The Cupboard Series 4: The Fourth School

Chapter 37

It was something like a protective guard that flanked the students of Diricawl Academy after their return to Potter Haven from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and the horror that the Third Task of the TriWizard Tournament had turned into.

Sirius had parked the school's hovercraft as close to the front door of the manor as possible and then, before any of the children were allowed to disembark, the adults had filed out, taking up positions between the hovercraft and the manor's front door on both sides.

Harry, with Hermione's hand firmly grasped in his, couldn't help but quickstep his way past Sirius, Remus, Minerva, Augusta, Emma, Dan, Beth and Cyrus Greengrass who'd hitched a ride for the event. Glancing past the guard of adults, Harry could see Dobby and Jaxom standing facing outwards, adding their own level of protection.

"You know that this place is fully warded, don't you?" Harry asked after the entire complement of adults, students and elves had trooped into the formal sitting room at the front of the manor.

"Wards can be breached," Sirius stated flatly.

Harry opened his mouth to argue but Hermione squeezing his arm killed the protest before it began. The problem was that he knew how well not only the manor but the entire valley was warded. The goblins had done a good job of it and then Dobby had added his own house elf enchantments on top of it.

Their third house elf, Nerri, chose that moment to come trotting into the room, Slipshard hard on her heels.

"I came as soon as I heard," Slipshard stated.

"How well is Potter Haven protected?" Minerva asked without preamble.

"Well enough," Slipshard replied. "It'll withstand a concerted attack for quite some time, depending, of course, on the number of attackers and how powerful they are."

"Dobby added a layer of house elf enchantments when Dobby and Master Harry Sir first moved here," Dobby added in his squeaky voice. "Nasty wizards won't like Dobby's enchantments."

"Look, I know that what happened back at Hogwarts was bad, but surely we're all overreacting a touch," Emma said.

"I'm not so sure about that," Beth said, taking a seat beside the other woman. "You don't know what it was like during the last war with He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named and his Death Eaters."

"War? You think that we're headed for another war?" Dan asked.

"Not headed for," Cyrus said seriously. "In. We're now in another war."

"That was a declaration of war if I've ever heard one," Augusta agreed. "And the Wizengamot will be in turmoil about now. With Fudge dead and You-Know-Who back, the government will be in disarray. If they haven't called an emergency session yet, they need to. I'd better head in to the Ministry. I don't expect that I'll be back any time soon."

Then, with a fond pat on her grandson's shoulder, Augusta strode from the room.

"Augusta's right," Cyrus stated, looking at Sirius. "We'd better get to the Wizengamot chambers as well."

Lord Black frowned at him. "I'll wait until the session's called. I'd feel more useful being here."

With a nod of understanding, Cyrus gave each of his daughters a brief hug before rushing from the room after the Regent Longbottom.

"Do you really think that we're in danger here?" Dan asked, returning to the previous conversation. "We're just a school."

"A school that was referred to in Voldemort's speech as something that shouldn't be allowed to operate," Remus replied. "You can bet that we're going to be targeted."