Ch 12 Dumbledore's Portrait
Harry stepped into Dumbledore's office alone leaving Neville to watch the stairs. They were not far from where Malfoy was being kept and he was in a hurry to complete his business and leave.
The office was dark and cool as if it had taken Dumbledore's personal warmth to heat it. Harry lit a small lamp and noticed the familiar objects still in place. His heartbeat rose as he saw the empty Phoenix perch. The other portraits on the wall woke and a rustled murmuring started up. He caught the tail-end of some of the conversations. "Potter boy...grown up.", "What's he up to?" and, "Dumbledore's favorite... ."
Harry stood in front of the desk as he had done many times in the past and stared up at the portrait. The man in the picture was sleeping and snoring. The open window behind him was dark with night and brilliant specks of stars. The moon was just rounding the edge of it and shining on the white head.
"Professor?" Harry began softly.
"Humpf," Dumbledore grumbled.
"Professor Dumbledore?' Harry said again loudly.
After a moment Dumbledore opened his blue eyes and looked down and smiled. "Hello, Harry."
Harry stood for a moment without responding. His feelings were so overwhelming and so mixed that he couldn't quite control them enough to say anything. Then, he tried to smile, although he knew it was feeble and said, "Hello, Professor."
"I take it you've come on important business to be here at such an hour," Dumbledore arranged his robe and sat back. "How can I help you?"
Harry had been at Hogwarts for six years and initially had been amazed by the portraits that hung on the walls and the moving pictures in his photo album. He'd had both the opportunity and the misfortune of dealing with Mrs. Black's portrait at No. 12 Grimmauld Place and with the Fat Lady and other portraits at Hogwarts. But he'd never given them much consideration in terms of their subjects and the nature of their condition. In other words, he never expected to talk to a dead friend and have one respond in a portrait. His parents pictures didn't even do that.
"Professor...I..." he stumbled and then started again. "I'm not sure..."
"It's all right, Harry. Just say what you want to say. There are no formalities here." The blue eyes twinkled kindly.
"There's so much I'd like to ask, but I have no time. First, just let me say that no matter what you hear, just know... just know... that I'm doing what I think is best." Harry caught his breath and felt the pain in his heart for everything he missed about the man in the picture in front of him; and, for not being able to say it aloud.
"Secondly, you were killed so suddenly that we didn't have a chance to talk about the locket I got from the bowl in the cave. Someone was there before us. I don't know who, but they left their initials behind. There was a note inside the locket and it said, 'To the Dark Lord; I know I will be dead long before you read this but I want you to know that it was I who discovered your secret. I have stolen the real Horcrux and intend to destroy it as soon as I can. I face death in the hope that when you meet your match, you will be mortal once more.' And it was signed R.A.B." Harry had memorized the passage and repeated from memory.
Dumbledore listened and nodded with understanding, his face a study of seriousness now. "I see. It makes your task much easier then."
Harry nodded and said, "The diary, the ring and the locket are now no longer Horcruxes. That leaves the cup, the snake- if you were right about that- and one other object. The seventh soul is inside Voldemort as you said."
"You have done very well, Harry," Dumbledore smiled.
"Professor who was R.A.B.? Do you know?"
"Does it matter, Harry?" Dumbledore asked. "If the locket is no longer a Horcrux then it seems important to move on."
For some reason Harry felt a sense of frustration and even a deeper disappointment. This was the essence of Dumbledore and not the man. He wasn't sure what he could expect from the picture on the wall and had no one to ask.
"I suppose you're right, Professor. By the way, I had Hermione remove the Sorting hat and Gryffindor's sword for safe-keeping."
The other portraits on the wall once again started speaking in unison..."So that was the person who came in..." and so on.
Harry raised his voice over the din, "Also, there is something you didn't know about; the reason Voldemort went to my parents house." He wasn't sure it was wise to do it but he felt compelled to pull out the Gryffindor wand he had carried so close to his heart since finding it. "This is what Voldemort wanted from my parents, Professor. I think they knew he was going to do something terrible with it, and they lost their lives protecting it. I think if he had found it, he would have used it to make a Horcrux. You said he needed something from Gryffindor and something from Ravenclaw." He laid the wand on the empty desk and set the lamp beside it.
"You did very well!" Dumbledore said beaming at him.
Suddenly, Harry wanted more then platitudes. He was angry and he wanted answers. "You told Neville of the prophecy. Why? What good did that do? I've found the only other Gryffindor object but I haven't the faintest idea what he would want from Ravenclaw and I'm running out of ideas! I need your help!"
Dumbledore nodded sagely and spread his hand out palms up. "Unfortunately, Harry, I cannot assist you much further. But I have given you the keys to what you need to know and you now have the people, the friends around you who will make up the difference when the time comes. You must trust yourself. You must follow your instincts." He folded his hands in his lap and waited.
The portrait of Phineas Nigellus grumbled on the wall to Harry's right. "He's going to get more people killed Dumbledore just like he did with Sirius. He's a child doing a man's job."
"Silence!" Dumbledore rose from his chair, stepped out of frame and entered the other's portrait. The two faced each other off and Harry watched in amazement.
"Tell him!" Nigellus exclaimed cowering back against the other frame. Dumbledore's face was pink with anger.
"It will only serve to confuse the issue for him. He is doing a wizard's job and more!" Dumbledore turned to him, staring down with a concerned face. "Harry, find Severus and ask for his assistance. He will help you. There is nothing you can learn here from me- from us."
"The R.A.B. stands for Regulus Black, Sirius' brother," Phineas cried out and then leapt out of the frame of his picture and disappeared.
Harry was shocked at the information. "Sirius' brother!" he exclaimed. "But..."
Dumbledore stepped back into his own portrait and sat down, gathering his robes around him. "Is it important, Harry? Another Black gave his life to further our cause. He redeemed himself at the last moment and only now we are learning about his sacrifice. Does it help you to have the information?" His brows were furrowed together and he leaned forward. "You must concentrate, Harry. Don't let extraneous information cloud your thinking. You must find the other Horcruxes and destroy them. I believe you must do it soon. If I am correct you have set a trap and baited Voldemort. You have invited him, shall we say, back to Hogwarts."
"But Neville..." Harry protested angrily.
"It was time for him to know and it served a purpose, did it not?" Albus asked.
Harry carried the other wands in one hand and saw Dumbledore staring pointedly at the object in his hand .
"Snape killed you," Harry said loudly, "Or at least you thought it was Snape! It was really Voldemort. He took Polyjuice potion and came to help Madam Prince escape. But you didn't know that! You kept her a secret and now he has his best ally with him. She's as dangerous as he is. What about her Professor? What do we do about her? Why didn't you kill her when you had the chance? You knew what she could do!"
The white eyebrows were raised and Harry watched him shift in his chair. "Kill her, Harry?" He hesitated and then continued. "Perhaps, I should have. But in many ways she was as much a victim as her son and, sadly, she was insane. She could not have known what Tom Riddle was to become. I told you once that many of the teachers were enthralled with him. She succumbed to his charm and his intelligence as many did before and after her. I kept her here because it was the best and only place for her, out of a hospital, and safely away from Voldemort's reach."
"And now she's out and she's a brilliant witch even if she is insane," Harry's voice dropped and was cold. "She's going to help him put the remaining parts of his soul together. You talked about how he had placed the diary out into anyone's path and how he was so indifferent about dealing with such a precious thing. Well, now I think he knows his mistake and he's only got three pieces left. I think she's the only one who would have the slightest chance to do it since she was the one who taught him how to split his soul into seven pieces to begin with..." he stopped out of breath and watched Dumbledore.
"It makes sense he would use her to reunite himself, if that is what he is doing," Dumbledore finished. "Or at least use her magic to protect what he has left." He nodded wisely and then said, "Remember Harry, he hid each piece; the ring in the ruins of the Gaunt house, the locket in the cave, the diary was in Malfoy's possession. Wherever the other objects remain, besides the snake, he will have hidden it in a familiar place to him. And, I hope I don't have to emphasize he always acts alone. If he went to the trouble of helping her escape, then he will use her and dispose of her when he is finished but he will not confide in her."
"Don't you think he would have retrieved all of the Horcruxes by now?" Harry exclaimed again in frustration. " Aghhhhhh, it doesn't matter!" He felt defeated and still angry and took up the Gryffindor wand, shoving it unceremoniously into his robe. "It's not going to make a difference anyway. He's almost immortal as it stands and almost impossible to kill."
"On the contrary, Harry. If he has lost three of the Horcruxes, then he has been weakened significantly. I do not think he will try and recombine them. It would make him more mortal and in an extremely weakened mortal condition at that. No, I think he's going to protect what is left if he can; although I applaud you for considering the possibility. You are correct however, in believing Madam Prince will add a great deal to his shield of protection if he uses her."
Harry nodded thoughtfully. "Professor. Hermione wrote to me and told me Madam Prince was not in Slytherin House but in Ravenclaw. Do you think...can a... would he have made her a Horcrux?" Harry bit his lip and waited.
Dumbledore looked astounded. The room grew quiet and they all waited and watched as Dumbledore leaned back in his chair, he sighed almost inaudibly and gasped. "Good Heavens!"
"She wasn't insane, she was a Horcrux. That's what one looks like when a wizard uses a person to make one," Harry said quietly. "Voldemort killed her husband and made a Horcrux out of her."
Dumbledore's eyes sparkled brilliantly, "Wonderful deduction, Harry! I think... I think you are right."
Harry was not as pleased with his own brilliance. It meant he had to kill Madam Prince, Snape's mother. Find her and destroy her. And if he was wrong, then there would be another Horcrux out there, unfound and whole. He was not happy.
"Snape seemed to think Draco was made into a Horcrux," Harry said. "He's been walking around like an empty shell since the night you were...since the night you died. Snape said Draco was with Voldemort for a long time throughout the night and found him like that when he arrived at Hogwarts. Draco acted possessed, like Voldemort was inside of him, and almost killed Snape in front of me."
"So Severus is with you," Dumbledore sighed. "Ah, good." He looked down over his glasses in a very familiar and reassuring way. "Trust your instincts. You know all that I know, Harry. Do not deviate from your plan. It is still important to find the other object or at least to ascertain what it is," Dumbledore was now rubbing his chin. "Although, I cannot guide you from here on out since I never knew what they were."
Harry turned away and studied the room with its' long shadows. He finally turned back to look into his dead Professor's face. "Do you think it is too soon? Do you think I should have waited to set the trap?"
"I am not the one to advise you now, Harry. If you have acted prematurely you will know and it will be to the detriment of all. I cannot repeat this enough, trust yourself!"
Harry turned away without speaking and started for the door, glancing once again at the Phoenix perch. "I miss you more than you can ever know," he said, so quietly he wasn't sure he could even be overheard. He was not talking about the bird.