"Right, so now I need that vow if you please." Harry nodded his head and looked expectantly at the man.
"I don't want to give up my positions." Albus sighed, "I can get Sirius that trial."
"First you'll have to let the order know we are still alive." He instructed, "Then you can get him a trial. But I want you to stay out of the Voldemort issue."
"What about the order?" Ablus pushed, "We can help you."
"I'm not saying you can't help in the war." Harry sat back and relaxed, "I want you to stay out of my hunt. Chase death eaters to your heart's content but quit letting them go. Fight to win or quit fighting."
"I won't murder people." He argued.
"Then you are murdering the rest of us." Harry pointed out, "Lucius was ready to kill us. He had killed many before. You knew his claim of imperious curse was false. But you wanted to give him another chance. So he has continued to torture and kill for ten more years. How many people didn't get to lead a life because a murderer wasn't put down? All that blood is on your hands."
"But I didn't kill them." Albus argued.
"If I avoid telling you the truth is it the same as lying?" Harry asked.
"It depends." Albus protested, "In some cases it helps."
"It doesn't make it any less of a lie." Harry shook his head, "Not telling someone what they are getting for Christmas is not the same as not giving proof that you know a person can throw off the imperious curse. How many of his victims were children that were never given the chance of having a life let alone a second chance. How many since he escaped first justice. Now the man can't kill anyone else."
"You are twisting the truth." Albus accused.
"No that's what you are doing." Harry argued back, "Do you have any doubt that Voldemort has to die?"
"If he can be turned we could…" he started.
"You are a fool." Harry threw his arms up, "He isn't even fully human. He has given up his soul to live forever. Half of his soul is already passed over. Yet you are willing to let him send whole souls over to try and save his half of one. Who is twisted?"
"You're making me sound heartless." Albus huffed.
"Because that is what you are acting like." Harry offered, "You see us as chess pieces moving us around to achieve your goals. Tell me how you are going to win when you sacrifice your own pieces to save the opponents pieces."
Albus sat back and thought hard on the analogy that Harry had just put forward. Then he thought back over the whole conversation. Half an hour later he was still sitting in his chair staring off into space. Harry waited patiently and quietly thanked Tabitha when she removed the remains of their breakfast and left a tea tray. They sat for several hours in silence while Albus continued to think. Harry got bored and began to work on his animagus transformation. He had several black feathers with red tips sprouting from his head when Albus finally finished.
"I think you are… feathers Harry?" he stopped mid statement when he noticed Harry wasn't his completely normal self.
"Animagus transformation." He grinned, "This is all the farther I've gotten."
"Minerva will be ecstatic, I'm quite proud of you myself." He grinned.
"Including the verbal reprimand from this morning?" Harry brought the subject back around.
"Yes well, I suppose I understand your point of view." He sighed, "I never thought of it that way before. I thought I was doing a good thing by giving them a second chance."
"Second chances are fine when it isn't for a person who is going to continue to kill as long as you'll let them." Harry explained, "Giving Snape a second chance was the right thing to do. But you didn't lie for him like you did for Malfoy. Give second chances where they are due. Give appropriate punishments where they are due. There are students at school that bully others relentlessly. Do you think if you don't punish them for that they will just stop on their own? They will not. Bullies will continue until they are forced to stop. Punishments need to happen."
"Draco Malfoy won't be bullying people now." Albus sighed, "He may not even return to Hogwarts."
"I'm not talking about just Malfoy." Harry shook his head, "I know one girl that everyone in her house picks on. They hide her belongings the first week of school and return them on the last. One year I found her outside in November without any shoes on because they had stolen all of hers. Bullying happens in every house even Gryffindor."
"Who is the girl?" Albus asked full of concern.
"Why don't you watch next year and see if you can spot her." Harry smiled, "Then I'll know you're trying."
"Fair enough." Albus gave in with a nod then lifted his wand, "I Albus Dumbledore do swear on my magic to only do what Harry asks me to do in the hunt for Tom Riddle's horcruxes."
"Good. Now I would also like you to quit trying to manipulate me." Harry grinned, "However I will give you a second chance to stop on your own before I ask for a vow on that."
"How are you doing Harry?" Albus asked.
"Really good." He smiled in return, "I'm not going to my muggle prison this year for torture so I'm good."
"You really need to go back for the blood wards…" he began.
"I'm going to break them." Harry interrupted, "Do you want to move my family somewhere else?"
"But Harry they protect you from Voldemort." Dumbledore insisted.
"He used my blood to regenerate his body. If he knew it was blood wards he would walk right through and kill me." Harry shook his head, "They are useless."
"I didn't think of that." Albus sagged into his chair, "What do you want me to do?"
"Honestly I don't care." Harry shrugged, "I am quite apathetic where they are concerned. School ends tomorrow I didn't owl them to pick me up."
"I'll add some wards to the home for when the blood wards fail." Albus sighed in defeat, "Fidilus won't work so maybe just some wizard repelling wards."
"Dobby I think the Headmaster is ready to leave." Harry called.
After the man had left Harry found himself heading for his quidditch pitch with a quick stop for his broom. It had been an emotion conversation and he needed to clear his head before he saw anyone else. Ginny had been searching for Harry ever since their training had finished just before lunch. She was walking by one of the upstairs windows when she saw him striding towards the pitch. She noticed an elf pop up at his side and speak before it popped away.
"Dobby."
"Yes Missy Weazzy." Dobby popped in.
"Do you know where Harry has been all day?" she asked.
"Yes Missy, he was talking with Mister Dumby Professor." He answered.
"Thank you." She grimaced.
The elf popped away and Ginny headed to her room and got her broom. She then went to the pitch and sat to watch Harry fly for a while. Ron walked up while she was watching.
"What's wrong?" he was looking at Harry when she turned to him.
"He met with Dumbledore this morning." She replied.
"I didn't hear any yelling." He sounded unconcerned.
"He would have silenced the room." She replied, "And locked the doors up tight."
"I suppose. Does he know you're here?" Ron finally looked at his sister.
"Don't know, he's not given any indication that he knows but…" she shrugged.
"Yes he's creepy that way." He gave a grin to let her know he was teasing, "I'll let them know where you are."
"Ok." She was back to gazing at Harry.
By the time Ron reached the house he looked back to see his sister rising in the air on her broom. He gave a small smile knowing his best friend was in good hands. He turned back to the house and went to the training room to let Sirius know Harry had been found. The group breathed a sigh of relief until Ron told them where he had been all morning. Hermione was ready to storm after Harry until Ron told them Ginny was already with him and they were flying.
Ginny pulled up beside where Harry had finally stopped. He was just floating along with his thoughts focused inward. She wasn't even sure he knew she was there until he spoke.
"Hi."
"Hi." She responded.
"Sorry I skipped training." He didn't look at her but continued to watch the birds flying around the nearby trees.
"How was Dumbledore?" she let him know he wasn't fooling her.
He shrugged before saying, "He wasn't all that talkative."
"So you did all the yelling then." She interpreted.
"Not so much yelling." He grinned at her perceptiveness then scratched his chin, "More reprimanding."
"Is he still speaking to us?" she asked.
"Yes, I think I got through to him." He looked away, "He didn't understand he has blood on his hands. He thought because he didn't kill them himself that he was light."
"You told him he's a dark wizard?" Ginny gaped.
"No he accused me of being one and I told him I'm not nearly as dark as he is." Harry explained, "Then I pointed out how not stopping death eaters was just inviting them to keep killing us. He kept going on about second chances. I finally got through when I used a chess analogy."
"You used chess?" she grinned at him. It was well known he was terrible at the game.
"I told him if he continued to sacrifice his own pieces then Voldemort would win by default. I was trying to get him to see the death eaters need to be off the playing field. Not just sent back to lick their wounds and attack on another day." Harry explained, "He keeps saying he won't murder them so I told him he is as good as murdering the rest of us then."
"Harsh but necessary." Ginny agreed, "So what is your problem now?"
"I just told him to go kill people." Harry frowned, "How bad of a person does that make me?"
"He won't kill them. He will continue to try and capture them and then follow it up with a short stay in Azkaban until Voldemort gets them out again." She shrugged, "He's still playing by the ministry rules. I don't know what he'll do if the ministry ever falls."
"He'll die first." Harry shook his head, "He won't allow it to fall if he can stop it."
"You do realize that Malfoy had Fudge in his back pocket." She pointed out, "The ministry was as good as fallen already. I don't know how this new guy will be or if he's any different. We may be trading off one wastrel for another."
"So what do we do if we can't keep death eaters in Azkaban?" Harry asked.
"Make it so they can't leave." She shrugged.
"You are brilliant." Harry pulled Ginny in and kissed her before heading to the ground, "Come on we need to tell the others."
"Tell them what?" Ginny asked she was in a daze as she landed beside him and he grabbed her hand and pulled her into the house.
"You're idea." He laughed.
"What idea." She was still confused but his laughter was becoming contagious.
"You want to what?" Sirius asked when the two of them reached the training room. He glanced at Ginny who just shrugged and then joined the others staring at Harry with shock on their faces.
"I want to make a new prison." He explained, "One they can't escape from and that Voldemort can't get to them."
"How do you propose to keep him out?" Remus asked bewildered.
"Keep its location a secret." Harry grinned.
"Wait, I'm just a bit slow on the uptake this time Harry." Neville scratched his head, "You want to make a new prison in secret and put the prisoners from this war into it."
"Yes." Harry nodded glad that someone understood.
"But it takes a long time to build something like that. And then who ever builds it will know and could give away the secret before they even start building." Sirius look confused.
"No not so much build it as use something existing and make it a prison." Harry said, "Make it so they can't leave."
"Where do you suppose we find this place?" Remus asked.
"I thought we could talk to the Goblins first." Harry explained more fully, "Honestly we should have the Goblins run it. They hate most wizards anyway. The dementors have abandoned Azkaban to follow Voldemort, but when the Goblins are paid to do something, they do it."
"That would certainly be a deterrent for criminals." Remus shrugged, "No one wants to get on the bad side of the Goblins."
"Why don't you just get the Goblins to run Azkaban?" Ron asked, "Put a Fidilious on it and we're good."
"We need a prison that does not belong to the ministry." Harry pointed out, "If the Ministry falls we lose everyone we just captured."
"Wait, you said when the Goblins are paid to do a job they do it. Who will be paying them if not the ministry?" Hermione asked.
"I didn't think of that. Any ideas?" he asked.
Ideas were tossed back and forth for a while before they resumed training with nothing set. The week passed as quiet as it could with six teenagers practicing magic with one adult who was more kid than adult. It was actually the twins that got the idea of what to do.
"Too bad you can't just sick Filch on them." They offered, "He's always wanted to hang people by their toes in the dungeons. He keeps his chains polished just in case Dumbles changes his mind.
"You know that's not a bad idea." Hermione stated thoughtfully, "It would also keep Dumbledore busy with them instead of us."
"He better put more than an age line and a lock that can be undone by first years." Harry grumbled.
"Perhaps we can make some suggestions." Athena interrupted, "We have a large variety of knowledge in this house, Rupert was an unspeakable, Lancelot was a ward master and we have at least three cursebreakers."
"You aren't even telling them about yourself my dear." Jameson jumped in, "She was a spell crafter and enchanting master. Between her knowledge and Lancelot's wards they created the portrait on the pitch. It was my birthday present one year; I wanted my father to be able to see us play quidditch on the pitch he'd made. He never lived to see it used."
"Add some Goblin wards on top of ours and you'll have an impressive prison." Rupert agreed.
"Would the Goblins agree to go to Hogwarts with Binns still teaching?" Athena asked.
"Would the governors let them?" Neville threw out the question.
"I don't know." Jameson shrugged, "Goblins can be rather… violent when faced with such prejudice."
"I guess we should talk to them first." Harry sighed, "Sirius do you want to come with me?"
"Better not." He shook his head, "It's not wise for a wizard to show up in disguise. I was forgiven once since I was just proving my innocence to them."
"Remus?" he turned to his surrogate uncle, "How about you?"
"Yes I can. I have no issue with the Goblins." He agreed.
"I'll go under my cloak until we get to the door." Harry sighed, "Then I can walk into the bank without any problem. Dumbledore did tell the Order we are alive didn't he?"
"Yes." Fred confirmed, "We need to go with you too. You have some papers to sign."
"On what?" Harry wondered what they needed him for.
"The Goblins would like to inform our financial backer of his responsibilities." George pulled at his collar in a self-important way. However his evil grin killed the effort.
"Right, let's go." Fred led the way through the floo to the flat above their store.
"Ready?" Harry asked as he pulled his invisibility cloak over his shoulders.
"Yes." Remus grinned at thin air that used to be Harry, "I always did like that cloak."
"Lead the way Moony." Harry laughed.
It took a few seconds for the twins to catch up and when they did they started the interrogation, "Did you say Moony?"
"I did." Harry answered from under his cloak.
"As in Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs?" George asked.
"The very same." Harry replied then added for Remus' benefit, "The twins had the map and gave it to me third year."
Remus sighed and shook his head, "How did you find it? We lost it part way through seventh year. Well Peter lost it."
"Found it in Filch's office first year." Fred replied with a wide grin.
"It was in a cabinet marked highly dangerous." George added with an identical grin.
"So of course they had to take it and test it out." Harry added, "Prongs was my dad, Sirius is Padfoot and the rat was wormtail."
"What was your dad to be named Prongs?" Fred asked as the other three names were evident.
"A stag just like my patronus." Harry answered, "Wow, the shop looks great."
"This is only the beginning; we haven't really begun to decorate yet." George replied as they walked through the room.
"This is mostly just product shelves." Fred finished and opened the door and the four of them walked into Diagon Alley.
The bank wasn't far from the shop and they made the trip quickly without any problems. Harry removed his cloak by the door where he was hidden between Remus and the twins. Finally they made the last few steps into the bank and were met with total silence. Harry knew what this was about and he tried to ignore the crowd that stared at him. He walked across the room with his head held high and his back straight. They were met on the other side of the room by a very nicely dressed Goblin.
"Lord Potter how nice of you to grace our hallowed home." The Goblin bowed respectively.