Chapter 526 - Ch: 8-10

Chapter 8

Young Harry Meets Young Hermione

Wednesday, 24th July, 7:11 p.m (evening)

Harry, John and Paulina were in the Dursleys' back garden. Then Harry saw John's wand appear in his hand. John said to Harry, "I'm going to take you to meet the girl Hogwarts student that I told you about."

John put his hand on Harry's shoulder, then did part of a spin. Suddenly it felt like Harry was being squeezed through a garden hose. As soon as the weird feeling stopped, Harry could not help himself—he threw up.

Paulina pulled a little bottle out of her handbag. "We're sorry we had to put you through that. Here, drink this, you'll feel better. It's stomach-soother potion."

The potion tasted awful; it tasted like how unwashed socks smelled. But instantly Harry's stomach felt okay again. Harry handed the little bottle back to Paulina, who put it in her beaded handbag.

Sometime in the past minute, Paulina had drawn her wand. Now she said to Harry, "Open your mouth, and I'll give you the magical equivalent of a tooth-brushing and mouthwash. You don't want to have puke-breath when you meet Hermione."

Harry obediently opened his mouth and Paulina pointed her wand at his open mouth. "Oral scourgify," she said.

Harry thought, Paulina can be bossy sometimes.

Whilst Paulina was cleaning Harry's mouth, Harry looked about—and realised he was no longer in the Dursleys' back garden. By sunlight, Harry saw that the back garden that he now was in, had a blue swimming pool in it.

When Paulina touched her wand to her left forearm, somehow it disappeared. John looked Harry over, smiled at him and asked, "Are you ready to meet your future friend?"

"I guess," Harry said.

It occurred to Harry then, this girl the Potters were visiting might become his friend, because Dudley would not be at Hogwarts to beat her up when she acted friendly to Harry.

Meanwhile, John loudly was knocking on the back door. Seconds later, Harry heard inside the house a girl's excited voice: "Mum! Dad! Harry is here!"

Seconds later, the back door was yanked open, and Harry got his first look at the girl who would be attending Hogwarts with him.

The evening sunlight revealed to Harry that the girl's eyes were brown, like most people's in England. She had overlarge front teeth—which Harry could easily see now, because the girl was smiling so big. Her hair—brown with a little bit of red in it—was bushy and uncontrollable.

Harry did not have brown eyes, or hair that was the same colour as chestnuts, or front teeth that were too big. But Harry wore glasses, which he often was mocked for—just like this girl undoubtedly was mocked for her teeth. And his hair was insane, just like this girl's.

Right then, Harry decided he could be friends with this girl, because she would understand him (at least a bit), and he would understood her (at least a bit).

Now the girl was looking at Harry. And smiling.

As soon as the three Potters stepped into the house, the girl said excitedly to Harry, "Ooh, is that your Hogwarts letter? Can we see it? I want to know if it's like—"

"Hermione sugar," Paulina said to the girl, "please don't question-bomb Harry now. Harry's head is in a strange place now, because he just left his abusive relatives."

Harry was puzzled. What do you mean, "abusive"?

The girl's name was Hermione—her-my-oh-knee. Harry mangled the name, and cringed. Harry asked her to repeat her name, then he cringed again. It was Paulina, smiling gently, who told Harry how to pronounce Hermione's name—and who told Harry that nobody in the house was angry at him for saying Hermione's name wrong.

"Harry, I'm used to it, it's okay," Hermione Granger said. Her smile at Harry was bigger than Paulina's—Harry could not begin to guess why.

Harry felt a sense of relief that this girl was not angry with him.

When Harry correctly spoke Hermione's name three times in a row, the girl hugged him. Harry was shocked—he never had been hugged before.

The doorbell rang then. Apparently Mr Granger had rung up an Italian restaurant that delivered, and the food had arrived at the Granger house just after the Potters had arrived. Mr Granger had ordered all this food, but John Potter insisted on paying for it. After some friendly argument, Mr Granger allowed this.

Harry was amazed that two men could have a disagreement, yet neither man raise his voice.

Harry stared as the Granger parents laid out the delivered food on the dining-room table: lasagna, spaghetti, breadsticks, salad and a pizza. Harry had never eaten lasagna before, and pizza he had never eaten whilst hot and fresh.

Harry looked at every face here, and was surprised that nobody in the house seemed to resent Harry for not cooking any of this food.

Five minutes later

Harry still was trying to wrap his brain around being allowed to eat with everyone else, instead of being forced to eat the leftovers afterwards. He also was freaking out that the Granger parents and the Potters all had urged Harry to fill up his plate, and that Hermione was smiling at him approvingly.

(Come to think of it, Hermione had not stopped smiling since she had opened her back door. With each passing minute, Harry was finding it much easier to smile back.)

"So," Mrs Granger said, "what happened today?"

Harry was paralysed with shyness, so did not answer. John said, "I'll let Paulina tell the tale."

Paulina answered, "Y'all should know that I am so proud of John. He was magnificent today." She side-hugged him.

Paulina told the Grangers that when she and John met Harry at the door of his house, John deliberately said to Harry at the start, My wife is cold, so please invite us in. Somehow John had known that Harry needed this "gentle push" to extend the invitation to the couple.

Harry nodded agreement, even as he thought, They tricked me into inviting them in?

Paulina described more of that morning meeting, ending with, "John really restrained himself. He wanted to hurt Vernon Dursley; but John hit that loud, fat bully only with a Silencing Charm, the tie-up-with-ropes spell, and one Stinging Hex. A Stinging Hex is annoying, but it does no harm."

Paulina described the end of the morning meeting (the negotiations between Cousin John and Uncle Vernon) and the evening meeting. Harry got a strange feeling then, that John's and Paulina's decision to assume Harry's guardianship was not so spur-of-the-moment as it had seemed at the time.

Mrs Granger snapped, "Those fools were paid to sign the guardianship papers? They sold Harry like he were a used car?"

John smiled cruelly. "They did. I paid them a thousand pounds in cash for them to let Paulina and me have guardianship of Harry. But beforehand, I recorded the serial numbers of all the fifty-pound bills I gave Vernon Dursley—which left the bills unmarked, but which proved that the cash that was in his pocket, I'd possessed previously."

Paulina said, "We didn't send the nonmagical police or the magical police after the Dursleys, instead we gave the Dursleys to the goblins. The goblins ran into the Dursleys' kitchen right after John, Harry and I walked out."

John smiled cruelly. "As for the thousand pounds I handed Vernon Dursley, I'm sure the goblins will have the money back in my vault by midnight."

Hermione asked, "What will the goblins do to the Dursleys?"

John said, "I don't know, Hermione. We left the Dursley house right after the goblins ran in. This was when we beamed over to your house."

Mr Granger said, "Princess, remember the reputation that goblins have in fairy tales. If the Gringotts goblins got hold of abusers who sold a child, you probably don't want to know what the goblins did to them."

Mrs Granger nodded.

Paulina said, "The Dursleys were thieves too. They stole most of £116,000 from Harry. Well, the Gringotts goblins hate thieves with a passion—there won't be cake and ice cream handed out to the Dursleys."

Hermione said, "If those Dursleys hurt Harry and stole from him, I hope they get hurt, really hurt."

Harry's eyebrows shot up. He was surprised that this girl he had just met, cared what happened to him.

Meanwhile, in Gringotts

The elder Dursleys were indeed "hurt, really hurt" by the goblins. Vernon Dursley already had been beheaded, and Petunia Dursley was soon to be.

Back at the Granger house

John Potter put down his fork and drew his wand. This puzzled Harry.

John looked at Harry and said seriously, "Harry, I need to confess. Everyone else here knows a secret about Paulina and I—"

"About Paulina and me," Paulina and Hermione said together.

John flashed an amused smile, then went back to looking serious. "Paulina isn't Hermione's second cousin from the USA, and I'm not your second cousin—"

Harry felt panic then. John and Paulina had tricked him, kidnappedhim. Why?

Seeing Harry panic, John put his hand on Harry's shoulder. "The truth is much stranger than what we made you and your relatives think. Paulina and I actually are Hermione and you from May 1998, almost seven years in the future."

"Erm...," Harry replied.

John (older Harry?) said, "Let me show you what Paulina looked like, yesterday morning." John pointed his wand at Paulina and said, "Add glamour." Now Paulina looked like Hermione, except eighteen.

(Young) Hermione said, "Notice she doesn't have my big front teeth? I can't wait to learn how she did that."

Older-Hermione Paulina smiled at Hermione, then turned to face John with her wand out. When she spoke, she still sounded American. "Add glamour."

Now John looked like an eighteen-year-old version of Harry himself, except that A, this Harry definitely needed to shave every day; and B—

Harry blurted out, "Your scar, it's different!" Older Harry's lightning-bolt scar was three thin, pink lines, not the angry, red, three-part gash that was on Harry's own forehead.

Hermione said to Harry, "They're telling the truth. That's how they both looked yesterday morning when we met them."

Mr Granger added, "Yesterday morning, the young woman over there looked like my daughter, but older; she sounded like my daughter, but older; and she knew things that only my daughter would know."

Older Harry laughed. "Such as the value of pi."

Older Harry (John) and older Hermione (Paulina) then cast (what sounded like) Infinity Incantation on each other. Now they looked like John and Paulina as they had looked this morning.

John said to Harry, "I'm sure you're wondering, 'What's happening with Paulina and John, and why the trickery?' Let's start the explanations with your parents, James and Lily Potter—"

Harry said, "Those are my parents' names? My relatives never told me."

Hermione gasped, and gave Harry a sympathetic look. He gave her a weak smile in return.

John continued, "The Dursleys told you and me that our parents were drunken bums who were killed in a car crash. Actually, they were murdered by an evil wizard. But the evil wizard, Lord Voldemort, didn't come to the house that night with intent to kill our parents, he came there intending to kill us. You and me. He was trying to thwart a Prophecy, which I'll tell you about a little later. Anyway, he hit us with the Killing Curse, which supposedly can't be blocked and supposedly always kills—and the Killing Curse bounced off our forehead, hit Lord Voldemort, and he disappeared. You're famous in the wizarding world as 'the Boy Who Lived'—because you survived the 'always deadly' Killing Curse."

"I'm really famous?" Harry asked.

"Quite," Hermione replied. "Children's books have been written about you."

"Which I will be dealing with," John snarled.

Mrs Granger asked, "What do you think happened that night, John?"

"I have four theories. My father performed a Potter family ritual ahead of time, both my parents performed a Potter family ritual ahead of time, my mother did something genius-y with ancient runes ahead of time, or toddler-I performed a feat of accidental magic that never has been seen before or since. Which of those four theories is the true one? I can't guess."

John took a calming breath, then said to Harry, "But it turned out, just as you and I didn't die from the Killing Curse, Lord Voldemort didn't completely die either."

John and sometimes Paulina spoke for the next half-hour, whilst the Grangers and Harry said nothing. During the half-hour that John and Paulina spoke, John quoted the Prophecy in full, and gave his interpretation.

By the end of the half-hour, Hermione was silently weeping.

After half an hour of silence, Harry blurted out, "So you and Paulina think you can change the future? I won't die in ... almost seven years from now?"

Paulina said, "Harry honey, we've already changed the future. My younger self didn't meet this man till the first day of the Hogwarts term, on the firstie train. Yet here you both are, in the Grangers' dining room, over a month before September first."

John said, "I remember this day vividly. This was the day I received my first Hogwarts letter—"

Harry thought, "First" Hogwarts letter? Why would Hogwarts send me more than one letter?

"—and the next week turned into slapstick comedy, all because Uncle Vernon was determined that I not read my Hogwarts letter. So don't worry; Paulina and I can and will change the future for your benefit."

Harry said, "I'm sorry for interrupting. Go on with what you were saying."

"Hm, a moment ago, what was I about to say?" John paused to think, then said, "While it's obvious that Voldy was trying, again and again, to kill me, it was only when I died and I was talking to Thanatos that I found out: Dumbledore was trying to get me killed too. But his plan was more subtle: to sabotage me every way possible. The Dursleys beating and starving me was part of his plan; I being kept 100-percent ignorant of the magical world till my eleventh birthday was part of his plan."

Harry nodded. "Yeah, I'm sure not ready to fight an evil wizard right now."

John said, "I hear you. For my first three years in Hogwarts, I was completely outclassed; I won against Voldy only by bravery and ridiculous luck. Even so, in May 1998 I almost won. If Voldy hadn't Killing Cursed me twice in a row, I might've been able to trick him and to kill him. And the reason I almost won, despite all of Dumbledore's sabotages?"

Harry said, "Tell me. I need to know."

"It was because of"—now John smiled at Paulina—"my genius nomaj-born friend, who was loyal to me when nobody else was, and whom Dumbledore had no contingency plans for, when she came to Hogwarts. The best thing I've ever done was to rescue this one from a troll in first year, because that's when she and I became friends. And oh, what a friendship it's been!"

John and Paulina kissed then. Harry looked over at Hermione—her face was still tear-streaked, but she again was smiling.

Harry smiled back.

John said, "I'm sure we can succeed this time. First, because Paulina and I know the future, which means that for a while, we know what our enemies will do. Paulina and I have a soul bond, which our enemies don't have. But I'm also expecting success because I have a better attitude now."

Paulina looked at John, her face puzzled. "I don't know what you mean by 'better attitude.' "

John looked at everyone else there. "First, some background: Thanatos, the incarnation of death, back when he was alive, was an army general during the Bronze Age."

Everyone else nodded.

"Anyway, when this woman and I were in Thanatos's office and Thanatos was reviewing my folder, he told me, 'Whenever you were forced to fight evil men or to fight dangerous creatures, you stood and fought. You were brave. But bravery isn't enough for your tasks ahead. A good foot soldier is brave, but a good generalmust also be proactive. It's much easier to win a battle when you're the attacker than when you're the defender. Alas, Harry Potter, your file tells me that never once did you fight your enemy at a time and place that you chose, instead of when and where your enemychose.' When Thanatos said this, I realized that this former general was right about me."

Mr Granger asked, "So what does this mean, going forwards?"

John grinned. "It means no more Mister Nice Guy. Before, I was docile and reactive—no more. Today against Vernon Dursley, I was proactive, and I got much better results."

Paulina purred, "You got amazing results, so you are getting luckytonight, John George Potter."

John took Paulina's hand, then looked at Harry and Hermione with determination. "You two can take this to the bank: Your seven years of magical school will be enjoyable and worry-free; Paulina and I will make sure of it."

This segued into a discussion of Harry's and Hermione's upcoming time at Hogwarts, and how to survive their hours outside of class.

At John's request, Harry finally opened the envelope of his Hogwarts letter and read the letter. By now the letter had no surprises for Harry—except for the ridiculous list of titles after Dumbledore's name.

Hermione asked if she could read the letter; Harry passed the letter over (but not the "Cupboard under the Stairs" envelope). After looking through Harry's letter, Hermione announced that the letter itself read the same as hers, but Harry's booklist was shorter than hers.

John replied, "Included with the Hogwarts letter that Professor McGonagall handed to you, Hermione, was a Supplemental Reading List of books about what nomaj-borns should know about Wizarding Britain. Harry, your Hogwarts letter doesn't include this list, and nobody will ever ask you, 'Did you get the list?' But last time, because I didn't know about these books, I made social blunders. One social blunder began a life-long enmity, and it took Antonia the angel to tell me how the whole thing could've been prevented."

"That's awful," said Hermione.

John said, "I didn't shake the boy's hand, because he offered friendship and I'd already decided I disliked him. The trouble is, refusing to shake someone's hand is only a mild insult in the nonmagical world—it's like telling a man, 'Your shirt is an ugly color'—but in Wizarding Britain, refusing to shake someone's hand is a big deal. What I should've done was to shake his hand and to say, 'I don't accept your offer of friendship now, but I'll consider it. Thank you for the offer.' "

"I'll remember that," Harry said.

"The other big social blunder you two will make will be names. Wizard-raised people will introduce themselves with both their name and their title, if they have a title. For instance, when I'm in Diagon Alley, on the Hogwarts Express and at Hogwarts, I'll introduce myself as 'John Potter, Regent Potter.' In Diagon Alley, I'll then be addressed as 'Regent Potter.' On the train, at Hogwarts, or in Hogsmeade village, I'll be addressed as 'Mr. Potter.' But please note, nobody except ignorant nomaj-borns will address me as 'John' unless I've first told the individuals, 'I give you leave to use my first name.' "

John then smirked. "Needless to say, I give everyone at this table leave to use my first name."

Paulina said with exaggerated politeness, "I thank you most kindly, Regent Potter." Everyone laughed.

Paulina said to Hermione, "I suggest you introduce yourself as 'Miss Hermione Granger of New House Granger.' This is how a wizard-raised person would introduce you."

John looked at Harry. "For you, I suggest you say 'Harry Potter, Heir Potter.' "

Harry grinned. "That's all? I say nothing about 'the Boy Who Lived'?"

"NO! You will come to hate that title, trust me. Don't make things worse by speaking it yourself."

Hermione stood up from the table. "I've all the books on the Supplemental Reading List; I'll go fetch them now so Harry can borrow them."

Paulina said, "Please don't, sugar. I suggest you keep the books here and seriously reread them before September first. But since I know you still have the Supplemental Reading List, why don't you go fetch that, and I'll make a copy for Harry."

Hermione asked to be excused from the table, and ran upstairs. Seconds later, Hermione ran downstairs with the List, which she handed to Paulina. Paulina pulled a scrap of not-paper from her handbag, then used the Xeroxis spell on the not-paper to make a permanent duplicate Supplemental Reading List. Paulina handed the original List back to Hermione and handed the duplicate List to Harry.

As Harry laid the duplicate Supplemental Reading List atop his Hogwarts letter, John shook his head. "Blimey, all the shit I could've avoided if I'd had that list. And while my not getting the list might've been an oversight, it might also have been another one of Dumbledore's little schemes."

Harry saw Paulina squeeze John's hand.

A minute later

Harry nervously asked John, "What did Aunt Petunia mean when she said that Dumbledore will make you give me back to the Dursleys?"

John explained to Harry that Dumbledore was determined to keep Harry at the Dursleys, and to send him back there every summer during Harry's years at Hogwarts. The stated reasons did not matter; the real reason was to keep Harry starved, injured and demoralised, with zero self-esteem; so that when Harry battled Voldemort to the death, it would be puny Harry who would die. But, John assured Harry, John and Paulina would make sure that Voldemort would not kill young Harry. Instead, John would kill Voldemort.

Harry said, "But why did Aunt Petunia say that Dumbledore would 'make' me go back? He's only the headmaster of a school, he's not a king."

John replied that Dumbledore, besides being Hogwarts's headmaster, had a powerful position in Wizarding Britain's legislature. Also, he was a smooth talker and many people owed him favours. "...But capital-M Magic has made me the Potter Regent, which overrides what Dumbledore did do or can do. I guarantee you, you'll never go back to the Dursleys, even if they are acquitted at their goblin trials, and I'll fight dirty to keep Dumbledore from making problems for you."

Mr Granger asked John what was the difference between the Potter Regent (what John was now), and "Lord Potter" a.k.a Head of House Potter (what Harry would become someday).

John answered that a Potter Regent, like a Head of House Potter, was in charge of the Potter family's properties, money and people.

However, the Potter Regent could not change the Heir(s) as chosen by the previous Head of House Potter. The Regent could not prevent the Heir Primary from claiming the Head of House Potter title at seventeen. When the Heir Primary did this, the new Lord Potter would "own" all the members of the Potter family—including the former Regent and other Potters who were older than he. When the Heir Primary would claim the Head of House Potter title, the Regent would lose his own title.

But note that when the Heir Primary and the Head of House were both alive, the Heir Primary could not become Head of House till the current Head of House either died or abdicated; the Head of House could not be deposed.

Only the Head of House Potter had authority to negotiate a betrothal contract that would obligate a future Head of House Potter or would obligate a current or future Potter Heir Primary; a Regent or magical guardian had no such authority.

After saying this, John turned and gave Paulina a meaningful look and a smirk, which Harry could not interpret.

However, John said, for every Potter who was less than the Heir Primary, the Potter Regent had authority to write a betrothal contract, but a later Head of House Potter could cancel this betrothal contract.

When it came time for three Potters to say goodbye to the three Grangers, John called a house-elf(!) named Greyclay to take Harry to Potter Manor(!)

House-elves had to be explained to the Grangers and to Harry; John let Paulina do the explaining. The main points Paulina made were that a house-elf had no magic of his own, and had to take magic from a magical place, magical family or magical person, lest he die; but then the house-elf mutated the magic he took so that he could do magic that wizards and witches could not do. Also, house-elves liked doing domestic work, unlike human servants (and Harry); house-elves considered laziness in a house-elf to be the greatest disgrace. Paulina firmly stated, "House-elves are symbionts, not slaves."

Once Paulina finished her lecture on house-elves, it was time for the three Potters to leave.

The plan: John and Paulina would apparate to Potter Manor—this was the form of magical transportation that had made Harry sick—whilst Harry would be taken to Potter Manor by house-elf.

Just before the three Potters left, Hermione gave Harry a fierce hug. This was only the second hug that Harry had received in his life, and both hugs were by Hermione.

Minutes later, in Potter Manor

To Harry, the Potter Manor house was amazing, like something out of a Hollywood film.

This morning, Harry had slept in the cupboard under the Dursleys' stairs. Tonight Harry would sleep in his father's boyhood bedroom in this magical mansion. Six years and a week from now, Harry would own this grand house.

Also, he had a true family now, and a magical friend his own age.

Harry Potter fell asleep on a big, soft, clean-smelling bed, thinking, This has been the most brilliant day of my life.

Meanwhile, in Gringotts

By then, Vernon and Petunia Dursley had been assessed £123 184.44 (110 percent of £111 985.85) by the goblins, which they could not begin to pay. Vernon and Petunia both were beheaded.

Dudley, even though he was only eleven, was sentenced to work in the Gringotts London iron mine till his eighteenth birthday.

Roughly nine hours later

6 a.m the next morning

Thursday, 25th July

Number 4, Privet Drive, Little Whinging, Surrey

One of the rune-based detection spells that "protected" Number 4, Privet Drive, noticed that Harry James Potter was not on the property at 6 a.m. Since neither the "evil intent against Harry Potter" ward nor the "Voldemort is here" ward had activated, the detection-spell assumed that Harry had gone on holiday with the Dursleys sometime after 6 p.m last night. Because the detection-spell concluded "All is well," the detection-spell sent Dumbledore no message.

Which was too bad for Dumbledore, who craved to know everything even slightly relating to Harry Potter.

Meanwhile, underneath Gringotts

Dudley Dursley was eating his first meal in the food room for prisoner-miners of the Gringotts London iron mine.

Dudley demanded more food than what he was given; a goblin guard smacked him across the face, so hard that Dudley was knocked off his bench.

Dudley's face hurt. But worse for Dudley was the shock of being hit. Since Dudley had been eight years old, nobody had hit and hurt Dudley; instead, Dudley had been the boy who hit and hurt others.

Chapter 9

Business with Goblins

Two hours later

Thursday, 25th July, 8 a.m

Potter Manor

Ten-year-old Harry Potter was back to being in shock.

First, Harry had been awakened only so he could be told (by a house-elf), "Breakfast be ready."

Second, nobody had demanded that Harry cook the breakfast.

Third, when Harry finally found his way from his bedroom to the dining-room table—Potter Manor was huge!—he was allowed to eat with older Harry and older Hermione. Or as he thought of them now, despite knowing better: John and Paulina Potter.

Fourth, Harry was allowed to eat as much breakfast as he wanted.

For four different reasons, ten-year-old Harry was in shock as he forked his eggs.

"So, Harry," asked John, ten minutes into the morning meal, "what do you think about being rescued from the Dursleys? Or meeting Hermione? Or the fact that Paulina and I are actually Hermione and you from the future?"

Harry looked at John. "Rescuing me from the Dursleys was brilliant. Thank you, thank you, thank you. As for Hermione, it's weird—I just met her, but I can see us being best of friends soon. But you being me, and Paulina being Hermione, erm..."

"Yes?"

"I don't know how to say this right, but ... I don't see why you'd lie to me, but I don't believe you. Not deep down. I don't know Hermione much, but I can't see Paulina as Hermione grown up. And John, me becoming you in seven years—I can't believe this at all. You kicked Uncle Vernon's arse—I could never do that!"

Paulina said, "Harry honey, until yesterday morning, John and you were the same person. Seven years of his life later, this man has learned cunning and leadership skills, he has iron-hard determination, and he can fight magically to amaze you—only Voldy and Dumbledore are his equals—but oh, the cost to him! His life for the past seven years has been awful. Don't envy him for what he can do that you can't, or what he is that you aren't—because seven years from now, when you are healthy and happy, I guarantee that John will be envying you."

John nodded. "What she said."

Later that morning, at 8:59 a.m

After breakfast and Harry's shower, John, his wife, and his "cousin" Harry were elf-popped outside, to just outside the front gate of the lands for Potter Manor. John was waiting for a goblin warder to show up and to install the last part of the warding of Potter Manor's lands: charging the new wards and performing the Fidelius Charm.

Yesterday, while John and Paulina were out, goblin warders had installed new wardstones, including the wardstone in the basement of Potter Manor. The goblins had not charged the wards, but had only put the wardstones in place to be charged.

Because of a genius suggestion by John's genius wife, the wardstones were not installed at the four corners of the Potter Manor property. Instead, the wardstones were placed one foot inside the four corners of the property; for an intruder to bump up against the wards, the intruder would be trespassing one foot into Potter Manor's lands.

It would be years—and if John's and Paulina's plans worked, it would be never—before Death Eaters would attempt to invade Potter Manor. On the other hand, John expected the first would-be Apparation-visit by the bearded meddler to happen within a week. Dumbledore would be in for such a surprise when, after he crashed into the Potter Manor wards, Amelia Bones arrested him for trespassing and she could make the charge stick!

Foop. Amid John, Paulina, and young Harry, a goblin now stood. The goblin was holding a clipboard.

The goblin's clipboard was holding a work order for "Potter Manor," which the goblin showed to John. On the work order, goblin-version map coordinates for the four corners of Potter Manor's lands were written down.

The first thing that happened, once the goblin arrived, was the almost-charging of Potter Manor's wards. John side-along apparated the goblin into the basement of Potter Manor, where the Master Wardstone was. The goblin taught John how to charge the Master Wardstone; but John would not actually charge Potter Manor's wards until after the goblin left.

After the wards-charging lesson, John side-along apparated the goblin outside, back over to where Paulina and Harry were waiting.

Foop—the goblin disappeared. John knew that this goblin, whose job it was to cast the Fidelius Charm on Potter Manor's house and lands this morning, had to stand at the corners of those lands before he cast the Charm.

Foop. Less than a minute after the goblin had disappeared, he reappeared. He put his clipboard down at his feet, then asked John, "Are you ready?"

"I am. Do it."

The goblin waved his hands, and spoke words in Goblinspeak. John did not need to know Goblinspeak to know that at the end of the incantation were the words The Secret Keeper is—the goblin pointed to John—that person there.

John felt something attach to his magical core.

At the same moment, the goblin warder blinked once, but otherwise did not react.

Paulina gasped. "I declare, John, that felt strange."

Now young Harry was working his way into a panic. "What just happened? I've forgotten something! Where are we?"

John soothed the boy. "Harry, everything is as it should be. In a moment, I'll fix things with you and with Paulina. Paulina, please tell me what you see."

Paulina replied, "We're outside, with a dirt road passing in front of me, and nothing else is visible but farmland and trees. I just forgot something important, but I can't begin to guess what I've forgotten."

John glanced around. He likewise saw a dirt road in front of him, trees off in the distance, and farmland behind him—but John also saw Potter Manor in front of him in the distance, a gate by the road in front of him, and a huge lawn between Potter Manor and the entrance gate. A stone path connected the front gate and Potter Manor.

Meanwhile, the goblin was growing impatient. The goblin shoved the clipboard into John's hands, along with a self-inking quill. "Sign at the X."

On the work order, where the words Potter Manor had been written in black, now were written in red, "UNDER FIDELIUS." Where four map-coordinates had been written in black, now was written in red, "UNDER FIDELIUS."

John signed the work order where he was directed to. Foop. The goblin, his self-inking quill, and his clipboard all disappeared.

Young Harry no longer was full-blown panicked now, because Paulina had hugged him and had murmured soothing words, but the boy still looked upset.

John looked at Paulina and at Harry and said, "You two, listen to me carefully. The house and lands for Potter Manor are north of Griffith Road in Gwynedd County, Wales."

"Whoa!" Harry blurted. "The house just appeared. And now I remember it—how could I forget the big house where I just had breakfast?"

With a grin, John replied, "Magic."

Paulina smacked John's arm. "Turkey."

John looked at Paulina and at Harry. "You two stay here while I charge the Potter Manor wards. Then we'll be ready to visit the magical hospital."

Harry made a face.

Five minutes later

At Saint Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries

Harry, along with John and Paulina, were standing in queue to talk to someone called "the Welcome Witch."

Harry heard people whisper, "That's Harry Potter."

Harry had no clue what he would do when someone asked him for his autograph.

For John a.k.a. older Harry, Harry's medical examination at Saint Mungo's was a trial to be endured.

Harry was found to have a monitoring charm on him that reported to somewhere whether Harry was healthy; and another monitoring charm on Harry reported to somewhere whether Harry was alive. Thanatos had reported to dead Older Harry that the silver gizmos in Dumbledore's office had taken their behaviour from these two monitoring charms.

Because of the monitoring charms, Dumbledore had known as soon as it happened, whenever child-Harry had been unhealthy. This meant that in theory, Dumbledore could have gone straight to Number 4 and could have healed the boy. But no, now the evidence was horrifyingly clear that Dumbledore had done no such thing, ever.

The diagnoses of Harry's medical problems was a long list—two pages already, and growing longer—and the list of Harry's prescribed potions was growing too. If Snape were the potioneer who was brewing Harry's healing potions, the Potter family was about to make the greasy git a millionaire.

Harry's examining healer told John, "Somehow he has three bindings on his magical core. Since he's going to Hogwarts next month"—all of Wizarding effing Britain knew that the Boy Who Lived was about to become a Hogwarts firstie—"those three core-bindings need to be removed by 1st September."

John said to the healer, "You're welcome to remove the first one. Paulina will remove the next two, tomorrow and the day after next."

The healer looked at Paulina skeptically. "You know the spell to remove a core binding?"

She replied with a smile, "Bless your heart. The spell is Finiat restrictio, with a reverse-z wand motion."

"Very good. I recommend that right afterwards, you give Mr Potter a half-dose of Dreamless Sleep Potion, so that he's out of action for several hours whilst his magical core readjusts. For the first two hours after a core binding is removed, the patient is likely to perform accidental magic. Don't give him Pepper-Up Potion, no matter what."

Paulina nodded, but then she asked, "If we forget, and he starts performing accidental magic, don't you healers have a spell to put Dreamless Sleep Potion directly into his stomach?"

"We do, the Ex Utrem ad Persona spell. But if you're not familiar with it, it's dangerous—you might put Dreamless Sleep Potion into Mr Potter's heart, not into his stomach. I recommend that if Mr Potter performs accidental magic, Stupefy him."

Paulina nodded, but gave John a meaningful glance. At the first opportunity, she would research the Ex Utrem ad Persona spell, even if she did not use it for twenty years.

By now the Dicta-Quill had written down all of Harry's diagnoses—three pages' worth. John said to the healer, "Please, before you hand me that report, list the dates of every previous visit by Harry to Saint Mungo's."

When the healer handed Harry's medical report to John, John flipped to the last page—and snarled.

"Look at that," he said to Paulina.

Harry James Potter first was treated at Saint Mungo's on 31 July 1980—no surprise. Harry Potter's most recent Saint Mungo's visit, prior to today? 1 August 1981—one or both of his parents had brought in the one-year-old boy for a checkup.

Now John murmured to Paulina, "I want to hurt that bearded schemer. I want to levitate him to the top of the Astronomy Tower, then throw him off. It's one thing to suspect that Pompous Doubletalk was neglectful as a magical guardian, but here's the proof."

Paulina threw her arms round John and hugged him.

Now John let the healer remove one of the three magical bindings on young Harry. But John told the healer to let remain, the boy's vampiric magic-tap that powered Number 4's wards; and also to let the monitoring charms remain.

John murmured to Paulina, "I don't like the magic-tap and the monitoring charms staying in Harry, not one bit. But until they're removed, Dumbledore will keep believing that all is well with his schemes. I'll let him live in his 'fool's paradise' a little longer."

In reply, Paulina's smile was pure Slytherin.

Once the Potters went to Saint Mungo's apothecary and John purchased all the required potions, the next stop was at Gringotts—more specifically, at the goblins' medical clinic—to remove the horcrux in Harry's scar.

Later, in Gringotts's medical clinic

John did something to young Harry that never had been done to John (older Harry) in his previous life: John contracted with the goblins for them to remove the horcrux from young Harry's scar.

John and Paulina were nervous during the ritual, even though Antonia and Thanatos had assured the soulmates that the goblin ritual would work.

John and Paulina were frightened during the ritual, when Harry screamed.

But the ritual worked: Voldy was removed from Harry's forehead, with no harm to the boy.

However, since young Harry's magic still was adjusting to having a core-binding removed, some accidental magic happened right after the horcrux came out of Harry's scar: the stone walls of the ritual room suddenly turned blue. Whoops.

(Neither John nor Paulina Stupefyed Harry in response.)

The Potter family coinage vault was charged twenty thousand galleons for the ritual—twice the price of a Firebolt (if Firebolts were being sold in 1991, which they were not). John considered the twenty-thousand-galleons payment to be money well spent.

John thought, No bearded meddler will convince this Harry to "nobly sacrifice" himself!

Once the Potters finished up in the Gringotts medical clinic, John and Paulina took Harry to the Gringotts lobby, and from there they took him to meet Axefrenzy, the Potter account manager.

When Harry was introduced to Axefrenzy the goblin, Harry looked amazed.

John said to Harry, "Whenever you're in Gringotts, remember this: Never smile at a goblin by showing your teeth. Goblins consider showing your teeth to be a threat. Goblins get angry then."

Then John looked at Axefrenzy and said, "I ask for your patience, Account Manager Axefrenzy, but there are things that young Harry needs to know now, which he doesn't know at all."

As Axefrenzy listened, John told Harry that the Potter family owned many properties—of which Potter Manor was only one—and the Potter family had partial ownership of businesses, and the Potter family had much money; and that control of what the Potter family owned would change from John to Harry when Harry claimed the Potter Head of House ring on his seventeenth birthday.

When Harry heard this, he looked like he had been smacked in the face with an overgrown tuna fish.

John continued, "Harry, let me give you an idea of how rich the Potter family is. Until you're seventeen, you're not allowed access to either the Potter family coinage vault or the Potter family heirlooms vault; you may access only your trust vault. Your trust vault, from which you can take money beginning on your eleventh birthday, will hold on that date, wizarding money worth a quarter-million pounds."

Harry's jaw dropped.

John continued, "Every July 31, after a year of you taking money from your trust vault, the trust vault will be refilled from the Potter family coinage vault, making your trust vault again be worth a quarter-million pounds on your birthday."

"Whoa," said Harry.

"On your eleventh birthday, you also can claim the Potter Heir Primary ring, which tells anyone who sees it that one day you'll become Lord Potter. Besides the ring giving you higher status in the wizarding world, the ring also comes with many magical protections. For instance, nobody can read your mind while you're wearing the Potter Heir Primary ring, and the ring senses mind-whammy potions near your hand."

"What are 'mind-whammy potions'?" Harry asked.

Paulina answered, "Hate Potion, Love Potion, Lust Potion, Disinterest Potion, Loyalty Potion, Jealousy Potion, Suggestibility Potion, and Doormat Potion are the most commonly used."

Harry scowled.

John said, "There are evil people in Wizarding Britain who want you to marry their daughter when you turn seventeen, so the daughter can take the money you inherit and slip some to her family. If you're not protected against Love Potions, those people will make you fall in love with their daughter, even if she's a self-centered, hot-tempered, stalker fangirl."

Harry said, "So I should put this ring on before I go to Hogwarts next month?"

Paulina hugged Harry, while John said, "Yes, I strongly advise it. Besides avoiding problems with Love Potions, wearing the Heir ring means that if someone tries to read your mind on the sly, he can't."

Harry squared his shoulders and said, "Next week, when I turn eleven, I definitely want to come back here to the bank."

John looked at Axefrenzy and said, "Tell me about Potter rings with magical protection on them. Can Paulina, as wife of the Potter Regent, wear the Lady Potter ring, with all the magical protections that come with this ring? Can I magically protect Harry between now and next week, when he claims the Potter Heir ring? How do I give magical protection to Paulina's second cousin, who is nomaj-born and not a Potter? Can I give magical protection to the girl's parents, who are no-magics?"

Axefrenzy answered thusly—

Yes, John can put the Lady Potter ring on Paulina's hand—but that ring will disappear off Paulina's hand when Harry ascends to Lord Potter at age seventeen. Axefrenzy's recommendation was instead to put a Potter Protection ring on Paulina's hand; the Protection ring will remain on Paulina's hand after Harry's ascension, until/unless Harry Potter as Lord Potter removes the ring from Paulina's hand.

Axefrenzy explained to John—

Certain Potter rings came with enhanced magical protection: the Head of House ring, the Heir(ess) Primary ring, the Heir(ess) Secondary ring, the Heir(ess) Tertiary ring, and the rings for these four people's spouses; also the ring for the Potter Regent and the ring for the Potter Steward. Other members of the Potter family did not qualify for magically enhanced rings; but the Potter Head of House or the Potter Regent could give anyone in the family a Potter Protection ring, which offered the same magical protections as an Heir ring or the Lady Potter ring.

By the by, a Potter Protection ring gave magical protection to someone only when the Potter Head of House or the Potter Regent placed the Potter Protection ring on that person's hand. If the person wanting magical protection grabbed the Potter Protection ring off the table and he tried to put the ring on by himself, nothing magical would happen.

With regards to Harry, Axefrenzy recommended that today John put a Potter Protection ring on Harry's hand; then on Harry's eleventh birthday, John would remove the Potter Protection ring from Harry's hand, just before Harry would don the Potter Heir Primary ring.

For Potter family magic to allow the Potter Head of House or the Potter Regent to put a Potter Protection ring on someone who is not a Potter by blood or marriage, the Head of House or Regent first had to declare the person to be a Protectée of House Potter. Declaring her a Potter Protectée, by the by, caused any magical clothing she owned—such as Hogwarts robes—to now show the Potter crest on the right sleeve.

No-magics could not be declared Protectées. However, assuming that the Protectée girl lived with her parents, the Potter Head of House or Regent could hire Gringotts to ward the girl's parents' property/-ies, and the Ministry could not object to this.

After John heard what Axefrenzy had to say, John decided that today he would take Paulina and Harry into the Potter family heirloom vault, so that they each could select a Potter Protection ring, and so that John could select a Potter Protection ring for Hermione.

But before they did these things, John had to enable Hermione to wear the Potter Protection ring when he put the ring on her hand. Now John obtained Axefrenzy's permission to draw his wand; John pointed his wand at the ceiling and said, "I, John George Potter the Potter Regent, declare Hermione Jean Granger of Crawley, West Sussex, England to be a Protectée of House Potter. So mote it be."

Light flashed in Axefrenzy's office.

Meanwhile in Crawley, West Sussex, England

The aforementioned Hermione Jean Granger was reading The Standard Book of Spells (Grade 3) when she felt a shift in her magical core.

Ten minutes later, she received an owl (her first ever) at her bedroom window. The owl was from Gringotts, and the owl's letter informed Hermione that she was now a Protectée of House Potter.

Hermione realised she did not know exactly what the word Protectée meant.

Anyone else with this realisation would have then thought, I need to remember to ask someone about this when I go to Hogwarts next month. But Hermione instead marked her place in her Standard Book of Spells book, then ransacked her books on wizarding customs till she had her explanation.

When Hermione knew at last what her being a Protectée meant, she smiled big enough to fully expose her oversize front teeth. "Thank you, John Potter," she said aloud.

Back at Gringotts

John asked Axefrenzy for the Gringotts copies of James' and Lily's wills. As Gringotts was sovereign territory, the fact that the Ministry copies of those wills had been sealed by the Chief Warlock, mattered not a whit in Gringotts.

John read each will first, then passed the will to Paulina; when Paulina was done reading, she passed the will to Harry.

Harry frowned. "I don't know any of these people."

John really wanted to put his fist through a wall—even a stone wall. He told Harry, "If you read down further, it mentions Petunia and Vernon—as people you absolutely never should be put with, at all, no way, forget it. Dumbledore is not mentioned until the end of each will, as a witness to the will. Look at the first name on the list of prospective guardians, which is Sirius Black—both wills state he's your 'oath-sworn godfather.' Which means that if he tried to do something to hurt you, he would drop dead."

"So why didn't he take me? Why did I go to the Dursleys?"

"The reason you don't know Sirius Black is because he was thrown in prison for, among other things, betraying you and your parents to Voldemort, who killed them. Sirius Black was imprisoned because supposedly he was the Secret Keeper to the place where your parents were living. But your father's will states that the Secret Keeper was Peter Pettigrew. So Peter Pettigrew, not Sirius Black, was the betrayer of your parents; but Sirius Black is the one in prison, and Sirius Black is the one who was blocked from becoming your guardian."

"What can we do about this Mr Black, who is in prison when he shouldn't be?"

"Don't worry," said John, "I have a plan."

Then John turned to Axefrenzy. "In the meantime, I need three certified copies of each will, paid for by the Potter family coinage vault, and I ask Gringotts to carry out the bequests in the wills, except for the bequest to Peter Pettigrew."

Axefrenzy nodded. "Agreed." Seconds later, John was handed six wills. He handed the wills to Paulina, who put the wills in her beaded handbag.

Then John looked at Axefrenzy again, and this time John smiled like a vampire. "Gringotts is sure that Albus Dumbledore has stolen G47,575 from Harry Potter's trust vault nine separate times, right? For a total of more than 428 thousand galleons, right? Let's ruin the headmaster's day. Are you willing to walk with me to see Director Ragnok?"

As the three human magicals and one goblin were walking towards Director Ragnok's office, Paulina said to Harry, "At the least, Dumbledore stole G428,175 from you. That works out to be 2.14 million pounds."

Harry said angrily, "I had two million pounds, and Dumbledore stole it? I hope they boil him in oil for that!"

Axefrenzy said, "Don't worry, young Mister Potter, Gringotts has recovered all of the money. But this doesn't undo the fact that Albus Dumbledore did steal from you. Has anyone told you that Gringotts hates thieves?"

By then, Axefrenzy was knocking on the door of the office for Director Ragnok. After Ragnok ordered the group to "Enter!", Ragnok asked Axefrenzy, "So who is the thief whom Gringotts hates right now?"

That evening

In the Granger house in Crawley

John had sent messages to and from Hermione, using Greyclay, the head Potter house-elf; and Hermione had telephoned her parents. So when John, Paulina, and Harry were elf-popped to the back door of the Granger house, the Grangers were expecting them.

As soon as Harry walked into the Granger house, Hermione rushed over and hugged him.

When greetings were finished, Dan Granger asked John, "So what's up?"

"Today we went to Saint Mungo's, the magical hospital, and Harry was prescribed potions for all the things that are medically wrong with him. That list is a long list—damn the Dursleys."

Paulina squeezed John's hand.

"Then we went to Gringotts, and the goblins removed the evil piece of Voldemort from Harry's scar."

Everyone applauded, while Harry blushed.

"Next, we went to see the Potter account manager at Gringotts. Axefrenzy met Harry, and Axefrenzy explained to me about Protection rings. Protection rings detect potions in food and drink, and they protect the wearer from mind-magics like mind-reading, magical forgetting, and magical hypnosis of various kinds. Paulina and Harry are each wearing a Protection ring now."

Paulina displayed her Protection ring with no prompting. Blushing Harry needed to be coaxed by Hermione to show the Grangers his own Protection ring.

John said, "Which leads to why we came here tonight. I brought a Protection ring for Hermione." John took the Protection ring from his pocket and held it up. "But even I, the Potter Regent, can't just put this ring on Hermione's hand, since she's not part of the Potter family. So to make this possible, today I declared Hermione to be a Protectée of House Potter."

Paulina smiled at the Grangers. "What Protectée means is that if some magical person hurts Hermione, anyone and everyone in House Potter will ensure that the worthless magical brute wishes he were never born."

John nodded. "If someone hurts Hermione, he immediately should chop off his own foot with a dull axe. It'll save time, and it'll be less painful."

Dan Granger grinned wolfishly. John grinned back.

After John put the Protection ring on Hermione's right hand—the ring immediately shrank to fit—Emma Granger stood up, rushed over, and gave John a strong hug. She said, "John, I can't tell you how relieved Dan and I feel now!"

Before the Potters left, John explained to Dan and Emma that, at no expense to the Granger family, the Granger house in Crawley soon would be given magical protections like crazy. All the Granger parents needed to do was, as the homeowners, to give verbal permission for the goblins to do the work.

As the Potters were about to elf-pop away, Emma Granger said, "The next time you come here, we'll serve cake!"

Paulina laughed in delight. Then she explained to Harry, "Only on special occasions does Mum serve food with sugar in it."

Early the next morning (Friday, 26th July)

Gringotts

In the lobby of Gringotts, and on the outside front of the building and facing the steps, were duplicate posters.

Each poster showed a drawing of a wizard. That wizard was wearing robes that were ever-changing in both their many colours, and in their designs. The wizard also was drawn with a grey beard that was so long that the beard brushed against the ground, and with grey hair that was so long that it trailed behind the wizard like a cape. The ends of the hair were tied with ribbons that fluttered in the wind.

The text of each poster?

Chapter 10

Three Potters Talk to People

Still Friday, 26th July

Still morning, but an hour later

Still Gringotts

Director Ragnok's door sounded, BAM-BAM-BAM. "Enter!" Ragnok yelled.

Two armoured goblins, Goldshaper and Bloodbather, stepped in and bowed. Bloodbather, the goblin with less-dented armour said, "The fat brat who was sentenced to the iron mines two days ago, Harry Potter's cousin, he's dead."

"How?" Ragnok asked. "What happened?"

Goldshaper, the goblin with more-dented armour, said, "Dursley pushed Nelson," another prisoner-miner, "who's old and feeble, to the floor. The brat then stole Nelson's breakfast tray. Nelson had just sat down, so his breakfast tray was full when Dursley stole it."

Ragnok asked, "How much had the boy eaten of his own breakfast tray when he stole Nelson's?"

Goldshaper said, "All of it. All the while, he was whingeing about us 'starving' him."

Bloodbather scoffed. " 'Starving,' right. That human boy was almost as round as an eglukak ball."

"Tell me how he died."

Goldshaper said, "We decided that we'd let Dursley eat two spoonfuls of Nelson's eggs, then we subjected Dursley to goblin law. We didn't check to see if he had a laying hen under his bed, but we're sure about those two spoonfuls of eggs: that he stole them and couldn't pay them back."

All three goblins knew a key rule of goblin law: If you stole something and you could not pay it back to the theft-victim, you were beheaded. Even if the something stolen was two spoonfuls of eggs.

Now Ragnok asked, "What about Nelson, the old prisoner-miner who got his breakfast tray stolen?"

Goldshaper shrugged. "We gave back what Dursley didn't eat, but by then the breakfast tray and part of the table was covered in blood. Nelson didn't want the tray back."

Ragnok looked at the clock; the prisoner-miners' shift would start in seven minutes. "It's not Prisoner-Miner Nelson's fault. Give him a new, clean breakfast tray, of the same food or better, and give him half an hour to eat it all. He'll start his shift at least a half-hour late, but it's okay."

Goldshaper and Bloodbather bowed themselves out of Ragnok's office.

Once Ragnok was alone, he dashed off a letter to John Potter, telling him that now all three Dursleys were dead; also, Ragnok's letter said that Gringotts now had "Wanted: Albus P Dumbledore" posters put up where they could be seen both inside and outside the bank.

Meanwhile, in Potter Manor

John, Paulina, and Harry were eating breakfast. Harry still ate quickly, as though his plate would be snatched away from him if he took more than X minutes to eat.

John looked at Harry and sighed. "I have bad news for you. Paulina and I need to run some errands today, but they won't be successful unless you come with us. But as soon as we set foot anyplace in Wizarding Britain, you'll be hit with all the 'There's Harry Potter!' hoopla, and I apologize in advance for this."

Harry was silent a moment, then he lifted his chin. "You're me but older, right? And I'm you, but from a new 1991, right? If you can fight Voldemort, I can handle people asking me for my autograph."

John thought, Keep that up, younger self, and your Sorting into Gryffindor won't be because you're a legacy Gryffindor.

Aloud, John said, "But remember, you can't tell anyone that I'm older you, or that Paulina also is from the future. All three of us need to pretend that I'm your American cousin, and my American wife also has a cousin in Britain who's your age."

Harry smiled. "Not a problem. I like outsmarting people."

John thought, I wonder if the Hat again will try to talk him into Slytherin?

John smiled at the other two. "Thanatos urged me to be proactive. Today Paulina and I will be proactive like crazy."

A half-hour later

Entering the Daily Prophet building

The front receptionist said, "Good morning, can I...?"

She did not finish her sentence. She did not glance at the two young adults who just had entered through the front door. She stared in shock at the ten-year-old boy who just had walked in.

John was smiling in amusement as he said in his American accent, "Good morning. I'm John Potter, this is my wife Paulina, and it seems you recognize my second cousin Harry. We'd like to speak with your editor-in-chief"—John pulled a scrap of parchment from his pocket and glanced at it—"Barnabas Cuffe."

The receptionist jumped up from her desk; all the while, she was eyeing the rat's-nest hair of both John and Harry. "Not a problem, Mister Potter. I'll take you straight to Mister Cuffe, right away, no waiting, please follow me."

As the three Potters followed the receptionist through the newsroom, John heard two different people say, "That's Harry Potter!" John noticed Rita Skeeter watching young Harry like a hungry cat would watch a water beetle.

Barnabas Cuffe made it clear at first that he had no interest in talking to two Americans whom he had never heard of. John and Paulina could wait in the employee breakroom for all Cuffe cared, while he talked to Harry Potter alone.

That's not happening, John said with more words, and with much more force.

The deal that Cuffe, John Potter and Paulina Potter worked out was that Cuffe would not interview the boy, Harry Potter, no matter how much Cuffe wanted to. Instead, Cuffe would interview the adult Potters, while Cuffe asked no questions of young Harry; but if John or Paulina said something that was incorrect, Harry would speak up and would correct the error.

Barnabas Cuffe clearly did not like making this deal, but once John Potter's Regent ring was pointed out, Cuffe agreed.

All the while that Cuffe and John were negotiating, while Paulina and Harry added a few comments, Paulina was doing something with documents that she pulled from her beaded handbag.

After John and Cuffe shook hands, Paulina slid some copied parchments across the desk. Paulina said to Cuffe, "When we took Harry to Saint Mungo's yesterday, their Dicta-Quill's listing of Harry's medical problems went on for three pages."

Cuffe choked.

Paulina continued, "However, what I'm giving you shows only the first five lines; your readers don't need to know the rest. On page 3 is also a listing of when Harry visited Saint Mungo's previously; the last time Harry went to Saint Mungo's before yesterday, one of his parents took him there."

Cuffe stared at Paulina in shock.

Paulina said, "Before John claimed the Potter Regent ring, which was the day before yesterday, and claimed magical guardianship of Harry, the headmaster of Hogwarts had tricked his way into being appointed Harry's magical guardian, even though Harry's parents' wills said otherwise."

Paulina pulled a Gringotts-certified copy of Lily Potter's will and a Gringotts-certified copy of James Potter's will from her beaded handbag, and slapped the wills on Cuffe's desk.

Paulina said, "When Dumbledore was Harry's magical guardian, he shifted every galleon he could from Harry's trust vault to his own vault. Here's a copy of the Gringotts report on Harry's trust vault."

John said, "By the way, James Potter's will shows that Sirius Black, who's in prison for betraying James and Lily, is innocent of that charge. 'Dead' Peter Pettigrew was the Secret Keeper."

Cuffe's jaw dropped.

Cuffe started the interview by asking, "31 October 1981—what happened that night?"

John asked Harry, "What do you remember?"

Harry said, "The night my parents were killed and I got this scar? I don't remember anything. My earliest memory is of me in my dark cu—my dark bedroom."

Cuffe said, "That's disappointing. So we still don't know."

John said, "Paulina and I have four theories. One, James Potter performed a Potter family ritual beforehand; two, James and Lily performed a Potter family ritual together; three, Lily Potter worked something with runes that was sheer genius; or four, Harry worked accidental magic that night, of a kind that never has been seen before or since."

Cuffe looked at John. "You think the explanation might be a Potter family ritual? Don't you know? You're a Potter, so you can read the books in the Potter Library and can read the Potter family grimoire."

John chuckled. "True, but I've had access to those books only for the last two days. And believe me, during those two days, I've had to spend my time on many more important things than looking through the Potter Grimoire for a spell or ritual that might not be there."

A few minutes later

Cuffe still was interviewing John and Paulina, as Harry listened in.

Paulina was saying, "...So there we were, just married, honeymooning in Britain. We were in Britain because we knew that we each had a British second cousin who was magical, and who was about to start Hogwarts."

John said, "My cousin was of course the famous Harry Potter."

Harry snorted. Cuffe gave Harry a puzzled look.

Paulina said, "Three days ago, we met with my cousin and her family. She's a delightful young lady, and scary smart; I predict you'll be hearing much about her during the next seven years."

Cuffe asked, "What's her name?"

John said, "We won't tell you now, to keep the girl safe; but you'll definitely learn her name on September first."

Paulina said, "Anyway, our visit with my cousin went off as planned. We expected to do the same thing with Harry: shake his hand, have dinner with his family, Harry and John would exchange contact information, then John and I would hit the road again. That was the plan, anyway."

Cuffe said, "But...?"

John said, "But two days ago, we went to visit my famous cousin Harry and his family. That's when everything turned to sh—"

"Language, John!" Paulina exclaimed.

Harry shrugged. "For me it started out as a normal day."

Cuffe asked, "What went bad?"

John replied, "Mr. Cuffe, you've seen those books that are supposedly about Harry. Did I believe that my cousin named Harry Potter had saved an entire Hungarian village from a vampire attack? No."

The eyes of the real Harry Potter went wide with surprise.

John continued, "I believed no such thing. But I did believe that Harry lived in Wales, in a fancy house—maybe not a 'blue palace,' but still fancy—and he lived with George Potter, Rowena Potter, and a house-elf. But even when I was living in the USA and was attending school at Ilvermorny, I saw a problem with that story."

Cuffe asked, "What was the problem?"

"My dad had never heard of British relatives named George or Rowena Potter. Neither had Gringotts New York heard of those two British Potters, and wouldn't Gringotts know?"

Paulina said, "Two days ago, John used Potter family magic to tell him exactly where Harry Potter was living. The result was another red flag."

John explained, "Harry Potter wasn't living anywhere in Wales. Family magic said that Harry Potter was living in Surrey County, England. When Paulina and I apparated to near where Harry lived, he wasn't living in a blue house in a magical neighborhood—Harry Potter was living in a no-magic house in a no-magic neighborhood. A little later, Paulina and I would find out that Harry was living with his mother's nonmagical sister, and the sister's husband and son."

Cuffe sputtered, "Harry Potter was raised by Muggles?"

Harry said, "I don't know that word."

Paulina explained, "Nonmagical people, honey. The American word no-maj or no-magic says the same thing, without being insulting."

Harry looked at Cuffe and said, "I didn't know I was magical till John told me. This was two days ago. I'd done magical stuff before then, but I didn't know it was magical. But whenever I did 'freaky stuff,' my aunt and uncle punished me something awful."

John growled, "They beat him and they starved him. For doing accidental magic."

Cuffe blurted out, "They beat and they starved the Boy Who Lived?"

Paulina said, "We arrived for Harry's visit less than a minute after he had received his Hogwarts letter. The letter was addressed to 'the Cupboard Under the Stairs.' "

Cuffe shook his head. "I don't understand what this means."

Harry said, "That was my 'bedroom' for as long as I can remember. Whenever I did something to anger my aunt or uncle, they'd make me go to my cupboard, then they'd lock me in. Everything magical that I did, always without planning to do it, angered my aunt and uncle."

Paulina asked Cuffe, "Now do you understand why we couldn't leave a ten-year-old boy with those people?"

John said, "Two mornings ago, I didn't wake up planning to claim the Potter Regent ring, or to claim magical guardianship of Harry Potter, or to negotiate with that family for Harry's nonmagical guardianship, but that's what I wound up doing."

Paulina said angrily, "Harry's aunt and uncle demanded we pay them a thousand pounds before they would sign the form that transferred nonmagical guardianship of Harry from them to John and me." She huffed; "I declare!"

John said, "But it turned out that his aunt and uncle weren't the only rat bastards in Harry's life." John talked about what he had learned after he had claimed the Potter Regent ring, then he had talked with the Potter account manager at Gringotts London. What John had learned: Dumbledore had stolen money from Harry.

John then told Cuffe that John and Paulina were told by Axefrenzy that Albus Dumbledore was not merely stealing from Harry Potter's trust vault, Dumbledore was emptying that vault.

And speaking of Dumbledore—all the times that Harry was being starved and hurt by his relatives, Dumbledore never showed up to warn the Dursleys off, Dumbledore never rescued Harry, and Dumbledore never took Harry to Saint Mungo's.

John and Paulina had thoroughly trashed Dumbledore's reputation by the time John told Cuffe, "I can't in good conscience let my ward Harry attend Hogwarts, so long as Dumbledore is the headmaster there. So on August 25th, Paulina and I will be taking Harry Potter to the USA, so that Harry will begin his magical schooling at Ilvermorny, which is a much better school."

Cuffe stared at John. "Instead of Hogwarts?"

"Instead of Hogwarts."

Cuffe looked shocked. "But Harry Potter's parents went to Hogwarts! And his grandparents. And on back in time for hundreds of years. You'd truly remove Harry Potter from Hogwarts before he attends even a single day there?"

Paulina said, "John honey, we forgot to show Mr. Cuffe the letter." She pulled an envelope out of her beaded handbag, pulled a letter out of the envelope, duplicated the letter, then slid the duplicate letter over to Cuffe.

John explained what Cuffe was seeing: "Dumbledore didn't hand toddler-Harry to his aunt, he didn't ring her and her husband's doorbell, nor did he knock on their door. No, Dumbledore left toddler-Harry in a basket on his aunt's front doorstep, at night, with only a blanket to protect the fifteen-month-old against the cold November night. Petunia didn't find Harry till the next morning—Dumbledore left Harry out in the cold all night."

Cuffe stared. "All night?"

John nodded. "With Harry in the basket was that letter. Which used pretty, pretty language to say 'Hey, no-magic sister of Lily Potter, your sister and her husband were murdered but her son survived. You'll be raising that son now; and no, you're not allowed to refuse.' I despise Harry's aunt and her family, I saw all three of them be arrested by the goblins—and rightfully so—but Petunia did notdeserve to be treated so disrespectfully."

Later, at the Ministry of Magic

After John and Paulina finished their press interview at the Daily Prophet, they took Harry to the Ministry. Specifically, John and Paulina set course to take Harry to the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, to meet with its Director, Amelia Bones.

In the Ministry Atrium, while the two adult Potters were getting their wands scanned—John's wand was holly and thunderbird heartstring, eleven inches—some onlooker recognized Harry. Soon the three Potters almost were mobbed, until Senior Auror Nigel Grenwick offered to escort the trio directly to Bones's office.

John did not kid himself: The only reason that he and Paulina got to meet with Director Bones was because One, he had the Boy Who Lived with him; and Two, John was wearing the Potter Regent ring.

Like in the Daily Prophet editor's office, Paulina pulled several documents from her beaded handbag and duplicated most of them. But this time, instead of handing Director Bones all the documents at once, Paulina slid them over to Bones, a few (or just one) at a time—

• James Potter's will and Lily Potter's will (certified copies). John pointed out that both wills referred to Sirius Black as "Harry's oath-sworn godfather." Both wills named Amelia Bones as third in the list of Harry's guardians, behind Sirius Black and Alice Longbottom. Both wills said that Petunia Evans Dursley and her husband were never ever to be given guardianship of Harry. James Potter's will also mentioned that Peter Pettigrew, not Sirius Black, was the Secret Keeper. Albus Dumbledore was mentioned nowhere in either will except as a witness.

• The report of Harry Potter's 25 July 1991 medical examination at Saint Mungo's. Unlike with the Daily Prophet copy, the duplicate medical report that was given to Amelia Bones was unredacted. Director Bones could read for herself, three pages' worth of the boy's injuries and other medical problems, both old and new. On the last page were listed all of Harry's previous visits to Saint Mungo's—none were listed after Dumbledore had assumed "guardianship" of Harry.

• Gringotts London's Activity Report for Vault 687, going back to 31 October 1981. Harry himself had yet to remove one knut from that vault, but Vault 687 had had steady outflows since Halloween 1981, and Harry had not benefited at all from any of those spent coins. The Dursleys had been arrested by the goblins for their part of the thefts, but Dumbledore still was living large.

• Albus Dumbledore's letter to Petunia Evans Dursley, written 1 November 1981; letter read on the morning of 2 November 1981. Dumbledore's letter basically said, "You must raise this magical boy whom I can't be bothered to talk to you about. By the way, your sister was murdered. Don't expect to hear from anyone who's magical before 1991."

After the documents were passed to Director Bones, John and Paulina told their story. They were American magicals who just had married, they had decided to honeymoon in Britain and, two days ago, they had visited Harry Potter's house for what they had fully expected to be a one-time, one-day visit.

Instead, John and Paulina had been so horrified by what they had found in Harry's house, they had hurried to Gringotts so John could claim the Potter Regent ring, then could claim magical guardianship of Harry. The Dursleys had signed the form that granted John nonmagical guardianship of Harry Potter, only with the agreement that John would pay Harry's aunt and uncle a thousand pounds (G200). The Dursleys afterward had all three been arrested by the goblins, who did not believe in wrist-slap punishments.

Director Bones asked Harry if he had ever been visited by anyone from a nonmagical-government child-welfare agency, by Wizard Child Services, or by Dumbledore. Harry replied, "No, the only people who've ever tried to help me were in primary school, two teachers and a nurse. The teachers changed their minds and the nurse lost her job."

Paulina said, "Obliviations, I bet. Or Confunduses."

Director Bones nodded. "Boudicca Grenwick, Director for WCS, should never have let Harry Potter, of all people, fall through the cracks. This needs investigating."

Harry said, "I wish somebody had come to visit me. After a while, the Dursleys figured out they could do whatever they wanted with me, and nobody would speak out."

Director Bones said, "Dumbledore never came to visit you?"

"Don't know. What's he look like?"

John answered, "He has a gray beard that goes down to his belt, has gray hair that is just as long in back, wears brightly colored choir-robes with moving designs on them, and he offers students candy whenever he first starts talking with them."

Harry asked, "Does he drive a car? In primary school, we were told that if you see someone like that, he'll try to trick you into getting into his car."

Director Bones facepalmed, then conjured a picture of Dumbledore.

Harry looked at the picture, then said, "No, never met him. I'd remember someone like that if I'd ever seen him before."

John said, "I want to point out something, Director. You look at the wills, and Dumbledore never should've had custody of Harry, not for one minute. Also, Dumbledore took Harry from somewhere or from someone where he was supposed to be, and gave him to Petunia Dursley, whom both wills say Harry should never have gone to. It seems to me that Dumbledore kidnapped little Harry. Also, it seems awfully strange that Sirius Black, who should've been Harry's guardian, was thrown in prison for at least one crime he didn't commit."

Paulina said, "Maybe Alice Longbottom's 'unfortunate' coma wasn't truly unfortunate. Maybe she was taken out."

Director Bones wrote something down, then looked at the three Potters. "I was never told what the wills said. I was never told that if Sirius Black and Alice Longbottom couldn't take custody of Harry Potter, that I would get custody. Dumbledore never even hinted as much."

Harry said, "Wow, ma'am, you could've been like my mum?"

"Not quite, but I would've tried to act like a mum to you. Just like what I'm doing with my niece Susan, who's also an orphan, and the same age as you. You would've been like a brother to her, and she'd have been like a sister to you."

"Sweet," said Harry.

As John, Paulina and Harry were about to walk out of Director Bones's office, John said to Bones, "In my mind, Dumbledore has caused Harry much more harm than Voldemort has. If someone told you that Voldemort was teaching at Hogwarts this year—Defense Against the Dark Arts, say—would you send Susan to Hogwarts? No, you'd send her to Ilvermorny or that French school. But Dumbledore is worse than Voldemort, at least for Harry. So you can understand why I'm enrolling Harry in Ilvermorny, not in Hogwarts?"

"Please tell me you're joking," Bones said.

John said, "Isn't Wizarding Britain the place where Death Eaters, whose guilt can be proven with much evidence, claim 'I didn't mean it, I was Imperiused,' and they're told 'You're free to go'?"

Director Bones, instead of answering, made a face.

"Madam Bones, I'm sure you'll work hard to gather evidence against Dumbledore, but even I know—someone who doesn't live in your country—that Dumbledore will never spend a day in your prison. The only thing I can do to keep Harry safe is to take him someplace where Dumbledore can't touch him. Hogwarts is notthat place."

With those words, the three Potters walked out of Director Bones's office.

Amelia Bones immediately and personally visited the DMLE's Records Division, to learn more about Sirius Black's trial. The first thing she learnt was that Sirius Black never got a trial.

What little parchmentwork was in the folder said that Sirius Black's wand had been collected; but Amelia discovered that the wand was not stored where it should have been stored.

Amelia had been in the DMLE long enough to know that if an Auror destroyed evidence and this could be proven, the Auror was destined to be a prisoner in Azkaban; but if evidence were "misfiled," the Auror would receive at worst a written reprimand.

So Amelia got creative with Accio spells and Point-Me spells, then she eventually found Sirius Black's wand—halfway back in the Archives, amongst evidence from 1944 trials.

Amelia tested Sirius Black's wand for spells used. The sixth- and fifth-from-last spells were Cleaning Charms. Three Point-Me spells came after that; the last spell that had been cast with this wand was Stupefy.

Amelia was gobsmacked. Everyone "knew" that Sirius Black had committed crimes, had been convicted and had been sent to prison; but now some of what everyone "knew"—all of what everyone "knew"?—was in doubt.

There was also the small, minor complication that, before Sirius Black had been tossed into the Dementor Hotel, he had been Amelia's serious boyfriend (pun intended).

Fifteen minutes later, in Azkaban Wizard's Prison

Sirius Black was gaunt, his hair was filthy and he needed a shave. He also was staring in shock through the bars of his cell.

"Amy? Are you real, or are you some sort of Dementor dream?"

"I'm real, Siri. And I'm so sorry for what I haven't done for you, these last ten years."

Then the Director of the DMLE threw all her pride away, to make a lengthy apology from the heart.

At the end of Amelia's apology, Sirius Black was staring at Amelia Bones in even greater shock. The two Aurors who were standing behind Director Amelia Bones looked to be in shock as well.

It was Sirius who got down to business. "So, Amy, why are you here?"

"Today I was visited by Harry Potter, by his cousin John Potter, and by John Potter's wife Paulina."

"Wait, 'cousin'? Harry didn't have any—"

"In Britain, you're right. But John and his wife are Americans. Two days ago, John Potter claimed the Potter Regent ring, and immediately afterwards he claimed guardianship of Harry Potter. In the process, he took guardianship of Harry away from Lily's sister and her husband, and from Albus Dumbledore."

"Hang on, Petunia was raising Harry for the past ten years?"

"Petunia and her Muggle husband, who apparently is as much of a witch-burning bigot as Petunia is. Dumbledore didn't lift a finger to stop those two from hurting Harry. Worse, Dumbledore was stealing from Harry's trust vault."

"And I couldn't do a thing to stop any of that! Amy, I feel awful."

"Early this morning, the three Potters came to see me, dumping bunches of documents on my desk. Documents that included Gringotts-certified copies of the wills of James and Lily—by the way, the Wizengamot copies of those wills were sealed by Chief Warlock Albus Dumbledore. After the three Potters left, I went to look at all the evidence we'd gathered for your trial—"

"Except I never got a trial."

"Yes, I discovered that—today. I also did a spell-trace on your wand when I finally tracked down the wand; your wand had been 'misfiled.' " Amelia rolled her eyes. "You didn't kill anyone and you didn't blow up anyone. You didn't betray James and Lily because you weren't the Secret Keeper, Peter was, and I can prove all this."

Sirius grinned. "So what happens now?"

"Now these two Aurors escort you to the prison's interrogation room, and I interview you formally. You're a Pureblood"—meaning, Sirius could refuse interrogation by Veritaserum—" but I hope you'll agree to Veritaserum during your questioning."

Sirius laughed. " 'Agree to' Veritaserum? Merlin, Amy, I insist onVeritaserum! And go see whether you can borrow a pensieve from somewhere, because I want you to take my memories too."

As Amelia, the two Aurors and Sirius were walking through the prison to where the interrogation room was, Sirius said, "Tell me about Harry. What's he like now?"

Amelia sighed. "I can't say what his mind is like, because he let John and Paulina do almost all the talking. But he's short for his age, he's as thin as you are now and, according to the Saint Mungo's medical exam, he's suffered many broken bones. Harry in 1980 and 1981 was a happy baby; Harry Potter now is quite sombre, and was wary of me at first. I could've raised him, Sirius, alongside Susan—but no, 'the Leader of the Light' had to meddle."

Meanwhile in Gringotts, in the office of Director Ragnok

Gringotts had been not-posting Albus Dumbledore's Gringotts mail for three days now—mail which all said some version of "Dumbledore, you're in big trouble!"

Ragnok had really hoped that Dumbledore, unaware of the bank's anger towards him, would have strolled into the bank sometime in the last three days, and would have been arrested. Alas, such a happy event had not happened (so far).

This morning, the Daily Prophet had asked Gringotts, "What's going on with those 'WANTED: Albus P Dumbledore' posters?" In reply, Ragnok and Ironsmelter (the public-relations goblin) just had written a prepared statement.

Ragnok decided that tomorrow morning, he would release Dumbledore's Gringotts owl-post to be sent to him—after the bearded idiot had read in the Prophet, "Gringotts is angry at Dumbledore, for many reasons."

Ragnok thought, I wonder what Dumbledore is thinking now? I'm sure he's thinking that all is well in his world.

Meanwhile, at Hogwarts

In the headmaster's office

Albus Dumbledore was a happy and hopeful headmaster.

He had worried, when Minerva had sent out Harry Potter's Hogwarts letter, that Harry's aunt and uncle would interfere somehow. But this had not happened. Within hours of Harry's Hogwarts letter leaving the castle, Harry's positive reply had been owled to Hogwarts. Harry's reply-letter, which had been written in a child's hand, had thanked Minerva for "aksepting" him to Hogwarts, and had promised to be at the school on the first of September. Albus thought, What a relief.

Life for Albus was good in other ways. Rather than having to hunt high and low for a DADA professor this year, Quirinus Quirrell (the Muggle Studies professor before he had gone on sabbatical) had applied for the DADA position. When Tom Riddle inevitably showed up—lured to Hogwarts by Nicolas Flamel's Philosopher's Stone, which by September would be hidden somewhere in Hogwarts Castle—Albus hoped that Quirrell was up to the challenge of duelling the Dark Lord.

In five days, Harry Potter would turn eleven. If the boy showed up at Gringotts, Bronzedagger (the Potter account manager) would make sure that the ignorant boy would cause no problems for Albus's plots and schemes.

In a bit over a month, Harry Potter would arrive at Hogwarts as a first-year. Severus had already been fast-talked into hating "the Potter brat" on sight, and Poppy already had been Confundused into not noticing any before-Hogwarts medical conditions that Harry Potter had. Minerva, as usual, would squawk whenever Albus would give her an order that went against her girlhood religious teachings, but then would promptly and fully obey Albus's every command.

In short: For Albus Dumbledore, on this the 26th of July, 1991, all was well.

For Harry Potter, who would be killed by Tom before Harry sat his NEWTs—and most likely would not survive one year at Hogwarts, much less seven—all was not well, Albus knew.

But Harry Potter's death, which was allowed by Sybill's prophecy, would be for the Greater Good—

Only Albus Dumbledore had a vision of where Wizarding Britain should go in the future. And the bearded wizard who became "the Defeater of Grindelwald and the Defeater of Voldemort" would be given carte blanche to carry out his vision.

A few hundred yards away from the headmaster's office

In the Forbidden Forest

Three days ago, Antonia the angel had given orders to John: to apparate to such-and-such coordinates, and to use what he would find there to remove the diary-horcrux that now was inside heavily warded Malfoy Manor.

Foo-foop.

Just-apparated John and Paulina now found themselves in the Forbidden Forest. John saw that between two trees, twenty or thirty feet away, stretched a giant spider web.

"Behind us," Paulina said.

John turned around. Now Hogwarts Castle was a hundred feet in front of them. Extending out from the bottom of the castle was a six-foot-inside-diameter tube—made not of concrete, but of cut stone.

At the Forbidden Forest end of the stone tunnel was a metal gate, made of crossbars. The crossbars were close enough to each other that nothing bigger than a young kitten could have stepped through them.

The crossbars-gate was painted a bright white that was rust-free, even after a thousand years. In the middle of the crossbars-gate was painted an undulating green snake with big yellow eyes, and with the snake's forked tongue sticking out. The entire green snake, including its forked tongue and its yellow eyes, was outlined in silver.

John said, "Now we know how the basilisk feeds itself."

Paulina asked, "But how does it get out of the tunnel? It has no hands."

John said, "Let me try something. §Open.§"

After John hissed, the white crossbars-gate slipped upward, with no sound at all. The Potters now could enter the tunnel.

Paulina took a deep breath, squared her shoulders, then took a step forward. "Gryffindors charge ahead. Though I declare, I reallydon't want to meet a basilisk today."

John grabbed her arm. "Hold on. We have another problem besides facing a basilisk. Somewhere between this end of the tunnel and the other end, there might be a wards-boundary, which would notify Dumbledore when we enter the castle through this tunnel. I don't want Dumbles knowing we're nosing around."

Paulina nodded. "We need some way of knowing when the headmaster is out of the castle, or of tricking him into leaving the castle, then exploring the Chamber of Secrets when he's elsewhere."

John said, "And once we know he's left the castle, we need a plan for exploring the Chamber of Secrets, so we can find what Antonia wants us to find."

Paulina sighed. "Sounds like there's nothing we can do here today, except to wait for a better opportunity."

John said, "Yeah. §Close.§"

The white crossbars-gate with a green basilisk painted on it, silently lowered itself till it again had closed off the stone tunnel.

John and Paulina apparated back to Potter Manor.