Ella Potter (Draco Malfoy)

Chapter 32

The door of the office opened.

"Hello, Potters" said Moody. "Come in, then."

Harry and Ella walk inside. They had been inside Dumbledore's office before; it was a very beautiful, circular room, lined with pictures of previous headmasters and headmistresses of Hogwarts, all of whom were fast asleep, their chests rising and falling gently.

Cornelius Fudge was standing beside Dumbledore's desk, wearing his usual pinstriped cloak and holding his lime-green bowler hat.

"Harry!" said Fudge jovially, moving forward. "How are you?"

"Fine," Harry lied.

"We were just talking about the night when Mr. Crouch turned up on the grounds," said Fudge. "It was you who found him, was it not?"

"hm?" Ella looks confused

"Yes" said Harry. Then, feeling it was pointless to pretend that he hadn't overheard what they had been saying, he added, "I didn't see Madame Maxime anywhere, though, and she'd have a job hiding, wouldn't she?"

Dumbledore smiled at Harry behind Fudge's back, his eyes twinkling.

"Yes, well," said Fudge, looking embarrassed, "we're about to go for a short walk on the grounds, Harry, if you'll excuse us...perhaps if you just go back to your class -"

"I wanted to talk to you. Professor," Harry said quickly, looking at Dumbledore, who gave him a swift, searching look "both me and my sister"

Ella nods in agreement

"Wait here for me, Harry, Ella" Dumbledore said "Our examination of the grounds will not take long."

They trooped out in silence past the twins and closed the door. After a minute or so, Harry heard the clunks of Moody's wooden leg growing fainter in the corridor below. He looked around.

"Hello, Fawkes," he said.

Fawkes, Professor Dumbledore's phoenix, was standing on his golden perch beside the door. The size of a swan, with magnificent scarlet-and-gold plumage, he swished his long tail and blinked benignly at Harry.

Harry sat down in a chair in front of Dumbledore's desk. For several minutes, he sat and watched the old headmasters and headmistresses snoozing in their frames, thinking about what he had just heard, and running his fingers over his scar. It had stopped hurting now.

"How's your scar?" He asks Ella

"Hm?" Ella was petting Fawkes "It's no longer burning"

"That's good" Harry smiles "Mine's stopped too"

Harry went walking around the office, Ella focused on petting Fawkes. After awhile she turned around to see Harry gone. She looked around the office surprised, where did he go? Soon Harry and Dumbledore both appeared in the room. The stone basin was shimmering in the cabinet in front of them.

"Professor," Harry gasped, "I know I shouldn't've - I didn't mean - the cabinet door was sort of open and -"

"I quite understand," said Dumbledore

Dumbledore lifted the basin, carried it over to his desk, placed it upon the polished top, and sat down in the chair behind it. He motioned for Harry and Ella to sit down opposite him

"Hey uh.. what'd I miss?" Ella asks confused

"I'll fill you in later" Harry whispers to her as they sit down

"So, Harry," said Dumbledore quietly. "Before you got lost in my thoughts, you and your sister wanted to tell me something."

"Yes," said Harry

"Professor" Ella spoke "I was in Divination just now, and I uh.. fell asleep."

"the same for me" Harry agreed hesitantly

The twins looked at him, wondering if a reprimand was coming, but Dumbledore merely said, "Quite understandable. Continue."

"Well, we had a dream," said Harry. "A dream about Lord Voldemort.."

Ella continues "He was torturing Wormtail...you know who Wormtail-"

"I do know," said Dumbledore promptly. "Please continue."

"Voldemort got a letter from an owl. He said something like, Wormtail's blunder had been repaired. He said someone was dead. Then he said, Wormtail wouldn't be fed to the snake - there was a snake beside his chair" Harry explains