Chapter 149: Questions After Term

Edward reached Grimmauld Place with two locked cases, a stack of examination books, and three Ministry letters waiting on the hall table.

Sirius stood beside the fireplace while Kreacher inspected Edward's luggage for tracking charms. The old house-elf found none, but he discovered a folded notice attached beneath the handle of the smaller case. It requested written answers about the events near the Whomping Willow and warned that further testimony might be required.

"Request, not summons," Sirius said after reading it. "They learned something from Dumbledore's response."

Edward removed his travelling cloak. "They learned to choose quieter words."

The Ministry had already received statements from Dumbledore, McGonagall, Snape, Harry, Hermione, and Edward. Hagrid had described the condition of the grounds. Madam Pomfrey had provided the treatment record. The remaining dispute concerned the decision to help Sirius reach safety before officials could seize him again.

Sirius's mouth tightened. "You should never have been placed in that position."

"You were innocent, Pettigrew was alive, and the Dementors were attacking everyone. Waiting would not have made the decision cleaner."

"No. It would only have made it mine."

They answered the notice together. Edward gave times, locations, and actions without guessing at motives. Where he could not distinguish his own memory from information learned afterward, he said so. Sirius attached a statement accepting responsibility for leaving the grounds and offered to appear before the Wizengamot under protections negotiated by Dumbledore.

Kreacher sanded the final page and sniffed. "The Ministry lost Master Sirius once. Kreacher does not trust it not to lose him again."

"Neither do I," Edward said. "That is why every page gets copied."

One copy went to Dumbledore, another to the Black family solicitor, and a third into the sealed archive. The original travelled by an owl hired from a public post office rather than one belonging to the family.

Only after the bird vanished did Sirius examine the cases from Hogwarts. He read the authorization first and the design notes second. The Heart Prism itself remained in its padded box.

"No human trials," he said.

"Correct."

"No stored emotion, no automatic response, and no attachment to a wand."

"Also correct."

"And if I ask whether it works?"

"It produced one short barrier against practice bolts under supervision. That is all we know."

Sirius smiled faintly. "You sound disappointed by your own good sense."

"I have had several professors help install it."

The smile faded when he reached the failure register. Cracked crystals, scorched settings, and a seal that had retained a magical sample too long were listed beside the changes made after each test. Sirius closed the book carefully.

"This stays supervised here too. The family name does not turn a cellar into Hogwarts."

Edward had expected the condition. "I asked Professor Babbling to recommend an adult consultant. Until one agrees, I will work only on the written model."

"Good."

At dinner, Sirius disclosed his own plan. Dumbledore had received two reports from Albania: livestock found bloodless near a forest settlement, and a traveller claiming that animals fled from a voice no one else could hear. Neither account proved that Voldemort remained there. Together they justified a discreet inquiry.

"I am not charging into a Dark forest alone," Sirius said before Edward could object. "I will meet two of Dumbledore's contacts at the border. We observe, speak to witnesses, and leave if the trail points into an occupied lair."

"Who are the contacts?"

"Names I was asked not to put in a letter or repeat in a house that still contains portraits loyal to my mother."

The portrait above the mantel shouted an insult through its curtains.

Sirius raised his glass toward it. "An excellent demonstration."

Edward wanted a name, a route, and an exact return date. None was available. They settled on safeguards instead. Sirius would send a message every two days through separate owls. Silence beyond a fixed interval would trigger Dumbledore's search plan. Kreacher would know the border inn but would not enter Albania without direct instructions. Sirius would carry no object that could expose the alliance or identify its members.

That last rule excluded Edward's experimental prism. He offered three older shield charms instead. Each contained one reviewed ward and broke after release. They could stop a curse or slow pursuit, but they could neither choose a target nor answer an attack.

Sirius tested one against a practice bolt in the drawing room. The shield appeared crooked, held for less than two seconds, and dissolved with a smell of hot metal.

"Ugly," Sirius said.

"Reliable."

"My favorite kind of ugly."

The next morning brought Draco, Daphne, Theodore, and Pansy to the house for the alliance's first summer meeting. Hermione joined through the Floo from the Burrow after Mrs. Weasley confirmed that Sirius was present. Edward gave each person the same report Hermione had helped revise.

Draco turned directly to the ownership clause. "If the alliance pays for an object, the alliance should keep it."

"The setting may be returned," Hermione said. "The recognition seal belongs to the bearer because it contains their magical sample."

"The bearer may destroy that seal at any time," Edward added. "No penalty and no vote required."

Pansy tapped the witness provision. "One witness is easy to pressure."

They changed it to two, with at least one chosen by the bearer. Theodore proposed a written withdrawal form. Daphne objected that a written form could itself become a record of membership, so the group allowed withdrawal in person, by signed note, or through a designated advocate.

Draco read the restrictions twice. "This is a long list of things the prism cannot do."

"That is the useful part," Hermione said.

No one voted to issue it. They voted only to continue inert testing after an independent adult reviewed the design. Edward abstained because he had built the prototype. The decision passed without him.

The result should have felt slow. Instead, it felt solid in a way his solitary work never had.

After the others left, Sirius found Edward copying the amendments into the main register. "You let them change it."

"They found real problems."

"That was not an accusation."

Sirius placed a narrow parcel beside the inkpot. Inside lay a set of protective lenses, dragonhide gloves, and a small brass timer charmed to ring at fixed intervals.

"For the written model?" Edward asked.

"For when your consultant approves anything more interesting. Restraint deserves equipment too."

Sirius departed before dawn two days later. He wore plain travelling robes and carried the shield charms beneath his coat. Edward watched from the front step until fog concealed him, then returned inside rather than follow.

A letter from Professor Babbling waited at breakfast. Illfulcom Burke, an alchemist in Devon, had agreed to inspect the design and the failed pieces. He would offer criticism, not materials, and required Sirius's written consent before Edward entered his workshop.

Sirius had signed the consent before leaving. He had also named Remus as the person Edward should contact if Burke changed the terms or proposed a test beyond the school authorization.

Edward read the conditions twice. Then he opened a fresh notebook and titled the first page: Questions for Burke.

The notebook began with Burke's written terms, followed by a blank page titled Reasons to Stop. Edward intended to fill that page before listing any hoped-for improvement.