Disclaimer: Since I'm not the owner of these characters, I may do things with them that you don't like or agree with. Sorry in advance but that's the nature of fan fiction. To do otherwise kind of defeats the purpose of fan fiction, and copying JKR word for word would certainly see a lawsuit heading in my direction.
A/N: I have fixed the font problem and extended this chapter by a fair bit. Please read the new section before proceeding to the second chapter.
Chapter One: Redeeming Dumbledore
"Avada Kedavra!" The brief flash of green light sparkled behind his eyelids as a sense of vertigo started to register on him. Knowing that his plea had been answered, he hoped that his request would not be the tipping point for Severus. Blackness soon enveloped his senses, his mind tracking what must have happened to his mortal remains. Having been near the castles battlement, most likely the feel of falling was his body tipping over the wall. Hopefully Harry would have been still enveloped in the body bind and not see the end results.
His plans had been very reactionary, rather than well thought-out or precisely executed. Keeping both Severus and Draco from the path on which Voldemort placed them was no easy thing, but he had kept young Malfoy from killing, thus avoiding locking him to the Dark Mark. His hope was that Bellatrix was working her own angle when she demanded the Unbreakable Vow from Draco's Godfather. Unfortunately such mind traps where often stock and trade of the type of punishment Voldemort employed on his followers. Thus he tested loyalty and intent, ending in a win-win set-up, at least for Voldemort.
A rising luminescence soon brought him out of his recall, focusing his attention on his physical impute, apprehensively he slowly opened his eyes. His surroundings where a bleak cloudy fog of defused light, misty swirls seemed the only movement in his limited view point. If his back had not been firmly supported he would swear he was floating. Check over his body's input he noted no feeling of hot or cold, no pain from his wrists, ankles, knees and no tell tale signs of old age he woke to each morning. Fallowing his age old habit, he reached up for his long beard to keep it from tangling has he tried to get to his feet, encountering it much higher and neater then he could remember. Last time he had kept it this length it had been coppery red with just a trace of gold that would soon fade to white as it did in the winter of his 50th year. Glancing down he saw the brilliant sheen once more and wondered if restoration of the lost vitality really was return with death.
Regaining his feet he soon noticed that his attire was not what he expected, instead of his normal robes he was dressed in his 'Muggle Professors' outfit. This tailored suit was what he wore when he made opening contact with the firstborn that had been accepted to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Noticing his lack of hat, he started to turn and it seemed to land on his temples has if he had just dropped it there himself. Feeling completely dressed, even if in an echo of the past, he thought back to why he had not worn it in almost 40 years. Minerva took upon her self to visit the newest members of their world. It was one of the small blessings that his successor to Transfiguration chair had brought with her into the teaching position. He had done the job on more then one occasion when more then one of the new student had been hard to locate. Most had been during the last war on the continent when the bombing had driven many away from known addresses to either rural housing in the county or in worst case, orphanages.
An opaque shadow of a short man (perhaps a woman) appeared some 20 or so feet to the left of him, approaching slowly with what appeared to be a clipboard in his hand, has the fog diminished the figure clarified into Professor Armando Dippet. He smiled a greeting, but on its way to his lips it was brought up short when the voice did not match the face.
"Albus Dumbledore, I see you have arrived 5 years earlier then expected. No doubt one of your plans backfired on you. If you would follow me, the officer in charge of your case is waiting." Pausing for acknowledgement the man noticed the puzzled look and his face. "I see you are baffled by my appearance, the shape is most likely the familiar guise of someone you 'at least' respected in life. This is done for your benefit so that the impact of meeting your reaper is not overwhelming." Waiting for the expect reactions to meeting a death guide, and their normal fear response, he was pleasantly surprise to seeing neither fear nor repulsion. He shifting to the tall cloaked death figure that is more recognizable as the reaper waited for any response.
"I thank you for the attempt at not scaring an old man, but I expect this at the time of my death. If I might inquire, has no new image of your agents come into being since the invention of the classic Greek figure you now wear? Or is this simply what is expected from the area I lived."
"Many individuals have come to expect other imagining, but unless you had one, I would default to what you see now. I am referred to as J.J., but unless you need escort to another department we will not meet again any time soon. As I am not your case worker, I am not 'in the loop' has they say on your needs. Now if you would please follow me, my boss Mr. Parker who is your case worker, is waiting with the Review Committee that is mark on your transit document. Either your case is in controversy or you are headed for the TCRD of either Fate or Destiny." Seeing the frown, he added the quick statement of "Temporal Correlation Review Department", then Proceeded to explained that many magical's needed to have memory blocks and obviations removed before they could proceed or no real communication was possible. Which department would be needed would be on record with his reaper. Worst case would mean both might be involved either because of outside interference or that he was the problem.
"I truly hope you are not the one that's interfered in one of their 'chosen ones' paths. Last one spent more then a decade being grilled before any head way was made to fix things. Target ended up needing to see the death of his mother and sister to haul him back from the end of the world. His name was really long or 'Man with too many Names'. That was before my time, but seems he was being manipulated by someone before he left school. That led him to the conclusion that only mages could lead the world. If that had been allowed to stand, he and the Dark Lord known as Grindelwald would have kept the conflict going until the United States had deployed the A-bomb in numbers and would have ended the world."
"Was that Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore? That's me by the way. Are you telling me that someone interfered in my life to the extent that my family had to die to return me to the light?" Anger boiled deep down inside, instinctually he tried to gather his magic, only to find no perchance. Anger gave way to fear has he could not find the feel of his magic. Panic began to set in as he glanced up to his guild.
"Please calm down, as I told you before it happened before my time. That is the gist of the story I was told. Its possible that I was not told the full story or that I was meant to tell you this to make you think. Has you do not currently have a body; you therefore don't have access to your normal magic. Your spiritual Magic is not available till you are processed. Its one rule that followed for many reasons, you will be told when you have been processed so that you may use it." The two figures proceeded to travel for the next several minuets, until the fog started to dissipate. Slowly the confines of an office building became apparent around them.
"By now you may start to notice the world around you becoming more mundane, this is actually your spiritual senses acclimatizing to this realm. A type of shielding is needed for the real world that prevents the sprit from being damaged that is no longer needed here. We are not really walking long distance, just being processed from the other realm. The travel is just a way for you to see the visuals here change over." J.J. slowed as he approached a now visible door, and turned to face his blank faced companion. "Inside you will find my supervisor and the 'Comity of Review', Mr. Parker will introduce you and please ignore his joke at my expense. He believes it is funny that J.J., work for Parker. If you ask you will get a lot of wasted air about some funny strip." J.J. opened the door and gestured inside, muttering about fictional charters and something about 'he had three J's not two'.
"Mr. Parker your appointment; A.W.P.B.D/1996-TCRD prehearing as arrived; Mr. Dumbledore, this is Mr. Parker. If I am not needed I have another arrival in 2 cycles?" Mr. Parker was an average height man appearing to be in his fifties with wide shoulders and massive biceps'. Rising from his chair on one side of a V-shaped table, he meet eyes with his newest charge and held out his hand to Dumbledore with a slight smirk on his face. "Please don't worry so much J.J.; I am done with the 'Spidey' jokes. Mr. Dumbledore if you would please take your seat we have three or so cycles till the panel arrives and we need to cover the basics before they do. May I call you Al, or do you prefer Albus?" His smirk turn to a genital smile as J.J. backed out of the room, closing the door behind him. "I would prefer Albus, but answer to either Mr. Parker. Are we to remain formal or do you prefer another name?" Stacking 5 folders and two reference books in neat order in front of him and flipping open the first, he frowned at his forgetfulness.
"Apologies' sir, you may call me Harrison or Harry, although I prefer the latter. I am the senior member of the U.K. reapers and current head of the European review Department. I currently will be representing you before the joint Fate and Destiny review committee because of your status involving another case I had the misfortune to head at the beginning of my current assignment. You are being reviewed because of your involvement with the Grindelwald case. Bathilda Bagshot's maternal Grandfather, Reinhard Hess was Gellert's great-grand father and the main reason he was only expelled and not prosecuted. 'Long story short' he was in Britton and it was believed he goaded your father in his actions against the non-magical's that hurt your sister. This leaded to the belief that he was trying to get certain proponents of the Equal rights for First-borns out of his way so the same racial purity that was be pressed in Germany at the time would have an advantage in the British Wizarding world. So it fallows, that Hess was instrumental when applied to your world view of the time, even though you never meet the man he was responsible for many of your problems."
Albus sat all but stunned, his life had so many things that he was never aware of and this seemed the biggest. He had people who he never knew that went out of their way to make something they wanted to happen, even though they hurt other they either didn't know or care. This was just setting into his mind when the topic was directed to the reason for the review. "The reason you will be facing the current department heads of both Fate and Destiny is because of the chance of Reinhard's interference in your life might have been much farther reaching then we know. If you where Imperiused or in any way controlled by him we will be seeing the results and examine the need to clarify your point of view of the incident. Now to cover the basics as I said before, the dept. of Fate is the parts of your life caused by others to happen and the dept. of Destiny is that which you could have changed but either decided not to, or ignored. Both keep records of the important decisions you made and some may lead to questions about why and if you noticed. Please note that many of the things that are Fate lead to Destiny's choices. That is why you are before both dept. heads today." Harry sat back at this point and waited for the questions that would soon be coming his way, knowing the intelligences of this man they would be to the point and not random, seeing the concentration Albus face seem to lead to this idea being confirmed.
"I see that you are informed of things I was never privy to, might I enquire to the source of these stories or is the source the man himself? If this Reinhard is the source, has this been dealt with or am I needed to close this case?" Just as Harry knew he would, only two questions and he had asked for a book's worth of information. "The simple answer is yes, his life as been examined and the case will be added to by what we learn from you. His story as you called it will be on going till the end of the 'pure' questions on earth is seen, which maybe never. However, since your case has some unusual results and will lead to some extraordinary things you will not be seeing that story at this time. You will be allowed to read that case file once you finally allowed passing to the 'Next Adventure' has you so nobly labeled it, till then you are not ready for that information. Now the format for this panel will be: first, some questions from the three people that shall arrive momentarily; second, the memory restoration if needed; third, the follow-up questions and the either immediate decisions on your case or a recess to allow them to debate this case. Next, the five parts of this review: first, the Gellert file; second, the young adult section of your life, including your decision to become an educator including the handling of Tom Riddle; third is your becoming the head of the Wizengamot and the policies that you lead or introduced; forth, your time in the I.C.W. and your dealings with the other member nations; fifth, 'last but not least' your management of Harry Potter as Magical Guardian." The last statement was just a little disturbing. Albus knew that his time as guardian would come up, but was sure that he was prepared to answer any questions that arose. Now it seemed that he might be seen has 'the trouble' with two names that history would really link with him. If his handling was the cause of the 'Dark Lord' currently running amuck, then his future was bleak to say the least. Equally if his dealing with young Harry was also seen has short sighted or worst, he might be in even more trouble.
His thoughts where interrupted by the opening of the door to admit the panel, however the expected three people where not the whole of the party that entered. The first wore White robes, the next wore Red, and the third wore Blue, all wear judicial robes and the red and blue had department patches clearly visible. The White robe was the one that worried him though the golden sash around the collar was the type that was worn by King's when passing judgment on the nobles of the past. Next, three others that glided in behind them, a Black robed and Green robed seemed to be other department heads, the Last however was a face from the past, Lilly Potter was staring at him with a look of fury on her face.
"I would like to introduce you to the panel Mr. Dumbledore. First; the Lady in Red is the Head of the Fate office, Ms. Voros, Second; the Gentleman in Blue is the head of the Destiny office, Mr. Modry, Third; the Lady in Green the head of the Time office, Ms. Szare, Forth; the Gentleman in Black head of the reaper recruitment office Mr. Iswed, and Lastly; Ms Lilly Evens, also known as Mrs. Potter. I am the mediator for the panel and you may call me Mr. Giudice. If you are capable of other languages then you might have picked up on the fictitious names. This is normal procedure for Department Heads. Even if Ms. Szare refuses to wear grey, we are not permanent office holders and the office not the person holding it is the reason for the names. If you would see to seating for the extra panel members Mr. Parker we can proceed."
Harrison was not happy about the extra people, so with as much control as he could he expanded the panels seat from three to five and added a second chair the his side of the interview table. Once that was done he asked for a moment to confer with the review chairman. Leaving Albus and Lilly hoping to see why the extra people where here, he approached Mr. Giudice wearing a pleading countenance that would not be lost on a puppy.
"Please tell me the big guns are not waiting to get involved in this and just want the start of the 'Bull' out of the way before they walk in and blast my charge to hell." Mr. Giudice smiled at the slimily and then smirked at the last man he had seen with this type of client, poor Harry was just like his name sake. If the smallest chance of something twisting the wrong way could happen, it always happened to him. "This is just a review Harry, the out come, barring his being reveled has a manipulative and evil man, is already decided. However we are here to point-out to him the real error of his ways and see if he is willing to fix them. Now, please trust me when I say: he is not going to like this, but will be a better man when this is over."
Harry returned to his seat and glanced towards Albus, noting the puzzled look on his face knowing the question to come he signed quietly and rubbed his eyes. "They are going to make a beginning statement and start this hearing shortly; however I was not told of the extra department heads attendance or about Mrs. Potter's inclusion in this matter. I was also informed that this matter is leading to something and only a real surprise from you will lead this to any other out-come then they expect; I still do not know what that result is, but I will do all I can to help you." Albus's eyes traveled to his former student and now ex-order member and saw a determined look; hoping this was not for his crucifixion, he hoped this was about the war and not her baby's life. Young Harry was not the happiest of children since living with her sister and the results were not something Harry has shared with him personally. He was aware of Harry's lack of desire to return the Dursley's home each year, but did not know the full reasons for that idea. Surely the old magic that Lilly herself invoked that night would lead her to know of the possible wards that could be used to extent that protection to her sister and her family.
"For the duration of these proceedings please refer to me has Mr. Light, I will be leading this panel of review because of the probable decision to be made at the end. That is the reason for the presents of Ms. Szare, has she will facilitate the matter barring major problems arising from this hearing. Next the reason for Mr. Iswed presents is of course the 'Hollows' that both the applicants and Mr. Harry Potter came to have in their possession at some point in the currant situation. I hope this clears this up for Mr. Parker at least; I will let you inform Mr. Dumbledore of this matter has time permits. Lastly the reason Lilly Evens is here is one thing that has us all stymied; so she shall open this meeting with what we hope will be the control question before the process is administer and the question is asked again. Please everyone find a seat and we shall begin."
Rising and coming to the center of the room, the 'still young' women turned with all of her facial features stilled and with a calm that was hardly in keeping with the fury from earlier, spoke in a well projected but crisp stile. "We are all wondering; why is it Albus that you broke from your own tradition, one that to the best of my knowledge from the records I spent the better part of three weeks checking on, you needed to conduct an interview in your brothers pub, instead of the meeting rooms of the castle or even your office. After all, you allowed Tom Riddle that opportunity, why not Sibyll Trelawney, if she rated your time why not the security that others had. If the prophecy had been given in the castle, you would have had the assurances needed to carry on with out Severus being put into the positions he was. From the point of view of the Destiny department you should have invited her to your office, and the office of Fate has no record of anyone else influencing you." Concluding her questions, which seemed well rehearse, she rested her hands on her hips and saw the totally baffled Albus so totally caught off-guard that she huffed and returned to her seat.
Albus appeared totally unprepared for what seemed a blind-sided question of little import, until taken in context of the happenings with two of the families of the order and the resulting ends of both. Had such a small deviations in his own way of acting put everyone he worked with 'thru the mill' so to speak.
"I am at a lost to explain this to even my own satisfaction, to the best of my knowledge I simply went to meet a young woman that could ill afford the room she was using. I hoped to conduct said interview quickly, with the idea that I was dropping divination from the curriculum, and she was the grand daughter of a famous seer so I did not wish to be rude.
If I remember correctly my brother Aberforth floo'ed me after her arrival and said that his place was full and that if I could free up the room he would be grateful. Thinking about it now, I should have offered a guest room in the welcoming hall and held the interview the next morning as I usually did." Albus ran thru his occlumency routine, finding no signs of memory lost or alterations, he sat momentarily stymied. Surely that one impulsive decision did not mean the disastrous out come of so many friends. Brought out of his musings by the motions of Mr. Light, he returned his attentions back to the proceedings.
"Very well, we have an answer, now to see if it remains the same after you have been processed, please remain seated and try not to react to the light that will now surround you. The first beam is the guidance light, next it will change color to each of the spectrum of magic till the effects of all adjustment have been identified, then it will complete the process by hitting you with a wide spectrum burst to remove all the inflicted magic on your mind, it should not even be felt although some have likened it to a warm breeze." The light was on for only a few seconds from Albus point of view but the amount of information flowing by seemed to take all of his life to replay. Everyone else in the room knew what was happening, many had seen this light when called home, and often it was referred to 'reliving your life in the blink of an eye'. The results some times took minuets; often it took hours or weeks to fully incorporate the views, how ever with magic the end was different. If any return of memory was done, then the person in question some times never fully reintegrated the two ideas. After all, you would never have done that, what you do if nudging someone shoulder ended up with their death in front of a car. So they all waited, trying to give time to the man whom they all needed to be whole again, even if he was. Hoping some of the things he had dome where because of any number of reasons, other then not knowing enough or caring enough to change them.
The non-magical's had labels for mind diseases' from Alzheimers to Delusions of Grander, but magic had almost as many inflictions has there been idea about using them. Albus sat up a little straighter and seem to rejoin the present, he seemed older but not wiser, so with guilt written all over his face he proceeded to explain; "It seems that my decision was not one of compliance but of annoyance, I had heard that Ms. Trelawney was trying to make a living as a Gipsy fortune teller, and I though her a fraud and thus sot to bar her from being consider an applicant. At the time I though that the entry into Hogwarts would have made it seem she was worthy of the post. My own prejudices where at fault."
Harry had seen this happen before, one moment the answer was not worth looking into and the next the profound insight inflicted its self on some one. Knowing that the re-integration was a success he placed his hand on Albus's shoulder and started on the welcoming speech he gave every review member. "'Perfect Memory' is one of the worst punishment that as ever been in flicked upon man, the other include 'May you get what you Deserve, please don't let this get to you. You needed to know just how human you are so that the rest of the proceedings would mean something to you in the end." Albus responded with a nod and sat with his head bow while the others in the room shuffle papers and waited to proceed.
"Our next topic of discussion will be your feelings on the imprisonment of your father; this is for the Gellert case and will cover your friendship with him, and the fight that took your sister from you. We will not cover the death of your mother at this time because that case is not concerned with Gellert and will be seal until your 'next adventure begins'. We will not spend much time on this though because this information is only record keeping and not in depth for this review." Harry turned the fold around and pointed out the date they want to cover for his own peace of mind. Seeing the acceptance of a painful memory they waited for the board to continue.
Mr. Light cleared his throat to gain Albus's attention. "Mr. Dumbledore; we hope to keep this next subject short, so we now wish to hear your reasons for the magical exchange between yourself and one Mr. Gellert Grindelwald. Please tell us what where the emotional reasons for the spell exchange. We wish to know weather you truly though, at that point, to change Gellert's mind. This will not have a right answer so to speak, so please feel free to be brief or as eloquent as you need." Once more he felt that the questions where not the expected for a tribunal session, but had to real reach for the answer. From Albus point of view he was very reluctant to reel back to that time of rolling emotional turmoil that all teens went thru, having spent more then his needed time setting aside the emotional 'broom ride' of youth. This question seemed in keeping with the flow or this session of questions, but in all his years a chief warlock he could never remember a similar focus of any sort. This seemed more like a counseling session then a trail, so perhaps that answers should be has forthright as his experience would allow. Contemplating his time for the 48 hours before he confronted Gellert, he tried his best to set the emotions that set the stage for the 'fight' that left him bitter for more then a decade.
Standing and coming to the center of the room, he glanced over his shoulder at Lilly and wondered if this story was known to her, setting aside the curious thought that for now as having no barring on this matter he turn back to the panel and tried to order his thoughts. "If I might set the stage, I was dealing with my new and unexpected responsibilities' for my family, having to now help my brother finish his schooling and find a way for the care of my young sister from a point of view of no job and little money. As my mother seemed to wish to hide Ariana's problems from the world, seeing her as a squib and a dangerous one, I needed either in home care or long term care at St. Mungos. So to summarize, I was finically strapped, totally unprepared for the fathering role I was placed in, had no employment and no idea about solving the issue of my sister. Further more I had just had my wish to tour Europe blasted to pieces and would not be traveling with the one I had hoped to discover the world with. For about a month I talk of little else than trying to find away to head to Europe with Gellert, he knew I was unlikely to abandon my family from the start, so the tempers flair almost daily as we discussed the new world we wished to build until he finally put the gantlet down and ask me if the world could wait while I got the 'petty problems' of other solved.
This was his last and most pressing argument, and also the most hurtful, as he implied that my siblings where not my problem. This lead to the exchange I knew would end our plans and friendship, has he put forth the idea that when the things that needed to be done where put on hold for personal reasons, that no rule of government could achieve any thing with out forcing the issue. Thus he revealed his ultimate goal to rule by force, and we brought the fight to ahead and the battle is as you all know tragic in it's out come. So to finally answer your question; I was angry, frustrated, worried, desperate, and lastly I was heart broken. I am sure other smaller thing might be relevant, but they would have been before or after the 'fight'. I hope this answers your question, now can you tell me why my personal emotions are the focus of this hearing so far."
Rising to his feet Mr. Giudice once again glanced to the rest of the panel waiting for any objections, seeing none he scanned the notes in front of him once more and looked Albus directly in the eye. "Mr. Dumbledore, the question was answered with all the details presented with concision and well planned for the nature we ask of you. As for why these questions are aimed at your emotional center, we have seen a great deal of records showing your lack of such responses when confronted with truths that you have appeared not to hear or perhaps didn't want to hear. We need to know you are still in touch with the emotional side of your self, even if you refuse to let it rule you: my apologies if this seems crass or over bearing, but we will use this as reference when dealing with our last topic for this review and that will be the deciding factor in the whole of this matter. Please believe me when I say we wish for your mission to be done and your help in this will decide if you are ready for that assignment. In the long view your will be tested to see if you are the right man to replace me has the Mediator for this station. The test of which will be the back-step to fix the problems that your beloved ministry has caused for the last twenty years. As your where the largest single power block in that entity you're the best suited for both the assignment and hopeful the office we need you in. So if you would return to your seat. Mrs. Potter, its time for your other assignment, hopefully you will be back in time for the last subject." Mr. Giudice slowly sank back into his chair and waited for Lilly to leave the room. Then closed the first fold and set it aside while opening the second.
"Now on to the second task, your decision to become an educator and your youth, or to be more precise your pre Hogwarts years, we shall begin with your transfigurations mastery and your work with one Nicholas Flamel."
A/N: This will hopefully cut the time with the reapers down to 3 or 4 chapters. Having only received one review I am wondering if this story has real interest, it had more then 270 hit the first day, but little response. Shall I continue?