Dial-Up Dementors

DISCLAIMER! This Harry Potter story was written for fun. All rights belong to the wonderful lady (JK Rowling) who gave the world Harry Potter to read and enjoy. Looking forward to the next movie! Yeah, fanfiction is a great place to stretch your imagination and enjoy someone else's creativity! New Movie is coming in April! Hurrah!

In the reviews for Birdshot, a reader mentioned the idea of the dementors being sucked into the internet. The idea percolated for a few days, and this story was born with more than Dementors getting lost in the Internet. Bashing Voldie, Dumbles, Purebloods, and Magical Britain in general. No ships. Will end in the fall of Harry's fifth year.

Chapter 5: Halloween 1994

Harry was with most Hogwarts students and standing outside the castle to watch the arrival of the Académie de Magie Beauxbâtons just before dinner on 15 October. The contingent from the French school travelled in a large pumpkin-shaped carriage pulled through the air by a large team of Abraxan, palomino-coloured horses with wings much like a Pegasus.

'The fairy-tale about Cinderella and the pumpkin must have been something a witch did,' Harry decided. 'The original story is from France, so it probably is something about a witch.'

There were platitudes and greetings shared between the headmistress of the Beauxbatons, Madame Olympe Maxime, and Headmaster Albus Dumbledore. Harry and the students hurried back into the entry hall and then filed into the Great Hall, waiting for the meal to begin.

Dumbledore hurried in and moved to stand at the podium on the platform for the staff table and announced, "Our friends from Durmstrang Institute have been delayed. Nonetheless, we welcome the students and staff from the Académie de Magie Beauxbâtons to Hogwarts for the Tri-Wizard Tournament."

The doors of the Great Hall opened, and a parade of young witches dressed in attractive school uniforms entered the chamber, walking between the tables for Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw. They all bowed their heads to the Hogwarts staff before dividing left and right, returning to the back of the Great Hall, walking between the Slytherin and Ravenclaw tables and the Hufflepuff and Gryffindor tables. Seated on the table's far side, Harry noticed three housemates wince when they reached out to the lovely witches, and jinxes burned their fingertips.

"Glory be! There's at least one Veela in that flock of birds," Ron Weasley declared before blowing on burned fingers.

The Beauxbâtons students – all witches – took their seats at a smaller table at the end of the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff table. They all sat on the side that faced the Hogwarts tables. Madame Maxime was seated beside Dumbledore at the staff table, replacing Minerva McGonagall, who moved down two spaces. (It took one oversized chair that took up two spaces for the giant witch). The meal was delivered to the tables, and everyone began eating.

Especially hungry tonight, Harry didn't pay attention to the other tables or the staff table. With silent casting, he'd placed a silencing charm on Ron. The other Gryffindors had learned to move away from Ron AFTER the food was delivered. Weasley didn't object that his dormmates moved away once the food was on the table.

Reaching for pudding after the main courses were finished, Harry noticed a silencing spell at the staff table – Madame Maxime was growing angry and pointing at the Goblet of Fire. She rose from her oversized chair, shoving it back and upsetting Professor McGonagall's teacup. The half-giant stormed across the platform, and Harry watched three spells from Headmaster Dumbledore fall off the headmistress. Once the magic was on the floor, the stones quickly absorbed the free magic.

'The magic from the goblet falls out, and Hogwarts absorbs it…now it's sucking up Dumbledore's spells that fall off the giant headmistress,' Harry decided.

The headmistress glanced back at Dumbledore, sneered at his casting spells, and continued toward the Goblet of Fire. She stopped short of touching it but used her wand to cast multiple spells on the cracked artefact. Dumbledore approached the visiting headmistress carefully and quietly.

"What happened to the Goblet of Fire?" she demanded. When Dumbledore explained that an unfortunate accident by a government bureaucrat had knocked the goblet onto the floor where the crack occurred.

"Le gouvernement... le gouvernement Français a prêté cet artefact historique à votre ministère britannique de la magie pour le tournoi," she shouted. Taking a moment to collect herself, the headmistress continued in English, "And you've damaged it! Has anyone tried to repair it?"

(The government…the French government, loaned that historical artefact to your British Magical Ministry for the tournament!) The argument continued with none of the witch's questions being answered adequately.

"What do you mean you didn't think about repairs? Dumbledore, la magie du gobelet est peut-être en train de s'envoler...comment vous dites...dégoulinant!"

(Dumbledore, the magic of the goblet may be flittering away…how you say…dripping out!)

Harry sat silently and listened very carefully. He decided, 'The headmistress is getting the full Dumbledore treatment. He smiles and gives her some strange answer that doesn't give her the information she wants. He never answers any question directly.'

Leading her students from the Great Hall, Madame Maxime returned to the Beauxbâtons shelter – the pumpkin-shaped carriage. Hagrid, hopeful of making a good impression on the giant witch, had taken excellent care of her Abraxan. The headmistress did thank the gamekeeper, but she refused more conversation explaining she was distraught that evening.

The following day began calmly with the Beauxbâtons witches at their table in the Great Hall for breakfast, but their headmistress was absent. During lunch, the students again were all present, but about midway through the meal, the doors of the Great Hall were thrown open to allow Madame Maxime and a dozen wizards and witches with different styles of robes to enter the Great Hall and swarm around the Goblet of Fire.

With the most powerful professors coming with him, Dumbledore hurried toward the unexpected visitors. Not concerned about any problems that might touch him, Harry continued with his meal. Hermione was listening carefully to the visitors fussing in French.

'I need a spell to understand French. Wonder if there are separate spells to speak and understand? Or if there's a single spell to do both?' Harry wondered. He determined to write Uncle Moony and ask. 'And what language will the people from that other school speak? It's a disadvantage not knowing what they're saying to each other.'

In the conversations that grew louder, everyone in the Great Hall heard Madame Maxime demanding that the goblet be inspected by experts from the Français magique de l'Académie to determine if the magic in the goblet was intact; if it was safe to use in the school; and to demand that an alternative to select the champions be available.

"If you stumble with this problem, Dumbledore, le contrat magique penalise you and us all!"

Finally finishing the food, the students were instructed to depart for their afternoon classes, but they walked very slowly. In the entry hall, Harry noticed the arrival of Aurors, the man he remembered to be Cornelius Fudge, Minister for Magic, reporters, and photographers.

He left for his potions class with his year mates, but Severus Snape never appeared in the classroom, and after twenty minutes, the students dispersed to the library or common rooms.

The next morning, the Daily Prophet headlines reported the damage done to the Goblet of Fire and the fury of the French officials for the damage done to 'their artefact'. In the article, Minister Fudge blamed everything on Headmaster Dumbledore. Then in the next section of the article, Dumbledore revealed the identity of the Ministry bureaucrat who had damaged the Goblet of Fire and reminded the readers that she'd been sent to find the missing Dementors. Albus Dumbledore was quoted saying, "As near as I can tell, Minister Fudge has not found the Dementors."

'But those other wizards…Unspeakables…said the Dementors are dead and gone,' Harry remembered. 'Dobby's right. Wizards are stupid.'

A day later, the students from Beauxbâtons entered the Great Hall at lunch and gave out multiple copies of newspapers and magazines from Paris (with translation charms applied) that carried articles about the damage done to the Goblet of Fire by the British Magical Government.

Madam Maxime refused to sit at the staff table and moved to sit with her students at the back of the Great Hall. She spoke politely with all the staff members except for Dumbledore and was occasionally seen muttering hexes or jinxes anytime the headmaster appeared.

On 27 October, with the students once again gathered outside the entrance to Hogwarts, their attention was captured by a great disturbance in the waters of Black Lake just before a large ship rose from the lake's depths. The ship's appearance created great interest among the students about the magics used to transport the large three-masted sailing ship into the lake's depths and then raised it with the sails unfurled. Headmaster Dumbledore waited patiently on the steps of Hogwarts, but no one appeared on the deck of the ship.

"Ah…our quarters arrived before we did," announced a wizard's voice from along the walk from Hogsmeade to Hogwarts. "The ship makes quite an entrance, isn't it, Dumbledore?"

"Ah," Dumbledore recovered quickly. "Welcome, Headmaster Igor Karkaroff."

Behind the new visitor, there were only a dozen students. Dumbledore asked, "And are these all the students you wish to visit with us this year?"

The new headmaster grimaced, "We read the newspapers in the east, Dumbledore. We know you've already compromised the entire tournament by damaging the goblet. I hope you're prepared for lots of oversight. At Durmstrang Institute, we care about the well-being of our students and their education."

"What? Igor, I assure you that we're being careful with everything!"

The new headmaster directed his students toward the ship, where they used magic to lower a set of steps they used to climb to the deck and then disappeared inside the ship.

'They're just showing off,' Harry decided. 'And it's imposing.'

CHANGE SCENE: Goblet of Fire Arguments

During breakfast on 29 October, Dumbledore decided to light the Goblet of Fire for some reason. Harry decided that the headmaster chose to act at that time of day because neither Igor Karkaroff nor Madame Olympe Maxime was present. Students from both visiting schools were present and made efforts to contact their respective school leaders without concealing their efforts. While a few Slytherin students laughed at the Beauxbâtons and Durmstrang students while their spells were snuffed out by wards Dumbledore controlled, the headmaster had missed a few students lingering in the entry hall.

Waving his funny wand in the space just in front of the Goblet of Fire, Harry watched the magic flow from Dumbledore's wand into the goblet, where the magic did begin a light show of some magnitude – the students near the goblet from all three schools moved closer to the staff table and away from the source of the magic. In the middle of the sparkles raining down on everyone, the door to the Great Hall opened as Headmaster Igor Karkaroff strode into the room. He stopped and stood with his arms crossed and frowned darkly while Dumbledore simply grinned. Then Madame Olympe Maxime thundered into the Great Hall, dripping magic from the tip of her wand from a spell chain she'd prepared.

'Wow. She's madder than McGonagall last month; she caught Fred and George in the broom closet with Angie and Katie at the same time,' Harry thought and snickered at the same time.

The shouting match between the three heads of the schools was entertaining. All the students made their way back to their seats to continue their breakfasts, and to Harry, it seemed the magic of the goblet rose from the floor to surround the two headmasters and headmistress to prevent spells from being thrown about while letting all hear the conversations.

When breakfast almost concluded, with every student and staff member still watching, Dumbledore laughed at the other two heads of their schools and turned to address the assembled students. In a booming, jovial tone, he announced, "Now, students, the Goblet of Fire has been ignited, and the fire will burn from now until the conclusion of the third task in June. The second task will occur in February, with the goblet present at the contest. And the first task will occur here on 24 November, again with the Goblet of Fire present to oversee the festivities. Beginning this evening and continuing until luncheon on 31 October, anyone over seventeen years of age can submit their name to be a contestant. Simply write your full name on a scrap of parchment and drop it into the goblet's flames. The magic will preserve the paper, and when the magic is invoked after dinner that evening, our three champions – one from each school – will be selected."

Madame Maxime and Mr Karkaroff remained displeased but silent as the students rose and began to find their ways out of the Great Hall. Harry was a little slower than the others because he'd noticed something new. A few drips of magic continued to fall from the goblet onto the floor, and there were a few drops of magic continuing to fall from Headmaster Dumbledore's wand.

Quickly removing his glasses and cleaning them with a napkin that appeared beside his hand, Harry looked again at Dumbledore's wand and didn't see any more droplets. But then, when he slipped his glasses – now just protective runes and the dial-up rune to protect his mind – and found that he could see the drops of magic falling from Dumbledore's wand again.

In history class, Harry appeared to be making notes about a lecture on the goblin peace treaty of 1903. He wrote a letter to Remus about 'dripping magic' from the goblet of fire and the headmaster's wand. After history class, Harry ran to the owlery and sent Hedwig off with the letter during a study period. Then he got Dobby to pop him into their computer room version of the Room-of-Requirement (aka Come-And-Go-Room) to research the Teachers Compendium for any essays about magic spilling out of artefacts or dripping out of magical devices.

Nothing was written about that in the last fifty years at Hogwarts in any student essay or examination. Harry was stymied until Dobby said, "Be asking Hoggiewarts about the magic youse see with the special, great glasses Uncle Wolfie gives you."

Harry looked up with his face scrunched up. Dobby was worried for just a moment before his Mr Harry Potter said, "Dobby, you're a genius! When I am a 'stupid wizard', I can count on you to always point me on the right road."

Happy to be complimented by his wizard but confused if he should pack for a trip, Dobby watched Harry turn to the Come-And-Go room and repeat the search question, "Hogwarts, I can see magic dripping out of the goblet of Fire and this morning, I saw some falling out of Dumbledore's wand. Is that normal? Have you got any essays or books that might talk about that?"

A table appeared with several papers laid out, but there were no books. The bust of a man appeared, and a pair of old spectacles appeared on the face of the man and then disappeared before reappearing and disappearing again.

"Dobby, I think she wants to try on my glasses."

"They look funny on Hoggiewarts," Dobby replied quietly.

Harry immediately removed his glasses and put them onto the bust. He explained, "They're not corrective lenses. They just protect my eyes from the wind when I fly, and there's a rune that will pull the mind out of any wizard who tries to read my mind with the spell Legilimens. It makes a sound like the dial-up modem that connects a computer to the internet."

The bust vanished with the glasses for a few minutes while Harry glanced through the papers – each written by wizards almost a century before – about magic being malleable and fluid within structures created by wizards. The papers wrote of possible leaks and the consequences of the devices losing the magic. Other papers wrote about wild magic and how when magic dissipated, it returned to the natural raw state.

The bust returned with Harry's glasses, and he slipped them back onto his face while discussing a couple of ideas with Dobby about the magic being absorbed into the floor of Hogwarts. The papers piled themselves up beside the mirror at the computer, and Harry scanned them into the computer's memory while explaining what he was doing to Hogwarts.

"Do you think she's listening, Dobby?" asked Harry as he scanned and catalogued each paper.

"Oh yes, Mr Harry Potters. Dobby thinks Missy Hoggiewarts very interested in your computers and quills," the elf replied quietly, to not attract the attention of the entity that was Hogwarts.

CHANGE SCENE %% Name Dropping

At supper on Halloween, the Hogwarts students enjoyed the traditional decorations. In contrast, the students from Beauxbâtons and Durmstrang spread across the Great Hall and talked about the real purpose of Samhain for magical peoples. A few of the purebloods admitted that their families celebrated the old traditions and, with the visitors, explained to the half-bloods and muggle-born how the night was to honour the dead members of their family. Determined to find some way to honour his dad and mum that night, Harry allowed several drops of his milk to fall on the top of the table and whispered that he hoped his parents were happy and safe wherever they were.

While the meal proceeded to the pudding, Harry turned to the Goblet of Fire, where only the occasional solitary drop of magic fell from the crack to the floor.

'It's about empty,' he decided. 'Wonder what that'll do to the spell Dumbledore plans to cast on it?'

Rising from his throne at the staff table, with Karkaroff on one side and Maxime on the other, Headmaster Albus Dumbledore called for everyone's attention with a cannon blast from his wand.

'The magic is still dripping out of his wand,' Harry noticed.

"The time has come for the Goblet of Fire to select our three champions for the Tri-Wizard Tournament. Of all the names inserted into the goblet, the magic of the goblet will select one student from each of the three schools. Each named champion will be bound to the Goblet for the duration of the tournament," Dumbledore declared for everyone to hear. Then he raised his wand and cast the spell to invoke the selection of the three champions.

The goblet began with a small fire show, flames shooting upwards but not getting close to the ceiling. There was no heat either this time, as no one leaned away from the goblet. Then hundreds of slips of paper were expelled and burned away in flames. Then another hundred or so flew out and landed on the different tables in the hall, bearing the names of wizards and witches from earlier centuries who had entered the contest, but each slip of paper burned off quickly.

Then the flames in Goblet of Fire were extinguished.

In the sudden quiet of the Great Hall, everyone could see that there were no more flames and no slips of paper expelled. A few students laughed, and others jeered about a trick. Madame Maxime was boiling with anger again as Karkaroff asked, "How do we proceed? Is the contract void?"

"Relight the goblet!" declared Alastor Moody, who pulled his wand and cast the incendio spell that flew across the great hall and struck the goblet. This was not the proper ritual spell to light the goblet, and the simple fire spell set fire to the cup. But the remnants of magic gathered themselves and blew out four slips of paper that dropped into the hands of Madame Maxime at the staff table while the goblet melted to ruined metal.

"May I see the papers?" asked Dumbledore, floundering but determined to move along his prepared script for the evening.

"Non!" declared Madame Maxime. "They came to me! I shall announce the names."

Karkaroff asked, "But why are there four?"

Unfolding the first slip of paper, Madame Maxime announced the champion for Durmstrang Institute was Victor Krum. Then she announced that Cedric Diggory would be the champion of Hogwarts. Opening the third slip, she said, "Champion for Beauxbâtons est Fleur Delacour!"

Then she opened the fourth slip of paper, frowned, and began yelling at Dumbledore. It was almost a full minute before Dumbledore could read the slip of paper and announce, "The goblet of fire selected a fourth contestant – Harry Potter!"

Angry again, the half-giant headmistress lifted her wand and announced, "Je déclare cette sélection de noms invalide. La coupe de feu a été compromise."

(I declare this selection of names to be invalid. The goblet of fire has been compromised.)

Several angry shouts around the Great Hall and lots of laughter at the Gryffindor table. The adults at the staff table argued while Harry frowned and tried to control his temper.

'I won't let them force me into this tournament! No!' he decided.

He glanced around the Great Hall and saw magic boiling out of the ruined cup. Harry shouted, "Down! Everyone down on the floor!"

There was a loud explosion as the ruined goblet spewed out giant flames that blackened the walls across the back of the Great Hall with soot. Then everything fell silent, and a few heads peeked from under the tables. Several adults, including Professor Moody, were thrown back from their previous places in the Great Hall, but it appeared that no student was injured.

"What did you do to the goblet, Potter?" Ron demanded to know from further up the table. "Your name came out, and then it blew up, so what did you do?"

"Ron, I couldn't put my name in. I'm not seventeen," Harry explained patiently.

"Then you paid someone to put your name in! Why didn't you tell me! They could have put my name in too! You're a worthless mudblood bastard who doesn't deserve my friendship!" the Weasley brother swore vehemently.

Harry glanced around and found most of the other students looked uncomfortable, but none offered any support for the Boy-Who-Lived. He sighed but fell silent and refused to answer questions from anyone. Meanwhile, Madam Maxim was shouting at Dumbledore, Alastor Moody, and Barty Crouch, Sr again about destroying a priceless French artefact by the feckless English!

Glancing at the goblet again, Harry thought Hogwarts had absorbed that last bit of magic from the Goblet of Fire.

"What are we to do about champions?" asked Igor Karkaroff.

Albus tried to push forward his agenda, beginning to say, "We have four suitable…"

"Four! Imbécile! Dumblesdore, vous êtes imbécile! Le petit is not of age! He cannot compete!" Madam Maxime's anger mixing her speech terribly.

Karkaroff shouted, "I agree. The boy is not a champion unless you wish to state clearly at this moment that this Harry Potter is an adult – a wizard of full age!

Dumbledore looked sour-faced, but he was not interested in Harry Potter becoming independent. Hence, he allowed Maxime and Karkaroff to force the other judges to agree that the selection of four contestants was void, and the three champions would be Cedric Diggory, Fleur Delacour, and Victor Krum.

CHANGE SCENE: Blame

The following day at breakfast, Harry learned the older students blamed him for the goblet burning away. Even the three champions thought he'd done something wrong though they didn't know exactly what.

However, Harry argued that the adults were responsible. "Remember the pink witch knocking the goblet over and cracking it on the floor? Remember Professor Moody threw the incendio spell at the goblet and set it on fire? Remember Madam Maxime blaming Dumbledore?"

None of his questions made his peers think or change their minds. Then in the evening, when Harry tried to work with the younger students in Gryffindor, the prefects sent the kids to bed and banished the parchments and papers Harry gave out.

Desperate for help, he went to Professor McGonagall, and she barely looked at him before saying, "Whatever you want…no. Just no! Potter, I have seldom been as disappointed in any student as I am disappointed in you. This prank with the Goblet of Fire is just too much!"

"Prank? I didn't do anything! That woman from the ministry broke the goblet! Not me!"

"Don't try and blame this on someone else!"

Harry fell silent and stared at McGonagall for a moment; images and memories of Aunt Petunia with her disapproval, Ron Weasley with his disgust with his mudblood friend, Draco Malfoy with his unwarranted superiority, Albus Dumbledore with his aloofness to the concerns of anyone not one hundred years old, and finally, Minerva McGonagall every time he'd come to her for help in years past.

He'd not depend on anyone at Hogwarts ever again.

"Forgive the intrusion on your time, Professor McGonagall," Harry said coldly before fleeing the office. Determined to be left alone for a time, the young wizard sought to hide in a deserted classroom. He slipped inside a room, closed the door without locking it and walked to a corner. He slipped down and placed his head on his knees, mourning the loss of the quiet year he'd hoped to find at Hogwarts in 1994-1995.

Dobby quietly popped into the room and hid Harry's magical signature from the adults looking for him (McGonagall, Snape, and Moody). Each professor passed by the door without detecting any sign of the boy on this floor. In the solitude of the classroom, Harry found himself with a cup of hot chocolate and a pillow underneath his bum.

'I can count on Dobby,' he remembered as he finished the cup of chocolate. 'And I can depend on Uncle Moony. Werewolves are supposed to be dangerous creatures, but the only adult I can trust is a werewolf.'

"Dobby."

"Yes, my Mr Harry Potters?"

"I need to write a letter to Remus."

Dobby popped Harry from the deserted classroom to the Come-And-Go room, where the computer, mirror, and printer were set up. Harry sat at the keyboard and quickly keyed a letter explaining everything about the Goblet of Fire, the mess with the names and the drawing, the burning of the goblet and the bruhaha afterwards.

'All the kids my age and older think I made the goblet blow up and then burn. They saw Professor Moody set it on fire, but it's still my fault. The headmistress of Beauxbâtons and the headmaster of Durmstrang forced Dumbledore to agree the drawing was invalid, and only the students who were seventeen were in the tournament. And some kids believe me, but they're keeping their mouths shut out of self-preservation. I don't have any adult here who is thinking about me.'

Hedwig appeared in the Come-And-Go room and stuck out her leg, demanding the opportunity to carry the letter to Remus. Not willing to disappoint his faithful owl, Harry let her take the letter.

"But let Dobby pop you outside the wards first, Hedwig. I don't want Whiskers to know you left."

CHANGE SCENE && Consulting with Alastor

In Dumbledore's office, McGonagall and Snape reported their failure to find any sign of Harry Potter in the castle. Moody arrived last and echoed their results. Then he declared, "The boy's done a runner!"

"Nonsense, the wards haven't registered him slipping away, and the hidden passages all remained hidden," replied Dumbledore.

"Do you know all the passages?" asked Snape. Dumbledore simply pursed his lips at the question and didn't respond – like he didn't know where everything was in 'his' castle.

"I have papers to grade," Snape said and left.

McGonagall sighed and said, "I can't believe James Potter is that boy's father. There's entirely too much of Lily Evans in him!"

"Why don't you tell that to Snape sometime, McGonagall?" asked Alastor as he tried to sit in a chair in front of Dumbledore's desk.

"I have work to complete also," the deputy headmistress stated rather than answer the question. She fled the headmaster's office without another word of goodbye.

Alastor sighed, "What do you want me to do, headmaster?"

'How far can I manipulate him?' Albus wondered for a minute.

But the headmaster merely stated, "I am evaluating several strategies."

"We must get Potter into the Tri-Wizard Tournament!"

"Why do you think that is necessary?" Albus asked, pleased with the direction of the conversation.

"Obviously, it's a plot by Death Eaters to arrange something to get their Dark Lord back!"

'That's all the right words,' Dumbledore decided. Then he stated, "Madam Bones believes the ministry executed the last of the Death Eaters back in the summer.

"Bah, those were just the ones who were stupid enough to get caught. That wizard…he had followers who weren't marked but were just as loyal as those in Azkaban."

"I fear you're right, Alastor," Dumbledore admitted. "Do you have any suggestions?"

"Kill one of the other champions, and then the boy will have to compete, or everyone dies for violating the contract."

"There'd be problems if Krum or the bird were to die before the first task," Albus observed. "The Europeans are unhappy, and the French are boiling the potions cauldron dry with their anger about the Goblet of Fire being destroyed. "The only champion you could eliminate would be Amos Diggory's son. He is your great-nephew, I believe.

Moody paused and sighed as convincingly as ever Dumbledore could before saying, "From time to time, sacrifices have to be made for the greater good."

"How will you accomplish this?"

Moody smirked and said, "Already saddled me with the task then?"

Dumbledore remained silent and waited. Then Alastor declared, "Hogsmeade weekend. I'll kill him with a piercing through the chest and cut off his legs. He'll bleed out in two minutes without a chance of being revived."

Dumbledore nodded sadly and motioned for the wizard to leave his office.

'That was almost too easy. Is Alastor slipping mentally in his old age?' the headmaster questioned his friend's mental state but never considered his own.

CHANGE SCENE && Harry's Friends

In the Great Hall, it wasn't unusual for there to be animated discussions among a house's members at the table for any meal and even for an exchange of ideas and opinions between the different tables. But at lunch on Guy Fawkes Day, there was a loud argument between Ron Weasley against most of the students in his year from Gryffindor and several from Hufflepuff.

"He's a bloody coward, hiding and not coming out!" shouted Ron when Neville defended Harry. Lavender, Parvati, Dean, Susan Bones, and Hannah Abbot agreed with Neville Longbottom. When Ron pulled his wand to threaten the other students, Cedric Diggory summoned Ron's wand and joined the argument.

"But where's he hiding?" Ron complained. "No one can find him!"

"Then he's well hidden," replied Susan Bones. She blinked as though confused before she continued, "Do you think Potter is afraid you'll jump him while he's in bed asleep?"

Understanding the setup, Hannah Abbot said, "Or he's afraid Ron will jump him while he's in the shower."

Neville shook his head and said, "Harry's not attracted to Ron. He'd never go for a redhead."

"What?" shouted Ron. His face turned red, and Weasley continued yelling, "I'm not…Oi! Longbottom! You're the poofter! Not me!"

Harry entered the Great Hall at just that moment, and Ron rose from his seat to move down the Gryffindor table to sit with his older brothers. Fred and George were reluctant to let Ron sit with them, so he threatened, "Let me sit here, or I'll write Mum about your stupid prank that turned the girls in Ravenclaw blue for a whole day last week."

"Ron! No one knew…" one twin tried to say.

"Weasley! All three of you! Detention with me! Tonight!" shouted Professor Flitwick, who'd been caught in the prank and the fifth-year girls in his house.

"Hi, Harry. Sit here," said Neville. "You're better company than Ron Weasley."

"That's not saying much," said Dean.

End of Chapter.