Sirius gave a single nod and said, "They also found another one of these artefacts in a small town in northern England up near the border with Scotland, another inside a vault in Gringotts and they believe that diary you had to deal with at the end of your second year at Hogwarts was yet another."
"Merlin!" groaned Harry. "How many of these bloody things are there?"
"No idea," replied Sirius. "That's something they wouldn't tell me. All they told me was 'a few'.
"An answer that's about as useless as tits on a bull," grimaced Harry.
Sirius gave a short snort of amusement at the analogy, as he'd never heard it before. "Quite. But, I told them I was going to tell you what I've now told you. They weren't bothered by it because, since you'd already come across one and destroyed it... that diary... they want you to let them know if you come across any more. And definitely don't tell Dumbledore about it."
"Oh, that's never going to happen," Harry firmly stated. "The 'telling Dumbledore' bit, I mean; not the telling the Unspeakables."
"I knew what you meant, Pup," Sirius lightly smiled.
Harry thought about that for a few moments before he asked, "Does them not being upset about you telling me this have to do with that prophecy?"
"That's my guess," nodded his godfather. "Nice deduction."
"Then I also guess we'll probably learn the answer to why when we hear that prophecy," nodded Harry.
Neither of them yet knew there was now a mild charm on them both not to go in and listen to that prophecy, just yet. The Unspeakables placed the one on Harry that day they attended the school; and the one on Sirius was placed just the previous day. Another was placed on Dobby not to remove either.
_β_
β==(oIo)==β
Λ
After recovering from his 'ordeal' the previous early evening, Dumbledore rose that morning with a determined plan. He was going to go visit his loyal deputy - or the witch who was supposed to be his loyal deputy - and convince her to work with him to convince those who needed convincing to overturn the ruling of the Chief Adjudicator at her trial.
As he knew the woman to be an early riser he needed to get down to breakfast early so he could be on his way as soon as possible. So he was up and ready for the day, walking through his office and down the stairs, timed to be in the Great Hall the moment the breakfast was scheduled to begin.
He could have eaten his breakfast in his rooms, as he did his previous evening's dinner, but knew he also had to put in an appearance in the Great Hall to show the staff and students he was back and in charge.
At that time of the morning, only the early risers were present. But it would be enough for the word to quickly get about.
Striding into the room from the Professor's entrance behind the staff table with his head high, he quickly made his way to his wooden 'throne' and, immediately after taking his seat, quickly looked about.
At that time there were only about a quarter of the Ravenclaws who were usually awake and down by this time; a handful of Slytherins; a few Hufflepuffs; unsurprisingly, no Gryffindors; and only two Professors, Sprout and Babbling. Sprout was always an early riser, who liked to get an early start in her greenhouses, and Babbling, the Ancient Runes Professor, stated her mind was sharper in the morning if she made an earlier start to her day.
"Good morning," he almost cheerily nodded to the two professors, determined not to let what happened the previous evening dampen his mood or become more widely known. His greeting was met only with blank, semi-hostile stares from both before he turned his attention to building himself a decent Hogwarts breakfast. It was far better fare than he had 'enjoyed' for the past week and a bit.
'Once I get things back to rights, they'll come around,' he thought, ignoring the looks he received from them. 'If not, I can always fire them.'
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