A/N: Thank you so much to everyone who favourited, followed and reviewed! I can't believe I've got over 100 follows and 65 favourites in only 7 chapters of this story! As a thank you for reaching 100 follows I've made this chapter extra long - it's 4,200 words compared to my usual 2,000! I hope you enjoy and I'd love to hear your thoughts on it!
Thanks to everyone who reviewed Chapter 7 - that's the most reviews I've ever had for one chapter! Here's my responses:
FlowerChild23 - Thanks for reviewing, I'm so glad you're enjoying it!
Nougat-XP - Thank you that's very kind. I'm afraid it takes me a while to update but I don't have any plans to give up writing this story!
tripmight - Thank you! Hopefully this chapter might give a small insight into all the fuss the Howler will cause!
Rohirrim Girl 2187 - You're right - she is utterly furious! I hope that comes across in this chapter!
LambdaOfTheDead - Thank you so much, that's really lovely to hear! And thank you for reviewing again!
J'apprends le français, donc si tu veux tu peux écrire en français. Ce serait une très bonne pratique pour moi! J'espère que tu peux comprendre mon français!
tabea.koegl - Thank you for reviewing again! That's really kind of you to say!
Hachiko33200 - Thank you for reviewing! I don't want to give any spoilers yet but tha is certainly an interesting way to look at things!
Yaw613 - Thank you for reviewing, I'm so glad you like it!
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Chapter 8, I'd prefer the Cruciatus curse
Tuesday 3rd November 1981
18:50, Dumbledore's Office
The Headmaster of Hogwarts and the four Heads of Houses speedily made their way to Dumbledore's Office. One man, because he wanted to get what was sure to be torture worse than the Cruciatus curse over as quickly as possible, and the other four were spurred on by their varying degrees of anger at the aforementioned man.
As soon as they arrived in the office, the face of the woman named Minerva McGonagall visibly expressed her anger at the guilty man, Albus Dumbledore. Her lips were even thinner than they were in the Great Hall, and her anger was so strong that it was nearly tangible. She immediately rounded on Dumbledore.
"WHAT WERE YOU THINKING ALBUS? HOW COULD YOU NOT TELL PRIMROSE ABOUT HER OWN FAMILY'S DEATHS? HOW COULD YOU GIVE HARRY TO THOSE HORRIFIC MUGGLES AND NOT OFFER GUARDIANSHIP TO PRIMROSE? THEY ABUSED HIM ALBUS, ABUSED HIM! WHAT IF PRIMROSE HADN'T FOUND HARRY THERE AND HE HAD BEEN ABUSED FOR THE NEXT TEN YEARS OF HIS LIFE UNTIL HE CAME TO HOGWARTS AND NO-ONE WOULD BE ANY THE WISER. NO CHILD DESERVES A CHILDHOOD LIKE THAT, ESPECIALLY ONE WHO HAS BEEN ORPHANED AND LOST ALL CONTACT TO THE MAGICAL WORLD! I'M SURE THEY WOULDN'T HAVE TOLD HIM ABOUT MAGIC AND HOGWARTS! HE MIGHT NOT HAVE KNOWN ANYTHING ABOUT WHO HE IS AND HIS PARENTS! DO YOU REALISE WHAT YOU HAVE DONE ALBUS?"
"Now now Minerva, I'm sure you're overthinking things. I -"
"OVERTHINKING THINGS! I AM SPEECHLESS AT YOU ALBUS! YOU SHOW NO SIGNS OF REMORSE FOR THE SUFFERING HARRY POTTER, OUR SAVIOUR, COULD HAVE FACED BECAUSE OF YOUR ACTIONS! HOW CAN YOU ACT LIKE THAT?"
"Look Minerva I apologise for placing him with those Muggles, though I assure you that I had no idea things would be so bad for poor Harry. If I had known-"
"IF YOU HAD KNOWN! WHAT WOULD YOU HAVE DONE THEN, EH ALBUS? IS YOUR OLD AGE CATCHING UP WITH YOU? HAVE YOU FORGOTTEN WHAT I SAID TO YOU? I SAID THAT YOU COULDN'T FIND PEOPLE MORE UNLIKE US AND THAT PRIMROSE - OR ANYONE BUT THEM - WOULD BE A MORE SUITABLE CARER FOR ANY CHILD, LET ALONE HARRY POTTER! HOW CAN YOU TELL ME YOU DIDN'T HAVE ANY IDEA? I WARNED YOU ALBUS AND I SEE NOW WHY YOU WERE SO VAGUE ABOUT PRIMROSE REJECTING YOUR OFFER OF GUARDIANSHIP - BECAUSE YOU DIDN'T OFFER IT TO HER IN THE FIRST PLACE! WHAT I REALLY WANT TO KNOW IS WHY YOU LIED THAT YOU'D OFFERED GUARDIANSHIP TO PRIMROSE WHEN YOU CLEARLY HAVEN'T AND WHAT'S MORE YOU HAD NO INTENTION TO DO SO!"
Dumbledore shamefully bowed his head to look at the floor - and to avoid making eye contact with Minerva. He would never admit it, but she was downright scary when she was this furious, especially when it was over the orphaned child of two of her favourite Gryffindors, and unfortunately directed at him.
"Well?" Minerva questioned.
Dumbledore remained silent.
"HURRY UP ALBUS, WE HAVEN'T GOT ALL DAY." She snapped, then paused. "On second thoughts, we have. We will remain here until you answer the question, and if that takes all night then so be it." She amended, raising her left eyebrow and tapping her foot in the process.
"Come now Minerva, I'm not one of your students, I'm sure we can sit down and talk about this like sophisticated adults."
"ARE YOU IMPLYING THAT I AM NOT SOPHISTICA- OH NEVER MIND THAT, YOU ARE JUST USING ANY SLY TACTIC TO AVOID THE REAL ISSUE. WHY DID YOU NOT OFFER GUARDIANSHIP TO PRIMROSE?"
"Um, well, I uh thought that she was too young to look after a child, let alone Harry Potter. She's several years younger than Lily was, you see and I thought that bringing up a child single-handed would be too much on one barely out of childhood herself."
"And you thought that deciding that without asking her opinion on the matter would be the right way to handle the situation?"
"Well, no, but... Well I suppose I did, didn't I?"
"It would certainly seem so," Minerva replied, her lips pursed. "And what answer do you have for why you did not bother to inform Primrose of her sister and brother-in-law's deaths?"
Dumbledore sighed. "I did not wish to admit this, as, well, it makes me feel weak, but I don't really know how to deal with crying women, so I thought it best to avoid the situation."
"So you decided to ignore the situation and not make arrangements for anyone to inform her of her family's deaths? How very adult of you Albus. Did you think she would accept that all communication with her sister suddenly stopped and that she would not question it?" Minerva interrogated.
"Minerva, perhaps you are being a little harsh on Albus? You seem to be interrogating him more thoroughly than the DMLE at a Death Eater's trial?" Pomona spoke up.
"I disagree Pomona, there is something he is hiding from us and I WILL get to the bottom of it." She turned back to Albus. "You could have dealt with the situation any number of ways. Even if you had not wished to admit your 'dreadful weakness' to one of us and asked us to explain the situation to her, there were other things you could have done. Now I wouldn't normally advise this, but seeing as you did this with Petunia it would not have been hard to write her a letter. What do you have to say about that?"
"What a good idea Minerva, I-"
"Hmph, well I would hardly call it a GOOD idea, but a better one than ignoring the issue anyhow. Why did you act so irresponsibly Albus? I know it is not like you to ignore the consequences of your actions. You forget I have worked with you for nearly 30 years."
"I can't really answer that I'm afraid Minerva."
"Can't or won't Albus?"
"Uh can't, I assure you Minerva I wasn't thinking straight and that's why I got myself into this mess."
"Hmph, I would have said you weren't thinking at all, but never mind for now. We have bigger issues to discuss, like what Primrose said about Sirius Black. I'm sure you remember that she said that he is innocently being framed for betraying the Potters to You-Know-Who. And even worse, she claims that you knew the truth Albus." Dumbledore paled significantly. "I've seen you working hard to get Sirius Black jailed for life." Dumbledore looked surprised at this. "Oh yes, I've been watching your actions, I know how you've publicly expressed your disapproval of Black, Albus. So what do you have to say about this?"
"My dear Minerva, I assure you that I knew nothing of the sort about Black being innocent until the Howler came. You must believe me Minerva, perhaps the girl is making things up for her own personal gain, although I could not answer why."
Minerva scoffed, "I must believe you Albus! Forgive me if I'm wrong but from where I stand you have given me very little motivation to trust you recently. Not telling Primrose about Lily and James' deaths, not offering her guardianship, LYING TO ME - your friend and colleague of 30 years that you had offered her guardianship, and placing Harry with abusive Muggles who detest magic when there were at least 10 others who would happily take him in and treat him like their own!" she ranted, "So excuse me for thinking that you've given me very little reason to put any trust in you whatsoever, let alone to believe you on something as big as this! Right now I think I trust Primrose's story above yours considering all your lies and immoral behaviour recently!"
"Oh Minerva, unfortunately you are right, I have made some grave mistakes recently. It is true, how can I expect you to believe me when I have not been very truthful as of late? Tell me what I can do to earn back your trust, if you will."
"I don't know where to begin Albus. Seeing as your past actions have already occurred, I suggest you start thinking about how you're going to rectify the situation, for your own sake more than anything else. You do realise that the whole of Hogwarts is aware of your mistakes, not just those of us in this room. Unless you want students telling their parents and their parents blabbing to the Prophet I would suggest you come up with a solution to avoid that situation. Oh and in addition I believe you ought to contact Primrose soon. I believe she may have a few things to say to you, face-to-face. Now I think I'll leave you to it Albus, as it appears you have lots to do," she responded curtly. She then promptly turned towards the office door and left, her robes swishing angrily behind her as a reminder of the trouble Albus had gotten himself into and how he had lost the trust of so many people.
A quiet "Albus," reminded Dumbledore that there were still three others with him in his office. Three others who probably all wished to shout at him like Minerva had.
"Yes," Dumbledore responded just as quietly, dreading what was to come.
"I would like you to know that I am in total agreement with Minerva, though I see no point in wasting our time by repeating what she said, so I will spare you the lecture," Filius said. "Though I would like to remind you that we have known you long enough that we can tell you are hiding something from us. It is not like you to give vague answers regarding your decisions, especially such important decisions regarding the guardianship of a child, and that child being Harry Potter, no less. So just be warned that we will be far from pleased if it turns out that their were motives behind your decisions that you have hidden from us today, Albus. And I suspect there may be."
Albus nodded, looking as though he was deep in thought.
"Now with that I will retire for the evening. Good night Pomona, Severus." Filius concluded, before he walked out much like Minerva had done minutes before.
Pomona and Severus looked at each other and Severus nodded, indicating that Pomona could go first. She took that as her cue, and stepped forward to say her part. "I am astonished at your apparent lack of judgement recently Albus, really I am. Though I must confess I am glad that this has come to light and that Primrose discovered how those other Muggles were treating poor little Harry, as I'm sure you are too. That is the main thing, that he is being treated well now, though it appears you have many people now questioning the integrity of your actions," she glanced at Severus, "It appears that Severus wishes to speak with you, so I will leave you to think about what I just said. I sincerely hope you learn from these mistakes Albus and use them to make better decisions for both yourself and others in the future. Good night." Pomona said, then she made her way out of the office and left Severus to speak with Dumbledore.
The two men in the room stayed in silence for a number of minutes. After a short while, Dumbledore, who had been getting more and more concerned over what Severus was going to say or do, broke the silence with a timid, "Severus".
"Albus," Severus responded curtly.
"Do you have anything to say to me?"
"Oh I have many things to say to you Albus. I am working out where to begin."
"Ah," Albus replied.
A short while later:
"I cannot believe that not only did you fail to keep Lily safe and alive, but you put the last remaining part of her - her only son, with Muggles who cannot stand the thought of magic. How could you put her son with them? Do you know what they're like Albus? Have you even met Petunia?"
Albus shook his head.
"That's right, you haven't met her. Do you know why? She was invited to Lily's wedding to P-Potter. She refused to attend. She was invited to Lily's graduation, along with their parents. She refused to attend. Not because she was too busy or because she couldn't make the date, but because she was jealous. She IS jealous, even now, of magic and that Lily possessed it when she did not. Do you recall the letter she wrote to you when she was 13, begging to attend Hogwarts? That was out of jealousy too. She couldn't stand for her younger sister to be better than her, to have a talent that she did not, to be a part of a world that she was not part of. You forget that I have known Petunia since she was 12 years old Albus. I have watched her grow up to become more and more jealous of Lily and of magic. Lily was always so forgiving of the hurtful things that Petunia had said, but I saw how they affected her, and so did Primrose. So when you said that her son was living with her sister, of course I presumed you meant Primrose. I understand you may have thought she is too young to raise a child, she is only 19 years of age. But what I do not understand is why you did not inform Primrose that Lily had d-d-died. You know as well as I do Albus that you are far from oblivious - you may not have known the specific details, but you knew that Petunia and Lily were estranged and that Primrose and Lily were not. I haven't got any idea why you aimed to keep the truth from her, but I know that she will be wanting words with you and she will not hesitate to go to the Daily Prophet if you choose to ignore her. I suggest you choose how to deal with this situation wisely. Anyway, I am not looking to advise you on how to deal with your mistakes. My main concern is your choice of guardianship - how can you place a child with guardians who you know hate us and everything we stand for and guardians who you have never met to see how they feel about the situation. In fact, how did you hand her son over to them without meeting Petunia?"
There was silence for around half a minute.
"Well, I uh we didn't exactly hand him over you see Severus."
"What did you do?" Severus said in a dangerously quiet voice, indicating the strength of his anger.
"We uh wrapped him in a blanket and um uh left him on their doorstep with a letter to explain things."
"You did what?" Severus almost growled. "You left her son on a doorstep wrapped in a blanket? For how long?"
"Overnight, they found him in the morning though Severus."
"You left her son, a baby, outside on a doorstep for a whole night in November? Do you know how cold it is in November? He could have died from the cold! He-"
"Oh no Severus, we put a variety of heating charms around him that we knew would keep him warm enough, you have no need to worry."
"You keep on saying 'we', are you telling me that it was not just you?"
"No it was not just me, Minerva was with me too."
"Minerva! I cannot believe that she would- No, I can have words with her later. Right now I will deal with you. How could you do that to a baby Albus? Heating charms or not, many things could have happened to him - you don't know who could have walked by and taken him away to Merlin knows where! I do not understand what you were thinking Albus," Severus replied in that quiet voice, his tone colder than ice.
"You are right of course Severus, I do not believe I was thinking at all."
"That is the first thing I have agreed with you about all night. But do not think you suddenly have my forgiveness and loyalty like before."
"Oh Severus, I am truly sorry I-"
"Trust works both ways Albus, you should know that. I told you everything, I became a spy at your request, I risked my life daily because you asked me to. You trusted me to feed the information from the Dark Lord to the Order and I did - we saved lives because of that information! I trusted you with one task - to keep Lily, and her family, alive and you failed! Then, you had one more task, a second chance to redeem my trust if you like - to keep her son safe and happy. That was it and you failed that too. It should not have been hard to keep a few people alive or to place a baby with a loving guardian who would not abuse it! You failed both Albus. For that you have lost my trust and my loyalty," Severus concluded. He then walked briskly out of the room with his robes swishing intimidatingly behind him.
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Meanwhile, Minerva sat at her desk mulling over everything she'd learnt that evening. She had so many emotions running through her in that one moment - anger, annoyance, worry, curiousity, gladness, guilt... the list could go on.
I'm still not convinced that Albus is being totally truthful. He's hiding something - I'm sure of it! I will uncover the truth, even if it's the last thing I do, though it will take time. I think at the moment the best thing to do would be to visit Primrose and little Harry. Oh, how I feel so guilty about leaving Harry on Petunia's doorstep. Why did I listen to Albus when he was so obviously wrong! Who in their right mind would say Petunia is the best available guardian for any child? Unless of course it's between Petunia and He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. But anyway, that's beside the point. So I'll visit Primrose and Harry tomorrow morning, I do wonder how they are coping after the events of the last few days. In fact, I wonder how Primrose discovered what happened to Lily and James so quickly? And to become the guardian of Harry so quickly too! She's a force to be reckoned with if she can find information out and act on it that quickly.
Besides, how does she 'know' that Black is innocent of being the Secret Keeper? And to say that Albus knew too! Those are big claims to make in the Wizarding World, I hope she knows what she's doing. Though after Albus' mistakes recently I must say I'm more willing to believe her. How crazy does that sound - to believe a girl I've never met over my friend and colleague of 30 years!
How can I help to uncover the truth? Ah, I know what I'll do! I'll set up a meeting with an Auror to discuss the possible innocence of Black. At the very least I can make sure they give him a fair trial. Oh how I hope that he's not proved innocent of being the Secret Keeper only to be jailed for life for killing 12 Muggles and a wizard. How unfair that would seem to be innocent of one crime yet guilty of another. Only time will tell.
Now to set up that meeting. Who with though? Not Auror Moody, he's a little too close with Albus for my liking, considering he's involved in this case. Auror Bones would normally be a good choice - she certainly makes a fine Auror, but this case is too personal for her. Ah! Auror Shacklebolt. He should do nicely - he's fair, well spoken, not too close to anyone concerned in the case. He'd listen to what I have to say without shooting it down straight away and he'd investigate it thoroughly. Good, he's a good choice.
After deciding which Auror to meet with she sent a Patronus to Auror Shacklebolt, requesting a meeting with him sometime tomorrow afternoon at his convenience, regarding a very important, confidential issue. She also requested that due to the nature of the issue at hand that he wouldn't tell anyone that it was her that he would be meeting.
He responded almost immediately that that would be no problem and that 16:00 suited him well, if it did her.
She responded thanking him and saying that she looked forward to seeing him at 16:00 tomorrow.
Thank goodness that Auror Shacklebolt is able to meet tomorrow afternoon. I shall certainly be busy tomorrow, meeting with Primrose and then Auror Shacklebolt. Luckily I only have my Sixth and Seventh Years tomorrow so I shall set them some theory to study whilst I am away. I must make sure that Albus is unaware that I have left the castle though. Perhaps I could ask Poppy to cover for me. I could ask her to say that I had an accident or something of that sort and that I am recovering and must not have any visitors. Yes, that should do.
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Meanwhile, Albus Dumbledore could be found sitting at his office desk, with his head in his hands, internally debating how to stop the news about the Howler from spreading.
Firstly I need to stop the news from spreading outside of Hogwarts. What are the students going to do as soon as they're released from the Great Hall? Owl their friends and family. That's it! I'll put up an anti-owl ward around Hogwarts so that no owls can come in or out of the grounds. I ought to make sure the ward includes all of the staff too, aside from myself of course, because after what's happened I'm not exactly sure whether I can trust all of them to keep quiet about this. I'll also keep an eye on all of them to make sure that none of them leave Hogwarts in person.
Around one hour later...
Phew thank goodness that's completed, I am absolutely exhausted now. Of course this is only a temporary solution and I will have to come up with a permanent one tomorrow when I am less tired, but at least I do not need to worry for the moment. Time for bed! Uh oh. I need to tell Aurora that she can let the students go. I will send her a note using Discio and ask her and the rest of the staff to speak with me tomorrow should they wish to.
A few minutes later...
Finally, time for bed now. It's been a long, long day. Let's hope tomorrow will be much less eventful and I can come up with a permanent solution to erase tonight from everyone's minds.
Little did Albus Dumbledore know how far from the truth his wishes were.
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A/N: 'Discio' is a spell that I made up that magically sends things to people a short distance away. It's basically the opposite of Accio and it saved Dumbledore from having to face the staff and students in person - a bit of a coward, don't you think?!
I'd love to hear your thoughts on this chapter so please review! What did you think about everyone's reactions? Were you surprised by any? What do you think about Minerva's plans for tomorrow? Will Albus get in her way when she's trying to leave? Will Albus manage to come up with a successful 'permanent solution'? Stay tuned as there's lots of drama to come!