Luna stared at the wand with interest. Despite having studied at Hogwarts for three years, well three and a bit if you really wanted to be precise and include her aborted fourth year, this was the first time she was getting a good look at Dumbledore's wand. The sight of it reminded her of some of her father's research. She would really have to dig out his files and have a look at them again.
"And will you look at that, he's already trying to break in. Bit rude don't you think? He didn't even try to call the house on the intercom and it's barely a couple of feet from where he's standing. I've got half a mind to call the police and have him arrested for breaking and entering," said Harry.
"Still, don't worry. It'll take him weeks to penetrate all the layers. We should probably get started on that Fidelius," said Harry.
"All the layers...you know we've never really discussed the wards. I mean, I know you've put in a lot of work on them and I know there are a lot of them but... Exactly how many wards are their around the house?" asked Luna.
"Well, the Head of the Warding Department back at college always recommended a minimum set of at least seven wards, usually a mix of defensive, offensive and something unexpected. Something about the number seven being magically significant and working especially well. He had some sort of complicated arithmancy proof that he used to assign for extra credit that proved it but I was never really that interested in the theory behind it," said Harry.
"No, just the practical aspects, right? So, we've got at least seven ward's...why do I get the feeling that that's not the whole story?" asked Luna.
"Hmmm...that's because a set of seven is the minimum my professor recommended. I wanted to make sure that our home was really well protected..." said Harry.
"So..." asked Luna.
"So, I've got interlocking rings of three hundred and forty-three wards," explained Harry.
"Three hundred and... oh I get it. That's seven times seven times seven isn't it?" exclaimed Luna. "Seems a bit excessive though," she muttered to herself.
"Yes, so like I said there's absolutely no way that he can break in before we cast the fidelius..." he paused and stared furiously at the mirror at what Dumbledore was doing before pulling out what looked like a small pocket watch and peering worriedly at it.
"That damned idiot! I mean, I knew he was bloody incompetent...after all the shit he allowed to happen at Hogwarts' but this really...I mean really...What in buggering bloody hell is the man thinking?" asked Harry furiously.
"What? What's the problem?" asked Luna.
"He's trying to bloody brute force his way past the first ward. Is he insane? Who the hell does that?" raged Harry.
"Brute force...as opposed to?" asked Luna, wishing for the first time that she had also studied up on wards just so that she could follow what on earth Harry was so worried about.
"As opposed to having half a brain in his bloody head," shouted Harry, before visibly calming himself and continuing. "If you want to break into someone's house, the smart thing to do would be to pick the lock on their front door, maybe pry open a window, right? What Dumbledore is doing is the equivalent of battering down the door with a sledgehammer or maybe tossing a grenade at it," explained Harry.
"Hmmm, and this is stupid...because?" asked Luna.
Harry sighed heavily. "It's stupid because breaking the wards that way means the daft bugger is never going to notice that there is a secondary antipersonnel ward tied to the first ward. It's stupid because I never thought that I wouldn't want to kill someone who's trying to break through my wards. It's stupid because the moment he breaks through the first ward we're going to end up with one inch cubes of Albus freaking Dumbledore decorating our street."
He waved his little pocket watch at her. "According to my ward monitor, at the rate he's going he's probably going to break through the first ward in about five minutes. So...What the hell do we do? I don't particularly want him dead but I sure as hell don't want to go out and talk to the...the...idiotic bloody sod."
Luna looked serenely at Harry while she mused over the problem. Really, she held no great affection for Dumbledore, years of being bullied at Hogwarts had not left her feeling particularly warm towards the teachers who failed to protect her, but it would be in shockingly bad taste to decorate the street that way. It would certainly scare away the local population of Blibbering Humdingers and might even annoy the neighbours just a bit.
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