In Every Darkness
Chapter Seventy Six: Death and Deceit
25.12.1996
Harry, Lily and Tatsu headed downstairs soon after Harry had opened his present from Tatsu, and Harry's mind was still reeling.
He had a sword … but it wasn't the one that he'd been seeing in his dreams for so long. The dream sword was made of metal, he wasn't sure what but it looked a lot like silver – but that wasn't possible, was it? He shook his head slightly. Maybe the dream meant nothing. He didn't believe in Divination anyway.
Shaking his head, he walked into the Great Hall. None of the students were there yet, but Dumbledore was, and he was reading a letter with a concerned look on his face.
"Harry, could you come with me, please?" he asked Harry softly, when he saw that the Gryffindor had entered the Great Hall. Harry nodded and excused himself from his companions, hurrying after the Headmaster as Dumbledore swept from the Great Hall.
No word was spoken between them until they reached the safety of the Headmasters office.
"Have a seat, Harry," Dumbledore bade the boy, who obeyed quickly. "Something very … important has occurred," the Headmaster said, his expression very sad.
Harry was surprised – he'd never seen Dumbledore look like this. "Sir? What's happened?"
"The letter is from Severus. It claims that he has sent me a potion which will protect me from anything that the Dark Lord might do to me. He has had to say this, otherwise Lord Voldemort would have never let the letter out of his fortress, wherever that may be.
"The potion he has sent is, in truth, a dark potion by the name of Caducus, which will kill slowly and very painfully."
"But … why are you telling me this, Sir, and how is that you know?"
"I know because Sirius has been passing messages to me from Remus and Severus for the past few weeks, making sure that I know what is going on. A vial of this potion has been sent to the Minister as well, in the hands of a trusted adviser, who is, in fact, a Death Eater. By four o'clock this afternoon, our Minister of Magic will be dead, and I will be expected to be as well," Dumbledore replied.
"So what are you going to do? You obviously aren't going to take the potion," Harry pointed out.
"Quite right … But I am going to use a spell to make it look like I have. A complicated illusion that I will create very soon," Dumbledore replied.
"But that means that …" Harry looked at the Headmaster, sincerely hoping he was wrong.
"That, for most of the wizarding world, I will die this afternoon," Dumbledore said gravely. "The only one's who will know that I am still alive are you, Tatsu and Alastor Moody."
"Why Moody?" Harry asked.
"He is my second in command in the Order of the Phoenix," Dumbledore replied. "He will be giving all orders when I am 'dead', and therefore I will need to give him advice on what's happening."
"And why are you telling me?" Harry asked, confused.
"Because otherwise Sirius will most likely tell you in your dreams," Dumbledore replied. "Besides, I would like to be able to keep up with your progress in various areas of study. You are destined to be the hero of the wizarding world, Harry, and I would like to know where you are at."
"So you can protect me?" Harry asked, eyes narrowing slightly.
"So I can guide you, Harry. You cannot do what you must alone, you will need the help – my help, Tatsu's help, the Orders help, and most of all, your friends help," Dumbledore replied.
Harry nodded, realising the truth of this statement. "Thanks for telling me," he said. "Oh! And I've got a Christmas for you, Sir!" he exclaimed suddenly, remembering.
He quickly fished through his pockets, and, after a moment of searching, came up with a parcel, which he handed to Dumbledore. "Merry Christmas Sir," he said.
"Thank you, Harry," Dumbledore said. "Whatever could this be?" Dumbledore unwrapped the gift, and laughed long and hard when he uncovered a pair of warm, wolly socks.
"You said back in first year that you'd always wanted some," Harry pointed out, eyes dancing.
"Thank you, Harry," Dumbledore chuckled merrily. "Well, you may leave now, but could you send Tatsu up when he'd finished eating?
"Of course, Sir," Harry replied. "I'll see you again soon."
He left the office, and headed back down to the Great Hall. "Tatsu, Dumbledore wants to talk to you," Harry murmured in his guardians ear. Tatsu nodded and rose quickly, heading away from the Great Hall.
"Harry, what did Dumbledore want?" Liy asked.
"He wanted to tell me about Voldemort's latest movements," Harry replied – this wasn't entirely a lie, but nor was it the whole truth. He wasn't sure if Dumbledore had wanted him to talk about what would take place this afternoon.
"Any idea what he wants Tatsu for?" Lily enquired.
"Not really, Dumbledore and Tatsu often talk," Harry replied. "I don't follow all of their conversations."
Lily nodded, taking his word for it. Well, maybe he could tell them at a latter point in time.
A lone owl flew into the room, bearing a newspaper. Everyone looked up at it – there wasn't usually a Prophet release at this time of the day. The owl came to Harry, and the boy looked at the front page, seeing exactly what he expected.
"What does it say?" Professor Flitwick asked, leaning forwards with interest.
Harry cleared his throat and read:
In this special early release of The Evening Prophet, it brings this reporter great sadness to report that, as of eleven o'clock this morning, the Wizarding World is without it's leader, for Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge, passed away under suspicious circumstances.
It is suspected, by this reporter and by many others, that Minister Fudge's death was no natural event, and Dolores Umbridge and Percy Weasley, the late Ministers undersecretaries, assure the public that Aurors are already working on uncovering the events that led to our beloved leaders death.
The election of a new Minister will be held shortly, but this reporter has heard that Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardy, might be asked to temporarily assume this possition, in the absense of anyone else.
The Minstry has declared that December the 26th will be a day of mourning for our dear and departed Minister.
Shock had been racing around the table as Harry read, and everyone was looking scared. "If this Minister could be the target of assassination …" McGonagall whispered.
"Where else could be safe?" Flitwick finished her thought.
Harry put the newspaper down and, along with Lily, slipped away from the table, not wanting to stay there while everyone debated what could have killed the Minister.
"You know something?" Lily asked.
"Yes, but I'm not sure if I'm supposed to speak of it," Harry replied. Seeing the hurt forming on Lily's face, he added, "it's not my secret to tell, otherwise I would."
Appeased, Lily nodded. "Ok," she said. "I believe you."
"Thanks," Harry smiled.
"It seems that with the Ministry in an uproar, we won't be going to the Burrow. The Order of the Phoenix will be having a meeting, and I expect that all of the Ministry members will be called in to examine everything that could have anything to do with the Ministers death," Lily remarked. "There won't be that many left at the Burrow, and probably no one to give us permission to go."
"Oh well, we'll see about that," Harry was sure that they wouldn't be able to go and visit Ron and Hermione, after all, when Dumbledore's death was announced …
Sure enough, hours later, after Tatsu had joined them, this time in the Gryffindor common room, and Dumbledore had walked around the halls of Hogwarts, for everyone to see, saying what only two people knew to be his last farewell to the castle he loved so much, Albus Dumbledore was discovered, in his office, dead.
Harry and Tatsu greived with the rest, or appeared to do so, but in their minds they knew what the other occupants of Hogwarts did not: Albus Dumbledore lived. Just out of the limelight for the moment.
Though the press was not to know it, yet, the 'death' of the long-time Hogwarts Headmaster, one of the most respected wizards in all time, would shatter the wizarding world far more than that of their 'illustrious' leader and Minister, Cornelius Fudge.
That night, very late, after Lily had left the castle and gone into the forest to spend her time in beast form there, Harry joined Tatsu in the Room of Requirement.
"What's happening?" Harry asked, thinking that Tatsu would have heard something more than he had – people would actually tell the famous Tatsu Kendo things … They wouldn't tell the famous Harry Potter. After all, Harry was just a kid – or so most of the Ministry people would think.
"No one knows what to think or do," Tatsu replied tiredly. "With Dumbledore gone, the Order of the Phoenix is in temporary dissorder. Alastor should be able to calm everyone down in the near future and get on with things, but the Ministry … Well, that's a different story entirely."
"What's happening with them?"
"Most of the officials who aren't in the Order are running around like headless chickens, yelling things about nothing being safe and the Wizarding World having no direction, nor anyone to lead it in one," Tatsu replied, rolling his eyes.
Harry sighed too. "Do you think that Mad-Eye is up for the job of calming them down?"
"Possibly – but it's not likely that they'll listen to him," Tatsu sighed. "We'll have to find someone who hasn't got such a … fixation with finding enemies."
"Like?" Harry wanted to know.
"If the worst comes to the worst, me," Tatsu replied with a faint sigh. "But I'd rather that I stayed out of the spotlight for awhile, at least."
"I can understand that," Harry agreed. "What do you think's going to happen?"
"To be brutally honest? Voldemorts going to take as much advantage of this as he possibly can," Tatsu replied. "That'll be why he did this."
"So what can we do?"
"Be ready, and try to make sure that as many people as possible are ready too," Tatsu replied. "Minerva sent out most of the owlery to inform all the students that the Hogwarts Express is doing daily runs to and from Hogwarts for the rest of the holidays, for those who want to come back."
"Has that ever happened before?" Harry asked, surprised.
"Once or twice in the history of the school, yes, from what I've been told," Tatsu replied. "Not often, but it's not often that such things happen to the school."
"I'd have the rotten luck to be alive in a time when there was an emergency like this," Harry sighed darkly.
"No one wants to be alive in times such as these," Tatsu replied. "But someone always must be, and this time, my young friend, it's us."
Harry nodded bleakly. "Well, we can only hope that this time passes fast and Voldemort is defeated – for good."
"Quite right," a voice said from behind them. Both spun around in surprise to see Dumbledore standing there, with a small bag beside him.
"Albus?" Tatsu asked, confused.
"I've just removed everything from various places around the castle that are precious to me, and that won't be missed," Dumbledore said. "I'll be leaving for my own home immediately. You will not see me here again until Voldemort is dust on the wind."
Harry nodded. "I'll miss you," he said, though it seemed to little to say, really. Infuriating, kind, and wise, Dumbledore would indeed be missed, but only in some respects.
"Minerva will do a good job here, until I may come again," Dumbledore stated. "Though I do not think that I will ever resume my place as Headmaster … I may follow an entirely new calling – who knows?"
"Time and the universe," Tatsu replied to the rhetorical question. Dumbledore gave a faint smile.
"Well, I'll see what time and the universe have planned for me in the fullness of time, I suppose," he said. "Meanwhile, if I need to speak with you, I'll send a message under the name of Bumblebee."
"Bumblebee?" Harry repeated skeptically.
"Dumbledore means Bumblebee," the old wizard explained. "I doubt many will make the connection, especially since everyone believes me to be dead."
Harry nodded. "Ok, whatever," he said with a faint grin. "I'll hear from you soon then, I hope."
"That you will, Harry, that you will. Would you mind if I had a few last lone words with Tatsu before I left?" Dumbledore asked.
"No, that's fine. I was heading for bed anyway," Harry assured him. "I hope for the sake of the Wizarding World and the Light that you made the right decision today Sir."
"So do I, Harry, so do I."
***
Well, there's a nice end to a chapter. Next chapter: Snape returns!
Apologies for not sending out an update notice – I can't get at my computer at present, so I figured that an update would probably be fine … Right guys? Please review!
Thanks:
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Evil Anti-Patriotic Elf Named Cin and All Titles Which Do Appy,
We are sorry to hear that Our friend has so little time, but are that thee will prevail in the end, and make time to do that which thee wishes to do most, whatever that may be. We are finding ourself quite busy with Our own schooling, but luckily have managed to find sometime. We hope that thy time becomes more in the near future, and that thou dost still enjoy our story!
WolfMoon,
Lady Death,
Queen of Tenebralia,
Goddess of Darkness and Evilness.
TexasJeanette and all Titles Which Do Apply,
We apologise for making Our readers wait so long, but school is coming as somehting of a shock to Our system … We will get used to it, in time, We hope. No fear, the sword will be made clear by Us when We are ready, and then it will all make PERFECT sense.
Sincerely,
WolfMoon,
Lady Death,
Queen of Tenebralia,
Goddess of Darkness and Evilness.