Chapter Thirty Three – Old Friends
It had been a difficult morning for Albus Dumbledore. Umbridge had insisted on daily meetings to review every aspect of school operations. Ordinarily Albus might welcome the opportunity to delegate some of the more tiresome aspects of managing the school to someone else. But Umbridge was an annoyance. Worse she knew nothing about running a school. Her last posting had been to Azkaban. Add to that her open hostility. It took an enormous amount of self-control to keep from simply dealing with the women in the most expedient manner available.
But Umbridge was little more than an annoyance. One that would be dealt with at the proper time. The attack on the headquarters dominated his thoughts. It could not have been Tom. Tom didn't have the power to attack the headquarters and prevent him from learning about it until after it happened. His first warning had come from the pictures in his office.
Phineas had said a part of himself was missing. A few minutes later one of the protective charms he had set up to monitor the house had gone off. Phineas had been trying to get to house all morning. But the connection was still too disrupted.
Dumbledore looked up from his desk when he heard the crack of someone apparating into his office.
"The pictures have quieted Dumbledore," someone said.
"And what of Kreacher Dobby?" Albus asked.
"Just says 'house is dark', Mistress is dead,'" Dobby replied.
"Have any of the pictures been able to say what happened?" Dumbledore asked.
"Dobby asked," came the replied. "Pictures just scream again. Won't say. Dobby's ears hurt."
"Thank you Dobby," Dumbledore said. "You have done well. You may return to the kitchen. Speak of this to no one."
"Dobby did good," Dobby jumped up and down. "Did good for Dumbledore. Dobby go back now. Dobby tell no one," the house elf disappeared.
Dumbledore started thinking through everything he knew. Lucius Malfoy and Victor Goyle had gone missing sometime last night. Most likely other Death Eaters had disappeared as well. Someone unknown had attacked the Order headquarters and it appears struck the Death Eaters.
Who would do such a thing?
He picked up a small bag on the side of his desk. He took out the odd device he found at the house the previous night. He set it on his desk and placed a magical barrier around it to keep the stringing smoke from spreading. He had never encountered such a device. He motioned with his wand and small crystal that had been sitting on one of the tables in his office flew into his outstretched hand. He waved it over the device.
The crystal was ancient. It was designed to sense the presence of certain types of magic. Nothing happened. The crystal didn't glow. The device had no magic.
Dumbledore waved his wand again and the odd device floated off the desk and began slowly spinning, giving Dumbledore time to study each side carefully. He saw some numbers and letters on the bottom. Nothing he understood. A few symbols, arrows and such in various places. The device had no magic. That meant it wasn't created in the Wizarding world. It was a muggle device.
Muggles had attacked the Order and the Death Eaters. Why? How could they even breach the protections around the Wizarding world? Who would have the knowledge to do such a thing?
The Crown.
It made a certain amount of sense. The Crown's mage had created the barriers. Logically they would know the most about how they worked. The Crown had also been informed of Black's escape. And would have been justifiably worried.
But that didn't explain how it had been done. Or how anyone had even known to strike at the Death Eaters. The Ministry would never have informed the Crown of possibility that Voldemort had returned. Dumbledore shook his head. Too many questions.
"Headmaster," one of the pictures said.
"Yes," Dumbledore looked up. It was the Headmaster from his days as a student.
"Someone says to meet him at the place of the nameless wizard," the picture replied.
Dumbledore stopped.
"Do you know whom?" he asked.
"No," came the reply. "He kept a cloth over my picture. I just heard what he told me."
Edgar. This was not a coincidence. Dumbledore took out his watch. He still had an hour until lunch. Best to go now.
The cottage sat in a small clearing deep in the woods. It was located outside the enclaves. The wizard who had lived there preferred living outside away from his people. No one remembered his name. There were only a few who remembered what he did. To most he was a legend. Something to frighten young wizards. The wizard had no followers. That wasn't his way. But he was vicious and extremely powerful. People would disappear. Sometimes bodies would be found. Sometimes the bodies could even be identified. Many Aurors had been dispatched to find the killer. The lucky ones died quickly.
The nameless wizard had finally been tracked to his small cottage by two young wizards. They were only a couple of years removed from their Hogwarts days. Despite being sorted into two different houses, ones with a long reputation for animosity, the two had struck up a friendship from the first day they met. The battle between the two and the old wizard that called the cottage home had been a long and vicious one. Finally after over an hour of spells and counter spells the two young wizards prevailed.
No one other then the two friends knew about the battle or where it had been fought. All the Wizarding world knew was that the mysterious bringer of death had vanished.
Dumbledore appeared outside the cottage. He braced himself against the cold. The house was located far to the north and the winter snows had come early. A close examination of the grounds around the cottage would reveal signs of the battle that happened over a century ago. Odd plants that didn't grow anywhere else, places where the snow just melted away and scorch marks on the trees that would never heal.
Dumbledore made his way to the cottage door. He opened it. It was a one room cottage. On one side was a small table with two chairs and few cabinets and small bed. The other side had the things the nameless wizard used to entertain himself. Dumbledore preferred not look at that part of the cabin.
Elder Sinclair was sitting at the table. Dumbledore took the chair opposite him.
For few moments the two just took the time to study one another.
Sinclair acted first. He pulled out the folder he received from Lady Aydin the day before and set it down in front of Albus. A tap from his wand and it opened to a page revealing a very detailed family tree. Off to the side of some the names could be seen a few hand written notes added by Sinclair.
"What is this Edgar?" Dumbledore asked.
"The Evan's family tree," Sinclair replied. "Why didn't you tell me about the boy? Why didn't you tell me you were looking for a way out of the cage?"
Dumbledore looked down at the neatly typed list of names. Typed? That was telling. Most of what he saw there confirmed what he knew or suspected.
"I had intended to tell you everything after you agreed to the Fidelius," Dumbledore replied.
"You knew I would never agree to bound to your Fidelius Albus," Sinclair said. "You should have told me."
"You know the risks this type of knowledge entails Edgar," Dumbledore said. "I had to be certain."
"Certain," Sinclair spat. "Whatever our differences Albus, you know what this means to me. How could you not be certain?"
"There is too much happening Edgar," Dumbledore replied. "Too much beyond my control, beyond my vision. This had to be kept secret, secure. No one else knows of this," Dumbledore paused. "But I am not the only one keeping secrets."
"No you are not," Sinclair replied.
"You went to the Crown," Dumbledore said. "You went to your counterpart under the Covenant."
"The Ministry may have stripped my family of its position three centuries ago but the power and the knowledge does not lie in the position. It lies in the blood," Sinclair said. "I had every right to go to my counterpart."
"What have you done Edgar?" Dumbledore demanded. "You understand the danger. If the Crown decides to declare the Covenant void all of our peoples' protections disappear. We are not ready to face the world."
"I did what needed to be done Albus," Sinclair replied. "Do you have any idea how close the Crown came to declaring the Covenant void thirteen years ago? It took every bit of skill and cunning I had to persuade Micah to give our people more time to deal with Tom. Even then, if it had not been for Potter, the Covenant would be void."
"The Crown had no way to know just how bad things had gotten," Dumbledore said.
"They are not fools Albus," Sinclair said. "Even before I began working with them they had contacts among the squibs and a few others in our world. They knew how bad things were. And they have access to resources even I did not suspect. Why didn't you tell me Black was one of yours?"
"So it was the Crown that attacked the headquarters," Dumbledore said. "What happened to Sirius and the others?"
"They took Sirius and Alastor alive," Sinclair answered. "Remus Lupin was killed."
Dumbledore visibly slumped. "You allowed them to attack the Order."
"I did not know it was Order!" Sinclair shouted back. "How long have you known Pettigrew was alive? How long have you known Black was innocent? Why didn't you tell me?!"
Dumbledore looked at Sinclair, "If you had agreed to the Fidelius, agreed to work with me, I would have told you everything."
"Don't throw the Fidelius back at me Albus," Sinclair said in a measured voice. "You knew I would never agree to those terms. Not after what you did."
"I did what had to be done," Dumbledore spoke in equally measured tones. "I thought it was the only way to control him."
"You trained Tom, you chose to initiate him into the true mysteries, you created Voldemort, you created the man that murdered my son."
"He was growing too powerful," Dumbledore replied. "I did not know that Salazar Slytherin had left the means to means to break the binding magic in the Chamber."
"So Tom did open the Chamber," Sinclair said.
"Yes," Dumbledore said. "Salazar left behind a Basilisk to guard the Chamber. Harry killed it three years ago. I searched the Chamber after it had been reopened. There were signs Salazar left behind a great many things. Things that Tom took with him after he left school."
"Giving him access to our peoples' true history and the freedom to act on that knowledge," Sinclair said. "But absent the knowledge you gave him, he would have become little more than an annoyance."
"You did not tell me you were going to the Crown," Dumbledore said. "I assume your allies are also responsible for Lucius Malfoy's and Victor Golye's disappearances."
"Along with Flint and Pucey," Sinclair said. "We also captured Pettigrew, alive and reasonably undamaged."
"You do know how Tom will react?"
"Of course," Sinclair said. "He will attack his own people first. The way the others were taken it will look like betrayal. If he looks outside, he will look to you. Leaving my allies free to act."
"Making the Order a target," Dumbledore said.
"The Order is already a target," Sinclair replied. "You use them to keep the Death Eaters busy and Tom distracted while you plot. I decided to take more direct action."
"By enlisting the Crown?" Dumbledore said. "The risk."
"And waiting for Tom to strike, allowing him dictate the terms of battle, is a greater risk."
Sinclair stopped and slumped back into his chair.
"Do you remember the promise we made to each other back at school Albus?"
Dumbledore nodded, "We swore we would never become the Old Men. The ones behind the curtains that manipulated others into to fighting their battles for them."
"When did we become the Old Men Albus?"
"I don't know Edgar," Albus sighed. "Perhaps when we stopped talking to each other."
"We could spend the next hour trading justifications for our actions over the past few years, but it would not change the fact that we are both fools."
"No it would not," Albus replied. "We must fix this my old friend. I should have trusted you. Not demanded a Fidelius. You are the last person Tom could break."
"And I should have trusted you," Sinclair sighed. "I should have told you what I planned. So what do we do now?"
"Harry," Dumbledore said. "He is the one who can free our people."
"Then you truly are seeking a way out of the cage?"
"Yes," Dumbledore answered. "If there is one thing I learned from Tom, it is that the balance was destroyed many centuries ago. Our people are dying. Our world is falling into darkness. We have forgotten the old truths. And the few we remember we no longer teach."
"My studies of the curses are not as extensive as yours Albus," Sinclair replied. "But if I read them correctly, the boy is now linked to Tom."
"Yes," Dumbledore replied. "And that link has grown stronger since Tom has been revived."
"So long as that link remains the boy can not achieve his true destiny," Sinclair observed. "Removing Tom is even more important than ever."
"So long as the link remains, simply killing Tom is not an option," Dumbledore said.
"You are the more devious of the two of us," Sinclair said. "How do we get around this problem?"
"You were the one sorted into Slytherin," Dumbledore said.
"Of course," Sinclair replied. "I am a devious man. But a truly devious man would never allow himself to be sorted into Slytherin in the first place."
A hint of smile played across Dumbledore's face. "I must return to the school."
"And I must inform my allies of my foolishness," Sinclair said. "Remus was a good man."
"Yes he was," Dumbledore replied, sadness in his voice. "And our foolish pride killed him. What was that phrase you said a couple of months ago? 'The road to hell is paved with good intentions.'"
"Something I would have done well to ponder myself," Sinclair replied with equal sadness.
"We must revive our old promise Edgar."
"You are correct Albus. Hiding behind the curtains is no longer an option. We must act. It is the only way to remove Tom and free the Potter boy to fulfill his destiny."