Harry and Hermione pushed open the door and walked stiffly into the study. Dumbledore was behind his desk as usual, stroking Fawkes absentmindedly with one hand.
'Ah, Harry. Miss Granger, you may go.'
'Hermione's staying, Professor,' Harry replied as politely as he could.
Dumbledore frowned. 'Harry, What I'm about to tell you could be…sensitive. It's best if we spoke…alone.'
'I trust Hermione more than anyone else on Earth,' Harry declared, 'She's staying.'
'I must insist – '
'I must insist, too,' Harry interrupted. 'Headmaster, you can talk to both of us or not at all.'
Dumbledore's face grew more impassive. 'Very well, sit, please.'
Harry and Hermione sat down across from Dumbledore. Hermione squeezed Harry's thigh under the desk reassuringly.
'You must know why you're here, Harry.'
Harry shook his head. 'No. There are a million things you could call me into your office for. I can't possibly guess at them all.'
'We're here to talk about last night,' Dumbledore said, unfazed, 'And what happened.'
'You heard it, Professor,' Harry replied, 'Voldemort returned, Pettigrew and Crouch were captured.'
Dumbledore nodded. 'You should know that while you were gone last night, the Defence Against the Dark Arts office was searched and the real Mad-Eye Moody was found locked away in his own trunk. He has been sent to St Mungo's for recovery.'
Harry nodded stiffly. 'That's great.'
'I'm glad you think so,' Dumbledore said nonchalantly. 'We need to talk about the events in the graveyard, however.'
'What about them? Voldemort returned, the Death Eaters are at large once again.'
'Ah, yes, but all of them?'
Harry did not reply.
Dumbledore smiled. 'I managed to see a report made by the Aurors who were sent to the graveyard early this morning.'
'And?'
The Headmaster's smile changed into a frown. 'In total, twelve dead bodies were found, three of whom were left to bleed out overnight. Do you have no other comment on the deaths of these ten men, three of whom suffered a great deal in a slow and no doubt painful death?'
'Right, because I'm so worried about the lives of thieves, rapists, torturers, and murderers,' Harry replied sarcastically.
'They're men and women who could have been redeemed, Harry,' Dumbledore protested in his usual serene voice. 'They could have been made to show remorse for their past actions. Now that they're dead, they cannot.'
Harry snorted. 'Because they showed remorse and changed their ways after they were given their first chance. It's better for everyone that they're dead and unable to commit those crimes again.'
'Would you show more sympathy if you were given their names?' Dumbledore wondered out loud. 'There was Carrow and Carrow, Flint, Gibbon, Lee, Nott, Pucey, Selwyn, Rowle, Travers, MacNair, and young Goyle. Ten people who had families, loved ones, careers, future – '
'Which they threw away in favour of becoming terrorists for a ridiculous cause,' Harry spat.
'Be that as it may, surely you're not justifying the use of force against them, Harry?'
'I've already done so,' Harry replied flatly, 'I killed them. I don't regret permanently removing them from Voldemort's ranks.'
Dumbledore gasped. 'Harry, you have not!'
'I did. How else do you explain why they were dead? Do you think that Voldemort would kill his own followers when he already has so few delusional enough to take up his cause?'
Dumbledore looked sorely disappointed. 'I did not think that you were capable of…ending life…'
'Do you think I want to, Headmaster?' Harry asked incredulously. 'Who wants to kill? But I'd rather kill someone who'd threaten people who I care about than spare them to let them kill my friends.'
'All life is equally valuable,' Dumbledore lectured, 'We must do what we can to save everyone…'
'A murder's life is worth the same as an innocent's?'
'Are you saying it is not?'
'How could I think it is?' Harry demanded. 'You let the murderer go, you spare his life, and he goes right back to killing innocents. Whose fault is it then when the innocents are dead?'
'But people aren't like that, Harry,' Dumbledore said placatingly, 'By giving them a chance, you're helping them see the error in their ways, to reform themselves.'
'Which goes back to my original question. How many Death Eaters really changed their ways after Voldemort's original defeat? How many did not show up last night on their own volition? None of them, Headmaster. How can you claim that you've shown them salvation or whatever it is you believe you have?'
'But does that justify killing?'
Harry recognized the red herring but decided to go along with it. 'Yes, Headmaster. I think that does. I decided that it's better to permanently rid society of people like that. That was my decision in the graveyard, and whatever consequences of that decision, I'll live with.'
'But your soul…'
Harry snorted. 'You care more about my soul than people's lives?'
'Murder damages your soul, Harry. Surely you wouldn't want that.'
'I did not murder,' Harry growled. 'I did not kill those people for no reason but to protect others. That's not murder. I think you realize that we're going into another war. People die. My only intention is to make sure that the people who die aren't the people I love.'
Dumbledore looked disbelieving. 'You're speaking of love, but you still killed ten people last night in cold blood. How does that work?'
'Those two things aren't mutually exclusive,' Harry replied. How could Dumbledore not see that?
'You're starting on the path of thinking that will lead you to Go Dark…'
Harry glared at Dumbledore. 'If I'm "going dark", as you say, then explain to me why I can hear the screams of the dying in my head, see them bleeding, and want to retch? How do you reconcile that with your belief that I'm a cold-blooded killer with no remorse?'
'This is more serious than I thought, Harry. If you're reliving those events, that means you're enjoying them,' Dumbledore said in a grave tone that showed Harry he genuinely thought those things.
'I'm not even going to comment on the absurdity of that,' Harry replied, leaning back into his chair.
Dumbledore sighed. 'Clearly, you need some time to think about your actions before you can come to terms with the unnecessary nature of them.'
Harry shrugged. 'Sure. If you don't mind, I'll be going now.'
'Actually, I needed to speak to you about something else,' Dumbledore said, stopping him.
'Speak away,' Harry grumbled.
'The Hogwarts Express will be leaving a week from now. I trust that you'll be returning to your relatives for the summer?'
'No, he won't be,' Hermione snapped. 'He's coming home with me or he's going with Sirius.'
Dumbledore frowned. 'I did ask Harry, Miss Granger. Harry, are you?'
'No, I'm not,' Harry replied immediately, 'I'm either going with Hermione or Sirius.'
'Harry, like I've told you. At Privet Drive, there are – '
'Yeah, Blood Wards, sure,' Hermione said dismissively. 'Harry's of age magically. You know this. There's no more necessity to be hidden behind them. He can defend himself and did a bloody good job of it back in the graveyard. Even if there was, I still won't allow him to go back to that horrible place.'
Dumbledore's frown deepened. 'It's for his own protection…'
Hermione was on a crusade now, though. 'That's rubbish. The Blood Wards are unnecessary now. In fact, I'd be surprised if they were still there. Harry is not going back to that place so he could be treated like a slave. You call that protection?'
'Even if he doesn't have the best life, they're still his family,' Dumbledore attempted to reason. 'I'm sure they'd take care of him and his protection. As his Headmaster – '
'You have no right to dictate Harry's life outside of school,' Hermione cut across. 'You're not his magical guardian anymore, either. He's emancipated. You have no rights over him.'
'Be that as it may, I'm still only trying to look out for Harry's best interest.'
'Harry's best interest my arse!' she scoffed. 'Sending him back to that "home" doesn't serve him in any way. Not protection, not nurture. No! It's not happening! If you try to make it happen, then I'll be sure to take it up with the DMLE for child abduction!'
Hermione rose and stormed out of the room. Harry stood and followed her, leaving a shocked Dumbledore in their wake.
Training sessions were ramped up to near inhuman levels that week. With Voldemort's return, Harry and Hermione decided that it was best to give their little group as much time to practice as they could, and the others agreed. With Voldemort's return, every one of them would have a target on their backs, drawn from their closeness with Harry and their beliefs and allegiances. In the absence of exams, Harry and Hermione were working the five others for nearly two hours a day every single day of the week, which generally left all seven exhausted.
Harry found that outside their small group of friends, very few people believed that anything out of the ordinary had happened in the last few days. The Ministry had spun a ludicrous story that Pettigrew had attempted to capture Harry in the maze to 'complete his deceased master's work' and had been apprehended in the act. Harry supposed that Fudge was suppressing any news of Voldemort's return and the no doubt increased Death Eater activity, using the Ministry's influence at the Prophet to promote his view of events.
Hermione had reminded Harry that he owned thirty percent of the Prophet, but he doubted that it would do any good. No journalist or employee of the Daily Prophet would choose to go against Fudge's line when the consequences of doing so was likely getting fired.
'I almost wish Umbridge would send the dementors after me tomorrow,' he grumbled the afternoon before they were due to depart for London.
'That's not funny,' Hermione muttered nervously.
Harry was corresponding with his appointed Wizengamot representatives by owl regularly now. They had been trying to push the Wizengamot to approve funding for the DMLE so that they would not have to rely on under-the-table donations from Harry. Fudge was making their jobs difficult, too. Every single one of their supply bills so far had been rejected outright.
The evening of the day before their leaving, Harry received yet another summons to the Headmaster's study.
'What's this for now?' he groaned under his breath.
'I don't know,' Hermione replied nervously, 'I'm going with you, though.'
The two of them ascended once again up the spiral staircase to Dumbledore's study. Dumbledore frowned when they entered, no doubt seeing that Hermione had tagged along again.
'Harry, what I have to tell you is sensitive information…'
'Professor, as I've told you, I trust Hermione above anyone else on Earth,' Harry replied shortly. The two sat down opposite Dumbledore and looked at him with flat faces and schooled features.
'Very well,' he said finally. 'Harry, have you ever wondered what made Voldemort pursue your parents all those years ago?'
Harry and Hermione exchanged a look. This was about the Prophecy, both knew.
'I try not to think too much about it,' he replied with a half-truth.
'Which is understandable,' Dumbledore said with a nod. 'There was a reason, of course, and seeing your…excellent showing…in the Tournament, I thought that the time would be right to…tell you the truth.'
As if, Harry scoffed silently. He picked up on the lame attempt at flattery and prepared his Occlumency defences. What Dumbledore had done was a textbook low-effort way to get someone to lower their guard.
'Are you familiar with Prophecies, Harry?'
Harry nodded. 'Like the one Professor Trelawney made?'
'Indeed, Harry,' Dumbledore confirmed approvingly. 'There was a Prophecy that concerned you, you see. Voldemort, being paranoid as he was, heard it and set out to target the person who he thought the Prophecy pertained to. Can you guess who that person was?'
'Me.'
'He set out to kill you, thinking it would fulfil the terms of the Prophecy,' Dumbledore continued, 'But what Voldemort heard was incomplete. He was foolish and impulsive, acting rashly without thought, which led him to make the greatest mistake of his life.'
Harry thought that there was a hidden jab towards him in there. He nodded silently, not wanting to continue the delusional conversation that they had had days earlier.
'I think you should hear the Prophecy, Harry. Voldemort will likely be after it, to find out what it was that made you special, and how to defeat you. If you have this knowledge, you have a modicum of power over him.'
Dumbledore went over to the Pensieve and raised his wand to his temple. He extracted a shining silvery strand of memory and placed it into the bowl. He waved his wand over it. A couple of the Runes around the bowl shined.
Sybill Trelawney rose out of the bowl. In a deep, raspy voice, she recited the Prophecy that Harry had already come to know so well.
'The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches… born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies…and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not…and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives... the one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies…'
'That's it?' Harry asked, unable to keep his voice free from disappointment and unsurprise.
'That is it, Harry,' Dumbledore said serenely. 'Now, do you understand the meaning of this Prophecy?'
He understood it too well, Harry thought. 'Yes. Voldemort thought that the person who had the power to defeat him would be born at the end of July. He chose me out of everyone else he could have chosen and gave me powers that he did not understand. And one of us will kill the other,' he recited monotonously. He had recited this interpreted version more times than he cared to count in his years in hiding.
Dumbledore looked shocked at Harry's seeming indifference towards the Prophecy. 'Indeed, Harry,' he managed to get out once he had schooled his features. 'That is correct.'
'It doesn't make any difference, Prophecy or not,' Harry said flatly. 'I would never let Voldemort live. Not when he had killed my parents, not when he threatens my friends and the closest people I have to a family.'
Dumbledore's eyes widened. 'I expected nothing else from you, Harry, but you must remember, it does not do to be rash and impulsive. You must plan. You must understand. And most of all, you need guidance.'
Harry felt a surge of anger well up from inside him. So this was the point of it all. Dumbledore would tell him the Prophecy as another means to try and purchase his trust, to put him back under his misguidance.
'I'm not being rash nor impulsive,' Harry replied calmly. 'I'm not charging out to face Voldemort right this minute. But when I face him, it will be on my own terms, not because someone else told me that it was time.'
'That is admirable, Harry,' Dumbledore said, 'But remember that you are still a fourth-year. A talented fourth-year, but a fourth-year nonetheless. You need knowledge and instruction if you were to defeat Voldemort the right way.'
Harry scoffed internally. Instruction? Like what, sending him after a professor for a year to get a memory that merely confirmed what you already knew? And the 'right way'? Did Dumbledore expect him to Stun Voldemort and put him in Azkaban?
'I'll have plenty of time to prepare,' Harry answered Dumbledore carefully. 'I have plenty of people who'd be willing to help me.'
'Yes, you may, but judging by your…recent actions…they may not all be the best for you,' Dumbledore said with a smile that infuriated Harry. 'You've been on a path towards the Dark for quite some time now. It is of utmost importance that you understand that the proper way is not through mass murder, but through – '
'We've had this conversation before, Headmaster, and my opinion has not changed.'
Dumbledore frowned. 'And that makes it all the more important that you remain on the right path, Harry. Your lack of remorse is…concerning.'
'I've already told you, Headmaster,' Harry repeated in a clipped tone, 'I've made my decision on the belief that it was the best available and I'll live with the consequences.'
Dumbledore sighed. 'I cannot stop you from thinking that your decision was the best for you. That is only natural. However, I must impress on you the importance that this…line of thinking…stops. The first step to correcting your past errors in judgement, of course, is returning to your relations' home over the Summer Holidays. There, you will not only be safe from Voldemort, but also from influences that might push you into his camp.'
'So you're trying to rob me of my ability to think and judge for myself,' Harry spat.
'If that is what it takes to pull you away from the path towards Going Dark, then surely you'd understand why it is necessary.'
'Then I'd rather "go dark", as you say, than submit to someone who believes that I'm nothing but a pawn to sacrifice in a greater game and bend to their will!' Harry shouted. 'My decisions are my own. I tell you this, though. I will never descend to the level of the Death Eaters. Not after everything that's happened!'
Dumbledore looked disappointed but not quite defeated. 'I hope you re-evaluate your decision to shun your family from your life, Harry.'
'I have never and will never. They may be my relatives by blood, but they're not my family.'
'All I can do is to implore you to reconsider,' Dumbledore said with a sigh. 'Very well, you're dismissed.'
Harry did not look back as he tore out of the study. He did not stop until he was in the Room of Requirement again. He was out of breath – whether it was from exhaustion or anger he did not know. Hermione wrapped her arms around him and held him gently, whispering sweet nothings into his ear, as his anger slowly flowed out of him.
'All right?' she asked finally when he had stopped hyperventilating.
'Yeah,' Harry replied with a shrug. 'I can't believe that man…'
'You know he's just up to his old tricks again,' Hermione pointed out. 'Tell you something, try to buy your trust, then immediately afterwards tell you to do something. Not going to happen, though. You do want to come home with me, right?'
Harry beamed. 'Yeah, I do. I mean, if you're – '
Hermione shut him up with a searing kiss. 'Of course I do, stupid,' she said teasingly when they broke apart, 'Mum and Dad love you and already invited you over. You can visit Sirius whenever you want, or he can visit us.'
Harry smiled, but then his smile faded. 'Dumbledore doesn't know where you live, does he?'
Hermione looked pensive. 'I don't know, but I don't think he'd give us much trouble. Besides, the wards. We'll know if he's trying to break in. At that point…uh…'
'We can make a Portkey,' Harry said with a shrug, 'And take it to get out of there. We can head to Grimmauld Place. It's under the Fidelius. Just…get Sirius to tell your parents the secret. I doubt Sirius would let Dumbledore get in there, not after everything.'
'That's brilliant, Harry!'
'Your influence,' he replied meekly, to which she laughed musically, blushing delightfully pink. 'I'm going to write to the Dursleys in a bit…tell them that I'm not going back for the summer. They won't miss me.'
'We can do so much over the summer! We can…bloody hell, we can go to France or Italy if we want to… We can…well…do other things… It's so good that you're not with those horrible people…'
She smiled mischievously. 'This is our last night before we go back to our parents'. What say we…use it well?'
'You always have the best ideas.'
Soon enough, the leaving day came. An hour before the departure on the Hogwarts express, the students gathered on the grounds to see the departure of the Durmstrang and Beauxbatons delegations. Fleur came up to Harry and enthusiastically bade him farewell, with a kiss on both cheeks. Hermione looked quite amused.
'We will see each ozzer soon, I 'ope,' Fleur said throatily. 'I've taken a job 'ere at Gringotts. I want to improve my Eenglish.'
'I'm sure we'll see each other again,' Harry said with a smile. Fleur hugged Harry and a surprised Hermione before leaving for the Beauxbatons carriage. The carriage took off with flaps of eight enormous pairs of wings. Moments later, the Durmstrang ship, too, sank beneath the waves of the Black Lake.
The train ride home was as peaceful as could get. There was a distinct lack of a Draco No-Name-shaped annoyance, nor his two cronies, who were now both dead. Ron made an appearance a few hours in, glaring at Ginny and sneering at Harry and Hermione, before he was promptly chased away by his own sister with a Stinging Hex to his arse.
'You will still come to the Burrow over the summer, I hope?' Ginny quietly asked Harry and Hermione. 'Mum and Dad'll get the great big prat in line, if Fred and George don't get there first.'
Hermione nodded. 'We'll try. We've got some things planned that we want to do, but…yeah!'
The rest of the train ride was passed in games of Wizard's Chess and Exploding Snap. Harry lost time and time again to Daphne and Susan, but part of that may have been due to the amazing distraction that was Hermione sitting on his lap and wriggling slightly from time to time.
The train pulled into Platform Nine-and-Three-Quarters in the late afternoon. Harry and Hermione bade the rest of their friends goodbye. Fred and George pulled Harry aside, thanking him for getting Sirius involved with their joke shop.
'Even Mum approves,' Fred said.
'I think she's just happy that we aren't selling stolen cauldron to finance ourselves,' George pointed out.
'We're opening up premises in Diagon Alley over the summer.'
'If business is good, we might not come back next year! We'll teach Ginny enough to deal with our prat brother, though.'
Harry and Hermione bade the twins goodbye and good luck. They were stopped on the way out to the muggle exit by Amelia.
'Listen, Harry, Hermione,' she said quietly, 'Thank you for everything. We've got more Aurors and spies than we've ever had. Fudge is so absorbed trying to block everything we do on the surface that he doesn't realize we're subverting him right under his nose.'
'How're things going?'
Amelia sighed. 'We haven't caught anyone yet. We've got leads, but the Death Eaters are laying low right now. I think they're taking advantage of Fudge's weakness to gather themselves. Fudge is a whole different problem. He's blocking a trial for Pettigrew and Crouch – '
'What?'
'He's blocking a trial in front of the Wizengamot,' Amelia repeated. 'He knows his goose will be cooked when they start rattling off about Voldemort returning under Veritaserum. All we can do right now is keep them in the holding cells.'
'Listen, I don't think I need to tell you this, but things are more dangerous right now than they've been for more than a decade,' she added. 'If you run into any trouble over the summer, don't hesitate to call me.'
They thanked her and proceeded out towards the platform exit. There waiting for them were Sirius, the Grangers, and…the Dursleys.
'What the hell are they doing here?' Hermione asked in a whisper. 'Didn't you write to them telling them that you weren't going over the summer?'
'I did,' Harry replied, 'You saw me send the letter. Hedwig returned earlier this morning. There's no way they didn't get it.'
Hermione gasped. 'Do you think…Dumbledore?'
'Do you think he'd – '
'Boy!' Vernon bellowed, interrupting Harry, 'Come here!'
Harry saw that Sirius and the Grangers both turned to look at Vernon and Petunia with their evilest glare. Hermione's mother's otherwise curly blonde hair was getting bushier by the second. If it were not for the situation, he would have found it rather amusing.
Vernon, however, was unfazed. 'Come here, boy! Do I need to repeat myself?'
'I would watch my attitude if I were you, sir,' Josh growled at Vernon, his last word dripping with sarcasm.
Vernon turned to glare at Hermione's father, but ended up recoiling himself as Petunia cowered. Harry made a mental note never to piss off the former special forces sergeant.
'Why're you here?' Josh asked in a quiet, deadly voice. 'I thought Harry had already written to you that he wouldn't be coming to your home over the summer.'
'The thrice-damned Headmaster of that freak school told me I was to pick him up this morning, damn it!' Vernon yelled rudely. He turned to Josh. 'Who the bloody hell are you? Who gave you the right to interfere in my family affairs?'
'My name is Joshua Granger. You can call me "sir" or "Mister Granger",' he continued in the frighteningly calm voice that was no doubt pushing all of Vernon's buttons. 'I am the father of one of Harry's friends from school. I think that I'm entitled to look after my daughter's friend's well-being, especially when you seem to so obviously not.'
'So you're a freak, too,' Vernon spat, seemingly unaware of the danger he was getting himself into.
Josh shrugged nonchalantly. 'If that's what you call a dentist who used to a sergeant in the army, then sure.'
That finally got Vernon to take a step back. His little eyes examined Josh and he seemed to decide that he had picked a fight with the wrong sort of man.
'I hope you're aware, dear sir, that as a medical professional, I'm obliged to report any suspicions of child neglect, endangerment, or, god forbid, abuse,' Josh continued conversationally. Vernon looked positively mortified now. 'This will be your only warning. Next time word gets to me that you've been acting in an…unacceptable way…towards your nephew, this will be elevated to the relevant authorities. Good day to you.'
The Dursleys scurried away like frightened mice at the sight of a cat. Josh turned back towards the teens and broke a smile. 'Well, now that's out of the way. Welcome back, Hermione, Harry.'
The Grangers and Sirius took turns hugging the two or wringing their hands while Sirius commented about how scary Josh had been.
'It was intimidation tactics they taught us in the service,' Josh explained, 'Basics. Cowards like that man have no chance.'
He turned to Harry. 'That man…has he ever mistreated you?'
'Yes,' he answered honestly. 'I've been through worse, though. It doesn't really bother me anymore.'
Harry knew that the last part was a lie, for he shuddered involuntarily at the long-ago memory of life at the Dursleys.
'That doesn't make it acceptable,' Helen said. 'This kind of stuff doesn't just happen once. He must've been this way…I'd shudder to even think. If we had any evidence, he'd be in police custody by nightfall.'
'They never left marks,' Harry muttered darkly. 'They're wise enough to cover their tracks.'
'That's simply demonic!' Helen gasped. The two men scowled their agreement.
'It doesn't mean there's nothing we can do about it,' Sirius said suddenly. The two teens and Hermione's parents looked at him confusedly.
Sirius chuckled darkly. 'Magic is a wonderful thing. So is a close personal friendship with the future Minister for Magic.'
The others still looked confused, to which Sirius simply cackled. 'Leave it to me! Dinner at my place?' Harry and Hermione eagerly nodded and the Grangers followed. 'I'll apparate you home, Helen, Josh. The kids can take care of themselves. We shouldn't leave Kreacher waiting!'
