Chapter 46

For an instant, Albus felt certain that he was about to drop dead.

He had never, at any point during his long and eventful life, experienced anything like it, so completely terrifying on a visceral level. All he could process during that instant, besides that terrible fear, was the bright yellow light that filled the office as the Goblet of Fire blazed in unmistakable wrath.

A moment later it was over, and to Albus' confusion he wasn't dead.

"I only ever saw the Goblet do that once," said an old Headmistress from her frame. "Right before I died."

Albus took a deep breath, rejoicing in the extraordinary feeling of life as well as in the adrenaline rush. He had not felt so alive in decades, probably since his last duel with Gellert.

"Shouldn't be Dumbledore dead, then?" asked Phineas.

"Not necessarily. Someone must had died, though. That was the Goblet angry."

"It spat out a slip of paper, Headmaster," informed him Fortescue. "I saw it. It fell somewhere behind your desk."

A few more portraits agreed with Fortescue while others began speculating as to what it might say. Albus finally gathered himself and walked around his desk in search of the Goblet's last decree. It was with trepidation that he picked up the slip of paper, which unlike the usual commands was of an ominous red colour.

Harry Potter. Official warning. Offense: cheating. Penalty: no score in second task.

Albus breathed out a sigh of relief. Just a warning. Of course it was extremely worrying, but if the boy could be penalized then he must be still alive.

How was cheating even possible, though? This couldn't have anything to do with the alliance, else the warning would have been emitted weeks ago. And how else could a champion cheat? The Goblet made it magically impossible.

One thing was certain: whatever Harry had done, he must not do it again. Albus had never heard of the Goblet giving simple warnings, but it was easy to guess what would happen if this one was disregarded.

With that in mind, he immediately left his office to go find the boy. It was around eleven at night, too early for Harry to have sneaked out to fly yet, so Albus directed his steps to Gryffindor Tower. He didn't get very far before he was intercepted by a multitude of people, however.

Clearly the Goblet's reaction had affected everyone in Hogwarts, and everyone was afraid. Filius was the first one to reach Albus, only one corridor away from the gargoyle, and he had just began to try and reassure him when Pomona caught up with them too.

"There is nothing to worry," he insisted. "The Goblet can't harm anyone besides the champions and judges."

"The thing can clearly affect everyone," argued Pomona, who looked deeply shaken.

"Does this mean that some champion...?" Filius trailed off when he saw Pomona pale even more.

"I believe everyone is fine," said Albus. "Now please, go reassure your students, they must all be frightened. Pomona, let me know how Cedric is doing, if he looks too worried tell him that I will go talk to him later. I don't think he has anything to fear, though."

Albus resumed his course, but he was intercepted again two floors below by Charity, Wilhelmina and Aurora, and then by Argus, who had an entirely unrelated complaint (apparently he hadn't felt anything, probably because he was a Squib). Feeling pressed by time, he just told them that everything was fine and sent them all back to their quarters.

Much harder was to shake off Igor and Olympe, both of whom were just coming in from the grounds when Albus reached the Entrance Hall.

"What is happening, Dumbledore?" demanded Olympe, her voice coming out louder and in a higher pitch than usual due to the stress. "That was the Goblet of Fire, was it not?"

"Who is dead?" asked Igor bluntly.

Albus raised both his hands in a calming gesture.

"No one is dead, I believe," he said. "But it was, indeed, the Goblet. It issued a warning tonight."

He would have rathered keep this to himself, knowing how they were going to take it, but it was his duty as a judge to share any official announcements of the Goblet of Fire with his fellow judges. And besides he would have no way to explain why Harry didn't get a score if he tried to hide this, so he simply took out the red warning and showed it to them.

"I knew it!" exclaimed Olympe with indignation. "I told you it was cheating to form alliances!"

"You put all of us at risk by allowing it, Dumbledore," said Igor angrily. "My champion could have dropped dead a moment ago. I could have dropped dead, and all because y-"

"I am convinced that this has nothing to do with the alliance," cut him off Albus. "Else it would have happened weeks ago." Both Olympe and Igor opened their mouths to argue, but Albus cut them off again. "And Mr. Krum would have received a warning too, which he didn't."

His fellow judges frowned.

"What other way there is to cheat?" asked Olympe in confusion.

"I honestly have no idea. I was just heading to clarify the situation with Harry."

"I want to be present during the interrogation," said Igor firmly.

"I as well," said Olympe.

Albus hesitated.

"I would rather discuss this matter with my champion in private," he said finally.

"If your champion is cheating that concerns us all, Dumbledore," objected Olympe. "As judges, it's all our duties to deal with that."

"I don't think there's anything to deal with, my dear Olympe," said Albus. "The Goblet has already pronounced itself about the issue, Mr. Potter received a warning and a penalty, as judges our only duty is to notify him of it."

"And to make sure it doesn't happen again," said Igor. "Whatever the boy did, it affected us all, Dumbledore, you can't expect us to step aside and let you deal with it on your own. For all we know you might be helping him cheat yourself."

"You know I can't do that, Igor," said Albus patiently. "No one can help any champion. I will handle this on my own, however, since Mr. Potter is my student. And as always, I will inform my fellow judges of anything that I may consider all judges must know."

They continued arguing for several minutes, but Albus held his ground. He wasn't about to allow the boy being interrogated by everyone (his co-judges were talking about calling in the others and even about asking Ministry authorization to use Veritaserum on Harry) until he had a better idea of what this was all about. As in right now, his only guess was that it might have something to do with the hostages, in which case Albus definitely wanted to handle it on his own.

He was granted a break from the argument by Severus, who emerged from the dungeons looking extremely pale and scowling worse than ever. Olympe and Igor subsided into silence, both glancing at the exposed Death Eater with a mixture of mistrust and fear.

"May I ask what is going on, Headmaster?" he inquired in a soft voice.

"Goblet issues," said Albus simply, really hoping that he would not have to inform Severus that Harry had recently dropped dead. "But everything is fine, you might want to go reassure your students."

Severus raised an eyebrow.

"I don't feel much reassured myself, Dumbledore. What am I supposed to tell them?"

"Tell them that only the champions can be harmed by the Goblet, everyone else is perfectly safe. And as far as we know all the champions are alive too, so there is nothing to worry about."

Severus' black eyes held Albus' for a long moment, no doubt trying to assess whether he was telling the truth about all the champions and particularly Harry being alive. Before he could say anything else, however, Alastor's wooden leg was heard climbing down the stairs, so after a brief hesitation the Potions Master very wisely retreated back to the dungeons.

After briefly explaining the situation to Alastor and also sending him on his way, Albus resumed his argument with Igor and Olympe, feeling increasingly anxious to reach the troublesome champion and ensure he couldn't do anything else to anger the Goblet. Seeing that his co-Heads refused to be left out of the interrogation, he finally told them to wait for him in his office while he went to fetch Harry.

He crossed his path with Minerva one floor below the Fat Lady. Apparently she had gone to check on her House before going to ask for explanations, which was a sensible thing to do considering that Gryffindors were prone to wander off instead of staying put whenever they sensed any sort of danger.

"What was that, Dumbledore?" she whispered anxiously.

"That was the Goblet of Fire emitting a warning for one of the champions."

She nodded, understanding and fear clear in her eyes.

"Harry?"

"Yes. I am hoping he is alive and well, however..."

"I saw him a moment ago," she confirmed. "He looked afraid, like everyone else."

They walked together the rest of the way to the Fat Lady. The entire Gryffindor House seemed to be in the Common Room, most of them still in their pyjamas and all of them looking afraid. Prefects and older siblings were comforting the younger children. Everyone made silence when they caught sight of him, but it was Minerva who addressed her House, assuring the students that everyone was safe and dodging most of the questions in favour of sending everyone back to bed. Meanwhile Albus scanned the crowded room in search of Harry, until he found him sitting in a corner with Granger, Longbottom and several Weasleys. Alive and well, although he looked definitely guilty. He must know that Albus was here looking for him, and of course he must know why.

"Everyone to bed," repeated Minerva sternly seeing that there were still plenty students stalling. "Except for Mr. Potter. The Headmaster wishes to speak with you, Potter, so stay behind."

Once all the students had disappeared into their dormitories and Minerva had left the Common Room, Albus waved his wand to lock all doors and just in case cast a silencing ward all around. He didn't have any intention of escorting Harry back to his office for him to be interrogated by Igor and Olympe.

"Well, Harry," he began taking a seat in which had been his favourite armchair by the fire a lifetime ago. "I have come here to inform you that tonight the Goblet of Fire issued you a warning."

The boy hesitantly went to sit across from him.

"Is that what it was, Professor? That... feeling?"

"What happened tonight was a magical reaction from the Goblet of Fire aimed to discourage any further attempts of external interference," explained Albus. "In the past, whenever something like this happened, a variable number of champions and judges died. In this case, however, you only received a warning."

He retrieved the red slip of paper from a pocket and showed it to Harry. The boy took the warning with a trembling hand, clearly fearing that it would burst into flames and scream like a Howler.

"I... I didn't do anything," said Harry looking up. "I swear, Professor."

Albus leaned back and regarded Harry thoughtfully. It had always been easy and barely required Legilimency to determine when Harry was being sincere or lying. He sounded truthful when denying having done anything, but if the Goblet said he had cheated then that was the truth. At the very least it was obvious that the boy was hiding something.

"You are magically connected to the Goblet of Fire, Harry," he said calmly. "That means that the Goblet is somehow aware of everything you do and everything that affects you. If a warning for cheating has been emitted, then something must have happened that could be interpreted by the Goblet as cheating. Even if it was accidental, I need to know what it was."

Harry was wringing his hands and biting his lip in the way students often did when trying to think up a convincing lie. There was something desperate about him, something that made Albus wish he could turn a blind eye and let the boy keep his secrets, but this was too serious a situation. They could not afford to anger the Goblet again. So, loath as he was to invade such a young mind, he finally made the decision and dove right in the next time Harry's bright green eyes met his.

He didn't want to scare the boy by going too deep, and in any case what he was looking for was lying on the surface of Harry's mind, so he pulled out after only a few seconds, feeling stunned and marvelled at the fact that it had been a house-elf the first and only Being able to successfully defy the Goblet of Fire.

It wasn't really that surprizing, now that he thought about it. He probably should have suspected before that Dobby might be an exception to the Goblet's anti-help compulsion.

Harry's eyes were wide and afraid as he looked at him, no doubt wondering if Albus had seen the same than he had.

"I'm sorry I had to do that, Harry," said Albus sincerely. "I promise I won't do it again without a good cause."

"You... read my mind?" asked the boy nervously.

"Something like that. It's called Legilimency, a very complex branch of magic that allows to delve into people's minds."

"So you know," said Harry in resignation. "Will you confiscate it?"

Albus took a moment to consider the matter. Igor and Olympe would no doubt insist that the Gillyweed, indeed, had to be confiscated, although he thought at least Olympe would not insist so much out of competitiveness but more out of caution. Of course the idea itself could not be confiscated without resourcing to obliviation, so if Albus took away the Gillyweed Harry might have a chance to put his hands on more before the task, but it was highly unlikely he would manage to steal from Severus with so short notice, or even that it would occur to him that Severus might have Gillyweed in his office. Albus was a judge, however, so he couldn't decide based on what was more convenient for the boy. And he couldn't risk to make the Goblet more angry by enabling a champion's cheating.

On the other hand, the Goblet had already pronounced its sentence, and it hadn't said anything about confiscating the Gillyweed. It seemed like the boy would simply be penalized for that in the second task.

"I won't confiscate it," he said finally, and he saw Harry visibly relax at his words. "But you must understand, Harry, that you were lucky to receive just a warning instead of dropping instantly dead. Not only you, but also I and the rest of the judges representing Hogwarts, at the very least, could have died tonight as a consequence of Dobby's interference." The boy was looking increasingly guilty, even though none of this was his fault. "I know that, in your situation, receiving any kind of help can be tempting, Harry, but we must make sure this doesn't happen again. Any further infraction will most likely result in all our deaths, do you understand?"

Harry nodded.

"Yes, Professor. I don't know what I can do about it, though."

"You can ask Dobby not to help you again," suggested Albus.

"I can try," said the boy. "But Dobby does whatever he wants. I have already asked him not to try to save my life ever again, but today he just appeared..."

Albus sighed. He hoped that a direct order from Harry Potter or from Albus —who was his employer, if not his owner— would be enough, but he wasn't certain. After all, Dobby had promised to Harry and to Albus, and yet he had ended up acting on his own to help in the most dangerous way. Albus could always check Dobby's mind to see if his promises were sincere, but what would stop him from changing his mind again if Harry found himself in another desperate situation before the third task?

He feared he would have to take more drastic measures to make sure the elf didn't interfere again, and unfortunately that would mean to put down the creature, since keeping an elf contained with a dark ward for months would be too costly.

"You have to be very clear with Dobby, Harry," he stressed. "I will give him the order too, but I think he is most likely to obey you. It might even be safer if you could convince him of binding himself to you, since then your orders would be impossible or at least harder to ignore."

Harry's eyes widened in horror.

"You mean... make him my elf? But..."

"You can free him again later, Harry. The important thing now is to make sure he doesn't interfere again."

The boy looked aghast, but he finally sighed and nodded.

"All right. I will try, Professor."

Albus nodded too and readied himself to magically contain or neutralize the elf if it seemed necessary. Then he cleared his throat and called out loud.

"Dobby!"

Nothing happened. Albus frowned. This must be the first time ever that a house-elf didn't come when he called it. Of course Dobby was an unusual elf, free to refuse any summons, but Albus had definitely not expected to be refused now. He tried again, but still no elf appeared.

"Perhaps you ought to call him, Harry," he suggested. "He might not want to come to me because I'm a judge."

The boy nodded and cleared his throat nervously.

"Dobby!" he called.

Nothing happened either. He tried a few more times, and still nothing.

"What does this mean, Professor?" asked Harry.

"I honestly don't know," admitted Albus. Although he was beginning to consider possibilities, and none of them were good. Was the elf dead? The Goblet was not supposed to have the power to kill random people or creatures, but also no one was supposed to be able to defy the Goblet, so perhaps... Or was Dobby purposely ignoring the calls just in case someone tried to stop him from helping again? That would make him much more dangerous than Albus had believed five minutes ago. If Dobby was not found, there would be no way of telling when he might try to interfere again. In a misguided attempt to help he might even try to destroy the Goblet of Fire, which would be catastrophic.

For the first time Albus was fully aware of how fortunate they all were that most house-elves were naturally compelled to serve and protect wizardkind. Nobody knew for certain how those creatures had come to be the way they were, but the theories about ancient wizards cursing them with eternal slavery to protect themselves from their powers definitely had merit. Wizardkind would have hardly survived a war against free and hostile elves.

"I will look into it," he said, standing up to go. "For the moment, if Dobby comes to you again try to refuse anything he gives you."

The boy climbed to his feet too. His eyes were full of fears, but as usual he seemed to be making an extraordinary effort to remain strong and swallow down the anguish that he must no doubt feel. This year's events were taking a toll on him, making him grow up too fast. Albus could see the convenience of this, but he was also afraid that so much pressure would eventually break the boy.

It especially worried Albus the effect that might have on him to lose his hostage, which was a possibility even if thanks to Dobby's dangerous intervention now Harry had a chance to successfully pass the second task.

"Well, off to bed, Harry," he said as lightly as he could, waving his wand to unlock the dormitories' doors and lift the silencing ward.

It was well after midnight when Igor and Olympe finally left his office, both still angry at Albus for refusing to let them interrogate the boy themselves and to tell them what he knew about the cheating accusation. It was a given that they would tell everything to their Ministry representatives and probably also to their students, so unfortunately the fact that Harry had received a warning for cheating and caused the Goblet's wrath would be public knowledge before breakfast. But at least no one would try to take the Gillyweed away from the boy before the second task, and Albus would have some time to track down Dobby himself before a nationwide house-elf's hunt was unleashed.

He went to the kitchens next, where he was informed by several elves that Dobby had not been seen in several hours and that they had no way of tracking him due to the fact that he wasn't technically a Hogwarts' elf. Clearly Albus had not thought this through carefully enough when he had hired Dobby.

He should have taken Severus' concerns more seriously. The man had said the elf was unpredictable and dangerous, and clearly he had been more right than he could have imagined. Although he no doubt would be relieved to know that someone had managed to help the boy. And with his own Gillyweed, like as not.

When Severus walked into his office half an hour later in answer to his summons he looked a bit less pale than the last time Albus had seen him, but he still had the appearance of a man that was keeping himself upright by sheer will and maybe a Pepper Up.

He customarily glared at the Goblet of Fire for a moment before taking his usual seat.

"Well?" he asked raising an inquiring eyebrow.

Albus glanced at the burning Goblet and wondered for the hundredth time whether the object could hear and understand what was said around it. He hoped not.

He met the dark eyes again.

"What did you do with the elf, Severus?"