Chapter 19
UnMarked
The next morning, after breakfast
Tuesday, 22nd October
The headmaster's office
When Albus sat down at his desk, he found a letter waiting for him.
Albus did not at first open it; instead, he ran every kind of diagnostic spell he knew. His spells told him that the letter had no charms or curses on it. The one magical signature told Albus that the letter had been written and delivered by a house-elf—but the house-elf's magical signature did not match any of the Hogwarts house-elves.
Albus wondered, How could a house-elf who isn't a Hogwarts elf come into the castle and leave this letter on my desk? Augusta's house-elf and Cyrus's house-elf were blocked by a ward from doing this.
Albus decided that it was safe to open the letter, so he broke the wax seal and began to read.
.
Albus my friend,
I won't tell you my name, but we've chatted in the past. You'd recognise my name if I chose to tell you my name.
Rumour has it that you've stolen much, much money from at least one other person's vault, and so Gringotts has put you on their shitlist.
Rumour also says that if you walk into Gringotts, you'll be arrested and put on trial—and everyone knows that goblin trials never end well. Meanwhile, another rumour says that all the people you trust to do your banking for you, have been banned as your proxies. And forget using a glamour or Polyjuice Potion—the goblins would spot you before you even reached a teller window.
It sucks to be you, Albus. Truly.
Fortunately, I've a solution. It'll be expensive, but what other choice do you have?
Undoubtedly you're aware that the dwarves have a banking system in Switzerland; I trust you're also aware that the dwarves and the goblins are competitive. It turns out that the Switzerland dwarves have invented a shape-shifting potion that the goblins can't detect and can't neutralise. The dwarves haven't actually used this potion—to do so would start a dwarves-goblins war—but the goblins know that the dwarves could use their shape-shifting potion to destroy Gringotts if the dwarves were angry enough at the goblins.
I've a contact amongst the dwarves at DwerfBank Suisse, and I now have the full recipe to "Swiss Dwarves' Shape-Shifting Potion." I've brewed the potion and tested it in Gringotts, disguised as my brother-in-law. I didn't push my luck; I walked in, presented my key whilst pretending to be my brother-in-law, went down to my vault, filled a moneybag and left the bank, all without the goblins discovering who I actually was.
For you to get the recipe, it will cost you five hundred galleons. Send your owl to Diagon Mail Service, Box 739.
John Bull
.
Albus snarled, but then realised he had no real choice. However, he was not about to let "John Bull" stay in control here. Albus wrote back—
.
Mr Bull,
I will pay only one hundred galleons. Before you see even one knut, I insist that you tell me your true name. Without knowing your name, I have no reason to trust you.
Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore
.
Albus added a few magical tricks to the letter: a Tracking charm, a Compulsion to read Albus's letter aloud, and a Portkey that would take "John Bull" to the Dumbledore House dungeon when Bull said the word Brian.
Albus, feeling proud of himself, went to the Owlery and sent off his letter.
(Albus would not have been in such a happy mood if he knew that the Spirit of Hogwarts had killed all of Albus's magical tricks, even before the letter had left Hogwarts airspace.)
Lunchtime, in the Great Hall
An owl brought Albus a letter. On the front of the letter, in the upper-left corner, was written, "John Bull." Albus wondered, How did you escape being Portkeyed into my dungeon?
Albus pulled the now-dodgy Elder Wand and tried to trace the Tracking Charm that he had put on his outbound letter. Alas, the result of the trace was "Unable to locate."
Sighing, Albus opened up John Bull's letter—
.
Albus,
I'm not the thief here. You're in no position to make demands. "I insist that you tell me your true name." Are you serious? If one of us should "insist" on anything, it is I. I insist that you not pay me the five hundred galleons in leprechaun gold. (We both know you've considered the idea.)
John Bull
.
Albus scowled, reading the letter. Albus's next letter (which again was magically tricked out) offered to pay G125.
John Bull was not transported to the Dumbledore House dungeon when he read Albus's latest letter, and again Dumbledore's tracking charm could not be traced. But there was one bit of good news: John Bull's third letter did drop his asking price—to G498.
A week later
Tuesday, 29th October
By 24th October, Albus had come up on his offered price, to G200. John Bull had come down only to G480. Bull had replied in his latest letter, "I'm tired of all these knut-and-sickle negotiations of yours. Owl me when you're serious about buying the recipe."
Albus had been too proud to offer much more than G200—nobody got the best of Albus Dumbledore! But John Bull sent no more letters—he was either patient, indifferent, or crafty.
But on 29th October, Albus's calendar told him that the Hogwarts faculty needed to be paid in two days—and Albus had no idea how he was going to achieve this (other than by borrowing from Sirius Black again and being forced to speak another magical oath).
So on 29th October, Albus abased himself to get his hands on G480. But the actual collecting of 480 gold coins took until the next day—nobody who had money wanted to give it to Albus.
Still Tuesday, 29th October
The Slytherin Library
By now Harry had found two Parsel sticking-charms (and their counters); Hermione had found one more. But which of the three Parsel sticking-charms did Voldemort use for the Dark Mark wafers?
When Harry asked this question aloud, Hermione had a strange reply: "Harry, how many Parseltext books are in the regular Hogwarts library?"
"None, unless Madam Pince has them hidden away."
"So all the Parseltext books in this school are either here"—she waved her hand about, to mean the library they were in—"or in the bookcase in Slytherin's flat. Right?"
"Yes...," Harry said, wondering what point Hermione was making.
"And we're sure that Tom Riddle, when he was here fifty years ago, never found this library."
Harry grinned. "That, or he didn't mind walking through a thousand years of choking dust."
"So here's my idea: The sticking-charm that he used, can only be written-up in one of the books in that bookcase, not here in this library. So use your Parsel text-search spell on those hundred or so books in that bookcase. However-many sticking-charms you find, one of them will be what Voldemort uses on the wafers."
Hermione watched Harry walk out of the Parseltext library, headed for Salazar Slytherin's flat and its bookcase. Less than three minutes later, Harry ran back into the library, a book in his hand. "Hermione, you were right! Over in that bookcase, there's only one version of the spell!"
Harry had used a finger to mark his place in that book. Now he dropped the book onto the table in front of Hermione, and pointed to part of the right-side page. "Here's the second Parsel sticking-charm we found, and the only one that Riddle would've found."
Hermione said, "Harry, remember that this is Parseltext. I can't read it."
Harry, blushing with embarrassment, made a blue-covered copy of the book. This is how Hermione relearnt the sticking-charm that she had found two days ago—Stick these two surfaces together—and its counter, Unstick these two surfaces.
Harry said, "Hermione, I think this is the right spell, and the right counterspell! Let's go find Snape."
Ten minutes later
Harry and Hermione were sitting in the corridor outside Professor Snape's Potions classroom in the dungeons.
At the moment, Professor Snape was teaching NEWT-level Potions for sixth-years. Clearly it almost killed Harry, having to wait till the class finished; Hermione could not guess why Harry was so antsy. Is this another Delphi thing? she wondered.
Forty minutes later
In Snape's Potions classroom
Besides Snape himself, three other people were in the classroom: Andromeda Tonks, Harry and Hermione. None of Snape's fifth- through seventh-year students were present.
At the moment, Snape was sitting on a stool by the teacher's desk. The left sleeve of his robe was pulled up all the way to his elbow. His left forearm was resting on the edge of the desk, turned sideways.
Snape, unlike the three other people in the room, looked calm.
Harry had his wand pointing at the Dark Mark on Snape's forearm, but had not yet cast the spell. Harry felt nervous, and both Andromeda Tonks and Hermione looked nervous.
Snape said, "Andi, if this kills me, tell the Aurors that I hold Mr Potter completely blameless."
That's when it hit Harry: I could be sent to Azkaban for what I'm about to do.
Snape asked Hermione, "Miss Granger, have you checked Mr Potter's research?"
Hermione nodded. "Harry will use the right spell, professor. We're both sure of it."
"Do it, Mr Potter," Snape said calmly.
Harry hissed, "§Unstick these two surfaces.§"
The Dark Mark wafer dropped from Snape's forearm onto the table.
Harry exhaled with relief.
"You did it, Harry!" Hermione yelled. She hugged Harry and kissed his cheek.
"Merlin on a toadstool," muttered Andromeda Tonks.
"Thank you, Mr Potter," Snape said calmly. "Mr Potter and Miss Granger, twenty points apiece to Ravenclaw for exceptional research."
As soon as Hermione finished hugging Harry, Harry saw her use her wand to levitation-flip the wafer over.
The underside of the wafer showed a series of honeycombs—hexagonal tiles outlined with thin, black lines. Entirely contained within most of the cells of the honeycomb, not over or under any black lines, were runes.
Andi rushed out of Snape's Potions classroom to fetch the Ancient Runes professor, Bathsheda Babbling.
Professor Babbling was a young woman in her twenties, only a few years older than Nymphadora Tonks. Babbling walked into the Potions laboratory carrying parchment, a quill and an ink bottle.
Babbling's face showed confusion when she walked into Snape's Potions laboratory and saw Snape (whose left hand was casually resting on the teacher's desk), two first-year students (one of whom was Harry Potter), and no runes-covered parchment.
Babbling looked even more confused when Snape immediately demanded from her an oath that she would not reveal what she learnt in this Potions classroom today, without his permission.
After Babbling gave her oath, Snape lifted his hand off the table. He said, "This strange little thing on the table, Bathsheda, is my Dark Mark wafer, turned bottom-side up. Mr Potter and Miss Granger discovered how to remove the Dark Mark from my arm."
Babbling choked in her surprise, then walked round the desk to see the Dark Mark better. She wound up conjuring something like a microscope, because the runes on the wafer were so tiny.
Quivering with excitement, Babbling began to copy onto parchment, the runes that she saw. Then she announced her findings to the Potions professors and to the first-years—
"Inside each honeycomb is one runic command; if a command needs several honeycombs' worth of writing area, some of the containing black lines are erased. The runic commands are for instant death, for pain beyond imagining, portkey, colour change, health-drain, magic-drain, tampering detection, message in, message out, Morsmordre and the protean charm. The default magic-drain is just enough to power the wafer."
"It's a magical, evil computer chip," said Hermione.
Andi said, "That thing has runes for killing? You mean You-Know-Who could have killed Severus from a hundred miles away?"
Snape said, "This would explain something about the Dark Lord that I always found odd: He transfigures a Death Eater's Dark Mark wafer, and the Dark Lord then sticks the wafer to the new Death Eater's arm, but the Dark Lord himself wears no Dark Mark."
Hermione said, "Because he doesn't want anyone able to remotely kill him."
Harry said, "I have a different question. Suppose, purely imaginary, let's say that Voldemort is alive.—"
Hermione shot Harry a sharp look.
Harry continued, "Would Voldemort know now that Professor Snape has lost his Dark Mark?"
Babbling drew her wand and waved it over "the magical, evil computer chip." She said, "No. All the runes here are inert; they lost power when they lost contact with Severus's skin. The message-out runes could send no message out."
"Besides," said Hermione, "Voldemort isn't part of the network—how could he be told? I don't think he cooked up a contingency plan for if someone successfully removed a Dark Mark."
Snape said, "So to summarise: I am free of the Dark Mark, no Death Eaters know, and the Dark Lord does not know." Snape then smiled—briefly.
Babbling, her face showing horror, looked at Snape and at Harry. "I thought You-Know-Who was dead."
Snape turned the Dark Mark over, so that its usual side—which showed a snake coming out of a skull's mouth—faced up. Everyone could see clearly that the Dark Mark was not dark at all.
Snape said, "Right now the Dark Lord is not healthy and robust. But neither is he dead."
Harry asked Snape, "What do you plan to do with this wafer? If it's okay with you, I'd like to keep it. For study."
Hermione shot Harry another look.
Snape shrugged. "I happily would destroy the wafer with Fiendfyre. If you want it, take it."
Harry summoned Greyclay and told him, "Please fetch that little lead box that I had you transfigure. Then you are dismissed." Snap. Pop. Harry levitated the Dark Mark wafer into the small lead box, shut the lid, locked the box-lid shut with Colloportus, then put the lead box in his pocket.
"Why use lead for the box?" Hermione asked.
Babbling replied, "So that the wafer's evil magic can't affect anyone outside the box."
The next morning
Wednesday, 30th October
Albus was feeling desperate (another payroll was due tomorrow). He also was feeling humiliated that John Bull had bested him—and Albus still did not know John Bull's real name! Albus felt all these feelings when, after breakfast, he owled G480 to John Bull's post-box.
At lunch, an unremarkable postal owl delivered to Albus the recipe for "Swiss Dwarves' Shape-Shifting Potion." Albus thought, All right, goblins, you think you're more clever than Albus Dumbledore? I'll show you!
After lunch, Albus called Severus over and shoved the recipe-parchment into the potions-master's hands. Albus said, "I need this brewed by tomorrow."
Severus glanced over the recipe, then said, "But headmaster—"
"No questions, Severus. Have this brewed by tomorrow!"
Severus bowed slightly. "As you command, headmaster." Severus turned and, with the billowing of robes, walked away.
Albus wondered if he was missing something. Severus bowed like that, and spoke those particular words, only when he was being sarcastic or ironic.
Despite the potion's title of "Swiss Dwarves' Shape-Shifting Potion," Snape did not for one second believe that the potion he had just been ordered to brew, worked anything like Polyjuice Potion.
Admittedly Snape was confused about the requirement for two live hairs from the same human donor—which also was one of the ingredients in Polyjuice Potion.
But neither fluxweed nor lacewing flies were listed as ingredients for this potion, and every shape-shifting potion that Snape had ever heard of, needed those two ingredients. Even Rowena Ravenclaw's Potion for Shyfting Schaep of a thousand years ago, needed fluxweed and lacewing flies to work.
But whilst Snape noted what was not in the recipe, he also took note of the ingredients that were in the recipe—
• crushed pea-plant leaves—used in potions that caused the drinker to feel something that was not there, such as ants crawling on one's skin;
• sliced raven feathers—used in potions that caused the drinker to see something that was not there, such as a blue unicorn in the room; and
• dried and ground dandelion seeds—used in potions that caused the drinker to hear something that was not there, such as a dead person's voice.
Snape was not clear what exactly this potion was meant to do. But since the potion made the drinker feel something, see something and hear something that was not there, the potion created a quite believable illusion of some sort.
Snape decided that if the headmaster intended to drink a potion that would fool him convincingly, Snape would stand aside without a peep and watch as the headmaster was made the fool.
The next day (Thursday, 31st October), morning
The Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom
Harry sat in class and knew, because of his knowledge of the future, that in about eight hours, Professor Quirrell would attempt to steal the Philosopher's Stone. Harry had two plans to stop him, but the first plan required that Dumbledore leave the castle.
Fortunately, Harry had a plan for this too—a plan that yesterday had made Harry G480 richer.
At the moment, Quirrell was stuttering at the front of the classroom, and Harry was convinced that today the turbaned professor's stuttering was the worst it had ever been.
But Quirrell was not the only person in the classroom who was pretending to be worthless. Harry was spending all of today's class-time wearing a befuddled expression, and when Quirrell asked Harry what the incantation for the Shield Charm was, Harry deliberately spoke the wrong answer. ("Protectio," Harry said, when the correct incantation was Protego.)
However, Harry had not realised that when he answered wrong, Hermione would give him a frowning, disappointed look, and this hurt.
At lunchtime
At the High Table in the Great Hall
As soon as Albus sat down in his golden throne, Severus walked over and placed a potion-phial by his plate. Severus started to turn away.
Albus snapped, "I expected this at breakfast. Your tardiness has disrupted plans of mine."
"It was not ready at breakfast. I did not finish brewing the potion till about an hour after seventh-year NEWT Potions this morning."
"I recall that the recipe's instructions mentioned 'five hours.' You could have finished the potion last night."
"True, headmaster, I could have, but then I would have gone to bed late. I never go to bed late, except because of an emergency. This was not an emergency. Last night at 10 p.m., I put the potion under stasis and went to bed."
Albus growled, "I am the headmaster, and I gave you a task to perform. You do not consider such a thing to be an emergency?"
Snape replied, "I teach the most dangerous subject here. If I am groggy in class and a dunderhead has an accident, this could mean the child dies. I will not have such a thing on my conscience. Now, headmaster, today is payday. Is my pay already in my vault? Or must I wait till you meet with Lord Black, then you pay me in person?"
"Severus, I am disappointed that you do not trust me. I intend to go to Gringotts this afternoon and to get Hogwarts's finances straightened out, once and for all."
"I look forward to it, headmaster," Severus said. Albus could not read Severus's expression.
Meanwhile, at the Ravenclaw table
Harry and Hermione were talking to Terry Boot and to Su Li when Harry suddenly felt a sharp pain on the top of his head. "Ow!"
"What's wrong?" Hermione asked.
"It felt like someone yanked two live hairs from my head."
Hermione and a third-year Ravenclaw boy both looked horrified. They both were clearly thinking, Polyjuice Potion!
At the Slytherin table, Daphne Greengrass stood up and walked over to where the Ravenclaw firsties were eating.
Daphne said, "Oi, Heir Potter, you missed the excitement over in Slytherin First-Year Charms this morning."
Cho Chang said, "Snake Girl, what are you doing here? This table is for the smart kids, not the evil kids."
Hermione said, "Then you're sitting at the wrong table, Chang, because you're an evil little bully."
"Watch your mouth, firstie," Marietta Edgecombe snarled. Marietta said to Daphne, "Get gone, snake. You're not wanted here."
"Listen up, not-prefects," said Hermione to Marietta and Cho. "The rules say Daphne can stand anywhere in the Great Hall and talk to anyone, and sit anywhere if she's invited." Hermione shot Cho and Marietta triumphant looks; the bully girls scowled. Clearly to twist their tails, Hermione then said, "I invite you to sit with us, Daphne."
Daphne replied, "No thank you, Hermione, but thanks for the invite."
"Anyway, Daphne," Harry said, "what happened in your Charms class?" Harry felt dread. He had memories of Gryffindor First-Year Charms class in his previous lifetime, learning how to levitate a feather—and vivid memories of Ron's cruel words to Hermione after class.
Meanwhile, Daphne was answering, "Bilious was being a waste of space again. We were practising the Levitation Charm, but Bilious kept getting the pronunciation wrong: Wingardium levio-SA. How could he get the pronunciation wrong? He's from a magical family—I learnt the correct pronunciation when I was nine."
Harry asked, "So how did Bilious mispronouncing the spell cause 'excitement'?"
"Millie came over and tried to help him. Which made him all red-faced—but amazingly, Bilious didn't say something enormously stupid in class. Anyway, even with Millie's help, it took till almost the end of class for Bilious to float his feather. Then, as soon as class ended and we were all out in the corridor, Bilious called Millie 'an ugly troll swot with no friends.' Bilious made my cousin cry."
Harry felt horror. "Is Millicent okay now? She—she isn't crying in a lavatory, is she?"
Daphne looked at Harry in surprise. "No, she wasn't that upset, because I quickly gave her a hug—and you know what a big deal this is." Because Purebloods don't hug. "No, the problem is just that now at lunch, Millie is quiet and she's all pouty and sad-looking."
"Daphne, here's what I want you to do. First, give Millicent another hug—and say loudly that this hug is from Millicent's friend, Harry Potter. Second, walk up to Bilious and dump a cup of pumpkin juice on his head—and tell him that this is from Harry Potter too."
For Daphne dumping pumpkin juice on that git Bilious's head at Harry's request, Snape assigned Harry and Daphne detention that evening, after the Halloween Feast—one hour of detention.
Then Snape cleaned up and dried off Bilious. With arctic coldness, Snape said to the boy, "Mr Weasley, you I will deal with separately. I have in mind for you, something other than cleaning cauldrons nonmagically. Something you will not like."
Meanwhile at the Ravenclaw table, Cho murmured to Marietta, "That bushy-haired beaver has crossed the line. This afternoon, you and I will deal with her."
Marietta smiled evilly. "Especially since I found in the library a spell that fixes a meddling house-elf."
Fifteen minutes later
In the headmaster's suite, Hogwarts SOW&W
Albus drank the "Swiss Dwarves' Shape-Shifting Potion," with two live hairs from Harry Potter added to the potion. Albus had chosen Harry Potter as the person to copy because Albus knew that Gringotts would never bother the person who they thought was Harry Potter. Besides, after all the trouble the brat had caused Albus, the boy deserved to have his appearance "borrowed."
Seconds after drinking the potion, Albus felt his body change. Fascinated Albus watched in the mirror as his beard retracted, his long grey hair retracted and darkened, and the wrinkles in his face smoothed out, even as the face itself shifted.
Best of all, Albus's clothing changed—becoming those blue trousers that Muggle children favoured, plus a long-sleeved button-up shirt; both covered with Ravenclaw robes. Albus's black-leather shoes became green-cloth trainers.
Did my voice change? Albus wondered. Aloud, he said, "Testing, testing, three, seven, thirteen, seventeen." Albus was delighted to hear his words spoken with the mezzo-soprano voice of eleven-year-old Harry Potter, not in Albus's own baritone voice.
Albus was grinning like a fool as he scooped up all seventeen of the vault keys he controlled—the key to his family vault, keys to his fourteen personal vaults and keys to the two Hogwarts vaults that he oversaw as headmaster.
Once Albus had shrunk and had pocketed all seventeen keys, he walked up to the Floo Fireplace. "Leaky Cauldron," he called out in a boy's voice. One second later, Albus was magically gone from the castle.
When Albus stepped out of the Floo Fireplace at the Leaky Cauldron, he heard some grunts and whistles made by the people there, but Albus paid no attention to them.
As Albus climbed up the stairs of Gringotts, he saw two goblin guards tighten their grips on their war-axes. Albus wondered if someone had made death-threats against Harry Potter that Albus had not heard about.
Albus opened the front door and stepped into the bank lobby. As he stepped to the rear of the queue for speaking to a teller, he recognised the witch in the bright-green robes, two people ahead of him in the queue, as Rita Skeeter.
Albus hoped that Skeeter would not try to wheedle an interview with the Boy Who Lived. Albus really did not need more problems today.
Meanwhile, in Harry's dormitory in Ravenclaw
Harry was sitting on his bed, waiting. Harry had been doing this—sitting on his bed and waiting—since he had left the Great Hall at the end of lunch.
Pop. A Hogwarts house-elf appeared in front of Harry. "Spirit of Hoggywarts sent Footy to tell you, Headmaster Dumbly is out of the castle."
Finally, Harry thought. Aloud, he said, "Thank you, Footy. You may go."
Pop. Harry opened his trunk and grabbed his Haroldus Cyrus Potter wand, which he pocketed.
After Footy left, Harry called Greyclay. Pop. Greyclay was perfect for Harry's next job for two reasons. First, Greyclay was one of the few house-elves in Wizarding Britain, other than the Hogwarts elves, who could elf-pop anywhere inside Hogwarts; and second, Greyclay would not answer any of the whiskered wanker's questions, should they meet.
Harry had Greyclay elf-pop him to just outside of the locked door to the forbidden corridor on the third floor. Harry summoned the Spirit of Hogwarts and asked her, "Is any student or professor in there, alive or dead?" Harry was pretty sure what the answer would be, but he wanted to be sure.
"No. Nobody is in there."
"Good," Harry said. He unlocked the door with Alohomora, then cast the Stasis Charm on Fluffy the Cerberus. Harry shut the door and locked it with Colloportus.
Harry said to the Spirit, "I want that Alohomora now will work on this door only if I cast it, or Minerva McGonagall casts it."
"Change made."
"I put Fluffy in stasis so the Cerberus won't starve to death if it's a long time before this door is unlocked."
"This is kind of you," the Spirit said.
"Please let me know when the wards are reassigned to Minerva McGonagall"—when Dumbledore no longer was headmaster. "I expect this to be soon. Also, let me know when Quirrell goes anywhere other than to his quarters, his classroom and the Great Hall."
"As you wish."
"You are dismissed." The Spirit curtseyed, then vanished.
Greyclay had been quietly standing next to Harry during Harry's entire conversation with the Spirit of Hogwarts. Now Harry said to Greyclay, "Ahead of us on the other side of this door, maybe down a bit, is a chamber with a magic mirror in it. Take us to that chamber."
Pop.
The chamber was built from stone blocks. Three torches, in sconces, lit themselves as soon as Harry and Greyclay entered the room. Directly ahead of Harry was the Mirror of Erised.
Harry looked into the Mirror. He saw himself in his late twenties; he had a trimmed beard. He was holding a girl, about five years old, with bushy, black hair and hazel eyes. A toddler boy, about two years old, with messy, chestnut-brown hair and green eyes, was clutching Harry's trouser-leg. Beside Harry and those two children stood late-twenties Hermione, who was holding a redheaded, green-eyed baby in her arms. Harry and Hermione were smiling at each other, and their children were smiling at their parents.
Harry thought, I want the Philosopher's Stone that is in the mirror, so that I can return the Stone to its rightful owner.
The toddler boy had something that he had been holding in the fist of his free hand. Now the boy stood on tiptoes, reached up, and dropped whatever he had been holding into Dad-Harry's pocket.
At the same time, real Harry felt a small weight hit the bottom of his real pocket. Harry reached into his pocket and pulled out the red Philosopher's Stone that he had last seen six years ago.
Feeling a sense of relief, Harry said to Greyclay, "Take me back to my dormitory in Ravenclaw Tower."
Once this had been done, Harry handed the Philosopher's Stone to Greyclay. "Take this to Nicholas Flamel. Tell him that Dumbledore lied to him—whatever story Dumbledore told Flamel that he needed the Stone for, what Dumbledore actually used the Stone for was to lure Voldemort to a school full of children. The wraith of Voldemort is possessing Professor Quirinus Quirrell."
Pop—Greyclay was gone.
Harry felt satisfaction. He had removed the Philosopher's Stone so that Voldemort could not steal it and could not bring himself fully back to life. And by locking the door to the forbidden corridor with a spell that not even Voldemort could unlock, Harry also had prevented the students of Hogwarts from dying "a most painful death."
Whilst Harry was in his dormitory, the Spirit of Hogwarts appeared to him and said, "With the arrest of Albus Dumbledore in Gringotts, and his trial and conviction in a goblin court, he no longer is the headmaster at Hogwarts."
Harry said, "I'm sorry I wasn't there to watch. I would've been dancing in my seat."
Earlier
In the Gringotts lobby
Albus, believing that everyone saw him as Harry Potter, opened the door at the top of the steps and entered the bank lobby. As he stepped to the rear of the queue for speaking to a teller, he recognised the witch in the bright-green robes, two people ahead of him in the queue, as Rita Skeeter.
Immediately one of the bank tellers pointed at Albus and yelled, "Savt kar Dumbledore Albus-ok, megkrob pu!"
Within seconds, two goblin guards were poking Albus with spears. "Come with us," one demanded. "Albus Dumbledore, you are under arrest for theft."
Albus was feeling dragon-sized panic. "I'm not Albus Dumbledore, I'm Harry Potter!"
Rita Skeeter, who now was watching the show, rolled her eyes. "You can't be Harry Potter, because I'm Harry Potter."
A man in the queue said, "No, I'm Harry Potter."
A man in Muggle clothes said, "Not me, I'm Spartacus."
A goblin officer ran up. One of the two goblins who was poking Albus with a spear said to the officer, whilst laughing scornfully, "Tok jikap tok kar Potter Harry yeb."
The goblin officer said to Dumbledore, "You're a liar. I'm Harry Potter, cleverly disguised."
The goblin officer put magic-suppressing manacles on Dumbledore. Then Albus did not look and sound like Harry Potter, he looked and sounded like himself—
—but Albus did not feel the reverse shape-shifting that he had felt whenever he had taken Polyjuice Potion and it had worn off.
I never transformed, he realised. I only thought I transformed. I walked in here looking like Albus Dumbledore, the wizard whom Gringotts wanted to arrest. I paid G480 to a magical swindler.
Albus demanded that he be handed over to the custody of the DMLE. The goblins' reply, stripped of all insults, was "No, this won't happen."
Albus was walked to a goblin courtroom and was forced to drink goblin truth serum.
Albus got in trouble right from the start, when he told the court that his true name was Albus Percival Dumbledore; Wulfric and Brian were added later to impress people.
Then the hard questioning began. Truth-potioned Albus confessed that he and Bronzedagger had worked out a scheme to divert G107 000 from the Potter family vault to someplace where the goblins would never find it: Muggle bank accounts. Bronzedagger had taken G10 700 for himself as a handling fee; Albus had no guess what Bronzedagger had done with this money. But the rest had been put in Barclays Bank, into four accounts of £120 400 each, in the names of Albert Bumbelby, Percy Bumbelby, Wolfgang Bumbelby and Brian Bumbelby.
Under further questioning, Albus confessed that he had been the magical guardian to fourteen orphans who had died in the Blood War, and Albus had seized ownership of their vaults. Nobody in the Ministry of Magic had objected.
Only fifteen minutes passed between the time that Albus was arrested in the bank lobby and the time that he was ordered to stand in the courtroom, to hear the pronouncement of his sentence—
All four of Albus's Barclays bank accounts would be combined into one Barclays account, under the control of Harry James Potter. In addition, G21 400 would be taken from other vaults controlled by Albus (but not from his Hogwarts vaults), and would be transferred to the Potter family vault. Finally, Albus was sentenced to two hundred years of hard labour in Gringotts London's gold mine.
As soon as the goblin judge pronounced sentence and banged his gavel, Albus felt the magical weight of the Hogwarts wards leave him. Albus Dumbledore no longer was headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
Minerva was trying to organise the purchase of food on credit, when she felt the Hogwarts wards shift to her. Five minutes later, an owl delivered a letter to her from Gringotts. In the letter was the news that Albus Percival Dumbledore had been sentenced to two hundred years in a goblin mine; also, enclosed were new keys to Hogwarts's two vaults, since Minerva was now the school's headmistress.
Hogwarts's newly minted headmistress got so busy with trying to straighten out the financial foulups that Dumbledore had left behind, she gave no thought at all to what her DADA professor might be doing.
Meanwhile in the Hogwarts Library
Hermione was sitting with the all-Houses firsties at their favourite library table when Professor Flitwick entered the library and rushed up to them. "Miss Granger, I need for you to come with me now. You may leave your books and parchments here."
Hermione hurried out of the library, next to the tiny professor.
But minutes later, just as the two of them passed an empty classroom with an open door—Hermione wondered, Why is the door open if the classroom isn't in use?—she realised, "Professor, this isn't the way—"
"Stupefy," said a girl's voice behind Hermione.
Hermione passed out.
When Hermione was revived, she was in an empty classroom, she was tied up with ropes and Cho and Marietta were grinning in triumph at her.
"Where's Professor Flitwick?" Hermione asked.
Marietta said, "You gormless mudblood bint, you never even thought to check for a glamour, did you? 'Professor Flitwick' was me. You fell right into our trap."
Cho glared at tied-up Hermione. "You were rude to us at lunch, you ugly-hair, ugly-teeth mudblood." She slapped Hermione across the face. Hard.
Marietta also slapped Hermione, likewise using force enough to hurt. "You disrespected us. Not allowed, mudblood, you understand?"
Pop. the sound of an elf-pop came from behind Hermione and to her right.
Then events happened quickly—
"Stupefy," Cho yelled; at the same time, Marietta yelled, "Petrificus alfrem."
Hermione, with her head turned to the right as far as it could go, saw Glaze turn to stone and fall on her back.
Hermione heard the sound of a second body hitting the floor behind her. Before Hermione had time to worry, Harry's voice said, "Expelliarmus. Expelliarmus. Stupefy. Stupefy."
Next to Hermione, Marietta and Cho both were knocked backwards and got their wands yanked from their hands, then both bully-girls dropped to the floor.
In the sudden quiet, Harry said "Finite," and Hermione's ropes disappeared.
(Hermione, always curious, wondered how Harry knew that the shorter Finite would work, and that he did not need to say the longer Finite incantatem.)
Hermione, now free of her ropes, turned towards Harry and rushed towards him, as he rushed towards her. They hugged—
—then Harry's head reared back, and his face showed anger. "You're bleeding."
Hermione touched fingers to the left corner of her mouth; those fingers came away red. "Each of them slapped me hard."
Harry scowled.
Harry's next order of business was de-petrifying Glaze. Luckily, Harry and Hermione made only six wrong tries before Hermione guessed the correct incantation (Non petrificus alfrem) to de-petrify a house-elf.
Once Glaze was on her feet, Harry pointed to the two unconscious bully-girls. "Glaze, cocoon them with ropes, then wake them up."
Once Cho and Marietta were alert but were unable to move, Harry said to them, "I told you inbreds to leave Hermione alone, but you didn't listen. Instead, you two. Drew. Blood."
Hermione saw both bully-girls' eyes glance at Hermione's face. Their eyes widened.
Harry continued, "I've had more experience with bullies than I've ever wanted, and I've learnt that any kind of 'Why can't we all get along?' speech is a waste of time. You two inbreds are bullies, and bullies understand only power and pain—when you two had power over Hermione, you caused her pain. But now, ladies—and I use this term loosely—I have the power."
Cho blustered, "If you hurt us, Potter, you'll get detention at the least."
"Will I? I'm not as sure of this as you. But in any case, I'm willing to risk whatever shit the professors give me, for what I'm about to do."
Both bully-girls now looked terrified.
Harry held out his right hand as he said to Glaze, "Please conjure a pub dart." Both bully-girls looked puzzled; clearly they didn't recognise the term. Harry added, "A pub dart with a sharp tip."
As soon as the dart appeared in Harry's hand, he wrapped his fingers about the shaft of the dart. Moving quickly, he stabbed Marietta in the shoulder—
"Aggh!"
—then Harry stabbed Cho in the shoulder—"Owww!"
"Oh, you poor babies," Hermione said with fake sympathy. "Did that hurt?" Then Hermione stepped forwards and, using both hands, slapped Cho twice about the face, and Marietta twice about the face. Both of Hermione's hands were stinging when she was done. "That felt good," she said.
Harry said, "Remember, Cho; remember, Marietta: You bully Hermione, I bully you. You make Hermione bleed, I make you bleed more. If Hermione ever gets sent to the hospital wing because of you two inbreds, I'll make you regret your choices in life."
Cho said, "You don't know who my father is, Potter."
"Clearly he's someone who is neglecting his child-rearing duties. Feel free to quote me on that."
Seconds later, still in the empty classroom
With help from Harry's house-elf Glaze, the bully-girls' wands had been sent to lay atop Professor Flitwick's desk, and the girls themselves, each still tied up in a cocoon of ropes, had been sent to Flitwick's office.
Harry had told Glaze, "When Professor Flitwick discovers these two in his office, pop in and tell him that they made Hermione bleed. Be sure to tell him that Marietta used a glamour to impersonate Professor Flitwick himself."
With Glaze and the bully-girls gone, now Harry and Hermione were alone. He was using the Episkey spell to heal her face. Hermione wanted to hug Harry for his kindness.
Pop. But instead of the appearing house-elf being Glaze returning, it was a Hogwarts house-elf who appeared next to Harry and Hermione. This house-elf looked anxious as he announced, "The Spirit of Hoggywarts sends Jerky to tell you, smelly Professor Turban is on the move!"
Hermione saw Harry nod, as if he had been expecting the message. She thought, Another datum in favour of my theory.