Chapter 12 – The Meeting

The train lurched forward at a frightening pace. The 7 of them decided to make conversation. Harry started first.

"We need to decide how to interrogate Dumbledore. He is not a man to be messed with."

Root felt his face redden, not to mention that it was red most of the time. He was that kind of person.

Ron spoke up. "Yeah, but in the first place, do we have the proof that Dumbledore is a Squib? You just can't take Voldemort's word for it."

Harry knew this was true, but still, he had a sneaking suspicion that Voldemort may be right.

Holly buzzed up to the ceiling, checking her helmet. "We were supposed to be after Voldemort. What are we doing here now?"

Harry couldn't help a smile. "If Voldemort's story were false, slap me. If it were true, slap me too. Dumbledore is the only one who knows all about Voldemort. Believe me, we are going to the right place."

"That's not the point. We are straying away too much from our mission."

"That's true….but…"

Artemis stepped in. "What Holly says is right. We are straying away too much from the mission.

Malfoy snorted.

There was an implacable silence. For a few moments they could here the train's chugging continuously.

Finally, Hermione said, entering the room, "The driver says that we'll be at Hogwarts in another 3 hours. What's the time?"

Artemis whipped out a Cartier chronograph from his pocket, stifling a yawn. "3 a.m."

"3 a.m? We'd better get some sleep."

As if right on cue, the whole group fell asleep.

Harry had a weird dream. He wondered whether it was a dream in the first place, or whether he was remembering something that his grandmother had told his dad. He remembered Lily Potter cradling him near the fireplace. He was just 3 months old.

"Mother, I saved him! Wally was about to die!" cried James exasperatedly.

"I know, Jim…..just remember this."

He remembered his mother laying him down on his cot and walking to his father. They whispered quietly. "Listen, Mother, Voldemort is after us, and you know it. We have to get trusty people to help us. The bond that is created between wizards who save other fellow wizards is therefore very important to us."

"Yes, yes, but there is another message."

James leaned in.

"Just remember, every man or woman you save is someone's son, or someone's mother. If you save them, you save me."

There was a swirling of memories which Harry could not remember, all he remembered was that now he was in a crematorium.

James Potter was weeping softly with Lily Potter having her hand on his shoulder. There were seven words as an epitaph. "Dearest Mother. Much loved. Gone too soon."

If only, thought James bitterly, if only I had saved you. Then things would have been much different.

Harry woke up to see that everyone was looking at him. "What's the problem?"

All of them were grinning from ear to ear.

"I haven't seen you do that in a while, Harry," Ron muttered.

"What did I do?" asked Harry heatedly.

"You were sleeping. Smiling."

Harry tried to hide a grin, but teeth forced their way out.

"I had a dream. It involved my mother and father."

The effect was instantaneous. "What happened" began Ron, but Malfoy cut in. "Was it the grandmother dying dream?"

Harry was surprised. "Yeah."

Ron and Hermione began simultaneously, "So did I! How did that hap"

"Woah, down, guys….now tell me what happened," said Artemis. Holly looked strangely at him. This was so un-Artemis. The stone-cold Artemis would probably have said, "Will you all shut your infernal mouths so that I can hear myself think!"

Holly blinked. That was so un-Artemis too. Something was very wrong with her.

That was very Root.

Harry's voice cut through Holly Short's thoughts. "How did this happen? "

Ron took a deep breath. "It seems impossible, but Dad told me about something like this."

Everyone leaned in to listen.

"For millennia, wizards have had this bond. It runs through every one of them. However, it is intensified in Hogwarts students for the students who are picked are basically having blood bonds with Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw or Slytherin."

"These bonds enable to create connections when everyone is thinking about the same thought. In this case, Harry's dead parents."

"At this time, hidden memories are brought out too."

Malfoy spoke up. "Wait a minute. Since when was I thinking about Potter's parents?"

"What were you thinking about then?"

"I was thinking about the night where You-Know-Who lost all his powers."

Ron had a smile playing across his lips. "And who caused You-Know-Who to lose his powers?"

"Potter, of course."

"And who was sacrificed?"

"His parents."

"So, that's it."

The train began to rumble and decelerate. Finally, it came to a stop.

"We're here."

They got off slowly. Hogsmeade station looked like a ghost town at this time of the morning. Usually there would be people pottering about, thought Harry.

Pottering about. Harry chuckled softly and walked towards the looming castle, with his friends.

They knocked thrice on the Great Hall's doors. Immediately the door opened and Minerva McGonagall, the headmistress, with her hair in a tight bun, appeared. She seemed a little skeptical about letting the 17-year olds in. Fortunately and unfortunately, Holly and Root were shielded again.

Holly and Root marveled at the sheer size of the giant castle. Holly decided to have a conversation with Foaly. She opened a channel.

(Author's Note: Seeing as fairy technology is much more advanced than the human kind, the magical world, which probably had not heard of cameras, did not have any effect on the LEP helmets. In fact, quality was improved by the enchantments.)

"Foaly?"

There were several moments of silence, then a voice crackled. It sounded like fingernails on a chalkboard.

"Is that Holly? This is Foaly."

"Don't play me for a fool, that's not you."

"Wait a minute." There were several tappings of a keyboard in the background, then Foaly's voice came through the speakers again.

"Better?"

"Yeah, much better. Do you mind if I shot some video and sent it to you? It might be invaluable."

"Go on."

She started the camera, and caught an image of several wizards frozen on the wall, and of an angel with two eyes where there were supposed to be ears, and vice-versa.

Later, however, even if she did not know it, the information was about to save their life.

Mulch Diggums was walking on Haven's Frond Road. He was careful not to stray too close to the magnastrip, in case the strip burnt him, and hell, there was one sight the world, sorry, the underworld, was not ready to see.

He stood outside the Operations Booth and waited for Foaly to let him in. Foaly did.

"Foaly?" enquired Mulch.

Several chump chumps came from the corner, followed by several ceerach. It sounded like Foaly was eating something.

"Foaly?"

"Yeah, yeah, over here," came the centaur's grunt.

Mulch shuffled over to him.

"Hey, look at this. Holly shot some video at this place. Looks kinda like those eerie mansions in my Mud Movies."

"Yeah, I saw one of those. What was the name again?"

"The Haunted Mansion?"

"Yep, that's the one."

Foaly clip-clopped over to Mulch after he blew up the video to 500 percent. Mulch was fascinated.

"What a fortune I could make from this place."

Foaly tutted.

"Did you see that statue?"

"Which one?"

Foaly rewound it.

"That one."

Mulch surveyed the statue. Yes, he had seen it.

"Yep, that I have seen. I remember something like that at the Louvre in Paris. Remember that awful incident?"

"Nightmare. You blew out all the windows."

"All the windows? I nearly shattered the pyramid outside, remember?"

"Yeah, if it hadn't been for the holograms, we would be in deep mud now, if you'd pardon the pun."

"So, Mulch, what is that statue?"

Mulch looked at it.

"Actually, it seems like a fake. Or it might be the original. It's called The Enlightening Angel. It's supposed to depict the natural mess-up within humans."

"The artist himself messed up."

"Actually, there was no artist."

"You're kidding."

"Yeah. It was sent to the Louvre anonymously."

"But what the hell is it doing here?"

Mulch puddled his thoughts. "My guess is that this is the original. It has to be."

"How?" asked Foaly annoyingly.

Resisting the urge to pummel Foaly into the plasma screen, Mulch spoke slowly and clearly, as if teaching a 2 year old the alphabet. "Look at the setting. It's so intricate, it could not have possibly been the fake."

"The one at the Louvre?"

Mulch pondered. "That one is exactly the same. My guess is that the anonymous artist made two of these."

"Would you like to know where this place is?"

Mulch thought for a while, thinking that he could make a fortune if he broke in. Acting interested, he said, "Sure, tell me, where?"

Foaly took a very deep breath. "It's a wizard school, called Hogwash, or something."

Mulch tried to stifle a laugh, but it burst out of him. "Hogwash? Good one, Foaly. How can a school be named Hogwash? "

"Wait a sec……..wrong name. It's Hogwarts."

This time Mulch really giggled and couldn't stop laughing for 3 minutes. When he did, he said, "Hogwarts? Is that supposed to mean a hog's wart? The guy who named this school must have been really desperate, eh? Naming it a hog's wart."

Foaly laughed too. "Mulch, you have a weird sense of humour."

"Thank you." Mulch bent to his knees, and left the Operations Booth.