"Unless, as Lord Longbottom suggested, Lord Peverell is the Chosen One," McGonagall reiterated. "You still haven't made any effort to find out Lord Peverell's birthday, have you?"
Dumbledore scowled even harder back and rose, "I will not be questioned on this, Minerva." He headed for his floo.
"I'm not questioning you on it, Albus," she sighed. "I'm offering a different possibility." Ignoring her, Dumbledore took a pinch of floo powder and dashed it into the fireplace, "Minister's Office, Ministry of Magic," he snapped.
As he was about to stick his head into the fireplace, the green flames of a successful connection winked out, back to red flames.
"Damn it!" he snapped.
Spinning about, he began heading for the stairs to his private apartments and snapped at McGonagall, "I need to go get dressed and personally go to the Ministry!"
"Have you forgotten you're under house arrest, Albus?" she just as snidely snapped back.
Coming up short again and, as he had already passed her, he turned slightly to look over his shoulder and lowly said, "I'm sure... considering the nature of what has occurred... I will be forgiven for going directly to the Minister to talk about this." Then promptly continued on his way up his stairs, ignoring her warning.
McGonagall, a little upset with the way the old man had just brushed her off, paused only a long moment before she conjured a messenger Patronus and sent it to the Aurors. She'd been ordered to report to the DMLE if Dumbledore breached his house arrest and sent the Patronus off to warn them he was about to do precisely that.
Dumbledore might be acting like an idiot, but she wouldn't be.
When Dumbledore came back downstairs dressed in well-tailored muted-fuchsia-coloured robes with matching hat and wizarding slippers to head to his floo, McGonagall had already left again. He thought her returned to her own apartment, but she'd instead headed for Flitwick's, sending another three messenger Patronuses as she went. One Patronus each went to each of the other three Heads of Houses. She called them to meet her in Flitwick's office, the most central of the four.
She already knew that, once the student body learned of the Dark Lord's death, there would be chaos in the corridors. And she wanted that nipped in bud before it could even start.
As she firmly strode along, she thought, 'It's a pity, but unsurprising, Albus didn't think of that.'
Tossing a pinch of floo powder into his fireplace, Dumbledore was gone a long moment later. He'd first tried to floo directly to the DMLE, only for the floo connection to block him. So he headed to the Ministry Atrium, instead.
Coming out of one of the floos in the Atrium the old man was somewhat surprised at the number of people there. It seemed he wasn't the only one who decided to head to the Ministry to see if they could get any further news faster than what was being released over the wireless. A number of aurors were stationed at the wand checkpoint to block people, who really had no right to be there anyway, from entering beyond. They even had the golden gates shut.
Dumbledore had to squeeze and bull his way through the crowd until he reached the front.
Once there, he demanded, "Let me through. Do you not know who I am?"
One of the Senior aurors standing as a second row of defence in case the crowd managed to get past the biggest, burliest aurors they could find to block the gates, came forward and said, "Let Dumbledore... and only Dumbledore... through."
Though pleased he was allowed access, Dumbledore was still forced to squeeze his way through the barely partially opened gate, having to firmly jostle his way just to get that far, before he was beyond.
As soon as he was, he stood back up to his full height and adopted his 'noble elder statesman pose' and said, "Thank you, Auror."
The auror, a Senior who had then drawn a wand on him, declared, "Albus Dumbledore, for breaching the conditions of your house arrest, you're under arrest."
Dumbledore froze in shock.
The auror then reached out and plucked the old man's wand out of his belt and slipped it into his own pocket before Dumbledore even noticed it gone.
Stepping back, the Senior firmly ordered, "Manacle him!"
Another auror, already waiting, stepped forward with a readied pair of manacles and had the first one on the old man's nearest wrist before Dumbledore snapped enough out of his surprise to refuse.
"N-now wait just―"
The Auror, a First Class, had the second cuff of the manacles on the old man's other wrist before Dumbledore even had a chance to finish voicing his displeasure. It did, however, shut the old man up.
As the First Class then stepped to one side of Dumbledore, the Senior stepped to the other. Both took an upper arm each and began to march the old man to the lifts.
"Now see here!" said Dumbledore, trying to stop. The aurors simply took a tighter grip and continued to force him to walk to the lifts.
Dumbledore might appear sprightly for his age, but he was still an old man. He was no match for two fit young men who were aurors trained in arresting and taking into custody rowdy revelers and drunken brawlers.
Less than five minutes later, Dumbledore found himself in in-prisoner 'processing' before then being tossed into a single cell in the DMLE's holding cells.
"We're a bit busy at the moment," said the Senior. "You can wait there until we're free to deal with you."
Having the door then slammed shut in his face, Dumbledore heard the sliding home of the bolt and the turning of the key, locking him within.
He was still in somewhat shock at his treatment.
Proudfoot was in his office preparing the documentation for the first of the trials they'd very soon have to hold when the Senior knocked on his open door and stepped within.
"Dumbledore's in holding?" asked Proudfoot. "Yes, Sir," said the Senior.
"Good," said Proudfoot. "Make sure you're very accurate on your parchmentwork for him. He's a slippery old bugger. I don't want him sliding out of his charges through a technicality in the parchmentwork.
"Also, pull out the parchmentwork Hammer... if it was actually her at the time... had caused written up that got him arrested in the first place. If necessary, have it all written up again with another of the Masters signing off anywhere Hammer did in the originals."
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