Muggle Summer
A/N: I felt so bad about wasting the Chapter 38 chapter alert with an Author's Note that I went back and replaced that note with a real chapter. It describes how Harry deals with the 47 open-ended marriage contracts that Griphook told him about. You don't need to read the new Ch 38 to follow the main story line, but it is kind of fun (in this author's humble opinion).
Disclaimer: Not my characters, no money being made, etc., etc.
Chapter 41: Hairnets and Headmasters
5:00am, Sunday, July 1
Windsor Castle
Harry Potter looked out over the gray horizon and scowled. The storm clouds that had brought high winds and three inches of rain to Windsor had lingered long enough to ruin what would have likely been a very pretty sunrise…as if they already hadn't annoyed him enough for the lost sleep. About the only good thing he could say about the weather was that it had given him an excuse to break out his Firebolt.
Without shifting his gaze from the clouds Harry said, "We need to be finishing up, Hermione…sun's rising, my arm's getting tired holding this "notice-me-not" screen, and the tourists will be out and about soon enough."
Hermione glanced up at Harry, who was hovering a few feet above her position on the roofline, and nodded. "Think I've almost got this last set lined up again." She then tilted her head towards her badge and asked, "How is it looking down there, Dad?"
Some hundred yards away (and twenty yards beneath her) Roger Granger scanned down the length of the castle's western wall with the lens of his digital camcorder.
"I still see some hairnet about fifteen feet in front of you, Hermione," he replied.
"Well, bugger this, then," she said as she crouched back down to check her crystal alignments.
"Hermione," Harry admonished lightly, "with your dad listening in?"
"Where do you think I learned that kind of language?" she replied tersely. "And for the last time, father, my wards are not hairnets."
In the time it took for the laughter and banter between her father and boyfriend to settle down, Hermione managed to finally get her crystal sets realigned. With her dad's confirmation that his daughter's protective wards were once again invisible to both the naked and digital eye, Hermione badge-jumped down to his ground level vantage. Harry rolled up his distraction shielding and (rather reluctantly) then flew down and joined them.
They had discovered that Hermione's attenuated anti-apparation wards were visible to electronic sensors earlier in the week. She had been monitoring the master rune stone set during start-up of the wards around Buckingham when Wally called and asked if she knew why the Palace was covered in a black hairnet. Hermione had immediately dropped the supposedly invisible wards and badge-jumped to Wally's location, where she reviewed videotape of the Palace shrouded in a black hemispherical lattice of magical energy. This had been a source of great embarrassment for Hermione… not just that she hadn't accounted for this phenomenon in her modeling, but the fact that Wally's "hairnet" nickname for her wards had somehow stuck. To liken her protective warding to the mundane devices that protected cafeteria food from unwanted strands of hair? Humiliating.
It had taken her an entire day to diagnose the problem. Hermione's working hypothesis was that the black strands of magical energy that were woven into a standard anti-apparition net had very localized notice-me-not charms. As a result, when a person (whether muggle or wizard) looked towards the wards, their brains would ignore the black net and only "see" what was on the other side (Mrs. Granger had suggested window screening as an appropriate muggle analogy). This effectively made the wards invisible to the naked eye, but not to digital eyes (akin to what they had already seen at The Rookery).
The goblins working with Hermione had suggested "notice-me-not" charms on the structures themselves, but it was rather impractical to ask muggles to ignore some of the most famous architecture in Great Britain. Hermione's solution was a second rune line that shifted the "color" of the netting from visible black to "invisible" far ultra-violet (a spectrum that was outside of the sensor range of nearly every digital camera and camcorder). This add-on required the placement of optically perfect quartz crystals set at ten-foot (or less) intervals along the ward perimeter. The exact placement of these crystals was critical, since each piece of quartz needed to be in the line of sight of the crystals on either side of it. Alignment was relatively easy for rectilinear structures like 10 Downing Street, but more difficult for castles with irregular footprints (and turrets and parapets). As a result, the wards around 10 Downing Street that had bounced Percy into the Thames were in place two days before similar warding could be raised around Windsor.
Windsor's wards had only been up and running for thirty-six hours when high winds associated with the nighttime storm blew away three of Windsor Castle's crystals and shifted the alignment of ten others. Part of the problem was the fact that they couldn't use magic to stick the crystals to the rooflines and walls. Finding a more durable muggle adhesive had therefore been mentally placed high on their "To-Do" list in the midst of their early morning's repair.
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Later that morning, when Harry and Hermione met her parents for breakfast in the Royal Mess her mum quipped, "Well from the looks of you two I'd never have known you'd been up half the night."
Harry gave Hermione's mum a guilty-looking smile and replied, "Amazing what a little pepper-up potion can do."
"And this potion explains why you two are dressed so nicely?" Emily asked. "I thought you had plans on butchering a basilisk today."
Harry and Hermione looked at each other. She arched an eyebrow, and when Harry replied with a shoulder shrug she turned back towards her mum.
"We aren't going to Hogwarts until eleven," Hermione said. "We're meeting with the Dean at eight."
Emily furrowed her eyebrows a bit in confusion. "You're meeting Dean Thomas, my broom-buddy?"
Hermione shook her head as she reached under the table and grabbed Harry's hand. "Erm, no…we're meeting with the David Conner, the Dean of Windsor."
It was Mr. Granger's turn to be confused. "Dean of Windsor? That's not a royal title I'm familiar with."
Hermione giggled. "That's because it isn't, daddy. Dean Conner is the vicar in charge of St. George's Chapel, here at Windsor."
Roger's eyes brightened. "Is he now?" He looked over at a suddenly nervous-looking wizard. "I didn't realize that you were much of a church-goer, Harry."
Harry fidgeted a bit in his seat and replied, "Guess I haven't been, actually. The Dursley's were the Christmas and Easter kind of church people, but they never brought me along. Then at school, well…can't say that I've seen much of an active Christian community within the wizarding world."
"Can't imagine why, given all of the burning's and inquisitions," Mrs. Granger said. "So now that you are your own man, you've become interested?"
"More like now that he's Hermione's man, dear," Roger quipped.
"Hush," Emily scolded, with a swat on her husband's arm for emphasis. "I think it's wonderful, whatever the reason."
As Roger rubbed his sore arm he turned and asked brightly, "So just why would you two be needing to meet with the vicar, Harry?"
"Dad!" Hermione scolded, as she whacked Roger's other shoulder. "Be nice…there's all kinds of reasons why Harry and I would want to meet with Dean Conner. St. George's is, after all, the home of the Order of the Garter."
"Yes, yes, I know," Roger replied. With a wink he added, "They also do an occasional wedding over there as well, right?"
Hermione squeezed Harry's hand a little harder as her eyes narrowed. "Yes, weddings," she said evenly, "but don't forget baptisms too."
Roger choked on his juice, and quickly sought reassurance. "Please don't tell me that you two will be looking for that kind of service any time soon."
Harry and Hermione turned to each other, and held serious expressions for all of five seconds before Hermione broke, and broke into a grin.
"No worries, there, Dad," she replied.
As Mr. Granger let out a sigh she explained Dean Conner had requested an informal meeting with the Queen's Wizard, and that he might be a good resource for meditation skills that would bolster their occlumency techniques.
"So," Roger mused, "meditation is all you'll be talking about, then?"
"Well," Harry replied, "we won't have that much time…there's a Communion service at eight-thirty."
"You two are welcome to join us, of course," Hermione said brightly.
"We'd love to, dear," Emily replied. "Thank you for asking."
With Roger's hopes to gain back some of the sleep he had lost whilst helping repair the wards dashed, he turned to his daughter and asked, "Any chance I can get a jigger of that pepper-up stuff in my juice?"
Hermione chucked as she passed the carafe of coffee across the table. "Sorry, dad, but muggle ears aren't built to spout steam."
11:00am, Sunday, July 1
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
With a change of clothing more appropriate for combat than church, Harry and Hermione keyed into Tonks and Remus's badges and jumped directly into the Headmistress's Office. Minerva didn't know what was more disconcerting…visual reconfirmation that badge-jumps ignored the castle's wards, or the fact that her two favorite students were dressed in muggle military issue. She furrowed her eyebrows as she gave their goggle-covered wool caps, equipment-laden belts and thigh-packs the once-over. "I thought that this was mostly a social call, Mr. Potter," she said.
Harry grinned as he walked up and offered his hand. "Our apologies, Headmistress…we were asked us to field test some of our new gear for comfort and ease of movement."
"I see," Minerva replied, as she shook Harry's hand. She was about to compliment Harry on just how much straighter he was standing when compared to his last visit to her office exactly one month previous when she noticed his eyes dart up to a spot over her right shoulder.
"See something that interests you?" she asked.
Harry nodded as he considered the fact that a black cloth that was presently draped over Dumbledore's portrait (eerily similar to his handiwork within the Prime Minister's office). "How long has he been awake?" he asked.
"Five days, now," the Headmistress said with a smile.
Hermione frowned. "Excuse me, Headmistress, but if Professor Dumbledore's portrait is awake then why do you have it covered?"
The question drew some interest (as well as some cat calls) from the other Headmaster portraits that hung on the office walls. After Minerva properly shushed the paintings she replied, "Albus's echo is in training, Miss Granger."
"Training?"
"Yes, dear," Minerva replied. "I have learned and come to appreciate the fact that there is an adjustment period for every newly animated portrait."
Hermione's eyebrows were raised in interest. "Adjustment?" she asked. "I thought that the echo's service to the current Head of School could begin just as soon as it woke up."
"Theoretically, yes," the Headmistress replied. "The compulsion for a headmaster's portrait to faithfully serve is magically bound to the paint itself. Unfortunately, it takes a bit of time for each new headmaster to…erm, appreciate…how to best provide that service."
"I don't understand," said Hermione.
The portrait of Phineas Black could stay silent no longer. "Stupid witch, she's trying to tell you that Dumbledore's echo is trying to be just as bossy and manipulative as the original."
"That will be quite enough, Headmaster Black," McGonagall scolded. She then looked back towards Hermione and said, "while his analysis is a bit caustic, it is also fairly accurate….apparently every Headmaster echo comes out chomping at the bit to offer unsolicited advice to their successor."
"He should have known that well-enough," another portrait quipped. "It's not like Dumbledore could forget that he had me under wraps for a full year and a half."
Harry and Hermione swung their heads around and took in the portrait that had made this comment.
"Headmaster Dippet, at your service," the bald echo said. "Well, at the Headmistress's service, actually."
Hermione nodded. "You were Headmaster before Dumbledore," she said, matter-of-factly.
"Indeed," added McGonagall, "and Headmaster back in the day that I was a student."
"I always knew that you were destined for great things, Minerva," the echo replied.
That comment brought out some coughing and throat clearing from the other portraits. Harry thought that Phineas's cough sounded more like an accusation (specifically, a rather rough-voiced accusation that sounded like "Suck-up!") He tried to get the conversation back on track. "So what does the portrait's training regimen involve, Headmistress?"
McGonagall smiled as she waved towards the walls. "Well, there has been no shortage of suggested techniques," she said. "Right now I take off the wrap and silencing spells at the start of each morning, with a warning that they go back right on after the first piece of unsolicited advice."
"Oh, so how long did he last today, then?" asked Harry.
The Headmistress smiled, "A little less than three minutes." She then gave Harry a more somber look. "I imagine that you might have questions for the Headmaster…I can unwrap him if you want."
Harry held the Headmistress's gaze and thought quietly. While there were a hundred different questions he wished to ask the echo, they also had a busy day and were already a bit behind schedule. He also wondered whether this might be some sort of test. Looking around at the others he replied, "Maybe another time, Headmistress…I think that I already have people here in the flesh that I trust and can turn to for advice."
The radiant smile that burst upon Hermione's face (and the no-less-warm look in McGonagall's eyes) told Harry that he had passed whatever test might just have been administered.
"Well, then," the Headmistress asked, "How might I help you navigate through Hermione's "To Do" list?"
Tonks snorted as Harry pulled a piece of parchment out of a pocket.
"Nothing wrong with a little delegated authority," Harry said with a smile. "Right, then, first things first…Remus told you that we've enticed Horace Slughorn to come out of hiding to brew some wolvesbane?"
"Nothing like a bit of basilisk bait to bring out his nobler instincts," Tonks quipped.
"Whatever it takes," Harry replied. "Next full moon is a week from today, and it wouldn't do to have Hogwarts's Castellan out of sorts too much, right?"
Remus shook his head at the title. "Harry, I've asked you before not to call me that…I'm nothing but an invited guest around here until the Board of Governors approves your proposal."
"Okay, fine," Harry shot back, "Acting Castellan Lupin." He glanced at his watch. "We've arrangements to meet Slughorn in Hogsmeade at one o'clock. We had originally thought to have him oversee the potion ingredient harvesting, but after taking a good look at the memory of my last trip down to the Chamber we thinking about a new plan."
"Oh?" asked the Headmistress. "So what caused your change of heart?"
"Couple of things," Harry said. "First, the goblins expressed some concern about the stability of the tunnels when we showed my memory of the cave-in."
"Really?" asked McGonagall. "You've decided to have goblins involved here?"
Hermione nodded and explained. "They are, after all, experts at caverns and tunnels, what with their underground vault system."
Harry added, "They also have the best curse-breakers in the world, which will be handy to have in our pocket."
"You're expecting to encounter curses that you didn't trip before?"
Harry shrugged his shoulders. "We might…after all, I really didn't have time to properly explore the Chamber, and there could be secret rooms and doors."
The Headmistress thought for a moment. "Harry, I know you've gotten along very well for the goblins, but they don't do these sorts of things for free."
Harry smiled. "No, they certainly don't, which is why I'm raising the issue with you." He pulled a scroll from his rucksack and placed it in front of the Headmistress. "We did a bit of hard bargaining, but nothing will happen without your blessing."
"And just what kind of bargain did you get, Harry?"
Harry replied, "The goblins will give us one of their best engineering teams, a half-dozen curse breakers, and adequate security during the exploration. They'll clear out and stabilize the tunnel, remove any curses they encounter, and provide a safe work environment while we harvest the basilisk carcass. They also have agreed to give us a full three-dimensional rendering of the Chamber of Secrets and all of the associated tunnels, piping and caves. In exchange, they get to keep any treasure we find."
"Less the fifteen percent finder's fee to Harry," Hermione added.
"Which I plan to add in full to the castle's defense funds," Harry quickly stated. "I also should note that we get to keep the basilisk carcass, which will be worth far more than its weight in galleons, as well as any books, documents, and relics attributable to any of the Founders."
Hermione nodded. She had made sure that that last provision was in place on the odd chance that a Riddle had hidden a horcrux other than the diary down there.
The Headmistress rubbed her chin with one hand and thought. "What makes them think that there is anything worth anything down there besides the basilisk?" she asked.
Harry grinned. "They consider it to be a bankable hunch," he replied. "At the very least they will be able to pry out four rather large emeralds from the Chamber's door.
Minerva gave Harry a tight-lipped grin. "I must say, Harry, that it is refreshing to see you adopt a more cautious attitude, and that you are not afraid to ask for the help of experts."
Harry chuckled. "Like I said earlier, Headmistress…I'm learning to appreciate the benefits of delegated authority and subcontractors…were it not for Hermione's desire to learn first-hand about harvesting potion ingredients, I might have had the goblins do that as well."
McGonagall nodded, then asked, "Do you have an idea on how long your subcontractors will take?"
Harry nodded. "If you agree to it, I'll return tonight with the goblin teams and open the entrance for them. Barring discovery of some major secret tunnels or passageways, they'll be in and out within the week."
As the Headmistress looked over the contractual details, the echo of Phineas Black asked, "So how will this little adventure benefit the school, young man? The Chamber of Secrets is, after all, part of Hogwarts itself."
McGonagall's gaze snapped up from the parchment and she glared at the portrait. "Perhaps Dumbledore's portrait isn't the only one lacking in training?" she asked.
Hary chuckled. "No, he's right, Headmistress, I image that you might need to defend your decision before the Board of Governors, particularly if we find lots of valuables down there." He then stood and paced a bit as he thought back to his second year.
"This `little adventure' as Phineas puts it, is directly related to an adequate defense of the school. We currently have a very poor understanding of the tunneling and piping down there, and it could well be the case that there is more than one entrance to the chamber. Having an accurate map of where all of the pipes lead to, for example, will help Remus decide which areas to block, which to monitor, and which to leave alone."
"I agree, Minerva," Remus added. "We don't think there's a separate way out from the Chamber…if there was then Voldemort wouldn't have had Draco Malfoy spend most of last year looking for a different way inside the castle."
"But at the same time we don't want to bank the school's safety on assumption of Lord Thingy's rational thought processes," added Tonks.
"Lord Thingy?" asked the Headmistress.
Tonks shrugged her shoulders. "I've got other nicknames, but they're not for polite company."
"Then we must find time to be impolite, my dear," Minerva replied with a smile. She then turned back to Harry. "If the goblins don't start their work until tonight then why are you still meeting with Horace?"
Harry replied with a smile. "If you allow me, I'll show you something he'll surely consider to be worth at least a few month's dosing of wolvesbane." He then led the group out of the office and down the moving stairway.
Along the path to Moaning Myrtle's haunt, the Headmistress decided to broach a different topic.
"Miss Granger," she said, "I've made arrangements for you to meet our entire school staff, as you requested."
Hermione nodded. "Thank you Headmistress, I'm looking forward to doing a little brainstorming with them on lesson planning."
"And if a few of them volunteer to teach at your so-called Summer Institute, so much the better, eh?"
Hermione smiled. "We're offering paid teaching positions to every staff member, including yourself, Headmistress."
"So you noted in your owl post," McGonagall replied. "While I doubt that I could leave the Castle as Headmistress, I would enjoy learning a bit more about your plans."
Hermione agreed, and gave an impromptu preview of her recruitment presentation for the Hogwarts faculty. But before she could get too far into explaining how their summer school would work around the Ministry's underage magic laws they arrived at the porcelain entrance to the Chamber of Secrets.
Myrtle, unfortunately, wasn't there to flirt with Harry and provide comic relief.
As the group gathered behind Harry he rather unceremoniously opened the Chamber with the appropriate Parseltongue command. The small gust of air that burst up out of the piping was fresh, and carried no stench of decay. Harry couldn't decide whether this was a good or bad sign.
"So this is the piping that you slid down on using your bum?" asked Tonks.
"The very same," Harry said.
"Salazar didn't think to add some stairs, then?" Tonks replied.
Harry shrugged his shoulders. "Guess it couldn't help to ask." He turned back towards the open entrance and tried unsuccessfully to order stairs to appear using Parseltongue.
"So what now?" asked Remus.
"Well," said Harry, "Tonight the goblins will be bringing modified magical carpets that act sort of like an elevator. But it really doesn't matter right now."
"Why is that, Harry?" McGonagall asked. "How do you plan on getting to the basilisk?"
Harry smiled. "Magic."
"Magic to get to it, then?"
"Oh, I'm not going to it," Harry replied. "It will come to me."
"And how do you plan to do that?"
Harry waggled his eyebrows at the Headmistress. "The same way I completed the first task." After warning the group to step away from the entrance, he pulled his wand out, pointed it down the pipe, and yelled out "Accio Basilisk Skin."
It took fifteen seconds for the scaly skin that Harry had encountered during his second year to make its way up the pipe, which was more than enough time for him to conjure the shield that kept the dark green skin from slapping him the face.
"Did you leave the inner door opened?" asked McGonagall.
Harry shook his head. "This was lying in the tunnel before we even got to the Chamber," he replied, adding that the pensieve review had shown the shed skin to have been on the near side of the cave-in. As he ran a hand down the length of it he noted, "Shed Basilisk skin isn't as magically resistant as the bit that's still attached, but it's still worth a thousand galleons an ounce."
"So how many ounces of skin is there in a twenty foot length, Harry?" Remus asked.
Harry smiled as he held out the skin for Remus's examination. "More than enough to keep Slughorn happy, and for you to keep your wits about you next Sunday night."
And with that analysis, Harry spoke the words that closed the entrance until he returned later that night with the goblins.
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