, I might add. Until now, that is. It seems something, or someone, has tipped him off," he said meaningfully.

"It wasn't me, and that's not the whole story," Hermione said accusingly. "I can tell you're leaving out something rather major."

"Such as?" Remus eyed her narrowly. This young witch was too perceptive, by half.

"Such as how he plans to defeat You-Know-Who. He must have a pretty good idea, and it would have to be something no one else has tried before. Otherwise, don't you think we would have succeeded by now? And you must think it's a pretty good idea yourself, or you wouldn't be going along with it. Since when would you ever side with Snape against Dumbledore's wishes?"

Remus chuckled ruefully but couldn't answer right away. How much could he tell her? "It has something to do with where Snape is," he began carefully. "He's in another dimension, where magical objects do not work, and where wizards can lose many of their powers. They may retain some of them of course… native abilities that you might not need a wand to use. Your skill at reading feelings from letters, for example."

The young woman nodded imperceptibly. "I've heard of this place. I thought it was just a silly story. It's a world very much like ours, but with no magic in it."

"How have you heard?"

"Ginny Weasley. She says she's actually been there. I though it was a crock, naturally. She's a bit odd these days, that girl. Like she's got some big secret nobody else knows about and she's enjoying it immensely."

"Hmm, well, Ginny does have rather a large secret, and for the sake of the entire Weasley clan I hope no one finds out about it. She's been a rather naughty girl, in fact. But I cannot get into that now." Noting Hermione's look of concern, he quickly added, "Oh, not Dark Magic-naughty. Just terribly indiscrete."

"Is this like when she was writing to Tom Riddle through his enchanted diary, and he made her do all those terrible things?"

"Erm, well, no. This time she seems to know exactly what she's doing. And it's not something that would be a particular problem as long as folks in this dimension don't find out about it."

"So she has been to another dimension and she's done something bad there?"

"I'm not aware that she's actually visited this other dimension, but she's certainly been in touch with someone who lives there, and, I'm sad to say, has broken Ministry protocol."

"And I assume you're not going to fill me in," she said.

"Just at the moment, no."

"All right, what can you tell me?" She leaned forward slightly and lowered her voice. "Because as long as Professor Snape is looking for recruits, you can count me in!"

"Let's just back up a moment, shall we?" he chuckled, surprised by her enthusiasm. "You're forgetting I've been charged to tell Dumbledore what I know. That might effectively cancel the entire plot."

"But, Mr. Lupin," she said coyly, "you don't have to tell him anything right away. He has no idea I was meeting you today, so he needn't be aware that you've even received his message yet."

"You know, I'm beginning to think you were sorted into the wrong house, young lady. Perhaps you should have been a Slytherin."

Hermione laughed aloud at this. "I'm only suggesting that you have a little time—at least a day—to think about what you're going to tell him."

"What can I possibly tell him but the truth? I feel badly enough that I have hidden this much information from him for this long. I should have contacted Albus as soon as Snape got in touch with me in the first place. Except I promised him that I wouldn't."

"Of course you to want to keep your promises, but you should tell Dumbledore the truth if you feel you must. But at least you'll have a bit of time to think about how you'll tell him, because if it's really that great an idea he might just be willing to let Snape carry it out."

"Perhaps," Remus said doubtfully, "but the outcome of the whole thing is such an unknown I'm sure Albus will veto it."

"Do you think it's worth trying?"

"Yes, I do. I really think it might work. But if it doesn't, it might put a lot of people in danger.  I'm also afraid it might unleash Voldemort's evil on an entire unsuspecting dimension."

"All right, you are going to have to fill me in a little more on this other dimension business, and tell me just exactly what you fellows have in mind. And by the way, are you hungry? Just looking at that hamburger platter the waitress just served the next table is making my stomach growl!"

Over a light supper, Remus Lupin told Hermione Granger as much as he felt she needed to know about the Mundane dimension and Snape's plan. Since Snape had already indicated that he wanted to use her to pass information to Draco Malfoy, he did not feel he was being too premature in filling her in.

The fact that Miss Granger was revealing a devious streak he had until now been unaware of, made him realise that she would be an excellent addition to the team – that was, if the plot were allowed to continue after Dumbledore knew what was going on. He did feel a bit squeamish about telling her what Snape had in mind for her to do, however. Perhaps that detail could wait until after things were a confirmed "go" with Dumbledore.

With that thought he suddenly had a major headache: first of all, how should he approach this with Dumbledore? And secondly, should he reveal to Snape that the older wizard was making inquiries?

Answering the second question caused him a moment's guilt, but the way was clear. If Snape knew that Dumbledore suspected anything he might just do something rash, like hop on a plane and come here in person. That had to be prevented at all costs. So, for the time being at least, Snape had to remain in the dark.

As to what to tell Dumbledore, he decided to follow Hermione's advice and sleep on that.

NEXT: Summoned to Hogwarts