Important note: I am from central Europe, and my English is not good. I apologize. Please, if you find mistakes, write it to the review. The story is for you and reviews about how bad my English is without correction will not improve it. Thank you. I really hope my English will improve eventually.

Disclamer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoat Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

Prologue

"Severus..."

The sound frightened Harry beyond anything he had experienced all evening. For the first time, Dumbledore was pleading. Snape said nothing, but walked forward and pushed Malfoy roughly out of the way. The three Death Eaters fell back without a word. Even the werewolf seemed cowed. Snape gazed for a moment at Dumbledore, and there was revulsion and hatred etched in the harsh lines of his face.

"Severus...please..." Snape raised his wand and pointed it directly at Dumbledore.

"Avada Kedavra!"

A jet of green light shot from the end of Snape's wand and hit Dumbledore squarely in the chest. Harry's scream of horror never left him; silent and unmoving, he was forced to watch as Dumbledore was blasted into the air. For a split second, he seemed to hang suspended beneath the shining skull, and then he fell slowly backward, like a great rag doll, over the battlements and out of sight.

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Dumbledore opened his eyes and in front of him, sitting behing his table was Ariana, his sister. "Ariana?" he asked with a small, sad smile. "I guess I am in my next great adventure." he continued uncertainly.

But Ariana didn't smile. "Albus," she said dissaprovingly, "I am verry dissappointed in you." She said in a harsh tone.

Dumbledore paled. "W-what?" He hoped she would forgive him that incident many years ago, the moment he failed to protect his family.

"Yes, my dear brother, you hear correctly. I am dissappointed. Do you have any idea what have you done?"

"I d-don't know what you mean?" Stuttered still pale Albus. "What is going on?"

Ariana sighed. "Let's start from the beginning. The prophecy. Let me tell you, you have screwed it so much. The prophecy has been nearly fulfilled that day, on Halloween 1981. The Dark lord came, marked the child as his equal and the power he knows not was love - from his mother sacrifice. And that part about killing each other is about Harry's scar, the horcrux. That part of Voldemort cannot live in Harry's body, while Harry lives. And Harry cannot live with that scar."

"B-but.." started Dumbledore, evidently confused. This wasn't about Grindelwald and his mistakes long time ago. He realized what she said about Harry. "They both live or not...?" He didn't understand.

Ariana sighed again. "That dear brother, is one of your biggest flaw. You see, prophesies are rather tricky. It is not meant literally. It doesn't mean that Harry is the only one who can kill Voldemort, only the part inside him. Harry cannot live good life with

that scar. Because of that scar, he has bad sight, headaches, his power is constantly drained." She explained in a tone used with very small children.

Albus frowned. "His power was drained?"

"I can't believe that you didn't noticed. Do you not find it odd, that a thirteen-year old can produce a corporeal Patronus, but has a problem with everyday 'easy' spells?. It is because of that blasted scar. His magic is unstable.

However..." She paused. "The scar is not the only reason that his power is low and unstable." She looked at him pointedly.

Albus, who was slowly regaining his colour, paled once more. He understood what she meant. He was the reason.

"Yes Albus. You were the one of the reasons. You left him with the Dursleys. You left him with family who hate him. His aunt, who envies her long-dead sister and uncle, who is a bully and their whale of a son."

"But the blood protections..." Started Albus, but Ariana interupted him.

"Bollocks!" she snapped. "Blood wards or not, the great Albus Dumbledore nearly created new Voldemort. They are so alike you know, brother? Both of them were raised in abusive environment, both of them are parseltonques, both of them are really powerful, both of them have a certain charisma..and Harry have a good reason to hate you.." she finished ruthlessly.

"But Harry isn't like him." whispered Dumbledore. His sister was right, he screwed up. All his perfect plans and he forgot about that Harry was a human, a person. And he thought that he learned from his past mistakes.

"No, he isn't. But it was close. He didn't have a good time in school. That thing about Heir of Slytherin, the Triwizard Tournament, the Ministry. He was very close." continued Ariana.

"Close to what?" Asked Dumbledore gloomily.

"Close to the dark side. Close to the dark arts. You know, his friend Hermione would go with him. She would go with him everywhere. Imagine that, dear brother, imagine both of them go dark. His power would reacted better with horcrux when using the dark arts. The horcrux would have subconciously encouraged him. And the knowledge Hermione possesses...imagine she would dig deeper to the dark arts..." There Ariana stopped a shook her head. Her disappointment was visible.

"Let's talk about something else. You know, you should train him, whether you thought he have to die or not. You should train your students. Not DA, but real fighting. But you just left them, full of memories about great man and with nothing to help them to survive. But I am getting ahead. Come with me." She stood up and pointed to the pensieve.

Both Albus and Ariana Dumbledore went to the pensieve. Few hours later, they were back and Dumbledore was pale, shocked and tears were streaming down his cheeks. Whatever he had seen, it must have been terrible.

In the pensieve:

Albus watched as Alastor Moody was killed by Voldemort, the Ministry of magic fell, the Minister was killed, hundreds of muggleborn witches and wizard were given a dementor kiss, he watched torturing in the Malfoy manor, his disgraced grave, Death Eaters torturing students in the Hogwarts, break into the Gringots, Battle of Hogwarts, where another students, staff members and members of the Order were killed. Remus, Tonks, Fred Weasley, nearly one-hundred people who fought for the light were killed. He watched one third of Hogwarts ruined, Harry coming to the Forbidden forest to sacrifice himself, and the final defeat of Voldemort.

"Now you see Albus, what have you done?" Ariana asked. Dumbledore nodded. He could have saved many lives only by basic training for students. And his Order...

"Good. Let's talk about the things you saw. The horcrux behind Harry's scar can by destroyed using another way than killing curse you know. Several ways in fact. You could find it, it is easy, if only you use that brain of yours! Magic is surprisingly simple."

Albus looked at her, thunderstrucked. Several ways? But how?

Ariana continued. "And what about Severus Snape my dear brother. Do you trust him?"

Dumbledore, like always, produced his favourite saying – "I trust Severus."

"Yes you do, you fool!" shouted Ariana. "And that's the problem. A spy, my arse! One cannot be spy forever, it must end sometime! He was playing two sides until he was dying. He waited for one side to win, so he can be part of it. He did the right thing only when he was dying. He could find Potter hours before, he could send him patronus, he could left his memories in the office..."

Dumbledore frowned. "That cannot by right.."

"Think about it! That's not all." interupted Ariana again, "Remember the DoM incident? Harry and others were flying to London by testrals and brooms. To London! It lasted at least three hours. And Snape knew about it right after they left. Within three hours, there could have been at least twenty Order members plus trusted aurors. But when Snape informed you about it? After they arrived at the ministry. Isn't it suspicious?"

Albus realized that she was right. If Severus told him earlier, he could just wait at the Ministry for them.

And don't forget the education. From the year 1982, when Snape started teaching, his requirements for potions had costed about one hundred students their carriers. Yes Albus, I am talking about aurors and healers. Numbers of applicants for aurors dropped by 70% since Snape started teaching. All because he requires an O in potions to study for NEWTs. It is no wonder that Voldemort took over the ministry. It was riddicuously easy. No one was in his way after you died."

"Bu-but..." started Albus but stopped. His sister was right, something was definitely amiss with that man, but he never noticed. Or he just didn't want to. When Fudge reduced the budget for auror department, he blamed him, but it was understandable now, when he thought about it. Too little people to train.

Ariana continued. "The Slytherins were favorited, and because of that, the rest of school houses hated them. You can't explain to the teenegers that house points and school cup don't matter. Slytherins themselves believed they are superior, because they could do almost everything with no punishments. The Gryffindors were taken points because of "loud breathing", "cheek", Hufflepuffs were constantly scared, and Ravenclaws were not appraised because of their knowledge. And by whom? By Snape, the head of Slytherin. Slytherins students bullied other Hufflepufs, fought with Griffindors, but every time Snape appeared and took points from everybody but from Slytherins. Others were given detentions, Slytherins were sent to their common room and that was all. Is it any wonder that they joined Voldemort? They thinks they are superior like him."

Dumbledore was very sad and also angry at himself. All the time he tried to change Slytherins using subtle means was wasted by a man he trusted above all. It was now clear Snape played both sides. "What about his oath to Lily?" He asked as a last resort.

"Oh yes, his oath. His oath basically stated that he would not kill him personally nor will he ask others to kill him. It didn't said anything about bullying, riddiculing or anything. He hated him and that's all. What do you think Lily Potter would think of him after the years of bullying?" Dumbledore sighed. His sister had a point.

Ariana continued.

"Then there is the question about DADA class. I know you couldn't keep a profesor more than for a year, but Albus, you are supposed to be wise. That isn't the only way to learn. You could have started the dueling clubs, defence associations for those who wanted to learn. And as you could see, DA had pretty good success. Students suddenly had EE or O in defence. And it was fifteen year old who was teaching!"

"The next subject is History of Magic. Why everything students were taught were goblin rebelions? Why didn't they learn about the war with Voldemort? They would know he is a halfblood with muggle father. It could prevent some people from joining him. It could have opened the eyes of some purebloods." She was clearly very angry with him. "But for some reason you thought it would do good if people didn't know."

'Why didn't I thought about it?', thought Albus. It was so simple, just tell the truth.

"You didn't thought about many things brother. But let's talk about my favorite subject." She said darkly.

Albus cringed. He knew what was going on. That blasted things. The Hallows.

"Oh yes Albus, the Deathly Hallows. How could you be so stupid? That day you came to the Gaunt shack, you were so close. You could have saved so many lives. But no, the great Albus Dumbledore once again failed. How could you not noticed the compulsion charm on the ring? You couldn't use the stone while it was in the ring. And pray tell me, once you destroyed the ring and separated the Ressurection stone, why didn't you use it then? Was it that hard?"

Dumbledore was clearly confused. "But the ring can not bring the dead to life. How could it help?"

"All you know about it is from the fairytale stories, am I right?" She asked with a smirk.

From the look on Dumbledore's face it was clear that she was.

"The stone was first used by Odysseus, who sought the way home from the Troyan war. He used it to summon Tiresias, the blind prophet, who told him about his options." Dumbledore looked at her wide-eyed.

"I see you get it. You could have summoned me, and I would tell you what to do. Heck, everyone who is summoned must answer your questions to the some point. The Ressurection stone is very powerful tool. It is not some silly thing you can use to chat with the dead. But no, you believed some fairytale about man who wanted back his bride." Ariana continued with teary eyes. She wasn't angry anymore, not when her brother looked soo broken.

"I was afraid..." stuttered Albus and Ariana nodded sadly.

"I could have told you to amputate your hand. You would have lived for another twelve years or so providing you won't be killed by other means. The ministry would not fell. A few hundred wizards would not be killed for nothing. The entire Harry's sixth year you knew you would die, and have you done anything good? No. You could show everything about Tom Riddle to Harry at one or two occasions instead of two semesters."

"I could.." murmured Albus, mainly for himself.

"You knew you would die, and planned Harry to die, because of the horcrux. You didn't know that he will survive it, did you? If Voldermort used cutting curse or something other than killing curse, Harry would have died. Tell me, who would kill Voldemort if Harry died? No one!"

Ariana clearly wasn't finished. There were too many failures.

"Why didn't you tell the Order about horcruxes? At least Alastor Moody should have known. Maybe Kingsley. But with Moody killed, the Order didn't know what to do. He could have led the Order." She paused and looked angrily at him. "But there was your perfect plan for rescue. Seven Potters. Supposedly for Snape to secure his position in the inner circle. What a load of bullshit" She exclaimed.

Albus looked at her questioningly. He thought it was a good plan.

"The Order didn't believe Snape, so it would not be surprising that he didn't know about that plan. Should Voldemort dug deeper, he would have realized that something was wrong. Moody was killed and because of that ministry fell a few weeks before it should. He would not have allowed some silly wedding in the middle of war! The Order was at the wedding, so the ministry fell." she finished.

Dumbledore didn't reacted. He was deep in thought. His sister literally crushed him with truth. This wasn't the Great next adventure he had dreamed of. It was like hell. Tears were flowing freely from his eyes.

Suddenly Ariana stood up and hugged her brother tightly. "Oh Albus." She exclaimed. "I am sorry, but I had to do it. It was my duty to tell you. I am so sorry." She was sobbing.

Albus was a broken man. This was too much for him. He was hugging his sister after so many years. His sister have forgiven him. This was the moment he wanted and feared for almost one hundred years. He realized what she had said after a few minutes.

"D-duty?" murmured Dumbledore.

"Yes brother. You don't think that all the things I told you was to torture, do you?"

Dumbledore nodded, ashamed. That was indeed what he was thinking.

"Oh you silly brother of mine. You are so old, but sometimes your are like little frightened child." Laughed Ariana. "I am really sorry, it was hard, I know. But I didn't do it for fun. You have been given a second chance." She told him with a small smile.

"But why, who would give me a second chance after everything I have done? I don't understand." Dumbledore exclaimed. He couldn't believed that somebody would give him a second chance. Not after everything he done. Not after so many deaths he was responsible for, after all manipulations. Was it even possible?

"Shhh, everything is fine." She soothed him. "Do your recognize where you are?"

Albus looked around and noticed that they were in his office. On the perch was Fawkes, and on the wall were portraits of previous headmasters. His devices were slowly humming and outside the window he could see the sun rising. Everything was calm and peaceful.

"It...it looks like my old office." He said confused.

"Oh yes, it is." She said slowly with a smile. "And the year is 1992. Summer. This is your second chance brother. Use it well. I love you..." And she was gone.