"You can't get the blood out."
~ Steven Ramirez
Chapter 44 ~ War Bonds
ECOTS
Warm sunlight spilled down from the Room of Requirement's conjured sky, reddish-rays crawling across the dew-kissed grass of the conjured clearing and the two teenagers sleeping within it.
Kalliandra stirred, yawning and unconsciously attempting to burrow beneath the blanket covering her. Her sleepy movements were only slightly encumbered by the strong arm around her waist, the hand attached clutching her own tightly, trapping her fingers within the confines of his own larger one even as he slept.
Something was tickling her nose.
Golden colored eyes flickered tiredly open, slowly focusing on a single, mud-covered blade of green grass. It was brushing against her nose, that the clear source of her problem.
Kally blinked at it.
Then blinked again.
She was clearly laying on the ground, on a patch of grass that had at one point been muddy. By now the mud had long since dried, leaving only a soft sleeping patch of dirt in its wake. Behind her she could feel Potter's rhythmic breathing, the sensation unbelievably calming.
Kally was on her side, her back pressing against Harry's chest, his arms wrapped almost possessively around her as they'd slept. Near their intertwined fingers she could feel the hilts of both their wands, the weapons laying discarded upon the ground, hidden beneath the blanket with them. The realization that Potter had discarded his wand, even temporarily, even though it was still extremely close, just so he could hold her…
Harry was the most paranoid wizard she'd ever met. That he was laying there, with her, like this, not holding his wand but holding her instead…
The events of several hours prior shifted into place within her still sleep-ridden mind. Leaving the potions classroom in the dungeons, finding Ron, Hermione and Harry within the common room, Potter being himself, obsessing over her wand, going to the Room of Requirement, drawing and not collapsing, then Harry going to her, the things they'd done to one another…
An unconscious shiver swept through her. The things his mouth had done...
The sheer taste of him was still upon her own lips, rain and sweat mingling together upon his skin as she'd explored farther than she ever had before. The shocking feeling of closeness, of comfort with how far they'd nearly gone overtook her, awakening her in a way that the Room of Requirement's incessant and fake rising sun could not.
It'd rained the entire time. It'd still been raining when they were both spent, Potter conjuring a water-proof cloak and covering them both with it, dragging her into his arms…
Behind her Potter stirred, the subtlest of grumbles mumbled into her mass of still damp hair, his nose bumping up against the back of her head as he attempted to formulate something sounding suspiciously like, "Morning."
Despite the greeting Potter still did not move. The hand holding hers simply tightened agreeably, the wizard shifting in a way that reminded her of how very unclothed he was. The feel of parts of him against her backside had her sucking in a breath, Potter muttering an indiscernibly agreeable sound in response.
Her own lack of clothing hadn't registered until then, but the way Potter was holding onto her, pulling her closer against his chest, his hand grazing her abdomen…her eyes began to drift shut once more.
Something like feathers fluttered, the sudden sound sending her eyes shooting open, just in time to hear a shockingly loud clank as a tray of food appeared on the ground in front of her.
A creature with tan skin, long ears, and wide-green eyes was standing next to it in what could only be described as a monk's loose fitting robe, a tea cozy on its head.
It was smiling hesitantly at her.
Kally blinked owlishly. She didn't scream, she didn't make any sudden movements. She just blinked, her previously calm breathing suddenly a little swifter. "Harry," she whispered, somewhat stunned and suddenly wide awake, "there's an elf."
"Mmm," he muttered tiredly, voice roughened with sleep, "is that what we're calling it?"
She took their intertwined hands and gave his arm a pointed shake, smacking his knuckles against the grass. "No," she urgently hissed, the elf now taking a nervous step backwards, "there really is a house elf here."
Kally felt every centimeter of Potter instantly tense, his head shifting abruptly from behind her and looking over her head. He'd already snagged his wand beneath the blanket, his breathing harsh for but a moment-
Then, to her surprise, a rather shocked breath was released near her ear. "Dobby," he half-grunted, going silent for several seconds. "Er…"
The house elf – a species she'd only recently learned even existed – broke into an uncertain grin and hopped hesitantly forward. "Mister Harry Potter! Dobby didn't mean to wake you, sir, but-it's just-I-" The little elf had started to stub his toe at the ground almost nervously, and he wasn't the one that had just been caught naked and sleeping with Potter in the Room of Requirement with nothing but a blanket for cover.
Kally groaned and tried to hide beneath the blanket, only Harry's grip on her waist tightened rather brutally, keeping her right where she was. "No it's okay Dobby," he assured, "just er…can you give us a minute?"
The house elf nodded adamantly, looking at them, eyes suddenly going wide. "Oh. Oh! Dobby understands! Dobby interrupted Master Potter's mating! Dobby sorry-"
"What?! No!" Kally was fairly certain she didn't recognize her own voice, given how shrill it'd gotten.
Dobby froze, hand up looking like he'd been caught mid-finger snap. He looked confused. "Mister Potter wasn't trying to sire new-"
"Dobby," Potter sounded slightly strangled. "Just give us a minute please."
The house elf snapped its fingers, disappearing in a circle of smoke.
Abruptly Potter dropped back down onto the ground besides her, the arm around her disappearing as a loud groan resonated throughout the Room of Requirement.
It took considerable effort, but Kally somehow managed to roll around to face him, whilst staying completely beneath the blanket the entire time. She had no way of knowing what other house elves might be lurking about and felt exposed enough as it was.
At least the grass they were laying on was soft.
Temporarily deluding herself that they could still steal some form of privacy she yanked the blanket above both their heads and shot Potter a harsh glare beneath it. "Mating?" she demanded. "Attempts to sire?"
Potter drug both his hands off his face, looking at her from between his fingers, sending first the blanket now over his head a bewildered look, and then her. "Well he did find us stark ass naked and hiding first thing in the morning, Kaylens. What did you expect him to think?"
The fact that he stated that all so very calmly had her hissing a breath, dropping the blanket over her head and seriously willing the universe to swallow her whole.
It got jerked up and off her face, Kalliandra finding that Potter had rolled over, propping himself up on his elbow to now look at her beneath their temporary fort. His mouth was half-open, as if about to say something.
Then it closed.
Then it opened again.
A strange look shadowed his face, the wizard swallowing so hard she actually heard it. "Do you regret what we did?"
Laying there on the grass with him, something within her twisted violently. "No," she whispered, shaking her head, heart pounding. "Why would you think that?"
Potter inclined a dark eyebrow. "Maybe because you're hiding beneath a blanket?"
"Because a house elf thinks we were shagging!"
"Would that really have been so bad?" he countered, gaze downright penetrating.
Kalliandra felt like something had punched her in the stomach. They hadn't done everything, but they'd come close, so close.
She'd be lying if she denied wanting to. Potter's verbalization was just a reminder.
"No, okay?" she whispered back beneath the blanket. "But I don't fancy my first time involving waking up to a random house elf staring me down after bringing me breakfast." She couldn't believe she was even having this conversation with him.
A strange look crossed his face, the shadows from the blanket over their heads not enough to hide his peculiar grin. "So then you haven't…I mean you've never done that before?" Potter looked absurdly happy.
Kally just gaped, glancing around beneath the blanket to ensure herself that this was actually happening and that she wasn't still asleep having some type of bizarre dream. Unfortunately doing so backfired, given Potter was naked with her, her eyes catching onto-
Shaking herself, she managed to pull her eyes and attention back to his face. "No," she hissed for what felt like the tenth time since waking up minutes prior. "Why? Did you think I had?" A slightly horrified feeling was squirming within her, Kally sucking in a swift breath. He either thought poorly of her or-
Not even giving him a chance to answer she fired back, "Wait have you?"
For a second Potter looked like he was torn between grinning dazedly and wanting to retreat given her tone of voice. The wizard displayed serious Gryffindor bravery by somehow deciding to just hold his ground. "What about me saying my track record with girls was bad and that Tonks has given me so few tips that it was borderline pathetic screamed 'Harry Potter gets some' to you?"
Now it was her turn for her lips to part soundlessly, no words coming out.
Potter wasn't done though. He was studying her, looking almost awkward for a second before he shook his head. "Besides Kaylens, you were pretty damn good at what we did last night, so I just assumed-"
She made a croaking sound. "You assumed wrong." She wondered if the Ministry would take pity on her, as a Reach, for killing him if his last words practically calling her a hussy were taken into account.
Her heart was pounding, Kally practically feeling sick for a moment. If Potter seriously thought-
"That came out wrong."
She cracked her gaze, eyeing him with thinly veiled upset beneath the blanket. "You think?"
Potter drug in a rough breath, the wizard looking determined. "Kaylens," he muttered, "I'm sorry. Just…I'm not good at this-"
Now it was her turn to scoff. "The hell you aren't." Her intonations made it very clear what she meant by that. Kally was fairly positive that Potter had all but rendered her unconscious with the way he'd worn her out.
Harry paused, the slightest trace of that grin coming back to his jaw line. "Look, I-" He paused again, his brow creasing with sudden question. "If you've never done this either, then why in the hell would you pick me to do this with then? I just…" he shook his head. "Just don't get it."
She'd been wrong. He had sustained some type of head injury when that bubble he and Voldemort had been hovering inside of, high above Grimmauld Street, had popped. "Well why would you pick me?" she countered, fairly certain that her hair was now beginning to stick to the underside of the blanket, static electricity doing its evil bidding.
Potter's gaze had grown so serious, so intense that something within her stirred, feeling unreal, her heart racing practically out of control. "You seriously don't know why?" he grated, sounding disbelieving, his brow heavily creased as his gaze ran over her face.
She'd rarely heard him sound so serious, the intensity of his green gaze startling.
Wetting her lips, feeling his scrutiny, she sucked in a breath when his hand again fell upon her bare waist. It was like an electric shock, as always, the chills it sent through her…
"I feel," she muttered, "like I'm missing something."
"Oh," he voiced gutturally, "you definitely are." His thumb slid maddeningly across her hip bone, fingers clenching for a needing moment…
Her eyes began to fall shut, breathing hitching. "Yeah, well," she breathed, forgetting the situation, "so are you." Dobby could have been back already, but hidden, as they were, beneath the blanket together she wouldn't have minded. What she did mind was how dense Potter was sometimes.
The way he held her though, kissed her, spoke to her in the heat of it…those were all things she didn't mind.
Her own hand slid up his arm, fingers relishing every centimeter of muscle they ran across. Last night, seeing him as he was now, bared beneath the blanket, she knew it wasn't just his upper body that was toned by Quidditch. Breathing slowing, she wet her lips-
"Master Harry?"
Her eyes flew back open, finding Potter's looking right back, his mouth much closer than it had been a moment ago. "Er…can we have another minute?"
A slight pop was their only response, Kally sucking in a swift breath. "Harry…"
Beneath the blanket he nodded, mouth still creeping closer regardless. "I know."
"Okay," she breathed, finding his mouth brushing temptingly over hers. Once, twice, then finally his lips pressed more firmly to hers, moving gently for far too short of a moment to satisfy her.
When he pulled away, she found his gaze was as lidded as hers was. "Kally…" he murmured.
"Mmm," she intoned right back, shifting so her lips now brushed against his. "We should probably…"
"Get going."
"Before someone-"
"Else-"
"Catches us."
The thought of McGonagall walking in was slightly horrifying, her heart racing as she slid her hand up, snagging the top of the blanket and finally tugging it off their heads. "Better?" she posed quietly.
"Given you're still covered from the neck down," he drawled, "not really."
"For it being so early," she replied, "you're awfully demanding."
"Can't help it. Woke up with you. The bar has been set pretty damn high, Kaylens. Rest of the day's guaranteed to be downhill."
Had he physically been able to reach right into her chest to play directly with her heart she wasn't sure it would have felt much different from how it felt now. Right now she just felt such an intense, deep yearning that she could barely focus, Potter's hand rising out from beneath the sheets, the bare skin of his arm, shoulder, chest revealed as his fingers found the side of her face, caressing the slope of her cheekbone.
"About before…" he muttered lowly. "Should probably talk more about…this."
She didn't have to ask what he meant by this. The way he was pressing against her beneath the blanket was clear enough, his hips shifting slightly, the feel of him brushing against parts of her…
Letting out a soft breath, she managed a small nod. "Yeah…we should."
The reddish cast to the Room of Requirement's fake sky was growing brighter, less dawn-like. Potter's green gaze offering a striking contrast to it as he fiercely studied her. "I want to," he all but whispered.
Breath catching, she again didn't have to ask what. Wetting her lips, she managed a stunned nod. "Me too."
Potter was studying her, Kally not even sure if he was breathing any longer. Her hazel eyes flickered over his, her brow furrowing in concern. "Potter…"
His mouth captured hers before she could say so much as another syllable. It was a long time before he stopped kissing her, but when he did…she found she was barely able to breath, forcing herself to whisper something contrary to what she actually wanted. "We should get dressed."
"Yeah."
A second later Potter was fumbling beneath the covers he'd created for them, finally unearthing his wand. "Accio clothes!" Two pairs of jeans flew at them, smacking them both in the face, the rest of their clothing smacking down onto the ground near enough to reach.
It took a considerable amount of wiggling beneath the blanket to get her undergarments back on without coming out from beneath them entirely. Potter had just smirked at her, not caring and getting right out instantly, standing there in full glory while he got dressed.
Kally had kindly pointed out that Dobby could be watching him, Potter just not seeming to care. "So long as you are," he muttered, "I'm good."
Her eyes narrowed in seeming amusement. "Incorrigible."
"Duh."
A light laugh shook her at his heavy sarcasm, Kally finally squirming out from beneath the blanket, mostly dressed. Tossing it to him she complimented, "That was a good idea. Waterproofing it."
Harry, standing there in only his jeans, shirt still in hand, caught it, grinning slightly. "Yeah well, didn't want to leave after everything and didn't feel like getting soaked all night since the Room of Requirement had decided the floor needed watering so…"
She smiled, sitting up and tugging her own shirt back on. It had insisted on raining most of the night, but she'd barely noticed.
A pop came back a second later, indicating Dobby's return.
Potter took the opportunity to tug his own shirt back on, the scarring on his shoulder disappearing as he gestured between the two of them. "Dobby, this is Kalliandra. Kally, meet my friend Dobby."
The house elf smiled brilliantly at Harry for a moment, before walking up to her and overly formally extending a hand. "Dobby, friend of Harry Potter, is pleased to meet Mister Harry Potter's mate. Dobby honored-"
She couldn't tell what she felt about that, her lips parting with a slight protest. "But I'm not-"
"You are."
Shooting a slightly aghast look at Potter, he shrugged unapologetically. "What? I told you, I don't mess around, Kaylens. Not snogging anyone else." He tilted his head in Dobby's direction, "Besides, you fit his definition at least."
Lips parting in slight shock, she felt Dobby snag her hand and start to shake it with exuberance, Potter's green gaze just remaining firm on her. "You still can always run," he offered, a hint of a smile touching his mouth, "if you'd like."
At that she just shot him a glare. "Like hell."
"Dobby brought Mister Harry Potter and Mister Harry Potter's mate breakfast, so you won't be late for class."
At that both of their heads snapped around, Kally not missing how wide Harry's eyes got. "Dobby what time is it?"
"Quarter after eight, sir."
They both relaxed instantly.
Right until a preening sound filled the air, the earlier source of the fluttering revealing itself.
A phoenix had appeared over Potter's food, its head tilted as a tear dripped into the food, right before the phoenix sat back and began preening.
It had also dropped a letter onto the ground by its feet, both of their names on it.
Potter turned slightly green upon seeing it, Kally wetting her lips nervously. "Potter, is that-"
"Dumbledore."
Fawkes trilled peacefully, feathers fluffing, while Kally wondered how dead they both were.
ECOTS
"I'm not going."
Harry sounded petulant and didn't care. Sitting there, eating breakfast with Dobby and Kaylens on the floor of the Room of Requirement, only forty five minutes until his first class of the day, the last person he wanted to deal with would be Dumbledore.
Kaylens' hand froze mid-way to her mouth, a piece of jelly-covered toast hanging in mid-air. "So you're just going to let me go alone?" she said incredulously.
Damn't.
"I bet he's just been waiting for me to do something like this," he half growled, his own food barely touched, "so he'd have an excuse to force me to talk to him." The idea of being in trouble for what he and Kaylens had done had occurred to him, but he didn't particularly care.
As far as he was concerned the Headmaster could stuff it.
Kally, hair still tousled from sleeping, sent him a curious look. "So your theory is he was waiting for you to hook up with a girl, so he could guilt you into going to see him, just so he could have a private conversation about everything you two have been arguing about?" She inclined a delicate eyebrow. "No offense, Harry, but given your slow moves if he was gambling on that he might have been waiting awhile."
Harry growled at her around a piece of toast.
Kaylens' lips just twitched. "What? I like your moves, but even you have to admit it could have been awhile."
He made a disgruntled sound, shooting her a sullen look as he bit into a piece of toast pointedly.
Kaylens actually rolled her eyes.
"Why is Harry Potter mad at the Headmaster?"
Harry glanced at Dobby, aware that the house elf admired the wizard, considering him one of the best. He didn't want to shatter that. "It's complicated," he told, quickly taking a drink of orange juice to avoid saying anything else.
Dobby's ears just flopped slightly, as if distressed. Harry felt a stab of guilt over that, racking his mind for something to say, but Kaylens saved him.
"This was really nice of you, Dobby." Indicating the breakfast spread he'd brought them, she kindly added, "But it's a lot. Will you please help me with mine?"
She wasn't kidding. Dobby had brought them an assortment of toast, fruit, nuts, cereal, biscuits, and orange juice. Harry swallowed down a handful of nuts, crunching on them as he considered his options.
He'd woken up naked in the Room of Requirement that morning with Kaylens. That meant he could quite possibly die happy today. He'd also quite cavalierly started going along with Dobby calling her his mate, which mean he actually might die today, because Kaylens might kill him.
There'd also been a letter from Dumbledore, addressed to both of them, waiting as soon as they'd woken up. The contents had simply requested their presence in his office before class. If it had been just Harry's name he'd have blown it off, like he'd been blowing the wizard's other requests off for the past two months, but it wasn't. Kaylens had also been summoned, which meant it'd be a bad move if he let her go up there alone, particularly given there was the remotest possibility that they were in trouble for their previous night's activities.
He doubted it. Somehow he reckoned Dumbledore had better things to do than spy on what his students were up to. No, he was of the mind that this was a new tactic by Dumbledore to trick him into talking to him.
"Miss-"
"It's Kally," Kaylens was telling Dobby, the house elf now sitting directly next to her and helping her eat one of the many pieces of toast. "Your Harry's friend. You don't have to call me miss."
The elf's green eyes widened, looking at Kalliandra as if he could keel over and die. "Harry Potter choose rightly," he admired, Kaylens' expression instantly looking bewildered.
Harry chuckled, chomping on an apple and talking around it. "See Kally? Dobby approves."
Golden eyes slid towards him, narrowing slightly. "Don't change the subject, Potter. Are you seriously not going?"
Harry once again mulled over his options. If he went, he'd have to talk to Dumbledore. If he didn't he quite possibly wouldn't get to snog Kaylens again for weeks, on account she'd be pissed he'd thrown her to the Headmaster alone.
"I'm going on the record," he stated, "that I still think it's a trick to get me up there."
Kaylens set down another piece of toast – Harry mentally made a note that toast seemed to be her favorite food in the world given it was all she seemed to eat every morning – and studied him for a moment. She knew exactly why he was so pissed at the meddling wizard. He'd eventually filled her in about the horcrux, about Dublin being a diversionary tactic, once she'd gotten out of the hospital wing and they'd drug their hands off one another long enough to have an actual conversation.
"Harry," she said, voice growing less irritated, "when are you going to bury the hatchet? We're all alive. None of us died."
"He still used all of you as bait, Kaylens. You could have been killed."
"But we weren't."
His chest tightened. "But you could have been. I thought you were."
"Only," she reminded, "for a few minutes."
"Even a second would have been too long, Kaylens." He seriously felt sick just thinking about it. Staring at her, heaving a hard breath, he pressed, "How would you have liked it, if you found out Dumbledore had used me and Dean as bait, and then we just didn't come back?"
The slightly ashen look to her features told him everything he needed to know. "See?" he bluntly grated. "That's why I'm still pissed."
"But Master Dumbledore loves Harry Potter."
Harry's gaze darted to where Dobby sat, on the stone floor of the Room of Requirement, the room having changed back to its original training hall. "I wouldn't be so sure about that, Dobby."
The elf looked so sad that he instantly regretted saying it, even Kaylens looking confounded. "Fine," he blurted, just to get the two of them to stop looking at him like that. "I'll go."
The slightest of smiles touched Kaylens' lips. "Thank you."
Harry just grunted, not exactly happy but having no other viable option.
It went a long way to explaining how he found himself standing at the base of Dumbledore's office twenty minutes later, Kaylens' hand clutched tightly in his own. "Just so you know," he grumbled, "this was not how I envisioned this morning going."
Kalliandra fidgeted nervously. "Never have expectations Potter," she murmured back. "You know the world likes to crush them."
"Pessimist."
"Realist."
Despite himself he snorted, grunting, "Jelly slug," at the gargoyle. The stone construct's eyes came to life, looking them over as if to verify they could pass, before it slid to the slide with a grinding sound. Beyond it the familiar spiral stairs were revealed, only Harry wasn't at all eager to climb them.
Kally gave his hand a squeeze, releasing his fingers to climb them-
Harry snagged them back before she could take so much as a single step. The non-witch cast him a questioning look, leaving him to nod at their intertwined fingers. "United front," he told brusquely. "Just in case that is why we're here."
Biting down on her lower lip, Kaylens nodded, the two at Dumbledore's door moments later, Harry eye-to-eye with Crusantheus.
"Ah if it isn't the two little curfew breakers," the brass knocker spat gleefully. "Probably doxie exterminations for the next month for-"
Harry grabbed the knocker and slammed it hard against the door, shutting it up before it could say another word or try to bite his knuckles.
Its eyes rolled about in its head, the inanimate thing groaning loudly as a voice that sure as hell wasn't Dumbledore's bid them to enter. As they shoved the door open Harry didn't miss the glare Kaylens shot the door knocker, muttering, "I really hate that thing," right before they both laid eyes upon Dumbledore and Regulus Black.
The latter was reclining in a comfortable looking arm chair, a glass of white wine held aloft in his hand.
"Isn't a little early for that?" Harry bit, gaze darting between the two people he wanted to see least. Well…that might not be entirely true. He still hadn't decided who he disliked more: Snape or Regulus. It was a close call.
"Good morning ward," Regulus drawled in caustic greeting. "And here I was thinking it was too early for that." Nodding towards he and Kaylens intertwined hands, he pressed, "I really can only stand so much nauseating sap per week and my quota is already quite full, courtesy of that cousin of mine and her pet wolf." The wizard paused, looking almost hopeful for a moment. "You wouldn't happen to know of a good hiding spot for avoiding them would you? I do hear that you are quite adept at finding clandestine locations to do illicit things with your little friends."
Harry's teeth ground so hard that his enamel practically wore off. "Wouldn't know," he bit, "Remus and Tonks have been avoiding me."
"Oh, having a little squabble with them too? Tisk, tisk ward, we really must work on your people skills. Whatever would Sirius think if he knew you were turning out just like him?"
Harry almost lunged for the bastard, Kaylens giving him a subtle tug back. "This," she murmured quietly besides him, "is somehow one of my teachers. If anyone gets to throttle him, it's going to be me."
Overhearing her words, Regulus grinned. "That, I believe, is what you children call professing dibs."
"Calling dibs," Kaylens corrected.
"Just because your vocabulary is limited surely doesn't mean you expect mine to be brought down to your level as well?"
The fingers of Harry's free hand began to twitch, a book on one of Dumbledore's shelves starting to inch outwards-
A book end shaped like a medieval knight sprang to life, its sword thrown out to block the book from flying out towards Regulus' head just in time. "I believe," came the Headmaster's voice, "that is quite enough for one morning, Regulus."
The potion's master and self-professed Muggle doctor snorted with derision. "You're quite right, Albus," he drawled, scrutinizing his wine selection. "I should have went with something red."
The Headmaster sighed, Harry finally turning his attention onto the wizard he'd been doing his utmost to avoid ever since he'd sent glass shards flying at the wizard's back. He wasn't entirely sure if he'd been trying to kill or just maim him – his thought processes that day hadn't gotten quite that far beyond Kaylens and Dean being dead – but he wasn't looking forward to this.
"Hello Harry, Kalliandra," Dumbledore said pleasantly. The wizard was pouring a glass of orange juice from a jug, offering, "Would either of you care for a glass? I do find a little sugar boost to be the best way to start off my morning."
Off to the side Regulus snorted. "Amateur."
"Okay seriously," Kaylens demanded, "is he drunk?"
Regulus lifted a glass, as if cheers-ing her. "Working on it!"
Dumbledore's twinkling blue eyes shifted behind his half-moon spectacles, a resigned sigh escaping. A casual wave of his hand sent the white wine in Regulus' glass disappearing, an orange, pulpy liquid now sloshing around within the glass in its place.
Regulus made an upset sound. "If you were going to insist on doing that, the least you could have done is given me some without pulp. What are we, savages?"
Another wave of Dumbledore's hand sent the pulp in the orange juice disappearing, Regulus inclining his eyebrows in drunken amusement. "Much obliged."
"You must forgive him," Dumbledore informed, "we have had a somewhat trying night."
"Oh, have you?" Harry questioned bitterly. "No luck sending unsuspecting Order members off to their deaths lately?"
"Harry…" Kally whispered alongside him, but he didn't give a damn. All he could think about was how he'd felt for those few damn minutes when he'd thought she was dead. He'd already lost Sirius. He wasn't losing her. He wasn't losing Ron, or Hermione, or anyone else.
No one else was dying because of him.
Harry tightened his fingers between hers, clutching onto the only part of her he could in their current company.
Dumbledore sighed. "Harry, regardless of the quarrel you have with me, which is quite warranted, there are for more pressing matters than our little tiff."
His expression darkened instantly. "Little? You set my friends up to get killed."
"I assure you I would not have done so had I not already taken other precautions to ensure their safety."
"Oh yeah, I almost forgot. Sending them into a plague zone without telling them the dead were coming back to life wasn't enough. You made sure to send a Death Eater with them."
"Well of course," Dumbledore stated. "We needed a way to test whether or not young Mr. Thomas' allegiances truly were where Voldemort felt they lay. It provided the perfect testing grounds."
Harry sputtered, practically spitting, "You what? That's how you tested that?"
"Come now Potter," Regulus drawled from the corner, "where's your sense of adventure? Even you have to admit that is a fool proof way to test an allegiance. Of course Mr. Thomas failed. I'm betting the Dark Lord will be absolutely thrilled if he finds out about that…"
He spun around on his current guardian. "Then why in the hell do we even have truth serum and legilimency?"
"Harry," Dumbledore stated calmly, "a master occlumens can defend against either method. Memory charms, something Voldemort is adept at, can allow false feelings, thoughts to be left in place within a weak mind. Sometimes the only true method of ensuring trust is well placed is by allowing a potentially dangerous situation to play out." The Headmaster's weary blue eyes flickered pointedly between he and Kaylens. "I believe that is something you have experienced firsthand, have you not?"
It took him a second to realize what the hell the wizard was driving at, but the way he was looking between he and Kaylens…
There had been a time when Harry had thought she was a Death Eater.
Only seeing how she'd reacted in battle had changed that.
Harry's entire body practically vibrated with repressed rage, uncertain of where to direct it. Staring at the Headmaster, he watched as the wizard took an infuriatingly relaxed sip of orange juice.
"Harry," Kaylens whispered his name, but he couldn't look at her. Not yet. Instead he clenched his gaze shut, concentrating on the feel of her hand tightly within the confines of his own.
It wasn't until he felt her move, her free hand taking a hold of his chin, forcing his face to turn to regard her, that his heated gaze cracked open. It landed upon the contours of her familiar face, the non-witch he'd taken to snogging amongst other things looking at him with unveiled concern.
There was a time when he'd been unable to read the subtleties of her expressions, but that…
Had been a long time ago.
Now Kaylens just looked nervous, something passing through her eyes that he didn't like. "He's not wrong, Harry," she relayed quietly. "If I hadn't been knocked out and left with Dean alone I wouldn't have trusted him either." Wetting her lips, she pressed, "There's something to be said for seeing how someone reacts in a real world situation."
Harry wasn't dumb. He grasped the basic concept, he just didn't like it. Dean had been given every opportunity to harm her then, but he hadn't.
That was a main factor for why Harry hadn't tried to murder the wizard yet. Getting caught certainly wasn't a fear factoring into it. After all, he was reasonably certain he'd be able to enlist Hagrid's help to bury the body somewhere in the Forbidden Forest.
Either that or Buckbeat, Grawp, or some random dragon Hagrid had taken on as a pet might eat it and dispose of the evidence for him.
Either way, he logically got what they were saying, but it didn't mean he liked hearing it any better.
"Doesn't mean," he ground gutturally, eyes never leaving hers, "I have to like it."
"I know," she placated, "but I'm alive, Harry. Ginny's alive. Neville's alive. Fred and George are-"
"You almost weren't," he cut in. "Same with Amarante."
Kaylens' gaze flickered sadly. "But we are, Harry. Please try to remember that."
He grunted, abruptly lifting his free hand and snagging a hold of hers right where it still rested upon his face. He wasted no time in twining her fingers tightly between his. He ignored the gagging sound Regulus made, not giving a damn who saw, not caring that they were in the middle of Dumbledore's office. All he cared about was the fact that Kaylens was alive, standing there with him, both her hands held by his, the slightest of smiles touching her lips.
"You used to be a lot more abrasive," he half-growled.
She shrugged carelessly. "Unicorn blood," she told. "It's quite mellowing."
Despite himself he actually snorted. "Ah. Explains a lot then." There had been a major change in her, one that had happened gradually enough that it'd nearly slipped his notice.
Before she'd collapsed in Number 12 Grimmauld, giving Angelina the opportunity to inject her veins with unicorn blood, Kaylens had been a hellion to talk to even at the best of times. Now…
Now she was a lot more calm, less angry, even if she was still his own personal spitfire.
Harry huffed a breath, finally turning his attention back onto Dumbledore, voice dark and biting. "I'm listening."
Dumbledore gestured at the two chairs in front of his desk, offering, "Please Harry, Kalliandra, take a seat."
Kaylens took a step forward, but Harry tugged her right back against him, grunting irritably. "No thanks. We're fine." He could practically feel her rolling her eyes, ignoring it as he fixed Dumbledore with an icy look.
Dumbledore, to his credit, seemed entirely unaffected. "I understand you were not pleased with my methods, Harry. I confess…there are times when I question them myself. But in war we find ourselves faced with difficult choices, none of our options good."
The Headmaster paced towards Fawkes perch, the phoenix materializing in a fiery conjuring as Dumbledore extended a hand, scratching the bird gently on the head. "Dublin and destroying the second horcrux was one of those situations Harry, so I trusted in Regulus. I trusted that he would have everything under control."
Regulus took a long drag of his orange juice, drawling, "I most certainly did not have anything under control. In fact, it was the antithesis of that very concept."
Dumbledore's aged fingers paused in their stroking of the phoenix, the wizard shooting Regulus a look that was almost uncharacteristic, silently declaring that the potion's master was not helping matters, at all.
Regulus just raised his glass towards Dumbledore in a mock cheers.
The Headmaster let out a weary sigh. 'I have made many mistakes with you, Harry. The mistakes of an old man who has forgotten what it was once like to be young, and I am afraid that I find myself once again in a position where a difficult choice must be made, one…I fear may worsen the rift I have already created between us."
Every fiber in his entire body went stiff, Harry standing tensely and saying nothing.
Fawkes made a preening sound, quietly demanding that Dumbledore's ministrations continue. The Headmaster turned a weary smile onto the bird, stroking Fawkes' beak slowly as he continued, "Over the past months I have been searching for possible clues in what is left of Tom Riddle's diary. Clues to the horcruxes, for while they can be any object, any every day, ordinary thing, I have a suspicion that they are not, in fact, random. Tom always did favor things with meaning, after all."
Instantly Harry's expression grew tight, a glare directed between Dumbledore and Regulus. "So I take it he knows then?"
The subtle nod Dumbledore provided answered him, Harry scowling. "So what, you're just telling everyone and anyone about the one thing that might help us actually beat him then?"
"Did it ever occur to you, you insolent ward," Regulus drawled, studying his own hand as if bored, "why I faked my own death and went into hiding in the Muggle realm to begin with?"
"Because you were a coward?" Harry practically spat.
Regulus slammed down the goblet of orange juice, the stem cracking loudly, a dark gaze suddenly fixated upon him. "Unlike that impertinent brother of mine who only ever cared about his own fun and that you waste so much time hero worshiping, I was out there trying to find and kill them."
"Bang up job you did on that then."
Kaylens hissed a warning, Harry ignoring her as he met Regulus' suddenly hateful gaze.
"I've known about his horcruxes, ward," the older wizard promised threateningly, "since before you were born. And unlike all of you I lacked any form of help in my particular quest. It was either hide and preserve the knowledge, or die and allow it to die with me."
"Like I said," Harry snapped, "coward."
Regulus was on his feet in an instant, Kaylens darting between the two of them and holding out her hands placatingly, Harry ready to snarl in her direction for getting in the way.
Dumbledore just had to decide to talk then. "What Regulus states is the truth, Harry," he affirmed. "Since Regulus' return he has played a key role in confirming what I had already suspected. That Tom had split his soul. He's been able to provide insider information from when he was a part of Voldemort's inner circle, information even Severus had not been privy to."
His head darted towards the Headmaster. "I thought," Harry all but spat, "you said you figured it out from reading his diary?" The amount of lies…
"Indeed, I did say that, Harry. It was how, many years ago when you first brought it to me, that I began to first suspect…Regulus merely supplied additional confirmation and has been working with me to discern the possible locations of them."
Harry made a severely skeptical sound, Kaylens groaning and dropping her face into her hand.
"You see, Harry," Dumbledore told, lowering his half-moon spectacles to peer at him, "while I may have known Tom as a boy, Regulus knew the man far better than I ever could. His perspective on what he may have done, where he may have hidden them, his methods at the time in which he was actively working to spread them far and wide have proven invaluable."
"Why," Harry heard himself grinding out, not fully believing he was suggesting this, "don't you just use Snape?"
"Ah, I considered that, but for all of Severus' many talents Harry, remaining impartial is regrettably not one of them." The Headmaster smiled knowingly. "His position within Voldemort's ranks also puts him at considerable risk daily, so I hesitate to supplant any knowledge within his mind that he would have to work even harder to protect. The less he knows about our horcrux hunt, the better. Though he does know what we are working on, if not the details."
Kaylens had grown unnaturally quiet, the non-witch's breathing the only outward sign that she was even still present. "Professor," she interjected, "should I even be here for this?"
The look Harry shot her said she sure as hell should be here, but her gaze wasn't resting on him anymore, it was on the Headmaster.
Dumbledore turned his bespectacled gaze meaningfully upon her. "I assumed, Kalliandra, that Harry had already filled you in?"
Harry nearly growled. "Damn right I did. Unlike you I don't keep secrets." Just the one. The one between he and Dumbledore that he'd never repeat.
Not until either he or Voldemort was dead.
Kaylens wet her lips, nodding.
"Then I think it is safe to say you should remain with us. If anything it will spare me the problem of repeating myself to yet another later on." Smiling, he added, "Even if I only did invite you here this morning as a way of enticing young Mr. Potter to finally speak with me."
Right. At that Harry couldn't help but snort, shooting Kalliandra a pointed look. "Told ya."
The half-hearted glower she shot him back just had his mouth twitch into a triumphant smirk. That was until he realized something.
"How did you know she was with me this morning?" he demanded suspiciously. If he wasn't still pissed at the wizard he might have been nervous about the response. As it was, his jaw set almost angrily.
Dumbledore merely removed his glasses, rubbing them calmly on his robes. "I am always happy," he answered vaguely, "when my students are able find a little bit of happiness in our otherwise uncertain world, Harry."
Besides him Kaylens groaned quietly, Harry muttering out of the corner of his mouth, "You're doing wonders for my self-esteem."
"Annoying as you are," Regulus drawled, "I have a book that could assist you in that area, ward."
The sputtering sound Kaylens made was only matched by his own. "He doesn't-he doesn't have a problem with that-"
Harry snagged Kaylens around the waist and clamped a hand over her mouth before she could finish that statement in front of the Headmaster and his legal guardian. Until then he hadn't even known he could move that fast.
Dumbledore, to his credit, pretended to not notice. Instead he had already moved on. "In Tom Riddle's diary, Harry, I found reference to a story he had loved as a boy, one about Blackbeard the pirate." Dumbledore looked thoughtful, Fawkes nuzzling his fingers. "Apparently it was one of the few things he found comfort in as a youth within his orphanage. Though between you and I, it truly was a terrible story for anyone to have told a child."
Kaylens made an angered sound, not unlike that of a velociraptor, Harry immediately dropping his hand away from her mouth before she could bite it.
Her ire didn't stop him from tugging her close though, to hell if Regulus or Dumbledore saw.
On one of the shelves a trinket, shaped like a windmill, began to turn, emitting a strange buzzing as Dumbledore continued. "Tom was drawn to the real life man's more unique attributes. Blackbeard had the ability to take anything he desired through fear of his reputation alone, whilst working with a crew that loved and respected him, following any command he gave them. Such a presence, such power, it appealed to young Tom." The Headmaster's gaze turned towards them, a knowing glint within it. "I am sure, given what he grew to be, you can see the parallels. But what the Muggle story lacks is that Blackbeard, in all reality, may have been a wizard."
"Grand, so ole Voldie was hero worshipping a pillaging pirate. Shocking," Harry drawled, tightening his hold on Kaylens. "I can only assume you're getting to some form of point?"
The Headmaster fixed him with a resigned look. "The story referenced was the tale of Blackbeard's death. A Lieutenant from the American colonies, a Muggle by the name of Maynard, had been assigned to capture or kill Blackbeard. He found him, allegedly, in the Oracoke islands, vulnerable from a night of celebrating and drinking," sending Regulus a disapproving look, "with his crew."
"My kind of man," Regulus drawled.
Dumbledore once again ignored him, Fawkes nipping at his fingers. "The attacking vessels both ran aground, but Blackbeard, through what we can only assume was via magical means, managed to free his vessel, whilst the Lieutenant's was unable to. Legend has it that Blackbeard fired upon Maynard's ship, devastating it beyond repair, before boarding it with only a few of his men, assuming all aboard to already have expired." Pausing, he seriously told, "Rather like Voldemort, he assumed he had won far too soon."
Regulus waved a hand dismissively. "You always did have a flair for the dramatic, Albus. Long story short, Harry, the Lieutenant and his men were still alive. The imbecile should have counted bodies before getting on deck. Instead the Muggles outmaneuvered him."
Dumbledore allowed a weary sigh. "Maynard's men had hid below deck, and at the opportune moment they swarmed Blackbeard's small boarding party in force. Blackbeard received a fatal wound to his neck by Maynard himself."
Harry found himself losing his patience. "Again, Albus, what's your point?"
Something strange crossed through the Headmaster's eyes, but whatever it was…he did not vocalize it. "Harry, Regulus and I believed that Voldemort would have hidden a horcrux either upon that ruined ship, or upon the island that it moored itself upon. It would be rather poetic of Voldemort to have done so, given his childhood obsession with the tale. We spent the past week searching the area, and we believe we have found the location."
Harry sensed a but coming.
"Terribly fun trip that was," Regulus stated, speaking up, "Albus would not even entertain a short stop on one of the Muggle party islands for a quick cocktail."
"There is a blockade due to the plague in place, Regulus. We had to ensure that we remained unseen. Also I believe a discussion regarding your proclivities for libations may be in order," Dumbledore stated not unkindly, Regulus snorting with clear derision.
"It's the end of the world, Albus. I'm not overly concerned about the state of my internal plumbing a decade from now."
"Sure you're not the pirate?" Kaylens tossed out, arching a delicate eyebrow.
Had Harry not still sensed the but coming he might have been amused by that. "So did you find it?" he demanded, cutting through all the other crap being tossed around.
Dumbledore nodded. "It was not the main island, as the tale told, Harry. We did manage to find one concealed by dark magic, where apparition is all but impossible."
"Splinched myself figuring that one out," Regulus drawled bitterly. "Thus the-" he held up his orange juice, looking sad for a second as he realized it was no longer wine.
"As I stated," Dumbledore reiterated tiredly, "it was a long night. What we did determine was that we will need additional help on this, Harry, beyond your immediate circle."
Harry felt himself tensing. "How much help?"
Regulus was the one who responded, sounding serious for a change. "The entire island is protected by a rather nasty looking and rocky embankment, and there appears to be several doorways along it."
"Thirteen," Dumbledore supplied, "in total."
Regulus nodded. "We suspect that all thirteen have to be activated at one. Reaching the breakers via magic though isn't going to work. We're going to have to swim."
"The waters were not what one would ever call calm," the Headmaster told. "It also may be a trap. We have no guarantee that any of the doorways actually work without causing severe harm to the opener."
The Potion's Master stood, cracking his knuckles and looking a bit more sober. "Well need strong swimmers. Thirteen of them. Then we'll have to hope like hell that they'll all be able to get off the island alive."
"Thirteen," Kaylens muttered, Harry snaking his arm more firmly around her waist. "Isn't there some wizarding taboo about thirteen wizards in one spot?"
Had they been speaking about divination Harry might have scoffed in derision. Instead he felt a cold chill against the back of his neck. "Thirteen sit down at the same table, and the first one to get up dies."
A stony silence befell the room.
Kaylens broke the silence, wetting her lips. "So it's possible that whomever goes, for at least one it's a suicide mission?"
"I cannot guarantee," Dumbledore said staidly, "that it is not."
Something in Harry's chest thundered dangerously, his grip on Kaylens tightening. Lowering his mouth alongside the back of her ear, he darkly muttered, "Told you the rest of the day was going to be downhill."
Despite the subject matter, despite where they were standing, his girlfriend actually laughed. The sound reminded him of exactly why he needed her.
"So," Regulus probed, "who's going, and how much exactly are we planning to tell them ahead of time?"
Before Dumbledore could even open his mouth Harry responded instantly. "Everything." He grimaced. "No one in the Order's volunteering for this without knowing exactly what they're getting themselves into."
The Headmaster nodded his assent, Regulus merely grunting. "Sentimental fools. When this bites you both in the ass, I will not hesitate to remind you that I was against that."
Turning over the possibilities of this, already mentally compartmentalizing things to avoid getting damn overwhelmed, he shifted his attention to Dumbledore. "When do we leave?"
"This weekend," he responded. "I believe it is still best if we maintain some semblance of normalcy with classes. There are not many, but the few students remaining still have access to owls. I may be an old man, but I do recollect how quickly gossip amongst the young can spread, and we had enough when several of you were quarantined for a month."
"Ah yes, it'd be such a pity if the Ministry were to hear something absolutely naughty about the school's ongoings from one of the kiddos that gets us shut down even quicker," Regulus taunted.
Harry's gaze shifted over Kaylens' shoulder to the ghost of Sirius. How the two were related was obvious in appearance, if not attitudes. "What do you mean even quicker?"
"It has only been through many political maneuverings and called in favors," Dumbledore stated calmly, "that we have been permitted to operate at such low attendance and in peace for as long as we have, Harry. I had assumed you were aware?"
Something inside him stiffened. "No. I wasn't."
The Headmaster nodded. "They are rather eager, Dolores Umbridge in particular, to have the students separated amongst the other European wizarding schools. They are using our proximity to the plague's epicenter as their primary rationale, but…we believe Voldemort already has several inside the Ministry in key positions."
Regulus snorted. "Would help if we knew which ones."
"It is only a matter of time, Harry," Dumbledore stated, gaze earnestly meeting his, "before they do succeed in securing a ruling to close Hogwarts. That is why it is essential that we do what we can with our limited time before things become…further complicated."
He could feel Kally's fingers tightening within his own, Harry swallowing roughly.
At that Dumbledore nodded. "For now, Harry, why don't yourself and Ms. Kaylens be along to class? I believe, as it is, you will only be ten minutes late to Snape's combined potions' session."
Slowly he released Kaylens, the non-witch nodding and heading towards the door.
The problem was that Harry wasn't ready to leave. Not yet. "Mind if I speak with you for a second," he addressed Dumbledore, sending a pointed look in Regulus' direction, "alone?"
His tone made it apparent that it wasn't a question, Kaylens casting him a curious look over her shoulder.
He wasn't sure how in the hell to explain what he was planning to ask, not right then. He just offered her a forced grimace, his eyes pleading with her that he'd fill her in later.
Her lips parted for a second, looking as if she might say something, only…
Her attentions turned towards Regulus. "Come on Reggie," she said, eyes suddenly sparkling with mischief he rarely saw in her, "maybe if you come with me you can convince Snape to not toss me in detention again."
Now it was Harry's turn to send her a curious look, mouthing, Again? at her.
Kaylens just sent him a slightly concerning smile.
Right. Harry would have questions for her, later. Right now though…
His attention fixed firmly on Dumbledore, Harry stiffly waiting until the door behind the two departing parties thudded closed.
Unsurprisingly Dumbledore looked unsurprised.
The two remained in silence for a long while, Harry grimacing as he tried to think on how to word it. Dumbledore just patiently patted Fawkes on the head, returning to his desk for another glass of orange juice.
"Are you sure that I cannot tempt you, Harry? Class on an empty stomach does seem to bode poorly for the student."
"I already ate."
Dumbledore merely inclined an aged eyebrow. "Oh?"
Had he been younger, had he not felt a burning grain of fury still boiling within his blood, he might have squirmed beneath the Headmaster's knowing gaze. Instead he just met the man's gaze levelly, unapologetically grinding, "Dobby brought us breakfast."
The aged wizard's mouth parted in silent understanding. "Ah, well then it does seem that you and Ms. Kaylens are getting on far better than months previous." The wizard looked around his office with a slight smile, Harry aware that he was referencing when the two of them and Ron had torn it apart.
"It was only," he grated, "a slight brawl."
"Indeed," Dumbledore agreed, "and it only took me the better part of a week to reconstruct."
Harry winced.
"I have found, Harry," Dumbledore told, a far off look in his eyes, "that the best of friendships can sometimes arise from the messiest of beginnings." Turning a grandfatherly smile upon him, he affirmed, "If I am not mistaken, both Hermione and Kalliandra would fall into that category for you."
"Not exactly," he grunted, "the same category." Hermione was his best friend. Kaylens….
Well she was something else entirely.
"Indeed. I suspect from some of what I've been hearing from Severus regarding…I believe the phrase he used was 'impudence with public displays whilst defiling his classroom space' that you would no longer classify Kalliandra as just your friend." The Headmaster actually used air quotes.
Had it been another time Harry might have grinned at that. But it wasn't. Instead Dumbledore smiled benignly, the expression unreturned as the wizard finally sat down at his desk, once more gesturing for Harry to take the one across.
This time Harry stiffly took it, dropping down into it and fixing the Headmaster with a penetrating look.
"Friendships do arise in the strangest of fashions…" Dumbledore mused aloud, impervious to Harry's irritation. "If I may offer some unsolicited advice, it would serve you well to remember that in the coming years. One never knows where the unexpected ally may be found, even in the darkest of times, Harry."
"Grand, got any advice in there about what to do about allies that betray your trust?"
The Headmaster studied him seriously. "I do not expect you to forgive my methods, Harry. I hope that you simply may come to understand them."
Despite himself he grimaced. "Funny that," he croaked. "The day I understand sacrificing those on my own side is the day I'm as bad as what we're fighting." He may have used dark curses, he may have killed, but there were some lines he would never cross.
Sacrificing friends was one of those lines.
"Then I truly hope that you are never put into the position, Harry, where you are forced to do so."
From the corner of the room came the shrill, lonely sound of Fawkes crying a single call, feathers ruffling as the phoenix suddenly launched itself off its perch, soaring around the room's cavernous ceiling in circles, a lone feather drifting down towards Dumbledore's desk.
Smiling sadly, the Headmaster reached out an aged hand, picking up the feather and turning it over in hand. "I rather think," he stated, "given the history, it would serve us best to not leave any of these laying about."
With a slight twitch of the fingers, the feather ignited, disintegrating in front of Harry's eyes, the wandless magic rather identical to what Harry had done to the betting board and potions book. Seeing the Headmaster perform the exact same magic…
Harry's gaze jerked from the ashy pile on the Headmaster's desk to the man's bespectacled gaze, confusion rifling through him. A breeze wafted past, Fawkes swooping down, landing on the back of Harry's chair. The breeze generated by the phoenix's wings rustled Harry's unruly hair.
"I confess, Harry," Dumbledore acknowledged, "I rather wondered when you would turn up in my office, asking questions."
"Why do you assume that's what I'm doing?" he questioned brusquely, reaching back to give Fawkes a friendly pat. The phoenix rewarded him by taking an affectionate nip at his ear.
Dumbledore simply fixed him with an inscrutable look. "Why my boy, what else would you be doing here?"
Something inside Harry cracked, his jaw setting roughly. "Fine," he grated, "I want you to cut the crap and tell me what you're doing." Harry tilted his head backwards towards Fawkes, frowning, "Why is Fawkes following me everywhere? Crying in my drinks?" Returning his gaze back to Dumbledore, he bluntly accused, "Don't think I haven't noticed."
To his shock Dumbledore didn't deny it. Instead the wizard leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms and adopting a bemused expression. "I admit Harry, that I am somewhat surprised that you have not already figured it out on your own."
"Yeah, well, I haven't," Harry bitterly bit, waiting.
The Headmaster studied him intently, as if mulling over how much exactly to tell him. "I suppose," he finally said, "the other magic at play would perhaps make things murkier than needed."
"What," Harry grated, "other magic?"
Dumbledore smiled kindly. "Why the war bond of course. Though I suspect Remus has not gotten around to explaining it."
His grip now wound tensely around the arm rest. "No. He hasn't."
"Ah, well…far be it for me to spoil the man's fun. He so was looking forward to relaying it to you."
Harry's jaw set mercilessly. "Spoil it." It was not a request.
"Now Harry," Dumbledore stated, looking tickled, "you've now asked two questions. There's what I've been up to, and what Remus has caught on to, even if you have not."
"This whole keeping me in the dark thing is getting really old, Professor."
The Headmaster met his gaze, leaning forward suddenly, speaking urgently. "Very well, Harry." Dumbledore puckered his lips, blowing slightly at the ashy remains of Fawkes' feathers.
They did not scatter towards Harry like he thought they would. Instead the ash lifted straight up, swirling in an upwards spiral, the vestiges following a pattern being made by the slightest of motions from Dumbledore's finger.
Harry watched in fascination, Fawkes letting out a happy trilling behind his ear.
"Wandless magic, Harry, is something many practitioners covet, yet so few of us ever fully tap into." The Headmaster's eyes followed the ash, fingers snapping, the remnants scattering in all directions and disappearing near the office's domed ceiling. "The potential is there for most, but few ever truly become proficient."
"Uh huh," Harry stated, skeptically waiting for the man to continue.
The Headmaster lowered his glasses, peering at him over them. "Your development of wandless magic, so suddenly Harry, and Fawkes' presence has not been a coincidence."
"Now tell me something I don't know," he dryly demanded. "How does Kaylens fit into this?"
He knew damn well there was a reason he'd felt her get injured, for why burning the potions text had been easier with her there than away.
A smile touched Dumbledore's face. "Ah, my boy, now that is a different matter entirely."
Across the room what remained of Regulus' goblet of orange juice shattered, breaking into a half dozen pieces that scattered noisily across the floor. Harry's fist had grown so tight his knuckles went white. "I've rather had enough," he requested with barely restrained rage, "with riddles."
Dumbledore seemed nonplussed. "Hardly a riddle my boy. They are two different matters entirely, neither being a terrible problem to have."
"Why don't you let me decide what is or isn't a problem?"
Fawkes nipped at his ear again, only this time it was slightly less affectionate and more irritated. "Hey!" Harry protested, turning and casting a betrayed look at the phoenix.
Fawkes just clacked his gleaming gold beak at him, black eyes fixated on him disapprovingly, as if to say shut up stupid and listen.
Harry rubbed at his ear, turning back to Dumbledore to find the Headmaster looking past him and upon the phoenix fondly. Something in the wizard's expression startled him. It was like seeing a dying man looking into the light, yet not able to reach it.
"I fear that there will soon come a time, Harry, in which I will no longer be the protector of Hogwarts."
Harry shifted uncomfortably in his seat. "Just because the Ministry is full of idiots-"
The way the Headmaster's eyes shifted from Fawkes to him caused his voice to die in his throat. "It is not the Ministry I refer to, Harry. We are at war, and in every war there are, I fear, casualties, whether we desire them or not." Pausing, fingers drumming amicably upon the desk's surface, he continued, "I harbor no belief that the destruction of the horcruxes will not claim lives, Harry. I fully intend to be one of them, rather than anyone else. But before I can cross that bridge I must ensure that certain protections have been put in place."
It was all stated so matter-of-factly that Harry's mouth dropped soundlessly open, all previous anger evaporating in an instant. "You-you what?"
"You see now, my boy," Dumbledore said kindly, "why it was so very important that I speak with you, no matter how angry you were with me?"
His mouth had gone extremely dry. "But-you're Albus Dumbledore," he stated dumbly.
"And he is Tom Marvolo Riddle, Lord Voldemort," the Headmaster replied. "I do not dare to harbor the delusion, Harry, that the defenses for his other horcruxes will be as gentle as the one we encountered in the Forbidden Forest."
"Gentle?" Harry sputtered, sitting up straighter. "Those gentle defenses practically killed Luna!" They would have had Harry not been there to breath for her, had Dumbledore not been there to get her back to the castle, had Madame Pomfrey not once been a war healer.
"Why do you think," Dumbledore asked not unkindly, "I led the four of you to that particular horcrux first?"
"Because it was the next one you'd found."
The Headmaster shook his head. "No, Harry. It was because it was the representation of Tom's innocence. It was the least powerful of all his horcruxes, his first made, and as such the defenses were bound to be the weakest."
Fawkes made an upset trilling behind him, the swan-sized bird settling itself down and getting comfortable alongside Harry's head. Instinctively he reached up, comfortingly stroking the phoenix's warm feathers.
"I needed to ensure that, at the very least, the four of you were prepared. That the four of you had seen what you would be up against when I was gone."
Harry felt suddenly ill, sitting there across from Dumbledore, listening to him talk about being gone as if it were inevitable. "Why us?" he questioned, at a loss of what else to say.
"Well my boy isn't it obvious?"
He practically growled. "Again, no."
"You Harry, it will all begin and end with you. Ms. Granger has always been the cleverest witch of her age, her spellwork something you will require. Mr. Weasley's loyalty I do not believe you will ever be without, and as for Ms. Lovegood, well…" Smiling, he pressed, "Her ability to look past the practical, to see what other's miss, is something you will most assuredly require before this all ends."
"What about the others?" Harry demanded. "The rest of the Order?"
"Oh," Dumbledore stated vaguely, "they will be needed, but they will have the four of you for guidance, assuming the worst were to befall me sooner rather than later."
Harry made to stand, Dumbledore lifting a powerful hand in a 'staying' motion. He froze, not sure if it was spellwork by Dumbledore keeping him there or just the paralyzing fear that no matter how pissed he was at the Headmaster's tactics, that he'd seriously never considered being without them.
"To prepare for that, Harry, I had to ensure that you were ready."
"Ready for what?" he breathed, not sure he wanted the answer.
"A phoenix cannot bond to just any witch or wizard, my boy. There has to be something truly special within them, a magical potential lacking in most. Its power…it simply cannot be contained by the ordinary." The Headmaster nodded towards Fawkes, continuing, "Fawkes has healed you thrice now, has he not?"
Heart pounding, Harry suddenly had an understanding of where the Headmaster was going with this, and he wasn't certain that he liked it. Not one bit.
"I don't-I don't know," he honestly stated.
The Headmaster peered at him skeptically, removing his glasses and placing them on the desk. "Oh but I think you do, Harry. First within the Chamber of Secrets, healing you from the basilisk's venom. Then again, after the third task of the Triwizard Tournament, healing you from the accromantula wound on your leg. Then again when Number 12 Grimmauld was attacked. I believe he mentioned you had rather severe wounds in your side."
Harry choked on thin air. "Fawkes mentioned?"
"Why of course my boy, you did not think I could not communicate with my own familiar, did you?" A look of aged amusement crossed the Headmaster's face, Fawkes and the wizard exchanging a look so full of meaning that Harry suddenly wondered if they actually were talking.
Instantly his cheeks turned red, heating up as he realized that if that were the case Fawkes would have seen and told Dumbledore everything he'd seen that morning. "Um…so er…how much does Fawkes exactly-"
Dumbledore held up a hand. "As I said before, Harry, I see little wrong with there being more love in the world." Pausing, the Headmaster studied him intently. "She does, of course, know how you feel, does she not?"
Harry squirmed uncomfortably, a look of understanding crossing the wizard's face. "I see," he stated, smiling slightly. "Well, Harry, another piece of unsolicited advice from an old man, if you would so entertain it?"
Gulping, he nodded.
"I would rather get a move on with telling her. In these times life is so…unexpected. It burns so fiercely, brightly, yet one never knows how much time is left on their candle's wick."
Harry's heart was pounding intensely, the thought of Kaylens' wick not being long disturbing him on multiple levels that could send him into a near panic.
"That is, of course, why you have been so angered with me over Dublin, is it not, Harry? It was not the others. It was merely the girl."
Instantly his mouth drew into a tight, strained line. "It was everyone," he denied.
The Professor merely smiled, tilting his head. "Of course it was, Harry. Either way…when I am gone, I have to ensure that you are prepared, and it seems that Fawkes has already chosen you."
"Chosen me for what?" he choked.
"Why to become bonded to, of course." Leaning forward conspiratorially, he looked around as if sharing a secret, "There is a reason phoenix tears are so rare, Harry. And there is a reason he has healed you not only three times, but that he continues to cry in your drinks. I rather think you will find, over the coming months, that if you allow this to continue you will find yourself capable of far more wandless magic than you ever have believed yourself to be capable of. That being said…" the Headmaster trailed off, leaning back into his chair as abruptly as he had leaned forward.
It was a long while before the man spoke, drumming his fingers on the table thoughtfully. "You had also asked me about Ms. Kaylens. Are you certain you would not rather wait for Remus?"
Harry was processing what Dumbledore had said, Fawkes nudging up against the back of his head rather like Crookshanks did to Hermione.
Only Fawkes was a phoenix, and Harry was apparently in the process of becoming bonded to him.
He shuddered to think what that meant.
And now the Headmaster was mentioning Kaylens. Kaylens…who he'd sent away and was now talking about without her. Harry swallowed a large lump in his throat. "I want to know."
His voice sounded more gravelly than he remembered it, the Headmaster studying him for an impossible moment.
The Headmaster settled back into his chair, looking far more comfortable suddenly. "Tell me, Harry, have you ever touched upon the topic of 'war bonds' within any of your advanced readings?"
The look he shot the wizard emphasized how little advanced reading he actually did, the Headmaster actually chuckling. "Magic is a powerful thing, my boy. Still…it pales in comparison to love." Expression sobering, the Headmaster sadly told, "Your mother's sacrifice to save you, all those years ago, speaks to its ability to conquer all, even the killing curse itself."
Harry tensely waited, not wanting to think about how his own mother and father had died to save him. They were just the first two in a long tally of deaths surrounding his life. Cedric, Sirius, Seamus…
How many more did there have to be?
Dumbledore was looking at him curiously. "If you do not mind an old man's prying, Harry, might I inquire about the circumstances surrounding your and Kalliandra's first kiss?"
Harry made a sound rather like a dying cat. Behind him Fawkes made a sound that, if he hadn't known better, he'd have sworn was a laugh. "Our-our what?"
"Why your first kiss, Harry," Dumbledore repeated with a smile. "Certainly it cannot be all that racy? I was assured by Remus that you are, indeed, a gentleman."
Harry was fairly certain he choked on thin air. As pissed as he'd been not twenty minutes ago, fielding questions about his sex life from the Headmaster was the last thing he'd expected to be doing. "Um…Hogmseade," he managed, sounding like he was being strangled.
The Headmaster inclined an eyebrow. "Unfortunately, Harry, I will require more details than that. If you'd be so inclined to humor an old romantic, how exactly did it occur?"
Yet again Harry seriously debated what might be better – facing down Voldemort or this. He shifted uncomfortably in his seat. "After Hogsmeade got attacked. Your portkey…it took us into the forest." Swallowing, mouth dry, he croaked, "Voldemort's werewolves attacked us. They nearly drowned Kaylens. Then we-"
His voice died, Harry really hoping Dumbledore wouldn't ask for additional information.
He did.
"Did either of you happen to be bleeding at the time, Harry?" the Headmaster inquired mildly.
Harry's brow furrowed as if the man had gone insane. "Didn't you hear me? We'd just been attacked by werewolves."
Dumbledore nodded encouragingly. "And?"
"Yes, we both were," Harry responded, spelling it out and feeling damn bewildered. Fawkes trilled tiredly, feathers rustling against his head and further messing up his already unruly hair. Harry reached back and absently patted the warm wings. "I don't see what that has to do with-"
"Ah my boy," Dumbledore was smiling rather oddly, "it has everything to do with it. Though," chuckling, "given your discomfort sharing even those small details I can certainly see why Remus has been avoiding this conversation."
Harry grunted in slight annoyance, pointedly waiting.
"Magic is powerful, Harry. Even now we do not understand everything about it." The wizard placed both of his hands flat on the desk. "One particularly interesting bit is that, whenever there is a war going on, there invariably seems to be some wizards and witches who wind up getting stronger as a result. Curious, isn't it?"
Harry wet his lips. "What does that have to do with me and Kaylens?"
"Why everything, Harry. Battles, wars, are intense with magic by their very nature. If two souls are to share a first kiss that is powered by raw emotion amidst such a highly charged magical environment, can you imagine the possibilities Harry?"
The Gryffindor grimaced, saying nothing. He didn't have to. The Headmaster was already pressing on.
"Throughout wizarding history, Harry, whenever this had occurred, if their blood is somehow mixed in the process, it has had the strangest effect of binding the two participants together, making them stronger in battle than they are apart. It can even grow to the point of conveying subtle clues as to whether or not the other is injured." Raising both eyebrows, Dumbledore questioned, "You wouldn't have, by chance, happened to have noticed anything like that happening around Ms. Kaylens, would you of?"
The Headmaster smiled at him in such a way that it was clear the wizard already knew.
He squirmed uncomfortably. The memory of Kaylens holding up her bleeding hand in Remus' study, the intense itching of his own palm powerfully at the forefront of his mind. "So it gives us…extra magic?"
Dumbledore chuckled aloud. "Oh no my boy. All the magic you do near one another is entirely your own already. Just being near one another helps you to advance in it quicker, makes it stronger than it already is, particularly if you perceive the other person to be in any form of danger."
At some point Harry had reached up, grabbing onto his hair, slowly tugging on it.
Studying him, Dumbledore gravely added, "I suspect, Harry, that my timely revelation of the danger the retrieval team was in within Dublin, immediately before the accromantula attacked within the Forbidden Forest, and your fear for Kalliandra may have assisted you in being able to stop the accromantula in the way you did, even though she was not immediately present."
He'd snapped its neck with a snap of his fingers…
Harry stared. "You told me then on purpose," he stated, realization sinking coldly into him.
"Indeed," Dumbledore admitted. "I had to test Remus' theory. We had suspected, from some slight observation of you both, and yet…we required confirmation. I understand that Remus ran his own test of sorts?"
Harry barely heard him. His fingers had curled into a tense fist. "You knew how I'd react," he ground, a low note of anger already vibrating in his voice.
Dumbledore nodded solemnly. "That's not to say that you wouldn't be able to do the same type of magic on your own, Harry. It just means that the fear for her, that being near her gives you an extra boost when it is most needed."
"I sense there's a but coming." Harry's throat felt unnaturally tight. "So what is it? Is that the only reason she likes me? Is everything I feel for her fake?" The mere thought had his gut twisting, an indescribably ill sensation overcoming him.
A strangely bemused expression befell Dumbledore, the old wizard merely proffering an unreadable smile. "Of course not, Harry. As mentioned, war bonds are hardly unique to you and Kalliandra. They've happened many times before. Fighting for one's life is, after all, an emotional experience. Many a wizard prior to you, and I'm sure after you both, are bound to succumb to a relieved snog amidst a battle. The bond itself though? That only lasts as long as your feelings for one another remain real. The moment they lapse, the war bond fades."
The incredibly sick feeling subsided, only slightly.
"War bonds enhance magic that is already there, due to feelings already present, my boy. They do not artificially create something that was never there to begin with."
It didn't create anything that wasn't already there…
He still felt sick.
Harry was fairly certain he'd about had enough of conversing with Dumbledore for the day. Abruptly he gave Fawkes one final tap, standing up quickly.
The Headmaster just looked amused. "Quite right you are Harry, it is getting later in the day, and I'm positive you have missed your potions lessons by now. Whatever will Severus do?" The familiar twinkle had re-entered the Headmaster's eyes, Harry still breathing hard at the swirling knowledge in his head.
"Yeah," he muttered coherently, still not moving. His eyes landed on Fawkes, the phoenix eyeing him with bemusement he swore to things unholy looked eerily reminiscent of Dumbledore's.
"Why me?" he blurted suddenly, turning his attention back to where Dumbledore sat. "Why would Fawkes choose me? Why not bond to someone else?" He was seizing onto the phoenix because it was easier than thinking about what a war bond meant.
Harry needed Hermione. He needed Hermione and that brilliant brain of hers to help.
Dumbledore tilted his head curiously. "Because Harry," he stated, as if it were incredibly obvious, "of all the students who have passed through this castle's walls, I can think of no one whom has shown as much loyalty to me as you. Even now, when I least have earned it."
Harry went silent, his hands flexing on thin air as he tried to process that. All he'd done for the past two months was avoid the Headmaster, and here he was being told that Fawkes still considered him the most loyal?
"It also helps, Harry, that you possess the aptitude for it, otherwise no amount of loyalty would have been enough." Dumbledore smiled secretively. "Not just anyone can bond with a phoenix."
He found himself nodding, making his way for the door before he could ask anything else, only-
"Oh and Harry."
He froze in the doorway, looking back, saying not a word.
"A phoenix is the embodiment of fire magic. I dare say you may find yourself with a certain…proclivity for it, if you were only to try it." As if to emphasize Dumbledore held up a single hand, snapping his fingers, the fireplace and every candle in the room blazing to life. "You perhaps may want to begin practicing it."
Harry stared, the depth of the Headmaster's secrets slowly sinking in. The manipulations, the timing of phrases meant to set him personally off, the turns of phrase, the way he moved all the Order members around like players on a chess board, keeping the depths of his own magical talents hidden.
He swallowed, going to leave, only stopping one last time.
Against his better judgment he turned within the doorway, meeting Dumbledore's curious gaze. "Headmaster," he managed, "there is one more thing. Hermione would kill me if I didn't ask it."
Silence greeted him, Fawkes leaping off the back of the chair he'd been seated in not moments before, soaring to land on Dumbledore's shoulder. Harry found himself facing down two identical sets of eyes – one pair blue and one pair black.
"What defenses does Hogwarts already have in place to defend against an attack?"
Both pairs of eyes twinkled in an identical manner, Harry already knowing that whatever they were going to say, that Hermione was going to like the answer.
ECOTS
Author's Note: Please review and let me know what you think of how this has been progressing. I'd greatly appreciate it! Thank you to those who have been! I truly appreciate you lot!
