"Explain what you mean," I demanded, stunned. "You speak of changing things. Is that so?"
"I did not say that, Tom. We can simply reverse the irreversible."
"You speak in paradoxes, Dumbledore!"
"Tom, there are no paradoxes in this world. We are dead. We are trapped here. Or are we? Tell me, what do you think of finding an escape?"
"Escapes are beyond my reach. I have not earned an escape."
His eyes were two shining orbs now, two crystal light bulbs glowing in his amusement. "Oh, but you have! See how you have changed! I think you have earned many things, Tom. But first, tell me the next segment of your saga. The pleasantries come later. This is very close to the end of your life, is it not?"
"Yes. I should tell you the rest of it now so that you will tell me what it is you plan to do. That year was one of my best, I think; I had my place in the scheme of things, and now the Ministry had spread word of my return. The next round of my game. And this time, I would triumph. I recruited who I could: lycanthropes, giants, Infiri; any creature that was detested or was lower than wizard kind. They would have their uses. I placed Wormatil in the hands of Severus, to be a servant more or less since I had no use for him. Then I could simply watch and wait. And that is what I did.
"My ranks gradually grew to double, even triple, what they had been. Oh, it was too perfect. And then there was Draco, the son of Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy. I gave him the Mark, and with it came the opportunity of a lifetime: kill Albus Dumbledore. Clear my path for me, and be reward above all others. I intended to let him at least have a few moments of torment before someone - Severus, perhaps?- came to his rescue and performed the great deed. Of course, these were merely my predictions. Perhaps the boy would do it to gain respect, to gain power. There was no real way to tell, of course.
"You understand that it was greater than anything to see them running around like madmen at the thought of me. I was like a god, choosing to make this situation anything I wanted it to be. And this kept my satisfied through that planning time, time I used wisely enough. I re-evaluated the events that had occurred since my defeat, and I was determined to prevent yet another defeat. What had stopped me each time?
"The first time it had been his mother's sacrifice. I needn't worry about that. The second time it had been the blood. That problem had been solved as well. The third had been a Horcrux- well, I had my own body now. Never again would that be a problem. Dumbledore had been in the way before... but he was old and vulnerable, and battling me had weakened him. He too would be gone. That left only the night of my return. He had fled. But once I had the world, he could not run forever...
"But I was forgetting something, wasn't I, something that was of utmost importance. Our wands had done something... and my victims had returned to the Earth for moments. I could not have these things. I needed a new wand. And so we would take Ollivander, the master of wands, and he would explain to me what had happened. But those things were only plots, things that I would do when I pleased. My main focus was Albus. He had to die.
"Word came one day from young Draco that Dumbledore had left the castle. I wanted more than anything to go to the castle, to witness this spectacle for myself. The man that had known more of me than any other, the man who had angered me more than even Harry Potter, would die. And I, the man who had ordered the others to kill him, would be nowhere in sight. How I wished to see the end of my great foe, but Hogwarts was not my place to be. I had to stay where I was, away from suspicious and loathing eyes. Did it really matter whether I witnessed the light leaving the eyes that tattered my soul when I saw them? Dead was dead, was it not? Merely knowing should have been enough. But it was not. I suffered in silence while the others raided the castle.
"They came when I had thought they would, some injured. Draco had an expression of pure horror on his young face, and Severus looked shaken as well. So Severus had done it, after all. Marvelous. He was to be favored above all of them, then, as he had performed the ultimate favor. And why was it that Greyback had blood on his robes if he was not injured? His mind told of Order interference. And yet he had taken one, they had conjured my Mark, and none of Dumbledore's soldiers had been his savior. It was perfect. The beginning of the end..."
"My death was your only triumph, then. Well, I suppose you may have another. We shall see. But first, to the end, Tom..."
