Disclaimer: I own nothing of Harry Potter or its characters.
Summary: The war is not going as planned… they're losing. What Harry assumed to be a routine visit one night turned out to be so much more. An unknown will left by the Headmaster ends up sending Harry on the greatest adventure of his life, but perhaps his last.
This chapter is dedicated to my wonderful beta freakanature06. Believe me, she is good!
Way over My Head
Prologue
June 11, 1999
The castle was oddly silent as Harry navigated his way towards the Headmistresses office on the seventh floor of the once prestigious school of Hogwarts.
With the death of the Headmaster three years ago, things had never been the same in the eyes of the general population. Without the protection the 'Great Albus Dumbledore,' the only thing that parents could rely upon to keep their children safe was their hope and trust in the professors, and if the drastic number of students that were pulled out when September the first came was anything to go with, that wasn't nearly enough.
Portraits stared him down in quiet reverie as he passed their strips of stone wall, studying him, weighing his worth compared to the other students that had gone to bed hours ago, perhaps wondering if he too was here to do them harm as the rogue Death Eaters had done not three months previously.
Knowing that he was being judged by a canvas of magical paint was disconcerting to say the least.
He reached the stone gargoyle without interruption as the torches burned dimly on the walls, illuminating the frightening pose of the creature, teeth bared, as if ready to strike, but always finding its legs weighted down by an invisible force.
"Nobility," he muttered as the gargoyle gave a small nod of understanding and leapt aside to reveal the spiral staircase that led to the office. A dull murmur of voices floated down the stairwell as he moved closer toward the door, wondering what was so important that he had been called in at the stroke of midnight to answer to.
Normally he wouldn't have taken the time out of his work to make such visits, but something in the tone that she had used in her letter had pushed his decision, albeit, slightly grudgingly.
Surely he would have heard if there had been another attack?
"Enter, Mr. Potter," came the brisk voice of his former Transfiguration professor, Minerva McGonagall, from within as he rapped on the heavy wood.
Three years had past since he had last entered this office on that cold and gray night at the end of his sixth and final year at this magical school, and the time, he noted, had not changed things very much. The spindly-legged tables remained; as did the various instruments that Harry had never bothered to figure out the uses of. He even caught a glimpse of the Sorting Hat placed side by side with Dumbledore's old pensieve in the glass cabinet next to the largest window.
Many portraits and bookcases filled to the brim with heavy literature occupied the spaces that the windows were not set upon, giving it an impression of both sophistication and warmth.
The only noticeable difference that he could see was a heavy black nameplate incrusted with gold lettering reading Headmistress in spiky handwritingthat was placed in the very front of the wooden surface
The moonlight that was reflected off the glass panes of the high windows that surrounded the circular office cast the room into a shadow that was broken only by the single candle burning brightly on the polished desktop.
Parchment was scattered across the surface in front of an old woman with gray hair pulled into a tight bun and sharps eyes that were surveying him over glasses that were perched on the bridge of her nose. She seemed to look exactly as he felt: utterly exhausted.
"Good evening Harry," she said quietly, gesturing at the seat in front of her desk.
Giving a nod of acknowledgment, he gingerly lowered himself into it, mentally wincing as his bones popped and creaked like a machine that needed to be oiled, and waited for her to make the first move.
"I'm sure that you are wondering why I have summoned you here tonight Harry?" she said after a moment of studying his face.
He nodded again, pushing away any thought that this was just a casual event. That she was just lonely and needed his companionship.
She cleared her throat again and moved to straighten out the pieces of parchment that were scattered on the desk, seemingly searching for the right way to pose what she was about to say.
"I'm not sure if you have heard yet Harry, but the Ministry has decided to-," She broke off to gather herself and Harry found himself leaning forward slightly, brow furrowing in concentration, thinking that he might know where this was leading. She turned at last to look him straight in the eye.
"The Ministry has decided to close Hogwarts, for good."
"What?" he asked incredulously, unconsciously gripping his wand tighter in his right hand as he took in this newest piece of information.
He surprised himself with the anger that was more than abundant in his voice. He had thought that she was going to ask him to go on another mission for the Order or something of the like, but not this, never this.
"How could this have happened? What about the wards? There isn't a safer place in all of Britain! It would be suicide to pull all of the students out now, and then what? Have them teach themselves? Let them become Death Eaters too? You know that Voldemort isn't against taking children into his service!"
She sighed wearily in the candle light, gingerly taking off her glasses and rubbing the two red spots on either side of her nose.
"My thoughts exactly Harry, but they claim that the children are no longer safe here. The recent attacks have done nothing if not scare parents into pressuring the Minister further then he already is." She paused again. "It was only a matter of time anyway."
His anger at the Ministry and the parents was not completely gone yet, so he merely raised an eyebrow in question. When she made no move to elaborate, he pressed on.
"It was only a matter of time from what Professor?" he said. It was a miracle that he managed to keep his voice as calm as he did. He couldn't help but feel like someone had decided that he didn't have enough on his plate, so they threw this one at him too.
Sighing, she closed her eyes briefly, her voice slightly strained.
"It is widely believed that the wards here are the strongest that you will find in this part of the world, but that is only half true. They were the strongest. The powers of the wards on this castle are in direct correlation with the current headmaster or headmistresses' own magical reserves. I am sorry to say that I am not nearly as powerful as Albus was. My magic simply cannot supply the amount of power needed to fuel wards of this magnitude for much longer."
A shocked silence followed these words. Of course he had had his suspicions, everyone had, but to hear her say it like that made it all the more plausible, all the more real.
"So your telling me that the wards, they're going to…" He left the words hanging in the air, hoping, praying that she would deny it all, that she would tell him that the only place that he had ever called home was not going to be shut down, but to his disappointment, she did no such thing.
"Fall, yes. Maybe not today or tomorrow, but eventually they will fall."
He nodded distractedly, not quite looking at her.
"So there isn't any chance for Hogwarts to..."
"No."
"Is there really nothing we can do, no one we can talk to? Maybe if I pulled some strings, then I could hold the wards with my magic until we can get another replacement," he offered, but she shook her head.
"The Minister and the board of directors have already signed the paperwork. I was only informed this evening. I just thought that you would like to hear it from me rather than read it in the paper tomorrow morning."
He leaned back into the wooden chair that he sat in, doing his best to ignore the feeling of panic that was threatening to overwhelm him, at the same time wondering why no one had ever though to put a cushioning charm on the seat as it was beginning to make the back of his legs go numb. Assuming that the silence was his cue to leave, he made a move to stand, fully intending to speak to the Minister on this matter.
"Harry?"
Pausing, he looked at her. She seemed less nervous now, as if getting that weight off of her chest had made her braver, more like the Gryffindor that she had always been. There was a tone to his voice that he seemed to recognize all too well but just couldn't seem to put his finger on.
"Yes?"
"Did Albus ever tell you that he drafted a will shortly before he died?"
Ah, yes, suspicion, that was it.
He looked at her strangely for a second before lowering himself back into the chair, shaking his head to indicate that he had not known. She elaborated hurriedly when he did not speak.
"I knew that Albus kept some of the more sensitive documents in relation to Hogwarts in a locked box in his personal quarters." She looked slightly disgusted with the fact that Dumbledore had gone to such measures to keep things hidden from others, but moved on despite this. "So, when I found out that Hogwarts was going to be taken over by the ministry, I knew that these had to be moved if only to save Albus' good name with the people. When I was finally able to open it a few hours ago, you could imagine my surprise when I pulled out this."
She got up from her desk and walked to the far right side of the room where the portrait of one of the former Headmistress laid, feigning sleep.
"Beatrice," she stated firmly, startling the witch into opening her eyes and squinting through the darkness in order to make out the sight of the formidable woman, "I need to retrieve a package that I'm storing in here please."
It was obvious that the woman in the portrait was still scrambling at the change of events that had occurred between the two people in the room that she had been intently listening to as her eyes darted quickly back and forth between the two of them and hurried to open the latch. An audible click echoed through the office as the headmistress' portrait swung forward to reveal …
"This, Mr. Potter," Professor McGonagall explained, placing a brown paper package about the size of a text book on the desk in front of him, "was what the will stated should go straight to you if Albus was to pass away."
Examining the plain paper and shaking it experimentally, he asked in a slightly uncertain voice "Did it say what it was?"
She shook her head.
"It said only that he had left a note inside explaining it all and that it was very important that it went only to you."
Harry's brow furrowed slightly as he thought about what could possibly be contained within the wrappings. The curiosity was almost too much. What could have been important enough that Dumbledore had only dared reveal it to him on the occasion of his death?
"Do you have any idea why the will was not brought to light before now? Surely someone would have noticed that it wasn't being fulfilled?"
She smiled, but it was without any real humor.
"You forget Harry that no one really intended for Albus to die, apparently that including himself. I highly doubt that the will was ever even sent to a lawyer's office." She turned to look at the portrait behind her desk in which the sleeping Dumbledore sat, his bright yellow robes clashing horribly with the magenta night cap on top of his head. They never had figured out how to awaken his portrait. "No," she said, "I doubt that he ever sent it out."
He took a moment to think this over before hurriedly placing a smaller version of the wrapped package into the front pocket of his robes for safe keeping until he could make it to a more secure place and open it.
"Thank you professor," he said sincerely, ignoring her disappointed look when he made no move to open the mysterious package in front of her. He stood to leave again and this time, she made no move to stop him.
"I'll be seeing you later then."
After another round of pleasantries and hopes of safe travel, they parted ways: her to the back of the office for further cleaning of the grand room and him towards the staircase that led to the seventh floor and the world beyond.
Author's Note: Please leave me a review and tell me what you think. Remember that the best has yet to come as this is just an introduction!