To him, that meant they were either lying to him, or no one knew he was currently an unwilling resident of the DMLE secure ward, or even in Saint Mungo's at all.
Each morning, the Bones woman would come in, find out his progress in person and leave again. She was due any moment.
Sure enough... the door opened and she walked in.
"Madam Bones," he quietly greeted her.
"Well," she exclaimed. "It seems you can teach an old dog new tricks, after all."
When he scowled, she asked, "Does this new attitude towards employing proper respect when speaking with others also come with a change of attitude towards answering my questions, Mister Dumbledore?"
"As I have said before, Madam Bones, I will happily answer what I can," he huffed. "I will not answer any question related to the security of the realm."
"And since you will not answer any questions relating to Lord Potter, means you consider the matters surrounding Lord Potter to be a security of the realm issue," she said. "Thank you, for that. It gives me an angle through which I can research."
He gave another huff of annoyance and looked away. 'Damn it!' he thought.
Smirking at him, she said, "By the way, Albus; you should be congratulating me."
"Why is that?" he snarked, which only made her grin even more.
"I am in the final stages of seeing to my niece, Susan, being bonded through a Concubine Bond Agreement to young Neville Longbottom," she explained. "She is very happy with that arrangement, as it's what she's wanted since she was a little girl."
She did not know why, nor cared, that this news made the old man angry. However, he never said anything. She had no idea, yet, that Dumbledore considered young Neville the 'alternate' to go after Tom if Harry failed to properly sacrifice himself to the man. And that such a Bonding would mean young Neville would be even more unlikely to sacrifice himself for the Greater Good than without one.
"See you tomorrow, Albus! We're getting closer and closer to that custom version of Veritaserum for you!" she over-cheerily said to him, before she walked to the secure medi-witches' station and knocked on the door. She was let in a moment later.
"Blast it!" he muttered.
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
In Charms, the professor only revised back to the beginning of Third Year. That was done by about halfway through the second half of the second class of the double period. He then told them they'd be focussing on the Banishing charm.
"Some see it as the opposite of the Summoning charm, but it's really not," he explained. "The Summoning charm will summon an object to you from a specific spot, while the Banishing charm will just send the object away from you. That may or may not be in the direction you wanted it to go, or as far as you want it to go. That sort of control takes finesse you're not expected to achieve yet."
They then used the same cushions they used for the Summoning charm to banish them towards the blackboard. Harry was carefully watching Neville. The boy gave a slight smirk, at one stage, then clearly shook his head and applied normal power.
Harry thought, 'I think he might have been tempted to put the cushion through the blackboard, for a moment there.'
That's when Harry got the idea of banishing the cushion towards the blackboard, then immediately summoning it back, before again banishing it.
Flitwick watched him and then laughed, "Yes, Lord Potter. Five points to Gryffindor for alternatively using the banishing and summoning charms on your cushion."
That had others then copying him. Another fun exercise to end the class; and, for the Gryffindor Fourth Years, the week.
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
Straight after class, Harry suggested to Hermione they immediately head back to their apartment and change.
"Why?" she asked.
"You need to start being comfortable wearing upmarket, but casual, wizardingwear, Love," he explained. "I know you prefer jeans, jumper and trainers for this time of year; however, for a little while, you need to project an image. For at least the next few weeks, I'd like it for you to be aware of your status as Lady Presumptive in front of these kids and the staff."
"I have a class on this afternoon, Harry," she replied. "Arithmancy."
"Oh!" he exclaimed. "Sorry. I completely forgot you were also taking that class.
"Actually, that's not quite true," he corrected himself. "I just didn't know when the class was on."
She smiled back and said, "I have a double Arithmancy on Friday afternoons, and a single on Mondays immediately before lunch."
"Thank you," he replied. "I'll note that down on my schedule. And I apologise for not being a good betrothed and asking you when those classes were for you.
"I still want to get changed, though, if that's alright with you."
"Of course it's alright," she smiled.
"However," he said, "After you finish Arithmancy, I still want to see you change into wizardry casual, alright?"
"Alright, Harry. I'll do that."
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
Walking into the Great Hall they'd only entered when, within fifteen seconds the noise of all the children and staff dropped to about a quarter of what it was. Again, they were being stared at.
They found Neville again already waiting for them. He was still in Hogwarts robes.
Sitting down they both greeted him and began to build a lunch each. However and unusually, even he was looking at them in surprise.
"Errr... Harry?" he asked. "Why aren't you wearing Hogwarts uniform?"
Harry calmly replied, "No classes this afternoon for us Gryffindor Fourth Years, Neville; except those doing Arithmancy such as Hermione, here and, probably, those doing Muggle Studies. We're done for the week."
With an expression that showed dawning understanding, Neville was about to say something when Professor Babbling came down and said, "Lord Potter, why are you not wearing your Hogwarts uniform?"
Harry looked to her and said, "I have no classes on this afternoon, Professor. I'm done for the week."
She frowned and said, "It is a school rule that you must wear Hogwarts robes, Lord Potter."
Harry looked confused for a moment before he stood and said, "Professor, please step over here." And gestured to a spot out of the way near the wall and between the head table and the Gryffindor table.
Without even waiting for her to agree, Harry stepped over the bench and walked over to where he said. Then waited for her to join him. She was still frowning with both confusion and determination.
Knowing they were being watched by both students and staff alike, he flicked up a privacy bubble and said, "Professor, why do you believe I have to be wearing Hogwarts uniform?"
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