Chapter 8: A Meeting With Dumbledore

By 1 o clock that afternoon none of them had mentioned when they were going to talk to Dumbledore. Harry had a distinct impression that he wasn't the only one trying to put the occasion off. It wasn't until half past 6 that evening, whilst Harry and Ron were struggling with their Potions essay that Hermione said chucking down her quill and taking both of them by surprise, "Fine! Fine then. If you two won't face up to it I'll say it myself!"

Harry knew what she was talking about. All this time she'd been waiting for them to suggest going, but had obviously realised they weren't about to.

"Let's go and see Dumbledore, shall we?" she said put on a falsely pleasant voice and standing up.

Neither answered, they just stood up with her.

They reached the stone gargoyles 5 minutes later and they both looked expectantly at Harry.

"Um, Fizzing Whizzbees, Pepper Imps ... er - Bertie Botts Every Flavour Beans .... Droobles Best Blowing Gum ... er ... um ... Chocolate?" he looked exasperatedly at him two friends.

Ron shrugged but Hermione stepped forwards. "Sugar Quills? Jelly Slugs?"

"Ton Tongue Toffees?" Ron said.

The gargoyles leapt to life and the wall started to part in front of them. Ron's mouth fell open and he started laughing, "Ton Tongue Toffees?"

"We've got to tell Fred and George about this!" Harry laughed.

Ron nodded, grinning as the three of them stepped onto the gold staircase which instantly started twisting upwards.

Harry knocked on the big wooden doors and waited.

"Hello?" came a surprised voice from inside.

"Professor Dumbledore it's Harry, Hermione and Ron," Harry said, "We'd like to talk to you."

They heard a scraping of wood on wood and some very slow footsteps. The doors opened gradually and Dumbledore stood looking at them.

Harry was shocked at how very old Dumbledore looked. His eyes were drooping and his hand shook slightly as he waved them in and flicked his wand to create 3 chairs in front of his desk.

He closed the doors and hobbled back to his large soft lounge chair. As Harry walked towards his chair his eyes skimmed around the familiar layout of Dumbledore's office. The bookshelves lined with books of all shapes and sizes, Fawkes sitting on the golden perch, the portraits of old headmasters, the soft carpeted floor and the high windows behind the desk. Dumbledore sat down and folded his arms on the desk, looking at the three of them, his half-moon glasses slipping down his nose. "Well good-evening you three, what can I do for you?" he asked smiling.

Harry noticed the sparkle in his eyes was still there and was comforted by it.

"Um... well Professor we have two things to tell you," said Hermione shifting in her seat and crossing her legs.

"Indeed?"

Hermione nodded. "Well the first one is what me and Ron overheard at Hogsmeade yesterday. It's ... well ... we were ... there was ..." she sighed and muttered something about not knowing where to start.

"You were at Hogsmeade and you overheard some people talking. Who were they?"

"I don't know who the other person is but one was Lucius Malfoy," she answered.

"How do you know this?"

"She saw him," answered Ron instantly.

Dumbledore glanced at him and smiled, "Thank You. Now, what did you hear them say that is so important you decided to report it to me?"

Hermione sat up a little, "They were talking about some plans they had to keep secret. And they exchanged something and they talked about someone called 'Bella'."

Dumbledore looked into her eyes. She tried not to squirm as she felt his misty eyes reading her.

"Er – that's all we heard," Hermione said.

Dumbledore nodded and relaxed his gaze, "Thank You," he smiled. Harry looked at him again, trying to decipher what his expression showed.

"And the second?" he asked readjusting his spectacles.

Ron spoke up, "My sister told us she'd been talking to Dean in the hospital wing. He told her that Professor Koley had taken him into the Forbidden Forest pretending it was about class. And she was asking him all sorts of weird questions like what your plans were and about secrets and stuff and she wanted him to spy on Harry for her."

Dumbledore frowned.

"Dean was pretty freaked out he thought something was wrong with her."

"And her eyes were weird," Hermione added.

Dumbledore made a slight 'mmm' noise at this.

"Yea and then when Dean wouldn't do what Koley told him she cursed him!"

"Professor Koley, Mr Weasley."

Ron didn't reply but Harry noticed he looked a little annoyed that he was supposed to refer to someone who was supposedly betraying their school, with respect.

Dumbledore thought for a moment, his finger pads pressed together. Harry was used to these unexplained silences and had learnt to leave Dumbledore in peace during them. Ron and Hermione however were exchanging quizzical looks and then both leant forward to turn to Harry. He tried to hide a smile and put a finger on his lips, then pointed at his wrist.

Hermione seemed to understand and she mouthed to Ron 'Be quiet, he needs time'.

Harry glanced around again at the office. All the portraits were silent and even Fawkes was sitting still staring at the headmaster. The only noise was Ron's breathing and the gentle ticking of a beautiful, silver metallic clock with a glass dome and 3 rotating pendulums swinging underneath it. Harry watched the reflections of the sky outside dance around on its shiny surface for a while and then Dumbledore coughed, stroked his moustache and shook his head a little.

His long delicate fingers rested on the edge of his desk and he said, "Thank You. Thank You very much for coming to me and telling me this. If, in future you have any more information such as this please feel welcome to drop by again. Now Hermione, Ron – I believe the Halloween feast started 5 minutes ago."

Hermione and Ron swapped identical looks and Ron turned his eyes to Harry, his eyebrows creased a little. He opened his mouth but Professor Dumbledore cut across him.

"I would like Harry to stay here a second."

Hermione nodded. "Bye Professor," she said smiling.

"Goodbye Miss Granger. I sincerely hope you enjoy the food. You too, Mr Weasley."

"Er, ok," Ron said, for lack of anything better to reply with. Harry watched their backs leave the room and he turned to face the headmaster.

At first Dumbledore didn't say anything, he seemed to be thinking of the best way to phrase what he was about to say. "Are you ok, Harry?" he asked eventually.

Harry was a bit startled at the question – it wasn't what he'd expected. He knew what Dumbledore meant of course. Harry wasn't alright... but he wasn't going to say so. He settled for a shrug.  Dumbledore nodded, as though he understood.

Harry looked up at the vast ceiling waiting for him to say something else. "You know," the headmaster started suddenly. It's quite funny that three 15 year olds can find out exactly what I've been hunting for ... without even trying," he sighed and smiled, turning his twinkling eyes on Harry. "It really is amazing." He faced the other way again and shook his head a little.

"What did you want to know?" Harry asked. After saying it he thought it would have perhaps made more sense phrased differently. What he had meant to ask was how long had Dumbledore being trying to find out about secret Death Eater plans or find out who were the sneaks among the staff.

"We're facing dark times, now. I'm always looking into everything. Anything that could give me a little clue – some more information. I'm very grateful you and your friends came and told me this. It might not make much sense to you, Harry but I'm starting to piece things together myself."

"Piece what together?"

Dumbledore shook his head, "You have enough to worry about. I just wanted to take this opportunity to ask you if there was anything you wanted to talk about?"

Harry remembered a meeting like this from his second year. Dumbledore had asked him a similar question and Harry had told him there was nothing. The truth was there were millions of things he wanted answers too – but he was too ashamed to bring any of the topics up. Now, more than ever Harry needed someone to talk to. But he found he didn't want to share it after all. He longed for someone to ask him if he was ok ... but now that he was sitting here, trying to think of something to say in reply, he found that he wasn't ready. The clock on the windowsill tinkled and chimed delicately as the thin 'minute'-hand hit 12. 

Harry wanted to ask about Neville. He wanted to ask about Sirius. He wanted to ask about Voldemort. He wanted to know about the veil. He had a hundred questions about the veil ... but for some reason he couldn't find them.

Harry shook his head and looked at his knees. He knew Dumbledore knew he was lying – but he didn't say anything.

"Well in that case, I believe the feast is waiting for you also," he said pleasantly. Harry nodded and got up. Dumbledore escorted him to the door and just as Harry left he turned to check the twinkle of enthusiasm, and years of wisdom was still in Dumbledore's eyes.  It was.