061.asc

// 10536
//== TSPE, Secrecy and Openness, Pt 11

// 10537
//Through green flame they whirled, through the Floo network they spun, Minerva’s
//heart racing with a pounding horror that she hadn’t felt in ten years and three
//months, the corridors between space coughed and spit them out into the lobby of
//Gringotts (the safest Floo receiver in Diagon Alley, the connection most
//difficult to intercept, the fastest way out of Hogwarts without a phoenix). A
//goblin attendant turned toward them, his eyes widened, he began a slightly
//respectful bow -

// 10538
//__Determination, Destination, Deliberation!__

// 10539
//And the two of them were in the alley just in back of Mary’s Place, wands
//already out and raised, spinning around back-to-back and the words of an
//Anti-Disillusionment Charm already rising to Severus’s lips.

// 10540
//The alley was empty.

// 10541
//When she turned back to look at Severus, his wand was already cracking down on
//his own head with a sound like smashing an egg, as his lips chanted words of
//invisibility; he took on the colors of his surroundings, became a blur of his
//surroundings, the blur moved and matched what was behind him and then there was
//nothing there.

// 10542
//She lowered her wand and stepped forward to receive her own Disillusionment -

// 10543
//From behind her, the unmistakable sound of a burst of flame.

// 10544
//She spun and saw Albus there, his long wand already drawn and raised in his
//right hand. His eyes were grim beneath the half-circles of his glasses, and
//Fawkes upon his shoulder had spread his fire-colored wings in readiness for
//flight and fight.

// 10545
//“Albus!” she said. “I thought -” She’d just seen him depart for Azkaban, and
//she’d thought not even phoenixes could return from there so easily.

// 10546
//Then she realized.

// 10547
//“She escaped,” said Albus. “Did your Patronus reach him?”

// 10548
//The pounding in her heart grew stronger, the horror in her veins solidified.
//“He said he was here, in the washroom -”

// 10549
//“Let us hope he spoke true,” said Albus, the wand tapped her head with a
//sensation like water trickling over her, and a moment later the four of them
//(even Fawkes had been rendered invisible, though sometimes you saw a flicker of
//something like fire in his air) were racing to the front of the restaurant.
//They paused before the door while Albus whispered something, and a moment later
//one of the customers visible through the windows stood up with a vague look on
//his face and opened the door as though taking a quick look outside for some
//friend; and the three of them were through, racing past the unwitting customers
//(Severus was marking their faces, Minerva knew, and Albus would see any
//Disillusioned) toward the sign that pointed to the washroom -

// 10550
//An old wooden door marked with the sign of a toilet burst open with a slam, and
//four invisible rescuers stormed through it.

// 10551
//The small but clean wooden room was empty, fresh droplets of water showed in
//the sink but there was no sign of Harry, only a sheet of paper left on the
//closed lid of the toilet.

// 10552
//She couldn’t breathe.

// 10553
//The sheet of paper rose up into the air as Albus took it, and a moment later
//was thrust in her own direction.

// 10554
//__M: What did the hat tell me to tell you?__

// 10555
//__ - H__

// 10556
//“Ah,” Minerva said aloud in surprise, her mind taking a moment to place the
//question, it wasn’t the sort of thing you’d forget but she hadn’t been thinking
//in that __mode,__ really - “I’m an impudent youngster and I should get off
//its lawn.”

// 10557
//“__Eh?__” said the air in Albus’s voice, as if even he could be shocked.

// 10558
//And then Harry Potter’s head appeared, suspended next to the air beside the
//toilet, his face was cold and alert, the too-adult Harry she’d seen sometimes,
//eyes darting back and forth and around.

// 10559
//“What’s going on -” the boy began.

// 10560
//Albus, now visible once more along with her and Fawkes, was moving forward in
//an instant, his left hand reached forward and plucked a hair from Harry’s head
//(producing a startled yelp from the boy), Minerva accepted the hair in her own
//hand, and a moment later Albus swept up the mostly-invisible boy in his arms
//and there was a flash of red-golden fire.

// 10561
//And Harry Potter was safe.

// 10562
//Minerva took a few steps forward, leaned against the wall where Albus and Harry
//had been, trying to recover her poise.

// 10563
//She’d… lost some habits, in the ten years since the Order of the Phoenix had
//disbanded.

// 10564
//Beside her, Severus shimmered into visibility. His right hand was already
//drawing forth the flask from his robes, his left hand already stretching forth
//in demand. She gave him Harry’s hair, and a moment later, it dropped into the
//flask of unfinished Polyjuice, which at once began fizzing and bubbling as it
//settled into the potency that would enable Severus to act his part as bait.

// 10565
//“That was unexpected,” the Potions Master said slowly. “Why did our Headmaster
//not retrieve Mr. Potter __earlier__, I wonder, if he was going so far as
//to twist Time? There should have been nothing preventing him from doing so…
//indeed, your Patronus should have found Mr. Potter already safe…”

// 10566
//She hadn’t thought of that, a different realization having jumped to the
//forefront of her mind. It wasn’t nearly as horrifying as Bellatrix Black having
//escaped from Azkaban, but still -

// 10567
//“Harry has an __invisibility cloak?__” she said.

// 10568
//The Potions Master did not answer; he was shrinking.

// 10569
//Tick-snick, drip-blip, ding-ring-ting-

// 10570
//It still annoyed her, though it faded past attention after a while; and when
//and if she became Headmistress, she intended to Silence the whole lot. Which
//Head of Hogwarts, she wondered, had first been so inconsiderate as to create a
//device that made __noise__, to pass on to their successors?

// 10571
//She was sitting in the Headmaster’s office with a quickly Transfigured desk of
//her own, doing some of the hundred little pieces of necessary paperwork that
//kept Hogwarts from grinding to a halt; she could lose herself in it easily, and
//it prevented her from thinking about other things. Albus had once remarked,
//sounding rather wry, that Hogwarts seemed to run even more smoothly when there
//was an outside crisis for her to avoid thinking about…

// 10572
//…ten years ago, that was the last time Albus had said that.

// 10573
//There was the chime that indicated an approaching visitor.

// 10574
//Minerva kept reading her current parchment.

// 10575
//The door slammed open, revealing Severus Snape, who took three steps inward and
//demanded without the slightest pause, “Any word from Mad-Eye?”

// 10576
//Albus was already rising from his chair, even as she tucked away her parchments
//and dispelled the desk. “Moody’s Patronus is reporting to the me in Azkaban,”
//Albus said. “His Eye saw nothing; and if the Eye of Vance does not see a thing,
//then that thing does not exist. Yourself?”

// 10577
//“No one has tried to forcibly take my blood,” Severus said. He gave a quick
//grimace of a smile. “Except the Defense Professor.”

// 10578
//“__What?__” said Minerva.

// 10579
//“He saw me for an impostor before I could even open my lips, and quite
//reasonably attacked me on the spot, demanding to know the whereabouts of Mr.
//Potter.” Another grimace of a smile. “Shouting that I was Severus Snape did not
//seem to reassure him, for some reason. I do believe that man would kill me for
//a Sickle and give back five Knuts change. I had to stun our good Professor
//Quirrell, which was not easy, and then he reacted poorly to the hex. ‘Harry
//Potter’, naturally alarmed, ran out and told the owner, and the Defense
//Professor was taken to St. Mungos -”

// 10580
//“__St. Mungos?__”

// 10581
//“- which said he had probably been overworking himself for weeks before he
//collapsed, such was his state of exhaustion. Your precious Defense Professor is
//fine, Minerva, the stunner may have helped him by forcing him to take a few
//days off. Afterward I declined the offer of a Floo to Hogwarts, and went back
//to Diagon Alley and wandered; but no one seems to have wanted Mr. Potter’s
//blood today.”

// 10582
//“Our Defense Professor is in the best of hands, I am sure,” said Albus.
//“Greater matters command our attention, Minerva.”

// 10583
//It took considerable effort for her to wrench her attention back, but she sat
//back down, and Severus gestured up a chair for himself as well, and the three
//of them drew together to begin their council.

// 10584
//She felt like a Polyjuiced impostor, sitting with those two. War was not her
//art, nor plotting. She had to strain to keep one step ahead of the Weasley
//twins, and sometimes she failed at that. She was sitting here, ultimately, only
//because she had heard the prophecy…

// 10585
//“We are faced,” the Headmaster spoke first, “with a rather alarming mystery. I
//can think of only two wizards who might have engineered this escape.”

// 10586
//Minerva drew in her breath sharply. “There is a chance it is __not__
//You-Know-Who?”

// 10587
//“I’m afraid so,” said the Headmaster.

// 10588
//She glanced to her side and saw that Severus looked as puzzled as herself.
//__Afraid__ the Dark Lord was not rising again? She would have given almost
//anything for that to be true.

// 10589
//“So,” Albus said heavily. “Our first suspect is Voldemort, risen again and
//seeking to resurrect himself. I have studied many books I wish I had not read,
//seeking his every possible avenue of return, and I have found only three. His
//strongest road to life is the Philosopher’s Stone, which Flamel assures me that
//not even Voldemort could create on his own; by that road he would rise greater
//and more terrible than ever before. I would not have thought Voldemort able to
//resist the temptation of the Stone, still less because such an obvious trap is
//a challenge to his wit. But his second avenue is nearly as strong: The flesh of
//his servant, willingly given; the blood of his foe, forcibly taken; and the
//bone of his ancestor, unknowingly bequeathed. Voldemort is a perfectionist -”
//Albus glanced at Severus, who nodded agreement, “- and he would certainly seek
//the most powerful combination: the flesh of Bellatrix Black, the blood of Harry
//Potter, and the bone of his father. Voldemort’s final avenue is to seduce a
//victim and drain the life from them over a long period; in which case Voldemort
//would be weak compared to his former power. His motive to spirit away Bellatrix
//is clear. And if he is keeping her in reserve, to use only in case he cannot
//attain the Stone, that would explain why no kidnap attempt was made on Harry
//this day.”

// 10590
//Minerva glanced again at Severus, saw him listening attentively but without
//surprise.

// 10591
//“What is __not__ clear,” the Headmaster continued, “is __how__
//Voldemort could have engineered this escape. A death doll was left in
//Bellatrix’s place, her escape was meant to be undetected; and even though that
//went wrong, the Dementors could not find her after their first warning. Azkaban
//has stood impenetrable for centuries, and I cannot imagine any means by which
//Voldemort could have accomplished this.”

// 10592
//“That may mean little,” Severus said, expressionless. “For the Dark Lord to do
//what we cannot imagine requires only that he has a better imagination.”

// 10593
//Albus nodded grimly. “Unfortunately there is now another wizard who laughs at
//impossibilities. A wizard who, not long ago, developed a new and powerful Charm
//which could have blinded the Dementors to Bellatrix Black’s escape. And he is
//implicated for other reasons, as well.”

// 10594
//Minerva’s heart was skipping beats, she didn’t know __how,__ or
//__why,__ but a terrible apprehension was dawning on her as to __who
//-__

// 10595
//“Who would __that__ be?” said Severus, sounding puzzled.

// 10596
//Albus leaned back and said the fatal words, even as she had feared them: “Harry
//James Potter-Evans-Verres.”

// 10597
//“__Potter?__” demanded the Potions Master, as much shock in that
//usually-silken voice as she had ever heard from him. “Headmaster, is this one
//of your jokes? He is in his first year at Hogwarts! A temper tantrum and a few
//childish pranks with an invisibility cloak does not make him -”

// 10598
//“It is no joke,” said Minerva, her voice barely above a whisper. “Harry is
//already making original discoveries in Transfiguration, Severus. Though I did
//not know he was researching Charms as well.”

// 10599
//“Harry is no ordinary first-year,” the Headmaster said solemnly. “He is marked
//as the Dark Lord’s equal, and he has power the Dark Lord knows not.”

// 10600
//Severus was looking at her, and you would have needed to know him well to
//recognize that his glance was pleading. “Am I to take this seriously?”

// 10601
//Minerva simply nodded.

// 10602
//“Does anyone __else__ know of this… new and powerful Charm?” Severus
//demanded.

// 10603
//The Headmaster glanced at her apologetically -

// 10604
//Somehow she knew, she knew before he even said it, and she wanted to scream at
//the top of her lungs.

// 10605
//- and said, “Quirinus Quirrell.”

// 10606
//“__Why,__” she said, in a voice that should have melted half the devices
//in the office, ”__did Mr. Potter even TELL our Defense Professor about
//his brilliant new Charm for breaking out of prisons -__”

// 10607
//The Headmaster passed a weary wrinkled hand across his equally wrinkled
//forehead. “Quirinus just happened to be there, Minerva. Even I saw no harm in
//it at the time.” The Headmaster hesitated. “And Harry said his Charm was too
//dangerous to be explained to either of us; and when I asked him again, this
//day, he insisted he had still not explained it to Quirinus, nor had he ever
//dropped his Occlumency barriers in the Defense Professor’s presence -”

// 10608
//“Mr. Potter is an __Occlumens? __You gave him an invisibility cloak and he
//is immune to Veritaserum __and he is friends with the Weasley twins?__
//Albus, do you have any idea what you have unleashed upon this school?” Her
//voice was nearly shrieking, now. “By his seventh year there won’t be anything
//left of Hogwarts but a smoking hole in the ground!”

// 10609
//Albus leaned back in his great cushioned chair, and said, smiling, “Don’t
//forget the Time-Turner.”

// 10610
//She did scream then, but quietly.

// 10611
//Severus drawled, “Should I teach him to brew Polyjuice, Headmaster? I ask only
//for the sake of completeness, in case you are not satisfied with the magnitude
//of your pet disaster.”

// 10612
//“Perhaps next year,” said Albus. “My dearest friends, the question before us is
//whether Harry Potter has spirited Bellatrix Black out of Azkaban, which is more
//than youthful high spirits even by my tolerant standards.”

// 10613
//“Excuse me, Headmaster,” Severus said with one of the dryer smiles she had ever
//seen him deliver to Albus, “but I will register my opinion that the answer is
//no. This is the Dark Lord’s work, pure and simple.”

// 10614
//“Then why,” Albus said, and now there was no humor at all in his voice, “when I
//planned to retrieve Harry immediately after his arrival in Diagon Alley, did I
//find that this would result in paradox?”

// 10615
//Minerva sank further back into her chair, dropped her left elbow onto the hard
//uncushioned armrest, leaned her head into her hand, and shut her eyes in
//despair.

// 10616
//There was a narrowly circulated proverb to the effect that only one Auror in
//thirty was qualified to investigate cases involving Time-Turners; and that of
//those few, the half who weren’t __already__ insane, soon would be.

// 10617
//“So you suspect,” Severus’s voice was saying, “that Potter went from Diagon
//Alley to Azkaban, then looped back to Diagon Alley afterward to be picked up by
//us -”

// 10618
//“Precisely,” said Albus’s voice. “Though it is also possible that Voldemort or
//his servants watched to make sure Harry did arrive in Diagon Alley, before they
//began their attempt on Azkaban. And that they had someone with a Time-Turner
//who would send back the message of their success, to trigger the abduction.
//Indeed, it was my suspicion of this possibility that caused me to dispatch you
//and Minerva on your own mission, before I myself went to Azkaban. I thought
//then that their breakout would fail, but if retrieving Harry Potter meant
//observing the fact of their eventual failure, then I myself could not have gone
//to Azkaban after I had interacted with him, for Azkaban’s future cannot touch
//its past. When, in Azkaban, I received no report from you or Minerva, nor from
//Flitwick whom I told to try contacting you, I knew that your interaction with
//Harry Potter had been an interaction with Azkaban’s future, meaning that
//someone was sending messages through Time -”

// 10619
//Then Albus’s voice stopped.

// 10620
//“But Headmaster,” said Severus, “__you__ came back from Azkaban’s future
//and interacted with us…”

// 10621
//The Potions Master’s voice trailed off.

// 10622
//“But Severus, if I had __received__ reports from you and Minerva of
//Harry’s safety, I would not, in the first place, have gone backward in time to
//-”

// 10623
//“Headmaster, I think we must draw diagrams for this.”

// 10624
//“I agree, Severus.”

// 10625
//There was the sound of parchment being spread on a table, and then quills
//scratching, and more arguing.

// 10626
//Minerva sat in her chair, head resting in her hand, eyes shut.

// 10627
//There was a story she’d once heard about a criminal who had possessed a
//Time-Turner which the Department of Mysteries had sealed to him, in a case of
//extremely bad judgment as to who needed one; and there had been an Auror
//assigned to track down this unknown time-criminal, who had also been given a
//Time-Turner; and the story ended with both of them in St. Mungo’s ward for
//Total Unrecoverable Nutcases.

// 10628
//Minerva sat there with her eyes shut, trying not to listen, trying not to think
//about it, and trying not to go insane.

// 10629
//After awhile, when the argument seemed to have wound down, she said aloud, “Mr.
//Potter’s Time-Turner is restricted to the hours of nine PM through midnight.
//Was the shell tampered with, Albus?”

// 10630
//“Not to my most discerning Charms,” said Albus. “But the shells are new things;
//and to defeat the Unspeakables’ precautions and leave no trace of the defeat…
//might __not__ be impossible.”

// 10631
//She opened her eyes, and saw Severus and the Headmaster staring intently at a
//parchment covered with tangled squiggles that would have no doubt driven her
//mad to comprehend.

// 10632
//“Have you come to any __conclusions?__” Minerva said. “And please don’t
//tell me how you arrived at them.”

// 10633
//Severus and the Headmaster looked at each other, then turned to look at her.

// 10634
//“We have concluded,” the Headmaster said gravely, “that either Harry was
//involved or he was not; that either Voldemort has access to a Time-Turner or he
//does not; and that regardless of what could have happened within Azkaban,
//nobody would have visited the Little Hangleton graveyard during the period
//Moody has already watched over it within my own past.”

// 10635
//“In short,” Severus drawled, “we know nothing, dear Minerva; though it seems at
//least __likely__ that another Time-Turner was involved, somehow. My own
//suspicion is that Potter has been bribed, tricked, or threatened into conveying
//messages backward in time, perhaps even regarding this very prison break. I
//shall not make the obvious suggestion as to who is pulling his strings. But I
//suggest that at nine o’ clock tonight, we test whether Potter is able to travel
//the full six hours backward to three o’ clock, to see if he has yet used his
//Time-Turner.”

// 10636
//“That seems wise to do in any case,” said Dumbledore. “See that done, Minerva,
//and tell Harry to stop in my office at his convenience, afterward.”

// 10637
//“But you still suspect Harry of direct involvement in the prison break itself?”
//Minerva said.

// 10638
//“Possible but unlikely,” said Severus, at the same time Albus said, “Yes.”

// 10639
//Minerva pinched the bridge of her nose, took a deep breath, let it out. “Albus,
//Severus, what possible __reason__ has Mr. Potter to do such a thing!”

// 10640
//“None that I can think of,” said Albus, “but it remains that Harry’s magics
//alone, of all the means known to me, might have -”

// 10641
//“Hold,” said Severus. All expression vanished from his face. “A thought occurs
//to me, I must check -” The Potions Master seized a pinch of Floo powder, strode
//across the room toward the fireplace - Albus hastily waved his wand to light it
//- and then in a flare of green flame, and the words “Slytherin Head of House
//office”, Severus was gone.

// 10642
//She and Albus looked at each other and both shrugged; and then Albus turned
//back to studying the parchment.

// 10643
//It was only a few minutes later that Severus spun back out of the Floo,
//brushing traces of ash from himself.

// 10644
//“Well,” said the Potions Master. Again the expressionless face. “I am afraid
//that Mr. Potter does have a motive.”

// 10645
//“Speak!” said Albus.

// 10646
//“I found Lesath Lestrange in the Slytherin common room, studying,” Severus
//said. “He was not reluctant to meet my eyes. And it seems that Mr. Lestrange
//did not like to think of his parents in Azkaban, in the cold and the darkness,
//with the Dementors sucking away their life, hurting every second of every day,
//and he told Mr. Potter so in as many words, and begged him to get them out.
//Since, you see, Mr. Lestrange had heard that the Boy-Who-Lived could do
//anything.”

// 10647
//She and Albus exchanged glances.

// 10648
//“Severus,” Minerva said, “__surely…__ even __Harry__… has more common
//sense than __that…__”

// 10649
//Her voice trailed off.

// 10650
//“Mr. Potter thinks he is God,” Severus said without expression, “and Lesath
//Lestrange fell to his knees before him in a heartfelt cry of prayer.”

// 10651
//Minerva stared at Severus, feeling sick to her stomach. She had studied Muggle
//religion - it was the most common reason for needing to Memory-Charm the
//parents of Muggleborns - and she knew enough to understand what Severus had
//just said.

// 10652
//“In any case,” said the Potions Master. “I looked within Mr. Lestrange to see
//if he knew anything of his mother’s escape. He has heard nothing. But the
//instant he learns, he will conclude that the person responsible was Harry
//Potter.”

// 10653
//“I see…” Albus said slowly. “Thank you, Severus. That is good news.”

// 10654
//“__Good news?__” Minerva burst out.

// 10655
//Albus looked at her, his face as expressionless as Severus’s, now; and she
//remembered, with a shock, that Albus’s own - “It is the best reason I can
//possibly imagine for removing Bellatrix from Azkaban,” Albus said quietly. “And
//if it is __not__ Harry, let us recall, then it is certainly Voldemort
//himself making his first moves. But let us not be hasty in judgment while there
//is much we do not yet know, but soon will.”

// 10656
//Albus once more stood up from behind his desk, strode to the fireplace still
//alight, cast in another pinch of green powder, and stuck his head into the
//flames. “Department of Magical Law Enforcement,” he said, “Director’s office.”

// 10657
//After a moment, the voice of Madam Bones came through clear and sharp, “What is
//it, Albus? I am somewhat busy.”

// 10658
//“Amelia,” said Albus, “I beg of you to share any discoveries you have made
//concerning this matter.”

// 10659
//There was a pause. “Oh,” said the cold voice of Madam Bones from the blazing
//fire, “and is that a two-way road then, Albus?”

// 10660
//“It may be,” the old wizard said calmly.

// 10661
//“If any Auror dies of your reticence, old meddler, I will hold you responsible
//in full measure.”

// 10662
//“I understand, Amelia,” Albus said, “but I have no wish to spark needless alarm
//and incredulity -”

// 10663
//“__Bellatrix Black__ has escaped from __Azkaban!__ What alarm or
//incredulity do you think I will call __needless,__ in the face of that?”

// 10664
//“I may call on you to remember those words,” said the old wizard into the green
//flames. “For if I learn that my fears are not needless, I __will__ tell
//you. Now, Amelia, I beg you, if you have learned anything whatsoever upon this
//matter, please share it.”

// 10665
//There was another pause, and then Madam Bones’s voice said, “I have information
//which I learned four hours into the future, Albus. Do you still want it?”

// 10666
//Albus paused -

// 10667
//(weighing, Minerva knew, the possibility that he might want to go back more
//than two hours from this instant; for you couldn’t send information further
//back in time than six hours, not through any chain of Time-Turners)

// 10668
//- and finally said, “Yes, please.”

// 10669
//“We had a lucky break,” said Madam Bones’s voice, “one of the Aurors who
//witnessed the escape was a Muggleborn, and she told us that the Flying-Fire
//spell, as we were calling it, might be no spell at all, but a Muggle artifact.”

// 10670
//Like a punch in the stomach, that was how it felt, and the sickness in
//Minerva’s belly redoubled. Anyone who’d watched a Chaos Legion battle knew
//whose hand that showed…

// 10671
//Madam Bones’s voice continued. “We brought in Arthur Weasley from Misuse of
//Muggle Artifacts - he knows more about Muggle artifacts than any wizard alive -
//and gave him the descriptions from the Aurors on the scene, and he cracked it.
//It was a Muggle artifact called a rocker, and they call it that because you’d
//have to be off your rocker to ride one. Just six years ago one of their rockers
//blew up, killed hundreds of Muggles in a flash and almost set fire to the Moon.
//Weasley says that rockers use a special kind of science called opposite
//reaction, so the plan is to develop a jinx which will prevent that science from
//working around Azkaban.”

// 10672
//“Thank you, Amelia,” Albus said gravely. “Is that everything?”

// 10673
//“I’ll check if we have anything from six hours forward,” said the voice of
//Madam Bones, “if so they wouldn’t have told me, but I’ll have them tell you. Do
//__you__ have anything you want to tell me, Albus? Which of those two
//possibilities is it looking like?”

// 10674
//“Not yet, Amelia,” Albus said, “but I may have word for you soon.”

// 10675
//He straightened up from the fire, then, which faded back to ordinary yellow
//flames. Every minute of the old wizard’s years, every natural second since his
//birth and every second which Time-Turning had added, all of that plus a few
//extra decades for stress, was visible on his lined face.

// 10676
//“Severus?” the old wizard said. “What was it actually?”

// 10677
//“A rocket,” said the half-blood Potions Master, who had grown up in the Muggle
//town of Spinner’s End. “One of the most impressive Muggle technologies.”

// 10678
//“How likely is __Harry__ to know such arts?” said Minerva.

// 10679
//Severus drawled, “Oh, a boy like Mr. Potter knows __all__ about rockets;
//that, dear Minerva, is a certainty. You must remember that things are done
//differently in the Muggle world.” Severus frowned. “But rockets __are__
//dangerous, and expensive…”

// 10680
//“Harry has stolen and hidden an unknown amount of money from his Gringotts
//vault, perhaps thousands of Galleons,” said the Headmaster, and then, to their
//twin stares, “That was __not__ in my plan, but I made the mistake of
//sending the Defense Professor to supervise Harry’s withdrawal of five Galleons
//for Christmas presents…” The Headmaster shrugged. “Yes, I agree, sheer folly in
//retrospect, let us continue.”

// 10681
//Minerva quietly thudded her head a few times against the headrest of her chair.

// 10682
//“Nonetheless, Headmaster,” Severus said. “Just because the Death Eaters never
//used Muggle artifacts in the first war, that does not mean __he__ is
//ignorant. Rockets fell on Britain as weapons, in the Muggle side of
//Grindelwald’s war. If he spent the summers of those years in a Muggle
//orphanage, as you told us, Headmaster… then he, too, has heard of rockets. And
//if he has been listening to reports of Mr. Potter and his mock battles using
//Muggle artifacts, he would certainly learn his enemy’s strengths and try to
//redouble them himself. That is __just__ how he thinks; any power he sees
//he will try to take for his own.”

// 10683
//The old wizard was standing stock still, utterly motionless, even the hairs of
//his beard frozen in place like solid wires; and the thought came to Minerva, as
//frightening as any thought she’d ever had, that Albus Dumbledore was rooted to
//the spot in horror.

// 10684
//“Severus,” Albus Dumbledore said, and his voice almost cracked, “do you realize
//what you are saying? If Harry Potter and Voldemort fight their war with Muggle
//weapons there will be nothing left of the world but fire!”

// 10685
//“__What?__” said Minerva. She had heard of guns, of course, but they
//weren’t __that__ dangerous to an experienced witch -

// 10686
//Severus spoke as though she weren’t in the room. “Then perhaps, Headmaster, he
//is sending a deliberate warning to Harry Potter of exactly that; saying that
//any attack with Muggle weapons will be met with retaliation in kind. Command
//Mr. Potter to cease his use of Muggle technology in his battles; that will show
//him the message is received… and not give him any more ideas.” Severus frowned.
//“Though, come to think of it, Mr. Malfoy - and of course Miss Granger - well,
//on second thought a blanket prohibition on technology seems wiser -”

// 10687
//The old wizard pressed both his hands to his forehead, and from his lips came
//an unsteady voice, “I begin to __hope__ that it is Harry behind this
//escape… oh, Merlin defend us all, what have I done, what have I done, what will
//become of the world?”

// 10688
//Severus shrugged. “From the rumors I have heard, Headmaster, Muggle weapons are
//only slightly worse than the more… __recondite__ aspects of wizardry -”

// 10689
//“__Worse?__” gasped Minerva, and then shut her mouth as though by force.

// 10690
//“Worse than any peril left in these fading years,” said Albus. “Not worse than
//that which erased Atlantis from Time.”

// 10691
//Minerva stared at him, feeling the sweat break out all along her spine.

// 10692
//Severus continued, still addressing Albus. “All the Death Eaters save Bellatrix
//would have betrayed him, all his supporters turned against him, all the powers
//of the world converged to destroy him, if he had been reckless with any truly
//dangerous potency. Is this so different, then?”

// 10693
//Some motion, some color, had returned to the old wizard’s face. “Perhaps not…”

// 10694
//“And in any case,” Severus said with a slightly condescending smile, “Muggle
//weapons are not so easy to obtain, not for a thousand Galleons or a thousand
//thousand.”

// 10695
//__Doesn’t Harry just Transfigure the devices he uses in his battles?__
//thought Minerva, but before she could open her mouth to ask -

// 10696
//The fireplace erupted in green flames, then, and the face of Pius Thicknesse,
//Madam Bones’s assistant, appeared therein. “Chief Warlock?” said Thicknesse. “I
//have a report for you, transmitted from -” Thicknesse’s eyes flickered over
//Minerva and Severus, “six minutes ago.”

// 10697
//“Six hours ahead, you mean,” said Albus. “These two are meant to hear it;
//deliver your report.”

// 10698
//“We know how it was done,” said Thicknesse. “In Bellatrix Black’s cell, hidden
//in one corner, was a potions vial; and testing the traces of remaining fluid
//shows that it was an Animagus potion.”

// 10699
//There was a long pause.

// 10700
//“I see…” Albus said heavily.

// 10701
//“Pardon me?” said Minerva. She didn’t.

// 10702
//Thicknesse’s head turned toward her. “Animagi, Madam McGonagall, in their
//Animagus forms, are of less interest to Dementors. All prisoners are tested
//before their arrival at Azkaban; and if they are Animagi, their Animagus form
//is destroyed. But we had not considered that someone protected by a Patronus
//Charm while taking the potion and performing the meditation, might be able to
//become an Animagus __after__ they went to Azkaban -”

// 10703
//“I understood,” Severus said, having by now put on his customary sneer, “that
//the Animagus meditation required considerable time.”

// 10704
//“Well, Mr. Snape,” Thicknesse barked, “records show that Bellatrix Black was an
//Animagus __before__ she was sentenced to Azkaban and her form destroyed;
//so maybe her __second __meditation didn’t take as much time as her first!”

// 10705
//“I would not have thought it possible for any prisoner of Azkaban to do such a
//thing…” Albus said. “But Bellatrix Black was a most powerful sorceress before
//her incarceration, and she might have done it if any witch could. Can Azkaban
//be secured against this method?”

// 10706
//“Yes,” said the confident head of Pius Thicknesse. “Our expert says that it is
//nigh-unimaginable that an Animagus meditation could be performed in less than
//three hours, regardless of experience. All visits to prisoners allowed to
//receive them will be limited to two hours henceforth, and the Dementors will
//inform us if any Patronus Charm is maintained in the prison areas for longer
//than that.”

// 10707
//Albus looked unhappy at that, but nodded. “I see. There will be no further
//attempts of that sort, of course, but do not relax your vigilance. And when
//Amelia has been told all this, tell her that I have information for her.”

// 10708
//The head of Pius Thicknesse vanished without another word.

// 10709
//“No further attempts…?” said Minerva.

// 10710
//“Because, dear Minerva,” Severus drawled, having not quite taken off his
//habitual sneer, “if the Dark Lord had planned to free any of his other servants
//from Azkaban, he would not have left behind the vial of potion to tell us how
//it was done.” Severus frowned. “I confess… even so I do not see why that vial
//was left there.”

// 10711
//“It is some kind of message…” Albus said slowly. “And I cannot see what it
//means, not at all…” He drummed his fingers on his desk.

// 10712
//For a long minute or three, the old wizard stared off into nothingness,
//frowning; while Severus also sat in silence.

// 10713
//Then Albus shook his head in dismay, and said, “Severus, do __you__
//comprehend this?”

// 10714
//“No,” said the Potions Master, and with a sardonic smile, “which is probably
//all the better for us; whatever we are __intended__ to conclude from it,
//that part of his plan has misfired.”

// 10715
//“You are certain, now, that it __is__ You-Know… that it is Voldemort?”
//said Minerva. “It could not be that some other Death Eater conceived this
//clever notion?”

// 10716
//“And they knew about rockets, too?” Severus said dryly. “I don’t believe the
//other Death Eaters were so fond of Muggle Studies. It is he.”

// 10717
//“Aye, it is he,” Albus said. “Azkaban has endured impenetrable for ages, only
//to fall to an ordinary Animagus potion. It is too clever and too impossible,
//which was ever Voldemort’s signature since the days he was known as Tom Riddle.
//Anyone who wished to forge that signature must needs be as cunning as Voldemort
//himself to do so. And there is no one else in the world who would accidentally
//overestimate my wit, and leave me a message I cannot understand at all.”

// 10718
//“Unless he has gauged you exactly,” Severus said tonelessly, “in which case all
//that is just what he intended you to think.”

// 10719
//Albus sighed. “Indeed. But even if he has tricked me perfectly, we may at least
//rely on the conclusion that it was not Harry Potter.”

// 10720
//It should have come as a relief, and yet Minerva felt the chill spreading
//through her spine and her veins, her lungs and her bones.

// 10721
//She remembered conversations like this.

// 10722
//She remembered conversations like this from ten years ago, from a time when
//blood had run through Britain in wide rivers, when wizards and witches she had
//once taught in class had been slaughtered by the hundreds, she remembered
//burning homes and screaming children and flashes of green light -

// 10723
//“What will you tell Madam Bones?” she whispered.

// 10724
//Albus stood from his desk and paced to the center of the room, his hand lightly
//touching the devices, here an instrument of light, there an instrument of
//sound; he adjusted his glasses with one hand, used the other to center the long
//silver beard against his robes, and then finally that ancient wizard turned
//back and faced them.

// 10725
//“I will tell her what little I know of the Dark Art called horcrux, by which a
//soul is deprived of death,” said Albus Dumbledore, in a soft voice that seemed
//to fill the whole room, “and I will tell her what may be done with the flesh of
//the servant.”

// 10726
//“I will tell her that I am reconstituting the Order of the Phoenix.”

// 10727
//“I will tell her that Voldemort has returned.”

// 10728
//“And that the Second Wizarding War is begun.”

// 10729
//__Some hours later…__

// 10730
//The antique old clock upon the wall of the Deputy Headmistress’s office had
//golden hands, and silver numerals to make the clock-face; it ticked and jerked
//soundlessly through its motions, for there was a Quieting enchantment on it.

// 10731
//The golden hour hand approached the silver numeral of nine, the golden minute
//hand did the same, the two linked components of Time nearing each other, soon
//to be in the same place and never to collide.

// 10732
//It was 8:43 PM, and the time approached when Harry’s Time-Turner would open, to
//be tested in the one way that no imaginable spell could fool, unless that spell
//could bypass the laws of Time itself. No body or soul, no knowledge or
//substance, could stretch an extra seven hours in a single day. She would make
//up a message on the spot, and tell Harry to take that message back six hours to
//Professor Flitwick at 3PM, and she would ask Professor Flitwick if he had
//received it in that hour.

// 10733
//And Professor Flitwick would tell her that he had indeed received it at 3PM.

// 10734
//And she would tell Severus and Albus to have a __little__ more faith in
//Harry next time.

// 10735
//Professor McGonagall cast the Patronus Charm, and told her shining cat, “Go to
//Mr. Potter, and tell him this: Mr. Potter, please come to my office as soon as
//you hear this, without doing anything else along the way.”