Dear Wizarding Britain
Disclaimer: I own nothing. If I did, I probably wouldn't be playing around on fanfiction.
Weeks passed on the island uneventfully after the "rescue" of Malfoy/Angel and the rest of the girls that had been victims of human trafficking.
Harry stopped having visits from his mother in his dreams and he was having a hard time not feeling resentful of the fact that the only time she had visited him in his dreams was to berate him for actions that she did not approve of. Why had she never visited him to give him comfort while he was trapped in the cupboard under the stairs? Why had she never visited Petunia's dreams and guilted her into treating him better?
These were all questions that Harry decided to keep to himself, even though his friends could all tell that something was bothering him. They knew well enough that unless he wanted to talk about it, they were better off letting him work through it in his own way.
After a few weeks of those thoughts and questions rolling around in his mind, Harry decided it was time to just put it away and not think of it again. It was nothing he could change and was not anything he would likely ever receive an answer to.
Having made that decision, Harry put more focus into his magical and non-magical studies, spending his mornings in the library with Hermione, studying the sixth year curriculum and writing out a list of useful spells. After an hour or so spent in the library, he would spend time in the dueling room practicing his spell work and learning how to fight with the dueling dummies they had found in storage.
While Harry might have left Wizarding Britain and had no plans of ever returning to help with their Dark Wizard infestation, he was not stupid enough to believe that he would be left entirely alone for the rest of his life. Knowing his luck, he was going to get dragged back into that cesspool at some time in the future and he wanted to make sure he could properly defend himself when he did.
After practicing in the dueling room for a couple of hours, he would stop and have lunch with Hermione, since she would likely remain in the library all day and forget to eat, if Harry didn't regularly make sure to spend at least lunch and dinner with her.
After lunch he would spend a few hours with his non-magical studies. He was hoping to get caught up so that he could get into a good university without having to use a confundus charm on anyone in order to enroll.
After dinner, he would relax and joke around with the twins and talk about whatever new inventions they had come up with. Sometimes they would take out the jet skis out in the ocean, they even occasionally convinced Hermione to leave her books long enough to have a bit of fun, too.
Meanwhile back at Hogwarts:
Dumbledore was sitting in his office with his head cradled in his uninjured hand. All of his grand plans had been ruined. Harry Potter was somewhere his tracking charms were unable to pinpoint, the war would be impossible to win if he couldn't find the boy and make sure he sacrificed himself.
To make matters worse, Dumbledore no longer knew what was happening with Voldemort and his inner circle, since his Death Eater spy was now dead, presumably because of the Unbreakable Vow the man had been trapped into in order to help young Draco Malfoy with the boy's mission to kill him on Voldemort's orders. Draco was, in fact, still missing and had not been seen in months. How could he bring the boy over to the side of the Light if he wasn't at Hogwarts to be under his influence.
Lastly, Hermione Granger had not been seen or heard from in the same length of time as Draco Malfoy, leading one to believe their disappearances to be connected. Dumbledore found her disappearance to be quite the pity because she was quite bright and would have been a great asset for the Light, not to mention she would have made a wonderful wife for young Ronald.
Dumbledore shook his head from his thoughts and then looked down at his dying hand. He was growing rather weak and knew the time he had left was getting short. He had found the location of another horcrux and he had intended to take Harry with him when he discovered the possible location, but as Harry still couldn't be found in order to be forced back, he would have to go retrieve it himself. After the last time he had retrieved a horcrux, he knew that it would be smarter to take another person with him to retrieve the next one, but there was no one he trusted enough to risk telling them about the horcruxes.
With a groan, Dumbledore stood up from the chair behind his desk and stretched, then sighed, thinking to himself, "I guess I might as well get this over with." Then he gathered the items he believed he would need and said goodbye to Fawkes, who gave him a comforting, but mournful warble, as if he knew something bad would happen tonight.
A few hours later, Dumbledore had been unable to force himself to continue drinking the horrible potion in order to get to the horcrux at the bottom of the chest. He was sobbing from the painful memories he was trapped in and oh so thirsty as he crawled toward the lake to soothe his thirst. A cold hand grabbed him as soon as his own hand had broken the surface of the lake and was dragged down before he could even call for Fawkes to come save him.
And so was the demise of Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, along with the fabled Elder Wand. Dumbledore was doomed to become an inferi at the bottom of a lake protecting a horcrux that he didn't even realize was a fake, but at least he got his wish in the end, the power of the Elder Wand died with him.
Back at Hogwarts, the students and faculty that were still awake stopped all their activities at the sound of a mournful phoenix song, causing many of them to cry even if none of them knew or understood what it meant.
Minerva was the only one who had had any inkling of what the song of the phoenix had meant, as she suddenly felt the weight of the wards settle upon herself, causing her to cry in sorrow for her mentor that she had respected so much, yet was so disappointed in for the way that he had handled matters related to Harry Potter.
She decided that she would wait until the morning to go to the headmaster's office in order to see if his portrait was on the wall, so that she could confirm his death and figure out what she needed to do to protect the students and the school from the war.
The next day:
At Malfoy Manor, Voldemort was engaged in witnessing another round of the cruciatus curse being placed on Narcissa Malfoy. He had been livid at the news that his spy, Severus Snape had died due to an Unbreakable Vow that he had taken with the woman in order to keep her stupid brat safe. And so every day for the past several weeks, he would gather his Death Eaters into the throne room and order them to take turns torturing her with the cruciatus curse.
He had become aware of the terms of the vow after Bellatrix informed him about it after Snape's death. Apparently the Vow took Snape's life when the cowardly brat ran away from Hogwarts and the task that Voldemort had assigned to him. The brat must have had a run-in with something unpleasant for the Vow to have taken Snape's life, so now he was without a spy and a potions master.
He ordered the end of the cruciatus curse from Narcissa Malfoy after he had gotten bored with her screams. It wouldn't do for him to allow her brain to turn into mush too soon, she needed to understand her folly in caring more for her child than she did her Lord, though, she didn't really need her mind to be a plaything for his minions, now that he thought about it. Perhaps when he was tired of teaching her a lesson, he would give her to his other death eaters while dear Lucius was forced to watch and do nothing.
Bellatrix didn't get out of punishment either, she was the one who suggested and witnessed the Unbreakable Vow after all, but with someone who was as twisted in the mind as he himself was, he had to be creative with her punishments. She seemed to enjoy receiving the cruciatus too much, not to mention that she relished in any kind of attention he gave her. So he had to give her a punishment that she felt would be beneath her, so she was ordered to sleep with the houseleves and help them cook and serve the meals, and clean without her wand, and she had to do it all stark naked until he ordered her otherwise. Those were to be her only jobs. Her room and all of her clothing and belongings were locked up and warded so that only he could access them. Voldemort found it amusing when she pouted when he ignored her even when she was naked.
After dismissing his Death Eaters and alone with only Nagini once more, he turned his thoughts towards the war; he had most of his minions in place to take over the Ministry. It should only take a matter of weeks until everyone was in place, and it was all that idiot Fudge's fault. It wouldn't matter that they had elected a competent Minister in his place, he wouldn't last very long once he gave the word for the official takeover.
Taking over Hogwarts will be more difficult with Snape no longer present as his spy, not to mention the continued existence of Dumbledore, but he believed he had enough of his minions' children as students to be able to rely on at least one of the idiots to find a back door for his Death Eaters to get through the wards. All of the tunnels that Wormtail was aware of have been blocked, so a new way needed to be found.
Now turning back to the issue of Harry Potter. On the one hand, he was tempted to just leave the boy alone, he had chosen to run away form the war after all and left Wizarding Britain to him. On the other hand, as long as the boy lived he would remain a beacon of hope for the average witch and wizard, no matter how offended they were at his abandonment at the moment. So Harry Potter would definitely have to be eliminated, but it was not a pressing matter right now. Voldemort decided he would continue with his current plans of takeover at this time, and then he would turn his focus back on Harry Potter after the boy became good and complacent, then he would strike him down.
Voldemort was shaken out of his thoughts when a naked Bellatrix came running into the throne room, with saggy breasts bouncing everywhere. He inwardly shook his head in disgust, the years in Azkaban certainly did her once beautiful body no favors.
"Master!" Bellatrix exclaimed, as she came closer to where he sat on the throne.
Voldemort hit her with a cruciatus curse in annoyance at her interruption, causing her to drop to the floor and scream in pain which quickly morphed into moans of pleasure. Disgusted at her pleasure in pain, he removed the curse and hissed menacingly, "You were ordered to not come to me, unless I called for you through the mark, Bella."
By this point, Bellatrix had regained a semblance of control over herself and had arranged herself in a prostrate position at Voldemort's feet. "But, My Lord," she pleaded, with her face still touching the floor, "I came with great news!"
"What news would be so great that you would risk my ire?" Voldemort demanded.
"My Lord," Bellatrix responded in excitement, "Dumbledore is dead! It says so in this evening's special edition of The Prophet!"
"Show me!" Voldemort ordered.
Bellatrix crawled forward, remaining face down as she reached out and handed Voldemort the newspaper.
THE DAILY PROPHET
By: Rita Skeeter
Dear Readers, it is with much sorrow that we at The Daily Prophet write this special edition to inform you of the passing of Albus Dumbledore, Order of Merlin, first class Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Chief Warlock of the Wizengamont, and Supreme Mugwump of the International Confederation of Wizards.
We received word from Transfiguration Mistress Professor Minerva McGonagall that the location of Headmaster Dumbledore's body is unknown, but that the appearance of his portrait in the headmaster's office is a confirmation of Headmaster Dumbledore's demise. In addition, the wards have shifted to the control of herself as the Deputy Headmistress, which was only further confirmation of the late headmaster's passing.
Investigations are underway to determine whether the late headmaster died of natural causes or something more sinister; however, without knowing where to find his body, those questions may very well remain unanswered.
A memorial service will be held on the grounds of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry the afternoon of Saturday, July 5, 1997, promptly at three o'clock.
For more information on the life and times of Albus Dumbledore see page 2B.
Voldemort chuckled in delight, "So the old fool has finally died."
"Yes, My Lord," Bellatrix breathed excitedly.
"You did well bringing this to my attention Bellatrix," Voldemort said.
Bellatrix's body remained prostrate, but raised her face up and smiled happily at the Dark Lord's praise.
"Now, go back to the house elves, you're still being punished," Voldemort ordered.
Bellatrix' smile faltered and she said sadly, "Yes, Master," before crawling out of the room, giving Voldemort a good view of her backside, not seeing how he had to adjust himself as she left. After all, she might have saggy breasts, but he was still a man and still had reactions to a woman's naked body. It was well that he had plenty of prisoners to choose from in the dungeon with which he could sate his sudden urges with, not to mention that Dumbledore's death was cause for celebration. He might even bring a couple of them to his room for the night, under an imperius curse, of course, he didn't want to have to teach them what he wanted them to do after all. The prisoner's might be just muggle and muggleborn trash, but the women were still good for something, so long as they were sterilized and unable to become pregnant.
A/N: I don't know if it's obvious that I don't read newspapers very often, if ever, so the formatting or way these articles for The Daily Prophet are written are purely made up by instincts.