Chapter Ten: Web of Time
The werewolves surrounded the Resistance, some of them looking very angry, as the young werewolf turned away, hiding a triumphant expression that appeared on his face. Dumbledore would be pleased for sure as the Resistance had no choice but to pull their wands out in case of an attack from the werewolves, who had been stirred up against them right now. The image of Greyback lying near them, in a lifeless, catatonic state did not help matters all that much.
"Explain," demanded one of the werewolves roughly, as while he still had a wand, his features resembled Greyback slightly, as he was slowly using his humanity and looked more ragged and wolf like even in his human appearance.
"A simple misunderstanding," commented Riddle, but he had his wand, he was in no mood for games, the werewolves had always been a problem. Dumbledore could easily sway some of them with promises of a cure or a better deal among wizards. That's what happened to Lupin and others fell to the promises of Dumbledore. Umbridge helped matters little with her attitude and her slowly pushing legislation through to force the werewolves to lose more and more rights. While he did not shed any tears over Greyback's death, the man was insane and responsible for enough bloodshed that he even gave Dumbledore a slight run for his money, it still did a number on werewolf and human relations.
"Misunderstanding, you humans must think we are stupid," growled another werewolf who had no wand but looked to be equally dangerous without one, powerful enough to snap a man's neck with his bare hands given the effort and motivation. "There is no misunderstanding about this you fools, you killed one of our fellow werewolves, you were seen with the body."
"He's lying!" shouted one of the members of the Resistance, pointing to the young werewolf who cowered in fear.
"Why would he be cowering from you humans if he was lying?" asked an older werewolf gruffly. "You killed Greyback in cold blood, and that could have been any of us, including him, but we're not going to give you a chance to have any more werewolf blood on your hands."
"Listen, we were lead here, to believe my husband was held here," said Lily who held her wand, as the werewolves advanced on them. Riddle's source was being fed some false information, leading them here and now the group of werewolves was attacking them. Several loud bangs had produced ropes trapping some of the werewolves, but others pounced on the attacks, incapacitating several of the werewolves until their fellow Resistance members jumped in, knocking them down, trapping them.
"Retreat, nothing to find here and the longer we fight, the worse things will be," said Riddle swiftly, as three werewolves were taken out by one little spell from him. The werewolves kept moving, as they moved outside of the building, throwing a few spells to back up the werewolves.
"Don't let those assassins escape, they killed Greyback, now they're backing down from a fair fight!" shouted the young werewolf. "They will pick us off one by one!"
The doors were sealed shut, as they made their way outside of the worn down building. The werewolves attempted to break there way through the building, to get at the Resistance but unfortunately for them, the Resistance was gone, Disapparated away from the battle.
-
"Adrian, I thank you for coming for a meeting on such short notice and so soon," remarked Albus Dumbledore, as the hooded Unspeakable sat down, his sickly yellow eyes looking out from underneath the hood, across from Dumbledore. "I trust your work on the new and improved Re-Orientation facilities has reached completion. It regret the necessity, but it remains so as long as people fail to see the vision I have for this world. I only want the best of all and it is a shame people fight me every step of the way."
"It's completed, Dumbledore," said Caruthers as he put a thick black folder in front of Dumbledore. "Detailed instructions, every single move that I went through when I developed it and believe me it works. I tested it on Unspeakables, some of the most experienced and toughest other than myself, and it turned them into strong supporters of your cause. Unfortunately, it also turned the first two into vegetables but after some fine tuning, the second test resulted into three new people who have been bent to your will. It is nice to have some that will help me work on some of my projects that you hire me for."
"I'm sure you'll appreciate the help, Adrian," said Dumbledore, as he flipped through the folders, it was detailed and very good, he could find no flaws with it. "I do have another curiosity that I wish for you to take a look at it, because I'm baffled with certain qualities."
"You may show me Dumbledore, but if you want any insight on how it may work, it will cost extra," said Caruthers stiffly and Dumbledore tapped his wand, revealing a hidden compartment underneath his desk, where he removed the artifact and placed it in front of Caruthers. He looked at the artifact, before his eyes widened in recognition. "The Web of Time!"
"You know of it," said Dumbledore in surprise.
"I had given up on ever locating it, I thought it was a myth," said Caruthers as Dumbledore prompted Caruthers with a look but the Unspeakable just remained silent. "This is all you'll getting Dumbledore, until you give me more gold. You know my price."
"Very well, Caruthers, I will arrange for more gold to be directed right into your vault," remarked Dumbledore and Caruthers nodded, before he took a deep breath.
"The Web of Time is the standard where all time and space based magical artifacts are based on," responded Caruthers. "Time travel is a very sketchy branch of magic but the Romans got it down to a fine art. We have not been able to duplicate it, with the time turner being the closest but it had its limitations, with only eight hours. The Web of Time, on the other hand, was intended to be a device that would allow individuals to travel to different times and different dimensions as well."
"There are other dimensions out there?" asked Dumbledore, who had of course suspected this for some time, but having confirmation was rather interesting.
"For sure, Dumbledore, there are other dimensions out there, an infinite number of dimensions out there in fact, many of them so similar with a few miniscule differences and others are as different as night and day," said Caruthers with a knowing smirk. "Now going back to the Web of Time, it can move through dimensions and it can move backwards through time further than even the time turner could manage. Exactly how far, I don't even really know, but it's further than anyone else has ever managed."
"Intriguing but any information on how this artifact may work?" questioned Dumbledore.
"No, I'm afraid that information has been lost with the collapse of the Roman Magical Empire," stated Caruthers in a calm voice. "Who knows how it might work, as time tends to alter magic in strange ways. I would highly advise locking the artifact in a warded room, unless of course you want to get blasted all over time and space with your experimentation. However, if you wish to tamper with it, who am I just to stop you from meddling in magic that as even beyond my grasp."
"Thanks for the warning, but I believe this artifact has much to tell me yet," said Dumbledore, who had come closer to unlocking the secrets buried deep inside the Web of Time than he wanted Caruthers to believe. "I trust you're work is going well."
"Other than four teenagers deciding to snoop around my house for something involving you, then yes, everything has gone well," said Caruthers and Dumbledore's interest turned to him.
"Who were they?" asked Dumbledore calmly.
"I didn't ask for their names Dumbledore, but one of them had messy black hair with green eyes, the other dark red hair, the other flaming red hair, and there was a dark haired girl as well, they haven't found anything there, don't worry, I keep any correspondence with you locked in my office," responded Caruthers but Dumbledore looked like he was very much worrying. "Do you know them?"
"All too well," said Dumbledore, wondering how they found out his connection with Caruthers. Those four were getting dangerously close to finding out his base of operations and then all will be lost if they somehow by some miracle. While the Resistance and the werewolves would be occupied with each other, Dumbledore had another problem he had foresaw.
"Yeah, they were better than I expected, they even bypassed my security system and they killed my son in cold blood," said Caruthers nonchalantly as if he was discussing the weather. "The boy appeared to be the leader and the best out of them all, he was good, almost Unspeakable material I daresay."
"Yes, he appears to be a valuable asset," said Dumbledore. "I thank you for coming here Caruthers, but I have business I must attend you, so I bid you farewell until next time."
"Okay, Dumbledore, contact me if you need any other morally unethical magical artifacts to further your agenda," said Caruthers with a mocking bow and Dumbledore looked up, to give him an admonishing look but he was gone. Dumbledore looked at the artifact, in an absent minded manner. He was more worried than he had ever been in his life. Tom turning his back on him had stung and come close, but other than that one prominent defeat, it was something that only caused Dumbledore minor difficulties. Albus Dumbledore was not a foolish person, ever since Harry Potter and Allison Riddle escaped from that Re-Orientation Facility, with Ginny Weasley; it appeared that Potter was a bit more of a crafty individual that he would have liked to believe. In fact, his spies from inside Hogwarts had told him that Lily's son was intelligent, but only showed average magical power. Someone that had potential but was not an immediate concern for Dumbledore, until the events of the last couple of days, when the boy had really stepped up.
Now Dumbledore had to get Potter and the other three would be useful as well. They could be devoted members of his planned magical utopia, once he had made his next move and the Web of Time he had in his hands showed him the next move he could make, the ability to erase undesirable elements from the past that would help shape the present into something better was to begin and with all of the artifacts he had collected over the years, he had the means to do so, providing he could get the Web of Time working to his specifications.
Right now, he had to track down those four and bring them in, especially the Weasley girl, because Dumbledore still had no idea how much they knew. If they had been at the Caruthers residence, as the Unspeakable had stated, than he would be able to track them with ease, a slip up on their part.
-
"Nothing, a dead end," said Allison in a discouraged voice as they arrived at a small Muggle village, before entering an abandoned house to plot their next move. "I'm beginning to understand what my father meant when he said we're destined to go around in circles forever, until we just collapse and Dumbledore picks up the pieces."
"Yet, he still fights," responded Harry calmly.
"And so will we," agreed Ginny. "No one said it was going to be easy. Hell, it's never easy. It never will be easy but we've stumbled upon something before, even though the Caruthers thing was a dead end."
"Dumbledore doesn't want us snooping around his home," responded Harry. "The key is in their, that will lead us straight to Dumbledore, unfortunately our hand was tipped too soon, Dumbledore is too smart not to have that place guarded, in fact it is a stroke of like we managed to get our hands on the one piece of information we did."
"I'm usually the optimistic one," said Jade with a sigh as she looked at the others seriously. "But, I'm beginning to wonder if beating Dumbledore is even possible."
"That's never been my concern," said Harry calmly.
"Oh yes, you just want to find that artifact and get back to your lovely little damaged world, that might even be even more fucked up than ours," said Allison in a challenging voice.
"We don't belong here," argued Harry as he looked at the girl, she intensely glared back, not backing down.
"Do you honestly think you will be happy going back to that?" asked Allison in a calm voice, as she wanted an answer.
"It's just not right, us being here and besides, don't you want your Harry back?" challenged Harry.
"I well, yes and no, but still," said Allison, before she folded her arms; this was not an easy answer. The more she spent time with this Harry, the more she realized that there were very few differences and in fact, as much as it pained her admit it, this one was an improvement on the one she knew. The only drawback was the red haired girl sitting next to him, who, as Allison painfully remembered, was married to that Harry.
"We don't even know if we can go back, Harry," voiced Ginny and Harry grabbed her hands calmly, before looking in her eyes.
"We don't say never, until we get our hands on the artifact," said Harry in a firm voice but he looked at the two girls, who looked back at them. He had robbed them, along with Lily and James, of their son. He had long since gotten over the desire to have a family years ago, Ginny was the only person that he would allow to get too close to him and that was because of stubborn persistence on her part. He struggled not to get emotionally attached to anyone, because after that, it would not be too long before he lost them. Ginny was the exception rather than the rule.
"You know what your problem is," stated Allison. "You're afraid of failing."
"I'm not," responded Harry in an irritated voice, as he looked back at her but she responded with a smug look, hands on her hips as she stood up.
"I think you are, you have to return home, because that would be admitting defeat if you just think of yourself for once, instead of worrying about something you can't fix," responded Allison in a challenging voice. "You're leading us on this crusade, where there is no way for us to win. You're about as bad as Dad, not admitting defeat when…"
"SHUT UP!" shouted Ginny as she glared at Allison. "Harry's the only reason why we aren't killed and if we had Granger, instead of you mucking things up, we might be closer to Dumbledore than we are now."
"Sure, blame me, when you got your head split with a curse and was useless for most of the battle," said Allison as she got up and Jade stood in the middle, as Harry looked irritated.
"Both of you, this is not anyone's fault other than Dumbledore's, both of them," added Harry with a grimace, as he blamed the Dumbledore in his world for the chain of events that lead to him becoming an Unspeakable, as both Ginny and Allison were silenced and their wands were taken away. "I'm going to remove the charms and give you back your wands, if you promise to play nice. Remember, Miss Riddle, I didn't force you to come along, you chose to and Ginny, now is not the time to let that famous Weasley temper get the better of you. I know you're better than that. I will get the artifact and I'm not saying anything from there. Until then, we need to work together and whatever happens, happens. Understood?"
The two silenced girls nodded, as they reached their hands out. Harry returned their wands to them and removed the charms, and not a moment too soon as several loud bangs busted the windows out of the house.
"Don't look now, but we're not alone," said Jade as her eyes widened when she saw who they were facing off against. "Dumbledore's Elite Cult of the Phoenix."
"How in the hell did they find us?" asked Harry.
"I don't know, but this isn't going to be an easy fight," remarked Allison as the army of wizards held their wands, before they moved into the attack, as the four braced themselves for a battle. The fact these wizards were the Elite of the Cult of the Phoenix was no exaggeration, as Harry found himself barely able to fight off even one of them, as they circled the four teenagers, like sharks going for their pray, as Allison managed to just barely knock one into the wall, causing him to crack his head and begin bleeding all over the carpet.
-
Dolores Umbridge had just signed her name at the bottom of some anti-werewolf legislation that would limit the number of jobs werewolves were allowed to have. It was their own fault that they were filthy half breeds and she felt no sympathy for their plight. The Minister of Magic looked over the legislation with pride. After the recent werewolf attacks on the last full moon, Umbridge could almost sense her popularity rating souring.
"Enter," said Umbridge in a sugary sweet voice and an frantic Auror burst into the office.
"Magic has just been registered in a Muggle area, its off the scales, it looks like there is another fight," reported the Auror quickly without even bothering to take one breath. "I'm getting the Aurors ready to go there as quickly as possible, to try and calm down the situation but Crouch wants to know what his options are."
"Arrest and contain, lethal force is prohibited," said Umbridge with a smile who wondered exactly who was battling in this Muggle area. Whether it was the people of Riddle or Dumbledore, it mattered little to her, the fact remained that she could get some information. As Minister of Magic, she felt it was her duty to force her way into the private dealings of people, to ensure the safety of the overall Wizarding public.
"At once, Minister Umbridge," said the Auror as he turned and Umbridge tapped her wand to the anti-Werewolf legislation, making it law.
-
"That will be all for today, remember to read chapters one through three in Albus Dumbledore's autobiography by tomorrow to ensure you know the selfless actions of the greatest wizard who ever lived," concluded Hermione, as a group of children, ranging from ages six to eleven nodded, blank looks in their eyes, still feeling the after effects of being oriented into Dumbledore's perfect world. At least they had stopped whining about wanting their parents, that was always unfortunate. Their parents were Muggles and had been dealt with, being liabilities to the world that Dumbledore created. "And until tomorrow, what should we remember, children?"
"Albus Dumbledore is always watching us," chanted the children in dull, monotonous tones, as they all filed out in an orderly manner. Hermione slumped down in the chair, relieved that she was done bothering with a bunch of impudent children. Her mind went back to her failure, the only one in her life, but Dumbledore would thank her because tonight she vowed to go out and hunt down both Potter and Riddle on her own. They would not make a mockery out of her ever again.
Hermione walked out, but she paused, hearing Molly Weasley's voice.
"It's great, Dumbledore tracked those brats down, especially my daughter, she would pay for betraying me and we can throw those brats into the new and improved re-orientation room when its finished, don't know why Dumbledore wanted a portable version though, but that's his call, he knows what's best for him," stated Molly. "Once the Elite wizards get their hands on their children, I hope I can teach whatever remains some respect but they won't be a problem any more either way."
Hermione's fists clenched together. Those over important, elite members of the Cult of the Phoenix were stealing her glory. It was her responsibility to erase the failures of the past, by beating Potter and Riddle, eliminating them. Once again, she realized that Dumbledore had to have his reasons, but for the first time, Hermione did not want to accept them. She paused, hearing the location where those four were tracked and Hermione looked down, she knew what she had to do right now, as she went to her room, excusing herself.
-
"What is it now?" asked Riddle, as he had not just entered his office for two minutes, before one of his contacts at the Ministry had contacted him with some information.
"A battle, of great magical power, we've been able to verify it's the Cult of the Phoenix, the Aurors are being dispatched, but I believe your daughter has been sighted as among the opposition in the battle," remarked the contact and Riddle just stopped, staring at his contact with an odd look on his face. "Among others…"
"I believe I can fill in the blanks as to whom is with her, get me the location and I'll bring as many wands as I can," said Riddle, assuming a business like stance, hoping this was not another false lead fed by someone to lure him and others out in the open. Still, with the proper precautions, it should be checked out.
-
Jade gave a scream, as she just barely avoided being taken out by one of the members of the Cult of the Phoenix. It was quite fortunate, that Harry was there to distract him long enough for her to take him out of the equation. Allison and Ginny were having their own difficulties, as maybe only three or four of their opponents were taken out long enough to not play a factor into the battle. Right now, they were just fighting a purely defensive battle and it looked to be one they had little hope in winning.
Harry gasped for air, but he managed to send a corkscrew of light right towards his opponent. Much to his relief, the loud cracks he heard were several ribs breaking at once, hopefully one had punctured a vital internal organ, it would make his life easier. The Cult was just wearing them down, but Harry levitated a table, before he threw it right at two Cult members, indisposing them long enough for them to get blasted through a wall by the three girls. The battle was spilled outside and Harry, seeing the broken glass lying in the grass, used it to his advantage. A simple levitation charm followed by a banishing spell right towards the Cult member, but he blasted the glass into nothingness.
"Come on, we can't give up that easily!" shouted Ginny encouragingly, as Allison was nearly taken out, but she sprang up at the last minute, her opponent's head whipped back but unfortunately a loud bang and several chains wrapped around the girl, taking her out of the battle. Ginny moved in, but was overwhelmed. Harry blasted through the attacks, just keeping up with the attacks long enough to give Ginny some room to fight back. The battle raged on as Jade managed to break Allison free of her confinement, only getting struck down by a curse, that caused her to lose her breath, long enough to leave her open for other attacks.
"Need to regroup, need help," stated Allison through clenched teeth, as blood dripped down from her arm, a nasty reminder of a curse she suffered in the heat of battle. It was unfortunate that they had to keep fighting against a seemingly unbeatable group of wizards and were unable to catch their breath long enough to fight back.
"Just keep it up, don't stop, no matter what!" shouted Harry encouragingly, but he could not be more discouraged, as a particularly skilled member was blocking his attacks and he had to dodge the assaults from at least two more of them on either side. He was beginning to get worn down physically and mentally, these were not the untrained witches and wizards they fought early, they might have been even better than the most competent Aurors that the Ministry had available to work with.
Several loud pops and Harry looked up, to said Ministry Aurors, some of them looking very uncomfortable when they saw the viciousness of the battle that was going on around them.
"Freeze all of you, Ministry of Magic Aurors, you are all under arrest for disturbing the peace of a Muggle area and breaking the…" stated one of the Aurors, but he never finished, as the Cult turned their attention to the Aurors, several spells wiping them out. A couple fought back, but they had never been trained for anything like this, which amused Harry as the Ministry of Magic appeared to have the same level of incompetence. The Cult members struck down the Ministry Aurors, with amusement but Harry, Ginny, Allison, and Jade managed to use this distraction, as an advantage to catch their breath, before Harry frowned.
"Blast it, they put anti-Portkey spells around the area, don't know how far they stretch, but we'll never make it that far, not to mention anti-Apparation fields," said Harry, as he took out his frustration on a dazed member of the Cult, throwing him up into the air, before causing him to crash down. He blocked two more spells as the battle continued. He was going over his mind, racking his brain for a solution, naturally if he wanted to, he could remove them but it would take time and that was time that they did not have. They continued to battle for another minute or so, until a loud pop.
"OH NO YOU DON'T THEY'RE MINE!" shouted Hermione as she arrived, before she knocked an unassuming member of the Cult of the Phoenix out of the way, before she sent a cutting curse right towards Allison's throat, this vicious attack narrowly avoided, before the girl fought back. The Cult stopped fighting long enough, taken aback by this unexpected moment of rage and Hermione sent a number of spells at a fatigued Allison, but Harry moved over, before he knocked Hermione out of the way. She managed to cushion her fall, to pull herself back to her feet and Harry sent a jet of blue light. One of the members of the Cult tried to send a spell but Hermione pointed her wand, sending a shield up in front of Harry.
"What are you doing, you foolish Mudblood?" demanded the member of the Cult, but Jade knocked him out with an attack from behind, his skull cracking.
"Taking what is mine, my victory," said Hermione through gritted teeth as Harry avoided an attack, before he sent one back at Hermione.
"I don't have time for this, I have more important things to worry about than you," said Harry, but Hermione was not listening to reason, as she turned, and deflected a spell back towards Allison, as the Cult members took a shot at Hermione, but she blocked it.
"I won't be cheated out of this, not now!" shrieked Hermione but the Elite Cult obviously considered she was a threat to their mission, her childish antics having proven to be a roadblock and treated her like the other four. "Just leave, I'll take care of this…"
"No, you won't jeopardize the Phoenix Lord's mission with your childish grudges," said a Cult Member as a sphere of blue light shot through the air. Hermione dodged, as they moved for the attack, with Hermione throwing spells at everything that moved, having lost her mind from that one failure but it was apparent that she was overwhelmed.
"I can't, I won't!" shouted Hermione, as Harry was amused how she was inadvertently helping them, through her attempts to fight off the attacks of her own fellow members of the Cult. Still, the Cult had not completely turned their attention away from the four that they had been entrusted to capture. The battle continued, and both Jade and Ginny were just fighting on fumes, with Allison coming close to losing ground. Harry, being the most skilled of the four, fought, ducking an attempt for Hermione to fire a spell at him in an attempt to take him out, which Harry had to give her credit for. If she was going down, she was going to go down fighting.
Several more pops echoed and Allison looked with a mixture of relief and horror, as she saw her father, along with members of the Resistance arriving. One of the members of the Cult backed up in horror, before Riddle blasted him backwards with ease. Three attacked Riddle at once, but the powerful wizard fought back, utilizing a bit of dark magic to skew the odds to his favor.
"What are you doing here?" demanded Harry, as he watched his mother fight off a skilled member of the Cult, before he fought off another.
"Saving you, I don't know what you were thinking going out, without telling us where you were going," said Lily, who gave Harry a look that plainly stated, "we're discuss this later", before she continued fighting.
"I was thinking that you would try and stop me from doing the job I had to do," answered Harry evenly, as they continued to fight. "Exactly how many members of this Cult does Dumbledore consider to be among the Elite?"
"I count twenty, twenty five at least, who knows who might be hiding," said Riddle, as he threw another spell, knocking him out. "Not counting those who are unconscious of course."
Hermione was a bit uncomfortable with the new arrivals, as she wondered if it was a good idea to stick around and fight or leave to fight another day. She disregarded her thought, vowing to fight until her final breath. Retreating now would mean a second failure in days, something she could not handle. Despite the fact that she was severely outgunned, she refused to drop dead. Losing was the most unacceptable thing she could think of, as the Resistance and the Cult continued their battle around her.
"Grab one of them and return back for reinforcements!" shouted one of the members of the Cult, before Harry threw a spell at him, that he dodged. The Resistance were holding their own, but the Cult would not go down easily.
"Harry, I have an idea," thought Ginny to Harry mentally, as she was fighting members of the Cult nearby, two of them at once, as she fought back against them.
"So do I," responded Harry mentally. "I'm going allow them to capture…"
"Exactly what I was thinking," interrupted Ginny but Harry could almost sense her discouraging. "They're likely to bring us straight to Dumbledore and…"
"Say no more, I'm on it," remarked Harry mentally.
"No Harry, not, this time, it's my turn to do something recklessly stupid and heroic," responded Ginny.
However, before Harry could react, Ginny was struck from behind with a stunning spell. Harry's eyes widened in horror, he could not believe she would do that. The Cult continued to fight, before a barrier was erected in front of them, as two of them grabbed Ginny. Harry frantically blasted the barrier, in an attempt to break through to save his wife, but much to his annoyance, the Portkeys had already been activated, with several more attempts, pulling Ginny into destination unknown.
"SON OF A BITCH!" shouted Harry, as several street lamps exploded, as his face was beet red and he muttered a few more curses underneath his breath, with his mother moving over.
"Harry, I'm sorry, but…we couldn't stop them, they wanted someone as a hostage, it could have been any of us," said Lily in a pacifying voice as she motioned for Jade to walk over. "Not to make matters any worse than they already are, but Ginny wasn't the only person who had been captured by that Cult…"
"Dad," muttered Jade in realization.
"It is not a total loss, I managed to capture this one before they left," stated Riddle calmly, as he held a bound and unconscious Hermione, whose luck had ran out. "She should give us some information, what I don't know, but any clue…"
"No, now that Ginny has been captured, everything has fallen into place, although it should have been me who was put in the line of fire," said Harry and they looked at him, with surprised looks.
"You mean you had this planned?" asked Jade in surprise.
"Explain later, Mr. Potter, sticking around here is not the best thing, we need to get to a safe place and interrogate our captive as well," responded Riddle abruptly as they left, before either more Aurors or a reinforced Cult arrived.
-
Dumbledore had the Web of Time on his desk. He had gotten a good enough feeling of how the device worked, to formulate a plan. He had sketched up a design for an item that he had many capable hands working on at Weasley Manor, as he finished the reconfigurations on his fireplace, that he would hook up to the Web of Time. On paper, the idea seemed quite frankly absurd but so did so many other genius inventions. Those who had acquired the gold from their genius got the last laugh, more often than not.
A knock on the door had prompted the arrival of Percy Weasley, who walked forward with a box, containing four arm bands, the simple, yet intriguing magical devices that Dumbledore required for the next stage of his mission. They were placed on his desk.
"Here they are, I hope they are towards your specifications, the Junior members have been working hard, not allowed to take any breaks for anything," said Percy in an excited voice.
"Quite acceptable Percy, they have done well," responded Dumbledore, as he looked over the arm bands. "I need more, dozens of them, for the most Elite of my children, of the task I must ask of them.."
"Mind I ask what this latest plan is, sir?" asked Percy.
"I have been looking towards the present for answers, but found that I'm wrong, the answers lie a bit further back," answered Dumbledore and Percy looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "All you need to know is that you're doing a commendable job and I'll always remember what you've done, even though you may not in time."
"As you wish, Mr. Dumbledore," said Percy, who was confused about what Dumbledore meant but happy to be of service all of the same.
"Bring me back the rest of the bands once they've been completed, remember, thirty should be an acceptable number," said Dumbledore and he waved Percy off. The excited boy left and Dumbledore looked forward, before opening the door, looking towards his resurrection chamber, where Fawkes was still trapped with a number of spells that prevented him from flame travelling out of the glass case. "Fawkes, you will play your role too, my friend. I apologize with what must be done and you might be weakened for some time, but you'll thank me when you live in a world that is completely void of dark magic."
Dumbledore flicked his wand and began to pump the chamber with Fawkes still encased in the glass beak. The phoenix looked at him in a confused manner, Dumbledore was not due for another treatment for quite some time. Dumbledore walked over, with a sad smile on his face, before he held his wand.
"Forgive me Fawkes, but this is for the greater good ," said Dumbledore sadly and he tapped the glass. The phoenix cycle was accelerated, several months in a few seconds, as he reached his next burning day. Dumbledore looked at him, as the Elixir was heated up when the phoenix was forced to go through his burning day prematurely. The Elixir heated up, before the ashes fluttered, Fawkes becoming reborn slower than usual. Dumbledore waved his wand at the super heated Elixir of Life and at his feet laid a suit case with several vials of it that he quickly shrunk down to the size of the match book. "This should last me for at least a century and I should be able to locate your past self in time to bring me more and reconstruct this chamber, oh and I might need this as well."
Dumbledore stuffed the Philosopher's Stone in his pocket and walked out of the room, where an incoming transmission was coming, right from Weasley Manor.
"Yes, is there a problem?" asked Dumbledore, as he saw the face of Molly Weasley on the other end.
"Not a problem at all Dumbledore, the traitor has been captured, the Elite has gotten her," said Molly in a voice positively bubbling with joy and Dumbledore looked a bit caught off guard but nodded with a smile.
"That's wonderful, Molly," said Dumbledore before he got right down to business. "What does she know?"
"I can't tell, she had some Occlumency shields that I can't get through," said Molly with a frown. "It's almost like another person is blocking me from accessing her thoughts but I don't know where she picked it up."
"I wonder how long she has been swayed from our side, by the misguided individuals, Tom must have a bit more of a corrupting influence on the Hogwarts students trying to do the right thing than I believed," said Dumbledore in a saddened voice, he had raised Tom to be better than this and his radical thinking had basically forced Dumbledore's hand. He had hoped to keep the Resistance occupied with the werewolves, but as always, Dumbledore had more than one plan. "Send Percy with her, I will see what I can gather from her mind."
"Show her no mercy, Dumbledore," suggested Molly and Dumbledore just gave her a disapproving look.
"I show mercy for all of the children, as they might be salvaged yet," said Dumbledore and Molly just looked at him, before nodding.
"As you wish, Albus, as you wish," said Molly, who knew better than to argue with Dumbledore. After all, Albus Dumbledore was never wrong.
-
"Harry?" asked Ginny in a dazed tone. "Looks like the plan worked…"
"Ginny what you did was…" stated Harry but Ginny interrupted him.
"Exactly what you would have done had our roles been reversed," commented Ginny and Harry just mentally sighed. "Look Harry, they would have just re-oriented you, Dumbledore wants to know exactly what I know or rather my other self knows and…the artifact's here!"
"What?" asked Harry in surprise.
"Percy brought me here, but it's sitting right on Dumbledore's desk, he does have it," said Ginny. "Can't make a move, about six guards have their wands at my head, now they're escorting me out, for questioning"
"Keep the link open, I'm tracking you right now, Dumbledore's slipped up and it will be the last mistake he'll make," stated Harry.
And that's the end of Chapter Ten, with Chapter Eleven coming rather soon.