/AN
After some thinking, I found I didn't want to leave some loose ends open I had always wanted to return and finish the story. So there will be lots of time jumps and skips.
Chapter 9 Observations, Discoveries, and Resolution
It was near the end of July. The election was finally over. The new Wizengamot was sworn in and seated. To everyone's perception, there was more at work than liberal and conservative factions. Besides those two factions, a new group was still emerging, calling themselves Prioritists. They were successors of blood purists. Most Wizengamot seats were held by their opposition, which didn't have any formal label yet, because the New Bloods were splintered into several sub-factions.
The new group dynamics in the Wizengamot were still not fully settled. There was always a great deal of give and take. In the few votes that Harry attended, he would vote only two and abstain from the rest of the seats he held.
It was the dawning of the new age in Magical Britain.
Everyone was careful and overly cautious, paying close attention to the developing group dynamics. Afraid of the consequences of poor judgment. The group, known as Prioritists, saw to get any traction in getting any bills passed would be an uphill battle.
One of the first actions the new Wizengamot took was the matter of what compensations were owed to Sirius Black's lack of a court trial. Sirius was almost refused compensation because of being an unregistered Animagus. However, when they examined his employment record, they found a parchment sheet signed off by Mad-Eye Moody that the registration was to be kept secret because he was used as a lookout during the First Blood War. It took less than an hour, and Sirius was awarded 10,000 Galleons each year he was falsely imprisoned. The compensation hearing had been broadcast on the new Wizengamot's Wizard Wireless channel.
A few days after Sirius's compensation hearing was over, Harry was sitting one morning an owl post was delivered.
In that letter, Minerva McGonagall begged Harry Potter to meet with Professor Dumbledore before he passed. She was insistent that Dumbledore didn't have long to live.
Harry had resisted meeting with the old tosser since that triple damnable Tri-Wizards' Tournament ended. It was only under extreme pressure Harry finally caved and agreed to meet with Dumbledore.
In the end, Harry walked away very unhappy from that meeting. No matter what Harry said to the old man, Dumbles was fixated on Voldemort still being alive. That is what it would take to do away with Voldemort, Harry had to die.
On top of everything else, the old man based everything he had thought or done in the last 15 years on the prophecy of a drunk woman looking for an easy job.
Harry finally resolved to end this doubt. He went to the source to speak to the mountain and asked the Unspeakables.
Their answer shocked Harry. "Yes. There was a prophecy. It was labeled by Dumbledore himself. No one else knew the contents of the prophecy. Only the people mentioned in the prophecy could take the sphere off the shelf or view the contents."
Harry made a short trip down into the center of the Unspeakable's subbasement level, followed by a long walk to the Hall of Prophecies.
Harry asked, "What's the reasoning behind collecting all these prophecies if no one knows about them and they are never viewed?"
The unspeakable simply said in a dismissal tone of voice, "That's the way it is done."
Harry asked, "The spheres glow until the prophecy is fulfilled, correct? Can you view a fulfilled prophecy?"
The unspeakable shook his head negatively, "The dark ones are fulfilled prophecies. No, we still can't view them."
Harry asked the 1,000 Galleon question, "Then how can you be sure? If no one checks anything, the labels are put on by anyone who declares they have witnessed a prophecy, right? So you cannot tell if it was a true prophecy or not? Did you know that old man ran roughshod over my life all based on the uttering of the drunken swot?"
Walking down the rows, Harry noticed lots of spheres. Although these were primarily dark, he stopped and saw a set of orbs flashing from dark to light and then turning dark again, "What is the story about that prophecy."
The unspeakable shook his head. "We don't know. The label says 'Danton Morris and Weena,' and someone called 'HG Wells.' The current thinking is it has something to do with time travel. The people involved are assumed to be caught in a closed causation loop."
Harry snorted, "HG Wells is a muggle fiction writer; he has written many stories, one of them about a time traveler. Have you ever been pranked before?"
The unspeakable said humbly, "Not recently," as they continued to walk down the aisle. "Here we are, it should be here 1980, Number 34. It was a slow year."
Walking down, Harry saw each sphere was numbered, and most had small plaques holding labels. Number 34 was not glowing, but it wasn't completely dark either. The handwritten label under the sphere read 'Given to ABWD June 10, 1980, Dark Lord and the chosen one?" the words "chosen one" was scratched out with a single line added, and the Name: Harry Potter was added with another color of ink. The handwriting belonged to Dumbledore.
"How do I view this?" asked Harry.
"Just tap it with your wand. No need to pick it up. Nothing will happen if you are not really subject to this prophecy." Instructed the Unspeakable.
Harry tapped the sphere with his wand. The mist swirled up and condensed into a younger version of Trelawney. She went into a classic seer's trance. Her eyes went unfocused, and her mouth opened. The following words were heard. "The one with the power to vanquish a Dark Lord approaches... Born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies... and one Dark Lord will mark him as his their equal, but he will have power the Dark Lords knows not…" a disturbance outside the door is heard. part of the prophecy is not heard while Dumbledore is distracted, "and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives... The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lords will be born as the seventh month dies...".
Harry turned his head and asked, "Do you know anyone that can read lips? Unfortunately, Dumbledore didn't hear the entire prophecy. At least one or two lines are missing."
"I caught part of it. It looked like Trelawny said, 'not the master of fates,' whatever that means."Said Harry.
"I think she said, 'The master of the game is not the master of fates', but we will have an expert review this if you would pick up the sphere and give one of our experts a chance to analyze this. I am sure we will arrive at several different meanings. More ways of interpretation than Dumbledore did." the Unspeakable explained.
Harry picked up the sphere and followed the unspeakable back to his office. The conversation continued as the unspeakable explained, "We seldom get to study a real prophecy. They get put into these spheres and get locked away. Then they go dark, and a few years later, those involved with the prophecy die, and there is never a chance of them being viewed."
"I have so many problems with this prophecy." As stated by Harry, "Which calendar system was used? An Astrological Calendar is based on the 1st day of the year, happens in the Sun crosses into Aires, the Spring equinox. It never stated a specific year. It stated "approaches" not born. It could have been an 11-year-old starting school the next year. It could have been anyone walking or traveling toward the seer. It is so vague that it could be made to be nearly anyone. I believe it was somewhat self-fulfilling. Because people believed it so, their own actions made it so."
Before The Unspeakable could say a word, Harry said, "It could have been a female, born in November. Hermione Granger was born in November. It could have been a female, Right? "
Harry asked, "Is there any way we can keep this a secret for a while?"
The Unspeakable answered, "Harry, we are called Unspeakables for a reason. We do not talk about our work outside of these protected areas; when we do it here, it is under oath to protect others. I was part of the team which inspected your graveyard memories. Someday would you let me see what really happened? I would be happy. You made one error, and no one else caught it. There is one place your shadow was reversed. You are clever and good. Bindweed and Bloodstone. The normal ritual would be the blood of an enemy, the bone of an ancestor, and willing flesh donations of a follower. Ha, I see I am not far from being right. When you finish school, come back and talk to us, We might want you to work for the Department."
Harry spoke, "You have to know Trelawney gave one other prophecy that no one knows about. I didn't know what it was until I saw the 1st one."
The unspeakable looked eager for a second. "Could we have a copy of the memory, please? We have so few to really study. As you found out, much of what we do is collect information and store stuff. Or, in the case of the Goblet of Fire, once it goes inactive, we will take it apart bit by bit and destroy it."
Harry provided a memory to the unspeakable. He placed it in a vial and sealed it.
After a few more words, Harry stood up the leave. Shaking the Unspeakable's hand, Harry was escorted out of the Department of Mysteries.
After Harry had returned home, he was somber and quiet. He continued to mull over the prophecy for the rest of the evening.
He was plagued by the two different prophecies, which seemed to be at odds with other. Harry went to the library and got out of the pensive stored there. Placing his wand to his head, he slowly withdrew the memory strand. It was short and evenly colored.
Dropping the memory into the Pensive's basin, he activated the Rune and touched his fingers to the surface.
In the memory, he watched himself standing before Trelawney's desk as she entered her trance.
"It will happen tonight.
The Dark Lords, one lies.
The other is alone and friendless, abandoned by his followers.
Their servants have been chained these twelve years. Tonight, before midnight... a servant will break free and be free, free to rejoin his master. One Dark Lord will try to rise again with his servant's aid, to be greater, with promises to be more terrible than ever he was before.
Tonight... before midnight... the servant... will set out... to rejoin... his master...
The Fates will step in, and one Dark Lord's plans will crumble in time into fire and ash, and the other Dark Lord's plans will turn to stone. The Fates shall have no master!"
Harry walked back and forth, watching the memory for little tells of created or changed memory. Finally, finding none, Harry exited the memory. Then, extracting the memory of watching the prophecy sphere, he started watching it with the same critical eye.
"The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches...
Born to those who have thrice defied him,
born as the seventh month dies.
The Dark Lord will mark him as his equal.
Still, he will have power the Dark Lord knows not…"
A disturbance outside the door is heard. A part of the prophecy is not heard while Dumbledore is distracted,
"...and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives...
The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies...".
Harry ran the memory backward and forward dozens of times, and finally, he caught a slight flicker in the corner of his eye. Walking to the window, Harry saw a shadow from a tree shadow outside the window that appeared to jump back and forward. Dumbledore had edited the memory of the prophecy.
Harry went over to where Trelawney was sitting. Yes. He changed a few words here and there. The term "Lord" had been pronounced Lords as more than one. The word "Vanquished" had initially been spoken as "Defeated." The phrase "neither shall live while the other survives..." was initially told as "none will enjoy their lives while the dark lords' plot..."
Harry took his ink quill in hand. Going back and watching, catching the timing of the changes and the flickering of the tree's shadow, Harry wrote a short note about how he had seen the slight differences in the tree's shadow back and forth. Harry suspected Dumbledore had used a compulsion charm on Trelawney and forced the words to change in the edited memory. He decided, in the end, to let the Unspeakables sort the thing out.
Harry noted that many prophecy spheres might have been tampered with similarly. But, unfortunately, there was really no method to sort out that issue.
Going forward, he suggested requiring an audit and testing of the memory before placing it in a sphere.
He signed the letter, and she landed on his shoulder before he could call for Hedwig. Harry spent some time petting and talking to Hedwig. Telling her she was going to half to start working a bit more because his status had changed. He then indicated the letter and asked, "This needs to go to the Ministry's Department of Mysteries. It is for the Department Head for the Unspeakables. It needs to be there by the morning. Do you want to go now or later tonight?" Hedwig nodded when he asked later. That was good enough for him. He petted her some more before bidding her good night.
Several days later, Harry received a Floo call from Professor McGonagall. She asked to come through with news which she said "Was better delivered in person."
The Professor soon stepped through the Floo. Gathering herself together, she said, "Lord Potter, I am sorry to tell you the Headmaster passed away during the night. Yesterday evening he told me some horrifying things. He explained some of his past actions. Professor Dumbledore was convinced your scar was a piece of Dark Magic called a Horcrux. He claimed it contained a portion of the Dark Lord's soul. Albus said that the Dark Lord wasn't dead as long as you lived.
Harry shook his head. "No. The Headmaster was wrong. He falsified a prophecy, editing it and manipulating his memory of the events. I have had the scar checked by both Gringotts and the Department of Mysteries. There is no dark residue inside the scar, no signs of possession, And no dark magic in my scar. Pulling the hair to one side shows her a thinning scar that will quickly fade to a small line. Whatever happened even has affected my eyesight. I really don't need my glasses anymore. I only wear them as a ruse in encase I am attacked. Let someone summon my glasses, and they think I can't see them. Well, it will be their mistake, not mine. It is a little bit on my Slytherin nature."
Professor McGonagall was shocked. Sputtering, she asked, "You have proof of this?"
Harry said, "Yes, I do," and said, "Follow me."
He led her to Grimmald Place's library. He motioned to the Pensive. "The evidence is here. I went a few days ago after I met with the Headmaster, and he spoke of a prophecy. So I viewed a prophecy Professor Trelawney had purported to give the Headmaster. I found seven different disconnects where someone had edited or manipulated the memory."
Professor McGonagall placed her fingers onto the surface and was soon encompassed by the memory. Finally, after 20 minutes, she emerged and was angry.
Harry asked, "Did you watch the shadows on the tree outside the window? That was the big clue something was rotten in Denmark."
Minerva McGonagall felt embarrassed. "Yes, he modified the prophecy to the point no one will ever understand what was actually given."
Harry said, "As close as I can tell, the prophecy was about multiple dark lords. I suspect the two were Tom Marvolo Riddle, also known as Voldemort, and Albus Brian Wolfric Dumbledore."
Minerva shook her head in denial.
"Really?" asked Harry. So why didn't my parents retire behind the wards at Potter Estate? Who actually owned the cottage in Godrics Hollow? I know the answer to that. It was Dumbledore's ancestral home. So why would my parents not live at the Potter Estate and instead move into Dumbledore's house, where Dumbledore controlled the Fidelus Charm and all the wards? Dumbledore cast the Fidelus Charm, and everyone should understand unless you own the property, you can not use that charm. That stops a wizard from hiding his foe's home from him."
The slow appearance of confusion appeared on his head of house's face as she realized how even she had been manipulated over the years. Her loss of her husband and family had left her bereft of family, and she became easily led or controlled by the Headmaster. That bit of self-realization shocked her to her roots.
Harry asked, "Do you remember when it was that, .Albus started feeling a little off? The morning after the Goblet of Fire was started, perhaps? That coincided with the contract breaking when my name had been entered. Albus not only allowed it to happen, but it also seems he aided and abetted that action. At that point, he violated the contract, and for some reason, the Goblet of Fire started to seek his punishment."
"Do you think any others will die?" The Professor asked.
Harry responded, "The Unspeakables have a copy of our notes and research on the Goblet of Fire. They have had my team, and I called in three times to brainstorm those issues. I got a note from that Department about 30 minutes before you called. The Goblet of Fire had gone inactive sometime last night. I suspect Albus was old, and his Magic kept him alive when the Goblet of Fire absorbed the last bit of his Magic. Once the Magic which had sustained his life force was gone, he ceased living. Bagman and Fudge have been reduced to being squibs, the same as his former Undersecretary not being as aged. They will likely live a life span of a mundane-born person. Ogden was outright killed for leading the fight to revoke my declaration of adulthood, then he was well over 100. Unlike Ogden and Albus, the three of them were young enough to be not dependent upon Magic to sustain their life. Albus just had more power in his Magic than Ogden."
"It is not my fault any of them are dead," explained Harry. "I had no part in my entry into the Tri-Wizards' Tournament; Albus and others did as well. When he allowed my name into the contest, his own death and all the others who died or were hurt is his fault and his alone."
The Professor looked perplexed, "Where do we go from here?"
Harry said, "Forward, Headmistress. Forward. We can't go back because the past is gone. It is dust and ash. Standing still, we will drown in dust and ash as the world passes us by. The only thing is to move forward. To move forward, we must start with educating young witches and wizards. Stop currying favors from the powerful and wealthy. Do your job the best you know how to do it. If you want to only teach, don't wear two, three, or four hats. If you want to be Head of a House, do that, but let the other jobs be passed on to others. You can only be in one place at a time. I am sure Albus was a great teacher. He might have been able to be Head of a House and teach simultaneously, except both are full-time jobs. Albus did none of those jobs well when Albus was Headmaster, Chief Wizard, and Head of the ICW. And yet he managed to try to micro-manage other people's duties as well during that time.
"Forward then, I guess?" Replied the Headmistress. "Yes, Forward! Gryffindors charge ahead! I guess the best place is to start the search for new 3 new instructors."
Harry smiled, "That's the immediate goal. The long-term plan should be to replace Binns as well. He died over 100 years ago and hasn't updated his information. The next step is to decide what you want to do. Teach or be Headmistress or be Head of Gryffindor. Do one and only one. Same for the other Heads of the school's houses. Give them the option of teaching or heading a house. That will remove the competition bias we saw with Professor Snape. Taking points for "breathing too loud" made the point system worthless."
The Headmistress nodded in understanding.
"The other thing is to get some physical activities outside Quidditch for the students. Maybe organize some other team-based structure besides house competition. Footie would be a good one. And we need arts and other classes as electives. I know so because I saw the old records. The only art I can think of is Professor Flitwick's choir. Hogwarts used to produce world-renowned artists, painters, and musicians. We used to have electives in Wards, Pre-healing, and Enchanting. Unfortunately, in the last ten years, almost no one got a high enough NEWT score in potions, which would have allowed them to apply for apprenticeships, ". Harry spoke out loud. "I know there is money for those programs, and they were all gone before the war started, so Albus can not blame low enrollment numbers."
"Some of the classes disappeared between the time I graduated and came back to teach." explained McGonagall, "Albus said 'there was not much call for that nonsense.' I couldn't understand how Hogwarts went from having three different string quartets to zero in 15 years. We had a 40-piece orchestra. All that is gone."
Harry said, "Then you can be seen as the re-builder of Hogwarts, Restore and Replace. Start an age of renewal and rebirth."
"So much to do, and the board will fight me every inch of the way." The Professor bemoaned.
"Not so much as you think. The so-called businessmen and Death Eaters, which ran the Board in the past, are no more. The Black's seat has been removed from Malfoy's hands forever. Longbottom's vote is yours as long as you don't try to turn Hogwarts into your personal fiefdom. Madam
Marchbanks' will vote in favor as long as you improve the learning environment and scores go up on the OWLs and NEWTs? The Potter vote will support progress, too. That's 4 votes out of seven. The Ministry of Magic may not even have its appointee in place to oppose your changes. If the Wizengamot Moves as slowly as expected." Harry offered.
Minerva asked, "While you are a student here, Lord Potter, will you be demanding special privileges?"
Harry shook his head. "In the classroom, I expect to be treated like any other student. Graded upon merit and decorum. Addressed as Mister Potter, I want no privileges beyond those of any other student from any instructor or Head of House. No, I only ask for private quarters and a right to come and go as needed to conduct Family Business as the Head of House Potter."
'
Minerva said, "The school has always allowed that within limits of decorum."
"I am thinking of appointing Remus Lupin as my representative on the Hogwarts' Board of Governors." Harry stated, "He has experience teaching. He was a great instructor and spent years as a tutor in the Mundane world. He holds a teaching degree in the Mundane World and is a certified teacher. There was a small uptick in scores the year he taught."
Minerva nodded in agreement, "Good choice! And he successfully taught you the Patronus charm, right?"
After a second, she brought up the other issue, "How are you handling the notoriety of defeating the Dark Lord a second time?"
"Second?" asked Harry. "Are you not counting the incident with the Stone and the Chamber of Secrets? Both of those were confrontations with Riddle."
"While I was forced to claim the Death Eater's seats through the right of conquest, most of those were released to election by the public to limited terms. I played down the whole 'defeater of the dark lord' as much as possible by claiming a bit of dumb luck." But, Harry explained, "In time, that fame might fade."
Minerva smiled, "I see a plan, good. I will neither be a puppet, Mister Potter, nor attempt to be a puppet master."
Harry nodded. "I would expect nothing less. I might come to you occasionally for advice, Just like I needed to see your reaction to my naming Professor Lupin as my Representative on the Board. I will ensure that as long as I am a student, I will not personally interfere with the Board's decisions directly or indirectly. I only want to insist that there will never be another set of events like this tournament again. Everyone that helped organize it had something personal to gain."
"There was one other request. Albus asked you to return him his wand, so it could be buried with him." McGonagall asked.
Harry stared with a look of amazement. Then, finally, he opened his mouth to speak and shook his head, stunned. "This wand?" he asked.
The Headmistress nodded. "That was the wand that Albus had indicated."
"No!" Harry said emphatically. "This is not his wand and never was. This is a Potter heirloom. I do not know how he came into his possession. It belonged to Antioch Peverell. Antioch Peverell was the oldest brother of Ignotus Peverell, which married Godric Gryffindor Granddaughter Janet Potter and took up the Potter name. The only surviving Peverell brother, Ignotus, should have been given that wand, but it had been stolen. Ask Mr. Olivander about this wand."
Frowning, Minerva said, "I will pass that on to the firm making the arrangements."
Harry smiled, "Inform them they will be served the papers demanding the return of the Potter family heirlooms, which Albus looted from the cottage in Godric Hollow. I found a list of inventory items that were not found in the cottage. One of the items is a Pensive. Made by a Potter family member over 1000 years ago. It is the 1st pensive ever made. A dozen books are listed, three on potions, which I saw in Snape's office, and dozens on Runes and Wards. Some of which I saw in Dumbledore's office."
The Professor nodded her head in understanding. She said, "Many people have remarked that the former Headmaster had very sticky fingers." She stood, "Mister Potter, I have others to notify yet. There will be a reading of the will in a week. You'll be notified." as she made her way to the fireplace.
The rest of the summer living with Sirius was not terribly exciting. However, they made a truce early on when Harry again got the drop on Sirius as he attempted to prank him.
After dinner, one evening before Harry's birthday, Harry brought up the set of trinkets he had collected at the Graveyard. He went to his trunk and collected the Mokeskin Bag.
Dumping the contents on the table, Harry took the time to carefully examine what each item was. The ring was quickly identified. Sirius simply pulled out a book with images of family rings paging through them until he came to black stones and ran his finger down the listed descriptions. "Here it is, a black stone set into a gold ring engraved with intertwining serpents. The stone inscribed with a vertical line bisects a triangle within a circle."
"This book is almost 100 years old. It says this is the Gaunt Family ring. They are descendants of Sylvester Slytherin and Darla Peverell, The daughter of Camdus Peverell. Their daughter married William Gaunt. The rest of this line seems to stop with the birth of Merope Gaunt. "
Sirius shook his head and looked at the ring, "It can't be!"
Harry said, "What?"
Sirius said, "Go get your cloak and the wand you took from Dumbledore."
Harry left and fetched his cloak and the wand. The wand was in his wand holster. "This wand works better for me than my own, so I keep it with me."
Sirius nodded his head. While he was looking through a dozen different books. Some of them were very old. "Read this, Harry," commanded Sirius.
Harry read aloud. "And then Death appeared, congratulating the three brothers for defeating him. He offered each one boon, an object which would suit their needs."
Harry continued reading, "The oldest, Antioch, asked for a wand that would be unbeatable in battle. The second asked to be able to communicate with the dead. The third asked for a cloak to hide from anyone."
Blinking as Harry continued to read, "Death walked to an alder tree and took a limb from it, jerking it violently. Through Death's magical arts, he split the wood and inserted a hair from his head. Death healed the split in the wood, and the wood slowly appeared to become whiter and then turned gray. Death and presented it to Antioch. 'A wand which can not be bested in battle.' Death then walked to the river and selected a flat square stone. With his finger, he engraved a vertical line that bisected a triangle and then engraved a circle around the bisected triangle. 'With this stone turned three times, you can recall and command the dead.' Death then turned to the last and youngest brother. To him, Death gave his own cloak. In his hands, it was like silver, but once placed over him, he disappeared, and even Death could not see or find him."
Harry asked, "These are the Deathly Hallows? What does it mean, the Master of Death?"
Sirius shrugged, "I don't know. Nobody has ever held all three of them at one time. Not even Death himself."
So Harry looked at the other stuff on the table, "Well, we know what the ring is, and now a maybe why Dumbledore wanted the wand back. What is this tiara, this cup and locket?"
Sirius Barked laughed, "Maybe you need to call in your brain trust. Hermione and Luna, at the least. The two of them got you through the tournament, didn't they?"
"No joking! Harry explained, "When Luna approached me and said 'Dragons,' I almost fainted. Then we sat down with Hermione and figured out the task by looking at past tournaments ahead of time. Between us, we came up with a workable plan."
Sirius said, "Have you asked anyone for a pensive memory of Professor McGonagall's face when you started transfiguring rocks to look like dragon eggs. And started banishing them all over the arena? The poor confused dragon was at a loss and was trying to round them up. You simply walked up and grabbed the golden egg, and walked out of the arena. The poor dragon was none the wiser."
Harry said, "Not yet. I used four simple spells. A silencing spell on my feet, scent masking spell, partial transfiguration spell on the rocks was the hardest and most tiring, and a first year's first lesson in charms levitation spell. I didn't need to learn new stuff. I just had to be competent with what I already had been taught."
"So the lesson is to always go with what already works." Sirius said, "Get your brain trust here; they can help sort these out."
Harry smiled. It had been all three days since he had seen them at Dumbledore's will reading. Harry and Sirius were still upset at Dumbledore giving away Potter Family heirlooms in the will. When he attempted to give the Sword of Gryffindor to Hogwarts. Harry's lawyer objected. When the Goblins asked where the sword was, Harry stated here in my possession. It will come to me when I need it. It has been within my call ever since I first held it. Luna remarked that it was funny the sword always followed me around just as it does today. She asked, 'Harry Potter, why is that sword hovering there?' The best we can figure out is it exists in a small pocket universe, and I need to hold out my hand like this, and it appears." The sword appeared in Harry's hand. "It helped me kill Slytherin's 10-meter-long Basilisk." Harry opened his hand. The sword vanished into thin air.
The Goblin declared, "It is impossible to bequeath an item you do not own in a will. Therefore, that portion of the will was declared invalid. This is just the start, and I suspect we will be required to challenge every item bequeathed in this will."
Harry nodded, "Mister Dumbledore had taken many items out of the Potter Family vault using the false claim he was my Magical Guardian before he was stopped. Harry nodded, and his lawyer produced a list of nearly two hundred items. Mostly books and magical trinkets. Also listed were his parents' wands and other personal items."
The Goblin, which was in charge of the will reading, glanced down at the list, and the seal of Gringotts was on it and asked for a few minutes of forbearance. Then, going through the list, he made several notations. Then the Goblin said, "We will proceed with the reading of the will after a few adjustments are made."
"Ableforth Abner Dumbledore," the Goblin spoke, "You are are to receive the headship of the House of Dumbledore. He also is giving you his half ownership in the Hogshead's Inn in Hogsmeade. Furthermore, he is leaving you the contents of his vault, minus the 300,000 Galleons he unlawfully took from Lord Potter's vault that leaves you with a balance of his vault, almost equal to his lifetime wages as a Professor and Headmaster."
The Goblin nodded as Abe gave acknowledgment of acceptance. As Abe nodded, Goblin continued. "We found comparing Albus Dumbledore's Last Will fraught with Bequeaths which were not his to pass on. His Headmaster Library is currently being reviewed for actual ownership. It consists of 1200 books and scrolls. We are withholding distribution at this time. We going to end up taking less time today because much of what Albus Dumbledore had bequeathed wasn't his to give, according to the initial review process which is taking place right now. Being sorted out of the collections are books that seem to belong directly to James and Lily Potter, as well as many times that he took unlawfully from the Potter vaults and Claipwll, the Potter's Estate.
At this point, Harry asks, "Estate?
Sirius shushed Harry and indicated they would talk later.
So with most other items, bequeathed goods are ready for distribution.: To Arthur Weasley, the late Mister Dumbledore bequeaths the tuition for the remaining four children of the Weasley family and an additional 100 Gallons per year per child for other expenses. To Sirius Black, he bequeaths his 1/10 ownership of Zonko's. I also gift my bowl of lemon drops and my 50% ownership of London's Lemon Confectionery to Sirius. To Hermione Granger, my books deal with Runes, Arithmancy, and Alchemy. This transfer will occur after we verify his ownership of said books. To Minerva McGonagall, he leaves his scotch decanters and Chocolate Card Collection. To Remus Lupin, I leave my collection of robes and other garments. Finally, to Harry Potter, I leave my hope that he does the right thing and kills himself.
Harry stood, shaking his head, and turned and left.
A week after reading Dumbledore's will, Harry was invited to bring his "brain trust" to the Department of Mysteries for a conference of utmost importance.
Harry quickly wrote a note to Hermione, Daphne Greengrass, and Luna Lovegood. They were to meet at noon in the Ministry's Atrium.
At 1150 Harry arrived to be met by Hermione and Daphne. Harry looked at his watch and stated Luna was cutting it pretty short.
Luna walked up behind him and said, "I am here. I was here early, so I went over the fountain to wait,"
Hermione asked, "Do you know what the conference is supposed to be about, Harry?
Harry shrugged and shook his head, "I suspect it is about the Brainstorming session a few weeks ago. Now that the Goblet of Fire is asleep, they may have started tearing it apart. The four were approached by an Unspeakable. Lord Potter, Ladies. If you will follow me. The four walked in silence as they bypassed the wand weighting/checking. They entered a lift with a restricted sign reading, Department of Mysteries only. Once they entered and closed the grill work, the elevator dropped several 100s feet very quickly. When it stopped, the grill work door opened, and they followed the Unspeakable in the Turntable Room. As soon as the door behind them closed, the room spun several times. The Unspeakable led the four directly ahead and opened the door. They walked down what appeared to be a long curving hall. After passing two doors, he opened the third. A round conference table was there with other people seated. There were four chairs; Harry took one while the others were quickly filled. They were each passed a pack of Parchments, papers, photographs, and rubbings.
"It has been three weeks, and here we are. We did all the work were could do and felt we were still missing something major. Finally, in desperation, the Department contacted a University Research center that employed a squib. It was suggested we "x-ray" and then have an MRI scan." They had been doing this sort of test on mummies recovered from Egyptian and other tombs. This is the results of those tests on the Goblet of Fire." explained the Unspeakable. "Take your time and examine the information in the packets."
Harry and the girls opened their packets and sat studying the photos and reports. Harry held up one of the MRI pictures of the Goblet of Fire. "We should be able with Magic to convert this to a 3-dimensional projection of the goblet." Harry did a dozen duplication spells and stacked them up in the correct configuration sequence. At the same time, Hermione and Daphne took a brief discussion. Then, they quickly drew out the necessary Runes to make Harry's idea work. Ten minutes later, a hazy projection was floating over the table. The Runes were fuzzy and indecipherable. It was as if they were muggle photos where people had moved.
Inside the laminated wood over porcelain cup was a metal framework. The framework at the rim of the cup was a wide flat ring. The Square base looked like an acceptable mesh cage. Just below the Rim started a delicate filigree made with fine wire and filled 1000s faceted stones.
Luna observed the way the Goblet was curved. Each pointed end is aimed at the same spot. As a result, the shape and dimensions of the stones vary as you move down to the bottom of the Goblet.
Daphne was examining the ring and asked the Unspeakables, "Did any of you notice the Runes engraved on the rings or the fact the ring is not solid but a dozen smaller rings inside on and outside a middle ring which can slide around? The Runes were fuzzy and indecipherable. It was as if they were muggle photos where people had moved.
The Unspeakables gather around the display.
Harry pointed, "If that's a battery or collector of sorts, this could be a beacon of some type."
Luna got a dream far away look, "It is portal. It uses Magic and souls. So that cage thing is to hold souls and Magic."
Daphne started drawing out runes sequences on parchment.
One of the older Unspeakables jumped up and stood, saying, "Hang on a minute, I recognized a few of those runes. 20 minutes later, he returned with a dozen books and an old scroll sealed in a glass tube. The scroll comes from the same ruins where we found the Amphitheater and Veil. We have a team digging there as we speak. It is the oldest ruin known to us. The scroll is totally undecipherable. We have no Rosetta Stone for a key and have never found a translation to another language. Here are all transcriptions taken from the scroll. Hermione looked a some of what Daphne had copied.
Slowly nodding her head. "they look the same. Here are the same three runes used in a row on the rim of the Goblet of Fire.
Harry kept playing with the rotation button making the projection spin in the air. Finally, he stopped and said we were looking at the runes wrong. Look at them now, tapping the rotation button again. The Runes blurred and came in a sharply defined set of different runes altogether. Hermione asked whether anyone had a Camera. One of the Unspeakables ran from the room. Quickly returning. With a camera. Hermione quickly took a dozen shots of the projection.
Luna said, "It is a gateway or portal. When the battery is fully charged, it opens a doorway and feeds the souls to something. It will then allow whatever eats the souls into our world. She said, pointing out a set of inscribed glyphs. The so-called Movie Theater glyphs are older than Egyptian hieroglyphics. Tales speak of a great civilization falling into the sea. Daddy has some old family books and scrolls. Mother's family, the Olivanders, also have a few books, but I am too distantly related to access them. Those people attempted something which consumed almost all of its people. A few refugees escaped and founded a city on the upper Black Nile River. That city died and was looted by early Egyptians at least one thousand years later. That's where the Goblet of Fire must have come from". Luna concluded.
"One set of rings must be a method to measure what is stored in the battery, and the other is a timer?" Daphne deduced.
Hermione said, "If this is a timer, it has nearly reached zero., See, all these runes are nearly in alignment."
"We need to act quickly." Harry demanded, "Take us to Goblet of Fire!"
The group dashed to a store room, and the cask containing the Goblet of Fire started to glow. Without a thought of his personal safety, Harry charged ahead into the storeroom and brandished the Sword of Gryffindor. Harry swung it at the carved box, turning it to splinters and exposing the glowing Goblet of Fire.
The mouth of the magical object had taken a quicksilver-like appearance. Rings were ripping across its surface as if something was trying to penetrate the liquid. Harry cut the brim and upper rings, separating them from the base with a single heave, resulting in a Brilliant shower of sparks. As the upper portion hit the floor, a mighty scream of anguish came from the top part, and the area snapped back to normal. A bright glow originated at the spot where severed wires were showing, leaping across and running up the Sword of Gryffindor. Suddenly Harry was enveloped by a blinding white magical glow. Harry's head tripped back, and he screamed, "No!" The light had surrounded him entirely. It was so bright and blinding that no one could see him.
Then slowly, in a small trickle, starting out in ones and twos, a steady stream of motes of light exited the mouth of the base. As each speck of light passed close by the glow that enveloped Harry, they transformed into what appeared to be ghosts.
Hermione said, "That looked like Dumbledore,"
Croaker stated, "That's Old Ogden."
The group stood silently as other Unspeakables gathered outside the door, watching the scene before them.
Now swarms of these motes were issuing out of the base, and quickly as the spirits took form, they would fade away. Then, finally, the glow lessened, and slowly, they could see the face of Harry Potter, still in pain and struggling to stand upright. The torrent of motes had reached a peak, it seemed. Finally, no more specks of light issued forth, and the last motes of light had taken back their Magic. The glow about Harry was finally just dancing across his skin like the flames of a fire. Harry lowered the sword and grounded it. The flames danced down across the blade and into the stones of the floor.
Harry looked about, smiled, and said, "I did it." then his eyes rolled back in his head, and he wavered for a second, and Hermione ran forward and grabbed him before he fell face first into the floor.
Everyone gasped, and a shadowed form appeared and slowly took shape. Everyone recognized it was "Death" himself. "Fear not, I have not come for Harry Potter or anyone else here today. My powers are minimal. I help the souls in due time to take the next step. Harry returned to me that which was stolen. For that, he is rewarded. Those lives were taken out of turn, and The Magic was stolen. All those wrongs he corrected, bravely as any human could do. I gift boon for him. I offer him a painless passage when his time comes. Remember, no man should fear me. Death is part of the natural order. For all things, there is a season. Even I, at some time, will fade away. Like everything in this creation, we live in a cycle of birth, experiences, and Death. Without Death, there is no birth."
Death turned and walked away, fading away before he reached the wall.
Everything grew quiet as an Unspeakable Blue and white piping of a Healer pushed his way through the door.
"I need to run a few scans. Please step back." The Healer watched as three wands were pointed at him. He held his hands out. "Only medical diagnostics, I swear on my magic."
The three girls nodded almost in unison. And stepped back.
He ran all the standard diagnostics and drew nothing but ordinary. Finally, He ran a scan on his Magic and came back with readings that were off the scale, and he ran a different scan the second time. It gave a power potential reading on a different scale. He waited five minutes and reran the same scan. It appeared to be lower.
He turned to everyone, "Harry Potter is suffering from a power overload and is slowly bleeding off. His core is much larger than any I have ever examined. He will awaken in a few hours or days. Until then, everyone should save your questions.
"I want him moved to the Medical ward, and do not use any magic. Girls, come with us. Croaker? When you are done here, come to my office." Six people grabbed a shipping blanket and rolled the edges. Then, placing Harry on the makeshift stretcher, eased through the door and down the hall trailing behind the Healer.
Three days later.
Harry slowly fought himself into waking to the world, Squinting his eyes against the bright light. He thought to himself, 'I died? Is this the bright light in all the stories?' He lay still for a few seconds and tried to move. The pain which slammed him brought a scream to his mouth. The sound of hurried footsteps sounded painful to his ears, and Hermione's voice commanded him, "Drink this!" as he felt a vial push to his lips.
Harry drank and quickly swallowed the vial of vile medication. His pain eased up immediately. Taking a deep breath of air. "I woke up and thought myself was dead. You know the stories of a bright light?"
Hermione looked briefly, shocked, "Well, we have a story for you, but we also have a problem. Everything that took place four days ago has been declared an Unspeakable Secret. All of us have been required to take a Magical Oath to that effect. You will have to also before you leave, or they will Obliviate the memory. Your brain trust is now part of the Unspeakables as special researchers. You'll be one, too, if you agree. The oath will allow you to keep your memories, Harry."
Harry looked bewildered for a second as he processed everything. Then all the memories came rolling in. The storage cask shattering, and him demolishing the Goblet of Fire, the sparks of a short circuit of activated Magical Runes, and then the white light of all that Magic. Then the motes, those voices, for the most part, he could not understand any of the words towards the last. The first ones he could, Albus asking for forgiveness, and old Ogden, still angry at the boy. As the older souls passed him, their thoughts were always the same. They had feared the end and thanked the gods he removed the danger to their souls. After that, almost everything was blank until he woke up.
Harry recounted, "I remember some of the bits and pieces and the pain. That was pure Magic. I had to hold on until the balance could be restored. If I had grounded it, those souls would wander in torment for a long time, and that wouldn't be good." Harry stated, "I could feel what was right, and I could not take the easy way. I would do it all the same again. I saw what was coming before I split the Goblet of Fire into two pieces. That would have consumed not only our world but our entire Universe. I could not let it out. I had an instantaneous bit of knowledge. I don't know where that knowledge came from. What I saw was that thing entering the portal on his side, and he was almost to our side when I swung the sword. That thing was trapped in that tunnel of nothingness. My best words to describe where it is now is, 'It is trapped in the bubble of the time it takes to transverse a wormhole,' and I forced the wormhole to close on both sides. That's where it is stuck, and it will starve over time and dissipate its energy back to the multiverse. It is one of those things, a construct created not by nature but by misguided beings." Harry tried explaining to Hermione, but he didn't have the words. Harry looked hopefully into Hermione's face.
Hermione nodded and raised her hands, "That is what Luna had tried to explain to the Unspeakables. The very lack of words and terminology in our language to explain what happened. That is why we were drafted and signed on as Unspeakables to invent the words and explain what happened and what we witnessed."
Harry nodded in agreement. "I was struggling to find descriptive words. I used a SciFi term like a wormhole to fit. It was a tube between very different spaces. Maybe the place that thing is trapped is a near-timeless bubble? After all, it is trapped in the space of time it took to transverse that tunnel. "
Hermione nodded, "Our job is to define the words and terminology to best describe and explain the event. We were right about the rings and timer. BTW. They are closely looking at all the runes and the rings. It is all been declared top secret Unspeakable's Eyes Only. Did you know Muggle Science detected the event as a gravity wave using the LIGO array? They are all in a tither trying to detect the source."
Harry said, "I wanted that thing taken apart sooner rather than later, as it was almost too late."
A knock at the door, and then the door opened, and the Unspeakable's Healer walked into the room. "I saw you were awake finally. I need to make a medical scan and assessment. You have some important people wanting to talk to you, and I have managed to keep them away for a while. But that will not last for long."
Harry nodded. "Scan away. Please don't find anything wrong. The pain potion will last for a few hours, right?"
The Unspeakable Healer lifted his wand and silently cast his spell, writing down the results and observations. "Do you know what a Magical Index is, Lord Potter?"
Harry nodded, "It is a questionable method of estimating a person's possible magic power, which they can access given training and focus."
The Unspeakable smiled, "That is close enough for government work. For example, Miss Granger is near the top of the inverted bell curve. She ranks in the upper 15 percentile. That is good for a fully grown and trained, and mature Witch. But she is a teenager with several more years of growth, so her current score is close to 66% of where she will end up. Her final score might place her somewhere between Minerva McGonagall and Albus Dumbledore by the time she is in her twenties. You, however, exceed Albus' score currently. That puts you on the high end of the top 1 percent. We have no idea where you will end up by the time you are fully mature and trained. You are almost off our known samples right now. We recorded your breaking of the doors to the sealed Wizengamot Chambers. It was off our scales. When you repaired those doors on your way out, you burnt out the detection and recording devices. What happened days ago was again off our new scales. You keep doing more work for us, and we Unspeakables love work."
"That's why we need you to be part of us. You and your team are unique in so many ways. Two purebloods and a new blood, and you are a magical but raised in the mundane world will add so much to our knowledge." The Unspeakable rambled on.
Harry warily nodded, "I have some reservations. If I discover something too harmful, I want that knowledge never to see the light of day. I, we need full control. Like the Goblet of Fire, which was actually an inter-universal transportation device. It is too dangerous to use, ever."
Hermione spoke, "We made sure our oaths allow us to decide what to share or not if we deem it too dangerous. They were made to Magic itself, not the Ministry for Magic or any subdivision of the Ministry or Crown. The only thing is to the oath of the Unspeakables and not discuss the inner workings unless it endangers the people or world."
Harry nodded, "I would like to see that oath before I agree. But, unfortunately, oaths are contracts, and I have had some awful experiences with contracts in the past."
"That you have my word, Lord Potter, "Spoke the Unspeakable's Healer as he nodded in agreement, "That you have. I agree with you that the contract should have never taken place. That the Unspeakable that gave the Headmaster the Goblet of Fire without permission was a crime, and he is no longer with us."
"We will most likely be looking at disassembling the 'Death Arch' shortly. We are looking at all the runes, visible and invisible. Using Magical objects without fully understanding them is a thing of the past, I would hope ". Explained the Unspeakable Healer.
Harry nodded in complete agreement.
The morning came, and Harry arose from his bed. He was looking forward to this day, the start of his OWL year. Yes, he had a hectic summer. Sorting out the aftermath of the Tri-Wizards' Tournament had almost filled his days. However, this summer passed quickly, he thought, because he was allowed to be free for the first time ever. No, Dursleys to worry about, for one thing. No nightmares like last summer. He was looking forward to being as normal as possible year. He promised he would do his best in classes without having to keep his talent and power hidden from Albus.
With a yawn, he left the bed and headed into the shower. Little things like long hot showers and exploring the whole Potter Estate made him happy. His life took a sharp 90-degree turn for the better during the last part of the summer.
Reopening The Claipwll (Harry was surprised to find out that meant 'Clay Pit' in the old tongue.) could have been the highlight of the summer. The family roots were in making clay pots and bricks. The old clay pit had been filled with water and became a natural lake filled with fish. Maybe hosting his Brain Trust and their parents for a few weeks was second best. He and Sirius were taught the art of fly fishing by Hermione's father. That wasn't as easy as David Granger made it seem. The lake was deep and had cold water, and the trout was tasty. That made it worth the effort.
He thought sadly that summer's holidays were over, and it was back to school. A new multi-compartment trunk was sitting by his bed, filled with clothing befitting his station and a small reference library. Dobby had everything for the day laid out for him, as usual. He quickly dressed, tossing his current book into a backpack with his school robes. He quickly looked around the room, ensuring he had everything. Then, seeing nothing he needed, he went down to the kitchen.
He preferred the closeness and family feeling of eating breakfast and lunch at the kitchen table. Sirius was already there. He hated the townhouse on Grimmauld Place. There was still a dark feeling inside. The Elves were still working on cleaning and removing dark objects. Over 200 years of accumulated darkness could not be dispelled in days, no matter what type of Magic was used.
"Hey, Pup, What's up?" Asked Sirius as he looked up from Harry's issue of the morning edition of the Daily Prophet.
"So what's that rag talking about today "? Asked Harry.
"This and that. Nothing of importance. There is some discussion of the changes in Hogwarts' rules and how the different rules were. The rules were reverted to how many things were set up 150 years ago.
A Headmaster again can not hold any other appointments or offices in government. People are amazed that it is not a new law. It is 300 years old. It was just ignored, mainly by Albus. That was part of our education which was simply passed over. It should have been taught by Binns, but it wasn't. They also found out the chief wizard can not hold the appointment to the ICW or any Ministry position either. Again, Albus ignored the rules and laws as he saw fit." Sirius is related to Harry.
"I wonder if this all came about because of Albus' past wrongdoings?" Harry pondered aloud.
Sirius nearly shouted, "Damn Right! Article after article, published all summer long, tore the pedestal from under the nearly perfected persona projected by Grandfather Albus. The last straw was finding out he had kept Grindelwald locked up when people thought Albus had killed him. He was nearly insane from isolation and welcomed being executed for his crimes."
"At least this year will be free from Albus' manipulations," Harry voiced hopefully. As he started eating breakfast.
Harry made his way through the crowded platform of 9 and 3/4s. Weaving in and out and around parents and children alike, he made his way to the train's last car. He quickly found an empty compartment and stowed his trunk in the overhead rack. Finally, he hung a sign on the door that said, "Reserved for The Brain Trust only."
He went outside and started to help the first years on the train. Harry told the new students, "Unless they had family members to ride with on the train, they would be welcome in the last car. Several of the schools Prefects were going to ride the last car and would watch out for all of them." No, he wasn't a Prefect, but most of his friends riding with him were Prefects."
Hermione showed up and was wearing her Prefects badge. He allowed her to take his role and moved her trunk and Crookshank's carrier to the Brain Trust's compartment. After that, he made the rounds of helping the small 1st years get their trunks stowed. A few minutes later, he was joined by Neville. Harry joked about how hard it was as a 1st year to find a carriage and compartment. Let alone stow their trunks.
Neville said, "Hermione wrote me and suggested coming earlier and helping out."
Soon there were several 5th and 4th years pitching in and helping. Crookshanks supervised all who had become the center of the children's attention.
Soon they heard the whistle blast away. Everyone rushed to the side of the train facing the platform to wave as the train lurched away, carrying the children to a new and better future.
