The Cupboard Series 4: The Fourth School

Chapter 30

"Wha...! How did ...?! Where'd she ...?!"

Flinging the offending paper to the table, Harry stared around the room, his emerald eyes piercing everyone there with his gaze.

"How'd she get all this?" he hissed, his breaths coming raggedly from his heaving chest.

"We don't know, pup," Sirius stated darkly. "But I can guarantee you that we will find out!"

Harry's eyes once again to rest on the offending paper. Everything was there. His parselmouth ability; his metamorph skills; their studies into animagi; even the fact that Potter Island was going to be the new home for Diricawl Academy.

"The problem, Mister Potter, is that none of what Rita Skeeter revealed has been secret," Minerva stated. Immediately, she raised one hand to ward off his harsh reply. "Yes, you're right that we haven't advertised those things, but they weren't secret."

"Minerva's right, Harry," Remus said. "Everyone here knows about everything that she's written there. As do the parents of your friends here, not to mention Julius and the goblins. And that's not even taking into account that the entire wizarding Britain learnt about your parselmouth ability two years ago."

"And you yourself told a number of people about your metamorph skills at the Ball the other night," Sirius added.

"But the animagus stuff, the move to Potter Island?" Harry protested. "I refuse to believe that someone here or their parents or Julius or Slipshard would have told Skeeter or anyone else."

A soft hand slipped into his and Harry felt himself relax minutely.

"I agree with Harry," Hermione stated. "We trust all of those people. And the only other way that I can think of that Skeeter would have found out about those things is if she was here, snooping around."

"But there's no way she would have been able to get into Potter Haven without us knowing," Minerva said.

"The wards around this valley are top-notch," Sirius agreed. "The wards that the goblins and the elves put around it would keep anyone else out. Short of tearing them down, something that I assure you that we would know about, there's no way in unless you're keyed into them."

"You're sure about that?" Harry asked suspiciously.

"Positive," Sirius replied. "If you're not keyed in, you couldn't walk or even fly into the valley without getting bounced a couple of miles away. Same goes for portkeying or apparating in. Heck, with the animagus wards, I couldn't even sneak in as Padfoot if I wasn't keyed in."

"The only real weak point into Potter Haven is the FLOO," Remus mused. "There's simply no way to guard against every eventuality. Yes, we have a password set, but it's not infallible. That could be compromised."

"And that is why the elves monitor the FLOO for us as well," Minerva said. "Every time the FLOO activates, whether for someone to come or go, the elves are aware of it."

Harry's eyes narrowed. "Nerri!"

A soft pop announced the arrival of the smallest of the three elves. Her light blue eyes were staring up at Harry with the same look of expectancy that she always seemed to wear whenever she looked at him.

"Nerri, when was the last time that you left Potter Haven?" Harry asked.

"Nerri has stayed at manor since Master Harry brought Nerri to here," she replied.

"That's what I thought," Harry nodded. "Do you remember any time that the FLOO has activated when none of us knew about it?"

Nerri cocked her head to the left and her eyes unfocussed slightly as she thought.