Title: You're Doomed
Rating: PG
Summary: At the end of year 5, Dumbledore is explaining secrets and the prophecy to Harry. Here's a way for that scene to go that I would have found amusing and in some ways more realistic - in others probably not so much. Like all other stories in this series, read at your own risk.
— — —
(The first part that is in bold is quoted from book 5 by JKR, The Order of the Phoenix, ch 37.)
"But I don't!" said Harry, in a strangled voice. "I haven't any powers he hasn't got, I couldn't fight the way he did tonight, I can't possess people or - or kill them-"
"There is a room in the Department of Mysteries," interrupted Dumbledore, "that is kept locked at all times. It contains a force that is at once more wonderful and more terrible than death, than human intelligence, than the forces of nature. It is also, perhaps, the most mysterious of the many subjects for study that reside there. It is the power held within that room that you possess in such quantities and which Voldemort has not at all. That power took you to save Sirius tonight. That power also saved you from possession by Voldemort, because he could not bear to reside in a body so full of the force he detests. In the end, it mattered not that you could not close your mind. It was your heart that saved you."
Harry closed his eyes. While part of him was numb and in shock at this revelation, he was still as angry has he had been earlier. So it was with restraint that he asked, "Exactly what do you call this force, this power?" He had a suspicion and he hoped he was wrong.
"In a word," said Dumbledore, "it would be love."
Harry looked at him for a moment and blink slowly before he laughed as his suspicion was confirmed. He laughed long and loudly. The perplexed look on the Headmaster's face only made him laugh for a few moments longer.
"There is nothing that amusing about any of this," said Dumbledore.
Harry grinned manically. "It just shows how much you don't understand."
"Then explain it to me," said Dumbledore simply.
"If you wish. Let's look at what you've done and what it really means." Harry took a deep breath.
"First," the boy said, "despite all you know, you're still having to guess a lot about me. How do you know my mother sacrificed herself for me? You weren't there. Her dying shouldn't have done anything special because people try to save others and die all the time without something special happening to them; face it, you don't really know what she did. It's similar to you telling me that my curse scar is from the Killing Curse, the curse that never leaves a mark and is unblockable with magic - which tells me you're wrong about the scar. So despite your claim about making blood wards based on her sacrifice, we really can't know that they do what you want because no one saw what really happened.
"I can also tell you that your wards don't work, at least not fully, no matter what you tell me. I know that because I was harmed every day of my life in that house. It matters not to me that it wasn't done by Voldemort because harmed is harmed.
"Another way you harmed me was that you made sure I was ignorant of the Wizarding world. As much as I like Hagrid as a friend, he was the wrong person to send to tell me about magic and Hogwarts.
"My first year showed me that you obviously have no idea how to protect the students since you let Voldemort live in the school for an entire year. Then when I killed him, did you make sure I received help in dealing with that, perhaps by a caring and loving person? Nope, you sent me back to my relatives that hate me. Your example shows that you don't care about the students and you don't care about me either.
"In my second year, you couldn't figure out that it was a basilisk in the school and it was being controlled by a dark object that was Voldemort. That forced me to fight said snake and almost killed me and another student.
"The next year again proved you didn't really care about me. If I need to kill Voldemort, why didn't you give me guidance in picking my extra classes? I now see that I was stupid in picking Divination and you, or some teacher, should have pointed that out and helped me if I was supposed to fight a dark lord.
"You also let Dementors into the school grounds and even into the school and they almost sucked my soul out.
"You forced me to compete in a Tournament I didn't want to be in and you must have known that would have made everyone think the worst of me. In fact, there have been multiple times you show how much you care," said Harry sarcastically, "when you've let the entire school think the worst of me when you could have stopped most of it with a few well placed words.
"Again at the end of my fourth year, I went through a traumatic event and watched someone die. Did you help me learn to deal with it? No, just like first year, instead of sending me to someone to help me you sent me to those who hated me.
"By proxy, you show me how much you care about me by have a teacher here who enjoys making my life, and others as well, difficult just because he enjoys it. Then that same teacher assaults me mentally in the guise of lessons.
"When the Ministry decided to slander me, you didn't do anything publically about that either. A teacher from the Ministry tortures me with a quill and you don't stop it.
"I'm willing to bet that as Chief Warlock you could have forced a trial for Sirius so he would be free and I could have lived with him, but you didn't. Whether you meant it or not, that shows me you don't care about others.
"And if all of that isn't enough, when I needed help from you personally, you ignored me, stopped speaking to me, and avoided me.
"So when I said earlier that I didn't care, I really meant it because that's almost all I've seen for most of my life. The examples I have about not really caring are from things you've done or people you've put in my life … all starting with the Dursleys. You never should have put me with the Dursleys because that's where I first learned how not to care.
"To really understand how much I don't care, you should know that I wanted Voldemort to kill me when he possessed me so I could be with my parents and Sirius. Worse for you, I still feel that way so you better hope he doesn't find me because I see no reason not to let him kill me."
Harry chuckled at the dawning horror on the Headmaster's face.
"You better hope you're wrong about the power, because if the secret weapon is love, then you're doomed. I can only ever recall one person telling me they loved me and he was killed tonight. So thanks to you, I have no idea what real love is. And because I don't know what love is, don't expect me to fight for others anymore because I don't … or really can't, love them - I don't know how."
To rid himself of some of his anger, Harry did what he should have done earlier and pulled out his wand. In a quick motion, the cast the spell as he mumbled, "Reducto." The door to the Headmaster's office flew outward in hundreds of pieces. Leaving a silent man behind, Harry walked out of the office through the large hole in the door to head back to his dorm room.
He would admit to himself privately about caring at least some about his friends because he didn't want them to get hurt, but he was reasonably certain that wasn't love. He laughed as he went down the stairs and it echoed down the corridor and probably back up into the old man's office too. Dumbledore and whatever plans he had were doomed and it was all the old man's fault.
(A/N: That's a bit of a downer and if that were part of the book, Harry would have to recover from it in some way and bounce back. Perhaps Dumbledore would admit he was wrong, fix a number of things, and make sure Harry had plenty of opportunities with girls to find at least some form of love. :) Still, Harry was pretty emotionally stunted even at this point in time in regards to relationships, or so it seems to me based on how few really trusted adults he had in his life (pretty much none after Sirius died or maybe only Hagrid), he still had only 2 very close friends, 3 somewhat close friends, and no family he cared to really claim - not much of a support group.)
