Building up the Offensive – I
In the rare moments that he wasn't working on...something unspeakable, and sitting placidly in his designated area (that was it; a desk and chair were too mainstream, anyway), happily cocooned away from the war in the comforting presence of magic, theory, and learning, the Unspeakable had to sigh in exasperated frustration when the tip of a wand made contact, ready to blow his Cerebellum and Medulla Oblongata were he to give the incorrect response.
Truth be told, the man wasn't surprised at all – neither by the presence of the one who held him at wand point, nor by the action itself. The cocoon he was ensconced in was of his own creation, and he knew every disturbance and every disturber, so to speak, and anyone who dared to hold him captive would instead be at his mercy. The man was irritated by the inevitability of the question and the embarrassing nature of the answer he had to give in response. He briefly wondered whether he should have guarded himself against such infuriating irritants also.
"What did Da call yeh, yeh miserable oaf?"
The man, who was seated, grimaced horribly. Every single time – every bloody single time – he was asked that question. He was sure that it was only for fulfilling the twisted sense of humour that his captive asked the question.
"Answer me," the questioner commanded.
"Tinkler, you damned old coot!" growled the Unspeakable. "You ask me that question every single time only because you like to embarrass me, Dangler." The man then got up and hugged his captor.
"How many times have I told you not to accept anyone directly? Always ask a question, damn it!" growled the captor.
"And how many times have I told you that I have complete confidence in what I have used as protections? I know everyone who breaks my reverie."
They were following a light hearted pattern of banter that they engaged in, every single time that they met. 'Dangler', though, did not respond. Instead, his face was set in a grim expression, much more than 'Tinkler' was used to. Unspeakable Corvus looked at his brother with undisguised curiosity, mixed with apprehension.
"What is it Alastor? You always tell me I am always too cocky about my wards. What's the matter?"
"I need your help and utmost privacy, Oswald. Something has happened that has the potential to change the war, if our side plays it right. But first you need to check through your people. Dumbledore fears that your lot have been infiltrated. Frankly, it makes sense. Their side has been using newer curses for quite time now – evidence that they have a spellcrafter on their side. And I could swear that I have seen their lot use time turners."
"That's impossible!" Oswald protested. "We check them thoroughly with a complete psychometric analysis when they are employed, Alastor!"
Alastor shook his head at his brother. "It doesn't work that way in real life, Os. Not even you people could ever understand the vagaries of human nature..." He gave a weary sigh. "Just do me a favour and check the lot out, as of yesterday, git. I can only wait till this evening at six for the results. Then I will hex every one of them within an inch of their lives."
Os could see the determined glint in Alastor's real eye accompanying his blandly delivered threat/ promise. "You wouldn't need to Alastor. While I resent this, I have to be vigilant enough. I will check immediately."
Thirty-five minutes later, fifteen Unspeakables, and Alastor stood in attendance as Augustus Rookwood was unceremoniously pushed through the Veil, before Os finally caught up with his brother, waiting for Alastor to explain at least the briefest outline of the incidents to leading to the events that had occurred.
"There was a new prophecy. It was told to Dumbledore, but his brother and I heard it also. While we are not even sure that it applies to the current Dark Lord, we were handed a fortuitous turn of circumstances. A Death Eater heard it. We now intend to modify the wording of the prophecy before leaking it to HIM. We plan to trap him."
Oswald looked at his brother as if he had grown two heads, each sporting a magical eye. "Are you lot insane?" Oswald asked reflexively, before he took time to think about it and actually work it over. "That's not a bad plan, really," he grudgingly conceded.
"So will you help with the Prophecy?"
"I will need information. What is his real name? What was his past like? Any and all information you could give me about him could be moulded to make the prophecy person specific. The problem will be keeping it different enough from the Oracles of a Seer."
"How long will it take if we give you all available information?"
"How long do you have?"
"No more than ninety-six hours."
"Cutting it rather close, aren't we?"
"We have to use the DE we have, Os. It could be our only chance..."
"I cannot commit before we have information about how long it would take for you to put the plan in action, when you want to do it, how you want to do it, and so on. There are so many variables."
"I can't endanger pregnant women, Os. They are due by the end of July."
"But if you are planning decoys..."
"One of them is a Healer-in-Training. I don't really want to hear her rant. Worse still, a kid, even if it causes problems, will still be easier to handle, logistically, than a hormonal pregnant woman."
"There is that," Oswald conceded. "I will check up on the prophecy. I will handle it personally. If you want it in ninety-six hours, I expect it will involve some high-level modifications on the memories?"
"Yes."
"So that will exclude a mean of twelve hours to create a very thorough memory without noticeable kinks. And who, pray tell, will do that?"
"Albus..."
"That old idiot?" asked Os scathingly. "No. That won't do. I've got a nice young fellow, excellent at mind magics. His service identity is Croaker. Bring those dead-weights around, and I will get things done, if I can construct a good one after whatever information you give me. And I expect it within the next three hours, Alastor."
Alastor recognised the dismissal for what it was. Nodding at his brother, he vanished for his next errand – getting to know more about Voldemort.
"May I intrude on you and your family, this fine evening, Augusta?"
"Of course, Albus," the matron of the House of Longbottom answered, rising to attention immediately. She had rightly surmised this was Order business. "Do you need Frank and Alice?"
"As a matter of fact, yes, I do indeed."
Augusta rose to fetch the couple via the floo, when Albus stopped her.
"Augusta, I understand that this will be an affront to your honour, but something has come up which has made it absolutely necessary to weed out the traitor."
"Oh?" Augusta's frosty tone made Albus wince, but he had to do what he had to do.
"Yes. I do not suspect either of you three is the traitor. But I am going to have to verify the loyalty of every member. I want to be able to honestly say that I questioned everyone." The stony expression on Augusta's face did not abate. Albus sighed. "If it pleases you, Augusta, then I will start from myself. Would you prefer an oath or Veritaserum?"
"An oath would suffice."
"Fine," Albus replied shortly. "I, Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, swear on my very magic, my life, and my honour, that I stand firmly against the Dark Lord. I further swear that my intention is to destroy him and to protect the common folk and the members of the organisation – The Order of the Phoenix – at any cost to myself, and I have not and shall not betray anyone who stands against the Dark Lord willingly. So I swear truly."
He released sparks from his wand to prove the validity of his oath. Augusta had no choice but to comply, however grudgingly.
With that out of the way, Dumbledore released a smidgen of information. "There is now new development that can throw the entire war around, Augusta. But the problem is that it could harm your unborn grandchild. Or it could harm the Potter kid..."
The second sentence already had Augusta on board. "What do I need to do?" she asked almost fearfully.
"I need you to convince Frank and Alice, and Charlus and Dorea, and James and Lily to prove their loyalty to the Order to us. Only once that is done can I give any more information to any of you."
"I will contact them all immediately," she promised.
Half an hour later, each of the people called were seated along with Albus and Augusta in the small chamber off the main sitting room at Longbottom Hall, sure of the loyalty of each person seated there.
"What is the urgent matter you wanted to discuss, Albus?"
"Yes, Dorea," Dumbledore replied wearily. "As a matter of fact, I do. Last evening, a prophecy was recorded regarding – as has been forcibly brought to my notice – aDark Lord." He produced his Pensieve and showed those congregated the memory.
"I suppose you understand my fears?" He asked the two expecting couples.
Alice was the first to come out of the shock. "Surely you don't mean that either of mine or Lily's child will have to fight, and defeat, HIM?" When Dumbledore didn't answer immediately, she pulled her wand on her former Headmaster. "My family and I shall be moving out of Britain immediately! This problem was allowed to fester by the previous generation and I am not going to allow my child to be caught up in this!"
"And I second her!" Lily was not going to leave her child's safety to chance either.
"And I commend you for that decision, Ladies, but I am pretty sure that this wasn't why Albus called us all." Charlus had known Albus for a long time, and had even fought against Grindelwald's forces with him. Albus was observing them all watching their reactions carefully. That he had also given Augusta an Oath told Charlus that there was a completely different game afoot.
"Precisely so, Charlus," said Dumbledore in acknowledgement, with a nod. "While your maternal instincts are commendable, they lie very much against my intentions -" he held up a hand to stop the impending onslaught of protests, "they lie against my intentions because they will work against the need to protect your children. As of now, I am sure that the Department of Mysteries has been infiltrated. As long as the spy isn't weeded out, we have to assume that the fact that a prophecy has been made will reach Tom. Should you escape now, and the spy within the Order that we have yet to weed out tells Tom about it, it will paint a target on your backs."
Youth is impetuous, but between the four parents-to-be, their cumulative ages were still less than Dumbledore. That, along with the ingrained habit of obeying his orders calmed their tempers – temporarily.
"So what are you proposing we should do?"
Dumbledore's bushy eyebrows rose at James' question. Only to a person who paid attention to such things would the implication be clear. James hadn't asked "What should we do?" No. He was reserving his judgement on whatever Dumbledore would propose.
"The problem with the whole matter is that we had an unwelcome guest. A Death Eater, to be precise. As of now, we have him captured and his identity has been placed under a Fidelius Charm."
"Why?" Frank curiously asked. "Why is a DE being protected?"
"Because of the Dark Mark," answered Albus. Lily and Alice gasped almost simultaneously. "I see that you have realised something. Please illuminate us."
"The Dark Mark is actually a perversion of the Protean Charm," explained Lily. "That means that as soon as HE calls, the Death Eater in question will have to go."
Alice took over here. "Now if the Death Eater is captured, he obviously can't answer the summons. If his identity is placed under a Fidelius, which is a fundamentally stronger Charm by precedence than the Protean Charm – though we can't be sure in this case, as HE has cast it in a perverted and modified form – the Death Eater will be temporarily forgotten by their side. So he won't be able to tell HIM about the prophecy, as he won't be called till the Charm has been removed." A look of comprehension graced her face. She looked at Dumbledore in mild accusation. "You mean to spring a trap."
If Dumbledore was only mildly surprised by that statement, Lily's explanation surely completed it. "Since he is being held by our side, and his identity is being protected, it means that you intend to leak the Prophecy to HIM in some way."
Dumbledore had to smile at that. The two women were truly clever and had him pegged almost immediately. "Were you still in school, I would have awarded Ravenclaw and Gryffindor at least fifty points apiece," he complimented. And indeed he would have. As a teacher, such leaps of logic were something to savour in his students. As a war general, it was a pain when his immediate instinct was to keep things secret and let people around him see only the smallest glimpses of the plan which would let them think they were trusted and thereby ensure their loyalty. A slight grimace involuntarily made itself known.
"You weren't going to tell us that were you?" Dorea asked.
Albus decided that he just had to come clean. Damn Potters and their love for brilliant witches. Still, that didn't mean that he couldn't extricate his hide from their wrath. "No, I didn't. The plan needs to be as close to perfect as can be before I can ask anything of you."
"That means you have more capable planners with you. The trap is not really your style." Frank too, had heard more than Albus said. The men were not too far behind their wives, just their wits and cleverness worked in different ways.
"Yes. This was Alastor's plan." Albus chuckled while James burst out laughing as Frank winced horribly and whimpered.
"The plan," Augusta prompted in an impatient manner.
"Ah yes. As I said we haven't fine-tuned it."
"Brass tacks now, Albus," Charlus commanded. "You can fill us in on the details later."
"Indeed. We intend to release a fake prophecy to Tom through the Death Eater. We will also make the traitor the secret-keeper. When Tom attacks what he thinks to be the Longbottom or Potter hideout, we use the DE tactic. Seal him in and blow him up." While Dumbledore said it in a way that showed his disbelief that such a plan could work at all, Frank and James each gave a loud whoop of laughter.
"Finally!" exclaimed Frank. "We can finally start putting the bastards down. I was so waiting for the day when you'd realise it, Dumbledore!"
"We should use C4, then?" James asked his wife. "The idiot will be blasted apart by muggle explosives. It'll be a massive prank!"
"For a change, James, I actually approve of this." Lily's answers made James' eyes shine with unbridled joy.
"NOBODY IS KILLING ANYBODY EXCEPT TOM!" Albus thundered.
"Well then consider that our resignation from the Order!" Frank replied coolly. "You keep letting our people die. Not anymore. The next time I come across a hooded hoodlum, I will kill. I won't use Unforgivables, but kill I will."
Albus had started releasing power, starting his usual intimidation game. Frank was ready for that. He stunned Dumbledore and took his wand, yelping suddenly when it became warm and shot sparks of its own volition.
"We use Veritaserum and the agent preventing its use?" Frank asked his friend.
"Of course," James replied handing him the vials.
Thirty three minutes later, Albus was being questioned.
"What is your name?"
"Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore."
"When were you born?"
"3rd October 1893."
"Why won't you let anyone kill murderers?"
"Everyone can be redeemed."
"Why?"
"..."
"Why do you want to redeem them?"
"They are humans."
"You killed Gellert."
"..."
"Did you not kill Gellert Grindelwald?"
"No."
"Why did you not?"
"I loved him too much to do so." This caused a bout of retching and a cold fire to erupt in Charlus' eyes.
"What have you done with him?"
"He is imprisoned in Nurmengard."
"Is that where you go every thirteenth of November?"
"Yes."
"What will you do if we kill Death Eaters?"
"I cannot condone such an act. I will have to report it to the authorities."
"Counter the Veritaserum Frank."
It took Albus five minutes to regain his bearings. As soon as he did that, he nearly lost his temper – that was until he saw Frank holding the Wand. Then his shoulders slumped. Unknown to Albus, Charlus did know the legend of the Hallows – at least the complete litany of crimes committed by the Questers of the Hallows for some obscure obsession for power and immortality.
"Do you trust me Frank?" Charlus asked, looking at the wand that Frank held with both hands.
"Absolutely," answered Frank.
"Burn the pieces." Before Dumbledore could protest and before Frank could make sense of that order, Charlus had brought his hand down like a knife and broke the wand of legends.
Frank duly burnt those pieces.
"Since when did you know?"
"I know enough about my ancestors, Albus. The question is how many crimes have you committed with that thing?"
"I resent that!"
"AND RIGHT NOW YOU HAVEN'T GIVEN ME TO NOT RESENT YOU!" growled Charlus. "IN THAT WAR AGAINST YOUR LOVER-BOY, I LOST MY BROTHER AND COUSIN, MAKING ME THE LAST OF THE POTTERS! YOU NEARLY AIDED AND ABETTED THE WIPING OUT OF THE POTTER LINE OVER A BLOODY LOVER'S SPAT!" he snarled, spittle flying out of his mouth as he went into a towering rage. "YOU STOPPED ME FROM KILLING THE MAN WHO KILLED ADRIAN AND FLEAMONT! ALL BECAUSE YOU DON'T ABIDE RETALIATORY STRIKES, DAMN IT!"
If Dumbledore thought that he was just going to be struck down for that long-held grudge, he was wrong. "THEN YOU STOPPED BENJY FROM KILLING THAT BEAST, DOLOHOV, WHO MURDERED HIM A WEEK LATER! LOOK AT HOW MANY WE HAVE LOST! GERALD, BENJY, DORCAS, CARADOC, MICHAEL SIMPSON... HOW DO YOU DARE SHOW ME YOUR SANCTIMONIOUS FACE, YOU BASTARD? YOU SENT THEM ALL TO DIE!"
"Char-Dad, please, calm down, please..." Lily pled. Charlus was really someone she cared about, a man who had willingly treated her more as a daughter than a daughter-in-law. She knew that he had kept his cool for too long as he saw friends die around him. Frank, James, Alice and Augusta too pitched in. This was something that had really been in the offing for quite a long time.
"No! I must speak this. There have been three breakouts from Azkaban, THREE! And each of those people has killed again and again. I am tired of this!"
"And you think I am not?" countered Albus. "You think I like to see my people, my students dying?"
"Then why stop us from doing anything about it?"
It was very intimidating for the other five to watch the two war veterans go at each other. Neither was giving an inch.
"And stain our hands?"
"I would kill them and dance on their bones – to borrow a goblin expression – than see my family die. And if it stains my soul, then so be it. I don't believe there is much to judge me for once I die anyway. I would rather die keeping my family safe! Or is it Tom Riddle who you want to protect and redeem now? What next? Going to sacrifice my unborn grandchild? Or Augusta's? And then perhaps you will convince us to sacrifice the muggleborn children that the Death Eaters will annihilate by us being inactive, moral and naive; you'd allow that, won't you?" The venom in Charlus' sarcastic words was eating away at Albus.
"Shut up!" It had been years and years since Albus had spoken that way. He normally used a calm demeanour and infuriatingly flowery language. "I have heard enough from you, Charlus. I say no to killing, because I have experienced how causing death or suspecting that you have done so can destroy a person! I don't want that for my students!"
"You need live students in the first place for you to pass on your wisdom to! And I am not advocating the murder of innocents. I am informing you, that from now on, every DE will be killed by my wand, and that of my wife, my son, his wife, Frank, Alice and Augusta. Any attacker will die." The two men glared at each other, before Charlus brusquely said, "I think we have wasted enough time on this. We won't let you know if we dispose of some DE scum. You don't trouble us. I will make sure that I speak to Alastor also."
Dumbledore grimaced and grumbled. He was at the power of these people. They had destroyed The Quest forever. "Alright; but I believe that beyond the plan to take Tom out, we have reached a parting of ways as far as the war is concerned."
Charlus just shrugged. "I will see him out when this meeting is done, Gus. And I will expect complete information from you, Mr. Dumbledore."
It was obvious that the two families he was hoping to have on his side were going on the offensive against him and Tom. Dumbledore had never felt as unnerved as he was feeling then. It was like sitting in a group to play cards only to then realise that the cards he had been dealt were meaningless. For Charlus to now openly champion force against the people who could be redeemed blew his idea out of the water. He couldn't let this man know everything, now more than ever. He had of course not bargained for Dorea piecing together the information sequentially. It really was unfair for him. Seven against one – with one of them a Black, another an old hand at politics, one the supposed brightest-witch-of-her-age and another woman who could give said witch a run for her money, and three equally clever men – were a potent enough group to unwind Albus, if they cared to do so, and were therefore terrible odds.
"So let me get this straight. You heard a prophecy – and it simply can't have been in Hogwarts, or there wouldn't have been an eavesdropper. Said prophecy refers to either mine or Augusta's grandchild. You have caught the eavesdropper. I would go forth to say that it was completely Alastor's idea to spring a trap. You must have wanted to leave that scum alone and leak the real prophecy so that HE would make a move and be brought down in the interim; so a charge against you for being accessory to the murder of whichever Ancient and Most Noble line that Riddle would target." She was observing Albus closely and Albus didn't give anymore reaction than an involuntary wince. Dorea smiled grimly.
"So now I want the name of the Death Eater. If we agree to Alastor's plan, we will then want the Death Eater culled."
Albus just couldn't understand how and when he lost control of the meeting. The way Dorea was speaking, it was obvious that she would now ensure that the Potters and Longbottoms would bother themselves only with what Alastor could convince them to do.
"Now, since you apparently have agreed to Alastor's plan, and have the Fidelius in place, but knowing Alastor, he won't take the chance of Riddle knowing there was a live Death Eater who he couldn't call which would give the game away. So he must be in a magical imitated state of death. Draught of Living Death?"
As much as Albus hated the woman at the moment, he had to marvel at the way she was picking everything that wasn't being said. "Then, you leak a version of the Prophecy to Riddle by implanting a false memory of overhearing but not being caught into the eavesdropper's head. Of course, Tom will ask his harem about any magical children being born at the time that the Prophecy specifies. So the mole in the Order will tell him about our grandchildren, essentially making our families the bait. The traitor then becomes the secret-keeper of the trap, and we blow up the Dark One."
With nothing but the identity of the Death Eater left to hide, Albus had to finally accept that he had lost the game with these people. "Yes. A complete and correct summary, as it is."
Dorea looked at her friend. Augusta now had enough information to manipulate Dumbledore.
"We want a sample of this Death Eater's blood. You haven't done a good job of convincing us at all. Irrespective of whether or not we agree, your actions have nearly condemned us all to death. We will track this Death Eater down. And we will track the traitor in the Order down as well. If we decide to accept Alastor's plan, we will then ensure that these two are brought to justice and killed." Augusta's tone brooked no argument.
"Is it really necessary?" Albus asked weakly.
"You have some nerve to ask that, Albus. You thought it was necessary to kill our families."
"Augusta! I strongly resent this statement."
"What makes you think that I care? You will do as I say, or I will-"
"We will," interrupted Charlus.
"We will," Augusta acknowledged. "We will declare that we absolute neutrality. We obviously have named Riddle as an enemy of our Houses and will also release his origins going against what you have said, but you shall receive the same honour," intoned Augusta Longbottom nee Rosier, ensuring that Albus knew exactly who he was up against.
Albus gave one of his exaggerated sighs – only this time, it was completely genuine. He had never envisioned the meeting going so bad. He looked to each of them in turn, and when his gaze zeroed in on Lily, he realised – or rather, thought that he still had one card to play.
"Would you have no mercy on a friend, Lily?"
"Who was it Mr. Dumbledore?" While Lily was nearly devastated, she had prepared for such an eventuality.
"Severus," Albus replied softly.
"Snivellus!" snarled James and Frank in unison. James felt particularly vindicated. He had always despised the greasy man.
Lily wanted to say that he wasn't her friend. Lily wanted to say that he would be killed anyway. There were many more things that she wanted to say. But then she realised that this was a clear manipulation. She decided to turn the game on him. She put on a very hurt but determined mien, and brought forth all the memories of her friendship with Snape. Such a sudden change in her behaviour would mean Albus attempting Legillimency. She hated it, but knew that this way Albus would not suspect her true motives.
"I don't want him dead. And you can attempt to reform him." She shook her head to silence the others, but squeezed and tapped James' hand. "He had a hard life. You are using him." Her voice was really sorrowful as she said that. "But I agree with Augusta in that we want his blood, and we want to be there when you extract it, and we will have Alastor verify that it is him." She said it in such an earnest way, that everyone heard the "I hope it isn't him" that she hadn't spoken. "I can only give him one more chance. The same goes for the traitor. I hope it can be resolved without the intervention of the Law."
Albus smiled, while the others looked at the woman in incredulity. She had forgiveness in her. She had touched an avenue that he had not realised, but had also quickly closed it down. It was all that he could get at the moment, but he knew he had a weak point, the only chink in their armour.
"Of course, my girl," Albus said in his kindly-grandfather manner.
Augusta looked at Lily with unabashed shock and anger, before she turned to Dumbledore, even as James started venting anger at his wife. "I think you should go, Albus. We will get back to Alastor later."
Albus obeyed the dismissal with a smile.
Once he was gone, James scanned the room for any listening charms and the like, while the others started berating Lily for her stance. He then turned to them all with a wry smile, and said, "Please let us hear her out. What do you have in mind, Lils?"
Lily did love James, and at that moment, she loved him even more. He had understood the sign she gave him and had played along perfectly. "We know that Albus was trying to manipulate me. Snivellus is a dead man walking – he was one ever since he joined the DEs. I just wanted Albus to think that he had one a small victory. He had to take away something that he would assume as a positive from the meeting, didn't he? Otherwise, he would keep us out of the loop and still use us." She smirked at James' comprehending look and the bewilderment of the others.
"Of course I don't want him dead, nor do I want him to be tried by the Wizengamot where he will only get a light sentence; and none at all, if he betrays any DEs. That he is still alive while he is useful to us is the only 'chance' he gets. When he tells his Master the 'Prophecy', he will lose it. After that, he will be fair game. He spat on my friendship. And he is a Death Eater and therefore a criminal. So I will kill him, after the current matter is resolved, and my child is born."
Dorea looked at her daughter-in-law with wonder and amusement and then laughed. "I knew I liked you, Lily! You would have done well as a Black!"
"Hey! I am not going to let my son be so inbred like that mutt Sirius is!" protested James with mock-rancour.
A/N: Why would the elder Potters and Longbottom know about TMRJ? They have been assumed to be in their early fifties - around the same age as TMRJ. They would know about him, seeing that he was Head Boy.