In the summer of 1994, Nymphadora Tonks receives extra training from Alastor Moody before he begins his year as DADA professor at Hogwarts. The training culminates in a major change of events in late August. Changes cascade from this major change across the rest of 1994. Six chapters are planned. No ships and not really any Harry.
A Different Triwizard Tournament &&^^&& SCENE CHANGE / Still 26 August 1994After the trip to the DOM with Moody, where they learned that the Unspeakables had destroyed Tom Riddle's soul, it was Tonks who provided the information the DOM needed. The Unspeakables wanted – demanded – to examine Harry Potter within the next hour.
"I saw Potter with the Weasley family at the World Cup," Tonks told Moody. The pair quickly determined that Arthur was absent on Friday and the floo was disconnected, so they apparated to Otter Saint Catchpole and knocked on the wards of the ramshackle-looking house called The Burrow.
Arthur, who was aware of the Death Eater raid that had been thwarted after the Quidditch Match came to the door of his home with his wand in his hand and the twins behind him.
"Arthur, we need to speak," Moody announced. The pair exchanged some information to verify their identities and they were allowed inside the wards.
"We need to speak to Harry Potter," Alastor explained. "There was a magical event in the Department of Mysteries just a while ago, and the Unspeakables say that it involves Harry.
Turning to his youngest son, Arthur asked, "Ron, where's Harry?"
Huffing, the young wizard said, "I don't know. I ain't his social secretary."
The bushy-haired girl rolled her eyes and spoke up. "Harry was tired and went to lie down. He's in Ron's room."
Nymphadora noticed the boy – Ron – whined about his best friend getting to sleep while he had to throw gnomes out of the garden. A younger sister complained that if she'd known Harry was lying down, she'd have joined him in the bed.
Of course, this caused Mrs. Weasley to scream at her daughter and lecture her about being a perfect, pure-blood princess until she married, while Mr. Weasley led Alastor and Nymphadora up the stairs.
Seeing the Weasley twins eyeing her figure, Nymphadora batted her eyes at them, smiled, and transformed her face into Minerva McGonagall. She kissed her hand and threw the kiss at the two rascals who fled through the kitchen as if a Dementor chased them. That drew Mrs. Weasley's attention away from her daughter who followed her father up the stairs.
There was a rather strong ward on the door to the bedroom that forced everyone to knock before they could enter. And the ward excluded all young witches from entering the room.
'Impressive ward. Wonder who put it up?' Tonks thought while she waited outside the room, barred from entry.
Mr. Weasley appeared at the door and hurried to the bathroom for a wet flannel. Peering around Arthur when he returned to the room, Tonks watched Moody casting spells around the room – one spot on the wall glowed red.
"That's the general direction for London so whatever was in Potter's scar left the house through the wall," Moody said.
Harry was awake with dried gook in his hair and the side of his face. The pillowcase was streaked with the same substance, but Nymphadora saw the boy had a smile on his face.
'Bugger, he does have gorgeous eyes,' Tonks admitted. 'I can see why someone ones to keep girls out of his bedroom.'
Glancing at the other doors, Tonks found wards to keep the boys out of the girls' bedroom, and to allow only one person at a time in the loo. Turning her attention back to the two wizards, she realized they were in an argument.
"No, Harry can't go to the ministry this afternoon or any other afternoon," Arthur declared. "Albus let us have him visit with the understanding that except for the Quidditch World Cup, Harry would remain inside the wards of The Burrow until the first of September."
"Arthur, I'll arrest you and throw you into a holding cell until the first of October if you keep this nonsense up. The Unspeakables demanded we bring Mr. Potter to the Department of Mysteries this afternoon."
Shaking his head, Arthur refused to budge, and Moody glanced at Tonks, who huffed and apparated away. In five minutes, she returned outside the wards with eight other Aurors. Two Unspeakables followed them in a silent apparition.
"Bloody hell, Harry!" shouted Ron Weasley. "You brought the whole DMLE down on us!"
"Shut it, Ron!" declared the sister. "Harry's important!"
"What did you do, Harry?" screeched the brushy-haired witch, while Molly frowned and prepared to fight the Aurors.
Nymphadora approached the house again, and this time, she handed Arthur Weasley an official piece of paper. Then she announced, "Mr. Weasley, you are hereby served with this material witness warrant. You will immediately allow the Aurors of the DMLE to remove the minor Harry Potter from this residence to attend a meeting in the DOM with the Unspeakables per the order of DMLE Director Amelia Bones."
"I'll go with him," Arthur said.
As Alastor motioned for Potter to rise and grab his outer robe, the grizzled Auror said, "Nope. You didn't cooperate and now I'm not feeling generous. In fact, I'll mention your unwillingness to cooperate in my report to Director Bones. She's kept that little piece of information you wanted hidden under wraps. Is this how you repay her kindness?"
Auror Tonks frowned and assured Mr. Weasley, "I'll make certain he gets back as soon as the meeting is over, Mr. Weasley."
Arriving in the DOM via apparition with the Unspeakables, Auror Tonks stayed with Harry Potter while the secretive wizards and witches cast several spells on the teenager. They pronounced his scar clear of all dark magic and then continued with more spells that created two scrolls. One was handed to Tonks with the instruction, "Give this to Director Bones."
The other one was handed to Harry along with a small bag. "This is an expandable bag that holds the potions you are to take between now and Christmas. Do you celebrate Christmas or Yule?"
"Both," Harry replied.
"Good. We'll bring you here again over the winter break and check your recovery. Expect to be taller and heavier by then."
An Unspeakable escorted Harry and Tonks to the hall of prophecy where they discovered that a globe of prophecy regarding Harry Potter had turned black.
"Congratulations, Mr. Potter," Unspeakable23 told him. "You have fulfilled the prophecy about the Dark Lord Voldemort."
"There was a prophecy about me? And Dark Monkey?" asked Harry.
Unspeakable23 asked, "Hasn't Dumbledore said anything to you about this, Mr. Potter?"
The boy shook his head and the wizard said, "We'll talk about it at Yule. Just avoid Dumbledore as much as you can."
Tonks interrupted. "That's kinda hard for Potter to do since Whiskers is the headmaster at Hogwarts."
The Unspeakables conferred for a time, with Nymphadora staring at them using the best glare she'd learned from Alastor Moody. Harry stood close to her, and whispered, "Thanks."
With a single nod of her head, she acknowledged his thanks, but she kept her attention on the wizards in their funny robes. Finally, Unspeakable23 was handed a necklace of simple gold with a very small pendant as part of the clasp.
"Mr. Potter, this is a special device to protect your mind from intrusion. If you promise to wear it always – shower, bed, classes – it'll keep…people who try to read your mind locked out. They'll bounce back anytime they try to break in and read your thoughts."
"Wow. Thanks," replied Harry as he unfastened the clasp and put the short necklace around his neck. He had trouble with the clasp and turned to Nymphadora for help. As she fastened the necklace, she asked, "What's your price for this gift?"
Unspeakable23 smiled and said, "It's just a loan for this school year. Perhaps you can send Mr. Potter books on constructing the Occlumency shields that protect your mind so well, Miss Tonks-Black."
Frowning at the attempt to distract her question, Tonks nodded, "I witness this as a loan from the DOM to Heir Potter for the next year – twelve months – until 26 August 1995."
Unspeakable23 decided to make additional inquiries about this witch and wondered how hard it would be to recruit her into the Department of Mysteries.
Tonks delivered the scroll to Director Bones, avoided Moody, and returned Harry Potter to The Burrow only seventy-five minutes after he left. Arthur and Molly looked relieved and as Tonks left, she felt the wards fall back into place, fully powered.
&&^^&& NEWSPAPER / 27 and 28 August 1994The Daily Prophet published a regular-sized edition on Saturday with minimal coverage of the court cases. A box inserted on the front page promised complete transcripts of the Death Eater trials on Sunday and Monday. George and Fred were unnaturally quiet as they read the newspaper on Saturday. Arthur and Molly argued vehemently about letting the children see the Sunday and Monday editions, but Hedwig delivered Harry's copy and even Hermione read every line.
Ron was bored and threatened to burn the paper until George and Fred took turns playing and winning chess games with their brother who usually won every game. When Ron went flying, Harry went with him to circle and dive over the orchard, but Harry was not interested in talking very much.
When they returned to The Burrow, Harry learned that Mrs. Weasley had burned his copy of the newspaper. He was silent for the rest of the afternoon, didn't play any chess, and read his textbooks for the upcoming school year. The family member who had the worse day on Sunday, was Ginny. No one paid any attention to her.
On Monday, Hedwig never delivered the newspaper to Harry and Molly smiled, thinking she'd impressed her will on the boy. Hedwig slept in an apple tree for most of the day – she'd delivered the Daily Prophet to her boy while he was alone in the bedroom before breakfast. Harry only read the stories when he was alone on Monday. He slipped the newspaper into his trunk which now had a strong lock that Ron, Ginny, and Molly could not break through.
&&^^&& SCENE CHANGE Dumbledore's Return Monday 29 August 1994Apparating just outside the gates of Hogwarts, Albus Dumbledore took a moment to admire his castle. He'd been a student for seven years, and then returned thirty years later as a professor for transfiguration, then head of house for Gryffindor, deputy headmaster, and finally headmaster.
'My kingdom is perfect,' he thought as the gates opened for him without Hagrid's help. He strolled along the gravel path, reaching the front door which opened with a simple thought in his mind.
'And my power…my magic is as strong as ever,' the headmaster told himself.
In the following hours, he consulted with McGonagall and adjusted the class schedules and he thought best, smiled at Snape's usual complaints about dunderheads without paying any real attention, spoke with Flitwick about the tournament, and instructed the head elf on changes to prepare in the Great Hall when their visitors arrived in October.
In his office, he explained to the portraits of the previous headmasters and headmistresses about the international recognition the Tri-Wizard Tournament would bring to Hogwarts that year. Headmaster Percy Longbottom from the seventeenth century disagreed vehemently.
"Albus, that's fluff and nonsense. The last time the tournament was held was in Tunis in North Africa while I was headmaster here. I led a delegation of our seventh-year students, and we all died when a manticore in the third task broke loose. It killed several hundred witches and wizards.
"Seven hundred and forty-three dead," declared the portrait of Headmistress Marjorie Witherspoon. "I remember because I became headmistress when Longbottom died along with my husband and my eldest daughter."
"I'm certain nothing like that will happen this year," Dumbledore said congenially.
The portraits refused to agree with him and argued so long, he forced them all to fall asleep until Yule. Sitting at his desk and dreading the stacks of mail that were carefully arranged on the side of the desk, he glanced through the headlines of the Daily Prophet, not stopping until he reached the copy from 26 August about a series of trials to be held for Death Eaters.
Dropping the paper, Dumbledore hurried to the floo and tried to access his office at the Ministry. However, the flames would not turn green when he threw in floo powder and said, "My office in the ministry."
Cornelius did not answer in the minister's office. Dumbledore groused, 'Of course not. It's after 5:00 PM and Fudge has gone home to drink.'
Finally, Albus Dumbledore was forced to access a floo in the Atrium like a common wizard. He rushed to his office only to discover that the new secretary there, some middle-aged witch, refused him entry to the office.
"Grand Warlock Longbottom has returned home for the evening. She wanted to spend time with her grandson before he leaves for Hogwarts. I'll be glad to set an appointment with the Grand Warlock, Mr. Dumbledore. Would 17 October be acceptable to you?"
Refusing to respond, Dumbledore left and stomped down the hall to the elevator which took him to the DMLE offices. There, neither the Head Auror nor the Director was available until after the first of September.
Agitated and beginning to become angry, Albus strode back into the Atrium of the Ministry where the friendly face of Auror Nymphadora Tonks smiled and greeted him. After Dumbledore complained about everyone being gone already, she suggested, "Headmaster, go back to Hogwarts and find Alastor Moody. He can tell you more about events this summer than I can. After all, he's the DADA Professor this year and head of the Auror detail assigned to Hogwarts for the year."
Aghast at this announcement, Dumbledore asked, "The Auror detail assigned to Hogwarts? What do you mean, Nymphadora?"
The headmaster was unable to read any of the young witch's thoughts with her impressive Black Family Occ shields in place, but he was also surprised that her hair didn't flash through a rainbow of colors to be called 'Nymphadora.' Always before, the woman protested anyone using her name.
"While you were gone all summer for the ICW conference and vacation," Tonks explained, noticing Dumbledore wince when she mentioned the word vacation, "The DMLE captured the Dark Lord trying to return. And the Unspeakables discovered a way to destroy all the Horcruxes the stupid idiot made. The same day as the trials for all the Death Eaters, the DOM summoned all the pieces of Tom Riddle's soul and he died."
"What?" Dumbledore again exclaimed. "No, that's not right."
Pointing toward the elevators, Nymphadora said, "Let's go talk to Unspeakable23. He can explain it better than me."
In the following hour, Dumbledore was forced to view the memory of the end of the Dark Lord, which he denied was complete. Then Unspeakable23 produced the Prophecy Orb with the blackened interior. Dumbledore denied it was the correct orb, even after it was played for the headmaster.
"How can you touch that orb?" Albus asked.
"It's been fulfilled, Albus," the unspeakable replied. "Anyone can touch it now."
"This is not right. You missed something! You'll see! Tom Riddle will come back!" Dumbledore insisted as he left.
Unspeakable23 frowned and asked, "And why did you bring him down here this evening?"
Tonks grinned and said, "He learned he's not the Grand Poohbah anymore but he doesn't know about Fudge's replacement, the election, or all the Death Eaters who being pushed through the veil after their final kiss. By distracting him this evening, I'm giving Director Bones and Head Auror Scrimgeour the chance to prepare for ugly floo calls tomorrow."
"Pass along a message to Rufus," Unspeakable23 said after nodding. "Tell him the DOM recommends that he allow Director Bones to deal with Dumbledore. Any tar and feathers the headmaster throws around, will not stick to her for very long. Rufus needs to remain free of Dumbledore's feathers if he wants to win the election."
"I'll pass along the message, sir," Nymphadora replied as she departed for the now free elevator.
&&^^&& SCENE CHANGE / 1 September 1994The students arriving for the traditional ride to Hogwarts were surprised by the presence of Aurors on the platform and inside the train. Every passenger car had a pair of Aurors on duty for the entire ride. They confiscated wands from four students casting offensive spells at other students, and despite protests from an angry Draco Malfoy, no one was injured or jinxed on the journey to Scotland. Ron and Ginny Weasley argued with each other like usual but ignored Harry, Hermione, and Neville, who'd joined them in their compartment.
When the train arrived at Hogsmeade, the Aurors used portkeys to move three students back to the DMLE in London. Parents would be forced to come to the office and learn about probation or possible prison terms for their children. Inside the castle, the students learned that Auror Alastor Moody (retired) would be their DADA professor. The sorting was quiet and the firsties were divided between the four houses.
Headmaster Albus Dumbledore maintained a pleasant façade through the sorting and his announcement of the upcoming Tri-Wizard Tournament. The blows had continued the last two days of August with the list of convicted and kissed Death Eaters. The ministry's confiscation of much of the wealth from those families lessened their power and ended all chances of bribes continuing to grease the wheels of the government in Magical Britain.
Several floo calls to individuals about the threat of the return of the Dark Lord were met with skepticism or outright disbelief. Lord Ogden declared, "Albus you're mind has gone soft. The Unspeakables dealt with that faker. If you'd been honest with the ministry years ago, he could have been dealt with then! Now, don't bother me again."
And Alastor Moody had the Auror force in place in the castle and even on the Hogwarts Express – there'd be no chance for fun and games between the students on the trip from London to Scotland.
&&^^&& SCENE CHANGEHarry Potter found himself more relaxed with the beginning of the school year than any previous September –his godfather had been cleared and now had legal custody of him. Draco and the other Slytherins who caused problems were defanged with the Aurors on patrol in the castle.
Focusing on his studies from the first day, Harry realized that Ron (and Ginny) distracted him for the last two years, when he thought about it the teenager admitted to himself that he'd allowed them to distract him. Now he turned his full attention to schoolwork.
No one noticed that Ron seemed to spend all his time eating biscuits – somehow, a plate of biscuits appeared beside him at the chessboard, at his bedside, and anywhere he sat in the common room. Ginny was distracted by love notes written by boys in the upper years of Gryffindor even though the boys denied any knowledge of the notes.
The Boy-Who-Lived found himself enjoying DADA class where Professor Moody started the year by stressing situational awareness to all students. He taught shields and piercing hexes. In a particularly useful lesson, Moody taught every student in Harry's Gryffindor year how to cast a shield to protect their potion cauldrons.
Snape didn't realize what happened until his favorite Slytherin blurted out, "Scarhead, how can I sabotage your bloody potion if the cauldron is protected?"
The Auror in the classroom, that insufferable Tonks witch, tagged Draco with a probation charm and glared at Snape, daring him to protest. Later that day, Auror Moody led the discussion between Snape, Dumbledore, Tonks and an embarrassed Narcissa Malfoy about her son's behavior.
Dumbledore counseled that an apology by Harry Potter would resolve the issue. Moody scowled, lectured Dumbledore about the values of teaching consequences, and promised to bring the matter to the attention of the Governors, Madam Bones, and the Wizengamot.
Draco jeered, "My father…"
Everyone fell silent when the teenager remembered his father had been thrown through the veil on 26 August. Narcissa announced, "My son should never have come to Hogwarts.".
Without looking at Draco or Severus, the woman who was regent of what remained of the Malfoy estate declared, "My son, Draco Malfoy, hereby withdraws from Hogwarts for the school year that began on 1 September. He will receive private tutoring at home while we deal with our grief."
"My father was murdered by the ministry!" yelled Draco.
Narcissa silenced him with a spell and led him from school without another word. The house-elves packed Draco's belongings and met a bedraggled house elf just outside the school wards to hand over the boy's trunk.
&&^^&& SCENE CHANGE \ 31 October 1994"There's been no sign of the Dark Lord," Albus groused as he walked to supper that evening. He continued talking to himself, "No one is possessed by the Dark Lord, no student carries a cursed item to bring Tom Riddle back from his form of a spirit, and the wards are at full power to protect the students inside the school."
Albus decided to keep his thoughts to himself when he noticed a portrait listening and looking disquieted by the headmaster's complaints.
'I'm sure the tournament is the best opportunity for Tom to come back…try to come back. And Harry is here,' the headmaster thought.
Early in the day, the delegation from the Académie de Magie Beauxbâtons in France arrived in magical carriages under the leadership of Madame Olympe Maxime. At lunchtime, Headmaster Igor Karkaroff lead the delegation from Durmstrang Institute when they arrived in a large magical ship that moved underneath the water of Black Lake.
The professors reported that students from all three schools were mixing pleasantly. By late September, the worst troublemakers at Hogwarts had been imprisoned (two seventh-years from Ravenclaw), expelled (three seventh-year Slytherins), or placed under supervised probation (multiple Claws, Snakes, and Lions).
The Governors remained incensed that Dumbledore didn't realize the two seventh-year Ravenclaws were brewing and selling illegal potions out of the uppermost floor of the Ravenclaw Tower. Of course, Dumbledore threw Filius Flitwick under the flying carpet and placed all the blame on him. But the Governors weren't satisfied just stripping Flitwick of his role and head of Ravenclaw. In a raucous meeting, Dumbledore heard the words resign and retire spoken aloud in reference to him for the first time!
Severus Snape denied all knowledge or participation in the illegal brewing. The Aurors were busy chasing leads about brewing operations from other recent graduates and gathered evidence. Snape knew his days were numbered and debated vanishing at the Yule or Spring breaks.
Albus internally debated the idea of confounding the Goblet of Fire to enter Harry Potter's name as the Hogwarts champion. But he feared the bruhaha of such an event would end his tenure as headmaster, and Moody put potent wards around the goblet to prevent anyone tampering with it, or underage students from approaching the flames.
Halloween and the selection of three champions were exactly as the students expected. Cedric Diggory was selected as the champion for Hogwarts and the four houses united in their support for the Hufflepuff student. Harry Potter had a goofy smile on his face for three days after the holiday. When several persons made inquiries about the smile, he replied, "That's the best Halloween I've ever had! Don't jinx it!"
&&^^&& SCENE CHANGE \ First TaskThe morning of the First Task in late November was cool but clear. When the students, staff, and visitors gathered at the Romanesque coliseum for three champions to face the challenge, every student from Hogwarts and all the visitors from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang were present. The press and government officials appeared in large numbers and in good spirits.
When they announced that the champions would be challenged by attempting to recover a golden egg from the nest of a mother dragon, most of the crowd was enthusiastic while several thoughtful persons became nervous.
Harry Potter sat with Hermione Granger, Neville Longbottom, and Luna Lovegood in the stands where they shared popcorn – a new magical snack just discovered and imported from the Americas. Harry joined everyone in the applause for each of the champions.
The first contestant was Cedric Diggory, and the Puff faced a Chinese Fireball. The mother was distracted by the transfigured dogs and sheep, but the hungry dragon grew angry when her quarry proved to be sand and rocks. Her fireballs burned through the wards in two places around the stadium sending several students and visitors scrambling to escape the fire. A final fireball ignited the bottom of Cedric's robes. When he ran out of the stadium, Madam Pomphrey used the Aguamenti charm to extinguish the fire that exposed the Puff's backside to the whole world. He received very high marks.
Fleur Delacour faced the Swedish Short-Snout who happened to be very susceptible to the sleep charms and lovely song the Beauxbatons champion used to subdue the dragon before she retrieved the golden egg. She received a perfect score except for Karkaroff who took points because he didn't like the song the witch sang.
Victor Krum faced off against the Welsh Green dragon. The muggle-born in the audience thought the dragon resembled an overgrown alligator but kept their opinion to themselves, especially after the dragon proved capable of blowing a stream of fire at a great distance. The Bulgarian seeker played to his strengths and used his broom to tire the dragon out by diving and weaving around her flames. For twenty minutes, the dragon blew out flames and Victor impressed everyone in the audience by remaining free of burns. Eventually, the Welsh Green was exhausted, and lay her head down.
Without hesitation, the seeker dove toward the nest and landed beside it. However, he landed between the mother and her eggs. Victor grabbed the golden egg, lifted it into his arms, and then leaned forward on his broom to launch himself into the air again. The broom skyrocketed off, but Victor and the egg abruptly flew over the end of the broom handle to land on the sand and gravel of the coliseum.
The crowd of spectators stared at the Welsh Green – the dragon had grabbed the broom with one of her paws, jerking it backward and sending Victor Krum head-over-end across the sand. Now the dragon used the 'stick' to pull her nest of eggs closer. Once it was underneath her chest, she used Krum's broom as additional material in her nest. The shaft was broken and used on one side while the bristles were broken apart and scattered around the base of the nest to insulate the eggs.
The Quidditch fans in the stand were as shocked as the Bulgarian – his customized broom was destroyed by a dragon. Victor limped from the stadium with his golden egg and a wounded ego.
Everyone from the three schools assumed the First Task was complete and the champions had to decipher some clue from the golden eggs about the second task that would take place in February. Nymphadora Tonks, who'd drawn the short straw for extra hours at Hogwarts for the First Task, was pleased when the students made their way back to the castle without any problems or hexes.
Per Moody's orders, she made her way around the Stadium to ensure everyone had departed and ended up in the Forbidden Forest where the dragon handlers were feeding the mother dragons. She met with Charlie Weasley who greeted her, and they talked about their memories of Hogwarts – Weasley had been a third-year Gryffindor when she started in Hufflepuff.
Tonks avoided all mention of her interactions with Charlie's family in the past year, and they departed on friendly terms.
&&^^&& SCENE CHANGELate in the evening, Mundungus Fletcher, a known thief but friend of Albus Dumbledore, flew into Hogsmeade. He walked from the village toward Hogwarts but skirted around the wards to enter the Forbidden Forest and approach the pens where the dragons slept. Each of the mother dragons had been exhausted by the First Task – the handlers had dosed each dragon with tranquilsers and sleep poitions tonight.
Without anyone seeing him, Fletcher slipped one of the Chinese Fireballs eggs into a cushioned, heated pouch. If he'd left then, he could have made a success escape and sold the egg on the black market. But Mundungus was greedy and reached for a second egg.
This movement combined with the stench of his unwashed body registered in the mother dragon's mind as a danger and egg thief, so she woke. The Chinese Fireball screamed so loudly, that Mundungus was permanently deafened. He dropped the second egg and the pouch with the first egg and ran. He pulled his broom from a pocket, unshrunk it, and leapt forward. For a moment he thought he'd make good with his escape but when he looked back, all he saw were the eyes of the angry dragon, as her wings propelled her toward the thief.
Focused on escape, Fletcher turned toward the towers of the castle. If he could hide on some parapet until she grew tired and returned to her eggs, he might survive the night. He tried pushing the broom to move faster but his magic and slovenly care for the broom brought about his end. The broom began to fail and glided down, toward the Ravenclaw tower.
The dragon, angered and in full flight, followed the thief down onto the roof of the tower. She blasted the man, broom, and roof with a chain of fireballs that ended Fletcher's life in a single moment of pain, before blasting through the roof tiles and immolating the top three floors of the tower in an intense fire that was quickly contained by the wards protecting Hogwarts. The house elves and the headmaster suffocated the fire with streams of water from ever-full buckets and pitchers. The professors evacuated all of Ravenclaw without losing any students. They were housed in rooms usually reserved for guests and unused quarters for other professors.
The next morning, everyone noticed that Professor Severus Snape was missing from the breakfast table. All the students were listening to the stories from the Ravenclaw students about their escape from the fires while the headmaster sent elves to investigate Snape's location.
The Daily Prophet headlines declared that the Serial Killer Sirius Black attacked and destroyed the Ravenclaw Tower. More than one student threw the paper aside without reading more – Lord Black wasn't an escaped prisoner any longer. Back in August, he'd been cleared of all charges and suspicion. At the trial for the former minister, Cornelius Fudge, the man admitted that he'd tried to make Sirius Black into the fall guy for everything bad that happened in Magical Britain in the last year.
The house-elves reported to the headmaster that all of Snape's possessions were missing and there wasn't a note of any kind until a late postal owl arrived with a letter from Severus Snape to Albus Dumbledore. In the short letter, Snape resigned his positions as Potions Professor and Head of Slytherin. There were no clues as to his destination or plans. In a shocking discovery, the seventh-year students who planned to continue their studies while waiting for a new professor to be hired found that every twig, blade, eye, dram, and gram of potion ingredients in the secure stores for Hogwarts students were gone as well.
As a consequence of the slanderous headline and lead article that morning, Sirius Black's lawyers sued the Daily Prophet and took control of the newspaper. Rita Skeeter was required to work for the full length of her contract (thirty more years) and wrote a gardening column.
&&^^&& SCENE CHANGEIt was Professor Filius Flitwick who discovered what happened to Severus Snape – or at least he had the most likely theory. The head of Ravenclaw House remembered the intensity of the fire. He referenced a multitude of books in the library and wrote an opinion piece for the Daily Prophet that Severus Snape had been present on the uppermost floor of the Ravenclaw Tower that night, gathering the last of the illegal potion ingredients in the rooms.
'No doubt Snape carried all the missing ingredients from the Hogwarts potions classroom on his person when the dragon flames burst through the roof. The flames ignited all those dangerous ingredients and mixed them tighter for the white-hot blaze that immolated the three floors so quickly and completely. Snape suffered no pain beyond the first moment but there was nothing left for anyone to find afterward.'
The next morning, the deputy headmaster and the professors made certain that everyone knew the dragon was dead and that they were safe.
&&^^&& SCENE CHANGEWhen it was time for the Winter Break (Christmas and Yule) Harry Potter left the castle to spend the two-week vacation with his godfather. He didn't care about the Yule Ball and missed the mashup in Gryffindor when Ron Weasley made a spectacle of himself at the ball and afterward, fought with Victor Krum over Hermione Granger.
Ron was in the infirmary for two days while Madam Pomphrey healed his shattered jaw and bruised liver. Apparently, Miss Granger had a powerful right hook and Weasley had a glass jaw. After Granger put Weasley on the floor, the boy rose and attempted to curse the witch in the back. Krum, who was insulted already by the feeble wizard's words and mean spirit, threw a punch with his fist that threw Ron back across a table in the Great Hall. The jaw and liver were both painful but could be healed with potions.
However, Professor McGonagall forced Headmaster Dumbledore to agree to not obliviate the memory of the pain from Ron's mind. He would remember how it felt to have his jaw shattered and his insides turned to mush for a couple of days. And he was unable to eat for three full days which was as painful to Weasley as the other treatments.
END OF CHAPTER