Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and
owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to
Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros.,
Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is
intended.
Chapter 4
The Return
The old, legendary wizard was dressed in tattered and torn dark gray robes that lacked any color, which would have been seen as odd to anyone who knew Dumbledore. He had some sort of sack with him that was attached to his back with a black strap the ran across his chest. He was also missing his tall wizards hat. Instead his hair was pulled back and locked into a ponytail of sorts. He was visibly exhausted. Harry could see that his eyes were bloodshot behind his broken glasses and had large bags under them. Harry could tell that wherever Dumbledore had been, he had gone through quite an ordeal. He stumbled through the door and into the hallway and quickly fell into the first chair that he saw. The four young wizards quickly ran to his side.
"Professor, what is it?" Said Harry with panic. Ginny had quickly begun assessing the wounds on Dumbledore's face including a gash on his neck underneath his ear that looked like at had come from some sort of knife. His body had nearly gone limp when he had sunk down into the chair and his eyes where now closed. Harry didn't know what to do. Dumbledore hadn't even acknowledged the fact that they were in the room.
"What do we do?" Ron shouted in Hermione's direction. Hermione was a brilliant witch and always seemed to have an answer to any problem, but it was clear that the state Dumbledore was in had shaken even her up. Her eyes were locked on Dumbledore and they had tears coming from them. She didn't even respond to Ron's question. But Ginny quickly took action.
"Ron, go wake up Mum, quickly" Ginny shouted in his direction. "Hermione, go in the kitchen and get a wet towel." The two sprang to action quickly and were running in opposite directions to complete their tasks. "Harry, get a pillow from the couch." She added very calmly. Harry ran to the nearest couch and grabbed a large blue pillow from it. "Help me lay him down." She said to Harry as she put the pillow underneath his head. Harry looked at Ginny and was very relieved that she had acted so bravely and so swiftly. But, before he could elaborate on his thoughts, the house quickly sprang to life. There was noise coming from upstairs and a few seconds later Harry saw Ron emerge with his parents and Remus Lupin following closely behind him.
"Oh My!" Mrs. Weasley screamed as she saw Dumbledore lying on the floor. She quickly flew to his side and grabbed the wet towel that Hermione had just brought from the kitchen. She started cleaning his wounds and turned quickly to Lupin. "Remus, you'll have to get to Hogwarts as quickly as possible. Bring back Madam Pomfrey and alert professors Snape and McGonagall." Before Mrs. Weasley could even finish her instructions to Lupin, he was out the door.
"What happened?" Mr. Weasley said looking around at the visibly shaken adolescents. She directed her stare at Harry perhaps sensing that he could shed some light on the situation.
"We don't know." Harry responded. "We were approaching the front door when all of a sudden it opened and Professor Dumbledore came through and collapsed into that chair. We didn't know what to do so we laid him down and Ginny immediately sent Ron to get you."
"Arthur let's get him to a room." Mrs. Weasley said to her husband. Harry noticed that the Weasleys had not questioned why the four of them were sneaking out at this time of night and he was thankful, but realized that there were much more important things to worry about. Mr. Weasley had levitated Dumbledore's body and was bringing him up the stairs to an empty room.
They got him into a bed and they all gathered around it each silently giving a separate plea to the universe to pull Dumbledore through. Harry could think of nothing but the trouble they would all be in without Dumbledore. He wondered if it was Voldemort that did this to him. He thought about going back to Hogwarts without the greatest headmaster to reside over its walls. He worried about how vulnerable all the people he cared about would be without Dumbledore. Then suddenly Madam Pomfrey flying through the door quickly snapped Harry out of his daydream.
"Alright, everyone out." She said with confidence. No one even said a word and they all quickly filed out so that Madam Pomfrey could get to work on helping Dumbledore as quickly as possible. They all filed out into the hallway and Mrs. Weasley began to direct them down the stairs.
"There's nothing we can do right now." She said. "Lets go downstairs and I'll fix some tea." They all nodded in agreement and headed down into the kitchen. They sat gathered around the table as Mrs. Weasley poured each one of them a cup of tea. Mr. Weasley and Lupin were talking to each other very quietly so that no one else could hear what they were saying. Professors McGonagall and Snape were now also here. They were standing in the corner of the kitchen away from everyone else having a very animated discussion and looked as though they may have even been shouting at times, but there seemed to be no sound coming from their mouths. Harry quickly realized that they must have put some sort of silencing charm over themselves so that no one else could here them.
Harry noticed that Ron had ignored any fears he had about showing his affection for Hermione and had put his arm around her and was trying to comfort her as she sobbed lightly. Ginny sat next to Harry and he wanted to tell her that he thought she did a brilliant job of reacting to the dire situation that had presented itself but instead he locked eyes with her briefly and gave her as much of a smile as he could conjure up considering the events that he taken place. They all sat there like that for what seemed like a lifetime until Madam Pomfrey came through the doors into the kitchen. Everyone in the room leaped out of their chairs and started firing questions at her before she could get a word out.
"Settle down, settle down" Madam Pomfrey said with a reassuring tone. "I have examined him thoroughly and except for a few scrapes and bruises, he is going to be alright. It seems that his collapse was due to extreme exhaustion. He'll need plenty of rest over the next couple of days, so I don't want anyone disturbing him." You could feel the air let out of everyone's chests as the news started to sink in that Dumbledore was be ok. Harry saw Mrs. Weasley pull Mr. Weasley into a very forceful embrace and he decided to follow suit. He turned to Ginny and hugged her very tightly. He could feel her heart begin to race and thought that she could probably feel his too. He released her and wanted to say something to her, but he wanted to choose his words carefully. But before he could Madam Pomfrey interrupted the celebration.
"Mr. Potter." She said loudly. "Dumbledore wished to see you immediately." Harry wasted no time upon hearing this and quickly sped through the door and ran up the stairs to the room Dumbledore was in. The door was slightly open, but Harry knocked nonetheless.
"Come in Harry." He said weakly. Harry could see that although he looked a little better after his visit with Madam Pomfrey, he would still have some recovering to do. His half moon spectacles were now fixed and his hair had been pulled down and was flowing all over the bed.
"Thank god you're alright sir." Harry said as he approached Dumbledore. "How did this happen? Did you find Neville? Is he all right? Did you have a fight with Death Eaters? With Voldemort?
"Slow down my dear boy." Dumbledore said calmly. "We have much to talk about." Harry grabbed a chair and pulled it next to Dumbledore as he continued. "Neville is just fine. I received word from him that he is still in America with his gran and is completely unharmed. Not to worry, the Death Eaters and Voldemort never had him.
"But my scar, I could feel his pain. I was sure it was real this time." Harry said angrily. Dumbledore sat up in his bed now so that he could talk to Harry eye to eye.
"I know Harry and this is why you must learn Occlumency. Voldemort is getting stronger and he is finding new ways to manipulate you through the connection that you have. I know that I have kept things from you over the years, things that you deserved to know, and I am greatly sorry for that. However, if were going to end up victorious over Voldemort, than we are going to have to trust each other completely."
"I'm sorry sir." Harry said looking down to the ground as tears began to well up in his eyes.
"There's no need for that." Dumbledore replied. "I know the loss of Sirius hurt you badly and that you couldn't bear to see one of your friends suffer, but we mustn't act in haste. You need to realize that what you almost did tonight could have resulted in horrible consequences. You could have walked straight into a trap." Harry began to verbally berate himself in his mind. How could he let his quest for vengeance against Voldemort cloud his mind again? He almost led the most important people in the world to him right into grave danger.
"It just seemed so real." Harry said as he threw his hands over his face. "Damn him!" He shouted. "I let him manipulate me again. Why am I so stupid." Harry continued to rant and rave until a vase that was sitting on a table on the other side of the room flew up in the air and shattered against the wall. Harry was startled and Dumbledore took this opportunity to try and calm him down. He reached over and comfortingly placed his hand on Harry's shoulder.
"You are becoming very powerful Harry and together we will be able to defeat Voldemort. But we must learn to trust each other completely. Nothing must be withheld. Any normal person in your position having seen a friend suffering would have reacted the same way. But we don't have the luxury of normalcy even by wizarding standards. You have to promise me Harry, that you will work hard in developing your magic especially when it comes to Occlumency and you will come to me immediately with any problems that you have." Harry nodded in agreement and began to repeat in his head the promise that he had made to himself. He was no longer going to let himself feel responsible for things that Voldemort had done. Neville was safe, his friends were safe and Dumbledore was going to be fine.
"I'll do whatever is necessary." Harry said in a tone that would make Dumbledore know that he could trust him.
"Very good Harry, very good." Dumbledore said as a smile broke over his lips. Harry could see that the headmaster was very tired and so he got up from the chair and made his way towards the door only to stop suddenly.
"But, sir." Harry said curiously "You never told me what happened to you. How did you come to be in such bad shape?"
"We'll talk again in a few days Harry." Dumbledore said quietly. "But now, I have some sleep to catch up on."
Harry decided that he wouldn't probe the headmaster with any more questions right now. According to their new agreement, Dumbledore would most certainly fill Harry in on everything that had happened to him. He turned around and headed for the door.
"Good night sir." Harry said as he was leaving.
"Good night Harry." Dumbledore said. "And by the way," he added as Harry turned towards him, "Happy Birthday."
Authors note: I hope you liked chapter 4. Chapter 5 will either be up tomorrow or Wednesday. In the next chapter, Harry finally gets to have a real birthday party. Please continue to read and review. Thanks
Chapter 4
The Return
The old, legendary wizard was dressed in tattered and torn dark gray robes that lacked any color, which would have been seen as odd to anyone who knew Dumbledore. He had some sort of sack with him that was attached to his back with a black strap the ran across his chest. He was also missing his tall wizards hat. Instead his hair was pulled back and locked into a ponytail of sorts. He was visibly exhausted. Harry could see that his eyes were bloodshot behind his broken glasses and had large bags under them. Harry could tell that wherever Dumbledore had been, he had gone through quite an ordeal. He stumbled through the door and into the hallway and quickly fell into the first chair that he saw. The four young wizards quickly ran to his side.
"Professor, what is it?" Said Harry with panic. Ginny had quickly begun assessing the wounds on Dumbledore's face including a gash on his neck underneath his ear that looked like at had come from some sort of knife. His body had nearly gone limp when he had sunk down into the chair and his eyes where now closed. Harry didn't know what to do. Dumbledore hadn't even acknowledged the fact that they were in the room.
"What do we do?" Ron shouted in Hermione's direction. Hermione was a brilliant witch and always seemed to have an answer to any problem, but it was clear that the state Dumbledore was in had shaken even her up. Her eyes were locked on Dumbledore and they had tears coming from them. She didn't even respond to Ron's question. But Ginny quickly took action.
"Ron, go wake up Mum, quickly" Ginny shouted in his direction. "Hermione, go in the kitchen and get a wet towel." The two sprang to action quickly and were running in opposite directions to complete their tasks. "Harry, get a pillow from the couch." She added very calmly. Harry ran to the nearest couch and grabbed a large blue pillow from it. "Help me lay him down." She said to Harry as she put the pillow underneath his head. Harry looked at Ginny and was very relieved that she had acted so bravely and so swiftly. But, before he could elaborate on his thoughts, the house quickly sprang to life. There was noise coming from upstairs and a few seconds later Harry saw Ron emerge with his parents and Remus Lupin following closely behind him.
"Oh My!" Mrs. Weasley screamed as she saw Dumbledore lying on the floor. She quickly flew to his side and grabbed the wet towel that Hermione had just brought from the kitchen. She started cleaning his wounds and turned quickly to Lupin. "Remus, you'll have to get to Hogwarts as quickly as possible. Bring back Madam Pomfrey and alert professors Snape and McGonagall." Before Mrs. Weasley could even finish her instructions to Lupin, he was out the door.
"What happened?" Mr. Weasley said looking around at the visibly shaken adolescents. She directed her stare at Harry perhaps sensing that he could shed some light on the situation.
"We don't know." Harry responded. "We were approaching the front door when all of a sudden it opened and Professor Dumbledore came through and collapsed into that chair. We didn't know what to do so we laid him down and Ginny immediately sent Ron to get you."
"Arthur let's get him to a room." Mrs. Weasley said to her husband. Harry noticed that the Weasleys had not questioned why the four of them were sneaking out at this time of night and he was thankful, but realized that there were much more important things to worry about. Mr. Weasley had levitated Dumbledore's body and was bringing him up the stairs to an empty room.
They got him into a bed and they all gathered around it each silently giving a separate plea to the universe to pull Dumbledore through. Harry could think of nothing but the trouble they would all be in without Dumbledore. He wondered if it was Voldemort that did this to him. He thought about going back to Hogwarts without the greatest headmaster to reside over its walls. He worried about how vulnerable all the people he cared about would be without Dumbledore. Then suddenly Madam Pomfrey flying through the door quickly snapped Harry out of his daydream.
"Alright, everyone out." She said with confidence. No one even said a word and they all quickly filed out so that Madam Pomfrey could get to work on helping Dumbledore as quickly as possible. They all filed out into the hallway and Mrs. Weasley began to direct them down the stairs.
"There's nothing we can do right now." She said. "Lets go downstairs and I'll fix some tea." They all nodded in agreement and headed down into the kitchen. They sat gathered around the table as Mrs. Weasley poured each one of them a cup of tea. Mr. Weasley and Lupin were talking to each other very quietly so that no one else could hear what they were saying. Professors McGonagall and Snape were now also here. They were standing in the corner of the kitchen away from everyone else having a very animated discussion and looked as though they may have even been shouting at times, but there seemed to be no sound coming from their mouths. Harry quickly realized that they must have put some sort of silencing charm over themselves so that no one else could here them.
Harry noticed that Ron had ignored any fears he had about showing his affection for Hermione and had put his arm around her and was trying to comfort her as she sobbed lightly. Ginny sat next to Harry and he wanted to tell her that he thought she did a brilliant job of reacting to the dire situation that had presented itself but instead he locked eyes with her briefly and gave her as much of a smile as he could conjure up considering the events that he taken place. They all sat there like that for what seemed like a lifetime until Madam Pomfrey came through the doors into the kitchen. Everyone in the room leaped out of their chairs and started firing questions at her before she could get a word out.
"Settle down, settle down" Madam Pomfrey said with a reassuring tone. "I have examined him thoroughly and except for a few scrapes and bruises, he is going to be alright. It seems that his collapse was due to extreme exhaustion. He'll need plenty of rest over the next couple of days, so I don't want anyone disturbing him." You could feel the air let out of everyone's chests as the news started to sink in that Dumbledore was be ok. Harry saw Mrs. Weasley pull Mr. Weasley into a very forceful embrace and he decided to follow suit. He turned to Ginny and hugged her very tightly. He could feel her heart begin to race and thought that she could probably feel his too. He released her and wanted to say something to her, but he wanted to choose his words carefully. But before he could Madam Pomfrey interrupted the celebration.
"Mr. Potter." She said loudly. "Dumbledore wished to see you immediately." Harry wasted no time upon hearing this and quickly sped through the door and ran up the stairs to the room Dumbledore was in. The door was slightly open, but Harry knocked nonetheless.
"Come in Harry." He said weakly. Harry could see that although he looked a little better after his visit with Madam Pomfrey, he would still have some recovering to do. His half moon spectacles were now fixed and his hair had been pulled down and was flowing all over the bed.
"Thank god you're alright sir." Harry said as he approached Dumbledore. "How did this happen? Did you find Neville? Is he all right? Did you have a fight with Death Eaters? With Voldemort?
"Slow down my dear boy." Dumbledore said calmly. "We have much to talk about." Harry grabbed a chair and pulled it next to Dumbledore as he continued. "Neville is just fine. I received word from him that he is still in America with his gran and is completely unharmed. Not to worry, the Death Eaters and Voldemort never had him.
"But my scar, I could feel his pain. I was sure it was real this time." Harry said angrily. Dumbledore sat up in his bed now so that he could talk to Harry eye to eye.
"I know Harry and this is why you must learn Occlumency. Voldemort is getting stronger and he is finding new ways to manipulate you through the connection that you have. I know that I have kept things from you over the years, things that you deserved to know, and I am greatly sorry for that. However, if were going to end up victorious over Voldemort, than we are going to have to trust each other completely."
"I'm sorry sir." Harry said looking down to the ground as tears began to well up in his eyes.
"There's no need for that." Dumbledore replied. "I know the loss of Sirius hurt you badly and that you couldn't bear to see one of your friends suffer, but we mustn't act in haste. You need to realize that what you almost did tonight could have resulted in horrible consequences. You could have walked straight into a trap." Harry began to verbally berate himself in his mind. How could he let his quest for vengeance against Voldemort cloud his mind again? He almost led the most important people in the world to him right into grave danger.
"It just seemed so real." Harry said as he threw his hands over his face. "Damn him!" He shouted. "I let him manipulate me again. Why am I so stupid." Harry continued to rant and rave until a vase that was sitting on a table on the other side of the room flew up in the air and shattered against the wall. Harry was startled and Dumbledore took this opportunity to try and calm him down. He reached over and comfortingly placed his hand on Harry's shoulder.
"You are becoming very powerful Harry and together we will be able to defeat Voldemort. But we must learn to trust each other completely. Nothing must be withheld. Any normal person in your position having seen a friend suffering would have reacted the same way. But we don't have the luxury of normalcy even by wizarding standards. You have to promise me Harry, that you will work hard in developing your magic especially when it comes to Occlumency and you will come to me immediately with any problems that you have." Harry nodded in agreement and began to repeat in his head the promise that he had made to himself. He was no longer going to let himself feel responsible for things that Voldemort had done. Neville was safe, his friends were safe and Dumbledore was going to be fine.
"I'll do whatever is necessary." Harry said in a tone that would make Dumbledore know that he could trust him.
"Very good Harry, very good." Dumbledore said as a smile broke over his lips. Harry could see that the headmaster was very tired and so he got up from the chair and made his way towards the door only to stop suddenly.
"But, sir." Harry said curiously "You never told me what happened to you. How did you come to be in such bad shape?"
"We'll talk again in a few days Harry." Dumbledore said quietly. "But now, I have some sleep to catch up on."
Harry decided that he wouldn't probe the headmaster with any more questions right now. According to their new agreement, Dumbledore would most certainly fill Harry in on everything that had happened to him. He turned around and headed for the door.
"Good night sir." Harry said as he was leaving.
"Good night Harry." Dumbledore said. "And by the way," he added as Harry turned towards him, "Happy Birthday."
Authors note: I hope you liked chapter 4. Chapter 5 will either be up tomorrow or Wednesday. In the next chapter, Harry finally gets to have a real birthday party. Please continue to read and review. Thanks