Rather surprised at how much calmer both of them were now that they were reunited, Shacklebolt undid the locks binding Hermione to the chair. She immediately leapt up and hugged Harry with all her might. Both of them refused to let each other go as Shacklebolt cleared his throat awkwardly. "Excuse me, Mr. Potter, but we'd like you to come in for some questioning tomorrow."
"I'd rather speak to Dumbledore, actually. In private. Is he available right now?"
Dumbledore would get involved directly at some point, Shacklebolt knew. If it wasn't as the headmaster of the school, it would be as the Supreme Mugwump if this became an international concern. If a suspect was actually caught and taken to court, he'd be there as the Chief Warlock. Having Harry speak to him directly might even speed up the process. He ordered Verne to go find the Headmaster.
Half an hour later, Harry and Hermione were sitting in Dumbledore's office with the aurors waiting outside. Still in their dress robes but looking far more tired and unkempt, they waited for their headmaster to close and lock the door. "Lemon drop?" Dumbledore offered. When they both politely declined, the headmaster sighed and continued. "Why is it that you ask to see me, but refused to answer the questions of the aurors, Harry?"
Instead of answering directly, Harry asked, "Is your office secure, headmaster? Can anybody overhear our conversation in here?"
"I ensure my office is always secure for private discussions, Harry." Seeing the unsure look on Harry's face, he cast a wide spell that caused the entire room to glow briefly, leaving only a few spots glowing. "The room is clear, Harry. The only monitoring charms here are the ones I placed myself, for security. There won't be any eavesdropping short of a true diviner intent on hearing our conversation, and they have not existed for a few hundred years."
"Thank you, sir." Harry relaxed slightly. "What just happened to me at midnight was another vision, like the one I wrote to you about in the summer." Hermione gasped.
Dumbledore stroked his beard. "I see. So the fact that you fainted right after taking a drink was mere coincidence?"
Harry nodded. "There's a lot that happened. I'm trying to organize everything in my mind right now."
"Why don't you tell me from the beginning, then?"
Harry took a deep breath and began slowly. "My vision started at the end of a ritual Voldemort and Pettigrew were performing. When he woke up, the first thing he asked for was the time. He punished Pettigrew for finishing a few minutes late," Harry explained. He paused here, wondering, "Why did he have to finish at 11:58 exactly, instead of midnight? In fact, why New Year's at all? I think the most magically powerful days were on the solstices and equinoxes."
"I see you've been taking your astronomy classes more seriously than your potions," Dumbledore chuckled. "New Year's Eve is, in fact, a rather important day for Voldemort. He was born several minutes before the stroke of midnight. Was the ritual he was performing some sort of rebirth ritual?"
Harry nodded. "He transferred to a new body. The last time he was in some tiny, baby's body that Pettigrew carried, but now he's the size of an adult and he can walk around by himself."
Dumbledore nodded knowingly. "One of the rituals he may have been attempting would require that he perform it as close to his own birth date as possible."
"What about the... baby's body he was in before?" Harry asked.
"I sincerely hope you are only asking out of curiosity, and you will never attempt the ritual yourself?" Harry only nodded in response. "Then it is best not to mention it at all, other than to say it was the result of an extremely dark magic mixed with a very damaged soul. Is there anything else you remember?"
"Um... the snake showed up again, and it's grown a lot bigger. Oh! I think the snake's a basilisk. Voldemort mentioned its stare and its venom wasn't really mature yet."
"I knew it would be rather silly for him to make a horcrux out of a plain old boa constrictor or something," Hermione commented. "Eeep!" she squeaked as she caught Dumbledore's surprised look.
"How did you know about such a dark object?" the headmaster asked cautiously. "It couldn't have been from the books within the restricted section."
"Voldemort mentioned it," Harry made up an excuse. "We didn't know what the word meant in the summer, but Hermione's just brilliant at researching, you know, and we managed to figure out what it was by the time school started. We figured you already knew what the ritual was by what we could describe."
"Go on, then, Harry," the headmaster said with a kindly smile. Harry knew that, inside, Dumbledore was probably doubting his story. He'd have to be more careful.
"Well, next he talked to a new Death Eater. He was named Crouch. I'm almost certain that was the 'Bartemius Crouch' I saw on the map that put my name in the cup, sir. His voice was different from Mr. Crouch here, a lot younger. He's the one who constructed the new body for Voldemort. He also mentioned a spy here at Hogwarts. He knew about me fainting at the ball, Headmaster, and it couldn't have been more than half an hour since it happened."
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