Armando Dippet again attempted to persuade the girl to change Dumbledore back. Instead, she went to the desk and began adding more of the, by now, slightly wilted lettuce. She looked right at Dippet before again refusing.

"He wanted to be a beetle. He asked me to do it."

Dippet had had more than enough. "You turn him back immediately!"

The girl's response was to lick her hand and turn away. Dippet moved to again be in her line of vision. "Turn him back now!"

The girl again tried to turn to look away from him, but this time Dippet moved close enough to eliminate that as an option. The girl hissed in response. She was growing quite animated as she was forced to speak to show her displeasure.

"He wanted to be a beetle. You should let him be what he wants to be."

Kettleburn spoke in response to the possible implication of the girl's sound and words.

"Is that because you want to be a cat and we should let you be what you want to be?"

The girl's rising excitement became a bit more agreeable now that someone was finally beginning to understand her. "And I want to see the puffskeins."

Dippet seized on that statement to Kettleburn's visible displeasure. "I will let you see the puffskeins if you change Dumbledore back right now."

It appeared as though a fierce internal struggle was playing out within the girl's mind. It was clearly visible on her face. In the end, she seemed almost heartrendingly sad as she chose what she apparently believed to be Dumbledore's wants over her own.

"He wants to be a beetle."

Dippet took a moment to consider the matter. Perhaps he was going about this entirely the wrong way. He was about to attempt a different tack when a knock at the door interrupted his thoughts.

##########################################

Alastor Moody stuck his head into the Headmaster's office.

"Excuse me, I'm looking for Dumbledore. I was told he was in here."

No one answered him, but he saw everyone glance at a jar on Dippet's desk. Moving further into the room, he noticed a beetle in the jar. A quick look around the room showed no Dumbledore. Again looking at the beetle, he suddenly had a realization about exactly why Binns had been giggling like a school girl while assuring him Dumbledore would be easy to catch in Dippet's office.

"What the bloody hell happened?"

He turned to look at the girl as she spoke. Her gray eyes glared at him, as with barely restrained fury she answered.

"He was asking for it!"

"He was asking for it?'

Moody repeated the words while staring at the dark haired devil. Taking out his wand to end the transfiguration, he briefly wondered why no one else had.

Dippet held up a hand in protest. "No, you cannot do that."

Moody looked again to the child. She wore a most unbecoming scowl as she began shoving lettuce into the jar.

He turned his attentions back to the Headmaster. "I don't understand. Is she too powerful? Are you not able to reverse the spell? There are potions that can do it. Dumbledore used one on her, isn't there anymore of it?"

Nothing became clearer when Dippet shook his head. "I want the girl to be the one to do it." The Headmaster looked more than a little distraught as he continued speaking. "Please, everyone step outside. I wish to speak to the girl alone."

Seeing Dumbledore's current condition, Moody didn't think that was a good idea, but the older man insisted. After a moment, Kettleburn whispered something to the Headmaster and began trying to guide Moody out of the room. "Come with me, Moody. I'll explain."

###############################

Armando Dippet was not at all pleased to see the auror arrive. This was not the kind of situation he wanted getting back to the Minister. He indicated with a mere glance and the tilt of his head for the Care of Magical Creatures Master to escort the auror from the room.

Before doing so, Kettleburn leaned over to offer an alarming piece of advice.

'Whatever you do, don't leave her alone with Dumbledore. Cats sometimes eat beetles."

His Deputy had to practically drag Mr. Riddle to the door. Nor did the girl look at all pleased to see him leave.

Dippet observed the girl. If she did not stop adding lettuce to the jar soon, there would no longer be room for Dumbledore to maneuver. He asked aloud a question, but he wasn't really talking to her, or at least not to present day her.

"Is that the 'why'? Do you think what you do will make them happy in some way?"

The girl, of course, had no idea what he was really talking about. Instead, she responded as if he were referring to what was going on now.

"He wanted to be a beetle. He is very happy now."

Dippet shook his head. He needed to make her see, make her understand that this was not the answer. He had to make her understand that Master Dumbledore was not in fact happy as a beetle.

"I think he looks rather sad."

The child glanced at him before returning her attentions back to the beetle. "He told me to do it."

Dippet found this to be highly unlikely, but decided calling the girl a liar was not the best way to convince her to undo the transformation. "Well, I think he looks sad."

The girl tried to refute his statement. "He has lots of lettuce now."

Looking at the jar, there was no possible way to dispute that fact so Dippet tried another approach. "I think he looks lonely. He is living all alone in a jar."

The girl seemed to find that to be a disturbing idea. She tilted her head and leaned closer to curiously examine the jar and its inhabitant.

She offered no verbal response so Dippet pressed on. "It must be very sad living alone in a jar."

From the girl's expression, Dippet could see his idea was working. He would give her another minute or two to contemplate the matter.

####################################

Alastor Moody again looked at the gargoyle statues. Dumbledore was a beetle in a jar on the Headmaster's desk. According to Kettleburn, Dippet's great plan was to try to reason with the girl and get her to change him back. And for how ever long that took, he was going to allow Dumbledore to continue as a beetle.

Moody shook his head. This situation, these people, their reactions, it was all beyond belief. "I'm going back up there!"

Deputy Headmaster Shackleton stepped in his way. "Dippet said for us to wait. He will send for us when he wants us."

"And what if she already turned him into a beetle too? The girl is alone up there with him. How will he cont-"

Shackleton interrupted. "Fine, I'll go up and see how they are doing. The rest of you wait here."



Not quite appeased, Alastor Moody watched the other man disappear up the moving staircase.

He couldn't quite make out the words that carried down to the not yet closed doorway, but the desperate tone was clear. Pulling out his wand, he quickly made for the staircase. He was not the only one trying for the stairs.

"No, it isn't safe for students. Stay here."

He allowed the other professor, Kettleburn, to go up with him for backup, but closed and sealed the doorway before the boy could follow.

###################################

Armando Dippet had allowed the child a few minutes to silently contemplate the matter. He was just about to again speak to her when the door to his office opened. Master Shackleton hadn't even time to get out any words of explanation for his disobedience before the flash of light enveloped him.

Horrified, Dippet watched the girl add his Deputy into Master Dumbledore's jar. "What are you doing?!"

The girl seemed quite pleased with her solution to the dilemma of Master Dumbledore's loneliness. "Professor Shackleton wanted to be a beetle too!" She looked at him and seemed startled by his expression. "He can be a little girl beetle friend for-."

Aghast, Dippet interrupted her, "A girl beetle?"

She had not merely changed Shackleton into a beetle, but a girl beetle. Dippet desperately tried to reign in his temper. In a much more calm and reasonable tone, he again spoke. "You cannot keep turning all of my professor's into beetles!"

The girl looked right at him. She clearly heard his words, but as soon as the door again opened, Mr. Moody had to stop abruptly to avoid stepping on beetle Kettleburn.

Dippet could contain his anger no longer. He bellowed at the girl. "Turn him back this instant!"

The girl seemed startled, as if she found his anger peculiar. When the auror joined in on yelling at her, she too had finally had enough. "I want my Tom!"

Yes, of course! Why hadn't he thought of that earlier? Surely, Mr. Riddle would be the one able to influence her to undo it. Dippet quickly sent Mr. Moody down to retrieve the boy from outside his office.

Returning with not just Mr. Riddle, but Mr. Hagrid as well, Mr. Moody seemed taken aback. "You make the assistant groundskeeper walk your toad twice a day?"

Ignoring the rebuke, Dippet watched Mr. Hagrid pause and greet the girl on his way to Mr. Keys' pillow. While Hagrid occupied her attention, he spoke to Mr. Riddle.

#######################################

"Hello Kitten. Are yeh startin' a beetle collection?"

She nodded enthusiastically. "That one is Professor Dumbledore and that one is Professor Shackleton. Or maybe the other way around? And that mean man who yelled at me is holding Professor Kettleburn."

Hagrid knew that Professor Dumbledore was bothered by the girl not liking him that first day that they had met at the school. "I bet Professor Dumbledore will be quite honored to hear yeh named one o' yeh beetles after him."

"That is Professor Dumbledore. I changed Professor Dumbledore into a beetle."

"Eh?"

Kitten pointed to the jar. "Those two wanted to be beetles and he-" She pointed to Headmaster Dippet. "-wanted me to turn Kettleburn into one."

"Professor Dumbledore wanted tah be a beetle?"

Kitten nodded. "He asked me to do it. He made me wake up and he said, 'I would like you to try the beetle transformation.'"

Hagrid shrugged. "Eh well, I guess that would be that, but do yeh think maybe he might o' been talkin' about another beetle spell?"

Kitten tilted her head and stared at him curiously. "There is another beetle spell?"

#############################################

Dippet informed Mr. Riddle of what was expected of him, but Mr. Riddle did not seem to think highly of his idea.

"It won't work." Riddle's tone as he continued speaking was almost admiring. "She won't listen, not to you, not to me, not to anyone. She never does what anyone tells her to do. Anytime someone tells her 'no' or not to do something, that's the first thing she does."

Dippet knew this to be true. Why just a few minutes ago, he had told the girl she could not keep turning his professors into beetles. Her response had been to transfigure Kettleburn only a moment later. That she had left the auror untouched clearly showed she was being deliberately unmanageable.

He was more than a little surprised to hear Hagrid join the conversation.

"I don' mean to be interruptin', but are yeh sure when she does that, that well, she knows what yeh mean?"

Tom was also surprised. "What are you going on about Hagrid? Don't be an imbecile. Of course she understands."

The young groundskeeper turned crimson. He did however continue speaking, directing his words only to Dippet.

"Well, sir, Professor Dumbledore, he said some things ter me after that first time I met Kitten in yer office. He said he thought she spent most o' her time in the care of elves. And well, I know sometimes when someone is talkin' ter me or if'n I'm readin' and I come to a word I don' know, sometimes I just skip over it. Most times, it don' change the story ter much, but sometimes it does."

Dippet was still mystified. "Mr. Hagrid, I do not understand what you are getting at."

"Well, sir, when's the last time a house elf said 'no' ter yeh?"

Actually, it had only been a few days ago, but he now understood what Mr. Hagrid was attempting to say. In his more than two hundred years, that had been the first time an elf had ever uttered the word 'no' in his presence. Of course, there was still the matter of Grindelwald, but truthfully, at this point there was nothing that could be said that that man had done that would surprise him.

The more that he thought about it, the more that it made sense. When the girl had been making that tapping noise with her shoes, he had told her 'No more kicking your chair.' Perhaps she had not been attempting to be difficult, but rather had the idea he wished more kicking? Certainly, she had seemed rather startled when he had bellowed for her to 'Stop kicking this instant!'

Even the reason for the girl's strong reaction to Master Kettleburn's refusal to allow her see the puffskeins that day became clear. Kettleburn had told the girl, 'You cannot see the puffskeins right now.' If you removed the word not from the sentence, the girl's hopeful repetition of the words 'right now' while rising from her seat and her very passionate and toothy response to Kettleburn's subsequent seeming change of mind held a far different meaning. If Mr. Hagrid was correct, the child had perhaps thought that Master Kettleburn was deliberately taunting her.

Dippet faced the girl. "Do you know what the word 'not' means? Or 'no'?"

Defiantly she insisted. "Of course I do."

Dippet felt wholly disappointed until he noticed the circumspect way the girl glanced to see Mr. Riddle's reaction.

"Alright, please tell me what the definition is."

It immediately became clear from the girl's expression that she did not in fact know. Rather than admit it, she seemed to prefer to become irate.

"It means…it…it…it is like 'a' and 'the.' It just gets put there."

Mr. Riddle looked quite furious to have been proven wrong by the groundskeeper. All the more so when Mr. Hagrid convinced the girl to return the beetles to human form.

"Kitten, if yeh tell me that Professor Dumbledore asked yeh tah change him intah a beetle, I believe yeh. But maybe yeh should change him back for just a minute and ask him again. Just tah check and be sure he is still happy that way. Sometimes I think I want tah try something' new and then I find like the old better."

The girl pursed her lips, appearing to very seriously be considering the matter. Dippet attempted to press her in the right direction. "If Dumbledore, Shackleton, and Kettleburn still wish to be beetles, you may of course change them back, but let us be clear that they are certain."

At last, the girl consented.

Though there did not appear to be any lasting damage to Master Kettleburn, Dippet was not so sure of the others. Master Shackleton was touching himself in a most ungentlemanly way and quickly left the room. And surely, Dumbledore had never before had such a shifty look about him.

"Armando, what happened was entirely my fault. You cannot hold the child responsible. I was not at all clear with my instructions."

As Dumbledore, unbidden, attempted to explain exactly what had occurred that morning, the Transfiguration instructor's hands darted out to snatch up some of the browning salad remnants on the desk. Dippet was disturbed to see the other usually quite refined, man put the wilted lettuce in his mouth and speak while chewing.

"She misinterpretahed wha' I said, but I shoulda been cleara. I take full responsibilita."

Dippet waved a hand dismissively. It had been a very long and trying day. He had no interest in hearing yet another version of the event and certainly not one with food spewing at him.

"As you should Master Dumbledore. However-"

Mr. Moody was not content to wait for a pause in the conversation. "The girl turned three of her professors into beetles! Two of them in your office while Dumbledore was already living in a jar! How exactly is that Dumbledore's fault? It's a miracle no one was hurt! Why, when the Minister hears-"

Dippet attempted to give the auror his most withering gaze, but the man was too agitated to notice, so he too interrupted. "-Mr. Moody, I am willing to admit that this has been a most unfortunate incident for all of us, however, the Minister is an extremely busy man and I, for one, see no reason to involve him. Supervision of the girl will be increased. I shall personally ensure her Head of House will be seated with her at all meals and-"

"-What about Dumbledore's safety? You heard the prophecy, what is to stop her from trying something like this again? If she catches him alone in class all she would need to do is-" Mr. Moody made a stomping motion with his foot.

Dippet frowned and yet, perhaps this could be the solution to another problem that he was Foreseeing. He seized upon it as such.

"I do not believe it will be necessary for the girl to continue in Dumbledore's class. Human to animal transfigurations are or are they not, one of the most advanced exercises offered in your branch of magic?"

Dumbledore agreed readily while keeping eye contact with the plate. "Yes, but there are other equally valuable-"

Dippet interrupted. "-Right now, I believe the girl's Transfiguration time period would be of greater use if set aside for the girl to have a lie-down. As for Mr. Riddle…"

Dippet gave a meaningful look to the boy.

"…if he should feel there is more knowledge to be gleaned from the study of Transfiguration, he may of course continue to attend-"

Mr. Riddle picked up on his suggestion. "Actually, sir, I was strongly considering eliminating the class from my schedule. I have already had six years of Transfiguration with Professor Dumbledore and I feel I have mastered all that he has to offer."

Dumbledore began to protest, but Dippet held up a hand. "Dumbledore, we may continue this conversation in private. Mr. Moody, if you have further concerns about the girl, by all means stay the remainder of the day and observe."

This seemed to assuage the auror at least somewhat. Quickly, Dippet fixed Kettleburn and Mr. Riddle with the task of escorting the girl back to her dormitory and explaining to her the concept of the words 'no' and 'not.' He would have handled the matter himself, but quite frankly he had no idea how exactly to do it. Mr. Moody looked torn between following after them and waiting to speak to Dumbledore, but in the end departed. Once Mr. Hagrid departed with Mr. Keys, Dippet found himself alone with Master Dumbledore.

Dippet was utterly disturbed watching the other man graze upon the lettuce that the beetles had not had a chance to finish while in the jar, so he stated his position as emphatically and as quickly as he could.

"Albus, I don't want you to going anywhere near that child again!"

Something, his words or his tone, seemed to have penetrated through. Dumbledore finally managed to tear his gaze away from the lettuce.

"Albus, I have Seen things…things of the future…about you and her." He paused, considering how best to phrase his words. "You are a difficult man, Albus. Perhaps, that is not the best word, but what I mean to say is that you have your, your ideas and once you do, they are quite set in your mind. Getting you to change your mind, to see things, well, I mean people, I mean her, the girl, differently after you have set your mind on an idea of who or what a person is, well you are as near to impossible as can be without actually being impossible. I don't want you getting to know her now as a child and then getting that idea, that image caught in your head. You are difficult enough to induce in the future as it is, without adding any further obstacl-"

Dippet frowned as Dumbledore interrupted him.

"Armando, you aren't making a word of sense!"

Dippet was entirely unsure how to express his thoughts. He had never been accomplished at speaking about affairs of the heart

"Albus, I know the kind of man that you are. I do not want you to become attached, devoted if you will, to the child now. It would only serve to make you uncomfortable with later involvements, later courses of actions that I Foresee may transpire."

"Armando, I absolutely refuse to believe that prediction about-"

It had been quite a long day and he knew he was not doing anything like an adequate job of explaining himself. Finally, Dippet settled on just angrily retorting.

"-I forbid you to go near the child again. You are dismissed."

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A/N Yeah, I know everyone hates the chapters with Divination in them because they are hard to follow. Chapter 37 is going to have a scene where Dippet explains to Moody why there was no prophecy for him, but other than that I won't have any more Vision chapters for a while.

Anyways, last chapter there were a few things that the reader should have come away with from Dippet's internal monologue. When Dumbledore was first brought into his office, Dippet was surprised, but not at what was going on, just because he wasn't expecting events to begin so soon. He refused to have anyone else turn Dumbledore back because he wanted to use the incident to figure out his eternal question of 'why.' Ever since his introductory chapter, Dippet has been convinced that by figuring out the reasoning why certain unpleasant events happen, he can prevent them.

Dippet isn't blind, he sees problems with Tom Riddle. However, he deliberately refuses to acknowledge them and finds excuses to reason them away in his own mind. His idea of offering extra chances and returning to missed opportunities is a valid one, but it's time has not yet come. Try applying it to a later dark haired Slytherin boy.

Dippet's thought about Binns's time running out faster than the rest should prepare the reader for the fact that his death will be a separate and much earlier event than the larger event that he has also Foreseen.

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Thanks for reviewing Tamora, LinZE, and HMT