Harry Potter and all characters, etc. belong to J. K. Rowling, not me.
Dumbledore Answers Harry - Chapter 3 - Lessons
"Welcome, welcome, Mr. Potter!" said Professor Flitwick enthusiastically. "Did you have sufficient time to read chapter one? I understand that you just received the book yesterday."
"Yes, sir," said Harry.
"Splendid!" said the small professor. "Then tell me, Mr. Potter, what is the first thing someone should learn about dueling?"
Harry chuckled. "How to avoid a fight."
Professor Flitwick grinned at him. "Correct. That being said, some fights are unavoidable. If you are going to duel, what's the first thing you should learn?"
"How to avoid being hit."
"Exactly," Flitwick said merrily. "Five points to Gryffindor. You paid attention to what you were reading. It doesn't matter how many spells you know. If you get hit with something as basic as a body-bind, you won't be able to use any them. The chapter talks about three ways to avoid being hit. What are they?"
Harry closed his eyes for a moment to concentrate. "Er, a magical shield, using objects as shields, and dodging the spells."
"Wonderful," he said enthusiastically, "Another five points! You really are serious about this, aren't you? Sometimes I've had the impression that you weren't doing your best in charms."
"That's gonna change this year," said Harry confidently. "I need to learn everything I can."
A broad smile appeared on Professor Flitwick's face. "Excellent! I see Miss Granger must be rubbing off on you."
Harry realized that Flitwick had no idea about the prophecy, so he decided to go along with that answer. "Yeah, I, er, saw the difference in our grades, so I realized that I need to take my education more seriously."
"Good. This lesson, I'll be teaching you the Protego shield. It can protect you against most hexes, with exceptions of particularly powerful spells, such as the killing curse. There are other more powerful shields I'll teach you later as you advance. To create this shield, you…"
-
After a difficult, but enjoyable two hours, Harry emerged from the Charms classroom feeling drained. He was almost immediately accosted by his two favorite females.
"So, how'd the lesson with Flitwick go?" asked Ginny.
"What did you learn today? Remember, Professor Flitwick said you should teach us for practice."
"Er," said Harry, "He taught me the Protego shield charm." He then sighed. "He also said I should start exercising every day so I can handle the physical aspects of dueling. He wants me to start jogging and doing a bunch of other exercises. He gave me a list."
"Can we join you?" asked Ginny.
"If you want," said Harry. "You'll have to be ready to exercise an hour before breakfast, cause that's when I'm doing it. Six o'clock."
Ginny's eyes went wide, but Hermione said, "I'll be there!"
"Er, me too," said Ginny without much enthusiasm.
"So, when are you going to teach us the shield?" asked Hermione eagerly.
"Er, how about tomorrow after dinner? I've got homework right now. I'm going to the library."
"We'll join you."
-
The next day, Harry got up at five-forty-five and went down to the common room at five minutes before six to meet the girls for their first exercise session. Hermione was already down there, looking far too cheerful for that ungodly hour, and Ginny dragged herself downstairs about two minutes later with her eyes half-open. They went downstairs and jogged around the grounds, which woke them up. Once they were done exercising, they went back to Gryffindor tower for showers.
After dinner, the three of them went to an empty classroom to practice the protego shield. They'd invited Ron, but he said, "I've got enough homework as it is," while he was beating Neville in a game of Exploding Snap.
"Well," said Harry, as he noticed the girls looking at him expectantly, "The protego shield can probably block anything someone like Malfoy could send our way, but doesn't work against things like the killing curse."
Hermione raised her hand in the air while Ginny rolled her eyes. "Er, Hermione, it's just us. You don't have to raise your hand."
"It would be rude to interrupt you," the brunette girl said.
"Well, er, what did you want to say?" said Harry.
"I just wanted to add that according to the book, the reason you learn this defensive spell first is because if you get hit by a spell, knowing all the offensive spells in the world won't help you."
Harry smiled, "That is correct. How do you know what the book says?"
Hermione's ears went pink, "Er, well when I read the name of the book you were using, I ordered myself a copy immediately."
"Show off," said Ginny.
"Just because you didn't think of doing the same thing…"
"Hold it," said Harry, getting annoyed. "Why are you two trading insults?"
Both girls blushed. Hermione said, "Er, no reason. Sorry."
Ginny added, "Yeah, sorry."
Harry started teaching them the shield, and within fifteen minutes, Hermione had learned it. Harry said, "Good job, Hermione."
Ginny muttered, "Know-it-all."
Hermione said, "Face it, you're too young…"
"Girls," said Harry, his ears getting pink. "What is wrong? Why are you acting like this? You were friends. Did you have a fight I don't know about?" Both their faces turned pink, but neither would speak as they avoided Harry's eyes. "Come on; answer me, or this lesson's over."
"Er," said Hermione, "We, er well overheard what you said to Ron about us on your birthday…"
Ginny continued with her head down, "About not knowing, er, which one of us you, er, liked…"
"Er, and I guess we've kind of been, er, competing. Sorry," said Hermione.
Harry blushed furiously. "Er, you heard that?"
"Yeah," said Ginny.
"And now you're competing. Er, does that mean you both, er, fancy me?" he said without looking at them.
"Yes," answered Hermione.
Harry took a deep breath as he did his best not to smile. "Well, the first thing I'll tell you is that if I wanted someone who insults others, I'd be dating Malfoy." Both girls put their heads down in shame at the insult, but neither could deny it. "I'd say that aside from that, what I said then is still true. I don't know which of you I like better. You're both very special in your own way. You're both wonderful people, and beautiful girls." Both girls blushed at his compliments.
"I don't know what I did to deserve either of you to fancy me." He then sighed. "I'm not ready to make a decision right now, but I need to know that if I do decide to date one of you, the other won't act like a Slytherin and start hating me and the girl I choose. Otherwise I won't choose either of you. Our friendships are more important to me than that."
Hermione spoke first, with her head hung down, "Er, I, I won't insult Ginny anymore, er, and if you date her I'll still be your friend. B-Both of you."
Ginny said, "That goes for me too."
Harry smiled. "Good. For now I want us to be friends. If either of you starts fancying someone else, that'll make my decision easier. If you do want to influence my decision, do it by showing how good you are, not how bad the other is."
-
The rest of the week went by quickly, and before they knew it, the three of them, along with Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, were sitting at the trial of Lucius Malfoy. The Wizengamot had been shown the memories of the three children, and now Hermione was on the stand being cross-examined.
"Miss Granger," said Lucius' lawyer, Mr. Nott, "I can certainly understand how a muggleborn girl like yourself would like to feel important by putting a pureblood member of a highly respected family such as the Malfoys in Azkaban, but you can't honestly expect us to believe your testimony over Mr. Malfoy's."
"It's the truth," said Hermione firmly, "Mr. Malfoy planted a dark object on Ginny Weasley. I know for a fact that several other dark items were found in his house by the aurors."
Nott smiled, "The fact that Mr. Malfoy's former house elf, Dabby I believe, has been collecting dark objects and hiding them in Malfoy Manor was established. As soon as Mrs. Malfoy gave him clothes, he disappeared. If his disappearance doesn't prove his guilt in that matter, I don't know what does."
"What?" asked Hermione, "Surely you don't believe that ridiculous story!"
-
After each of the kids had been treated like that on the witness stand, with Harry being told that he was probably delusional because of his scar, the Malfoys took the stand. Lucius and Draco were treated like royalty when it was time for them to testify, saying that the diary must have already been in the second-hand book when it was sold to the bookstore.
Fudge declared, "We have no need for a vote. Mr. Malfoy, a generous man who has donated to so many good causes, is obviously not guilty, and should be compensated for this unjust outrage that was caused by these attention-seeking troublemakers."
Mr. Malfoy said graciously, "That won't be necessary, Minister, as long as this matter has been taken care of."
"Minister Fudge," said Dumbledore, "As leader of the Wizengamot, I must protest your refusal to allow a vote."
"According to Article 347 of our charter, the Minister of Magic has the right to dismiss an unjust case," said Fudge with a smirk, "and I've just done it."
-
It was with a heavy heart that the trio flooed back to Dumbledore's office. "At least we didn't have to travel with Draco," said Harry. "Did you see how he was gloating?"
"But how can Fudge be so blind?" shouted Hermione.
"It is my belief that Lucius Malfoy has just purchased the Minister of Magic," said Dumbledore. "I just don't know how to prove it."
Harry sighed, "I wish I could prove it, if only to wipe the smirk off Draco's ugly face."
At that moment, Dobby appeared in the office and said, "Harry Potter sir, you can be proving it! The goblins at Gringotts isn't talking to most wizards, but they is respecting the great Harry Potter, and they is hating the Malfoys, who is treating them like house elves while they is visiting their vaults! When master is bribing ministry officials, he is transferring gold directly from his vault to theirs. He is knowing that goblins isn't telling most wizards about it, but he isn't knowing how goblins is feeling about Harry Potter."
Dumbledore said, "Are you sure of this?"
"Dobby is sure, sir," said the unemployed house elf.
"Then, Harry, if you're agreeable, I'll teach you what I can about goblin customs tonight, and will take you to Gringotts tomorrow."
"Of course I'll do it!" said Harry like it was the easiest question in the world.
-
The next day, Albus and Harry met early in his office. "Harry, did you remember your cloak?"
"Yes sir," said Harry.
"Put it on and we'll floo together. I don't want anyone to know you were visiting Gringotts."
-
They went to Gringotts, and Albus requested a private meeting with the goblin he knew was in charge of the Malfoy family account, Floprake. Once they were alone in his office, Harry removed his cloak and put his hands together as Floprake watched in surprise. Harry walked in front of the goblin and kneeled, looking him straight in the eye.
The goblin gave a small smile. "You may speak, Mr. Harry Potter. You are known to us."
Harry stood up and put his hands at his sides, standing directly in front of the goblin. "Manager Floprake, the Malfoy family has done much injustice, and you have it within your power to stop them from continuing. Mr. Malfoy has attempted to bring Voldemort back by endangering an eleven-year-old girl. He was caught and tried by our inferior courts, but was found not guilty. We believe he has bribed officials, including Minister Fudge, to accomplish this. I hereby request your help in the fight against Voldemort by providing me with official unchangeable financial records of his transactions here since the day he was arrested."
The goblin stared Harry in the face for five minutes before speaking. "We know that Voldemort treats Goblins even worse than the Malfoy family, and will therefore help Harry Potter." He clapped his hands together once, and a very thick book with a Gringotts seal appeared on a table in the room. "That contains every questionable transaction that the Malfoy family has done since Voldemort was vanquished. Since he claimed to be under the imperious curse before then, those records would be useless. I will agree to testify in court to the validity of these records. The public is not aware of the clause in our privacy policy that says that we do not protect the privacy of people we know to be enemies of goblins."
Harry put his hands together and kneeled again. "Thank you, Manager Floprake."
-
After Harry and Dumbledore had returned to Hogwarts, Dumbledore said, "I must get this evidence to Amelia Bones. I'm sure she'll be able to match up dates of bribes with court verdicts. Thank you, Harry. You have accomplished what few wizards have done."
-
Within a week, at breakfast, Harry was shown the headline of the Daily Prophet that said,
"Minister Fudge has been bribed fifty times by You-Know-Who supporter, Lucius Malfoy!
By Rita Skeeter
Official records from Gringotts Bank have been shown in court which contain proof that Lucius Malfoy has bribed the former Minister of Magic with millions of Galleons since Harry Potter, the Boy-Who-Lived, vanquished You-Know-Who, starting with the day before his story of being under the Imperius curse was accepted by the Wizengamot, clearing him of all charges of being a Death Eater. It has now been proven that he bribed Fudge yet again after Harry Potter caught him planting a cursed object that used to belong to You-Know-Who on a close friend of Mr. Potter.
Each of the transfers of Galleons from the Malfoy vault to the Fudge vault coincided with either the passing of a law that supports Death Eater philosophies or the rejection of a law that does not. The acting Minister of Magic, Amelia Bones, has stated, 'We are planning on reintroducing every one of the bills that were stopped by Malfoy, and finding way to repeal the ones that he got passed.'
Both Malfoy and Fudge have been arrested and convicted, and their families' wealth has been confiscated from their vaults, leaving the families only their ancestral homes. The gold is being redistributed among orphanages and victims of You-Know-Who and their heirs, including of course, Harry Potter, who lost his family on the day he vanquished He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named…."
"WHAT?" said Harry with a laugh. "I suppose I don't really need the money, but I'm glad the Malfoys had theirs taken away." At that moment, a Gringotts owl flew to Harry while a very old owl Harry recognized as Errol flew to Ginny, who was sitting on his right. Errol fell onto Ginny's plate, ruining her breakfast, and getting syrup all over his wings. Harry chuckled as he retrieved his letter.
"Errol," shouted Ginny, "I ought to bat-bogey hex you. I hope my letter's not ruined.
Harry opened his letter to find that Gringotts had transferred 150,000 Galleons of Malfoy and Fudge money into his vault.
"Wow!" said Ginny excitedly, "Mum says we've been given 50,000 galleons of confiscated money for what Mr. Malfoy tried to do to me."
Hermione said, "That's great, Ginny!"
Harry said, "Yes it is! Congratulations!" as he pocketed his letter.
"How much did you get?" asked Ginny, watching him.
"Er, 150,000." Ginny and Hermione (who was sitting on Harry's left) gasped. "The letter from Gringotts said that every victim since that night gets 50,000 Galleons. It would be impossible to account for everyone who suffered before that time. Since my father, my mother, and myself were all assaulted by Voldemort; that makes three victims. Half of the money went to magical orphanages and the other half went to victims. They counted all the victims of Death Eaters since I was attacked, and divided the money evenly." He smiled. "Since the Malfoys and Fudges were very rich and there haven't been all that many attacks, they were able to give a good amount of money."
"I was hurt fighting You-Know-Who last year," said Ron.
"You were hurt by a chess piece, Ronald," said Hermione. "Don't get me wrong; that was a brave thing to do. We were going after V-Voldemort; he wasn't coming after us."
"Fine," Ron muttered.
At that moment, a very upset-looking Draco walked into the Great Hall by himself. He walked up to the Gryffindor table and glared at Harry and Ginny. "Potter and Weasley, I'll get even with you!"
Harry decided to gloat. "Maybe I'll buy myself a new broom with your father's money."
Draco glared at him until Hermione said, "It looks like you can't afford to keep your bodyguards with you anymore."
"I don't have to listen to you, you filthy mudblood!" He pulled out his wand and shot a hex at Hermione, who put up a shield in time. The red beam bounced off her shield and toward the ceiling, attracting attention from the head table.
"Fifty points from Gryffindor, and a detention for you Miss Granger, for performing spells at breakfast."
"Malfoy hexed her, and it bounced off her shield!" shouted Harry.
"Potter, you can't expect me to believe a second year can make a protego shield, even if she is an insufferable know-it-all!"
"I taught her," said Professor Flitwick from behind. "She was concerned about racists like Malfoy attacking her. I see that it was justified. If you didn't hear what he called her before hexing her, I suggest you see Madam Pomfrey to have your hearing treated! Malfoy will have the detention with Mr. Filch and Slytherin will lose the fifty points, while Gryffindor gains ten points for Miss Granger's perfect shield. Unless of course you'd like to check their wands first for proof of who did what!"
"Fine," spat Snape, and he turned around and walked away.
"Thanks, Professor Flitwick," said Hermione.
"You're welcome, Miss Granger. I didn't lie, understand. Since I taught Mr. Potter and instructed him to teach you, I did teach you, er, indirectly. As a half-blood who has experienced racism myself, I can't stand racists. I'll see you in class later."
After Flitwick had gone, Percy walked up and said, "Hermione, I never expected you to disgrace Gryffindor by being involved in an altercation with a Slytherin! You…"
"He attacked her, you pompous git," shouted Ginny.
"I should put you on report for that!" said Percy as his ears went pink.
"For hurting your itty-bitty feelings, Percy?" shouted Ginny.
Percy stormed off, his face red, after that.
"We should pull a prank on that git!" said Ginny.
Harry chuckled. "Sounds like a good idea to me. What do you think, Hermione?"
"Well, he does deserve it! Criticizing me for defending myself! That Slytherin marches up to our table, threatens and insults us! Then he tries to hex me! He's as bad as Snape!"
"Well, then I guess we'd better come up with a plan for a memorable prank," said Ginny.
-
The weeks went by quickly after that, with Harry learning and teaching other ways of avoiding getting hit. His second lesson with Flitwick was on dodging spells. For his third lesson from Flitwick, he was taught the summoning charm, which he had some difficulty mastering. Fortunately, after two hours of personal instruction, he was able to summon any object in the room to block unfriendly spells. The plans for humbling Percy were still underway. They were waiting for his date with a prefect from Ravenclaw named Penelope Clearwater. That was going to be at his Hogsmeade visit in a week. For now, Harry was entering the headmaster's office the week after occlumency lessons ended. He was looking forward to his first Voldemort lesson.
"Good evening Harry," said Dumbledore. "Would you care for a lemon drop?"
"No thank you, sir," said Harry politely. "I'm kind of anxious to start this lesson. I've been waiting months for this."
"Yes, of course," said Dumbledore with a twinkle in his eyes. "You've worked exceptionally hard for this moment. I told you there was a prophecy. Now I'll show you."
Dumbledore walked over to his pensieve, which he'd left open, and stirred the contents until the image of Professor Trelawney appeared, saying,
"The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches....Born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies...and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not...and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives...The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies."
Dumbledore said, "Until the night Voldemort marked you with that scar, it could have been either you or Neville Longbottom, who was born the day before you were."
Harry took a deep breath. "It doesn't say if I'll win or lose. It just says I have the power to defeat him, a power that Voldemort knows not, and that I guess I'll have to kill him or be killed by him."
"Simply put, yes you are correct. Voldemort only heard the beginning. He heard nothing of marking you. When he learned of this prophecy, he decided to kill you and Neville as babies. Both of your families went into hiding. He came after your family first. I'm sure that he'd have gone after Neville next.
One of your father's closest friends, Sirius Black, turned out to be a spy for Voldemort. Their house was under the Fidelius Charm and he was their secret-keeper, the only one who could tell anybody where the house was. You may study the Fidelius Charm for the details if you like, or ask Miss Granger. Black told Voldemort where your parents were hiding, and you know the rest. The next day, another friend of your parents, Peter Pettigrew, was killed by Black, along with several muggles, when he was confronted. Black is being held in Azkaban to this day."
Harry was just sitting there quietly, absorbing the information the Headmaster was giving him.
"After you were taken out of the house by Hagrid, I had to come up with a way to keep you safe, and so I chose the blood protection that living with the Dursleys could provide. Dumbledore sighed. "I believe that's enough information for tonight."
Harry, realizing that Dumbledore was finished speaking, said, "I guess I'll see you later," and walked out of the office."
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