Author: C. Night

Rating: PG

Category: Action/Adventure & Mystery

Disclaimer: Anything that you, Harry Potter fan that you are, recognize does not belong to me nor do I claim credit for it. J.K. Rowling and a bunch of other lucky people claim credit for the H.P. universe. I do not. Anything (or anyone) you DON'T recognize, however is part of my little story here and I would appreciate it if I was given due credit for it and if you want to borrow something you let me know. Thanks. 

A/N: Let me tell you right now, whoever reads these notes, that the beginning of the chapter is VERY WEIRD. But please, stick with it because I promise that it will make sense. Just like the first chapter of the Goblet of Fire, you just have to go with it until you figure out what the hell it meant. And by the end of the chapter the weirdness will have passed. Thanks for reading this.   

Title: Getting Out or Dying Trying 

Chapter 8: Hearts Grow Fonder

Now incase you have forgotten let me remind you of something. I am Harry Potter. I have seen a damned many things that would send any other wizard- terribly skilled at magic or not- running for their lives.

But, I have never been faced with anything that has both shocked and scared me as much as seeing Albus Dumbledore at that particular moment did.

Why? You have to be wondering why. It doesn't make much sense does it? Hogwarts teacher arrives. Harry is saved from impending doom. End of story- happily ever after.

Well, if you know anything about me, you know that I never, ever get any 'happily ever after's. It's unrealistic it isn't my life. My life is confusion, my life is hardship, my life is being faced with more than one Albus Dumbledores.

I opened that door; I opened it and found myself staring at the twinkling blue eyes of Albus Dumbledore. I turned to the right and found myself staring at the twinkling blue eyes of Albus Dumbledore.

I suppose, in some kind of bizarre tribute to my now deceased clones, Albus Dumbledore had created some copies of himself.

And let me tell you coming face to face with two copies of yourself is nothing compared to coming face to face with five clones of your favorite headmaster.

The worst part is that I don't know which the real one is. They are all standing before me in robes of a weird cobalt color with silver lining on the cuffs. They each are wearing the same matching cobalt hat dotted with faint silver stars.

They are all smiling at me with their eyes twinkling.

I think anyone's reaction to sight would be exactly the same as mine- I turned around and made for the door.

Unfortunately for me it seemed that six of the blue robed pursuers had either awoken from the stupefy I had put them under or more of them had just appeared from no where. They made no moves toward me, but the seven of them had one clear cut intention.

Block the door.

So I was trapped in a room with six attackers and five Albus Percival Wolfric Brian Dumbledores. What the heck was I to do now?

All this time I had been searching for a purpose, screaming out that I needed to know what to do, where to go, how to get out and it seemed like this was it.

My mission should I choose to accept it (as if I actually had a choice):

            Find the real Albus Dumbledore.

The Dumbledores had not said a word so as I walked back from where the six door-blockers were standing I decided to evaluate them.

They looked exactly the same, but there had to be something else there. One of these men had to be the real Albus Dumbledore. I knew that much. They weren't all fakes. There is some kind of aura about the Headmaster that you can just feel.

It's a feeling of safety, of comfort, of neatly restrained and carefully hidden, but still present power. And I could feel it now. Damn it all to hell even when I damned near hated the man I could still feel his presence and be somewhat at ease.

And I was content. Knowing that once I found the real Dumbledore I would be done was quite the relief. I mean honestly what else could I possibly have to do, right? Find Dumbledore and he takes me home.

Nothing to it.

I walked slowly up and down the single file of Dumbledores. They all stood the same way, their heads held proudly the same way, their beards all perfectly shaped in exactly the same style. But there had to be something different about them.

Even when I had made my own clones I immediately noticed differences between them and myself. One of the Clones used terrifyingly painful spells- the kind of spells which I know but am very, very reluctant to use.

While the other clone used elementary, almost basic spells to achieve an end. The kind of spells I use to get Malfoy off my back, not to battle worthy opponents with.

So whether or not these Dumbledores were created in the same way as mine were or not, there had to be differences. I stopped my pacing and stood directly in front of one of the Dumbledores. He gazed right into my eyes and I examined him. There was nothing different I could note.

But then again I wasn't thinking specifics. I close my eyes and tried to conjure up an image of Dumbledore the night Sirius died. Right after Voldemort possessed me and the old mage's face was as close to mine as it had ever been before.

The image came and I focused on it, memorizing each detail.

I opened my eyes and then I saw it. This Dumbledore definitely did not have the same nose as the one I knew. It was crooked like the true Albus Dumbledore's but not in the same exact way.

So I touched the shoulder of the imposter and said, "You're not the real Professor Dumbledore. Bugger off."

All the blue robed figures guarding the door laughed. I shot them all glares until they stopped and after a minute or so one of the blue robed people stepped forward and sad in gruff tones, "You're going to have to get rid of him some other way than that... if you are sure it isn't him that is."

I stared back at the blue robed man whose voice was still muffled by a spell and furrowed my brow. How was I supposed to do that?

Then I looked down. The Sword. I was going to have to kill all the imposters. But what if I messed up?!? Picked the wrong one!

My heart started pounding in my chest. I was sure that the actual Dumbledore wouldn't let me kill him because I picked the wrong person, but then again I had at one point been pretty sure that Dementors couldn't make people have visions. Or that snakes didn't kill other snakes based simply on who their masters were, or that blue blankets could not be used as torture devices....

Suffice to say I had doubts about a lot of things now.

Sure Dumbledore wouldn't let me kill him, but he might allow me to injure him... badly. All in the name of.... what was I doing this for again?

Ah right, I don't know that.

'Well,' I sighed internally; 'if I kill him I can honestly plead temporary insanity. This experience is sure to have driven me crazy already.'

I drew my sword from where it was tucked between my belt and my pants and my hands shook a bit. Palms sweaty I lifted the blade and faced the Dumbledore whose nose just wasn't crooked enough.

I lifted the weapon and I could feel my hands shaking crazily. I couldn't do this. Not without being sure. I closed my eyes once more and recalled my image of Dumbledore. I then opened my eyes.

The nose didn't look the same, of this I was sure; but what if it was under a glamour spell? That would be a trick of the eye. The nose would look different, but glamour could always be exposed by touch.

Like the time we put a glamour on Flitwick's tiny hands to demonstrate. His hands looked much bigger but if you touched them you could outline the true shape easily. Your hand could actually go straight through the glamour. And let me tell you it's a weird to see your hand go straight through anything besides a ghost.

I shiver a bit at the memory and refocus my thoughts, 'Right, so if this was a glamour the nose would feel the way it really was shaped, just look different. And then I would be sure if this was an imposter or not.'

I lowered the sword and faced the still smiling benignly Dumbledore who I was about to kill. I stepped closer and raised my hand. I brought it down the length of the supposed imposter's nose. I felt the groove and the curve and remembered the story the real Albus Dumbledore had told me in his office one day about how he had broken his nose twice in his rather long life (he said he was lucky it was only two...damned optimists).

Once when he was only 19 after some kind of bludger incident- that one had healed pretty well, but the second time on his 80th birthday when some pseudo dark lord had decided to try to get revenge for the death of his once leader Grindelwald.  A very messy affair, but Dumbledore, obviously, came out alright in the end. His nose, however, was completely shattered.

It was only thanks to modern magical remedies that it was able to be fixed to look as it did now. There was one dent on the left side and a bit of a bump on the lower top part of his narrow nose.

He could have had those fixed as well, but as Dumbledore told me, "It is good to preserve some remnant of all of the injuries you acquire in your lifetime to not only remind you of your mistakes but the consequences they had." 

This Dumbledore had a dent of the top part of his nose and a bump on the right. This was not Albus Dumbledore.

With a confidence I had seldom felt in my lifetime I lifted the sword once again. He hands steady and firm I plunged it into the stomach of the imposter before me. He fell to the floor and squirmed around.

I lifted the sword once more and drove it into his chest this time, the sickening crack of ribs and splatter of blood echoing on all the walls.

I watched for a moment, anxious to see what would happen. After a few minutes I knelt down to take a pulse. There was nothing.

'That's it?' I thought. 'Oh come on there has to be-'

Before I even finished my thought the corpse of the imposter began to emit a blue sort of smoke and in the blink of an eye the body was gone and in its place was a tiny blue little phoenix.

I started in surprise and the bird let out a hauntingly beautiful note before it too disappeared in a shower of bronze-ish sparks.

I was once again blinded by blue and threw a hand over my face to protect my vision, when I lowered it I found, much to my surprise, that all the blood was gone from the floor.

The body had left no remains and my sword was gleaming without a trace of the blood which had once covered it in sight. My hands were also clean.

It was almost as though that imposter had never existed. Then I heard a bizarre noise. A sort of smattering. It took me a moment to realize that the blue robed stalkers/door guarders were applauding.

'What the hell is going on?' I thought.

But before I could say a word they all stopped clapping and as if one cue they all turned back to face the remaining for Dumbledores. All of whom were smiling without a care in the world, their periwinkle eyes following my as I took in everything very slowly.

'What the hell is going on?????'

I decided to be patient. I know that is what the real Dumbledore would tell me, "Be patient Harry, everything will be explained when I, master of all that is good and righteous see fit to tell you." or better yet, "Oh Harry I'm sorry I forgot to tell you o your impending doom I didn't want you to be deterred from saving the world in your first four years because you had that silly prophesy on your mind!"

I was starting to feel my blood pressure rise. Damn I was getting angry. Keeping all that pent up is really not good for you.

'But why keep it bottled,' I thought nastily, 'why don't I just spew all of my anger out at these Dumbledores?'

So I did.

"You know what," I said to the gathered Dumbledores and blue robed figures, "I don't care which one is the real one. I have something to say."

I could have sworn I heard one of the blue robed people groan, but I ignored it, and began to speak in rather controlled tones, "How dare you, Albus Dumbledore! How dare you do whatever it is you are doing to me right now! I hate how you control my life, I hate how you always say you are doing things in my best interest but I never see anything really good come of it."

"You don't talk to me for the hardest year of my life and then, have the gall, the nerve, the AUDACITY to tell me that you are trying to protect me! I'll tell you one thing, I would rather have had Voldemort peeping in through my thoughts and even possessing me for a good four or five months while you taught me Occlumency so I could stop it, than to have Sirius..."

I broke off here and I realized that I had been pacing. Sirius is still a very difficult topic. I think it will be that way forever. Or at least for a good long time. I close my eyes for a moment and say more to myself than anyone, "What's done is done."

I turn back to face the four assembled Dumbledores and something strikes me. They do not all look the same anymore.

I mean sure they all have the same appearance, but before they had been standing the same way and everything. Now, however only one of them is still smiling.

The other three have their hands clasped in front of themselves and as I step closer I notice that their eyes all have a thin film over them as if the other three are all about to shed tears.

The fourth one seems to have noticed that he was not supposed to be smiling and has adopted an expression and stance exactly like the other four, but the damage has been done.

I know how Dumbledore reacts when I get like this, he cries. Or he looks a bit ashamed, or at the very least he looks regretful.

I saw it for the first time at the end of last year and I have seen it again on the occasions this year when I have lashed out at him or made a remark in reference to the unmitigated disaster that was my fifth year.

This Dumbledore-clone didn't do it. Thus he wasn't Dumbledore. I once again lifted my sword and I think because I was still reeling from my anger I drove the blade straight into the chest cavity of this one.

He adopted a shocked expression and I heard a few gasps from over by the door, and I knew why.

I didn't pause to verify this one. Last time I had been extra careful, but I knew this time. I didn't have to check.

Once again I watched in mute horror as the imposter thrashed about on the floor for a bit before finally settling. I knew that real human beings were harder to kill than this so it was some bit of comfort to know for sure that I hadn't killed the real Dumbledore.   

I watched, waiting. Phoenix? Oh phoenix! Where are you? Maybe not this time?

And then there it was.

With a hiss and a bit of a pop a tiny phoenix, green this time, appeared and seemed to appraise me for a minute before letting out a cry oddly similar to that of a raven. I started, I didn't know phoenixes made that sound.

And then a blinding green light came from the place where the phoenix had been and in a shower of silver sparks the bird, the body and all the blood were gone.

Two down, two to go.

And then there would be one, and if I did this right it would be the real Dumbledore.

I noticed there was no applause from the door this time; they probably were shocked that I didn't pause to verify.

Whatever. I didn't care.

I looked at the remaining three. They all had decided on neutral expressions it seemed. But all of their eyes were twinkling.

This was going to be tough.

I decided to try to question them.

"Can you talk?" I asked.

"Yes," they all responded simultaneously.

"Who am I?"

"Harry James Potter. Son of Lily and James Potter- who, might I add, debated for many a week over what to name you. James eventually decided on Harrison after your great grandfather, an amazing wizard who did quite a bit for the wizarding world before he died, but your mother wasn't too keen on the name. They compromised on Harry which your mother found to give you an automatic sense of familiarity and comfort as it was intended to be a nickname and your father settled on simply because Lily agreed to give you his name as your middle name..."

"Ok," I said startled, "That's enough."

Hearing three people recite such an oration all in unison was very unnerving and though I love hearing things like this about my parents I figured I could wait and just ask the real Dumbledore about it some other day.

Alright so apparently they all were working off of the same information. They seemed to have all of the same memories as Dumbledore, but as the last imposter I had destroyed had demonstrated they didn't know exactly how Professor Dumbledore reacts to certain things.

So I had to think of something to get a reaction. I had to do something.

But what?

Now, you have to understand that Dumbledore and I have spent a lot of time together this past year. Sometimes I remark to him snidely when he asks to meet me if he is trying to make up for lost time seeing as he wouldn't even look at me the year before.

Then he always says the exact same thing, "Absence makes the heart grow fonder."

The first time he said it I had been completely confused. There was no real absence last year. We had seen each other. He even talked to me at my hearing- oh excuse me- he spoke at me.

That definitely was not talking.

But we never really spent an elongated period of time apart. I didn't understand. One day, however, it hit me.

He meant absence in the mental sense of course. We hadn't talked in a year, not really anyway. We hadn't interacted in a year and now it wasn't that he was making up for lost time.

It was more the fact that he had missed me and wanted to see me without having to break terrible news to me or something along those lines. He just wanted to spend... quality time with me.

It rocked my world that day. Perhaps I wasn't just a weapon to Dumbledore. Maybe I was more. The day I finally realized what the hell Dumbledore was talking about when he said "absence makes the heart grow fonder" (a Muggle saying by the way) I decided to give the old coot another shot. Or at least to start to put the blame he shoulders for Sirius's death out of my mind.

I smirk when I remember my earlier outburst at the Dumbledores. Ah, well I said I was trying not that it would happen over night. I think I will always feel a twinge of resentment when it comes to the Headmaster, but I was working on it.

Let's just say that the outburst I had just had was absolutely tame in comparison to the ones I had over the summer.

The beginning of training was very trying. For everyone.

So now as I gaze upon the three remaining Dumbledores I know exactly what I am going to do to get a reaction.

I look up and into the eyes of each one for a few seconds scrutinizing their eyes, examining the twinkle in them.

And then I said, "I missed you over the past hours Professor Dumbledore."

All three of them adopted the same slightly raised eyebrow. Time to push it even further.

"After all, absence makes the heart grow fonder," I said with a coy smile.  

Then I saw it. That's the thing about Dumbledore. It's all about the twinkling eyes.

Once I made my declaration two of the Dumbledores eyes shone with such a light of happiness, hidden laugher, and unbridled joy the likes of which I had never seen before.

The third's eyes though. Simple twinkled.

That was it, the death sentence.

No extra bright twinkle to me for remembering and quoting back something that Dumbledore had said to me on many occasions to express his - dare I say-  affection... for me?

Well then this was obviously not Albus Dumbledore.

I lifted my sword once more. Slower this time. I was getting exasperated. This all seemed so pointless. What was I doing?

Why was there more than one Dumbledore?

Urg! So frustrating.

I used that exasperation and annoyance to give me an extra boost of energy. I decided to simply stick the sword straight into the stomach of this third pretender. I watched in some kind of odd fascination as he slowly fell down. The sword, still firmly implanted in the stomach, fell with him.

Watching your headmaster die three times in a row is quite odd, but sadly I was beginning to get used to it. As I pulled the sword from the carcass I waited for the phoenix vaguely wondering what color it would be now.

As if prompted by my internal beckoning a canary yellow bird appeared with a snap where the corpse had once been. The bird, unlike the others, did not ever seem to look at me simply trilled a few quick note and with a flash of disturbingly yellow light and a contrastingly black shower of sparks was gone.

I looked at the remaining two Dumbledores.

So close. One was real and one was simply a replica.

But they were so much alike. They looked exactly the same. They stared at me in the same manner. I couldn't tell who was who. I tried to think of another strategy. Anything, something to say, in order to make one inadvertently reveal himself as the fraud.

But I was so tired.

I couldn't think. I just wanted it to be over. The Dumbledores seemed to sense this as both of them let out very soft, identical sighs. They seemed sorry.

Well, I was sorry too. I was about to kill one of them and I didn't know how to figure out which.

Driven by my fatigue I lifted my sword. I held it like a Muggle baseball bat. Ready to swing. But at who?

I looked at the one on the left. He stared back at me directly into my eyes. I closed my eyes and tried to see if it would help me feel anything about this Dumbledore.

Nothing.

I turned to the one on the right. I looked into his eyes. He stared back and I felt nothing. Vaguely I wondered if I had killed the real Dumbledore by accident because usually when I looked into his eyes I felt something, anything.

Then I had an idea. I was going to try Legilimency as these Dumbledores were obviously using Occlumency. I closed my eyes and focused on the Dumbledore to my left. I pressed gently into his mind but he seemed to know what I was doing and repelled me before I could see anything.

I hadn't really perfected my Legilimency yet; in fact I had only just started, so I was not surprised when the same resistance occurred when I repeated the process on the second clone.

'Ok, so I just have to go with my gut then,' I thought with determination.

The sword still positioned behind my head in a ready position felt slippery in my hands.

I realized quickly that I was sweating buckets. My hands were covered and there was a trail going from my forehead to my right ear.

I was terrified.

My heart was pounding and I could feel a headache developing. I looked at the one on my left and I looked at the Dumbledore on my right and I decided to just go for it.

My breaths were coming in short ragged gasps.

I lifted the sword even higher and swung at the Dumbledore on my left.

Hard.

I just wanted this to be over with.

I gasped and almost fainted when I saw that I had hit the Dumbledore directly across the head and had viciously tore open his skull.

The body hit the floor with a sickening thud and I started hyperventilating when I saw no phoenix in sight.

The blood was pooling in the ground making an almost perfect circle around the head of the headmaster. The end of my sword was covered in blood and all I could do was stare.

I was afraid to look at the still living Dumbledore. I was afraid to look at the blue robed people at the door. I was more terrified in that moment that I had been at any other point in my little escapade into the inner regions of hell.

I was shaking like a leaf as I waited for a phoenix. When what seemed to me like 10 years (but really was bout 1 minute) passed and there still was no sign of a bird of any sort. I dropped the sword in abject horror.

It fell to the marble floor with a loud clatter and was pretty sure that there was no air getting into my lungs.

'Did I just murder the Headmaster?' I thought. 'Oh Merlin, oh shit.'

I fell to my knees before the body and in my scramble to get closer to it cut my self on the fallen sword.

The pain of the sword slashing at my leg distracted me for a moment and I ended up on my hands and knees crawling as close to the body as I dared go.

"Oh Merlin," I said aloud and I felt as though he chest and head were both about to explode from the tremendous pain I felt.

It was not nearly as bad as the pain I felt when I was possessed by Voldemort in the Department of Mysteries the year before, but in another sense it was far, far worse.

As this time, I didn't want to die. I wanted to live. I wanted to be punished forever for what I had done. I felt a tear slide down my face and I was shocked at myself.

I never cry.

A part of my life with the Dursleys that has never left me I hardly ever cry. And here I was about ready to bawl.

Unable to stand staring at the corpse any longer I hung my head in abject shame. I heard something vaguely in the back of my mind. It sounded like voices but I couldn't focus enough to hear.

All I could do was see.

See that I killed Albus Dumbledore.

See his dead body before me...

See the body shimmer with a gold glow...

See the body disappear and in its place see...

Fawkes the Phoenix.

I gasped and it seemed like all my other senses returned to me at the same time.

I pulled away from the magnificent bird and stood up in one swift movement that made my head feel as though it was being banged around in my skull.

I turned around faster than I ever have in my life and vaguely registered that I was swaying slightly.

I saw before me Albus Dumbledore and all of the blue robed torturers I had ever com across. It was a staggering sight. It seemed as though there were a total of 25 blue robed individuals.

Somehow many, many more had arrived while I was battling with the imposter Dumbledores. I swayed even more on my feet and was about to fall over when a comfortable weight landed on my shoulder.

I wearily turned my head and saw that Fawkes had decided to rest on my shoulder. Then he let out a call louder and more powerful than all of the other phoenixes combined.

Shivers raced down my spine and I felt a bit better. At least I could stand up straight and hear properly.

Albus Dumbledore stepped toward me from the line he had been in of all of the blue robed figures and stared at me with something I recognized from looking at the face of Mrs. Weasley when Ron became a prefect and I had seen far too many a time being directed a Dudley during my childhood.

Headmaster Dumbledore was looking at me with abject pride and his eyes were shining like two neon blue stars lighting the sky.

He opened his arms in a welcoming gesture and said, "Congratulations Harry, and welcome to the Order of the Phoenix."

I had never been angrier in my life.

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Author (C. Night) Notes: THIS IS NOT THE END! I said you would get explanations and you will so just you wait. All of you Dumbledore haters out there I am sorry he isn't really the bad guy in this although he did put Harry though the whole thing. I don't know I guess you could say he's the bad guy, but I feel there really was no bad guy. As for how Harry sees this... that is for the next chapter, but you get a good sense of it with that last sentence. Hehehe... oh and since we are just about done I need to know if anyone would be interested in some kind of sequel (you'll see how that's possible later) or just in reading anything else I write. So review!

And, I have the next week off from school so if I get a lot of reviews and somehow find the incentive to write the next chapter early you may get it before next Friday!

Now to the awesomely astoundingly, magnificent people who reviewed the last chapter:

Ueshiba: I appreciate the definitely / defiantly thing. As I don't have a beat reader I tend not to find those kinds of frequent errors. So thanks for reporting it and thanks for reviewing!

Wanderingwolf: yes the chapter you have been waiting for the one in which I actually say flat out that you hit the nail right on the head from the get go. Congratulations on scaring the crap out of me when I read your review and figured that I was being too obvious. I am glad you kept reading though and I am glad you reviewed, good to know there are some very observant people out there. Bet you can't see what's coming now though! Thanks for reviewing and come again!

Slscjk: This was as soon as I could. I really hope you like it. Thanks for reviewing and come again!

Sea Turtle: The ever faithful. I love your reviews. The longest and the most fun to read. The rambling quality is interesting. There is no need to try to surprise me; I think I surprise you enough with this story for the both of us. Let me know what you thought of this chapter. And thank you, thank you, thank you for reviewing so much and so dedicatedly! You rock!

Angleis1: I believe I answered your question. If you have anymore. Don't hesitate to ask. Thanks for reviewing!

HermionePotter141: Yes well Dumbledore wasn't there to save Harry per say... lol. I hope you liked this chapter. No romance this tie so there was nothing to avoid. Thanks for your opinions I appreciate them. Thanks for reviewing and come again!

SilverQueen: Well there is less of a cliff hanger this time. Hope you liked it. Please review and thank you very, very much for reading.

Gaul1: Thank you very much for reviewing any and all words of encouragement are greatly appreciated.

SilverDragonHawk: Nope we still don't know how Harry actually got there in the first place or where is actually is for that matter. That's all in the next two chapters. Thank you for reviewing and please do come again!

Niktike: Kind words to sooth the frustrated writer's heart. Thank you very much for reviewing and please continue to let me know what you think.

Elayne Sedai: Yes with Dumbledore it's all about the twinkling eyes. In the end of the last chapter it was more due to anticipation than happiness. But yes he and the other 4 Dumbledores were very happy to see Harry. Thank you very much for reviewing, I appreciate your opinions.

Jaded eyes: Well I am glad I wrote Estine well enough to the point where you still miss him. It's hard to write the part of a snake. Don't worry you are not alone in your loss we all miss him. Thanks for reviewing & come again!

Cornflake: Yes periwinkle a favorite word of mine I believe JKR used it in the fourth book to describe the color of Hermione's dress robes at the Yule Ball. (Only a real HP freak would know that lol). It's actually a purpleish blue but hey it rhymed with twinkle I had to use it. And you were the only person who noticed that they did indeed heal him 20 brownie points to you! Thank you very much for reviewing and by the way 'AFAIK' I'm not sure I've heard that one before. Fill me in if you get the chance. Thanks!

Temporary Insanity: It is nice to hear that people like the H/B thanks for mentioning it. And the Heir angle isn't too important in my story but I am glad you felt it was original. Thank you very much for reviewing, and please come again!

Night Serpent (NS): Wonderful use of one of my own quotes I love it when reviewers do that! lol I am glad you approved of the chapter and please let me know if you like this one. It's great for me to know I did something to alleviate what seemed like a pretty tough day. Thanks for reviewing and come again!

i-hate-cliffes: Dumbledore is quite cool. Definitely one of my favorite characters probably even second after Harry. He does deserve his comeuppance especially after what happened in this chapter. We'll see about that next time. Thanks for reviewing and come again soon!

Until next time...  Happy Friday the 13th & Valentine's Day!

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