Disclaimer: 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. No ships. Bashing around everyone.

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A lot happens in this chapter! Take notes because there's a test tomorrow.

Musings of a Triwizard Tournament Champion

24 June 1996 / 2:17 PM

Fleur Delacour looked up from the account ledgers on her desk. The muggle calculator worked perfectly inside the powerful wards of Gringotts and her immediate boss, Ironstream intended to license the sale of the items to all vault managers through a new private limited company named Fleamont Enterprises, Ltd. (Fleur was a minority stockholder and she intended to fold every bonus and paid overtime hour into further investments in the new ventures that the goblin and his vault holder were bringing to Gringotts.

'Harry Potter,' she mused. ' That wizard causes more conversations among the goblins than any other five wizards. Investing his own gold in muggle businesses pulls goblin wealth into the FTSE and the American markets.'

Fleur enjoyed the freedom of working for Gringotts and dedicated herself to the workload that Sowsbreath demanded for first year accountants. When the petulant goblin provided everyone with muggle calculators, productivity increased substantially, though the vault manager often frowned and muttered about his pushy vault holder making demands. She swore Sowsbreath muttered about 'typing-writers' and machines that copied pages without magic.

The most financially important goblin in Gringotts Britain learned that his vault holder was as stubborn as a goblin guarding a newly discovered vein of gold. And Fleur enjoyed every minute of goblin drama in the world of sums, profit projections, and annual reports from muggle companies.

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Fleur's Distraction

While she waited for more account sheets to arrive on her desk, Fleur's mind wandered to a pleasant but temporary distraction named William Weasley. The young wizard was an energetic Cursebreaker making a name for himself among the goblin magic users. They had been first introduced at Hogwarts the previous year and she had noticed then that he was a handsome and powerful wizard, but the tournament kept her full attention. This year, on the days he managed to be in the commissary at noon, Weasley had sought Fleur's company during their lunch hour.

Bill's honest pleasure when he found the lovely French witch working at Gringotts touched Fleur's heart. When she insisted on calling him 'William' as it was an ancient and noble name, he was equally smitten. After a month of short conversations in the halls of the bank and the occasional shared table in the commissary, Fleur had prepared her response when he asked her on a date – it was only a matter of time before William asked.

If he offered a Quidditch match and food in a magical tavern, she would counter with tickets for a football game and dinner at a muggle restaurant. Then thinking better of trying to explain football to a British wizard, she decided, 'I shall take him to the cinema. Bigoted purebloods have trouble processing the 'magic' of muggle movies.'

Fleur grinned when she thought of an upcoming Sci-Fi movie that would make a pureblood wizard with a narrow world view crawl under his seat – the previews for 'Independence Day' included aliens destroying cities and battles between muggle jets and alien flying ships that made Quidditch look tame.

'Might be the worst date he'd ever have,' she decided. 'But it'll let him know I've no patience for Magical Britian's misogyny.'

Note: Independence Day was released by 20th Century Fox in summer of 1996.

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"Oh, la Vache!"

In the end, Fleur Delacour and William Weasley had one public outing before she put a hard stop to further flirtations. On a lovely afternoon in early June, they'd stepped outside the bank to enjoy a bit of sun and some ice cream at Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour across the alley from the entrance to the bank.

William purchased a scoop of Screaming Vanilla for the lovely witch, and a scoop of Sweetest Strawberry as his own treat. They were seated at a table for two with the sun shining in Fleur's lovely hair and blue eyes. The couple exchanged smiles and small talk while they enjoyed the treat.

The beautiful woman was just about to ask for taste of William's strawberry ice cream when a voice shouted, "Bill! Bill Weasley, what are you doing?"

Fleur noticed the tall, powerful wizard cringe when he heard the voice, but he wiped his mouth with his napkin before rising and turning toward the voice. Glancing over, the accountant realized the loud voice originated from Molly Weasley, William's mother.

"Good afternoon, Mother," William greeted his mother though he didn't approach to hug and kiss her like Fleur would have done with her parents or sister on the street. "I was taking a break and enjoying ice cream with Miss Delacour."

Fleur rose to be introduced to Mrs Weasley while Bill continued, "Fleur, this is my mother, Mrs Arthur Weasley."

Turning to his mother, Bill continued, "Mother, do you remember Mademoiselle Delacour from Beauxbaton? She was their champion in the Triwizard Tournament last year."

Before Fleur could say anything, Molly grimaced, shook her head and said, "Oh bother… French. Bill you can do better than a French tart. And why is she walking around Diagon Alley in the afternoon? Is she looking for clients this time of day?"

Without any filter on her mouth, Molly rattled on, "Why do the Aurors let working girls this close to the bank? Can she even speak English? Merlin, Bill promise that you'll remember to use the contraception charm! I don't want to deal with another bastard!"

Then Molly turned her gaze at the young witch again, glanced up and down, and dismissed Fleur as a bit of fluff, certainly not worth her notice.

Mortified to have been called a 'working girl' within hearing of other persons on a public street, Fleur was shocked also to hear Molly mention a child having been fathered out-of-wedlock by her son – did she mean William?

Glancing at William who blushed but didn't defend the young witch, Fleur threw a bucket of cold water on the heretofore bright flame for the wizard in her heart.

Fleur chose to speak in French when exiting the scene. "Monsieur Weasley, merci pour la glace. J'ai de nombreux comptes à rapprocher pour le Directeur de banque Sowsbreath. Profite de ton après-mid."

(Mr Weasley, thank you for the ice cream. I have too many accounts to reconcile for Bank Manager Sowsbreath. Enjoy your afternoon.)

She glanced toward Molly and quipped, "Oh la vache!"

With her wand slipping into her hand, Fleur turned her back on the Weasleys and walked back to the bank where the goblin guards bowed their heads respectfully for the intelligent young accountant. After that day, Fleur ate lunch at her desk or at time different than the noon hour. She never spoke to Bill Weasley in the hallways or commissary again.

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While Fleur Delacour vanished inside Gringotts, a loud argument occurred at Fortescue's between mother and son about slighting a coworker and accusing the witch of being a streetwalker.

Molly insisted, "You couldn't understand a word she said! She was probably discussing her price while she ate the ice cream."

"Mother, Fleur – Miss Delacour – speaks perfect English without any accent. You insulted her by insinuating that she was a 'working girl'!' Bill argued. "She thanked me for the ice cream and then excused herself to return to Gringotts. She works as an accountant for Sowsbreath, the most important vault manager in the bank!"

"Humph… an accountant."

"She makes more than Dad in his job at the ministry!" Bill announced, shocking Molly.

But Molly denied that bit of news and asked, "What was her last comment?"

"She looked at you and said, 'Oh a cow!'" explained Bill, not attempting to deflect the comment by the young witch.

"What does that mean? Did she call me a cow? Such terrible manners!" Molly said as her voice growing louder. "Bill, I forbid you to date that girl! And if you date any witch and take advantage of her before marriage, remember to use that charm! I don't want any more bastards sparked before my sons marry."

Seeing the number of people listening to their conversation, Bill stated, "After today, I doubt there's a witch in Britain who will speak to me, let alone go on a date."

"Good," Molly said. "Now, come to dinner tonight. I'm making fried chicken, and your father always enjoys it."

Author's Note: Weasleys have a way of thrusting their way into scenes and speaking their minds!

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Musings of a Headmaster

25 June 1995 / 12:17 PM

Pausing a moment before leaving his bedchamber, Albus examined his reflection in the mirror. He dismissed memories of mutterings he heard every time he appeared in public, whispers about the old wizard with the crazy beard and long white hair.

'Peons never appreciate my bright robes or the moving figures on each panel.'

Today he wore purple and green robes with dancing leprechauns. And he'd spent extra minutes with charms to braid the intricate design in his beard with his special beads.

'When Albus Dumbledore dies, the legend of the greatest wizard since Merlin will continue for centuries,' he thought. 'While Gellert and I build a new life in MACUSA for just as many centuries.'

'Wait, I must plan my strategy for dethroning Augusta this afternoon. I want my throne in the Wizengamot back,' he reminded himself. ' Now, who do I use as the Judas to bring the no confidence vote. It'll only take six votes.'

Lost in his memories of people's faces and names for a moment, the wizard's left hand caressed the dark blue beads that were the matching horcrux containers of Albus Dumbledore and Gellert Grindelwald. The dark green ones held half souls of Griselda Marchbanks and Alois Harding-Rollings. He'd kept the red one that had contained half of Severus Snape's soul since 1982.

'I never thought Gellert would last for fifty years in that cold tower,' the headmaster thought with another sigh, all thoughts about the Wizengamot, Augusta Longbottom, and being chief warlock vanishing underneath his older plans. 'I expected he'd die naturally by 1970, and I could resurrect him. Then I would die tragically while killing Lord Voldemort and give birth to the legend of Albus Dumbledore in Magical Britain.'

'Gellert would resurrect me, we'd be young forever, and slowly build new reputations with new identities that would make the world worship us.'

Staring at himself in the mirror, Albus wished for the millionth time he could bring himself to kill Gellert.

'If I'd killed him in 1940, thousands of wizards and witches would not have died in that stupid war with millions of muggles. I think we came close to wiping them out on the continent and their numbers never recovered.'

Thinking once again about Gellert, Albus admitted, 'I loved him too much…I still do… to ever summon the hate needed to cast the Avada Kedavra curse.'

Stepping away from the mirror, Dumbledore moved to the staircase. As he descended to his office, he noted the scroll on the wall – his seminal paper on the twelve uses of dragon blood. 'That's the only reason the governments haven't wiped the beasts off the face of the earth. And the dragon preserves consume almost 5% of the annual budgets of every magical government.'

Congratulating himself for hamstringing research and spell development by making dragons an endangered species, Albus wondered if he should to something similar with trolls or banshees. 'Once we establish our new identities, Gellert will have a suitable notion. That wizard was always creative with pranks to play on other wizards and witches.'

Turning his attention back to his current situation, Albus admitted, 'This year has been one disappointment piled on top of another.'

The wizard moved to sit at his desk until time to head for London.

'It began with that disaster at Grimmauld Place. Molly took her eye off Ronald long enough for the boy to get his wand inside Nymphadora. Is Ron even old enough to perform and spark?'

Frowning for a moment, Albus realized that at 137 years of age, he didn't remember what it was to be fifteen years old. 'It doesn't matter. I remember how Gellert made me feel when we were thirty years old and made our horcruxes.'

'But that disaster destroyed the Order of the Phoenix, and I lost control of Black and Potter – and their vaults! The print media was unnecessarily unkind, and I had no idea that Cornelius could be as ruthless as he was – ripping away my post with ICW and then dethroning me in the Wizengamot.'

Now Dumbledore frowned, 'And Aunt Griselda had no reason to be vicious to me in front of the Wizengamot! Let's see how she feels after wandering around without her body and magic for four months!'

He tilted his head to one side and considered, 'Do I want to resurrect her later today? It is the solstice. Or do I leave her spirit wandering for an entire year? She has to learn that I am undisputed sorcerer and leader for our coven.'

Again, Dumbledore's mind moved in another direction.

'Wherever Black has hidden himself, it's a good location. If I find out, that'll be the hide-away that Gellert and I use to recover our physical and magical powers after our resurrections.'

'And Potter is useless,' Albus groused. 'Too much of a coward to stand up for the muddy born, to testify that Lord Voldemort has returned, and afraid of bureaucrats. Useless creatures – all of them.'

'December. Now that was a series of shocks that I'd not anticipated – Azkaban sealed up and Malfoy Manor smashed flatter than Arthur Weasley's vault balance every time Molly buys food to feed that coven of children.'

'I still can't find out how either event occurred. And there was nothing before or since,' he reviewed, forgetting about the stone that kept reappearing beside Black Lake.

'No one claimed credit, all the Death Eaters died, and the goblins declared that Tom was really dead when they know as well as I do that his toys are still here.'

After a few minutes of mediation or napping – the headmaster couldn't tell the difference between the two activities any longer, he wondered, 'What was I thinking about earlier? Yes, getting back my Wizengamot throne!'

Albus ran his left hand across the five horcrux beads braided into his beard, he told himself, 'You are immortal with a horcrux in a safe place. And what's safer than the beard of the most powerful wizard since Merlin.'

'Hehe Hehe…Merlin will be an also ran and everyone will swear 'by Albus' fifty years from now.'

Then he worried, 'No wait, damn it! Merlin is his last name! Will people swear by Dumbledore?'

Clearing his mind, Albus returned to his jumble of musings. He admitted, 'December… yes it was a shock to see Snape's name on that list. I wonder if that is what set Griselda off that day? Was she upset that Snape was listed as 'dead' by the goblins despite having a horcrux alongside her own in my beard?'

'It took until February to gather the ingredients needed to create the potions and to convince Griselda to provide her blood and flesh to bring back Severus. But I showed her the paintings from when she was young and a beauty – Griselda Dumbledore – my father's sister was a beauty. And she joined me…us willingly when I promised her beauty would be returned and made permanent when she was resurrected.'

He smiled. 'She killed her husband to make her bead into a horcrux. It was a glorious ritual!'

Reviewing the resurrection of Severus Snape in the small magical house in Dover, Albus nodded as he remembered, drawing the ritual circle with chalk and then making certain he had all the potion ingredients, he petrified Griselda and switched the chalk used in the drawing on the floor for her blood.

'It didn't hurt Aunt Gertie that much…she didn't even scream,' he mused. Then he realized he had made a mistake. 'Drat. I didn't cut her arm off first and throw it in the cauldron while it still had blood in the veins.'

'The chalk may have made a difference…Severus did look like he was in his early twenties again, but he wasn't as boisterous or talkative as I had expected him to be,' Albus remembered. 'He blinked a great deal and asked about getting glasses…impossible.'

'I must check on him soon,' Albus resolved. 'Severus will tell me about how he misses the world of magic while I check his pulse, core and soul. If my theory is correct, the tear in the soul should be healed and begun to grow again.'

'Yes, my plans…our plans will work,' Albus assured himself. He cast the tempus spell and smiled, 'Twenty minutes and then I use the floo to enter the Atrium. Or do I apparate into the middle of the Ministry for Magic to make a statement? See peasants! Here is Albus Dumbledore still powerful and magnificent! There's nothing Cornelius Fudge and Ministry for Magic can do to him.'

'Drat!' he swore. 'Rufus Scrimgeour is minister now, not Cornelius. Mustn't forget that.'

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Wizengamot Chamber

25 June 1996 2:00 PM

The eleven voting members of the Wizengamot had been summoned by Minister Rufus Scrimgeour to address the civil strife continuing each day since the revelation of so much mud in the pureblood family trees. There'd been a riot in Hogsmeade the previous day when Clarence Brown attempted to force a half-blood to buy him a beer at the Three Broomsticks. Words and spells were exchanged and caused a brawl between wizards maintaining their special status as pure bloods and regular wizards who were tired of hearing about blood status.

Many betrothals had been broken and two formal duels fought that left ample 'pure blood' on the piste when muggleborn witches finished with the wizards protesting the end of the betrothal.

Today, Scrimgeour summoned the members to the Ministry for Magic to address a new problem – the ICW was bringing great pressure on Magical Britain to implement meaningful reform. Now!

"They can't cross our borders! That would mean war!" Scrimgeour declared from the well of the chamber with everyone listening.

'If there was an invasion, who would defend the ministry?' wondered more than one wizard.

Pretending to listen intently to the minister, Dumbledore's thoughts focused on Augusta Longbottom – the witch did not look well. Her robes were wrinkled and scorched in several places.

'Is her 'grandson' asserting himself since his return from school?' Albus wondered. 'The heir can deny her the use of elves. Especially since she's not his natural grandmother.'

A wave of magic swept through the chamber and caught two individuals by surprise. In his mind, Albus Dumbledore felt some knowledge leave his carefully organized mind.

'Where…how do I bring back Gellert? I don't remember how to perform the resurrection ritual,' he realized. While he struggled with the loss, his mind searched through his vast amounts of knowledge of spells, rituals, and charms, for the set of steps gone as if they never existed.

'Who did this?' he wondered as a second wave of magic swept over him. And now, Albus Dumbledore didn't know how to create a horcrux. He knew horcruxes existed – he carried four in his beard along with the empty container that had been the soul jar of Severus Snape, but he no longer knew how to make the horcrux.

Shaken to his core, his primary life goals lost and locked away, Albus Dumbledore stared at the Wizengamot chamber without seeing the members debating the problems of mud in the family trees, and the new threat from the ICW.

And the chief warlock – Lady Augusta Longbottom – cried while seated on the throne set above the other members of the chamber. She was heard to mutter, "Wasted! Wasted!"

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A Boulder Goes to Sleep

Deep underneath Gringotts London, in the Cavern of Secret Magic Users, Copperknife rolled up into a boulder. He would sleep for however long was necessary for him to recover from casting the Fidelius Charm twice in less than sixty minutes. The power sink underneath the bank had provided the necessary power but stone was not meant to channel that much power twice in close succession.

Ironstream who had witnessed the Secret Magic User cast the charm would update Sowsbreath and write a letter to Lord Potter-Black to inform the young wizard of the steps that Gringotts had taken this day.

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Ritual At Potter Manor

Harry Potter and his prime number of elves arrived at Potter manor just after lunch on 25 June. This was Harry's second visit to the manor, and he was pleased with changes to the landscape since his first visit – the grass was trimmed and neat though not as green as it would be after a few months of being trimmed, fertilized and watered by the elves. The shrubbery had been trimmed back severely and would take a year to grow into the preferred shapes. But the paths had been cleared and gravel restored between the house and the buildings around the main house. Without a glance toward the manor, the young wizard made his way to the ritual room set apart from the house.

Entering the free-standing building, he crossed to the golden circle embedded in the floor. Harry took the time to touch it and feel the quiet natural magic that filled the room. The sun shone through the windows around the room, and he removed his outer robe and his trainers and socks. Today he would be barefoot when he invoked the IFI ritual to repair the now-empty soul container of Severus Snape.

The ritual invoked in the Room-of-Requirement to repair Tom Riddle's diary had seemed simple at the time and from some reading Harry had done in books from the Black family library, he decided that the 'enchanted' item had reacted to being repaired by catching fire. He took time to remember the look of the beads that Dumbledore wore in his beard at every meal, and meeting for five years at Hogwarts.

Taking a deep breath, Harry glanced up and found his seventeen elves in their places around the circle grouped as three – three – three – four between the compass points. He began the ritual by bowing from the South point and then beginning the seventeen steps around the golden circle, reminding magic that a container had once been whole and untainted by Snape's evil magic.

After three turns around the circle he walked in the opposite direction, stopping at the North and South points, and asking magic to remove the taint from the container.

When the ritual was ended and complete, Harry and the elves could feel their magic diminished more than at Hogwarts when they called on magic to repair the diary. Sitting on his butt on the floor to rest for a moment, Harry wondered if the greater pull on his magic – and the magic of his elves – was because of the distance from the container (wherever Albus Dumbledore was at the moment) or if it was because Harry had never seen or touched the container up close. Winky passed Harry a pepper up potion, and he drank it down while the elves consumed berries.

After a few more minutes of rest, Harry and the elves cleaned the ritual room and then returned to the improved gardens outside Potter Manor. He debated entering the house but decided against it. He wanted to return to The Wheel and continue preparations for the arrival of the baby.

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Collapse of Golem Snape

In a secure chamber underneath Gringotts Bank, Golem Severus Snape was seated in a chair staring at an open book but unable to understand the words printed on the page. There were only fleeting thoughts in its mind and the healer assigned to help the creature that day turned away to consult a report. When the goblin turned back, the golem was falling apart. A black spirit rose from a white dust mixed with potions and the withered hand and arm of a witch. The spirit rolled and twisted as though in pain before it winked out of existence.

The golem of Severus Snape no longer existed.

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Sympathetic Magic

Simultaneous with the dissolution of Golem Snape underneath Gringotts Bank, a distracted Albus Dumbledore failed to notice that one of the beads braided into his beard heated up. It was the bead that once contained half of the soul of Severus Snape. His mind lost in daydreams of gold from someone else's vault, a smile on the face of his lover, and renewed public acclimation such as he received in 1946, Albus did not notice when the hair of his beard threaded through and around the bead smouldered. Almost sixty seconds passed before Dumbledore's beard it ignited in flames.

The seat for the holder of the Order of Merlin, First Class was a few metres from the other Wizengamot members and so none of them immediately noticed the fire – the flames that erupted and consumed Dumbledore's beard.

Hearing a shout, Amelia and Rufus turned to see Dumbledore standing and slapping at flames in his beard while the leprechauns on his robes fled in a futile effort to escape. The wizard and witch turned their wands toward Dumbledore and cast spells to soak him in water hopeful of extinguishing the flames.

If it had been only the one horcrux to catch fire, Albus might have survived with some serious burns to his hands and one side of his chest. However, the magic repairing Snape's horcrux container triggered sympathetic magic in every container of the same magic braided into the wizard's beard. All five horcrux containers burst into hot flames and the fire spread through the beard, hair, robes, and body of Albus Dumbledore. Strangely, the wizard's wand deserted him and clattered to the floor. His magical core compromised, the fire grew in intensity and Dumbledore's corpse was burned beyond recognition in under two minutes.

Not understanding what they'd just witnessed, the members of the Wizengamot were equally horrified when Chief Warlock Augusta Longbottom burst into flames when a locket she wore around her neck erupted in sympathetic fire. The bright blaze consumed her robes, vulture hat, and corpse.

Minister Rufus Scrimgeour could only stare at the two smouldering corpses and wonder what had occurred.

There were more shouts and screams when the witches and wizards noticed the dark spirits rising from the burnt corpses – one figure that resembled a younger Augusta Longbottom rose from her corpse, writhing in pain and screaming before it vanished. There were four figures rising from the corpse of Albus Dumbledore – a face known to most of the observers (Alois Harding-Rollings) who screamed for a moment and then disappeared. Then a young and beautiful Griselda Marchbanks appeared to swirl around for a moment before she winked out of existence. And last two figures weren't recognized at first.

Amelia Bones didn't know what had happened, but she summoned the Unspeakables to the chamber. She couldn't prevent the reporters from taking photographs – she'd want copies of every photo they'd made – but she did station Aurors around both dead to prevent anyone from approaching or casting any spells.

Later the Unspeakables identified unidentified spirits to be young Albus Dumbledore and Gellert Grindelwald. In the short time they floated about the charred corpse of the headmaster, the two spirits fought viciously with Grindelwald choking Dumbledore and cursing the world before they both swirled away into eternity.

The funny wand that Dumbledore had used since the 1940's was placed into an evidence bag and stored until all investigations were complete.

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In a hidden castle in Germany, a wizard confined to simple cell for fifty-one years felt the fire ignite in his magical core and spread his arms to welcome the pain and death the fire brought. He went to eternal damnation already tired and defeated.

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