Chapter Four: In Which Lessons Are Learned
"So, Harry," said Dumbledore, in a businesslike voice. "You have been wondering, I am sure, what I have planned for you during these — for want of a better word — lessons?"
"Yes, sir."
"Well, I have decided that it is time, now that you know what prompted Lord Voldemort to try and kill you fifteen years ago, for you to be given certain information."
There was a pause.
"You said, at the end of the last term, you were going to tell me everything," said Harry.
"You misunderstand me," said Dumbledore fiercely. "I did tell you everything I knew."
"I didn't mean —"
"Of course you didn't. This is information that I have acquired recently. . . ."
Harry listened as he told the whole story of Bob Ogden.
"Whoa. That's some serious misuse of magic," commented Harry.
"It is indeed. You might be wondering why this matters, yes?"
"Kind of, yeah," said Harry, who had been wondering exactly that.
"This is relevant because to defeat a powerful enemy like Voldemort alone, you must know what kind of person he is," said Dumbledore.
"Alone?"
"Yes. I have contracted a deadly curse and won't be with you much longer," said Dumbledore calmly. "My days are, as they always have been, numbered."
Harry processed this.
"WAIT, WHAT? HOW WHEN NO THAT'S NOT POSSIBLE!" he protested.
"I am, after all, mortal."
Harry gaped at him. He couldn't fathom how Dumbledore could just stand there and calmly say that he was now dying. He imagined himself in his position, and the only thing he saw was himself sobbing his guts out.
Harry took a few deep breaths. "Does this have anything to do with your withered hand, sir?" he inquired.
"Yes, Harry. Professor Snape has managed to contain the curse in that one hand for now," informed Dumbledore, raising his blackened wand arm.
"Wow . . . you're surprisingly calm for someone whose going to die, sir."
"To the well-organized mind, death is but the next great adventure," said Dumbledore cleverly, quoting himself.
"Although . . . sir, why don't you just cut off the hand? Wouldn't the curse get disconnected that way?" asked Harry curiosly.
"I had not considered that," he said, rolling up his sleeve. "This might be a little graphic. . . . "
Dumbledore swiftly waved his wand and a dead-and-withered-hand fell to the ground.
"Ewww," said Harry, a little freaked out.
Dumbledore made a fake hand for himself. It looked like a flesh-colored glove, but it was better than the alternative.
"Anyway," said Dumbledore like nothing had just happened. "It worked."
"How do we know it did?"
"I can no longer feel myself under the burden of a slow death, Harry."
"That's great! I think you were going to tell me something about how we were going to defeat Voldemort together," said Harry happily.
Dumbledore's eyes twinkled merrily. "This certainly changes things."
"Let's start!"
"I had a plan, Harry. A beautifully crafted plan. . . . But I ruined it," lamented Dumbledore.
"How?"
"By questioning it. Often I find that I never question myself, and that leads to failure. So I woke up today, and I thought, 'What could go wrong?'. The plan fell to pieces."
"O-kay. Why?" asked Harry tentatively.
"Have you heard the term 'convoluted'? It pretty much sums it up. Too many variables, Harry, too many variables. . . ."
"So are we going forward without a plan then?"
"Of course not. You see, a prophecy does not exist as a warning; it exists to fulfill itself. A prophecy alters events to make itself true no matter what, so letting it affect our choices is a choice that we make," explained Dumbledore.
Harry processed this. "So what you're saying is the prophecy's useless?"
"Yes."
"Then why did the Order spend last year protecting it?"
"That is a question I ask myself every day. What you need to know," said Dumbledore, fixing him with a piercing stare. "is that you have to die to defeat Voldemort, for he is now tied to your mother's sacrifice."
"So when you say 'die', how dead are we talking about here?"
"Oh, you'll be up and running in no time."
AN: That's that. What I wanted was for Harry to come up with a truly Harry-esque plan and make a complete mess of canon! Mission accomplished, I say. Cut-off-the-goddamn-hand solution. Simple yet effective.
Also, all that memory watching thing was wayyyyyyyyy drawn out in canon. . . . Dumbledore should have taught him something useful instead. And he did. He just flat out told Harry that he needed to die temporarily to defeat Voldemort, but it had to be a completely willing sacrifice.