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initials
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\begin_body

\begin_layout Chapter
Locating the Hypothesis
\end_layout

\begin_layout Initial
\begin_inset Argument 2
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout
T
\end_layout

\end_inset


\begin_inset Argument 3
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout
hursday.
\end_layout

\end_inset


\begin_inset Newline newline
\end_inset

If you wanted to be specific, 7:24
\begin_inset space \thinspace{}
\end_inset

am on Thursday morning.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Harry was sitting on his bed, a textbook lying limp in his motionless hands.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Harry had just had an idea for a 
\emph on
truly brilliant
\emph default
 experimental test.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
It would mean waiting an extra hour for breakfast, but that was why he had
 cereal bars.
 No, this idea absolutely positively had to be tested right away, immediately,
 now.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Harry set the textbook aside, leapt out of bed, raced around his bed, yanked
 out the cavern level of his trunk, ran down the stairs, and started moving
 boxes of books around.
 (He really needed to unpack and get bookcases at some point but he was
 in the middle of his textbook reading contest with Hermione and falling
 behind so he hadn't had time.)
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Harry found the book he wanted and raced back upstairs.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
The other boys were getting ready to go down to breakfast in the Great Hall
 and start the day.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Excuse me can you do something for me?” said Harry.
 He was flipping through the book's index as he spoke, found the page with
 the first ten thousand primes, flipped to that page, and thrust the book
 at Anthony Goldstein.
 “Pick two three-digit numbers from this list.
 Don't tell me what they are.
 Just multiply them together and tell me the product.
 Oh, and can you do the calculation twice to double-check? Please make really
 sure you've got the right answer, I'm not sure what's going to happen to
 me or the universe if you make a multiplication error.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
It said a lot about what life in that dorm had been like over the past few
 days that Anthony didn't even bother saying anything like “Why'd you suddenly
 flip out?” or “That seems really weird, what are your reasons for asking?”
 or “What do you mean, you're not sure what's going to happen to the universe?”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Anthony wordlessly accepted the book and took out a parchment and quill.
 Harry spun around and shut his eyes, making sure not to see anything, dancing
 back and forth and bouncing up and down with impatience.
 He got a pad of paper and a mechanical pencil and got ready to write.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Okay,” Anthony said, “One hundred and eighty-one thousand, four hundred
 and twenty-nine.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Harry wrote down 181,429.
 He repeated what he'd just written down, and Anthony confirmed it.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Then Harry raced back down into the cavern level of his trunk, glanced at
 his watch (the watch said 4:28 which meant 7:28) and then shut his eyes.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Around thirty seconds later, Harry heard the sound of steps, followed by
 the sound of the cavern level of the trunk sliding shut.
 (Harry wasn't worried about suffocating.
 An automatic Air-Freshening Charm was part of what you got if you were
 willing to buy a really good trunk.
 Wasn't magic wonderful, it didn't have to worry about electric bills.)
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
And when Harry opened his eyes, he saw just what he'd been hoping to see,
 a folded piece of paper left on the floor, the gift of his future self.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Call that piece of paper “Paper-2”.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Harry tore a piece of paper off his pad.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Call that “Paper-1”.
 It was, of course, the same piece of paper.
 You could even see, if you looked closely, that the ragged edges matched.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Harry reviewed in his mind the algorithm that he would follow.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
If Harry opened up Paper-2 and it was blank, then he would write “101 x
 101” down on Paper-1, fold it up, study for an hour, go back in time, drop
 off Paper-1 (which would thereby become Paper-2), and head on up out of
 the cavern level to join his dorm mates for breakfast.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
If Harry opened up Paper-2 and it had two numbers written on it, Harry would
 multiply those numbers together.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
If their product equaled 181,429, Harry would write down those two numbers
 on Paper-1 and send Paper-1 back in time.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Otherwise Harry would add 2 to the number on the right and write down the
 new pair of numbers on Paper-1.
 Unless that made the number on the right greater than 997, in which case
 Harry would add 2 to the number on the left and write down 101 on the right.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
And if Paper-2 said 997 x 997, Harry would leave Paper-1 blank.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Which meant that the only possible 
\emph on
stable
\emph default
 time loop was the one in which Paper-2 contained the two prime factors
 of 181,429.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
If this worked, Harry could use it to recover any sort of answer that was
 easy to check but hard to find.
 He wouldn't have 
\emph on
just
\emph default
 shown that P=NP once you had a Time-Turner, this trick was 
\emph on
more general
\emph default
 than that.
 Harry could use it to find the combinations on combination locks, or passwords
 of every sort.
 Maybe even find the entrance to Slytherin's Chamber of Secrets, if Harry
 could figure out some systematic way of describing all the locations in
 Hogwarts.
 It would be an awesome cheat even by Harry's standards of cheating.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Harry took Paper-2 in his trembling hand, and unfolded it.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Paper-2 said in slightly shaky handwriting:
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
DO NOT MESS WITH TIME
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Harry wrote down “DO NOT MESS WITH TIME” on Paper-1 in slightly shaky handwritin
g, folded it neatly, and resolved not to do any more truly brilliant experiments
 on Time until he was at least fifteen years old.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
To the best of Harry's knowledge, that had been the scariest experimental
 result in the entire history of science.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
It had been somewhat difficult for Harry to focus on reading his textbook
 for the next hour.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
That was how Harry's Thursday started.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Quote
\align center
\begin_inset Graphics
	filename fleur.png
	scale 50

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\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Thursday.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
If you wanted to be specific, 3:32pm on Thursday afternoon.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Harry and all the other boys in the first year were outside on a grassy
 field with Madam Hooch, standing next to the Hogwarts supply of broomsticks.
 The girls would be learning to fly separately.
 Apparently, for some reason, girls didn't want to learn how to fly on broomstic
ks in the presence of boys.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Harry had been a little wobbly all day long.
 He just couldn't seem to stop wondering how that 
\emph on
particular
\emph default
 stable time loop had been selected out of what was, in retrospect, a rather
 large space of possibilities.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Also: seriously, 
\emph on
broomsticks?
\emph default
 He was going to fly on, basically, a line segment? Wasn't that pretty much
 the single most unstable shape you could possibly find, short of attempting
 to hold on to a point marble? Who'd selected 
\emph on
that
\emph default
 design for a flying device, out of all the possibilities? Harry had been
 hoping that it was just a figure of speech, but no, they were standing
 in front of what looked for all the world like ordinary wooden kitchen
 broomsticks.
 Had someone just gotten stuck on the idea of broomsticks and failed to
 consider anything else? It had to be.
 There was no way that the 
\emph on
optimal
\emph default
 designs for cleaning kitchens and flying would happen to coincide if you
 worked them out from scratch.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
It was a clear day with a bright blue sky and a brilliant sun that was just
 begging to get in your eyes and make it impossible to see, if you were
 trying to fly around the sky.
 The ground was nice and dry, smelling positively baked, and somehow felt
 very, very hard under Harry's shoes.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Harry kept reminding himself that the lowest common denominator of elev\SpecialChar \-
en-year-o
lds was expected to learn this and it couldn't be that hard.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Stick out your right hand over the broom, or left hand if you're left-handed,”
 called Madam Hooch.
 “And say, UP!”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“UP!” everyone shouted.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
The broomstick leapt eagerly into Harry's hand.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Which put him at the head of the class, for once.
 Apparently saying “UP!” was a lot more difficult than it looked, and most
 of the broomsticks were rolling around on the ground or trying to inch
 away from their would-be riders.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
(Of course Harry would have bet money that Hermione had done at least as
 well when it came her own turn to try, earlier in the day.
 There couldn't possibly be anything 
\emph on
he
\emph default
 could master on the first try which would baffle Hermione, and if there
 
\emph on
was
\emph default
 and it turned out to be 
\emph on
broomstick riding
\emph default
 instead of anything intellectual, Harry would just die.)
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
It took a while for everyone to get a broomstick in front of them.
 Madam Hooch showed them how to mount and then walked around the field,
 correcting grips and stances.
 Apparently even among the few children who'd been allowed to fly at home,
 they hadn't been taught to do it correctly.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Madam Hooch surveyed the field of boys, and nodded.
 “Now, when I blow my whistle, you kick off from the ground, hard.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Harry swallowed hard, trying to quell the queasy feeling in his stomach.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Keep your brooms steady, rise a few feet, and then come straight back down
 by leaning forwards slightly.
 On my whistle 
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--
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 three 
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--
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 two 
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--
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”
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\begin_layout Standard
One of the brooms shot skyward, accompanied by a young boy's screams 
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--
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 of horror, not delight.
 The boy was spinning at an awful rate as he ascended, they only got glimpses
 of his white face 
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--
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\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
As though in slow motion, Harry was leaping back off his own broomstick
 and scrabbling for his wand, though he didn't really know what he planned
 to do with it, he'd had exactly two sessions of Charms and the last one
 
\emph on
had
\emph default
 been the Hover Charm but Harry had only been able to cast the spell successfull
y one time out of three and he certainly couldn't levitate whole people
 
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--
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\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard

\emph on
If there is any hidden power in me, let it reveal itself NOW!
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Come back, boy!” shouted Madam Hooch (which had to be the most unhelpful
 instruction imaginable for dealing with an out-of-control broomstick, from
 a 
\emph on
flying instructor
\emph default
, and a fully automatic section of Harry's brain added Madam Hooch to his
 tally of fools).
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
And the boy was thrown off the broomstick.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
He seemed to move very slowly through the air, at first.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“
\emph on
Wingardium Leviosa!
\emph default
” screamed Harry.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
The spell failed.
 He could feel it fail.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
There was a THUD and a distant cracking sound, and the boy lay facedown
 on the grass in a heap.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Harry sheathed his wand and raced forwards at full speed.
 He arrived at the boy's side at the same time as Madam Hooch, and Harry
 reached into his pouch and tried to recall oh god what was the name never
 mind he'd just try “Healer's Pack!” and it popped up into his hand and
 
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\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Broken wrist,” Madam Hooch said.
 “Calm down, boy, he just has a broken wrist!”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
There was a sort of mental lurch as Harry's mind snapped out of Panic Mode.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
The Emergency Healing Pack Plus lay open in front of him, and there was
 a syringe of liquid fire in Harry's hand, which would have kept the boy's
 brain oxygenated if he'd managed to snap his neck.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Ah…” Harry said in a rather wavering sort of voice.
 His heart was pounding so loudly that he almost couldn't hear himself panting
 for breath.
 “Broken bone… right… Setting String?”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“That's for emergencies only,” snapped Madam Hooch.
 “Put it away, he's fine.” She leaned over the boy, offering him a hand.
 “Come on, boy, it's all right, up you get!”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“You're not seriously going to make him ride the broomstick again?” Harry
 said in horror.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Madam Hooch sent Harry a glare.
 “Of course not!” She pulled the boy to his feet using his good arm 
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\begin_layout Plain Layout

--
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\end_inset

 Harry saw with a shock that it was Neville Longbottom 
\emph on
again,
\emph default
 what was 
\emph on
with
\emph default
 him? 
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status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout

--
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\end_inset

 and she turned to all the watching children.
 “None of you is to move while I take this boy to the hospital wing! You
 leave those brooms where they are or you'll be out of Hogwarts before you
 can say `Quidditch.' Come on, dear.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
And Madam Hooch walked off with Neville, who was clutching his wrist and
 trying to control his sniffles.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
When they were out of earshot, one of the Slytherins started giggling.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
That set off the others.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Harry turned and looked at them.
 It seemed like a good time to memorise some faces.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
And Harry saw that Draco was strolling towards him, accompanied by Mr.
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status open

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\end_inset

Crabbe and Mr.
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\end_inset

Goyle.
 Mr.
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\end_inset

Crabbe wasn't smiling.
 Mr.
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\end_inset

Goyle decidedly was.
 Draco himself was wearing a very controlled face that twitched occasionally,
 from which Harry inferred that Draco thought it was hilarious but saw no
 political advantage to be gained by laughing about it now instead of in
 the Slytherin dungeons afterwards.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Well, Potter,” Draco said in a low voice that didn't carry, still with
 that very controlled face that was twitching occasionally, “Just wanted
 to say, when you take advantage of emergencies to demonstrate leadership,
 you want to look like you're in total control of the situation, rather
 than, say, going into a complete panic.” Mr.
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\end_inset

Goyle giggled, and Draco shot him a quelling look.
 “But you probably scored a few points anyway.
 You need any help stowing that healer's kit?”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Harry turned to look at the Healing Pack, which got his own face turned
 away from Draco.
 “I think I'm fine,” Harry said.
 He put the syringe back in its place, redid the latches, and stood up.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Ernie Macmillan arrived just as Harry was feeding the pack back into his
 mokeskin pouch.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Thank you, Harry Potter, on behalf of Hufflepuff,” Ernie Macmillan said
 formally.
 “It was a good try and a good thought.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“A good thought indeed,” drawled Draco.
 “Why didn't anyone in Hufflepuff have their wands out? Maybe if you'd 
\emph on
all
\emph default
 helped instead of just Potter, you could've caught him.
 I thought Hufflepuffs were supposed to stick together?”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Ernie looked like he was torn between getting angry and wanting to die of
 shame.
 “We didn't think of it in time 
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\begin_layout Plain Layout

--
\end_layout

\end_inset

”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Ah,” said Draco, “didn't 
\emph on
think
\emph default
 of it, I guess that's why it's better to have one Ravenclaw as a friend
 than all of Hufflepuff.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Oh, hell, how was Harry supposed to juggle this one… “You're not helping,”
 Harry said in a mild tone.
 Hoping Draco would interpret that as 
\emph on
you're interfering with my plans, please shut up.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Hey, what's this?” said Mr.
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status open

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\end_layout

\end_inset

Goyle.
 He stooped to the grass and picked up something around the size of a large
 marble, a glass ball that seemed to be filled with a swirling white mist.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Ernie blinked.
 “Neville's Remembrall!”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“What's a Remembrall?” asked Harry.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“It turns red if you've forgotten something,” Ernie said.
 “It doesn't tell you what you forgot, though.
 Give it here, please, and I'll hand it back to Neville later.” Ernie held
 out his hand.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
A sudden grin flashed across Mr.
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status open

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\end_layout

\end_inset

Goyle's face and he spun around and raced away.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Ernie stood still for a moment in surprise, and then shouted “Hey!” and
 ran after Mr.
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status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout


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\end_layout

\end_inset

Goyle.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
And Mr.
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\end_inset

Goyle grabbed a broomstick, hopped on with one smooth motion and took to
 the air.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Harry's jaw dropped.
 Hadn't Madam Hooch said that would get him 
\emph on
expelled?
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard

\emph on
“That idiot!
\emph default
” Draco hissed.
 He opened his mouth to shout 
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--
\end_layout

\end_inset


\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“
\emph on
Hey!
\emph default
” shouted Ernie.
 “That's Neville's! 
\emph on
Give it back!
\emph default
”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
The Slytherins started cheering and hooting.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Draco's mouth snapped shut.
 Harry caught the sudden look of indecision on his face.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Draco,” Harry said in a low tone, “if you don't order that idiot back on
 the ground, the teacher's going to get back and 
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout

--
\end_layout

\end_inset

”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“
\emph on
Come and get it, Hufflepuffle!
\emph default
” shouted Mr.
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout


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\end_layout

\end_inset

Goyle, and a great cheer went up from the Slytherins.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“I 
\emph on
can't!
\emph default
” whispered Draco.
 “Everyone in Slytherin would think I'm 
\emph on
weak!
\emph default
”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“And if Mr.
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status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout


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\end_layout

\end_inset

Goyle gets expelled,” hissed Harry, “your 
\emph on
father
\emph default
 is going to think you're a 
\emph on
moron!
\emph default
”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Draco's face twisted in agony.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
At that moment 
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout

--
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\end_inset


\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Hey, 
\emph on
Slytherslime
\emph default
,” shouted Ernie, “didn't anyone ever tell you that Hufflepuffs stick together?
 
\emph on
Wands out, Hufflepuff!
\emph default
”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
And there were suddenly a whole lot of wands pointed in Mr.
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status open

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\end_layout

\end_inset

Goyle's direction.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Three seconds later 
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--
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\end_inset


\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“
\emph on
Wands out, Slytherin!
\emph default
” said around five different Slytherins.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
And there were a whole lot of wands pointed in Hufflepuff's direction.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Two seconds later 
\begin_inset ERT
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\begin_layout Plain Layout

--
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\end_inset


\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“
\emph on
Wands out, Gryffindor!
\emph default
”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“
\emph on
Do something, Potter!
\emph default
” whispered Draco.
 “
\emph on
I can't be the one to stop this it has to be you! I'll owe you a favour
 just think of something aren't you supposed to be brilliant?
\emph default
”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
In around five and a half seconds, realised Harry, someone was going to
 cast the Sumerian Simple Strike Hex and by the time it was over and the
 teachers were done expelling people the only boys left in his year would
 be Ravenclaws.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“
\emph on
Wands out, Ravenclaw!
\emph default
” shouted Michael Corner who was apparently feeling left out of the disaster.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“
\emph on
GREGORY GOYLE!”
\emph default
 screamed Harry
\emph on
.
 “I challenge you to a contest for possession of Neville's Remembrall!”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
There was a sudden pause.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Oh, really?” said Draco in the loudest drawl Harry had ever heard.
 “That sounds interesting.
 What sort of contest, Potter?”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Er…
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Contest” had been as far as Harry's inspiration had gotten.
 What sort of contest, he couldn't say “chess” because Draco wouldn't be
 able to accept without it looking strange, he couldn't say “arm-wrestling”
 because Mr.
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\begin_layout Plain Layout


\backslash
 
\end_layout

\end_inset

Goyle would crush him 
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout

--
\end_layout

\end_inset


\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“How about this?” Harry said loudly.
 “Gregory Goyle and I stand apart from each other, and no one else is allowed
 to come near either of us.
 We don't use our wands and neither does anyone else.
 I don't move from where I'm standing, and neither does he.
 And if I can get my hands on Neville's Remembrall, then Gregory Goyle relinquis
hes all claim to that Remembrall he's holding and gives it to me.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
There was another pause as people's looks of relief transmuted to confusion.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Hah, Potter!” said Draco loudly.
 “I'd like to see you do 
\emph on
that!
\emph default
 Mr.
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout


\backslash
 
\end_layout

\end_inset

Goyle accepts!”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“It's on!” said Harry.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Potter, 
\emph on
what?
\emph default
” whispered Draco, which he somehow did without moving his lips.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Harry didn't know how to answer without moving his.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
People were putting their wands away, and Mr.
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout


\backslash
 
\end_layout

\end_inset

Goyle swooped gracefully to the ground, looking rather confused.
 Some Hufflepuffs started over towards Mr.
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout


\backslash
 
\end_layout

\end_inset

Goyle, but Harry shot them a desperately pleading look and they backed off.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Harry walked toward Mr.
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout


\backslash
 
\end_layout

\end_inset

Goyle and stopped when he was a few paces away, far enough apart that they
 couldn't reach each other.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Slowly, deliberately, Harry sheathed his wand.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Everyone else backed away.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Harry swallowed.
 He knew in broad outline what he 
\emph on
wanted
\emph default
 to do, but it had to be done in such a way that no one understood 
\emph on
what
\emph default
 he'd done 
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout

--
\end_layout

\end_inset


\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“All right,” Harry said loudly.
 “And now…” He took a deep breath and raised one hand, fingers ready to
 snap.
 There were gasps from anyone who'd heard about the pies, which was practically
 everyone.
 “
\emph on
I call upon the insanity of Hogwarts! Happy happy boom boom swamp swamp
 swamp!
\emph default
” And Harry snapped his fingers.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
A lot of people flinched.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
And nothing happened.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Harry let the silence stretch on for a while, developing, until…
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Um,” someone said.
 “Is that it?”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Harry looked at the boy who'd spoken.
 “Look in front of you.
 You see that patch of ground that looks barren, without any grass on it?”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Um, yeah,” said the boy, a Gryffindor (Dean something?).
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Dig it up.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Now Harry was getting a lot of strange looks.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Er, why?” said Dean something.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Just do it,” said Terry Boot in a weary voice.
 “No point asking why, trust me on this one.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Dean something kneeled down and began to scoop away dirt.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
After a minute or so, Dean stood up again.
 “There's nothing there,” Dean said.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Huh.
 Harry had been planning to go back in time and bury a treasure map that
 would lead to another treasure map that would lead to Neville's Remembrall
 which he would put there after getting it back from Mr.
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout


\backslash
 
\end_layout

\end_inset

Goyle…
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Then Harry realised there was a much simpler way which didn't threaten the
 secret of Time-Turners quite as much.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Thanks, Dean!” Harry said loudly.
 “Ernie, would you look around on the ground where Neville fell and see
 if you can find Neville's Remembrall?”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
People looked even more confused.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Just do it,” said Terry Boot.
 “He'll keep trying until something works, and the scary thing is that 
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout

--
\end_layout

\end_inset

”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“
\emph on
Merlin!
\emph default
” gasped Ernie.
 He was holding up Neville's Remembrall.
 “It's 
\emph on
here!
\emph default
 Right where he fell!”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“
\emph on
What?
\emph default
” cried Mr.
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout


\backslash
 
\end_layout

\end_inset

Goyle.
 He looked down and saw…
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
…that he was still holding Neville's Remembrall.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
There was a rather long pause.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Er,” said Dean something, “that's not possible, is it?”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“It's a plot hole,” said Harry.
 “I made myself weird enough to distract the universe for a moment and it
 forgot that Goyle had already picked up the Remembrall.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“No, wait, I mean, that's 
\emph on
totally
\emph default
 not possible 
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout

--
\end_layout

\end_inset

”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Excuse me, are we all standing around here waiting to go flying on broomsticks?
 Yes we are.
 So shut up.
 Anyway, once I get my hands on Neville's Remembrall, the contest is over
 and Gregory Goyle has to relinquish all claim to the Remembrall he's holding
 and give it to me.
 Those were the terms, remember?” Harry stretched out a hand and beckoned
 Ernie.
 “Just roll it over here, since no one's supposed to get close to me, okay?”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Hold on!” shouted a Slytherin 
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout

--
\end_layout

\end_inset

 Blaise Zabini, Harry wasn't likely to forget that name.
 “How do we know that's Neville's Remembrall? You could've just dropped
 
\emph on
another
\emph default
 Remembrall there 
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout

--
\end_layout

\end_inset

”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“The Slytherin is strong with this one,” Harry said, smiling.
 “But you have my word that the one Ernie's holding is Neville's.
 No comment about the one Gregory Goyle's holding.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Zabini spun to Draco.
 “
\emph on
Malfoy!
\emph default
 You're not just going to let him get away with that 
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout

--
\end_layout

\end_inset

”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Shut up, you,” rumbled Mr.
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout


\backslash
 
\end_layout

\end_inset

Crabbe, standing behind Draco.
 “Mr.
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout


\backslash
 
\end_layout

\end_inset

Malfoy doesn't need 
\emph on
you
\emph default
 to tell him what to do!”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard

\emph on
Good
\emph default
 minion.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“My bet was with Draco, of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Malfoy,”
 Harry said.
 “Not with you, Zabini.
 I have done what Mr.
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout


\backslash
 
\end_layout

\end_inset

Malfoy said he'd like to see me do, and as for the judgment of the bet,
 I leave that up to Mr.
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout


\backslash
 
\end_layout

\end_inset

Malfoy.” Harry inclined his head towards Draco and raised his eyebrows slightly.
 That ought to allow Draco to save enough face.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
There was a pause.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“You promise that actually 
\emph on
is
\emph default
 Neville's Remembrall?” Draco said.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Yes,” Harry said.
 “That's the one that'll go back to Neville and it was his originally.
 And the one Gregory Goyle's holding goes to me.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Draco nodded, looking decisive.
 “I won't question the word of the Noble House of Potter, then, no matter
 how strange that all was.
 And the Noble and Most Ancient House of Malfoy keeps its word as well.
 Mr.
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout


\backslash
 
\end_layout

\end_inset

Goyle, give that to Mr.
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout


\backslash
 
\end_layout

\end_inset

Potter 
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout

--
\end_layout

\end_inset

”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Hey!” Zabini said.
 “He hasn't won 
\emph on
yet
\emph default
, he hasn't got his hands on 
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout

--
\end_layout

\end_inset

”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Catch, Harry!” said Ernie, and he tossed the Remembrall.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Harry easily snapped the Remembrall out of the air, he'd always had good
 reflexes that way.
 “There,” said Harry, “I win…”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Harry trailed off.
 All conversation stopped.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
The Remembrall was glowing bright red in his hand, blazing like a miniature
 sun that cast shadows on the ground in broad daylight.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Quote
\align center
\begin_inset Graphics
	filename fleur.png
	scale 50

\end_inset


\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Thursday.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
If you wanted to be specific, 5:09pm on Thursday afternoon, in Professor
 McGonagall's office, after flying classes.
 (With an extra hour for Harry slipped in between.)
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Professor McGonagall sitting on her stool.
 Harry in the hot seat in front of her desk.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Professor,” Harry said tightly, “Slytherin was pointing their wands at
 Hufflepuff, Gryffindor was pointing their wands at Slytherin, some 
\emph on
idiot
\emph default
 called wands out in Ravenclaw, and I had maybe five seconds to keep the
 whole thing from blowing sky-high! It was all I could think of!”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Professor McGonagall's face was pinched and angry.
 “
\emph on
You are not to use the Time-Turner in that fashion, Mr.
\emph default

\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout


\backslash
 
\end_layout

\end_inset


\emph on
Potter!
\emph default
 Is the concept of secrecy not something that you understand?”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“They don't 
\emph on
know
\emph default
 how I did it! They just think I can do really weird things by snapping
 my fingers! I've done other weird stuff that can't be done with Time-Turners
 even, and I'll do 
\emph on
more
\emph default
 stuff like that, and 
\emph on
this
\emph default
 case won't even stand out! I 
\emph on
had to do it,
\emph default
 Professor!”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“You did 
\emph on
not
\emph default
 have to do it!” snapped Professor McGonagall.
 “All you needed to do was get this 
\emph on
anonymous Slytherin
\emph default
 back on the ground and the wands put away! You could have challenged him
 to a game of Exploding Snap but no, you had to use the Time-Turner in a
 flagrant and unnecessary manner!”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“It was all I could think of! I don't even know what Exploding Snap 
\emph on
is,
\emph default
 they wouldn't have accepted a game of chess and if I'd picked arm-wresting
 I would have lost!”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“
\emph on
Then you should have picked wrestling!
\emph default
”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Harry blinked.
 “But then I'd have 
\emph on
lost
\emph default
 
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout

--
\end_layout

\end_inset

”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Harry stopped.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Professor McGonagall was looking 
\emph on
very
\emph default
 angry.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“I'm sorry, Professor McGonagall,” Harry said in a small voice.
 “I honestly didn't think of that, and you're right, I should have, it would
 have been brilliant if I had, but I just didn't think of that at all…”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Harry's voice trailed off.
 It was suddenly apparent to him that he'd had a 
\emph on
lot
\emph default
 of other options.
 He could have asked 
\emph on
Draco
\emph default
 to suggest something, he could have asked the crowd… his use of the Time-Turner
 
\emph on
had
\emph default
 been flagrant and unnecessary.
 There had been a giant space of possibilities, why had he picked 
\emph on
that
\emph default
 one?
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Because he'd seen a way to 
\emph on
win.

\emph default
 Win possession of an unimportant trinket that the teachers would've taken
 back from Mr.
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout


\backslash
 
\end_layout

\end_inset

Goyle anyway.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Intent to win.
 That was what had gotten him.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“I'm sorry,” Harry said again.
 “For my pride and my stupidity.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Professor McGonagall wiped a hand across her forehead.
 Some of her anger seemed to dissipate.
 But her voice still came out very hard.
 “One more display like that, Mr.
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout


\backslash
 
\end_layout

\end_inset

Potter, and you will be returning that Time-Turner.
 Do I make myself very clear?”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Yes,” Harry said.
 “I understand and I'm sorry.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Then, Mr.
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout


\backslash
 
\end_layout

\end_inset

Potter, you will be allowed to retain the Time-Turner for now.
 And considering the size of the debacle you did, in fact, avert, I will
 not deduct any points from Ravenclaw.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard

\emph on
Plus you couldn't explain why you'd deducted the points.

\emph default
 But Harry wasn't dumb enough to say that out loud.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“More importantly, why did the Remembrall go off like that?” Harry said.
 “Does it mean I've been Obliviated?”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“That puzzles me as well,” Professor McGonagall said slowly.
 “If it were that simple, I would think that the courts would use Remembralls,
 and they do not.
 I shall look into it, Mr.
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout


\backslash
 
\end_layout

\end_inset

Potter.” She sighed.
 “You can go now.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Harry started to get up from his chair, then halted.
 “Um, sorry, I did have something else I wanted to tell you 
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout

--
\end_layout

\end_inset

”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
You could hardly see the flinch.
 “What is it, Mr.
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout


\backslash
 
\end_layout

\end_inset

Potter?”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“It's about Professor Quirrell 
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout

--
\end_layout

\end_inset

”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“I'm sure, Mr.
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout


\backslash
 
\end_layout

\end_inset

Potter, that it is nothing of importance.” Professor McGonagall spoke the
 words in a great rush.
 “Surely you heard the Headmaster tell the students that you were not to
 bother us with any unimportant complaints about the Defence Professor?”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Harry was rather confused.
 “But this could 
\emph on
be
\emph default
 important, yesterday I got this sudden sense of doom when 
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout

--
\end_layout

\end_inset

”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Mr.
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout


\backslash
 
\end_layout

\end_inset

Potter! I have a sense of doom as well! And my sense of doom is suggesting
 that 
\emph on
you must not finish that sentence!
\emph default
”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Harry's mouth gaped open.
 Professor McGonagall had succeeded; Harry was speechless.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Mr.
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout


\backslash
 
\end_layout

\end_inset

Potter,” said Professor McGonagall, “if you have discovered anything that
 seems interesting about Professor Quirrell, please feel free not to share
 it with me or anyone else.
 Now I think you've taken up enough of my valuable time 
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout

--
\end_layout

\end_inset

”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“
\emph on
This isn't like you!
\emph default
” Harry burst out.
 “I'm sorry but that just seems 
\emph on
unbelievably
\emph default
 irresponsible! From what I've heard there's some kind of jinx on the Defence
 position, and if you already 
\emph on
know
\emph default
 something's going to go wrong, I'd think you'd all be on your toes 
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout

--
\end_layout

\end_inset

”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Go 
\emph on
wrong
\emph default
, Mr.
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout


\backslash
 
\end_layout

\end_inset

Potter? 
\emph on
I certainly hope not.
\emph default
” Professor McGonagall's face was expressionless.
 “After Professor Blake was caught in a closet with no fewer than three
 fifth-year Slytherins last February, and a year before that, Professor
 Summers failed so completely as an educator that her students thought a
 boggart was a kind of furniture, it would be 
\emph on
catastrophic
\emph default
 if some problem with the extraordinarily competent Professor Quirrell came
 to my attention now, and I daresay most of our students would fail their
 Defence O.W.L.s and N.E.W.T.s.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“I see,” Harry said slowly, taking it all in.
 “So in other words, whatever's wrong with Professor Quirrell, you desperately
 don't want to know about it until the end of the school year.
 And since it's currently September, he could assassinate the Prime Minister
 on live television and get away with it so far as you're concerned.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Professor McGonagall gazed at him unblinkingly.
 “I am certain that I could never be heard endorsing such a statement, Mr.
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout


\backslash
 
\end_layout

\end_inset

Potter.
 At Hogwarts we strive to be proactive with respect to 
\emph on
anything
\emph default
 that threatens the educational attainment of our students.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard

\emph on
Such as first-year Ravenclaws who can't keep their mouths shut.

\emph default
 “I believe I understand you completely, Professor McGonagall.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Oh, I doubt that, Mr.
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout


\backslash
 
\end_layout

\end_inset

Potter.
 I doubt that very much.” Professor McGonagall leaned forward, her face tightenin
g again.
 “Since you and I have already discussed matters far more sensitive than
 these, I shall speak frankly.
 You, and you alone, have reported this mysterious sense of doom.
 You, and you alone, are a chaos magnet the likes of which I have never
 seen.
 After our little shopping trip to Diagon Alley, and 
\emph on
then
\emph default
 the Sorting Hat, and then 
\emph on
today's
\emph default
 little episode, I can well foresee that I am fated to sit in the Headmaster's
 office and hear some hilarious tale about Professor Quirrell in which you
 and you alone play a starring role, after which there will be no choice
 but to fire him.
 I am already resigned to it, Mr.
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout


\backslash
 
\end_layout

\end_inset

Potter.
 And if this sad event takes place any earlier than the Ides of May, I will
 string you up by the gates of Hogwarts with your own intestines and pour
 fire beetles into your nose.
 
\emph on
Now
\emph default
 do you understand me completely?”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Harry nodded, his eyes very wide.
 Then, after a second, “What do I get if I can make it happen on the last
 day of the school year?”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“
\emph on
Get out of my office!
\emph default
”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Quote
\align center
\begin_inset Graphics
	filename fleur.png
	scale 50

\end_inset


\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Thursday.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
There must have been something about Thursdays in Hogwarts.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
It was 5:32pm on Thursday afternoon, and Harry was standing next to Professor
 Flitwick, in front of the great stone gargoyle that guarded the entrance
 to the Headmaster's office.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
No sooner had he made it back from Professor McGonagall's office to the
 Ravenclaw study rooms than one of the students told him to report to Professor
 Flitwick's office, and there Harry had learned that Dumbledore wanted to
 speak to him.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Harry, feeling rather apprehensive, had asked Professor Flitwick if the
 Headmaster had said what this was about.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Professor Flitwick had shrugged in a helpless sort of way.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Apparently Dumbledore had said that Harry was far too young to invoke the
 words of power and madness.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard

\emph on
Happy happy boom boom swamp swamp swamp?
\emph default
 Harry had thought but not said aloud.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Please don't worry too much, Mr.
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout


\backslash
 
\end_layout

\end_inset

Potter,” squeaked Professor Flitwick from somewhere around Harry's shoulder
 level.
 (Harry was grateful for Professor Flitwick's gigantic puffy beard, it was
 hard getting used to a Professor who was not only shorter than him but
 spoke in a higher-pitched voice.) “Headmaster Dumbledore may seem a little
 odd, or a lot odd, or even extremely odd, but he has never hurt a student
 in the slightest, and I don't believe he ever will.” Professor Flitwick
 gave Harry an encouraging smile.
 “Just keep that in mind at all times and you'll be sure not to panic!”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
This was not helping.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Good luck!” squeaked Professor Flitwick, and leaned over to the gargoyle
 and said something that Harry somehow failed to hear at all.
 (Of course, the password wouldn't be much good if you could hear someone
 saying it.) And the stone gargoyle walked aside with a very natural and
 ordinary movement that Harry found rather shocking, since the gargoyle
 still looked like solid, immovable stone the whole time.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Behind the gargoyle was a set of slowly revolving spiral stairs.
 There was something disturbingly hypnotic about it, and even more disturbing
 was that 
\emph on
revolving
\emph default
 the spiral ought not to take you anywhere.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Up you go!” squeaked Flitwick.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Harry rather nervously stepped onto the spiral, and found himself, for some
 reason that his brain couldn't seem to visualise at all, moving upwards.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
The gargoyle thudded back into place behind him, and the spiral stairs kept
 turning and Harry kept being higher up, and after a rather dizzying time,
 Harry found himself in front of an oak door with a brass griffin knocker.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Harry reached out and turned the doorknob.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
The door swung open.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
And Harry saw the most interesting room he'd ever seen in his life.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
There were tiny metal mechanisms that whirred or ticked or slowly changed
 shape or emitted little puffs of smoke.
 There were dozens of mysterious fluids in dozens of oddly shaped containers,
 all bubbling, boiling, oozing, changing color, or forming into interesting
 shapes that vanished half a second after you saw them.
 There were things that looked like clocks with many hands, inscribed with
 numbers or in unrecognisable languages.
 There was a bracelet bearing a lenticular crystal that sparkled with a
 thousand colors, and a bird perched atop a golden platform, and a wooden
 cup filled with what looked like blood, and a statue of a falcon encrusted
 in black enamel.
 The wall was all hung with pictures of people sleeping, and the Sorting
 Hat was casually poised on a hatrack that was also holding two umbrellas
 and three red slippers for left feet.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
In the midst of all the chaos was a clean black oaken desk.
 Before the desk was an oaken stool.
 And behind the desk was a well-cushioned throne containing Albus Percival
 Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, who was adorned with a long silver beard, a hat
 like a squashed giant mushroom, and what looked to Muggle eyes like three
 layers of bright pink pyjamas.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Dumbledore was smiling, and his bright eyes twinkled with a mad intensity.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
With some trepidation, Harry seated himself in front of the desk.
 The door swung shut behind him with a loud 
\emph on
thunk.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Hello, Harry,” said Dumbledore.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Hello, Headmaster,” Harry replied.
 So they were on a first-name basis? Would Dumbledore now say to call him
 
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout

--
\end_layout

\end_inset


\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Please, Harry!” said Dumbledore.
 “Headmaster sounds so formal.
 Just call me Heh for short.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“I'll be sure to, Heh,” said Harry.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
There was a slight pause.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Do you know,” said Dumbledore, “you're the first person who's ever taken
 me up on that?”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Ah…” Harry said.
 He tried to control his voice despite the sudden sinking feeling in his
 stomach.
 “I'm sorry, I, ah, Headmaster, you told me to do it so I did 
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout

--
\end_layout

\end_inset

”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Heh, please!” said Dumbledore cheerfully.
 “And there's no call to be so worried, I won't launch you out a window
 just because you make one mistake.
 I'll give you plenty of warnings first, if you're doing something wrong!
 Besides, what matters isn't how people talk to you, it's what they think
 of you.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard

\emph on
He's never hurt a student, just keep remembering that and you'll be sure
 not to panic.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Dumbledore drew forth a small metal case and flipped it open, showing some
 small yellow lumps.
 “Sherbet lemon?” said the Headmaster.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Er, no thank you, Heh,” said Harry.
 
\emph on
Does slipping a student LSD count as hurting them, or does that fall into
 the category of harmless fun?
\emph default
 “You, um, said something about my being too young to invoke the words of
 power and madness?”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“That you most certainly are!” Dumbledore said.
 “Thankfully the Words of Power and Madness were lost seven centuries ago
 and no one has the slightest idea what they are anymore.
 It was just a little remark.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Ah…” Harry said.
 He was aware that his mouth was hanging open.
 “Why did you call me here, then?”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“
\emph on
Why?
\emph default
” Dumbledore repeated.
 “Ah, Harry, if I went around all day asking 
\emph on
why
\emph default
 I do things, I'd never have time to get a single thing done! I'm quite
 a busy person, you know.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Harry nodded, smiling.
 “Yes, it was a very impressive list.
 Headmaster of Hogwarts, Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot, and Supreme Mugwump
 of the International Confederation of Wizards.
 Sorry to ask but I was wondering, is it possible to get more than six hours
 if you use more than one Time-Turner? Because it's pretty impressive if
 you're doing all that on just thirty hours a day.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
There was another slight pause, during which Harry went on smiling.
 He was a little apprehensive, actually a lot apprehensive, but once it
 had become clear that Dumbledore was deliberately messing with him, something
 within him 
\emph on
absolutely refused
\emph default
 to sit and take it like a defenceless lump.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“I'm afraid Time doesn't like being stretched out too much,” said Dumbledore
 after the slight pause, “and yet we ourselves seem to be a little too large
 for it, and so it's a constant struggle to fit our lives into Time.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Indeed,” Harry said with grave solemnity.
 “That's why it's best to come to our points quickly.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
For a moment Harry wondered if he'd gone too far.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Then Dumbledore chuckled.
 “Straight to the point it shall be.” The Headmaster leaned forwards, tilting
 his squashed mushroom hat and brushing his beard against his desk.
 “Harry, this Monday you did something that should have been impossible
 even with a Time-Turner.
 Or rather, impossible with 
\emph on
only
\emph default
 a Time-Turner.
 Where did those two pies come from, I wonder?”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
A jolt of adrenaline shot through Harry.
 He'd done that using the Cloak of Invisibility, the one that had been given
 him in a Christmas box along with a note, and that note had said: 
\emph on
If Dumbledore saw a chance to possess one of the Deathly Hallows he would
 never let it escape his grasp.…
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“A natural thought,” Dumbledore went on, “is that since none of the first-years
 present were able to cast such a spell, someone else was present, and yet
 unseen.
 And if no one could see them, why, it would be easy enough for them to
 throw the pies.
 One might further suspect that since you had a Time-Turner, you were the
 invisible one; and that since the spell of Disillusionment is far beyond
 your current abilities, you had an invisibility cloak.” Dumbledore smiled
 conspiratorially.
 “Am I on the right track so far, Harry?”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Harry was frozen.
 He had the feeling that an outright lie would not at all be wise, and possibly
 not the least bit helpful, and he couldn't think of anything else to say.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Dumbledore waved a friendly hand.
 “Don't worry, Harry, you haven't done anything wrong.
 Invisibility cloaks aren't against the rules 
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout

--
\end_layout

\end_inset

 I suppose they're rare enough that no one ever got around to putting them
 on the list.
 But really I was wondering something else entirely.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Oh?” Harry said in the most normal voice he could manage.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Dumbledore's eyes shone with enthusiasm.
 “You see, Harry, after you've been through a few adventures you tend to
 catch the hang of these things.
 You start to see the pattern, hear the rhythm of the world.
 You begin to harbour suspicions 
\emph on
before
\emph default
 the moment of revelation.
 You are the Boy-Who-Lived, and somehow an invisibility cloak made its way
 into your hands only four days after you discovered our magical Britain.
 Such cloaks are not for sale in Diagon Alley, but there is 
\emph on
one
\emph default
 which might find its own way to a destined wearer.
 And so I cannot help but wonder if by some strange chance you have found
 not just 
\emph on
an
\emph default
 invisibility cloak, but 
\emph on
the
\emph default
 Cloak of Invisibility, one of the three Deathly Hallows and reputed to
 hide the wearer from the gaze of Death himself.” Dumbledore's gaze was bright
 and eager.
 “May I see it, Harry?”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Harry swallowed.
 There was a full flood of adrenaline in his system now and it was entirely
 useless, this was the most powerful wizard in the world and there was no
 way he could make it out the door and there was nowhere in Hogwarts for
 him to hide if he did, he was about to lose the Cloak that had been passed
 down through the Potters for who knew how long 
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout

--
\end_layout

\end_inset


\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Slowly Dumbledore leaned back into his high chair.
 The bright light had gone out of his eyes, and he looked puzzled and a
 little sorrowful.
 “Harry,” said Dumbledore, “if you don't want to, you can just say no.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“I can?” Harry croaked.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Yes, Harry,” said Dumbledore.
 His voice sounded sad now, and worried.
 “It seems that you're afraid of me, Harry.
 May I ask what I've done to earn your distrust?”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Harry swallowed.
 “Is there some way you can swear a binding magical oath that you won't
 take my cloak?”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Dumbledore shook his head slowly.
 “Unbreakable Vows are not to be used so lightly.
 And besides, Harry, if you did not already know the spell, you would have
 only my word that the spell was binding.
 Yet surely you realise that I do not 
\emph on
need
\emph default
 your permission to see the Cloak.
 I am powerful enough to draw it forth myself, mokeskin pouch or no.” Dumbledore'
s face was very grave.
 “But this I will not do.
 The Cloak is yours, Harry.
 I will not seize it from you.
 Not even to look at for just a moment, unless you decide to show it to
 me.
 That is a promise and an oath.
 Should I need to prohibit you from using it on the school grounds, I will
 require you to go to your vault at Gringotts and store it there.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Ah…” Harry said.
 He swallowed hard, trying to calm the flood of adrenaline and think reasonably.
 He took the mokeskin pouch off his belt.
 “If you really 
\emph on
don't
\emph default
 need my permission… then you have it.” Harry held out the pouch to Dumbledore,
 and bit down hard on his lip, sending that signal to himself in case he
 was Obliviated afterwards.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
The old wizard reached into the pouch, and without saying any word of retrieval,
 drew forth the Cloak of Invisibility.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Ah,” breathed Dumbledore.
 “I was right…” He poured the shimmering black velvet mesh through his hand.
 “Centuries old, and still as perfect as the day it was made.
 We have lost much of our art over the years, and now I cannot make such
 a thing myself, no one can.
 I can feel the power of it like an echo in my mind, like a song forever
 being sung without anyone to hear it…” The wizard looked up from the Cloak.
 “Do not sell it,” he said, “do not give it to anyone as a possession.
 Think twice before you show it to anyone, and ponder three times again
 before you reveal it is a Deathly Hallow.
 Treat it with respect, for this is indeed a Thing of Power.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
For a moment Dumbledore's face grew wistful…
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
…and then he handed the Cloak back to Harry.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Harry put it back in his pouch.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Dumbledore's face was grave once more.
 “May I ask again, Harry, how you came to distrust me so?”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Suddenly Harry felt rather ashamed.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“There was a note with the Cloak,” Harry said in a small voice.
 “It said that you would try to take the Cloak from me, if you knew.
 I don't know who left the note, though, I really don't.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“I… see,” Dumbledore said slowly.
 “Well, Harry, I won't impugn the motives of whoever left you that note.
 Who knows but that they themselves may have had the best of good intentions?
 They did give you the Cloak, after all.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Harry nodded, impressed by Dumbledore's charity, and abashed at the sharp
 contrast with his own attitude.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
The old wizard went on.
 “But you and I are both gamepieces of the same color, I think.
 The boy who finally defeated Voldemort, and the old man who held him off
 long enough for you to save the day.
 I will not hold your caution against you, Harry, we must all do our best
 to be wise.
 I will only ask that you think twice and ponder three times again, the
 next time someone tells you to distrust me.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“I'm sorry,” Harry said.
 He felt wretched at this point, he'd just told off Gandalf essentially,
 and Dumbledore's kindness was only making him feel worse.
 “I shouldn't have distrusted you.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Alas, Harry, in this world…” The old wizard shook his head.
 “I cannot even say you were unwise.
 You did not know me.
 And in truth there are some at Hogwarts who you would do well not to trust.
 Perhaps even some you call friends.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Harry swallowed.
 That sounded rather ominous.
 “Like who?”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Dumbledore stood up from his chair, and began examining one of his instruments,
 a dial with eight hands of varying length.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
After a few moments, the old wizard spoke again.
 “He probably seems to you quite charming,” said Dumbledore.
 “Polite 
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout

--
\end_layout

\end_inset

 to you at least.
 Well-spoken, maybe even admiring.
 Always ready with a helping hand, a favour, a word of advice 
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout

--
\end_layout

\end_inset

”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Oh, 
\emph on
Draco Malfoy!
\emph default
” Harry said, feeling rather relieved that it wasn't Her\SpecialChar \-
mione or something.
 “Oh no, no no no, you've got it all wrong, he's not turning me, I'm turning
 him.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Dumbledore froze where he was peering at the dial.
 “You're 
\emph on
what?
\emph default
”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“I'm going to turn Draco Malfoy from the Dark Side,” Harry said.
 “You know, make him a good guy.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Dumbledore straightened and turned to Harry.
 He was wearing one of the most astonished expressions Harry had ever seen
 on anyone, let alone someone with a long silver beard.
 “Are you certain,” said the old wizard after a moment, “that he is ready
 to be redeemed? I fear that whatever goodness you think you see within
 him is only wishful thinking 
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout

--
\end_layout

\end_inset

 or worse, a lure, a bait 
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout

--
\end_layout

\end_inset

”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Er, not likely,” Harry said.
 “I mean if he's trying to disguise himself as a good guy he's incredibly
 bad at it.
 This isn't a question of Draco coming up to me and being all charming and
 me deciding that he must have a hidden core of goodness deep down.
 I selected him for redemption specifically because he's the heir to House
 Malfoy and if you had to pick one person to redeem, it would obviously
 be him.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Dumbledore's left eye twitched.
 “You intend to sow seeds of love and kindness in Draco Malfoy's heart because
 you expect Malfoy's heir to prove valuable to you?”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Not just to 
\emph on
me!
\emph default
” Harry said indignantly.
 “To all of magical Britain, if this works out! 
\emph on
And
\emph default
 he'll have a happier and mentally healthier life himself! Look, I don't
 have enough time to turn 
\emph on
everyone
\emph default
 away from the Dark Side and I've got to ask where the Light can gain the
 most advantage the fastest
\begin_inset space ~
\end_inset


\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout

--
\end_layout

\end_inset

”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Dumbledore started laughing.
 Laughing a lot harder than Harry would expect, almost howling.
 It seemed positively 
\emph on
undignified.

\emph default
 An ancient and powerful wizard ought to chuckle in deep booming tones,
 not laugh so hard he was gasping for breath.
 Harry had once literally fallen out of his chair while watching the Marx
 Brothers movie 
\emph on
Duck Soup,
\emph default
 and that was how hard Dumbledore was laughing now.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“It's not 
\emph on
that
\emph default
 funny,” Harry said after a while.
 He was starting to worry about Dumbledore's sanity again.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Dumbledore got himself under control again with a visible effort.
 “Ah, Harry, one symptom of the disease called wisdom is that you begin
 laughing at things that no one else thinks is funny, because when you're
 wise, Harry, you start getting the jokes!” The old wizard wiped tears away
 from his eyes.
 “Ah, me.
 Ah, me.
 Oft evil will shall evil mar indeed, in very deed.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Harry's brain took a moment to place the familiar words… “Hey, that's a
 
\emph on
Tolkien
\emph default
 quote! 
\emph on
Gandalf
\emph default
 says that!”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Theoden, actually,” said Dumbledore.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“You're 
\emph on
Muggleborn?
\emph default
” Harry said in shock.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“I'm afraid not,” said Dumbledore, smiling again.
 “I was born seventy years before that book was published, dear child.
 But it seems that my Muggleborn students tend to think alike in certain
 ways.
 I have accumulated no fewer than twenty copies of 
\emph on
The Lord of the Rings
\emph default
 and three sets of Tolkien's entire collected works, and I treasure every
 one of them.” Dumbledore drew his wand and held it up and struck a pose.
 “
\emph on
You cannot pass!
\emph default
 How does that look?”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Ah,” Harry said in something approaching complete brain shutdown, “I think
 you're missing a Balrog.” And the pink pyjamas and squashed mushroom hat
 were not helping in the slightest.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“I see.” Dumbledore sighed and glumly sheathed the wand in his belt.
 “I fear there have been precious few Balrogs in my life of late.
 Nowadays it's all meetings of the Wizengamot where I must try desperately
 to prevent any work from getting done, and formal dinners where foreign
 politicians compete to see who can be the most obstinate fool.
 And being mysterious at people, knowing things I have no way of knowing,
 making cryptic statements which can only be understood in hindsight, and
 all the other small ways in which powerful wizards amuse themselves after
 they have left the part of the pattern that allows them to be heroes.
 Speaking of which, Harry, I have a certain something to give you, something
 which belonged to your father.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“You do?” said Harry.
 “Gosh, who would have figured.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Yes indeed,” said Dumbledore.
 “I suppose it is a little predictable, isn't it?” His face turned solemn.
 “Nonetheless…”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Dumbledore went back to his desk and sat down, pulling out one of the drawers
 as he did so.
 He reached in using both arms, and, straining slightly, pulled a rather
 large and heavy-looking object out of the drawer, which he then deposited
 on his oaken desk with a huge thunk.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“This,” Dumbledore said, “was your father's rock.”
\begin_inset Float figure
wide false
sideways false
status collapsed

\begin_layout Plain Layout
\align center
\begin_inset Graphics
	filename 017-THIS_was_your_father__s_rock_2_by_dinosaurusgede.png
	lyxscale 30

\end_inset


\end_layout

\begin_layout Plain Layout
\align center
\begin_inset Box Frameless
position "t"
hor_pos "c"
has_inner_box 1
inner_pos "t"
use_parbox 0
use_makebox 0
width "80col%"
special "none"
height "1in"
height_special "totalheight"
status collapsed

\begin_layout Plain Layout

\size small
“This,” Dumbledore said, “was your father's rock.”
\end_layout

\end_inset


\end_layout

\end_inset


\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Harry stared at it.
 It was light gray, discolored, irregularly shaped, sharp-edged, and very
 much a plain old ordinary large rock.
 Dumbledore had deposited it so that it rested on the widest available cross-sec
tion, but it still wobbled unstably on his desk.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Harry looked up.
 “This is a joke, right?”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“It is not,” said Dumbledore, shaking his head and looking very serious.
 “I took this from the ruins of James and Lily's home in Godric's Hollow,
 where also I found you; and I have kept it from then until now, against
 the day when I could give it to you.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
In the mixture of hypotheses that served as Harry's model of the world,
 Dumbledore's insanity was rapidly rising in probability.
 But there 
\emph on
was
\emph default
 still a substantial amount of probability allocated to other alternatives…
 “Um, is it a 
\emph on
magical
\emph default
 rock?”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Not so far as I know,” said Dumbledore.
 “But I advise you with the greatest possible stringency to keep it close
 about your person at all times.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
All right.
 Dumbledore was 
\emph on
probably
\emph default
 insane but if he 
\emph on
wasn't
\emph default
… well, it would be just too 
\emph on
embarrassing
\emph default
 to get in trouble from ignoring the advice of the inscrutable old wizard.
 That had to be like #4 on the list of the Top 100 Obvious Failure Modes.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Harry stepped forward and put his hands on the rock, trying to find some
 angle from which to lift it without cutting himself.
 “I'll put it in my pouch, then.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Dumbledore frowned.
 “That may not be close enough to your person.
 And what if your mokeskin pouch is lost, or stolen?”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“You think I should just carry a big rock everywhere I go?”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Dumbledore gave Harry a serious look.
 “That might prove wise.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Ah…” Harry said.
 It looked rather heavy.
 “I'd think the other students would tend to ask me questions about that.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Tell them I ordered you to do it,” said Dumbledore.
 “No one will question that, since they all think I'm insane.” His face was
 still perfectly serious.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Er, to be honest if you go around ordering your students to carry large
 rocks I can kind of see why people would think that.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Ah, Harry,” said Dumbledore.
 The old wizard gestured, a sweep of one hand that seemed to take in all
 the mysterious instruments around the room.
 “When we are young we believe that we know everything, and so we believe
 that if we see no explanation for something, then no explanation exists.
 When we are older we realise that the whole universe works by a rhythm
 and a reason, even if we ourselves do not know it.
 It is only our own ignorance which appears to us as insanity.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Reality is always lawful,” said Harry, “even if we don't know the law.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Precisely, Harry,” said Dumbledore.
 “To understand this 
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout

--
\end_layout

\end_inset

 and I see that you 
\emph on
do
\emph default
 understand it 
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout

--
\end_layout

\end_inset

 is the essence of wisdom.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“So… 
\emph on
why
\emph default
 do I have to carry this rock exactly?”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“I can't think of a reason, actually,” said Dumbledore.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“…you can't.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Dumbledore nodded.
 “But just because I can't think of a reason doesn't mean there 
\emph on
is
\emph default
 no reason.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
The instruments ticked on.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Okay,” said Harry, “I'm not even sure if I should be saying this, but that
 is simply not the correct way to deal with our admitted ignorance of how
 the universe works.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“It isn't?” said the old wizard, looking surprised and disappointed.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Harry had the feeling this conversation was not going to work out in his
 favour, but he carried on regardless.
 “No.
 I don't even know if that fallacy has an official name, but if I had to
 make one up myself, it would be `privileging the hypothesis' or something
 like that.
 How can I put this formally… um… suppose you had a million boxes, and only
 one of the boxes contained a diamond.
 And you had a box full of diamond-detectors, and each diamond-detector
 always went off in the presence of a diamond, and went off half the time
 on boxes that didn't have a diamond.
 If you ran twenty detectors over all the boxes, you'd have, on average,
 one false candidate and one true candidate left.
 And then it would just take one or two more detectors before you were left
 with the one true candidate.
 The point being that when there are lots of possible answers, 
\emph on
most
\emph default
 of the evidence you need goes into just 
\emph on
locating
\emph default
 the true hypothesis out of millions of possibilities 
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout

--
\end_layout

\end_inset

 bringing it to your attention in the first place.
 The amount of evidence you need to judge between two or three plausible
 candidates is much smaller by comparison.
 So if you just jump ahead without evidence and promote one particular possibili
ty to the focus of your attention, you're skipping over most of the work.
 Like, you live in a city where there are a million people, and there's
 a murder, and a detective says, well, we've got no evidence at all, so
 have we considered the possibility that Mortimer Snodgrass did it?”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Did he?” said Dumbledore.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“No,” said Harry.
 “But later it turns out that the murderer had black hair, and Mortimer
 has black hair, so everyone's like, ah, looks like Mortimer did it after
 all.
 So it's unfair to Mortimer for the police to 
\emph on
promote him to their attention
\emph default
 without having good reasons already in hand to suspect him.
 When there are lots of possibilities, most of the work goes into just 
\emph on
locating
\emph default
 the true answer 
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout

--
\end_layout

\end_inset

 starting to pay attention to it.
 You don't need 
\emph on
proof
\emph default
, or the sort of official evidence that scientists or courts demand, but
 you need some sort of 
\emph on
hint
\emph default
, and that hint has to discriminate that particular possibility from the
 millions of others.
 Otherwise you can't just pluck the right answer out of thin air.
 You can't even pluck a possibility worth thinking about out of thin air.
 And there's got to be a million other things I could do besides carrying
 around my father's rock.
 Just because I'm ignorant about the universe doesn't mean that I'm unsure
 about how I should reason in the presence of my uncertainty.
 The laws for thinking with probabilities are no less iron than the laws
 that govern old-fashioned logic, and what you just did is 
\emph on
not allowed.
\emph default
” Harry paused.
 “
\emph on
Unless
\emph default
, of course, you have some 
\emph on
hint
\emph default
 you're not mentioning.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Ah,” said Dumbledore.
 He tapped his cheek, looking thoughtful.
 “An interesting argument, certainly, but doesn't it break down at the point
 where you make an analogy between a million potential murderers only one
 of whom committed the murder, and taking one out of many possible courses
 of action, when many possible courses of action may all be wise? I do not
 say that carrying your father's rock is the one best possible course of
 action, only that it is wiser to do than not.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Dumbledore once again reached into the same desk drawer he had accessed
 earlier, this time seeming to root around inside 
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout

--
\end_layout

\end_inset

 at least his arm seemed to be moving.
 “I will remark,” Dumbledore said while Harry was still trying to sort out
 how to reply to this completely unexpected rejoinder, “that it is a common
 misconception of Ravenclaws that all the smart children are Sorted there,
 leaving none for other Houses.
 This is not so; being Sorted to Ravenclaw indicates that you are driven
 by your desire to know things, which is not at all the same quality as
 being intelligent.” The wizard was smiling as he bent over the drawer.
 “Nonetheless, you 
\emph on
do
\emph default
 seem rather intelligent.
 Less like an ordinary young hero and more like a young mysterious ancient
 wizard.
 I think I may have been taking the wrong approach with you, Harry, and
 that you may be able to understand things that few others could grasp.
 So I shall be daring, and offer you a certain 
\emph on
other
\emph default
 heirloom.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“You don't mean…” gasped Harry.
 “My father… 
\emph on
owned another rock?
\emph default
”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Excuse me,” said Dumbledore, “I 
\emph on
am
\emph default
 still older and more mysterious than you and if there are any revelations
 to be made then 
\emph on
I
\emph default
 will do the revealing, thank you… oh, where 
\emph on
is
\emph default
 that thing!” Dumbledore reached down further into the desk drawer, and
 still further.
 His head and shoulders and whole torso disappeared inside until only his
 hips and legs were sticking out, as though the desk drawer was eating him.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Harry couldn't help but wonder just how much stuff was in there and what
 the complete inventory would look like.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Finally Dumbledore rose back up out of the drawer, holding the objective
 of his search, which he set down on the desk alongside the rock.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
It was a used, ragged-edged, worn-spined textbook: 
\emph on
Intermediate Potion Making
\emph default
 by Libatius Borage.
 There was a picture of a smoking vial on the cover.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“This,” Dumbledore intoned, “was your mother's fifth-year Potions textbook.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Which I am to carry with me at all times,” said Harry.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“
\emph on
Which holds a terrible secret
\emph default
.
 A secret whose revelation could prove so disastrous that I must ask you
 to swear 
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout

--
\end_layout

\end_inset

 and I do require you to swear it seriously, Harry, whatever you may think
 of all this 
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout

--
\end_layout

\end_inset

 never to tell anyone or anything else.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Harry considered his mother's fifth-year Potions textbook, which, apparently,
 held a terrible secret.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
The problem was that Harry 
\emph on
did
\emph default
 take that oaths like that very seriously.
 Any vow was an Unbreakable Vow if made by the right sort of person.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
And…
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“I'm feeling thirsty,” Harry said, “and that is not at all a good sign.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Dumbledore entirely failed to ask any questions about this cryptic statement.
 “
\emph on
Do
\emph default
 you swear, Harry?” said Dumbledore.
 His eyes gazed intently into Harry's.
 “Otherwise I cannot tell you.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Yes,” said Harry.
 “I swear.” That was the trouble with being a Ravenclaw.
 You couldn't refuse an offer like that or your curiosity would eat you
 alive, and everyone else knew it.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“And I swear in turn,” said Dumbledore, “that what I am about to tell you
 is the truth.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Dumbledore opened the book, seemingly at random, and Harry leaned in to
 see.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Do you see these notes,” Dumbledore said in a voice so low it was almost
 a whisper, “written in the margins of the book?”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Harry squinted slightly.
 The yellowing pages seemed to be describing something called a 
\emph on
potion of eagle's splendour,
\emph default
 many of the ingredients being items that Harry didn't recognise at all
 and whose names didn't appear to derive from English.
 Scrawled in the margin was a handwritten annotation saying, 
\emph on
I wonder what would happen if you used Thestral blood here instead of blueberrie
s?
\emph default
 and immediately beneath was a reply in different handwriting, 
\emph on
You'd get sick for weeks and maybe die.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“I see them,” said Harry.
 “What about them?”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Dumbledore pointed to the second scrawl.
 “The ones in this handwriting,” he said, still in that low voice, “were
 written by your mother.
 And the ones in 
\emph on
this
\emph default
 handwriting,” moving his finger to indicate the first scrawl, “were written
 by me.
 I would turn myself invisible and sneak into her dorm room while she was
 sleeping.
 Lily thought one of her friends was writing them and they had the most
 amazing fights.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
That was the exact point at which Harry realised that the Headmaster of
 Hogwarts 
\emph on
was,
\emph default
 in fact, crazy.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Dumbledore was looking at him with a serious expression.
 “Do you understand the implications of what I have just told you, Harry?”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Ehhh…” Harry said.
 His voice seemed to be stuck.
 “Sorry… I… not really…”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Ah well,” said Dumbledore, and sighed.
 “I suppose your cleverness has limits after all, then.
 Shall we all just pretend I didn't say anything?”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Harry rose from his chair, wearing a fixed smile.
 “Of course,” Harry said.
 “You know it's actually getting rather late in the day and I'm a bit hungry,
 so I should be going down to dinner, really” and Harry made a beeline for
 the door.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
The doorknob entirely failed to turn.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“You wound me, Harry,” said Dumbledore's voice in quiet tones that were
 coming from right behind him.
 “Do you not at least realise that what I have told you is a sign of trust?”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Harry slowly turned around.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
In front of him was a very powerful and very insane wizard with a long silver
 beard, a hat like a squashed giant mushroom, and wearing what looked to
 Muggle eyes like three layers of bright pink pyjamas.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Behind him was a door that didn't seem to be working at the moment.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Dumbledore was looking rather saddened and weary, like he wanted to lean
 on a wizard's staff he didn't have.
 “Really,” said Dumbledore, “you try anything new instead of following the
 same pattern every time for a hundred and ten years, and people all start
 running away.” The old wizard shook his head in sorrow.
 “I'd hoped for better from you, Harry Potter.
 I'd heard that your own friends also think you mad.
 I know they are mistaken.
 Will you not believe the same of me?”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Please open the door,” Harry said, his voice trembling.
 “If you ever want me to trust you again, open the door.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
There was the sound behind him of a door opening.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“There were more things I planned to say to you,” Dumbledore said, “and
 if you leave now, you will not know what they were.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Sometimes Harry absolutely 
\emph on
hated
\emph default
 being a Ravenclaw.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard

\emph on
He's never hurt a student,
\emph default
 said Harry's Gryffindor side.
 
\emph on
Just keep remembering that and you'll be sure not to panic.
 You're not going to run away just because things are getting interesting,
 are you?
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard

\emph on
You can't just walk out on the Headmaster!
\emph default
 said the Hufflepuff part.
 
\emph on
What if he starts deducting House points? He could make your school life
 very difficult if he decides he doesn't like you!
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
And a piece of himself which Harry didn't much like but couldn't quite manage
 to silence was pondering the potential advantages of being one of the few
 friends of this mad old wizard who also happened to be Headmaster, Chief
 Warlock, and Supreme Mugwump.
 And unfortunately his inner Slytherin seemed to be much better than Draco
 at turning people to the Dark Side, because it was saying things like 
\emph on
poor fellow, he looks like he needs someone to talk to, doesn't he?
\emph default
 and 
\emph on
you wouldn't want such a powerful man to end up trusting someone less virtuous,
 would you?
\emph default
 and 
\emph on
I wonder what sort of incredible secrets Dumbledore could tell you if, you
 know, you became friends with him
\emph default
 and even 
\emph on
I bet he's got a reaallly interesting book collection.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard

\emph on
You're all a bunch of lunatics,
\emph default
 Harry thought at the entire assemblage, but he'd been unanimously outvoted
 by every component part of himself.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Harry turned, took a step towards the open door, reached out, and deliberately
 closed it again.
 It was a costless sacrifice given that he was staying anyway, Dumbledore
 could control his movements regardless, but maybe it would impress Dumbledore.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
When Harry turned back around he saw that the powerful insane wizard was
 once more smiling and looking friendly.
 That was good, maybe.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Please don't do that again,” Harry said.
 “I don't like being trapped.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“I 
\emph on
am
\emph default
 sorry about that, Harry,” said Dumbledore in what sounded like tones of
 sincere apology.
 “But it would have been terribly unwise to let you leave without your father's
 rock.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Of course,” Harry said.
 “It wasn't reasonable of me to expect the door to open before I put the
 quest items in my inventory.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Dumbledore smiled and nodded.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Harry went over to the desk, twisted his mokeskin pouch around to the front
 of his belt, and, with some effort, managed to heave up the rock in his
 eleven-year-old arms and feed it in.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
He could actually feel the weight slowly diminishing as the Widening Lip
 charm ate the rock, and the burp which followed was rather noisy and had
 a distinctly complaining sound to it.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
His mother's fifth-year Potions textbook (which held a secret that was in
 fact pretty terrible) followed shortly after.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
And then Harry's inner Slytherin made a sly suggestion for ingratiating
 himself with the Headmaster, which, unfortunately, had been perfectly pitched
 in such a way as to gain the support of the majority Ravenclaw faction.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“So,” Harry said.
 “Um.
 As long as I'm hanging around, I don't suppose you would like to give me
 a bit of a tour of your office? I'm a bit curious as to what some of these
 things are,” and that was his understatement for the month of September.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Dumbledore gazed at him, and then nodded with a slight grin.
 “I'm flattered by your interest,” said Dumbledore, “but I'm afraid there
 isn't much to say.” Dumbledore took a step closer to the wall and pointed
 to a painting of a sleeping man.
 “These are portraits of past Headmasters of Hogwarts.” He turned and pointed
 to his desk.
 “This is my desk.” He pointed to his chair.
 “This is my chair 
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout

--
\end_layout

\end_inset

”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Excuse me,” Harry said, “actually I was wondering about those.” Harry pointed
 to a small cube that was softly whispering “blorple… blorple… blorple”.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Oh, the little fiddly things?” said Dumbledore.
 “They came with the Headmaster's office and I have absolutely no idea what
 most of them do.
 Although 
\emph on
this
\emph default
 dial with the eight hands counts the number of, let's call them sneezes,
 by left-handed witches within the borders of France, you would not believe
 how much work it took to nail that down.
 And 
\emph on
this
\emph default
 one with the golden wibblers is my own invention and Minerva is never,
 ever going to figure out what it's doing.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Dumbledore took a step over to the hatrack while Harry was still processing
 this.
 “Here of course we have the Sorting Hat, I believe the two of you have
 met.
 It told me that it was never again to be placed on your head under any
 circumstances.
 You're only the fourteenth student in history it's said that about, Baba
 Yaga was another one and I'll tell you about the other twelve when you're
 older.
 This is an umbrella.
 This is another umbrella.” Dumbledore took another few steps and turned
 around, now smiling quite broadly.
 “And of course, most people who come to my office want to see Fawkes.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Dumbledore was standing next to the bird on the golden platform.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Harry came over, rather puzzled.
 “This is Fawkes?”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Fawkes is a phoenix,” said Dumbledore.
 “Very rare, very powerful magical creatures.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Ah…” Harry said.
 He lowered his head and stared into the tiny, beady black eyes, which showed
 not the slightest sign of power or intelligence.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Ahhh…” Harry said again.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
He was pretty sure he recognised the shape of the bird.
 It was pretty hard to miss.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Umm…”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard

\emph on
Say something intelligent!
\emph default
 Harry's mind roared at itself.
 
\emph on
Don't just stand there sounding like a gibbering moron!
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard

\emph on
Well what the heck am I
\emph default
 supposed 
\emph on
to say?
\emph default
 Harry's mind fired back.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard

\emph on
Anything!
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard

\emph on
You mean, anything besides “Fawkes is a chicken” 
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout

--
\end_layout

\end_inset


\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard

\emph on
Yes! Anything but that!
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“So, ah, what sort of magic do phoenixes do, then?”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Their tears have the power to heal,” Dumbledore said.
 “They are creatures of fire, and move between all places as easily as fire
 may extinguish itself in one place and be kindled in another.
 The tremendous strain of their innate magic ages their bodies quickly,
 and yet they are as close to undying as any creature that exists in this
 world, for whenever their bodies fail them they immolate themselves in
 a burst of fire and leave behind a hatchling, or sometimes an egg.” Dumbledore
 came closer and inspected the chicken, frowning.
 “Hm… looking a little peaky there, I'd say.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
By the time this statement registered fully in Harry's mind, the chicken
 was already on fire.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
The chicken's beak opened, but it didn't have time for so much as a single
 caw before it began to wither and char.
 The blaze was brief, intense, and entirely self-contained; there was no
 smell of burning.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
And then the fire died down only seconds after it had begun, leaving behind
 a tiny, pathetic heap of ashes on the golden platform.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Don't look so horrified, Harry!” said Dumbledore.
 “Fawkes hasn't been hurt.” Dumbledore's hand dipped into a pocket, and then
 the same hand sifted through the ashes and turned up a small yellowish
 egg.
 “Look, here's an egg!”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Oh… wow… amazing…”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“But now we really should get on with things,” Dumbledore said.
 Leaving the egg behind in the ashes of the chicken, he returned to his
 throne and seated himself.
 “It's almost time for dinner, after all, and we wouldn't want to have to
 use our Time-Turners.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
There was a violent power struggle going on in the Government of Harry.
 Slytherin and Hufflepuff had switched sides after seeing the Headmaster
 of Hogwarts set fire to a chicken.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Yes, things,” said Harry's lips.
 “And then dinner.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard

\emph on
You're sounding like a gibbering moron again
\emph default
 observed Harry's Internal Critic.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Well,” Dumbledore said.
 “I fear I have a confession to make, Harry.
 A confession and an apology.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Apologies are good” 
\emph on
that doesn't even make sense! What am I talking about?
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
The old wizard sighed deeply.
 “You may not still think so after understanding what I have to say.
 I'm afraid, Harry, that I've been manipulating you your entire life.
 It was I who consigned you to the care of your wicked stepparents 
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout

--
\end_layout

\end_inset

”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“My stepparents aren't wicked!” blurted Harry.
 “My 
\emph on
parents,
\emph default
 I mean!”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“They aren't?” Dumbledore said, looking surprised and disappointed.
 “Not even a little wicked? That doesn't fit the pattern…”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Harry's inner Slytherin screamed at the top of its mental lungs, 
\emph on
SHUT UP YOU IDIOT HE'LL TAKE YOU AWAY FROM THEM!
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“No, no,” said Harry, lips frozen in a ghastly grimace, “I was just trying
 to spare your feelings, they're actually very wicked…”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“They are?” Dumbledore leaned forward, gazing at him intently.
 “What do they do?”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard

\emph on
Talk fast
\emph default
 “they, ah, I have to do dishes and wash problems and they don't let me
 read a lot of books and 
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout

--
\end_layout

\end_inset

”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Ah, good, that's good to hear,” said Dumbledore, leaning back again.
 He smiled in a sad sort of way.
 “I apologise for 
\emph on
that
\emph default
, then.
 Now where was I? Ah, yes.
 I'm sorry to say, Harry, that I am responsible for virtually everything
 bad that has ever happened to you.
 I know that this will probably make you very angry.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Yes, I'm very angry!” said Harry.
 “Grrr!”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Harry's Internal Critic promptly awarded him the All-Time Award for the
 Worst Acting in the History of Ever.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“And I just wanted you to know,” Dumbledore said, “I wanted to tell you
 as early as possible, in case something happens to one of us later, that
 I am truly, truly sorry.
 For everything that has already happened, and everything that will.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Moisture glistened in the old wizard's eyes.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“And I'm very angry!” said Harry.
 “So angry that I want to leave right now unless you've got anything else
 to say!”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard

\emph on
Just GO before he sets you on fire!
\emph default
 shrieked Slytherin, Hufflepuff, and Gryf\SpecialChar \-
findor.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“I understand,” said Dumbledore.
 “One last thing then, Harry.
 You are 
\emph on
not
\emph default
 to attempt the forbidden door on the third-floor corridor.
 There's no possible way you could get through all the traps, and I wouldn't
 want to hear that you'd been hurt trying.
 Why, I doubt that you could so much as open the first door, since it's
 locked and you don't know the spell 
\emph on
Alohomora
\begin_inset space ~
\end_inset


\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout

--
\end_layout

\end_inset


\emph default
“
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Harry spun around and bolted for the exit at top speed, the doorknob turned
 agreeably in his hand and then he was racing down the spiral stairs even
 as they turned, his feet almost stumbling over themselves, in just a moment
 he was at the bottom and the gargoyle was walking aside and Harry fired
 out of the stairwell like a cannonball.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Quote
\align center
\begin_inset Graphics
	filename fleur.png
	scale 50

\end_inset


\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Harry Potter.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
There must have been something about Harry Potter.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
It was Thursday for everyone, after all, and yet this sort of thing didn't
 seem to happen to anyone else.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
It was 6:21pm on Thursday afternoon when Harry Potter, firing out of the
 stairwell like a cannonball and accelerating at top speed, ran directly
 into Minerva McGonagall as she was turning a corner on her way to the Headmaste
r's office.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Thankfully neither of them were much hurt.
 As had been explained to Harry a little earlier in the day 
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout

--
\end_layout

\end_inset

 back when he was refusing to go anywhere near a broomstick again 
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout

--
\end_layout

\end_inset

 Quidditch needed solid iron Bludgers just to stand a decent chance of injuring
 the players, since wizards tended to be a lot more resistant than Muggles
 to impacts.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Harry and Professor McGonagall did both end up on the floor, and the parchments
 she had been carrying went all over the corridor.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
There was a terrible, terrible pause.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Harry Potter,” breathed Professor McGonagall from where she was lying on
 the floor right next to Harry.
 Her voice rose to nearly a shriek.
 “
\emph on
What were you doing in the Headmaster's office?”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Nothing!” squeaked Harry.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard

\emph on
“Were you talking about the Defence Professor?”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“No! Dumbledore called me up there and he gave me this big rock and said
 it was my father's and I should carry it everywhere!”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
There was another terrible pause.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“I see,” said Professor McGonagall, her voice a little calmer.
 She stood up, brushed herself off, and glared at the scattered parchments,
 which jumped into a neat stack and scurried back against the corridor wall
 as though to hide from her gaze.
 “My sympathies, Mr.
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout


\backslash
 
\end_layout

\end_inset

Potter, and I apologise for doubting you.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Professor McGonagall,” Harry said.
 His voice was wavering.
 He pushed himself off the floor, stood, and looked up at her trustworthy,
 
\emph on
sane
\emph default
 face.
 “Professor McGonagall…”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Yes, Mr.
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout


\backslash
 
\end_layout

\end_inset

Potter?”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Do you think I should?” Harry said in a small voice.
 “Carry my father's rock everywhere?”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Professor McGonagall sighed.
 “That is between you and the Headmaster, I'm afraid.” She hesitated.
 “I will say that ignoring the Headmaster completely is almost never wise.
 I 
\emph on
am
\emph default
 sorry to hear of your dilemma, Mr.
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout


\backslash
 
\end_layout

\end_inset

Potter, and if there's any way I 
\emph on
can
\emph default
 help you with whatever you decide to do
\begin_inset space ~
\end_inset


\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout

--
\end_layout

\end_inset

”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Um,” Harry said.
 “Actually I was thinking that once I know how, I could Transfigure the
 rock into a ring and wear it on my finger.
 If you could teach me how to sustain a Transfiguration 
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout

--
\end_layout

\end_inset

”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“It is good that you asked me first,” Professor McGonagall said, her face
 growing a bit stern.
 “If you lost control of the Transfiguration the reversal would cut off
 your finger and probably rip your hand in half.
 And at your age, even a ring is too large a target for you to sustain indefinit
ely without it being a serious drain on your magic.
 But I can have a ring forged for you with a setting for a jewel, a 
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small
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 jewel, in contact with your skin, and you can practice sustaining a safe
 subject, like a marshmallow.
 When you have kept it up successfully, even in your sleep, for a full month,
 I will allow you to Transfigure, ah, your father's rock…” Professor McGonagall'
s voice trailed off.
 “Did the Headmaster 
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really 
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“
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“Yes.
 Ah… um…”
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Professor McGonagall sighed.
 “That's a bit strange even for him.” She stooped and picked up the stack
 of parchments.
 “I'm sorry about this, Mr.
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Potter.
 I apologise again for mistrusting you.
 But now it's my own turn to see the Headmaster.”
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“Ah… good luck, I guess.
 Er…”
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“Thank you, Mr.
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Potter.”
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“Um…”
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Professor McGonagall walked over to the gargoyle, inaudibly spoke the password,
 and stepped through into the revolving spiral stairs.
 She began to rise out of sight, and the gargoyle started back 
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“
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Professor McGonagall the Headmaster set fire to a chicken!”
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“He 
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wha-
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“
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