The Wall of Stone

This Harry Potter story was written for fun. All rights belong to the wonderful lady (JK Rowling) who gave the world Harry Potter to read and enjoy.

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Chapter 14 A Change in Management

The express left the Hogsmeade Train Station and a red patch of magic from the Goblet of Fire watched the red headed bottomless pit drag his trunk along the gravel path that led to Hogsmeade. The Goblet wondered, 'Why doesn't that wizard shrink his trunk or at least make it feather light? He never thinks ahead like a sensible wizard. And Merlin, listen to his curse up a blue streak to blame everyone but himself for getting left behind.'

For a moment the Goblet thought to summon the Sphinx from the Forbidden Forest to give the bum a scare. 'Not yet. Too soon for her to be seen again.'

Then the Goblet considered the few adults remaining in the castle – a half dozen witches and the squib who was kept around to aggravate the students out of bounds after curfew. Each witch was packing to leave for an extended vacation. None of the end-of-year reports were complete and filed with the ministry in London.

'This place needs a change in management… a complete and total change in management,' decided the Goblet of Fire. 'And We are the perfect ball of magic to do it in just over two months.'

The head elf was called and informed of the change. Headmaster Albus Something-Something Dumbledore was removed from control of the wards, ghosts, elves, floos, and portraits. The man 'might' hold the role of an advisor next term. but he was no longer headmaster. The new head of management was the Goblet of Fire. For a moment, Archie-baldhead doubted the voice and red magic but then the elf smiled and nodded his head rapidly – White Lemony Whiskers had lost his power over the school effective immediately.

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Goblet of Fire and Hogwarts 27 June 1995

Madam Pence was the last faculty member to leave Hogwarts. The dedicated librarian always checked the last of the books returned for torn pages, and since Gred and Forge Weasley began attending, she performed extensive checks for tricks and jinxes embedded in the books. She only had to deal with the pain of Slippery Sliding Lips once before she approached Filius Flitwick for powerful detection charms, and Madam Pomphrey for the best method to remove the Weasley jinx quickly.

Once the librarian departed, the elves moved the Goblet of Fire from the Great Hall and took up residence at the doors leading into the library – there was a small alcove to one side where books collected from the dorms and other locations around the castle by the elves were once deposited during the summer. Today the elves popped the books to a more secure location inside the library until Madam Pence returned.

The elves placed the Goblet of Fire upon a sturdy marble plinth, and it began implementing the plan it had formulated since March. First the Goblet began searching the school for the wealth required to implement the many changes and multiple professors it planned to hire.

'First, We need to explore the headmaster's office for records and vault keys,' the Goblet decided.

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Sorting Headmaster's Office 27 June 1995

The red magic of the Goblet of Fire manifested inside the deserted office of Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. In the shape of a large blob, the Goblet of Fire set about cataloguing the contents of the room. Multiple elves were summoned to begin returning books to the library or packing them for delivery to the appropriate family heirs. The books and artefact that were the belongings of extinct families, the Goblet of Fire set to one side. Letters were created and sent to the Custodian of Records at the Ministry and to Inheritance Department at Gringotts; the books would be sent to distant blood relatives, added to the contents of the sealed vaults, or added to the Hogwarts Library. Nothing would be 'stolen' by the new management.

Cataloguing the other items in the office, the sentience from the Goblet of Fire was horrified when it discovered and determined the purposes of the silver instruments containing Harry Potter's blood. Already familiar and fond of the young wizard, the Goblet of Fire looked at the magic in Harry's blood and hair carefully before completely banishing each follicle of hair and molecule of blood.

While the Goblet continued to sort through the items in the headmaster's office, one bit of the magic broke off to check in all of Hogwarts for any other such instruments and all traces of the boy's blood and the blood of every child attending the school. A few molecules of Potter and other students were found in the infirmary, but they were quickly banished. The dormitories were all being scrubbed even now and all blood, skin and hair would be banished by the conscientious elves.

Surveying Magical Britain, an impressive accomplishment even for a powerful magical artefact, the Goblet 'smelt/felt' that more of the boy's blood/magic remained in the south. The boy himself was safe behind powerful wards in Wales. The same bit of Goblet magic arrived in Ottery Saint Catchpole in Devon to banish blood, skin, and hair samples from a hidden potion brewing room in a ramshackle house. And while it was there, the bit of Goblet magic destroyed an additional 432 hair samples, along with 84 blood samples of other magical persons.

Now, the bit of Goblet magic continued to search and 'found' more of Harry Potter's blood and hair in a bag of potion ingredients in a townhouse under extensive wards in London; these items were quickly banished. And finally, all the old blood, skin and hair in an average looking house in Surrey that had no magical protections around it were destroyed.

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Later that same week, when Molly went to brew a special love potion the Ginny would use as perfume this year, she could not find any of the blood and hair she'd collected from the Boy-Who-Would-Marry-Her-Daughter. Certain she'd packed the items; she emptied out the entire bag and ignored the kitchen for an afternoon allowing Kreacher to cook an incredible supper. The next day, she ventured from No. 12 Grimmauld Place to the Burrow via Apparition and Molly was dismayed to discover the supplies of hair and blood she'd collected from family and 'friends' for years were missing.

'Who broke in and stole my special ingredients?' she worried. 'I'll gather more hair and some blood when Potter comes to London. It takes a month to brew the potion-perfume and I'll send it to Ginny at school later. We'll have to start with an old-fashioned love potion that contains hair from Ginny to lock the boy's attention on her.'

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Vault Keys (Still 27 June 1995)

In a hidden drawer in the large desk in the office, the Goblet of Fire discovered eight Gringotts vault keys. One was the personal vault of Albus Dumbledore, and the Goblet of Fire put that key with the personal belongings of the wizard. The other seven keys provided access to various vaults belonging to Hogwarts. There were separate vaults for professor salaries, for food purchases, for maintenance of the library, supplies, furniture, castle walls, windows and doors, for remittance to Governors, for retirement funds(who?), revenue from rental of house elves(what?), and revenue from sale of potions(WHAT!?)

The head elf was summoned to explain what he knew about the vaults – the elf could access the funds for maintenance as needed and for food supplies when the headmaster and deputy headmistress were too busy with other duties. The headmaster alone controlled the funds remitted to the Governors twice a year, and the retirement funds (never touched because none of the DADA professors survived long after their contract ended and none of the professors had retired (and lived for more than three months).

The Goblet of Fire asked, "What are these last two keys? One is revenue from rental of house elves and the other is revenue from sale of potions."

The elf looked away for a moment and then explained, "Headmaster White Lemony Whiskers and Mean Several Snapes sell potions to bad wizards who like wild feelings, dreams, and dances."

"We don't understand what you mean, elf."

"All years long, Mean Several Snapes collects messed up potions that young wizards and witches try to brew. He sends elves to pour into in large cauldrons far from Hogwarts. When school year over ends, Mean Several Snape mixes all potions up and bottles for sales to ragamuffin wizards who never attend Hoggiewarts. They sells to all kinds of creatures and wizards who drink or sniffs and then run into walls screaming and shouting…it be strange but all wizards be strange."

"We think you are correct," the Goblet replied. "Has Mean Several Snapes begun bottling up the big vats of potions?"

"No, New Management Goblets of Flames," the elf replied. "There be so sign or smell of Mean Several Snapes since night of task that fed first spiders to nice Sphinx who lives in Forbidden Forest now. She eats a giant spider every day. The vats of bad potions be in cave on Island Hebrides and soon catches on fire and goes boom."

Sighing, the Goblet of Fire asked, "What does Dumbledore do with the money?"

"Bribes for Wizengamottle, bright robes that makes ache in every eyeball that sees them, and sour lemon drops with potions," the elf explained.

After a moment, the Goblet gently asked, "What about the house elves?"

"Archie-baldhead told by headmaster to never explain 'bout that," the head elf replied emphatically.

"But the New Management changes the rule effective now. Head elf Archie-baldhead, explain to Us about renting house elves," commanded the Goblet of Fire.

Grinning Archie-baldhead said, "Many, many Hoggiewarts house elves rented to grow food and potions ingredients. Malfoys and Parkinsons rent Hoggiewarts house elves for work in fields. And others grow pumpkins and food on Hoggiewarts land that Headmaster White Lemons Beard sells back to school. "

"Do you mean he charges the school for food grown by the school's house elves on school property?"

"Yes, that what Archie-baldhead said," replied the elf, nodding.

Looking through the papers in the desk, the Goblet found the informal agreements with the Malfoy and Parkinson families for the month-to-month rental of fifty house elves. This wasn't a formal contract and the Goblet's magic smiled.

There were invoices from Gringotts for pumpkins to grind into pumpkin juice, and food stuffs grown by White Bee Enterprises and sold to the school at above market prices. The Goblet's magic frowned and called back the key to Dumbledore's personal vault.

The New Management noted that the month of June was almost over. Letters were composed, created and dispatched to Regent Malfoy, and Regent Parkinson that stated the old agreement for rental of house elves would end on 30 June 1995.

The regents were invited to meet with the New Management of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry to discuss new terms and sign a formal agreement. The Malfoy and Parkinson family businesses would not be as profitable next year.

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To move forward, the elves 'employed' by Malfoy and Parkinson families were recalled and assigned a new task – the safe banishment of the poisoned potions hidden in the Hebrides Islands. The elves were to work in teams to banish the vats in small stages so that the atmosphere of the cave would not ignite. Once that problem was being dealt with, the Goblet of Fire confessed, "We need a large amount of gold."

The house elf nodded his head and said, "Can New Management make gold?"

"We have great magic, but We cannot create gold out of thin air."

"Archie-baldhead can make gold," the elf said in a matter-of-fact tone.

Turning its full attention on the elf, New Management asked, "Tell Us how you make gold Archie-baldhead?"

"Elves…um…. There be a magic stone lost in Hoggiewarts from 1992s. The Great Mr Harry Potters drops it out of his pocket on way to infirmaries after he defeats Dark Lord Snot again and White Lemony Whiskers not see. Boy be unconsc…unconable…asleep when headmaster levitates him to Madams Poppyseed in the infirmaries for treatments and life." The elf smiled deviously, and explained, "We hide in kitchens or abandoned dungeons until things turn to gold-gold-gold. Too much gold."

"What magic stone?"

"The red magic stone White Lemony Whiskers borrowed from ancient, should-be-dead wizard in Franceville. Stone makes gold and nasty tonic to keep stupid wizards alive for ten-ten years too many."

"Flamel? Did Albus Dumbledore bring the Philosophers Stone in this castle filled with children?"

"White Lemony Whiskers does many things like that every years," replied Archie-baldhead sadly.

Considering how it arrived at Hogwarts and the number of deaths resulting from the Triwizard Tournament, the Goblet of Fire conceded the argument to the house elf. It decided, 'We must not underestimate the knowledge of these wonderful creatures. They've been here for hundreds of years and know the secrets and answers where wizards have forgotten the questions.'

"Archie-baldhead, tell me about making gold," asked New Management

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