Disclaimers: Harry Potter and his world belong to J.K. Rowling and to her assorted publishers, not to me. Antonia Dumarest is mine, as are the assorted Snape and Dumarest relatives, and may be used with permission; e-mail me.
Spoilers:First five HP novels, mainly OotP. AU to HBP
Note: This chapter edited slightly from original posting, with additions at the end.
Prelude to War—SUMMER
DEBRIEFING
(Friday, 19 July 1996)
The first joint meeting of the Order and the Auxiliary took place at Headquarters several days after the induction of the students. Albus Dumbledore as Head of the Order led off the meeting.
"Good evening," he said. "Tonight's meeting will be focused on last month's events at the Ministry. My intent is to put all of us on the same information level, so that those of us who only knew their own part have a better understanding of the entire event. This will be an Auror-level after-action meeting, so I will turn this over to Kingsley Shacklebolt of the Auror Division." He gestured to the tall Black man. "If you would, Kingsley."
Shacklebolt rose and went to the podium that Dumbledore had conjured for him. "First, I wish to emphasize that this is not a meeting to assign blame. This is intended to determine exactly what happened, and when, so that mistakes made will not be repeated. Second, I will say that this briefing is not for the benefit of the Ministry, but for us, although some of you may be called upon to testify about these events at the Death Eater trials." He turned to Dumbledore. "Where shall I begin?"
Dumbledore considered, and said, "Begin with Mr. Potter's vision, as that is the event that triggered all the rest."
Shacklebolt nodded, and turned to Harry. "Mr. Potter, if you please?"
Harry gulped inside. This was going to be very difficult, with all the adults looking at him. But if the adults were to take him and the other teens at all seriously, he would have to make the effort. For you, Sirius, he promised silently. I pledged everything I had to this effort; I have to deliver. I won't let anyone else die because of my own stupid pride; I can't afford it any more. He took a deep breath, and began: shakily at first, then more steadily, he told them of the vision of the long corridor and hallway, hearing the Dark Lord apparently torture a defiant Sirius. As he paused for a breath, Shacklebolt asked a question.
"Why did you believe the vision genuine?"
That was easy. "Because all the other ones had been, like the one with Nagini and Mr. Weasley," Harry replied. He continued with his trying to reach Professor McGonagall, only to find that she had been sent to St. Mungo's; telling Hermione and Ron, and Hermione's misgivings; how a plan had been devised with Ginny and Luna to see if Sirius had indeed left home; how Harry had firecalled Headquarters, only to be taunted by Kreacher.
Dumbledore interrupted there. "Kreacher also laughed at me, when I finally arrived later; he had been double-dealing for months with Narcissa Malfoy. Sirius was perfectly well at the time of Harry's call, tending to Buckbeak upstairs."
Harry then continued with an account of Umbridge coming back and interrupting them; how the Inquisitorial Squad had captured not only all of them, but Neville as well. He continued with how Umbridge had sent Draco Malfoy for Professor Snape, and it was only then that he had belatedly remembered that Snape was also in the Order, and had tried to give him a coded warning. When he had told them the warning, Shacklebolt held up his hand.
"That was quick thinking in a crisis, Mr. Potter," he commended. He turned to Snape. "Professor, would you please continue your point of view, after you left the Defense office?"
Snape narrated how he had realized exactly what Harry had meant, and as soon as he could he had called Headquarters himself, determining that Sirius was indeed alive and well. "When I returned to the Defense office, I found the Inquisitorial Squad disabled or stunned, and Umbridge and all of their captives gone," Snape continued. "The Squad members told me that Umbridge had taken Potter and Granger, and where. But when they did not return, and neither did Umbridge, I grew concerned that they had managed either to go to the Ministry, or had come to harm in the Forest. I was more concerned, when I realized that of the three of them, only Umbridge had a wand, and had never demonstrated any combat skills for me to judge whether she actually had any skill. There are many hazards in the Forest, not only the centaurs and the Acromantulas, and given Umbridge's consistent behavior, she would have saved herself first rather than her students. I had no way of knowing if the other four could join the two already missing, or if they would miss each other; the Potter and Granger wands had been taken from the Inquisitors, and were obviously in the hands of the others. Therefore, I called Headquarters again, alerting all the members there about the vision—for that was what it had to have been—and asked Black to stay behind to alert Professor Dumbledore. I then went back to the Forest to search there first."
Shacklebolt nodded. "Miss Granger, after Professor Snape left the Defense office, what happened?"
Hermione took a deep breath, and began. "Umbridge seemed to nerve herself up for something, then started to use the Cruciatus on Harry, to make him talk. That is when she said that she would get the information out of him first, and tell the Minister afterwards; also, that she had never told him—the Minister, that is—that it was she who set the dementors on Harry in his Muggle neighborhood." That set off murmurs of outrage. "I interrupted her, told her that we were trying to reach Professor Dumbledore, and offered to tell all and show her the weapon out in the forest."
"I thought for a moment you'd cracked up, because I knew there was no such weapon," Harry said. "Then I realized that as loud as you were crying, I didn't see any tears. You fooled all of them." He managed a smile of pride for her.
Hermione nodded. "I can't make tears on demand, but I can make noise." She continued the narrative up to the point where she and Harry got away in the confusion between Umbridge, the centaurs and Grawp.
She then turned to Professor Snape. "Sir, you were absolutely correct about one thing: although we were leading, she refused to let either of us have the wand on the grounds that the Ministry valued her more than us."
Snape gave her one of the little sardonic smiles that indicated his rare approval. "Umbridge constantly overvalued herself, and underestimated not only the Professors, but the students," he said. "What happened to her wand?"
"A centaur stepped on it," Hermione replied, "or one of us would have grabbed it." After a pause, she then directly addressed Shacklebolt. "Sir, can Umbridge be prosecuted for attempting to use an Unforgivable on a student, even though she didn't get the curse all the way out?"
The Auror thought for a moment. "By itself, since she did not in fact complete it, perhaps not; but taken with all the other evidence of the Blood Quill and the Dementors, yes, it will be an additional serious charge, the more so since she confessed her premeditated intent to use it in front of all of you. Ms. Umbridge may be a Senior Undersecretary reporting directly to the Minister, and was at the time the interim Head of Hogwarts and its High Inquisitor besides; but she is not and never has been an Auror or involved in the Magical Law Enforcement Department; none of her so-called 'Educational Directives' gave her any such powers. Only the Aurors have ever been authorized to use the Unforgivables, only on dangerous or convicted adult Dark Wizards, and only in direct combat; torturing for information is strictly illegal, and on a minor doubly so. So, by the way, is her attempted use of Veritaserum on a minor; I commend Professor Snape's subterfuges with regard to giving her fake Veritaserum the last time, and denying it to her this time.
"Her use of the Dementors on Mr. Potter in Little Whinging is also forbidden to someone not in the MLE Department, the more so since according to Mr. Potter's report at his trial, an innocent Muggle was involved, his cousin. Had Master Dursley been Kissed there would had to have been a serious investigation made; not only is he a Muggle related to a Wizard, but he was not even under investigation for, let alone convicted, of anything rating the Kiss. Nor was Mr. Potter, who should have been commended, not condemned, for his quick use of the Patronus." He looked directly at Hermione. "Miss Granger, that was also quick thinking in a crisis. Well done." Hermione nodded thanks.
Shacklebolt continued. "So, at this time, we have Miss Granger and Mr. Potter out in the Forest without wands, and Professor Snape alerting the members at Headquarters. Of the rest of you students, who will tell us the part involving your escape?"
"I will," Ginny spoke up. "See, they'd taken Harry's wand and Hermione's—but they hadn't taken ours. While they were distracted, the first of us—Luna, they were ignoring her—managed to get a wand out; then I nailed Malfoy with a Bat Bogey, Neville did a nice Impediment Jinx, and we all used a Disarming Charm and bunch of Stunners. After they were all down, we took their wands and hid them, then got Harry's and Hermione's. We saw them headed out to the Forest, so that's where we went. We caught up with them after the centaurs took Umbridge and Grawp and the centaurs chased each other off, and gave them back their wands."
"I suspect there is a great deal more about this Grawp and the centaurs, but that is not directly relevant right now," Shackebolt said. He turned back to Harry. "What happened next?"
Harry took a deep breath. "I didn't want the others to come with me, but they argued me down. Luna is the one who thought of using thestrals, but it was a little difficult, in that three of us could see them and three of us couldn't. Anyway, they came to us, we mounted, and I told them to go to the Ministry in London." He continued with the entrance, the various rooms they had gone through, then the Prophecy Room, and the first confrontation with the Death Eaters. Shacklebolt stopped him there.
"Right, we now have the six of you facing a dozen Inner Circle Death Eaters, who are only holding back because of their Master's orders to obtain the Prophecy intact being above those for harming you."
"Right," agreed Harry. He went on to tell how they had shattered the shelves and gotten away, been split up, and chased through room after room, fighting as they went. Neville and the others put in bits, mainly about their opponents and how each fight came out, and who was injured when, as Harry stopped for breath, and to collect himself. When they reached the part about being chased into the Death Chamber, Shacklebolt held up his hand again.
"This is where we came in, responding to Professor Snape's warning," he said. "So, we have four injured students out of action in other places, and Longbottom and Potter in the Death Chamber, with the former unable to articulate a spell. I came in with Moody, Tonks, Black, and Lupin, and all of us were immediately engaged in a running firefight." He continued his part, including his battle with Bellatrix after she had taken down Tonks and Sirius.
The other Order members also briefly told their parts of the fight, with whom they had fought, and how each duel came out. Then Harry reluctantly told how Macnair had grabbed him, and how he had been rescued by Neville; how he and Sirius had downed Dolohov; and how he had tossed the Prophecy to Neville after blasting Lucius Malfoy across the room; how Neville, already crippled by Dolohov's Tarantellagra hex, had pocketed the Prophecy, only to have his robes torn and the Prophecy fall out and break, with no one hearing it owing to the noise level.
"Then Professor Dumbledore arrived," Shacklebolt continued as Harry paused to collect himself, "and managed to trap all of them except Bellatrix; she and Sirius were on the other side of the Archway. After she Stunned him through the Veil, she then set to with me; after some time she took me down and ran away. She evaded Dumbledore's spells and got out of the room, with Potter in pursuit. Most of us were injured ourselves and could not join the pursuit. Lupin and Longbottom went back through to find the other students; all of the wounded were retrieved and sent to Hogwarts or St. Mungo's."
Harry took a deep breath as the eyes of the rest of the Order turned back to him. Thank you, Mr. Shacklebolt, he thought, aiming a grateful look toward the tall Auror. This way, I didn't have to be the one to tell about Sirius. Now comes the other hard part—about her, and about Tom.
"I chased her all the way back to the Atrium," Harry continued softly. "She tried to get the Prophecy and wouldn't believe me when I said it was broken. She bragged on how much the Dark Lord favored her and what He'd taught her, while we were exchanging shots. Then, I told her that it was still gone, and more, that He knew. I knew that because…because I felt His anger through my scar—it wasn't mine. She got scared a bit, wouldn't believe me. Then He showed up, brushed her off when she groveled, and complained about how after months of preparation and effort, His Death Eaters allowed me to beat them. Then He went to kill me; that was when Professor Dumbledore arrived. He animated the broken Wizard statue to protect me, and the Witch to pin Bellatrix; then he and Riddle dueled."
He took a deep breath, and looked over at Dumbledore; the Headmaster returned his gaze calmly. "It was…I'd say inconclusive. I was pinned and couldn't help. Fawkes appeared; he ate one Killing Curse and was turned into a chick. Riddle tried to possess me; Professor Dumbledore wouldn't…wouldn't take his bait, and I managed to push him out." That drew attention: few had realized that the situation had been so dire, and those who didn't know Harry well found it hard to reconcile this slight, soft-spoken teenager with someone who could defy the Dark Lord repeatedly and survive. "Anyway, Riddle ended up Disapparating and took Bellatrix with him, but not before the Minister and some more Aurors arrived and saw him. I was sent back to Hogwarts with a Portkey."
All eyes then turned to Dumbledore, who took up his part of the narrative. "After I sent Harry back, I confronted the Minister. Since he had seen Tom with his own eyes, he could not deny it any longer. I took him aside and brought him up to date, including pointing out how pleased Tom had been that the Aurors had been wasting resources chasing the wrong people for months and years. When I came back to Hogwarts that night, I discussed matters with Harry, and then sent him to bed." He omitted any mention of Harry's anger, the revelation of the Prophecy, or the trashing of the Headmaster's office.
"Over these weeks since then, I have been able to force a full retraction of all of those Ministry directives, including all those which gave Dolores Umbridge any power whatever in Hogwarts. This applies, among others, to the bans on the students and their rights, the meddling in the teaching practices, the sackings of Professors Trelawney and Hagrid, the attempted arrest of Professor Hagrid, and the placing of Professor Snape on probation for failing to give her what he neither had to give, nor had any right to give.
"In addition to all else mentioned today, I intend to see to it that Umbridge is charged with conspiracy to commit assault on Professor McGonagall. Minerva as the Deputy had every right to protest Hagrid's unwarranted arrest, and had no wand in her hand at the time of being attacked without provocation by four of the five Aurors who came for Hagrid. Further, I will see to it that she is charged with making false accusations resulting in the Aurors attempting to make arrests on the staff. As I said last week, if and when she recovers enough to stand trial, she will be prosecuted and punished to the full extent of the law."
Shacklebolt gave a nod. "So, the outcome of the battle was this: on our side, out of twelve effectives, half of them students, we lost one adult killed, three adults and five students wounded, three seriously, none irreparably. On theirs, out of thirteen effectives they had eleven captured, and most of them wounded; two escaped uninjured.
"The primary gain for the Light is the fact that the Minister saw the Dark Lord with his own eyes; he can no longer deny his return to power, nor can he deny the captured Death Eaters; the Ministry must now act to protect the public, or Fudge's days in office will be very short indeed.
"The major secondary gains are two: first, Lucius Malfoy was captured and exposed as a ranking Death Eater, although matters must be advanced quickly to capitalize on that before he can wield any influence to buy his way out. As I understand it, Mr. Potter," he turned to Harry, "according to all the evidence that you and your group have given us so far, Mr. Malfoy was the leader of this mission, acting under Riddle's orders."
Harry nodded, and Hermione said, "That's true; he was giving the orders. It was pretty clear what his orders were, and from whom. We heard him directing the others to go easy on Harry until the Prophecy was captured, and to abandon Nott rather than lose the Prophecy; we also heard him address each one of the others by name when he ordered them to split up and hunt for us."
"And that is the most essential part of what your testimony will have to cover: that he not only participated, he was the active leader as Riddle's deputy," Shacklebolt emphasized. "He will have a very hard time blaming the Imperius Curse for that.
"The second gain was that the Headquarters building was safeguarded for us. While he was killed in the action, reliable witnesses—such as Moody, Tonks and I—nonetheless saw Sirius Black fighting against the Death Eaters, not for them, and protecting Harry, not harming him. I have been for some time in charge of the Black manhunt, and have been able to divert attention away from him for the benefit of the Order; I have written my final report in such a manner that with the testimony from Professor Dumbledore and the previous verbal testimony from the students that Peter Pettigrew is indeed alive, Black has been officially declared deceased, posthumously exonerated, and his estate cleared for probate. This house we use is part of the Black holdings, and has been inherited by his Godson, Mr. Potter, whose trustees are Professor Dumbledore and Remus Lupin; he has formally taken possession of the entire estate, and all of them have affirmed the permission that Black gave in his Will, to continue the use of the house as Order Headquarters, and have effectively barred the rest of the Blacks other than Tonks. His Will also denies the Black wealth to the Malfoys and the Lestranges, and thus to the Death Eaters' treasury; also, a portion of it has been made directly available to the Order.
"Next, I would like to ask Professor Snape if he has been summoned since then, and if so, what is the current state of things there."
"Yes, I have," replied Snape. He rose, but stayed in his place rather than going to the front. "The Dark Lord was greatly incensed at the failure of the Death Eaters to carry out the mission, the more so since they were held off long enough for help to come by, in His words, 'half their number of children—a flake, a fumbler, a Mudblood, the two least Weasleys, and the Boy-Who-Refuses-to-Die'." The students looked at each other, but didn't rise to the comment.
"Bellatrix was punished severely for her part in the failure; He used extensive Legilimency on her as well, and now knows just how things went wrong and who was to blame. He was also angry with Dumbledore for protecting Potter, and not conveniently getting killed himself. Pettigrew and Goyle were not involved in the mission at all, and only received token punishments. I managed to avoid…severe discipline, once I explained Umbridge's blame in her holding of Potter and Granger. She might have been able to expel Potter, but that does not mean he would have been free to be captured. I gave Umbridge a good bit of the blame for why it took so long for Potter to respond to the trap; after all, it was she who confiscated his broomstick and restricted his movements, not his Head of House or the Headmaster. In my account, I may have…enlarged my part of seeing to it that Potter was free to fall into the trap; but I was able to base it in enough fact so that if any of the Inquisitorial Squad report back, their account will tally with mine, and Umbridge will get the blame rather than me.
"I do recall that when she placed me on probation for failing to provide her with a Truth Potion that day, she mentioned how much Lucius Malfoy had recommended me; I suspect that she is one of those who are not Death Eaters, but working with Malfoy on his own schemes in the Ministry, independent of the Dark Lord, so that he may be a winner regardless of who wins the War. This is one matter that we must not ignore: Malfoy is one of the most dangerous Dark Wizards alive even without his Master. He has gold, a smooth personality, and political power, which make up in large part for not being as magically powerful as his Lord, and make him appear less…undesirable…to the ordinary citizen. He will now hate Mr. Potter more than ever, as well as the Weasleys, and will be seeking revenge.
"Losing eleven of the Inner Circle has been a severe setback in the Dark Lord's plans; they are most of the cadre to train and lead new Death Eaters. All there are left of those are Goyle, Bella, Pettigrew and I, and that is hardly enough to start anything major, even with the dementors, new recruits and lesser ranks. He will try to break the others out, regardless of when the trials are, or their outcome; however, once they are free, they will be disciplined for their failures. Lucius may well think Azkaban an easier ordeal than what our Master will do to him."
"And your conclusions?" asked Shacklebolt.
Snape's voice was harder now, more his usual scornful tone. "As I said last week, Fudge must move immediately to execute those already convicted, especially Dolohov and the Lestrange brothers. I sincerely doubt that he will. The students who were involved are all now known to the Dark Lord; He will be going after them. This is why we must train them further to defend themselves; there are not enough of us in the Order to defend them. And the Ministry must be kept away from them, or else they will be hampered in their own survival; having the likes of Umbridge at Hogwarts may cost us far more than it already has, in that the students are now even further behind in practical Defense. Only the DA and Serpent's Fangs students, and a very few who were taught at home, were able to meet the practical levels for this years' examinations with any grade higher than 'Acceptable'.
"There is also this: the true state of Umbridge's condition must be determined, and if there is any chance of her recovery, she must be protected until she can be tried. She knows too much about both the Ministry and Hogwarts; the Dark Lord will wring her dry if he thinks she has enough mind left, or worse, recruit her." He then sat down.
Shacklebolt was silent for a few minutes, and then spoke again. "So—now that all of us knows what happened, what were the errors made, and how may we avoid them the next time?"
Harry stood up. "The blame is all mine, Sir," he said quietly. "I—"
The Auror cut him off. "I said that we are not assigning blame, Mr. Potter," he stated firmly. "But since you are standing, then state the errors you made and a solution for next time."
Harry closed his eyes for a moment, and then looked directly back at Shacklebolt. He had expected something like this ever since the meeting had started, and had prepared his points. "I made most of the errors, Sir," he said. "First, when I started having the dreams about the hallways, I should have told someone sooner; my first error was refusing to trust Professor Dumbledore out of hurt feelings. Second, I should have been more forthcoming about the nature of some of the visions. When I had the vision of Mr. Weasley, it was from the viewpoint of Nagini, the snake that bit him. She's Riddle's pet. But I didn't want to fuel the rumors that were going around about me being crazy or maybe going Dark. That was an error of pride.
"Third, when I was assigned Occlumency, I should have tried harder, and if I was having difficulty comprehending what was wanted from the lessons, I should have said so, if not to Professor Snape, then to Professor Dumbledore. Fourth, I should have made an effort to reconcile with Professor Snape, after we had the quarrel that stopped the lessons; that was incited by another error I made, which I will not discuss now.
"Fifth, I should have looked sooner at a package Sirius gave me, which contained a two-way mirror for which he had the mate; I would have never needed to use Umbridge's fireplace, causing that entire confrontation, and I would have known Sirius was all right…" He faltered, then took a deep breath and continued. Not another sound was heard in the room. "Had I known that, despite the vision, I would have known that I was being lied to, and would have told Sirius, since by then Professor Dumbledore had left. But at first I didn't want him to risk it, and later I forgot about it, and never opened it until afterwards, when it was…too late."
Hold it in, Potter, he sternly reminded himself. Plenty of time later for screaming. All of them are on the same side. "Those are the errors made, that caused this to happen at all. Sixth, I should have listened to Hermione, who warned me that I could be getting a false vision. She's much smarter than I am, and saw that I was being played very neatly. She just had no way to prove it, one way or the other, which is why we risked Umbridge's fireplace. Seventh, by that time, Professor Dumbledore was gone, and Professor McGonagall was in St. Mungo's: I completely forgot that Professor Snape was in the Order, until he was brought in by Malfoy at Umbridge's wishes, so all I could do was attempt the fireplace, and then the coded message. Had I remembered earlier, things might not have gotten so far."
Shacklebolt held up his hand. "Very well, all those were errors that allowed the incident to happen in the first place. It would seem that a great many of these were problems of communication: those who had information either could not or would not share it with the ones who needed it. And, Mr. Potter, you are not the only one who made those errors; much might have been averted had you known what questions to ask, and gotten answers. You were not aware, then, of just what those globes were?"
"I was not, until Malfoy referred to them as prophecies," Harry replied. "And the next mistake I made was removing the one with my name on it—simply because it had my name on it. After Malfoy deflected Bellatrix' first curse, so that it broke two of them, I saw the figures come out and talk. But once I had it, they weren't going to hurt me until they got it. And once I saw that I'd been lied to about…about why I'd needed to be there, I knew that my next responsibility was to get everyone else out. That's why we broke the shelves; we escaped the room under cover of the breakages."
"And that was another example of inspired crisis action," Shacklebolt commented.
"Maybe—but we did destroy a great deal, and I'm surprised that the Ministry hasn't come down on us about it," Harry replied.
The Auror shook his head. "You were acting in defense of your lives; the property damage was incidental to that. I do not see any serious consequences arising from that, considering all else that happened. So—you recognize the errors you made; how many of them were avoidable, and how many of them were sheer mischance, caused by lack of knowledge?"
Harry had to think that one over. "Not telling Professor Dumbledore, or someone, about the dreams in the first place; I think I had gotten used to them. That was an error of pride and hurt feelings, as was, in part, not telling Professor McGonagall the truth about my detentions; I didn't want Umbridge to know she was getting to me, but I was also trying to protect Professor McGonagall from Umbridge." At that, McGonagall could no longer restrain herself.
"Mr. Potter, it is the duty of your Head of House to deal with gross mistreatment by a Professor!" she snapped. "It is not your duty to protect us; it is ours to protect you!"
"But if I had told you about her, you would have been sacked or attacked sooner, and there would have been no one left to protect anyone else," Harry replied sadly. "I could see what she wanted to do—sack everyone loyal to the Headmaster. There is nothing that you could have done, especially after she was made High Inquisitor."
Harry bowed his head. "Not looking in the package: that was forgetfulness, but I wish Sirius had told me more clearly what was in it. Also, I was afraid to tell him much for fear he'd break his cover and be caught. Not rectifying the situation with Professor Snape: that was partly based on mutual dislike and mistrust. That has been settled now, to a point, but too late to deal with the original situation. Not listening to Hermione. All of those were avoidable, and directly caused by my own stupid pride."
"Not all of it, Harry," Hermione interrupted. "You were under a great deal of pressure, not just from all of this, but from the O.W.L.-Year scholastic load and all the idiocies going around the school about you, fueled by the Prophet, to say nothing of what Umbridge was doing to you. There is only so much you could have taken without acting in some fashion. Everyone has limits." The other students nodded; so did some of the adults.
Harry looked over at her. "I know. But I could have acted more correctly, even despite my frustration about not knowing enough. And the one thing I regret most of all, apart from losing Sirius, was having all of you follow me in, and get hurt. The next time you may not be so lucky."
Shacklebolt cut back in. "Do not regret that, Mr. Potter," he said firmly. "You were correct in accepting backup; consider how things would have gone had you been alone. As it was, you were outnumbered two-to-one. Had you faced all of them alone, or with fewer numbers, you would be dead or a prisoner in truth, and possibly the Prophecy would have been captured. Without the ability to Apparate, you would have been trapped, and I doubt that we would have found you in time."
Harry bowed his head. He hadn't quite thought of things that way.
The Auror was silent for a moment, thinking things through, and then continued.
"I think I see what the overall situation was. Mr. Potter, you appear to have acted according to your own best judgment, based on the information you had, and using the resources available to you in a hostile environment. It is not all to your blame that the information was flawed. After your arrival, at each decision point, you consulted with the others, and took the best of the offered help. When it came to the facedown, you came up with a workable, if desperate, exit plan, and were able to lead the others to carry it out. You successfully used the desires of the Death Eaters for the Prophecy as leverage to an extent, buying yourselves time; you managed to correctly handle Mr. Longbottom and Miss Granger when the latter was disabled, in letting him carry her and use her wand while you defended. You avoided most of the worst of the in-place dangers, and managed to do your fair share in the melee. And there is this: while there were injuries among your team, there were no fatalities. Sirius was on the Order's team, and was the only one.
"And this may help: Sirius' information was no better or worse than yours; each of you believed the other in danger and in need of aid. You did not lead him to his death; that was mischance. He was dueling a fighter as good as he or better, who had already taken down Tonks and afterward took me, and neither of us are beginners. Nor is the Headmaster, and she evaded his spells. You also managed to avoid being injured or killed by her, although part of that was due to Riddle's arrival. In the final confrontation, the very fact that you survived yet again against Riddle is a point in your favor, even allowing for the fact that Dumbledore was there."
Shacklebolt turned to the other two Aurors present. "Alastor, Tonks, what do you say?"
Moody was direct and to the point, as usual. "He's alive, and so are the rest of his team, all of whom were taught by him. They got caught, bar Bellatrix and Riddle. We only lost one, and Fudge had his nose rubbed in Riddle's return. I'd've given all the rewards I ever earned, to have had half the battles in the First War go so well, and I'd probably still have a few body parts I don't have now. There are a lot of Aurors who wouldn't have done half as well."
Tonks nodded agreement. "For what he had to work with, he did well. Yes, he was lucky too, but he made use of it. I don't think he should be ashamed at all, and neither should any of his team. They were outmatched and outnumbered, but they lasted long enough for help to arrive—and often, that's the important thing."
"I have a question," offered Emmeline Vance, an older Witch, as Harry finally sat down. "What was in that Prophecy that You-Know-Who was so mad to get that he sends a dozen of his best to get it?"
Dumbledore rose, and went to the podium next to Shacklebolt. The two of them made an interesting contrast standing there: the tall, bald Black Auror and the equally tall, silver-haired and full-bearded Headmaster. "Emmeline, all of us in the Order know of the prophecy of the Seventh-Month child destined to be able to vanquish the Dark Lord. Voldemort knows it too. But what he does not know, nor the Order, is all of it; and the rest of it is what he wished to have. That is why he bent considerable effort in long-distance Legilimency and dream tampering, to utilize the connection between Mr. Potter and himself, so that Mr. Potter would eventually be lured to the Department of Mysteries to remove the Prophecy, as in fact happened." He gave a deep, sad sigh; for a moment, his great age showed even more. "My greatest error was not telling Mr. Potter enough beforehand to show him why he would be so targeted, and why he must not go there in real life."
"But doesn't that mean…" Vance turned toward Harry, who looked back at her, outwardly calmly. "I mean, if it's about him and Mr. Potter…"
"That Mr. Potter is the Prophecy Child, yes," Dumbledore replied quietly.
The room was now totally silent. He stood a little taller, and stretched a bit; he then returned his gaze to Vance for a moment, to Harry for another, then to the room in general. "This is in part why we have founded the Auxiliary Order. Mr. Potter and his friends have already proven themselves brave and resourceful; what I failed to ever give him enough of was information by which he could have avoided this trap. He and his friends will be involved again; Tom does not take defeat well, and is no respecter of ages when he aims at a target.
"And eventually, we in the Order must be prepared for a pitched battle. Tom cannot do it now, but as soon as he either frees his Inner Circle or recruits sufficient replacements, or both, there will be skirmishes, and they will escalate. In any case, it will rest with Mr. Potter at the end; but there is no reason why the rest of us cannot hurt Tom until then."
"But that will take years!" protested Antonia Dumarest. "These boys and girls are good, granted, but to train them to face the one who only fears you?"
Dumbledore was quiet for a moment, allowing the murmuring of the other members to die down. "I suspect that there will be more to that encounter than mere combat skills," he said softly. "In any case, they have just had their first trial against a dozen of Tom's best fighters, and managed to survive. Tom is not the only one who will be in the field when it finally comes down to it: he will have his allies, and Mr. Potter will need allies of his own to face them, besides us adults. And Mr. Potter is not the only one of the students who has faced Tom and lived to tell the tale: Miss Weasley had an unfortunate encounter with a diary in her first year that was imbued with an essence of Tom at sixteen. Even then, he was brilliant and quite powerful; it was this avatar of his that opened the Chamber of Secrets through Miss Weasley. Had Mr. Potter not slain the Basilisk and destroyed the diary, Tom might have risen sooner than he did, using Miss Weasley as his channel. As it is, she resisted him for most of the school year, until he finally wore her down—and that is no mean feat for an eleven-year-old." He smiled at Ginny, who was trying hard to sit still and not get upset.
His voice rose a fraction in volume. "I have no particular talent in Divination, but I have been through several similar situations in my life. What I have recently come to realize is this: Tom and his people must be brought down soon, or the Second War will be longer, bloodier and crueler than the First. The Ministry is divided: some of them will help us, some will try to hurt us, and some will merely wait until a winner is decided. We cannot count on their support, and we must watch for more of the likes of Dolores Umbridge, who will be as dangerous to us as the Death Eaters. She is an ally of Lucius Malfoy, who is apparently playing two sides for his own benefit, neither of them ours.
"So, my friends, it is up to us: we must find a way to put Tom into a situation where we have the upper hand, before he can build up his forces to be enough for serious conquest. As I told my Heads of House last week: in order for Tom to conquer fully, he must take or suborn the Ministry, and he must take or destroy Hogwarts. Tom has his supporters in both places. The most we can do in the Ministry at this time is prevent him from totally taking over, while we build our defensive position. I will be actively working in the Wizengamot, now that I have been restored, and I will continue my work with the International. Too many of them consider Tom to be a British problem only; they refuse to realize that he has allies outside our island, and that if we fall, then they will be next.
"Hogwarts is another matter: he cannot take it while I live, and I am initiating matters so that he cannot take it in any case, my life or death notwithstanding. It will be, before summer is over, in fact as well as in legend the safest place in our world. And we must train and recruit ourselves, so that we may be ready."
He turned to Harry for a moment, then back to the group at large. "To answer your question, Tish, we are training the students mainly to defend themselves and others from the Death Eaters and Dementors, rather than Tom himself. Mr. Potter has asked us to advance his training to prepare for the confrontation that will come one day between himself and Tom. All of this we will be doing this summer, under cover of extra-credit summer seminars. Later, after preparations are made, there will be a summer Potions class that will run through August until the beginning of term in September; many of the students to be invited to that are in the DA, and will be participating in a summer DA. More will be inducted into that, and some of the DA will be inducted in turn, discreetly, into the Auxiliary Order. When term begins, the DA will become an official club open to all four Houses; those who are in the Order will be the training cadre. And yes, we will have Slytherins in it; many of the officers of the Serpent's Fangs Defense club were not on Tom's side at all, and they will need help to deal with those in that House who are. Tom will recruit in all four Houses, not just his own, but the Serpent's House has always been his primary target. We also hope to turn some of his possible recruits to our side. In this, our student allies will be essential.
"Meanwhile, we adults must also prepare and recruit, to help in the larger community, so that the average Witch and Wizard knows that their rights are safe, and that Tom is not assured a victory."
Dumbledore paused, scanned the room from one side to another, and then spoke again. "Have I your support in all this? Will you stand by our new younger members and their allies, and give them the proper respect and credit for their help, so that the human costs of this war may be no higher than they must? And will you support my deputies and seconds, so that if I should fall or have to go underground, the Order will carry on?"
Arthur Weasley stood up and spoke. "We'll do all that. But Albus, please remember that you still do have far more influence and power than any single one of the rest of us. I know that you're mortal, and that you have backups and backup plans in place; but please try to protect yourself as well. Maybe we can continue without you, but we'd rather have you." There were some murmurs of assent around the room.
Dumbledore smiled. "I know, Arthur, and I will not be foolish with my life. I intend, instead, to go back into training myself, so that if it comes to it I can give the best fight of my life. But as you said, I am mortal, and I am not young. If I do appear to be slowing down or failing of health in public, it may not be an accurate reflection of my actual health; or it may be. Only time will tell, and as I said, I have no particular talent at Divination." He inclined his head, and resumed his seat.
Shacklebolt in turn inclined his head at Dumbledore. "Perhaps not, Albus, but you do have other talents that usually make up for it, one of them being your long list of life experiences," he said with a faint smile.
He then sobered, and continued. "Mr. Potter, we in the Order will give you all the help that you need for your part in our mission. For my part, I cannot fault you for Sirius; he knew the hazards as well as any of the rest of us. In turn, between your training and your leadership, you and your team survived to fight another day. So, in the future, please try to remember that the burden is not all yours and that you may call for assistance as needed. As you said at your induction, you cannot face Riddle and all his cohorts alone, and hope for victory. We must each do our part, great or small though it may be, and if we do this we will win this war."
"But at what cost?" asked Harry softly.
"That we do not know," Shacklebolt replied. "But I will use a slightly altered quote from a Muggle general from their last major war: 'The whole idea of war is not to die for your country; it's to make the other guy die for his.' In our world, we try not to kill needlessly; we will also do our best not to die needlessly. The rest is in the hands of Fate."
Harry stood up, amid murmurs of agreement, and spoke directly to the Auror. "Fair enough, Sir," he said quietly. "Get me where I need to be, arm me with the tools I need, and get out of my way, and I will not fail you. And the sooner that we may do this, the better it will be for all concerned."
Shacklebolt returned Harry's gaze. Merlin, he thought. That boy isn't sixteen yet, and he has the eyes of a combat veteran already. What an Auror he'll make when it's time—if, by then, he still wants it and isn't burned out. This Auxiliary Order idea is looking better and better; I know plenty of adults, including some in the Ministry, who haven't the experience or the will these kids have. They're almost ready for full membership, at that. Aloud, he said, "We will neither rush nor delay; a too-soon battle, before we are ready, will cost us more than waiting until the right time. But when the time comes, you will have your support." There were affirming murmurs around the room, as Harry sat down. The rest of the meeting was taken up with the rest of what various members had heard about the event.
After the close of the formal meeting, while the members who were staying filed down to the kitchen for dinner, Dumbledore took Harry aside. "Harry, that was outstanding. I am very proud of you, for your courage to stand there and admit to mistakes. Few enough adults will do so."
"I had to," Harry replied. He could not meet Dumbledore's eyes. "If they were to take me seriously, I had to show them that I could do it. I also had to show them that we could pull our weight, given half a chance."
"You can, and you will," Dumbledore assured him. "You are also showing them that you are not willingly throwing lives away: you are not reckless. With proper training, you will be a formidable leader. Now, I think that dinner is ready, and Molly will have both our hides if we do not attend." Both smiled at that, and headed in to join the rest.
After dinner, most of the members left to return home or to the school. Many, however, stayed long enough to give the teens some encouraging words. Hagrid was one of them, almost the last in fact.
"Yeh made me righ' proud o' yeh, Harry, standin' up there and givin' yer report, just like an adult," he rumbled. An enormous hand was now on Harry's shoulder. "An' I'll say it again: Sirius went how he wanted ter go, an' yer not to blame. James an' Lily would be proud o' yeh, too. And don' yeh worry: when the time comes, an' any time yeh need me, I'll be there wi' yeh. I owe Tom fer what he did ter me and Myrtle."
Impulsively, Harry hugged his first friend. "Thanks," he said softly. "From you, that means a lot."
Hagrid returned the hug—carefully, so as not to hurt Harry with his sheer strength. "Now, yeh've done enough fer one night," he said. "Get yerself some decent sleep. Yeh can't train or study properly if yeh're tired, an' I know how hard this all was fer yeh." He let go, and gave Harry an encouraging pat. "Go on wi' yeh; I've got ter get back an' make my rounds fer the night."
Harry let go as well. "Thanks again," he said, as he looked up at Hagrid. "I won't fail you." He managed a smile as the half-Giant left with a wave, but it left as soon as Hagrid was gone.
It had taken all Harry's hard-won resolve to share his feelings with not only his friends, but also his adult mentors and Professors. Now, however, the cost of forcing himself to do so much began to hit him; he was as tired as if he had been in a five-hour Quidditch match. However, the one bright spot in the entire ordeal was that he and his friends had been taken seriously.
I can't keep them out of things, he reminded himself. Therefore, they must have allies, and the Order is the place for those. He was interrupted from his brooding by Professor Dumbledore.
"Harry, my boy, very well done," he said with a kind smile. "Tonight, you have done more than I have to pull the Order together to its purpose. If we can maintain that solidarity, we cannot lose."
Harry met his eyes. "I hope you're right," he said softly. "I just want to win as cheaply as possible."
"We will do our best," promised the Headmaster. "Now, I think Hagrid gave you some good advice. Do you wish to stay here tonight, or go back to the dormitory?"
Harry thought a moment. "Go back," he decided. "Just because it's the weekend doesn't mean we can slack off too much."
"I realize that," Dumbledore replied gently. "But don't drive yourself so hard that you leave no time to relax. If you try to keep up a high pace, you'll fall apart. The battle is not going to be tomorrow, or next week. And just because you have a purpose and a mission does not mean that you may have no joy in your life."
Harry's gaze went down to the floor. "You know what I really want now? I want nothing more than to find a nice, soft, dark corner and curl up for a while. But even thinking about that makes me feel guilty for wanting it."
"Harry, that is your body and mind crying out for a rest," Dumbledore said, a little more firmly. "You are no more immortal than I am, and you have had a very difficult week. You cannot possibly prepare for training by denying the needs of your body and mind. Healing requires rest, and you are not yet caught up." He took Harry's shoulder, and gestured to the Phoenix. "Come—let me take you back. I think that Fawkes would be amenable to giving us a ride, now would you, my old friend?" This last was addressed to the bird, who obligingly turned around and flared his tail feathers. Harry and the Professor grabbed onto the tail, and all three disappeared in a flash of flame.
When they arrived in the Headmaster's office, the two Wizards let go the Phoenix's tail, and Fawkes flew over to his perch. Harry and Dumbledore crossed the office, went down the staircase and out, and headed back to Gryffindor Tower. Upon arrival, Dumbledore escorted Harry all the way to the dormitory.
"Go to bed, my boy," the Headmaster said gently, nudging Harry toward the door of the Sixth-Year Boys' dormitory. "I have something much less strenuous planned for tomorrow." Finding his roommates already in bed and asleep, Harry did as he was told, and for once slept through the night with no interruptions from either within or without.
Dumbledore went back to his quarters, slipped into his nightwear, and climbed stiffly into bed; it had been a long evening for him on top of the required walking and exercising he was doing in between bouts of equally required deskwork.
I wonder if I shouldn't simply take a sabbatical this term, he thought to himself. Minerva can run this school as well as I can. But, part of my power to defend Hogwarts comes from actively being the Headmaster. I do hope we find more ways to protect this place; Tom must not have it. With that resolve, he settled down for sleep. Fawkes came in and perched on his footboard, and sang quietly. Dumbledore smiled to himself in the dark, as the Phoenix song soothed him to sleep.
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