"They deserved it!" Aberforth shouted out as he entered Gryffindor's Common Room where a few students started raising their head.
"Two days. You haven't been back for two days and you've already got in a fight. That is a record, even for you."
"They were bullying the First Years!"
"And as the brave knight in shining armour I have no doubt you are, you defended them," Albus remarked. "The same way, I'm sure you attacking these Fourth Years was the only possible mean you had to stop the bullying."
"Well, next time they'll think twice! People like them, that's the only way for them to understand."
Albus felt an headache coming and slowly started to massage his temples. "Aberforth, violence is never the answer. You could have called me-"
"-yes, where were you by the way? Aren't you supposed to look after the Firsties, Mister the Great Prefect?"
He ignored the interruption. "You could have called a teacher, you could have left with the First Years, you could have talked to them and-"
"Talk to them? Under what rock are you living, Albus? You think that if I had asked nicely to stop bullying the Firsties, they would have said yes and stopped it? That they wouldn't have done it again as soon as I was gone? And everybody says you're the clever one?"
Albus sharply inhaled and tried not to grit his teeth.
"Sometimes, you've got to fight!" The younger wizard hit the table nearby with his fist. "If you don't show 'em what's gonna happen if they don't stop, they'll keep doing it!"
"Yes, yes, I get it. I now see the errors of my way. Truly, you have a way with words and are made to be in charge. Remind me to recommend you for prefect duties later."
"And end up like you?" Aberforth snorted as he unceremoniously fell on the sofa facing his brother. "No, thank you."
Lord, give him strength.
"So what now?" Aberforth lied on the sofa and crossed him arms. "Punishment. What do I get? Come on, do your worst. We both know you want to punish me."
"I don't!" he protested.
"Really? That's good I suppose. Well then, go back to your books and stop bothering me."
That being said, Aberforth turned in the sofa and Albus was now facing his brother's back.
Albus deeply inhaled once more and tried to pretend the entire room wasn't looking at them.
"Aberforth, in case you have not noticed, you attacked three Fourth Years in broad daylight and in front of what was near the end a rather impressive crowd. You have to understand, I have to punish you."
"Says who?"
"If I don't," he lowered his voice so only the two of them could hear him, "many will say there was favouritism because you're my little brother."
And Albus couldn't allow that. While it was true that he had no wish of giving detention to anybody, he still had to show he could handle any problem coming his way and insure no Gryffindor would start attacking other students whenever his back was turned. They haven't been back to school for a week and Albus already had to prove to the rest of the school there would be consequences for such misbehaviour and that he would never allow favouritism or reward anybody for breaking rules.
Aberforth snorted.
It was just his luck that it was Aberforth he would have to use to set an example.
The younger Dumbledore turned back. "So what is that gonna be? A night in the dungeons upside down? Shackles? The whip?"
Or he could write lines. Or even help the caretaker with cleaning the school. That should work too.
"Hurry up, I don't have all day."
Albus suddenly felt exhausted. "Do we really have to do that? Can't we… Can't we just…"
Aberforth looked at his brother in the expectative.
"Just…" Albus sighed and finally chose to drop it. "Just clean the trophies in the trophy room. That should be enough."
Aberforth looked at him for a few more seconds and looked away. "Fine, fine," he mumbled
"And please stop getting into fights."
"I'm making no promise." The younger Dumbledore took a glance at the older one. "I suppose I can try though," he mumbled.
Albus supposed that would have to be enough for now. "It's not… I'm not saying I'm not glad to see you've taken a shine to our First Years," he told him. "Because, I am. I had no doubt I could count on you to keep an eye on them. I'm just asking you to please stop trying to fix everything with your fists and to instead use the brain I know you have."
Aberforth gave a humourless smile. "Do you really?"
Albus ignored him. "You could for example… You could for example help them with their Charms homework. You're good at Charm, are you not? I'm sure they'll appreciate you helping them with their homework when they come back."
For a few seconds, his brother eyed at him. Finally, he looked away. "Fine, fine. I suppose I can do that. Now leave me alone."
And Aberforth crossed his arms and childishly pretended Albus wasn't here.
He had been so nice when he was four, Albus couldn't help but lament. Sadly, gone were the days when his little brother would follow him like some lost owl and try to be like him. Now at thirteen, it seemed like all Aberforth could do was to get into a few fights with the first Slytherins goading him and act like Albus was the worst being on earth because he didn't condone his notion of 'heroism'.
"You had Care of Magical Creatures today, didn't you?" he lightly asked in an attempt to change subject.
Aberforth grunted what Albus decided to take as an affirmative.
"How did you find the class?"
"It was okay." He paused. "We studied Bowtruckles."
He clapped his hands in delight. "Fascinating little creatures, are they not?"
"Yeah, I suppose they are." He stole a look at him. "Is it true you got beaten in a duel?"
Albus' good mood vanished. "So you have already heard about it," he remarked as he put his hands in his pockets. A glance at the rest of the room showed that they were still listening to them. When his right hand found the comforting touch of his wand, he casted a spell to finally get some privacy.
His brother slowly smirked. "I bet you cried when that happened."
"I do not cry, Aberforth."
"Well, you're not harassing that great duellist to learn how to get better." He shrugged. "That means you got upset."
"Actually, he is the one who got upset."
And the new student was now avoiding him for no discernible reason. He had seen him leaving the library but considering the foul mood he was in, Albus hadn't bothered trying to ask for clarifications.
Aberforth raised his eyebrows. "Alright, what did you do?"
When Harry faced the Fat Lady, he couldn't stop himself from releasing a sigh.
If what Black had told him was true, he had a pretty good idea what was going to happen. And, although he more or less knew what he was going to do, he wasn't keen to face it.
He had done nothing wrong, he mentally repeated as he gave her the password. It was Dumbledore who was at fault. It was Dumbledore who had forced him to help Professor Merrythought. And if anybody asked him anything about that bloody duel, he'd tell them what he told Black.
When the blonde Weasley smiled at him, Harry tried to believe that wasn't because the student wanted to interrogate him.
"We thought you'd come here as soon as class was over. You didn't get lost, I hope. A few First Years got lost yesterday. Dumbledore helped them find the Common Room and seemed to have taken them under his wing. But…" He shrugged. "Well, it was too good to be true, I suppose."
Harry frowned. "He was with me yesterday and I don't remember any First Year getting lost."
"Eh? What are you- Ah! No, no." He shook his head. "I don't mean Albus, I mean Dumbledore." Seeing Harry's frown, he pointed behind him. "Look."
When Harry turned his head, it was not one Dumbledore he saw but two.
Harry rubbed his eyes but there were still two Dumbledores talking.
After the initial shock of the discovery, Harry realized that, no, Dumbledore hadn't found a way to clone himself. While it was true both wizards looked stunningly alike, the one on the sofa's hair were shorter and only reached his ears than the one standing had hair that reached his shoulders. Also, it seemed like the one sitting was younger.
"The one on the sofa is Aberforth Dumbledore, Albus' little brother," the blonde Weasley explained. "Third Year, a rather decent wizard but a bit too eager to get into fights. You missed the confrontation between the two by the way. Albus has been trying to teach him how to be less hot-headed ever since he got here. So far, it's a failure." He shrugged. "I suppose you'll see other confrontations, the little brother tends to misbehave. Between you and me, when I look at them, I'm glad to be an only child."
Harry couldn't stop an incredulous smile at that confession.
"I've seen you were a pretty good duellist."
Harry sighed and mentally braced himself. "I suppose so."
"I suppose you must have had a good teacher."
Harry couldn't stop a nervous laugh. "Actually no." Seeing the wizard's puzzled face, he felt forced to say: "I've had bad teachers most of the time."
"It didn't look like it. I mean-" The blonde Weasley bemusedly smiled. "You won your duel, did you not?"
Harry grimaced and tried to wave it away. "I was part of some defence group but that was because our teacher was horrible."
Considering the look in the other Gryffindor was now giving him, that was the wrong thing to say.
"A defence group?" He seemed to be excited at the idea. "Which one were you in?"
"Oh, I doubt you have heard of it." He tried to deflect. Seeing it had little effect, he added, "It was just me and a couple of friends. That's it." Seeing the boy was about to ask for more, he looked around for an escape.
Sadly, it was clear the rest of the room –minus the two Dumbledores- was actively listening and that no help was going to come.
"And you know, we liked our privacy," he started fibbing. "Like we were really, really shy. I'm not even sure I should tell you about the DA really."
"Why not? Isn't the point of a Defence group to gather the most people and teach them? It's not as if you were doing anything illegal." He startled and strangely looked at him. "You weren't doing anything illegal, right? Like, you were not learning the Dark Arts or stuff like that, right?"
Harry considered screaming. "Our teacher was horrible," he gritted his teeth. "She didn't want to teach us and anybody learning how to defend themselves got punished. We learnt Defence Against the Dark Arts despite our teacher. She was never supposed to find out, got it? We just- We just learnt how to defend ourselves. A few expelliarmus, a couple reductos, one or two stunners… Things like that, you see."
To Harry's relief, the blonde Weasley seemed to believe him.
"Sorry. It's just… Albus is such a big deal here that the one who managed to defeat him in a duel must have learned great magic, or-or be a very good wizard part of some of the finest defence group."
Harry rolled his eyes. "If I learnt one thing when it comes to Defence, it's that it doesn't really matter how good your opponent is."
The blonde incredulously looked at him but Harry was too focused on what he was saying to notice.
"You've always got a chance to win the fight. You just…" He grimaced. "You just need to learn how to take it."
That was what he had tried to teach the DA mostly. There had been a few spells there and there but as Hermione has told him, that wasn't why she had asked him to teach them. Mostly, he had tried teach them how to keep going despite the raging terror, the horrifying realization their lives were on the line and there would be no second chance.
The last couple of days felt like that, in a way. Harry was terrified and he had absolutely no idea what he was supposed to do. Still, he knew he wasn't allowed to fuck up. He knew he had to grit his teeth and keep going until he could see some sliver of hope.
"Besides, even…" Harry wondered how he should call the young Dumbledore for a few seconds and ultimately gave up. "Even your friend can make mistakes. You heard Merrythought, right? He's made many, I just knew how to take the opportunities he gave me. He's a student too, you know? Like, okay he's good but he's just a good student. So, no, I'm not some great wizard."
And when finally he found it, Harry was going to take it in both hands.
"I'm just… I'm just your average wizard, just passing by."
Aberforth whistled. "No wonder he's angry at you."
"Aberforth, you do not understand-"
"What were you even trying to do? Like, you must have your reasons to play this dirty-"
"I was not playing-"
"-but look at it from his point of view. He doesn't know you, why should he believe you're not that kind of wizard? And, seriously, what kind of bastard pretend to cast an unforgiveable at somebody?"
"Aberforth," Albus calmly tried to explain, "you need to understand that very few wizards our age know what the Killing Curse looks like."
"Except he does. He does and so do you." Aberforth raised his head and looked at the wizards in the room. "Which one is he by the way? Is he the one with that stupid hair?"
"That's him." He looked at the wizard talking to a rather wide-eyed Arthorius. A spell casted under his breath allowed him to hear their conversation and he couldn't help a sigh.
"What? What did he say?" Aberforth demanded.
Albus considered not answering but he suspected he'd find out soon enough. "Apparently, I made many mistakes and am just a good student."
Needless to say, it was not surprising that the first thing Aberforth said was: "I like him. No, really," he continued, "finally somebody here who doesn't kiss the ground you walk on." The boy slyly smiled. "You're just a good student and you messed up."
Albus slowly crossed his arms and tried not to show his annoyance.
Truth be told, he was getting slightly put out by all this story. He had tried to be nice to the new Gryffindor and even helpful ever since he came here and so far the wizard had treated him like dirt. He had forgiven his attitude on his first night here, blaming some possibly rough travel, but now he was treating him like some horrible wizard just because of one little duel.
And it was like he has decided that the answer to him winning against him was to put Albus down and say he wasn't that good. It was rather terrible sportsmanship in his opinion and, had the roles been reversed, Albus would have insured the others knew he had duelled remarkably. But no, apparently, it was on his mistakes that the wizard was focusing on.
And that fake modesty. That was perhaps the worst thing. Albus didn't know who he was trying to fool but nobody was going to buy it. Nobody.
Albus pinched his nose and finally decided to just go and apologize for whatever mistake the other student believed him to be guilty. Maybe the two of them would never be friends but it would be better if they were not at odds with each other.
Besides, Albus couldn't help thinking, he was rather confident the two of them would duel again.
And this time, he had every intention not to underestimate him and win.
When Harry finally managed to leave the blonde Weasley's side and somehow calmed the game, it was to go nose to nose with Dumbledore.
"If I may Harry?"
Harry couldn't help but glare at the prefect. "What now?"
The red-haired bemusedly smiled. "I just wanted to apologize for earlier. I see I've upset you and that was not my intention."
Harry startled and uneasily looked away. "Why… Why did you even do that?" he couldn't help asking. "What was the bloody point?"
Because he saw no reason why Albus Dumbledore would go for such underhanded tactic. It felt cheap and Harry may not know the wizard really but that truly seemed out of character to play this dirty.
The prefect seemed to hesitate for a few seconds. "I suppose you're referring to the colouring charm. You need to understand that this is a valid feint in many duelling circuits." Harry rolled his eyes at that but the wizard insisted, "I know now that you're not used to duelling but at the time I didn't know and treated you like any duellist would-"
"He wanted to see if you were going to dodge, I think," a voice interrupted.
Dumbledore closed his eyes and deeply inhaled as he put his hands in his pockets. "Aberforth," he told the wizard still on the sofa, "how many times have I told you not to eavesdrop?"
But Aberforth ignored his brother. "He does that sometimes," he explained. "He puts traps just to see how you're going to react. Trick questions if you like."
"If that is because of last year, you perfectly know that I already-"
"So what?" Harry cut the conversation and wasn't displeased to notice the prefect had startled at the interruption. "I wasn't supposed to react and this was just some stupid test?"
"Looks like it."
Anger slowly started to build. "I wonder… Did I pass?" he spat. "Which mark do I get? Because it really feels like you've been testing me ever since I came here."
Dumbledore grimaced and Harry knew he's hit bullseye.
Before Harry could explode he said, "I just wanted you to feel at ease. If you had trouble with any class, I wanted to help you to get better. So yes I suppose from a certain point of view that I tested you. But that's all it was and I only did this to help you."
Harry couldn't help but startle at the revelation. "W-Well… I-I suppose I can understand that," he reluctantly admitted.
The prefect didn't have to do that and he was aware that, had he been utterly lost with these lessons that he would have even been grateful.
"But the colouring charm was petty," he couldn't help adding.
Dumbledore sighed. "If you are that upset I did that feint, then I deeply apologize but-"
"Who died?"
Harry froze and slowly turned to the second Dumbledore.
"Albus told me he was using non-verbal magic earlier and that, while you apparently handled yourself remarkably, you had no idea which spells he was using. And yet you thought you saw an Unforgiveable because of how the spell looked like." He shrugged. "Nobody recognizes a spell by sight alone in a split second unless they've seen it at work."
Albus stilled.
Harry stared at the younger Dumbledore for a few seconds, unable to even think. "That doesn't mean somebody died."
Aberforth shrugged. "Sure. But considering your face I think I'm right, am I not?"
Harry bit his tongue and looked away.
Albus, in his defence, looked horrified. "Oh, I'm so sorry! I didn't-" He grimaced. "I've never intended to bring back bad memories or hurt you in any way."
Aberforth rolled his eyes. "Well, big new for you, you did."
"I just wanted to…" He sighed. "I suppose it doesn't really matters. I clearly didn't think this through and I hurt you. For that I'm sorry."
Harry, not used to have people apologizing to him, grimaced. What was he supposed to do now? "Well… Don't do it again. And…" Harry tried to find something else to say and came empty-handed. "Just don't do that," he concluded.
"I won't," he promised in a small voice.
He suddenly felt exhausted. It was barely eight and all Harry wanted was to go to bed and be left alone.
With a sigh, Harry left the chagrined wizard and headed to the dormitories to do just that.
He really hoped tomorrow wouldn't be like the last two days.
Day three Harry groggily thought as he woke up the next morning. He's been stuck in the past for three days.
It felt like centuries really. Sometimes, it even felt like Harry was stuck in a rather bizarre dream and he just needed to find a way to wake up.
But no, he woke up and he was in the past. He had time-travelled and only had his wand and whatever he had in his pockets when the accident with the time turners happened.
Harry at that thought absent-mindedly searched his pockets and retrieved what was inside.
First there was the pen knife Sirius had given him and which had suffered from his trip in the Department of Mysteries. Then there was the badge he got at the Ministry of magic where was written 'Harry Potter. Rescue mission' and the DA coin.
"How the bloody hell am I supposed to get back?" he murmured as he starting playing with the fake galleon in his hand.
After a few minutes, he put the galleon in his pocket and turned in his bed to face the jar where the butterfly from two days ago was resting.
With a sigh, he took the jar and went to the nearest window. He then opened it and the lid of the jar.
The emerald butterfly slowly left the jar and started flying around him.
"He seems to like you."
Harry turned his head and sighed when he saw the already dressed prefect. "I stepped on it."
"I'm sure he knows that was an accident," Albus said as Harry started to wave his hands so that the butterfly would leave him and head for the window. "And you saved him, didn't you? I'm sure he's grateful."
Harry rolled his eyes as the butterfly finally left. "It's a butterfly," he said as he closed the window.
Albus looked at his bed. "You really have nothing, don't you? You're even sleeping in yesterday's robe."
Harry tried to remember which lie he had given. "My luggage got lost. I'll buy some replacement during the weekend."
Harry tensed when the wizard pointed his wand at him. With a swish of the prefect's wand, his robe's wrinkles vanished. "You know," he remarked, "I would have let you borrow some nightclothes had I know it was that dire."
Harry shrugged. "Slipped my mind." He hesitated. "Also, you were nice enough to help me with the rest. I wasn't going to push it."
Albus smiled. "If it may reassure you, I gave you my least favourite quill." He looked once more at the bed. "What is that?" He slowly took in his hand Sirius' gift. "It doesn't feel like a normal pen knife."
"Oh, it was charmed."
Albus put his wand over the pen knife and started whispering something. He whistled. "Fascinating," he breathed. "I've never seen anything charmed like this before. May I ask where you bought it?"
Harry shrugged. "It was a gift. I kinda liked it."
"I can see why, it is high quality. It really a pity it is broken. Truly, you must have been facing a rather stubborn lock for the blade to melt." Seeing Harry's face he chuckled as he showed him the pen knife. "The enchantments are still here. I don't know how the creator managed to wave so many on such a small item but it's rather obvious what it was meant to do. I suppose you don't have to worry about losing your keys when you have that. Although, I suppose you did need the key for the lock that destroyed it. It's such a pity you lost that one, that lock must have been protecting something quite valuable."
Harry tried to look as innocent as possible.
Considering the twinkles in the prefect's eyes, he failed.
"I suppose it died for a good cause," Albus finally said. "Well, I say it died… I suppose somebody can fix it if they know what to do." He smiled. "I'll be honest, I don't but I can try to resuscitate your pen knife if you want."
Harry startled. "Really?"
"I'm not making any promise but I can try."
"You don't have to do that."
"I know," he told him. "But I do feel sorry for hurting you yesterday and I want to apologize properly. And also, I admit I am partly proposing out of self-interest. I'm rather fascinated by that pen knife and it will be a good mean for me to see how it works."
After grimacing at the memory of the duel, Harry shrugged. "You can try if you want."
It wasn't like it could hurt he thought as the red-haired pocketed the pen knife, it was already good for the bin after all.
It was at that moment that Elphias got up and started animatedly chatting with Albus.
Harry amusedly shook his head and began heading for breakfast.
It looked like day three was going to be better that the last previous days.
Hopefully, he hadn't just jinxed it.
