บท 326: Chapter 326: Illuminating the Path
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I would like to thank my beta, Awdyr, for his help in this chapter.
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30th September 1995, Hogwarts (Earth 2)
Albus Dumbledore paced around in his office, feeling unsettled. He felt the familiar weight of his long, silver beard as it swayed with each step, a comforting presence even as his thoughts churned. His eyes swept over the room, taking in the odd assortment of objects and books that had become like old friends over the years. The silver instruments on the shelves puffed out little clouds of smoke, their quiet hums a constant in the background.
He glanced at the portraits lining the walls, most of them dozing off, though a few watched him with mild curiosity. It was a rare thing for him to act nervously. He was always composed and his behaviour ever since Voldemort's return was different, so much so that even the old headmasters were picking up on it.
So many things weren't going according to plan. For one, Hagrid's potential alliance with the giants was going poorly, and Remus was having a rough time preventing the werewolves from joining Voldemort. The ministry's stance on werewolves didn't really help matters and people who were oppressed often lashed out, and this was a grand opportunity for them to do so… There was some irony to it somewhere, since it was Dolores Umbridge who spearheaded most of the bills regarding werewolves, and now the ministry could possibly face a mass attack from her victims.
There was also Sirius Black's odd behaviour. The dog Animagus had been regularly leaving the safety of Grimmauld's place. The other members of the Order had tried to stop him, but they were living in his house and hadn't really cared for their scolding. Albus could understand the man's frustrations, he really could. He was feeling restless, anxious for a fight… He was always like this, rash and twitchy… He wouldn't have made it far as an Auror with his lack of tact, that was for sure. Then again, he might have matured, had he not stayed in Azkaban for over a decade.
He felt slightly guilty about that part. Albus hadn't really cared about the Death Eaters, not really, after the war. They weren't exactly threats to him and a competent Department of Magical Law Enforcement should have wiped the slate clean.
What was more important was that his plan had paid off. He knew that young Severus had overheard the prophecy and that Voldemort would have hunted down the Longbottoms and Potters. He also knew that somehow, Voldemort would get past the protection, someone would slip up, and he had faith that the prophecy would take care of the rest…
To be perfectly honest, he only assumed that Voldemort would mark one of the two possible children of the prophecy and that Albus would have to train the child in question to become his weapon. It was after witnessing the results of Lily Potter's blood magic that he truly understood just how much he was mistaken. His plan had worked in the most unusual way. He expected to have a weapon that he would train during a war, and instead, the war had ended, Voldemort had disappeared, and all that remained was an orphan boy with a cursed scar.
He had hoped that the prophecy was completed, that Voldemort was gone, that was until Severus showed him his fading Dark Mark. Tom has still managed to survive somehow…
And so, he went through with another scheme of his. It was cruel but the boy had used up most of Lily's blood protection during the attack and it needed to recharge. It was why he left Harry in Petunia's hands. He modified the spell a bit to include young Harry's aunt, making the closeness of blood relatives recharge the magic, with the condition that the boy would consider their residence their home. Blood magic was finicky like that, but Albus had hoped that with enough power, the overcharged blood protection, after at least a decade near Petunia and any possible offspring of hers, would kill Voldemort once and for all. And so, he had engineered a confrontation between the Dark Lord and his prophesized enemy in the boy's first year, and it still wasn't enough. The protection had killed him once more, but the Dark Lord survived in the exact same way.
And yet, after Albus had studied Tom's diary that things started to unravel. Voldemort had created Horcruxes and Harry Potter's scar was one of them… He had thought it to be part of a spell. He was wrong… There were no documents about living Horcruxes in history. Tom had actually managed to surprise him by the depths he was willing to go to in his quest for immortality.
When Cornelius wanted dementors to be in the school, he agreed in the desperate hope that the monsters would be able to suck only the soul fragment from the boy. He had employed one to search for Harry on the train and ask if he could kiss the scar. It was driven out by Remus at the time, but the creature was still able to make his report of the event afterwards. A dementor would not have been able to remove the Horcrux without taking the boy's soul with it, and he had forced the boy to relive his most traumatic memories for nothing and he couldn't exactly go back on his decision with Fudge since both of them would look weird and uncertain. Albus couldn't have risked losing the people's faith in him, not when Voldemort was still out there. Nevertheless, Albus' other avenues of research came to the same conclusion, which was accelerated by Voldemort's return, "The boy must die…"
It was a shame and a tragedy. Then again, life often was. Albus' sister had not asked to be attacked by muggles, his father had never asked to be sent to Azkaban for what he did to them, and poor Arianna did not ask to die, trying to stop them from duelling all those years ago.
He was even growing fond of the boy. He was mischievous and could be surprisingly insightful, but he was noble and very brave to his core. The world would be lesser without him, but it was just a twist of the prophecy. Now, he had to plan how the boy was going to die… He needed to die at the proper moment, definitely after his majority and at Voldemort's hand, and after destroying as many of the Horcruxes as possible.
So, he needed to at least keep the war from ending for two years, since that would end in Voldemort's favour. He should have plenty of time to look for Tom's Horcruxes and then make the appropriate arrangement for Harry's sacrifice. He only hoped that the boy would live life to the fullest. He had so little time left… Albus was not going to taint those by subjecting him to the horrors of war.
Albus had so much to do and plan, that almost didn't know where to start. So, he returned to his usual method; he paced in his office and planned.
His train of thought was broken by a knock on the door. Albus used the identification ward to know who it was, "Severus, please come in."
It was odd, Albus hadn't asked Severus to meet him, and the potion master rarely came to him unless there was an issue of some sort, "Hello, Albus…"
"So, what brings you to my office at this time? Do you have news of Tom's plans?"
Severus huffed, "He's still as obsessed with the prophecy as ever. He's reluctant to make any moves before then, other than recruitment that is…"
Hmm, Tom's obsession with hearing the prophecy was a double-edged sword. While it did stay his hand and stopped him from actively starting the war, giving Albus more time to plan and to look for the Horcruxes, it also gave Voldemort time to recruit and enlarge his army. It was a delicate balance, but so far, Albus cared more about the Horcruxes, which was why he made no moves to get Tom to reveal himself. The moment he did so, the war would officially start once more…
However, all of this did not explain Severus' presence, "Then, why don't you enlighten me, Severus."
"Something unusual occurred in one of my classes today. I wanted your opinion on the matter. It involved the new student, Harrold Smith."
Ah, him. Albus hadn't really bothered by him, other than a quick age check and getting the wards to test his intentions when he entered the castle. As far as he could tell, the boy was a teenager who was forced to attend school to get his ward after his mother's tragic passing. So far, the boy had broken no real rules, apart from a small detention with Dolores Umbridge, which she was adamantly silent about.
It took a bit of Legilimency to figure out what had happened. Apparently, the woman wanted to use some kind of cursed object as a detention, which the boy stole. And he kept doing that with every single cursed item she bought, making her lose a small fortune. Banned artefacts weren't exactly cheap, after all.
She had asked Albus for permission to search the boy's trunk, but he had refused. It would have set a very bad precedent, even if she would probably get Cornelius to overrule him and give her more power in the school.
However, other than this incident, there was nothing really notable about the boy, "What about him?"
Severus simply raised his wand and extracted a memory, "This happened this morning…"
Albus raised his eyebrow and just summoned his Pensieve. Severus carefully added the memory and they both entered. It had seemed like a simple classroom but as he observed Harrold stopping young Neville from making a few mistakes without even looking. He was patient and very knowledgeable about the subject. He would make a good teacher, that one. Maybe he would hire him on day when he grew older, and Severus eventually retired.
However, it was curious that the boy was able to stop him from making so many mistakes without even paying attention. Then, of course, Harry ended up having his potion ruined thanks to Lucius Malfoy's son. Albus raised an eyebrow at that, to which Severus snorted, "The boy was not actively brewing the potion. He should have activated the small shield to stop any contaminant from polluting it. I taught him that in his first year. It is not my fault that he's as thick as his father."
The headmaster decided against commenting on this one. He had gotten a lot of complaints about Severus' behaviour, especially from Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs, but the man had always had an explanation for everything. He really was a good representative of House Slytherin's famed cunning, able to do what he wished while covering all his bases. Albus never really stopped him since that made the Slytherins trust him, and with it, cemented Severus' position as a spy.
Still, as curious as that was, Albus didn't see the point, until Draco Malfoy grabbed a Dung Bomb in the middle of the classroom and threw it. He noticed Harrold Smith carefully using his wand to make it twitch, and hit Gregory Goyle's potion instead, creating a small explosion.
It was a miracle no one was hurt. The explosion alone in a potion could have had catastrophic consequences. It was only lucky that young Goyle's potion was viscous and unreactive enough that nothing terrible had happened. That was the key word, luck…
Severus commented, "There were over a dozen potions being brewed, and none of them had the contamination shield activated. Had the Dung Bomb exploded near any of them, it would have probably resulted in at least one fatality. The only way to stop it would have been a viscous potion that would absorb as much of the blast while being so unreactive that the magic from the explosion wouldn't cause a meltdown. I checked every single potion single-handedly and Goyle's was the safest option by far. He could have technically just created a shield around the Dung Bomb but if he had missed, it would have just piled on to the damage. It took me five minutes to come to that conclusion after it happened. Harold Smith made it in less than a second. So, he's either a better potion master than me and had somehow been keeping track of every potion in the classroom at once, or…"
"He's a seer," Albus breathed.
This was exactly what he needed, a seer to help him navigate the prophecy and plan around Tom's movements accordingly. Did fate favour him so, to giving him another weapon against Tom right in his castle?
Severus continued, "Albus, he also keeps writing in a personal journal. He practically never leaves it behind."
Albus couldn't help but be stupefied. The boy must have created his own version of the Sibylline Books, a collection of his prophecies and visions. This book alone was priceless, the life work of a seer.
With that said, he murmured, "I see…"
"What do we do, Albus?"
The headmaster hummed, "If the boy is truly a seer, then he'll be in danger. There is probably a reason why he is adamant about leaving Britain after the end of the school year, probably a vision. He'll need to be protected near us. Voldemort must not get his hands on him. But before any of that, we need to make sure that our assumptions are true first. I need you to steal his journal, Severus. Only then, will we be able to proceed."
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AN: I'll be honest, writing the last few chapters was the most fun I've had in a while. I think it has to do with the fact that I don't have to worry about the plot too much. I constantly go back and reread my own chapters to make sure I'm not contradicting myself in some way. Now, as for this chapter, I think this portrayal of Dumbledore is consistent with Canon. What do you think? I hope it came out like I wanted it to. Now, most of you will probably know where I'm going with this chapter. You're really good at guessing my next moves, even when I try to be surprising... Anyway, as usual, let me know what you think and if you have any suggestions.
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If you want to support me check out my patréon at https://www.patréon.com/athassprkr
I tend to upload drafts of early chapters on there to get people's opinions of them so you can read up to 20 chapters ahead as a bonus.
Thank you guys for your support in these hard times.
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