After reading Amelia's letter, Heather turned to Harry, Amy, Susan, and Hannah and said, "Today we are going to be incorporating two lessons into one. We are going to do a lesson that combines Charms with Care of Magical Creatures. I have made arrangements through Professor Sprout to borrow some magical creatures from Hogwarts so that the Yellow Quartet can have a Care of Magical Creatures lesson."
"So which magical creatures will we be learning about today?" asked Harry eagerly.
"Let me go retrieve them from my room and you'll see, " responded Heather with a smile.
Heather disappeared to her room for a few minutes and a few nanoseconds and returned with four brightly colored birds. One of the birds was yellow, one was orange, one was lime green, and one was pink. All four of the birds were singing and the sound of their song seemed to please the Yellow Quartet, who all smiled at the birds.
"Susan and Hannah?" said Heather, "Can you two tell Harry and Amy what species of birds these are?"
"Fwoopers!" chorused Susan and Hannah happily.
"Ooh, they're so pretty!" cooed Amy, "I love bright vivid colors!"
And remember that my wand's core is fwooper feather, " Susan reminded the others.
"Their song is beautiful too, " added Harry.
"Fwoopers are nice birds, " piped up Hannah, "But remember that listening to too much fwooper song can lead to insanity."
"I do remember Hannah telling us on the Hogwarts Express that fwoopers are sold with Silencing Charms applied to them and that fwooper owners are legally required to reapply the Silencing Charms monthly, " said Harry matter of factly.
"And that's today's lesson, " Heather informed them, "You will be applying Silencing Charms to the fwoopers. Now, some Charms, such as Color Change Charms, require you to create a strong mental image in your head for the Charms to work. But there are others that require a strong sense of desire instead and Silencing Charms require a strong sense of desire. To achieve a Silencing Charm, you must fill your mind with desire for the object, person, or creature in question to shut up. After filling your mind with this desire, point your wand at the object, person or creature in question and say the incantation "Silencio! Everyone understand?"
"Yes, " answered Harry, Amy, Susan, and Hannah simply.
"Then everyone pick a fwooper and let's get started, " said Heather brightly.
"I'm taking the yellow one, " said Harry at once as he picked up the yellow fwooper and set it down in front of him.
After that, Amy, Susan, and Hannah all gave each other looks that said quite plainly, "You can go before me if you'd like."
After a minute and a nanosecond of this, Heather decided to speed things up and said, "Amy, you pick next."
"I'll take orange since orange is the color of the Phoenix Suns, " said Amy cheerfully as placed the orange fwooper in front of her.
"You next, Susan, " called Heather.
"I like bright vivid colors, " said Susan warmly, "Which all four fwooper colors are. My favorite color is sky blue and that's obviously not an option here. But I'll take lime green. I really like lime green and to be honest, I'm not a huge pink fan."
"Nor am I, " exclaimed Harry and Amy.
"I on the other hand, like pink, " said Hannah briskly, "I guess it all works out."
Susan set the lime green fwooper in front of her while Hannah placed the pink fwooper in front of her.
"Go for it!" said Heather crisply.
Harry, Amy, Susan, and Hannah all raised their wands and pointed them at their respective fwoopers.
"Silencio!" called Harry, Amy, Susan, and Hannah.
Harry's fwooper fell silent in a nanosecond. Amy's and Susan's fwoopers greatly reduced the volume of their singing. Hannah's fwooper, however, was still singing away as loudly as ever.
"Well done Harry!" said Heather, "Not many witches and wizards master Silencing Charms on their first attempt."
Without prompt, Amy, Susan, and Hannah all burst into a round of applause.
"Heather?" asked Harry, "Seeing as Amy and Susan both achieved some noise reduction with their Silencing Charms, will it now be easier for them to finish the job?"
"Yes, " answered Heather in a businesslike voice, "it is not uncommon for multiple rounds of Silencing Charms to be needed."
As if on cue, Amy and Susan pointed their wands at their fwoopers and said "Silencio!" a second time.
There was a further reduction in the amount song being emitted from Amy's and Susan's birds.
Amy and Susan kept repeating the spell until their fwoopers had gone completely silent. This proved to be five times.
"Good job, Amy and Susan, " said Heather encouragingly, "Hannah, please try again."
"I'm rubbish!" cried Hannah.
"No, you're not, " said Harry sharply, "You were the first one of us to master the Color Change Charm and you were the one who stopped us flying those dangerous school brooms. You've been a great contributor to our group. Besides, you WILL still get the Silencing Charm right. My guess is that you only said the incantation but didn't have the proper desire."
"I wanted my fwooper to go silent," protested Hannah.
"It's not enough to want it to go silent, " explained Harry calmly, "You've got to really FEEL the desire in your mind and heart for it to work. In fact, it's better to build up that desire within yourself before raising your wand."
"Harry gets it, " smiled Heather, "The thing is, Charms is much more of a mental subject than a physical one."
Hannah refocused herself and allowed desire for her fwooper to shut up to fill her up. She then pointed her wand at her fwooper and cried "Silencio!"
Hannah's fwooper now experienced a reduction in volume, a greater reduction than Amy and Susan had had on their first attempt. Eventually. despite the fact she had failed completely on her first try, she was fully successful on her fourth try as compared to Amy's and Susan's fifth.
"Great work all, " said Heather proudly when Amelia apparated in.
"Heather, " said Amelia urgently, "I've figured out a way to go after Dumbledore."
"Let's hear it then, " said Heather instantly.
"As you know, " began Amelia, "Dumbledore has outstanding hearing as well as the ability to magically enhance his senses. My invisibility cloak would be useless in going after Dumbledore because he would be able to hear me and sense me even if I wore it while approaching him. And if I did manage to catch him, well, Dumbledore is highly skilled at sudden and quick escapes. So, I had to reach down into my bag of tricks and bring out my Slytherin side a bit."
"So, what type of cunning do you have up your sleeve?" Heather asked Amelia.
"Well, " smirked Amelia, "You know how Dumbledore has like nine hundred octillion silver instruments."
"How could I forget?" said Heather wryly.
"Well, I purchased just one single silver instrument and turned it into a portkey. I then used a Banishing Charm to plant that portkey silver instrument in Dumbledore's office amongst all his silver instruments. It is inevitable that Dumbledore will touch or pick up the portkey at some point. When he does, he will be immediately transported to one of those Ministry holding cells that is warded against Disapparation. I decided to use a portkey to take Dumbledore directly to a holding cell because it is very likely that he would escape from any arrest attempt, " explained Amelia.
"Ingenious!" said Harry, Amy, Susan, and Hannah in unison.
"But what if he escapes while being transferred from the holding cell to the courtroom?" asked Heather in concern.
"Don't think I haven't thought of that, " Amelia assured Heather.
"Then what is your plan for making sure that doesn't happen?" Heather grilled Amelia.
"I will stun Dumbledore before moving him. I will also bind him with immobility ropes before awakening him for his trial, " said Amelia calmly, "The immobility cords will both prevent Dumbledore from accessing his wand and from performing wandless magic that requires body movement."
""Well, you seem to have a finger on it, " Heather told Amelia approvingly, "You seem to have thought this out carefully and your plan makes sense."
Later that day, Dumbledore did indeed pick up the portkey that he didn't know had been planted in his office.
"FUCK! shouted Dumbledore when he saw where the portkey had taken him.
Dumbledore knew about the Ministry holding cells and their Anti Disapparation wards. He also knew that anyone who attempted to escape from these holding cells would be killed in the process without exception. Even he could not escape them.
For a few minutes Dumbledore really though he was cornered.
"OH!" realized Dumbledore after a few minutes, "They'll have to move me to take me to my trial and I can get away then."
So in between the day of his capture and his trial, Dumbledore was actually quite calm and comfortable, being sure he'd able to escape when being transferred to the courtroom for his trial.
"Then they'll know they can't mess with me, " thought Dumbledore to himself on more on than one occasion during this period.
But as she had planned, when the day of Dumbledore's trial came, Amelia stunned him from the outside without opening the cell door and bound him in immobility robes before moving him to the chair in the courtroom he would stand trial in. She fed him five drops of Veritasiurium before awakening him.
Yes, the moment had finally come for Dumbledore to stand trial.