Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality

The trapdoor in the floor flew open with a bang that caused Professor Trelawney to shriek and spill George's tea all over his robes, and then an instant later Dumbledore was whooshing up out of the floor with a bird of fire upon his shoulder.

'Fred!' the old wizard said commandingly. His robes were the black of a moonless night, his eyes hard like blue diamonds. 'George! With me, now!'

There was an collective gasp and by the time Fred and George were climbing down the ladder after the Headmaster, the entire class was already speculating what role they'd played in the attempted murder of Draco Malfoy.

The trapdoor had hardly slammed shut above them before all nearby sounds muted and the old wizard spun on them and held out a hand and commanded, 'Give me the map!'

'M-map?' said Fred or George in total shock. They'd never even suspected that Dumbledore suspected. 'Why, w-we don't know what you're -'

'Hermione Granger is in trouble,' said the old wizard.

'The Map is in our dorm,' George or Fred said immediately. 'Just give us a few minutes to get it and we'll -'

The wizard's arms swept them up as if they were hugging-pillows, there was a piercing cry and a flash of fire and then the three of them were in the third-year Gryffindor's boys' dorm.

A few moments later, Fred and George were handing over the Map to the Headmaster, wincing only slightly at the sacrilege of giving their precious piece of the Hogwarts security system to the person who actually owned it, and the old wizard was frowning at the apparent blankness.

'You've got to say,' they explained, 'I solemnly swear that I am up to no good -'

'I decline to lie,' said the old wizard. He held the Map high and bellowed, 'Hear me, Hogwarts! Deligitor prodi!' An instant later the Headmaster was wearing the Sorting Hat, which looked scarily right upon his head, as though Dumbledore had always been waiting for a patchwork pointed hat to complete his existence.

(Fred and George immediately memorized this phrase, just in case it would work for somebody besides the Headmaster, and began trying to think of pranks that would involve the Sorting Hat.)

The old wizard wasted not a moment before sweeping the Sorting Hat off his head and turning it upside-down - it was hard to tell with the Hat upside-down, but it looked a bit cross at the treatment - and then plunged in his hand and drew out a crystal rod. With this instrument he began tracing rune-like patterns on the Map, muttering strange incantations that sounded not quite like Latin and echoed in their ears in an unusually creepy fashion. In the midst of tracing one rune he looked up at both of them, fixing them with a sharp glare. 'I will return this to you later, sons of Weasley. Go back to class.'

'Yes, Headmaster,' they said, and hesitated. 'Ah - about Hermione Granger, is she really going to be bound to serve Draco Malfoy forever as his -'

'Go,' said the old wizard.

They went.

When he was alone in the room, the old wizard looked down at the map, which had now written upon itself a fine line drawing of the Gryffindor dorms in which they stood, the small handwritten Albus P.W.B. Dumbledore the only name left therein.

The old wizard smoothed the map, bent over it, and whispered, 'Find Tom Riddle.'

The interrogation room at the Department of Magical Law Enforcement was usually lit by a small orange light, so that the Auror interrogating you would be leaning toward your uncomfortable metal chair with most of their face in shadow, preventing you from reading their expression, even as they read yours.

As soon as Mr. Quirrell had entered the room, the small orange light had dimmed and begun flickering like a candle about to be blown out by the wind. The room was now lit by a sourceless ice-colored glow which illuminated all of Mr. Quirrell's pale skin like alabaster, except, somehow, his eyes, which stayed in darkness.

The Auror on duty outside had surreptitiously tried to dispel this effect four times without the slightest success, despite the fact that Mr. Quirrell had politely surrendered his wand upon being detained for interrogation, and had shown no sign of speaking any incantations nor exerting any other power.

'Quirinus... Quirrell,' drawled the man now sitting across from where the Defense Professor had waited courteously. The interrogator had tawny hair that swept back like a lion's mane, with yellowish eyes set into the sternly lined face of a man late in his tenth decade. The man was, at this moment, leafing through a large folder of parchments that he had taken from a black and very solid-looking briefcase after he had limped into the room and sat down, seeming not to look at the face of the man he was interrogating. He had not introduced himself.

After some further leafing through parchments, carried out in silence, the Auror spoke again. 'Born the 26th of September, 1955, to Quondia Quirrell, of an acknowledged tryst with Lirinus Lumblung...' intoned the Auror. 'Sorted into Ravenclaw... O.W.L.S. quite good... N.E.W.T.S. in Charms, Transfiguration... an Outstanding in Muggle Studies, impressive... Ancient Runes, and ah yes, Defense. An Outstanding in that as well. Went on to become quite the tourist, visiting all sorts of places. Portkey visas for Transylvania, the Forbidden Empire, the City of Endless Night... my my, Texas.' The man looked up from the portfolio, eyes narrowed. 'What were you doing there, Mr. Quirrell?'

'Sightseeing, mostly in the Muggle areas,' the Defense Professor said easily. 'As you say, I am quite the tourist.'

The man listened to this with a frown, then looked back down, then up again. 'I also see that you visited Fuyuki City in 1983.'

The Defense Professor lifted an eyebrow in mild puzzlement. 'What of it?'

'What did you do in Fuyuki City?' The question snapped out razor-sharp.

The Defense Professor frowned slightly. 'Nothing of any account. I visited some better-known sights, some less-known sights, and aside from that, kept to myself.'

'Really?' the Auror said softly. 'I find that reply rather interesting.'