Disclaimer: Blah, characters aren't mine…Reviews, as always, welcomed with open arms. n.n;
Attention Seeker
The last light of the sun is fading away as we walk along Hogwarts' battered parapets. A man is scuttling beside the four of us, his babbled words a congratulations for our victory over the dissident Dumbledore.
I wave him silent and he stops, correctly interpreting my gesture as a dismissal. Zacharias Smith is amused and I dismiss him with another languid movement of my hand. My other two lieutenants say nothing, their measured strides falling in time with my own Auror-trained ones.
I have done what Voldemort was too weak to do. I have conquered Hogwarts and have Albus Dumbledore at my mercy, and yet I am not triumphant. It is not what I wanted to do, but it is what was expected, and I am ever the slave to expectations.
I turn abruptly to enter the corridors of Hogwarts and Ernie MacMillan and Hannah Abbott follow me silently. I would have none but Hufflepuffs within my inner circle, for they did not expect nor demand – nor, indeed, would they ever betray me.
There is quiet in the corridors and I accept this as the way it is meant to be. The guards do not acknowledge me as I pass their posts, and I do not fly into a rage about it as Voldemort would have done. I prefer it this way – I have always hated attention.
We come to the Headmaster's Office where I have ordered Dumbledore kept. No one has questioned my decision, and I know that this is right. I signal to my two lieutenants to stay behind, and they do so immediately.
I go on alone.
The office is as I remember it. Dumbledore has seated himself in his chair, and I stand before him as he no doubt remembers me – a pupil gone astray. I do not need chains and guards and dungeons to remind him who is in control here. He knows as well as I do, and I see no point in eroding his self-respect.
"Why?" he asks, and he needs an answer.
"Because this is what you made me," I reply.
"How?" He is not condemning or regretting, simple curiosity shining in his eyes.
"You taught me to hate," I say, and this is all the explanation he needs.
He nods then in acceptance, and we both share a smile for what will be the last time.
And tomorrow, I decide, I will bury Dumbledore in a quiet ceremony away from the attention both he and I detest.
