章 54: Serious conversation and realization

"Harry my boy." Dumbledore said with a smile as he entered the room. "Would you like a lemon drop?"

"No thanks Headmaster." He replied curtly. "I would rather we go straight to the business about why you've called me here."

Sometimes he wondered how a wizard as powerful as Dumbledore could allow other people to treat him with such disrespect.

Maybe he was the only person who could treat the old man with such disrespect and get away with it without facing any repercussions.

Still, he wondered if he would have ever tolerated such disrespect from someone if he was as powerful as Dumbledore.

Probably not.

But then again. Both of them were two very different people.

Dumbledore was person who had seen his own little sister being killing in front of himself. He had also fought in two wars against Dark Lords, acting as a leader for the light side.

And even though, Dumbledore might not have brought many changes to the wizarding world, he cannot blame the old man for all of that.

At least not without knowing the full truth.

Maybe when Dumbledore was young, he did try to create new laws and pass new regulation for the other magical people like Werewolves, centures, etc.

Perhaps he had tried to bring changes to the wizarding world and had been thwarted by the Wizengamot that was ruled by purebloods. And maybe over time, when he saw no results being brought from his actions, he just stopped trying.

Or maybe he didn't try at all. But the point was that hating a man for something that he didn't do was… well, it was not stupid because often the inaction of a person can cause the death of another person. So hating the man was at best… illogical, for the lack of a better word.

In fact, he realized that he only reason why he hated the old man was because he had three of the most powerful and influential positions in the Magical Britain and the old man had done absolutely nothing with it.

He never really thought that perhaps he should not blame the situation of their society on others.

He knew that it was really people like Lucius Malfoy and Dolores Umbridge that were the reason behind the stagnation in their world but for some reason, he disliked the old man more than them.

He shook his head and wondered since when did he started to become so prejudiced himself.

Dumbledore may have sent the original him to his death but he also looked genuinely regretful about it (though you could never tell if the expression was real or not) and this might have sound like a cliche but the old man truly did it for the greater good.

So should he forgive and forget?

Not really.

Maybe Dumbledore was truly the Paragon of good, but he himself was a cynical person and would always be wary of the old man.

Still, perhaps it was time he started to cut the old man some slack.

He stayed silent for a while in contemplation before he spoke "Do you know why I don't like you Headmaster?"

Dumbledore's jovial expression dimmed a bit at that and he looked genuinely sad at that moment "I assume it would be because I sent you to live with your muggle relatives."

Harry shook his head. Because in truth, he might have disliked the Dursleys for what they did to the original Harry who was the owner of this body before him and suffered a lot under their hands but he never really gave them enough consideration to hate them and after Vernon was sent to the prison, Petunia and Dudley had always lived in fear of him so hating them was rather pointless..

"No headmaster. Though a small part of why I dislike you is because you send me to live with them but it was not the biggest reason."

"Oh" Dumbledore raised in eyebrow in curiosity and he continued.

"The main reason I dislike you so much is because you're the holder of three of the most powerful and influential positions in Wizarding Britain and you've also helped the light side win the last two wars. Yet you've also failed to destroy the prejudice and disrcimination from this world."

"The light may have won the last war but a lot of death eaters still roam free without any fear and the purebloods still hold all the powerful positions in the magical Britain."

"The reason why I disliked you was because despite being the most powerful person in the whole country, you've not really done much for it except for fight in the war. While if there was someone like Lucius Malfoy in your position, he would have taken advantage and destroyed all the dark families after the last war and would have made sure that the purebloods no longer hold all the power in the country."

Dumbledore looked like he didn't know what to say in this moment so he continued.

"But now I don't dislike you as much as I originally did. Do you know why?"

Dumbledore closed his mouth "Please do tell Harry."

"It's because I've realized that perhaps blaming all that is in our society on a single old man is illogical at best and childish at worst."

"That's… very mature of you my boy." Dumbledore said with a faint smile.

"Not really. Now I just dislike you as much as I do all the other adults." At this reminder of the fact that I didn't like adults, Dumbledore became sad once again and he continued.

"But we're not here to talk about my likes and dislikes. So tell me why I'm here headmaster. I've got something to study and I would rather not waste my time if possible."

Dumbledore nodded at that "Harry, I wanted to ask you if you want to go back home or remain here in Hogwarts during the Christmas."

Harry frowned at that "Do you personally ask all the other students this question?"

Dumbledore flinched at the accusation in his tone "No my boy but your circumstances are different than theirs."

Harry remained silent so Dumbledore continued "As you earlier said, many of the followers of the dark lord managed to get free after the last war. So it's not safe for…"

"What are you getting at Headmaster?" Harry interrupted rudely and Dumbledore remained silent for a moment before he took a long breath and continued.

"What I wanted to say Harry, was that despite your dislike of the Dursleys I must implore you to go back to them and not to the home of one of your friends."

Harry raised and eye at that and wondered if the original Harry would have been angry at that. Well, he disliked the Dursleys and stayed in Hogwarts during Christmas holidays so he might have. But he personally could care less about such small things.

"Why?" he asked casually even though he already knew the answer.

And then Dumbledore went on to explain how Lily Potter gave her life for her son and how the wards formed from her blood protection still protects him till this day.

How the wards are connected with blood and as long as he remain close with Petunia, the blood wards will remain strong and all that.

In the end Harry simply nodded at that. "I don't like the Dursleys very much but they been keeping their distance from me after Vernon was sent to the prison. And despite what you might have thought, I never really had any plans to live in one of my friends homes since both of my friends are girls." He explained with a shrug and Dumbledore perked up at that.

"If there's nothing else Headmaster." He said and after getting one final nod, he left the room.

Of course he would not spent all his time in the Dursleys. He had plans for how to spend his time during this Christmas so he would likely not spent all his time in their home but there was no point in telling that to Dumbledore and getting into an argument with him.

What the old coot doesn't know will not hurt him.