Disclaimer: Kennilworthy Whisp belongs to JK Rowling.
Update: I went back and made a few edits to this chapter in the scene where Harry is reading ahead. I realised I needed to tweak the setup a bit to make the Shrieking Shack chapters work they way I want them to. The overall gist of the chapter is the same, but it will lead to a larger change in the next two chapters.
Interlude III: The Half-Blood Prince, Day 5
Minerva was expecting to get to her private reading this afternoon soon, but first, she had a mystery to solve, and so, she climbed up to the seventh floor to investigate what Potter called the "Room or Requirement." The location wasn't hard to find, and in fact, the procedure to open the Room wasn't even that unlikely, but it wasn't very intuitive, and, if the boy's description was accurate, she could imagine many a student finding the Room at some point and then failing to ever find it again unless they knew the trick.
Passing the tapestry of the dancing trolls, she walked up and down the corridor three times, while thinking, feeling a bit foolish, I need the companions books to the Harry Potter series. I need the companions books to the Harry Potter series…
A door appeared in the blank wall—not a grand, ornate door, but an ordinary door just like any other in the castle. It was almost anti-climactic in a place as magical at Hogwarts. Even so, Minerva held her wand at the ready as she opened the door, just in case it wasn't what she expected.
The little room behind the door was almost disappointing compared with the grand training room Potter had described, but for how small it was, it was quite nice. It was a cozy little reading room—smaller than any real reading room would be designed, yet not cramped despite being barely larger than a broom cupboard, clearly custom-made by the castle for only one person. It contained a small fire grate, a wing chair, and a side table with a lamp on it. And also on that side table were not two, but three very slim booklets, barely more than pamphlets: one green, one red, and one hard-bound in brown.
Minerva picked them up and read the titles: Quidditch Through the Ages, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, and…The Tales of Beedle the Bard. All there, the first two even labelled with the correct authors, although far too small to be the actual volumes.
This called for further investigation. She sat down in the wing chair to read. She began with Quidditch Through the Ages, as that was the one she knew best. As Potter had noted the oddities of the original books, she studied the cover carefully. She noted the reproduction of the Hogwarts Library seal on the front. Then on the back cover…
Was a note to the muggle readers with Albus's bloody signature! There were logos for both muggle and wizarding publishers and a price listed in both pounds and sickles. This really was a violation of the Statute of Secrecy!
But no, not necessarily. She calmed herself. She couldn't be sure of that yet. The original Harry Potter books were marketed as fiction. That much was clear. If these were purporting to be nonfiction, that could just be artistic license. She needed to see what was inside.
The first page was a reproduction of the Hogwarts Library check-out log and the usual warning from Madam Pince about not defacing the book. Then after the magical world reviews, the "about the author" page, and the table of contents, there was a foreword that also proved to have Albus's signature on it (which was certainly not in the library's version).
And when she got halfway through it, she practically threw the book down upon seeing the mention of a Thief's Curse on it. That was not the kind of thing to put that far in! Certainly, she hadn't stolen it, but she also couldn't know where it had come from. However, when she checked it over with her wand, there was no Thief's Curse in evidence. Presumably just another joke to play along with the premise.
Then, at the end of the foreword, was the information she needed: "…and to beg Muggles not to try playing Quidditch at home; it is, of course, an entirely fictional sport and nobody really plays it." Minerva relaxed when she read that. The Statute was still safe; any claims of fact in the book were merely part of the act.
With that, she thumbed through the rest of the book, and it was soon apparent that these were mere excerpts from the actual Quidditch Through the Ages. Barely a tenth of the material in Kennilworthy Whisp's tome was included—most of the nuance removed, whole sections rearranged and renumbered. The entire chapter on flying techniques and styles (which she vaguely recalled Granger reading in the first book) had been excised, and the "Quidditch Today" chapter was stripped down to a short list of common plays. She supposed muggles would enjoy it if they liked the Harry Potter books, and it was fine to send a few sickles to charity, but it was a far cry from an in-depth exploration of the game.
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them was the same. Indeed, it was even more trimmed down. But what most surprised her was that it was not a library book, but marked on the cover as Harry Potter's personal copy, and its pages filled with notes and doodles in Potter's (and Weasley's and Granger's) own handwriting. She hesitated, considering that, but she decided that if the books were from the future, someone could have easily copied' Potter's notes at some point. As for Scamander's text, the introductory "What is a beast?" and "Muggle Awareness" sections were printed in their entirely, but the rest was an extremely thin summary. Most of the entries included only the first paragraph of Scamander's writing; they weren't properly broken down by region, and many non-European beasts and even a few European ones were omitted entirely.
The Tales of Beedle the Bard was very different, though just as short when she saw the number of words on a page. She checked the dates on all three books. Quidditch Through the Ages and Fantastic Beasts were both dated 2001, but Beedle the Bard was dated all the way in 2008. Looking inside, it proved to be an annotated copy of just five of Beedle's tales—annotated, once again, by Albus bloody Dumbledore. She gave up at that point and decided that Albus would have to deal with it.
Besides, she still had her original reading plan to contend with. She pulled out her copy of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, carefully concealed under her robes to take it out of her office, and began to thumb through the next few chapters.
By the end of the first chapter, even just skimming it, she was already starting to regret doing it, what with all the trouble Potter was causing. That was an unpleasant situation all around, and it would only get more unpleasant when they had to discuss with Severus Potter's misuse of his spell.
By the end of the second chapter, she suddenly realised the flaw in her plan. She was going to have to go in there with the others and pretend she hadn't read ahead. Even she hadn't known that Severus was the one who had overheard Sybill's first prophecy and reported it to He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. Ironically, she thought Albus had the right of it in this case. Potter's fixation on the incident, thought entirely justified, was a distraction. Severus was not necessarily a good man, but he was, so far as even Albus could tell, a stalwart ally in the war.
But now, she would have to face them both. It wasn't the end of the world if they found out, but she could imagine their reactions if they found. Albus would be disappointed and concerned with them not being on the same page, literally and figuratively. Severus would feel slighted and distrusted, and they'd be back to their same argument from over the weekend.
Minerva did know basic Occlumency. Was it enough to fool Severus? Maybe. But then again, Severus didn't customarily use Legilimency on her, and she was pretty sure she would notice if he tried. Was it enough to fool Albus? She didn't know. Albus just seemed to know things. Either he was just that good at Legilimency, or he was just that good at reading people without it. Neither would surprise her, and he knew her better than anyone else still living.
She had to get herself into the mindset of going into the chapters fresh…or, perhaps alternatively, of not being so surprised by them. The title "Sectumsempra" did suggest Potter using Severus's curse in some fool way. And while she was surprised by the bit about the prophecy, Albus's reaction to set the matter aside was a sensible one she could emulate.
She looked at the third chapter. Did she dare? No, she'd better not tempt fate—well, mostly. She flipped to the end of the chapter just to see if Albus and Potter had got the horcrux. They had, and she saw on the page the both of them leaving in one piece, although Albus looked the worse for wear. That was enough.
Without intending to, she saw the title of the next chapter: The Lightning-Struck Tower. Oh, she dearly wanted to know, but at the same time, she definitely didn't want to know until after her current crisis was over. This was their nominal stopping point for the day, and that was enough for now.
Minerva closed the book and shivered. It was probably better on the whole if she didn't try something like this again, no matter how alluring the desire for further knowledge was. (She was a Hatstall with Ravenclaw, after all.) Tomorrow, she would leave it for their group reading. Probably. Maybe.
For now, she packed up to go. She had a great deal more work to do today.
"Only one more day," she said to herself. Only one more day of the public reading, that was, and she'd be glad to be shot of it. "Though it's too bad we lost a chapter from the third book," she muttered. It wasn't a great loss to the story, but in the interest of completeness, it would be good to have it. The Ministry would certainly want a full copy when it came to it, and then there were the student complaints. "If we could—"
She was just about to open the door when she heard a faint rustling sound. She turned around, and on the side table, there was a stack of loose pages that she recognised at once as coming from the main book series. Nervously, she picked them up and scanned down the first page.
Mr Wormtail bids Professor Snape good day, and advises him to wash his hair, the slimeball.
These…these were the missing pages from the book. She flipped to the back.
Harry slept badly. First he dreamed that he had overslept, and that Wood was yelling, "Where were you? We had to use Neville instead!" Then he dreamed that Malfoy and the rest of the Slytherin team arrived for the match riding dragons. He was flying at—
That was Potter's dream where the surviving pages of the book had picked up again. The Room provided them just as they were before. She supposed the Room had had to provide the entire stack of books in the first place, but even so, she didn't like it. Even by magical standards, this room was starting to weird her out. Minerva grabbed the lost pages and left with haste.
She was none to soon getting back to her office, as Potter and his friends—and Percy Weasley—arrived for their by-now-expected daily visit not long afterwards.
"Firstly, Potter," she said, "I investigated the Room of Requirement to see if it would produce the other books we learnt about."
"There are more books?" Hermione exclaimed.
"There are, though none of any consequence, Miss Granger. Abridged versions of a few of our books repackaged as fiction and sold for charity. Nothing bearing on the current situation."
Hermione looked like she wanted to demand more information, but at a look from McGonagall, she stayed silent.
"More importantly, Potter," she continued, "I surprised to find that room also produced the missing pages from the current book reading that were destroyed this morning."
Harry gave a start: "It did, Professor?"
"Yes. We can include them in tomorrow's reading for completeness. But first, I want to ask you if you could repeat your redactions to these pages from last night."
She held the pages out to Harry. Harry still looked surprised, but he took them in hand. "Er, I suppose I can, Professor," he said. "If you think we need to?"
"Do we need to include them in the reading tomorrow, Professor?" Percy asked. "We've kind of moved past that already."
"I've already received complaints about what happened this morning," McGonagall said flatly. "It will be easier for all of us if we just complete the reading."
Harry began leafing through the pages. He saw that she had already crossed out the Marauder's Map's insults to Snape, just so there was no confusion. Once he reoriented himself in the story, he confirmed that there was only one other part he needed to remove: the more personal parts of his conversation with Remus. Perhaps a bit stubbornly, he left in the bit about Hermione slapping Malfoy. Of course, he'd already mentioned it in the morning's reading anyway. He marked them up appropriately and handed them back. "There, that was the only thing I wanted to remove, Professor," he said.
"Thank you, Potter," she replied. "And I do have a copy of the book for you to redact the remaining chapters, if you still wish to do so." She magicked the torn pages into the book and duplicated it. He nodded as he took his copy. "Now, while the reading is not over yet, it is my duty to ask about some of the things we heard today."
"Professor?" Harry said nervously.
"Your and Ronald Weasley's knowledge of the secret passages into the school from this 'Marauder's Map.' Weasley, I would like to ask your brothers the same questions, and Professor Lupin, for that matter, but with you and Potter, it is particularly pertinent. It is, perhaps, understandable that you did not want to reveal the map when you first received it. However, after Sirius's second break-in, it seems foolish in the extreme that you did not approach us then—after you, Weasley, or so it appeared, narrowly escaped being killed by him personally. How did you think he was getting into the castle other than by one of the secret passages—specifically, one of the passages the staff did not know about?"
Harry and Ron both winced, and Hermione crossed her arms at them with an "I-told-you-so" look. "Well, it's like we said in the book, Professor," Ron said. "We thought we would've heard about him getting in through Honeydukes."
"That would be far from a certain thing with the Ministry putting their fingers in the pie," McGonagall said. "And it also does not answer my question. How did you think he got in?"
The boys looked at each other. "I dunno," Harry admitted. "Dark magic, I guess. Plus, with Sir Cadogan gone, the Tower was safe again, wasn't it?"
McGonagall raised an eyebrow. "Safe from that same dark magic? That's a dangerous assumption. I admit you were hardly the only weak link in our security that year. Professor Lupin, for all his virtues, made a far greater lapse in judgement. And all of us missed that Sirius could be getting in through the Whomping Willow passage. Regardless, I urge you to be more careful about such matters of security in the future."
Harry nodded morosely. He'd already been chewed out by Remus for it in the book—and by Hermione, for that matter.
"Now, can we help you with some of these matters?" she continued.
Hermione nodded, checking her notes: "Yes, Professor. Er, well, the first thing is something I wanted to know even at the time: was it normal procedure to bring the executioner to Buckbeak's appeal? Percy?"
"For a beast? Of course it was," Percy said, to her surprise. "I'm sorry, Hermione, but you've got it backward. For a beast, the appeal is only a formality; it's really just the execution." Hermione squawked in protest, but Percy held up his hand. "As much as Buckbeak meant to Hagrid, and as much as Malfoy was…well, being Malfoy, the standards for a beast are much lower than they are for a Being. The initial hearing is only challenged under extraordinary circumstances—mistaken identity, witness was lying, that sort of thing."
"Malfoy was lying!" Hermione exclaimed.
"He was definitely malingering," he admitted, "but he was injured, and it's not hard to spin a tale that would convince the Committee for the Disposal of Dangerous Creatures. In fact, I doubt Lucius even had to threaten them, although I'm sure he threw his weight around."
Hermione sighed heavily. "I suppose I shouldn't be surprised. I know there are things like the Dangerous Dogs Act even in the muggle world, but—well, in the muggle world, an appeal means a full court hearing! I just thought with them going through a whole hearing with Buckbeak to begin with…" She shook her head. "Well, there was one other thing I wanted to know. I don't understand how the Quidditch schedules are made out. The first match is always the Saturday after Halloween, but the final—our first year, it was after exams. Our third year, it was in April, and…Ron, what is it this year?"
"Not sure, but I'm pretty sure it's before O.W.L.s," Ron answered.
"Right. Why does it change so much? Why isn't there a set schedule?"
"That…is a complicated matter," McGonagall said wearily. "Part of it is set based on the teams themselves. You heard how Wood always was about the practice schedules."
"The captains don't have a say in the match schedule, though," Harry cut in.
"No, but the Heads of House do, and you know that Professor Snape has interfered with it on more than one occasion. However, there was a more important issue. Normally, the Quidditch final is in the last couple of weeks before exams begin. But in your first year, much like your second year, there was a safety concern. You three may not have noticed at the time—from the sounds of the books, you did not notice—but dead unicorns tend to attract a lot of attention. We were delaying the Quidditch final that year, quietly, in the hopes that the danger had passed. Unfortunately, by the time it did, you were in the Infirmary, Potter, and there was no more time to wait for you to recover."
"And our third year?" Hermione pressed.
"In your third year, the dementors were growing restless again. That was something else you might not have noticed, although it might explain why they came after you, Potter. But in that case, we accelerated the schedule as much as we could manage to give them less time to test Professor Dumbledore's ban."
"Say, what about our second year?" Ron spoke up. "Why'd take so long to start up the matches again."
McGonagall levelled a stare at him. "In that case, Weasley, we very much wanted to either find the Chamber of Secrets or catch the Heir of Slytherin before resuming the season. When that failed to happen—I hated to admit it, but it was possible Lockhart was correct, and the Heir had been scared off—we delayed the season as long as we could while still having time to finish it before exams. But of course, you know how that went."
"Yeah. Mind, it was kinda odd how Ginny waited so long to steal the diary back."
"If she hadn't, Riddle's diary might still be at the bottom of my trunk, and no one would've known what happened," Harry mused.
"Yes, what happened certainly wasn't the worst possible scenario in several respects," McGonagall agreed. "Was there anything else?"
Hermione shook her head, while Harry said, "I had a couple questions, Professor, but I think they're things Professor Dumbledore would need to answer."
"Very well," McGonagall said. "The rest of you may go. There is something I need to discuss with Potter privately."
Harry's eyebrows shot up. Ron and Hermione looked to him, but he shrugged and nodded, and the two of them got up and left. Percy quickly followed at a sharp look from McGonagall.
When they had gone, leaving only the two of them, Harry still very confused, McGonagall looked down kindly at him and said, "Mr. Potter, I was concerned about an incident we read about in the sixth book…which recounted that Myrtle Warren was at some point spying on you in the bath."
Harry flushed scarlet, groaned, and he put his head in his hands. "Oh, no, it mentioned that?" he said.
"So it has already happened?"
"Don't remind me, Professor. I'd prefer to just forget about it. I know she kind of helped me, but—"
"Helped you?!"
"Yeah, it's a long story, but—"
"Potter, this is a serious matter," McGonagall interrupted. "We told Miss Warren long ago to stay away from the dorm room bathrooms. We can't keep her out of the plumbing entirely, but we cannot have her harassing the younger students."
Harry's head popped up as her words registered. "What? The dorm rooms? Myrtle's never come into the dorms, Professor, at least that I know of. I was in the Prefects' Bathroom."
Now, it was McGonagall's turn to blink in surprise: "The Prefects' Bathroom? When were you in the Prefects' Bathroom?"
Harry winced again, if only because that whole incident was so awkward. "It was to solve the clue for the Second Task in the Tournament. Cedric gave me the password and told me to try it…didn't really explain himself, to be honest."
"I see. That changes matters, then. And of course, since you are not a prefect yourself, you never received Madam Pomfrey's speech about proper usage of the Prefects' Bathroom, including, among the more obvious things, how to address Miss Warren's occasional visits."
"Yeah, guess not," Harry agreed glumly. He still didn't like to be reminded about being passed over for prefect—although it wouldn't have helped him as a fourth-year.
"Regardless, you may speak to Madam Pomfrey or any of the staff if you have any further problems with Miss Warren's behavior. We will be improving our process for handling student concerns and complaints in the coming week."
"Um…right, Professor," he said, flushing again.
"You may go, Potter."
Harry left as quickly as he could.
However, Harry had more people to talk to that day. Harry didn't speak to Professor Dumbledore every day after the reading. And in fact, he hadn't seen Dumbledore at all in his new office—only at the discussions in what was now Headmistress McGonagall's office—but he did need to seek him out this time.
It was unnerving to see Dumbledore at a normal desk in a normal office—well, as normal as any Hogwarts teacher's office ever was. Some of the spinning silver instruments were there, but not all of them, and they were on ordinary shelves instead of the spindly-legged tables they were before. And there was other equipment set up at the back of the room that looked almost, but not quite like a potions station, including a large fire pan.
"Good afternoon, Professor," Harry said distractedly as he looked around. "Er…"
"You are surprised to see me in these surroundings, Harry?" Dumbledore said with a smile.
"Uh, kinda, yeah."
"This is the office for the Hogwarts Professor of Alchemy. As it happens, the equipment that I need to have on hand for that class is different that it was as Headmaster."
"Ah, sure." Harry said, though it was still a surprise. "But…didn't you…live…?"
"Above the Head's Office? Yes, I did. It is a bit of an adjustment, but the beauty of magic is that I can set up my new living quarters with a virtually identical appearance. But I think you did not come just to admire the scenery, did you, Harry."
"No, sir. I just had a couple of questions I wanted to know about the reading today, and I wondered if you understood what they meant."
"Certainly, I will explain what I can," he said.
Harry hesitated, still working up to his big question, so he started with his dream that was seemingly about his Patronus and why it might be important.
"That is nothing to be concerned about, Harry," Dumbledore explained. "I believe you had a dream that was at once of great significance, and yet simultaneously quite insignificant. Insignificant in that it had little to no bearing on the story. Dreams in these books are used in different ways, but I suspect that dream was included simply because you were woken from it by your friend Mr. Weasley's screaming.
"However, I believe your dream was of great significance to you personally," he continued. "After all, that was your first time casting a fully corporeal Patronus that day, was it not?"
"Yes. But I didn't get a good look at it."
"Had you not been woken, I suspect you would have done in your dream. This is a curiosity that many wizards never encounter, but you no doubt noticed that learning the Patronus Charm reaches a deep spiritual level that ordinary spells do not."
Truthfully, Harry hadn't noticed anything of the sort—or not in so many words, at least—but looking back, it made sense, so he nodded.
"Magic, I have found, has a tendency to align itself with such efforts. Not as a strict rule, you should understand, but just a tendency. When a witch or wizard learns the Patronus Charm, or immediately afterwards in your case, it is common for an image of your Patronus to appear in their dreams, leading them on to their goal, as it were. Professor McGonagall tells me that similar dreams can occur while learning to become an Animagus, with which it shares certain similarities."
"Huh…" Harry said, not sure what else he could add. He was sure he never would have got it on his own, but it had a ring of truth to it that he couldn't fully explain, even accounting for it coming from Dumbledore.
"Incidentally, Harry, have you given further thought to teaching your study group the Patronus Charm?" Dumbledore added.
"Tomorrow night, sir," he confirmed. "So they'll have the rest of the reading fresh."
"Yes, I think that might be the push some of them need," he said, stroking his beard, "though I suggest you not bring up the matter of the dreams. It is better to go into such things with no expectations."
Harry nodded again.
"Now, I sense there was something more important you wanted to know."
"Um…yes, sir," Harry said, more hesitantly. "Back in my first year, Voldemort told me…told me my mum didn't have to die. And then, with the dementors, I heard him tell my mum to stand aside, but he just killed my dad, and…well, Neville pointed out my dad was a pureblood, and my mum was muggle-born, so…well, why would Voldemort do that, sir?"
At that, Dumbledore gazed at him sadly, and he seemed to sit more heavily in his chair and speak more slowly: "Harry, that day in your first year, you asked me why Voldemort came to kill you personally. I told you then that it was a matter that should be left until you were older. Your question now is tied up with that one, and alas, I must ask for your patience once again—not another year, but a few more weeks, until I finish with my own study of the books and formulate a new plan to deal with Voldemort. Then, Harry, I promise I will give you the full story—as much of it as is mine to tell."
"Oh, um, thank you, sir," Harry said, surprised. "I…I'll look forward to that."
"Very good, Harry. I do think it is time, but I shall not keep you any longer today."
Harry took his leave. Part of him still wanted to know right away, but that was far better than he would have expected for his question from first year, and he did still have more work to do tonight.
Harry didn't waste any time after getting back to his dorm after dinner. He pulled out the copy of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban that McGonagall had given him and started to skim the remaining chapters.
"Okay, Sirius grabbed Ron and dragged him under the Whomping Willow…We followed him, which was…well, not great, but we thought he was just a big dog. Get to the Shrieking Shack…find out he's Sirius Black…"
Harry shuddered, seeing the words. He really had come close to killing Sirius on the spot.
And Sirius, he was forced to admit, wasn't helping matters: "Brave of you, not to run for a teacher. I'm grateful…it will make everything much easier…" And it only got worse as the fight went on. Harry had punched Sirius, and then kicked Crookshanks for helping him. It was true, Sirius was…maybe not entirely sane at that point, but he had certainly been acting the part of a deranged killer. Harry was glad now he hadn't done it, but it had been a near thing.
He debated whether to cut out any of the fight. It didn't paint any of them in a good light. He also considered who would be reading it. McGonagall for this one, if they kept up the rotation. He decided to keep most of it; he had a weird urge to see how his schoolmates would react to the drama of the whole thing. But he did cross out the paragraph where he was thinking about killing Crookshanks. Hermione—nor McGonagall, now he thought about it—didn't need that.
But he'd check with Sirius later, just to be sure.
"Remus showed up, er…also acted evil. Hermione told us he was a werewolf." Quickly, Harry crossed out Ron's reaction to the news. He didn't need that aired out. Remus then revealed that Scabbers was Peter Pettigrew—at least in theory. Then they argued about it—and about whether to kill him right away. Remus explained his life story.
That gave him pause. The bit about the Marauders sneaking out of the Shrieking Shack on full moons. "'A thought that still haunts me,' said Lupin heavily. 'And there were near misses, many of them. We laughed about them afterwards. We were young, thoughtless—carried away with our own cleverness."
It was one thing that they had led Moony out of the Shack as a werewolf. It was one thing, the "prank" Sirius had pulled on Snape. But the thought that there were other near misses during their time in school—he'd completely forgotten that. That was something that could get both Sirius and Remus in real trouble. Dumbledore knew all about it now, but the Aurors might not. Harry crossed out a fair bit of that, and even that he feared might not be enough. Madam Bones wanted to inspect the books for herself. She might find out anyway. Then Snape appeared…
And then Harry realised, to his horror that Snape would be reading that chapter! Would Snape even respect his redactions? Maybe he could blot out the entire paragraph so he couldn't see the words, but even then Snape knew some of the story himself. And he'd probably try to spin it in his favour regardless. No, there was nothing for it. He'd have to ask McGonagall to skip Snape tomorrow in the reading.
Harry crossed out the more personal parts of that. He wasn't sure how much about the Marauders sneaking out of the castle on full moons he should include. Dumbledore knew all about it now, but the Aurors might not. Though with the questions they'd been asking, it was hard to imagine them getting to the end of the book without learning everything. Then Snape appeared…
Harry frowned as he flipped through more and more pages. "Wow, this whole thing took a really long time," he muttered. In the years since that night, he'd forgotten how long it had taken them to just get to the point. (And Snape hadn't helped anything.)
Actually, that was another problem. What if Snape flipped out again during the reading? The bit with the Marauder's Map had been fun, but had gone wrong—but that part wasn't really important. A disruption to reading these chapters could derail the whole plan.
Still, not much he could do while still getting the point across. Ultimately, they revealed Wormtail for who he was, and Wormtail had tried every line he could think of to get out of it. The way he had approached Ron was…well, Harry almost crossed that part out, too. In fact, he started to. But he remembered one thing: that bit of the story was one of the few things they had actually talked about before beginning this book's reading. More to the point, he didn't really want to cut out anything Wormtail said or did. He wanted the full story told.
"Then we brought Wormtail up to the castle, Remus transformed, Wormtail escaped, dementors attacked. And then…well, then it goes straight to the Hospital Wing—ugh, fight with Fudge, Time Turner…" Would the Ministry object to the Time Turner being revealed? Well, Dean had already figured it out; it would probably get around soon enough. That whole night was a mess, he thought, but maybe if everyone saw how much of a mess it was, they'd make some changes. "Hermione was leading me around all over the place…" The time travel business still confused him two years later. He preferred not to think too hard about it. After some thought, he decided to keep everything about him conjuring his Patronus. It didn't make sense without the mistaken identity with his dad, and it could be useful for the DA meeting.
"Rescuing Sirius, getting back to the Hospital Wing, fight with Snape…This really doesn't make Snape look very good," he muttered to himself. Granted, Snape had been right in accusing Harry of breaking Sirius out, but he still sounded pretty unhinged. "Should I…?" He didn't want to cut anything out, but that hadn't gone so well today. Although could he trust the teachers to judge it? Tonks wouldn't be reading again. Who was would depend on if he successfully got Snape removed, but it would be mainly the the Heads of House, so it shouldn't be much trouble. Harry didn't want to go through the whole thing line-by-line, let alone guess how Snape would react to it. And at the same time, he kind of wanted people to know how Snape was acting that night because he had been really bad then. Harry decided he'd settle for warning McGonagall about it. He certainly wasn't going to make keeping Snape in line his responsibility.
"And the ending…Snape told everyone Remus is a werewolf—git. Remus resigned…" Then there was the conversation with Dumbledore about letting Wormtail escape. He crossed out parts of that. That wasn't something he needed repeated to everyone.
"Huh, Percy had ideas for Magical Law Enforcement. I wonder what happened with that?"
Hermione dropped muggle studies, still defending herself about keeping the Time Turner secret—which now reminded Harry uncomfortably of last summer when she and Ron had promised Dumbledore not to tell him anything important. He wasn't sure what to think about that. And finally, there was the train ride home and Sirius's letter. No problems there.
Harry sighed and closed the book. Tomorrow would be the last reading. And with any luck, the full story would get out quickly, and Sirius would be freed in…well, with his hearing last summer, it had taken nearly two weeks. But before next summer, anyway. That would be good enough for him.
There was silence as Minerva, Albus, and Severus met for their own nightly reading. Severus was still looking sourer than usual. He wasn't happy being scolded by Minerva for blowing up at the public reading, and even less happy about being scolded by Albus. And looking back at his own actions two years ago, and with the bias the books showed toward Potter, tomorrow's reading stood to be even worse. It didn't help that he would be in the lineup, either.
Minerva had decided to leave her discovery of the extra books for the weekend—one more thing they would have more time to discuss after the public reading was off their plate.
"Since I am sure I will not convince you to call it off, I trust you will be more cautious about suppressing any offensive material in tomorrow's reading?" Severus finally said acidly after they settled in.
"I have already informed everyone else who will be reading tomorrow, Severus," Minerva answered stiffly. "It will be the two of us and the Heads of House only; I trust all of them. Professor Tonks was an unfortunate coincidence."
Severus seethed with possible retorts to that, but he held his tongue.
"And I trust you will be equally fair in your part," she added.
"I will not sugarcoat anything those miscreants have done, if that is what you mean, Minerva. But I shall avoid any wanton insults that may upset the peace."
"And you will respect any omissions Potter makes?"
"I reiterate that I see no reason to coddle the boy when he is the one who demanded this farce."
"I can remove those passages from the book entirely, if need be," she warned. "It will take longer, but I'll do it."
"Fine. I'll respect Potters wishes for the sake of decorum," he grumbled. He didn't like it. Even his reformed attitude regarding Potter's upbringing over the past three books did little to dim his anger over how the current reading was going. But it wasn't worth testing Minerva over it.
"I suppose that is all I can ask for," Minerva said with a sigh. "Shall we begin?"
Chapter 24: Sectumsempra
"Well, Minerva," Severus said, barely holding his tongue until they had all finished the chapter.
"I admit, Severus, that it is not surprising that Potter stepped in it with that curse. Though as he did not know what it did, that was as much foolishness about safety as it was about duelling with dangerous curses."
"He nearly killed Draco," he snarled. "Which, in addition to the intrinsic disaster, may have also invoke my Vow to finish his mission." He had flipped back to the beginning of the book to double-check the exact wording of his Vow; unfortunately, the answer probably depended on the exact nature of Draco's mission.
"Need I remind you that Malfoy was attempting to use an Unforgivable Curse on Potter? Potter had a substantial right to self-defence in that situation."
"If Potter heard him correctly," he countered.
"From what we've seen of these books, I don't believe they would outright mislead like that, but that's beside the point. In a fair assessment, Malfoy would have borne a fair bit of the blame."
"I you are suggesting I was too harsh on Potter—" Severus started.
Albus cut in: "I do believe your punishment of Harry was reasonable, Severus, albeit not for the same reason—yes, even the Quidditch ban, though he does seem to have bad luck with his games, doesn't he? Regarding his aggression towards Draco, you will note that Harry was appropriately horrified when he saw what your curse did. And you will note that Draco cast first. On the other hand, a harsh punishment would be an appropriate lesson in the dangers of using unknown magic, and especially dark magic. You know the standards I hold the Order to in that regard." Except Alastor, he didn't say, but no one could tell Alastor what to do.
"And lying to me about the book?" Severus pressed.
"Certainly, although on that point, the punishment may have been more effective if you had revealed yourself to him as the Prince—if you had shown proof that you knew Harry was lying."
Severus glared at him, but not for long. "Effective, maybe, but more trouble than it's worth," he said. "Regardless, I've already removed my copy of Advanced Potion Making from the classroom, so we there will be no repeat of this incident. Now, shall we continue? I'd rather get through the insipid account of Potter's romantic affairs as quickly as possible."
Chapter 25: The Seer Overheard
In retrospect, in Severus's mind, the previous chapter was tame compared with this one. Of all the information he didn't want Potter to learn, the fact that he had delivered the prophecy to the Dark Lord was up there with his memories of Lily from the last book, maybe worse. Though this—this chapter didn't make him angry. This just left him sad, stewing in the failures of his past. It didn't help that Granger had tracked down his mother in the Daily Prophet archives. At this rate, she probably would make the connection to the Prince before the end of the book.
Minerva hoped she hadn't tipped off Severus and Albus about her pre-reading. She had made appropriate noises of shock and indignation while reading it this time. In fact, reading it properly, word-for-word, had greatly increased its impact; she had even felt tears coming to her unbidden, commiserating with Potter in the loss of her former students and friends.
Albus was grave. Several very serious matters were colliding at the same time in the story, and he clearly did not have the resources to immediately handle them all. In fact, he suspected that the version of himself in the book was not quite as confident as Harry believed.
Minerva broke the silence first. "So…it was you?" she sniffed staring at Severus.
Severus was silent for a time, and he couldn't come up with a response other than a plain "…Yes."
"You showed me your Patronus before…because of that?"
"I—no. I was not expecting that to come up. I'd hoped that would never be revealed."
"But your Patronus—?"
"I showed you my Patronus because of my Vow to complete Draco's mission, whatever that might be. If I were forced to do something that appeared to break your trust, I wanted you to know."
"And…well, I'm sorry, but I had to ask after something like that," she said. "And you, Albus. That is your proof of Severus's loyalty?"
"In addition to some rather longer conversations on the matter, yes," he confirmed. "I hope that you can accept this proof together with my judgement, Minerva."
"Regarding that," she said, "it sounded like Malfoy was close to finishing his mission," she pointed out. "You told Potter the castle was protected, but neither you nor apparently you, Severus, knew what Malfoy was up to. How certain could you be that everything was in hand?"
Albus held out his hands in an innocent gesture. "Once again, I am at a disadvantage compared with my future self," he said. "I can only guess that it was a calculated risk to take in a time-sensitive situation. Though I do have confidence in the Order and the teachers to handle anything young Draco was likely to try, even if he found some powerful artefact he could use in the Room of Requirement."
"Hm. Fair enough. I don't like it, but I supposed needs must in that situation…" She took a deep breath and steeled herself. "Well, shall we see how to actually find a horcrux?"
"Indeed," Albus agreed.
Chapter 26: The Cave
Minerva didn't have to act for this chapter, and it was perhaps the most horrifying chapter they had read in the entire series thus far. Seeing anyone in such a broken state, but especially Albus of all people was too much to bear, and it broke her composure even before she finished reading.
"Albus, surely there was another way!" she exclaimed.
Albus, easily guessing where she was at in the chapter, shook his head sadly; there were tears trickling down his cheeks, too. "You saw how thoroughly I tested the protections on the potion, Minerva," he said.
"But—I can't believe I'm saying this, but if Potter—"
He stopped her, his voice harder this time: "It was vital that at least one of us remain fully lucid. If Harry had taken even a fraction of that potion, we would have lost that edge."
Minerva stared, struggling and failing to come up with a counterargument, before turning to Severus: "And you, Severus? Do you know this potion?"
"The potion itself, yes," he confirmed. "Not the enchantments on the basin. It causes an imbalance of various salts in the body, leading to extreme thirst, altered mental state, and other neurological symptoms, but that is a side effect. Its main effect is severe hallucinations—hallucinations of the sort that are induced by dementors. It's also very difficult to treat, both because of its dark nature and because restoring the patient's salt levels is a complex process. As Albus said, it does not kill directly, but survival would be fifty-fifty with a Healer who doesn't know what to do."
"And you brewed that potion for You-Know-Who?"
"I don't know if it was that particular batch. The Dark Lord was capable of brewing it himself if he wanted. But yes, I did produce it for him when he demanded it."
"As I knew he would have to do," Albus said before she could protest his actions. "Severus was required to maintain his cover in the face of weightier matters than that one. That was a part of our understanding. Now, I believe there are a few more pages…"
Minerva tried, but she struggled to get through those few remaining pages. She wasn't sure she would have been able to do it if she hadn't read earlier that Albus did survive the ordeal. When the Inferi surfaced with Albus seemingly incapacitated and Potter ill-equipped to fight them, she would have been sure they were done for. She was shaking by the end of the chapter.
"Couldn't you have taken someone else, Albus?" she pleaded.
Albus's eyebrows rose: "Whom would you suggest?"
"An Auror? Alastor? Kingsley? …Me?"
"The boat would only seat one," he reminded them. "I do not know, but I believe I was oversimplifying with Harry; I suspect the boat would only seat one adult, and even Miss Granger and Mister Weasley were of age by then. And there would surely be protections against broomsticks. There was no one more suited than Harry."
"I'm sure he was trying his best," she conceded, "and he certainly had the right, but he still nearly got both of you killed. The boy wasn't ready."
"Alas, there was not enough time to train him to our satisfaction. He was still the best in his year at Defence Against the Dark Arts, and he held several unique advantages. With those in hand, I still trust that his instincts would steer him right. In any case, we did retrieve the horcrux."
Minerva took a deep breath, calming herself. "I suppose you did. Though I do wonder…Potter's choice not to use the Felix Felicis in that mission…"
"For which I would have applauded him," Albus insisted. "It was far better that Harry was assured that his friends were safe. And Felix would be of limited efficacy on such a mission."
"Wouldn't it?" she asked. "I've never really thought about it, I suppose. You would know better, Severus. I know about the dangers and limitations of Felix Felicis in general, but I don't have the expertise for the details. Why not use it for specific vital missions? For that matter, why didn't You-Know-Who use it when he went after James and Lily?"
"Luck is no substitute for prior planning," Severus said disdainfully. "And Felix Felicis actively conflicts with prior planning. It rewards spontaneity and aimlessness, and there is only so far you can truly direct it. Potter may have succeeded with Horace, but if you turn it to a task that's too difficult, it may make you lucky by distracting you away from it and towards something more useful. Turn it to a task that's too dangerous, and it will make you lucky by preventing you from starting out in the first place. Among master potioneers, it is said that using Felix Felicis as a crutch in place of proper planning is even worse than simple overuse."
"Besides which," added Albus, "Voldemort does not wish to be dependent on a potion for his success, and he is arrogant enough to think he does not need it regardless of the circumstances."
"True enough," Minerva conceded. "Well, after all that, I think we've done enough for tonight. Albus, I trust you're not going to go charging after this horcrux either until we finish the reading?"
Albus smiled: "You have my word, Minerva. Barring Voldemort making a major move of his own, we will do better to learn about all of the horcruxes first and deal with them all at once."
"Very good. In that case, good night to both of you."