Albus Dumbledore and the Wizard's Ruse

Book Three of the Albus Dumbledore at Hogwarts Series

Disclaimer: this is a work of fan fiction based on the worlds created by JK Rowling. The story is written for entertainment and not for profit.

Author's Note: Thank you everyone for your wonderfully positive and supportive reviews. I am so pleased to be welcomed back with open arms by so many of you. It makes the process of writing so much easier when you are appreciated. I just want to remind everyone that I am working on my own children's book at the moment, as well as a day job, so the frequency of updates will depend on how busy I am. I will do my best to update at least once a week.

"The secret of a good surprise, is keeping the fact that you have a secret; a surprise."

Chapter 2 – A Birthday Surprise

On the last day of August, 1854, Lubo Dumbledore woke her two sons early with the news that they were to travel to Diagon Alley by floo powder to collect their books and equipment for the new school year. Albus had mixed feelings now that this day was here. A part of him was thrilled that his return to Hogwarts was just a day away, and another part dreaded the prospect of going back to a school that no longer contained Victoria Moody. If there was one positive to be gained, it was that Albus' old enemy Noxious Black would also be absent. After the disgraceful death of his father, Noxious was being sent to a school in a foreign country. Albus thought it was most probably the Black Forest School of Magical Arts.

The Dumbledore family; with the exception of Archaeon who was preparing for his latest archaeowizarding dig; stepped into their fireplace one by one and were whisked through the floo network to Diagon Alley. They stepped out into the sun-soaked street and Albus breathed in the sights and sounds of the wizarding world's centre of commerce. Witches in rags hawked dead spiders on the corner of a street. Something that looked suspiciously like a ghoul took fright when they walked past and sped off down the dark and dingy Knockturn Alley. Hundreds of witches and wizards bustled to and fro down the main cobbled street and their cheerful chatter created a hum in the air.

'I must collect some supplies of my own,' Lubo said to her two sons. Albus and Aberforth's beautiful mother had shimmering white hair running down the sides of her face, and wore a silky purple dress decorated with yellow stars, with a purple shawl over her head and shoulders. Her skin was pale and luminous, and as ever, Albus was sure she had an aura which separated her from everyone else on the street.

'Since when do you need supplies, mother?' Aberforth asked.

'Since mind your own business, child,' Lubo said. She smiled thinly, and led them into a store called Olde Eggs Odds 'n Ends. It was a dark and gloomy store, with high shelves placed close together so that one had to walk like a crab to move down the aisles. It was impossible to turn around once you had started down an aisle, and you could only move at a shuffle. The boys' eyes quickly lit on some of the unusual items for sale in the shop.

'Look at this place,' Aberforth exclaimed. 'This is the shop I've been waiting for my whole life.'

'Now, Aberforth Dumbledore;' Lubo said, 'behave yourself whilst I make my purchases.'

There was little chance of that happening, as Aberforth made a beeline for a pile of strange brown crusts that might just have been dried dragon's dung. Albus chuckled at his brother before trying to squeeze his way down one of the aisles. He was curious as to what he might find in the shop.

The shelves were covered with the strangest assortment of items Albus thought he'd ever seen in a wizarding shop. There were old eggs, true to the name of the shop, but from their shriveled green and mottled shells Albus thought they must be at least a hundred years old. There were dead scorpions in jars, beetle's brains, strange vines in pots that looked ready to throttle you if you came too close, and plenty more. In all, the shop contained such an unusual array of items that Albus was prompted to make a remark to his brother from across the way.

'This looks just like the sort of place where that evil hag of a Potions Mistress might buy her …'

Albus stopped dead and his heart went through the floor. Just as he'd made the comment, none other than the Hogwart's Potions Mistress, Professor Elvira Rookwood, had walked in through the shop door. She gave Albus a withering look, and he knew at once that his chances of coming top in Potions were nil this year. Not that he'd ever been top; Professor Rookwood favoured her house, Slytherin, far too much to ever award a Gryffindor student with top marks.

Aberforth found Albus hiding in a corner of the shop looking deathly pale.

'Lucky it was not the school year yet, brother, or you would have lost Gryffindor another four hundred points,' Aberforth chuckled.

Albus grinned weakly. He had developed a nasty habit of losing Gryffindor vast numbers of points. In both his first and second years at Hogwarts, Albus had caused the bottom to fall out of the Gryffindor points counter. It was almost exclusively due to his Pirate pranks. Fortunately Albus had become an expert at winning back those points, and more, so Gryffindor were currently two-time champions in the House Cup. But one thing was for sure; Albus did not want to lose any points at all this year if he could help it.

Professor Rookwood did not take long to purchase whatever it was she needed, so Albus was able to breathe easier once she was gone. Whatever his mother was doing seemed to be taking hours, so Albus started browsing the densely-packed aisles again. He stopped in his tracks when he saw a crystal ball.

For one heart-stopping moment, Albus was convinced he'd stumbled on one of the incredibly rare Orbs of Duality. Albus had been the owner of one last year; he'd received it from his phoenix, Fawkes. The Orb of Duality was a device that told one absolute truth and/or one lie when you asked it a question. It had proven extremely useful last year as Albus had used it to help Thomas Jones win the Triwizard Tournament. Unfortunately, the Orb had been stolen by Grindelwald Grundelwald, the ten year old brother of the German Triwizard contestant.

'That, my son; is a crystal ball for Divination,' Lubo Dumbledore said. Albus nearly toppled backward into the shelf behind him. His mother had seemingly materialized out of thin air beside him. She was holding a bag full of purchases in her left hand, and had noticed Albus' intense interest in the round crystal ball.

'Oh, yes,' Albus said, realizing it for what it was. 'Yes, I know that.'

'You are taking Divination this year?' she said.

'Yes, mother,' Albus replied. 'You do not suppose I shall need one of those?'

'It is not on your list from Hogwarts,' Lubo said, consulting the letter that Deputy Headmaster Leon Bones had sent him in the mail. 'Come, we must obtain your textbooks and hurry back to Wales by floo.'

'Why are we in a hurry, mother?' asked Aberforth, 'and what have you got there?'

Albus and Aberforth both peered at Lubo's bag, curious to see what she'd bought. Albus was convinced he saw the peak of a witch's hat, which was strange, seeing as he'd never seen his mother wearing one in all the years he'd been alive. There was also a book in her bag, the title of which began with the letter 'D'. But he never got to see the rest of it because Lubo hid the contents of the bag under her shawl.

'Mind your own business, for the second time this morning,' Lubo said. 'I have things to do back at home, and it is not your place to know what your mother purchases. Now hurry along to Flourish and Blotts, will you?'

They duly made their way to the bookstore. Aberforth persisted in trying to catch a glimpse of his mother's secret purchases and ultimately went too far, trying to cast a summoning charm on the bag. Lubo threw a hail of spells at him so that his face was covered in pimples and his hair was a shade of vomit. The looks of disgust from girls and laughter from boys walking by on the street turned Aberforth's face a shade of crimson, and Albus didn't try to pursue the mystery of the secret purchases for fear of getting a similar punishment.

Inside Flourish and Blotts, Lubo bought her sons the textbooks they'd need for the new school year. Aberforth had to get a range of OWL level books. Albus' booklist had a familiar ring to it, with a few new titles to cover the subjects he was starting for the first time: Standard Book of Spells – Grade Three (Albus got his mother to buy him Grade Four and Five for good measure), Transfiguration for Intermediates, Magical Herbs and their Uses, Ye Olde Arte of Brewing Potions, Finding the Inner Eye, Magykel Beastes and Self Defense for Young Witches and Wizards. While Albus was collecting his texts, he ran into his shaggy-haired friend from Gryffindor House, William Potter.

'William!' Albus exclaimed when he saw his friend giving him strange looks from across the room. William approached tentatively, looking awkward at first. Albus pretended not to notice and gave the tall boy a playful punch on the shoulder. 'It is good to see you after all these months. How has your summer been?'

William looked relieved that Albus hadn't bitten off his head or something, and launched into a full description of his trip to the south of France on a very expensive holiday. Albus realized that Victoria's death would cast a pall over his relationships with the other Pirates unless he was cheerful and acted like he had overcome his grief.

'…and we returned just yesterday,' William concluded, after jabbering for about five minutes. 'Ah, I see you have bought the new textbooks. Let me see, I've yet to buy mine.'

Albus showed William the various titles. They both had a good laugh about the Divination one.

'"Finding the Inner Eye",' Albus said. 'It sounds like a load of dragon's dung if you ask me.'

'A truly great pile of dragon's dung,' said William, who had also elected to take Divination and Care of Magical Creatures because Arithmancy and Runes had sounded too difficult. 'The Charms, Transfiguration, Defense against the Dark Arts and Potions texts all sound boring, as usual.'

'Particularly Potions,' Albus said, before biting down hard on his tongue. He quickly spun around to see if Professor Rookwood had overheard him a second time. Fortunately, the scowling Potions Mistress was nowhere to be seen.

'I am disappointed you think so poorly of the Defense against the Dark Arts text before you have even glanced at it,' Lubo said, appearing suddenly at Albus' side.

'I am sorry, Mrs Dumbledore,' William said, going a shade of beetroot. 'I did not know you wrote it.'

'Alas, I am not the author,' Lubo said. Albus and William waited for her to say something else, but she turned around to look for Aberforth. William frowned at Albus, as if to say, 'What was that about?' Albus could only shrug in reply.

'Come, Albus, I have spotted your brother, and it is time for us to depart,' Lubo said. 'Have a safe journey to Hogwarts, William, and be sure to read that textbook and correct your opinion of it.'

William looked even more astonished by Lubo's strange words. He and Albus said their goodbyes, and then Albus and Aberforth followed their mother to the nearest fireplace. As he spun around in the flames and shot through the floo network back to the Dumbledore mansion, Albus wondered why his mother was speaking in such a cryptic fashion. There was a faint possibility that had reared in his head, but he'd dismissed it as impossible. Surely not. It could not be. Or could it?

That evening Albus packed his trunk in preparation for his third year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. This was an annual ritual where Albus could take stock of all his worldly possessions. It was a powerful feeling for a young man to know precisely what belonged to him and him alone in the entire world. Into the bottom of the trunk he laid down his heaviest and most prized books: A Better Way to Transfigure and Magyk Before the Fall of Empyres, Achmed al-Mohammad's famous historical magical text. Next he laid down his favourite purple robe with yellow stars, and the striped scarlet and green Caerphilly Catapults uniform he treasured. It was third year, so Albus and his friends were to be permitted to go to the village of Hogsmeade every few weekends, which meant Albus had to have some casual clothes to wear. He packed in his school robes, socks and shoes, all of which had been enlarged using a spell by Lubo. 'Why waste money on new clothes when you can simply enlarge the old ones,' she'd said. Albus figured it made sense; he'd been growing so fast that his parents would be bankrupted if they had to buy new clothes for him every three months.

Albus also packed in his broom polishing kit and the golden Egyptian ankh with the blue sapphire embedded in it that had saved his life on more than one occasion last year. He added the Star Pointer that his mother had given him and last, but not least, Albus carefully laid down his 12½ inch willow wand with its fabulous unicorn tail and phoenix feather core. Albus was immensely proud of his wand. It was his premier possession.

There were two more possessions to go with the trunk, but they were too big to fit inside. One was Fawkes' handsome mahogany stand, and the other was Albus' Cleansweep Two broom. Albus admired his belongings and thought back to the day in his second year when he'd arrived in the dormitory to discover that all of it had been destroyed in a savage attack. His parents had been kind enough to replace it all for him, but it had left him shaken and vulnerable. The culprit had never been identified, but Albus was certain that it had been Grindelwald.

'Albus, will you kindly bring yourself downstairs?' Lubo asked from behind him. For the second time that day Albus nearly jumped out of his skin. His mother had apparated from downstairs into his room with startling subtlety.

'Please refrain from doing that,' Albus said. 'You scared the life out of me.'

'Hmm,' Lubo mused, 'perhaps you need to work on awareness of your surroundings. It is useful in the art of defending against the enemy.'

With that cryptic statement she disapparated again, and Albus was left scratching his head. Surely his mother was not coming to… No, Albus pushed the thought out of his head. She had said nothing of the sort all summer and it simply was not possible. The very idea was preposterous. He forgot all about it and apparated downstairs.

'Surprise!'

Albus was greeted by a wall of noise when he appeared in the living room. More than a dozen familiar faces beamed at him underneath a very large banner that read, 'HAPPY BIRTHDAY ALBUS PERCIVAL WULFRIC BRIAN DUMBLEDORE!'

He found himself swaddled in a hug from four different girls at the same time. Emily Marchbanks, Maggie Weasley, Elizabeth Figg and Annabel Bradshaw had all descended on him at once. He had to extricate himself from their tangled grasp. All four tried speaking simultaneously.

'So good to see you…'

'You look ever so much taller…'

'My how you have grown…'

'Albus, I have been looking forward to seeing you again,' said Emily, the one who won out amid the four voices. The grand-daughter of Griselda Marchbanks, convener of the OWL and NEWT examinations; Emily had always been an authoritative figure among the girls. She too had grown over the summer, and wore her curly blonde hair in a bun above her severe grey eyes.

'I am pleased to see you all in return,' Albus said, smiling. It was painful to think that these four girls had once been five, but Albus quickly put Victoria out of mind. 'Thank you for coming to my birthday. I had not the faintest idea that this was going to happen.'

'Your parents are skilled at keeping things from you,' Emily said.

'Didn't you say in your last letter that your father was teaching you Legilimency?' Mars McGonagal asked. The other four third year Gryffindor boys had joined the girls in crowding around Albus. 'I expected better of you.'

'I would like to see you try and use Legilimency on Archaeon Dumbledore, Mars,' Albus said. He hesitated a moment before lightly punching Mars on the shoulder. Mars punched him back and before you could say 'Quidditch', the five boys were tussling on the carpet. Albus laughed wildly, delighted that whatever problems Mr. and Mrs. McGonagal had with his parents, at least Mars was still his best friend.

'Oh boys, do grow up!' Maggie Weasley said crossly, her hands on her hips. The four girls clicked their tongues and shook their heads like little adults, but it made little difference. William, Edward, Alabastor, Mars and Albus were all so happy to be reunited that they weren't going to listen to a bunch of girls. It took the booming voice of Archaeon Dumbledore to put an end to the ruckus.

'That is quite enough, boys,' Archaeon said. 'Come over here, Albus. Nibs has baked a scrumptious looking cake and we would all very much like to sing for you.'

Albus unlocked his head from the crook of Alabastor's elbow and struggled to release his ankle from Mars' grasp. The five boys dusted themselves off and made their way to the living room table, where a five-storied chocolate cake glistened under the light of the thirteen candles. Albus noticed that the Jones brothers were also present. Aberforth, Lubo and Archaeon stood behind the cake, fondly watching as Albus prepared to blow the candles out.

'It is not yet your birthday,' Lubo cautioned, 'but seeing as you will be at Hogwarts' Sorting Feast tomorrow night, we all thought you deserved a celebration of your thirteenth birthday at home.'

'The unlucky thirteen,' Aberforth pointed out.

'Ooh,' Alabastor crowed. 'Will Dumbledore fail a test this year?'

'Or worse,' William said with a wicked grin, 'come second to Jenning Ranger in the exams?'

'I know, he will lose Gryffindor another four hundred points with a Pirates prank,' Mars said.

'Will you lot shut your horrid mouths?' cried the unexpected voice of Thomas Jones. 'I am determined to hold aloft both the House Cup and the Quidditch Cup this year, and if you lot put a jinx on Albus then I shall be livid!'

'There will be no jinxing of anyone at Hogwarts,' Lubo said mysteriously. 'Not this year, at any rate.'

Nobody knew quite what to say after this, and Albus got another strange look from William. He himself was growing increasingly convinced that his mother was up to something very peculiar.

'Come on, dear Albus,' Emily said. 'Blow out the candles!'

Albus took a deep breath and blew the candles out in one go. Lubo produced a knife out of thin air and started dishing out large slices of gooey chocolate cake.

'Make sure you eat over your plates,' Lubo said. 'I do not wish to be magicking the house clean for a second time today.'

Albus giggled at his mother's quaint sense of humour. It only took her one flick of the wand to clean a room. While it was Archaeon who commanded huge respect from the wizarding community, Albus knew that his mother was a formidable witch when she put her mind to it.

The time came for presents; and it seemed as though everyone had brought something for Albus. By the time he had unwrapped them all, it was the largest pile of gifts he had ever received. The Gryffindor third years had combined to buy Albus a complete set of Caerphilly Catapults Collectors Cards.

'We have each accumulated our own teams over the holidays,' William explained, 'so we thought you ought to have your team so that we can play trading games this year.'

'I did not approve,' Emily felt compelled to say, 'as card games are a waste of time. But the boys insisted on it.'

The Jones brothers gave Albus a richly illustrated book called Seeking in Style. It gave vivid descriptions on how to be a good Seeker in the game of Quidditch, with pictures in which the subjects kept demonstrating the various moves over and over again, right before Albus' glowing eyes. Aberforth gave Albus a bottle of butterbeer, but was quick to whisper something in his ear when he got it.

'It is not butterbeer,' Aberforth hissed, 'sample it and you shall find the heady taste of Firewhisky instead, my little brother.'

Albus grinned. Aberforth was fond of Firewhisky. He did not quite know what he was going to do with the powerful drink, but he figured that it might prove useful at some point during the year. Perhaps as part of a prank, Albus thought wickedly.

From Lubo, Albus received the crystal divination ball he had been staring at in Olde Eggs Odds 'n Ends that morning.

'When did you buy this?' Albus asked. 'We left the store at the same time and you came back with us by floo powder.' Lubo was in a mood for keeping secrets that day, however, and remained serenely tight-lipped.

The final gift Albus opened was from his father. As usual, it was an exceptionally well chosen gift, and a fine one at that. It was a vast book with a brown leather cover. The title was inscribed into the leather using fine gold filigree: Into The Mind of Thine Enemy – A Quide to The Artes of Legilimency and Occlumency by Bagtrand Smythe. Albus could barely speak he was so pleased by the gift. All he could think was that he would have to unpack his trunk and repack everything.

'Thank you,' Albus said, looking around fondly at all the most important people in his life. 'Thank you all. This has been the best birthday of my life, even though it isn't yet my birthday.'

Albus received a round of smiles and hugs before people started to take their leave. The Dumbledore fireplace was used to transport all eight of the third year Gryffindors to their respective homes, followed by the three Jones brothers. Lubo had to go in chase of Aberforth, who had filched the last remaining layer of chocolate cake for himself. Albus was left alone with his father.

'Well, my boy,' Archaeon said, 'the time is upon us for us to part again. You leave for Hogwarts tomorrow, and I leave for the East Indies.'

'Are you not going back to Egypt?' Albus asked.

'No,' Archaeon said, 'at least, not for the time being. I must pursue some ancient Indian artifacts. I have to confess, I wish to see the back of Egypt for a time. There are too many painful experiences buried in the sands of those deserts.'

Albus silently agreed. In Albus' first year, Archaeon had been taken prisoner by Phineas Nigellus and forced underground to help raise Imhotep from the dead. The events of last year, of course, remained fresh in both their memories.

'Who will teach me Legilimency and Occlumency in your absence?' Albus asked.

'That textbook is a fine work,' Archaeon said, 'and you will learn much from browsing its pages. There is, however, a very competent teacher at Hogwarts who has agreed to instruct you.'

'Who is it, father?' Albus asked urgently. 'Do tell me.'

'My dry lips are sealed,' Archaeon said. 'And the time is late, my son. I believe you were thinking about repacking your trunk before you go to bed. You had better get to work.'

'Father,' Albus groaned. 'Do stop reading my mind.'

'Until you learn how to block me,' Archaeon said with a grin, 'I will not desist.'

Albus knew that a challenge had been laid and that he had no choice but to meet it that year at Hogwarts. He hoped that whoever this teacher was, they'd be good enough to teach him Occlumency of a standard good enough to resist Archaeon Dumbledore.

Albus apparated upstairs with his precious new belongings and reordered his trunk. By the time he was finished it actually was Albus' birthday, with the old clock on his wall reading five past midnight. He crawled wearily into bed and fell asleep almost instantly, put to sleep by the crooning of his beloved phoenix that was roosting on the mahogany stand. Another grand year at Hogwarts awaited Albus Dumbledore.

Author's Note: a reviewer made a very valid comment about the speech my characters using being inconsistent. Sometimes I write very old fashioned sentences, and other sentences are more modern. This is my own mistake and I do my very best to remain consistent. It is difficult trying to write a fast paced adventure when your characters speak like 19th century Brits! I promise to keep working on this aspect of my story.