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Harry Potter And The Game of Death

Level 1

Chapter Four: Anger

Several hours later found Harry and Hermione in the Headmaster's office. Portraits of the previous Headmasters of Hogwarts filled the walls, their figures moving within their frames as magical paintings often did. Strange devices and books filled the tables and shelves throughout the room, lending the office a feeling of eccentricity Harry had yet to encounter elsewhere in the magical world.

But for once Harry was not of a mood to look around in wonder. And as he paced within the room, his shoulders shaking in frustration, Harry thought back to why he was so angry in the first place. Because when he had seen Dumbledore appear in the woods, Harry had felt that everything would turn out well. That the aged and mighty wizard would handle everything. And that nothing further would go wrong.

But that had not been the case. For the whirlwind of events that was the past two hours of his life had taken the dampened fire within Harry and turned it into a raging inferno. Mostly due to the actions – and inactions – of one man. A man who had managed to shoot past Draco Malfoy, Draco's dear old daddy Lucius, and everyone else not named Voldemort, Wormtail, Dursley or Snape, straight to the top of Harry's list of people he most wanted to punch.

"Everything is not okay, Professor!" Harry yelled as he paced in the Headmaster's office. He desperately wanted to check on both Ron and Sirius, but the fire that currently filled his body needed to be released or he would explode. "How can Fudge still not believe that Sirius is innocent after all of the proof we gave him? And why in Merlin's name did he try to sic a Dementor on my godfather the moment he entered the room?"

"Of all the arrogant, small minded, useless, bureaucratic nonsense to spout!" Hermione spluttered from her seat in front of the Headmaster's desk. Her face was red with anger as she tried to wrap her brain around what had just happened. "Claiming that it was a matter of policy! That man is supposed to be our highest government official. A person whom we can trust to make the right decisions! But he acted with all the intelligence and poise of a… of a spoilt child! How could the country possibly have elected such a blithering idiot to be its Minister for Magic?"

The brilliant girl's eyes were nearly spitting fire as she spoke. Her anger fed directly into Harry's, making his own temper flare higher and hotter.

"Was his best excuse really 'well, the Ministry has always done things this way, and it's always been right before, so it has to be right this time too'?" Harry growled out in disgust. "Was that really the best thing he could come up with? Because that has got to be the vilest pile of dragon dung I have ever smelt!"

"And the way he looked at us, staring at Harry and me as if we were a pair of lost children too stupid to tell one end of a wand from the other…"

"Not to mention that fat toad of a woman who kept making stupid little coughing sounds behind him. The only words she said were to praise Fudge's 'fair and broadmindedness' after we talked him out of setting a Dementor on my godfather!"

"Which only happened after he realized that it was impossible to kill Sirius on the spot like he wanted. If we hadn't been there, I think that that putrid, vile, disgusting pig of a man would have-"

A curt, aged voice cut off the angry words of the two angry young teens midstream. "The both of you are right to feel angry. But I believe that is enough for one evening, Ms. Granger. You as well, Harry."

The Headmaster had not spoken loudly, but his soft-spoken words had pierced their ranting like a hot knife cutting through butter. Hermione's voice came to a halt mid-speech, while Harry paused in his pacing.

"We may have been forced to allow the Ministry to take Sirius into custody," Dumbledore continued, "but things are not quite so dire as they might seem. And rather than focus on what has gone wrong this evening, I believe we should instead focus our attention on what went right."

Hermione shifted in her seat and begrudgingly nodded her head. Meanwhile, Dumbledore's words helped to focus Harry's attention. But only so much as the glare he had been drilling into an imaginary Fudge was switched to the seated Headmaster.

"And what does that mean, Professor?" Harry ground out. "Should we just be glad that we were all able to avoid the Dementor's Kiss? Even after Fudge brought one of those… those things in with him to off Sirius right in front of me? If you and I hadn't shot off our Patronuses and scared the thing off, Sirius would be worse than dead right now!"

In full stride, Harry angrily flung his hands through the air as he spoke. "As things stand, they are still going to try shipping him back to Azkaban. And I honestly don't care if we might get him out of there by following the legal process. The man is my godfather, Professor. He's innocent. And he should never have been sent there in the first place!"

Dumbledore raised a hand to stem the flow of Harry's tirade. "Yes, Harry. I completely agree with your sentiments on the matter. And with those expressed by the lovely Ms. Granger as well, to tell the truth. But you must take a step back so that you may better understand the current position in which we have fortunately found ourselves. Otherwise, the very thing you currently seek could be lost forever."

Harry whipped his head around as fury flowed through his body. This time he was not imagining Fudge's face. No, for perhaps the first time in his life, Harry truly glared at the old man in front of him. The man he had thought he could trust more than any other adult.

"We're fortunate?" Harry hissed in rage. "How? How can having my godfather taken away by a bunch of Aurors possibly be good?"

"Because the person who was in charge of the arresting Aurors, Harry, and who also happened to be present with me when your exemplary Patronus arrived from the forest, was none other than the head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, Amelia Bones."

"And why should that matter? All that means is that she's highly placed in the Ministry, right? She'll probably cave in to Fudge the instant he pressures her to send Sirius back to prison. Or maybe even help the miserable blighter cut out the middleman and have my godfather Kissed by a Dementor right in the Ministry's holding cell!"

By this point in time Harry was seeing red. Fudge, the Ministry, Snape, Wormtail, the Dementors… this evening had tried him more than any other night in his life, and Harry had had enough.

He knew that it was wrong of him to yell at the old wizard like this; Dumbledore was on his side. The old man had always been on Harry's side since the day Harry had first stepped into the Wizarding World. And the man had argued harder, longer, and better than anyone else to keep Fudge from trying some other method to 'justly' execute Sirius on the spot.

But in spite of knowing this, Harry still could not seem to get a reign on his temper. And so he continued to rant and yell at Dumbledore until the words would come no more.

Once he had finished, a silence fell on the room. Hermione stared at him with a worried expression on her face. But Harry ignored it. He did not want his best friend to comfort him. Not when he wanted to feel angry, as he did right then.

The silence was broken when Dumbledore gave a quiet cough and adjusted his glittering spectacles. "To answer your initial question, Harry, it is precisely because it was Amelia Bones who was present when everything occurred which makes all the difference in the world. Because sometimes it is not what you know, but whom you know, that can make all the difference."

Harry scoffed at his words. "Which means what? That you know more people, or better people, than Fudge does?"

Dumbledore gave a small, half smile at Harry's retort. "Not necessarily so, Harry. Besides, in this case it is not I who matters. Neither of you may be directly familiar with Ms. Bones or with her sterling professional reputation, but she and I have worked with one another for nearly two decades. I can personally vouch for her as being of staunch moral character, sound judgment, and impeccable integrity. Or in simpler terms, Amelia Bones is the exact opposite of Minister Fudge when it comes to matters of ethics and responsibility."

"So she's a bloody saint in a position of authority," Harry said in sardonic exasperation. "But how exactly does that help Sirius right now?"

"Because under Ministry law, Amelia Bones has the final say over any active investigation before it goes to either the Wizengamot or the Ministry for final adjudication. And tonight, just before they left, she made a promise to me that she would personally see to it that the matter of Sirius' possible innocence is fully explored before she makes a final decision on where to send this case."

Dumbledore sighed and gently waved a hand. "Trust me when I say that Bones will not stop until this issue has been gone over with a fine-tooth comb, and that it is my sincere belief that the many irregularities present within Sirius' case will weigh heavily in his favour."

Harry fell still as he absorbed the Headmaster's words.

If the ancient wizard was correct – and he always had been correct in the past, so Harry reminded himself – then maybe things were not quite so bad after all. Maybe really Sirius would be okay.

And maybe, just maybe, Harry would not have to go back to the Dursleys ever again and find a home with his godfather.

His hope reignited and his anger calmed for the moment, Harry took a deep breath and turned around to face the Headmaster. He met the man's warm blue eyes with his own emerald gaze.

"Let's say that you're right, Professor," Harry said with a calm he did not feel. "And that this Amelia Bones person will be able to take care of Sirius. If that's correct, then all we can do right now is leave things in her hands, right?"

"No," Dumbledore said firmly. "That is not completely correct."

The mighty wizard's eyes flashed with the first anger Harry has ever seen in them. And in that moment Harry was reminded that the old man before him was the only person Voldemort had ever feared to face. That the Headmaster had fought and prevailed against another Dark Lord decades before Harry had even been born and was a wizard who had no known equal in the entirety of magical Britain.

The man's blue eyes nearly glowed with power as he locked gazes with Harry. Magical power, unlike that of any he had felt before, began to radiate from Dumbledore's frame as he spoke. "I have spent twelve years trying to find out what happened at his trial, Harry. Twelve long years filled with constant stonewalling and fruitless bureaucratic wrangling. Only to learn that the ministry had hidden the records of Sirius' case and none but the Minister of Magic himself, who had no interest in the case, could unseal them. But now that Sirius is the subject of an active investigation again – and is in official custody – Amelia and I combined will have both the authority and the resources needed to locate and unseal every pertinent record."

Dumbledore clasped his hands together and solemnly nodded his head. "I promise you, Harry, that Sirius will go free. And that you will see him again this summer. On both these things and more do you have my word."

The Headmaster's fearsome eyes dimmed back to their usual glowing twinkle as he finished speaking. The feeling of radiating magic began to dissipate as the ancient wizard's power retracted into his lanky frame.

But most important of all, the Headmaster's statement itself gave Harry cause for relief. Because as much as Harry trusted whomever Dumbledore trusted, Harry had far more faith in the man himself. Fudge and his lackeys might be able to pull the wool over the eyes of other people, but Harry doubted that they could ever slip something past Dumbledore.

"Thank you, Professor. I know that it won't be simple, but I will rest easier knowing that you are handling the matter yourself." Harry paused to take a deep breath. What came next would not be easy, but it was necessary. "And… and I apologize for my earlier words. I was out of line, and it was wrong of me to yell at you when you've been doing everything in your power to save Sirius' life."

"It is water under the bridge, young Harry. I remember well the passions of youth and how quickly they can flare in one's heart." Dumbledore's eyes bore into Harry's own as he gently motioned for Harry to take a seat. "But though I am more than able to bear the weight of your anger, I would counsel you to control it around other people. Passion is a double-edged sword, and its blade can cut both ways."

Harry smiled at the Headmaster's words. Even now, in the early hours of the morning and after being yelled at by Harry for the better part of ten minutes, the man was still trying to teach him. And for the first time since coming to the Headmaster's office, Harry could feel his body begin to relax.

Ding!

Harry flinched at the notification from the Game of Death. He had been receiving a steady stream of them ever since the Tutorial session had ended but had pushed them off to the side in order to deal with more pressing matters. Defeating Dementors, screaming at a stubborn Bureaucrat, and the conversation with Dumbledore until just now had taken up most of his focus.

But now that the proverbial dust had seemingly settled, it would seem that the prior notifications Harry had received were begging for his attention. And that they would no longer allow themselves to be ignored.

Quite literally so, as the most recent ding had not been accompanied by anything new. Or at least Harry did not think so, as nothing momentous or important had happened when the noise had sounded.

But as he thought it over, something else occurred to Harry.

The Game had been helpful thus far tonight. Without it, Harry and the rest would have been dead, or perhaps stuck in the woods for hours as they waited to be found. So perhaps there was something about the Game which could help with Sirius' situation.

Yet did he dare to reveal it to the Headmaster?

Harry found himself wrestling over that question. He had already decided that he would tell Hermione. That decision was set in stone; he trusted her with his life and knew that she would never betray him or try to use him. But did he dare trust the Headmaster to be the same?

The man was an adult. A powerful one, as both his positions and display of just a moment ago indicated. But in Harry's experience, few adults could be trusted with a secret of this magnitude. Especially when it concerned something that was outside the norm of the wizarding world, which the Game of Death most certainly was.

But this was Professor Dumbledore. The man who had always helped Harry when he had needed it, who had always believed in him no matter what strange or bizarre thing had happened to him in the past. And as one of the smartest, most powerful, and wisest of wizards in the world today, Dumbledore was better positioned to help Harry figure out what was going on with him than anyone else.

Harry took a deep breath. "Before you go to help Ms. Bones, sir, there's something else that we need to talk about. Because in addition to Pettigrew's escape, and Lupin's transformation, and the horde of Dementor's that nearly killed us, and this nonsense with Fudge… there was one other big thing that happened tonight I have yet to mention. And I'm just not sure how to go about explaining it."

To his side, Harry saw Hermione's eyes widen in curiosity. Dumbledore, however, looked to be unsurprised at Harry's announcement. He merely nodded his head in Harry's direction. "Before you speak, may I suggest a course of action?"

"Certainly, sir."

"In that case, it has been my experience that starting at the beginning is often best. So wherever the start of your story might be is the point from which you should begin to speak."

Huh. That made sense, but no one other than the Headmaster could have worded quite like that.

Harry rubbed his head somewhat sheepishly as he took the Headmaster's advice. "Well, when I was out in the woods tonight, fighting against the Dementors, something happened. Something… strange, and something magical too. My entire world changed out there… and though I'm not certain, I don't think that it will ever go back to the way it used to be."

Harry then told them both about the Game of Death. How it had frozen time, asked him if he wanted to play, called him Master at first and then later Gamer, and then about all of the other strange things that had happened after Harry had selected the 'yes' option.

But when he had finished speaking, both Hermione and Dumbledore had looks of cautious disbelief on their faces. Though he did not grow angry at them over it, for the Game of Death was just that strange of a thing, Harry knew that he needed to do something more to convince them. And he knew just how he could do it.

He held up a finger and asked them to hold their questions until after he had completed something. Only after both Hermione and Dumbledore nodded in confirmation did Harry speak a word of activation.

"'Help'."

Ding!

'Help' Feature is Now Active

What is your Question?

Harry smiled. Good, the 'Help' feature really did function exactly as the Game had said it would. "Is there any feature or function of the game which would help convince someone else that the Game of Death exists?"

Ding!

Harry Potter has Activated the 'Party' Feature

As this is the Feature's First Use, the Nearest Friendly Individuals have been Automatically Invited to the Gamer's 'Party'

Ding!

Harry Potter has Invited Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore and Hermione Jean Granger to Join the 'Party'

All Experience Gains are Halted Due to Massive Level Difference

Level Gains will Return to Normal Once the Disparity in Levels Returns to Acceptable Margins

Harry had a small grin on his face as he looked at Hermione and the Headmaster. Both had jumped in their chairs and were staring at something in front of their faces. Something which might be invisible to Harry, but which could only be one thing.

The Game of Death.

A/N: Not much to say, except that I made a lot of changes to this chapter since it was first posted several years ago. Sometime after I post the final chapter in this story, I will probably combine this chapter with the next one. It would only be 8k words if I did so, and the flow wouldn't be hurt either.

Until Next Time,

~Elsil