Ch 18 pt 2

And, seemingly by accident, over the last few months he had managed to discredit Dumbledore and force him to give up several politically important positions. And Dumbledore, while still a powerful figure in Wizarding politics, wasn't the unassailable figure he had been. Their discoveries during his disposition at the Ministry following the furore over the Basilisk had damaged his credibility severely — he was clearly no true figure of Light. And now many in the Ministry and Wizengamot knew this, even if the public didn't yet. He had managed to keep his position as Headmaster only with difficulty. Bones was sure that blackmail of some sort was involved.

For an ineffectual Wizard, Lockhart was either incredibly lucky or incredibly underhanded and sneaky. And if the reports she had received from Gringotts were correct, he was the richest Wizard in the world.

Hence her immediate agreement to this meeting when he had owled her yesterday. With that kind of record, she couldn't say no. Besides, he was very rich. And single. And rich. Did she mention single?

"I understand how difficult it is to work an unexpected visit into your schedule, Madam Bones. Between my classes at Hogwarts and working on my new book, I barely seem to have time to eat. And the new book, Burrowing with a Basilisk, is shaping up nicely, too. I expect it to be one of my biggest sellers, outperforming my last book, Magical Me, by a large margin, as impossible as that may seem," Gilderoy said enthusiastically. "The chapter on my duel with the giant serpent is the most exciting thing I've ever written, I'll have you know. Of course, all the mundane investigating and searching I had to do beforehand isn't nearly as thrilling . . . ."

"Mr. Lockhart," interrupted Madam Bones, not pleased with his meanderings about his book and beginning to understand why he was still single, "What did you want to tell me?"

"Oh, yes." Lockhart smiled, not perturbed at being interrupted. "Well, I have come across some information that seems to indicate that one of your ministry personnel was involved in Lucius Malfoy's death, poor man." He shook his head in sadness at the senseless loss of life.

She nodded, acknowledging his statement and encouraging him to continue.

"Well, I was dining with Mr. Weasley last November here at the Ministry. I had some concerns about his sons and I was giving him advice on how best to remedy the situation. His twin sons, Fred and George, both Fourth Year students, are quite a handful, I must say. They are creating problems for his youngest son, Ron, a Second Year. Percy, who is a Prefect and a Sixth Year, is becoming a right prat, more interested in following rules and authority than thinking for himself." He shook his head sadly at that assessment.

"Percy is a bit of a problem, but with close attention by his father over the next two years I think we can get him back on track to being a decent Wizard instead of a self-important self-aggrandizing twit." He smiled broadly, wondering if she would notice his self-description prior to this year.

"Ron is going to require quite a lot of attention. He has feeling of inadequacy because of how exceptionally successful all his brothers are at school, and is immensely jealous of his friends. The twins are contributing to that with their constant teasing and pranking . . . ."

Madam Bones cleared her throat loudly, interrupting the Wizard. She was beginning to understand why so many Wizards had little regard for him.

"What? Oh, yes." Gilderoy smiled at her, not at all embarrassed at rambling.

"Well, we had finished our discussion and were passing a few harmless remarks back and forth at desert. I noticed that Mr. Macnair, seated at the next table, seemed rather agitated when I asked about a rumour that Mr. Malfoy was talking with your Aurors — that he was meeting with you on a regular basis about possible Death Eater activities after the War."

Madam Bones shifted in her chair. "Mr. Malfoy was doing nothing of the sort."

"I understand that, now. It was just a rumour. I wonder how it started? Perhaps an enemy of the Wizard started it hoping to cause Mr. Malfoy problems with his former associates?" He paused, arching his eyebrows inquisitively. "In any event, Mr. Wealsey denied hearing the rumour, so I dismissed it."

She stared at him unblinkingly.

"Well, what brings me here is that I was planning to ask Mr. Weasley to another luncheon meeting to discuss the changes in his sons since the last time we talked. Reviewing my notes on our previous conversation, I remembered that Mr. Macnair had overheard us. And that not too many days later Mr. Malfoy was murdered. An odd coincidence, wouldn't you say? Then I remembered that both Mr. Macnair and Mr. Malfoy claimed they had been imperiused into being Death Eaters.

"However, we both know from your prisoner interrogations at Azkaban that you can only receive the Dark Mark if you give your complete and uncoerced assent. Of course, I know you can't arrest any released Death Eaters based on old evidence because of the double-jeopardy laws, but what if one of them were to commit a new crime? Then you could interrogate them properly, correct?

"Well, I'm not one to tell someone how to run her department, but maybe you could place a truth detecting spell on the chair here, and then ask Mr. Macnair in to see if he had heard that rumour or knew anything about Mr. Malfoy's death. If the spell indicates he is lying when he denies having any knowledge of Mr. Malfoy's demise, well, then you have a reason to apply veritaserum." Gilderoy reached into his pocket and put a small vial on her desk. "There's a memory of the end of the conversation in question and Mr. Macnair's reaction."

The Head of the D.M.L.E. nodded slowly, still expressionlessly.

"Well, that's all I wanted to say. I hope it gives you some assistance in solving Mr. Malfoy's murder." He stood, gave her a beaming smile, and said, "Again, thank you for taking the time to hear my concerns. I'll not take any more of your precious time." He headed for the door as she stood at her desk. "Oh," he said, "No need to get up, I'll see myself out." He put his hand on the doorknob. "Oh, by the way, did you know that Mrs. Yolanda Travers is a marked Death Eater? And no one ever investigated or interrogated her? She's just been quietly hiding."

He beamed at her as he opened the door and walked out, closing the door carefully.

A few days later he read in The Daily Prophet that Mr. Macnair had been arrested for being involved in Mr. Malfoy's death and would be placed on trial the following month. Almost as an aside, it mentioned he had identified three other Wizards as being active Death Eaters, all now in custody and undergoing interrogation.

(◎_⊙)

It was the ides of March and Gilderoy, under a disillusionment spell, snuck over to the edge of the Hogwarts Wall closest to Hogsmeade. Harry and Hermione were having a picnic there instead of eating their noonday meal in the Great Hall, as was everyone else. All the Witches in Gryffindor had been jealous of the "romantic" luncheon Harry had planned. Harry and Hermione were celebrating the Witch's return to fully human status, except for a slight vertical angling in her pupils and the ability to purr. Actually, she had returned to fully human status at the end of January, but Gilderoy had only recently suggested that they two celebrate the event.

Lockhart had the suspicion that Harry missed Hermione's extra chest 'accessories' but wasn't about to mention that!

It was also the farthest point from the Castle and just barely inside the protective enchantments. The House elves had been more than happy to assist. Only Harry and Hermione knew that Gilderoy had set everything up, but he had waited until they finished eating before joining them.

"Good afternoon, Professor Lockhart," the two chorused as he appeared walking towards them. Once he had their full attention, Rita Skeeter appeared. She had flown over the wall as an animagus, and simply changed back. To the two students, it appeared as if she, too, had been hiding under a disillusionment spell. Gilderoy knew the protective enchantments had been set to ignore animagi, so her presence was undetected. The Headmaster didn't want the constant reminders that Peter was in the Castle.

"Good afternoon, Rita," Gilderoy said as he set up Notice-Me-Not and silencing spells around them. The rune stones that Dobby had placed earlier kept the air temperature well within a comfortable summery range while leaving the snow untouched. A large rug was atop the snow, with a table and chairs placed for their comfort. Roses were in a vase.

"I'm soo glad you could come, Rita," he continued. "I thought you might like to hear a bit more about Harry's First Year. How he smuggled a Dragon out of Hogwarts, battled an evil monster in the Forbidden Forest, discovered that the Headmaster had hidden the Philosopher's Stone in the school, and that there was an evil Wizard after it."

Once more Harry and Hermione talked themselves almost hoarse, and Gilderoy left her with a few memory vials of Norbert, the monster in the Forbidden Forest, and their adventure under the trap door guarded by Fluffy.

This series of articles, coming only a couple of months after the Basilisk and demonstrating that the dangers at school were not just this year, would farther devastate Dumbledore's public standing. And the best part was that the Headmaster would have no idea how Rita got the stories! As far as he knew, Harry and Hermione had never left the grounds. Rita had never come to Hogwarts. And Gilderoy had no visible connection to the articles, except for copious comments about how he was mentoring both Harry and Hermione this year and keeping the school safe from dangers that the Headmaster never noticed, or worse, simply ignored.

(⊙_◎)

Gilderoy strode confidently into Gringotts, nodding to the Goblin guards at the door. As in the previous times, he was quickly ushered to his account manager. Ragnurk's office had undergone a bit of a transition. First was an antechamber with several doors, each with the crest of one of his Houses — Lockhart, Black, Potter, Slytherin, and Gryffindor. Plaques on the wall represented the Houses Gaunt and Peverell. His escort led him directly to the Lockhart door, the most ornate, and Ragnurk.

He smiled broadly at the Goblin, as he crossed the expansive room to the plush chair awaiting him, "Ah, my friend, I trust our gold continues to flow into our vaults." As he sat, a Goblin brought in a tea service and a platter of scones.

The Goblin glared at him, "More today than yesterday."

"Excellent," exclaimed the admitted fop. "I have discovered that Gringotts might have a problem with one of its accounts."

The Goblin sat up straight and stared at him.

"You are familiar with Soul Anchors, horcruxes?"

The Goblin scowled, "Vile things, yes."

"One of your vaults, I fear, is the repository for such an item. And one capable of pouring out the soul contained into anyone one foolish enough to touch it."

The Goblin sat back. "Our vaults are sacrosanct, nothing can be removed without the permission of the vault key owner."

"And such items do not violate any of your rules?"

"Unless the item violates the integrity of Gringotts' security, no."

"Don't your people periodically inspect the vaults? And might not such an inspection accidentally result in the Soul Anchor taking over a Goblin? Wouldn't that threaten the security of Gringotts?"

Ragnurk grinned viciously, "Any Goblin stupid enough to fall to such an item deserves the fate he gets. And if he attempts to break the security of Gringotts, or steal from the vault, we have measures in place to deal with such subterfuge. If he simply leaves, we could care less what he unleashes upon the Wizards."

Harry sat and thought. While Gilderoy would like to retrieve the Hufflepuff Cup, if the only other alternative was its destruction, Harry could settle for that.

"The item," he finally said, interrupting the Goblin who had gone back to work on whatever it was he had been doing previously, "is in the vault of Bellatrix Lestrange."

"Then you need her vault key, or her presence, to enter the vault and retrieve the item," the Goblin said without looking up.

"I am Lord Black and Bellatrix is a daughter of House Black, can I use that to gain access?

"No. You gave up that right when she became a Lestrange."

"What if I don't want the item, I just want the Soul Anchor destroyed insitu? The Cup can remain in the vault."

Ragnurk looked up a moment, frowning. "No. You still need the vault owner's permission to decrease the value of their vault be destroying anything of value in it."

After a few minutes thinking, Harry stood. "Well, then, I apologize for wasting your time, Ragnurk. I take my leave."

The Goblin ignored him as he left.

(⊙_⊙)

April Fool's Day[L1] once again featured Lockhart presenting a trophy to the school. This time Rita sat at the head of the Slytherin Table, to the intense dismay of the older students, and Professor Snape. The Headmaster's eyes were not twinkling very much this morning, either, for some reason. In fact, he looked quite putout to those who knew him.

Just after the Owl's parliament, when the most students possible were in the Great Hall, Gilderoy once more stood. "I have an announcement to make," he stated majestically, projecting his voice across the Hall. He walked to the front of the Headmaster's Table. "Professor Snape, if you please," he waved an invitation to the surly Wizard to join him. For a moment, Harry/Gilderoy could see the desire to tell him off flicker across the Potion Professor's face, but finally, he stood. The Witches at the Headmaster's Table, and most all in the student population were all eagerly awaiting what new discovery their favourite Professor was about to unveil.

With his usual sneer in place, the greasy-haired dungeon-bat stalked around the table to stand in front of Lockhart.

Gilderoy, resplendent in his lavender robe set, conjured a velvet pillow and placed a small bag on it, then presented the pillow to Snape.

"Once again, I, Gilderoy Lockhart, Order of Merlin, Third Class, Honorary Member of the Dark Force Defence League, five-time winner of Witch Weekly's Most-Charming-Smile Award, your beloved Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor, and slayer of Basilisks, have recovered a priceless treasure long thought to be lost to Hogwarts and Wizardkind.

"It is with great joy and pride that I present to you, Professor Snape, Head of the Slytherin House here at Hogwarts, this long lost Founder's Artefact," he paused dramatically and posed with teeth gleaming brightly as he loudly proclaimed, "Lord Salazar Slytherin's Locket!" He vanished the bag leaving the gleaming Locket out for all to see. "It can now join its fellows, Ravenclaw's Diadem and Gryffindor's Sword, in the Founders' Display Case in the Entry Way."

While the rest of the school enthusiastically applauded, Gilderoy was careful to note that Professor Snape merely held up the pillow with the locket and kept his face carefully blank. And the Headmaster had a decidedly sour expression as Gilderoy Lockhart once more publically upstaged him.