Harry & Ginny

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Vgamermoon - Heir of Gryffindor
Chapter 6 - Chapter 6

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DISCLAIMER: See Ch. 1

CHAPTER 6: DISCUSSIONS WITH DUMBLEDORE

Harry dashed downstairs and to the door. Standing there, in a perfectly normal-looking Muggle traveling cloak, was Albus Dumbledore. He walked inside, but as soon as the door was shut, his cloak changed suddenly into a magnificently embroidered set of wizard's robes, a sky blue inlaid with gold. The Dursleys gaped at the sudden transformation, but the old wizard chuckled. "Don't worry," he reassured the Muggle trio, "Simple enchantment to blend into non-Magical environments. Anyway, Harry," Dumbledore turned to the raven-haired youth, "You wanted me to discuss something with you and your relatives."

"Yes sir, but there's something I think I should discuss privately with you first." At this, the Dursleys got the hint and departed to the kitchen.

"Professor," Harry said after lowering his voice, "At the Ministry of Magic a month ago, after Lestrange killed Sirius and I chased her? I- I used the Cruciatus Curse on her. I'm sorry, I remember now that it was illegal, but in that fury I felt after Sirius' death, all I cared about was making her feel pain like what I felt. Go ahead and punish me or something, I know I deserve it. And I certainly won't try it again, not even if it were Voldemort himself, because Lestrange said herself that you have to enjoy it, because righteous fury won't work."

His mentor frowned and said, "This is serious indeed Harry. You remember in your Occlumency lessons with Snape that when you're angry, it is easier to break into your mind?"

"Yes, why?"

"Using any of the Unforgiveable Curses is illegal because the more a wizard or witch uses them, it opens their mind to evil, little by little, and through repeated use, they become more sadistic and start to want to use it more. Constant use of them is like abusing contraband Muggle drugs, Harry: It's addictive and dangerous to your health. Those three curses affect both caster and victim.

"However," Dumbledore continued, "When Voldemort briefly possessed you last year, it was also because of your constant anger, and the Cruciatus Curse you cast contributed a little to that too. Between your ordeal and my mistake in withholding all this information from you last year, I won't hand out any consequences to you, and I know you'll follow through on your promise never to use any of those curses again. I'll also explain the Cruciatus Curse incident to Fudge and my friends at the Ministry, so charges won't be brought up against you."

"Thank you, sir," Harry responded, "The part about the curses becoming addictive was something the fake Moody never covered with us in my fourth year. Now that you mention it, Bellatrix Lestrange did look rather sadistic and half-insane, especially when she was torturing Neville."

Dumbledore nodded and said, "Now that we have resolved that, it's time we discussed Umbridge's offenses with your relatives, since the dementors were summoned by her."

With that, mentor and student went to the table where the Dursleys were already sitting. They had just seated themselves when there was a burst of flames, and Fawkes the phoenix appeared, with a letter in its beak. The Dursleys gave a yell of fright, but Fawkes simply sat himself on Dumbledore's shoulder.

"Hello, Fawkes," Harry said. Fawkes trilled a whistle as a greeting, after giving Dumbledore the letter. Dumbledore read it and said to Harry, "The House Heads- McGonagall, Sprout, Flitwick and Snape- all heard of the possibility of giving Umbridge her desserts. They're on their way here now with a Portkey." The next moment, there was a flash, and the four said professors appeared with a Portkey, which in this case was a deflated soccer ball. The Dursleys were temporarily stunned at the sudden entrance, but now being outnumbered two to one, they simply tried to look as though nothing unusual by their standards had ever happened.

"Anyway, Harry," Dumbledore said after conjuring four chintz chairs for the new arrivals, "Lupin told me about your discussion with your relatives," at this point, McGonagall's face twitched, since she had protested from the start that Harry live with them, "and I think Umbridge has gone too far. When I heard that Umbridge used an illegal dark object, a blood quill in this case, sending dementors after you, nearly using the Cruciatus Curse on you, and attacking McGonagall and Hagrid in the middle of the night during your Astronomy exam, well, I was furious, to say the least."

"Furious?" McGonagall asked incredulously. "You could have made the Dark Lord and his minions run like scared rabbits!"

"Thank you, Minerva," Dumbledore said, blushing slightly. "Furthermore, at least a dozen students from every house were subjected to that quill of hers. May I see your hand, please?"

Harry held it out, and the teachers let out a gasp. Both Dumbledore and McGonagall looked livid now. "I shouldn't have made you do detentions with her,"

The Transfiguration teacher said at last, as Flitwick took a picture of it as evidence using an enchanted camera.

"I understand," Harry assured her. "You had no way of knowing beforehand, and no one at school, teacher or student, wanted to cross her. That woman is sick, she was watching me with a demented smile on her face." McGonagall looked either very angry or disgusted now, Harry couldn't decide which.

"Why didn't you tell me, Potter?"

"Because Umbridge would have passed another decree saying that anyone who complained about her would get fired."

Suddenly, McGonagall looked stern. "Next time, Potter, please come to me, no matter what. Being your head of House, it's my job to protect you, not the other way around."

"Hopefully, there won't be a next time for this."

"Now that we have evidence," the Headmaster continued as Flitwick put his camera away, "it's time we got rid of the quill-induced scar." Fawkes stuck his head out over Harry's hand, and a couple of pearly tears feel onto his hand. Relief spread over his hand, and the scars disappeared. The Dursleys gasped.

"Phoenix tears," Harry explained to them, "contain healing powers."

Dudley reached out to touch Fawkes, but the phoenix must have decided it didn't like Harry's cousin, because it screeched, took flight, and with a SPLAT, a hot white phoenix dropping landed on the table. A moment later, there was a sizzling sound, and it burned right through the table.

"Fawkes!" Dumbledore exclaimed, though he sounded more amused than angry. The phoenix landed on Harry's shoulder with a sort of "Who, me?" look on its face, and gave a whistle that sounded, to Harry at least, something like a laugh.

"Reparo!" Dumbledore muttered, and the table was as good as new. Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia half-rose from their seats, but they thought better, and sat back down, because in addition to Harry's professors, they didn't want to mess with a magical bird whose droppings had the same basic properties as Napalm. 1 Harry and the other teachers were silently laughing (except for Snape, who gave an amused smirk).

"So," Dumbledore went on, with a grin on his face and that twinkle in his eye, "Since Umbridge was never popular with the staff other than Filch the caretaker, they want to witness her downfall as well. Apart from being a key witness when her trial date is arranged, we need you to write down these atrocities for yourself on parchment that has been bewitched so that you can't write lies onto it," he finished, taking out a small roll of parchment, a quill (which was normal, thankfully), and a bottle of ink.

"How ironic, since she made me write 'I must not tell lies,'" Harry said, taking the wizard stationary from him. He wrote down every thing Umbridge put him in detention for, as well as her other actions against him and some of the staff members.

"I just remembered, because one time, I was saying hold Malfoy got injured because he provoked Buckbeak in Hagrid's class, and she gave me detention for that too. Do you think we can clear his name too?"

"I'm sure we will be able to, Harry," Dumbledore responded. "Hagrid wil really like that."

"Also," Harry continued, "The only other student I know of who was subjected to the quill was Lee Jordan. You have him on the list of Umbridge's victims, don't you?"

"Yes, he is included," Dumbledore answered. "Another reason my fellow colleagues are here is because I think you should know that all staff members are in the Order and know of it, and the Heads have more direct was of getting in contact with me. I figured out after Umbirdge attacked Professor McGonagall and Hagrid that night, and you thought Sirius was kidnapped the following afternoon, you didn't know who else to turn to, and in your fear of what would happen to Sirius, you forgot that Professor Snape was part of the Order."

Harry's face went blank for a moment. 'Must be the Legilimency' he thought. "Yeah, that's about right," he said at last. "Like you said, no one other than Filch was keen on helping her. I had a feeling Professor Sprout might be sympathetic, since Cedric Diggory was in her house," the Herbology teacher nodded in agreement, "and I knew that Professor Flitwick wasn't interested in helping Umbridge either."

"You would be surprised how much scheming went on in staff room while Umbridge and Filch weren't around, Potter," said McGonagall with a mischievous sort of grin on her face.

"Now that you mention it," Harry suddenly said, "I seem to remember something a week after the twins left. You were walking right past Peeves, who was determinedly loosening a crystal chandelier, and I could have sworn I heard you tell him out of the corner of your mouth, 'It unscrews the other way.'" McGonagall grinned and blushed a little.

Snape turned his head and stared at her incredulously. "YOU helped Peeves with that? I was wondering who did that. It nearly impaled Umbridge and Filch was cursing for hours after he cleaned it all up."

With a tiny amused smile, Dumbledore said, "Now that we've got enough against her, we can leave it here for today." He turned to the Dursleys. "Since your son was nearly Kissed by the dementors, I'll make sure you get setas at her trial, as well as adequate transportation." Dudley shuddered.

With a wave of his wand, the Headmaster made all four of the chintz armchairs vanish. Professor Snape was just taking out the Portkey when Harry remembered something. "Professor Snape, wait."

The Potions teacher turned around and sneered. "What is it, Potter?"

"I sent you a letter with my owl just before Professor Dumbledore came. Did you get it yet?"

Before Snape could respond, Hedwig hooted and soared downstairs from Harry's room, where he had evidently come in through the window, dropped the letter over Snape, and landed on Harry's shoulder.

"Now I do," Snape said while putting the letter in his pocket. "I'll look at it later."

"That would actually be a good idea, sir, with no one looking," Harry added. Snape raised an eyebrow, used the portkey, and the four House Heads disappeared with a flash of light.

"Well, I must be going too, Harry ," Dumbledore said. "Lupin will see you on Saturday so you can go to the Grand Opening. We'll all be going, and I have been running out of passwords for my office," the eccentric old wizard added, with the twinkle in his eye. "The other professors forgot to thank you for giving those thousand Galleons to the twins, since it helped them drive Umbridge insane." He chuckled softly. "Take care, Harry." And as Fawkes swooped over Dumbledore's head, the white-haired wizard grasped the Phoenix's tail, and master and bird both disappeared.

A/N:

1 Did you like my little joke? Please RR for my whole story so far, please!

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