A Different Story

Chapter 25

31st Of October, 1992

"What’s going on here? What’s going on?" Attracted no doubt by Malfoy’s shout, Argus Filch came shouldering his way through the crowd. Then he saw Mrs. Norris and fell back, clutching his face in horror. "My cat! My cat! What’s happened to Mrs. Norris?" he shrieked. And his popping eyes fell on Harry.

"You!" he screeched. "You! You’ve murdered my cat! You’ve killed her! I’ll kill you! I’ll —"

"Argus!" Dumbledore had arrived on the scene, followed by a number of other teachers. In seconds, he had swept past them and detached Mrs. Norris from the torch bracket.

"Come with me, Argus," he said to Filch. "You, too, Mr. Potters, Miss Granger, and Miss Greengrass."

They all went to the headmaster's office. The first area of the office contains the headmaster's portraits as well as cabinets. There is also a fireplace. The second area contains the headmaster's desk and chair and is surrounded by bookcases. And Dumbledore went and sat in his chair.

Dumbledore laid Mrs. Norris on his desk and began to examine her. All of the kids exchanged tense looks and sank into their chairs.

The tip of Dumbledore’s long, crooked nose was barely an inch from Mrs. Norris’s fur. He was looking at her closely through his half-moon spectacles, his long fingers gently prodding and poking. Professor McGonagall was bent almost as close, her eyes narrowed. Snape loomed behind them, half in shadow, wearing a most peculiar expression. It was as though he was trying hard not to smile. And Lockhart was hovering around all of them, making suggestions.

"It was definitely a curse that killed her, probably the Transmogrifian Torture. I’ve seen it used many times, so unlucky I wasn’t there. I know the very countercurse that would have saved her." Lockhart’s comments were punctuated by Filch’s dry, racking sobs. He was slumped in a chair by the desk, unable to look at Mrs. Norris, his face in his hands. Much as he detested Filch, Harry couldn’t help feeling a bit sorry for him, though not nearly as sorry as he felt for himself. If Dumbledore believed Filch, he would expel him for sure.

Dumbledore was now muttering strange words under his breath and tapping Mrs. Norris with his wand, but nothing happened: She continued to look as though she had been recently stuffed.

"I remember something very similar happening in Ouagadogou," said Lockhart, "a series of attacks, the full story’s in my autobiography, I was able to provide the townsfolk with various amulets, which cleared the matter up at once."

At last Dumbledore straightened up. "She’s not dead, Argus," he said softly. Lockhart stopped abruptly in the middle of counting the number of murders he had prevented.

"Not dead?" choked Filch, looking through his fingers at Mrs. Norris. "But why’s she all stiff and frozen?"

"She has been Petrified," said Dumbledore. "But how, I cannot say."

"Ask him!" shrieked Filch, turning his blotched and tearstained face to Harry. "No second year could have done this," said Dumbledore firmly. "It would take Dark Magic of the most advanced."

"If I may speak, Headmaster," Snape said from the shadows, and Harry’s sense of foreboding increased; he was sure nothing Snape had to say was going to do him any good. "Potter and his friends may have simply been in the wrong place at the wrong time," he said, a slight sneer curling in his mouth as though he doubted it. "But we do have a set of suspicious circumstances here. Why was he in the upstairs corridor at all? Why wasn’t he at the Halloween feast?" The kids launched into an explanation of the deathday party. "There were hundreds of ghosts. They’ll tell you we were there."

Before anyone could say anything more, the floo roared, and out stepped two figures, Ignotus and Helena Potter. When they were out of the fireplace, the floo roared again, and this time came Lord Cyrus Greengrass and Lady Elizabeth Greengrass.

Damian, Arcturus, Harry, and Daphne were relieved now that their parents were there. "Hello Mom, Hi Dad." Damian said, standing up and hugging his parents. Daphne also went and hugged her parents.

Dumbledore looked enraged, and he wasn't hiding it either. "Ignotus, my boy, how have you been?" Dumbledore asked through gritted teeth. "It was and is and always will be Lord Potter to you, Dumbledore." Ignotus said, with a sneer.

"Why were you trying to talk to my daughter without her guardian's present?" Lord Greengrass asked with a sneer.

"I was just asking them some simple questions, Lord Greengrass," Dumbledore said calmly. Before anyone could say anything, he continued to talk, but this time to Harry.

"Harry, my boy, you should not be living with them, especially your uncle. Do you know what he has done? If you know what he has done, you will never look at him with anything except hatred. Let me send you to your other aunt and uncle, your mother's sister. Your parents would not have wanted you to live with someone like your uncle. And another thing, my boy, they are not your parents, so stop calling them mom and dad. Your real parents would have been so disappointed in you." Dumbledore finished with a glint in his sparkly eyes.

Ignotus was really scared that his secret, that only a few people knew about a secret that he had kept for so many years, would be revealed today, but before anyone could say anything, Harry spoke up.

"Professor, I refuse to go live with my magic-hating aunt and uncle. I love them. They raised me, and I love them. Don't get me wrong, I'll always love my biological parents, but I love my current parents just as much. I have a family and someone like you isn't going to take it away from me." Harry finished his speech out of breath.

"We're done here. and you don't have any proof that my kids and their friends were the culprits, perhaps they were just at the wrong place at the wrong time. Never try to speak to my children without my permission Trust me, Dumbledore, you don't want to mess with me." Ignotus said angrily, and with that, the adults said goodbye to their children.