The Cupboard Series 4: The Fourth School

Chapter 8

"Harry," Sirius' urgent voice caught him as he stepped into the dining room for breakfast, "tell me the wards around the valley are fully charged and that you've set the grate in the FLOO."

Harry blinked behind his glasses at his godfather and, seated beside him, Remus, both looking at him with the most intense expression that he'd ever seen them wear.

"Of course," he replied. "The wards are always charged up and you know that we only take the grate down when we're expecting someone or when someone we trust calls ahead first and asks us if they can come through."

"Good," Sirius breathed. "I was sure that that was the case, but as the Master of Potter Haven, only you have access to the ward and FLOO books."

Sliding into his seat, Harry surveyed the two men. Both were hunched over copies of The Daily Prophet and he wondered if that was what had them on edge so early in the morning.

"What's happened?" he asked.

The two Marauders shared a look before Remus slid his paper across the table.

"Rita Skeeter's found out about Diricawl. The Prophet's full of articles," he stated.

Spinning the paper around, Harry took in the front page. Instead of one or two lead articles like they would normally have, it seemed as though the Prophet hadn't known which of the many headlines that they liked the best. Ignoring the smaller than usual body of text and pictures for the moment, he read each of the headlines:

Diricawl Academy of Magical Studies – Britain's Newest School!

Boy-Who-Lived Refuses Hogwarts!

From Deputy to Headmistress, But Not of Hogwarts!

Students Abandon Hogwarts!

Ancient and Noble Houses Failing Faith in Hogwarts!

Hogwarts Falling Standards – The Truth Revealed!

Dumbledore Dithers As School Implodes!

Minister's Official Response to the Education Revolution!

Harry's eyes bugged out further and further as he read each one. As soon as his eyes hit the bottom of the page, they raced back to the top. Underneath each sensational Headline, the shortest of paragraphs enticed the reader in before pointing the way further inside the Prophet for the full story.

"Looks like Rita's really done a number," Sirius commented. "Her name's over every single article. And surprisingly, it even looks like she's done her homework for once."

"How'd she find out?" Harry asked, skipping across to page three to read Rita's speculation about himself.

It seemed that somehow, Rita'd found out that Diricawl Academy was on Potter land, in fact, 'Potter Haven' itself was even mentioned. And that, combined with the well-known rift between Dumbledore and himself, led Rita to speculate that his self-study from last year had turned into a full-blown school. It was all guess-work, filled with phrases like 'this writer believes' and 'one would expect', but for all that, it was surprisingly accurate.

"We don't know," Remus shrugged, answering his question, "but it's not as though the records in the Department of Magical Education are top secret. Any member of the public could access it simply by asking the right questions."

"Is this good or bad for us?" Harry asked, moving across to page five and the revelation that Minerva had left Hogwarts and become Diricawl Academy's very first Headmistress.

"Bit of both, really," Sirius replied. "We were going to go public about the school before the school year began, but we would have done it in a controlled way."