Harry Potter and all characters, etc. belong to J. K. Rowling, not me.
Dumbledore Answers Harry - Chapter 6 - Tours and Trials
The recently waxed hardwood floor in the large room reflected the light from the magical chandelier above. The walls were painted a light shade of blue, and had wizard paintings of magical creatures, such as hippogriffs, dragons, phoenixes, and unicorns hanging on them. There were two navy blue recliners that were on either side of a matching sofa. There was also a large oval silver table in front of the couch. On the wall across the couch was a huge fireplace that could've fit four seven-foot-tall people standing in it. In between the table and the fireplace, a boy and two girls appeared out of thin air holding onto a necklace. That is, they were holding it until they fell to the ground in a heap.
"Ouch!" said Hermione. "That's my foot, Ginny."
"Sorry," the red headed girl replied while the three kids stood up.
The raven haired boy looked around in awe while hanging the necklace around his neck. He muttered, "Welcome to Potter Manor."
At that moment, there was a small 'pop' and Dobby, now wearing a small black tuxedo with a badge that displayed the Potter family crest on the left side of the jacket, appeared. He bowed to the ground. "Dobby is pleased to be seeing Mas…Harry Potter sir visiting his house! Dobby is hoping Harry Potter and his Weezy and Grangey is liking Potter Manor and they is finding it clean to their satisfaction!" he said excitedly.
"Thank you Dobby," said Hermione, "It looks lovely."
"Really great," said Ginny.
"Yes, you did a terrific job, Dobby!" said Harry.
Dobby started bawling at the praise. "Dobby is knowing of the great Harry Potter's kindness, but never has a wizard told Dobby he is doing a terrific job."
Harry looked at the weeping elf with sorrow over his former life. "Dobby, I don't know how the Malfoys treated you, but you're not working for them anymore. I appreciate how hard you work, and when you do a good job, which I'm sure is more often than not, I'll say so."
"Mas…Harry Potter is too kind," said the weeping elf.
"So Dobby," said Ginny, trying to get past this uncomfortable moment, "Do you think you could give us a tour of the house?"
"Dobby is happy to be showing the house Dobby proudly is serving."
Dobby then led them to the dining room, where an antique wooden table and chairs in perfect condition stood on the navy blue carpet. The walls were painted white. One wall had a glass door that led out to a patio where there were two chairs with a small table. Harry could see a quidditch pitch outside.
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They had a hard time getting Dobby to show them the kitchen, since he proudly claimed they would never need to use it while he was working there. It looked much like a muggle kitchen, except that it was powered by magic. The refrigerator/freezer had freezing charms on it. The stove and oven didn't have knobs. Instead they were to be lit by magic. Harry said, "I guess I can't use this oven for five years. I'll have to get something else this summer if I feel like cooking. "Well, maybe I could use matches or a lighter. I don't want to get in trouble for underage magic."
Dobby said, "Harry Potter isn't needing to cook while Dobby is working for him, but Harry Potter and his friends can be using magic in this house."
Hermione looked at Dobby skeptically. "Why is that, Dobby?"
"Potter Manor is being a wizard home. The Ministry is only detecting magic, not who performs it. When the ministry is detecting magic in a wizard home, the ministry is ignoring it. That is being why young wizards like Draco Malfoy who is practicing hexes all summer isn't getting in trouble. The only time the ministry is giving warnings to underage wizards is being when the magic is being performed in a muggle house where the underage wizard is living. That is being why only muggle-raised wizards, mostly muggleborn, is receiving warnings from the ministry. My former master Lucius Malfoy is saying that the law is for preventing the filthy mudbloods - his words not Dobby's - from practicing magic and to give the ministry an excuse to be expelling them from Hogwarts and snapping their wands."
"What?" said Harry, Hermione, and Ginny at the same time.
"Yes," said Dobby, "If Dobby is performing magic in Miss Grangey's house, then Miss Grangey is receiving a warning from the Ministry of Magic."
"That's interesting, Dobby," said Harry, "I'm gonna ask Dumbledore about that before I try it, though."
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Dobby led them to the library, which had blue carpet and wooden shelves full of books. On the other side of the room was a wooden table with four chairs. Hermione squealed with glee as she quickly skimmed over the titles. "It's too bad we don't have time to read some of these, Harry. Do you mind if I take a few of them with me?" asked Hermione.
"Er, sure. Ginny, you can take any books that interest you, too."
Harry briefly browsed the titles and found two books on defense that he thought looked interesting. He took out his wallet/trunk and put the books in it. While he was doing that, he saw Ginny put three books in hers. They both enjoyed watching Hermione trying to carry a stack of ten books that was taller than she was. "Can I help you with that, Hermione?" Harry asked while taking the top five books.
"Thanks Harry. I guess I should've only carried five at a time. Just leave it on the table." Both he and the brown-haired girl put their stacks on the table. "There's just a few more I need to get."
"How many are you taking?" asked Ginny with a smirk.
"Just sixteen," said Hermione as she grabbed more books off the shelf. "I figured I could come back and get more when I'm through with them."
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After they left the library, Dobby led them to a comfortable study with a wooden desk against three of the walls and a rectangular wooden table in the middle. There were three burgundy office chairs with rollers at the table. It had a burgundy tiled floor and white walls that had four portraits of people Harry didn't recognize in them. They appeared to be asleep, and since Harry was pressed for time, he didn't bother waking them.
They went up the stairs to find four matching bedrooms with tan carpet and white walls. They each had queen-sized beds with blankets that matched the carpet. They each had a dresser and reasonably big closet. There was also a small desk with a chair in each. One of the rooms also had a crib.
Then they went to the master bedroom that had a king-sized four-poster bed with burgundy bed curtains. The carpet and the loveseat both matched the bed curtains. There was an antique wooden desk with a matching chair in the room, as well as two matching dressers. The walls were white and had a few muggle paintings on them. There was a nice sized walk-in closet, as well as a connected luxury bathroom. (There was a regular bathroom on both floors.)
They took a quick walk around the grounds and saw a pavilion and a swimming pool in addition to the Quidditch Pitch they'd seen from the balcony, and then told Dobby goodbye and portkeyed to the Shrieking Shack. From there they walked to the castle, Harry easily touching the knot in the Whomping Willow now that he knew where to feel for it.
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Once they got into the castle, they went to see Dumbledore to tell them where they were, and ask him about what Dobby had said about the ministry detecting magic. The aged man turned a bit pale.
"Well, er, now that you mention it, it is true that the ministry only detects underage magic performed by muggle-raised, usually muggleborn children. I never thought of it that way, but you are right. It is a prejudiced law. I shall bring it to Minister Bones' attention. Perhaps it should be altered to allow magic in front of people such as parents who are aware of magic, as long as it's performed in the home. It could even possibly be limited to the spells Hogwarts teaches. That would allow the muggleborn students to practice their spellwork while on holiday. Perhaps it could simply be introduced as a bill to encourage studying. Yes, I shall definitely speak to her about it, and then I myself will write a bill and introduce it to the Wizengamot."
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The next day they went to breakfast and noticed that there were two new teachers at the Head table. One was Professor Lupin, and the other was a tall, thin, blond-haired man with a short beard and brown eyes. He was wearing dark gray wizard's robes. The Headmaster walked up to make an announcement about half way through breakfast (to make sure everyone was there). "Good morning everybody. I just wanted to introduce two new members of our staff. Professor R. J. Lupin will be teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts." He motioned to Lupin. "And Professor W. P. Mathews will be our new Potions teacher, as well as the head of Slytherin House." He indicated the other. "Well, have a good day."
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The next potions class was highly anticipated. Everyone wondered what the new professor would be like, and whether he would favor his house the way Snape had. First years like Ginny hadn't had him yet. As Harry and Hermione took their seats, Professor Mathews walked into the room. "Hello everyone," he said with a smile, "I'm Professor Mathews. To begin, I'll take attendance. When I read your name, raise your hand." When he was through with that, he began his lesson. "Well, the potion we'll be brewing today is the Swelling solution. Does anybody know what it's used for?" Hermione about jumped out of her seat with her hand raised. "Yes Miss…Granger, I believe?"
"Yes sir. The swelling solution is a potion used to make whatever it touches expand in size like a balloon. In other words, the potion makes it swell."
"Correct. Five points to Gryffindor."
At that moment Draco Malfoy whispered a little too loudly at Hermione, "Filthy know-it-all mudblood."
"Twenty points from Slytherin, Mr. Malfoy! Only idiots who support you-know-who use words like that! Miss Granger obviously knows more than you. Otherwise, you'd have answered the question! Your parentage won't make any difference in this classroom, even if they're not convicted criminals like Mr. Malfoy."
"HOW DARE YOU SPEAK ABOUT MY FATHER!!!" shouted the spoiled brat.
"Fifty points from Slytherin and a week of detention cleaning the floors with Mr. Filch. The fact of your father's conviction was all over the Daily Prophet. It's hardly a secret now what he is. I hope you don't follow in his footsteps, but given your display in this room, it looks like you will…all the way to Azkaban if you don't change."
The rest of the class went well, with the professor explaining why the ingredients of the potion worked the way they did. The Slytherins seemed deflated after they learned that Mathews wasn't going to favor his house.
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The next Defense Against the Dark Arts class was easily the best they'd ever had. Lupin gave a practical lesson on some of the spells Harry had used in his duel the previous week. Toward the end of the lesson, Lupin said, "Due to the popularity of Mr. Potter's duel last week, Professor Dumbledore has asked me to start a dueling club for those interested in learning how to better defend yourselves. It will start having meetings some time next week. I'll give you more details at our next class. You're dismissed. Mr. Potter, would you stay for a moment?" When everyone else had left the room, Lupin said, "Harry, I understand that Professor Flitwick has been giving you advanced defense lessons."
"Er, yes Professor."
Lupin smiled, "When we're alone you can call me Remus."
Harry relaxed a bit, "Ok Remus."
"From what Professor Flitwick said and Rita Skeeter wrote, you're pretty good at dueling. Flitwick says you've even been tutoring a few students successfully. If you wouldn't mind, I'd like for you to assist me in the dueling club. I'll teach you the spells beforehand if you haven't already learned them from Flitwick, and you can help me demonstrate as well as help students having trouble. I'll make sure it doesn't interfere with those lessons or Quidditch."
Harry smiled at the professor. "Sure, as long as we can talk about my parents some."
Lupin grinned, "You've got a deal!"
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Although Harry was a bit nervous about the dueling club, he got through it perfectly fine. Hermione was thrilled to hear about it. Ginny was happy too, but not nearly as ecstatic as the bushy-haired girl. As they discussed Lupin's plans for the club, Harry and he soon discovered that he was planning on teaching almost exactly what Flitwick had, except at a less accelerated pace. Lupin decided to use Flitwick's curriculum at half the speed. The first lesson was the Protego shield.
The weeks passed by quickly, with Harry, Ginny, and Hermione visiting a different house each week. None of them were anything compared to the manor, but were comfortable none the less. Harry asked if Dobby was sure he could handle all of the houses. "As long as Harry Potter is only using one of the houses, then Dobby has little to do in the other houses, so Dobby is handling it. Dobby is keeping the lawn trimmed and the house dusted in little time with magic. One day per week Dobby is spending at all other houses. Dobby is going there, making everything perfect, and going to the next house."
A week before the trial, Harry was walking along the halls when a crazy-looking woman with oversized glasses, whom Harry recognized as Professor Trelawney, was walking along looking slowly through what appeared to be a deck of cards, walked into him, dropping her deck of cards. Harry bent down to pick up the weird looking cards, saying, "I'm sorry professor."
She said mysteriously, "It was inevitable that we would bump into each other. I…" All of the sudden she went ridged, and started speaking in a harsh voice as her eyes went unfocused.
"It will happen tonight. The Dark Lord lies alone and friendless, abandoned by his followers. His servant has been chained these eleven years. Tonight, before midnight…the servant will break free and set out to rejoin his master. The Dark Lord will rise again with his servant's aid, greater and more terrible than ever he was. Tonight…before midnight…the servant…will set out…to rejoin…his master…"
The professor's head fell forward onto her chest. She made a grunting sort of noise, and then quite suddenly, her head snapped up again. "I'm so sorry, dear boy," she said dreamily.
Harry walked away as fast as he could, scared of what that could mean. He knew who the Dark Lord was, but that was all. He walked to Professor Dumbledore's office and gave him the memory of what had happened. After he'd watched it in his Pensieve, the Professor looked fifty years older. "I see you've finally met the woman who predicted your birth. As far as who the servant is, I have no idea. It could be anyone faithful to Voldemort. Perhaps a Death Eater is going to escape Azkaban tonight. Regardless of who the servant is, the idea of Voldemort returning is terrifying. I suggest you work even harder on your defense lessons, for if Voldemort were to return, he would surely come after you. Let us hope that it takes this servant some time to locate his master."
Harry told the girls about the new prophecy, and neither one of them knew what to say. Hermione tried to reason that it wasn't real, claiming she'd heard that Trelawney was a crazy fraud from more than one student, but Harry reminded her that Trelawney was the one who'd predicted his birth. Both girls were scared after that.
The next day, after a troubled sleep, Harry found it amusing the way that Ron went in a crazy frenzy trying to find his pet rat, Scabbers, who was suddenly missing, while it was a real possibility that a Death Eater was now loose and about to revive Voldemort. Harry had tried to console his friend, but Ron said, "Someone in Gryffindor Tower has a cat, and I'm gonna find out who!" A few days later, Harry found out that McGonagall had given Ron a detention for loudly accusing a first year boy of letting his cat eat Scabbers, bringing the poor kid to tears.
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Before Harry knew it, he was a spectator at the ministry (accompanied by Professors Dumbledore and Lupin) waiting for the trial of Sirius Black to begin. Dumbledore and Lupin both were to be witnesses during the trial, so they were called away before the trial began. Harry noticed a few reporters at the trial, as well as an attractive brunette middle-aged woman sitting alone looking worried.
A woman Harry recognized as Amelia Bones said, "We now begin the trial of Sirius Black, who has been held in Azkaban on suspicion of murder for over ten years without a trial. We will be using Veritaserum on all witnesses, and watching Pensieve memories of the events leading up to his arrest."
Harry watched as Professors Dumbledore and Lupin each testified that they had been told that Sirius Black was to be James and Lily's Secret-Keeper, but never witnessed them performing the Fidelius charm. Lily Potter's letter was then read for the court, and Sirius Black was brought to the stand. After Sirius was given Veritaserum, his memories were extracted and put in a special Pensieve that displayed memories much bigger than a normal pensieve, Harry watched what really happened.
First Harry saw Sirius talking James and Lily into switching to make Peter Pettigrew their Secret-Keeper. Then he saw Black watching the Fidelius charm being placed on the property of Godric's Hollow. Then he saw Sirius arriving at the house after Voldemort had attacked, unsuccessfully asking Hagrid to give him baby Harry. Finally he saw Black confront Pettigrew. He saw the traitor yelling accusations at Sirius. He winced as he watched Peter cut off his own finger. He watched the murderer split the sidewalk with a spell, and then he saw the man change into a rat. Harry's heart stopped in that brief moment before the rat jumped down into the sewer. He'd recognize that rat anywhere. It looked like Ron's rat, Scabbers. He thought about it, the way that the rat was missing a toe and how it had been in Ron's family for years until it went missing…just before he knew Sirius would have his trial, the night he'd been given that prophecy. Now he knew who the servant was - Peter Pettigrew.
Harry was too deep in thought to pay much attention to the rest of Black's testimony, or the procedure for coming to a decision. He was paying attention however, when the verdict was given. Madam Bones declared, "Sirius Black has been cleared of all charges, and is to be compensated 110,000 Galleons for his unlawful imprisonment - 10,000 for every year he was held."
Harry grinned ear to ear upon hearing that verdict, his conclusion about Pettigrew temporarily put aside. He ran up to his godfather, sticking out his hand to shake it. Instead, Black pulled Harry into a hug. "I can't thank you enough, Harry! If it hadn't been for you, I'd have been in there for life!"
Suddenly, Harry felt a hand on his shoulder and heard a familiar voice saying, "Harry, I think now would be an excellent opportunity for you to publicly show support for Madam Bones. There are several reporters here, after all."
Harry turned around and saw Dumbledore. "Alright. But there's something we need to talk about in your office tonight."
"Very well." Dumbledore then turned toward the crowd, where Harry saw Sirius talking to the brunette woman he'd noticed earlier, and loudly said, "For anyone who's interested, Harry Potter has something to say." He then held his wand to Harry's throat.
Harry's face turned pink. "Er, I'd like to thank Amelia Bones, our acting Minister of Magic, for her commitment to justice that not only saw the guilty, such as Mr. Malfoy and Mr. Fudge, punished for their crimes, but has also made sure that the innocent, such as Sirius Black, have had a fair trial. She has my full support, and I encourage all of you to vote for her to become the next Minister of Magic."
Madam Bones looked at Harry in shock, with a smile forming on her face while Dumbledore pulled his wand away from Harry's throat and onto his. "I concur with Mr. Potter. If you are interested in truth and justice, you cannot find a better leader than Amelia Bones."
Harry looked around at the press, and saw them all taking notes furiously and running toward him. "Er, professor," Harry said to Dumbledore, "I think we need to go before the reporters trample us."
"Right you are, my boy. Right you are." He quickly guided Harry past the reporters and out the door, with Remus and Sirius right behind them. When they finally got to a fireplace they could floo to Hogwarts from, they were all breaking a sweat.
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They arrived at Hogwarts in Dumbledore's office, and the headmaster said to Harry, "Is what you wanted to discuss private, or can you speak of it in front of Sirius and Professor Lupin?"
Harry wasn't sure. "Er, it's about what happened last week. I know who it was about."
Dumbledore looked surprised. "Well, I don't see much point in keeping that particular prophecy a secret. It's something we all must prepare for. Mr. Potter bumped into Professor Trelawney last week and she made a real prophecy. Mind you, she's unaware of it when she makes them, and I ask that you not tell her about it. Let me show it to you in the pensieve."
After they'd all seen the prophecy, Harry said, "The servant was Ron Weasley's rat, Scabbers." A look of confusion came upon Albus' face while a look of comprehension dawned on the two Marauders. "I saw Pettigrew change into a rat in Sirius' memory, and immediately recognized it as the rat I've shared a dorm with for over a year. Scabbers has been with the Weasleys for ages. He used to belong to Percy. He's even missing a toe. Anyway, Scabbers was missing the morning after that prophecy was given, and Ron hasn't seen him since."
"It makes sense," said Lupin, "He wouldn't want to be around once he heard about Sirius' trial. He knew he'd be implicated, and that everyone, including Harry, would know he was an animagus. If he weren't missing, what would we be doing right now?"
"KILLING THAT TRAITOR!!!" shouted Sirius. His face was red with anger.
Dumbledore sighed. "As it is, I'm sure he's long gone. Unfortunately, all we can do is wait to see what happens."
There was about a minute of silence then, which Harry broke by saying, "Sirius, who was that woman you were talking to after the trial?"
Sirius' ears turned pink. "Her name is Angela Harper. She works for the Ministry's department of games and sports. She used to be a professional Quidditch chaser. Er, she was my fiancé, well, before…it happened. She obviously didn't just wait for me after I'd been arrested, but she recently broke up with her boyfriend. She said that she's willing to start all over with me now that she knows I'm not guilty."
Harry grinned, "Sounds great!"
Sirius grinned evilly at his godson. "Maybe, but I hear you're doing better. What's this Moony tells me about you and two girls?"
Harry's face went scarlet as his head went down. "I'm…er…not…dating…either! We're…er…just…friends!"
"Sure you are," Sirius said with a wink.
After much argument between Sirius and Dumbledore, it was decided that Sirius would apply to be Harry's magical guardian while leaving the Dursleys as his nonmagical guardians. Harry would still live with the Dursleys for six weeks per year to maintain the blood protection, and with Sirius (or staying at a friend's house like the Weasleys) for the rest of the time he wasn't at Hogwarts. Sirius mentioned going to his house, sounding depressed about it, but Harry said, "I insist we live at Potter Manor!" He then called Dobby and introduced Sirius to him. Sirius insisted that Harry get the master bedroom since it is his house, saying he'd take his old room. Harry made plans to spend Christmas break at Potter Manor with Sirius and Remus.
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A week later, it was Halloween, which would've meant a wonderful feast, if Nearly-Headless Nick hadn't talked Harry into attending his Deathday party, a thoroughly unpleasant experience that Harry would rather forget. When he'd told the girls about it, Ginny had absolutely refused to go. By the time Harry and Hermione had left the party, they felt Ginny had been correct.
The first Quidditch match of the season was soon after that. Many of the Slytherin players had old brooms, so the Gryffindors dominated the game, despite the attempts at cheating. Harry easily caught the snitch, and the score ended up 240 to 90. That was the same day that the news arrived that Amelia Bones had won the election for Minister of Magic by a landslide.
The term progressed quickly, with Harry getting better and better at defense thanks to Professor Flitwick's efforts, Harry's teaching the girls those lessons, and his help in the dueling club. On the last day of term, the front page of the Daily Prophet had an announcement that every student was excited about.
"New Law Allows Underage Magic for Educational Purposes
In a surprise move, Minister Amelia Bones has just approved a new law proposed by Hogwarts Headmaster Albus Dumbledore that allows Hogwarts students to practice magic inside their homes, as long as it's not in front of muggles who are unaware of us…."
The article went on to say that since the Ministry is unable to track underage magic done in wizarding homes, the previous law was a blatant attempt to give muggleborn students a disadvantage in their education. The day progressed with exams in every class, which Harry felt he'd done well in, and finally after supper, Harry packed for his trip home. He decided to give his old trunk to Ron (whose very old trunk originally belonged to Bill), so he finally packed up all his stuff into his wallet/trunk, said goodbye to his friends, inviting Hermione, Ginny, and Ron to visit him. Then he walked to Professor Lupin's office. Since Harry had the portkey to Potter Manor, they'd been given permission to go there tonight. Lupin had his luggage ready, so they took the portkey back to Potter Manor, for what would be a memorable holiday.
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