Harry Potter: The Witty Wizard

She stared at him for another long moment before she gave a grunt, gave herself a bit of a shake of her head and said, "I want those memories."

Chuckling a little, Harry turned to look down to his left and called, "Dobby!"

With a very muted crack the devout little house elf appeared next to Harry's side. The elf was clearly very happy to have been called and was almost bouncing on his little feet in joy.

"It worked, Master Harry?" he asked.

Harry lightly laughed and replied, "It sure did, little buddy. Not one of them figured it out."

"Yes!" the little elf declared before he gave a little fist pump in the air.

Before things got out of hand, Harry gave the elf his instructions. "Dobby, I need you to bring me that rack of memories I had you sort for Madam Bones, plus the documented evidence of Dumbledore's monetary shenanigans the goblins gave me. She needs them."

Without a word, Dobby popped away only to return a few moments later with a large rack of vials, a thick sheaf of parchment and immediately offered it to Harry. This rack was far larger than the one he used in the arena. Each vial contained a strand of memory and was labelled with what the memory covered.

Offering it to the woman he said, "All sorted and labelled, Madam Bones."

Carefully taking it she looked through them before asking, "Lord Potter, could you have your elf put them on the desk in my office?"

"Of course," he replied, before turning to elf. "Dobby?"

"Yes, Master Harry," replied Dobby, before he disappeared with the documents and the rack.

When both had gone, she sighed and softly said, "I can't believe you used a house elf like that. And I don't believe I didn't realise that's what you were doing."

Harry gave a snort and said, "You, like pretty much everyone in the magical world, have 'house elf blindness'. They're always there, so you think nothing of them and the powers they wield. And you've forgotten that the wizarding anti-apparation wards of Hogwarts don't bother them in the slightest. Sorry to be so blunt about that; but, it's true."

She gave her own, more lady-like, snort and bobbed her head once in acknowledgement. "True. It is that obvious, we barely think about it."

"Anything else?" he asked. "I've just spent a few hours mainly sitting on my bum while being warily watched by the meanest breed of dragon of all, I didn't have much of a breakfast and I'm now quite famished. I'd like to go and eat; and, I daresay, you have a ton of work awaiting you in your office."

"My Masters and Seniors can handle the initial interrogations and investigations," she replied. "Besides, I haven't had a chance to talk to my niece yet." Then she grinned and almost coyly asked, "Care to escort an old lady up to the Great Hall?"

With a grin of his own, Harry offered his elbow and replied, "I'd be honoured, my lady. And I don't consider you old."

And the two left the tent to head up to the castle.

_‗_

―==(oIo)==―

ˇ

As soon as they exited the tent it was to see a great mass of people waiting outside. Clearly, they were all waiting for him. They'd also just as clearly been blocked from entering by two aurors who'd been standing, facing out, just outside the tent flaps.

Madam Bones immediately stepped in front of Harry and glared at the lot of them. "Unless you have specific business with me," she said, "I expect the lot of you to leave, immediately."

That had almost all of them show various expressions ranging from surprise to happiness to hate. But, with the exception of a few, they all began to disperse. Most of them were students and they headed for the castle.

Turning to one of the aurors who'd blocked the entrance, this one a witch, Madam Bones said to her, "Be between us and those students. Make sure they don't stop before they enter the castle."

"Yes, Ma'am," nodded the auror before she moved ahead and started chivvying the stragglers ahead of her.

That left about half a dozen still waiting. These included: Rita Skeeter and her photographer, who was busy snapping photos; but were now both holding back; Karkaroff and Maxime, the Highmaster and Headmistress of Durmstrang and Beauxbatons, respectively; and Hermione and Ron.

Ron looked angry and Hermione looked worried.

Eventually, Hermione's patience wore out and she dashed to Harry to wrap him in a hug. "Oh, Harry!" she cried. "What you had to go through with those horrid Dursleys! You should have told us! We'd have understood.

"And... what the Headmaster was doing... I'm glad Madam Bones's people arrested him and took him away. I can't believe I was in awe of that man!"

To stop what he knew was quickly turning into Hermione-babble he placed a vertically-held finger to her lips and made shushing sounds. "Shhh! Hermione, stop."

When she seemed to stop and backed off with a bit of a frown, he said, "I couldn't tell you. While Dumbledore's attempts at obliviations failed on me, they would have worked against you. And I didn't want to see you lose your memories."