Capítulo 1577: 39
Chapter 39: Albus goes to the US - Part 2Notes:
Good morning everyone, here's this week's chapter. We continue to follow Dumbles in his adventures.
Have fun reading!
*edit: I updated the end of the chapter, totally forgot that I had to adapt a few things due to the upcoming chapters...but well, my second semester at university just started (law, for those of you that are curious) and things are a bit stressful these days
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
After leaving the archives through an elevator into an officially non-existent sub-basement of the Washington Monument he walked north-west, past the White House. Near the George Washington University he went into an unspectacular side alley. There, the wonderful wandmaker and close friend of his, Shikoba Wolfe, was having her workshop. Not many people knew that, because her shop was located in the east of the city, but once upon a time they knew each other very well. This time had long passed, but they still wrote to each other from time to time, at least until his "death."
He knocked on the door, and within twenty seconds the elderly witch opened.
And she didn't even look surprised for a second to see him there.
Wandmakers were unusual people, Garrick was a fine example of that, and they all had a talent of seeing the real you, your soul, or magical core or whatever one might call it.
"Albus. I see, you're obviously not dead. Don't tell me you need a wand."
"Oh, I actually do, Shikoba. I lost its allegiance to the Potter boy and my first one is still at Hogwarts."
Even if Albus' return from the dead hadn't fazed her at all, this did. She pulled him into her workshop, slammed the door and started to yell at Albus for his idiocy of letting the most powerful wand in existence fall into someone else's hand. He had once "bribed" her with letting her examine it, not that she got a lot of info out of it. There was no special runic sequence in the Elder Wand, and the wood was from a normal elder tree. The only speculation was either that the story is accurate and a supernatural deity created it, or maybe blood magic.
"Hey, calm down please. I have a deal to offer."
The woman shook her head in disbelief of Albus Dumbledore's stupid behaviour, as if he could calm her down that easily.
"I'm closer than ever with Merlin's wand. That's why I'm here. You'll get to examine it too."
Now that was a statement that made the old woman stop in her rant at Albus Dumbledore and she stared at him with her ice blue eyes.
"Sit. And talk."
And he talked. He told her all about it after getting a vow of silence, a hard but necessary precaution in this case.
"You're gambling a lot on this chance that said diary ended up here and didn't get lost over the centuries. And in the hope that King William really was at that funeral and wrote down how he got there. But it sounds somehow reasonable."
"I know it's risky and anything but granted, but still. Name me one other person that must have been there and from whom there are written records still existent. Helga and Rowena didn't leave the castle, and not many families can trace back their lineage into the eleventh century. The Potters came a century later, the Peverell's didn't leave any documents - at least publicly known, the Greengrass Manor fire in the thirteen hundreds destroyed all family history, the Black Libraries would be a place to look as they're the oldest family aside from the Peverells but Sirius and Harry despise me. Then there are the Malfoys who came to our shores with King William but they weren't well known and connected in Britain until 1086 when he gave them their land, two years after Merlin's death. And even if they would have been invited to the funeral, it is well-known that none of their documents pre-eleven hundred survived until now excluding the document from William, about giving them their land. I think it was a rebellion by the local muggles from whom they seized the land, they retaliated a few times until Lord Malfoy went on a killing spree. Nott and Crouch came after the turn of the century, and everyone else even later. Oh, aside from the Bones family, though they weren't British until 1245, but Dutch. So you see, there is probably no one else left aside from King William."
By now Shikoba had prepared tea for them while listening carefully. And she had to admit, he was probably following the best lead there was. No wonder no one ever managed to find the wand if it took the brilliant - yet crazy - Gellert Grindelwald years to just pinpoint the year of death. And since it seems like there's nearly no source in existence that could shed light onto the precise details of the funeral, the trace Albus was following seemed like the best idea.
"And I take it you want a well-suited wand, I feel that this one isn't really matched. Good enough, but not perfect. How about I finally make you one with a thunderbird tail feather? You're a transfiguration master after all, and powerful enough to master the wand. Come with me."
The woman took him upstairs into her workshop, then pulled out a bag of thunderbird tail feathers out of a drawer and emptied said bad on the workbench in front of them.
"You know I barely do custom work, but you, Albus, deserve it. Hover your hand over the feathers, close your eyes and pick the one whose magical frequency is the most compatible with yours."
Once Albus followed her commands, he immediately felt the energy from an unbound wand core. They were raw and wild, all having their own character, that he could feel. Some, he thought, were clearly from the same animal. A few were rather wild, others calm. Neither of those were feeling right, but then, after a few minutes of sensing them he felt one.
One that had the same feeling as his magic had.
Powerful and strong, yet not too wild, it was controllable. With just a mere thought the feather levitated up from the table and into his hand, before he opened his eyes again.
"Ah, I could have guessed that, Albus. Wasn't an easy bird to get a feather from, but definitely worth it. Now, put it down and come over here."
Shikoba opened another drawer, filled with dozens of pieces of wood.
"Same procedure here, old friend."
It took Albus pretty long to find a sufficient wand wood, and in the end he had to pick between two woods. He took the one that felt a bit…warmer.
"Walnut, once subjugated it will do anything and everything for you, be it good or dark. For a second I really thought you'd pick the yew, but the piece from that one ancient walnut tree I once found on my travels has been laying around for a long time. It was waiting. Now sleep, Albus, you know where my guest room is, I'll have your wand ready when you come back from the archives tomorrow."
When Albus woke up the next morning, Shikoba was from the sound of it still upstairs and working, she still didn't sleep, courtesy of an ancient ritual of her tribe. A breakfast for him was standing ready, some tea and bread. He quickly ate up and left the house shortly after that, heading for the Washington Monument.
On his way though he made a small detour, because it was cold outside and just walking around in a suit wasn't really warm. Yes, he had warming charms on it, but he could be drawing too much attention with it. That's why he ended up in a muggle clothing store buying a black woollen coat as most men here were wearing over their suits. It was actually pretty comfortable, and he had to admit that the muggle fashion had its benefits too. The past few decades he tried to be as over-the-top and unique with his clothing, but now with his entire character change he enjoyed the clothing change too. It seemed much more serious, and truthfully, if the suit really fit properly then he was much better able to move in a duel than in his old robes. So much more agile.
Not too much later Albus was down in the archives again, this time looking at Jefferson's documents. His new coat had been thrown over one of the old wooden chairs which were standing around the hexagonal table in the centre of the room. So many books were stacked on the table by now, most of them some basic and advanced school books that Jefferson must have used to teach himself magic.
He had been very proficient with wandless magic too, his wand broke at some point and only a few years later, during a short visit to the British Isles he managed to buy another one. Thomas Jefferson hadn't been that involved with wizards during the first decades of his life to have known the right people to buy a wand from. The first one was an heirloom wand that his father gave him, badly matched but working after all. Only after acquiring one from Ollivanders he was able to use his core to its fullest extent, but by now he was a skilled wandless magician. During and after his presidency he got more into contact with magicals and magical theory, especially his last ten years were filled with magic.
That was also the time when he exchanged a lot of letters with Nic, whom he had met in France. And now that Albus was reading those letters he realised that Jefferson was the man Nicolas had talked about when mentioning the diary. Not that this meant that his search would get any easier, Jefferson had thoroughly warded most of his damn books and this was just annoying.
In the early afternoon, Albus was just looking at a diary from Jefferson himself, the door opened, and the First Lady walked into the room, security behind her.
The two of them, the former Headmaster of Hogwarts, Supreme Mugwump of the ICW and Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot, though under a different identity, and the First Lady of the United States of America, talked about politics, society and the problems between the no-majs and the magicals for over two hours. It was an interesting discussion, with agreement in some points, disagreement in others.
During all that time Albus was looking through books, unwarding and checking them, until he finally had success.
"Diary of…Oh god, I found it."
The First Lady looked up as she heard Mr. Harris' relieved statement.
"The diary that you were looking for, for your research paper?"
"Yes, and…oh damn, what kind of code is that? Someone encrypted that diary, damn."
Albus Dumbledore was inwardly cursing, because this cypher was definitely annoying and hard to crack. He had read a study from the unspeakables who needed over a year and a team of four to crack something similar.
Every time he opened the book, strange symbols and runes seemed to move over the pages, and this was deeply woven into the book. It was the most complicated structure of wards and encryptions that he had ever seen. So he needed the book, and not a copy, but the original book.
Closing his eyes and acting as if he'd be studying the book he tried to sense what kind of magical protection the three muggles in here had, and the answer was a rather good one. The two guards had a minor protection amulet and the First Lady just a protective bracelet, she most likely hadn't expected to be in danger of magicals or she would have picked something stronger.m
An overpowered and wandless confundus charm was all he needed to put the book into Clinton's bag, which acted a bit like a diplomatic pouch and allowed her to bring books through the wards of the archives. Now he made them believe that her intention was to leave the archives at the same time as he would, and through the Washington Monument exit so she could take a walk before heading back into the White House.
And, believe it or not, this little scheme had actually worked, and as the four of them left the library he took the bag, subtly modified their memories (she was interested in the book after he got frustrated over it, but she lost it somewhere after taking it out of the archives) and let the three go while heading back to Shikoba's workshop.
Back there the woman was already expecting him (wandmakers were all rather…unique people) and smiled, the finished wand in her hand and offering it to him.
"Albus, good to see you. You seem…happy. Found it?"
"Yes, but it has one of those mediaeval encryption wards that take months if not longer to break."
"Oh, I've heard of those. You make a wardstone, enchanted with a few hundred protection and encryption wards on it, connect it with the book and if you smash the stone the wards break loose. You're gonna have to untangle the wards one by one, which will take months depending on the amount and strength. And then you'll have to face the encryption and protection once it's all sorted and untangled again."
"I know, I know. I'll keep you posted on how it's going. That's the wand?"
"Oh yes, it is. Come on, Albus, try it."
And he tried his new wand.
A wand that didn't compare to his current wand, or even his first matched wand. It made sense in some way, because he was no longer the young eleven years old Albus, no, he was someone completely different.
In some ways it even felt better than the Elder Wand, a bit less powerful, but much more suitable and like an extension of his magical core and arm. Not just a tool, but a part of himself.
The trip to D.C. had really been worth the effort, that much was obvious.
His return to Nurmengard wasn't as easy as the trip to the U.S., simply because he wanted to avoid the usage of magical travel with a potentially powerful, but surely unstably warded magical object. And illegal portkeys were definitely among the unsafest ways to travel either way, so Albus confounded about half a dozen people to end up with a first-class seat on a plane to Vienna. Just before boarding he sent a patronus message back home so someone would pick him up at the airport the muggle way.
And so Albus ended up in a car with Dedalus Diggle, who was by now a permanent inhabitant of Nurmengard and one of the most important liaison between Albus and the British Dumbledorians - not that they knew of him being alive as of now.
Once they were close to the castle, Dumbledore had no other choice but to apparate the last bit, and luckily that went flawlessly. After unpacking his things he immediately went into Gellert's old hidden study where he placed the diary of King William I in front of him. Since he had broken the illusion ward he could clearly read the big golden letters on the back of the book, but that's all he could identify.
This would be a tiresome work.
And, to be honest, it would be absolutely stupid if he wouldn't bring anyone else in, it would be quite a waste of important time if he alone would spend the next three years on that thing. He needed smart people, and some that would follow him. No one he had left could help with it.
Elphias had always been good with wards, to a degree at least, and Abe too. Neither of those though had survived the Battle of Hogwarts. And the others of his followers had long left his side, most of those still left were foot soldiers or ageing veterans of the Grindelwald War.
He would have to think about finding new valuable followers, talented and brilliant men and women that would serve him well.
Over dinner Dedalus and Gareth filled Albus in on the recent happenings. In Britain not much had happened, Lord Abbott though joined the council and wanted to meet with their secret benefactor. He was a strong voice in wizarding Britain after all, once upon a time he had been a prosecutor for the DMLE, one of the best they had. Barely anyone could argue with him over the laws of Britain as he knew all of them.
While his family name might suggest that he would be close, or at least have contacts to Potter, that wasn't the case. He was the older brother of Hannah Abbott's grandfather, so her great uncle, and no one on Hannah's side of the family got along with him.
"He'll be a strong ally, give it some time and watch him if he's completely trustworthy, and then we might have found the future leader of the council and I'll meet him. What's Europe's mainland doing, Gareth?"
"I still have contacts in some small groups of our people in the war, most of them Order allies. They'll back you, and we will meet some of their leaders here next week. Overall, those are probably fifty wizards and witches, but like we, not the youngest anymore."
"That's something at least, and I'm not wanting to take over Britain by force, no, but take out Potter and then take over politically. I don't need an army, I need supporters. And right now I need people familiar with warding to unlock the book. Any ideas?"
Dedalus shook his head while Gareth started thinking.
"Give me a day or two to ask around and then we'll see if I have someone at hand."
But until he got a response by Gareth, Albus started with the untangling of the wards the next morning. Well, not the untangling per se just yet, all he did was observe for now, and make notes. It felt like he had a little over five hundred wards to fix (that's what happens if someone breaks the wardstone, it becomes a gigantic gordian knot and the number of wards more or less doubles due to overlapping of wards creating new variations) before he could defuse the actual warding and encryption, and there were certainly some lethal wards in there too.
Another thing the analysis gave him was clarity about the origin of the wards. They were certainly from the late eleventh or early twelfth century, so Jefferson never unlocked the book, he just had it in his possession. If his knowledge about magical history wasn't too bad then those wards were mainly French, which does make sense. Maybe that's why Jefferson reached out to Nicolas, he had hoped the immortal (and French) alchemist could help him unlock the diary and discover its secrets. Quite smart actually.
And yes, for a moment Albus considered getting Nic's help, and if via kidnapping (which wouldn't work with the old man, that was for sure), but no, the man was mainly an alchemist and not a warding master. Was there really no one he could ask?
But luckily Gareth was his saviour, because two days later, at their meeting after dinner, he gave him the promised answer.
"Albus, I have someone, but you won't like it."
"Why's that?"
"Because, well…see for yourself."
Gareth handed Albus two files, both filled with details about the lives of the two men and speculations about their current whereabouts.
"You think we can get them to help us?"
"My sources say that the chances are high. And if it fails at first try we just have Dedalus abduct the one's daughter, that should work. Do you know them?"
"Oh yes, I do. And they're brilliant. Let's try finding them, shall we?"
"Sounds like a good idea, Albus. But that won't be easy, they certainly both have boltholes and stashes all over the world. "
"I know I know, but they're probably the highest qualified people we can get. And if they don't comply at first…I want to put my new wand to good use and see how it'll do in a duel."
Albus looked down on the table and into the faces of the two former death eaters, the most brilliant and scary ones aside from Crouch Jr. and Tom himself. One of them a former Unspeakable, a Death Eater spy and indisputably a genius, and the other one had managed it to evade the DMLE, flee from their manhunt, find his master and use some high-level necromancy to bring him back.
Augustus Rookwood and Nathaniel Parkinson would certainly be a good addition to his followers and an even better help on his quest. And if he and Gareth really could find those two in hiding, then there really was only one smart thing he could do.
Bring them in.
Notes:
So, that's it for the week, hope you liked it. Let me know in the comments what you think, until next week.
See ya :)
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